Romanus Emerson's Obituaries, 1852

Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) 21 October 1852, page 1

Romanus Emerson, born 1 September 1782 in Townsend, Massachusetts, and died 10 October 1852 in South Boston, Massachusetts was a curious character.  His parents, John Emerson and Katherine Eaton, were quite religious.  John was a deacon, and Katherine’s lengthy obituary was written up in the August 1809 magazine, The Panoplist and Missionary Magazine United (a religious tract).  They had eleven children, including eight boys (seven lived to adulthood).  Of those seven living sons, five became ministers.  You can read her obituary HERE.

The Emerson family was from a long line of ministers that go back to Rev. Joseph Emerson, born in England about 1620 who was a minister in Mendon, Massachusetts, and several other towns.  He married Elizabeth Bulkely, the daughter of Rev. Edward Bulkely (1614 – 1696) the first minister of Concord, Massachusetts. This is the family of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882), son of a Concord minister, who studied for the ministry at Harvard, yet later reconsidered religion and became a transcendentalist philosopher.

Romanus Emerson, my 4^th great grandfather, and cousin to “The Sage of Concord” Ralph Waldo Emerson, also studied for the ministry like his brothers.  Somewhere along the way he changed his mind about religion, too, and began to espouse atheism.  It was quite shocking for his time period, and he was well known in Boston, being a founding member of the Boston Infidel Society.  But he was also an ardent abolitionist, and a member of the Humane Society, and other progressive organizations that made him a popular, but controversial, figure in Boston society.  Emerson Street in South Boston was named for him, since he had his house and land there before it was developed into a neighborhood of Boston and all the surrounding streets are named for numbers and letters of the alphabet. 

I was surprised to learn that Romanus Emerson’s obituary was carried in newspapers across the United States in 1852.  When I used Genealogy Bank and put in his name and didn’t limit it to Massachusetts, results poured in from all over. Five years ago, the last time I had searched his name in newspapers I had limited it to just Massachusetts.  This was a big shock to learn that news of his death was carried outside of New England!

“Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) 21 October 1852, page 1

"Romanus Emerson, Esq., an old citizen of Boston, died a few days ago. He was, it is said, a confirmed infidel, and the main support of all the infidels in that city.  His dying request was that no clergyman should officiate at his funeral, but that an address written by himself, avowing his principles, should be read.  This request was not complied with."

The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 22 October 1852

"Death of an Old Resident - Romanus Emerson, Esq., one of the oldest residents in South Boston, died on Saturday last, aged 70 years.  Mr. Emerson, in 1809, took up his residence in South Boston, and built a house on the old road, just before Mt. Washington, in what is now known as the Lower Village.  In this house he continued to reside until his death, a period of 43 years.  When he first lived in South Boston, there were but about six houses in the place, and he has lived to watch the rapid growth of the place until he had gathered about him a population of 15,000 souls.  In early life, Mr. Emerson was a firm Baptist.  about 18 years since, he suddenly became infidel, and continued so until his death, avowing to his end that there was no God, no Heaven, no Hell, and denying the immortality of the soul.  He has been for some time the main supporter of the infidels in this city. His dying request was that no clergyman should officiate at his funeral, but that an address written by himself, avowing his principles, should be read.  This request is not to be complied with, and he was buried yesterday afternoon from the Hawes place church.  Boston Times, October 14."

Romanus never traveled, and he was not famous, so I do not know why he was in the out of state newspapers except for the curious fact that he was an “infidel” or an avowed atheist.

Finding all this interesting information on my ancestor, Romanus Emerson, also sent me back to Find A Grave to re-search his name in the Boston Cemeteries.  I had read some of the Boston obituaries years ago, and like above, they all mentioned the Hawes Burial Ground in South Boston, not far from where his house stood.  I had searched this cemetery on foot and not found any Emersons.  But, according to Find A Grave I finally found him!  "Gravesite details - AE 71 y, 1 m, 9d (b. 1781?) orig. interred at Hawes Cemetery, re-interred Nov. 1852 at Mount Hope"  No photo, but I put in a photo request and hope to visit Mount Hope when the pandemic is over.

Thus, it paid off well to re-search for Romanus Emerson twice where I did not expect to find him!

For the truly curious, I did a series of blog posts on Romanus Emerson back in 2010:
Part 1 - "The 'Odd' Romanus Emerson"
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/madness-monday-odd-romanus-emerson-part.html

Part 2 - "Romanus Emerson Died an Infidel"
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/amanuensis-monday-romanus-emerson-died.html

Part 3 - "Romanus Emerson buried in a Christian Cemetery, whether he liked it or not!"
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/tombstone-tuesday-romanus-emerson.html

Part 4 - "Romanus Emerson, in his own words" (He wrote his own eulogy which was NOT read at his funeral):
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/romanus-emerson-in-his-own-words-part-4.html

Part 5- "Romanus Emerson, a few words from the Infidels":
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/romanus-emerson-in-his-own-words-part-4.html

Romanus Emerson's 1852 Last Will and Testament blog post:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/09/romanus-emersons-1852-last-will-and.html 

My Surname Saturday post about my EMERSON lineage:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-emerson-of-ipswich.html

UPDATE 2 February 2021

I published some of the Boston Obituaries for Romanus Emerson! Lots of good biographical information for Romanus were included in these newspaper articles...

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/02/romanus-emersons-boston-obituaries-1852.html 

---------------------------------

Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Romanus Emerson's Obituaries, 1852", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 1, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/romanus-emersons-obituaries-1852.html

I’m removing a blog post image… because it was the right thing to do!

 

Senate Patents & Copyright Committee, 4/9/24

Exactly one week ago I published a blog post about a newspaper article I found via GenealogyBank.com.  You can see this blog post HERE.  It was a very popular blog piece seen by over a thousand viewers, and I had comments from friends, readers and seasoned bloggers on Facebook about this article.  However, only one person, a new blogger, noticed something important about this blog post.

She wrote to me via email that as a new blogger she was very interested in “how you were able to post a newspaper article from Genealogy Bank.  I thought that they owned the copyright.  Did you have to contact Genealogy Bank for permission?”  These are all wonderful questions, and I used to think about this a lot as a new blogger, too.

However, as a seasoned genealogy blogger I forgot that certain online services, like Ancestry, make it easy to share images.  Ancestry has share buttons that allow you to email, blog, use Pinterest, and other social media.  I knew that this was the case because I had researched and blogged about it HERE. 

Genealogy Bank doesn’t have those share buttons or easy access to sharing images.  I had signed up for Genealogy Bank years and years ago, and I had forgotten that they carefully control their images and even transcriptions of their newspaper images.  As soon as I received that email from the new blogger, I went to my favorite resource for checking copyright.  Not Google.  It was Judy Russell’s blog The Legal Genealogist, where I found this post “Terms of use: GenealogyBank”  HERE  at this link http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2012/08/23/terms-of-use-genealogybank/

This is a gentle reminder to frequently review the terms of use of the resources you use online.  

And, to remember, if there is not an easy “share button”, you probably shouldn’t be sharing!

So, I’m removing the image from HERE, and also removing most of the transcribed text.  Short excerpts are OK. 

I’d love to hear from other bloggers and blog readers about this.  What are your thoughts?

The image above is "Senate Patents & Copyright Committee, 4/9/24", Library of Congress (National Photo Company Collection), call number LC-F81-29769, from the website http://www.loc.gov/item/npc2008006075/ accessed August 23, 2015.

UPDATE -  See in the comments below that Emily Moore has posted a link to another one of Judy Russell's posts that has updated information on GenealogyBank permissions on images http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2013/07/26/genealogybank-permissions-clarified/ 

------------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "I’m removing a blog post image… because it was the right thing to do!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 27, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/08/im-removing-blog-post-image-because-it.html :  accessed [access date]).

1803 and the Vaccine Controversy in New England

This news story is from the Farmer's Cabinet, Amherst, New Hampshire, Thursday, 23 June 1803, Volume I, Issue 33, page 2, accessed on line at Genealogy Bank.  The controversy over vaccinations has been the news lately with outbreaks of measles and whooping cough making a comeback after decades of relief from these diseases.  In 1803 the small pox vaccine was fairly new, invented by Edward Jenner in 1798.  Before Jenner's discovery, people tried to inoculate themselves with partial success with a process known as variolation.  But since most people alive at that time knew the consequences of catching the disease, the majority of people were innoculated with Jenner's vaccine.   According to this article, there were still a few who held off getting the vaccine and died of this dreaded disease.  

We all know that when the entire population was vaccinated, the disease small pox almost disappeared from our planet.  Diseases such as measles, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and others remain to plague everyone (children and adults) because of the current trend to ignore or even deny vaccinations.  

This is a case of learning from history, not ignoring it. 

Small Pox -  The Charleston Courier, after 

mentioning the death of Mr. Josiah Smith,

of the small pox, observes, "While we sym-

pathize with his family, we cannot but la-

ment his folly in neglecting vaccination,

which would have secured him with certainty,

from the ravages of that disorder, which has

made his wife a widow, and his children or-

phans."  The same paper informs us, that 

since the introduction of the Cow-Pox 

into Charleston, it has been twice lost from

the want of succession of subjects, and that

from present appearances it is likely soon to

be lost a third time, although the small pox

is propagating there apace.  This is a de-

plorable instance of the force of strong pre-

judices.  We are happy to understand that

in New-York, vaccination meets so lib-

eral an encouragement, as to afford strong 

hopes that the Small-Pox will before long en-

tirely disappear.  We have been informed

that the most respectable gentlemen of the 

faculty of this city, have come to a resolu-

tion not to inoculate for the small pox any

more.  If this be true, it is an instance of

bold and independent conduct, in the highest

degree honorable to every individual of the

association, and one which promises the most

saluatory consequences to our fellow-citizens.

Genealogy Bank   www.genealogybank.com

The Small Pox Vaccine, at Wikipedia   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine

The 1730 and 1774 Marblehead Riots against Small Pox Inoculation
http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/1730-1774-marblehead-riots-smallpox-inoculation/ 

A previous blog post about the large numbers of children lost to "throat distemper" (diptheria)
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-kingston-new-hampshire-throat.html


-------------------------

To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "1803 and the Vaccine Controversy in New England", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 19, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/02/1803-and-vaccine-controversy-in-new.html: accessed [access date]). 

George L. Wyman ~ “A Hard Character”

The Manchester Weekly Times, Manchester, New Hampshire, October 1, 1881

From http://theoldentimes.com/glwyman81nh.html

--- George L. Wyman, who stole a quantity of steam fire engine castings from the Amoskeag Company about six years ago, and who was tracked by David Perkins after his appointment as detective for the company, was sentenced Thursday forenoon in the Supreme Court at Nashua to a fine of $50 and costs, and to six month in jail.  Wyman has been a hard character, and has led a life of crime.

I saw this newsclipping and I was intrigued by several things.  First of all, it was fun to imagine a detective in the 1880s tracking down this thief, before the technology we have today.  Also, the name WYMAN, which is in my family tree, is what made me stop and read this story.  Most New England Wymans are all descended from Francis Wyman (1621 - 1684) of Woburn, Massachusetts.  I wondered if this George was a cousin to me through Francis Wyman?  Also, The Amoskeag Company was famous for their fire engines in the 1800s and early 1900s.  I just saw a fine example in Exeter at the Fire Museum, and another on display at the Manchester Historic Association’s Millyard Museum.  I knew I wanted to investigate this Black Sheep Wyman, just like the detective mentioned in the news clipping. 

I didn't know what a tangled knot I was going to find! 

I turned to Google to see what I could find on George L. Wyman.  The first thing that popped up  at Google books was a list of paupers from the city of Manchester, New Hampshire in this book:  Thirty-Fourth Annual Report of the Receipts and Expenditures of the City of Manchester for the Fiscal Year ending December 31,1879, Manchester, NH: Printed by John B. Clarke, 1880.  In the year 1874 George L. Wyman was given $2.46 in poor relief.  In 1875 he received $3.22, in 1876 he received $2.62.  Also in this book a Peter Gaines was paid $1 to furnish wood to Sarah Wyman (page 223), and Hardy & Putnam were paid $89.43 to furnish groceries to Sarah Wyman (page 220).   Who was Sarah Wyman?

In the NH Death records I found a George L. Wyman, d. 23 Feb 1912 at 752 Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, age 70 years, 3 months, born in Goffstown, New Hampshire in November 1841, divorced, cause of death- natural causes, alcoholism probable, father Edward Wyman and mother Mary Loomis.  From here I was able to look for more information on George in the vital records, and filled out the genealogy you can find below.  I found his wife (the Sarah Wyman from the poor records), daughters, marriages and lots of other New Hampshire vital records pertaining to this family at https://familysearch.org/

1870 US Federal Census, Manchester, New Hampshire, George L  (age 29) and Sarah J. Wyman (age 28) are living in the household of Edward and Mary Wyman.  George is listed as a teamster. His brother Edward A. (age 26), working in a print shop, is listed there as well.  Remember this fact – see below!

In the 1880 census, Sarah J. Wyman is listed at 31 Granite Street in Manchester,  as the head of the household, no husband, age 37, with five daughters, and a boarder named Charles Loomis, age 22 (a possible cousin?).   I couldn’t find George L. Wyman in the 1880 census, but in 1900 he was listed in the census as living in Goffstown,  age 60,  as a prisoner at the state prison.  Jailed again for some unknown offense!   In the 1910 census he was listed as a boarder at 788 Elm Street in Manchester, working as an engineer doing “contract-work”.  He was dead two years later.

Since I was having good luck with online resources, I also tried Fold3 www.fold3.com  whereI found George L. Wyman listed as a private in the Civil War, from Nashua, New Hampshire, enlisted on 9 August 1861, age 21, in Company F of the 4^th New Hampshire Infantry.  He was discharged on 23 August 1864.  On 29 March 1894 he applied for an invalid pension.   

Last I checked Genealogy Bank www.genealogybank.com and I found a divorce granted in Nashua, New Hampshire to Sarah J. Wyman from George L. Wyman listed in the New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (Concord, NH), Thursday, October 14, 1880, page 3.   Unfortunately, I didn’t find any more news stories on the theft or the arrest and sentencing of George L. Wyman, for either offense (1881 or whatever put him in prison in the 1900 census).

As a Wyman descendant, and a member of the Wyman Family Association  http://wymanassociation.org/ I had the rest of George L. Wyman's lineage back to the 1500s in my data base.  The family database, newsletters and books helped me to piece this lineage together many years ago, and the search I had done on George L. Wyman fit right in!  This Wyman family originated when Francis Wyman (1621 - 1684) came to America and settled in Woburn, Massachusetts.  His house, built in 1666, still stands and is the site of an annual Wyman family reunion every autumn.  

The Wyman Genealogy:

Generation 1:   Francis Wyman, was born 1594 in Westmill, Hertfordshire, England, died about 15 September 1658 in Westmill; married on 1 May 1617 in Westmill to Elizabeth Richardson, daughter of Thomas Richardson and Katherine Duxford.  These are my 10^th great grandparents.

Generation 2: John Wyman, son of Francis Wyman and Elizabeth Richardson, was born 1621 in Westmill, Hertfordshire, England, died 9 May 1684 in Woburn; married on 5 November 1644 in Woburn to Sarah Nutt, daughter of Miles Nutt and Sarah Bronson.  She was born about 1624 in Barking, Suffolk, England and died 24 May 1688 in Woburn.  Ten children.   John Wyman was my 9^th great uncle, and I descend from his brother, Francis Wyman (1617 – 1699), who also immigrated to Woburn, Massachusetts from Westmill in England.

Generation 3: Seth Wyman, son of John Wyman and Sarah Nutt, was born 3 August 1663 in Woburn, died 26 October 1715 in Woburn; married on 17 December 1685 in Woburn to Esther Johnson, daughter of William Johnson and Esther Wiswall.  She was born 13 April 1662 in Woburn, and died 31 March 1742 in Woburn.

Generation 4: Seth Wyman, son of Seth Wyman and Esther Johnson, was born 13 September 1686 in Woburn, died 5 September 1725 in Woburn; married on 26 January 1715 in Billerica to Sarah Ross.  She was born 7 October 1694 and died 26 November 1727.

Generation 5: Seth Wyman, son of Seth Wyman and Sarah Ross, was born in 1719, died 19 November 1749 in Arlington, Massachusetts; married on 4 July 1744 in Woburn to Ruth Wright.

Generation 6: Seth Wyman, son of Seth Wyman and Ruth Wright, was born 17 February 1750 in Woburn, Massachusetts, died 11 April 1825 in Goffstown; married three times to Sarah Atwood,  Sarah Wright and Ruth Belknap.

Generation 7: Seth Wyman, son of Seth Wyman and Sarah Atwood, born 4 March 1784 in Goffstown, died 2 April 1843; married on 16 December 1808 in Skowhegan, Maine to Wealthy Loomis, Daughter of Dyer Loomis and Esther Johnson. 

Generation 8: Edward Wyman married on 6 January 1840 in Manchester, New Hampshire to Mary Loomis, daughter of George Loomis and Martha French.  She was born 16 January 1819 in Skowhegan, Maine, and was Edward’s first cousin (George Loomis was the son of Dyer Loomis and Esther Johnson).   Seven children.   Just by coincidence, Mary Loomis is my 6^th cousin 5 generations removed because we are both descendants of the immigrants Joseph Loomis (about 1590 – 1658) and Mary White (1590 – 1652) who settled in Windsor, Connecticut.

Generation 9: George Lewis Wyman, born November 1840 in Goffstown, New Hampshire, died 23 February 1912 in Manchester, New Hampshire, married to Sarah Jane Lyman, five children born in Manchester.   According to the NH Vital Records, on 19 April 1885 she remarried to Edward A. WYMAN , printer, (George’s brother) in Manchester!   She died 31 October 1926 in New Hampshire.  This makes the two Wyman brothers, both husbands of Sarah Jane Lyman,  my 7^th cousins 4 generations removed. 

Children of George Lewis Wyman and Sarah Jane Lyman:

1. Ida Wealthy Wyman, born 15 March 1861; married first to Wardner Jefferson Jones; married second 21 April 1908 to Jason Albert Phillips

2. Mary Pattee Wyman died 19 October 1947; married first on 23 March 1888 to Herbert Danford; married second on 25 April 1893 in Manchester to John Thomas. Interestingly, this marriage record did not list George L. Wyman as the father, the father was left blank (note below how another sister spurned George and named Edwin as her father on her marriage record).

3. Caroline E. Wyman, born 1868, died 12 June 1945 and buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Manchester; married Arthur Leroy Holt on 3 July 1888.  

4. Sarah Aurilla Wyman, born 1871, married on 15 August 1892 to  Joseph Frank George; married second on 28 August 1926 in Francestown, New Hampshire to Frank Edson Chandler.

5. Anna Lillice Wyman born 1 September 1875 married on 2 September 1893 in Manchester to Emile G. Dirtsch.  Edwin A. Wyman is listed as the father on the marriage.

6. Nellie Wyman,  born after 1876, no further information.

-------------------------

The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/02/george-l-wyman-hard-character.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Melinda Wilkinson, the Runaway Bride

Melinda George married Jonathan Wilkinson on New Year’s Day 1828 in Gilford, New Hampshire.  Jonathan was the son of Benning Wilkinson, a founder of the Center Harbor, New Hampshire and a Revolutionary War veteran. 

I haven’t found any children for this marriage, nor death records for either Melinda or Jonathan.  They seemed to have disappeared from the records. And so I began to search deeds, probate, military and newspaper records.  When I turned to searching newspapers, I found this very interesting 1832 notice with GenealogyBank.com:

from GenealogyBank, Nw Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (Concord, New Hampshire),
Monday, 6 February 1832, Volume 2, Issue 136, page 4

Apparently, these notices are not unusual in old newspapers.  Along with lost horses, runaway seamen, runaway apprentices and disinherited sons, you can easily find notices of runaway wives. 

Legally, a wife was the property of her husband, and she owned nothing.  Most wives left without taking anything, not even their children.  There must have been something very wrong with the situation for a woman to leave her children behind.  If she took them, they legally belonged to the husband.   Because of these laws, some widows refused to remarry.  However, a widow with young children would probably remarry quickly for the protections and financial stability of a husband.

Marriage was a contract.  If a woman bought or sold anything, it belonged to her husband. These notices usually contained language, like this one, stating that the husband would no longer honor any of her debts or contracts.   This was a clause that prevented the runaway from obtaining employment or purchases, in an attempt to have her return home.  Anyone who assisted the fugitive wife risked a lawsuit for damages.

Marcia Schmidt Blaine of Plymouth State University has been touring New Hampshire lecturing on these newspaper notices with her lecture “Runaway Wives: When Colonial Marriages Failed”.  She is sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council.  You can find one of her lectures on their website calendar at www.nhhc.org/calendar.php

I have no further information on Jonathan and Melinda Wilkinson.  But I do know that their story, whatever it is, must be very interesting!

 For the truly curious:

An interesting list of “Runaway Wife” notices from New York 1754 – 1774

http://faculty.history.umd.edu/CLyons/Hist%20210%20New%20York%20Run%20Away%20Wife%20Ads.pdf

A blog post dating from 2013 about runaway wife notices from the “Housesandbooks” blog

http://housesandbooks.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/womens-status-in-the-early-1800s/

A book by Maureen Taylor, Runaways, Deserters and Notorious Villains from Rhode Island Newspapers, Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1994.

------------------------------------

The URL for this post is

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/melinda-wilkinson-runaway-bride.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy - The 4th Commandment

On Genealogy Bank I found that my 9th great grandfather, the Reverend William Homes (1663 - 1746), had written a book on the Sabbath.  This is a small advertisement, dated 1727 for his book Religious Observation of the Lord's-Day.

from GenealogyBank.com
New England Weekly Journal, Boston, Massachusetts, Thursday, 10 July 1727, Issue XVI, page 2

I have read excerpts from Rev. Homes's personal journal, but I didn't know he had written a book.  You never know what you're going to find in historic newspapers.  I almost didn't look for his name at Genealogy Bank because I considered it too early in American history to find anything about him.  Now I know better!

Do you think I can find a copy of this little book on eBay?

You can read all about the life of the Reverend William Homes at this blog post:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/surname-saturday-homes-of-northern.html

----------------------------

The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/08/remember-sabbath-and-keep-it-holy-4th.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Happy New Year, 1758

From the Boston Gazette, Boston, Massachusetts, Monday, January 16, 1758, Issue 146, page 1.

image from GenealogyBank.com 

THIS DAY PUBLISH’D

(and Sold by the Printers hereof:)

A New Year’s GIFT:

Being a DISCOURSE on Jeremiah 8^th,

 20^th.  Preached on the LORD’S-DAY Morning

January 1, 1758. At Brookline.  Wherein is briefly

attempted – A Discovery of the Causes of our late

National Calamities, Disappointments and Losses-

That they are owing to our Sins, which, not only ren-

der us obnoxious to the divers Indignation and Wrath;

but in their own Nature tend to produce such Distresses

and ??? – That the only probable Way to Peace,

Safety and Prosperity, is to remove them, and turn

to God and Goodness- Several Considerations pro-

ported to rouse and awaken our Attention to it.  By

NATHANIEL POTTER, A.M., Pastor of the Church

in Brookline.

Where way also be sad just Publish’d

An excellent SERMON Preached at the Interment

Of his late Excellency JONATHAN BELCHER,

??? Governour of his Majesty’s Province of New-

Jersey, who departed this Life at Elizabeth-Town,

Aug. 31, 1757, Aged 76.  The Sermon being En-

titled- “A Servant of God dismissed from LABOUR

in REST”; from Daniel xii, 13.  By the late Rev.

Mr. AARON BURR, A.M.  President of the College

Of New Jersey, [Being the last he ever Preach’d.]

With an agreeable Preface by the Rev. Mr. CALEB

SMITH.

Sermons used to be published by newspaper printers, especially sermons delivered on holidays, for funerals and for special occasions.  These sermons sometimes survive and can be excellent genealogical resources, especially funeral sermons.  This advertisement in mid-January 1758 describes two sermons for sale that were delivered earlier, one for a New Year’s service and the other for the funeral of Governor Jonathan Belcher of New Jersey.   How would you like to receive a sermon as a New Year’s Day gift?

The Boston Gazette was published 1719 – 1798.  Some famous contributors to the Boston Gazette include Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and the poet Phyllis Wheatley.  Paul Revere served as an engraver for the Boston Gazette, including the masthead vignette. The first publisher was James Franklin, brother to Benjamin Franklin, and Ben served as an apprentice at this printing office before he ran away to Philadelphia.

-------------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy New Year, 1758", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 30, 2013, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/happy-new-year-1758.html: accessed [access date]).  

Santa Claus, in a New Hampshire Newspaper, 1850

What is the first mention of Santa Claus you have seen in a newspaper from your area?  What is the first mention ever of Santa Claus in an old newspaper from anywhere?  If you know, please comment below, or link to a post you might have on your own blog.  Let's see who can find the oldest mention of good ol' Saint Nick!

This news clipping was found at the website GenealogyBank.com, and is from The Farmer's Cabinet, Amherst, New Hampshire, Volume 49, Issue 19, page 1, Thursday, December 19, 1850 and appears to be reprinted from The Youth's Companion.  This was a children's magazine, published in Boston, that ran from 1827 to 1929,

YOUTH'S DEPARTMENT

--------------------------------

From the Youth's Companion

Saint Nicholas Discovered

It was the day before Christmas.  The merry sleigh bells might be heard in all directions, and the keen bracing air of winter united to the brilliant whiteness of the new fallen snow, made it a pleasure to go abroad, and a shame to stay within doors, that day.  It is only in the country, that the beauty of a snow clad winter prospect can be seen and appreciated.  There the meadows are clad in virgin white, the hills glisten with an undimmed splendor, and the trees spread out their white branches, and wear their winter robe, as gracefully as their summer dress.

In the village of S-------------, the very jem we think of our New England villages, all these beauties were t be seen, on the day above mentioned. But to complete the picture must be added a party of school children, who are wending their way along the snow-path leading from the village school to their own homes.  They are talking very earnestly, and it is not about the beauty of the hills and meadows, for of this they seem quite unconscious.  Let us join the group, and listen to their excited voices for it must be something very interesting which so engrosses them.  A bright rosy cheeked boy of about eight years old, is the principal speaker, and is expressing his firm belief in the existence of Santa Claus.

"You needn't shake your head so wisely, Ellen," he continues, "for last year, Santa Claus filled my stocking with just what I wanted, and if he had not been a Saint, he wouldn't have known what to give me.  Now would he, girls?" and Charley looks round triumphantly at this conclusive argument.

"Don't you suppose I should know how to please you, as well as he?" asks Ellen, who still wishes to convince her brother that there convince her brother that there is, after all, no such person as his favorite Saint Nicholas.

"No, I'm sure I don't think any such thing.  At any rate, you never do please me half so well.  And I mean to thank Saint Nicholas as long as I live."

At this little burst of gratitude, Ellen cannnot help laughing, and the younger children seem to think that Charley has the right of it, after all.  Many are instances brought forward to prove the excellence of good Saint Nicholas, such as the rods, always found in the stockings of ill-natured children, and the certain reward of obedience.  At length, Emma Harris, a little girl of as bright eyes and rosy cheeks as those of her friend Charley, exclaims:

"Well, whatever you old girls may say," and she looks at the venerable ladies of twelve and thirteen years, "I am sure that Charley Brooks is right.  For the other night I dreamed about Santa Claus, and he lookes exactly as he does in a picture I've got at home.  He had a cloud all around him, and he was laughing, and there were all sorts of beautiful things in his lap, and I saw the wax doll, with the blue eyes and yellow hair, and pink cheeks, that I want for my Christmas present."

At this confirmation of all his hopes, Charley Brooks looks as if he would eat Ellen up with affection and delight.  Casting a triumphant glance at his sister, whom he considers completely conquered, Charley inquires "if Emma didn't see a train of railroad cars in Nicholas' lap?"

Emma's large eyes became larger than ever at this question.  "Why, of course I did not.- How could a man hold a whole train of cars in his lap?" she inquired with surprise.

"Oh, I didn't mean a real large train, Emma.  Only some painted iron cars, such as I saw once in New York, just big enough for me."

Emma had never chanced to see these new fashioned playthings; and she was sorry to say she did not see them in Santa Claus' lap, and poor Charles looked disappointed.

"Never mind that, Charley.  You have better friends than Nicholas," said Ellen in a consoling tone, and though her brother did not exactly understand to whom she referred, he still felt a sort of assurance that he should see some cars the next morning.

By this time, the children have reached their homes.  Full of glad thoughts and hopeful anticipations of the morrow, Charley retires to bed, soon after supper, "so as to make the morning come sooner,"  he says.  In his sleep he too dreams of "Saint Nicholas", and in his dream, by far the most conspicuous article is a train of cars, bearing Saint Nicholas along in triumph towards Charley's chamber.  Alas!  dreams sometimes go by contraries, and Saints disappoint their most faithful friends.

At the earliest dawn of light, on Christmas morning, our young friend had crept out of his bed, and almost breathless with excited hopes, feels in both of his long stockings.  His hand is thrust far in, till it reaches the foot, but no welcome rustling of paper is heard; there is nothing in either.  Perhaps, however, the cars are under the table, which Charley has placed near, so that if his presents are numerous, they may be arranged there.  Vain hope!  There is nothing to be found.  With a heart full of disappointment, the little fellow wipes his eyes and creeps back to bed.  One thought alone comforts him.  "Perhaps Saint Nicholas is not an early riser.  He will try to go to sleep till daylight, and then, when he wakes up, there will be something in his stockings."  Acting upon this resolution, our little friend falls asleep again, and does not awake till broad daylight.  Then springing from his bed he again, with trembling heart approaches his stockings.-  Again those little hands are thrust in, and again they are drawn out.  There is nothing there.  This is too much for the little boy's philosophy, and he sits down upon his trundle bed, and cries heartily.

At this moment of saddest disappointment, the door opens, and Ellen, all radiant with smiles, comes in to awake her brother.

"Now wipe your eyes, darling,"  she says in her kindest tone.  "Saint Nicholas, as I told you, has brought you nothing, but your own dear papa has just come from New York, with a box full of things for you and me.  So dress you quickly and come down stairs. We will open the box, and I should not wonder if we found some cars in it."

Never did sunshine succeed clouds so rapidly, as the smiles now chased the tears from Charley's face.  His dear papa had been gone many months, and now he was at home again with a box of playthings too.  Hurrying on his clothes, and running down stairs, the boy is soon clasped in his father's arms, and Mr. Brooks exclaims:

"Well, my boy, which had you rather see, papa or Santa Claus?"

Now the box is opened, and the long wished for train of cars, with a fire engine, and all the cars made to fasten or unfasten, are taken out, and as Charley delightedly views this object of his desires, Ellen says with a smile:

"You have found out after all, my little brother, that your papa is the only true Saint Nicholas."

--------------------------------
The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/santa-claus-in-new-hampshire-newspaper.html 

Copyright (c) 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

An adoption in the 1800s

Found at GenealogyBank.com

from the Boston Evening Transcript, Saturday, August 16, 1845

there was a similar marriage notice also in the Boston Recorder, Thursday, August 21, 1845

MARRIAGES

At South Boston, 7th inst. by the Rev. T. D. Cook, Mr. 

GEORGE EMERSON to Miss MARY E. HARRIS

The George Emerson mentioned above is my 3rd Great Grandfather.  I first traced my Emerson lineage more than 30 years ago, when I was a teenager in the 1970s.  I used a book called The Ipswich Emersons 1636 - 1900: A genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Emerson of Ipswich, Mass., with some account of his English Ancestry, by Benjamin Kendall Emerson, privately published in Boston, 1900.  You can read this book at openlibrary.org or archive.org .  I was taking a genealogy class at the time, and I knew I had to back up this book with primary sources.  

What intrigued me was this passage on page 307: 

George Emerson, son of Romanus and Jemima (Burnham) Emerson, was born at South Boston, Mass. 11 July 1817, and died at Dorchester, Mass., 11 January 1890.  He married, 11 August 1845, Mary Esther Harris, adopted daughter of David Harris, and daughter of Levi and Mary Catherine (Jones) Younger of Boston, where she was born 17 February, 1826.  

What happened to Mary Esther's parents?  Who were they?  And who was David Harris, her adoptive father?  I quickly found out that although there were a few legal adoptions in the court records, there was noting there in the Boston, Suffolk County records about this adoption.  I muddled over this for a few years, hoping to find an answer.  

It was upon looking at Mary Esther's extended family that I found the answer.  Her father was Levi Younger, who I found in the Gloucester Vital Records.  Her mother was Catherine Plummer Jones, who died on 2 May 1828, only 29 years old and with four babies (the youngest died 7 July 1828 which made me think something happened during childbirth?)   In building this family tree, I saw that Levi's sister, Mary, had married a David Harris in 1823.  This wasn't in the Gloucester or Boston vital records, but in another newspaper marriage announcement I found years later when I found it during an internet search.  It took 25 years, but it was worth the wait.  Mary Esther had been "adopted" by her aunt.  

So when I found the marriage announcement at the top of this post, I understood who "Mary Esther Harris" was, even though in family letters and some vital records you will find her as "Mary Esther Younger".   Most informal adoptions (without legal papers being filed) were often between family and extended family at this time period.  Filling out the extended family tree helped to solve this mystery.

--------------------------

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Free Soilers in Boston 1850

Found at GenealogyBank.com

from the Emancipator and Republican, Boston, Massachusetts, "Free Soil Rally in Chapman Hall",  Thursday, 5 September 1850, Volume XV, Issue 19, page 3

The highlighted name,
Romanus Emerson, is my 4th great grandfather

 The Free Soil political party was active during the 1848 and 1852 presidential campaigns, and it's platform was strongly anti-slavery.  The name "Free Soil" came from opposing the expansion of slavery into new states forming out west.  The candidates for president in the Free Soil party were Martin Van Buren in 1848, and John P. Hale in 1852.  In 1854 the party evolved into the modern Republican party.  Other famous Free Soilers were William Cullen Bryant, Horace Mann, Charles Sumner, Walt Whitman, and John Greenleaf Whittier.

If you look at the news clipping above, my 4th great grandfather's name, Romanus Emerson, is highlighted in yellow.  Just to the right of his name is the name Charles Sumner.  In 1856 Sumner gave an impassioned anti slavery speech in the Senate called "The Crime against Kansas".  Two days after the speech the South Carolina Congressman, Preston Brooks, entered the Senate chamber and nearly beat Charles Sumner to death with a gold headed cane. This incident was a major cause of the coming of the Civil War five years later. The cane used to attack Charles Sumner is on exhibit at the Old State House in Boston.  There is a statue of Sumner in the middle of Harvard Square.

My ancestor, Romanus Emerson (1782 - 1852), was a progressive, much like Charles Sumner and the other members of the Free Soil party.  Romanus settled in South Boston in 1810, when the main thoroughfare in that part of the city was called the "Old Road" and it was renamed "Emerson Street" after his death.   He was a noted atheist, and a member of the Boston Infidel Society.  When the first abolitionists came to Boston, most of the established churches would not let them lecture in their buildings.  The Boston Infidel Society gave abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison permission to use their Julian Hall three times.

Romanus Emerson was like his cousin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a philosophical man who was considered eccentric because his views were ahead of their time. They were considered progressives, in a very conservative Boston.   Other members of my family tree, Noah Martin Eaton (abt 1832 - 1909) and his wife Eliza Ruth Walton (1837 -1909), were also abolitionists and Free Soilers.  They were from Reading, Massachusetts and removed to Lawrence, Kansas.   Their first two children, out of six, were born in Lawrence in 1861 and 1864. Confederate guerrillas burned most of  Lawrence on 21 August 1863, destroyed anti-slavery newspaper offices, and killed 150 of the 200 men they found there.  Abolitionists from New England had resettled in Kansas in an attempt to keep it "Free Soil".  Noah Eaton removed his family back to Reading by 1868, where his last four children were born and where he stayed for the rest of his life.  He was a first cousin, one generation removed from Romanus Emerson. (Noah Eaton's story could be an entire blog post on its own!)

The newspaper where the above news clipping came, the Emancipator and Republican, from was in existence from 1848 to 1850. It was previously known as the Emancipator and Free Soil Press, and evolved into the Commonwealth & Emancipator in 1851.   You can view copies online at www.GenealogyBank.com and also at the Library of Congress website chroniclingamerica.loc.org

Chapman Hall, where the Free Soil committee met, was located where the Parker House Hotel is now located on the corner of Tremont Street and School Street.  The alley behind the Parker House is called Chapman Place. Chapman Hall also allowed abolitionists to speak, and also African American orators such as Dr. John Rock.  According to an article in the Boston Evening Transcript, "Anti-Slavery Landmarks in Boston", 1 September 1897, page 6:

 "August 17, 1855, a meeting was held in Chapman Hall on Chapman place, the little alley leading off School street, by the Parker House.  As near s the writer has been able to learn, the hall or a building occupying its site was removed in order to give room for the middle portion of the Parker House on that side.  At this meeting it was resolved that "the time has fully come for a united and earnest effort of the people of Massachusetts, in concert with the friends of freedom throughout the Union, whose object shall be to restrain the alarming encroachments of slavery." A memorable gathering! For out of it went a committee which, in the United States Hotel, drew up a call for the Worcester Convention , from which sprang the Republican party of Massachusetts."

The incident when Charles Sumner was caned has been written up in a new book by Stephen Puleo in The Caning: The Assault that drove America to Civil War, Westholme Publishing, 2012.  See the website:  http://www.stephenpuleo.com/book/the-caning/ 

To view a previous blog post about Romanus Emerson, click here:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/madness-monday-odd-romanus-emerson-part.html 

----------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Free Soilers in Boston 1850", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 4, 2013, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/02/free-soilers-in-boston.html: accessed [access date]).

Peter Hoogerzeil's Wheelbarrow

Found at GenealogyBank.com

Saturday Morning Citizen, Beverly, Mass.  1 October 1892, page 2

"Four Awards at the Fair

Mr. Peter Hoogerzeil may well feel proud of the success of his exhibits at the Essex Agricultural Fair this week, he recieving four awards, as follows:  First premium, $2, on coop of Perkin bantams; second permium $1, on one coop of Perkin bantams; gratuity $1, on patent rolling oven grate for a stove.  Those who saw the wheelbarrow were highly pleased with Mr. Hoogerzeil's invention and several flattering offers were received from parties who wished to put it on the market.  It is on exhibition at Whitcomb & Carter's store."

This image was found at the Google Patent Search

No Model No 486,469 P HOOGERZEIL WHEELBARROW Patented Nov 22 1892

 THE NORRIS PETERS CO PHOTO LITHO WASHINGTON D C 

http://www.google.com/patents?id=-zZ2AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&img=1&zoom=4&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3DeLj9X7xz2921ophP2YyAQLqVmA&ci=18%2C14%2C966%2C1349&edge=0

Peter Hoogerzeil is my 2nd great grandfather.  He was a prolific inventor and I've written about him at this blog previously (see the links below).   His father, also named Peter Hoogerzeil,  came from Holland to Salem, Massachusetts in the 1820s. Peter, Jr. was a fisherman, quartermaster and then began his own express business in Beverly, Massachusetts, near the Salem bridge on Bartlett Street.  During his lifetime he patented over a dozen inventions.  

Peter Hoogerzeil, son of Peter Hoogerzeil and Eunice Stone, born in Beverly, Massachusetts on 24 June 1841, died on 10 May 1908 in Beverly; married on 14 March 1870 in Salem to Mary Etta Healey, the daughter of Joseph Edwin Healey and Matilda Weston.  She was born in Beverly on 19 May 1852 and died  on 23 July 1932 in Beverly.  They had six children, all born in Beverly:

1.  Florence Etta, my great grandmother, born 20 August 1871, died 10 February 1941 in Hamilton, Massachusetts; married Arthur Treadwell Hitchings.

2.  Lillie May, born 29 September 1873, died 17 May 1874

3.  Alonzo, born 29 May 1875, died 23 January 1946; married Mabel Thurston Cressey

4. Edward Peter, born 27 July 1877, died 11 October 1807; died unmarried

5. Lucy May, born 18 June 1882, died 3 September 1931, died unmarried

6. Isabel, born 3 August 1888, died 29 February 1960; married George Sorenson

-----------------------------

Previous blog posts about Peter Hoogerzeil's inventions and patents:

Perusing Google Patents http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/perusing-google-patents.html 

Peter Hoogerzeil's House

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-so-wordless-wednesday-peter.html

-----------------------------

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A Peculiar Accident

Found at GenealogyBank.com


Saturday Morning Citizen, Beverly, MA, 18 June 1892, page 2

"A Peculiar Accident
Alonzo Hoogerzeil, clerk for Mr. Joseph A. Wilson, met with a peculiar accident Wednesday noon.  He was leaning into a window to obtain some article, and as he did so he kicked a bottle of "pop."  The bottle exploded and a pice of flying glass struck him on the third finger of the right hand, cutting it to the bone at the knuckle.  He could not leave the store for he was alone.  Mr. Charles H. Woodbury was passing and he came in and bound up the finger, which was bleeding profusely.  As soon as Mr. Wilson returned the young man went to Dr. Stickney and had the wound dressed.  It is painful, but will heal all right and he will not lose the use of the finger."

Alonzo Hoogerzeil, son of Peter Hoogerzeil and Mary Etta Healey, was born 29 May 1875 in Beverly, Massachusetts, died 23 January 1946 in Beverly; married on 30 May 1895 in Danvers, Massachusetts to Mabel Thurston Cressey, daughter of Eben Flint Cressey and Elizabeth A. Whittier.  She was born 25 July 1874 in Danvers and died 27 September 1951 in Salem, Massachusetts.  Four children born in Beverly:

1.  Roland Gale, born 22 August 1895, died 14 March 1972 in Norfolk; married Helen Josephine Sullivan.

2.  Marion Cressey, born 15 January 1904, died 1953; married Charles Francis Howard

3.  Norman Peter, 10 October 1905, died 24 December 1992 in Danvers; married Helen Preble

4. Hilda Lucy, born 10 December 1915, died 13 May 2000; married Harold Kingston

Alonzo was my 2nd great grand uncle, brother to my great grandmother, Florence Etta Hoogerzeil (1871 - 1941).    Over the years he went from being a clerk to owning his own shop.  He sold books, stationary and periodicals in Beverly, and then was a clothing salesman.   Among the ordinary things I found about his life was this odd tidbit:

"Catalog of Copyright entries"  by Library of Congress Copyright Office, 1920, Part 4, page 319
"Alonzo Hoogerzeil of Beverly, Massachusetts held a copyright for a "Hinduphone" on July 16, 1920, 2nd c. August 19, 1920. K 14807"


Does anyone know what a "Hinduphone" might have been in 1920?

-----------------------------------
Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A Baker’s Dozen of ways to Learn more about Genealogy

The following list has ways you can learn to research your own family tree, starting at the top with the easiest and cheapest ideas, down to the most expensive and time consuming at the bottom of the list.  All can be done from home or nearby to Londonderry, New Hampshire.  Almost all these ideas can easily be found in any state or area of the country.  If anyone else has ideas or additions to this list, please leave a comment:

1. FREE online videos at www.familysearch.org, the website run by the Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons).  At the page https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html you will find over 300 video tutorials on topics such as “Basic Italian Genealogy Research” and “Getting Started with Family History”.  Use the main website for access to millions of FREE online records from all over the globe.

2. Visit the Family History Center at the LDS church on Concord Street, Nashua for FREE (there are more in NH, Mass and all 50 states).  There is a small fee for ordering microfilm from Salt Lake City.  Knowledgeable staff to answer your questions.  To find a Family History Center local to you please check the website www.familysearch.org 

3. Consult your local library’s reference department to see if they run genealogy classes for free.  Most local libraries have the institutional version of Ancestry.com on their computers, for FREE use by patrons, saving you the subscription fee you would have to pay on your home computer.  Many libraries also have subscriptions to GenealogyBank.com or newspaper archives online for FREE, too. 

4. Join a local genealogy club, such as the Hudson, NH Genealogy Club that meets every 2^nd Friday of the Month at the Rogers Memorial Library or the Chelmsford, Mass Genealogy Club that meets the first Tuesday night of each month at 7PM in the Chelmsford Public Library.  Going to regularly scheduled meetings gives you the chance to ask questions and hobnob with more advanced genealogists. FREE.

5. Visit the Department of Vital Records on 71 South Fruit Street, Concord, New Hampshire.  There are staff and volunteers to assist in searching for birth, marriage, divorce and civil union certificates going back to the 1600s.  FREE but there are fees for obtaining certified copies of records.

6. Visit the NH State Library at 20 Park Street in Concord.  FREE.  There is an online catalog at www.nh.gov/nhsl/

7. “Attend” an online “webinar” for free or for a low cost.  See the calendar at www.blog.geneawebinars.com Most of the webinars are free.  Dozens of webinars every month ranging from beginners to advanced level genealogy courses.

8. Join the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists www.nhsog.org and attend two general meetings every year with great speakers.  The Quarterly journal New Hampshire Genealogical Record will inspire you to do more advanced work, and provide tips.  $20/ year for individual members.  By the way, there are also societies in nearly every state, including Maine and Massachusetts.

9. Join the American Canadian Genealogical Society in Manchester www.acgs.org  for $35.00/ year for an individual member.  This gives you access to their large library at 4 Elm Street in Manchester, individual assistance from a very knowledgeable staff, a yearly conference and a subscription to the Society’s journal American Canadian Genealogist.   Hanging out at the library in Manchester is only $5 per day, and you will have the chance to meet genealogists of all levels of expertise.  And they love to answer questions! Free parking, too.

10.  For $40/year for an individual membership you can join the New Hampshire Historical Society and have access to their large library and also their museum.  Free or discounted lectures and workshops.   The staff is very good at helping with genealogy requests and research, and the card catalog is available online, too.  The library is open to non-members for $7 day fee.  www.nhhistory.org

11. Join the New England Historic Genealogical Society www.americanancestors.org and have access to their six floor library in Boston, and a large online database, as well as a quarterly journal The New England Historic Genealogical Society Register and a quarterly magazine American Ancestors.  Frequent free workshops and more advanced classes and courses for fees of various amounts.  Visiting the library and research center at 99 Newbury Street in Boston gives you the chance to mingle with genealogists of all levels, and to consult with some of the best staff genealogists informally for FREE or more formally in scheduled appointments for a fee.  $79.95 yearly for an individual membership.

12.  Join Ancestry.com for $22/95 month, $77.70 for six months  or for a free trial membership.  This is a large online database, with town, state and federal records, trees submitted by members, newspapers, military records and lots of other online goodies.  It costs $24.95 per month for access to international records.

13.  Boston University offers a certificate in Genealogy Research, both online and on campus in Boston.   This class is an intensive way to develop the skills needed to become a professional genealogist or for those who work in libraries, law, research or related fields.  http://professional.bu.edu/programs/genealogy/   Tuition is $2695 for the fifteen week, non credit class on-line.  

-----------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Baker’s Dozen of ways to Learn more about Genealogy", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 4, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-bakers-dozen-of-ways-to-learn-more.html: accessed [access date]). 

Ivory Wilkinson AKA Ivory Peirce AKA Ivory Moulton Part 2

The sensational headlines!
The Boston Globe, 3 December 1885
Front Page!

Yesterday I outlined the history and the lawsuit of Ivory W. M. Peirce to contest thewill of railroad millionaire Thomas W. Peirce.  What I found most interesting is that the newspapers in 1885 included entire transcripts of the testimony.  This testimony gave me much detail about the family dynamics and the family tree, including some names that did not show up in the Maine vital records. 

The following reads like a bad soap opera, but was actually extremely helpful to me! 

For example:

According to Ivory Wilkinson Moulton Peirce: “I went to my mother and asked her who was my father, and she told me Thomas W. Pierce and it was honorable; I was indignant at that and left her; I did not ask when or where she was married; have had nothing to do with her since; I saw her two years ago in Sanford but never had a word with her about the subject; should think she was married about 1845 by the name Julia Wilkinson; think she went by the name of Peirce before that in Sanford… Took the name of Peirce when 17 years old; after my mother told me about my parentage…” [reported in The Boston Daily Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 19  November  1885, page 5 “Peirce’s Alleged Son”]  (All records after he left Maine, including his military enlistment in the Civil War, marriage in Massachusetts and his children's birth records all name him as Ivory W. M. Peirce, except for a run in with the law when he used the name "Ivory Sanford".) 

Or more testimony by Ivory W. M. Peirce: “My mother has other children by Mr. Witham; don’t know how many; visited my mother a few weeks ago; I saw a daughter, Georgie, down there. I have seen a son named Charley. I think he is older; have heard of one named Sarah Witham; you know as much as I do about them; have heard others mentioned; another girl; have reason to suppose there are four, but I don’t know but that she had a dozen others; I never heard of any older than myself or any younger except the Witham children; I presume my mother was married to Mr. Witham and know she was to Mr. Thomas W. Pierce; don’t know who my mother lived with in Sanford, Me., except my grandfather; Don’t know that she lived with Reuben J. Wentworth; I don’t know about her marriage to him, and I don’t think anybody ever did but you. Don’t know of mother having any relatives living; don’t know whether she is living or not. I understood she was married.  I understand she had another sister, Lucy Morrison. She had a brother James Wilkinson who died a few months ago. Have seen her sister, Hannah Ricker, in Lynn. Have been at her house in Great Falls, N.H.  Have seen her a great many times.  She visited me once in Lynn. She has no husband. I think he is dead.  I saw her last three years ago. Saw Lucy last in Sanford, Me. some ten or twelve years ago.  I know that Charles Witham is in Charlestown State Prison now.  I think I’ve never heard of James or Stephen Witham.” [The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, Wednesday, 2 December 1885, page 1, “Latest”] 

I found these children and more listed in the Witham household in census records, and I did also find Julia Wilkinson's marriage and divorce records to Reuben Wentworth, and her Witham marriage. I also found Hannah Wilkinson's marriage to Benjamin Franklin Peirce Ricker, and Lucy Wilkinson's marriage to Joseph Morrison.   I'm wondering if there were any closer kinship ties between the Wilkinsons and the millionaire Peirce family since Benjamin Franklin Peirce Ricker's first wife was a Mercy Peirce! 

There was even some testimony by Jeremiah Moulton, Ivory’s foster father:  “Ivory W. M. Peirce when he came to us, was called Ivory Wilkinson.  He was upon the town at the time, and a small pittance was paid for him awhile, and then we adopted him.  He was a hard boy.  An old gentleman and lady used to come to see Ivory from Farmington. They said their name was Pevey.  A question as to an alleged declaration by the old gentleman that Ivory was his grandchild was ruled out.  Never told Ivory Wilkinson that his name was Peirce.  Never told him that his father’s name was Thomas W. Peirce.  Never had any such conversation with him.  Knew Julia A. Wilkinson.  She use dto visit Ivory when he was with us.  Didn’t know her before that.  Knew she was a woman of bad repute.  Knew she had on child older than Ivory, a daughter, whom she used to go see, and one younger that couldn’t go alone.  Had a conversation with Ivory W. M. Peirce last Friday in Sanford.  He told me that he was the son of Thomas W. Peirce, and talked as if he was the sole heir.  He said that he had commenced to break the will.  That he should not have thought of doing much about it if the lawyers hadn’t put him up to it.  He thought there would be a compromise.  Cross examined:  I was born in 1825.  Kew Julia A. Wilkinson was of bad repute before Ivory was born, after she had the daughter.  First heard of it after the birth of the girl.  Knew the latter was called Sarah Ann Wilkinson.  She married William Wentworth, the son of Rufus Moulton.  They lived together as married people.  Don’t know where she is.  Witness left Sanford in the April he was 20.  Ivory Wilkinson came to the Moulton family when he was five years old…. He was 21 years of age when he first called himself to us Ivory W. M. Peirce.  It was before my father’s death, and he died 15 years ago.  I was told he was living in Lynn under that name by George Hussey and William Stackpole.  Ivory wrote father about his parentage.  Witness never inquired of him why he called himself Peirce.  When he left witness’ place he told him: “Don’t you wear my name any longer.” And he supposed that Ivory picked another one.” [from The Boston Herald, Boston, Massachusetts, 3 December 1885, page 3 “Trying to Break a Will”] (It is rather sad that as a child Ivory Wilkinson was auctioned off to be kept by the Moulton family.  New England town records are full of records of children, elderly spinsters and paupers being auctioned off in the days before Poor Farms and Poor Asylums.  I don't know the relationship with the Peavey family yet, and I haven't found a birth record for the daughter, Sarah Ann,  Julia Wilkinson supposedly had before the birth of Ivory, but I did find Sarah Ann Wilkinson's marriage to William Wentworth.)  

And some testimony from Simon Tebbetts of Sanford, Maine, deputy sheriff: “Knew Julia Wilkinson prior to 1839 and Knew of Such a Child as Ivory Moulton, and knew that she had a girl older than this boy.  She lived at the “brick schoolhouse” between Sanford Corner and Alfred.  She had the reputation when younger of being a very bad girl.  Cross-examined: Have been a trial judge and am now a farmer.  Had known Julia Wilkinson had a bad reputation before she gave birth to a child.  Should not refuse to shake hands with her as she was a pretty girl …..  Heard that Julia Wilkinson had gone to South Berwick or Kittery to work some two years before witness met Thomas W. Peirce.  Tom used to come up to Springvale to do business for his father, who sold liquor to the hotel and also dealt with firms doing business there.  Never heard of his going to the house of Julia Wilkinson’s father, but thought he had heard his name in connection with Julia Wilkinson’s.  Did not hear it in connection with a marriage.  He never married her, in witness’s opinion, but was going with her prior to the birth of a child.” [from The Boston Herald, Boston, Massachusetts, 3 December 1885, page 3 “Trying to Break a Will”]

According to my calculations, Ivory Wilkinson AKA Ivory W. M. Peirce would be my 3rd cousin 3 generations removed. With these newspaper articles, and over two dozen other articles, I was able to also piece together the extended family.  Many of the names were unknown to me before this month, but after finding the names in the newspapers I was able to find them in some Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts vital records.

1.                                                Thomas Wilkinson (abt 1690 - before 1739)
                                                                           I
2.                                                James Wilkinson (abt 1730 - abt 1800)
                                                                           I
3.       Joseph Wilkinson (1757 - 1842)                         William Wilkinson (? - after 1840)
                       I                                                                          I
4.       James Wilkinson (1786-1860)                            Aaron Wilkinson (1802 - 1879)
                        I                                                                         I
5.       Julia Wilkinson (about 1820 - 1904)                  Robert Wilson Wilkinson (1830 - 1874)
                        I                                                                         I
6.   Ivory Wilkinson AKA Ivory W. M. Peirce             Albert Munroe Wilkinson (1860 - 1908)
                                                                                                  I
7.                                                                                 Donald Munroe Wilkinson (1895 - 1977)
                                                                                                  I
8.                                                                          John Warren Wilkinson (1934 - 2002) my Dad
                                                                                                  I
9.                                                                                       Yours Truly

To find all this nice juicy family information in newspapers I used:

NewspaperArchive.com   - Free 10 newspaper views per day if you sign in with Facebook

GenealogyBank.com   - by subscription or free through your public library

Ancestry.com  - by subscription or free through your public library 

Chronicling America - http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/  Free newspaper search online from the Library of Congress

-----------------------------------

Click here for the first blog post about Ivory Wilkinson
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-blacksheep-found-with.html


------------------------------------

Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo