52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – #34 Non-Population

How two sisters and a brother became two Sisters and a Brother

Seated are Edna Munsey Godfrey and husband Stephen W.J. Godfrey. Standing are Jane Elizabeth Godfrey, Robert James Godfrey and Ruth Mary Godfrey.

When my husband was born he was given a middle name of Godfrey. A strong family name from his Irish immigrant great grandfather David Godfrey.

Stephen Godfrey, pictured above, was the oldest child of David Godfrey and David’s second wife Elizabeth Ellen McNamee who were married in 1879 in St. Louis just after the death of David’s first wife Honora. David and Honora had immigrated from Ireland in 1872 with baby Patrick born in 1871.  Two children were born in St. Louis after their arrival, Mary Margaret born in 1873 and John Aliyious born in 1875. David and Elizabeth’s marriage added Stephen born in 1881, Bridget born in 1884, John Thomas born in 1888 and Frances Theresa born in 1890 (John’s grandmother) and Joseph Leo born in 1892. Elizabeth Godfrey became ill and died in February 1893 and baby Joseph Leo died in March 1893 at 4 months old.

It fell to daughter Bridget to help her father raise the younger children. David Godfrey died in 1909 and Stephen became the head of household.  All the Godfrey children had grown to young adults, maintained a deep Catholic faith and strong work ethic.

By 1911 Stephen married Edna Munsey and they started their own family with the birth of David in 1912, Ruth Mary in 1915, Robert James in 1918 and Jane Elizabeth in 1921. Stephen owned and worked in a clothing factory in St. Louis to support his children’s educational and religious training. He was also a partner in Manchester Hardware Company as Secretary/Treasurer with his older half brother Patrick Godfrey as President.

Left, Ruth Mary Godfrey; right, Jane Elizabeth Godfrey, the two sisters who became Sisters of Loretto.

Left, Sister Ellen Mary Godfrey S.L.  Right is Sister Jane de Chantal Godfrey S.L.

 

Sister Jane was the first to enter Sisters of Loretto in 1941 and professed her vows in 1946. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from Loretto Heights College in Denver, a master’s degree at University of Notre Dame and her Doctorate at University of Southern California. She taught for 40 years. She was the Education Department chair at Loretto Heights for 7 years and at Berea College for 12 Years.

Sister Jane Godfrey

Sister Ellen Mary Godfrey graduated in mathematics from Webster College in St. Louis and received her masters degree from Catholic University. She pronounced her vows in 1944.  She also taught at Holy Family in Denver, St. Mary’s in Colorado Springs and schools in New Mexico and Illinois. After her teaching years she became known as a  catalyst of the  Lorretto Investment Committee and a pioneer in the investment community.

Sister Ellen Mary

And then there was Brother Bob. Robert Godfrey entered the order of the Society of Mary in 1936 and took his vows a year later . He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio and a master’s degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Brother Godfrey taught math and science at the old Coyle High School in Kirkwood Missouri, and became principal. He was also principal at McBride High School in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He was assistant superintendent of schools for the archdiocese of St. Louis for 8 years before moving to San Antonio to become superintendent.

Brother Bob Godfrey S.M.

And there you have two sisters and a brother who grew up to be two Sisters and a Brother.

 

 

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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – #33 Family Legend

Dr. Jacob Jesse Singer

Jacob Singer was born in Leeds, England, to Russian Jewish parents and moved with his family to the St. Louis area at the age of three. Dr. Singer was the brother of my husband John’s grandfather, Morris Singer.

After graduating high school in 1896, Jacob began to save up money to attend Medical School, believing that medicine “offered a field for which my qualifications seemed best suited… these are my love for science, my desire to help those in distress, and my willingness to devote years to attain the goal.” He enrolled in Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, where he worked closely with Dr. Evarts A. Graham, a Bixby Professor of Surgery at Washington University. Graham had established “the first modern chest clinic” at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, where Singer treated many sufferers of tuberculosis including several family members as well as his mother who died from tuberculosis in 1907 at the age of 45.

Dr. Singer and Dr. Graham performed the first pneumonectomy (removal of an entire lung) of a lung cancer patient in 1933 and wrote a textbook together called “Surgical Diseases of the Chest” in 1935. Dr. Singer was also a tinkerer, experimenting with new technologies to better identify and diagnose lung diseases. He patented his own “Singer Stethoscope” (resonating stethoscope) in 1915 and pioneered devices for illuminating photographic negatives (X-rays). Dr. Singer also constructed many of the tools still used today in thoracic surgery.

In 1937, Singer moved to Los Angeles to teach medicine at the University of Southern California and was hired by Cedars of Lebanon to serve on its medical staff. He soon became the city’s leading lung specialist and served as the President of the Tuberculosis Section of the Los Angeles County Medical Society.

Dr. Singer and staff with Georgia Governor “Ed” Rivers.

In 1942, Dr. Singer was appointed as Medical Director at the City of Hope, helping both Cedars of Lebanon and the JCRA’s Sanatorium to becoming national leaders in the fight against tuberculosis. He helped to transform the way both institutions treated the disease.

Unfortunately, Dr. Singer suffered a heart attack just months after the discovery of streptomycin, a viable cure for tuberculosis, and had retired from medicine before the curative regiment had been perfected. He died in 1954 and was honored at a memorial ceremony at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #32 – Youngest

One of our youngest ancestral veterans was Jacob Foreman. Born March 18, 1793 in Mercer County, Kentucky. He was the third son of David and Elizabeth (Eli) Foreman the immigrant ancestors. This Jacob Foreman is my 3rd great grandfather, not to be confused with his son, Jacob Foreman my 2nd great grandfather who is the subject of my Civil War Blog.

On November 10, 1814, Jacob Foreman, then 21 years old along with his older brother David Foreman, joined George McAfee’s Company of the Kentucky Detached Militia under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Slaughter.

Jenny Tenlen – The McAfee’s: Kentucky Pioneers (jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com/mcafee/warof1812.html) – “The company marched south to Louisiana to fight in the Battle of New Orleans. Along with the call for men, came a promise from the U.S. Quarter master of arms, munitions, and transportation down river, but these supplies were slow to materialize. Believing that the promised supplies would catch up, the Kentuckians departed with half rations, few blankets and tents, and no pay, on board boats that were mostly unfit to carry men across the river let alone fifteen hundred miles downstream.”

“The supplies never came, and on January 4, 1815, the Kentucky troops arrived at New Orleans almost destitute of clothing, blankets, and munitions of war. The winter weather of 1814/15 was unusually severe with daily downpours of rain. They entered into camp without tents, blankets, or straw for bedding, on open, miry ground as the temperatures hovered near freezing.”

“The Louisiana legislature and the citizens of New Orleans quickly answered the call and furnished what supplies that could be spared. Nonetheless, just over half the Kentuckians could be adequately armed, and as a result those without arms remained in a reserve position during the battle.”

“About eleven hundred Kentucky boys secured arms and Slaughter’s regiment took it’s place among them on the firing line to await the British advance.   It should not be forgotten that these men from Kentucky who bore the brunt of the assault, were not professional soldiers. They were family men, farmers, and tradesmen whose pride in country had called them away from a plow to travel fifteen hundred miles from home and hearth to confront an enemy army covered in glory from European battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars.”

“After the battle the troops remained at New Orleans until March 18, 1815. On this date the militias of Kentucky and Tennessee were released to return home. It was a long hard journey along the Natchez Trail, and the sufferings of disease and hardships claimed more men than the battle itself. They arrived back in Central Kentucky about May 1, 1815.”

 

Also from Luther Davenport in an e-mail message to me on June 11, 2012:

Carol

I have an account written by a captured British officer. The portion of the line that he faced was manned by the militia forces of Kentucky.

As the troops advanced on the American line, I with several of my peers of equal or lesser rank, stood upon a small rise on the field watching the men move forward. Observing the American defenses we saw a tall slender man standing alone atop the parapet. He was dressed in buckskin attire, with a wide brimmed hat that hid his face. Still beyond the range of our most forward ranks, he stood there fully exposed without fear, accessing the field. Finally, he pushed his hat off of his head and raised his weapon to the firing position, and pointed in our general direction. This action initiated a laugh from our group as the distance was so great the result could only be a fruitless waste of powder. A plum of smoke exhaled from the rifle barrel. Seconds passed and our laughter continued until a thud was heard over the chuckles. Looking around at my companions, it was noticed that a young Lt. to my immediate left was shot through the chest, and slowly crumpled to the ground. All eyes turned back to the hunter, only to see him obscured by another plume of smoke, and just as soon another of our number fell. We looked for cover, but the ground was devoid of any, and in the few seconds it took to realize this fact another of my peers was down. Our only action was to mingle with the advancing forces, and in all my years as a soldier, I had never welcome the danger of battle, as the smoke and dust hid me from the view of that frontier hunter.

This is not word for word, but written for you as I remember the story.

Luther D.

The ironic twist to this battle of New Orleans is the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war, was signed two weeks before this battle. The battle of New Orleans lasted about 25 minutes.

Shortly after Jacob Foreman returned home in 1815 his mother the widow Elizabeth Foreman inherited land in Highland County Ohio from her brother George Horine. Elizabeth and seven sons with their families left Mercer County, Kentucky for Highland County, Ohio. Her daughters and their families stayed in Kentucky.

 

 

Remember the Johnnie Horton song – The Battle of New Orleans?
“In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans . . .

Are you familiar with the description “Kentucky long rifle sharp shooter?” This was Jacob Foreman.

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – #31 Oldest

There are many thoughts that come to mind with the prompt “Oldest” for this week. We have many family members particularly in the Foreman family that lived long into their 90’s. My husband’s aunt, Helen McMahon Bottenfield reached 100! Instead of choosing old ancestors to write about, I have chosen to tell you about an old artifact I recently received from cousin Vicki Foreman Wright, daughter of Bob Foreman, Grandma Hancock’s brother. Vicki’s grandfather is my great, grandfather Robert Sidney ‘Sid’ Foreman. That makes Vicki my 1C1R or first cousin, once removed.

Vicki Foreman Wright and Robert Sidney ‘Sid’ Foreman (early 1950’s)

The item Vicki gave me is an autograph book which was used by Sid Foreman to collect autographs from his classmates and friends after finishing high school much like we use yearbooks. This autograph book has a deep red velvet cover and measures about 6″x 4″ and has about 50 pages. The Foreman family had left Time, Pike County Illinois in 1876  and settled in Coloma, Carroll County, Missouri before continuing their journey to Colorado in 1887.

The first page indicates it was bought Dec 24th 1886, when Sid was 15 years old. Notice the colorful stickers that are on several of the pages.

The first page is signed by Sid’s uncle Sol (Solomon) Watt. Sol is the younger brother of Sid’s mother Sarah Watt Foreman. The signature and verse is dated January 2nd, 1887, in Turner, Missouri. “The old year has gone with its dear memories, And we usher in the glad New Year. And with its entrance it has brought, Many a smile and pleasant thought. Sol Watt.” I’m thinking the Foreman’s spent the holidays with the Watt family.

Cousin James Watt, son of Sol Watt signed his book on March 1st, 1888.

Cousin Delmar Watt from Turner, Missouri writes in June of 1887, “If you wish a laugh just look in my Autograph.

Also, cousin George Watt in Turner, Missouri, brother of Delmar and James Watt, writes “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” George went on to become a professional baseball pitcher for the Arkansas Travelers from 1900 to 1910.

Sid’s sister Nora Kate Foreman

From Sid’s sister Mary Foreman “March 1, 1887, Coloma MO. Sid, No life can be well ended that has not been well spent. Your sister, Mary.”

Always some jokers in the group –  “For Robert, I dip my pen into the ink and grasp your album tight and for my life I cannot think a single word to write. Wrote by a friend Loyd Culver.”

“Friend Robert, Be a good young man and lead a good life go to Colorado and get you a wife. Your Friend Edward Welch.

From Sid’s uncle David Foreman, minister and farmer  from Condon, Colorado in 1888.

By following the dates and place names in this autograph book I have been able to document Sid’s travel from Time, Pike County, Illinois to Coloma in Carroll County, Missouri where the family lived for ten years and across Kansas, one signature showing Harper, Kansas and up through Unadilla, Nebraska settling in Vernon, Colorado in 1887.  Several Foreman’s signed Condon, Colorado as their home which was in Arapaho County, but doesn’t exist anymore. It must be near Wray or Vernon. Arapaho County extended all the way from Denver to the Kansas state line until 1904. There is also an 1898 signature from Elbert, Colorado from M. C. Cromwell. This information is a real advantage since the 1890 Federal census was lost in a fire. The census for 1900 shows Sid Foreman living in Elbert, Colorado, single, renting a house. In 1904 he married Grace Irene Squires at the Arapaho County Courthouse in Denver which was located at 15th Street and Court Place.

By comparing the information from those in the Watt family who signed this autograph book, I have been successful in adding birth and death dates and occupations and family members for all of Sarah Watt Foreman’s parents and siblings. Many who are buried in Bosworth, Missouri.

 

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – #30 Colorful

Colorful might be a word to describe someone larger than life, someone who is bold and different according to Amy Johnson Crow our guide through 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. There is one woman who best fits this description in our ancestral line, Phoebe Newton Goodell Judson. The mother of Lynden, Washington. Born in Vermillion, Ohio in 1831 and died in 1926 in Lynden, Washington.

Phoebe is the first cousin of my 3X Great Grandmother Lois Emerette Goodell Totten. Emerette’s mother, Elmina Brigham Goodell, died in 1843 in Lodi, Ohio, when Emerette was little more than one year old.  Emerette was sent to live with her cousin Phoebe Newton Goodell’s family in Vermillion, Ohio, for several years and was raised by other relatives in Lockport, Niagara County, New York.

Holden and Phoebe Goodell Judson

The Goodell’s were a family of strong faith, both Emerette’s father, Joel Charles Goodell and his brother Jotham Weeks Goodell, Phoebe’s father, as well as the girl’s grandfather William Goodell were ministers and missionaries. Jotham Goodell, Phoebe’s father, first traveled the Oregon Trail in 1843, settling on the banks of the Willamette, in Oregon. Little did Phoebe think at age 21 she would follow in his footsteps with her husband Holden Judson and their two year old daughter, Annie Judson. Leaving Vermillion, Ohio, by wagon to Sandusky City and by train to Cincinnati and traveling by steamer to St. Louis they continued their journey to Kansas Landing, or as we know it, Kansas City. They purchased their wagon and oxen and prepared for their journey on the Oregon Trail to Puget Sound in 1853.

Photo from Linda Bitterlich

Phoebe wrote a journal of her travel on the Oregon Trail and settling in the Washington Territory when she was 95. She wrote ” The greater portion of our journey across the plains seems more like a dream than a reality, but this, my first ride in a ‘prairie schooner’ is as fresh in my memory as though it had occurred yesterday.”

Her journal was later published as a 315 page book titled “A Pioneer’s Search For An Ideal Home.”  All of this information was introduced to me when my my sister Linda and I attended an “Aunt Phoebe” reunion in Washington many years ago. We met cousin Karen Parsons in Seattle and headed for Whidbey Island to witness first hand the places Phoebe and Holden Judson and their daughter Annie lived. My sister Sharon was in the Whidbey Island area and joined the reunion.  Annie, Phoebe and Holden’s daughter, married the son of Isaac Ebey who was an original settler on Whidbey Island.  Isaac Ebey built a “hotel” for arriving ship passengers and Phoebe and Holden Judson lived and worked there for a short time with their daughter and her husband.

Isaac Ebey’s home/boarding house. We were unable to go inside but were able to wander all around it.

Ebey’s Landing and home is a National Historic Reserve managed by the National Park Service. Access to the property is limited. Ebey’s landing is located on Whidbey Island near Coupville, Washington.

This Historic marker above describes the community founded by Phoebe and Holden Judson. Lynden is a city north of Seattle not far from the Canadian border. There is a museum to visit there with a wealth of information about the Judson’s.

A huge risk was taken by the pioneers during the Indian Wars. Isaac Ebey was killed and his head was never found as the story goes that I heard.

If you would like to read the book A Pioneer’s Search For An Ideal Home let me know I have a couple of copies of the book. I would highly recommend this book for my cousins and their children. It describes the daily life of a pioneer woman crossing the plains on the Oregon Trail.

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – #29 Music

Other than my last name being Singer I have struggled to find something to write about using the “Music” prompt this week. I know I have cousins who are musically inclined. Cathy Jo and Jim have a daughter who plays an instrument, Bruce played in a band, my sisters and I played the piano and Linda and I played the cello for many years in the junior high and high school orchestra. Uncle Bob plays the piano and his great granddaughter played at the recent 90th birthday celebration for Aunt Charlotte. I’m sure there are others, I just don’t know about them.

Then it came to me we are related to a whole family that is musical. That would be the Gresham’s, some who are pictured below!

Grace Irene Squires (my great grandmother) had a brother Clarence; his daughter Mae Squires Gresham, Grandma Hancock’s cousin, had 3 children,  Warren, Allen and Elizabeth.

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Photo on the left is Elizabeth Gresham Long, Warren Gresham, Warren’s son John and wife Gayle Gresham. The two smaller photos include my daughter Rosemary and myself when we visited Warren in Elbert a few years ago during Memorial Day Weekend. We missed Allen Gresham who was out of town.

Performers in the Gresham family that I know are Warren and his son John, John’s wife Gayle and their two children Kate and Kenny. Gayle is also a very talented and successful songwriter.

Gayle Gresham

John and Gayle Gresham

Photo on the left is a campfire sing along with Kate and Kenny Gresham, John and Gayle’s children and Warren Gresham. The top right photo is Warren, Gayle and John Gresham and the lower right photo is daughter Kate, John and Gayle Gresham.

I have had the privilege of watching Gayle perform and tell stories about her family history. Warren, John and Gayle are also family genealogist’s as is Allen’s son Bob Gresham who recently visited the original Levi Squires and Edwin Squires farms in Wisconsin. But that’s another story.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – #28 Travel

In the beginning of my research for my husband’s ancestors we visited a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis. John was wise enough to advise me to take pictures of all the surrounding gravestones because it was possible they could be related and I would have the photos to study. Indeed that was the case. One gravestone in the group was for Sarah Grossman, not a Singer or a Silverblatt as all the others in the group and I became very curious about this young lady who was only 28 years old when she died.

What really peaked my interest was the picture of Sarah on the gravestone. Although the photograph was blurred from weather and time she appeared to be a very pretty young lady. My challenge became who is she, where did she come from and why is she here?

The script on the gravestone, written in Hebrew tells me that Sarah’s father is Tzvi Hirsh Silverblatt.  Tzvi Hirsh or Harris is buried in the row in front of Sarah, he died in 1904 at age 40 of tuberculosis. The grave next to Sarah is her mother Lizzie Rudner who died in 1907 at age 39 of tuberculosis.

After several years of study I found the answer to all my questions and here is the story of Sarah and her siblings travels. With the 1900 census information I was able to learn Sarah was born in 1888 in Friar’s Point, Mississippi, Bessie in 1894, Louis in 1895 and David in 1901. Friar’s Point is a small city on the Mississippi River.

 In 1902, the family including Sarah, her sister Bessie and brothers Louis and David moved to San Antonio, Texas to open their own mercantile store. Sister Ruth was born in 1903 in San Antonio. When their father died in 1904 Lizzie and the children stayed in San Antonio and managed the store. Lizzie, their mother died in 1907 and the children went  back to Friar’s Point under the guardianship of their uncle William Silverblatt. The 1910 census only lists Louis and younger sister Ruth living with William Silverblatt. After a lot of census searching I found Bessie in Memphis, Tennessee living with their mother’s sister and her family while Louis and Ruth stayed in Friar’s Point and David was sent to a Jewish orphanage in New Orleans. More details were revealed in the will of Lizzie Silverblatt. Lizzie had a life insurance policy valued at about $4100.00 when she died. Her brother-in-law was paid $10.00 per month as guardian for her children. Lizzy specifically requested her diamond earrings to go to Sarah.

The Mizpah monument at Denver’s Union Station 1908. The “Welcome” on one side and “Mizpah” on the other. Sarah would have taken a train from Memphis to arrive in Denver in 1908 and been welcomed by this structure.

Sarah, being 20 years old in 1908 left Memphis when she contracted tuberculosis and came to Denver, Colorado. In 1910 the census shows she boarded at a house on Hooker Street near Colfax. In 1911 Sarah married fellow boarder David Grossman. According to her death certificate, Sarah’s cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis with contributing influenza at the beginning of 1917 and she died a month later, 31 January 1917. Sarah and David had no children.

Bessie stayed in Memphis, married and divorced, then married Sam Florman. They had two children, He owned several mercantile stores in Tennessee and Arkansas. David left the orphanage at 18 years old and moved to Arkansas to work in one of Sam and Bessie’s stores. David married Nancy Hughes and they had two children. Louis married Irene Wiggington and they lived in Trenton, Tennessee, they had two children. Ruth stayed with William Silverblatt’s wife, Matilda, after he died in 1919. Matilda was hit by a car and killed in St. Louis in 1942. I never found Ruth after the 1930 census.

Cemetery records show Bertha Wyner, daughter of Fannie Silverblatt Singer (William Beckie and Harris’s sister), purchased all the plots at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery and kept everyone together. Two other graves for William, Beckie, Harris and Fannie’s parents Samuel and Jennie Silverblatt are located nearby and according to the clerk at the cemetery the records are in an old Russian Hebrew dialect and at this time no one is available to translate.