1898 :: Death of Alvin C. Gove

On this date in our family history . . . the 4th day of September in the year 1898 . . . a widowed Alvin C. Gove dies in Biddeford, York County, Maine . . . also known as Alvan or A. C., DNA is indicating that this man is a 3rd great-grandpa to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . in The Gove Book, it is written of Alvan C. Gove that . . .

Alvan Chadbourne Gove, born at Limington, Me., April 10, 1813. He was a builder and contractor ; removed to Biddeford, Me., in 1847, and resided in 1849 on Hill street, being a butcher. In 1853, he went to California as a miner, and returned [to Maine] in 1863. In 1880, he lived at 53 Water street, Biddeford. Mr. Gove married Mary Susan, daughter of Dea. Samuel Edgerly of Limington Feb. 13, 1836. She was born July 13, 1817 ; and died May 26, 1880. He died at Biddeford, of diarrhoea, Sept. 4, 1898, at the age of eighty-five, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

If the data contained in the previous paragraph is accurate, that means that when Alvin C. Gove developed "gold fever" and left Maine for California ca. 1853, he left his wife home alone with six young daughters [the firstborn daughter had recently married] and a six-year-old son [my 2nd great-grandpa] . . . and it would seem that this Alvin did not return to Maine until about ten years later, which would have been right in the middle of the war between the states.


At various times in the last quarter-century of his life, Alvin is listed as living in Biddeford at 53 Water Street [1875], and then after the death of his wife in 1880, at 83 Clifford Street [1882], 35 Clifford Street [1890], Pool Street [1891], and 35 Clifford Street again [1892]. According to current maps, Water Street turns into Clifford Street which blends into Pool Street, which once led to a beach community known as Beachwood.

About 1890, a group photo was taken at a Gove family gathering which was held at a place mentioned only as Beachwood. This photo would have been taken around the time when Alvin's youngest daughter, Lydia, and her family [the Dudleys] were selling their apothecary business in Biddeford and relocating to Massachusetts. They had been living on Pool street at the time. News clippings from that time period indicate that Alvin's granddaughter, Carrie Gordon, was a frequent visitor with two of her maternal aunts in Biddeford, i.e., in the Dudley and Freeman households.

In the following family photo, Alvin is the gentleman standing in the middle of the back row, wearing the bowler hat.

As mentioned earlier, Alvin and Mary had seven daughters and one son before he left to spend a decade in California. Four of those daughters are in this photo [listed by age] ::

• Josephine Lois Freeman nee Gove [1837–1922]. She had just married when her father left to spend a decade in California in 1853.
• Triphena S Piper nee Gove [1842–1926] She was about 11 when he left.
• Julia Howe Hottel nee Gove [1849–1924] She was about 4 when he left.
• Lydia Murch Dudley nee Gove [1852–1936]. She was only a year old when he left.

Also two of his sons-in-law ::

• William Prentiss Freeman [1833–1898]
• Martin Van Buren Hottel [1837–1915]

Also seven of his grandchildren [listed by age] ::

• James Randal Freeman [1854-1894]
• Prentiss A Freeman [1856-1930]
• Caroline L Gordon [1868-1962]
• Beatrice Hottel [1873-1953]
• Grace C Dudley [1875-1952]
• James Freeman Hottel [1876-1973]
• Byron H Dudley [1888-1972]

 Also his granddaughter-in-law ::

• Carrie E Twambley [1854-1919]

 Also his great-granddaughter ::

• Maud M Freeman [1878–1957]

Sentimental Sunday :: Scrapbooking with Mark Twain

On this date in our extended family history . . . the 30th day of November . . . in the year 1864 (which was a Wednesday) . . . Mark Twain would have been observing his 29th birthday, presumably somewhere in California . . . one hundred fifty years later . . . in the year 2014 . . . this anniversary of his birth falls on a Sunday . . . 

It is said of Mark Twain that he devoted his Sunday afternoons to a hobby in which he found great enjoyment . . . and profitability! . . . in her book entitled "Writing with Scissors", Ellen Gruger Garvey says that . . . 

Mark Twain kept scrapbooks for various purposes, mocked scrapbook keepers in his writing, and invented a new type of scrapbook; he also altered and innovated the language for talking and writing about scrapbooks.

Mark Twain is in our family tree via several branches, but the closest known (at this time) is as a 4th cousin four times removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . 

1850 :: The Census Taker

On this date in our extended family history . . . the 21st day of October . . . in the year 1850 . . . T.J. Allen is acting as "the census taker" and is busy visiting residents of Milam County, Texas . . . this particular Mr. Allen just happens to be the third husband of Matilda Connell Allen Allen nee Roberts . . . who is an older sister of our Mahala . . . who is a 3rd great grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . regarding the job of "the census taker" it has been written that . . . 

It was the first day of census,

and all through the land;

The pollster was ready,

a black book in hand.

He mounted his horse

for a long dusty ride;

His book and some quills

were tucked close by his side.

A long winding ride

down a road barely there;

Toward the smell of fresh bread

wafting up through the air.

As an enumerator for Milam County, one of the households Mr. Allen documented on this date contained the following family members . . .

Charlotte Dougherty 47

Lucinda Dougherty 3 [sic]

Elijah Goodnight 17 [sic]

Elizabeth Goodnight 16

Charles Goodnight 14

Cyntha Goodnight 12

The woman was tired,

with lines on her face;

And wisps of brown hair

she tucked back into place.

She gave him some water

as they sat at the table;

And she answered his questions

the best she was able.

He asked of her children

Yes, she had quite a few;

The oldest just turned nineteen,

the youngest is still two.

He noted the sex,

the colour, the age.

The marks from the quill

soon filled up the page.

They came from Illinois,

of that she was clear;

But she wasn't quite sure

just how long they'd been here.

They spoke of employment,

of schooling and such;

They could read some and write some,

though really not much.

When the questions were answered,

his job there was done;

So he mounted his horse

and he rode back toward home.

We can only imagine

his voice loud and clear -

"May God Bless you all

for another ten years."

As it turned out, by the time the next census is taken (1860), T.J. Allen has died of yellow fever while working as editor for The Galveston Journal . . . most of the members of this branch of the Goodnight and Daugherty family have moved on to other parts of Texas . . . and the above mentioned "Charlie Goodnight" has been a member of the Texas Rangers (1857) . . . 

Before another census comes around in 1870, Charlie has been involved in a near state-wide round-up of feral Texas longhorn cattle that have been roaming free during the years of the war between the states . . . he has invented the "chuck wagon" . . . 

and he has used that early version of a "food truck" when he and Oliver Loving drove their first herd of cattle northward out of Texas along what would become known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail (1866) . . . 

Now picture a time warp -

it's now you and me;

As we search for the people

on our family tree.

We squint at the census

and scroll down so slow;

As we search for that entry

from long, long ago.

Could they only imagine

on that long ago day;

That the entries they made

would effect us this way?

If they knew, would they wonder

at the yearning we feel;

And the searching that makes them

so increasingly real.

We can hear if we listen

the words they impart;

Through their blood in our veins

and their voices in our heart.

Slightly adapted

from

original poem

by

Darlene Stevens

This blogpost was researched and prepared specifically for The Sixth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge over at cousin Bill's blog which is known as . . . West in New England . . .


P.S. . . . as an additional tidbit . . . on this date in the year 1899 . . . Noah Smithwick dies in California . . . but back in 1850 he was also living in Milam County, Texas . . . and on the 11th day of September in that year, he was also enumerated by T.J. Allen . . . this Noah Smithwick is the author of Recollections of Old Texas Days . . .

See also . . .

A 92-Year-Old Trail-Blazer and Ex-Ranger

1902 :: Father Dies from Knife Wound

On this date in our extended family history . . . late in the day on the 10th of May in the year 1902 . . . John Connell, Jr. bleeds to death from a knife wound following an unfortunate domestic disagreement with his son and namesake, John Connell III . . . the decedent is a 1st cousin four times removed to the Keeper of this family history blog . . . the Connell killing and subsequent legal proceedings are mentioned in numerous issues of the Dallas Morning News . . . the following biography is from A Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell, and Coryell Counties (Chicago: Lewis, 1893; rpt., St. Louis: Ingmire, 1984) . . .

J. H. Connell, a capitalist of Belton, was born in San Augustine county, Texas, when Texas was a province of Mexico, April 3, 1833, son of John H. and Matilda T. (Roberts) Connell, natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky respectively.

John H. Connell's father, a native of Ireland, came to America at an early day and settled in Pennsylvania, where he followed his trade, that of blacksmithing. John H., leaving home when a youth, came in 1826 to Texas and engaged in the mercantile business near Austin, where he was married in 1830. Mr. Connell came to Texas with Sterling C. Robertson, and both secured large tracts of land.

The Roberts family were also among the pioneers of this section of the country. Elisha Roberts [4th great-grandpa of the Keeper of this blog] went from Kentucky to Louisiana in 1819, and in 1820 came to San Augustine, Texas. Elisha Roberts was one of the earliest settlers within the confines of the State.

Mr. Connell died at Viesca in 1834. He was truly a self-made man, and during his lifetime acquired considerable property. Belton is located on a portion of the land on which Mr. Connell once lived. Mrs. Connell having donated to the county of Bell 120 acres, in 1850, on which to establish the county seat. John H. Connell and his wife were the parents of two children: Josephine, wife of Anderson Hamblin, both being now deceased; and J. H., the subject of our sketch.

After the death of Mr. Connell, Mrs. Connell was married in 1835, to Samuel T. Allen, of New York, and their union was blessed in the birth of two children: Thomas R., deceased; and Eunice A., widow of Colonel John T. Coffee, of Missouri. Samuel T. Allen was killed by the Indians at the three forks of the Trinity, in November, 1838, and in the fall of 1847 Mrs. Allen married his brother, Thomas J. Allen. Her death occurred April 3, 1879, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Coffee, in Georgetown, Williamson county, this state.

The subject of our sketch was reared amid the frontier scenes of what is now San Augustine, Milam, Williamson and Galveston counties. In 1854 he went to California, making the trip from Galveston by water; spent two years in the southern part of the Golden State, and while working in the mines lost his health. He was, however, financially successful. Returning home in the latter part of 1855, he engaged in farming and stock-raising in Texas up to the year 1861. The war coming on in that year, he joined the Confederate forces; was in the Trans-Mississippi Department, and participated in numerous skirmishes and battles.

Returning to his home in the latter part of May, 1865, Mr. Connell set about repairing his wasted fortune, and with renewed energy engaged in his old occupation of farming and stock-raising. He continued his operations in Williamson county till January 28, 1884, when he rented his farm and moved to his property in Belton. He owns considerable valuable real estate, his Belton home place consisting of some 250 acres adjoining town. He has a handsome residence, an intelligent family, and is comfortably situated to enjoy life, having practically retired from active business.

Mr. Connell was married September 15, 1869, to Miss Jennie Howlett, a native of Texas, born in Milam county, October 5, 1844, daughter of James and Sarah (Moore) Howlett, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee respectively. Both the Howletts and the Moores were among the early pioneers of Texas.

Mr. and Mrs. Connell are the parents of five children: John H., Jr., T.E., Susan, May T. and Albert L. T.E. is now a student at the State University of Texas. Mr. Connell and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and are held in high esteem by all who know them.