Friday Fotos (December 19, 2014) -- A Little Detective Work On A Brother's Postcard To His Sister

Post Card showing the Carpenter family homestead at 551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island (circa 1910)

Correspondence side of the Post Card

The home shown on the Post Card above is the Carpenter homestead at 551 High Street in Cumberland, Rhode Island. It depicts the home as it probably appeared in the decade from about 1900-1910 (for reasons explained below).

The Carpenter home was actually the homestead of the Miller/Millard family for several generations before Ruth Ann Miller married Samuel Carpenter in 1852. Sam and Ruth had three children: Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 - 1929); Abby Laura Carpenter (1859 - 1929); and Nancy Bishop Carpenter (1864 - 1928).  Ruth Ann [Miller] Carpenter died in 1893 and Samuel died in 1904. The Carpenter/Miller home eventually passed to Sam and Ruth's son, Samuel Eber Carpenter.

Abby Laura Carpenter married John Harris Angell on December 30, 1884 and her sister Nancy later went to live with Abby and John Angell after their brother Samuel married Sarah Etta Freeman in June 1887.  The four generations of a Carpenter family homestead at 551 High Street ended when Samuel and Sarah's son Everett inherited the home in 1945 and Everett's three children grew to adulthood in the home.  The home and its surrounding property were sold by Everett's widow (my maternal grandmother, Ruth Eaton [Cooke] Carpenter) in 1962 or 1963. The property is now the site of a fire station and little league baseball field.

The Post Card is written by Samuel Eber Carpenter (my great grandfather) to Abby, the older of his two sisters, who he addresses as "Mrs. John H. Angell."  The Pawtucket cancellation stamp is not fully legible, but it does clearly indicate the Post Card was mailed from Pawtucket on

"Aug 11  4-30 P." The year is not at all clear, but some research makes it almost certain that the year is 1910. The rationale is as follows . . . 

The "19" in the date stamp is fairly clear, and so is the "0" as the fourth digit of the year.  It is the all- but-missing third digit that is the mystery -- until one notices the green, One Cent stamp depicting Benjamin Franklin in profile! A quick Google search reveals that this particular stamp was issued from 1908 - 1912 (see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington-Franklin_Issues). The small scrap of the third digit of the year that is visible, is clearly a vertical piece at the top right of the digit space and does not appear to be part of a curved section such as would appear in say a "2" or "3"-- and the angle of this little vertical scrap matches the angle of what is clearly the "1" in the first digit of the year!  Only one year in the time period when the ONE CENT Ben Franklin stamp was issued ends in a zero -- 1910.  While it is possible someone might still have and use such stamps over an extended period of time after they were no longer issued, the scrap of the third digit in the year makes it extremely unlikely the year of the communication was 1920. And by 1930 -- the next year ending in a zero -- Abby, Mrs. John H. Angell, and Samuel himself, were both deceased and therefore brother Sam could not be writing a Post Card to sister Abby.

A transcription of Sam's correspondence with his sister Abby is as follows and indicates that Sam is wishing his sister were able to come home for a visit and stay a while. She and her husband were living in Ashton, Rhode Island, which was only about 3.5 to 4 miles away!

                                             I am spending

                                       my vacation here.

                                             The sun sets are

                                       beautiful and the 

                                       mornings are delightful.

                                             I wish you could

                                       come and stay a while.

                                                     Your affect. Bro.

                                                               Sam

UPDATE:

As reader Michael Stephens so correctly pointed out in his comment to the original post here, the Ben Franklin ONE CENT stamp was only produced between 1908 and 1912.  The Ben Franklin stamp in other denominations was produced until as late as January 1919. This means that the original statement in the post, "A quick Google search reveals that this particular stamp was issued from 1908 - 1922," was inaccurate and the analysis flowing from that inaccuracy was flawed; both have now been corrected. While the analysis has been updated from the original, the end result is that Michael's kind correction leads even more strongly to the same conclusion -- my great grandfather sent the Post Card to his sister Abby in August 1910. Thank you Michael!  

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Scan of the original Post Card in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Discovery and Remembrance -- Part II

Kickemuit Cemetery, Warren, Rhode Island.

Gravestone of Robert Millard, son of John Millard, Sr.

Kickemuit Cemetery, Rhode Island Historic Cemetery -- Warren 3

In yesterday's Discovery and Remembrance -- Part I, I traced my descent from ROBERT MILLARD of Rehoboth, Massachusetts through his son Ephraim, to Robert's 4x great granddaughter, Ruth Ann Miller, to me.  Ruth is my maternal great great grandmother.  She and her husband, Samuel Carpenter, lived in Cumberland, Rhode Island.  This post now looks at the line of descent from Robert Millard through his son Nehemiah, to Robert's 3x great grandson.

NEHEMIAH MILLARD was the second son of Robert and Elizabeth (Sabin) Millard.  He was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts on June 6, 1668 and so he was an older brother of Ephraim who was born circa 1676.  Nehemiah was married three times: (1) to Judith Mason on July 14, 1691; (2) to Phoebe Shores on March 3, 1696/7; and (3) to Margret Munrow on October 30, 1719.  It is the marriage and children with Phoebe Shores that provides the descent examined in this account.  Nehemiah and Phoebe (Shores) Millard had eight children.  The first five, including son Robert, were born in Rehoboth.

ROBERT MILLARD was born in Rehoboth on April 20, 1702.  He married Hannah Eddy, daughter of Eleazer and Elizabeth (Randall) Eddy, in Norton, Massachusetts on March 7, 1725/6.  Robert is said to have been the first of his family to move away from New England, but he did not do so until he was in his late forties.  He lived in Rehoboth as a farmer and preacher for some twenty-five years before he moved to Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York sometime after his father's death in 1751 and before he deeded 23.5 acres of land in Rehoboth to John Millard on February 27, 1752.  In the deed to John Millard, Robert is stated to be of "Batsman Presink, County of Gekipsee, N.Y."  Robert and Hannah had thirteen known children, the first seven of whom were born in Rehoboth.  Their tenth child and sixth son was Abiathar Millard.

ABIATHAR MILLARD was born on June 22, 1744 -- probably in Pawling, New York.  He married Tabitha Hopkins, daughter of Ebenezer Hopkins, on September 30, 1761 in Amenia, New York.  He died in Penfield, New York in 1811.  Abiathar and Tabitha had ten children (four boys and six girls).  The seventh child and sixth daughter was Phoebe Millard.

PHOEBE MILLARD was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on August 12, 1778 and she died on May 2, 1831 in Aurora, New York.  Phoebe was married to Nathaniel Fillmore in Bennington, Vermont in 1796 when she was just 18 years old and Nathaniel was 25.  Phoebe and Nathaniel Fillmore had nine children -- six sons and three daughters.  Their second child and oldest son was born on January 7, 1800 in a log cabin in Locke (now Summerhill), Cayuga County, New York.  His first name was that of his mother's family surname --  "Millard."  MILLARD FILLMORE grew up to become the 13th President of the United States and it was 139 years ago today that he died in Buffalo, New York!  Millard's siblings were as follows:

          1.   Olive Armstrong Fillmore (1797 - 1893)

          2.   Cyrus Fillmore (1801 - 1874)

          3.   Almon Fillmore (1806 - 1830)

          4.   Calvin Turner Fillmore (1810 - 1879)

          5.   Julia Fillmore (1812 -    )

          6.   Darius Ingraham Fillmore (1814 - 1837)

          7.   Charles DeWitt Fillmore 91817 - 1854)

          8.   Phoebe Maria Fillmore (1819 - 1843)

Millard Fillmore (second from the left) with his siblings: Olive, Cyrus, Calvin and Julia.

 Millard Fillmore is my 4th cousin 5x removed (as calculated by Ancestry.com).

Millard and his first wife, Abigail Powers, had two children . . . 

Millard Powers Fillmore (known as "Powers") was born in Aurora, New York on April 25, 1828.  Powers was a lawyer who attended Harvard and practiced law in Buffalo before he was appointed a federal court clerk.  He died in Buffalo at age 61without issue having never married.  In his will he directed that all his family correspondence -- including that with his father -- be burned.  

Mary Abigail Fillmore was born in Buffalo, New York on March 27, 1832.  She was a teacher who taught at a private school in Lenox, Massachusetts and then briefly in the public school system of Buffalo.  She spoke French fluently and was conversant in Spanish, German and Italian.  Sadly, she died suddenly of cholera at age 22 barely a year after the death of her mother.  Her mother died on March 30, 1853 in Washington, DC just twenty-six days after she and Millard left the White House following the inauguration of Fillmore's successor, Franklin Pierce.  Her mother died at the Willard Hotel in Washington following an illness she first suffered after the outdoor inauguration of Pierce and that later developed into pneumonia. 

My common ancestor connection to President Millard Fillmore:

John Millard Sr.          m.          Elizabeth ______

                              died in Rehoboth, MA 1684          buried in Rehoboth, MA 1680

                                   1.   Robert Millard (circa 1632 in England - March 16, 1699 in Rehoboth)

                                   2.  John Millard (by 1636 in England - June 5, 1684 in Rehoboth)

Robert Millard m. Elizabeth Sabin                             Robert Millard m. Elizabeth Sabin

son Nehemiah Millard m. Phoebe Shores                       son Ephraim Millard m. Experience White                       

Robert Millard m. Hannah Eddy                                    Daniel Millard/Miller m. Hannah Thayer                                  

Abiathar Millard m. Tabitha Hopkins                             Peter Miller m. Anna Aldrich

Phoebe Millard m. Nathaniel Fillmore                            Asquare Miller m. Amey Bishop

MILLARD FILLMORE m. Abigail Powers               Eber Miller m. Abby Hunt

                                                                                       Ruth Ann Miller m. Samuel Carpenter

                                                                                       Samuel E. Carpenter m. Sarah Freeman

                                                                                       Everett Carpenter m. Ruth E. Cooke

                                                                                       (my maternal grandparents) 

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Photo of the gravestone of Robert Millard, son of John Millard Sr. of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, posted on Find-A-Grave by Debi (#46830109) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9522658

Photo of Kickemuit Cemetery with Rhode Island Historical Cemetery – Warren 3 sign posted on Find-A-Grave by R. Digati (#46577396) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9522658

Photo of Kickemuit Cemetery with the Upper Warren Reservoir in the background posted on Find-A-Grave by Daniel Tuttle Murray (#47795326) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=9522658&CRid=1721870&

Photo of Millard Fillmore with four of his adult siblings from the Millard and Abigail Fillmore House Museum website.  http://www.buffaloah.com/a/EastAur/shearer/mus/hist/source/1.html

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Discovery and Remembrance -- Part I

I have noted previously that one motivation sometimes admitted to as a reason for pursuing the study of genealogy is the hope of perhaps finding and confirming relationships to famous people.  This post is the account of how I happened to stumble into such a discovery. 

One of the mysteries I had in my maternal Carpenter genealogy was finding information about the early American roots of the family of my gg-grandmother, Ruth Ann Miller.  Ruth was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island on August 23, 1828 to Eber Miller and Abby (Hunt) Miller.  

I knew that the Millers lived in Cumberland, Rhode Island for at least two generations before Ruth was born, because her father, Eber, and her grandfather, Asquare (referred to in some genealogical research as "Squire"), are both buried in Rhode Island Historical Cemetery -- Cumberland 3 on Dexter Street in Cumberland.  Ruth is also buried there with her husband Samuel Carpenter.

Cumberland Cemetery No. 3, Dexter Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island  

Cumberland Cemetery No. 3, Dexter Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island

Asquare Miller gravestone (Ruth's grandfather)

Eber Miller's gravestone (Ruth's father) 

The gravestone of Ruth Ann Miller, wife of Samuel Carpenter

I also knew that the home my mother grew up in at 551 High Street in Cumberland and that home  had come into the Carpenter family through the marriage of Samuel Carpenter to Ruth Miller in 1852 (see, This Old House post of February 8, 2013).  I did not know much more than that until very recently.

The former Miller/Carpenter home at 551 High Street, Cumberland, RI

My early Carpenter ancestors were among the founding families of Rehoboth, Massachusetts (circa 1638 - 1643).  Rehoboth was one of the early towns in Massachusetts to incorporate (1645).  While the town is now geographically much smaller, at one time it encompassed the locations of Seekonk, Massachusetts and East Providence, Rhode Island.  It also included parts of what is now Attleboro, North Attleboro, Swansea and Somerset, Massachusetts as well as parts of Barrington, Bristol, Warren, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and (importantly for this account) Cumberland, Rhode Island.  [It is no wonder that the name of the town means “enlargement” in Hebrew – it was a large space capable of supporting a rapidly expanding population.] 

Seal of Rehoboth, Massachusetts

A couple of months ago while looking for information about Rehoboth, I stumbled across a reference to early families in Rehoboth.  It included my Carpenter ancestors, but it also noted that among early Rehoboth residents were families with the last name Miller, Millerd or Millard – all spellings seemingly used interchangeably for the same related family.  Further digging led me to the conclusion that my gg-grandmother, Ruth Miller, whose family lived in Cumberland, Rhode Island, was connected to the Rehoboth Millers/Millerds/Millards.

An article in The Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine (Vol. XXIII, No. 1, Fall 1959) provided the crucial key that unlocked the mystery of the early roots of the family of Ruth, Eber and Asquare Miller of Cumberland, Rhode Island -- the long-term owners of 551 High Street in Cumberland depicted above.  The Millards of Rehoboth, Massachusetts by Frances Davis McTeer and Frederick C. Warner stated that all the Millers, Millerds and Millards found in the vital records of Rehoboth descended from one John Millard, Sr. who was a proprietor of Rehoboth in 1643.  The authors present a well-reasoned and clear correction of a 1916 Millard genealogy that stated, “There is no proof beyond circumstantial evidence that John Millard Jr. and the first Robert Millard were sons of John Millard Sr.; but neither is there the slightest reason to doubt that they were.”  [Giddings, The Millard Ancestry of  . . . , p. 248.]  However, the precise relationship of Robert Millard to John Millard Sr. of Rehoboth is not essential to this account, because the relationships examined here proceed from the descendants of Robert Millard, whether or not he is actually the son of John Millard Sr.

Based on the extensive research of McTeer and Warner in The Millards of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, there is little question that ROBERT MILLARD, almost certainly the older son of John Millard Sr. by John's first wife, was married to Elizabeth Sabin at Rehoboth on December 24, 1662.  They had ten children (four girls and six boys) all of whom were born in Rehoboth.  Among the six boys were Nehemiah, born June 8, 1668, and Ephraim, born in 1676.  [More will be said about Nehemiah in Part II of this piece tomorrow.]

EPHRAIM MILLARD married Experience White in Mendon, Massachusetts on February 10, 1701/2 and they had eight children (six girls and two boys).  One of the boys was Daniel Millard, born July 15, 1713.

DANIEL MILLARD/MILLER married Hannah Thayer in Rehoboth on September 7, 1735.  In or around 1754 Daniel and Hannah moved to Cumberland after they sold 49 acres (formerly the land of Daniel's father) to one John Barney by deed acknowledged in Providence on September 28, 1754.  Both Daniel and Hannah lived in Cumberland until their deaths there in 1798 and 1788 respectively.  The inscription on "Elder Daniel Miller's gravestone indicates he was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Cumberland for over fifty years.  [Apparently around the time they moved to Cumberland, Daniel changed the spelling of his surname to "Miller" from "Millard."]   Daniel and Hannah had ten children (seven girls and three boys).  The first six, including son Peter Miller, were born in Rehoboth.  The other three were born in Cumberland.

PETER MILLER was born on June 16, 1745 in Rehoboth.  He married Anna Aldrich, daughter of Capt. Jonathan Aldrich and Patience (Gaskill) Aldrich, on November 13, 1766 in Cumberland.  [More will be presented on Anna Aldrich in future posts.]  Peter and Anna had eight children, all born in Cumberland.  Among their four daughters and four sons, was a son Squire ("Asquare" according to his gravestone pictured above and in family documents I possess).

ASQUARE MILLER was  born September 12, 1775 and he died in Cumberland on May 7, 1825.  Asquare married Amey Bishop and they had at least four sons (Namon, Aurin, Eber and Asquare, Jr.).

EBER MILLER was born on April 24, 1805 and died in Cumberland on March 21, 1877.  He is buried in Cumberland Cemetery No. 3 along with his father Asquare, his mother Amey and his wife Abby.  Eber  married Abby Hunt and they had at least two daughters -- Ruth Ann born on August 23, 1828 and Cornelia born in 1833.  RUTH ANN MILLER is my great great grandmother.  She married Samuel Carpenter on April 12, 1852. 

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Photos of Cumberland Cemetery No. 3 and all gravestones by the author, John D. Tew (April 2010).

Image of the Seal of Rehoboth, Massachusetts is used here under a claim of  fair use because the image is only used to illustrate the appearance of the seal and the year of incorporation.  Seal found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RehobothSeal.png 

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos – This Old House [551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island]

551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island.
The small extension with the tall chimney is the kitchen.

551 High Street showing the barn beyond the kitchen

My grandmother, Ruth (Cooke) Carpenter, by her flower garden
 at 551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island

The house at 551 High Street in Cumberland, Rhode Island was home to the Miller and Carpenter families for several generations from roughly 1767 until 1963 when my maternal grandmother, Ruth Eaton (Cooke) Carpenter, sold the property after the death of my grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter.  The Miller/Carpenter property was located on the east side of High Street immediately south of where Blackstone Street meets High Street.  The property was about 3 - 4 acres in size and was run as a small farm into the late 1800s.

It is presently believed that the first of the Millard/Miller family to live in Cumberland was Daniel Millard and his wife, Hannah Thayer.  Daniel was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts in 1713.  Hannah was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island in 1710.  Their son, Peter Millard, was born in Rehoboth on June 16, 1745.  [At some point Peter changed the spelling of his surname to Miller.]  He married Anne Aldrich in Cumberland on November 13, 1766.   It is believed that Peter and Anne built the house at 551 High Street in approximately 1767.

When the property was sold in 1963, it was originally intended to be the location for a funeral home, but apparently there was neighborhood objection to such a business locating in what was predominantly a residential area.  Ultimately a fire station and community baseball field were located on the property (as pictured immediately below).

Baseball field at the site of the former 551 High Street, Cumberland, RI

Looking north on High Street at the baseball field and
the fire station behind the large tree (center).

My lineage from Daniel Millard and Hannah Thayer . . .

Generation 1:                Daniel Millard m. Hannah Thayer

Generation 2:                Peter Millard/Miller m. Anne Aldrich

Generation 3:                Asquire Miller (1775 – 1825) m. Amey Bishop (1781 – 1864)

Generation 4:                Eber Miller (1805 – 1877) m. Abby Hunt (1807 – 1893)

Generation 5:                Ruth Miller (1828 – 1893) m. Samuel Carpenter (1828 – 1904)

Generation 6:                Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 – 1929) m. Sarah Freeman (1858 - 1945)                                  

Generation 7:                Everett S. Carpenter (1891- 1962) m. Ruth E. Cooke (1897 – 1979)

                                      . . . my grandparents.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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