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| Family Record found in the front cover of the Ingraham/Wardwell bible. Courtesy of the Bates County Museum. |
Showing posts with label Bates County Museum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bates County Museum. Show all posts
10 February 2013
Scrap Day Sunday
20 January 2013
Scrap Day Sunday
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| Abigail (DeWolf) Ingraham Mourning Dress Fabric. |
This weeks scrap is yet another scrap of fabric. This is a black piece of silk found in the Ingraham/Wardwell bible. After close inspection, this piece seems to match a swatch found in the collection of the Bates County Museum. The piece in the museum collection contained this note:
" This satin in a dress, was trimmed with crape & worn for mourning for Capt. Jeremiah Ingraham 1807. Presented By Mrs. Abigail Ingraham, of Bristol, R.I. to her namesake then 14 years of age,Sept. 1818. Presented by Miss Abigail R Ingraham, of Amenia, N.Y. to her namesake 14 years of age, of Manchester Mich. Sept. 1852."
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| Note describing the mourning fabric. Courtesy of the Bates County Museum |
13 January 2013
Scrap Day Sunday
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| Courtesy of the Bates County Museum |
" This Silk was purchased in England in 1744 for a travelling dress."
Mrs. S. Baldwin
Blue Springs
Mrs. S. Baldwin was Mary (Ingraham) Baldwin who was living in Blue Springs, Gage, NE at the time.
This scrap of fabric was donated to the Bates County Museum, along with the silk bag that I featured in an earlier post, by my great great grandmother Maud (VanSant) Grimes. We all just called her "Granny" and still do to this day. Granny loved to quilt. When she wasn't helping on the farm or raising her eight children, she was piecing quilts. So it makes sense that she would have held on to this piece of fabric. But who was the travelling dress made for?
The note on the fabric was written by Mary (Ingraham) Baldwin so I started there. It would have either came down through her or her husband, Samuel Baldwin. I had done extensive research on Mary's line as it is my Mayflower line and the wording of the note struck a bell. After some digging (ok, a lot of digging) through my notes I came upon some photocopied pages of a book entitled Puritans, Pioneers & Planters An Ingraham-Abbott-Wardwell-Culver-Burbank Genealogy written by Norma Quarles Hare. In the preface of the book, Mrs. Hare describes her and her mother going through a box of possessions that belonged to her great grandmother, Delia Balis (Ingraham) Blakemore. In this box they found a scrap of red, silk brocade fabric that matched a square in a crazy quilt that Delia had made and stitched the year 1744 into. Attached to this fabric was a note in her great grandmother's handwriting that read:
"This silk was purchased in England for a travelling dress for Mrs. Wardwell, nee Swan".
Bingo! What are the chances of two scraps of fabric owned by two Ingraham descendants each of which contains a note with almost identical wording not being from the same dress? I'm pretty sure I have located the original owner of the dress from whence the fabric came. Wait for it........ Hannah (Swan) Wardwell daughter of Ebenezer and Margaret (Woodbury) Swan and wife of Capt. John Wardwell all of Bristol, RI. Capt. John Wardwell was the son of John and Phebe (Howland) Wardwell. I do not believe however that the fabric was bought in 1744 as my 4th great grandmother stated in the note. The year 1744 is actually the date of Hannah's birth. So I'm thinking that there was a little mix-up along the way and the year 1744 was incorrectly listed as the date of the purchase of the fabric instead of the date of Hannah's births.
08 January 2013
A Bag and Three Abigails!
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| The Abigail (Dewolf) Ingraham Bag. Courtesy of the Bates County Museum. |
Today I'm going to share yet another find from the Bates County Museum. Being a volunteer there does have it's perks! Pictured here is a small silk bag that was once owned by Mrs. Abigail (DeWolf) Ingraham, the second wife of Capt. Jeremiah Ingraham. Abigail (DeWolf Ingraham presented this bag to her grandaughter Abigail Rebecca Ingraham in 1818. Abigail Rebecca Ingraham was the daughter of Thomas and Peggy (Wardwell) Ingraham. Abigail Rebecca then presented this bag to her niece, yet another Abigail Rebecca Ingraham in 1852. This Abigail was the daughter of Thomas Swan and Julia (Balis) Ingraham. After Rebecca (as the last Abigail Rebecca was known) passed away in 1856 at the age of 18, it then passed to her sister, Mrs. Mary (Baldwin) Ingraham and then filtered down to my great great grandmother Maud (VanSant) Grimes who then donated it to the museum.
The bag is is remarkable condition considering it's almost 200 years old!
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| Julia (Balis) Ingraham with daughter Rebecca. Rebecca was the last Abigail Rebecca to own the bag. |
30 December 2012
Scrap Day Sunday
Okay not really scraps, but tidbits I've come across in my research.
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| Courtesy of The Bates County Museum |
This summer I came across this piece of paper held by the Bates County Museum. It concerns my 4th great grandfather, Samuel I Baldwin, the son of Francis and Jane (Lee) Baldwin. It is a piece of paper dated 5 Oct 1839 that exempts him from military duty due to him being near-sighted. At first I thought, " Ahhhhh. So that's why that side of the family are blind as bats! That explains it"! Then I read the signature of the doctor who signed off on the document, William Root Surg. Mati. Well, well, well. Dr. Root just happened to be married to Samuel's sister Elinor! So was he really blind or was he getting a little help from the brother-in-law? I've chosen to believe it's a little bit of both. Samuel died 18 Jan 1888 in Gage County, NE.1 I've have not been able to locate a burial site for him, so if anyone knows where Samuel is buried, shoot me an email!
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| Samuel I Baldwin |
1. Kathie Horning, " A List of Deaths in Manchester, Michigan, 1833-1928" Family History Capers Vol. 2, No. 2, (Fall 1987): 88.
26 December 2012
Cyrus Merriam's secret.
I have found that along with all the research and analysis that goes along with genealogy, there is a certain amount that is also owed to fate. A chance meeting or a record that one just happens upon whilst looking for something completely different. Case in point. A little over a month ago, I was attending the dedication of the Island Mound State Historic Site located just outside of Butler, MO. I was working the table for the Bates County Museum when I struck up a conversation with a woman who was wearing a National Parks jacket. She explained that she was with the National Park Service and that she specifically worked with National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Then came my AHA moment! I explained to her that I had once read a snippet that had said my ancestor, Cyrus Merriam, was part of the Underground Railroad in Ohio. That was it. It was just a little blurb stating that much. She said she would look into it and get back to me if she found anything.
Cyrus Merriam was born in Rutland, VT on 14 July 1793 to David and Phoebe (Foster) Merriam.1 He settled near Putnam, OH around 1814 at the age of 21.2 He married Catherine Hulda Tupper on 24 Oct 18253 by which he had six children. Cyrus was by all means a prosperous man. He owned land and bred sheep and cattle. By 1870 he had $30,000 worth of real estate and had hired a domestic servant by the name of Ellen Shipley.4 He and his wife belonged to the Putnam Presbyterian Church in which he was an incorporator5. The Putnam Presbyterian Church was incorporated in 1835 and it's first pastor was William Beecher who was the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe.6 The congregation of this church was highly involved in the abolitionist movement. Frederick Douglas gave an anti-slavery speech here in 1852. Here was a clue as to Cyrus' leaning in the abolitionist movement.
Cyrus's death is recorded in the death records held by the Putnam Presbyterian church. He died 4 Nov. 1873 and was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in Zanesville, Muskingum Co., OH.7
So back to my story. A few days after speaking with Deanda she sent me some information that she found in the Wilbur H Siebert Collection held by the Ohio State Historical Society. In these papers, a Cyrus Mariam is listed as being a conductor on the Underground Railroad that ran from Putnam to Zanesville, Ohio. She also sent me an excerpt of the reminiscences of Thomas L. Gray who was very involved in the Underground Railroad in Deavertown, OH. Gray's reminiscences first appeared in the Tribune published in New Lexington, Ohio beginning in 1885. In it he mentions helping a couple of slaves, Isaac and Anderson, that once belonged to Mary Ann McDonald of Virginia to Cyrus Mariam's (sic) a distance of fourteen miles! They eventually made it and Gray said, " I felt easy for their safety, for I know the man in whose care I had left them,"
I've ofter wondered if Issac and Anderson made it to safety. Did they leave descendants and if so would it be possible to track them down? I would love to meet them and hear their stories. I'm also left with a deep admiration for my ancestor and his family for the sacrifices that they made for what they believed was right. Cyrus had a lot to lose. A prosperous farm, good standing in the community, his freedom. Good on you Cyrus. Good on you!
A very special thank you to Deanda Johnson of the National Parks Service. Her generosity and help will always be appreciated!
Network to Freedom:
http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm
Putnam, Ohio Historic District
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/oh13.htm
1. "Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XFKZ-8HH : accessed 25 Dec 2012), Cyrus Merriam, 1793.
2. J. F. Everhart, A. A. Graham, History of Muskingum County Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Pioneers (Columbus, OH,: J. F. Everhart & Co., 1882), 392
3. Charles Henry Pope, Merriam Genealogy in England and America including the "Genealogical Memoranda" of Charles Pierce Merriam, the Collections of James Sheldon Merriam, Etc., (Boston, MA, Charles H. Pope, 1906), 259
6. Everhart, Graham, History of Muskingum County, OH, 181
7. Record of Deaths in Putnam Presbyterian Church online<http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohmuskin/muskfootprints/putnamch.html> Merriam data downloaded 24 December 2012
Cyrus Merriam was born in Rutland, VT on 14 July 1793 to David and Phoebe (Foster) Merriam.1 He settled near Putnam, OH around 1814 at the age of 21.2 He married Catherine Hulda Tupper on 24 Oct 18253 by which he had six children. Cyrus was by all means a prosperous man. He owned land and bred sheep and cattle. By 1870 he had $30,000 worth of real estate and had hired a domestic servant by the name of Ellen Shipley.4 He and his wife belonged to the Putnam Presbyterian Church in which he was an incorporator5. The Putnam Presbyterian Church was incorporated in 1835 and it's first pastor was William Beecher who was the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe.6 The congregation of this church was highly involved in the abolitionist movement. Frederick Douglas gave an anti-slavery speech here in 1852. Here was a clue as to Cyrus' leaning in the abolitionist movement.
Cyrus's death is recorded in the death records held by the Putnam Presbyterian church. He died 4 Nov. 1873 and was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in Zanesville, Muskingum Co., OH.7
So back to my story. A few days after speaking with Deanda she sent me some information that she found in the Wilbur H Siebert Collection held by the Ohio State Historical Society. In these papers, a Cyrus Mariam is listed as being a conductor on the Underground Railroad that ran from Putnam to Zanesville, Ohio. She also sent me an excerpt of the reminiscences of Thomas L. Gray who was very involved in the Underground Railroad in Deavertown, OH. Gray's reminiscences first appeared in the Tribune published in New Lexington, Ohio beginning in 1885. In it he mentions helping a couple of slaves, Isaac and Anderson, that once belonged to Mary Ann McDonald of Virginia to Cyrus Mariam's (sic) a distance of fourteen miles! They eventually made it and Gray said, " I felt easy for their safety, for I know the man in whose care I had left them,"
I've ofter wondered if Issac and Anderson made it to safety. Did they leave descendants and if so would it be possible to track them down? I would love to meet them and hear their stories. I'm also left with a deep admiration for my ancestor and his family for the sacrifices that they made for what they believed was right. Cyrus had a lot to lose. A prosperous farm, good standing in the community, his freedom. Good on you Cyrus. Good on you!
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| Thomas H Gray page 1 |
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| Thomas H Gray page 2 |
A very special thank you to Deanda Johnson of the National Parks Service. Her generosity and help will always be appreciated!
Network to Freedom:
http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm
Putnam, Ohio Historic District
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/oh13.htm
1. "Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XFKZ-8HH : accessed 25 Dec 2012), Cyrus Merriam, 1793.
2. J. F. Everhart, A. A. Graham, History of Muskingum County Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Pioneers (Columbus, OH,: J. F. Everhart & Co., 1882), 392
3. Charles Henry Pope, Merriam Genealogy in England and America including the "Genealogical Memoranda" of Charles Pierce Merriam, the Collections of James Sheldon Merriam, Etc., (Boston, MA, Charles H. Pope, 1906), 259
4.Cyrus Merriam household , 1870 U.S. census, Muskingum County, Ohio, population schedule, Springfield township, Putnam post office, page 25, dwelling 192, family 202, NARA microfilm publication M593, FHL microfilm 552750.
5. Everhart, Graham, History of Muskingum County OH, 1826. Everhart, Graham, History of Muskingum County, OH, 181
7. Record of Deaths in Putnam Presbyterian Church online<http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohmuskin/muskfootprints/putnamch.html> Merriam data downloaded 24 December 2012
04 December 2012
A Bible and locks of love.
I mentioned in my last post that Aunt Kate had also donated a bible to the Bates County museum along with the unidentified photographs. This is the story of my hunt for that very bible.
It all started about three years ago. I was working on my Baldwin/Ingraham line and I had reached a dead end with one Peggy Wardell. I searched and searched for any info relating to this Peggy Wardell but kept coming up empty handed. A cousin of mine had done some research in the early 70's and it was his chart that I was working from. On a hunch, I contacted his daughter to see if she had any other information that her dad had collected. A few weeks later I received the same chart but with a few differences. He had Peggy Wardell as Peggy Wardwell. Ah ha! I should have thought of that! But more importantly he listed an Ingraham/Wardwell bible as his reference. He also stated that the bible had been given to the Bates County Museum by Aunt Kate. Hmmmm. So where was the bible?
Fast forward three years later. I now volunteer at the museum. During a search for an object listed in a script of an old walking tour, I come across a box of books. There in the bottom of the box sat my bible! The bible was printed circa 1825. It has a family record that has been pasted inside the front cover. It lists Thomas Ingraham b. 1773 and his wife Margaret "Peggy" (Wardwell) as well as their children. Towards the middle of the bible is listed Thomas Swan Ingraham and his wife Julia (Balis) Ingraham and their children. There in gorgeous handwriting was the info I had been looking for! A primary source to help prove my Mayflower line.
Ah but my ancestors had more in store for me! Tucked between the pages of the bible were little clipping and scraps of fabric. Some little notes that only make sense to those who wrote them and a book. This book was handmade and just a few pages thick. I opened the front cover and there inside was written "Mary I Baldwin", the name of my fourth great grandmother. It was she that has caused me to pull my hair out due to the lack of documentation she left behind. She was the weak link in my Mayflower line. So, I turned the page and there they were! My fourth great grandmother had made a small book of hair clippings. The first page held three separate locks of hair, each neatly labelled. Francis Baldwin. J. Baldwin and Samuel Baldwin. The hair of her husband Samuel and his parents Francis and Jane (Lee) Baldwin. The next page contained even more. This page was dedicated to Mary's family, Thomas Swan Ingraham, Julia (Balis) Ingraham and her siblings, Monroe, Major, her own, and her youngest sister Rebecca. Rebecca's having been woven into a little hair wreath!
The bible was a find just from a primary source point of view. The bible became a real treasure when I could look at these locks of hair and actually have a physical connection to the ancestors that up until this time, had just been a name and a date plugged into a family tree program. This is why I love genealogy. The little finds that remind us that there is a full history behind those names and dates. Most of whom had reddish-brown hair!
The Baldwin Family Locks
It all started about three years ago. I was working on my Baldwin/Ingraham line and I had reached a dead end with one Peggy Wardell. I searched and searched for any info relating to this Peggy Wardell but kept coming up empty handed. A cousin of mine had done some research in the early 70's and it was his chart that I was working from. On a hunch, I contacted his daughter to see if she had any other information that her dad had collected. A few weeks later I received the same chart but with a few differences. He had Peggy Wardell as Peggy Wardwell. Ah ha! I should have thought of that! But more importantly he listed an Ingraham/Wardwell bible as his reference. He also stated that the bible had been given to the Bates County Museum by Aunt Kate. Hmmmm. So where was the bible?
Fast forward three years later. I now volunteer at the museum. During a search for an object listed in a script of an old walking tour, I come across a box of books. There in the bottom of the box sat my bible! The bible was printed circa 1825. It has a family record that has been pasted inside the front cover. It lists Thomas Ingraham b. 1773 and his wife Margaret "Peggy" (Wardwell) as well as their children. Towards the middle of the bible is listed Thomas Swan Ingraham and his wife Julia (Balis) Ingraham and their children. There in gorgeous handwriting was the info I had been looking for! A primary source to help prove my Mayflower line.
Ah but my ancestors had more in store for me! Tucked between the pages of the bible were little clipping and scraps of fabric. Some little notes that only make sense to those who wrote them and a book. This book was handmade and just a few pages thick. I opened the front cover and there inside was written "Mary I Baldwin", the name of my fourth great grandmother. It was she that has caused me to pull my hair out due to the lack of documentation she left behind. She was the weak link in my Mayflower line. So, I turned the page and there they were! My fourth great grandmother had made a small book of hair clippings. The first page held three separate locks of hair, each neatly labelled. Francis Baldwin. J. Baldwin and Samuel Baldwin. The hair of her husband Samuel and his parents Francis and Jane (Lee) Baldwin. The next page contained even more. This page was dedicated to Mary's family, Thomas Swan Ingraham, Julia (Balis) Ingraham and her siblings, Monroe, Major, her own, and her youngest sister Rebecca. Rebecca's having been woven into a little hair wreath!
The bible was a find just from a primary source point of view. The bible became a real treasure when I could look at these locks of hair and actually have a physical connection to the ancestors that up until this time, had just been a name and a date plugged into a family tree program. This is why I love genealogy. The little finds that remind us that there is a full history behind those names and dates. Most of whom had reddish-brown hair!
The Baldwin Family Locks
The Ingraham Family Locks
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