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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Tombstone Tuesday - Two John Karrs

These gravestones were photographed at Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire

JOHN KARR
DIED
July 11, 1846
Aged 71 yrs
- - - 
According to FindAGrave.com there are five John Karr's buried at Forest Hill Cemetery, but in this section I found only these two stones.  This stone was damaged when a tree fell on it during a storm on 4 July 2008, but has been repaired.  You can see the original damage at this photo link at FindAGrave.com


JOHN KARR
died Oct. 2, 1784
AEt. 52
MARY
relict of John Karr
died Feb. 2, 1834
AEt. 95
Agnes, Dau. of
John, Mary Karr,
died Aug 10, 1800
AET. 28
Agness, sister of
John Karr,
died Feb. 2, 1817
AEt. 92


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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Monday, January 30, 2012

That little Notch on the Massachusetts Border?


See that little Notch on the Massachusetts/Connecticut border?

You know the one I mean?  When you look at the top and bottom (northern and southern) borders on the map of Massachusetts they are two parallel, straight lines.  However, on the southern border there is a strange little square sticking out that locals call “The  Granby Notch” after the Connecticut town with a hole.  On the Connecticut side they call it the “Southwick Jog” after the Massachusetts town that eats into their territory.  How did it get there?  Why is it there?

It appears that my 9x Great Grandfather is to blame for this strange border notch between Massachusetts and Connecticut.  Nathaniel Woodward was born about 1590 in England, and he lived in Boston, Massachusetts.  It appears that he was a mathematician and a surveyor.   In 1638 he ran the boundary line between the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, and Connecticut.  He surveyed land north of the Merrimack River and helped to establish the boundary between Charlestown and Lynn.
 
When I found a mention of Nathaniel Woodward in a 2001 New York Times article, I never suspected to find a controversy, but this news story explained the puzzle.   In 1642 Nathaniel Woodward and his companion Solomon Saffery were hired by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to find the southern border that ran straight to the Pacific Ocean from three miles south of the Charles River.   According to the New York Times:

Normally, surveyors would simply begin tacking westward, marking the state line as they went. But Woodward and Saffery were afraid of being slaughtered by Indian tribes in the untamed New England interior (now known as metropolitan Springfield, Mass.), so the two instead chose to sail around Cape Cod, down into Long Island Sound and up the Connecticut River, until they reached what they believed was the proper latitude.
            In fact, they were about seven miles too far south. So they fudged the mistake, added a large dip in Massachusetts' southern boundary that took in 108,000 acres of what had been Connecticut, and kept moving west. Down in Hartford, officials quickly learned of the maneuver and demanded a new survey. Massachusetts ignored them. Thus began decades of Notch-related feuding…
Incredibly, 162 years passed before both states finally agreed on a compromise in 1804 that cemented the Notch's current smaller size and ended its role in the longest interstate boundary dispute in United States history.”

The Woodward Genealogy:

Generation 1: Nathaniel Woodward, born about 1590 in England, died 11 May 1685 probably in Boston, Massachusetts; married first to Unknown, second about 1638 to Margaret Jackson.  Five children with first wife, three more with Margaret.  Nathaniel Woodward is my 10 x Great Grandfather.

1. Nathaniel Woodward, born about 1613, married 1.) Mary Jackson, 2.) Katherine Unknown
2. John Woodward, born about 1615, married Sarah Crossman
3. Robert Woodward, born about 1618, married Rachel Smith
4.  Sarah Woodward, born about 1620
5.  Ezekiel Woodward, born about 8 May 1624, died January 1699 in Wenham, Massachusetts; married 1) Anne Beamsley and had eight children, 2) Elizabeth Unknown, widow of John Solart, and had two more children, 3) Sarah Edward, widow of Nathaniel Piper. Ezekiel is my 9x Great Grandfather.  I descend from two of his daughters with Anne Beamsley (Margaret, born 24 February 1655 who married William Andrews; and from Prudence, born 4 April 1660 who married Benjamin Marshall)

For the truly curious:

New York Times, “A Blunder in 1642 Creates Headaches for Homeowners who Straddle a Border” by Paul Zielbauer, 26 January 2001.

The “Southwick Jog” explained by the Connecticut State Library http://www.cslib.org/jog.htm

Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward, Mathematician, compiled by Percy Emmons Woodward, Concord, New Hampshire: Rumford Press, 1940

Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward who came from England to Boston about 1630, by Harold Edward Woodward, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "That little Notch on the Massachusetts Border?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 30, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/that-little-notch-on-massachusetts.html: accessed [access date]). 

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Surname Saturday ~ Cooke of Salem, Massachusetts


COOKE
House of Seven Gables
Salem, Massachusetts
Henry Cooke lived in Plymouth for a short time, and settled at Salem, Massachusetts around 1638 as a butcher.  He appears many times in the court records of Essex County for various reasons like defamation, or not returning an axe to a neighbor, or for being fined for “abusing the watch” [see the Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Volume 1, (1636 – 1656), pages 115, 152, 183, 244,  etc].

Henry Cooke’s estate was administered on 26 June 1662. 

Salem Quarterly  Court Records, Volume 4, page 100 “Upon further consideration about ordering the estate of Henry Cooke, deceased, it was ordered July 7, 1662, that Isaack, the eldest son, have 24 pounds., and the other children, John, Henry, Judith, Rachell, Mary and Hanna, 12 pounds each, payable at age or time of marriage, and the widow was appointed administratrix”

The Cooke Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Henry Cooke, born 2 June 1615 in England, died 25 December 1661 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 29 June 1639 in Salem to Judith Birdsall, daughter of Henry Birdsall and Judith Kempe, born 2 June 1611 in Norwich, England, and died 11 September 1689 in Salem.  Ten children born in Salem:

1. Isaac, (see below)
2. Samuel, born 30 July 1641; married Hope Parker
3. Judith, born 15 September 1643; married John Pudney/Putney
4. John, born 6 July 1647; married Mary Buxton
5. Martha, born 15 September 1649
6. Mary, born 15 September 1649; married Robert Moulton
7. Henry, born 30 December 1652; married Mary Hall
8. Elizabeth, born September 1654, died September 1654
9. Rachel, born 25 September 1654, married Elisha Kibbe
10, Hannah, born 9 September 1658; married Daniel Cannady

Generation 2:   Isaac Cook, born 3 April 1640, died about 1692; married on 3 May 1664 in Salem to Elizabeth Buxton, daughter of Anthony Buxton and Elizabeth Unknown.  Twelve children born in Salem:
1.  Samuel, married Mary Small
2. Elizabeth,  (see below)
3. Isaac,  born 9 February 1666, died young?
4. Mary,  born 12 November 1668; married William Johnson
5. Abigail, born 12 July 1670
6. Hannah,  born 15 October 1671; married William King
7. John,  born 12 March 1674
8. Sarah, born about 1676; married Jonathan King
9. Rachel, born 20 Feb 1676
10. Ebenezer, born 24 December 1677
11. Samuel,  born 1 October 1679; married Elizabeth Wilson
12. Isaac,  born 16 April 1689

Generation 3: Elizabeth Cook married Robert Wilson
Generation 4: Isaac Wilson married Mary Stone
Generation 5: Robert Wilson married Elizabeth Southwick
Generation 6:  Robert Wilson married Sarah Felton
Generation 7: Robert Wilson married Mary Southwick
Generation 8:  Mercy F. Wilson married Aaron Wilkinson
Generation 9:  Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe
Generation 10: Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill
Generation 11: Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more Cooke information:

There are very few references to Henry Cooke of Salem in books or articles.  What I have learned has been gleaned from primary source material such as vital records and court records. 

There is a good genealogical sketch of Henry Cooke and his descendants in The History of Salem, by Sidney Perley, Salem, Mass., 1926, Volume II, pages 43-45, with other references to Henry Cooke throughout all three volumes.

An Emerson Benson Saga: The Ancestry of Charles F. Emerson and Bessie Benson and the Struggle to Settle the United States Including 194 Allied Lines, by Edmund K. Swigart, Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1994, pages 167-8. 

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Friday, January 27, 2012

Bucket List Genea Meme

MaryRose-leather bucket


Jill Ball, at the Australian genealogy blogger at Geniaus  www.Geniaus.blogspot.com has started a new  blogging meme ….

The Bucket List GeneaMeme

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you would like to do or find: Bold Type
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments after each item. 



1.                  The genealogy conference I would most like to attend is- RootsTech 2013
2.                  The genealogy speaker I would most like to hear and see is – Skip Gates
3.                  The geneablogger I would most like to meet in person is – Kathleen Brandt from http://a3genealogy.blogspot.com/
4.                  The genealogy writer I would most like to have dinner with is - Elizabeth Shown Mills
5.                  The genealogy lecture I would most like to present is- (gulp!  I have to talk?)
6.                  I would like to go on a genealogy cruise that visits the Netherlands
7.                  The photo I would most like to find is - my great grandmother Isabella Bill
8.                  The repository in a foreign land I would most like to visit is British National Archives
9.                  The place of worship I would most like to visit is – St. Pieter’s Kirk, Leyden, Holland (I'm descended of Rev. John Robinson on both the maternal and paternal side of my family tree, and there are several ancestors buried there as well)
10.              The cemetery I would most like to visit is- Westminster Memorial Park, California (my grandparents are buried there, and I've never been)
11.              The ancestral town or village I would most like to visit is -Leyden, Holland (where the Pilgrims lived before coming to Massachusetts)
12.              The brick wall I most want to smash is - Elizabeth Lambert’s (1775 – 1834) ancestry (my 5x great grandmother).
13.              The piece of software I most want to buy - has not been invented yet, the perfect genealogy data base that produces all the reports and charts I want…
14.              The tech toy I want to purchase next is - an iPad
15.              The expensive book I would most like to buy is - the Great Migration Series by Robert Charles Anderson - all the volumes!
16.              The library I would most like to visit is - Salt Lake City, Family History Library
17.              The genealogy related book I would most like to write is - the Descendants of Thomas Wilkinson
18.              The genealogy blog I would most like to start would be about  - (I don’t want to start another blog!)
19.              The journal article I would most like to write would be about - my Hawaii/Boston ancestral connections.
20.              The ancestor I most want to meet in the afterlife is - Peter Hoogerzeil (1803- 1889) my 3x great grandfather who was a stowaway to America in the 1820s (NOT a myth!).

I invite you to list your genealogy "Bucket List" items in the comments, or go to the Geniaus blog and add your list to Jill's comments.  If you have your own blog, please join the meme and pass it on! 


Bucket photo courtesy of the Mary Rose Trust [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Bucket List Genea Meme", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 27, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/bucket-list-genea-meme.html: accessed [access date]). 

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Queen Liliuokalani in the Headlines, 1894


Another genealogy blogger, Kim Von Aspern, author of the blog “Le Maison Duchamp” at http://lemaisonduchamp.blogspot.com/ recently wrote to me that she had seen an unusual news headline about “Queen Lila Kalei” in a South Carolina newspaper in 1894.  I had seen similar accounts in many other newspapers, with varying degrees of accuracy about the incident concerning Queen Liliuokalani after she was forced from the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii.  I’ll reprint them here, along with the Queen’s own words about that time in her life, and a timeline about her monarchy and her losing the throne, with Hawaii’s eventual annexation.  You can draw your own conclusions.

From Google Book Search
Our Paper, Volume 10, by the Massachusetts Reformatory, Concord, Mass.  20 October 1894, Page 667 “Before the steamer Araw left Honolulu a rumor was in circulation that Queen Liliuokalani had gone crazy.  The report was not credited, although for several days she had not left the house she was occupying”

The same article was also found in the Worcester Daily Spy, Worcester, Massachusetts, 15 October 1894, page 7, and also in the Patriot, Pennsylvania, 16 October 1894, page 8 “Queen Lil Reported Crazy”, and many other newspapers on GenealogyBank.com.

Boston Journal, Boston, Massachusetts, 16 October 1894, page 5
“Liliuokalani Insane
The Report to that effect in Circulation in Honolulu
Victoria, BC, October 15, Before the steamer Arawa left Honolulu a rumor was in circulation that Queen Liliuokalani had gone crazy.  For several days she had not left the house she was occupying.
Washington, October 15- No information has been received in Washington confirmatory of the report that Queen Liliuokalani has become insane.  It is not believed.  For some days after the receipt of the intelligence that the republic had been recognized, the queen remained in her room, refusing to see anyone except intimate friends.  More recent advices state that she suffered subsequently from slight illness, but the latest reports show her to have recovered.  She is living quietly at her residence on the street in the rear of the national palace.  It is believed that the new rulers of the republic will make the deposed Queen a suitable provision as soon as she manifests a disposition to cultivate good relations between herself and President Dole’s ministry.”

The same article was also found in the Boston Daily Advertiser, Boston, Massachusetts, 16 October 1894, page 5.

A different article from the Oregonian, 16 October 1894, page 2
“The Ex-Island Queen
There is no Disposition to treat Liliuokalani Harshly
Washington, October 15 – No information has been received in Washington confirmatory of the report that Liliuokalani has become insane.  In well-informed circles it is not believed.  The fact is known here that the queen is greatly chagrined at the action of this government in recognizing the new republic.  Up to the very moment the official announcement of the recognition was received, she believed that it would be denied, and that President Cleveland either would assist her to the throne again or at least mediate in such a way between herself and the republican leaders as would leave her virtually mistress of the situation.  For some days after the receipt of the intelligence that the republic had been recognized the ex-queen remained secluded in her rooms, refusing to see anyone except her intimate friends.  More recent advices state that she suffered quite recently from slight illness, but the intent reports show her to have recovered.  She is living quietly at her residence on the street immediately in the rear of the national palace.  It is believed that the new rulers of the republic will make the deposed queen a suitable provision, and this will probably be done as soon s she manifests a disposition to cultivate good relations between herself and President Dole’s ministry.  It is said that not only is there no disposition to treat her harshly, but, on the contrary, to accord to her every proper consideration.”

Queen Liliuokalani, in her own words:
"I found to my horror, when the newspapers came to Honolulu from the United States, that the President and the American people had been told that I was about to behead them all! There is an old proverb which says that "a lie can travel around the world while the truth is putting on its boots." That offensive charge was repeated to my hurt as often as possible; although I immediately send my protest that I had not used the words attributed to me by Mr. Willis in our informal conversation, and that at my first official interview with him I had modified (so far as my influence would go) the law of all countries regarding treason.”  page 248
And...

Weary with waiting, impatient under the wrongs they were suffering, preparations were undoubtedly made amongst some in sympathy with the monarchy to overthrow the oligarachy. How and where these were carried on, I will not say. I have no right to disclose any secrets given in trust to me. To the time of which I now write their actions had been peaceful, out of respect and obedience to their queen. If, goaded by their wrongs, I could no longer hold them in check with reason; if they were now, by one accord, determined to break away, and endeavor, by a bold stroke, to win back their nationality, why should I prohibit the outburst of patriotism? I told them that if the mass of the native people chose to rise, and try to throw off the yoke, I would say nothing against it, but I could not approve of mere rioting.
        On Jan. 6, 1895, came the beginning of a revolt. For three months prior to that date my physician, Dr. Donald McLelan, had been in attendance on me, and, as I was suffering very severely from nervous prostration, prescribed electricity. For two years I had borne the long agony of suspense, a terrible strain, which at last made great inroads on my strength.”   pages 263 – 264

--------------------------
Timeline:

14 January 1893 Queen Liliuokalani announced she would draft a new constitution to replace the “Bayonet Constitution” forced on her brother, the previous monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

15 January 1893 Marines from the cruiser Boston invade Honolulu and the “Committee of Safety” forces Queen Liliuokalani from the throne by 17 January.

31 January 1893 President Benjamin Harrison attempts to deny the Provisional Government from taking Hawaii, but the House and Senate deny his bill.  The new president, Grover Cleveland sends James Blount to investigate.

18 December 1893 Blount’s report against the takeover is submitted to Congress.  He agrees that Liliuokalaniis the constitutional ruler of Hawaii.  Nothing happens.  A counter revolution fails.   Dole is now president of the Republic of Hawaii.

On 24 January 1895 Queen Liliuokalani signed her abdication.  In October of that year she was tried for treason and sentenced to confinement in her room at Iolani Palace.  During her confinement she composed the “Queen’s Prayer” and stitched the famous quilt on display today in the imprisonment room.

In 1896 she was freed but remained under duress at her nearby home, Washington Place.

12 August 1898 the US flag was raised in Honolulu signaling annexation.  Liliuokalani remained secluded at Washington Place.  Later that year she traveled to the United States to petition the president, and to visit her husband’s family in Boston.  

1916 marked the year of Prince Kuhio’s lawsuit to unsuccessfully declare Liliuokalani incompetent and takeover her Waikiki land that she willed to her Hawaiian Children's Trust.

Queen Liliuokalani died on 11 November 1917.
Queen Lili'uokalani with her grandchildren
photo taken about 1917
Obviously the stress of the overthrow did not prevent the Queen from taking the reins as the strongest supporter of her people's rights after annexation.  She was an elegant and well spoken advocate for Hawaiians in Washington.  After all this, her autobiography is still considered one of the best books describing this time period.  She even remained a quiet force throughout Prince Kuhio's attempt to discredit her in her last years.  Whatever she experienced in 1894, it was just a small setback that she overcame with true Queenly dignity. 

-------------------------
Sources:

Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole v. Liliuokalani, Supreme Court of Hawaii, 23 Haw. 457: 1916 http://www.angelfire.com/big09a/KuhioVLiliuokalani1916.html

Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, by Liliuokalani, Honolulu, Hawaii: Mutual Publishing Company, 1990.


A blog post I wrote about Yellow Journalism and Queen Lili'uokalani 
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/world-newspaper-and-yellow-press.html

Another blog post I wrote about Queen Lili'uokalani and her Boston relatives, and their reaction to rumors in the press during her visit to Boston:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/amanuensis-monday-boston-press-reports.html

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Weathervane Wednesday - Is a Wind Sock a Weathervane?


I'm nearing the end of this weathervane series.  There are only so many weathervanes in the Nutfield area (Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire).    This is one of the last weathervanes I will be posting in the next two months on Wednesdays.

As a challenge, I publish the locations at the bottom of the post so you can see the photo first.  After you guess you can scroll down to the bottom to see the location.

Do you know the location of weather vane #27?




A windsock is a type of weathervane used at airports.  This one was photographed at the Manchester Airport, just on the Londonderry side of the border by the runway.   Windsocks indicate wind direction, just like a weathervane, and also indicate the wind speed by the angle of the fabric cone.  They are used at airports, yacht clubs, and even at chemical plants.  Decorative windsocks are popular in Japan.

The first airfield was built in Manchester in 1927.  In the 1930s a neighborhood kid, Alan Shepard, ran errands here!  During World War II the airport was expanded as Grenier Field.  In 1961 the art-deco style terminal was replaced with a "modern" building, that was replace again in 1992 with an even more modern terminal and runway expansion.  In 2004 the small art-deco style terminal was moved across the runway and converted into the New Hampshire Aviation Museum.

Click here for a post about the New Hampshire Aviation Museum

Manchester Airport historical information http://www.flymanchester.com/about/history.php


Click here to see the other weather vanes I have featured in this series.


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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Two William Karrs

These grave stones were photographed at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire.  They are side by side in a plot full of other Karrs, so I assume they are relatives.

HERE LYES THE BODY OF MR.
WILLIAM KARR HE DIED
MARCH 23d 1754 AGED 62

MY BODYS TURNED INTO DUST
THIS DUST SHALL YET ARISE
AT RESURRECTION OF THE JUST
TO SOUND JEHOVAH'S PRAISE

According to the Granite State Monthly, Volume 5, page 117 in an article labeled "Some Old New Hampshire Burial Places" by Anabel C. Andrews, there is a list of epitaphs at the burial ground in Thornton's Ferry, Litchfield, New Hampshire (right next door to Londonderry), and a very similar epitaph is found on the gravestone of a Mrs. Margaret White, in the same time period.  If it wasn't winter, and if the ground wasn't covered with snow, I might have gone over to photograph this stone for comparison!


In memory of
WILLIAM KARR
Who died
Aug. 31, 1837
Aged 69
- o -
My father wills me in his arms
And willingly I go
With  cheerfulness  I bid farewell
To everything below.

The inscription on the second gravestone is from an old hymn: 

Readiness for Death. C. M.

My Father calls me to his arms, 

And willingly I go ;
With cheerfulness I bid farewell To everything below.
My tender parents, kind and dear,
I bid farewell to you
Though nature feels tis sad and hard
to speak the word "adieu".
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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
 

Monday, January 23, 2012

Genealogy Lectures at Lowell 3 March 2012


Pollard Memorial Library
Lowell, Massachusetts
March 3, 2012
for info sfougstedt@mvlc.org
http://www.pollardml.org/ 


The JFK Birthplace, Brookline, Massachusetts


The JFK birthplace is a National Park Service museum at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts.  Since it is part of the National Park system, tours are completely free.  It is self guided with an audio device narrated by his mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.  The Kennedy House is a very modest house for today's standards, and is furnished closely to how it would appear in 1917 when the Kennedy family lived here, with many of the original furnishings and personal objects.


According to the narration by Rose on my audio tour, baby John was born in the bed closest to the window so the Doctor would have good light during the procedure.  He was born about 3 PM on 29 May 1917, as the second son.   The future president was baptized in the little church down the street, St. Aidan's on 158 Pleasant Street (This building closed as a church in 1999, and is now mixed income housing).   He lived in Brookline for the first ten years of his life. 


This white bassinet held three senators and a president!  


When the family lived here in this house, little John and his older brother Joseph, Jr. would sit in the child's table set up by the window during meals.  One of the little silver cups is engraved with Joseph, Jr.'s monogram.  The table is set with the family's original china and silver, donated to the museum.

The John F. Kennedy Birthplace website is http://www.nps.gov/jofi/index.htm  The house is closed in the winter, and will reopen to the public for tours on May 20, 2012.  It is located only 13 miles from the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester, Massachusetts http://www.jfklibrary.org/  where you can learn about the rest of the president's life, and use the archives.

This is a great trip for genealogists!  The JFK library is located next to the Massachusetts State Archives in Dorchester, and is near the Vital Records.  It is also not far from other Boston repositories of information, such as NEHGS, the Massachusetts Historical Society, The Boston Public Library and the North Eastern Regional  NARA facility in Waltham, Massachusetts.

New England Historic Genealogical Society www.americanancestors.org 

Massachusetts Historical Society www.masshist.org 

The Boston Public Library www.bpl.org

North Eastern Regional National Archives http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The JFK Birthplace, Brookline, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 23, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/jfk-birthplace-brookline-massachusetts.html: accessed [access date]).

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Surname Saturday ~ Buffum of Salem, Massachusetts


BUFFUM

Robert Buffum was born about 1590 at Buffum, Yorkshire and was married twice in England before coming to Salem, Massachusetts.  In October 1649 he was granted 40 acres in what is now known as “Buffum’s Corner” (near Boston and Essex Streets in Salem).   The Buffums were early Quakers.  His family was fined regularly for not attending the preferred meetings of worship (they skipped Puritan services), and so they show up in court records. 

Robert Buffum’s will was witnessed by his Quaker friends and neighbors who would not “swear on the book” and so the document was refused by the court.   His wife Tamosin was administrix of his estate.   The inventory was made on 15 November 1669 and this named his children.

“On Nov 25 1668, Mary Neale testified that when her father, Robert Buffum was sick, she tended to him until he died, and heard her mother, Tamosin asked her father several times to make a will: of which he seemed to take little notice till a little before his death when he said that he would have his son Joshua have a double portion, and for the rest of the children, he would make no difference betwixt them, for, he said, that they are yours as well as mine. About the same time other testimony was taken, Gertrude Pope, widow, testified that being at the house of Robert Buffum, while he lay at his death bed, he would have me and Elizabeth Kitchen take notice of what he has said, as to his estate, he would leave to his wife, for she had helped him to get it and the children were hers. Testimony of Elizabeth Kitchen to the same effect. Petition of john Wilson, William Beanes and Jeremiah Neale, children and heirs of Robert Buffum humbly showth that 'whereas our father Robert Buffum died intestate and an inventory of his estate was brought in by relict Tomosin and she appointed administratrix, etc, who since that time has disposed of the same according to her fancy or affection led her, or else keepeth the same still in her hands; we your petitioners, being children of the deceased, humbly conceive that as children, we ought to according to the law of God and this jurisdiction each of us to have a share or portion which is our right, and therefore humbly do supplicate this honored Court as fathers of this country to our causes into your pious and Christian consideration and be fathers to us in helping us to that we who are the children may not be deprived of which we humbly conceive according to law of God and this jurisdiction is ours. We subscribe yours in all service to command.”  From One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families by John O. Austin, Salem Press, 1893.

Robert Buffum was buried in the Old Burying Ground in Peabody, but his remains were removed to Harmony Grove Cemetery near the western entrance.   In 1991 the Buffum Family Association erected a memorial stone which you can see at this link to his sketch at FindAGrave.com http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7885479

The Buffum genealogy, showing my lineage from Robert Buffum:

Generation 1:  Robert Buffum, born about 1590, son of James Bougham and Margery Raylton, died before 2 December 1669 in Salem, Massachusetts; married first to Margaret Blessing on 23 August 1613 at St. Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England (no surviving children); married second to Tamoson Ward on 11 August 1634 at the Church of St. Lawrence,  South Walasham, Norfolk, England.  She was the daughter of George Ward and Dionis Burrow, born about 1606 and died 23 March 1688 in Salem, Massachusetts.  She married first to John Thompson on 29 November 1632 at the St. Nicolas Church, Great Yarmouth, and had one child, Margaret, born about 1632. 

Children by Tamosen, born in Salem:
1.  Joshua Buffum, born 22 February 1635, married Damaris Pope
2.  Mary Buffum, born about 1637, married Jeremiah Neal
3.  Deborah Buffum, born 1639 (see below)
4. Damaris Buffum, born 30 January 1641
5.  Robert Buffum, born 30 November 1643, died June 1645
6. Lydia Buffum, born 19 February 1644, died 1718
7.  Sarah Buffum, born about 1648, married William Bean
8.  Caleb Buffum, born 29 July 1650, married Hannah Pope, sister to Damaris above.

Generation 2:  Deborah Buffum,  born 1639, died about 1668; married on 12 August 1658 in Marblehead, Massachusetts to Robert Wilson, born about 1630 and died on 18 September 1675 in Deerfield, Massachusetts at the Bloody Brook Massacre.  Two children.   You can read about the tragic story of Deborah Buffum, persecuted for showing up naked to the Salem village Puritan meeting and for being a professed Quaker, at this link:

Generation 3:  Robert Wilson married Elizabeth Cook
Generation 4: Isaac Wilson married Mary Stone
Generation 5: Robert Wilson married Elizabeth Southwick
Generation 6: Robert Wilson married Sarah Felton
Generation 7: Robert Wilson married Mary Southwick
Generation 8: Mercy F. Wilson married Aaron Wilkinson
Generation 9: Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe
Generation 10:  Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill
Generation 11:  Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more information:

Buffum Family History, compiled by Owen A. Perkins, Fort Worth, TX,  1975  (two volumes)

Buffum Family Association
2945 Peppertree Drive
Lexington, KY  40513
859-219-8632


Buffum Family Museum
8335 Boston Colden Road
Colden, NY 114033

There is a sketch in Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis, by Walter Goodwin Davis, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1996, Volume III, pages 405-8. 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Buffum of Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 21, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/surname-saturday-buffum-of-salem.html: accessed [access date]). 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Mysterious Mrs. Munroe Grout

On Monday I posted some GenealogyBank.com news clippings I found about my Great Grandfather Albert Munroe Wilkinson (1860 - 1908).  In one, a mysterious aunt named "Mrs. Munroe Grout" in the article, had given him a gift of seven silver table spoons for his wedding gift.  The news story mentioned that there were "many costly and elegant gifts" but it made special mention of Mrs. Grout.  As a clue to finding her identity, I noted that although my Great Grandfather was married in Salem, Massachusetts, this was written up in the Boston Herald newspaper.

Why would a Salem wedding be written up in the social pages of the Boston newspaper?  At first I considered that Great Grandfather had married the daughter of a prominent music professor, which was also mentioned in the paper.  Then I wondered if Mrs. Grout was herself a socially prominent Bostonian?

The next clue was the name Munroe.  The spoons mentioned in the article were engraved with names of Munroe ancestors.  Albert's mother was Phebe Cross Munroe (1830 - 1895) daughter of Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint, who resided in South Danvers, now Peabody, Massachusetts.  When I looked through all the siblings of Phebe, none married a Grout.  In fact, none of the Munroe's in my database had married a Grout. I was stumped.

So, I did what most people do when it is late at night and the local library is closed.  I turned to the internet, and tried to find vital records for marriages and deaths with the Grout name.  I also used Google, and found this interesting excerpt in Google Books from Genealogical and Personal Memoirs relating to the families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts ,  by William Richard Cutter,  1908, Volume 1, page 264,  “Olive Adeline, born Salem, [daughter of Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint]  January 18, 1836, died Charlestown, Massachusetts, November 29, 1905; married John H. Grout."

This stumped me again because I already had a marriage for Olivia Adeline Munroe in the 1851 Danvers Vital Records, listing her as marrying someone named Corydon B. Green, as a first marriage at age 16.  Then I found this:

Mass VR, Volume 88, page 171
Town of Brookline, Mass.  Marriages
April 22, 1855,  groom -John H. Grout, res. Beverly, teamster, b. Danvers, parents John and Sally, first marriage; bride - Ada Munroe, age 19, res. Beverly, b. Danvers,  parents, Luther S. and Olive,  first marriage

Well, Auntie Grout claimed both were first marriages.  And they are both obviously Olivia Adeline Munroe, who was born in Salem on 18 January 1836 to parents Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint.  There must be a good story here, but I haven't found the answer to this one yet.  But back at GenealogyBank.com I did find some interesting news clippings...

Boston Journal
22 December 1896
Page 10
Mortuary Notice
“Mrs. Grout’s Funeral
     The funeral of Mrs. John H. Grout, Jr. was held at the Little Church Around the Corner on Bullfinch Place yesterday at noon.  Rev. C. Elliott conducted the exercises.
      The casket in which reposed the remains was literally buried beneath a wealth of floral tributes from members of the family, newspaper men and intimate friends of the family.  The pall bearers were E. S. Anderson, Dr. F. F. Roby, W. M. and J. F. Nickerson and Albert Wilkinson.
      The interment was in the family lot at Danvers.”

Comment from 18 July 2014, from a descendant of this branch of the Grout family:
"Just wanted to point out that the funeral of Mrs John H Grout Jr in Boston that is described in the above post, was in fact the funeral of my grandfather’s first wife, Josephine Buzzell (or Bussell), who died on 18 Dec 1896.  She, too, was from Massacusetts, although I think her family was originally from Canada.  He then went on to marry my grandmother, who was English." 

The Little Church around the corner was “The Bullfinch Place Chapel” , a Unitarian Universalist church in the West End of Boston.  The papers for this now gone church are at the Harvard Divinity School Call number bMS 2, Bullfinch Place Church Records 1826 – 1957.  The  Rev. Christopher   Rhodes Elliot (1856 – 1945) was pastor from 1894 – 1927 and his papers are also at the Harvard Divinity School, call number bMS75.  

At Ancestry.com:
1870 Federal Census, Boston, MA, Ward 4,
Grout, John , H, age 38, stable keeper, b. Mass.
                Addie M, age 32, keeping house, b. Mass.
                Jr. John H, age 12, attends school, b. Mass.
                Frank B., age 10, attends school,  b. Mass.

And at the Massachusetts Vital Records available online at NEHGS

Mass VR  Volume 1905/23 page 96
deaths
Olive A M Grout
Boston, 17 Mouton St.
Nov. 29, 1905, age 69 y 10m 11d
Maiden name- Munroe
Husband’s name John H. Grout
Birthplace Danvers
Father- Luther S. Munroe
Father’s birthplace- Danvers
Mother- Olive Flint
Mother’s birthplace – Danvers
Occupation at home
Burial Danvers
Undertaker- John Bryant’s sons
Cause – Fibroid Tumor- at least a year
Contributory – exhaustion- 3 weeks
Signed – John Duff, MD

Back at GenealogyBank.com:
Boston Journal
June 29 1899
“Obituary
John H. Grout
At the residence of his son, Frank B. Grout in Andover, John H. Grout of Boston died yesterday.  He was born in Danvers in 1832.  Early in life he was engaged in the express business, and later as a hotel manager in Boston.  At the time of the great Boston fire he was a manager of the Winthrop House, and for the past 22 years of the Windsor Hotel.
For many years he was a familiar figure among the horsemen of this city, and nearly every day could be seen behind a good “goer” on the road.  He had been the owner of many fast horses.  While a faithful attendant at horse races about Boston for more than a generation, he always made it a rule never to bet.
Mr. Grout was a cousin of Congressman Grout and ex- Governor Grout of Vermont, and his son, John H. Grout, Jr., is now United States Consul at Malta.”

which led to finding this at Google Books:
Who’s Who in New England, by Albert Nelson Marquis, 1909
Page 437
“Grout, John Henry, consul, b. Beverly, Mass, 4 Dec. 1857, son of John H. and Olive Adeline (Munroe) G, descendant of Munroes of Lexington fame; ed. Pub. Schs., St. Johnsbury (Vt) Acad., Chauncy Hall Sch., Cambridge, Mass., and Boston Latin Sch., m. 1st Boston , Josephine Bussell (now deceased); m 2d, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, June 11, 1904, Kitty Emily Austin.  Served in editorial dept., Boston Herald 11 yrs, and later on other Boston papers; for a time in employ Mex. Central R. R., and paymaster La. Lighterage and Jetty Co. in const’n of jetties at Tampico, Mex.; apptd. Am. Consul, Bermuda, Jan. 14, 1893, retired, Oct. 1893; apptd. Consul at Malta, Jan. 10, 1898; promoted to Odessa, Russia, Jan. 9, 1908.  Mem. Mass. Militia 7 yrs. Mason (18 degrees). Home: Boston, Mass.  Adress: American Consulate, Odessa, Russia.

No wonder Auntie Munroe Grout could afford to give her nephew such a fine wedding gift!  But there is still the lingering mystery of her first husband, Mr. Corydon B. Green... why is it that one mystery always leads to another in genealogy?

Click this link to read about the original Boston Herald news article from 1894 that mentioned Mrs. Munroe Grout: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/amanuensis-monday-great-finds-at.html


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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo