Robert Richardson, who are you? Mary Curtis, who are you? Thomas Richardson, who are you?

Among the pictures in the box of family pictures was this handsome gentleman.  Written on the back:

"Robert Richardson

(father of Thomas Richardson

who married Mary Curtis)"

From my untrained eye, the photo seems to be an ambrotype (1855-1865).

It was with the photos of my Richardson family.  I have a Robert Richardson (1810, Ireland - 1875, Québec City & Montréal Canada) married twice first to Sarah Allen (abt. 1815 - 1843, Québec City) in 1832 and Harriet Isabella Birch (1818, Québec City - 1902, Montréal) in 1843.

Robert and Sarah had a son Thomas Richardson born 27 October 1837 in Québec City.  I have not found any marriage of him to to anyone, let along a Mary Curtis.

Robert and Harriet had a son Robert who lived less than a year (August 1846 - 13 April 1847).

Maybe, there was another son of Robert who produced a grandson named Thomas who married Mary Curtis.  With a large family you'd expect some potential candidates.

Robert had 14 children with his two wives, at least 5 children made it to adulthood and 6 are known to have died in childhood.  There are potential possibilities of fathers for the Robert shown in the photo:  Thomas (b. 1837), Charles (b. 1848), Frederick (b. 1852), Arthur Henry (b. 1855).  But age wise, any of these sons having a son Robert as early who was an adult to fit the dates of the picture seems improbable.  Their  brother, my Great Great Grandfather William, did not have any son named Robert.

Clearly, this was someone possibly connected to my Richardson family who had very few pictures of family members.  Cousin in Canada?   Cousin in USA?  Cousin in Ireland?

Maybe our Robert had a not-yet-identified brother,  who had a son Robert with a son Thomas?

Another possible clue:  when I was researching my William Richardson (pictured in 4-generation picture above), son of Robert Richardson and Sarah Allen, I contacted the Bank of Montreal.  The Archives shared their records of William and mentioned a Robert Richardson who also worked for the bank.

Any information will be gratefully accepted as I try to figure out my Richardson family.

And if Robert Richardson above is your ancestor, maybe we are cousins!

Mild-mannered Clerk or Secret Service Agent ... The Sequel!

In Mild-mannered Clerk or Secret Service Agent ... The Rest of the Story! I wrote about Harry Bogart Richardson's exciting adventures in the Secret Service chasing counterfeiters in Denver.  I included newspaper clippings of arrests and mentioned that I had confirmed that he worked for the Secret Service for 2 years, 1907-1909.

What I didn't have was any of the actual daily records of his life in the Secret Service -- if there was newspaper coverage of arrests and investigations, there must be more details.  I also have wondered why would someone who in all the decades in the US census was selling insurance or bonds or working as a clerk would have decided to become an Operative for the Secret Service?
The actual records from the National Archives might answer some questions.

Oh how revealing those records turned out to be!

One letter, dated 28 November 1906 from the Chief, thanks Harry for information sent to the Secret Service,

BUT  "in the hope we may be able to see you down here later on"  and is addressed "dear Dicky"

This sounds like John Wilkie, the Chief of the Secret Service, already knows Harry Bogart Richardson.

The next communication to Harry from John Wilkie  is 15 March 1907, 

telling Harry that his appointment has gone through -- not telling him what it is-- that comes on 18 March, sending him to Denver to report to Lucien Wheeler in the Quincy Building at a $4/day per diem.

Among the letters in the files from the Secret Service is a letter from Harry to John Wilkie, explaining why he needs the job.

"The present state of the stock market has virtually put me out of business, as the people with whom I deal are ... less interested in Wall Street-- Consequently they are either out of funds or are looking for bargains.."

A financial crisis starting after the Stock Market peak in 1906, developed into the Panic of 1907.  Clearly, the normal life of commenting to Chicago to sell stocks or bonds or insurance was not such a secure living for a family of 4 -- time to check with your friend who used to be a journalist in Chicago who then went on to be the Chief of the Secret Service, maybe he would have some work to offer.

This was just the beginning of Harry's adventures.

He spent the next year chasing folks involved in land fraud in Denver and the year after that chasing after counterfeiters.  There are many pages of daily reports in the National Archives about the day to day life of the agents in Denver.  They documented everything (not all of it is so exciting as the newspaper stories might lead one to believe).

This year's book for the family is the story of Harry's year chasing counterfeiters -- it has all the details of the daily life of the agents in the Denver office.

So, if you are interested in what the life of a secret service agent was like, or if you have some ancestor that the operatives where chasing in Denver, feel free to read Mild Mannered Businessman or Secret Service Agent or even buy it from Lulu.com.  I donated copies to Allen County Public Library, New England Historic Genealogy Society, Oak Park Public Library, and St Louis County Library (NGS collection).  I have donated my previous books to libraries and historical societies and encourage others to do likewise.  

The link to this article is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/01/mild-mannered-clerk-or-secret-service.html

©Erica Dakin Voolich 2015

Letters from Home during the Great Famine in Ireland

Letter from home, 1849, written on one side, folded up and addressed
on the other side of the  piece of paper -- no envelope needed.

Mary Hearty was born in March 1823 in Parish Creggan, Townland Dorsey, County Armagh, Ireland.  She immigrated to Haviland Hollow New York in 1848 and married a Swedish immigrant, Eric Adolf Helsten in 1849.
After her granddaughter, Marion Evans Dakin died in 1974, two letters from Mary's father, Owen, were found in the family desk.  The two letters along with Mary and Eric's wedding certificate are the only family artifacts we have about Mary's family back home.

I have found her father Owen Hearty, in the 1828 Tithe Applotment in Dorsey as a small tenant farmer with 4 acres, 2 roods and 12 perches (a bit less than 5 acres)-- not exactly a large farm to support a family in good times, let alone the bad ones.  The letters mention a sister, Betty, and some cousins (Peter Garvey in Youngstown OH, Ellen Mooney in Syracuse NY,  Larggh Hearty in Philadelphia PA, and Frances Hearty in USA) but no mother.  I do not have a name for her mother.

Letter from Owen Hearty in Dorsey, to his daughter
Mary Hearty in Haviland Hollow, NY, 11 July 1949.

Haviland Hollow Putnam

County State of New York

Care of Benjamin Cowl

for Mary Hearty”

Mr Owen Hearty

Dorsey and Cragon

Newtown Hamletown

Aragon Parish

Ireland”

        “Dorsey July 11th 1849

My Dear daughter I am glad to Hear

That you are in good health and so are

we all in at present I am going to lot you

Know that Bety sent a leter and send as

much money as will Bringe Barney and Bety

Over to  you and the time is so Bad that I cant

send none and the will give it to you when

the will get it and this Country is going to the

Bad your father is not staut and if you can get

money send it Home No more at present

But remain your Father Owen Hearty

                    of Dorsey

Mary Hearty married Eric Adolf Helsten on 12 August 1849, shortly after the first letter was sent from  Ireland.  She has probably been working as a maid for Benjamin Cowl in Haviland Hollow and Eric has probably been working in Cowl's tannery in Haviland Hollow.  Times as tough back home, the potato crop has failed, please send money to help her sister Betty come to USA.  

Mary received one more letter from her father, Owen, dated 24 January 1851.  This is much longer, has some news from people back home who have come to the USA, still appealing for money.

Mr E. A. Helsten

Heviland Hollow P.Off

State New York America

postmark:  Castleblayney JA23 1851

Dorsey January 24th 1851

Dear Mary

I received your Letter

which gives me to understand that

you are in Good as we enjoy at Present

thank God = I also must inform you 

we felt very uneasy on account of you

not writing Sooner as it is all the Conso-

Lation the devised Children of erin has

a communication by Letter therefore

I consider it a duty incumbent on

you at Least to write 2 a year at ther 

Least I was also very much rejoiced

to hear of  your success and how luck

you and your Husband is doing ---

in that country as for this country it

is totally Gone to the Bad the Potatoes

is altogether failed & Markets are very

Low in Consequences of the Ports being

all opened

therefore on account of the Stater of

the Country thus is condition of Money

at all your sister Betty is inclined

for to go to that County only she is

embarrysed By the State of the time

and cannot find means to go therefore

I Would feel Greatly oblidged to you &

your Husband if you would send money

some assistance that would enable her to

Go & as Soon as she would earn it She would

See you Paid -- & in regard to sending money

there is no danger whatever as there can

Be a Post office order got in every Post

office that there is not the Least danger

in sending such = Do you need not Be the

Least timerous in sending it a she will

Surely Renumerate you for it = in regard

to Ellen Mooney her address is E..Mooney

Syracuse State Newyork =

So Larggh Hearty is in Philadelphia

I do not Know her address

I must also inform you that  your

cousin Francis Hearty is also gone

to that country & is your cousins

Owen Rooney & Peter Garvey is gone to

that country Peter is in college in

Youngstown State of Penna. & owen Rooney

is a clark in Syracuse State new-

york they are all doing well ---

your friends are all in good health

& also your neighbors

be all elevated to Learn you had 

the good fortune to get such a Husband

as I can Judge that he is an industrious

man & also a good tradesman ---

therefore Let  you Put your Confidence

in the almighty as he is our only guide

& Protector & May the Lord Bless You

is the Sincere Prayer of your affectionate

father ---- Owen hearty ---

He has news, but also is appealing 2 letters/year from her and for funds for Betty to come.  He clearly has gotten a letter from Mary telling her father of her marriage to Eric.  Clearly, Owen has hope that his daughter will be able to send funds, but life in the USA was not all "milk and honey" as imagined and she didn't have the money to send home at that time, according to the draft of the next letter.

We have no further letters from Owen Hearty to his daughter Mary Hearty Helsten.   The last piece of tangible information about Owen Hearty is that letter in 1851 to his daughter.  He is not listed as living in Dorsey in the Griffith's Valuation of 1864.  There is an Owen Hearty in the next town over -- whether it is the same person is to be determined.  In the Griffith's Valuation in Dorsey there is a Patrick Hearty and in the Cancelation Books in PRONI written in "()" is the word "Owen" --

Patrick Hearty (Owen).  

Not sure what that actually means.  Maybe Patrick was the tenant and Owen lived with him (just a guess).

We do have the notes for a draft of a letter, probably to Betty, Mary's sister, written by Eric some time after they have bought the tannery in Gaylordsville in July 1852.  Eric is no longer an employee, but now an indebted employer.  

   Dear Sister Elizabeth!   We have received

your letter which gives us the satisfaction that you

are in good health and have a good place where

you be also gave us to understand thatt you are

fully determined to go to America but have not the

strength on own expense to do so.  We think that if you

only was here you could do well butt how come i do nott know.

My situation is greatill different these year to whatt is was

last year.  Last year i did hire out and earnd money every day

and had money out on interest, but last spring

I took it all up and hired a tanyeard, about seven

milles from where i lived thern, and began on own hand

to work, laid out all the money had in hides skins and bark for so

stach my yeard and there is did not have enough i had to

borrow more money all i could get for i found out i had to lay out money

every day.  Tanning is a very slow buiseyness and it take

a great while before the money comes balk again.  I feel

sorrow to say thatt i could not give you any money for

your assistance but i ask you to not blame us for my situation

are so that i could not and my bussiness require money 

allwhile and i have nothing more then what i have

worked very hard for since i com to America and it seems

to me as i could make more money when i  worked as

Journeyman than i can now and beside that i have to now more

risk of loses among those Yankys now than before.  I ask you now

to be of a contented mind and save all you can if may perhaps be som oppening

for you in the future. If you could come we  would be very

glade to see you here and do what we can for you

then.  You know that your sister had to work for all that

brought her here before she started and so did i too.  i had

to work for years befor i could get enough together to bring me

YoJ received Fathers letter great while ago and also yours but you

must excuse me for we had not wrought Sooner my time has been

taken up very much all while and my wife could not write

it because she never leand it

This letter was not signed and not sent since it was with Eric and Mary's papers in the desk -- maybe copied and mailed to Mary's sister Betty.

Eric does offer to help her if she can get herself to Connecticut.  He cannot afford to pay her passage.    Over the years Eric and Mary did help various nieces of his from Sweden when they came, many lived with them and got jobs in the neighborhood until out on their own. Eric also hired new Swedish immigrants in the family  business -- as apprentices when it was a tannery, and as assistants as the business evolved over the years.

In my effort to find any more information on the Hearty family of Dorsey, part of Creggan Parish, I corresponded with Kiernan McConville at the Creggan Historical Society.   I shared the above letters with him.  He was thrilled to see some letters from the Famine Years written by ordinary people from South Armagh, which he commented were very rare.  He asked to include them in an upcoming journal of their local historical society.

Well, that upcoming journal has arrived:

Kieran McConville, "Hearty (of Dorsey) Great Famine Letters 1849-1851," Creggan, journal of The Creggan Local History Society, 2013/2014, no. 16, pages 80-84.

In the article, Kieran starts by putting the letters into context.  He describes the famine conditions, the cause and spread, and the ineffective efforts to relieve the famine.  He goes on to describe the migrations and death rate that devastated the Irish population.  He gives what background we know about the Hearty family and on Mary's family.  He mentions the hopes of sending a child abroad brought but in many times remained unfulfilled.  He ends with the transcription of the three letters.

I can only hope that maybe the descendants of Mary's family back in Ireland, survived and will see this article and/or blog and contact me.  If not, if the letters & article provide information for others whose ancestors came from Creggan Parish, then that is good also.

The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2014/11/letters-from-home-during-great-famine.html

2014©Erica Dakin Voolich

Inoculation and Smallpox

Recently we have been hearing the tragic stories in the news about the spread of the Ebola virus and of the necessity of quarantine for patients or possible patients (those exposed but not yet sick).  We have also been reading of the search for a vaccination against that frequently fatal disease.

In centuries past, Smallpox was another disease which was also causing deaths.  People were looking for vaccinations and quarantining both the sick and the vaccinated.  Years ago, I remember reading Abigail Adams writing about the inoculation of her husband, John in 1764 and then later herself and her children in 1776.  Inculation then was a much different from today.  Now we just go get a shot, but in the 1700s, the process involved the patient being sick and quarantined for weeks.  This is how it is described in "John Adams: Smallpox Inoculation in 1764"

"Adams followed the preparatory regimen of Adam Thompson MD. The future president's treatment began with a "vomit," followed by a strong cathartic. The prescribed diet was bread, milk, pudding, and rice. Adams describes the inoculation procedure itself:

Dr. Perkins demanded my left arm and Dr. Warren my brother's. They took their Launcetts and with their Points divided the skin about a Quarter of an inch and just suffering the blood to appear, buried a thread (infected) about a Quarter of an inch long in the Channell. A little lint was then laid over the scratch and a Piece of Ragg pressed on, and then a Bandage bound over all, and I was bid go where and do what I pleased. The doctors left us red and black to take Night and Morning, and ordered my Brother, larger Doses than me, on Account of the Differences in our Constitutions.

Adams and 9 other patients were confined to the hospital for 3 weeks. Adams suffered headaches, backaches, kneeaches, gagging fever, and eruption of pock marks. He wrote to his wife:

Do not conclude from any Thing I have written that I think Inoculation a light matter -- A long and total abstinence from everything in Nature that has any Taste; two long heavy Vomits, one heavy Cathartick, four and twenty Mercurial and Antimonial Pills, and, Three weeks of Close Confinement to an House, are, according to my Estimation, no small matters."

So where might someone go to be quarantined, if not at home?  I found a newspaper article naming a house owned by Jeremiah Jennings with Sarah Robbins in it as the place of quarantine in 1787 in Fairfield Connecticut [see 8 March 1787 Fairfield Gazette, volume 1, issue 32, page 2]

At a Meeting of the Civil Au-
thority and Select Men of
Fairfield.

WHEREAS Sarah Rob-
bins, wife of Ephraim
Robbins, is infected
with the Small Pox,
and confined to the dwelling-
house of Jeremiah Jennings, an
out-house for that purpose: —
This meeting orders and di-
rects, that the remain and con-
tinue at said dwelling house,
until disposed in manner here-
inafter prescribed. —— And
Whereas it appeareth fully to
the satisfaction of said meeting,
that sundry persons have been
involuntarily exposed to take
the infection, and probably
have taken and received the
same in the natural way, and
requeth hath been made to grant
permission for the Small-pox
to be communicated to said
sundry persons, by innocula-
tion.  This meeting grants
permission to said sundry per-
sons, to take and receive the

Small-pox by innoculation in 
said dwelling-house.  And al-
so, orders are, that said sundry
persons strictly confine them-
selves to, and remain within
and upon the lot or inclosure,
whereon said dwelling-house
standeth; and upon and within
the highway or road, westerly
of said dwelling-house from the
south-westerly corner of said
lot, north-westerly to the
brushy pasture (so called), of
said Jennings, and including
said pasture within the fence.
And whereas, it is allowed that
Dr. David Rogers go to, and 
come from said dwelling-house,
as need may be, during the 
time said persons remain there;
and said Doctor is directed to
change his apparrel whenever
he cometh therefrom.  And
whereas, it is directed that a
fence be erected to set up a 
cross said highway, at the
south-westerly corner of said
home-lot or inclosure; and a-
nother fence across said high-
way, at the north-easterly cor-
ner of said brushy pasture
and that a white cloth of two
feet square or larger, be exten-
ded on a staff or pole, at least
ten feet high by said house, 
pursdant to the directions of
the law.
      All persons are hereby strict-
ly forbidden to go or pass by
said dwelling-house, in said
highway, or enter said high-
way between said two cross
fences, or enter into or upon
said home lot, inclosure or
dwelling-house, except those
persons appointed, and each
and every of the persons, as
well tenders is others, are
hereby strictly forbid to leave
or depart said dwelling-house
before they respectively shall
be well cleansed and freed from
said infection, by persons ap-
pointed for that purpose, and
proper persons are also ap-
pointed to give information of
all breaches of these orders,
that offenders may be brought
to justice.  Per order,
    And. Rowland, Just. P.
Fairfield, Feb. 27, 1787.

The boundaries and behaviors are clearly defined for the Smallpox quarantine.  No one can go anywhere near the house, except appointed persons, such as Dr. Rogers, and he will have to be decontaminated when he leaves.  The house will have a white flag to indicate the quarantine.  No one is describing what Sarah Robbins is feeling, but it probably wasn't much different than what John Adams had described 23 years earlier.

There were expenses connected with Smallpox and Linda Woodward Geiger pointed out in her webinar "Using Tax Lists to Solve Genealogical Problems"[28 May 2014] that the Georgia Legislature [December 1865-March 1866] passed a law "To authorize the Justices of the Inferior Court of the County of Heard to levy and collect a tax, to compensate citizens for attention to cases of small pox in said County."

Clearly, people in the late 1700s and 1800s understood the dangers of Smallpox and tried to be inoculated to prevent having a full-blown case of the infection.  Seeing the current news reports about the spread of Ebola, the attempts at quarantine of patients, and the sometimes quaranting of whole communities, reminded me of this article.

May the vaccination that various researchers are working on today prove as effective against Ebola as our modern Smallpox vaccination proved to be.

©2014 Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this blog is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2014/09/inoculation-and-smallpox.html

Thursday Morning Club, the Sequel

When I wrote about the Thursday Morning Club in Great Barrington, I included quotes from a book that clearly showed this was a interesting active club of women.  One of my readers, Margaret Fortier, a fellow Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG) member, got to wondering about the Thursday Morning Club.  Margaret did some more searching on HathiTrust Digital Library and found a wonderful article about the club, "Serving the Community, The Work of a Women's Club in a Western Massachusetts Town," in the Town & County edition of The American City, volume 12, pages 483-486, 1915.

Since there never was a copyright, I'm reprinting the article.

The magazine had altruistic motives -- "make available to the largest possible number of persons the ideals of thinkers and the practical experience of workers for the betterment of urban life."

Not only does the magazine have altruistic goals, so does the club.  All it took was a small membership fee (yet no one was turned away), a willingness to work, and sympathy to its goals and you could attend the meetings.  The programs described sound fascinating -- plays, musicals, talks on current events, talks on interesting topics along with service to the community.

The club also helped other local groups with low rent of their facilities and cash donations when needed.

The club gave honorary memberships to teaches and ministers' wives and had a reception to welcome teachers in September.  They also invite school children to programs of interest.  They worked on projects to help the schools when they saw a need.  They tell about the year that the schools were closed for several weeks during the winter due to a measles epidemic.  There were 30 students who had not caught up by the end of the school year -- they raised the funds to hire a teacher, borrowed classroom space and books, the result: 29 students were caught up by the fall.  They have offered classes that were eventually adopted by the school system -- continuing their financial support of the household arts and sciences and carpentry classes in the transition.

They saw themselves as a clearinghouse for ideas in the community -- their endorsement would "mean something" to community acceptance.

They used an annual rummage sale of "good stuff cheap" as their major fundraiser -- it started to raise money for a money-losing event and continued annually since.

They had various community service activities including picking up rubbish, hiring a tree doctor to care for the elm trees when they were attacked by the elm tree beetle, money saving programs for town children, building floats for the 150th anniversary town parade, and opening a mother's nursing & rest tent (with nurses and doctors available to educate and examine the babies) at the Cattle Show and Fair.

This article was written just before Elizabeth Radford Evans died.  Since Elizabeth lived in Great Barrington from the late 1890s until her death in 1915,  this is describing the Thursday Morning Club that Elizabeth new and participated in their meetings and activities.

We can better imagine what Elizabeth and the women in Great Barrington were doing beyond the everyday housework!


The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2014/08/thursday-morning-club-sequel.html
©2014, Erica Dakin Voolich

Thursday Morning Club

Elizabeth Radford Evans and her husband Charles Evans moved to Great Barrington, MA in the 1890s.  The article below profiles some of the long-lived couples in town.

The Courier (vol. LXIX, page 1, 3 September 1903) extolled "the Berkshire Hills region being especially favorable to longevity and conducive to dispositions" before individual profiles of couples.

One sentence caught my attention:

She  is the 
possessor of a vigorous mind and 
takes an active interest in the Thurs-
days Morning Club meetings and in 
current affairs generally. 

Charles only lived a few months after this article was published, but Elizabeth lived another dozen years -- plenty of time to attend the Thursday Morning Club meetings.  Which raised a question:
What is the Thursday Morning Club?

Looking in the book on the history of Great Barrington that I bought from the town historical society (Bernard A Drew, Great Barrington:  Great Town, Great History, Great Barrington Historical Society, 1999):

page 548
“Thursday Morning Club
Nineteen women met at the home of Sarah Sheldon Collins in March 1892 to orga-
nize the Thursday Morning Club.  The hostess, born in New Marlborough but a resident
of Great Barrington from 1881 on, graduated from the town’s high school, taught in local
schools for several years and attended Wellesley College for one year.  She taught in 
several other communities, but returned to Great Barrington upon marrying A. Chalkey
Collins, an attorney.  They lived in the stone dwelling now home to the Christian Science
Church.  
Collins (1859-1918) became the first Thursday Morning Club president and served 
for four years.    Through her efforts cooking and sewing classes began; they were later
taken over by the town.  Maria Church was first vice president and suffragist Julia Ward
Howe was first honorary member.  “Self culture” and “to be of use to the community”
were the organization’s stated aims. Early meetings were held in the old Courier build-
ing.
The club joined the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1893 and entertained
some 150 delegates from the State Federation in 1897.  In 1902 the club helped William
Stanley entertain a convention of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and
received a silver loving cup in appreciation—-a signed Gorham piece decorated with the 
club’s daisy medallion and the AIEE’s seal.
The club understood a number of significant civic projects over the years, and its
members heard a number of interesting lectures.  Educator Dr. Charles Eastman, who
had married Mount Washington poet Elain Goodale, spoke on “The Original Indian” 
in July 1912.  Summer resident James Weldon Johnson, whose book Black Manhattan
came out in July 1930, spoke of American Negro poets in October that year.  Also speak-
ing before the club were author Walter Prichard Eaton, Congressman Allen T. Treadway,
dancer Ted Shawn and poet Richard Watson Gilder.
…”

page 190
“The Thursday Morning
Club in August 1904
dedicated a stone
marker west of the 
Bridge Street bridge:
Twenty rods north of this
stone was the old Indian
Fordway on the Middle
trail from Westfield to
the Hudson River.
Nearby was the site of
the Great Wigwam
were Major John
Talcott overtook and
dispersed a party of 
Indians, August, 1676.
The marker’s deterio-
rated wording was
reproduced on a bronze
tablet which was 
mounted nearby in 
1990.”

page 237  (in the Social section for early 1900s)
“Booker T. Washington, coming to speak at
Laurel Hill Association in Stockbridge in fall 1904,
was not unknown here; he had previously spoken
at the Great Barrington library.  Naturalist Ralph
Hoffman lectured before the Thursday Morning
Club in April 1909. …” 

The club had interesting speakers and also had a stated mission of service to the community.

I wondered if there were any records of the early Thursday Morning Club still available.  The Great Barrington Historical Society put me in touch with the current club historian.  She didn't have many records beyond a membership book in their safe deposit box.  It had membership records from 1912 through 1925.  She found four Evans women involved:  "Elizabeth Evans and Aurilla Evans were members of the Thursday Morning Club. Helen H. Evans was a Director 1924-1925 and Kathleen S. Evans was also a member."

Elizabeth Evans was a member, as was her daughter-in-law, Aurilla Wooster Evans and her granddaughter-in-law Kathleen Smith Evans.  By 1912 when these membership rolls were recorded, Elizabeth's daughter Caroline Evans Helsten, has moved back to Gaylordsville CT to help with her in-laws, then their estate, and then to take over the Helsten's business.  We don't know if Caroline was involved when she was there in the 1890s.

We can only imagine them attending some of these talks by local authorities and traveling dignitaries and then discussing the pressing issues of the day that they were reading about in the newspapers.

The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2014/08/thursday-morning-club.html
©2014, Erica Dakin Voolich

Some BRONSON & RADFORD Characters Looking for a Link to the Family

Do you know any of these RADFORD or BRONSON folks?
Are they your ancestors?
I'd love to know how they connect to my family.

Beers RADFORD (1784-1876) and Harriet HIGGINS had four children.
I am descended from his daughter (Hannah) Elizabeth Radford (1825-1915) who married Charles EVANS.
She had a sister (Harriet) Augusta Radford (1821-1897) who married Julius BRONSON.

They had cousins in Madison County New York.  The pictures might be related to their cousin Louisa P Radford (1825-1872) who wrote the letters from Madison County NY I have blogged about, one might be her sister Sarah W (but if the date or age on the back refers to her, it doesn't fit Sarah W's dates).

First the RADFORD pictures:

Back:  "Bennet Radford  B Radford  age 85.9.23"

Back:  "Kate Radford"

Back:  "Sara Radford    S. A. R. age 80.7.16"

Maybe Bennet and Sara are husband and wife, both pictures were taken at same studio.  The studio name was cut off of Kate Radford's picture.











Now, for the BRONSON pictures.  Probably they have a connection to Julius BRONSON (1807-1895) and Augusta RADFORD (1821-1897), his wife.

Back:  "D E and John Bronson
Hill Photographer 100 Bank St.,
Waterbury, Conn.
Crayon portraits a specialty"

Back:   "George Bronson"

Back:  "Helen Bronson"

Some where there must be some descendant of the RADFORD and BRONSON family who would love to connect to this descendant Elizabeth Radford.

They are looking for connections, can you help?

©Erica Dakin Voolich, 2014
The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2014/06/some-bronson-radford-characters-looking.html