Elizabeth Snow (1705-1755) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 14) Theme: "Water"

Elizabeth Snow's entry into this world at Bridgewater, Plymouth Colony on 5 May 1705 preceded her mother's death from complications of childbirth by just 3 days.

My 7X great grandmother Elizabeth was the youngest of the five children her mother Elizabeth (Alden) Snow had given birth to in the 11 years of her marriage to Benjamin Snow. Mother Elizabeth was just 27 when she died. Widower Benjamin went on to marry widow Sarah (Allan) Cary in October of that same year, giving a much-needed step-mother to his young family. The following August, one year-old Elizabeth had a new half-sister Sarah Snow added to complete her family circle.

Bridgewater MA Records for Family of Benjamin Snow

The day before her 20th birthday Elizabeth was married to 25 year-old Joseph Carver by Josiah Edson, Justice of the Peace.  Their first child born a couple of years later, also named Joseph Carver, would become my 6X great grandfather. The couple went on to have seven more children and raised them at Bridgewater on the western edge of Plymouth Colony. (Bridgewater can be found about 25 miles south of Boston and 35 miles east of Providence, RI.)

Marriage of Joseph Carver and Elizabeth Snow 4 May 1725 (half-way down the page)

Very little can be known with certainty about Elizabeth's life other than that she would have been involved in all the usual activities common to women of her time: childbearing and rearing, tending to hearth, home and family.

Elizabeth lived to the age of 50, dying 6 July 1755. She is buried in the Scotland Cemetery at Bridgewater where her stone reads as follows:

Here lies Buried
Mrs Elizabeth Carver
Wife of
Mr Joseph Carver
Who Died
July 6, 1755
in Ye 51 year
of her Age.

The author and her mother Elinor visiting the Carver burial site, Scotland Cemetery, Bridgewater, MA 1999
Photo Courtesy Graham Barnard

Afterthought: You may well be wondering how Elizabeth Snow fits this week's theme of "Water". In addition to having spent her entire life at a place called Bridgewater,  Snow is just another state of matter for water too!

Some Resources:

Find a Grave Memorial website located at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61950286/elizabeth-carver

Mitchell, Nahum, History of the Early Settlement of Bridgewater, in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, including an extensive Family Register (Boston, 1840; rep. Bridgewater, Mass., 1897) accessed online at Internet Archive. 

Steve Bardahl (1868-1947) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 13) Theme: "Nearly Forgotten"

Birth/baptism of Osten (Ostensen) item #10

Steve Bardahl was my paternal grandfather's half brother. Leaving no descendants, he has been mostly forgotten or assigned to the perimeter of the Bardahl family history. No picture of Steve has ever been found amid the family photographs.

Hans and Anna Bardahl Family c.1890 (colorized image)
Steve is notable for his absence here and in any other family photos

A clue for his distance from the family can be found in his birth record. His original name was not Steve Bardahl. Born 8 September 1868, his baptism record in the Holden Lutheran Church of Goodhue, MN shows his given name as Osten, with parents Osten Ostensen and Anne Eriksdtr. Holien.

After his mother married Hans Bardahl in 1873, Osten is sometimes found in records as "Erstine" or "Astein" with the surname Bardahl. He didn't seem to adopt the name Steve until he reached adulthood.

1875 census for Hawk Creek, Renville, MN, Astein Bardahl age 6

1880 U/S. census, Granite Falls, Chippewa, MN, Erstine Bardahl age 11
My grandfather John Bardahl is 1 year old at this time

On 5 March 1894 he married Laura Nelson, daughter of Carl and Karen Nelson (and older sister to Louise Nelson who would become my paternal grandmother).

Wedding of Steve Bardahl and Laura Nelson, first entry for 1894
Pomme de Terre Lutheran Church

One might imagine that all was bliss for the couple since their example was followed by Steve's half brother John who would go on to wed Laura's sister Louise a few years later. However, Steve and Laura were not destined to live happily ever after.

 

Laura Nelson back row right
with brother Nels, young sister Louise (my grandmother) and their mother Karen Nelson c.1890 (colorized image)

Steve and Laura moved to Milton, North Dakota to farm shortly after their wedding. According to The Milton Globe newspaper of 18 February 1897 "Steve Bardahl has opened up a collection agency. Office at residence, three doors west of post office." In the 22 July 1897 edition of the same paper: "Mr. and Mrs. S. Bardahl have moved into the building recently vacated by Mrs. Hanson."

The Milton Globe also gives us details about Steve's career. It reported on 13 October 1898: "Steve Bardahl of this city was last Monday appointed and sworn in as deputy sheriff. Deputy Gunder Nelson's business is of such nature that it necessitates his absence from the county at this busy time, when the services of a deputy sheriff are daily required."

Steve and Laura appear in the 1900 census at Milton, N.D. where they are renting their home and Steve is listed as a police constable.

The Milton Globe of 8 June 1906 reported: "At a meeting of the village council Tuesday evening Steve Bardahl was appointed marshal to succeed Jonas Christenson, resigned."

This must have been an interesting time and place to be involved in law enforcement; it was in many ways still  "the wild west". Records for Sheriffs serving in Cavalier County indicate that as a result of the prohibition enactment when North Dakota became a state in 1889, an additional deputy was needed at Langdon and Allan Pinkerton, a former city policeman, was hired for the job. Pinkerton broke up a large gang of outlaws terrorizing residents of several counties. Several murders and property line disputes required investigation between 1894 and 1898. From 1900 to 1904 several controversial trials were held and there was an investigation involving blind pigs. (A blind pig isn't what you might think. Apparently it referred to a low-class establishment that would thwart the prohibition laws by charging patrons to see an animal, such as a pig, and then offer them a free drink as part of the viewing. More information can be found at this site.)

Steve would have been in the thick of all this law enforcement action. But the jail did not hold only hardened criminals. My grandmother Louise once told me how Steve had locked her in jail in Milton and refused to release her for some time. He was playing a joke on her, but she was NOT amused, finding the whole experience quite terrifying.

While his law enforcement career was being established, the couple had difficulty starting a family. Again from The Milton Globe newspaper, 22 November 1900: "BORN - to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Bardahl, on the 17th inst., a son. The infant died within twenty-four hours after its birth, and the bereaved parents have the sympathy of many friends, especially as this is their second misfortune of this nature within the last few years."

The Bardahls were again on the move to a different rented house, as reported by The Milton Globe of 12 April 1906: "Mr. and Mrs. Steve Bardahl this week moved into the Wakeford house on West Oakland ." One gets the feeling that the Bardahls were rather unsettled.

The 1910 census finds Steve and Laura in Milton Village, Montrose Twp., N.D.  The record indicates that Steve was 41, Laura 36; that they had been married 16 years; that Laura had given birth to two children, neither of whom survived; that his occupation was laborer and that they were renting a house. It appears that Steve's law enforcement career had ended by this time.

During the 1910s, Steve and Laura joined other family members homesteading in the Leinan area of Saskatchewan (north of Swift Current).  Homestead records indicate that he made application for three different quarter sections: SW20-19-14-W3M, SW18-18-14-W3 and NW18-18-14-W3 but apparently did not ever prove up any of them. Many family members today might be surprised to learn that Steve and Laura had homesteaded in the area at all. The couple did not arrive in Canada until too late in 1911 to be counted in the Canadian census taken that summer. They do not appear in any of the group family pictures taken from the early homesteading days. Once again, Steve has been nearly forgotten. It seems they were in Canada for about 5-7 years before moving back to the United States, but did not seem to have left much of a mark.

It isn't clear just when the Bardahls separated or if they ever actually divorced. However, they lived apart for the rest of their lives.

Laura (Nelson) Bardahl, unknown year

Laura spent a number of years in Canada where she supported herself as a maid at the Banff Springs Hotel and was able from time to time to find work there for some of her nieces.

By the time of the 1930 US census, Steve was living with his mother in Barrett Village, Lien Twp., Grant Co., MN; at this time, he was 61 - white, male, single (note that something else had been written in the space for marriage condition and then erased and replaced), unemployed farm laborer, and not a veteran.

In the late 1930's (probably following his mother's death in 1938) he moved to Langdon, N.D. and was custodian at the City Hall there. As his health failed, he moved to a nursing home in Arthur, N.D. and died there 24 July 1947. Steve is buried at Lebanon (Milton) Memorial Cemetery. Reunited in the end, Laura was buried here too when she died in 1954.

Stone for Laura Bardahl at Lebanon (Milton, Cavalier County, N.D.)
Photo courtesy HL49 of Find a Grave website

There is no stone for Steve - once again nearly forgotten!

01 August 2020 Addition:

Many thanks to my cousin Roger for his fine detective skills in finding a photograph that almost certainly includes Steve. The 1930 U.S. Census had told us that Steve was living with his mother Anna in Barrett, MN. Photographs taken at the time of a 1930 visit by John and Louise to visit his mother include this one of Anna with her sons John and Ole and their wives; the man on the right is undoubtedly Steve. Not completely forgotten, after all!

Some Resources:

• Saskatchewan Archives Board for Homestead Records located online at https://www.saskarchives.com/collections/land-records/homestead-files-saskatchewan-archives/pre-1930-homestead-file-series-s-42
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 1781-1969,  birth records for Holden Church MN for 1868 located online through Ancestry.com 
• Pomme de Terre MN. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America marriage records for 1894
• Sheriffs Serving North Dakota 100 Years photocopy of page for Langdon, Cavalier County provided by Ross and Barbara Dohlen from their visit to the area
• A Century of Area History 1882-1982 Milton, North Dakota local history book, photocopied pages provided by the Dohlens from their visit there
• The Milton Globe : Milton, Cavalier County, N.D., published weekly from 1888-1937

Innkeeper: a Popular Occupation (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 12) Theme: "Popular"

Owning and operating an inn was a surprisingly popular occupation among earlier ancestors. Most of ours were in my maternal New England line and one in my paternal Norwegian line. My husband can claim one in his paternal line in England.

My husband's ancestor's tavern in England had a name: "The Butcher's Arms". In New England, taverns were often called "ordinaries". Since these businesses were usually operated out of people's homes, they often had no business name associated with them. In addition to being a popular occupation, no doubt most tavern or innkeepers were popular for providing a place of entertainment in their communities.

Maternal line Innkeepers in Colonial New England:

• William Blake (1620-1703) (my 9X great grandfather)
• Stukely Westcott (1592-1678) (my 9X great grandfather)
• John Bullen (1747-1824)  (my 4X great grandfather)

Links are given above to stories already written about these three men. 

There is an association for descendants of colonial innkeepers called "Flagon and Trencher" which has a lot of useful information on early taverns. John Johnson (below) and Stukely Westcott are both listed as previously approved ancestors for admission, but membership at US$200 seems rather steep for bragging rights to inclusion in this group.

• John Johnson (1590-1659) (my 10X great grandfather)

John Johnson was born in Hertfordshire, England in about 1590. During the course of his life, he would be married three times. His first wife was Mary Heath; they married 21 September 1613 in Ware, Hertfordshire, England, most likely at St. Mary's Church.

St. Mary's Church, Ware
This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by John Salmon
and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Six children were born to the couple in Hertfordshire: Mary, Isaac, Elizabeth, Humphrey (my 9X great grandfather), Sarah and Hannah. Sadly, mother Mary died in 1629. John married his second wife Margery before the family emigrated to America the following year.

The family sailed aboard the Arabella as part of the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. An excellent account of the hardships and realities of the 9 week voyage can be found here.

Replica of the Arabella Produced in 1930 for the 300th anniversary of Salem
Public Domain Image

The ship left Yarmouth, Isle of Wight on 6 April 1630 and landed in Salem, MA on 22 June 1630.

Once there, John was active in the business of the Colony as Juryman, committee man, Surveyor, Deputy to the House of Deputies (some 21 years, almost consecutive) and Surveyor General. He was the First Clerk of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. He was also one of the founders of Roxbury, MA. 

And  he kept a tavern.

Later in life, he was granted 1000 acres of land in consideration for his service to the Colony. 

•   General Richard Beers (1607-1675) (my 10X great grandfather)

Richard Beers was born 1 May 1607 in Gravesend, Kent, England to John and Mary (Selby) Beers (sometimes spelled "Beeres" or "Beres").

He emigrated from Gravesend to New England, in 1635, with his orphaned nephews, Anthony and James (sons of his brother James). They settled in Watertown, MA., where he remained. He was made a freeman of Watertown in 1637, was a Selectman in the government there for 31 years and served as a Representative to the General Court for thirteen years. Clearly, Richard was a  respected man of influence in his community.

Richard married a woman named Elizabeth who was probably Elizabeth Furman (1615-1706). She had immigrated to Massachusetts Bay from Nayland, Suffolk, England with her parents in the Winthrop Fleet of 1630. Their oldest child Sarah Beers, my 9X great grandmother, was born in 1639, followed by others between 1642 and 1662.

In 1654, Richard was granted a license to keep an ordinary (inn) in Watertown, which he operated for the rest of his life. (With a surname of  "Beers", this seems a particularly appropriate business for him.)

Paternal line Innkeeper in Norway:

• Torger Asgrimsen Nystuan (c1624-c1678) (my 8X great grandfather) 

Torger lived and died in Vang, Valdres, Oppland, Norway. He was born on Uvdal (Opdahl) farm to Asgrim Knudsen Opdahl and Gertrude Eriksdatter Hove. 

19th century Vang Kirke sits on the site occupied by a previous stave church located here in Torger's time

Photo by John Erling Blad

Wikimedia Commons

In about 1666, he married Marte Madsdatter Grihammer who had been born in the same area in 1641. The couple lived on Nystuen (Nystøga) farm and had three children: Marit Torgersdatter Nystuen, Ingeborg Torgersdatter Nystuen (my 7X great grandmother) and Asgrim Torgerson Opdahl. It seems he also had a daughter Gertrude Torgersdatter Nystune with Marit Knudsdatter Hermundstad but it isn't clear if or when he ever married her.

In 1664, his occupation in listed as "innkeeper". Unfortunately, we cannot locate any additional details around the type of establishment he would have had in Norway at the time. Did it offer rooms to let? Food? Beverages? Perhaps all of this as well as a place for the locals to socialize.

Barnard Paternal line innkeeper in Gloucestershire, England

• James Barnard (1833-1879) (my husband's great grandfather)

Born to James and Sarah (Dawes) Barnard in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, James was baptized at Abenhall Church on 22 December 1833. When he grew up he married Emma Matilda Smith and had a family of 11 children with her.

Interior Abenhall Church 2004

James was obviously a very ambitious man who provided well for his large family.  Among other things, he cut rock for houses from the quarries.  He built the first brick house on Plump Hill and many of his homes are still standing.

Detail of one of the homes built by James Barnard

James also kept a butcher shop and a public house. At the time of the 1861 census for England, he is 27, living at the Butchers Arms as an Inn Keeper, with wife Emma M. born West Dean, age 22 and son Jabus age 2 months.  Sister-in-law Ellen Smith, age 15, was staying with them at the time.

#34 James Barnard family at Butcher's Arms, East Dean, Gloucestershire, England 1861

Ten years later, he is listed in the census as an Iron Miner on Plump Hill. A James Barnard took over the Birch Hill Folly gale (regaled) with Reuben Joynes in 1875; this could be our James.  (A gale is a mining claim held by a freeminer and a regaled mine is one that has been transferred from one freeminer to another.  This is a concept unique to the Forest of Dean.)  By 1879, the year he died, James Barnard's name is no longer listed for this gale.

It was said that he was the strongest man in the Forest of Dean and for a wager (perhaps made at his inn!) he carried two sacks of corn, each 120 pounds, up a steep grass hill (perhaps Plump Hill itself ). He ruptured himself so badly that he was never able to lie down again. This may have been the cause of his early death in only his mid 40s. After his death, widow Emma had a shop but there is no evidence that she ever operated the Butcher's Arms as an inn.

Back view of Barnard homes - note steep grade of Plump Hill!

Some Sources: 

• Genealogy of John Johnson of Roxbury, Massachusetts generations i to xiv accessed online at Ancestry.com.
• New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
• George M. Bodge, Soldiers of King Philip's War (Boston, Massachusetts: David Clapp & Son, 1891), 81-87.
• Valdres Genealogy database located at valdresgenealogy.com person ID I04698, citing information from the Bygdebok: Vang A, author Anders Frohølm, p.36, 54 and from Vang and Slidre, author Tore Ey, p119. 

John Winslow (1597-1674) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 11) Theme: "Luck"

The suggested theme this week is "Luck". The synonym "Fortune" happens to be the name of a ship that brought some of my ancestors to America from England in November of 1621. One of these was my 10X great grandfather John Winslow who had two brothers (Edward and Gilbert) who had arrived on the Mayflower the previous year and two other brothers (Josiah and Kenelm, my 8X great grandfather) who would follow a couple of years later.

The Winslow brothers were sons of salt merchant Edward Winslow and his wife Magdalene Ollyver of Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. Their home at Kerswell Green was still a beautiful thatch-roofed home when we last visited in 2004.

Old Winslow Home at Kerswell 1999

In the Plymouth Colony Division of Land in 1623, John Winslow was allocated his one acre of land described as "those lie to the sea, eastward". His future wife Mary Chilton, a Mayflower passenger, was granted land in the group "these lie on the north side of the town next adjoining to their gardens which came in the Fortune."

Young Mary Chilton had lost both her parents to the  General Sickness that claimed half the Mayflower passengers that first winter in Plymouth colony. Sometime between 1623 and 1627, she and John Winslow were married. They had ten children born between 1628 and 1653, one of whom was my 9X great grandmother Susannah Winslow who married Robert Latham (and who are reported in the colonial records for their horrific treatment of their young servant that had resulted in his death, showing that not all ancestors are the honourable upstanding citizens we might hope for).

John was one of the Purchasers in 1626; this was a group of prominent colony men involved in Plymouth investments. John and Mary were next mentioned in the Division of Cattle that was done in  1627, included in the group that received "the lesser of the black cows came in the Anne which they must keep the biggest of the two steers. And to this lot was two she goats".

John was declared a freeman in 1633 and became active in the government of the colony.  He served in many ways, including two years as Deputy from Plymouth to the general court. In 1638, he and brother Kenelm, another of my ancestors, were witnesses against a man named Stephen Hopkins for selling wine at excessive rates. Ancestors after my own heart!

Still, it seems he was more interested in advancing his business fortunes than in community service. As with other prosperous men, John had at least one indentured servant.

By the mid 1650s, he had sold some of his Plymouth property and moved to Boston where he was a wealthy merchant and shipowner. In September of 1671 he paid 500 pounds in silver for the mansion of the late Antipas Voice  in Boston, which was his home until his death in May of 1674 and then his wife's until her death five years later.

John's will of 1673 indicated a substantial estate for the time. In addition to giving a large amount of cash to his wife Mary (400 pounds) and significant sums to his children, grandchildren and extended family, he includes that "my Negro Girle Jane (after she hath served twenty yeares from the date hereof) shall be free, and that she shall serve my wife during her live/life and after my wifes decease she shall be disposed of according to the disscretion of my overseers." (spelling from the original will as set forth in Roser, below, p.35) (Ouch! With all my Colonial ancestors, I knew slavery would likely crop up sometime, but it's still difficult to actually see evidence of its association with a particular ancestor. Apparently certain forms of slavery were perfectly legal and seemingly acceptable in colonial New England. On its website (see below), the Medford [MA] Historical Society & Museum says that most prominent New England merchants had ties to the slave trade and made huge fortunes in this way. It is not only "The South" where the slave trade was closely tied to the economy and wealth.)

Stone Image from DPesave608 at Findagrave website

John was buried in 1674 in Kings Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, MA. where wife Mary joined him five years later.

John Winslow had arrived in 1621 aboard the Fortune, a ship aptly named for the financially successful future he would achieve in New England.

Some Resources:

Johnson, Caleb H., The Mayflower and Her Passengers, Xlibris Corporation, 2006.

Roser, Susan E., Mayflower Increasings 2nd Edition, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1997.

Medford Historical Society and Museum website at 

http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/africa-to-medford/slaves-in-new-england/