Surname Saturday: Butter (and a little apple history)
Butter
Today’s surname is also a common word and another one which presents a research challenge, but with an interesting historical twist – the story of an apple. According to immigration passenger lists, people with the Butter surname, or some variation thereof, came from Ireland, England, Scotland and Germany. 1920 census records indicated a substantial number of the Butter family in Texas, as well as New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Tennessee.
The theories as to its origins are as follows:
Forbears: This web site notes that the surname Butter (or some variation of it, and there are many) is the 33,215th most common in the world. The highest incidences of the name today occur, surprisingly, in Nigeria, Germany and the Netherlands, with the United States ranked fourth. According to Forbears, the surname is a nickname: “the butur”; “Buture, the bittern”; “Botor, a bustard” (Source: Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames). In 1273 the name John le Butur of Cambridgeshire was listed on the Hundred Rolls, as well as John Botere of Huntingsdonshire. In 1581 Richard Butter was on the rolls of the University of Oxford.
Internet Surname Database: This web site concurs with Forbears in regards to a nickname origin and elaborates a bit more. The nickname would be for someone having a certain vocal characteristic the call of a bittern, a wading bird in the heron family. Both the Middle English word “botor” and the Old French word “butor” both mean bittern. Another observation is an Old English word “butere” which meant “butter” and referred to an occupational name for a dairyman or someone who sold butter or ran a buttery.
House of Names: In Scotland the name was first seen among the Pictish clans and the family lived in Perth and Fife counties. One village was named “Buttergask” or “Buttercask” in the Ardoch parish.
ScotClans: Butter was the name of an old family in Perthshire. The name Adam Butir was recorded in 1331 and William Butyr and Patrick Butirr are found in 1360 records.
4Crests: The surname was as official name, meaning “at the buttery” or one who kept butter, or a store for liquor. Richard of the Bottery was mentioned in a 1399 record. John Butterey married Elizabeth Burnell in 1531, and a daughter of John Buttereye was baptized in 1669 in London.
Variations of this name include: Butter, Butters, Butterlaw, Butterwick, Butterworth, Butterton, Buttar, Buttars, Butere, Putter, Buttry, Batter, and many, many more.
When did the Butter (or Butters) family make its way to America? According to The Genealogical Registry of the Butters Family, published in 1896, the name first appeared following the arrival of Scottish prisoners, referring to them as “romantic young followers of Charles II” who had been captured at Dunbar and Worcester by Cromwell and sent to the colonies as indentured servants.
Tradition holds that in the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, three Butter brothers came from Scotland: John, Isaac and William Butter. One was said to have gone off somewhere and never heard from again, and another was captured by Indians, and upon his escape returned to Scotland. The records for John and Isaac were so sparse that the nineteenth century family genealogists concluded that William Butter, who settled in Woburn, Massachusetts was likely the progenitor of their family in America.
The Butters Apple
According to the family history cited above, the area where William settled and many of his descendants remained for over two hundred years was an area known as “Butters Row District”, situated in a new town near Woburn called Wilmington. A map included in the Butter history book lists the following people who lived in the era continuously from 1665 to 1895:
William Butters
James Butters
Abiel Butters
Samuel Butters
John Butters
Lorenzo Butters
Walter Butters
Oliver Butters
Simeon Butters
In the same district was a school called the Butters Row School. In the middle of all of these Butters family members and their properties is a landmark simply called “Apple Tree.” Why would a map like this include a prominently marked “Apple Tree”. This particular apple tree was planted by William Butters (1711-1784) who was the grandson of William Butter, the immigrant. The tree had been transplanted from a neighboring farm in Wilmington.
The tree was situated near William’s house and as the tree grew it attracted a large number of birds, namely woodpeckers. The apple was first called the “Woodpecker” or “Pecker”, but also known as the “Butters Apple”. The tree flourished and produced fruit for a number of years before Deacon Samuel Thompson discovered it while surveying the Middlesex Canal.
Thompson mentioned his discovery to canal engineer Loammi Baldwin, who was so impressed with the apple that he visited the Butters farm and obtained his own cuttings for transplantation near his home in Woburn. He gave cuttings to friends and later the apple variety was named after him.
Baldwin, a Revolutionary War veteran who crossed the Delaware with Washington, was a scientist and civil engineer, who also happened to be (appropriately) the second cousin of Johnny Appleseed. Baldwin apples were a hearty and flavorful variety used for making pies and hard apple cider. The bright-colored fruit is a winter apple and easily shipped. Harvested in October, they can be stored for several months.
The Baldwin became the most popular apple grown in New England. In 1833 the New American Orchardist noted that “no apple in the vicinity of Boston is so popular as this, at the present day.” By the mid-nineteenth century the apple was seen in other states like New York and Pennsylvania.
In 1895 the Rumford Historical Society erected a monument to the Baldwin apple near its original location in Wilmington. The inscription reads:
This monument marks the site of the first Baldwin Apple Tree found growing wild near here. It fell in the gale of 1815. The apple first known as the Butters, Woodpecker or Pecker apple was named after Col. Loammi Baldwin of Woburn. Erected in 1895 by the Rumford Historical Association.
The popularity of the Baldwin declined in the early twentieth century, however, with the introduction of the Jonathan variety. In 1934 a devastatingly cold winter in the northeast destroyed several orchards across New England. Though not as popular today, it’s still considered a good cider apple.
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Feisty Females: Harriet Quimby
Her life, though short, was full of many accomplishments. Harriet Quimby was born on May 11, 1875 in Arcadia, Michigan to parents William and Usrula Quimby. The Quimbys had several children, but only Harriet and her older sister Kittie survived to adulthood. Historians note that her father was an unsuccessful farmer who left the Midwest in the early 1900’s and headed West.
This article is no longer available on the web site. It will, however, be rewritten (complete with footnotes and sources) and included in a future issue of Digging History Magazine.
I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Silverbell, Arizona
There were actually two towns in Arizona with the same name, one “Silverbell” and one “Silver Bell”, situated about four miles apart. Both were mining towns, but “Silverbell” has the most colorful history.
According to the Arizona State Museum, the first time any mining operations were recorded in the area was in the early 1870’s when Charles O. Brown from Tucson began prospecting. Throughout the 1870’s Brown and his partners staked several claims, opened mines and built a smelter. At the time Arizona was still a territory, and it would be several years before that part of the west was tamed enough to become a full-fledged state. In that era without strong territorial authority, mining districts were established.
Miners elected a leader and recorder and committees set boundaries and enforced rules. Brown’s operations fizzled and in 1890 two English companies came to the so-called Silver Bell Mining District, but their tenure was short-lived and there was little to show for the investment.
At the turn of the century, new mining interests bought up a substantial number of claims in the district. By 1901 there was enough activity in the area to warrant the establishment of a public school, with an enrollment of seventy-five students the first year. The two communities, Pelton and Atlas Camp, although small in numbers, were enumerated for the 1900 census.
Claims were sold in 1903 to the Imperial Copper Company, and soon afterwards the town of Silverbell was established. By 1905 the population of Silverbell had reached around one thousand. In 1904 a post office was opened. Silverbell, like many towns throughout the west, including a company store and the company’s offices. The town also had a school, saloons, a Chinese bakery, barber, doctor, justice of the peace and a deputy sheriff.
Silverbell continued to expand and other businesses, including a company-owned hotel were added. There were some challenges for Silverbell, however. Good drinking water was hard to come by and had to be brought in by wagon or train. The water, stored in tanks, was piped to the town’s residents.
Another challenge for the town was its penchant for violence. Despite the presence of a lawman, the area was plagued with murders and other acts of lawlessness. Before Deputy Sheriff Joe McEven arrived three murders had already occurred. James and Barbara Sherman, authors of Ghost Towns of Arizona, wrote that Silverbell was known as the “hell-hole of Arizona.”
The lawlessness and drinking water issues bring up an interesting observation I made while researching the town’s cemetery at Find-A-Grave. At the web site there are eighty-five interments listed, and someone has taken the time to find and post each and every person’s death record. The cemetery has several young children buried there, some who died of enteritis, which I’m guessing might have been due to the lack of potable water.
There were a few people who died of illnesses such as typhoid fever, dysentery and tuberculosis. There were miners who died in mine accidents and there were some who were killed by violence. The majority of those buried (at least those listed at Find-A-Grave who probably had grave markers) in the Silverbell cemetery were originally from Mexico it appears, although the Arizona State Museum said other ethnic groups such as Papago, Chinese and Japanese made their home in Silverbell.
In 1910 the population of Silverbell was 1,118 persons living in 327 households. There were grocers, butchers, restaurant owners, musicians, teachers, carpenters, and more – and of course, as seen in most mining towns, prostitutes. The company operated a hospital and in 1910 there was also a movie house. The town’s fortunes changed the following year, however.
By 1911 many businesses began to depart when Imperial overextended itself and declared bankruptcy. Its holdings were leased to American Smelting & Refining Company (ASARCO) and by 1919 ASARCO had acquired all of the assets of Imperial, including the railroad and smelter. The post office had closed in 1911 but was reopened in 1916.
The population of Silverbell temporarily rebounded after ASARCO assumed ownership, but by 1920 the price of copper fell and ASARCO turned their attention to other mining operations. Between 1920 and 1930 about five hundred people populated Silverbell, but by 1930 all copper mining had been shut down. In 1931 there were only about forty-five people and the post office closed for the last time in 1934. By 1954, Silverbell was totally abandoned.
ASARCO, although abandoning mining operations in Silverbell, continued to work other mines in the area. In 1954, just four miles southeast of Silverbell, they established the town of “Silver Bell”. Mining operations at the new site actually seemed to have faired better until 1984 when copper prices again plummeted. The availability of potable water and a viable sewage system again added to the challenges. Houses fell into disrepair and in the late 1980’s only a few homes and company buildings remained.
ASARCO purchased an old mine near the original Silverbell town site in 1989. It was noted in 2007, however, that the town is now abandoned with only a few company buildings, mine shafts and some junked vehicles remaining.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Greenup Raney
Greenup Raney was born on August 7, 1846, according to an entry at Find-A-Grave (and his grave stone), although he could have been born anywhere from 1847 to 1849, based on various records. It appears from an 1860 census record that his mother was named Celia and he had a brother James who had been born around 1852. Greenup was eleven in 1860 on the 21st day of July.
Greenup’s father, however, is a mystery . . . and I’m not the only one scratching their head on this one. I came across several posts asking for information on Greenup’s father. For now, that remains a mystery.
Just as mysterious is what happened to Celia. After the 1860 census when she was enumerated as the head-of-household with two sons, she disappeared. She was a thirty eight year-old day laborer in 1860. Her name doesn’t appear in the 1870 census records, but a reference to her apparent demise is referenced on Greenup’s marriage record.
Greenup married Martha Ann Pointer on October 17, 1867 in Pulaski County, Kentucky. The record notes that Greenup did not know his father’s birth place, so it might be that his birth father and Celia perhaps never married. On that day, Greenup was nineteen years old which would indicate a birth year of 1848 (the 1900 census recorded August 1847). Martha Ann was a bit older, twenty-two at the time of their marriage. As to the whereabouts of either of Greenup’s parents, the remarks at the bottom of the record tell us that “groom has neither father, mother or guardian living.”
There is a record indicating that a Greenup Raney enlisted in Company B of Kentucky Hall’s Gap Infantry Battalion on April 16, 1865 in Stanford, Lincoln County, Kentucky. General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant exactly a week earlier in Virginia.
Greenup’s service was short-lived, mustered out on July 27, 1865. Although his military service was brief, he applied for a pension on July 26, 1890. I suppose it’s also possible this might have been Greenup’s father and he was named after him, but records for anyone named Greenup Raney seem to all point to today’s subject.
No Civil War battles had been waged in southern Lincoln County, however the residents remained vigilant. Thus, this unit was formed to scout the area and protect it. In a book chronicling the history of Lincoln County, it was noted that the area had always been a perfect place to raise children. Most folks were farmers and there was an abundance of woods, filled with trees, plants and small animals. “The community was filled with good, decent, Christian people raising children and sharing the problems of each household.”
The children born to Greenup and Martha’s marriage were:
William Gaither (1868)
Emmaline (1869)
James Francis (1875)
Mary Elizabeth (1876)
Parlee Pearl (1879)
John (1882)
Mattie Bell (1885)
It appears the entire family remained in Pulaski County, the children also marrying spouses from the area and raising the grandchildren of Greenup and Martha there. Greenup, who went by the shortened name “Green” was a farmer. In 1900 four of their children remained in the home (Emmaline, Parlee, John and Mattie). Emmaline married later that year. By 1910, their nest was empty.
Greenup passed away on September 12, 1912 and was buried in Goforth Cemetery in Pulaski County. The grave stone appears to have been “homemade” and the date of his birth is listed as August 7 ,1846. In 1930 Martha Ann was living with her daughter Emmaline and her family, and this appears to be the last record available for her.
Lots of “Green” in Pulaski County
While researching this article, I came across a lot of males named “Green” in Pulaski County. It seems to have been a popular name. I found one other Greenup (Jones), but maybe like Greenup Raney he went by just “Green”. Not sure where the name came from but there is a Greenup County in northern Kentucky.
The most interesting “Green” name, however, was Green B. Rash (the “B” may be as in “Berry” – I’ve seen some other Kentucky men named Green Berry or Littleberry). It seems that Green Rash served with some of my kin (a Stogsdill cousin or uncle) during the Civil War – their names are listed on the 1890 Veterans Schedule in the same company.
In my research I came across more names from my own family. William G. Raney’s second marriage was witnessed by two people named Sears and Stogsdill (surnames both in my line). So, who knows – as thick as folks in that part of the world were, I might be related somehow to some of these Green fellows.
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Surname Saturday: Marple
Marple is most commonly known as an English surname and most sources agree that it was a locational name referring someone who lived near a maple tree grove. There are some mild disagreements about the specific location where the name emanated from. For instance, this article later highlights a Marple (or Marpole) from Wales.
House of Names refers to the Marple family of Cheshire who lived at the manor of Marple, while other sources believe it originated from Yorkshire. Specifically, the Internet Surname Database argues that the town of Marples in Cheshire is not linked to the Marple surname (but I suppose might be linked to the Marples surname, a spelling variation).
There were early occurrences of the name in Cheshire in the thirteenth century. According to 4Crests, the name is an Old English word, “merpel” and the earliest records show “Merphull” and “Merpel” being used in Cheshire, both without surnames.
In the fourteenth century, Thomas de Mapples was listed on the Yorkshire tax roll of 1379. Still, it’s certainly possible that the Marple (or Marples) surname originated from the town in Cheshire. The first spelling of the village was recorded in 1248 as “Merpel”. Of course, there are many spelling variations, including: Marple, Marples, Marble, Marbles, Merple, Merpel, Merble, Merbles, Marpole and more.
One of the first (if not the first) Marple to come to America was David Marple who settled in Pennsylvania.
David Marple
The records for David Marple and his family are a bit sketchy, although I found one source with some interesting deductions as to his history. It appears that he was Welsh, or at least half-Welsh, probably born in Radonshire to parents Thomas and Rebecca (Jones) Marple (or Marpole because Rebecca Marpole is seen in Pennsylvania records later).
David and his wife Jane (Morgan??) were married before coming to Pennsylvania in the early eighteenth century. A group of Welsh Baptists had arrived in 1687:
By the good Providence of God, there came certaine persons out of Radonshire, in Wales, over into the Province of Pennsylvania, and settled in the township of Dublin, in the County of Philadelphia.
As was the case with so many people of faith in seventeenth century England, religious persecution compelled them to make the journey across the Atlantic. Parliament had passed a religious tolerance act in 1689, but by the end of the century the Church of England was again pressuring other faiths to conform.
In 1701 Thomas Griffith, Baptist minister, brought several other individuals with him from South Wales, although the list doesn’t include David and Jane Marple. It may be that they arrived between 1701 and 1703 because records show that Rebecca Marpole was added to the Pennepek (Pennepack) church around that time, perhaps after first attending a church in Newcastle, Delaware. Pennepack church records also indicated that David and Jane had been baptized in Wales (date unknown because entry was torn away).
One family researcher implies that Jane might have been related to Thomas Griffith somehow, she having a half-brother named Benjamin Griffith. Their research also includes a theory that possibly David and Jane were second cousins.
According to Pennsylvania and New Jersey church records, David died in Lower Dublin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of seventy-five. He was a member of the Lower Dublin Baptist Church according to the same church record.
Many family researchers believe he is buried at the Old Pennepack Baptist Church (also known as the Lower Dublin Baptist Church). Someone has placed a grave stone there, but the church’s record of burials listed on their web site believes it’s possible the David Marple buried there is another David Marple (there appears to have been several descendants with the same name). The Old Pennepack Baptist Church has a long and storied history, founded in 1688, but where he is buried may be a mystery.
It appears that David’s descendants began to migrate away from Pennsylvania to Virginia and then to what became West Virginia. In case you missed it, this week’s Tombstone Tuesday article was about Albinus Reger Marple, who I believe is one of David’s descendants. You can read that article here.
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Wild West Wednesday: Jackson Lee “Diamondfield Jack” Davis
No one seems to have a definitive history of Jackson Lee “Diamondfield Jack” Davis’ early life. Even the date and place of his birth appears to be a mystery. A cursory internet search will yield results spanning the years between 1864 and 1879 as his purported birth year. His place of birth is uncertain, but the name “Jackson Lee” would suggest Southern roots like perhaps Virginia or West Virginia.
Most historians consider him a gunslinger, famous for wearing his rifle slung across his back and carrying pistols, as many as three, either holstered or in his coat pocket and a Bowie knife strapped to his leg – he was armed to the teeth at all times. He made a name for himself in the mining camps of the west and later as an “enforcer” of sorts, working for cattlemen who were constantly battling for grassland with the sheep ranchers, a familiar saga of the 1800’s West (see more about the bloody Graham-Tewksbury feud in Arizona here).
Some have written about Davis as if he was an all-out hired gun, his only mission in life to shoot and kill sheep herders. If that was indeed true, then it’s easy to see how he was mistakenly accused and convicted of killing two sheep herders in 1896. That miscarriage of justice would become the most remarkable and memorable of his storied life.
How did he come by the nickname “Diamondfield Jack”? In the summer of 1892 Davis worked in a Silver City, Idaho silver mine. Not long afterwards, Idaho had a diamond rush and he later claimed to have discovered a diamond mine. He was known to have been a big talker, regularly embellishing his stories. After taking a job with the Sparks-Harrell Cattle Ranch and bragging about his adventures as a diamond miner, someone gave him the nickname “Diamondfield Jack” and it stuck.
In 1895 Davis was hired by James E. Bower, general superintendent of the ranch, ostensibly to bully and intimidate sheep herders in the area who were thought to be intruders on the cattlemen’s grassland. His reputation for carrying all those weapons was no doubt meant to intimidate and from time to time he included threats to kill someone.
In fact, he did carry out one of those threats by wounding Bill Tolman in the shoulder. Davis left the area for awhile until things cooled off, drifting into Nevada to avoid an warrant for his arrest for attempted murder. In late January of 1896 he ventured back into southern Idaho, later testifying that he was on his way back to turn himself into the sheriff for Tolman’s shooting.
Along the way he joined up with Fred Gleason, another cowboy employed by the Sparks-Harrell Ranch. Together they seemed to have meandered along, not in any real hurry, looking for horses. On the evening of February 2 the two were riding after dark near a sheep camp. Davis stopped and fired off a few rounds in the direction of the camp and then the two men continued on their way back to the Brown Ranch where they were staying.
The following day Davis and Gleason hung around the ranch and shoed their horses. The following morning they decided to leave and head up the river to the Middle Stack Ranch. They continued to meander their way through, again, in no particular hurry. On February 6 they met with James Bower at the H.D. Ranch and Bower rode with them to Wells, Nevada. Witnesses later testified that Davis and Gleason remained there for several days – drinking and talking too much.
Meanwhile, the bodies of sheep herders Daniel Cummings and John Wilson had been found, a grisly discovery made by a sheepherder named Ted Severe at Deep Creek. The crime scene was littered with .44 caliber bullets shot from a .45 caliber gun. It was known that Davis had a reputation for using .44 caliber bullets when he couldn’t find the exact caliber for his weapons of choice. Thus, he became the prime suspect in the murders.
Another cowboy with the Sparks-Harrell operation later testified that Davis had decided to leave the country and head south – his friend Gleason was drunk all the time and threatening to kill sheep herders in Deep Creek. Until he was arrested in March of 1897 in Yuma, Arizona for his alleged crime, no one knew of his whereabouts. Because Davis and Gleason had been in the area of the killings and Davis had the reputation of bullying and intimidation, the locals just assumed Davis was guilty.
Adding to the assumption of his guilt, Davis was arrested while jailed in the Yuma Arizona Territorial Prison. Gleason had been found in Deer Lodge, Montana. By mid-March the two were brought to Albion, Idaho to stand trial. The sheep herders and their supporters, including the Wool Growers Association, mounted an all-out effort to see them convicted. Davis and Gleason, however, had the cattlemen on their side. John Sparks and Andrew Harrell, former employers, put up most of the funds for their defense.
Davis and Gleason had the best defense lawyers money could buy and testimony and evidence was carefully and methodically presented. The prosecutors were also well-qualified and able to establish that the two men had at least been in the area of the crime on that day. When it came time to decide Davis’ fate, the jury took only two hours to find him guilty of first degree murder. He was sentenced to hang on June 4, 1897. Gleason’s trial, however, had a different result – he was acquitted.
The next five years of Jack Davis’ life turned out to be most harrowing. Appeals were mounted by his attorneys and several times his execution was stayed. At one point he was transferred to the Idaho State Penitentiary, only be to returned to the Cassia County Jail where he had first been imprisoned during and following his trial.
Following another series of appeals, another execution date was set for July 3, 1901. This must have been frustrating for Davis and his attorneys, for you see two other men, James Bower and Jeff Gray had finally confessed to the killings, claiming self-defense. Davis received a short reprieve from the Board of Pardons with a new date of execution scheduled for July 17. His attorneys had been unable to convince the Board of his total innocence, even with the knowledge of Bower and Gray’s confession.
Three hours before his scheduled execution on the 17th, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment – no exoneration yet, but Davis would be allowed to live out his life in the Idaho State Penitentiary. After another round of legal wrangling and appeals, Jackson Lee “Diamondfield Jack” Davis was finally pardoned by Idaho Governor Frank Hunt on December 17, 1902.
His case had been covered by newspapers all around the country. When released, Davis unsurprisingly left Idaho and moved to Nevada. He kept his name and reputation in the papers over the ensuing decades, striking it rich in the mining camps of Nevada. He later wrangled with the Industrial Workers of the World and continued to carry four guns with him at all times. When asked why he did that, Davis replied, “Well, if I ever get into a mix-up and don’t have my guns and got killed, I’d never forgive myself as long as I lived.”
By the late 1930’s Davis, then in his seventies, was still seeking more fortune. He made his way to Las Vegas and for several years afterwards alternated between residences in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The man who seemed to have nine lives (or more), finally met his end not in a spectacular fashion befitting his gunslinger image, but in an accident with a taxi cab after stepping off a curb in Las Vegas on December 28, 1948.
While on the way to the hospital, he told a friend that he intended to live to the age of one hundred. Jack Davis lingered for a few days but passed away on the morning of January 2, 1949. One obituary printed in a Salt Lake City newspaper was full of misstatements about his life, and was probably picked up by other papers across the country.
But, that was the story of his life apparently, largely misunderstood and misreported. As Max Black pointed out in his book entitled Diamondfield, the irony of the incorrect obituary was perhaps fitting, for Davis himself was known to be an exaggerator of the truth.
Diamondfield Jack was definitely a “Wild West” character and a part of Idaho folklore and history. A National Forest campground is named in his honor, as well as a restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho.
If you’re interested in learning more details about Diamondfield Jack and his legal entanglements and woes, followed by his successful business career, Max Black’s book was written to finally tell the truth about what really happened. The book is available on Amazon for $3.99, and if you have Kindle Unlimited, it is free to borrow.
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Albinus Reger Marple
Albinus Reger Marple was born on January 27, 1834 in Lewis County, Virginia to parents John Weaver and Ruth (Reger) Marple. It’s possible that his first name was a family name, evidenced by a record of someone named Albanus Marple in Pennsylvania. Most family researchers believe that Albinus’ grandfather John Abram Marple was the son of Enoch Marple, Sr. of Philadelphia, who later migrated to Virginia. His middle name, of course, was his mother’s maiden name.
Research revealed more than one spelling of his name, but it is spelled “Albinus” on his grave stone, with alternate spellings on various records of Albinos, Albinas and Albenus. Albinus married Mary Jane Post, daughter of Daniel and Mary Post on February 1, 1855 in Upshur County, Virginia (eventually West Virginia). The children (rather unusually named) born to their marriage were:
Mandema “Dem” (1856)
Louvernia “Vernie” (ca. 1859)
Seleucus “Luke” Eumenis (1860)
Nevada “Vadie” (1866)
Achilles Landolus “Dolus” (1872)
In 1860 Albinus and his family were enumerated in Buckhannon (Upshur County). At that time Upshur County was still part of Virginia. However, when Virginia voted to secede from the Union in April of 1861, the delegates west of the Allegheny Mountains opposed the move.
On May 15, 1861 the anti-secessionists of western Virginia convened their own convention in Wheeling and began to make plans for their own state in support of the Union. On June 20, 1863 Congress granted statehood to West Virginia.
However, during the Civil War, the state was considered a border state like Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. Apparently, Albinus and his brother Addison were sympathetic to the Confederate cause, at least at the war’s beginning. Both deserted the Rebel Army shortly after enlistment and both surrendered to private citizen Joseph Strager, as noted in an article entitled Men In Gray: Confederate Soldiers of Central West Virginia by Ralph P. Bennett.
On October 19, 1863, the brothers took an oath of allegiance to the Union and were sent north. According to Bennett, it was common for the Union to send former Confederate soldiers north of the Ohio River. Bennett further described the predicament Albinus and Addison, much like other former Confederate soldiers, faced:
The Marple brothers like many others wished to serve the cause of the Confederacy, yet their loyalty was in conflict with their awareness of the sufferings and privations of their families who lived behind enemy lines. A letter in the 31st Virginia Infantry by John M. Ashcraft, from the wife of Private William W. Stockwell to her soldier husband states , having hard time out of provisions, no crops, will come to you, meat [sic] me at Staunton. Many soldiers requested detached duty to spy on Union activities and hopefully recruit soldiers but often their primary motivation was to visit home and family. By 1864 the declining fortunes of the Confederacy caused morale to plummet and desertions increased markedly.
Albinus and his brother survived the war and returned to Upshur County to farm. A short biography of Albinus was included in The History of Upshur County, West Virginia, published in 1907. At that time he owned three hundred and eighty acres of fertile land along Hackers Creek. Albinus and Mary Jane were members of the Westfall Chapel Methodist Protestant Church.
Albinus died on September 9, 1908 and a few months later on January 20, 1909 Mary Jane passed away. Both are buried in the McVaney Cemetery in Upshur County.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Jesse J. Bird
Jesse J. Bird was born in Patrick County, Virginia on June 2, 1831 to parents Benjamin and Lucy (Grady) Bird. Benjamin served for about six months during the War of 1812 in Virginia’s militia, as evidenced by a pension application submitted by Lucy. Benjamin died in 1837 when Jesse was about six years old.
Jesse, the oldest child, struck out on his own at the age of nineteen. In 1860 he was working as a farm laborer in the St. Mary’s Township of Hancock County, Illinois. In 1864 he left Illinois after hearing about gold discovered in Montana the year before.
After arriving in Virginia City he had no problems securing employment. According to An Illustrated History of the State of Montana, Jesse worked to install water works in the town, earning one hundred dollars a month. After finishing that work, he worked in the mines and prospected.
After giving up mining, Jesse purchased a ranch near Virginia City. In 1873 after working the ranch for three years he sold it and settled on one hundred and thirty acres of land, remaining there the rest of his life. He apparently had never taken a wife until in 1878 he married Elizabeth Morgan, a Canadian. Census records indicate they had one child together, Franklin, born in either 1878 or 1879. Elizabeth died on September 7, 1885 and most family researchers believe Franklin died sometime that year as well.
When Jesse left Virginia, his family, mother Lucy and his other siblings, remained there. His sister Charity Ann remained with her mother and in 1880 she still lived with Lucy who was the seventy-two years old. When or why they migrated to Montana isn’t known, but on October 3, 1895 Lucy died in Montana at the age of ninety-five.
Charity, five years younger than Jesse, continued to live with him and was his housekeeper. She passed away in 1901. In 1910 Jesse was still enumerated as a farmer at the age of seventy-eight and his nephew (probably great-nephew) Ralph Bird, aged fifteen, was living with him. By 1920, Ralph was still single, had a housekeeper and hired man and owned the farm. Jesse died on January 11, 1920 and the census was taken in April, so it’s possible that Ralph inherited the farm from Jesse since his only son had died at a young age.
According to the Montana history source cited above, Jesse Bird was one of “Montana’s worthy pioneers”. Politically he was said to have first been a Whig, a political party later merged into the National Republican Party. Following the collapse of the Whig Party, Jesse became a Democrat and then a Populist. Jesse was a good man, maintaining a “good and worthy character, and by those who [knew] him best he [was] most highly respected.”
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Surname Saturday: Pray
Like the Thing surname (see article here), the Pray surname is a bit hard to research because it is such a common word. Added to that are the various theories as to origins, three at least, and none of them have anything to do with the most common way we use the word “pray” today. The theories are:
House of Names: Actually House of Names has both an English and Irish theory. In England the name may have been derived from the Latin word “praetor”, which meant someone who served as chief magistrate or bailiff of a district. Spelling variations might include Prater, Prather, Preater, Pretor, Prether and more. In Ireland the name may have been “Preith” or “O Preith” with origins from a Pictish (ancient language that no longer exists) word “predhae”. Irish spelling variations include O’Pray, O’Prey, Prey, Preay and others.
Ancestry.com: The Irish version may have been a variant of “Prey”. The English version may have been a topographic name for someone who lived near a meadow, derived from the Middle English word “pre(y)”. The word could also have originated in France, and brought over following the Norman Conquest, because “pree” in Old French means meadow as well.
4Crests: Their theory leans heavily on French origins, also agreeing that the name was topographic for someone living near a meadow. Derived from the Old French word “pred” with origins in the Latin word “prata”, this theory supports spelling variations different from those listed above, including: Pree, Prey, LaPraye, Dupre, Depuy, Despres and Prada. The French name “Duprè” means “from the meadow”. This theory makes me wonder if one of my ancestors, Francis Dupee, was of French descent.
Early American Prays
Quentin (or Quinton) Pray was born in England in 1595, and with his family boarded the “good ship Ann Cleeve of London” in May of 1643. On the same boat was John Winthrop, Jr., son of the founding governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop. Winthrop’s plan was to establish an iron works in Massachusetts.
Quentin, a skilled iron worker, settled first in Kittery, Maine, while his sons John and Richard settled in Rhode Island. He worked at the iron works in Kittery as a fineryman, later transferring to Lynn, Massachusetts in 1647 and finally transferring to the Iron Works Company, established by Winthrop in Braintree where Winthrop.
Quentin Pray died intestate on July 11, 1667. His wife Joan was declared his widow by the court so that his estate could be distributed among his heirs. Richard remained in Providence, but John died in Braintree in 1676.
Musings on the Pray Name
Associating the surname Pray with its more common meaning today, I found at least one that seemed appropriately paired: Alice Church Pray of Kennebec County, Maine. Deacon Benjamin Pray lived in New Hampshire and his second wife was Dorcas (a biblical name) Pray (Dorcas Pray Pray, probably cousins). Two more biblical names: Zerubbabel Pray (Kennebec County, Maine) and Eliphalet Pray (York County, Maine).
One unusual name I came across that I want to research further was Pardon Potter Pray of Providence County, Rhode Island. His English immigrant ancestor was perhaps John Pray, Quentin’s son. One other aspect I found interesting while researching Pardon Potter Pray was finding that Rhode Island, and specifically Providence County, was full of men named “Pardon”. There must be a story there and you may find it here one day!
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Mothers of Invention: Ruth Graves Wakefield (Toll House Cookies)
Have you noticed it’s almost Thanksgiving, which means Christmas is just around the corner, which means the baking season is upon us. All of which usually makes me start thinking of what kind of outrageous chocolate chip cookies I’ll bake this year! So a little history is in order today – who invented the chocolate chip cookie anyway?
Ruth Graves Wakefield was responsible for this so-called “accidental” invention. She was born on June 7, 1903 to parents Fred and Helen Graves in East Walpole, Massachusetts. In 1924 Ruth graduated from Framingham State Normal School (now Framingham State University) with a degree in household arts.
With her degree she taught home economics at Brockton High School for two years before marrying Kenneth Donald Wakefield in June of 1926. Between the years of 1926 and 1930, Ruth worked as a dietician and food lecturer and the couple had two children, Kenneth and Mary Jane. In 1930, in the middle of the Great Depression, Kenneth and Ruth purchased a building which had originally been a toll house in Plymouth County, Massachusetts.
The house was built in 1709 and originally used as a sort of way station for travelers, a place for a change of horses and a respite for travelers, who enjoyed a meal while the horses were changed and the road tolls paid. In keeping with its original purpose, Kenneth and Ruth restored it and named it the Toll House Inn, furnished in classic colonial styles. Still, it was a risky proposition given the economic situation, and after purchasing and remodeling it the Wakefields had only about fifty dollars left to work with.
The operation was so small that, according to The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book: Scrumptious Recipes & Fabled History From Toll House to Cookie Cake Pie by Carolyn Wyman: “When more than one of the seven tables were taken, salad plates from their limited supply of dishware would be whisked away from one table only to reappear a few moments later freshly washed and bearing dessert at another.”
The beginnings may have been shaky, but by Christmas they needed several employees to assist them. The inn seemed to be in perpetual remodeling mode as they added to it over the years. The inn became a popular destination, especially for large events, and Senator John F. Kennedy and his father were patrons as well as celebrities like Joe DiMaggio, Gloria Swanson, Betty Davis and more.
Ruth’s lobster dishes were what first made her famous, and she had a large collection of New England recipes which she inherited from her grandmother, along with her own recipe creations. Every January the Wakefields took a vacation overseas and Ruth always came back with new recipes to try. She seemed to have a knack for knowing just how to make it from scratch on her own.
Her first (small) cookbook, Toll House Recipes Tried and True, was first published in 1931 and reprinted twenty-eight times until by 1954 it had grown into a book with over eight hundred recipes. Her desserts were particularly well-known and service superb as guests were often greeted personally by the Wakefields. Ruth became famous for her Toll House cookie recipe, but truly the woman was a dessert-genius. Her Indian pudding was lauded by none other than Duncan Hines – in 1947 he proclaimed it one of his favorites.
The “accidental” story claims that she was making a recipe of Butter Drop Do cookies and wanted to add chocolate. Another story said she was missing nuts and decided to add the chocolate pieces. With no bakers chocolate on hand she decided to chop up a semi-sweet chocolate bar in pieces instead. At least one version of the story goes that she assumed that after stirring the chocolate pieces into the dough, the two would somehow melt together and make the cookie chocolate. But, instead of melting, the pieces came out as bits of chocolate scattered in each cookie, and she first called them Toll House Crunch Cookies.
However, the restaurant promoted itself as a military machine or factory production line, geared to smooth-running cohesion, as Wyman pointed out. “Long-range planning and constantly studied personnel are reflected in an operating teamwork flawless in its unruffled perfection. Confusion is unknown.”
So, as Wyman noted, it seems unlikely that Ruth would not have all needed ingredients on hand, and she thought the whole “substitute chocolate for nuts” story was preposterous. One story told by an employee over the years had its own flair. George Boucher would tell how one day he heard vibrations from the mixer which caused chocolate stored on a shelf above it to fall into the dough.
It wasn’t until the 1970’s when Ruth finally explained what had really happened. For years the restaurant had served a thin butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream. Her customers loved them and she wanted to try something different, so she devised the Toll House cookie recipe, working on it while returning from a trip to Egypt.
Another point Wyman made was that the story about Ruth thinking the chunked chocolate would melt into the cookie dough was unlikely given her background in culinary arts and a household arts degree. She had studied food chemistry and knew chocolate chunks would not melt into the cookie making it chocolate through and through. Instead, Ruth and her pastry chef Sue Brides worked together to create a new cookie to serve with ice cream.
Ruth had, of course, used Nestlé chocolate in her recipe. While several chocolate companies wanted her to endorse their products, Ruth stuck with Nestlé, and on March 20, 1939 gave the recipe to them for one dollar. The recipe was changed over the years by Nestlé, but what a stroke of luck for them, eh?
If you search the internet you will find all the “accidental” stories in one form or another. In truth, I almost fell for them too, but they were beginning to be a bit confusing and convoluted. So, I kept searching and stumbled upon Wyman’s book, an obviously well-researched and thoughtful book (although I only read a synopsis in Google Books). I find this so often whether I’m researching an article for the blog or genealogy — you just have to keep digging until you find the truth!
So, the moral to the story is you just can’t believe everything you read on the internet … but you probably (hopefully) already knew that. Happy baking season!
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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