email and photo from Ellingwood cousin Bonnie Grant, who is descended
from John Wesley Ellingwood and Mariah. She has given me to post both
of them here, along with the document that will be in the next post:
Hi Bill,
I've been enjoying your post to your blog as well as FB. Your blog today is
most interesting and I agree Mariah K. Flint Ellingwood had to be one tough
pioneer woman! The attached picture shows a lot. She appears to be very
thin, and very tired. Notice that she is covering her dress with a blanket.
Was she ashamed of the wear and tear of her dress? Look at her eyes and
her hands. Bennie, her youngest and last child, looks to be 2 or 3 and he
was born Dec. 28, 1867 so this would be about 1870. She would be about
43 years old.
Had the family just moved to New York or had they just moved to Hereford,
Compton Co. Province of Quebec or was this before their moves and they
were still in Milan, Coos Co., NH? Wherever they were she had already
lost her first born, and cared for many during the black diphtheria epidemic.
She cared for her son Enoch Merrill with is terribly infected leg, and all the
while keeping the children fed and clothed. By this time she had given
birth to 10 children and lost one.
She lost 3 children in less than 3 months: starting on 25 Oct 1872 she lost
daughter Martha, on 8 Jan 1873 daughter Rachel and on 13 Jan 1873 daughter
Adna, all in Hereford, Compton, Quebec.
Beside giving birth and dealing with the deaths of loved ones, life in general
had to have been hard. The primitive conditions and accommodations are
hard to imagine.
Out of her 10 children, she lost 4 in New England and 2 at a young age in
Ferndale California plus she left 2 adult sons in New England and most likely
never saw them again also they did survive her as did 2 daughters in California.
I thought about adding these comments to the blog, but I wanted to send the
picture, so thought I'd just send it all via email.I'm not as good with words as
you are, so if you want to add to or change anything and post it it's fine with me.
Keep up the good work and thanks so much.
Bonnie
5 comments:
I'm fascinated with your ancestor Mariah Flint Ellingwood. Do you know her Flint ancestry? I wonder if she is a cousin to me through the Flint family of Salem, Massachusetts (two immigrant brothers Thomas and William Flint, from Wales).
Bonnie and Bill, wonderful sharing, this photo is great, the blanket shows so well. Not sure I have ever seen a photo quite like this. Interesting stuff you two are sharing here.
Heather, I'm sure we are cousins! Mariah; Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin, Ebenezer, Ebenezer, George, Thomas born abt 1619 in Wales, died 15 Apr 1663 in Salem, MA.
What is your line?
Thanks to both you and Carol for the comments and the interest. And thank you too Bill.
Thanks for sharing. So very interesting and what a hard life! I know Bennie was meant to be the youngest, but the first thing I thought of was, could she be covering a pregnant belly? Perhaps there was another child that was lost/miscarried. Either way, great post!
Cheryl, that is an interesting thought. If she was with child, it really doesn't show with the way her hand is against her, and in her husbands hand written Birth, Marriage, and Death record there is no mention of another live birth so it would have had to be a miscarriage. If she were trying to hide a pregnancy wouldn't she have stood behind Bennie? Guess we will never know, but thanks for your interest and idea.
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