Mothers of Invention: Marion Donovan (Disposable Diapers)
Parents around the world can thank today’s “mother of invention” every time they pick up a Pampers®, Huggies® or Luvs® to change their little one’s diaper. Although her ideas were considered impractical at the time, they eventually led to the first truly disposable diaper coming to market in 1961.
Marion O’Brien Donovan was born October 15, 1917 to parents Miles and Ann (O’Connor) O’Brien in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her career later as an inventor must have come naturally since she was born into a family of inventors. Her father and uncle John (they were twins) ran a manufacturing plant in South Bend and had invented an industrial lathe which ground automotive gears and gun barrels.
Apparently, her father, the son of Irish immigrants, was quite successful at his trade – in the 1920 and 1930 censuses the family employed two servants. Ann O’Brien, however, had died in 1925, leaving Miles with two daughters to raise – Frances and Marion. Marion spent quite a bit of time during her childhood observing operations at her father’s business, perhaps because her mother had died. Miles helped Marion with her first childhood invention – tooth powder (she would later invent a new type of dental floss).
In 1939 Marion earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Pennsylvania’s Rosemont College and afterwards worked briefly for Vogue magazine as an assistant beauty editor. In 1942 she married James F. Donovan and together they had three children: Christine, Sharon and James.
For years, several individuals had attempted to invent and market a disposable diaper. Robinsons and Sons of Chesterfield (England) had marketed wholesale “Destroyable Babies Napkins” in the 1930’s to hospitals, but apparently didn’t envision a market for the general public. In 1946 a Swedish company suggested the use of cellulose “wadding” inside a cloth diaper covered with rubber pants. That didn’t work very well as the wadding tended to crumble when moist and also caused skin discomfort.
In 1946 Marion crafted her own version of rubber pants out of shower curtain, using her own sewing machine. As Dr. Andrew Boyd, a faculty member in the Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Houston, put it: “motherhood proved to be the necessity of invention.” The rubber pants on the market at the time had drawbacks because they also caused skin discomfort and diaper rash. Hers were crafted to avoid discomfort and replaced pins with snaps. Because her invention looked like a boat, she called them “Boaters”.
Undeterred by manufacturers who had no interest in her invention, she conducted her own marketing campaign and successfully placed her product in Saks Fifth Avenue in 1949. In 1951 she received a patent and sold the rights to the Keko Corporation, a clothing manufacturer, for one million dollars. However, her efforts to invent a truly disposable diaper continued.
The diaper had to be made of a fully absorbent and strong paper that would repel moisture away from the baby’s skin. After perfecting her invention she again set out to present her idea to manufacturers, only to be rebuffed yet again for her “impractical idea”. However, in the 1950’s companies like Johnson & Johnson, Playtex and others were looking to develop such a product of their own. In 1961, Proctor & Gamble brought disposable diapers, marketed as Pampers®, after being perfected by a team headed by Victor Mills.
Marion continued to invent, receiving twenty patents between 1951 and 1996 for such products as dental hygiene products, hosiery clamp, combined envelope and writing sheet, and others which were geared to women as a matter of convenience. The DentaLoop, which eliminated the need to wrap floss around one’s fingers to use, was invented in 1985.
In one 1950’s article about housewives who had struck it rich, Marion’s accomplishments were downplayed, claiming she had no knowledge of science and any mechanism more complex than an egg beater would be baffling to her. Her life experience and education, however, stood in direct contradiction to that insulting insinuation.
In the mid- to late-1950’s she pursued an architecture degree at Yale University, graduating in 1958 as one of three women in her class that year. Her hometown newspaper lauded her accomplishments with the following headline:
The Bridgeport Post reported:
Determination plus talent multiplied by hard work equals realization of one’s dream. That seems to be the living equation worked out and practiced by Mrs. James F. Donovan of Harbor Road, Southport. A busy wife and mother and a successful designer for many years, Mrs. Donovan received her bachelor’s degree in architecture from Yale University this month and hopes to launch a career in that field soon.
She was described as a “tall, slim woman with classic Gaelic beauty”, succeeding “in more fields than most women would dream of attempting.” Indeed, she was always interested in educating herself and pursuing lofty goals of success. Her daughter remembered Marion setting up a reel-to-reel tape recorder in her car so she could learn French and dictate letters during her commutes back and forth to Yale.
Marion and James divorced in 1971 and she later married John Butler. In 1981 she designed her own home in Greenwich, Connecticut, later revealing in a 1994 interview that she had always been fascinated by structure. She continued to market her products, including DentaLoop, to retailers. But by 1995 she was ready to sell the rights to DentaLoop after her husband suffered a stroke in 1995.
John died in July of 1998 and Marion died four months later on November 4, 1998. Her daughter Christine later recalled her mother’s work ethic: “One thing that was fantastic about her: running into an obstacle made her approach the idea in a new way. Her philosophy was keep thinking and working to improve.”
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Surname Saturday: Bowditch
Bowditch
This unique surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, believed to have derived from an estate in Dorsetshire (pre-Norman Conquest of 1066) and seen as well in the southern counties of Somerset and Devonshire. The place name in Devon was derived from an Olde English term “bupar dice” which meant “above the ditch”. Other locational derivations such as “boga (bow) dic (ditch)” would indicate a bow-shaped water channel, according to The Internet Surname Database. Spelling variations include Bowditch, Bowdiche, Bowdich, Bowdidge, Bowdyche and more.
In 1185 someone named “Bowditch” (no surname) was recorded in County Dorset. Eighty-eight years later in 1273, William Bowditch appeared in County Dorset records. Edwin Boditch appeared in records during the reign of Edward III and Richard Bowdiche was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Two marriage records: Richard Bowdyche and Joanna Savage married in London in 1554; Thomas Bowditch and Hannah Fowler: St. George, Hanover Square in 1769.
The Bowditch surname was prominent in New England and many of those bearing it could be traced back to Thorncombe, a village in Dorset. Two men of that line were well-known in their fields of mathematics and medicine, Nathaniel Bowditch and his son Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, also a prominent abolitionist.
Nathaniel Bowditch
Nathaniel Bowditch was born on March 26, 1773 in Salem, Massachusetts to parents Habakkuk and Mary (Ingersoll) Bowditch, the fourth of seven children. At the age of ten, Nathaniel’s childhood abruptly ended when he was removed from school to work in his father’s cooperage (barrel maker). Two years later Nathaniel was apprenticed as a bookkeeper to a ship chandler for nine years.
Even though his education had been interrupted due to pressing family financial circumstances, Nathaniel began to undertake his own self-education at the age of fourteen by studying algebra, calculus, astronomy, Latin and French. When his apprenticeship ended he began making voyages to the East Indies as a ship’s clerk. During his free time on those voyages he pored over the navigational tables of John Hamilton Moore, a well-known English navigator. Astonishingly, Nathaniel discovered and corrected over eight thousand errors in Moore’s work, The Practical Navigator.
In 1802 Nathaniel published The New American Practical Navigator in both America and England, reflecting the corrected tables. The book, nearly six hundred pages in length, also contained information on navigational laws and terminology. It was said to have been written in a format easily understood, even by uneducated sailors. It would become an essential part of every seaman’s gear. In recognition of his work, Harvard University awarded this self-educated man with an honorary Masters of Arts degree in 1802 (and later a Doctorate).
In 1798 he had married Elizabeth Boardman, but she died seven months after their wedding. In 1800 he married Mary (Polly) Ingersoll Bowditch, his cousin. His mathematical skills led him to become the nation’s first insurance actuary as president of Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Company in 1804, and he successfully led the company through a difficult period of time which encompassed the War of 1812 and its aftermath. In 1823 he and his family moved to Boston where he worked for Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company until 1838 – at five times the salary he received at Essex as its president.
Throughout his career in the insurance industry Nathaniel continued to work in the fields of mathematics and science, publishing several books and papers. His work was recognized widely and he was inducted into several foreign academies, including the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and London. Nathaniel Bowditch died on March 16, 1838 of stomach cancer and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery. Through public donations, a statue was later erected in his honor.
Henry Ingersoll Bowditch
Henry Ingersoll Bowditch was born on August 9, 1808 in Salem to Nathaniel and Mary Bowditch. His mother was described as “a woman of great piety without a trace of sanctimoniousness” (Life and Correspondence of Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, Vol. I, p. 2) and his upbringing instilled in him a deep religious faith.
Henry, the son of a self-educated scholar, received a well-rounded education. After the family moved to Boston, Henry entered the Public Latin School and in 1825 entered Harvard as a sophomore at the age of seventeen, eventually entering Harvard’s medical school. In 1832, Nathaniel sent his son abroad to Europe to continue his medical education. There he studied and came to be influenced by the teachings of William Wilberforce, renowned abolitionist.
Upon his return to America in 1834, he witnessed the attempted lynching of William Lloyd Garrison, an American abolitionist. Thereafter, Henry officially counted himself as one as well, vowing to devote “his whole heart to the abolition of that monster slavery”. On July 17, 1838 he married Olivia Yardley whom he had met while abroad.
For several years leading up to the Civil War he remained active in the abolitionist movement, even making the acquaintance of Fredrick Douglass. He especially targeted the slave-hunters who frequented Boston looking for runaway slaves, helping to organize the Anti-Man-Hunting League. Members were trained to capture and detain slave-hunters in exchange for a runaway slave’s freedom.
When the Civil War began, his son Nathaniel, who was set to follow Henry in the field of medicine, considered joining the Second Massachusetts Regiment but an injury prevented that. However, when one of his former classmates was killed at Ball’s Bluff in Loudoun County, Virginia, Nathaniel announced his intentions: “I have decided to go, because I have made up my mind that it is my duty to do so.”
Tragically, Nathaniel was killed at Kelly’s Ford in Virginia which spurred Henry to write a pamphlet advocating a battlefield ambulance system to better care for the wounded. Later he wrote a memoir to honor Nathaniel. In case you missed it, this week’s Tombstone Tuesday article featured Part One of a two-part article on Nathaniel Bowditch – you can read it here.
Henry founded the Massachusetts State Board of Health in 1869 and served as its first chairman, and served as president of the American Medical Association in 1877. He was a professor at Harvard Medical School and continued practicing at Massachusetts General Hospital until his death on January 14, 1892.
Other prominent members of this family include Henry Pickering Bowditch (physician, dean of Harvard Medical School), Charles Pickering Bowditch (archaeologist and Henry’s brother) and more.
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Ghost Towns of Sherman County, Kansas
This county in northwestern Kansas had been home to buffalo-hunting Native Americans and was named for General William Tecumseh Sherman of Civil War fame by the Kansas legislature in 1873. Cattle and sheep ranches were established in the early 1880’s on land available for little or no cost.
A few towns had already been founded in 1885 and early 1886 as settlers made their way to the area, including a fair number of foreign immigrants from Sweden, Germany and Austria: Eustis, Sherman Center, Voltaire, Itasca and Gandy. On September 20, 1886 the county was officially organized and Eustis was named the temporary county seat. Other towns established in 1887 and 1888 were Goodland, Ruleton and Kanorado (near the Colorado state line, thus the hybrid name). Here is a brief history of those which quickly became ghost towns.
Eustis
In the spring of 1885, P.S. Eustis and O.R Phillips organized the Lincoln Land Company and laid out the town. P.S., as an agent of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, had the distinction of having the town named in his honor. In July of 1886 a post office was opened.
After being named the temporary county seat in September, an election was held on November 8 to allow voters to decide which town, Sherman Center or Eustis, would be the permanent county seat. Eustis won and construction began on a courthouse. The following spring another election was held and Eustis came out victorious.
For reasons unclear, another election was called for in August of 1887 by a county committee to once and for all determine the county seat. Representatives of Voltaire and Sherman Center and someone named B. Taylor who owned land in the central part of the county made their pitches before the committee. Eustis declined to make a presentation. At the next meeting of the county committee, representatives of newly-established Goodland made a well-received presentation.
Of the almost fifteen hundred votes cast in the fall election, Goodland won 872 of those votes. The official vote tallies could not be completed, however, after injunctions were filed which prevented county commissioners from canvassing the vote. Therefore, between November 1887 and January 1888 the county seat issue remained unsettled with court battles and more commission meetings.
On January 13, 1888 the matter began to reach a boiling point when a group from Goodland marched to Eustis intending to seize the county records. A war of words ensued in newspapers throughout the county. The rivalry heated up to the extent that Governor John Martin sent the Kansas National Guard to monitor the situation. However, by early May, Eustis had withdrawn its objections after Goodland had hired a posse of sorts which captured one of the county commissioners and forced him to allow the county records to be removed – no shots fired, end of dispute.
Not long afterwards, the citizens of Eustis began to move to the new county seat, eventually leading to the town’s demise. For the same reasons, the town of Sherman Center also faded away.
Gandy
The town of Gandy had been founded in June of 1885, named after Dr. J.L. Gandy of Humboldt, Nebraska. Its post office was established in September and the first county newspaper, “The New Tecumseh” published its first issue on November 11, 1885. The first school in the county was also established in Gandy.
Gandy seemed to be taking root with these county “firsts”, but by early 1886 had begun to decline. In March the newspaper moved to Itasca and later that fall the post office was moved to Sherman Center, established in May of 1886. Itasca would eventually suffer the same fate as Sherman Center and Gandy. Like a row of dominoes, these fledgling communities continued to fall.
Voltaire
This town was founded by a group from Rawlins County, Kansas on June 15, 1885 and named for French philosopher Voltaire. By the summer of 1886 the town reached its peak with just over one hundred and forty residents and forty-five buildings and homes. As was the case in countless “county wars”, Voltaire began to decline after an unsuccessful bid to become the seat of government for Sherman County.
Voltaire had been established on government land, and therefore was required to maintain a certain population level until the land could be officially turned over to the town. With winter on its way following the election defeat, few residents wanted to remain in Voltaire, but the town’s founders hired a man and his family to remain there to hold the town until spring when more settlers would arrive and improvements could be made.
Those who left returned to Rawlins County (Atwood) for the winter, one which proved to be an especially harsh and deadly one. Instead of returning, residents decided to remain in Atwood and Voltaire began to decline. In 1889 the post office was closed and the town vacated by the Kansas legislature.
Today the towns of Goodland (still the county seat) and Kanorado remain; Ruleton is a small unincorporated community.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Lieutenant Nathaniel Bowditch (Part One)
Nathaniel Bowditch (pronounced bau-ditch) was born to parents Dr. Henry Ingersoll and Olivia Jane Yardley Bowditch on December 6, 1839. As noted in the memoir written by his father, Memorial of Nathaniel Bowditch, he “received his grandsire’s name because he was the first grandson born.” His grandfather was a renowned early American mathematician who specialized in maritime navigation. More on Nathaniel the grandfather in this week’s Surname Saturday article.
Nathaniel, a well-behaved child, began school between the ages of four and five. His teacher remembered his “pleasant deportment, his affectionate disposition, his thoughtfulness of the comfort of others, his obedience, and his gentleness.” At one point, however, his mother thought his gentle spirit would prevent him from being able to defend himself later in life – after one incident he had run to his mother and said, “I hate to fight.”
Following his early schooling, Nathaniel entered Dr. Charles Kraitsir’s school in Boston which emphasized the structure and historical development of language. After two years there he entered public grammar school, followed by a private school and then spent six years under an uncle’s tutelage. By that time, Nathaniel’s father was ready for him to continue his educational pursuits at the Lawrence Scientific School, founded by Albert Lawrence and the precursor to Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
In September of 1858 he entered the school for a three-year course of study. Henry believed it would prepare his son for a career in medicine, and Nathaniel diligently studied — in the words of his father, “with an intense love of his work, Nat devoted himself, day after day, to learn thoroughly everything that could be acquired concerning the structure of the class of the animal kingdom, to which he was devoting himself.”
He spent hours studying zoology and performing minute dissections, something that would be useful should be become a surgeon. His father reflected on his skills later, believing that, although it might have seemed absurd to some, Nathaniel “actually wielded the sabre on the fatal field of Kelley’s Ford in a more effective manner, in consequence of the hours and days of quiet labor passed at the feet of the great naturalist.”
In September of 1861 Nathaniel formally entered the study of medicine, intending to devote an entire year to the study of human anatomy and physiology. In addition to his studies, he began following Henry’s medical cases and visiting Massachusetts General Hospital on Saturdays to observe surgeries. Henry, of course, swelled with pride at his son’s accomplishments and none more so than the observation that “a deep religious feeling had been for months stealing over him, and high principle seemed to be his guiding star.”
After Fort Sumter’s fall in April of 1861, Nathaniel had considered joining the cause but an accident prevented him from joining the Second Massachusetts Regiment. His parents were, understandably, relieved since although proud of his patriotism were not eager for him to “offer himself as a champion, and possible as a martyr, to the cause.”
Everything would change, however, about two months after he entered medical school. On October 22, 1861 devastating news came of the carnage at Ball’s Bluff, a humiliating defeat for the Union in Loudoun County, Virginia. Lieutenant William Lowell Putnam, a former classmate of Nathaniel’s, died in that battle, his death affecting Nathaniel profoundly. “Nat felt that the die was cast, that his own hour had come.” He calmly and assuredly announced his intentions to his family: “I have decided to go, because I have made up my mind that it is my duty to do so.”
On November 5, 1861 Nathaniel Bowditch was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of the First Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry by Governor John Albion Andrew. He immediately reported for duty at Camp Meigs under the command of Colonel Robert Williams. His transition to army life, however, was not a smooth one.
Just before he arrived at the camp, incidents of insubordination had resulted in violence in order to subdue it. Upon his arrival, Nathaniel was ordered to return to Boston and await further orders until order was restored. Nathaniel, as his father noted, was a lover of peace and one reluctant to resort to force. The incident affected him to the point that upon his return home he told Henry he wasn’t fit for the task – “I can never govern men, if it be necessary to do what is now done at camp. I must resign my commission.”
It must have pained him to do so, but Henry encouraged him to stick it out: “My boy, be of good cheer; you are new in this business. All things will be well, I have no doubt. You know, however, that it is not the custom for any of us to give up an important object, until we have either gained it, or have become convinced that we are unable to gain it. Then, and not till then, do we resign. . . go ahead, trusting in the Lord.”
This encouraged Nathaniel, and instead of brooding, he spent his time honing his sword and horsemanship skills. On Christmas Day he received urgent orders to return to the camp and on December 28, left Camp Meigs for New York with his regiment. Two weeks later they embarked on a rough voyage to Port Royal, South Carolina, arriving on January 17, 1862.
Nathaniel and his family began their correspondence – Nathaniel’s letters were about camp life, friendships, and both the mundane tasks and the hard times. His family had determined that it was their duty to encourage and support him and to “make light of hardship and annoyances.” They would regularly send him quotes from various authors and news clippings, which he carried with him until his death.
On February 17, Henry received word that Nathaniel had fallen ill on Hilton Head and went to visit his son. Henry was tempted to ask for a furlough or even his resignation, but Nathaniel eventually recovered and returned to full duty on May 1. On April 28, he had written his sister about the next campaign and expressed a decided resignation as to his possible fate:
This is my first, and it may be my last battle; but I never entered into any thing with a clearer conscience and a happier feeling than I do now. I have my trust in the Almighty Father, and know that whatever happens to me is for the best. I often think of your favorite psalm: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” I do not know that I ever had such a feeling as I have not. It is a most resigned one, and a perfect trust in my Lord Jesus. . . You may rest assured that your brother will not flinch from his duty; and, if he is shot, I trust it will be with his face to the enemy. I feel that a man who falls in this cause, falls in a glorious one, and one which he may be proud of.
Apparently the regiment’s orders had changed and Nathaniel wrote to his family informing them. That night he had bedded down “in the only hotel open at that time, which had ‘Mother Earth’ for its floor, and the heaven above for its roof.” He slept well that night but was amazed at the heavy dew the next morning – blankets were dripping wet. He, however, had taken two quinine pills before retiring and felt fine.
Nathaniel had been too optimistic it seems, for the day after his family received the letter, he was brought home to Boston emaciated and almost unrecognizable, having contracted malaria. He arrived on June 17 and recovered rapidly, although he experienced a partial paralysis of his legs which made it difficult to walk. Nonetheless, the War Department ordered him back to duty in early August. On August 8, he finally departed again for Hilton Head, making no complaint.
From that point on his regiment was on the move and fully engaged. I don’t normally write two-part articles for Tombstone Tuesday, but this one, taken from his father’s memoir, is too interesting to condense into one article. Tune in next week for the conclusion of Lieutenant Nathaniel Bowditch’s story.
Source: Memorial of Nathaniel Bowditch, by Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, 1865.
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Military History Monday: The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga
It’s an historical fact that over ten thousand soldiers under the age of eighteen served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Granted, many of them served as drummers and fifers, but their service was nonetheless invaluable. Drummers set the marching pace and sometimes provided cadence for the firing of guns and cannons. Fifers, on the other hand, were used for signaling line formation changes, as well as working in conjunction with drummers to set the marching pace.
One of the youngest “boy soldiers” to serve became known as “The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga”. He was born John Joseph Klem to German immigrant parents Roman and Magdalene on August 13, 1851 in Newark, Ohio. By the 1860 census, however, the family had changed the spelling of their surname to “Clem”.
This article is no longer available here. It was, however, updated and included in a fascinating article published in the November-December 2019 issue of Digging History Magazine, entitled “Bullets, Battles and Bands: The Role of Music in War”. This issue, which featured stories related to the War of 1812, may be purchased in the magazine store. Click the “November-December 2019 issue” link above to access this issue.
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: Trowbridge
The Trowbridge surname was seen as early 1184 in Wiltshire County, England as “Trobigge”, probably derived from the Old English word which translated means someone dwelling near a wooden bridge.
Later recorded instances of the name include: Troubrug (1212); William de Trewebrugg (1275); Edward Trobridge of Yorkshire listed in 1379 on the Yorkshire Poll Tax; George Trobrydge enrolled at Oxford in 1583. Spelling variations also include: Troubridge, Trobridge, Trubbrudge, Trubbridge, Trawbridge and others, perhaps such as Strawbridge or Strowbridge.
Following are stories of the earliest Trowbridge to immigrate (sort of) to America and his youngest son.
Thomas Trowbridge
The first settler in America to bear the surname was Thomas Trowbridge, a mercer (dealer in fine fabrics) who immigrated from the town of Taunton in Somersetshire, England possibly as early as 1634 or 1636. He and his wife Elizabeth appear in 1636 records as Mr. And Mrs. and she was listed in 1638 church records. Their youngest son James was baptized in the Dorchester, Massachusetts church in 1637 or 1638.
He and his family moved to the New Haven colony in 1638, but Elizabeth only lived another year or two afterwards. Records seem to indicate that Thomas spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to England, throughout the colonies and to the West Indies, presumably in pursuit of business interests. Sometime after Elizabeth’s death an incident occurred when he left his three young sons in the care of his steward Henry Gibbons.
Gibbons turned out to be an untrustworthy caretaker of Thomas’ estate. The citizens of New Haven were alarmed at his malfeasance, and in November of 1641 a court ordered an attachment be placed on Thomas’ property to pay off all indebtedness. The court also placed the children in the care of Thomas Jeffrey and his wife until “their father shall come over or send to take order concerning them”. In the meantime the Jeffreys were to make sure the children were well educated “and nurtured in the fear of God.”
Whether Thomas ever returned to the colonies is unclear – if he did it was only perhaps for brief visits. The only records thereafter seemed to be related to Gibbons’ mishandling of Thomas’ affairs. After Thomas’ father died he was the sole surviving son and likely took a prominent role in Taunton. Records indicate that he often wrote to authorities in New Haven (amazingly, Gibbons continued to handle his affairs, at least until his sons came of age).
It does seem strange that Thomas would be so detached from his sons’ upbringing, but it appears he must have been content with the court-ordered arrangement. His children received an excellent education under the tutelage of Ezekiel Cheever, who in 1643 or 1644 requested funds out of Thomas Trowbridge’s estate to cover the cost of his services.
After his son William came of age, he tried to ascertain the value of his father’s estate that remained in New Haven. His father, unable to obtain an accurate account from Gibbons, finally gave his sons power of attorney as the proprietors of his estate. Their later attempts to recover losses from Gibbons were not settled until after Thomas’ death on February 7, 1672.
Deacon James Trowbridge
Thomas’ youngest son James inherited land in Dorchester, and after reaching adulthood and having married, settled there. He married Margaret Atherton on December 30, 1659. To their marriage were born seven children: Elizabeth (1660), Mindwell (1662), John (1664), Margaret (1666), Thankful (1668), Mary (1670) and Hannah (1672).
The family moved to what is now Newton, Massachusetts in 1664 and James was made a freedman in May of 1665. Margaret died in 1672 and on January 30, 1674 he married Margaret Jackson, daughter of Deacon John and Margaret Jackson. He and Margaret had seven children together: Experience (1675); Thomas (1677); Deliverance (1679); James (1682); William (1684); Abigail (1687) and Caleb (1692).
James remained in Newton the rest of his life and was one of the first members of the Newton Congregational Church. When his father-in-law Deacon John Jackson passed away, he was chosen to succeed him and served in that office until his death.
James also served in King Philip’s War after being appointed as a lieutenant, resigning on October 10, 1677. He was involved in civic affairs in his community, serving on the grand jury of Massachusetts, as clerk of writs and in the general court in the early 1700’s. By the time he died on May 22, 1717, little remained of his estate because he had distributed gifts to his children throughout his lifetime.
Other Trowbridge families later immigrated to America. In case you missed yesterday’s Feisty Female article about Grandma Gatewood, check it out here. One of her ancestors, Levi Trowbridge, of a different line than Thomas Trowbridge, served as one of the Green Mountain Boys under the command of General Ethan Allen during the Revolutionary War.
Sources:
The Trowbridge Genealogy: History of the Trowbridge family in America (1908) by Francis Bacon Trowbridge
The Trowbridge family, or, Descendants of Thomas Trowbridge, One of the First Settlers of New Haven, Connecticut (1872) by Reverend F.W. Chapman
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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Feisty Females: Grandma Gatewood (Part I)
After becoming the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail solo at the age of sixty-seven in 1955, today’s “Feisty Female” remarked to Sports Illustrated upon completing the trek, “I would never have started this trip if I had known how tough it was, but I couldn’t and wouldn’t quit.” Such was the grit and determination of Emma Gatewood, a.k.a. Grandma Gatewood – how that spirit became embodied in her is the subject of today’s article, with her story concluding next Friday.
Emma Rowena Caldwell was born on October 25, 1887 in the Guyan Township of Gallia County, Ohio to parents Hugh Wilson and Esther Evaline (Trowbridge) Caldwell, she being one of fifteen children (ten girls and five boys).
This article was featured in the May 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Emma Gatewood — what an amazing woman! The May issue also featured articles on the Civil War aftermath, including “Coughing up Relics”, “About Those Pensions” and “Left-Handed Penmanship”.
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.
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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Wild Weather Wednesday: The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900
On September 8, 1900 a massive storm was raging and headed for the Texas coast. The storm, which may have originated off the western coast of Africa, had already inflicted heavy damage in New Orleans and was heading west.
The city of Galveston, located on thirty mile-long Galveston Island, was incorporated as a city in 1839 and by 1900 had become a major United States port (third busiest), and approximately forty thousand residents called it home. The island’s highest point was a mere 8.7 feet above sea level, with most of it averaging about half that altitude. The city was fast becoming a metropolis on par with other U.S. cities like New Orleans and San Francisco. The New York Herald went so far as to call it the “New York of the Gulf”. Galveston had electricity, telephone and telegraph services, several hotels, expensive restaurants and more.
This article is no longer available for free at this site. It was re-written and enhanced, complete with footnotes and sources and has been published in the March 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
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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Tombstone Tuesday: General Washington Gentry of Johnson County, Tennessee
I gotta say this was a difficult article to research – so darn many General Washington Gentry’s or George Washington Gentry’s or General George Washington Gentry’s in Johnson County, Tennessee it seemed. I think (I hope) I have figured it out though. There are some interesting family stories and some very unique names given to his children. This family was also related by marriage to the “Ocean Sisters” I wrote about last week. In case you missed it, you can read it here.
Today’s subject was born General Washington Gentry on September 14, 1810 to parents Benjamin and Rhoda (Wilson) Gentry. According to Gentry family research, there don’t seem to be any other children named General Washington in Benjamin’s generation, but there were perhaps nephews who were given the same or similar name in later generations, that is if census and military records are correct. Interestingly (at least to me) is that one of Benjamin Gentry’s brothers, William, ended up in Pulaski County, Kentucky which is where many of my ancestors lived.
There are two marriage records for General W. Gentry. His first wife, Minerva Blevins, apparently died not long after their marriage on August 25, 1841. His second marriage to Eliza Ann “Lizzie” Rambow (Rambo) occurred on March 24, 1842. Their first child, Mahlon, was probably born in 1843, according to census records, although at Find-a-Grave it says that his date of birth was February 14, 1841 – I think not. Their other children, with approximate birth dates, were, according to census records:
Cornelia (1845)
Andrew Nameyard (or Namyard) (1848)
Bartholomew (1850)
Carnassie Carrie “Sis” (1853)
Parnassie (1854)
Ferdinand (1858)
General Rosencrance (1860)
What is the meaning of the name “Nameyard” or “Namyard”? For the Burmese, “namyard” is a word for “libation water.” More than one web site points out that it is “Drayman” spelled backwards – yes, that’s true, but that would be really odd to give your child a backwards-spelled name. One reference was found in an archive of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: “For mod pulverized namyard manure delivered” – but perhaps this was actually supposed to be “farmyard manure” (I’m just throwing that out there). When a credible reference to the word is found on the internet, it seems to be associated with Asian cultures. Not sure about that one but plenty curious about its meaning — if anyone reading this article has an answer, please share!
For census records there is listed a “Bartholomew” in 1860 but his 1870 marriage record has it spelled “Bartholamu”. Carnassie and Parnassie sound like twin names but they were born two years apart. To further complicate research, Parnassie married a cousin named General Leach Gentry, son of General George Washington (or possibly just George Washington, since only his initials were used on his gravestone) Gentry who was born in 1830. Parnassie may have died during the 1918 influenza pandemic, according to her death certificate.
There don’t seem to be any ancestors or family members named “Rosencrance” or “Ferdinand”. Family historians believe that Rosencrance was named after a Northern general, possibly William Rosencrans, who served under Grant at one time. All in all, however, these names seem rather unusual, perhaps a bit exotic, for a Tennessee family to give to their children.
A Tennessean naming one’s child after a Union general also seems a bit odd, dangerous or offensive given the time when he was born, but another family legend says that General was hung by Rebel Home Guards because he refused to choose between the North or South. This is certainly possible because there aren’t any more records of General after the 1860 census, when his ninety-two year old widowed mother Rhoda was also residing with him. In 1870, Eliza was widowed and five of her children were still living with her.
The rest of the family legend goes like this: The Home Guards burned General’s house down and Eliza got thirteen children out and the family Bible off the fireplace mantle. Rosencrance, said to have been named after a famous Northern general was hidden in the hills with various relatives. Another part of the story has General’s nephew John Roe Gentry (Pacific’s husband – see last week’s article on the “Ocean Sisters” linked above) saying that his aunt, presumably Eliza, hid two boys under General’s bed when the Rebels came looking for men and boys to conscript – perhaps one was Rosencrance and the other Ferdinand?
This may very well be just a “legend” – for one thing there is no record indicating General and Eliza had thirteen children. There is a gravestone which appears to belong to General, although the name is “W.G. Gentry”. It states that he died on September 14, 1864, his fifty-fourth birthday. Eliza, about thirteen years younger than General, according to her gravestone, died in 1902. However, the 1870 census records her age as fifty-nine, which would mean she had been been born in approximately 1811.
A research note – Ferdinand Gentry is actually how I discovered the Gentry’s of Johnson County (and the Ocean Sisters). After my recent visit to Estacado Cemetery, I was researching a grave belonging to Margaret D. Gentry. On her tombstone she was referred to as the wife of Ferdinand Gentry. I doubt General’s Ferdinand was her husband because of the age difference, but I just never know what a search will lead to – in this case two interesting Tombstone Tuesday about related families in Johnson County, Tennessee.
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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Surname Saturday: Kitten
Those who regularly read the Surname Saturday articles know that there are usually multiple theories as to a surname’s origin. Such is the case again today with the Kitten surname.
According to House of Names, the Kitten surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, possibly residents of a village in Durham or Rutland called Ketton. Alternatively, there was also a place called Keaton in County Devon. Therefore, this source proposes that Kitten is a habitational name. Spelling variations include: Keaton, Keeton, Ketton, Keton, Ketyn and Keetyn and more.
One early American immigrant to Maryland, Theophilus Kitten, is said to have changed his name to Caton. According to the Patronymica Britannica:
CATON. Until the close of the XVI. cent., Catton and De Catton; from the manor of Catton near Norwich, which in Domesday is spelt Catun and Catuna. The family were located in Norfolk from time immemorial till the middle of the last century. The latinizations Catonus, Gathonus, and Chattodunus occur in old records.
In 1736, Stephen Kitten (parents Edward and Mary) was baptized in the St. Faiths District of Norfolk and his sister Ruth was baptized in 1742. According to 1891 England and Wales census data, Norfolk had the highest concentration of families with the Kitten surname (29% or 4 of 14).
Another theory (Ancestry.com) suggests Kitten is a “reduced form of Irish or Scottish McKitten, of uncertain etymology; perhaps a variant of Mac Curtáin (or McCurtain)”. New York passenger lists verify that a significant number of Kitten immigrants came from Ireland, followed by England, Germany, Prussia, Denmark and Bavaria – which leads to the third theory.
Again, Ancestry.com theorizes that the surname may also be a variant of the German name “Gitten” or “an altered spelling of German Kütten”. Some family historians believe that the name possibly derives from various locations in Germany:
Possibly the name of a farm near Ibbenbueren in the Steinfurt district (North Rhine-Westphalia) region.
The Kittendorf Castle was built in 1853, approximately one hundred kilometers north of Berlin.
In the Bavarian district of Oberallgäu, there is a village by the name of Kutten.
In Saxony, another village by the name of Kütten.
With the last theory in mind, following is the story of German-born Florenz Kitten, whose family fled the political upheaval in Prussia and settled in Ferdinand, Indiana after arriving in America in either the late 1840’s or 1850.
Florenz Kitten
Gerhard Florenz Kitten, the son of Henrich and Theresia (Heeke) Kitten, was baptized on September 4, 1840 in Katholisch, Ibbenbueren, Westfalen, Prussia. This is according to records of German baptisms which occurred between 1558 and 1898. Curiously, however, most family researchers record October 25, 1840 as his birth date with sources coming from other ancestry family trees. If he indeed was baptized on September 4, perhaps he was born on August 25 rather than October 25(?).
The political upheaval in Prussia began the same year of his birth when King Frederick William III died. His oldest son, Frederick William IV, ruled from 1840 until 1861, a reign that was marked by disastrous economic conditions and political revolution. According to the Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions:
Most German historians of the nineteenth and early twentieth century negatively characterized Frederick William IV as gifted but mercurial and contradictory, an artist and aesthete rather than a hard-headed politician, a “Romantic on the throne” who was out of step with his times. . . .The young crown prince was less martially inclined than his younger brother and eventual successor, Prince William. Rather, he possessed a fertile artistic imagination, strong religious feelings, a passion (and a real talent) for architecture, an attachment to Romantic literature (especially the medieval fantasies of Fouqué), and an overabundant emotionalism. . . . After his father’s death in June 1840, Frederick William responded to pressures for change in Prussian society by embarking upon a series of experiments (the United Committees of 1842, the Evangelical General Synod of 1846, and the United Diet of 1847), to transform state and church on the basis of his organic-corporative ideals.
With the instability came uprisings and the inevitable bloodshed, all this eventually compelling the Kitten family to leave their homeland and immigrate to the United States for the hope of a better (and more peaceful) life. Heinrich (Henry) was a wooden shoemaker whose craft, in the mid-1800’s, would have been most needed in a German-populated area. That place turned out to be Dubois County, Indiana in the town of Ferdinand.
Ferdinand had been established on January 8, 1840 by Father Joseph Kundek who had served as a missionary to about forty German Catholic families settling the area in 1839. He acquired the land and planned the town’s grid. Not only would the town be a place for German Catholics to settle when they arrived in America, but lot sales would also fund the construction of the church.
To compel more German settlers to come to Dubois County, advertisements were placed in neighboring states’ newspapers. The town’s name was originally Ferdinandsstadt (a very German name) in honor of Ferdinand, the emperor of Austria at the time. Eventually the name was simplified and shortened to Ferdinand.
The German settlers were hard-working, honest folks. The Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana (1876) stated that “Ferdinanders are a happy and industrious people.” It would be a perfect fit for the Kitten family.
Florenz was mostly likely around the age of ten when they arrived in Ferdinand. There he attended school, and like most children of the day, worked on the family farm. He was also a “tinkerer”. The Industrial Revolution had brought changes to manufacturing, farming, transportation and more, but “tinkering” wasn’t a recognized trade so Florenz worked on the family farm until the age of nineteen, when he began to work as a carpenter.
On June 29, 1869 he married Maria Katherina Luegers. Following their marriage, Florenz purchased a lot and built a house in Ferdinand. The second floor of their home was his workshop, where he began tinkering again, this time with steam. After a few years, he began to build steam engines and threshers around 1880. For the 1880 census he was enumerated as a manufacturer of threshing machines. He and Katherina (Catherina) had one son, Joseph, aged nine.
After his inventions found a solid market, Florenz built a two-story factory next to his home – The Kitten Machine Shop. He applied for and received a patent improvement for his threshing machine straw carrier, and in 1889 was granted a patent (#409,594) for his improved steam engine design. In 1882 Florenz had begun building traction engines. These engines no longer required “horse” power, representing one of the greatest improvements to date for engine machinery. The engine, however, weighed over seventeen thousand pounds and most were sold within a short radius of Ferdinand. His traction engines were unique and stood out with yellow and red paint.
In 1900, Joseph, unmarried, was working as a foreman at the foundry alongside his father. Six years later Florenz stepped aside and handed the business over to Joseph. In 1908 Joseph sold the business to John Hassfurther and John P. Reinecker and the name was changed to Ferdinand Foundry and Machine Works.
By 1910, Joseph was married with a young family of three children, enumerated at the same residence as his parents. He took the business back in 1914 and he and his wife Elizabeth had three more children before his death in 1918. Just over two months after the 1920 census, Florenz died on March 22 at the age of seventy-nine.
Following Joseph’s untimely death, Elizabeth and her father managed the company until Elizabeth and Joseph W. Bickwermert bought the company. Bickwermert became the sole owner in 1935 and changed the name to Ferdinand Machine Company. The company changed hands again in 1945 and by the 1950’s had entered a new market: woodwork finishing.
A man by the name of Deere had designed a tractor and gradually the steam engine had gone the way of the dinosaur. To remain viable, the machine company added new products and in 1952 was incorporated as DuBois County Machine Company, Inc. Over the years the company changed hands several times and moved some of its operations elsewhere, although the Ferdinand shop remained open. In 1997 the machine company employed seven engineers.
Today the company, Dubois Equipment Company, Inc. is headquartered in Jasper, Indiana and proclaims itself a leader in the “wood finishing industry for over 50 years and has been the primary producer of complete flat line finishing systems for prefinished wood flooring for the past 25 years.” It’s unfortunate, however, to note the company’s history doesn’t include a mention of the man who founded the original machine shop in 1868.
A great resource for all things Kitten can be found at Amazon (The Whole Kitten Caboodle). I utilized this book and other resources recently to create a custom-designed family history chart for a Kitten family member. Want a chart of your own? Contact me: [email protected] for more information on pricing and ongoing special promotions. More chart samples here: https://digging-history.com/charts/
Note: All pictures are from the Ferdinand Historical Society collection.
Other article sources: Farm Collector (here and here), Ferdinand Historical Society.
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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