†*† (1856-1858)

!—! (1856-1858)

H. A.: Herbert Allen (1851; born c1842, Illinois) Son of Isaac C. (born c1815, New York) and Maria M. (born c1815, Massachusetts); eldest of three boys. In Illinois, Isaac was a farmer with real estate worth $6000 in 1850 and $12000 in 1860.

Jacob A. (1848, from Roxbury)

James A. (1842, from Petersburgh, Virginia)

Jane A. (1850)

M. E. A. (1865, from Brooklyn)

P. Q. A. (1849, in Somerset, Pennsylvania); at least two brothers

A. S. H. Wolverine (1858, from Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Ada: probably Ada Josephine Pierce (1858-1863; born 1848, Michigan; died 1915); only daughter of Nathan H. (born c1820, New York; died before 1893) and Sophia M. (born 1828, New York; died 26 August 1893, Michigan); Edward H. (born c1855, Michigan) was her brother. Ada married 2 September 1867, Ann Arbor, Michigan, James Barnaby Saunders (born c1844, Massachusetts); seven children. Nathan was a merchant worth about $1100 in 1860. Ada lived in Washtenaw co., Michigan, most of her life. James was a printer. They were buried in Fairview Cemetery, in Ann Arbor. Authored an article in 1861.

Alba (1858, from Vicksburg, Mississippi)

Alice (1854, from Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Allan and Edward (1848, from Waterbury, Connecticut; born c1839); twins

Catherine Josephine Allen (1855-1857; born 21 March 1840, Athens, Alabama; died 24 August 1902) Daughter of Horatio Gates (born c1792, Massachusetts; died 5 August 1863) and Elizabeth (born c1805, Georgia; died 9 May 1889); third of four children, three of them girls. Married first, W. H. Lewis (died 3 October 1895), with whom she had three girls and six boys, including a set of twins; second, Thomas J. Davis, with whom she had a daughter. Listed as a school teacher in the 1850 census, in 1851 Horatio bought 80 acres of land, adding approximately 280 acres more in 1853; by 1860 he was a planter owning 13 slaves. Catherine was buried in Cuba, Alabama.

Alma: Alma Kohlheim (1852; born c1841, Mississippi) Daughter of John G. (born c1812, Georgia) and Ann (born c1816, Tennessee); her older brother was Charles Frederick, and her younger brother was Louis A. Married 10 June 1861, Pontotoc co., Mississippi, Charles S. Morton. In Fulton, John was a merchant worth at least $20,000 in 1850, making the Kohlheim family the wealthiest in town. In 1860, having moved the family to Birmingham, he owned real estate worth $51,200 and personal property of $78,750.

Almira (1849) Authored an article in 1848

Alonzo: Alonzo Church Whitner (1854-1858; born 29 April 1841, near Tallahassee, Florida; died 23 September 1888, Jacksonville, Florida) Son of Benjamin F. (born c1829, South Carolina) and Sarah J. (born c1820, Georgia); elder of two boys. Married 10 April 1872, Margaret Marvin (born 1852; died 27 November 1911); at least two boys. Benjamin was a planter: in 1850 he owned 18 slaves and real estate worth $2000; in 1860 he owned real estate worth $1200, though the 25 slaves he also owned made his personal property worth $15,000. Alonzo may have enlisted in Company C 8th Florida Infantry on 1 June 1862, but did not serve; instead he acted as chief clerk for his father in organizing records for the Confederacy before enlisting as a private in Company C 2nd Florida Cavalry. Beginning in 1863, he worked as a clerk in General Court Martial and was at least recommended to be Judge Advocate in the Military Court in Florida in 1864; in 1865 he was a prisoner of war paroled at Lake City, Florida. By 1870 Alonzo had become a lawyer with personal property worth $200. He died during a yellow fever epidemic.

Amherstia (1851, from Fall River, Massachusetts)

Annette (1850, from Paris, France)

Annette (1860-1861, from Illinois)

anonymous

anonymous boy

Augusta (1859, from Painesville)

A. O. B. (1849, from Hingham)

Bella B.: probably Isabella St. John (1860-1864; born c1826, Cherry Valley, New York; died 21 February 1906, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois; buried 24 February 1906, Rose Hill Cemetery). Parents born in New York. Married 5 January 1848, Oliver Besley (born c1810, New York; died 25 December 1881, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois), in Hunterdon, New Jersey; three boys and two girls. The Besleys apparently emigrated from New York to Wisconsin between 1852 and 1854. By 1870, the family had moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Oliver was a “money broker” with $10,000 in real estate and $1500 in personal property; they also appear to have kept a boarding house. By 1880, Oliver had retired.

C. T. B. (1853, from Woodville, Mississippi)

E. O. B. (1843)

Franklin B.: Franklin Bostwick (1845; born c1830, New York; died before 1900) Son of William (born c1806, New York) and Ann E. (born c1810, New York); eldest of two boys and two girls. Married 5 March 1869, Maria Celeste Hayes, (born April 1839, New Jersey); eight children, four living in 1900. William was a judge. By age 20, Franklin had become a clerk. Franklin was a member of the Galena Agricultural Society, becoming its secretary in 1877. In 1880, he was a clerk in the Clerk’s office.

Henry B. (1845, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

J. Y. B. (1850, from Frankfort, Kentucky)

Jane G. B. (1849, from Melrose)

Kate B. (1850, from Chester, New York)

L. F. B. (1852)

L. H. B.: Louisa H. Branch (1852; born 29 June 1842, South Carolina; died 8 July 1872) Daughter of Isaac (born 18 December 1800, Benson, Vermont; died 1867/68) and Fanny (24 November 1807, Castleton, Vermont; died 28 November 1871, Abbeville, South Carolina); eighth of five girls and four boys, six of whom died as infants. Married R. Marshall Haddon (born 29 December 1847; died 26 August 1924) Her only brother was William Tully Branch (born 23 April 1845; died 6 November 1903). Isaac accompanied his brothers to South Carolina in 1822 and then studied medicine in Vermont before returning to South Carolina before 1831. In 1850, Isaac owned five slaves. Louisa also wrote to the Chat as “Lula.”

M. T. B. (1844, from Lowell)

Willie Bacon (1855, from Woodbury, Connecticut)

Badger State (1856-1857, from Milwaukee)

Robert Thomas Barton, (1858; born 24 November 1842, Winchester, Virginia; died 1917, Winchester, Virginia) Son of David Walker (born c1803, Virginia) and Frances Lucy (born c1809, Virginia); sixth of nine children. Married first, 19 February 1868, Katharine K. Knight (born c1845, Maryland; died 11 June 1887); second, 10 June 1890, Gertrude W. Baker (born c1871, Virginia), with whom he had a boy and a girl. An attorney, David owned 16 slaves and was worth at least $55,000 in 1850; and owned 19 slaves and was worth $125,000 in 1860. Robert—five-foot-eight, grey-eyed, and brown-haired—was a student when he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army in March 1862; illness kept him from his unit until late that year, when he was detailed to the Nitre Bureau. Robert became an attorney in 1865. He wrote two major works on Virginia law and was president of the Virginia State Bar Association, as well as mayor of Winchester, Virginia.

Bella Bassett (1856-1857, from Charleston, Tennessee; born c1843)

Bay State (1855-1856, from Boston, Massachusetts)

W. H. Belden: William Henry Belden (1855; born 3 August 1841, Newark, New Jersey; died 1896; buried Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York; lot 9860, section 45) Son of William (born c1812, Connecticut) and Maria (born c1789, New Jersey) William, sr, was a clergyman whose father was a minister in the Congregational church. The family took up residence in New York when William Henry was four years old. He had blue eyes and brown hair. He may have become a clergyman; in 1860, he was a divinity student.

Jessie Bell (1864)

Mattie Bell (1858-1860): wrote one letter from Ohio. Starting in 1858, Mattie published around 20 poems in the Museum, 12 before 1859.

Bertina (1865-1866)

Ella S. Bierce (1858-1859, from Akron, Ohio)

Black-Eyed Gertrude (1852, from Onondaga Valley)

Black-eyed Laura (1855-1858)

Blackeyed Sue (1849)

Black-Eyes; B.-E. (1857-1866); at least one brother. Her first name was Mary. Married before 1858; at least two daughters. Authored a piece published in the Museum in 1857.

Blue-Eyed Lora (1860, 1865)

Blue-Eyed Mary of Ohio (1851, from Marietta, Ohio)

Blue-Eyed Minnie (1852, from Magnolia Falls, Louisiana)

Blue-eyes (1860-1864): from Batavia, New York

Bob O’Link (1863-1867) He was in a New York regiment during the War, near Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, in 1864.

S. E. Boles (1857, from Mt. Vernon, Iowa; born c1845)

Oscar Bradford (1858, from Springfield, Illinois)

Brown-Eyes (1861-1866); one of at least two girls. Her real name may have been Christabelle. Self-described as “harum-scarum,” she owned a pony named Ivanhoe but preferred to ride a friskier one named Rob Roy. Her sister also wrote to the Chat, as “Blue-Eyes.”

Buckeye Boy (1857-1863, from Ohio)

Bunker Hill (1857-1858, from Charlestown)

Bushel of Nuts (1850, from Castile)

Amy C. (1865, from Newark, New Jersey); one older sister. Her mother died before 1865.

Charles C. (1858, from Philadelphia)

Charles P. C. (1845, from Warrenton, Fauquier co., Virginia)

Delia C. (1855; born c1845); at least one younger sister

E. B. C. (1852, from Albany)

Edith L. C. (1852, from Dayton)

Fanny B. C.: Fanny Berkeley Cochran (1849-1851; born 4 February 1839, Virginia; died 6 October 1865, near Middleburg, Loudon co., Virginia; buried Sharon Cemetery, Middleburg, Loudon co., Virginia) Daughter of William B. (born 9 January 1810, Virginia; died 12 July 1898) and Catharine Powell (born 3 November 1814, Virginia; died 17 February 1895); second of two girls and a boy; Fanny’s older sister died when Fanny was age one. Married 6 July 1859, Thomas B. Dudley, Jr. In 1850 physician William had real estate valued at $14,000 and owned 10 slaves.

Harry C. (1852, from Norwich)

J. R. C. (1856, from Easton, Pennsylvania)

L. T. C. (1865, from Chicago, Illinois)

L. W. C. (1862); her first name probably was Lucy (1862.2.96)

Lillie C. (1867-1869)

S. C. (1849, from Boston)

S. C.: Sarah Conant (1872), an adult subscriber who took the Museum in her youth. While it is not clear that she is the “S. C.” who wrote to the Museum in 1849, Sarah does mention enjoying the “Tale of a Tulip,” published in 1851. Authored five pieces in 1871 and 1872

W. C. (1852, from Foxboro, Massachusetts)

W. A. C. (1850, from Rome, New York)

Louisa A. C—d, (1851, from Perry)

Emily C. C—s,: Emily Caroline Crafts (1843; born 14 April 1833, East Bridgewater, Massachusetts; baptized 23 June 1833, East Bridgewater, Massachusetts; died 20 November 1910, Waltham, Massachusetts) Daughter of Eliphalet Porter (born c1791, Massachusetts; died 16 January 1880, Waltham, Massachusetts) and Augusta P. (born c1812, Massachusetts; died 8 January 1876, Eastport, Maine); eldest of at least four girls. Eliphalet was a Unitarian minister when he died owned a double house and two vacant lots in Winchester, Massachusetts. Emily never married.

Ina Carey (1860, from Parensville)

Marina A. Carey (1859, from Painsville; born 20 September 1848)

Carolus (1846-1847)

Celestia (1851, from Wentworth, New Hampshire)

Charley (1861, from Providence, Rhode Island)

Charlotte’s Sister (1853, from Brooklyn, New York)

Choctaw (1852, from Wheeloch, Choctaw Nation)

Clara (1860-1869)

Mary A. Clark (1853-1856, from Buffalo); at least one brother and one sister

May Clayton (1863-1867)

Clite Clinton (1862-1866)

Clio (1857-1859, from Norwalk) Authored a poem in 1859

Cora Clyde (1855, from Perry, New York)

Elizabeth Cogley (1845; born 24 November 1833, Lewiston, Pennsylvania; died 23 March 1922, Lewistown, Pennsylvania) Daughter of Joseph M. (born 26 December 1799?, Pennsylvania; died 17 January 1870) and Sarah Fridely (born c1811, Pennsylvania); eldest of 10 children. In 1850 Joseph was a tailor. Elizabeth was educated in the Lewistown Academy before studying in 1854 to become a telegraph operator; she was the second female telegraph operator in the United States. On 13 April 1856, Elizabeth took her first job, as a telegraph operator at the Lewistown Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad; she held jobs with the Railroad until 1900, after which she was sometimes called on by the Railroad for advice. For a few months in 1858, she also had a bookstore. In April 1861, Elizabeth received the first telegraph message sent to call out the first Union troops and sent the answer that the Logan Guards—later called the First Defenders of Pennsylvania—would move at once. After retiring from the Pennsylvania Railroad, Elizabeth worked for Western Union, where one of her brothers was a manager; one of her younger sisters also worked as a telegraph operator. Elizabeth knitted for the soldiers during World War I and voted for president in 1920 (the second time she’d voted; accompanying her father as he cast his ballot in 1840, seven-year-old Elizabeth insisted on also “voting” in that election, though her ballot, while accepted by the clerk, probably wasn’t counted). In 1920, Elizabeth owned her house, where she lived with a sister and brother; it was the house in which she’d been born. She died at home seven weeks after fracturing her hip.

Wilhelmena H. Coleman (1861, from Woodbine Lodge)

William Hayden Coleman: Hayden Level Coleman (1857-1858; born 28 October 1841, Mississippi; died 5 September 1895, Edna, Texas) Son of William (born 18 February 1815, Kentucky; died 27 May 1858, Texas) and Eliza Amanda “Ann” Munson (born 13 January 1810, Connecticut; died 31 July 1875, Texas); one of four boys, three of whom died before the age of 5; he had a sister; all born in Mississippi. Married 22 December 1867, Mary McGregor Dunn. Baptized “Hayden Level,” he was called “Willie.” William, sr., established a General Merchandise store in Texana before the rest of the family joined him in 1854. A devoted Methodist, he refused to carry whiskey. A descendant records that the Colemans were “blue-eyed, fair-haired people of medium height and weight,” scholarly and musical.

W. H. C.; William Hoyt Coleman (1851-1864; born September 2, 1839 or 1840, Hartford, Connecticut; died 10 July 1937, Narberth, Pennsylvania; bur. Woodlawn Cemetery, New York, New York) Son of Laura Clark and Edwards White Coleman (born 22 August 1811, Chester, Massachusetts; died 20 February 1892, Northampton, Massachusetts). He had a younger sister. Married 5 May 1864, Margaret W. Todd (born 9 October 1842, New York; died 1 January 1927, Narberth, Pennsylvania); a son and a daughter. In 1860, William, a clerk, boarded with a Connecticut cheese farmer and his family, learning enough about farming to hire himself out to a New York farmer the next year. William then worked on James Todd’s farm in New York; here he met Margaret. In lieu of serving as a soldier during the Civil War, William was hired as a contract nurse in September 1862 and was in charge of a ward in the Patent Office Hospital in Washington, DC; his contract was annulled on 8 April 1863 when he was “unwilling to serve at $13.00 per month.” During his time as a nurse, he attended at least one of the public receptions Abraham Lincoln held at the White House. After giving up his post as a nurse, William traveled west, almost settling in Minnesota before returning to New York. In the late 1870s, he combined his interests in farming and writing in a series of weekly columns for the Christian Union. Around 1880, he owned a nursery in Geneva, New York; at one time known as “Merrill & Coleman,” in 1883 the concern became “Coleman, Anthony & Co.” as William partnered with H. Anthony. Still, over his lifetime, he contributed dozens of pieces to various periodicals, on topics ranging from early periodicals to the history of his church. From 1887 to 1907, William was an editor in Albany—presumably for the Albany Argus—and in 1908 became an editor for The Country Gentleman, moving with the periodical to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1912. He retired in 1929. William died of pulmonary edema. Willie also wrote to the Chat as “Jack Thump,” an “old friend” of Billy Bump. He may have worn glasses. Authored five works between 1856 and 1859, including “Retrospectum; The Chat in By-Gone Days” (6 parts, 1858).

Charles Concklin (1854, from Marion, Ohio); at least one brother

James Conrad (1865, in Philadelphia)

Cornelia (1853, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Cornelius (1842)

Mentioned, vii

Alice B. Corner; Alice B. C. (1856-1857; born 28 September 1839, McConnelsville, Morgan co., Ohio; died 9 January 1922; buried West Union Street Cemetery, Athens, Athens co., Ohio) Daughter of Edwin (born 16 June 1793, England; died 11 March 1881, Columbus, Ohio) and Belinda Converse Devo (born 31 December 1806, Waterford, Washington co., Ohio; died 26 February 1874, Columbus, Franklin co., Ohio); sister of at least three brothers, two of whom died before age six. Married 26 June 1862, Louis William Brown (born 4 February 1831, Athens, Athens co., Ohio; died 29 September 1873, Athens, Athens co., Ohio), in Columbus, Franklin co., Ohio; three girls and two boys. Belinda apparently was Edwin’s second wife; he had at least two children by his first wife; both died as toddlers. In Ohio, Edwin was a merchant with real estate worth about $10,000 in 1850; the family moved from Morgan co. to Columbus in 1856. By 1860, Edwin had retired; he owned $13,000 in real estate. At that time, Alice was a teacher. In 1920, she was living with one of her daughters.

Correspondent with a cold (1862)

The Countryman (1857, from Niagara Co.)

Cousin Ada (1855, from Cleveland)

Cousin Forestina (1863-1866)

Cousin I. (1864)

Cousin Jennie (1865-1866, from East Rockport, Ohio); at least one younger sister and a brother, who died in 1865

Cousin Jennie (1867, from Binghamton)

Cousin May (1865-1869)

Cousin Missouri: probably Hattie McDonald (1868; born c1858, Missouri; died 4 October 1871, Parkville, Missouri) Daughter of F. M. (born c1824, Missouri) and Mary Taylor (born c1834, Kentucky); older sister of three boys. F. M. McDonald was a prominent merchant in Parkville, editing the Southern Democrat (1851-1856) and the Parkville Courier (1855-1860) before understandably going into law sometime between 1860 and 1870. Hattie accidentally burned to death; one newspaper claims that the cause was a match lit by her younger brother.

Cousin Sally (1857, from Park Hill, Cherokee Nation; died before 1866) She was a member of the Cherokee Nation.

Cousin Sue (1855-1856, from Fall River, Massachusetts)

Cousin Sue (1863, from Massachusetts)

Coy (1863-1867, from Long Island)

Cupid (1865)

Alice D. (1841)

Anna Elsie D. : probably Mary E. Doran (1857; born c1846, New York) Daughter of David (born 1823, Ireland; died 29 October 1859, New York) and Catherine (born 12 February 1826, Ireland; died 3 September 1852, New York), and oldest of at least five children; one sister was Ellen (born c1848, New York; died 12 September 1855, New York). In 1850 David was a carpenter in Rochester, New York, with real estate worth $1400; here Ella is listed as “Ellen,” with an older sister listed as “Mary.” Catherine died of cholera; Ellen apparently died in the Rochester Orphan Asylum of “Interm. fever.” December 31, 1854, David married Jane K. Hood (born c1827, Rhode Island); they had at least one daughter. Mary lost a six-year-old sibling to “brain fever” a week before the date of her letter; David died of consumption or of a “liver complaint.” Jane kept a boarding house in 1860, 1865, and 1870.

C. D. (1857, from Oberlin; female)

Dorothy D. (1849, from Saugatuck co.)

Fannie A. E. D. (1859, from North Carolina)

J. D. (1851, from New York)

Jennie D. (1855-1857, from Plainville, Connecticut; born c1849)

Jennie D. (1861, from Longmeadow)

Jennie B. D. (1862)

Julia B. D. (1856, from Washington, DC)

M. C. D. (1849, from Stamford, Connecticut); at least one brother

Sarah A. D. (1849, from Patchogue, Long Island; born c1838); several brothers

Daisy Dell (1855, from New Hampshire)

Daisy Wildwood (1860-1867) Authored two works in 1861 and 1864

Harry Dale (1857)

Mary Dale (1851, from Liverpool, England)

Henry A. Danker: Henry Augustus Danker (1857-1868; born c1843, Troy, New York; died 5 August 1864, Mobile Bay, Alabama) Son of Albert (born c1801, New York; died 31 March 1868) and Asenath (born c1802, New York); middle of three boys. Asenath was listed as a surveyor in 1850 and 1860, though he may not have worked: an affidavit deposited with the U.S. government in 1865 stated that he had been unable to support his family for 20 years due to mental derangement. Henry subscribed to Woodworth’s Youth’s Cabinet in 1857. In 1860, he was a taxidermist; but when light-haired, blue-eyed Henry enlisted in the 67th New York Infantry, on 14 September 1861, he was a musician apparently supporting his parents; after enlisting, he sent home half his paycheck. He was a member of the band of Company F; but was discharged on 24 March 1862 due to “Feebleness of Constitution.” Henry studied medicine with Thomas W. Blatchford, practising physician in Troy, New York (his last letter in the Museum was dated from “the Dissecting Room”). When Henry enlisted in the Navy in 1864, he became the acting assistant surgeon on the U.S.S. Tecumseh, which struck a torpedo during the capture of Ft. Morgan, in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Henry was one of at least 96 men who died on the ship. Authored six works on birds in 1860 and 1861.

T. B. Dawson: Theodore Bell Dawson, (1853; born 1838, Kentucky; died 2 February 1908, St. Louis, Missouri; buried 3 February 1908, Missouri) Son of John Dabney (born 1808, Kentucky; buried 19 July 1892, Missouri) and Mary Jane Bell (born 1811, Tennessee; buried 5 December 1897, Missouri); eldest of three boys and a girl. John was ordained a minister of the Disciples of Christ and was the first superintendent of the Kentucky Female Orphan School, 1849-1857. In 1858, the family moved to Missouri, where John was a professor at Christian College (now Columbia College) in Columbia; after his retirement, John lived on the family farm near Louisiana, Missouri. Theodore had moved to Glasgow, Missouri, by 1860, where he was a clerk living in the household of a physician. By 1880, he had become a druggist, in Warsaw, Hancock co., Illinois, in 1880 and in Webster Groves, Missouri, in 1900. He never married. Theodore was buried beside his parents in Riverview Cemetery, Buffalo Township, Missouri.

Diabolus (1865, from Massachusetts)

Dodt (1856-1857, from Elmira)

Downeast Boy (1855, from Calais, Maine)

Down-East Girl (1861-1865, from Addison) Authored a piece in 1863

W. F. Draper: William Franklin Draper (1853-1854; born 9 April 1842, Lowell, Massachusetts; died 28 January 1910, DC, Washington) Son of George Draper (born 1817, Weston, Massachusetts; died 1887) and Hannah Thwing. Married first, 1862, Lydia Warren Joy (died 1884); five children; second, 1890, Susan Christie Preston; one child. William’s grandfather and father were in the textile business. William began attending public school at age 7; he entered the High School at age 9, studying Latin and algebra. He also was learning about the textile business from his father. In 1853, William’s parents moved to the Christian commune in Hopedale, Massachusetts, where he ran the textile concern that was the commune’s most important business. After a year in the commune’s school, William attended it only from November to April 1, the rest of the year working at the jobs given to the children; at age 14, he began to work in the machine shop, where he was an efficient worker. Ending his schooling at age 16, he worked in various cotton mills, learning the trade. While he was accepted at Harvard in 1861, he didn’t attend; instead, when war broke out, he enlisted in the 25th Massachusetts Regiment, as a lieutenant, and moved on to the 36th Massachusetts Regiment. He fought at Fredericksburg and Antietam, being wounded twice; he was discharged in October 1864. Draper ran his own textile company at Hopedale until 1907, using a natural gift for invention and innovation to develop new methods and machinery. He also served two terms in the U. S. House of Representatives and was ambassador to Italy, 1897-1900.

Harriet Durham (1854, from Drakeville)

C. M. E. [Sigma]: Charles M. Eames (1861-1870; born 6 November 1845, Jacksonville, Illinois; died 30 July 1887, Fort Scott, Kansas) Son of Timothy Dwight (born Massachusetts; died 17 June 1879, Illinois) and A. M. Eames (born c1816, Massachusetts; died 14 December 1909, Illinois); he may have had a brother who died in infancy. Married 14 November 1876, Carrie M. Hall (born Wallingford, Connecticut; died 7 February 1890, Jacksonville, Illinois); four children. He subscribed to Woodworth’s Youth’s Cabinet before its merger with the Museum. Sickly as a child, Charles did not complete his education, though he entered Illinois College in 1863; here he joined the Sigma Pi fraternity and changed his pen-name in the Museum from “C. M. E.” to “Sigma” in 1864. In 1866, Charles began a journalism career during which he reported for the Chicago Republican and the Springfield Journal ; eventually he owned and edited the Jacksonville Daily and Weekly Journal. For eight years he also operated a book and stationery store in Jacksonville. Charles was one of Jacksonville’s boosters, active in political and professional organizations, as well as in churches and the educational system; in 1885, he wrote a large, effusive history of Morgan co. and Jacksonville (in 1857 he’d been just as enthusiastic about Jacksonville in a letter to the Cabinet). In February 1887, however, Charles left Jacksonville for Fort Scott, Kansas, where he purchased the Fort Scott Book and News Company and ran the bookstore as the City Book Store; it contained the usual range of offerings, from stationery and photograph albums to art supplies and a circulating library (subscription price: $3 per year). Charles’ death resulted from “congestion of the bowels.”He was buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville, Illinois. Authored four works in 1864 and 1865.

M. E. (1869)

R. T. E.: probably Richard Tilghman Earle (1849-1850; born c1840, Maryland; died 14 September 1914, Baltimore, Maryland) Son of Richard Tilghman (born 22 December 1816, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland; died 21 January 1895, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland) and Catharine Spencer (born 1814, Maryland; died 18 February 1848, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland). After Catharine’s death, Richard, sr., married her sister, Elizabeth (born 1804, Maryland; died 28 August 1868, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland). Richard, sr., was listed as a doctor owning 18 slaves and worth $15,000 in the 1850 census; his income of $928 in 1864 rose to $1353 in 1865. Richard, jr., lived in Centreville, Maryland, and died of a stroke while visiting friends.

Josephine Eaton (1855-1856; born 23 July 1843, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; died 23 August 1923, Louisville, Kentucky) Only daughter of Joseph H. (born 2 March 1813, Ohio; died 22 April 1886) and Esther Mary Treadwell (born 10 September 1812, New York; died 12 January 1859); elder sister of two boys. Married 2 October 1878 (in Petersburg City, Virginia), Alonzo Peck (born c1815, New York; died before 1923). Joseph was president of Union University, in Murfreesboro, from 1848 to 1886. He owned four slaves in 1850 and five in 1860. In 1870, Josephine was a teacher, as was her mother. Alonzo was a widower with two daughters when he and Josephine married; in New York he was a farmer.

Eddie (1855-1859, from Selma, Alabama; born c1847); at least one younger sister, who died in 1855.

Edith (1866, from New Casco, Michigan)

Edward and Allan (1848, from Waterbury, Connecticut; born c1839); twins

Elfelda (1863-1865, from Williamsport)

Eliza (1845)

Elizabeth (1865, from Washington)

Ella (1863-1865; died 1865) At her mother’s request, a poem was printed in April 1867 issue of the Museum

Ellen (1851, from Roxbury)

Ellen [Violette] (1855-1857, from Gouveneur)

Ellian (1860-1864) Authored three works, including an eight-part collection of stories, between 1860 and 1862

Elma (1858-1859, from Oakdale, Indiana)

Emmie (1857, from Kingsboro)

Empire State (1856, Buffalo, New York): puzzles by this subscriber were printed in the Museum from 1869-1870

Jennie Enwood (1866-1867, from Ostrander, Ohio)

Eustis (1864, from Wentworth, New Hampshire)

Evelina (1853, from North Carolina)

Evening Star (1862-1865, from Ouaquaga, New York) Authored two pieces in 1866

Caddie Everette (1865, from Cherry Grove) Author of one piece in 1865

F. (1845, from Randolph) Authored several pieces in 1845

E. T. F. (1849, from Oswego)

G. L. F. (1860)

J. C. F. (1849)

James F. (1845, from Nantucket)

M. W. F.: Mary W. Fluker, (1851; born December 1841, Louisiana; died 4 January 1929; buried Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana) Daughter of David J. (born c1809, Georgia; died 5 November 1854, Louisiana) and Isabella A. Kendrick (born c1815, Louisiana; died 27 December 1875, East Feliciana, Louisiana); one of at least 12 children, including one borne apparently by a female slave. Married 11 October 1865, East Feliciana, Louisiana, James L. Bradford (born August 1836, DC; died January 1919; buried Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana). In 1850 David was a farmer with real estate worth $136,500 and owning 110 slaves; in 1860 his widow owned 94 slaves. “Asphodel” was a sugar plantation. The large stone house on a bluff was built by Mary’s grandfather, though he died before it was finished. It features front and back porches, marble mantlepieces, and a double parlor with matching furniture in each room. During the War, Mary and her family endured several raids by Union troops in search of food. In one raid, troops attempted to set the house on fire while the family hid in the locked library. Furnished with its original rosewood and mahogany furniture, and fine china and crystal, Asphodel remained in the family until 1949. Mary and James were married at Grove Church, in St. Francisville, Louisiana, but moved to New Orleans, Lousiana, where James was a lawyer. Mary was prominent in New Orleans society, even during the months when James was serving a prison sentence for fraud. In 1902, she surprised a burglar, who escaped with over $2500 in diamond jewelry.

S. S. F. (1849, from Washington, DC)

Stephen B. F. (1845, from Harvard)

W. H. F. (1852, from Rocky Mount, Alabama; born c1841); several siblings

Fairy Jane; Fairie Jane (1859-1860, from Lake Village)

Fanny (1851)

Fleta Forrester [Sigma] (1857-1865) She had at least one brother. Married S. C. Stone. Fleta took Woodworth’s Youth’s Cabinet in 1857. In 1865, her address was Box 629, in New Haven, Connecticut. Fleta also wrote for St. Nicholas, whose founder, Mary Mapes Dodge, wrote for the Museum. Authored seven pieces between 1857 and 1863; she also edited the Puzzle Drawer, 1864-1866.

Louise E. Fletcher (1860-1861, from Marietta), perhaps Louise Eastman Fletcher (born 7 September 1848, Savannah, Chatham co., Georgia; died 12 July 1886, Marietta, Cobb co., Georgia; buried Marietta National Cemetery, Marietta, Cobb co., Georgia) Daughter of Peter Dix (born 14 September 1803, Phillipston, Worcester co., Massachusetts; died 15 July 1886, Marietta, Cobb co., Georgia) and Louisa Warren Patch (born 10 February 1808, New Salem, Franklin co., Massachusetts; died 24 January 1884, Marietta, Cobb co., Georgia); one of three girls. In 1850, Peter appears to have kept a boarding house; in 1870, he was a farmer with real estate worth $200 and personal property worth $300.

Violet Forest (1867; born about August 1850; died 20 October 1867, aged 17 years, 1 month and 24 days)

Franc (1864-1870)

Allie Frank (1865-1869, from Troy; born c1855)

Fred (1857, from Wauconda)

A Friend to Merry (1845)

Agnes G. (1869-1870)

Joseph C. G. (1858, from Wilmington, North Carolina)

Lizzie G. (1859-1861) She graduated from school in 1859.

Lizzy G.; Lizzie G. (1849-1851, from Paris, France; born c. 1837)

Mary B. G. (1850, from Oswego; born c1840); at least one younger sister

Maria L. Gage (1848; born 28 August 1833, New York; died 18 August 1868, Velmont, Colorado) Daughter of Justus (born 13 March 1805, DeRuyter, New York; died 21 January 1875, Dowagiac, Michigan) and Matilda Ann Tinkler (born 1810, New York; died after 1875, Michigan?); eldest of two girls and three boys. Married 6 May 1851, Horace A. McKeyes (born 1826); two daughters. The Gage family moved to Michigan sometime before 1838. Justus was a farmer. Maria, also known as “Mariah,” was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Dowagiac, Michigan.

Gazella (1860, from Maclura, Tennessee)

Geleco (1865, in Warren, Rhode Island)

George (1856, from University of Mississippi)

Geraldine (1859, from Harpersville; born c1848)

Cornelius M. Gibbs (1859-1861; born c1843, Georgia; died 3 December 1861, Richmond, Virginia) Son of Thomas H. (born c1821, Georgia) and Julia C. (born c1825, Georgia); eldest of at least four boys and three girls. Thomas was a farmer; the owner of 34 slaves in 1850, he owned 24 in 1860. Enlisting on 3 July 1861 as a private in Co. H, 11 Regiment Georgia Infantry, Cornelius became ill in August and died in the General Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Author of three pieces in 1859 and 1860.

Gooseberry-eyed James (1856, from Mt. Carroll, Illinois; born c1845)

Grasshopper (1860-1869)

Hiram Graves (1859, from Merwinsville; born c1849); with several brothers and sisters

Green-eyed Nettie (1857, from Chicago)

Sybil Grey; Orianna (1859-1861; born 1843?)

Walter Grey (1857, from Rocky Point)

A. L. H. (1858, from San Francisco)

E. B. H. (1849-1850)

J. H. (1855, from Piermont)

M. S. H.: Maria S. Hall (1849; born 4 June 1833, Virginia; died 21 September 1864; buried Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia) Daughter of John B. (born 13 March 1787, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania co., Virginia; died 1 September 1862, Fredericksburg, Virginia) and Harriet Stringellow (born 29 October 1801, Virginia; died 8 October 1888; buried Fredericksburg Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Virginia); one of at least five boys and two girls. Marriage registered 10 June 1851, to Washington Lafayette Watkins (born c1824, Richmond; died 17 March 1892, Petersburg, Virginia); at least four girls and three boys. John was a druggist worth $10,500 in 1850 and $30,000 in 1860; at least two of his sons also entered the medical profession. Watkins was a lawyer.

Ralph H. (1841)

Richard P. H. (1844, from Lexington)

Sarah J. H. (1849, from Rome, Georgia)

T. M. H. (1857): from Augusta, Georgia

M. La Rue H—n: Marcus La Rue Harrison (1849; born 1829, Tompkins co., New York; died 27 October 1890, Virginia) Married Mattie F. Mitchell; at least one daughter. Marcus’s parents took the family to Michigan when he was young. Though Marcus attended what is now the University of Michigan from 1847 to 1850 in the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts, he did not graduate. Marcus was a teacher for a year before becoming a civil engineer and working on two railroads. On 24 September 1861 he enlisted in Co. K, 36th Illinois Infantry; according to records, he was transferred to the 15th Illinois Cavalry, though in 1862 Marcus was in the 36th Illinois Infantry when he got authority to recruit for and captain the 6th Missouri Cavalry. He raised the 1st Arkansas Cavalry, which mustered in at Springfield, Missouri, on 7 August 1862; the unit participated in many battles and operations in Missouri and Arkansas before mustering out on 20 August 1865. Originally detailed as an engineer, Marcus had a smoother career building fortifications than leading a cavalry unit: several times he had to respond to charges made by hostile officers. Marcus was breveted brigadier-general for services in the field before mustering out in 1865 and being commissioned a special agent for the Post Office Department. He spent two years organizing the postal system for the area around Arkansas and the Indian Territory. Having been part of the Union forces occupying Fayetteville, Arkansas, Marcus was elected mayor in 1868; however, the town’s citizens were so unhappy with his administration that they petitioned the state for dissolution of the town’s charter. After this was granted, a former Confederate was elected mayor in Marcus’s place. He went back to surveying proposed routes for the railroads. In 1869, the new town of Harrison, Arkansas, was named for him in payment for his services in surveying it. In 1870 Marcus was a civil engineer in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with $7000 in real estate. Eventually the Harrison family moved to Washington, DC, where he was an inspector in the Post Office Department from 1874 to 1890. He was buried at Arlington.

Lizzie H.; Lizzie H—s: probably Mary Elizabeth Hills (1849-1850; born 2 July 1836, Rome, Georgia; died 19 January 1873, Cedartown, Georgia) Daughter of Dennis (born 6 May 1800, Leominster, Massachusetts; died 11 March 1868, Rome, Georgia) and Eliza A. Henderson (born 30 December 1815, Massachusetts; died 12 May 1864, Cedartown, Georgia); oldest of 14 children, six of whom died before they were 15. Married 21 October 1858, John C. Reese (born 1834, Georgia; died 1902, Silver Creek, Georgia); one girl and four boys.

Hal (1858-1859, from Zebraville, Ohio)

Harrie (1862-1863); at least one brother, named Willie. Harrie attended a boarding school

Bessie Harris (1853, from Wood Lawn)

Harry; Harry G. (1858, from Springfield, Illinois)

Hattie Hart (1856, from Palmyra)

Nancy Haugh (1853, from Washington, DC)

May Hawk (1868) Authored a piece in 1868

Tommy Hawk (1859, from Sugar-plum Hill)

Hawthorn; Hawthorne (1859-1864; born in Tennessee) He travelled in Europe from late 1860 to early 1861.

Hazel-Eyed Johnny (1859, from Minden, Louisiana)

Hercules (1872, from Williamsburg)

Herman (1867)

Hero (1864-1868, from New Paltz)

Hesperia (1861, from San Juan, California)

C. Holcomb, Jr: Chester Holcomb (1857; born 16 October 1842, Winfield, New York; died 25 April 1912, Rochester, New York) Son of Chester (born 10 September 1804; died 21 September 1865) and Lucy Tompkins; eldest of three boys. Married first, Kate O. Sage; second, 21 March 1906, Alice Reeves. Chester subscribed to Woodworth’s Youth’s Cabinet in 1857. The son of a Presbyterian minster, Chester, Jr., became a Presbyterian minister, himself. He was interpreter and Secretary of the U. S. Legation in Peking [Beijing], China, from 1871-1885; and acting minister, 1875-1876, 1878-1879, and 1881-1882. Here Chester helped to negotiate various treaties, earning the respect of the emperor of China. Besides translating the Declaration of Independence, Chester wrote a life of Christ and a work on mental arithmetic in Chinese. In English he wrote several books and articles on China, the Chinese, and antique Chinese porcelain.

Hoosier Anne (1858-1859, from Indianapolis, Indiana)

Emily J. Hyer (1860-1862, from Altior Place, Louisiana)

A. N. I. (1846)

H. P. I.: perhaps Harlan P. Ingersoll (1849-1852; born c1836, Michigan) Son of Erastus S. (born c1808, New York) and C.P. (born c1811, Vermont); eldest of two boys and two girls. In 1850, Erastus was a farmer with $1500 in real estate.

Ichabod (1856)

Mary Alice Iles (1854; born 11 November 1842, Midway, Kentucky; died 6 July 1926, Georgetown, Kentucky) Daughter of Thomas Jefferson (born 17 March 1811, Boone co., Kentucky; died 27 October 1889, Davenport, Iowa) and Maria Louisa Nuckols (born 25 February 1824, Kentucky; died 14 December 1865, Davenport, Iowa); older sister of seven boys. Married 29 July 1862, Richard Henry Shropshire (died July 1909); three daughters. A land-owning physician worth $36,000 in 1860, Thomas owned three slaves in 1850 and 10 in 1860. Mary attended Daughters College in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, around 1860. When the Civil War broke out, Dr. Iles moved to Davenport, Iowa, so his sons would not be forced to fight for the South; Mary and her husband moved with them. After the death of her mother, Mary acted as the mother of her younger brothers. Richard farmed for a while; in 1884 the family moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he was a salesman with the John Deere Company. After he retired in 1903, the family moved to Georgetown, Kentucky.

Infanta (1850, from Milwaukee, Wisconsis) Authored five pieces in 1850 and 1851

Irænus (1856)

Isabel (1856, from Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Isabella (1850-1851, from Fincastle, Virginia; born c1838)

J. (1852, from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts)

C. W. J. (1857, probably 1862-1863; from Kingsboro, New York)

Susan H. J.: Susan Huntington Johnson (1848; born 22 or 23 October 1837, Colville, New York; died 30 November 1909, Wisconsin; buried Oxford Village Cemetery, Oxford, Marquette co., Wisconsin) Daughter of Baker (born 23 October 1803, Littleton, New Jersey; died 18 October 1886, Wisconsin) and Electa J. King (born c1813, New Jersey; died 14 April 1887, Wisconsin); eldest of five girls and four boys, two of whom died as young children. Baker was a Presbyterian minster; as a result the family moved several times: after a year in New York City and a year in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the family spent two years in Harmony, New Jersey, and five in Greenville, New York, before being posted to Smithfield, Pennsylvania. In June, 1854 or 1855, they moved to Portage, Wisconsin, where Baker taught at a parochial school for a year before moving the family to Oxford, Wisconsin. Here he owned 360 acres, on which his sons ran a farm while he ministered. Susan lived in New Jersey in 1880 and was from 1887 to 1893 principal of the Oswego College for Young Ladies established by the Neosho Presbytery in Oswego, Kansas, where she lived until 1896; after this, she may have lived in Steubenville, Ohio, before moving to Wisconsin.

James (1848, from Williamsburg)

James (1858)

Charles Jewett (1854-1855; born 27 April 1843, Weybridge, Vermont; died 30 May 1892, California) Son of Solomon Wright (born 27 May 1808, Vermont) and Mary Catherine (born 6 July 1819, Vermont); sixth of four girls and three boys. Married 19 January 1869, May H. Knight; three girls and a boy. Solomon was a farmer with land worth $27,700 in 1850. In 1856, the family moved to Racine, Wisconsin, where Charles went to public school; in 1860 he had $50 in personal property. On 24 April 1869, he enlisted in Co. F, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteers, which became part of the Iron Brigade. Charles was wounded in the first and second battles at Bull Run; in the first, he was one of the last to leave the field because he stayed back to help a friend. Charles also fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he was wounded. After a year recuperating, Charles re-elisted as first lieutenant, Co. F, 39th Wisconsin Volunteers. After the War, Charles was in the Regular Army from 1866 to 1877; the names of his children reflect the family’s travels: Josephine Antonia was born at Ft. Antonia, Texas; Russell McIntosh was born at Ft. McIntosh, Texas; Agnes Roxbury was born in Boston; Dorothy Kern was born in Kern Co., California, after Charles retired to a ranch there, where he was a farmer in 1880. He accepted his pension for only a couple years, after which he refused it, saying that the government had paid him enough. In 1892, he was an assistant cashier at the Kern Valley Bank. Charles was smashed against boulders and drowned in the Kern River, in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue two boys who were part of a picnic party with Jewett and his family; his body was recovered May 31.

Jim (1861-1869, from Baltimore)

R. N. John (1853-1855)

Johnny Jump-up (1862-1863)

C. W. Johnson (1859)

ix

Emmie M. Johnson (1856-1859; born 1846?); one of several children. She may have been related to Caleb W., who also wrote to the Chat. [Robert Merry’s Museum ; 1856.1.125

Bessie Johnston: Elizabeth E. Johnston (1859-1860, from Baltimore; born December 1848, Maryland; died 1925, Baltimore, Maryland; buried Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland) Daughter of Thomas D. (born c1801, Maryland) and Anna Maria Elizabeth Elliot (born c1807, Maryland); youngest of at least three brothers and two sisters; she was nine years younger than her next-youngest sibling. Married c1887, Thomas Baxter Gresham (born 20 October 1844, Athens, Clarke co., Georgia; died 8 July 1933, Roanoke, Virginia), his second wife; one child. Thomas Johnston was a banker. A number of Confederate leaders were family friends, and Emmie made a collection of autographs and souvenirs of the Confederacy, which were described in 20th-century news articles and exhibited in the early 1920s by the Maryland Historical Society. Thomas Gresham was a lawyer.

Jolly Jingle (1864-1867) Author of seven pieces between 1863 and 1867

Josephine (1852, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee)

Josephus (1856, from Chicago)

Josie (1861-1867)

Julia (1854, from Waterbury, Connecticut; born c1847); at least one younger sister

Julia (1857, from Ashtabula, Ohio)

Juno (1864-1866)

E. B. K.: Emily Barsina Ketchum (1852; born 13 November 1840, Fayette co., Tennessee; died 1917, Norfolk, Virginia) Daughter of Levi (born c1798, Kentucky; died 9 June 1867, Tennessee) and Barsina Black (died 1 July 1842); sixth child of four boys and three girls. Married 1858, Alexander Compton Ewell (born 27 October 1837, Virginia; died 4 November 1878, Memphis, Tennessee); a boy and four girls. The Ketchums were housed, first, in a log cabin, then in a three story brick mansion, both built by Levi. A farmer, Levi owned 15 slaves in 1840 and 30 in 1850. Two years after Barsina died in childbirth, with a daughter, Levi married Georgianna Walker (born c1823); they had six children. Alexander, a doctor, owned land; between them, in 1860 he and Emily owned 20 slaves. He died during a typhoid epidemic. Emily moved her family to Norfolk City, Virginia, between 1880 and 1900.

F. H. K. (1852, from Marietta, Ohio); at least one older brother and sister

R. F. K. (1857)

xiii

William K.; Willie K—r: William Kenner (1849-1851; born c1838, Louisiana) Son of Minor (born c1803, Louisiana; died 1864) and Eliza Davis (born c1820, Louisiana); eldest of three boys and a girl. Minor was a planter, owning adjoining sugar plantations—Belle Grove and Pasture—between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain; in 1850 the combined real estate was worth $170,000. The 110 slaves he kept in 1840 had almost doubled in 1850 to 207. In the 1850s, Minor founded the town of Kennerville on Pasture Plantation, becoming its first postmaster and naming Daniel, William, Minor, and Maria Streets after his children.

Kate (1852, from Wisconsin)

Frank E. Kellogg (1855-1856; born 5 December 1841, Kellogg’s Corners, Wisconsin; died 1901) Son of Seth Helmont (born 14 November 1802, Goshen, Connecticut; died 24 July 1867, Racine, Wisconsin) and Electa Stratton Washburn (born 12 November 1805, New Haven, Connecticut; died 17 September 1868, Racine, Wisconsin); one of 10 children, one of whom died in early childhood. Married Kate Hall; two girls and a boy. The Kelloggs—including Seth’s father and mother—moved to Wisconsin in 1837 and settled Kellogg’s Corners, 10 miles from Racine; Seth’s five brothers eventually followed. In Connecticut and in Wisconsin, Seth was a farmer; he also wrote poems for periodicals. In 1870, Frank was a hardware dealer in Boise, Idaho, with personal property worth $3000. Later he went into the insurance business.

Kitty Clover (1864-1865)

Knippiniphidgette No. 2 (1858)

Know-Nothing (1856)

E. L. (1841, from Carmel, New York)

H. P. L. (1853, from Tewksbury)

Kitty L. (1869)

L. E. L.: probably Lucy E. Leiper (1852; born 11 March 1843, Tennessee; died 26 September 1924, Chattanooga, Hamilton co., Tennessee) Daughter of John (born c1810, Pennsylvania) and Elizabeth A. Rucker (born c1821, Tennessee); older sister of four boys and a girl. Married 7 November 1865 Thomas B. Darragh (born c1843, Kentucky; died before 1924); at least one boy. John—a merchant with real estate worth $43,000 in 1850, real estate worth $35,000 and personal property of $21,350 in 1860, and personal property worth $15,000 in 1870—was an alderman in Murfreesboro in 1839 and 1846-48. Thomas was a lawyer; in 1870 he was mayor of Murfreesboro. Lucy died of senility, complicated by a broken hip.

Thomas L—e (1856, from Leominster; born c1846)

J—s L—n (1844, from Syracuse)

Charlie Laird (1860, from Pleasant Valley)

Laura; Constant Reader: probably Laura Almira Chapman (1842-1844; born 27 September 1822, Springfield, Massachusetts) Daughter of James (born 1781, Bolton, Connecticut; died 8 March 1847, Springfield, Massachusetts) and Ethelinda (born 1784, Bolton, Connecticut; died 6 August 1857, Springfield, Massachusetts); Laura had at least one brother and one sister. Married William Barlow, 15 July 1841. James was in manufacturing and trade in 1840 and was a gardener in 1847.

Eula Lee (1865-1867) Authored 13 pieces between 1865 and 1867

Leila (1857, from New Iberia, Louisiana); at least one sister. Author of two pieces in 1858 and 1859

Lelia (1854, from Ingleside)

Leslie (1859-1866, from Green Point) Authored two works in 1864

Liberty (1862-1867)

Stella Lightner (1861)

Lillie (1857)

Grace Maria Linton (1853, from New Bedford; born c1842)

Jessie Linwood (1861-1863, from South Portsmouth, Rhode Island); at least one brother. Author of a piece in 1861.

Lottie (1858, from Tremainsville, Ohio)

Robert H. Loughridge: Robert Hill Loughridge (1857-1861; born 9 October 1843, Creek Nation, Koweta Mission; died 1916/1917, Waco, Texas) Son of Robert McGill (born 24 December 1809, South Carolina; died 7 or 8 July 1900) and Olivia D. Hill (died 17 September 1845, Creek Nation). Married 19 October 1886, Bessie May Webb (died 1895) Robert was born in a 12′ x 14′ cabin on the Arkansas Reservation, where his father was a popular Presbyterian missionary. Olivia died following the birth on 5 September 1845 of Olivia Diantha, who died in September 1846—the year Robert McGill married Mary Avery (died 1850). In 1848 the family moved to the Creek Mission at Tallahassee. The mission included a boarding school for Creek boys and girls; his father was fluent in Muskoge, so Robert H. probably was at least bilingual. Widowed again, Robert McGill married Harriet Johnson (born Massachusetts; died 23 May 1900) on 5 October 1853; they had two girls and two boys. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the Mission was abandoned and the Loughridges returned east. Robert H. enlisted in Co. H, 13 Tennessee Infantry, on 7 March 1862; he was transferred to Co. L on May 1. Sometime before the end of August, he was wounded and remained on wounded furlough well into 1863. On 13 June 1863 he was detailed in the Atlanta Hospital; Robert nursed the wounded at the division hospital near the battlefield of Chickamauga, Tennessee, in September 1863. Robert graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1872 and was Assistant State geologist in Mississippi, Georgia, and Kentucky before becoming professor of agriculture at the University of South Carolina and professor emeritus of agricultural chemistry at the University of California—Berkeley. In 1900, Robert lived in Alameda co., California.

Louisa (1846, from Maine)

Louise (1858-1859, from Jerseyville, Illinois)

Lillian Loyle (1854, from Hopedale Hall)

Lucy (1857-1860, from Santiam, Oregon) Perhaps author of “Acrostic” (Robert Merry’ Museum, 1860); “April Showers” (Robert Merry’ Museum, 1862)

Lula (1868, from Mississippi)

M. (1852, from Auburn)

A. E. M. (1849, from Cambridgeport)

A. P. M. (1846, from Springfield; born 18 April 1835)

Charles E. M.: probably Charles Elliot Mitchell (1850; born 10, 11, or 18 May 1837, Bristol, Connecticut; died 1911) Son of George H. (born June 1810, Connecticut) and Lurene Hooker (born 4 November 1810, Connecticut; died 29 October 1877); middle of three boys. Married 13 December 1866, Cornelia A. Chamberlain; three boys. George was a merchant and the postmaster of Bristol with $1000 in real estate in 1850. Charles grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, studying for college while working for his father in the post office After a year at Williston Seminary, he attended Brown University, graduating in 1861, and becoming principal of Bristol High School; he then entered Albany Law School, from which he graduated in 1864. Charles moved from practicing general law to patent law. He was City Attorney of New Britain, Connecticut, 1870-1872, a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, 1880-1881, and Commissioner of Patents, 1889-1891; he practiced law in New York—often for General Electric Company—before becoming president of Stanley Rule & Level Company in 1902. He died of a stroke.

D. G. M.: Darius G. Maynard (1852; born 1840, Vermont; died 10 June 1897, Lowell, Vermont) Son of Ulrich (born 1799; died 29 January 1891) and Olive Branch (born 1800; died 2 May 1892). Married 18 August 1860, Diantha Almeda Norris (died 23 August 1924, Vermont); at least five children. Ulrich was a Congregational minister. As an adult, Darius was six feet tall, with dark hair and gray or grayish-blue eyes; a private in Co. B Vermont Infantry from August 1862 to July 1863, he was a private in Co. L, 1st Vermont Cavalry from 3 January 1864 to 9 August 1865. During his service, he suffered a dislocated shoulder when he was thrown from his horse; this injury plagued him for the rest of his life, undermining his health. Darius was a farmer when he died of “heart failure caused by continued fever.”

Katie M. (1867)

L. S. M. (1871, from Salem)

Mamie E. M. (1862-1865, from Brooklyn)

Mary A. M. (1865, from Newark, New Jersey)

R. H. M. (1857, from Silver Lake)

Maggie (1857, from Columbia)

Mamie (1863-1867)

Manus (1864, from Binghamton); attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, in 1864

Mar (1860, from Oakhill, Virginia); a girl; at least one younger sibling

Marcellus (1849)

Marcus (1864, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Margaret (1842, from New York)

Maria (1858, St. Clairsville, Ohio)

Marie (1858, from Beechgrove, Iowa); at least one brother

Marietta: Marietta E. Lane (1853; born 27 August 1843, Damariscotta, Maine; died 7 February 1930, Damariscotta, Maine) Daughter of Samuel (born 1816, Maine; died 1902, Damariscotta, Maine) and Rebecca C. Little (born 1817, Maine; died 28 April 1879, Damariscotta, Maine); her younger sister was Jane (born 5 February 1853, Damariscotta, Maine; died 30 July 1883, Malden, Massachusetts). Married 26 July 1870, Daniel E. Gamage (born 1841; died 23 September 1906, Damariscotta, Maine); a son and a daughter. Samuel was a ship’s carpenter with real estate worth $1200 in 1870. Before she married, Marietta was a milliner; she is listed as “Etta” on her marriage record. Daniel was a ship’s carpenter.

Marinus (1857, from Copenhagen)

Frank Marion (1856, from Albion, New York)

Marsena (1858, from Otisville, New York)

Mary (1846, Brooklyn; born 24 February 1839); at least one brother and two sisters, one of whom was born on Mary’s sixth birthday

Mary (1855)

Mary (1855, from Terre Haute)

Mary Lou (1857, from Dresden)

Mattie (1855-1856, from Burlington, Vermont); younger brothers and sisters

Schuyler McA. (1857)

George T. McKinney (1862-1868, from New York): he created many puzzles and enigmas for the Museum

W. P. McMillan: William Potter McMillan (1853-1856; born 12 August 1838, Giles co., Tennessee; died 9 August 1859, Macoupin co., Illinois) Son of Edward (born 23 September 1806, North Carolina) and Mary Ann Brown (born 25 March 1812, Tennessee); fifth of 14 children, four from Edward’s first marriage; three died before age one. Edward was a Presbyterian minister. The McMillans moved to Illinois in 1856 because of Edward’s anti-slavery feelings. Here Edward seems to have done better financially: the value of his real estate in Tennessee was $1200; in Illinois, he was worth $7500, $6400 of it real estate. William was a student when he died of “pulmonary consumption”; he had been ill for 21 months.

Meema (1848, from Paris, France)

L. Lewis Meriam: Laban Lewis Meriam (1845; born 25 January 1836; died 30 July 1844, Tewksbury, Massachusetts) Son of Horatio C. (born c1807, Massachusetts) and Esther L. (born c1811, Massachusetts); eldest of at least seven children. Horatio was a farmer worth at least $10,000 in 1850.

Jerry Miam (1857, from New York)

Mignonette (1859, from New Ipswich, New Hampshire)

Mignonette Wildwood (1863-1865)

Milwaukee (1872, from Milwaukee)

Minerva (1862-1863, from Green Point) Some of the Cousins living near Manhattan met at her house in the early 1860s.

Minna Columbine (1853, from Providence)

Minnie (1859)

Montrose (1865-1869, from Richmond, Virginia)

Louis B. Moore (1857)

T. L. Morrice (1858, from Matherton)

A. N. (1862-1867)

Emily N. (1855, from Brooklyn)

George H. N. (1854, from Brooklyn; born c1843) Perhaps author of “Freedom for All—Birds” (1856)

J. N. (1856-1857)

Lizzie E. N. (1865-1868, from Elmira, New York)

Nannie Nightingale (1861-1863)

Nell; Nell of B. (1860-1866)

Nellie (1857, from Hazel Dell)

Nellie (1862)

Nippinifidget (1856-1860)

Nonpareil Smallcaps (1849)

R. W. North: Robert Worthington North (1853; born 15 January 1841, Raymond, Mississippi; died 3 May 1884, Rocky Ford, Louisiana; buried Rocky Mount Cemetery, Rocky Mount, Bossier Parish, Louisiana) Only son of Nathaniel Greene (born 15 May 1810, Jefferson co., Virginia; died 10 November 1875, Mount Holly, Arkansas) and Mary Morrow Worthington (born c1810, Virginia; died 4 January 1867); he had an older sister who died in 1842. Married 21 January 1874, Mary Amanda Martin (born c1844, South Carolina; died after 1914); two boys and a girl. Nathaniel was licensed as a Presbyterian minister; he also was a printer who edited the Southwestern Farmer in Raymond, Mississippi, and helped to found the New Orleans Picayune and New Orleans Creole. The Norths moved several times, as Nathaniel served churches in New Orleans; Virginia; West Virginia; Maryland; and Arkansas. While the family lived in Charlestown, Virginia, Robert attended the academy there. He also was a member of the local militia group which assisted in the capture of John Brown at Harper’s Ferry in 1859, and which stood guard at his execution; Nathaniel at least attempted to advise Brown on spiritual matters. When the War started, Robert enlisted in Co. B, 12th Virginia Cavalry. After the War, he taught school in Maryland for a few years; then he moved to Rocky Ford, Bossier Parish, Louisiana. In 1880, Robert was listed as a laborer on his father-in-law’s farm; he also taught school until his death.

James Norton (1844, from Washington, DC)

W. F. O. (1856-1857): from Birmingham; attended Wesleyan Academy in 1857

Olivia: Catherine Olivia Van Wickle [or Van Winkle] (1851; born 17 December 1834, Louisiana; died 26 May 1896) Daughter of Stephen (born 6 January 1798, New Jersey; died 31 December 1878, Louisiana) and Adele Morgan (born 1 March 1810, Louisiana; died 7 May 1839, Louisiana); middle of three girls; a brother died in infancy. Married 28 March 1853, Jacob Lafayette Mathews (born c1827; died 1 January 1884); 10 children. Stephen became a planter in Louisiana, besides being post master of Pt. Coupee in the 1820s; in 1850 he owned three tracts of land worth $30,000. One was a plantation—probably a sugar plantation—called the “Hermitage.” After Adele’s death, Stephen did not remarry. In 1840 and 1850 he owned about 57 slaves. Before their marriage, Jacob represented the district in the Louisiana Legislature. Olivia and Jacob lived at the “Hermitage,” where, in 1860 Jacob listed himself as a planter with real estate worth $51,000. One of their sons was killed in a duel in 1888. Olivia was buried in St. Francisville.

1/20,000 (1858-1859) The name referred to the number of subscribers to the Museum, which editors usually put at 20,000. The subscriber started college in October 1858.

Operator (1865)

Oscar (1857, from Brooklyn)

Out West Boy (1864-1868, from Illinois)

A. P. (1846, from Franklin, St. Mary’s Parish, Attakapas co., Louisiana)

Edway B. P. (1844, from Middlebury, Vermont)

Fanny E. P. (1845-1846, from Norwalk)

George P.: perhaps George Pattison (1849; born c1838, Tennessee) Son of George (born c1801, Pennsylvania) and Sally (born c1811, Kentucky); fourth of seven boys and a girl. George, sr., was a bookeeper who owned three slaves—two of them children—in 1850.

I. D. P. (1849, from Cave Spring, Georgia; born c1839)

J. M. P. (1845-1846, from Cambridge)

Louisiana P.: Louisiana A. Perkins (1852; born c1840, Louisiana; died 13 January 1903; buried Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana) Daughter of William Wilder (born 12 or 13 June 1812 or 1818, Dover, New Hampshire; died 18 September 1863; buried Madisonville Cemetery, Madisonville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana) and Harriet Newell Thurston (born 24 October 1816, Lawrence co., Ohio; died 10 February 1885, Madisonville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana); third child of six girls and three boys. Married 4 August 1858, Berent Thomson (died 17 May 1865); one daughter. Married 22 August 1866, Thomas Edgar Williams (born 1838; died 1872); a boy and a girl. William Perkins was owner and master of various schooners, beginning in 1835. In 1850 he was listed as a sailor owning eight slaves and with real estate worth $3,500; William was listed as a lake captain worth about $5,000 in 1860. Berent was washed overboard during a hurricane off the Cape of Good Hope. Louisiana was not the only child in the family with a geographical name: America (a girl) was born in 1857.

M. S. P. (1852, from Brooklyn)

Mary J. P.: perhaps Mary J. Pass (1854, from Fort Kent, Aroostook co., Maine; born c1842, Maine) Daughter of David (born c1798, New Hampshire) and Mary J. (born c1813, Maine); second of a boy and three girls. David was a farmer with real estate worth $1200 and personal property worth $700 in 1860.

Mary W. P. (1857, from Aberdeen, Mississippi)

P. A. P.: Phebe Alexander Preston (1851; born 12 August 1840, Lexington, Virginia; died 5 August 1873, Lexington, Virginia) Daughter of John Thomas Lewis (born 25 April 1811, Virginia; died 15 July 1890, Lexington, Virginia) and Sarah Lyle Caruthers (born Virginia; died 4 January 1856, Lexington, Virginia); third child of six boys and three girls, one of whom died at age 5. Married 17 October 1871, Edmund R. Cocke. John was co-founder of and professor at the Virginia Military Institute; Robert E. Lee was a friend of the family before becoming related by marriage. After Sarah died in childbirth, John married Margaret Junkin (born c1825; died 23 March 1897, Maryland) on 3 August 1857. They had two sons. A poet, Margaret knew Whittier, Longfellow, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. John was stationed away from his family during the Civil War, but Margaret proved more than capable in his absence, going to great lengths to hide arms and uniforms from Union troops who searched the family home in 1864. Two of Phebe’s brothers died during the War; a third died later as a result of his wounds.

V. M. P.: probably Vincent M. Porter (1852; born 14 July 1841, Niagara Falls, New York; died 26 May 1899, Niagara Falls, New York) Son of Albert H. (born c1802, New York; died 8 August 1888, Niagara Falls, New York) and Julia Matthews (born c1808, New York; died 26 November 1889, Niagara Falls, New York); third child of two boys and two girls. Married 10 June 1895, Bertha S. Kirkpatrick. Albert was a manufacturer with real estate worth $30,000 in 1850. Vincent was wealthy when he died, but that did not ensure that his widow paid the bill for his funeral, which she considered too high: eighteen months later, she was sued by the undertaker for an unpaid bill of $775.40 (about $22,112 in 2019); she paid only after details of the bill were printed in the local newspaper.

Wm. P—l: William M. Pearl (1850; born June 1835, Connecticut) Son of Elam (born c1807, Connecticut) and Lucy R. (born c1800, Connecticut); eldest of at least two boys and a girl. Married c1857, Clarissa W. (born c1834, Connecticut; died before 1870); at least two sons. Elam was a farmer with real estate worth $2300 in 1850. William was a printer by 1860, an occupation he kept until at least 1870. In 1860 he had $500 in personal property; this fell to $100 by 1870. William lived in Hartford, Connecticut, where he edited the monthly insurance periodical The Traveler’s Record in 1876. In 1880, he worked in advertising. The Pearl family moved to San Francisco, California, in 1890, where William was a bishop in the Catholic Apostolic Church in 1896; he’s listed as a clergyman in the 1900 U. S. census. The family moved back to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1897.

E. R. P—r (1845, from Norwalk, Connecticut)

R. A. P—r, Jr.: Robert A. Parker, jr (1850; born 19 November 1836, Somerville, Fayette co., Tennessee; died 29 December 1928, Memphis, Tennessee) Son of Robert A. (born c1810, North Carolina) and Laura Minter (born c1812, Kentucky); eldest of 11 children. Married Sarah Flowers (born born c1841; died 28 January 1922, Memphis, Tennessee); at least one daughter and three sons. The family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1841. Robert, Sr., was a merchant. The Parker family home was a two-story brick house containing 10 rooms, on seven acres of land; the Parkers owned several slaves who worked in the house. Robert was educated for 9 years in both public and private schools. After his older brother went off to the University of Tennessee, Robert took his place in the family business, which he seems to have kept until 1861 and the outbreak of civil war; Robert by this time owned his own home, which he sold for $5,000 before enlisting in the army. During the war Robert served as a clerk and storekeeper in the commissary; he served in the Ordnance Department for the last three years of the War. Robert discharged himself on 1 May 1865 after Columbus, Georgia, had been taken in April; he made the trip home to Memphis on a two-mule wagon. After the War he lived in Memphis except for a few years in New Orleans, working as a bookkeeper and a bank cashier; he also went into business with his son, representing several insurance companies. In 1908, the family experienced some unwanted excitement when a thief entered the house while everyone was out, and stole $2,000 in jewelry (and missed $5,000-worth; the $7,000 in jewelry would have cost approximately $201,700 in 2019). Robert had a stroke 25 December 1928. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

S. P—t (1844, from Cleveland, Ohio)

Edward Winslow Paige (1857; born 11 July 1844, New York; died 13 October 1918; buried First Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Schenectady, Schenectady co., New York) Son of Alonzo Christopher (born 31 July 1797, New York; died 31 March 1868) and Harriet Bowers Mumford (born c1809, New York; died 31 March 1867); younger brother of four girls and three boys, two of whom died before age 5. A member of the New York state senate before Edward was born, in 1850 Alonzo was a New York state supreme court judge, with real estate worth $20,000; in 1860 he was worth $78,000, $60,000 of it in real estate. Edward also became a lawyer, graduating from Union College in 1864. He practiced in New York City until moving to Schenectady, New York, in 1917. A passport application in 1873 describes Edward as being 5 feet 10 inches tall, with gray eyes and light hair (and a prominent nose).

Jeannie Parker: Jane/ Jeannie O. Williams Parker (1860-1864; born 15 June 1850, Gouverneur, New York; died September 1883; buried Riverside Cemetery, Gouverneur, St. Lawrence co., New York) Daughter of Cornelius A. (born 11 May 1821, New York; died 22 December 1899, Gouverneur, New York; buried Riverside Cemetery, Gouverneur, St. Lawrence co., New York) and Jane Ann Williams (born c1827, New York; died after 1910); eldest of two girls and a boy. Cornelius was an attorney worth $154,000 in 1860, though by 1870 his financial worth had shrunk to $8000. Before 1870 Jeannie became a teacher.

Lily G. Parley (1860-1861): In 1860 she lived on Olive Street, in St. Louis, Missouri

Pennsylvania Dick (1861-1862, 1864)

Pertine (1859-1866) She married in 1863. Authored five works between 1863 and 1866.

Pet (1862)

Peter T. Scribble-sheet (1850, from Elmira)

Willie Phelps (1858, from Dubuque) He may have subscribed to Woodworth’s Youth’s Cabinet in 1857.

Phil (1858, from Colchester, New York)

J. L. Pierrepont; James L. Pierrepont (1859, from Missouri)

Carolus Piper (1856, from Bloomfield, New Jersey; 1859) Author of three pieces between 1856 and 1859

Diana Pitchfork (1848)

Pontiac (1863-1865)

Lottie E. Porter: from Green Bay, Wisconsin; subscribed to Woodworth’s Youth’s Cabinet ; in 1858 she attended the Hopkins Academy in Hadley, Massachusetts, as she informed readers of the Museum.

Prairie Chicken (1859-1860, from Fond du Lac)

Prairie Girl (1857, from Gratiot, Wisconsin) Her real name was “Lizzie.”

Puss (1862-1864)

Addie R. (1852, from Cuddebackville); at least a brother and a sister

E. O. R. (1845-1846, from Lowell); at least one younger sister

Enoch R. (1857, from Moline)

Ethel R.; Smile of the Great Spirit (1858, 1861, from Vicksburg, Mississippi)

Jane R. (1841)

M. A. R. (1849, from Connecticut)

M. H. R. (1849, from Connecticut)

Percy V. R. (1872)

R. W. R. (1855-1856, from Syracuse) Married before June 1863. In 1860, he was “Our Own Correspondent” for the Daily Times.

T. H. R.: Thomas Harvey Rockwood (1848; born 24 April 1838, Amherst, Massachusetts; baptized 11 November 1838, Massachusetts; died 16 October 1920, St. Louis, Missouri; buried 19 October 1920, Bellefontain Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri) Son of Harry (born c1810, Massachusetts; died before 1860?) and Susan (born c1820, Ohio or Vermont); second of four boys, two of them twins. Thomas’s older brother may have died before 1850. Married 27 January 1870, Lillie or Lilla E. Hansen (born 13 August 1846, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or New York or Rhode Island; died 5 September 1910, St. Louis, Missouri), in Manhattan, New York; at least three daughters. Thomas was in the hotel for a reason on 1 January 1848: his father was the hotel keeper. In 1860, Susan is listed as an “inn keeper” with personal property worth $20,000; the three boys are listed as clerks. Thomas and his wife moved to St. Louis before 1873, when their first child was born; in St. Louis, Thomas was a wholesale tea merchant, which led him to being called as an expert witness for the prosecution in a case involving the establishment of a lottery (a felony at the time). The Rockwood family became prominent members of St. Louis society, with a number of mentions in the society pages of their comings and goings, including a substantial story—complete with photograph—about the youngest Rockwood daughter as a debutante. The family lost its dog in a series of poisonings targeting wealthy families. In 1920 Thomas was living with his two unmarried daughters, in whose house he died of chronic endoconditis complicated by senility.

W. A. R. (1863-1867); his last name may have been Rousseau. Authored two pieces in 1865 and 1866.

J. R—d (1849, from Craterville)

A Reader (1848)

Ria (1850, from Danvers)

Roguish Kate and Oddity (1865-1870)

Roland (1860-1861, from Sheramoore, Florida)

Rosamond (1858, from Oak Wild Lodge)

Rubie Linden (1864-1869) She wrote as “Lillie Linden” before changing her signature in 1865

Fred. (Lieut.) Ryder (1862)

Alick C. S. (1851-1852, from Stillwater)

B. C. S. (1870, from Massachusetts)

E. C. S.: perhaps Edward Clarence Smith (1850, from Rhinebeck; born 13 May 1835, Palatine, New York; died 29 November 1889, Wallingford, Pennsylvania) Son of Charles Adam (born 25 June 1809, New York, New York; died 15 February 1879, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Matilda Lasell (born 3 September 1810, Schoharie, New York; died 24 August 1863, Saratoga Springs, New York); third of six children. Married 15 June 1865, Virginia Allison Toadvin (born 16 September 1845, Salisbury, Maryland); a girl and a boy. Charles was a clergyman. The Smiths apparently lived in New York between 1835 and 1838; in Maryland around 1839, they moved back to New York by 1850. Edward graduated from Williams College, in 1856, and from the Union Theological Seminary. He founded Rugby Academy, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1865, and was its principal until his death.

E. L. S. (1852, from Centreville, Michigan)

F. S. (1851, from Pittsburg)

Florence S. (1853, from New Haven, Connecticut); at least one sister

H. S. (1855, from Cannelton, Iowa)

H. L. S. (1851, from Brooklyn, Michigan)

Henry R. S. (1850, from Wetumpka, Alabama)

Hiram W. S. (1856, from Union Square)

J. S. (1848, from Boston)

J. M. S. (1861, from Williamsburgh)

James S. S. (1856, from Mason Village, New Hampshire)

Jane S. (1848, from Lowell, Massachusetts)

L. S. (1841)

Lizzie S. (1855, from Oak Bowery, Alabama); several younger brothers and sisters

M. S. (1845, from Springfield)

Nelly S. (1854, from Marksville, Louisiana)

Thomas L. S. (1842)

Sallie (1856-1859)

Sam Acres Maine (1846, from Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania)

Sammy Sassafras (1849)

Sans Souci (1864-1867)

Sans Souci’s Little Brother (1864; born 1858?)

Sasie (1867, from Richmond, Virginia)

Schoolboy (1865, from Nashville, Tennessee)

Scott (1860, from Cheshire)

Shada (1865, from Galesburg)

Sharpshooter (1864, from College Green Barracks)

Emma M. Shaw: Emma Maria Shaw (1859; born 12 December 1847, Brooklyn, New York; died 28 March 1935, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois; buried 30 March 1935, Oakwoods Cemetery, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois) Daughter of Samuel Wheeler (born May 1823, Maine; died 20 December 1909, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois; buried Oakwoods Cemetery, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois) and Lois Maria Stevens (born c1822, East Port, Maine; died 4 March 1900, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois; buried 6 March 1900, Oakwoods Cemetery, Chicago, Cook co., Illinois); eldest of two girls and a boy. In 1853 the family moved—perhaps with Samuel’s father—to Minnesota, where Samuel bought 160 acres near the Mississippi River; part of this land was platted as “Shaw’s Addition to Anoka.” The family moved several times: in October 1854, back to Brooklyn, New York; by 1860, back to Anoka, Minnesota; before 1870, to Chicago, Cook co., Illinois, where they settled. Samuel was a doctor, though in 1855 he apparently tried his hand as a land broker. In 1870, Emma was attending school; she later became a music teacher. (Music seems to have become the family business: Emma’s unmarried sisters, who lived with her in the early 1900s, also taught music.) Emma never married.

Lizzie M. Sheffey: Elizabeth Madison Sheffey (1858; born 5 July 1843, Virginia; died 10 May 1875, Marion, Virginia) Daughter of James White (born 1 March 1813, Virginia; died 22 June 1876) and Eleanor Fairman Preston (born 7 November 1812, Virginia; died 10 January 1887); one of six girls and three boys, one of whom died in infancy. Married 24 October 1872, A. G. Pendleton; one son. James, an attorney, had real estate valued at $30,000 in 1850; by 1860 he had 20 slaves (6 apparently at the family house), and $130,000 worth of property, $100,000 in real estate; the value of his real estate had not changed in 1870, when his property was worth $120,000. A. G. was a widower farmer when he married Lizzie.

Bob Short (1850, from New York)

Sid (1863, 1865-1867)

T. Augustus Simpson (1856): friend of Susanna Newbould

Frank H. Sleeper (1859; born July 1846, New York; died 8 April 1921, Rochester, New York) Son of Reuben (born c1793, New York; died 11 May 1872) and Caroline S. (born c1808, Connecticut); he had an older sister. Reuben was the first president of Mt. Morris village after it was incorporated in 1835; he also opened the first store in the town. A merchant with $6,000 in real estate in 1850, Reuben was in 1860 a bank president with $7,000 in real estate and $7,000 in personal property. He was an abolitionist who kept a way station of the underground railroad. In 1870, Frank sold furniture and had personal property worth $2500; in 1880, he had no employment, nor was he employed in 1900. In 1905, Frank still lived in the family home in Mt. Morris. In 1920, Frank was living in the St. Anne’s Home for the Aged in Rochester, New York, where he died; he was buried in Mt. Morris, New York. Frank never married.

George F. Sly (1858, from Cameron Mills)

Samuel S. Smith (1849, from Pittsburg)

Snip (1857, from Elmira)

Frank A. Snow; Frank R. Snow (1856; born July 1850, Mississippi; died 13 or 14 May 1921, Utica, Mississippi) Son of Mark (born c1797, New Hampshire; died 12 May 1866, Auburn, Mississippi) and Derenda (born c1803, Mississippi); youngest of three girls and three boys. Mark was a physician forced to give up his practice after being disabled during a robbery in 1844. In 1850, he owned six slaves and real estate valued at $5,000; in 1860 he owned eight slaves. Frank was a farmer. He never married. The morning of 14 May 1921, he was found murdered in a field near his home. It had rained the night before, and Frank’s face was burned, indicating that he’d perhaps been struck by lightning; a “fractious” mule was attached to a rope in the dead man’s hand, suggesting that it had kicked him in the head. But evidence indicated that he’d been struck in the head in his house and been dragged to the field, where the scene was staged. Frank’s niece—his heir, recently returned to the neighborhood—and her family were arrested and charged originally (the family took charge of its inheritance with suspicious swiftness); but one of Frank’s African-American neighbors—who owed Frank money—was later convicted, though the evidence against him was so circumstantial that the jury recommended a life sentence instead of execution. The conviction was reversed by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1922; after the case was nol prosed by the circuit court judge, no one else appears to have been tried for Frank’s death.

Snowflake (1860)

Softsoap (1868)

Somebody’s Daughter (1858)

Son of the Eastern Star (1859-1861)

Sophie (1861, from Brooklyn)

Southerner (1855)

Charley F. Speck: Charles Frederick Speck (1863; born 3 January 1845, Maryland; died 16 September 1881, Portland, Oregon; buried Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, Portland, Multnomah co., Oregon) Son of Frederick (born c1828, Maryland) and Mary (born c1823, Maryland); eldest of four boys and two girls. Married 13 November 1877, Josephine Dely (“Dolly”) Wineset (born 22 January 1858, Shasta co., California; died 13 February 1939, Clackamas co., Oregon); one child born and died in 1881. Charley began reading the Museum in 1862. A miller, in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, Frederick was part owner of a water-powered flour mill that employed three hands and produced 8,000 bbls of wheat, rye, and corn flour per year. Just before Confederate forces invaded southern Pennsylvania in late June 1863, mail service to the area was cut off; Southern forces plundered the area of whatever they could use—from food to clothing and livestock—and so efficiently collected cattle and horses that farm work ceased. Confederate soldiers apparently raided the Speck property on 21 June and 6 July 1863; in 1868, Frederick put in a claim for property lost to the Confederate soldiers which included a horse ($125), two suits of new clothes ($40), and five bushels of flour ($40), totaling $205. Charley joined the U. S. Navy on 2 July 1864, informing officials that he was a resident of West Chester co., New York, and that he was two years older than he actually was. At 5 feet 6¼ inches tall, he had gray eyes, light hair, and a scar near his left knee. After the War, Charley held a diversity of jobs, in a variety of places, declaring that he had been born in an assortment of years. He moved to San Francisco, California, around 1868, where he worked as a furrier and a clerk (and stated that he was born in 1847). By 1873, he had moved to Portland, Oregon, where first he worked as a journalist (1873), then as a clerk (1875), before starting a business with Arthur Wilson (1876-1878). “Wilson & Speck” sold tobacco products—often advertising with clever poetry—before branching out into the sale of whatever fruit was in season (starting with a shipment of 7,000 limes). In celebration of the nation’s centennial in 1876, Charley was a member of a committee organizing a billards tournament in Portland, Oregon. While Charley partnered with W. A. Lluelling (or Luelling) in 1878, in 1880, he joined the Oregon Cracker Bakery, as a commercial traveler representing their product. He listed his occupation as “salesman, cracker” in the 1880 U. S. census. He also claimed to be two years younger than he actually was.

Frank A. Spencer (1854, from Cleveland) While attending high school, Frank co-edited a paper called The High School Monthly.

John Spicer (1850)

E. L. Starr (1853)

Stranger (1851-1865; died September 1865) Her brother fought for the Union; he was taken prisoner sometime in 1864 or early 1865.

Ophelia Strong (1860)

A Student (1849, from Bergen, New Jersey)

Stumbler (1862) Author of an article in 1862

A Subscriber (1850)

Subscribers (1849, from Old Church, Virginia)

A Sucker Boy (1849, from Quincy, Illinois)

Eliza J. T. (1849, from La Grange, Kentucky)

J. B. T.: John B. Tolbert (1852; born 6 August 1843, Terre Haute, Indiana; died 19 August 1887, Terre Haute, Indiana) Son of James M. (born c1816, Virginia) and Mary Scantlin (born 25 October 1820, Indiana; died 19 April 1867, Terre Haute, Indiana); one of at least eight children, three of whom died before age 10. James was a tobacconist. In 1850 he had real estate worth $1600; in 1860 he had property worth $5900, $3900 of it in real estate. John was elected city clerk in Terre Haute from 1875 to 1877. Though he may not have married, a license was issued for him to marry Lucy Compton, in 1869. John was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Sarah Jane T. (1849, from Spring Hill, Marengo co., Alabama)

Arthur T—s (1858, from Starry Vale)

M. D. T—t (1845)

Taghonic (1866-1867, from Brooklyn, New York)

Tema (1856, from Lexington; 1858)

Edwin Burton Thayer (1855; born 5 December 1840, Randolph, Vermont; died 22 December 1911, Hatfield, Massachusetts) Son of Isaac C. (born 5 April 1811, Randolph, Vermont) and Emeline Rebecca Chandler (born c1820, Vermont; died 28 November 1868); eldest of three boys and four girls, one of whom died of consumption at age 16. Married 17 October 1866, Helen Martha Shattuck (born 4 February 1846, Sheldon, Vermont; died 14 October 1920, Ohio); eight children, one of whom died in infancy. Isaac was a farmer. Edwin enlisted in the 17th U. S. Infantry in June 1862, seeing duty at Fort Preble, in Maine, before becoming part of the Army of the Potomac; collapsing on a march to Gettysburg, he spent the rest of the War in a Maryland hospital, eventually recovering enough to clerk there. In 1865, he apparently suffered a concussion in a wreck on the Connecticut Valley Railroad. After the War, Edwin became a book keeper and cashier for a paper dealer in Cincinnati, Ohio. He had an ice and cold storage business when he retired because of poor health; having wintered in Maine, Edwin and his wife were living with her brother in Massachusetts when Edwin died. He was buried in Miamiville, Ohio.

E. H. Thompson: Elizabeth H. Thompson (1858; born c1848, Virginia) Daughter of Robert K. (born c1814, Scotland) and Catherine (born c1824, Virginia); second of three girls and four boys. Robert was a tanner; in 1850, he and his partner handled 350 hides per year. Owning one slave in 1850, Robert employed two in 1860.

Jesse Tims (1871, from Boston)

Tomcat (1850, from Cape Lookout)

Trevanion; T—r; T. D. W.: Trevanion Dallas Wilkins (1850-1852; born March 1839, Michigan; died 1 February 1858, Detroit, Michigan) Son of Ross (born 19 February 1799, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; died 17 May 1872) and Maria Duncan (born c1805, Ireland); one of seven children. Ross was a U. S. judge; in 1851, he was the subject of a scurrilous piece in a Southern newspaper. Trevanion was 18 years and 11 months when he died.

Truxina (1851)

Tsee-nee-lung-kee (1866, from Indian Orphan Institute); a girl

Robert Stuart Turner (1854; born 4 April 1838, Saint Augustine, Florida; died 29 December 1885, Minneapolis, Minneapolis); son of George Franklin Turner (born 22 April 1807, Boston, Massachusetts; died 17 October 1854, Corpus Christi, Texas) and Mary Elizabeth Stuart (born 27 June 1814, Brooklyn, New York; died 4 June 1878, Minneapolis, Minneapolis); eldest of at least 3 boys and a girl. One brother died at age two in Washington, DC; Robert’s sister died at age 14 (died 17 October 1854, Corpus Christi, Texas). Robert married 4 September 1865, Elizabeth Emma Baker Turner (born 9 November 1845, New Orleans, Louisiana; died 21 June 1923, Mount Vernon, New York); Elizabeth was his first cousin and—after his mother married her sister’s widower—his stepsister. George Franklin Turner was a physician in the U. S. Army from the late 1830s to 1854. Robert became a physician. He was well traveled, living in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1868, and in Duval, Florida, in 1880; he is buried in the First Presbyterian Churchyard, Morristown, New Jersey. He and Elizabeth apparently had no children.

John Updown (1849, from Boston)

Variable-Eyed Josie (1860)

Vincent (1865-1869)

Virginia (1854, from Ingleside)

Addie W. (1864-1868); at lease two brothers

Anna W. (1852, from Pawtucket)

Charlie F. W.: Charles F. Warren (1857-1868; baptized 15 June 1845, Framington, Massachusetts; died 22 September 1865, Boston, Massachusetts) Only son of John A. (born c1818, Massachusetts) and Anna Barnard (born c1820, Massachusetts); he had at least one younger sister. John was a salesman. Charles was a clerk living at 81 Harrison Ave. when he died.

D. W.: perhaps D. Walworth (1849; born c1833, Mississippi) Son of J.P. (born c1799, New York) and Sarah (born c1812, Illinois); eldest of two boys and three girls. J. P. was a planter with real estate worth $7000 in 1850; D. was a student.

Hattie W.: probably Harriet E. White (1851; born c1838, Virginia) Daughter of Philip B. (born c1812, Virginia; died before 1861) and Elizabeth A. (born c1810, Virginia); third of two girls and two boys. Philip was a merchant in 1850, with real estate worth $2500 and at least 12 slaves. Hattie’s older sister died in 1856; her older brother became a Presbyterian minister.

Louis M. W. (1855, from Westbrook, Maine)

M. E. W. (1857, from Detroit) In 1857 she had a three-year-old brother.

N. H. W. (1846, from Belvidere, New Jersey)

Rachel E. W.: probably Rachel E. Williams (1850; born c1839, Tennessee; died 25 January 1901, Colorado Springs, Colorado) Daughter of Willis L. (born 28 December 1809, Williamsboro, North Carolina; died 29 March 1857, St. Louis, Missouri) and Sarah M. (born c1816, Virginia); one of at least two children; Thomas T. (born c1836, Tennessee) was her older brother. Married 27 April 1859, John S. Miller (born c1833, Virginia); at least one boy and one girl. Willis was an attorney who practiced in Paris, Tennessee, before moving to St. Louis in 1842. Here he was also in the state house; he was very much interested in women’s rights. In the 1850 census, Rachel, her mother, and Thomas appear to be listed both in St. Louis and in Canandaigua, New York. In 1860 she and John were living with Sarah; in 1880, Sarah was still living with her daughter and son-in-law. By 1880, John was a merchant. The Miller family moved to Colorado several years before Rachel’s death from emphysema.

Sarah M. W. (1850, from Decatur, Georgia; born c1839)

Sue D. W. (1861, from Vicksburg, Mississippi)

Suzy W. (1852)

W. L. W. (1846, from Newburyport, Massachusetts)

William W. (1857)

xii

Waif (1864-1865)

H. H. R. Waite, Jr. (1856-1857, from Winfield).

Wanderer (1862-1863): Part of the Union blockading squadron in July 1862; he also wrote letters from Baltimore, Maryland, and from Washington, DC.

Charles Horatio Ward (1855; born 9 November 1843 or 1845, New York) Son of Horatio Gates (born c1809, New York; died 1852, Illinois) and Mary Warner (born October 1814, Ohio; died 27 February 1909); eldest of two boys and a girl. Married 15 May 1866, Isabel C. Miles (born 1 August 1842, Michigan; died before 1900); at least six children, two of whom died before 1880. Horatio was a minister. In 1854, Mary married Samuel Bacon (born c1810, Vermont; died 20 February 1868), a music teacher who had a son around Charles’ age; Mary and Samuel were the parents of at least two girls. Charles and his brother and sister retained the last name of “Ward.” Charles became a druggist before 1870, an occupation he was still pursuing in 1900. In 1900, his mother was a widow living with his family; she had borne six children, four of whom were still living.

Sarah Annie Wedgworth; Annie E. S. Wedgworth (1859; 1 January 1846, Alabama; died 22 July 1923, Oklahoma) Daughter of Larkin (born 23 January 1811, South Carolina; died 5 October 1886, Tuscaloosa, Alabama) and Sarah Jane Clark (born c1814, Tennessee); eldest of two girls and a boy. Married 18 April 1866, Dudley R. Logan (born 8 January 1846, Greene co., Alabama; died 21 November 1898, Mt. Pleasant, Texas); 11 children. Larkin was a farmer owning nine slaves and real estate worth $2400 in 1850; in 1860 he owned 14 slaves and real estate worth $2000. Annie and Dudley lived near Larkin in 1870, when Dudley was a farmer with $300 in real estate. Annie was buried in Wheelock Cemetery, Millerton, Oklahoma.

Charley E. Wheelock (1859; born c1849, Michigan; died 1882) Only son of Hiram H. (born 16 December 1817, Sackett’s Harbor, Vermont; died 1895) and Elizabeth Denny (born 1821, Massachusetts; died 1904); one of at least two children. Charley’s father owned the store Charley was fond of frequenting: after moving to Hartford in 1846, he started the town’s first store, which he expanded in 1847. In 1860 he was a merchant worth $56,000, $26,000 of it in real estate. Charley may have enlisted in the Co. M, 1st Wisconsin Cavalry. He was a clerk, probably in Hiram’s store, in 1870, and may have been an officer in the Hartford Temple of Honor, #84, after it was established in 1876. Charley was buried in Union Cemetery, in Hartford.

Edward S. Whitcomb: Edward Savill Whitcomb (1853; born 2 April 1842, Fairfax, Vermont; died 8 August 1907, Vermont) Son of Edward Sheldon (born 6 November 1822, Madrid, New York; died 12 January 1892, Underhill, Vermont) and Harriet Newell Bass (born 8 June 1821, Vermont); eldest of six children. Married Ella J. Walker (born 23 February 1845, Union Village, Vermont; died 9 October 1928, Burlington, Vermont). In 1850, Edward, sr, was a farmer with real estate worth $3,000; he also had a dry goods store in 1860, when he listed a value of $10,300, $5,000 of it in real estate. Edward, sr, was an abolitionist who traveled in the U. S. and Europe, as well as to what is now called Hawaii. In 1860 Edward—recently graduated from school—was a clerk. When he and Ella married, she was a teacher at the Underhill Academy; they had no children. Edward apparently developed some form of dementia and was institutionalized at Waterbury, Vermont, in August 1903, with Ella acting as his guardian until his death. He was buried in the Whitcomb family plot in the cemetery in Jericho, Vermont.

Willie White: probably William Bache White (1855; born 19 September 1841, Pennsylvania) Son of Robert Gray (born 21 January 1807, Pennsylvania; died 6 September 1875, Pennsylvania) and Sarah Bache (born c1818, Pennsylvania); eldest of three girls and three boys. Robert was a lawyer who became a President judge in common pleas court by 1860; he owned property worth between $30,000 and $35,000. William, himself, was a law student in 1860.

Willie Whiteman (1857, from Brooklyn)

Wild One (1859, from Texas)

Wild Willie (1859, from Lecovia)

Wilforley; Bess: William Forrest Oakley (1857-1864; born 3 August 1837, New Jersey; died 11 July 1864, Brooklyn, New York) Son of Robert Strong (born c1812, New York; died 16 January 1862, Brooklyn, New York) and Mary Ellen Forrest (born c1815, New York); eldest of four boys and four girls. The Oakleys moved to New York before 1842 (where Robert declared bankruptcy in July 1842). Having been president of the American Exchange Bank, when he died of heart disease, Robert was the president of a bank note company, for which William worked in 1860. William had a biological cousin in Natchez, Mississippi. The Oakleys lived on Washington Ave. in 1863, when William’s name was number 1933 drawn in the draft on September 1; he was declared exempt due to myopia on September 25. William died at home of heart disease and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Author of a three-part article in 1861.

Williams (1853, from Burlington, Iowa)

Harry Harsin Williams (1859, from Norwalk, Connecticut); at least one brother, Will

Willie (1858, from Littleton, Illinois)

Willie Wildwood (1856, from Chicago) Author of a piece in 1857

Willis (1855)

Jack Wilson (1855, from Genessee co., New York)

P. S. Wilson (1862)

Samuel Wilson, Jr. (1860; born c1843, Pennsylvania) Son of Samuel (born c1803, Ireland) and Agnes (born c1802, Ireland); he had an older and a younger sister. The family moved to Ohio sometime after 1845. There, Samuel, sr., was a carpenter with personal property worth $100. Authored 14 pieces between 1859 and 1864.

Dolly Win (1867)

Winifred (1862-1863, from Detroit, Michigan)

Wolverine Boy (1859, from Finewood)

Willie Wright: Williamson Swift Wright (1854; born 7 August 1840, Indiana; died 23 July 1908, Portland, Oregon) Son of Edward W. (born 27 September 1816, Ohio; died 16 September 1866) and Henrietta (born 3 August 1819, New Jersey; died 3 June 1895); eldest of two boys and a girl. Through his mother, Willie was related to minister John Eliot. Married 22 May 1866, Annie M. Davis (died 22 January 1904, Portland, Oregon); at least three sons. In Indiana, Willie’s father was a Presbyterian minister with real estate worth $2000 in 1850; in 1860 $2500 of his $3100 in property was real estate. Willie, himself, became a Presbyterian minister who served congregations in Delphi, India; and Erie, Pennsylvania; Texas; and Portland, Oregon.

X. (1860)

Delor C. York (1860, from Ontonagon, Lake Superior; born 26 May 1850, Brookfield, Madison co., New York; died 1 November 1864; Holly, Oakland co., Michigan; buried Oak Hill Cemetery, Holly, Oakland co., Michigan) Son of Lodowick Clark (born 22 December 1817, Brookfield, New York; died 31 May 1907, Detroit, Wayne co., Michigan) and Frances DeGrace Collester (born 18 December 1826, Madison, New York; died 15 September 1910, Detroit, Wayne co., Michigan); an older sister and two younger brothers. Lodowick was a clergyman with, in 1860, real estate worth $1700 and $1500 in personal property.

Melville Young (1858, from Cairo, Illinois; born c1843, Illinois) Melville Young signed up for the draft in 1863; he was a farmer living in Bethel Township, Illinois. He had formerly served in the 124th Illinois Infantry, Company D.

Your New Readers of Baton Rouge (1844)

Zadock (1856, from Boston)