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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Colby Family of Grand Rapids Michigan

Information furnished from Barbara Wilson, a descendant Also included records from and a little research of my own. If you would like a copy of this file please post or e-mail. Any contributions please e-mail.


Sarah Francis Colby Wood was born on 31 JUL 1839 in Haverhill, Grafton County, N H. She was the daughter of Luther Colby and Hannah Page. She married Arthur Wood on 6 DEC 1860 in Kent County, Michigan.







John Ball Line
From Ball Family History The Ball Family Lineage from their arrival from England to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1) Nathaniel (1618-1706) & Mary (Mousal) Ball
2) Nathaniel (1663–1725) & Mary (Brooks) Ball
3) Nathaniel (1692-1749) & Sarah (Baker) Ball
4) Ebenzer (1721-1790) & Sarah (Goodkin) Ball
5) Nathaniel (1751-1834) & Sarah (Nevins) Ball
6) John (1794-1884) & Mary (Webster) Ball

John Ball (1794–1884) photo circa late-1870s or early-1880s.
Joshua Ball son of Nathaniel
From Michigan Historical Collections, Volume 35
John Ball was born on Tenny Hill, Grafton county, New Hampshire, November 12, 1794. He was educated in country schools and at Salisbury academy. He worked his way through Dartmouth college and was graduated in 1820. During the next four years he studied law at Lansingburg, New York, and taught school. He was admitted in 1824. His brother-in-law, a business man of extensive interests, died soon after and John Ball settled his estate, which took several years. In 1832 John Ball crossed the continent by way of Pittsburg, St. Louis, Independence, the South Pass, and the Columbia river. He was gone two and a half years, during which time he visited much of the territory now composing Washington, Oregon, California, and also the Hawaiian islands.
For two years he practiced law at Lansingburg and then came to Grand Rapids as a land-broker for capitalists and investors in 1836. During the next few months he located much land in Kent county and in the spring of 1837 he opened a law office at Grand Rapids, where he practiced for nearly fifty years. He had at different times for partners, George Martin, S. L. Withey, Edward E. Sargeant, E. S. Eggleston, and James H. McKee. The partnership of Ball & McKee continued for thirty-two years, from 1852 to Mr. Ball's death. No law firm of the Kent county bar has had a longer existence. The firm was never active in litigation, but was engaged in money loaning, real estate and business matters and often acted as counselors. Mr. Ball died at Grand Rapids, February 5, 1884. He left a gift to the city of forty acres of land which now forms a beautiful park that bears his name. Mr. Ball traveled and saw much of life. He did not marry until late in life, but left a family of several children who have every reason to be proud of their father. He was a representative progressive citizen who won the confidence and esteem of all who knew him.
For a Complete Account of John Ball Publications of the Historical Society of Grand Rapids, Issue 1
 

The Page Line Hannah R. Page was born on 14 SEP 1805 in Dorchester, Grafton County, New Hampshire and died on 23 FEB 1870 at Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan.She was the daughter of Gov John Page and Hannah Merrill.


John Page moved with his parents to Rindge NH, helped build a log house, performed settler's duty and thus secured a lot of land there. He moved to the Coos meadow in September 1762, wintered on the Great Ox Bow, took charge of General Bailey's cattle, in company with one other man and a boy, worked for General Bailey, and thus paid for a right of land in Haverhill. He went to Lancaster, worked for his uncle David and paid for another right of land in Haverhill. He then came back to this town, built a log house on the meadows, and married Abigail Saunders, daughter of the first settler south of him, and who died twelve years after marriage, without issue. He married for his second wife, Abigail Hazeltine, of Concord NH, who died without surviving children, and then married, for his third wife, Mrs. Hannah Green, daughter of Samuel Rice of Landaff, who bore him four sons, namely, John, William G., Samuel and Stephen R. John, the eldest, was born in Haverhill, May 21, 1787, was fitted for college in his youth, but just as he was about to enter, his father became embarrassed through having become bondsman for another party, and was likely to lose his farm. His son therefore relinquished his high ambition, turned his attention to saving the homestead, which was done, and which afterwards came into his possession. When twenty-five years of age he married Hannah, daughter of Maj. Nathaniel Merrill, of North Haverhill, who bore him nine children, namely Frederick, William, John Alfred, Henry Harrison, Nathaniel Merrill, Stephen Rice, Sarah Hazen, George Washington, George Brackett and Edward Livingston. All of these, with the exception of George W., grew to adult age.


Rev John Merrill father of Nathaniel Merrill
See Havehill NH Historical Society


John Page was elected governor of New Hampshire in 1839 by a Democratic vote of 30,518, and re-elected in 1840 and 1841. Edward L. Page succeeded his father in the ownership of the homestead, was a successful farmer, and held various local offices. He served as selectman several years, during the civil war, when his patriotism and activity in securing recruits caused the burning of his buildings. He married Laura M. Batchelder, of Franklin in 1855. For seventeen years he suffered with consumption, and died November 4, 1878, aged forty-six years. His widow survives him.

Brother of Hannah Page John Page, JR






Burial:
Fulton Street Cemetery
Grand Rapids
Kent County
Michigan, USA



SOURCE: "A Genealogy of the Descendants of Abraham Colby and Elizabeth Blaisdell, his wife Who settled in Bow in 1768" By one of them, Concord, NH Printed by the Republican Press Association 1895
History of the city of Grand Rapids Michigan 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Cornelia Nellie Cole Fairbanks President General Daughters of the American Revolution

From DAR Lineage Book Volume 35 1901


Cornelia "Nellie" Cole Fairbanks (January 1852 – October 24, 1913) daughter of Ohio State Senator Philander Blakely Cole and Dorothy Witter Cole. Cornelia was the wife of Charles W. Fairbanks, who served as the 26th Vice President of the United States from 1905 to 1909. During her husband's tenure she held the unofficial position of the Second Lady of the United States. She was at the forefront of the women's suffrage movement and considered a pathfinder to politics for American women in the 20th and 21st centuries.
From DAR





                                                                    1906 Residence


                     1907 Cornelia Fairbanks & Theodore Roosevelt

                          Jacobus James Kohl Research Notes Revolution



Sunday, November 23, 2014

Tidal Mills defined by John Goff

John Goff author, historian, architectural historian, restoration architect and preservation consultant who lives and works in Salem, Massachusetts Contact historicpreservationanddesign@gmail.com
See him on youtube at 1630'3 Show



Tide Mill Institute's John Goff speaks about historic tide mills in Topsfield, Massachusetts.

From Article in Salem Gazette Tide Mill tours in and around Salem
I had a series of really interesting experiences this month. A writer named Ben Swenson from Virginia e-mailed me requesting a tour of historic tide mill sites in and around Salem. Some 20 years ago, a similar thing happened when David Plunkett, a historian and tide mill preservationist associated with the historic Eling Tide Mill in England, came to America to learn more about water-powered tide mills in Massachusetts. To share some of the fun from both these tours, let us now consider briefly "What Is A Tide Mill?" and some of the historic tide mills that once functioned in and near Salem long ago. See Iron Working in Early New England
What is a tide mill? The question "What is a Tide Mill" pops up frequently, because so little has yet been written or published concerning tide mills. The short answer is that a tide mill historically was any mill or arrangement of buildings and machines situated close to the ocean coast that derived some or all of its motive power from the action of Earth’s moon--and the ocean tides. Tide mills were once exceedingly common, but now are rare. To harness the tides, European, English and American tide mills typically contained a tidal mill pond that was often nothing more than a dammed-across cove or river mouth. Within the dam, a set of one-way opening wooden tide gates would be installed as a valve so that at flood or incoming tide, tide waters would automatically fill the tidal mill pond. Yet as the tide ebbed or dropped, the gates would shut, trapping the mill pond waters at their highest height and holding them for a period of time. At a lower tide, the waters were run off, and run out of the pond, used to turn waterwheels and machines. Tide mills functioned widely between about 1630 and 1930 in eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. In America, they were almost always timber framed heavy wooden buidings. They were used as grist-mills, saw-mills, and snuff-mills, etc.to perform a wide variety of tasks. For other tide mills definitions, see: Tide Mill Institute

Here in Salem, tide mills historically operated on the North River, South River and Forest River. Three old and rare tide mill features that can still be seen in Salem today are: 1) a French Buhr millstone set into the Washington Street sidewalk in front of the Daniel Low Building; 2) Mill and Pond streets that survive near Domino’s Pizza and "Mill Hill" overlooking Riley Plaza; and 3) the beautiful Leadworks site that has recently been remediated near the Marblehead town line on lower Lafayette Street and the Forest River. This site, formerly used to power the Gardner-Wyman gristmill and later Francis Peabody’s lead paint production facility, has an impressive curved stone retaining wall, once used as part of a mill tailrace.


Within a short driving distance, many additional historic tide mill sites can be seen and toured from the outside. These include: 1) the Slade Spice Tide Mill on the Revere Beach Parkway (Route 16) in Revere, MA; 2) the Friend Tide Mill site on the Bass River and near the Cummings Center on Route 62 in nearby Beverly (one of this site’s old granite millstones is now displayed on the Cummings Center property); 3) the site of the former Salem Iron Works in Danversport, MA; 4) a tide mill site in Manchester-by-the-Sea, and 5) a collection of tide mill sites and building(s) bordering Route 127 in the Annisquam section of Gloucester, MA. It is especially fortunate that many of the machines and features of the 1830s William Hodgkins Tide Mill opposite Goose Cove in the Annisquam area were well documented before the old mill was converted into a residence. Consequently, many photographs and architectural drawings showing the mill with many of its original parts can be accessed easily on the Internet, using the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) web site maintained by the Library of Congress. In the years ahead, let us hope that old New England tide mills attract even more interest. They provide excellent examples of early utilization of a free, renewable, and eco-friendly energy source that holds promise to provide more energy in the future.

                                                              
Souther Tide Mill History Another Article by John on Tide Mills  Salem ties to some Quincys and tide mills
John also wrote a book on the Salem Witch House 
Book can be purchased at Amazon 


Thomas Gardner Blog  John Goff, Salem Preservationist 
Salem Museum
Preserving Salem's historic Greenlawn Cemetery

The Bowditch House Photo by John V. Goff Historic Preservation & Design

Then & Now: Down By The Mill

Alice McLellan Birney & National Congress of Mothers





From Boston Herald May 1913 Alice McLellan Birney (October 19, 1858 – December 20, 1907) See a Great Blog from K Burns Darling  Women Who Changed the World - Alice McLellan Birney, Co-Founder of National PTA
A Review of the Literature on Alice McLellan Birney, Founder and First President of the National Congress of Mothers, 1895-1905
Atlanta area women of history: Alice McLellan Birney
Alice McLellan Birney Papers, 1897, 1901, 1931
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
PTA History

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Charles Herman Gage of Amesbury MA

From Colby Clan News March 2014 


Charles Herman GAGE was born on 5 APR 1889 in Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. He appeared in the census on 4 JUN 1900 in Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. (living at home with father and mother.) He appeared in the census on 28 APR 1910 in Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. (living at home with father and mother.) He died on 3 AUG 1966 at Concord, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. He had Social Security Number 020-20-4589. SS# issued in: Massachusetts
Residence code: New Hampshire ZIP Code of last known residence: 03301 Primary location associated with this ZIP Code: Concord, New Hampshire. Parents: Seth Hamlin GAGE and Mary Josephine COLBY. Spouse: Alice Pingree WILSON. Charles Herman GAGE and Alice Pingree WILSON were married on 14 JUL 1911 in Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. Children were: Hermaline Florence GAGE.

Seth Hamlin Gage

Hermaline Florence Gage