#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 37 Tombstone: The Culver Family Tree Tombstone

 

At first glance, you might think you are looking at a tree. And, in a way, you are, but not one that grew up from the earth.  This is a man-made tree in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Janesville WI, a stone memorial to my cousins in the Culver family that lays out their family relationships. It is one of the most unusual memorials I have ever seen, but definitely one that, as a family historian, I am very fond of. 

At the foot of the tree is the family patriarch, Henry Porter Culver and his wife Lamira Sigourney Lacy.  Henry was born 20 January 1793 in Hebron CT, the son of Benjamin Culver and Miranda Porter. In 1817, he moved to Monroe County NY where he married Lamira Lacy, the daughter of Major Samuel Lacy and Ruth Chase Sigourney (a descendant of Huguenots), in 1820. 

Henry was engaged in manufacturing in the village of Honeoye and contributed substantially to the growth of that area.  He was among the first to manufacture barrels by machinery instead of by hand. He was a colonel in the 177th NY Militia in 1828. In 1842, Henry and his family moved to Janesville WI where he purchased a large farm.  He died in Janesville in 1869, at the age of 76.  Lamira Culver died in Janesville in 1889 at the age of 86.

Henry and Lamira had four children, each of whom is represented on this family tree: 

Cordelia Sigourney Culver 1820-1842. She was educated at the Albany Female Academy. She married Judge Orville Charles Pratt, the second justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, in 1841, but died the following year. 

Harriet Lamira Culver 1836-1918. She was educated at the Troy Seminary.  She married Railroad Agent Wakefield Lyman Marshall of Connecticut in 1870 in Janesville WI and was later divorced from him. Her obituary describes her as a woman of wide reading with a great interest in public affairs.  She moved to California about 1900 because of her health and died there.  Her ashes were interred in Janesville. 

Samuel Henry Culver 1824-1866.  He worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as an Indian Agent in the Rogue River District of Oregon. He married Delia Hanley about 1864 and had one son with her who died in infancy. Samuel died in Janesville WI. 

Charles Porter Culver 1828- 1879. He married my 2X-great aunt, Emily Augusta Scrivener, at St. Peter's Church in Baltimore MD in 1859.  He was a farmer in Janesville WI.  He went to Texas for his health in 1879 and died there.  Emily married secondly Marquis de Lafayette "Mark" Ripley.  She
died in 1902 in Janesville WI.

 

Charles and Emily Culver had three children: 

Louisa C. "Lulu" Culver 1861-1880.  She died of consumption. The Janesville Gazette lamented her passing a few days before Christmas:

She had reached and passed her nineteenth birthday, and while her life was a comparatively brief
one, yet it was a life of inestimable value to the widowed mother, to the two younger sisters and other relatives and friends, and a life whose going out causes a loss to the community.  Her character was one worthy of much praise, and loved most by those who knew it best, and the sympathy extended to the mourning family will come from many friends, who feel that the loss is in part their own. 

Harriet Lamira "Hattie" Culver 1868-1898. She married Charles Fremont Page in Janesville WI in 1893. They had two children: Charles Culver Page and Jeanette Page. She died in Janesville in 1898 at the age of 29.  

Ruth Sigourney Culver 1875-1904. She married hardware merchant Frank Irving Sanner in Janesville in 1902. They had one daughter, Emily Ruth Culver Sanner, in 1903. Both Ruth and Frank died in California in 1904.  Their daughter was brought back to Janesville by her Grandmother Henrietta Sanner but died there in 1905. Ruth and Frank are buried in Riverside CA, but they are included in the Culver memorial in Janesville. 

I don't know who supervised the creation of this detailed family memorial. I'm not sure who in the family was left since so many family members died young. But whoever did it, family historians are very grateful for this unique family record.

#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 49 Handed Down: Big Mama

My great-grandmother, Louise Gwynn Scrivener, was a devoted family historian and collector of family artifacts.  Although I never met her or saw her home in Baltimore, the photo below suggests that she filled the place with family pictures. 

  There was one picture, though, that did get handed down and still remains in the family, a very large portrait of a handsome woman whom the family affectionately called "Big Mama." Throughout my childhood, Big Mama hung in my grandparents' living room, passed on from Louise to her only child, my grandfather.  According to my uncle, there was also a Big Papa, but Grandpa Scrivener did not have room for both of the huge portraits, so sadly, Big Papa is lost. When my grandparents died, Big Mama moved to my parents' home as it was the only one in the family large enough to accommodate her. After my parents' death, my brother took custody of her. 

Of course, we all assumed that Big Mama was a relation of some kind, but we didn't really know who she was.  My grandfather said she was not a direct ancestor, but an aunt or a cousin.  Since my great-grandmother hung on to this portrait, I thought she must be a relation on that branch of the family.  And it must be someone who had money to be able to afford such an elaborate portrait.  The Scriveners did not have that kind of money.  My grandfather also dredged up a recollection that she was an English lady who had married into the family.  

I found a clue from my great aunt Effie Gwynn Bowie, who was as devoted a family historian as her sister Louise and had written that history down in her monumental work--Across the Years in Prince George's County. Aunt Effie recounted that her great-uncle, John McMullan, had married a woman from Cornwall, England--Mary Kette/Kilte Newton, the daughter of Edward Newton and Mary Kette or Kilte.  Aunt Effie said that Mary was born in 1826 and died in Baltimore in 1886.  Unfortunately, she did not offer evidence for this, but she could have gotten the information directly from Uncle John McMullan who lived in Baltimore until his death in 1903 or from one of his children. 

So, I went to work to see what I could find out about Mary and if she was indeed Big Mama. 

John McMullan was the fourth of five children of John McMullan Sr. (about whom I have previously written) and Susan Tubman. His sister, Susan Tubman McMullan, was my 3x-great-grandmother. John was born on Kent Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland 4 July 1819.  On the 17th of June 1842, the Sun reported that John McMullan of Baltimore had married Mary Ann Elizabeth Nuton, also of Baltimore. 

The 1850 Census shows John McMullen, 29, a cabinet maker, living in the 10th ward of Baltimore with his wife Mary, 25, born in England, son John, 7, daughter Mary V., 5, sister Ann, 30, and six apprentices in his cabinet making business. 

On the first of September 1857, the Sun reported the sad death of Lawrence Warren McMullan, age 4, son of John and Mary. 

The 1860 Census shows John McMullan, 38, cabinet maker, still living in the 10th ward of Baltimore, with his wife Mary, 28, son John, 17, daughter Virginia, 15, daughter Alice, 6, and son Charles, 2. His sister Ann was still living with him as well as three domestic servants. John had real estate valued at $15,000 and personal property valued at $5,000.  So, he was fairly well-off. The ad below from 1859, shows the kind of stock he carried in his business.

On January 30, 1868, the Sun reported the death of Anna M. McMullan at the home of her brother, John, identifying her as the daughter of the late John McMullan. 

The 1870 Census shows John McMullan, 45, as the owner of furniture stores, his wife Mary, 40, daughter Alice, 12, and sons Charles, 10, and William, 9, attending school, along with two domestic servants. 

By 1880, the Census shows John McMullan, 60, as a retired merchant, living with his wife, Mary, 50, daughter Alice, 22, and son Charles, 20 in a home on North Calvert Street. 

Mary Newton McMullan died in Baltimore May 6, 1886, suddenly of paralysis of the heart according to the Sun. She was buried in the McMullan vault at Green Mount Cemetery. 

John McMullen married for a second time in 1896 to Laura Powles.  He died at his home in Baltimore on July 12, 1903 and was buried at Green Mount.

Children of John and Mary Newton McMullan:

1. John McMullan III born in Baltimore MD 15 May 1843. In John McMullan's household in 1850 and 1860.  May be the widower John McMullan, age 67, working as a hotel butler in Baltimore in 1910. 

2. Mary Virginia McMullan 17 February 1845. Married Robert Brooks at St. Paul's Church in July 1865 and had seven children with him. Died in Baltimore 25 April 1895.

3. Warren McMullan 1852-1857.

4. Alice Mary McMullan 1 June 1857. She married Joseph Enderlin Willig in Baltimore 25 December 1882. She died of accidental gas poisoning 27 May 1924 and is buried at Green Mount Cemetery. She had no children and left her estate to various charities in Baltimore including the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Baltimore Cathedral. 

5. Charles Lewis Oscar McMullan 18 August 1859. Christened at Christ Church Parish in 1863. Died in Baltimore 12 August 1889. His death certificate indicates that he was a widower, and his occupation was a clerk. 

6. William Albert McMullan 1 October 1861.  Died in Baltimore 8 October 1879. His death certificate indicates that he was single and that he was a merchant in Baltimore. 

In the end, I still do not have definitive evidence that Big Mama is Mary Kilte Newton McMullan.  But it is probable that she is.  She is a relative by marriage to Louise Gwynn, and Louise would have wanted to keep that handsome portrait in the family.  She is of the right age to be the woman in the portrait. She is of English birth according to the Census records, and so is the woman in the portrait if my grandfather's recollection is correct. And the McMullans had enough money to afford an elaborate portrait. 

Nor do I know how my great-grandmother ended up with the McMullan portraits.  But she was a formidable lady, so she was certainly capable of persuading her cousins that she was the appropriate guardian for the family heirlooms.

So, Big Mama now resides at my brother's house where we celebrate her at our family gatherings. 

I only wish we had Big Papa as well. 

#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 41 Most: JK Summers' Fifteen Children

 Many of my ancestors had large families, but I think the largest was that of my great-grandparents, John Kostka Summers (about whom I have previously written) and Regina Ann Hill.

Twenty-two-year-old John and twenty-year-old Regina Ann were married at Holy Rosary Church in Cheltenham, Prince George's County MD on 28 October 1878. In their long marriage, they had fifteen children, all born at the family home--Pine Hill, Westwood, in the Nottingham District of Prince George's County. 

Their first child, John Lamar Summers, was born 20 August 1879. Sadly, John drowned in the Patuxent River in 1899 at the age of 20. 

A second son--John Kostka Summers Jr-- was born 13 November 1880.  John married Benedicta Gannon, the daughter of Frank Gannon and Marietta Burrows, in Manhattan NY 9 January 1906.  John worked as a district manager for the Vulcan Portland Cement Company.  John and Benedicta had one daughter, Benedicta.  John died at his home in Manhattan 21 June 1943. 

The first daughter in the family, Emily Louise Summers, was born 17 June 1882.  Sadly, Emily contracted typhoid on a visit to her aunt Emily Hill Young in Milwaukee WI. She died at age 16 on 1 May 1898 and is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee.  

Alexander Hill Summers, named for his paternal grandfather, was born 23 September 1883. He died in 1918 in the Spanish Flu epidemic.  He never married. He worked as an insurance agent for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. 

Joseph Mary Summers and Mary Joseph Summers--twins--were born 26 November 1885. Joseph worked on the family farm and never married.  Toward the end of his life, he lived with his brother, my grandfather, and I knew him as an old man. He died 28 February 1963 and is buried at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

Mary Joseph Summers entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross and was professed in 1913 as Sister Mary Ange.  She died at South Bend IN 1 October 1954 and is buried at Our Lady of Peace Cemetery there. 

Eliza Mary Summers was born 14 January 1888. She married William August Dorr 29 June 1909 and had ten children with him: Mary Angela, Regina Summers, William August, John Kostka, Joseph Heath, Francis Paul, Marie Therese, Winifred Ann, Mary Rita and Elizabeth June.  My mother stayed close to her Dorr cousins who lived near us in Anne Arundel County.  Eliza Summers Dorr died 10 October 1980 and is buried with her husband at Our Lady of the Fields in Millersville MD. 

Regina Agnes Summers was born 9 March 1889.  She married Edward Payson Springer in June 1912 and had four children with him: Edward Payson Jr., Norman Wendall, Robert Hill, and David W. She died in Fairfax County VA 14 January 1968. 

Gretchen Summers was born 13 February 1891.  She married Joseph Summerfield Perrie, a Prince George's County farmer, 19 January 1910 and had four children with him: Mary Imogene, Dorothy, Joseph Summerfield Jr., and Gretchen Lamar. Gretchen Summers Perrie died 25 October 1953 and is buried with her husband at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

Mildren & Bernard Kummer

Mildred Elizabeth Summers was born 23 May 1892. She married Bernard Aloysius Kummer at St. Peter's Church in Waldorf 16 June 1917.  They had three children: Bernard Hill, Rita Elizabeth, and James Aloysius. Mildred was a registered nurse.  Bernard managed furniture stores in the District of Columbia and later in Bristol TN.  Mildred died 6 January 1980 in Columbia SC.  She is buried in St. Anne's Cemetery, Bristol TN.

Dorothy Lucile Summers was born 23 March 1894. Her marriage at age 19 in 1913 to a widowed 68-year-old War Department staffer, James Heath Dodge, was considered somewhat scandalous at the time. Dodge supposedly met Dorothy while on a hunting trip in Maryland. Dodge died a few years after the marriage. Dorothy graduated from Georgetown's Nursing School in 1927.  Dorothy died in Manhattan NY 12 March 1945 and is buried at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf.

Paul & Evalina Summers

Paul Francis Summers (my grandfather) was born 11 September 1895.  He married Theresa Evalina Sasscer, the daughter of Thomas Reverdy Sasscer and Theresa Evalina Wallis, at St. Mary's Church in Upper Marlboro 26 April 1924. Paul was a tobacco farmer and one of the founders of the Marlboro Tobacco Market. Paul and Evalina had nine children: Anne Theresa (my mother), Paul Francis, Mary Evalina, Edwin Hill, Patricia Lee, John Kostka, Mildren Louise, Thomas Reverdy, and Robert Joseph.  Paul died 16 September 1970 and is buried with his wife at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Upper Marlboro.

Olin Jerome Summers was born 19 December 1897 and died shortly after his first birthday in December 1898.

Emily Ruth Summers was born 23 September 1899.  She married Charles Henry Adams McPherson, a farmer from Aquasco, 22 February 1922 in Washington DC. They had eleven children: Charles Henry Adams Jr., Ruth, Evelyn, John, Dorothy Dodge, Margaret, Joseph, Nancy, Julia, Robert Kevin, and Regina. Emily Ruth McPherson died 18 April 1996 and is buried at St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

Michael Jerome Summers was born 12 April 1903. In the 1930 and 1940 Censuses, Michael is living at the Mount Hope Asylum in Baltimore.  In 1950, he is at Spring Grove Asylum.  He never married. Michael died 31 August 1967 and is buried at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

The picture below shows the family about 1905 at the family home, Pine Hill.  In the back row are: Joseph Mary, Regina, Alexander, Mary Joseph, and John Kostka Jr. Regina Hill and John Kostka Sr are in the center. At the bottom are Michael Jerome, Gretchen, Mildred, Paul Francis, Dorothy, Eliza Mary and Emily Ruth.  

#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 34 Member of the Club: The Society of the Ark and the Dove

In 1632, King Charles I made a generous grant of nearly nine million acres of land to Cecil Calvert, the son of Charles' faithful servant, George Calvert, Baron Baltimore. He called the grant Maryland, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria. On the 22 of November 1633, two ships--the Ark (a 400-ton merchant ship) and the Dove (a 40-ton pinnace)--set sail from the Isle of Wight carrying 140 colonists and their equipment and supplies to the new colony and Province of Maryland.  On the 25th of March 1634, the colonists landed at St. Clements Island on the north shore of the Potomac River where they planted a large cross, and Father Andrew White celebrated Mass in Thanksgiving for their safe arrival. 

And thus was Maryland born. 

Route of the Ark and the Dove

That first landing was later commemorated as "Maryland Day," with band music and patriotic speeches throughout the state.  In 1910, the descendants of those pioneer Marylanders, headed by George Norbert Mackenzie, gathered in Baltimore to found The Society of the Ark and the Dove and honor the important part those early settlers played in the development of Maryland and the United States. 

The Mission Statement of the Society states that its purpose is "to perpetuate the memory of the first families of Maryland and to provide opportunities for fellowship for all those who trace their descent from Lord Baltimore and from those who came on the Ark and the Dove in 1634 to settle the Proprietary Province of Maryland."  The Society encourages research in early Maryland history and supports institutions such as the St. Clement's Island-Potomac River Museum, Historic St. Mary's City, and the Maryland Center for History and Culture (formerly the Maryland Historical Society). 

Along with a number of my cousins, I am a member of the Society, being descended from two of those original Adventurers, as they are known: Governor Leonard Calvert (son of George Calvert, Baron Baltimore) and Governor Thomas Greene. 

Since I have previously written about my 9X-great grandfather, Leonard Calvert, I want to focus here on my ancestry through Governor Greene. As it happens, both my mother and my father are descended from Governor Greene.

Thomas Greene was born about 1609 in Bobbing, Kent, England, the son of Sir Thomas Greene and Lady Margaret Webb. As indicated above, the Catholic Greene was a passenger on the Ark in 1634, and like many of the other passengers was looking for freedom to practice his religion, in addition to the lure of land holding.  On landing in Maryland, Greene married fellow passenger Ann Cox, one of the few women on board. This may even have been the first official marriage in Maryland. Thomas and Ann had two sons--Thomas and Leonard--before Ann's death about 1638.  

Thomas married secondly about 1643 Winifred Seybourne and had two sons with her: Robert and Francis, my 8X-great grandfather. After Greene's death, Winifred married Robert Clarke. 

The map at the left shows Thomas Greene's holding in St. Mary's City although he had other property including a plantation named Bobbing, after his home in England. 

Greene served in the General Assembly from 1637 to 1650. In 1647, on his deathbed, Governor Leonard Calvert appointed Thomas Greene to take over as Governor, an office which he held for a year. 

Thomas Greene died in St. Mary's County in 1652.

Thomas's son Francis, born about 1648, married Elizabeth Giles in Charles County MD. They had children: Leonard, Verlinda, Francis, Clare (my 7X-great grandmother) and Giles, all born at Green's Inheritance. Francis died in Charles County in 1708 leaving a will which named his wife and children. 

Clare Green, born about 1681, married Jacob Clements, and had children with him: Edward, Jacob, Walter, John, Charles, Francis (my 6x-great grandfather), Martha, Clare, Elizabeth and Jane. Jacob Clements died in Charles County MD in 1755, leaving a will.  Clare was still living after Jacob's death. 

Francis Clements, born about 1699, married Elizabeth Sanders about 1720 in Charles County MD. They had children: Henrietta (my 5x-great grandmother), George, John, Francis, Thomas, Henry, Mary, 
Martha, Priscilla, Benedicta and Elizabeth. Francis Clements died in 1758, leaving a will. 

Henrietta Clements, born about 1721 in Charles County MD, married Thomas Dyer, the son of Patrick Dyer and Comfort Barnes, in 1738 in Prince George's County MD. They had children: Edward, Francis Clements (my 4x-great grandfather), Giles Greene, Elizabeth, Jeremiah, Henry, Walter, George, and Thomas. Henrietta Clements Dyer died in Prince George's County MD in 1777.

Francis Clements Dyer, born at Stone Hill in 1746, married Ann Clarkson, the daughter of Thomas Clarkson and Sarah Blandford, in Prince George's County MD in 1774.  They had children: John Ethelred, William Clarkson, Margaretta, James Corbin, Loretta, Maria, Ann Eliza (my 3x-great grandmother on my father’s side), and Sarah Ann (also my 3x-great grandmother on my mother’s side). Francis Clements Dyer died in Prince George's County MD in 1808.

Ann Eliza Dyer, born in 1791, married John Hilleary Gwynn, the son of Bennett Gwynn and Susanna Hilleary, in Prince George's County MD 8 February 1820.  They had children: Susan Ann Maria, Margaret Emily, Bennett Francis, Ann Eliza, Celestia, Harriett Clotilda, John Dyer, and Andrew Jackson (my 2x-great grandfather), about whom I have previously written. Ann Eliza Gwynn Dyer died in 1855. John Hilleary Gwynn died in 1857. Both are buried in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Piscataway, Prince George's County MD.

Sarah Ann Dyer, born in 1793, married John Gwynn Summers, in a double ceremony with her sister on 8 February 1820.  They had children: Anna Maria, John Francis (my 2x-great grandfather), Cecelia Isabella, Christiana, and Priscilla. Sarah Ann Dyer Summers and John Francis Summers both died in Prince George's County in 1873. Both are buried in Old St.Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf, Charles County MD. 

If you would like to consider joining the Society, you can find application information at The Society of the Ark and the Dove.

#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 42 Full House: Alexander Penn Hill

 The topic of Full House could cover a lot of families in my ancestry, but for this blog, I'm going to focus on a line I haven't written about before: the family of my 2X-great grandfather, Alexander Penn Hill of Prince George's County MD.

Alexander Penn Hill was the second of five children of Joseph Benedict Hill and Sarah Darnall Heiskell, born 12 October 1823 at his father's estate, Prospect Hill, in Prince George's County MD. He was the grandson of Revolutionary War patriot, Captain Henry Darnall Hill, Jr. 

Alexander married Mary Elizabeth Childs, the daughter of Samuel Childs and Elizabeth Ann Lamar, 26 April 1845 in Prince George's County MD.  By the time of the 1850 Census, Alexander and Mary Eliza, living next to Alexander's parents, had three children: Sarah Elizabeth (1846), Samuel Childs (1848) and Joseph Benedict (1850). The Census also showed 11 enslaved people in Alexander's household, ranging in age from 90 to 8 years old. 

The 1860 Census showed the Hills living in the Brandywine District of Prince George's County with eight children: Sarah (14), Samuel (12), Joseph (10), Peter (8), Mary (6), Alexander (4), Ann, my great-grandmother and namesake (1) and Alfred (2). Alexander Hill was a planter. 

Although he shows up on the Army's draft records in 1863 in Prince George's County, I have no record that he ever served in the military. 

In 1864, Alexander administered his father's estate and inherited part of Prospect Hill, which he named Moss Side. 

In 1870, the 48-year-old farmer was living in the Nottingham District, with six of his children: Joseph (19), Mary (16), Regina Ann (12), Alexander (10), Emily (8), and Robert E. Lee (6). His real estate was valued at $2525. 

In the 1880 Census, Alexander, farmer and planter, age 58, was again shown in the Brandywine District with his wife and four children: Mary (23) with a note that she suffered from "nervous prostration," Emily (17), Alexander (19) clerk in a store, Robert E.L. (15) attending school. 

Mary Elizabeth Childs Hill died in Prince George's County 7 August 1885. 

Although the 1890 Census record is missing, the 1890 Directory for the District of Columbia shows Alexander Hill with a business at 1338 F Street NW and an occupation of "real estate." 

Alexander Penn Hill died of pneumonia in the District at the home of his son, Peter Henry Hill, 12 December 1898, at the age of 75. He was a devout Catholic. 

Both Alexander and Mary Elizabeth Hill are buried at St. Ignatius Cemetery in Oxon Hill. 

Children of Alexander Penn Hill and Mary Elizabeth Childs:

1. Sarah Elizabeth Hill (1846-1935). Married Thomas Sprigg Blandford in 1865 and had six children with him: Alexander Hill, Elenora, Bertha Blandine, Richard Gantt, Caroline, and Thomas Sprigg.

2. Samuel Childs Hill (1848-1928).  Married first Lillian Bowie in 1874 and had nine children with her: William Alexander, Ann Bowie, Samuel Childs, Lillie May, Lillie May, Ellen Ann, Peter Henry Heiskell, Rosa Bowie, and William Bowie. He married secondly Emma in 1895. He was a real estate broker in the District. In 1893, he received a patent for an improvement in railroad spikes. 

3. Joseph Benedict Hill (1850-ca. 1930). Married Mary MNU about 1879 and had one son with her, Richard S. Hill.  In 1930, the widowed Joseph Benedict Hill was living at the John Dickson Memorial Home in the District of Columbia. 

4. Peter Henry Hill (1852-1893). He married Nora Mary Young in 1873 at Gisborough Manor and had nine children with her: Nora May, Rosalie Clifton, Ignatius Fenwick, Clementina Carroll, Theresa, Louise, Peter Henry, Margaret Mary and Elizabeth Livingston.  He was a broker for a flour mill. 

5.  Mary Hester (Mamie) Hill (1854-1904.  She never married.  She is buried at St. Ignatius with her parents.

6. Alfred Hill (1857-?).  Shown in Alexander Hill household in 1860.  No further information. Probably died young.

7. Mary Regina Ann Hill (1858-1932).  My great-grandmother, for whom I was named. She married John Kostka Summers (about whom I have previously written) at Holy Rosary Church in Cheltenham, Prince George's County MD 28 October 1878 and had fifteen children with him: John Lamar, John Kostka, Emily Louise, Alexander Hill, Joseph Mary, Mary Joseph (twins), Eliza Mary, Regina Agnes, Gretchen, Mildred Elizabeth, Dorothy Lucile, Paul Francis (my grandfather), Olin Jerome, Emily Ruth, and Michael Jerome. 

AP Hill Jr.

8. Alexander Penn Hill Jr. (1860-1915). He married Mary Katherine Munro in the District of Columbia in 1883.  They had no children.  He moved to Seattle WA about 1900 where he was an insurance salesman.  He died by suicide. 

9.Emily Riddle Hill (1862-1959).  She married George Washington Young in 1887 at Rosaryville Chapel, Prince George's County and moved to Milwaukee WI shortly after.  They had six children: Robert Lee, Joseph Casanave, Joseph Nicholas, Parke George, George Washington, and Johanna Howle.  George Washington Young was a well-known patent attorney who helped patent the Evinrude outboard, and the Harley-Davidson motorcycle among other things. 

10. Robert E. Lee Hill (1864-1934). He never married.  He worked as a farm manager for his cousin, Jesse Heiskell in Prince George's County.  He is buried at St. Ignatius with his parents. 

#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 36 "We Don't Talk About It" : The Sisters I never knew

 When anyone asks about my birth family, I would normally say that I am the oldest of six siblings, three girls and three boys.  But actually, that is not the whole story.  There were two more sisters, born 6 November 1955, died the same day--Catherine and Elizabeth Scrivener.  Of course, I never met these sisters, but they have always been part of the family even if not always acknowledged. It wasn't that we didn't want to acknowledge them, just that they didn't really seem part of our lives since we never actually met them. My mother, however, certainly never forgot them.  

I was seven and in the second grade when Catherine and Elizabeth were born.  My younger sisters were four and two respectively.  What I remember about that time was that my mother was away from home, and I was sent to stay with my grandmother Scrivener, having no idea of the sad story taking place at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore. My sisters were sent to stay with one of our Aunts and Uncles. My memory of that mainly revolves around my grandmother making cinnamon toast for breakfast, a treat I have always been fond of. I'm sure no one wanted to burden my seven-year-old self with the death of my siblings, so it was just never discussed. 

Catherine and Elizabeth were baptized at the hospital and buried with their great-grandparents--Frank and Louise Gwynn Scrivener--at New Cathedral Cemetery. 

Although I had little knowledge or curiosity about these sisters when I was a child, as an adult, I often wondered what happened to them in the next life, in which I firmly believe.  Would they grow up?  Would they stay as infants?  Would they be pure spirits?  I like to think they have looked kindly on their siblings and offered support to us in living our lives here even if we remained oblivious to them.  

Although the twins were buried in Baltimore, we later moved from the city to a more rural location and my mother was anxious to move these daughters to the cemetery where my father was buried and where she would later be buried.  We finally did get the permits in order and moved the tiny coffins to a new resting place at Our Lady of the Fields where they lie next to their parents. 

Many years after the death of these twins, I was pregnant with twins, and it was then that I discovered some of the depth of my mother's feeling about these children.  My mother had driven me to my appointment with my obstetrician where he announced that I was going to have twins. (Keeping in mind that sonograms were not routine at the time, this announcement came some seven or eight months into my pregnancy and took everyone by surprise.)  When my mother heard that, she left me sitting in the waiting room and insisted on seeing my doctor. She was extremely worried that my twins would suffer the same fate as hers.  My doctor reassured her that the twins were quite healthy and not at risk.  (In fact, they weighed in at a hefty close-to-eight-pounds each.) 

While I don't have any actual pictures of these sisters, I did make a collage in honor of these sisters waiting for me in eternity. I imagine meeting these bright spirits at some future date. 

#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 23 Health: Dr. John Shaw Billings

 My distant cousin, Dr. John Shaw Billings, not only saved lives with his medical skills, but probably saved even more with his skills as a librarian and an advisor to Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School. 

John Shaw Billings, the son of James John Billings and Abigail Smith Shaw, was born 12 April 1838 in Cotton Township, Switzerland IN. A voracious reader, he entered Miami University of Ohio at the age of 14 and spent most of his time reading in the library. After graduating in 1857, he was admitted to the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinatti receiving his medical degree in 1860. 

He joined the Union Army in 1861 and served as a surgeon at several hospitals before being assigned to the 11th Infantry Regiment in 1863, where he served during the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.

After the War, Dr. Billings took on the direction of the Army Surgeon General's Library (now the National Library of Medicine) and for the next thirty years, he expanded the collection to over 124,000 volumes making it the largest medical library in the Americas.  He also redesigned the cataloging system and created a periodical index now known as the Index Medicus. 

He also designed a punch-card system for collecting vital statistics, which was a forerunner of modern computer systems. 

After leaving the Army, he helped to create the New York Public Library system and inspired Andrew Carnegie to build more than 65 branch libraries in the city and thousands elsewhere in the country.

In the 1870's, Dr. Billings' experience with inspecting Marine Hospitals led to him becoming involved with Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School in Baltimore. He is credited with the design of the original hospital buildings and with recruiting the initial faculty.  His construction design included electricity for the buildings, which was not common at the time. Hopkins trademark domed building is named for Dr. Billings. 

Billings Building at Johns Hopkins

Dr. Billings also played a role in the design of the curriculum for the medical school. He tightened admission requirements so potential doctors had to have a bachelor's degree before attending medical school and proposed a four-year curriculum in small classes based on medical specialties.  Department heads of these specialties also worked in the hospital so both organizations benefited from their expertise. Billings also pressed for clinical laboratories at the school to support medical research. 

Dr. John Sedgwick Billings

In 1862, Billings married Kate Stevens and had five children with her, including a son, Dr. John Sedgwick Billings, who graduated from the Johns Hopkins Medical School and carried on the medical tradition of his father. He married a Hammond cousin of mine, Katherine Fitzsimmons Hammond, and helped to save the Hammond farm in Aiken County SC. 

John Shaw Billings died in New York City in 1913 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His vast contributions as a surgeon, researcher, librarian, curriculum designer and architect mark him as one of the great pioneers of medicine, modernizing hospital care and improving public health.