Thursday, June 18, 2015

1840s Autograph Album of Mary Cordelia Keyes of Mendon, New York, Before and After her Marriage to Daniel Galentine


1840s autograph album that belonged to Mary Cordelia Keyes of Mendon, New York, before and after her marriage to Daniel Galentine.   The album has a few entries from after Mary's death on April 10, 1850.

The album was presented to Mary by N. A. Woodward.


I didn't find Mary's middle name in resources online, but one inscriber, Levi W. Davis, conveniently spelled out "Mary Cordelia Keyes" in his Acrostic.  He inscribed his page at Mendon, New York, on March 23, 1848; his wife, C. M. Davis, or Chloe M. (Collins) Davis, inscribed the following page.


"The Scriptural Album", published by J. C. Riker or New York, measures approximately 7-3/4" by 6-1/4" and contains several hand-painted decorative pages.


The album contains the sentiments of 20 or more of Mary Cordelia Keyes' relatives and friends, some of whom inscribed more than one page; additionally, Mary may have been the inscriber herself, including several pages of poems at the end of the album.  An alphabetical surname list and an alphabetical list of the inscribers, together with any personal information they offered, appear at the end of this post.

From brief online research, hopefully correct:  [corrections and additions requested!]

Mary Cordelia Keyes was born about 1825 in New York, the daughter of Jeremiah and Martha (Cornwall) Keyes.  Some sources give her birth year as 1805, but her  parents would have been too young, so I believe this is a mistake in reading her gravestone or a typographical error.

I believe, from some of the inscriptions directed to Mary Galentine, that Mary's marriage to Daniel Galentine, occurred sometime in early 1848.  Daniel was born about 1822, the son of Jacob and Keziah (Bergen) Galentine.

Sadly, Mary died on April 10, 1850.  Daniel next married Miss Margaret Harris, but died himself on September 3, 1854, of cholera, according to An Historical Sketch of the State Normal College at Albany, N.Y. and a History of its Graduates for Fifty Years (1844-1894), published in 1894.


Mary and Daniel are buried at the Graves Cemetery at Mendon, New York.

Daniel inscribed two pages in the album, one of them shortly before Mary's death on April 10, 1850.



If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, or information on any of the inscribers listed below, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

A Mary, perhaps Mary Cordelia (Keyes) Galentine herself, chose one of the pages with a design on it.


If anyone recognizes the name of the inscriber of the 2-page sentiment below, which was written after Mary's death in 1851 or 1857, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  The name looks something like Jean Hausefried Buym; he may have been a professor at Rochester Theological Seminary, which was then a young institution.



Surnames in the Album


? [2]KKeyes [4]
B ?PPhelps
BrainerdPlace
Collins [2]Porter
Davis [2]RRogers [2]
G ?TTownsend [3]
Galentine [3]WWoodward

Inscribers in the Album

  • Unsigned 4-page sentiment  entitled "Sacred to the memory of the departed", which presumably refers to the death of Mary Cordelia Keyes
  • Mary; she used one of the pages with a preprinted design.
B
  •  2-page sentiment left by a person whose name I can't quite make out at Rochester Theological Seminary on July 12, 1851 [or 1857].  The name looks like Jean Hausefried Buym, but I'm not sure of any component.
  • Written upside down: L. P. Brainerd or S. P. Brainerd, or ?, inscribed on December 13, 1849
C
  • Thomas B. Collins, inscribed at Mendon, New York, on March 20, 1848
  • Cynthia Collins
D
  • L. W. Davis, inscribed an Acrostic at Mendon, New York, on March 23, 1848.  Presumably Levi W. Davis (1817-1899), whose wife, Chloe M. (Collins) Davis, inscribed the following page.
  • C. M. Davis, inscribed at Mendon, New York, on March 23, 1848.  Presumably Chloe M. (Collins) Davis (1818-1909), whose husband Levi W. Davis inscribed the preceding page.
G
  • M. C. G.  Perhaps this page was inscribed by Mary Cordelia (Keyes) Galentine herself.
  • Mary Cordelia (Keyes) Galentine,of Mendon, New York; album owner; before and after her marriage to Daniel Galentine
  • D. Galentine, inscribed at Mendon, New York, on May 11, 1848.  Mary Cordelia Keyes' husband, or future husband, Daniel Galentine (1822-1854).  
  • D. Galentine, inscribed at Webster, New York, on April 7, 1850, just days before the death of Daniel Galentine's wife, Mary Cordelia (Keyes) Galentine, the album owner.
K
  • Mary Cordelia Keyes of Mendon, New York; album owner; before and after her marriage to Daniel Galentine
  • Elizabeth P. Keyes, inscribed at Rush, New York, on November 12, 1848; inscribed to Mary Galentine.
  • M. C. K., inscribed in February 1848.  This is an Acrostic that spells out the name of Clarissa Phelps.
  • M. C. K., inscribed in December 1847.  Presumably Mary Cordelia Keyes herself, or her mother Martha (Cornwall) Keyes
P
  • Clarissa Phelps; her name is spelled out in an Acrostic signed by M. C. K.
  • Mary P. Place, inscribed on August 27, 1848
  • Phylinda C. Porter, inscribed at Rush, New York, on September 25 [no year written]; inscribed to Mary Galentine, so after Mary Cordelia Keyes' marriage to Daniel Galentine
R
  • Ann A. Rogers, inscribed at Rush, New York, on November 12, 1848
  • Mary E. Rogers, inscribed on November 12, 1848; inscribed "To Mary Galentine"
T
  • Morris W. Townsend, inscribed at Mendon, New York, on April 5, 1848.  Morris Wellington Townsend (1827-1902), brother of inscriber Francis Scofield Townsend
  • F. S. Townsend, inscribed at Mendon, New York, on April 7, 1848.  Presumably Francis Scofield Townsend (1829-1852), brother of inscriber Morris Townsend Scofield
  • Rachel A. Townsend, inscribed at Mendon, New York, in August 1848; piece of cloth tucked into this page, but I can't say for sure there is a relationship.
W
  • N. A. Woodward; presented the album to Mary Cordelia Keyes and inscribed a page of dedication

No comments:

Post a Comment