francescabellcoursenperritt.com

Author: Jill Foster

  • A City Girl

    Week 43 Urban, Part 2 of the Daniel H. Ferguson Story

    Jeannette Keeler was a city girl. She was born on July 16, 1816, to Abraham Keller and Sarah Dann Keeler. Their town, Danbury, Connecticut, was a growing town of 3.5 thousand people and a thriving industry. The people of Danbury made hats.

    I found a small item from Jeannette’s life in the scrapbook I inherited from my husband’s grandmother, Frances Perritt. Jeannette was my husband’s 3rd great grandmother. This item was a small white card rimmed in black and inscribed, Mrs. D. H. Ferguson. Calling cards or visiting cards, popular across America throughout the 1800s. Ladies carried in small purses when making their social calls to family and friends. They left cards at each house they visited. They usually left three cards- one for the master and two for the mistress. The host often displayed these cards on a small table in the front hall. The card of the most high-ranking caller was on top. A black-edged card meant the caller was in mourning.

    Jeannette Keeler married Daniel Howes Ferguson on June 21, 1838, in Danbury, Fairfield, Connecticut. The wedding was a home wedding. J. G. Collum officiated. The young couple settled in Norwalk- a settlement on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. Their five children were all born here in Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Their youngest two, both James and Margaret, told census takers they were born in New York. By this they meant the New York metropolitan area which included the city and suburbs of New York City. Long Island where Norwalk, Connecticut is located is in this metropolitan area as well as parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

    Jeannette and Daniel were the parents of five children born in Norwalk. The Ferguson Family Bible lists births of him, his wife, and children.

    Daniel H. Ferguson was born March 18, 1816.

    Jennette Keeler was born July (illegible),1816.

    Elbreannah Ferguson was born May 2, 1839.

    Frances Anne Ferguson was born April 17, 1841.

    Elbert Frances Ferguson was born May 21, 1843.

    James F. Ferguson Aug. 16, 1845.

    Margaret St. John Ferguson Oct. 24, 1847

    In the summer of 1842, Jeannette Ferguson had black-edged cards printed. The cards said Mrs. D.H. Ferguson. She had much to mourn. On June 16, 1842, her first child, a daughter, Elbreannah died. Less than a month later, July 8, 1842, Frances Anne died. Jeannette and Daniel buried their girls in Danbury at the Wooster Street Cemetery in the graveyard behind the jail.

    Shortly after their last child, Margaret St. John, was born the Fergusons moved from Norwalk to Danbury. The people of Danbury still made hats.

    Danbury was the “town to be in” if you were in the hatting business in 1840. In 1820 there were twenty-eight hat factories in Danbury. The raw materials needed to make beaver skin top hats grew in the woods and rivers nearby. The beavers lived in the streams. Woodmen cut trees for wood. Workers used water power from the rivers to drive the machinery. Making beaver fur into hats requires heat, moisture and pressure to felt the fur. Then hatters shaped the felt into hats. By 1831 the number of people involved in the hatting business surpassed the number in all the other Danbury businesses put together. By mid-1840s the hatting business became mechanized. Hatter manufactured more hats in Danbury than anywhere in the United States. Danbury was known as Hat City.

    While Daniel sought gold in California, Daniel’s family lived with Jeannette’s younger sister, Marietta Keeler Hyatt, her husband, Alfred Hyatt. Alfred, head of his household, was a hatter. Marietta and Alfred had two boys, Edward and Wallace. The 1850 federal census lists these eight people living in one housing unit, dwelling number 642. Alfred Hyatt is listed as head of family 754 and Jeannette (Jeannette), age 32 is head of family 755. Her three children are- Elbert, age 8, James, age 5 and Maryetta (Margaret), age 3. James and Elbert attend school.

    Here is a photo copy of this 1850 record from Danbury

    Daniel Ferguson Make an Entrance

    Jeannette worried that Daniel had not arrived home by Christmas as planned, but he did get there before 1850 ended.

    He arrived in Norwalk harbor aboard the SS Ohio with Captain Schenck at the helm. Daniel had hoped to reach home before Christmas; the Ohio had just departed from Havana on December 18th on time. Shortly out of the Havana harbor one of her engines blew out so she returned to Havana for repairs. She resumed her trip on the 19th making good headway until the 22nd of December when a gale hit. Having only partial power she sat out this storm; then shortly after getting underway she sprung a leak. Passengers and crew alike bailed water out a little faster than it came in. The Ohio reached the wharf at Norwalk on December 26, 1850.

    To Oregon

    Did Jeannette want to travel thousands of miles to the west coast? It would be a hard trip with three children. Her youngest, Margaret, was only four. But Daniel did convince his wife to go west with him.

    The next time Daniel traveled his family came with him. His family included Daniel himself, Jeannette, Elbert, James and Margaret. They traveled the same route as Daniel had. This time Daniel was a rich man and who bought the nicer lodgings in comfortable ship quarters. There were goodbyes to be said, items to buy and letters to write. The boys finished a term at school. Also, they needed to consider the best season to cross the Isthmus of Panama. Cholera, although always a risk, was at epidemic proportions in the rainy season. On the first leg of their journey, they traveled by boat from New York to Chagres. The second leg across the Isthmus started at Chagres where they boarded flat-bottomed boats. Men pushed the boats up the Chagres River with poles to Gorgona. After Gorgona they rode mules to Panama City. Alligators, monkeys, parrots, and mosquitoes buzzed, hummed, screamed, and showed their teeth. Yellow fever, cholera, and malaria still sickened travelers. They were brave to come, and they survived the crossing of the Isthmus. The trip from Panama City to San Francisco was tame compared to crossing the Isthmus. But it was long and usually took two months by boat. When they reached San Francisco, they visited places and people Daniel knew. They arrived in Portland, Oregon sometime in 1852. They finished the ocean voyage part of their trip at Astoria as their destination was Portland, Oregon, USA. The Columbia River enters the sea at Astoria; canoes and small river steamboats took travelers on to Portland. In that year according to Claude-Alain Saby, Portland’s population was about 4000 people. 

    Elbert Ferguson, who about 10 when the family arrived, died on December 9, 1863. Quite a while before this event, the Fergusons had established friends and a residence in Portland on 2nd Street. Here is a copy of the newspaper notice.

    Daniel, being restless and enterprising, would convince Jeannette to go with him many more times. In the end she outlived him. Here is her obituary.

    This obituary, published in The Morning Oregonian on April 20, 1984, has some mistakes. Bible records put Jeannette birth in July of 1816. The family came to Portland, Oregon and built a house before moving to Oregon City. Daniel lived in Oregon City alone in 1853. He is recorded in both the 1853 Oregon Territorial census and the 1857 census. The 1853 census recorded him as living alone in Oregon City. In the 1857 record, he is shown with his family. So Jeannette was living in Oregon City by 1858. It looks like whoever wrote the obituary switched the 1853 and 1858 dates.

    Why Jeannette moved to Oregon City

    Soon after the Fergusons set up housekeeping in Portland, Daniel started traveling to Oregon City. Oregon City is located 12 miles up the river from Portland. Two steamboats took passengers between Oregon City and Portland. One, the Portland, was a side wheeler. The other, the Multnomah, was a stern wheeler. The Multnomah ran every day except Sunday. The Portland ran a couple times a week. On July 2, 1857 the Multnomah fell over the falls at Oregon City putting her out of the picture.

    Jeannette wanted to see her husband more than twice a week. She and the children moved to Oregon City as shown in the 1857 Oregon Territorial census.

    Another Piece of this Story to Come

    The next piece is about Daniel’s project in Oregon City and a fatal fire. Another piece of Daniel Ferguson life is included in Traveling by Mail Boat.

  • Traveling by Mailboat

    The Ferguson Brothers Go West

    for week 28-travel

    Daniel Howes Ferguson, my husband’s 3rd great grandfather traveled to San Francisco, California in 1849. Part of this trip he was with his brother, Thomas Jefferson Ferguson.

    When I think of this trip, the nursery rhyme, “To Market, to Market”, comes to mind.

    To market, to market to buy a fat pig:
    Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.
    To market, to market to buy a fat hog.
    Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

    In this nursery rhyme the travelers rode in a cart or buggy pulled by a horse. The Ferguson brothers traveled by ship. Daniel left in the spring of 1849 from Norwalk Harbor, New York City. Thomas left from Key West, Florida. They met in Panama City and traveled together from there.

    Letters exchanged between Thomas and his wife, Rosalinda, describe the doings of these two industrious and lucky gold miners. Mary Haffenreffer transcribed most of these letters and published them along with her research into the Ferguson family in the Florida Keys Sea Heritage Journal, fall 2012 and winter 2013. She also sent me copies of the original letters.

    The Fergusons traveled on a mail boat steamship. The Falcon was the one Thomas rode. This small steamship with Captain Thomson at the helm, was one of the three ships carrying U.S. mail as well as passengers on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama. The Falcon’s first trip between New York City and Charges, Panama happened in December of 1848 and took 26 days. The Falcon left New York City on December 1 and arrived in Charges on December 27. The route was New York to Savannah to Charleston to Havana to New Orleans to Chargres. It included mail pick-ups and drop-offs as well as passenger pick-ups.

    Here are maps showing the route.

    Around the time Thomas left Key West Florida for Havana, Cuba, he received this letter from his brother William E. Ferguson. It reads:

    Brother Thomas,

    I have thought it advisable to write you to give you the particulars brought by the Steamer Northerner from Chagres.

    I was conversing with a passenger who went from New York in company with fifteen others. They thought to get passage from Chagres but they found no opportunity to get from there. There is onboard three who bought steerage tickets in New York for $100.00 for each. One sold at Chagres for $450.00, one for$500.00 and the other for $700.00, and they state that there is 2500 persons on the Isthmus now waiting for a passage to San Francisco. My informant states that they think that there is a poor chance of the steamers returning from San Francisco and there is no sailing vessels at Panama. He states that he is going to New York to procure tickets if possible to go through, if not to write them to return to New York and proceed around the hook. I would advise you to go by land some route through Mexico if possible. I think we will get from here next week. They are getting every ready as soon as possible.

    Remember me to all friends.

    W.E. Ferguson

    Letters to Rosalinda

    Charleston April 5th, 1849

    The first letter Thomas wrote to his wife Rosalinda Corcoran Ferguson reflects what his brother William said.

    Havana, April the 8th, 1849

    I arrived here at 9 o’clock the next morning after I left home. I learn here that there are two thousand passengers at Panama waiting for passage. I think of altering my route to Vera Cruz and go through Mexico.

    The trouble with going through Mexico was that the United States had just won a war with Mexico, known as The Mexican War in the States and The American Intervention War in Mexico.  Mexico lost on third of its territory by the “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo”. Traveling from Vera Cruz through Mexico, those Americans who chose to that way were likely meet angry Mexican citizens who would have no interest in aiding them and might even rob and kill them.

    In his next letter also written from Havana to his wife, he had changed his mind about traveling through Mexico.    He now planned to sail to Chagres on the steamer Falcon.

    Panama April the 22th, 1849

    Dear Wife,

    I write you once more from this place though I expected to leave here before this but receiving information from Vera Cruz not very favorable of the route through Mexico, I have altered my mind and shall go the way of Panama…  I expect I shall find my brother Daniel there if he has not got passage away which is doubtful. The steamer Falcon will be here on the 25th going to Chagres… Write me whether you heard anything more from Albert before he left Charleston.

                                     Thomas J. Ferguson

    On April 25, 1849, Thomas Ferguson left Havana on the Falcon heading to Chagres. He arrived in Panama City on the Pacific side of the Isthmus on May 9, 1849. Thomas didn’t mention how he got across the Isthmus after he landed at the mouth of the Chagres River.

    Up the Chagres River and on to Panama City

    The 60 miles between the mouth of the Chagres River and Panama City is challenging for most. It involved first chugging up the Chagres River in a small steamboat for 12 miles. Then the river became very shallow. Travelers boarded flat bottomed canoes called bungas which were poled or dragged by men. Clouds of mosquitoes, stifling heat and big alligators added to the atmosphere.  The passengers rode mules for the last 24 miles because the waterway ended at the very small village of Gorgona. Besides the discomfort caused by heat, reptiles, insects there were illnesses. People often caught cholera, malaria and yellow fever on this route.

    Daniel had a similar though longer journey as he had traveled from Norwalk Harbor. He arrived in Panama City before his brother Thomas.

    Letters to Rosalinda

    Panama May the 11th, 1849

    Dear Wife,

    I arrived here day before yesterday and shall leave day after tomorrow morning on the ship Norman in company with my brother Daniel, Stafford and Saywood and the rest of the Key West party who I have found here all well, all excited to get away to the Land of Promise. Daniel tells me he had a talk with fifteen young men who arrived here a few days ago on the steamer Oregon from California on their way home. They said they got as much gold as they wanted and were going home to enjoy it. They had got seven bushels of pure gold with them that they had dug themselves in the space of six months. Daniel says they told him to keep cool, that there was enough gold there for all…I have got my passage in a first rate ship by Daniel’s having a pass engaged for his brother-in-law who hasn’t got here yet.

                                                         Thomas J. Ferguson

    San Francisco- July 31st, 1849

    Dear Wife,

    I arrived here on the 15th of this month having sixty three days passage from Panama, rather a tedious  passage but well and hearty, the weather at sea was calm and sea very Smooth. On my arrival here Daniel and I took a small job which we done in a week for which we got five hundred dollars. Since then we have built us a boat to go up to the mines and intend to leave tomorrow. I was offered sixteen dollars a day the day I got here and refuse good jobs now to go up to the mines so you may judge what I think of the prospect. The gold stories we heard about California before I left home was no humbug. I have seen lots of the gold here, one lump weighing fourteen and half pounds. I don’t know as I shall find any of those big lumps but I am bound to have gold of some sort; there is plenty of it here and no mistake. This place is very healthy though cold. I have wore flannel shirt and drawer with my thick buckskin pantaloons ever since I have been here and then been cold with a severe wind from the sea like our Northers in Key West but back from the coast it is warm.  I eat apples, Pears and blackberries here. Some things here sell high, others very low .Clothing is cheaper than it is in the States,  flour $10, pork $25, beef $5,of the best salt, fresh beef from 12 to 18 cents a lb., potatoes $10 for a hundred lbs., onions seventy five cents a pound, cheese fifty, saleratus (baking powder)$2.50, butter $1.50, cheese fifty cents. This town is overrun with goods, the streets and yards full, lying about open, nobody steals. There ain’t a quarter stores enough to hold them. …

                                                                 Thomas J. Ferguson

    By October they were on the Yuba River prospecting and had made a claim. The Yuba River, located in the Sierra Nevada’s in northern California, is a major tributary to the Feather River.

    Uba (Yuba) River Calif. Oct 21st 1849

    Dear Wife,

    … I will now give you a statement of my success. After arriving here I spent a month in hunting, or prospecting as they call it here, up and down the river for a good place to locate. I at length found one which prove to be good on which my brother and myself built two machines for washing out gold and a water wheel to lift up water out of the holes we dig which works them all effectually so much so that we have made over five thousand dollars in the last three weeks…

    By a great odd we have got the richest spot I have ever seen on the river. It is a small bar on the side of the river in the form of a triangle about fifty yards on each side with rocks ten feet high on two sides and the river on the other. We have the whole of it to ourselves and nobody troubles us…

    I am faring very well here. We have got plenty of pork, dried beef, ham, flour, hard bread, beans, cornmeal, coffee, sugar, molasses, dried peaches and cherries. We get fresh beef every few days so we fare pretty well. I made some molasses cake this morning which went very well. It wasn’t quite as good as you used to make but it done very well.

    Albert is not here. We are looking for him every day. I have wrote letters directing him where to find us.                                                                            Thomas J. Ferguson

    Selling Goods to Other Miners

    Daniel’s and Thomas businesses have grown. They are buying more goods for sale to their fellow miners on the Yuba River. He writes to Rosalinda about this.

    San Francisco Feb 28th, 1850

    I am here now buying goods to take to the mines. Since I was here and wrote you, last, Daniel has been down and taken up $3000 worth of goods. Immediately on his return I came down again. We are selling a great many goods, as soon as I return now we shall start another store at Eliza Town on the Feather River at the head of Steam navigation. We purchased a lot there a few days since for which we paid six hundred dollars. We have been offered six hundred for one half of it. We also have another lot in the town given to us by the Proprietor of the town in consideration of our being the first who landed goods there from a steamboat… We have our own teams to haul our goods, eight mules and six horses, which we bought last winter when they were cheap. Now they are worth from two to three hundred dollars apiece.

    By March of 1850 Daniel and Thomas established two more stores and are buying a stock of goods large enough to have freight bills over twenty five hundred dollars. Daniel has taken charge of the mining and trading operations in Yuba while Thomas travels up and down the river to buys goods.

    In his April letter to Key West, Thomas said he had been to San Francisco three times buying about four thousand dollars’ worth of goods each time. Daniel worked on some damming projects to turn the river. Thomas also mentions three towns they had invested in, Elisa, Fredonia, and Lindd City. Could this be Linn City of Oregon, the town on the Willamette River where Daniel worked and lived when he brought his family west?

    Thinking of Home and Family

    Daniel and Thomas thoughts turned to home and family. In April Thomas writes, “I am beginning to like this country quite well. You needn’t think strange if I should be home this fall for you and Daniel’s wife and bring you out to this country.” Rosalinda answered this proposal in her May letter. She writes: “If you think that the place will suit me and the children I am willing to go any place under the globe to you. I’ve become acquainted with a fine Irish woman. She is willing to work and would be glad of the offer to go with me to California.

    In November of 1850 Daniel and Thomas were preparing to go home. They gave their wives December 15th as the date they would start back. Daniel and Thomas Ferguson had taken ample gold out of their mine. They also had sold many items to their fellow miners. Thomas and Daniel planned to return via Havana together. From there, Thomas would ship to Key West and Daniel to New York.

    The Ferguson brothers had done well.  A newspaper article from San Francisco states: “Thomas J. and Daniel H. Ferguson, from Danbury, Ct., have obtained $150,000 in gold dust by mining operations upon the Yuba River, during the past summer.” Using an inflation calculator this would be about $4,829,000 in 2018.

    Going back to the nursery rhyme “To Market”, the Ferguson brothers had certainly brought home the bacon. Their families would live high on the hog.

  • More Places

    week 27 Family Business

    Edward Griffin’ s Work

    Dr. Edward Henry Griffin, my husband’s 2nd great grandfather and the first dentist in Portland, traveled for his work. He also posted ads in local newspapers.

    On October 10, 1850, Dr. Edward H. Griffin posted this ad in the Oregon Spectator. This paper was the first newspaper printed west of the Rocky Mountains. The ad ran from October 1850 to July 1851. A transcript of this ad reads:

    Dental Surgeon

    Dr. E. H. Griffin offers his professional services to the citizens of Oregon City and vicinity. Careful attention will be given to all operations in his department of surgery. Cleaning, filling and extracting performed in such a manner as to give satisfaction, Also, teeth inserted on gold plate in the most substantial and tasteful manner.

    Office at Main-street House   Oregon City, October 10, 1850

    House in Portland- Office in Oregon City

    The 12 miles between his house in east Portland and his office in Oregon City could be done by horse. Edward was a good rider. But the trip by horse would have taken about two and one-half hours or more. In 1850 a steamboat, the Lot Whitcomb, ran from Astoria to Oregon City. Its top speed was 12 mph. This would have made it possible for Edward to get to work faster.

    Emily Helps Out

    An 1852 advertisement from the Weekly Oregonian gave the impression that Edward had an assistant. Edward used anesthesia in some of his procedures. Nitrous oxide or ether was available in the 1840s. He offered lady patients an assistant from his family to help them when they under anesthesia. In 1852, his family of two were himself and Emily, his wife.

    A transcript of this ad reads:

    Dentistry

    Dr. E. H. Griffin, Surgeon Dentist, offers his professional services to the inhabitants of Portland and vicinity. FILLING, CLEANING, and EXTRACTING, executed in the most desirable manner. ARTIFICIAL TEETH inserted on gold plate and made useful for eating. PIVOT TEETH inserted with wooden pivots, or with gold and wood combined. All Operations Warranted. Office or at his residence

    N. B. Ladies from the county, can be provided for in my family, while being operated for.

    Nov 22                                                                                                                        E.H. Griffin

    Emily Griffin Talks about Her Husband’s Dentistry

    Emily in an interview with Fred Lockley dated March 2, 1914. This interview was printed in the Oregon Journal, a Portland newspaper. Emily told of Edward’ s practice in Oregon City before a second dentist came to Portland, a Dr. Cardwell. Emily said:

    My husband charged $5 for pulling a tooth, $300 for a half set of false teeth, and $500 for a double set. In those days they did not have rubber plates on which to attach the teeth. They were fastened to gold plates. Dr. Griffin bought a rolling mill. I used to help him roll out the $50 gold slugs. We rolled them until they were as thin as a calling card. From three sheets of gold, he made the plates for the sets of artificial teeth.

    antique rolling mill

    Edward sporadically paid Emily for her part in the dentistry business. Here is what Emily said about that.

    In the early fifties (1850s) money was plentiful. Oftentimes my husband would throw a half dozen $50 gold slugs in my lap and say. “I had a good day today. There is your share.”

    Homestead in Linn County

    While still working as a dentist, Edward and Emily homesteaded land in Linn County, Oregon. He planted an orchard and raised Spanish cattle. This was between October 1852 and October 1860. Four of their children were born here on the homestead-Edward S., Hallock Augustus, Alice Mabel and Wilbur. Annie F., Hiram Edward, Charlotte and Ferdinand were born in Albany.

    Edward still did dentistry. Here is a schedule found in the Weekly Oregonian in 1857. A transcript reads:

    Dr. E.H. Griffin offers his professional services to the inhabitants of Portland and vicinity,

    Office, first door above 1, Snow & Co., upstairs. Will continue his operations through the month of December.

    Will operate in Oregon City from the 1st to the 12th of January

    In Salem, from the 15th of January to the 1st of February

    At Albany from the 24th of February to the 10th of March and from thence to Portland, where he designs locating permanently.

    N.B.—Advice given in all departments of his profession gratis.

    Nov. 27th, 1857

    In 1860, Edward was at his residence at Robert’s Bridge. Here is an ad giving details.

    Dr E. H. Griffin may be found at his residence, in Linn County, on Calapooia Creek, near Roberts Bridge until about the 1st of May.

    Albany, April 9, 1860

    In Albany from 1860 to 1883

    In 1860 Emily thought it was time for the older children to go to school. The Griffins moved to Albany, Linn, Oregon. Edward practiced dentistry in Albany for twenty-three years.

    According to the Albany City Directory for 1878 dentistry was not the only thing Edward did.

    In 1866, he was elected to the office of city recorder. That year he also gave $200 towards building the Albany Collegiate Institute.

    His dental office listing read,” Griffin, E.H., 65 West First, upstairs.”

    His residence listing read,” Griffin, E. H., Dentist, residence, SW corner, Seventh and Walnut.”

    In 1870 this family of Albany included Edward, dentist, Emily, keeping house, Hallock, 10, at school, Alice, 13, at school, Annie, 8, Hiram, 4, Lottie (Charlotte), 2. Edward and Emily had lost two children right after their move to Albany-their oldest Edward S. and their infant son, Wilbur.

    In 1874 they had another child. This one they called Ferdinand Corbett.

    More Griffin Dentists

    When Emily and Edward were first married, Emily was Edward’s assistant. Now Edward tried this with two of his children. One child eventually became a dentist and other married a noted Portland organist and became a singer.

    In 1876 he ran this ad.

    H. A. Griffin, known to his family as Hallock, didn’t stay as Edward’s assistant. In 1876, he started running cattle in Klickitat, Washington Territory.

    The 1880 census for Albany recorded eighteen-year-old Annie Griffin, Edward’s daughter, as “learning dentistry”. She married Edgar Coursen in Portland, Oregon on 11 April 1883 and continued a singing career.

    Hallock ended up being a dentist after 10 years of cattle ranching. First, he married and started a family in Klickitat. He settled in Fresno, California. He became a dentist, first graduating from the San Francisco College of Science. The San Francisco Examiner carried an article, “Healing from Science”. It listed Hallock Augustus Griffin among those receiving their Doctor of Science degree in 1895.

    Emily and Edward live in Separate Locations

    Edward moved to Arlington, Oregon in the fall of 1883. He stayed there about 20 years. An article in the Condon Globe, dated 28 Oct 1892, places him there. It says.

    Dr. E. H. Griffin, Arlington’s popular dentist, gave us a pleasant call a few days ago as he passed through town…The doctor is one of the most honorable and sociable old gentlemen in the world, and has remarkable vitality for his age, 73 years.

    Emily also moved in 1883. She moved to San Francisco with Hiram, Charlotte and Ferdinand.

    But Ferdinand also lived with his father. In 1887, according to the Washington Territory census record there were Griffins living in Klickitat. This census listed Hallock Griffin now married to Annie and their children-Clifford, 9, Mable, 7 and Eddie, 5.

    Next listed are E.H. Griffin, dentist, 68, and F. (Ferdinand) Griffin, 13.

    Edward is presumed to be still working in Arlington. There was a steamboat route from Klickitat to Arlington.

    Edward Griffin as an Elderly Man

    In 1903, at the age of 84, Dr. Edward Griffin moved to St. Leonard, New Brunswick, Canada. This family story comes from a reliable source. His son-in-law, Edgar Coursen, gave a summary of Edward’s life in 1930. This summary by Fred Lockley was printed in the Oregon Journal on December 4,1930. This summary can be found near the beginning of my first blog about Edward Griffin called “A Matter of Place”.

    After returning from Canada, Edward spent some time with his family in California. On the 1910 Federal census for Berkeley, Alameda, California, both Edward and Emily Griffin were living with William and Charlotte Coleman. Edward and Emily are listed as father-in-law and mother-in-law to William Coleman.

    Edward died a year later September 1, 1911.

    I copied the details from a ledger titled” Records of Deaths, Portland “.  It was in volume 8 on page 152. I found this book in the record room of the Oregon State Archives in Salem, Oregon.

       The entry reads:

    Griffin, Edw, H., male, 91 years, 9 months, 21 days, nativity: New York, place of death: 658 Lovejoy, occupation: dentist, cause of death: hypostatic pneumonia, doctor: P.E. Hale, place of interment: crematorium, undertaker: E. Holmen

    The address, 658 Lovejoy, was the home of his son-in-law, Edgar Coursen and his daughter, Annie Griffin Coursen.

    Here is his obituary published in the Oregonian on September 6, 1911. Like most obituaries it has some false information.

  • A Matter of Place

    week 28 -Wedding Bells

    Edward Henry Griffin wasn’t looking for love when he left his home in Cuba, New York. He was only twenty when he arrived in Clinton, Illinois. He wanted a career. He trained to be a dentist in Galena. Then he went west. First to the gold field of California, then to Portland, Oregon.

    When Fred Lockley interviewed Edgar Coursen in 1930, Lockley wanted information about Oregon pioneers for a series of newspaper articles. Edgar’s father-in-law, Edward Henry Griffin, came to Oregon in 1850 as a practicing dentist. He was the first dentist in Portland, Oregon.

    A news item about firsts in Oregon reads,

    “The first dentist in Portland was E.H. Griffin. He offered his services to a suffering public on November 22, 1851.”

    Here is a part of the interview conducted by Fred Lockley.

    Ed Lockley, Oregon Journal, 4 Dec 1930

    Lockley captured the industry of Edward Henry Griffin but not the passion. Coursen recalled the facts of Edward’s moves quite well.

    Galena, Illinois

    Edward did arrive in Galena about when his father-in-law said. He had letters remaining at the Galena Post Office on January 5, 1846 and March 5, 1846. Here are copies of the Lists of Letters for those dates.

    Semi-Weekly Galena Jeffersonian 5 Jan 1946

    Training

    Semi-Weekly Galena Jeffersonian 5 Mar 1946

    In 1845, when Edward first arrived in Galena there were no dental schools in Illinois. The first dental school in the United States was built in Baltimore, Maryland in 1840. It was the Baltimore School of Dental Surgery.

    It is reasonable to conclude that Edward learned dentistry through an apprenticeship with an established dentist here. This was the usual way of learning this profession in the United States during the 1840s. He made his living expenses doing work he knew. He gave music lessons while training to be a dentist.

    Gold in California

    Listed as an Oregon Territory pioneer in 1850, Edward came west on the Oregon Trail. He took a California cut off and ended his trip at Fort Sutter, California. Before there was Sacramento there was a fort owned by John Sutter. Gold discovery near here in 1848 triggered the California Gold Rush. John Sutter sold his property to Alden Bally in late 1849.

    The area around this Fort became a busy hub for river traffic and trade. This area would become known as Old Sacramento. Dr. Edward Griffin arrived here in 1849. No doubt, Edward considered mining for gold himself. He practiced dentistry here for about a year. Then he chose to go to Oregon.

    From Fort Sutter Edward traveled to San Francisco. From here he sailed along Pacific Ocean coast to his next destination . He boarded the Ann Smith in late August. Sixteen days later on the 2nd day of September of 1850 arrived in Astoria, Oregon. Another passenger had a role to play in the next year of Edward’s life. J. H. Wilbur was also a passenger on this voyage. Here is a newspaper item detailing this trip.

    item from Oregon Spectator 2 Sep 1850, p.3. col.1

    Emily Roberts

    Emily Roberts Griffin described the first time she saw Edward Griffin in a February 27, 1914 interview with Fred Lockley. These interviews were published in the Oregon Journal, a Portland newspaper.

    I met my fate two days after arriving in Portland. We put up our tent on the riverbank at what is now the foot of Pine Street. We decided to camp there till father was able to find a house. The second morning I was sitting in the tent doing some work while mother was working over our camp stove. I heard voices and looking out I saw a very handsome young man with a silk hat and Prince Albert coat. He had a large white water pitcher in his hand. He was explaining to mother that he had just come down to the river to get a pitcher of water. He said his name was Edward Griffen and had a room at DeWitt’s City Hotel nearby. He explained while he ordinarily got his water at the hotel, he believed the river water was colder and better. I noticed him shift his position until he could look into the tent and see me. I wondered if his explanation was the real reason why he had come down to our camp. After I married him, I discovered that my intuition had been correct. He had caught a glimpse of me the day before and wanted a nearer view of his future wife.

    After Edward’s first view of Emily Roberts, the romance in the man got the better of him. He, being not only a dentist with prospects but a music teacher, went to woo her. He used what he knew. He offered singing lessons and a group to sing with.

    Emily had a second interview with Lockley on February 28, 1914. This is what Emily had to say about her second meeting with Edward..

    Shortly after we moved into the hotel and while I was singing one evening. Mother who was a master hand with the violin, was playing the accompaniment. Dr. Edward H. Griffin, who had a room at De Witt’s City Hotel, passed and heard the music. He stopped and listened until we were through. Next day he came to mother and said I had a wonderful voice. But it needed training. He said he had decided to start a singing school, and he would like to enroll me for his first pupil. Mother was willing. He was young and handsome and a good singer. So, I was willing.

    The singing school was started in the schoolhouse. We soon had a fine crowd of young folks. There was A. B. Hallock and Squire Davis and his wife and Warren and Tom, Davis and the two Davis girls, Sarah and Mary, and George I. Story, who still lives in Portland. He married Sarah Davis.

    Edward’s singing school turned into a choir. This was the first church choir west of the Rocky Mountains.  This choir sang for the Taylor Street Church, built on Third and Taylor Streets. Edward helped James H. Wilbur build this church.

    On December 4, 1925, The Morning Oregonian published an article on page 49. The title was “Covered Wagons Brought Many Settlers Here In 1850”. It listed the pioneers who came to Oregon Territory in 1850. A photo of this first church choir illustrated this article.

    Portland, 1850, Emily Roberts Griffin, 2nd from left, front, Edward Griffin, back, far right

    Wedding Bells

    On October 26, 1851, James H. Wilbur performed the marriage ceremony for Edward Henry Griffin and Emily Roberts. Rev. Thomas H. Pearne assisted. Only a few weddings in the village of Portland occurred before this one.  This wedding was the second in the Taylor Street Church.

    This Methodist church “stood in the middle between 2nd and 3rd, Facing north… back to the woods. The only way to reach it was by walking on single narrow planks strung lengthwise.”

    Early image of Taylor Street Church from the Oregon Historical Society Research Library

  • Institutions

    Hunting for Mary Lucina Taylor

    Western Washington Hospital at Steilacoom, Main Hospital Building, 1892

    Why do these stories sometime take on a life of their own? This story was to be about an institution and an institution is involved. Death of a loved one is a somber time for families, marked with family gatherings, funerals, burials and graves markers. This story involves two stone grave markers both made long after the deceased had died. One marker made for William Wallis Taylor was set in 2015. The marker for Mary Lucinda Taylor Miller was completed in 2006.

    I wrote this story about my husband’s 2nd great grandparents and their daughter, Mary Lucina. I searched for years for Mary’s death date and burial place. The institution involved in Mary’s last years was Western State Hospital at Steilacoom. This hospital is located between Olympia and Tacoma, Washington. I had been looking for Mary about 15 years before I found a death date.

    William Wallis Taylor’s Marker

    Craig, my husband and I became acquainted with one of his cousins. This cousin also traced back to Craig’s 2nd great grandparents, Mary Ann Sayles and William Wallis Taylor. We met and traded records. I had found Mary Ann’s grave site in Springwater Cemetery in Clackamas County, Oregon. The cousin’s family held the bible of William. The dates and places in both our records matched.

    Both the cousin and I had found an obituary of William’s saying he had died at the home of his son near Aurora, Oregon on August 11, 1909. William was buried in Springwater Cemetery where his wife Mary was buried. Here are copies of William’s obituary and funeral notice from the Oregon City Enterprise, dated 20 August 1909.

    William Wallis Taylor Obituary
    Page 2

    We were sorely disappointed when we visited Springwater Cemetery and didn’t find William’s burial next to Mary Ann’s grave marker. We searched the entire small cemetery. Craig’s cousin convinced the combination groundskeeper and cemetery record keeper that William Taylor was buried there next to his wife. We had a new marker made. It was placed to the left of Mary Ann’s grave site.

    Here is a photo of this new marker.

    Mary Lucina Taylor Miller

    Before this event, I knew quite something about William and Mary Ann’s first child, Mary Lucina Taylor Miller. Mary was my husband’s great grandmother. I had become acquainted with the cousin’s grandmother, Madeline Taylor Wells. She was the granddaughter of William and Mary Ann Taylor and had family photos of her Aunt Mary Lucina.

    Mary Lucina and Siblings about 1865

    Mary Lucina seated in the middle

    Born in LaPorte County on 7 Aug 1857

    Orril Adell on the left

    Born in Will County, Minn. on 18 Sep 1862

    Otha Beardslee on right

    Born Will County, Minn. on 6 Sep 1864

    Mary Lucina Taylor and Edward Arthur Miller

    Wed in Multnomah County, Oregon on 28 Oct 1885

    Taylor Family about 1896 in Springwater, Oregon

    Edward Miller on left

    Mary Lucina Miller in back

    Daughter, Edna Naomi Miller

    Born in Dodge, Clackamas, Oregon on 24 Aug 1889

    They homesteaded a farm in the Dodge Springwater area

    Move to Portland, Oregon

    By 1910 the Miller family had sold their farm in Dodge, Oregon. They now lived in Ward 8 of Portland, Oregon. According to census records, Mary and Edward had been married 25 years. Edna Miller, their twenty-year-old daughter, lived with them and their house was on East 35th Street.

    In 1912, Edward A Miller and his daughter Edna N Miller still lived at at 192 E 35th Street. This information comes from to the 1912 City Directory of Portland, Oregon, Mary is not listed on this record.

    I found Mary in the 1915 City Directory of Portland, Oregon. She is listed as Mary L Miller, widow of Edward and living at 4927 66th SE. Twenty-four years later she still identified herself as a widow of a man named Miller. On her death certificate it is noted that the first name of her deceased husband is not known.

    Edward Living St Joseph, Michigan

    Edward filed for divorce on 1 December 1917 at the courthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan. The grounds were desertion. Edward was the complainant.  His divorce was granted on 22 July 1918. He married Bessie Gadson on 18 August 1918.

    Daughter Edna Married

    Before Mary entered Western State Hospital in 1929, her daughter, Edna had lost her first husband and married a second, Charles Foster. She brought to this second marriage a small boy, Howard Shelton, son of her first husband. She and Charlie had 3 children. Charlie informally adopted Howard. Howard was a teenager when his grandmother, Mary, lived at Western State Hospital. He visited Mary there and remembered these visits being sad.


    The Institution on the Cowlitz River

    Many years before in 1854, the “Poor Law” was passed by Washington Territory. Its aim was to find a better way to care for and house for the poor, disabled and mentally ill. It shifted the support of these individuals from their families to the counties where they lived. At first patients were cared for through a contract system.

    Twenty-one such person went first to a place in Monticello (now Longview, Washington). It was located along the Cowlitz River in Cowlitz County.

    This institution was set up by a pair of businessmen from Monticello. They knew how to make money, but not how to care for “this class of sufferers”. James Huntington and his son-in-law, W.W. Hays built and ran this place. They received a dollar a day for each patient under their care.

    A big problem for this enterprise was the location. Here is a quote from Starlyn Stout’s Care For the “Unfriended Insane in Washington Territory (1854 to 1889)”.

    The buildings of the asylum were revealed by the elements to be merely temporary. In his history of the region, Hubert Howe Bancroft surmised that accommodation opposite Monticello on the Cowlitz River were inadequate. So much so that an event of melting snow from Mt. Rainier brought on an “unusual flood” in December 1867, in which the improvements were swept away. Huntington’s hastily built buildings were now needing to be hastily salvaged and rebuilt to maintain his part of the contract. They published a letter addressing community concerns about their facility, claiming that they too were victims of the territory not fulfilling its part of the agreement. “The Territory must meet the expenses as per contract…  We only ask that our money be paid when due”.

    Dorothy Dix

    A 19th century social reformer, Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, who was better known by her pen name, Dorothy Dix, had friends inspect this place in 1869. She wrote:

    Just as I was prepared to leave for California, I first learned from some military officers and reliable civilians your territory was responsible for a rightly intended provision for certain unfriended insane men and women … It being impossible to visit the place referred to myself, I earnestly requested an experienced medical man and a carefully judging citizen of Oregon to see if the statements … were borne by facts, as they understood right care for this helpless, irresponsible class of sufferers. (“Miss Dix on the Insane”).

    It was found that some patients were doing all the cleaning, laundry and cooking. Other patients were confined to their cells. Filthiness was found throughout the faculty.

    Dorothy wrote about this. When Dorothy mentions the Doctor and Inspectors, she is talking about Washington county people who were responsible for the asylum.

    The patients sleep in bunks, in cells, in a coarsely finished, unplastered building, parts of which are described to me as very little better than a barn … the visitors added that, judging from any efficient and proper standard, they could not consider the institution otherwise than inadequately provided both for care and cure of the insane … badly maintained by parties in charge, who possibly may know no better … The Doctor and inspectors are parties interested in perpetuating the present system; the ‘one by his salary easily earned, the others by trade’” (“Insane Asylum”).

    More Letters from Dorothy Dix

    She also wrote to two authorities in Washington Territory—Governor Alan Flanders and former Governor Elwood Evans. Changes were made.  After relating her assessment of the situation, she said this. “At this distance I can only write to you, sir, knowing your sense of pity for these poor creatures will induce early and, I hope personal attention.

      Changes Were Made

      Fort Steilacoom, an old army base which had been built in 1849, was out of use and run down. On April 22, 1868, the staff lowered the last flag at this army fort. The fort located in the Puget Sound region near Tacoma, Washington would be the new home for 21 Monticello patients. The new inmates who had lived with the conditions at Monticello bought their stories with them. Even to this day their tales of poor treatment and the demons that haunted them abound.

      In 1887, the Washington Territory legislature approved $100,000 to build a new institution on the Fort’s grounds. In 1888 this institution became known as Western State Hospital for the Insane. In 1915 the institution’s name was changed again- this time to Western State Hospital.

      My Search for Mary’s Death and Grave

      Before Craig and I knew that his great grandmother, Mary Lucina Taylor Miller, had spent her last years in a mental institution, we were puzzled by the lack of results in the hunt for her death date. Because she was a direct ancestor to my husband this lack was an ongoing source of frustration. I had looked in both Washington and Oregon death indexes many times before I found her in the Washington death index. I ordered her death record from the Washington State Department of Health. I did the paperwork showing my husband, who was requesting the record, was her oldest living direct relative. Since Mary had died in 1939 this record was about 75 years old when I finally got it.

      Mary had lived at Western State Hospital for almost ten years when she died on March 9,1939. She died of a heart and lung condition. Senile psychosis was said to be a contributory cause. She was cremated on March 14, 1939.

      Also, from the death certificate, we learned Mary had entered Western State Hospital on August 27, 1929. She died on March 9, 1939, and was cremated there on March 14, 1939.  Her hometown was Washougal, Washington.

      Disturbing Article in Spokane Newspaper

      The Title, Bill Could Help Families Find Ancestors’ Graves, hints that there was something in the Washington State laws preventing family from locating relatives who died in Washington State’s mental institutions. A Washington State statute designed to protect the mentally ill from shame restricted anyone from getting their relative’s death certificates. This statute prevented a volunteer organization called Grave Concerns from identifying who was buried and where they were buried in the institution’s cemetery. The state had decided these patients were people to be ashamed of and hid their records. Here is a quote from the article.

        At Western State Hospital, a facility worker once found a shed full of human remains packed into tobacco tins and canning jars. And at Northern State Hospital in Sedro Woolley. Wash., now closed part of the cemetery was plowed under and farmed.

        Cremated remains were often buried together in mass graves, said Laural Lemke, Western’s ombudsman and chair of The Grave Concerns Association, a volunteer group that repairs grave sites. After the 1950s, many unnamed remains were sent to crematoriums.

        Making the job of restoring dignity to Western State Hospital’s cemetery was the fact that “many of the state’s records of the dead are incomplete or missing even when records are located…the cemeteries which volunteers have only recently began to recover are often overgrown and in disrepair.

        Our Visit to Western State Hospital

        Craig and I met Laurel Lemke, a woman greatly involved with the Grave Concerns Association, on March 10, 2015. She described life at the hospital when Mary lived there.

        Mary slept in a narrow bed in a narrow room with few personal belongings and a barred door.

        Because Western State Hospital grew its own food and kept livestock, Mary had plenty to eat. At this time the Great Depression was causing misery throughout the land. Patients worked on the farm. Mary may have worked preparing food or sewing. Physical labor was considered therapeutic.

        From 1911 to 1961 hydrotherapy was used to sedate patients. Bath treatments of 2 hours included hot and cold water sprayed up and down a patient’s spine.

        Washington State Hospital’s Cemetery

        Before we left, Laurel showed us the cemetery. Volunteers for Grave Concerns had been restoring and upgrading the grave sites for about ten years. It was no longer tangled in blackberries with graves only marked with numbers etched on small concrete squares. The Grave Concern Association had found names to go with the numbers. As they raised money, they replaced the old unreadable number blocks with granite grave markers. These markers showed the patients name, the birth date and death date. Here is an example.

        anonymous marker and John Ryan- dignity restored

        We were hoping to find Mary’ grave marked like the marker on the right. We had set a granite grave stone for her father, William Willis Taylor buried in Springwater Cemetery.

        This was not to be. It is sad to say Mary’s remains were among the unidentified. Perhaps, her unidentified remains were in a canning jar or tobacco tin found stored in the garden shed. Her remains were buried in the mass grave with a large granite marker. Her name and dates were there. We laughed and cried that day. Here are some photos.

        Craig and Jill Foster Viewing Giant Grave Marker
        Mary Miller’s Name on Giant Grave Marker

      • A little Joy

        Week 17 DNA

        Frances Cabell Coursen Perritt and my baby daughter

        I felt connected to the mother of my husband. I felt more than just a liking for her as a person or loving her as an extension of my husband. Rose Foster resembled my husband, Craig, in many ways. Both were shy and brave, had dark good looks, loved and worked with numbers. Concise, efficient, self-controlled and kind-hearted described them. Even though Rose and I did not share DNA, I had a kinship with her.

        Both Rose and her sister, Elizabeth Coursen, carried mitochondrial DNA that their family traced back to Jeanette Keeler Ferguson. The mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother. It is passed down from mother to daughter through the egg cell during fertilization. Rose and Betty (Elizabeth) were the daughters of Frances Cabell.  Frances was the daughter of Bessie Reynolds. Bessie was the daughter of Margaret Ferguson. Margaret was the daughter of Jeannette Keeler. Frances Cabell’s scrapbook held mementos and memories of all these women.  Here is a photo of Betty’s daughter, Betty, Rose, Frances and Bessie. Five carriers of Jeannette Keeler’s mitochondrial DNA and four generations are pictured here.

        Betty’s daughter, Betty, Rose, Frances, Bessie

        I happened to be pregnant with my first child when my husband and Rose’s oldest son, Craig Foster, was sent to serve a tour of duty on a small island. Shemya, Alaska, located 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage, is 2 miles wide and 4 miles long. It is mostly runway. Some liken it to a prison without walls. More known as an Air Force base, army personnel also served there. Craig served in the Army Security Agency.

        Shemya is 280 miles from a Russia-owned island and is almost touching the International Date Line. Craig said from Shemya he saw tomorrow.

        Husband on Shemya, Me with Relatives

        Husband on Shemya, Me with Relatives

        When my husband was away and I was pregnant, I drove between my parent’s house in Seattle and my husband’s parents in Portland. My OB doctor had his practice in Portland. This was early in our marriage, and I hadn’t quite left the nest.

        I talked Rose into taking La Maze birthing classes with me and being my coach when I had the baby. We would pant and breathe together through the labor pains. She would be in the delivery room for birth.  Fifty years ago, having family in the delivery room was beginning to be in style. It was mostly for the fathers.

        Rose and I followed the plan. I presented our family with a beautiful baby girl. Rose and my father-in-law, Howard Foster, did not stop smiling. We called Craig in Shemya and talked. Then the crabby night nurse sent my family home. She was out of sorts for being told by my doctor that Rose was to be allowed in the delivery room. She was still muttering about that as she sent Rose and Howard home. The hospital did allow my daughter to be in my room in a bassinet by my bed.

        I loved the fact that these people were contributing DNA to Craig’s and my daughter.

        My Mitochondrial DNA

        I can confirm my mitochondrial DNA from my daughter back to my great great grandmother, Johanne Catherine Rasmusdatter. through cousins on ancestry.com. Here are some family photos. My daughter and I at on the top right. My mother, Helen Wolfe Lonski, and I are on the top left.

        My grandmother Edna (Dagny Oldsdatter) Wolfe and Helen show on the bottom left. Her mother, Elen Jacobsdatter, is on the bottom right. This last photo was taken in 1885 at Rövig in Hansel, Norway.

      • Our Old House

        Week 13 Home Sweet Home

        Foster’s Jefferson House, Christmas 1998, built 1901

        Week 13 Home Sweet Home

        My husband, Craig and I lived in this house about 36 years. I would like to share what we know about its history.

        Local historian, Mike Barnes of Jefferson identifies this old house at 421 North 2nd Street as the Clarence Miller home built in 1901. Clarence Miller about 2 years old in 1901 was the son of the original owner. Archer C Miller was a sheep raiser from Millersburg. Archer’ ‘s father, George S Miller was a pioneer from Illinois of 1852.

        By 1910 descendants of the Looneys who crossed the plains in 1843 lived in this house. These Looneys included Benjamin F Looney and his family. His wife, Josephine Hale Looney, his son Evert, his daughter, Georgina Looney Smith and his son-in-law, William Smith made up his family.

        The next family, the Smiths are listed in the 1920 census for Jefferson. We have had the good fortune to meet Georgina’s and William’s second son, Benjamin Smith. He shared memories of living in this this house. The 1920 Federal census shows William and Georgina Smith and their three sons, William, Benjamin and Everett still living here.

        Benjamin Smith visited us here in the late 1970s and told us what he remembered about the house. His father built wall to wall glass fronted dish cupboard which is still in the dining room. Lumber from the Looney lumber mill provided wood for the house. When he lived here there was a wood store in the dining room. He remembered a chimney fire. An older women resident saved the wood stove from the fire by picking it up and carrying it outside. The house survived the fire with little damage as did the wood stove. Today a bookcase stands where the wood stove once did. Ben said the layout of the house was the same as when he lived here. He and his brother were in the bedroom upstairs above the kitchen. We later found a vintage valentine to Ben Smith in the floor boards in this bedroom. The Smith family moved from Jefferson to Arizona in 1929.

        Our house is on the right side next to the telephone pole and behind the trees

        By 1972 Robert and Ruth Farrens owned the house. The house had been rented out for some time and was in need of repair and upkeep. The Farrens covered worn walls with Masonite wall paneling, the woodwork with porch paint and the floors with red carpeting.

        We returned the walls to wainscoting and wallpaper. The floors were the original old growth fir which we refinished. We removed the porch paint from the woodwork finished it with a clear finish. Some of the light fixtures Robert Farrens added, we loved.  He rescued three chandeliers from the old Gearhart Hotel near Seaside, Oregon. About the time he was working on this house, the Gearhart Hotel was razed and replaced with condos. In its heyday this grand hotel from the 1920s was one of the largest convention hotels in the state. One of these chandeliers went in the dining room and two in the downstairs living room.

        Robert Farrens as well another neighbor thought this house was used as a stage coach stop in its early life. The Sanborn Fire Insurance map of 1913 shows our house and a horse barn west of our house.

        I have found horse shoes around our yard. We discovered the family room upstairs had been divided into three small rooms and a hall. When we took up the carpet in this big room, the floor boards had been painted. We saw the pattern of where the walls stood because these lines were not painted. Jefferson had a train stop by 1870 so I doubt the stage coach stop was needed.

        In the 36 year we have lived here, we have updated and repaired trying to keep the character of the house intact. In 2002 we had the front yard professionally landscaped by Liz Frances of the Gardens Angels.

      • Man Overboard

        Man Overboard

        Week 16 Oldest Story

        The story of Frances Cabell Coursen Perritt’s 9th great grandfather came in bits and pieces. The first hint I had of this man’s existence was from my husband’s mother. She and I were discussing her family history. She said one of her early relatives came to North America on the Mayflower. She thought he was a Cabell. She was sure he was from her mother’s side, that is Bessie Ferguson Reynolds Cabell’s side. She did not know the name of her Mayflower relative.

        A few years later I started reading a picture book to my kindergarten children. In this story a boy who fell off the Mayflower. In this book the boy who fell overboard, John Howland, served the pilgrim’s leader as a cabin boy.  They were traveling to the New World in search of religious freedom. The rescue of John Howland was suggested by an illustration of a boy clinging to a life preserver. In this picture book story, the pilgrims reached Plymouth. John grew up and married Elizabeth Tilley, another passenger on the Mayflower.

        A Connection

        After I retired from teaching and after I had been researching my husband’s family tree for more than five years, I learned the identity of my mother-in-law’s Mayflower relative.

        Grandmother Perritt’s scrapbook left clues. There was a black-edged calling card of Mrs. D.H. Ferguson. The D. H. stood for Daniel Howes. There was a charcoal drawing of Daniel H. Ferguson. 

        The name Howes puzzled me for a long time. I had published a photo of the charcoal portrait of Daniel on my ancestry site.

        Then in January of 2013, a librarian from Morrow County Public Library in Florida contacted me. She wanted to know about the portrait of Daniel. She said,

        The Florida History Room of the Monroe County Library has a collection of letters written by Thomas and Rosalinda Ferguson. These letters are from Thomas in California describing his finding gold and Rosalinda in Key West. I have transcribed the letters.

        Daniel is the brother of Thomas Jefferson Ferguson… We have an original penned letter from Fanny Ferguson(mother) to Thomas J. In her letter she mentions two girls at home and the following sons: Thomas, George, Daniel, William, Albert, Fernando, Fred and Colbert. The letter is marked Danbury.

        These letters were originally found 20 years ago in a tin can at one of our local museums- no one knew then how they came to be there.

        I replied telling her what I knew of Daniel. I was able to send her this photo of Daniel’s portrait.

        She sent me copies of her transcriptions and copies of Thomas’s and Rosalinda’s letters to each other, a copy of Fanny’s letter and another family letter. This last letter was from Malchus Reed Howes of Mobile, Alabama to Daniel M. Howes of New York. Malchus and Daniel Howes were both brothers of Fanny. The letter mentions two other siblings of Fanny’s. They were Nathan and Adelia, who had married William Ryder. Here is my transcription of Malchus’s letter.

        Mobile July 15th 1826

        Dear Brother,

        I have received the Deed from Nathan that you spoke of in your last letter. I have executed it and shall send it in the trunk of clothes that I send to Cornelia that is to be left at Uncle John’s. I wish you to take it [the deed] from the trunk as you have already advanced money to my children and I expect you to advance more for at this season of the year it is impossible to get money that I could pay you with. Cornelia wants money to buy hats and shoes; her other clothes I shall send her. Please do see them well supplied and see yourself well paid in the delivery of the Deed. If there should be any [money] left, let Brother [Nathan] be bound to pay it to Mother [(Ruhamah Reed Howes] to support my boys as they want. Don’t see my children outdone by any for in all probability, they are all I shall ever have and I hope that they have aplenty to maintain themselves. If you think best that Adelia should have Cornelia, I wish you to get her to take her [there] and I will see her [Adelia] well paid. The yellow fever is paying us a visit this summer. There has been very sudden death in a few hours from the time they were taken [ill]. I shall see you next year if I should live as long. Give my respects to all friends. Don’t forget to write.

        Yours Respectfully, M. R. Howes

        Daniel Howes Ferguson

        She sent me copies of her transcriptions. She also sent copies of Thomas’s and Rosalinda’s original letters to each other. Additionally she sent a copy of Fanny’s letter and another family letter. This last letter was from Malchus Reed Howes of Mobile, Alabama written to Daniel M. Howes of New York. Malchus and Daniel Howes were both brothers of Fanny. The letter mentions two other siblings of Fanny’s. They were Nathan and Adelia, who had married William Ryder.

        Here is my transcription of Malchus’s letter to his brother Daniel M. Howes.

        Mobile July 15th 1826

        Dear Brother,

        I have received the Deed from Nathan that you spoke of in your last letter. I have executed it and shall send it in the trunk of clothes that I send to Cornelia that is to be left at Uncle John’s. I wish you to take it [the deed] from the trunk as you have already advanced money to my children and I expect you to advance more for at this season of the year it is impossible to get money that I could pay you with. Cornelia wants money to buy hats and shoes; her other clothes I shall send her. Please do see them well supplied and see yourself well paid in the delivery of the Deed. If there should be any [money] left, let Brother [Nathan] be bound to pay it to Mother [(Ruhamah Reed Howes] to support my boys as they want. Don’t see my children outdone by any for in all probability, they are all I shall ever have and I hope that they have aplenty to maintain themselves. If you think best that Adelia should have Cornelia, I wish you to get her to take her [there] and I will see her [Adelia] well paid. The yellow fever is paying us a visit this summer. There has been very sudden death in a few hours from the time they were taken [ill]. I shall see you next year if I should live as long. Give my respects to all friends. Don’t forget to write.

        Yours Respectfully, M. R. Howes

        The above quoted letter was shared. This letter was well read, shared around the neighborhood and sent on to other family members. This letter from Malchus Howes to Daniel Morgan Howes had been read by another family member who wrote on the letter these words, “I was anxious to hear from Reed (Malchus) and thought no harm in opening this…”

        The deed in this letter refers to an 1827 property sale by the heirs of Daniel Howes, Malchus’s and Fanny’s father.  Here is my summary of the deed.

        1827, 10 Apr. Putnam Co. Deeds, Vol. C, pp. 470-474

        Ruhamah Howes of Southeast was the widow of Daniel Howes (1768-1824) of Southeast. Nathaniel Ferguson and wife Fanny, Thomas Ferguson and wife Phebe of Patterson, Putnam, New York, Nathan A. Howes and wife Clarissa, Morgan M. Howes of Southeast, William H. Ryder and wife Adelia of Danbury, Fairfield Co., CT. Fanny, Phebe. Nathan, Daniel Morgan Howes (1805-1830) and Adelia are the adult children of the late Daniel Howes.  Jacob O., Esther, Lavinia, Reuben W. are the underage children of the late Daniel Howes. Three acres in Southeast were sold to Ebenezer Foster, John B. Foster and Eleazer Sprague of Southeast for the sum of $245 to be divided into 11 parts. Nathan was to be paid 2 parts for his role in managing the deal.

        Soon after this treasure trove from my librarian friend at the Monroe County Library arrived, I worked out that Fanny’s family traced back to John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. John and Elizabeth both arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. Elizabeth had come with her parents and was 14 at this time. Since I had read the picture book of John Howland’s near drowning to my kindergarten class many times, this new revelation seemed awesome.

        The real John Howland almost drowned on his trip to the New World. He was not a cabin boy, but a 29-year-old man and one of two man-servants of Governor Carver. He was swept overboard in a strong storm. He managed catch hold of a rope for a top sail that tailed over the side and under water. He was brought back on to the Mayflower by the use of a boat hook. There is a sourced profile of John Howland on WikiTree

        Here is Mike Haywood’s rendering of the event. Mike Haywood is an artist and  holds a doctorate in Oceanography and specializes in marine paintings.

        Image of an oil painting by Mike Haywood found on a Facebook ad for ordering prints of the painting

        Final Thoughts

        When I was a kindergarten teacher reading that historical fiction picture book to my class, I never dreamed I was telling a family story.

        I made a list going from John Howland to my husband, Craig Shelton Foster

        Some References

      • Big and Little Mistakes

        Week 15 Big Mistake

         

        Thinking about the mistakes I made in my genealogy research, I’ve made plenty. I don’t think this was my biggest mistake, but it is my most memorable one.

        When I retired from teaching in 2004, I started making a family tree on Ancestry.com. I remember the shaking leaf hint button announcing possible resources for my tree. Near the top of the profile I was working on a leaf image would show on the screen. This leaf would shake with gusto. I don’t think there was a ‘ding’ sound, but I was in the habit of leaving my speakers off.

        I was working on John Breckenridge Cabell’s family when I made my big mistake. I was on John’s profile and one of these brazen shaking leaf showed up. The hint in the family tree category involved looking at other people’s family trees. I went back in time looking for parents of parents. I started finding Cabells born in the 1500s and getting suspicious. Eventually, I reached a couple with just given names. To my surprise, this couple referred to as Adam and Eve seemed to be the biblical Adam and Eve. After this, I disabled the automatic family tree hints. I became more systematic. I purchased the Alexander Brown book, called The Cabells and Their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy (1895). I found this book to be well researched. I also found clues about John’s parents in Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook.

        Louis Warrington Cabell and Anna Maria Perkins

        Frances Perritt, John Cabell’s daughter, had left clues in her scrapbook about John’s family in Virginia. She left photographs of John’s mother and father which she labeled “my grandfather” and my “grandmother”. Here are the photos.

        Lewis Warrington Cabell
        Anna Maria Perkins

        The Cabell family of Virginia owned plantations spread along the banks of the James River. Some names were Elm Cottage, Green Hill, Struman, Buffalo Station, Clover Plains and Fernly.

        Lewis Cabell called two of these plantations home– Struman where he was born and Green Hill which he inherited. The Green Hill plantation was on the south side of the James River in Buckingham County. His birth home, Struman, was on the north side of the James River and in Nelson County.

        Lewis’s parents, Frederick and Alice Cabell, lived at Struman when their youngest child Lewis was born on June 12, 1814. Sadly, his mother, Alice died shortly after he was born.

        Lewis studied at the University of Virginia in 1837 to 1839. He graduated on July 16, 1839. He was recognized both in the school of Natural Philosophy and the school of Chemistry. In July of 1840, he received a degree from the school of mathematics.

        Frederick Cabell, Lewis’s Father

        Lewis’s father, Frederick Cabell, left a will probated 25 February 1841. Frederick had died 10 days earlier on February 15, 1841. He was buried at his estate called Struman. He left some of his holdings on the south side of the James River to Lewis.

        His will in part says:

        • I give to my son Lewis W. Cabell seven hundred and fifty acres of my Green Hill tract of land commencing at the stone quarry on James River …also ten Negroes and their future increase, as follow,
        • Reuban and Fanny, his wife, and his five children
        • Amy a negro woman
        • Peter and Cubby, his wife, and one child
        • Cassidy, a negro woman
        • Also, an equal portion of my personal Estate after all specific debts are paid.

        So, after his father died, Lewis became a southern planter. In pre-Civil War days, this meant he was wealthy, owned a plantation and used enslaved people to farm his land.

        There was a house on the Green Hill property. It looked liked these.

        1886 Green Hill (Madison Dixon Rebuild

        So, after his father died, Lewis became a southern planter. In the days before the Civil War days, planters were wealthy landowners who used enslaved people to farm their land. There was a house on the Green Hill property.

        Green Hill burned in 1878. This is a replica built by Madison Dixon. The photo is from the Cabell Society.

        Anna Maria Perkins and Marriage

        Anna Maria Perkins was born September 3, 1818, to George Perkins and Eliza of Cumberland County, Virginia.

        Anna’s father, George owned a summer home in Cumberland County, Virginia called Hickory Hill. There is a marriage bond record for Lewis W Cabell and Maria A. Perkins, dated June 28, 1841, and listing their planned event to be in Cumberland County. Anna Perkins and Lewis Cabell married on July 8, 1841, at Hickory Hill, Cumberland, Virginia.

        She and Lewis had these children.

        • George Perkins Cabell, born first, died as an infant.
        • Frederick Ernest Cabell, born 1844
        • George Perkins Cabell, born 1846; died 1850
        • Anna Maria Cabell, born 26 Jan 1848
        • John Breckenridge Cabell, born 1850
        • Lewis Winston Cabell, died as infant
        • Lewis Winston Cabell, born 1855
        • William Perkins Cabell, born about June 1857, died as an infant

        Only Frederick, Anna Maria, John and the second Lewis lived to adulthood.

        The 1850 US census for Mayville, Buckingham, Virginia showed Lewis W Cabell as the head of family number 355. He was a 36 year old farmer with property valued at $15,000. His wife, Ann, was 28. Their children Frederick, Ann and John were 6, 2 and 6 months. Here is a snippet of this census record.

        Sadly, Lewis’s farm laborers were considered property. In this census record these enslaved people are shown only by sex and age.

        Buckingham County, Virginia slave schedule for 1850

        Here is the Buckingham County, Virginia slave schedule for 1860. Lewis’s people are listed in the left column from 21 to 40. In the right column they are from 1 to 8.

         New Interest

        In January 1860 he owned the Virginia Index a newspaper.  The Virginia Index was a semi-weekly journal published in Richmond, Virginia with B. M. DeWitt as the editor.

        The Civil War Years

        During the Civil War, the Green Hill house was used as a recovery place for wounded   soldiers.

        Then on January 30, 1878, Green Hill, the home of Lewis W. Cabell and his family, burned to the ground. The family escaped but all the contents of the house were burned. Here is a clipping from the Daily Dispatch. He sold the property not long after.

        Lewis died 6 Oct 1890 in Nelson, Virginia, United States. He was buried there.

        After Thoughts

        When the story becomes morally reprehensible is it a mistake not to tell it? When “his” story of “her” story is your own family’s story should it be shared? Does forgotten history repeat itself?

        Lewis Cabell kept Negro enslaved humans. A dozen of such humans were passed from his father to him by his father’s will. Even any children these people would have were willed to Lewis by this document. His enslaved population grew as shown by the 1850 and 1860 census schedules. This way of life even if all the other planters around are doing it is wrong. Lewis Cabell was blameworthy.

      • Heinrich Freÿß

        Week 14 –Language–Old German Handwriting

        Lichtenberg Castle, Germany

        By LoKiLeCh – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3551741

        Reading handwritten old German church records is difficult but can be done. You don’t need to know German. You will gain a lot of information.

        Having some patience, I pursued of my Palatine migrant ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. I armed myself with a book written by Katherine Schober and called The Magic of German Church Records. I also used letter charts showing the many different ways old German handwritten letters were formed.

        In 1665, Thal Lichtenberg, which is located near the Lichtenberg Castle, belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. It was known as the Principality of Lichtenberg. Today this area is in Germany. Above is a photo of the still standing Lichtenberg Castle.

        Old German Handwriting

        Heinrich Freÿß written in old German script

        Reading handwritten old German church records is difficult but can be done. You don’t need to know German. You will gain a lot of information from these records.

        Having some patience, I pursued the German records my Palatine migrant ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. I armed myself with a book, titled The Magic of German Church Records written by Katherine Schober. I also used charts showing old German letters.

        On ancestry.com, I found the 1665 church record for Heinrich Freÿß’s baptism at the Pfeffelbach Reformed Church. Heinrich is my 6th great grandfather.

        Nichlaus and Maria Barbara lived in the village of Thal Lichtenberg. They traveled 2 miles to the southwest of their village to get to their parish church in Pfeffelbach. The custom in those days was to baptize their babies about 3 days after their birth. So, on January 29, 1665, Nichlaus Freÿß and his wife, Barbara, brought their infant son to their church. They likely walked the 2 miles to Pfeffelbach where their infant was baptized. There were witnesses. A record was made by the parish clergy. Here is the record.

        The left column, labeled at the top of the page “parentes”, was written in Latin. The translation reads:

        The 29th of January; Nichlaus Freÿß from Thal (Thal Lichtenberg):and Maria Barbara, his wife.

        Parents names are underlined. The double “n” in Hannes is circled.

        Looking at the baptism record’s middle column where the name of the child is located, we see two names. The first, the spiritual name, often was the same as the father’s if the child was male. A common spiritual name was Hans. Hans has many alternates such as Hannes, Johan, Jan, Jack, John. Interestingly, the German word for son is john.

        The second name, the call name, is the name the person became known by. This name is the one that is used almost inclusively. Thus, Hannes Heinrich Freÿß became Heinrich Freÿß.

        The middle letter of Heinrich’s spiritual name looks like a cursive “m” is a fused double “n”. These fused double letters often are in the German Kurrent font. Kurrent is an old form of German-language handwriting based on late medieval cursive writing.

        The last column, labeled “compatres”, is Latin for compatriots or countrymen. This column included relatives and close friends of the parents. I can’t find any familiar names in this column.

        Marriage and Family

        Heinrich grew up and married. Like his father he married a woman named Barbara. His wife was called Elisabetha Barbara, and his mother was Maria Barbara. The surnames of these women are unknown.

        They had children:

        • Maria Margretha Freÿß, married Johannes Michael Pees 12 June 1731 in Baumholder
        • Hans Nickel Fräÿß, baptized 4 December 1695 in Pfeffelbach
        • Katherina Elisabeth Fräß, baptized Dec 1696
        • Johann Ludwig Fräis, baptized 20 Nov 1697
        • Maria Elisabetha Freÿß born about 1712, married Johann Nickel Kemmer on 13 Dec 1740

        Death

        Heinrich Freÿß had died before his youngest daughter married. The marriage record for his daughter, Maria Elisabetha Freÿß, shows a cross above his name indicating that he was deceased. So Heinrich died before December 13, 1740. Here is the record. I circled his name. Notice the cross.

        Some References