Sunday, June 30, 2024

Orrin Mills’ Eventful Civil War Service: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “War”

Civil War POW to Dakota War to Civil War: Orrin Mills Journey with the Third Minnesota Infantry Regiment

Orrin Oliver Mills: 1840-1917 (Maternal Second-Great-Granduncle)

I knew that Orrin O. Mills was a Civil War Veteran, but until I recently started researching his regiment and unit, I had no idea what a wild, eventful wartime experience he survived. The Third Minnesota Infantry regiment was a volunteer unit that, between its formation in 1861 and its demuster in 1865, had served in the Civil War, been taken as prisoners of war by Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry, had been sent to fight the Dakota War back in Minnesota, and then sent back to serve in the Civil War. The Third was also the Minnesota unit with the highest casualty count--due to disease, not battlefield injuries.

Orrin Mills' Civil War Regiment Pin. Photo courtesy of June Marcus on Family Search.

Orrin Oliver Mills was born July 7, 1840 in Hermon Township, St. Lawrence County, New York, to parents Joel Mills and Orpha Pratt Mills. He was the youngest of Joel and Orpha’s five children, and he also had two older half siblings. At some point before 1850, father Joel moved his family west, settling first in Dodge County and then moving to Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Joel Mills died January 31, 1858 when Orrin was 17 years old.

Some Mills family members, including Orrin, moved further west to Minnesota, settling in the Blue Earth County area. On October 1, 1861, just months after the start of the Civil War, Orrin enlisted in the Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was twenty-one years old. His company, Company I, was formed from volunteers from the Blue Earth/Le Seuer County area, so the unit probably included many of his young friends and acquaintances.

Civil War photo of Orrin Mills, courtesy of June Marcus on Findagrave

According to histories of the regiment, the Third Minnesota organized at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis, and was then sent to Louisville, Kentucky in November of 1861. They guarded the railroad line in Louisville, and protected Military Governor Andrew Johnson. In April 1862, the regiment was sent to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to join the 23^rd Brigade of the Army of the Ohio. On July 13, a Confederate Cavalry brigade commanded by Col. Nathan B. Forrest conducted a surprise attack on the Union forces in Murfreesboro.

According to Mnopedia, the Third Minnesota “encountered and repulsed two attacks by the Second Georgia Cavelry…before being overrun by Forrest, who burned the officers’ tents.” The Union commander of the 23^rd Brigade surrendered, and the entire 3^rd Minnesota Regiment, except for one company that had been assigned duty elsewhere, became prisoners of war. They were marched to St. Louis where they were held in the Benton Barracks until late August when they were paroled and sent back to Minnesota to fight in the US-Dakota War.

Orrin's Civil War Record

The regiment faced the more of the ugly reality of war in Minnesota. One of their first assignments was burying settlers who had been killed by the Dakota warriors. The regiment then fought at the battle of Wood Lake, described by one of the regiment’s soldiers in a letter to a family member:

“We saw any amount of Indians on every little knoll. They seemed to be on almost every side of us…They undertook to turn our left flank & get between us and the camp. Major Fowle rode up in front of the men & told them that Col. Sibley ordered them back to camp & told them to get back to camp the best way they could. He seemed much frightened & turned & rode back to camp as fast as he could…Soon everything was in confusion & every man on his own hook. As soon as the Indians saw the retreat, they came pouring in from all quarters, firing into our crowd as fast as they could. We kept retreating, loading & turning & firing as fast as we could…On the top of the hill we made a stand while the Indians took possession of the ravine…”

Ordered to retreat, the 3^rd Minnesota disobeyed, and charged the Dakota warriors, helping to turn the course of the battle. The Minnesota forces prevailed; it was the final battle of the Dakota War. The 3^rd Minnesota lost four men in the battle.

Following that battle, the regiment “foraged” upon the town of New Ulm which had been attacked by Dakota warriors. I am not sure what that phrase meant—did they try to resupply by forcibly taking goods from the settlers they were supposed to protect, or is there a more innocent meaning?

The Third Minnesota was then ordered back to Fort Snelling, where they expected to be paid as other regiments fighting the Dakota War had been. However, the Army for some reason withheld their pay. The men of the Third Minnesota rioted in St. Paul in protest. I can find no record indicating how serious the riot may have been, or whether the pay dispute was resolved, but by January the regiment was on the move, marching back to the Civil War.

The Third Minnesota was sent to Tennessee where they helped to retake Fort Heiman on the Tennessee River early in 1863. They conducted counter-guerrilla operations against Confederate troops along the river. Colored Troop units were being organized at the fort, and the Third Minnesota contributed 82 officers for these new units, making it among the top ten sources for USCT officers in the entire Union Army.

In June 1863, the Third Minnesota was sent to Vicksburg and helped to take the city. They were then assigned to the “Arkansas Expedition” to seize Little Rock. They were the first infantry regiment to enter the city. Stanley M. Arthurs painted the regiment entering Little Rock over a pontoon bridge. The painting now hangs in the Minnesota Capitol. They spent several months serving as Provost Guard in Little Rock protecting the state’s constitutional convention.

"Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Entering Little Rock" by Stanley M Arthurs.

In April 1864, most of the regiment re-enlisted, lured by both patriotism and the promise of bonuses. Orrin re-enlisted as well. The regiment then became known as a “veteran unit”, staffed by experienced soldiers.

The Third Minnesota was sent to Pine Bluff, Arkansas that spring, where the heat, mosquitos and contaminated water sources were devastating. Many of the troops fell ill from malaria. The regiment had no quinine (the only treatment for malaria at the time) despite repeated pleas to headquarters from their officers. At one point, so many troops were ill that there weren’t enough healthy troops to bury the regiments’ dead; soldiers from other regiments had to be brought in to handle the burial detail. One of the regiment’s colonels wrote in desperation to Minnesota’s governor and Senator Ramsey, which finally produced results. The state sent the regiment a surgeon carrying a large supply of quinine. Some of the troops were sent home on furlough to recover—many boarding the train home on stretchers-- while the others were sent to a healthier site in Arkansas. Over one hundred soldiers from the regiment were buried in Arkansas.

I can’t imagine how a young man like Orrin who had grown up in the cooler states of New York and Minnesota dealt with the debilitating heat, humidity and disease. He must have been so afraid, watching the suffering and death of his friends and comrades and fearing for his own health. Somehow Orrin survived.

At some point during the final years of the war, Orrin was promoted from private to corporal. He mustered out at war’s end in September 1865 in Arkansas. The regiment headed back to Minnesota, where they attended a celebratory dinner in Red Wing before heading to Fort Snelling. Eager to return to their homes, they turned down St. Paul’s offer of a parade and banquet in their honor and were discharged from service on September 16, 1865.

Orrin Mills' Civil War pension record

Orrin was only 24 years old when he was mustered out of the army. He went home to Blue Earth County and began farming. He married Harriet Jane Britt on April 21, 1868, and their daughter, Carrie Belle Mills, was born a year later on July 6, 1869. Tragically, Harriet died six days later from childbirth complications. Eight months later, Orrin married Harriet’s sister, Martha Isabelle Britt. They had six children of their own.

Orrin and Martha Mills and six of their children, circa 1887. Photo courtesy of totapaint on Findagrave.

In 1891, Orrin and Martha and five of their children moved to Kitsap County, Washington where Orrin started farming in the Port Orchard area. Eventually their eldest son, Olney Orrin Mills, moved to Port Orchard as well.

Orrin died October 31, 1917 at age 77. According to his obituary, he was still a vigorous, active man up until the moment of death:

“Up till 2 o’clock he had been working on his place picking apples, after which he took his gun and went out hunting. Returning in the evening, he took his milk pail and went to the barn to do the milking.” He collapsed “just as he had taken the milking stool in his hands” and was found dead of a heart attack by one of his daughters. Orrin was buried at Bethel Cemetery in Kitsap County, Washington. His headstone bears the inscription:

Life’s race well run,

Life’s work well done,

Life’s Crown well won,

Now comes rest.”

Photo by Mick Hersey on Findagrave.

A fitting tribute for a veteran of a renowned Civil War regiment.

Sources:

Union Regimental Histories: Minnesota. Third Regiment Infantry. http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmninf1.htm

3^rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. http://Libguides.mnhs.org/cwmu/infantry3

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm#sort=score+desc&q=orrin+mills

Third Minnesota Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment. https://www.mnopedia.org/third-minnesota-volunteer-infantry-regiment

Photos of Mills’ Civil War Pin and Mills in Civil War, posted by June Mills Marcus n Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/46986934/person/24020284640/media/04ebe18b-62d3-4cf5-b198-6ce5280d12ed?_phsrc=Acy5398&usePUBJs=true&galleryindex=3&albums=pg&showGalleryAlbums=true&tab=0&pid=24020284640&sort=-created

Painting- "Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Entering Little Rock" by Stanley M Arthurs. https://collections.mnhs.org/search/collections/record/10413809?__hstc=98931905.c78978b6bb3504b2a5ad823a719f44a0.1718063865104.1719612820147.1719630157282.6&__hssc=98931905.2.1719630157282&__hsfp=2678111119

Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-1865. Charles E. Flandreau. Minnesota Board of Commissioners on Publication of History of Minnesota. https://archive.org/details/minnesotacivil01minnrich/page/164/mode/2up

Drawing of Battle of Wood Lake, by Colonel Alonzo Putnam Connolly - Minnesota Historical Society - https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/multimedia/wood-lake

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

The Language of the Old Country: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Language”

The Fiction that Our Immigrant Ancestors Quickly Learned English

People who are hostile to new U.S. immigrants often complain that immigrants cling to their home country’s language and prefer to live with other immigrants. What happened to the idea of the melting pot, these people gripe. Our ancestors learned English right after they came to America, and quickly adopted American culture, they claim. They chide today’s immigrants, demanding that they learn to speak English! Now!

But did our ancestors really embrace American culture and the English language right after they landed in America? I’m sure there were a few people who did, but most of our immigrant ancestors did the same things that modern immigrants do: they took decades to truly learn English, and they preferred to live with other people from their home country, speaking the Old Country language, eating Old Country foods, and worshipping and reading newspapers in their native language.

Examples abound from my own family. My father’s grandparents all immigrated from Norway, and joined other Norwegian immigrants in Minnesota, forming a Norwegian community in Brown County. Nearby was a German community, and a few miles away, a Swedish community. Each community set up their own churches that used their home country language. Newspapers were printed in their home country language. My father, born in 1917, nearly fifty years after his Syverson grandparents immigrated, spoke with a strong Norwegian accent. Why? Because his parents, who had spent most of their lives in America, spoke Norwegian at home as well as English.

An example is this postcard from my great-uncle Siver Syverson addressed to his mother Ragnhild. While my photo cut off the postal cancellation date, the company that made the post card did not begin producing them until 1909. I am guessing Siver travelled to Canada and sent the postcard sometime between 1912 and 1915. Siver was born in the United States in 1882. His parents immigrated in 1868, so Ragnhild had been in America for at least forty years by the time this postcard was written. But her American-born son was still communicating with her in Norwegian.

My father’s family attended a nearby Lutheran church that continued to offer services in Norwegian well into the 1900s. Here is the parish register for my father’s 1917 baptism. The headings are in Norwegian. Most of the ministers that served such churches came directly from Norway to serve American congregations.

My grandmother, Nora Hoffman, was the child of German immigrants, and attended a German Lutheran church in Mankato, Minnesota. Many of the forms they used, like wedding, baptism and confirmation certificates, were written in German. Hymns and services were conducted in German into the 20^th century even though the German immigrants in the area had arrived at least thirty years earlier. Below you can see my grandmother’s 1900 baptism certificate in German.

No matter how eager immigrants are to start new lives in America, they still take pride in their home culture—and they should! I take pride in my Norwegian and German roots, after all. And it is perfectly natural that immigrants would seek to settle near other immigrants from their homeland—it offers a built-in support system and a sense of community. Our ancestors did the same. In addition, English is a complex and difficult language to master, so it is perfectly natural that adults would take decades to become comfortable and fluent, often being forced to rely on their children, who attended schools taught in English, to act as translators.

We accept that we need to examine historical records to trace our ancestors. We also need to look at what historical records tell us about American immigration before we make unfounded claims about our immigrant ancestors’ embrace of American culture and language.

Sources:

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives; Elk Grove Village, Illinois; Congregational Records. Church Name or Description: Lake Hanska Lutheran. Births: 1917. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60722/images/41742_314248-00282?pId=776547

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Rhubarb Cake Memories: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Favorite Recipe”

Summer Sweet Treat on the Farm: Rhubarb Cake

Ione Norene Macbeth Peterson: 1928-2019 (Mother)

My parents always had a big clump or two of rhubarb in the yard or garden, and one of my favorite summertime treats was mom’s rhubarb cake. Most people think of strawberry rhubarb pie when they think of rhubarb desserts, but in our family, we made rhubarb sauce—like applesauce with chopped rhubarb instead of apples, and a whole lot of sugar—and rhubarb cake.

The cake recipe called for buttermilk, but my mom was not a fan of buttermilk, so she just added some vinegar to whole milk to make sour milk, which provided a similar taste and texture to the cake. My favorite part was the cinnamon sugar sprinkled on the top of the cake. I loved cinnamon, and when baked on the cake, it became a crispy topping when the sugar started to melt a little—delicious.

My mother probably got this recipe from my grandmother, who also enjoyed rhubarb. Here it is:

Cinnamon Sugar Rhubarb Cake

½ cup butter softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

2 heaping cups finely chopped rhubarb

Topping

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13-inch cake pan.

Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cream butter, sugar and eggs in another bowl. Then add sour milk and vanilla. Add flour mixture. Mix until smooth, then fold in rhubarb. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40-45 minutes until tester comes out clean.

My mom, Ione

Living in California for many years, and now living in southern Texas, I can’t grow rhubarb in my own yard--it needs cooler weather. As a result, I rarely have the chance to bake this cake, but whenever I do, I think of my mom and summers on the farm. I remember the sweet scent of the cake and see myself as a child, impatiently waiting as this cake rested on the stovetop until it was cool enough to cut and eat. Delicious!

Sources:

Photo of rhubarb. Carol Sacks, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Sunday, April 7, 2024

Pioneer of Professional Nursing: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Technology”

Malinda “Linda” A. J. Richards Builds American Nursing Programs

Malinda Ann Judson Richards: 1841-1930 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)

While the prompt “technology” may not, at first blush, seem to apply to someone who was born in 1841, Amy Johnson Crow noted that there have always been technological breakthroughs—just not the type of tech we think of today. The high-tech breakthroughs of past centuries might have been new designs for shovels or knitting needles, a new way of making shoes or hats, or a new field of study. When I looked at the prompt from that perspective, I thought of Linda A. J. Richards. While she is more my collateral ancestor than a direct ancestor (only a second cousin 3x removed), her technological breakthrough was, in my view, one of the most consequential of the late 19^th century: she helped to create the entire nursing profession in America. And I’m not the only one who recognizes her importance. A simple Google search finds that she is the subject of several biographies and encyclopedia entries, and has been honored by everyone from the Smithsonian, the New York State Senate, the Florence Nightingale Museum, the Women’s Hall of Fame, and a variety of nursing groups.

Malinda Ann Judson Richards was the great-granddaughter of my fourth-great-grandparents Francis Dane and Abiah Burt. She was born July 27, 1841 in Potsdam, New York, to parents Sanford Richards and Betsey Sinclair (Betsey was the daughter of Sarah Dane, and granddaughter of Abiah and Francis Dane). She was the second of their four daughters.

Malinda, or Linda as she came to be called, watched as both her parents succumbed to tuberculosis. Her father died when she was only four years old. Linda, her mother, and her siblings then moved to Vermont to live with her grandfather. She helped to nurse her mother, who died when she was fourteen.

Linda gained a reputation as a “natural nurse” and tried to learn as much as possible from the doctor who treated her mother. At age fifteen, she enrolled in a one-year teaching training program at the St. Johnsbury Academy near her grandfather’s home. She taught school in Newbury, Vermont, and also worked at the Union Straw Works, a hat-making factory, in Foxboro, Massachusetts. She became engaged to a young man named George Poole, but he enlisted to serve in the Civil War before they married. He was seriously injured in the war, and Linda nursed him for several years until his death in 1869.

After his loss, Linda sought out a nursing program, enrolling in a new programs at New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. Linda described her training in her memoir:

“We rose at 5.30 a.m. and left the wards at 9 p.m. to go to our beds, which were in little rooms between the wards. Each nurse took care of her ward of six patients both day and night. Many a time I got up nine times in the night; often I did not get to sleep before the next call came. We had no evenings out, and no hours for study or recreation. Every second week we were off duty one afternoon from two to five o'clock. No monthly allowance was given for three months.”

She was the first of the students to complete her training in 1873, so was the first officially trained nurse in the United States. She took a position at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, where she created a charting system to keep individual patient records that could be consulted and updated by all the doctors and nurses caring for a patient.

Only a little over a year later, she was named the superintendent of the Boston Training School for Nurses. The school had been in danger of closing due to mismanagement, but her improvements led it to become one of the best nursing programs in the nation.

In 1877, Linda travelled to England to train under Florence Nightingale. When she returned to the United States, she set about incorporating her new knowledge in nursing programs. From 1886 to 1891, she lived in Japan where she served as a missionary and opened the first nursing training school in the country.

Linda in Japan

Linda’s health began to fail after she returned to the United States. She briefly led nursing programs in Philadelphia and Boston, and then turned her energy to developing nursing programs for mental hospitals in Massachusetts and Michigan, and improving the ways mental patients were treated. She also served as the first president of the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools.

Linda retired from nursing in 1911 at the age of seventy. She went to live on a farm in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1923, she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized until her death on April 16, 1930 at the age of 88.

Linda A. J. Richards was a true pioneer in the field of nursing, helping to develop it as a profession in the United States and establishing patient charting systems and standards of care for the mentally ill. Her determination, creativity and perseverance are to be admired and remembered.

Sources:

American Association for the History of Nursing. “Linda A. J. Richards.” https://www.aahn.org/richards

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

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2006/11/linda-richards.html#google_vignette

https://www.workingnurse.com/articles/linda-richards-1841-1930-the-first-graduate-of-americas-first-nursing-school/

https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/linda-richards/

https://www.si.edu/object/miss-linda-richards-americas-first-trained-nurse%3Anmah_1444535

http://www.potsdampublicmuseum.org/documents/Linda_Richards_text_apr24.pdf

Reminiscences of America's First Trained Nurse. Linda Richards. Boston, Whitcomb & Barrows, 1911.

“Linda Richards at the Kalamazoo State Hospital”. R. C. Gordon. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, Ment Health Serv. 1999 Nov;37(11):35-9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10572854/

Friday, March 29, 2024

Forced Immigration in 1650: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Immigration”

Valentine Hill’s Indentured Scottish Prisoners of War

Valentine Hill: 1611-1660 (Maternal Ninth-Great-Grandfather)

Most immigrants chose to come to America, seeking a better life. However, some people were forced to immigrate, and faced a miserable life once they arrived. They were forced to labor with no compensation, with no right to leave their employer, and no recourse if they were mistreated. Of course African slaves were the majority of these forced immigrants, but there were others. Just like the British prison ships that carried human cargo to Australia to serve as forced labor in the late 1780s, over a century earlier, ships carried prisoners to the American colonies. Once in America, the prisoners were forced into indentured service contracts. Essentially, they were used as slave labor. There was, of course, one major difference from the type of slavery Africans and indigenous people were subjected to: indentured slavery had an endpoint. Once their indenture contracts, usually seven years long, were complete, these people were given their freedom.

My ancestor, Valentine Hill, was a trader in indentured prisoners in the 1650s. He purchased the contracts of Scottish prisoners of war, using them as forced labor in his lumber mills. He also brokered the sale of these prisoners to other property owners in the Durham, New Hampshire area.

So who were these Scottish prisoners of war? An article on the New England Historical Society website provides an excellent summary. In 1650, Oliver Cromwell’s forces invaded Scotland. Twelve thousand Roundheads faced off against eleven thousand Scots in the Battle of Dunbar. The Roundheads won and took thousands of Scots prisoner. Many of these men were forcibly marched to Durham. Many died of disease and starvation. About 150 of these prisoners of war were forced onto the British ship Unity, which carried them to Charlestown, Massachusetts. The shipmaster paid five pounds apiece for the POWs, and sold them for twenty to thirty pounds apiece.

Battle of Dunbar

Most of the men were young and illiterate and spoke only Gaelic. They were forced to sign indenture contracts that they could neither read nor understand.

Valentine Hill bought several of these men in 1650, forcing them to labor in his lumber mills in Durham and on the Lamprey River in New Hampshire.

In 1651, Cromwell’s army defeated a large Scottish army in Worcester, England. Once again, thousands of Scots were taken prisoner and were driven to London under horrible conditions. Some of the survivors of this forced march were shipped off to the colonies. Two hundred seventy-five POWs were loaded onto the ship John and Sara, which sailed for Boston. A Charlestown merchant named John Kemble bought the prisoners’ contracts, and sold them at a mark-up to individuals and businesses. Most of the men ended a variety of Massachusetts towns.

Partial list of John and Sara prisoners

Kemble partnered with Valentine Hill to sell the remaining men in Exeter and Durham, New Hampshire, and York, Maine. By this point in his life, Valentine Hill was struggling financially, selling off much of his land in the Boston area and consolidating his remaining businesses in the New Hampshire area. He must have been thrilled to make money from the sale of the Scots prisoners, while still profiting from the labor of his previously purchased prisoners.

I wonder how those men fared under Valentine Hill’s control. Did he provide adequate food and shelter? Did he punish them with whips or beat them if they didn’t work to his satisfaction? All we know for certain is that at least seven of his workers survived to complete their contracts, for the New England Historical Society’s article states that, “Seven of Valentine Hill’s Scottish POWs…were listed as taxpayers in Dover, N.H., after their slavery ended.”

I also found another website for the descendants of one of Hill’s indentured Scotsmen, the Micum Mcintire Clan Association. (see citation below). The site contained the names of several of the freed indentured workers, including Robert Junkins, John Carmichael, Henry Brown, Thomas Doughty, James Orr and Edwin Erwin. The article also states that Hill’s indentured men mostly worked felling trees for the sawmills, and they may have also been involved in construction of buildings in Oyster River. The article’s author, Jonathan Tucker, stated that the men worked four days per week and attended church one day, and the rest of their time could work on their own account. He discussed Hill’s purchase of a four-acre plot near his mill in 1652, stating that his indentured workers were allowed to construct cabins for themselves and garden on the land. Tucker did not provide references for his assertions, so I can’t look at his evidence myself. I hope that his information is correct, and that Valentine Hill was a decent master.

Oyster River area with Valentine Hill property location noted

Most of the indentured Scottish POWs never returned to their homeland. Most, like Valentine Hill’s seven, started new lives in the colonies. The Historical Society article states that many married Irish girls who had also been indentured and sent to the colonies to labor.

Valentine Hill lived only three years more after his indentured workers received their freedom. He died November 3, 1660 or 1661 at the Oyster River Plantation near Durham, N.H. He was only 50 years old. He died in debt to several people, including his brother John back in London, and his brother-in-law Thomas Cobbett in the colonies.

Sources:

https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/how-scottish-pows-were-sold-as-slave-labor-in-new-england/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37074695/valentine-hill

National Park Service: Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site: “Scottish Prisoners at the Iron Works. “https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/scottish-prisoners-at-the-iron-works.htm#:~:text=The%20Scots%20were%20soldiers%20who,indentured%20servants%20for%20seven%20years.

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinion/2022/10/11/york-america-history-arrival-scottish-prisoners/8235716001/

“Oyster River—Micum’s Indenture”, by Jonathan Tucker. https://micummcintireclanassociation.org/oyster-river/

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Grandma Peterson’s Green Glassware: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Heirlooms”

Treasures from the Basement: Grandma Regina’s Custard Cups and Saucers

Regina Syverson: 1872-1952 (Paternal Grandmother)

When I was a little girl, I loved to explore the old wooden shelves in the basement of our farmhouse. They held a random assortment of items—the shelving equivalent of today’s kitchen “junk drawer”. There were tools and nuts and bolts my dad had set down, work gloves, some cleaning supplies, broken items awaiting repairs, jars of buttons or nails, and various bits of kitchenware of my grandmother’s that didn’t make the cut to keep upstairs. My favorite pieces were small green glassware items—deep, oddly shaped little bowls and tiny saucers made to hold the bowls. All that I knew about the pieces was that they had belonged to Grandma Regina, and that I thought they were beautiful, even crusted in dust.

When I grew up, I rescued these little pieces from the basement. By then, I had spent time with a friend whose mother collected “Depression Glass”, mass-produced glassware in translucent colors manufactured during the period from 1929 until 1939, during the Great Depression. I recognized that these dark green glass pieces shared similarities with Depression Glass, and as a result, were probably also collectible.

My basement treasures

I did some research on the pieces. I discovered they were manufactured by Anchor Hocking, a well-known glass manufacturer. The pattern was called “Sandwich” and the color was Forest Green. The mysteriously-shaped bowls were intended to serve custard, and were meant to sit elegantly upon their little saucers for sophisticated dessert lovers.

Custard cup

According to websites dealing with vintage glass, several companies made Sandwich pattern glassware. The patterns “have a flower and ornate scroll motif with the space between filled with stippling (tiny raised dots).” Sandwich patterns were based on patterns developed by glass artisans in Sandwich, Massachusetts in the 1800s, hence the name. Anchor Hocking was one of the later companies to use the Sandwich style pattern on both clear and Forest Green glass dishware.

Sandiwch pattern details including the scrolls, dahlia-like flowers, and stippling are visible on the bottom of this saucer.

According to glassonweb.com (see citation below), Anchor Hocking produced Forest Green Sandwich pattern pieces between 1939 and 1964. Many of the pieces “were used as promotional items at grocery stores and gas stations. Five of the items, in Forest Green, were included free inside boxes of Crystal Wedding brand oats.”

I suspect that my Grandma Regina acquired her pieces as free promotions. She had been raised to be thrifty, and it would certainly explain why she owned only a few pieces that didn’t seem to suit her farmwife lifestyle. I doubt she was serving a lot of custard. I read on another site that the Crystal Wedding Oats promo began in the mid-1950s. Grandma Regina died in 1952, so she must have participated in an earlier promotion program.

Since I loved these little bowls and saucers so much, I started looking for more pieces at antique stores and on Ebay to build my collection. I acquired a set of six juice glasses, six small bowls, six teacups and saucers, and a few more custard cups. I couldn’t find any dinner plates—they are extremely rare as they were never included in any promotional campaigns. I finally settled for clear Sandwich pattern plates and bought plastic chargers in dark green to place beneath them. I now have enough dishes to be able to use them on special occasions.

Grandma Regina Syverson Peterson late in life

While my Anchor Hocking pieces are popular vintage collectibles, they are far less valuable than true Depression Glass. I acquired most of my pieces for only a few dollars. However, these charming little pieces have great personal value. They connect me to the grandmother who died seven years before I was born. While we never met, Regina and I obviously shared a love for the deep green color and charming floral pattern of this glassware. To me, they are true family heirlooms.

Sources:

“Anchor Hocking’s Sandwich Pattern” by Virginia Scott. Rainbow Review Glass Journal, March 1976. Accessed on National Depression Glass Association’s webpage. https://www.ndga.net/rainbow/1976/76rrg03a.php

“Sandwich Glass and Sandwich Pattern Glassware”. https://www.glassonweb.com/news/sandwich-glass-and-sandwich-pattern-glassware#:~:text=Anchor%20Hocking%20produced%20their%20version,of%20Crystal%20Wedding%20brand%20oats.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Auto Accident Kills Young Couple: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Automobiles”

Tragic Accident Kills Phyllis Ott and Husband

Phyllis Ott Walters: 1919-1943 (Maternal First Cousin 1x Removed)

While researching my grandaunt Ethel Macbeth Ott for the previous post, I found more records relating to her two daughters. I immediately noted that Ethel’s younger daughter, Phyllis, died when she was only 23 years old. What could have happened? Then I discovered a news article in an old family scrapbook that explained how a car accident on a February afternoon eighty-one years ago ended not just Phyllis’ life, but the lives of two others.

Start of long Mankato Free Press article clipped and saved by my great-aunt Annie Schostag

Phyllis Ethel Ott was born April 14, 1919 to George Henry Ott and Ethel Macbeth Ott. She grew up in the Mankato area of Minnesota, where she met her husband Ralph Walters. Ralph grew up on a farm near Waseca, Minnesota. Ralph and Phyllis married June 27, 1937; he was 22, and Phyllis was 18 years old.

Ralph worked on road construction through a WPA program, and also did farm work. The couple moved frequently during the early years of their marriage, as can be seen on Ralph’s WWII draft card, which had three separate addresses listed.

Their son, Monte Walters, was born October 17, 1939. Sadly, little Monte died just two months later on December 31, 1939.

On February 21, 1943, life was probably looking up for Ralph and Phyllis. Ralph had a steady income at last as he was working at Kato Engineering, the same firm employing his father-in-law. They were living on Front Street in Mankato. They were young—28 and 23—and had their lives ahead of them.

Ralph and Phyllis were returning from a visit to Ralph’s parents —the Walters had moved to North Branch, Minnesota, about 55 miles north of the Twin Cities. The couple had spent four days with Ralph’s parents and were headed home on Highway 169 that Sunday afternoon. At about 4:30 p.m., Ralph lost control of his car, possibly when the wheels struck a “bump” on the pavement. The car plowed into the side of a cattle truck seven miles north of LeSueur, Minnesota. According to the news article, the car was nearly demolished by the impact. Ralph died at the scene—the driver’s side of the car would have sustained the most damage.

Phyllis survived the crash, but she suffered a skull fracture and internal injuries. She was taken to a hospital in Shakopee, a town nearly thirty miles north of the crash. My aunt, the scrapbook compiler, wrote on the article that Phyllis “died a few days later”. Death records show she died February 23.

Tragically, Alfred Albrecht, an undertaker from Shakopee who was called to the crash scene, suffered a heart attack at home after helping to extract Ralph’s body from the wreckage and then carrying Phyllis into the office of the closest doctor. Albrecht died, so was the third death resulting from this single auto accident.

Fortunately, the driver and passengers in the cattle truck received minimal injuries.

This tragic accident shows how important safety improvements like seat belts, antilock brakes, and improved auto construction have helped to prevent similar deaths. In addition, Highway 169, which I have driven dozens of times, is now a divided highway, providing even more safety if a car loses control.