Last Friday I got a great early birthday present in my mail: two cds from
my West cousin Lewis Wuori containing photographs and other images.
As I told him in an email, it was like discovering a treasure trove. There
are pictures of ancestors whose faces I've never seen before! I've been
sharing them with my various cousins from the Wests and Richardson
families(alas, no Barker or Ellingwood pictures) and posting them on
Facebook on my profile page…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on August 22, 2011 at 1:53pm — No Comments
Discovering the Upton (Maine) Historical Society page on Facebook has
put me in touch with several new found cousins and it has been a lot of
fun sharing pictures back and forth. One particular set of images were of
special interest to me.
When Dad married my Mom he converted to Roman Catholicism from
Protestantism. I don't know which Protestant denomination Dad was
brought up in; it just never came up in any conversation that I can…
ContinueLast week after I posted the anniversary reunion picture of Jonathan P West
and his wife Louisa Almata Richardson I discovered that the Upton, Maine
Historical Society has a Facebook page. The picture had been taken on
Back Street in Upton so I thought perhaps a member of the Facebook
page might recognize some of the other people in the picture. Unfortunately
no one has as yet but there was another benefit, namely meeting some
more cousins. One of…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on August 22, 2011 at 1:45pm — No Comments
Prior to attending the Ellingwood Reunion in Norway, Me. today, Cheryl
and I took a swing through Upton Maine on business pertaining to the
West side of the family. As we drove along Route 26 Cheryl pointed out a small
cemetery we passed in or near Newry, Maine, but we didn't have time to stop
at the moment and I didn't think there were any relatives buried there anyway,
Our business required us to keep going west on 26 through the Grafton…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on August 22, 2011 at 1:41pm — No Comments
Today (August 13th) was the 85th Ellingwood family Reunion. Originally
begun by the children and descendants of Asa Freeman Ellingwood and
Florilla Dunham Ellingwood, it is also open to any descendants of Ralph
Elinwood who came to America and settled in Beverly, Ma. in the 1600's.
In fact anyone Ellinwood, Ellingwood, Ellenwood or Ellwood are descended
from Ralph. The reunion is always held Saturday in August and for some time
at the home of Jerry…
ContinueJust a reminder the Ellingwood Reunion is tomorrow, August13th
in Norway Maine. Details are available at the Ellingwood Reunions
page on Facebook
Added by Bill West on August 12, 2011 at 4:43pm — No Comments
Back when I first started doing genealogy online I made contact with Lewis, who is
descended from my great granduncle Paul Leroy West. Then the motherboard
on my computer crashed and I lost everything on it, including email addresses
(and learned the hard way to back up EVERYTHING!). Recently Lewis found me
again (I'm guessing through my blog) and we exchanged discoveries since the
last time we'd been in touch.
Lewis is sharing some family…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on August 4, 2011 at 2:34am — 2 Comments
One of those testifying in April 1884 was Asa's eldest child, my great granduncle
Walter Fred Ellingwood. I'm don't know why he testified. He could have
asked to do so, of course, but considering the little amount of…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on July 13, 2011 at 2:30am — No Comments
The next witness was his cousin Oliver Pratt. On the affidavit he
says "his age is 64 years. P.O. address West Paris Me. Occupation
carriage maker by trade and painter."
Q: How long have you known the claimant Asa F. Ellingwood
A: Ever since we was a little boy
Q: Did you ever work with him
A: Yes sir from 1853 to 1860 we worked for a chair mfg. co. and he did the
lifting part of the work
Q: What was his…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on July 13, 2011 at 2:29am — No Comments
In my last post in this series on my 2xgreat grandfather Asa Freeman
Ellingwood's Civil War Pension file, I talked about the revelation in the
testimony of his cousin James Barrows that he(Barrows) had testified
before in the case and in fact there were two previous afidavits! When
I checked the testimony of several other witnesses on Asa's behalf, I found
they had also testified on earlier occasions.
So how did I miss…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on July 13, 2011 at 2:24am — No Comments
The next person to testify in Asa Ellingwood's pension claim case was his
cousin James Barrows.
According to the statement, James "says his age 52 years, P.O. address
West Paris, Maine occupation mfg of chairs
Q: How long have you known the claimant Asa F.Ellingwood
A: Ever since 1850
Q: Did you work with him at that time
A: I worked with him from 1850 to 1860
Q: What was his physical condition in those…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on July 13, 2011 at 2:20am — No Comments
One of the little mysteries of the precedings on 3Apr 1884 is that there
is no indication as to what order the various witnesses testified nor is
there any notation of time of day. If Asa's wife, my 2x great grandmother
Florilla Dunham Ellingwood, gave her statement late in the day after all
the others it might possibly explain the somewhat (I think) prosecutorial
tone of the questioning. Despite that Florilla's responses steadily agree
with those Asa…
Added by Bill West on May 15, 2011 at 12:49am — 2 Comments
Before I move on to Florilla Dunham Ellingwood's testimony, I wanted to share what
I've found about two of the witnesses Asa asked to have interviewed on his behalf.
The first is James Barrows. As I previously mentioned, Asa Ellingwood's mother
was Rachel Barrows and after her death, he went to live with his Aunt Polly Barrows
and her husband Morton Curtis. Given that fact, I was fairly sure that witness James
Barrows was a relative.
On p.501 of…
Added by Bill West on May 15, 2011 at 12:42am — 2 Comments
A few comments on what we've seen so far from 2x great grandfather Asa
Ellingwood's testimony:
I am extremely fortunate to have a copy of cousin Florence O'Connor's book
The Ancestors and Descendants of Asa Freeman Ellingwood and Florilla
(Dunham) Ellingwood (West Paris, Me 1979) to draw upon in my family research.
In her section on Asa himself, she writes of how Asa and his brother Oscar were
sent to live with their Aunt Polly Barrows Curtis and…
Added by Bill West on May 15, 2011 at 12:37am — No Comments
This is the second part of my 2x great grandfather Asa Freeman Ellingwood's
testimony on behalf of his Civil War Disability Pension claim. There are some
parts that I wasn't able to make out and other words which are my best guesses
at meaning, The latter are indicated by (?). Other that that the grammar and
punctuation are as they appear on the original document.
I will discuss what I learned from this testimony in my next post.
Q:…
Added by Bill West on May 15, 2011 at 12:31am — No Comments
Added by Bill West on May 15, 2011 at 12:26am — No Comments
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Because of the length of the document, the header is missing from… |
Added by Bill West on May 15, 2011 at 12:17am — No Comments
On May 1st, 1861, barely three weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter,
my great great grandfather Asa Freeman Ellingwood enlisted in the
Union Army. Seven months later he was…
Added by Bill West on May 15, 2011 at 12:12am — No Comments
In the final installment of excerpts from a 1975 interview,
GrandUncle Clarence recalls more about his life as a
logger in Oxford County, Maine.
Thanks once again to Alan Johnson for sharing the
interview with me. Alan is working on a book about the
region in Maine my West…
ContinueAdded by Bill West on November 6, 2010 at 1:30am — No Comments
In this excerpt from the 1975 interview, GrandUncle Clarence
talks about water power and some of the aspects of logging
and lumber drives. I've seen some of those rafts of logs on
the rivers and lakes up in Maine and New Hampshire but
never knew just how much wood they could contain!…
Added by Bill West on November 6, 2010 at 1:14am — No Comments
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