Thursday, September 30, 2010

1859 Letter from Anna Churchill visiting daughter Olive (Jackson) Jenkins at Stoneham, Massachusetts



1 July 1859 letter written from Stoneham, Massachusetts by Anna Churchill to her daughter Hannah Gould.




I've tried to use the clues in the letter to identify these people, but, although I've made some progress, I definitely have much work to do - a reader's nudge in the right direction wouldn't hurt!


Transcript:


Stoneham July 1 1859
Ever dear daughter belove.  I now try to write you a few lines to let you know that I am still enjoying good health and am surrounded with many blessings for which I would thank our Father in Heaven, and not forget all his benefits but I must confess my faults and hardly know what esccuse to make for not writing before, but I assure you tis not because my love to you or your family has abated.  O no my dears.  Tho at a distance from you my mind often flies to your pleasant Home and its inmates, with a longing desire to see you all.  I ask you to forgive my neglect in not writing, though I can hardly forgive myself.


I had a pleasant journey to Reading and got thare one week before dear Thomas died.  I was glad I was there to witness to witness the patient spirit with which he suffered to the last, he was not able to converse much but we think he left good evidence that he sleeps in Jesus, while his Parents an friends feel heavily the loss he was [a word I can't decipher - if you figure it out, would you please email me, thanks] old and well beloved by all who knew him.


I am now with your Sister O and family.  They had a letter from Sary Ann last night she and her family were well.  I expect to go Mr. Colby's soon and stop a while.  Betsey's health is rather poor.  My, she and all my children say I had aught to stay among them this summer.  I should be glad to go with Mr. H.  I hope that I shall go to your place next fall for I want to see you all very much.  I must now close.  I shall send this by Charles D.  Anna Churchill to Hannah G.


Dear sister,  [I'm putting in some punctuation marks to aid your reading]
As mother is writing to you and left a space not filled she wished me to write a few lines.  we are all as well as usual and hope these lines will find you the same.  I do want to see you all very much.  I was very sorry the girls and Mr. Gould did not come here and make us a call if nothing more when they were at Boston.  I should have been very glad to have seen them.  we talk some of going up to your place this year if we can leave home.  I hope you will not think because we do not go that we do not want to see you.  it is no such a thing.  will you not write?  this from your sister, Olive Jenkins.


Here are the clues:
  1. Stoneham, which I'm taking to be Stoneham, Massachusetts for reasons made clear below
  2. Reading, where "dear Thomas died" - Reading, Massachusetts
  3. Sister O - this would be Olive (Jackson) Jenkins
  4. Sary Ann - another daughter of Anna perhaps?
  5. Mr. Colby
  6. Betsey, whose "health is rather poor" - another daughter?
  7. Charles D.
  8. Sister Olive Jenkins - who lived in Stoneham, Massachusetts
  9. Mr. Gould and the girls - are the girls daughters or granddaughters?
  10. "up to your place" - implying possibly New Hampshire or Maine
My best find was a little bio of Olive Jenkins' son Franklin B. Jenkins who manufactured shoes in Stoneham, Massachusetts, in the History of Stoneham, Massachusetts, by William Stevens, 1891.  The Jenkins family had come to Stoneham from Vermont; Olive's maiden name was given as Jackson.  Hopefully this is correct.

So from this I'm working on the assumption that Anna Churchill had been married to a Mr. Jackson in her earlier life, and she had at least one daughter with Mr. Jackson, if not more.  I found an Anna Churchill in Hingham, Massachusetts in the 1850 and 1860 Censuses.  I found an Ann Jackson living in Boston in the 1850 Census.  Nothing that I feel comfortable with, however.

Sister Olive was married to Joseph C. Jenkins, who was born about 1805 in Bradford, Vermont.  Olive was herself was born about 1804 in either Vermont or New Hampshire - I found references to either.

I'm assuming that Hannah Gould lived some distance "up" from Stoneham, perhaps in New Hampshire or Maine.  I found several possibilities just in New Hampshire alone.  Again, nothing that I feel comfortable with.   There's a Hannah Gould, married to:
  • Luther Gould, in Weare, New Hampshire
  • James Gould in Weare, New Hampshire
  • David Gould in Hillsborough, New Hampshire
  • Aaron Gould in Piermont, New Hampshire
I tried searching for a Thomas Jackson, a Thomas Churchill and a Thomas Colby in Reading, Massachusetts, with no luck.  I'd love to know what the "D" stands in in "Charles D." and who Mr. Colby was.

I'm going to set this aside for a bit and come back, hopefully, with a fresh perspective.  In the meantime, if you recognize the clues in this letter as pinpointing a particular family, I would surely appreciate your contacting me, either in the comments box at the bottom of this page or by email.

Thanks for stopping by!

1860 letter from Richard Ela (1796-1863) to Mrs. Morse, Concord, Massachusetts


6 January 1860 letter from Richard Ela at Cambridge, Massachusetts [note graphic entitled The West View of Harvard College], to Mrs. Morse in Concord, Massachusetts.  

I believe this is the Richard Ela who was born 21 February 1796 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, the son of Joseph and Sarah (Eastman) Ela.  He had a son Richard born in 1850 and thus too young to have written this letter.

The senior Richard Ela was a lawyer at Durham, New Hampshire from about 1819 when he was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar until about 1830, when he moved to a position in a public office at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  In 1832, he accepted a clerkship at the US Department of Treasury in Washington, D.C., where he remained for the rest of his life.  He held the offices of auditor, comptroller and acting assistant treasurer.

For this letter to make sense, he must have been planning to spend parts of the early winter of 1860 in the Concord area.  Perhaps he or someone in his family was ill, or perhaps he was working on a case.

On 1 August 1844, Richard Ela married Lucia King, who was born at Saco, Maine 31 October 1816, the daughter of Jonathan and Margaret (Hill) King.  Richard and Lucia had four children:
  • Margaret King Ela, born 29 July 1845; died 9 August 1876
  • Walter Ela, born 23 September 1848 at Washington, D.C.
  • Richard Ela, born 30 November 1850 at Washington, D.C.
  • Alfred Ela, born 14 October 1857 at Washington, D.C.
The paternal grandparents of the senior Richard Ela were Jacob and Elizabeth (Ayer) Ela, of Haverhill, Massachusetts.   His maternal grandparents were Nehemiah and Susannah (Simons) Emerson, also of Haverhill, Massachusetts.


I've had no luck as yet in determining the grandparents of Richard Ela's wife Lucia (King) Ela.  I found a reference where Jonathan King was from Saco, Maine, and his wife Margaret Hill from Biddeford, Maine.  I believe Lucia was born in Saco, Maine.

Transcription: [I think the recipient is Mrs. Morse - if you read it differently, please let me know; also note that what appears to be a "25" has the meaning of "to".]

Cambridge Mass
Jan 6th 1860

Mrs. Morse:
I shall return to Concord on the 13th or 14th Inst. and if nothing happens to change my present intentions would like to board with you - while I remain in town which will be more or less of the time for two months.
With many good wishes to yourself and yours, I am
Very respectfully yours,
Richard Ela

If you have corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of this page or contact me directly.  I'd especially like to hear if you think this letter was likely written by a Richard Ela other than the one I've assumed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

1869 Letter sent by James Walker Austin of Roxbury, Massachusetts to Cousin George Webster Cushman, Winslow, Maine



September 21, 1869 letter sent by J. W. Austin of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to Cousin George in Winslow, Maine.  I believe J. W. Austin is James Walker Austin, son of the author William Austin and his wife Lucy (Jones) Austin.  


Surnames mentioned in the letter are Jones and Draper, and these surnames occur in the family of James Walker Austin.  His mother Lucy was the daughter of Peter Jones, Jr., and his wife Catherine (Hay) Jones.  Lucy (Jones) Austin had a sister Anna Tufts Jones, born in 1799 in Charlestown, who married Samuel Draper; she is likely the aunt mentioned in the letter.  Anna Tufts (Jones) Draper lived until 1883. 


As far as Cousin George in concerned, it happens that Peter Jones Jr. had a sister named Lucy, who married Joshua Cushman and had a son Charles.  Charles married Jane Hayden and had, among other children, a son George Webster Cushman, born in 1838 at Winslow, Maine.  I believe George Webster Cushman is the recipient of this letter.  

See other posts that features letters that George Webster Cushman, then working at Skowhegan, Maine, wrote to his parents, Charles and Jane (Hayden) Cushman at Winslow, Maine:



Another clue to the author of the letter is that fact that he and his family had been West and were not looking forward to a "New England Winter", as you would expect from people who had been living in the Sandwich Islands for nearly twenty years.


James Walker Austin was born 8 January 1829 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the son of William and Lucy (Jones) Austin.He got his law degree at Harvard and was admitted to the Suffolk Bar in 1851 but that same year left for California and then the Sandwich Islands.  He was admitted to the bar there and became District Attorney in 1852.  Subsequently he was elected to the Sandwich Islands Parliament and was once the guardian of the heir to the throne, Lunalilo.  He left the Sandwich Islands in 1872 so that his children could be educated in Massachusetts.   He then rejoined the Suffolk Bar and later became a Judge in Massachusetts.


It's my hope that he came home to Roxbury in the fall of 1869, as well, so that he could write this letter to his cousin George.  


James Walker Austin died at Southhampton, England in 1895 in Europe while touring with his wife and daughter Edith.  


Here's a short, but excellent, biography:  James Walker Austin.


As for George Webster Cushman, he married Lucy Jane Ireland on June 5, 1869; they had at least two children.  George worked as a farmer and carpenter and lived a long life.


Transcription:


Roxbury, Mass.
Sept 21, 1869


Cousin George, 
I received your letter, and it would have been answered before, if I had not been West.  I received it upon my return, and was glad to hear from you, and to learn about your family.


It is many years since I have seen any of your family, but I remember well the pleasant visits I have had at Winslow.


We, that is my wife and three children, all boys, are about leaving for Europe.  We think of passing the winter in Paris.  We have been so long absent, that we rather dread a New England Winter.


Aunt Draper's family are all well - also the Jones'.  I think Aunt Draper is rather feeble, but still she seems to enjoy pretty good health.


If ever you come to Boston you must come and see us.  We shall be glad to see you.


Remember me kindly to your father and mother and your brothers.


Yours truly 
J. W. Austin 


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the bottom of this page for the comments box or contact me directly.


Thanks for stopping by!

Photograph of Young Man Identified as Lee Kerstetter


Photograph of a young man identified on reverse as Lee Kerstetter.  There's no photographer's imprint to give a hint at locale.






Researching online, I found two possibilities for Lee Kerstetter, and there are probably more.  Here are the two that I found, with information that is hopefully correct:


1)  Robert Lee Kerstetter, born 30 September 1873 in Ohio, the son of Christian and Elizabeth Kerstetter.  Robert Lee Kerstetter's paternal grandparents were Christian and Nancy (Barger) Kersetter.  I haven't yet learned about the parents or maiden name of Elizabeth.


2)  Bert Lee Kerstetter, born 28 Jan 1884 in Bradford, Pennsylvania, the son of James and Sarah Ann Reichelduffer.  His paternal grandparents were Samuel and Mary (Boone) Kerstetter.  His maternal grandparents were Samuel [or Saul] and Mary Reichelduffer.


If you recognize this young man from your family albums or research, please scroll to the bottom of this page to the comments box or contact me directly.


Thanks for stopping by!



Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com
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Cabinet Photo of a Young Woman named G. Regan; Albany, New York studio



Cabinet photograph of a young woman identified on reverse as G. Regan.  The photograph was taken by the Wendover studio of Albany, New York.






Notice the unusual decoration at her throat - a bar pin of coins perhaps?


Researching online has proved fruitless so far.  I'm hoping that a reader will recognize this young woman from family albums or research and leave an answer solving the mystery in the comments box at the bottom of this page - or contact me directly.


Thanks for stopping by!



ail: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com
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Photograph of Young Girl identified as Rae Horne; by York, Pennsylvania Studio



Photograph of a young girl identified on reverse as Rae Horne.  The photograph was taken by the Bell studio of York, Pennsylvania.  The identification is written in faint pencil at very top of reverse.




Researching online has proved futile so far in further identifying this girl.  It's possible that Rae was her middle name and shown only as R or not at all on Census enumerations.  


Interestingly, though, this photograph came with a collection of photographs of people from Iowa and surrounding states, plus a photograph of Robert Cabeen Bair of York, Pennsylvania.  He was married to Ella Nora Smyser, daughter of noted Dr. Henry Lanius Smyser.  Is it possible that Rae somehow ties into this combined family?  Just in case, here's a link to the post about Robert Cabeen Bair


If you have any insights into the exact identity of the Rae Horne pictured above, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of this page or contact me directly.  Thanks for stopping by!


Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com
Twitter ID: ToddHouse
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CDV of Child in Fancy Getup of Various Patterns



Sadly, I have no idea of the identity of this child [a boy, perhaps?], other than that this Carte de Visite was found with a collection of photographs of people from Iowa and surrounding states. 


I'm slowly working through the collection - you can search my blog archive of  September and October 2010 for surnames of the people in identified photos.  Wouldn't it be neat if someone recognized the outfit from a family album!


The tunic is very appealing, with its vertical and diagonal stripes - I wish I knew the color scheme.   The stockings, though, are a bit jarring, at least to me.


Hope you've enjoyed this peek at a child of the 1870s/1880s in fancy dress.  Thanks for stopping by!


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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

1872 Cabinet Photo of William M. Edgar, b. 1843 Missouri, later deputy auditor at San Francisco


Cabinet photograph taken in 1872 by the I. W. Taber Art & Photographic Gallery, Montgomery Street, San Francisco, of William M. Edgar.




From online research, hopefully correct:


William M. Edgar was born 2 February 1843 in Lafayette, Missouri, the son of Alfred Epps Hudson Edgar and his wife Elizabeth H. (Matthews) Edgar, both born in Virginia.  His paternal grandparents were Thomas Barnes Edgar and his wife Elizabeth Povall (Price) Edgar, who was first married to Samuel Holt.  His maternal grandfather was Thomas Matthews, also from Virginia; I don't have the name of his maternal grandmother.   


William M. Edgar found his way to San Francisco, at least by 1872.  He's listed on the 1880 Census as Deputy County Auditor, with a state of birth of Virginia.  In 1881, according to Langley's San Francisco Directory, he was earning the handsome sum of $3000 per annum as deputy auditor.  By the 1900 Census, he listed his occupation as bookkeeper and his state of birth as Missouri.  


From what I could determine, he never married.  He died 14 December 1908.


If you have corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the bottom of the page for the comments box or contact me directly.  Thanks for stopping by!


Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com
Twitter ID: ToddHouse
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c. 1894 Cabinet Photo of Robert Cabeen Bair; York, Pennsylvania studio



Cabinet photograph taken by Swords Brothers of York, Pennsylvania, of Robert Cabeen Bair; identification on reverse.




From online research, hopefully correct:


Robert Cabeen Bair was born 27 April 1856 at York Furnace, Lower Chanceford Township, York County, Pennsylvania, the son John and Susanna (Groff) Bair.  In one reference, I saw that John Bair was a charcoal ironmaster; in another he was a judge.  Robert Cabeen Bair's paternal grandparents were John and Elizabeth (Miller) Bair.  His maternal grandparents were David and Anna (Longnecker) Groff.  


Robert Cabeen Bair was a lawyer and was the Chief of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statistics.  I found an article he wrote on The Scotch-Irish in America.  He served as Director of the Historical Society of York County.


I also found a fascinating website on the home that he occupied after his marriage to Ella Nora Smyser, the daughter of York physician Henry Lanius Smyser.  This home is now The York Inn, in York, Pennsylvania.


Ella Nora Smyser was born 12 September 1861 in York, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Henry Lanius Smyser and his wife Emma Elizabeth (Reiman) Smyser.  Her paternal grandparents were Michael and Eliza (Lanius) Smyser.  Her maternal grandfather was Judge John Reiman.


In one reference, I found four children for Robert Cabeen Bair and his wife Ella Nora (Smyser) Bair, but I believe only one survived to adulthood, Henry Smyser Bair, born 2 April 1889.  He married Alma Quickel, and they moved in with his mother Ella in the Smyser House.   Henry Smyser Bair was the president of a gas company; he and Alma had no children.


In 1979, Alma, whose mother-in-law and husband had predeceased her, died and donated the house to the local historical society.  Later the house was purchased for use as a bed and breakfast, then as a private home, and subsequently as The York Inn. 


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of this page or contact me directly.  


A map of York, Pennsylvania:



View Larger Map



Thanks for stopping by!






Cabinet Photo of Charles Fordice; taken by La Harpe Illinois studio





Cabinet photograph taken by the Robinson studio of La Harpe, Illinois, of Charley Fordice.  The only identification or written material is on the front of the photograph.  


This photograph was found with a collection of photographs of people from Iowa and surrounding states from an antique shop in Maine.  Some of the people are definitely related; some appear to be tangentially related; others may be acquaintances or have no relationship at all.  Check the archives for September and October of 2010 - the titles of some posts during that time may have significance for you.


I found a Charles Fordice who enlisted from McLean County, Illinois and served in the Civil War, which he survived.  


From online research, hopefully correct:


I don't have a birthdate for this Charles Fordice, but it's possible he was the son of Stanton Hunter Fordice [evolved from Fordyce] and his wife Kesiah (Kenison) Fordice.  Interestingly, some members of this family lived in Iowa at some point; perhaps there is a relationship to the people in the Iowa photographs after all.


Stanton Hunter Fordice Jr. was born 31 March 1805 in Ohio, the son of Stanton Hunter Fordice and his wife  Susanah Marsh, both born in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, to families originally from New England, possibly Planters or Loyalists.


Kesiah (Kenison) Fordice was born 28 August 1805 in Dearborn, Maine [now Oakland], the daughter of Joab Kenison and his wife Anna (Holmes) Kenison, who eventually moved west for land in Ohio.  Kesiah married Stanton Hunter Fordice in Ohio in 1827.  They raised a large family.  


I can find information on some of their offspring, but Charles seems to get short shrift.  He doesn't even show up in some family trees of Stanton and Kesiah (Kenison) Hunter.  Perhaps he is not their son at all, but was a relative visiting with them when the Civil War broke out.  I found records of his Civil War service and a pension form for his minor child, but no other information about his wife or that child's name.  


There's another Charles Fordice or Fordyce living in Wisconsin in the 1860 and 1870 Census enumeration of the household of Stanton Fordice, who is related to Stanton Hunter Fordice through their mutual grandfather John Fordice, born 1740.  This Charles Fordice may be the one who served with the 4th Wisconsin Volunteers Infantry/Cavalry.  It's possible that he also may have enlisted with a McLean County, Illinois unit.  I find some online trees showing the offspring of Stanton and Sarah (Belle) Fordice, and, again, there is no Charles.


Hopefully a reader will solve the mystery, not just of the Charles in the photograph, but of the two Charles' described above.


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the bottom of the page to the comments box or contact me directly.  Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Snapshot of Richard Dunn, born about 1920



Snapshot of a young man identified as Richard "Dick" Dunn, who was 18 years old in 1938.  There's a smudge in the identification on the front, which could have an important clue as to which Richard Dick Dunn this is, but I can't make it out.


The identification on reverse:




There are far too many Richard Dunns born about 1920 for me to narrow down to the correct one.  


However, I'm posting his photograph since it was found with a collection of photographs of people from Iowa and surrounding states.  I've already researched and blogged about a few of them this month, September 2010, and I expect to have worked through the entire collection by the end of October of 2010.  You might want to check the archives in case those posts are a clue to a Midwest Richard Dunn you are researching.


Thanks for stopping by!


Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com
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Cabinet Photo of William A. and Amanda (Nixon) Sykes, by a Carthage, Illinois studio



Cabinet photograph of a couple identified as W. A. Sikes and his wife, the former Amanda Nixon.  The photograph was taken by the Sampson studio of Carthage, Illinois.




From online research, hopefully correct: corrections and additions requested:


W. A. Sikes is most likely William A. Sikes, born February 1859 in Missouri, the son of Ambrose and Hannah (Conyers) Sikes.   Ambrose Sikes was born about 1812 in New York and died March 1880 in Hancock, Illinois; I'm not sure if Hancock is the town or the county.  Hannah Conyers was born in April of 1833 in Missouri.  I haven't yet learned her background, if indeed she is the mother of William A. Sikes or if Conyers is her maiden name.


William A. Sikes married Amanda Nixon in 1899.  She was born in June of 1862 in Illinois, the daughter of James and Ruth (Mills) Nixon.  James Nixon was born in Pennsylvania about 1818; Ruth Mills was born about 1822 in West Virginia.  I haven't yet learned their backgrounds, including if Mills is Ruth's maiden name.


This photograph was found with a collection of photographs of people from Iowa and surrounding states.  Check the archives of this blog from September and October of 2010, as I slowly work my way through them.  Some of the people are definitely related; some prove to be tangentially related; some are apparently acquaintances.

If you have corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks for stopping by!


Cabinet Photograph of Eliza Halferty, who later married Dennis Donahue, Iowa



Cabinet photo taken by Needham & Howard, Chariton, Iowa of Liza Halferty of Oakley and Norwood, Iowa.  This is most likely Eliza B. Halferty, who later married Dennis Donahue and lived in Jackson, Iowa.




From online research, hopefully correct:


Eliza B. Halferty was born in April 1869 in Iowa City, Iowa, the daughter of Edward and Catherine (Triggs) Halferty.  Edward Halferty was born in Ohio about 1835, the son of Mathew and Margaret (Phipps) Halferty.  Catherine was born in Indiana on 28 June 1837, the daughter of Jacob and Mary (Mackletreemer) Triggs.  Edward and Catherine married 4 June 1857 in Lucas County, Iowa.  Besides Eliza, they had several other children.


In 1895, Eliza B. Halferty married Dennis Donahue, who was born about 1868 in Illinois.  I found two Dennis Donahues born about 1868 in Illinois, and there may be more.  Hopefully a reader will forward information on the background of the Dennis Donahue who married Eliza B. Halferty.


Dennis and Eliza Donahue had a farm in Jackson, Iowa, where they raised at least two children,  a son and a daughter.  


This photograph was found with an assortment of other photographs from Iowa and surrounding states.  Several of the people in the photographs are obviously related, thanks to similar names; the others may be tangentially related.  Please check the archives for posts made in September 2010.  I may still be working through the collection in October of 2010, so check those posts also, in case you are reading this at some future point in time.


If you have corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of this page or contact me directly.  Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Oversized Business Card of Dunn Brothers, Lumber Merchants, Ashland, Maine - George Bancroft Dunn and Elbridge Gerry Dunn, Jr.



Oversized business card of the Dunn Brothers, Lumber Merchants, and Dealers in Lumbermen's Supplies, Etc., Ashland, Maine, Aroostook County.  In the top left corner: G. B. Dunn.  In the top right corner: E. G. Dunn, Jr.

George Bancroft Dunn and Elbridge Gerry Dunn, Jr. were the sons of Elbridge Gerry Dunn and his wife Louisa M. (Brackett) Dunn.  

George Bancroft Dunn was born 18 Jun 1849 at Ashland, Maine.  He married Lucinda Rich Cushing, who was born at Frankfort, Maine, in May 1851, the daughter of Andre and Delia (Rich) Cushing.  Their children were:
  • Louise Cushing Dunn, born 7 Jul 1878, graduated Radcliffe College, married Robert William Sawyer, son of Robert William and Martha (Paul) Sawyer of Bangor, Maine.  Robert William Sawyer Jr. graduated from Harvard College and became a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts.  They raised at least two children.
  • Deborah Briggs Dunn, born 14 May 1880, married Dr. H. M. Chapman of Bangor, Maine; they had a son, George D. Chapman
  • George Elbridge Dunn, born 22 March 1883, worked in business with his father
George Bancroft Dunn rated a few paragraphs in George Thomas Little's Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, published in 1909.  He was 80 years of age, living in Houlton, Maine, in the 1930 Census.  I'm not sure of his date of death.

Elbridge Gerry Dunn, Jr. was born in April 1859 in Maine.  He was married twice; his first wife Alice M. Hooper, whom he married in 1893, was dead by the time of the 1900 Census enumeration.  In that Census, he was living in Ashland, Maine, with his two daughters, Marjorie and Mertie, as well as numerous boarders and servant boarders.  

One of the servant boarders was Louise May Gerry [enumerated as Gary], who would become his wife in 1903.   Elbridge Gerry Dunn,Jr. died 4 January 1904.   I have no information on the parents of either Alice M. Hooper or Louise May Gerry.  

In the 1910 Census of Winchester, Massachusetts, Marjorie and Mertie were living with their father's sister Mary (Dunn) Johnson and her husband Edward J. Johnson.  I lost track of them after that.

If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the bottom of this page for the comments box or contact me directly.  




Cabinet Photo of Beautiful Baby, Julia Jeannette Hart - by San Francisco, California studio



Cabinet photograph of an infant girl with an angelic smile, identified, on front, as Jeanette Hart, dau. Arch Hart; photograph taken by Mareau,  828 Market Street, San Francisco, California.  On the reverse her name is spelled Jeannette, and the photograph is dated Aug. 1896, when Jeannette was about a year old.




From online research, hopefully correct:


Julia Jeannette Hart or Jeannette Julia Hart was born in August of 1895 in California, the daughter of Archibald Coombs Hart, born in Maine in 1869 and his wife Nella Robinson (Lawrence) Hart, born in California on 11 May 1874.  Julia Jeannette Hart's paternal grandparents were Dr. Andrew Jackson Hart and his wife Sarah Ellen (Coombs) Hart, who moved from Maine to Modesto, California about 1869, apparently just after the birth of Archibald Coombs Hart.


Julia Jeannette's maternal grandmother was Margaret or Mary H., whose maiden name was possibly McNell or McNeil.  She was born in Canada.  As yet, I haven't found information on her husband, Nella's father.


I found a wonderful website on the home of Dr. Andrew Jackson Hart at Pacific Grove, California, to which the family moved about 1890.  http://hartmansion.com/home.html


In the 1900 Census, I find Julia J. Hart living in San Francisco with her parents, brother Frank Lawrence Hart, paternal uncle Charles Edwin Hart and maternal grandmother M. H. Hart. 


In the 1910 Census of San Francisco, I find Nella and son Frank Lawrence Hart living with Nella's mother Margaret H. and Nella's sister Nettie and husband Miles McIntosh.  Nella describes herself as a widow.  Julia Jeannette is not living with them.  Hopefully she is still alive, living with other relatives or at school, but so far I have found no further trace of her.  Her brother, Frank Lawrence Hart, married and raised a family.


Some additional information on the Maine connection:


Dr Andrew Jackson Hart was born 11 Jun 1832 in Maine, the son of Russell and Wealthy (Britton) Hart.  Russell Hart was born in Massachusetts in 1794, the son of Jacob and Jerusha (King) Hart.  Jacob Hart moved his family from Massachusetts to Maine in 1801.  


Wealthy Britton [or Brettan or Brettum] was born in 1797 in Massachusetts, the daughter of Nathaniel and Wealthy Field (Leonard) Britton of Raynham.  She married Russell Hart on 26 November 1820; I'm not sure if the marriage took place in Raynham, Massachusetts, or in Maine.  


Russell Hart operated a lumber mill on the lower Dedham Road in Holden, Maine, and was a noted and active citizen in civic affairs of the town.  Several of the original Harts to settle in Maine are buried at the Hart's Corner Cemetery, on Route 1A in Holden, Maine.


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of this page or contact me directly.  


Thanks for stopping by!



Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Cabinet Photo of Young Man George G. Averill, born Lincoln, Maine 1869, later MD and GM of Keyes Fibre, Waterville, Maine



Cabinet photograph of a young man identified as George G. Averill; photograph taken by Foster and Evans, Successors to Hill and Hazelton, 24 Hanover Street, Boston, Massachusetts.




From comparing to a photograph of Dr. George G. Averill in his middle years, I believe that this is a photograph of the George G. Averill who was born in Lincoln, Maine 5 December 1869, educated at Lee Academy in Lee, Maine, and later received his medical degree from Tufts College in Massachusetts.  He practiced in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a number of years and then, at the urging of his father-in-law, Martin Keyes, left his practice to work with Martin Keyes at Keyes Fibre Company in Waterville, Maine.


From online research, hopefully correct:


George G. Averill was the son of David F. Averill, born 14 November 1834 in Lincoln, Maine, and his wife Leah S. (Lowell) Averill, who was born 7 December 1845 in Lee, Maine, an adjacent town.  George G. Averill's paternal grandparents were David Averill, born in 1800 in Topsfield, Massachusetts, and his wife Mary M. Lee, born in Dresden, Maine, in 1804.  George G. Averill's maternal grandparents were Thomas Lowell, born in 1806 in, I think, Litchefield, Maine, and his wife Martha Jane (Smith) Lowell.


George had a distinguished career in medicine and business.  He practiced medicine in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1896 until 1910.  He married, first, Mabel L. Keyes, on 18 November 1908.  She was the daughter of New Hampshire native and inventor Martin Keyes, who founded the Keyes Fibre Company in Waterville, Maine.   


In 1911, Martin Keyes convinced Dr. Averill to give up his Massachusetts practice and move to Waterville to help run Keyes Fibre.  Upon the death of Martin Keyes, Dr. Averill became general manager for the next ten years or so.   


After Mabel's death, Dr. Averill married Frances B. Mosher, on 2 February 1921.  She was a teacher at Bangor, Maine, and the daughter of Albert and Mary Mosher of Orono, Maine.   Her brother in law, Osgood Townsend, was involved in the lumbering business; perhaps this is how she and Dr. Averill met.


I read in a compendium of short biographies of notable Maine people that Dr. Averill kept a house in Los Angeles, California, where he spent the winters.  He died in 1954. 


I found this photograph with just the clue of the Boston studio on it and had no idea that I would find myself unearthing clues that led me back to Maine and even to Lee Academy, a wonderful institution that a grateful Dr. Averill supported financially, including the construction of dormitory Weymouth Hall, named in honor of his sister Effie (Averill) Weymouth.


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of this page or contact me directly.  Thanks for stopping by!

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