Special Names

Yesterday was my son's 28th birthday. Besides making me feel old, it also makes me nostalgic. (I'm such a sap!)

I named my son James Culotta Ingles after his father's maternal grandfather, who's name in Italian is something like Giovanmario Guglielmo Culotta.( I think his mother's surname  de Liberto was in there somewhere too.) We called him "Nano."

The photo above is his wedding day, pictured with his parents.

I haven't ventured very much into Italian research yet, but I know a few generations of Nano's family.

So this James Culotta was born Sept. 10, 1907 in Baltimore, the son of Ferdinando "Frank" Culotta and Concetta Teresa Liberto, photo abovee. Frank had emigrated from Sicily in 1890, she in 1896 and were married in Baltimore in 1898.

They had 7 children, but lost a son, Joseph, in May of 1908 when he was hit by a streetcar, pictured above. At the time, Frank owned a saloon and was very active in local politics.

In 1914, Nano and his family returned to Cefalu, Italy for a short time, I believe to handle some family business there. I remember Nano telling a story about swimming in the ocean and drowning, only to awake on the beach in the arms of a man he had never seen, and never saw again.

Cefalu

They came back from Italy around 1920 and continued to run a saloon/lunchroom. Nano later worked there with his brother for many years on the lunchroom side while his brother worked the bar side. They were the only place in town that served blacks and whites side by side. It was located at Pratt & Light.

Nano married Marie Kohlerman on October 19, 1930, they had five girls and just one son, Jimmy. When Jimmy was 19, he was hit by a bus and killed in Baltimore City. So tragic. That's why I named my son James Culotta, to carry on the name in a way.

Nano died in January, 1988, two years after his wife. He was a really special man and I miss him.

Easter 1957

I'm looking forward to getting this Italian side more fleshed out, but am more concentrating on US for now. Stay tuned!

St. Michael's

I spent a day last week in the historic town of St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. As a kid, my family sailed there many times. During the 70's, this town was nothing like it is today....the big attraction then was The Crab Claw Restaurant and the little Maritime Museum.

Today, the town is full of beautifully restored houses lined neatly along the streets, dotted with antique stores, B&Bs, and cute shops. And the Maritime Museum is huge, taking up several large buildings. Dick Cheney & Donald Rumsfeld both own large estates there.

Founded in the mid 1660s, it was a trading post for tobacco farmers and fur trappers. It was laid out as a town in 1778, many of the houses date from this period. From the 1800s through early 1900s, it was a seafood processing/packing and shipbuilding town.

During the War of 1812, St. Michaels became known as "the town that fooled the British." Notified of an impending attack, they hung lanterns high in the trees, causing the Brits to aim their cannons over the rooftops thereby missing their homes!

St. Michaels figures prominently in my kids' family history as the home of the Marshall/Coffin/McMahan families. Their great- great-great-grandmother, Caroline T. Marshall, was born there in 1826. She was the daughter of Greenbury and Hester Ann (Cockey) Marshall, both born in that same county and married in 1817.

Caroline married Obed M. Coffin of Nantucket and had 7 children, including one set of twin boys. Obed died in 1865, leaving Caroline a widow. You can read the story of his death HERE.

The Marshall/Coffin families were sailors, shipbuilders and oystermen for the most part, as were most of the men of St Michaels. Caroline & Obed's son, Greenbury Marshall Coffin (1854-1932) made quite a name for himself as the builder of competitive racing log canoes, including the "Belle M. Crane," the canoe to beat for many, many years at the races. HERE is an article about a model made of the famous canoe.

Belle M. Crane

There are some Baltimore Sun articles from the 1890's about Greenbury's boats HERE  - click on the "+" sign to enlarge. The Belle raced into the 1920's.

We hunted through the Museum to find the model pictured in that magazine article, but didn't see it. But we did come across a silver cup trophy, won by Greenbury Marshall Jr. (uncle of Greenbury Coffin) that he won at the first canoe boat race on the Miles River ever held in 1859!

From what we saw in the canoe displays there, these races were wild! And highly competitive.

I had visited there last in 1989 or so, finding Caroline and a few of her children's graves at St. Lukes Church, formerly known as Sardis Chapel, located on the square in St. Michaels. We perused the church records there, finding an entry where, in 1869 Green Coffin was dropped from the rolls for "walking disorderly." (What??!)  They also showed us a subscription quilt, used for fundraising, that included William Coffin's signature (one of Caroline's sons) in addition to hundreds of other signatures of members.

Sardis Chapel 1813

St. Lukes today, formerly Sardis

Subscription Quilt

William Coffin's signature (just above crease to left of flower)

Another Letter to Germany - 1891

Here is another of the "Boomerang Letters" from Philadelphia to Drackenstein, Germany (above) that found their way back here via my 3rd cousins. This one is maybe from my great-great grandfather Joseph Enz' sister Christine (Enz) Wagner to her mother. There's a reference to a different surname, but she mentions 5 names that are Christine's siblings. The more I look at it, I think the name is Tochtermann, of which there were some in Phila in this period. Perhaps a cousin of our Enz family. 

{Page 1}                                                                                                      Philadelphia, Decb 8, 1891

Dear mother a. siblings,

We received your last letter a. we were very happy that we received a letter from you again. My dear mother how are you doing, how I read in your letter, you do not see much anymore a. you have been sick, too, but I hope with God’s help we still will have a mother for many years. Dear mother you must not worry a. cry, your children in America have it nice a. everyone is in good health thank God. Dear mother, brother Storr’s son is in America again but he did not come to Philadephia[sic] he probably is in Broklin[sic], did you give him pills, it is better if you refrain from it, we

{Page 2} 

do not get any anyway like you never received the watch from Joseph a. the half dollar, he has both the watch a. the money a. at Joseph’s, where he was most recently, he said goodbye and took the train right away. That is a Wiesensteiger episode, it looks like them. Dear mother, when you send Sophie the money, so send it directly to her. She will put it in the bank under her name. You should have sent him a quite rough letter the Lemmek a. Brusbuben when he does not know the people a. write official on it you do not have anything in writing if it is really your Tahtermann[1], and besides you can keep it as long as you want. His mother must be angry, too, she does not write him anymore. We did not know anything of this until you told us in your letter.

{Page 3}

Dear mother I will soon send you my family portrait I meant to send it for Christmas. But it is too late now, maybe until New Year’s or Epiphany[2]. Dear mother Gertrud bought a house it only cost 1300 Thaler[3] it has 4 rooms it is not far away from Mina’s. The notes of the five rosaries delighted us but most of the prayers we knew already. The children prayed for the poor souls the whole month. Please greet the little boy warmly a. anybody who asks for us. Dear mother a. siblings it is always nice weather here no snow, we have nice fall days. We have must in the basement 4 barrels, one barrel has 50 gallons, 1 gallon has 4 liter according to German measure.   

{Page 4}

The gallon cost 10 cents we also have apples in the basement and potatoes the potatoes a. the apples cost 50 to 60 cents per bushel a little more than in the summer. Dear mother now I want to tell you about my business. On Mondays I do laundry for someone else, already for three years, I receive ¾ Thaler or 5 cents a. good food a. drink a. I am done at 2. Tuesdays I do the laundry for ourselves, Wednesdays I iron, Thursdays a. Fridays I sow, there is always something to mend a. new clothes for the children all the time. On Saturdays I clean. My dear mother a. siblings I wish you a merry Christmas a. and a happy New Year God’s blessing a. that you will live in peace for many years to come. Greetings a. kisses, your loving daughter Christine Tahtermann a. the children. 

How is Marie, is she better again. Engelbert are you in good health a. your family, too, farewell goodbye.

Side sentence: Write as soon as you have my picture. Farewell.

---

[1] The surname Christine uses at the end of the letter after her name.

[2] January 6

[3] The Thaler is an old German currency, which was used until ca 1907. 

How interesting to find out the cost of her sister Gertrude's home .

I looked up Weisensteig and it is famous for witch trials that took place from 1562-3. Apparently, the head of the town blamed a severe hailstorm & epidemic on witches, burning 63 women he accused. Nice.

The "must" she refers to is a homemade grape wine. It includes the skins etc for flavor.

This is a photo of German & Austrian Thalers.

Brick Walls of Philadelphia

I must admit to disliking research in Pennsylvania...records are everywhere and it's hard to figure out what to look for where. I blame it on it being a commonwealth, so much is still kept at the county or township level...Grrrr!  Maybe I'm just spoiled by Maryland. Go to the state archives and BINGO!! It's all there! County records, Baltimore City records, churches, criminal, courts, land, etc etc.

So my mom's danged Philadelphians drive me nuts, not only for their chosen city, but these were not close-knit families in recent generations. Lots of mysteries, lots of brick walls. (Thank goodness for the Philly records on the LDS website - found a lot of death & marriage records there.)

One brick wall was my great great grandmother's parents. Her name was Pauline Phillips, she was born in 1851, married Melvin Hopkins in 1872 in Philadelphia, and died in 1949. Her death certificate said her father was named Joseph, and back when I started this search, I looked everywhere for him to no avail. Census, city directories, cemeteries, no luck. I even went to Philly.

This past year, I renewed my search, using online records and starting with the census. The earliest census I found her in was 1860 living with a Margaret & Richard Phillips both 60, his occupation listed as perfumer, a Mary, age 25, Pauline age 9, Charles age 6 and Joseph age 5. No relationships are given, but it seemed unlikely the Mary would be the mother of a 9 year old, so I figured she was Richard's daughter and the younger ones, his grandchildren. (Never found Richard or Margaret in the 1850 Census, which is weird, since their kids were all born in PA.)

After 1860, Richard was gone from the census and gone from the city directory after 1861. Margaret was in 1870 Census with Pauline, 18 and Joseph, age 16. In 1880, Margaret 84, grandmother, with Joseph, 23,  as her grandson. (He is listed as an umbrella maker, so if he worked in my other great great grandfather's business, that may be how my great grandmother met my great grandfather, the business owner's son!)

I searched newspapers for obits and found a legal notice for Richard's estate and a death notice for a William, son of Richard & Margaret, both in 1861. I found all three death certificates at LDS too, with burial sites, cause of death, age and address, which all jived with what else I had. Sweet!

Richard Death Cert

Margaret Death Cert

BUT, I still didn't know who or where Pauline's parents were! I assumed they died before 1860, and since Richard died in '61, hoped to locate a family plot where he was buried.His death certificate said he was  buried 6th Street Union Cemetery, which subsequently closed and the bodies relocated. (I've tried all the possibilities and have yet to find him.)  His son William was buried at New Philadelphia Cemetery, another tough one to track down. Margaret was buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery, but died so much later I don't hold out much hope when I finally receive their records.

I even ordered Joseph's death certificate hoping that his father's name would be listed on it. But apparently his wife did not know his parents names when she filled out the death certificate. He was buried at Mount Peace cemetery, for which I am also awaiting records.

Seeing how I had hit a dead end, I decided to send away to the Register of Wills in Philadelphia for Richards estate records. He was a man of some means, as the 1860 census lists his real estate property value at $20,000. I was hoping against hope that he had a will or at least an administration on record.

  

About a month later I got a response from the register of wills with an amount due for copies and I quickly sent off the $12 check, very excited to get the results! Within a week I had the copy of Richard's will in my hands! And what a gold mine of information it was! You can see the whole file HERE. Both his and his wife's signatures are on it, plus a cool inventory of one of his properties.

He listed not only all of his properties, but also his sons' and daughter's names. His daughter was Mary Jane Carpenter, wife of J. C. Carpenter, his son William B. Phillips, another  son J. Wills Phillips and the best news of all, the grandchildren of his deceased son Charles R. Phillips!!! Woo hoo !!

What is really amazing is that Richard wrote this will in such detail just one day before he died.

I ran right to the census looking for Mary Jane, .J. Wills and Charles to see what info I could dig up. (I already knew where William was). I found Charles age 20,  in the  1852 & 1854 city directory and the 1850 census with the occupation of plasterer with his wife Mary, 17!  (I also found quite a bit about the Carpenters, and have tracked them up to the 1940s. Still haven't found anything about J. Wills.)

Charles' death record

Mary's death certificate

 I looked up death certificates for Charles and Mary,  and found them. He died in 1857, of tuberculosis, at the age of 28. Death records were not required before 1860, but his doctor had filed this little scrap of paper with his info on it… how lucky was that? Mary died in 1865, also of TB, leaving her children to be raised by their grandmother. Her death certificate showed her being buried at the Ebenezer Vault (an ME Churchyard) and you can see Charles' little note says vault as well. I will be trying to  locate those records you can be sure.

So a couple of mysteries solved, and a few more created, I'll keep you posted!

Life and Liberty...

Happy Independence Day!

Today's post is appropriately about my ancestors who participated in the Revolutionary War. I have 3 that I  have found records for: Benjamin Dows (1716-1793), Ebenezer Newman (1756-1839) and James Masterman (1759-1842). All were living in Massachusetts at the time.

Benjamin Dows, my 6X great-grandfather,  was the father-in-law of Newman and Masterman, as his 2 daughters Sarah and Hannah were married to them. His son Joseph also had a courageous record of service for his country.

The Lexington Alarm

Benjamin  was one of 54 men that served under Capt. Jonathan Stickney in Col. Ebenezer Bridge's Regiment. This group marched from their hometown of Billerica early in the morning of April 19, 1775 when they received the alarm from Lexington. Most likely he was one of the men being trained as a Minuteman. At that time he served six days. He next served for eight months during the siege of Boston, May to December 1775. In 1776 he became a corporal serving under Capt. Solomon Kidder in Col. Brooks' Regiment, having enlisted at White Plains, New York. (Col. Kidder died in action there.)

Siege of Boston

He again enlisted September 29, 1777, one of 32 men from Billerica serving under Capt. Edward Farmer of Col. Jonathan Reed's Regiment. Their job was to reinforce the northern army which was engaged in fighting Gen. Burgoyne at Bennington and Saratoga, New York. He was discharged November 8, 1777.

Battle of Saratoga

His son-in-law, my 5X great-grandfather Ebenezer Newman, enlisted in his hometown of Woburn, Massachusetts on June 1, 1775. He served under Capt. John Wood, Col. Baldwin's Regiment during the siege of Boston for eight months. He immediately reenlisted for a year in January, 1776 before marching to New York City. During the retreat from New York, he was wounded in the leg and furloughed on September 15, 1776. His furlough was extended and he was sent home in November, which took him three months due to his physical condition. He later served three additional months during 1777 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. His pension file is HERE.

Brig "Hazard"

My 5X Great grandfather, James Masterman also enlisted. He served in the infantry as a cook for 8 months starting in June, 1775 under Major Montague. this would mean he was likely present for the Battle of Bunker Hill!  In summer 1776, he was drafted for 3 more months. In spring of 1777, he entered service as a sailor on board the brig “Hazard.” After cruising the West Indies for 3 months, they returned to Boston, resupplied and he rejoined for another three month term. During his service under Capt. John Foster Williams, “Hazard” captured 2 British vessels. I have his pension application with all the details and signed by him HERE.

Fathers

One of my fave things about this family history research is finding photos of ancestors I never met. So for Father's Day, I am going to post a pictorial history of my father's surname line of Masterman.

The first of our Mastermans that came to America was Marmaduke, who arrived in Boston from Yorkshire, ENGLAND in 1755. He was a sea captain. By the next year, he was married to Sarah Capen Reed (widow of Samuel) at Trinity Church in Boston. The rector who married them was Rev. Wm. Hooper, father of William Hooper, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Trinity Church, 1828

Marmaduke and Sarah had 2 children, Marmaduke, Jr. born July, 1757, and James born 4 April 1759. There is a letter from a ship owner that mentions Marmaduke Masterman as master of the Snow "Caesar," written in 1759 that reveals the ship's use as a slave ship, including a listing of slaves given to him as his pay. (I'll delve into that in a later post.) A month after that cargo was sold in Barbados, Marmaduke died on board his ship. They must have been close to home, as there is a reference to him being buried in Boston.

Ship known as a "Snow"

His son James never met his father, as he was at sea the entire year of 1759. His son Marmaduke only lived to age 16. Their mother married a third time.

James joined the army at age 16 when the Revolutionary War broke out. He served several tours, including as a sailor. After the War, he continued as a sailor, travelling to Spain, the West Indies and other ports. Once, their ship was wrecked, leaving them castaway for over 2 weeks, with little food or water. When rescued, they were emaciated and feeble.

James married Hannah Dows in 1780, and their first born was my ancestor, James, born 2 Jan 1783. They had 8 children total and all lived into adulthood. In 1803-4, James pulled up stakes to moved to Maine, to an area now known as Weld, and lived out his days there as a farmer, dying in 1842, four years after Hannah.

James Masterman Jr. & Sarah graves

James Jr. married Sarah Newman, his first cousin (their mothers were sisters) and was a farmer in Weld. They had 6 children, the oldest of which was James, Jr. 2nd (don't ask why...it's a mystery to me to use both suffixes!) who is my ancestor. James, Jr. died in Weld in 1865 at 82, 12 years after his wife.

Captain James Masterman Jr. 2nd

1808-1888

James Jr. 2nd also made his living as a farmer in Weld, where he married Mariah McLaughlin in 1836. He served as a Captain in the home guard and was thereafter referred to as Captain Masterman. They had 11 children, 5 of which died fairly young. Both James and Mariah died in 1888 in Weld.

Captain James Masterman Jr. 2nd & Mariah graves

Daniel Chesman Masterman

1849-1924

Their 7th child was Daniel Chesman Masterman, born in 1849 in Weld, where he worked on his father's farm with his older brother Stinson. He married Clara Ellen Buker in 1870 and became a miller. They had 3 sons in Weld, one of which died young, the second was my great-grandfather, Filmore (nicknamed Hunter for his fave past time). By 1887, the family had moved to Framingham,  Massachusetts, where their youngest and only daughter was born.

C. Masterman & Son Delivery Wagon

Chesman owned a market in Framingham, where Filmore also worked. Chesman died in 1924, followed 2 years later by his wife.

Filmore "Hunter" Masterman

1875-1958

Filmore married Jennie McMonagle in 1903 in Framingham and had 2 sons. My grandfather John Vernon was born in 1904 and was just 16 when his mother died of TB. He attended MIT and graduated with honors in 1926.  Filmore died in 1958, so I never met him.

John Vernon Masterman

1904-1993

My grandfather married Hazel Peterson in Feb,1933, and my dad, Frederick Vernon was born in NY in December. My grandfather was an engineer, working on refrigeration systems and the Manhattan Project during his career. He died in 1993, followed by Hazel in 1997. He was a kind, gentle man.

Frederick Vernon Masterman

My Dad

My parents married while in college, and had EIGHT children. It was a zoo.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! You rock!

Homer's Odyssey

One of the first mysteries I solved when I started doing research was finding my ex-husband's great-grandfather, Homer Ingles. It wasn't that I was such a fabulous sleuth, but great timing and even better luck that made it possible. (Not for poor Homer, but for me!)

There wasn't a great deal of info about this family to go on. Homer was the father of a set of twin boys, Percy (my ex's grandfather) and William Ingles, with his wife Annie. I knew that Homer and Annie had died when they both were fairly young, but no one knew the details. They just knew that the twins  were ultimately raised by their maternal grandmother, Mary Jukes, and a slew of maiden aunts in Cumberland, Maryland.

I didn't find squat in any census in Maryland of Homer or Annie.

So my hunt for their story began at the Cumberland church the Jukes attended. There I found burial records for the baby Earl Raymond Ingles, and Mary & daughters, but not Annie or Homer. There were transfers for Mary et. al. from churches in Wheeling, WV and Mt. Savage, MD, and confirmation records for the twins. Not enough to go on.

Counties in Maryland did not start keeping death records until 1898, but on a lark, I requested one for Homer and damn if it wasn't there, in the county where the twins were living! I dashed down to Baltimore to claim my prize.

Now that I had a date (& parents' names), I trotted off to the Pratt Library to find an obituary on their microfilmed newspapers. Voila! The Cumberland paper told the tale:

That gave me his hometown, so I called the Uniontown Library and a fabulous lady looked at the cemetery records for the area and found not just Homer, but his wife Annie buried together in the Hopwood Cemetery! (And a slew of other Ingles.)

The newspaper in the Ingles' hometown ran the following obit too:

Since I found the cemetery and burial record, I had a death year for Annie and searched for her obituary through that great librarian...and found it:

These poor families! First Annie dies 10 days after giving birth to Earl, leaving Homer with 3 small sons. Then baby Earl dies before he reaches 2 months old. Lucky for them all, Annie's mother and sisters step up to care for the twins while Homer goes away to work (one of Annie's brothers worked with him.) He must have been ill with his kidney disease for a while to have died so suddenly from it.

What incredible timing for him to have been in Maryland at his death (and during the first record-keeping year) or I may never have found any of them!

I took a road trip to Cumberland to visit the church and cemetery there, then headed to Mt. Savage for the church that Mary and her family had attended, and finally to visit Homer & Annie in Uniontown, PA. Here are the unfortunate couple's graves.

Annie was apparently moved from her original burial place to Hopwood to be with Homer by his family.

My first taste of victory solving a family mystery was SWEET (and addictive!) Somewhere I have a photo of me kissing Homer's grave LOL