I finally saw The Westford Knight

Update: I finally saw The Westford Knight last year, and my photos are below, thanks to a post today by Dick Eastman about this. His post reminded me that I hadn't posted my photos yet. My original post on this was in November 2009.

PRINCE HENRY, FIRST SINCLAIR OF ORKNEY,

BORN IN SCOTLAND, MADE A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

TO NORTH AMERICA IN 1398. AFTER WINTERING

IN NOVA SCOTIA HE SAILED TO MASSACHUSETTS,

AND ON AN INLAND EXPEDITION IN 1399

TO PROSPECT HILL TO VIEW THE SURROUNDING

COUNTRYSIDE, ONE OF THE PARTY DIED. THE

PUNCH-HOLE ARMORIAL EFFIGY, WHICH ADORNS

THIS LEDGE IS A MEMORIAL TO THIS KNIGHT.

Now why haven't I seen The Westford Knight?  Dick Eastman posted an article about it yesterday (Nov. 2009) in his Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, full article for Plus subscribers, see:http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/11/-the-westford-knight-1.html  There have been many newspaper articles and blog postings about it.

On April 11, 2014, Dick Eastman wrote another piece about the Westford Knight. See: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2014/04/knights-in-shining-armor-in-the-1300s-in-massachusetts.html

Per The Westford Museum, "According to one account the first Europeans to reach Westford were part of an expedition led by Prince Henry Sinclair, of Scotland. This voyage would have reached the New World in about 1400 A.D. The "Westford Knight" would then be a grave marker for one of the expedition who died near-by. The carvings can be seen as a picture of the Knight, complete with sword."

UPDATE: News article dated June 13, 2015 from the Lowell Sun.

UPDATE: On July 3, 2015, I returned to the site and took additional photos. There is now "a new glass covering for the carving, new landscaping, posts and a retaining wall, and a new lifesize bronze sculpture of the knight."

Anthony Ten Eyck and his Hawaiian Connection

Washington Place, taken by Cynthia Shenette, February 2014

Cynthia Shenette of Heritage Zen blog, asked if I had anything she wanted me to look up during her trip to Hawaii. After a few inquiries, I mentioned a request, and learned she would be in Honolulu and would indeed be visiting Washington Place, a Greek Revival palace a distant relative of mine, Anthony Ten Eyck named for George Washington. She took the above photo for me, and gave me some leads for information. I believe it was Heather Rojo, of the Nutfield Genealogy blog, who asked me many years ago, if I had Anthony Ten Eyck in my tree, because she had also gone to Washington Place and had seen his name. Commissioner Anthony Ten Eyck was my 5th cousin 4x removed. Because of the history, photo and my curiosity, I am posting this piece.

There is quite a bit of information on Washington Place, and below are parts of the official documentation about the naming of the Palace, thanks to Wikipedia, "One of the first boarders was Anthony Ten Eyck, an American Commissioner to the islands appointed by President James K. Polk who established the American Legation in the house. Ten Eyck named the house "Washington Place" in a February 22, 1848 letter, after George Washington in celebration of the first US president's birthday. King Kamehameha III officially approved the name." By the time this occurred, Anthony's wife had passed away in 1846. "It was where Queen Liliʻuokalani was arrested during the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Later it became the official residence of the Governor of Hawaiʻi. It is a National Historic Landmark, designated in 2007. The current governor's residence was built in 2008 behind the historic residence, and is located on the same grounds as Washington Place." The placing of the House as a National Historic Landmark document is 8 pages long,  and below are pages 2 and 6 with mention to Anthony TenEyck.

 "It is to Commissioner TenEyck that Washington Place owes its name"

From various resources, I've been able to do a short timeline of Anthony's career.

26 Feb 1811 born in Watertown, New York, son of Egert Ten Eyck, a judge, and Rebecca Pearce

1835-1841 Lawyer, later Clerk of Michigan Supreme Court in Detroit, Michigan

1841-1843 U.S. Commissioner to Sandwich Islands, Hawaii

Secretary James Buchanan on March 28, 1845 appointed Anthony Ten Eyck commissioner to Hawaii. US Diplomatic Representatives to Hawaii Commissioners from 1845 - 1848

1 Jun 1861–23 Sep 1865 Major and Paymaster Vol. In 1865 was mustered out of volunteer service.

5 Oct 1867-- Died in Guilford, New Haven Co., Connecticut and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.

Anthony and Harriet had two children, Egbert F. born about 1839 and Harriet Fairchild born about 1844. Information is nil on them. However, a reader and friend took photos of where his father and family were buried, photos were on my post almost two years ago.

I am missing quite a bit about this family, and I'm quite hesitant about posting this. But, perhaps by doing so, somebody will share the same line and maybe have more information, and hopefully share.

In April 2021, I discovered quite a bit of new information about Anthony, just by using google and a few search names.  Union College, where Anthony graduated in 1831 has a file on him, the papers have been digitized by the College and is in Union / Digital Works. This is an online repository, Courtesy of Special Collections, Schaffer Library, Union College. There are six downloadable pages. The copyright is not evaluated, I called four departments and was able to connect with anybody. I'm sharing one page 

 A short Descendant Report, beginning with his parents is below.

 

"Mourning Victory" for the Melvin Brothers in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA, Tombstone Tuesday

"Daniel Chester French was approached in 1897 to create a memorial monument for Asa, John and Samuel Melvin, three brothers who died in the Civil War. Their surviving brother, James C. Melvin, commissioned the memorial." The above statement and more about the memorial may be seen HERE.

Yesterday, my blog post had a photo of the Civil War Memorial in Concord, and I listed all the names on it. As I typed the four deceased men with the Melvin name, I suddenly remembered taking photos of the Melvin Memorial at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. My purpose for the cemetery trip was to find the burial place of Daniel Chester French. That post may be seen HERE*, and in addition, I knew that Mr. French also built this memorial. It was pure luck that I was able to park right in front of the above memorial.

Since I didn't go beyond the chained off area, I copied what was written from the above article.

"IN MEMORY OF THREE BROTHERS BORN IN CONCORD

WHO AS PRIVATE SOLDIERS GAVE THEIR 

LIVES IN THE WAR TO SAVE THE COUNTRY

THIS MEMORIAL IS PLACED HERE BY THEIR SURVIVING

BROTHER, HIMSELF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE SAME WAR.

'I WITH UNCOVERED HEAD

SALUTE THE SACRED DEAD

WHO WENT AND WHO RETURN NOT.'"

* One of my top 10 favorite posts.

Recently, fellow blogger, Janice Webster Brown informed me that she had written a blog post several years ago, called, "Exeter, New Hampshire Sculptor: Daniel Chester French (1850-1931)." In her New Hampshire's History Blog, aka Cow Hampshire, she included quite a bit of information, including his lineage and sources. Thanks Janice for telling me this.

Concord, Massachusetts -- Civil War Memorial

The Civil War Memorial located on the Concord, Massachusetts green.

They Died for Their Country in the

War of The Rebellion

______________

Maj. Amiel W. Whipple

Capt. Daniel Foster

Chaplain James Means

Chaplain William C. Whitcomb

Thomas Carey

Capt. James E. McCafferty, Jr.

Martin Lynch

Paul C. Kittredge

Herman Flint

Charles Brigham

Edward C. Garrity

John McDonough

Charles A. Lawrence

James M. Billings

Charles H. Brown

Thomas McGuire

Lieut. Ezra Ripley

Col. George L. Prescott

Serg't Charles Appleton

Corp'l. William J. Damon

Francis Buttrick

Barney Clark

George B. Erskine

Jonas E. Melvin

James Thompson

Bertrand Burgess

Edwin C. Proctor

George J. Carr

Charles B. Hannaford

Alonzo Francis Munroe

Serg't Franklin M. Gregory

Corp'l Erastus H. Kingsbury

Oliver M. Richards

Charles W. Stuart

Michael Murray

Serg't Henry Carley Smith

Richard R. Clark

George Poland

Paul A. Dudley

Asa H. Melvin

John H. Melvin

Samuel Melvin

Charles Nealey

Thomas Doyle

Frederick J. Tarbell

Serg't James S. Fernald

Alden Buttrick

Corp'l Charles Hosmer Wright

The

Town of Concord

Builds This Monument

In Honor of

THE BRAVE MEN

Whose Names it Bears:

And Records

With Grateful Pride,

That They Found Here

Birthplace, Home or Grave.

1866.

Another view of the tall monument in the background. The one in front is the World War I memorial, see my post HERE.

Reconstructed 1657 Alexander Knight House in Ipswich, Massachusetts

The reconstructed 1657 Alexander Knight House in Ipswich, Massachusetts, at the time the photo was taken (summer 2013), the house was completed in October, 2013.

For additional information, go to www.ipswichknighthouse.org

The 1677 Whipple House to the left, and the Knight House to the right.

From the Whipple House are the Knight House and the Ipswich Museum is across the street.

Winter views taken in the winter, 2013.

UPDATE: New photos taken December 5, 2015. The fence, garden and a frame for bundling thatch were added during 2015.

 New fence around an enclosed garden. The Whipple House in the background.

Elizabeth Johnson -- Tombstone Tuesday

Elizabeth Johnson Mead Sanger

Born:  November 07, 1751, Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts

Died:  March 19, 1799, Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire

Elizabeth Johnson was my 5th great-grandmother (her parents are brick walls).

Correction: From my original post of November 2, 2010, I stated Elizabeth's birth year as 1751, it should be 1750. In addition, her parents are no longer brick walls. With the help of a professional genealogist and historian, he discovered her parents were William Johnson and Elizabeth Wiley. These discoveries were made last week, and since tomorrow is the anniversary of her death, I thought I would repost this blog post.

Elizabeth's stone is directly in the middle.

Abner Sanger was the husband of my 5th great-grandmother, Elizabeth Johnson Mead.
I wrote about his journals, see Very Poor and of a Lo Make.

Abner is buried at the Washington Street Cemetery in Keene, New Hampshire.

Reading Public Library (See the Resources for Genealogists)

Reading Public Library

64 Middlesex Ave, Reading, MA 01867

(781) 944-0840

Website: https://readingpl.org/

This library opened in 1896 as a school, and as you can see it still looks like a school. I visited the library several times, as proved by some of my photos towards the end of this thread. Since my last visit in 2015.

The side view shows the new addition.

Below are the photos of the History and Genealogy Room. It is normally locked but the reference librarian took me to it. She was thrilled when I told her I have four generations who lived in  Reading. The first, per From The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol. III, by Robert Charles Anderson, NEHGS, Boston, 1995

Pages 1493-1496.

JOHN POOLE

ORIGIN: Unknown

MIGRATION: 1632

FIRST RESIDENCE: Cambridge

REMOVES: Lynn 1633, Reading by 1650

OCCUPATION: Miller.

EDUCATION: John Poole signed his name to deeds and to his will. Margaret made her mark, an "M," to one deed [ELR 2:105].

I found a lot of information through their books on previous visits. Although the room was modernized and it had a large table, there were fewer books. They didn't have the well-known tan books (as described in my post shown below.

The Local History and Genealogy link is https://readingpl.org/local-history-genealogy/ I wasn't very impressed with what they have online, but I am interested in their information showing what the Reading Town Archives Town Hall 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867 781/942-6661 Holdings are. Included - Vital Records, Valuation Records, Town Reports, State/Federal Census, Street Directories, Maps, Genealogies, Obituary Collection, and an extensive photo collection. Records maintained by volunteers call for appointment. 

Early map copies in the map cabinet.

The above photo shows some of the books I used a lot.

The lobby above, and the reading room below.

From the parking area below, you enter the library from these steps or take an elevator.

Back entrance.

Older photos below, probably from 2012 and  2015.

Above is the Reading Public Library, formerly a large school. It was a very overcast day when we entered through the back entrance.

The local history room is on the main floor. The photo is of my husband, not a patron.

The above photo and the two following are in the same room. The collection is mostly for Reading, but other nearby towns are included.

 The room is very small and seats only four people. However, the local history books and records are great. I met two genealogy friends here on another day.

The below photo is in the second room. Shown is a large collection of the Vital Records for Massachusetts, otherwise known as, the tan books. In addition, there is a table, chair, microfilm reader (I believe), and other equipment. A person was there, so I left quickly. This is a favorite photo of mine. Note: The renovated room no longer has them and when I asked where they were, they didn't know.

This is the back of the library where the entrance is. It was closed that day, but I took this anyway. Well, I did return on August 29, 2015, and this is what greeted us.