The Peabody Essex Museum's Special Exhibit on the Salem Witch Trials 1692

 

Last week Vincent and I carefully planned our first museum visit in almost a year.  The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts had their special exhibit The Salem Witch Trials 1692 open since September 26, 2020.  I was thinking I would miss this exhibit due to the pandemic.  We have been very careful about not going into many indoor places, including picking up groceries, staying home, and social distancing.  But this exhibit is closing on April 4, 2021 and we decided to try it as our first indoor excursion.

First of all, we did all the recommendations I heard from Dr. Fauci and the CDC to stay safe.  We double masked, including an N95 mask with a cloth mask over it.  We brought hand sanitizer and used it often, even though I didn't really touch anything in the museum (they had self opening doors in most places - just wave your hand! And tissues inside the elevators for touching the buttons, and hand sanitizer everywhere).   We both had received our first vaccines more than two weeks ago. 

On top of this, we thought carefully about planning a day and time for our trip.  Usually I book a medical appointment for the first opening of the day, and we go mid week if I have to go into a store to avoid crowds. So we planned to go on a Thursday morning to the Peabody Essex.  I discussed this with a staff member after we saw the Salem Witch Trial exhibit, and they said that Thursdays and Fridays were very slow (the museum is open Thursdays to Sundays 11am to 5pm).  And March is a good time to visit Salem if you want to avoid people.  It's too blustery and chilly to attract a lot of tourists.  And the exhibit is winding down.  If you want to go, go soon but plan the day and time carefully. 

As you can see from the photo below, the museum was almost empty, except for staff wandering here and there.  We were the only people inside the exhibit hall for almost 30 minutes, when another two people entered.  The photo below is the two of us in the main lobby, with no one else in sight!  It was very easy to social distance.  Tickets are timed to ensure that occupancy levels remain low, both for museum entry and the tickets to the special exhibits. 

The Salem Witch Trials 1692 is divided into many galleries, with a great introduction in the beginning about the history of witch trials in Europe, and included many famous old books I had only read about in accounts of Salem history. There were some fine original copies of Malleus Maleficarum and Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World.  The map below includes Salem, Salem Village and nearby towns, and I found the locations of three homes of ancestors who were hanged in 1692 - Bridget Bishop, George Jacobs, and John Proctor.  Also highlighted on this map was Beadle's Tavern, where some of the examinations for the trials took place, owned by another ancestor, Samuel Beadle (1643 - 1706). 

One gallery blew me away, with some artifacts I didn't know existed at all!  And every artifact had been owned by an ancestor.  There was a window from the Towne family home (Edmund Towne, my 8th great grandfather was also the brother of three accused witches).  There was an account book from Joshua Buffum (8th great uncle).  A brass sundial owned by John Proctor, hanged in 1692 (my 9th great grandfather).  A valuables chest owned by accusers Joseph and Bathsheba Pope (my 7th great grandparents) I previously blogged about HERE  along with the actually testimony of Joseph Pope against John Proctor.  Every article on display in this little niche touched one of my ancestral families. 

This sundial was owned by John Proctor, and was a valuable item

for it's time in 17th century Salem. 

The next gallery in this exhibit had many documents, including accounts submitted by the jailkeeper Wiliam Dounton (my 8th great grandfather) and items from the jail.  Dounton was a cruel man, and the descriptions of the jail are hair raising.  There was an actual bill for the board and food for prisoners, and a census of prisoners which included many family members.  The wall planks from the jail have been preserved and are on display here.  Prisoners accused of being witches were chained to these walls, including small children. 

I could go on describing items, but that would fill a book!  I enjoyed seeing George Jacobs's two walking sticks on display here.  They used to be in an exhibit on the first floor of the Phillips library when it was located across the street.  I hadn't seen them in a long, long time.  George Jacobs was my 9th great grandfather, hanged as a witch on 19 August 1692 along with John Proctor (described above with the sundial).  They also had the famous painting of Jacobs's trail done by Tompkins Harrison Matteson in 1859 and featured in almost every account of the witch trials.  This was displayed next to the document showing the examination of Jacobs by the magistrates which describe his two canes. 

One of the most moving items to me was the document with the red wax seal below.  It is the warrant for the execution of Bridget Bishop (my 9th great grandmother).  The bottom of the document has a note by the sheriff George Corwin who reported that he did his appointed job "I have taken the body of the within named Bishop... to the place for her Execution and Caused to be [hanged] by the neck until She was dead."   This gave me shivers to read the actual document. 

The last room of the exhibit hall names and remembers 25 victims of the Salem Witch Trials on the wall, and it also includes a wall called "Reckoning and Reflection".   The last part of the exhibit is called "Reaction and Impact" with documents and books written after 1692.  I liked especially a quote from Thomas Maule, 1695, on the wall that read "For it were better that one hundred Witches should live, than that one person be put to death for a Witch, which is not a Witch."   Maule was an outspoken critic of the trials.  His book, on display here, was the first condemnation of the trails published under its author's own name.  

If you don't want to visit in person, or if you can't visit the museum because of the pandemic or if you live at a distance, try this link from the PEM website and watch the 360 degree tour of The Salem Witch Trials 1692.  You can zoom in and out and move through the space using your mouse or finger.  https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/the-salem-witch-trials-1692  There is a second video on this page, with a tour of the galleries in the exhibit.  At the bottom of this page are links to related articles about the exhibit.  

There are two other exhibits currently at the PEM - Stories of Salem, From A to Z, and Made It: The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion.  We had tickets to the Stories of Salem, and I enjoyed it very much. There are many items, documents and ephemera from Salem history from pre-colonization to the present representing history, famous residents, art, design, industry, and pop culture.  If your family lived in Salem recently or long ago, you'll find lots of interesting items in this exhibit! 

This dollhouse belonged to a wealthy Salem Family over 100 years ago

Do you remember when Parker Brothers made their board games in Salem?

An exhibit of witches in pop culture in Salem contained this

weathered old weathervane!  I loved it! 

For the truly curious:

The Peabody Essex Museum:   https://www.pem.org/   

The museum is located at East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts

Admission to the museum is $20 (seniors $18, students with ID $12, youths 16 and under and Salem residents are free)  The Salem Witch Trials 1692 is FREE but requires a timed entry ticket.  

Two links to blog posts about the Pope Valuables Chest:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/treasure-chest-thursday-at.html  

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-pope-of-salem.html  

My lineage from Bridget Bishop:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/06/bridget-playfer-wasselbee-oliver-bishop.html  

My lineage from George Jacobs:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/surname-saturday-jacobs-of-salem.html    

My lineage from John Proctor:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/surname-saturday-proctor-of-salem.html  

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Peabody Essex Museum's Special Exhibit on the Salem Witch Trials 1692", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 9, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-peabody-essex-museums-special.html: accessed [access date]). 

Accident Prone? Aaron B. Wilkinson (1827 – 1897) of Portland, Maine

 

Aaron B. Wilkinson was born about 1827 in Madbury, New Hampshire, the son of Rufus Wilkinson (1800 – 1868) and his wife Catherine Bunker.  He is my 2^nd cousin 4 generations removed. Our closest common ancestor is James Wilkinson (born about 1730 in Berwick Maine) and his wife Hannah Mead. My third great grandfather was also named Aaron Wilkinson (1802 – 1879). 

Cousin Aaron B. Wilkinson was married twice, first to Elizabeth Edwards in 1852, and to Caroline Waterhouse on 3 November 1873.  His marriage to Elizabeth ended in October 1873 due to divorce (he wasted no time in marrying Caroline!) I could not find records of children from either marriage. 

During the Civil War Aaron served in the 5^th Maine Regiment, Company B from 24 June 1861 to 17 September 1861 when he was listed as deserted two days after he was reported sick in Alexandria, Virginia.  This was about a month after this company fought in the First Battle of Bull Run in nearby Manassas, just 30 miles from Washington, D. C.  The newspaper of Saco, Maine The Maine Democrat, ran an article on 10 September 1861 where members of the Biddeford Company of Volunteers (Company B) ran a statement “We, the undersigned, members of the Biddeford Company of Volunteers, having been present with the 5th reg't of Maine during the whole time it was under fire at Bull Run, and having seen a statement repeated in the Union and Journal, printed at Biddeford, to the effect that Capt. Goodwin did not have command of his company on the battlefield, do wish most emphatically to deny that statement.     We wish to assert that Capt. Goodwin did command his company at Bull Run, and that Lieut. Stevens did not.  Lieut. Stevens was present and did his duty.  Capt. Goodwin was also present and did his duty well and bravely as commander of the Company.”  Aaron B. Wilkinson was one of the 22 names listed under this statement.

After I found this news clipping above, I had a lot of fun finding other information about Aaron B. Wilkinson in newspapers.  There was little about his life in other sources.  Censuses and city directories list him as a railroad employee, but the news clippings were fantastic and full of fun details!

Portland Daily Press, Thursday, 25 April 1867, Portland, Maine, Volume 6, page 3

"Municipal Court

Judge Kingsbury Presiding

Wednesday..... John Henderson, for assault and batery on Aaron Wilkinson, was found [sic] $5.00 and costs.  Committed"

The next news notice was in the Daily Eastern Argus, Wednesday 29 July 1868, Portland, Maine, Volume 36, Issue 147, page 3

"Shocking Accident - Aaron Wilkinson, a watchman at the P.S. & P. R. R., was engaged in firing up a locomotive, Monday, and used a can of naphtha to ignite the wood more quickly.  His foot slipped and the fluid flew up on his bare arms and at the same time took fire.  He screamed for a bucked [sic] of water and at the same time with his hands scraped the flames from his arms, taking the flesh at the same time, laying the cords and muscles bare to the wrists.  He was at once attended by a physician, who dressed the injuries as best he could under the circumstances, and had the man carried to his home.  It was a terrible accident, which may result in permanent injury."

Then this notice of another accident in the train yard was run in the Boston Herald, Saturday, 5 April 1873, Boston, Massachusetts, page 6.

"Portland, April 4, Aaron Wilkinson, employed as a switchman for the Eastern Road at the company's grounds on Turner's Island, near this city, as he was attempting to block a freight train going slowly at that spot, Wednesday afternoon, was struck by the stick of timber he was using in such a way that he was fatally injured.  He vomited blood when he was taken home.  He was about forty years of age."

Of course, we know that it was not a fatal accident, and soon after this accident Aaron was divorced, remarried, and lived to be enumerated in the 1880 Census with “Carrie” his wife. And then a third accident in the train yard was reported in the Portland Daily Press, Saturday 27 November 1886, Portland, Maine, Volume 24, page 2.

"Cape Elizabeth...

The hoisting gear of an engine used in hoisting coal for a Maine Central engine gave way and a large tub filled with coal fell and struck Mr. Aaron Wilkinson of Cape Elizabeth, inflicting serious wounds on his head and one shoulder, and slivering the bone of the right leg."

Aaron B. Wilkinson died in Portland, Maine on 8 November 1873.  The last news clipping I found recorded the death.  No cause of death was given.  Let's hope that poor Aaron was retired from railroad work and died peacefully at home! 

Portland Daily Press, Thursday 9 December 1897, Portland, Maine, Volume 35, page 6

“Deaths

.... In Pleasantdale, Dec. 8, Aaron Wilkinson aged 70 years 11 months.  [Funeral on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock from his late residence, Kelsey Street.]"

Genealogy:

Immigrant Ancestor Thomas Wilkinson "of London" (about 1690 – Before 1739) m. Elizabeth Caverly

Gen. 2                            James Wilkinson  (1730 – about 1800) m. Hannah Mead

Gen. 3     Daniel Wilkinson m. Hannah Weymouth                William Wilkinson m. Mercy Nason

Gen. 4     Rufus Wilkinson m. Catherine Bunker         Aaron Wilkinson (1802 – 1879) m. Mercy Wilson

Gen. 5     Aaron B. Wilkinson (1827 – 1897)                Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Gen. 6                                                                               Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Gen. 7                                                                        Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts

                                                                                                              (my grandparents)

Aaron B. Wilkinson (1827 – 1897) was my 4^th great grandfather’s (Aaron Wilkinson (1802 – 1879) 2^nd cousin one generation removed.  These are only two Aaron Wilkinsons in my notes about the descendants of Thomas Wilkinson, so it was not a common first name.

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Accident Prone?  Aaron B. Wilkinson (1827 – 1897) of Portland, Maine", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 2, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/03/accident-prone-aaron-b-wilkinson-1827.html: accessed [access date]). 

The Obituary of Jemima (Burnham) Emerson, 1868 - The Christian Wife of an Infidel

The Col. Joshua Burnham Tavern, photo 2001
where Jemima Burnham grew up, Milford, New Hampshire

My 4th great grandmother was born as Jemima Burnham.  Her name is listed as Jemima Wyman Burnham on an SAR application dated 20 August 1957 for Emerson Francis Thayer McLean, a distant cousin.  I've never seen her listed with a middle name on any other vital record or documentation.  Her mother's name was Jemima Wyman, so it could be possible.  Jemima was born 9 May 1783 in Milford, New Hampshire.  It is often difficult to learn about the lives of our women ancestors, but bits and pieces of Jemima's life have become revealed to me over 40 years of searching for clues.

Her father was Colonel Joshua Burnham.  He was a local character, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, a local hero who was present at the Battle of Bunker Hill and served in New York, Philadelphia and Canada.  The history of Milford states that he was an eyewitness when George Washington took command of the Continental Army.  He built a large farm and tavern near the banks of the Souhegan River, which is still standing on River Road.  He later sold his tavern and property to Jesse and Polly Hutchinson, who raised their thirteen children there in Milford.  These children were famous as the Hutchinson Family singers who sang songs of temperance, abolition, women's suffrage, and other progressive movements all over the USA and even in Europe.  

Although Col. Burnham sold his farm to the Hutchinson family, he remained in Milford, and remained a good friend to Jesse Hutchinson.  He must have agreed with all the progressive beliefs, and discussed them with the Hutchinson's various friends who included P. T. Barnum, William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.  These famous singers gave their very first concert at the Baptist church in Milford.  The Hutchinson Singers toured England with Douglass in 1845, and some moved to Lynn, Massachusetts to live next door to him.  

Local history and various Hutchinson journals and books remember Col. Burnham as an old veteran who would wander the property, often stuffing his pockets with apples from the orchard.  The Burnham family and the Hutchinson family lie side by side in a small burial ground, the North Yard Cemetery,  within site of the Col. Burnham tavern on River Road.  Joshua Hutchinson wrote the epitaph for Joshua Burnham "Soldier of the revolution zealous in his country's cause, Faithful to the constitution and obedient to its laws"

These stories are what I know of Jemima's life in Milford.  Of course, she had married by 1810 to Romanus Emerson and removed to South Boston where her children were born.  Her family had been members of the Baptist Church in Milford, listed on the records.  The same Baptist church that held the first concerts for the Hutchinson family who sang about abolition before the Civil War.  Although the Baptist church is considered conservative today, they supported very progressive ideas in the early nineteenth century. 

I was not surprised that she married Romanus Emerson.  He came from a family of ministers.  They were Congregationalists going back to Puritan times.  The Emerson family included early ministers such as Rev. Joseph Emerson, born in England about 1620, who married Elizabeth Bulkely, the daughter of Rev. Edward Bulkely (1614 - 1696) the first minister of Concord, Massachusetts.  Even Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882), son of a Concord minister, also studied for the ministry at Harvard.  Romanus Emerson had three brothers who became ministers, and he himself studied for the ministry but gave up due to a speech impediment.  

It was during his time studying theology that Romanus Emerson had a change of heart.  He became an atheist.  He said that "Freethinking" without the constraints of religion and other social mores opened his mind to progressive thoughts and more independent beliefs.  He joined the Free Soil movement, the abolitionists, and the Infidel Society.  He called himself an "Infidel" for the rest of his life, and wrote his own eulogy describing his "Infidel" beliefs. 

I have no idea what Jemima thought of all this during her married life with Romanus, the atheist.  I believe that she agreed with his progressive thoughts and politics.  But to be an atheist, or an "Infidel", at this time was considered quite shocking.  As a Baptist all her life, this was probably somewhat of a problem at home. Or was it? Women were considered to be obedient and quiet in those days. But we know that was not always the case.  

Romanus died in 1852.  He was a famous Bostonian, with his obituaries carried in newspapers across the country.  His last wish was to not have a Christian funeral, but to be buried in South Boston "At the point" and for his best friend, Horace Seaver, to read his self written eulogy.  However, his family (Jemima?) did not follow his final wishes, and gave him a funeral officiated by the Rev. Capen of the Hawes Place Church (next door to their house) and he was laid to rest in the Hawes Burying Ground.  Was it out of spite that she ignored her husband's final wishes? or did Jemima truly love her husband and worry about his immortal soul? 

As a widow, Jemima Emerson was enumerated in the 1855 Massachusetts State Census and the1860 Federal Census living in the Boston home of Melzar Stetson, her son-in-law, husband to her daughter Emily.  Her death certificate lists her place of death as 88 Emerson Street, her home address on the street in South Boston named after her Infidel husband, Romanus. 

Jemima died in 1868. Unlike her famous husband, I found only one mention of Jemima's death (other than short death notices in Boston newspapers) in The Christian Watchman (a Boston Baptist journal), dated Thursday, 27 August 1868, on page 7. See the obituary transcribed below.  She was laid to rest at the Mount Hope Cemetery in the Mattapan section of Boston, and Romanus was reinterred from the Hawes Burial Ground to lie next to her.  I like to think that perhaps it was out of love that she had him moved to be next to her for eternity.

"Obituary

Mrs. Jemima Emerson

In South Boston, August 5, Mrs. Jemima Emerson, at the advanced age of 86 years, widow of the late Romanus Emerson.  When 18 years of age she was converted, and baptized in Milford, N. H.  Afterwards united with the Dudley Street Church, Roxbury, and then with the South Baptist Church, and finally became a constituent member of the Fourth Street Baptist Church.  Her early Christian experience began with deep conviction of sin, from which, after long struggles, she was delivered by the power of Christ.  This, together with the opposition she encountered in following the Lord in baptism, determined, in great measure, the marked features of her subsequent life.  She loved the doctrines of grace, and clung with ever increasing tenacity to the great pillars of eternal truth.  She loved the assembly of God's people, and even until within a few weeks of her death her voice was frequently heard in the prayer meeting, as she bore cheerful testimony to the faithfulness of God.  Her children have lost a faithful, godly mother, whose prayers for their spiritual welfare ended only with her life.  The church she honored has lost a firm friend.  The community, which for forty years has been growing around her, has lost a beacon of light.  She now enjoys the rest which for many years she has anticipated, and she "being dead yet speaketh."  "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.  They shall still bring forth fruit in old age." " 

For the truly curious:

"Romanus Emerson's Boston Obituaries 1852", published February 9, 2021: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/02/romanus-emersons-boston-obituaries-1852.html   

"Romanus Emerson's Obituaries 1852" (published across the United States), posted on this blog on October 1st, 2020:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/romanus-emersons-obituaries-1852.html    

My Surname Saturday post on the EMERSON family:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-emerson-of-ipswich.html    

My Surname Saturday post on the BURNHAM family:     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/05/surname-saturday-burnham-of-chebacco.html  

"Tombstone Tuesday ~ Col. Joshua Burnham, Milford, New Hampshire":     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/tombstone-tuesday-col-joshua-burnham.html  

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Obituary of Jemima (Burnham) Emerson, 1868 - The Christian Wife of an Infidel", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 23, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-obituary-of-jemima-burnham-emerson.html: accessed [access date]).  

Romanus Emerson's Self Written Eulogy 1852

As I wrote in my blog post last week, my 4th great grandfather, Romanus Emerson (1782 - 1852) wrote his own funeral eulogy, with instructions that he NOT be given a Christian funeral or burial. This was ignored by his family, who had Rev. Capen of the Hawes Place Church give a sermon and he was laid to rest in the Hawes Burying Ground in South Boston. Later he was reinterred at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan where he lays beside his wife, Jemima (Burnham) Emerson (1783 - 1868).  The newspapers across Boston, and Massachusetts, and even across the country, all carried his obituary and the scandalous nature of his funeral where his final wishes were not carried out by friends and family. 

His final wish was to have a simple burial, and for the editor, Horace Seaver, of the Boston Investigator (a progressive newspaper) to read this self written eulogy or statement.  Romanus was an avowed atheist, or as they were known at the time, an "infidel". This was considered quite improper in Boston.  Horace Seaver was his friend, and Romanus Emerson had written several articles for the Boston Investigator.  Horace Seaver carried this funeral address in the 20 October 1852 issue of the newspaper. 

"FUNERAL ADDRESS OF ROMANUS EMERSON

          WRITTEN BY HIMSELF

                                     Boston, June 17, 1849

To all my nearest relatives who may be my survivors, and to ALL who are relatives or friends who may be my survivors: -

      Being in good health and sound mind, calm and composed, I do hereby, in pursuance of a long and well settled intention, request, order, and direct, that, at the time of my decease, funeral, or burial, or at any time thereafter, there shall be no funeral sermon or other religious discourse delivered at any place on the account of my decease, either by the consent or request of any of the forenamed relatives or friends.  Also, that no priest or minister of the Gospel or pious religionist of any kind be allowed to speak, address, or exhort at the time or during any part of the funeral ceremonies.  And further - that honest, liberal, free-thinking men be selected to take charge of the order of the proceedings, in pursuance of the advice and request of my nearest relatives, my survivors.  All which I soberly and seriously enjoin.

      Whereas it is a fact, that daily experience and observation corroborate, that all who are born must die, I have thought it most fit and proper that I should write my own funeral address, inasmuch as I am decidedly opposed to the services of a clergyman of any denomination at my own funeral; and also, that I may leave to my survivors my own own sentiments in regard to the order of Nature and what is commonly called Theology.

      I consider that death and decomposition leave us just where we were before we were born; that there is no identity to any of mankind after death and decomposition; that mankind were formed from the elements, or composed of the elements, and as certainly return to the elements; that there is no part or parcel of the creature man that survives his decomposition.

     This, I consider to be the inflexible, unalterable, and universal order of Nature.  To this, mankind must all arrive, without single exception, whether their imaginations are wrought up to a high pitch, in anticipation of future bliss beyond the grave, or whether their reason and philosophy confine their speculations to this world and the system to which it belongs.  "In this warfare there is no discharge."

     I consider Theology, so called, a system of deception and fraud, whereby one class of citizens obtain a rich living by exciting the hopes and fears of their fellow beings in regard to a place of happiness and a place of misery somewhere away from this globe or world which we inhabit; and also, in regard to beings or existences not material, nondescripts, residing nowhere and yet everywhere present.

     Also, said Theology maintains that one of these wonderful beings has written a book called the Bible, and that mankind are bound to believe what that Bible says, upon the penalty of eternal damnation.

     Out of this Theology, whether Christian, Mahomedan, or Hindoo, have arisen all those belligerent and contending sects, who have in turn destroyed each other and even desolated the fair face of Nature.

     The morality of said book, the Bible, I believe will not compare, as a whole, with the writings of the ancient philosophers.  Let everyone impartially examine both, and render his own verdict.

     My relatives and friends are hereby exhorted to reject every system of Theology which may be offered for their acceptance, as tending only to distract the mind and lead it away from the cause of humanity. To do as you would wish to be done unto, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is better than all the religious systems of the world put together.  As one who speaks to you from the grave, I exhort you to live peaceably with all mankind; view the whole human family as a universal brotherhood; maintain inflexibly, on every occasion, the truth; and set it down as an invariable consequent, that deception and fraud work their own ruin and give no peace and comfort to the mind.

     The individual interest of each is advanced in proportion as each advances the good of the whole.  Seek, therefore, to establish and perpetuate a rational, practical, and useful education for the masses, so that no child shall be without a competent education for the transaction of any business in the ordinary concerns of life.  And as children are not responsible for their birth, or the time or place of their birth, or the circumstances which may surround them, the generation who conduct the affairs of the world for the time being are responsible and should give to every child, however poor it may be, a good, rational, and practical education.  Furthermore, as many children are left with relatives to protect them, the State should establish institutions which should feed, clothe, and educate them so that they may be equal to their fellows of the same generation.

    Nothing will elevate the masses, and raise them to their proper position in the world, but an equal education for one and for all.  Nothing, to my mind, is of so vast importance as this, for the well-being of society and the good of the world.  Nothing but this will preserve the free institutions of these United States from decay and corruption.  This being done, free institutions will grow and flourish and improve with their age, and root out the evils which through ignorance they my labor under.

N.B. - This, my funeral address, is to read at my funeral by a liberal-minded, well-disposed freethinker, and either he or some other liberalist may address the audience as occasion may serve; and this my funeral address, I wish to have published, after my decease, in as many of the newspapers of the day as choose to do it.

    And furthermore, I order that my grave-clothes shall be of the most common and cheap kind, and my coffin of pine and the most ordinary sort.

    In testimony whereof, I subscribe my name in my own hand-writing,

                   ROMANUS EMERSON"

For the truly curious:

"Romanus Emerson's Boston Obituaries 1852", published February 9, 2021: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/02/romanus-emersons-boston-obituaries-1852.html   

"Romanus Emerson's Obituaries 1852" (published across the United States), posted on this blog on October 1st, 2020:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/romanus-emersons-obituaries-1852.html    

My Surname Saturday post on the EMERSON family:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-emerson-of-ipswich.html    

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Romanus Emerson's Self Written Eulogy 1852", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 18, 2021,  ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/02/romanus-emersons-self-written-eulogy.html: accessed [access date]). 

1850 Valentine's Day Warning

 

From The New Hampshire Gazette, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Tuesday, February 12, 1850, Issue 7, page 2.  

"ST. VALENTINE'S - On Thursday, St. Valentine will hold his annual festival.  Single ladies and gentlemen may expect the usual quantity of favors, while "the little god Cupid" acts as post-boy.  Old bachelors should fortify their bosoms with an extra covering of linen, as the mischievous archer sometimes plays the dickens with tender breast-works.  Romantic girls should exercise caution in the distribution of their gilt edged missives, or they may find love-lorn swains susceptible enough to admit the "soft impeachment."  Finally, ladies, one and all, look out for the males on the morn of Valentine; and if you get caught, avenge yourselves by lass-ooing the rogues who wish to entangle you."

 

Romanus Emerson's Boston Obituaries, 1852

 

The Boston Investigator (1831 - 1904)
The first American newspaper for freethought

A few months ago I posted a story about my 4th great grandfather Romanus Emerson's 1852 obituaries that were carried in newspapers across the country.  I was surprised that an ordinary citizen of Boston would have his obituaries copied and reprinted in so many cities.  However, Romanus Emerson was an avowed "infidel" or "atheist", which was highly unusual at that time, which was probably very newsworthy.  His request to NOT have a clergyman preside over his funeral was ignored by his friends and family, which was probably more of a news story than his unusual thoughts about religion.

You can click on the link above or below to read the short obituaries in cities outside of New England, but I've included a few obituaries from Boston here today.  

 South Boston Gazette: (date unknown)

"The death of Father EMERSON, an old resident of the Ward, demands more than a passing notice.  We have gathered the following events in his life, from a reliable source.  Romanus Emerson was born in Hancock, New Hampshire, September 1st, 1782.  Besides one sister, he had three brothers, Orthodox ministers, that survive him,  - Rev. Dr. Brown Emerson of Salem, Rev. Reuben Emerson of Reading, both older than he, and Rev. Noah Emerson, of Holliston, younger.  He was educated for the ministry and entered college with his brothers, but owing to an impediment in his speech, he gave it up and learned the Carpenter's trade.  He came to South Boston in 1809, was married in 1810, and has therefore reside here 43 years, engaged as a West India Goods Dealer and at his trade.  When he came here the spot on which he settled (near the Hawes Place Meeting House) was the village consisting of only six houses, and the only place settled.  He paid 3 cents a foot for land, while near the Bridge he could buy it for 1/4 of a cent.  We mention this to show the increase in real estate.

    He has left a wife and six children.  He has been Fence Viewer since 1822, was a member of the Common Council in 1843, and was an original pew owner and member of the Hawes Place Society, and continued so to his death.  As a man, he was strictly honest, always to be relied on in business transactions, an excellent neighbor, a good citizen, a firm unyielding friend of temperance, and had been for 18 years.  He formerly sold liquor, had a license, but seeing its evil he gave it up in 1834.  In politics - a Jeffersonian Democrat, repeatedly a candidate for that party.  In 1848 he became a Free Soiler, as firm and unyielding as he had previously been Democratic.  In religion, - he was in former years a strict Baptist, an active, praying, faithful member of the Baptist church.  In 1834 he read Thomas Paine's Age of reason; this, with other causes, changed his views, and he asked and received his honorable discharge from the Baptist church; then went to the extreme point the other way.  His views, to which he has adhered 18 years, and in the full faith of which he died, were- that there was no God, except a God of Nature; that death is an eternal sleep, that when he died that was the end of him - annihilation.  

    He gave full directions as to his funeral; that he should be put in a pine coffin and buried in the burying ground at the Point, which was done; and also left an address to be read at his funeral by Horace Seaver, Esq. Editor of the Investigator.  After consultation of his friends with Mr. Seaver,  it was deemed best that he should be buried from the Hawes Place Meeting House and Rev. Lemuel Capen deliver an Address and make a Prayer, which was done on Wednesday afternoon, at 2 o'clock.  The funeral was attended by a large number of relatives and friends.  The Address of Mr. Capen dwelt on the life and character of the deceased.

    Mr. Emerson left a Will.  He gave to the Infidel Relief Society five hundred dollars, but as they are no known to the law, it is doubtful whether they can receive it.  The rest of his property goes to his wife and children.

    The complaint causing his death was general debility of the system - consumption of the blood, caused by advancing old age.  He had been failing about one year and six months; and he retained all his mental faculties to the last, and though at times in great distress, died calmly, without a struggle."

And from The Boston Herald, Thursday, October 14, 1852, page 2:

"ROMANUS EMERSON, Esq. one of the oldest citizens of South Boston, and for many years, one of the leading infidels of this city, died on Saturday last, aged 70 years.  In early life he was a firm Baptist, and has three brothers who are clergymen.  The Traveller learns, that it was his dying request that no clergyman should officiate at his funeral, but that an address should be read, which was written by himself, explaining his religious principals.  His request was not complied with.  Mr. Emerson has been esteemed as an upright and valuable citizen by all who knew him." 

And from The Boston Investigator, Wednesday October 13, 1852, page 3

"Obituary   Died - South Boston, on Sunday evening last, of illness, Romanus Emerson, Esq. aged 70 years.  His funeral will take place this (Wednesday) afternoon at 2 o'clock.

   Mr. Emerson possessed in a very remarkable degree all those qualities which render a man estimable in society.  He was truly a philanthropist; and by his unaffected manners, excellent judgement, and fatherly counsel, solicited the affection and respect of all who enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance.  A high sense of honor extended itself in the minutest transactions of his life, and his integrity and truth were beyond the shadow of suspicion. He was a strict lover of justice, bordering on enthusiasm, and by his associates in the cause of Free Enquiry he was held as a honor and ornament.  We thin we may say with the utmost confidence, that if ever a person lived of whom it might be said he was a pure-minded and honest man, it was ROMANUS EMERSON.  His many virtues endeared him in the hearts of a large circle of friends, who, while they regret his decease, will cherish and venerate his memory.

    Mr. EMERSON, on the subject of religion, was a materialist and a member of the Boston Infidel Relief Society. Possessing an uncommon mind, improved by much reading and reflection, he was led in former years to examine and eventually reject the religious opinions of the church.  He was decidedly opposed to the religious dogmas of the day, and being a man of great decision and firmness, he maintained and preserved his opinions to the last against all opposition.  And although without the Christian's faith and hope to support him in the final hour, he met the change with perfect composure and resignation, affording another proof that an honest and useful life is a sure guarantee of meeting with dignity and submission the approach of death.  Having practiced when in health those virtues which adorn human nature and impart purity and serenity to the mind, his long and painful sickness was borne without repining, and his last hour was calm and tranquil.

    Not long since, and before his strength and faculties began to fail him, Mr. EMERSON wrote with his own hand an address to be read at his burial, this address we shall publish in our next paper."  

I found the eulogy written by Romanus Emerson himself in the October 20, 1852 issue of The Boston Investigator newspaper.  I'll post the entire piece in the next installment of my blog posts on Romanus Emerson! 

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For the truly curious:

My blog post from October 2020 "Romanus Emerson Obituaries, 1852" contains many links to other stories written about my "infidel" ancestor! 

 https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/romanus-emersons-obituaries-1852.html    

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Romanus Emerson's Boston Obituaries, 1852", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 9, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/02/romanus-emersons-boston-obituaries-1852.html: accessed [access date]). 

Hancock, New Hampshire Town Hall - Weathervane Wednesday

 Today's weathervane was photographed in Hancock, New Hampshire.

The Hancock town hall is on the common, across from the Congregational Church and the Pine Ridge Cemetery.  The first "meetinghouse" was the church across the street, with it's bell made by Paul Revere, built in 1790, and the bell tower added later.  In 1871 the church and town government separated, and the town hall was built across the street. According to The History of Hancock, New Hampshire page 288, "W. S. Carkin, who [it is conjectured] contributed the elegant weather-vane, so useful as ornamental, which now rests on the cupola of this structure".  The new building served as a school, as well as for meetings and town offices. 

The town separated from Peterborough in 1779 and was named after John Hancock. He owned land in what is now the center of town. The first settler in Hancock was John Grimes, a Scots Irish man from Londonderry. He settled in Hancock in 1764 for a brief time, but returned to Londonderry.  

In the 2010 census there were 204 people residing in the main village (the junction of NH state routes 123 and 137) and a total of 1,654 in the town of Hancock.  My 5th great grandparents, John Emerson and Catharine Eaton, removed from Massachusetts to Hancock after the Revolutionary War.  In 1790 the population of the town was 634 people, then it jumped up to 1,184 around the time of their deaths (1809).  The population of the town dropped during the Civil War and reached a low of 531 in 1920.  The estimate for 2017 (according to Wikipedia) has dropped again down to 1,640.  None of John and Catherine Emerson's eleven children lived in Hancock (or even New Hampshire) after marriage - they all removed to distant places such as Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio.  Farming the stony soil in the hills of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire was not profitable. 

As you can read above, the weathervane above the cupola on the Hancock town hall dates from about 1871.  It is a scrollwork weathervane, probably mass produced in a local New England factory, which was a common product in this time period.  Scroll weathervanes were popular, replacing the banner weathervanes of the eighteenth century. This arrow style scroll features a heart shaped tail. 

For the Truly Curious:

The History of Hancock, New Hampshire: 1764 - 1889, by William Willis Hayward, 1889

The Town of Hancock, New Hampshire website:  https://www.hancocknh.org/  

Hancock, New Hampshire Congregational Church - Weathervane Wednesday:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/01/hancock-new-hampshire-congregational.html   

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Hancock, New Hampshire Town Hall - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 3, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/01/hancock-new-hampshire-town-hall.html: accessed [access date]). 

John B. Sargent and Caroline Rowell, Goffstown, New Hampshire - Tombstone Tuesday

 These tombstones were photographed at the Hillside Cemetery in Goffstown, New Hampshire. 

JOHN B. SARGENT

DIED

AUG. 28, 1848

AE. 35

CAROLINE W.

WIFE OF

JOHN B. SARGENT

DECEASED

JULY 14, 1913; 

AE. 91. 

John Blaisdell Sargent was born 13 February 1813 in Goffstown, New Hampshire, the son of Joseph Sargent and Sally Blaisdell.  He married Caroline Rowell of Hooksett, New Hampshire on 8 June 1841.  He was a mason, who died young.  [History of Goffstown, New Hampshire 1733 - 1920, by George Plummer Hadley, Volume 2, page 455] 

Caroline Rowell, daughter of Peter Clement Rowell and Susan Eastman, was born 4 July 1822 in Hooksett, and  died 13 July 1913. She remarried to Thomas F. Cheney on 29 November 1865 in Manchester, New Hampshire.  The tombstone above doesn't mention Cheney.    

They had two children:

1.  George H. Sargent, born 29 April 1842 in Goffstown.  He worked for the railroad and lived in Marshall, Iowa.  He served three years in the Civil War in Company K, 2nd Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers.  

2.  Charles G. Sargent was born about 1846 and lived in Dunstable, Massachusetts. He was a painter and paper hanger. He served in the Civil War in Company K, 2nd Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers, and also in the 3rd Maryland Cavalry.  

John Blaisdell Sargent's father was Joseph Sargent, son of Joseph Sargent and Betsey, born 1784 in Goffstown, and died 16 February 1860 in Goffstown.  He married Sally Blaisdell and had seven children: Nancy, Levi, Lettie, John Blaisdell (see above), Lewis, Calvin B., and William Blaisdell.  He was a farmer, and a legislator.  

John's grandfather, Joseph Sargent, was born 11 November 1756 in Amesbury, Massachusetts, the son of Trueworthy Sargent and Hopestill Weed.  Joseph Sargent died in 1824 in Bradford, New Hampshire.  [History of Goffstown, New Hampshire 1733 - 1920, by George Plummer Hadley, Volume 2, pages 450 - 451]  Trueworthy Sargent lived in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1776 where he signed the Association Test, [DAR Genealogical Research Databases "Record of Trueworthy Sargent", Ancestor #A100453] and was living in Goffstown by 1812. 

For the truly curious:

Sargent Record: William Sargent of Ipswich, Newbury, Hampton, Salisbury and Amesbury, New England, U.S., with his descendants and their intermarriages, and other Sargent branches, by Edwin Everett Sargent, 1899.  (see Joseph Sargent on page 81,  Joseph Sargent on page 153, and John Blaisdell Sargent on page 226)

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "John B. Sargent and Caroline Rowell, Goffstown, New Hampshire - Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 2, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/02/john-b-sargent-and-caroline-rowell.html: accessed [access date]).