CHRISTMAS MEMORIES : DEALING WITH CARDS

 

 

 
((Originally posted in 2007))

 I don’t get a lot of Christmas cards, mostly because I don’t send
out a lot myself. I get some from the family and a few from friends
but since I’m not much of a social animal there’s no more than perhaps
a half dozen each year sitting atop my tv.

In years past the amount of cardage fluctuated. When I
was a kid there were a lot of cards, usually taped to the
door frames or sitting atop the end tables in the living room.


When we moved to Abington they were displayed across the
mantel piece or taped around the edges of the mirror above it.
The years when my folks were actively involved in the VFW
brought the highest number of season’s greetings. Mom would
spend a few hours herself signing and addressing cards to be
sent out. But as she and her generation of family and friends
grew older the flood of Christmas cards dwindled. Several years
Mom even had some unused cards left over when she finished.


I tend not to like sending “mushy” cards so I usually try to find
something funny. Although this year I may be giving people a
look at a certain dancing elf via e-mail!

2010 Update: I'm going to see what sort of selection we have at
the store tomorrow and hopefully find something funny, although
last year I sent out cards that were more "New England-y"

2011 Update Since Borders has closed I'm going to have to take
a long walk over to Target soon to get some boxed cards!

2012 Update I'm waiting for my box card order from B&N
to arrive.

2013 Update I haven't bought any Christmas cards yet. I'm also
trying to figure out what to do with the leftover cards from the
last few years.

2014 Update:
I'll probably buy my cards this weekend. I don't really start thinking
about Christmas cards until right about now, although I've already
received one this holiday season. 

The past few years I've taken to displaying the incoming cards on my
bookcase, as in this photo from a  few years ago:

2015 Update
I still have several boxes of leftover Christmas cards from previous years, so this year
I'm going to send those instead of buying a new box.


2016 Update: 
I was a bad boy again this year and never sent out any cards.And I feel a bit guilty as
I received a bit more than usual:

 2019 Update: I received a few cards so far this year,, and I actually sent out mine earlier than in past years so hopefully they have arrived at their destinations  before the holidays.


2020 Update: I sent some cards out today (8th Dec), and have already received a few. I might take a photo of them if more come in.

2021 Update: I sent mine out a bit late (last week). Hopefully they make it in time for Chrismas. Here's the cards I've received.

2023 Update:

I got off to a rocky start this year when I couldn't find the boxed Christmas cards. So I ordered new ones from Amazon. And the next day I found the missing cards stored inside the ottoman. Arrgh.Now if I could only find that address list!

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 12th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
12 Dec 1672 7x ggf Abiell Kelley was born in Newbury, Ma.
12 Dec 1738 5x ggf Caleb Coburn was born in Dracut, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
12 Dec 1719 6x ggp Ebenezer Dunham & Abigail Smith were married in  Salem, Ma.
12 Dec 1646 9x ggp George Abbott Jr. & Hannah Chandler were married in Roxbury, Ma.
12 Dec 1661 8x ggp Thomas West & Elizabeth Jackson were married in Beverly, Ma.

DEATH:
12 Dec 1690 10x ggf Thomas Ellis died in Medfield, Ma.

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES:OBJECTS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

 

 

 ((First published in December, 2007))


I don’t recall many holiday parties from my earlier childhood. In our family folks were too busy working or shopping at Christmas time. And when we lived in Dorchester the apartments weren’t
really big enough to hold large parties in, although there might have been one or two. If so, they would have followed the rules of other adult parties my folks had: after saying hello to the adults,
my sister and I would be sent off to our beds to eventually fall asleep while listening to the adults
in the other room laughing at Rusty Warren records. We wondered what "roll me over in the clover" meant.

As an adult, most of my Christmas party experience has been at work, including one at a now
defunct toy chain warehouse(more on that job later) when I was in my early twenties. It snowed
when I left for home. My car at the time was an Olds 98 and being in a hurry to get home, I didn’t completely clean the rear windshield. I backed up, turning the car around….

…and smashed my rear windshield by backing the car up under a tractor trailer box front end as
if it were a big rig hooking up.

The good news was, my Dad worked in the auto glass repair business.

The bad news was I had to call him and tell him what I’d done.

It was an …umm…interesting conversation.




2013 Update: I think this is my favorite out of all the things I've posted every year about past Christmases. I remember the windshield incident with a smile now but at the time I was a nervous wreck waiting for Dad's reaction, especially since I'd had a few highballs at the Christmas party which probably had a lot to do with my backing into the trailer. I also had to drive the car home 
with no rear windshield in a snowstorm and I was worried I'd get pulled over by the police. When 
I got home we covered the broken window with something, probably a cut open garbage bag and masking tape, and a few days later Dad found a replacement at Goldy's, a local junkyard. 

Most of all, I remember Dad getting out of his car when he drove up to the  Child World warehouse, taking a puff on his cigarette, and  giving me The Look before asking me "How the hell did you manage to do that?"


 

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 11th

 ON THIS DATE:
MARRIAGES:
11 Dec 1693 7x ggp Robert Woodbury & Mary West were married in Beverly, Ma.
11 Dec 1674 9x ggp John Nutting & Mary Lakin were married in Groton, Ma.
11 Dec 1651 10 ggp John Fiske & Sarah Wyeth were married in Watertown, Ma.

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: MANGIA! MANGIA!!

 ((first published in 2007)

 

 When I was a kid the holiday dinners rotated between our place
and my Uncle Ed’s and Aunt Emily’s. If Thanksgiving was at our
house, then Christmas would be at theirs. Since Emily is Italian
the holiday had an extra element for the dinner. We’d eat all the
traditional food: turkey, stuffing, veggies, and then after that was
cleared, Aunt Emily’s mom Nonnie Cappadano would bring out
the Italian food: lasagna, meatballs, stuffed sausages, and other
great dishes. To this day at Thanksgiving there is usually lasagna
served along with the turkey and I had leftovers of both sent
home with me here afterward.


Since we now usually gather at my sister’s for Christmas Eve to
open gifts and eat, the food is a bit less formal, sometimes buffet
style with meatballs, cold cuts, and salad. Then Christmas Day
comes another big meal.

And that’s how an Irish Catholic family eats a lot of Italian at
holiday time.

2010 Update: I've had some health...umm...adventures this past
year which required I change my diet habits. On the good side,
I've lost 100 lbs. But boy, do I miss Italian food. So I'm
looking forward to Christmas Eve  at my sister's or niece's
house when I can have some lasagna (albeit in smaller
portions than in the past) and maybe one or two of those
cookies with the chocolate kisses! 

2011 Update:  Christmas was at my sister's house last year and
the food as usual was great. But then again it always is on Christmas

wherever it may be!

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 10th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
10 Dec 1651 7x ggm Abigail Trumbull was born in Rowley, Ma.

MARRIAGE:
10 Dec 1718  6x ggp Elisha West and Mary Bearse were married in Plympton, Ma.

DEATH:
10 Dec 1677 10x ggf Thomas Larkin died in Charlestown, Ma.
10 Dec 1691 10x ggf Thomas Cushman died in Plymouth, Ma

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: OH APPLE TREE, OH APPLE TREE!

 (originally published in Dec. 2007)


My family was fortunate in that we never lived in the sort of place
where Christmas outdoor decorations becomes a blood sport.
Yes, people strung lights in their shrubbery or along their house
gutters but there was never anyone determined to turn their
front yard into the North Pole’s Southern Branch Office.

Now for light shows back then you went to someplace religious,
like Our Lady of La Sallette Shrine in North Attleboro or the local
cemetery with it’s entrance lit up, or even just cruised a stretch
of highway to look at the neighborhood lights that might be seen
from a distance as you drove by.


We didn’t really have outside lights ourselves until we left Boston
for Abington. Up until then the only lights other than on our
Christmas tree were the electric candles we put on windowsills.
But at the house Dad did the obligatory shrubbery and gutter
displays as well as one other spot: the apple tree in the front yard.


Dad had experience both with wiring and tree climbing so putting
a string of lights up in a small apple tree was a piece of cake. It
was the taking down part that didn’t seem to work at least for
the tree. One year, long after the other outside lights were down
and packed away, the lights still were hanging in the apple tree.
I’m not sure exactly when he took them down but I do know it
was well after Spring had sprung. I think they were even plugged
in one or two nights. I don’t know the reasons why they were
still there: my Dad’s sense of humor, perhaps? Or maybe an
instance where Dad’s Maine stubbornness and the Irish
stubbornness of my Mom brought about some impasse on the issue?


On my way home the other night from work I noticed at least
three of those large hot air snow globe scenes on front lawns.

Those families must have big electricity bills!



2010 Update: As I discovered in 2008, the apple tree  in
the front yard of the house is long gone. But a news report
the other night made me think of Dad. The holiday
lighting ceremony at Braintree has been postponed a week
because squirrels had eaten through the wires.

The lights had been left up all year since last Christmas!


2011 Update: The big snowstorms last winter had one
interesting effect. Some of the homes with heavily
decorated outside yards remained that way until
the snow melted. One home in particular had an inflatable
Santa and other decorations buried under snow drifts
and you could  just see the tops of them as you drove by
the house. I think they were there until mid-March!


2013 Update: It's a bit early yet apparently for the lights
to go up for Christmas around here. I don't work anymore
and haven't driven around much after dark so I haven't
seen any houses lit up yet. I did, however, spot two of
those big inflatable figures on someone's front lawn yesterday
afternoon.


2014 Update
 I'm not sure there be many houses lit up this year, or that they
will be many elaborate displays. The electric companies in the
New England area have raised their rates over 30% and that
may be too much for many people to afford to put up Christmas
lights.


2015 Update
There's only a few homes along the main streets in the area that have put up
their outside lights so far this year. But there are some in specific neighborhoods
and I've noticed word gets out via Facebook on where the best displays are to take
your kids to see them.


2016 Update:
Since my retirement I don't drive much after dark any more, so I haven't seen
any houses decorated so far. But there's a contest for best decorations going on,
and a Christmas Tree lighting going on at Island Grove as well,



2018 Update: 
There's a really good Christmas display over on Lake Street by Island Grove that gets a lot of  visitors every year. It looks like a lot of work to put together. But unfortunately some unusually high winds knocked over the big Christmas tree at Island Grove after it was lit just the week before.
  

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 6th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
6 Dec 1668 7x ggf Samuel Herrick was born in Beverly, Ma.

MARRIAGE:
6 Dec 1770 5x ggp Samuel Haskell & Ruth Safford were married in Harvard, Ma.

DEATH:
6 Dec 1681 10x ggm Sarah (Fosdick) Holden died in Watertown, Ma.
6 Dec 1705 8x ggm Elizabeth (Gorge) Reith died in  Marblehead, Ma.
6 Dec 1864 4x ggf James Dunham died in Hebron, Me.
6 Dec 1820 5x ggf Reuben Packard died in Hebron, Me.

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 4th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
4 Dec 1643 8x ggf Isaac Woodbury Sr was born in Beverly. Ma,
4 Dec 1696 8x ggm Mary Johnson was born in Marlborough, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
4 Dec 1652 10x ggp Thomas Brewer & Elizabeth Graves were married in Lynn, Ma.
4 Dec 1717 6x ggp Moses Barrows Sr. & Mary Carver were married in Plympton, Ma.

DEATHS:
4 Dec 1853 3x ggm Sally (Houghton) Dunham died in Paris, Me.
4 Dec 1669 10x ggm Ann (Brown ) Hawkes died in Lynn, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: DEC. 3rd

 

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTH:

3 Dec 1643 7x ggm Patience Barstow was born in Dedham, Ma.

 

MARRIAGES:

3 Dec 1690 7x ggp Nathaniel Stow & Ruth Merriam were married in Concord, Ma.

3 Dec 1689 8x ggp John Tutthill & Martha Ward were married in Ipswich, Ma.

 

DEATHS:

3 Dec 1641 9x ggf John Woodbury died in Salem, Ma.

3 Dec 1763 6x ggf David Butterfield died in Chelmsford, Ma

ON THIS DATE : DEC. 2nd

 

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTH:

2 Dec 1654 8x ggf Jacob Dana was born in Cambridge, Ma.

 

MARRIAGES:

2 Dec 1669 8x ggp Francis Page Sr. & Meribah Smith were married in Hampton, Ma.

2 Dec 1680 9x ggp Thomas Laughton Jr. & Hannah Silsbee were married in Hampton, N.H.

 

DEATH:

2 Dec 1731 9x ggf John Nutting died in Groton, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 30th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
30 Nov 1663 7x ggf James Thomas was born in Marshfield, Ma.
30 Nov 1785 4x ggm Polly Griffith was born in Newfane, Vt.

MARRIAGE:
30 Nov 1768 5x ggp Elisha Houghton & Meriah Peirce were married in Bolton, Ma.

DEATH:
30 Nov 1672 9x ggf Gregory Stone died in Cambrifge, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 29th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
29 Nov 1694 6x ggm Hannah Tuttle was born in Haverhill, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
29 Nov 1649 9x ggp John Lazell & Elizabeth Gates were married in Hingham, Ma.
29 Nov 1680 8x ggp William Lovejoy & Mary Farnum were married in Andover, Ma.

DEATHS:
29 Nov 1680 10 ggf William Langley died in Groton, Ma.
29 Nov 1657 8x ggf Isaac Learned Sr. died in Chelmsford, Ma.
29 Nov 1752 7x ggm Elzabeth (Tuttle) Ayer died in Haverhill, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV.28th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
28 Nov 1739 6x ggf Hezekiah Boyden was born in Worcester, Ma.
28 Nov 1852 ggf John McFarland was born in Ireland.

MARRIAGES:
28 Nov 1678 8x ggp Josiah White & Mary Rice were married in Marlborough, Ma.
28 Nov 1666 7x ggp Robert Barrows & Ruth Bonham were married in Plymouth, Ma.

DEATH:
28 Nov 1699 10x ggm Mary (Allerton) Cushman died in Plymouth, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV.26th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
26 Nov 1640 8x ggf Samuel Davis was born in Haverhill, Ma.
26 Nov 1664 7x ggf Ichabod Robie was born in Hampton, N.H.
26 Nov 1690 7x ggm Martha Tuthill was born in Ipswich, Ma.

DEATHS:
26 Nov 1690 8x ggf John Stevens 3rd drowned in  Casco Bay, Me
26 Nov 1641 10x ggf William Chandler died in Roxbury, Ma,

EATING AT THE KIDS TABLE

 

 ((I first posted these Thanksgiving memories in 2011))


Thanksgiving is approaching and it brings back memories of Thanksgivings
when we were kids.

If we were hosting the family that year, Dad would be up early in the
morning cooking the bird. I don't know how many companies do it
today but back then many employers gave their workers a frozen
turkey for Thanksgiving so when that happened my parents would
decide if it was big enough for the whole family and guests. If not,
it would stay in the freezer and they'd buy a bigger turkey. The smaller
one would be used for a Sunday dinner for the family a few weeks later.

When the rest of us got up my sister and I would watch the Thanksgving
Day parades on TV while Mom and Dad started on the rest of the food.
The most critical part of the preparations was the stuffing which had to
turn out moist at the meal. I don't know exactly how this was done
nearly every year except that for most of my childhood my folks used
Bell Stuffing in the bird. (When we were older, there was often "backup"
Stove Top Stuffing for when the "made in the bird" stuffing ran out).
   
But no matter whether we were hosting Thanksgiving or if  it was at our
Uncle Ed and Aunt Mimi's house, there were certain traditions. One was
the kids' table, usually in the kitchen or at the doorway between the dining
room and the living room. In the early years, four of us were seated there:
myself, my sister Cheryl, and our cousins Winnie and Richie.For us, the
most important part of the meal was who was going to get the drumsticks.
After all, there were only two drumsticks and there were four of us! Our
parents at first solved the problem by using a rotating system that was based
on age: Winnie and I were the older and would get the drumsticks at that
Thanksgiving, and Cheryl and Richie would get them at Christmas, since
the families served turkey for the holiday dinner then, This worked for a few
years until my Aunt and Uncle had two more boys, Little Eddie and Vincent,
and then my brother Phil came along but by that time somebody had figured
out they could buy extra drumsticks at the supermarket and chaos was averted.

Eventually, one by one, we all outgrew the kids' table and the need to be
the one who ate the drumstick. I found out that I liked the slices of dark
meat better and that cranberry sauce was my favorite part of the main
meal. I also learned that if we were eating at my Aunt and Uncle's house
I should leave room for the second course of all the Italian food, especially
the lasagna. If the meal were at our house, there was a later leftover
sandwich with turkey and stuffing and maybe a little more cranberry sauce
on it.

One not so pleasant Thanksgiving memory was the turkey I forgot. I was
working somewhere at the time, (I forget now if it was at Child World or
Big L Drug Discount Stores) and I got a frozen holiday turkey from the
company which I loaded into the back floor of my car before I drove home.

I forgot it was in the car...

For two days....

Luckily, it wasn't a very warm November.

But it did look sort of green when I finally remembered it was there and
took it inside.

ON THIS DATE: NOV 22nd

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
22 Nov 1684 7x ggf Samuel Pheilps was born in Andover, Ma.

MARRIAGE:
22 Nov 1803 4x ggp Johann Ruppmich & Christina Krehwisch were married in Brandenburg, Ger. 

  
DEATH:
22 Nov 1718 8x ggf John Hayward died in Concord, Ma.

NOVEMBER 22nd, 1963

 ((First posted on 22Nov 2016))

On November 22, 1963 I was a sophomore at Abington High School here in Abington, Ma. It was
near the end of the school day, and I was in my last class, American History with Mr Smith. Suddenly
the door at the back of the room opened and Mr.Divoll walked in from his room and told us the
president had been shot.

Mr. Divoll was the Drama Coach as well as a history teacher and was known to use a little theater in
his classes, so at first I wasn't sure what this was all about. When he said it again, this time using
President Kennedy's name, reality hit me.

I don't remember if we were dismissed from school early that day. I suspect not. School got out for
the day at 2pm and the news that JFK was dead broke around 2:30. So most of us had gone home by
then. Mom usually watched the CBS soap operas so when they switched to live coverage of what had
happened it was Walter Cronkite who told us the awful news.

Two days later my family went to my Uncle Ed's house for Thanksgiving dinner and we heard on the
car radio that Jack Ruby had killed Lee Harvey Oswald.

Of course the whole country was in shock but JFK's death really hit New England hard, especially
we Irish Roman Catholics. JFK was the first of us elected president, and it was a tremendous source of pride, especially in Massachusetts. His election had been the ultimate triumph of generations of Irish immigrants over anti-Irish Catholic discrimination.

I remember the pictures of the Kennedy children, and watching the funeral procession with the riderless horse. I remember the cadence of the drums.

It was the start of one of the most turbulent eras in our history, but I didn't know it at the time. 

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 20th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
20 Nov 1647 7x ggf Jonathan Hallett was born in Yarmouth. Ma.

MARRIAGE:
20 Nov 1661 9x ggp John Eaton & Ann Crossman were married in Haverhill, Ma.

DEATHS:
20 Nov 1688 9x ggm Mary (Smith) Kimball died in Ipswich, Ma.
20 Nov 1696 8x ggf Samuel Smith died in Eastham, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV.19th

 ON THIS DATE
BIRTHS:
19 Nov 1828 2x ggf Amos Hasting Barker was born in Rumford, Ma.
19 Nov 1652 7x ggf Andrew Spaulding was born in Chelmsford, Ma..

MARRIAGE:
19 Nov 1774 4x ggp Asa Barrows & Content Benson were married in Middleboro Ma.

DEATHS:
19 Nov 1679 9x ggf Roger Conant died in Beverly, Ma.
19 Nov 1678 9x ggm Elizabeth (Coffin) Greenleaf died in Newbury, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 18th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
18 Nov 1638 9x ggf Samuel Ward was born in Hingham, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
18 Nov 1794 4x ggp Philip Pierce Richardson & Lydia Dow were married in Pembroke, N.H.
18 Nov 1811 4x ggp John Laughton & Amata Greenleaf were married in Mercer, Me.

DEATH:
18 Nov 1691 8x ggf Adam Hawkes died in Lynn, Ma.
 

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 17th

 ON THIS DATE
BIRTH:
17 Nov 1654 8x ggf Joshua Lazell was born in Hingham, Ma.

DEATHS:
17 Nov 1667 9x ggf Thomas Rowlandson died in Lancaster, Ma.
17 Nov 1671 10x ggm Isabel (Cox) Leffingwell died in Woburn, Ma.
17 Nov 1723 6x ggm Elizabeth (Hallett) Crowell died in Chatham, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 16th

 

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTH:

16 Nov 1695 6x ggf Joseph Herrick was born in Beverly, Ma.

 

DEATHS:

16 Nov 1681 8x ggp Francis Dane Jr. & Hannah Poor were married in Andover, Ma.

16 Nov 1643 9x ggp William Haskell Jr & Mary Tybbot were married in Gloucester, Ma.

16 Nov 1654 8x ggp John Moore Jr. & Anne Smith were married in Lancaster, Ma.

 

DEATHS:

16 Nov 1767 6x ggm Abigail (Smith)Dunham died in Plymouth, Ma.

16 Nov 1715 8x ggm Hannah (Long) Perlins died in Charlestown, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 15th

 

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTH:

15 Nov 1648 9x ggm Mary Smith was born in Reading, Ma.

 

MARRIAGE:

15 Nov 1659 8x ggp Peter Ayer & Hannah Ayer were married in Haverhill, Ma

 

DEATH:

15 Nov 1676 9x ggf Nicholas Snow died in Eastham, Ma.

15 Nov 1706 8x ggf Francis Page died in Hampton, N.H.

15 Nov 1719 9x ggf Thomas Boyden Jr. died in Groton, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: NOV 13th

 ON THIS DATE
BIRTHS:
13 Nov 1668 7x ggm Dorothy Colby was born  in Amesbury, Ma.
13 Nov 1738 5x ggm Esther Butterfield was born in Chelmsford, Ma.

MARRIAGE:
 13 Nov 1651 9x ggp Stephen Greenleaf & Elizabeth Coffin were married in Newbury, Ma.

DEATHS:
13 Nov 1733 7x ggf Joseph Colburn died  in Dracut, Ma.
13 Nov 1644 9x ggm Sarah (Elwyn) Metcalf died in Dedham, Ma.

0N THIS DATE: NOV 12th

 ON THIS DATE
BIRTH:
12 Nov 1734 6x ggm Susannah Nutting was born in Groton, Ma.

MARRIAGE:
12 Nov 1718 8x ggp Thomas Green Sr. & Mary John son were married in Marlboro, Ma.

DEATHS:
12 Nov 1712 8x ggf Samuel Parker died in Groton, Ma.
12 Nov 1724 7x ggf Nathaniel Stow Jr. died in Concord, Ma.
12 Nov 1712 9x ggm Ruth (Andrews) Stanley died in Topsfield, Ma.
12 Nov 1694 10x ggf Robert Babcock died in Milton, Ma.
12 Nov 1715 8x Mary (Brown) Haskell died in Gloucester, Ma.
12 Nov 1800 5x ggf James Swan died in Bethel, Me.

FLYBOYS 2023

 

((I'm reposting this again today  for Veterans Day weekend in hopes that perhaps the relatives of the men in the photograph might one day find this picture of their veterans. First posted
June, 2008))




I've posted this photo before. It's from when my Dad was
training for the Air Corps during World War II before he
washed out due to inner ear problems.


On the back is a partial list of names of his fellow trainees,
and I'm posting that image now and my attempt at
transcribing it here in the hopes that the children and
grandchildren of these men might find it someday and see
how they looked in their uniforms before they went off to
war.


Because of the way the men are grouped it's hard for me to
assign names to specific faces. The only two I can are Michael
D. Piper Jr. and Lonnie (or Lennie?) L. Parker (?) standing to
either side of my father Floyd E. West Jr. at the far right end
of the back row. I think the first name is actually Lee Mill
Sanders and that he just signed the list "last name first."


I also noticed that Daniel M. Jeffrey's name appears twice.
The first entry is crossed over so I've assumed that either
someone else had posted the name in the wrong place or he
had done so himself and then corrected his mistake. I've
changed the first entry to "unknown".


So here they are. I wonder how many of them made it
home after the war, and I thank them for their service
to our country.


Sanders Lee Mill Artesia N.M.

Palmer E. Severson Wanooka (?) Minn,

Jerald L. Swan, Beatrice, Nebraska

Helmut Paul Zimmerman, Buffalo, N.Y.

Robert L. Rugg Pueblo, Colorado

Unknown

Charles H. Parman, Skidmore, Mo.

Unknown

Unknown

Bill C. Hays, San Angelo, Texas

Unknown

Ward L. Warnock, Camden, Ark.

Michael C. Sanborn (?) Port Arthur, Tex.

Bob Moffet, St. Joseph, Mo.

Unknown

Ross Powill, Ellisville Miss

Daniel M. Jeffrey, Jeanette, La.

Allen D. Bailey, Mpls Minnesota

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Jack Sessions Colton, California

Jack Wendt, Pecos, Texas

Unknown

Burton L. Steele, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bob E Wick,  Denver, Colorado

James H. Trask, Kansas City, Kansas

William E. Green,  Eden, Texas

Unknown

Unknown

Michael D. Piper Jr., Queen City, Mo.

Floyd E. West

Lonnie (or Lennie?) L. Parker (?), Roswell, New Mex.

VETERANS DAY 2023

On Veterans Day I like to pay tribute to the members of
our family who have served our country from its birth. I don't
have all the details of the service records, and I'm sure I will
discover more relatives to add later, but this is what I have so far.

American Revolution: 
 
Jonathan Barker Jr. My 4x great grandfather
Was a Minuteman from Methuen Ma with rank of Sergeant.
He responded to Lexington and Concord with his sons
Served in Captain Samuel Johnson's Company in
Colonel Titcomb's Regiment for 2 months in 1777 in Rhode
Island and then with Nathaniel Gage's Company in Colonel
Jacob Gerrish's guards from Dec 1777 tol April 1778 guarding
the captured troops of General Burgoyne.


Jonathan Barker 3rd  My 5x great grandfather

Enlisted on 19 Apr 1775 in Continental Army, Capt. John
Davis' Company, Col. James Frye's Regiment, in the
Massachusetts line for 8 months in Cambridge, Ma. At the
conclusion of the term, he reenlisted for another 3 months in
Capt John Allen's Company, Colonel John Waldron's Regiment,
General Sullivan's Brigade in the New Hampshire Brigade at
Charlestown, Ma. He then enlisted a third time in June 1778
at Methuen, Ma., joining Captain Samuel Carr's Company, Col.
James Weston's Regiment, in General Lerned's Brigade at
White Plains, N.Y. and serving for another 9 months.


John Ames       My 5x great grandfather

Was a Minuteman under Capt. Asa Parker on April 18th,
1775. He then enlisted in the Continental Army under Captain
Oliver Parker, Col. William Prescott's Regiment and
in the Brigade that was commanded in turn by Generals
Putnam, Lee, and Washington and served for 8 1/2 months.
For a more detailed account of his service see my posts
about his Revolutionary War Pension File starting here.


Asa Barrows    My 4x great grandfather

A member of the militia from Middleborough , Ma. (south of
Boston) in the Company of Captain Joshua Benson, in Colonel
Cotton's Regiment, and General William Heath's Brigade for
8 months during the siege of Boston. In December 1776 he
joined a militia Company commanded by Captain Joshua
Perkins and marched to Barrington, R.I. and was stationed
there for 6 weeks. In July 1780 he again enlisted, this time
in a militia company commanded by Captain Perez Churchill
that marched to Tiverton, R.I. I posted about his
Revolutionary War Pension File starting here.


Moses Coburn  My 4x great grandfather

Moses Coburn got into the War late and by reason of being
"hired by a certain class of men in the then town of Dunstable
to go into the Continental Army in the summer of 1781."
When he reached Phillipsburgh in New York he was placed in
Captain Benjamin Pike's Company, in the Regiment of the
Massachusetts line commanded by Lt. Colonel Calvin Smith in
which he served for nearly two years until it was broken up.
He then transferred to the Company of Judah Alden in the
Regiment commanded by Colonel Sprouts until his discharge
in 1783.


Samuel Haskell   My 5x great grandfather

Samuel served in Captain Joseph Elliott's Company in Colonel
William Turner's Regiment and then under Captain Hezekiah
Whitney in Colonel Josiah Whitney's Regiment.


Amos Hastings   My 5x great grandfather

Amos was responded to the Lexington Alarm as part of
Captain Richard Ayer's Company and Colonel William
Johnson's Regiment. He later served in Captain Timothy
Eaton's Company in Colonel Edward Wigglesworth's Regiment
and was at the taking of the British General Burgoyne at
Ticonderoga.



Elisha Houghton   5x great grandfather

Enlisted at Harvard Ma as a Private in May of 1777 in the
Massachusetts militia and was at the Battles of Bunker Hill
and Stillwater. He then enlisted for three years in the infantry
company commanded by Captain Joshua Brown in Colonel
Timothy Bigelow's 15th Regiment of the Massachusetts line.
and took part in the Battles of Monmouth and Newport and
was at Valley Forge. He twice was promoted to Sergeant and
twice was busted back down to the ranks.


Amos Upton    My 5x great grandfather

Responded to the Lexington Alarm and marched there from
his home in Reading. He later joined the militia company
commanded by Captain Asa Prince as an orderly sergeant
and then enlisted for eight months in the Continental Army
under Colonel Mansfield for 8 months. He was at the Battle
of Bunker Hill. He was discharged in October of 1775.


John Griffith  My 5x great grandfather

Enlisted in 1781 as a Matross (he swabbed out the barrel of
the cannons after they fired, or so I've been told) in Captain
William Treadwell's Company in Colonel John Crane's
Artillery Regiment.



Reuben Packard   My 5x great grandfather

A Sergeant in Captain Josiah Hayden's Company in Colonel
Bailey's militia. They marched to Lexington at news of the
Alarm. He also responded several more times as a Minuteman
for a total of nearly 8 months duty.


Jonathan Abbot    My 5x great grandfather

Served as a Sergeant in the Militia under Captain Henry
Abbott and responded to the Lexington Alarm

Samuel Stowe  My 5x great grandfather

Minuteman from Sherborn, Ma. Served in Capt. Benjamin Bullard's
Company in Col. Asa Whitcomb's 5th Massachusetts Bay
Provincial Regiment

Besides those direct ancestors, these other relatives fought
in the Revolution:

Moses Barrows, brother to Asa Barrows.

Samuel, Jesse, and Benjamin Barker, sons of Jonathan
Barker, Jr. and brothers to Jonathan Barker 3rd.

James Swan, brother in law to Jonathan Barker.

War of 1812
John Griffith My 5x great grandfather

served in Capt Elias Morse's Company, Col. Holland's Regiment
as part of a artillery company defending Portland, Maine.

Amos Hastings My 5x great grandfather
helped organize the militia in Bethel, Maine and rose
to the rank of Brigadier General  of the 2nd Brigade, 13th Division of
the Massachusetts State Militia.

Nathaniel Barker  My 3x great grandfather
was a private in  the company commanded by Captain William Wheeler
in the Regiment  of Militia commanded by Col. Ryerson, which was
stationed at Portland, Maine.

Civil War
Asa Freeman Ellingwood  My 2x great grandfather

enlisted in Company I, 5th Maine Infantry, on June 24, 1861.
He was at the First Battle of Bull Run after which he received
a medical discharge in Dec 1861. He reenlisted inCo "A" 9th
Veteran R Corps in September 1864 and served until the end
of the war when he was honorably discharged.

Asa & Florilla Ellingwood

Other relatives who served in the Civil War:

2x great granduncles:

 Leonidas West
Enlisted in Company G 12 Maine Infantry Regiment on March 1,
1865. Mustered out on  18Apr 1866

Asa Atwood West
Enlisted in Company F of the Maine Coast Guard.

Oscar Phipps Ellingwood
Enlisted in Company E, New Hampshire 14th Infantry Regiment
23Sept 1862, mustered out 9Sep 1863. Transferred to Company
E,  U.S,.Veterans Reserve Corps 21st Infantry Regiment 9Sep 1863,
mustered out 11Jul 1865.

Cousins:

Charles O. Ellingwood
Enlisted 21 Dec 1863 in Company E, 9th New Hampshire Infantry.
Died 13Mar 1864 at Camp Burnside,Kentucky. (18 yrs old)


Henry O. Ellingwood Enlisted 25Oct 1862  Company K,  New
Hampshire 16th Infantry Regiment, died  1Mar 1863 in Carollton, La.

Franklin Dunham
Died in the War. Haven't found any details as yet.


Spanish-American War
Hollis J Ellingwood My cousin
Enlisted 2May 1898 in Company A 1st Regiment Maine Infantry
Discharged 28Oct 1898

World War 1

 Floyd E West Sr. My grandfather

Floyd E West Sr.

Enlisted 29Apr 1918. Served in Company K,303rd Infantry. He was a
corpsman at Camp Devens, Ma during the Spanish Influenza outbreak
and was honorably discharged 12 Mar 1919


World War II

Floyd E West Jr  My Dad

Enlisted 19 Mar 1943 at 18 years old. After washing out of the Air Corps
Bomber School, he served in the US Army Infantry in the Pacific Theater  and
was honorably discharged on 11 Mar 1946 at age 22

Edward F White, Jr. My Uncle

Enlisted in the U.S.Navy on 27Oct 1942 at 17years old. He was honorably
discharged 18Apr 1946, a week before his 21st birthday.

Charles Barger My Uncle
I don't know the specifics of his service yet.
 
Operation Iraqi Freedom
 Paul Skarinka My Nephew

Paul And Jen

MY ALLERTON & WARREN MAYFLOWER ANCESTRY

 

 

Whenever I am talking or writing about my Mayflower descent, for some
ironic reason I always forget about Remember Allerton. The reason for the
irony is that both my Dad's parents were Allerton descendants: Pop from
Remember Allerton and Grandma Bertha from Mary Allerton.:


Allerton #1 through Ellingwood Line

Isaac Allerton & Mary Norris
Remember Allerton & Moses Maverick
Abigail Maverick & Samuel Ward
Martha Ward & John Tuthill(Tuttle)
Martha Tuthill(Tuttle) & Mark Haskell
Martha Haskell & John Safford
Ruth Safford & Samuel Haskell
Martha Haskell & Moses Houghton
Sally Houghton & James Thomas Dunham
Florilla Dunham & Asa Freeman Ellingwood
Clara Ellingwood & Phillip Jonathan West
Floyd Earl West Sr  & Cora B Barker
Floyd Earl West Jr &  Anne Marie White



Allerton #2 through Barker Line


Isaac Allerton & Mary Norris
Mary Allerton & Thomas Cushman
Sarah Cushman & Adam Hawkes
John Hawkes & Mary(Margery)Whitford
Eva Hawkes & John Bancroft         Eunice Hawkes & Jacob Walton
John Bancroft & Mary Walton
Sally(Sarah)Bancroft & Francis Upton
Hannah Upton & Cyrus Moore
Betsey Jane Moore & Amos Hastings Barker
Charlotte Lovenia Barker & Frank W Barker
Cora B, Barker & Floyd Earl Wesrt Sr
Floyd Earl West Jr and Anne Marie White.

My Warren ancestry comes through my Ames line

Warren #1 Through Ames Line

Richard Warren  &  Elizabeth (?)
Mary Warren & Robert Bartlett
Mary Bartlett & Jonathan Mowrey(Morey)
Hannah Mowrey(Morey) & John Bumpas
Mary Bumpas & Seth Ellis
Mary Ellis & Ephraim Griffith
John Griffith & Mary Boyden
Polly Griffith & Jonathan Phelps Ames
Arvilla S. Ames & John Cutter West
John Cutter West & Louisa Richardson
Phillip Jonathan West & Clara Ellingwood
Floyd Earl West Sr & Cora B Barker
Floyd Earl West Jr and Anne Marie White.



Warren #2 Through Dunham Line:

Richard Warren & Elizabeth (LNU)
Ann Warren & Thomas Little
Hannah Little & Stephen Tilden
Mary Tilden & James Thomas
John Thomas & Abigail Dunham
Mary Thomas & John Dunham
James Dunham  & Cynthia Packard
James Thomas Dunham & Sally Houghton
Florilla Dunham & Asa Ellingwood
Clara Ellingwood & Philip J West
Floyd E West Sr & Cora Bertha Barker

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 5th

 

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTH:

5 Nov 1639 6x ggf Robert Barrows was born in Plymouth, Ma.

 

MARRIAGES:

5 Nov 1644 8x ggp John Wyman & Sarah Nutt were married in Woburn, Ma.

5 Nov 1664 9x ggp Jeremiah Swain & Mary Smith were married at Reading, Ma.

 

DEATHS:

5 Nov 1954 ggf Philip J. West died in Wilsons Mills, Me.

5 Nov 1907 2x ggf Amos Hastings Barker died in Bethel, Me.

5 Nov 1683 10x ggf Benjamin Crispe died in Groton, Ma.

ANOTHER HOPKINS MAYFLOWER CONNECTION

 Now that the John Cutter West brickwall has come down, I have new branches of the family to explore. Recently I took advantage of the week of free access to all the databases at the AmericanAncestors.org website to fill in some gaps. Many of my early West ancestors came from Barnstable County, Massachusetts and so far I hadn't found many documents online for them, but there were databases on AmericanAncestors that I was able to see during that free access week.

So I started in on investigating the family of my 5x great grandmother Sarah (Hamilton) West, tracing it back with vital records, probate files and town and family histories. Much to my surprise and delight, I found another connection to Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins. I had previously discovered one with his daughter Constance (Hopkins) Snow; this new one was was with his son Gyles/Giles Hopkins. Here's a relationship from Gyles/Giles to my Dad:

As I said, there are vital records and probate files for many of the people in this line, and I'll be discussing them  here as I go along. But I found other family lines that I will list in the next posts.

OUR HOWLAND MAYFLOWER DESCENT

 

About a year ago I discovered my West family may be descended from Mayflower passenger John Howland. But I hadn't had a chance to dig deeper . Looking into Probate files from AmericanAncestors.org. I found Mary West receiving part of the estate of James Bearce Sr. in 1728. 

 

Then I found a James Bearse (Jr?)taking guardianship of three sons of Elisha West's sons in 1738/9 after Elisha's death. 

 

Elisha West was married to Mary Bearce.

 

Mary Bearce was the daughter of James Bearce. and Experience Howland, whose grandfather was John Howland of the Mayflower.

 

That's all I could find so far that isn't behind a paywall.

 

MY ELLINGWOOD MAYFLOWER ANCESTRY

 

 

 Back when I first started researching the family genealogy online I was
thrilled to discover we were descended from several Mayflower passengers.
At one point I even carried around a small folded up piece of paper
in my wallet with the lines of descent to show when discussing genealogy
with some customer at the bookstore. But I lost that some time ago, so I
thought I'd post them here for other family members.

The first three lines come down through my Ellingwood ancestry from
Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, and James Chilton.

Hopkins Line
Stephen Hopkins and Mary____
Constance Hopkins & Nicholas Snow
Elizabeth Snow & Thomas Rogers
Eleazer Rogers & Ruhamah Willis
Experience Rogers & Stephen Totman
Deborah Totman & Moses Barrows Jr.
Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood Jr
Asa F. Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Clara Ellingwood & Philip West
Floyd West Sr & Clara Barker
Floyd West Jr & Anne M White

Rogers Line
Thomas Rogers & Alice Cosford
Joseph Rogers & Hannah___
Thomas Rogers & Elizabeth Snow
Eleazer Rogers & Ruhamah Willis
Experience Rogers & Stephen Totman
Deborah Totman & Moses Barrows Jr.
Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood Jr
Asa F. Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Clara Ellingwood & Philip West
Floyd West Sr & Clara Barker
Floyd West Jr & Anne M White

Chilton Line
James Chilton & ?
Isabella Chilton & Roger Chandler
Sarah Chandler & Moses Simmons
Moses Simmons Jr & Patience Barstow
Patience Simmons & George Barrows
Moses Barrows & Mary Carver
Deborah Totman & Moses Barrows Jr.
Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood Jr
Asa F. Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Clara Ellingwood & Philip West
Floyd West Sr & Clara Barker
Floyd West Jr & Anne M White

ON THIS DATE: NOV. 2nd

 ON THIS DATE
BIRTHS:
2 Nov 1658 8x ggf John Clarke was born in Lynn, Ma.
2 Nov 1720 6x ggm Martha Lovejoy was born in Andover, Ma

DEATHS:
2 Nov 1688 7x ggf Samuel Briggs died in Rochester, Ma.
21 Jun 1682 9x ggf Edmund Freeman died in Sandwich, Ma.
2 Nov 1651 10x ggf John Bailey Sr. died in Newbury, Ma.

'LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE"

 

 (First posted on October, 2011))



When we were small our Mom occasionally would recite this poem and would tickle us when she reached the "Gobble-uns 'll git you ef you don't watch out!" part. Then when I was in the third grade at the Frank V.Thompson school in Dorchester I read the poem in our English text book. Years later I used to post it every Halloween on an email list for a fantasy role playing group. So it's a sort of Halloween tradition for me.


Anyway, it's the best Halloween poem I know. Enjoy.

And `ware th' Gobble-uns!

Little Orphant Annie

by James Whitcomb Riley.

LITTLE Orphant Annie ’s come to our house to stay,   
An’ wash the cups and saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,   
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,   
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;   
An’ all us other children, when the supper things is done,         
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun   
A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales ’at Annie tells about,   
An’ the Gobble-uns ’at gits you   
        Ef you   
            Don’t           
              Watch   
                Out!   

Onc’t they was a little boy would n’t say his pray’rs—   
An’ when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,   
His mammy heerd him holler, an’ his daddy heerd him bawl,           
An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down, he was n’t there at all!   
An’ they seeked him in the rafter-room, an’ cubby-hole, an’ press,   
An’ seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an’ ever’wheres, I guess;   
But all they ever found was thist his pants an’ roundabout!   
An’ the Gobble-uns ’ll git you           
        Ef you   
            Don’t   
              Watch   
                Out!   

An’ one time a little girl ’ud allus laugh an’ grin,         
An’ make fun of ever’ one, an’ all her blood-an’-kin;   
An’ onc’t when they was “company,” an’ ole folks was there,   
She mocked ’em an’ shocked ’em, an’ said she did n’t care!   
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,   
They was two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,          
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ’fore she knowed what she ’s about!   
An’ the Gobble-uns ’ll git you   
        Ef you   
            Don’t   
                Watch          
                    Out!   

An’ little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,   
An’ the lampwick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!   
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,   
An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is allsquenched away,—        
You better mind yer parents, and yer teachers fond and dear,   
An’ churish them ’at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,   
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ’at clusters all about,   
Er the Gobble-uns ’ll git you   
        Ef you           
            Don’t   
              Watch   
                Out!

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS: OTHER PARTICIPANTS

This is the last of my "witch lists" of ancestors and relatives who had some connection to the witch trials: I made the lists with the help of  In The Shadow of Salem: he Andover Witch Hunt of 1692 by Richard Hite and by using Custom Tags I created on my Ancestry.com  tree using the MyTreeTags app:

CONSTABLE

Joseph Herrick-8x great grandfather


JUROR

Henry Herrick-9x great grandfather


VICTIMS (supposedly killed by witchcraft)

Ralph Farnum Sr-9x great grandfather

Elizabeth Phelps-8x great grandaunt

A few thoughts:
The lists are a work in progress. As I add  more siblings and extend consanguineous lines I suspect I will find more relatives involved with the witch trials.

As it is, I am struck by how many of my ancestors were involved. I knew about a few of them already, especially Rebecca (Blake) Ames/Eames and Mary (Towne) Easty/Esty who were my direct ancestors. But there were other things that came as a surprise, such as the death of Ralph Farnum Sr. supposedly being  a result of witchcraft. I also was unaware of my connection to Martha (Allen)Carrier.

As I find other connections, I will be blogging about them here.

THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS: THE OPPOSERS

Here's the list I've made of my ancestors and relatives from Andover, Ma who opposed the witch trials by signing petitions  There are some who earlier had made accusations of witchcraft against others,

I made this list using Ancestry.com's MyTreeTag function

Thomas Chandler Sr.-9x great grandfather
Thomas Chandler Jr-8x great granduncle
John Chandler-8x great granduncle
William Chandler-10x great granduncle
Francis Dane Sr.-9x great grandfather
Francis Dane Jr-8x great grandfather
Nathaniel Dane-8x great granduncle
Phebe Dane-8x great grandaunt
Oliver Holt-7x great granduncle
Mary Holt-8x great grandaunt
Joseph Herrick-8x great granduncle
Thomas Johnson- Mary Holt's husband
George Abbott-9x great granduncle
John Abbott-8x great grandfather
William Abbott-9x great granduncle
Ephraim Stevens-8x great grandfather
Joseph Stevens-9x great granduncle
Benjamin Stevens-9x great granduncle
Hannah (Poor)Dane-8x great grandmother
Henry Ingalls Sr.-7x great grandfather
Henry IngallsJr.-6x great grandfather
John Ingalls-7x great granduncle
Samuel Ingalls-7x great granduncle
John Barker-7x great granduncle
Ebenezer Barker-7x great granduncle
Samuel Endecott--8x great grandfather
Christopher Osgood-Hannah Barker's husband
Nathaniel Felton-9x great grandfather
Joseph Robinson-married to Mehitabel Ames.

ON THIS DATE: OCT 29th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
29 Oct 1697 6x ggf Richard Kelley was born in Newbury, Ma.
DEATH:
29 Oct 1668 9x ggf John Eaton died at Haverhill, Ma.

SALEM WITCH TRIALS: THE ACCUSERS

 

Here's the list of my ancestors or relatives who were witnesses/accusers in the Salem witch trial. I made this using the MyTreeTags on my family tree at  Ancestry.com. Some of them would later sign petitions to support the prisoners.

Thomas Chandler-9x great grandfather
Hannah (Brewer) Chandler-9x great grandmother

Sarah (Farnum)Abbott-8x great grandmother 
 Benjamin Abbott-8x great grandfather
Jeremiah Swain-9x great grandfather
Ralph Farnum-8x great grandfather
John Farnum-8x great granduncle
Samuel Farnum-8x great granduncle
Joseph Ballard-9x great granduncle
Elizabeth Ballard--9x great grandaunt
Sarah Phelps-7x great grandaunt
Robert Swan-6x great granduncle
John Swan-6x great granduncle
Timothy Swan -6x great granduncle
Hannah (Foster) Ames- 8x great grandaunt
Ephraim Foster-married to Hannah Ames
Allen Toothaker-2nd cousin 7x removed

ON THIS DATE: OCT 28th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
28 Oct 1648 8x ggm Elizabeth Sargent was born in Salisbury, Ma
28 Oct 1681 7x ggm Sarah Stevens was born in Andover, Ma
28 Oct 1653 7x ggm Sarah Learned was born in Chelmsford, Ma

MARRIAGE:28 Oct 1819 3x ggp John Ellingwood Jr. & Rachel Barrows were married in Woodstock, Me.

DEATH:
28 Oct 1684 10x ggf John Fiske died in Watertown, Ma.
28 Oct 1735 9x ggm Mary (Loker) Prescott died in died in Groton, Ma.

MY WITCH LISTS: THE ACCUSED

 

((First posted in August 2019))

Here's the list I've made of my ancestors and relatives from Andover, Ma who were tried for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Three of them were executed. I made this list using Ancestry.com's MyTreeTag function

Accused Witches

Mary (Towne) Estey-9x great grandmother- (executed)
Rebecca (Towne)Nurse 9x great grandaunt (executed)
Sarah (Towne)Cloyce 9x great grandaunt
Rebecca (Blake) Ames-9x great grandmother
Sarah (Hooper) Wardwell-widow of 10x great grandfather Adam Hawkes
Samuel Wardwell husband of Sarah (Hooper)Wardwell (executed)
Sarah Hawkes-9x great grandaunt
Abigail (Wheeler)Barker--wife of 8x great granduncle
William Barker Sr-7x great granduncle
William Barker Jr.-1st cousin 8x removed
Mary Barker-1st cousin 8x removed
Daniel Ames-8x great granduncle
Abigail (Dane)Faulkner-9x great aunt
Elizabeth (Dane)Johnson-9x great aunt
Dorothy Faulkner-1st cousin 9x removed
Abigail Faulkner-1st cousin 9x removed
Elizabeth Johnson-1st cousin 9x removed
Stephen Johnson-1st cousin 9x removed
Rose Foster-1st cousin 9x removed
Deliverance  (Hazeltine)-wife of 9th great-uncle
Mary (Allen) Hazeltine-1st cousin 8x removed
Martha (Allen)Carrier 1st cousin 8x removed
Roger Toothaker-Mary Allen's husband
Mercy Wardwell-step 10x great aunt

ON THIS DATE: OCT 27th

 

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTH:

27 Oct 1899 gm Cora Bertha Barker was born at Bethel, Me.

 

MARRIAGES:

27 Oct 1714 8x ggp John Adams & Mary Flagg were married at Watertown, Ma.

27 Oct 1698 7x ggp Joseph Tuck & Sarah Reith were married at Marblehead, Ma.

 

DEATHS:

27 Oct 1675 8x ggm Sarah (Chandler) Simmons died at West Bridgewater, Ma.

27 Oct 1713 9x ggf William Green died at Groton, Ma

WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN" BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

 

   ((Oddly enough, both my parents occasionally would quote a line or two from Riley's
two most famous poems. This is the one Dad would quote. I first posted this on 13Oct 2012)) 


We had the first frost of the fall season in parts of New England and it put me in mind 
how Dad would  sometimes recite "When the frost is on the pumpkin...". That's the only part of
the poem he'd say. I think he must have had to recite it in school when he was a kid and that's all
he remembered.

Reading it just now I had to grin at the line about the turkey since I've now had experiences with
a loud, "struttin" turkey here in my own backyard!




 "When the Frost is on the Punkin"
                          James Whitcomb Riley

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,   
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,   
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,   
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;   
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best,         
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,   
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,   
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.   
 
They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere   
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here—   
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,   
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;   
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze   
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days   
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock—   
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.   
 
The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,   
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn;   
The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still   
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;   
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;   
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!—   
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,   
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.   
 
Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps   
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;   
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through   
With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...   
I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be   
As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me—   
I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock—   
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

0N THIS DATE: OCT. 16th

 Frank and Charlotte were first cousins.

ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
16 Oct 1676 6x ggm Patience Simmons was born in Duxbury, Ma.
16 Oct 1672 7x ggf Thomas Safford was born in Ipswich, Ma.

MARRIAGE:
1 6 Oct 1898 ggp Frank W. Barker & Charlotte Lovenia Barker were married in Gorham, N.H.

DEATHS:
16 Oct 1664 10x ggm Judith (Wignol) Forster died in Ipswich, Ma.
16 Oct 1705 8x ggm Susannah (Edson) Keith died in West Bridgewater, Ma.

HALLOWEEN TALES: THE HELL HOUNDS OF BREWSTER, MA.

 (( This Halloween Tale is a story within a story about how I 
seem to have started a scary folktale while working as a camp
counselor. I first posted this in October, 2007))


Back in my college days, I spent three summers as a camp
counselor at Camp Mitton in Brewster, Mass down on Cape Cod.

One night during my last summer there in 1970, I was sitting at
the Indian Council Ring with the campers and councilors as we
told stories around a campfire. One of the kids started telling a
story about the Black Hell Hounds that chased a murderer’s
ghost on the dirt roads by the camp and I had to grin. I knew the
story well.

In fact, I was the one who’d first told it.


Two years before I was trying to come up with the a story to tell
at the campfire that hadn’t already been told and a combination
of things led me to make up a new one.


One of the elements was the camp’s location. There were several
dirt roads that wound their way through old cranberry bogs,
some of which with old buildings nearby. We occasionally took the
kids on hikes down those roads and so the locale of the story
would be familiar.


Another element was that one of the councilors had snorkeled in
the lake the camp was situated on and found an old buckboard
type wagon on the lake floor. Everyone had wondered how it ever
got there.

And the third element? That would be Queenie the black Labrador
Retriever and two of her grown offspring who frequently hung
around the camp mooching scraps and attention from the kids.
And so, I came up with this story:


“Many years ago there lived down by the cranberry bogs a man
and his wife. They had no children, and the cranberry farmer’s
wife was lonely so the farmer bought her three black hounds to
keep her company and protect her when he was away from the
farm.


Things went well for several years until bad weather caused
the cranberry crop to be a small one and the farmer fell into
debt. He took to drinking and when his wife asked him to stop
they would argue. One night the man hit his wife and the dogs
who were trained to protect her attacked the farmer. In a rage
he grabbed his axe and killed the dogs and then his wife, and
then buried them all in an unmarked grave somewhere along
the dirt roads through the bogs. If neighbors asked he told them
his wife had left him and gone off to her parents’ home in
Boston.


Then one night exactly a year to the night after the murder
the farmer was driving his wagon down a dirt road, the very
same road that runs right through the center of our camp, when
he heard the sound of hounds baying behind him. He looked
over his shoulder and by the light of the moon he saw the red
eyes of  three ghostly hounds racing after him in the
moonlight.


He whipped his horse to run faster, but still the hounds came
closer, and closer, and CLOSER until suddenly the wagon hit
the bump in the road just past where the softball field is
today and the horse broke free, while the wagon went racing
down into the lake, taking the farmer with it to drown.


And some say that every year the murderous farmer’s ghost
can be seen in his wagon being chased down the dirt road by
the three black Hell Hounds.”

Not exactly Poe but it worked well in the dark by the campfire,
especially with Queenie nearby begging for marshmallows.


I didn’t work at the camp the summer after I first told the story
but apparently it had been told by one of the campers that year,
and then the year I returned, another camper told it. I don’t
know if it continued to be told, since that was the last summer I
spent there. But if Queenie and her descendants were around I
suspect it might have been told again.


I think this must be how a lot of legends and ghost stories must
have started, a mixture of the commonplace with fantasy.


Oh. Did I mention that in my apartment complex nearly
forty years later, my next door neighbor’s pet was a black
Labrador Retriever?

ON THIS DATE: OCT. 11th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
11 Oct 1670 8x ggf John Ames was born at Andover, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
11 Oct 1680 8x ggp Ephraim Stevens & Sarah Abbott were married at Andover, Ma.
11 Oct 1639 9x ggp Richard Willis & Amy Glass were married at East Bridgewater, Ma.

DEATHS:
11 Oct 1765 6x ggf Paul Crowell died at Chatham, Ma.
11 Oct 1750 7x ggf Benjamin Barker died at Andover, Ma.
11 Oct 1712 7x ggf Joseph Bailey died at Bradford, Ma.
11 Oct 1686 9x ggm Mary (Moulton) Sanborn died at Hampton, N.H.
11 Oct 1723 8x ggm Martha (Fuller) Marston died at Andover, Ma.

AGGIE

 




((This was my very first post here back in February, 2007.I'm reposting it toay in honor of her birthday,7Oct 1898)

I’m a child of mixed heritage. On one side I’m
descended from a long line of Yankee settlers.
On the other, I’m descended from Irish Catholic
immigrants who came to Boston in the late
19th century.

Meet my maternal grandmother, Agnes McFarland.
In the family she’s known as Aggie. To us grandchildren
she was "Nanny". I believe the picture is for her Confirmation.

She was born in 1898, eighth child and third daughter
out of the ten children that would survive infancy. She
grew up in a Irish Catholic family, her father a laborer
on the Boston Elevated Railway.


She had rheumatic fever as a child in a time when it
was a deadly disease and although she'd survived it left
Aggie with a weak heart. In 1924 she married Edward F.
White Sr. They had two children before a third died, then
Edward walked out in the middle of the Great Depression
leaving Aggie to raise the children on her own.

Aggie divorced him in 1935.

It was hard for her; in those times the label "divorced"
was somewhat shameful for an Irish Catholic woman.


Work was hard to come by for a woman with children
so she scrimped and saved. Some nights dinner was
bread soaked in milk. My Mom and uncle were sent to
a nearby dental school to have their teeth worked on by
students. When Mom came down with what was known
as St. Vitus’ Dance in those days, Aggie somehow came
up with the money for the doctors and to buy liver to
serve at dinner to get Mom’s iron content up. I suspect
Aggie’s parents must have helped her out here and there
financially. My Mom once claimed that the legendary
Boston Mayor James Michael Curley helped out with
some problem as well.


But Aggie was no cream puff, either. One story my
Mom told was of the time she and Uncle Ed skipped
school to hang out at the cottage out on Houghs’ Neck
with their cousins. The place was owned by Aggie’s
younger sister Peggy and her husband Leo McCue and
was quite a distance away from the Jamaica Plain
neighborhood of Boston Aggie and her children lived
in.

Yet suddenly my grandmother was walking down the
beach towards them. She’d taken the trolley and two
different buses to get there. She stayed long enough
to let Mom and Ed get their things and then took
them home by the same route she’d used to get there.


Somehow she did it. She raised her children to adulthood
even though it meant sometimes ducking her rebellious
son's head in the sink when he used swears or nursing her
daughter through a case of scarlet fever. She survived
watching her son join the Navy at 18 to fight in WW2.
All this while living life as a divorced Catholic woman
whose husband had left her for another woman.

She never remarried.

I knew her as Nanny, my grandmother, and she lived
with us when I was a kid. My Dad and Uncle Ed had
bought a two family home after the war in Malden on
a GI loan and so Aggie saw all five of her grandchildren
everyday. But she spent most of the time with my sister
and I because my parents both worked fulltime.
\

 have memories of her.


She was a quiet woman, black haired with grey streaks
and usually wore those one piece housedresses. She’d eat
peas by rolling them down the blade of her knife into her
mouth and looking back I think she did it to amuse me
and tease my mom. She never yelled but I remember
her breaking up a knockdown fight between two Italian
ladies who lived in the houses to either side of ours and
doing it with a slightly louder than usual voice and a
disgusted tone at their behavior in front of children.

I remember her being upset when the goldfish got sucked
down the drain of the kitchen sink when she pulled the
sink plug by accident after cleaning the goldfish bowl. And
I recall how she kept me from looking out the window after
a worker fell off the roof when it was being reshingled.
(He survived by the way; he broke his back and narrowly
missed landing atop the picket fence that ran between our
house and our next door neighbor’s.)


As time went by her rheumatic heart got worse and she
needed an oxygen tank in her bedroom for when breathing
was hard.

Aggie died at age 58 on February 12th, 1957.

She lived a tough life but she always carried herself like
a lady.

ON THIS DATE: OCT 7th

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTHS:

7 Oct 1898 gm Agnes McFarland was born in Boston, Ma.
7 Oct 1676 7x ggf Daniel Pierce was born in Woburn, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
7 Oct 1698 7x ggp Thomas Safford & Eleanor Cheney were married in Ipswich, Ma.
7 Oct 1712 7x ggp Stephen Greenleaf 3rd & Mary Mackres were married in Newbury, Ma.

DEATHS:
7 Oct 1662  10x ggf Stephen Gates died in Lancaster, Ma.
7 Oct 1688  9x ggm Elizabeth (Kendall) Eaton died in Reading, Ma.
7 Oct 1666 9x ggf Thomas Pierce died in Charlestown, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: OCT. 3RD

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
3 Dec 1643 7x ggm Patience Barstow was born at Dedham, Ma.
3 Oct 1742 5x ggf Amos Upton Jr. was born at Reading, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
3 Oct 1759 5x ggp Reuben Packard & Anne Perkins were married at Bridgewater, Ma.
3 Oct 1803 4x ggp Stephen Moore &  Millie Davis were married at Waterford, Me.

DEATHS:
3 Oct 1671 9x ggf William Lewis died at Lancaster, Ma.
3 Oct 1689  9x ggf Edward Phelps died at Andover, Ma.
3 Oct 1665  9x ggf Roger Chandler died at Duxbury, Ma.
3 Oct 1676 10x ggm Hannah (Phillips) (Morse) Boyden died at Dedham, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: SEPT 28th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
28 Sep 1655 9x ggm Esther Ware was born at Dedham, Ma.
28 Sep 1669 7x ggf Samuel Ayer was born at Haverhill, Ma.
28 Sep 1673 8x ggf John Bumpus was born at Scituate, Ma.

MARRIAGES:
28 Sep 1721 6x ggp Richard Kelley & Susannah Hoyt were married at Newbury, Ma.
28 Sep 1659 9x ggp Samuel Woods & Alice Rushton were married at Cambridge, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: SEPT. 27th

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
27 Sep 1646 8x ggf John Wright was born in Boston, Ma.
27 Sep 1634 8x ggm Mary Sargent was born in Amesbury, Ma.
27 Sep 1780 4x ggf Johann Michael Ruppmich was born in Kleinheppach, Wurttemberg, Germany

MARRIAGE:
27 Sep 1678 9x ggp Benjamin Rockwood & Judith Ellis were married in Medield, Ma.

DEATHS:
27 Sep 1716 8x ggm Mary (Sargent) Challis died in Salisbury, Ma.
27 Sep 1730 7x ggf Joseph Keith died in West Bridgewater, Ma.
27 Feb 1877 3x ggf Wesley Coburn died in Albany, Me.

ON THIS DATE: SEPT 24TH

ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
24 Sep 1737 5x ggf Lot Spaulding was born at Pelham, N.H.

MARRIAGES:
24 Sep 1734 7x ggp Daniel Boyden & Mehitable Mann were married at Dedham, Ma.
24 Sep 1678 8x ggp John Bancroft Sr. & Elizabeth Eaton were married at Lynn, Ma.
24 Sep 1723 7x ggp Samuel Griffith & Eleanor Estey were married at Rochester, Ma.

DEATHS:
24 Sep 1662 9x ggf John Whitcomb died at Lancaster, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: SEPT 16TH

 ON THIS DATE:
BIRTHS:
16 Sep 1663 7x ggf Nathaniel Stow was born at Concord, Ma.
16 Sep 1672 8x ggm Martha Ward was born at Dalem, Ma.
16 Sep 1769 4x ggm Esther Spaulding was born at Pelham, Ma.
16 Sep 1687 7x ggf Mark Haskell was born at Gloucester, Ma.

MARRIAGE:
16 Sep 1684 7x ggp John Wetherbee & Lydia Moore were married at Stow, Ma.

DEATHS:
16 Sep 1676 10x ggm Dionis (Stevens) Coffin died at nantucket, Ma.
16 Sep 1666 10x ggf Richard Goodale died at Ipswich, Ma.
 

ON THIS DATE: SEPT 10TH

 ON THIS DATE
MARRIAGE:
10 Sep 1778 4x ggp Amos Hastings & Elizabeth Wiley were married at
 Haverhill Ma.

DEATHS:
10 Sep 1694 8x ggf Daniel Cheney died at Newbury, Ma.
10 Sep 1696 8x ggf Samuel Davis died at Haverhill, Ma.
10 Sep 1731 8x ggf Eleazer Green died at Groton, Ma.

ON THIS DATE : SEPT. 8th

ON THIS DATE:
BIRTH:
8 Sep 1651 9x ggf Benjamin Rockwood was born at Medfield, Ma.
8 Sep 1662  8x ggm Elizabeth Eaton was born at Reading, Ma.

DEATH:
8 Sep 1684 9x ggf Elias Maverick died at Charlesrown, Ma.
8 Sep 1677 9x ggf Thomas Low died at Ipswich, Ma.
8 Sep 1691 8x ggf Marke Haskell died at Gloucester, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: JUNE 24TH

 

ON THIS DATE:

DEATHS:

24 Jun 1674 9x ggm Lydia (Cooper) Stone died at Cambridge, Ma.

24 Jun 1692 8x ggm Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis died at Rochester, Ma.

24 Jun 1661 9x ggm Goodith (Gilman) Learned died at Malden, Ma.

24 Jun 1662 9x ggf Joseph Wormall died at Scituate, Ma.

ON THIS DATE: JUNE 23rd

 

ON THIS DATE:

BIRTH:

23 Jun 1837 2x ggm Louisa Almata Richardson was born at Wilton, Me.

 

MARRIAGE:

23 Jun 1659 8x ggp John Hoyt & Mary Barnes were married at Salisbury, Ma.

 

DEATH:

23 Jun 1679 8X ggf John Carver died at Marshfield, Ma.