Witch and Warlock?? -- How a Genealogy Journal Article Led to an Accused Witchy Woman and Her Warlock Husband Hiding in My Genealogy (October 28, 2019)

                          

I've been waiting for an appropriate time to post this recent genealogy discovery and, given the subject matter, the month of October seems to be just right.  The timing also coincides with two items on this blog in recent Saturday Serendipity posts: (1) Item #7 in the September 28th Saturday Serendipity noting a New England Folklore story related to the Salem Witch Trials; and (2) Item #1 in the September 21st Saturday Serendipity about the value of reading academic genealogy journals published by various genealogical organizations.  This post gives me the opportunity to weave together items of interest from some Saturday Serendipity posts with recent probable additions to my genealogy.

The story begins with the fact that one of my 4th great grandmothers is Amey Bishop.  Amey was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island on April 22, 1781.  She married Asquire/Asquare Miller before 1800 when the first of their children, Aurin Miller, was born on April 22, 1800 (his mother's birthday).  Amey died in Cumberland on October 31, 1864.  Both Amey [Bishop] Miller and her husband Asquare/Asquire Miller are buried in Rhode Island Historical Cemetery, Cumberland 3 [1]   located on Dexter Street  in Cumberland, RI.  The cemetery is a short walk from what was the Miller homestead at 551 High Street (also now known as Rte. 114) in Cumberland.

    

Amey [nee Bishop] Miller's parents were Naamon/Namon Bishop and his wife, Hannah [nee Grant] Bishop. Hannah [Grant] Bishop (1753 - 1805) is also interred at Rhode Island Historical Cemetery, Cumberland 3.

Cumberland Cemetery 3 was incorporated by an Act of the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1870. Among the eight incorporators of the cemetery was Eber Miller (1805 - 1877), my 3x great grandfather and the son of Amey [Bishop] Miller (1781 - 1864) and Asquire Miller (1775 - 1825).   Eber Miller and his wife, Abby Hunt (1807 -1893) are also interred in Cumberland Cemetery 3.  I have known for some time about my Bishop ancestors and that they are interred in the historical Cumberland Cemetery 3 along with several of my Miller and Carpenter ancestors and relatives. [2]  

As many genealogists habitually do, I review all the genealogy journals I receive as a result of membership in genealogy organizations, and I peruse other genealogy journals I come across in libraries or elsewhere.  Whenever I browse such journals, the first thing I am looking for is surnames that I know are in my genealogy.  It is not often that I come across a familiar surname that appears to deserve additional attention and research to determine if there is a family connection, but recently I did just that with the Bishop surname.

Because of my Bishop ancestors, when I received the Winter 2019 issue of The Register the first item that caught my eye in the table of contents was the article by Nancy R. Stevens, "Edward Bishop (ca. 1618 - 1697) of Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts." [3]  

The goal of the Nancy Stevens article (hereafter "Stevens") was to further clarify the confusion found in the well-known work, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Clarence Almon Torrey.  Torrey's original compilation of marriages lists a total of five Edward Bishops who lived at one time in Salem, Massachusetts. Three of the five Edward Bishops are designated as Edward [1] and the two others are designated as Edward [2] and Edward [3], respectively. [4]  The Third Supplement to Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Melinde Lutz Sanborn (2003) adds yet another Edward Bishop who is noted as being "not Edward [1]."  The Supplement addition of the Edward Bishop who was not the same as Torrey's Edward [1] was undoubtedly based on the 1981 - 1982 work of David L. Greene [5] who established that a sawyer named Edward Bishop married Bridget Playfer/Wasselbe/Oliver in Salem sometime before 1680.  As both Greene and Robert Charles Anderson [6] noted, Bridget Playfer/Wasselbe/Oliver/Bishop had the unfortunate fate to be the first person executed during the 1692 Salem witch trials.  Torrey had originally (and erroneously) attributed the marriage of "Bridget (Warsilbe) (Oliver)" as the second marriage of Edward [1], widower of Hannah Bishop.  [Stevens also points out in her article that the third marriage Torrey originally attributed to Edward [1] -- that to Elizabeth (Lambert) Cash -- "is probably for Edward the sawyer as well."]

In reading and re-reading the Stevens article, it was the carefully documented story of Edward [1] that grabbed my attention and sent me to my maternal Carpenter/Miller/Bishop line to do further research on my 4th great grandmother, Amey Bishop's, paternal genealogy.  The Stevens article had as its central purpose the indentification of "records created by or about Edward [1] Bishop and [to] present a genealogical summary of his children and grandchildren."  My purpose was to try to work backwards from Amey's parents to see if her genealogy (and thus mine) connected to Edward [1], and particularly his son Edward [2] who left Salem and moved to Rehoboth, Massachusetts where he was an innkeeper until he died in Rehoboth on May 12, 1711. 

The presence of Edward [2] and his wife Sarah in Rehoboth was of great interest to me because my 2x great grandfather, Samuel Carpenter, was born in Rehoboth as were both his parents and all his male line back five additional generations.  Samuel Carpenter (1828 - 1904) married Ruth Ann Miller (1828 - 1893) of Cumberland, Rhode Island who was the granddaughter of Amey [Bishop] Miller and her husband, Asquire/Asquare Miller.  And Amey Bishop's father, Naamon Bishop, was born in Rehoboth in 1746.    

The basic biography for Edward [1] was summarized by Stevens as follows: "Edward [1] Bishop was born about 1618 (age in 1680 and 1681), probably in England, and died by 7 November 1697, probably in Beverly, where he lived.  He married probably in Salem about 1645, Hannah _____."

Through careful analysis of the record trail left by Edward [1], Stevens established his presence in Salem and then Beverly from about 1641 until his death in 1697.  Edward [1] and his wife Hannah had three children (two daughters and one son) who were all baptised in Salem: Hannah Bishop married Wiliam Raymond and had five children; Edward [2] Bishop married Sarah Wild and had eleven children; and Mary Bishop married Robert Coburn and had eleven children.

All of the eleven children of Edward [2] Bishop and his wife Sarah [Wild] Bishop were born in either Salem or Beverly, Massachusetts according to the Stevens article.  But only two of their nine sons had any stated connection to Rehoboth -- Jonathan Bishop, who married Abigail Averill, died in Rehoboth in February 1752, and John Bishop, who married twice, died in Rehoboth in September 1748.  So the question for me became, "Did Amey [Bishop] Miller's father Naamon Bishop, who was born in Rehoboth, have any genealogical connection to either Jonathan Bishop (abt. 1675 - 1752) or his younger brother John Bishop (1689 - 1748) and thus to Edward [2] Bishop and his wife Sarah [Wild] Bishop who moved to Rehoboth in 1703?" 

Naamon Bishop's parents were Gould Bishop (born 1703 in Beverly) and Mary [Pullen] Bishop (1712 in Rehoboth - 1756).  Gould Bishop's parents (and thus Naamon's grandparents and Amey [Bishop] Miller's great grandparents) were .  .  .  Jonathan Bishop and his wife Abigail [Averill] Bishop!  And so the answer to my question is that there was a genealogical connection between my 4x great grandmother Amey [Bishop] Miller and both Edward [2] Bishop and his father Edward [1] Bishop.  It appears that Edward [2] Bishop and Sarah [Wild] Bishop are my 8x great grandparents.

So why did the possibility of this genealogical connection back to Edward [1] and Edward [2] interest me so much?  It is because both of these Edward Bishops lived in Salem, Massachusetts during the period of February 1692 to May 1693 when the Salem witch trials occurred.  During that time more than 200 people were accused and 19 were found guilty and executed by hanging (14 women and 5 men).  In addition, one man was crushed to death for refusing to plead and five other people died in jail. [7]

Neither Edward [1] nor his wife Hannah were among the accused during the Salem witchcraft hysteria even though both of them signed a petition in defense of Rebecca Nurse.  Tragically, Rebecca was nonetheless executed on July 19, 1692 for witchcraft involving the killing of seven babies supposedly by using her spirit!

Edward [2] and his wife, Sarah [Wild/Wildes] Bishop daughter of John and Priscilla [Gould] Wild, were not so lucky because both of them were accused of witchcraft and imprisoned in the spring of 1692!  They were transferred to the jail in Boston, but escaped in October 1692. [8]  Eventually they removed to Rehoboth where Edward [2] became an innkeeper.  Both of them died in Rehoboth.  Their son Jonathan Bishop, a sadler, also died in Rehoboth and he and his wife, Abigail [Averill] Bishop, had a son Gould Bishop (who appears to have been named after his great grandmother, Priscilla [Gould] Wild).  Gould Bishop married Mary Pullen in Rehoboth on March 15, 1733 and the second of their three sons was Naamon Bishop born in Rehoboth on January 24, 1746.  Naamon married Hannah Grant in Cumberland, Rhode Island on December 24, 1778.  Naamon and Hannah had two daughters -- Nancy Bishop [9] and Amey Bishop.  As mentioned at the top of this post, Hannah [Grant] Bishop is buried in Cumberland Cemetery 3 and so is her daughter Amey, who is buried with her husband Asquire/Asquare Miller [10]. 

And so, with Halloween and depictions of witches and warlocks popping up on lawns, in stores, and in the costumes of trick-or-treating children, 'tis the season to contemplate the existence of witchcraft.  While I do not believe my 8th great grandparents were a witch and warlock couple, clearly some in Salem, Massachusetts in the spring of 1692 believed they were and accused them of such fabricated evil.  The accusations were taken seriously enough by the supposedly godly powers that governed Salem and nearby communities, that Edward [2] Bishop and his wife Sarah were imprisoned to await trial and possible execution -- but they were fortunate enough to escape and live a full life in Rehoboth, Massachusetts!  

All of the above having been said, however, perhaps I might reconsider if a witch and warlock are sitting in my geneaology IF on Halloween night either of my young granddaughters twitches her nose and things start flying about the room.

😉

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[1]  See the six-part series on Cumberland Cemetery 3 beginning with the initial post of May 20, 2016 and the documents and photos presented there.

[2]  As explained in my blog series on Cumberland Cemetery 3, my mother's father (my maternal grandfather), Everett S. Carpenter (1891 - 1962), was the last Secretary/Treasurer of the Cumberland Cemetery and it was from him that all the documents relating to the Cumberland Cemetery eventually came to me so that the information and names contained in them could be published and shared with others.  See also, John D. Tew, "Discoveries About Cumberland Cemetery 3," Rhode Island Roots, Journal of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 43 (December 2017): 211 - 226.

[3]  Nancy R. Stevens, "Edward Bishop (ca. 1618 - 1697) of Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register -- The Journal of American Genealogy 173 (Winter 2019): 52 - 65.

[4]  With respect to Edward [2] and Edward [3], Stevens observes that the one entry in Torrey's original compilation for each of these Edwards "have stood the test of time" and they are the son of Edward [1] and the grandson of Edward [1] respectively.

[5]  David L. Greene. "Salem Witches I: Bridget Bishop," The American Genealogist 57 (1981): 129 - 138; 58 (1982): 163.

[6]  Robert Charles Anderson, "Bridget (Playfer) (Wasselbe)(Oliver) Bishop: Her Origin and First Husband," The American Genealogist 64 (1989): 207.

[7]  See, "Salem witch trials" at Wikipedia.

[8]  See, "Edward Bishop (Salem witch trials)" at Wikipedia.

[9]  My 2x great grandfather, Samuel Carpenter (who married Ruth Ann Miller, daughter of Eber Miller), had tthree children: my great grandfather Samual Eber Carpenter and his two sisters Abby Laura Carpenter, and Nancy Bishop Carpenter.  Nancy Bishop Carpenter was named after her great grandmother Amey [Bishop] Carpenter's sister, Nancy Bishop.

[10]  My Miller ancestors in Cumberland, Rhode Island also originally came from Rehoboth.  The Millard/Miller family had been living there for four generations when Peter Miller (who was born in Rehoboth) married Anne Aldrich of Cumberland in November 1766 and relocated to Cumberland.  It was Peter Miller who built (sometime around 1767) what became the Miller/Carpenter homestead on High Street in Cumberland. 

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Copyright 2019, John D. Tew

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Rhode Island Historical Cemetery, Cumberland 3 (October 12, 2016) -- Part VI

In this sixth and final post of the Cumberland 3 Cemetery series, I am presenting the last of the documents found in the Cemetery file that was kept by my maternal grandfather, Everett S. Carpenter, and subsequently passed down to me.

Among the last seven miscellaneous documents found in the Cumberland Cemetery file are: five customer copies of "personal service checks" drawn on the Pawtucket Institution For Savings in the years 1955 and 1956; a business card of John P. Cannon, Right of Way Agent with the Rhode Island Division of Roads and Bridges; and a 4 in. x 6 in. piece of notepaper with penciled notes about a "Mrs. Alexander Dale," "Martha A. Kendrick," and a "C. Babbitt, Jr." I present these items below in the hope that they might be of some assistance to others who are interested in piecing together more of the history of Cumberland Cemetery 3, or who might find the information and names of some use in tracking down ancestors or relatives.

The above business card appeared loose in the manilla envelope containing the Cumberland Cemetery 3 files. It was not attached to or seemingly associated with any other document in the files and there is no mention of, or explanation about, the card in the notes of the cemetery corporation.

A "Right of Way Agent" is an official who performs various duties with respect to real estate, but the main purpose and duty of such an official may be the securing of property rights for another. This can include private third parties or government agencies. The Right of Way Agent will often have to identify land owners who might be affected by a planned project; obtain accurate appraisals of subject land; establish a face-to-face meeting with landowners to establish a relationship and discuss a planned project; perhaps negotiate a sale of subject property; and --in the event of damages resulting from the implementation of a project -- work to settle damage disputes.

It is unknown if there were any state-involved projects that would have required discussion, negotiation, or perhaps sale of any of the property owned by the Cumberland Cemetery, Inc., but it is possible that a project related to improvement to Dexter Street brought Right of Way Agent John Cannon calling on my grandfather or other representatives of Cumberland Cemetery, Inc.  The answer might lie in the historical records of the Division of Roads and Bridges.

The next miscellaneous items in the Cumberland Cemetery file are the five personal service checks shown above.

The first check is made out to Amos Egerton in the amount of $17.00 on March 15, 1955. This is apparently for Mr. Egerton's periodic care and maintenance of certain funded gravesites in Cumberland Cemetery. This check is in exactly the same amount ($17.00) as itemized in his invoice/receipt dated December 22, 1954, which is depicted in Part V of this series.

The other four checks are all written in series (Nos. 53857 - 53860) on the same date -- January 31, 1956. The last in the series is written to the Secretary of State of Rhode Island for $2.00 and is most likely the annual corporate registration fee. Another of the checks is again written to Amos Egerton in the same amount as before -- $17.00. A fourth check is made out to "George Savage" for $18.00. What this payment was for and who Mr. Savage was is unknown at this time. The final check dated January 31, 1956 (No. 53859) is made out to my grandfather, Everett S. Carpenter, in the amount of $25.00. Unlike all the other checks (which are signed by my grandfather as Treasurer for Cumberland Cemetery), this check has a notation under the signature line that might indicate what the payment was for, but unfortunately it is illegible.

Finally, there is the note shown immediately above. It contains three names and a reference to the northeast corner of the Carpenter lot in the cemetery.  The names might be persons who purchased or wanted to purchase lots in the cemetery, but the note and names could just as well have some other purpose.  The actual purpose of the note is probably now lost in time. The three names are . . . 

               Mrs. Alexander Dale

               1662 Lonsdale Ave.

               Lonsdale, RI

               Martha A. Kendrick (Stone)

               C. Babbitt, Jr.

               Crowell St.

None of the surnames mentioned in the note shown above are listed in the records of plot purchasers or Cemetery officers (see previous posts in this series -- especially Part III). The reference under Martha A. Kendrick (Stone) to the northeast corner of the Carpenter lot probably relates to an interest in purchasing a lot located there, but here is no record in the Cemetery files I have of a Kendrick or Stone lot being purchased. Perhaps additional research in the future by me or someone else can help identify who Mrs. Alexander Dale, Martha Kendrick, and C. Babbitt, Jr. were.

So what do all these lost and newly discovered documents about Cumberland Cemetery 3 indicate?

To begin with, the documents include what are probably two previously unknown early plats of the property that is now Cumberland Cemetery 3.  Notations on the plats together with minutes by the Cemetery trustees provide new supporting evidence for the belief that the property was a burial ground before the time of the 1870 incorporation of Cumberland Cemetery, Inc.

It is also very clear in a review of these documents that the cemetery was overseen by generations of volunteers who were left to solicit and cajole owners of lots and their relatives and descendants to either care for and maintain the lots in the cemetery, or contribute voluntarily money and/or labor to keep the cemetery from falling into disrepair.  Since none of the lots were endowed with funds for future care and maintenance (save for the Howe and Dana lots funded with bequests -- see Part IV), the trustees had very limited funds to invest and use for general cemetery care and maintenance or for perpetual care of the individual, unfunded lots. 

The sale of the cemetery lots without any requirement for care and maintenance financing for future gravesite and cemetery upkeep, proved eventually to be a fatal flaw for the viability of the cemetery. The trustees/officers were reduced to issuing pleas for funds and/or volunteer labor, but apparently the calls were largely ignored or wholly inadequate to the needs of the cemetery as it aged from the 19th century into the 20th century. Relatives and descendants gradually moved away or lost the family memory of those interred in Cumberland Cemetery 3 . . . and the cemetery fell into disrepair through neglect and the aging and death of the original trustees and their interested descendants. 

Te sad story of Cumberland Cemetery 3 is quite likely a story that was repeated throughout Rhode Island in the case of private cemeteries. While many of these cemeteries have been identified and marked as historic sites, it is only through the efforts of dedicated, selfless volunteers such as Ken Postle and his many assistants with River Road and Blackstone River Valley Cemeteries that continued discovery and restoration of these sites is underway today. 

It is sincerely hoped that the discovery and publication of the documents related to Cumberland Cemetery 3 in the six parts of this series will be of some assistance to Ken and his wonderful volunteers AND to folks who might be looking for ancestors or relatives with connections to Cumberland and its immediate environs. I would be thrilled if this series and the documents presented led anyone to the discovery of the final resting place of a lost family member or members!

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All photographic images in this series are by the author. All document images are from originals in the file inherited from the author's maternal grandfather, Everett S. Carpenter, and are now in the author's personal collection. 

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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew

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Rhode Island Historical Cemetery, Cumberland 3 (August 26, 2016) -- Part V

Ater 1941, the records for Cumberland Cemetery go silent until 1947 when Everett S. Carpenter received an inquiry from a woman in Wisconsin about any record of a George Lapham being buried in the cemetery sometime between 1828 and 1860. The typed inquiry letter, dated 2-19-47 in someone's handwriting, is shown immediately above.

On March 31, 1947, Everett Carpenter (my maternal grandfather) replied to Miss Olene Lapham to inform her that he had no record of the burial of a George Lapham in Cumberland Cemetery. He also told her that he had personally walked the cemetery to inspect all the remaining headstones, but could not find one with the name George Lapham on it.  As he explained to Miss Lapham, "[T]he old records for this cemetery have been lost, and the present members of the corporation are badly handicapped in trying to dig out any ancient history." Given that Miss Lapham could only date the death of her George Lapham sometime in a 32-year period between 1828 and 1860 (well before the incorporation of the Cumberland Cemetery in 1870), Everett must have been referring to burials in the area of the Cumberland Cemetery prior to lot sales that began in the 1870s. This inquiry and the response supply more evidence to support the belief that property within or adjacent to what is Cumberland Cemetery had been used as a burial ground for many years before the incorporation of Cumberland Cemetery and probably relates to the mention of "disused burying grounds east of the tombs" and other such references in the Trustee minutes and other documents previously posted in this series.

Another gap in the documents relating to Cumberland Cemetery occurred from 1947 until an undated, handwritten letter from a Mrs. Henry Barlow of 14 Grove street in Lonsdale, RI and a reply letter to her from Frank O. Lind, Jr., Town Solicitor for the Town of Cumberland, appeared in January 1952.

As shown immediately below, Mrs. Barlow had written a "Mr. Powers" at the Town of Cumberland regarding the care of various private cemeteries in the Town. The Town Solicitor had been instructed to investigate the Town's responsibility for such cemeteries and found that the Town had no funds for such activities and he referred Mrs. Barlow to my grandfather, Everett Carpenter, at his home address inasmuch as he was identified as an officer of the cemetery she was particularly interested in -- Cumberland Cemetery.

Sometime after January 23, 1952, Mrs. Barlow wrote to Everett Carpenter as suggested by Mr. Lind, the Cumberland Town Solicitor. Her letter was handwritten and she used the blank side of Mr. Lind's reply letter to her as a means of copying Everett with the nature of her inquiry.[1]  Mrs. Barlow's letter is shown below and is followed by a typed transcription to assist the reader.

                                                                                                        Mrs. Henry Barlow

                                                                                                              14 Grove St.

                                                                                                                Lonsdale, RI.

               Mr. Everett Carpenter

                    Dear Sir for the last two years I have been trying to interest some one in the

               condition of the Cumberland Cemetery it is a disgrace to any Town I am a shut

               in and unable to get out the last time I was in the cemetery I counted 30 flags for

               GAR men which could hardly be seen for the weeds and growth stones down either

               from vandalism or age or the weather fences burned and broken I was always of

               the opinion there was a fund left to care for it and perhaps you could tell me about

               it the other cemeteries of the Town have been well taken care of by the Town men

               but but you know the reason why the older ones buried there were once big tax

               payers in the Town if only in respect for those who fought in the Civil War I think

               something should be done about it and hope to interest you in it.

                                                                         Sincerely Mrs. H. Barlow

                                                                                          14 Grove St.

                                                                                                         Lonsdale

                                                                                                                  RI

Myra Barlow was a very determined woman and she wrote to several others in 1952 seeking assistance to clean and care for the Cumberland Cemetery. On January 29, 1952, she wrote to Chester W. Williams, Division Chief of the State Division of Soldiers Welfare in Providence. She had recently read about the work Mr. Williams and Robert Scott were doing for cemeteries in which war veterans were buried. Mrs. Barlow drew their attention to Cumberland Cemetery and noted that "more than 30 graves" there had flag markings and most were for Civil War veterans.  She asked for their assistance in rectifying the conditions at the cemetery where flag markers had been broken, plants had become overgrown, etc.

Sometime prior to May 15, 1952, Myra Barlow wrote to Amos Egerton regarding the conditions at Cumberland Cemetery. Her hand written letter is undated, but it was specifically responded to by Everett Carpenter on behalf of the cemetery corporation on May 15, 1952. Mrs. Barlow's two-page letter with a transcription for the reader follows . . . 

                                                                                                                 Mrs. Henry Barlow

                                                                                                                      14 Grove St.

                                                                                                                Lonsdale

                                                                                                                       R.I. 

               Mr Amos Egerton [sic]

               Dear Sir I am trying to find out something about Cumberland Cemetery as they tell

               me you used to work there some times and I remember that they used to say there

               was a fund for the care of it if you did who paid you I tried three years ago [circa 

               1948?, see Everett Carpenter reply ltr. of May 15, 1952] to get the Cumberland

               Official to have the Town men clean it up but no results and I saw a piece in Sunday

               Journal about them buying bonds to get more money to pay care takers but it did not

               mention that cemetery it is a disgrace to any Town to have such a looking place

               where all the family has died or moved away as the ones buried there paid takes [sic]

               many years I am a shut in confined to a wheel chair and unable to get out but my

               folks are buried there and I wish something could be done about it so if you know

               anything if there was a fund or not will you please let me know I am one of the

               Mowrys and I will thank you very much, and will try and write to the towns people      

                                                                                                and oblige

                                                                                                       Mrs. Barlow

On May 15, 1952,Everett Carpenter, Secretary for Cumberland Cemetery, Inc., replied to Mrs. Barlow's handwritten letter to Amos Egerton (shown above) and in essence informed her that there were "no funds  whatever belonging to the corporation" and that it receives "no financial aid from the Town of Cumberland." Everett detailed some history of the corporation and the cemetery explaining that the Cumberland Cemetery was incorporated in 1870, but that there existed a burial ground at the site "for many years prior to that date." He further elaborated and mentioned how membership in the corporation had gradually dwindled due to death until only one member survived and then in 1939 the corporation was "reorganized" under new members. At that time,  two bequests under two different wills were received by the corporation, but only "for the perpetual care of two private plots." The upkeep of all other individual plots was left "wholly the responsibility of the owners" and "[a]s long as there were interested survivors of those buried there, individual lots were kept in good condition and the general appearance of the cemetery remained good." In sum, Mr. Carpenter agreed that while cemetery had "deteriorated badly over a number of years," the corporation [was] powerless to make any improvements without any money."

Mr. Carpenter did, however, end on a hopeful note stating,

               There is but one course open. Membership in the corporation is open to any

               original owner of a lot or his heirs or assigns. With a large membership and

               the willingness of these members to each do a small amount of manual labor,

               the whole area can be put in good condition and so maintained. 

Amos Egerton did indeed work at Cumberland Cemetery and was paid from corporation funds received from bequests to care for specific individual plots in the cemetery. [See, Part IV of this series for the details.] As shown below in Mr. Egerton's invoice/receipt dated December 22, 1954, he provided care for the graves of Dr. Howe and Mrs. Dana as well as that of James C. Dexter. 

The  intrepid Mrs. Barlow was undeterred by the unfortunate news from Everett Carpenter and the Cumberland Cemetery and on May 19, 1952 she wrote again to Chester W. Williams who served as Division Chief of the Rhode Island Division of Soldiers Welfare and was a member of the Graves Registration Committee within that Division. She reminded him of her letter to him in January of that year and stated she had not as yet received a reply. As Memorial Day approached, she once again outlined the situation at Cumberland Cemetery and pleaded the case for providing improvement and care of the cemetery where so many veterans were buried. She offered whatever assistance she could provide.

On May 26, 1952, Chester Williams replied to the two letters from Myra Barlow. Unfortunately, Mr. Williams could only inform Mrs. Barlow that the Rhode Island Graves Registration Committee chaired by Ralph S. Mohr was embarked on a project to "locate and map all of the cemeteries in the State of Rhode Island" and that they would get to "your neighborhood" when the ongoing work in Coventry, East and West Greenwich, Scituate, and towns in that area was completed. He summed up his response by stating, 

               Our ultimate objective is to see that these cemeteries, especially where there 

               are veterans buried, are kept in a decent and respectable condition. It will take

               some time, of course, for all of this to be accomplished, but I can assure you

               that there [is] something definite being done about it and when

               our engineer and field men get to your territory, we will certainly have them

               call on you for any assistance that you may wish to give.

There is also among the records a handwritten letter from Myra Barlow to Nathaniel Brown.  The letter is undated, but from its content it appears it may have been written after her letters to Chester Williams and particularly after his reply of May 26, 1952. She refers in her letter to a meeting of "the Cemetery Committee" and notes that she has "tried for the last three years to get some one interested in [the Cumberland Cemetery] without results."  By the time of this letter, Mrs. Barlow was no longer living at 14 Grove St. in Lonsdale, but had moved to 417 Front St. in Saylesville, R.I. She once again notes that she is confined to a wheel chair and states that she had not been to the Cumberland Cemetery in 9 years. A copy of what appears to be the last correspondence from Myra Barlow follows (with a transcription to assist the reader) -- and it is there that the undaunted efforts of Myra Barlow to obtain care and maintenance of the Cumberland Cemetery comes to a close (probably around 1955). 

                                                                                                    417 Front St

                                                                                                          Saylersville R.I.

               Mr Nathaniel Brown [2]

                    Friend Nat

               I am writing this in regard too the meeting of the Cemetery Committee I have tried

               for the last three years to get some one interested in that cemetery without

               results it is a disgrace to any Town the conditions it is in I wrote to Everett

               Carpenter and he wrote back and said he believed there was a sum left for it

               keeps but he believed it had all been used up I have not been ____ there in 9 years

               as I am confined to a wheel chair the vandals have taken about every thing they

               could move I am enclosing a letter I wrote to them and was hoping that they would

               get around to doing something about it I hope you are able to do something about it

               as it is a disgrace I even wrote to the Town Council to see if they could do something

               and clean it up some but not on the right side of the fence 

                    Here hoping you can do something

               I remain sincerely

                                     Mrs H Barlow

                                        417 Front St

                                              Saylesville R.I.

The last post in this series, Part VI, will provide images of some miscellaneous documents in the Cumberland Cemetery records I have inherited and I will attempt to summarize my thoughts on the history of this historic burial ground.

   

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All images are scanned from original documents in the collection of the author.

[1]  As can be seen in the image of the typed reply letter from the Town Solicitor -- and from the handwritten, undated letter to Everett Carpenter -- there are ghost images of the reverse side of each letter showing how Mrs. Barlow used the back side of Mr. Lind's reply to write to Everett Carpenter.

[2] Nathaniel Brown might be Nathaniel Dana Brown born in 1872 and died January 30, 1962. He is buried in Swan Point cemetery in Providence. Susie [Dana] Smith, daughter of Samuel P. Dana, is one of the two testators who left bequests for care of specific plots in the Cumberland Cemetery.  In her case, the bequest was for "upkeep of the Samuel Dana lot, so-called, and of the adjoining Howe lot, and to use, in [the cemetery corporatin's] discretion, any balance thereof for the general care and upkeep of the whole cemetery." [See, Part IV of this series.]  Might Nathaniel Brown be Nathaniel Dana Brown and if so, was he of the same Dana family as Susie Dana Smith? According to the 1910 Census, Nathaniel D. Brown lived in Cumberland, Rhode Island and was employed as an insurance agent. He and his wife, Nellie A. [Bills] Brown, had one child at the time (Earl age 11) and they lived at 237 High Street, which is just down High Street from my grandparents home at 551 High Street and not far from Cumberland Cemetery on Dexter Street. By the time of the 1940 Census, Nathaniel and Nellie lived at 21 Abbott Street  (which they owned) in Cumberland with their 23-year old daughter Natalie D. Brown. It appears that Nathaniel was the son of Moses and Abby Brown of Cumberland, but no connection to the Dana family has been found as yet.

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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew
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Rhode Island Historical Cemetery, Cumberland 3 (July 25, 2016) -- Part IV

As the previously presented and transcribed minutes of the Board of Trustees for Cumberland Cemetery show (see Part II of this series), after the minutes of May 20, 1912  there are no business records for the Cemetery until June 29, 1939.  It appears that very little was done by the Cumberland Cemetery corporation during the period that included the prelude and denouement of World War I as well as the Great Depression.

While there are no specifically dated records for any activity by the corporation after 1916 until 1939, the above correspondence of July 13, 1939 from Roscoe M. Dexter, Attorney and Secretary pro tem for the corporation, to the Slater Branch of the Industrial Trust Company in Pawtucket, RI indicates the incorporators of the Cumberland Cemetery met on June 29, 1939 and elected my grandfather, Everett S. Carpenter, to be one of the Trustees of the Cemetery.  My grandfather was also at that time elected to be the Secretary and Treasurer of the corporation.

Although there is no precisely dated record of business being transacted by Cumberland Cemetery corporation or the Board of Trustees for more than two decades, there were events transpiring that affected the Cemetery.

In 1938, Dr. George J. Howe of Central Falls died. His wife, the former Isabel Dana -- daughter of Samuel Payton Dana (1833 - 1907) and Mary Hinkley Miller[1] (1834 - 1916) -- predeceased him in 1931. In the First Codicil to his Will, dated December 31, 1931, Dr. Howe substituted Cumberland Cemetery in place of the Town of Cumberland for a legacy of $500 to be held in trust for "the perpetual maintenance and care of the burial lot standing in my name and of the lot standing in the name of Samuel P. Dana adjoining, in the Cumberland Cemetery, situated at what is known as 'Robin Hollow' in said Town of Cumberland." Both George Howe and Isabel Dana Howe are buried in the Cumberland Cemetery.

Also, on September 10, 1938, Susie N. Smith of Pawtucket, RI died. Susie was born Susan Dana in 1856 and most likely in Cumberland, Rhode Island where she lived with her parents, Samuel P. Dana and Mary Hinkley [Miller] Dana at the time of the 1860 and 1870 federal Cumberland censuses. In addition to three younger siblings, Susie's older sister by two years was Ruth Ann Dana. In her will, dated June 24, 1935 and probated October 5, 1938, Susie [Dana] Smith left a legacy of $1,500 to Cumberland Cemetery Corporation "for the care and upkeep of the Samuel Dana lot, so-called, and of the adjoining Howe lot, so-called, and to use, in its discretion, any balance thereof for the general care and upkeep of the whole cemetery." As can be seen from the documents provided below, the ultimate amount of the legacy bequeathed to the Cumberland Cemetery amounted to $1,173.28 after paying any debts of the deceased, specific legacies, expenses of settling the estate, and any applicable taxes.

As shown via documents presented in Part II of this series, almost on the eve of the outbreak of World War I, the Cumberland Cemetery Corporation had a balance in its operating funds of $1,341.30. While we have no definitely dated document indicating the corporation's funds status over the next two-plus decades, toward the end of the Great Depression when records resume in 1939 we see the arrival of two legacy bequests between early July and early December 1939 totaling $1,673.28. BUT, by May 1, 1940, we see that the Cemetery Corporation is inquiring of attorney Roscoe Dexter whether the principal of the Susie Smith bequest can be used to maintain and care for the cemetery "as may be deemed necessary." And this is where the following undated document might reveal something about the financial state of the corporation and the demands placed on it by the conditions at the cemetery.

A transcription of the above Notice, apparently drafted by my grandfather as Secretary of the corporation -- and therefore dated sometime after his election to the position on June 29, 1939 -- follows.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

N OT I C E

__________

__________

           THIS CEMETERY IS OWNED BY "CUMBERLAND CEMETERY", A CORPORATION CHARTERED IN 1870.  ALL LOT OWNERS, OR OTHERWISE INTERESTED PARTIES ARE ELIGIBLE TO MEMBERSHIP IN THIS CORPORATION.

ANNUAL MEETINGS ARE HELD IN APRIL.

          BURIAL LOTS WERE SOLD WITHOUT ANY PROVISION FOR PERPETUAL CARE

AND THEIR UPKEEP IS A DUTY OF THE HEIRS OF THE ORIGINAL OWNERS.

          THIS PLACE CAN BE GREATLY IMPROVED IN APPEARANCE IF ENOUGH PEOPLE WILL CONTRIBUTE A LITTLE TIME, ENERGY, EVEN A LITTLE MONEY, TOWARD A COMMUNITY PROJECT OF BETTERMENT.  THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.

          IF YOU READ THIS NOTICE, YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN THIS CEMETERY AND SHOULD JOIN THE CORPORATION.

                                                                                               CUMBERLAND CEMETERY

                                                                                                   Everett S. Carpenter, SEC.

                                                                                                   551 High St., Lonsdale, R.I.

                                                                                                       TEL-PA 5-8858

                                                                                                           (over)

     Hugh S. Ward

     Calustus Barlow

     "Barney" Barlow

     James A. Broadbent

     James Thomas

     Fred Smith

     Mrs. Ruth Lacuna

     Mrs. Alice (Tucker)

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Based on the document immediately above, it seems reasonable to conclude that by the early 1940s the Cemetery corporation was being overwhelmed by the financial demands for the care and maintenance of the cemetery property and the graves themselves. A legal opinion about the ability to invade the principal of the Susie N. Smith bequest had been sought and a draft Notice prepared to try to drum up financial and labor support for the cemetery. 

On April 22, 1941, a meeting of the Cumberland Cemetery Corporation was apparently held at the home of my grandparents -- 551 High Street in Lonsdale. As the document below demonstrates, Roscoe Dexter, the corporation attorney (?), sent his proxy to my grandfather. We have no idea why Mr. Dexter was unable to attend or what the nature of his proxy was, but it does not stretch the imagination to believe that the meeting might have been to discuss sending out the draft Notice, or to discuss the financial straits in which the corporation found itself. 

As we will see in Part V of this series, the 1940s and early 1950s seemingly marked the end of an active Cumberland Cemetery Corporation and the records and documents I have inherited come to a close in 1956.

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All images are scanned from original documents in the collection of the author.

[1]  Mary Hinkley Miller was the daughter of Aurin Miller (1800 - 1859) and his wife, Ruth Ann Hunt (1801 - 1874). Ruth was the daughter of Maj. Daniel Hunt (1769 - 1843) and his wife, Susannah Northup (1773 - 1845) and the sister of my 3X great-grandmother, Abby Hunt Miller (1807 - 1893) who married Eber Miller brother of Mary Hinkley Miller's father, Aurin Miller. Thus, Mary Hinkley Miller Dana is my 1st cousin 4X removed and I am related to her through both my Miller and Hunt ancestors. 
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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew
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