Le Montage de Famille

1870-1879

The decade beginning 1870 finds some of the known vector families living in Europe and Canada, i.e., Lindstrom and Westurlund.

In Canada:

• Lindstrom:  Charles Albert Lindstrom was still in Sweden. His future wife Rose Edna Hill was born mid-decade to William Alexander and Sarah Hill of Allentown, Ontario, Canada. In 1877 the Hills immigrated to Au Gres, Bay County, Michigan. William Alexander Hill was a carpenter.

In Finland:

• Westurlund:  Andrew West(urlund) was born mid-decade to Fin-Swedish parents, perhaps in the parish of Purmo. (Villages in Purmo included Nederpurmo and Överpurmo.) His father’s given name may have been Chris, and mother’s maiden name was Maria Anderson. A year earlier Andrew’s future wife Johanna “Hannah” Snellman was born at Esse, Finland, also to Fin-Swedish parents. Her father’s name was John or Johann. (Esse was the parish name, or Ähtävä in Finnish, and was a neighboring parish to Purmo. The area was Swedish speaking. Villages in Esse included Bäckby, Nederlappfors, Ytteresse, Överesse and Överlappfors.)

In USA: 

• Keyes:  The widow Lucinda Keyes and some of her children were on a 64-acre farm in Climax, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. She would live with her daughter and son-in-law Irene and James Powers during her later years. Near mid-decade Sarah M. Keyes was married to widower Riley Preston Page by L. W. Earl, Minister of the Gospel. Witnesses were F. A. Ells of Charlotte and Alice M. Bray. Sarah was from Climax and Riley was from Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan. He was a son of William Henry and Chloe (Thayer) Robinson Page, late of Bronson, Branch County, Michigan. Riley was the widower of his first wife Elizabeth (Hollenbeck) Page.

As to marriages of Sarah’s siblings, her sister and brother-in-law Irena Hannah “Rene” and James M. Powers, already discussed last decade, were the parents of Rev. Jesse Daniel Orlando Powers, whose middle names were the given names of his grandfathers. He became a Unitarian pastor, eventually settling at Seattle, King County, Washington with his wife, the former Esther Mary “Etta” Kraft, and their children. It was in Seattle that Rene and James Powers spent their last days. Jesse D. O. received some fame from his stance in favor of women’s suffrage, which was extolled in “History of Woman Suffrage” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan Brownell Anthony, et al, and published by Susan B. Anthony. He received his biggest write-up in the book “History of Seattle from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time,” Volume III. He was also the president of the State of Washington Peace Society in Seattle.

Sarah’s brother Lyman Eugene married Clarissa Jane “Clara” Burt-Dean, daughter of Lemuel Burt but raised by Courtland Dean and his wife, the former Adaline Geddes, to whom, it is said, Clarissa was indentured by her father when she was very young. Lyman and Clara would take their family to Clinton, Henry County, Missouri, where they were quite prosperous as owners of the L. E. Keyes Mill & Elevator Company.

Sibling Wilbur W. “Web” Keyes married Sayda A. “Sadie” Pierce, and they lived on the original farm purchased by Hannah Keyes, with additional acreage added over the years. The farm would be passed down through Web and Sadie’s descendants into the next century. Sibling Esther M. “Etta” married Dr. George W. Jackson, but neither lived long after the marriage.

[Additional material about Sarah and Riley Page may be found below under Page. The Keyes surname will now cease to be included as a separate subtitle in this narrative.]

• Castner:  The Castners were in Ovid, Clinton County, Michigan. Mid-decade William Castner, his sons Edward P. and Isaiah, son-in-law Thomas Sturges, and relatives Jacob W. Welter and Edward Potter, joined with others to found the Baptist Church of Shepardsville in Clinton County. Late in the decade Edward Potter Castner married Frances “Franky” Marie Laronge Gargett/Sutlif. They were united by Elisha M. Ney, Minister of the Gospel. Witnesses were: E. G. Ney and Eva Ney. Edward and Franky had their first child, Almon Edward, in Ovid at the end of this decade.

Franky elected to stay behind when her adoptive parents—Edward’s older sister and brother-in-law Sarah and Salmon Johnson Sutliff of Ovid—took their son Alvah to California.*

* Salmon’s slightly older brother and sister-in-law Charles Bliss and Dorliska (Beach) Sutliff had taken their large family by train from St. Johns, Clinton County, Michigan, to San Joaquin County, California, during the last year of the prior decade. Just after Edward and Franky’s marriage Charles purchased a 720-acre ranch at Dent twenty-five miles east of Stockton, San Joaquin County. Salmon and Sarah, being farmers, probably saw helping with that large estate as a great opportunity. As fate would have it, though, their sojourn in California would be short. Sarah (Castner) Sutliff died at Stockton only four months after Edward and Franky were married. Salmon and his son returned to Michigan by the end of the decade, moving in with Salmon’s parents Van Ransaler “Ransley” and Catharine (Barnhart) Sutliff of Mt. Pleasant in Isabella County. A decade later Salmon would remarry to Lucilla a.k.a. Lua Way and die in his mid-fifties. Alvah would eventually return to California where he, his wife Elizabeth M. (Therrett), and their surviving children would remain the rest of their lives in Kern, Orange, and Los Angeles counties. Charles and Dorliska also remained in California.

Edward Potter Castner’s future second wife Catherine E. Yates, daughter of Richard and Anne Maria (Hurst) Yates of Ireland and Canada, was born the last year of this decade. Catherine was born at Sandwich East Township, Essex County, Ontario, Canada.

Known marriages of the other Castner siblings not already discussed:  Isaiah, who farmed and was known for playing the fiddle at dances, married Eliza Ann Sloan. Dora D. married first to Richard Easterly, who provided her with her only child and died young of tuberculosis at a sanitarium in Kalamazoo, Michigan, then second to William Chamberlain, and finally to George Manning Sober as his second wife. (The surname “Sober” was variously spelled “Sobers” and “Sabers.”)

• Bliss:  The Calvin and Louisa Bliss family was on a 284-acre plantation at Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. Louisa died near the beginning of the decade.

Damages from an Aged Lover (The New York Times, published June 1, 1874)

In the Circuit Court of Prince Edward, Judge Asa Dickinson presiding, last week, was heard a novel cause to Virginia courts, it being a suit for a breach of promise. It seems from the accounts in the local papers that in December last Calvin Bliss, a wealthy old Northerner, aged seventy-one, who, since the war, has settled in Prince Edward, proposed marriage to a handsome widow, Mrs. Robinson, of Farmville, about thirty years old, and promised to settle upon her one-third of his real estate, and in addition $1,500 in cash, to be paid at his death, if she would marry him. She consented, and the wardrobe of each party was prepared, Bliss furnishing the bridal robe, a handsome silk. The guests were invited; the supper prepared; but when the appointed day and hour arrived, 4 o'clock P.M., January 29th, 1874, old Bliss did not come to time, deferred, it is said, from keeping his promise by the violent opposition of his grown-up children. Through her attorneys, Mrs. Robinson brought an action for breach of marriage contract, and claimed $10,000 damages. The trial occupied the court twelve hours, and was witnessed by a large number of spectators from all parts of the country. The widow and Bliss were both closely examined, and the jurors brought in a verdict of damages to the amount of $3,300.

During the last years of the decade Calvin, Sr. occupied his time by serving one-and-a-half terms as a Republican senator in the Virginia State Legislature representing the Thirtieth District, which included Amelia, Cumberland and Prince Edward counties. In all he would serve five terms. Calvin and Louisa’s firstborn daughter Emily Louise a.k.a. “Eloise” developed a spinal disease that left her an invalid. Their son Calvin, Jr. had both married and lost his first wife Caddie Addleman during this decade. He also served as sheriff of Prince Edwards County.

Sidney’s family was living on a farm three miles south of Albion, Calhoun County, Michigan, where he and Helen had the last two of their children, including:  Etta Marie and Nellie Mae. Nellie would be the future wife of William Hood Barnes, son of David and Mary W. (Hood) Barnes of Jackson County, Michigan. William was born at the beginning of the decade, Nellie toward the middle. Sidney was “converted” at the end of the decade in a revival held in the Babcock schoolhouse by Rev. Uri Mason, and was baptized in the river which ran through the Bliss farm. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albion at that time and became a regular and faithful member.

• Hubbart/Hubbard:  The Hubbards were living in Calhoun County, Michigan. Adam’s wife Ann apparently died during this decade. Son Daniel by wife Mary was married to Ella Turner at the very beginning of the decade and would have at least seven children, remaining mostly in the Barry County area until ultimately settling in Albion, Calhoun County. Adam’s sons Levi Bartlett and Thomas by second wife Ann were married at its end:  Levi marrying Margaret Ann Wilson, by whom she would have at least four children, and Thomas marrying Mary Wilson, ultimately having at least two children. (The Wilson girls were not sisters but might have been otherwise related.)
• Shaw:  The James R. and Elizabeth Shaw family were living at Bedford, Calhoun County, Michigan but returned to Wisconsin by decade’s end, this time to Richland County, where many of their other relatives had settled. Son James W. Shaw was a laborer living on the farm of Joel H. Willis in Mandan County, Dakota Territory (Mandan became Lawrence County, South Dakota, in 1887). His future wife Carrie and her family were living at Ithaca, Richland County, Wisconsin.
• Rice:  The Benjamin R. and Mary Rice family was in Oakland, Oakland County, Michigan. They had the last of their children:  Lydia “Betsy,” Charles F., John B. “Birdey,” and Sabrina C. By decade’s end they also had living with them Albert L. and Sarah A. by Benjamin’s first wife.
• Barnes:  The Barnes family was in Jackson County, Michigan. David and Mary Barnes started the decade on a 101-acre farm in Summit Township. The last two of their children were born early this decade:  William Hood and David “June.” William Hood Barnes was the future husband of Nellie Mae Bliss, daughter of Sidney E. and Helen M. (Hubbard) Bliss of Albion, Calhoun County, Michigan. Two months after their last child was born David and Mary purchased 200 acres of land in Hanover Township, Jackson County, alongside Cross Lake. This land would be owned by various descendants for well over 100 years. Old Sarah (Sittser) Barnes died.
• Tuttle:  The Tuttle family was living in Dexter Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan. Moses Smith and Rebecca E. (Millman) Tuttle had three more children during this decade:  John Daniel, Elizabeth M. and Jennie Dell. John Daniel would be the future second husband of Bertha M. Gavett. Bertha was born near decade’s end and was a daughter of James Madison and Wealthy A. (Wade) Gavett of Delhi, Ingham County, Michigan, and later, of Tompkins Township, Jackson County, Michigan.
• Page:  Riley Page lost his wife Elizabeth early in the decade. [Information about the marriage of Riley Page and Sarah Keyes can be found above under Keyes.] He and Sarah were living in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, where Sarah had all three of her children during this decade:  Bernice May, Harvey Judson “Juddie,” and Charles Orlando. Riley was a traveling Salesman. At the end of the decade diphtheria visited Riley and Sarah’s home and took Elsie Adelaide, Riley’s youngest child from his first marriage, and also took Bernice May and Juddie from his marriage to Sarah. Their infant son Charles Orlando had it, too, but miraculously surmounted. The surviving family moved to Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan, by decade’s end. At that time the household consisted of four people including Riley, Sarah, Riley’s son George Hudson by his first marriage, and Riley and Sarah’s son Charles. Riley’s other surviving child from his first marriage, Carrie Bell, married Theodore Dudley “Dorr” Richards near the middle of the decade. She would marry three times, have one daughter by her first husband, and reside in Kalamazoo County the rest of her life. It is probable that Carrie is the one who started the Page family bible that left the family and ended up in Wisconsin, returning to family in California, then Minnesota, in the early 21^st century. George Hudson would marry Mary A. Reed, have one child, and reside in Charlotte the rest of his life. He would have no grandchildren, whereas Carrie’s line would extend two generations.
• Garrett:  Hugh, Jr. and Mary Elizabeth (Thurlow) Garrett’s family was in Tittabawassee, Saginaw County, Michigan, and their last two children were born during this decade:  William and Cora Esther. Hugh’s name was spelled “Hugo” in the decade’s census.

© 2014 Charles W. Paige.

Last updated: Tuesday August 12, 2014

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