Warren Dane and His Intriguing Cause of Death: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Health”

 Intriguing Cause of Death: Tabes Dorsalis

Warren J Dane: 1839-1907

 

            Warren J. Dane, also called J. Warren Dane, is my first cousin four times removed. While the relationship is distant, when I discover something of historical interest in distant ancestors’ lives, I like to record and share it so that we can better understand the time period in which they lived. Warren Dane is illustrative: his cause of death is one that is rarely seen any more, for good reason.

            Warren was born in 1839 in Derby, Orleans County, Vermont, to parents Joseph Dane and Jane Wheeler Dane. Joseph Dane was the sibling of my fourth great-grandfather David Dane. Warren, like his father and at least one brother, became a carpenter.

            Warren enlisted in the cavalry during the Civil War; he was 22 years old. He served as a private in the Vermont First Regiment Cavalry, Company I. The volunteer regiment fought in 76 engagements during the war, including the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness Campaign. According to his war record, Warren was captured by Confederate troops on October 24, 1862. He was a prisoner of war for slightly less than a week; he was paroled by the Confederates on October 30, 1862. This was a period when the regiment was protecting Washington, D.C. from attack.

            Warren returned to duty after his release, and served two more years in the cavalry, mustering out on December 31, 1864. He then returned to his home area, living in Newport, Vermont, also in Orleans County. There is very little information about the remainder of his life.

            Warren died June 20, 1907 at age 68, after being hospitalized in the Vermont Soldiers Home. His cause of death was unusual and required research: tabes dorsalis.

        According to Medlineplus.com,

 “Tabes dorsalis is a form of neurosyphilis, which is a complication of late stage syphilis infection. Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is spread sexually.

When syphilis is untreated, the bacteria damages the spinal cord and peripheral nervous tissue. This leads to the symptoms of tabes dorsalis.

Tabes dorsalis is now very rare because syphilis is usually treated early in the disease.”

An online medical dictionary provided the grim symptoms:

“A late form of syphilis resulting in a hardening of the dorsal columns of the spinal cord and marked by shooting pains, emaciation, loss of muscular coordination, and disturbances of sensation and digestion.”

            Damage to the optic nerve, leading to blindness, is another symptom. Apparently it takes at least twenty years for syphilis to progress to such a state, so Warren had been infected many years earlier.

            Warren never married, although obviously he had a relationship with at least one woman in his life. Did he frequent prostitutes? Did he contract the disease as far back as during his Civil War service? Did he choose not to marry because he knew he was infected and didn’t want to infect a spouse? We will never know.

            The cure for syphilis was found in 1910, just three years after Warren’s death. His death is a reminder of how dangerous sexually transmitted diseases were in the 19^th century. Thank goodness this terrible condition is rarely seen in the 21^st century.

Sources:

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000729.htm

https://www.medicinenet.com/tabes_dorsalis/definition.htm

https://www.yourdictionary.com/tabes-dorsalis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Vermont_Cavalry_Regiment

Thomas Chesley and the Oyster River Indian Conflict: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Conflict”

Oyster River, New Hampshire: Conflict Between Native Americans and English Settlers in the 1690s

Thomas Chesley: 1644-1697

 

Thomas Chesley, my eighth-great-grandfather, was born in Oyster River/Dover, New Hampshire in 1644 to parents Philip Chesley and Elizabeth Leighton Chesley. Thomas married Elizabeth Thomas in Dover on August 22, 1663. He was nineteen, and Elizabeth was still in her teens. They had several children, possibly seven or eight depending on what records are examined. One of the sons was my seventh great-grandfather Joseph Chesley, born in 1673.

Thomas was a well-respected member of the Oyster River/Durham community in New Hampshire, serving as selectman in 1688 and again in 1695.

Colonial era map of Oyster River Settlement

It is easy to imagine his life as a small-town version of our own lives—living in a community, attending church, patronizing businesses and craftsmen, working his farmland and raising his children. It sounds idyllic. But life in 1690s New Hampshire was far from idyllic. Thomas’ community was at the very edge of the area settled by white settlers. The Oyster River settlement abutted lands used by Native Americans for hunting and farming. The colonists’ lands were acquired through deception, broken treaties and outright theft, which created ill will between the two cultures. This ill will occasionally boiled over into violence.

Map of entire Pescataway region, approx. 1670

The settlement at Oyster River, which included what eventually became the towns of Dover and Durham, New Hampshire, had been the target of native anger for some time, culminating in a raid in 1694 that destroyed between one third and one half of the settlement. Wikipedia sums up the so-called Oyster River Massacre as follows:

“The English settlement of Oyster River was attacked by Villieu with about 250 Abenaki Indians, composed of two main groups from the Penobscot and Norridgewock under command of their sagamore Bomazeen (or Bomoseen). A number of Maliseet from Medoctec took part in the attack. The Indian force was divided into two groups to attack the settlement, which was laid out on both sides of the Oyster River. Villieu led the Pentagoet and the Meductic/Nashwaaks. The attack commenced at daybreak, with the small forts quickly falling to the attackers. In all, 104 inhabitants were killed and 27 taken captive, with half the dwellings, including the garrisons, pillaged and burned to the ground. Crops were destroyed and livestock killed, causing famine and destitution for survivors.”

It is believed the settlement only had three hundred residents at the time, so one third of the population was killed, with many others traumatized. While some Chesley family members may have died in the original raid, Thomas and his family survived. Despite the dangers, they chose to stay.

But conflicts with the natives continued, and in 1697, Thomas and a friend were attacked and Thomas was killed. Rev. John Pike wrote in his journal:

“Nov. 15, 97. Tho: Chesley, sen., slain by ye Indians not far from Johnsons Creek. Will Jackson taken' at the same time, & at same time made his escape.”

Johnson’s Creek is a tributary of the Oyster River and was very near the settlement. Chesley and Jackson were probably out collecting firewood or hunting, normal daily activities in an area they probably assumed was safe.

Johnson's Creek area today on Google Maps with Oyster River at bottom

Thomas’ estate was probated in January of the following year, with his widow Elizabeth dividing the money from the estate, about 195 pounds, amongst his seven surviving children: Thomas, George (spelled Jorge in the probate files), Joseph, Elizabeth (spelled Elesebeth), Susannah (spelled Sewsanne), Sarah and Mary. The land was divided as follows: (note: the spelling and unusual capitalization directly copies the written text record. There were wide variations in spelling, with even names spelled differently just lines apart. Also note that the women signed with a mark only—they may not have been able to read and write.)

“know all men by thes present Riting that I Eleseath Chesly Administretres to my Husbands Asteast Have A greed with my children in devideng what Estete He Left when deseast which is in maner as folloeth:

To my Soon Thomas chesly all the Land Seastated Liying and being betwixt Stephen Jonses and philep Cheslys land AJoyneng to the salt River

To my Soon gorg chesly all the Land and Houseng and orchet that was my Husbands at the place comamly called new towen and Half the march that was my Husbands Laying by belemans Banck Rever and the branches ther of

To my Soon Joseph chesley fort ackers of Land and A houce situated Lieang and being on the wast side of oister River frechet and the other Half of Said mairch that Lise by belemans banck River and the branches ther of

Resarving only the thards ther of for my yous to Long as I shall Leve

Elesabeth Chesle”

Oyster River present day

The conflict with the Native Americans continued for another decade or so. Several of Thomas’ nephews were killed between 1704 and 1708. However, Thomas Chesley’s descendants continued to live in the Oyster River area for several additional generations. My seventh great-grandfather Joseph Chesley and sixth-great-grandfather Thomas Chesley were born and died in the Durham/Oyster River area. The Chesley’s persistence, along with the growing numbers of new settlers pushing into the region, helped the colonists prevail in their conflict with the Native tribes.

 

Sources:

Rev. John Pike, Journal of the Rev. John Pike, of Dover, N.H., ed. Rev. A.H. Quint (Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1876

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

Gillette and allied families : genealogical and biographical / prepared and privately printed for Mrs. Lewis Singer Gillette.    Publication date 1930  Topics Bent family, Brown family, Clark family, Gillette family, Hoskins family, Perkins family, Raymond family.  Publisher New York, N.Y. : The American Historical Society, Inc., 1930.

The Wentworth Genealogy: English and American, Volume 1, John Wentworth, Little, Brown & Company, 1878, pgs. 221-222. Accessed on Google Books 26 Jun 2021. https://books.google.com/books?id=KR8aAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=chesley&f=false