Treasure Chest Thursday ~ A Queen's photo albums

"The Royal Album"
Endpaper of Photo Album 26

Unidentified Woman
Album 26

Unfortunately, lots of photograph albums are thrown away and lost.  But those of famous people are saved in archives and historical societies.  If you are lucky enough to be related to someone famous, or locally famous, you should search out these treasures.  I went to the Hawaii State Archives in Honolulu to see if there were any photo albums or single photographs of my great aunt Mary (Jones) Dominis, but didn't find any.  In the finding aids, and in discussions with the archivists, I found many photos of Queen Lili'uokalani, her daughter-in-law, in official files.  But they also told me that there were seven of her personal photograph albums in the vault.  This was my best bet for finding family photos.

Photo Album 28
We photographed the cover, and tag, of each album
They were old, fragile and historic, but the photos were
in very good condition considering their age. 

I brought my mother to the archives, since it was her grandmother who remembered meeting the Queen during her trip to Boston in 1897. The archivist told me that some photos were labeled, and the others are all unknown photos.  She asked if we could help identify some.  The relatives in the photos would be long dead people we wouldn't know, but we might recognize?  Fingers crossed we filled out the paperwork and waited for the albums to be pulled from the files.

"Holt, John Dominis"
Photo Album 26
[John Dominis Holt (1844 - 1922) died in Oxford, England
son of Robert William Holt and his 2nd wife, Caroline Tawati Robinson.
He was named after his uncle,  Captain John Dominis, the
husband of my 4x great Aunt Mary Jones) 

"Owen J. Holt"
Photo Album 26
[son of Robert William Holt and his 2nd wife Caroline Tauwati Robinson,
named after his first wife's (my 4x great aunt Ann Marie Jones) father,
Owen Jones b. 1768 in Wales and died 1850 in Boston]

It was very strange looking through these very personal albums.  There were photos of Lilioukalani's dogs, and her friends and relatives.  Then suddenly there would be photos of crowned heads from Europe, and we were reminded that she was more than a relative, she was a royal person herself!  Photograph album 29 had her entire genealogy, including photos going back to the Kamehameha's and earlier ali'i in her lineage.  Then we would be looking at dogs, flowers and relatives again!

"Mrs. William Lee" by Sarony's Studio, NY
Photo Album 26

We found many relatives.  Some were easily identified even by nicknames.  Some had us stumped because women would be listed by their husband's names only, such as our mystery photography of "Mrs. William Lee".  Our cousin, the Boston publisher William Lee, had two wives.  Which one was this?  His second wife, Sarah (White) Lee, wrote many letters to the Queen and hosted a grand party for her in Boston in 1897.  Possibly this is Sara?

I had a phone consultation with genealogist Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, about this photo.  She is certain that it dates from the mid-1870s and shows a very wealthy, well dressed woman between 30 to 50 years old.  Wife #1 was Anna M. T. Leavitt, born 1819 in Hampton, New Hampshire and died in 1883.  She married William Lee in 1861, and in the mid-1870s she would have been about 50 years old.  Wife #2 was Sarah White, born in 1849 in Hillsdale, New York and died in 1925.  She married William Lee in 1888 and in the mid-1870s she would have been in about thirty years old.  If anyone knows of a photograph of wife, I would love to compare it to this photo to see which wife this is!  I've never seen a photo of either woman, so this would be a great clue.

"Georgie Holt"
Photo Album 24
[George Hoonewaneewa Holt (1868 - 1929) son of Owen Jones Holt]

"Mr. Aldrich"
Photo Album 26
[William Arnold Aldrich (1824 - 1892) husband to Elizabeth M. Holt,
daughter of Robert William Holt and Ann Marie S. Jones (my 4x great aunt)
He was born in Westmoreland, New Hampshire ] 

My husband patiently photographed every page of all seven photo albums, and took closeup photos of the ones we knew or suspected to be relatives.  In looking through letters in the archives there are many references to "I'm sending a photograph" or "Did you get the photograph?" and I hope to match up some of these, but it is an almost impossible task since I never met these folks, and they all died almost 100 years ago.  But it is a project we can work on slowly over time, and hope that more clues will become available.

Hawaii State Archives http://hawaii.gov/dags/archives

All these photographs are from the Hawaii State Archives, Photographic Albums, Queen Lili'uokalani Collections, Albums 24 - 30, from the Lili'uokalani Estate 1921.

Maureen Taylor, "The Photo Detective" http://www.maureentaylor.com/

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Mystery Monday ~ Who owned Melissa's Trunk?

Last week I visited my hairdresser, Melissa.  She and I have long discussions about genealogy and the TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” while she cuts my hair.  Melissa is much younger than I, closer to my daughter’s age, but we have genealogy in common.  Last year I drew up one of her lineages all the way back to Thomas Leighton (1604 – 1671/2) one of New Hampshire’s earliest settlers, and she was thrilled.   This time Melissa had a puzzle for me to solve.  She had found an antique trunk at a shop in Amherst, New Hampshire.   She didn’t notice until she was home that there was a name stenciled onto the front of the trunk:

Mrs. Charles F. Aldrich

SS Cedric

Stateroom #53

This was the mystery!  Who was Mrs. Aldrich?  Was she from New Hampshire? When did she sail on the SS. Cedric?  Was there a story behind this?   Melissa had spent some time online and she knew that the steamship Cedric was one of the White Star Line’s “Big Four”.  She knew it sailed about 100 years ago, and she even looked at some passenger records on Ancestry and found several Aldrich’s on board the Cedric.  Now she was stuck and looked to me for help.

At home I tried to recreate Melissa’s search on Ancestry.com and I looked at EllisIsland.org, too.  I figured I could trace the Aldriches onboard the Cedric passenger lists with census records and other records found online.  But it wasn’t easy.  The Aldriches listed on these passenger lists didn’t quite fit the time period, nor did they seem to have husbands named “Charles F.”   I needed a way to narrow down all the Charles F. Aldriches of this time period, and there were quite a few on my list when I searched through FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.  I even searched old newspapers of the time period, using GenealogyBank.com and the Boston Public Library website. 

While I was searching, I had a window open on my desktop running Facebook.  I decided to ask all my genealogy Facebook friends for advice.  I knew that some of my colleagues had a lot of experience with passenger lists and immigration records.  Within minutes I had over thirty comments!  And I had an answer thanks to genealogist Sue Clifford Maxwell, author of the blog “Granite Genealogy” [surprisingly not from New Hampshire!]   Later comments included Randy Seaver who said “Crowd-searching works well, eh?  Nice job!  Two hours!”  and from Glory Wedge who stated “Wow, How nice to see a group helping to find the answer.  Goes to show the power in numbers.”   Genealogist Alan Farrell even wrote that she had a relative serve on board the Cedric  as a cabin steward until 1921 (our mystery passenger sailed on the Cedric in 1929).

Here is the mystery passenger.

Maria Louisa Alexander was the daughter of Junius Brutus Alexander and Eliza Hickey Newcomb.   According to her passport application she was born on 16 March 1869 on Staten Island, New York.  On 25 November 1891  in Cambridge, Massachusetts she married Reuben Francis Richards.  He died on 26 February 1899 after two children were born.  The young widow married second on 25 December 1900 to Charles Frost Aldrich.  He was a son of Thomas Bailey Aldrich, the famous Portsmouth, New Hampshire author.  Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote the semi autobiographical book The Story of a Bad Boy in 1870 which was the first American novel about a child that was not written as a lesson or a morality tale.  He became great friends with Mark Twain, entertained him in New Hampshire, and influenced Twain’s books Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.   Aldrich became the editor of The Atlantic Monthly.  His boyhood home in Portsmouth is one of the museum buildings at the Strawbery Banke Museum. 

Unfortunately, Maria became a widow again when Charles Frost Aldrich died of tuberculosis on 6 March 1904 at the family’s summer estate at Saranac Lake in New York.  Mrs. Aldrich never remarried, but she remained socially active and traveled extensively.  There are many mentions of her in the social pages of old newspapers, including her daughter’s social debut in Boston in 1914.  She appears on at least a half dozen passenger lists to and from Europe between 1905 and the 1940s. Ancestry.com has three of Maria Aldrich’s passport applications to view.   She was a member of the Colonial Dames Society, and a descendant of Mayflower passenger William Bradford.  “Mrs. Chas Frost Aldrich” is listed in the Boston Social registers.  Her summer home in Dublin, New Hampshire was lent to Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in 1930 [he was the aviator and polar explorer who was the first to reach both the North and South Poles by air].  Dublin is only thirty miles from where Melissa bought the trunk.

The passengers aboard the Cedric 11 May 1929
included "Mrs. C. F. Aldrich"

Apparently this wooden trunk was used by Maria L. (Alexander) (Richards) Aldrich during her voyage on the Cedric which arrived in New York on 11 May 1929 from Liverpool, England.  She arrived in Boston on 19 May 1929 according to the passenger list.  I can imagine that as a wealthy socialite, she must have had many trunks of clothing bought in Europe, and other personal items.  Melissa joked that perhaps this trunk was packed full of shoes, and she might be correct! 

This voyage was a few months before the market crash that started the Great Depression.  I can’t find any more information on Maria Aldrich, other than the fact that her last cruise to Europe seems to have been on 29 April 1937 when she returned on the Saturnia from Naples, Italy.   I don’t know her death date, or where she is buried.  I haven’t yet found an obituary.

Maria Louisa Aldrich's 1929 Passport Application

with photo!  She was 51 years old at the time, and still traveling alone. 

Sources used:

Sue Clifford Maxwell in Sandy, Utah, author of the blog “Granite Genealogy” http://granitegenealogy.blogspot.com/

Ancestry.com

FamilySearch.org

GenealogyBank.com

Boston Public Library at http://www.bpl.org/

Strawbery Banke Museum at http://www.strawberybanke.org/

Google.com

Wikipedia.com

1905 Summer Social Register, (Dilatory Domiciles) page 7

Clark’s Boston Blue Book, 1905, page 124

The 1907, 1911, 1919 and 1920   Social Register, Boston (probably others, but I have not seen copies)

Harvard Graduates Magazine, 1904, Volume 12, page 672

Two links to the Maria Louisa Aldrich passenger records on Ancestry.com

1.) The actual passenger list: http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=8745&iid=MAT843_345-0432&fn=Maria+Louisa&ln=Aldrich&st=r&ssrc&pid=3399778

2.) Book Indexes to Boston Passenger Lists, 1899 – 1940 at Ancestry.com: http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=1909&iid=32007_B012266-00712&fn=C+F&ln=Aldrich&st=r&ssrc&pid=1218657   (image of the “List of Cabin Passengers”)

Here are some photos of first class cabins and lounges on the Cedric.  Wow, these are some swanky cabins. Thanks, Terri Kallio!
http://www.gjenvick.com/HistoricalBrochures/Steamships-OceanLiners/WhiteStarLine/WhiteStarLineServices/1907/FirstClassAccommodations.html

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Mystery Monday ~ Who owned Melissa's Trunk?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 25, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/mystery-monday-who-owned-melissas-trunk.html: accessed [access date]). 

1865 Dear Auntie

San Francisco, Jan. 22th, 1865

Dear Auntie,

I have got your letter,

you told me to tell you what I got on

Christmas, I got a doll, it was dressed like

redriding hood, a little wash tub and board,

a pair of gloves, a basket, and a pair of

gold sleeve buttons.  Mama has had a fire

ever since she has been here.  Mama has

a blue silk, with tails way down to the

bottom of her dress.  Mrs. Chase sent us

some pictures of our house.  On Saturday

I went to the circus.  We go to ride almost

every day.  I go to school.  I love some

friends boarding here.  Give my love

to Lydia, Jhon, Tom and Willie.

            Good bye from Annie B. Aldrich

This letter is especially poignant because it is January and nine year old Annie writes that her mother, who has recently removed from Hawaii to San Francisco “has had a fire ever since she has been here.”  This isn’t just because her mother was chilly after the move from warm Hawaii.  Her mother must have been ill, because she was dead by October of the same year.

Annie's letter is to her Aunt Mary (Jones) Dominis, sister to my 3rd great grandmother Catherine Plummer (Jones) Younger, and sister to Annie's mother, Ann Marie (Jones) Holt.  She states that Mary wanted to know about her Christmas presents.  This is a lovely detail, because Mary is famous for bringing Christmas traditions to Honolulu from Boston.  She was known as the first person to have a Christmas tree in Hawaii.  You can read about that story at this link: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/12/advent-calendar-christmas-in-hawaii.html 

Little Annie spells her cousin John’s name incorrectly “Jhon” just like in the last letter I transcribed.  You can read Annie’s other letter at this link: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/amanuensis-monday-nine-year-old-girl.html     John’s wife, Lydia, is the future Queen Lili’uokalani.

Annie’s lineage:

Generation 1: Owen Jones, born about 1735 in Wales, died 28 February 1798 in Aberstwyth, Wales, married Anne Unknown.  Two children, Owen and Anne Jones, born 17 Feb 1769 in Boston, Massachusetts  and died 18 February 1791 in Aberstwyth.   My 6x great grandparents.

Generation 2: Owen Jones, born about 1768 in Wales, died 22 Apri 1850 in Dorchester, Massachusetts; married on 11 May 1793 at the 2^nd Baptist Church, Boston to Elizabeth Lambert.  She was born about 1775 in Boston, died 6 February 1834 in Boston.  My 5x great grandparents.  Eight children.

Generation 3.  Ann Marie Jones, born about 1811, died on 15 August 1832 in Boston; married on 7 October 1829 in Boston to Robert William Holt.  He was born about 1792 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England and died 6 July 1862 in  Honolulu, Hawaii.   My 4x great uncle and aunt.  They had two daughters.

Generation 4:  Elizabeth M. Holt, born about 1830 in Boston, died 27 October 1865 in Piedmont, California; married on 25 December 1854 at Washington Place, in Honolulu to William Arnold Aldrich, born 27 March 1824 at Westmoreland, New Hampshire, died 3 March 1892.  Elizabeth is my first cousin 5 generations removed. Four children.

Generation 5:  Anne B. Aldrich, born about 1856 in Hawaii; married Willard T. Barton. Two children born in San Francisco.  Annie is the author of the letter, and my 2^nd cousin 4 generations removed.

Hawaii State Archives, Queen Lili'uokalani Collections,
M-93, Box 11, Folder 93
Letter from Annie Aldrich to Mary Dominis, 22 January 1865

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "1865 Dear Auntie", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 4, 2012, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/1865-dear-auntie.html: accessed [access date]). 

Amanuensis Monday - A Nine Year Old Girl writes to Hawaii in 1865

San Francisco Feb. 20^th 1865

My dear Auntie,

I was disappointed

that you did not write to me.

I think that the pictures of Lydia and

the Queen were good, I would not have

known Lydia if Helen had not

told me. I have got a good

many friends here, I will tell you

the names of some of them, Flora and

Ada Smith, Mary and Kitty

Osborn, Lillibell Rosa Blankman

How is Jennie Annie and Bernie

Parke.  Helen wants to know how

Mary Hopper is.  Give my love

to Lydia, Jhon, Willie, Sam.

Goodbye from

Annie B. Aldrich

This letter was written to Mary (Jones) Dominis in Honolulu, Hawaii from her grandniece, Annie Aldrich, who was about nine years old.  Annie was born in Hawaii, but removed with her family to San Francisco.   Annie’s mother was Elizabeth (Holt) Aldrich, the only surviving child of Mary’s sister, Ann Marie (Jones) Holt.

Annie mentions Mary’s daughter–in-law, Lydia, who's brother was King Kalakua.  I’m assuming that the Queen mentioned in the photograph must have been his wife, Queen Kapiolani.   

I love the lack of punctuation marks such as commas and question marks, and the lined stationary.  Her only misspelling is the name “Jhon”.  However, I’m very impressed with the beautiful penmanship.  I cannot use a fountain pen as well as this little girl! 

Hawaii State Archives, Queen Lili'uokalani Collections,
M-93, Box 11, Folder 93
Letter from Annie Aldrich to Mary Dominis, 20 February 1865

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo