When I Was Young

Me in my crib

Here is another post following Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun prompts, When I Was Young.

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:

1)  Geneablogger Alona Tester has devised a new meme called the "When I Was Young" genea-meme on her blog, LoneTester HQ.

2)  Since the genea-meme is 25 questions, let's do the last 10 this time.  This week, answer questions 16 to 25.

3)  Share your answers on your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook post or a Google+ post.

Probably impatiently waiting the
requisite 30 minutes after eating before
we could go back in the water! 

 What was entertainment when you were young?

Well, you can look up what the music was like and what was popular on television so I will focus on what I did for fun. In the winter, it was skiing, sledding, snowmobiling, building snow forts, and in the summer the big activity was definitely riding bikes, swimming, playing with the neighbors, games like tag and hide and seek. Of course when we played school, I was always the teacher. 

Do you remember what it was it like when your family got a new fangled invention? (ie. telephone, TV, VCR, microwave, computer?)

I don't remember when we got a private phone line, but I do remember when I was really young, we had a party-line. Basically, multiple households shared the same phone line and every house had its own ringtone (one long, two short, etc.). My parents had a TV when I was born and I didn't have the other items until I was an adult. The microwave came into our home first (about 1985), the VCR about 1987, and our first home computer in 1991. 

Did your family have a TV? Was it b&w or colour? And how many channels did you get?

Our TV was black and white until about the time I was in junior high. We got 2-4 channels depending on the weather and position of the antenna. The networks we got were NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS. If you asked anyone at the time, they would have surely asked why anyone would need more channels. 

Did your family move house when you were young? Do you remember it?

In front of my grandparents' house

We moved once when I was very young - too young to remember it. My early life was on the family farm with my grandparents next door and then the rest of my childhood was spent in one house the "Steam Mill" section of Bethel on Route 2. 

Was your family involved in any natural disasters happening during your childhood (ie.fire, flood, cyclone, earthquake etc)

I'm sure there were spring floods and winter blizzards but living in Maine comes with the benefit of not having many tornados or earthquakes. Thankfully, the only fire I remember was when the former Red Lantern ice cream shop next door to us burned. This sounds more dangerous to us than it was as the building was not very close to my house. I do remember the firefighters waking us up just in case it started to get windy and put us in danger. I remember the winter when I was young and we got so much snow that there was no place to put it so my Dad got a bucket loader to make room in the driveway for the cars. The banks were so high that we could climb them and slide right in our own driveway. 

Is there any particular music that when you hear it, sparks a childhood memory?

To this day, I dislike Country music and blame it on the fact that every Saturday morning, my mom would load up the stereo with multiple albums as the soundtrack for hours of cleaning. Good memories mostly come from old songs that my Grammie Carter would sing to me - Billy Boy, A Tisket A Tasket, and How Much Is That Doggie In The Window come to mind. 

What is something that an older family member taught you to do?

With my cousin, Nancy

I'm sure there are many things and of course almost everything came from my 

parents.  My mom taught me to knit and crochet. My dad taught me to drive a snowmobile and shoot a gun. I remember my Uncle David introducing the entire family to cross-country skiing when he worked in Jackson, N.H. My Grampa Carter and Uncle Pete taught me how to ride horses. 

What brands that you remember from when you were a kid?

I had this carriage forever. 

Koolaid, Zarex, and Tang are a few popular drinks. I've never been very brand conscious so this one is hard for me. Classic toys like the Radio Flyer wagon, Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs, Flying Saucer (sleds), and Barbies were also a big part of my childhood. One of my absolute favorite toys was a jumping horse, but I have no idea what the brand was - I'm sure I wore out the springs. I remember being scolded for riding it so aggressively that it was coming off the ground. 

Did you collect anything? (ie. rocks, shells, stickers … etc.)

When I was about ten, my grandmother gave me a spoon collection that belonged to my Great-aunt Frances. I have added to it so much that I can't even display them all. 

Share your favourite childhood memory.

My birthday party - with the Olson girls
I'm the one leaning back

I couldn't possibly pick just one. I have so many great memories of growing up. Many involve my being able to do something for myself for the first time. Many involve great friends and neighbors and the best involve my family - grandparents, cousins, parents, and sister. If you were part of my childhood, please leave a memory in the comments. I'm sure it will be among my favorites! 

52 Ancestors - #25 Religion in School & Spanking Other People's Kids

This is a reposting of something I wrote in 2012. 
William Yates was the immigrant ancestor of the Yates line in my ancestry. He moved to Maine from Portsmouth, NH. He is credited with founding the town of Greenwood in 1802. He settled on Patch Mountain where he built a rudimentary log cabin until a frame house was completed a few years later. He was a farmer and a Methodist preacher. Some sources have William coming to the U.S. from Scotland and others from England. His first residence in Maine was New Gloucester where he met and married his wife Martha Morgan. William and Martha had 13 children - 9 sons and 4 daughters. 

Picture of Patch Mountain 

Things were very different in those days. There were clear rules of right and wrong and none of this "kids will be kids" mentality or "my perfect little Johnny wouldn't do that." 

A biographical sketch of his grandson, Octavius K. Yates in the Biographical Review gives the following story as an example of the character of William Yates. One time while he was preaching in the local school house, some boys put burrs beneath his saddle causing his normally calm horse to rear and throw him to the ground. The horse ran home, leaving William to walk. The next Sunday he delivered his usual sermon. He had figured out the identity of the culprits, kept them after the service, and "administered a sound flogging; then took them into the meeting-house and prayed for them." 

William Yates & Martha Morgan
Moses Yates & Martha Whittle
Gilbert Yates & Laura Emmons
Estes Yates & Eva Hayes
Linona Yates & Clayton Blake

Sources: 

http://www.megalink.net/~caronfam/mosesdunham/registers/greenwood_history_1906.pdf
Biogaphical Review: This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Franklin and Oxford Counties Maine - Boston 1897. Accessed on ancestry.com March 7, 2012. 

Blog Caroling

Footnote Maven is a genealogy blogger I discovered last spring. While following her blog and her Facebook posts, I have become a huge fan of her indomitable spirit, sharp wit, and wicked sense of humor. This has been a very tough year for her dealing with complications from knee replacement surgery and I wish her a Merry Christmas and a healthy 2013. One of her traditions is blog caroling. Writers post the lyrics to their favorite Christmas carol and she links them to her site. It's a fun way to share some holiday spirit and discover some wonderful genealogy bloggers.

I chose to share "Away in a Manger" in part because it's one of my favorites but it also links to my family history. Jingle Bells and Away in a Manger were the first two Christmas songs I remember learning as a child. Growing up in Bethel, Maine, a highlight of the holiday season was the living nativity put on each year -  featuring a real family with a newborn, real animals, costumed shepherds, angels, and a choir singing Away in a Manger (and other carols). It was impressive and it's something I miss. If you're in the Bethel area on December 23rd, you should check it out.

Away in a manger

No crib for His bed

The little Lord Jesus 

Lay down His sweet head

The stars in the sky

Look down where He lay

The little Lord Jesus

Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing

The poor Baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus

Look down from the sky

And stay by my side 

'Til morning is nigh

Be near me, Lord Jesus

I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever

And love me, I pray

Bless all the dear children

In Thy tender care

And take us to heaven

To live with Thee there

\

Too Many Mouths to Feed

Although New England was generally a very prosperous place, not all immigrants were successful. This is the story of one such immigrant. Samuel Eddy was baptized in Cranbrook, Kent, England on May 15, 1608. Samuel does not appear in any ship's records but his brother, John, arrived in the Handmaid, in 1630. Since Samuel is shown to be in Plymouth in 1630, it is the general consensus that he likely came with his brother. Two sisters also came to the colonies: Abigail (Eddy) Benjamin, wife of John Benjamin and Anne (Eddy) Wines, wife of Barnabas Wines. The Eddy immigrants were the children of Rev. William and Mary (Fosten) Eddy. I am connected to John Eddy through my grandfather, Clayton Blake and to Samuel Eddy through my grandmother, Linona Yates.

Samuel was a tailor in England and continued in that profession in the colonies. He made uniforms for soldiers in King Philip's' War. He married a woman named Elizabeth. There is speculation that she may have been the sister of Thomas Savory of Plymouth. This is based on a transfer of land from Samuel Eddy to widow Ann Savory. The record states that the land was received from "our brother-in-law Samuel Eddy." Samuel and Elizabeth had five children: John b. 25 December 1637; Zachariah b. abt. 1639; Caleb b. abt. 1643; Obadiah b. abt. 1645 and Hannah b. 23 June 1647. 

Riches to Rags? 

In 1632/3, Thomas Brian, servant of Samuel Eddy, was brought before the council for running away from his master and was privately whipped. So it seems that initially, Samuel's family was doing well enough in their new home but that would change.

Evidently the tailoring business was not doing very well because three of the children were placed with other couples to be raised. Five was not a large family by the standards of the time but there may have been other children who died young and were not recorded. Still the family could not take care of them and in April 1645, they placed the first of their children, John, with the family of Francis and Katherine Goulder. Then the court record of 2 March 1646/7 states "Whereas Samuell Edeth & Elizabeth, his wife, of the town of Plim(outh) aforesaid, having many children and by reason of many wants lying upon them, so as they are not able to bring them up as they desire, and out of the good respect they bear Mr. John Browne, of Rehoboth, one of the Assistants of this government, did both of them jointly desire that he, the said Mr. Browne, would take Zachery, their son, being of the age of seven years, & bring him up in his employment of husbandry, or any business he shall see meet for the good of their child till he come to the age of one & twenty years," which Browne agreed to do. In March of 1652, Samuel and Elizabeth made a similar arrangement with Mr. John Browne for their son, Caleb, when he was nine years old. Further evidence of the poverty of the family is seen in the records that show Samuel Eddy regularly hired one of the cows which were maintained for the town's poor.

After putting out the oldest three boys, Samuel & Elizabeth had at least two more children. I wonder why the family ended up living in poverty despite Samuel's skill and evidence of better times in the 1630s. Was there an event that changed the circumstances of this family? Was there a family connection with John Browne or was he just someone known and respected by Samuel & Elizabeth?

Samuel Eddy & Elizabeth Savory?
John Eddy & Hepzibah Doggett
Alice Eddy & John Leach
Giles Leach & Anna Waterman
Elizabeth Leach & Jonathan Shurtleff
Lucy Shurtleff & Calvin Cole
Calvin Cole Jr & Betsey Judkins
Aphia Delphina Cole & Sydney Hayes
George Hayes & Anna Rowe
Eva Delphinia Hayes & Estes Yates
Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

John Eddy, Sarah Eddy, Elizabeth Marion, Samuel Dearborn, Mary Dearborn, Benjamin Blake, David Blake, Micajah Blake, Galen Blake, Charles G. Blake, Harriet Mae Blake, Clayton L. Blake - my grandfather.

Plymouth Colony: Its History & People 1621-1691 by Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Ancestry Publishing. Salt Lake City. 1986.
http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/enquirer/servitude.htm
http://www.americanancestors.org/pilgrim-families-samuel-eddy/

A Tough Childhood

William Yates' life as a boy is only documented through oral tradition. Unfortunately, his children and grandchildren do not recall the exact same information.

His youngest son, Sylvester, said, "I have heard my father say his father bound him out to a farmer who lived near Portsmouth, NH. This man treated him so that finally father ran away. He was caught and brought back but told the farmer that the next time he ran away, they wouldn't catch him. Afterwards, he ran away again and that time they didn't catch him." Martha Yates Littlefield, William's youngest daughter, said " I have heard father tell of how he was bound out to an Irishman when he was very small and how the Irishman abused him so that he ran away."

Two of his grandsons, Judge Edward M. Yates and Gilbert W. Yates, agreed in saying that they never heard William speak of his parents at all, any more than as if he knew not who they were. Both did recall he worked for a NH farmer for wages rather than being bound out. They remember him saying he had to work very hard and got very little schooling compared to other boys. Judge Yates spent much of his childhood in the home of his grandparents and stated "I always had the impression that he was some sort of castaway, a homeless boy, who in some way drifted to this country and got work in Portsmouth."

William told the following story to Gilbert. "The farmer was slack about having firewood on hand for the kitchen fireplace. His wife stood it as long as she could and then one noon when they were called for dinner, they found on the table was raw meat, potatoes, and unbaked biscuit. The farmer put in the next few days getting up wood."

Regardless of where he came from or what he did as a young boy, William left Portsmouth when he was fifteen and went to work at a brickyard in Saccarappa, near Portland, Maine. He also drove a stagecoach somewhere in the Portland area. When he was 18 or 19, he moved to Minot, Maine.

William Yates & Martha Morgan
Moses Yates & Martha Whittle
Gilbert W. Yates & Laura Emmons
Estes Gilbert Yates & Eva Delphinia Hayes
Linona Alice Yates

Sources:
William B. Lapham & Silas P. Maxim (1884 & 1983), History of Paris, Oxford Co., Maine (New England History Press, Spmersworth, NH (1983).


Yates, Edgar Allan Poe, The Yates Book: William Yates and His Descendants; the History and Genealogy of William Yates (1772-1868) of Greenwood, Maine, and His Wife, Who was Martha Morgan, together with the line of Her Descent from Robert Morgan of Beverly (Old Orchard, Maine, 1906).