Tombstone Tuesday: Reverend John Sparhawk – Bristol, Rhode Island
“Here lyeth interred the body of the Reverend Mr. John Sparhawk minister of this place 23 years last past and dyed the 29th of April, 1718 in the 46th year of his age.”
This is the epitaph of Reverend John Sparhawk, buried at the Congregational Cemetery in Bristol, Bristol County, Rhode Island.
According to his biography in Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University: In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Volume 3, John Sparhawk was born in â1673?â (most sources believe his birth year was either 1672 or 1673) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Johnâs parents were Nathaniel and Patience Sparhawk. Patience was the daughter of Reverend Samuel Newman of Rehoboth, who was also the author of the Newman Concordance. Because the following information is an important part of John Sparhawkâs heritage, I want to elaborate a bit on his grandfatherâs life and accomplishments before continuing with Johnâs story.
Samuel Newman was born in May of 1602 in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. One note of interest â Samuelâs parents were Richard Newman and Susan Sparhawk Newman. At age 16 he entered Oxford and graduated with honors from Trinity College in 1620. He was then ordained to serve in the Church of England, but was later prosecuted for non-conformity. In 1636, Samuel and his wife Sibbell (Featly) immigrated to Massachusetts with their children, arriving in Dorcester and later settling in Bristol.
In 1644, Newman traveled with several of his parishioners to found the town of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Newman was said to be a remarkable man. Reverend Richard Mather said of Newman, âHe loved his church as if it had been his family, and taught his family as if it had been his church.â According to Mather, Newmanâs Concordance was prepared in the wilderness and âproperly called a Herculean laborâ. The first edition was published in London in 1643 and after moving to Rehoboth Newman worked to improve it before the revised edition was printed in 1650.
Johnâs father, Nathaniel Sparhawk, was a man of wealth and a deacon in the Cambridge church, as well as a town Selectman. After all his debts were settled, Nathaniel left an estate of ÂŁ700, careful to provide for his wife and son John. He provided the following in case Patience remarried after his death (The Genealogical Magazine: 1907 – New England):
It appears that John was well thought of by his father and thus well provided for. John graduated from Harvard in 1689, receiving a Master of Arts degree. According to The Genealogical Magazine, â[H]is part at graduation was the negation of the proposition âAn Bona Intentio sufficiat ad Bonitatem Actionisâ.â His fellow classmates went on to become merchants, ministers, a military commander and a judge.
John was invited to preach at Bristol, Rhode Island, a town of prominent and wealthy families, on October 6, 1693. The first offering he received on October 8 was ÂŁ1 2s (one pound, two shillings). On September 19, 1694 records show that the congregation:
Voted, that for the love & honor we bear to the Rev. John Sparhawk, & in hopes of his speedy settlement among us, we do hereby promise to pay him by weekly contribution or otherwise the sum of ÂŁ70 per annum whilst he remains a single man, & ÂŁ80 per annum when he comes to keep a family. (Biographical Sketches…, p. 421)
By the laying on of hands of the presbytery (pastors of neighboring churches), John Sparhawk was ordained the pastor on June 12, 1695 and remained there until his death in 1718. Several sources indicate that during Johnâs life he did not enjoy robust health (and perhaps thatâs why his father made special mention of provision for him in his will). Another minister noted in 1717 that âMr. Sparhawk preaches now but seldom.â On July 16, 1717 a committee had been chosen to provide assistance to carry on public worship for the period of three months.
His obituary was full of praise for a steadfast and faithful man:
John Sparhawk had been married two or three times and his wife at the time of his death, Priscilla, survived him by several years. John had at least two sons: John and Nathaniel Sparhawk. According to Abstracts of Bristol County, Massachusetts probate records (Genealogical Publishing Company, 1987), p. 4:
Will of John Sparhawk, Minister of the Gospell in Bristol, “being Sick & very Weak”, dated 28 Apr 1718, probated 15 Mar 1726/27, mentions wife Priscilla [executrix] and 2 sons John & Nathaniel Sparhawk [both under 21].
Priscilla remarried (Jonathan Waldo) and lived until 1755. She died near the home of her son, Nathaniel, in Kittery, Maine.
It is apparent that John Sparhawk had a rich spiritual heritage (and an interesting surname). This Saturday I will begin a new series of articles called âSurname Saturdayâ (I should note the name is not original as Iâve recently found other genealogy and history blogs who write under the same title on Saturdays). So, this Saturdayâs article will be a continuation of the story of the Sparhawk family — and maybe some more on Samuel Newman since his mother was also a Sparhawk.
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Home Remedies and Quack Cures (and a “Royal Touch”): Curing Consumption
Itâs known by various names â most commonly tuberculosis, but at times throughout history referred to as:Â Â âconsumptionâ because the patient experienced severe weight loss and was almost literally âconsumedâ with the disease; phthisis (derived from Latin-Greek phthinein meaning to waste away); scrofula or Pottâs disease; White Plague (making patients appear pale).
Evidence of tuberculosis has been found in both human and animal remains known to be between 15,000 to 20,000 years old. Egyptian mummies were infected with the bacterium and Hippocrates identified âphthisisâ as one of the most widespread diseases of his time, observing that autumn was a particularly bad time of the year for persons with consumption.
Tuberculosis in the Middle Ages was known as âscrofulaâ which affected the lymph nodes. Alternatively it was known as âkingâs evilâ because it was thought to be curable by the touch of royalty. In King Henry VIIâs time, the diseased were given amulets or charms to wear that had been âtouchedâ by the King. Charles II may have touched as many as 90,000 victims between 1660 and 1682. By 1712 the practice had declined in England but continued in France until around 1830.
In eighteenth century Europe the disease killed 900 out of every 100,000 persons. Contributing factors were poor sanitation, malnutrition and overcrowded conditions. During this epidemic the disease became known as the âWhite Plagueâ. By the next century, it was discovered that the disease was communicable so the idea of isolating patients came about through the use of âsanatoriumsâ. The first sanatorium was founded in the United States in 1884 by Edward Livingston Trudeau.
In isolating patients from society, a sanatorium provided rest, improved nutrition and the chance to recover. These institutions were most widely used before the discovery of either vaccines or antibiotics to treat the disease. Locations in the dry and arid American West were among the most popular because it was thought that drier air was more helpful for the patient than the more humid climes in other parts of the country.
For the wealthy, sanatoriums were set up to run more like what we call a âspaâ today. Arizona, and specifically Tucson, was the most popular location â boasting twelve such hotel-like facilities by the early 1900’s. At one point there were so many people who had come to Arizona that tent cities sprang up to house the sick â many sleeping in the open desert. One such location was near what is now central Phoenix, called Sunnyslope, where tents were pitched along the mountainside north of the city.
Quack Cures
Before a vaccine and antibiotic treatments were discovered or widely used, however, there was widespread use of so-called consumption cures or nostrums, or as I like to call them âquack curesâ. Given the seriousness of the disease and its characteristic weakening and wasting of a patient, these so-called âmiracle treatmentsâ came to be seen as cruel in their promises to cure the diseased.
One such cure extensively advertised was âAddilineâ and typically the ad would have a picture of a person when they were ill and before taking Addiline, one after taking Addiline and one taken as âlatest photoâ. Another version of the ad heralded âI CURED MYSELF OF TUBERCULOSISâ â and, of course, it was only available by mail order.
According to the Journal of the Outdoor Life, The Anti-Tuberculosis Magazine (December 1920), the usage of Addiline was compared to the foolishness of a child thinking he could catch a bird by putting salt on its tail (Putting Salt on the Germâs Tail, by Philip P. Jacobs, PhD). Addiline was purported to act as a germicide, in effect overcoming the germs (bacilli). From the Addiline booklet:
Addiline3A laboratory affiliated with the Journal conducted an analysis of Addiline and found it to be comprised of âpetroleum oil with a certain amount of pine oil or oil of thyme, possible a mixture of several essential oilsâ. A leading tuberculosis researcher made the following observation:
The effect of these oils on tuberculosis would of course be fatal . . . In fact it is a great deal like the Frenchman and the flea powder: if you can catch the flea and put the powder on him, you can certainly commit homicide! The same thing might happen to the tubercle bacillus if he should happen to fall into this Addiline oil.
The Ohio State Board of Health did its own analysis and found it to contain petroleum and turpentine oil which essentially cost about 35 cents, but sold for $5.00 â what a profit margin! The Journal referred to Addilineâs composition as nothing more than Russian oil â a common remedy for constipation âor for other diseases that need a powerful and steady cleanser of the bowelsâ.
The accompanying booklet advised that often after taking Addiline one would experience belching â but not to worry because that was actually beneficial, you see, because that brought the remedy (via vapors) up into the lungs to directly attack the tuberculosis germs! It was the opinion of the Journal that there was no physical possibility for that sort of benefit to be derived. In their opinion, â[L]ong before any such germicidal effect would be experienced, the patient would be in condition for the undertaker.â
The guarantee issued by the Addiline Medicine Company claimed that upon receipt of $5.00 they would send a four-week âtrial treatmentâ. If at the end of four weeks the patient would sign a statement saying no benefit was derived from faithfully following the directions (the company also suggested that the patient follow the practice of good nutrition, adequate rest, etc.), then a refund would be issued. The Journal article pointed out that it was an established fact that tuberculosis patients who were given a so-called cure and strongly believing it to be a cure, would most certainly feel better (psychologically) after taking the treatment.
An experiment had been conducted in New York where tuberculosis patients were intravenously administered a âcureâ which really was just milk and water. And lo and behold many patients seemed to recover almost immediately â less coughing and reduced fevers. Eventually organizations like the National Vigilance Committee of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World began to address the issue of fake advertising in order to give a better impression of advertising as being good and useful for the general public. An analysis done by chemists affiliated with the organization had their own (humorous) conclusion in regards to Addiline: â[I]t would make a better furniture polish than tuberculosis remedyâ.
Legitimate Cures
By the end of World War II major medical advances to treat the disease were made when a vaccine known as âBCGâ came to be more widely used. In 1944 scientists discovered that streptomycin could be effectively used to treat tuberculosis. In the years following other treatments were developed which led to a significant decline of the disease until the 1980’s when the disease began to experience a resurgence. Contributing to that resurgence was the emergence of HIV and drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis.
Thank goodness modern medicine has better tools today to deal with the disease than a quack cure from the early twentieth century that would have made a âbetter furniture polish than tuberculosis remedyâ.
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Feudin’ and Fightin’ Friday: Graham-Tewksbury Feud (Bovine vs. Ovine)
This range war conducted in the 1880s, sometimes called The Pleasant Valley War or Tonto Basin Feud, was anything but pleasant.  It turned out to be one of the more bloody and vicious feuds in American history, certainly in Arizona history. So fierce and violent was this feud that Zane Grey memorialized it in his book âTo the Last Manâ.
The feud pitted the Graham family (joined by the Blevins family) against the Tewksbury family â the Grahams were cattlemen and the Tewksburys were cattlemen who supported the sheepherders. The Tewksbury family worked as sheepherders for the Dagg Brothers who owned a large sheep ranch. As early as 1882 tensions began to arise over grazing and water rights and property boundaries, continuing for several years. Some of the conflict was fueled by personal distaste for the other side â the Tewksburys were half Indian. Plus, cattlemen just didnât like sheepherders.
The feud pitted the Graham family (joined by the Blevins family) against the Tewksbury family â the Grahams were cattlemen and the Tewksburys were cattlemen who supported the sheepherders. The Tewksbury family worked as sheepherders for the Dagg Brothers who owned a large sheep ranch. As early as 1882 tensions began to arise over grazing and water rights and property boundaries, continuing for several years. Some of the conflict was fueled by personal distaste for the other side â the Tewksburys were half Indian. Plus, cattlemen just didnât like sheepherders.
In the 1880s cattle rustling had become a huge problem in the area known as Tonto Basin, and the Graham and Blevins families were suspects. One of the first disputes arose when cattle belonging to James Stinson were stolen. As tensions escalated, the Tewksburys began to side with the sheepherders and protect the Dagg Brothersâ sheep. The conflict wasnât just between the Grahams and Tewksburys â other ranchers had similar issues with sheep grazing on grassland meant for their cattle, so the entire valley eventually became involved. The deadly part, though, was between the Grahams and Tewksburys.
In February of 1887 a Navajo man who was employed by the Tewksburys was killed while herding sheep in an area known as Mogollon Rim â very close to the area where sheep were not supposed to be grazing. Tom Graham shot and killed the man and destroyed the herd of sheep. The bloody part of the war had begun.
Later that year in August, William Graham was shot and killed at his home, living long enough to identify Ed Tewksbury as his killer. Ed had already fled into the hills, but a trial was held despite his absence â even so the jury found him guilty. Just a few weeks later in September, John Tewksbury and William Jacobs were gunned down by the Grahams in front of one of their cabins. The Grahams remained and continued firing at the cabin for hours, stopping only when Johnâs wife came out with a shovel to bury the dead.
The Blevins family were drawn into the spotlight when Andy Blevins bragged around the town of Holbrook that he had killed Tewksbury and Jacobs. Holbrook Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens already had a warrant for Blevinsâ arrest for cattle rustling so it seemed like a good time to go ahead and bring him in. On September 4, the Sheriff attempted to arrest Andy Blevins but Andy refused to interrupt his Sunday dinner. Andyâs half-brother John opened the door and took a few shots at the Sheriff, who immediately returned fire, hitting John and Andy both.
Fifteen year-old Sam Blevins shot at the Sheriff, as did Mose Roberts who was a Blevins family friend. The Sheriff escaped unscathed, but Andy and Sam Blevins and Mose Roberts were dead, while John Blevins was wounded. The gunfight made Sheriff Owens a legend, but it didnât save his job â the county later fired him.
Commodore Perry-275Another sheriff and his posse soon caught up with Tom and John Graham and Charles Blevins in Prescott. Sheriff Mulverson demanded the trio surrender but instead a gunfight ensued â when it was over John Graham and Charles Blevins lay dead and Tom Graham escaped. Murders and lynchings continued, none of them ever solved.
The feud finally came to an end when Tom Graham was shot in Tempe â before dying he identified the shooter as Ed Tewksbury. Ed was arrested and tried twice â the first trial resulted in a hung jury. In the second trial he was convicted but because of some legal technicality the verdict was deferred, and in 1895 the case was dismissed. So, Ed Tewksbury was the last man standing and he got way with murder not just once, but twice. I found a couple of stories about Ed tangling with bears and lions â if true, he was one tough hombre:
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Bara-Hack, Connecticut
Obadiah Higginbotham and Jonathan Randall and their families moved from Cranston , Rhode Island to the land situated on the outskirts of Pomfret, Connecticut in an area called âRagged Hillsâ. Obadiah and Jonathan were both of Welsh descent and named their settlement âBara-Hackâ which meant âbreaking of breadâ. One source suggested that their migration occurred at a time when the British were battling along the Rhode Island coast. The story goes that Obadiah was a deserter from the British Army, so he may have been stationed in Cranston and met his wife Dorcas there.
It is believed the Higginbothams moved to Connecticut sometime before 1780, as did the Randall family. There may also have been some sort of familial connection between the two families because there is a Randall-Botham Cemetery in Pomfret. At least two of their daughters and Dorcas are buried there â Phebe died at age 19 and Rhoda at age 30. Dorcas died at the age of 100.
According to Early Homesteads of Pomfret and Hampton, the Randall family was quite well-to-do and had many slaves whom they brought with them to Connecticut. Some of the slaves are said to have been buried in the family burial grounds (Find-A-Grave only lists nine interments but perhaps many of the graves are unmarked or have never been enumerated. I wish more had been listed and photographed though.). The slaves believed that ghosts sat in an elm tree near the cemetery at night, so they would never venture out after dark.
Obadiah soon built a cabin on a bluff above the stone bridge he also built. According to Early Homesteads:
The walls and cellar of this house show the finest workmanship. There was a great stone chimney in the center, which the elements have never disturbed. Near the broad south doorstone remains the old well and leach stone where the ash barrel stood, for leaching the lye Dorcas used in making her soft soap. The fields he cleared and cultivated lie open upon the sunny hill.
Obadiah built a waterwheel and small mill along Nightengale Brook where he and Jonathan operated a business known as Higginbotham Linen Wheels. They made flax wheels (spinning wheels) and sold them to neighboring towns.
The land and home were passed down through the generations, but at some point the family name was shortened to âBothamâ. It is said that as late as the Civil War sheep still roamed the pastures and were washed at shearing time in the mill pond behind the stone bridge.
It is thought that perhaps Washington and Lafayetteâs armies camped on one tract of Randallâs land and that both generals returned to the area and spent the night at Grosvenor House in Pomfret and had breakfast at the Randall house.
The Randall house, like Obadiahâs, was handed down to succeeding generations. In 1840, George Randall, Jr. manufactured shoes in a shop next to the house. The shoes were marketed in Southbridge and George employed several people. The last Randall to live in the house was Betty Randall who died in 1893, the last person to be buried in the cemetery.
As the Randall and Higginbotham families died and business declined, the settlement was abandoned. Bara-Hack became an interesting place to explore when tales of ghosts brought the curious. According to ConnecticutHistory.org:
Visitors to Bara-Hack claimed they heard voices, sounds from domesticated animals, and noises made by ghostly horse-drawn buggies passing by. In addition, newspapers reported sightings of bright orbs and streaks of light swirling over the cemetery. Researchers even found records of the most common sighting, that of a infant apparition reclining in a tree, reported by slaves of the Randall family hundreds of years earlier.
Paul Eno, a paranormal researcher, went to the site in 1971 to investigate and reported seeing a bearded face hover over the cemetery (did Obadiah have a beard!?!). Some called Bara-Hack the âVillage of Voicesâ. The attention brought many visitors to the site, but today the settlement is on private property and closed to the public.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Shadrach Boaz
Shadrach Boaz (a strong Bible name!) was born on November 9, 1809 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia to Thomas and Lucinda (Davis) Boaz. I came across his name while researching another âShadrachâ. His family history is interesting so immediately following is some background information before proceeding with the story of Shadrachâs life.
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Military History Monday: Sand Creek Massacre
One hundred and forty-nine years ago, on November 29, 1864, perhaps the most atrocious and disturbing attacks in United States military history occurred at Sand Creek, an encampment in Colorado Territory of 700-800 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. The attack was led by John Milton Chivington, a particularly fierce and staunch abolitionist who also happened to be an ordained Methodist minister.
John Milton Chivington
John Milton Chivington was born in Ohio in 1821. John was five years old when his father died, leaving John and his brothers to run the farm. Even though he had only been able to attend school sporadically, by the time he married in 1844 he had been running a timber business for several years. Although not a religious person, he became interested in Methodism and in 1844 he was ordained as a Methodist minister.
In 1853 he worked with a missionary to Wyandot Indians in Kansas. At this time, Kansas and Missouri were embroiled in a de facto civil war over the issue of slavery. John Chivington was a strict abolitionist in pro-slavery Missouri and he ruffled more than a few feathers. Members of his congregation even wrote a letter instructing him to stop preaching.
The next Sunday congregants came to church intending to tar and feather him â Chivington, however, walked up to the pulpit with his Bible and two pistols. He declared, âBy the grace of God and these two revolvers, I am going to preach here todayâ. He soon became known as the âFighting Parsonâ. The Methodist Church sent Chivington to Nebraska where he stayed until 1860, when he was named the presiding elder of the Methodist Rocky Mountain District. He moved to Denver, built a church and started Denverâs first Sunday School. It has been said that when he preached his booming voice could be heard three blocks away!
When the Civil War erupted the Colorado Territorial Governor William Gilpin offered Chivington a commission as a chaplain, an offer which Covington turned down. He was not interested in a âpraying commissionâ â he wanted a âfightingâ commission. In 1862 Major John Chivington, serving under Colonel John Slough, led troops of the Colorado 1st Volunteers on a forced march to Fort Union, covering 400 miles in just 14 days â an astounding feat in that day.
Colonel Slough was ordered by Colonel Edward Canby (Fort Union’s ranking officer) to remain at Fort Union; however, Slough disobeyed orders and headed to Glorieta Pass to engage Confederate forces led by Colonel William Read Scurry and Major Charles Pyron. Initially the battle was somewhat indecisive, but would later turn into a decisive Union victory. The Battle of Glorieta Pass would later become known as the âGettysburg of the Westâ.
The Confederates had encamped at one end of the pass near Johnsonâs Ranch. After battling for a couple days with the result being somewhat of a âdrawâ, Colonel Slough ordered a flanking maneuver. Chivington was accompanied by Lt. Colonel Manuel Chaves of the New Mexico Volunteers. Chavesâ scouts had spotted the Confederate supply train encamped at Johnson Ranch so Chivington positioned his troops above the ranch, watching and waiting. After about an hour they began descending to the encampment, surprising the small Confederate force guarding the supplies.
Major Chivington ordered the destruction of eighty supply wagons, some containing flammable liquids and ammunition â horses and mules were also killed. Someone later remarked that Chivington gave the commands with a âperverse gleeâ. To save bullets, the animals were killed by bayonet. The casualties incurred in the previous daysâ battles, and the damage inflicted with the destruction of the Confederate supply train, gave the Union a decisive victory, and Pyron and his troops soon began to retreat back to Texas. Chivington was acclaimed as a military hero.
Chivington returned to Denver where he turned an eye toward politics. A strong advocate for Colorado statehood, he hoped to run for the stateâs Congressional seat. Colorado was growing and so too was the conflict between the white man and the Cheyenne. Newspapers helped to fan the flames:
Self preservation demands decisive action and the only way to secure it is to fight them in their own way. A few months of active extermination against the red devils will bring quiet and nothing else will. â Daily Rocky Mountain News – August 10, 1864
That same day, the Weekly Rocky Mountain News endorsed John Chivington for Congress. Blustery as he tended to be, Chivington challenged the territorial governor to decisively deal with the Cheyenne, declaring âthe Cheyennes will have to be roundly whipped — or completely wiped out — before they will be quiet. I say that if any of them are caught in your vicinity, the only thing to do is kill them.â A few weeks later Chivington was addressing a group of church deacons and said, â[I]t simply is not possible for Indians to obey or even understand any treaty. I am fully satisfied, gentlemen, that to kill them is the only way we will ever have peace and quiet in Colorado.â
Sand Creek Massacre
In November of 1864, just a few months after speaking out in favor of killing Cheyennes, Chivington led a regiment to the Sand Creek reservation. Earlier Chief Black Kettle had traveled to Fort Lyon to meet with officials and agreed to make peace. He and his group of Southern Cheyenne settled in Sand Creek, assured that they would not be considered hostile any longer by the government. In fact, an American flag and a white truce flag flew over the encampment.Black Kettle_et alBefore Chivington led his troops to Sand Creek many of them had been drinking, further inflaming the situation. Although he observed the American and white truce flags, Chivington ordered an attack on the unsuspecting Cheyenne. After several hours of fighting the death toll stood at somewhere between 150 to 200 Cheyenne massacred, while comparatively only a handful of Chivingtonâs troops were killed, some reportedly by friendly fire (perhaps due to the drunkenness). Most of the Cheyenne killed were women and children. To add to the horror, many bodies were mutilated and scalped â soldiers cut off fingers and ears for the jewelry and as âsouvenirsâ.
Initially, Chivington was hailed as a hero and a parade was held in Denver in his honor. But then reports began to surface of drunken soldiers butchering defenseless women and children. Chivington had six members of his regiment arrested and charged with cowardice in battle â the six soldiers had refused to participate in the massacre and were now reporting the atrocities. The Secretary of War arranged their release and ordered them to Washington to testify before Congress.
One of the six, Captain Silas Soule, a close personal friend of Chivingtonâs, was shot in the back and killed in Denver before he could testify. Court martial charges were eventually brought against Chivington, but by that time he was no longer a member of the military and could not be punished under military law. Criminal charges were never filed either. However, an Army judge summarized it well: âa cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation.â
Chivington wasnât criminally or militarily punished for his deeds, but he was forced to resign the militia and banned from Colorado politics â unable even to participate in the push for statehood. He moved to Nebraska, lived briefly in California and then returned to Ohio to run a small newspaper. He tried politics again in 1883 but withdrew when stories about his participation in the Sand Creek Massacre surfaced. He returned to Denver and served as a deputy sheriff for a short time before dying of cancer in 1894.
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Afognak, Alaska
The area around todayâs ghost town was settled thousands of years ago. All along the Kodiak Archipelago the Alutiiq people lived, and like most other natives they hunted marine mammals (sea otters) and fished. The community was well organized â men and women both had work to do and goods were traded with other natives and settlements in the area.
In 1784, a Russian state-sponsored company arrived and began the conquest of Kodiak and the surrounding area by establishing an outpost at Three Saints Harbor. The area is said to have been well-populated at the time, perhaps around 8,000 residents, and after it was settled by the Russians became known as âRussian Americaâ.
This article is no longer available for free at this site. It was re-written and enhanced, complete with footnotes and sources and has been published in the August 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Other articles in this issue include, “Klondicitis! Dreamers and Drifters, Gunslingers and Grifters: Simply a Great Mad Rush”, “Mining Genealogical Gold: Bed and Board Notices (he said, she said)”, “Eleven Days of Hellish Heat”, and more. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? đ No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Tombstone Tuesday: Nellie Ross Cullens-Norwood (1859-1937) – Circle, Alaska
Since the weather has turned colder (and snowy in some places) I decided to cast out to the far north where snow has been on the ground for weeks â Circle, Alaska. A small marker was placed over Nellie Ross Cullens-Norwoodâs grave in this remote area of Alaska. Only fifteen of the graves have any kind of marking on them according to Find-A-Grave, but perhaps as many as thirty-four people are buried in Circle Hot Springs Cemetery.
I was intrigued by this one because I couldnât locate any other Norwood’s buried in the area and Nellie was close to 80 years old when she died (noted on the marker). So, what is an elderly lady doing way up in remote Alaska living alone â there has to be a story here!
This article was significantly enhanced with new research, complete with sources, and published in the August 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? đ No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Civil War Before THE Civil War: Bloody Kansas (Part 2)
Soon after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed, the Massachusetts (New England) Emigrant Aid Society sent 200 âFree-Statersâ (anti-slavery) to counteract the influences of southern states and neighboring Missouri who were strongly pro-slavery. The Massachusetts group was joined by similar organizations and responsible for the creation of the towns of Lawrence and Manhattan, Kansas. Lawrence would eventually become the center of the anti-slavery movement.
Missouri counties bordering Kansas were strongly in favor of slavery â so strong was the pro-slavery sentiment that Senator David Atchison sent 1,700 men from Missouri to Kansas to vote in the Kansas 1854 election. These were the so-called âBorder Ruffiansâ who helped (illegally) elect a pro-slavery Kansas territorial delegate to Congress. Their votes were later ruled invalid, but that didnât stop them from sending up 5,000 for the next election in 1855 which would elect the Kansas Territorial Legislature.
This article is no longer available for free at this site. It was re-written and enhanced, complete with footnotes and sources and has been published in the April 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? đ 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:Â https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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Home Remedies and Quack Cures: Sobering Up – Dr. Haines’ Golden Specific
Before it became illegal to lie on the package label, this âcureâ for alcoholism was called âGolden Specificâ â later changed to âGolden Treatmentâ when the law went into effect. Dr. James Wilkins Haines of Cincinnati, Ohio claimed his medicine was endorsed by the Womenâs Christian Temperance Union and that by merely slipping a bit of it into the husbandâs cup of coffee in the morning, the wife could cure him of his taste for alcohol. According to Hainesâ ads it was possible to cure oneâs alcoholism in 24 hours! (Click to enlarge the image)
From the book Nostrums and Quackery, compiled by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association):
Any one with an elementary knowledge of the treatment of alcoholism knows how cruelly false such claims as these are. Not only is the statement that the stuff will cure the drunkard âwithout his knowledgeâ and âagainst his willâ a falsehood, but it is also a cowardly falsehood in that it deceives those who in the very nature of the case will hesitate to raise any protest against the deception.
Notwithstanding the AMAâs point of view, Dr. Haines was probably seriously concerned with curing the alcoholic given the fact that he was a homeopathic physician, an educator, a spiritualist and a prominent Quaker minister. During his career he served as both President and Professor of Physics and Chemistry at Miami Valley College (Ohio), a Quaker institution.
In 1879 Haines was sued for malpractice and was also involved in a breach of marriage contract suit filed by Mary Bonner in 1878-1879. Haines eventually married another woman and paid Bonner $1,000 to settle the suit. The Society of Friends of Miami Ohio disowned him over his scandalous behavior; he later apologized and was eventually re-instated.
âThe following acknowledgment has been read and accepted: Dear Friends: Having for some time past, engaged in a multiplicity of business as to be beyond my ability to meet promptly, all my promises ~~ And having, through unwatchfulness, become entangled in matters that have hindered my growth in the ministry, and brought reproach upon the Truth, I feel to condemn the same, and trust that Friends will overlook them, and restore me to the unity and Christian Fellowship of the Society ~~ James W. Haines (Minutes of Miami Monthly Meeting of Women Friends held 23rd of 7th mo. 1879, page 179, located in the Quaker Archive, Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio). â (Quaker Genealogy in Southwest Ohio).
James Haines was the only child of Seth Silver Haines. After James invented âGolden Specificâ, his father built a sanitarium in 1861 on the family property where the afflicted could come and be treated with the cure. Haines claimed the drug was odorless and tasteless so that indeed the cure could be administered without the loved oneâs knowledge. According to the JAMA report cited above, an analysis of Golden Specific found it comprised of the following ingredients:
Capsicum – found in peppers, and as we all know, causes a burning sensation
Ipecac – typically used to induce vomiting
Alkaloids – from the Arabic translates to âashes of plantsâ
Lactose – milk sugar
Starch – probably used to bind all ingredients together
So, basically the treatment was milk sugar, starch, capsicum and a minute amount of ipecac â hardly a cure for alcoholism or anything else for that matter.
The first treatment was âfreeâ but one could pay $3.00 for the full treatment and receive a box of forty powders. With the âfreeâ version of the treatment, folks were instructed to administer it surreptitiously. However, when payment was made for the full treatment the instructions were different â now they implied that the cure wouldnât work as well unless the patient was ready to be cured and of his own free will partook of the cure. Furthermore, the woman who purchased the full treatment was admonished that âafter patient has been under treatment for two days, give sponge (or towel) baths of warm salt water every three days for at least two weeksâ. Of course, the caveat always was âif one treatment does not succeed, get another quick.â (Nostrums and Quackery)
Dr. James Wilkins Haines died in 1893 at the age of 44 following a brief illness. The obituaries written about him were filled with glowing praise:
He will be sadly missed in every walk of life. His mind was clear to the last moment and during all his sickness he expressed perfect trust in his Savior, and was anxious to depart and be with Him. During the last moments he assured his sorrowing parents that, standing on the brink of eternity, all was bright and peaceful beyond. The way seems especially dark to the saddened hearts of his devoted parents, who see no happiness in the years to come without the presence of their loved one. Mr. and Mrs. Haines have the sympathy of the entire community, who mourn with them. His funeral occurred on Tuesday, the 18th, at 1 P.M., at the home of his parents. (Quaker Genealogy in Southwest Ohio)
Apparently the company went on without him, however â the ads displayed above were posted in newspapers in the early 1900s. I found it a bit curious though that one of the ads was posted in the Deseret News, a Mormon newspaper.
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? đ 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:Â https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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