Today I continue my “Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe” series, featuring Mayflower descendants who married into Mashpee Wampanoag families.

To recap: My series on the Mayflower lines of Katie Crocker of Barnstable, Massachusetts, has featured a rare account book connected to the business of Zenas Crocker (1761-1807) and his descendants.

The Crocker account book includes residents of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, and the Cahoon Museum in Cotuit, Massachusetts, granted me permission to share the account book’s pages and do further research. (For previous stories see the links listed at the end of this article.)

My last story, Part VIII, covered Civil War soldier Nathaniel D.S. Bearse, a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers Stephan Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, John Howland, and Elizabeth Tilley.

He married Olive Gould Pells, a member of the Wampanoag people. She was the daughter of Jacob Asher and Mary Rose (DeGrasse) Pells and left descendants, including a daughter Christine Nelson Bearse – who married Irving Westley Coombs Oakley, son of George Thomas and Betsy Jones (Attaquin) Ockry/Oakley. His obituary can be found in Part VIII.

Nathaniel Bearse, his wife, and daughter Christine Nelson (Bearse) Oakley, are identified in this lineage chart compiled by Christopher C. Child, author and genealogist for the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) from his post, “Civil War Soldiers of Mashpee.”

Descendants of Irving Westley Coombs and Christine Nelson (Bearse) Oakley

Emma Genevieve Oakley (1893-1972), one of the daughters born to Irving and Christine, married Ferdinand Wilson Mills (1891-1973), son of James S. and Delscena Jeannette (Anderson) Mills.

Below is a photo of Emma and Ferdinand.

Here is a photo of Ferdinand’s parents James and Delscena.

Here is a copy of Emma’s obituary, courtesy of the Barnstable Library Archives. She died on 26 March 1972.

This article reads:

MASHPEE – Mrs. Emma O. Mills, 78, of Main Street, the matriarch of one of the few remaining Indian families here and a prominent participant in the town’s civil and social affairs, died at home yesterday.

Born in Carver, Mrs. Mills, who served as the Mashpee town collector and treasurer for 32 years, lived most of her life here.

After attending Amherst College, she taught school in Mashpee. She was a former chairman of the Mashpee Republican Town Committee and a member of the Women’s Republican Club of the Upper Cape, the Mashpee Taxpayers Assn., and the Mashpee Council on Aging.

A member of the Descendants of Wampanoag, she was a member of the Federal Eastern Indian League, treasurer of the Mashpee Indian Council, and an organist at the Old Indian Church.

Mrs. Mills was a Gold Star Mother, a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, and treasurer of the Old Indian Meeting House Authority.

She worked for many years with the Barnstable County Health and Heart Assn. and was a member of the Mashpee Baptist Church and the Thursday Nighters.

Surviving are: her husband Ferdinand; two daughters, Mrs. Delscena Hendricks and Mrs. Adeline Hick; and three sons, Earl, Elwood, and Carl, all of Mashpee.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Doane and Beale Funeral Home, Hyannis. Burial will be in Indian Cemetery, Mashpee.

I found a newspaper clip in the Boston Herald on Emma’s son Elwood.

This article reports:

HYANNIS – Over in Barnstable Superior Court where “Tony” Costa is being tried for a double murder, he is being guarded by perhaps the most powerful man in Sheriff Donald P. Tulloch’s employ. The pleasant-faced guy with the massive shoulders who goes everywhere that Costa goes is a full-blooded Wampanoag Indian by the name of Elwood O. Mills. [Obviously the Bearse line was not taken into account here.] Back in his high school days Elwood was such an accomplished athlete that he was known as the “Jim Thorpe of Cape Cod.” [Below is a photo of Elwood with other students at Lawrence High School in Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1939.]

When he is not out doing the bidding of Sheriff Tulloch, the big Indian is home minding his store, which not surprisingly is a trading post – the Ockry Trading Post on Route 130 in the heart of Mashpee. [The store sits at the intersection of Main Street and Great Neck Road North at Mashpee Center.]

The place is about as general a store as you will find on Cape Cod. Elwood and his wife Josephine sell everything from kerosene to cold beer and all the odds and ends in between. Elwood’s town has quite a history and his family has been a big part of it. His mother, Mrs. Emma Mills, was appointed tax collector in 1930 and served until 1968. His father, the late Ferdinand Mills, served the town variously as town clerk, treasurer, and selectman and Elwood himself served as selectman. In tribal affairs, his brother Earl, a coach at Lawrence High in Falmouth, is chief of the Wampanoags.

Below is a photo of Deputy Sheriff Elwood Mills, walking a manacled Tony Costa from jail to the Barnstable County Superior Court.

This photo caption reads:

Antone [Tony] C. Costa, 25, of Provincetown, gazes about as he walks from jail to the Barnstable County Superior Court session yesterday where he is being tried for the deaths of two Providence, R.I., women in January of 1969. Costa, right, is manacled to Deputy Sheriff Elwood Mills, left.

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: Ousamequin, or “Massasoit” (Wampanoag term for “Great Sachem”) and Governor John Carver smoking a ceremonial pipe at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Credit: Sutro Library; Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 9)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 10)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 11)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 12)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 3)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 4)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 5)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 6)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 7)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 8)
• Richard Bourne: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
• Thomas Tupper: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
• “Mayflower Descendant: A Journal of Pilgrim Genealogy & History,” Volume 68, No. 1, Winter 2020

The post Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 9) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

Recently I had the honor of watching my nephew graduate from high school. As the youngest member of our family, my nephew’s graduation marked a milestone for him as well as us. And of course, this graduation brought back memories of previous family high school graduations.

Our family discussed what we wore in high school, how our graduation accomplishment was celebrated, and what family members attended or didn’t attend our graduations. We even broke out yearbooks to laugh at how high school has changed from the time my brother (my nephew’s father) attended high school to 2025. Yearbook technologies, our schoolmates’ photos, and inscriptions from friends were all pored over and discussed.

Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

Researching and writing about family high school experiences can lead to genealogically rich information including identifying FAN clubs (Friends, Acquaintances, and Neighbors).

What do you know about your parents’ and grandparents’ high school careers? Learning more can help you uncover information about them and better understand their lives.

Start with You

Just like with any genealogy project, start with yourself and then work backward. Starting with yourself can also help you decide what you want to learn about your parents’ and grandparents’ school days.

As my family reminisced about our high school days, I realized that I’ve not documented my own. Yes, I have a scrapbook and a yearbook, but I was thinking that annotating my yearbook and indicating who my friends and teachers were might be meaningful. (I could also scan relevant pages, annotate those, and then donate my yearbooks to a library or archive, something I’m considering.)

Writing a few pages about my experiences and adding relevant photos would be a good addition to my family history records. Some things I could write about include:

• Activities (clubs, organizations I was involved in)
• Classes I took
• Friends’ names
• Favorite teachers
• Historical events that happened when I was in high school
• What an average school day looked like
• My after-school job (which probably won’t surprise you: I was working at the city library)

Historical newspapers that mention my high school (maybe even a printed list of graduates from the year I graduated), as well as my own photo collection, would provide good historical context for this personal history.

Remember: you are best situated to tell your high school story, and your family history includes you. So, start there. You might think no one cares – but if someone offered you the same information about a grandparent, how would you feel?

Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

What About Your Parents?

Do you know anything about your parents’ high school years? Maybe a yearbook is in your collection or online. Any stories get passed down?

If your parents are alive, the best place to go is to the source. Interview them about their school days. Use photos, yearbooks, school records and historical newspapers to prompt questions.

Don’t forget to include some of the topics mentioned above.

4 Grandparents, 4 School Stories

If your grandparents are alive, the above ideas can help get you started in documenting their school days. If they aren’t, consider using historical newspapers, local histories, school histories, photos, and even postcards to illustrate and write about their school days. Consider adding information on what the school was like during their time there. What did it look like? How has the school changed since then?

I realized that I knew nothing about the high school years of my maternal grandparents, but using the census and maps I can determine what school they attended. In addition, the school census for the Arizona county my maternal grandmother lived in is available on FamilySearch and will be a nice addition.

This Is Not a Test!

Genealogists often focus on names and dates. No doubt that’s important, but it’s the stories about individual lives that interest our families. Stories that they can relate to will interest them in your overall research.

One of my son’s complaints is that family historians don’t pay enough attention to telling the story of ancestral childhood. High school memories, records, documentation, and photos are a great place to start telling those stories. Take some time today to flesh out your family’s high school days!

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Note on the header image: an illustration of a high school. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

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Here are some of the details about our most recent U.S. newspaper additions:

• A total of 55 titles from 15 states, plus 2 titles from the District of Columbia
• 16 of the 57 titles added this month are newspapers added to GenealogyBank for the first time!
• Some are rare single-issue newspapers, or the only known surviving issue of the paper
• We’ve shown the newspaper issue date ranges in the lists below so that you can determine if the newly added content is relevant to your personal genealogy research

To see our newspaper archives’ entire title list of more than 15,000 newspapers, click here.

Genealogy Tip: One of the ways to take advantage of the fact that GenealogyBank is always adding new content is to use a feature on the newspapers’ search results page that lets you search just on the content added since a certain time. With this feature, found along the left-hand side of the search results page, you can search only on the newest content – even newspaper articles GenealogyBank added within the past week!

GenealogyBank adds new content to its Historical Newspaper Archives constantly, so keep searching. And good luck with your family history research.

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The post July Addition: GenealogyBank Just Added New Content from 57 Titles! appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

Today I continue my “Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe” series, featuring Mayflower descendants who married into Mashpee Wampanoag families.

To recap: My series on the Mayflower lines of Katie Crocker of Barnstable, Massachusetts, has featured a rare account book connected to the business of Zenas Crocker (1761-1807) and his descendants.

The Crocker account book includes residents of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, and the Cahoon Museum in Cotuit, Massachusetts, granted me permission to share the account book’s pages and do further research. (For previous stories see the links listed at the end of this article.)

In part 7 I covered two Pilgrim scions, Charles Churchill Bearse and his wife Penelope Percival Crocker.

Nathaniel D. S. Bearse

Today my subject is a cousin, Civil War soldier Nathaniel D. S. Bearse (1842-1928), who married Olive Gould Pells (1844-1910), a member of the Wampanoag people.

This is a photo of Nathaniel, a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, John Howland, and Elizabeth Tilley. He was a town selectman in Mashpee, Massachusetts, and deacon to the Mahpee Indian Church for 50 years.

Nathaniel and his wife are identified in this lineage chart compiled by Christopher C. Child, author and genealogist for the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) from his post, “Civil War Soldiers of Mashpee.”

Military Record

I found some newspaper clips listing Nathaniel for military service. He is recorded on the roster of soldiers provided to the press by Lieutenant Charles H. Tobey in 1864.

In 1865 he is listed in the same regiment in Company E.

Read more on Nathaniel’s military history at “The Magnifying Glass: Bearing His Country’s Cause.”

Wampanoag Connection

Nathaniel married Olive Gould Pells in Mashpee on 29 October 1863. She is the daughter of Jacob Asher and Mary Rose (DeGrasse) Pells.

Below is a photo of their four married daughters including Christine, who is listed on the above lineage chart compiled by Christopher C. Child. In this photo we see (seated left to right): Christine (Bearse) Oakley, Flora (Bearse) Amos, Mary (Bearse) Cowett; (standing left to right): unidentified family friend, Lois (Bearse) Newcomb.

Below is an obituary for Christine’s husband Irving Westley Coombs Oakley, son of George Thomas and Betsy Jones (Attaquin) Oakley. He died on 14 November 1934.

This article reads:

MASHPEE, Nov. 14 – Funeral services for Irving C. Oakley, 65, a guide for President Grover Cleveland and Gov. William E. Russell on many hunting and fishing trips in Cape woods, will be held tomorrow at 2 P. M. at his home here. Burial will be in the Old Indian cemetery.

Mr. Oakley died of a heart attack Monday night at his home. A descendant of the Wampanoag Indians, he followed the sea as a young man and later entered the cranberry business building several large cranberry bogs in Carver. For three terms he was an assessor of Mashpee and during the past decade operated Mashpee’s only store.

He leaves his widow, Mrs. Christine Bearse Oakley; four sons, Allen of Boston, Ellsworth of Onset, and George and Irving Jr. of Mashpee; and two daughters, Mrs. Emma O. Mills and Mrs. Minnie DeGreasse of Bournedale. He leaves two great grandchildren.

Below is a photo of Christine and Irving’s son Ellsworth Raymond Oakley (1904-1976), aka Chief “Drifting Goose.” He married Edella “Della” Azevedo and left descendants.

I found an obituary for Nathaniel and Catherine’s daughter Flora E. (Bearse) Amos, who died 4 January 1946.

This article reads:

Mashpee Town Clerk, Mrs. Flora Amos, Dead

MASHPEE, Jan. 5 – Mrs. Flora E. Amos, 82, Mashpee town clerk for the past 15 years and assistant postmaster 55 years, died here at her home late last night.

A native of Mashpee, she served in the local post office under her husband, the late Lysander B. Amos, and later under her son Edmund. As town clerk she was first in the state to report returns in several national and state elections. She was for 65 years a member of the Old Indian Church of which she was long a trustee.

Stay tuned for more on this family line!

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Note on the header image: Ousamequin, or “Massasoit” (Wampanoag term for “Great Sachem”) and Governor John Carver smoking a ceremonial pipe at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Credit: Sutro Library; Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 9)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 10)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 11)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 12)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 3)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 4)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 5)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 6)
• Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 7)
• Richard Bourne: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
• Thomas Tupper: Missionary to Plymouth Colony Indians
• “Mayflower Descendant: A Journal of Pilgrim Genealogy & History,” Volume 68, No. 1, Winter 2020

The post Mayflower Descendants & the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (part 8) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

One hundred years ago our ancestors celebrated Independence Day, as of course we do today. There were various ways they celebrated, and we can learn about that in old newspapers.

Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

Radio was becoming popular in the early 20th century. It was popular enough in 1925 for newspapers to announce radio programs. The Patriot, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, announced radio programs for Independence Day from across the country. The article was organized by time zone, then by radio station, listing the programs that would play at different times. Some stations were playing special Independence Day programs.

A Jersey City, New Jersey, newspaper mentioned some 4th of July celebrations in the area. Due to concerns about traffic congestion, there were no parades in Absecon and Mays Landing, but dancing and fireworks were held at Lily Lake Park and Lenape Park.

While some newspapers announced celebratory events and radio programs, others published historical discourses. A New York City newspaper referred to Independence Day as “Uncle Sam’s birthday” and stated that while only 149 years old, “he has become the giant of the world in wealth, in power and in justice.”

The American ideal of self-government was radical at the time, but the Founding Fathers’ perseverance in this endeavor led to our becoming our own nation.

This wasn’t the only newspaper recounting the nation’s history on this holiday. Marian Inglewood, a newspaper reporter in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, wrote a discourse on U.S. history in which he refuted some legends surrounding the Declaration of Independence. He pointed out that the event was done in secret, “for it was an occasion when men needed to weigh matters carefully.”

According to this article, the committee preparing the Declaration of Independence consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Congress adopted it on July 4. Twelve states (all except New York) voted on it. A few minor changes were debated and made. New York voted on July 9 and announced its decision on July 15. The date written on the Declaration of Independence was 4 July 1776. However, it was not made public until 8 July 1776.

The bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, called the people of Philadelphia to the Square to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The bell stopped ringing, and John Nixon read the Declaration of Independence from a balcony. The crowd stood in silence, pondering the significance of the words, then “broke into glad shouts of rejoicing” when the bell began to ring again.

The American people rejoiced at being free back in 1776, and this newspaper article reminded our ancestors of that 100 years ago. It is this freedom that we continue to celebrate every July 4th.

Happy Independence Day!

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Note on the header image: “Happy Independence Day” illustration. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

Related Article:

• Our Ancestors’ Independence Day Celebrations in 1825

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America has been celebrating independence for 249 years. Today, many people celebrate with barbeques, fireworks, and baseball. Two centuries ago, the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence were more recent, yet remembering why we celebrate July 4th was just as relevant then as it is now. Old newspapers show us how our ancestors celebrated Independence Day in 1825.

Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

Two-hundred years ago, people in New York had multiple options for celebrating July 4th. A newspaper published that day announced several events, all on a patriotic theme. For example, one theater was putting on a play called Bunker Hill; Or, Liberty or Death, and

In commemoration of the Declaration of Independence, the front of the theatre will be brilliantly illuminated, and a new transparency exhibited, painted expressly for the occasion.

Another celebration was held at Vauxhall Garden, organized by its proprietor, T. Madden, and “two Italian gentlemen, artists of the first order.” Along with the singing of patriotic songs and a theatrical presentation, a grand display of fireworks was promised.

Not to be outdone, a circus performance was also announced for the evening of July 4th. This announcement promises:

In honor of the glorious 4th of July, 1776, the circus will be brilliantly illuminated, and a grand emblematical transparency exhibited, painted expressly for the occasion, by Mr. Isherwood.

On this patriotic day, a clever entrepreneur in Maryland seized on the theme of independence to urge readers to come to his store and buy tickets in the Maryland state lottery, arguing:

‘There is nothing so calculated to qualify us for the celebration of the independence of our country, as to feel ourselves [financially] independent.”

G. J. Hunt wrote “Ode to the Fourth of July, 1825.” The poem celebrates the freedom that Americans fought for during the Revolutionary War and honors those who fell in that fight. This poem reminded readers why they were celebrating two centuries ago and reminds us why we still celebrate today. Hunt’s poem concludes:

This poem concludes:

Fair beauty joins the raptur’d throng,
Which dazzles through the day,
With joy, and mirth, and fitful song,
All happy, blithe and gay.
Sound! Sound, the trumpet in Freedom’s name!
Loud! Louder swell the song of Fame!

Hail! Day auspicious! Bright and Fair!
Columbia’s Jubilee;
Forever shalt thou be the star
That bade a world be free!
Sound! Sound, the trumpet in Freedom’s name!
Loud! Louder swell the song of Fame!

Many newspapers around the country celebrated Independence Day in 1825 by publishing the Declaration of Independence. In Pennsylvania, this newspaper also reminded its readers of the importance of Independence Day by publishing a copy of the Declaration of Independence, along with the following introduction.

This introduction reads:

We present our readers this day with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and wish them health and long life, to enjoy that republican freedom & preservation of equality & self-government, upon which rests the hope of mankind; the basis of which was laid and wrought out by the embodied wisdom of the Continental Congress, and an army led by Washington and Lafayette, whom victory never elated, nor defeat depressed – they fought under the auspices of heaven; their cause was their country’s.

The Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal and have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Governments are responsible for securing these rights and should be altered or replaced if they infringe upon these rights. Then it goes on to list the wrongs the King of England had done against the British American colonies. The final paragraphs declare the colonies as the United States, absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.

Many newspapers also published the names of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, using large print for John Hancock’s name since he is famous for signing his name in large script.

Another reminder of the significance of Independence Day was a parade in Baltimore by the 1st Regiment Riflemen. “Another opportunity will be afforded us of celebrating the birth day of American freedom.” The riflemen paraded in full uniform early in the morning with three rounds of blank cartridges. This method of celebrating independence must have been effective in reminding people what they were celebrating.

Our ancestors celebrated American Independence every July 4th, just as we do now. Today we’ve read about some celebrations from 200 years ago in 1825; tomorrow we’ll look at some from 100 years ago, in 1925.

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Note on the header image: “Happy Fourth of July” illustration. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

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Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” again featuring a group of California pioneer families.

Here are portraits of railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins (1813-1878) and his wife Mary Frances (Sherwood) Hopkins (1818-1891), direct descendants of Mayflower passengers William Bradford, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins.

Part one ended with some early genealogy and history published in a New York newspaper about one of my subjects: Mark Hopkins, the millionaire railroader and one of the five children born to Mark Hopkins Sr. (1779-1828) and Anastasia Lukens (Kellogg) Hopkins (1780-1837).

Some of Mark’s siblings died young. However, Samuel Frederick Hopkins (1803-1884) married and left many descendants which I will cover in another story. I hope to have photos of his family which I requested from the archives.

Another brother, Moses Hopkins (1817-1892) was a successful rancher and horse breeder in California. Below is a daguerreotype of Moses sporting a handsome goatee.

Mark Hopkins married his first cousin Mary Frances Sherwood, daughter of William Sherwood (1786-1871) and Lydia Ann (Kellogg) Sherwood (1793-1865).

Below is a daguerreotype of Mary taken in 1850.

A diary from one of Mary’s contemporaries discloses a luxurious lifestyle complemented by charitable activities. Amidst the elegant gatherings and shopping excursions, the Hopkins women and their social circle engage in numerous philanthropic endeavors. I found several hefty donations made on behalf of Mrs. Hopkins and her relations. One was with the Chinese Mission School.

I return to one of my articles from 2019 entitled “Diary of Young Girl Recalls Gilded Age,” describing life in the Menlo Park, California, estate “Sherwood Hall” owned by the Hopkins family.

The diary was written by Isabella Cass (1857-1932) of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, who stayed at Sherwood Hall in 1884-1885. Accompanying Isabella was Mary “May” Kellogg Crittenden, niece of Mary Hopkins and the future wife of Timothy Nolan Hopkins, Mary’s adopted son. I covered May’s lineage in part one. Below is a photo of her from the diary book.

Isabella was the daughter of Dr. Jonathan and Mary (Peet) Cass. Her family had connections with the Hopkins in their California missionary work. Isabella attended the Rose Cottage Seminary, also known as “Miss Kellogg’s School,” run by Mary and Mark Hopkins’ aunts Nancy and Mary Kellogg. The two sisters were daughters of Lieutenant Ezra Augustus and Mary “Polly” (Whiting) Kellogg.

In her diary for Thursday, 19 February 1885, Isabella records:

“Had a nice letter from Mother [Mary (Peet) Cass] and Mrs. Frank Whiting, telling me of the Chinese Missions in San Francisco.”

Mrs. Frank Whiting, born Harriett W. Curtis, married Francis “Frank” Whiting. He is the son of John and Hannah (Kellogg) Whiting and cousin to Mary Hopkins.

Below are their photos, published in Isabella’s diary transcription.

In her diary for Thursday, 5 March 1885, Isabella writes:

“Took the cable car up Calif. St. to Mrs. Hopkins [at Nob Hill estate]. Found May in her lovely ‘pompadour room,’ she went with me across to Sacramento Street till we found the Chinese Mission. I inquired about Miss [Margaret] Culbertson, of whom Mrs. Frank Whiting had written to me.”

Here is a photo of Margaret Culbertson, daughter of Samuel C. and Nancy (Johnson) Culbertson of New York.

I found a newspaper clip on Miss Culbertson assisting one of her charges, a young Chinese girl named Fong Ping.

This article reports:

A Chinese Slave.

The Efforts of Highbinders to Get Possession of Her.

A Chinese girl named Fong Ping was taken before Judge Rearden yesterday afternoon on a writ of habeas corpus sued out by Ah Wong, who claimed her as his wife. The girl was recently rescued from a degraded life and placed in charge of Miss Margaret Culbertson, matron of the Chinese Mission Home. When Miss Culbertson started from the Home on Sacramento Street to take the girl to the courtroom, a party of highbinders [thugs from Chinese Americana criminal gangs] attempted to capture Fong, but they were frustrated by the presence of Officer Holbrook. Judge Rearden granted a continuance of the hearing until next Tuesday on motion of the attorney for petitioner. As Miss Culbertson was leaving the courtroom with her charge and had scarcely reached the sidewalk, the highbinders made another attempt to capture the girl. But Miss Culbertson had taken the precaution to intimate to the police that she feared such an attempt would be made, and the highbinders were met by two officers who dealt Wong a blow that laid him out on the sidewalk. The matron, girl, and Attorney Ruef then boarded a McAllister Street train and reached the Mission Home in safety. Wong says he is married to the girl and considers her worth $1,700.

Returning to Isabella’s diary:

“She [Culbertson] took us to the school room, and introduced us to Miss Cable, the teacher there. We saw a small room with the rows of desks, and the Chinese girls studying.”

“One little thing, five years old, sat at the front desk near up, she was very bright and cunning, she read very well, as did a class of older girls. One, Ah Yoke, who Mrs. Whiting supports, writes beautifully.

“Another Chinese child had been deserted on board ship, and the officers had brought her there [Chinese Mission Home] also. They sang for us, and I was much interested in them and their teacher.

“After luncheon, I went down into the city to an art store, also to the Palace Hotel to see Madam Grand Jean, but she had gone – but saw Mrs. Rathbone in her pretty room.”

Stay tuned for more from the diary, including intel about Mrs. Rathbone and her husband, who was Mary Hopkins’ horse breeder and confidant.

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial

Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Fake Wills & Forged Bibles Lay Claim to Mark Hopkins’ Huge Estate
• The Gilded Age Palace: What Mark Hopkins Bankrolled
• Mad Scramble to Claim Mark Hopkins’ Riches: A ‘New Gold Rush’
• Pedigree, Pearls, and Pooches: The Hopkins Saga Continues
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part I
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part II
• America’s Richest Widow Restores Church and Cemetery of Great Barrington, MA
• R. Moss’ Hoax: A Scam for the Hopkins Fortune
• More Legal Battles over the Mark Hopkins Railroad Fortune
• Scams to Get the Hopkins Fortune: Seances, Table Tipping, and Slate Writing
• More Hopkins Saga: Minister’s Wife Battles Edward Searles
• Kin of America’s Richest Widow Battle Edward Searles in Probate Court
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 48 (part 1)

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Dig deep into our online archives and search for articles about your ancestors from Massachusetts in these newspapers. Our MA newspapers are divided into two collections, each with their own search page:

• Newspaper Archives (complete paper with all articles, including historical obituaries, with a number of very rare single-issue newspapers – many of them are the only known issues of the paper)
• Obituaries (including both historical and recent obituaries, if obits are specifically what you are searching for)

Search Massachusetts Newspaper Archives (1690 – 2018)

Search Massachusetts Obituaries (1824 – Today)

Here is a partial list of Massachusetts newspapers in the online archives; to see the full list, click here. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The MA newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

*Date Ranges may have selected coverage unavailable.

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Note on the header image: the Massachusetts State House, Boston, Massachusetts. Credit: Ajay Suresh; Wikimedia Commons.

Related Resource:

• U.S. State History (GenealogyBank Pinterest Board)

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Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring a group of California pioneer families.

I begin with the family of Mary “May” Kellogg (Crittenden) Hopkins (1862-1941), daughter of Hiram Crittenden (1814-1883) and Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden (1829-1877), a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins.

Her full lineage can found in the “Register of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the state of California; a record of descent from passengers on the good ship ‘Mayflower,’ A.D. 1620,” pages 23-26.

Mary was a member of the California Mayflower Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and Colonial Dames.

Here is an ambrotype of Mary’s mother, Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden, daughter of William Sherwood (1786-1871) and Lydia Ann (Kellogg) Sherwood (1793-1865), and descendant of Mayflower passengers William Bradford, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins. On 30 September 1849, Lydia married Hiram Crittenden, a direct descendant of Stephen Hopkins through his son Giles Hopkins and his wife, Catherine Weldon.

Mary married Timothy Hopkins (1859-1936), the adopted son of her aunt Mary Frances (Sherwood) Hopkins (1818-1891) aka “America’s richest widow” – the widow of railroad magnate Mark Hopkins (1814-1878).

Timothy Hopkins was born to Irish immigrants Patrick Nolan (1829-1862) and Catherine (Fallon) Nolan (1834-1903). His mother was the maid to the Hopkins family, and he was adopted in 1878 by Mrs. Mary Frances (Sherwood) Hopkins after the death of her husband. Timothy married Hopkins’ niece Mary on 28 November 1882.

Below is a death notice for Mary, who died on 14 October 1941 in San Mateo, California. According to her obituary, Mary and her husband Timothy were renowned for their philanthropic efforts, with Stanford College being the primary recipient of their generosity.

This article reads:

Member of a Pioneer Family Dies

Mrs. Mary Kellogg Hopkins, member of the pioneer family that strongly influenced transportation and education in early California days, died shortly before Tuesday midnight at her Menlo Park home

She was the widow of Timothy Hopkins, one of the original trustees of Stanford University and an adopted son of [Mary Hopkins].

Death came after a long illness. She was 79. Her only survivor is a daughter, Lydia K. Hopkins of Woodside [California]. Timothy Hopkins died January 1, 1936.

Under terms of his will, upon the death of Mrs. Hopkins, his entire income would be turned over to Stanford University. The estate is now estimated at $936,000 ($20,950,800 in today’s money).

The will provided that Stanford use the income for the following purposes:

Sixty percent to maintain the Hopkins Marine station at Pacific Grove; $4000 per year [about $87,473 today] to aid the Hopkins railroad library at the main campus; and the remainder to be used to support the Hopkins medical library at Stanford Medical School, San Francisco.

The article also states that Mrs. Hopkins was a philanthropist in her own right, and a diary reveals just that – but that will come in part two. For now, we’ll take a look at where all the loot came from to bankroll her various charities.

The deep pockets came from Mark Hopkins, a California railroad tycoon dubbed the “Vanderbilt of the Pacific Slope.” He was a distinguished pioneer, a member of the group known as the “49ers” and one of the “Big Four” who founded the Central Pacific Railroad, along with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Collis Huntington.

Below is a daguerreotype of Mark Hopkins taken in 1848 by Brady’s Gallery, New York.

When Mark Hopkins died suddenly in 1878 his estate was the largest inheritable fortune ever in the world. He died intestate and without an heir. His wife Mary was duly appointed administratrix and adopted Timothy, which provided an heir.

However, the courts were swamped with letters from chaps who claimed Hopkins promised to adopt them too, and one Midwest woman lay claim for $1,000,000 that she said the railroad man had promised he would leave for her.

This was just a taste of the drama to follow, as a significant portion of the country sought to establish familial connections to Hopkins, leading the media to describe the phenomenon as “a second California Gold Rush.”

This newspaper clip from 1961 provides some background on Mark Hopkins and his family. It was published in the Watertown Daily Times as part of a series written by David F. Lane. I added an image and more genealogy.

Mark Hopkins, the millionaire railroader, was one of seven children of Mark [Hopkins (1779-1828)] and Anastasia Lukens Kellogg Hopkins [(1780-1837)]. He was one of the five of their children who were born at Henderson Harbor [New York]. He was born Sept. 1, 1813, the year his father was supervisor. This child was a grandson of Moses Hopkins [(1751-1838)] of Great Barrington [Massachusetts] and a great grandson of Dr. Samuel Hopkins [(1721-1803), and his first wife Joanna (Ingersoll) Hopkins].

Here is a portrait of Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, son of Capt. Timothy and Mary (Judd) Hopkins, and Congregational Church pastor of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and a pastor in Newport, Rhode Island. He was an active opponent of slavery.

The railroad mogul’s father, Mark Hopkins Sr., son of Moses and Anna (Whiting) Hopkins, was born at Great Barrington, Mass., and was married there to his cousin Anastasia Lukens Kellogg. She was a daughter of Lieut. Ezra and Mary (Whiting) Kellogg, Mary Whiting having been a sister of Moses Hopkins’ wife, Anna Whiting.

Mary (Whiting) Kellogg’s Mayflower Lineage:

• William Bradford and Alice Anne (Carpenter) Southworth
• William Bradford and Alice Richards
• Samuel Bradford and Hannah Rogers, daughter of John Rogers (grandson of Mayflower passenger Thomas Rogers) and his wife Elizabeth (Pabodie/Peabody) Rogers, daughter of William Peabody and Elizabeth (Alden) Peabody, daughter of Mayflower passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins
• Elizabeth Bradford and Charles Whiting
• Gamaliel Whiting and Ann Gillett
• Mary “Polly” (Whiting) Kellogg

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Fake Wills & Forged Bibles Lay Claim to Mark Hopkins’ Huge Estate
• The Gilded Age Palace: What Mark Hopkins Bankrolled
• Mad Scramble to Claim Mark Hopkins’ Riches: A ‘New Gold Rush’
• Pedigree, Pearls, and Pooches: The Hopkins Saga Continues
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part I
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part II
• America’s Richest Widow Restores Church and Cemetery of Great Barrington, MA
• R. Moss’ Hoax: A Scam for the Hopkins Fortune
• More Legal Battles over the Mark Hopkins Railroad Fortune
• Scams to Get the Hopkins Fortune: Seances, Table Tipping, and Slate Writing
• More Hopkins Saga: Minister’s Wife Battles Edward Searles
• Kin of America’s Richest Widow Battle Edward Searles in Probate Court

The post Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 48 (part 1) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring the Alden Kindred Society family reunion held in California in 1929.

In June 1929, 70 descendants of Mayflower passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins gathered for a family reunion in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Daily Herald published a feature photo spread showing four generations of Alden descendants, accompanied by a photo of the Alden Homestead in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and a well-known illustration depicting the romantic meeting of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins as immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1858 poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish.

The poem tells the story of John Alden asking Priscilla Mullins if she would marry Alden’s shy friend Miles Standish. Mullins responds, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” and marries Alden instead.

This one illustration and five photos show (left to right):

• John Alden and Pricilla Mullins;
• Colonel Melzar Clinton Richards (1855-1932) of South Pasadena, California, 10th generation descendant of the Aldens and president of the local branch of the Alden Kindred Society;
• Daughters born to Colonel Melzar Clinton Richards and his wife Eliza Lavilla (Nobles) Richards: Elizabeth Ambers (Richards) Jones (1884-1957), wife of Henry Philip Jones (1884-1969), and Helen Irene (Richards) Woodson (1890-1977), wife of Everard Meade Woodson (1882-1968), both 11th generation descendants of the Aldens;
• The Alden Homestead, built in 1653 by Jonathan Alden, son of John and Pricilla (Mullins) Alden in Duxbury, Massachusetts. and the seat of the Alden Kindred Society;
• Constance R. (Jones) Frawley (1906-1971), daughter of Henry Philip and Elizabeth Ambers (Richards) Jones, wife of Frank Hampton Frawley (1898-1986), 12th generation descendant of the Aldens;
• Corinne Iris Frawley (1926-2007), daughter of Frank Hampton and Constance R. (Jones) Frawley, great granddaughter of Colonel Melzar Clinton and his wife Eliza Lavilla (Nobles) Richards, 13th generation descendant of the Aldens.

Lineage:

• John Alden and Priscilla Mullins
• Ruth Alden and John Bass
• Sarah Bass and Ephraim Thayer
• Philip Thayer and Mary Wilson
• John Thayer and Rachel Skinner
• John Thayer and Achsah Powers
• Dolly Thayer and Lyman Willard Richards
• Melzar Thayer Richards and Catherine Smalenberger
• Melzar Clinton Richards and Eliza Lavilla Nobles
• Elizabeth Ambers Richards and Henry Philip Jones
• Constance R. Jones and Frank Hampton Frawley
• Corinne Iris Frawley

Below is a photo of five generations of Alden scions taken before Melzar Clinton Richards’ death in 1932. In this photo we see (left to right, back row): Elizabeth Ambers (Richards) Jones; Eliza Lavilla (Nobles) Richards; Helen Irene (Richards) Woodson; Willard Karle Richards; Melzar Clinton Richards holding great-great granddaughter Eliabeth “Libby”; (left to right, front row): Willam H. Woodson and Corinne Iris Frawley.

Nine Generations of Soldiers

Colonel Melzar Clinton Richards compiled a list of nine generations of military men in his family, published in the Alden Kindred Magazine in 1929:

• John Alden, who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620, is a historically recognized member of the militia group led by Captain Miles Standish.
• John Bass was a member of the company from Braintree, Massachusetts, during King Philip’s War in 1676.
• John Thayer served under Captain Sam Wadsworth, King Philip’s War, 1675. (See New England Genealogical Register, Vol. 40, p. 296.)
• Benjamin Skinner served as a surgeon in the Continental Army during a portion of the Revolutionary War. He is interred at the William Street Cemetery in Mansfield, Massachusetts, where his grave is designated by a Sons of the American Revolution (S.A.R.) marker with this inscription: “In Memory of Deac. Benjamin Skinner who Died July 29th 1782 in ye 72nd Year of his age.”

• Ebenezer Richards responded to the alarm in Lexington on 19 April 1775. He served as a corporal in Captain Ebenezer Battle’s Dedham Company, and later as a sergeant in the same company within Colonel McIntosh’s Regiment from 23 March 1778 to 19 April 1778 in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
• Colonel Melzar Thayer Richards (1822-1865) served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He held positions as captain, major, and lieutenant colonel in the 24th New York Infantry and Cavalry, U.S. Volunteers. On 5 April 1865, during the Battle of Amelia Springs in Virginia, Col. Richards was killed in action. He died shortly before Major General Crook’s cavalry division intercepted part of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s army, leading to Lee’s surrender on 9 April 1865. Richards had eight siblings and left his widow Catherine with seven children.

Below is a sword presented to Richards on 27 March 1864 by Companies G & I at the Parish Masonic Lodge in Parish Orange County, New York.

• There is a letter written by Col. Melzar Thayer Richards to his nephew. In it he mentions his 13-year-old son Charles Willard Richards (1848-1938), serving as the drummer boy for Company D of the 24th New York Infantry. He was taken prisoner at the Second Battle of Bull Run. You can read it on Spared & Shared.

Charles married Hannah Main and had four sons. He was the proprietor of the Hotel Richards until his death. He died on 6 March 1938, and has many descendants.

• Charles Willard Richards Jr. served in the Spanish American War with the 65th Regiment N.Y. Troops from Buffalo, New York, in 1898.

• Lieutenant Colonel Willard Karle Richards served in the U.S. Army during World War I. He began as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, in 1906. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1910, promoted to first lieutenant in 1915, and became a captain in 1917. In 1918, he held the ranks of major and later lieutenant colonel in the National Army. He was an instructor at the U.S. Artillery School in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Below is a photo of Richards when he was a cadet at West Point in 1910.

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Article:

• In Memory of the Pilgrim Fathers: John Alden (part 2)

The post Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 47 (part 1) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for articles about your ancestors from Maryland in these newspapers. Our MD newspapers are divided into two collections, each with their own search page:

• Newspaper Archives (complete paper with all articles, including historical obituaries, with a number of very rare single-issue newspapers – many of them are the only known issues of the paper)
• Obituaries (including both historical and recent obituaries, if obits are specifically what you are searching for)

Search Maryland Newspaper Archives (1728 – 1963)

Search Maryland Obituaries (1990 – Today)

Here is the full list of Maryland newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The MD newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.

*Date Ranges may have selected coverage unavailable.

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial

Note on the header image: the Maryland State House, Annapolis, Maryland. Credit: Upstateherd; Wikimedia Commons.

Related Resource:

• U.S. State History (GenealogyBank Pinterest Board)U.

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Today I continue with my series “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring the family of Michael “Mike” Joseph Sabot, a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and William Brewster.

To recap: Part 4 lists the Brewster lineage and history of Brewster’s Neck Cemetery and the Brewster Monument in Preston, Connecticut. The Hopkins lineage is covered in part 3.

Out of the eight children born to Jonathan Brewster (eldest son of Mayflower passenger William Brewster) and his wife Lucretia (Oldham) Brewster, Michael Sabot descends from their daughter Mary Brewster and her husband John “the Elder” Turner of Scituate, Massachusetts, son of Humphrey and Lydia Turner.

Two generations later their granddaughter Sarah Turner married into the Caulkins/Calkins line. Deacon Hugh Caulkins, the progenitor of this family, immigrated to Massachusetts from England and later settled in New London, Connecticut, in the early 1650s.

Sarah married Jonathan Caulkins/Calkins, son of David and Mary (Bliss) Caulkins, and grandson of Deacon Hugh Caulkins.

Many of Michael Sabot’s ancestors were maritime men, including his 4th great grandfather Captain Julius Francis “Frank” Caulkins (1833-1877), son of Captain David and Delia (French) Caulkins.

An article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune includes a photo of Michael Sabot’s great uncle Lester Mosley Gill with his granddaughter Mary Highland Gill, viewing a portrait of the ship Energy.

This article reports:

The grandparents of Lester Gill, right, took their wedding trip aboard the pictured bark “Energy,” once of the Spofford and Tilestone New York and Liverpool Line of packets. His grandfather, Julius Caulkins, was the ship’s captain, and his grandmother, Eugenia [“Jennie” Mary (Keeler) Caulkins], kept the ship’s log. Gill has the log which records the trip back from Liverpool to New York. Details of the vessel were pointed out by Gill to his 10-year-old granddaughter, Mary Hyland Gill, visiting in Bradenton from Des Moines, Iowa. The ship is flying an American flag with 24 stars, dating the painting between 1822 and 1836. The bark later went aground off Charleston, S.C., in 1872.

Along with the wedding trip in 1866, Eugenia traveled on board with her husband Captain Caulkins again in 1872 with their two daughters, Edith Serena Caulkins and Eugenie Eyland Caulkins.

Here is a painting of the Energy flying the American flag with 24 stars. Captain Caulkins made several trips to England, Italy, and Holland until her wreck in 1872.

Below are some photos of the family members.

This is Eugenia “Jennie” Mary (Keeler) Caulkins (1837-1891), daughter of Matthew and Serena Margreta (Howard) Keeler.

The next two images are copies of photos from the family scrapbook. They show Captain Julius F. Caulkins and his four daughters (left to right): Eugenie Eyland Caulkins (married Robert Gill); Maud Isabelle Caulkins (married Ernest Alfred Herrick); Elizabeth “Bessie” Hargrove Caulkins (married Errett Luther Callahan); and Edith Serena Caulkins (married Lyman Francis Gray).

Here is a transcription of a passage from Eugenia’s logbook dated 8 October 1866 onboard Energy. The passengers listed at the top of the logbook are the following: Gardner Pike and his wife; Mrs. Sue Hunter; Bridget Shannon; and Edward Lefson. In this passage Eugenia mentions a birthday and wedding anniversary connected to her family.

This passage reads:

Monday, October 8, 1866

A.M. moderate breezes and pleasant weather; all possible drawing sail set. P.M. moderate breezes and fine weather. The day ends with light breezes and gathering clouds. Pumps carefully attended. Mother’s birthday not forgotten [Eugenia’s mother, Serena Margreta (Howard) Keeler, born on 8 October 1813]; Serena’s wedding day as well [Eugenia’s sister Serena Margreta Keeler married George Chance Eyland on 8 October 1850]. Captain [Caulkins] swung a hammock on deck for the accommodation of the ladies and marked off a game of shuffleboard. Altogether proves himself very gallant! Thermometer 70 degrees warm off St. George’s shoals. A number of Mother Carey’s chickens [storm petrels, small seabirds believed by sailors to be sent by Mother Carey to warn of approaching storms] following the ship; very curious to look at, as they never touch but one foot to the water at a time.

A rare, miniature stoneware presentation rum jug, incised “J.F.C /His Jug,” owned by Captain Caulkins, went to auction in 2010. Below is a photo of the jug, courtesy of Crocker Auctions in Maryland.

Another relic owned by Captain Caulkins appears in a 1968 newspaper clip: a Charles X of France chair, an heirloom passed down to Lester Mosley Gill.

According to Lester, the provenance of the chair was proven through an obituary dated 5 May 1875 following the death of Captain Francis M. French. (Actually, Captain French died on 5 May 1874.) Michael Sabot has a copy of the obituary in his family scrapbook.

Captain French was the commander of the merchant vessel Great Britian in 1830. When King Charles X was exiled from France and Louise Phillippe was recalled from exile to be declared king, the Great Britian was chartered to convey the royal family from Calais to Dover. Upon reaching England safely the dethroned monarch presented Capt. French with some of his furniture. The armchair was among the items.

Captain French (1797-1874) is the son of Francis and Sylvia (Pritchard) French. His sister Delia French is Captain Caulkins’ wife.

Stay tuned for the Energy 1872 shipwreck and more!

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial

Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Stephen Hopkins & the Wreck of the ‘Sea Venture’
• Stephen Hopkins & the Wreck of the ‘Sea Venture’ (part 2)
• Mayflower Mutiny & Other Musings on Stephen Hopkins
• Mayflower Mutiny & Other Musings on Stephen Hopkins (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 38 (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 3)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 4)

The post Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 5) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

Today I resume the next part of my series “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring Michael “Mike” Joseph Sabot, a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and William Brewster.

Below is a photo taken in 1980 of Michael with his “Nana” Ruth Manson (Cole) Gill (1899-1981), a direct descendant of Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins. I covered her Hopkins lineage and wedding in part 3.

Lineage:

• William Brewster and Mary (maiden name unknown)
• Jonathan Brewster and Lucretia Oldham
• Mary Brewster and John “the Elder” Turner
• Ezekial Turner and Susanna Keeney
• Sarah Turner and Jonathan Calkins/Caulkins
• Thomas Caulkins and Mary Rogers
• Jonathan Caulkins and Lydia Smith
• David Caulkins and Delia French
• Julius Francis “Frank” Caulkins and Eugenia Mary “Jennie” Keeler
• Eugenie Eyland Caulkins and Robert Gill. [Note: after Mr. Gill died in 1899 Eugenie married her brother-in-law Lyman Francis Gray (1864-1938).]
• Robert Eugene Gill and Ruth Manson Cole (a descendant of Stephen Hopkins)
• Gertrude Eugenie “Trudy” Gill and Henry Joseph “Hank” Sabot Jr.
• Michael “Mike” Joseph Sabot

Descendants Of Elder Brewster

An article published in the Boston Recorder newspaper reports on a meeting held by the organized society called the Descendants of Elder William Brewster in 1853. In that meeting, the committee recognized the need to create an accurate and thorough history of Elder William Brester, the spiritual leader of the Pilgrims.

In addition, a memorial to honor Jonathan Brewster (eldest son of Elder William Brewster), who moved from Duxbury, Massachusetts, to Connecticut, along with Alexander Standish (eldest son of Mayflower passenger Myles Standish), was agreed upon at the meeting. It was to be placed at the “Brewster’s Neck Cemetery” – the area is now present-day Preston, Connecticut.

These next two photos are courtesy of Barbara Rodgers and her In the Woods blog. The first shows the entrance to Brewster’s Neck Cemetery.

Here is a photo of the memorial erected to Jonathan Brewster.

The inscription reads:

In Memory of
Mr. Jonathan Brewster;
eldest son of
Elder Wm. Brewster;
Born in England.
Came to Plymouth
in 1621 & to New London
in 1648-9.
removed to this,
Brewsters Neck,
in 1650.
History speaks of his acts.
Deceased AD.
1661.

Lucretia Brewster Visits School

In 2004 the Blessed Sacrament Elementary School in the Valley section of Providence, Rhode Island, got a visit from a Plimoth Plantation reenactor portraying Lucretia Brewster, or “Goodwife Brewster”; her visit made the papers. The article includes a photo of her dressed in 17th century Pilgrim style, which included a white cap, or coif. The second photo shows her with two students dressed in Pilgrim fashion.

The reenactor who portrayed Goodwife Brewster was Moira Turnan Hannon from Plimoth Plantation, aka Plimoth Patuxet, a living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Goodwife Brewster shared some Pilgrim customs with the students. For example, all males between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to be part of the town’s militia. By the time children reached the ages of 8 or 9, they were working most days.

Military Duty

And speaking of the military, Michael Sabot and his family all served in active duty. Below are some photos. The first is of Michael Sabot, who served in the Vietnam War.

Here is a photo of Aza Joseph Sabot, son of Michael and Graciela (Pacheco Solis) Sabot. Aza served in the U. S. Army on two Afghanistan Freedom tours. He is married and has children.

This next photo is Matthew Michael Malnichuck, grandnephew of Michael Sabot, born to Mark W. and Marie Estelle (Sabot) Malnichuck, with his wife Christina (Griffin) Malnichuck. Matthew served in the Marine Corp in Iraq.

In this last photo we see brothers Yossi and Dovid Leverton, grandnephews of Michael Sabot, born to Mendel and Cheryl “Bassie” (Ungar) Leverton, and grandchildren of Samuel Carroll and Wendy Ann (Sabot) Ungar. Yossi and Dovid serve in the IDF, or Israel Defense Forces, alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym Tzahal. The IDF is the national military of the state of Israel.

To be continued!

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Stephen Hopkins & the Wreck of the ‘Sea Venture’
• Stephen Hopkins & the Wreck of the ‘Sea Venture’ (part 2)
• Mayflower Mutiny & Other Musings on Stephen Hopkins
• Mayflower Mutiny & Other Musings on Stephen Hopkins (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 38 (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 3)

The post Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 43 (part 4) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

In my previous article, “The Ducking Stool: Colonial Cure for the Common Scold,” I wrote about the notorious centuries-old punishment for female fiendishness. As noted in the eighth volume of Ruling Case Law:

“At early common law a woman who used wicked, scandalous and infamous words in a public place and within the hearing of citizens was indictable as a common scold and subject to the penalty of the ducking or cucking stool.”

What about ducking male scolds?

That question was posed by a New York newspaper in 1824.

The following year, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania set aside a judgment from the Court of Common Pleas that had sentenced a common scolder to the ducking stool.

“This punishment is a remnant of barbarism, and deserves to be abolished,” opined a Connecticut newspaper reporting the case, adding that “there are as many scolding men as women.”

The Keystone State played “an outsized role” in prosecuting women as common scolds, even after the revised penal code repealed the ducking stool, this “relic of barbarism,” in 1860. However, commonwealth law declared that “every felony, misdemeanor or offense whatever, not specifically provided for by this act, may and shall be punished as to heretofore.”

In Northampton County on 30 August 1865, Elenora Mohn behaved as a common scold, according to an indictment. Elenora, “an evil-disposed person,” attempted to debauch and corrupt citizens, openly and publicly with a loud voice, by uttering “wicked, scandalous and infamous words.”

The Mohn case caught national attention, as shown by this Chicago newspaper article.

“The ducking stool is not the punishment of a common scold in Pennsylvania,” wrote attorney Solomon B. Boyer in 1891. “The offense, however, is indictable and to be punished by fine, or by fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.”

Eventually, men would get into the act when the “common scold” term broadened to include a male menace.

In 1892, Philadelphian Robert McKeown was held on $600 bail for being a common scold, the accusation pressed by neighbor Carrie New, with 13 nearby residents joined as witnesses.

John Hartmann, another nagging neighbor in the City of Brotherly Love, was arrested for the same offense in 1898. This article, by the Philadelphia Record, was reprinted by a newspaper in Montana.

The article reports on this interesting exchange that occurred in the courtroom:

When the magistrate held Hartmann on the charge of being a common scold and demanded bail, the defendant’s lawyer cried: “You cannot hold my client on the charge. Who ever heard of a man being a common scold?” “I did, just now, and unless your client enters bail for $400, he will take a ride in the wagon waiting outside,” replied the court.

Yet another petulant Philadelphian, Herman Nitchy, was arrested in 1901 after his daughter filed a complaint against him as a common scold. “You never heard anything like him, I am certain,” said daughter Mamie. “He scolds from morning to night. He gets up scolding and he scolds the last thing at night.” A magistrate held nettling Nitchy on $600 bond. “If he waits until mother gets bail for him he will wait forever,” said Mamie.

A New Jersey woman made headlines in 1905 when she was named as a ducking candidate.

This article reports:

Because eternal warfare was waged, it is asserted, between Mrs. Charlotte P. Wood and sundry small boys in the vicinity of her home in Webster Street [Jersey City, New Jersey], Mrs. Wood has been indicted by the grand jury on the ground that “she was and is [a] common scold.”

Mrs. Wood objected to the youngsters batting balls through her windows and throwing mud on her sidewalk. On numerous occasions, it is alleged, she administered chastisement to them and quarreled with their parents.

Under the ancient law related to common scolds, Mrs. Wood may be ducked in “the nearest pond, creek, or river” if she is found guilty. It is more than a century since a scold has been ducked in New Jersey.

Philadelphian Anna Eppley was found guilty of being a common scold in 1918. “Over a score of Mrs. Eppley’s neighbors appeared in court to complain of her conduct,” reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. “They declared that from the time the defendant’s husband arrived at home in the evening about 6 o’clock until he left the following morning for work, Mrs. Eppley fought with him, calling him names and disturbing the peace and rest of her neighbors.” The court sentenced her to three months in the county prison.

Three Pittsburg sisters were charged under the old common law offense in 1947. Evidence introduced at the trial included a secret phonographic recording of the trio as they hurled abusive language across a fence at neighbors. Sitting red-faced as they heard the blue language, jurors returned a guilty verdict, sentencing one of the women to a three-month jail term, while her two sisters received 13 months to two years in a reformatory.

Incredibly, even in the 1970s, suburban Philadelphians faced indictment for the offense of being a “common scold”!

Mrs. Joanne Hauk was found not guilty. Her story, perhaps the last hurrah for common scold prosecutions, prompted humorist Dick West to quip that “congressional crime hearings have turned up evidence that organized common scolding rings are operating throughout the land, often under the cover of legitimate enterprises.”

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Note on the header image: replica ducking stool at Leominster, England; last used in 1809. Credit: John Phillips; Wikimedia Commons.

Related Article:

• The Ducking Stool: Colonial Cure for the Common Scold

The post The Ducking Stool: Colonial Cure for the Common Scold (part 2) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

Here is a photo of the Pilgrim Fathers Window, St Helena’s Church, High St., Austerfield, Doncaster DN10 6QU, United Kingdom. The first panel of the window shows William Bradford, who was born in Austerfield, outside the church, with the inscription “William Bradford Baptised 1589 at Austerfield” on the bottom. The second and third panels depict Bradford and others signing the Mayflower Compact, with the Mayflower in the background of the second panel and the houses of Plymouth Colony in the background of the third panel. Two quotes from his history Of Plymouth Plantation, “We knew that we were pilgrims” and “One small candle,” are above the window.

Today I continue with my series “In Memory of the Pilgrim Fathers,” focusing on some of the early history of Plymouth Colony.

I found an article in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives that caught my eye.

Eugene “Gene” Arthur Fortine, a 13th generation descendant of Mayflower passenger Elder William Brewster, visited the Lake Cabot Elementary School in Castro Valley, California, in 2004 dressed in the fashion of his ancestors, to provide some history on the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving.

In addition to the Mayflower Society, Mr. Fortine held memberships with several other hereditary societies, such as: the Jamestowne Society (for which he was former Councilor of the First California Company); Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy (former Councilor); and Elder William Brewster Society.

Below is a photo of Mr. Fortine along with his memorial bio published by the Hereditary Society Community.

In the San Francisco Chronicle article above, Fotine informs the reporter that accurately preserving history was of great significance to him and the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the genealogical organization he represented, where he previously held the position of governor general.

According to a brochure published by the Society of Mayflower Descendants, a descendant’s job is:

“to perpetuate to a remote posterity the memory of our Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers, [and] to maintain and defend the principle of civil and religious liberty as set forth in the Mayflower Compact.”

The brochure also states that a descendant seeks:

“to cherish and maintain the ideals and institutions of American freedom, [and] to transmit the spirit, the purity of purpose and steadfastness of will of the Pilgrims to those who shall come after us.”

Fortine references William Bradford, the second governor of the Plymouth Colony, as an example of a pioneer who contributed to the establishment of a new colony that emphasized democratic principles.

Fortine says that the Pilgrims in the New World thrived under the refined leadership of Governor Bradford, who was both devout and intellectual. He possessed the ability to guide his people through the challenges of the New World while adeptly managing political affairs.

Below is a photo of the frontal view of Gov. William Bradford’s statue. To view all the statue’s sides and inscriptions visit HMDB.com.

The inscription on the base of the statue reads:

William Bradford, Governor and Historian of the Plymouth Colony. Born in Austerfield, England, 1590. Died in Plymouth, New England, 1657.

Note: One of Bradford’s publications, Of Plymouth Plantation, provides a first-hand account of the voyage and the establishment of the Plymouth Colony.

Despite his religious ideals, Bradford saw the world in complex shades. He collaborated with Elder William Brewster, an ex-member of Queen Elizabeth’s staff and a Cambridge university attendee.

In the newspaper article, Fortine says:

“Brewster became the religious leader, Bradford became the secular leader, and they didn’t cross lines, though there was no intention of God being left out.”

The article further reports:

Bradford, Brewster and others of the group that later became known as the Pilgrims were religious separatists from the north of England who had to move their base to Holland because the king’s men were after them.

Here is a photo of Scrooby Manor in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England, which was the home of William Brewster. It served as a meeting place for the early separatists.

They eventually hired two ships, one of which, the Mayflower, proved seaworthy, and set off for America with a mixed group that included fellow separatists fleeing the royal dictates of the Church of England, passengers brought along for their practical skills, and others traveling for various personal reasons.

Here is a photo of reenactors portraying the Pilgrims leaving Holland. It’s from “The Pilgrim Spirit” shown in the Pilgrim pageant staged at Plymouth, Massachusetts, July and August 1921.

Edmund Burke, an influential Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher of the 18th century, made profound observations regarding the religious background and ethos of the American colonists and noted:

“Nothing in the history of mankind is like the progress of the Pilgrims.”

Stay tuned for the first Thanksgiving: Fortine with the help of his friend of mixed Native American and Pilgrim descent present an accurate account.

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Article:

• In Memory of the Pilgrim Fathers: William Brewster (part 1)
• In Memory of the Pilgrim Fathers: John Alden (part 2)

The post In Memory of the Pilgrim Fathers: Early Plymouth History (part 3) appeared first on GenealogyBank Blog.

Dig deep into our online archives and search for articles about your ancestors from Maine in these newspapers. Our ME newspapers are divided into two collections, each with their own search page:

• Newspaper Archives (complete paper with all articles, including historical obituaries, with a number of very rare single-issue newspapers – many of them are the only known issues of the paper)
• Obituaries (including both historical and recent obituaries, if obits are specifically what you are searching for)

Search Maine Newspaper Archives (1785 – 1958)

Search Maine Obituaries (1992 – Today)

Here is the full list of Maine newspapers in the online archives. Each newspaper title in this list is an active link that will take you directly to that paper’s search page, where you can begin searching for your ancestors by surnames, dates, keywords and more. The ME newspaper titles are listed alphabetically by city.