Mary Ginn's Birthday 2010

Here is a photo of Mary Ginn with long time family friend Krista Thurman.

Happy 54th Birthday Mary "Howie" Ginn!  You look Marvelous!

A New Cousin: William Dutch Miller

William Dutch Miller, Born December 03, 2010.  He is healthy 8lb 7 Oz.

Lost Rider Family Found

I guess you can say I love a mystery, but I love a challenge even more.
I have been reading through old correspondence that I had received over the years, some dating back to 1983.  There are just some clues that jump out and catch my attention.  In one letter from my Aunt Helen she wrote, "James Howie was William George Howie's brother.  They had another brother which went "west" as a young man and was never heard from again - it is believed he met with disaster of some kind."  Doesn't that leave you intrigued? It does me.  Was he traveling by train, or stage coach? Was he attacked by Indians, or did he join the gold rush?  It turns out that William George Howie and James Alexander Howie were just two of seven children.  There are three confirmed boys and three girls.  One un-legible name.  So Helen was correct.  His name was John S. Howie, and I still can't find him.  Without more details, I probably never will with a common name like John.

The other mystery is very new to me, "The Lost Rider Family."  I was recently put in contact with my third cousin Lillian Madelyn Rider.  She had sent me a family tree of the RIDERS of Fitch Bay.  It begins with the progenitor of the Canadian family, Ezra Bartlett Rider.  Who happens to be my 2nd Great Grand Father.  He was Helen Desdemonia Rider's father.  Prior to this I knew that Ezra had two wives, however I never knew that he had children by his first wife Fanny Chandler.  On this tree, RIDERS of Fitch Bay, there is a box that just says 8 children moved to Illinois & Kansas in 1844.  I passed over this without much thought as they would be no blood relation to me, and there were no names, until this Thanksgiving holiday when I received an email.  Prior to this, I had sent out some requests to get information on locating a Masters Thesis, titled "The RIDERS of Fitch Bay."  I was looking for more information on my fourth Great Grand Father Seth Bartlett Rider, as there is over a hundred year gap in the national registry.  I had contacted the University for a copy of the thesis in hopes that it might have a missing link that would help me locate the parents and siblings of Seth Bartlett Rider who would be my 3rd great grand father.  The University was very prompt with a response; they held two copies of the thesis, and to contact my local library for an international exchange.  Which I did, but this will take sometime.  They also gave me the email address of the author, so I shot and email off to Stephen Moore.

So, over Thanksgiving Stephen Moore responded to my request, and also said he had questions of the Lost Rider's who went west, did I have any information?  Now again I was intrigued.  Here is someone who wrote their Masters Thesis on the Riders of Fitch Bay and he was asking me for information.  He stated that his source for the thesis was Lillian Rider, and they both were looking for information of eight Rider's who moved west.  Being the great investigator that I am, I quickly got on it to find the lost family.  I went on Ancestry.com and found that there was nothing except other genealogists also looking for clues on this family of eight children.  So I posted a thread to a message board that I was also looking, and off to the library I went.
I had a copy of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register which had a story on Samuel Rider, so that was my first stop.  Since I am a member of the NEHGS, I went online first with no luck.  Then at the library I went to the index for the NEHGR.  Found some information, but nothing new.  So back to my family tree to get more clues.  It is amazing that three months ago I barely knew the name of my 2nd great grandfather and today I have well over six thousand aunts, uncles, cousins and so on.  I add everyone, as this has been the biggest help for me.  Many times on a census form or death certificate of a cousin or brother's uncle I find the name of another family member I was looking for.  Truly I am so lucky that our family immigrated from Massachusetts up the east coast and into Canada.  Back in the early 1980's I hated this fact as I did not have the resources to contact Canada.  Now, I am so glad because so much work has already been done, and many Churches in Quebec Canada kept wonderful records.  Although the French documents are difficult to read.

So I have a story of a female farmer with three young boys, and I have a story of settlers to Stanstead Quebec.  Well my local San Antonio downtown library has an extensive genealogy area, it fills the entire top floor of the library.  So I started looking for one of these books written about the settlers of Stanstead, and lucky for me they had a copy.  Now I understand that books are secondary sources, and not the most reliable to a true genealogist, however, this book has so much detail.  The book title is: "The History of Stanstead County", by Hubbard, ISBN:1-55613-123-2.   There in the pages was my great grandmother Helen D. Rider and my 2nd great grand father Ezra B. Rider.  It listed both his wives and their issue (children).  I entered the names and birth-dates of the eight missing children of Ezra and Fanny into my family tree on Ancestry.com.  Then through U.S. Census data I was able to follow some of their movements from Illinois, to Kansas, Wisconsin and one son even moved back to Canada with his wife.  Anyway my prior hunch that whatever the reason they moved, they had probably changed their name.  I was so correct.  These eight children changed the spelling of their last name to Ryder, stayed in the United States and moved west in 1844.  Their mother Fanny Chandler died in 1843.  Then in October of the same year Ezra re-married Dorothy Ann Lee, of the settler Lee's of Stanstead.  They married and settled in Fitch Bay, Quebec during the time of the mass exodus from Canada.


Between 1784 and 1844, the population of Quebec increased by 400 percent.  However, between 1840 and 1930, more than 900,000 French-Canadians left Canada and immigrated to the United States and Australia.  Canada did not have enough inhabitable land for the rapid growth and they were moving from a rural economy to an industrial one.  Manufacturing was replacing the farmer, and this is probably the reason these Riders chose not to follow their father into Canada.  Going from what they knew, being a farmer, to working in a factory probably was not on their bucket list.   A story for another day, but these eight farmer's probably were able to get land grants in Illinois and Kansas.

Hunt family Thanksgiving Photos

Well, Thanksgiving is over and the family photos are beginning to trickle in.  Send me any family photos that you took for the holidays and I will post them.

I have here photos of the Hunt Family.

Bradley Robert Hunt

Bradley Robert Hunt

Sherina, Justin & Bradley Hunt

Jason, Brother of Justin, Sherina, Gregory Merrill and his family: Jennifer (Hunt), sister of Justin and there two Merrill boys with little Bradley Hunt

Greg & Jennifer Merrill & Ethan & Drew

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all, even if where you live around the globe you do not celebrate this "American Tradition." 

This post has turned out much longer than I first thought, I apologize.
So, back to our journey of the Separatist cult which history prefers to call the Pilgrims.  They spent twelve years in Leyden, Holland struggling to make a living as for the most part they were farmers by trade and Amsterdam and Leyden were manufacturing communities.  King James I was tired of the propaganda materials that they were printing, and smuggling back to England which put bad light on the church of England and the King.  With bad economy, their children becoming assimilated to a different culture, threat of being arrested and an imminent war with Spain, the group decided to go to the new world.   They hired a boat called "The Speedwell" first then they had investors join them and they were also able to hire "The Mayflower" and her crew.  They boarded the Speedwell in Leyden and sailed for England where the Mayflower was waiting.  When they arrived, they found that their investor had like all the others betrayed them.  He had sold passage to "Strangers" to the new world, and told the Pilgrims that they also had to sign a contract.  This caused much delay and loss of provisions as they had no money.  They set off for the new world, but with the "strangers" there was much dissension.  They had to turn back twice, some say that the Speedwell was not sea worthy.  Others speculate that passengers aboard the Speedwell were scuttling their own boat as they would rather be drowned at sea then be indentured servants to the investment company.   It was agreed that not all would go, and they would take just the Mayflower.  The groups were equally divided.  However, not many of the original Scrooby congregation still survived.  Seven of the original group made it on the Mayflower.  The group from Leyden were 17 men, 10 women, and 14 children.  The "Strangers" from England were 17 men, 9 women, 13 children and servants: 5 men, 1 woman and 6 children. Yes children!  Remember the era, children were working as young as 5 years old, many were orphans.  They began what would turn out to be an 8 month journey in August of 1620.  They spent 18 days in South-Hampton, 10 days in Dartmouth and then 14 days in Old Plymouth. Then they spent another 66 days at sea before they set foot in the new world in December 1620 it was a horrible journey.  Finally in took them another 131 days of exploring the new land before they finally agreed on a settlement.  There was so much bitterness and fighting as they just sat in the bay anchored one mile off shore that it is believed that William Bradford's wife Dorothy committed suicide.  She was just 23 years of age. Of course he did not write this, as suicide is a sin.  He wrote that she fell over board and drowned.  They had to come to an agreement, so the Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed.  Richard Warren from which our family descends signed the Compact and his signature appears twelfth.  In all, 41 signed the Mayflower Compact.

They arrived in the dead of winter and explored Cape Cod for 30 days.  They were sick, cold and hungry.  The first shore party of 16 men took the shallop and rowed to shore.  The water was shallow.  In full armour and leather boots, holding sword and musket they ended up having to get out and walk the boat a long distance in the freezing cold. Miles Standish, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins and Edward Tilly were amongst these men. They stayed for three days and two nights before returning to the ship.  William Bradford writes about walking through a foot of snow and accidentally getting his foot in a deer trap, the sapling tree quickly had him face down hanging from one ankle. In this first exploration they came across an Indian village that was primarily used in the summer when fishing was good.  The pilgrims stole everything including the seed corn that the Indians had left for next years planting.  This was probably the first of many transgressions by the Pilgrims in this new land which lead up to King Philips War.

The first child to be born in the new world arrived to a family from Sturton-Le- Steeple, William White and his wife Susanna.  He was christened Peregrine White.  This was this families second son.  The first was born in Leyden four years earlier.  His name was Resolved.  I am not of direct descent.  However, Lewis Morris White (1847-1941) the father of Minnie Emma White was.    She married Fredrick Hamilton Rider who was a progeny of Ezra Bartlett Rider.  Lewis was of direct male descent.  That family lived through the massacres of King Philips war.

I might still find a connection, however I am currently missing 100 years in the Rider line of decent.  Stay tuned!

William Bradford missed his 5 year son John.  Dorothy had decided not to bring him on the first voyage, and like many other families left their children back in Europe.  Isaac Allerton, who Clarence Howie's wife Evelyn May Harlow has family connection, and his wife Mary Norris had just given birth to a still born son, Mary did not recover and later died herself she was 34 years old.   It was a cold somber winter and over the next three days three more died of scurvy.  The Pilgrims had not eaten properly in over eight months.

January came and the first mater of business was to protect themselves from the Indians which had made several attacks and had set a blaze their first common house by shooting flaming arrows into the thatch roof.  They built a large stockade with enough room to build 19 individual homes and one common house.  They then built the common house, and upon the roof built a fort with a cannon which them kept manned night and day.   By January 11th everyone was exhausted and ill including William Bradford and Christopher Martin.  The common house became a hospital and eight more quickly died of scurvy including Christopher Martin.  We are connected to the Martin family through the Howie line.  The remaining Martin family also fought the Indians in King Philips war.  The next date in Bradford's journal was February 17.  William White and Mary Allerton were dead.  This continued through the winter with the Mayflower anchored off shore.  More than half of all the people died including the crew on board the Mayflower.  Only six remained on their feet to care for the ill.  Elder Brewster who was 50 years old was one of these.  He had to cut wood, tend fires, feed and clean the ill to attempt to stop the dysentery.  Then by night they would have to bury the dead.  They did not want the Indians to know how small their community was getting inside the stockade so they placed no grave stones on burial hill.

In the spring a Naked Massasoit Indian brave walked into the camp.  Twenty-five year old Edward Winslow quickly covered him with a coat, and became the ambassador to the Indians.  Later in the spring Squanto, a Paturxet Indian who was captured and made a slave returned from Europe to his home land to find the Pilgrims on it.  Some historians believe this was the Pilgrims hope and their downfall.  As Squanto spoke English he was able to play both sides.  This created much tension as he was also helping the white man live off the land.

On April 5th, 1621 the crew of the Mayflower was well and set sail for England, leaving the Pilgrims, not one Pilgrim went back with the Mayflower.

On May 12, 1621 the first wedding took place.  However, Puritans do not recognize marriage as a sacrament.  So it would have been a civil ceremony.  Now widower Edward Winslow and Widow Susanna (Fuller) White were joined before William Bradford as legal magistrate, six weeks after Edwards first wife died.   Susanna was the sister of Samuel Fuller the only doctor, used in the loosest of terms.  She was taking care of orphans Resolved and Peregrine White, as their mother and father were dead and she was their only kin.

The summer much exploring and farming was performed so they could store food for winter.  In December, on the same date as the Pilgrims had first stole the food from the first Indian camp, the Chief showed up with 90 Indians and demanded a feast in reparation for the food they had stole the prior winter.   So there is the story of the winter harvest, that today we are celebrating with our families and giving Thanks.

THE 53 PILGRIMS AT THE FIRST THANKSGIVING :

4 MARRIED WOMEN : Eleanor Billington, Mary Brewster, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White Winslow.
5 ADOLESCENT GIRLS : Mary Chilton (14), Constance Hopkins (13 or 14), Priscilla Mullins (19), Elizabeth Tilley (14 or15) and Dorothy, the Carver's unnamed maidservant, perhaps 18 or 19.
9 ADOLESCENT BOYS : Francis & John Billington, John Cooke, John Crackston, Samuel Fuller (2d), Giles Hopkins, William Latham, Joseph Rogers, Henry Samson.
13 YOUNG CHILDREN : Bartholomew, Mary & Remember Allerton, Love & Wrestling Brewster, Humility Cooper, Samuel Eaton, Damaris & Oceanus Hopkins, Desire Minter, Richard More, Resolved & Peregrine White.
22 MEN : John Alden, Isaac Allerton, John Billington, William Bradford, William Brewster, Peter Brown, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Francis Eaton, [first name unknown] Ely, Samuel Fuller, Richard Gardiner, John Goodman, Stephen Hopkins, John Howland, Edward Lester, George Soule, Myles Standish, William Trevor, Richard Warren, Edward Winslow, Gilbert Winslow.

The Separatist of Scrooby

 

 

This Plaque is in Leyden Where John Robinson was buried.

Continued from prior post, after much research and skimming through chapters of almost thirty books written about the immigrants of the Mayflower; I still do not understand our love affair with Thanksgiving and our genealogical pursuit for a family connection to the Mayflower.  Now don't get me wrong, I love to eat a home cooked meal just as much as the next guy.  But through commercialization have we not lost the true tradition of Autumn harvest?  And I am just one of 8 million people who can trace their roots to the Mayflower.  Do we really think that if we find these lost cousins they are going to invite us over to share in the great feast?

King James I had financed the settlement of Jamestown Virgina in 1607.  Later the Father of Canada, Samuel de Champlain established a settlement on July 03, 1608 on the east coast of the Americas in Kannata, the Huron-Iroquoian word for 'town'. .  Prior to the settlement by Champlain, Jacques Cartier a French explorer had discovered the St. Lawrence River and named an Indian village Mont Real.  The Spanish built the first University of the Americas, the University of Mexico in 1551.  Prior to that, by 1550 Charles V laid claim to many Caribbean islands, and through conquest most of the central region along the Rio Grand through Mexico and most of South America except for Brazil, which belonged to Portugal.  Santa Fe, at Pueblo Santa Fe founded a settlement in 1608.  Historically the Pilgrims were not the first settlers.  In fact they were fugitives from the law.  They were pretty much forgotten, left to starve or die of disease or Indian attack.  Jamestown Virginia was the place where fortune and new life was almost guaranteed.

How did this Puritan group known as Pilgrims become so close?
The Separatist group that met just north of Nottingham and the Lincolnshire boarder formed a nonconformist group under the leadership of Pastor Richard Clifton and Pastor John Robinson.  John Robinson was born in 1576 in Sturton-le Steeple on the old Roman road, which traveled from Lincoln to Doncaster.  John Robinson was of yeoman stock, and was educated at Cambridge, where he stayed for twelve years from 1597 as a Fellow of Corpus Christi College.  When James I became King of England in 1603, and a more repressive regime appeared, John Robinson left his fellowship and went back home due to revisions of the teachings. He had received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1596, and his Master of Arts degree in 1599.  He was then a teacher at Cambridge for many years.  In addition to leaving Cambridge and his job he resigned from the living of St. Andrew's, Norwich, because he refused to follow the revised Thirty-nine Articles, which were the points of the doctrine maintained by the Church of England, that all candidates for ordination as clergymen of the Anglican Church must subscribe to them.  Married men were also prohibited from teaching.  And just five days later, John Robinson married Bridget White (1579-1643) of Fenton, which was a half mile from Sturton-le-Steeple.  She was also of yeoman stock.  Her parents were Alexander White and Eleanor (Smith).  The new couple went to live on the banks of the Trent river at Gainsborough and could look across the river into the county of Nottingham.  There they had three children, John, Bridget, and Isaac Robinson.  Pastor John Robinson  moved his congregation twelve miles west of Gainsborough to the village of Scrooby.  Can you imagine walking 12 miles to go to church?  Especially since highway robbery and murder were still everyday occurrences.  Nearby Bawtry was a rendezvous for bandits and ruffians of the day, and Scrooby was know as a mean county.

Sir William Davison was chosen by Elizabeth Tudor to go to the Netherlands and take possession of the towns of Flushing and Brielle.  They were ceded to England as a guarantee of the cost of the Earl of Leicester's expedition of 1585 that had not been handed back in over thirty years.  This was successful and Sir William Davison was given the keys to the city he handed them to William Brewster who was the steward and bailiff of Scrooby Manor Farm as was his father before him.  Here is where Pastor John Robinson held church meetings.  John and William Brewster were friends since their days at Cambridge.  As their futures were looking bright, Elizabeth Tudor was looking for a scapegoat for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and in 1587 had Sir William Davidson held prisoner and taken to the Tower.  William Brewster became the postmaster, and his wife Mary bore him three children.  The first born in 1593, christened Jonathan, followed by two daughters, Patience, born in 1600, and Fear, born in 1606.  William Brewster was then dismissed from his job in 1607 because of his religious belief and fined for disobedience in the matters of religion.  Brewster joined Pastor Robinson in leading the meetings of the Separatists in Scrooby and together recruited many new followers.

William Bradford, born on March 19, 1589 was one recruit.  He was born in the village of Austerfield three miles north on the Yorkshire boarder.  After his father's death, his mother remarried and he was brought up in solitary living with his grandfather and two uncles.  As a teen William Bradford had plenty of time to read and began questioning spiritual matters.   For this he was persecuted by friends and his family did not take kindly.  He sought out the true written Word of God, and in Scrooby is where he found it.  The more oppressed the Separatists became, the greater belief they held that they were God's true elect, and that they would suffer for their faith like the martyrs described in the book of Martyrs by Foxe.  The Separatists were watched, criticized, fired, informed upon and imprisoned.  Bradford opens his journal with an explicit statement, "that England, first to break free from the darkness of popery, had naturally provoked the envy of Satan."  I have to realize how literal was Satan at this time.  After all it was the age of the Witch craze in Europe.  Today we can turn to fictional books or watch the movies of Harry Potter that are loosely based on fact to see that demoniacal possession was as firmly believed then as the precepts of psychiatry are today.

At any moment a war might break out with Spain so time was running short to leave England and settle in Holland.  Remember they did not have separation of Church and state at that time.  In retaliation for the murder of Mary, Philip vowed to attack England and put a Catholic Monarch on the thrown.  This war was being financed by Pope Sixtus V as he permitted Philip to collect crusade taxes to finance the war.  However, no one could leave England without permission and it was doubtful that such permission would be given to Separatists especially in time of war.  The only solution to their exodus was bribery and secrecy.  They needed to be smuggled out of England.  In 1607 Bradford was 18 years of age.  He arranged a boat to carry the Separatists from Old Boston to Lincolnshire so the group set out.   They had to first travel sixty miles from Scrooby to Old Boston.  They took a boat down the Trent River to Gainsborough, then by the Roman canal called the Foss Dyke to Lincoln, then they took the River Witham all the way to Old Boston.  However,  the captain of the ship that Bradford hired to take them to Holland betrayed them and revealed their scheme.  When the party arrived they were arrested in Boston and searched.  Bradford was the first released, but Brewster, Robinson and Clifton stayed in prison for a month.  In the spring of 1608 they would try again even though they had been told upon release from Guildhall never to attempt such a stunt again.  Bradford and some other younger men jumped aboard a ship for Zeeland and made a successful crossing.  The remaining members hired a Dutchman and he suggested that the group split up.  The men to travel by land and the women and children with luggage would be picked up by boat, but not from a port. The women set off my boat to rough sea.  So rough that they became sea sick and pulled to shore for calmer water.  The boat became grounded and could not be pulled off until high tide at noon the following day.  The Dutch captain arrived at the meeting point and picked up the men who had traveled by land.  The last man had just came aboard when they noticed a hoard of mounted men and just as many on foot carrying weapons and bearing down on the women who were stuck in the mud.  The captain quickly set sail to get to safety.  The men were torn as their wives, children and all of their possessions were now captured.  They had no food, no money and only the clothes on their backs.  With tears in their eyes they begged the captain to turn back, but he refused.  There was a horrible storm and it took a fortnight (fourteen days) to reach shore.  Back in Old Boston the authorities were were faced with what to do with these destitute women and children with tears in their eyes.   They agreed that the women were doing their Christian duty to obey their husbands and did not fine them or find them guilty.   However, they could not send them home with no husbands, the only solution was to pack them across to Amsterdam. They reconnected in Amsterdam, but with the bad economy and no jobs they moved to Leyden, Holland where they lived for twelve years.  Some of the older members die in Holland, and others moved back to England of those years.  The remaining Pilgrims took notice that their children were becoming assimilated into the culture of Holland and had learned to speak a language that was foreign to them.  The twelve year truce between the Spanish was to end in 1621, and they feared that Holland would become a bloodbath.  They made plans to move to the New World.  Not to become missionaries or to find riches, but to save their families and way of life.
Follow the next post as they board the Mayflower.

The origins of Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

Pocahontas and Squanto

So what do we really know about the history of Thanksgiving?  Is it like the Norman Rockwell painting?  Or are the images above more of a correct story?  Follow along in the next few blogs as I tell the story of my ancestors who came across on "The Mayflower" and created the progeny from which I am issue.

Christianity as we all know follows the book of the Bible.  Similarly, the story of Thanksgiving, the history of the Pilgrims and their genealogy follows just one book, "Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation", a journal written by William Bradford, a passenger of The Mayflower and later the Governor of the settlement at Plymouth. He began writing his book in 1630 and completed it just before his death in 1657.  The book disappeared during the British evacuation of Boston in 1776.  Later to be found in 1856 in the library of the Anglican Bishop of Oxford.  William Bradford was born in the farming community of Yorkshire, England in 1588.  As a teenager he joined a cult of extreme Protestants known as Separatists.  They believed in a purity of Christianity and in so doing had to separate themselves from the Anglican Church of England.  The term Puritans has been around since the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in about 1565.  The Puritans believed that Queen Elizabeth did not go far enough to abolish the rituals of the Roman Catholics when she established the Protestant Church of England. When King James I began his reign in England he had the Bible translated from Latin to English.  This is where the King James version of the Bible got its name.  King James I called Puritans, "a pest, a fanatic, and a hypocrite, worse than a cattle thief."

The Puritans mainly read and studied the letters of Saint Paul who as we know was also in a shipwreck back in 60 AD on the island of Malta. They also read the Acts of the Apostles, the book of Genesis and Psalms.  These stories of the early church they believed were the most authentic form of Christianity.  They were also Calvinists.  As they also followed the beliefs of the French Reformer John Calvin.  Today the belief that Calvin bestowed that the human race should be divided in two, those selected to go to heaven and those who will go to hell is still very strong. The Puritans argued that the Church of England was beyond redemption because of its Roman Catholic past.  They wished to create a membership that was pure from the influence of Rome.  In 1593, Parliament and Queen Elizabeth made Separatism a crime.  And thus our journey begins.

Saving The Planet

     One Turtle at a time!

We have all been curious children in our lives so I have to understand, right?

 

This morning I stepped out of the elevator of my apartment building on the garage floor to find an aquarium smelling up the place.  Yes, right there on the ground directly in front of the elevator doors was this aquarium with about four inches of water.  Upon further investigation I could see two San Antonio River turtles laying in the bottom of this horrible smelling water.  I got a cardboard box and some plastic bags for my hands.  When I returned I was picking the two turtles up one at a time, rescuing them from this watery grave, and placing them in the box.

     I quickly jumped in my truck with turtles in tow, and transported them back to the river.  As I drove and heard the turtles scratching at the sides of the box I was getting angry.   Then I thought to myself, I was a child once, and kids will be kids.  However, I then thought of the weight of this aquarium grave where the turtles were left to slowly die.  No child brought this aquarium and placed it on the ground.  Some parent in my building could not stand the smell in their apartment any longer and they thought they were teaching their child a lesson. 

Some lesson I would say!  Not only did the child not learn to keep the aquarium clean to care for another living creature.  The parent failed again by not only not returning these creatures back to freedom, but by example that these lives aren't worth anything and can just be cast out to die.

The long and the short of this story.  I got to the river, placed the box containing the two San Antonio river turtles on its side, and patiently waited for them to run to freedom like only a turtle can do.  They are both now happily eating watercress and catching minnows once more in the city of "The River Walk."

So the moral to this story is why are we so worried about saving the planet if we aren't teaching the next generation that every life is precious?

The Soup Line

     The furnace has been on the past two nights pumping out it's warm air, taking the chill off from a San Antonio Texas night that can barely be called cold by any measure.  Yesterday I didn't get a chance to blog as due to the recession I was standing in the modern day soup line.  This was the second such occurrence for me to experience poverty in my life.  The last was just after the horrible mud slide that hit my parents home in January of 2005.  I want to start off by saying that the Great State of Texas has California beat in the manner it takes care of its people.  My experience back in 2005 was horrible.  I was homeless, while my mother and I stayed with a friend as I worked to restore her home.  I was dirty from 12 hour days of digging the mud out of my parents home, and I was sick with what they were calling at the time, Valley Fever.  I had to be subjected to some Ventura County worker who thought it was their business to be the moral majority.

Texas on the other hand has been great.  Last Saturday when I received notice in the mail from the California EDD that they were not sending me my unemployment check because I failed to mark a box, I wondered what I was going to do.  It had been three weeks already without a check and my pantry was bare.  I thought about going to a food bank or the local Church, and then went online.  Texas had an online intake form which was easy to complete.  Then on Tuesday the state called me and explained to me that I would have a telephone interview on Thursday in the morning.  Sure enough, Thursday morning I received a phone call from my case worker Angela.  She went over my application for food stamps and I explained that I needed temporary help as California Employment Development Department (EDD) was not sending my unemployment insurance checks.
She gave me the address of the nearest office to pickup an EBT card, a type of ATM card that is linked to a government bank account.  She was even nice enough to ask me if I had transportation before ending the phone call.  Wow!  They were treating me like family, not some unwanted trash the way I was made to feel in California.

When I arrived at the office I would say it was like most government offices such as the DMV or IRS.  I put my name on a waiting list and had a seat with the other citizens who needed some assistance.  The sample of people waiting alongside me I would say was very representative of the population of San Antonio.  The majority were Mexican-American, then White, followed by African-American men and women.  I saw only one Middle Eastern woman and one man.  There were no Asians.  The active Sociologist in me wanting to make a statistical sample.  I waited my turn for a couple hours; a major difference between this and standing in a soup line back in the 1930's was that I could be looking for work on the internet using my cell phone and I saw others possibly doing the same, or checking email and one lady even had a laptop computer.

It was my turn, I was called to the window.  We exchanged some pleasantries and the nice woman behind the counter gave me an EBT card.  I signed a document and was on my way out the door.  I drove to the nearest grocery store and purchased a couple cans of lentil soup and a pound of ground hamburger, a yam, some fresh broccoli and a spring mix of salad greens. 
Thank goodness that we have unemployment insurance!

I am happy that Texas is being so helpful, but at the same time I feel it is a shame because it isn't their fault.  I wouldn't be unemployed if it were not for USAA.  And I would not be in Texas if it were not for USAA.  Then that is probably California's fault since the economy in California has been horrible for years due in part to the housing bubble that finally burst.  The following photos is from the blog Ramona's Voices.  For other opinions on unemployment, check out her blog.

1918 Flu Pandemic

It has almost been a month since my last post.  I had wanted to create a post prior to Veterans day.  A chronicle of my ancestors who fought in the many wars.
Unfortunately, I came down with the flu this year so I have barely had the energy to research companies and send out resumes as my unemployment continues past three months now.  I took this down time to read and re-read the letters between my Grand Uncle Gordon Philip England (1901-1992) and his mother, my Great Grandmother Nettie Martha "Smith" England (1870-1963).  The letters revealed the era and the history of the time.  World War I was taking place and the Spanish Flu as it was called was about to kill 3% of the worlds population according to Wikipedia.
(Translation of a letter attached below. I have attempted to put in clarification where possible).  Gordon England was 15 years old at the time he wrote this letter.

Sunday February 13, 1916, Derby, VT. Oleans County.  Gordon wrote to his Aunt Mary Chastina Smith. (1859-1942).

"Dear Aunt Mary,  How are you and all the rest.  I am feeling about as usual.  Have you heard from Harvey lately?" (Harvey William Smith).  "I wanted to go to a masquerade Friday night, but did not have anything to wear.  (Costume I mean). Bailey and Cecil went.  Esther was Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.
My grade gave a prom and candy sale lately.  We took in $8.65.  I brought it home in that nice little coin purse you sent me.  Our class pins are to cost $2.25 a piece.  I am getting on well at school except in Arith and Writing.  I got a higer average on my report card than anyone else in ninth grade for one month.

The Diea basket ball first team won from Newport team 19 to 17.  Twenty have enlisted lately at Beebe." (He is speaking about the war). "Els boy took Ruth's strap and hid it in the barber's shop and Harold Elder and a bean boy found it and cut it up.  Tell Aunt Sarah (Sarah Maria Smith) I am coming to see her next summer.  Mrs Kelley gives us a test in Arith every week.  Has Willie got a gun and is there any hunting around there?" (Mary's grandfather was William Ewins.  I don't know if Gordon is referring to him as Willie or Mary's brother Harvey William Smith).  "There is nothing here except a few English sparrows.  I shoot a few once in a while to keep my hand in.   What is Teddy doing now?" (Unknown who he is referring).   "Wasn't it mean of the German's to destroy our Parliament Buildings?"  (I had to research this statement. What I found was on February 3, 1916, just ten days before Gordon wrote this letter.  Right in the middle of World War I, the Center Block of the Parliament Buildings caught fire and the whole complex burned to the ground, with the exception of the library which is the large domed building that still stands today in the rear of the current Parliament building.  It is told that several people burned to death.  People cried sabotage, and blamed the Germans of Ottawa, and crowds went looking for German stores to trash and burn.  German Canadian's quickly responded.  The large concentration of Germans in Berlin, Ontario, demonstrated their Canadian patriotism by changing the name from Berlin to Kitchener, Britain's famous Minister of War.)  "I wish you would send me some Montreal Papers.  I haven't seen any for a long time.  I still firmly believe that U.S. will fight against Britain.  I may send you a few posts to show you my side of the question.
With Love,
Aurevoir Gordon.
P.S. Be sure to write to me soon."
With Gordon Philip England being a famous Canadian Author and the historical significance of this letter, I am sure that if Mary Ginn took it to the Antique Road Show it would be worth "Millions"... 
Gordon also included a very nice poem:

"A MOTHER'S PROUD OFFERING"
Take our sons, O England,
They were born and bred for thee;
Take our sons, O England,
And save our Liberty.
To you we yield them proudly
As oft mothers did of yore;
Dear God, please protect them
And guide them through the war.

"Tis for a righteous cause
Our boys have gone o'er the sea
To fight this tyrant Hitler
And nobly die for thee.
We know they'll do their duty
Whene'er it on them fall
To fight for their dear country
And give their might and all.

Although we sadly miss them
And our hearts are bleeding sore
We give them to you proudly
How can we give you more?
Take our sons, O England;

Gordon Philip England

The letters spoke of the normal day to day as well.  What vegetables grew in the garden and who was getting married.  Many letters also spoke about my Great Grandfather Reverend Clarence Philo England and his poor health.  He had gone through a recovery for some type of surgery that I did not discover in the letters and was ill for many years until his death much later in 1953.   I also found tucked away in Gordon England's letters some newspaper clippings.  As you can see above at fifteen he was very interested in reading newspapers,  and he later went on to write stories to be published in them as well.  Two of the clippings talk about how sick everyone was.  They are from the Stanstead Journal one is dated Feb 26, 1920 and the other Dec. 23, 1920.  They are title Barnston.   And lists The family of Rev. C.P. England, consisting of his three sons, is suffering from influenza, with Dr. McCurdy in attendance.  Fortunately, for me and my family, my grandmother Ruth Augusta England had already moved out, completed college and had just got married to William Rider Howie August 19, 1916 and moved to Beebe Vermont.  Otherwise Helen, Clarence and Arthur may have never been born.
So, the above blog was inspired by me catching the flu, and is dedicated to, according to Wikipedia statistics, the  50 Million people around the world who died from the Spanish flu and the other 500 Million who were infected by the Spanish Flu during that time.  To read more on the Spanish flu or the fire click a blue link above.

I am very interested in this as I am checking into DNA research and genealogy.  Helen, Clarence and Arthur and their descendants probably have some DNA marker for resistance to this type of influenza.  Where-as my parents were born after the Spanish flu and may not have past down any marker.  This is all new and very interesting to me.
There are many letters that Gordon saved as well as some photos.  So my hope is to add them slowly over time to this blog.  I have also heard that there are some diaries on my Grandmothers, Nettie England that our in circulation within the family.  I hope if they one day come my way, that I will be able to forever capture them to my blog for all to enjoy.  So here is the Million dollar letter...

California Pioneer Harmon Higgins

L-R: James Alexander Howie, Clara Elnett Hand-Howie standing next to the post.
Flora L. Howie-Mayo sitting with Marjorie Mayo-Waage.
Sitting in the chair, Albert Gardner Parker. Standing on right post:
Helen Desdemonia Rider-Howie-Parker.
Sitting on step: Thomas Clay Mayo, holding Mabel Mayo-Somfelde.

I am going to tell a story now about cousin Annie Howie.  She was born April 18, 1884 in Potton, MISSISQUOI, Quebec, Canada, an area just north-east of Lake Champlain.  She was the second child of James Alexander Howie c. 1855 and his wife, Clara Elnett Hand.  The family were farmers in the Stanstead area of Canada for many years.  Her father James was the older brother to my Great Grand-father William George Howie, c. 1856.   At this point I am not currently aware of the how or the when, however Annie and her younger sister Flora Howie moved out west to Southern California.  Here is where my story begins.  Flora first appears in the 1900 U.S. Census taken in Compton California.  A young girl of 15 years.  Flora next appears November 16, 1909 on a marriage certificate to Thomas Clay Mayo.  Thomas was born to a farming family in Compton on August 27, 1885.  They had two children together, daughters Marjorie and Mabel in 1910 and 1911.  Thomas Mayo registers for the draft for WWI in 1917 at the age of 32.  In the 1920 Census data for his listed occupation, it has now changed from farmer to Ranch operator and we now see also appearing on the same census, Annie & Flora's younger brother Robert Maitland Howie, c. 1890, his wife Naomie Gaines-Howie and their newly first born son Robert Howie, c. 1920 living on the adjacent ranch.  Above is a four generation family photo above taken on the Mayo family farm in Compton in 1916 with James and Clara Howie in the back and Marjorie and Mabel in the front and Helen D. (Rider) (Howie) Parker standing besides her husband Albert Parker while he sits on the porch in a rocking chair.

Henry J. Mayo, the father of Thomas Clay, was born c. 1849, in Missouri. He was listed as a laborer in Lea's Summit Missouri, at the age of 21 on the 1870 U.S. Census. The tracks for the Missouri Pacific Railroad were being laid at the time, and the Lees Summit R.R.station was being built.  He may have even labored to get the railroad through Jackson County.  This was probably his ticket to California. As I next found him

registered to vote in August 1875, in Compton, California.
The date of marriage to his wife Augusta Ann Higgins is not yet known by me.  Augusta was born c. 1858 in the Oregon Territory.  She became a school teacher in Compton, and leaves her legacy today, as there is still a school named in her honor, and a street called Mayo.

Augusta Ann Higgins

Augustas' father was Harmon Higgins a farmer from Illinois, and her mother Melinda Durbin was from Missouri where her parents Daniel and Thersa (Fugate) Durbin were also farmers.


Harmon and Melinda Higgins were California Pioneer's.  Making their way west by wagon pulled by oxen along the Oregon Trail.  There are many books published, so I will let two pages of a historical biography on the Higgins journey tell their story. Let me begin with a photo of Harmon Higgins.

Harmon Higgins

 

I need to correct just a little bit of time line from the wonderfully written story above.  As the writer pointed out the 7 month journey on the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon, the final journey to California was no easier.  We find the Higgins family in the 1850 U.S. Census, farmers in Napa, California.  Then ten years later we find the Higgins family in the 1860 Census, farmers in Visalia, Tulare, California.  Then 1870 & 1880 census finally reaching southern California to Compton and then on to Wilmington California.

From the story we can surmise they were survivors, and successful.  There are many books out there written about the Oregon trail.  Many of the stories mention Harmon Higgins, as he quickly became the Captain of the wagon team.  His young bride at the time Melinda must have been a strong woman.  Here is a photograph of Melinda in the early years.

Melinda Higgins, Mary E. Higgins, Harmon Higgins c. 1857

Malinda Frances Durbin-Higgins

It appears to me to be 1887 probably the funeral for Harmon Higgins

Probably sitting in the parlor of the home pictured below.

1st row L-R: James Polk Higgins (oldest son), Malinda F. Higgins (holding the photo of Harmon), Cassandra M. Higgins-Holman (Youngest). 2nd row: Dallas A. Higgins (2nd oldest), Josiah, (holds Harmon Jrs pix, Harmon Jr. Lived in Tucson AZ}, Mary E. Higgins, Augusta Ann Higgins-Mayo,  Stonewall Jackson "Wally" Higgins.

Back Row: Benjamin "Buck" Higgins,  William Riley "Beadie" Higgins.

The Harmon Higgins Home c. 1890's

Photo from the South Bay Photograph collection CSU Dominguez Hills. 

Harmon Higgins had a sugar beet farm, and was the President of the Dairy Association. They had the largest property in Compton. 

The Higgins farm was near Olive St and Wilmington Blvd. in Compton, California.

 On top porch (l-r): Mrs. William Riley Higgins (Nancy), with four of H.J. & Augusta Mayo children: 

Mabel Mayo, Harmon Jefferson "Jeff" Mayo, James Monroe Mayo, (Thomas is downstairs) and William Riley "Will" Mayo. 

On lower porch (l-r): Mrs. Joseph Higgins (I believe this is Enola Gay, wife of Josiah Daniel Higgins), Dallas A. Higgins, 

Benjamin Buchanan "Buck" Higgins, Thomas Clay Mayo, and his mother, Mrs. Augusta Mayo. 

In buggy (l-r): Stonewall Jackson"Wallie" Higgins, Mr. Knowland (cousin from Missouri).In front of house window (l-r): unknown male in hat. Harmon Higgins Jr., Mrs. Harmon Higgins Jr. (Lucy C. Chamberlin).

Here is the genealogy, and our family connection to our not so distant cousins:

Cold Cream for Preservation

I just recently drove to Albuquerque New Mexico to celebrate my mother turning eighty years old.  It was great to see the family and old friends and catch up on new family additions and reminisce about the good ole days.  I drove around the city passing by my old elementary schools, and middle schools and I was even as adventurous to hike to the Sandia Man Caves that I remembered so fondly  from my childhood.  Like most cities, Albuquerque is no different with the passing of time.  Those brand new neighborhoods of yesterday have fallen into decay and crime as white flight and capitalism have the newer generations sprawling outside the city to new enclaves.  I drove down Texas Street where I lived seven youthful years.  The city plunge, once an Olympic size pool where I swam as a young boy with my friends was gone; the entire block was covered up by something new.  As I drove closer to my old house I could tell the neighborhood was not the same.  Paint was peeling, roof shingles were falling off or missing and some homes now have bars over the windows.  I think there was only one green lawn left on the entire block.  After all those good years where my father and I kept up with the neighbors to have the best looking front yards with manicured landscaping, had now been replaced with families that are too busy to enjoy their home.  I was positive that when I got to my old house it would still look as beautiful as I once remembered.  My hopes sank as I journeyed ever closer.  I could see that there were no trees; I mean none.  Not in the back yard, the side yard, the next door neighbors yard or the front yard.  The huge 100 year old cottonwood tree that I had climbed as a boy and appeared on the channel 4 TV show, Eyewitness News had been cut down.  The entire front yards of the homes had been covered up by concrete with cars parked everywhere.  Gone were the juniper bushes that framed the front entrance to my home.  Gone was the gas lamp that kept watch over our landscaped front yard day and night.  Gone were the tulips and the crocus that burst from the snow covered ground ever spring.  The current generation was showing to me that they cared little about preservation of my past.  I have only my memories and some 1970's photos to keep and preserve.


As I work on recording the genealogy of my family and travel back in time 200, 300, or even 400 years in one night, I realize that nothing lasts forever.  If you put cold cream on your face at night, or sun screen during the day.  Eat organic food, exercise or get plenty of rest.  What does that get us? A better sex life one could hope.  Preservation of our family history collection needs more work than just some cold cream.  As we get older we want to pass on our memory to the future generations, but again, nothing lasts forever. In my globe trotting I have seen some horrible preservation of ancestors in Peru that should really be classified as ruins, to some truly ornate mausoleums in Europe which have been spared through many wars, that reach the status of shrine.  In my research of the Lecka's, Pritchard's, Watson's, Starnes' and Chandlers of Tennessee I have read many a story online where cemeteries have been moved or family plots even covered up by a Walmart as there are no kin left who remember.  From the family grave plot on the forty acre farm to the wooden crosses left to mark the graves of our fallen soldiers, they have all gone back to the earth as nature intended. 

  We as the human race are driven to remember our ancestors and preserve the past. From the pyramids of Egypt, to sixteenth-century Mona Lisa in France, to the Indian petroglyphs in Albuquerque; we want to be remembered.  So how do we accomplish this task?  I find that churches have done the best job, as they tend to stand the tests of time.  Some of the best records I have found for source documentation have been kept by churches in Canada, England and Scotland.


So I have taken on the daunting task as a historian and genealogist.  Burden with newspaper clippings and manuscripts of once famous authors in my family.  Photos fading, and newspapers decaying from their own acids.  I asked librarians and museum staff what do I do?  I turned to the internet where I found two interesting articles on the preservation of old documents and here are the links.
The Library of Congress.
Ancestry.com


So I will see what I can do about getting some of these keepsakes preserved for future generations so they in turn can do the same, and so on, and so on.  But for now, I am also still going to trust a Church.  See, I am addicted to Ancestry.com for help in my genealogical research and have a feeling that what ever names, dates or photos that I store to their website using today's current technology will be left to future generations to figure out how they want to preserve our past.

"The United Empire Loyalist"

 

I have mentioned before that I am a descendant from Canada and hold many kinship's still with Canada, and yet I still do not know much about Canada.  As I do my research I am perplexed with location of Lower Canada and West Canada and Upper Canada.  I have probably missed many opportunity to find my ancestors because some source document stated that the family was from West Canada.  West Canada is truly "Ontario" today which by the way is still the most populated province in Canada.  So yes, I probably discounted someone along the way thinking that the family had moved to the Pacific "West" side of the country, when really they had just migrated north with the Loyalist migration.

In my post of Thursday, October 14th, "The American Revolution" I described the many parties such as Patriots and Loyalists and how we have ancestors on both sides.   Many settlers to Canada in the 18th and early 19th centuries were Loyalists who had left America and the thirteen colonies prior to the American Rebellion.  While others were British Soldiers who were given land grants in Canada by the British forces, because at that time West Canada was part of British North America.

Before I go on I want to give credit to Sherry Koshney Downward for all her efforts to research and document the Loyalists.  Another online source I used was by author Wilbur H. Sherbert vol. VII.

As I pour through family letters passed down to me, and thumb through our family cookbook an unknown term catches my eye.  Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch, "Pennsylvania Dutch" associated with the surname Ruiter.    

What identifies one as Pennsylvania Dutch I asked myself?  So I went to Wikipedia and here is what they had to say: "Recently due to loss of the Pennsylvania German language (among others) in many communities, as well as to intermarriage and increased mobility especially in the more secular communities, Pennsylvania Dutch ethnic  consciousness is often very low, especially among younger Pennsylvania Dutch. Many young Pennsylvania Dutch consider themselves only descendants of Pennsylvania Dutch and it is not part of their personal identity. Additionally, as a result of two wars against German enemies, many older Pennsylvania Dutch have deemphasized any Germanic traditions or influences they inherited from prior generations. However, many of those raised in the immediate area, or those who have close ties there, still hold those ties close even if their parents do not emphasize those ties. In some communities the Pennsylvania Dutch name is reserved only for members of the Amish and traditional Mennonite communities."

Now just to remind you of my prior post "What is it to be an Immigrant." I went on a rant about our choice to pick an ethnic identity.  No where did I see where I could have made the choice for Pennsylvania Dutch.  This isn't anything new by the way.  I have looked at all the census data going back to the first census in 1790.  Back then it was just a matter of Black or white.  Well this isn't a posting about the census, let me get back on track, on with the story.

So in my current language, Pennsylvania Dutch was just another way of saying "Those People" someone who was different and spoke funny.  Wow!  All the above copy just because Great Great Grandfather Philo England c. 1833 married Margurite Eunice Ruiter c. 1832 and my 2nd great Grand Uncle George England c. 1828, brother of Philo,  son of Fredrick England c. 1789 married her sister Elizabeth Ellen Ruiter c. 1828.

If you are curious as to what happens next, click on Read More...
 On the left is a photo of Philip Lampman Ruiter c. 1804 - photo courtesy Pam Wood Waugh.  It is written that he was the first white child born in Cowansville an area just west of Lake Brome between Beebe Vermont and Montreal Canada.  In the book, "The History of Eastern Townships" chapter II.  It begins with a geographical description of Missisquoi and the land grant petition for Dunham which was issued April 28, 1795.  The following historical names follow.  The first is Thomas Dunn, as this hamlet is the land of Dunn's, "Dunham!"  Then we have his associates where I find my ancestors highlighted below. "Joseph Buck, John Heilker, Jacob Heliker, George Saxe, Mathew Hall, William Ferrand, David Ferrand, Joshua Chambers, Amos Woodard, David Reychart, John Clark, Thomas Best, Daniel Mills, Jeremiah Reychart, Daniel Trevor, Alexander McDougall, Thomas Pell, Andrew Ten Eyck, Henry Ten Eyck, Archibald Henderson, Henry Hall, Elisha Dickinson, Jacob Best Senior, George Waymore, Abraham Lampman, John Mills, Stephen Jenner, Jacob Best junior, Adam Deal, Frederick Streit, Samuel Mills, Philip Ruiter, and Jacob Ruiter.  It is said that Dunham was the first township erected in Lower Canada.
Philip Ruiter c. 1766 and his brother Jacob Ruiter c. 1772 were both land agents for Thomas Dunn, and in 1794 Mr. Dunn gave Jacob a land grant.  These two brothers were born in Hoosick, Rensselaer, New York.  They were Loyalists and left New York as they supported the Crown, and removed to Quebec.  They arrived with their families, and settled in Caldwell Manor (Clarenceville) before moving to Missiquoi Bay.  Do you like history? I hope you do as much as I.  "In the early French regime the area now known as Clarenceville was then called the Seigneurie de Foucault . After the Treaty of Paris signing in 1763, the lands in New France were transferred to British rule. In 1774 the area was leased to Col Henry Caldwell and the area became known as Caldwells’ Manor . and at a later date Allard's Manor It is only in 1822 that we find the area after government proclamation being called Saint Georges de Clarenceville . It must also be noted that once the religious element became involved in this area we find the Parish of Saint Thomas and the Parish of Saint George , segmenting the area of the Seigneurie de Foucault even further. "  If you want to read more on this subject, The above paragraph was written by: J C McCorkill.

During the summer of 1798, Jacob Ruiter left his family at Missisquoi Bay and went to claim his land granted to him by Thomas Dunn. He built a temporary shelter where we find today the seniors residence, Manoir Cowan, on Main Street. He went back to his family for the winter, returning the following spring with his wife Eunice Freeman Ruiter c. 1780, his first born son John c. 1778 and daughter Elizabeth c. 1800.  They settled on the south side of the Yamasaka River near what is today the bridge at South street.  Back then the area was covered by a thick forest, so during that summer, 26 year old Jacob built his home of logs.  In the early 1800's, Jacob built a flour mill and saw mill that was used by the people in the surrounding areas for several years. This place was known then as "Ruiter's Mill".  In 1805, Jacob named this new settlement, Nelsonville, it is told that this was in honor of the British Admiral Lord Nelson who died during the Battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).  At this time I cannot prove nor disprove this fact, however there was another founder in the area with the surname Nelson.   Then in 1811, Jacob gave a piece of land for the building of the first school and later he gave another lot for the Union Cemetery on Main St.  He and his wife had twelve children in this area. Their son, Philip Lampman Ruiter was born March 29, 1804 and as I mentioned above, he is probably the first white (as in skin color) child to be born in Cowansville. 
Do you have time to read more...?