Masa Branch Southwick - Scientific America

Masa Branch Southwick, my Very Great Uncle was named after his Mother's father, Amasa Branch.  Masa was born 5 April 1801 in Orwell, Addison, Vermont. When he was 13 his mother passed and at age 14 he was sent off to apprentice with Plinty Moore as a carder of wool. He learned about dying the fabric, weaving the fabric, and all the machine used in the cloth making. At the age of 17 he was sent by his employer Judge Moore to Chambly, La Vallée-du-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada to oversee the Mill that the family owned. He was later made a partner with Judge Moore at a new Mill they opened in Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. After Judge Moore passed Masa bought the Mill and married Eliza Andres. They had 2 daughters one dying days after her birth and the other after a year. In 1832 Masa brought apple seed to the area and started an orchard. 

He wrote the following poem about his home.

A DREAM OF HOME
Home! Home! At last I've found thee!
Thou dearest spot on earth:
Each nook and tree around thee
And e'en the rough old hearth.
Are dearer now than ever.
Since far from thee and thine
I've roamed o'er hill and river;
O! There's no home like mine! -M.B.S.

In 1841 there was a horrific tragedy at the mill. A woman and her sister had come to see her husband when one their skirts got tangled in a machine. The sister tried to save her but failed to do so and ended up becoming trapped and killed in the same machine herself. 

In 1856 Masa patented a machine used in preparing vegetables, notably potatoes for preservation. It also worked for squash and pumpkins. 

In 1861 he invented and patented a Tow Cleaner used in the threshing of flax, hemp and fibers used in cloth making. He made improvements to existing machines for the manufacturing of flax and food preservation. He obtained numerous other patents in England, Canada and America. Masa sent samples of the preserved meats, fruits and vegetables created by his inventions to the Paris Exposition and won a Bronze Medal. He was awarded a Silver Medal in Canada. He was made an honorary Member of the Mechanics Institute in Montreal in 1854. He ran his numerous businesses for more than 75 years, held a commission for the local courts, held a local office and was a Major in the Canadian Militia for which he received many honors. 
1871 Masa's Flax Break invention is mentioned and written about in Scientific America. 
In 1869 Masa has a stroke which debilitated him and in 1879 he passed. 

He was extremely creative, inventive and well liked in his community and considered a fair and honest business man.  

George Nicklaus Flack - Butcher of Lexington Market

George Nicklaus Flack came to America in 1850 from Saxony Germany he is my very Great Uncle. He was 17 when he arrived in Baltimore. In 1855 he met the lovely Justina Meister  from Bayern Germany. They were married on 14 October 1855 at St. Alphonsus Church in Baltimore. He was a Butcher by trade as was his brother Henry. He owned stall number 57 in the Lexington Market. 

                            Lexington Market circa 1903

The Lexington Market is the oldest Market in America and was founded in 1782 when General John Eager Howard donated a portion of his families pasture land near Baltimore to be used as a Market. The Market was named Lexington Market as tribute to the the first battle of the American Revolution in Lexington. The market opened at 2:00 A.M. with a bell and closed with a bell at noon. He also had a stall at Centre Market in Baltimore. 

                                                                      Centre Market, from Fielding Lucas, Picture of Baltimore

George was very involved with his church even serving as an escort/pall bearer at the funeral of the Reverend  William B. Bartlett in 1900. Reverend William was the Pastor at St. Ana's Catholic Church. 

George passed on 11 April 1900.  On 16 November 1900 his stall in Lexington Market was sold at Public Auction. 

Garland Tolbert Gerald - Gaine's Mill Battle

Garland Tolbert Gerald was in Texas by 14 February 1848, his father having planted 1,950 seed cotton and  enough corn for 50 bushels. This was reported in the Democratic Telegraph and Texas Register newspaper. The report comes from farmers in Montgomery County in the Uplands. The 1850 census has the Gerald family living in Walker County but it does not say where. 

Garland Tolbert Gerald is my 1st cousin 4x removed.  His mother is Juliet Trigg Pearis a direct ancestor and his father is Garland Sims Gerald. Prior to about 1840 their last name was spelled Jarrell. Most of the clan has kept the Jarrell spelling my branch kept the Gerald spelling. 

1860 finds Garland T. in Giles County, Virginia near the village of Staffordsville. He is day labor for his brother William who is a farm tenant. He lives with his brother William and family on the farm.  He is 24 and was born in Giles County, Virginia in July 1837. 

On 25 July 1861 Garland enlists in Company H, Virginia 8th Calvary Regiment.  This Regiment was organized for about a year with nine companies. Then in May 1862 it was reorganized. On 28 April 1862 Garland is assigned to Company E, 19th Infantry Regiment, Virginia in Yorktown Virginia.  They are known as the "Piedmont Guards". 

The  7 Days Battle broke out on 24 June 1862 and lasted about 7 days. 

                                Gaines’ Mill - June 27, 1862 4:00-4:30pm

BATTLE MAP | American Battlefield Trust's map of the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, Virginia on June 27, 1862

 27 June 1862 the companies lined up and faced off with the Federal troops. This was about to be the largest assault of the Civil War  and Company E of the 19th Infantry, part of the 16 Brigades called to the location were there with Garland Tolbert Gerald among them.  A little over 57,000 Confederate Troops were involved in what became the second bloodiest Battle of the Civil War. 

                                      Battle of Gaines' Mill by Alfred Waud

The Battle at Gaines Mill. 1,483 men were killed, 108 went missing or were captured and 6,402 were wounded including Garland Tolbert Gerald. He was wounded by a barrage of "grapeshot" which inflicted multiple wounds but tore up his lower left leg so tremendously it had to be amputated. 

Garland meets the Widow Jane Hallett and falls in love. He marries her on 2 February 1875. Their daughter Louisa Pearis Gerald is born in March of 1877. 

In 1900 Garland, his wife Jane and daughter, Louisa Pearis Gerald are living on a farm near Jeffersonville in Tazewell County, Virginia and he is farming. 1910 census shows that his wife Jane claims she has had 0 births and 0 children. I have not found much evidence of their daughter Louisa except for an excerpt in a newspaper from May 1900 where she and her father are shopping. 

In August of 1911 Garland Tolbert Gerald put notice in the Tazewell Republican newspaper that he was going to run for Constable of the Jeffersonville Magisterial District.  

After a lingering illness Garland passes on 19 April 1916 and is buried at Concord Church Cemetery in Tazewell County. 

Ebeneezer Parsons - Death at Northfield

Remember Mary Bliss, the witch? I told her story back in December. She had 12 children and this is the tale of her son Ebeneezer Parsons. He is my 1st cousin 9x removed which means we share a grandfather and are separated by 9 generations. 

He was born in May 1655 in Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. He is Mary's fifth child and the first European male child to be born in Northampton.  

In a battle in Northfield on 2 September  1675 he is wounded and dies on the battlefield. He was only 20. The superstitious and small minded people of the village of Northampton declared that this was GOD punishing Mary for her dealings and familiarity with the Devil.

In the early morning hours of 2 September 1675 a vast army of Indians surrounded the settlement of Northfield and patiently waited for them to begin the days chores. While the men were engaged in their fields and the women occupied with daily chores and children the attack on Northfield occurred. 8 men were killed in that first battle. Ebeneezer Parsons was among them. 

Aaron Charles Cheuvront - Flat Bottom Boat

Around 1838 Aaron Charles Cheuvront, and his family left their home in Lewis County Virginia and boarded a flatboat floating the Monongahela, West Fork and  Ohio Rivers. 

                         Artist, Alfred R. Waud

They floated to Ravenswood until they came to the Sandy Creek and headed up the creek. They took the Left Fork of Sandy Creek and ended up at their new home off Drift Run near Nesselroad Run and Lockhart. He traveled with 3 of his brothers, his sister Priscilla, her husband and all the children. The older boys of the families drove the cattle and other livestock across country to the homestead. 

By 1840 Aaron has settled in and is farming. He has one son still living with him and his wife Sarah (Richards).  She passes in 1841 and Aaron marries a woman named Matilda. He is 68 years old in 1850, still farming and his widowed daughter Elizabeth Maddox, her 5 children and Matilda are all in the home. 

Aaron must have brought enough equipment from his old homestead in Lewis County when he moved to Jackson County to care for all his farm and his brother and sister's farm and home blacksmith needs.  He was the first blacksmith in the Lockhart area.

On 9 February 1863 Aaron Charles Cheuvront, my Very Great Grandfather dies and is buried in the Maddox Cemetery in Lockhart, Jackson County, West Virginia. 

Spencer D. Pennell - Ghost of Bidwell Bar

Spencer D. Pennell was born 30 January 1825 to Joseph D. Pennell and his wife the former Miss Davis. When Spencer was about 5 his mother passed away and Joseph married Phoebe Stockman. Spencer was born in Canandaigua in Ontario, New York. The name Canandaigua comes from the Seneca word Kanandarque which translates to "the chosen place". The town is located at the northern end of Lake Canandaigua where springs of burning natural gas were recorded by Robert de la Salle when he explored in 1669.

I can find nothing else on Spencer until his death in Bidwell, Butte County, California.  

Bidwell Bar, a gold mining camp in Butte County was located at the end of the California Trail and was founded by John Bidwell in 1848. John Bidwell who was 21 and Captain John Bartleson  were the first to put together an emigration attempt with a wagon train heading out from Missouri and ending in California in 1841. There were 60 members in this group of travelers and the trip took 5 months and covered 2,008 miles of desert, dry lake basin and mountains. Half of the group changed their minds at Sheep Rock, Idaho and took the Oregon Trail. The rest all made their way to California with no maps and no guides. Everyone survived the trip. 

In 1842 Bidwell turned his diary of the journey over to a publishing company and many future emigrants and travelers would use the book as a guide. Was Spencer part of the first group of travelers or was he inspired by reading the book. Maybe he was tempted by the gold found at his hero's mining camp, Bidwell Bar and took off for riches and adventure with Bidwell's Diary Book in hand. 

On 4 July 1848 John Bidwell discovered gold on the Middle Fork of Feather River. By 1851 Bidwell had a population of about 2000 which warranted a post office and made it the County Seat for Butte County. By 1853 the population had soared to over 3,000. On 2 August 1854 a fire broke out in the town and most of it was destroyed. 

UNION HOUSE BIDWELL BAR CA. A fire destroyed the first Union House (also known as Fitzgerald House) August 2 1854 along with most of the town.

My 2nd cousin, Spencer D. Pennell died on 22 August 1854. Just 20 days after the start of the fire. Did he die from injuries he received as a result of the fire. 

Nathanael Chapman - Son of Saybrook

Nathanael Chapman was the youngest son of Robert and Ann (Bliss) Chapman. He was born 16 February 1653 in Saybrook Connecticut.  This is just 5 years after the burning of Fort Saybrook in the winter of 1648. The Saybrook colony was established in 1635 and is one of the oldest in New England. Robert Chapman, Nathanael's father is among the first settlers of Saybrook. 

In 1681 Nathanael marries Mary Collins and their first child, a son is born. He is also named Nathanael but dies when he is about 5 months old. Their next child is also a son and they name him Nathanael. Daniel and John are born later. In August of 1695 Mary dies and Nathanael is left with 3 young boys. He marries Hannah Bates in 1698 three daughters and 2 sons come from their union. 

Nathanael calls himself a husbandman in his will and he did own vast amounts of farmland all over the area. He had land along the Oyster River, Hagar's Creek, the seaside, land in the town of Hebron, 75 acres at and along Deep River and Pattaconk Creek. 35 acres at Clapboard Hill, 22 acres at Cook's Hill, land at Treacle Hill, and 85 acres near an old iron mine. He had plats of land in the original sectioned off Oyster River Quarter. He owned 2 oxen, 22 cows, 4 horses, and 60 sheep. He owned a cart, a harrow, a plow and all the harness and yokes.  A loom and everything necessary to weave wool into cloth.  He also had many beds and much furniture in his home along with a sword, small gun and ammunition.  The inventory of his estate at the probate of his will is amazing. 

He was very active in the church and became a highly respected and loved Deacon of the church. He was involved in local politics. On 5 April 1726 Nathanel Chapman passes away.