Genealogy - Diggin up Dirt: Blog

Butler County, Pennsylvania Resources

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:19:14 GMT

Butler, Pennsylvania holds many clues to my family ancestry. My travels only take me through the area once or twice a year so supplementing my research with on line records is a must. I have mined newspaperarchive.com for as much as I possibly could think of without reading each newspaper from the area individually. There had to be more available somewhere.

I searched for the historical society located in Butler to see if there were any additional records to be searched. The genealogy page would list a link for News of the Day. The process of logging and indexing names from the articles in the newspaper has begun and the index is available. Cds copies of the newspaper archives can be purchased through the historical society.

Another source of information turned up from the Butler Area Public Library’s genealogy center. Slippery Rock University has joined with the Library to build an index of obituaries from 1818-2008. The paper index that grew to over 100,000 entries has been digitized and is searchable. Once you locate an entry you can order copies from the library.

For $10 I can purchase 2-5 copies of selected obituaries. I have my order ready to go into the mail of Zuver, West and Eyth obituaries. Needless to say, I am hoping for more gems that will move my research further along. Although I found articles from the listed newspapers on the Butler County Historical site, I am still trying to determine if I need just a few of the CDs available or the entire collection.

Delanos and Roosevelts

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:34:06 GMT

Lately I have been bouncing around my 8th cousin twice removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt” family finding facts and filling in family lines. I knew that I was related but didn’t feel inspired to fill out the descendants until watching a PBS special on his wife Eleanor Roosevelt’s life. My relationship to FDR is a very twisted one coming down the Burgess line to Perrys, Popes and then Churchs. Deborah Church would marry Warren Delano, FDR’s great grandfather.

Although I am related to FDR I am not related to his wife. The ancestor line that connects us is through FDR’s mother Sarah Ann Delano. Sarah Ann Delano Roosevelt was one of 11 children born to Warren and Catherine Robbins Lyman Delano. The beginnings of the gain of wealth in the family seem to have started with Warren Delano. He would list himself in the Census as a merchant trader. His wealth was made in trading with China.

China exported all types of goods including silks and tea, but wouldn’t accept imported goods. According to an article written in 1979:

“The British struck upon an ingenious way to reduce a huge trade deficit. Their merchants bribed Chinese officials to allow entry of chests of opium from British ruled India, though its importation had long been banned by imperial decree. Imports soared, and nearly every American company followed suit, acquiring "black dirt" in Turkey or as agents for Indian producers.”

Warren Delano would be in the thick of things working for Russell & Company and amassing his fortune. After 1851 he would return from the China merchant trade and live in Algonac, Orange County, New York. He would return to China in 1859 to recoup losses suffered during the panic of 1857. There is the prologue to the book A Notable Passage to ChinaMyth and Memory in FDR's Family History of the families trips and life in China written by RJC Butow from family remembrances.

Sara Ann Delano would marry James Roosevelt and their only child would be Franklin Delano Roosevelt. From written accounts, until the time of her death, Sara was very involved in Franklin’s life even after his marriage to Eleanor. Franklin and Eleanor would have 6 children, 5 of whom would survive to adulthood and between them have 19 marriages. Franklin and Eleanor were 5th cousins once removed.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wouldn’t be the only famous person in the Delano family tree. From FDR’s 3rd great uncle would come author Laura Ingalls Wilder, President Ulysses S. Grant, anthropologist Robert Redfield, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, and the poet Conrad Potter Aiken.

Alice and the Rabbit Hole

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:24:24 GMT

Some times I feel like Alice in Wonderland after she has fallen down the rabbit hole. Just peaking in the hole is never enough; one must fall in head first and see where you land to really be satisfied. The crawling back out part can be a bit confusing.

I started meandering around the family tree, looking up random information on my Burgess line. I was on newspaperarchive.com, they have it back up and running after moving their servers from what is now a pretty water soaked Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I plugged in Burgess in Pennsylvania and started clicking on the results.

In the process I found the last name of the wife of Benjamin Franklin Burgess, my great grand uncle, born in 1872, in Bradford, Pa. The article was about his father, Benjamin Franklin Burgess, Sr. and the purchase of a hotel in Meadville, Pa., called the Gable House. I have mentioned my great-great grandfather before; he was a Civil War veteran and from all accounts had owned and operated multiple hotels in the western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania area. The article went on to mention Ben Jr. and his ties to a flood victim in Titusville, his father-in-law John Reinbold, also another hotel operator.

This of course took me on a merry chase of the 1892 flood and fire in Titusville and Oil City. Hard rains had swelled the rivers and broke a dam which flooded Titusville and Oil City. Stored oil containers had leaked into the flood waters and a spark set the whole mess off into a blazing inferno. John Reinbold had managed to save his family, went back to save the horses in his livery stables ajoining the family owned Bellevue Hotel and lost his life. The hotel burned to the ground along with the livery stables.

More digging turned up John Reinbold’s wife’s maiden name of Saltzmann. Of course her family had its own interesting history which caused this century’s Alice to fall farther into the rabbit hole. Her dad was John J. Saltzmann. John was born in France and came to the United States and began both working and owning breweries in the Buffalo, New York and surrounding areas. In 1866 he moved into the Oil City, Pennsylvania area called Palace and at first, like many others, drilled for oil. Oil City at the time was named Cornplanter after one of the Indians from the area. It would soon be changed to Oil City for obivious reasons. After running his course in the oil business John J. Saltzmann returned to brewing beer and built his first brewery in Palace Hill.

The Palace Hill brewery would burn down and he rebuilt, first on the same spot and then later he would rebuild on Union Street in Oil City. The building as of 1974 was still standing. John J. Saltzmann would continue to operate the brewery until 1920 when the Volstead act that began prohibition. He tried to keep the plant operating in some capacity until the 1930s when the building was sold to grocery wholesalers. At the time of prohibition, Oil City had three breweries in operation, Wurster, Kemp and Saltzmann.

A Little Light Romance

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:26:10 GMT

I have been filling in some of the blanks for my cousins families in preparation for my next trip north. In the process I found a little romantic mystery surrounding my aunt on my mother’s side.

Salananca Republican-Press, November 15, 1945

Veteran Asks Press to Help Him Locate Salamanca Girl He Fell For

A “strange request” for assistance has been received by the Salamanca Press from a former member of the U. S. coast guard, who apparently fell in love with a Salamanca beauty at first sight, but neglected to find out her last name or where she lives.

Not that he’s discharged, the former serviceman, Charles W. Maynard, 75 Rosedale avenue, Freeport, Long Island, is trying to locate the girl with whom he rode from this city to Olean while hitch-hiking to New York City only a little more than a week ago.

The letter from Mr. Maynard, who says he served six years in the coast guard, follows;

“This may be a strange request, I know, but I do hope you can help me. I am a veteran just recently discharged after serving six years with the U. S. coast guard.

“I am trying to locate a girl that lives in Salamanca. She is about seventeen years of age and very good looking with brunette hair. But first, let me tell you the circumstances which led up to my meeting her.

“On the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 5, I was hitchhiking to New York City and was picked up in a LaSalle sedan, painted black, by a man named William, and a woman. They were going to Olean. But before going to Olean, we stopped at a house just a block or two off highway ‘17’ near the east side of Salamanca. At this house, he picked up a woman and her daughter, and they we got underway for Olean.

“Just at the outskirts of Olean, the car had a flat tire. The daughter, I spoke of, was named Dorothy. She was wearing a red sweater, grey skirt, and a black coat.

“I was wearing a grey ‘chiefs’ uniform and a black topcoat. Perhaps this girl will remember those incidents. She is the first girl I’ve met in a long time that I liked very much at first sight.

“I’ve read from time to time where various newspapers have helped people locate others just as I am trying to do now. I certainly hope that you can help me.

“She seems like a swell girl and I would like to see her again, very much.”

Two days later the answer to the letter from the soldier would be found once again in the paper. The city had been humming about the mystery “Dorothy” written about in the paper.

Salamanca Republican-Press, November 17, 1945

16-Year-Old High School Girl Is “Dorothy” Sought by Veteran

The mystery is solved. The ‘Dorothy” most everyone in the city has been talking about for two days has been found.

She is Miss Dorothy Shinners, sixteen-year-old daughter of Mrs. Louise Shinners, 24 Pine Street.

Her identity was learned late Friday afternoon after the Press received a “tip” by telephone.

In an interview Dorothy related additional details of her recent ride from this city to Olean in a sedan with a hitch-hiking serviceman, who later asked the Press to help him locate the young comely miss whom he “liked very much” because he knew neither her last name nor her address.

Miss Shinners, a junior in high school, said she was “amazed to see the story about her in the Press Wednesday evening.”

Dorothy said she and her mother were accompanying her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. William Moran, Fawn Avenue, to Olean. When they got in the car the young coastguardsman, Charles W. Maynard, 95 Rosedale Avenue, Freeport, Long Island already was there.

The attractive looking high school girl, five feet, six inches tall, said that during the ride to Olean, the young veteran barely spoke to her.

“In fact,” she said, “the only time he talked was when I asked him where he was stationed, and how long he had been in service.”

“He showed so little interest at the time,” said Dorothy, “that I can hardly believe all this is true.”

Dorothy described the veteran as having dark hair and as about four inches taller than she. She said he was an intelligent looking fellow, about twenty-five years old, and was wearing the dress uniform of a chief petty officer.

The former service man, who was catching a train at Olean for New York City, offered to help fix the tire which went flat on the outskirts of Olean. When Mr. Moran said he could fix it himself, the veteran thanked them and left.

Miss Shinners, who has naturally curly light brunette hair, said her classmates teased he continually Friday, when they learned she was the sought-for “Dorothy.” She disclosed that if the discharged veteran wrote to her she would be willing to correspond with him.

When asked what she planned to do when she finished high school, Dorothy replied she wanted to enter nurses training at the Moyer Memorial Hospital in Buffalo. At present she is active in all sports, her favorite being “basketball.” She likes to dance, but “best of all square dancing.”

Dorothy has a brother in service, Pfc. William Shinners with the 30th infantry in Wisehouse, Germany. She has two brothers, Donald, seventeen and Jerry, six. Her father William Shinners, died five years ago.

I don’t know yet if she ever communicated with the serviceman, it will definitely be something that I will need to ask her about when I see her. I do know that she followed her dream and went into nursing and eventually married my uncle. She was the one person mom would call when she needed medical advice.

Possibly Hadley

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:09:17 GMT

More research yesterday turned up another possibility for Lulu/Lula Burgess’ parents. After searching the 1880 census for Joseph Haley’s information I found a Lula Hadley, daughter of Joseph and Emma Hadley living in Verona, Oneida, New York. The age of Lulu/Lula was close enough from the census forms. I also knew that Joseph had been married three times according to the 1910 census.

This would mean that Gretchen, Bertha/Beatrix and their other sister were step sisters to Lulu/Lula, not full sisters as I had originally thought. Their father was William Richard Saggesser, who was born about 1847 and died February 19, 1892. Their mother was Clarissa Elizabeth Downs.

So far the one missing piece for Joseph Hadley is the 1900 census, which would have been the census before having married Clarissa in 1906.

It also leaves a big question as to who was Charles Carmon and why had she referred to him as her father.

Saggesser or Carmon or....

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:24:24 GMT

I have been trying to sort out the maiden name of my great-grand uncle’s wife. His name was Frederick S Burgess, born June of 1874 and died sometime after 1945. He and his wife Lulu M. had 6 children and lived in Olean, New York and also Bradford and Kane, Pennsylvania.

Lulu is the one that has me completely confused. She was born about 1881 in New York State. I am pretty sure her mother’s name was Clarissa and that she had 1 or 2 sisters, one who’s name was Gretchen and the other married a Withey, although, these two sisters may be the same person.

I found Gretchen listed on the 1910 census as Gretchen Saggesser and single living with her mother Clarissa and step-father Joseph Hadley living in Kane, Pennsylvania. According to the census she was 18 years old at the time. I found her mother Clarissa Saggesser listed in the Bradford, Pennsylvania phone directory listed as Mrs. Clarissa Saggesser in 1893, the year after Gretchen would have been born. She isn’t listed for any other year and the only other Saggesser listed is a W. R. Saggesser listed at a different address.

When looking into Lulu Burgess I found several clippings that ended up creating more confusion. The first is a notice on the death of her father, which I believe to be her step-father according to the 1910 census and the listing of her sister.

Olean Times, May 26, 1930

Mrs. Fred Burgess and family, South Eleventh Street, are in Kane, Pa., today where they attended the funeral of Mrs. Burgess’ father Joseph Hadley.

The next listing seven months later was for the death of her father, again.

Olean Times, January 26, 1931

Mrs. Fred Burgess, South Eleventh Street, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Swartz, East State Street, and Leo Brunner, West Henley Street, left today for Sylvan Beach, N. Y. to attend the funeral of Mrs. Burgess’ father Charles Carmon.

This confused me as the last name was Carmon and not Saggesser like her listed sister from the 1910 census. From the 1910 census I noted that their mother Clarissa had been married just twice.

The last note I found for Lulu was the death of her brother-in-law in 1932. Lloyd Withey would die in a boating accident at the age of 74, making him twice the age of his wife, whose name isn’t mentioned in any of the stories in the newspapers of the accident.

Times Evening Herald, August 15, 1932

Mrs. Fred Burgess and son Willard, South Eleventh Street, And Lewis Swartz, Jefferson Street, have returned from Sylvan Beach, Oneida Lake, called there by the death of Mrs. Burgess’ brother-in-law, Captain Lloyd Withey, Sylvan beach, who was drown in Oneida Lake, Sunday, August 2. Captain Withey succeeded in rescuing the ten passengers of his boat, the Agnes W. when it capsized and then went down with his boat.

It seems that they were boating in the dark.

Times Evening Herald, August 8, 1932

Man Drown As Boats Collide

Sylvan beach, N. Y., Aug 8 – (UP) – a pleasure boat owner was drowned in Lake Oneida near here last night when his craft carrying ten passengers crashed into the sie of a tug owned by John E Matton and Son of Waterford, N. Y.

Lloyd Withey, living near here died despite attempts to revive him after he was taken from the lake by boatmen who had put out from shore to aid the stricken pleasure boat.

The boat’s bow was stove in when it struck the tug broadside amidships, passengers said, but Withey turned about and attempted to reach the nearby shore. The boat filled with water and san as it neared land, throwing the eleven persons aboard it into the lake.

The tug, which had stopped after the collision, proceeded across the lake when first mate James J. Clinton, of Marine Island, N. Y. who was in charge, saw the yacht sail away. The tug’s master was Capt. Fred H. Godfrey.

I found several articles on the accident, including the investigation and trial of the tug owners for negligence.

Mary E Donigan's Family Notes

Thu, 29 May 2008 18:57:45 GMT

Since I finally found the maiden name of my great-great grandfather’s wife, Mary E Donigan, I have been researching her family tree. Mary’s father James was fresh off the boat from Ireland in about 1847. He and Mary would have 6 children, Catherine, John, Mary E., James, Thomas Michael, and Richard Jerry, before his death in mid 1860. Her mother Mary was also directly from Ireland and would remarry after James’ death to Patrick O’Keefe and have 2 more children, Patrick and Daniel, born in 1866 and 1869.

Mary’s brother, John, 1851-1933, married Minnie Jane Bolsover and lived in Friendship, Allegany, New York for his lifetime. Their daughter, Henrietta “Etta” Donigan would marry Frank W. Burrows. The Burrows, Bradley and Miller families have quite the history in Andover, Allegany, New York. I found a detailed write up on their businesses and an old photo of Frank on the usgen site, Allegany County, New York – Local History and Genealogy Site. Frank’s father, Augustus, was involved in both the mercantile business and was involved in the first bank of Andover. The block that the bank, grocery store and Burrows home was located on was referred to as Burrows block.

Train Wreck

Sat, 24 May 2008 11:32:09 GMT

We can’t seem to escape violence from any where. For the most part we don’t watch the news regularly before going to bed. Living in the Memphis city limits can be a real eye opener as to just how violent and cruel one human being can be to another. The violence in video games for children seems to have risen to an incredibly gruesome point where the opponents no longer resemble cartoon characters that “bop, biff, bam and zoom” their way to an ending, but are human forms that groan and bleed.

The assumption is that we have become thirstier for blood. I think though it is just that there are more means of delivery than ever before. While researching on newspaperarchive.com for information on the Kilgore clan in Ohio I ran across an article on a second cousin, multiple times removed. What led me to this article was another one on his daughters wedding several years later that mentioned his death. Wanting his obituary I started scanning dates to see if I could narrow it down. What I got back was way more than his obit. I found the coroner’s inquest information, reviewing the cause of his death in a train accident.

I wonder if they were ever concerned that a child, or my cousin’s children, the youngest being five, would pick up the paper and read this article, which in today's times seems pretty tame compared to video games.

The Ohio Democrat, April 19, 1867, New Philadelphia, Ohio

The Late R. R. Accident

The Steubenville Gazette of the12 inst., publishes the verdict of the Coroner’s Inquest held immediately after the accident on the Pan Handle Railroad near Hamlin’s Station:

Washington County, se. – An inquisition indebted taken at Burgettstown, County of Washington State of Pennsylvania on the 16^th day of March A. D. 1867, before me, J. L Paterson, Esq., of the County aforesaid upon the view of the body of J.(G.) H. Kilgore, then and there lying dead, upon the oaths of Findley Patterson, Daniel G Sturgeon, William Annan, Levie Culley, Thos. Brierly and James Aman, good and lawful men of the county aforesaid, being sworn and charged to inquire on the part of the Commonwealth when and where, how and after what manner the said G.H. Kilgore came to his death, do say upon their oaths that from the evidence adduced the said G. H. Kilgore came to his death in consequence of a collision of trains, (Express train No. 2 and the Pittsburgh and Steubenville accommodation train No. 12) on the P.C.C.R.R. at what is known as the Hamlin water station on Pittsburgh and Steubenville section of said railroad, in the county aforesaid at about five and half o’clock in the evening of the 14^th of March 1867. The aforesaid G. H. Kilgore was a passenger in express train No. 2, and appears to have been setting or standing near to and with his head out of a window of the car when the collision took place, the force of which drove one car several feet into the other, the side of the car in the rear of the one occupied by the said G. H. Kilgore, severed the head entirely from the body, the head dropping to the ground, the body remaining in the car, the floor of the aforesaid rear car passing over or above the floor of the car occupied by the deceased, forced the body forward in the car, mangling and crashing and breaking both legs. The jurors aforesaid believing it to be a part if their sworn duty to inquire into and ascertain, if possible, the cause of the collision, aforesaid it would appear from the testimony and from the rules and regulations adopted by the railroad company for the observance of employees on the road a part of which was also given in evidence that Express train No. 2, was running westward, over and hour behind her schedule time that she stopped to take water at what is known as Hamlin’s water station without leaving notice at her last stopping place of her intention so to do, as was her duty. She also failed to notify any approaching train either by flag or any kind of signal not withstanding an accident or breech, separating the locomotive from the train, had occurred as said water station, rendering it still more important that notice should be given to an approaching train. The Pittsburgh and Steubenville accommodation No. 12, also running westward and a few minutes behind her schedule time and but a short distance behind Express No. 2 at Burgettstown station, yet receiving no notice at Burgettstown, as was customary, from Express No. 2 of her intention to take water at Hamlin’s and As Express No. 2 did not stop at all way stations and the Accommodation train being required to stop at all stations and on this occasion having discharges to make at both the intervening stations between Burgettstown and Hamlin’s water station, and perceiving no flag or signal could scarcely be expected to be on the look out for Express No. 2 at Hamlin’s water station, where the collision took place by the Accommodation No. 12 coming in contact with Express no. 2.

In witness whereof the aforesaid justice and the jurors aforesaid have to this inquisition put their hands and seal the day and year at place above mentioned. James L Patterson, Findley, Thomas Brierly, James Annan, W. Annan, Levi J. Culley, Daniel G Sturgeon.

What Happened to Nellie Burgess?

Tue, 20 May 2008 11:21:53 GMT

The Nellie Burgess that I had previously located in the 1870-1880 Census does not seem to be the same Nellie Burgess that would drown in the Suffolk canal. The 1880 Census has a Nellie E Burgess, born about 1839 in Maine living at an alms house at Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts. She was single and a dressmaker. The 1870 Census would find her in Lawrence, Essex, Massachusetts with the same occupation. This Nellie Burgess would die at the alms house November 1882.

More research turned up these two articles on Nellie’s disappearance. It seems they did think there may have been a chance that Nellie had been murdered by someone that was friends with Joseph Crue. From the snips below she hadn’t painted a very nice picture of Crue during the murder trial.

The Fitchburg Sentinel, August 25, 1881

The Nellie Burgess Drowning Case

Nellie Burgess who was found drowned Saturday morning, in the Suffolk Canal at Lowell was about 17 years old and was identified by Mr. Burgess, with whom she was wed about two months. She lived in Groton with a family named Woods, before coming to Lowell and has been as a servant at several boarding houses in Lowell. Her name was Weaver before her marriage and she was born in Springfield. Her marriage occurred in March, 1880.

One of the theories regarding the cause of her death is that she was waylaid by a friend and vindicator of Joseph Crue, whom she testified against in the Crue murder trial, and that she was thrown into the canal by the person who waylaid her. In the trial of Abbott, for the murder of Mrs. Crue, Nellie Burgess testified, in substance as follows:

“She first testified to a conversation with Jennie Carr in regard to the man she saw at the Crue house on the day of the murder; have seen Crue at Miss Carr’s house quite often; know Crue asked her to go to ride; have seen him hug and kiss her once; Mr. Crue asked me not to testify at the trial against him, as it might hurt him; heard Crue tell his wife, about four months before the murder, the he would cut her throat.”

It is known that she had been receiving the attentions of a young man employed in a barber’s shop in Lowell for some months, until about a fortnight since, when she discarded him, and received the attentions of another young man employed in the same business at another shop. Both the young men were at work on Saturday night she was last seen, till midnight and neither of them was therefore the person who called for her at the place where she was employed early in the evening. It is reported that outcries were heard Saturday night near the place where the body was recovered, but there is no verification of such report.

John L baker says the he saw the Burgess girl on Merrimack street, Lowell, between eight and nine o’clock Saturday night, and the he saw her pass down the street and upon Central street. While near Canal block a well-dressed man, wearing a stiff white hat, who was driving along in a carriage, stopped and asked her to ride with him. She got into the carriage and was driven away. This is the last seen of her alive by any witness who has yet appeared.

The information surrounding Nellie Burgess is a bit confusing. This article gives more background on the young woman. Searching the Census I couldn’t locate Nellie in any of the mentioned households or by any one of the three last names she would have used.

Lowell Sun, August 7, 1881

Suicide or Murder?

Two Powell Cases this Week – Full Particulars

The body of an unfortunate woman was taken from the Suffolk canal, by a Frenchman at about eight o’clock Sunday morning. Undertaker Currier was notified and he immediately removed the body to his undertaking rooms on Prescott street. The woman was apparently about 20 years of age and about 5 feet 3 inches in height. She had dark brown hair, black eyebrows and plump well defined features. She was neatly dressed and wore a light sack and bunting dress, plaited at the bottom about three inches deep. She also wore a bask waist made of black bunting. Her underskirt was of gray material, striped with a woolen border. There was nothing on her person that would help to identify her except that in her pocket a piece of music was found on which the words “Old Arm Chair” were written in ink. Medical Examiner Hartwell of Ayer was summoned. Dr. Irish of this city being absent and he pronounced the case one of suicide. At one time the body was thought to be that of Mrs. Lizzie Athertea whose maiden name was Molloy and it was identified as such by her brother and a number of relatives and friends. This theory was abandoned soon after it being ascertained that Lizzie was alive and well. The body was really identified Monday noon, by table girls who had worked with deceased at Mr. Charles Sherman’s boarding house, No. 7, Carpet Corporation. They stated that her name was Nellie Burgess and that she had at one time worked for Mrs. Damon on the Tremont Corporation. The identification was made more reliable by the fact that Mrs. Damon recognized the piece of music found in the pocket of the unfortunate young woman to have been copied by her little son Charlie.

Nellie Burgess was born in Springfield, Mass., but owing to the circumstances of her birth, she was adopted by a family named Weaver. She afterwards took their name and was pretty well generally known as Nellie Weaver. In March 1880 she was married to Asa Burroughs but she lived with him only a few months. Soon after she took up her residence with a family named Woods, who resided near the Crue house in Groton, Mass., and as will be remembered, she appeared as a witness in the famous Crue-Abbott case, she testifying strongly against the character of Mr. Crue. After leaving the Wood family, about two months ago, Nellie came to this city. Soon after her arrival she obtained employment in the capacity of table girl at several of the corporation boarding houses. At the time of her death she was working for Mrs. Clark, who keeps a boarding house at No. 5 Suffolk Corporation. Mrs. Clark states that at about half past seven o’clock, Saturday night a tall dark complexioned man called for the Burgess girl. He was informed that Nellie had gone down the street. John L Baker, who lives at No. 105 Middlesex street says he saw the Burgess woman on Merrimack Street, between half-past eight and nine o’clock on Saturday evening. He also saw her on Central street at about nin o’clock, she being alone at the time. While passing along on Canal bridge, a rather good looking, well-dressed man, wearing a stiff hat and driving a top carriage stopped and asked her to ride with him. She did so and both drove away. This is the last, as far as has been ascertained at present, that was seen of Nellie Burgess alive. Whether she was foully dealt with or committed suicide is yet to be learned and her death will probably remain among the hidden things of the past.

Who Really Killed Maria Crue?

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:16:39 GMT

While doing searches on Burgesses in Massachusetts I ran across an article on Nellie Burgess. Nellie was found drowned; they immediately suspected suicide even after acknowledging that she had been a witness in a highly publicized murder trial. I am not so sure those assumptions would have been the same today. I decided to do a bit of research on the death of Mrs. Maria L Crue and see what I could turn up.

Mrs. Crue (1849-1880, born in Massachussets) was found in her home murder, and from physical evidence it had been a brutal murder. Stearns Kendall Abbott was the accused man in the murder case. In the Fitchburg Sentinel, Jan 28, 1881 the defense described the relationship that Mrs. Crue had with Mr. Crue as previously tenuous. It seemed from a period of 1873 to 1877 Mrs. Crue had problems with fidelity in her marriage. Mr. Crue on occasion was known to have chased with an axe from the home various paramours. Mr. Crue was also known to have threatened his wife on occasion. All this occurring while they lived in Lexington. The supposition was once they had moved to Groton the relationship had healed.

Stearns Kendall Abbott, born July 1838 in Vermont, and had been a private in the Civil War, would be the stranger in town. Abbott’s past would come back to haunt him. Born in a large very poor family, Abbott learned how to steal. His first attempt at thievery was to forge a claim ticket for $15.00. He was caught and sentenced to 5 years in jail. After his release he broke into and stole money to help out his family from a store and was caught and imprisoned again for 6 years. He stole a horse and buggy and served 4 more years and embezzled $250 and spent 2 more years in jail. His next try was $17.00 from a house and spent another 3 years in jail. By this time he was 42 years old and a month and a half out of jail when he moved to Groton. The one good thing that came from all of that incarceration was that he had learned a trade, wood working. He was looking for small jobs and had stopped at several homes inquiring of work on the 17^th of January 1880. He would speak with Henry Hewins about employment, which placed him directly in the vicinity of the Crue house. The newspapers would report that he was a printer.

In March another suspect was made note of in the newspaper. A printer, John H Dearborn, that had been employed in the area, about 3 miles from the farm house, during the time of the murder was a suspect. The day of the murder, January 17, 1880, this man didn’t show up for work and didn’t return to his boarding house room until the morning of the 17. The man was said to have kept a diary and written in the diary the day of the murder “Whosoever sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” It was stated that the man had a morbid fascination with the murder and spoke of it frequently. He owned a gun that was the same caliber as the murder weapon and even knew the victim through religious exercises at the Methodist church.

Although finger print analysis wasn’t then what it is now, bloody fingerprints were found at the scene that were distinct, one hand was missing a portion of a finger. This man had lost a portion of the tip of one finger. He shaved his moustache following the murder and disappeared. They showed pictures of this man to the witnesses, one said it could be the murderer and the other said not. Further investigation into the man’s past would turn up, his wife had divorced him and the police in various other locations were looking for him.

By March 11, they had caught up with John H. Dearborn. He was then employed with the Hopkinton Times at Contoocook. In an interview Dearborn claims to have been employed in November 1879 in Ayer for the Sentinel until June or July of 1880. He went from there to Scituate and then left Scituate in January of 1881.

Although they wouldn’t convict Dearborn of the murder it seems that Dearborn and Abbot not only had the same type of profession, printers according to newspaper reports at the time, they also resembled each other. Many of the witnesses, after Abbotts conviction would say that they couldn’t be positive it was Abbott and not Dearborn when shown photos. Mrs. Murphy, the keeper of a house of ill repute would state that Abbott had been at her house, that Saturday afternoon, January 17, 1880. Her niece would back up that statement.

Nellie Burgess would testify to a conversation that she had with Jennie Carr about the man she saw at the Crue house on the day of the murder. Nellie had seen Mr. Crue at the Carr house and Crue had asked her not to testify against him at the trial. She stated that she had seen a man about 9 o’clock in the vicinity of the murder acting suspiciously that she did not recognize. She found the imprint of a shoe at the scene and measured it against the boot of Mr. Crue.

The New York Times, April 21, 1881

Stearns K. Abbott Reprieved
Given Time to Show Further Evidence of His Innocence.

Boston, April 20 – Stearns Kendall Abbott, who was to have been hanged on Friday, for the murder of Mrs. Crue, in Groton, was reprieved today by the Governor and Council, after a long secret session, to June 23, in order that his counsel may have an opportunity to introduce new evidence. This is the case in which Wendell Phillips has taken so prominent a part of late and after the refusal of the Executive Council to commute the sentence, came out in a sharp letter on the latter’s course. The reprieve of Abbott, it is stated, does not imply any growing belief that the Governor and Council are any more convinced of his innocence than hitherto, but simply that they wish to give him every reasonable opportunity top to prove his asserted innocence. He has been expecting that the sentence would not be executed and it was argued that it was only justice to give the condemned man further time. Further efforts will be made by Abbott’s counsel to discredit the character of the witnesses against him. While the Council was in session it was stated outside that the additional evidence on which a reprieve was asked for was based upon a statement that Jennie Carr, one of the principal witnesses against the prisoner, once had an illegitimate child in the Charlestown district, and that she accused Crue of being its farther. This, it was claimed, tended to show undue intimacy between the parties, which might have tended to prejudice her testimony. The attorney general was reported to have given his opinion that a reprieve should be granted.

The case is an aggravated one. The woman was found dead in her home, a farm house, with the marks on her body of a severe struggle. The chain of circumstantial evidence connecting Abbott with the deed is very strong, and the case was fully heard. Few doubt Abbott’s guilt, but there is a strong difference of opinion as to whether it was a premeditated murder, which alone would make a capital offense. Abbott had been a printer, and was tramping. The deed was done while the woman was alone in the house.

April 30, 1881 Mrs. Thomas Stearns was interviewed and made statements to the press concerning Jennie Carr, one of the states star witness. Mrs. Stearns stated that she had rented a home to the Carr family and found them to be a bad set. She ended up suing the Carr’s for two summers worth of back rent. She had heard rumor that Crue had married Jennie Carr following his wife’s murder and thought that reason enough for motive. Jennie’s testimony was that she had called on the Crue house to borrow a cup of molasses and found the doors locked. She supposedly heard a body being dragged across the floor and the man that opened the door she identified as Abbott.

By May 3, 1881, Jennie Carr would be questioned about her reputation and previous connection with Crue. After first firmly denying any connection, she would break down and admit to perjury. She would also name Henry Hewins, another government witness, as the father of her baby. This would be news to Henry Hewins. By this time there is little doubt that Abbott was the victim of a conspiracy. Her testimony would prove to be unusable and still Abbott was kept in prison for life.

The Fitchburg Sentinel, August 23, 1881

The body of the girl found drowned Sunday in the Suffolk canal at Lowell, was identified Monday forenoon as Nellie Burgess of Groton. She was a witness in the Stearns Kendall Abbott murder trial and had recently worked in the Tremont and Suffolk mills; bur for the last two weeks was at Sherman’s boarding house on the carpet corporation. She left there last Friday and probably committed suicide. She is said to be married, but the name of her husband is not ascertained.

The 1880 Census has a Nellie E Burgess, born about 1839 in Maine living at a boarding house at Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts. She was single and a dressmaker. The 1870 Census would find her in Lawrence, Essex, Massachusetts with the same occupation.

The New York Times, January 28, 1885
A Very Doubtful Confession

One Which if True Would Relieve A Man From A Life Sentence

Boston, Jan 27, - In the State prison serving a life sentence, having barely escaped
Hanging, his sentence having been commuted while the gallows was being erected, is Stearns Kendall Abbott. The crime of which he was convicted was the murder of Mrs. Maria L. Crue, of Groton, in her house, situated on a farm about a mile from the village. This was one of the several noteworthy criminal cases of recent years in this state. Today the story was made public that James Crue, the husband of the murdered woman, had just died in the out-of-the-way town of Bolton, in Worcester County, and before his death had made a confession of the murder. It was also added that a written confession of the murder, from whom no one knew, was sent to Abbott’s counsel from someplace in the West after his arrest, and that this was withheld because it was supposed to have been written by a crank and of no value. The fact that the evidence against Abbott was circumstantial, and no reasonable motive was shown, and that the Chief of that State Police believed him guiltless of the crime and bestirred himself in the effort to secure his reprieve , and that in the investigation before the Governor and Council which resulted in the commutation of his sentence, the evidence of one of the principal witnesses against him at the trial was impaired by new evidence submitted, made it easy for many who had followed the case to believe today’s story.

But inquiry soon showed that it was not to be credited. The report was that the confession had been made to Dr. Perley P Courey, of Clinton, who had attended Cru, but a dispatch states that this physician knows nothing of the case and has not attended Crue; that other physicians are equally ignorant of the affair, and furthermore that Crue is believed to be alive, not in Bolton, but in the town of Lancaster. It is a curious fact that Judge Lord, before whom Abbott was tried, the prosecuting attorney, Attorney General Marston, and the senior counsel for the defense, George Stevens, have all died since the trial. Abbott is spoken of by Warden Usher, of the State prison, as an industrious, well-behaved and useful prisoner.

I kept searching to find out if they ever let Stearns Kendall Abbott out of jail.

Daily Kennebec Journal, April 28, 1911

Other Sentences Bring Total Time to Three quarters of His Life

Boston, April 27 – Prison doors which shut supposedly for life on Stearns Kendall abbott 30 years ago, after his conviction of the murder of Mrs. Marion Crue at Groton, swung open for him today through the approval of a majority of the Executive Council.

Abbott always denied that he was guilty of the murder.

The pardon committee, at whose suggestion Governor Foss acted in the case, gave three hearings for the petitioners and at the conclusion all but Lieut. Gov. Frothingham voted for the pardon. At the full Council meeting today, Councilor W. S. Glidden joined in opposing the pardon.

The grounds upon which it was granted were that Abbott had suffered sufficiently and that there were grave doubts as to his guilt.

The murder of Mrs. Crue took place January 17 1881 and a few days later Abbott was arrested. At the trial it was shown that he was in the vicinity of the scene of the murder about the time it was committed, that imprints of shoes corresponded to those he wore, while one witness stated that he saw Abott talking with Mrs. Crue that day.

He was convicted and sentenced to be hanged but through the earnest appeal of Wendell Phillips, punishment was commuted to imprisonment for life by Governor John D. Long.

One of the witnesses at the hearing last month was the late Secretary of State Olin, who investigated the case for Governor Long and recommended commutation of the death sentence.

When Abbott walked out of prison today he was in his 73 year and as he served for lesser offences before the Crue murder, nearly three-quarters of his life has been passed in jail.

At the pardon hearing a relative stated that there was a home for him in Pennsylvania and Abbott will leave Massachusetts at once.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Sun, 18 May 2008 14:42:21 GMT

I ran across this article in the Wellsboro, Pennsylvania Agitator from 1917. It seems some things haven’t changed when it comes to comparing things of today against the things of the past. Susanna Burgess was the wife of my third cousin seven times removed, Dr. Benjamin Burgess of Massachusetts.

The Wellsboro Agitator, February 7, 1917

In Grandmother’s Day

Sometimes we hear a few ultraconservative people bemoaning the loss of the home; the New England home with a big H, the home “as I remember it with the woman in it such as “my mother was.” It was true that the home might in certain cases not very long ago have been an improvement on the home that no longer (since the advent of the “movies” and social centers and clubs) exists, yet the woman who lived a century ago could not boast that the live she lived was as easy, bright and attractive as these old-fashioned people would have us think, whatever the home and the woman might have been. A little delving into the annals of the last century, a little searching in the records of probate files of old church societies and family letters, reveals something that would seem to us hard, meager and comfortless.

I am thinking of Susanna. In the days of old, when Simon Athern (1642-1714) of Tisbury on the island of Martha’s Vineyard was warring vigorously with gov. Mayhew, fighting to prevent his making a monopoly of the Island and filling all the offices with his sons and sons-in-law and family retainers; when he was trying to wrest from the said governor certain lands that he considered his by right, being fined and imprisoned and all that; amusing himself meanwhile with baiting the schoolmaster; while Simon was doing all this his son Jethro (1693-1784) was quietly courting the great-great-granddaughter of his father’s arch enemy, Thomas Mayhew. He married her later, and their daughter Zerviah (b. 1723) became the wife of John Manter (Benjamin?, b. 1711), the son of another old settle, and they were the parents of our Susanna (b. 1757), who inherited perhaps some of the old fighting stock which manifested itself later in a struggle with conditions. Susanna went to dame school. She learned her letters from an old hornbook. She learned a few simple sums and how to spin and weave and stitch her sampler. That was the extent of the higher education of women in those days.

A young doctor Benjamin Burgess (1737-1806), by name, led Susanna to school sometimes. He married her when she was 15 and he was 30, and they left the Vineyard and fearlessly made a long, long journey by sea to Boston and thence overland to Goshen in the hills of Western Massachusetts (one could easily make the trip in a day now) with the intention of making their home in that fertile (?) town. Susanna carried $1,000 quilted into the lining of her silk petticoat (so they say) to keep it from the Britishers who saw their ship and fruitlessly chased them on their way to Boston. It was during the Revolution, and journeys were undertaken at some risk. With this fortune, which had some to them from the doctor’s father, they bought (another legend) most of the town of Chesterfield and some of Goshen. Facts which, alas, cannot be proved by any delving in the old land records. And with them from Martha’s Vineyard they brought a chair or two, a table and a queer old mirror with something between an eagle and a unicorn perching between the scrolls that ornamented the top. The gilding of the wings of this strange beast is worn and tarnished now. The looking glass itself is dim with age, but it once bore the vision of Susanna. Dr. Burgess became an eminent physician in that part of the country and he rode over the hills many miles with lancet and calomel in his saddlebags. Perhaps he may have been called in consultation with Dr. Peter Bryant, father of William Cullen, who lived on the opposite range of hills (if the patient did not die of the lancet or calomel before the brother-surgeon could be had).

And Susanna stayed at home and minded the babies. She had six of them, five daughters and a son. She gave them their frugal meals of corn bread and milk. She spun and wove the wool and flax that made their clothing and all the water she had she brought from a well, and all the light she had came from a tallow dip. And when the children were men and women grown, she became an invalid and remained so to the end of her life. And then in the year 1806, her husband died and left this, his last will and testament, bequeathing, as you will see, the property which he had earned and she had helped him earn, by hard work and frugality, to “his beloved son-in-law, John Colson Lyman,” taking care meanwhile to thoroughly provide for his widow, “as long as she remains my widow.”

“In the name of god, Amen, I, Benjamin Burgess of Goshen, In the county of Hampshire, and the state of Massachusetts, Physician, Calling to mind that all men must die, and being of sound and disposing mind, do make this my last will and testament, and first of all I recommend my soul into the hands of God who gave it, and my body to the care of my executor, for decent interment, and touching any estate which I shall have, I give and bequeath as follows:

Inprimis, I give and devise unto my beloved Son in Law, John Colson Lyman, all and every part of the estate both real and personal that I shall die sured of, except which I shall hereafter mention in this my last will and testament, he having purchased the same of my son Silas Burgess, on condition that he shall fulfill the obligations hereafter mentioned.

“Item. I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Susanna Burgess, as long as she remains my widow, the improvement of all the rooms in the lower part of my dwelling house, with all the privileges hereafter mentioned to others and likewise., the two West chambers, except same privilege hereafter named and likewise a privilege in the garret and cellar, and the privilege of keeping fowls and to have provided for her, a sufficiency of firewood fit for the fire, brought to the door, and my will it, that she shall have for each year, twenty pounds of good sheep’s wool thirty pounds of good flax, twelve bushels of good Indian corn, twelve bushels of good rye, four bushels of good wheat and hundred and fifty pounds of good pork, one hundred pounds of good beef, five pounds of good bohea Tea, one pound of good green tea, thirty pounds of good sugar of the west India kind two gallons of molasses, one fourth of a pound of good pepper, two pounds of Coffee, one half pound of ginger and a half of good salt a sufficient of same to eat with meat of that which is good and a sufficiency of tallow to keep for her, two good cows winter and summer to be kept will and in good order for profit and to keep a good horse suitable for women to drive for her use and likewise seven dollars per year in money and likewise the use of one third of the orchard all the above said articles are to be allowed her during her remaining my widow and my will is that she shall have all the household furniture of what name it may be for her own proper estate to dispose of as she shall see fit. All these above said articles are given her On condition that she shall give up her right of dower and my will is that is she shall marry she shall give up all the above mentioned articles except the household articles and have fifty dollars paid her and my will is that if she should move away and give up the privileges of house-room and firewood to have ten dollars per year paid her by John C Lyman aforesaid.

“And further my will is that if my wife is sick while she remains my widow that she shall be provided for in everything necessary, to her comfort and my will is that she shall have one half of the pew given to her as her own proper Estate to dispose of as she shall see fit.’

And this is the way that Dr. Benjamin burgess provided for Susanna and one must acknowledge that for those days one could not really find fault with his will. Susanna must have had everything she wanted, even to her good “bohea tea.” and her pound of good “peper: per year. And John C. Lyman, aforesaid, must see to it, that she had her good cows to “keep for profit” and her horse, ‘suitable for women to drive,:” and “seven dollars per year” in spending money. And one cannot but pause and consider what on earth she could do with $7 per year in spending money.

There were no afternoon teas, no movies, no wonderful and costly productions in the line of fancy work, no afternoon clubs, no whist parties, but few frills and furbelows. She doubtless wrote to the people at Martha’s Vineyard but seldom, twice a year may be, so there could be no stamps, and stamps did not appear until later anyway. There were no cars or street cars and no place to go if one had them, but few books, and only a weekly newspaper which the county rider brought round once or twice a month maybe. What could Susanna do with “seven dollars per year” in spending money? It is not much wonder that big horn combs and cameo pins and strange little trinkets filter down through the centuries that were bought by our grandmothers who had great wealth with their $7 per year, less or more in spending money.

The wool and the flax made her clothes. Her daughters could spin and cleave the wool and flax and color the yarns blue in the old blue dye tub which stood in the corner. A hundred and fifty pounds seems quite a quantity of pork for one frail woman to eat in a year, but probably most of that was “put down” salted with the bushel and a half of salt, and only a little tenderloin or a spare rib or two frozen and hung out of the attic window to eat as needed through the winter. Part of the beef, too, was pickled. And the corn-meal and the rye made them bread. Some of the apples were made into cider and boiled, and the sweet apples were dried and combined with the cider and made into sauce. The tallow gave them light. Nothing else was needed except vegetables and not a word did the doctor say about vegetables. Did not they eat cabbages in those days? Where onions not discovered till later? The daughters, who by the way were bequeathed the use and improvement of the “two west chambers,” without that part of the house given their mother, for their disposal to live in, with firewood provided sufficient for use, and a privilege in the kitchen or cellars and at the well or wells for water,” the daughters could pick greens in the spring of the year, cowslips, dandelions, milkweed and dock, and could pick, the wild blueberries and blackberries, but still one would think they would get rather tired of salt pork with no vegetables before the summer was over. There were no meat wagons those days.

But Grandmother Susanna burgess lived happily and contentedly, the widow of Dr. Benjamin Burgess, for many years later. But did John Colson Lyman aforesaid, scrupulously weigh out and set aside,” these pounds and quarters of a pound of beef and sugar, of tea and spice, during all the 20-odd years that Susanna survived her husband? One cannot but wonder!

Four Susanna’s daughters married, settled on neighboring hills and became the mothers of men and women many of whom were famous in varying walks of life: statesman, scholars, physicians, authors; men of whom their townsmen were proud men who formed the truest background of our New England life. But none of them enjoyed the deluxe life of to-day: All Susanna’s daughters were hard-working New England women who had ideals, and who bore privations. Mercy, one of these daughters, lived not far away. Listen to her daughter telling the story of those days to another generation: “In one of the drawers of the old cherry chest, the one that my father made with his own hands, cherry clear through, no veneer, my mother kept a piece of copper-plate calico. That was a kind they do not have now, a heavier and glossier kind. She bought it before she was married for a field bedstead and she had to keep it years and years before she had money enough for a field bedstead and at last it began to crack in the folds and then she had it made up. And with it she kept that for years and years before she had money enough to buy the cotton lining. It was quite and event when at last it was made up. But the copper plate, I was telling you about that, when she had it made up she had nothing to trim the scallops with. But Becky Richardson had got to taking opium and the doctor supplied her with it and she was heavily in his debt. And so he told her that if there was any work my mother wanted done she could do it, and so she had her make some fringe for that copper-plate bed-quilt. Becky could make very nice fringe, though she could do not much else. My mother got some yarn and colored it green. First she made it yellow with smartweed and tehn she dipped it in the blue dye tube to make it green. And out of that yarn Becky made the fringe and when it was sewed on it looked very nicely.

And then grandmother went on to tell how hard life was in her younger days and how she stood and warmed the old doctor’s bed with the warming pan while he repeated Burn’s poems and made her learn them, too. She told how she and her sisters used to go to the cold attic chamber in the freezing winter days to get meal for bread and pudding from the meal chest and how cold it was to her hands till her father made some wooden paddles shaped like an artist’s palette with holes for the thumb and fingers with which to scoop the grain. And she remembered well when the first barrel of white flour was brought into town and emptied on a sheet in her father’s kitchen and there and then divided between two families. Winters were severe then. Blizzards were frequent: snow drifts were drifts were deep. In the schoolhouses the children stood shivering before the fireplace, one side roasting and the other burning and did intricate sums in hard arithmetic and recited and read from Pope and Cowper and Grey and other classics.

No mush was necessary for the mental consumption of boys and girls in those days. They lived up to their studies and not down and if they complained they were told that boys and girls should be seen and not heard. They had no educational frills and ruffles. They had no school sewing and no school science. They did not learn folk dances nor basket weaving or woodwork in school time, though they very probably did so out of school hours. They learned “the three R’s” and they could read and spell, both lost accomplishments in these days. Grandmother herself stood at the head of her class for 60 days and nights and had 60 notches cut in the beam above the door to her credit. Going to school in those days was no joke. It was work for the pupils instead of the teacher and children became scholars and not puppets and jacks of all educational trades.

They walked to school and carried their uninviting lunches in cloth bags, shivering along several miles of country roads and ate their frozen dinners with comrades who were all on the same shelf with themselves. There were no distinctions of caste on the hills. And when grandmother was 16 she went away from home and taught school herself for five shillings a month! Five shillings! A little more than $1 a month! And she thought it was wealth!

A little piece of paper, yellow with age, lies before me now. On it in hard slanting characters is an announcement from grandfather. He would “see her wind and weather permitting Sunday evening week,” and this small slip, the only thing that betrays the fact that this was a love letter, was folded inside two square sheets written fine and closely and bearing an urgent request that grandmother would declare herself a sinner and embrace the Christian life; this a love letter to one who was the mildest and most saintly of women.

Many hardships were grandmother’s lot in her married days. Her daughters after her in the mid 19^th century bore them and shared them too. Her daughters were trained in a severe school and from sundown Saturday night to sundown Sunday night they did extreme penance under the guise of keeping the Sabbath. And one day they wondered to see the church that stood opposite their house opened on a week-day and to see their parents and all their grownup neighbors enter herein while they themselves where made to remain at home and flatten their noses on the window pane wondering what it was all about. Here is a sheet of paper covered with stiff characters in faded blue ink that tells what it was about:

“Welcome Bacon’s charges of complaint against Mrs. Warner Boland. Dec. 20, 1844.
“Dear Brethren. In conformity with the rule which Christ has given us and by leave of the church, I appear before you to state my grievances in the humble hope and belief that they will be cordially and prayerfully considered. Duty to the church, faithfulness to my covenant vows require me unpleasant as it may be to bring some charges derogatory to the Christian character of Mrs. Warner Boland. I would hereby represent.
“First that she has bee guilty of unchristian conduct in her conversation with and treatment of me.
“Second. That she has been guilty of evil speaking in that she has been guilty of evil speaking in that she has affirmed repeatedly that I would lie.
“Third. That she has wholly refused to hear me and the brethren of the church with regard to her offense.
“Witness.”

Mrs. Warner Boland must have listened to the Christian (?) members of the church, for another ragged and yellow slip of paper bears her confession. She admits that she has lied about Welcome Bacon; that she humbly begs him to forgive her and beseeches pardon of her Christian brethren of the church and desires to be reinstated in the good graces thereof.

This tempest in a tea pot must have been a welcome diversion for the town. Parties were few then; clubs unknown; funerals (always an enjoyable event to everybody but the mourners) were scarce and weddings even fewer. Singing and spelling school, husking or paring bee, were all the dissipation that the young people of the ‘50’s (1850’s) had on those hills. So the solemn trial of Mrs. Warner Boland (a new chapter in witchcraft) haled before the church because she said the Welcome Bacon lied must have been as good as a “movie” to our grandparents.

Consider well these things, women of today, and say if you would live in those days when women lived the protected (?) lives of the old New England home. Think of it well ye exponents of the higher education for women, who are yet inimical to equal rights for women, and thank the shade of Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone and their sister pioneers that you have won the privileges and rights you now enjoy.

Davis' of Somerset

Thu, 15 May 2008 11:54:28 GMT

Daniel Davis was born in Middletown, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania in 1814. He would later move to Somerset, Pennsylvania and die there in 1892. I know that his father’s name was John; he was born about 1770 and died after 1830. I know that Daniel had two brothers and two sisters, but I don’t know their names.

I did some searching last night to see if I could find any information on newspaperarchives.com. When Daniel didn’t work I tried some of the names of his children to see what would turn up. Although Ross Davis was deceased in 1932, his wife was still living and had not remarried. I found an article on Ross and Julia’s daughter Lilly Davis Williams. Lilly, her husband and daughter Ethel were in a car accident in 1932.

Daily News Standard, August 6, 1932

Somerset Trip Ends in Crash

Local Motor Party Escape Accident With Bruises.

A day of anticipated pleasure ended in disaster for a party of well known Uniontown folk last Sunday as their car skidded from the highway, after a tire had blown out and turned turtle twice.

The car, a Hupmobile sedan, was being driven by S.E. Williams, prominent Uniontown plumber, and with him was Mrs. Williams, their daughter, Miss Ethel and Mrs. Nannie Laing Hagans who were en-route home from Somerset where they had visited for the day with William Begley, commissioner of Somerset county and members of his family.

The accident occurred about two miles from Somerset and although the car was completely demolished the occupants did not suffer serious injury and were able to return to Somerset where they remained overnight at the home of Mrs. Williams’ mother, Mrs. Ross Davis.

Both Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hagans are suffering from severe body bruises and shock and under advisement of attending physicians are taking things very quietly until shattered nerves are quieted. Although slightly injured Mr. Williams and his daughter, passengers in the front seat, escaped painful bruises and have over-come the effects of the accident more quickly than Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hagans who were se severely shaken up.

Fred Williams, brother of Ellis Williams, sent his car to Somerset last Monday morning in order to transport the Uniontowners to their respective homes in this city.

I read the first sentence twice. I had never heard of “turned turtle” and can only assume that it meant that they had rolled the car over twice. The next thing that claimed my attention was the name of the car – Hupmobile. I looked closely to be sure that I had spelled it correctly and then went to Wikipedia for answers. Sure enough it was spelled correctly. Hupmobiles were manufactured from 1909 until 1940, made by the Hupp Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan. I scrolled down the page and spotted a 1932 4-Door Sedan. Immediately visions of the great Gatsby started dancing through my head.

The search on Ross did turn up information on his daughter Lilly’s family. Previously I had only her husband’s initials of S. E. I would find out that his name was Samuel Ellis and that he and Lilly had 5 children. Their daughter Sara Etta would marry Raymond Carey in 1937 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania from another article. Once I knew that they had daughters, Sara and Ethel I located then in Uniontown in the 1920 and 1930 Census and in Fairchance, Pa., in 1910.

The Photographic Trail

Sun, 11 May 2008 13:22:29 GMT

Because I am simply fascinated with the artistic members of the family, seeing as they fit right in with my own passion, I have been trying to sort out the photography studio group and how it all began.

From what I can tell so far Marcus Eyth came to Pennsylvania around 1850 and settled into the Butler county area. This family started up several different businesses and ran them successfully. Francis Eyth, son of Marcus, ran a hotel in Centreville from 1870 until his death in 1916, called the “Eyth Hotel” and a Daguerreotype studio in the city of Butler around 1860.

Bernardina Eyth, daughter of Marcus, would marry Ulrich West in Butler county and have a son Jacob in 1848. I suspect that young Jacob took a shine to what his Uncle Francis did in his photography studio and decided when he came of age to pursue the career. In the 1870 census he was listed as a photographer. Jacob would marry Mary M Zuver in 1870 and she would join in the photography business and eventually become very popular in Bradford, Pa.

Mary’s two younger brothers Lewis W Zuver and Leander L Zuver would also catch the photography bug. Lewis in the 1880 Census and Leander in the 1910 Census would list themselves as a photographer.

Jacob and Mary would build their careers in the McKean county area, specifically in Bradford, Pa. Mary’s brothers can be found listed with studios from Olean, NY, just north of Bradford across the Pennsylvania line as far south in Pennsylvania as Pittsburgh. Leander or “Dick” as his friends referred to him had the shortest career in the photography business. His brother Lewis seemed to have been more creative in his approach to his chosen career.

In 1885 Lewis and a man named Atherly had small steamboat built in order to hawk their wares in the river from Olean, NY to Pittsburgh, PA. This path would allow them to hit some of the busiest oil centers in Pennsylvania including, Warren, Oil City, Tidioute, Tionesta and Franklin. In the 1885 papers I found these articles on the new scheme.

The Olean Democrat (Olean, New York) > 1885 > March > 10

The Cattaraugus Union says that an Allegany Steamer is now being built on the river bank just below the bridge, which when completed will be commanded by commodore L. W. Zuver, who will proceed down the river, stopping at all desirable points for the purpose of doing some fine work in photography. Zuver is a first class artist, and we think his scheme is a good one. Another boat, lower down the river, is nearly completed by Mr. Martin, for the same purpose.

Titusville Herald, March 13, 1885
A man named Zuver is building a photography gallery on a small steamboat which will run up and down the Alleghany River next season, stopping for a few days at a time at the principal places.

The Olean Democrat (Olean, New York) > 1885 > April > 28

Messrs. Zuver and Atherly have their photograph boat completed and launched. Everything is in satisfactory condition, and they will soon set out on their journey. We expect they will secure a fine gallery of views, while they "Sail and they Sail."

Although it is a guess that the Zuvers and the Wests began their careers because of a member of the Eyth family, I still think it may be a pretty close call. Lewis would continue to enjoyt he photography profession until selling out to H. S. Sheffler in 1910 and moving to St. Petersburg, Florida.

Mary would sell her business, after Jacob’s death, in Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1906 to Howard Spangler and move to Butler to live with her family in 1907.