Cumberland RI Town Hall visit

Before my grandfather moved to NJ around 1920, most of my paternal ancesors lived in the village of Valley Falls in the town of Cumberland RI for 4 or 5 generations and it is there that I will find most of the records to document my ancestry. I was able to spend part of two days there this last week after attending the New England Regional Genealogy Conference (NEGRC) in Manchester, NH. I explored some of the vital records and deeds, but did not have time to check court records. That is for my next visit.

Cumberland Rhode Island Town Hall
Built 1894

The Town Hall is located on Broad Street just a block over the city line north of Central Falls. Its prominent tower makes it easy to spot from many locations in Valley Falls. There is a parking lot just to the north, and plenty of on-street parking on the two days I was there.

Vital records and land records are kept in the Town Clerk's office on the first floor. There is a large work area to lay out books and good light for photographing records. There is also a copy machine in the office.

Vital Records

For vital records, the Clerk retrieves the volumes from shelves in the office. These are large ledger books and are not the originals but copies of records transcribed into the volumes. The original records are kept in the basement vault and the Town Clerk must retrieve them. They are filed in boxes with some record years bound together, and others are loose. The Clerk asks for the name and date of event, and hands you the loosely bound records opened to the correct record, or hands you the individual record. I wish I was able to go through the originals without involving the Clerk, and limited my requests to direct line ancestors.

Death Record - Sarah A. (Gardner) Lawton
4th Great Grandmother

Among other information found in the original record vs the transcribed volumes for Deaths are:

• full name of deceased with middle names sometimes spelled out
• street address of death
• informant's name
• burial place
• birth date
• full age at death (sometimes only the age in years was found in the record books 
• physician
• undertaker

Some of this information was in the bound record books but in a more abbreviated form depending on the transcriber. I found several middle names that I had not known, and that were only initialed in the bound volumes and the online record index at FamilySearch.

Land Records

Grantee - Grantor Index

Modern record indexes are computerized, but I don't know when this started. I was looking at records for the mid-late 1800s and early 1900s and these records are indexed in a card catalog. There are two different sets of records - one for Grantees and one for Grantors. The cards are filed by name, and then by year, making it somewhat easy to trace some transactions as I went through the indexed cards. However, the real details are in the original documents and I found some good name and relationship information in the deeds.

Grantor Index card for Mortgage 1902

I was able to photograph some of these cards in  drawers where the cards were not packed too tightly. The cards were very informative and usually listed:

• type of transaction (mortgage, quit-claim, warranty, etc)
• grantor and grantee names
• year of transaction and book number and page
• consideration
• brief description of property
• location

Deed books - Cumberland RI 

The Deed books are in the same room as the card catalog index and are located on the wall facing the card catalog. There is a double set of shelves with the front set on rollers so the back row can be accessed. The earliest records are handwritten and bound in large ledger books and later deeds are typed and reproduced in smaller white and black volumes. More modern records are in the red volumes

Valley Falls, Rhode Island

My Dad's mother, F. Hazel Skinner was born in Valley Falls, RI and her family had lived there for at several generations by the time she was born in 1894. In old family scrapbooks, there are numerous pictures of the area, most taken before 1920 or so, after which time my grandparents moved to New Jersey. Here are a few that were identified.

Valley Falls Station

This station, built in 1883,  was located at the foot of Chapel Avenue in Valley Falls. I found another view of this station at Rhode Island Railroads. This station served the Providence and Worchester Railroad which opened in 1846. According to the Rhode Island Railroads website, there was another station in Valley Falls around 400 feet north of this station on Titus Street. This smaller station served the New York and New England RR.


The two other pictures in this collection show the bridge over the Blackstone River which separates the village of Valley Falls from the city of Central Falls just to the south.  The streetcar used to run across this bridge and continued south to Pawtucket and Providence.

Approach to Valley Falls Bridge

Valley Falls Bridge

"An appalling scene"

Right as the clerk's office was closing after a day of research in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, last summer, I found the death certificate for my great-great grandfather, Ernest Lord Mellor (1832 - 1892). I noted that the cause of death was listed as "gun shot" and knew I had to find out more about it. I had hoped to return to Rhode Island by now to conduct research in the Rhode Island Historical Society library in Providence where they have an extensive collection of Rhode Island newspapers but finally out of curiosity, I requested an obituary look-up from the reference librarian. She found a very short death notice and no obituary, but did find a page 1 account of the death.
I received the article a few days ago and it is rather shocking. (Transcription below)

The Providence Evening Bulletin, 18 May 1892, page 1.

Transcription:                              "HORRIBLE SUICIDE

-----

BLEW PART OF HIS HEAD OFF WITH A SHOT GUN

-----

Ernest L Mellor of Valley Falls Cut His Throat and Then Fired a Gun with Fatal Effect.

     Back among the trees at the east of the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad track in Valley Falls, stands the house of Ernest L. Meller, [sic] a life-long resident of the village. For many years Mr. Meller was an overseer in the mills of the Valley Falls Company, but for the past 12 or 13 years he has suffered from dropsy, and within the past year or so complications have arisen in the malady that caused life to become almost unendurable to him. Of late the disease has become more and more painful. At 2:30 o’clock this morning Mr. Meller called to his wife in the next room and asked her to prepare him a lemon so that he might suck the juice. The wife did as requested and that was the last time that she heard her husband’s voice or saw him alive.

     Soon after this Mr. Meller arose and attempted to cut his throat with a jackknife. Although a terrible gash was cut in the fleshy part of the neck, death was not produced, and the unfortunate man went to another room, took down a rusty muzzle loading shot gun from its fastening over the street door, and retraced his steps to his bedroom. Here he stood upright in the centre of the room, placed the muzzle of the weapon upward in line with his chin, and pulled the trigger. Meller fell to the floor with the left side of his head entirely blown off, and it was in that position that his relatives found him. Dr. Haines was immediately summoned and gave it as his opinion that death must have been produced instantly. Medical Examiner Garvin viewed the remains this morning, and said that the death was undoubtedly that of a suicide and deemed an inquest unnecessary. An inspection of the bedroom this morning showed an appalling scene. In one corner of the room, where the suicide fell there was a mass of gore an inch or more in depth, while the bed was covered with blood and pieces of flesh. The ceiling was a covered with spatter of blood and filled with the load of shot that crashed upward through the head of the suicide. Mr. Meller leaves a widow and three married children. He was a member of Good Samaritan Lodge of Pawtucket, and was insured for a considerable amount in the John Hancock Insurance Company of New York."

-------------------

I read this obituary with growing disbelief and horror and had to put it down and out of my head for a bit before I was able to re-read it. I cannot imagine what pain could have driven my g-g-grandfather to attempt suicide in this fashion. I also cannot imagine what the effect was on his remaining family.  The gruesome description of the scene is more detailed than what one would read in a modern paper!

No surviving member of my family has ever heard of this suicide before, not even my aunt who was born roughly 30 years after her g-grandfather's death. I would imagine that everyone wanted to forget such a tragedy ever happened in the family.

I have some research to do. I have a general idea where the location of the house must have been but need to look up deeds. I also need to check probate records and tax records. I need to do more research to figure out what kind of Lodge the Good Samaritan Lodge was - many of my ancestors were Masons but I don't recognize this name. It may be another group such as the Odd Fellows.  I am also intrigued by the last line... Do suicide victims collect on insurance? Or is it forfeited? I wonder why it was even mentioned in the article. And lastly, what was sucking on a lemon supposed to do??

A January Wedding

My paternal grandparents were Ralph Westcott Grant and Florence Hazel Skinner. I wrote about Ralph here and Hazel here.

Ralph and Hazel probably knew each other from the time they were young children. Although Ralph grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and Hazel's home was in Valley Falls, their houses were just blocks apart. Their families also attended the same church, Valley Falls Baptist Church and they must have known each other from Sunday School and church outings.

Ralph and Hazel  married on 15 January 1918 in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. Both were 23 years old. If there were any formal photos taken at Ralph's and Hazel's wedding, I don't know what happened to them.

Ralph on his wedding day

Hazel's younger sister, Myrtle, was Hazel's attendent.

Myrtle and Hazel Skinner on Hazel's wedding day

Wedding Announcement
Florence Hazel Skinner & Ralph Westcott Grant

Mr. and Mrs. John F. Skinner

announce the marriage of their daughter

Florence Hazel

to

Ralph Westcott Grant

on Tuesday, January the fifteenth

one thousand nine hundred and eighteen

Valley Falls, Rhode Island.

At Home
after March 1st
at the Puritan Apartments
Erie, Pennsylvania

"Hazel's going away outfit"

Florence Hazel Skinner

My paternal grandmother was Florence Hazel Skinner. She was known as "Hazel" during her life-time. Hazel was the 3rd child and oldest daughter of John Francis (Frank) Skinner and Annie Florence Betts. She was born on 6 September 1894 in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. 

F. Hazel Skinner about 1898

Hazel had 2 older brothers both also born in Valley Falls. Harold Fulton Skinner was born 25 February 1892 and died at the age of 4 months of cholera on 16 July 1892. Second son, Harold Lamert Skinner was born on 23 January 1894.

Despite the 19 month age difference between Harold and Hazel, they were in the Valley Falls School 4th grade together when they received year end report cards on 24 June 1904. Both were good students although it looks like Hazel did better than her brother Harold in all subjects except arithmetic.

Subjects they received grades in were:

Reading

Spelling

Language

Arithmetic

Geography

Grade 4 report cards for Hazel and Harold Skinner,  June 1904

Hazel's family was living on Carpenter Street in Valley Falls in 1900 as enumerated in the Federal Census. The family moved to 18 Abbot Street by the time of the 1905 RI state census. Hazel lived at this address until her marriage on 15 January 1918 to Ralph Westcott Grant.

Hazel about 1910

Hazel about 1915

Hazel about 1944

Hazel died at age 50 on 12 January 1945 just as she was about to be released from the hospital after a routine surgery. Her obituaries are posted here. My father had just turned 23 and his sister was 19. Hazel's husband, my grandfather Ralph, had predeceased her. She was buried with her parents in Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls, Rhode Island.

Death Certification of Hazel Grant
Department of Health. State of New Jersey, certificate # 330, 12 January 1945

I don't really know much about my grandmother. Her family were Baptists and she was active in the Valley Falls Baptist Church groups growing up. By the time she and Ralph moved to New Jersey and had children, religion was less important. She was an accomplished pianist and she and her husband often enjoyed playing in string quartets with friends. My father told me it was a disappointment to his parents that he and his sister had no musical talents (and neither do I!).

Ralph Westcott Grant

Ralph Westcott Grant
about 1900

I never knew my paternal grandparents - they died long before I was born. I am lucky though to have some of their documents and photos so I know something of their lives, including the time before my father was born to them in 1922. There are quite a few photos of my grandparents dating from the first couple of decades of the 20th century from the time that cameras first became available to amateurs. I only wish that someone had noted the subject's names on the photos since most are unidentified.

My paternal grandfather was Ralph Westcott Grant. He was the oldest child of William Sprague Grant and Mary Helen Mellor. He was born 17 April 1894 in Valley Falls, Rhode Island but he grew up in nearby Central Falls, Rhode Island.

Ralph W. Grant

It is unknown where his middle name came from but he is the first of 4 generations of Grant males to use it as a middle name. There were families with the surname of Westcott living in Rhode Island during the late 19th century, but none that can be identified as being associated with the family. Perhaps it was just a name his parents liked, or a name of a friend.

1913

I don't know many details of Ralph's childhood. He did attend the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) after high school and graduated with a 2 year degree in drafting. While there he played Center on the school football team and was the captain in 1913. He graduated from the School of Design around 1915 but I have not found his school records yet. I was told that his Aunt Mary Grant helped pay his tuition at RISD, and that enabled him to enroll there for his post-secondary education. After graduating, I think he worked as a draftsman in the Providence area for several years.

Draft Registration Certificate, 5 June 1917

Ralph registered for the draft in June 1917. He did not serve in World War I perhaps because his younger brother, Howard was already in the RI National Guard at the beginning of the war and was posted overseas (subject of a future blog post). It is also possible that Ralph was excused from active duty because he had an essential war-time job. From family reminiscences, I know he worked at the Watervliet Arsenal near Troy, New York and also in Erie, Pennsylvania during the war.

Ralph at unknown work location

Ralph  married Florence Hazel Skinner (she was always known as Hazel) on 15 January 1918 at the Baptist Church in Valley Falls, Rhode Island and they lived after their marriage in Erie, Pennsylvania. By the time their first child, my father Warren Westcott Grant was born on 11 January 1922, they were living in Clifton, New Jersey where Ralph and Hazel would live the rest of their lives.

around 1939

My grandfather died 2 months after his 45th birthday in Baltimore, Maryland on the 27 June 1939. He had gone to Baltimore to march in the Shriner's Band and felt ill while marching. He went back to his hotel and suffered a heart attack. He was taken to the hospital and died there early the next morning.

Ralph was an accomplished saxophonist and I think he also played flute at home. At the time of his death, Ralph was the General Manager of the National Rubber Machinery Company in Clifton, New Jersey. As a hobby, he did museum-quality taxidermy.

Sarah Gardiner Lawton

Sarah Gardiner Lawton was my 3x great grandmother. Her daughter, Eliza Jane Carpenter married Zophar Skinner for whom this blog is named.

Sarah Gardiner Lawton

Sarah Gardiner Lawton was born in October 1828 to Clark Lawton and Sarah A. Gardiner in South Kingston, Rhode Island.

She married John Levy Carpenter, son of Daniel G and Mary Carpenter on 5 May 1845 in the Valley Falls Baptist Church in the village of Valley Falls, Rhode Island. At the time of marriage, both Sarah and John were both "of Smithfield" which bordered Valley Falls.

Marriage Record for
 John L Carpenter and Sarah G Lawton

"This may certify that Mr John L Carpenter and Miss Sarah G Lawton both of Smithfield were lawfully united together in Marriage on this the fifth day of May AD 1845 by me the Subscriber.
                                B.P. Byram
      Pastor of the Baptist Church
                      Valley Falls, R.I.

      Smithfield R.I.
                May 5, 1845"

Sarah Carpenter Obituary
Pawtucket Times, 1 March 1904

      Death of Mrs. Carpenter
Mrs Sarah Carpenter widow of John L Carpenter died last evening at her home on Braley's Hill in South Attleboro just over the state line at Valley Falls. Deceased was in her 77th year and had been ill but a few days troubles incident to old age being the immediate cause of death. Mrs Carpenter was an old resident of this section and was held in high esteem by a large circle of friends. She was the mother of Mrs. Zophar Skinner of Valley Falls.


I have not been able to determine where Sarah was buried but I suspect she was laid to rest next to her husband at Mineral Spring Cemetery in Pawtucket Rhode Island although there is no stone to mark her grave. Her parents are buried nearby, as are at least one of her children.

Hazel Skinner Grant obituaries

My father's mother was Florence Hazel Skinner.  She was born to John Francis (Frank) Skinner and Annie Florence Betts on 6 September 1894 in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. She died unexpectedly on 12th January 1945 at age 50, of a cerebral embolism about 2 weeks after a routine hysterectomy, just as she was about to be released from the hospital.

In a box of  family papers, I found several different clippings of her obituary. None of the clippings are dated or note the newspaper they were found in. I expect some of them were from her local newspaper in Clifton, New Jersey, and some were from her hometown of Valley Falls, Rhode Island. This obituary is the longest of the group.



Hazel Grant obituary

Died 12 January 1945 
unknown New Jersey newspaper

Mrs. Hazel Grant Dies In Hospital

                   ------------------
   Mrs. Hazel Grant, of 267 Rillins [Rollins] avenue, Clifton, whose husband, Ralph Grant, was a former plant manager of the National Rubber Machinery Company in Clifton, passed away early yesterday morning in St. Mary's Hospital, Passaic, following an operation of two weeks ago.
   Mrs. Grant was born in Cumberland, R.I., and came to Clifton more than 25 years ago. Since her husband's death, she had been associated with the aforenamed company, and was a member of the Clifton Women's Club and the Y.M.C.A. Women's Auxiliary.
   The Rev. F. W. Thurston, pastor of Clifton's Trinity Methodist Church, will conduct the funeral services tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 o'clock in the Andrew D. Mason Funeral Home, 440 Clifton avenue, Clifton. Friends may call at the funeral home from 12 noon until 7 p.m. tomorrow.
   On Sunday, the body will be forwarded to a mortuary in Central Falls, R.I., where a brief service will be held on Tuesday, followed by internment in Moshassuck Cemetery there.
   Mrs. Grant is survived by a daughter, Miss Shirley Grant of Clifton; a son, Warren, an air cadet in an Army Air Force unit in Texas; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John F. Skinner of Valley Falls, R. I.; one sister, Mrs. George Blackmar of South Attleboro, Mass., and a brother, Harold Skinner of Rutherford [NJ].


An obituary from an unknown Rhode Island newspaper lists the bearers at her funeral in Rhode Island. William E. Betts was Hazel's maternal uncle;  Earl Betts was his son and Hazel's cousin. I believe David Betts might be Hazel's great uncle and John Nelson was his son-in-law, married to Hazel's cousin, Mattie Betts. James Yetter was married to Hazel's cousin, Eva Betts. I think Edward J. Eastwood was a Valley Falls neighbor and family friend.




Hazel Grant obituary
unknown Rhode Island newspaper

MRS. HAZEL GRANT

   The funeral of Mrs. Hazel (Skinner) Grant, 50, wife of the late Ralph W. Grant and former resident of Valley Falls who died Friday in Clifton, N.J., was held yesterday from the D.W. Bellows and Son Funeral Home, 85 Park Place, Pawtuket. The Rev. John H. Tremberth, former pastor of the Valley Falls Baptist Church, officiated. Burial was in Moshassuck Cemetery, Central Falls.
   Bearers were William E. Betts, Earl Betts, David Betts, John Nelson, James Yetter and Edward J. Eastwood.

Zophar Skinner - Veteran of the Civil War

Zophar Skinner, a Civil War Veteran, was my great-great-grandfather. He died on Veteran's Day exactly 85 years ago at the age of 83.

Zophar Skinner
12 September 1843 - 11 November 1926

 Zophar enlisted in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry, Company C on 5 June 1861 as a private.. He mustered out of the same unit on the 17 June 1864 as a full corporal. Despite serving in many of the major battles of the Civil War, he was one of the lucky ones and returned home unwounded.

Zophar died of a heart attack on the morning of 11 November 1926 in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, where he was born and had lived his entire life.

 An obituary published in the Pawtucket Times, 15 November 1926 said:

"As the body of the venerable veteran was laid to its final resting place the firing squad set off three volleys. Roger Calderwood sounded the call which comes at the end of a soldier's day - Taps."

Zophar had been active in the many Veteran's organizations that flourished at the end of the Civil War, and had served as a department commander of the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) in Rhode Island. His obituary states that "the ritual of the Grand Army of the Republic was recited by Commander Henry Clark of the Ballou Post, G.A.R."

My Heritage Pie

I know I'm a little late to this but here is my Heritage Pie. Randy Seaver first blogged about this on
16 July 2011on his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your "Heritage Pie" Chart. The following 'pie' shows the distribution of the birthplaces of my 16 great-great-grandparents.

Birthplaces: 8 in Germany, 2 in Canada, 2 in England, and 4 in United States (Rhode Island)

Paternal great-great Grandparents -

Joseph Goff Grant - born 1 Aug 1819, No. Providence, Rhode Island

Lydia Boomer Leach - born 13 May 1827, Warwick, Rhode Island

Ernest Lord Mellor - born 2 Mar 1832, Chadderton, Lancashire, England

Hannah Worthington  - born 7 May 1833, Royton, Lancashire, England

Zophar Skinner  - born 12 Sept 1843, Valley Falls, Rhode Island

Eliza Jane Carpenter  - born 12 April 1847, Coventry, Rhode Island

John William Betts  - born June 1844, Wallace, Nova Scotia, Canada

Susan Fulton - born 13 Feb 1839, Wallace, Nova Scotia, Canada

Maternal great-great-Grandparents -

Johann Martin Veith - born 9 April 1825, Altdorf, Wurttemberg, Germany

Anna Maria Heller - born 4 Oct 1828, Hudlach, Wuttemberg,Germany

Joseph Zeiler - born 21 Dec 1826, Wuttemberg, Germany

Anna Margaretha Mack - born June 1827, Wuttemberg, Germany

Christoph Badendick - born Germany

Friederike Spierling - born Germany

Gottfried Zerull - born 4 March 1812, Garnseedorf, West Prussia

Wilhelamine Kroening - born about 1835 in West Prussia

Happy 4th!

I'm not sure what the celebration is here but it could be the 4th of July!

back row: Reverend J.H. Trenberth, Valley Falls Baptist Church
middle row: 1st two unknown, Annie Betts Skinner, Myrtle F. Skinner
front row: Stella Johnson perhaps and Florence Hazel Skinner
Valley Falls, Rhode Island - photo taken around 1910

A Tale of Three Zophars

Three Generations of Zophar Skinner

My father's mother was a Skinner. Her grandfather (and my gg-grandfather) was the 3rd Zophar Skinner in a row of Zophars.

The first Zophar Skinner was born in 1773 or early 1774, probably in Norton, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He was a son of Elijah Skinner and Abigal Hawes. Zophar married Bethiah Freeman in Norton on the 15 October 1798. His occupation was listed as a Miller when he died on 3 March 1843 in Franklin, Bristol County, Massachusetts of consumption. He is buried in the Norton Common Cemetery in Norton, Massachusetts.

Inscription: To the memory of
Mr Zophar Skinner
who died March 2, 1843.
Aged 69 years.
 Norton Common Cemetery, Norton, MA

Although the tombstone reads the  2^nd March for Zophar's death, his actual death record shows 3rd March for his death date.

The second Zophar Skinner was born 1 May 1803 in Norton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, third of eight children born to Zophar Skinner and Bethiah Freeman. He married Cynthia Comstock on the 27 September 1835 in Seekonk, Massachusetts. He died of typhoid pneumonia on the 1 July 1860 in Cumberland, Providence County, Rhode Island. He was a mill laborer at the time of his death. Zophar is buried in Mineral Spring Cemetery, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.


Inscription: Zophar Skinner
Died July 1, 1860
Aged 57 years & 2 mo's
Mineral Spring Cemetery, Pawtuket, RI

The third Zophar Skinner was born on the 12th of September 1843 in Valley Falls, Providence County, Rhode Island. He was the second child of Zophar Skinner and Cynthia Comstock. He married Eliza Jane Carpenter on the 24th of December, 1865 in Valley Falls. Zophar died of a heart attack on 11 November 1926 and is buried in Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls, Rhode Island. At the time of his death, he was the owner and manager of the R.I. Washer Company in Valley Falls, a manufacturer of leather washers.

Skinner Family Tombstone, Moshassuck Cemetery, Central Falls, RI

Inscription on reverse side of tombstone reads:

1843 - Zophar - 1926

1847 - Eliza J - 1922

1866 - Frederick W. - 1942

1867 - Charles E. - 1910

1900 - C. Edwin - 1911

1886 - Mabel Carlton - 1899

1870 - John F. - 1949

1871 - Annie F. - 1956

1894 - Hazel Skinner Grant - 1945