Canonsburg's Potteries

You may remember that when I wrote about my grandfather, Charles Atkinson, last week, I mentioned that I had asked for permission from the Jefferson College Historical Society to repost an article that came from their website in the early 2000s.  Two days ago, I received permission and yesterday I uploaded this: 

Canonsburg's Potteries

When this first appeared on the Internet, I was so excited that I downloaded the entire article and photographs so that I would always have a copy for myself!  I'm very grateful that the JCHS representative and Mr Herron, the author, gave me permission to recreate the page!  When I wrote about Pappap, I searched for a good history page about the potteries in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, but I couldn't find anything as well researched and as complete as this article!

The Graveyard Rabbit: New Carnival on the Block

Announced on Jan 31 at The Graveyard Rabbit: New Carnival on the Block:

The topic for the premier edition of this carnival is "exceptional finds." Share with us those rare and unique cemeteries, gravestones, monuments, memorials, inscriptions, etc. Send one, send two; it's up to you! Submissions are due on February 25. And hey, bring a friend! Let's make this the best carnival debut in history!

I've been putting off writing this article because I couldn't decide what to share. I'm afraid I have already written articles about my most exceptional finds that relate to my own family, so I'm going to take this opportunity to write about a grave I found which does not belong to a family member. Now I know that "I" didn't actually discover this grave, that other people realized where he was buried, but when I visited the Mentor Avenue Cemetery in Lake County, Ohio, I was surprised to find a large zinc marker for Jonathan Goldsmith. Perhaps, unless your grew up in North East Ohio or if you are some kind of architecture expert, you may not know who he was, but since I DID grow up there, I recognized the name right away! He was a well-known architect and builder in the part of Ohio that used to be called "The Connecticut Western Reserve".

A few years ago while visiting my mom in Painesville, she and I were driving along Mentor Avenue and for the first time, I saw a cemetery in a spot that I only remembered as an overgrown field. My mom told me that someone had made it a project to clean it up, making it visible for the first time in decades! It's hard to imagine that such a thing could remain unknown for so long along such a busy road. The cemetery is now usually referred to as Mentor Avenue Cemetery, but has been called Painesville Twp Cemetery, Blish Cemetery, and Nye Road Cemetery at different times. Many Lake County pioneer families are represented there, and you can see some history and a full transcript on a page from the Lake County Genealogical Society (Ohio) Projects Site. In 2006, after I began submitting photographs to Find a Grave, I talked my mom into spending an afternoon there with me exploring and taking pictures. That's when I found Mr. Goldsmith's grave marker.

I decided to submit his information to Find a Grave and I thought he needed more than just the bare biography that I could create from the information on his grave and from my own memory, so I looked for biographical sources on the internet that I could use to compose something original without much success, but luckily, I found an out-of-print book on eBay called Jonathan Goldsmith, pioneer master builder in the Western Reserve by Elizabeth Hitchcock that I was able to get for a reasonable price. It became my main source in writing a biography for him on Find a Grave which I am also republishing below. I hope you find it interesting! I also hope you'll also take a few minutes to visit his memorial that I created there. It contains more pictures, including a famous example of his work at Jonathan Goldsmith.

Master Builder, Architect. Jonathan Goldsmith was considered a pioneer in the Greek Revival Style of architecture, and he was also known for creating buildings in the Federal style. Originally apprenticed to a shoemaker in his native Connecticut, he bought out his apprenticeship four years early and apprenticed himself to a carpenter-joiner.

In 1805, he went into business for himself, first in Hebron, CT, and later in Hinsdale, MA. In 1808, he married Abigail Jones, and in 1811, he, his wife and their two eldest children followed many of Mrs. Goldsmith's family members to Painesville, OH. At first, he was only able to find work as a cobbler, and when the War of 1812 broke out, he volunteered for service. After returning home, he went on to become a well-known architect and builder in the area of Ohio once known as the Connecticut Western Reserve.

Goldsmith's buildings include 30 homes and commercial buildings in Painesville, another handful around Lake County, and 10 houses in Cleveland. Many still exist today, although many more have been demolished. The front doorway of one of those razed homes, known as the Isaac Gillet House, has been exhibited at the Cleveland Museum of Art. His drawings were also included in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum's titled "The Greek Revival in the United States" in 1943. His work is better documented than many other 19th century builders due to the efforts of his daughter Lucia, who preserved his drawings and other manuscripts. Many of his personal and professional papers are stored at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland.

He was also known as a mechanic and farmer, and he is credited with inventing a multiple plow. While visiting his son, Gillett Goldsmith, who lived in Bexar County, TX, he obtained a patent from the Republic of Texas on May 7, 1840. In later years, Goldsmith suffered financial setbacks resulting in his selling his home, which he had built himself in 1818, as well as 86 acres of land. His final building project was the creation of a smaller house, later known as "Ingleside" where he lived until his death. The home was purchased in 1911 by the Lake County Agricultural Society as part of a parcel of 36 acres that is now the Lake County Fairgrounds. It was destroyed by fire in 1929. Jonathan Goldsmith was buried in the Painesville Twp Cemetery (now known as the Mentor Avenue Cemetery), located less than a mile from his home.

Illiterate Ancestor

I got the inspiration for this entry after reading: Shocking Discovery Not That Shocking

It's hard to imagine* the thought process of an editor who reviewed a story like this one: Michelle Obama's family tree has roots in a Carolina slave plantation, and decided the most noteworthy fact in Mrs. Obama's family history was this: Future first lady had illiterate ancestor.

(*Although if you know anything about UPI and its owners, you might get a clue. See Wikipedia)

Of course, if we all go back far enough, we're going to find someone who couldn't read. Thinking about that fact made me want to write about this very recent ancestor, my great-grandfather, William S. Tolbert, who according to the 1930 Census, had never learned to read. This is the only picture of him that I have ever seen, which I believe is a faded photograph that was enhanced by sketching. It shows William with his younger sisters. My mother, who had lived with him and his second wife until he died in 1939, was amazed by the likeness. She told me she had forgotten that he had a mustache until she saw it, although he was much older by the time she knew him. She was only 6 when he died. It was shared with me by a great-granddaughter of Rosa Lee Tolbert. My cousin told me that the story in her part of the family was that Joe, as he was known, had moved to West Virginia and the family never heard from him again.

William Tolbert was born to a single mother, Elender Tolbert, in Carroll County, VA, on Feb 3, 1867. (Ellie herself was also the daughter of an unmarried woman, facts that have led to a lot of mysteries and dead ends in my research of that line of my family -- so far, anyway!) On September 19, 1887, William married Rhoda Ann Webb in Carroll County. Between 1887 and 1898, when he and Rhoda filed for divorce, they became the parents of 5 children, Rozelle (who died at age 2), Mary, Diona, William Henry, and Mattie, who was my grandmother. Mattie (Tolbert) Shrewsbury's fate is a big family mystery, but that's a story to tell in the future! I have copies of William and Rhoda's handwritten divorce papers that were filed in the Chancery Court of Carroll County. They make interesting reading. In them, William, whose lawyer filed the papers, told of being in jail for bootlegging during which time he claimed that Rhoda had been unfaithful. Their divorce was finalized on May 23, 1904. However, at some time between then and the time when they were counted in the 1910 census, they must have made up. In 1910, they were living together in Raleigh County, WV, with three of their elder children, and a new son, Claud, aged 3 who was born in WV. The reconciliation didn't last, obviously, because by 1920, Rhoda was remarried, and William was not to be found in the census. I found him next in the 1930 census referenced below. On July 12, 1939, William died and was buried on the property he owned near Pax, WV. More details about him and his family can be found on Rootsweb, and you can see photos of his gravestone on Find a Grave.

Below is the full page of the 1930 Census where he was enumerated with his second wife, Anna Lucretia (Larwood) Tolbert.

(Click on the picture to see a view that can be enlarged.) (from Ancestry.com: Year: 1930; Census Place: Fayetteville, Fayette, West Virginia; Roll: 2531; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 17; Image: 1024.0)

And here's a closeup that includes the section on education. William's info is on the first line:

As you can see, great-grandpa could not read. When I first started working on my genealogy and was learning how to search and record the info available in the census, I didn't even think to look at the columns other than "Name" "Age" "Place of Birth" and maybe "Occupation" in case someone made a living by any other means than farming! By accident, though, I started noticing that a lot of my relatives who lived in Virginia and West Virginia after the Civil War were not able to read or write. It shocked me, then made me sad; it's hard for me to imagine a life without the benefit of a basic education. As I learned more about my family and the places they lived, I came to realize that people in their world who had an education were rare and my people were not the ignorant outcasts I imagined them to be. I'm grateful that I grew up in a world where school is considered a basic right for everyone, and not a privilege for a lucky few.

Repost from old Blog

This is a repost of an entry in a personal/political journal I used to keep on AOL. I made the original post on 11/30/2004. Now that AOL has discontinued its journals and websites, I have the journal, called "Who Cares What I Think?" archived on Blogger, but I have kept it private because I haven't gotten around to taking the time to format it to make it look nice. Since I referenced this entry in another entry in this blog, I decided to recreate it here. You can see where I referenced it in My Famous Progenitor. This entry was originally titled "Family Disgrace?" I wish there was a way to share the comments from the original post, I thought they were amusing!

Thanks to free access over the weekend to the database of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, I have been obsessed the last few days with looking for info about one of my ancestors. His name was Philip Sherman, and he lived from 1610 to 1687. He came to Massachusetts from England in 1834, but left the Puritan church about 1637 to go to Rhode Island where he became a Quaker. This is how it was described in the NEHGR in 1870, Vol 24, on pages 64-65:

In the Anne Hutchinson troubles, in Boston, he took the popular side; but as Gov. Winthrop ultimately prevailed, he with others found it convenient to immigrate to Rhode Island. In Providence, they met Roger Williams, who advised them to purchase the island of Aquetnet (now Rhode Island) of the Indians. The purchase was completed March 24, 1638. On the first day of July, 1639, they established a regular government, of which Coddington was chosen governor and Philip Sherman secretary. after this he often held office in the colony, and, in critical periods, as a man of intelligence, wealth and influence, was frequently consulted by those in authority.

A helpful relative has created a timeline of his life here: Philip Sherman (1610 - 1687)

And this is the link to his info in my files: Philip Sherman

The plaque in this picture shows his name spelled "Phillip Shearman". It's in Founders Park, Portsmouth RI, and a link can be found here.

I was feeling pretty proud to be descended from this guy. Wouldn't you? But then I found this horrible fact: George W. Bush is also a descendant of Phillip Sherman. If you're interested in how, visit this page and scroll down to the 7th table.

One bright spot, The table on the previously referenced page also shows that I am also related to John Kerry thru the great-grandfather of Phillip Sherman. I'm not sure that will make up for the shame of being related to the Bushes. :::::::shudder:::::::

My famous progenitor

Originally posted HERE on Sunday, December 3, 2006

Anyone reading this will probably think I've abandoned this journal. Sorry for the long break!

I wanted to share some pictures my husband, John, took for me last summer when he was doing some contract work in Connecticut. One evening, at my request, he drove to Portsmouth, RI, to look for a plaque in Founders Brook Park that mentions my ancestor Philip Sherman, who was a signer of the Portsmouth Compact. If you are interested in more information, please visit the Wikipedia entry here.

John had a difficult time finding the actual park, but was lucky to run into a man, Michael Ford, who has made himself the unofficial caretaker and gardener of Founders Brook Park. He was able to point John in the right direction and gave him more information about the two women who are prominently honored with plaques in the park, Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer. The night before these pictures were taken, there had been a huge storm which resulted in a broken tree across the path to the plaque, which you'll see in the photos. John had quite an adventure, and I hope to be able to visit the park myself someday!

The plaque on the stone reads:

1638-1936

Erected to honor the memory and perpetuate the spirit and the ideals of the founders of the first government in the world to allow and to insure to its citizens civil and religious liberty. Established on this site in the year 1638

THE PORTSMOUTH COMPACT

We whose names are underwritten do hereby solemnly in the presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a Bodie Politick and as He shall help, will submit our persons, lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His given in His Holy Word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby.

William Coddington
John Clarke
William Hutchinson, Jr. [husband of Anne Hutchinson]
John Coggeshall
William Aspinwall
Samuel Wilbore
John Porter
John Sanford
Edward Hutchinson, Jr. Esq.
Thomas Savage
William Dyre [Dyer, husband of Mary Dyer ]
William Freeborne
Phillip Shearman [ Philip Sherman ]
John Walker
Richard Carder
William Baulston
Edward Hutchinson, Sr.
Henry Bull
Randall Holden
Thomas Clark
John Johnson
William Hall
John Brightman Esq.

I hope you will take the time to read the external links I have provided here!

PS on 6/01/08...I also made a post about my feelings when I first found out about another person you might recognize who also has Philip Sherman as an ancestor. I no longer write in that blog, but you can still read the entry I made on Nov 30, 2004, which I titled "Family Disgrace?"

PPS on 11/28/08...Since AOL has closed their journals, I have recreated "Family Disgrace?" in this blog as "Repost from old Blog".