Close to Home - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4

The subject of my post for close to home is a no-brainer for me because my longest-standing brick wall is very close to home. In fact, it may even be in my home town, better yet, I may even live now on land that once belonged to a relative! But I'm really getting ahead of myself, I am researching Smiths after all.

Orlando Chauncey Smith, Charlotte Elizabeth Smith, George Robert Smith, William Henry Smith
Benjamin Smith, Emma Amelia Smith, Mary Ann Codner
This photo was likely taken in Newark, New Jersey.

My mother was born in Quebec, my father in Chicago and we lived in the Chicago suburbs until my father enrolled at Adelphi University on Long Island in 1971. We had no known family here and it wasn't until 2008, about a year into researching my family history, that I learned from an obituary that Benjamin Smith, my second great-grandfather, was born on Long Island.  Back then I was only researching sporadically, but somewhere in my daily life living in Rockville Centre, I learned that the village was named for Mordechai "Rock" Smith. Now, we all know how common a surname Smith is, but once in a while my mother and I would joke about being descended from the founders and of course we were curious, but given that Benjamin's exact place of birth was unknown, we didn't really take it seriously.

Then, sometime around 2011, I was stuck at work waiting for a delivery and decided to kill some time looking at the hints in my Ancestry tree. A hint for my 2nd great-uncle, William Smith, a son of Benjamin, led me to his 1920s passport application. The form asked for William's father's place of birth, his answer was Rockville Centre, NY! I almost could not believe my eyes.

In the nine years since this discovery, I have not researched Benjamin very much at all, but that is changing now. Benjamin's wife, Mary Ann Codner, was the granddaughter and great-grandaughter of two Revolutionary War patriots, Phineas Chidester and Japhet Byram, and one of her daughters, Charlotte Smith Fisk, was accepted into the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Now, I'm working to prove my own lineage and I'll have to prove Benjamin's birth to do so.

I've learned so much about genealogy research, methodology and sources since I read Benjamin's obituary twelve years ago and, of course, online records access has exploded, so it's like researching in a whole new world.  Who knows? Maybe I'll even get one of my male Smith cousins to spit in a tube one of these days.

One of the newest tools in my personal kit is the locality guide.  Locality research is essential to a research plan.  To make a research plan, you have to know what records are available and where to look for them. A guide is simply a place to put all of this information. And as you become more familiar with an area or with researching at a particular institution you can add more information like contacts you have made at an archive.

You can make a locality guide any way you like, but I chose to use the guides of those who have done this before as a template and this has "forced" me to seek out specific information that I might not have otherwise.

A Google search for locality guides led me to some blogs including Collecting Cousins who had a link to an archived page of the ProGen Study Group site. This page has links to more than two dozen examples. I also found a template at Family Locket, the blog of the authors of Research Like a Pro, which I used as my primary template.

My first guide, still-in-progress, is for Nassau and Queens counties in New York. Why both? Because Nassau was created out of Queens county, because Benjamin is believed to have lived in what is now Nassau but was Queens when he was born, and because some records, like probate, are still held in Queens.  I knew this before I started the guide because of my earlier research, but if I was coming at this brand new, this is something I likely would have learned by making this guide.  And that is the value of laying a foundation of knowledge on which to build your research.

So, here are just two of the things I discovered while making this guide:

1. The Rockville Centre Historical Society has a collection of materials including Sunday school records for the Methodist church in Rockville Centre during Benjamin's childhood (I don't know if Benjamin was born into a Methodist family but he was married in a Methodist church and helped found the Methodist church in Basking Ridge, NJ.) Inconveniently for me, these materials are now held at the New York State Archive in Albany which is a good three-hour drive. I'm hoping to get there by spring.

2. A 1870s property map of Rockville Centre shows a few landowners named Smith and while I know the name is beyond common, what I found on the map really blew my mind.

The David Rumsey Map Collection not only has this 1870s map, but it also has a tool called a Georeferencer that lays your historical map over a current one and allows you to control the opacity so that you can see either map or both at the same time.

When I zeroed in on properties owned by Smiths, what I found was astounding. The apartment building I live in sits on property that was owned by a John Smith (it would be John) when the map was made.

I know that as my research moves forward I may find that I am not related to this man at all, but this is still a fun find!

No matter how well we think we know a place we are researching, or how long we have lived there ourselves, a locality guide is a great tool to help us know it as researchers.

I really hope that this locality guide and other methodologies I have learned in the last nine years will help me to smash the Smith brick wall this year. In any case, this is a tool I plan to use whenever I research in a new geographic area, whether it is across the globe or right under my feet.

Long Line - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 3

The writing gods are not with me this week. I have already abandoned two drafts on other topics for this prompt that just wouldn't come together, so last night I decided to use this prompt to transcribe the names of some of my ancestors in hopes that a distant cousin will find them and me, otherwise known as cousin bait.

We all have long lines, it's just a matter of how far back we can document those lines. Two weeks ago I wrote about my great-grandfather, Carl Johan Anderson. I have only documented his line to his parents, Anders Svenson and Anna Katrina Mannsdotter but my great-grandmother's line is a different story.

Oscar Nimrid Johansson-Maria Sofia Johansson-Johan Albin Johansson
Anna Olivia Johansson-Mathilda Alfina Johansson

Someone, I don't know who, commissioned a genealogy of the ancestors of my great-grandmother, Mathilda Alfina Johnson/Johansson, and I was lucky enough to inherit a copy of this mind-boggling, three-volume work written entirely in Swedish.

I also inherited two copies of an English translation of my direct line going back to my 6th great-grandparents, Lars Heljeson and his wife, Ingeborg.

Lars Heljeson - Ingeborg ______

│

Helje Larsson - Maria Ericsdotter

│

Zachris Heljeson - Stina Magnusdotter

│

Magnus Zachrisson - Caisa Nilsdotter

│

Marten Johansson - Josepha Magnusdotter

│

Carl Johan Anderson - Mathilda Alfina Johansson

│

Howard Bierly Matthews - Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson

│

Stephen David Matthews

Although I caution any potential cousins that I have not researched these lines myself and cannot speak specifically to the accuracy of this genealogy, the detail and extent of church records in Sweden gives me confidence in it.  In addition to records of baptisms, marriages, and burials that one would expect churches to keep, the Lutheran church in Sweden, which was once the state church, kept records of annual household surveys and records of all those who joined and left individual congregations.  Those records also included the congregations that people moved to and from, making them easy to find before and after a move.

If you see any names that look familiar to you in my direct line above or the list of siblings below, be sure to let me know. You can contact me by leaving a comment on this post or through the contact form on the right of this page.

Children of Marten Johansson and Josepha Magnusdotter:
Maria Sofia Johansson, Selma Alida Johansson, Mathilda Alfina Johansson, Anna Olivia Johansson, Johan Albin Johansson, Alma Cecilia Johansson, Oscar Johansson, Alma Tionda Johansson

Children of Magus Zachrisson and Caisa Nilsdotter: Josepha Magnusdotter, Elsa Magnusdotter, Salomon Magnusson, August Magnusson

Children of Zachris Heljesson and Stina Magnusdotter: 
Kerstin Zachrisdotter, Maria Zachrisdotter, Catharina Zachrisdotter, Hans Zachrisson, Magnus Zachrisson, Johanna Zachrisdotter

Children of Helje Larsson and Maria Ericsdotter: Eric Heljesson, Zachris Heljesson, Elsa Heljesdotter, Hans Heljesson, Maria Heljesdotter, Brita Heljesdotter

Favorite Photo - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 2

I'm blessed with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to family photos, so choosing a favorite is an impossible task, but I do have some that are more meaningful than others.

As far back as I can remember, my mother has had a hinged frame on her dresser containing two photos:

As you could probably guess, the photo on the left is my grandmother holding my mother and the photo on the right is my mother holding me. I've always loved them and even from an early age, I think, could appreciate the historical aspect of them, but I never had any such photo of my dad with his mother.  The earliest photos I had seen of him were toddler stage or later until my step-mother handed me a plastic bag of loose photos six years ago.

We were walking out the door of her home late on a winter evening when my step-mother handed me that bag so there was no time to dig into it then, but as soon as Donald and I stopped for coffee I couldn't help but take a peek. The second photo out of the bag was this one, and I was overwhelmed with emotion for the rest of the ride home and for several days after.

Taken when he was six weeks old according to writing on the back, this and another half dozen photos taken at the same time, are the earliest known pictures of my father.  Six years later, this photo still makes me shake my head, knowing that my grandparents and then my dad had these all along, but stuffed away in a bag for so many years.

It is impossible to choose one favorite photo from my collection, but this certainly comes close.

Fresh Start - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 1

As soon as I saw the prompt, Fresh Start, for Week One of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, I thought of my father's grandparents who were all immigrants.  Although I have some idea of what prompted most of them to come to America, only Carl Johan Anderson, my paternal grandmother's father, left us this information in detail.

Arthur William Matthews, my paternal great-grandfather, came from England in about 1865. He grew up in poverty and lost his mother at an early age. He was about 21 when he arrived in New York but I don't know anything about his life in England beyond that.

Ada Merritt Hobbs, my paternal grandfather's mother, was Arthur's second wife. She came to America, also from England, sometime after 1871. She was 13 when her parents died in 1868. She and her three siblings were eventually taken in by a maternal uncle in Pennsylvania.

Mathilda Alfina Johanson is more of a mystery. Although she grew up in the same parish in Sweden as my great-grandfather, her family does not seem to have been nearly as poor. Did she come to America for economic opportunity, to follow her sisters, for adventure or to follow Carl? I may never know for sure.

And that brings us to Carl Johan Anderson. Carl was the youngest child of Anders Swensson and Anna Katrina Mannsdotter. He was six when Anders died and Anna went to work as a farmhand and seven when he and his sister were also forced by their economic circumstances to go to work.

After five years of working and living in a glassworks, Carl went to live with his sister, Josefina, and her new husband, Per Johan Bengtson. There he was able to get some schooling as he apprenticed under Per Johan as a shoemaker. Still so poor that it took him months to save for one decent suit, he longed to leave Sweden for the economic opportunities in the United States. Eventually, a group of his friends secured loans and then loaned him the money for his passage. He arrived in Connecticut in April 1888 with one dollar left.

1888 was still difficult for Carl. He found work at a silk mill, was laid off, found work as a shoemaker and finally was rehired in December by the Cheney Silk Mill where he would eventually become a master velvet weaver.  In 1890, Mathilda arrived in the US with one of her sisters and a friend, but they would go first to their own sisters in Illinois. Later that year, Carl wrote and asked Mathilda to come to South Manchester, which the three ladies did, and in August of 1893, Carl and Mathilda were married.

The newlyweds were very fortunate that Carl had found work with the Cheneys, for they were excellent employers, truly concerned with the well-being of their workers. Carl and Mathilda rented their first home from the Cheneys and although I don't know the specifics of their home, I learned during a tour by a local historian that the Cheneys were different from many factory owners in that these properties were well-kept, comparatively spacious and every home had a porch or a yard.

After the birth of two sons, Axel Henrich Waldemar in 1894 and Elmer Carl Ragnar in 1896, Carl and Mathilda purchased a lot of land from the Cheneys, secured a mortgage from Manchester Building and Loan and built themselves a two-family home on Garden Street which they moved into on February 22, 1900. Being a duplex, as Axel called it in an audio-taped interview of Carl, the Andersons now had another source of income from the home, taking in borders. In 1905 the family grew again, when my grandmother, Dagmar Alice Viola was born.

All three of Carl and Mathilda's children graduated from high school. Axel went to business school and became a successful businessman, Elmer followed in his father's footsteps becoming a foreman in the dye house at the Cheney mill and Dagmar worked as a stenographer before her marriage in 1931.  All four of Carl and Mathilda's grandchildren were college graduates.

Carl worked at the mill for 50 years, retiring in 1938 when his eyesight was no longer good enough for such detailed work. He and Mathilda lived together in their home on Garden Street until she fell ill in 1953 and in 1954 the home was sold and Carl moved to a retirement home closer to Axel and his family.

Although the Swedish economy improved and continued to improve over the years following Carl's immigration to the United States, I am confident that coming to America provided the Fresh Start Carl so desperately wanted and provided more economic opportunity than he would have had in Sweden.

I did not have time to provide detailed citations for this post but in brief: Information about Arthur Matthews and Ada Hobbs comes from an autobiography by my grandfather, Howard Matthews, Arthur and Ada's youngest child. Information about Mathilda comes from a family history compiled by professional genealogists in the 1960s and from a brief letter written by Mathilda. Information about Carl comes from a letter that he left for his descendants, from an audiotaped interview by his son Axel and from a walking tour of the Cheney Mills hosted by the Manchester Historical Society and given by a local historian. None of the materials are published, but I have copies in my personal collection. Photos are also from my personal collection and were inherited after the death of my father, Stephen David Matthews. He was the only child of Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me via the Contact Form on the right of this blog.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - On the Farm

Well isn't this a fitting theme for this week since I have just returned from North Hatley, Quebec and the farm I've written so much about.

I wrote a long post about the farm and farmhouse for The Old Homestead theme in April. Missing from that post were photos of the aftermath of the tornado that hit the farm in 1926. The photos themselves are in a magnetic album that belongs to my cousin. This week I was finally able to scan them with my Flip-Pal scanner.

These photos show what was left of the barn after the tornado hit.

And these show the construction of the new barn.

I'm about 99% certain that the man standing on the viewer's left in the photo below is my great-grandfather, James Louden Dean. Notice the bushy mustache and the empty-looking right sleeve. You may remember that he lost his arm in a farming accident in 1912. I believe the boy is Lawrence, the youngest child of his first marriage, who was killed in WWII. He would have been twelve here. The last person I was able to identify is seated in front of Lawrence and is my great-uncle Ken who took over the farm after his father's death in 1935 and would have been 20 in 1926.

And here is the finished barn.

It still stands today.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - The Old Homestead

This is the farmhouse at the Deanholme Farm in North Hatley, Quebec. Six generations of our family have lived here. I believe that this photo was taken sometime in the 1930s¹.

John Dean²

John Dean, my 2nd great-grandfather, purchased the 162-acre farm on May 1, 1868³. According to a history of the area, the dwelling house at that time was a log cabin of unknown dimensions⁴. That October John married Elizabeth Nimmo and her mother, Elizabeth Louden, came to live at the farm as well. In 1870 John and Bessie welcomed their first child, my great-grandfather, James Louden and by 1877 their fifth child, Anna Mina, was born⁵. Even without knowing the dimensions of the log house, I have to imagine that the new farmhouse was eagerly anticipated when it was finally built in 1884.  Sadly, John would only live in the home for four years before dying of pneumonia at age 49 in 1888⁶.

Until this past weekend, I knew very little about the workings of the farm in those days. In fact, just a few months ago I was heartbroken to read that the non-population schedules of the Canadian censuses were not preserved. All of my maternal grandmother's ancestors were farmers! There would have been so much information in those agricultural schedules that would give me some insight into their daily lives. The good news is, I misread something, the bad news is, MOST of these returns were destroyed. But for 1871, when four of my direct male ancestors, including John Dean, were farmers, the non-population schedules are available! (And some of the 1851 census as well, but not for any of my ancestors, so far.)

Here are some of the highlights for John Dean's farm⁷:

163 acres
20 acres improved
8 acres in-pasture

1/4 acre of wheat producing 10 bushels of spring wheat
200 bushels of oats
6 bushels of peas
50 bushels of buckwheat

1 acre of potatoes producing 200 bushels

200 lbs. of maple sugar!

2 horses over 3 years old
5 milk cows
6 other horned cattle (?)
7 sheep
1 swine

225 cords of firewood

And this may be my favorite thing:
300 lbs. of butter
43 lbs. of wool
19 yards of homemade cloth & flannel

Elizabeth Nimmo⁸

I did not expect that the agricultural schedules would tell me about my female ancestors but I don't think John was churning a pound of butter every day or making cloth. And while this is just a peek into the lives of my 2nd and 3rd great-grandmothers, these schedules are a find that had me on a high all weekend!

In the fourth book of L.M Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, Anne's House of Dreams, Marilla Cuthbert says that she heard a minister say once that a house is not a home until it has been consecrated by a birth, a wedding, and a death⁹. The first death in the new farmhouse would have been John Dean in 1888. I don't know if there were any weddings in the house, but a wedding dinner was held for my 2nd grand-aunt, Anna Mina and her new husband Rev. Paul Pergau after their wedding in 1898¹⁰.

In 1902 Louden married my great-grandmother, Eva Maud Bean and soon the house was consecrated by its first birth; that of my grandmother, Marjorie Elizabeth in 1904¹¹.

Marjorie Elizabeth Dean¹²

Four more children followed before Eva's death in 1916 and then three more were born in the home after Louden remarried in 1923 to Lena Emma Hodge¹³.

In 1926, the farmhouse was lucky to escape serious damage when a rare tornado touched down on the property, destroying the barn and stable and mortally wounding a horse. The thick glass in the front door of the house had also been shattered and there was some minor damage inside the home, but fortunately, no one was hurt. Just as the community had come to my family's aid in 1912 after Louden's tragic accident (see my last post), their neighbors were helping to erect a temporary shelter for the farm animals before the day was out and they returned when it was time to build permanent replacements as well¹⁴. There are actually a few photos of the aftermath. They are firmly cemented in a magnetic album at the farm, but I hope to scan them with my Flip-Pal on our next visit!

EDIT: I scanned the photos, to see them, please check out my 52 Ancestors - On The Farm - post.

The very little I know about Louden's farming production comes from oral history and some newspaper articles I found this summer, listing winners at the county fair in the 1920s. Louden won prizes for his maple sugar and his barley, but I don't know anything else about his crops, his buildings, his machinery or what animals he kept. I can't wait to get to some archives and historical societies in the area to find out if there are any other records available that would give me this information¹⁵.

After Louden's death in 1935, eldest son Kenneth Emery, who had been working the farm with this father, took over. That summer, my grandparents married at the nearby Minton church and then held their reception at the farm¹⁶.

Smith-Dean Wedding Reception¹⁷

In 1943, Uncle Ken and his wife Adah Bailey (the couple at left above) welcomed a daughter. She is pictured below in the wagon with her father. His half-brother Clifford Howard is also pictured.

Three Deans at work on the Deanholm Farm¹⁸.

My mother and grandmother spent a lot of time at the farm during WWII while my grandfather was overseas. They visited often and even lived there for a time. By then the farm was, as it is now, primarily a dairy farm, but Uncle Ken and Aunt Adah did also raise chickens and sell the surplus eggs in town. My mum remembers candling the eggs in the evenings, a process by which you hold eggs up to a candle in the dark to check for fertilization. There were workhorses at the farm also, barn cats and usually an unnamed dog.

Undated photo of Dean siblings and nieces¹⁹.

Although we're not sure exactly when electricity was installed in the farmhouse, my mother remembers that there was a generator for night milking and two hours of light in the kitchen during the war.

Marjorie Dean and Janet Smith collecting sap, sometime during WWII²⁰.

Uncle Ken was very proud of the family farm and the way the ancestral home drew Dean descendants like a magnet, as it does to this day. In August 1967, to celebrate the centennial year of the farm, he organized a reunion. As you can see, by then he had enclosed the front porch, making it more useful year-round in this sometimes harsh climate.

Dean Reunion 1967²¹.

Among the attendees were two of Louden's siblings; Robert Irwin, seated in the dark suit and Anna Mina, to his left.

Growing up in the suburbs, this was about the only farm country I visited as a child. Anytime I smell manure to this day, even in the form of garden fertilizer, it brings memories of trips to North Hatley. Driving up from the border, or even over from my grandparent's home in a rural mining area, you always knew when you were getting close!

By this time, Uncle Ken had purchased a small property adjacent to his and built a home for his daughter and her family and that is where we stayed when we visited overnight, but we always spent some time in the farmhouse during our visits. By then, the milking was done by machine, although I'm sure I remember Uncle Ken showing me how it was done in the "old days." I was a bit intimidated by the cows back then, and really only visited the barn to look for kittens.

At least once during my childhood, we visited during sugaring; the time when the weather warms just enough for the sap to start running in the maple trees to be collected and boiled down into syrup. Sugaring season is a busy time, trying to make the most of the harvest before the trees run dry for another year calls for all-hands-on-deck, even members of the family who have day jobs off the farm are recruited to help with these vital tasks.

Sugarhouse at the Deanholme Farm ca. 1960²²

Anna Matthews at the Deanholme Farm²³ 

Uncle Ken died in 1996 but one of his grandsons had been doing the day-to-day work with Clifford for years. Soon after, my cousin formally purchased the farm from his mother and became the latest proprietor of the Deanholme Farm. When he married in 1998 it was practically a family scandal that his wife wanted to replace the old wood stove in the farmhouse kitchen with a modern appliance. While the family historian in me can understand the impulse to want everything to stay as it was, I can't believe anyone actually wanted her to cook on that thing in 1998! She won that battle but did end up changing her mind about replacing the kitchen cabinets once it was explained to her that they were crafted by our 2nd great-grandfather with wood from the property. One of the cabinets was built specifically to hold a 50-lb. bag of flour. The cabinets are still there today.

My cousin has worked very hard over the past twenty years to grow, improve and modernize the farm. Milking is still done by machine and robots feed the cows, programmed to give each one their custom diet and supplements. More shelters have been built for all the equipment and the barn has a new ventilation system as of a few years ago. They are even doing something with the waste from the cows that I may not have understood when it was explained to me a few years ago and don't remember now.

Farm buildings at the Deanholme Farm 2014²⁴.

A robotic feeder at the Deanholme Farm 2014²⁵.

Barn cats at the Deanholme Farm 2014^26.

The Deanholm Farm is still primarily a dairy farm, the only crops grown there today are feed for the cows. But they still have the sugar bush. If they haven't done so already, my cousins will soon be tapping the trees in the maple grove and hanging the buckets to collect the sap for another year's supply of delicious maple syrup.

Last summer another reunion was held 50 years after the last. It is still a source of pride for the family that so many of us are drawn to the farm.

The Sherbrooke Record²⁷

Sadly we learned during that visit that the old homestead that has seen so much over the past 134 years may not stand much longer. It needs a lot of work and it may make more sense to start over than to try to renovate again. I hope I am able to visit, to stand in the home where my grandmother was born one more time before that happens.

The Deanholme Farm from a distance, date unknown²⁸.

____________________________________

1. Deanholme Farm. Date unknown. Privately held by a cousin [NAME AND ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Canton de Hatley, Que. J0B 2C0

2. Dean, John. Date unknown. Privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570

3. Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records 1637-1935, Repertoire et index de notaires>Sainthttp://www.ancestry.com : accessed April 5, 2018) Sale dated May 1, 1868, from Gilbert Emery to John Dean. I haven't ordered the contract but these details match oral family history.

4. Reg Conner, The Vine and the Branches (North Hatley, Quebec, 1989), 99.

5. For Dean-Nimmo marriage, Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968. M>Montreal>Presbyterian Crescent>1868>Folio Thirty-nine (second side), Marriage, John Dean. For baptisms of the children, Registres de l'état civil du Québec des origines à 1915, Par pariosse>Sta a Z>Waterville Congregational Church, for James 1870>janvier-décembre> Page5B, Baptism, James Louden, for Maggie, 1872>janvier-décembre>Page 2B, Baptism, Maggie, daughter of John Dean, for Elizabeth, 1873>janvier-décembre>Page 4A, Baptism, Elizabeth, daughter of John Dean, for Robert, 1875>janvier-décembre>Page 7A, Baptism, Robert Irwin, for Anna, 1877>janvier-décembre>Page 11A, Baptism, Anna Mina, digital images, Bibliotèque et Archives Nationales du Québec, (http://www.banq.qc.ca: accessed April 5, 2018).

6. " Deaths, DEAN," The Sherbrooke Weekly Examiner, 9 March 1888, p. 3, col. 5; image copy, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 29 May 2017).

7. 1851 Census (Canada), Stanstead County, Province of Quebec, Tableau No. 3 Etablissements Publics, Propriété Foncières, Voitures et Instruments d'Agriculture [Return of Public Institutions, real & personal estate], District 141, Sub-district Div. No. 1 Hatley, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication c-10089, page 571 of 670. Also, Tableau No. 4 - Terres cultivées, Produits des Champs, Plantes et Fruits [Return of cultivated land and products], District 141, Sub-district Div. No. 1 Hatley, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication c-10089, page 577 of 670. Also, Tableau No. 5 Animaux vivants, Produits animaux, Etoffes de Ménage et Fourrerres [Livestock, animal products, home-made fabrics and furs,] District 141, Sub-district Div. No. 1 Hately, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication c-10089, image 583 of 670. Also, Tableau No. 7 Produits de Forëts [Return of products of the forest,] District 141, sub-district Div. No. 1 Hatley, p. 10 (handwritten), line 10; image, Library & Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx : accessed April 6, 2018), microfilm publication c-10089, page 591 of 670.

8. Nimmo, Elizabeth. Date unknown. Privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

9. Montgomery, L.M., Anne's House of Dreams, (Publication information missing), Beginning of Chapter Two.

10. "PERGAU-DEAN," The Sherbrooke Examiner, 16 September 1898, p. 4, col. 3; digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 26 May 2017.)

11. Registres de l'état civil du Québec des origines à 1915, For Dean-Bean marriage, Par paroisse>Sta a Z>Waterville Congregational Church>1902>janvier-décembre, Page 10A, Marriage, James Louden Dean, digital images, Bibliotèque et Archives Nationales du Québec, (http://www.banq.qc.ca: accessed April 5, 2018). For Marjorie Dean's birth, Par paroisse >G a L>Lennoxville Methodist Church>1904>janvier a decembre, Page 12B

12. Dean, Marjorie Elizabeth. Photograph taken ca. 1905. Privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

13. For Eva Bean's children,  Registres de l'état civil du Québec des origines à 1915, Par poroisse>M a Sac>Minton Methodist Church> for Kenneth Emery, 1906>janvier-decembre>Page 9A, for Dorothy Irene and John Louden, 1911>janvier-decembre> Pages 3-4, for Lawrence Nimmo, 1912>Page 12A, Baptism, digital images, Bibliotèque et Archives Nationales du Québec, (http://www.banq.qc.ca: accessed April 5, 2018). For Eva Bean burial, Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968. L>Lennoxville>Methodist Church>1916 p. 4, Third leaf. Digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed February 16, 2018, citing Statistics Canada Fonds, Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556. For Dean-Hodge marriage, Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968. L>Lennoxville>Methodist Church>1923 Sixth leaf, Digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed April 6, 2018) citing Statistics Canada Fonds, Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556. For Lena's children, Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968. L>Lennoxville>Methodist Church, for Clifford Howard, 1924, Eighteenth leaf, for Helen Alberta and Margaret Evelyn, 1928, Third leaf, both sides. Digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed February 16, 2018, citing Statistics Canada Fonds, Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556.


14. Reg Conner, The Vine and the Branches (North Hatley, Quebec, 1989), 247-248.

15. "Hatley Township," The Stanstead Journal, September 3, 1925, p. 2, col. 4; digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed June 8 2017.)

16. Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968. L>Lennoxville>United Church>1935, Thirteenth leaf, backside, Marriage Smith-Dean, digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed February 16, 2018, citing Statistics Canada Fonds, Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556.

17. Smith-Dean Wedding Reception, photograph taken August 10, 1935. Privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

18. Dean, Kenneth, daughter, and Dean, Clifford photograph ca. 1945; digital image 2017, privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570. The original is in the possession of the cousin who is the young girl in the photo who allowed me to scan it in August of 2017.

19. Dean, Helen, Dean, Margaret, and their niece's photograph ca. 1940s; privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

20. Dean, Marjorie, Smith Janet photograph ca. 1940s; privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570

21. Dean Reunion photograph taken in 1967. Privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570

22. The Sugarhouse at the Deanholme farm photograph ca. 1960; privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

23. Matthews, Anna photograph taken ca. 1980; privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

24. Work structures at the Deanholme Farm photograph taken November 28, 2014; held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

25. Robotic feeder and cows at the Deanholme Farm photograph taken November 28, 2014; held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

26. Barn cats at the Deanholme Farm photograph taken November 28, 2014; held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

27. "Deanholme farm celebrates 150 years," The Record, August 7, 2017, cover story.

28. The Deanholme Farm undated photograph; digital image 2017, privately held by Anna Matthews [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570. The original is in the possession of the cousin whose father owned the farm when it was taken.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Misfortune

This photo was likely taken in the summer or fall of 1908. Pictured are my great-grandparents, James Louden Dean and Eva Maud Bean and their three eldest children, Marjorie Elizabeth (my grandmother), Kenneth Emery and Dorothy Irene. Dorothy was born in June of 1908.

You may remember that the Louden Deans were a farming family, living in North Hatley, Quebec. Then, as now, it was primarily a dairy farm which also had a good-sized sugar bush, which means they also produced maple syrup. One of the farms that adjoined Louden's belonged to Robert Dean, a paternal uncle, and it was there that he met with great misfortune on October 1, 1912.

     "A very serious accident occurred here Oct. 1st, which might have proved fatal. While engaged in cutting ensilage for his uncle, Mr. R. Dean, J. L. Dean had the misfortune to get his hand caught in the machine. Mr. N. E. Drew was the first to notice the accident and immediately reversed the machine, but not until his arm was badly cut and torn. Dr. Hume, of Sherbrooke, was immediately summoned and temporarily dressed the wound. He was taken to the Protestant Hospital at Sherbrooke, where it was found necessary to amputate the arm above the elbow. He is doing as well as possible at present.
     Last Tuesday about fourteen men gathered at the home of Mr. J. L. Dean and had a "bee" to cut his grain and help with this work in general. On Wednesday about twenty women had a sewing bee for Mrs. Dean, who is an invalid and is in Sherbrooke taking treatment of Dr. Lynch. Much sympathy is felt for the family in their sad misfortune."

As noted in this clipping, my great-grandmother was already suffering the effects of "creeping paralysis", some type of degenerative disease like ALS or MS, when this accident occurred.  One nice thing to see in all this was the reaction of the community as told in the article above and another below.

     "We are pleased to note the large attendance at the "benefit" to Mr. Louden Dean given by Mr. A.C. LeBaron and the orchestra, assisted by Mr. Blair, of Waterville, last Monday evening. The cause was indeed a most worthy one. All deplore the great misfortune of Mr. Dean."

     "Mr. J.L. Dean, who met with an accident a short time ago, is recovering as speedily as possible."

     "Mr. J.L. Dean has returned home from the hospital and is doing as well as can be expected."

In addition to these articles, I am also lucky to have my grand-uncle Ken's memories which he contributed to a history of the area. He remembered that it was his father's glove that became stuck in the machine, causing his arm to be pulled into the cutters. Uncle Ken also wrote that it was another neighbor who made a tourniquet out of binder twine, likely saving Louden's life in the process; it was a long way into town on a horse-drawn wagon and then to Sherbrooke by train to get to the hospital for surgery.

Uncle Ken also said that once his father recovered he was determined to learn how to do everything around the farm that he could do before the accident, and he did in a very short time, "even to milking the cows, two teats in one hand."

As Amy Johnson Crow reminded us in her email with the month's topics, stories of overcoming difficult circumstances are important to pass on from one generation to the next. If Louden's descendants were to use his story as inspiration in overcoming their own troubles, that would be the best outcome of all.
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1. Dean, James Louden, etc. Photograph taken ca. 1908. Privately held by the author [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

2. "Minton," The Stanstead Journal, 17 Oct 1912 p. 5, col. 4, paragraphs 2-3; digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 28 May 2017).

3. "NORTH HATLEY," The Stanstead Journal, 7 November 1912, p. 2, col, 1; digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 28 May 2017).

4. "Minton," The Stanstead Journal, 31 October 1912, p. 2, col. 2, 4th item, digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 28 May 2017).

5. "Minton," The Stanstead Journal, 28 November 1912, p. 2, col. 2, 3rd item, digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 28 May 2017).

6. Conner, Reg, The Vine and the Branches (North Hatley, Quebec), 246-247.