Tombstone Tuesday ~ Wilkinson Monument at Mount Auburn Cemetery

This tombstone was photographed at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Wilkinson Monument

Simon Wilkinson

1776 - 1860

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His wife Elizabeth

1788 - 1849

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Their Children

Lucina 1808 - 1820

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David 1812 - 1837

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Simon 1810 - 1852

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Sarah 1816 - 1876

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William Wilkinson

1822 - 1885

James French

1812- 1881

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Lucina W. French

1824- 1892

Jacob A. Corey

1816 - 1883

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Caroline M. Corey

1826 - 1898

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Mary Corey

1857 - 1857

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Jacob Corey

1861 - 1864

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Simon Wilkinson was born 1776, died 5 February 1860 in Boston, Massachusetts; married on 10 January 1807 in Boston to Betsey Poor.  She was born about 1783 and died 11 January 1849 in Boston.  Simon Wilkinson was a very wealthy man. He was listed in the book "The Rich Men of Massachusetts", by Forbes and Green, 1851 as "Wilkinson, Simon, $150,000 Commenced poor. Caulker and graver. Retired".  He served as an alderman in Boston, and a member of the legislature.  Upon his death he had an obituary which ran in Philadelphia and in the New York Times which said "In his youth he worked on the famous frigate Constitution, and was always proud of his connection with that noble national vessel, and took deep interest in her fortunes."  They had nine children.

1. Elizabeth m. John F. Trull

2. Francis

3. Simon, born 1810 in Cambridge, died 1852 in Australia
4. David, born 1812, died 18 June 1837 in Havana, Cuba

5. Andrew Jackson Wilkinson, born 1815 in Cambridge, died 1881 in Boston, m. Cordelia Mary Kettell

6. Sarah, born 1816 in Cambridge, died 2 August 1876 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts

7. William Henry Wilkinson, born 29 August 1822 in Boston, died 1885 in Boston

8. Caroline M. born 1826 in Boston, died 1898 in Newton, Massachusetts m. Jacob Augustus Corey

9. Lucina, born 1828 in Boston, died 1892 in Newton, m. James French

The Plot card for the Wilkinson Family -

I haven't identified person #1 Sidney Menard

Transcription:

Lot. No. 927
Location: Cedar Avenue
Proprietor: Simon Wilkinson

1. Sidney F. Menard  Oct. 22, 1848 age 10
2. Betsey Wilkinson Jan. 14, 1849, age 66
3. Mary Corey, Dec. 13, 1857, age 4
4. Simon Wilkinson, Feb. 8, 1860, age 83 y, 16 days
   Andrew K. Wilkinson, Aug. 26, 1863
5. Jacob Corey, Apr. 11, 1864, age 2 y. 9m 15d
6. Elizabeth Trull, July 31, 1863, age 55
7. Sarah Wilkinson, Aug 5, 1876, age 58 y, 5 m
8. James French, June 5, 1881, age 69 y, 0 m, 4d
9. Jacob A. Corey, Oct 13, 1883, age 67 y, 7m, 0d
10. Wm. H. Wilkinson, Aug 29, 1885, age 63 y, 0m, 0d
11 Lucina Wilkinson French, Dec. 28, 1892, age 68 y, 1 m
12 Caroline M. Corey, Aug. 5, 1898, age 72 y, 3m
13. Mary L. French, Jan. 24, 1928, 63 y, 4m

Notes: 6. Nov. 7, 1876 to 4473
#4 1/2 June 6, 1865 to Lot 3500
 [notes say that Elizabeth Trull and Andrew K. Wilkinson were reburied in another plot]

UPDATE:

A reader sent me an email with a link to a death record at FamilySearch.org .  It was the death record of Elizabeth W. Menard, who died on 27 June 1810 in Boston, Massachusetts at age 81.  Sidney R. Menard was listed as the husband of Elizabeth Trull, daughter of John F. Trull and Elizabeth W. Wilkinson.  You can see this record at this link:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N4SJ-TSN

Perhaps the 10 year old Sidney F. Menard is their son?
 

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

One Couple, Two Wedding Celebrations

Several weeks ago we celebrated our daughter's wedding in Massachusetts.  And then a week later we celebrated again in Madrid, Spain.  Two wedding feasts, two cultures, two weeks of fun!

The first wedding took place at the historic Pierce House in Lincoln, Massachusetts.  The Spanish side of our family considered this to be "very American" since we held the reception in a tent.  They had seen this in many American films and television programs, so I guess they are correct!  There were many American traditions such as dancing (including the Father-Bride dance), the tossing of the bouquet and garter, bridesmaids and flower girls.  It was a wonderful day despite deluges of rain and bitter cold.  Thanks goodness for tent heaters!

The second wedding feast took place a week later in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, and was attended by grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles from Spain.  The groom's family also traveled to Madrid to be there for the festivities.  They learned about lots of new Spanish culture including food, music, and wedding traditions such as cutting the cake with a sword, the exchange of arras (coins given by the bride and groom to each other in a sort of "what's mine is now yours" ceremony), and music by medieval style troubadors.  We had another wonderful day! 

Here are some of the photos shot by guests at the weddings.  We don't have any of the professional photos yet.  Enjoy!

In Lincoln, Massachusetts the house was decorated with family photos,

including photographs of both deceased grandfathers on the mantel. 

 

The bride's father took this photograph of the bride and her attendants relaxing with a champagne toast,  just a few minutes before the wedding ceremony.  She is wearing a dress bought in New Hampshire, but after the purchase we found out it was made in Spain.  This dress traveled from Spain, to New Hampshire, to Massachusetts and then back to Spain again so the bride could wear it a second time for the relatives in Madrid.  Perhaps this is the most traveled wedding dress?  It is now safely back in New Hampshire, and who knows where it will go next after being cleaned and returned to the bride in Massachusetts.

The groom tied the wedding garter around a football,

and the unmarried men had to catch it!

And then in Spain....

In Madrid the bride wore a traditonal peineta (a tall hair comb) and carried a Spanish fan.

Javier Garcia, the bride's cousin, took this photo of La Tuna (a group of troubadours from the university) serenading the wedding feast in the wine cellar dining room under the Plaza Mayor of Madrid. 

The arras ceremony (exchange of coins) in Madrid, photographed by Travis Ianetta, the groom's brother.  The coins are poured into the groom's hands, and then dropped into the bride's hands, and she then drops them back into the groom's hands.  This symbolized their wealth being shared between each other, but the tradition goes back to ancient Spain when there was a "bride price", or before that when the Romans in the Iberian pennisula would break gold coins into equal pieces signifying the promise to marry.  

Our daughter and her husband chose to use the coins we had at our wedding in 1983 (a set of Bicentennial coins from the USA 1976 and a set of 1982 World Cup Soccer Spanish pesetas) mixed with coins from the groom which included USA coins and Euros representing the year they met, the year of the wedding, coins from each brother, and a Morrocan coin representing their honeymoon. 

 

Click here to read more about the Pierce House in Lincoln, Massachusetts:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/wedding-serendipity.html

 

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Kettell of Charlestown

 

Charlestown, Massachusetts
From Britannica.com

KETTELL/KETTLE

Richard Kettell’s origins are unknown, but he was probably from England.  The first record of him was when he and his wife were admitted to the church in Charlestown, Massachusetts on 30 July 1633.  He was made a freeman on 4 March 1634/5.  He was a cooper and a sergeant in the militia. His wife was “Atherton Haulghe’s maid servant”. 

Richard Kettell owned about 33 acres, which was a lot of land in Charlestown.  In his will he mentions his children, grandchildren, and the division of this land. In his will he lists land near the mill pond, which you can see in the map above.  His son, John Kettell, removed to Gloucester, and lived for a time in Lancaster where his wife was carried off by the Indians in 1676 during one of the raids, and she spend some time with the captive Mary Rowlandson.   There is a Kettell's Cove in nearby Gloucester in the town of Manchester-by-Sea, very close to the house where my Uncle Robert Wilkinson lived for many years. 

I am descended from two of Richard Kettell’s children, Hannah and Jonathan.

Some sources for Kettell information:

The Great Migration Begins, by Richard Charles Anderson, Boston: NEHGS, 2000, Volume II, pages 1124 – 1128. You can also see Charlestown Genealogies by Thomas Bellows Wyman, 1879, Volume 2, page 574, and the Thayer Genealogy by Ruther Thayer Ravenscroft, Colorado Springs, 1943.

Genealogy:

Generation 1: Richard Kettell, born about 1609 in England, died 20 June 1680 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; married about 1636 to Hester Ward, born about 1612 in England, died 5 July 1679 in Charlestown.  Six children.

Lineage A:

Generation 2: Hannah Kettell, born 27 October 1637 in Charlestown, died 27 August 1708 in Charlestown; married on 26 June 1656 in Charlestown to John Call, born 6 March 1636 in Faversham, Kent, England, died 19 April 1697 in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  Eight children.

Generation 3: Mehitable Call m. John Rand

Generation 4: Caleb Rand m. Katherine Kettell ( his second cousin)
Generation 5: Caleb Rand m. Mary Mayhew
Generation 6: Mary Rand m. Asahel Bill
Generation 7: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons
Generation 8: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman
Generation 9: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson
Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Lineage B:

Generation 2:  Jonathan Kettell, born 1646 in Charlestown, died 18 December 1720 in Charlestown; married on 30 March 1676 in Charlestown to Abigail Converse, daughter of James Converse and Anna Long.  She was born 13 October 1658 in Woburn, and died 25 January 1691 in Charlestown.  Five children.

Generation 3.  Jonathan Kettell, born 23 August 1681 in Charlestown, died 21 January 1764 in Charlestown; married first on 8 May 1707 in Boston to Katherine Hands, daughter of John Hands and Mary Bell.  She was born about 1681 and died on 8 March 1748.  He married second to Eunice Treadway on 24 October 1748.  He had ten children with his first wife.

Generation 4: Katherine Kettell and Caleb Rand (see above)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Prospect Hill Monument, Somerville, Massachusetts

Prospect Hill Monument

As you travel from Boston towards New Hampshire on Route 93, you can see a large hill in Somerville, with a tower and an American Flag waving day and night.  This is Prospect Hill, which was of strategic importance to Charlestown and Boston during the Revolutionary War.  It was originally called “The Citadel”.   Nearby is Union Square, which was an old mustering station for the Union during the Civil War. 

The castle tower you see today was built in 1902 to commemorate the soldiers of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.  There is an annual ceremony here every year to raise the “Grand Union Flag”, an early version of the US flag with thirteen red and white stripes.  It is a local myth that George Washington was the first to raise the Grand Union flag here on Prospect Hill on 1 January 1776, but historians have shown that it was flown earlier in other places.   Still, the tradition continues every year…

I had driven by this hill for many, many years.  One day we were coming home from one of my daughter’s crew races on the Charles River, and we had a camera.  So we stopped to take these photos of the Prospect Hill Monument.  Enjoy!

The Prospect Hill Monument "The Citadel"

From this aminence

on January 1, 1776

The flag of the United Colonies

Bearing thirteen stripes and the crosses

of Saint George and Saint Andrew

First waved defiance to a foe.

"The Flower of the British Army"

Prisoners of War

Who surrendered at Saratoga

Were quartered on this hill

From November 7, 1777 to October 18, 1778

Guarded by American Troops

under General William Heath.

On this historic hill

Answering their country's call

in 1862

Encamped the soldiers of Somerville

Whose record of patriotism and fortitude

in the Civil War

Is Worthy of highest honor

and commemoration

The view of the Boston skyline from the top of Prospect Hill Monument

The tower interior

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Graduation Photos

It's graduation season!  Here is a collection of graduation photos from over the years...

My husband's Great grandfather

Sebastián García (1878 - 1962)

He served in the Spanish Army as a teenager

 

My grandmother

Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (1905 - 2001)

Beverly, Massachusetts High School graduation photo

My husband's Grandfather

José García (1908 - 1994)

He was a military volunteer for Spain,
serving in Morocco at age 17

My father

John Warren Wilkinson (1934 - 2002)

Beverly, Massachusetts High School class of 1952 photo

My high school graduation ceremony 1979

Wachusett Regional High School

Holden, Massachusetts

My husband and his parents

MIT graduation 1982

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Yours Truly, Daughter and Hubby

Simmons College Graduation 2009

Boston, Massachusetts

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The URL for this post is http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/graduation-photos.html
If you don't see this URL in your browser you are reading stolen content from a splogger who has pirated my original post.

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Big Crab!

Every Wednesday for almost a year and half I've been posting photographs of weathervanes located in or near the Nutfield area (the former name for the land where Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire are now located). Most are historically interesting or just whimsical and fun weathervanes. Today's weathervane can be seen next door in Litchfield, New Hampshire. Have fun guessing where you may have seen this weather vane.

Do you know the location of weather vane #98? Scroll down to see the answer....

Today's weather vane can be see on a cupola above a barn at a private residence on Bancroft Highway (Route 3A) in Litchfield, New Hampshire.  It is best seen from the cemetery behind the Presbyterian Church.  It is a big crab, which is very amusing since we are located about 40 miles from the coast line!  There must be a good story to this weather vane, so if you know it please pass it on to me via the comment box below....

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday, Clues from a Cemetery Plot Card

This cemetery plot card from the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts revealed many family relationships, but most were a complete mystery to me. Using online resources I was able to place almost all of the names on my family tree.  I was also disappointed to learn from this card that the person I was looking for was no longer buried here, but had been removed to another cemetery in Boston.  It goes to show that if you just visit a cemetery, and do not ask for more information at the office, you can miss out on a lot of genealogy clues.

Major General Henry Dearborn (1751 - 1829) is my first cousin, 8 generations removed.  Our common ancestors are John Dearborn (1666 - 1750) and his wife, Abigail Batchelder (1667 - 1736).  I descend from John Dearborn's daughter, Elizabeth, and General Dearborn's father was Elizabeth's brother, Simon Dearborn.

General Henry Dearborn was born 23 February 1751 in Hampton, New Hampshire and he died on 6 June 1829 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He started life as a physician, and was also the captain of the local militia which participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill.  This was the start of his illustrious military career during the Revolutionary War, where he was at the Battles of Ticonderoga, Valley Force, Monmouth, and was on the staff of General George Washington.  He was a member of the US House of Representatives for Massachusetts and Secretary of War.  He was Major General during the War of 1812.

General Henry Dearborn was married three times, first to Mary Bartlett, second to Mrs. Dorcas (Osgood) Marble, and third to Sarah Bowdoin.  His second wife was buried here at Mount Auburn with him, but their bodies and their son Henry Alexander Dearborn were removed to Forest Hill Cemetery on 13 July 1848.  (See the note that bodies 1, 2 and 5 were removed in 1848?  Number 7 was removed to Forest Hill in 1856, and then 10 and 11 were removed to Montclair, New Jersey at some unknown date.)

The third person listed on the cemetery plot card was G. R. Dearborn.  I noticed that the first three bodies were all listed under the same date, 17 June 1834.  This date doesn't match any of their death dates, so were they previously buried elsewhere and moved here together in 1834.  General Dearborn died in 1829, his wife Dorcas died in 1810, and son George Raleigh Dearborn had died in 1806.  According to their website, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts opened in 1831, so I'm sure they were probably buried someplace else first.  And now they rest at Forest Hill Cemetery in Boston.

The fourth person listed was Major M. P. Lomax.  I couldn't find him in the family tree.  At Google Books I found this excerpt in a book, Genealogy of the Virginia Family of Lomax, by Edward Lloyd Lomax, Chicago: Rand McNally Publishers, 1913.  In it, on page 40, it describes how Major Mann Page Lomax was stationed at the Watertown, Massachusetts arsenal (down the street from the Mount Auburn Cemetery), and died of consumption. He was not a family member, but probably a friend and fellow military officer.



This excerpt ends with Henry Alexander Dearborn giving a speech at Mount Auburn Cemetery over the grave of Major Lomax.  He was the son of Major General Henry Dearborn and his wife Dorcas.  He was married to Hannah Swett Lee on 20 April 1807 in Salem, Massachusetts.  He died in 1851.  He was original proprietor of this cemetery plot.

The fifth person on the plot card is Henry Dearborn, who was buried on 6 September 1842.  This is the infant grandson of Henry A. Dearborn, and the great grandson of Major General Henry Deaborn.  Baby Henry Dearborn was born 10 October 1841 in Salem, and died 5 September 1842 in Roxbury, of dysentery.

The sixth person listed on the plot card was another military officer, General J. Wingate , Jr., who died on 6 November 1843.  He was the husband of Julia Cascaline Dearborn, daughter of Major General Dearborn.  General Joshua Wingate was a Harvard graduate, and he was the secretary to General Dearborn while he was Secretary of War.  He held many illustrious positions, such as Postmaster of Portland, Maine, and ran twice as a candidate for Governor of Maine (and was twice defeated).  He was also one of the founding members of the Maine Historical Society. That is where I was able to find a gold mine of information on his family.  The website of the Maine Memory Network also had information on the Wingates.

Person #7 remains a mystery to me.  Susannah Sanford is probably a married name, but I cannot place her in the Dearborn family tree.  I'm still looking!

The eighth person is Julia Cascaline Dearborn (1781 - 1867), mentioned above.  I was able to find her painting at the Maine Historical Society, as well as several photographs.

This painting of Julia Dearborn Wingate

hangs at the Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine

The ninth person listed on the card is Julia Ocatavia Wingate Clapp, the mother of General Wingate.  She was married to Charles Quincy Clapp on 20 September 1820, but he is not buried here.  According to Find A Grave he is buried at the Eastern Cemetery in Portland, Maine.

Mrs. Winthrop G. Ray

from The Court Circles of the Republic 

by Mrs. E. F. Ellett and Mrs. R. E. Mack,

Hartford, Conn: Hartford Publishing Col, 1869, page 120

The tenth and eleventh family members listed on the card are Winthrop Gray Ray and Georgianna Ray.  She is the daughter of Julia and Charles Clapp, and she was married to Winthrop Gray Ray on 10 November 1845.  The twelfth person on the card is Mary Gray Ray, their daughter, who was born on 20 October 1846 and it appears she never married.  Mary G. Ray was the last proprietor of this cemetery plot.  I found her portrait above using Google Books, and I also found the Clapp Family Papers at the Library of Congress whilst using a regular Google search.

Mount Auburn Cemetery http://www.mountauburn.org/

Forest Hill Cemetery, Boston http://www.foresthillscemetery.com/

Maine Historical Society http://www.mainehistory.org/

The Maine Memory Network http://www.mainememory.net/

Library of Congress, finding aid for the Clapp Family Papers http://memory.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2011/ms011143.pdf

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Call of Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown, Massachusetts

CALL / CAULE

Thomas Call, my 9^th great grandfather, was born in Faversham, Kent England in 1597.  He arrived in Massachusetts with his wife, Bennett, and three children on the ship Hercules in 1637.  He went on to have six more children.  He built his home on beside the Mystic River in Charlestown, about two and half miles from Bunker Hill.    His second wife, Joanna, was the widow of Daniel Shepardson.  Thomas Call was a baker, and so was his son, John, who married Hannah Kettell.    One of his sons, Thomas, Jr , married his step-sister Lydia Shepardson.

In the next generation John Call, my 8^th great grandfather, John Call was less than one year old when his family arrived in Massachusetts from England.  He fought in King Phillip’s War.  He was admitted to the church on 29 April 1662 and became a deacon of the First Church in Charlestown.  His wife was the daughter of Richard Kettell, an ancestor of Henry David Thoreau.

To read about the early generations of Calls in Massachusetts you can check the Bicentennial Book of Malden by A. W. McClure, 1850, page 240 has a short sketch of Thomas Call.  There is also a short sketch of Thomas Call in A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, by James Savage, 1969, Volume 1, pages 329 - 330.

My Call genealogy:

Generation 1: Thomas Call, son of Richard Call and Edith Bennet, born 15 June 1597 in Hernhill, Faversham, Kent, England, died 17 May 1676 in Malden, Massachusetts; married on 25 June 1619 In Hernhill to Bennett Harrison? Who died about 1644 in Malden.  Thomas married second after 26 July 1644 in Malden to Joane, widow of Daniel Shepardson.  Nine children.

Generation 2: John Call, baptized on 6 March 1636 in Faversham, died 19 April 1697 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; married on 26 June 1656 in Charlestown to Hannah Kettell, daughter of Richard Kettell and Hester Ward.  She was born on 27 October 1637 in Charlestown, and died 27 August 1708 in Charlestown.  Eight children.

Generation 3: Mehitable Call, baptized on 30 June 1668 in Charlestown, died on 25 November 1727 in Charlestown; married on 2 December 1685 in Charlestown to John Rand, son of Thomas Rand and Sarah Edenden.  He was born 6 February 1662 in Charlestown and died 4 September 1737 in Charlestown. 

Generation 4:  Caleb Rand m. Katherine Kettell ( his second cousin)

Generation 5: Caleb Rand m. Mary Mayhew

Generation 6: Mary Rand m. Asahel Bill

Generation 7:  Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons

Generation 8: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo