Exerpts from the August 2012 Newsletter

My spring newsletter inspired several comments, emails and phone calls. It’s so nice to receive feedback, even when some of it had to do with my faux pas about retired teachers. It seemed like a good idea at the time.  And yes, when I make an error, I do appreciate knowing about it. I want our family history to be as accurate as we can make it. I received some snail mail – what fun to go to the mailbox and find something in there besides bills!

One person who received the letter for the first time mentioned that she did not know the names in the letter. That is probably true for most of you, although if you read them every quarter, some of them may be becoming vaguely familiar. Suffice it to say, these letters go out to the descendants of Daniel Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt, so even if you don’t know all the people, we do all share common threads of DNA.  I did think, though, that a small review might be in order for those of you who have just started receiving the letters.

Our common ancestors are Daniel Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt. Daniel was born in 1814 in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, somewhere in the Amherst area. He traveled to New Brunswick when he was about 18 and settled in the Petitcodiac/Riverglade area, where he built at least two saw mills, farmed, and bought and sold properties. He married Miss Charlotte Hoyt, also born in 1814. She grew up in Portage Vale, New Brunswick. Both are of Loyalist families, and both descend from early settlers of Connecticut who sailed from England. Daniel’s seafaring forefather was Francis Holmes, and Charlotte’s was Simon Hoyt.

Daniel and Charlotte raised a family of twelve children. One of these, a twin of James, was George H. He died at the age of almost three. Three of them had no children: Maggie, Bessie, and Fenwick. The rest of them provided Daniel and Charlotte with 60 grandchildren and 2 step-grandchildren. (I believe I have them all.)Three grandchildren were named Daniel, and two were named Charlotte.

1.       Frances Ann (1837 – 1902) married James W Ballantyne. Five children.

2.       Margaret Eliza (Maggie) (1838 -1916) married William O Snider. No children.

3.       Sarah Louise (1840 – 1906) married Robert Ballantyne. Eight children.

4.       Harriet Olivia (1842 – 1885) married Abner Jones. Ten Children. Abner later had two children with his second wife, Eliza Wilson.

5.       James Hoyt (1844 – 1927) married Augusta Corey. Four children.

6.       George H (1844 -1847) died young.

7.       William Nelson (1846 – 1931) married Anna C Heath. Nine children.

8.       Caroline Maria (1848 – 1936) married C Alfred Steeves. Ten children.

9.       Peter Ketchum (1850 – 1928) married Hannah Burpee. Five children.

10.    Charles Robert (1852 – 1945) married Phoebe J McMonagle. Nine children.

11.    Charlotte Elizabeth (Bessie) (1854 – 1878) married Elias Kinnear. No children.

12.    Howard Fenwick (1857 – 1917) married Maude English. No children.

Frances and James lived in Smiths Falls, Ontario, and moved to Brooklyn, Iowa, where they died and are buried. Maggie and Billy lived in Portage Vale, New Brunswick. They died and are buried in Hillgrove, New Brunswick. Sarah Louise and Robert moved to from Smiths Falls, Ontario to Brooklyn, Iowa and then to Lincoln, Maine, where they are buried. Hattie and Abner lived in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, but after Harriet died, Abner remarried Eliza Wilson and they moved to Massachusetts. Abner died there, but I believe he is buried beside Hattie in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick.  George died in New Brunswick.  James and Augusta moved to Maine, where they lived in several places but settled in China, where he and Augusta died and are buried. William and Anna lived most of their lives in Lincoln, Maine, but moved to California in their later years. Anna is buried in Lincoln; William’s ashes were scattered in his garden in California. Caroline and Alfred lived in Boston, in the Roxbury area of Massachusetts. I do not know where they are buried. Peter moved to Carleton County, New Brunswick, where he met and married Hannah Burpee. They moved to Sangerville, Maine, and are buried in Caribou, Maine. Charles and Phoebe lived, died and are buried in Hillgrove, New Brunswick. Bessie died one month after her marriage to Elias, and is buried beside her parents in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. Fenwick met Maude in Carleton County, New Brunswick. They lived most of their lives in Rat Portage, Ontario. Maude is buried in Portage Vale, New Brunswick. Fenwick moved to Florida, where he died and is buried.

I have been featuring one of these children in almost every letter. To date, I have written about Frances, Maggie, Sarah Louise, George and James, Bessie, and Fenwick. The next letter should feature Peter Ketchum Holmes. Since he was given the middle name Ketchum, I am going to share with you the Ketchum Connection in this letter.  A couple of cautions: all dates are approximate as they differ in each source that I find. Also, Joseph, son of Edward and Sarah Salmon Ketchum, married twice. It is probable that Joseph, Elizabeth and Samuel were the children of Mercy Lindall, but the possibility exists that Sarah Jaggers, Joseph’s second wife, may also be the mother of one or two of them, and our ancestor.

The following is an excerpt from a letter that Cecil T Holmes, son of Peter and Hannah Burpee Holmes, dated December 23, 1976, wrote to my grandparents, Floyd and Minnie Colpitts Holmes.

“I was very much interested in the information you sent about the Ketchum connection, all of which was new to me. Of course my father’s middle name was Ketchum, but this never meant anything to me. But years ago, on the same trip during which five of us called on you one day in Petitcodiac, we also drove over the hill to the Portage to see the river and the house where Aunt Maggie Snyder once lived. While we were there our son Peter (named for father) stumbled upon a stone in the little cemetery, bearing the name Peter Ketchum; as I recall, his date of birth was 1775. I assume that this Peter was probably the one for whom Father was named, and if so then about a great-great-great uncle of our son Peter . . .” (According to the tombstone, he was born in 1787.)

Traditionally, many people named their children after other people. The importance of family in the lives of Daniel and Charlotte became apparent to me after I learned the names of close family members.

NAMING THEIR CHILDREN -

WHO DID DANIEL AND CHARLOTTE NAME THEIR CHILDREN FOR?

When we named our daughters, we chose names that we liked. In olden days, parents often named their children after family members, close friends or heroes. In my study of Portage Vale, I discovered several people for whom Daniel and Charlotte may have named their children. Keep in mind, this is conjecture. I am open to suggestions.

According to Angus Baxter, in  "In Search of your British and Irish Roots," there is a pattern that was popular in the 1700 - 1875 period.

• The first son was named after the father's father
• The second son was named after the mother's father
• The third son was named after the father
• The fourth son was named after the father's eldest brother
• The first daughter was named after the mother's mother
• The second daughter was named after the father's mother
• The third daughter was named after the mother
• The fourth daughter was named after the mother's eldest sister

The list was never an absolute. For instance, both grandfathers might share the same name. Children were often named for an aunt or uncle, a good friend, or a hero of their time. It was unlikely that they would name a child after someone they did not care for, for whatever reason. My mother's first name, Mary, is for the lady who attended my grandmother at her birth.

Frances Ann - Charlotte's mother was Frances Ketchum Hoyt, and her elder sister was Frances Deborah.
Margaret Eliza - Charlotte's cousin, Margaret Snider, lived close by. I see no other significant people with these names, although they were common at the time.
Sarah Louise - Sarah Ketchum, Charlotte's aunt, lived close by.
Harriet Olivia - Harriet Ketchum, Charlotte's aunt, lived with Sarah in the homestead.
James Hoyt - Charlotte's father was James Hoyt
George H - I have not yet found a significant George. Charles' first son was George Howard. Daniel and Charlotte's last child was Howard Fenwick. I wonder if the H in George's name was Howard, but I do not know. Yet.
William Nelson - Charlotte's cousin, William Snider, was a brother to Margaret Snider Davidson. The Anglican rector who baptized several of the Holmes children was named Horatio Nelson Arnold, but he went by Nelson. Admiral Horatio Nelson (1785 - 1805) was a hero for whom people named their children in the era of Rev. Arnold.
Caroline Maria - the only Caroline I have found so far is her cousin, Susannah Caroline Snider, who was born the same year as Charlotte. Charles had an aunt, Maria Holstead.
Peter Ketchum - obviously named for Uncle Peter Ketchum, who lived with his siblings Harriet, Sarah and Samuel Ketchum in the homestead.
Charles Robert - I think they named Charles for Daniel's Uncle, Charles Holstead. As William Nelson Holmes also named a son Charles Holstead, he must have been a favorite.
Charlotte Elizabeth, aka Bessie - named for her mother.
Howard Fenwick - I would dearly love to know. There were Fenwick's in Kings County, but whether or not they had any relationship, either family or friendship, I do not know. But the Fenwick/Fenwicke name has been passed down several generations and in two family lines. Here is an interesting possibility. Rev. Arnold's wife (see William Nelson Holmes) was a sister of Major General Sir Fenwick Williams, KCB, hero of Kars, for whom the parish of Kars in Kings county, New Brunswick, was named. I located this information in An Historical Sketch of the First Fifty Years of the Church of England in the Province of New Brunswick 1783 - 1833, page 103. For those of you interested in the name Fenwick, see         http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=5908

As far as I know, Daniel and Charlotte did not name a son "Samuel." Did they not like the name? Or was it because of the deed of his father? Daniel's father was Samuel. Both of his grandfathers were Samuel. Charlotte had an Uncle Samuel Ketchum. So "Samuel" would seem to me an obvious choice. However, Daniel's father left him in the care of his maternal grandparents when he was a toddler. This, shortly after Daniel's mother died and his father remarried, and they moved to New York State. Samuel made no effort to visit or inquire into Daniel and his unknown sibling's well-being until his old age. So it is quite possible that Daniel had no desire to name a son of his after a father who obviously cared very little about him. That's my conclusion. What do you think?