Erica's Adventures in Genealogy: woodspell

Showing posts with label woodspell. Show all posts

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Ruth Kirby: Who are you? and A Big Opps!

For years I have been trying to figure out who was my GGG'grandmother, Ruth Kirby Evans. According to church records, she died on 21 March 1844 in Sherman Connecticut at age 63. My grandmother, Marion Evans Dakin's notes on her family tree says her great grandmother was Ruth Kirby, born either in "Dover, New York or Canada" and married Jonathan Evans.

According to the Beekman Patent book (vol. 1, page 817), Jonathan was the son of John Evans of Dover, Dutchess County, NY. By 1800, Jonathan and Ruth are married (probably in Dover) and have a baby, Lydia. Soon they move over the border to Sherman, Connecticut to a house they built on Evans Hill Rd, and lived in the rest of their lives [Sherman SENTINEL, 16 October 1868 story on the oldest houses in town], and raised their nine children. This old house, even after over 213 years, has been owned by only two families: first Evans and now Mosenthal.

The EVANS family house on Evans Hill Road in Sherman CT
with Charles Evans and Elizabeth Radford Evans
(son and and daughter-in-law of Jonathan Evans and Ruth Kirby Evans).

Born "in Canada" is a bit broad for searching. So, for years, I've been looking in the Dover NY neighborhood for a KIRBY family for my Ruth. There were two KIRBY families in Pawling NY in the 1790 census, George and William. She died in 1844 at age 63, so in 1790 she would have been about age 9. Each had white females and so are possible families. BUT, then I found the Beekman Patent Book (VII, 575-579) has no mention of any Kirby family with a daughter named Ruth born about 1781, including George's and William's families. This doesn't seem too promising.

So I got to searching recently, wondered if maybe she had been born over the border in Connecticut. I found a Mrs. Ruth Kirby who died in Litchfield CT, maybe that was my Ruth Kirby's mother and she was named for her mother? Worth a look. I was looking a bit closer on GenealogyBank -- a source of old newspapers.

I found widow Ruth Kirby, with neighbors concerned about her and holding a "woodspell" -- a term I had not heard before but clearly a "wood supply" help-your-neighbors-event:

Wednesday 23 January 1805, Republican Watch-Tower (NY, NY), vol 5, issue 333, page 4:

“Faith, Hope and Charity -- the greatest

of these is charity.”

Monday the 7th inst, was proposed as a day

to have a woodspell for Mrs. Ruth Kirby,

widow of Col. Ephraim Kirby, late of Litch-

field, deceased. On which day received, by way

of presents, upwards of one hundred loads of

wood, excellent both for quantity and qua-

lity.

Such acts of benevolence, display an hono-

rable trait of goodness in human nature.--

They also demonstrate more than words can

do is what regard the character of Col. Kir-

by and his family are estimated in the town

of Litchfield, where their merits are best

known.

The greatest order and even solemnity was

visible on the occasion.

Let gratitude in acts of goodness show

Our love to God, in love to man below.

Be this our joy--to calm the troubl’d breast.

Support the weak and succour the distress’d

Direct the wanderer, dry the widow’s tear,

The orphan guard, the sinking spirits cheer.

Tho’ small our power to act, tho’ weak our

skill,

God see the heart--He judges by the will.

A. Mer.”

Sadly, I found the first death notice for Ruth Kirby, widow of Col. Ephraim Kirby just a month after her delivery of fuel for the winter:

Friday, 22 February 1805, Albany Register (Albany, NY), vol. XVII, issue 1370, page 2:

“DIED,

At Litchfield, Conn. Mrs RUTH KIRBY, wid-

ow of the late Col. Ephraim Kirby, deceased.”

Followed over a month later by:

Friday, 29 March 1805, Albany Register (Albany NY), vol. XVII, issue 1380, page 2

“In the account published in our paper sev-

eral weeks since, of the death of Mrs. RUTH

KIRBY, consort of the late EPHRAIM KIR-

BY, Esq. deceased, and which we copied

from the Pittsfield Sun, we are happy in

being able to inform our readers is amply

contradicted.”

Opps!

I guess Ruth Kirby, upon reading the newspaper could sympathize with a future Mark Twain who sent an 1897 note to London reporter Frank Marshall White, "The report of my illness grew of his [cousin's] illness; the report of my death was an exaggeration." [en.wikiquote/wiki/Mark_Twain]

She did live another 12 years:

“Monday, 3 November 1817, Connecticut Mirror (Hartford CT), vol. IX, issue 19, page 2

“DIED...

--At Litchfield, on the 17th ult.

Mrs Ruth Kirby, aged 64, relict of the late E. Kirby, Esq.”

The Ephraim Kirby family was in the 1800 census in Litchfield CT but Ephraim had died by the 1810 census. Searching for any evidence of their children on Ancestry.com, I did find a few people who have put up trees for this KIRBY family, they have no daughter Ruth born any time near 1781. More recently on Americanancestors.com, I did find the marriage of Ephraim Kirby and Ruth Marvin on 17 March 1784 in Litchfield, CT -- unfortunately that is 4 years after MY Ruth Kirby was supposedly born.

Anyone in Canada have a KIRBY family with a daughter named Ruth born about 1781?