Back to the Problem: RI State Census

Defining the Problem

Imagine this scenario. You are a Civil War hero and you return home to marry the woman you love. On 14 March 1865 you marry her and on 2 April 1866, you welcome your first son, James Frederick Barber. Six more sons quickly follow: Albert (1868), Howard (1870), Elmer (1873), Raymond (1875), Herman (1876) and William (1879). 

Suddenly, your wife dies (1881) (possibly in childbirth) leaving you with all these boys! Your mother is dead and your father remarried a long time ago and raised you, your sister and ten more children of their own. Your father is 66 and still a farmer. You don't want to be a farmer and have started a harvesting seaweed business [1880 census: boatman]. You can't be on a boat and still take care of children. 

Then, thirteen year old Albert dies (1882). Your oldest son, James Frederick Barber is a servant in Capt. Palmer Hall's household across town "at India Point". He want to be a barber not a boatman or farmer. (Doesn't this sound like it could happen today?)

The 1880 census for James Frederick Barber's family is multi-generation. Grandfather Matthew is 65, and his second wife Rhoda is 61. Oldest unmarried son, Ellery is 34. He marries Fannie Emeline HALL (yes, a Hall) in 1888 after his father dies. 

Brother Charles is 23 and the youngest child of Matthew and Rhoda is 20 and listed as Matthew S. Barber. (We call him Junior.)

There is a Benjamin Barber listed at 23 as a son is not found in any other census and I suspect is a nephew. He's not buried in River Bend that I can find or is listed in the River Bend Cemetery Book.

Daughter Agnes has married her (first) husband Stanton Thompson and they live in the household with their 7 year old daughter Grace. Daughter Phebe Eliza is also living with them with her husband Benjamin Maryott and their two children Eliza (5) and Lewis (3). It is a full house as you can imagine.

The 1885 Rhode Island census lists each member of a household separately. Young children are not always enumerated. But, I am sure that James Frederick Barber is never part of his father's extended household again.

He's listed as Frederick, in the 1885 Rhode Island census and I would not be surprised if he is still living with Capt. Palmer Hall.

More research needs to be done but at least I have a better understanding and feeling about him living in Capt. Palmer Hall's spacious home!

A reader suggested that he may have been an assistant to Capt. Hall working the animals, tending the boats and keeping the grounds. Maybe he even cut Capt. Hall's hair?

Hall family Relationship Chart

Relationship Charts can help you think more clearly about complicated or distant ancestors. A long time ago, I researched my Hall family back from the mother of James Albert Barber, Phebe Eliza Hall. I was lucky, there are some vital records, graveyard records and known women's maiden surnames that helped me out. 

But, I wondered about the larger overall picture of the Hall family of Portsmouth and Westerly, RI in relationship to Phebe's descendents. It had taken a lot of work to find out more about Sarah Babcock who married James Hall to be able to get the middle generations in between Henry Hall, Jr, son of Hennery Hall, Sr., the immigrant ancestor that they had in common.

This will need a lot of work as yet, but at least I have some idea if Capt. Palmer Hall may have known that Phebe Eliza Hall, about 10 years younger than himself, was a member of his extended Hall family.

In the 1880 census for Westerly, RI, Capt. Palmer Hall has James Frederick Barber, living as a "servant". 

Tombstone Tuesday: Carolyn Langdon

Nancy Bowler Smith Hall, mother of Harriet, grandmother of Carolyn, (Bowler Genealogy)

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

Pickering/ Carolyn B. [Belle] Langdon,/ wife of J. Winslow Pickering,/ grandaughter of Nancy Bowler Hall/ Aug. 25, 1863- June 27, 1946 (River Bend Cemetery, Westerly, RI.)

The wedding at India Point of Carolyn to J. Winslow Pickering "was very simple, amidst the surrounding of the old family homestead" (Bowler genealogy) and took place on 22 June 1886. But, it is described as high society weddings are right down to the flower arrangements, the ribbon decorations created by the bride and names two officiating clergy. I am imagine the guests, drinks in hand, strolling the grounds or sitting on the lovely porch looking out to sea.

Carolyn was educated at "the Buffalo Academy" and met J. Winslow Pickering out West. They had two sons, Nelson Winslow Pickering and Langdon Pickering. The man who is a descendant mentions Nelson Pickering as his grandfather. He tells me that Carolyn sold it to another family whose wife hated the water and she planted vegetation to hid it. They tired of it and sold it back to Nelson Pickering and then it was in the family again.

There is still so much to know about this "House at India Point" but I will leave you to think about summer days, sailing vessels and house lotteries for now.

But, wait, I am still trying to solve the original research question! Why was my great grandfather living in the house? 

India Point in Lotteryville

"Four Papers" of the Westerly Historical Society found at Ancestry.com
link below

India Point in Lotteryville

For several weeks, I have been researching Capt. Lyman Hall and his son Palmer and you would not believe how much I have found considering that both men's names went searched for, yield results about "places" named Hall. Capt. Lyman Hall's pension record contains more genealogical information than I was expecting. (Fold3)

So, I turned to Frederic Denison's Westerly & Its Witnesses and learned that it was a land lottery and not a "gambling" lottery. Rev. Denison, being a Baptist clergyman, made that very clear in the text by stating, "Thus the place derived its singular and unfortunate name, --the evil of lotteries not then being comprehended as at present." [p. 186]

Col. (Capt.) Joseph Pendleton lost his brigantine vessel, with a heavy cargo of rum and molasses (in about 1749-1750) and since he had no insurance, couldn't pay his debts, The RI General Assembly made up a grant to sell off, in 126 house lots, his land reserving a small farm for himself. The money earned from the sale of the land, allowed him to pay up his creditors and to buy him a new vessel.

In the northeast point of land, Capt. Lyman Hall, a Revolutionary War veteran, made his home (abt 1787). According to the family that recently sold it, Capt. Palmer Hall, son of Capt. Lyman Hall called it "India Point" because directly beneath his feet in the house was straight down to India. (I love family history tales.)

Capt. Lyman Hall, was a tall and strong man and sailed to the East Indies as a young man, and he asked the captain of the vessel for better conditions for the crew. He lifted a cannon from the vessel and moved it and told the captain that if three men could not move it back he would "withdraw" his appeal. They couldn't do it, so more food and better conditions were won. (Old Time Lotteryville chapter, p. 7-9 in the "Four Papers" manuscript linked below.)

Nine of the house lots were built upon by captains of whaling ships and one was Capt. Lyman Hall. The house was torn down by his son, Capt. Palmer Hall and rebuilt about 1837. (The Bowler genealogy gives us this photo.) I love the turrent tower which is no longer there.

I immediately went looking, via Google Maps for this point of land (10 India Point, Westerly, RI) was was rewarded with a recently sold presentation by a real estate agent in the Westerly area. She put me in touch with the man who sold it and he is going to tell me more when he and his wife are settled in a new home.) It still amazes me how quickly these events did unfold.
From Lori Joyal, that real estate agent,comes this must-watch video presentation. It is an 8 bedroom, 4 and 1.2 bathroom house presented by Lila Delman Real Estate, 52 Bay St. Westerly, RI. Thank you for sharing it with me and for allowing me to use it in my blog.

copyright Lila Delman Real Estate

I want you to remember that for a period of time, my great grandfather was a servant in this amazing house!

Ancestry.com. Four papers delivered before the Westerly Historical Society of Westerly, Rhode Island : during the years 1915, 1916, and a lis [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
Original data: Four papers delivered before the Westerly Historical Society of Westerly, Rhode Island : during the years 1915, 1916, and a list of the members.. Westerly, R.I.: Utter Co., printers, 1916.

Sea Captain's Lambs

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

Recording the Lost Sheep of Infancy

Even the smallest gravestone can bring significant information to the study of a family.

Little Nathan and Sarah Hall, children of  Capt. Palmer  Hall and his first wife Mary Ann DUNBAR are adorned with the tiny lamb on the top which is a classic gravestone for the period. When you approach these baby gravestones, you must remember the heartache of the loss by the parents. Many do not have as much information on them as these do. I am writing a presentation called "Comfortable Silence" about cemetery research and stones like these will be part of that talk. 

Their dated birth and death places can tell us where a family was living at that moment in time. As Capt. Palmer Hall may have been at sea for these events of birth and death, it is important to remember the place little children have in a family.

These siblings are very close in age. Calculating from the dates of death and years/months attained, he was born in February of 1850 and she in December of 1850. The 1850 census record list a very large household for this family (not a surprise from looking at the house itself) and as it was 1 July 1850, Nathan (as 5/12 months) is listed but Sarah is not. With closer examination, I discovered that grandmother, Phebe (Palmer) Hall, wife of Lyman is living with them as a widow. 

I love the 1850 census with all the people listed. This one makes me want to dig more into this family!

Second Sea Captain's wife: Nancy Bowler

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

Nancy B.  BOWLER

Bowler Genealogy found at Archive.org, (out of copyright)

Second wives are always interesting and there certainly have been enough of them in my family who have played a large part in the family history picture.

Nancy's is a long story! She was married to William Smith before she married Capt. Palmer Hall and had two children (Harriet and Albert) by him. She was born in New York but moved to Ohio with her parents and married him there. After William died in a railroad accident, she married at her daughter Harriet's home in Buffalo, NY, Capt. Hall. Harriet was the wife of George Langdon. Harriet must have liked her new step-father because she named her last living child, Palmer Hall Langdon. 

It states in the Bowler genealogy, that Nancy's marriage (in 1865) to Capt. Palmer Hall was "unusually happy" and that they led a busy life of social parties at India Point and that they traveled a lot. (I have found India Point. It is amazing.)

In 1904, the genealogy states that Nancy's daughter, Harriet Smith Langdon lived in the house on India Point.  She died in Illinois in 1916. The house "at India Point" then inherited by Harriet's daughter Carolyn Belle Langdon.

The son Albert, never married and was interesting in all "sporting matters", traveled abroad and went to the California gold fields!

The Bowler genealogy gives us a good description of Nancy's character and temperament which is quite rare in these complied genealogies of the time period. It is do interesting that it kept me going to find out more!

Tombstone Tuesday: Capt. Palmer Hall's Monument

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

Tombstone Tuesday: Capt. Palmer Hall

Born at India Point in Westerly, RI, [Bowler genealogy] on 11 Nov 1810 [NEHGS: RI Vital Records Vol. 4 : Pg. 115] to Lyman Hall and his second wife Phebe Palmer. 

Sadly, a previous child name Palmer Hall was born and died before him but I guess Phebe was determined to have her maiden surname used for one of her children and this was her last chance since she was 44 years old at the time of Capt. Palmer Hall's birth.

The real estate listing for Palmer Hall, dated 1837, lists him as the person living in the house at age 27. 

Brian Zoldak, photographed this monument and added it to Find a Grave as well as giving me permission to blog about it.

Of course, the anchor tells us he was a sea captain. The census records consistently tell us about his occupation as a mariner.

Sometimes, the interesting information comes from the wives of a man and that's just where the story leads.

Palmer Hall, married first, Mary Ann Dunbar (1815-1864) and her name is one side of the plaque of the monument. 

Photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

They had four children. Two are buried nearby and two lived to adulthood. I can't find a marriage record for Palmer and Nancy but they could have married in nearby Connecticut and not in Rhode Island. This was supposed to say, Mary Ann and Palmer Hall's marriage date

But, Palmer Hall's second wife was Nancy Bowler and I know you are not surprised by that since I keep referencing the Bowler genealogy! 

Eunice Pendleton

Capt. Lyman Hall's First Family

Eunice Pendleton, wife of Capt. Lyman Hall, photo by Brian Zoldak, used with permission, 2013

Eunice,/wife of/Capt. Lyman Hall/& daughter of Capt. John Pendleton./Born Aug. 26, 1766/died March 31, 1794/ Aged 27 years.

Capt. Lyman and Eunice were married on 27 Jan 1787 by Elder Isaiah Wilcox in Westerly, RI. 


A family member tells me that his family history tells him that Lyman Hall built a house at  a location called India Point in 1787.This sent me on an adventure to find out what this means and where it was located.

There is a vital record for this marriage which lists his father was Joseph (deceased) and her father as Capt. John Pendleton as it states on her gravestone.


It was the information that his father was Joseph that I needed to connect this branch of the Hall family back to the one I already in my tree. 

Eunice and Lyman had four children before she passed away: Eunice (1788-unknown), babies Joseph (1790-1790), Lyman 1st (1791-1791), Lyman 2nd (1792-1854), and John Pendleton Hall (1794- 1876). She died the day after her last child was born. How very sad. What was he going to do now?

Lettering in Marble

Wordless Wednesday: Capt. Lyman Hall and wife Phebe Palmer

Marble Stones Are Hard to Read

Parents of Capt. Palmer Hall

Close up of Capt. Lyman Hall's monument, photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission

Close up of back side of Capt. Lyman Hall's monument,, photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013, used with permission.

Capt./Lyman Hall/ Born Aug. 30, 1761/Died Nov. 4, 1842/Aged 81 years.
Phebe,/(second) wife of/Capt. Lyman Hall/& daughter of Capt. Elias S. Palmer/ Born Aug. (8 or) 9, 1766/Died Sept. 22, 1858/ Aged 92 years

Tombstone Tuesday: Secrets of the Moving Dead

The Dead Can Move

Lyman Hall Monument,, photo by Brian Zoldak, 2013

Early in my research, I discovered a valuable book, now out of copyright, written my my 2nd great grandmother's brother, the Rev. Frederic Denison. The author of many books and an ordained minister, Rev. Fred (that's what I like to call him) was also interested in his family history and the lives of the people in Westerly, Rhode Island.

The last chapter in the book is a list of graveyards and people buried there. I love that many of the graveyards are called "Ground" for burying ground. Rhode Island has nearly 4 thousand such small family cemeteries. One of my favorites is Hall Ground #3 because of the mention of the picket fence around it. 

Dwight Brown's River Bend Cemetery book, lists 3 pages of folks named Hall (maiden or male surname). I really had visions of going to look for the lovely marble stones shining in the sunshine in a meadow.  But, the Lyman Hall listed here (in Hall Ground #3) is the son of Capt. Palmer Hall's father, Lyman Hall and he and his wife Abby are listed at Find-a-Grave in Oak Grove Cemetery in Hopkinton, RI. So much for the picket fence. 

Brian Zoldak went looking for me at River Bend Cemetery in Westerly and found Capt. Palmer Hall and his parents. Problem solved but in a round about way. So, back to learning about Capt. Palmer Hall.

Here's the page (#285) from Rev. Fred's book so you can see the little family cemeteries and their descriptions. (I recently broke down and bought a copy for my library. It is hard to really read on the screen.)

So, the secrets of the moving dead can be complicated by cemetery records (in print) no longer being accurate. 

Adventure with the Sea Captain

Capt. Palmer Hall from the Bowler Genealogy  p. 83 (out of Copyright)

Adventure with the Sea Captain
Summer of the Sea Captains

This summer didn't start out to be about sea captains. It started out with a research problem I have. To solve my problem I am convinced that I have to know more about my Hall family because this surname (from Rhode Island) keeps surfacing and isn't directly solvable with vital records. It goes around and around like the Flying Horse Carousel at the Watch Hill beach. My head is spinning.

My maternal great grandfather, alive in my lifetime, (shown in this photo at my parents wedding in Dec 1946, third from left) mysteriously lived with Capt. Palmer Hall and his 2nd wife Nancy Bowler plus another woman (who I expect was a housekeeper). He's 14 years old in this 1880 census and a SERVANT in this household. I wasn't convinced it was him for years and years. But, now I have more sources to work with and  I am better at searching for the right information. A few months ago, I decided to work that census record and figure out if Capt. Hall is part of my family.

You know how it goes, I found a tree at Ancestry.com with the above photo in it (with no attached source). I left a message for the tree owner and oh, so, ever patiently waited. During this time, I decided that because Capt. Hall's mother was a Palmer, that this was going to somehow fit into my tree so that I could figure it out. It meant that I also had to find out how my existing Hall line fit into the genealogical puzzle since it meant I had to investigate all the early Hall men in that line (again!)

The 1940 census tells me that great grandpa Barber completed the 8th grade. So, that would be about 1879. I also know that his mother, Hannah Josephine Tourgee Barber, died in 1881, leaving her husband, the Civil War Hero and mariner, James Albert Barber  with seven sons. One is an infant (born in 1879) and one dies in 1882. I have new evidence that tells me that James Albert Barber's step-mother must have rushed in to help out as I expected. She already had her hands full with a bunch of kids of her own. Yikes.

If this is correct then I can see why my great grandfather went to work and found a place to live. He was the oldest. Capt. Palmer Hall and James Albert Barber must have known each other. They shared a love of the sea and life-long ties to Westerly, Rhode Island. James's mother, Phebe Eliza Hall was the line I'd already worked on. Everybody in Westerly knows each other.

Finally, the person with his photo told me he got it "from the Bowler genealogy".  Ah, the second wife of Capt. Hall. I located it easily at Archive.org. That's when it got interesting but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to the graveyard and do our research.

The Bowler Genealogy at Archive.org

Perkins Adventure in Bridgewater

Perkins Adventure Post 1

Since last summer when I found out that I had an ancestor, David PERKINS and his wife Elizabeth BROWN who came to Bridgewater, Plymouth, MA in 1688, I have been thinking about the connection that was made when I randomly (or so I thought) chose Bridgewater to live in when I married and moved from my native Rhode Island to Massachusetts.

I have been reading a book titled, Psychic Roots, and have been impressed with the ideas presented about the coincidences, serendipity and intuitive moments that are part of genealogy and family history work. The author gathered stories from experienced genealogists who can't explain the twists and turns made along the way as they sought their own ancestors or looked for ancestors for clients. This book has made me think more clearly about the unusual ways in which my brain is working when I am working on family history.

By posting my family tree at Ancestry.com, I have been fortunate to find relatives (cousins) who have some connection to those in my charts. David Perkins is a good example of this situation and has made me a believer in online database sharing such as Ancestry.com

Mercy Perkins, wife of Stanton Hall has a gravestone shared with her husband, with several children buried nearby in the lovely and peaceful River Bend Cemetery in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island. Their marriage leaves no doubt to when and where they were married. [Hall, Stanton of Westerly and Mercy Perkins of Charlestown; m. by Elder Oliver Bright, July 8, 1800 Vol 5 Page 37, Westerly] Mercy was the youngest child in her family and genealogy math tells me that she was only 14 when she married and her husband Stanton Hall was only 16!

The date of her birth is not recorded but a letter in the possession of another family (who kindly scanned it and shared it with me because she was thrilled to see the gravestone) it is recorded that she was born 3 March 1786 which meshes with census and her gravestone date of death and number of years. Bingo!

I was excited to know this much and to be able to prove that she is not Mercy Lewis as some people do assume and have recorded in their database records. But, imagine my surprise when I received an email from a Perkins researcher whose ancestor is Mercy's brother Nathaniel that there are two genealogies of this Perkins family whose immigrant ancestor was Abraham Perkins of Hampton, NH. From this point on, it was easy to connect the dots to discovering David buried right here in Bridgewater. I have walked by his grave many times. I would have to say, I KNEW, somebody in that cemetery was my ancestor.

It won't surprise me to find that ancestral memory is coded into our DNA.

On to finding David and Mary Perkins...

Perkins, Hall and Crandall

My gravestone photo of Stanton Hall and his wife Mercy Perkins has proved to cause quite a stir as three people researching either Perkins, Hall or Crandall lines have contacted me about these three surnames. It is so great to have help with these lines! This is the fun of genealogy.

It all began with Phebe Eliza Hall, the wife of Matthew Stillman Barber and mother of James Albert Barber, all of Westerly, Rhode Island. From there I discovered that young (1820-1842) Phebe was a child of Stanton Hall and his wife Mercy Perkins. That's as far as I got for a long time.

The Peckham genealogy lists the children of Theodoty Hall and his wife Mary Peckham (p. 299) as Mary "Polly", Theodoty, Jr., Stanton, Varnum, Free, Peckham and Margaret. This was the first clearly given record I had:

"Stanton Hall, b. 1784; m. Mercy Perkins in 1800"

It always pays to go back to the records you gather first in an ancestor investigation and take a longer look at them. I now see that Stanton Hall's brother married Caty Crandall which means the Hall, Peckham and Crandall lines cross over here too.

I am grateful to Barbara Fallon of Westerly for helping me locate the exact location of Stanton and Mercy's grave for this is proving to be a great "ancestor detective" adventure. Stay tuned for more information.

Stanton Hall and Mercy Perkins

Stanton Hall and Mercy Perkins
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This is the front of the gravestone for Stanton HALL and his wife Mercy PERKINS. Their daughter Phebe Eliza HALL (1820-1842) was the first wife of Matthew Stillman BARBER (1815-1888).

"Stanton HALL/ Died/January 21, 1837./Aged 53 years./
Mercy HALL, wife of Stanton HALL/Died/October 23, 1865/ Aged 79 years. "

Stantion HALL's father and grandfather were named Theodoty HALL Jr. and Sr. and their resting places remain "lost". Theodoty Hall, Jr.'s wife was Mary PECKHAM and those ancestors are part of the John PECKHAM line of Middletown and Newport, RI.

Back of Hall Stone

Back of Hall Stone
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This is the back of the Hall stone which reads:

Sacred/ To The Memory of/Our/ Father & Mother/

"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord"