"The winter New England storms" of 1716-17, 1802 and 1876, as remembered in 1891(Week 35: Disaster)

Winters to Remember---1778, The North Shore certainly has seen its share of "Winters to remember," and many of these were chronicled by historian Sidney Perley in his "Historic Storms of New England." (1891) (Photos have been added by the blogger.)

"One of the most devastating snowstorms in local history occurred in a few-month period beginning in December 1716 & ending in late February the following year.  A series of December snowstorms left five feet of snow on the ground, & by mid-Feb. a base of three feet still blanketed the area.  But the worst was yet to come.  On Feb. 18, a heavy  snowstorm enveloped New England & lasted for four days.  It abated briefly on the 22nd. & 23rd., but resumed on the 24th. with a vengeance.  By the end of the storm, the North Shore lay under 10 to 15 feet of snow.

A modern snow storm!

"Many single-story homes were covered.  Residents dug tunnels beneath the snow between their homes & their barns or neighbors' houses.  Those wishing to walk on top of the snow needed snowshoes to do so.The impact of the storm on livestock & wild animals in the area was devastating.  Flocks of sheep & herds of cattle & horses were buried under the deep snow & suffocated.  Miraculously, nearly a month after the storm ended, two sheep were found alive under 16 feet of snow.  They had survived by eating the wool of their dead companions.Starving bears, foxes & wolves hunted down equally hungry deer & ate them. Perley notes that 19 out of every 20 deer in the region were killed in this period.

The great snow hurricane of 1804

"Snowstorms were equally treacherous to mariners.  In a terrible blizzard in Feb. 1802, three Salem ships--The Brutus, the Ulysses, & the Volusia were aground in the shallow waters off Cape Cod.  The crew members of the latter two vessels were fortunate enough to be rescued by local inhabitants.  The seamen on the Brutus were not so lucky as nine of the 14 crew members perished.  One of the survivors, Benjamin Ober of Manchester, came to be buried up to his neck in sand & snow.  He was too weak to dig his way out & his voice was way too hoarse to yell to potential rescuers.  Finally after 36 agonizing hours, he was rescued.  Sadly, he expired shortly thereafter.

"Perley recounts the plight of two Marblehead men, Thomas Hooper & Valentine Tidder Jr; during a blizzard that hit New England in early Dec. 1876.  The men left Salem on foot for home after dark on a Saturday night despite the fact that it had been snowing heavily for nearly 24 hours.  The two became disoriented & eventually got separated from each other.  Their bodies were found in open fields far from the Salem-Marblehead road.

"Two other area men fared better during that same storm, Samuel Pulsifer & Samuel Elwell were trapped near Hog Island in Ipswich & took refuge in the middle of a haystack.  The hay kept them warm & dry for a time, but eventually the haystack was carried away by rising waters.  The terrified pair floated for hours atop the pile, & were headed out to sea.  Eventually, though, they were able to summon enough strength & courage to jump onto a passing cake of ice which eventually took them to an island very close to shore.  There they were rescued by Maj. Charles Smith of Ipswich.

At Ancestry.com this is the source listed..Geneology of the Swasey Family 1910 by Benjamin Swasey an ebook that is available on line.

I was caught by the name Samuel Pulsifer, because a few generations before, some of the Pulsifer family moved to Louisiana and Texas...and Lucy Pulsifer, who was born in 1807 in Newburyport, MA moved to the area that would become Beaumont Texas.  Well, I don't know how she was related to the poor man in the haystack in 1876 near Ipswitch. There were still family members in Massachusetts so they could have been relatives.

I am reminded that storms are a force of nature, which make humans feel so small and insignificant.  And there are many that happen and aren't recorded and noticed by humanity.  I wonder if in pre-historic days there were ever cave-paintings or carvings to indicate these forces.  I have never heard of them if they existed.

Originally on my blog on Monday, September 30, 2013.

NOTE: 2023. I spent hours looking for a Samuel Pulsifer on Ancestry, going back to the first immigrant, Benjamin Pulsifer. Nobody had a son named Samuel. So perhaps he also was an immigrant.

Week 34 (Aug. 20-26): Newest Discovery

 I just discovered another ancestor who was a militiaman in the War of 1812.

Frederick A. Williams had moved from his home county of Orangeburg, South Carolina between 1790 and 1810 to Somerset, Pulaski County KY.  In 1800 he was actually on census reports for both residences. It is possible he'd moved with his family, but hadn't been able to sell his land in South Carolina, so continued to be counted there, probably along with other family members.

With a last name like Williams, it is hard as can be to figure out who was related to whom.  But Frederick did take part in the War of 1812, according to a microfilm of US War of 1812 Soldiers. I could not find Mitchisson's 14th Regt on any Kentucky militia lists, but I'm pretty new to this. So the question becomes, did he fight northward toward Detroit, or southward toward New Orleans? Kentucky militia was active in both battle areas. No answer at this point. In 1812 he would have turned 48. Many other militia men were past their youth as well.

Name	Frederick Williams
Company	14 REG'T (MITCHISSON'S) KENTUCKY MILITIA.
Rank - Induction	PRIVATE
Rank - Discharge	PRIVATE
Roll Box	227
Microfilm Publication	M602

I am also very fortunate to have his marriage certificate (from South Carolina) to Cassandra Elizabeth Tate, in 1785.

Confusion may follow when we see a North Carolina land grant in 1799 in Orange County there...not South Carolina. OK, here's even more confusion, as South Carolina has Orange County as well as Orangeburg County. 

So the North Carolina land grant in 1799 in Orange County may have been for service rendered during the Revolutionary War, or perhaps belongs to another man of the same name. There's no other record linking him there that I've found.

But an ah-ha can be found that he was serving jury duty in Saxe-Gotha, Oangeburgh District of South Carolina in 1780...

Name	Frederick Williams
Gender	M (Male)
State	South Carolina
County	Orangeburgh District
Town	Saxe-Gotha
Residence Year	1780
Household Remarks	He is on the Petit Jury List for the "District of Orangeburgh" [name found on the reverse side of page 12].

Orangeburgh County is close to Charleston SC, see the tiny outlined county.

By 1800 he appears in Pulaski KY...nowhere near North Carolina!

And just to finish the geography of his life... he died in McMinn County TN...southwest of Knoxville on the map below, probably the residence of one of his children. I'm now going to go through the names he lists in his will, some of whom might be granchildren actually.

The greatest new discovery is his own will, written Aug. 27, 1831, several months before his death on Nov. 18, 1831 at 67 years of age. It confirms his wife was Casandra. And appoints executors of Richard Williams and Robert Williams. Interestingly enough, he starts by saying he's Frederick Williams, but then his mark is for Andrew Williams. He was Frederick Andrew Williams (1763-1831).

I've verified all the names of his descendants to receive equal portions of his estate, except the last one, Cosain Baker.  At this point his wife, Casandra Williams had given birth to 13 children...all of whom apparently lived to adulthood. Most married and had more children, including my 3rd great grandfather who moved from KY to Missouri.  Some of his children moved to Texas and were part of my mother's family around San Antonio.

Oh, here's the transcription of the above will, with several misspellings.

Sharing with 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks, Generations Cafe on FB.

Another great grandfather with a short life

For Generation's Cafe' on FaceBook, and 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Theme this week is "Fast"

An edited repost from Feb. 11, 2019 

William Sandford Rogers 

Born February 9, 1850, in Huntsville, Texas, he was the son of George Washington Rogers and Lucinda Benson Gibbs Rogers.  Let me honor my Great-grandfather on the Rogers side of my tree.  He is listed in the 1850 census of Walker County, Texas...being 4 months old.  There his father is identified as a merchant.

My grandfather said he was known as W. Sam, though my grandfather didn't remember him at all, having been almost 2 when he died. 

In the 1870 census, W. Sam at 20, is living in Mount Lebanon, Bienville Parish, LA.  This is where a lot of his mother's family (the Gibbs) had settled, as well as Rogers.   He is part of a household of his mother "Luci" at age 30. (*note the date is probably a bit wrong, since he wasn't born when she was 10 years old.)  His siblings Laura (18) Alice (16) and George (12) live with them.  

Bayou Dorcheat hardwoods from Nature Conservancy

Since his father's death in 1864, it is likely that his mother moved to be close to her family.  The end of the Civil War probably had something to do with that as well.  In 1866 she apparently had his father's remains reburied in the Mount Lebanon cemetery, after he'd been buried originally in Texas.

Mount Lebanon has an interesting history which must coincide with my family's settlement there.  Wikipedia says thus:

Mount Lebanon was probably the first permanent settlement in what is now Bienville Parish. Its pioneers were Baptists from South Carolina who quickly established a church and school. The school became Mount Lebanon University in 1853, but closed during the Civil War to serve as a high school and a Confederate hospital. After the war the school reopened. After years of struggling, it was consolidated in 1906 through the Louisiana Baptist Convention into Louisiana College in Pineville in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana.

The Mount Lebanon Baptist Church was organized in 1837, and the Louisiana Baptist Convention was established there in 1848. One of the Baptist organizers in Mount Lebanon was pastor George Washington Baines, maternal great-grandfather of future U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. The church building is still in use. The sanctuary is separated down the middle; men would sit on one side of the divide, women on the other. There is a balcony where the slaves were seated.

There are eight houses in the town that are on the National Register of Historic Places, including a building once used as a stagecoach stop and hotel.

After the railroad was built through Gibsland, 3 miles north, Mount Lebanon began to decline in population and economic opportunity. The post office was decommissioned in the 1950s."

 I was interested to learn a bit of the topography of the area...one comment said there are hills around Gibbsland.  There's not much of a town either of Mount Lebanon or Gibbsland at this point.

"On December 14, 1876, a Thursday evening, W. Sam married Elizabeth (Bettie) Bass in Willis, Texas, officiated by Rev. D. S. Snodgrass."  I know nothing about the Rev. but think it interesting that he is part of the record on Ancestry. (Their marriage license was obtained on Dec. 11, 1876 in Willis, Montgomery County, Texas.)  Bettie was just 16 and had lost her mother when she was 11.  W. Sam was 26, living with his widowed mother and identified as a farmer in the 1870 census of Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  I wonder how these 2 met! I posted more about Bettie Bass Rogers recently HERE.

They had two children, George Elmore Rogers, born August 28, 1877 (my grandfather) and Annie Lou Gibbs Rogers, born March 10, 1879, both in Willis, Texas.

William Sanford Rogers died May 29, 1879, age 29, and is buried in Huntsville, Texas.

Statue for Sam Houston at Oakwood Cemetery, Huntsville, TX

This marker says "Oakwood Cemetery -This cemetery existed as early as 1846, for three graves were placed here that year. Pleasant Grey, Huntsville's founder, deeded in 1847, a 1,600 square foot plot at this site. The original tract has been greatly enlarged by other donations from local citizens. Numerous graves bear the death date 1869, when a yellow-fever epidemic swept the county. Among the many famous persons buried here are General Sam Houston, Henderson King Yoakum, author of the first comprehensive history of Texas, state congressmen, and pioneer families."

What a short married life W. Sam and Bette had! The family of Rogers sisters of W. Sam took in the 2 children, and even had a guardianship for them.  But by the time George (my grandfather) was old enough to work, he was in Galveston, where his mother was living. She came from a household of many brothers and sisters, but as of now I don't know that she went to any of them when she was widowed at just age 19.  Perhaps the Rogers/Ross family were economically better prepared to care for the 2 children.  For a long time I thought they had been orphaned, but then I saw Bettie on several documents in Galveston.

Ada & George Rogers Sr. and granddaughters Mary Elizabeth and Barbara Booth Rogers 1948 Houston TX. I'm adding this photo to posts in the George Rogers Family Tree.

Ann Sylvester Bowers 1669-1745 Great times 6 grandmother

(Note, my grandchildren are generation 1) in the numbering system in this post, so higher numbers are further back in history. Thanks to the comment below, I need to clarify that the Great times 6 is not using my children or grandchildren's generations at all. It is starting with me and not having any "great" until we go up to the 4th generation before mine.)

Ann Sylvester Bowers was a link between two well-to-do families, the Sylvesters of Shelter Island (at the tip of Long Island NY), and her husband, Jonathan Bowers, whose father became a Quaker in Cambridge MA.

Jonathan and Ann Bowers settled in Swansea, Bristol County, MA.  They also lived in Somerset, MA - probably the same area which changed names as they lived there.

I've honored her life before on blogs. I"ll patch some of them here for a summary. First, going back as far as I can, to a pinnacle person who I know no more about.  (Sometimes known as a brick wall, but sometimes more information can come along, and bing bang, there's someone from further back in history.)

While these women were pinnacles on my tree, they also appear as brick walls, and so I'm adding them to my 52 Ancestors, 52 weeks post for this week, sharing them at Generations Cafe on FaceBook, with this week's topic "The Brick Wall".  (This is a closed group, so check with Amy Johnson Crow.)

Two more matriarchs from 16th Century (edited repost from March 16, 2015) 

10) Ann Sylvester Bowers is daughter of 11) Grissell Brinley Sylvester and 11) Nathaniel Gascoigne Sylvester Capt.

11) Grissell Brinley Sylvester's parents were 12) Thomas Reeves Brinley, (born 1591 in Exeter, Devon, England died 15 Oct 1661 in Datchett, Buckinghamshire, England) and 12) Anna Wase Brinley (b. 1606 in Petworth, Sussex, England, d. 13 Jun 1687 in Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England).  

12) Thomas Reeves Brinley is well documented as the "Auditor General of the Revenues of King Charles I and II."  He left England during the English Civil War by Cromwell, and returned to his post for King Charles II but died a year later.

12) Anna Wase Brinley had 8 children, and also went with her husband when the revolution of Cromwell made Royalists unpopular, and lived into her 80s probably back in her home of Datchet.

Her parents were 13) William Wase (b. May 1580 in Petworth, Sussex, England, d. 19 September 1642 in Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England) and 13) Ann Cole Wase (b. 1582 as recorded in St. Leonard, Heston, London, Middlesex, England, death unknown.)  Apparently she married 13) William Wase when she was 16 in Petworth, Sussex, England.  There is no other information on her at Ancestry at this time.  But she is one of  the earliest matriarchs that I'll be mentioning today (a pinnacle ancestor.)

12) Thomas Reeves Brinley's mother was 13) Joanne Reeves (his middle name from her) (b. 1567 in Exeter, Devon, England, Death in (?) Exeter, Devon, England.) She's my other pinnacle ancestor.

An illustration of Exeter in 1563, entitled Civitas Exoniae (vulgo Excester) urbs primaria in comitatu Devoniae

Exeter has a wonderful history, dating from Roman times and before...and I can't begin to explore all that is in this town.  The map above would have been how it looked during Joanne Reeves lifetime.   

Exeter Cathedral, completed 1400

Looking back to the Sylvesters of Shelter Island, I just want to show their connection to my family.  Their daughter 10) Ann Sylvester married 10) Capt. Jonathan Bowers in 1695.

Their daughter, 9) Mary Bowers married 9) Joseph Swasey, my grandmother's great great something grandparent. (Grandmother was Ada Swasey Rogers.)

And...

The Family Bowers (repost from 2018):

to be posted tomorrow...