Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917

Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917
William Richardson, Alice Josephine Richardson Dakin, Robert Worthington Richardson, Harry Bogart Richardson

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Another clue on the Whereabouts of Susannah Dole Harvey NYE

I was thinking about that 1860 census listing mentioned in my last post for Tombstone Tuesday and started thinking about:  Who are those people who she is living with in Aurora, Kane County IL?



I tried searching for Justin DODGE.  Was that a grandson of hers?  Was Juliet a granddaughter?  Afterall they came from Vermont and when she was married to Elijah NYE until he died in 1852, they were living in Montpelier VT.

I didn't have much luck on the birth, marriage, death records for Justin DODGE.  So I decided to try the family trees.  Maybe some hints can be found there.  I found a Justus DODGE, not a Justin DODGE who was married to Juliette NYE!  NYE -- that's Susannah NYE's second husband's last name.    Could this be a daughter of Elijah NYE?  According to the Ancestry.com tree of Travis Bennett, her parents were Ellis NYE and Susannah FRENCH.  There children were:  Henry Dodge, Mattie Dodge, and Willie Dodge.  The census has Henry J and Martha.  Willie hadn't been born yet (1864).

Time to check my NYE family history book:  Benjamin NYE of Sandwich, Massachusetts, and His Ancestors and Descendants by George Hyatt Nye and Frank E Best, 1907.
I found Juliette NYE, daughter of Ellis NYE from Montpelier VT.  Montpelier VT is where Susannah and Elijah NYE lived on his farm until he died in 1852.
According to Nye and Best, she married Justus  DODGE and had three children:  Henry, Mattie and Julia.

Sounds like the same DODGE family.  Now, was Juliette related to Elijah?  Two NYE families in Montpelier around the same time?
According to Nye and Best:
Juliet - Ellis - Iram - Benjamin - Benjamin - John - Benjamin
Elijah - Melatiah - Ebenezer - Caleb - Benjamin
So Juliet and Elijah were third cousins twice removed.

Susannah was living with her second husband's third cousin twice removed!

Now, if only there was someone named who she lived with between 1810 and 1850 censuses we might have something to go on.  But, she is in the 1850 census and her husband (and unnamed family) are in the 1820 census ... just not between.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday: A partial answer to a family mystery found in Lake Mills!



What happened to Susanah DOLE HARVEY after her husband left for Canada "not to return until he could pay his debts" when she was left with at least 2 young children?  Joseph HARVEY never did return supposedly to die in Canada in the War of 1812.  The story of her husband is the topic of another (or many) posts since it is more complicated.

I have found Vermont records for the birth of two children of Susannah DOLE and Joseph HARVEY.  Enoch Dole HARVEY was born 10 January 1811 and Judith Dole HARVEY was born 11 December 1808.  The family story says that Enoch (my GGG grandfather) was "farmed out" to an old family member who was a Deacon (another story here).  I have not verified where he went because this was before the 1850 census where everyone is listed by name.

So, what do I know about Susannah's location?
• Over the years she told the census takers that she was born in Massachusetts or in New Hampshire.  The town history of Bedford NH mentions her birth there as a child of Deacon Silas DOLE.
• She married Joseph HARVEY on 10 September 1807 (VT vital records).
• The 1801 census for Shrewsbury, Rutland, VT includes the Joseph Harvey family with 1 male between 16 & 25 [Joseph], 1 female between 16 & 25 [Susannah], 2 females under 10 [Judith & ??].  So it fits if this is the correct HARVEY family.
• If Joseph left the family after 1810 and probably before the 1820 census (based on family legend and lack of finding him in the census).
Over the years I don't know what happened to Susannah, for example, the numbers don't fit to find her in her parents' household in the following census and she isn't listed as a head of family.
• The 1850 census for an unknown township in Washington VT lists a farmer, Elijah NYE, the grandfather of Enoch's wife Mary Hubbard NYE, with a wife of Susannah.  The family history says he married Mary HUBBARD and she died in 1838.  So I checked the Vermont records and discovered Elijah NYE married "Mrs HARVEY"  on 24 January 1840. Looks like he remarried.   Could thi "Mrs. Harvey"  be my Susannah DOLE HARVEY?  Looks like she got remarried to the grandfather of her daughter-in-law!
• Elijah NYE died in 1852, so where did Susannah go then?
•There is a Susan NYE, age 78, in Aurora, Kane County, IL born in MA in the 1860 census.  Is this the same Susannah?  Why Aurora?  Her son was in Lake Mills Wisconsin at this time.  I have no idea where her daughter was.  She is living with the Justin and Juliet DODGE family.  Is she a boarder or possibly a grandmother?
• In the 1870 census for Lake Mills WI, Susan NYE is living with her son and his family.  Under occupation "In the family" and she is from Massachusetts.
• Horatio Gates book on the McGeoch-Harvey Descent says she died in Lake Mills WI on 3 April 1871.
I didn't find a death certificate for her in Jefferson County WI.

The above tombstone puts her in the HARVEY family plot.  Susannah is buried with her granddaughter Isabel Susannah HARVEY and her husband August Henry WEGEMANN.

This tombstone was a wonderful find on my trip to the Lake Mills cemetery on my tour with my Genealogical Hostess from Heaven, Marie Copeland, that I wrote about in my last post.  I confirmed that she made it to Wisconsin and spent the last few years living with her son Enoch HARVEY.  The details about the years in between, are a bit fuzzy and fruit for some more research.  Does it ever end?

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Genealogical Hostess from Heaven in Jefferson WI

I enjoy reading Randy Seaver's blog, Genea-Musings.  After attending the FGS conference in Springfield IL, he has extended his genealogical tour around the midwest.  On day 10, he starts his morning in Jefferson WI and talks about the generosity and help from folks there and in Dodge County.  Reading his blog brought back fond genealogical memories from my own experience in Wisconsin.

I grew up hearing my grandmother say, "I am Adelaide Copeland Harvey Richardson -- Copeland of the Copeland Ryder Shoes."  So years later, when I got to wondering about "Copeland & Ryder Shoes," I googled it.  I discovered there really was a Copeland & Ryder Shoe Company in Jefferson WI for many years and it had been sold to Dr Scholls Shoes in 1946.  In 1868, George COPELAND and Lewis RYDER arrived in Jefferson WI, from Bridgewater MA, with plans to establish a shoe company.  Their business was originally opened as the Jefferson Boot and Shoe Factory.   I was looking for information on the Copeland's of the shoe company and discovered that, yes, they were her relatives.   My grandmother, who was born in 1893 in Lake Mills WI, was a first cousin twice removed from George COPELAND.



In 2002, I checked to see if there was any local historical society that I might find in Jefferson and Lake Mills.

In my search for a local historical society, I got a letter from a local resident which started, "Hi Cousin!"  Marie Copeland had been told by someone at the historical society "to get all the information together and send it to" me since she was also researching the COPELAND family.  Starting in 2002, we sent information back and forth, comparing our own records on the Copeland family.  Our relationship has continued over the years.

As a budding family historian, I needed to verify the data I had on my family and decided to take a genealogical field trip to Wisconsin on my school spring vacation in 2004.  I figured I could check out where the factory was located, maybe identify some pictures, find tombstones and vital records to verify the data I had on the COPELAND and HARVEY families in Lake Mills and Jefferson.   I also wanted to see if I could find where the WORTHINGTONs were buried in Oconomowoc WI.   Marie graciously invited me to stay at her home in Jefferson.  

I flew to Chicago and drove to Jefferson.  Since M.C. wasn't related to either my WORTHINGTON or to my HARVEY family, I figured I'd explore those parts of my family on my own.  My amazing hostess had different plans.

I arrived and she welcomed me as a long-lost relative who has finally come home.  She had prepared for my visit.  When I arrived she gave me a copy of a book on the history of Lake Mills WI, People Their Places & Things by Roland R Liebenow, M.D.  Since there was no index, she had already gone through the whole book with a highlighter and picked out every mention of anyone named Harvey, Brun and Wegemann (other family connections) so we would be prepared for our first day of exploring.

The next morning she put me and her husband into the car and we headed for  Lake Mills.  She had called the cemetery ahead of time,  and had made an appointment to meet someone there to show us where all the HARVEYs were buried.  As we arrived, I commented:  "We didn't stop at a bakery to take something to the nice caretaker who met us" -- no problem, she had planned ahead and took a bottle of wine out of the car trunk to give him.  The next stop was the house my grandmother lived in as a young child (she not only highlighted the book but she checked out the address ahead of time -- this was before those handy GPS machines and Google Maps!).  Here one of the mystery photos I had brought with me was identified!

210 East Madison St, Lake Mills Wisconsin.  My grandmother's first childhood home.



We also visited the local library and the town Clerk's office to see the vital records.

The next field trip for the three of us was to explore Jefferson.  She headed to the cemetery where the COPELANDs are buried and then we did a tour of the various houses in town that the large extended COPELAND family had lived in -- including all those aunts that my grandmother talked of so fondly.  We headed to the vital records office and the town library and then we needed to go home because she had invited her whole family to dinner (her children, their spouses and children).  A wonderful large family dinner -- much larger than any dinner in my experience, I never had any cousins or relatives in the same state in my childhood.  Everyone graciously welcomed me.

The next morning, I got up ready to drive to Oconomowoc to try to find the cemetery where my WORTHINGTON family was buried.  Much to my surprise, Marie, her husband and I made the trip.  It was good she was driving. First of all she knew where Oconomowoc was located and knew the back roads to get there.  Finding the cemetery wasn't easy; and sure enough, she had checked out where to find it.

My Genealogical Hostess from Heaven was definitely a blessing.  I might have stumbled on all the information I gathered on my research trip to Wisconsin without Marie Copeland.  But, I probably wouldn't have done it as efficiently or in three days.  I was a real genealogical newbie at that point and didn't know all the questions to ask or to compile before taking the adventure.  Best of all, I found a wonderful friend/distant family member and we have stayed good friends all these years.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Ahnentafel Roulette! Back to Eric HELLSTEN

Randy Seaver challenged us Geneabloggers  with his Saturday Night challenge.  It became a good learning  moment since I usually don't look at Ahnentafel Numbers in relation to my family history since I like a more visual model.

1) So age of my great grandfather (hmmm ... 4 to choose from, but based on my birth name) 2011 - 1836.  My Great Grandfather would be 175 on his next birthday, 3 October, so Edward DAKIN would be 174 now.  Divide it by 4, gives 43.5.

2) Rounded off to 44, I get Eric HELLSTEN.  No my previous posts initially focused on Edward DAKIN,  the postmaster of South Kent CT in 1872.  Then my next group of posts were on Eric Adolf  HELSTEN and his apprentice John CARLSON.  Tombstone Tuesday this week was his father and mother's tombstone:  Eric HELLSTEN and Lovisa Charlotta ROBBERT.  Last Saturday was Surname Saturday and I focused on the HELSTEN/HELLSTEN name.

3)  Eric HELLSTEN, was born 2 March 1786 in Sweden, died 24 March 1839 in Uppsala, Domkyrkoförsamling, Sweden.  On 6 January 1815 in Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden he married Lovisa Charlotta ROBBERT.  She was born 21 August 1795 in Norrtälja, Stockholm, Sweden and died 25 November 1863 in Uppsala, Sweden at age 53.  He had thirteen children. When he died, his youngest was 4 months old and the oldest was 24.  I don't have a lot of information on Eric that I haven't already written about.


Death of Eric HELLSTEN, 24 March 1839
in Uppsala, Domkyrkofösamling, Sweden.

4) Three facts about Eric Hellsten:
   i.  Like is father, Jonas, Eric was a tanner.  He had a tannery on the Fyrisån River, maybe the same one his father Jonas HELLSTEN had before him.  
   ii. His oldest son Eric Adolf, was 17 when Eric died.  Eric was apprenticed as a tanner in Sweden before he came to the US.  Could he have been his father's apprentice?
   iii.  I have been unable to find a place of birth for him.  In 1858, his wife Lovisa Charlotta wrote to their son Eric A in Connecticut telling him that another son, Calle, has moved to a place called Stenbro and "they don't live very far from Hellsten's birthplace, but there are no more living relatives of his now."

http://www.maplandia.com/sweden/ostergotlands-lan/norrkoping-kommun/stenbro/
Stenbro on the map
Based on this map, I guess the next time I have access to the Swedish birth records, I should search for Eric's birth record in Norrköping and Nyköping.

1870 Census: Surprise Occupation

Archives.com is having a contest in celebration of their inclusion of the complete US census.  The census is  a great way to get to know more than birth/marriage/death information about your ancestors.

Some years they ask unusual questions, such as: how many children you've given birth to, and how many are alive?  Or do you own a radio?  What is the value of the property?  Or, if you look at agricultural schedules, how much of each crop they're growing.

If you search the census, sometimes you find surprising occupations.  For example, here is my ancestor Beers Radford:

If you look carefully is occupation is "Old man of the house."

Friday, September 2, 2011

Surname Saturday: ROBBERT a.k.a. ROBERT: Uppsala > Film > Ununge > Norrtälje > Uppsala, Sweden

Lovisa Charlotta ROBERT HELLSTEN
(1795 - 1863)


This week, for Tombstone Tuesday, I wrote about the tombstone of Eric HELLSTEN (1786 - 1839) and his wife Lovisa Charlotta ROBBERT (1795 - 1863).  Last Saturday for Surname Saturday, I started with the earliest HELLSTEN that I have found, so today I'm going to start with the earliest ROBBERT I have found.

Most often the name is spelled ROBBERT, but on Lovisa Charlotta's tombstone it is spelled ROBERT.

As you will probably notice, for generations these folks lived in communities built about the forges and worked in the various Uppland ironworks.

Generations:

1.  Martin ROBBERT
born about 1635 in Ullfors, Uppsala, Sweden.  He died 15 January 1693 in Österbybruk, Film, Uppsala, Sweden.  He worked as a wheelwright and then the coal sheriff when he was older and probably unable to do heavy labor.  About 1662 he married (Unknown) BOUVIN.

Child:
a. Claes (abt. October 1671 - 26 August 1750)


death Claes ROBBERT 1750

2.  Claes ROBBERT
born about October 1750.  He died 26 August 1750 in Skebobruk, Ununge, Sweden.  He was a blacksmith.  About 1694 he married Catherine BLANCK.  She was born about 1677 in Österbybruk, Film, Sweden.

Children:
a. Maria (before 29 November 1696 - before 13 March 1698)
b. Henrik (14 March 1699 - before 27 July 1702)
c. Mårten (28 March 1705- 21 April 1707)
d. Claes (16 October 1708 - 18 January 1768)
e. Abraham (about 1717 - 31 October 1786)

death Claes ROBBERT 1768

3. Claes ROBBERT
born 16 October 1708 in Skebobruk, Ununge, Stockholm, Sweden. He died 18 January 1768 in Skebobruk, Ununge, Stockholm, Sweden.  On 1 November 1731 In Skäfthammar, Uppsala, Sweden he married Anna BOIVIE who was born 18 September 1708 in Gimo bruk, Skäfthammar, Uppsala, Sweden and died 12 May 1789 inSkebobruk, Ununge, Stockholm, Sweden. He was a blacksmith.

Children:
a. Katrina (17 January 1733 - 1 February 1738)
b. Claes (21 February 1735 - 18 May 1792)
c. Frans (1739 - 23 October 1813)
d. Mårten (19 October 1740 - ?)
e. Maria (10 February 1743 - 27 August 1816)
f. Abraham (8 June 1745 - 27 May 1819)
g. Anton (10 April 1747 - 9 March 1811)
h. Jacob (25 July 1750 -?)
i. Isak (1 February 1755 - ?)


marriage of Abigail ÖSTERMAN and Frans ROBBERT 1761

4. Frans ROBBERT
born in 1739 (or 1730) in Gimo bruk, Skäfthammar, Uppsala, Sweden.  He died 23 October 1813 in Skekobruk, Ununge, Stockholm, Sweden.  On 24 September 1761 in Ununge, Stockholm, Sweden he married Abigail ÖSTERMAN.  Her family sometimes called themselves VESTERMÄN.  He was a farrier.

Children:
a. Claes (20 July 1762 - 1797)
b. Noach (Noak, Frans) (18 October 1764 - 6 April 1820)
c. Anna Maria (3 May 1767 - 1 July 1769)
d. Frans (8 July 1770 - 1779)
e. Abigael (1 March 1773 - 5 March 1843)
f. Johanna (14 July 1775 - 25 November 1776)
g. Adam (1778 - 27 January 1855)


marriage Lovisa HULTMAN and Noach ROBERT, 1792

6. Noach (Noak, Frans) ROBERT
born 18 October 1764 in Ununge, Stockholm, Sweden and died 6 April 1820 in Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden.  On 29 April 1792 in Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden he married Lovisa HULTMAN.  Lovisa HULTMAN was born 16 October 1765 in Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden and died 23 May 1829 in Uppsala, Domkyrkoförsamling, Sweden.  He was a blacksmith.  On his christening records he's called Frans, all the other records call him Noach (Noak).  He had a younger brother named Frans.

children:
a. Frans Gustaf (11 February 1793 - ?)
b. Lovisa Charlotta (21 August 1795 - 25 November 1863)
c. Per Gustaf (20 January 1798 - 1800)
d. Maria Abigael (25 March 1802 - 1879).
e. Noach Emanuel (10 April 1807 - 1810)


Lovisa Charlotta ROBERT birth, 1795

7. Lovisa Charlotta ROBERT
born 21 August 1795 in Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden and died 25 November 1673 in Uppsala, Sweden.  On 6 January 1815 in Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden, she married Eric HELLSTEN.
He was born 2 March 1786 and died 24 March 1839 in Uppsala, Domkyrkoförsamling, Sweden.


Children:
a. Lovisa Charlott (15 October 1815 - 7 November 1890)
b. Ingrid (Mari) Maria (11 February 1817 - 23 Jun 1880)
c. Gustava (Lina) Carolina (4 November 1818 -  21 February 1880)
d. Erica Wilhelmina (2 February 1820 - 27 April 1884)
e. Eric Adolf (27 February 1822 - 4 January 1903)
f. Matilda (Tilda) Bernhardina (22 April 1824 - 23 December 1889)
g. Carl Robert (14 June 1826 - 13 December 1909)
h. Ottiljana Josephina (20 March 1828 - 20 May 1910)
i. Edla Cecilia (25 July 1830 - 13 March 1910)
j. Theodor (Manne) Emanual (1 November 1832 - 9 June 1910)
k. Frans Elof (17 October 1833 - 27 December 1880)
l. Knut Alfred ( 27 January 1836 - 21 November 1891)
m. Oskar Eugén (5 November 1838 - 1 July 1900)

8. Eric Adolf HELSTEN,
born 27 February 1822, Uppsala, Domkyrkoförsamling, Sweden, died in Gaylordsville, Litchfield,  Connecticut on 4 January 1903.  On 12 August 1849 in Patterson, New York he married Mary HEARTY.  She was born in March 1823 in Dorsey, Parish Creggan, County Armagh, Ireland and died 17 September 1902 in Gaylordsville, Litchfield, Connecticut.

Children:
a. Mary Louisa (7 June 1850 - 23 May 1942)
b. William Henry (7 September 1852 - 22 June 1917)
c. Caroline Matilda (13 February 1855 - 9 December 1918)
d. Sarah Jane (20 July 1860 - ?)

9. Caroline Matilda HELSTEN,
born 13 February 1855 in New Milford, Connecticut and died in Danbury, Connecticut on 9 December 1918.  She married  Charles Harold EVANS on 26 May 1881 in New Milford, Connecticut.  He was born 23 May 1853 in Sherman, Connecticut and died 18 February 1928 on the train from Florida to NYC (near Savannah, Georgia).

Children:
a. Harold H (8 January 1883 - 8 May 1884)
b. Clarice Theodora (21 April 1884 - 7 July 1953)
c. Marion Elizabeth (11 February 1886 - 4 July 1974)
d. Howard Eric (7 July  1893 - January 1972)

10. Marion Elizabeth EVANS,
born 11 February 1886 in Sherman, Connecticut and died 4 July 1974 in New Milford, Connecticut.
On 13 September 1913 in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, she married Robert Edward DAKIN.  He was born 2 July 1888 in Gaylordsville, Connecticut and died 15 December 1918 in Danbury, Connecticut.

Children:
a. Robert Edward (25 May 1915 - 26 Ma 1915)
b. Theodore Robert (11 November 1916 - 1972)
c. Edward Evans (28 January 1918 - 10 December 1918)

11. Theodore Robert DAKIN,
born 11 November 1916 in New Haven, Connecticut and died 20 November 1972 in Berwyn, Illinois.  On 8 January 1943 he married Alice Josephine RICHARDSON in Albany New York.  She was born 26 January 1917 in Oak Park, Cook, Illinois and died 16 January 2001 in in Oak Park, Cook, Illinois.