James Webster Childs, Memorial

In my April 1, 2013 Blog entry entitled:  "A 19th Century Adoption,"  I talked about James Webster Childs (1826-1882) and his wife, Lucy A. Hubbard (1825-1902), and the adoption of my great-grandfather, Carlos Webster Childs (1856-1912). The following is an article about J. Webster's death, taken from Portrait and Biographical Album of Washtenaw County, Michigan, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of the Presidents of the United States. Chicago, Biographical Publishing Co., 1891, on the death of the Hon. James Webster Childs. This is transcribed verbatim.

     Death loves a shining mark, and in taking away the gentleman whose name is at the head of this sketch the State has been deprived of a man who had acquired a wide reputation, not only for mental acumen in commercial affairs and business life, but as statesman and legislator, having formerly represented the Fourth District in the House and State Senate for eight terms. He was a native of New Hampshire and was born June 16, 1826, being a son of Josiah and Abigail Childs, natives of New Hampshire. The young man grew up in his native State and early in life conceived the idea of becoming an educator. He had taken the preparatory course for college, confidently expecting to enter one of the institutions of the East, when, owing to ill health, he was compelled to give up the idea, a severe blow to him in more respects than one.

     Although disappointed in his university career, our subject received a very good education, and while engaged in teaching he pursued a course of study, and doubtless acquired as much as do many young men in a university course. To the other branches which he taught he added penmanship, in which he was particularly proficient and from the income derived in this way he was enabled to pursue his own studies under very good conditions. A man of wide reading, thoughtful and of excellent judgment and discrimination, he talked well on every subject and was gifted as an orator, so that as time passed on at every public occasion when it was desired that party principles should be explained to the public, Mr. Childs was selected by common consent, as being the best and most forcible speaker, and with the greatest ability to convince the general mind.

     August 30, 1848, the original of our sketch was married in New Hampshire, to Miss Lucy A. Hubbard, who was a native of the same State with himself and who was born September 13, 1825, in Claremont, N.H. She was a daughter of Solomon and Amarilla (Cowles) Hubbard. Her father was a native of Connecticut and her mother of New Hampshire. She was educated at the Kimball Union Academy, of Meridan, N.H. and adds the charm of a well stored mind to her personal attractions.

     After their marriage, in 1848, Senator Childs and his wife emigrated to Michigan and settled on the farm where his widow now resides. It must have been a great trial to the gentlewoman to leave her early home of culture and refinement and to take up new lines [lives] in a pioneer country. However, together they bravely resolved to make the best of the matter and the young husband first purchased eighty acres of land which was partially improved, although the surrounding country was almost entirely virgin forest, for they were among the early pioneers of Augusta Township. Mr. Childs added at various times to his original purchase, until he was the owner of about four hundred acres of as fine land as there is in the county, at the time of his death. He devoted his attention to general farming, gaining expensively in stock, which he was most successful in raising. They also carried on a most profitable dairy business for years, and, indeed, the handsome fortune that the couple accumulated was only acquired by constant industry. Mr. Childs was full of energy and perseverance until this last, and was an excellent manager. He soon became known as a man of unswerving integrity and of fine business qualifications. He was early elected Supervisor of Augusta Township and served as School Superintendent, in which work he was particularly interested, as his early enthusiasm for educational work never left him.

     In 1869 Gov. Baldwin appointed our subject as a member of the Board of the Michigan Agricultural College; he was subsequently twice reappointed, holding the position at the time of his death. He was President of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Trade Association for twelve years.

     Previous to our subject's election as Senator he served for two years in the Lower House of the State Legislature and during that term his ability was so conclusively tested and his integrity as a man and a representative of the people was so satisfactory that he was subsequently elected State Senator, which position he filled for six consecutive years, acting in such a way as to reflect the greatest credit upon his constituents as well as upon himself. A fervent Republican in his political principles, he was a stronghold of that party in his section and accomplished some of the best work done in that direction in the vicinity that he represented. He had been spoken of as Governor of the State by his political friends, but positively declined to consider such a candidacy. In these days of party corruption a man who is noted for his conscientiousness in State affairs in to rare a thing as to attract general attention. The strongest hold that our subject had upon his constituency was his wide reputation for political honesty. He was impervious to bribes.

     In private life Senator Childs was simple and unassuming. He and his wife were members of the Congregational Church and both active in Sunday-school work. The cause of temperance was also one in which Mr. Childs was an ardent supporter. A man whose geniality extended to all classes of society, he was ever popular, and at his death there was general mourning, and those who knew him most intimately and were acquainted with his frailties as well as his strong points loved him best. He was an enterprising citizen and a successful business man, as the fine estate which he left attends. His widow now occupies the farm, which comprises two hundred and ten acres. Senator Childs had a State reputation as a temperance worker and was the first President of the Legislative Temperance Society, at Lansing, this State. He was a brother of the Hon. Aaron Childs (deceased) and Josiah Childs, the latter being among the octogenarian and honorable pioneers of Washtenaw County. The decease of Senator Childs took place November 8, 1882. The cortege that followed him to his last resting place comprised many of the most eminent men in the State, who were proud to claim our subject as a friend and associate.                                            THE END

A few notes: 

      - I think the writers of these biographies must have been paid by the word!

      - Note that in 1891, when this book was published, they state - "in these days of political corruption." As they say - nothing new under the sun.

      - Note he was in the Temperance Society - some things do change!

      - He died owning two hundred plus acres. J. Webster was survived by his wife and  son, Carlos W. and daughter, Mary Ann. Carlos had two daughters (Edna Ella and Frances Hazelton) and Mary Ann Childs White (I have written about her family in this Blog also), had six daughters. No one in either family owns any land in Augusta Township today. I may actually have his will in my files - an article for another day.

      -  J. Webster was only 56 when he died of Consumption (an old term for TB).

      - His brothers, Aaron and Josiah are also written about in the above publication.

There was also a memorial about J. Webster in American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-Made Men with Portrait Illustrations on Steel, Vol. I-II. There was an extensive eulogy written in Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan. Together with Reports of County, Town, and District Pioneer Societies, Vol. VI, Lansing, Mich. W.S. George & Co., State Printers & Binders, 1884. This one included the notice of his funeral from the Ypsilanti Commercial, November 18, 1882, and included remarks by Andrew Campbell (who happens to be a cousin from my Muir/McDougall family and also early settlers in Augusta Township); William Campbell (same as Andrew) who states "I will not call your attention to his gifts as a statesman, except to say that he was far better fitted for President of the United States than the one who now occupies the chair" - (that would be Chester A. Arthur); C. H. Richmond (not sure who this is but I see that same name connected with St. Andrews Church in Ann Arbor and  the Regents of the University of Michigan); and Chief Justice T. M. Cooley (the 25th Justice and a Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, between 1864 and 1885). J. Webster is also written about in the Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, Vol. VI, Lansing, Mich. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers, 1907, pg. 457.

Civil War letter with story for children back home

     In December 2012, on this blog, I transcribed two letters written by distant family members during the Civil War. Today, I will share another. This letter was forwarded to me by a lovely woman who was a neighbor of a Childs family member (my grandmother was a Childs  - Edna Ella Childs Beckington). Mary A. Childs White, was Edna's father's sister. Mary A. (some say Ann and some say Alice), married A. Gates White and lived in Garden Prairie, Boone County, Illinois. I wrote about them in February of this year. This letter - because of the date, must have been written by Mary A's husband, Gates', father - Amos Gates White, also called Gates.  He was born in 1831, and died in 1868. His wife was Catherine Cox (1822-1866). They both died in New Gascony, Jefferson County, Arkansas, but are buried in Garden Prairie, Illinois. They would have had daughters, Neenah and Lelia, and son Aurelius Gates (A. Gates) at the time of this letter. 

     This letter was written by Gates and mailed to his family in Garden Prairie.  It is dated September 12, 1864 and he is in Vicksburg, Mississippi. It is a story for Catherine to read to the children:

 

                     ”A Story for Mother to read to the children"

     Very many hundred years ago in a country called Germany which lies many thousand miles from here away over the Atlantic Ocean, there lived a King and Queen who had one child, a little daughter of which they were very fond indeed and their greatest delight was in studying how they might add to the happiness of their little girl. Now it came to pass that when little Bertha was a year old, her parents wishing to celebrate her first birthday in a joyful manner made a great feast to which they invited all the lords and ladies in the land that they might rejoice with the King and Queen. Now there dwelt in this Kingdom thirteen wise women and the King wished to invite them all to the feast, but unfortunately they could not attend the feast unless their food could be served to them on plates of gold with golden knives & forks and golden cups from which to drink their wine. Now the King had only twelve of the golden dishes so he could invite only 12 of the wise women to sit at his table, and the thirteenth woman was very angry because she too was not invited to eat with the King.

     When the appointed day came around, the guests all sat down to dinner and when they had finished eating, each of the wise women began to wish good wishes for Bertha, the little princess. One wished that she might be very beautiful. The second that she might always be happy, another that she be very rich and very kind and good and so on until eleven of the wise women had made their wishes. When the woman who had not been invited to sit down with the rest, burst into the rooms and out of revenge for the slight she had suffered, wished that the princess might die when she was sixteen years old and that her death might be caused by falling on a spindle, whereupon the twelfth wise woman who still sat at the table wished that her death might be changed into a hundred years sleep, and then the company separated and went to their own homes.

     But the King remembering the wish of the angry woman and for years that it might come to pass caused all the spindles in his Kingdom to be collected and destroyed, and then thought that he had nothing to fear. But there was one poor woman who lived in a little cottage near the palace of the King who hid her spindle during the search and used secretly to spin in her cottage whenever she thought no one would see her. In the meantime the princess grew up tall and beautiful and of an angelic disposition so that everyone loved her and praised her both for her beauty and goodness.

     One day when she was about sixteen years old her father and mother went on a visit to a neighboring prince and Bertha, white rambling about the fields happened to enter the cottage where the poor woman was spinning and accidentally fell upon the spindle and was killed. The servants carried her home and placed her on her bed where she looked as though she were asleep, and when the King and Queen came home they too went to sleep and then the servants too fell asleep. The chamber maid with her broom in her hand, the butler with his keys in his fingers as he was going to the cellar for wine, the groom as he was cleaning the horses in the stall, and the cook dropped asleep too with one hand stretched out to box the ears off the scullion who had neglected to turn the spit on which the meat was roasting for dinner. The scullion fell asleep too with his hand upon the spit, in fact all fell asleep even to the flies upon the wall and the dogs in the yard and the horses in the stable. Even the fire went to sleep with the blaze still around the kettle and the water ceased to boil and the dinner ceased to cook, and a hedge of large solid trees grew up all around the palace so that no one could enter even into the garden where there plants and vegetables as well as the people were all asleep. And here I much leave the story of the sleeping princess for the present but some time I will write you an account of their waking after the hundred years had expired. Dear C, No letters from you, get no boat for four days hope to get one soon.        Gates

I am sure most of us are familiar with this story - so we know the ending!  I have added some punctuation to make it a little easier to read. I also looked Scullion up as I thought maybe he was spelling it wrong - he was not:

                     Scullion, male counterpart to Scullery Maid,

                     servant who performed menial kitchen jobs

                     (washing, cleaning, etc.) in large households

                     during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

New Chapman information - cont. from January 17, 2014 post

Among the many projects I am working on, I have continued to research John Chapman and his family. Please reread the post from January 17 of this year to refresh your memory.

I have concluded a couple of things:

1) I do think there is a valid argument for Ira - a last child, born about 1800-1801, to be the 11th child of John Chapman. Not only did each of the eight children (land records found so far) selling parcels of land that were bequeathed to them from "their honored father" John Chapman of New Marlborough state just that, but they all indicated they were selling their "11th share." That certainly gives the impression there were probably 11 children.

Ira, in the Berkshire County Probate office, is noted in December, 1814, as a minor and is bonded to Isaac Turner, as his guardian. John Chapman died in September 1814. Ira would have been only 14 at the time and in need of a guardian. His mother, Dorcas, died in 1814 also.

Ira appears in New Marlborough in the 1840 census with a possible two daughters and a wife. In the 1850 census, New Marlborough, he is called a widow and has one daughter, Ellen, living with him. I do not find him in the 1860 census. In the State of Massachusetts 1865 census, he is living with the Hastings Benson family in New Marlborough. More research on this family needs to be done - could the wife of Hastings, Lidelin (?), be his daughter? When Ira dies in 1868, the records list his father as John Chapman, but no mother is named.

With these above facts, I think a case can be made for Ira being a child of John Chapman.

As far as John Chapman being a son of Peletiah Chapman and from Sharon - that has finally been verified by a land record found in Sharon, Litchfield County, CT. John is selling the land he inherited from his father Peletiah, to his brother, William. It is all fitting together nicely.

Now, to get this all written and possibly published. I have started, but it is slow going. Trying to decide exactly how I am going to use this and what to include, how to organize it, etc., is causing me FITS!

Journaling

A few months ago, I attended a talk by Duane Roen, Professor at Arizona State University. Dr. Roen's current titles are: Assistant Vice Provost for University Academic Success Programs, Interim Dean, University College, and Interim Director, School of Letters and Sciences.

The talk given by Dr. Roen at West Valley Genealogical Society, Sun City, AZ, was titled: "Writing Family History: A Gift for Generations to Come." 

As background, he and his wife have been journaling since they married. Sometimes it is only 15 minutes a night, sometimes they both add to the journal, or sometimes just one of them. They never say anything negative about anyone. It is mostly about family, their daily routines, thoughts and observations. Dr. Roen encourages everyone to consider journaling. What a gift to your children!

One of the exercises we did during his presentation, was filling in 'frameworks' that he and others use to write about someone close. He shared one he had written about his mother, as an example. The following format was used:

A Biographical/Autobiographical Poem:

Line 1: (First name)

Line 2: (Several traits of this person)

Line 3: (Relationship to someone else)

Line 4: Who loves (several people or things)

Line 5: Who feels

Line 6: Who needs

Line 7: Who fears

Line 8: Who gives

Line 9: Who would like to see

Line 10: Resident of

Line 11: (Last name)

There are other possibilities such as: 'A Memorable Family Place', 'A Memorable Family Member' and 'A Memorable Family Event'.

I followed the above Biographical Poem and wrote about my mother, Margaret Beckington McDougall. Here is what I wrote:

Margaret Edna,

English and Irish ancestry, many in America since the 1600s;

Daughter of Garth and Edna Childs Beckington, wife of Ken;

who loved her children, learned to drive at age 38;

who died too young, from a preventable disease;

who loved to try new activities such as bowling, golf, and travel;

who made sure her three daughters were independent;

who would be proud of her grand and great-grandchildren;

who always wished for more; could keep a secret;

spent all her life in Washtenaw County, Michigan;

Beckington McDougall

I would love to have family and friends try this exercise. Use any family member or close friend. If you want, I will publish them in the future, with your permission. I think this would be a fun exercise for everyone to try. And, please, consider journaling about your life for those who come after you.

Finding a family for old pictures

I have written about my maternal grandparents previously on this blog. Garth Beckington was born in Spring (Garden Prairie), Boone County, Illinois and Edna Ella Childs was born in Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan. They met when Edna was visiting her aunt and uncle, A. Gates and Mary A. Childs White, who lived near Garth's family. Garth and Edna corresponded after she returned home, and married nine months later, on February 28, 1906. They married in Ypsilanti, but spent the next 3-4 years in Garden Prairie, Illinois. 

My grandmother became good friends with Julia Loveridge Kleber. Julia and her husband, Charles, lived in Garden Prairie and also were newly married. Charles and Julia would eventually have five children, Lawrence, Ada, Norman, Elizabeth, and Raymond. While working on another project, I came across two postcard pictures that Julia had send to Edna after Edna and Garth returned to Washtenaw County, where they spent the rest of their lives.

The first photograph is of Julia and her first child, Lawrence, and is dated January 18, 1909:

The second photograph is of Julia and her first two children, Lawrence and Ada. There is no date:

I decided it was time to put these photographs in the hands of the Kleber family. After spending some time doing research on this family, I sent a message to the Boone County mailing list. I received an answer almost immediately from someone who went to high school with a grandchild of Julia and Charles Kleber. He gave me an email that he hoped would still work for this person. It did! I scanned the pictures, but sent the originals to him. He was very excited to receive them and said they were the only pictures he had of his grandmother. He is in the process of sharing them with other family members! How exciting is that?

I also heard from a man I had corresponded with in the past from Boone County. He still lives in the Garden Prairie area and is connected with the Boone County Historical Society. I sent him copies of the scanned pictures and he is going to pass them on to the Society. Mission accomplished!!   

Now - who is this couple? This picture was taken by photographer, E. J. Buss, in Genoa, Illinois.