Civil War Research - Holyoke's Richard Wall

My research goal is always to personalize the individuals and gain an understanding of their lives beyond the bare dates and places found in the records. After developing a profile of this family for a talk at the Chicopee Library in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, I have 'adopted' them and want to know more.

The Wall family was enumerated in the 1860 U.S. census of Holyoke on June 29^th, 1860. The family consisted of Richard, age 32; Mary A, age 30; David, 24, Edmund, 20; Austin, 6; Caroline, 8. They lived in a multi-unit dwelling and had a personal estate estimated at $50. All of the adults were born in Ireland, and the children were born in Massachusetts. Richard’s occupation was listed as a “Card Grinder” and the younger men were noted: “Cotton Mill.” From the ages of the household, we can surmise that Mary and Richard were married with two children, living with two of Richard’s brothers. We then set out to see if this assumption was true.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts also took a census in 1855, giving another “snapshot” of this family. The Massachusetts census is available to view on line at familysearch.org. In 1855 Margaret Welsh, age 55, was a member of the household, as well as the others enumerated in 1860. Margaret’s age was noted with question marks, as were Richard and Mary at 25 and 26, respectively. Edmund and David are listed as two years apart in age instead of four years, as in 1860. Richard’s occupation was listed as “Laborer,” David as a “Picker Tender,” and Edmund as “Mill Hand.” Mary’s place of birth is listed as England. There could be several reasons that the data doesn’t match the 1860 census, the most obvious reason being that a different household member, or even a neighbor gave the information to the census taker inaccurately. Could Margaret be the mother-in-law?

Checking the 1865 Massachusetts census, the household had shrunk to include only Margaret Wall, age 65; Caroline, 13; Austin 10; and David, 33. Is Margaret a Wall or a Welsh? David’s occupation is “Laborer” and Margaret is a “Housekeeper.”

Some of the events that took place between 1860 and 1865 are illuminated in an application for a Civil War pension in the National Archives, available to view at Fold3.com. The minor children, Caroline and Austin, were represented by their Guardian, David Wall, in the application, dated 1864. It acknowledges the death of their mother in 1862 and states their birth dates. It confirms the death of Private Richard Wall of Company B of the 46^th Massachusetts Volunteers, who died on December 18, 1862 of wounds suffered the previous day at Goldsboro Bridge, Wayne County, NC. According to the National Parks Service database, only one man from the 46th died as a result of battle injuries, although 250 died overall. The campaign is also known as Foster’s Raid, an advance westward in North Carolina to disrupt railroad supply lines to Virginia. The 46^th had left Hampshire County in November.

The Vital Records of the towns of Chicopee and Holyoke verify the family’s births and deaths as stated in the pension file. First, the marriage of Richard and Mary is registered on November 19, 1849 in Chicopee. He was 19; she was 21. That would indicate Richard’s birth year was 1830 and Mary’s 1828. Their fathers are listed: Patrick Wall and Edmund O’Keeffe. The marriage was performed by James A. Strain, Catholic priest. Richard was a laborer, and both were born in Ireland. Since Mary was not a Welsh, we can assume that Margaret was not her mother. Was she Richard’s mother?

It was two years later that their daughter Caroline was born on Exchange Street in Chicopee, on April 1, 1852. Austin’s birth is in the Holyoke records on March 20, 1855. Both records indicate that the parents were Irish, and Richard was a laborer.

Another death record for a child of Richard and Mary is found in the Holyoke records. Richard Wall died of “lung fever” on December 18, 1859, aged one year, eight months and 2 days. That would put his birth about April 16, 1859. The birth record was not found on Familysearch.org but may be available elsewhere. The three known children were born almost exactly 3 years apart.

Mary Wall died in childbirth on February 6, 1862 in Holyoke. Her parents were stated to be Edmund and Bridget O’Keeffe. Soon after, Richard enlisted in the Army on August 19, according to “Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War.”

Edmund Wall is not found in the records after 1860. He does not appear in the Civil War NPS database. An Edward Wall family was enumerated in Holyoke in the 1880 census.

The unfortunate history of this family does not improve during the remainder of the 1860s. David Wall, the legal guardian of the children, died on November 2 of 1866. His parents are listed as Patrick Wall and Margaret Welsh, clarifying Margaret’s relationship to the family. Margaret died on Christmas Day, December 25, 1866 of old age, a widow. Her parents listed on the death record were Richard and Mary Welsh.

Young Caroline died June 11, 1869 at 17, of consumption. She had no occupation listed. Was she too ill to work, and was the pension of $8/month adequate to support her and her brother?

At 14, Austin Wall had lost his parents, two siblings, uncle and grandmother in ten years. In the 1870 census he is listed in a boarding house in Holyoke at 15 with 23 others, primarily of Irish birth. He was working in a cotton mill, and had attended school within the past year. By 1883 he had enlisted in the Army. The enlistment record states he had blue eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, and was 5 ft. 5 ½ inches tall. His enlistment records exist for each 5 year period after that. In 1900 the census reveals he was a soldier at Fort Totten, Queens, NY. In 1910, 1920, and 1930 he was a resident of the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, DC. He died September 25, 1939 and was buried in the Soldiers’ Home National Cemetery. It does not appear that he ever married. His grave stone lists his service in the Spanish American War. The Spanish American War took place between April and August 1898. The rest of the Walls were likely buried in Holyoke. I will continue to search for their final resting place.

Where did the Walls originally come from?

A likely record of Richard’s immigration is found in Boston passenger lists for the Robert C. Winthrop arriving in Boston November 2, 1848. His age of 20 matches our Richard’s birth in 1828 as stated on the 1860 census. He traveled with a Mary Wall, but he did not marry our Mary until 1850 in Chicopee. This may be a younger sister of 18. Another fact gives weight to the assertion that this is the Richard we are seeking: the passengers listed above him on the manifest are the Keeffe family, including a 22 year old Mary. She is accompanied by John, 21; Cornelius, 20; and Edmund, 18. Did they meet on the ship, or did they emmigrate from the same village? No further information of their origin is in the manifest. The ship sailed from Liverpool, England.

The younger Wall brothers are likely those listed on the manifest of the ship Benjamin Adams arriving in New York on October 21, 1853. A footnote to that voyage on Theshipslist.com reports that 15 of the 620 passengers died of cholera during the crossing from Liverpool.

There is a family of Edmund and Bridget Keeffe in Chicopee in the 1850 census of an age that could be their parents, however, they have a large family, including a daughter Mary, and our Mary was already married to Richard Wall at that time.

On my last trip to Washington, DC, I was able to find Austin's grave!  I let him know he is not forgotten.

Lovely!

Thank you to Deborah Andrew of The Sum of all my Research for giving me The One Lovely Blog award! Now, to pass it on to other blogs; who to choose, who to choose...

Notable Women Ancestors: Elizabeth Martin Colman

Elizabeth was born on 12 June 1744 in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. She was the sixth of twelve children of John Martin and Elizabeth Thomson. The family had moved west from Ipswich about 1739. These were unsettled times on the "frontier" and Lunenburg was the fortified center of the region.

Her father died before she was twelve years old, and a month before the birth of her twin sisters, Prudence and Patience. He had been in the militia, but the cause of his death is not found. The family remained in the area and we must assume that her mother remarried, but the record has not been found. It is hard to imagine being a mother of 12 alone at any time, but somehow she went on. Elizabeth named David Goodridge as her guardian in documents filed with the Worcester County Courts. That is where her signature (above) was found. In 1762 her father’s property was probated and Elizabeth received a parcel of approximately 3.6 acres adjacent to the “widow’s wood lot.” In 1767 the property was transferred to David Goodridge.

When John Martin died his estate included a “note of James Colman.” Elizabeth married James’ son Job on 20 February 1766 in Lunenburg. Her sister Susannah married Job’s brother Benjamin Colman a few years later. Their first child, Mary, was born at or near Lunenburg on 15 October 1766. Son Samuel was born 28 September 1768 in Ashburnham. He was followed by Elizabeth on 11 August 1770.

About 1772 the family moved west to Shelburne. Another son, John, was born on 21 June of that year. Their farm was near the Deerfield River and neighbors included the Parker Dole family. Children born in Shelburne included Rachel Andrews born 21 June 1774 and Benjamin born 3 July 1776, who died just after his first birthday, on 18 August 1777. He was buried in the Shelburne hill cemetery. Other children were lost to an epidemic that summer, including neighbor Enoch Dole.

Job served in the Revolutionary War, marching with the Minutemen on 20 April 1775 for 15 days, and again for 36 days in 1777. The time he was away was short, but the uncertainty of the times must have weighed on the family.

Daughter Rhoda was born in Shelburne 18 May 1778, followed by Benjamin on 9 October 1780, Joseph Emerson on 21 December 1783, Zenus on 21 October 1785, and Zur on 15 June 1789. Elizabeth had borne 11 children before she was 46.

About 1796 the family moved north to Royer Road in the town of Heath, MA. There are reports that they may have operated a tavern. Their property was located at a crossroads known as "Colman's corner." Mary, Samuel, and Rachel had already married. Mary lived nearby with her husband Thomas Town and children. Samuel and Rachel had moved west to central New York state. Shortly after the turn of the seventeenth century Benjamin moved to Vermont and John may have followed to New York.

The Colman family was stricken by typhus, along with some neighbors, in 1805. That summer must have been unimaginably painful for Elizabeth. Rhoda died on 8 July at the age of 27; Zenus died on 2 August at the age of 20; Joseph Emerson died on 5 August at the age of 22. A month later her husband Job died on 2 September at the age of 64, and Elizabeth succumbed on 25 October 1895. She was 61 years old. No monuments mark their graves in the Shelburne hill cemetery. The youngest, Zur, was spared. He lived in Phelps, NY for a time and ended his life in Michigan.

A detailed inventory of the estate was performed and it paints a picture of their domestic life. There was livestock and a sleigh. Their home was populated by a looking glass, a clock, five beds, a chest, a large bible and psalm book, as well as a book of music. The table had seven plates, a fancy bowl, platter, butterboat, teapot. They had 14 sheets, towels and pillow cases. The image "one cotton sock, unfinished" brings a picture to mind of the knitting basket by the fire.

Notable Women Ancestors: Abigail Lawrence Dole

I choose to believe that all of my ancestors were "notable," especially the unsung women. The lives they lived and the changes they experienced are intriguing in a historical perspective.

Abigail Lawrence began her life in colonial north-central Massachusetts, born 26 July 1745 in Groton, MA. She was the eighth of eleven children of Jonathan Lawrence and Tripheuny Powers. The Lawrence family multiplied in the region and she was likely surrounded with extended family as a child. A significant event that has been found in historic records tells us that her oldest brother was in the militia and was captured by Indians in 1748 and taken to Canada for several months. Although only three, the worry of her elders must have had an impact in her life.

Abigail lost her mother when she was only seven. She had older brothers and sisters to guide her and after two years her father remarried. When she was 16 she married Parker Dole, who had also been born and raised in the area. Although he was five years older than she, he had sisters of her age. Could that be how they got acquainted? The couple had four sons in the next ten years: Isaac, Parker, Josiah and Moses. A four year gap may indicate the loss of a baby, but none is found in the records. Their livestock was listed in the Littleton tax valuation of 1771: 2 oxen, 2 cattle, 3 goats and sheep, 1 swine.

Their first daughter Abigail "Nabby" was born in October of 1773 in Ashby, which was about the time the family moved west to Shelburne, on the Deerfield River. Their son Enoch was born in 1776 and died the next year in an epidemic that took many young children in town. We know of at least one other family, the Job Colman family, who came from Ashby and settled nearby. They also lost a son, Benjamin, in August of 1777. Their son Samuel was to become Nabby's husband. Abigail named her next son Enoch as well, born in 1779, and the Colmans had another Benjamin. Enoch was followed by Triphenia, Lydia, Lucy and Levi; in all eleven children over a 30 year period. The circle of life continued, with the older sons beginning their families at the same time that her child-bearing years ended. Most continued to live nearby.

Abigail's husband Parker held several offices in the town of Shelburne including Surveyor of Highways, School Committee, and Constable. He wrote a will in 1813 shortly before he died at 73. All of their children were still living, and only Lucy and Levi were unmarried. Abigail was given 1/3 of the estate during her lifetime. Levi married three times, and we can assume they lived together at the family home. Lucy married in 1826. A structure that was reportedly their home at the end of Barnard Road only recently was razed. It had been empty for years.

When Abigail died January 12, 1829 the newspaper reported that it was accidental. She was 83 years old. Her obituary states, "In her last illness, which continued five months and was particularly distressing, she was sustained by the consolations of gospel hope; a numerous posterity survive her, consisting of 10 children, 58 grandchildren and 50 great-grandchildren."

Notable Women Ancestors: Connecting to the South

My New England ancestors haven't afforded me the opportunity to explore the lives of individuals from too many other states. I was excited to take that journey on the trail of my nephews' fore bearers. Meet Cuthbert Dufour!

When William Frederick Lamb married in 1926, he was 42 and established as a New York City architect. He grew up in an upper class family in Brooklyn, likely pampered by five older sisters. He was a graduate of Williams College and had also studied at Columbia and Beaux Arts in Paris. His bride had also seen some of the world by the time they married when she was about 33. She possessed a pedigree reaching to colonial South Carolina and Louisiana.

Cuthbert Dufour was born March 2, 1896 reportedly in Norfolk VA, although the Virginia Health Dept. provided no such record. Cuthbert is more typically a boy's name and there is likely a family connection to the name, yet undiscovered. She was the fourth of six children of Albert J. Dufour and Elise Roman, both of whom were born and raised in New Orleans. She came into a family with 9 and 10 year-old sisters and a four year-old brother, Rhett.

In 1900 the family was living in New Orleans, where they had a large extended family. The family had a French nurse, as well as an elderly black nurse and another white servant. When she was six, her younger sister Adele was born. In that summer of 1902 she vacationed with her grandmother in Sullivan's Island, SC. Another newspaper item notes that they went inland in 1903 to Blowing Rock, NC.

There had been another son, Horace, who died before Cuthbert was born, at only four months of age in Norfolk in 1894. The family lost their oldest child in 1903 when Maude died in New Orleans at 17.

Early in the 1900s her parents divorced. Elise recorded the sale of land in New Orleans as a divorced woman in 1906. By 1910 they were living in Asheville, NC in a rented house near Hillside Academy. Elise had no occupation. Her mother, Sallie Roman was also living in Asheville with her unmarried children, including Rhett Roman. Rhett Dufour was 15 and working as a railroad laborer. They had a boarder, Stanley Cunningham, who was a railroad clerk. A black cook lived in. It appears that her father was in New York.

Sister Frances Elise Dufour married in 1911 in Asheville. She and her husband James Hobart Allport had four daughters by 1920.

Cuthbert and her family moved to Staten Island, NY in 1914. This was her fourth state of residence, and would have been a big move away from the extended family in the south. In 1919 she applied for a passport and traveled to France with the Red Cross. She returned to France in 1920 and spent February to September there. Her occupation in the 1920 census was private secretary. Under the auspices of the American Committee for Devastated France she again crossed the Atlantic in 1921 and returned on the Cherbourg in March of 1922. She was an activist at an early age.

Cuthbert's father had died by the time her sister Adele married Howell Sawyer in New York in 1927. She died at 32 in 1934 without children.

Cuthbert's only child was born February 17, 1930 in New York: William Rhett Lamb. That is a time that her husband, William Frederick Lamb, was very busy with the construction of the Empire State Building, for which he was principal architect. They resided at 55 East 72nd Street in Manhattan. She lived more than 30 years longer than her husband, who died in 1952. She died in 1985 in New York.

Note: The details found in public records do not likely do justice to the life of this interesting woman, nor does the passport photo above.