#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 1 I'd Like to Meet: My 2X great grandmother, Sallie Barber Scrivener

I have two photographs of my paternal 2X-great-grandmother, Sallie Barber Scrivener.  Both of them show her as a wizened little old lady.  

In the photo at the left, which I date at about 1905, Sallie is shown at her home in Anne Arundel County with three of her five sons and three of her five daughters and three of her six grandchildren. 

I have always been sorry that I know so little about Sallie and have no pictures of her as a younger woman or child. I know the basic facts about her life: birth, marriage, death, but really nothing of her as a person. I wish I had been able to meet her and know her better. She shouldn't be remembered as just a wizened little old lady.  She had a life.

Sallie was born 25 November 1835 at her father's plantation, Silverstone, in Calvert County MD, very close to the border with Anne Arundel County. Sarah Jane Kent Barber was the second child and oldest daughter of Jonathan Yates Barber (named for his grandfather, Major Jonathan Yates of the Revolutionary War) and Mary Wheeler Kent. She had three brothers and three sisters. Her three sisters were more than ten years younger than Sally, the youngest being born after she had married and left the house, so she probably was not very close to them. As the oldest daughter, I imagine she was expected to take on a lot of responsibility for helping to run the household. I wonder how she felt about that? Was she a tomboy who would rather hang out with her brothers? Did she have a favorite doll? Did she enjoy gardening?  Did she like to ride horses?  Was she a born organizer? 

Jonathan Yates Barber

Sallie's life at Silverstone was probably a comfortable one.  Her father was a well-to-do slave owner with large land holdings. Her mother was politically well-connected, being the daughter of State Senator Daniel Kent and the niece of Governor Joseph Kent. Were there parties?  Did Sallie like to dance? Did she like music? Did Sallie have any interest in politics? 

Her older brother, Philip Daniel Barber (1833-1882) was a physician practicing in Calvert County. He was educated at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Priscilla Allnutt in 1875 and had six children with her, although only one lived to adulthood. 

Her brother Jonathan Yates Kent Barber (1840-1893) was a farmer in Calvert County. He married Jane Garner in 1867 and had three children with her, one of whom lived to adulthood. 

Her brother, Thomas Kent Barber (1841-1924) was also a physician, practicing in Baltimore County. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1865 and married Harriet Geneva (MNU) shortly after. They had two daughters. 

Her sister, Mary E. Barber (1845-1922), married Dr. John Sparrow Smith in 1884.  The couple was childless. 

Her sister, Margaretta Kent Barber (1850-1924) remained unmarried, living with her widowed sister Mary in Chesapeake Beach. 

Her youngest sister, Lydia Chaplen Billingsley Barber (1858-1936), married farmer John G. Mattox in 1895. 

Education had some value in the Barber family since two of the sons went to college.  What was Sallie's education like?  Could she read and write?  Did she like to read?  If so, what were her favorites? Did she ever wish she could go to college? Or would she have been shocked at the idea?

Sallie married William Boswell Scrivener, an Anne Arundel County farmer, in 1856 at her father's plantation when she was 21 years old, and William was 28. William had purchased Holly Hill, a well-known estate dating back to the 1600's, in anticipation of the marriage.  Sallie and William called the place Rose Valley and raised ten children there. Was Sallie a good cook?  Did she have a special recipe? 

Rose Valley/Holly Hill

Like the Barbers, William and Sallie attended All Saints Church in nearby Sunderland, Calvert County.  In 1867, their four oldest children were baptized at the family home with their Barber grandparents as sponsors. 

Sally and William rode out the Civil War at Rose Valley, although William never served in either army during the conflict. (The surgeon who examined Union draftees, being a Southern sympathizer, routinely excused men from service, including William and his brothers Samuel and James. Many of those who weren't excused from service were listed as "skedaddled South.") 

The 1860 Census shows William as the owner of 17 slaves ranging in age from six months to 50 years old. His real estate was valued at $25,500 and his personal estate at $11,000. Besides his wife and 2 children, William also had a farm manager and his family living with him in 1860. 

Anne Arundel County, like much of Southern Maryland, definitely had Confederate sympathies.  As soon as the southern states seceded, President Lincoln ordered federal troops into Maryland, and for most of the Civil War, Anne Arundel County was under military occupation.  (Lincoln, by the way, got exactly 3 votes from Anne Arundel County in the election of 1860, and I'm quite sure William was not one of them.) 

By 1870, the couple had seven children, and the Census values William's real estate at $10,000 and his personal estate at $3000, the loss in value undoubtedly due to the emancipation of his slaves. In an 1876 tax assessment, William's 460-acre property was valued at $9200, with the buildings valued at an additional $2000.  He was also taxed for $20 worth of silver, 6 horses, 21 cattle, 3 mules, 29 sheep, 24 hogs, and 1 carriage and buggy.  So, the family was still fairly well-off.

Both of Sallie's parents died in 1877 and were buried at All Saints Church, Sunderland. 

The 1880 census shows William and Sallie living with ten children at their farm, ranging in age from 3 to 22. Four of the children--Sallie, Leila, Kate and Fred--were shown as attending school. William was the trustee for a primary school in the neighborhood, and the children seemed to have gotten an education up to the 8th grade, judging by their later census records. That must have been a lively household. What kind of entertainments did the family have when they weren't busy with farm chores and homework?  

William Boswell Scrivener

Sallie was widowed in 1895 at the age of 60 when William Boswell Scrivener died after a fall from his horse. He was buried at All Saints Church in Sunderland, a few miles from his home in Friendship. How did Sallie cope? 

The inventory of William's estate indicates a modest lifestyle with simple furnishings. A coal stove and two wood stoves provided heat, and oil lamps provided light. A washing machine with a wringer was used for laundry. 

I wonder if Sallie had some special memento or family heirloom that she treasured. Were there any other family photographs is what I would really like to know and where did they go? Did that portrait of her father hang in the house? I have always wondered how it got passed down. 

In 1896, three of William's properties were put up for sale so that his estate could be distributed: 250 acres lying directly on Herring Bay, described as "the best farm in the state for club or sporting purposes," including two tenant houses and a granary; a 45-acre property, half of which was covered in timber; and his home farm consisting of 150 acres plus a large brick dwelling, stables and other outbuildings. 

The home farm at Rose Valley was purchased by the family and remained in the family until it was sold in 1937.

Sallie and William had ten children, five sons and five daughters. Like her parents, Sallie favored using family names (Wheeler, Kent, Barber, Boswell, Yates) for their children, connecting them to their heritage. Though I wonder if girl's names like Kate Estelle and Lillian Eliza were borrowed from some romantic novel.  I haven't seen those names in the family earlier.

Mary Wheeler Kent Scrivener (1857-1942) never married and lived with her mother and various of her siblings until her death.

William Boswell Scrivener Jr. (1858-1928) never married and worked on the family farm until his death. 

Sarah Jane Barber Scrivener (1862-1945) married George Bourne Gantt in 1897 and had two children with him: Sally and George. 

Leila Mary Scrivener (1864-1942) married Howe Somervell Allnutt in 1891 and had two sons with him: Howe Somervell Jr. and John James. 

Frank P. Scrivener Sr.

Frank Phillip Scrivener (1865-1936), my great-grandfather, worked as an accountant for the Gottshalk company in Baltimore. He married Louise Gwynn Scrivener in 1899 and had one son: Frank Phillip Scrivener Jr. Frank attended Glenwood Academy and seemed to be the only one of his siblings who went beyond an 8th-grade education. I speculate that his name, by the way, was also based on family--Francis Scrivener and Phillip Barber, his great-grandfathers. 

Kate Estelle Scrivener (1866-1918) married Harry Weems Wilkinson in 1905.  They had one child who died in infancy.

Lillian Eliza Scrivener (1869-1948) married Sgt. Robert Franklin Garner in 1900.  They had one daughter, Eleanor. 

Jonathan Y. Scrivener

Frederick William Scrivener (1870-1959) married Annie Elizabeth Vaughn in 1903.  They had one daughter, Camilla, who died in infancy. Fred managed the family farm. 

Jonathan Yates Kent Scrivener (1874-1957) married Jean Francis Mackintosh in 1902 and was later divorced, which I am sure was a scandal at the time.  This is the only one of my great-aunts/uncles that I ever knew personally, and I remember him visiting our family as an old man. (Although he was younger than I am now, so I should be more careful about who I am calling old!) He worked as a travelling salesman. 

William Kent Scrivener (1877-1941) known as Kent to distinguish him from William Jr. above, never married. He lived in Baltimore and worked as a travelling salesman. 

Sallie Barber Scrivener died in Baltimore at the home of her daughter Leila Allnutt 4 September 1911 at the age of 75.  Her death certificate indicates that she died from atherosclerosis, exacerbated by debility from a fall. She was buried besides her husband and several of her children at All Saints.

I so wish that Sallie had left a diary or letters or that her children had passed on more information about their mother's personality.  I would love to know how she felt about the events that shaped her life. She lived through a major war that upended her life. She raised ten children.  I am sure that she had feelings and insights about the events and people around her that I will never get to know, and that is a loss I feel keenly. 

This is one of the reasons that I try so hard to pass along family stories and whatever details I have about my ancestors so that they are not just known by the bare facts of their existence but have some personality in the imaginations of their descendants. 

In a previous blog, I have tried to give some context to Sallie and William Scrivener by showing the events that happened in their lifetimes. 

#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 44 Spirits: My saintly great grandfather Charlemagne

 My grandmother had hanging on her wall a genealogy chart that showed the family's descent from the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne or Charles the Great. While I cannot personally vouch for the accuracy of this entire line, I have seen a fair amount of documentation about Charlemagne's descendants, and I think this is probably true. If so, that would make him my 39X-great grandfather. 

Now what most people don't know about Charlemagne is that in addition to being Emperor, warrior, etc. he was also declared a saint of the Catholic Church, or at least beatified, which is a step on the way to sainthood. So that makes me the descendant of an almost-saint!  Pretty cool, huh? Now, since he was declared a saint by one of the Catholic Church's sketchier popes, some people don't regard this as valid, but, hey, I'm going to go with it. 

Charles, born in 747, was the son of Pepin the Short, and was named for his grandfather, Charles the Hammer (really into those nicknames!)  As a young man, he joined his father in many battles that helped to create the Frankish empire, Germanic tribes who lived in the lower Rhine area at the edge of the Roman Empire. On his father's death in 768, he became the King of the Franks, at first ruling jointly with his brother Carloman (strained relationship there).  But at age 24, Charles became the sole ruler of the Franks.

Charlemagne (apparently even during his lifetime, he was referred to as Charles the Great) continued his father's policy of protection of the papacy and became its staunchest defender, removing the Lombards from power in Northern Italy and leading an incursion into Moorish Spain. (You can see how this would have endeared him to the popes.) He also campaigned against the Saxons, Christianizing them (on penalty of death).  Charlemagne's sword (La Joyeuse or The Joyful) attained near mythic status, and it is alleged to be the sword used in the coronation of French kings. (It is currently on display at the Louvre in Paris.)

Convert or Die!

Abul Abbas

Charlemagne has been called "the Father of Europe" as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire and also pulled in places that had never been part of the Roman Empire. He established his capital at Aachen (now Aix-La-Chappelle) in western Germany. He even had contact with the Caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, who gifted him with an elephant named Abul-Abbas. 

He reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, after having rescued Leo from the Romans who were trying to rip out his eyes and tongue. That Holy Roman Emperor title was a somewhat controversial move that was fiercely resented by the Empress Irene of Constantinople who also coveted that title. Much warfare ensued.

Leo crowns the Holy Roman Emperor

Charlemagne died in 814 after contracting an infectious lung disease. He was buried in the Cathedral at Aachen. This was one of the laments on his death:

From the lands where the sun rises to western shores, people are crying and wailing ... the Franks, the Romans, all Christians, are stung with mourning and great worry ... the young and old, glorious nobles, all lament the loss of their Caesar ... the world laments the death of Charles ... O Christ, you who govern the heavenly host, grant a peaceful place to Charles in your kingdom. Alas for miserable me.

Charlemagne's Casket

Charlemagne married at least four times and had eighteen children with his ten wives/concubines. (I assume the popes were willing to overlook the concubine part in light of his protecting the papacy and all.) His longest marriage was to another future saint, Blessed Hildegarde of Alemania (my 39X-great grandmother). She died in 783 and his buried at Metz, where her tomb has become a place of pilgrimage.

Hildegarde and Charlemagne had nine children in their 12 years of marriage. Of his four sons who lived to adulthood, only the youngest, Louis the Pious, lived to succeed him.  Charlemagne’s son Pepin of Italy is my 38x-great grandfather. Charlemagne's Carolingian dynasty is the direct ancestor of many of the royal houses of Europe. In fact, by one account, practically everyone with Western European ancestry that goes back to the 9th century has a connection to Charlemagne. Talk about influence!

In addition to his military prowess, Charlemagne also reformed the economic system, introducing a new monetary standard and standardized ways of accounting for income and expenses. 

He was also a great lover of learning and education and ordered that his children and grandchildren be well educated. He greatly increased the number of monastic schools and book copying centers. (Remember that books were created by painstaking hand copying.) During the "Carolingian Renaissance," there was a great flowering of scholarship, literature, art, and architecture. The emperor often had books read to him during meals and created a royal library that included not only books on Christian faith but also works on history, music, art, and law. Additionally, he developed a standardized form of writing known as Carolingian miniscule that became the basis for modern European printed alphabets.

Carolingian Miniscule

As Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne also instituted reforms of the church including strengthening the church's power structure, improving clergy's skill and moral quality, standardizing liturgical practices, and rooting out paganism. 

One Catholic site refers to Charlemagne as the "King who fought off the Dark." "There is no denying that Charlemagne's rule was like a beacon shining out of the dark ages lighting the way to the great triumphs of the thirteenth century." OK.  Perhaps a little overblown. 

Charlemagne's legacy also lives on in the legends of King Arthur since their 12th-century author based them largely on the exploits of Charlemagne. 

So, about that sainthood thing.  Charlemagne was revered as a saint in the Holy Roman Empire even shortly after his death as a cult sprang up around him. The Apostolic See does not recognize his invalid canonization by Antipope Paschall III in 1165. (All of Paschall's ordinances were later annulled by the Third Lateran Council.) However, his beatification by Pope Benedict XIV in the 18th century has been acknowledged and is celebrated on January 28.  

Thus, it looks like I am descended from two Blesseds: Charlemagne and Hildegarde. Their descendants include many fascinating characters including Louis the Pious, Charles the Bald, Louis the Stammerer, Phillip the Amorous, Charles the Fat, (You just have to love those nicknames! Shuddering to think what nickname my descendants might give me.) William the Conqueror, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Elizabeth II and a full-fledged saint, Louis IX of France.   

My connection (through Charlemagne's son Pepin of Italy) comes down to my 8X-great grandparents Howell Powell and Elizabeth Gorsuch who crossed the ocean from Great Britain to Virginia in the 1660's and later moved to Talbot County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

It will be quite a challenge to go back and fill in all those other generations back to Blessed Charlemagne, but it will be an interesting tour through the nobility of Europe. 

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 50 Traditions: Gingerbread Houses

 One of the first things I bought when I found out I was going to be a grandmother was a plastic form for building "gingerbread" houses.  I had visions of decorating this model with my grandchildren and I knew I would never make it with real gingerbread.  For me, plastic was the way to go and it would be there for use at any holiday.  So we would not be limited to Christmas.  It could an Easter house, a Fourth of July house, whatever we wanted. 

Of course, I had to wait (rather impatiently) for a few years until the child was actually old enough to stand on a chair and manipulate the decorations. 

As it happened, we built more Thanksgiving houses than anything else, but that plastic house has seen a lot of decorations over the years. 

Our first venture was when my oldest grandchild was three.  I spread icing all over the frame and Henry decorated it with candy corn and other small goodies. A fair amount of icing and decorations got eaten in the process, but everyone seemed happy with the result, as Henry's proud smile attests.

The next year, I had the rare treat of having both grandchildren for a gingerbread decorating afternoon. (My second grandchild lived in Florida and I did not always see her for the holidays.)  Both Henry and Anna seemed to enjoy their artistic efforts and we progressed to using a combination of candies and foam stickers for decorations plus some marshmallow trees.

We did also venture into other holidays, like this Halloween House.

The next two Thanksgivings, Henry got to work solo and experimented with different styles of arranging decorations and some non-traditional color schemes. And he was very proud to see his work as the centerpiece of our large family gathering for the holidays. 

But by the next year, Henry's younger sister was old enough to join the fun and make her own mark on the Thanksgiving creation. Henry and Harper each got one side of the house to decorate, although Harper seemed more interested in how much icing she could scrape into her mouth. 

Henry started to develop an elaborate story line around his decorations that involved the turkey running around the house in order to escape his fate as dinner for the pilgrims. 

That year Henry also got to design a Fourth of July house. (that still involved a lot of sampling the icing.)

As they got older, the grandchildren took over more of the design, insisting on spreading the icing and creating original works of art like Henry's turkey below. 

During the pandemic, my sisters and I collaborated to create some holiday fun for our grandchildren by doing gingerbread house building in an open garage, using a variety of gingerbread house kits.  We could get together in small groups at different tables in a protected environment that was still outdoors.  We thought it was a pretty good compromise. 

And we even had a contest for the adults, so Grammie finally got to build a gingerbread house of her own.

Over the years, I have never regretted buying that plastic "gingerbread" house and have enjoyed the many hours of fun it gave me sharing time with my grandchildren.  

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 51 Perseverance: Lillian Garner's Quest for Pension Benefits

 

My 2X-great uncle, Robert Franklin "Frank" Garner, was born in Friendship, Anne Arundel County MD, in 1862, the son of Robert Garner and Eleanor Maria Lyles. He joined the US Army in 1884 and died at Fort Leavenworth KS in 1904.  In March 1900, a few months after his Army discharge, he married my 30-year-old 2X-great aunt, Lillian "Lily" Scrivener.  

From the time of Frank's death in 1904 until her own death in 1948, Lillian Scrivener Garner struggled to obtain and maintain her right to a widow's pension for her husband's many years of military service.  The pension file is a tribute to her dogged perseverance. 

By the time he enlisted in the Army for the first time on 15 November 1884, both of Frank's parents were dead; he and his 14-year-old younger sister Harriet were living with their maternal aunt Harriet Lyles Pindell in New Jersey. 22-year-old Frank Garner, a clerk, was described as being 5'6" tall with gray eyes, dark hair, and a fair complexion.  Frank subsequently re-upped in 1887, 1889, 1894, and 1897, and was honorably discharged in 1899 at Fort McHenry MD, reaching the rank of Sargeant Major having served in cavalry, artillery, and infantry units during his military career.  

During his career, Frank worked as a clerk at various Army forts, mainly in the West, Fort Apache and Fort Grant in Arizona, Fort McIntosh TX, and Angel Island CA, among others.  He served in two different wars--the Indian Wars in the 1880's and the Spanish-American War in 1898. After his discharge, he went to work for the Army as a clerk at Fort Leavenworth, where he died of pneumonia in March 1904.

Geronimo 1887

In a letter from Fort Apache to his Aunt Bettie (Elizabeth Smith Garner) in January 1885 (included in the pension file to prove his service in the Indian Wars), Frank says that he is in "[Apache Chief] Geronimo's stomping grounds." Although he spends most of his time in an office with very little field duty, he indicates that he doesn't like the "vicious" Indians at all, repeating the meme that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." 

Lily Garner and Eleanor

Lillian Scrivener Garner, the youngest of five daughters of William Boswell Scrivener and Sallie Jane Barber, was born in Anne Arundel County MD 7 November 1866. 

The Scriveners and the Barbers were neighbors of the Garners in southern Anne Arundel County; Lily's Uncle Jonathan Barber married Frank's Aunt Jennie Garner and Lily's uncle James Scrivener married Frank's Aunt Kate Garner. So, I am fairly sure that Lily and Frank met through a family connection. 

They were married at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Baltimore MD after Frank's discharge from the Army. Their only child, Eleanor McPherson Garner, was born at the home of her Scrivener grandparents on 14 March 1901. 

According to Lily's pension file, she and her daughter lived with Frank at Fort Leavenworth until Eleanor, who was apparently a delicate child, became ill and the doctor advised taking her to a friendlier climate.  Lily and Eleanor moved back to Maryland and stayed with Lily's mother until the little girl regained her strength. I think the picture above was probably taken to send back to Frank as a reminder of his family.

Lily applied for a widow's pension in May 1904, within a couple of months of Frank's death, but her application was rejected.  After an exhaustive review of every medical treatment Frank had received (documented in excruciating detail in the pension file), the Pension Bureau denied Lily's claim because Frank's death occurred more than five years after his discharge, and his death from pneumonia was not related to his military service.  She was rejected again in 1909 for the same reason.

Nevertheless, she persisted.  Fortunately for her, Congress periodically changes the parameters of pension funding.  So, enlisting the aid of her cousin, Rep. Frank Owens Smith, Lily got a special act of Congress to add her to the pension rolls in July 1914, ten years after Frank's death, based on his service in the Spanish-American War.  She was awarded a pension of $12 per month plus an $2 per month for her daughter Eleanor until the girl turned 16. Even then, she didn't get any payment until several months later when she had documented the exact date of birth of her daughter by the affidavit of her sisters, Sallie and Leila.

You might think that that Act of Congress would solve Lily's pension problem, but you would be wrong.  Lily had to keep up constant vigilance to maintain and protect her pension. 

A few months after the initial pension grant, in March of 1915, Lily wrote a letter to President Woodrow Wilson, asking that she receive the back payments of her pension to which she felt she was entitled. Her letter, included in the pension file, told a heart-breaking story.  Since my husband's death, she said, "I have had to work very hard running a rooming house to earn a living for myself and my little girl trying to send her to school." But, she noted, her health had finally forced her to give that up and she was at the time "strapped down to an iron frame at Church Home Hospital with tuberculosis of the spine." That back payment, Lily told the president, would help to prolong her life. Her request did get reviewed but was rejected.  

By 1917, however, the rules had changed again, and her pension was increased to $25 per month. By 1926, a new act of Congress increased it to $30 per month.  

However, a cost-cutting move by Congress in 1933, cut her pension in half to $15 per month. This time Lily enlisted the help of her Senator, Millard Tydings.  "I am way up in my sixties," she told Tydings, "unable to move around much, as I unfortunately had a broken vertebra in my spine sometime back, unfitting me for anything."  Her pension, she reminded him, was her "only dependence," except for a few dollars she was able to raise by darning socks for some of the gentlemen in her apartment building. Her relatives, she told him, were no longer able to help her as they faced health issues and fall-out from the Great Depression themselves.  "What can I do with only $15 a month?"

The Army's director of pensions responded to Senator Tydings several months later, confirming that her pension was indeed cut down to $15 and could not be increased.  But, he noted, there was a higher rate of pension granted to certain widows of soldiers who served in the Indian campaigns, which, of course, Frank Garner had. He advised that Lily was welcome to pursue that option if she so desired. (A widow could not get a pension from more than war at a time, and different wars had different pension rules. Of course they did.)  She submitted a new application as well as several letters that Frank had written to family members (like the one to Aunt Bettie, above) as proof of his service.

In January 1934, she was awarded a new pension of $30 per month based on Frank's Indian War service. However, the first check was for only $27, which worried her enough to write back to the pension office.  Congress, it turned out, had already cut the pensions by 10% across the board. 

Ten years later in 1944, the eagle-eyed Lily spotted this story in the Sun:

She promptly wrote to the Pension Bureau to switch back to a Spanish War pension at the increased rate of $40, which was eventually approved several months later. 

Sadly, two years later in 1946, Lillian Garner was declared incompetent to manage her affairs and was committed to the Springfield State Hospital.  The Union Trust Bank was appointed as Trustee to manage her pension.  

At the time of her death in December 1948, Lily was living with her brother Fred and his wife in Tracy's Landing, Anne Arundel County. 

I note that the Pension Bureau was very prompt in stopping the payments after Lily's death, much more so than they were in starting up her payments in the first place. 

Lillian is buried at St. James Church in Lothian, Anne Arundel County MD, near her brother and her Garner in-laws. 

Now, the question that occurred to me throughout my reading of Lily's pension saga was this: Where the heck was Eleanor all this time?  

I happen to know from previous research that Eleanor McPherson Garner was a wealthy woman, having married in succession four very well-to-do men, starting with Baltimore playboy Gilbert Lucas in 1923. And that is a whole other story, which you can see here.

While Lily struggled with ill-health and a miniscule pension, her daughter was living the high life in New York, Chicago, Miami and Paris, among other hot spots in the US and Europe. When her mother was committed to a state hospital and died of cancer a few years later, Eleanor was living in a fashionable Manhattan apartment recovering from her fourth divorce. 

Wasn't there something Eleanor could have done to help Lily? Nothing in the pension file about that.

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 44 Shadows: Multi-Generational Shadows on the Charles Scrivener Family

 From the first time I came across this branch of the Scrivener family, I felt sorry for them.  So much sorrow touched this family over several generations. 

Charles Scrivener was born about 1817 in King George County VA, the son of James Scrivener and Ann Smallwood.  By the 1840's, both Charles and his brother James had moved to the District of Columbia, where Charles married Mary Ann Williams Hoban, the widow of Edward Hoban and daughter-in-law of James Hoban, the architect of the White House. Mary Ann brought her three-year-old daughter, Susanna Hoban, into the marriage. It seemed like a promising outlook for Charles. 

James Hoban's plan for the President's House, later The White House

 

Charles and Mary Ann had four daughters and two sons together:

*Ambrosia 1839

*Virginia/Jennie 1841

*Adelaide 1843 (d. young)

*Charles Jr. 1845 (d. young)

*Theodore 1848

*Ella Rose 1855

By 1853, however, it appeared that there were many shadows in the Scrivener family.  A report in the Evening Star recounted that Charles was charged with two counts of assaulting his wife. 

 It appeared that Scrivener was in the habit of drinking excessively, abusing his family, disturbing and alarming the neighbors, and on one occasion was stopped in pursuit of his wife with an axe in his hands. This was a common thing with him, and in the two cases under trial his conduct was of the same outrageous character. When sober he was always peaceable. but very seldom was he sober. 

Charles, in his turn, blamed his bad conduct on his wife's treatment of him, which some witnesses backed up.  Ultimately, the court forced Charles to secure a deed of trust, turning over his property for the care of his children. 

Charles died in April 1858 and was buried in Congressional Cemetery. 

In the 1860 Census, 42-year-old Mary A. Scrivener lived in the District with her unmarried daughters, Ambrosia, Virginia, Adelaide and Ella as well as her daughter Susanna Hoban and Susanna's husband, Robert Johnson and her 75-year-old mother, Mary A. Williams. 

Mary Ann Scrivener died in Washington DC in 1868 and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery with her first husband, Edward Hoban.

Ambrosia and Ella Rose Scrivener married in Washington DC and died there.  Jennie Scrivener married patent medicine salesman Truman A. Cook and went through a rather scandalous divorce in the 1880's. Apparently, the Balm of Life was not enough to insure a happy marriage. 

But it was their brother Theodore who lived in the deepest shadow.  

In 1877, he married Kate Catis in Washington DC and worked as a laborer and various short-term jobs in the District throughout the 1880's and 1890's. Theodore and Kate had one son, Richard Henry (Dick) Scrivener, in 1878. 

By 1901, Theodore had a reputation similar to his father's as a "Police Fighter." The Washington Times reported that "Theodore Scrivener, fifty years old, a well-known character in police circles, [never a good thing!] . . . is again in the toils of Second precinct officials." After "liberal use of his club," a policeman managed to subdue "the obstreperous prisoner." He was charged on this occasion with vagrancy and assault and battery. 

In the 1910 Census, 62-year-old Theodore Scrivener was living in DC, with his wife Kate and son Richard. He had no occupation.  Kate worked as a laundress and Richard as a wagon driver. 

Theodore died in 1911 in the Tuberculosis Hospital in Washington.  

His wife and son suffered the greatest shadow of all. On 10 February 1915, The Evening Star reported that 70-year-old Kate Scrivener, "whose married life was a succession of troubles," was found murdered in her home, shot in the head by her son Dick, whose body was found in the next room, also shot in the head with a pistol lying next to him. The son, according the paper, was known to police as "a dope fiend" who sold flowers in the red-light district of the city. 

The newspaper went on to say that it was Kate who had kept the family together, appearing so frequently at the police station and the Police Court that she was a well-known figure in both places. "On many occasions her pleading resulted in taking the personal bond of her erring husband."

 Funeral services for the mother and son were held at the Catholic Church of the Holy Name.  Kate and Dick were buried next to Theodore Scrivener at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington DC. 

A sorrowful end to that family of Scriveners whose lives had been shadowed for several generations. 

#52Ancestors 2022 Week 48 Overlooked: Maria Farmer's Missing Husband and Son

While researching the Peter Farmer family of Brooklyn NY, I came across this curious article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 

Well, you can see why this is curious. Despite being referred to as her "late" husband, I knew from my research that both Maria's husband and her son were alive at the time she wrote her will and survived her. If this was so, why would Maria overlook them when she wrote her will and leave all her property to her daughter-in-law?  I really wanted to find out. 

Maria Brennan was born in Boston MA about 1810. She married Peter Farmer, a produce dealer in Brooklyn NY, in December of 1828.  Peter, born in New Brunswick NJ, was then about 28 years old. Maria and Peter had two children: Rachel in 1833 and Peter in 1834. In the 1850 Census, Peter (50) and Maria (40) are living in the 11th Ward of Brooklyn with Rachel (17) and Peter (16) as well as 70-year-old Catherine Brennan, presumably Maria's mother.  Both Peter's are shown as "marketman" for their occupations. 

In 1860, Peter Farmer, still in Brooklyn, is shown as a broker, with real estate valued at $10,000.  His wife Maria, daughter Rachel and son Peter are in his household, along with their respective spouses, a grandson--Frank Frost (age 4)--and two servants.  So far everything seems to be going well for the Farmers.  

Then, in 1865, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, Peter Farmer was admitted to the Brooklyn Lunatic Asylum, as a pay patient, for $5 per week.  In the 1870 Census, he is still in the Asylum.  A newspaper article about the asylum in 1876 specifically mentions the "strange antics" of Peter Farmer. 

Maria Farmer died of liver failure at her home on Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn 27 August 1883. She is buried at Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn in the plot that she and Peter purchased in 1851.

In November 1884, Peter Farmer Sr. was served with papers related to the lawsuit mentioned above on his wife's estate at the Lunatic Asylum at Flatbush with a copy to his doctor, "the physician in charge of the said Peter Farmer Sr. who is a lunatic." I believe that Peter Farmer Sr. died at the Asylum in 1888. 

So, that probably explains why Maria did not want to leave her estate to him.  

But what about her children?

Rachel Farmer married John H. Frost, a hatter, in Brooklyn in 1855 and they had one child: Frank Frost in 1857.  

Rachel predeceased her mother, dying a widow in 1874 at the age of 42, and was buried in the family plot at Greenwood Cemetery. 

She left her estate to her mother Maria and her son Frank, who was not yet 21 years old. She nominated her brother Peter as the guardian of her son and one of the executors of her estate. 

Peter Farmer Jr. married Matilda Ryder, the daughter of Luke and Ann Ryder in 1859 in Jamaica, Long Island. They had two sons: Frederick (1859) and John (1871). 

Up until the Civil War, Peter apparently worked in his father's produce business.  In 1861, he signed up for the 71st NY Infantry, achieving the rank of Sgt. and participated in the battle at Bull Run. His military records describe him as 5'10" tall, of fair complexion, with fair hair and gray eyes. In 1875 and 1880, he appears on the state and federal census records respectively as a produce dealer. 

However, by June of 1880, their property on Bond Street is being sold to pay a judgment against Peter and Matilda, and in June of 1885, Peter Farmer is an inmate at the Kings County Almshouse as a vagrant.  If Peter suffered some kind of breakdown in the early 1880's, it provides an explanation why his mother would not choose to leave property to him. 

Peter Farmer Jr.'s wife Matilda died of cancer in Brooklyn in 1886 and is buried at Greenwood. His sons apparently had nothing further to do with their father.  A burial order for Frederick Farmer in 1901 states that Peter Farmer Jr. was deceased at the time, even though he was, in fact, still alive. 

Peter's younger son, John Frost Farmer, was a jeweler who married and had two daughters. He died in New Jersey in 1935.

In 1897, the Veterans' Administration surveyed the Almshouse to determine if veterans were living there.  Peter Farmer showed up in this survey and was moved to the Veteran's Home in Bath NY, where he appears on the 1900 Federal Census and the 1905 state census. 

Peter Farmer Jr. died at the Veteran's Home in March 1910 and is buried at the Bath National Cemetery. 

As to Maria Farmer's will, the courts ultimately decided that she had not, in fact, written the will at all. I hired a researcher to look for a copy of her will and it could not be found in the New York probate records. An 1884 court record stated that "an alleged will was presented for probate, which was duly rejected." 

So, while I have a pretty good sense of why Maria would not have wanted to leave her estate to a lunatic husband and a son who seemed to have fallen apart, I'm still not clear how that alleged will came into being and what ultimately happened to Maria's estate.  At a guess, I'd say her grandson Frank Frost inherited, but I haven't found any paperwork to verify that. 

Frank Frost married Florence Hall in 1879 and had a daughter Florence Hall Frost in 1880.  In the 1880 Census Frank is living in the Lafayette Avenue house with his wife and month-old daughter and working as a bank clerk.  His wife died a few days after the Census was taken. 

Frank Frost seems to have disappeared after the court case of 1884.  I found one reference which stated that he had left New York and his whereabouts were unknown. 

His daughter Florence married Douglas Arcularius in 1902 and died in Manhattan in 1936. Her wedding announcement in the NY Times states that she was married at the home of her cousin, George Morris.  No mention of her father. 

#52 Ancestors 2022 Week 2 Favorite Find: The Gwynn Sisters and the Salmagundi Club

 The Salmagundi Club, a bi-weekly event held at the homes of members in and around Upper Marlboro, provides a fascinating insight into the social life of that community in the mid-1890's. The Prince George's Enquirer provided regular reports of the activities at the meetings where my paternal great-grandmother, Louise Gwynn, and her sister, Effie Gwynn Bowie, were frequent attendees and often provided musical performances or recitations as part of the entertainment.  Some of my Sasscer relations from my mother's side of the family were also members of this club. Clagetts, Hills, Wilsons, Bowies and Beales were frequent attendees of Salmagundi meetings. This was how people amused themselves before radio, television or the internet. 

The picture below is not from Prince George's County, but I think it gives a flavor of what the gatherings would have been like. 

My great-aunt, Effie Augusta Gwynn, married Richmond Irving Bowie in 1894 and settled down in Prince George's County among her paternal relatives. Her as-yet-unmarried sister, Louise Gwynn, was a frequent visitor while she was attending school at Mount Saint Agnes in Baltimore. The third sister, Mary Gwynn, visited from time to time when she also attended Mount Saint Agnes and occasionally showed up at the Salmagundi Club. 

The picture below shows the three sisters. (Louise is on the right, Effie in the center, Mary on the left.)

The Gwynn Sisters

Salmagundi (in case you are curious, as I was) is a dish with chopped meat, eggs, onions and spices. But secondarily, it also connotes a general mixture or a miscellaneous collection. Each meeting of the Salmagundi Club included a variety of different activities, hence the name. Here is an example from October 1897 where Aunt Effie was the hostess:

The meeting of the “Salmagundi" at Mrs. R. Irving Bowie’s last Wednesday was delightful in every detail and the attendance unusually large. Sir Walter Scott was the topic for the occasion and Mrs. C. V. A. Clagett read an interesting sketch of his life. Mrs. Thomas Clagett, of “Keokuk,” read a selection from the Lady of the Lake. Mrs. Julia Hall Osborn gave a selection from Marmion. Miss Sophie Clagett read from Ivanhoe, this supplemented by music from Miss Mary Beale and the hostess completed the interesting program. 

On another occasion, there was a "Geographical Assembly" where participants were encouraged to "in some way, either by arrangement or decoration of dress" suggest some familiar geographical name. I certainly wish I had pictures of that particular meeting.

The activities usually included literary readings or book reviews as well as descriptions of current events, such as the building of a wonderful new bridge from New Jersey to New York or an account of Dr. Hansen's polar expedition.  

And, of course, there was food or "delightful collations," as the newspaper often described them. (Again, not an actual picture from Prince George's County, but it is suggestive of the vibe.)

In addition to readings and musical recitals, the meetings usually included some kind of game where the participants competed for a prize. 

Slips of paper with the word “Salmagundi" written across the top were then handed around by the hostess and ten minutes allowed in which to write out the words to be made from it. The contest was most exciting, pencils flew apace until the time was up and Mrs. C. V. A. Clagett had fifty-three words on her list and won the pretty fancy plate given as a prize. (September 1896)

In October 1896, there was an especially elaborate "Salmagundi Party." 

The usual literary program was omitted and instead there was a “Salmagundi Party.” Four small tables had been placed in the room. On the first lay a pack of cards for euchre, on the second were twenty-five pictures of noted men and women cut from illustrated papers—authors. musicians, statesmen, etc. It was the object of the four players seated at this table to guess the names of these famous people and write them on sheets of paper provided for the purpose. 

On table No. 3 were papers—one for each of the four players -containing the names of characters from well-known books. The names of the works from which these characters were taken were to be written on pieces of paper, with the name of the player on the back of each. On the fourth table was a spool of cotton and four small trays each containing ten needles, the one who could first get the ten needles on a thread, tying a knot after each, would be declared winner. 

Little bells on bright ribbons were provided for the successful players, and as much time as it took to bring to an end the game of Euchre at table No. 1 was allotted to the others for the performance of their tasks. A bell was rung, and everyone would move either up or down the line to some table to which they had not been before. 

When everyone present had played at all the tables, the prizes were given. The first, a China Pin tray, to Miss Sophie Clagett, and the Consolation Prize, a glass dish filled with roses, to Mrs. Osborn. 

The refreshments were then served: coffee and sandwiches, chocolate and a “Salmagundi Cake" of four layers, one brown, one pink, one white and one yellow, with different fillings between each layer, and iced with pink icing, sprinkled with grated cocoanut. It was pronounced delicious. Several new members were admitted.

One of the surprises for me in discovering this club was the musical ability of the Gwynn sisters, a talent I had not previously realized. For example, in 1894, The Enquirer gave a detailed review of a concert featuring the Gwynn sisters:

A Musical Treat. 

The guests who were present at "Norburn," the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. R. Irving Bowie, last Thursday evening, enjoyed a rare musical treat, and participated in one of the most enjoyable social events of the season. The musical accomplishments of the charming young hostess are well known in this community, but all were given a delightful surprise in the rich melodious voice of her sister. Miss Louisa C. Gwynn. of Spartanburg, South Carolina. After the musicale the guests were served with an elegant collation, which reflected in every appointment the taste and skill of the accomplished young hostess. 

There followed a list of the program, which included

*Queen of the Night, vocal duet - Mrs. R. Irving Bowie and Miss Louisa C. Gwynn.

*Lucrezia Borgia, instrumental solo, Mrs. R. Irving Bowie. 

*Piano and Banjo duet —Mrs. Win. G. Brooke and Miss Mary L. Wilson. 

*Radiense. instrumental duet —Mrs. R. Irving Bowie and Miss Louise C. Gwynn. 

*Kiss and lets make up, vocal solo—-Miss Louise C. Gwynn. 

Personally, I am intrigued at the thought of a piano and banjo duet, a combination I don't think I have ever heard. Also it challenges my imagination to visualize my great-grandmother performing that last number.

Often the programs included original poetry, and I will conclude with a poem written specifically to celebrate Salmagundi and the new year of 1897.