Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My sheepfarming great great great grandfather Lorenzo Grow

Lorenzo and Harriet (Currier) Grow

     parents of Mary Frances (Grow) Newell
          mother of Samuel Arthur Newell
               father of Arthur William, Harold Francis and George
                    father of Lois Agnes (Newell) Lee -- my mother

One of my most interesting finds was my 3x great grandparents Grow. I love sheep, want to live in New England and specifically Maine...
Lorenzo Grow was born in Hartland, Windsor County, Vermont*, on March 11, 1806. His parents were Samuel and Jerusha (Stowell) Grow. Samuel Grow was a native of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Jerusha Stowell was from Pomfret, Connecticut. Samuel and Jerusha’s ancestors were owners of large tracts of land and were of English origin.

Lorenzo Grow was the third of a family of seven children. He was educated at the common schools of Vermont and Maine. When just a boy, he worked in a saw-mill at Queechy Falls, Vermont and later went to Penobscot County, Maine where he engaged in the lumber business which he continued for eight years. Then he went to farming and sheep-raising in Kennebec County, continuing for fifteen years.

Lorenzo married Miss Harriet Felker Currier, of Windsor, Kennebec County, Maine on December 8, 1838. One record indicates December 5th, marrying in Oldtown, Penobscot Co., Maine. Harriet was born May 13, 1820. She was the daughter of Charles and Mary (Baker) Currier, both of Maine. According to an 1860 census, the Grows lived in China, Kennebec Co., Maine.

In 1865, when Lorenzo was 59, the Grows moved to Monona County, Iowa, and bought a quarter-section of land in Lincoln Township as well as town property in Onawa City. San Bernardino and Riverside Counties Biographies indicates that Lorenzo Grow “took up 160 acres of school land, improved a good property and became a well-to-do farmer.” Imagine moving across the country to establish a farm when one is sixty years old, and the car has not yet been invented!

Further stories centered upon Lorenzo’s son Walter indicate that the Indians were still to be found in large numbers in Iowa. Mr. Grow farmed in Iowa until 1883 when at the ate of 77, he left the farm in charge of his son, Wallace D. Grow, and came to California to "spend the evening of his life with the wife of his youth."
Lorenzo died 10 July 1890 in Highland, San Bernardino, California, at the age of 84. In 1920, according to a census, his widow Harriet lived with her daughter Mary Frances (married then to William E Burgess) in Fullerton City, Orange Co., California. She was 89 years old, and three of her five children were still living.

Lorenzo and Harriet had five children.
1. The oldest son, Charles Currier Grow (b ~1841), entered the army in the Thirty-second Regiment Maine Volunteers, was in Banks’ Expedition and was killed in the battle of Cane Crossing. He was First Lieutnant at the time of his death. A biographical sketch of his younger brother Walter cites: “Charles Currier Grow enlisted in the Union service during the Civil War, and while fighting with the forces under General Banks met his death in the battle of Sugar Loaf Mountain.” An 1860 census, China, Kennebeck Co., Maine, lists him as a school teacher. ??1920 census, Nebraska Charles J Grow, could this be Charles’ son?

2. The second son is Samuel Lorenzo (b Feb 1843). The San Bernardino and Riverside Counties Biography indicates that S.L. Grow was engaged in the livestock business as a shipper and dealer. He made several trips to Sacramento and San Francisco to ship cattle. He induced his younger brother Walter to come to the Golden State. A 1900 census lists Samuel L Grow as living in Los Angeles, California. He was 57y, his wife Etta was 49y. His daughter Gladys was 15y. The 1900 census lists Harriet as living with him at that time. She was 80y. Another census in 1900 lists his occupation as with a brewery. He and his wife Etta (b Sep 1850) had been married 33 years. They had 9 children, 7 of which were living. Gladys (Apr 1883, b California).
Mother Harriet, born May 1820, five children born and four still living (at the time of the census).

3. The third child was Mary Frances who married Arthur Newell of LaGrange, Illinois. Mary Frances was born 23 Oct 1846 in Vassalboro, Kennebec Co., Maine. An 1860 census at age 14 shows she was living in China, Kennebec Co., Maine. Mary Frances had four children, two daughters and a son by her first husband and a daughter with her second husband.

On 24 May 1868, Mary Frances married Arthur William Newell, in Lincoln, Tama Co., Iowa. She was 21 years old. In 1870, they lived in Doublas, Nebraska according to an 1870 census. In 1880, she and Arthur were living in Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois. Mary and Arthur had three children, “Nellie,” Samuel and “Mamie.” Arthur died, presumably of tuberculosis, in 1889. Children listed below:

• “Nellie” Ellen Newell, born 25 March 1869 in Nebraska. Also listed as Nellie Eliza and Ellen E (1870 census). She died in Orange Co., California 2 Nov 1949. Her address, according to her brother Samuel Newell’s address book was Route 4, Box 660, Santa Ana, California. Nellie married Frederick M Baldwin, their daughter Eunice Mayadelle Baldwin. Eunice married John Wiliam McIntosh and had eight children. Their names, in order of birth were Arthur Ray, John Baldwin, Charles Frederick, Nellie Matilda, Victoria "Tordie" Ann, Gladston(e) Whitfield, Eunice Mary, and Sarah Jean.

• Samuel Arthur Newell, born 1872. Samuel moved to Orlando, Florida by 1910 and died there in 1961. He married Harriet E Phillips, born in Canada to parents who were both born in New York. Samuel and Harriet had three sons, Arthur William b1898, Harold Francis b 1900, and George A. b 1904. In 1910, the census indicates they lived on Summerlin Avenue, Orlando, Florida. However, that is incorrect. They first lived in Winter Park, Florida, in 1903. In 1910, they were living in the 400 block on E Pine Street. By 1920, they were living at 624 E Pine Street. In 1930, Samuel’s occupation was listed as a bookkeeper with an auto storage company.

• Harriet “Hattie” May, also called “Mamie” Newell, born 13 August 1883, in Illinois and lived until 1964. Mamie married Cary W. Iler and also moved to California. They had twelve children. One, Myrtle died when she was just two years old. All others lived to adulthood!

1910 census: Richard Iler (father of Cary) (69y) born in Canada lived with them, as well as their children: N (Newell) Cary (4y), Arthur J (3y), Lois N (7/12y) Bishop, Iny Co., California.
1920 census: Cary Iler (51) was a house contractor, Hattie M (36), Newell Cary (14y) was an errand boy, Arthur (12y), Lois May (10y), Grace H (9y), Mary Katherine (7y), John Francis (5y), Elizabeth (1 8/12y)
1930 census: Cary W. Iler (62y), a carpenter listed as French Canadian, Hattie M (46y), married for 21 yrs, daughter Lois M (20y) was a law file clerk, Grace H (19y) was a stenographer, Mary C (17y) was a sales lady, John F (15y), Elizabeth (12y), Joseph P (10y), Benjamin W (7y), Ruth E (5y), Flo E (3 5/12y).

On 7 October, 1891, Mary Frances remarried to William E. Burgess in LaGrange, Cook Co., Illinois. William Burgess was nine years younger than Mary, and was born in Massachusetts as were both of his parents. When Mary was ~48 yrs old, they had a daughter,

• Eugenia “Jeanie” and “Jeannie” W. Burgess, born 1894, living until 1963. She married a C.G. or Clarence G. Koon, a police officer in 1930. A 1930 census, Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles County, Redondo lists her children as: Mary Eunice (16y, b Calif), Clarence E (13y, b Iowa), Lillian A (10y, b Iowa) and Joseph (2 9/12y, b Iowa).

Mary Frances resided in Fullerton, Orange Co., California in 1910 (census), at age 64, with her husband William Burgess. In 1920, he was a dairy farmer. She died at the age of 73 in Feb 1920. She’d lived at Gardena, Los Angeles, California and died (or was buried) at Riverside, Riverside Co., California.

4 & 5. Their fourth and fifth children, Walter Fremont and Wallace Dayton were twins, born in Maine on July 19, 1852. Lorenzo left the farm in Iowa in charge of his son, Wallace D Grow in 1883 when he and Harriet moved to California. Wallace died 16 Aug 1944 (in San Bernardino?).

Walter Fremont Grow was born in Maine, on July 19, 1852. When he was nine years old, his family moved to Monona County, Iowa. He moved to California in 1881. He married Carrie Ella Burroughs, a native of Iowa on 11 July 1880. She was born May 21, 1861 and died August 7, 1890. They had three children: Edna May (Mrs. Wm. E. Bromelow) of Highland; Ernest Prentiss who died at 3 months, and Laura Myrtle. Walter remarried 15 Dec 1900 to Caroline Lowrie Wilson. She was born 27 Aug 1852 in Pittsburg PA, the daughter of WilliamWork and Caroline (Lowrie) Wilson. They had two children: one who died an infant, and Walter Lowrie, born 4 June 1904.
According to the San Bernardino and Riverside Counties Biography, Walter moved to California and purchased ten acres of land at Highland. Then he sold that and purchased his home site, 86.71 acres, a Government claim, from a man named Bulger, a homesteader. The land was rocky and covered with wild brush. Walter planted an orchard and grew a vineyard of raisin grapes, delivering the raisins to Colton. He sold his dried deciduous fruits to buying travelers. He hired out his services to other settlers when he needed extra income, and developed an orchard of thirty-three acres which yielding oranges of “the best quality.” The ranch home had a view of the mountains and valleys. He married Miss Carrie E. Burroughs in Iowa in 1880. He died 19 Oct 1946 in San Bernardino.
Sources:

http://www.cagenweb.org/cpl/sumbios2.htm, History of the State of CA southern coast counties Page 2046, 26 Jan 2009

San Bernandino County Biographies http://www.calarchives4u.com/biographies/sanbernardino/sber-grow.htm 26 Jan 2009. SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 598-599  Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Photos found on ancestry.com, posted by nancyalexander21 for bromilo family tree, submitted by Ruth Hancock. **I need to ask Ruth if she can send me the photos because they are very small images.

San Bernandino and Riverside Counties Biographies, by John Brown, Jr. and James Boyd, p 1337-1339, digitalized p 412/619,

NOTES:
Lorenzo Grow
1860 census, China, Kennebec Co., Maine
*1870 census, Lincoln, Monona Co., Iowa, Maple Landing P.O., lists Lorenzo’s birthplace as NH.
1880 census, Lincoln, Monona Co., Iowa

Mary Frances (Grow) Newell Burgess historical records:
1860 census, China, Kennebec Co, Maine
1868, 24 May 1868, age 24, Lincoln, Tama Co, Iowa, marriage to Arthur W Newell
1870 census, Douglas, Nebraska, w/Arthur A. Newell
1880 census, Chicago, Cook Co, Illinois
1891, 7 Oct 1891, age 44, La Grange, Cook Co, Illinois
1910 census, Fullerton, Orange Co., CA, md. to William E Burgess. Dau “Winnie” (17y) w/ mother, Harriet F. Grow (widow), 5 children born, 3 living.
1920 census, age 74, Westin Ave., Gardena, Los Angeles Co., California
1920 Feb, age 73 (??) death, Riverside, Riverside, California

Arthur William Newell’s name varies on censuses as does his occupation.
1860 Rockland, Knox Co., Maine census, while living with his parents Samuel J (46y) and Nancy D (36y), his name is listed as Nathaniel W (16y) and his occupation as an ornamentalist. His siblings are listed as followsw: Ellen E (12y), Milton (8y), Eben(ezer) P (4y), Effie F (1 y). Effie F Newell married Daniel Smiley, one of the brothers who founded Mohonk Mountain House in New York, a beautiful lodge still operating to this day.
1870 Douglas, Nebraska, Arthur A. Newell, farm laborer, one child: Ellen E.
1880 Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois, June. N.W. or A.W., portrait painter, children Nellie A and Samuel; all
listed as lodgers.

Nellie and Samuel are listed on TWO separate 1880 censuses:
1 Jun 1880, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois as living with their parents N.W. and Mary F. Newell
15 Jun 1880, Lincoln, Monoa, Iowa, living with grandparents Lorenzo and Harriet.

Friday, March 12, 2010

What's in a name? Mindwell, Thankful, Experience and Deliverance

My ancestor "Deacon" James Trowbridge* married twice and had seven children by each wife named Margaret. His parents and two elder brothers, Thomas and William, were born in Taunton, England, and he was the first of the Trowbridges born here in America. I focused on James because his children's names were fascinating to me. First, the family history:

Thomas3 TROWBRIDGE (Edmund2, John1) was born in England between 1598 and 1610. The Trowbridges likely came from Wiltshire County, England. The stained glass window of the chancel of St James' Church in Taunton has arms identical to the Wiltshire Trowbridge arms. [Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs, Middlesex County, Mass, Vol 1, by Wm Richard Cutter, pages 279-80.]  Thomas, his wife Elizabeth and their two sons Thomas Jr (b 1632) and William (b1634) had all been born in Taunton, England. Elizabeth's parents were John Marshall and Alice Bevys.

The Trowbridges settled in Dorcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony by 1636. Thomas and his wife Elizabeth, joined the church in Dorcester in 1636, and their son James (my ancestor), was born later that year, and baptised in 1938. Thomas drew a lot of land 2 Jan 1637 and various times after that. He removed to New Haven by 1639. Thomas was in the foreign shipping business and he continued making voyages between the Barbados and England.

Thomas was rated as one of the richest men of the colony as he paid taxes on five hundred pounds. In 1641, the Trowbridges moved to New Haven. The celebrated pedagogue, Mr Cheever, received payment for teaching Trowbridge's children in 1644. That same year, Thomas traveled to England, leaving all of his property in charge of Henry Gibbons who was unfaithful to his trust in caring for the Trowbridge sons. I suspect that Elizabeth must have died as Sgt Thomas Jeffries took Thomas' sons into his own family. Thomas wrote frequently from England for Gibbons to disberse funds, but it wasn't until after Thomas' death, 7 Feb 1672/3 in Taunton, England, that Gibbons attempted to settle the estate.

By the age of 21, ~1657, James returned to Dorchester to occupy the land his father owned. In 1664, he removed to Cambridge Village, now Newton, Massachusetts.

On July 11, 1664, James, his wife Margaret, Thomas Wiswan, and Goodman Kindwright were dismissed by the Dorchester Church to the church gathered at Cambridge Village. James was elected deacon to succeed his father-in-law in 1674 and held the office forty-two consecuitve years. In 1674, he bought an 85 acre farm from Deputy Governor Danforth. It had a house and other buildings. By the seventh generation, this land had stayed in the family and was owned by Nathan Trowbridge. James was selectman on the very first board, elected 27 Aug 1679. He was clerk of writs 1692-3, lietuenant of the military company, and deputy to the general court from 1700-1703. [ Cutter, p 280]

James m (1) Margaret Atherton, daughter of Maj Gen Humphrey Atherton. She died 17 Jun 1672 in Newton, MA Their children were:
     i. Elizabeth, b 1660
     ii. Mindwell, b 1662
     iii. John, b 1664
     iv. Margaret, b 1667, m Ebenezer STONE, 1686. [Stone is another lineage in my tree.]
     v. Thankful, b 1667
     vi. Mary, b 1670
     vii. Hannah, b 15 Jun 1672, her mother Margaret died two days later.

James married (2) Margaret Jackson* on 30 Jan 1673/4 in Newton, Middlesex, MA. She was the daughter of Deacon John Jackson* and Margaret. Their children were:
     viii. Experience, b 1675
     ix. Thomas, b 1677
     x.  Deliverance, b 1679
     xi. James*, b 1682 my ancestor, married Hannah Bacon* on 6 Jan 1708/9
     xii. William, b 1684
     xiii. Abigail, b 1687
     xiv. Caleb, b 1692

What's in a name? James had seven children by each Margaret! The names that strike me as most interesting are Mindwell, Thankful (by Margaret #1), and  Experience, and Deliverance (by Margaret #2). The other names are somewhat typical, named after an ancestor, or a person in the Bible. But what is up with these names?! It must've been James who was masterminding these names as the tradition continued with his second Margaret.

Was Elizabeth so headstrong that he said we need to name our next child Mindwell in hopes she'll be more obedient? Fifth child, he has a fourth daughter, was he remembering to be Thankful for all his blessings, even if he just had mostly daughters?  Were they thankful that their children were healthy? Surviving? James and Margaret (Atherton) have their seventh child, whom they name Hannah. Hannah means grace. She is born on 15 Jun 1672 and two days later Margaret dies. Her children's ages? Infant, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. I can't imagine what that might have been like for her. Did she have a sense she wouldn't survive childbirth?

James married again, to another Margaret, within six to eighteen months. The dates I found for marriage were 30 Jan 1673 or 1674. I'd almost presume it was 1673, since he probably needed help with the seven young children. She was probably about ten years younger than the earlier Margaret. I wonder how the children responded to her. Did Elizabeth resent her stepmother? Or was she relieved that she didn't have to mind her younger siblings? #2 Margaret's first child is Experience, b 1 Nov 1675. Why Experience?! Was this because having children was a great experience?! And four years later, another girl, born 31 Dec 1679, and she is named Deliverance. Were they telling a story with some of their daughters' names? If you Mindwell, you are always Thankful, and you will Experience Deliverance in every area of your life. Maybe that's it. Maybe not.

I saw another name Relief somewhere, but apparently not in this group. I think I would've named the fourteenth child Relief. But it was a boy, and they named him Caleb, b 7 Nov 1692. Caleb was one of two courageous Israelites who believed God would deliver as promised. Caleb and Joshua were the only of their generation that made it to the Promised Land.

James died 22 May 1717 at 71 yrs. His youngest child, Caleb was 25. His oldest child, Elizabeth was 57. His children's ages ranged 32 years! #2 Margaret died 16 Sep 1727 at 78 yrs of age.

I'm going to check out Colonial naming practices next, but I have to believe there was some creative rendering going on with James and his Margarets, don't you?

Interesting tidbits:
http://preachersfiles.com/caleb-a-different-spirit/  More on the name Caleb
Newton, Massachusetts is the home of The American Jewish Historical Society.