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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Goody Pease of Salem Town

Article from The Essex Genealogists Volume 4, Number 3 August 1984 Click Link to download by Elaine K. Pease    See also Three Mary Peases of Salem Massachusetts and Sarah Pease, Accused Witch of Salem
Sarah Pease
(See also: Benjamin Proctor -- Complaint, Warrant.)

(Warrant for Arrest of Sarah Pease )

To the Marshall of Essex or his dept or Constables of Salem
You are in theire Majest's names hereby required to apprehend and forthwith bring before us ( Sarah pease the wife of Robert pease of Salem Weaver who stands charged with sundry acts of Witchcraft by her Committed Lately on the Body of Mary Warren of Salem Village whereby great Injury was do[nbar ] her. &c) in order to her Examination Relateing to the same faile not Dated Salem May 23'd 1692
*John Hathorne
*Jonathan. Corwin
[Pbar ]r ord'r of the Govern'r & Councill
I heave aprehended the parson mensioned within this warrant and heave broghte hir
[Pbar ]r me. *Peter Osgood Constable in Salem May. the 23: 1692
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 51 )

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Williams Family of Verona Collection

A Share by Robert Williams author & historian Vernon Historical Link

Click Link to Purchase at Amazon
Box 1
Folders

Aunt Dorothy & family
Great Aunts (Keifer)
Barmore family
Albert Brady
Brady Family
Harvey A. Williams Family Tragedy
Old family Homes
Michael & Anna M. Keifer Portraits
Keifer Poem
Letter about Michael Keifer
Keifer Misc.
Civil War Pension--Anna Maria Kiefer
Michael Kiefer Civil War Service Record
Pictures Maud Knipshild
M. Knipshild—Annin flag factory
M. Knipshild Papers
Misc.
Special News articles
Shiels family—Long Barn—Ireland
Pictures—Nana’s children
Pictures—Catherine Williams
Marriage Certificate C. Shiel & W. Wms.
Geo. E. Williams family

Box 2
Folders

George W. Williams
Civil War Pension File--G.W. Williams
Robert J. Williams Newspaper Articles
Robert J. Williams Cpt. Pilot Rating Book
Robert J. Williams Fidelity Bank
Robert J. Williams Papers—also Walter and Elmer
Robert J. Williams High School Graduation

Box 3
Folders

R.J. Williams
Robert L. Williams
Articles Mentioning myself Bob Williams
Robert L. Williams Photos—Star Ledger Articles
Walpack Property

Box 4
Folders

Williams Family History Manuscript
Williams Family History Research
Williams Family Pictures in Walpack, N.J.
Zadoc Williams I—estate papers
Zeb Williams House
Williams Family—Verona, N.J.
Williams family
Williams Family
Williams Family Photos from Nana’s Green Album
Williams Family Photos from Nana’s Green Album
Williams Family Photos from Nana’s Green Album
Windrich Family—Cedar Grove, N.J.
Reagan Autograph—My parents got this

Box 5
Folders

Robert J. Williams--Bank
Letters About Family

Box 6
Folders

One Victorian Williams Family Album (red), from George W. Williams Line.

The Pension of Russell Andrus

Share by Jim and Kathy Palm War of 1812 blog

Major Index Pension List
War of 1812

ANDRUS, Russell and Zerviah  W.O. 20853
W.C. 11359
BLW 40713
40 acres 1850; 39704, 120 acres 1855
Captain [Jarvis] Crittenden
Enlisted 29 August 1814
Discharged: 29 September 1814
Residence of Widow:  1851, 1855, Sterling, Macomb Co., Michigan
"                    "    1878, Wahoo, Saunders Co., Nebraska
Maiden Name: Zerviah Pelton
Married: 7 April 1825, Middlebury, NY
Death Soldier: 10 September 1850, Sterling, Michigan
"  Widow: 3 August 1879  Cereso, Saunders Co., Nebraska

Went to Fort Erie as part of his service.  Russell Andrus's father was identified as Isaac Andrus here.

From "History of Macomb County, Michigan, containing ... biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers: the whole preceded by a history of Michigan ..":
When I was a lad, between nine and ten years of age, my father, Abijah Owen, then living in the State of New York, Genesee Co., conceived the idea of emigrating to the West. Some of his townsmen, among whom were Calvin Davis, Elon and Russel Andrus, Joseph and Daniel Miller, Elder Abel Warren, and some others, had gone a year or two previous.  In the latter part of the month of June, 1825, he started with his family of five children and their mother for the far-famed territory of Michigan. War of 1812 Claim of Widow for Service Pension (on Fold3):

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Things that go bump in the night…

by Emma Davidson and the Royal Society 
I’ll take any excuse to write a suitably seasonal blog post, and a recent enquiry concerning a paper about witchcraft in our Robert Boyle collection prompted me to see if we had any other eerie archives or ghoulish grimoires. As you might expect, early Fellows of the Royal Society appear to have been just as interested in these matters as they were in everything else. Various papers about suitably spooky subjects were also published in the Royal Society’s journals, particularly Egyptian mummies, as Girl Scientist has identified in her recent piece for the Guardian.


In addition to the prevalence of preserved people in our publishing, witchcraft makes a number of appearances in the Royal Society’s archives. One of Henry Oldenburg’s many correspondents sent him an account of some witches living in Rouen in 1671 (EL/B2/12), whilst Robert Boyle’s papers contain a neatly transcribed extract from Sir James Melville’s Memoirs (published in 1683) detailing a group of witches in Lothian who were allegedly involved in a plot against King James. In the usual way of such trials things did not end well for the accused and they were burnt. Adding verisimilitude to the verdict, the account contains some wonderful descriptions of the Devil, who features as a co-conspirator in the plot: apparently “his face was terrible, his nose like the beak of an eagle, great burning eyes, his hands and his legs were hoary with claws upon his hands and feet like the gryphon” (BP/37/103).

Another letter to Oldenburg describes a Cornish family who were beset by what sounds like a poltergeist, suffering nightly from an “extraordinary and violent whirling of clotts of plaisterings, and great stones from an invisible hand in the house”. This distressing activity ceased when the maid-servant was away from the house, and they solved the problem by dismissing her, although the suspected source of the disturbances was an old woman (suspected of being a witch) who had died some two months previously following a falling-out with the beleaguered family which had been caused by some injudicious comments passed on by the maid (EL/C1/20).

In addition to ill-advised diabolical entanglements and disturbances initiated from beyond the grave, accusations of witchcraft were also based on what we would consider to be rather more mundane concerns, as the following cautionary extract from the first Journal Book demonstrates:
Dr Wilkins put the Company in mind to improve their former consideration of making a History of the weather, in order to build thereupon an art of prognosticating the changes thereof : And he suggested that to some of the Members of the Society it might be recommended to make constant observation , at least of the most considerable changes of weather ; in order whereunto, Mr Hooke was desired to engage herein, which he did : and Dr Wilkins undertook to recommend the same to Dr Power. It was also thought fit that Dr Wren should be written to, to send to the Society a scheme of his weather–engine formerly proposed, to see whether it needed any addition or not.
Sir Kenelm Digby related that Dr Dee, by a diligent observation of the weather for 7 years together acquired such a prognosticating skill of weathers, that he was therefore counted a witch (JBO/1/146).
This fascination with witchcraft was recognised by C.R. Weld in his book “A History of the Royal Society“, published in 1848, which includes a rather fine engraving of Matthew Hopkins, the Witch Finder General. Weld applauded the fact that the founding of the Society heralded a move into more rational times, and criticised the earlier superstitions which gave rise to accusations of witchcraft.

The archives also contain at least one ghost story, recounted in a letter from Cave Beck in 1668, in which a shape-shifting spectre appears before a ship-board audience before disappearing into neighbouring woods (EL/B1/137).

Sir James McGrigor

Sadly the book collection is more than a little disappointing in this respect, although we do have lots of works on alchemy, including one about the Philosopher’s stone. I did, however, manage to track down An essay on apparitions, written by Sir James McGrigor FRS and published in 1823. This takes a much more scientific approach to its subject matter, as is set out in the introduction:
The following Essay was written originally for a Literary Society to prove the reality of Ghosts, and by accounting for their appearance from natural causes, to remove those impressions of terror which are made upon the minds of youth, when apparitions are supposed to be preternatural.
This subject was illustrated by a number of cases, drawn from the author’s own experience, and which cases were all of them capable of being authenticated at the time by members of the Society.
Moving into the rather more recent past, and turning to “the minds of youth”, our extensive collection of Howard Florey’s papers and correspondence contains a charming Halloween letter (pdf) from his 8 year old son, Charles. Written on 31 October 1942, Charles describes the hybrid dwarf/clown/monkey outfit he plans to wear for Halloween, and mentions a school party involving cookies and candy. No “impressions of terror” there.
At least one current Fellow has taken an interest in this sort of thing too: David Dolphin put forward an interesting theory about vampires, published in New Scientist in 1988.
With the nights getting longer and darker as winter approaches, and as wind and rain fill the black hours with unfamiliar and unexpected sounds, it is perhaps little wonder that even the most cynical amongst us might experience an occasional frisson of unease at this time of year. In the words of one of my favourite poems:
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before.

The Devil went down to Newbury

Newburyport News Witches were among us before 1692 by Melissa Berry
               

                                “Cotton Mather came galloping down

                                           All the way to Newbury town

                                 With his eyes agog and his ears set wide,

                                  And his marvellous inkhorn at his side;

                                       ... And the tales he heard and the notes he took

                                   Behold! Are they not in this Wonder-Book?”

                                                                           — John Greenleaf Whittier



Old Newbury had its share of spectral sensation way before 1692. The “unseen fury” of the Morse home held hostage by an evil presence is colorfully told by Cotton Mather, and court records reveal a herdsman shacking up at the Spencer-Peirce Farm who had “familiarity with the devil,” bewitching the entire countryside: cattle and citizens.

In 1679 the Morse home was the center of a rogue evil possession cooked up by grandson John Stiles whose “juvenile imposture” was “universally received as proof Satan resided there.” Stiles’ hoax “lithobolia attacks” are well documented by Emerson Baker in “The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England.”

The little scamp Stiles never did ‘fess up. Poor Caleb Powell, the only one not drinking the Kool-Aid in the matter, knew it was the little whippersnapper, and Coffin’s history calls it a “tragic-comedy” when his well-intentioned intervention turns into a witchcraft conviction. Powell was acquitted by spring; however, Goody Morse was brought up on charges for possessing her home and grandson. She managed to get out alive, but not without a grueling year of trials and jail time.

Another naughty knave coasted into town weaving an abominable web that no one could untangle. John Godfrey, wicked warlock of Essex County, supposedly “accompanied by an evil Spirit,” and “being instigated by the devil,” had “made much hurt & mischief by several acts of witchcraft to the bodies & goods of several persons as by several evidences may appear contrary to the peace” (court records). If truth be told, Godfrey was no more of a black arts augurer than Morse was a witch, but Essex County residents wanted him to get the rope.

Godfrey arrived on the ship Mary and John with John Spencer to work the farm in Newbury herding cattle. Spencer locked horns with the local Puritan posse and returned to England, leaving the estate to his nephew, John Spencer. Godfrey stayed on and mastered a position as local herdsman. However, his deviant lifestyle was more wolf than shepherd.

Godfrey’s plebeian nature (cursing, drunkenness, tobacco smoking, traveling on Sabbath, slander) was constantly landing him in front of the magistrates who administered heavy fines and public humiliation, one sentence ordering him to stand “upon pillory with inscription written in Capital letters upon a paper: for suborning witnesses.”

Godfrey had a side profession selling and deeding properties. His methods for collecting were anything but orthodox. He had filed 100-plus laws suits and counter-suits over property, goods and services. He won more than he lost, ticking off the community and earning a reputation as a bullying loan shark. Fed up with “the devilish rogue,” the town folk cried witchery on him.

The Spencer farm would be the subject of his witch convictions (1669) when William Osgood, a carpenter, was hired by Spencer to build a barn. Godfrey had words with Osgood and years later he bought land from him. Both transactions were not harmonious; and after 20 years of bad blood and Osgood’s relatives and friends getting the screws from Godfrey, they all came together to testify in a series of court appearances.

Godfrey became an infamous “perennial witchcraft suspect” often found “suspiciously guilty” but not “legally guilty” and was released with a verbal warning to discontinue his “blasphemous” way of life. He always returned to the nest of his accusers and almost immediately resorted back into his cheeky lifestyle and no one got free from his tyrant web. He did visit the gallows and was sentenced to stand with a halter about his neck followed with a whipping, but that was for setting fire to a home he had tried to foreclose on.

Baker points out that these earlier cases “demonstrated that witches could be held accountable for a wide range of evil deeds, not just unleashing their specters to harm people.” Furthermore, Baker adds, “the fact that all these earlier cases were convicted but spared shows just how reluctant the government of Massachusetts had become, by the 1680s, to execute a witch. These facts make the cases a most interesting contrast with the trial and execution of so many witches in Salem a decade later.”

Thanks Emerson Baker, www.salemstate.edu/~ebaker. And look for “A Storm of Witchcraft: The Trials of Salem and a Nation” in 2014.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Bath New Hampshire: The Haunted Hibbard House

A Share from Janice Brown


Reportedly the Harry Hibbard House in Bath, New Hampshire is haunted. One report states that Harry “walks the halls of his Federalist mansion.” I’m not out to prove that the haunting is true, but I certainly can examine the lives of the real people behind the story. Some folks say that ghosts are dead people who are stuck between the place of the living and those of the dead, possibly as the result of a terrible accident, tragedy, or trauma. The Hibbard family certainly had their share of tragedy–especially Mrs. Hibbard. Sarah Hale was born the 6th day of January in 1822, in Keene New Hampshire, the daughter of David & Hannah (Emerson) Hale.  Her mother was reportedly a relative of Hannah Dustin, the famous (or possibly infamous) woman who was captured by Indians, and managed to kill most of her captors and escape.  Her aunt by marriage was Sarah Josepha (Buell) Hale, whose husband David Hale has died prematurely young, leaving his widow and children.




Sarah married in 1843 to Stephen Rowe Bellows. Sadly he died only 7 months later.  She remained a widow for four years, returning to Keene NH to live, when she met and married in 1848 to Harry Hibbard.  He was a proficient attorney, and she moved with him to his home in Bath, New Hampshire.  Another untimely tragedy occurred, when their only child Alice died at a very early age.  When Harry Hibbard became active in politics, she supported his efforts, and they spent several happy years together.
As a young attorney in 1844, before his marriage to Sarah, Harry Hibbard had been involved as a prosecuting attorney in the murder trial of William F. Comings, for killing his wife. The jury found Comings guilty of murder in the first degree, and he was sentenced to hang.  In June 1853, after being in prison for nine years, William Comings was finally pardoned by the executive authority of the State of New Hampshire.  Mr. Comings went on to marry a second time, and to move “out west.” [more on this story will appear in a separate article]
While still a fairly young man, Harry developed a “painful and protracted illness,” and eventually was admitted to a sanatorium (actually the McLean Asylum For the Insane, at  Somerville MA). Harry died there in 1872 at the age of 56 years, of “brain disease.”
Sarah grieved for her husband, but continued to live in their home in Bath NH where she collected a variety of historical documents. These papers, which she donated to the New Hampshire historical society, included the signatures or handwriting of many famous politicians and writers.
Seven years after her husband’s death, in 1879, she died suddenly, and was buried next to Harry, under a red granite cross. During her funeral, it is recorded that Rev. William O. White, a twenty-five year pastor of the Unitarian Church in Keene repeated these lines at her grave:

  “Here, in an inn a stranger dwelt,
   Here joy and grief, by turns, she felt,
   Poor dwelling!  Now we close the door,
   The sojourner returns no more.

   Now of a lasting home possessed,
   She goes to seek a deeper rest,
   Then open to her, gates of peace!
   And bid the pilgrim’s journey cease.”

The preachers words would be prophetic, in that Sarah’s home would later become an inn (or at least a B&B) for a time. But is it Sarah who produces the smell of cigar smoke that is sometimes reported in her former house? And who or what is responsible for the rapping noises? Janice

                                                      Photo from Hale Farm


HALE FAMILY GENEALOGY
Thomas-1 Hale and his wife, Thomasine or Tamosin, and son Thomas, came to Newbury MA in 1635. They may have been part of the group who first settled in Newbury MA on the banks of the “Quascacunquen,” or Parker River. Coffin supposed him to have been the son of William Hale, Esq. of King’s Walden, Herts, England born there 15 May 1606, but it is not conclusively established. The date and ship of his arrival is unknown. He is described by Coffin as “ae. 78″ at his death in 1682, while others state he is “ae 167″ in 1677 and “ae. 50″ in 1660. Savage ways he was “freeman 7 Sept 1638″. Tradition says that this Thomas of Newbury MA and Deacon Robert Hale of Charlestown were brothers. If this is true then Thomas of Newbury was not the son of William of King’s Walden, as that William had no son Robert. 10 Aug 1638 Thomas Hale was appointed “hayward” along with John Baker. He moved to Haverhill MA “from Newbury” in 1645, where his name heads the list of the first board of selectmen chosen there in 1646. He is mentioned other times in the Haverhill MA town records as road commissioner, a ferry keeper (1648), constable (1649) et al. Around 1652 he returned to Newbury and remained there until 1657 when he moved to Salem MA. He stayed in Salem until 1661, returning once again to Newbury MA. In 1659 Salem lists his occupation as a “glover,” and in 1657 gives him the title “Sarjent.” In real estate transactions he is called “glover,” “yeoman,” and “leather-dresser.” He died 21 Dec 1682 in Newbury MA. His widow, Thomasine died 40 days later in Newbury MA 30 Jan 1682-3.
Children of Thomas & Thomasine (?) Hale: 1. Thomas Hale, b. 1633; m. Mary Hutchinson 2. +John Hale, m1) Rebecca Lowell; m2) Sarah Somerby; m3) Sarah (Symonds) Cottle 4. Samuel Hale, b. 2 Feb 1639-40; m. Sarah Isley 5. Apphia Hale, b. 1642; m. Benjamin Rolfe
John-2 Hale, (Thomas-1) born in Newbury MA; resided in Newbury MA, a “housewright,” or carpenter by occupation, and known as “Sergeant” Hale. He married 1st) 5 Dec 1660, Rebecca Lowell, daughter of Richard Lowell of Newbury MA. She was b. 27 Jan 1642 in Newbury and d. there 1 June 1662. He married 2nd) 8 Dec 1663, Sarah Somerby, dau of Henry and Judith (Greenleaf) Somerby of Newbury MA. She was b. 10 Feb 1645-6 in Newbury MA and d. there 19 June 1672. He married 3d) abt. 1673, Sarah (Symonds) Cottle, widow of — Cottle, born abt 1647 and d. 19 Jan 1699-1700. He had a moderate estate. His 3rd wife must have been the “Sarah Hale, aged 33″ who testified against Caleb Powell at the March term of the Ipswich MA Court in 1680 to the effect that Joseph Moores had often said in her hearing “that if there were any wizards he was sure Caleb Powell was one! (Coffin, p. 125). He died in Newbury MA 2 June 1707. Children of John & Rebecca (Lowell) Hale: 1. John Hale, b. 2 Sep 1661; m. Sarah Jacques
Children of John & Sarah (Somerby) Hale: 2. Samuel Hale, b. 15 Oct 1664; d. 15 May 1672 3. +Henry Hale, b. 20 Oct 1666; m. Sarah Kelly 4. Thomas Hale, b. 4 Nov 1668; died bef 1710 5. Judith Hale, b. 5 July 1670; m. Thomas Moody Children of John & Sarah (Symonds-Cottle) Hale: 6. Joseph Hale, b. 24 Nov 1674; m. Mary Moody 7. Benjamin Hale, b. 11 Aug 1676; d. 31 Aug 1677
8. Moses Hale, b. 10 July 1678; m1) Elizabeth Dummer; m2) Mary Moody
Henry-3 Hale, (John-2, Thomas-1) was born in Newbury MA 20 Oct 1667; married there 11 Sep 1695, Sarah Kelly, prob daughter of John and Sarah (Knight) Kelly. She was born in Newbury MA 1 Sep 1670; she survived her husband and died there 21 Oct 1741. He spent his life in Newbury MA as a carpenter and died there about 1724. On 23 Nov 1724 administration of his estate was granted to his eldest son Thomas. Children of Henry & Sarah (Kelly) Hale:
1. Thomas Hale, b. 15 Nov 1696; m. 12 Jan 1726-7 to Abigail Pillsbury; d. abt 1765 2. Sarah Hale, b. 20/21 Oct 1698; m. 1717 to Stephen Chase; d. 26 Dec 1755 3. Thomasine Hale, b. 10 Sep 1700; m. 30 March 1726 to Peter Morse/Morss 4. Enoch Hale, b. 11 Oct 1702, d. Dec 1702. 5. Enoch Hale 2nd, b. 7 Oct 1703, twin; m. widow Mary Hills; d. 30 May 1755 6. +Edmund Hale, b. 7 Oct 1703, twin, m. Martha Sawyer; d. 29 May 1788 7. Rebecca Hale, b. 4 Oct 1705; d. 11 May 1706 8. Henry Hale, b. 24 Aug 1707; m. Mary Bartlett; d. 21 May 1792; He was one of the pioneers of Nottingham West (now Hudson) NH. He was a farmer on a large scale, a deacon in the church and a leading man in the community where he lived. His posterity is numerous in New Hampshire and Vermont, and in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties in New York.
9. Hannah Hale, b. 8 May 1709; m. Ezra Pillsbury 10. Judith Hale, b. 28 May 1711; m. William Morse Edmund-4 Hale, (Henry-3, John-2, Thomas-1) of Newbury MA, Haverhill MA, Plaistow NH, and Alstead NH. He b. 7 Oct 1703 in Newbury MA (twin to Enoch); he d. 29 May 1788 at Alstead NH. He m. 16 May 1728 to Martha Sawyer, dau of Samuel & Abigail Sawyer. She b. 17 Feb 1706. He bought and sold land several times. In his old age he removed to Alstead NH, probably to reside with his son Joseph, and died there. History of Alstead says he removed there in 1782.
Children of Edmund & Martha (Sawyer) Hale: 1. +Joseph Hale, b. 9 Feb 1729-29 Newbury MA, d. 1814; m. Abigail (Smith) Wise
2. Edmund Hale, b. 12 Nov 1780 Newbury MA; m and settled in Londonderry NH, killed by Indians, left two sons 3. Sarah Hale, b. 4 Apr 1733 in Newbury MA: m. — Bradley; lived in NH 4. Jane Hale, prob b. in Haverhill MA; prob. died yougn 5. Enoch 2nd, b. prob Haverhill MA; settled in Maine 6. Martha Hale, b. prob Haverhill MA 7. Abigail Hale, b. prob Haverhill MA 8. Samuel Hale, b. 7 May 1742; poss settled in MA 9. Henry Hale, b. 5 Dec 1744 Plaistow NH 10. Mary Hale, b. 18 July 1848 Plaistow NH; settled in Lyme NH Joseph-5 Hale, (Edmund-4, Henry-3, John-2, Thomas-1), b. 9 Feb 1728/29 in Newbury MA; d 6 June 1814 Alstead NH; He m. c1751-2 Abigail (Smith) Wise, widow of Wyman Wise. She d. 3 Oct 1808, ae 85 in Alstead NH. He removed with his father to Haverhill MA in 1734 and later removed to Alstead NH prob after the beginning of the American Revolution. He held the office of Coroner in the County of Rockingham NH, under a commission from Sir John Wentoworth, bearing date 15 Dec 1772. Children of Joseph & Abgail (Smith-Wise) Hale: 1. Hannah Hale, b. 13 Dec 1752; m. John Straw/Strachan 2. Moses Hale, b. 8 Dec 1754; m. Abigail Page 3. +David Hale, b. 1758, d. 1822; m. 6 Sep 1781 to Hannah Emerson. She b. 1762 and d. 1822
4. James Hale, b. 2 Sep 1762; m. — Yeomans 5. Martha Hale, b. 25 Apr 1765; m. William Thomson David-6 Hale, (Joseph-5, Edmund-4, Henry-3, John-2, Thomas-1), b. 10 March 1758 Atkinson NH;, d. 26 Oct 1822 Alstead NH; He m. 6 Sep 1781 Hannah Emerson, dau of Josiah & Sarah Emerson of Haverhill. She b. 7 Oct 1762 and d. 28 Nov 1822, and reportedly was related to the famed Hannah Dustin. He served during the American Revolution in several campaigns. Children of David & Hannah (Emerson) Hale: 1. David Hale, b. 3 July 1783 Alstead NH, d. 25 Sep 1822; res. Newport NH who m. 23 Oct 1813 Sarah Josepha (Buell) Hale** 2. James Hale, b. 13 March 1785 Alstead NH, d. 2 Nov 1866; m1) 8 Apr 1807 Jerusha Yeomans; m2) 16 May 1839 Abigail Brown. 3. +Salma Hale, b. 7 March 1787 Alstead NH, d. 19 Nov 1866; m. 4 Jan 1820 Sarah Kellogg KING. She b. 1798 and d. 1865
4. Betsey Hale, b. 27 Aug 1789 Alstead NH; died unmarried 19 May 1876 5. Patty Hale, b. 5 Feb 1792; m 21 May 1812, Benjamin Abbott; she d. 25 Dec 1855 6. Lydia Hale, b. 26 Sep 1795 Alstead NH; m. Elijah Roundy. She d. 15 Apr 1846 7. Thirza Hale, b. 6 Aug 1796 Alstead NH; m. Horace Gregory; she d. 1 Dec 1870 8. infant Hale, b. and d. 22 March 1798 9. Syene Hale, twin, b. 2 Oct 1799 Alstead NH; m1) c1 May 1824 Betsey Dow (b 17 Oct 1803, d. 1 Aug 1844 of Newport NH); he m2) Hannah Philbrick who d. 1879. 10. Silvene Hale, twin, b. 2 Oct 1799; d. 27 Oct 1799 11. Rev. Enoch Hale, b. 19 Sep 1801 Alstead NH, grad. 1826 University of VT, taught school in New London and Alstead NH and d. in Atkinson NH 16 Nov 1830 [or 1820]; m. Sarah Currier
12. Sophy Hale, b. 23 March 1804 Alstead NH; d. 24 March 1804
13. Hannah Hale, b. 8 Apr 1805 Alstead NH; m. 29 June 1829, Cyrus Barton; She d. 3 Feb 1863 14. George Emerson Hale, b. 21 Nov 1808 Alstead NH; d. 14 Nov 1822 Salma-7 Hale, (David-6, Joseph-5, Edmund-4, Henry-3, John-2, Thomas-1), b. 7 March 1787 in Alstead NH, d. 19 Nov 1866, age 79 years. At the age of 13 he was placed in the office of the Farmers’ Museum, a newspaper published at Walpole NH, where he learned the trade of a printer. At 17 he wrote an English grammar first published (in 1804) by THomas & Thomas at Worcester MA, later published in 1831 under the title “A New Grammar of the English Language.” At the age of 18 he became the editor of a republican journal in Walpole NH called the “Political Observatory/Observor.” He was a law student in the office of the Hon. Roger Vose and with Samuel Dinsmoor who was later Governor of NH. In 1812 he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Cheshire Co NH, and went to live in Keene in 1813. In 1816 he was elected to Congress. He received the degree of A.M. at the University of Vermont in 1824, and a degree at Dartmouth College in 1849. He was M.C. from New Hampshire 1817 to 1819 and was a well-known scholar and author. [He wrote, among other titles, "The History of the United States of America upon their First Settlement as Colonies to the Close of the War with Great Britain in 1815," "Annals of Keene NH"]. He was a trustee of then “Dartmouth University,” and a member of the NH House of Representatives, and the State Senate. In 1820 he married 4 Jan 1820 Sarah Kellogg King, dau of Seth and Susan King of Suffield CT, She b. 31 Aug 1798 and d. 19 April 1865. She was one of the regents for New Hampshire of the national association of women for the preservation of Mt. Vernon VA in 1859. She was highly gifted in social affairs and entertained with a genial and delightful hospitality. Children of Salma & Sarah Kellogg (King) Hale: 1. William King-8 Hale, b. 7 Nov 1820 Keene NH; d. 29 Aug 1822 Keene NH 2. +Sarah King-8 Hale, b. 6 Jan 1822 Keene NH; d. 5 Oct 1879; m. 8 Aug 1843 to Stephen Rowe Bellows, who d. 17 March 1844. She m2d) 13 May 1848 to Harry Hibbard (he b. 28 July 1872). Sarah and Harry Hibbard had one child, Alice, who died at an early age. Harry Hibbard was born June 1, 1816 in Concord Vermont, and died 28 July 1872. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College (Hanover NH), where he was a law student. He was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1838. Residing in Bath, New Hampshire, he became involved in politics, both local and national, serving both in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, but also in the United States Congress. He was friends with Franklin Pierce, who reportedly stayed at his home. He died in a sanatorium (actually at McLean Insane Asylum) in Somerville, MA 28 July 1872 of “Brain Disease,”and is buried in the Village Cemetery in Bath NH. 3. George Silsbee-8 Hale, b. 24 Sep 1825 Keene NH, d. 27 July 1897 at Bar Harbor Maine, m. 25 Nov 1868 Ellen (Sever) Tibbetts. She b. 14 June 1835, d. 1904. He graduated from Harvard in 1844 Had at 2 sons, one being, Richard Walden Hale, b. 30 June 1871 in Milton MA and d. 5 March 1943 in Dover MA.
SOURCES:
1. NEHGS Register 2:325 and 31:96; 21:292
2. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910
3. Genealogy of descendants of Thomas Hale of Watton, England, and of Newbury, Mass., by Robert S. Hale, Albany NY; Weed Parsons & Co., 1889; page 367
4. In memory of Sarah King Hibbard, etc. of Bath NH; Not Published; Boston, 1883; Google Books
5. A history of the town of Keene (NH) by Simon Goodell Griffin; Keene NH; Sentinel Print. Co., 1904, page 604

Monday, October 21, 2013

Orchards in Colonial America & the Early Republic

A Share from Barbara Wells Sarudy and her blog American Garden History Blog

Most colonists planted at least a few fruit trees or a larger orchard as soon as possible, when they settled on their land. An orchard is an enclosed garden used to grow fruit trees which provided both food and drink to the colonial family.

Cider was one of the most important drinks of the colonial period. Growing barley for beer, or any other traditional European grains that the settlers might have been accustomed to raising, required the use of a plow. Because the colonists' lands were freshly cleared; stumps remained dotting the landscape, and the use of a plow was nearly impossible.

In 1655, Adrian Van der Donck observed, "The Netherlands settlers, who are lovers of fruit, on observing that the climate was suitable to the production of fruit trees, have brought over and planted various kinds of apples and pear trees which thrive well...The English have brought over the first quinces, and we have also brought over stocks and seed which thrive well and produce large orchards."


In Jamestown, Virginia, it was reported that by 1656, "Orchards innumerable were planted and preserved." Jamestown, more than many other settlements, needed to grow domestic fruit to convert into a safe liquid to drink. Illness was a serious problem in early Jamestown due, in part, to the settlers' drinking water from shallow wells often polluted by the risky high water table. The colonists did not seem to mind the mellowing alcohol content of the quickly fermented apple juice either.

A 1 to 6 acre apple orchard became a rather common feature on farmsteads & plantations in the British American colonies. Apples were grown primarily for their juice, which was the most common colonial beverage of choice, because well-water generally was regarded as unsafe. Everyone in the family drank the hard cider year-round, and most families produced 20 to 50 barrels of cider each autumn for their own consumption & to use as barter for other goods & services.

Peach Blossoms

Some settlers also converted distilled cider into "applejack," which was even stronger than hard cider. The first hand-cranked cider mills appeared in the colonies around 1745. Prior to this cider was made by pounding apples in a trough & draining the pomace.

Gabriel Thomas wrote of Pennsylvania in 1698, "There are many Fair and Great Brick Houses on the outside of the Town which the Gentry have built for their Countrey Houses... having a very fine and delightful Garden and Orchard adjoining it, wherein is variety of Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers."

On a visit to Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1722, Hugh Jones noted that, "the Palace or Governor's House, a magnificent structure built at the publick Expense, finished and beautified with Gates, fine Gardens...Orchards."

A house-for-sale adverisement in the South Carolina Gazette in June of 1736, in Charleston, touted the orchard as a strong selling enticement, "To be Sold A Plantation containing 200 Acres...An orchard well planted with peach, apple, cherry, fig and plumb trees: a vineyard of about two years grownth planted with 1200 vines: a nursery of 5 or 600 mulberry trees about two years old, fit to plant out."

Pear Blossoms

In April of 1742, Eliza Lucas Pinckney wrote in South Carolina, "I have planted a large figg orchard with desighn to dry and export them. I have reckoned my expense and the prophets to arise from these figgs."

Peter Kalm noted on his travels through North America on September 18, 1748, "Every countryman, even a common peasant, has commonly an orchard near his house, in which all sorts of fruit, such a peaches, apples, pears, cherries, and others are in plenty."

By the middle of the 18th century, a wide variety of orchard trees was available to the general public. William Smith advertised trees he was growing in his nursery in Surry County, Virginia, in the 1755 Williamsburg newspaper, as did Thomas Sorsby of Surry County in 1763.


In 1755, orchardist William Smith offered, "Hughs’s Crab, Bray’s White Apple, Newton Pippin, Golden Pippin, French Pippin, Dutch Pippin, Clark’s Pearmain, Royal Pearmain, Baker’s Pearmain, Lone’s Pearmain, Father Abraham, Harrison’s Red, Ruffin’s large Cheese Apple, Baker’s Nonsuch, Ludwell’s Seedling, Golden Russet, Nonpareil, May Apple, Summer Codling, Winter Codling, Gillefe’s Cyder Apple, Green Gage Plumb, Bonum Magnum Plumb, Orleans Plumb, Imperial Plumb, Damascene Plumb, May Pear, Holt’s Sugar Pear, Autumn Bergamot Pear, Summer Pear, Winter Bergamot, Orange Bergamot, Mount Sir John, Pound Pear, Burr de Roy, Black Heart Cherry, May Duke Cherry, John Edmond’s Nonsuch Cherry, White Heart Cherry, Carnation Cherry, Kentish Cherry, Marrello Cherry, Double Blossom Cherry, Double Blossom Peaches, Filberts Red & White."

Nurseryman Thomas Sorsby had available in 1763, "Best cheese apple, long stems, Pamunkey, Eppes, Newtown pippins, Bray’s white apples, Clark’s pearmains, Lightfoot’s Father Abrahams, Sorsby’s Father Abrahams, Lightfoot’s Hughes, Sorsby’s Hughes, Ellis’s Hughes, New-York Yellow apples, Golden russeteens, Westbrook’s Sammons’s, horse apples, royal pearmains, a choice red apple, best May apples, Sally Gray’s apple, Old .England apple, green apple, Harvey’s apple, peach trees [Prunus persica], and cherry trees."

In 1756, from Annapolis, Maryland, Elizabeth Brook wrote to her son Charles Carroll, who was attending school in England and France, "This place... is greatly improved, a fine, flourishing orchard with a variety of choice fruit." Charles Carroll of Annapolis and his son annually put away vast quantities of cider for their family and servants. In 1775, the elder Carroll put away 190 casks of "cyder" (he estimated 22,800 gallons) for the coming year.

Apple Blossoms

Peter Hatch, who managed Monticello's grounds, reports that, "between 1769 & 1814 Thomas Jefferson planted as many as 1,031 fruit trees in his South Orchard. This orchard formed a horseshoe-shape around the two vineyards & berry squares. It was organized into a grid pattern, in which he planted 18 varieties of apple, 38 of peach, 14 cherry, 12 pear, 27 plum, 4 nectarine, 7 almond, 6 apricot, and a quince.

"The earliest plantings, before 1780, reflect the experimental orchard of a young man eager to import Mediterranean culture to Virginia, and included olives, almonds, pomegranates, & figs. However, the mature plantings after 1810, included mostly species & varieties that either thrived through the hot, humid summers & cold, rainy winters of central Virginia, such as seedling late-season peaches or Virginia cider apples."


In 1782, Michel Guillaume Jean de CrèvecÅ“ur (1735–1813) described drying apple slices on wooden platforms erected on poles. The fruit was spread out on wooden boards, where it was soon covered with "all the bees and wasps and sucking insects of the neighborhood," which he felt accelerated the drying process. The dried apples were used in preparing a variety of dishes throughout the year. Peaches & plums were also dried but were considered more of a delicacy & were saved for special occasions. Many families stored their dried apples in bags hung high in building rafters to keep them dry & away from mice.

J. F. D. Smyth described Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1784, "Plantations are generally from one to four or five miles distant from each other, having a dwelling house in the middle... at some little distance there are always large peach and apple orchards."


In 1796, New Englander Amelia Simmons published the first truly American cookbook, American Cookery. Her view of the raising of apples had more to do with morality than with functionality.

"Apples are still more various, yet rigidly retain their own species, and are highly useful in families, and ought to be more universally cultivated, excepting in the compactest cities. There is not a single family but might set a tree in some otherwise useless spot, which might serve the two fold use of shade and fruit; on which 12 or 14 kinds of fruit trees might easily be engrafted, and essentially preserve the orchard from the intrusions of boys, &c. which is too common in America.

If the boy who thus planted a tree, and guarded and protected it in a useless corner, and carefully engrafted different fruits, was to be indulged free access into orchards, whilst the neglectful boy was prohibited--how many millions of fruit trees would spring into growth--and what a saving to the union. The net saving would in time extinguish the public debt, and enrich our cookery."


English agriculturalist Richard Parkinson noted in 1798, Baltimore, Maryland, "My orchard contained about six acres, three of which were planted with apples, the other three with peaches of various sorts."

In the 1790s, Captain John ODonnell (1749-1805) settled in Baltimore, Maryland, naming his country seat after his favorite port of call, Canton. And account of Canton given by a visitor noted that O"Donnell had planted orchards of red peaches on his 2500 acre estate in hopes of manufacturing brandy for trade but had met with limited financial success.

"For although Mr. O'Donnell's orchard had come to bear in great perfection and he had stills and the other necessary apparatus, the profit proved so small that he suffered the whole to go to waste and his pigs to consume the product."



A house-for-sale advertisement in the 1800 Federal Gazette in Baltimore, Maryland, described, "That beautiful, healthy and highly improved seat, within one mile of the city of Baltimore, called Willow Brook, containing about 26 acres of land, the whole of which is under a good post and rail fence, divided and laid off into grass lots, orchards, garden...The garden and orchard abounds with the greatest variety of the choicest fruit trees, shrubs, flowers...collected from the best nurseries in America and from Europe, all in perfection and full bearing."

Rosalie Stier Calvert devoted a great deal of attention to establishing an orchard at her home Riversdale in Prince George County, Maryland. In 1804, she “planted a large number of all the varieties of young fruit trees I could find, and I am going to fill the orchard with young apple trees everywhere there is room.”

She worried that it is impossible to buy any good pear trees from the nurseries. They sell bad pears under good names.” She first asked her father to send her peaches & pears from Europe, but soon realized it would not be practical. Instead, her father suggested that she buy pear trees in Alexandria, Virginia, for her garden which had real soil for pears,” and water them with buckets of cow urine. She had already transplanted “a Seigneur pear tree,” which her father had grafted in Annapolis.

By 1805, she wrote, “We are getting much better at the art of gardening, especially with fruit trees which we planted a large collection of this year. You would scarcely recognize the orchard. The manure which was applied there in 1803 improved it greatly, and young trees have been planted where needed.” In addition to fruit trees, she planted currants & raspberries in her orchard.

Keeping apples overwinter in America during the 18th & 19th centuries was important and theories abounded about the proper method.

New Yorker John Nicholson wrote in The Farmer's Assistant in 1820, "In gathering apples, for Winter-use, they should be picked from the tree, and laid carefully in a heap, under cover, without being bruised. After they have sweated, let them be exposed to the air and well dried, by wiping them with dry cloths; then lay them away in a dry place where they will hot freeze. The time requisite for sweating will be six, ten, or fifteen days, according to the warmth of the weather.  

The fruit should not be gathered till fully ripe, which is known by the stem parting easily from the twig. It should also be gathered in dry weather and when the dew is off...

"It is confidently asserted by many, that apples may be safely kept in casks through Winter, in a cold chamber, or garret, by being merely covered with Linen cloths."
John Beale Bordley had written An Epitome of Mr. Forsyth's Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees in 1804, noting that William Forsyth wrote "the most complete method of saving them, so as to preserve them the greatest length of time, is to wrap them in paper and pack them away in stone jars between layers of bran; having the mouths of the jars covered so close as to preclude the admission of air, and then keep them in a dry place where they will not be frozen."

In the 1790s, Samuel Deane wrote in his New England Farmer of his method of preserving Winter apples, "I gather them about noon on the day of the full of the moon which happens in the latter part of September, or beginning of October. Then spread them in a chamber, or garret, where they lie till about the last of November. Then, at a time when the weather is dry, remove them into casks, or boxes, in the cellar, out of the way of the frosts; but I prefer a cool part of the cellar. With this management, I find I can keep them till the last of May, so well that not one in fifty will rot...

"In the Autumn of 1793, I packed apples in the shavings of pine, so that they scarcely touched one another. They kept well till some time in May following; though they were a sort which are mellow for eating in December. Dry sawdust might perhaps answer the end as well. Some barrel them up, and keep them through the Winter in upper rooms, covering them with blankets or mats, to prevent freezing. Dry places are best for them."




New Yorker John Nicholson suggested some amazing cures--including chalk, bloody meat, raw eggs, & milk--for American cider in The Farmer's Assistant in 1820, "Cider may be kept for years in casks, without fermenting, by burying them deeply under ground, or immersing them in spring water; and when taken up the cider will be very fine.

"A drink, called cider-royal, is made of the best runing of the cheese, well clarified, with six or eight gallons of French brandy, or good cider brandy, added to a barrel: Let the vessel be filled full, bunged tight, and set in a cool cellar, and in the course of a twelvemonth it will be a fine drink. If good rectified whiskey be used, instead of brandy, it will answer very well.

"A quart of honey, or molasses, and a quart of brandy, or other spirits, added to a barrel of cider, will improve the liquor very much, and will restore that which has become too flat and insipid. To prevent its becoming pricked, or to cure it when it is so, put a little pearl-ashes, or other mild alkali, into the cask. A lump of chalk broken in pieces, and thrown in, is also good. Salt of tartar, when the cider is about to be used, is also recommended.

"To refine cider, and give it a fine amber-color, the following method is much approved of. Take the whites of 6 eggs, with a handful of fine beach sand, washed clean; stir them well together; then boil a quart of molasses down to a candy, and cool it by pouring in cider, and put this, together with the eggs and sand, into a barrel of cider, and mix the whole well together. When thus managed, it will keep for many years. Molasses alone will also refine cider, and give it a higher color; but, to prevent the molasses making it prick, let an equal quantity of brandy be added to it. Skim-milk, with some lime slacked in it, and mixed with it, or with the white of eggs with the shells broken in, is also good for clarifying all liquors, when well mixed with them. A piece of fresh bloody meat, put into the cask, will also refine the liquor and serve tor it to feed on.

"To prevent the fermentation of cider, let the cask be first strongly fumigated with burnt sulphur; then put in some of the cider, burn more sulphur in the cask, stop it tight and shake the whole up together; fill the cask, bung it tight, and put it away in a cool cellar.


"To bring on a fermentation, take 3 pints of yeast for a hogshead, add as much jalup as will lie on a sixpence, mix them with some of the cider, beat the mass up till it is frothy, then pour it into the cask, and stir it up well. Keep the vessel full, and the bung open, for the froth and foul stuff to work out. In about 15 days, the froth will be clean and white; then, to stop the fermentation, rack the cider off into a clean vessel, add two gallons ot brandy, or well-rectified whiskey, to it, and bung it up. Let the cask be full, and keep the venthole open for a day or two. By this process, cider that is poor, and ill-tasted, may be wonderfully improved...

"To cure oily cider, take one ounce of salt of tartar, and two and a half of sweet spirit of nitre, in a gallon of milk, for a hogshead. To cure ropy cider, take six pounds of powdered allum, and stir it into a hogshead; then rack it off and clarify it.

"To color cider, take a quarter of a pound of sugar, burnt black, and dissolved in half a pint of hot water, for a hogshead; add a quarter of an ounce of allum, to set the color.

"Cider-brandy mixed with an equal quantity of honey, or clarified sugar, is much recommended by some lor improving common cider; so that, when refined, it may be made as strong, and as pleasant, as the most of wines."


Portraits of Americans with Fruit Grown on Trees

Throughout the 18th century, artists painted portraits of British colonials & early Americans holding fruits that the viewer might reasonably suppose came from the trees in their orchards. Some scholars look to period emblem books and attribute complicated symbolism to each type & quantity of fruit depicted in these portraits. Some do not. Here are a few of my favorite portraits containing tree fruit as props.

1679 painting to Thomas Smith (1650-1691 Mrs. Richard Patteshall (Martha Woody) and Child
 
                        1732 Detail. John Smibert (1688-1751). Jane Clark (Mrs. Ezekiel Lewis)

                        1750 Detail. Charles Bridges (1670-1747). Mrs Augustine Moore.

             1750 Detail. Joseph Badger. Portrait of Elizabeth Greenleaf of Charlestown.

1755 Detail. Joseph Blackburn (flu in the colonies 1753-1763). Isaac Winslow and His Family.

                   1757 Detail. John Wollaston (1710-1775). Probably Elizabeth Dandridge.

     1767 Detail. James Claypoole (1743-1814). Ann Galloway (Mrs Joseph Pemberton).

      1769 Detail. John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Martha Swett (Mrs Jeremiah Lee).

1769 Detail. John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Elizabeth Murray (Mrs. James Smith).

                      1771-73 Detail. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). The Peale Family.

1771   John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Elizabeth Lewis (Mrs. Ezekiel Goldthwait).

1772 Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). General John Cadwalader, his First Wife, Elizabeth.

1773 Detail. John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Hannah Fayerweather (Mrs. John Winthrop).

             1774 Detail. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Isabella and John Stewart.

1774 painting attributed to Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Elizabeth Perscott (Mrs. Henry Daggett)

1785 Detail. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Ann Marsh (Mrs David Forman) & Child.

1787 Detail. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Deborah McClenahan (Mrs. Walter Stewart).

       1788 Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) Benjamin & Eleanor Ridgley Laming.

            1788 Detail. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). William Smith & Grandson.

                               1795 Detail. James Peale (1749-1831). Artist & His Family.

                            1720 Detail. Nehemiah Partridge. Wyntje Lavinia Van Vechten.

                                         1729 Detail. John Smibert. The Bermuda Group.

    1747-1749 Detail. Robert Feke (1707-1751). Mary Channing (Mrs. John Channing).

                          1760-65 Detail. Joseph Badger (1708-1765). Sarah Badger Noyes.


   1769 Detail. John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Elizabeth Storer (Mrs. Isaac Smith).

            1772 Detail. Winthrop Chandler (1747-1785). Eunice Huntington Devotion

                       1775 Detail. Henry Benbridge (1743-1812). Archibald Bullock Family.

                            1785 Detail. Ralph Earl (1751-1801). Callahan Children.

1785-90 Beardsley Limner Sarah Bushnell Perkins Elizabeth Davis (Mrs. Hezekiah Beardsley).

                                    1798 Detail. Ralph Earl. Mrs. Noah Smith and Her Children.

                                         1800 Detail. Anonymous Artist. Emma Van Name.
 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Contrary Mary – The Story of Mary Ann Clark Longley Riggs – Part I

A Share from Lois Glewwe and her blog Dakota Soul Sisters
The next white woman missionary to arrive in Minnesota was Mary Riggs. She and her husband, Rev. Stephen Return Riggs, arrived at Fort Snelling on June 1, 1837. Mary was 23 years old and she and 25-year-old Stephen had been married for a little over three months. Mary was already pregnant with their first child. Mary’s life among the Dakota people was about to begin, a life that was filled with adventure, tragedy, happiness, loss, heartache and joy.


Mary Riggs is one of the best known of the women of the Dakota mission and certainly one of the most prolific writers. Hundreds of letters she wrote to family over the years were saved by the recipients.
Mary Ann Clark Longley was born on November 10, 1813, in Hawley, Massachusetts. She was the sixth child in a family of twelve children born to General Thomas and Martha Longley. Five of her sisters and brothers died before the age of fourteen, leaving Mary with just two older siblings, Alfred and Lucretia, and four younger, Joseph, Moses, Thomas and Henrietta.

Mary’s father Thomas, who fought in the Massachusetts Minutemen in the War of 1812, was apparently prosperous enough to provide his children with quite extensive and high quality education. Mary attended school at Mary Lyon’s Female Seminary in Buckland, Massachusetts, during the winter term, possibly boarding with her maternal grandparents, the Taylors. At the age of sixteen, she taught school during the summer at Williamstown, Massachusetts, and enrolled in school in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1832. The following year Mary attempted to open her own school in Agawam, Massachusetts but by 1834, she and her sister Lucretia were enrolled in the Ipswich Female Seminary in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Click Link Ipswich Seminary



The Ipswich Female Seminary was an early school for the secondary and college-level education of young women,founded in 1828 by two women, Zilpah Grant and Mary Lyon.Grant strongly believed in “the delicacy of the female constitution, and the greater delicacy of her reputation”. Students were kept isolated from the community, forbidden from stopping in the street or standing near the front windows of their lodgings.The focus of the seminary was to prepare girls for careers as teachers and missionaries. It offered a rigorous curriculum, including English, arithmetic, geography, chemistry, human physiology, history, the natural sciences, religion, vocal music, and calisthenics, and placed an emphasis on standards of personal conduct and discipline. At the end of the term in 1835, Mary was recruited to become a school teacher in Bethlehem, Indiana, which for a young woman of the 1830s was the very far west.

According to Stephen Riggs, “singular provinces” intervened in Mary’s life at this point.[1] Since a young, single woman could not travel to Indiana from Massachusetts on her own, Mary had to find an appropriate chaperone to bring her westward. Her travel guardian ended up being Rev. Dyer Burgess, a fiery Presbyterian abolitionist who lived in West Union, Ohio. It just so happened that Stephen Riggs was also in West Union at that time, boarding with the Burgesses while teaching in a subscription school in the riverfront community.

Stephen was from Steubenville, Ohio. There are a couple of stories about why he was in West Union. One report indicates that Stephen Riggs met Thomas Williamson when Stephen’s mother had fallen ill in Ripley, Ohio. Dr. Williamson came to the house to treat her and although Stephen’s mother did not survive, he and Thomas became friends. This would have been in July 1829. Other reports indicate that Thomas Williamson and Stephen Riggs were classmates together at Jefferson College in New York. Stephen Riggs himself only says that “Dr. Thomas Williamson, of Ripley, Ohio, had started for the Dakota field the same year that I graduated from college.”[2]

Stephen and Mary Riggs met at the home of Rev. Dyer Burgess and his wife Isabella Ellison Burgess in West Union, Ohio. Rev. Burgess was one of the most famous and fiery abolitionists of his day and his home still stands today across the street from the West Union Presbyterian Church.

In any case, Mary and Stephen met at the Burgess home in West Union in 1835 and although Mary went on to Indiana and taught school while Stephen completed his education and obtained his license to preach, they corresponded and spent time together during holidays.
It is clear from family stories, that both Mary and Stephen had decided that their future would be spent on the mission field even before they married. Mary had been trained, after all, at a female seminary that focused on just such a vocation and Stephen had long desired to “go somewhere among the unevangelized.”[3]
In preparation for their wedding and their future mission work, Stephen and Mary journeyed to Hawley, Massachusetts, planning to arrive in time for Thanksgiving Day 1836. Mary shared her concerns about her family’s opinion of Stephen in a letter she wrote to her brother Alfred on June 6, 1836, while she was still in Bethlehem, Indiana. “…there is one thought which, though it may seem of minor consequence, will thrust itself before me and give me pain, viz., the possibility that my dear kindred may not affectionately regard Mr. Riggs. I am conscious that his habit and manner may differ somewhat from ours, still as far as merit or worth is concerned I do not doubt that he is not only worthy, but more than worthy of your mercy…”[4]
Whatever the family’s reaction may have been to Stephen’s habit and manner, he wrote that he “found a warm reception and I, the western stranger, was not long overlooked.”[5] Stephen found work preaching at the little church in West Hawley while he and Mary gathered their credentials and awaited the paperwork necessary to be hired by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.M.).

                                           


Mary Ann Clark Longley was 23 years old when she married Stephen Return Riggs. They both entered into marriage knowing that they were destined to spend their lives as missionaries.

Mary and Stephen were married on February 16, 1837, in Hawley, Massachusetts, surrounded by family and friends who gathered not only to celebrate their wedding but to bid them farewell as they set off for the foreign mission fields of western Minnesota. Stephen wrote:
“The snow drifts were still deep on the hills, when, in the first days of March, we commenced our hegira to the far West. It was a long and toilsome journey – all the way to New York City by stage, and then again from Philadelphia across the mountains to Pittsburg in the same manner, through the March rains and mud, we traveled on, day and night. It was quite a relief to sleep and glide down the beautiful Ohio on a steamer. And there we found friends in Portsmouth and Ripley and West Union, with whom we rested, and by whom we were refreshed, and who greatly forwarded our preparations for life among the Indians.”[6]
Regular readers of Dakota Soul Sisters will recall that I posted my personal feelings about Mary and Stephen Riggs a few weeks ago on this site. I mentioned that Mary often seems to me to be overly focused on worldly goods throughout everything she writes. It’s an odd clash of high-toned spiritual theology mixed with long lists of items she either has, needs, wants or has lost. She begins this litany of possessions as her honeymoon journey to Minnesota begins. On April 5, 1837, she wrote to her parents:
“Brother Joseph Riggs made us some valuable presents. His kindness supplied my lack of a good English merino, and Sister Riggs had prepared her donation and laid it by, as the Apostle directs, one pair of warm blankets, sheets and pillow cases. …We found Mrs. Burgess not behind…in her plans and gifts. Besides a cooking stove and furniture, she has provided a fine blanket and comforter, sheets, pillow cases, towels, dried peaches, etc. perhaps you will fear that with so many kind friends we shall be furnished with too many comforts. Pray, then, that we may be kept very humble and receive these blessings thankfully from the Giver of every good and perfect gift.”[7]
Then the theology kicks in as Mary writes: “There we go far hence to the Gentiles not knowing the things which may befall us there. Give our best love and respects to…all the dear friends…so willing to assist our preparation for departure and residence among the poor Indians.”[8]
Mary then includes an interesting comment, “Since my arrival here I have ascertained that a church has been formed at Lac qui Parle. Mr. Renville’s Indian wife is a member. I wish a letter from this, our dear church at home, to the one at Lac qui Parle…”[9] Mary Riggs certainly knew at this point that there was a mission at Lac qui Parle, but apparently she had now received the news that Mrs. Joseph Renville, along with several other Dakota women, had been baptized and were now members of an actual Presbyterian Church at the mission. She thus asked her parents to send her “letter’ from the church at Hawley to the church at Lac qui Parle officially transferring her Presbyterian membership credentials to the new congregation. Mary was no doubt quite surprised when she did arrive at Lac qui Parle and realized that the church she may have expected to attend was little more than a corner of the Williamson’s house where a handful of Dakota converts and the missionary families gathered on Sunday mornings.
In this letter dated October 27, 1862, missionary Stephen Riggs writes to his daughter Martha in the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, describing the conditions of the Dakota internment camp at the Lower Sioux Agency. Riggs writes that the prisoners will soon be moved to either Mankato, South Bend, or Fort Snelling. He reports that he prefers that they stay at Fort Ridgely; if that will not work, he favors Fort Snelling. - See more at: http://www.usdakotawar.org/history/multimedia/letter-stephen-r-riggs-martha-riggs-about-internment#sthash.T1nMuDQG.dpuf








In this letter dated October 27, 1862, missionary Stephen Riggs writes to his daughter Martha in the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, describing the conditions of the Dakota internment camp at the Lower Sioux Agency. Riggs writes that the prisoners will soon be moved to either Mankato, South Bend, or Fort Snelling. He reports that he prefers that they stay at Fort Ridgely; if that will not work, he favors Fort Snelling.







- See more at: http://www.usdakotawar.org/history/multimedia/letter-stephen-r-riggs-martha-riggs-about-internment#sthash.T1nMuDQG.dpuf


At this point it is important to note that despite the focus on worldly goods evident in so much of her correspondence, Mary Riggs’ most valuable contribution to history is her letters. According to Maida Leonard Riggs, Editor of A Small Bit of Bread and Butter: Letters from the Dakota Territory, 1832-1869, Mary’s family and friends saved over 250 personal notes and letters that they received while she lived in Minnesota. In addition to that correspondence, the Minnesota Historical Society has a vast collection of letters written by Stephen and Mary Riggs to each other and to their children. Many of those letters form the basis for Mary’s story as told in Dakota Soul Sisters. She is by far the most well-documented of all of the women of the mission and although her letters often include her own biases and complaints, she is an important presence in Minnesota history and we will find much to learn from her story as one of the Dakota Soul Sisters.

This is a letter from Mary Langdon, who graduated from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMC) in 1905. She was a medical missionary to India. The letter is to Mary Riggs Noble (WMC 1901).


[1] Riggs, Stephen R., Mary and I: Forty Years with the Sioux, published March 1880 and reissued by Corner House Publishers, Williamstown, MA, 1971, p. 7 (hereafter referred to as Mary and I)
[2] Ibid., p. 6. The Williamsons established the first Dakota mission in Minnesota in 1835.
[3] Mary and I, p. 5
[4] Riggs, Maida Leonard, Ed., A Small Bit of Bread and Butter: Letters from the Dakota Territory, 1832-1869, Ash Grove Press, 1996, p. 16 (hereafter A Small Bit).
[5] Mary and I., p. 6
[6] Ibid., p. 7
[7] Ibid., p. 8; A Small Bit, p. 22
[8] A Small Bit, p. 22
[9] Ibid, p. 22