J. W. Stickney, Mutual Waterbury Hook and Ladder company

Paternal, ,

Found this little nugget in “The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five”

A meeting was called, September 28, 1872, in the rooms of “Phoenix, No. i,” for the purpose of forming a Hook and Ladder company, the city having before this date purchased a Leaverich truck. The company was organized with the following members:

E. L. Cook, C. L. Tinker, Charles Lawton,
I. A. Spencer, Robert Philip, E. E. Cargill,
T. D. Bassett, William Cowel, Charles Olmstead,
B. F. Merrill, Theodore Rogers, J. W. Stickney,
J. W. Gaffney, R. P. Smith, Frank White,
F. A. Hoyt, Alexander Connison, Stephen Hosier,
C. L. White, Edward Barritt, Daniel Nehemiah.
F. L. Wallace, G. W. Roberts,

The officers elected were as follows :

Foreman, Theodore D. Bassett.
First assistant. E. S. Cooke.
Second assistant, G. W. Roberts.
Secretary, R. P. Smith.
Treasurer, Imri A. Spencer.

At a meeting September 28, 1872, in the rooms of “Phoenix No. 1”, a Hook and Ladder Company was formed, the city having before this date purchased a Leaverich truck. The company took possession of its first house, on the corner of Scovill and South Main Streets in August, 1873.

For twelve years the truck was hauled to fires by the men themselves, but in 1884 an arrangement was made, by which hack horses could be used for fires occurring at a distance from the centre. In 1887 two horses were purchased for the use of the truck, and William Goucher was installed as driver. In the same year the company removed to the present house on Scovill Street under the same roof with Engine No. 2. In May, 1889, the city purchased a Preston aerial truck, sixty-five feet long, and was drawn for a time by two horses, but later it was arranged for a “three horse hitch”.

Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, was the first to adopt the regulation uniforms, it also possesses portraits in oil of all the foremen of the company up to the present time, and a large picture of the company taken in 1881.

Paying my respects to John Stickney

Paternal, ,

On a recent trip to the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts with my wife for our third wedding anniversary, I took advantage of being in South Hadley to visit to the relocated Old Burial Ground at the Evergreen Cemetery. Having rushed in preparing for a few genealogical stops on this trip, I didn’t know what the layout of the cemetery was, or where my ancestor’s headstone was in relation to the entrance.

Upon entering the cemetery, I noticed that there were many historic headstones mixed with more recent headstones throughout, so I determined I would have to look at each one in the hopes of finding the right one. After about 20 minutes or so, I thought I would check Find-a-Grave for a picture of the headstone so I would have a better idea of what I was looking for. After doing that, and noting the stones and trees in the background of the posted image, I knew it had to be on the edges.

It was about this time that I noticed over a hill an area that was set aside from everything else with a marker on a large boulder at the entrance of this hallowed ground. Sure enough, this was the relocated old burial ground. After another 20 minutes of seemingly looking at each row twice, and on the verge of giving up since it was hot and my wife and dog were patiently waiting for me on a bench at the entrance of the cemetery, I took a look at one row one last time, and that’s when I saw what I had hoped to find:

20140927_114557 Continue reading Paying my respects to John Stickney →

Ralph Hammersley & “Jane”

Maternal, ,

Who is the “Jane” that was married to Ralph Hammersley, and mother to my 4th GGF William Shufflebottom Hammersley? Don’t know yet, but here are two candidates:

  • Stevenson, Jane – Married a Ralph Hammersley on 12 August 1798 in Uttoxeter, Stafford, England (Source)
  • Greatback (or Greatbatch), Jane – Married a Ralph Hammersley on 9 November 1804 in Stoke-Upon-Trent, Stafford, England (Source) (Source)

HAMMERSLEY-GREATBATCH

With William’s birth coming on 23 August 1805 in Hanley, Stafford, England, either of these “Jane’s” could be his mother based strictly on the years of their marriages. The notation that the Ralph that married Jane Greatbatch was a Pot Dealer is a nice link given William’s career path, but still not proof enough. Hot on the trail …

Kindness and Wasungen

Paternal, , ,

As someone who has a full-time job, a house and marital obligations, often I have to resort to lazy genealogy which amounts to plugging names and places into Google and seeing what comes up. As Google continues to add websites, digital books and more, these results change over time and are becoming more useful.

While I was googling for Wasungen–the hometown in Germany of my 2nd GGF Theodore Koch–I didn’t find anything on him, or his parents and Wasungen. So I turned to simply searching for Wasungen and found results for a website created by a certain family with historic roots in Wasungen and the surrounding area. They had done lots and lots of research, held a reunion and connected with people domestically and in Germany. So as a “shot in the dark” I emailed the person listed as the contact on the site. He replied. Continue reading Kindness and Wasungen →

Maria Felicia Spagnuolo – Coincidence or Incorrect Year?

Maternal, ,

Maria Felicia Spagnuolo is my 3rd great grandmother (paternal). Wife to Pasquale Nicola Gaudiosi and mother to Leopoldo E Gaudiosi (1855 – 1922), I know very little about her; in fact, I only know her name. I came upon her name after receiving Leopoldo’s birth record from Italy.

However, while searching the Italy, Births and Baptisms, 1806-1900 (Italia, Nati e Battesimi, 1806-1900)at FamilySearch.org I came across an interesting birth record for a woman of the same name:

Maria Felicia Spagnoli

 

My excitement of finding her and her parents quickly turned to depression as I realized her birth date, 04 Oct 1854, meant that she could not possibly be MY Maria Felicia Spagnuolo. It would mean that she was just one year old when my 2nd great grandfather Leopoldo was born.

This Maria was born in San Severo, Foggia, Italy. Leopolodo was born and raised in Colliano, Salerno, Italy. The two locations are 156 km from each other, or just under 100 miles. Not close, but not unrealistically far away either.

So the questions I now must answer is: Is this Maria my ancestor and the year is simply incorrect, or does this woman have the exact same name as my ancestor but no relation? Are Gerardo Spagnoli and Maria Leonarda Forte my 4th great grandparents, or complete and total strangers?

Who were Polly Smith’s parents?

Maternal,

polly-smithI had long thought that the parents of Polly Smith, my 3 GGM, were Zadoc Smith and Mary “Polly” Babcock. I believe this parentage originally came from Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, and therefore should have been treated as such. However, I was a young man trying to go back as far as possible, so onward I went with this assumption (which conveniently led to an American Revolution patriot ancestor). This parentage is also part of the genealogical file that was prepared by a relative, so it does carry some credence. However, I had some doubts about it in the last year or so, and so the following discovery is intriguing to say the least.

However, I recently found this listing on Find-a-Grave. Her parents are clearly shown here to be Ira Smith and  Obedience Martindale. With Vermont records pre-1850 being what they are, I have had little success in the brief (read: Googling) research I’ve done into the family. And, as always, the surname “Smith” doesn’t lend itself to helping my efforts.

This post is another “open” post that will be updated as I am able to find out more details. It is also open in the hopes of someone with definitive proof to post and help a brother (or, more accurately, distant cousin) out!

UPDATE (8/22/14): In reviewing the book Isaiah Babcock, Sr. and his descendants
By A. Emerson Babcock, I noticed that Elias Babcock and Huldah Kinne (or Kenney) had several children, including a “Polly” born in Dalton, MA 29 Jun 1782. However, this Polly is said to have married a “Robert Smith” in Sandy Lake, NY before settling in Sheldon, VT. This would contradict the SAR application showing this Babcock marrying a “Zadoc Smith.”

Mining and Marketing Clay

Maternal,
Photo: Gay Head Cliffs, Martha's Vineyard, for Fortune Article "Clay: The Commonest Industrial Raw Material", Walker Evans (American, St. Louis, Missouri 1903–1975 New Haven, Connecticut)
Photo: Gay Head Cliffs, Martha’s Vineyard, for Fortune Article “Clay: The Commonest Industrial Raw Material”, Walker Evans
(American, St. Louis, Missouri 1903–1975 New Haven, Connecticut)

I received an email from the NEHGS today, and in it they mentioned the addition of the 1865 Massachusetts census to their collection. So I took some time to see what it might hold for additional information about some of my MA ancestors. One of those that I looked up was my 3 GGF Leander W. Mayhew of Chilmark (Martha’s Vineyard). He had been listed as a “Farmer” in the 1860 and 1870 Federal Census, so I was very intrigued with the small and slightly illegible occupation listed: Mining + Marketing Clay.

So I took to my trusty Google search to find out more about this, and came upon a post titled The Clay Industry of Massachusetts. Here is just one excerpt:

The manufacture of many varieties of fancy brick is carried on in South Boston, where the most important plant in the State is situated. The South Boston company turns out several grades of face brick, both of Roman and standard sizes, using for this purpose a mixture of New Jersey and Gay Head (Martha’s Vineyard) clays. The product, consisting of pale yellow and brown bricks, with various effects produced by iron oxides, derived from common pyritic impurities that exist in many of the seashore clays, and the addition of manganese dioxide, will compare favorably with similar bricks from New Jersey and elsewhere. Another concern in the same city produces white, glazed bricks and tiles also made out of New Jersey clays, for which there is a growing demand. Large quantities of these enameled tiles have been used in the Boston subway and in the Southern Union Station just completed. In the town of Somerset an enameled brick similar to that used in the subway is manufactured.

I look forward to continuing to research this new occupation for one of my ancestors, and will update this post as that research continues. Though it was fun to research names, dates and various other vitals, it is now in the “creating context” stage of my genealogical research that the real fun is being had!

UPDATE: I like this quotation from a post in the MV Times titled “Exploring the brickyard in Chilmark“:

The brickyard chimney stands out against the winter-gray wooded hills of Chilmark’s north shore. It is a lone, crumbling reminder of a far different time, when these quiet hills were home to thriving industries. Docks extended off the rocky shores, and schooners from the mainland loaded up on paint, clay, iron ore, and bricks; all produced in an area that is now dominated by summer houses and conservation land.

More from the Vineyard Gazette on the Harris lands.

Chilmark_Gayhead

Tracking down Isaac Mayer’s headstone

Paternal

IMG_2433Kind and generous people have become somewhat of a rarity, but they are truly a blessing when they are a part of your life. One of these people is a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary named Preston. He goes to my church, attends the same Bible study as me and who hails from a town near Augusta, Georgia.

When I found out that he was near Augusta, I mentioned to him my ancestor Isaac Mayer (3rd great grandfather) being from that area, and that I had recently found where he was buried – Magnolia Cemetery. Not only did he know where that was, but offered to try and find the headstone for me next time he went home. Here is some of what he wrote to me after he returned from this genealogical scavenger hunt on my behalf:

I’ve never actually been to that cemetery before, but it is a historical place so I took a lot of pictures just for fun. It turns out I have a few relatives buried there, though I don’t know where they’re buried.

About halfway through you’ll see I stumbled upon the Jewish plots (thanks to the map you sent me). The grave stones were interesting, most of them had some Hebrew on them. I haven’t translated any of it. It would be difficult for me since the vowel markings aren’t there, or put another way, the text is “unpointed.”

It took me a long time to actually find the grave, because Mayer is not a common family name in the Jewish plots at that cemetery, at least from what I saw. In fact, I only found two grave stones belonging to the Mayers, one of which is Isaac’s as best as I can tell

So you’ll see two Mayer grave stones in the last part of the album. The rectangular one says

To the memory of Benj. A. Mayer second son of Isaac & Elizabeth Mayer Born August 11th 1856 Died August 25th 1857.

The other gravestone belongs to Isaac himself. I almost didn’t even see it because it had broken and was resting face down, but I ended up flipping it over and cleaning it off. And sure enough, there it was. This is the best that I can make of what the stone says

To the memory of Issac Mayer Born March 1st 1818 at Osthofen Germany Died April 29th 1864 – Peace be to his ashes.

You’ll see on the back side some Hebrew text engraved there. I haven’t looked at it too closely, but I can perhaps find out what it says later if you want.

So, not only has my friend made this remarkable personal connection for me with the final resting place for my ancestor with pictures, but he has also helped me discover for the first time my ancestor’s hometown in Germany! Osthofen, Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany is where he was born, and it would appear that the Family History Library in Salt Lake City has some extensive church and civil records for this region. One scavenger hunt, as expected, has led to another! However, with Isaac being Jewish, it is unclear whether or not any records remain. The Nazis burned the synagogue to the ground in 1938, and the Jews in town were either murdered or driven out. My hope probably lies in civil records, though there is a Jewish cemetery in Osthofen that also may hold clues.

IMG_2423

S H Lewis in all his sepia glory (finally!)

I write this post with such great excitement. I knew so much about the my second great grandfather Stephen Henry Lewis (a lot of times written S H Lewis), the first of my “Lewis” line to come to the United States from Nova Scotia. This is a man who built dozens of houses in Somerville, Massachusetts, as well as four homes at the “Cottages at South Duxbury,” including one that is still in our family. But until this past weekend, I had never seen a picture of him. And then my brother, digging through a box of “stuff” in the family house over Easter, found a picture and said, “Ryan, you aren’t going to believe what I just found…”

Stephen H Lewis sm

I would guess the picture is just before the turn of the century, as my great grandfather, Wilbur Fletcher Lewis, was born in 1889 and he is the young boy in this photo.

 

Where did Emeline Hunt come from?

Maternal, , , ,

A woman named Emeline Hunt is my 4th great grandmother on my maternal side. She was the husband of Timothy Grim Dixon (b. 4 Jul 1792 in Danbury, CT; d. 28 Feb 1858 in Plymouth, MA). Here is what I know about her:

  • She was apparently born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts around 1809.
  • She married Timothy Grim Dixon on 2 July 1827 in Whittingham, Vermont.
  • In 1850 she was living in Thompson, Connecticut.
  • From 1860 to her death she lived in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
  • She died 6 May 1893 and is buried in the Chiltonville Congregational Church Cemetery in Plymouth. (Find-a-Grave)

Timothy and Emeline had the following children:

  • Alanson Dixon (1831 – )
  • Comfort H Dixon (1832 – ) My 3rd great grandfather
  • Graham Dixon (1833 – )
  • Edwin Dixon (1836 – )
  • Walter S Dixon (1838 – )
  • Mary Jane Dixon (1839 – 1922)
  • Lyman F Dixon (1842 – )
  • Adeline Dixon (1844 – )
  • Dixon (1845 – )
  • Elizabeth Dixon (1846 – )

Who were her parents? Why did they get married in Vermont? What is her actual birthdate?

Was she born in May 1809 in Westhampton, Massachusetts to Elihu C Hunt and Sinai Hunt? (Source: Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988)

Updates (10/15/2014): According to the 1860 United States Census, Emeline was a seamstress and was born in New Hampshire! The census lists here age at 51, confirming her birth around 1809.

According to her son Alanson Dixon’s death record, his mother was indeed Emeline Hunt, and that the “Birthplace of Mother” was Stow Mass. HOWEVER, I just searched “The Vital Records of Stow, Massachusetts through 1850” and found no Emeline Hunt, and almost no Hunts at all. ::sigh::