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

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.

[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 lived. 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 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.]

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 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 Nellie Mae Bliss, 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 his farm. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albion at that time and became a regular and faithful member.

Shaw: The James R. and Elizabeth Shaw family had returned to Wisconsin by decade’s end, this time to Richland County, where many of their other relatives had settled. 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 during this decade, by the end of which they had living with them some of the children 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, including William Hood Barnes, 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 family members for well over 100 years.
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, including John Daniel, 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.] 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 Harvey Judson “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, who would later marry Mary A. Reed, have one child, and reside in Charlotte the rest of his life, and Riley and Sarah’s son Charles. Riley’s other surviving child from his first marriage, Carrie Bell, had 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.
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.

Last updated: Monday January 23, 2012

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