Tombstone Tuesday: Titus Walter Blessing – Medimont, Idaho
Titus Walter Blessing was born on August 4, 1855 in Dubuque, Iowa to parents Franz Joseph and Magdalena Rausch Blessing. His father, who went by his middle name Joseph, was born in Germany in 1826 and immigrated to America in 1850. His mother was born in Bavaria in 1825 and her date of immigration is unknown.
In 1860, Titus and his family were living in Porter, Freeborn, Minnesota, where his father was a farmer. In 1870, his family were still farmers and they had relocated to West Newton, Nicollet, Minnesota. Titus learned the mason trade and in 1876 he moved to Helena, Montana where he also mined and prospected across the state.
During the Indian Wars of the 1870’s, Titus fought Sitting Bull’s band of Indians and served as a private scout for Buffalo Bill, himself a scout for General Miles. When war broke out with the Nez Perce tribe, Titus joined eighty other citizens of Helena to fight, but the government wouldn’t allow them to fight unless they joined the military. They declined and returned home to Helena. Therefore, they apparently missed the Battle of Big Hole.
Titus met Anna Marguerite Hoffman, who had been born in Munster, Germany and immigrated to America in 1861, when she came from California to visit a cousin in Montana. On May 31, 1879 Titus married Anna and in 1880 they were enumerated in Helena, with Titus employed as a stone mason. Their first child, Amelia, had been born two months earlier.
In 1881, another daughter, Anna, was born. In 1883 the family migrated across the Big Bend country to Spokane. Titus left his family there and went to Coeur d’Alene, arriving before the gold rush. He assisted in drafting a resolution barring Chinamen from coming into Coeur d’Alene County. It’s quite possible that Titus might have met Wyatt Earp who came to Idaho with his brother and common law wife Josephine Marcus for the Coeur d’Alene and Pritchard gold rush.
After mining for awhile, Titus sold his claims and became a rancher when the land previously occupied by the reservation opened up. There he built a homestead in Medimont, Idaho, and by 1900 Titus and his family had grown to include five more children: Rose Elizabeth (b. 1894), Walter Louis (b. 1888), Phillip Robert (b. 1890), Bessie Katie (b. 1893) and John Wesley (b. 1896). As of 1903, when a history of northern Idaho was compiled and published, Titus had one hundred and four acres of land and was doing well. Further, according to An Illustrated History of North Idaho: Embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, State of Idaho:
Mr. Blessing has held the office of justice of the peace and is an excellent officer, being faithful and impartial. He has been active in the advancement of educational facilities and is a progressive man in all lines. He has some fine placer ground in the Saint Joe region and is developing it well. Mr. Blessing and his wife are true frontier people and have done a good work in development and building up the country.
Tragedy struck the Blessing family in 1906, however. Interestingly, the story of their tragedy was found in newspapers across the country (perhaps taken from the wire service):
Titus and Anna’s three youngest children were skating on Lake Coeur d’Alene Lake on November 29, 1906. Other skaters were rescued but their children drowned along with another local resident. They were buried in the Medimont Cemetery in Kootenai County, Idaho.
Tragedy, unfortunately, struck again just three years later when their second daughter Anna died of an infection induced by surgical thread and scissors left in her body during surgery for cancer, according to family history. Anna was twenty-eight years old at the time of her death and was married to Eugene Leslie Lamb. Their son, Harvey Allen Lamb, had been born in 1906 and in 1910 Harvey (4 years old) was living with Titus and Anna in Medimont. His father remarried but it appears Harvey remained with his grandparents – he is again enumerated as their grandson in 1920.
Their daughter Rose, who had married John Ahlstrom, passed away in 1924 – like her sister Anna she died from complications following cancer surgery. She and her sister both were buried in the Medimont Cemetery with their younger siblings.
Titus continued to farm. At the age of seventy-four, he and Anna were enumerated in 1930 and living in Medimont. Their son Walter lived nearby and was employed as a farmer as well. On July 16, 1937, Titus Walter Blessing passed away at the age of eighty-one and was buried in the same cemetery as his children who had preceded him in death. His widow Anna and their son Walter would be buried in the same cemetery, Anna in 1940 and Walter in 1967.
Titus Blessing was a pioneer settler of northern Idaho and highly esteemed by his fellow citizens:
A pioneer of the true grit and spirit, a man of sound principles and uprightness, a public minded citizen of worth and integrity, and always dominated with sagacity, keen foresight and manifesting energy and enterprise, the subject of this article is deserving of consideration in the history of this county.
A note of interest — the reader might notice links to previous articles I’ve written and published. I didn’t intend that there would so many links (Wyatt Earp, Josephine Marcus, The Battle of Big Hole) as Titus Blessing was, as is customary for the Tombstone Tuesday articles, picked randomly. I just love it when stuff like this happens though — and just another reason why I LOVE history and writing this blog!
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Mothers of Invention: Lillian Moller Gilbreth
Lillian Moller Gilbreth was born on May 24, 1878 in Oakland, California to parents William and Anne Moller. She grew up in a Victorian, German-American home, the second and oldest of ten children (the first child died in infancy). Lillie (she later changed her name to Lillian) was shy and introverted, so much so that she was schooled at home by her mother until the age of nine. Even then Lillian wasn’t able to “fit in” – academically she excelled but socially she was awkward. Home and domestic life were more suited to her, learning to sew and care for her siblings.
By the time she entered high school she was actually eager to attend, although she still experienced social awkwardness with classmates. She dreaded the day when she would have to consider delving into the world of dating and courtship – she was petrified of boys and thought herself unattractive.
While she resigned herself to perhaps remaining single, she yearned for something beyond remaining with her family to care for them and leading the life of a spinster. Writing, especially poetry, was a way for her to express herself, however. In the end, writing was what drew her out and she later found acceptance with her peers. One of her English teachers encouraged her to pursue a literary career. She admired her mother but she was inspired by her mother’s sister, Dr. Lillian Powers, a psychiatrist.
As the Victorian era came to a close in the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century dawned, there was a demographic shift in America from rural to urban – the country would soon become more mechanized. Social mores were changing as well. It became more acceptable for young ladies to pursue careers, although they weren’t welcomed as equals to their male counterparts in business and industry for years to come.
When she decided she wanted to pursue an academic career, her parents weren’t exactly thrilled, although they acquiesced when she rationalized to them that she would educate herself to become a teacher and to later care for her own children when she married. Deep down, however, Lillian hoped to avoid marriage and motherhood for awhile, if not altogether.
Lillian excelled at Berkeley, finishing at the top of her class with a degree in English. After graduating she wanted to continue her educational pursuits, but she wanted to attend school in the East, enrolling in Columbia’s Psychology Department. She had family in New York, but still her parents were concerned for her. She threw herself wholeheartedly into her studies, often skipping meals until she grew thin. When cold weather set in she became ill and had to return home to California.
Still determined to pursue a graduate education, she enrolled at Berkeley and planned to write a master’s thesis on Elizabethan literature. Having completed that degree, Lillian wanted to take a trip to Europe with friends before she began her doctoral program. Her parents would not allow here to travel un-chaperoned so one of the teachers at Oakland High School, Minnie Bunker, accompanied them. Before heading overseas, however, they made a stop in Boston to tour the city and meet Minnie’s family. There Lillian would meet her future husband, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Minnie’s nephew.
Frank Gilbreth, being extremely gregarious and extroverted, was the polar opposite of Lillian, yet they later forged not only a strong and successful relationship as husband and wife, but as business partners. After their engagement, even before marriage, they forged a partnership. Frank was in the construction business and he relied on Lillian to edit manuscripts and prepare advertising materials. During their honeymoon trip, Frank requested of her a list of qualifications she was bringing to their “partnership”. However formal and rigid that might sound, the two made it work for years to come.
Frank wanted to excel in the field of industrial management and motion study, and he spent a considerable amount of time away from home through the years of their marriage. He published several books and training materials over the year, under his name which were in actuality largely compiled and written by Lillian (while having babies, recovering from pregnancy and having yet another child soon after — thirteen in all, with eleven living to adulthood). In those times, of course, it wasn’t acceptable for women to receive recognition for achievements outside the societal norms of wife and mother.
Their business was successful, however, and Lillian added her own theories – she injected psychology, a human touch to the field of motion study and industrial management. Her profile would eventually be raised in that field, however, after Frank died suddenly in 1924, leaving her as the sole breadwinner for her large family. Although it was a struggle at times, Lillian Gilbreth more than arose to the occasion time and again over the remaining years of her long career.
When the Great Depression hit America, she was able to market herself effectively as she helped women stretch their money farther during that trying time. In 1926 she performed market research for Johnson & Johnson (sanitary napkins) and later helped improve management practices at Macy’s. She worked as an industrial engineer for General Electric, helping to re-invent and re-design the modern kitchen. Her work was thorough and meticulous as she interviewed over four thousand women to garner information regarding proper heights for stoves, sinks and other kitchen appliances and fixtures.
She designed an electric mixer, shelves for refrigerator doors and a trash can with a foot pedal and made “tweaks” and improvements on other appliances and devices. Amazingly, as skilled as she was with innovation in the kitchen, Lillian never learned to cook (for years her mother-in-law helped with household management). According to Lillian Gilbreth: Redefining Domesticity, “[P]rivately her children had referred to one of her culinary experiments as ‘Dog Vomit on toast’”.
She was known as “Mother” for several things – “Mother of the Year” (1957), “Mother of Industrial Psychology” (1954), “Mother of Modern Management” and “the greatest woman engineer in the world” (1954). She received her doctoral degree before Frank passed away and later received over twenty honorary degrees and scores of awards for her work, even though she struggled early on to make a name for herself in the male-dominated field she chose to pursue.
Lillian raised successful children and worked tirelessly for years beyond the “normal” age of retirement. At the age of eighty-seven she was still traveling in both the United States and Europe to present lectures – even though her family encouraged her to slow down she continued to work. It was only after one of her children, Martha, died of cancer at the age of fifty-nine that her health began to decline. She moved in with one of her daughters in Arizona and later to a nursing facility. She died on January 2, 1972 at the age of 93.
In the book, Lillian Gilbreth: Redefining Domesticity, the author sums up her life this way:
Lillian Gilbreth never saw womanhood as biological destiny. As she modeled a strenuous life for her children, she proved that one could balance intellectual and family life, home and work, family and career on terms of ones choosing. She raised the status of homemakers by treating them as specialized experts of important work. But she also simplified housework enough to allow women to leave the home to achieve status and economic autonomy through other endeavors. If some of her idea seemed contradictory, she was proof of their liberating force.
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Surname Saturday: Quackenbush
The Quackenbush surname has a unique distinction in American history. It is one of only a few surnames in North America which can be traced back to one single progenitor – Pieter van Quackenbosch. Records indicate that the name was primarily concentrated in a region of Holland (Leyden) and family genealogists have estimated that there were actually very few people with that name at any given point in time. One family researcher noted in The Quackenbush Family in Holland and America that the modern spelling (at least in the early 1900’s when the book was published) would be with “Kw” instead of “Qu” and even that spelling is unknown.
Records in Holland indicate that even though the family was few in number, they were established enough to serve in various civil offices. The “van” prefix didn’t necessarily imply any sort of rank as would the prefix “von” in Germany, perhaps just meaning “of” of “from”. “Quackenbosch” would be derived from “quakken”, or to croak like a frog and “bosch” would mean a bush or thicket. So perhaps the family lived in a wooded area near a pond where frogs were numerous and noisy.
The name had appeared as early as the fifteenth century and hadn’t varied one letter in spelling by the time the American progenitor immigrated in 1660, something quite unusual. Other spelling variations include: Quakenbaush, Quakenbush, Quakenbusc, Quackenbush, Quackinbush, Quackenbos, to name a few.
Highlighted below are the American progenitor, Pieter van Quackenbosch and his family and a successful inventor and industrialist born in the nineteen century, Henry Marcus Quackenbush. The reference material for Pieter’s history is taken from The Quackenbush Family of Holland and America (QFHA).
Pieter van Quackenbosch
According to QFHA, Pieter van Quackenbosch was born in approximately 1639 and a resident of the village of Oegstgeest. At the age of twelve he enrolled first in Leiden University and then in Gronigen to study theology. However, he suddenly left in 1659, perhaps to join a group immigrating to the New World.
Since he came to North America with his wife and young son, presumably he had married while still in school. In 1660 at the age of twenty-one, Pieter arrived in New York (New Netherlands) and soon after his arrival he purchased property. This alone points to the fact that he was likely from a well-established family with a higher position in society than most immigrants (many came over as indentured servants, for instance).
Records indicate that he had intentions to settle somewhere other than Peter Stuyvesant’s colony. Since he eventually started a brick business, it’s possible he was looking for a more suitable location. Albany, or Beverwyck as it was called, would fit the bill since there was an abundance of clay in that region. The Dutch were well-known for their brick making, so it may have been the most natural occupation for him to pursue upon arrival in America, according to QFHA.
Accompanying Pieter to America were his wife Maritje, his young son Reynier and apparently his sister also named Maritje. His sister married Marten Cornelisse van Beuren, and interestingly, one of their descendants, Martin Van Buren was born in 1782 and in 1837 he became the eighth President of the United States. Not long after his arrival, another son was born. The children of Pieter and Maritje were:
Reynier
Johannes
Jannetje
Neeltje
Magdalena
Annetje
Wouter
Adriaan
Pieter
Classje
By 1668 Pieter had presumably prospered enough so that he was able to purchase the brick yard he had previously occupied (rented). His wife Maritje probably died in 1682 as records indicate he paid for the use of a large pall, a heavy cloth covering a coffin or tomb.
One of the oldest buildings in Albany today, the Quackenbush House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in the 1730’s by a descendant of Pieter. I found no more specific references to brick makers, although Pieter’s son Wouter probably inherited his father’s brick making business.
Colonel Hendrick (Henry) Quackenbush
The house was the home of Revolutionary War Colonel Hendrick (Henry) Quackenbosch, the son of Pieter Quackenbosch (Jr.). Henry was born in 1737 and died in 1813. The inscription on his grave marker read, in part:
Sacred to the memory of Col. Henry Quackenbush who having lived the life, died the death of the righteous. Col. Quackenbush was with Lord Amherst at Ticonderoga and General Gates at Saratoga. “In the days that tried mens souls”.
After the war, Henry had the distinction of being one of the presidential electors.
Henry Marcus Quackenbush
Henry Marcus Quackenbush was born on April 27, 1847 in Herkimer, New York to parents Isaac and Mary Anne (Rasbach) Quackenbush. Henry was said to have been mechanically-oriented, a tinkerer. At age fourteen he began an apprenticeship with Remington Arms where he became an expert metal worker and gun maker. On October 22, 1867, he received a patent for his first invention, the extension ladder and sold the patent for $500.
In 1871, the H.M. Quackenbush Company was founded in Herkimer. His first air gun pistol patent was issued on June 6, 1871. The patent was sold to the Pope Brothers of Boston who made and sold the gun. In 1876, the company began manufacturing air rifles. In the coming years the company would mass produce “gallery guns” for carnival and arcade shooting galleries.
However, guns weren’t the only thing Henry invented. Over the years he invented various kitchen gadgets (the Quackenbush Nutcracker), scroll saw, foot-powered wood lathe, darts, stair rails, bicycles and much more.
Henry Quackenbush married Emily Wood and they had two children together: Paul Henry and Amy. When Emily died in 1895 he married Flora Franks and they had two children: Franks and Henry Marcus, Jr., who was born in 1904 and died in 1910. Henry died at the age of 86 in 1933. His company was incorporated the year following his death and during World War II, the company manufactured military supplies such as bullet cores and shell casings.
In 1979 the company merged with Utica Plating Company and transferred the marketing and distribution of their products such as the nutcracker to another company. The downsized company experienced a gradual decline and in 2005 filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors.
There is a web site dedicated to “All Things Quackenbush” if you’re interested in knowing more about this family. You will find stories, news, blogs, photographs and much more about a proud American family, all of whom descended from Pieter van Quackenbosch.
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Wild West Wednesday: Charles “Colorado Charlie” Utter
Charles H. Utter, a.k.a. “Colorado Charlie”, according to most sources was born around 1838 in New York state, near the Niagara Falls region. One individual in this past week’s Surname Saturday article, Abraham Utter, lived in New York state, so perhaps they were distantly related.
He is said to have grown up in Illinois and as a young man headed west, where he became a well- known guide, trapper and prospector in Colorado. In 1872 he was the guide who led a group of men and women up Gray’s Peak. A description of him was reported in the September 1872 Scribner’s Monthly:
Our guide is Charley Utter, who furnishes the twenty-eight saddle horses and the double wagon required by our somewhat numerous party. Dressed in his trapper-suit, Charley presents a figure well worth looking at. Buckskin coat and pantaloons–the latter ornamented with a leather fringe and two broad stripes of handsome bead-work; the former bordered with a similar fringe rimmed by a band of otter fur, and embroidered on the back and sleeves with many-colored beads, the handiwork of a Sioux squaw, and a wonderful specimen of Indian skill; vest of buckskin tanned with the hair on, and clasped with immense bear-claws instead of buttons; pistol, knife, and tomahawk in belt, the belt-buckle of Colorado silver and very large; a broad-brimmed hat and stout moccasins;–these are the externals of this famous Rocky mountain guide.
Said to be small in stature, he sported what many sources called a “dandified appearance” – extremely neat with long, flowing blond hair and a perfectly groomed moustache. One Colorado newspaper described him as a “courageous little man”. He wore handmade fringed buckskins, linen shirts and carried revolvers mounted in gold, silver and pearl. So fastidious was he about his appearance, he carried with him a mirror, combs and a whisk broom. While it was considered an oddity in the rough and tumble atmosphere of the mining camps, Charlie was said to have bathed each and every morning. According to one source, absolutely no one was allowed in his tent (not even his good friend James Butler, “Wild Bill” Hickok). Charlie met Wild Bill while working as a scout and hunter for the railroad in Kansas, according to one source.
In 1866 he met and married fifteen-year old Matilda “Tilly” Nash, daughter of an Empire baker, in Colorado. In 1870, the census enumerated them in Georgetown, Clear Creek, Colorado Territory – he was 32 years old and she 19 years old. At that time, Charlie’s occupation was listed as “livery”, with the value of both real estate and personal property listed at $7,000 each. His brother Stephen was a miner and they worked together with mining agent William Bement. Charlie also ran a delivery service to the mining camps scattered around the Georgetown area.
In 1874, referring to the Black Hills gold rush, Charlie predicted a “lallapaloozer”. In the spring of 1876, he and Stephen, led a caravan of thirty wagon trains from Georgetown to South Dakota. One source reports that the caravan included prospectors, gamblers and 180 prostitutes. In Wyoming, Charlie met up with both Wild Bill and Calamity Jane who both joined his train and continued on with him to Deadwood. Some sources believe that Madame Moustache, known to be acquainted with Calamity Jane, also joined the caravan.
The caravan arrived in Deadwood in July of 1876. Soon after their arrival, Charlie established a livery and delivery service, and soon added an express mail service between Deadwood and Cheyenne, Wyoming – charging 25 cents per letter or parcel. It has been said that Utter was considered a protector of his friend Wild Bill, protecting Hickok from himself. Hickok was known to be both an excessive drinker and gambler.
On August 2, Charlie was away on a 48-hour mail run when his friend and “pard” Wild Bill was shot and killed by Jack McCall while playing cards in the Number 10 Saloon. Charlie returned to Deadwood to claim his friend’s body. He placed a notice in the Black Hills Pioneer:
Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. B. Hickok (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter’s Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o’clock, P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend.
Charlie sent a lock of Wild Bill’s hair to his wife, Agnes Lake. Wild Bill’s wooden grave marker read:
Wild Bill, J. B. Hickok killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2d, 1876. Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter.
Scores of people came to pay their respects. Jack McCall’s trial was held at the same time as the funeral (justice was swift in those days!). Amazingly, McCall was found not guilty, but later it was discovered the trial was illegal. McCall was captured by U.S. marshals, retried and hung on March 1, 1877 in Yankton, South Dakota.
Charlie returned to Colorado the following year, but returned in 1879 to re-inter his friend’s body in the Mount Mariah Cemetery. Charlie remained in the Black Hills area and purchased the Eaves Saloon in Lead, another mining camp. He remained there for about a year, but was cited for operating without a proper liquor license. He returned to Deadwood only to lose everything in a devastating fire on September 26, 1879 which destroyed over three hundred buildings.
Again he returned to Colorado, and this time he was headed for Leadville in February of 1880. By June of that year he had moved on to Ruby City, Gunnison, Colorado where he was enumerated as a miner in the 1880 census. No mention of his wife, however (one source says that he and Tilly separated in 1880). He also spent time in Durango, Colorado and Socorro, New Mexico. In Socorro, he operated a saloon and gambling den (I wonder if he knew Syl Gamblin) and is thought to have married Minnie Fowler, a faro dealer. In 1884, he participated in Fourth of July festivities in Socorro, serving on the Grounds Committee, according to the Socorro Chieftain.
Sometime in 1888, Charlie was said to have left Socorro and went to Panama to operate a pharmacy, although historical records are hard to find. Some believe that he practiced medicine as well. A passenger list of the S.S. Turrialba notes that Charles H. Utter, druggist, sailed from Colon, Panama to New Orleans on July 21, 1910. The November 26, 1904 Socorro Chieftain verifies his residence in Panama:
Upton Lorentz, a druggist in Comfort, Texas related that the last time he saw his friend, Charlie was sitting “blind and grizzled” in front of his pharmacy in 1910. When and where Charles Utter died and was buried is unknown, however.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Lieutenant Perrin Ross
Perrin Ross was born July 4, 1748 to parents Jeremiah and Anna Paine Ross in New London, Connecticut. Jeremiah Ross was one of the Connecticut settlers who helped form the Susquehanna Company in 1753. The Company acquired two thousand acres of land in the Wyoming Valley the following year, and the area would be disputed for several years between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. In 1773 Connecticut received permission from England to settle the area regardless of the dispute. Jeremiah migrated to the Wyoming Valley in 1774.
Perrin married Mercy Otis, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Otis, date uncertain although some believe in 1768. Six children were born of their marriage: Jesse, Elizabeth, Joseph, John, Daniel, Perrin, Jr. (born after his father’s death).
Yesterday’s article on The Battle of Wyoming related the history of settlers from Connecticut populating the Wyoming Valley. Between 1769 and 1775 there were numerous clashes, an almost perpetual state of war. The conflicts were with both the Indians and Pennsylvanians who also laid claim to the area, and it’s likely that the Ross family experienced those dangers and participated in arming and defending the Valley.
On August 23, 1776, the Continental Congress established six companies to defend Pennsylvania. Two of those companies were stationed in the Wyoming Valley (Westmoreland). On August 26:
Congress proceeded to the election of sundry Officers, when Jonathan Dayton was elected Regimental Paymaster of Colonel Dayton’s Battalion; Robert Durkee and Samuel Ransom were elected Captains of the two Companies ordered to be raised in the Town of Westmoreland; James Wells and Perin Ross First Lieutenants; Ashbel Buck and Simon Spalding, Second Lieutenants, and Herman Swift and Matthew Hollomback Ensigns of the said Companies.
Some sources indicate that Perrin Ross and his companies had joined the Continental Army at some point and had fought in New Jersey. One record for application to the Iowa Sons of the Revolution, indicates that Perrin served with General Washington’s army beginning in January of 1777 and wintered at Valley Forge. According to The Massacre of Wyoming, The Acts of Congress for the Defense of the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, Captain Ransom, Captain Durkee, Lieutenant Wells and Lieutenant Ross, all from the original companies formed in 1776, were home on furlough in July of 1778.
Lieutenant Perrin Ross was killed in the Battle of Wyoming, a savage ambush and probably the bloodiest and most heinous of all Revolutionary War battles, on July 3, 1778, just one day short of his thirtieth birthday. Perrin’s brother, Jeremiah, Jr. was also killed, as was Perrin’s brother-in-law, Jonathan Otis.
Perrin’s brother, William, was the only son of the Ross family left. Several years later, William, then a general, participated in Congressional hearings about the massacre. General Ross testified of the carnage he was witness to on that day, shocking scenes of unrecognizable bodies scattered about.
Mercy Otis Ross Allen
Mercy Otis Ross Allen, according to church records, was born on June 5, 1747 in North Parish, New London, Connecticut to parents Joseph and Elizabeth (Little) Otis. She was one of fifteen children.
In a speech given by William A. Wilcox, Esq. in 1878 on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary, her escape from the Wyoming Valley following the massacre was detailed:
When the news came to go into the fort she packed the papers and clothes in a chest and her pewter platters she buried with other articles in the garden. She then took her children and went into the fort (Forty Fort) the night before the battle. When the news came to the fort that our men were defeated she would not stay in the fort. A party of thirty, one old man with a horse, the rest women and children, went out of the fort at night, crossed the river at Wilkes-Barre and went up into Solomon’s Gap that night. When they got into the woods they lay down to rest and sleep. They went on next day and were ten days getting through the wilderness. Hannah, (Ford) wife of Josiah Rogers, died on the route and was buried under the root of a fallen tree, and Mrs. Ross was so worn down with the excitement and fatigue of the journey and starved for want of food, that when the burial was over and the party was about to move on, Mrs. Ross said that she could go no further and would like to be buried alongside of the other woman. She was, however, appealed to in behalf of her children, and urged to get up and go on with the party, which she was finally induced to do. They first met the abode of civilization at Allentown and stopped at the house of the people and asked for food, but were refused.
They did not go far after this before they were taken up by the Government and furnished with provisions. She had five children with her, all of whom were about naked, so badly were their clothes torn and worn in the journey. About the first of October, three months after the battle, her last child was born in Connecticut. In March of 1782 she married Samuel Allen, with whom she moved to Wyoming to the place of her former husband, Perrin Ross, on Ross Hill, in the winter of 1784-5.
Mercy Ross, at the time of the flight from Wyoming Valley, was carrying her sixth child, Perrin, and accompanied by her other five children, according to the above narrative. Her second husband, Samuel Allen, also served as both an ensign and a lieutenant in Colonel Putnam’s regiment in Pomfret, Connecticut, where Samuel had been born. Mercy and Samuel had at least one child, Otis, born in 1787 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
Mercy died in 1824 in Luzerne County. Her tombstone says her birth year was 1745 and her name spelled “Marcy”. She and Samuel were buried in the Allen Cemetery. It seems amazing that this woman would want to go back to Wyoming Valley after the horrible massacre of Perrin, but it appears that some of her children returned there as well.
According to family history sources, Mercy’s mother Elizabeth was a descendant of Mayflower passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. John and Priscilla’s descendants include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Dan Quayle. Her father, Deacon Joseph Otis, was a first cousin of Daniel Boone.
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Surname Saturday: Utter
The surname “Utter” is of Scandinavian (Swedish) origin, a baptismal name meaning “son of Ottur”, and derived from an animal (otter). Amandus Johnson, a Swedish historian, believed it to be a distinctly Swedish name. One source indicates that the name was carried to England as a result of the Norman Invasion of 1066.
In the County of Cambridge the name Edward Oter appeared in 1273. In 1300 there is a record of Robert Oter in County Suffolk, and an Otur de Insula in Kent in the mid to late 1300’s. Listed on the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379 was Johanne Otour, and in 1766 Robert Otter married Sarah Henslowe in London. Alternate spellings of this surname include Ottur, Otter, Oter, Uter and Uttor.
Following are stories of an early American Utter and two of his descendants, one of whose family met a tragic end.
Nicholas Utter
It is estimated that Nicholas Utter was born some time between 1630 and 1637 in Sweden and immigrated to the New Sweden Colony in 1654 (in the area of present day Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania). Nicholas served as a soldier and by trade was a sword cutler and blacksmith. According to a genealogy book written in 1941 about Nicholas Utter and his descendants, it is unclear as to his movements after immigrating, but he did eventually reside in Westerly, Rhode Island.
Nicholas was made a freeman on June 13, 1698, which meant he could then own land. From 1701 to 1714 his name appeared on several land transactions, and he served as a grand juror in the General Court. In 1714 he migrated to Stonington, Connecticut where he lived until his death in 1722. His children (first wife’s name unknown) were: Jabez, Millicent, Thomas, Nicholas, Jr., William, and Sarah. It is believed that around 1670, he married a widow (Elizabeth) with a daughter named Eleanor. William and Sarah were children of his second marriage.
According to his will he was a “first day Baptist” (Seventh Day Baptist). One source suggested that perhaps he had originally been a Lutheran and converted when he moved to Rhode Island which had a large population of Baptists. He distributed various amounts of money to his children and at least one friend, and “the brethren of the first-day Baptist Church at Groton” received twenty pounds. His wife Elizabeth received a share of ten pounds per year for the remainder of her life and son Thomas received a double share for taking care of his father in his old age.
Jabez Utter
Jabez, the eldest child of Nicholas and his wife Mary had eight children, six daughters and two sons: Rebecca, Mary, Katharine, Beatrice, Elizabeth, Mehitable, Jabez, Jr. and Abraham.
According to Utter genealogy, an incident had occurred in 1715 when Mary and her daughters were forcibly removed from their home by the son of their Massachusetts landlord. Jonathan Belcher claimed that his father had changed his mind about the deed he granted Jabez, this after Jabez made improvements to the property. Jonathan gathered a “band of wild young men and a sheriff” and attacked the house where Mary and her daughters were barricaded. He went down the chimney to gain entry to the home and threw the family out in the wilderness (it was January). Jabez was absent or else he could have been there to defend his family – he was in jail for stealing a horse. He was later sued over a land dispute and earned a reputation as a “vagabond fellow” due to the fact that he was thought to be a land grabber who rarely participated in the community at large.
The Utter genealogists of 1941 concluded:
There is no doubt that most of our first families were a rough lot and the second generation may have been rougher than their fathers, having never known a gentler environment, but they must have excelled in courage and industry. And, in word at least, they were very religious.
Jabez died sometime between the date of the last deed he signed on May 25, 1727 and the death of his wife in February of 1729 or 1730.
Abraham Utter
Abraham Utter(2) was the great grandson of Nicholas through Jabez. Jabez’s son Abraham(1) had migrated and settled in Dutchess County, New York after leaving Connecticut. Abraham(1) was the father of Abraham(2). From this point I’ll refer to Abraham(2) simply as Abraham.
Abraham married Sarah and they had nine children: Moses, Lydia, Mariam, Abraham(3), James, Sarah(2), Thomas, Joanna, and Dorcas. A descendant of Abraham’s penned an article in 1860, hoping that his piece “might serve as a memento to his posterity and descendants in recalling to mind the toils and sufferings of their ancestors, enabling them more accurately to duly appreciate the blessings and safety they enjoy, which was purchased by the blood and treasury of their ancestry and left them as a rich legacy.” The two young girls mentioned (Sarah and Joanna) were his mother and aunt, respectively. A summary of that article follows.
According to the article, Abraham worked hard after entering the world with little or no means. While he lived in Dutchess County, New York, he maintained a respectable family and gave his children a “fair education”. On April 5, 1750, Abraham and his family left Dutchess County, along with ten other families, to settle in Pennsylvania. The trip, although not long, was difficult at times since roads had to be made and bridges built over streams. The family arrived at their destination, the Wyoming Valley, on the 14th of April. Abraham, his sons and his negro set about to improve the land and build a suitable dwelling. That year twelve acres were sowed with wheat.
In 1751 another thirty acres were cleared and sowed with wheat. The crops were good that year, which spurred the family to work harder. In 1752, the youngest child, Dorcas, was born and Abraham built a saw mill. In 1753 two of his daughters were married and returned to Dutchess County. In 1754 Abraham continued to prosper, building a grist mill.
In September of 1755 a band of Canada Indians took captive and massacred several inhabitants of the valley. Because the Indians attacked at different points, few had been able to escape. Abraham, however, had advance warning and was able to take his family away from the area. He sent his negro back to the house to retrieve some money he had forgotten to bring – he was scalped and horribly mutilated by the Indians. Abraham and his family were able to escape to a fort about fifteen miles from their home. Their home, barn, mills, cattle and crops were all destroyed by the Indians.
Abraham wanted to return to his home and in April of 1756 did so, finding everything he had worked so hard to build laid waste. He and his sons made repairs, built another house, cleared the land and sowed wheat. By June of the following year, they had built a dam and their mill was back in operation. That summer they harvested abundant crops.
In early September, Abraham and Moses were visiting Abraham’s brother Moses when Indians walked into his home. An employee of Abraham’s was seated at the table eating his meal and the family dog, upon seeing the Indians, bit one of them. The Indians shot the dog, and seeing Abraham’s employee sitting at the table, they grabbed him and took him outside where they scalped him. The Indians began rummaging through the house looking for food, and although Sarah and her children cowered in fear, she offered to prepare a meal for them.
The Indians took captive daughters Sarah (nine years old) and Joanna (seven years old), leading them outside to watch the scalping of their mother, two brothers (James and Thomas) and sister (Dorcas). Joanna and Sarah were taken away, Joanna being quite distraught and screaming that she wanted to be killed too. Sarah was able to calm her down, but the Indians continued down the road, killing their neighbor’s children, capturing the parents and burning down their house.
Abraham and Moses, upon returning to the valley, heard gun shots. Moses was sure their settlement was being attacked and urged caution, proposing that they wait and advance cautiously later that evening. Abraham rebuked him, thinking that the gunfire was merely celebratory – the neighbors being overjoyed for their abundant harvests. When they finally approached their house, they saw two figures in the shadows who stepped outside and let out a whoop and returned inside the house.
When they were later able to safely approach their home, they of course discovered the carnage. Some of the bodies had already been buried in shallow graves but there were also bones scattered about. Understandably, Abraham was “despondent and sunk under the weight of his misfortune and never essayed to reoccupy his former possessions.” He returned to Dutchess County and died February 10, 1779.
Meanwhile, the Indians were making their way back to Canada with thirty-three prisoners. Three men, Israel Baldwin, Jonathan Mosher and Thomas Quick, were doomed to torture and death, so great was the hatred of the Indian for the white man. With Israel Baldwin’s wife watching, the Indians took him and tied him to a stake near a fire. His flesh was stuck “full of fine splinters, dry and easy of ignition”. They then encircled him with brands of fire, taunting and tormenting Israel, and began their pow wow. After a time of mentally torturing their victim, they set fire to the splinters.
Other prisoners were stripped naked and forced to run a gauntlet while being poked with spears — they were later tomahawked and scalped. The Indians arrived at their home with their remaining prisoners. Sarah Utter was given to an elderly squaw and taught to call her “Suky” (meaning “grandmother”). Even though in general the Indians treated their prisoners cruelly, the elderly squaw treated her “adopted granddaughter” kindly. The author related an interesting tidbit about the old squaw:
Whenever the tribe went off on such incursions as above narrated, which frequently they did, this old squaw would pray to the great spirit to soften and mollify the hearts of the Indians and turn them back; she would wring her hand, apparently in great distress, exclaiming O! the poor women and children.
Joanna was given to another squaw as an adopted daughter and was also treated kindly. Sarah and Joanna only saw each other once after arriving in Canada. One had been sent to hunt for a pony and the other to hunt for a cow. Joanna saw an object in the distance and feared it might be some sort of beast or an Indian, so she hid herself. As the “object” drew nearer, she realized it was her sister Sarah. They fell into each other’s embrace, but Sarah knew they could not remain together for long. Joanna was finally persuaded by Sarah to part ways and return to her adopted “mother”. The two girls thought it unlikely they would ever see each other again and supposed that their entire family had been killed by this time.
After about twelve months of captivity, Sarah and Joanna were part of a prisoner exchange at Niagra. In September of 1758 the two were reunited and informed by a British solider of the death of their brothers Moses and Abraham. Although Moses had narrowly missed the massacre, he died soon afterwards – their brother Abraham, a British soldier, had died of dysentery and was buried at Niagra, just four days before the prisoner exchange.
There were about ninety prisoners exchanged, mostly children. On October 10, 1758 they arrived in New York and every day afterwards were paraded in the streets in hopes that someone would recognize them. Sarah and Joanna’s brother-in-law, Joseph Adams, saw their names in the newspaper and went to find them. Upon passing Sarah in the street he did not recognize her. When he passed Joanna she ran to him and cried out, “Good Lord, here is our Joe!”
Sarah and Joanna were taken to Dutchess County to live with their sisters’ families. The girls had become so accustomed to the language and habits of the Indians that they had forgotten much of their “vernacular language”, but after a time with family and friends, they were able to adjust. Sarah married at the age of twenty-four years and the author of the article, her son Thomas Pattison, was born in 1782. She died at the age of fifty, “the hate, dread and fear of the Indians continu[ing] during [her] life.” Joanna married at the age of twenty-six and lived until the age of ninety-two.
It was referred to as the “Utter Massacre” and utter it almost was, save for his four daughters. All of Abraham’s sons were gone – Thomas and James massacred, Moses dying soon after the massacre (Moses had one child) and Abraham dying just days before Sarah and Joanna arrived in Niagra. If Moses and Abraham had no sons, then Abraham’s direct male lineage ended.
Note: The book referenced above, Nicholas Utter of Westerly, Rhode Island, and a few of his descendants,
by Katharine M. Utter Waterman and George B. and Wilfred B. Utter, can be found at Hathi Trust and is available to read free online: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005773271. Also, please take note of the comment below (and my response) submitted by Cathi Gross on August 10, 2019.
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Coolidge, Montana
The Elkhorn-Coolidge Historic District is located in the northern part of Beaverhead County, Montana and south of Butte. In 1872 silver was first discovered by Preston Sheldon, and his first shipment of ore yielded 300 ounces per ton. He supposedly named the mine “Old Elkhorn” after finding a pair of elkhorns near the site. In 1874, Mike Steele discovered the Storm Claim just west of the Old Elkhorn, his ore find yielding 260 ounces per ton. Other veins were discovered and increasingly more miners arrived.
Although there was plenty of silver to be mined, operations were restricted due to a lack of affordable transportation. The process of smelting was quite expensive – first the ore was hauled by animal teams to Corrine, Utah to be loaded on railroad cars headed for San Francisco. From San Francisco the ore was loaded on ships headed to Swansea, Wales where the smelting process would take place. Even with that long and arduous process of mining, transportation and smelting, miners still managed to eke out a small profit.
In the 1880’s profitability improved with the construction of the Utah and Northern Railway to Silver Bow (Montana) which was completed at the end of 1881. In 1893, however, the silver market crashed and all mines were closed for ten years. In 1903 mining activity was revived in the area but still struggled due to problems with financing the operations.
In 1911 a former Montana Lieutenant Governor, William R. Allen, began buying claims in the area and in 1913 established the Boston-Montana Development Corporation. Allen had resigned his position as Lieutenant Governor to devote all his efforts toward the revival of silver mining in the Elkhorn District. The Boston-Montana Mining and Power Company was established to further develop the mines and to construct a mill and small railroad line. In 1914 the town of Coolidge was established, named after Allen’s friend Calvin Coolidge, he being the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts at that time and future President of the United States.
A wagon road was built but a rail line would make the task of transporting the ore much more efficient. Plans were laid out and some machinery was purchased, but financial backing was scarce with the outbreak of World War I. Construction of the railroad finally began in May of 1917 and completed in late 1919. The line was 38 miles long and ran along the Big Hole River from Divide up to Wise River and from there south to the Pioneer Mountains and into Coolidge. It was possibly the last narrow gauge railroad to be built in the country.
With the railroad operational, heavy equipment and machinery for the mill could more easily be transported. Work on the mill was begun and also a 65,000 volt power line that would stretch from Divide to the mine and Coolidge. The mill cost approximately $900,000 to complete and the power line $150,000 – at the time it was the largest mill in Montana.
The town of Coolidge sprung up alongside the mining and mill operations. Although it was named after Calvin Coolidge, he never visited the area, although some believe he may have invested in the mining operations. At first there weren’t many permanent structures and miners lived in tents. Later the town began to be populated with buildings common for “company towns” of that day. A company store sold food, supplies and equipment to the miners and a boarding house provided meals. There was a pool hall, but no saloons. However, liquor was said to be obtainable from a still outside of town.
The company offices and living quarters for the miners were also built. Electricity and telephone service were provided, but plumbing was a bit primitive with few facilities for bathing. One of William Allen’s daughters, Elizabeth Patterson, lived in Coolidge when she was young and related that residents would trek up to the mill for a shower. There were no churches in Coolidge, and probably at the peak of its existence was home to about 350 residents.
A school was established in 1918 and the post office was in operation from 1922 to 1932. In the early 1930’s the population began to decline so the school and post office closed. Most of the mining development project had been completed by 1922, and approximately five million dollars had been poured into the project. However, the financial dominoes began to fall. In 1920-1921 there was a recession and the company’s bond and note issues were starting to come due. Also it had been discovered, after all the work and money put into development, that the projections for ore to be taken out of the mine were underestimated. The company was forced to mine lower-grade ore as well but the math just didn’t add up.
In 1927 the Wise River Dam burst and flooded out several miles of track and bridges. By 1930 the repairs were completed, but by then, of course, the Great Depression was having a huge impact on the country. By 1932, much of the town of Coolidge was abandoned. In 1933 the company was reorganized and through the years changed hands several times. The Elkhorn Mines had literally cost William Allen a fortune, but he continued to try and find other investors until 1953.
The town site of Coolidge is located south of Butte and a few dilapidated buildings remain. The mill remains are not accessible, however.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Leo Leroy and Pansy Mae (Willey) Hagel – Briston, Montana
Leo Leroy and Pansy Mae (Willey) Hagel, husband and wife, are buried in the Briston Cemetery in Beaverhead County, Montana – near the area called Big Hole. They were born in different places and their families made their way to Montana in the late 1890’s for different reasons.
Leo Leroy Hagel
Leo Leroy Hagel was born on January 21, 1888 in Limestone, Peoria County, Illinois to parents Franklin Charles and Matilda (Harris) Hagel, their second oldest child of ten. Leo’s father was a Doctor of Osteopathy as noted in the Lewis County, Idaho telephone directory in 1912 and various census records. The 1900 census referred to Frank as a “Magnetic Healer” – the practice of magnetic healing being a forerunner to chiropractic medicine.
Leo’s family was of German ancestry – his paternal grandparents were born in Prussia (grandfather) and Bavaria (grandmother). The Hagel family migrated to Salmon, Idaho (eastern Idaho, near the Montana border) in approximately 1894.
In 1907, Leo made his first trek over Big Hole Pass, a Continental Divide pass crossed over by Lewis & Clarke in 1805 or 1806. On the other side of the pass was the town of Briston, where he would meet Pansy Mae Willey and marry her on November 10, 1912.
According to family history, Leo trapped “red fox, weasel, skunks, coyotes and anything else he could get a dollar out of. His favorite fur-bearer was the pine marten.” Leo lived in Gibbonsville, Lemhi County, Idaho and worked as a gold miner, perhaps with his older brother Elmer (also a gold miner), according to the 1920 census. It was unlikely that their gold mining work produced much income, however. The Gibbonsville mine, although it had produced a considerable amount of gold, was beginning to play out by the early 1900’s. After a 1907 fire, official company mining operations ceased, although sporadic mining continued for a time.
In 1930 Leo and Pansy were living in the Noble precinct of Lemhi County and Leo was a farmer. In 1940 they continued to farm in the Gibbonsville precinct, with Leo at age 52 working 72 hours per week. Pansy, alongside him, put in the same amount of hours as a “laborer”. In 1940 the census, for the first time, enumerates information regarding levels of education – Leo had a fifth grade education and Pansy and eighth grade education.
Pansy died at the age of 59 in 1952, just a month short of her 60th birthday. Leo married Ruth Frederickson Schlagel, a widow, on February 11, 1954 at the age of 66. At the time of his death on July 18, 1986, Leo was residing in North Fork, Lemhi, Idaho, but according to death records he died in Missoula, Montana.
Pansy Mae Willey Hagel
Pansy Mae Willey was born on September 30, 1892 in Glidden, Iowa to parents Thomas Henry and Sophia Butterworth Pendleton Willey. Her mother had been born in England in 1849 and immigrated to America in 1850. Both of Thomas’ parents were born in England and he was born in Wisconsin in 1849.
Thomas, a farmer and cheese maker, died on February 23, 1895, leaving Sophie with six children to care for. According to family history, some cousins in Mississippi offered to help and Pansy’s brother Asa (age 13) piloted a flatboat down the Mississippi River with the family’s livestock on board. The rest of the family joined him and they remained there for approximately four years.
Their cousin, Frank Pendleton, visited them in 1898. He had a ranch in the Big Hole Valley in Montana and convinced Asa to come for a visit. At age 18 Asa left for Big Hole and settled in Wisdom. When the rest of his family joined him in Montana, they settled in Briston, where Pansy and Leo met.
After their marriage, Leo and Pansy had a child, Arlo, who was born on June 14, 1914. Sadly, Arlo died on January 2, 1917 – perhaps a victim of the flu pandemic. Leo and Pansy never had any more children.
On August 30, 1952 Pansy died and was buried in the Briston Cemetery in Beaverhead County, Montana. Years later, in 1986, Leo was buried next to her.
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Military History Monday: The Battle of Big Hole (Montana)
In 1805, Lewis and Clark named them “Nez Perce”, which literally means “pierced nose”, except this tribe didn’t perform nose piercings – that was the Chinook tribe. The tribe’s name was actually “Nimi’puu” (Nee-Me-Poo) and meant “the people” or “we the people”. This tribe was indigenous to a vast area of land (17 million acres) which covered present day Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Rather than being one distinct tribe, this group actually consisted of various bands with somewhat different languages, managing to live together peacefully – the tribes (Shoshonis, Bannack and Blackfoot) to the south were not quite so friendly, however.
The Nez Perce acquired horses sometime in the mid-1700’s, becoming expert horseman, and by the nineteenth century were the largest owner of horses in North America. They were a nomadic tribe, moving with the seasons to fish, hunt and gather – salmon, deer, elk, berries, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, wild potatoes and carrots.
Two of the most prominent tribal leaders were Chief Joseph the Elder and Chief Joseph the Younger. The elder had taken the Christian name of “Joseph” when he converted to Christianity and was baptized at the Lapwai mission in 1838. His son was born in 1840 and given the name “Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt” or “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain”, but became known as “Joseph the Younger”.
Joseph the Elder promoted peace with the white man, signing a treaty with the United States government in 1853 which set up a large reservation spanning across Oregon and into Idaho. When the gold rush brought more white settlers, in 1863 the government took more land and relegated the tribe to an area of land in Idaho which was one-tenth the size of the original allocation. At this point, Joseph the Elder denounced the United States government, destroyed the American flag and his Bible, refused to move his people to the Wallowa Valley and refused to sign another treaty. One faction of the tribe, headed by the Head Chief Lawyer and others decided to honor the treaty, and thus the tribe was split.
When Joseph the Elder died in 1871, leadership passed to Joseph the Younger. Like his father before him, Joseph refused to cede the land originally given to the tribe in 1853. Through negotiations and debates with the federal government, Joseph elevated his stature as a statesman, however. In 1873, it appeared that his efforts had been successful in allowing his people to remain, but the government reversed itself and beginning in 1877 threats of military enforcement and engagement were circulated.
Chief Joseph began to sense that he would not succeed and decided to lead his people towards Canada. His band of warriors fought a series of skirmishes and four major battles along the way – the third was called the Battle of Big Hole. Major General John Gibbon had served in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. After the Civil War he continued to serve, but reverted to the rank of Colonel while commanding the infantry based at Fort Ellis in Montana Territory.
Colonel Gibbon received a telegram from General Oliver Howard directing him to cut off the fleeing Nez Perce. On his way to intercept and attack the Nez Perce, he was joined by forty-five citizens who believed that the Indians should be punished. Gibbon and his troops were averaging thirty to thirty-five miles per day and estimated that for every day the Nez Perce traveled, they were traveling the equivalent of two, so it was only a matter of time until they caught up to them. Along the route they gathered information – there were still at least 400 warriors and approximately 150 women and children, in addition to 2,000 horses and plenty of guns and ammunition.
When some of the citizen troops wanted to turn back to attend to affairs at home, Gibbons implored them to continue knowing that without them they would likely be outnumbered. After a promise that any horses captured would be equally divided among them, the citizens enthusiastically agreed to continue. The Colonel then sent Lieutenant James H. Bradley, who was joined by Lieutenant J.W. Jacobs, to take their troops and strike the Nez Perce camp before daylight the next day. They thought if they were able to stampede the stock the Indians would begin to disperse and victory would be certain.
However, the trail proved to be more difficult than anticipated and they were unable to reach the camp before daylight. Consequently, the Indians had broken camp and traveled on – but their journey that day was short and they again encamped at the mouth of Trail Creek. Lt. Bradley would then conceal his troops in the hills and await the arrival of the infantry. Gibbons pressed on through the day and arrived at Bradley’s camp around sundown. He was then informed by Bradley that it was likely the Nez Perce would remain at that camp for several days since the women were seen cutting and peeling lodge poles to erect shelter.
Before Colonel Gibbon’s arrival, Bradley had sent out men to ascertain the exact position of the camp and its activities. Gibbon took a nap and at 10:00 p.m. he was awakened to begin preparations for the troops to move as quickly and quietly as possible to the encampment. After five miles without detection, the troops reached an area which opened up into the valley of the Big Hole River. They could see smoldering camp fires in the distance and were able to proceed to within a few hundred yards of the quiet, sleeping camp.
The troops encountered a group of horses and Gibbon was cautioned that if they tried to move the animals out they might lose the element of surprise. If he had known there was in fact no one guarding the horses that night, the Indians would have been placed in an extremely vulnerable situation, all without the Army firing a shot. By 2:00 a.m. on the morning of August 9, 1877, the troops were within approximately 150 yards of the camp, waiting quietly in the cold for stirrings in the camp. Around 3:00 squaws came out of their tents to stoke the waning fires and then returned to their beds.
At dawn the troops began to quietly move again. An Indian had arisen and mounted his horse and headed toward the herd. As he emerged from a thicket of willows, he and his horse were shot. The standing orders were to charge the camp as soon as the first shot was fired. The troops were more than ready and the element of surprise was complete. According to The Battle of the Big Hole by George O. Shield, “squaws yelled, children screamed, dogs barked, horses neighed and snorted, and many of them broke their fetters and fled.”
Even the warriors, usually so stoical, and who always like to appear incapable of fear or excitement, were, for the time being, wild and panic-stricken like the rest. Some of them fled from the tents at first without their guns and had to return later, under a galling fire, and get them. Some of those who had presence of mind enough left to seize their weapons were too badly frightened to use them at first and stampeded, like a flock of sheep, to the brush.
The soldiers shot to kill and “[M]any an Indian was cut down at such short range that his flesh and clothing were burned by the powder from their rifles.” The Indians, however, recovered from the overwhelming surprise and began to fight back. Only twenty minutes had transpired after the first shot was fired when the troops had secured victory – orders were then given to burn the camp, but several Indians had already fled and because of the dampness of the grass from the early morning dew the destruction was not complete.
The death toll was significant for both sides – the Army had lost 29 men with 40 wounded and they counted 89 Nez Perce bodies, mostly women and children. The battle had rendered a major blow, but not a fatal one, as the Indians continued fleeing to the northeast, intent on reaching Canada and a new home.
Two months later troops led by Colonel Nelson Miles again overtook the Nez Perce, decisively defeating them at the Battle of the Bear Paw Mountains. Chief Joseph and his remaining tribe members had traveled to within 40 miles of the Canadian border when he finally gave up saying:
I am tired of fighting. My people ask me for food, and I have none to give. It is cold, and we have no blankets, no wood. My people are starving to death. Where is my little daughter? I do not know. Perhaps even now she is freezing to death. Hear me, my Chiefs, I have fought; but from where the sun now stands, Joseph will fight no more.
The Nez Perce were sent to Kansas and then to Oklahoma Indian Territory, although General Miles had promised they would be allowed to return to their country. Many years later a small band was allowed to return to the Colville Reservation in eastern Washington, however. Chief Joseph was allowed to travel to Washington, D.C. to tell his story and he gave an impassioned speech, which was published in the April 1879 issue of the North American Review:
I only ask of the Government to be treated as all other men are treated. If I cannot go to my own home, let me have a home in some country where my people will not die so fast. I would like to go to Bitter Root Valley. There my people would be healthy; where they are now they are dying. Three have died since I left my camp to come to Washington.
When I think of our condition my heart is heavy. I see men of my race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, shot down like animals.
I know that my race must change. We can not hold our own with the white men as we are. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men. If the Indian breaks the law, punish him by the law. If the white man breaks the law, punish him also.
Let me be a free man—free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself—and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.
Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike—brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us and country around us, and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land, and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers’ hands from the face of the earth. For this time the Indian race are waiting and praying. I hope that no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.
In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat has spoken for his people.
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Surname Saturday: Titcomb
Titcomb is an English surname which referred to someone who came from Tidcombe in Wiltshire. In Old English the name was “Titicome”, or someone who dwelt at a place where birds habitated. In Wiltshire, this family held a seat as “Lords of the Manor of Tidcombe”.
Early records show the name used, but without a surname: “Titicome” in 1086 and “Titecumba” in Wiltshire in 1197 and “Titecumbe” in 1242. William Tittacombe was documented in Somerset County in the 1300’s. By the mid-1400’s, the usage of surnames became more common. Other spelling variations include: Tytcomb, Tidcom, Titcum, Tidcum, Titchcume, Titchcumb, Titchcomb and Tichcomb.
Perhaps the first Titcomb to venture across the ocean to New England is highlighted below, along with one of his descendants, many of whom fought valiantly in the Revolutionary War.
William Tytcombe
William Tytcombe was born on August 6, 1618 in Wiltshire, England to parents Edward and Alice (Coleman) Tytcombe. Young William took passage on the Mary and John with a group of Puritans on March 24, 1634. However, William was one of six men who were left behind to “oversee the chattle” (cattle) which departed Southampton on April 16, 1634. Both ships arrived in late May or early June and most passengers went first to the village of Ipswich in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
A year later the group moved up the coast and founded the town of Newbury. Prior to 1640, William married Joanna Bartlett, daughter of Elder Richard Bartlett, Sr. Their first child, Sarah, was born on February 17, 1640, followed by the birth of several more children:
Hannah – January 3, 1642
Mary – February 17, 1644
Millicent – July 7, 1646 (died January 20, 1664)
William – March 18, 1648 (died June 2, 1659)
Penuel – December 16, 1650
Benaiah – June 28, 1653
Joanna died on the same day that Benaiah was born so she died in childbirth. On March 3, 1654 William married widow Elizabeth (Bitfield) Stevens. To their union were born the following children:
Elizabeth – December 12, 1654
Rebecca – April 1, 1656
Tirzah – February 21, 1658
William(2) – August 14, 1659
Thomas – October 11, 1661
Lydia – June 13, 1663
John – September 11, 1664
Ann – July 7, 1666
William fathered fifteen children, all living to full adulthood with the exception of the first William, Hannah (not mentioned in his 1676 will) and Millicent.
William was a farmer and active in the affairs of both his church and town. On June 22, 1642, he took the oath of freeman, becoming a full-fledged member of the colony. In 1646 he was a selectman, served on various town committees, a commissioner in 1655, 1658 and 1670, a deputy to the General Court in 1655, a constable in 1651, as well as serving as a juror several times.
William became embroiled in a church controversy beginning in 1645. The faction that William aligned himself with preferred to be governed by elders and a presbytery, rather than the Congregational consent and election method of governance. The controversy continued until in 1671 a trial decision determined that William, along with five others (including his brother-in-law Richard Bartlett) were “guilty of very great misdemeanors, though in different degrees, deserving of severe punishment.” William’s fine was four nobles (coins) – the leader of the opposition was fined twenty nobles.
William died on September 24, 1776. Judge Samuel Sewall noted in his diary that he died “Sabbath day, after about a fortnight’s sickness of the Fever and Ague,” and “one week thereabout lay regardless of any person and in great pain.” His will had been written six days before his death wherein he bequeathed varying amounts of money to eleven of his children. To his wife Elizabeth he left one-third of all his lands for her use and benefit until she died. The remainder of his land and holdings passed to his oldest surviving son, Penuel.
Brigadier General Jonathan Titcomb
The great grandson of William Titcomb was a prominent officer during the Revolutionary War. Jonathan Titcomb was born to Josiah and Martha (Rolf) Titcomb on September 12, 1727 – Josiah was Benaiah’s son. Jonathan was appointed a Brigadier General and “manifested great zeal and activity in his country’s cause throughout the war.” His leadership during the Battle of Rhode Island was noted by Lafayette as “the best fought battle of the war.”
In 1784 he received an appointment from General Washington as a naval officer, and was appointed again in 1790. General Washington visited Newbury in 1790 and Jonathan served as one of his escorts, as noted in Washington’s diary. No doubt, great grandfather William would have been proud.
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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