"I wish I could translate the hints about the dead..."

In a previous post, I talked about one of my brick walls: Isaac Burnett; in another, I discussed the unreliability of documents (Silas W Brown's obituary) and the consequent disappointment one feels when such a document does not reveal any additional information.

The crossing of these threads is today's topic, as several new bits of information--all exciting, some perplexing--have recently come across my desk (or, more precisely: into my laptop).

Isaac Burnett (1780 -May 1860), a paternal fourth great-grandfather, has no identifiable parents, and until recently, five children (of ten) whose names are lost: one boy, and four girls. Beginning with the discoveries of two distant cousins, we now know the name of one of those daughters, and are--perhaps--a bit closer to the identity of Isaac's parents.

Over a year ago, I received a reply to an online post inquiring about Isaac Burnett and his family. The respondent was from another Burnett family (that of Daniel Burnett and Mariah Burnham, the purported but impossible parents of Isaac), who, in her research on her Burnetts, had a stray bit of information from a copy of an only partially reliable typescript from the 'fifties she had located: an Abigail Burnett born in Newport, Maine in 1820 to an Isaac Burnett and Deborah (LKU); Abigail married a Rufus Carter in 1840.


A vintage postcard of Newport, Maine. If nothing else, it breaks up my text.

Fascinating! This fit perfectly with one of Isaac's mysterious unnamed daughters. Isaac Burnett was in Newport in 1820, his wife's name was Deborah (Grindle). The birth year was plausible. Case closed. Except I could find no other documentation that there was ever an Abigail Burnett; and while there were numerous Rufus Carters, none that I could locate married an Abigail that made sense. So that got put aside (and, admittedly, forgotten).

Just a few weeks ago, another Burnett descendant with whom I have been corresponding found a daughter as well: Mary Burnett. The document extract below shows her as the daughter of Isaac and Deborah Burnett, born in 1820 in Newport, Maine. Two daughters! Abigail and Mary, both born in 1820...? Possibly they were twins.

 

For those of you who did not trouble to enlarge the above, I would like to point out that it is a Death Registry, and the deceased in question is named Mary A Carter. A is in Abigail? The Abigail who married Rufus Carter? Connecting the dots, and researching further, it all worked out.

Mary Abigail Burnett was born in 1820 in Newport, Maine. She married Rufus Burnham Carter (12 Sep 1818 - 22 Mar 1884) in 1840. She died in Athol, Massachusetts on 2 Apr 1877.

 

Apart from the coincidence of Rufus and I sharing a birthday (theme of another recent post here), there were some odd things about him.

 

First, he was simply difficult to single out; there are two other contemporary Rufus B Carters who seemed to circle him. One lived for many years in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the same time as did our Rufus, although the impostor's wife was Lorena or Lozena, and he was a prison warden, not a furniture painter. The other was born in Maine (check!) and married a woman named Abigail in 1840 (check!), but there similarities ended. Helpful as Ancestry.com can be, family trees there must be triple-checked; there are several entries for the numerous Rufuses (Rufii?) with conflated census data, birth and death dates, and so on, picked out by their descendants like so many columns on a Chinese menu.

 

Second, the potentially significant oddity about Rufus Burnham Carter is his middle name. Many sources give his father-in-law Isaac Burnett's parents as Daniel Burnett and Mariah Burnham. Although this is not possible, Daniel Burnett just four years old at the time of Isaac's birth, the coincidence is striking, and threatens meaning--but what?

 

The Death Registry did yield one other factoid of interest: it states that Mary Burnett's parents were both born in Machias, Maine. Who provided this information, and how accurate it is bears looking into. Most other records show Isaac being born in Massachusetts in 1780, although Maine did not achieve statehood from Massachusetts until 1820, so arguably, Isaac might have been born in what was later called Maine. Deborah Grindle was born in what is now Maine, but the Grindle family was more often found in nearby Hancock and Penobscot counties, rather than Machias' Washington County. Anyway....

 

The really promising information--one hopes!--in regard to the mystery of Isaac Burnett's parents does not come directly from Mary Burnett at all, who is just a paternal third great aunt of mine, but rather her even more distant (first cousin, four times removed) daughter, Almira Ellen Carter (16 Sep 1845 - 6 Apr 1915). Which is why it is useful to follow collateral lines. While adding Rufus and their children to Mary Burnett, I did my usual cross-referencing and found this thrilling lead:



[Pardon the highlighting; it came from Google Books that way.]


Here was a mother lode (cousin lode?) of new and potentially wall-breaking information. Good old snobbish Mrs. Walter Simmons of Quincy, Mass! "...descended from Robert Burnett [!], a member of the Boston Tea Party...!" My recollection of American history needing the occasional assist, I had to use Google to find when the Boston Tea Party occurred. After scrolling through pages of recent right-wing frippery, I found the date: 1773. This being just seven years before Isaac was born (and perhaps confirming Massachusetts rather than Maine), this new (first) Robert should either be his father or grandfather, if Almira was a descendant. Huzzah--a breakthrough!

Except. In the last few weeks I have yet to find any record of a Robert Burnett participating in the Tea Party (and curse those upstarts who clutter the "Search" pages), and no Robert Burnetts who seem plausible for the time and place. It seems likely it should be true (and of course, I would love it to be); after all, in those pre-Internet days, when news sources and reference works were scarce, if someone was said to have had a noted ancestor it must have been passed down through the family, and this "Robert" would have been her mother's grandfather, so it wasn't coming from distant reaches of time. But if true, why can't I find him? If not, where did the story come from? Even if Tea Partier is an embellishment, surely "Robert" must be correct.



That third redskin from the right does kind of have my nose, don't you think?

While Silas W Brown's obituary merely contained errors, looking further into Almira's obituary, I find puzzles.
It states that her father was from Unity, Maine, but that was actually the birthplace of one of those other Rufii, who is well-documented to have continued to live there his entire life. It's possible that both R B Carter's were born there, but....

Continuing: "[a]mong her ancestors were the Rev. Thomas Dalton, one of the founders of Woburn, Mass...." My cursory research into the founding of Woburn revealed no one by that name, although there was a Rev Thomas Carter, which--again, coincidentally? Yes? No?--is her father's surname. More misinformation? Certainly more to research.

Am I closer to discovering Isaac Burnett's parents? Who knows. If nothing else, it's gladdening to see that one of my ancestors was well known for patriotic and charitable work. Rest in Peace, Myra.

Almira Ellen "Myra" Carter was born on 16 September 1845 in Stetson, Penobscot, Maine to Rufus Burnham Carter (12 Sep 1818 - 22 Mar 1884) and Mary Abigail Burnett (1820 - 2 Apr 1877). She would be the oldest of their four children. After living briefly in Wisconsin, the family moved to Massachusetts, where on 22 February 1869, Almira married Walter Everett Simmons (30 Mar 1846 - aft 1820), son of Ichabod Simmons (17 Feb 1801 - 12 Sep [again!] 1869) and Marcia Bates (29 Dec 1806 - 14 Sep 1877). The Simmons had five children, and lived in Quincy Massachusetts for the remainder of their lives, being especially active in civic and charitable works. Almira died on 6 April 1915 while visiting her daughter, Mary Florence (Simmons) Holmes (12 Sep [again!] 1869 - aft 1930), in Detroit  Michigan.

"...shuffle and break-down."

In my last post, I wrote about the unavoidable nuisance of brick walls in genealogy, and how two of my highest walls block my two closest surnames: Brown and Burnett. Previously, I focused on the former; this time, I will tackle the latter. Part of my enjoyment of family research (and this blog) has come from meeting others, collaborating and sharing information or theories. One of my third-great grandfathers, Nathaniel S Burnett (12 Mar 1826 - 10 Oct 1885), son of today's subject, had at least eight children of his own, and at least thirty-six grandchildren; he was one of ten himself. With those odds, perhaps someone will discover this virtual message in a bottle and come to my aid!

Isaac Burnett (1780 - May 1860), one of my paternal fourth great-grandfathers, is my oldest verifiable Burnett ancestor. Beyond that, things get confused. Many researchers show him as the son of Daniel Burnett and a woman named Mariah, or Maria, with her last name often given as Burnham. This may be traced to two perhaps unrelated (no pun intended) facts.

First, in the venerable New England Historic Genealogical Society's publication, Massachusetts Town Birth Records 1620 -1850, there is a record from the town of Ashfield of an Isaac born to Daniel Burnett and Mariah.

Second, the 1850 U S Federal Census gives Massachusetts as Isaac Burnett's birthplace.

Voila! Isaac's parents are Daniel and Maria(h) Burnett. But as a wise National Park Ranger told me on a genealogically-inspired trip a few years back: it takes three legs to make a stool. One bit of information is interesting, two makes it more likely, but three confirms it as a fact.

And in this case, not only are we missing that crucial third leg, but there is this damning piece of evidence, which others seem to excuse or ignore:  Daniel Burnett's birth is well-documented as being in 1776, just four years before his supposed son's in 1780. Anyway....

We do know that Isaac was born in Massachusetts in 1780, and moved to Maine by at least 23 December 1802, when he married Deborah Grindle (25 Feb 1784 - aft 1860), daughter of a long-established and prolific New England family, whose name is also found as Grindal, Grindall, and Grindell.

The Burnetts are next found in the 1810 U S Federal Census living in Sedgwick, Hancock County, Maine, with their first four children, all girls: Peggy (17 May 1804 - ?), Lydia (8 Nov 1806 - ?), Sarah (20 Oct 1808 - ?), and another, possibly named Abigail.

In 1814, the family moved about fifty miles to the northwest, to the just-incorporated town of Newport, Maine; they are considered among the town founders. At one of the earliest town meetings, on 3 April 1815, Isaac Burnett is named as an agent of the newly-formed school district.





Newport, Hancock, Maine about 1875.

By 1820, there are two more daughters and--at last--a son (as of now all nameless, alas), then another: Reuben Burnett (abt 1818 - aft 1880), named after Deborah's father. On 12 March 1826, the last child--and at last my direct ancestor--Nathaniel S Burnett was born.

Isaac Burnett was primarily a farmer; an 1850 census reports he had seventy improved acres and thirty unimproved acres. He possessed one horse, two milk cows, two oxen, four other cattle, eleven sheep, and one swine, and was producing wheat, oats, rye, wool, butter, and cheese. 



Isaac Burnett is found on Line 10, after three lines of those prolific Grindalls.
 On Line 12 can be found Samuel Squire, whose daughter Rachel will marry Isaac's son Nathaniel four months after this Census was taken. [Detail]

By the time of Isaac's sudden death (of "old age", which is nice to read after a page otherwise full of dropsy, consumption, and typhoid fever) at age eighty in May 1860, he had also been working for some time as a blacksmith, perhaps a reflection of Newport's growing prominence as a carriage-making town.

It is remarkable how much we can learn about this ordinary man who died over one hundred and fifty years ago.

But who are Isaac Burnett's parents?

 

1. Isaac Burnett (1780 - May 1860) was born in Massachusetts, and married Deborah Grindle (25 Feb 1784 - aft 1860), daughter of Reuben Grindle (20 Mar 1757 - 15 Jul 1835) and Hannah Lowell (23 Jan 1759 - Sep 1802), on 23 Dec 1802 in Hancock County, Maine.

2. Nathaniel S Burnett (12 Mar 1826 - 10 Oct 1885) married Rachel Elizabeth Squire (28 Jan 1829 - 21 Apr 1902), daughter of Samuel Squire (13 Apr 1797 - 26 Jul 1871) and Lovina Coleman (27 Oct 1806 - 2 Jul 1901), on 26 Dec 1850, in Hancock County, Maine.

3. Charles A Burnett (Feb 1856 - 17 Jan 1930) married Ella Swarts (1 Sep 1861 - Apr 1899), daughter of Charles Swarts (12 Feb 1835 - 8 Jan 1909) and Henrietta Davenport (Jan 1836 - May 1904), on 1 Sep 1879 (her eighteenth birthday!), at Spring Lake, Minnesota.

4. Alfred Nathaniel Burnett (19 Aug 1883 - 31 Jul 1959) married Jennie Arleta Eaton (14 Mar 1891- 15 Apr 1979), daughter of Dor Henry Eaton (May 1869 - 31 Dec 1945) and Anna B A Miller (Jan 1867 - aft 1920), in 1909 in Minnesota.

5. Leroy Stanley Burnett (31 Aug 1910 - 11 May 1980) married Hazel Lucille Erickson (6 Sep 1910 - 6 May 2002), daughter of Erick Albert Erickson (28 Aug 1864 - 27 Nov 1948) and Johanna Maria "Marie" Svard (5 Feb 1875 - 28 Apr 1914), on 21 Jun 1933 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

6. [Living] Burnett married Beverly Alane Brown (8 Aug 1934 - 7 Mar 2010), daughter of Dana Earl Brown (26 Jan 1910 - 10 Sep 1984) and Myrna Margaret Severin (6 Nov 1907 - 12 Jun 1997), on 4 Mar 1961 in Long Beach, California.

7. Your humble blogger.

"Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go"

Our little village of Greenhills was founded on April 1, 1938. Coincidentally, that was also the day--seventy years later--of Stephen's and my first house payment here in our new home: April Fool's Day, indeed. Our village was the second in what turned out to be just three quasi-Utopian experimental "Green Towns" built under the direction of Rexford G. Tugwell--there's a name!-- who guided the Resettlement Administration, an offshoot of FDR's New Deal and WPA. And although we are not "Pioneers," the nickname for original residents and the current middle school's sports teams, it got me thinking about pioneers, and town founders, and how they relate to my family's history. (I also must add that I enjoy the word "founder," as it relates to "find." Can one found a city or just find it, and how do you find it if it is not already there? But I digress; that is a musing for another, linguistic blog....)

Besides having some Mayflower ancestry (ladida! and about whom more at a later date; someone remind me closer to--perhaps?--Thanksgiving) on my father's side, there are a number of other pioneers:

Thomas Steele (1683 - 22 Feb 1748) and Martha Morrison (1686 - 22 Oct 1759), maternal seventh great-grandparents, arrived from Aghadowey Parish, Northern Ireland in one of five ships full of other Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and were among the sixteen families who founded the town of Nutfield (present day Londonderry), Rockingham, New Hampshire in 1719.

Capt Samuel Cherry (15 May 1756 - 27 Oct 1825), a maternal fifth great-grandfather, helped settle New Haven, Oswego, New York in 1810, and was appointed one of the first four justices of the town after its formation in 1813.

Isaac Burnett (1780 - 1860), a paternal fourth great-grandfather, was one of the founders of Newport, Penobscot, Maine in 1814, and served as one of the first school agents, for District 5.

Which is all very historico-glamorous, but perhaps not that exciting. After all, we still see new cities being formed, although I cannot imagine that in the future anyone will find much to boast about if their ancestors were early residents of [insert your local soul-less suburb here]. But what about founding a whole state? Which leads me to the particular subject of this post: Stephen Addison Davenport, another paternal fourth great-grandfather, who sports a name nearly as posh as that of the aforementioned Mr Tugwell.

The Davenports are first recorded in America in 1640, when Thomas Davenport (abt 1615 - 1685, paternal tenth great-grandfather) appeared in the Dorchester (present-day Boston), Massachusetts church records. Successive generations of Davenports lived and farmed throughout New England, each son moving away from his birthplace.

Eliphalet Davenport (1750 - 1835, paternal sixth great-grandfather) fought in the Revolutionary War, enlisting as a Connecticut State Trooper under (then) Capt Israel Putnam (a distant connection on my maternal side) in 1775. According to his Pension records, he served variously as a guard, teamster, and even as personal waiter to Col Thomas Brown, until his discharge in 1779.

His grandson, Stephen Addison Davenport, was born in 1806. He farmed and began raising his family in Madison, New York. In 1841, he moved to the recently-formed Wisconsin Territory and bought a farm near Brighton, in Kenosha County. The move may have come about as a suggestion from his wife, Alma Holmes Doty. She was a descendant of those Mayflower folks to whom I referred earlier, and who seemed to have come from a higher social echelon than the simple Davenport farm-folks; one of her cousins was the Territory's second Governor, James Duane Doty. It is possible that James Doty may have exerted his influence, because Stephen Davenport was elected to serve in the Second Constitutional Convention, representing Racine. Sixty-nine men were picked for this convention, as "men of high standing in their respective Communities" according to Halford Erickson, Commissioner of Labor and Industrial Statistics, in his Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin, 1903. [One wonders what he would make of all the recent goings-on in Wisconsin....] Stephen Addison Davenport was one of the signers of the State Constitution, adopted 1 February 1848 and ratified by popular vote the following month.

One might think that Stephen Davenport, having recently turned forty, fathered six children, and being one of the founders of the thirtieth state admitted to the union, might have taken a well-deserved rest; one would be mistaken. Apparently, the adventurous Davenport gene would not allow this, and Stephen Davenport decided to strike out for even-newer territory: California, and its gold rush. Unfortunately, he was a year too late.

On 30 April 1850, the Salem Company was formed, electing a Capt Noble as their head. It was a group of about two-hundred men, who would travel to California to seek their fortunes. Stephen Addison Davenport was appointed one of Capt Noble's assistants. Among other things, the Company passed a resolution, "excluding Ardent Spirits as a beverage" and disallowing gambling and card playing. The sober group intended to depart from Iowa on 6 May.

Remarkably, there are a number of extant letters from Stephen Davenport to his wife and children, whom he left in the care of a sixteen year old farmhand, Austin Geer. They give a fascinating view into the times.

From Kanesville (now Council Bluffs, the historic starting point of the Mormon Trail), Iowa, 4 May 1850:

 "...now as far as Iowa is concerned it is not a fine nor pleasant nor delightful Country.... There is in this place at this time and in the settlement about 10000 inhabitants and 99 one-hundreths of them are Mormons they are living in mizerable huts as a general thing. Corn is worth 2 dollars per bushel.... [T]he rush of Emigration is Enormous...at this place probably from 5 to 8 thousand people... at St Joe there is said to be 3 times as many as there is here if so great God what the rush must be....Now send the children to school this summer if convenient all except enough to keep you company. Do not be loansum....   [W]e lodge in our waggons nights and bake our own pancakes and keep ourselves as clean as we can but if you or any other person could see the crowd that is here and the situation that we are in, you would then and there see how necessary it is for a man to have a woman.... [G]ood day until I have a chance to wright you from the Eldorado or gold diggings."

And again from Kanesville, 8 May:

 "...tomorrow is the Day we are set to Depart from the White Settlement but I am doubtful whither we get away before the Middle of the week.... Take good care of the pigs there in the pen, yours lovingly S A Davenport"

There are crowds, delays, high prices, and Stephen Davenport continues to suffer from an unknown illness.

From Fort Laramie, Wyoming, 1 June:

 "...dry and cold weather. Grass has but just started our horses have seen hard times. There are a few Soldiers Stationed at this place. The fort and about it is neat and clean. Soldiers neatly dressed and they are in a Romantic place you may Depend. Now in Reguard to myself and my health I am well and Compared with when I last wrote you still I have an occasional pain in my Side and Breast but I do not feel alarmed about it.... I have not seen a white man or woman Except the Emigrants for 590 miles and Do not Expect to See another for 1100 miles more. But I must say to you that I see all kinds of folks and from Every State in the union and they all appear friendly.... Now I want you to Make and Eat you and the children A first rate pie plant pie for me for O God how I long for one and after Eating feed the pigs that I may have Some pork when I get holme next winter.... Now I had the pleasure of Seeing the peak of Laramie that is the fore taste of the Rocky mountains it is now Covered with Snow and ice. This is the most Romantic Country in the world. I believe it is well worth Seeing. We have seen plenty of Buffalo have seen them in Droves."

Fort Laramie, c 1845, by A J Miller

From the North Fork of the American River, Placer County, California, 23 September 1850:

"Dear Wife and Children you must Excuse me for not Writing oftener than what I have, But permit me in the most humble manner to Say to you that our convenience for Writing is not as nice as when we are at holme.... Our Journey across the Plains was Some what A tedious one. We Run Short or porvisions when about a hundred miles from our Journeys End and to that Degree that we were obliged to put our Selves on rations.... This was a hard stent for me after living to Be 43 years old and always having Anough.... We Came through Safe and Sound with our team. All the horses lived through. Old Polly I sold for 85 Dollars, old Nancy I traded to the Indians for A pony and Sold the pony for 80 dollars this made 165 Dollars for my horses, our waggon we throwed away and paid 10 Dollars for another.... I have not lost one Single Day, And have made about 7 Dollars per Day Since.... We arrived here in the mines the 1 Day of August we was from 75 days Coming through the Bluffs.... [We] have been Building a Dam for across the river for purpose of working the bed of the river but have not yet worked it. Digging and washing gold is A hard Business.... I Can only Say that I Shall Come [home] as Soon as I have Money enough to pay my Debts and to get there with. I want you to guide and Direct the Steps of our Children and Say to them that I never lay myself Down on my rather Miserable Bed without thinking of all of you.... For three Months... I lay on the ground without any Shelter over me but my two blankets And was pretty Comfortable too at that. Sleep was never sweeter....We have of late had two quite Rainy Days. This they say is an unheard of thing.... Now I have got a Small but Merry pretty Speciman of pure native gold that I am going to Send to you in this sheet that you may see the nature of the Weed in its natural State this may not look as nice to you as it does to me...."

Stephen writes of the disappointment of the company as to what they expected, finding too many men and not enough gold. His health takes another turn as well.

10 October:

"Dearest and only thought of Woman, I have now Set Down after supper and A hard Days work to inform you that I am yet Alive and well and in as prosperous circumstances as I could expect to be.... Provisions are going up higher But we have got our flour and meat and Butter the latter at one Dolllar per lb. Wouldnt you like to get that for yours.... I suppose you and the girls are knitting your fingers off this fall and Just Save A pare for me mine have got holes in them.... Diging gold is A lottery and Damnd Bewitching. Doo not Believe Anything Else let whom will tell it... for this is A hard way to get Rich and A worse one for Comfort or happiness. All the wealth of the Californias would not induce me to Come on the trip again. All though and for all of the Assertions that I have here made I am not Sorry that I have Come. I have now Seen for myself and know for myself and if I am fortunate enough to get holme Alive and well and once more Enjoy our little family I Shall Be as Rich as I Desire.... Kiss little Willie for me and the younger ones the old ones are to Big to kiss But I doo not forget them. If Austin is there tell him to Be a good Boy."

Stephen Addison Davenport died the following month, from an unknown cause, without ever returning home. The Kenosha Democrat of 19 June 1852 reported that on 11 May, his estate was settled, some of the Davenport farmland being sold off to repay his debts.

Stephen Addison Davenport was born 20 November, 1806, probably in Pennsylvania. He married Alma Holmes Doty (9 Oct 1814 - 10 Aug 1879) in August 1835 in Madison, New York, her birthplace. Shortly after the birth of their third daughter in 1840, the family moved to a farm near Brighton, in the recently organized Wisconsin Territory (the farm stayed in the family until 1952). Three additional children followed, the last in 1849. The following year, Stephen Davenport went west with the Salem Company (to which he was appointed an Assistant) to make his fortune in the California Gold Rush. He died in Placer County, California, November 1850, but is erroneously shown in the 1850 United States Federal Census as still residing in Brighton, Kenosha, Wisconsin in September.

1 Stephen Addison Davenport married Alma Holmes Doty.

2 Henrietta Davenport (Jan 1836 - May 1904) married Charles Swarts (12 Feb 1835 - 8 Jun 1909), son of John Swarts and Mary McDonald, in Wisconsin, in 1859.

3 Ella Swarts (1862 - Apr 1899) was born and lived her entire life in Minnesota. She married Charles A Burnett (Feb 1856 - 17 Jan 1930), son of Nathaniel S Burnett and Rachel Elizabeth Squire, in Scott County, Minnesota, September 1879.

4 Alfred Nathaniel Burnett (19 Aug 1883 - 31 Jul 1959) married Jennie Arleta Eaton (14 Mar 1891 - 15 Apr 1979), daughter of Dor Henry Eaton and Anna B A Miller, in Minnesota, in 1909.

5  Leroy Stanley Burnett (31 Aug 1910 - 11 May 1980) married Hazel Lucille Erickson (6 Sep 1910 - 6 May 2002), daughter of Erick Albert Erickson and Johanna Maria Svard, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 21 June 1933.

6. [Living] Burnett married Beverly Alane Brown (8 Aug 1934 - 7 Mar 2010), daughter of Dana Earl Brown and Myrna Margaret Severin, in Long Beach, California, on 4 March 1961.

7  Your humble blogger.