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No kinfolk here (that I know of!), but I couldn't resist sharing this treasure after seeing it at www.genealogue.com, where I was visiting because today is the blogoversary of The Genealogue . . . so here's wishing The Genealogue a very Happy Blogoversary!
On this date in our extended family history . . . the 25th day of May . . . in the year 1803 . . . Ralph Waldo Emerson is born in Boston, Massachusetts . . . Emerson is said to be a 19th great-grandson of Eleanor of Aquitaine . . . who is believed to be a 22nd great-grandma of Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis (1842-1899) . . . who is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history timeline . . .
On this date in our family history . . . the 24th day of May . . . in the year 1843 . . . Mary Alexandrien Lemaire is born in Liberty County, the Republic of Texas . . . aka Nellie . . . aka Alex . . . this baby girl grew up to marry Samuel Houston Sharp . . . and they had several children . . . one of which was the great-grandma of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . a Texas Historical Marker at the Hall Cemetery in Houston County, Texas indicates that the earliest marked grave is that of this Mary A. Sharp (1843-1876) . . . the historical marker is located on FM 229, 10.9 miles NW of Crockett . . . although the fact that our Nellie had a tombstone is documented on this historical marker, as well as in a 1962 deposition given by one of Nellie's daughters, no evidence has been found of the location of her grave . . .
Hall Cemetery. Joshua James Hall (1790-1871) gave a portion of his land on this site about a mile from his homestead to be used as a burial ground. Hall Cemetery was already in use when freedmen French Taylor (1842-1937), Bob Denby, & Alf Warfield petitioned Hall for permission to bury their dead in the graveyard. Hall agreed, & the cemetery was used by both Anglo & African American Settlers. The earliest marked grave is that of MARY A. SHARP (1843-1876). Hall Cemetery had several owners during the 20th century. A 1997 count revealed 29 marked & more than 105 unmarked graves. Descendants of early settlers continue to care for & maintain the land. (1998).
Sketchy family lore says that Nellie's father was a French gentleman by the name of Mr. Lemaire . . . sometimes written as Lamar (see further discussion below) . . . Nellie's mother, Elizabeth A. Lemaire Beale nee Waring, was born ca.1824-1827 in Maryland . . . she is the daughter of Edward Gantt Waring and his wife (and 2nd cousin), Catherine Ann (Kitty) Waring nee Waring . . .
- On the 1850 census, Nellie's mother is enumerated as E.A. Lemarre with the head of household being Kitty Waring (mother of E.A. Lemarre)
- In 1860 Nellie's mother is indexed as Elizabeth Beale
- Throughout 1865 and 1866, Nellie's mother is mentioned frequently in the Civil War-era journal of James Madison Hall (1819-1866) . . . always referred to as Mrs. Beale
- In 1870 Nellie's mother is enumerated as Elizabeth A. Beale
- 10 June 1871 :: Deed from C. L. Cleveland to Elizabeth A. Beale . . . this is the last known mention found of her name . . . her date and place of death is unknown
Nellie's father is said to have died under suspicious circumstances on a voyage to or from France . . . is he the Alexander Lemaire mentioned below? . . . the few details I have found on the following Alexander tend to "fit" with the few details we have on Nellie's father . . .
France is the first European power to recognize the independence of the Texas Republic. A treaty is proclaimed between France and the Republic of Texas in 1840, and continues until 1846. A French chargé or minister is sent to the Republic, and plans are made for sending French colonists to Texas.
- Google Books. The Living Age (1845). Shipwreck of the Delphine. Regarding the captain of the ship that A. LEMAIRE last sailed on . . . translated from the French. . . . We sailed from Havre for Valparaiso on the 30th March, 1840, in the ship Delphine, CAPTAIN COISY, with a crew of sixteen sailors and four passengers. . . . Those on board of her were not strangers; they were CAPTAIN COISY, Lieutenant Lepine, our sailors and companions, who came to deliver us and bring us provisions. . . .
- Google Books. Annual Report of the American Historical Association (1911) . . . 26 April 1842. A. de Saligny, Legation de France au Texas, to Hon. Anson Jones, Secretary of State. [Announcing the appointment of ALEXANDER LEMAIRE consular agent of France at Liberty, and asking orders for his recognition by the Texan authorities.] . . . 2 June 1842. Hon. Anson Jones, Secretary of State to Saligny. [Transmitting exequatur of ALEXANDER LAMAR, consular agent of France for "Liberty County," and of F. Guilbeau, consular agent of France for San Antonio.]
- Google Books. The French Legation in Texas (1971). Vol. 1 contains chiefly the diplomatic and private correspondence, between 1839 and 1842, of A. Dubois de Saligny, Chargé d'affaires of the French Legation in Texas. . . . MR. ALEXANDER LEMAIRE, former student at the Agricultural Institute at . . . with necessary information on events taking place in various parts of Texas . . . and ALEXANDER LEMAIRE for the new agencies at San Antonio, Matagorda . . . Ten or eleven months ago MR. LEMAIRE, who had been named for the post at Liberty on the Trinity, embarked at Galveston on the brig Amanda (under CAPTAIN COISY from Havre) for France to look after his affairs. It was learned that the Amanda was forced to put into port at Bermuda for repairs. However, since she put to sea again she has not . . .
- Found online . . . regarding the ship that A. LEMAIRE last sailed on . . . Google Books. History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine . . . Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost. John 6,12. (1865) . . . Nathan Robinson, lost at sea in BRIG AMANDA, 1843.
- Found online . . . regarding the ship that A. LEMAIRE last sailed on . . . Google Books. Annals of the Town of Warren; With the Early History of St. George's, Broad Bay, and the Neighboring Settlements on the Waldo Patent. (1851). The town of Warren, in the county of Lincoln, State of Maine, . . . Capt. William James Lermond, b. July 18, 1813; sailed in THE BRIG AMANDA from N.O., in March, 1843, and with his vessel was never heard from. . . .
- Google Books. The French in Texas: History, Migration and Culture . . . Upon the death of LEMAIRE, the French consul of the town of Liberty, Cramayel chose not to replace him, declaring: "Liberty is only a hamlet in the interior of a region that has no direct commerce with foreign countries. In the surrounding area there are only about thirty French residents, widely scattered, & living in a situation close to destitution." . . .
- 1840 :: there is a Samuel F. Lunier on the Liberty County tax list . . . is he some kin to Alexander?
- 24 May 1843 :: Mary Alexandrien Lemaire is born in Liberty County, Texas
- 1846 :: there is a Lamiel (Samuel?) Lanier on the Liberty County tax list
- 27 March 1848 :: there is a Samuel Laimer (b. 1826) who arrives in New York from Le Havre, France
- 1850 :: Mr. (Alexander?) Lemaire is NOT listed on the Liberty County, Census with his wife and daughter
- ca. 1852 :: The "widow" Lemaire marries John S. Beale . . . according to family lore, there was speculation that this Mr. Beale might have had some involvement in Mr. Lemaire's disappearance . . . but current speculation is that he actually disappeared at sea along with an entire shipload of people
- 1850 Liberty County Census :: looks like Mary A. Lemarre (indexed as Lamane)
- 1860 Liberty County Census :: enumerated as Mary A. Lamire
- 11 July 1861 :: listed as Mary Alexandrien Lamier in the Journal of James Madison Hall when he writes about her marriage to his step-brother / brother-in-law, Samuel H. Sharp
- 13 March 1862 :: JMH refers to her as Alexandrien
- 20 & 22 March 1862 :: JMH refers to her as Alex
- 17 & 30 April 1862 & thereafter :: JMH refers to her as Nellie
- 7 October 1862 :: Nellie Sharp is a witness for the will of J. M. Hall
- 15 January 1863 :: JMH refers to her as Mary A. Sharp familiarally called Nellie . . . thereafter he calls her simply Nellie
- 1870 Houston County Census :: enumerated as Mary A. Sharp
- 10 October 1876 :: Mary A. Sharp dies, and is buried in the Hall Cemetery in Houston County, Texas . . . she is survived by her mother, her husband and six children, and her mother-in-law, Mahala Lee Sharp Hall nee Roberts
Lamarre :: French: habitational name from any of the places in Normandy called La Mare, from Old Northern French mare ‘pool’, ‘pond’ (Old Norse marr).
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
F
Mary Alexandrien Lemaire
Lamane (on census /index)/
Mary A. /Lamaire/
LaMire /LaMar/, Lemarre, LeMire
Mary A. /Lamar/
Mary Alexandrien /Lamar/
Nellie /Lamar/
Mary Alexandrien /Lamier/
Nellie /Lamier/
Mary A. /Lamire/
Alex /LeMire/
Mary Alexandrien /LeMire/
Mary A. /Sharp/
- Born on 24 May 1843 - Liberty County, Texas
- Died on 10 October 1876 - Houston County, Texas
- Buried after 10 October 1876 - Hall Family Cemetery, Houston County, Texas
- Age at death: 33 years old
Parents
Marriage and children
- Alexander ? Lemaire +ca 1843
- Elizabeth A. Waring ca 1824-1871/
- Married on 11 July 1861, Liberty, Liberty County, Texas, to Samuel Houston Sharp ca 1839-ca 1885, with
- James Hall 1863-1936
- Infant 1864-1864
- Samuel Houston 1867-1921
- Margaret Elizabeth 1869-1935
- Ida Mae 1871-1964
- Berta Mary 1873-1955
- Willie /1876-ca 1885
Notes -- as per Aunt Ida (Sharp) Halyard . . . My mother, Mary Alexandren Lamar Sharp, was born in France [sic] & was of French extraction, but I know nothing about her family history, except that she owned land on the Robeson Survey, Liberty County, Texas, & I still own my inherited interest in this land. My mother died when I was four years old, & is buried in the Hall Cemetery on the old Hall Plantation on Elkhart Creek, where I was born. There is a marker at her grave.
On this date in our family history . . . the 22nd day of May . . . in the year 1455 . . . at least three men who are thought to be great-grandpas of Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis (1842-1899) die at St. Albans in England in the first battle of the War of the Roses . . . Edmund Beaufort, a Knight of the Garter, Earl of Dorset, Marquess of Dorset, 2nd Earl of Somerset, and Lieutenant of France, is possibly a 16th great-grandpa to Josephine . . . Henry de Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, may be a 16th great-grandpa to Josephine . . . Humphrey de Stafford,* Earl of Stafford, is believed to be a 15th great-grandpa to Josephine, and son-in-law to Edmund Beaufort . . . and this Josephine is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history timeline . . .
*Some say that Humphrey died this date, while others say that, although he was badly wounded, he did survive the day.
When I saw that the theme for the premier issue of A Festival of Postcards was Wheels, I immediately knew I wanted to showcase the 19th-century steam side-wheeler, Mt. Washington, whose huge paddle wheels were driven by a single-cylinder steam engine. Unfortunately, I am unable at this time to locate the originals of my Mt. Washington postcards, so I am using available scanned images from the internet of a few similar postcards.
In the book entitled simply Lake Winnipesaukee, Bruce Heald states that . . . In 1872, a new steam side-wheeler at Alton Bay was launched, which was christened the steamer Mount Washington. This vessel was built by the Boston and Maine Railroad, which used an extension of her rail service on Lake Winnipesaukee. She was longer, faster, and considered by many the most beautiful side-wheeler ever built in the United States. . . . This vessel was to become the largest steamer to ply the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee and would outlive her builders, her competitors, and three generations -- a variable Winnipesaukee tradition, as famous a side-wheeler as was ever launched in America. . . .
The paddlesteamer Mount Washington, named after the highest of New Hampshire's White Mountains, was launched in spring 1872 to carry mail, goods, and passengers on Lake Winnipesaukee, under the flag of the Boston and Maine Railroad. With a hull length of 178 feet (54 m) and a beam of 49 feet (15 m) she appeared as a typical representative of the North American sidewheelers around the second half of the century and was the largest steamer on the lake at that time. The huge paddle wheels were driven by a single-cylinder steam engine of 450 hp (340 kW) at approximately 26 rpm. The power was transferred from the vertical single cylinder to the wheel shaft by the walking beam, high above the upper deck, oscillating in the frequency of the paddle wheels. Known as "The Mount", her kitchen and restaurant service became famous.
The last time Mom and I travelled to New England was in March of 1998. While visiting in the home of Mom's 1st cousin, Margie, in Lynn, Massachusetts, I used my Canon AE-1 to preserve images of the pages of a family scrapbook. These two snapshots of Mom's mother, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's mother, Eva, were amongst the faces glued to the typical black paper pages of that album. Because we can see the Mt. Washington in the background, we know that Elizabeth and Eva are on the dock somewhere on Lake Winnipesaukee -- possibly Alton Bay. . . .
Elizabeth was out picking up pawpaws with her childhood friend, Diantha, when they met their future husbands. When Elizabeth married her handsome cowboy / sailor from Texas in July of 1929, they honeymooned at Lake Winnipesaukee. In 1978, Diantha wrote the following to my Mom --
I had forgotten about Alton Bay. Betty* & I went up with her mother & stayed in the cottage one week end. I too have since been back to try to locate the cottage. I had forgotten that that was where they honeymooned . . . Win died in Nov. 1940 - I wonder did your father ever know? As I said we did have a postcard that you'd all gone to Texas - and I can recolect no further word. . . . *Betty aka ElizabethSee also :-
The above postcards and postcard collages -- with a wheels-theme -- were posted for the 20th May 2009 inaugural edition of A Festival of Postcards which is hosted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault who lives near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Make sure you check out her delightful blog, A Canadian Family.
HUSBAND
SAM H. SHARP
1867 - 1921
AT REST
aka Samuel Houston Sharp, Jr.
08 November 1867 ~ 14 May 1921
son of
Samuel Houston Sharp, Sr.
and
Mary Alexandrien (Nellie) Lemaire
This Sam and Nellie are 2nd great-grandparents of the Keeper of this family history blog . . . and this Sam, Jr. is a great-grand-uncle . . . following is a newsclipping regarding his death . . .
Taylor Daily Press. Taylor, Texas. Saturday Afternoon, May 14, 1921. Sam Sharp Dies in Taylor Today. Body Will Be Shipped to Former Home in Lovelady for Burial. Sam H. Sharp, age about 60 years, died this morning at the home of his son-in-law, T. A. Newton, 807 ? West Seventh Street, following a brief illness. Mr. Sharp has been a resident of Taylor for only a short time and was employed as bookkeeper for the Tip Top Milling Company. The body was turned over to the Forwood Undertaking Company to prepare for shipment to his former home in Lovelady, where burial will take place tomorrow. Short services will be held at the Newton home. The deceased is survived by several children.
""
In or near the area of the southern part of Maine were living at this exact time in history certain ancestors of ours, including (but not limited to) Daniel Merrill & and his wife, Hannah Runnels, and their son, Levi Merrill & his wife, Jerusha Milliken, and Jerusha's father, Edward Milliken, and Edward's father-in-law, Samuel Nathaniel Harmon. Also Thomas Thurston and his wife, Lucy Fenderson, and his widowed mother, Martha Piper. Also Morrill Hobbs and his wife, Miriam Brackett, and his widowed mother, Abigail Urann Hobbs, and Miriam's parents, John Brackett and Miriam Thompson, and John's father, Samuel Brackett.
The darkness commenced between the hours of 10 and 11 A. M., and continued to the middle of the next night. It was occasioned by a thick vapour or cloud, tinged with a yellow color, or faint red, and a thin coat of dust was deposited on white substances.
The wind was in the southwest; and the darkness appeared to come on with clouds in that direction. Its extent was from Falmouth, (Maine,) to New Jersey. The darkness appears to have been the greatest in the county of Essex, (Mass.) in the lower part of New Hampshire, and Maine; it was also great in Rhode Island and Connecticut. In most parts of the country where the darkness prevailed, it was so great, that persons were unable to read common print, determine the time of day by their clocks or watches, dine, or manage their domestic business, without additional light; 'candles were lighted up in their houses; the birds having sung their evening songs, disappeared and became silent; the fowls retired to roost; the cocks were crowing all around as at break of day; objects could be distinguished but a very little distance; and every thing bore the appearance and gloom of night.'
The following is an extract of a letter from Dr. Tenney to the Massachusetts Historical Society, giving an account of the dark day of May, 1780.
"You will readily recollect that, previously to the commencement of the darkness, the sky was overcast with the common kind of clouds, from which there was, in some places a light sprinkling of rain. Between these and the earth there intervened another stratum, to appearance of very great thickness. As this stratum advanced, the darkness commenced and increased with its progress till it came to its height; which did not take place till the hemisphere was a second time overspread. The uncommon thickness of this second stratum was probably occasioned by two strong currents of wind from the southward and westward, condensing the vapours and drawing them in a north-easterly direction. I remember this observation was made by an anonymous writer in one of the public papers soon after the event.
As I set out the next day, from my father's at Rowley, to join my regiment in New Jersey, I had an opportunity to inform myself what were the appearances in different parts of the country between here and Pennsylvania. The result of my enquiries, on that journey, and after my return, was that the darkness was most gross in the county of Essex, the lower part of the State of New-Hampshire and the old Province of Maine. In Rhode-Island and Connecticut it was not so great, and still less in New-York. In New-Jersey the second stratum of clouds was observed, but not of any great thickness; nor was the darkness very uncommon. In the lower parts of Pennsylvania, if my recollection does not fail me, no extraordinary appearance was noticed. Through this whole extent the lower stratum had an uncommon brassy hue, while the earth and trees were adorned with so enchanting a verdure as could not escape notice, were amidst the unusual gloom that surrounded the spectator. This gradual increase of the darkness from southwest to northeast, which was nearly the course of the clouds, affords a pretty good argument in favour of the supposition that they were condensed by two strong currents of wind blowing in different directions. To these two strata of clouds we may, without hesitation, impute the extraordinary darkness of the day."
On this date in our family history . . . the 18th day of May . . . which was Whitsunday in the year 1152 . . . at the Bordeaux Cathedral in Aquitaine, France . . . a recently divorced Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry II of England . . . this Eleanor and Henry are the Eleanor and Henry of The Lion in Winter . . . and they are believed to be 22nd great-grandparents of our Josephine (1842-1899) . . . who is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history timeline . . .
See also :: Aquitaine
I created this postcard collage to highlight the elements of a Mason Bros. & Co. postcard (Boston, Mass.) with the following inscription explaining the image -- Lynn, Mass., Gold Fish Pond, Lafayette Park. The back of the card shows a postmark dated 16 June 1913 in Lynn, Mass. The enlargement of the stamp is the actual one-cent stamp from this 1913 greeting. The card is addressed to Miss Frances Thom-- in Gardiner, Me RFD 12 from your dear friend Margaret. The brief message says, "Your card received am pleased you are enjoying your self. hope you will continue doing so. Please answer soon."
The children in the photo on the bottom left are siblings, Robert and Roberta Henry (my Mom), who are actually sitting at the edge of the same Gold Fish Pond. Lafayette Park was in their neighborhood when they were small children in the 1930s before coming to Texas to live with their paternal grandparents.
Mom and I collect themed postcards, e.g., Lynn MA, Old Orchard Beach ME, Rockdale TX, forget-me-nots, pansies, et al. The Goldfish Pond postcard is from our collection.
The above postcard collage was posted for the 15th May 2009 edition of Postcard Friendship Friday which is hosted weekly by Marie Reed of Saint Fargeau, Yonne, France. Make sure you check out her blog.
