Showing posts with label George Washington Howard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George Washington Howard. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

George Washington Howard (1833-1908) A Runaway Boy Who Never Went Back, Except Once

 Johann Gottfried Hauer (John Godfrey Howard) Family Line

George Washington Howard (1833-1908)
____________________

by Carolyn Ann Howard

George Washington Howard was born 25 Aug 1833 in Middlebury, New York. His mother, Joanna, then died, so his father, Elias, married Katy Vader. Elias, Katy, and their families went to church together at the Dale Freewill Baptist Church. After their marriage, they continued to have children.

George did not like his stepmother, Katy, though, and he put up with what he thought was maltreatment until the age of 14 before he had had enough. This is according to Dorothy Banister, a historian in New York. I would love to know how he successfully accomplished being a runaway, but he did, landing in Michigan.

George's first marriage was to someone perhaps with the name of Angie Pettis. Other people on Ancestry have her name as Angis Bettie, but since the historian at Middlebury used the name Angie Pettis, I will, too, until I know for sure otherwise. The historian stated that George left her, but we have no proof of this. She also said that an index available at the Michigan State Library has it that he deserted the army 11 Dec 1862. I don't have a muster in date for George, though, until 25 Mar 1863. At any rate, the historian said that George found out that Angie was ill, and he went to take care of her. She died 01 Mar 1863. Since this woman lives in no algorithms online whatsoever, it may be that it fell to George to take care of her estate, if any, after her passing.

When he reenlisted or listed in the Civil War, it was with the Michigan Cavalry, Co. K, 9th regiment. He was mustered in as a Quartermaster Sergeant. As part of this regiment, his first battle was The Battle of Buffington Island that took place in Ohio and also in West Virginia. This battle occurred 19 Jul 1863 and was a win for the Union.

According to my late father's records, on 27 Jan 1864, a piece of shell struck George in the left arm between the shoulder and elbow. The Wikipedia article on the 9th Michigan Calvary states that they were not involved in any skirmishes or battles at this time. Perhaps the accident happened during a training exercise.

George's next battle was Sherman's March to the Sea in the state of Georgia, 15 Nov through 21 Dec 1864.  Union General William Sherman's policy was a "scorched earth" one, where anything useful to the enemy was destroyed, including civilian sites, food stores, railways, telegraph lines, and even civilians themselves. Sherman's forces ravaged this area, destroyed Savannah, Georgia, and helped break the Confederacy. Click on photos to enlarge

Sherman's March to the Sea
by L. Stebbins
Public Domain via Wikipedia
In a copyrighted colorized version, you can see how much fire

George's last battle was 19 Mar - 21 Mar 1865. This was the Battle of Bentonville, fought in Johnston County, North Carolina. The Confederacy suffered severe losses, causing their General, Joseph Johnston, to surrender. This surrender is said to have been the end of the war, a victory for the Union.

George was promoted to Second Lieutenant 09 Jun 1865, just in time to be mustered out 21 Jul 1865 at Lexington, Kentucky.

George married his second wife, Helen Strickland, 01 Jan 1867. He apparently took it to his grave that he had been married before. When Helen later applied for George's Civil War widow's pension, she stated that she had been his only wife. I have documented nine children for the couple: Frank, Minnie, Harry, Angie, Mabel, Gertrude, Adeline, Rena, and Clara. I wonder if Angie was named in honor George's secret first wife. This Angie died at the age of 4. Kathleen Peirce believed there to be two more children, who also died young.

The couple eventually settled down in Coldwater, Michigan at 36 Orchard Street. The picture below is what I get when I put 36 Orchard Street into Google Maps. It's pretty rundown, but in it's day, it would've been nice. It's a little saltbox! George by trade was a carpenter. One of the ancestry trees I looked at for George says that helped to build the staircase for Michigan's capitol building in Lansing. This information, however, was unsourced, but he did live in Lansing for a time.

36 Orchard Street, Coldwater, MI
Courtesy Google Maps with proper attribution given

Look at this happy family! He looks like he was an absolute hoot, doesn't he? Some kind soul on Ancestry has them labeled. Front row L to R: George, May, Helen. Back row L to R: Minnie, Clara, Gertrude, and Rena.


I found in my late father's records a copy of a letter written by Kathleen Pierce in 1979. It stated that a relative - she suspected it was George's uncle, Simeon Howard - was asked by George's father, Elias, to contact another cousin by the name of Leisure Howard, to see if anyone knew where George was. Elias, it was stated in the letter, knew he was in his last days, and he wanted to see his son before he died. The question was answered and so Simeon went to Coldwater to ask George if he would return with him to Middlebury to see his father. George agreed. I don't know if he made it to Middlebury before Elias's death, but boy, what a time to be the fly on a wall if he did! Elias died 22 Jun 1888. He was somewhere around 81 at the time of his death.

This tribute is on George's Find-A-Grave site, and it was written by Kathleen Pierce:

George Washington Howard was born in Albany County, New York, on 25 August 1833, the son of Elias Howard. He came to Branch County when he was twenty-four years old, working at the carpenter trade until the outbreak of the Civil War. 

On 25 March 1863, he enlisted at Coldwater for three years as a Sergeant in Company K, Ninth Regiment of Michigan Cavalry Volunteers, commanded by Captain Gillem and under the command of Colonel Acker. He was mustered in 14 April 1863 as Quartermaster Sergeant, commissioned Second Lieutenant on 9 June 1865 and mustered out at Lexington, North Carolina, on 21 July 1865.

Mrs. Howard, the former Helen Strickland, was born 7 October 1841 at Utica, New York. In October 1842, she came to Michigan with her folks, Jonathan and Parnel Strickland, who first settled at Adrian, Michigan, where they resided until April 1844, after which they came to Coldwater, locating on a farm northeast of the city. This farm was an unbroken wilderness. It was here Miss Strickland grew to womanhood and on 1 January 1867, at Bronson, Michigan, was married to a young lieutenant of the Civil War, George W. Howard, who lived at Lansing, Michigan.

They lived in that city for about four years before returning to Coldwater Township. Later Mr. Howard, with the help of his children, farmed and continued with his carpenter work. In later years they moved to Coldwater, living on Orchard Street, until their deaths. Mr. Howard died 23 November 1908 and Mrs. Howard on 4 October 1924.

This blog posting would not be as informative without my late father's research and his acquisition of records that are now in my possession.

In memory of my parents, Rev. William "Lester" and Mary McLean Howard.

© 2022 by December Moonlight Publishing, LLC

Monday, June 17, 2019

Suicide and Divorce of Elias Howard II's 3 Wives

Johann Gottfried Hauer (John Godfrey Howard) Family Line

Elias Howard, II (1805 - after 1940)
____________________

by Carolyn Ann Howard
This post was updated 15 Aug 2021

I've been divorced twice, unfortunately, and my heart always goes out to anyone having to go through this ugliness. I've also dealt remotely with the suicide of a friend, and, as someone with an interest in the culinary world, I'll never get over the death of Anthony Bourdain

Playing off that introduction, it's interesting how the sons and daughters of John Godfrey Howard dispersed themselves throughout the United States, particularly Godfrey's son, Elias. This son was born 22 Oct 1805 in Grafton, New York. He moved, along with his parents, brothers and sisters, to Middlebury, New York in or around 1831.

The reason for the move from Grafton to Middlebury is unknown, but I'm working on the relationship between Godfrey Howard and the Brust and Vader families. The Vaders came to Middlebury in 1820 and may have talked the Howard family into later doing the same. In Grafton, the Howards were a part of Rensselaerwyck, working as tenant farmers. Things were about to get ugly there as the tenants were starting to revolt. Moving to Middlebury, now that I understand it better, was probably a really good idea.

Once the family arrived to Middlebury, Elias was firstly married to Joann or Johanna. They had 2 children, Joanna and George Washington Howard. After the birth of these two children, poor Joanna died. We know nothing more of Joanna or her daughter, Joanna.

Elias was secondly married to Katy Vader. After this marriage, George Washington Howard, Elias's son with Joanna, ran away from home, never to return. It was said that he didn't get along with his stepmother. I'm amazed how this young man, at the age of 14, successfully ran away from home in New York and went all the way to Michigan, battled in the Civil War, took a wife and had a family!

Elias and Katy had 12 children that I can tell at this point in my research. One of those children was named after his father, Elias, and this son is the subject of our story today. 

According to papers from The Middlebury Historical Society of old-timer memories, Elias II died a lonely old man who had no children. But that's the end of the story. Here's the beginning:

Elias II was born sometime in the 1850s, that prosperous decade prior to The Civil War. In the 1860 census, he was living with his parents, brothers and sisters. He was 9 years old, according to the census enumerator.

In the 1870 census, Elias II was 20. All his grown brothers and sisters were out of the parent's home. Only the three youngest were there, all under the age of 17. Elias, interestingly, was living with his brother Simeon. He was still single and listed as a farm laborer. This was in Middlebury, New York.

1880. Mind blown. Elias II was living in Hampton, Michigan, in Bay County. This is not necessarily the mind-blowing part, because his sister Polly was also there with her husband as was his brother, Leonard, and another sister, Elvira, with her husband. What is mind-blowing is that he was living in a Hampton boarding house with a dozen others, with an occupation of laborer. He listed his parents as both being born in Vermont. It feels like Elias should know better than that. His parents were both born in New York. Was he intentionally being flippant? Did he really just not know?

10 Jul 1881. Elias married a servant girl, Mina Woods. Cannot for the life of me find out much about this woman, Mina, which might be short for Wilhelmina. Her parents were born in England, according to the 1880 census. Mina was born in Michigan. In the 1880 census, she was 19 and living as a servant in the home of Albert Schuler. We know from the marriage certificate that Elias was still living in Hampton. In the 1880 census, Mina was in Merritt, Michigan. Both Hampton and Merritt were in Bay County.

Elias II and Mina were married under 5 years, as Elias II married his second wife 25 Mar 1886. We do have documentation of this first marriage with Mina Woods but no divorce record. It was easy to divorce, though, just move on. A couple didn't even have to go through the courts. Just start over. Easy. Although to start over might mean a move to a different town where no one knew who you were.

Elias denied this marriage on future census records.

It was disgraceful for a woman to be divorced at this time in American history. So if a person did get a divorce, legal or not, they usually claimed themselves as either widowed or unmarried. Since a woman's status depended on her being married, widow was the way to go. But good for Mina, though. She owned her divorce. In the 1900 census, she declared herself divorced. She at that time lived with the Charles Irving family as their servant. She no longer lived in Merritt but in Elias II's town of Hampton. On the census record, she stated that she had no children and had never been pregnant. I was unable to unearth any further information on Mina at this time.

25 Mar 1886. Elias II married his second wife, Ella May Bennett. They had a least one daughter, Frances G., who was born in 1888. In 1900, Elias was living with his brother Simeon... again.  In the 1910 census, nothing on Frances. 1920, Frances was married to Otto Bauss, a German immigrant. They lived in Kansas City, Missouri. It feels that someone else must have reared her or perhaps she ran away. Can't find any census records for her mother, Ella, but on her mother's second marriage certificate, Frances is not listed as her daughter.

Another possibility for a son, according to my father's records, was Elias III. No records found.

One last possibility for a child is that of a son, Frank M. Frank is listed with Elias and Emma on the 1894 census. That's the only record I have for Frank. And where is Frances? If Frank is 7 in the 1894 census, that makes him born the same year as Frances, 1888. Is Frank and Frances the same person? Were they twins?

11 Feb 1897. Back in New York, Elias II's mother, Katy Vader, died. According to her obituary, Elias II was the only living child not to be at her funeral.

23 Jun 1900. Elias II was again living with his brother Simeon as a day laborer. No wife. No children. Just Elias. By himself. This census record shows both parents correctly as having been born in New York. He was listed as married, which is true, but not for much longer. He was no longer living in Bay County, Michigan, but back in Middlebury, New York.

22 Aug 1900. Elias is granted a divorce from Ella. The reason? Desertion. She did not dispute it.

Ella was most likely a force to be reckoned with. She was on her own at the age of 14, working as a seamstress. After she left Elias, she worked as a clerk in a department store, The Boston Store. In the city directories, she claimed herself a widow of Elias. Six years later, she married a doctor.

06 Apr 1910. Elias was married the third time to Addie Belle Peck. They were married in Middlebury, for Elias would never leave his original hometown again.

1910. Elias II was living with his 3rd wife Addie Belle. Her father also lived with them, William Peck. Elias II stated his occupation was that of farmer. His father-in-law was listed as a carpenter.

1920. Elias II was still living with just Addie Belle, as his father-in-law died in 1911. He continued to be listed as a farmer. He would be all alone once more in just about a year for Addie Belle killed herself in 1921.

1930. Elias is 72 and living alone. His occupation was none. His father was listed as being born in New Jersey and his mother as being born in Pennsylvania, even though, again, they were both born in New York.

I do not know when Elias II died. I couldn't find him in the 1940 census on Ancestry. I did find him, though, using FamilySearch.org. He was living at the Wyoming County Home, which would be equivalent to our modern day nursing home, except conditions may or may not have been very good. According to that census record, he had been there at least 5 years.

We cannot access the 1950 census records quite yet - almost there! If Elias's name is listed there, he would be nearly 100 years old.


© 2022 by December Moonlight Publishing, LLC