francescabellcoursenperritt.com

Category: Frances Perritt’s Kin

  • 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.

      • Buried in an Unmarked Grave

        Week 4-Overlooked

        Woman Playing Violin designed by Freepik

        Did Katharine Connor’s parents use Finney as their baby girl middle name lest Katharine’s mother family not be overlooked?  When Katharine married Isaac Roberts on November 13, 1828, in Charleston South Carolina, what did she think about changing her name to Mrs. Isaac Roberts? When she died in Albany, Oregon on December 1, 1889, and was buried in Sandridge Cemetery, did she plan to be buried in a unmarked grave?

        I don’t have answers to these questions but thanks two men who interviewed Oregon pioneers—Edwin C. Roberts and Fred Lockley, I know something of this woman’s character.

        Katharine grew up with music. She danced and sang and played the violin. After marriage and becoming a Methodist, she gave up dancing. Luckily, she still played the violin.

        Early Life

        Katharine Finney Connor was born in 1802 to John Connor and Katharine Finney. Her family lived in Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, Untied States at the time of her birth.  During her youth, she learned to play the violin quite well and still played as an adult. Before she married she had been one of the best dancers in the county of Charleston.

        Marriage and Family

        How and where Katharine met Isaac Roberts is not known. They married far from South Carolina on November 13, 1828. Clancy Smith married them in Jefferson County, Missouri. Their marriage record reads:

        Let it be remembered that on the 13th day of November 1828, I Chancy Smith, a Justice of the Peace in and for said County (Jefferson) did join in the state of matrimony Isaac Roberts and Catherine F. Conner. Given under my hand this 13th Nov, 1828, Record Nov 13th 1828, Chancy Smith, Justice of the peace, C Smith clerk.

        Dancing days were over after Katharine married this strict Methodist northerner who didn’t play cards or dance.

        Their children, all born in Missouri, were Thomas who died as an infant, James Bruffey, Emily Catherine, and Samuel Huston.  Samuel Houston was named for a cousin of Katharine’s.

        Migration to Willamette Valley– Portland, Oregon

        Isaac, Katharine, James, Emily and Samuel Roberts left Independence, Missouri in the spring of 1850.

        Katharine Roberts, a pioneer woman of tact, bravery and quick thinking demonstrated these qualities during the trip West in a run end with a Sioux Chief in the Great Plains region. This chief rode into their camp and wanted to trade for their daughter Emily Roberts. Natives often traded with the people going west. He asked, “How many ponies?” Rather than discussing this topic Katharine picked up her violin and started playing. After a while, the chief left without losing face by having been turned down outright.

        Katharine, like most settlers traveling by oxen hauled wagons, probably walked much of the time. Roughly 2000 miles separated Independence, Missouri and Portland, Oregon. The pace was slow- 11 to 17 miles per day and the days were long. The trail was more of a suggestion than an actual road. Bumps and holes made riding quite jarring. Katharine’s family arrived in Portland in the fall of 1850. They made a tent camp along the Willamette River near what is now 1st and Pine Street.

        Portland, Oregon

        Mr. William Warren, who was building a hotel, offered the Roberts accommodation in his building while it was being finished. The dining room and kitchen were finished. The Roberts expecting to pay took his offer; but, Mr. William would accept no money.

        Katharine had cooked the long spring and summer over an open campfire in all kinds of weather. Living indoors and cooking on a stove would be luxurious. But William Warren had ulterior motives for his generosity. He was interested in her daughter, Emily Roberts.

        Her daughter Emily Roberts had turned down William’s proposal of marriage. Emily had another suitor. Edward Griffin and Emily Roberts married on October 26, 1851. They were married by James Wilbur at the newly constructed Methodist Church on Taylor and 3rd Street. This was the church the Roberts helped build.

        By December 9, 1850, the Roberts were living in their own home. Their house was the only house built on the block bounded by 4th, 5th, Columbia and Clay Streets.

        The Move to Roberts Bridge

        A chunk of land on the Calapooia River 10 miles south of Albany, Linn County, Oregon Territory, USA came to be known as Roberts Bridge or the Roberts Bridge community.

        This is the site of Katharine’s next home. Katharine had mixed feelings about leaving her Portland community. Her friends and her church were in Portland. On the bright side, this move presented an opportunity to both her and her daughter Emily.

        The United States Congress had enacted the Donation Land Claim Act before the Roberts arrived in Portland. It became effective on September 21, 1850. By this act, Katherine’s son, James Bruffey Roberts who was a white male U.S. citizen over 18 could claim 320 acres of federal land. He needed to take out the claim between 1 Dec 1850 and 1 Dec 1853. James did take out a claim next to his mother and father’s claim. 

        The plus for both Katharine and her daughter, Emily was that married women could own land by this act. As a married couple Katharine and Isaac took out a 640 acre claim, and 320 acres were in Katharine’s name. Allowing a married woman to own property was uncommon in the United States before this time. Here is a copy of the BLM GLO Land Patent Details.

        The last in this family group to claim land here were Emily Roberts Griffin and her husband, Edward Griffin. Since they had married before December 1, 1851, they qualified for 640 acres. Their claim adjoined Emily’s parents claim and 320 acres was in Emily’s name.

        Later Years

        Katharine and Isaac had lived on their homestead less than 10 years when Isaac died there on September 6, 1860. After Isaac died, she acquired a home in Albany at the corner of 4th and Maple Street.

        Her son-in-law, Edward Griffin put this ad in the States Rights Democrat in December of 1868.

        Albany Home

        Katharine moved from Robert’s Bridge area to Albany. She lived in Albany by the time the 1870 census was taken.

        The 1870 U.S. census described Katharine F. Roberts as sixty-eight-year-old widow, born in South Carolina, with real estate valued at $550 and personal property of $1200. Also at this place was James A Warner, a thirty-four-year-old surveyor. Here is a snippet of that record.

        In 1880, she was still living in Albany and James Warner is still rooming there too. In this census record, Katharine is spelled beginning with a “K” which was her way of spelling her name.

        Death

        Katherine died on December 1, 1889. Her obituary reads:

        The mother of James Roberts, who died near Shedd on the first inst., was interred at Sand Ridge Cemetery. A sermon was preached by Rev. Gould at the home of James Roberts, where a large number of friends were gathered, many of whom followed her to her last resting place.

        Some References

        • “Interview with Edwin C Roberts in Albany Oregon”. Leslie L Haskin, 1940. wpa-interviews, Linn Genealogical Society.
        • Lockley, Fred, “In Earlier Days”, The Oregon Daily Journal(Portland, Oregon),28 Feb 1914, page 4 (col. 8 paragraph 4)
        • “Missouri Marriages, 1750-1920”, database, FamilySearch 

      • Lincoln Assassination

        Week 12- historic Event

        Jane Ann “Jeanie” Bulman Coursen Reacts

        San Francisco Chronicle April 15, 1865

        On Friday, April 14, 1865, at 9:30 pm, Abraham Lincoln was shot while seated in a box at the Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. This was the first assassination of a sitting U. S. president.

        The American people reacted, most with shock and grief. Some were glad.

        The new technology of the telegraph enabled this somber news to be spread across the United States within hours of its happening, The same news took weeks to spread around Europe.

        The news was received in California on Saturday morning, April 15. The memory of Lincoln’s assassination stayed in the minds of many Americans a long time. Among these people were the members of the Coursen family.

        Sixty-five years later an Oregon journalist named Fred Lockley asked Edgar E. Coursen about his first memory. Edgar replied,by telling about his mother’s reaction to the news and the effect her reaction had on him as a child of four.

         His Mother, Jane Ann Bulman Coursen

        “You ask me what is my first recollection?” said the Edgar E. Coursen…” My first recollection takes me back to the time when I was about 4 or 5 years old. We lived on Fulton Street opposite Alamo Square in San Francisco. The Catholic archbishop now owns the property in which I spent my boyhood.”

        “My mother was a rather calm woman. She raised the window and said to someone outside, with great excitement, “The president has been shot.” I was scared, because I thought something dreadful must have happened; so I asked her what was the matter. She said, “Abraham Lincoln, the president, has been killed.” It left a very vivid impression upon my mind.”

        Whitfield’s Letter

        In 1880, Whitfield Hurd wrote a letter to Ellen Douglass Coursen. Ellen, the oldest living child of Gersham Coursen and Jeanie Ann Bulman Coursen. Ellen, intrigued by family history, wanted to know more about her mother and father. She had contacted Whitfield who was from the Hurd line of the Coursen family.

        This letter along with a genealogical chart copied from the Coursen Family Bible by James F. Campbell was one of the papers found in Grandmother Perritt’s scrapbook. James was Catherine Coursen’s husband.

        The Coursens used “Jeanie” as the first name for their mother. Records before this time use Jane Ann.

        About Jane Ann Bulman

        The bible chart page relays information about Jane Ann:

        • Jane Ann Bulman was the widow of a man with the surname, Stout.
        • She was born on September 2, 1830
        • She married Gersham A. Coursen on September 21, 1854
        • She died on March 9, 1877

        I have photocopies of the Coursen Family Bible which added information. Gersham and Jeanie were married by Rev. J.A. Benton in Sacramento. She died in San Francisco at a quarter to 10 o’clock on March 9, 1877.

        The New Jersey marriage record for Jane Bulman and Jacob Stout records their marriage on August 9, 1848. Johann Gardner performed the ceremony. It was in Harlingen, New Jersey. Jane Ann was 18; Jacob was 24. Jane’s mother, S.G. Bulman, was in attendance.

         Here is a snippet of the record from Marriages, Somerset Co., 1846-1867

        Groom Jacob Stout and Bride Jane Ann Bulman from Rockyhill
        Parents of Jacob Chilian and Sarah Stout; Parents of Jane Ann, Mrs. S. G. Bulman

        The 1850 census has Jacob and Jane Ann living in Montgomery, Somerset, New Jersey with Jacob’s family.

        Migration

        On January 23, 1851, Jacob W. Stout obtained passport papers from the state of New York. Written at the top of this paper was “wife name Jane Ann Stout.”

        Soon after they migrated to California by ship. They would have crossed the Isthmus of Panama by mule. Adding to the rigors of this trip was the condition of Jane Ann. She was pregnant.

        Soon after arriving in California Jacob and Jane Ann’s child, William Presley Stout, was born, the year still being 1851.

        By July of 1852 this family of 3 were living in San Francisco County. William was a 1-year-old.  Here is a snippet from the 1862 California State census.

        Jacob died June 30, 1854, and is buried in Sacramento City Cemetery. Jeanie Ann married less than a year later. The new husband was Gersham A. Coursen whom she married on September 21, 1854.

        Family Life with Gersham

        They lived in Sacramento for about ten years. Their first three children born in Sacramento included Evelin Eugenia, Ellen Douglass, and Edgar Eugene. In 1864, they moved to their home at 1060 Fulton Street in San Francisco. Madeline May, Grant Ober, Sherman Adams, Rosamond Alexandria, Geraldine Anabel and Catherine Eleanore were born here.

        Listed as a housewife on the 1870 census record didn’t describe what she did. Jeanie Ann had been a schoolteacher in her early life, so she home schooled her children. Edgar Coursen states in an interview with Ed Lockley this. “I never went to school…my mother taught me at home.” Edgar also said his mother had a beautiful singing voice.

        Edgar was an extremely able student and had a gift for music. When he was only 14 years old his parents enrolled him in the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany.

        It must have been hard for Jeanie to send Edgar so far from home. She couldn’t have predicted that she would never see him again.

        She had lost other children. Evelin had died on May 16, 1860. Madeline was less than a year when she died on May 27, 1863.

        In the spring of 1877, Edgar at his school in Leipzig received the letter of his mother death. He was 2 years into his studies there. He reacted by studying harder. He said,” the death of my mother was a great sorrow to me, but I threw myself into my work, all the harder studying the violin and piano.”

        Jeanie Ann Coursen Died

        There was a short announcement in the San Francisco Examiner on May 3, 1877.

        Gersham never moved from their home on Fulton Street. He never remarried.

      • Brick Wall

        Week 11

        A figurative brick wall is a challenging obstacle or obstruction. A brick wall can also refer to a wall made from bricks. In my paternal grandfather’s case both definitions apply. He knew how to build brick walls, and his ancestors are mostly unknown to me.

        Thomas’s and Luise’s Brick House

        Thomas Steven Lonski, my grandfather, knew how to build brick walls. He built brick walls for two Seattle area houses. I lived in one of these houses with my family during my first eight years of school. The other brick walls were for his house on Lander Street. He, his wife, Luise, and his children, Ruth, Walter and my father, Albert, lived in this house for many years.

        The house Thomas built for his family had a partly daylight basement as it was built on a slope.

        A living area with a living room, dining room, kitchen, half bathroom and entry hall topped the basement level. Upstairs were 3 bedrooms and a full bathroom. a steep roof topped this home.

        Luise in front of the brick house Thomas built for them

        Albert’s Brick House

        The brick walls he built for my family held up a different sort of house, although this house also sat on a slope. We had a great view of Lake Washington from this house.

        Both Thomas and my father, Albert, worked on building this house. Thomas lay brick early in the day. Albert worked in the late afternoon and evening after his day job at Boeing Company.

        Sometimes the neighbor who lived directly behind this building project. Thomas told this man named Edward Kennedy that the finished product would be a two-story house with a peaked roof.

        One evening, while my father worked on our house, Edward came over asking about the thickness of floorboards, the height of the walls and the size of the attic. Edward looked and sounded decidedly grumpy. My father didn’t know why. Then my father explained that this house was to be a one-story building with a flat roof. Albert showed Edward the building plans, Edward smiled broadly; he knew his view would still be there.

        After this, the old man laying bricks at Albert Lonski’s house site became known as a prankster and someone you shouldn’t play poker with.

        Thomas Lonski with his grandchildren.

        So, my Grandfather Lonski built the bricks wall for my childhood home. More importantly, he was there for me during my formative years.

        He took me on outings. If we ate out, we usually ordered French Dip sandwiches—his favorite.

        During these times grandfather would tell me about our Lonski family. I remember his facial expressions. When he said his mother’s name, Marianna Napontiac, he looked wistful. His mouth was soft, and his eye pupils widened.

        On the other hand, when Grandfather spoke of his father, Michael Lonski, his eyebrows came together, and his voice became louder. He said his father had once been Michael von Lonski. Because of problems with alcohol, he sold the “von” part of his name. Since von in German means from or of, could this mean Michael had owned land and sold his right to it?

        When Grandfather was young, his hometown in Poland, was Tuchel (now called Tuchola). He lived with his mother, father and seven brothers—John, Michael, Paul, Vincent, Franz, William (named for the Kaiser) and Joseph. He was a middle child, born on December 17,1880. In 1880, 3,066 people lived in Tuchel. He grew up hearing both German and Polish spoken in his household so was fluent in both languages.

        Military School

        Grandfather told me he was in the German army from 1902 to 1904.  There was compulsory military service for preteen boys in Kaiser Wilhelm’s army.

        A young Thomas Lonski at Military School

        When Gdansk Was Danzig

        He and his two brothers would visit the large port city of Danzig (now called Gdansk) when they were young men. They would roam the streets of this city by the Baltic Sea together looking for fun. Paul, born in 1877, was 3 years older than Thomas. Vincent born in 1882, was 2 years younger. Here is a photo of the three together.

        Vincent, Thomas and Paul in town before they went to Canada

        Switzerland

        He left home in 1910, he said, to avoid further military service. He found work in Switzerland as a tailor working as a cutter and fitter. I remember him talking about cutting many layers of wool fabric with extra-large scissors. I have the thimble he used from this job.

        Canada

        By 1913 he had migrated to Canada, obtained his British citizenship and lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at Bose 1135. In May of 1913 his brothers Paul and Vincent met him in Saskatoon. they had in New York aboard the SS Zeeland. They had sailed from Antwerp, Belgium. These three young men Paul, a carpenter, Vincent, a plumber and Grandfather headed for Salmon Arms near Kamloops, British Columbia. They staked a land claim and built a cabin.

        Paul and Vincent returned to German Poland in December of 1913. Paul returned to a wife in Dusseldorf and Vincent to a brother, Joseph Lonski, who also lived in Dusseldorf.

        Grandfather stayed in Salmon Arms a while. He told my mother he lived with a woman there and left her rather abruptly. He went to Vancouver, B.C. where he met my grandmother, Anna Luise Taubert.

        Anna Luise Taubert

        Luise Taubert

        Grandfather said a friend named George wanted to talk to the pretty German girl working for the von Roons. The von Roons were Germans living in Vancouver, B.C., Canada while the political situation in Germany settled down. because George didn’t speak German and Thomas did. Apparently, the things my grandfather said to Luise caused her to take an interest in him. Around this time the von Roons decided it was safe to go back to Germany. Luise decided to stay in Vancouver; Grandfather thought it was because of him.

        Thomas crossed the border into the United States in 1816. Luise Taubert came to Seattle separately by ferry. They married at the courthouse in Seattle, Washington on April 18, 1916.

        Thomas lost all contact with his family. He always looked unhappy when he spoke of this.

        Climbing the Lonski Family Tree

        About 20 years ago, I started writing down information about my family on tree forms. I didn’t find anything beyond what Thomas wrote on his application for social security. His father was Michael Lonski. His mother was Marianna Napontiac.

        Then came the story of Camp No. 7, located in Tuchel and surrounded by the beautiful Tuchola forests. This was the forest Grandfather thought of when he hiked the trails around Mount Rainier close to Seattle.

        Prisoner of war camps were located in and near Tuchel in WWI. Camp No. 7 was a prisoner of war camp ran by the Germans. Poles, Italians, French, and British captured persons with imprisoned there. Conditions there were horrible and many died.

        At this time, I thought of genealogy as my hobby, It was supposed to be fun.

        Renewed Effort

        I revisited the Lonski family recently finding casualty list for German soldiers in WWI. The list (Verlustisten) named German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers who were dead, wounded, caught, missing or returned. I found 6 Vincenz Lonskis on this list. The Vincenz of Tuchel who died October 29, 1914 may have been Thomas Lonski’s brother. There were other men with the Lonski surname. There were 10 men named Franz Lonski, 11 named Johann Lonski, 5 named Josef Lonski and 1 named Paul Lonski.

        Then I started having war dreams. I again stopped looking.

        Thus, my grandfather, who had built the brick walls for our home, left me with another brick wall. It is the “I’m stuck” kind. But, I am extremely grateful he left Germanic Poland before WWI, knew and loved me and told me his stories.

      • Siblings

        Week 10

        To have an entire family group’s history laid out like the many dishes at a Turkish banquet occurs, but not often. For the Reynolds family, the stories were all there in Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook. I just provided the labels.

        The family I am referring to is the Edwin and Margaret Reynolds family. I will focus on their children who included Bessie Reynolds and her siblings.

        About a quarter of Frances Perritt’s holds newspaper clippings and photos of her mother’s siblings. Frances’s mother, Bessie Reynolds had six sisters and two brothers who lived to adulthood.

        I have in my possession an 8” by 6” studio photo taken by Davies photo studio located on Third and Morrison Street in Portland, Oregon. It was likely taken in 1917 when Louis Reynolds was visiting relatives in Portland before he took a job in New York.

        The Photograph

        The photo is labeled on the back thus.

                       1st row L to R: Aunt Mamie, Uncle Louis, Great Grandmother Reynolds, Uncle George

                       2nd row L to R: Aunt Bertie, Aunt Fannie, Bessie (Grandmother Goughler), Aunt Addie

                       3rd row: Aunt Tootie, Aunt Millie

        Reynolds Family

        I am confident one of Frances’s daughters labeled this photograph. I know this because of the relationships mentioned. Rose and Betty’s great grandmother, Margaret Ferguson Reynolds, in the front row is easily recognizable from her other photos. The aunts and uncles would have been great aunts and uncles to Rose and Betty.

        In 1969, Millie and Mamie were still alive at the ages of 83 and 78. I remember meeting them outside Calaruga Terrace in Portland, Oregon when I was dating my future husband.

        Because of Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook, I feel I knew these people. It has been an invaluable resource in my search for stories about the Reynolds, Cabells and Fergusons.

      • Bessie’s Recipe Book

        Week 48-Family Recipe

        Mac Goughler and Bessie in living room of Portland home. Mac was Bessie’s last husband.

        I met Great Grandmother Goughler and two of her younger sisters in the summer of 1969. This lady, Bessie Reynolds Cabell Curtiss Goughler, was the great grandmother of my fiancee, Craig Foster. The showing of my engagement ring somehow reminded her of the men she had loved and married.

        Bessie said,

        Do not to grow too attached to Craig as it has been my experience that husbands died. I found another. I married three and I outlived them all.

        Later on, I lived part time with Bessie’s granddaughter, Rose Foster, while my husband served in the army. When the topic of ancestors came up Rose would talk about the Coursens and the Cabells. The Coursens were from her father’s side. The Cabells were from Frances Perritt’s side. She said her grandfather, Edgar Coursen played the pipe organ for 43 years at the First Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. The Coursens did not drink. As for the Cabells and her grandmother Bessie, Rose said they made bathtub gin. I did not find this recipe in Bessie’s recipe book.

        Bessie Cabell Curtiss Goughler’s Recipe Book

        Among the family papers and other items, I inherited from Grandma Perritt was a loose-leaf leather receipt book. Bessie used it for a recipe book. Bessie typed the individual recipes into 3 and 1/2” by 7” paper stencils and mimeographed copies. Bessie wrote recipe for Plain Cake and her clear distinctive handwriting. Bessie had a stylized way of forming the number 2. She started out with a little loop. I know this because I have her letters and all the 2s have loops at the beginning.

        As an illustration, here is her recipe for Plain cake written in cursive with a loopy 2.

        Bessie’s Birth

        Bessie, born to Margaret and Edwin Reynolds on November 30, 1874, in Baker City, Oregon, was a middle child. George, Addie, Frances and Bertha came before her. Margaret Stewart, Mildred, Louis and Mary Lydia came after her.

        The Ferguson Family Bible entry for Bessie reads, “Bessie Ferguson Reynolds girl baby November 30th 1874.”

        First Husband-John Breckenridge Cabell

        Bessie Ferguson Reynolds married John Breckenridge Cabell on August 23, 1893, at 8 pm in the evening. The Ceremony took place in the Baker city Episcopal Church Rev. Isaac Dawson officiated. She was only 18 while John was 43.

        John and Bessie had two children before John died on September 6. 1901.

        The Next Five Years

        The next five years treated Bessie poorly, ending with the death of her father, Edwin Reynolds on September 1, 1906. These years saw Bessie poor and living with family members in Baker City.

        In March of 1904, she took her younger sister, Millie Reynolds, and her son, Rudy, to Portland, Oregon to look for work. In Portland, Bessie Millie and Rudy lived in a room located at 6th and Madison Street. This was not far from where Millie found a job at one of the oldest department stores in the west. This store, Olds and King, was located at 5th and Washington Street.

        Her 8-year-old daughter, Frances Cabell, traveled to Juneau, Alaska, with another sister of Bessie’s, Margaret Reynolds Russell. Frances spent an adventurous 8 months there living with her Aunt Tootie and Uncle Ed Russell.

        Second Husband—Arthur Marshal Curtiss

        Shortly after the loss of her father, Bessie remarried.  Arthur Curtiss, older than Bessie by 4 years, had worked as a blacksmith in Baker City.

        Since they both lived in Portland they married in Portland on December 9, 1906. Here is a clipping from Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook.

        Sadly, this marriage ended in 1916. Arthur died on April 26, 1916, in Portland, Oregon.

        Hawaii

        Bessie voyaged to the Hawaiian Islands in October of 1917 to see her first granddaughter, Rose Coursen. The 6-month-old Rose, the first child of Frances and Raymond Coursen, lived with her parents, on Maui Inland. Frances had married Raymond in May of the year before. Bessie spent 3 months in this scenic spot. Here she got to know her granddaughter before she returned to the mainland on January 19, 1918.

        Bessie Curtiss and her granddaughter Rose Margaret Coursen

        Third Husband–George “Mac” Goughler

        In October of 1918, she married Mac Goughler, a printer in Portland.

        In October of 1918, she married Mac Goughler, a printer in Portland and the owner of The Daisy Press. Bessie was married to Mac Goughler about 30 years. The 1920 U.S. census records show George, Bessie, Rodolph. Helen, George’s daughter from his first marriage, was in this Multnomah County census record.

        Mac died on January 19, 1950. This time Bessie did not remarry.

        Last Year of Life

        She attended our wedding event where her grandson and I were married in December of 1969. She died a year later on December 7, 1970.