Rescued Photo #4 - Ann Eliza Turner Hulet Niles

When I was in Vermont last September, I spent an hour or so browsing at the Antique Center at Camelot Village in Bennington, VT. This shop is huge and is composed of many individual 'stalls' where all kinds of antiques are sold. I could have spent days in this place, and hope to go back on my next visit.

I spent most of my time there looking thru old photos and was amazed at how many of them had identification written on the back. If only all my old family photos were identified! I decided to buy a few that caught my eye and see if I could identify the families of the individuals, and possibly to locate a living descendant who would like to have these photos. Please contact me if you are related to these people and would like the original photo.

This photo was found in the same lot of photos (dealer #356) as were the 3 previous photographs in my Rescued Photos series of blog posts and these people are all probably related. I am slowly building a family tree to resolve family relationships.

Ann Eliza Turner photograph

Ann Eliza Turner photograph
back side

This photo is labeled on the back -

" Ann Eliza Turner
daughter of
Dr and Mrs Gideon Turner"

There is no photographer's name or studio, or location of where the photo was taken.

From doing some basic research, it appears that Ann Eliza Turner was the daughter of Dr Gideon S Turner and his wife, Eliza T. Atwood. No birth record has been found for her but the US census records for 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 indicate she was born in 1842 or 1843 in New York. The 1900 US census indicates her birth in October 1842 in NY, and a record on Findagrave and a gravestone image gives her birth date as 25 October 1842. Her second marriage record indicates that she was born in Salem, Washington County, New York. She died 1 April 1911 in Danby, Rutland County, Vermont at age 68. She is listed as a nurse to a private family, and she was probably still living with her daughter as she was when enumerated there in the 1910 US census.This 1910 census record lists her as widowed, with one child.

Ann Eliza was married twice. Her first marriage was to Aaron Hulet. After his death in 1894, she married Joseph Burr Niles in 1896. According to the marriage record for this 2nd marriage,  Ann Eliza was living in White Creek, New York at the time of her marriage. The marriage was registered in Shaftsbury, Vermont. Although the 1910 census shows her as widowed, in actuality Ann Eliza was either separated or divorced from Joseph Niles since he did not die until 1920. 

The 1880 US census for Shaftsbury, VT shows Aaron and Ann E Hulet living with adopted daughter Winnie B Hulet, age 7, born New York. Winnie married Theodore Woodward around 1890, and they were living in White Creek, New York according to the 1900 census along with their 3 children, Winona Woodward, Leon D Woodward, and Clinton Woodward.

In summary, this is what I know about Ann Eliza Turner - 

Ann Eliza Turner, daughter of Gideon S Turner and Eliza T. Atwood, was born on 25 October 1842 in Salem, Washington County, New York. She died on 1 April 1911 in Danby, Rutland County, Vermont (age 68). She married (1) Aaron Hulet. He was born on 27 March 1835. He died on 20 November 1894 (age 59). She married (2) Joseph Burr Niles, son of Jonathan Niles and Mary Slocum, on 23 December 1896 in Shaftsbury, Bennington County, Vermont. He was born on 6 July 1837 In Shaftsbury. He died on 13 Jan 1920 in Shaftsbury (age 82).

GRANT surname distribution

Randy Seaver over at the blog Genea-Musings has an on-going series, Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. I decided to try out tonight's exercise, which is to map out where families with the Grant surname resided In the USA in a few selected census years - 1840, 1880 and 1920. The Surname Distribution Map is located at the link here on Ancestry.com. Besides the maps, the page also presents some facts about families with the chosen surname.

For my GRANT surname, I learned that -

Grant Name Meaning

English and (especially) Scottish (of Norman origin), and French: nickname from Anglo-Norman French graund, graunt ‘tall’, ‘large’ (Old French grand, grant, from Latin grandis), given either to a person of remarkable size, or else in a relative way to distinguish two bearers of the same personal name, often representatives of different generations within the same family.English and Scottish: from a medieval personal name, probably a survival into Middle English of the Old English byname Granta (see Grantham).Probably a respelling of German Grandt or Grand.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press

The Grant surname distribution map for 1840 -

Grant surname distribution in 1840

In 1840, New York and Maine had the highest number of Grant families. My direct descendants were living on both sides of the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border in Bristol County, RI and Bristol County, MA. Some families had moved in the proceeding 20 years to early mill towns in Rhode Island.

The GRANT surname distribution map for 1880 -

Grant surname distribution in 1880

New York and Maine are joined by Massachusetts, and the two southern states of Georgia and South Carolina as having the largest numbers of Grant families in 1880.

The GRANT surname distribution map for 1920 -

Grant surname distribution in 1920

New York, Massachusetts, Georgia and South Carolina have the most Grant families in 1920. Maine has dropped down to the next category size. Notice that the "number of Grant families" color divisions do not stay constant for all three map time periods. There is a large increase in total Grant families in 1880, and a decrease in number in 1920. Randy noticed the same thing in his post for the Seaver surname distribution, and this is counter-intuitive to me. I would think, in general, that the total number of families in a not uncommon surname would increase with time. It is possible, however that both the Seaver and Grant surnames buck that trend. Perhaps the Ancestry.com counter does not work the same for both census years??

There are a few other facts about the Grant surname from the same link on Ancestry -

Family origin of the Grant surname in the US -

• England (985)
• Scotland (824)
• Ireland (750)
• Great Britain (275)
• Germany (60)
• Canada (32)

from the New York Passengers List

Ancestry computes the number of Grant families who immigrated to the United States thru New York for the period, 1851 - 1891. These Grant families came after my direct ancestors who were living in Massachusetts and Rhode Island by the mid-17th century.

 Grant immigration information, 1851- 1891

In general, the following chart shows that Grants tended to live as long as the general public for the years tracked by the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), 1940 - 2000. It is interesting how life expectancy slowly increased in the post-war period,  increased steeply after 1960, and leveled off for the next 40 years. Ancestry says "An unusually short lifespan might indicate that your ancestors lived in harsh conditions. A short lifespan might also indicate health problems that were once prevalent in your family." I think there are too many Grant families to detect any meaning from this chart.

Average Life expectancy for persons with the Grant surname

Family Occupations from the 1880 US census data-

Families with the Grant surname are over-represented with respect to the general public in farming occupations in 1880. This is probably due to the many people of the Grant surname in the mostly rural southern states of Georgia and South Carolina, as well as the mostly rural state of Maine. By 1880, most of my Grant ancestors had moved from farming and were working as spinners in the Rhode Island mill towns.

Ancestry.com has a large index for Civil War soldiers. From its Civil War Service Records index, there were 2845 men with the Grant surname in the Civil War. Twice as many served in the Union Army as the Confederate Army - the numbers were 1881 for the Union and 964 for the Confederates. All of my known Grant ancestor Civil War soldiers were in the Union Army. This is not surprising since they all came from Rhode Island and Massachusetts!

And lastly, Ancestry maintains the message boards on Rootsweb. There are 34 messages on 2347 threads. Some might have been posted by me way back when I first started looking into my family history about the year 2000. Now social media is used much more for querying about ancestors.

All in all, this was an interesting project. I think I need to do it also soon for my maternal  line of Veith. I suspect there will be far fewer individuals with that surname, and possibly more useful information can be gleamed.

Thanks Randy for a fun project!.

Harwich, MA World War I & World War II Memorial

In honor of Veteran's Day 2013 -

There is a rock with a memorial plaque in Doane Park in Harwich Port, Massachusetts. This small park lies in between Main Street (Route 28) and Lower County Road, and is across the street from the Harwich Port Post Office.

In Memory of the Men of

Harwich

Who Made the Supreme Sacrifice

                         World War I                                                         World War II

                    Valmer H Bassett                                                    Raymond A Arsenault

                    Clarence L Berry                                                     Donald H Barrett

                    J Wilton Berry                                                         George R Dreher

                    Earle M Chase                                                        Watson B Eldredge, Jr

                    Leslie M Clark                                                         Robert H Megathlin

                    Scott C Nickerson                                                    Robert V Paine

                    Josiah D Nickerson                                                  Clarence C Peters

                                                              Dedicated 1948

Rescued Photo #2 - Eliza Turner Savage

When I was in Vermont last September, I spent an hour or so browsing at the Antique Center at Camelot Village in Bennington, VT. This shop is huge and is composed of many individual 'stalls' where all kinds of antiques are sold. I could have spent days in this place, and hope to go back on my next visit.

I spent most of my time there looking thru old photos and was amazed at how many of them had identification written on the back. If only all my old family photos were identified! I decided to buy a few that caught my eye and see if I could identify the families of the individuals, and possibly to locate a living descendant who would like to have these photos. Please contact me if you are related to these people and would like the original photo.

Eliza Turner Savage

back of Eliza Turner Savage photo

This photo is approximately 4 1/4" by 2 1/2" and is identified as Eliza Turner Savage. The location of the photographer is Waukesha, Wisconsin. I believe I may have found Eliza in the Wisconsin Deaths and Burials index on FamilySearch.org. (citation at bottom of page). According to the transcribed information in the Index, Eliza was born 11 May 1802 in Salem, Washington County, New York. Her father is listed as James Turner. Eliza died in Wisconsin at age 81 on 20 May 1883 and the burial place is noted as Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The original death record should be examined to confirm this information.

The 1860 U.S. Federal census shows John A Savage (age 60) and Eliza Savage (age 54) living in the city of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Living in the same household are John A. Savage, age 28, Eliza Savage, age 24, Edward Savage, age 18, and William Savage, age 16. All of these people were born in New York. It appears the family was in western New York at the time of the 1850 census - they are enumerated in Oswegatchie, Saint Lawrence County. Two additional probable children are listed with the family that were not there in the 1860 listing: Mary Savage, age 25 and Harriet Savage, age 12.

There is a public family tree on Ancestry.com that seems to include this person. Eliza is identified in this tree as Elizabeth Turner born 11 May 1802 in Lisbon, New York to James Turner and Eleanor Hunsdon.. Lisbon is on the other side of New York state, but the date is the same. The husband is identified as John Adams Savage who was born 9 Oct 1800 in Salem, New York and died 13 December 1864 in Wisconsin. His parents were Abraham Savage and Mary Adams.What is pretty exciting is that the owner of the tree has a photo of John Adams Savage already posted but none for wife Elizabeth/Eliza. I have sent an email to the owner of the tree and hope that I can return this photograph to a descendant!

_______________________
"Wisconsin, Deaths and Burials, 1835-1968," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XL6V-JLC : accessed 03 Mar 2013), Eliza Turner Savage, 11 May 1802.

1860 U.S. Census, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Waukesha city, page # 10, sheet 20, family 76, John A Savage household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 2 March 2012), citing National Archives microfilm publication M653, roll 1436.

1850 U.S. Census, Saint Lawrence County, New York, population schedule, Oswegatchie, page 100A, family 293, John A Savage household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 2 March 2012), citing National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 589.

One thing I learned today at GRIP

I am attending the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) this week and am taking the Military Records: From Cradle to Grave course taught by Craig Scott. I've been learning about the nuances of what one can find out from muster and pension records as well as gaining some much needed basics in military history and military organization. Craig has asked us to bring in photos or records for group examinations and one of the photos we examined today is of my grandfather, Harold Theodore Veith,  in his World War I uniform.

Harold Theodore Veith
1891 - 1978

I had known that Grandpa had served in the Navy during World War I and knew that he never went to sea but was stationed near to where he had been living in Hoboken, New Jersey. However I knew none of the details of his service, not even his rank or rating. 

From the above photo, we were able to identify what the rank and rating were for Harold from the winter uniform he was wearing in this portrait. The insignia on his left arm signifies that his military rating was 'shop-keeper' (confirmed by the keys under the eagle in the patch), and that the three chevrons meant that he was a first class petty officer. Craig mentioned that the troops that embarked for Europe left from the port of Hoboken, and I imagine my grandfather was kept busy in his post there.

detail of insignia

Oh, and I also learned that a hat or cap is called a 'cover' in Navy speak!

 Options

My Dad - August 1990

In honor of my dad, Warren Westcott Grant, 1922 - 2005, on Father's Day.

Warren W Grant at "Tall Pines"

Miss you, Dad!

What does a mule spinner do?

Many people are familiar with how the New England mill towns got their start due to the Industrial Revolution. The early mills were built where there was water power from rivers and diverted channels  - later mills were powered by steam. The first mill in New England was built in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island by Samuel Slater, who had learned the mechanized spinning process in England. Mills were quickly added along rivers in much of New England - particularly in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, southern New Hampshire and Maine - and mechanization of yarn manufacture was quickly followed by the production of whole cloth in the mills. Early on in Rhode Island, mill owners built whole villages around the mill and housed entire families who worked together in the mills. In contrast, the mills first formed in Waltham, MA and later in Lowell, MA and along the Merrimack River relied on young women recruited from New England farms as their labor source.

Slater Mill Complex, Pawtucket, Rhode Island

By the 1920s, the heyday of the New England mills was over and textile production went into a decline as textile manufacturing moved out of the region. However, the mechanized production of yarn and cloth had radically changed New England - prior to the textile mills, yarn was spun on individual spinning wheels and cloth was made on small looms, usually within family units. The invention of  mechanized spinning and weaving created an entire new industry which radically transformed a rural mostly farm-based economy into centers of manufacturing and trade.

In my family tree, there are many of my ancestors who moved from farms in both Bristol County RI and Bristol County MA to the early mill towns surrounding the Blackstone River in Rhode Island in the early 1800s. Succeeding generations worked in the mills and related industries until the mill closures in the early 20th century. Their job titles are often machinist or operative, and sometimes 'mule spinner'. A few were even listed as 'overseer' which generally meant they had managerial or supervisory roles in the mills.

The subject of my last blog post, was Ira W Grant. His father, Sylvester Grant, Jr was employed in the mills in Fall River by 1844 when Ira was born and in Smithfield RI where he was enumerated in  the 1850 Federal census. In both documents, Sylvester's occupation was listed as 'mule-spinner'. So what was a mule-spinner?

Mule spinner creating cotton thread. Museum of Work and Culture. Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
 Photograph by George P. Landow, October 2004. 
http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/technology/textiles/t2.html

Specifically, mule spinners operate the spinning machinery that create yarn of any kind - in early Rhode Island mills, it was cotton thread. Mule spinners worked a dangerous job and injuries were common, particularly among the young boys who worked in tandem with the adult men. The machinery was heavy and the mules (spinning machinery) moved quickly back and forth on tracks. Repairs to broken threads, and spool changes, were done on moving machinery. Another hazard was a particular type of cancer caused by the lubricating oil used by mule spinners in cotton yarn production.

For an interesting interview of the life of a mule spinner in an 1883 Fall River, MA textile factory see the account at History Matters. It references the testimony of mill-worker Thomas O'Donnell and was originally published in:
 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Report on the Relations Between Labor and Capital, Vol. 3 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885), 451–457.