Surname Saturday: Harpending
It appears the first Harpending in America immigrated from Neuenhaus, Netherlands and his name was Gerrit Hargerinck. Gerritt arrived in America with his two sons in June of 1662 on the immigrant ship Hope. Other iterations of the surname were perhaps Harbendinck and Hargerinck and finally Harpending. At least one son of Gerrit’s, Johannes, had a son named John Harpending, so I assume that might have been the first usage of the Harpending surname. A few stories of some of the early Harpending family members follow.
John Harpending, according to “A History of American Manufactures, From 1608 to 1860″, was a “worthy citizen” who “by assiduous industry in his trade of tanner and shoemaker, had acquired a respectable fortune, and whose moral and religious character procured him the highest esteem.” Harpending, along with other businessmen and trademen, purchased a large tract of land that was later donated to the North Dutch Church.
John married Leah Cossart in 1716 and one of his children, Hendrik, was born around 1720 in either New York or Somerset, New Jersey. Hendrik followed in father John’s footsteps and excelled as a tanner and shoemaker. He married Mary Coons in 1742 and their son Peter not only served in the Revolutionary War it appears that he served directly under George Washington’s command at the Battle of Monmouth (New Jersey).
Peter was a fiery patriot – he and fellow patriots of Somerset, New Jersey were labeled “arch-traitors” by British General William Howe, according to the Baker Family history blog. Peter operated a tavern and after the Declaration of Independence had been signed, a copy of it was read in his establishment to raucous cheers. According to the Baker Family site, Peter was a member of the Bound Brook Presbyterian Church’s “Radicals” – insistent on complete freedom from tyrannical British rule. Peter lived a good and long life, dying at the age of ninety-six in 1840.
In 1839 Asbury Harpending, Jr. was born to Asbury and Ann W. (Clark) Harpending. One family ancestry blog suggests that Peter and Asbury shared a common ancestor, Gerrit Hargerinck (Peter’s grandson was named Asbury, but this doesn’t appear to be the same person, however). According to Asbury, Jr., his father was one of the largest landowners in Kentucky. Young Asbury ran away from home to join General William Walker on an expedition to Nicaragua, but in 1855 his father sent him away to California where he accumulated a small fortune in the gold mining business.
Asbury Harpending, along with another Kentuckian, sought to halt California gold shipments to the United States Treasury and did his best to convince California to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. Harpending was captured and detained at Fort Alcatraz to await trial. He was later found guilty of treason and served four months in a San Francisco jail, but in 1863 Abraham Lincoln pardoned him under the General Amnesty Act of 1863.
Asbury continued to build his gold mining business and helped found the company that sprung up as a result of what is now called The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872. He returned to Kentucky and built a $65,000 mansion to escape the embarrassing scandal. He left again in 1876 and until his death in 1923 he continued to pursue interests in California and the New York stock market.
While the early Harpending family appeared to have been upstanding, industrious and patriotic, it’s not clear that Asbury Harpending, Jr. was entirely cut from the same cloth. He was very successful but his dealings came into question when he became embroiled in the diamond hoax. John P. Young, in his book “San Francisco: A History of the Pacific Coast Metropolis” calls Harpending a “scamp”, so I’m sure he found it very difficult over the remaining years of his life to avoid his name being associated with the scandal.
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Far-Out Friday: The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872
This story, without a doubt, has to be one of the most cunning and crafty hoaxes ever perpetrated on a group of learned men which included bankers, financiers and mining engineers. It reads more like a Hollywood script than actual fact, but it’s all true and quite fascinating how it was pulled off.
In February of 1872, Philip Arnold and John Slack strolled into the Bank of California in downtown San Francisco carrying a canvas bag and purported themselves to be prospectors who wanted to deposit their treasures in the bank’s vaults. The cashier demanded to see the contents of the bag and when the bag was opened discovered hundreds of uncut diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. The bank’s founder, William Ralston, was called into check out the deposit — intrigued, he wanted to know more.
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Off the Map: Ghost Towns of the Mother Road – Bagdad, California
The story goes that this Route 66 ghost town got its name in 1883 when the Southern Pacific Railroad named the station after Baghdad, Iraq (sans the “h”) because of its similar inhospitable climate. Curiously, the railroad named two other nearby towns “Siberia” and “Klondike”. A post office was added in 1889 and at one point the town bustled with activity, boasting a telegraph office, hotels, mercantile, a school and library, and a Harvey House restaurant.
Bagdad was an important stop along the train route since Ash Hill Grade heading northwest out of the town was quite a pull for westbound trains. Water was brought in from nearby Newberry Springs daily in 20-car trains. The Bagdad stop also provided coal and fuel oil, and during the 1900-1910 mining boom it was the station used to ship out product from the Orange Blossom and War Eagle mines. At its zenith, the town of Bagdad probably had close to 600 residents.
When mining in the area played out, the town began to decline. A fire in 1918 destroyed quite a few of the wooden buildings in town. In 1923 the post office was closed and in 1937 the library closed. In the 1940’s the depot, a few homes, the now famous Bagdad Café, a gas station and some cabins for Route 66 travelers remained. Former residents of Bagdad reminisce about the good old days when the Bagdad Café was the only place for miles around to have a juke box and dance floor, so it was known to be a lively place back in the day.
Of course, the Bagdad Café was the inspiration for the 1988 movie of the same name, although the film was shot at the Sidewinder Café in Newberry Springs (there is now a Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs). Even though Bagdad had ceased to be a thriving town long before, in 1972 Interstate 40 by-passed the town altogether – even the Bagdad Café closed its doors.
These days one might find a few pieces of junk or remnants of a time long gone by – there is a cemetery but most graves are unmarked. It is said that approximately fifty Chinese railroad workers were felled by cholera, I would presume in the 1880’s. One other interesting fact about Bagdad – true to its name and reputation as being inhospitable – from October 3, 1912 to November 8, 1914, the town of Bagdad was known as the driest place ever in the United States – 767 days without a drop of rain.
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Christmas, Arizona
The first mining claim was filed in 1878 in Gila County, Arizona and another one was filed in 1882, but both were invalidated in 1884 when it was found the claims were located within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.
Enterprising miner George B. Chittenden lobbied Congress to change the reservation boundaries and on December 22, 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order reverting the land back to the public domain. Chittenden and N.H. Mellor immediately staked their claims on Christmas morning – thus the name of both the mine and the town. According to an Arizona Republic article, the two men stated, “We filled our stockings and named the place Christmas in honor of the day.”
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Feudin’ and Fightin’ Friday: Fence Cutting War (Don’t Fence Me Out)
The first use of barbed wire in Texas occurred in 1857 when immigrant John Grinninger ran homemade barbed wire along the top of fencing around his garden. The first United States Patent for barbed wire was issued in 1867.
Barbed wire began to be mass-produced after another patent was granted to Joseph Farwell Glidden of Illinois. Prime range land consisted of treeless stretches of prairie. Without significant supplies of timber to build fences, barbed wire became more popular as cattle ranchers sought effective means to control access to their land.
The XIT Ranch in the Texas Panhandle put up some six thousand miles of barbed wire and farmers would fence their grain fields as well. Sometimes the fencing crossed roads and interfered with delivery of the mail — even public land was fenced. Open range cattle ranchers became alarmed when access was cut off to prime grazing pastures and water.
The situation reached a crucial stage in 1883, a year of severe drought. News and opinion articles across the state highlighted the work of the “nippers” as they were called. According to Texas, A Modern History: Revised Edition (p. 92):
Nipping became indiscriminate and was often done secretly at night by armed groups calling themselves Owls, Javelinas, or Blue Devils. They threatened fencers and burned pastures. Three people died and damage was estimated at $20 million.
The Galveston News reported that nippers had destroyed fencing around a 700 acre property on Tehuacana Creek near Waco. A threatening note regarding a pond on private property was left behind:
You are ordered not to fence in the Jones tank, as it is a public tank and is the only water there is for stock on this range. Until people can have time to build tanks and catch water, this should not be fenced. No good man will undertake to watch this fence, for the Owls will catch him. There is no more grass on this range than the stock can eat this year.
While newspapers were vocal in their condemnation of nipping, state politicians were mostly silent on the issue. Meanwhile, however, Governor John Ireland was being urged to intervene. One of the strongest lobbyists for intervention was a woman by the name of Mabel Doss Day.
In 1881 her husband had died after his horse fell during a stampede, leaving his widow with a debt-ridden ranch. She successfully worked to put the ranch company back on solid financial ground and in 1883 her land was the largest fenced ranch in Texas. Mabel became a victim of the fence cutters and lobbied in Austin for a law to make it felonious to cut fencing. A special legislative session was called by Governor Ireland to meet on January 8, 1884 to craft a solution.
After weeks of debate, the legislature passed a bill that made the crime of fence-cutting punishable by one to five years in state prison, while the crime of burning a pasture was punishable by two to five years in prison. It became a misdemeanor to willfully and knowingly fence public lands or someone else’s property without consent. Offenders had six months to comply with the new law, and for fences that crossed public roads, gates were required every three miles.
The law apparently wasn’t necessarily popular state-wide:
And, the law didn’t necessarily solve the problem either. It appears that the crime of “nipping” continued for years (click to enlarge):
Drought years would heighten nipping activity even after the law’s passage, until in 1888 local law enforcement in Navarro County called on the Texas Rangers to intervene. Sergeant Ira Aten (who would later be instrumental in settling the Jaybird-Woodpecker War) and Jim King were dispatched to the area. Disguised, the two Rangers secured jobs picking cotton and kept their eyes and ears open, soon discovering who the cutters were. Aten placed dynamite charges along fence lines so that when the wire was cut an explosion would occur. While the Adjutant General did not approve and ordered the practice to cease, fence cutting was curbed significantly and eventually the Fence Cutting War subsided.
Route 66 Ghost Towns: Ludlow, California
Route 66 – it was called “The Mother Road” – stretching from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. The 2448-mile road opened in 1926 and wasn’t completely paved until 1937, crossing eight states and three time zones. The Dust Bowl refugees of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath traveled Route 66, songs were written about it (“Get Your Kicks on Route 66″), and a 1960’s television series was inspired by this iconic road.
Towns that had sprung up (or revived when Route 66 opened) were deserted when Route 66 began to gradually be replaced by more modern four-plus-lane highways, which became increasingly necessary as America became more prosperous and mobile. In some towns there might be a building or gas station two and maybe a handful of residents, but in many cases little else remains except perhaps shells of long abandoned buildings.
Ludlow, California
It is said that the town of Ludlow died not once but twice, although today there are still a few remaining residents. Ludlow was founded in 1882 as a water stop on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later taken over by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1897) and named after rail car repairman William B. Ludlow.
The town took off once gold was discovered in the nearby Bagdad-Chase Mine in 1900. The first samples milled from the mine yielded about $17,000 per one thousand tons of ore so mine production was stepped up. However, there wasn’t enough water at the actual mine to process the ore (Ludlow was famously short on water), so it had to be shipped out via the Ludlow-Southern Railroad, beginning in 1903. From Ludlow the ore was transferred to the mill at Barstow.
The superintendent of the Bagdad-Chase Mine declared the company town of Rochester (later named Steadman) as a “closed camp” – no women and no liquor! This gave Ludlow entrepreneurs a boost as miners came to town on Saturday night looking for entertainment. Most of the town of Ludlow was owned by the Murphy Brothers. Another entrepreneur, known as Mother Preston, owned several buildings in town, including a store, hotel, boarding house, saloon, café, pool hall and three homes. She was known to be a good businesswoman and an expert poker player – when she sold out to the Murphy Brothers, she retired to France.
When borax was discovered in the area, Francis Marion “Borax” Smith built a railroad which ran from Ludlow to Beatty, Nevada. The railroad, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, was 169 miles long. Having three railroads running through Ludlow was a boon to the town – as long as the mines were operational – but as the saying goes “nothing lasts forever.”
In 1927-1928 the Pacific Coast Borax Company began shutting down operations so the need for the T & T Railroad declined, with the coming Depression hastening its complete demise. The railroad line ceased operations in 1933 and by 1943 the tracks had been torn up. The Ludlow-Southern Railroad had ceased operations in 1916, but apparently not because gold mining 0perations ceased. According to author David Myrick (Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California), from 1880 to 1970 the Bagdad-Chase mine produced half of all the gold mined in San Bernardino County.
After the two railroad lines ceased operations, Ludlow began to decline. Ludlow was revived when Route 66 opened and for awhile it thrived again. But, when I-40 was built and the town was by-passed, Ludlow died again. Today, remains of the first and second ghost town of Ludlow still stand: a shell of the Ludlow Mercantile Company (originally Mother Preston’s and then the Murphy Brothers), railroad tracks, a neglected and deteriorating cemetery and the old Ludlow Café.
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Tombstone Tuesday: America Virginia Palmer Bell (Lake City, Colorado)
America Virginia Palmer was born on June 11, 1848 in Cass County, Missouri to parents William Henry and Jane Francis (Cowherd) Palmer. The Palmer family is enumerated on the 1850 Census with William listed as a farmer with property worth $340 with three young children (America is one year old). By the 1860 Census William’s property has increased to $5,000 and now there are eight children ranging in age from seventeen to two – America was eleven years old.
By 1870 I suspect the Palmer family had migrated to Colorado to pursue interests in silver mining, but I found no census record for them that year. In 1880 America had married (some family trees list the date of marriage as either August 15, 1871 or 1872) and was living in Crookeville, Hinsdale County, Colorado. Her husband Thaddeus P. Bell was listed as being forty-two years old and working in a silver mine. Jennie, as she was known, was thirty years old and kept house. Their daughter, baby Jennie, was listed as one month old(?). Baby Jennie, according to her gravestone died in 1879:
Another daughter, Mary Wilina, was born on August 27, 1880. On January 16, 1885 another child, Charles Jasper Bell, was born to Jennie and Thaddeus. On June 1, 1885 the Colorado State Census was taken and Thaddeus (T.P.) was still employed as a miner and Jennie keeping house. The couple has two young children: Mary W. who is listed as three years of age (should be five) and Charles J. who is four months old.
Jennie passed away on March 29, 1891 in Lake City, Hinsdale County, Colorado. The cause of death is not specifically known but a good guess would be influenza. About that time a wave of influenza was sweeping through the country and around the world. Other than Baby Jennie, there are no other family members buried in the Old Cemetery in Lake City, Hinsdale County, Colorado. It appears that her young children were sent back to Missouri to be raised and cared for by her parents (Jennie’s parents had relocated back to Missouri at some point). In the 1900 United States Census Jennie’s father William is listed as being seventy-six years old and living with him are Mary W. Bell age eighteen and Charles J. Bell age fifteen. I was not able to locate a 1900 census record for Thaddeus, although I found a United States Military Pension record — he was still living in Colorado and listed as “invalid” in 1902:
On October 6, 1908 Thaddeus died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the Veterans Home in Leavenworth, Kansas. This is a very interesting record, however. Thaddeus, who had been born in North Carolina, was sixty-nine years old at the time of his death. His body was shipped to his son C.J. Bell of Blue Springs, Missouri. According to a biography of Charles Jasper Bell, he graduated from the Kansas City (Missouri) School of Law in 1913 so it is likely that Charles was a student at the time. More on Charles a bit later… stay tuned.
The most interesting part about Thaddeus’ military record (click photo above to enlarge) is this — Thaddeus was present at the Sand Creek Massacre (see this recent blog article), serving in the 3rd Colorado Cavalry under Colonel John Chivington. On the Veterans Home record there is an notation regarding his time and place of discharge – December 30, 1864 in Denver and listed as “asst surgeon”. This is particularly intriguing because I believe this is the gravestone of Thaddeus Bell in Blue Springs Cemetery, Blue Springs, Missouri. It matches the information listed on the Veterans Home record.
Regarding the Sand Creek Massacre, Thaddeus was called to testify and he recounted some gruesome details:
At one point in the testimony (not shown above) there is a reference to more specificallly “Dr. Thaddeus P. Bell”. I did find a record in the Directory of Deceased American Physicians, his specialty listed as “allopath”, often called “heroic medicine” (bloodletting, for instance) in the 19th century.
Maybe after leaving the military Thaddeus decided to head back to the mountains, become a silver miner, find a wife and start a family, leaving those gruesome memories behind. Why he stayed in Colorado after his wife’s death and why he sent his children away to be raised by her family is a mystery. But it does appear that he kept in contact with his children all those years since Charles was to receive his body for burial.
Now a little more about Charles Jasper Bell. After graduating from law school in 1913, he started his own practice. On September 12, 1918 Charles registered for the World War I draft and listed his occupation as attorney and his wife Grace was his nearest relative. From 1926 to 1930 Charles served as a member of the Kansas City, Missouri City Council. In 1931 he began serving as a circuit judge until 1934 when he resigned to run for Congress. He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-Fourth Congress and served six consecutive terms (1935-1949) before returning to his law practice. He died on January 21, 1978 and is buried in the same cemetery as his father in Blue Springs, Missouri.
It appears that Mary Wilina Bell (known as “Willie”) never married — she is buried in the same cemetery as her father and brother:
So, I didn’t find a lot of specific information on Jennie (her given name “America Virginia” initially caught my eye) but found some very interesting stories about her husband and children — remember I just picked her randomly without knowing about these additional facts. I wonder if she could have ever imagined that her son would grow up to be a United States Congressman, serving with a future President (Harry S. Truman) in the Missouri delegation of Representatives and Senators?
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Mothers of Invention: Mary Anderson (Windshield Wiper)
Wintry and snowy weather is upon us early this year and one of the most essential devices in our cars is the windshield wiper. Alabama-born Mary Anderson was visiting New York City in 1902. The weather was sloppy and wet and trolley car drivers had to keep the windshield down, letting the cold and blustery weather in to the discomfort of driver and passengers alike.
She wondered if there might be a solution and began to sketch a design while still on the trolley. She returned home and after several attempts finally came up with a workable device – the wiper arms were made of wood and rubber attached to a lever near the steering wheel of the vehicle. Pulling the lever would move the arm back and forth in a fan shape and clear away rain or snow.
On November 10, 1903 Mary was granted a 17-year patent for a “window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window” – Patent No. 743,801:
Mary attempted to sell the device to a Canadian manufacturer but was rejected – to them the device had no marketable value. In 1913, however, mechanical windshield wipers were included as standard equipment on all cars, but Mary Anderson never received any monetary compensation for her invention. In 1917 another woman, Charlotte Bridgewood, received a patent for the “Electric Storm Windshield Cleaner,” a device which used rollers instead of blades. Curiously, Charlotte’s daughter Florence Lawrence invented the turn signal. Charlotte, like Mary, never received any compensation for her invention.
Mary Anderson was born in 1866 on Burton Hill Plantation in Greene County, Alabama. Mary moved to Birmingham in 1889 with her mother and sister, and Mary and her widowed mother built the Fairmont Apartment Building soon after arriving in Birmingham. From 1893 to 1898, Mary lived in Fresno, California and operated a cattle ranch and vineyard. Mary Anderson remained single her entire life and died on June 27, 1953 at her summer home in Tennessee at the age of 87.
Interesting Update: This Fox News story mentions that the windshield wiper, invented in 1903, may become obsolete.
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Surname Saturday: Sparhawk
The surname “Sparhawk” is derived from the Middle English name “Sparhauk” or “Sparrowhawk” which was derived from the Old English name of “Spearheafoc”. The name is also thought to have been a nickname for someone resembling a sparrow-hawk.
The Sparhawk family is one of the oldest and well-known in New England. Lewis Sparhawk, born in Dedham, Essex, England in approximately 1530, is the first English ancestor who can be connected to the American branch of the family line. Church records show that Lewis Sparhawk married Elizabeth Bayning in Dedham on February 17, 1560. Their children were named: Patience, Nathaniel, Daniel, Clement and Samuel. I noticed that the names “Samuel” and “Nathaniel” are common as the ancestral line progresses.
Samuel, son of Lewis, was born in Dedham in approximately 1565. His children were named: Daniel, John, Lewis, Nathaniel, Mary, Benjamin and Clement. Nathaniel, the fourth child of Samuel’s, was baptized on February 16, 1598 and the spelling variations surrounding the record of that event were: “Sparhawke”, “Sparhauk”, “Sparhauke”, “Sparohauke”, “Sparrowhauke” and “Sparrow Hawke”. Nathaniel(1) was the first Sparhawk emigrant ancestor of the American Sparhawk line.
Nathaniel(1) arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts sometime in 1636 and was admitted as a freeman there on May 23, 1639.
To be admitted as a freeman had nothing to do with servitude in early colonial days, but simply that the person was then a full citizen and had the right to hold public office and participate fully in civic affairs, including payment of taxes. Qualifications included:
Swear allegiance to the Crown
Be a male at least 21 years of age
Church membership
Own personal property valued at least £40
Possess a quiet and peaceable demeanor
Be endorsed by fellow freemen
The Freeman’s Oath (in Modern English):
I ________being by gods providence, an Inhabitant, and Freeman, within the Jurisdiction of this Commonwealth; do freely acknowledge myself to be subject to the Government thereof: And therefore do here swear by the great and dreadful Name of the Ever-living God, that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and support there unto, with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound; and will also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all the liberties and privileges thereof, submitting myself to the wholesome Laws and Orders made and established by the same. And further, that I will not plot or practice any evil against it, or consent to any that shall so do; but will timely discover and reveal the same to lawful Authority now here established, for the speedy preventing thereof.
Moreover, I do solemnly bind myself in the sight of God, that when I shall be called to give my voice touching any such matter of this State, in which Freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to the public weal of the body, So help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nathaniel(1) became a leading citizen of Cambridge and a deacon in his church. In 1642 records show he possessed five houses and five hundred acres of land (by his death he owned at least one thousand acres). In 1639 he was granted permission to sell wine and strong water. His first wife, Mary, died in 1643 or 1644 and Nathaniel(1) married Katherine ?. Nathaniel(1) died on June 28, 1647 at the age of fifty years; his wife Katherine died a week later on July 5. His oldest child, Nathaniel(2), was born in Dedham in approximately 1630 so he was possibly six years old when he arrived in Cambridge with his family.
Nathaniel(2) was also a distinguished citizen of Cambridge, serving as selectman for nine years, and as a deacon in his church. He married Patience Newman on October 3, 1649, she being the daughter of Reverend Samuel Newman (author of the Newman Concordance). Nathaniel(2) and Patience had seven children, two of them named “Nathaniel” – Nathaniel(3) died as a very young infant and Nathaniel(3a) was baptized on November 3, 1667. The other children born to them were: Mary, Sybil, Esther, Samuel and John (the subject of this week’s Tombstone Tuesday article).
Continuing where I left off Tuesday with Reverend John(1) Sparhawk, he and his wife Priscilla had two sons: John(2) and Nathaniel who were young children at the time of their father’s death in 1718. John(2) graduated from Harvard University in 1731 and became pastor of a church in Salem, Massachusetts. John, like his father, died in his forties on April 30, 1755.
John(1)’s youngest son, Nathaniel, was born on March 27, 1715 and later became a successful businessman in Boston. In the social circles in which Nathaniel moved, he met his future wife, Elizabeth Pepperell who was the only daughter of Colonel William Pepperell (later Sir William) of Kittery, Maine. Colonel Pepperell sent away to London for his daughter’s dress, the ceremony was held in Kittery and he gave the newlyweds a new home. Nathaniel’s brother John had this to say about his younger brother’s marriage (click to enlarge):
Nathaniel opened a mercantile house in Kittery but also continued pursuing his business interests in Massachusetts. In Kittery, Nathaniel participated in civic affairs, becoming a justice of the peace in 1744-45 and in 1746 he represented the town of Kittery in the General Court of Massachusetts Bay. Later his father-in-law was promoted to general and received the title of Sir William Pepperell, traveling to London to meet with King George II in 1749. Nathaniel, by this time, had also taken on the position of special justice in York and had turned over his business interests to a clerk. He had also received a commission and served as a colonel in the militia.
The French war was costly and taxes had been raised (as high as two-thirds of income), and in 1758 Nathaniel was bankrupt and experienced financial embarrassment. As a result of Sir William’s death in 1759 Nathaniel was appointed to fill the vacancy of justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for York County, an office Nathaniel served in until 1772. Nathaniel died in Kittery on December 21, 1776, intestate.
Nathaniel and Elizabeth had seven children, two of them dying young. The first child, William Pepperell died young, followed by Nathaniel, another William Pepperell, John (died young), Andrew Pepperell, Samuel Hirst and Mary Pepperell. Sir William requested in his will that upon his death his grandson William Pepperell Sparhawk take his name “William Pepperell” and leave the name of Sparhawk (click to enlarge):
Thus in October 1774, William Pepperell Sparhawk assumed his grandfather’s name and title (Sir William Pepperell, Baronet). However, he soon fell into disfavor over disagreements with fellow colonists who were then beginning to contemplate breaking away from England (William considered himself a Royalist). To avoid conflict, William sailed to England (his wife died on the voyage) and was well received, later becoming one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society. However, in 1778, back in America, he was officially banished. He died in London in December 1816.
This is just one fascinating branch of the Sparhawk family tree. Sparhawks continued to immigrate to America from England, settling throughout the colonies and beyond. By 1920 the Sparhawk name was most prevalent in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, with five to eight percent of recorded family names in Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Washoe, Montana
The land in Carbon County, Montana which eventually grew into this company mining town was purchased in 1903 by Fred and Annie Bartels. Carbon County had been created out of portions of Park and Yellowstone Counties in 1895, and so named for the rich coal deposits in the area.
In 1906 the Anaconda Copper Company purchased the land which was situated at the foot of the Beartooth Mountains near the headwaters of the Bearcreek river. Although I couldn’t locate an exact map location of Washoe, I assume it lies somewhere between Bearcreek (town) and Red Lodge.
Anaconda Copper Mining Company and its subsidiary, Washoe Coal Company, developed the land into a company mining town, presumably to provide coal to the Anaconda mining operations in Anaconda and Butte. The name “Washoe” was a Nevada Indian tribal name and even today that name is seen on buildings and landmarks in Anaconda. In 1907 a post office was built and residents of Washoe (approximately 950), nearby Smith Mine and Scotch Coulee received mail in Washoe. Daily shipments of twelve hundred tons of coal left Washoe via the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Washoe was no different than most company mining towns – a company store, community hall and company housing were built. The first school was held in 1907 in one of the houses on Company Row and later a two-story school building was built near the company store with eight rooms, bell tower, playground and outhouses. The school burned down and classes were again held on Company Row until a new brick building replaced it in 1924. The school closed in 1955 and is now a private residence.
Other buildings in the town included a church, teacherage, boarding houses, and train depot. Even though residents did not own the land they still built their own homes. The Women’s Club of Washoe purchased one of the homes for club meetings and it was also used for Sunday school and regular church services when a minister was available.
By 1936 the town began to decline because Anaconda no longer required coal for their smelting operations (in 1912 the Montana Power Company had been established in Butte — electricity was less expensive). On February 27, 1943, the worst mining disaster in Montana history occurred at the nearby Smith Mine #3, operated by the Montana Coal and Iron Company. That day was a Saturday and there were only 77 men working the mine that day – being paid time and a half for weekend work. World War II dominated the world news and miners who had in recent years experienced the Great Depression were eager to work and contribute to the war effort.
According to Matt Stump of Montana State University Billings (Billings Gazette – February 26, 2013), the miners were quite patriotic. While doing research for his senior thesis, he discovered records indicating that one miner, a native of Austria, increased his bi-weekly purchase of war bonds from $75 to $132. The crew had just over an hour and half earlier descended approximately seven thousand feet underground to begin work.
No one is sure exactly what caused the explosion but it was likely due to an unusually high buildup of methane gas. The explosion was powerful enough to blow a 20-ton locomotive off the tracks, although the site of the explosion was so deep it wasn’t detected at the mine entrance. Smoke began pouring from the entrance and sirens sounded, bringing both family members and emergency crews to the site.
The Bureau of Mines reported that 30 miners were killed instantly in the explosion and the rest died later as a result of injuries or suffocation from carbon monoxide and methane fumes. Rescue efforts began immediately as telephone line was strung down the mine shaft to enable communications with crews on the surface. While some family members remained hopeful of their loved ones being rescued, it soon became apparent that would not be possible. On March 7 the last body was removed – mine foreman Elmer Price aged 53, who left behind a widow and five children.
According to the Billings Gazette, a few miners lived long enough to scribble farewell messages to their families:
“Goodbye wifes and daughters. We died an easy death. Love from us both. Be good.”
“We try to do our best but couldn’t get out.”
“It’s five minutes pass 11 o’clock. Dear Agnes and children I am sorry we had to go this way — God bless you all.”
There were 58 widows and 125 fatherless children left behind. Many miners were buried in the Bearcreek cemetery.
Coupled with the devastating explosion and the eventual cessation of railroad operations in 1953, coal mining was no longer a viable enterprise. A few residents still live in the area – the Washoe Quilt Shop web site indicates when everyone is home there are 21 residents. Nearby, Smith and Scotch Coulee mine buildings remain standing, albeit dilapidated, while the Washoe mine buildings were long ago torn down and the land reclaimed. The area is located between Belfry and Red Lodge on Highway 308.
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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