lucy ann holbrook torrey (part 1 of 4)

childhood

Lucy Ann Holbrook was born May 15, 1827 in Weymouth, MA to James Holbrook and Hannah Bates. She was the youngest of 11 children. When Lucy was born, her mother was about 40 years old, and her dad 48.

When Lucy was 3 in 1830, her household from the census probably consisted of the following family members. (note 1)

From lucy holbrook blog post

2 males 5-10 (brothers Jeremiah and Cornelius)
2 males 10-15 (brothers James and William)
1 male 40-50 (father James)
1 female under 5 (Lucy)
1 female 5-10 (sister Lindsay)
1 female 10-15 (sister Hannah)
1 female 40-50 (mother Hannah)

Her two oldest brothers, Oran and Minot, had already married and moved out.  Also, an older brother and sister, Edmund and Louisa, had died in 1827; when Lucy was only months old. They probably died of an illness, which would have been frightening for Lucy's mother to worry about her newborn also becoming sick.

In 1840, when Lucy was only 13, she experienced the loss of her father, James. The 1840 census shows Lucy's mother, Hannah, as head of household; living with what seems to be a younger family. (note 2)

From lucy holbrook blog post

2 males under 5 (nephews Charles and George)
1 male 10 thru 14 (nephew Oran)
1 male 15 thru 19 (brother Cornelius or Jeremiah - both not married yet)
1 male 30 thru 39 (brother Oran (died in 1840))
2 females 10 thru 14 (Lucy, sister Lindsay)
1 female 30 thru 39 (sister-in-law Lydia (Oran's widow))
1 female 40 thru 49 (Hannah - although probably around 53 years old?)

This younger family living with Lucy and her mother most likely is Lucy's brother Oran's family. Oran may have been sick as he also died in 1840, leaving a wife and 3 children. Maybe the family moved in with Hannah for support. Lucy probably helped take care of her nephews, although the oldest, Oran, was actually a couple of years older than she.

continued...

notes:

1. 1830 US Federal Census : 1830 US Census; Census Place: Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Page: 179; NARA Series: M19; Roll Number: 60; Family History Film: 0337918. accessed on ancestry.com

2. 1840 US Federal Census : Year: 1840; Census Place: Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: 192; Page: 287; Image: 586; Family History Library Film: 0014679. accessed on ancestry.com

children of william holbrook and elizabeth pool (part 2 of 2)

According to the History of Weymouth  book on ancestry.com (3_273), the following are the children of William Holbrook and his first wife, Margaret Torrey :

children born at weymouth by first wife:

• william b. 20 Oct. 1734; d. 21 July, 1736
• Samuel b. 2 Dec. 1735

The same book lists the following as the children of William Holbrook and his second wife, Elizabeth Pool, all born at Weymouth:

• William b. 16 Mar. 1739; d. at Lake George, 10 Sept. 1756, about 19 yrs.  A soldier under General Winslow
• Abner b. 9 Mar. 1741
• Cornelius d. 14 Dec. 1742
• Nathaniel b. 7 Mar 1744
• Margaret b. 16 Feb. and d. 30 June 1747
• Adam b. 4 Aug. 1750, d. 13 or 19 Sept. 1832 ae 82 yrs.  He was non compos and never married
• Margaret b. 18 Apr 1754, d. unm 17 jan 1816, ae 62 or 65 yrs
• Mary, m. ____ Hunt of Cummington
• William, bp. 5 Mar. 1758; resided in East Abington

As mentioned in my last post, not all of these births are recorded in the Weymouth Vital Records;  Cornelius and Mary are both not found in the above Record Book.  Looking quickly, it may be that Cornelius was not a son of William and Elizabeth, but actually William's father Cornelius, who died in 1742.  I will have to look closer at these dates and records.

Looking at William and Elizabeth's family with the information from the Weymouth book, they had at least 8 children, 7 of which survived to adulthood.  Also, most likely in their household was Samuel, from William's first marriage. 

The Weymouth book also states that William and Elizabeth resided in South Weymouth.  The first federal census of 1790 shows the following Holbrook families living in Weymouth, MA : Ab, Jon, Elisha, Nathan, Silvanus, and widow Holbrook.  It looks like at least Abner and Nathaniel stayed in Weymouth.  I will have to do a little more research to find Adam, Margaret, Mary and William.  Perhaps some of them are living together and are not listed indivually in the census.  It is likely that William and Elizabeth had died before this census was taken, William would have been 81 and Elizabeth about 75 years old in 1790.  The Weymouth Vital Records book does not have an obvious match for the death of Elizabeth or William; but according to the History of Weymouth book, William made his will in 1767, and it was distributed 20 years later in 1787 (3_273). 

The book also has a couple of paragraphs of the location of the house of William's grandson, James Holbrook, on Union Street (2_933).  I have been to this area of South Weymouth to locate the gravestones of James and his wife Hannah Holbrook. Perhaps this land was handed down to James through his grandfather William.  The earliest map I have found from Weymouth, MA (Historic Land Ownership database on ancestry.com) is from the late 1800's, so I am not able to see where William owned property.  I will have to check the suffolk deeds to see where exactly he lived.  I also was not able to find where Elizabeth and William were buried.  Maybe they were also buried at the Elmwood Cemetery on Union Street, like their grandson James, if their house was located in this area.

To do:
1.  Locate probate in Suffolk index and order probate. at NEHGS
2.  Locate any deeds of William in suffolk deed books. at NEHGS
3.  Trace children of William and Elizabeth to see which towns they settled in.

books:
1.  Representative men and old families of southeastern Massachusetts ... on google books

william holbrook and elizabeth poole (part 1 of 2)

William Holbrook and Elizabeth Poole,  6th great-grandparents of mine, recorded their intent to marry in Weymouth, MA. The entry is noted in the book,

Vital Records of Weymouth, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850: Marriages and deaths

for May 11, 1738. The annotation next to their marriage of CR2 stands for the church record of the First Church of Christ, South Precinct.

 

According to the History of Weymouth book, this was William's second marriage, and Elizabeth's first. (3_273) Most of the information I have on this couple is from this book, which I was able to access on ancestry.com.  The weymouth book lists 9 children of William and Elizabeth, although I was only able to find 4 (including my 5th great grandfather Abner) in the Vital Records of Weymouth, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850: Births. Perhaps the other children are listed in church records from the town. I had looked into locating church records from their church while researching another ancestor, Hannah Canterbury White, and found that the NEHGS library holds,

The book of records of the Second Church of Christ in Weymouth, Massachusetts : baptisms and marriages/ by John J. Loud. F74.W77 W76 1900.

I am not sure if this is the same church, but definitely worth looking at. The book is only 36 pages, but the notes state the records extend from 1722 to 1818; which may include William and Elizabeth's marriage in 1738, and their children's birth dates.

Another source of information for William and Elizabeth's children could be William's will and probate records.  The History of Weymouth book states the following...

He made his will 23 Nov. 1764, and his estate was distributed to his heirs 6 July, 1784.

Weymouth was still a part of Suffolk County at this time (until 1793), so I will need to locate William's probate from the following source:

Probate: George, Elijah, "Index Probate Records, Suffolk Co., MA 1636-1893" Boston, MA: 1895 3 Vol.'s

(to be continued...)

james fitchie ferguson and grace stewart cox

My great great grandparents, James Fitchie Ferguson and Grace Stewart Cox, were married on May 2, 1895 in Dundee, Scotland. The Statutory Registers of Marriages on scotlandspeople has an address of their marriage at Park Place, Clepington Road, Dundee by Robert Sharp Warren, minister of Saint David's. I searched for a St. David's in Dundee, and found the following possible church that their minister was from; although it is not located on Clepington Road.  The current name of the church is St. David's High Kirk, located in the center of Dundee, at the hill of Dundee Law.  It is part of the Church of Scotland, which complies with their marriage register.  I also searched on google for a minister of Robert Warren, but did not find additional information on him. I am not sure if this is the Church they attended, but it does seem this would be the church referred to in the register, even if they were not actually married in the building.

At the time of their marriage, Grace and James were both living at different addresses on Perth Road in Dundee. Grace grew up at the house she was living in, while James came to Dundee from Kettins sometime between 1881 and 1895 (in the county of Forfar at the time, now in county of Angus). Grace and James were married only a month before they had their first child, my great grandmother, Ann Hutchison Ferguson. Perhaps they were not married in the church because of this early pregnancy.



Before Marriage : Grace's residence at 40 Perth Road (A) and James' at 199 Perth Road (B)


View Larger Map

Very soon after they married, Grace and James moved to Glasgow, Scotland, about 75 miles from Dundee. They had all three of their children in Glasgow, between the years of 1895 - 1901. All three children were born in the same house at 6 Walker Street in Glasgow. I would assume this is the house Grace and James lived in at the time. I was able to find online an 1894 map of Glasgow, from the National Library of Scotland's map collection.  I aslo looked at the street view from Google maps and see that the street has changed a bit, with the addition of another street, Walker Ct.  I am guessing the house (or flat/apartment) they lived in probably does not exist anymore. 

1894 Map of Walker Street, Glasgow, Scotland : residence of James and Grace Ferguson 1895-1901

From Screen Captures

Current Google Map of Walker Street, Glasgow, Scotland

View James Ferguson Timeline 1867-1930 in a larger map

At some point in 1901, after the birth of their third child (James), Grace moved to Kettins with her three children while James stayed in Glasgow. Kettins was closer to the Dundee area where Grace had spent her childhood, a good 70 or so miles away from Glasgow, where James stayed. The 1901 census has them enumerated in these separate cities/towns. Maybe Grace needed more space or more help, as she moved in with her mother in law and brother in law at Lintrose House in Kettins. It seems James' brother Peter was a gardner for this estate. I found some information about the Lintrose House and cottages at ScotlandsPlaces. There are also photographs of the house and the family that lived there at the Search Room of The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Histoical Monuments of Scotland. You can actually order these online from their website, or visit them in person to view the photos.  (note 1)

I am not sure how long Grace and James lived apart, but by 1911 they are together again in Glenfinart in Kilman, Scotland, county of Argyll.  This was a big move for James from the city of Glasgow to what looks to be a more rural part of Scotland, in Kilman. Glenfinart was a name of a house, but I am not sure if it was also considered an area of Kilman.  There is also some photographs and information about the Glenfinart house at ScotlandsPlaces.  James' occupation is listed as coachman and chauffer in many sources, perhaps he was a chauffer to the family at Glenfinart.  (note 2)

map of Glasgow (East) and Glenfinart, Kilman (West)

View James Ferguson Timeline 1867-1930 in a larger map

Not much time after James and Grace moved to Kilman, World War I began. The UK would pass the Military Service Act in 1916 requiring "single men 18 to 41 years old were liable to be called up for military service unless they were widowed with children or ministers of a religion", according to the article on wikipedia. In 1916, James was above the age limit for the draft at 49 years old. His son James was only 15 in 1916; by the end of the war in 1919 James would have been 18. He may have registered for the draft by the end, but I did not find him in the British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920, on ancestry.com. 

After the Great War, all three of James and Grace's children emigrated to America. First was their eldest daughter and my great grandmother, Ann, in 1920.  The story is that she was a nurse in WWI and that is how she met her husband, Alfred Labrecque. (I wrote a little about Alfred and his service here, but I still have not looked at all his service records I had ordered some time ago.)  I have searched various WWI databases from the UK, and I am unable to find records of Ann's service.  Her future husband, Alfred, enlisted from Canada, even though he was living in Massachusetts. After the war, Ann left Scotland for America, and stated Alfred as the friend she knew in the United States.  So she did at least meet Alfred during the war, while he was serving; but I still have no proof she was serving as a nurse.  I wonder if it is possible she was a nurse in a hospital that saw War patients, but was not actually enlisted.  I do believe the records for Alfred show he was injured at some point.  I will have to check into the records more closely.

A year after Ann came to America, James and Grace's second daughter, Margaret, also emigrated (both Ann and Margaret came in through Ellis Island).  Her passenger record also states she was a nurse, like her sister Ann.  I did not find much information on Margaret after 1932 when she is listed in the Weymouth, MA directory, so I am unsure if she married or where she died (my Dad believes she did not marry, and moved to NY).  Finally, James and Grace's youngest, James, emigrated to America in 1923. He also settled in Massachusetts like his oldest sister Ann. Grace and James probably felt the pressure to also emigrate when all of their children left Scotland. It was also probably a little easier to leave Scotland as both sets of parents had passed away by 1922. They followed their children to America, in 1923, the same year their son James emigrated. They settled in Weymouth, MA; the town I grew up in. James' occupation in the census is listed as chauffer, which is consistent with the occupations he had in Scotland as vanman and coachman. 

Since James and Grace and all their children emigrated, I was curious to see if any of their siblings also emigrated, or if they left some living cousins that have stayed in Scotland. I was not able to track all of James' siblings' down, but the ones I have found look to have stayed in Scotland and not emigrated. One of James' brother, Daniel, has a descendant in England that has contacted me for her mother-in-law, who is Daniel's daughter. She does remember visiting cousins in Scotland, so I am sure that this family has left some cousins still living in Scotland. Daniel had the most children of the siblings. Some of James' siblings, such as Jessie, Isabella, and perhaps Annie, look to never have married. Other siblings had either one or no children. I definitely could be missing some information as it is hard to track this time period online, as the last available census is 1911. Also the birth records are expensive to browse through on Scotlandspeople, having to pay credits for each one. (note 3)

Grace's family has been a little more difficult to trace with 11 siblings.  A couple of the younger sisters, Jessie and Susan, seem to have emigrated to the US.  I found some passenger records which seem to match these sisters.  An older sister may also have emigrated, Margaret Francis Cox Hanily.  I found a marriage record for her in Manhatten, NY in 1898 on familysearch.  She would have probably been the first to leave Scotland in Grace's family.  It would be great to find other cousins living in US, but I am not sure if any of these sisters had children. Grace's older sister, Betsy, seems to have had the most children that I have found; but she stayed in Scotland.  I was unable to find most of the death records for Grace's siblings, which would help me locate where they had spent at least the last part of their lives. 

I do not have an exact death date for Grace, although this should be easy enough to find.  I will have to visit the Registry of Vital Records in Dorchester, MA wich has an index to deaths in the state.  Thanks to the reference department at the Quincy Public Library again, I do have the death date for James.  According to his obituary from the Patriot Ledger, James died December 13, 1940.   

Both James and Grace are buried at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy.  I am not sure why I did not clear the grass to read Grace's death date, but I do know that she was still living in 1941 when she is listed in the Weymouth, MA directory as a widow.

links :
There is an interesting Scottish Emigration website from the National Library of Scotland which has some stories related to emigration during this time period.

to do
1. browse through the census to see if other families were listed at Lintrose
2. order photos of Lintrose House and Glenfinart house online from their website, or visit them in person to view the photos
3. look through Alfred's Canadian service records - hospital mentioned where he could have met Ann?
4. find out more information on siblings of grace and james - contact cousin again to see if any photos, etc.
5. search Genes Reunited - they have the British Newspaper Archive - for search terms, Glenfinart and Lintrose to see what comes up. Maybe more information about families that lived there. Grace and James spent spent most of their life in count of Argyll - which do not have a newspaper represented, but may be able to find something. I did a brief search and found some info on cox family possibly as they lived in angus- saved images as screenshots to picasa. might have some info on james brother peter ferguson as he lived in angus county.
6. look into magazine - discover scotland - any info on dundee? or kettins?
7. find death date for Grace - have to visit statistics office in dorchester to find death date.

notes :

1. James may have also been in Lintrose house as a child, as his father Peter was also a gardner. The prior census for James' father do not list Lintrose, but Campmuir. Maybe the census was not as specific in the earlier years, I will have to browse through the census to see if other families were listed at Lintrose (which would imply James and father were not at Lintrose).  I did also find a connection between James' brother Peter and Lintrose - Peter married a Murray - and a Murray family owned this estate.  So perhaps this is why Peter was living here - not because his father had been there before. 

2. photo lists a murray under glenfinart - and a murray family is from lintrose - some documents on murray family of lintrose on national archives. or national register of archives but did not find a connection of any murrays at glenfinart.

3. James Siblings:

• Margaret, oldest sister, is difficult to track down after the 1871 census. I have found bits and pieces of her life, such as having a daughter in 1896 in Kettins. Her daughter's birth record states she was married in London in 1893, but I have not been able to find her marriage record. I was also unable to find her and her husband in the 1901 and 1911 Census. I did find that Margaret died in 1913 in Dundee, Scotland; which had listed her occupation also as a nurse, a maternity nurse. I found her daughter Janet last at Kettins in the 1911 census, perhaps Janet has left us some living cousins in Scotland. 
• Peter, oldest brother, looks to have stayed in Scotland, living at Lintrose as the gardner. He married a Margaret Murray. As I mentioned above, Murray is a name that I have found linked to Lintrose house. I will have to do some more research on Margaret and her family to see if there is a connection. Peter and Margaret were not married until 1920, Peter was 37. The latest Census I am able to search is 1911, so I did not look much further yet to see if they had any children and left some descendants in Scotland.
• Alexander, brother, marries in 1898, but does not have children by 1911 census - did not find death record in Scotland or any immigration records to US.
• Jessie, sister, did not marry or have children and stayed in Scotland.
• Daniel, brother, has left the most ancestors in the family. died in 1960 at blairgowrie, county of perth. had 5 children according to kstyrell's tree on ancestry.com. I have spoken a little with Daniel's youngest daughter, Elizabeth's, daughter in law; who states that the family moved to England, but remembers visiting family in Scotland.
• Elizabeth, sister, had one son by the 1911 census. It also looks like they stayed in Scotland, with Elizabeth's death in Kilmacolm in the county of Renfrew. Husband James Cunningham may have left a will as found in the index on ancestry.com.
• Annie, sister, did not find much information. Not sure if she married or when she died.
• Isabella, sister, looks to be single still by 1944 when she is a witness for her sister's death. Did not find more information on her either.

everett linwood torrey and ethel french stoddard

When I first started this blog, I would write about my direct line ancestors on their anniversaries or birthdays. I quickly found out that I did not have the time to keep up with all the ancestors. I had to make a decision wether I would skip writing about people if I passed their date or simply write the person's name as the title and save the post as a draft to write about them later. I decided to do the latter, and I went forward a couple of months with ancestors to write about. I think it is at least a year later and I still have not gone through the second month of anniversaries and birthdays. I started with April 2010 and am now just in May 2010. The next date in line is the anniversary of my great grandparents, Everett Torrey and his wife Ethel French Stoddard.  Their story is a sad one, one that I really did not look forward to writing.

Everett and Ethel are my great-grandparents. I was not fortunate enough to meet them as they died before I was born. They lived during hard times, and their story reflects the difficulties of their lives.

From Pictures

They were married in Hanover, MA by Melvin S. Nash, clergyman, on May 1, 1906.   Everett was 21 years old and Ethel was only 18 years old. I am not sure how they met; my grandmother never spoke of her mother or father, and I did not have the interest to ask when she was alive. Even if my grandmother were still living, I am not sure I would even now have the courage to ask her about her parents, as I always felt there was this hush about them. My mother does speak sometimes of her grandmother Ethel, always praising how she was such a hard worker, that she managed a farm and her family mostly by herself.

At the time of their marriage, Ethel was living in Norwell, MA and Everett was living in the neighboring town of Rockland, MA.  As I mentioned above, I am not sure how Everett and Ethel met.  The only connection I have found is that both Ethel's father and Everett were shoe workers; which was very common during this time in MA.  Ethel's father most likely worked in Norwell or a neighboring town.  In 1902, four years before their marriage, Everett was living in Hanover, which is close to Norwell.  Perhaps Ethel's father and Everett worked together and that is how he met Ethel. 

I knew I had some additional information on Everett from family papers I have in my file that my mother gave me a while back.  Looking through these files, I found a piece of paper which looks like it came from, or was photocopied from, a small book.  It must have been from a book written for, or about, the Emerson Shoe Company. The Chaper title from the page I have is "Who's Who in the Factory", and on the top of the page is handwritten 1918. The subtitle of the chapter is "Everett L. Torrey, Dressing Department". The entire page is written about Everett. I wish I had a copy of the entire book or pamphlet, but I am happy to at least have this page about my great-grandfather. I did a quick search on google books for the book, but had no luck.  From this excerpt, I did learn that Everett, at the age of 14 (around 1898), worked for the J. E French Company in Rockland, MA.  If the handwritten date on the paper is correct, Everett worked at J E French until 1905, as the article states he left there 13 years ago to work for Emerson Shoe Company in Rockland, MA.  Maybe Arthur Stoddard, Ethel's father, was also working at J E French, as his mother-in-law was a French.  I will have to see if Lydia French was connected to J E French, which would make this scenerio more likely.   I did a quick search on who J E French may have been, but I did not find any additional information.  There does not seem to be a J E French In Lydia's immediate family tree.

From Pictures

About two years after their marriage, Ethel and Everett had a son, born March 9, 1908.  Unfortunately, they also experienced their first loss, as the child was born ill with kidney problems and died 6 days after he was born.  He remained unnamed, and is buried with Ethel and Everett as "baby boy".  The cause of death on his certificate from familysearch.org states he died of uremia.

Their next son, Kenneth, was born in June 1909.  He stayed in the Norwell and Weymouth area until his death in 1973.  I do not have a record of any children that he and his wife had, I will have to ask my mother to confirm. 

After Kenneth, another unnamed son was born; this time prematurely, in December of 1910.  The death record shows he died of atelectasis, collapse of a lung.  He died the day he was born, December 21, 1910; which would become a significant date for this family.  Three of Everett and Ethel's children died on December the 21st, including my grandmother.  Also, another close person to my grandmother, her husband's sister, (we called her Auntie), also died on December 21st.

Getting back to Ethel and Everett, they had their 4th son (second son that lived past infancy), Linwood (aka Ben).  Linwood also stayed close to home in Massachusetts throughout his life. The Social Security Death Index states he lived in Norwell, MA when he died in 1979.  I do not have any information on a spouse or possible children for Linwood. 

Some months after Ben was born Ethel experienced more grief in her life.  Her sister, Carrie, at the age of 23, committed suicide in November of 1913.  I am sure this was difficult for Ethel to deal with.  The newspaper article that I found on the matter explained Carrie was having some difficulty with her students in Brockton, MA, which led her to committ suicide.  A later article discounts this theory saying 300 students attended a memorial for Carrie.  The article states that Carrie committed suicide by gas inhalation.  According to the 1910 census, Carrie was living with her parents in Norwell on High Street.  I am not sure if Carrie was living there three years later at the time of her suicide. Ethel's other sister, Nellie, also lived on High Street with her husband and family.    At that time, Ethel and Everett were living close in Norwell on Main Street.

According to Everett's WWI draft registration card, by 1918, Ethel and Everett had moved to High Street in Norwell also.  The 1920 Census enumerates Ethel and Everett, Ethel's sister Nellie and family, and Ethel's parents all on High Street living next to each other.  Ethel and Everett had not had any more children up to this point after having Ben in 1913; perhaps she was trying to deal with the loss of her sister.  In 1921 however, they had their first daughter, Ruth.  Ruth is one of my grandmother's siblings that I do remember.  We would visit her and her husband in Duxbury near the beach when I was younger.  They had two children, but they were older by the time I remember Ruth and John, and I did not know their children.  Ruth died from a car accident with her husband on that ominous day of December 21, 1994. 

From Pictures

Ethel with her son Ben (Linwood) and daughter Ruth

Ethel and Everett had a 5th son, Russell, who also stayed close to home.  His obituary of 2006 states he was from Norwell, MA.  Russell was married, and had at least three children who stayed close to the Norwell area, according to his obituary.

Their next and final son, Arthur, was born in 1926.  He was the only child that moved out of Massachusetts to New Hampshire.  He was married and had at least one child, who I have spoken to through email.  She had bought and was living in Ethel's house on High Street until 2001.  The Social Security Death Index has her father Arthur Torrey's death in Nashua, NH.  He died on December 23, 1995, only a couple of days after the infamous December 21st date!

The last child Ethel and Everett had was my grandmother, Helen, in 1929.  Ethel was 41 years old, Everett was 45 when they had her.  Soon after my grandmother was born, her father Everett moved to Millford, MA. Perhaps one of the reasons that my grandmother never talked about her father was that she really did not know him. The census records show that he was living in Millford as a boarder working in a shoe factory in 1930. Ethel and all her children were still living in Norwell at this time with her father, Arthur on High Street. My grandmother was only 1 year old at this time. It was obviously a tough time during this period with the stock market crash and the depression, so Everett probably went looking for work wherever he could find it.

I am not sure if Everett came back to visit and support his family, but I am sure it was a very difficult time for Ethel and her children.  I have been told that she eventually had to sell off most of her family farm in Norwell to support herself.  I will want to check the deed records to see whose land it originally was before Ethel was there and if she did sell some of it off.  My mother remembers visiting her grandmother Ethel, along with some unmarried older women who lived next door.  My mother believes these women were Ethel's sisters.  As mentioned above, her sister Carrie had died in 1913.  One of the women could have been Nellie, although she was married with at least 7 children.  At the time my mother would have visited though, her husband could have passed and her children moved away; therefore, my mother may have assumed she was an umarried woman.  The women could also have been some of Nellie's daughters, so they would have been my grandmother Helen's cousins.    About 20 years before my mother was born, the 1930 census shows that Nellie and her husband were living next door to Ethel and their farther Arthur.  I do not recognize the other names neighboring them. 

From Pictures

Ethel? at the Farm and House on High Street, Norwell,MA

It was fortunate that Ethel's father and sister were so close, as she would soon need their support when her husband, Everett, committs suicide in 1938.  I found some conflicting information about the location of Everett's death.  The death certificate states he hung himself near his home on High Street in Norwell, but the body was not found for about 4 months.  Another newspaper article states his body was found under a tree in  Saylesville, RI.  I cannot find a connection of him to that area of Rhode Island.  If he was still living in Milford, MA at this time, Saylesvill, RI is about 25 miles from there.  Everett did have a sister and a brother living in Rhode Island in 1930, but about 18 miles away in Warwick, RI.  I am not sure how to proceed to find the most accurate information on Everett's death.

From Pictures

Ethel's 75th birthday with children, Helen, Russel, Ben (Linwood), Ruth, and Arthur

Ethel lived for another 26 years after her husband Everett died. She stayed on High Street in Norwell, MA until her death in 1964. Ethel was buried with her husband at the Washington Street Cemetery, along with three of her sons.

From Pictures

To do list:

1. Find deeds to farm on high street in Norwell to see how land changed hands. Who bought the land first.
2. Find more about Everett's death location.
3. Fix picture of Ethel's 75th birthday
4. Find more living cousins - nellies children and grandchildren.

rhode island families

I have been trying to write a post about my great grandparents that lived in MA, but it is taking me longer than expected. In the meantime, while data gathering, I found a great grand uncle that moved to Rhode Island. I have not done much research yet in Rhode Island, even though my husband's family is from that state, so I searched to see what kind of online databases were out there. I found a very useful one on familysearch.org, Rhode Island Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950.

I was able to find the death of my great grand uncle mentioned above. I will write about that in another post; but since I was in this database I could not stop myself from plugging in some names on my husband's side of the family. I was so excited to find some new information. I wanted to note it all down here, even though I did also enter it into my family tree. I like to have a record of what I have searched and what new information I found; sometimes that can get lost in all the names in my family tree. 

I started with my husband's maternal line. I already knew his great great grandmother, Hilma Sofia Myrhman, had died in Rhode Island sometime after 1920, as that is the last census I found her in. I found her very quickly in the above mentioned Rhode Island database under the name Hilma Sofia Anderson, with a death date of July 23, 1947 in Coventry, RI. Now I can search for her in the 1930 census, and look for her obituary. The death record also listed her father's name, which I did not have, as Per Mirhman (a little different spelling). I will also look for any other of her children which could be listed in this database, although their deaths may have occurred after 1950. Perhaps she had siblings that came to the US though?

I also new my husband's other great great grandparents probably died in Rhode Island in the early 1900s, so I searched for their names. I found Alfrid Carlson's death on March 25, 1914 in West Warwick, RI. This date is a year off from the transcrition of his stone I found online from The Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project. I also found his wife in the database with a death date of July 25, 1935 in West Warwick, RI. I already had the names of both sets of parents, which was the same as I found in the database. I will next have to search for their nine children in this database.

My husband's paternal side of his family also has people I was interested in finding in this Rhode Island Death database. This side of his family is Portuguese, and I have had trouble in the past searching in online databases because I find the names unfamiliar and a little confusing. They seem to switch between two surnames in the census, and sometimes use a name as a middle name. I was a bit hesitant to search, but I think I did find some new information that seems to fit in with this family. 
Here is the family chart to refer back to if need be :



My first search on this side of the family was for my husband's great grandfather Ernesto Francisco, (he has the easiest name). I have only seen his name written a couple of different ways, Ernesto Francisco and Ernest/o Francis. In this database, he is listed as Ernest E Francis. I believe his middle name is Gilbert, the E may be a transcription error. According to this database, Ernest died on October 28, 1941 in East Providence, RI. I did not have Ernest's parents' names before I searched this database, so that was another great find. They are listed as Joseph Francis and Frances Mattos. I had some indication that his father's name was Joseph, when I found what I think are Ernest's sisters on a ship passenger list; naming Joseph as their father and Ernest as their brother. It does seem likely that these are his sisters that came to Rhode Island from Sao Miguel, Azores. I did a quick search for these sisters in the Rhode Island database, but was unable to locate them. Their names on the passenger list are Maria Conceicao Tereira and Maria Ernestina, arriving in Boston, MA in 1914. Strange that their father's surname of Francisco is not listed. They travelled with an older woman, but I am not sure of her relationship to them.

Ernesto's wife, Aldina Pereira, died in 1971, so she would not be listed in this database. I do already have her parent's names from Aldina's social security application. According to Aldina's passenger record, she traveled to Boston with her brother, Annibal, whose death date I do not have. I am not sure where he was living or if he died after 1950, but he is not listed in the Rhode Island Death database either.

The more confusing side of my husband's portuguese family is another set of great great grandparents, the Gouveia/Martin's. I have found this family listed as Joseph Gouveia, Joseph Govey, Joseph Martin, Joseph Martin Govey; the last entry is how he is listed in the Rhode Island Death database. I previously had not had a death date for Joseph or his wife Theresa. Joseph died February 1, 1901 in Cranston, RI. The birth date for Joseph does seem to be a bit off from what I have in my family tree, I am not sure why the discrepancy, but perhaps this is not the correct death information after all. My original source for Joseph's birth was the 1900 census, which gave his birth about 1854. His death record shows his birth as 1865. If the Rhode Island Death database is correct, then Joseph's parents are Manuel Gouveia and Theresa. In this database, there is also a Frank Martin Govey born in 1879 with the same parents, perhaps Joseph's brother.

Joseph's wife Theresa has been a little more difficult to find. I have Theresa's maiden name as Andrade, from her daughter Mary's social security application. The death database does list a Theresa Martin Amorel Govey with a death date of 24 Feb 1912 in Warwick, RI. The parents listed though do not match her maiden name of Andrade - but are Antonio and Clara Amorel. The birthdate of 1868 is also different than the Theresa from the 1900 census of around 1856. I am not sure I am finding the correct couple with these different birth dates, but I am now beginning to think that the census was incorrect. I checked to see if I had Theresa in the 1910 census, and I did. This census does list her birth date of 1870, much closer to the death record I found. She is also living in Warwick, RI, the place the "other" Theresa died only 2 years later. I am inclined to believe this is the correct death record of Theresa. Perhaps the social security application noted her maiden name incorrectly, or some Azorean naming custom which I do not understand has come into play. Once again, the Gouveia's/Martins are giving me some difficulty.

Overall, I was happy with the information I found in this database. I am not done searching through it yet, but I do want to move on to my other task of writing about one set of my great grandparents.

cemetery at the green (parish cemetery), middleboro, ma

I happened to be going through Middleboro again last week, and took the kids on a letterbox that was located at the Cemetery at the Green, also known as Parish Cemetery. After looking up where Priscilla (Raymond) Glazier was buried, I knew we would be looking for her here. Luckily we found her pretty quickly. A friend brought me to an older section of the graveyard and we first came across her brother Zephania Ellis Raymond. I knew she would be close by, and there she was. I was so excited I instantly started snapping pictures.

in memory of / priscilla s / wife of benj a glasur / who died / march 24 1832 / aged 33 years

z. ellis raymond / died mar 31 / 1873 / aged 71 yrs

My goal in finding Priscilla was to find her parents Samuel and Sylvia Raymond or her sister Silvia (Raymond) McConihe. I have no idea which cemetery they are buried in, but was hoping they might be with Priscilla. However, I was not able to find them in our brief visit.

I have mentioned before that I feel there must be a connection to Harlows, Shaws, and Ellis surnames with either Sylvia (Dunham) Raymond or Samuel Raymond as they named some of their children with these middle names. In some of Sylvia's children's death records, her maiden name is listed as Shaw. I have been going by her marriage record, which lists her maiden name as Dunham, assuming that to be more accurate as she probably recorded her name herself. Of course there is always a possibility of error, so I am keeping both options open for her maiden name. I did notice around Priscilla and Zephania's headstones other stones with the names of Harlow and Shaw. I took some pictures and made some connections between this Harlow family and Shaw family that is buried around them, but I still have not been able to connect them to either Samuel or Sylvia.

Located in the same area of Priscilla and Z. Ellis were many Harlow headstones. I looked into vital records on familysearch.org to try to understand their relationship, and I came up with the following. William Harlow died in 1793 and is buried at the Cemetery at the Green with his wife, Hannah Bartlett.

in memory of / Mr. William Harlow / ?

in memory of / mrs Hannah Harlow / wife of / Mr. William Harlow / who died April 1787 / ?

I was also able to find 5 of their children also buried here:

Joseph (1739-1759)

Ezra (1741-1808)

Mary (1745-1829)

William (1748-1780)

Josiah (1750-1798)

William and Hannah Harlow also had at least two other children, Hannah and Ephraim, but I did not see their headstones. Hannah Harlow's married Josiah Clarke, and it is very possible I missed their headstones as I was not looking for Clarkes at this time. Their daughter (William Harlow's granddaughter), Deborah Clarke; however, is buried close to the Harlow family at the cemetery. The Shaw connection comes along when William's granddaughter, Deborah Clarke, marries Elijah Shaw.

deborah / wife of / elijah shaw / born mar 27 1770 / died mar 21 1864

in the memory of / elijah shaw / who died / dec 14 1840 / aged 77 years

Deborah and Elijah Shaw had four children that I found in the records, at least one of which, Elijah Shaw, is also buried at this cemetery:

elijah shaw / died / june 26 1858 / aged 62 years

The Elijah Shaw that marries Deborah would have been about the same age as my Sylvia (Dunham) Raymond. Since there is some evidence that Sylvia could be a Shaw, I looked at Elijah's family to see if he maybe had a sister Sylvia born around Sylvia's birth year. Elijah Shaw's parents are Elijah Shaw and Phebe Sampson. I checked some family trees on ancestry.com to quickly see if there was a Sylvia born to this couple. According to these family trees, they did have many children, but none named Sylvia. This obviously is not proof that Sylvia was not a child of theirs, I will want to find a probate record of Elijah to see if there is any mention of Sylvia or any Dunhams. I would also need to go a step further back and look to see if Elijah had any brothers that had children named Sylvia. I realize this is a reach, as I have not even looked at probate and land records for the Dunhams in Plymouth County, but I will eventually do that too. Maybe there is a Dunham out there that married a Shaw in Middleboro and Plymouth area. I have not found one yet, but that might explain why Shaw was listed as Sylvia's maiden name, maybe it was her mother's maiden name.

I am guessing someday I will find the connection between these families and perhaps Sylvia (Dunham) Raymond, but so far I have not. I did notice in the Cemeteries in Southeastern MA book, there is a small cemetery in Plymouth with many Harlows, Ellis, and Shaws buried together. That will be another stop next time we are in the area.