DOWN ON JP'S FARM 1880

As I posted earlier, I recently found the missing 1880 Nonpopulation
Federal Census Agricultural Schedule for my 2x great grandfather 
Jonathan Phelps West farm. This helped me get a fuller picture of JP’s
life as a farmer and the dynamics between three of the four West 
brothers. It also made me curious about a few things. I’ll talk about 
those latter items first.


On the 1870 Census Jonathan and Louisa West’s children are given as John
C. (Cuvier) West and George P. I don’t know why that didn’t get my attention
sooner, but there’s no George P. West listed in JP’s family anywhere else
except on that Census. At first I thought perhaps it was a child who died in
infancy, but then looking at the 1880 Federal Census I realized what the answer
probably is:George P. is my great grandfather Philip Jonathan West. The ages
match up. So did his parents originally name him George P. but then changed 
their minds? Or was it the more likely error by the census taker?


The second question I have concerns my 2x great grandfather Asa F. 
Ellingwood. He and his family were close neighbors of JP’s, a fact which would
eventually lead to the marriage of Philip J. West and Clara Ellingwood. Yet I 
have found no record of Asa’s farm on the 1880 Agricultural Schedule. Was it
skipped over by the enumerator?


Ah well.


As to the information on JP’s farm in 1880, it shows a smaller farm with 
75 fewer acres of woodland. Did JP sell that off to brother Hiram the 
sawmill operator? Yet the total value of the farm and livestock had nearly 
doubled from $1150 in 1870 to $2000 in 1880. The flock of sheep had 
grown to 20 but two were apparently killed by dogs(or wolves?). The
biggest crop was 600 bushels of potatoes but there were also 60 cords
of wood cut and sold for a dollar a cord for $60. Again, I think that
they would have been sold to brother Hiram.


And along with his two older sons being of an age now where they could 
help out around the farm, JP had work enough to merit hiring on help for
ten weeks.


Here is my transcription of the entry for JP’s farm:


Tenure:
Owner:/
Rents for fixed money rental:
Rents for shares of crops:




Acres of Land:
Improved:
Tilled, including fallow and grass in rotation (whether pasture or meadow):20
Permanent meadows, permanent pastures, orchards, vineyards:20


Unimproved:
Woodland and forest:75
Other unimproved, including "old fields" and growing wood:




Farm Values:
Of farm, including land, fences and buildings:1500(dollars)
Of farming implements and machinery:100(dollars)
Of livestock:400(dollars)


Fences:
Cost of building and repairing in 1879:25(dollars)




Cost of fertilizers purchased in 1879:




Labor:
Amount paid for wages for farm labor during 1879, including value of board:
50(dollars)


Weeks hired labor in 1879 upon farm (and dairy),excluding housework: 10




Estimated value of all farm productions (sold, consumed or on hand) in 1879:400(dollars)




Grass Lands:
Acreage 1879
Mown:80(acres)
Not Mown:
Products Harvested in 1879:
Hay:25(tons)
Clover seed:
Grass seed:


Horses of all ages on hand June 1, 1879:2


Mules and asses all ages on hand June 1, 1879:


On hand June 1, 1879:
Working oxen:
Milch cows:3
Other:13


Meat Cattle and Their Products:
Calves dropped:2
Movement 1879:
Purchased:1
Sold living:1
Slaughtered:
Died, strayed and at (indecipherable word)and not recovered:
Milk sold, or sent to butter and cheese factories in 1879:
Butter made on the farm in 1879:200(lbs.)
Cheese made on the farm in 1879:


Sheep:
On hand June 1,1879:20
Lambs dropped:13
Movement 1879:
Purchased:
Sold living:9
Slaughtered:2
Killed by dogs:2
Died of disease:
Died of stress of weather:
Clip, Spring 1880, Shorn And To Be Shorn:
Fleeces:20
Weight:80(lbs)


Swine:
On hand June 1, 1880:6




Poultry On Hand June 1, 1880, Exclusive Of Spring Hatchlings
Barn-yard:10
Others:


Eggs Produced In 1879:50(doz.)




Cereal:
Barley 1879:
Acres:
Crop:
Buckwheat 1879:
Acres:1
Crop:60(bushels)
Indian Corn 1879:
Acres:
Crop:
Oats 1879:
Acres:3
Crop:100(bushels)
Rye 1879:
Acres:
Crop:
Wheat 1879:
Acres:2
Crop:40(bushels)


Pulse:
Canada Peas (Dry) in 1879:
Beans (Dry) in 1879:3 (bushels)

Fiber:
Flax-1879:
Area in crop:
Seed:
Straw:
Fiber:
Hemp:
Acres:
Tons:
Sugar:
Surghum-1879:
Area in crop:
Sugar:
Molasses:
Maple-1879
Sugar:
Molasses:30(gallons)


Broom Corn-1879
Acres:
Lbs.:

Hops-1879:
Acres:
Crop:


Potatoes(Irish)1879:
Acres:3
Crop:600(bushels)


Potatoes(Sweet)1879
Acres:
Crop:


Orchards-1879:
Apples:
Acres:
Bearing trees:
Bushels 1879:
Peaches:
Acres:
Bearing trees:
Bushels 1879
Total value of orchard products of all kinds sold or consumed:
Nurseries:
Acres:
Total value of produce sold in 1879:


Vineyards:
Acres:
Grapes sold in 1879:
Wine made in 1879:


Market Gardens
Value of produce sold in 1879:


Bees:
Honey:
Wax:


Forest Products:
Amount of wood cut in 1879:60(cords)
Value of all forest products sold or consumed in 1879:60(dollars)






So by 1880 three West brothers, Asa A., Jonathan P., and Hiram F. were
enjoying a reasonable amount of success in their lives.


But what of their youngest brother, Leonidas?


I’ll discuss that next.

NOTHING VENTURED.....THE ANSWER

Last week I wrote a blogpost concerning my contacting the City of
Boston Archives to find out if they had any records on my two maternal
great grandfathers who had been city employees early in the last century.

I received a reply this morning from a member of that department:

"We do not have individual personnel files for former city employees.
We do have "Lists of City Employees", circa 1888-1960. The lists
include name, address, position, compensation, date appointed and
date first employed by the city. The City of Boston Archives is open
to the public Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by appointment.
The charge for photocopying is $0.50 per copy."

So now I know there is a list I can search, how much a copy will cost,
and where in Boston the City Archives are located, which is at:

City of Boston Archives
201 Rivermoor Street
West Roxbury, MA 02132

And I know more than I did before!

DEAR ACCREDITEDONLINECOLLEGES.COM PERSON:

This is the second unsolicited email I've received from someone
associated with your site asking me to check out one of your blogposts
and suggesting that I "feature or mention it" here on my blog. The
first one apparently had something to do with Japan, and for the life
of me I couldn't figure out by what stretch of the imagination the
writer thought that had any relevance to New England genealogy.
Mildly annoyed, I did what I usually do with such emails.

I didn't click the link and I deleted the email.

Then this morning I received a second email. I'm sure you're a
nice person. Perhaps you are working your way through online
college by sending out emails to solicit traffic to your website.
So I won't mention your name. But now I am a bit peeved.

Stop sending me emails. I've marked this one as spam so it's
going the way of the first one with link unclicked.

But I AM mentioning it on my blog. Sort of. Just not in the
way I think you had hoped.

And have a NICE Day!

AN HOUR ON FOOTNOTE.COM

It's Thursday and after a short visit to the doctor for some tests the rest of
my day is free.I prefer to schedule the appointments as early as possible
in the day for just that reason.

I thought I'd revisit Footnote.com to see what databases were new or
updated and found one that was unfamiliar to me, the Final Payment
Vouchers Index for Military Pensions, 1818-1864. These records show
the date of the final payment to a Revolutionary War veteran or his
widow and many have the dates they died.

I found cards for the following ancestors:

John Ames
Asa Barrows
Jonathan Barker
Amos Upton

I also found the records for Jonathan Barker's brothers Benjamin and
Jesse. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know but I downloaded
the images to each of the files I have for them.

I also checked again for pension files for a few of the ancestors I hadn't
found one for as yet. One of these is John Griffith (4Jun 1763 Rochester,
Plymouth, Ma.-8Feb 1840, Livermore, Androscoggin, Me.). I knew that
he'd served as a matross in an artillery company under Captain William
Treadwell in the 3rd Artillery Regiment commanded by Col. John Crane.
And of course not all veterans applied for pensions. But this time around I
checked under the names of the widows and got a hit. On an image from
the pension file of James Rankin I found a letter concerning the cases of
several widows and on it was the following:

"In the case of Mary Griffith widow of John Griffith you inform me
that no papers can be found-it is stated in her application that her
late husband enlisted in Col Crane's Regiment of Artillery and served 
til the end of the war, the foregoing are all the particulars we can
furnish you."

The letter's signature is faded but looks like it could be a Levi Bailey. It's
addressed to "J.S. Edwards Commissioner of Pensions, Washington DC"
and was written on 16 Apr 1845 from the Bangor Land Office so Mary
Boyden Griffith might have been applying for a land grant. I've found no
record online that she succeeded so she may have failed. She died in
Livermore, Oxford, Me in 1846. Her granddaughter Arvilla Ames is my
3x great-grandmother Arvilla Ames West.

But not bad for an hour's search on Footnote.com, I think!

PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF.

I had intended to summarize what I'd learned about my great great
grandfather Jonathan Phelps West and his brothers from the 1850-1880
Nonpopulation Census Schedules. But I hadn't found the 1880
Agricultural Schedule for JP yet and I wanted to take a last shot at it over
at Ancestry.com. Searching by name hadn't turned up anything so I
decided to search every image for every town in Oxford County, Maine.
The 1880 images show two pages and theorizing that the missing page
with JP might be a right hand page indexed under the name of the town
on the left hand page, I narrowed my search by looking at the last image
for each town. Sure enough, after starting alphabetically with the town of
Albany, I found the missing Upton, Maine image at the end of the images
for Grafton, Maine.

I discovered why the name search hadn't worked when I added the
record to JP's profile: he'd been indexed just as "Jonathan P." with no
last name!

Figuring I was now on a roll, I decided to try my luck with the same
method for the missing second page of the 1870 Agricultural Schedule.
This presented a different challenge. The images show two pages, the
right hand one being the front page of a record and the left hand page
being the second page of the previous record. Reasoning this time that
the missing second page might be indexed with the first page of the
following town, I decided to search the first image for each town. The
main trouble with this was that those pages don't have the names of the
towns or citizens on them; that information was on the front page. So
how could I tell if a page was the missing Upton page?

I looked at the image I had of the front page for anything that might be
dark enough to show through onto the second page. Nothing. Then, I
counted the number of entries on the page. There were 33, so logically,
there should be a corresponding number on the missing second page. I
started looking at the images for the 1870 Schedule and once again I
lucked out! The page preceding the page for the town of Gilead had 33
entries! But not taking any chances, I went through all the towns to see if
there was another image with the 33 entries, but there were no others.

So I have a few more posts to write before that summary.

And that's why it pays to be persistent!

DOWN ON ASA'S FARM 1880

While Hiram West had abandoned farming by 1880 in favor of the
lumber and mill business, brother Asa West was still at it, albeit at a
smaller scale than in 1870. Sometime over that decade, Asa's farm
shrank by 35 acres, 20 of it farmland and the other 15 woodland.
Consequently the total value of the farm was down over a thousand
dollars to 2600 dollars.The flock of ten sheep was gone. Asa still grew
corn and oats but no longer buckwheat but he had made more use of
his woodland, drawing 30 gallons of maple syrup and cutting 10 cords
of wood valued at 10 dollars.


He'd also cut back on expenses by not hiring any help, a savings of
300 dollars from 1870.By now daughter Lizzie and son C. Scott were
teenagers and able to help out around the farm.If Asa was working
for Hiram at the sawmill, the pay or profit there would more than
makeup the monies that might have been made by growing more crops.

So here's my transcription from the 1880 Schedule 2-Productions of
Agriculture for Andover, Oxford, Maine, page 9:




Tenure:
Owner:yes
Rents for fixed money rental:
Rents for shares of crops:


Acres of Land:
Improved:
Tilled, including fallow and grass in rotation (whether pasture or meadow):30
Permanent meadows, permanent pastures,orchards, vineyards:50

Unimproved:
Woodland and forest:50
Other unimproved, including "old fields" and growing wood:


Farm Values:
Of farm, including land, fences and buildings:2200(dollars)
Of farming implements and machinery:100(dollars)
Of livestock:300(dollars)

Fences:
Cost of building and repairing in 1879:


Cost of fertilizers purchased in 1879:


Labor:
Amount paid for wages for farm labor during 1879, including value of board:
Weeks hired labor in 1879 upon farm (and dairy),excluding housework:


Estimated value of all farm productions (sold, consumed or on hand) in 1879:400(dollars)


Grass Lands:
Acreage 1879
Mown:30
Not Mown:
Products Harvested in 1879:
Hay:30(tons)
Clover seed:
Grass seed:

Horses of all ages on hand June 1, 1879:2

Mules and asses all ages on hand June 1, 1879:

On hand June 1, 1879:
Working oxen:2
Milch cows:2
Other:

Meat Cattle and Their Products:
Calves dropped:1
Movement 1879:
Purchased:3
Sold living:
Slaughtered:
Died, strayed and at (indecipherable word)and not recovered:
Milk sold, or sent to butter and cheese factories in 1879:
Butter made on the farm in 1879:100(lbs.)
Cheese made on the farm in 1879:

Sheep:
On hand June 1,1879:
Lambs dropped:
Movement 1879:
Purchased:
Sold living:
Slaughtered:
Killed by dogs:
Died of disease:
Died of stress of weather:
Clip, Spring 1880, Shorn And To Be Shorn:
Fleeces:
Weight:

Swine:
On hand June 1, 1880:2


Poultry On Hand June 1, 1880, Exclusive Of Spring Hatchlings
Barn-yard:8
Others:

Eggs Produced In 1879:30(doz.)


Cereal:
Barley 1879:
Acres:
Crop:
Buckwheat 1879:
Acres:
Crop:
Indian Corn 1879:
Acres:1
Crop:15(bushels)
Oats 1879:
Acres:3
Crop:100(bushels)
Rye 1879:
Acres:
Crop:
Wheat 1879:
Acres:
Crop:

Pulse:
Canada Peas (Dry) in 1879:
Beans (Dry) in 1879:9 (bushels)

Fiber:
Flax-1879:
Area in crop:
Seed:
Straw:
Fiber:
Hemp:
Acres:
Tons:
Sugar:
Surghum-1879:
Area in crop:
Sugar:
Molasses:
Maple-1879
Sugar:
Molasses:30(gallons)

Broom Corn-1879
Acres:
Lbs.:

Hops-1879:
Acres:
Crop:

Potatoes(Irish)1879:
Acres:1
Crop:200(bushels)

Potatoes(Sweet)1879
Acres:
Crop:

Orchards-1879:
Apples:
Acres:2
Bearing trees:100
Bushels 1879:200
Peaches:
Acres:
Bearing trees:
Bushels 1879
Total value of orchard products of all kinds sold or consumed:24(dollars)

Nurseries:
Acres:
Total value of produce sold in 1879:

Vineyards:
Acres:
Grapes sold in 1879:
Wine made in 1879:

Market Gardens
Value of produce sold in 1879:

Bees:
Honey:
Wax:

Forest Products:
Amount of wood cut in 1879:10(cords)
Value of all forest products sold or consumed in 1879:10(dollars)


I'll have some thoughts about what I've learned from all this in another post.

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: THE TIME CAPSULE

It's Saturday night, time for Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy 
Fun over at his Genea-Musings blog. Here's tonight's challenge:

"1) Go to the dMarie Time Capsule Website - http://dmarie.com
/timecap/

2) Select a date in your family history that you want to know about. 
You might pick a birth date or wedding date of your parents or 
grandparents.

3) Enter the date into the search form, and select the news, songs, toys, 
books and other things that you want to feature.

4) Share the date, why you picked it, and the results of your Time 
Capsule study on your own blog, in a comment to this post, or in a 
comment or post on Facebook."

After thinking a bit I decided on 19Oct 1924, the wedding date of my
Mom's parents, Edward F. White Sr. and Agnes Dorothy McFarland.
I chose that because 1924 was also the year my Dad was born(17Jul).

Out of curiosity I searched for online performances of the top songs of
1924 and found them for all save one. Click on the links to check them
out, including Jeanette MacDonald singing "Indian Lovecall" to Nelson
Eddy as he leads away his prisoner, a very young Jimmy Stewart. There's
also a performance of "June Night" by Buster Keaton of all people,
accompanying himself on ukuele!

I also found a Tootsietoys collectors website with pictures of the models
popular in the 1920's and 1930's!

So, here's what I found:


Headlines for that week:
Oct 19 - General Christian Worker's union demands 8 hr work day in Belgium
Oct 20 - 1st Negro League World Series: KC Monarchs shuts out Hilldales, 5-0
Oct 21 - KLM Fokker's F7 H-NACC departs to Dutch East Indies
Oct 23 - W Baade discovers asteroid #1036 Ganymed
Oct 24 - Christian Gen Feng Joe Siang occupies Beijing
Oct 24 - Nobel prize for fysiologie/medicine awarded to W Einthoven

Top Sings of 1924:
Serenade by Dorothy Donnelly Indian Love Call by Otto Harbach
O, Katherina! by L. Wolfe Gilbert The Prisoner's Song by Gus Massey
All Alone by Irving Berlin Jealous by Tommie Malie
June Night by Cliff Friend Spain by Gus Kahn

Prices in 1924:
Bread: $0.09/loaf
Milk: $0.53/gal
Eggs: $0.43/doz
Car: $265
Gas: $0.21/gal
House: $7,720
Stamp: $0.02/ea
Avg Income: $1,244/yr
DOW Avg: 121

Calvin Coolidge was the President of the United States but there was no
Vice-President.

Tootsietoys were the hot new toys.

And the top books in 1924 were:
The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
The Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain

This was a lot of fun. Thanks, Randy!

NOTHING VENTURED.....

The other day my friend and co-worker Laura Vona posted over on her
blog about the success she'd had obtaining records of her grandfather's
employment as a Boston police officer. It got me thinking that perhaps I
should find out if there were any records about my maternal
great-grandfathers who had worked for the City of Boston and if there
was a way I might get copies of them.

So I went to the official City of Boston website which is at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/ and in the "Departments" droplist found
the "Archives and Records" page. Along with the description of the
duties and responsibilities of the department, I found a link to the Guide
to the Records in the City of Boston Archives but couldn't find
anything there in regards to records of city employees. So I made use
of the "Contact Us" link for Archives and Records. In the message box
I included the names of my great grandfathers and the information on
them being city employees that I had gleaned from the 1910, 1920 and
1930 Federal Censuses along with their home addresses as given on the
censuses.I asked if the city kept records form employees from that far
back, and if so, how would I be able to obtain copies of them.

I did all this last night but don't expect to get a reply today. It might not
pan out but it was worth asking, wasn't it?

After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

HIRAM WEST'S SAW-MILL IN 1880

As we saw in the last post, my great great granduncle Hiram F. West
had abandoned farming in favor of operating a grist mill and a saw mill.
The images of the 1880 Federal Census Non-Population Schedules for
Maine at Ancestry.com have provided me with a snapshot of Hiram's
two businesses that show him to be successful. Both mills were located
on the Cambridge River in Upton, Oxford, Maine, probably close-by
each other.

The saw-mill was the more profitable operation, especially when you
consider that it only operated full-time for five months. This probably
was due to a combination of winter weather(this was Maine, after all)
and harvest season when more time would be spent at the grist mill.
During those five months, Hiram employed five workers, the three who
boarded with him, another adult male and one "child or youth". I'm just
speculating here but those latter two could have been his brother Asa
and Hiram's ten year old son Hiram W. West.

Another fact revealed on this schedule is that half of the logs that went
through the saw mill had been cut by Hiram and his crew within the
boundaries of Upton. From visits over the years, I can tell you there's
still plenty of timber up there today!

So here's my transcription of the 1880 Federal Special Schedules of 
Manufactures-Nos 5 and 6 Lumber Mills and Saw-Mills --Brick Yards 
and Tile Works for Hanover and Upton:



Name of Corporation, Company, or Individual producing to value of $500 annually:
Hiram F. West

Capital(real or personal) invested in the business:3000
Greatest number of hands employed at any one time during the year:5
Average Number of Hands Employed:5
Males above 16 years: 4
Females above 15 years:
Children and Youth: 1

Wages and Hours of Labor :
Number of Hrs. In Your Ordinary Day of Labor:
May to Novemb'r: 12
Novemb'r to May: 10
Average day's wages for a skilled mechanic: 1.50
Average day's wages for an ordinary laborer: 1.00
Total amount paid in wages during year: 200(dollars)

Months in Operation:
On full time:5
On three-quarter time only:
On half time only:1
Idle time:6
Saws:
Number of gangs: 1
Number of saws in gangs: 3
Number of circular saws:1
Number of muley saws: 1
Number of band-saws:

Materials:
Value of logs: 2710
Value of mill supplies: 75
Total value of all materials (including value of logs): 2785

Proper Saw Mill Products:
Number of thousand feet of lumber: 325
Number of thousand laths:
Number of thousand shingles: 200
Number of thousand staves:
Number of thousand sets of headings:
Number of thousand feet of bobbin and spool stock:
Total value of all products heretofore named:
Total value of all other products: 3500

Manufactures:
Do you remanufacture any sashes, doors, blinds, frames,
portion of your own cut into clapboards {Yes or No}: Yes
If so, give total value of such manufactures: 100
Give average number of hands employed in such remanufacture: 1

From what region do you procure your logs? :Upton
Do you do your own logging? {Yes or No} : Yes
If so, what proportion of your logs do you bring in?: One half
Do you ship your product in your own vessels? {Yes or No} : No

Power Used in Manufacture:
If Water-Power Is Used:
On what river or stream? (see note below): Cambridge River
Height of fall, in feet: 14
Wheels: 2
Kind: 1 Bradbury 1 Center Vent
Breadth,in feet: 4
Revolutions per minute:100
Horse-power:15
If Steam-Power Is Used:
Number of Bellows:
Number of Engines:
Horse-power:

Next, we'll pay a return visit to Asa West's farm.

HIRAM WEST'S GRIST-MILL IN 1880

By 1880 Hiram F. West was 41 and had given up farming. On the 1880
Federal Census his occupation is given as "Owner Saw and Grist-Mill".
Of the two mills, the saw-mill must have been the busier because there
are three men boarding with Hiram and his family who are listed as
"works in saw-mill":
William Mitchell, age 60
Albert F. Upton, age 41
Leonard York, age 25

The mills are listed on two different "Special Schedules of Manufacture"
with the grist-mill on "Flour and Grist Mills - Cheese, Butter and 
Condensed Milk Factories". Happily, Hiram didn't dabble in the dairy
factories trade, so his entry is confined to solely grist-mill on this
form. Both mills were situated along the banks of the Cambridge River
at two different waterfalls with the grist-mill located at the larger of the two.

I'm going to post the two transcriptions seperately, starting with this one
on the grist-mill. The handwriting on this schedule is legible with the
exception of the two entries I've marked with (?). Here's my transcription:


Name of Corporation, Company, or Individual producing to value of $500 annually:
Hiram F. West

Capital(real or personal) invested in the business:1000

Greatest number of hands employed at any one time during the year: 1

Average Number of Hands Employed:
Males above 16 years: 1
Females above 15 years:
Children and Youth:

Wages and Hours of Labor :
Number of Hrs. In Your Ordinary Day of Labor:
May to Novemb'r: 10
Novemb'r to May: 10
Average day's wages for a skilled mechanic: 1.00
Average day's wages for an ordinary laborer:
Total amount paid in wages during year: 312(dollars)
Months in Operation:
On full time:10
On three-quarter time only:
On half time only:
Idle time:

Number of runs of stone:2

Estimated maximum capacity per day, in bushels: 50

Do you custom work or make only for market? If the former, what proportion of your
product is custom grinding? : Whole

Is there an elevator connected with your establishment? If so, give capacity in bushels:

Power Used in Manufacture:
If Water-Power Is Used:
on what river or stream? (see note below): Cambridge River
Height of fall, in feet: 18
Wheels:
Kind: Center Vent
Breadth,in feet: 5
Revolutions per minute:100
Horse-power:15

If Steam-Power Is Used: Number of Bellows: Number of Engines:
Horse-power:

Materials:
Number of bushels of wheat:1000
Value: 1250
Number of bushels of other grains: 820
Value: 600
Value of mill suppplies: 10
Total value of all material: 1860
Products:
Number of barrels of wheat flour: 200
Number of barrels of rye flour:
Number of pounds of buckwheat flour: 3500
Number of pounds of barley meal:
Number of pounds of corn meal: 40. (?)
Number of pounds of feed: 168(?)
Number of pounds of hominy:
Value of all other products:
Total value of all products: 2460

I'll post my transcription of the sawmill schedule next.

SETTLED IN: THE PICTURES

The east side of the living room. That's my part of my pedigree chart and
notebooks with my genealogy research atop the smaller bookcase.

















This is the western side,
See what I meant
about the light?




















The big yard. The right
hand shot is to the
south and what I
see from my
bathroom window
and one of the
bedroom windows.
You can see the
stone wall there.
The left hand photo is the view
I see from the living room.

This is the patio, One of the building entrances is to the left and out of
frame to the right is a private entrance to my apartment.

SETTLED IN

It's been about a month now since I started living here and two weeks
since the last of the packing, moving and unpacking process(although
there's still a few things in the back of my car to bring in.) and I'm
starting to settle in here at the new place. Mornings before I go off to
work I sit here eating breakfast and watch the birds and squirrels through
the three living room windows which let in much more light than my old
apartment had. There's a fairly large open green space behind my
building and between it and the next building, large enough to almost
qualify as a meadow. This street, which includes the town high school,
once was farmland and an old stone wall bordered with a good amount
of trees hides the fact that there's a Lowe's on the other side very well.

There's signs on the bulletin board out in the hallway cautioning residents
not to feed the birds or animals. One has a picture of a fox and warns
that feeding animals could attract some that are dangerous. Another sign
has a photo of a wild turkey and reminds us not to approach them
because they ARE wild and not to feed them because they leave a mess
behind them.(well, most animals do!) So far I haven't spotted anything
larger than a pretty fat squirrel, though. Given the amount of vegetation
out there, I'm pretty sure the birds and squirrels aren't in danger of
starving to death for lack of bird-feeders. There's quite a few male
robins rather loudly proclaiming which part of the housing complex is
theirs and a male cardinal flew right past me the other morning as I went
out to work. I wouldn't be surprised to see a deer or two come trotting
through at some point or another since I've seen them in this area several
times over the years.

I've met a few of my neighbors in the building. The elderly lady across
the hall is a bit hard of hearing and when I step outside into the hallway
I can hear her television which is why I know she watches "Matlock"
every morning. My upstairs neighbor and I have talked several times and
it turns out he's a census taker. He's not into genealogy, though, and
doesn't own a computer.

I've only sat outside on my little patio once so far but that's on my agenda
for this afternoon once I get back from the laundromat.

There's a point when a new house or apartment begins to feel like home,
and I'm well past that point now!

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: THE WAYBACK MACHINE

It's time for another of Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenges over at his
Genea-Musings blog. This one involves taking a look back at our blogs as they looked when
they first started:

1. Go to the Wayback Machine at http://www.archive.org/ (it's right in the middle of the web page)

2. Enter the URL (web address) of your first genealogy blog or website into the search field. [If you don't have a blog or website, then enter your favorite blog or website.]

3. Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook. Show us the image of your web page if you can.

"West in New England" started back on 23Jan 2007 under ummm...slightly embarrassing
circumstances. Originally my geneablog was entitled "West of New England" but somehow or another I had forgotten my password! Luckily I had saved my first five blogposts so I simply
started a new blog, and since the name "West of New England" was already taken, I named the
new one "West in New England".

Unfortunately the earliest post the Wayback Machine has of my blog is this one from 13Aug
2007. I was using the "simple" template at the time but eventually I changed it to the present
one for two reasons. The first was this template had more room for the text so I don't have to
fix sentences as often as I did with the old form. Secondly I wanted to add some color to the
page and I liked this shade blue. It's soothing on the eyes, I think.

I also have a "mirror site" on Wordpress because I'm paranoid and wanted a backup of my
blog "just in case"

So that's my blogstory, some 730 or so posts later!

DOWN ON ASA'S FARM

Before I move onto the 1880 Schedules for Hiram West, I'd like to complete my look at the state of three of the West brothers' farms by discussing that of the oldest, Asa Atwood West.

Asa was born in 1830 and married Matilda Barker Marston in 1854. Instead of waiting to inherit a share of his father John Cutter West's farm, Asa started his own in nearby Andover, Oxford, Maine. As we'll see from the 1870 Agricultural Schedule, he was quite succesful, but life was not without sorrow for Asa and his wife. One daughter, Diantha, died soon after birth and two others, Arvilla (age 8) and Anna Pearl(age 2) died in the diptheria epidemic of 1862. He also was absent from his farm during the Civil War, serving in Company F of the Maine Coast Guard.

But by 1870 things seem to have improved for Asa and his family. By then two other children had been born, a daughter Lizzie (age 7) and a son C.Scott(age 5). As the figures on the 1870 Agricultural Schedule show, Asa's farm was more prosperous than either Hiram's or Jonathan's places. My transcription:

Acres of Land:
improved-100
wood-land-65
other un-improved-0
Present Cash Value:
Of farm-3000 (dollars)
Of farming implements and machinery-200 (dollars)
Total amount of wages paid during year, including value of board-300(dollars)

Livestock June 1, 1870:
Horses-2
Mules and asses-0
Milch cows-3
Working Oxen-2
Other cattle-4
Sheep-10
Swine-1
Value of all livestock-530(dollars)

Produce during the year ending on June 1, 1870:
Wheat:
Spring-0
Winter-0
Rye-0
Indian Corn-20 (bushels)
Oats-80(bushels)
Barley-0
Buckwheat-30(bushels)
Rice-0
Tobacco-0
Cotton-0
Wool-80(lbs)
Peas and Beans- 60(bushels)
Potatoes: Irish-330(bushels)
Sweet-0
Orchard Products-20(dollars)
Wine-0
Produce of Market Gardens-
Dairy Products: Butter-200(lbs)
Cheese-0
Milk Sold-0
Hay-40(tons)
Seed: Clover-0
Grass-0
Hops-1300(lbs)
Hemp-0
Flax-0
Flax-Seed-0
Silk-cocoons-0
Sugar: Maple-0
Cane-0
Molasses-0
Bees: Wax-0
Honey-0
Forest Products-0
Value of Home Manufactures-0
Value of Animals Slaughtered or Sold For Slaughter-177(dollars)
Total Value:Estimated Value of All Farm Production Including Betterments and Additions to Livestock- 950(dollars)

Unlike the Upton, Oxford, Maine 1870 Agricultural Schedule image for Jonathan and Hiram's farms, there is a second page for Asa's. What I noticed immediately was that Asa's farm was about the same size as Jonathan' s but worth more than his brothers' farms combined! It probably was the result of his planting a more diverse range of crops, the most intriguing of which for me was the 1300 pounds of hops. This was something his father John Cutter West hadn't done back in 1860 and because of that missing page in Upton I've no idea as to whether Hiram or Jonathan had tried their hands at hops as well. Asa was also able to pay out $300 to hire help which(given the work involved with all the crops and livestock)he would need. The regular 1870 Census page lists a "domestic servant" named Susie Bigelow and a "farm laborer" named John D. Wood as part of the household. And Asa still had the time to help out Hiram at the grist mill!

That entry on "hops" still fascinates me. Was there a brewery nearby somewhere or did Asa sell and ship the crop elsewhere by rail, perhaps to Boston? Or is there another use for hops other than brewing beer that I'm not aware about?

We'll leave Asa and his family for now but there would be changes by the time the 1880 Census rolled around.

WORD VERIFICATION DICTIONARY 8

Once again, definitions for the strange words that we type for
word verification for comments on Blogspot.com blogs:

keisses - What some bosses' keisters get a lot of from employees trying
to get ahead.

accho-Gesundheit!

gengebra- The mathematical equations needed to figure out what
relationships on your family tree. "I needed to do some gengebra 
to figure out how many cousins removed she is from me."

genespoe- A very, very, VERY scary genepool!

nomode- What a two year old goes into when he or she doesn't want
to do something,

"WEST IN NEW ENGLAND" IS ONE OF MYHERITAGE'S TOP 100 WEBSITES!

I've been selected by a judging panel at MyHeritage.com as one of the
Top 100 Genealogy websites and blogs for 2010! The criteria used in
the judging were these:

" 1) high quality content; 2) originality in topic choice, approach 
and design; and 3)frequently updated content."

I'm honored to have been included in such illustrious company and I'd
like to thank Robert Barham and the rest of the folks at MyHeritage.com
for the award. It's been an interesting year so far for me but things like
this make it easier. And thanks to my readers who keep reading and
commenting on my posts. It's much appreciated!

Finally, thank you to my ancestors for supplying me with stories and
material that inspire me to keep blogging, and without whom I wouldn't
exist!

Congratulations to all the honorees!

HIRAM WEST'S MILL IN 1870

As I mentioned at the conclusion of my post about Hiram West's farm on the 1870 Census Agricultural Schedule, even though Hiram had a smaller farm than his brother Jonathan Phelps West, his farm's value was only $50 less and he could afford to have a hired hand. The reason he could was that he had another source of income, two mills.

I found an entry for a "Haraig Y. West" on the 1870 Federal Census Products of Industry Schedule at Ancestry.com. That should give you an idea of how hard to read the handwriting is on the document. But I knew it was Hiram as soon as I saw the name "Asa" as his one employee. That had to have been Hiram's brother Asa West. Here's my transcription:

Name of Corporation, Company, or Individual producing to value of $500 annually:
West, Hiram F.
-Asa

Name of Business, Manufacture, or Product: Starch Mill
Capital(real or personal) invested in the business: 2000 (dollars)
Motive Power:
Kind of Power (steam, water, wind, horse or hand): water
If steam or water, no. of horsepower: no entry
Machines:
Name or Description: Grist Mill
Number: 1
Average Number of Hands Employed:
Males above 16 years:
Females above 15 years:
Children and Youth:
Total amount paid in wages during year:
Number of months in active operation, reducing part time to full time: 7
Materials (including Mill Supplies and Fuel)
Kinds:Potatoes
Quantities:8000 bushels
Value(omitting fractions of a dollar):2000 (dollars)
Production:
Kinds: illegible
Quantities:28 tons
Value(omitting fractions of a dollar): 2520 (dollars)

There follows a note scrawled across the page beneath the entry. I can't
make out the first two words in the two sentences and they seem
disjointed:

"(?) (?) described grist mill grins for owners & receives toll
(?) (?) described starch mill (?) potatoes and make (?) at their own 
risk"

What am I to make of this? Apparently Hiram was paid by those whose
grain he ground at the grist mill by a portion of the end product, but he
allowed those with potatoes to use the mill themselves at their own risk?
Was the profit he made only $520? And Asa must have been a partner,
not an employee. Trying to interpret this one is frustrating!

At any rate, it must have been a profitable operation because, as we'll
see, Hiram's business ventures had expanded by 1880.

A GENEALOGICAL LAUGH FROM BETTY WHITE AND SNL

Betty White hosted SNL last night and I found this clip from it this
morning on hulu.com. Tina Fey is the census taker and Betty is the
resident she is interviewing. Enjoy!

http://www.hulu.com/collections/444/147972

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: MATRILINEAL LINES

It's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun time over at Randy Seaver's Genea-
Musings blog, and this one has to do with our matrilineal lines:

"Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to 
the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial 
DNA was passed to you!

2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, 
which Haplogroup you are in.

3) Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this 
blog post, or in a Note or status line on Facebook."

Unfortunately, I can only go back to my great grandmother on my
Mom's side of the family:
Anne M. White(7Jul 1927-28Jul 1999)m Floyd E West Jr
Agnes D. McFarland(11Oct 1898-12Feb 1957)m Edward F White Sr
Anne Kelley(Kelly?) (1Oct1859-15Feb 1945)m John McFarland

I haven't had any genetic tests done. I can't afford the cost!

Now just as an exercise, I can go back a long ways in my Dad's
matrilineal line:
Cora Berthella Barker(27Oct1899-Jun 1987)m, Floyd E.West Sr
Lotte Lovenia Barker(3Aug 1879-3Jan 1944)m Frank W.Barker
Betsy Jane Moore(16Aug 1842-12Mar 1844)m.Amos Hastings Barker
Harriet M. Upton(28Mar 1814-?)m. Cyrus Moore
Sarah (Sally)Bancroft(8Jul 1783-?)m. Francis Upton
Mary Walton(7Mar 1749-?)m. John Bancroft 3rd
Eunice Hawkes (1727-?)m Jacob Walton
Margery Whitford/Lightfoot(12Feb 1691-21Apr il 1758)m John Hawkes
Elizabeth Swasey(?-?) m John Whitford/Lightfoot

Someday I hope to find out more information about great grandmother
Anne Kelley McFarland and extend the family line back to Ireland!

DOWN ON HIRAM'S FARM

((Note-I've since found the missing page and added it to this post. This new material
is in red)


Listed on the same page of the 1870 Federal Census Agricultural Schedule as Jonathan Phelps West is his younger brother Hiram Ferdinand West. Born six years after John in 1838, Hiram's household included his wife "Villa M" (Arvilla Mary Ballard), their daughter Clara M. (2 years old), their son "Winnie H." (Hiram Winfield, 9 months old) and a farm worker, Charles Richards. Hiram's occupation as listed as "farmer/blacksmith". Looking at the Farm Schedule it doesn't seem that Hiram was having as much success at farming as J.P, but again the second page of the document is missing on Ancestry.com so I don't have a complete picture.

Here's my transcription:

Acres of Land:
improved-50
wood-land-50
other un-improved-0
Present Cash Value:
Of farm-600 (dollars)
Of farming implements and machinery-25 (dollars)

Livestock June 1, 1870:
Horses-1
Mules and asses-0
Milch cows-2
Working Oxen-2
Other cattle-7
Sheep-0
Swine-1
Value of all livestock-315 (dollars)

Produce during the year ending on June 1, 1870:
Wheat:
Spring-25(bushels)
Winter-0
Rye-0
Indian Corn-0
Oats-0
Barley-0
Buckwheat-25(bushels)
Rice-0
Tobacco-0
Cotton-
Wool-5(lbs)
Peas and Beans-2 (bushels)
Potatoes: Irish-100(bushels)
Sweet-
Orchard Products-
Wine-
Produce of Market Gardens-
Dairy Products: Butter-225(lbs)
Cheese-
Milk Sold-
Hay-35(tons)
Seed: Clover-
Grass-
Hops-
Hemp
Flax
Flax-Seed
Silk-cocoons-
Sugar: Maple-
Cane-
Molasses-
Bees: Wax-
Honey-
Forest Products-
Value of Home Manufactures-
Value of Animals Slaughtered or Sold For Slaughter-160(dollars)
Total Value:Estimated Value of All Farm Production Including Betterments and Additions to Livestock-715(dollars)





So Hiram's farm was smaller than J.P.'s by 90 acres, yet the land itself was worth only $50
less than his brother's. The value of livestock is less as well, probably reflecting the fact that while J.P. had eleven sheep, Hiram had none. As for crops, Hiram raised smaller amounts of two, Spring Wheat and Buckwheat. And yet he had a hired hand where J.P. didn't!

Why?

The answer to that might be the entry for Hiram West on the 1870 Federal Census Industrial Schedule which I'll discuss next.

THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST SEASON OF "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

I was able to view the Spike Lee episode season finale of "WDYTYA?"
online last night. Another fascinating show, even though not my
favorite one of the season. (My favorites were the SJP, Mathew Broderick
and Susan Sarandon installments; the least favorite was Brookes Shields).
I agree with Thomas MacEntee that more investigation into whether
slave owner Griswold was indeed Spike's ancestor would have been good,
but I'm not surprised that he didn't look further. It seemed to me that
Spike was uncomfortable at times with what he learned, and that's
understandable. Many people, both black and white, have difficulty with
the slavery issue and their family's involvement in it. And people should
be aware that sometimes there are unpleasant chapters in our family
histories when we start looking into them.

All in all, I was quite pleased with the first season. I expect to see the
show stick to the same formula of highlighting celebrities. I know some
of my fellow geneabloggers would like to see ordinary people as
subjects, but the producers know celebrities attract viewers. I believe
the original BBC version hasn't used ordinary people either.

But the best thing about Season 1 is that it IS Season 1! I'm happy the
show has been renewed and look forward to Season 2. Hopefully we'll
see it this fall and not have to wait until 2011 to enjoy it.

Congratulations to Lisa Kudrow and her fellow producers!

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: DID YOU ADVANCE TODAY?

It's Saturday and time for another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun
challenge from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings:


"Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to:

1) Answer the question: How did I advance my genealogy research
today? [Or, this past week? Or this past month?]


2) Answer the question: How did I advance my genealogy education 
today? [Or past week? or past month?]


3) Share your answers on your own blog post, on a comment to
this post, or on a Facebook status or comment on this note on 
Facebook."

Well, this is an easy one, and it's thanks to Randy himself! His post about
using the "Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 
1850-1880" over at Ancestry.com advanced my genealogy education and
prompted me to check them out for myself earlier this week.

And THAT advanced my genealogy research when I found documents
on my West, Barker, Coburn and Dunham ancestors up in Oxford
County, Maine!

So thanks Randy for a very educational post,and for another Saturday
Night Genealogy Fun Challenge!