Faulkner Mills: 52 Ancestors 2020 Prompt "Prosperity"

Faulkner Mills: Prosperity in 18th Century Massachusetts

Ammi Ruhamah, Ammi and Francis Faulkner

            I already wrote about the life of my first cousin eight-times-removed Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner in the “Same Name” post, but I am going to return to him and his sons Ammi and Francis to discuss the concept of prosperity.

Yes, I realize my relationship to Ammi Ruhamah, Ammi and his brother Francis is ridiculously distant, but I’ve found that some of my dives down the rabbit holes of the more distant relationships uncover the most interesting stories. These stories are the motivating force driving my genealogical research. Stories bring the dry facts of history alive for me and my children, and that’s why I love building my family tree. I don’t want to just collect names—I want to discover lives.

My family tree is populated mostly by regular people who worked hard to build a decent, secure life. They merely wanted to support their families and maybe put a little money away for their old age; they never expected to become wealthy. However, men like Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner and his descendants achieved slightly better than the middle class life the majority of my ancestors sought. They achieved prosperity by taking a chance and building their own businesses.

Ammi Ruhamah’s grandfather Edmund Faulkner had been one of the first residents of Andover, Massachusetts, and had acquired a large amount of land in the process. The land was divided among his sons, who divided it among their sons, and even after the divisions, there was still enough land for each grandson to farm and support their families. 

Edmund’s grandson Ammi Ruhamah ended up selling his Andover land. He relocated to the Acton/Billerica, Massachusetts area, eventually renting and then buying a sawmill and a “fulling mill”, which is a mill that can weave woolen fabric. This was quite a risk; Ammi Ruhamah had been a farmer previously, and had to sell his farmland to buy the mill property. However, his gamble paid off. The businesses thrived, and grew to include a grist mill which ground grain for flour.

Two of his four sons, Ammi and Francis, remained in Acton and operated these businesses after his death. Ammi and Francis also built a potash facility—potash was useful as fertilizer and for soap-making, glass-making and bleaching fabric. It was produced by burning wood and leaves, using water to leach the ashes, and then evaporating the water to leave the potash. The family seemed to have been attuned to what their community needed: fabric for clothing, wood for construction, flour for food, and potash for a variety of functions. They also built on their property’s strength, the stream that ran through it and powered all the mills and provided the water for the potash leaching.

Map of South Acton in 1886, with Faulkner House and Mill Site on High Street circled.

With all these businesses, the brothers were quite prosperous. While they shared a house—Ammi and his wife Obedience had the east end, and Francis, his wife Rebecca, and their ten or eleven children had the rest of the house—the house was still the largest in the community, and so well-built and well-maintained that it still stands today and is owned by a historical society and is open for tours. The Faulkner Mills remained in operation for many years, and the Faulkner family lived in what is now known as The Faulkner House, for over 200 years. 

Faulkner House in Acton on High Street--mill was across street

Francis Faulkner’s son, also named Francis, moved the fulling mill operation to the nearby town of Billerica in 1811, and that business, despite several fires that forced rebuilding, remained in operation through World War I. 

Faulkner Mill in Billerica around 1900

The Faulkner Mill building in Billerica has been completely restored and now houses small businesses and the Middlesex Canal Museum.

Faulkner Mill in Billerica today

   I see the experiences of Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner and his sons Francis and Ammi as examples of how to achieve prosperity: it takes risk, hard work, and an understanding of how to best utilize your assets, both physical and intellectual, to create products that people need and want. 


Sources: 
https://www.actonhistoricalsociety.org/blog/sarah-skinner-getting-used-to-darkness
http://faulknermill.com/
http://www.billericahistory.org/faulknermills.html
Pinterest shot by Nicole Marie Tartaglia

Commonplace Book of Francis Dane: 52 Ancestors Prompt "Favorite Discovery"

Francis Dane: 1615-1697

Learning About My 8th Great Grandfather Through His Own Words and In His Own Hand 

            I knew exactly what I wanted to write about when I saw this week’s 52 Ancestors theme. I made the most incredible discovery while researching my eighth-great-grandfather, Reverend Francis Dane. I had already learned amazing things about Reverend Dane and his life in Andover, Massachusetts. Due to his vocal objections to the witch trials in the neighboring village of Salem, he is in the history books and even has his own Wikipedia page. His family members were targeted by the Salem investigators in retaliation for his outspokenness. Several of his daughters, daughters-in-law and granddaughters were accused, put on trial, and some were even convicted of witchcraft.

Reverend Francis Dane

            My discovery last year had nothing to do with that horrible period of his life. I happened upon a reference to the restoration of a commonplace book written by him. The volume was available to the public as part of the Digital Collection of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), so I immediately looked at it.

            I already knew what a commonplace book was, and I’d actually begun my own version of one a few years earlier. A commonplace book is, according to one dictionary, “a book in which quotes, extracts, poems, aphorisms, etc. are copied down for future reference, often together with one’s ideas and reflections.” My own commonplace book is a collection of quotations that strike my fancy.

NEHGS website description of the Dane Commonplace Book

            The NEHGS has collected some early American commonplace books for preservation, and one of the earliest is Francis Dane’s. They believe he used the book for nearly 40 years, from 1648 to shortly before his death in 1697. It contains extracts from his clerical reading, drafts of sermons, recipes for medications and dye colors, and was also used for penmanship practice by young family members.

            The NEHGS has digitized the entire 200 page volume. It was in a severely damaged condition; many pages have been torn out entirely or partially. However, the pages that remain have been scanned in a high resolution format, so the images are rich and sharp. The pages are packed with handwriting; Reverend Dane would even turn the book to the side to make use of the margins, so many pages have entries on a variety of topics written in various directions on the page. Paper was difficult and expensive to acquire in that era, so Reverend Dane was careful to utilize every inch of his book. His students’ penmanship lessons are often scrawled atop his own entries.

            I was amazed at the clarity of his penmanship. I can read most of the text, only stumbling on archaic 17^th century language and usage, as well as the era’s tendency to write certain letters like the small “s” and “f” nearly identically.

            I have been eagerly downloading the images into a Dropbox file, and now I am starting to upload the images to Shutterfly so I can make a print copy of some or perhaps all of the pages. It’s an odd feeling to look at my eighth great grandfather’s actual handwriting—to see the inkblots and the careful cross-outs as he edited his material, to read his thoughts and see what excerpts from the Bible and other books he copied. It makes him so real—a man who was far more than a rural minister preaching to a tiny community on the edges of a new world. He was a man who helped out with household chores like dying fabric and with tending to the sick. He was a man who was sharing his education and knowledge with the next generations. He was a man who wrote poetry and hymns, and pondered the arguments and ideas of England’s theologians.

            I can’t wait to see what new discoveries I make as I begin to transcribe his book. This is a discovery that will bring me delight and wonder for years to come.

Sources: 

http://digitalcollections.americanancestors.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15869coll26/id/1047

http://digitalcollections.americanancestors.org/cdm/search/searchterm/R.%20Stanton%20Avery%20Special%20Collections,%20New%20England%20Historic%20Genealogical%20Society/mode/exact

http://library.nehgs.org/record=b1072293~S0

https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:br86bv49v

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-francisdane/

Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner: 52 Ancestors 2020 Prompt "Same Name"

Same Name: Sharing an Unusual and Meaningful Name

Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner: 1692-1756

Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner: 1733-1786

            When I saw this week’s prompt “Same Name”, I immediately thought of Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner and his son of the same name. Not only is the name memorable and unique, the story behind the name is compelling.

My Faulkner ancestors were descended from my eighth-great-aunt Abigail Dane, who was born October 13, 1652 to my eighth-great-grandfather Reverend Francis Dane of Andover, Massachusetts. Rev. Dane raised objections to the witch trials in neighboring Salem, which drew unwelcome attention to his own family. This led to several of his daughters and daughters-in-law and granddaughters being accused of witchcraft. Abigail, by then married to Francis Faulkner and mother to five children, was one of the accused women.

She was tried and found guilty of witchcraft, and was sentenced to death. Her execution was postponed, however, because she was pregnant--even the crazed, witch-fearing Salem residents couldn’t stomach murdering an innocent unborn child. Abigail was ordered to remain in prison until she gave birth. Once the baby arrived, the stay of execution would be lifted and she would be hung.

Cover of a book about Abigail Dane Faulkner

It must have been a horrible situation. Instead of looking forward to her child’s birth, she must have dreaded and feared it. Conditions in the cells where the convicted were held were filthy and miserable; at least one of the women died before she could be executed. While Abigail sat in her cell awaiting her child’s birth, her husband and her father, along with other brave family members and friends, were petitioning the government for relief and for a pardon. When the witch hunters turned their attention to the colonial governor’s own wife and family, the government finally intervened and put a stop to the madness. The sentences of the convicted were overturned, and Abigail was released in December 1692.

Abigail gave birth to her last son on March 20, 1692/3 (in the 1600s, the new year didn't start January 1, but in April, so birth dates from January-April can be confusing) in her own home instead of a cell. She named him Ammi Ruhamah, a name that comes from the book of Hosea, Chapter 2, Verse 1. The New Living Translation reads as follows:

“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘my people’. And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘the Ones I Love’.

Another translation says Ruhamah means ‘mercy’ or ‘those who receive mercy’.   So the two words together would seem to refer to the people to whom God has shown mercy. A Faulkner family history written by Charlotte Helen Abbott states that the name meant “My people have obtained Mercy.” An appropriate name for the child of a woman who was granted mercy from a death sentence.

The name Ammi Ruhamah was quite different from the other names Abigail and Francis Faulkner chose for their children. Ammi Ruhamah’s five siblings were named for family members: Elizabeth, Paul, Dorothy, Abigail and Frances. The choice of Ammi Ruhamah can be seen as a reflection of Abigail and Francis’ gratitude for this son who saved his mother’s life through his very existence.

Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner married another native Andover resident, Hannah Ingalls, on June 7, 1726. This marriage was rather late in life for colonial residents; Ammi Ruhammah was 34 and Hannah was 30. They had six children over the next decade. They started out farming, living on a large swathe of land Ammi’s father had inherited from his father Edmund, one of the original settlers of Andover.

Over the years, Ammi and his brothers sold various parcels back and forth amongst themselves before Ammi sold all his holdings in the area sometime around 1729 (based upon research of land transactions recorded in Early Records of the Faulkner Family of Andover by Charlotte Helen Abbott).  Around 1729 or 1730, Ammi moved his family from Andover to Middlesex County, settling near Littleton where the last four of their six children were born. He appears to have been farming during that time. Ammi Ruhamah then rented and eventually bought a mill property in neighboring Acton that is still called Faulkner House. Wikipedia states:

“Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner rented the house and mills in 1738, then purchased them in 1742. For 202 years, the Faulkner House was the homestead for six generations of the Faulkner family. The family carried on the processing of woolen cloth at the fulling mill across the road from the house; the mill was said to have been one of the earliest attempts in the United States to manufacture woolen cloth on a large scale.”

Sketch of part of Faulkner fuller mill and grist mill

According to an essay by Robert Nylander, Ammi Ruhammah added a grist mill to the existing fulling and saw mills, so the family had three businesses running. Nylander also noted that Ammi Ruhammah was active in community governance, stating, “In May of 1738 he was chosen to the committee to settle Acton's first minister, Rev. John Swift, and to arrange his salary. Sixteen years later, when Parson Swift's salary had to be reassessed because of fluctuating prices, he was also on the committee to settle that… He entered into town affairs only as a selectman for two years…”

The Faulkner House is now owned by a non-profit historical corporation called Iron Work Farm. The house is open for tours on the fourth Sunday of the months of May through October. There are re-enactors and demonstrations. The house was an important site during the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere roused a man who then rode on from Concord to the Faulkner house, where Ammi Ruhamah’s son Francis, raised the alarm to call up the Acton militia. Francis Faulkner held the rank of Major, led the Acton militia, and served in the Revolutionary War.

Re-enactors at Faulkner House, with vintage photo above. Photos from Iron Work Farm.

Ammi Ruhamah died at the age of 64 on August 4, 1756. He and his wife Hannah are buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Acton.

 Ammi Ruhamah’s fifth child and third son, born February 25, 1733, was named Ammi Ruhamah after his father. He was known only as Ammi, however. Ammi fought in the French and Indian War in 1755, and served as a private in the Revolutionary War, first with Captain. Asahel Wheeler's company in Colonel John Robinson's regiment, and also in Capt. Gleason's company of the 4^th Regiment.

Ammi married a woman named Obedience; thus far no one has identified her surname or parents.  Ammi and Obedience shared the Faulkner house with his brother Francis and Francis’ family; Ammi had the east side of the structure. Ammi and Francis also shared the family milling business and farms.

Modern day image of grist mill area--replacement buildings for original Faulkner structures

Ammi and Obedience had no children, and at his death at age 52 on December 13, 1786, Ammi’s will left most of his property to Francis, with generous provisions of food and supplies to support Obedience, including seven silver dollars to be paid per year for her lifetime. Obviously the business ventures had been successful. The will reads in part:

“My whole real estate I leave to my Brother Francis Faulkner esq., reserving only as above for my wife, together with my stock of cattle, and my tools, both on the farm, in my mills & shop & pot-ash works—wherewise my Books, reserving to my said wife liberty to read them as she may desire—I moreover give him all my money due whether on book, note or bond, provided he pay all my just debts and funeral charges…I give to my two Brothers James Faulkner & Nathaniel Faulkner a piece of New home-made all wool cloth now in the house to be equally divided between them.” It appears he was far closer to Francis than his other siblings. Cloth, while certainly a valuable commodity, cannot compare with the farm and mill assets. He left nothing to his sisters.

Ammi's signature on his will

Ammi is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery near his parents. Obedience died July 20, 1811 at the age of 80. Her burial location is as yet unknown.

Preliminary research on Ammi’s brothers indicates that one of them also named a son Ammi Ruhamah, so this interesting name may have been carried on into a new generation of the family.

Sources:

https://www.mhl.org/sites/default/files/files/Abbott/Faulkner%20Family.pdf

Historical Sketch of the Faulkner House. By Robert H. Nylander. Iron Work Farm, 1969. (Ref/974.44/A188)

http://doc.acton-ma.gov/dsweb/Get/Document-63107/HIGH%20STREET%205.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faulkner_House

             https://ironworkfarm.org/index.php/faulkner-homestead

John Herniman and Robert Manley Herniman: 52 Ancestors Prompt "So Far Away"

So Far Away in Mirror, Alberta:

John Herniman: 1834-1916 

Robert Manley Herniman: 1883-1948

            My last blog post, “Close to Home”, dealt with two of the thirteen children born to my third great uncle, John Herniman. I had discovered the two women, Elizabeth and Ella Herniman, lived just a few miles from the farm where I grew up. This week I am going to write about one of Ella and Elizabeth's siblings. Robert Manley Herniman, who moved "so far away" from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, ending up in Alberta, Canada.  

Robert Herniman

            Around 1899, John and Jane Herniman and several of their children packed up their possessions and moved to North Dakota. I don’t know what prompted this sudden migration; John and Jane had lived on a farm outside Sleepy Eye, Minnesota for nearly twenty years, and according to county histories, were respected citizens.

            Their sojourn in North Dakota was very brief. By 1902, they had decamped to Alberta, Canada. John was in his late 60s at this point—an unlikely time to start over. Perhaps his wife Jane influenced his decision, as she was born in Canada. John and Jane’s daughter Effie Belle had married Archie McDonald, and he too was originally born in Canada. Perhaps Archie had contacts in Alberta that encouraged the family to move there. Also, as I had discussed in a previous post, Canada’s Interior Minister was encouraging immigration of farmers to the prairies of Alberta during this period, so probably the extended Herniman family answered the call. At least by emigrating together, they would have a built-in support system in their new country.

            The family first lived in Strathcona, which now lies within the Edmonton city limits. At some point between the 1906 census and the year 1911, John, Jane and some of their children and spouses relocated to the small town of Mirror, south of Strathcona.

            Son Robert Manley Herniman, born March 21, 1883, originally accompanied his parents to Strathcona, becoming naturalized as a Canadian citizen in 1905. However, he returned to their previous home in Lidgerwood, North Dakota at some point, for in 1911, the Mirror Journal newspaper reported he was visiting his family in Mirror from Lidgerwood. He must have liked what he saw, for by 1912 he had moved to Mirror.

            So why Mirror? In 1911 the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had built a branch line linking Edmonton and Calgary that ran through Mirror, setting off a wave of development. The Railway Company itself promoted the city, producing a booklet extolling the area and offering an elaborate plat map of the proposed town, filled with streets, homes and businesses. Mirror was described in glowing terms, supposedly set on high ground with views of the lake and the surrounding area, with “clumps of trees adding to the charm" of the town.

           The reality was quite different, as the 1911 postcard below shows. The town was barren, with dirt streets and wooden sidewalks, not a tree in sight. According to the Mirror Wikipedia page, the few buildings there in 1911 had been moved in from elsewhere or were temporary structures that were meant to be replaced.

            Mirror had a local newspaper, The Mirror Journal, that provided charming information about the Herniman family’s lives, including Robert’s. Robert Herniman threw himself into life in his new home. He quickly became involved with real estate. By early 1912, he and C J Allen converted the Allen farm into lots for sale that could be used for home or business construction; their ads were steady fixtures in the local newspaper. Robert also sold insurance, and by 1913 he also advertised his services as an auctioneer.

            In August 1913, Robert sold his downtown office to his nephew Lloyd Humphrey, telling the newspaper that he planned on “going into the hog raising business on his island in Buffalo Lake.” That plan must not have worked out so well, as the newspaper reports in February of 1914 that Robert “sold 36 acres, being the S. W. half of the island in Buffalo Lake to Archie Jaques, who owns the balance of the island.” By the time of the 1916 Canada census, Robert was living with his parents in Mirror, probably in the fine home they had built on Carroll Street, and was farming. Presumably he owned more land than just the Buffalo Lake island property.

            Robert also ran for office and participated in community meetings. The newspaper rather mockingly referred to one speech he made in 1912, noting that “everyone knows ‘Bob’”.  He was elected as a city councillor in 1920; he was the top vote-getter on the ballot.

            Robert never married or had children. He continued to live in Mirror until his death February 20, 1948. He was buried in the cemetery at Mirror. There is little information on his life after 1920, but I expect he continued to reinvent himself, striving for success in various businesses.

            While the town of Mirror thrived for a while, with the advent of diesel engines, Mirror was no longer a stopping point for the railway. The jobs servicing the railway disappeared, and the town’s economy declined. The town shrank to the point that it is now officially a “hamlet” of only 500 residents. The grand promises of the 1911 promotional booklet and Robert Herniman’s dreams of glory never came to fruition.

           

Sources:

Mirror Journal Newspaper and Mirror The City Beautiful pamphlet from http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/index.html

University of Alberta Libraries postcard collection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror,_Alberta

John Herniman and Children: 52 Ancestors Prompt “Close to Home”

Close to Home:

John Herniman: 1834-1916

Elizabeth Anne Herniman 1868-1933

Ella Matilda Herniman 1866-1950

            Until recently, my second great-grandmother Nancy Ann Herniman Macbeth was, genealogically speaking, a bit of a brick wall. I wasn’t even sure of the spelling of her maiden name, which made identifying her parents very difficult. But thanks to a photo hint from FamilySearch, I discovered one of her siblings, which led me to the rest of her family.

Much of my genealogical research so far in 2020 has revolved around filling in this branch of my family tree. One of my most intriguing discoveries was that several of my second-great-grandmother’s nieces and nephews were born and raised just miles from my own birthplace. I had no idea anyone from this branch of the family tree was in the same area.

            Nancy Ann Herniman and Charles Macbeth met in New York and had their first children in the Buffalo and Grand Island area. They moved to Minnesota sometime around 1865. Apparently one of Nancy’s siblings, John Herniman, also left New York a few years earlier, around 1860. John, his wife Jane McCann Herniman, and his growing family spent about four or five years in Lenawee County, Michigan, and then relocated to Minnesota around the same time as the Macbeths.

While Nancy and Charles Macbeth settled in Blue Earth County, John and Jane Herniman moved to Watonwan County, settling in Adrian Township part way between two small towns, Sleepy Eye in Brown County, and St. James in Watonwan where their children’s birth records were recorded. Their farm was less than ten miles from my own father’s farm.

The 1870 census shows John was a farmer, and the 1880 census shows the family still living on the property although John’s occupation was oddly left blank on the census form—I suspect a census taker’s error. However, the obituary of one of their daughters states that the family operated a hotel in Sleepy Eye for many years, so perhaps John was operating that business as well. The Hernimans were still living on the Adrian Township farm in 1885 when their thirteenth and final child, daughter Bertha Violet Herniman, was born on March 20, 1885.

However, by the time of the 1900 census, some of the family had relocated to Park, North Dakota, and shortly thereafter, John, Jane and several of their children moved to Alberta, Canada, settling first in the hamlet of Strathcona (now part of Edmonton), and later moving 160 kilometers south to the tiny town of Mirror.

Not all of John and Jane’s children followed them to Canada. Four children ended up in California. And Ella Matilda Herniman and Elizabeth “Libby” Anne Herniman, the first of John and Jane’s children to be born in Minnesota, both married Sleepy Eye men and remained in the area until their deaths.

Elizabeth Anne Herniman, known as Libby, was born July 23, 1868 in St. James Minnesota. She married a Sleepy Eye businessman, Adolf G. Jensen, on November 26, 1889. She was 21 years old, and Adolf was 24. At the time of the marriage, Adolf was a tin smith working for the R H Bingham store which was a combination hardware and home furnishings store. By 1892, he was doing well enough that the newspaper in nearby New Ulm ran an item reporting that he was building a “nice residence”. That was the year Libby gave birth to their only child, Lyle so the couple probably needed more space.

Adolf, along with a partner named Palmer, eventually bought out R H Bingham. The store, located on Main Street in Sleepy Eye, seemed to prosper.  In 1915 Adolf bought out his partner and became sole owner of the store. Adolf was a respected member of the community; he was elected to the city council in January of 1903, and he seems to have invested in area real estate.

Tragically, Libby and Adolf’s son Lyle died in 1903 at the age of ten. I have been unable to find an obituary or a record of his burial. Libby died in 1933 at age 64. I have no information on her obituary or burial either.

Ella Matilda Herniman was born April 1, 1866. When she was 24, she married Martin Casperson, a contractor and builder. The February 18 1891 record of his marriage to Ella states he was divorced; he was 38 years old, so considerably older than she.  

Casperson had started his career in the Chicago area, and married a woman there who oddly enough also named Ella. They had two daughters, Charlotte and Evelyn, who remained with their mother, who also remarried. Martin apparently moved to Sleepy Eye in 1889 after the divorce. He was well-respected in the community and won many building contracts in the area. 

He was profiled in a history of Brown County Minnesota; the first paragraph of the article is pictured below, along with a newspaper article above describing his winning the contract to build a local church.

Martin and Ella had no children during their forty years of marriage. Martin died September 6, 1936 at age 82. Ella was 70. She lived another 14 years. She remained close to her siblings and their children, often housing them when they visited from Canada. One of her nieces who lived in nearby New Ulm, Blanche Barton Loffelmacher, took Ella in and cared for her for the last year or so of her life.

Now that I know about these ancestors who lived so close to home, I need to visit Sleepy Eye’s Historical Society and view the archives of the local paper to find out more about John Herniman and his daughters Libby and Ella, and hopefully I can locate the women’s graves and visit them.