Oldest Mayflower Passenger: James Chilton (1556-1620) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 40) Theme: "Oldest"

400 years ago (at the time of this writing) James Chilton, my 11X great grandfather, was somewhere out on the Atlantic Ocean, probably enjoying pleasant September weather aboard the Mayflower while anticipating the adventure of a new life for his family in America. 

James was the oldest of the 102 passengers to make that epic 66 day journey to America. The average age of the 50 men aboard Mayflower was 34. James was almost double that at age 64.

Most likely born at Canterbury, Kent, England, to Lionel and Edith Chilton, James grew up to be a tailor by trade. At some point in his life he adopted a Protestant Separatist belief system, considered radical and definitely at odds in many respects with the state-mandated Church of England religion. 

The author enjoying the empty streets of Canterbury early morning 11 August 2016

Photos of Canterbury taken by Graham Barnard August 2016
Buildings that would have been familiar to the Chiltons

He married, probably about 1583, and started to have children baptized in Canterbury, but his wife's name remains unknown. Even when she got in trouble with the Archdeaconry Court for attending the secret burial of a child (because her religion was against "popish" burial ceremonies required by the Church of England), she was still denied a name and is referred to obliquely as "wife of James Chilton".

By the time their eighth child was baptized in July of 1601, the family had moved from Canterbury to Sandwich and were attending St. Peter's Parish Church. This was also where their 10th and final child, Mary (my 10X great grandmother), was baptized on 31 May 1607.

Google Earth Street View Image of St. Peter's Church, Sandwich

The Chiltons would have been joining a group of Huguenots and Flemish Protestant refugees from the Netherlands who had moved to Sandwich in 1560 and had made St. Peter's their church. There was probably a sympathetic connection between the English and continental European Protestant religious dissidents. Sometime after "the wife of James Chilton" was excommunicated on 12 July 1609, the Chiltons moved to Leiden, Holland to join a contingent of about 500 like-minded English religious dissidents living there. The Chiltons were living in Holland at the time of their daughter Isabella's marriage there to Roger Chandler on 15 July 1615 and continued to enjoy more religious freedom there than they would have had back in England. Even in Holland, however, storm clouds were gathering: there was fear that the Spanish would once again exert their influence and make life there untenable too.

It may have been an attack on James Chilton  by about 20 boys in April 1619  that provided the actual impetus for the move to America. James was hit in the head with a stone and required medical attention. One of his daughters had been with him at the time of the attack. With the English group no longer feeling quite so welcome in Leiden, plans were formulated to move a portion of the congregation to the perceived safety of America.

Hence we find 64 year-old James Chilton, his wife,  and their 13 year-old daughter, Mary, aboard the Mayflower when it departed from Plymouth Harbour in 1620. 

Area of old Plymouth associated with the Mayflower passengers preparing to embark for America

James Chilton, Tailor of Canterbury
About halfway down the list

Commemorative plaque in the area where the Pilgrims spent their final night in England

Plymouth Harbour, Devon, England 2016
Mayflower passengers would have had a similar view as they left from here in 1620

Mayflower II Replica ship docked in Plymouth, MA 1999

Problems encountered by intended sister ship Speedwell had caused the voyage to be delayed beyond the ideal sailing season. Although the weather had started off pleasantly enough, conditions  soon became very unpleasant with storms lashing Mayflower's leaky hull. Some 130 people were crammed into a ship that was only about 100 feet long. The passengers' living space was on the gun deck (approximately 50 feet by 25 feet and a ceiling just 5 feet high). There would have been no privacy whatever. Seasickness was common among the passengers, most of whom were not experienced sailors. There was the added worry about possible attack by pirates and privateers . Three of the women were pregnant and about one-quarter of the passengers were children, providing some extra challenges.

During one of the storms, another of my ancestors, John Howland, fell overboard and had to be rescued. 

It was very late in the year when they arrived at Cape Cod with no welcoming committee or accommodations to greet them. They had actually been aiming for the existing English settlement known as "Virginia" but conditions caused them to land north of there. James Chilton had survived the lengthy and arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to be one of the signatories of the Mayflower Compact on 11 November 1620. This was a document agreed by the men in the group (not women, children or indentured servants) about how the colony would be governed, given the lack of any other law that would apply in this new area.

Mayflower Compact Plaque in Plymouth, MA
James Chilton is third man listed on right side

James never actually got to live in the new Plymouth Colony. The newcomers had not had time to build any shelters by 8 December when James died aboard Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor. It might be speculated that it was his age that made him more vulnerable, but five other passengers also died that month. His unnamed wife died sometime that first winter too, along with nearly half the other newcomers. 

Daughter Mary was among the survivors. Four years later, at age 17, she married John Winslow and had a family of ten children with him, ensuring the survival of James Chilton's dreams of a new life for his family in America. 

Some Resources:

• Deetz, Patricia Scott and James F., The Plymouth Colony Archive Project, "Passengers on the Mayflower: Ages & Occupations, Origins and Connections", 2000 at the following website: http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/Maysource.html
• Evans, James, BBC History Extra Podcast, 24 September 2020 which can be accessed at https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/the-mayflower/
• Johnson, Caleb H., The Mayflower and Her Passengers, Xlibris Corporation,2006 and Caleb Johnson's Mayflower website located at http://mayflowerhistory.com/
• Roser, Susan E., Mayflower Increasings 2nd Edition, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1989.

Murder in Minneapolis: Frederick Wescott (1867-1912) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 39) Theme: "Should Have Been a Movie"

Frederick "Fred" Wescott was one of my great grandmother Mary Jane Wescott's older brothers, making him a great granduncle to those in my generation in the family. He was born in Kaukauna, Outagamie, Wisconsin 12 May 1867 a couple of years after his father George Garner Wescott returned home from fighting for the Union in the American Civil War. That may have used up most of Fred's luck; things did not end well for him as this tragic murder mystery will reveal.

Fred Wescott 1895

Place

• Rising Sun Restaurant, a somewhat seedy establishment at 208 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnestota

Time

• 1912, beginning on the evening of Saturday 1 June

Cast of Characters 

• Frederick Wescott, age 45, cook in the Rising Sun Restaurant, the victim
• Mrs. Isabelle Getsman, age 35ish, otherwise known as "Scotch Maggie", owner of the Rising Sun Restaurant
• John Getsman, her husband, age 56, a horse dealer and sometime saloon owner
• Daniel Moon, clerk in the Grand Central hotel, 110 Second Street South, Milwaukee 
• Minneapolis Police Chief Mealey, Captain Smith and Detectives Crummy and Johnson
• Hubert Jacobs, possible witness, age 23, height 5 ft. 3 inches, walks with a slight limp

Synopsis

The headlines shouted out the tragic news on the front page of the Monday 3 June 1912 edition of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune:

Headlines 3 June 1912 Star Tribune, Minneapolis MN, front page
accessed from Newspapers.com 

The lengthy story that followed was conveniently broken into sections since there was so much to report. It continued:

     Fred Wescott, cook in the Rising Sun restaurant, 208 Second avenue south, was murdered Saturday night by being stabbed in the back, either shortly before or immediately after entering the restaurant at about 10 o'clock.

    Mrs. Isabelle Getsman, formerly better known as "Scotch Maggie", her husband, John Getsman, a horse dealer and Daniel Moon, clerk in the Grand Central hotel, 110 Second street south, are being held in Central station pending a further investigation.

    Although Wescott must have been stabbed before 10 o'clock, it was not until after 3 o'clock in tho morning that the police were notified of his death. Then it was said he had died from heart disease, and it was not until detectives and the coroner arrived that the stab wound under his left shoulder blade was discovered.

From there, the article reported how the stories told by Mr. and Mrs. Getsman contradicted one another. First, they reported her version verbatim:

"Wescott has been cooking for me for the last two years. Last night, at about 8 o'clock, he said he was going out to get a shave. I gave him a dollar, asking him to buy some groceries. It was about 10 o'clock when he returned. He hadn't had a shave, nor did he have any groceries. Tho dollar was also gone. 

   "He took off his coat and sat down in the kitchen, cocking his feet on the kitchen table. I noticed there was blood on his vest and asked him about it. He said it didn't amount to anything. 

   "I left him there and went to bed. My husband came in about 11 o'clock and I told him about Fred. He talked to him a moment and then also went to bed. It was some time afterward that I heard Wescott walking about. Shortly after I heard a peculiar gurgling sound and awakened my husband, who went to investigate, and then hurried out to find a policeman."

There were some differences in the versions of husband and wife. He said the door was locked when he got home while his wife had said it not been locked. (The policeman on the beat who had made his rounds between 10 and 11 p.m had found the door locked.) She said that when her husband came home she prepared supper for him and they shared a bottle of beer; he denied eating anything after he got home. Each claimed to be the first to go to bed that night. 

According to Mr. Getsman, when he found Wescott in distress, he went to find a policeman and wandered up and down Washington Avenue both directions but was unable to find one. When he got home, still not having obtained assistance, he found that Wescott was dead.  Finally, Getsman ran to the National Hotel and telephoned police headquarters saying there was a dead man at his place, probably having suffered a heart attack. (The police were, understandably, suspicious that Getsman, who had lived int he city for many years and knew the area well, would have known where police headquarters and the patrol barn were located and would have easily been able to find a policeman had he really wanted to.)

The third person arrested was Daniel Moon, clerk at the nearby Grand Central Hotel. He had been in the Rising Sun Restaurant that evening and was supposedly the last man to have seen Wescott alive and well. Mrs. Getsman tried to focus blame on Moon saying that Moon and Wescott had planned to open a saloon together but must have fallen out; Moon denied all of this. He said he had seen Wescott shortly after 8 o'clock that evening when Wescott had left to go to 28 First Street North to feed the dogs at Getsman's barn. That was the last Moon saw of him.

The Coroner's autopsy found that Fred's death had resulted from internal hemorrhage caused by a sharp object such as a stiletto or double-edged knife; two such knives were found at the scene (nor surprisingly since this was a restaurant). 

Other evidence found by the police included a white cook's apron, covered in blood and rolled up in a ball in the back yard. It was noted that the stab wound had penetrated Fred's shirt and vest but there was no damage to his jacket, leading the police to the conclusion that the stabbing had occurred indoors and not out on the streets as implied by Mrs. Getsman. 

Newspaper stories over the next while often tended to the lurid but do give a sense of what transpired in the investigation. 

It seems that after the confusion of the first night, Daniel Moon was released, as was Mr. Getsman. One witness by name of Hubert Jacobs had been located after a 24 hour search by Detective Crummy. Jacobs stated that he had just been leaving the restaurant on the fateful night after hearing Mrs. Getsman and Wescott arguing about the necessity of  peeling more potatoes. He said he had seen a struggle ensuing, culminating with her stabbing Wescott in the shoulder with a knife. 

Mrs. Getsman remained in jail and remained silent on advice of counsel. When the papers learned of her stage moniker "Scotch Maggie", the opportunity proved irresistible to the reporters.

Star-Tribune, Minneapolis, MN 5 June 1912, p.10
Newspapers.com

Minneapolis Morning Tribune, Tuesday 4 June 1912, page 2

The article was not kind to "Scotch Maggie", describing her and her establishment in very unflattering terms:

 

Seated moodily in the woman's ward last night, the woman, now known as Mrs. lsabelle Getsman, gave little evidence of the girlish charm that had made her name a sort of  power to be reckoned with a score of years ago. She had not only beauty of face and figure then, according to those who knew her, but a voice of remarkable quality as well. It was her voice, in fact, that caused her to be sought for a certain class of entertainments. And always she sang Scotch songs with Scotch dances accompanying. ''Scotch Maggie" they called her and the name clung through the years that became more and more sordid until, as the keeper of a sordid little restaurant in sordid part of the city she is said to have, in the heat of anger, thrust a knife through a man's back.

It got worse when describing the ravages that time and tough living had wrought on poor Maggie:

The woman whom the police came to take away from the restaurant and lock up was an over stout, frously-haired, hard faced woman. For years she had catered to a patronage of rough men in an eating place surrounded by pawn shops and employment agencies. It had taken the light out of her eyes and the color out of her cheeks and made hard lines come about her mouth.

The article then compared this to her enticing beauty of eyes, clothes, and aura of perfume in years gone by. She was said to have laughed at the world in those days.

"The boys used to have some great fights over Maggie," said the old time

detective. "And in those days she had a temper that, was as hot as her face

was beautiful." 

 

But now, the article concluded, she had a sodden brain that might only vaguely remember her days as the belle of her set 20 years previously. Strong drink had robbed her voice of its sweetness and Maggie of her charm. Her establishment, it said, catered to down-and-out strangers who had lost their grip, as had she. The word "sordid" was used numerous times. Was it really as bad as all that or was the paper playing it for all it was worth to boost readership?

It should be pointed out that the 1910 U.S. Census had given Maggie's age as 33; presumably this should be taken with a grain of salt - or life had indeed been very hard on her for her earn the description of an over stout, frously-haired, hard faced, sodden-brained middle-aged woman!

The Rising Sun was, of course, closed immediately. However, two canaries and a parrot were left behind. The parrot was quoted as calling out "Maggie! Where's Maggie?" Mr. Getsman kindly took it to keep her company in prison (although a cynic might think he was just trying to rid himself of the nuisance!)

Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN 9 June 1912
Newspapers.com

The disappearance of Hubert Jacobs, the only witness, led to the discharge of all charges against Mrs. Getsman. Jacobs was later arrested in Louisville in February of 1913 on a charge of grand larceny and running a sweat box operation. (Internet searches have not enlightened me on exactly what sort of crime this is.) He at one point confessed to the murder of Fred Wescott, but later repudiated that confession. 

Then on 2 April 1913, Mrs. Getsman was rearrested and indicted by the grand jury. A few days later Jacobs was also indicted. It seemed they were both to be tried for the murder in April of 1913.

Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN 2 April 1913, p. 9
Newspapers.com

But in the end, both were released due to lack of evidence.

13 June 1913 edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, p.11
Newspapers.com

This marked the end of the investigation. Was "Scotch Maggie" guilty? We might speculate as to whether there was some sort of conspiracy to confuse matters to the point where no one could be brought to justice. Today, forensics could likely come up with ample incriminating evidence from such a murder scene, but apparently not in 1912.

How did Fred end up in Minneapolis? - Flashback Scenes to Fred's Life in Wisconsin

• Happier scenes can be found from Fred's childhood in Kaukauna, Wisconsin with his parents George Garner Wescott and Sarah Catherine Bullen and his siblings - 5 brothers and 2 sisters. They were a musical family and played for dances; father George conducted an old-fashioned singing school.

1895 Wescott Family (colorized) - Fred is standing on the left side of the group of siblings

• On 11 October 1894 at age 27 he married German immigrant Josephine ("Josie") Nikodem and started a family with her. They had 6 children, 3 sons and 3 daughters born between 1895 and 1908. 

Fred Wescott on the right beside wife Josephine with 4 oldest children (in white shirts), estimated date 1903

• In August of 1904, Fred purchased and operated the Spotted Dan Saloon (located on the road to the asylum in Chippewa Falls) - perhaps providing him with experience that led to his future at the Rising Sun in Minneapolis a few years later. 

• The plot muddies when we see the newspaper report of Fred and Josephine's  1906 divorce on the basis of his cruelty and violence toward her which says that they weren't married until 10 October 1903.  

Marshfield Times, 26 December 1906, page 6

• Apparently they had a change of heart just a year later (assuming these two reports relate to our couple; so far no actual records have been located to verify these reported events).

Chippewa Herald-Telegram, Chippewa Falls, WI 
11 January 1908, accessed from Newspapers.com

• The Chippewa Herald-Telegram newspaper of 7 June 1908 tells how Fred Wescott had been fishing in the river opposite the Central Depot when he found a watch and chain with locket attached; he turned this in to the authorities. In the midst of such a sad tragic life story, it is nice to find evidence of Fred being an essentially honest man who liked to fish in his spare time.

• The 1910 census for Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin gives some clues that life was not easy for Fred and Josephine; he was supporting his family of 8 by doing odd jobs and they lived in rented property. No mention is made of his ownership or operation of the Spotted Dan Saloon.

• It isn't difficult to visualize how marital problems could lead later that year to Fred's desertion of his young family for a fresh start in the bigger center of  Minneapolis. It would prove to be a tragic decision.

• Fred found work as a cook in the Rising Sun Restaurant at 208 2nd Street South in the Bridge District (now called the Gateway District) of downtown Minneapolis. This was right in the hub of all the action near the Mississippi River. Newspaper accounts from the time describe the area as "sordid".  Licenses for establishments at 203 and 205  2nd Street South had been denied by inspectors just the year before; we must assume Fred was not working in a high-end establishment.

John Getzman license denied - Minnesota Star Tribune 3 July 1911, p.7
accessed from Newspapers.com

• The area, including the Rising Sun Restaurant where Fred was murdered has been  totally demolished and the area modernized since then. 

Google Earth image showing modern Minneapolis
highlighting location of the Rising Sun Restaurant 1912 

Follow-up Information for the People Most Affected:

• No one has ever been charged for the murder of Fred Wescott. He was buried without fanfare or marker at the Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery in Minneapolis. 
• Mrs. Isabelle Getsman ("Scotch Maggie") disappears from the records after 1913; one might assume the publicity and notoriety caused by the murder destroyed what was left of her life and her marriage.
• John Getsman later married for a second time and died at the age of 67 on 10 June 1927; he is buried at Crystal Lake Cemetery in Minneapolis. His Find a Grave memorial highlights his connection to the Fred Wescott murder. 
• Daniel Moon was still a clerk at the Grand Central Hotel in 1916.
• Hubert Jacobs has proven difficult to find; he had married Florence Northern the year before the murder. There was one divorced man of that name located in the Missouri State Penitentiary at the time of the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, but we cannot know for certain if this is the same man.
• Fred's widow Josie must have struggled financially for many years; several of her children worked in the shoe factory by 1920. By the time of the 1930 U.S. census she had remarried to a man named Joseph Lavigne and we hope was living a more comfortable life with him. 
• Earl Wescott, Fred's oldest son, died at age 33, unmarried.
• Garner Wescott, Fred's son, died at age 39 but had been married and left a widow and young children.
• Lyda Wescott, Fred's daughter married and had a family; she lived to the age of 92.
• Margaret Wescott, Fred's daughter, married and had a family; she lived to age 69.
• Vera Wescott, Fred's daughter, married and had family; she worked most of her life in the Chippewa Shoe Factory and died the day before her 103rd birthday. 
• Albert ("Manny") Wescott, Fred's youngest son, was injured in a tragic accident while the investigation into his father's death was still ongoing. What a terrible blow this must have been to his poor mother and the extended family! He grew up to get married but, like his brothers, died relatively early at the age of 54.

Chippewa Herald-Telegram, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin 3 May 1913, p.3
Newspapers.com

Irvin D. Yalom (When Nietzsche Wept) said that "if we climb high enough, we will reach a height from which tragedy ceases to look tragic", but I know of no height that would diminish the tragedy surrounding the seemingly senseless murder of Fred Wescott.

David Bullen (1788-1872) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 38) Theme: "On the Map"

My 3X great grandfather David Bullen, the son of John Bullen and Mary Whitcomb, was born at Paris Hill near Clinton, Oneida Co., N.Y. in about 1788. His father John Bullen had served in the American Revolution. After the War, John participated in the uprising known as Shay's Rebellion. To avoid capture and prosecution, he fled with his family from Massachusetts to Clinton, N.Y. His pregnant wife Mary gave birth to their seventh child en route, supposedly under a bush. It was about a year after this that David was born in what had to have been much more comfortable circumstances.

1895 Map of the Clinton area of Oneida, New York from the David Rumsey Map Collection,
David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries
More than a century after David's birth the area has become quite developed

In 1823, at the age of 35, he married Jane Murdie and started a family with her that would eventually include 8 children, the youngest of whom was my great great grandmother Sarah Catherine Bullen. The earliest years of their marriage were spent at Hannibal, Oswego, N.Y.

Google Earth - showing New York locations for David Bullen at Paris Hill and Hannibal

Hannibal's Masonic records tell us that a petition for a Masonic Lodge at Hannibal was signed by John Bullen, David Bullen, and others on 20 July 1824. John Bullen was the first Master and David Bullen was the first Senior Warden. The Charter was later forfeited in 1832 when the Lodge decided to go with the Morgan times (which would be another whole story, no doubt, and would have little to do with putting David "on the map"). This serves, however, as just one example of the usual pecking order between brothers, with David generally playing second fiddle to his older brother John. 

With the multitude of John Bullens in the family, there has at times been confusion between David's brother John Bullen and his brother's son, John Bullen, Jr.

The Bullens were among those interested in exploring the opportunities for establishing new settlements in "the west" fueled by glowing reports of rich fertile soil and bright sunny skies. In December of 1834, a supper meeting was held at the Hannibal home of John Bullen, Jr. To spread out the financial burden, those in attendance expressed an interest in setting up a venture with shares to be sold for $10 each. In February of 1835, "The Western Migration Company" was formed with Reverend Peter Woodin, a respected Baptist minister, as chairman and John Bullen, Jr. as secretary. An exploration committee of three men headed west in March of 1835.

It should be remembered that there were no established transportation routes to the western shores of Lake Michigan at the time. This was the area that was meant by "the west" in the 1830s. When the men from Hannibal set off in search of land for their new settlement, they proceeded from Hannibal by way of Lake Erie to Detroit and then across country to Chicago. This is where they discovered that there was no road north to Milwaukee so they set out by land, mostly following the beach of Lake Michigan, and eventually finding a small sailing vessel that took them to Milwaukee. There they found the property far too expensive for the funds their share sales had generated. They headed back toward the south, eventually choosing an area south of Racine. 

Western Emigration Company General Migration Route to WI 
Google Earth

The exploration committee ran into numerous problems in acquiring lands. John Bullen, Jr. was then made the sole representative of the group to finalize matters.  He is generally regarded as the founder of what is now Kenosha, WI. The area was originally known as Pike Creek, but by 1837 it was called Southport and then in 1850 renamed Kenosha (a Native American word again reflecting the plentiful pike). They had chosen the name of Southport because of its location in the very southern part of Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan. 

John Bullen, Jr. built the first framed building in the new settlement in 1835-36. He was a merchant who focused on providing the necessities in the new community.

Southport Telegraph 1 December 1840
David's nephew John, Jr. opens his new store

David and his brother John Bullen moved to the Kenosha area in 1836 to join John, Jr. Apparently, David made the journey overland in the winter in a covered sleigh. His family followed by boat, "The Michigan", owned by his brother John.  At Milwaukee the boat drifted ashore in a storm.  From there they proceeded south by wagon.  

David is credited with being one of the first settlers of the town of Salem in the Kenosha area in 1636, along with John Dodge, John Bullen and Amos Gratton. David's brother John Bullen located on Bullen's Ridge. He was very active and influential in the community. Fortunately, he was appointed General of the Militia by Governor Dodge and can therefore be differentiated as "General John Bullen".

Early Wisconsin land deeds show us two parcels of land acquired by David Bullen (one in conjunction with one of the John Bullens) in the area west of Southport (now Kenosha) between the new settlements of Bristol and Salem. He owned some 310 acres in sections 6 and 7 of Township 1N, Range 21E pursuant to land grants dated 1840/12/10 and 1843/03/03. (The area has been highlighted on the following map in aqua colour in Range XXI just above the word "Bristol".) 

1845 Morse et al map of Southern Wisconsin from the David Rumsey Map Collection,
David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries
David Bullen's lands highlighted in aqua colour

David was also said to have had a farm near Paddock Lake just a couple of miles to the west of his Salem land, but a deed has not been located to pinpoint that property.  

By 23 July 1860, David was 70 and a farmer, but Jane had passed away. David's real estate was valued at $1500 and his personal estate at $280; he was living at Farmington in Washington County, WI, north of their previous home near Kenosha. The census tells us the value of his real estate but does not tell us exactly where it was located. Did he retain his lands in the Kenosha area or had he acquired some in the Farmington area? Two of his sons are listed in the same household but I'm not sure who Catherine is. More sleuthing is required here!

When the next US Census was taken ten years later, David was said to be 84 and at that time was living with daughter Jane, her husband Nelson Hull and their 4 children at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Several of his sons had moved to the Arlington, Wisconsin area and David lived with their families during his final years.

A letter from daughter Jane Hull in Arlingtonbury dated 5 August 1872  is quoted in the  Nelson Dunlop Papers: 

"Dear Sister and Brother: - It is  with a heavy heart, that I seat myself to write a few lines to you. Our poor father is no more.  He died last Monday afternoon.  He was taken sick the Wednesday before.  Win sent for the doctor.  He came and called it the typhoid fever and said the chance for him was very small.  They done all they could for him but could not keep him.  His work was done. He was called and must go. Gladly would we have kept him, but not our will but His be done.  He has left this world and gone to a better world where he will not have to say any more, "I am sick."  May we all be so happy as to meet him, and her that went before him. Little did we think when Mother died that he would live 14 years.  It was a little over 14 years.  I have forgotten the day of the month that she died.  . . . He died in the afternoon the day before we got here.  All I could see of Father was his cold form.  His funeral was Wednesday at the school house.  . . . I will send you some of father's hair."

David Bullen's stone in Arlington Presbyterian Cemetery, Arlington, WI
Photo Courtesy "Grave Walker" (L Kopet) Findagrave.com

Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, WI
Photo courtesy Steve Seim of Findagrave.com

The final map location where we can place David is at the Arlington Presbyterian Cemetery just a couple of miles west of his sons' Arlington properties. 

Google Earth - David Bullen burial location at Arlington Presbyterian Cemetery -
Not far from lands owned by his sons in the area (circled in red on the old plat overlay) 

Some Resources:

• The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin, Chicago: Western Historical Company 1879, 781 pp., accessed online through Google Books
• Nelson, Myrtle Bullen and Dunlop, Ruth H., Nelson/Dunlop Papers (aka Source Book for the Bullen Family), compiled in the 1930s, privately printed, a photocopy of which is held by the author.
• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection located at https://www.davidrumsey.com/.

Teaching in One-Room Country Schools: Idella Edwards (1897-1976) and Elinor Anderson (1926-2016) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 37) Theme: "Back to School"

First Generation: Idella 

Education was of utmost importance to my Grandma. Next to "eat your greens!", her favourite precepts included "get an education!" and (perhaps only aimed at her equally serious granddaughter) "for the love of Mike, smile!" She had lots of other passions and great values to instill, but this week the focus is on school.

Idella ("Della") Edwards was born in Great Falls, Montana on 28 July 1897, the first-born child of Charles F. Edwards and Mary Jane ("Mayme") Wescott. Three sisters and two brothers would come along to complete the Edwards family.

From Grandma Della's Album - with her comment (the same thing she often said to me!)

When Della started school (September 1903) she could simply walk across the street to Longfellow School in Great Falls. However, when she was 12, the family moved to a small fruit farm near Lake Blaine, N.W. of Kalispell and about 30 miles from the western entrance to Glacier Park. Della and her siblings attended Cayuse Prairie School, 3 miles away.

From Grandma Della's Album

Because freight rates were so high, Della's father found he couldn't afford to ship his fruit, so returned to his previous career working on the railroad.  He had always worked for the Great Northern Railroad, but when they had a strike in 1914, he went to Canada to work on the CPR.  This introduced him to the Saskatchewan prairie where he saw a new opportunity. He took up a homestead (N18-20-21-W3M) seven miles south of Lancer, Saskatchewan.  That winter, Charles moved his family to a home in Kalispell until he could get a house built on the half section in Saskatchewan.

When Charles brought the family by train to Lancer in the spring of 1915, Della remained in Kalispell until the summer of 1916 so that she could finish high school. 

Flathead County High School, Kalispell, MT from Grandma Della's Album

From Grandma's High School Yearbook 1916

Charles and some of the other men applied to the Saskatchewan Department of Education for advice in setting up a local school district in the newly developing farming community. A variation on one of the proposed names was approved by the Department; Hill School would be located on the Northeast corner of SE17-20-21 W3M. My Uncle Bob Anderson wrote about these times in "A Partial History of Hill School (District #3624)": 

It was recorded that there were 13 school age children in the proposed district. Five of this group were members of the Edwards family (Everett 15, Marion 13, Ora 11, Grace 9, Merton 6). 

As was true of nearly all Prairie rural schools, a loan (debenture) was asked for and received, to finance construction. But in Hill's  case, approval came later than expected, so the target date of fall, 1915 could not be met. Since approval was not given until late 1915, construction of the 24'X30' school, an 8 horse barn and 2 outhouses was not completed until Nov., 1915. The fall term was held in the Ed Howey farm home, with teacher John Cairns at $70 per month. Hill School was officially opened on Apr. 3, 1916. The first school officials were chairman J. B. O'Connor, Sec.-Treas. Chas. Edwards and Trustees Bert White and A.E. Cavanagh.

The first teacher at the new school was Grace Leggott. She resigned at the end of the spring term because of illness, and the local Board was faced with the task of finding another teacher for the fall. There were more openings than teachers in those early years and qualified people were hard to find. At the local Board meeting, Sec.-Treas. Chas. Edwards mentioned that his oldest daughter Idella had just finished high school in Kalispell, Montana, and was planning to join the family on their homestead. Could she fill in as teacher until someone qualified could be found? The Trustees agreed with his suggestion, and Idella Edwards took charge of Hill School early that fall, just after her 19th birthday. With no teacher training and no background in Canadian or Saskatchewan schooling, she was somewhat apprehensive, and with good reason.

School Inspector G.D. Ralston arrived on the scene late that fall, discovered who was teaching there, and reported to the Dept.of Education.

 A copy of the letter sent to Miss Edwards from the Department of Education on 30 November 1916 indicated that, "although this is not altogether satisfactory it has been decided to allow you to remain in charge until December 31, 1916. Your provisional certificate is enclosed herewith. . . .  If you wish to continue teaching in this province it will be necessary for you to qualify in the usual way. If you will have forwarded to the Department an official statement to the effect that the Flathead County High School, from which institution you obtained your diploma, is an accredited High School, you will be entitled to admission to the Third Class Session of the Normal School."

From Grandma's Album - Central School, Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Location of her Normal School 1917

Della did as suggested and headed "back to school". She attended Normal School for a three month course in public school teaching in Swift Current, Saskatchewan in January, February and March of 1917.  The usual location for learning to be a teacher was the Normal School in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, but it was filled to capacity at this time with the First World War in full swing. Swift Current was certainly the more convenient location for her; Della's class may have been the only one to receive their teaching diplomas at this location.

From Grandma's Album - she is second from left

From Grandma's Album - she is second from right, back row

 

Until the end of the school term, she taught at Oroyo School near Beverly, Saskatchewan.  She then applied for and was accepted as teacher at Wayne Valley School District (SW3-22-20-W3M).  She began teaching there in the Fall of 1917, boarding with a local family by the name of Morice.  

Miss Della Edwards standing in doorway to her school:
Wayne Valley School

The location meant that she was fairly close to her family; the Charles Edwards' were farming south of Lancer. It also meant that she was in the immediate vicinity of the homestead of Ingvald Anderson, whom she met shortly and married on December 29, 1919.  Idella taught until the end of the term in June 1920.  At this time, she and Ingvald were living at his brother Clarence's homestead (23-21-20-W3M) four miles southeast of her school.  She mentioned driving by horse and buggy the four miles to school, leaning over the side with morning sickness, being pregnant with their first child.

In those days, this meant the end of her teaching career as she adapted to the challenging role of wife and, over the years, mother of six on a small prairie farm. 

She was called upon to go "back to school" from time to time to fill in when a local teacher was ill. The remuneration was not great - she was able to treat herself to the luxury of some beautiful handkerchiefs that she obviously treasured and handed down to her daughter Elinor who handed them down to her daughter Joanne. 

Next Generation: Elinor

My mother Elinor Georgina Anderson, Ingvald and Della's fourth child (born 11 March 1926 in Cabri, Saskatchewan) would grow up to follow in her mother's footsteps. Like her mother's, her teaching career was cut short when she chose to marry a local farmer in the district where she was teaching.  

Elinor's path to school was never a particularly easy one. She and her siblings did a lot of walking to school over the dry prairie, swinging the jam pails full of their lunches, but the stories they told of this time were ones of great enjoyment rather than hardship. 

Music at Ararat Springs School - Elinor 2nd from left; brother Jack third from right

School days for Elinor early 1940s at Ararat School - Elinor back row right

High school was not taught in her local one-room school. Elinor completed Grades 9 and 10 by completing correspondence classes at Ararat Springs. Grade 11 proved more problematic.  She worked for her room and board at the home of John and Anna Perry so she could attend high school in Lancer, returning home in April to finish the year there. She was no sooner home than a desperate neighbour, Alf Seip, needed help with his one year-old daughter when his wife was hospitalized with complications of her second pregnancy. Elinor took the job so that Mr. Seip could seed his crop.  In June her principal at the Lancer High School, Mr. Harvey Wallace, stepped in and invited her to stay with him and his wife so that she could catch up on her studies and write the final examinations for Grade 11.  Elinor kept the receipt for the examination fees, which it seems students were expected to pay. (Seven dollars was no doubt a lot of money to her at the time; I wonder if the Wallaces assisted her again or if she used her wages from the Seip job to pay this? For her to have kept this receipt for the rest of her life is indicative of its significance.)

Still determined to complete high school, Elinor put an ad in the Swift Current Sun, seeking room and board in exchange for housework. Bill Dawson, who worked for the Sun, snapped up the opportunity. He and his wife Dorothy had a new baby boy (whose twin brother had died) as well as a two year-old son and needed some help. Elinor had her new home for her Grade 12 year.  Elinor's recollection of her final year of high school:

Working for your room and board meant rising at dawn and making breakfast before school. Wash days were worse as that was also done before you left. After school there was supper, dishes and children to help with. At this time only a portion of Swift Current had running water so water was delivered when you needed it, which was often with a new baby in the house. The outdoor privy had chemical pails which were emptied weekly when the "honey wagon" came around. This all added to "time" - with the only dryer being an outside clothesline. Homework was usually done after 9:00 p.m. in the evening. 

Nevertheless, she graduated from the Swift Current Collegiate Institute in 1944. Her high school yearbook says of her:

ELINORE ANDERSON that smiling one

always has her homework done

But if she hasn't as a rule

She will get it done in school. 

 

 

Elinor Anderson Graduation - banquet and dance held Tuesday 2 May 1944

Like her mother, Elinor headed "back to school" to attend Normal School for teacher training. Like her mother, she was doing so during war years. 

Elinor borrowed the money from her older brother Bob to enable her to attend the Normal School in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for the term commencing in September 1944. (She always said that she finally had Bob paid back just before her teaching career ended.) 

She made many friends there that year and one gets a sense it was a very special year in her life. (One of her fellow classmates was Alvina Olsen Kantrud who would become a neighbour and lifelong good friend. Alvina was also my first Sunday School teacher, as it turned out.) She has numerous photographs showing a very happy 18 year-old enjoying the freedom of attending classes and socializing without also having to work long hours to pay her room and board. 

Elinor (2nd from right) with Normal School friends Audrey Erjen, Zena Dutton, and Vi Bolley 1945

She was a member of Class "Q".  The class photo has a notable shortage of young men, no doubt a sign of the times.

Elinor's Class at Moose Jaw Normal School 16 February 1945

Their graduation ceremony was held on 14 June 1945 and then it was time to find a teaching position. Fortunately for her descendants, she landed at Jorgenson School in the Leinan/Stewart Valley area north of Swift Current, Saskatchewan. She boarded across the road with the (unrelated) Anderson family, one of whom provided me with the following photograph of Elinor as a young teacher there.

Miss Elinor Anderson, teacher, June 1946

Elinor's students at Jorgenson School May 1946
(apparently they were about to play ball - something she would likely have encouraged)

Elinor enjoyed teaching. She had many stories she liked to tell from those days; I believe her students sometimes pulled the wool over her eyes (by manipulating the clock so that recess was never-ending, for example), but my mother was no fool and soon caught on to their antics. Then, like her mother, she fell in love with a local young farmer. She married my Dad Ken Bardahl in December of 1947, ending her  2 1/2 year teaching career. Dad had also attended Jorgenson School for a part of his education.

Ken Bardahl as a student at Jorgenson School c.1940-41, in the white shirt, middle front row

In a strange twist of fate, my mother would go "back to school" one more time. In 1959 we moved from the Bardahl homestead to the old Jorgenson School where my mother had taught more than a decade earlier. Because it was abandoned, my Dad was able to buy it and its two acre property very reasonably and convert it into a comfortable home. I never heard my mother say how she felt about this move "back to school" but it must have elicited an abundance of memories for her. 

Jorgenson School under renovation 1959

Some Resources:

• Anderson, Robert W., "A Partial History of Hill School (District #3624)", Handwritten original copy in possession of the author, undated but probably about 1989
• Anderson, Robert W., "Normal School at Central in early years as city", The Southwest Booster, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, May 29, 1989, section 1, page 13
• Bardahl, Elinor, personal memories included in Roots and Branches: The Ingwald Anderson and Idella Edwards Family Tree by Robert W. Anderson and Joanne L. Barnard, Chokecherry Press 2000, page 66