One Rhode Island Family

Thanks to Randy Seaver’s recent blog post, I learned about a new set of documents released on the FamilySearch.org website – Massachusetts Land Records 1620-1986.

I really couldn’t believe my luck.  The collection includes deeds and mortgages from all counties of Massachusetts.  Available years vary by county.  According to the website there are 5,766,135 images.  Yup, over 5 million.  And, it’s free.

However, this collection is not yet digitally indexed.  That means you must select the county you want, and select an index volume for a certain time period, look there for a name, note the book and page, and then move on to open that book (actually, it’s like opening a roll of microfilm) and find the page.  It’s just like using Family History Library microfilm, except of course that this is free, and you are using it conveniently from your own computer, where you can easily save the documents you find.

Using the Index

I decided to start with some Townsend, Massachusetts deeds to see if I could learn more about the life of my mysterious  ggg-grandfather, Eli Baldwin, who died in 1833 at the age of 29.  When his young widow made a will and died, six years later, her probate record did not mention any real estate.

I clicked “Browse the 5,700,000 records” – then selected Middlesex County:

Choosing the GRANTEE Index for the years I want:

I found only one entry for Eli Baldwin here in the 1800-1835 Grantee Index:

I copied the entry with Snip-It, started a Word document, pasted it in, and typed a heading to indicate where I found the index entry.  In looked at Grantee and Grantor indices and only found two deeds for Eli.  My Word document looked like this:

Looking at the Purchase Deed

Of course, I have no idea if this is my Eli Baldwin.  The index styles vary from county to county, but in Middlesex, towns are not listed in the index.  You have to go by name only, and find the town on the deed itself.

Back on the Middlesex County page, I pulled up volume 283 from the Deed books.  I found page 478 by guessing, and checking the page numbers that came up.

The first deed was for a purchase by Eli Baldwin in 1827 (recorded 1828) Book 283, p. 478-9:

Know all men by these presents that I Abigail Durant of Concord in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts widow in consideration of three hundred dollars paid me by Eli Baldwin of Townsend in said county carpenter the receipt hereof I hereby acknowledge do hereby give grant sell and convey unto the said Eli Baldwin his heirs and assigns the following parcels of real estate situated in said Townsend to wit so much of the real estate whereof Isaac Durant late of Townsend died as was assigned to me as dower in said estate the reversion therein was conveyed to me by Henry Hoar administrator to said Estate by deed dated June 11 1825 and for a particular description of said premises reference may be had to said deed and to the Report of the Commissioners who assigned said dower and to the record thereof in the Probate Office in said County and also one eighth of an acre of land be the same more or less and has thereon a barn the other half thereof was and is a part of said dower and the said eighth of an acre is bounded as follows to wit on the west or southwest by said dower on the south or southeast by the road leading from the harbor to Lunenburg and on all other points on land late of Wallis Little deceased with all the privileges and apurtanances thereto belonging …  the twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty seven … in the presence of Luther Lawrence and Henry Hoar … before me Luther Lawrence Justice of the Peace. — Middlesex Co. Oct 7, 1828.

Sure enough, the property was in Townsend.  Eli was listed as a carpenter.  Since I have a record that Eli made coffins and was paid by the town (2), this is really fitting my Eli Baldwin.  Another clue is that the land was on the road from “the harbor” (that is, near Harbor Pond) to Lunenburg, which is near the area I have identified for Eli’s in-laws, Isaac and Lucy Spaulding.

The location (map below courtesy of Google Maps) might be the road I have marked in red.  In an 1875 map, there is a “J. Durant” nearby (which could be the remaining Durant property, since the widow was only selling a portion of her dower).

Eli married Polly Spaulding in Townsend on 28 May 1829.  Daughter Catherine was born in 1831 (birth registered in Shirley (1)) and son Edward (my gg-grandfather, birth date from 1860 census only) in 1833.  The property purchased may just be a workshop, or a workshop and home, but only a barn is specifically mentioned.

I would say at this point, the deeds are very likely to be my Eli Baldwin, but I don’t think it is proved.

Looking at the Sale Deed

In 1831 Eli and Polly sold the property.  Polly’s presence on this deed makes me now quite certain that this is my family.  It’s sad to think of them selling the property, when I have no record of a subsequent purchase, and Eli died in 1833.   Book 307, p. 531-2:

Know all men by these presents that I Eli Baldwin of Townsend in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Carpenter, of Townsend,  in consideration of one hundred dollars paid by James L. Walton of said Townsend, Esquire, the receipt whereof I hereby acknowledge do hereby give grant sell and convey unto the said James L. Walton his Heirs and Assigns the following parcels of Real Estate situated in said Townsend Harbor, so called, and bounded as follows, to wit: The first piece containing one eighth of an acre more or less with a part of a house on the same, bounded southerly on the road, Westerly, Northerly and Easterly on land and house of James Wilson, Esquire.  The second piece contains one acre more or less, and bounded Southerly on the road Westerly on land of Joseph Stearns, Northerly on the Mill Pond, Easterly on land of James Wilson, Esquire. – The last described piece has a barn on the same, meaning by this deed to convey all the real estate conveyed to me by Abigail Durant by her deed dated the twentieth day of June A.D. 1827 and recorded in the Registry of Deeds for the County of Middlesex Book 283, Page 478 for a particular description reference may be had to said deed.  – the above Real Estate is subject to a Mortgage deed to said Abigail Durant for the sum of two hundred dollars, about the twenty eighth day of October A.D. 1827 or whenever the same may be dated.  …  In witness whereof the said Eli Baldwin and Polly wife of the said Eli in token of her full release of dower in said premises have hereunto set our seals this twenty eighth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty one.  …  Eli Baldwin (seal)  Polly Baldwin (seal)  [Witness] Paul Gerrish, Asa W. Baldwin.  [October 29, 1831]

“The Mill Pond at Townsend Harbor, Townsend, Massachusetts” from an old postcard

I expect that the witnesses Paul Gerrish and Asa W. Baldwin are significant, although I don’t yet know who they are.  I am not familiar with the Durants, but I expect we have no connection to the buyer, James L. Walton.

Now I can see there was part of a house included in the property, and that there was a mortgage.  This must have been where Eli brought his bride Polly after their marriage in 1829. The property was sold in October, 1831 and their first child, Catherine, was born in late December, 1831, in Shirley(1).  Shirley is the next town, just south; I wonder if they were with family, or renting. Perhaps a child would not have fit into the living arrangement on the property described in these deeds.  These deeds have moved my understand of Eli and Polly’s brief and perhaps troubled marriage further along.

Next Steps

• Investigate all names mentioned on the deeds and compare them to the probate records I have.  I recognize the name Paul Gerrish but I cannot find it in Edward or Polly’s probate records.
• Compare the property boundaries further to any existing maps; look at the probate record cited for the Durants for a further description.
• Look at the many Spaulding deeds to learn more of their exact location and story; Polly grew up nearby.
• Investigate (Eli’s father) Abiel Baldwin’s  deeds.
• Continue to explore Middlesex County deeds and also many deeds in Norfolk County (Wrentham) of the Aldriches and Darlings, as well as other isolated deeds that may answer other questions.  I expect I will be looking at dozens or even hundreds of deeds.
• Save the deeds used to my own files.

Sources

(1) Vital Records of Shirley Massachusetts to the Year 1850. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1918. p. 14 “Baldwin, —-, d. Eli, Dec 29, 1831, B.R.”

(2) Hallowell, Henry C., ed.  Vital Records of Townsend, Massachusetts, Town Records to 1850 with Marriage Intentions to 1873 and Cemetery Inscriptions.  Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1992, p. 464.

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“The Falls, Harbor Pond, Townsend, Massachusetts” from an old postcard.

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The problem

Since my good fortune last spring in finding my Baldwin and Spaulding ancestors in Townsend, Massachusetts, I have been trying to pin down what became of my great great grandfather, Edward Baldwin.  Born around 1832 or 1833 to a father (Eli Baldwin) that died in 1833 and a mother (Polly Spaulding Baldwin) that passed away in 1839, Edward and his sister Catherine were orphans before they were 10.

The only record I have of Edward after 1840 is an 1860 census record in Amity (now Belmont), Allegany County, New York and an undetailed 1867 death record in Northbridge, Massachusetts which may or may not be him.

Legal custody of the children

Polly’s 1839 probate records indicated that her brother John Spaulding would be the guardian of the two orphans, Edward and Catherine Baldwin.

John Spaulding appointed guardian

The Memorial of John Spaulding 2d of Townsend, pump maker

Respectfully represents

That Edward & Catherine Baldwin are minors under the age of 14 years & children of Eli Baldwin, late of said Townsend, dced, that they have no mother; that there is [  ] for a guardian, that the petitioner is the Uncle of said minors (–Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate Court, Polly Baldwin Probate file, file 857, Middlesex Probate Court, East Cambridge, Massachusetts).

One thing that jumps out at me (there are several mentions of the guardianship in the Probate pages) is the way Polly is not really a factor in the custody of the children. Clearly, she may have chosen her brother (I suspect she knew she was dying, from the wording of the will, 2 months before her death) but the official documents always list them as Eli’s children (Eli had died in 1833) and any preference expressed by her is never mentioned.

I am hoping to find Edward Baldwin during the period 1850-1860, or to find any relative who moved out to western New York, where Edward was by 1860.  I am not able to definitively place the children with any family member in 1840 just using the census record, not even with John, although it is possible.  So I set my sights on the more complete census data of 1850. When possible, I also looked at the Massachusetts census of 1855.

The 1850 census

Due to several circumstances:

• the custody being initially assigned to John Spaulding;
• Edward Baldwin eventually naming his two children after Spaulding siblings Harriet and Miles; and
• the fact that I have found sister Catherine living with Daniel Spaulding, and buried in the Spaulding plot at Hillside Cemetery in Townsend;

… I have the idea Edward is likely to be with the Spauldings.  So I started with the siblings of Polly; the children of Isaac and Lucy (Emery) Spaulding of Townsend, Massachusetts (note, Isaac Emery had passed away in the 1830′s):

•  [Polly Spaulding 1806 – 1839]
• Isaac Spaulding Jr 1807 – 1888:  was married in 1839 to his second wife, Cynthia Ann Matthews, and had been in Harman, Ohio for at least 10 years in 1850.
• John Spaulding 1809 – 1882:  a pump maker, later “merchant”, married for the second time in 1832 and by 1850 was living with his wife and four children in Townsend, where he died in 1882.
• Lucy Spaulding 1812 – 1903:   married Flint Ball in 1833, and became a widow in 1847, and remained a widow in Townsend until her death in 1903.  Edward’s sister Catherine Baldwin, age 18, is living with her and her two young sons in 1850 (page 2 of the Townsend federal census record).  Polly lost one of those two sons during the Civil War.  
• Daniel Spaulding 1814 – 1901:  was a farmer, and I speculate, but don’t know yet, that he may have taken over the family farm after the death of his father.  In 1850, he has his wife, two children (including Hannah Clement Spaulding), his mother Lucy, and two unmarried sisters, Ruth and Harriet, in the household.  But not Edward.
• Ruth Spaulding 1816 – 1888:  never married; living with brother Daniel in 1850, above.  From some family letters found in an archive, I know that she was in Lexington in 1835. I assume she was at some sort of school since her mother wrote of her coming home for the summer.  There may have been a school called “Lexington Academy” from 1822-1838.  It’s also possible Ruth had some sort of job, or was visiting. She spent the rest of her life in Townsend with family.
• Miles Spaulding 1819 – 1896:  A young physician, Miles was living with his first wife and his mother-in-law in Dunstable, Mass. in 1850. A year later, Miles would move to Groton, Mass. and practice there for the rest of his life.  Knowing Edward later named a child after Miles, I looked around the Dunstable census record for him, but noticed nothing.  Miles married second wife Mary Mehitable Stickney in 1863. The house they later lived in (which I believe had belonged to her father, Stephen Stickney) is now known as Prescott House, on the campus of Lawrence Academy.
• Harriet Newell Spaulding 1822 – 1907:  Never married; living with brother Daniel in 1850, above. Harriet graduated from the Lawrence Academy, Groton, Massachusetts, in 1841.  Several of her nieces and nephews also graduated, later, but not Edward.

Lawrence Academy, Groton, Massachusetts, from A General Catalogue of the Trustees, Teachers and Students of Lawrence Academy, 1793-1893, Groton, 1893.

• Nancy Cushing Spaulding 1826 – 1917: was just married to James Gilson; in 1850 they were enumerated next to Nancy’s brother John, and James Gilson was working as a pump maker.

I looked for several pages back, and ahead, on these census records for any sign of Edward.  Not finding him with the Spauldings, I know he could possibly have been in with the other side of his family, the Baldwins.  One clue about this is contained in a letter Polly wrote in 1835 in which she mentioned that Edward was currently visiting “his GrandFather” who must have been his grandfather Baldwin.

These are the siblings of Eli Baldwin, children of Abiel and Lucy (Gassett) Baldwin of Pepperell, Mass.  Abiel and Lucy died during the 1840′s.

• Minot Baldwin 1803 – 1878:  married Sophronia Hall in 1824, by 1850 only two of their children were still at home in Townsend. Minot is listed as a carpenter in several records.
• [Eli Baldwin 1804 – 1833]
• Royal Baldwin 1806 – 1848:   married Mary Frank in Boston in 1843 (Records of the Hollis Street Church in Boston, p. 109, AmericanAncestors.org); the Baldwin Genealogy reported that he died in 1848; there is a cemetery record for the Central (Common) cemetery in Boston (Boston, MA: Old Cemeteries of Boston. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007) however the birth date seems off, so I will research this further.

Hollis Street Church, 1810-1885, p. 116, Bowen, A. (1838). Bowen’s picture of Boston: or the citizens and stranger’s guide … 3d ed. Boston: Otis, Broaders and company.

• Mary Baldwin 1807 – 1873:  married William Wright, a farmer/blacksmith, in 1833; this was recorded in Boston.  I noticed that the marriage date was exactly two months after the death (in Boston) of Eli Baldwin and I managed to scroll easily through the 60,000 pages of handwritten records in that set (on Ancestry.com) and find a record of Eli’s death I hadn’t seen before (I have no idea why that was so easy- I guessed a page number and I was only 100 pages off). Anyway, by 1850 the couple had 11 children and were living in Townsend (U.S. 1850 census for Townsend, family#81; pages are incorrectly ordered on Ancestry.com).
  
• Levi Baldwin 1809 – 1862:  a peddler, he died of consumption in 1862 in Sandwich, Massachusetts.  He had a wife Elizabeth and possibly two children; the Baldwin Genealogy says his wife was Mary Hinds.  I cannot locate him in the 1850 census although in 1855 he is with Elizabeth in Sandwich.  
  
• James Adams Baldwin 1811 – 1884:  a farmer (later laborer), James married Catherine Mead in 1837.  In 1850 they were living in Dublin, New Hampshire with several children. 
  
• Elbridge Gerry Baldwin 1812 – 1886:  was a cooper, later, farmer.  Elbridge married Mary Fisk in 1838 and they had one son, John Elbridge, born 1842.  In 1850 they were living in Claremont, New Hampshire; later they would live in Jaffrey. 
  
• Albert Baldwin 1814 – 1887 : a farmer, Albert married twice.  In 1850 he was living close to Finis in Pepperell with his first wife, Olive Bailey, and their children. 
  
• Lydia Baldwin 1816 – 1886:   married an older man as his second wife, Abel Babcock, and lived in New Jersey where they raised 6 or 7 children. They were married in 1838 in Boston at the First Universalist Church, Hanover Street, Boston (a few blocks away from the Old North Church).   Abel was a War of 1812 veteran, and earned a pension.
  

First Universalist Church, Hanover Street (at the corner of North Bennett), Boston, from Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion, Oct. 15, 1853, volume V, no. 16, p. 252

• Finis Baldwin 1818 – 1891:  she married farmer Leonard Blood in 1840.  In 1850 they lived in Pepperell with their newborn son and “Lucy Wright”, age 11 – perhaps Mary’s daughter (also enumerated in Mary’s household).  Lucy would have had plenty of experience with babies in her parent’s household.
  
• Alpha Baldwin 1820 – 1891:  a carpenter, Alpha married Elizabeth Jones in 1850 and they appear in the 1850 census apparently living near her family in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.  New Hampshire is very close by, and might have been overlooked by me when searching for Edward Baldwin, so I launched another search, but nothing.  
  
• Henry Baldwin 1823 – 1908:  a shoe maker, never married, listed as deaf in the 1860 and 1880 census. By 1850 both of his parents were dead, and he lived over the years with or near various siblings.  In 1900, age 77, he listed his occupation as “Capitalist.”  I think I like this guy.

Next Steps

Just doing this research over a period of months has pointed out to me some other ways I can seek out Edward Baldwin’s fate:

1. Read the probate record of each grandfather (Isaac Spaulding and Abiel Baldwin)
2. Pursue the details about Royal Baldwin and Levi Baldwin – there is a gap in both their stories. 
3. Study the complete census record for 1850 and 1855 for Townsend and Pepperell (done)
4. Explore the possibility that Edward lived in nearby New Hampshire for a while (done)
5. Follow up on those Baldwins that seem more closely linked to Edward’s father Eli: those who lived in Boston, those who demonstrate woodworking skills, and those closest in age.
6. Do some more serious research on father Eli Baldwin, if possible.
7. Explore Pepperell area newspapers around February 1867 to see if Edward’s death was reported in his hometown (have tried one, need to try more)
8. Find Edward’s wife and two children in the 1865 census – they are likely to be in Massachusetts, specifically  Middlesex or Worcester County
9. Continue to search for any Civil War activity.  About all I’ve found is some indication that he could have walked away from his unit during a march in western New York early in the war – no idea if that is him.
10. Find new ways to look for him in New York State, since he was in Allegany County by 1860.
11. Consider the times – could a 17-year-old have made his way, say, to the California gold mines in 1849?  Could any “missing” relative, above, be there?  Any other possible destinations that I’m overlooking?

Mining Camp (source: Library of Congress)

In conclusion

I started this particular project looking for solid clues, but finding none, I realize that finding gaps or inconsistencies is the next best thing.

Let me just put in a good word for knowing the whole family – it makes searching easier in ways that are hard to describe.  In this case, it hasn’t solved the problem yet, but it is probably the only path that will ever work.

Some helpful sources: 

• The Baldwin Genealogy by Charles Candee Baldwin, 1881 (see page 717 of the “John of Billerica” section). 
• The Spalding Memorial by Samuel Spalding. 
• Old Burying Ground Headstones, Epitaphs, Ancestry & Revolutionary War Patriots compiled by Susan Woolfrey Teachout, 2011.
  
• Sawtelle, Ithamar B. History of the Town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from the Grant of Hathorn’s Farm, 1676-1878.  Fitchburg, Mass.: Published by the Author, Press of Blanchard & Brown, 1878.
• Cutter, Daniel B. History of the Town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, Concord, 1881. 
• Census and vital records accessed through Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and AmericanAncestors.org.

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Thanks to a lead about the birthplace of my great great grandfather Edward Baldwin, I have managed to discover a great deal of the Baldwin genealogy.  But I wanted to be sure that the link between the people I knew and the rather well-documented family I found was real.   Since my last post on finding the Baldwin line, I have managed to prove that this is the correct line.

Miles Edward Baldwin Sr, 1863-1926

Following up on a Lead

Miles Edward Baldwin, Sr was born in Belmont, New York around 1863.  His father was named Edward Baldwin, from Massachusetts.

When I discovered that Edward was from Townsend, Massachusetts, I used the standard Baldwin genealogy and other methods to narrow down Edward’s origin to one family.

The family I found was Eli and Polly (Spaulding) Baldwin.  Eli died at age 29 in 1833.  Polly passed away at age 33, in 1839.  This resulted in guardianship records, which showed that custody of Polly’s two children, Edward and Catherine, went to her brother, John Spaulding.  This obituary is from the (Amherst, New Hampshire) Farmer’s Cabinet, 20 September 1833.

Polly (Spaulding) Baldwin, 1806-1833

Since the guardianship records showed that John Spaulding had already been housing the family for five weeks at the time of death, and since 33 year old Polly had made a will, I suspect Polly had a serious illness that led to her death.

John Spaulding did not seem to have custody all the way to adulthood.  By 1850, 17-year-old Catherine was living with her aunt, Harriet Spaulding.  I cannot find Edward Baldwin in the 1850 census at all. I pick up with Edward’s life in 1860 in Belmont, New York, and 1863 or so when he became the father of my great grandfather, Mile Edward Baldwin.

How to be sure these two stories are connected with the same Edward Baldwin?

Looking at the Aunts and Uncles of Edward Baldwin

I turned to all the aunts and uncles of young Edward and Catherine, of which there are a total of 19 (children of Abiel and Lucy (Gassett) Baldwin, and Isaac and Lucy (Emery) Spaulding – one side note: of the 11 Baldwin siblings, the 8th was optimistically named “Finis” Baldwin; Finis ended up with 2 younger siblings, “Alpha” and “Henry”).   The Spauldings figured more prominently in the documents I found than the Baldwins.  Another connection that was hard to ignore is that Edward had 2 children and named them “Miles” and “Harriet”, the names of two of the Spaulding siblings.

An initial examination of all 19 siblings did not provide any actual proof of Edward’s relationship to them.  But two of the Spauldings, Miles and Harriet, died childless, and Miles was in fact a wealthy physician in nearby Groton.  It occurred to me that Miles or Harriet may have mentioned Edward in their wills; this possibility was made more interesting by the chance that Edward had already passed away before 1896 and 1907, when they died.  The standard Baldwin genealogy, from 1881, lists Edward as deceased (The Baldwin Genealogy, from 1500-1881 by Charles Candee Baldwin, p. 717).  So could Miles or Harriet have mentioned my great grandfather, Miles Edward, or his sister, Harriet?  That would be even better for my purposes.

There was an initial trip to the Middlesex Probate Court in Cambridge, Massachusetts to order the probate records of Miles, Harriet, John, and Daniel Spaulding.  Then came the day, last week, when the records were in and I was able to see them.

And Then I Found It

The intestate records of John and Daniel were not helpful. But Harriet and Miles’ probate records provided me with the evidence I needed.

• Harriet Spaulding included Miles Edward and young Harriet in her will (probate record from 1907) – note, Miles Edward is referred to as Edward here, I believe he was usually called “Eddie” -  and note, young Hattie was married to Eugene Clapp:

Harriet’s will mentions Miles Edward and young Hattie

• Miles Spaulding’s probate records include in his list of heirs-at-law from 1896:
  • Edward M. Baldwin, Newton, Mass., grandnephew
  • Harriet Clapp, Readville, Mass., grandniece

These match the locations of my great grandfather and his sister.  Now I can continue to learn about the Baldwin and Spaulding ancestors from Townsend, Mass.  So far, Edward Baldwin seems to be the great-grandson of four Revolutionary War soldiers.  I’m sure my grandfather didn’t know this; several generations of early deaths and moving around had closed the door on the Baldwin history for us.

What Else Was in the Wills?

The probate records held a few surprises for me.

Miles Spaulding provided for his widow and several relatives and made many gifts, for distribution after the widow’s death:

• Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass., $500
• Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama, $1000
• French-American College of Springfield, Mass., $5000 (I believe today this is American International College)
• American Seaman’s Friend Society, New York, $1000
• Congregational Sabbath-School and Publishing Society of Boston, $4000
• American Missionary Association of New York, residuary legatee
• Congregational Home Missionary Society of New York for “mountain work among the white people”, residuary legatee
• American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of Boston, residuary legatee

Tuskegee Faculty, 1897

Harriet Newell Spaulding, a single woman, left a legacy to her church (the Orthodox Congregational Church of Townsend) and a few other religious causes.  She mentioned Miles Edward and young Hattie and one or two other relatives. The remainder of her estate was set aside for use by her nephew, Wayland Spaulding, a minister living in New York City who apparently dedicated his life to serving the needy.   By 1910, there was a desire to sell her real estate in Townsend and use the proceeds for this charitable work.  A list of the names and locations of her possible heirs was included in that petition, and since they failed to object, the property was sold. They are:

• Nancy S. Gilson, 164 Melvin Street, Cleveland, Ohio, sister
• Randall Spaulding, MontClair, N.J., nephew
• Wayland Spaulding, 411 W 115th Street, New York City, nephew
• Hannah C. Guise, Gold Hill, Colo., niece
• Doliver S. Spaulding, Mansfield, Mass., nephew
• Francis W. Spaulding, ” , nephew
• Martha A. Bartlett, ” , niece
• Marshall D. Spaulding, San Diego, Cal, nephew
• Mary S. Duff, Newcomerstown, Ohio, niece
• Ella Jenvey, 601 Ann St., Parkersburg, W. Virg., niece
• Sarah Fuller, Albia, Iowa, niece
• Isaac Spaulding, Virginia Street, Marietta, Ohio, nephew
• Harriet N. Congrove, ” , grand-niece
• Elsie Hale, ” , grand-niece
• Pearl Brabham, Fort Street, Marietta, Ohio, grand-niece
• Florence Hale, unknown, grand-niece
• John Ebert Hale, Crooksville, Ohio, grand-nephew
• George P. Parker, East Pepperell, Mass., grand-nephew

But Wait, There’s a Picture!

Amazingly the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. owns an ambrotype of Harriet Newell Spaulding.

To see the ambrotype on the AAS website (I don’t have the rights to reproduce it here), follow this link AND SCROLL DOWN TO SPAULDING:

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/ambrotypes.htm#S

I feel fairly certain we are looking at my ggg-Aunt Harriet for the following reasons:

• the picture is from Townsend, Mass
• the person who gave it to the AAS is named Bartlett (Harriet had a married niece named Martha A. Bartlett; John’s daughter)
• Harriet had no direct descendants to treasure the photo
• the picture looks right for a woman who would have been 38 in 1860.

We don’t even have a picture of the younger Aunt Harriet, who was named for her.  This is wonderful.  If you are not entering your ancestor’s names into Google and selecting “Images” from the side menu, look at what you’re missing!

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Tuskegee photograph  CREDIT: “Faculty of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, at Tuskegee, Alabama, seated and standing on steps in front of building.” March 1897. Booker T. Washington Collection, Prints and Photograph Division of the Library of Congress.

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