#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 30 In the News: Cousin Henry Harrison Atwater and the Lincoln Assassination

 Henry Harrison Atwater, a distant cousin, was on duty at the Washington Navy Yard on the night of April 15, 1865 and his telegraph line conveyed the news of the search for Abraham Lincoln's assassin. He had a front row seat for one of the biggest events of his lifetime.

Atwater, the son of Ambrose Atwater and Sally Drew, was born in Burlington VT in 1840. As a teenager, he studied telegraphy and in 1856 accepted a position with the Erie Railroad dispatching trains by telegraph. 

In 1860, he moved to Brooklyn, where he met his wife, Mary Farmer McCafferty, whom he married in 1863.  He vividly remembered the election of Abraham Lincoln, the firing on Fort Sumpter, and the call for volunteers, of which his brother-in-law, Augustus McCafferty (about whom I have previously written) was one of the first. 

Learning that the government was short of telegraph operators, Atwater volunteered and was assigned to the Washington Navy Yard, the headquarters of the Potomac flotilla. During his time in Washington, he and his wife had the opportunity to meet President Lincoln in person. Although he said he had heard "many reports about the plain looks and decidedly awkward appearance" of the president, in the end, he professed himself much impressed with "the pleasing, kindly face and courteous manner . . . which won our hearts at once."  

He saw Lincoln again when the president visited the Navy Yard for a demonstration of rockets used for signaling. 

Atwater was on duty at the Navy Yard on the fateful night of the assassination, and it was he who conveyed the news of the attempt on Lincoln's life to the Commodore of the Navy Yard, having received the message from the War Department. 

During the next days, Atwater's wire was kept humming with messages regarding the capture of the assassin and his accomplices. Some 12 days later, Booth was shot and his body was brought to the Navy Yard where Atwater witnessed it being put aboard the ironclad USS Montauk. 

At the close of the Civil War, Atwater returned to Brooklyn NY where he and Mary raised their three daughters and a son: Charlotte (1865), Florence (1872), Edith (1873) and Henry Jr. (1879). 

Atwater worked for the Western Union Telegraph Company until his retirement. He was a past Master and life member of the Star of Cuba Masonic Lodge. 

He died in Brooklyn in 1921 and is buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in New Jersey along with his wife, children, and grandchildren. 

#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 28: Random: Cousin Rev. Charles Winterfield Baldwin

Historic Baldwin Hall

Many people are familiar with Anne Arundel County’s Historic Baldwin Hall (1861) located on General's Highway, but not everyone knows about the man for whom it is named, Rev. Charles Winterfield Baldwin.  So, I would like to help correct that lack. A distant cousin of mine, he was a remarkable man, and his story deserves to be told.

Charles Winterfield Baldwin was born 23 March 1840, the tenth of eleven children of Judge William Henry Baldwin and Jane Maria Woodward, the grandson of Captain Henry Baldwin who served in the Revolutionary War. He and his siblings grew up at the family home, Bunker Hill, in Anne Arundel County, near the site of the present Baldwin Hall. 

Bunker Hill

Charles Winterfield Baldwin entered Yale University in 1859 as a junior, graduating in 1861.  While at Yale, he was also secretary of the Yale baseball team. (Go, Bulldogs!)  After graduation, he studied law in Baltimore for two years, but ultimately decided to enter the ministry, studying at Yale Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary.  In 1866, he began his ministry as a junior pastor on the Severn Circuit, which included the Cross Roads Church, now Baldwin Memorial United Methodist Church. By 1897, he was the presiding elder of the West Baltimore District of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was superintendent of the Baltimore City Mission until 1910. He retired from the ministry in 1916, but frequently returned to the pulpit, often recalling the "old-time Methodist experience" which he hoped would revive. 

Rev. Baldwin grew up in the years just before the Civil War. His family owned slaves. But,  as adherents to John Wesley’s Methodism, they were encouraged to reflect on the morality of slaveholding, which led to the slaves being emancipated before the war and given land to help them start life as free people. 

Rev. Baldwin was committed to a life that respected the value of all human beings and worked tirelessly throughout his life to create opportunities for women and black people to succeed, especially in the area of education.

In 1884, he was an incorporator of The Women’s College of Baltimore, now Goucher College, and served as a trustee. He also helped to found American University, an institution that educated men and women, black and white, for careers in public service, serving at one time as its Chancellor. Starting in 1899, he served 24 years as a trustee of Morgan State College, now Morgan State University, in Baltimore.

Rev. Baldwin married Annie Campbell Hopkins in 1868 and had a daughter Marie with her.  After Annie’s death, he married Anna Thomas in 1876.  There were no children from his second marriage. 

In the years before his death, Rev. Baldwin lost his sight but had the newspaper read to him every day. He died in Baltimore in 1938 at the age of 98, the last surviving member of his graduating class at Yale, having served 70 years in the Methodist ministry. 

He is buried in the cemetery at Baldwin Memorial United Methodist Church in Millersville MD, just down the road from the house where he was born and across the street from the 1861 hall that bears his name.

 The Cora Anderson Dulaney Library next to Historic Baldwin Hall has a large collection of Rev. Baldwin's letters and papers. 

#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 36 Tradesman: Henry Yoxtheimer's General Store

My grandchildrens' great uncle, Henry Yoxtheimer Jr., was born in Berks County PA in 1793, the son of Johann Heinrich (Henry) Yoxtheimer and Maria Catherine Kunrad, the 5X great grandparents of my grandchildren.  Henry's brother George Adam Yoxtheimer was their 4X great grandfather and the grandfather of George Washington Yoxtheimer, about whom I have previously written.

In 1817, Henry married Margaret Mallick and had two children with her: Margaret and William. After Margaret's death in 1826, he married secondly Nancy Bacon in 1828 and had a daughter Rachel with her. 

Henry Jr. was originally a potter by trade, but gradually expanded his business to include all kinds of merchandise. In 1826, he erected a large brick building to serve as a general store on Market Street in Sunbury with a warehouse in the back to store his goods. Sunbury was (and still is) a small town in the Susquehanna Valley of eastern Pennsylvania and the county seat of Northumberland County. In the early 1800's, about 1000 people lived in Sunbury and the surrounding area. 

The old-fashioned general store like Henry's was at the heart of most small towns.  It carried almost every large and small item that might be needed on the farm or in the home: groceries, meat, hardware, clothing, toiletries, bolts of cloth and dozens of other necessities. Almost everything was carried in bulk with few packaged or canned items. The interior would be crammed with boxes, barrels, crates, and tables holding the goods for sale. As Henry's ad indicates, he sold goods for cash or barter, a common practice, especially in rural areas.  In addition to its merchandising function, the general store was often the social center of the community as well where gossip and news were spread. Someone like Henry Yoxtheimer pretty much embodied the term "pillar of the community." 

The picture below is not Henry's store, but it gives you the general idea of what his place might have looked like.

19th-Century General Store

Henry owned his own canal boat, the Enterprize, which ran between Sunbury and Philadelphia, on the Susquehanna River, trading farm goods and bringing back the items his customers wanted. This ad from 1835 shows the kinds of items he traded in.  

Judging by this ad in the Sunbury Gazette from 1833, Henry prided himself on being able to beat the prices of the stores in Philadelphia.

In 1838, Henry leased part of a coal field in Shamokin and offered coal to his customers as well as dry goods and produce. 

 

In the 19th century, patent medicines were in their heyday.  These pills, elixirs, tonics and liniments were among the first products promoted by the advertising industry, using techniques such as celebrity endorsements.  

Although Henry's store carried a huge variety of goods, Henry seemed especially proud of his selection of patent medicines, judging by the ads he ran in the Sunbury Gazette in the 1830's and 40's, touting the availability of these miracle cures at his establishment. The ads below are typical of the dozens Henry ran over the years, relying heavily on testimonials and hyping pseudo-scientific claims of efficacy. 

In 1841, Henry was elected to the Common Council of Sunbury Burough.

Henry sold his store to his son-in-law, John Frilling, in 1842.

John W Friling has this day purchased from Henry Yoxtheimer his store and entire stock of goods. The business of store will hereafter be conducted at the Old Stand. Sunbury, May 18, 1842

Henry Yoxtheimer Jr. died in Sunbury in November 1849 and is buried in the Sunbury Cemetery. 

Died. In Augusta township, suddenly, on Tuesday last, Mr. Henry Yoxtheimer, aged about 55 years. The deceased was a good and useful citizen, and was for many years, engaged in the mercantile business in this place.

#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 33 Strength: The Strong Patriotism of George Gottfried Orwig and his sons

 

George Gottfried Orwig, the 7X-great grandfather of my grandchildren, was born in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany, in August 1719. As the map shows, the city is a little south and west of Berlin. In the 18th century, when George lived there, Braunschweig (Brunswick in English) was a political and cultural center of Germany. Goethe's opera, Faust, premiered in Braunschweig. 

The Brunswick Lion

The Brunswick Lion, a bronze cast in the 12th century by Duke Henry the Lion, still proudly stands guard in the main square of the city, a sight that Gottfried would have seen nearly every day. 

In 1741, at the age of 22, Gottfried sailed from Rotterdam for America on the ship St. Andrew, landing at the port of Philadelphia. Gottfried stayed in Pennsylvania for a short time and then returned to Germany, where he married Anna Clara Lampert in 1743.

The young couple returned to America and settled in the area of Maiden Creek, near Reading, which they called Brunswick after their home city in Germany.   

Clara and Gottfried had at least six children, all born at Brunswick:

*Catherine 1748

*Peter 1750

*Maria 1751

*Henry 1753

*Elizabeth 1756

*George 1758 (6X Great Grandfather of my grandchildren)

During the Revolutionary War, Gottfried and his sons all served the American cause.  Peter, a preacher in the German Reform Church, did not join the Army, but did support the cause in other ways. 

Henry served in Col. William Thompson's Rifleman Company and later was an ensign in the Berks County militia. He participated in skirmishes around Boston and took part in the Battle of Brandywine. His Obituary:

Dec 18, 1836, at Orwigsburg, of old age, one of the oldest inhabitants of Orwigsburg and one of the brave who served for the father land in the Revolutionary War. Also as a lieutenant in the Army of the United States and at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. Old age and tired of this life he went quietly and gently drifted to the next at age 83/0/12. The funeral sermon was preached by Rev. R. W. Harpel on Hebrew XIII, 14.

George enlisted in the Rifle Company of Captain James Olds in July 1776 and took part in the battles at Long Island and White Plains NY. He was an ensign in the Berks County militia in 1783. 

But perhaps most remarkable was the service of Gottfried Orwig, a man in his late fifties when the war started. He joined a group of eighty other men, all German, in what was called "The Old Men's Company."  Their captain was nearly 100 years old and their drummer 94 years old. Gottfried's name is listed on the plaque shown at the right. 

After the war, Gottfried's son Peter purchased several hundred acres in Berk's County and laid out the town of Orwigsburg in 1796. The town was incorporated in 1813 and became the county seat of newly-formed Schuylkill County.  Peter, Henry and George Orwig all owned land and farmed in the area.

Gottfried Orwig died in Orwigsburg PA in May 1804 and is buried in the Zion's Red Church Cemetery there, beside his wife Clara, who died in 1788.

George Orwig, Gottfried's son, married Mary Magdalena Gilbert in 1779 and had fourteen children with her, five daughters and nine sons, including my grandchildren's 5X Great Grandfather, William Orwig, born in Orwigsburg in 1800. 

George and his wife both died in Mifflinburg PA in 1841 and are buried in the Mifflinburg Cemetery.