The Roys Family
INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of this site is to collect transcriptions of letters, diaries, newspaper and magazine articles, obituaries, and other documents that record the lives of the family dating from the late 1700s to the early 1900s.
It can be hypothesized that family documents in the possession of a person were often split up and passed along to various surviving family members when the original owner died. One example of this tradition is found in diaries kept by my great-great-grandmother, Mary Salome Johnson Roys, in the mid-1850s. I have one of her diaries (from June 1854 to April 1856) which apparently was given to her son, my great-grandfather, Marco Bozzaris Roys, and which has remained in the possession of my branch of the family. The continuation of her diaries (from April 1856 to January 1859) is in the possession of William J. T. Brown who is descended from Mary Salome’s daughter, Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce (Marco’s sister). Perhaps this site can become a compilation of such fragmented collections.
Other contributions might include research other than that associated just with family tree building. For example, my father told me about his father who as a young man worked for a “toy wagon” endeavor in Illinois. A happenstance encounter in a 1882-1883 diary of a cousin started me on an investigation into this business and its connection to the Roys family.
Of course, any information that will thrown light on this family is welcome. In my opinion, I don’t think this site is the place for detailed genealogy information such as ancestor charts and family trees in that there are other sites specifically for that purpose – except, perhaps, in illustrating the provenance of the contributed documents. Nevertheless, we’re in the start-up mode, and our approach will be refined as we see what response we receive.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with suggestions, criticisms, or questions.
Contributors will be acknowledged with as much information as they permit (name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address, web sites to which links can be inserted into this site).
Webmaster
George Pat (“Pat”) Roys
404 South Dugger Ave
Roberta GA 31078
e-mail patroys@pstel.net
tel 478-836-9802
fax 478-836-9803
This site was last revised on July 25, 2007 (8:59pm)
Contributor’s name shown in ( ) following entry
Courtship of Marco Bozzaris Roys and Amanda Melvina Walker 1854-1855 (George Pat Roys)
Marco Roys and Amanda Walker exchanged almost 40 letters, but saw each other only three times during an eighteen month span. The relationship evolved from friendship to marriage, surviving one crisis having its origin in Amanda’s past.
Death of Rufus Almon Roys 1877 (George Pat Roys)
Rufus’s daughter, Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce, writes from Michigan to the Marco Bozzaris Roys family in Arkansas to give details about the death of their father.
Summary History of Rufus Almon Roys 1795 -1877 (George Pat Roys)
Information on the life of Rufus Almon Roys compiled from various sources
Marco Bozzaris Roys Biographical History 1829 - 1881 (George Pat Roys)
Events in the life of Marco Bozzaris Roys obtained from numerous documents placed on a time line from his birth to his death.
Obituary of Rufus Almon Roys 1877 (George Pat Roys)
This obituary was published in the newspaper of South Haven Michigan, a town in Geneva Township located on the shore of Lake Michigan in the southwest corner of Michigan. He was living there with his daughter, Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce, and son-in-law, Clark Pierce, when he died.
Letter from R.A. Roys to Rufus Almon Roys 1843 (George Pat Roys)
A nephew writes from Vermont to Rufus Almon in Michigan apparently making contact perhaps for the first time. The younger Rufus speaks of studying in a seminary but planning to attend West Point. He died in an accident at an Army fort in Nebraska.
Diary of Silvia Etta Pierce 1882 – 1883 (George Pat Roys)
Silvia Etta Pierce was a niece of Marco Bozzaris Roys. She was a unmarried schoolteacher living first in Altamont and then Centralia Illinois at the time of this diary.
Arthur Hower Biographical History 1847 – 1890 (George Pat Roys)
Reuben Francis Roys worked in a “toy wagon factory” in Centralia Illinois as a young man and before he returned to Russellville Arkansas to assume management of a hardware store that had been managed by George Eby, a cousin on the Pierce side of the family, after the death of Reuben’s father, Marco Bozzaris Roys. Arthur Hower was part owner of a “toy” wagon factory. Were they contemporaries? Were they related?
by George Pat Roys
Introduction
On March 2, 1854 Marco Bozzaris Roys added a short note to a letter written by his younger sister, Salome Orriette Roys, to her friend, Amanda Melvina Walker. Marco and Orriette were living with their parents (Rufus Almon Roys and Mary Salome Johnson Roys) on a farm in a small hamlet/village in southwest Michigan known officially as Brady but generally called Vicksburg. Amanda was then living and teaching school in Steels Landing, Ottawa County, near and to the west of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She had lived and taught school in Brady, becoming acquainted with Orriette, before moving to Steels Landing between one and two years earlier.
At the time of their first correspondence Marco was 24 years old and Amanda was 23. Orriette, at age 18, apparently maintained a friendship and correspondence with Amanda in spite of their age difference. Amanda sent a letter to Orriette, but when it was received in Brady, Orriette was visiting an older sister, Lucy Amelia Roys Tomkins, in Illinois “for the winter.” Because of this there seems to have been considerable delay between Amanda’s letter and Orriette’s reply on March 2. In his added note Marco told Amanda he forwarded her letter to Orriette as soon as it was received and if he had known Orriette had not replied he would have written Amanda himself.
Eighteen months later, on September 18, 1855 Marco traveled from Brady by horse and buggy to Grand Rapids to where Amanda had moved in December 1854. They were married in front of her school children.
In a letter written in December 1854 Amanda said that it had been two years since she had seen Marco. According to the written material I have Marco and Amanda saw each other only three times during the eighteen months from the first letter Marco wrote to Amanda until the day they were married. The first meeting was toward the end of January 1855 when Marco went to Grand Rapids for six days (including travel time and which seems to have entailed an overnight stay somewhere along the way). The second meeting was in April 1855 when Marco and Orriette went to Kalamazoo and returned with Amanda. Apparently she stayed in the Roys home as Marco’s mother, Mary Salome, notes in her diary entry for the day after her arrival, “The girls are making cloth shoes.” Amanda returned home two days later on the stagecoach. The final meeting was over the 4th of July 1855 when Marco went to [probably] Kalamazoo for five days. Marco’s mother made other entries in her diary that suggest that Marco went to visit Amanda (e.g., on February 28, 1855 she noted, “Marco rode out alone.”) but there are no independent verifications of such visits in Marco’s and Amanda’s letters or in Marco’s mother’s diary, except for one such occasion when Marco tells Amanda in a March 1, 1855 letter about an apparent unplanned trip. “I went to Kalamazoo yesterday hoping that I should see you. I waited til the stages had all arrived. Called at your father’s, but no Amanda.” It is interesting to note that Brady is only about 75 miles from Grand Rapids and 15 miles from Kalamazoo – what we today would consider inconsequential distances.
Marco and Amanda eventually became my great-grandparents. This is the story of how their romance started, their courtship, and marriage.
Marco Makes the First Move, and Amanda Follows
Marco and Amanda write to each other approximately once a month during their eighteen month courtship for a total of 38 letters. Nearly always the writer starts a new letter by commenting on what the other person said in the immediate preceding letter. By assessing these comments I deduced, with a fairly high level of confidence, that all but three of the letters, most of them still in their original envelopes, have survived through the years.
On March 2, 1854, Marco makes the first move. He appends a note to Amanda in the letter that his sister, Salome Orriette, has written to Amanda.
Amanda: If you do not give Ett a good wetting down for not answering your letter sooner I shall think that you do not give her her just deserts. I forwarded it to her as soon as it came in. And if I had known that it would not have been answered til this time I would have answered it myself, but I suppose that she found so many new friends that she forgot her old ones. I have been quite lonesome this winter as there has been no one with me but Father and Mother, but now Ett has got home, it has all vanished, and we have some of them old times. From your friend and well wishes. Marco B. Roys.
On March 9, 1854 Amanda encourages Marco with:
I improve the present opportunity to thank you for your contribution to Ett’s letter. But first, was it voluntary? Or did she have to solicit you to write? If voluntary, I thank you more heartily and would venture to hope that this, although the first, will not be the last contribution from your pen.
From this time forward the depth of the relationship can somewhat be surmised by noting the salutations and closings of the letters they exchanged.
In the note Marco adds to Orriette’s March 2 letter to Amanda his salutation is simply, “Amanda” and the closing is simply his signature, “Marco B. Roys.” It is not until February 1855, after they are engaged, that he would sign his letters as anything other than “Marco B. Roys” or “M. B. Roys.” It is also in February that Amanda progressed from signing “Amanda M. Walker” to “Amanda.” However, even after their engagement in January 1855 Amanda is more restrained in her salutations and closings, continuing, for the most part, to open with some variation on “Dear Friend” and closing, for the most part, with some variation of “Yours” or Yours truly” with one “Yours with love.” Marco, on the other hand, is much less restrained, particularly in his closings, where we read, “From your truly devoted,” “Ever yours,” “Yours with love,” “Yours til death,” “From your devoted lover,” “Yours evermore with love,” and “From your own loving Marco.”
From March through August 1854 they address each other as some variation on “friend,” with Marco starting to push things a little as early as May, e.g., closing with “Your ever true friend.” He backs off a little to “Your friend” as Amanda seems to be more standoffish, for the most part closing with, for example, “Yours” and “Your friend.” Through this period the salutations remained as “Friend Amanda” and “Friend Marco.” Then Marco begins to express much stronger feelings through his salutations and closings. In September, October, and November he starts his letters with, for example, “Dear Friend Amanda,” and, “My dear friend,” while his closings become, for example, “Your ever true friend.”
In the letters from March to November 1854 they discuss the inhabitants of Brady, Marco’s invitation for Amanda to come to Brady to teach during the summer and Amanda’s eventual decision to not apply for the position (reminding Marco that the Brady School District was dissatisfied with her teaching there before when she was inexperienced), the current weather conditions, Marco’s very strong anti-alcohol opinions, comments about books they have read (these observations mostly coming from Amanda), Marco’s farm activities, Sunday sermons, Marco referring to the “Supreme Judges” (presumably the U.S. Supreme Court) as “Superior Devils,” Amanda waxing eloquently about “nature,” Marco’s brick making facilities, both of them expressing the desire to receive more letters from the other, a drought during the summer, Marco’s admiration for Amanda as an educator, illnesses of family and mutual acquaintances, and the death of Marco’s older sister (Laura Lorula).
Marco Jumps in with Both Feet
By November 22, 1854 Marco becomes a little more forward. He closes this letter with, “Do write soon, Amanda, for I do love to hear from you. From your ever true friend, M. B. Roys.” But, more importantly, he includes in the envelope, along with the letter, a small card having printed on it a heart held by a hand and embellishments containing the words “yours forever” and “accept it.” The card is signed “M.B. Roys.”
Then, on December 19, 1854 Marco finally commits to revealing his passion and declares the seriousness of his feelings for Amanda.
My Dear Friend – It is with pleasure that I resume this somewhat singular commenced correspondence, although one that I had for a long time wished to commence but, hardly knowing how, and partly afraid to, had let it run along until the opportunity presented its self, when I plucked up courage and made the beginning, which has been a source of much pleasure to me. Your kind letter was received the 15th and perused with pleasure. No one reads your letters but myself and I read them enough for all the rest. I can no longer smuggle in my bosom the feelings I have for you, and which have increased for the last six months. I have always esteemed you highly, ever since I became acquainted with you, and your high moral character and amiable disposition has won you my affections.
Now, Amanda, if you are not at liberty nor willing to receive them, and my addresses, I wish never to see you, or hear from you again. For the passion that ruins thousands must be checked e’re it is to late. Forgive me if I have written too plain. I wish you to do the same if you feel disposed.
He goes on to write about visiting her in January (depending on the sleighing), a visit by his sister from Illinois, attending singing school, and a long fantasy about peeking through a keyhole into her classroom to watch her teach. He then closes with:
Please write soon, for I shall wait anxiously for your letter. Yours till death, M. B. Roys
In her reply on December 26th, 1854 Amanda is equally forthright about her feelings for Marco:
My Dear Friend – Your letter did not surprise me, for I have not, I hope, the vanity of affectation to say that it was entirely unexpected. You wish one to write plainly to you. I will. I thank you for the expression of your feelings towards me, and I esteem you highly for them. I will go a little further than this and say that for the two years that have elapsed since I have seen you I have thought of you with feeling of respect and esteem that since our correspondence has ripened into love. I am not ashamed to write thus to you for I feel that you are sincere in the expression of your feelings, and wish me to be the same in mine. Your letter made me very happy, and yet I almost tremble to think it may be but a dream of happiness, a dream that will soon fade away. Shall this dream fade? Or shall it be realized? Oh! Marco – I cannot express my feeling as I wish, on paper. I want to see you. I cannot wait the lapse of time that must pass before I can see you.
She closes this letter with, “And believe me, ever yours, Amanda M. Walker.”
Their First Kiss?
The first face-to-face meeting after beginning their correspondence is in January 1855. On January 16, 1855 Marco writes that he will be at Amanda’s in Grand Rapids on Saturday, January 27. He is quite verbose in expressing his love for Amanda and their future together as seen by these passages:
I have said that no one should have my sincere love until I had evidence of theirs in return. I feel that I have yours, and to say that I love you is but reading the title page of my feelings. My heart is yours. Yours, did I say? Yes, yours forever. Nor have I given it to you with the first thought that you would crush it and wring the very life blood from it. My happiness is in your hands. If you should blast my hopes, which now run high, the grave would be a welcome bed for me. I must risk all with you. My anticipations for the future are bright. Oh, Amanda. What is it that has directed our feelings toward one another so. Is it a graceful form? Or a pretty face? Or a sparkling eye? No, I think no one can say this of us. But has it not been from a principle and under the direction of a Devine hand? I want to see you very much, and think some of starting for the Rapids next week, if the going is so that I can draw a good load both ways. If so I shall be with you on Saturday the 27th.
But do not look too hard for me, for fear that you may be disappointed. Do not anticipate of seeing a very great personage, nor a man of fashion, but a plain every day fellow, broad shoulders and weighing abut 170 lbs, and I think not very good looking.
There is no doubt how Amanda feels about the visit by Marco. In her diary entry for January 27, 1855, she is positively giddy.
Why is it that I am so restless today? And why does the day seem so long? I can hardly wait. What has made me love one whom I have hardly seen? Ah! It is his letters speaking the warm earnest language of the heart. One who can write such letters cannot be unworthy of love.
Based on the context of their letters following this meeting, it appears there was some sort of proposal and acceptance for the coming wedding. However, the nature of the proposal is unknown and the exact date for the wedding was established in later correspondence.
The Mother-in-Law
Marco’s mother, Mary Salome, records Marco’s first trip to see Amanda in her diary for January 26, 1855: “Marco started yesterday on a speculation to the Grand Rapids.” Note that she does not refer to Amanda by name although there are various references in our historical documents that Amanda and the Roys family were well acquainted when Amanda was living in Brady. Then, on January 31 Mary Salome records Marco’s return: “Marco came home just at night from his Grand Rapid speculation.”
Until now she has made no mention of Marco’s involvement with Amanda. However, it must be admitted their only involvement to date has been an exchange of letters, and the overall context of Mary Salome’s diary is a recording of specific events and activities (chores accomplished, visits to and by neighbors, trips by Marco and her husband apparently for farm activities, etc.). Note that even here, in commenting about Marco’s trip to Grand Rapids, she does not acknowledge Amanda by name. Did Marco not tell his mother why he was going to Grand Rapids? Is this an attempt by Mary Salome to maintain their privacy in her diary? Is there implied disapproval of their relationship? Only time provides an answer. Mary Salome maintains this disaffected way of recording Marco’s contact with Amanda until Marco finally is home with his new bride the following September.
Nevertheless, we do know that sometime after Marco’s January trip to Grand Rapids he informed his parents of their engagement. On March 1, 1855 he told Amanda that he had showed his mother and father what was probably a dageurrotype or, perhaps, a tintype (although the latter was not introduced until 1853) of her after his return, adding, “They were much pleased and said we might as well be married this spring as any time. But I think not.”
Suddenly, Marco makes another trip to Grand Rapids, apparently in response to the crisis caused by an unsigned letter accusing Amanda of being a coquette and more. There is no mention of this trip by Marco or Amanda in previous letters. The only information we have for the exact dates comes from Mary Salome’s diary. On July 2, 1855 she records: “Marco has gone to ride, all by himself.” On July 6, 1855 she writes, “Marco has come home, alone, as he went. He came at noon.”
Mary Salome’s use of the word “alone” could possibly imply that Marco had told her that he may be bringing Amanda back with him. On July 8, 1855 in Marco’s first letter to Amanda upon returning to Brady, he says, “I am so happy when with you, it pained me much to have to leave you, but I could not urge you to leave your school as you had promised to come when it was out.” Amanda writes Marco almost simultaneously on July 9, 1855,
Marco, I wish that I had consented to your request. I miss you more than I thought. The time seems very long before I shall see you again, and time flies on leaden wings and will until I see you again. I shall not wait until September unless you say so, for if you write me when you will be ready, I can be at the same time.
In writing about the marriage itself, Mary Salome records on September 17, 1855:
I was up at 3 o’clock this morning as Master Marco wished to ride out – I suppose for his health & some other business.
This is all she has to say about this momentous event in Marco’s life. Continuing that day’s entry is:
It has rained some hard showers today. Ett has been washing & my work as usual.
Then, on September 20, 1855 she writes, “Business as usual until noon, when the stage left Mr & Mrs Walker here from Kalamazoo. Soon after Marco and his wife came. Mr. Stevens & wife here on the occasion.” The Walkers are probably Amanda’s mother and father. The Stevens relationship to the Roys family is unknown, but they make frequent appearances in the diaries, and there is one reference to them being Amanda’s aunt and uncle.
Mary Salome never uses Amanda’s name in any of these entries except when recording Amanda’s arrival for a short visit in April 1855 . Furthermore, after the marriage it is not until October 1 that she first refers to Marco’s wife as “Amanda,” saying, “Marco & Amanda have been gone all day to Schoolcraft,” preceded by referring to “Marco and wife” on September 23.
It is not possible to know for certain the reason for Mary Salome to write so. It could be a sly or sardonic sense of humor or something more basic.
A Storm on the Sea of Love
Alas, all is not without stress during the courtship. On April 29, 1855 Marco writes:
Today’s mail brought me a letter mailed at Grand Rapids, May 1st without any signature. But pretending to be a lady. There is something in the dark and mischief afoot, which time will bring to light. Now, if I have your confidence, which I trust I have, you will not refuse me anything that will help to ferret it out. Will you please to send me one of Mr. Carter’s letters, or a specimen of his handwriting, if you have it in your possession.
Amanda immediately replies on May 6, 1855, strongly defending Mr. Carter.
He never could have written it, whatever it may be, for he would not stoop to write an anonymous letter to anyone, much less to you with whom he is not the least acquainted. He is too much of a gentleman. I cannot imagine what the letter can contain as you do not give me the least idea of its contents. But you can exonerate Mr Carter from having any hand in it. He is innocent. I will however send you a specimen of his handwriting if you wish it. ....... Your suspicions rest on Mr C., I know, but they need not. I know him too well to believe him capable of doing any mean thing or of trying to make trouble.
On June 3, 1855 Amanda reveals all (maybe) about her past relationships. There probably is a letter from Marco to Amanda missing from the collection that falls between this letter and her earlier letter of May 6. The missing letter apparently contained the unsigned letter sent to Marco.
I have thought very much of that letter. That a part of it is true I will not attempt to deny. I refer to the “engagement” that is mentioned. You never asked me anything about it, but perhaps you ought to know that when I was teaching at Vicksburg I was engaged to Mr. Carter. My father disliked him very much as he told you himself. And I was very unjust to Mr. C and treated him very unkindly. I gave him reason to say he would not speak to me. I have been the cause of much unhappiness to him, for I believe he loved me truly (if ever man loved a woman). This is I think what that letter refers to. The other engagement dates away back in the buried past when I was but a child in years. It was broken and then the first dark shadow fell upon my spirit. It was long years ago. The past has swallowed all but it wrought a change in me. And will probably exert an influence on my whole life. I cannot tell who wrote the letter – it must be someone acquainted with me – that it is by a lady I do not for a moment doubt, but the handwriting, I think, is disguised. I am sorry to be called a “coquette” in earnest though Mother has often called me one. All I can say to that charge is that I did not intend to be a “coquette.” I am selfish I know, and often I think more of myself than of others around me. We are all inclined to be selfish and I feel I am no exception. That letter seems to me to be prophetic (you see there is a little, just a very little, superstition about me). And perhaps you had better be warned by it and escape while you may. Do not feel any scruples about speaking your mind. I will release you fully from all obligations to me and you can be free to do as you please. I have thought sometimes that you were somewhat inclined to wish to be released and were too honorable to request it. If this was the case, hesitate no longer. Perhaps it will be better for you to take heed to the words of that letter. I feel that I should indeed be a poor companion for you and an unprofitable one too. My health is never the best and I am not fitted to be such a helpmate as you need. I feel this more and more every day. I do not want to be a burden to anyone. Think well, Marco, before you answer this.
[coquette: a flirt; a woman who endeavors without
affection to attract men’s amorous attention]
Marco had not received a letter from Amanda for three weeks, and in the midst of this crisis, on June 7, 1855, he panics. Obviously, this letter and Amanda’s of June 3 crossed in the mail. This letter also confirms that his immediate preceding letter contained the unsigned letter from, as he says, his “friend.”
Where are you. Or what is the reason you do not write to me. Have you not got my last letter? I received yours of May 6th and answered it the same day, and sent my friend’s letter that I got from G.R. in that you might see what an interest some one had for me. I begin to think my friend is interesting herself too much and is meddling in our letters. I shall mail this at Kalamazoo if I have to go on purpose. I know there is something that is not right or I should of heard from you before this time. Amanda!!! Do write as soon as you get this so that I may get it next Thursday. Three long weeks have I looked for a letter from you, but in vain. And to wait another week seems like waiting a month. My mind is not easy. I think of you by day and dream of you by night.
On June 17, 1855 Marco tells Amanda very forcefully and clearly what he thinks about breaking the engagement. His letter is full of underlines, and double underlines, and explanation points. If they were face-to-face he probably would be yelling or, at least, speaking very strongly and with great emphasis on what he is saying.
What have I ever said or done that you should think I would wish to be released from our engagement. Heaven knows the thought never entered my breast. What! Give up an engagement that I have asked God to bless? Why I consider it to be sacred and would no sooner give it up (without a just cause) than I would my hopes in Heaven. .....
I cannot believe for one moment the charge against you, of being a coquette, no indeed. I have too much confidence in you to believe it, and then the fact of your being a follower of Christ would at once disapprove of such an idea. For I consider coquettery as a great sin and one to be greatly feared. So I freely exonerate you from that charge. .......
And now do not talk about being a burden to me. What! A burden to me who loves you so dearly? No, never. And now my destiny is in your hands. What will you do with me, Amanda? I cannot believe you will ask me to give up our engagement. I am ready at any time to fulfill it, even before the time we talked of if you are willing.
Marco’s trip to Grand Rapids over July 4, 1855 apparently is in response to the crisis caused by the unsigned letter accusing Amanda of being a coquette. It seems he undertook the trip without any advance notice to Amanda; in her July 16, 1855 letter Amanda, speaking of her wish for him to “drop in for an hour or two,” writes, “I don’t think you would startle me as much as you did two weeks ago. . . . . . If you had not come then things would have been very different as it regards our future. But ‘There is a destiny that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we may,’ and our destinies are not in our own keeping I am convinced more that ever of.”
We might surmise from Amanda’s statement – “things would have been very different as it regards our future” – that regardless of Marco’s declamations in the June 17 letter she is not totally convinced of his devotion in light of the unsigned letter and her revelations. It is easy to imagine Marco leaping into his buggy and heading for Grand Rapids as fast as he can go to assure Amanda that he is just as committed to their relationship as he ever was.
The crisis passes. The storm subsides. The author of the unsigned letter is never named in letters or diaries. Whether or not that person was ever identified is not known.
Who, and What, is Mr. Carter?
Who, then, is this Charles Carter who seems to have been forcefully injected into Amanda’s and Marco’s courtship. We know from Amanda’s “tell all” letter that she had been engaged to him and that it must have been approximately two years prior (i.e., about 1854) because she mentioned in her December 26, 1854 letter that it had been two years since she had seen Marco which must have been when she was living and teaching in Brady/Vicksburg. But initially we knew no details of their previous relationship nor the circumstances of the breaking of the engagement (e.g., by whom and when). However, as will be seen shortly, we have since learned that Amanda and Mr. Carter “go back a long way.” The first we originally knew of Mr. Carter was through a March 1, 1855 letter that was part of the Amanda/Marco collection upon which this story is based. That is, Amanda obviously made a point of saving it even though she was then engaged to Marco..
In this March 1, 1855 letter Mr. Carter apparently writes from Kalamazoo (there is no postmark on the envelope). The content seems to indicate a tumultuous relationship between Amanda and Charles. It seems he is answering a “note” Amanda had sent him even though he would rather answer her in a “personal interview.” Charles says he promised himself before she came (from where? to where?) not to speak to her if he could avoid it because she had not answered his letter and she had not treated him as a friend in spite of her promising to do so – apparently she had told him she would “ever consider you as a friend.” Another reason he gave for not speaking was so Amanda would not construe it to mean more than intended (i.e., “If I paid no attention to you, not even friendly, you would not certainly think I wished to be more than a friend in your eyes.”) He further exclaims that contrary to what she may think he does not show her letters or “notes” to anyone. Additionally, he has ceased to consider “Mrs Stone” a friend because of Amanda reporting something the woman said about Charles; Amanda was supposed to write Charles to relay this tidbit, but she had not done so. It appears that in her note Amanda asked forgiveness of Charles, which he did:
And now you ask, “Can I forgive you?” Yes I can, and do most sincerely. I can sympathize with you in your trials and sorrows. Don’t look on the dark side. You may be happy yet. It is true our paths lie in different directions as you say, but it does not follow that we may not some time mingle in each other’s society if either of us should be happily married to the one of our choice, and if such a lot befalls me first, you may be assured that you shall ever be welcome in my house.
Forgiveness for what? What can we make of this correspondence between Amanda and Charles undertaken in the midst of Amanda’s torrid – if only by written word – love affair with Marco? Charles seems to be replying to a “note” that Amanda probably recently sent him. We can surmise that in this letter she tells him of her engagement to Marco. Perhaps she tells him there is no future for the two of them. Does this mean that up to this point she thought that he considered there was still a future? There are currents and eddies in their relationship about which we can only guess, but they probably still had some influence on the life of Amanda and Marco in the Roys family after their marriage.
Amanda’s letter collection includes another letter from Charles. On June 27, 1855 he writes from Southfield Ohio to tell Amanda in Grand Rapids of his wedding to take place the next day to Caroline Dreper after a year-long engagement. He adds that they will start for Kalamazoo, Michigan on July 2. He also includes a note following the wedding. Most of the letter consists of Charles extolling Caroline’s beauty, virtues, and perfectness. It is far too easy to read too much into the letter, but a liberal interpretation could be that he is saying to her, “Look, I can get married too, and she ‘loves me with her whole heart’.” He invites Amanda to visit them:
Call and see us when you come to Kalamazoo for I know you will love her at first sight.
In her July 9, 1855 letter Amanda tells Marco that she received a letter from Mr. Carter:
Last evening received a letter from Mr. Carter stating that he was married and very happy as all bridegrooms are, I suppose. Have you ever felt jealous of him? If you have, you see there is cause for jealousy no longer.
The question about jealousy may stem from discussions at some time earlier in their courtship. In her March 12, 1855 letter Amanda makes this observation:
You know I esteem you highly. I have thought of a question you asked me several times. Would I not prefer a professional man of my acquaintance who was so foolish as to take notice of you humble servant – myself. Well, this is all nonsense and I shall tire your patience.
Marco may have asked this question because of his concern that Amanda might begin to think she was marrying beneath herself. He is much less educated than Amanda. He comes from a long line of farmers and pioneers with his father and mother making their way in Michigan not too long after the first homesteads were established on the prairies. Amanda, on the other hand, seems to come from a more genteel upbringing, although her parents are there in the Kalamazoo and Brady vicinity. Why does not Amanda say something in this letter to alleviate Marco’s uncertainty after raising the issue rather than merely going on to say, “ . . . this is all nonsense.” She probably did so when he asked the question in her presence. At least, we hope so.
In her August 8, 1855 letter to Marco, Amanda discusses their wedding plans and schedule. She says that on their trip back to Brady she wants to stop in Kalamazoo for about an hour or two to visit “Mr. and Mrs Carter” and another friend, Miss Slater “who is the only one there who knows of my returning from this city to that place, and I consider her as a very dear friend . . . “
In researching the family history collection for this article, Mary Kathryn “Kathy” Roys Lumpkin (my daughter) found photographs of Marco and Amanda in the material in her possession. Not only did she find some 1879 photographs, but because of our ongoing conversation about this article she also recognized the significance of two other documents she discovered. These were two small bound books, approximately four inches by two inches by one-half inch thick, written by Charles Carter who labeled them as “journals” and addressed them to Amanda. The two journals cover the period from November 4, 1851 to February 25, 1852. Obviously, Charles gave them to Amanda and she retained them as part of her collection.
Kathy and Valerie Shinkowski Roys, my daughter-in-law, transcribed the journals, thus providing another layer of intimacy to this story. We attempted to get a sense of the relationship between Amanda and Charles through his two letters to Amanda and the journals. The over-riding message Charles seems to be sending Amanda is how much he loves her and how poorly she is treating him – he clearly feels aggrieved by her actions towards him, but he keeps returning to the theme of his undying affection for her. It seems possible that Charles was in love with the idea of being in love. He may have truly had affectionate and even amorous feelings for Amanda, but he was, in our opinion, a romantic. It seems he may have overpowered her with his intellect. They seemed to be compatible in the areas of literature and writing – they both wrote beautifully and used very good grammar with few misspellings – contrary to the “creative” spelling of Marco – but there is evidence that Charles was more educated and well-read than Amanda. Although Charles was intellectually astute, he was blinded by his romantic nature. Often times, Amanda’s feelings toward Charles (whether by indecision or simply not having the same strong affections) were obvious by her writings and actions, but Charles always seemed to excuse or justify them in short time.
Amanda probably had some affection for Charles but was torn between her own feelings and her father’s dislike of Charles, which may explain her ‘toying” with his affections. Why else would she save his journals and letters? In addition, she seemed very determined to visit Charles and his new bride on her own “honeymoon” trip to her new home. Childish games? Possibly, but she may simply have been young and inexperienced in the ways of courting – like a schoolgirl (eighteen years old at the time of the journals). Would she have been happier with Charles than with Marco? Not necessarily, but as will be described later, there were some incapabilities between Amanda and Marco. However, for very selfish reasons, all of us in the Roys family are certainly glad it worked out the way it did.
Marco Never Wavers
In addition to his declarations of love and devotion expressed in his letters to Amanda, Marco leaves the following evidence of his feelings.
On August 17, 1855 Marco writes to his older sister Mary Serepta Roys Pierce living in South Haven, Van Buren County, Michigan in the southwestern part of the state. The purpose of the letter is to tell Mary Serepta of his impending marriage and something about his bride-to-be. However, he first berates himself for wasting time as a youth in preparing for the future, and he speaks of his life ambitions, followed by:
. . . . I react (?) myself upon the strong arm of God and trust in him to enable me to step boldly forward upon the stage of action and act well my part, let what will come, and live for some worthy object and if possible write my name high in the list of fame so that when I shall close my existence here, my name may not die as the beast of the field.
Then he tells her about Amanda.
The one that my destiny now rests on shines forth upon me like a star that has risen high in the horizon and promises to be a light to my path and a lamp to my feet. Her name is Amanda Melvina Walker, a pretty name is it not? She is tall, slender, and rather delicate looking, with small dark eyes and hair the color of Orriette’s. She has a well organized head with large intellectual facility with high self-esteem and cautionousness full. This is as good a description as I can give of her. How do you like it? She has always been to school and taught school in a Perfect School, is easy in her ways, gentile and graceful and a professor of religion. You may think it strange how I came to make such a choice, and I almost think strange myself, but the fact is I did not make the choice. It made itself and I could not help asking her if she would be mine forever and somehow she could not, saying “yes” in less than a minute. I got acquainted with her at the time I returned from Illinois and had pleasure of meeting with her several times afterwards. Our correspondence commenced accidently year ago last spring and has been continued with a steady growth of feelings. I never urged it upon her but let it take its own course. And now we can stand it no longer and the day and hour is set – 11th of September at 11 o’clock [GPR note: This was later delayed until September 18 at the request of Amanda due to her school schedule.]. In her school house we are to be united in holy wedlock. Her school closes on Monday, and she will have the scholars meet the next day in the front room to give them promotions and presents and will finish at the wedding ceremony. Not any of them are to know what is going to happen until the time comes.
Marco’s Expectations – Was There an Incompatibility?
It appears that Amanda is concerned about her role as Marco’s wife, perhaps discussing it with him during his visit on July 4. In response he writes on July 8, 1855:
I know that you feel as though you was not capable to fill the place of a farmer’s wife. But, my dear Amanda, do not think I want you to be my slave, and drudge out your life for me. No indeed, and don’t think that I have been hasty and not thought of this important point for I had canvassed (?) it over and over, long before I mention it to you and compared you with many others. Now, if I had wanted someone to help me horde up this world’s goods and live a narrow contracted stingy life (and paid no attention to the refined and noble) I could of found a plenty of such near by. But, no, I love the refined, the high cultivated morals and intellect the noble, and graceful. Therefore, I have chosen you, and have had no cause as yet to repent although you persist in saying that I may repent. When it is time to repent then I will repent, but not before. Now, as I have well considered this point, are you willing to trust me to manage the rest?
Marco’s letter of July 29, 1855 is in response to Amanda’s question in her letter of July 16, 1855, in which she asks, “Will you write to me all your plans and intentions? So that I shall know what to do. At present I am in the dark as to the future.” Although she does not explicitly ask what is to be her role in their household, Marco answers thusly:
And now you want to know what you must do. Well, really. I hardly know what to set you to do. You may do just what you are a mind to. Will that suit you? But I suppose it would be better to find something for those little slender fingers to do and keep them out of mischief. Mother will consider it her exclusive privilege I suppose to manage the affairs of the house as she has always done as long as she can stand on her feet, and we shall have to humor her in it.
There are other expressions of doubt and concern about the coming union, but probably no more than those experienced by any other couple who are trying to establish their relationship. Nevertheless, their writings reveal some of their individual beliefs.
Amanda several times acknowledges her health issues and is concerned that she might not be capable of meeting her obligations as Marco’s wife at the farm. Indeed, after the marriage Marco’s mother notes Amanda’s relatively frequent illnesses – although she did not record their details – but several times the tone of her writing implies that she might have thought that Amanda is a little too willing to be ill.
Amanda reveals her intellectual aspirations on April 22, 1855:
I know not why it is but there has been ever in my heart a longing after something higher than I have yet attained. Perhaps I am too aspiring, but I cannot bear to settle down and plod along in the common walks of life. My spirit longs for something more than this. The intellectual overrules the domestic in my temperament. . . . my Idol is Education. Yes, I am a worshiper at the Shrine of Science. Her portals have but just been opened to my view, and I crave more. . . . If I was more domestic in my temperament I could banish these aspirings after cultivation of intellect and never sigh for the inspiration of genius.
On the other hand, Marco seems to have a slightly different view of the “intellectual.” In his response on April 29, 1855 he cautions Amanda.
But I am afraid you are aspiring too high, a grasping for more than your physical constitutions can have, and when I think of your pale cheeks and the danger of an over-exercised mind, it gives me unpleasant feelings.
Amanda does not give up her desire to continue her intellectual pursuits. On July 9, 1855 she seems to be saying that Marco did not want her to go back to school. She could be referring to a teaching position, but in the overall context it seems she is talking about her own schooling.
If you will not consent to my going to school any more because, forsooth, I have made a promise that must be fulfilled, will you study with me? Do not think me silly now, for I am in sober earnest. It is time we were arranging our plans for the future, is it not? And what shall they be? Shall we settle down in contented ease or shall we strive to grow wiser and better every day? . . . Our interests are to be one, our aims must be one, and high and holy they should be. You realize this do you not? I know you do, for if you did not I could not love you. You know I had devoted my life and energies to teaching. I had many plans for the future, but have resigned them all for thee, and I trust not in vain. . . . I do not think that when we are united by those ties that only death can break that all desire for advancement in our mental discipline should cease. On the contrary I think that we shall have new incentives to study and improve our minds.
On July 12, 1855 Marco acknowledges his deficits in education, but he says he is willing to do whatever Amanda wants, although he is not quite sure what that is.
I feel unworthy because I have not had the advantages of education and refinement that you have had. . . . . If ever I should have the care of children they should have an education as long as I have an arm with which to labor. . . . You asked me if I would study with you. I do not know as I fully understood your meaning. But you know that I would not refuse to do anything that would promote our happiness or be beneficial to us.
In her next letter Amanda tells Marco of having sent a few articles on various subjects to an eastern paper “some time ago.” Now she is wanting to send one to the “Rural New Yorker,” and asks Marco how to do so without being detected, “Can you tell me what to do about it?” Nothing more is said about this project, and there is no indication that it happened. Nevertheless, it does give another indication of Amanda’s intellectual aspirations.
So, what became of these aspirations? From Mary Salome’s diary we learn that Amanda seemingly was integrated – albeit somewhat slowly – into the family household helping with the chores that farm women of those times did – washing most every Monday and ironing the next day, cleaning the house and scrubbing the floors, making quilts, making and mending clothing, cooking, tending the sick, etc. This was a farm family, and it is likely that Amanda had never lived under these conditions.
Was there an incompatibility between Amanda and Marco? Certainly, there was a strong possibility – all the elements were present. However, we have no hard evidence, and it is likely that there was no more than the adjustments that many couples must undergo as they enter a new phase of their lives, particularly, in this case, where the newly weds are living he husbands’ parents.
Finally, They Are Married
Amanda and Marco continue to exchange letters throughout the summer of 1855. In many places the writing becomes pretty “mushy” and idealistic. There are many declarations of love, their mutual destiny, their impatience in having to wait to see each other, and all the rest that you might expect from a couple anxious to complete their courtship.
Eighteen months after the start of their correspondence, on September 17, 1855 Marco sets off by horse and buggy for Grand Rapids. He leaves Brady very early in the morning according to his mother’s diary, but there is no record of where he spent the night. On September 18, he first goes to the house where Amanda is living and loads a trunk containing all of her belongings into his buggy. He then goes to a church and, in accordance with a prior arrangement by Amanda, picks up a minister. Then Marco and the minister drive the buggy to the school house where Amanda is conducting the last-day-of-school activities. Marco and Amanda are married with her students in attendance (they were not told in advance what was going to happen). Two males (presumably adults) are shown on the Marriage Certificate as being present at the ceremony; their names do not appear in any other family documents.
Following the ceremony Amanda and Marco travel to Kalamazoo, part of the way back to Brady, where they stop for a visit with a female friend of Amanda’s and with Charles Carter and his new wife. Marco’s mother records in her diary that they arrived back in Brady on September 20 shortly after noon. There is no record where they spent the nights of September 18 and September 19 on their trip back to Brady.
After The Wedding Blues
So, how did it turn out? Apparently, the first bloom is off the romance soon after the marriage. Amanda writes in her diary on November 5, 1855 (about two months after the wedding):
Nearly two months have passed since last I saw you, little friend, sweet confidant, and what entry shall I make here? Bitterness is in my heart. I will stay my hand ere it inscribes words that shall cause one thought of regret hereafter.
There is at least one page, and maybe more, missing from the bound diary just before the above entry.
Then came the birth of their first child. Two sources show Laura Alice was born on June 4, 1856, almost exactly nine months after the marriage. Thus, it can be reasonably argued that the November 5, 1855 diary entry is a result of Amanda becoming certain that she is pregnant.
What Finally Happened? What Was the Marriage Like?
One other indication of their lives after marriage we have comes from Amanda’s diary entry of March 11, 1857:
I am not sure that I am in my right mind. Can I live thus much longer? Marco cannot know what a trial I have. I do wrong to trouble him with complaints at all. Is this the realization of all my dreams of the future? Is this the happy home that I once expected to have? Must I always be treated as a child and told I must remember my place and not know where and what I am?
The last document describing their relationship and Amanda’s state of mind is her last entry in her diary on April 12, 1857.
Sabbath again. I am here alone with my baby. Strange that one little remark should affect my mind thus! One person said to me, I have been dreaming of you before I slept. I wondered whether you were a Christian or not.” And have I then been so remiss in duty that others cannot tell whether I love God or not? Oh, Lord, assist me by thy grace that my daily work and conversation may prove that I am an humble follower of the meek and lowly Jesus! May no one ever say to me again “I wonder if you are a Christian?”
Marco subsequently makes an entry in Amanda’s diary, but it was not dated. It follows immediately after Amanda’s last entry (i.e., no skipped pages), and it is the last entry in the diary. However, at the present there is no way to reliably date it. He refers to a long absence, so perhaps there may one day be found in the original materials some reference to a long trip by Amanda that would give a clue as to the date of this message to her.
Sabbath Evening. I have been tracing the thoughts of you Diarist as you recorded them in this little book.
Your joys and sorrows are expressed here as they occurred in your early life while battling the storms of life alone. Though many dear friends surrounded you, there appeared to be an aching void in your heart, a sadness, a loneliness, the cause of which you appear to have buried deep in your heart –
How strange was our acquaintance brought around unsought for by either. Friendship ripened into love and there trembled for want of utterance. But time proved the two hearts to be one. true sympathy was found. the aching void of both filled. and long years have they dwelt in love together. and god grant that they may ever continue so until we are summoned to bid adue.
But now Diarist your long absence brings loneliness to my heart. But soon I trust to clasp you in my arms, which joy shall drive sorrow from my heart –
Marco obviously continues in his passion for and devotion to Amanda. Further documents from which we can deduce more about their relationship after the marriage simply do not exist. They moved to a rented farm four miles from Edgewood, Illinois sometime between July 1860 and May 1863. Marco’s mother died in November 1860 and his father in September 1877, so they were both alive when Marco and Amanda went to Illinois. We don’t know what precipitated the move. They had with them two children; in addition to Laura Alice there was Alfred Walker (named for Amanda’s father) born in March 1858. While in Illinois two other children were born: Reuben Francis (my grandfather) in January 1867 and Chester Willard in October 1868, the latter living only seven months. They moved to Russellville Arkansas in November 1873 where Marco established a hardware store and tin shop which remained in business in one form or another with and without various partners until December 1968. When my father closed the store it was the oldest continuously operating business in Russellville. Francis M. Tomkins, Marco’s merchant brother-in-law in Illinois, seems to have financed the establishment of the store. We have no information, written or oral, on the decision to establish the hardware store or how Russellville was selected for its location. Another child, Lucy Mabel Emily, was born in Russellville in 1878 and lived her entire life either in Russellville or Clarksville, a small town 25 miles from Russellville. She was a visitor in our home until she was taken to Nebraska to be cared for by her daughter and where she died in 1961.
___________
Author’s Notes
Sources used in preparation of this article were:
1. Thirty-five letters exchanged between Marco Bozzaris Roys and Amanda Melvina Walker (nineteen by Marco and sixteen by Amanda) transcribed by and in the possession of George Pat Roys. Three letters are missing from the collection as deduced from the content of subsequent letters (two by Marco and one by Amanda).
2. Diary of Amanda Melvina Walker covering the period from October 1852 to April 1857 containing relatively few entries (only 28) transcribed by and in the possession of George Pat Roys.
3. Diary of Mary Salome Johnson Roys, mother of Marco Bozzaris, covering the period from June 1854 to April 1856 transcribed by and in the possession of George Pat Roys.
4. Two letters from Charles H. Carter to Amanda Melvina Walker, written in March 1855 and June 1855, transcribed by and in the possession of George Pat Roys..
5. Two “journals” with entries from November 1851 to February 1852 by Charles H. Carter addressed to Amanda Melvina Walker, transcribed by Mary Kathryn Roys Lumpkin and Valerie Shinkowski Roys (my daughter and daughter-in-law, respectively) and in the possession of Mary Kathryn.
The creative spellings found in letters of Amanda and Marco and diary entries (particularly those by Marco) have been corrected to make this narrative easier to read. This approach was not so much needed when quoting Amanda Melvina Walker and Charles H. Carter. However, transcriptions of these documents, insofar as possible, are faithful to the original as written by the principals; this is particularly true for the Carter journals transcribed by Ms. Lumpkin and Ms. Roys.
The valuable assistance of Ms. Lumpkin and Ms. Roys is gratefully acknowledged. Not only did they faithfully and accurately transcribe the “journals” of Charles H. Carter, but they offered their perceptive insights into and interpretation of the relationship between Amanda and Charles.
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TRANSCRIPTION OF LETTER from Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce (living in Geneva Township, Van Buren County, Michigan) to Marco Bozzarris Roys (living in Russellville, Pope County, Arkansas) on October 2, 1877
INTRODUCTION
Various details as to origin, destination and date of this letter must be deduced because its envelope is missing and the year it was written was not included by its author in the body of the letter. Nevertheless, the missing information can be reconstructed with a great deal of confidence.
The author signs as "M S Pierce", who is clearly Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce, wife of Clark Pierce. The context of the letter clearly indicates that the author is giving information about the death of Rufus Almon Roys, her father. His obituary states that he died at the home of Clark Pierce on September 25, 1877. The letter has been in the possession (continuously, insofar as I know) of the Russellville branch of the Roys family. Sarepta's only living brother was Marco Bozzaris Roys who migrated to Russellville Arkansas from Marion County Illinois in 1873.
TRANSCRIPTION OF LETTER
Dear Brother
Yours of the 25th rec. You ask for particulars of Father's Death. he was watching for the ____ (?) of Death till deprived of reason two weeks before. he felt a change, a partial paralisys (sic) of the left side making him nearly helpless. he wanted me to look in his tin trunk and in an old pocket book I would find a parcel. he helped to pull himself up so to show me where it was. there was the parcel and on it was written "reserved fund $50. in another place was $20 left of the Lodge donation. and in his wallet was $4 1/2. he had paid the In (?) up to one prescription and I sent for another the day before he died which made 1 dollar and Clark paid it. all has been paid except the digging of the grave which was over looked. that shall be attended to, together with the inscription on the monument soon. I was with him alone when Death appeared (Oh I have not told you we moved him back to his old room where I could be with him any moment day or night. he objected to it at first but consented at last and was set in his chair and brought over Saturday 22nd noon. the next day he did not know where he was, said they had moved him but did not know where. he wandered in his talk the rest of his life, nothing distinct. in an hour from the time I discovered a change he was gone. Irving and wife, my hired girl, with myself, was all that was presant (sic). we sent out word. prepared the body by placeing (sic) ice on it to move as soon as possible. Irving started for Bangor, Clark for SH (GPR note: SH = South Haven Michigan). I sent the telegrams, one to Schoolcraft, one to Brady, one to Menclen (?), one to Lansing, one to Lucy and yours. We could not get one to Orriette or Mr Bush. the whole cost $9.25 (GPR note: this figure could be "$4.25"). it was decided to go with our oxen teams the old road by Paw Paw and Schoolcraft. at 11 o'clock that night we started one team with the Hearse and Irving and wife, Laura, Clark and myself in the large buggy. Almon and John in his team started a little before to go by way of Alamo for Mr Bush. the moon shone bright, the weather was warm. we joged (sic) along till past 6. we halted at Mathwan (sic?) and took breakfast. arrived at Schoolcraft near noon. they were not looking for us so soon, and a mistake had been made that the funeral was to be the next day. a little delay on our part to consent to the plans they had made for they said Brother Roys was the first to start a lodge in Schoolcraft and very many Masons were made under his teachings and we must have the privilege of laying his remains in the grave. we drove on to Vicksburg. stoped (sic) at Sam Hawkins. the news only reached them one hour before we got there. they received us with much sympathy and great respect. the Hearse with its burden was drove to the undertakers on Main Street about two blocks south of the Hotel and there brother Masons took charge of it till all were ready. so we rested till on thursday half past two (we were all invited to John Long to dinner that day). the prosession (sic) formed. the Band of Musick (sic?), the Mason fraternity, the Hearse, the family and Friends. very many were away to the County Fair. as we left the band played a dirge there and back. when we started for the cemetery the Sun shone (sic) through heavy black cloud and looked on us out of the table (?) cloud till we got to the ground when it with drew and a gentle fall of rain came down while we stood by the open grave that way all. we started towards Home and drove as far as Mr Mellow's (sic?) to stay over night. got home on Friday.
I did not see many of the old Setlers (sic). the old home was so changed I did not want to stay long. I was a stranger. I will write more (GPR note: the next three words are very close to the edge of the paper and I cannot determine what they are).
Your Sister in love
Oct 2nd M S Pierce
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Summary History of Rufus Almon Roys
Prepared by George Pat Roys, November 1997
from various sources
Rufus Almon Roys was born in Cheshire, Connecticut on February 2, 1795. His family was identified in his obituary as "middle, well-to-do class, industrious, energetic."
He married Mary Salome Johnson in Cheshire on November 25, 1816. Both were descended from original "proprietors" of Wallingford, Connecticut, a neighboring town to Cheshire. Mary Salome Johnson spent her childhood at Oxford, New York (western part of the state). Both of Mary Salome's parents (Joel and Mary ("Polly") Moss Johnson) died in1806 when Mary Salome was about 10 years old. Numerous relatives continued to live in the Oxford-Guilford area of western New York. After her parents' deaths in 1806 Mary Salome returned to Cheshire and was raised by her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs Titus Moss.
After their 1816 marriage, Rufus Almon Roys and Mary Salome moved to the northern part of Ontario County in western New York, near Williamson and Newark. About 1819 that part of Ontario County where they had purchased 100 acres was separated and became Wayne County.
However, it appears that investments failed (perhaps his farm) and on May 22, 1833 Rufus and Mary moved their household goods and four children (Laura Lorula, Mary Sarepta, Lucy Amelia, and Marco Bozzarius) on a barge via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, arriving on Sunday May 25, 1833. They then sailed for Detroit the next day, Monday, arriving in Detroit on Thursday of that week. Here he joined the family of Titus Moss (probably a first cousin of Mary Salome), and the two families traveled by wagon (one drawn by horses, one by oxen) to Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo County, Michigan where Rufus' sister, Nancy Laura Roys Bristol, was already settled with her husband Luther. They arrived at Prairie Ronde on Sunday June 9, 1833.
There is evidence that Luther was something of a scoundrel as evidenced by a few disparaging remarks in letters. There was also a diary entry by Rufus Almon Roys that after making improvements to a Luther house, Luther refused to allow the Roys to live there for two years as previously agreed.
On June 17, 1833, Rufus returned to Detroit with an wagon pulled by oxen to pick up their household goods which apparently made the trip from Buffalo to Detroit separate from the people. He arrived back at Schoolcraft on July 1, 1833.
In 1835 Rufus claimed a quarter section of the Indian Reservation on Section 13 of the Schoolcraft township. They had a home in the village of Vicksburg (known as "Brady" until after the Civil War). Rufus appears to have served as postmaster of several different U.S. Post Offices in the vicinity (Brady, Schoolcraft, and Holland) during the 1830's and 40's. All of these communities are on or near the unforested Prairie Ronde area south of Kalamazoo in the southwestern part of Michigan.
The living conditions were very crude and rough in the beginning. Almost all of the family was ill within a few days of arrival. By November 1835 they had put in 12 acres of wheat. Losses of cattle and hogs were documented in various diaries. Rufus reported that he had $1.47 after settling all moving expenses with Titus Moss.
By 1855 the family appears to be a fairly prosperous operation, having permanent hired hands (one of whom eloped with their youngest daughter, Salome Orriette), a brick manufacturing operation, what seems to be a fairly large house (at least large enough to contain two families – Rufus and Mary along with their son, Marco, his wife, Amanda, and their first child), many acres of crops, a continuous stream of visitors, both family and not.
Rufus was reported as having only a "common school" education but was said to be a voracious reader, to have a ready flow of language, and was, to some extent, a leader of public opinion. He was an opponent of slavery and a member of the "underground railroad". He was active in the temperance movement: "Many were the telling blows dealt by act, speech and pen against King Alcohol," quoting his obituary. He was also a Mason, attaining the Royal Arch Degree.
He lived with his daughter, Mary Serapta and her husband, Clark Pierce, in Van Buren County Michigan (northwest of Brady/Vicksburg/Schoolcraft) after Mary died and Marco and his family had moved to Illinois near where another daughter, Lucy Amelia, and son-in-law were living. Rufus died in the Pierce's home on September 25, 1877.
The family packed his body in ice, and at 11 o'clock that night the family started for the original homestead, arriving at noon the next day after stopping only for breakfast at a friend's home. His body was transported by wagon, accompanied by the family in a second buggy, back to Brady for burial. Burial was the following day, Thursday, under the auspices of Rufus's Masonic Lodge. The trip to the cemetery was accompanied by a band playing a dirge and a number of friends and fellow Lodge members.
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Marco Bozzaris Roys Biographical History
Compiled by George Pat Roys
Roberta Georgia
Numbers in ( ) are citations at end of article
Marco Bozzaris Roys most likely was named for a hero of the Greek Revolution which occurred from 1821 to 1831. The United States strongly supported the revolution, seeing in it a repeat of their own history of 1776. There was a period when these strong sentiments became known as “Greek fever.” New places were given Greek names such as Athens and Macdeonia Ohio and Ipsilanti Michigan. Among the illustrious Greek revolutionary heros was Marco Bozzaris (spelled Markos Botsaris in the Greek), probably the most famous. He died on August 20, 1823 following a successful night attack on twelve thousand Turks, leading twelve hundred men to fight the larger army. Unfortunately, he was killed instantly by a random shot after the battle was settled His death captured the American imagination. Of the many eulogies written in his memory, “Marco Bozzaris,” the poem by Fitzgreene Halleck, made the greatest impression. Schoolboys learned it and recited it by heart. In addition, at least three plays brought Bozzaris to the popular stage. It is not unlikely that the parents of Marco Bozzaris Roys knew this Greek history even though they do not seem to have been scholarly. In 1828 they gave their fifth child the name Rufus Bozzaris, but he was less than three months old when he died. Then, when their sixth child was born almost two years later, they must have felt even stronger the pull of the Greek fever when they gave him the full name of the revolutionary hero.
12/24/1829 Born in Wayne County, New York. Father Rufus Almon Roys. Mother Mary Salome Johnson Roys (1), (2), (3)
05/22/1833 Family immigrates to Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, arriving on June 8, 1833, (4)
09/18/1855 Marries Amanda Melvina Walker in Grand Rapids Michigan (2) (3), (5), (6)
04/06/1856 Daughter Laura Alice Roys born in Vicksburg, Kalamazoo County, Michigan (2), (3), (7)
07/31/1856 Marco and Amanda “started on the cars to Ill.” (7)
08/08/1856 Marco and Amanda return from Illinois, traveling from Kalamazoo with Rufus Almon Roys. “They have been to Ill to visit the girls,” probably referring to Marco’s sisters, Salome Orriette Drum and Lucy Amelia Tomkins. (7) Several sources have Orriette going to Illinois after she eloped with Edward Drum in December 1855.
10/04/1856 Sister Orriette appears to be back in the good graces of the family (viz., her mother) as she arrives in Vicksburg and stays for several days (7)
10/27/1856 Marco and Amanda go to Kalamazoo with Orriette “as she has started for home in Ill.” (7)
03/30/1858 Son Alfred Walker Roys born in Michigan (2), (3), (8) Apparently he was named for Amanda’s father, Alfred Walker.
07/07/1860 The 1860 census shows Dwelling No. 532, Family No. 531 consists of Marco B. Roys (age 30), Amanda M.(age 29), Laura A. (age 4), Alfred (age 1), Rufus A. Roys (age 66), and Mary S. (age 65), living in Brady, Schoolcraft Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Marco’s occupation is shown as “farmer,” but there is no occupation shown for Rufus A. (9)
11/14/1860 Mother, Mary Salome Johnson Roys, dies in Schoolcraft Michigan (2), (3)
05/??/1863 Is living about four miles from Edgewood, Illinois where with two other men he was renting 640 acres. They had over 1200 sheep and a number of cattle on good land. He paid his nephew, Irwing Pierce, $14.00 per month to work on the farm, the usual farm chores as well as herding sheep and breaking prairie. Irving stayed with Marco until October 27, 1863. (10) Edgewood is about 45 miles northeast of Centralia where is sister, Lucy Amelia, and her husband, Francis M. Tomkins, were living. (10)
08/19/1865 Is one of nine persons “duly constituted” as the First Presbyterian Church of Kinmundy Illinois (11). It is noteworthy that Amanda was not among those named even though there were listed several apparent husband/wife couples
01/29/1867 Son Reuben Francis Roys born in Kinmundy, Marion County, Illinois which is about 22 miles southwest of Edgewood. (2), (3), (12), (13)
10/11/1868 Son Chester Willard Roys born in Kinmundy, Marion County, Illinois. (2), (3)
05/09/1869 Son Chester Willard Roys dies in Kinmundy, Marion County, Illinois (2), (3)
11/09/1873 Arrives in Pope County, Russellville, Arkansas with his wife and children (presumably Laura Alice, Alfred Walker, and Reuben Francis) (13). Establishes business known as Love & Roys Hardware Co (14). According to oral history passed down by George Milton Roys, Russellville at that time was the end of the railroad line, and Marco arrived with household goods in one end of a box car and goods for a hardware store in the other end (15).
Establishes hardware store on Main Street in a frame building about where Rogers Drug store was located at the time of this interview. The family is living on the northwest corner of South Boulder Street and West 2nd Street (14).
01/28/1875 Publishes an ad in the local newspaper for a hardware store and tin shop on Main Street, Russellville Arkansas (16). This ad shows he is a dealer in hardware, stoves, table and pocket cutlery, carpenters tools, windows and doors, Charter Oak stoves and has, in connection with the store, a tin shop “in which all my Tin Ware is manufactured of the Best Material” and that all work is done promptly. He also offered tin ware repair services and a market for old copper and brass.
09/25/1877 Father, Rufus Almon Roys, dies at home of his daughter (Mary Serepta Roys Pierce) and son-in-law (Clark Pierce) in Geneva Township, Michigan (2), (3), (4), (17), (18). Mary Sarepta on October 2, 1877 writes a letter to the Roys family in Arkansas detailing the circumstances of his death and burial.(18)
09/04/1877 The first of a collection of thirteen letters from Francis M. Tomkins in Centralia Illinois to Marco Roys in Russellville Arkansas, the last of the collection dated March 22, 1880 (19), (20), (21). There is no indication that this was the first nor the last of this series of letters, but, apparently, the others were not saved. It is fairly clear from these letters that Francis Tomkins financed the establishment of a hardware store in Russellville. Nowhere in any of the historical family documents or in the oral history passed from Marco’s son, Reuben Francis Roys, to his son, George Milton Roys, to his son, George Pat Roys, is there an explanation of why Marco left Illinois to become a shop keeper (which, as far as is known, he had never been) or why Russellville Arkansas was selected as the location for his business. George Milton Roys thought it might have been because that Russellville was the end of the rail line at that time, but he never said he was quoting what he had been told by his father.
02/13/1878 Daughter Lucy Mabel Emily Roys born in Pope County, Russellville, Arkansas (2, (3)
1879 Son Reuben Francis Roys starts working in the hardware store at age 12 (12).
12/03/1879 Daughter Laura Alice marries “H.L. Eagle.” (2)
1880 1880 census lists Marco B., Amanda M., Alfred A [sic], and L. Mabil [sic] living in Illinois Township, Pope County. Arkansas (8)
early 1880s The family next lived on South Commerce Street (date of move unknown) where the current house was the “Arrington “ house. At the time the house was a two-story frame building (14). The family planted the trees in front of the house that were still standing at the time of (14), January 1991.
Reference (24) also speaks of a two-story building at 318 South Commerce Street built by M. B. Roys. This citation also describes the street as being one of the oldest streets in Russellville and at one time the main road into Russellville from Dardanelle.
02/18/1881 Dies in Russellville Arkansas. Buried in Oakland Cemetery, Russellville Arkansas (2), (3). Oral history from George Milton Roys has him dying of influenza. “He had just succeeded in getting a home built and a credit established.” (25). Some of the Oates family “inherited” the house and they tore it down and built the one owned by T.S. Arrington (24).
03/07/1881 Just three weeks after Marco’s death his daughter, Laura Alice Roys Eagle, dies in Russellville Arkansas. Buried in Oakland Cemetery, Russellville Arkansas (3). Oral history from George Milton Roys has it that she died in child birth. She was married, probably to H. L. Eagle (2), or possibly to John F. Eagle (26) from Pennsylvania (14), and the child’s name probably was Francis L. Eagle (26). Following Laura Alice’s funeral her husband left Russellville with the child, possibly to Washington County, Iowa (26), never to return to Russellville (14).
09/27/1882 Son Alfred Walker Roys dies in Centralia Illinois (28).
From the record above it can be deduced that Marco and his family moved from Michigan to Illinois at some time between July 1860 (when he is shown in 1860 census to be in Michigan) and May 1863 (when he is renting farm land near Edgewood Illinois and hires his nephew, Irwing Pierce, to work for him). At the time this chronology was compiled there are no data to more precisely establish the time of their move. A note that is part of Reference (14) indicates that he went to Illinois because that is where his younger sister, Salome Orriette Drum, was living. Additionally, his older sister, Lucy Amelia, and her husband, Francis M. Tomkins, were living in Centralia Illinois in 1863. (29)
Citations
(1) Information apparently copied from a family bible. Original in possession of Mrs O. L. Black. This copy made by George Pat Roys from copy in possession of George M. Roys. ca 1971.
(2) Data copied from Roys family bible in possession of George M. Roys. Russellville, Arkansas. December 1971. Bible came into possession of George Pat Roys, Atlanta Georgia in October 2003.
(3) Information from Roys family bible in possession of Mrs. Carl F. Parker. Sherman, Texas. Copy supplied by Mrs. Parker.
(4) Original and typewritten copy of obituary of Rufus Almon Roys. South Haven (Michigan) Sentinel, October 6, 1877. Transcriber of obituary from newspaper unknown
(5) Marriage Certificate (copy). Marco B. Roys and Amanda M. Walker. 18 Sept 1855. Original in possession of Mrs Carl F. Parker. Sherman, Texas.
(6) Collection of letters between Amanda Melvina Walker and Marco Bozzaris Roys between March 2, 1854 and September 18, 1855 in which their relationship progressed from friendship to marriage.
(7) Diary of Mary Salome Johnson Roys, 21 April 1856 through 2 January 1859. Original in possession of William J. T. Brown, New York City. Transcribed by Catherine Drake. Transcription furnished by William J. T. Brown which is stored in “Wm. J. T. Brown” file of George Pat Roys.
(8) Extract from 1880 U.S. Census, Illinois Township, Pope County, Arkansas (county seat is Russellville). pg 213. Lists members of Marco B. Roys family, including Alfred A. [sic], the son who died in Centralia Illinois in 1882 (Reference 6). There is currently no other information about Alfred Walker Roys (brother of Ruben Francis Roys, including oral history.
(9) Extracts from 1860 U.S. Census, Kalamazoo County; Schoolcraft Township and Comstock Township, Michigan (Dwelling No. 532, Family 531)
(10) Transcription of part of narrative autobiography of Irwin Pierce. Transcribed by Arlin Fairbanks, granddaughter of Gertrude Pierce Eby, who was a sister of Irwin Pierce. Clark Pierce was father of Irwin and Gertrude. Clark married Mary Sarepta Roys, daughter of Rufus Almon Roys. Transcription furnished by William J. T. Brown which is stored in “Wm. J. T. Brown” file of George Pat Roys..
(11) History of Marion and Clinton Counties, Illinois; 1881.
(12) Copy of obituary of R.F. Roys, Sr. Russellville Courier-Democrat newspaper. Russellville, Arkansas. date not shown, but ca. August 1940
(13) Copy of Application for Postmaster position in Russellville, Arkansas by R. F. Roys, Sr.; 1922; Original in possession of George M. Roys; Russellville, Arkansas
(14) Interview with George Milton Roys; Russellville, Arkansas; 6 July 1969.
(15) Interview with George Milton Roys; Russellville, Arkansas; ca. early 1970's.
(16) Reproduction of The Russellville Democrat newspaper published 28 January 1875 in Russellville, Arkansas, containing ad for M.B. Roys Hardware
(17) Original of handwritten “Record of Rufus A. Roys”. Quill pen. Old style writing and misspelled words. Prepared after death of Rufus Almon Roys, based on information it contains. Author unknown.
(18) Letter from Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce, Geneva Township, Van Buren County, Michigan to her brother, Marco Bozzaris Roys, Russellville Arkansas, dated October 2, 1877. Original in possession of George Pat Roys. Transcribed by George Pat Roys. Letter describes the death of their father, Rufus Almon Roys.
(19) Collection of thirteen letters from Francis M. Tomkins in Centralia Illinois to his brother-in-law Marco Bozzaris Roys in Russellville, Arkansas dated from 4 September 1877 to 2 March 1880. Originals in possession of George Pat Roys; Atlanta Georgia
(20) Letter from Mary A. Tomkins Sanders in Centralia Illinois to her aunt, Amanda Melvina Walker, in Russellville Arkansas, 21 August 1878.
(21) Information on the Roys, Tomkins, Pierce, Ullyette Families. Extracted from References 19 and 20, compiled by George Pat Roys.
(22) Reserved
(23) Reserved
(24) Excerpt from Pope County Historical Articles, Book 1, compiled by J. B. Lemley. Date of compilation unknown. This excerpt furnished by Fort Smith Public Library.
(25) Ad in Russellville Arkansas newspaper; ca. 1901; Includes some historical data concerning Roys Hardware Store.
(26) Copy of Abstract No. 4599 by Will D. Vance, Russellville, Arkansas. Copied by George M. Roys; Russellville, Arkansas. Abstract has the following entries:
09/18/1875 J. N. Coffee, administrator (of estate?) of J. M. Shinn, sell M. B. Roys Lots 1, 2 and 3 of Block I in J. M. Shinn Addition with a Administrator Deed
04/16/1887 A. M. Roys, widow, and R. F. Roys, son, of M. B. Roys, deceased, sells W. C. Renfroe Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Block I in J. M Shinn Addition for a consideration of $666.66 2/3 with a Warranty Deed.
09/16/1887 Amanda M. Roys, Guardian of Mable (sic) Roys, a minor of Van Buren County in State of Michigan, grants a Power of Attorney in appointing R. B. Wilson as agent and Attorney in Fact to sell Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Block I in J. M. Shinn Addition.
01/19/1888 John F. Eagle, guardian of Francis L. Eagle, a minor of Washington County Iowa, appoints W. A. McKinney of Pope County Arkansas as his agent and Attorney in Fact in order to apply to the Probate Court of Pope County to sell the interests of Francis L. Eagle in Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Block I in J. M. Addition.
05/07/1888 W. A. McKinney, Attorney in Fact for John F. Eagle, Guardian of Francis L. Eagle, sells the one-third interest of Francis L. Eagle in Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in Block I of J. M. Shill addition for $131.25 with a Guardian Deed
05/09/1888 R. B. Wilson, attorney for Amanda M. Roys, Guardian of Mable (sic) Roys, sells W. C. Renfroe Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Block I in J. M. Shinn Addition for a consideration of $2000.00 using a Guardian Deed.
07/20/1888 W. C. Renfroe and wife sell W. M. Oates Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in Block I of J. M. Shinn Addition for consideration of $1400.00 with a Warranty Deed.
(27) Reserved
(28) Copy of newspaper notice of death of Fred W. Roys. Died 22 Sept 1882. full name Alfred Walker Roys. Original in possession of George M. Roys. Russellville, Arkansas. No indication of name of newspaper, but death was in Centralia, Illinois according to various other sources and this notice.
(29) Transcription of part of narrative autobiography of Irwin Pierce. Transcribed by Arlin Fairbanks, granddaughter of Gertrude Pierce Eby, who was a sister of Irwin Pierce. Clark Pierce was father of Irwin and Gertrude. Clark married Mary Sarepta Roys, daughter of Rufus Almon Roys. Transcription furnished by William J. T. Brown which is stored in “Wm. J. T. Brown” file of George Pat Roys..
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South Haven (Michigan) Sentinel
October 6, 1877, page 2
Transcribed by George Pat Roys, Roberta Georgia, from a previous transcription of unknown provenance and a microfilm copy of the original publication.
At the residence of Mr. Clark Pierce in the township of Geneva. September 25, 1877 Mr. Rufus A. Roys in the 83rd year of his age.
The deceased was born in Cheschire (sic), Connecticut February 2d, 1795, coming of genuine Yankee stock, and was the youngest of seven children, none of whom survive him. His family belonged to the middle, well-to-do class; industrious, energetic – some of his nephews being engaged in the whale fishery, serving as sea captains. In 1816 he married Mary S. Johnson, and soon moved “out west” and settled in Wayne County, New York. Here investments proving disastrous, and the confines of civilization having made another stride setting sunward, in ‘33 he place his growing family aboard one of those ships of the “big ditch” and in due time landed in Detroit. Here he joined one Titus Moss, a kinsman, and the united families and personal effects were placed aboard two wagons – one drawn by oxen – and in company they invaded the wilderness of Michigan. After a slow, toilsome journey, during which it rained almost incessantly, greatly damaging their goods, they drew up near the present village of Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo County. The privations and vissitudes incident to pioneering in those early days were all theirs to endure, unless we except robbing and scalping by the Indians. These latter were plentiful but friendly. Sickness and disease through the aclimatory process bore an active part, and losses in various ways were not wanting. After making one or two shifts he finally, in 1835, made a claim of a quarter section of the Indian Reservation on Section 13 of the township of Schoolcraft, being part of the site of the present village of Vicksburg. Here, in the effort to rear his large family, he was ably seconded by his faithful, devoted wife, a woman of remarkable energy, prudence and thrift, and to this fact may be attributed in the main the development of their simple board cabin and potato patch into a substantial home with luxuriant orchards and smiling fields. Twenty-five years did they here keep pace with the onward march of events, a period fraught with many a scene of anguish as well as joy, with many an exercise of fortitude, and christian zeal; but in 1860 this noble woman, wife, mother, friend, was called to cease from her labors and enjoy a well earned rest in the mansions above. Most appropriately does this verse from Proverbs, inscribed on her tombstone, “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy;” apply to her character, as many an old neighbor will testify. Two years after her death, the last of the children having gone for himself, he sold his farm and has since made his home with one and another of his children, spending the major part of the time with Sarepta, wife of Clark Pierce. The other children now living are Mrs. F. M. Tompkins of Centralia, Illinois; Mrs E. Drum of Coffee County, Kansas; and one son, Marco B. Roys, of Russellville, Arkansas. Beside the four living there were five others, four of whom died in infancy; one, Laura, lived to mature womanhood, beloved by all who knew her.
Mr. Roys was a man of commanding stature and noble bearing; the weight of years up to his last sickness telling but slightly on his intellect as well as form. Though possessing only a common school education, his was no ordinary mind, and by reading and observation, aided by an excellent memory, he had accumulated a fund of information, which, with quite a ready flow of language, coupled with a happy way of presenting illustration, made him to some extent a leader of public opinion; particularly as he took a lively interest in all the great issues of the day, and always had clear and well-defined views on all the important questions that have agitated the public mind in his day. Boldly espousing the cause of the down-trodden, our “peculiar institution” found in him a vehement opponent, and for several years he was an active agent of the famous “underground Railroad”. In the temperance cause he was equally active and many were the telling blows dealt by act, speech and pen against King Alcohol.
Of his Masonic life we may briefly say he stood well with the Order, joining when a young man and attaining to the Royal Arch Degree. He helped to found and was for several years Master of the Lodge at Schoolcraft. But these were all subservient to the great cause of Christianity in which he enlisted in early manhood. His whole life was given to promoting the cause of the Master, and he was never happier than when trying to lead others in the better way. Thus, trusting in Him who has sustained him through the journey of life, and longing for the summons that should call him home, he has at last “fallen asleep”.
According to a long cherished desire, his remains were taken to the place of his old home, accompanied by those with whom he had long lived, and under the auspices of the Masonic Fraternity were deposited alongside of his wife in the family lot on Gourdneck Prairie.
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Letter from R. A. Roys to Rufus Almon Roys
dated March 13, 1843
Transcribed by G. P. Roys, Atlanta Ga, February 1992, from a photocopy of the original letter. Source of the photocopy and present location of the original are unknown to the transcriber.
INTRODUCTION
The letter is addressed to "Rufus A. Roys, P. M., Brady Michigan". This address appears to have been placed on the outside of the last page of the letter, which was then folded to form the "envelope". The postmark is stamped, but it is so faint (at least on the photocopy) that only the date ("Mar 16") and the state of origin ("Vt") can be made out.
The author of the letter stated his address at the beginning of the letter. It could be either "Newbury" or "Newberg". The former is favored simply because there is still a small town of Newbury in the eastern part of Vermont, near the border with New Hampshire. Therefore, the letter almost certainly came from Vermont, although the town from where it was mailed cannot be deciphered from the postmark.
On the New Hampshire side of the border there are still the towns of Haverhill and Landaff (Center) in Grafton County. This information is of interest in later discussion regarding the identity of the letter's author.
Numbers given in the discussion below refer to my (G. P. Roys) Master Reference List.
IDENTITY OF "R. A. ROYS"
First, it should be recognized that the initial of the author's middle name is uncertain. It has been read as an "S", but it is similar to the "A" used in the name of the addressee. However, there cannot be a direct comparison to this letter because the author of the letter, when signing it, formed his first initial ("R"), the uncertain middle initial, and the capital "R" of his last name in what appears to be a single stroke, whereas the "A" of the addressee stands alone.
The author identifies himself in his first paragraph as "....name spirit..." and as "....one who bears your name...." with respect to the addressee. Just from this self-identification one is tempted to identify the author as another "Rufus Almon Roys". However, he could be referring only to their same family name. So I looked further into his identity.
The author addressed the letter to his uncle. Having the same family name of "Roys", he most likely is the son of one of the addressee's (Rufus Almon of Michigan) brothers.
The father of these brothers was Reuben Roys, born 22 June 1750 in Wallingford/Cheshire Connecticut, died in 1811 (no further details). He was married to Lois Doolittle. There were six sons of this union:
1. Thomas Doolittle baptized 5 Mar 1778
2. Reuben Welcome baptized 16 Jun 1782
3. Samuel Jasper baptized 18 Jun 1786
4. Levi baptized 8 May 1791
5. Philander B. baptized 13 Feb 1794
6. Rufus Almon born 2 Feb 1795
This information (and associated references) is taken from my Family Record for this Reuben Roys.
Thomas Doolittle died in infancy (1779) and, therefore, is not the father of the letter's author (Reference 22).
The author states in his letter written in 1843 that his father is dead.
In the 1850 census data from Williamson New York, there are the following listings:
1. Philander B. (age 61). This puts his birth year as 1789. It is possible that he was baptized as late as 1794. Therefore, he is probably the brother of Rufus Almon of Michigan.
2. Levi (age 59). This puts his birth year as 1791, which corresponds to the known data of his baptism. Therefore, he is probably the brother of Rufus Almon of Michigan.
Neither of these men can be the father of the letter's author because they were still living in 1850.
Therefore, at this point that are two remaining possibilities as to the father of the letter's author: Reuben Welcome and Samuel Jasper.
It is known that Samuel Jasper went to New Hampshire. There is a birth record for Samuel Halsey Roys, father Samuel Jasper Roys, mother not identified, born August 31, 1820 in Landaff New Hampshire (Reference 98). Samuel Halsey eventually moved to Dane County, Wisconsin in 1845 and became a member of the state legislature, District Attorney and County Judge (all of which positions are usually filled by an attorney). His obituary (Reference 99) in 1857, in addition to providing the above information, stated that he was a native of New Hampshire. The 1850 census for Dane County lists "S. H. Roys" as an attorney and whose birthplace was New Hampshire.
Therefore, this Samuel Halsey Roys is probably the "Halsey" that the letter's author refers to in his 1843 letter as being in New Hampshire and perhaps going to study law. Unfortunately, the author does not reveal the relationship between himself and Halsey. They could have been either brothers or cousins.
Samuel Halsey Roys married Sarah K. ? , which union produced three children, one of whom was Rufus Halsey Roys. A personal communication in 1977 with the grandson of this Rufus Halsey Roys (another Rufus Roys) revealed that his grandfather, Rufus Halsey Roys, was named for an uncle who was killed the day before he was born. Several sources indicate that this Rufus Halsey (son of Samuel Halsey) was born in 1850. This information will be important later in this analysis.
On October 6, 1834 there is a record in the Cheshire Connecticut Land Records (unfortunately I do not have the volume or page number for reference) to the effect that "John Page of Haverhill, County of Grafton N.H., guardian of Amanda Halsey Roys and Rufus Almon Roys, all minors and heirs-at-law of the estate of Samuel J. Roys, late of Landaff in county of Grafton, aforesaid dec testate, appoints Selah Lewis of Southampton to look after their estate in Cheshire".
This entry indicates that Samuel Jasper Roys died sometime prior to October 6, 1834; we can assume that it was probably sometime earlier in 1834. Further assuming that the letter's author was just born at the time of his father's death (i.e., 1834) -- because of his statement in the letter that he never knew his father -- he would have been just nine years old in 1843 when the letter was written. Even if he had been born a short time prior to his father's death, it could not add more than one or two years to his age and still fit his own assessment of his knowledge of his father. It doesn't seem likely he would have been away studying at "seminary" and talking of going to West Point at the age of nine to eleven. In addition, the language and handwriting of the letter seem too mature for a boy nine to eleven years old. Therefore, I conclude that the letter's author was not the son of Samuel Jasper Roys.
It is still possible for this Rufus Almon Roys of New Hampshire/Vermont to be a heir of Samuel Jasper and not be related as a son.
Cousin William J. T. Brown has information about a Rufus Roys, son of Reuben Welcome Roys. Quoting from a May 13, 1991 letter from Cousin Brown to me, ".......went to West Point where he graduated sixth in his class in the class of 1848 or 1849. He was killed at age 24 in July 1850 in a fall from his horse at Fort Kearney Nebraska where he had been the assistant engineer in charge of building the fort. I found this information in an 1867 two-volume roster of West Point graduates."
If this Rufus of West Point died at age 24 in 1850, he was born in 1826, which would make him 17 years old in 1843 at the time this letter was written. This age is more in keeping with the maturity displayed in the letter's subject matter and the authors's penmanship and with the content of the letter, in which he states his hope of attending West Point, thus further agreeing with Cousin Brown's information. In addition, note that his death in 1850 corresponds with the family oral history coming down through the Samuel Jasper branch, wherein a grandson of Samuel Jasper (Rufus Halsey Roys) born in 1850 was named for an uncle who died in 1850.
Therefore, I conclude that this letter most likely was written by Rufus Almon Roys of New Hampshire, son of Reuben Welcome Roys, the latter a brother of Rufus Almon Roys of Michigan, and thence his nephew.
Additionally, Rufus Almon of New Hampshire in this letter speaks of the grave of “my father and your brother,” further cementing the relationship of the two.
TRANSCRIPTION
Newberg (Newbury?) Vt March 13, 1843
Dear Uncle Thinking just at this moment that the name of Roys was still extant in the world and that a kindred spirit of mine lived far out in the delightsom (sic) regions of the famous West, and knowing of no other being more intamately (sic) conected (sic) with my name spirit than you, and thinking it might be a gratification to you to hear from one unfortunate being who bears your name, I commence to write to you concerning my circumstances and feelings.
I now attend school at the seminary in this place about 25 miles from Landaff, where our folk live in New Hampshire. I have been at this school about 4 months, probably I shall stay here not much longer. My propects (sic) in future life are not very flattering. I feel like a lone bark on a stormy & wide sea foundering (sic) amid storms & tempest, but nevertheless although darkness hovers over & around me, I am resolved through my own strength to be all I can be, though ____(?) and influence are not mine, though friends I have but few and those few far from me, yet by my own feeble powers I am resolved by close application to study ____(?) a watchful diligence, to reseive (sic) a degree from the place I now occupy. Yes, my own destitution prompts me on to exertion and to strife. This may be perhaps called ambition, call it so if you please, I acknowledge no higher motive. I tell you now a secret of my own breast which no one knows nor would I tell it you if you were not so far distant, so it will never be known if bitter disapointment (sic) should be my cup to drink in the land where I was bred & born. But enough of this. You I never see nor never expect to, nor neither can I hardly form an idea of your looks and appearance having never seen my Father nor any of my uncle(s) except Uncle Welcome and then I was so small as scarcely to remember his appearance. But in my imagenation (sic) I sometimes see you. I take you to be tall in stature, long limbs, broad chest, large head, high forehead, lighter hair (perhaps a little grey), crooked nose and long feet, for I have the same, and in short a Van Buren like mane. As for myself I am a regular six footer, a true specimen of the Roys breed from head to foot, raised & cultivated amongst the granite rocks and fruitful soils of the Switzerland of America where Alpine Mountains rise with more than original splendor into clouds decked with golden rays, where the brightness and loveliness of noonday is sometimes changed into the blackness of night and the mountains send forth the voice of this howling storm and answer back the terrific music of the rumbling thunders. Such I am and such the place where my father pitched his lonely (lovely ?) cabin full thirty years ago and such continues to be the place where on a ______(?) _______(?) in a wide and deep valley between two lofty mountains, repose the mouldering (sic) ashes in a lone and narrow grave, of Your Brother and My Father-----
I intend now as soon as an opportunity offers of going to school at the Military Academy at West Point. Probably if I go there I shall go into the Army and there spend the rest of my days. Mother as I have intimated lives in Landaff N.H. & Grandmother is there with her. Rhoda is likewise there keeping school. Halsey lives at home and has got to be postmaster. He is rather a carless (sic) chap fears nothing and cares for nothing. He thinks of commencing the study of law this spring -- great excitement in N.H. between the two division of the ancient Democratic party. _____(?_ and a pack of lawyers on one side, and Isaac Hill, John Page and others on the other, the election took place yesterday (the 14th). I have no particular news to relate. The world is full of novelty, it is full of contention, hypocrisy and corruption. It is a compound of parties ______(?) and crazy men. Nothing seems too improbable for belief or too uncertain for truth. We see one man ____(?) _____(?) _____(?) and picking out a few passages from the Bible and combining them together setting the whole world in confusion and distraction. Some have gone crazy, others have got their white robes all prepared for to ascent up into heaven with & so the world goes on. Give my love to your family, write, and direct your letter to East Landaff N. H. Yours with respect R. A
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May 1, 1882 through March 15, 1883
Transcribed by George Pat Roys, June 1992
Numbers in ( ) indicate citations at the end of the article.
INTRODUCTION
This diary was given to my by my father about two years. It had been for several years in his collection of Roys family history material. He did not know how it came into his possession.
It is a small (approximately 3 3/4 inches by 6 inches) bound book of originally blank pages. It is in extremely good condition. There are no missing pages. It was written in pencil, and there is no fading of the writing. The occasional uncertainties I had in deciphering a word were only because of not being able to read the author's handwriting of that particular word. Overall, the author's handwriting was very legible.
The author does not directly identify herself (gender of the author is confidently established because of the activities she describes for herself -- school teacher, ironing, cleaning, housework, et al -- all in keeping with gender-specific role assignments in 1882). Her identity was established through several clues given in the diary.
(a) She states that her twenty-ninth birthday was on May 27, 1882. A Family Data Sheet I have for the Clark Pierce/Mary Sarepta Roys family (source unknown) shows Silvia Etta Pierce born on May 27, 1853. Another source for her birthday is an autobiography written by Irving Pierce, her older brother, in which he comments on her birth (1).
(b) Several sources (including 1) have the Clark Pierce family settled in Geneva Township, Van Buren County, Michigan, which is the township immediately east of South Haven Township, in which is located the town of South Haven on the shore of Lake Michigan. In this diary the author describes taking a boat from Chicago to South Haven, and then later going on to where her Father and Mother live. This is consistent with Clark and Mary Sarepta Pierce being her parents.
(c) As discussed below, in this diary the author mentions Gertie (who would be one of her older sisters, Gertrude L.) and Laura (who would be her other older sister, Laura Lorinda). These three sisters are the only female offspring of Clark and Mary Sarepta Pierce, thus further cementing that the diary's author is Silvia Etta Pierce.
Rufus Almon Roys is the common ancestor for Silvia Etta and me. He is her grandfather. He is my great-great grandfather. She notes on Feb 2, 1883 "Grand Pa would have been 88 years old today," and this was over five years after his death Sept 25, 1877.
The diary starts May 1882 with Silvia Etta teaching in Altamont, Illinois and ends in March 1883 with her teaching in Centralia, Illinois.
I have to admit that I fell in love with this long-ago cousin of mine as I read the diary the first time. She was a forerunner of the "modern woman" (giving the lie to that recent designation). She was obviously self-sufficient and self-supporting (there is not, to my knowledge, any information as to why she never married). She traveled alone (albeit within the confines of her environment), making her own arrangements along the way. She had a multitude of friends with whom she corresponded and visited, doing small favors for them as she went. Her older brother, Irving Pierce, in (1), described her as having the "reader's mania," finishing her schooling at Olivet and Oberlin, and being a "very successful primary school teacher." Within the time frame of this diary she changed from one teaching appointment to another in a different town (unfortunately, we do not know what precipitated the move, but it appears she departed Altamont as a loved member of the community). She returned from a summer visit to her parents' home in Michigan to attend some kind of training in Salem, Illinois prior to starting her new teaching position in Centralia. She was active in her church Sunday School and choir. Irving also described how she was crippled in 1861 by having part of her left foot removed because of “necrosis of the bone in her left heel.” I find only one reference to this handicap in her diary when she may have commented about it on June 6, 1882, "I felt so lame and sore this morning that I could scarcely move but moved around and kept going." She frequently walked between her living quarters, school and church in spite of this handicap. She does note numerous times about being tired, but these complaints are generally noted along side a list of the usual female activities of the times – sewing, quilting, cleaning, ironing, etc. She appears to have been a marvelous person.
I felt a great sense of loss when I discovered, once I identified who she was, that she died in 1888 at the age of 35 years – only five years after completing this diary . Again, Irving Pierce in (1) describes how she was afflicted with "consumption" for her last five years, eventually the disease overcoming her.
Numerous people appear in Silvia's diary. She visited in their home, and they in hers (they "called on" each other). She received letters and cards from them, and she wrote to them. She noted information about them that she received from third parties. They took her to train depots, or met her when she arrived. The diary is a treasure trove of family connections (albeit most often without benefit of last names). Nevertheless, today, 110 years later, there is the thrill of discovery in an attempt to tie all these ends together.
The following is a listing of many of the individuals she noted in her diary, along with my complete identification of them and the family relationships (when possible to be reasonably confident of my conclusions). I was greatly aided in this effort by Irving Pierce's autobiographical narrative (1) transcribed by Ardin Fairbanks (who is a granddaughter of Gertrude Pierce Eby, the "Gertie" of Silvia's diary; a copy of the transcription was given to me by William W. T. Brown, another descendent of the Eby branch (great-grandson of Gertrude and George Eby). Equally valuable has been the assistance of Ellie Maroon of Altamont, Illinois, the former librarian in Altamont, who has been diligent and thorough in researching courthouse, newspaper and library archives to help me uncover many of the missing connections; her contributions are too numerous to list individually.
People Mentioned in Diary
As listed in diary |
Complete Identification |
Comments |
Almon |
Probably Joel Almon Pierce |
One of Silvia's older brothers. Silvia notes on June 5, 1882 that she received a letter from "Almon and Annie." She records on 2/12/1883 that she wrote a letter to "Dekota." A 1898 letter I have from Almon in North Dakota speaks of "Annie" as if they are husband and wife. |
Aunt Amanda |
Amanda Melvina Walker Roys |
Wife of Marco Bozzaris Roys. Marco is brother of Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce, Silvia's mother. Marco died February 1881 in Russellville Ark. Context of diary indicates that Amanda was living in Centralia at the time this diary was written. It is known that Amanda left Russellville after Marco died, taking with her their two youngest living children (Reuben Francis and Lucy Mabel Emily), and for several years lived with family either in Michigan or Illinois. But thus far I did not have any documentation as to which. This diary provides the first positive indication that she returned to Centralia where her sister-in-law Lucy Amelia Roys Tomkins and husband Francis M. Tomkins were living. |
Arthur |
Arthur Hower |
Arthur was a businessman in Altamont Illinois at the time this diary was written (reference this diary and(2)). He was partner with Mr Spence in manufacturing baby and children's wagons. Sometime in 1883 they moved the wagon factory to Centralia. There is obviously a close relationship between Silvia and the Hower family, but thus far a family relationship has not been discovered (but I am certain there is one). |
Arthur |
Probably Arthur Pierce |
Appears to be child of John Wilcox and Laura Lorinda Pierce. The only mention of this person by full name is when Silvia records on May 10, 1882, "A letter from Laura containing Arthur's picture. He's so cute.", implying a young person. Then on February 1, 1883 she records receipt of a letter from Laura that notes "Artie" has been sick. |
Mr Davis |
Full name not known |
Possibly a former business partner of Arthur Hower ((2) states that Arthur Hower in business with Mr Davis from January 1878 to January 1879). Could be father (or other relative) of Harriet Davis, Arthur's wife (m. Feb 9, 1872). Appears to live in Kinmundy Illinois (see Silvia's entry on May 23, 1882. |
Susie Davis |
|
Almost certainly a member of Harriet Davis Hower's family, but exact relationship not known. Appears to live in Altamont. She and Silvia exchange many letters. |
George Eby |
(a) could be George W. Eby (b) could be George Quincy Eby |
(a) Husband of Silvia's sister Gertrude Lenore Pierce. (b) Son of George W. Eby and Gertrude Lenore Pierce. Whoever this person was, his birthday was recorded on December 12, 1882 (but no mention was made of his age or birth year). |
Ella |
Possibly Ella Amanda Pierce |
Silvia's niece. Daughter of Irving Pierce and Melissa Morse; if so, she was 3 years old in summer of 1882. Lived in Geneva Township. Mentioned frequently while Silvia is visiting there. Silvia records another "Ella" (sometimes shown as "Ella H." and once as "Ella Hutchins"), but this latter person is older and exchanges letters with Silvia; I do not have a family connection to this older Ella. |
Frank |
Probably Reuben Francis Roys, Sr |
My grandfather; he was called Frank by many people. He was the brother of Fred Roys and was 15 years old in 1882 when Fred died. He may have been living in Geneva Township Michigan, in that a person named Frank came to where Silvia was on 7/16/1882 while Silvia was visiting in Michigan, and then later Frank and his mother (indicating that Amanda was also in Michigan at this time although there is no mention of her during the time that Silvia is in Michigan) takes Silvia to the boat in South Haven for her to return to Illinois at the end of her summer visit. Then Silvia's entry on September 22, 1882 indicates Frank was not in the immediate vicinity of Centralia when Fred Roys died. "We have sent for Frank" (but no mention of "sending for Aunt Amanda"). Then he arrived on September 23. Her entry for September 25 notes that "Frank went home." All of these entries indicate that Frank was not in the Centralia area in September 1882, but his mother Amanda Roys was. Family oral history has him completing school while in Illinois (or Michigan), and also working in a "toy" wagon factory (note that my present investigations indicate that the wagons were for children, probably much as children now have small wagons), so he could have been away from Centralia for these endeavors. |
Gertie |
Gertrude Lenore Pierce Eby |
Older sister of Silvia Etta. Silvia states Gertie is 32 years old on June 3, 1882, which agrees with the diary of Irving Pierce (1) |
Hannah Roys |
|
No other identification is available. Silvia mentions her only once on January 28, 1883 when she records that she wrote a letter to Cousin Hannah Roys. I do not have any records of a Hannah Roys. |
Hattie |
Harriet Davis Hower |
Second wife of Arthur Hower. Marion County Ill cemetery records (3) lists her as "Hattie", which seems unusual to use a nickname rather than her complete name. b. July 11, 1848, d. July 23, 1886. She and Silvia exchange many letters and together visit friends when they are in the same town, indicating a close friendship/relationship. |
Irving |
Irving Pierce |
One of Silvia's older brothers, living in Geneva Township, Michigan. |
Jennie |
Jennie Eby |
Silvia's niece. Daughter of George W. Eby and Gertrude Lenore Pierce (age unknown). One of three girls to whom Silvia gave music lessons while Silvia visited in Michigan during the summer of 1882. |
Jessie |
Jessie Hower |
Daughter of Arthur Hower and Harriet Davis Hower. Silvia notes that Jessie was two years old on Oct 18, 1882. (2) shows Arthur and Harriet married Feb 9, 1872 (which is at least consistent with a two-year old child, but somewhat improbable in those days). |
Jessie |
Jessie T. Sanders |
Silvia's second cousin, daughter of James B. Sanders and Mary A. Tomkins, living in Centralia. Silvia records on January 3, 1883 that Jessie is 13 years old, corresponding to a non-attributed Family History Record that I have for the James B. Sanders family. |
Jim |
probably James B. Sanders, |
Husband of Mary A. Tomkins. Mary A. was only child of Francis M. Tomkins and Lucy Amelia Roys Tomkins. Apparently the Sanders family was living in Centralia at the time of this diary. |
John |
probably John Wilcox |
Silvia's brother-in-law. Husband of Laura Lorinda Pierce, Silvia's sister. |
Josie |
Lucy Josephine Sanders |
Silvia's second cousin. Younger sister of Jessie T. Sanders. Silvia records on January 26, 1883 that Josie is 11 years old, corresponding to a non-attributed Family History Record that I have for the James B. Sanders family. |
Laura |
probably Laura Lorinda Pierce Wilcox |
Silvia's older sister. Diary entry of 11/29/1882 notes that Laura is 36 years old, corresponding to a non-attributed Family History Record that I have. No indication of where she was located. The same Family History Record shows Laura married to John Wilcox. Diary entry of 7/4/1882 has Pierce, Eby and Wilcox families celebrating the holiday together after traveling to South Haven, Michigan, so it is likely that the Wilcox's were living in Geneva Township, Michigan or nearby. Several of Silvia's entries speak of "Laura and John". |
Aunt Lousia |
possibly Lousia Pierce, otherwise unknown |
Sister of Clark Pierce (Silvia's father). Listed as one of the children of Joseph Pierce in (1) who stayed near her original home in Marlborough (probably meant to be "Marlboro") Vermont. No information given in (1) as to her married surname, birth or death dates. However, Silvia's entry of May 30, 1882 indicates that she called on Aunt Lousia and Cousin Sarah (Aunt Lousia's child?) in South Haven, Mich. Are there two "Aunt Lousia"? |
Lucia |
Full name unknown. |
Silvia appeared to be very close to this person. They exchanged many letters. Silvia sent her a small picture for her locket. Lucia appears to be living in Altamont, Illinois because on May 22, 1882 Silvia records "working some buttonholes for Lucia and then we went down town", implying Lucia was there with her; Silvia was teaching in Altamont there. On November 3, 1882 Silvia records writing a letter to "Cousin Lucia", so this person could be a relative, or there were two Lucia's. |
Lucien |
Possibly Lucien Pierce |
Silvia's uncle, son of Daniel Pierce, who is brother of Silvia's father, Clark Pierce. This person was in the vicinity of Geneva Township Michigan the summer of 1882 when Silvia was visiting there. |
Aunt Lucy |
Lucy Amelia Roys Tomkins |
Sister of Silvia's mother. Context indicates Lucy was living in Centralia at this time. Aunt Lucy appears many times throughout Silvia's diary, but she never mentions Lucy's husband (Francis M. Tomkins), either as "Uncle Francis", "Uncle Frank", "Mr Tomkins", or just as "Frank" or "Francis". The Frank mentioned in association with the death of Fred Roys is not Francis Tomkins, because Silvia notes that Frank left for home after the funeral, but my Reference 6 shows Fred's funeral being held in the home of Francis Tomkins in Centralia. Conclusion -- some kind of conflict between Francis Tomkins and Silvia? |
Lutie |
Lutie Salome Eby |
Silvia's niece (age unknown). Daughter of George W. Eby and Gertrude Lenore Pierce Eby. One of three girls to whom Silvia gave music lessons while Silvia was visiting in Michigan during the summer of 1882. |
Mabel |
Lucy Mabel Emily Roys |
When mentioned in association with Aunt Amanda, this is Silvia's cousin, daughter of Marco Bozzaris Roys and Amanda Melina Walker. She was three years old at the time of this diary (b. February 13, 1878). |
Mary |
probably Mary A. Tomkins Sanders |
Daughter of Francis M. Tomkins and Lucy Amelia Roys |
Millie |
probably Melissa Morse Pierce |
Wife of Irving W. Pierce, Silvia's brother |
Mollie |
Full name not known |
Appears to be contemporary of Silvia's, possibly a relative. She and Silvia exchanged many letters. She appears to be living in Centralia. She hosts a dinner party for Mr and Mrs George Sanders on November 29, 1882. |
Myrtle |
Myrtle Enola Pierce |
Silvia's niece. Daughter of Irving W. Pierce and Mary Sarepta Roys. Twelve years old at time of this diary. One of the three girls to whom Silvia gave music lessons while Silvia was visiting in Michigan during the summer of 1882. |
Nettie |
Possibly Nettie Pierce |
Complete name never recorded. One entry has "Nettie P." She and Silvia exchanged many letters. Nettie visited Centralia (Silvia recording her arrival on November 1, 1882). It appears that Nettie stayed with Libbie during this visit, and a later entry seems to indicate that Libbie and Mrs Rahm are the same person. Nettie appears to have been living in the vicinity of Chicago because on December 13, 1882 Silvia records Nettie's departure for Chicago (after the aforementioned visit). Furthermore, Silvia on May 25, 1882 records missing a train connection at Matteson (just south of Chicago) and so "decided to give up my visit to Nettie ..." |
Quincy |
Quincy A. Pierce |
Older brother of Silvia. (1) had the following information: b. July 29, 1848; d. June 12, 1872; robust until age 7 when developed white swelling on right knee, which gradually grew worse; right leg amputated above knee in 1861 (age 13); left leg became shriveled and crooked; went to Centralia in 1871 (age 20) to learn jeweler's trade; died of gastric fever. Note that Quincy's uncle, James T. Sanders, was a jeweler in Centralia. |
Fred Roys |
Alfred Walker Roys |
Silvia's cousin (24 years old). Son of Marco Bozzaris Roys, Silvia's deceased uncle, and Amanda Melvina Walker. Funeral services were held at residence of Francis M. Tomkins in Centralia (4). |
Mr & Mrs George Sanders |
|
Silvia's cousin, Mary A. Tomkins, married James B. Sanders, so these people are probably members of that family. Their visit to Centralia in November 1882 was the occasion of a dinner party at the home of Mollie. |
Mr Spence |
Full name not known |
Partner with Arthur Hower in factory manufacturing baby and children's wagons. This most likely is the "toy wagon" factory at which my grandfather, Reuben Francis Roys Sr, worked before returning to Arkansas when he was a young man (per oral history from my father, and the tale should probably have identified the product as "child's wagon"). |
Alice Styles |
|
This person is mentioned several times. She is of interest only because, according to a non-attributed Family History Record I have, Jessie T. Sanders (Silvia's second cousin) married David Elmer Styles in 1894 (his parents were Anthony Styles and Janette Stuart). |
Mr & Mrs Ullyette |
Full name not known |
Mr Ullyette in 1879 was partner of Francis M. Tomkins in hardware store in Centralia Illinois (5). Francis M. Tomkins was married to Lucy Amelia Roys, sister of Silvia's mother. (5) is one of twelve letters from Tomkins in Centralia to Marco B. Roys in Russellville Arkansas between Sept 1877 and March 1880. Context of letters shows that Tomkins financed Marco in establishing a hardware store and tin shop in Russellville Arkansas in 1873. Mr Ullyette was a partner with James B. Sanders in a hardware store (6). |
Bill Wilcox |
Could he be the "Will" listed below? |
Living near Geneva Township, Michigan in Summer of 1882. Obviously a member of Wilcox family (brother of John Wilcox? son of John and Laura?) |
Dana Wilcox |
|
Probably the daughter (or son) of Laura Lorinda Pierce and John Wilcox (Silvia's nephew/niece). Age unknown, but the person is old enough to write letters to Silvia. |
Will |
Full name not known |
Lives near or in Geneva Township, Michigan. Silvia's entry for May 28, 1882 indicates he is father of children who are twins. He visits at Laura's (Silvia's sister). |
Silvia always started the first sentence of a particular day's entry with a upper case letter. However, for subsequent entries on that day she sometimes (but not always) started the new sentences with lower case letters. I tried to be faithful to her scheme and transcribe verbatim, but I know there must be sometimes when out of habit I capitalized the initial word of subsequent sentences. I did not consider these instances significant enough to attempt to proofread the entire manuscript to correct my errors because it does not detract from the meaning of her entries; otherwise, I attempted to duplicate her capitalization scheme.
Finally, I must make an observation about the basic content of Silvia's diary. She records events. I am fairly certain she does not, unfortunately, record a single "feeling" other than to describe a visit as "pleasant". So we do not know too much about what she was thinking and feeling about the events of her life. We know what was important to her, because she wrote about those things, but we do not know what she felt about them. Nevertheless, this is a very informative document for the archives of our family.
Transcription of Diary
May 1st, 1882 - Monday Begun work on my dress again this morning. can't accomplish but little at a time. Has been cloudy and tried to rain, very windy. A letter from Lucia tonight.
May 2, 1882 - Tuesday Bright and clear. We had schedules to make out tonight. another month's work.
May 3, 1882 - Wednesday Has rained some today and been cloudy. Received letters from Ellen S. and Angie K. The latter has gone to Neb at last. Have considerable work to do at school now.
May 4, 1882 - Thursday Much warmer today. Thunder tonight. Mrs Smith spent the P.M. here. When she went home I went along to Mr. Wright's.
May 5, 1882 - Friday Sultry today and a big hail and thunder storm tonight. Mrs Kinnamon is sewing for Hattie today and I am working away at my dress.
May 6, 1882 - Saturday Cool again. I finally got my dress done today by working hard at it. Am so glad. Was down to Mrs Tapson's (sic?) tonight looking at bonnets. Couldn't find any I wanted.
May 7, 1882 - Sunday It threatened rain this morning. finally cleared off warmer. Mr Thrapp preached this morning. Arthur's family went to church. Jessie did very well. S. School full this P.M. Had a little sing at Mr Thrapp's afterward. A letter from Mother.
May 8, 1882 - Monday Very warm today and windy. Came home tonight with a headache so haven't done much. Played at Mr Walton's awhile.
May 9, 1882 - Tuesday A rain last night and hard wind which has kept up all day. Wrote to Mother this morning. Arthur is away at Odin today. Finished Ellen's collar tonight.
May 10, 1882 - Wednesday Another rain last night but cleared off again today. A letter from Laura containing Arthur's picture. He's so cute. Card from ____(?). Sent the collar and a card to Ellen this morning and wrote to Lucia tonight. This has been a hard day's work in the school room and I'm tired.
May 11, 1882 - Thursday Cool and cloudy, rainy tonight. Arthur came home this A.M. and his future partner Mr Spence is here tonight. They are looking for a location for their wagon factory.
May 12, 1882 - Friday Such a cold, damp day. I feel like getting out winter clothes. Went to Mrs Tapson's and ordered my summer bonnet but don't know when I can wear it.
May 13, 1882 - Saturday A cold, misty disagreeable day. I wanted to make some calls but could not. Went to Mrs K- and Mrs Thrapp's before dinner and to Mrs Ellsworth's and to the hall this P.M. Mr Wright had rehearsal there. Got a card from Jim telling me that I have a position in Centralia schools. Don't know what the folks here will say about it.
May 14, 1882 - Sunday Cloudy this morning but it cleared off once more. Went to Reform Church this morning and M.E. this P.M. and evening. A card from Nettie today.
May 15, 1882 - Monday Clear and cold. My last day of school in Altamont. It went off well and quietly. Had six visitors. I feel so tired tonight.
May 16, 1882 - Tuesday I finished up my register this A.M. and drilled my class to sing. This P.M. visited Miss Partness' (sic?) closing exercises and called on Mrs Hogan. took tea at Mrs Rice. Had a sing with Miss Gray.
May 17, 1882 - Wednesday A lovely day. It is growing warm at last. I had a big time packing my trunks. found I had plenty of room. This P.M. I went with Hattie and Jessie to call on Mrs Snook and Ella Kramer. Tonight worked some button holes.
May 18, 1882 - Thursday Was busy all the A.M. doing the last things. Mr Wright had his closing at the hall this P.M. Then I hurried home and got ready to leave at 5:10. Had an exciting school meeting at the depot but I refused to stay. Stopped with Adda Thrapp in Vandalia two hours. Got to Centralia at 10 P.M. Jim met me at the depot.
May 19, 1882 - Friday Have not done much today. My cold makes me feel so miserable. Received a formal notice of my election as teacher as soon as I got here. Went down town with Mollie but did not stay long.
May 20, 1882 - Saturday Has rained by spells all day. My cold has been so bad that I did not dare stir out. Have helped Lucia on her dress and read aloud "Face Illuminated".
May 21, 1882 - Sunday Bright and cool. Went to church and S.S. this morning and we children walked to the cemetery this P.M. It is so pretty there.
May 22, 1882 - Monday So Cold. I worked buttonholes for Lucia this A.M. and after dinner we went down town. I got some traps for the children. Tonight the children had a grand concert for my benefit.
May 23, 1882 - Tuesday This morning I left Centralia and came up to Kinmundy. Mr Davis met me. Found Hattie and baby here. Her cousin Mr Spiker (GPR note: or, Spikes) is here tonight.
May 24, 1882 - Wednesday Cloudy and rainy by spells. Have felt nearly sick all day. Tonight said good bye to all and Mr Davis took me to town. Spent the evening at Mr Rohrbaugh's. They went with me to the train.
May 25, 1882 - Thursday Did not rest very good last night and had a raging headache this morning. The train was delayed four hours near Kankalee so I missed my connection at Mattison (GPR note: shown as "Matteson" on current map) and decided to give up my visit to Nettie and go right home. Got to Chicago at noon, went and hunted up my boat, found the M. Groh (sic?) in. Then cleaned up and went to Exposition building to the Grand Concert, led by Thomas. Enjoyed it greatly. Met some Covert people, then back to the boat. Saw several So. Haven people and the time passed away.
May 26, 1882 - Friday A lovely day till night. Had a fine passage across the lake and got to So Haven at 4:30 A.M. Went up to Mr Hallisk's and wakened them. Had breakfast there, then across the street to see Ellen Smith. Went to school with her. At noon we went to Annie Purdy's to dinner. After dinner went down town. Found Mrs Rogers at home and spent the rest of the day with her. Then a rain began to fall and I stayed there all night.
May 27, 1882 - Saturday 29 years old today. It has rained nearly all day. Stayed with Mrs. Rogers till near 2:30 P.M. then went to Mr Gulley's and stayed with E-.
May 28, 1882 - Sunday Went to Church this morning. I saw Irving and family come into church and took them entirely by surprise. Gertie was down too. then came home and surprised Father and Mother. After early tea we went over to Laura's. found Will and family there so I saw the twins. Laura is so thin. Babies all look finely.
May 29, 1882 - Monday Bright and clear. Have been talking, working in the garden and wrote to Lucia, so the day has gone. trunks came up tonight.
May 30, 1882 - Tuesday Finished unpacking this morning. then decided to go to town with Gertie. We did our trading then saw the Decoration services. Laura and John were there. We all went to the cemetery. After ward made a little call on Aunt Louisa and Cousin Sarah. got a card and paper from Hattie. Arthur was quite badly hurt.
May 31, 1882 - Wednesday Has rained by spells all day. Have ironed, mended and fussed around. went over to Gertie's the middle of P.M. and stayed till night.
June 1st, 1882 - Thursday A bright cool day. I got an early start, went along to Gertie's, got her and the children, went to Laura's and stayed all day. We had a good visit together.
June 2nd, 1882 - Friday Sun shone this morning but it soon clouded over and began to rain and keeps it up. Laura and John came over this P.M. and stayed awhile.
June 3rd, 1882 - Saturday Gertie is 32 today. Mother and I went over there this P.M. between showers. Could not stay long. Rained all night and most of the time today.
June 4th, 1882 - Sunday Such a cold rain. Could not go to church so I wrote letters to Ella H., Angie K., Clara E. and a card to Miss Flowers. Afterward went over to Gertie's and sung and read till night. Had a sing in the evening.
June 5, 1882 - Monday A fine day. Dora (sic?) is at his home so I washed and Father and Mother went to town. A letter from Almon and Annie. Feel tired tonight.
June 6, 1882 - Tuesday Another fine day. I felt so lame and sore this morning that I could scarcely move but moved around and kept going. did the ironing this forenoon, after dinner went to Gertie's and gave Jennie (GPR note: this could be "Jessie", but I believe "Jennie" is more likely) and Lutie each a music lesson. Then gave Myrtle one too. A letter from Lucia tonight.
June 7, 1882 - Wednesday Bright and growing summer-like. We got the work out of the way in good season and I have spent most of the time sipping (sic?) up old dresses. Hope to get a lot out of the way into bedding.
June 8, 1882 - Thursday Real warm. Gave Myrtle another lesson this P.M. Tonight Irving and I went to town to hear the graduating exercises held in our church. The house was crowded and exercises good through we could not hear all. Got home late.
June 9th, 1882 - Friday Was busy all the forenoon doing the housework and the cleaning. After dinner went over to Gertie's and stayed till night. finished up a tidy for Ella's chair. Gave Lutie another lesson but Jennie was not ready.
June 10, 1882 - Saturday Hot and dusty. Went to town with Gertie this forenoon and did some trading. Got home and found Bill Wilcox visiting at Millie's so we all visited there together this afternoon. Got a letter from Hattie.
June 11, 1882 - Sunday Most of us went to church this morning. Had a dusty ride and came home tired out. Dora came back tonight.
June 12, 1882 - Monday A fine day. Did housework all the A.M. Helped Mother and wrote to Mrs Wright, Susie Davis and a card to Mr. Paddock.
June 13, 1882 - Tuesday Very warm. have worked at my old gray dress and made it into one side of a comfort.
June 14, 1882 - Wednesday Hot as ever. I spent the forenoon in the grove, raking and cleaning it up. This afternoon Laura came and Gertie and Millie were here awhile too. Dora gone home again.
June 15, 1882 - Thursday Threatened rain last night but cleared off with only a sprinkly (sic). Tried to find strawberries this morning but only a few ripe. Irving sheared sheep yesterday and today. Went to Gertie's and gave Lutie a music lesson.
June 16, 1882 - Friday We got an early start this morning. Laura, baby and Ella and I went out to visit Ella Hutchins. She was not at home so we came back to Mrs Kingstons's and got dinner and spent the afternoon. Then came home via Laura's. Called at Avis Salnave's (sic?) and Hattie Goss's on the way home. We had a jolly time together and a lovely drive. A rain from Bangor eastward had laid the dust. Came home tired out and saying we would not try it again.
June 17, 1882 - Saturday I have felt so old all day. Kept (?) around and did most of the work. This P.M. cleaned the silver and made a batch of cookies.
June 18, 1882 - Sunday Irving and family went to church but I did not go. Wind has blown hard all day. Wrote letters to Nettie P., Hattie and Lucia. Then read the rest of the day.
June 19, 1882 - Monday Got up early and went to town this forenoon. Gertie went too. Got home by noon. Made a port cake this afternoon. Weather turned very cold.
June 20, 1882 - Tuesday So cold. Have been very busy. Cleaned and put up netting this A.M. P.M. helped Mother put the quilt on and gave lessons to Jennie and Myrtle.
June 21, 1882 - Wednesday Growing warmer. I got up early this morning and did the rest of tating (sic) for the quilting. Aunt Louisa and Claunce (sic?), Anna & Floyd, Alice & Lillie, Sarah & Roy, Mrs Monroe and boy and Mrs Moore, besides our folks, came to the quilting. We had a pleasant visit together and all seemed to enjoy it.
June 22, 1882 - Thursday Very warm today. Have felt so tired and used up. This P.M. Gertie and family and Libbie Sugars and family were here. Helped quilt a while.
June 23, 1882 - Friday Still warm. A rain somewhere last night but we did not get any. It is so dry and dusty. I wanted to go to Covert to the S.S. Institute today but had to give it up. This P.M. Mother and I had the horse and visited Mrs Sanders. A very pleasant visit.
June 24, 1882 - Saturday I spent the morning with the plant slipping and transplanting, quilted the rest of the day. A big wind storm and little rain this P.M. snow (GPR note: she probably meant "storm") coming tonight.
June 25, 1882 - Sunday A heavy rain last night but cleared off today so we went to church. Mr Ketchum preached on exchange with Mr S. An excellent sermon on regeneration. Spent the S.S. hour in the library looking over the books. Letters received from Aunt Louisa and Aunt Amanda.
June 26, 1882 - Monday A fine day. Have quilted most of the time. picked peas for dinner and went over to Gertie's and gave Lutie a music lesson.
June 27, 1882 - Tuesday I gave Myrtle a music lesson early this morning. their Mother and I fixed off visiting. Went to Mr Lee's after strawberries. Then visited at Mr Wood's till after 3 P.M. Went to town and visited several places. then Mother took me to Aunt Lousia's and left me. We took Ella with us. The day was very pleasant till near eight when it rained a little.
June 28, 1882 - Wednesday Another pleasant day. I went to Sarah's and stayed till after dinner, then to Lucien's to tea, from there to Mr. Phillip's to stay all night.
June 29, 1882 - Thursday Rather warm. I visited at Mr Phillip's all the forenoon. This P.M. Julia and I called on Mrs Skentleberry, Mrs Pannatur (milliner), Mrs Smith and at two or three stores. then Julia went home and I stayed at Mrs Rogers to tea. After tea she went with me to Mrs Fletcher's to call. Then to prayer meeting and back home with Julia. A letter from Mr Wright.
June 30, 1882 - Friday Guiteau is hung at last. It rained hard most of the forenoon, then cleared off. I cut blocks, read and passed away the time variously. This P.M. Julia and Mrs P. took me down to the depot and I went to Gd (sic Grand) Junction to visit the Rogers. took them quite by surprise. After tea we went out riding to view the country. Saw Harry's place with the rest.
July 1st, 1882 - Saturday Visited with different ones all the forenoon. Went to _______(?) lecture this P.M. with Mrs R. and back to So. H. at night. Aunt Louisa was down so I went home with her.
July 2, 1882 - Sunday A lovely day, cool and clear. Lucien's wife took me to church this morning. Union National service was held in the M.E. church. Mr Ketchum preached and the other ministers assisted. It was all very good. Irving and children were down and I came home. Wrote to Almon tonight.
July 3, 1882 - Monday I went to So. H. this forenoon and did a lot of trading for the family. Had a bad headache so I did not do much this afternoon. a hard rain this P.M. but stopped by night.
July 4, 1882 - Tuesday As fine weather as one could wish but rather too cool. We all went to So. Haven to celebrate. The soldiers of the G.A.R. furnished amusement. After dinner, which the Pierce's, Eby's and Wilcox's enjoyed together picnic style, there was music and speeches followed by a sham battle which made things lively for a while. Irving was the only one of our soldiers who assisted. How we miss Almon. We were straggling home all the latter part of the day. I got a letter from Ella H. She was so disappointed at not seeing us.
July 5, 1882 - Wednesday Still bright and cool. We all feel as we had been celebrating. Mother spent the day at Mrs Abbott's. I have sewed, cut out work and gave all the girls music lessons.
July 6, 1882 - Thursday Weather does not improve very fast. Have not felt very keen and not done much. Made two white aprons.
July 7, 1882 - Friday Spent the day cutting out a pair of gowns and doing some repairing. Weather dark and cloudy. Began raining at noon and has increased toward night.
July 8, 1882 - Saturday It cleared off after a while and this P.M. Mother and I went to town to do some trading. She got a letter from Lucia.
July 9, 1882 - Sunday Very warm today. All but Father and Mother went to church, communion day. A good service and large congregation. I had Gertie's children in charge. Mother got a letter from Mary Hale containing the sad news of Lucin's death. He died two weeks ago.
July 10, 1882 - Monday Very pleasant. I have not felt very keen and did not do much this A.M. but give Myrtle a music lesson. this P.M. I cut and fitted a dress for Mother.
July 11, 1882 - Tuesday Bright and pleasant. Mother and Millie went off to the lake shore visiting. I sewed steadily on Mother's dress and got it nearly done. At night Laura and Dana came over on an errand and I packed up my work and went home with them to stay the rest of the week.
July 12, 1882 - Wednesday Cool. Have sewed and talked all day. Mrs Rirst and daughter Laura Nutting spent the day with us.
July 13, 1882 - Thursday Still cool and clear. Laura had a woman come to wash and iron today. We put in the time visiting.
July 14, 1882 - Friday My eyes have been so weak today that I could not sew much, so I have washed dishes and done what I could to help Laura. The children went over home today to get some things for me.
July 15, 1882 - Saturday This forenoon we did what work we could and this P.M. we all went down to Will's. When we got there we were shocked to hear that Ollie Foote and a young lady were drowned Thursday night. I could not visit much after hearing that. John took me home at night. Found letters from Hattie and my Co. Supt.
July 16, 1882 - Sunday I went to church with Irving's folks. Very dusty. Frank and Julia Phillips came up this P.M. also John's family to have a sing.
July 17, 1882 - Monday A lovely day. I have done a variety of odd jobs today and given all the girls their music lesson.
July 18, 1882, Tuesday I have felt poorly all day. did a number of small jobs but nothing great.
July 19, 1882 - Wednesday Such fine cool weather. I did baking and fixing up this morning and this P.M. Mr and Mrs Skentelbury came up to visit us. At noon Gertie was surprised to see George come home. Tonight I went over to see him. Wrote to Aunt Louisa.
July 20, 1882 - Thursday Another fine day. This morning Mother and I started early for Bangor. She stopped to visit Sarah Nyman and I went on to town. Had some pictures taken and did some trading. Got back to Mrs N. to dinner. got home at 2:30. wrote to Ella H. tonight.
July 21, 1882 - Friday Have not felt very well as usual at this time. This P.M. spent at Gertie's with Laura and Millie, a real good visit. Received letters from Lucia and Susie Davis.
July 22, 1882 - Saturday Was suarly (sic?) sick today but managed to sit up and finish fixing my linen dress. It took one all day. Mother went to Maple Grove this P.M. to deliver some butter.
July 23, 1882 - Sunday A warm dusty day. I rode to church with Father. Mr Skentelbury preached the best sermon I have yet heard from him. We stayed down to go to the memorial service of Ollie Foote this P.M. at our church. Mr Johnson preached. I went to Mrs Brown's to dinner. Got my pictures.
July 24, 1882 - Monday Dora had to take another rest this week so I had the washing to do. Mother helped me through, sewed all the P.M. Growing warmer.
July 25, 1882 - Tuesday Still warmer. I did not feel very keen, so sewed all day. finished several jobs. Tonight wrote to Hattie and a card to Supt Abbott.
July 26, 1882 - Wednesday So warm. We did the ironing this A.M. and I went to town this P.M. Got me a bunting polonaise to make right up. Stopped at Sarah's a little while on the way home.
July 27, 1882 - Thursday This is the hottest day of the season. I have worked at my polonaise all day. Cut it out this A.M. and then took it over to Gertie's and she helped work on it. It clouded up this P.M. and a good rain is falling.
July 28, 1882 - Friday It was clear again this morning after the rain. I took a horse and went to Bangor, got some lace for my dress and called on Mrs Cross and Jennie Monk. Got back at noon and finished my polonaise this P.M. Wrote to Mr Wright.
July 29, 1882 - Saturday Have been busy all day picking up and cleaning up. Mother did so much that she is used up tonight. I have Jennie and Lutie their last music lessons this P.M.
July 30, 1882 - Sunday Mother and I went to church in the buggy. Drove Sam. When we got home Laura and family came over and stayed till night. After tea we had a sing together. Went over to Gertie's a little while tonight. Then came home and wrote to Lucia. Sent her a little picture for her locket.
July 31, 1882 - Monday Rain last night and this A.M. but stopped by noon. I was busy all the morning packing my trunk. Was ready to start by noon. This P.M. Father took me to So Haven to take the boat tonight. I called on Belle Brown, Mrs Grover and took tea with Julia P. Frank and his mother carried me down to the G. Grummond.
August 1st, 1882 - Tuesday Had a pleasant trip across the lake. Took the train at 8:40, got to Odin at 7 P.M. Waited an hour, then took the O. & M. for Salem. Got there at 8:30 p.m tired and dirty. Had to go to a hotel.
August 2, 1882 - Wednesday So warm here. I went to the school-house at 8 A.M. and begun school-work. Found a boarding place at Mrs Garner's with the Misses Jacksons. Sent cards home and to Lucia.
August 3, 1882 - Thursday A hard day's work and a hard headache too. It is not so easy breaking into study.
August 4, 1882 - Friday Very warm with a hard rain at noon which wet one nearly through. I got ready and went to Centralia tonight after school. No one was looking for me so they were quite surprised.
August 5, 1882 - Saturday Very warm. I did my washing this morning and ironing this P.M. with lots of talking. Tonight Aunt Amanda and I called on Mrs Rahm (sic?) and Alice Styles.
August 6, 1882 - Sunday Hot. I did not go to church this morning as I was not very well prepared. Went tonight instead. Wrote a long letter home and a card to Susie Davis.
August 7, 1882 - Monday Returned to Salem this A.M. Miss Minnie Sailley was committed to my case in C- and I have her for a room mate.
August 8, 1882 - Tuesday A good day for work and I have improved it as well as I could. My eyes feel bad. Real cool tonight.
August 9, 1882 - Wednesday So cool and bright. Miss Jackson was sick tonight.
August 10, 1882 - Thursday Miss Jackson went home this morning. The weather is growing a little warmer.
August 11, 1882 - Friday Am about tired out. Mr Abbott was called away by his father-in-law's death. School closed earlier and we scattered. Took tea at Odin with Miss Jackson. Jim and Jessie met me at C-.
August 12, 1882 - Saturday Warm. I have done very little today but study and try to rest up. Found a card from Lucia waiting me here. Wrote to Almon.
August 13, 1882 - Sunday Went to Sunday School this morning and taught the infant class. Then to the M.E. Church as Mr Green is away. Heard a very good sermon. This P.M. read through a book by "Pansy" - "Household Puzzles". After tea we took a little walk to see some beautiful flowers.
August 14, 1882 - Monday I returned to Salem this morning and to school. It has been very warm all day. Wrote cards to Lucia and home.
August 15, 1882 - Tuesday So warm. Tried to rain this morning and again this P.M. but did not much. Candidate for State Supt Mr Stratton was at school this P.M. also Mr & Mrs Hartman. A card from Susie which I ans'd.
August 16, 1882 - Wednesday Tonight the institute met at school-hall for a literary sociable. It was quite good but not better than I've seen before.
August 17, 1882 - Thursday Weather very pleasant. Those who took the sciences were examined today. The rest of us had the regular recitations. I am so tired.
August 18, 1882 - Friday Examination is over at last and I am thoroughly tired out. I do hope I shall pass well. Tonight we all left Salem. Miss Sailley and I took tea at Mr Mori's then she went south and I north to Kinmundy. Mr Davis met me at the train.
August 19, 1882 - Saturday Have tried to rest today and visit. Went out with Mr Davis this P.M. and picked peaches. They are few but nice.
August 20, 1882 - Sunday Have read, rested and visited so the day has passed quietly.
August 21, 1882 - Monday Susie and I washed this A.M. and pared and canned peaches this P.M. folded clothes and picked tomatoes.
August 22, 1882 - Tuesday We ironed this forenoon. then I did not feel well and have not done much the rest of the day.
August 23, 1882 - Wednesday Have been sick all day. Had a bilious spell last night and could not sit up but little all day.
August 24, 1882 - Thursday I felt better this morning but pretty weak. Mr Davis and Susie took me down to the train to go to Alt. At Edgewood I called on Miss Granger. Got to A. at 1:15 P.M. found all glad to see me. Tonight we all went to hear Miss Gilmore read. She did very well. I found a letter from Mother waiting.
August 25, 1882 - Friday Have rested today and visited. Don't feel very keen yet. Took dinner with Maggie and Mr Thrapp. Several children have been in to see me. Got my certificate today.
August 26, 1882 - Saturday Warm and threatening rain. This P.M. Hattie, Mrs Spence and I went to the factory. While there Mrs Rice came and on returning we all sat with Mrs Spence a while and afterward Mrs Rice came home with me. Mabel Wright came to see me.
August 27, 1882 - Sunday Warm and cloudy by spells. We all went to church this morning. 16 of the converts of last winter were taken in to the church. At S. School I taught my old class. After that we all went to Maggie Thrapp's and had a good sing with Mr. Spence.
August 28, 1882 - Monday Dark and threatening this morning and a few sprinkles this P.M. with sunshine between. I helped a little about the washing this morning and wrote a long letter to Mother. This P.M. Hattie and I called on Mrs Kilburn, Mrs Wright and Mrs Rice between showers. I stayed at Mrs Rice to tea. Miss Portness is in town.
August 29, 1882 - Tuesday This morning I went to the factory with Arthur and made a long call. Called at Mrs Ellis and Mrs Kinneman's. Mrs Kilburn called on me. Miss Portness also called here. A letter from Cen. Principal.
August 30, 1882 - Wednesday Warm and occasional spatters of rain. I went down town with Hattie and helped here pare peaches the rest of the forenoon. This P.M. we went over and sat with Mrs Spence a while. tonight Arthur went to Mason on business.
August 31, 1882 - Thursday I repacked my trunk this morning. Said good bye to Altamont and left there at 1:30 P.M. Got down to Centralia at 4 o'clock. All well here. found letters from Mother and Almon and a paper from home.
Sept 1, 1882 - Friday Cloudy and damp. I have unpacked my trunk and settled myself as well as possible. Helped quilt this P.M.
Sept 2, 1882 - Saturday Quilted this forenoon. After dinner cleaned up and went to see Minnie Sailley. She was not at home so I went to Mrs Ullyette's and sat awhile. Then Jim took us riding. So cool and pleasant. Tonight Prof. Burdick called a teachers' meeting at the city hall. So we all saw each other.
Sept 3, 1882 - Sunday A lovely Sabbath. We went to S.S. and church this morning. I taught Mrs Rahm's class. This P.M. we attended a Y.M.C.A. meeting at the park. Tonight had a long talk with Aunt Amanda.
Sept 4, 1882 - Monday School began today and if it continues as had as it has started out, I fear I shall fail. It was the hardest day's work I ever did and I am completely tired out. 76 names enrolled. Half come in the morning and the other half in the P.M.
Sept 5, 1882 - Tuesday Fine weather for school. just cool enough. My numbers has grown to 81. 41 in the morning and 40 in the afternoon. The first day of school work passed off better than I had expected and I am not quite as tired tonight. Wrote a letter to Mother.
Sept 6, 1882 - Wednesday School work is going some better. I hope to bring it around after a while so that I can enjoy it. Tonight the choir met here for practice. There are only a quartette now of them. Fred Roys is fading fast.
Sept 7, 1882 - Thursday I got along with my work a little easier today, but O those big darkies! Tonight I wrote to Hattie and then Alice and Mr Rahm called and took me to prayer meeting. A missionary meeting. Got my gossimer from Arthur.
Sept 8, 1882 - Friday My gossimer came just in time for today it rained not very hard but slow. I am completely tired out tonight with my day's work. We closed at 4 o'clock and went to city hall for a teachers' meeting. All were there, tired as I was.
Sept 9, 1882 - Saturday Have spent the day reading, writing, studying and resting. Went to the library this eve with Jessie and took out a bond so that I can get books. Jessie and I took a ride with Jim this afternoon.
Sept 10, 1882 - Sunday Went to S.S. and church this morning and S. School prayer meeting and church this evening. Read my book through and wrote to Gertie.
Sept 11, 1882 - Monday The work goes easier. A letter and papers from Ma (sic? -- could be "Ina"). Tonight went down to see Gertie Bergholt a little while. Cool and clear.
Sept 12, 1882 - Tuesday Weather growing warmer. I had a headache this P.M. but rested up a little so that I went to teachers' meeting at Mrs Ullyette's and then stayed all night with her as he is away. A letter from Lucia.
Sept 13, 1882 - Wednesday So warm. A hot wind has blown all day and school has been hard too. Am tired and achey. A letter from Ella Hutchins.
Sept 14, 1882 - Thursday Still warm. It is hard work to do anything. Went to M.E. prayer meeting tonight.
Sept 15, 1882 - Friday Hotter. The sun by day and mosquitoes by night worry me clear out. The latter are just awful. I managed to write a long letter to Almon and Annie tonight.
Sept 16, 1882 - Saturday No cooler. aunt L. and I went down town this morn and I got a new calico. also some buttons for my gray dress. Was most of the P.M. making more buttonholes in it. Tonight went down to the library and read awhile and got another book.
Sept 17, 1882 - Sunday The hottest Sunday we have had this year. I went to Sunday School and church this morning then home with Mrs Ullyette to dinner. Stayed there till 3 o'clock. Went to the church when the S.S. practiced for a concert to be held in a week. Wrote to Millie tonight.
Sept 18, 1882 - Monday We are still panting. It is so hard to do any thing this weather. After school I had to go to Mrs Probst's to have my dress fitted. Then went to stay all night with Alice Styles. Letter from Gertie.
Sept 19, 1882 - Tuesday A year today since Garfield died. It has been very warm all day but tonight is raining. I have not felt a bit well. Got a letter from Susie Davis.
Sept 20, 1882 - Wednesday Has tried to rain all day but not much water fell. I wrote to Ellen this morning. got a letter from Hattie.
Sept 21, 1882 - Thursday Cold for a change. it was cloudy and wet this morning but cleared off by night. I have felt pretty bad today and had to doctor a little. Wrote to Hattie this morning.
Sept 22, 1882 - Friday Almost a frost last night. Tonight at 10 o'clock Fred died. He passed away quietly. We have sent for Frank. I wrote to Mother and George about his death. We are drilling the scholars to march out Tuesday in procession. Teachers' meeting tonight.
Sept 23, 1882 - Saturday A lovely day. Frank came this morning and Fred's funeral was held at 2:30. Mr Green officiated. Fred was buried at the foot of Quinsey's grave. Jim has been real sick yesterday and today and Josie is complaining.
Sept 24, 1882 - Sunday Another fine day though cool. We all went to church but Jim, Josie and Mollie to take care of them. my eyes are troubling me now.
Sept 25, 1882 - Monday Nice weather. Frank went home this morning. school time was taken up with drilling ready for marching tomorrow. Wrote a postal to Almon tonight. went down and mailed it and stopped in the library and read awhile. then Aunt Lucy and I went in to Mrs Probst. saw some wedding fixings.
Sept 26, 1882 - Tuesday A fine day. our school left the house at 10 o'clock and were kept marching or waiting for 2 ½ hours. I was just tired out trying to keep 75 pupils in order. did not have school the rest of the day. The Masonic ceremonies were very fine but I was too tired to appreciate them. Wrote to Laura tonight.
Sept 27, 1882 - Wednesday An earthquake early this morning. school did not do very well today after the ceremonies of yesterday. it closed tonight for the week to give all a chance to go to the fair. We all went down to hear some street singers tonight, "Wizard Oil".
Sept 28, 1882 - Thursday The best part of today has been spent out at the fair, but it was a poor show. After I got home I wrote to Mr Skentelbury, Mrs Rogers and Mary Hale. Then went to prayer meeting at M.E. church.
Sept 29, 1882 - Friday I have sewed on my dress all day but did not get it done. We went down tonight to hear the "Wizard Oil" singers.
Sept 30, 1882 - Saturday I succeeded in finishing my dress this P.M. and put it on. Alice Styles was here a while. Tonight I went down to the library awhile. then studied my S.S. lesson.
Oct 1, 1882 - Sunday A warm murky day. it rained a little just after we got home from church. Jim's soprano was absent so I sung in the choir today. Read another book by Pansy, "Mrs Solomon Smith Looking (sic?) On". this P.M. Gertie Bergholt came in a little while.
Oct 2, 1882 - Monday School again. I worked hard enough to get my self all tired out. went down tonight and saw Lilly Probst wedding fixings. she is to be married tomorrow at 4:30 P.M. Jessie and I spent the evening at Mr Ross's.
Oct 3, 1882 - Tuesday One month of school has passed and I am glad. No schedules to make out here. A letter from Mother tonight and I answered it at once.
Oct 4, 1882 - Wednesday Weather pleasant. tonight after tea I called on Mrs Burdick. then went on to Alice's for a sing.
Oct 5, 1882 - Thursday Was too tired tonight to go to prayer meeting and had to make out my report. Got a card from Dr Holmes and sent my plate to him to be mended.
Oct 6, 1882 - Friday I had examinations in my room today and am just tired out tonight. it is the hardest day's work yet. Aunt Amanda intended to go to Kinmundy today but missed the train.
Oct 7, 1882 - Saturday I have not been good for anything today, I was so completely tired out yesterday. Went down to the train with Aunt Amanda this morning then on to Mrs Ullyette's and stayed till near noon. this P.M. I went to bed and took a long rest.
Oct 8, 1882 - Sunday Cloudy this morning but did not rain till toward night. S. School this morning and church service morning and evening. I sung again today. Read all the afternoon.
Oct 9, 1882 - Monday Cool but pleasant. school work has tired me out today. After school I went over to see Libbie Rahm. stayed to tea. on my way home I called at Mr Burdick's.
Oct 10, 1882 - Tuesday Still I get so tired with school work. Have begun to use a class book. Mrs Ullyette was over here tonight.
Oct 11, 1882 - Wednesday Mollie has begun cleaning house and has given me another room. They are all tired out tonight.
Oct 12, 1882 - Thursday A lovely day. Everything goes smoothly. Mollie was too tired to go to prayer meeting tonight so I did not.
Oct 13, 1882 - Friday It rained last night but has cleared off into a fine day. Teacher's meeting tonight which means that I am tired out again. The Woodard children were in tonight and I helped entertain. Mollie got a letter from Lucie. her school has just begun.
Oct 14, 1882 - Saturday Another fine day. I went down town this morning and drew my pay. then settled up with Mollie and got a hat. that took half of it. This P.M. wrote to Lucia and Susie Davis. studied my S.S. lesson this evening and begun "4 Girls and Chautauqua". (GPR note: it could be "....gua")
Oct 15, 1882 - Sunday A lovely day. I went to church morning and evening and S. school as usual. Mrs Rahm may take a part if not all the class. I finished my book and did other reading this P.M.
Oct 16, 1882 - Monday A rainy day. it has rained all day. I have been tired all day from walking so much yesterday. school was a little afflicted by the rain. Wrote to Mother and Clara Ellson.
Oct 17, 1882 - Tuesday It cleared off and was very fine weather today. Tonight Aunt L. and I went to baptist (sic) church. heard a fine sermon. Card from Mother.
Oct 18, 1882 - Wednesday Jessie Hower is 2 year old. The day has been cold and cloudy. Tonight we all went to baptist meeting at the opera house. Mollie entertained Mr. and Mrs Thompson.
Oct 19, 1882 - Thursday Very pleasant but cool. I went to Mr Rahm's tonight after school to go to prayer meeting but there was none and so we all went to the baptist meeting at the Opera H.
Oct 20, 1882 - Friday I received cards from Aunt Amanda and Hattie today and a letter from Mr Skentelbury yesterday.
Oct 21, 1882 - Saturday I went down town and got me a new dress this morning. Wrote to Ella Hutchins and Gertie and went riding with Alice. stayed all night with her.
Oct 22, 1882 - Sunday Another fine day. Sunday and church morning and eve. I taught Mrs Green's class. tonight a stranger preached. Received letters from Lucia and Mother. Read another of Pansy's books today.
Oct 23, 1882 - Monday And still our scholars come. two or three today. Mary has gone to St Louis to trade. will be gone all the week. aunt L. and I went to Mrs Ullyette's tonight a little while.
Oct 24, 1882 - Tuesday Another new scholar and hard day's work. We spent the evening at Mr Blythe's.
Oct 25, 1882 - Wednesday Tonight the children had a performance at Mr Row's. they had a magic lantern which was exhibited for the first time. it was pretty good. Received a letter and papers from Mrs Williams. she wants to teach embroidery here.
Oct 26, 1882 - Thursday Wrote to Mother this morning and got a card from Hattie at noon. she may not come this week. Tonight I took tea at Mrs Rahm's and went with them to prayer and choir meeting. I am so tired I can hardly wag tonight.
Oct 27, 1882 - Friday Eight weeks of school have passed and I am so glad. It seems as if I were tired all the time. we had teachers' meeting tonight. Wrote to Lucia this evening.
Oct 28, 1882 - Saturday Cloudy with a hard shower this P.M. I made myself useful in several ways this morning. finally set up some knitting. went down to the library tonight. A letter from Mother all about Mr Paddock's reception.
Oct 29, 1882 - Sunday A lovely day. S. school and church as usual. read a library book. Letter from Almon and Annie.
Oct 30, 1882 - Monday Another card from Hattie. now she is coming Wednesday. Have had a headache all day which made school go hard. went to dinner to Mrs Rahm's. Spent a part of the evening at Mr Row's. Mollie came tonight.
Oct 31, 1882 - Tuesday Cloudy all day. I have had a very bad headache all day, so could not go to a tea party at Mr Bailey's tonight but went to bed instead.
Nov 1, 1882 - Wednesday A terrible rain last night and cloudy today. Went to Libbie's to dinner to see Nettie who came this morning. Hattie and baby got here tonight.
Nov 2, 1882 - Thursday I have had a hard day's work today as I began examinations. was tired out tonight. A letter from Susie Davis. The rest of the folks went to church tonight to see Julia Stover (Storer?) married.
Nov 3, 1882 - Friday A fine day. I worked hard from breakfast to supper time and finished examinations. went to Mrs Probst tonight and arranged about my dress. Received letter from Ellen Smith and cousin Lucia. Minnie Sailley called on me a few minutes tonight. Two months of school past.
Nov 4, 1882 - Saturday I spent the forenoon ripping off trimming from my cloak. This P.M. Hattie, Mollie and I called at Mrs Rahm's on Nettie and on Mrs. Robertson. Tonight I went down to the library. received a good long letter from John and Laura.
Nov 5, 1882 - Sunday Cloudy this morning but no rain. Sunday school and church this morning and eve as usual. Gertie Bergholt called in this P.M. to see us.
Nov 6, 1882 - Monday A hard day's work. When I got home tonight Mrs Ullyette was here and in the evening Mr and Mrs Burdick made a long call. A letter from Jessie Monk.
Nov 7, 1882 - Tuesday Fine weather. School as usual. I wrote cards to Adda Thapp and Mother. We went over to Mrs Ullyette's to tea tonight. I stopped and had my dress fitted on the way.
Nov 8, 1882 - Wednesday It rained this morning quite hard and was cloudy the rest of the day. School went better than common. I received letters from George Eby and Dana Wilcox. answered Dana's tonight. Susie Davis came on the evening train then we all went to the darkey church to see a couple married.
Nov 9, 1882 - Thursday Cloudy again this morning. Susie visited the school this P.M. and after it closed we went to see the new school house. tonight the children gave one of their exhibitions here. A letter from Mother and a card from Adda Thrapp.
Nov 10, 1882 - Friday I got out of school early tonight and was excused from teacher's meeting. Jim took Susie and Jessie to a performance at the opera house, and we all went down street to hear the band play. then I read a library book all the evening.
Nov 11, 1882 - Saturday A warm windy day. rain tonight. Hattie and Susie started for Kinmundy this morning. I went down to the train with them. then came home and spent most of the day over my register and class book.
Nov 12, 1882 - Sunday A great change in the weather. almost cold enough to snow. Sunday school and church this morning, but a S.S. concert tonight which called out a full house. it went off very well.
Nov 13, 1882 - Monday Sharp and cold today. we want our winter clothes all on. I went to Mrs Rahm's from school and visited all the evening. Mr and Mrs Hall were also there and brought me home.
Nov 14, 1882 - Tuesday Clear and cool. I have taken a cold and feel badly. Stopped in at Mr Burdick's room a little while on my way from school. wrote to Mother and Almon.
Nov 15, 1882 - Wednesday Earthquake last night. A lovely day. I had Mrs Probst fix my dress a little today and tonight. wrote to Lucia. Started a letter to John.
Nov 16, 1882 - Thursday Dark and cloudy with a rain this afternoon and evening. School rather hard today. Wrote to Laura and finished John's letter tonight.
Nov 17, 1882 - Friday A dark disagreeable day. not exactly rainy but damp. School was hard work. tonight Aunt L, Jessie and I spent the evening with Mrs Weldon. My cold is better.
Nov 18, 1882 - Saturday Gertie Bergholt has sewed here most of the week. I finished retrimming my winter cloak. it took most all day. Nettie and Alice called here this P.M. I was almost sick with my cold.
Nov 19, 1882 - Sunday Clear and cool. I went to church and S. School this morning but not tonight on account of my cold. Read "A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life".
Nov 20, 1882 - Monday And still more scholars. There is no danger of my being idle in school. I work till dark. Mr and Mrs Blythe and Mr and Mrs Gibbon spent the evening here. A pleasant time. A letter from Hattie.
Nov 21, 1882 - Tuesday A hard day's work in school. tonight we all went to a festival by the Episcopalians at opera hall. had a pleasant time. Another letter from Dana.
Nov 22, 1882 - Wednesday School report cards were given out this morning but I did not get many filled out. A tea party at Libbie's tonight. There were present, besides Jim, Mollie and I, Mr & Mrs Blythe, Hall, Green, McKee. A good social time.
Nov 23, 1882 - Thursday Clear and cold. I have a cold in my side which has hurt me all day. Tonight I finished filling out my report cards for October. then went to prayer and choir meeting with Mollie. a cold walk over there. A letter from Mother, Aunt A has got there at last.
Nov 24, 1882 - Friday Cold and clear. I am tired tonight as usual. Teacher's meeting tonight but we did not stay long. Wrote to George E. and Susie D.
Nov 25, 1882 - Saturday Cold and cloudy. I got ready this morning and spent the day with Nettie at Libbie's. did not get my visit out so stayed the night.
Nov 26, 1882 - Sunday Sunday school and church as usual. This P.M. I wrote to Mother and Hattie. Mr Green preached to the young men tonight.
Nov 27, 1882 - Monday Cold. Have been as busy as ever preparing examinations. tonight went down town with Aunt Lucy.
Nov 28, 1882 - Tuesday A hard day's work in Exam. Did not have time to come home to dinner so went to Mrs Robertson's for some. a letter from Lucia and card and muff from Adda Thrapp.
Nov 29, 1882 - Wednesday Laura is 36 years old today. I finished examinations in good time today and spent the evening averaging accounts. Went to Libbie's to dinner. Mr & Mrs Geo Sanders & daughter came tonight late.
Nov 30, 1882 - Thursday Thanksgiving day, and I have much to be thankful for. I went to church this morning. Mr Green preached a good sermon. Mollie had a dinner party for Geo. Sanders. There were Mr Warner and Emma, Mr & Mrs Ullyette and Lulu, Mr & Mrs Stone, Mrs Storer and Mabel, Mrs Clark. I had a homesick feeling all day but I think the rest had a good time. Letters from Ella H. and Susie D.
Dec 1, 1882 - Friday A hard day in school. tonight I took my report to Mr Burdick and spent the evening there .
Dec 2, 1882 - Saturday Have worked hard all day on my school reports. was tired out when they were finished. Choir meeting here tonight.
Dec 3, 1882 - Sunday A lovely day and it has been fully taken up. Sunday school and church this morning as usual. Went home with Mrs Rahm to dinner and with them to the opera house this P.M. where Mr Green preached, "Jesus or Barabbas, which?" a very good sermon. tonight to church again. Mr Green preached on Fidelity. Geo. Sanders sung with the choir.
Dec 4, 1882 - Monday A hard days work again and I did not feel very keen for it. tonight I went with the Rahm's to a teachers' meeting at the parsonage. discussed the Christmas doings after the lesson. Mr Sanders went off this morning and his wife goes in the morning.
Dec 5, 1882 - Tuesday A dark rainy day. it has rained nearly all day steady. I got a letter and paper from Mother today and wrote to her and Ellen Smith tonight.
Dec 6, 1882 - Wednesday A dark day. not cold till night. it begun to rain as we came home from school. soon changed to snow and then blew furiously. grew cold so fast. I read all the evening.
Dec 7, 1882 - Thursday A very cold day. mercury -2 this morning. The children did not know what to do with the cold. I wrote Dana and Jessie Monk tonight. it was too cold to go so far to prayer meeting, so we all stayed at home.
Dec 8, 1882 - Friday Still very cold. my school had 20 out today. teachers' meeting tonight. Mr Burdick kept us till dark but it did me no good. Went to Mr Ullyette's and got his hat band to copy.
Dec 9, 1882 - Saturday A busy day but little done. I went down town, ordered some books, made a few purchases and in the P.M. went again, called on Minnie Sailley, who was out. then went to Mrs Ullyette's and stayed till night. Spent the evening reading. Weather considerable milder.
Dec 10, 1882 - Sunday A little colder. S.S. and church this morning as usual. I read a little this P.M. and wrote to Lucia. Went to church again tonight. Mr Green preached about spiritual communications.
Dec 11, 1882 - Monday A fine day, quite mild. Received a letter from Hattie. tonight went to visit with Nettie and stayed all night.
Dec 12, 1882 - Tuesday Almon's and George's birthday. A letter from Irving tonight. Teachers' meeting tonight but I had no one to go with me so stayed at home.
Dec 13, 1882 - Wednesday A traveling lecturer on "reading" has hoodwinked the School-board into paying him $50. to give us three lectures beginning this P.M. @ 3:30. we [are] dismissing all the lower rooms. A letter from Mother telling of father's sickness. I answered it and then went to the depot to say good bye to Nettie P. who started for Chicago at 9 P.M. I was sorry to see her go.
Dec 14, 1882 - Thursday Real cold tonight. that lecturer is such a humbug. Mollie and I went to prayer meeting and choir practice.
Dec 15, 1882 - Friday We closed school still earlier this P.M. in order to have more time for Prof (?) Prescoate. (GPR note: the question mark is hers.) He lectured tonight at the Methodist Church and made $85. more. Minnie Sailley came home with me to tea and we went to the lecture together. subject "Memories". it was the best I heard from him but disjointed.
Dec 16, 1882 - Saturday The day has been spent in finishing up Christmas work and making purchases. Went down town with Aunt Lucy this P.M. Tonight the Row girls were over here a while. Cards from Mother and Mrs Rogers. cold.
Dec 17, 1882 - Sunday Waked up this morning and saw snow on the ground. quite a surprise. Went to S.S. and church this morning though with a very sore throat. Stayed at home tonight.
Dec 18, 1882 - Monday Did not feel much like talking today but had to do it. tonight Aunt L, M, and I went to Mr Burdick's and spent two hours. A card from Mother. Father is on the gain.
Dec 19, 1882 - Tuesday Dark and ??very and rain by night. The Mission Band had a social here tonight, but owing to the weather but few came. Still we had a pleasant time with those who were here. They made about 10 dollars. Alice Styles stayed all night with us.
Dec 20, 1882 - Wednesday Rain all day steady, but school was not much smaller. I went to Libbie's and stayed all night. Had a good time as I always do.
Dec 21, 1882 - Thursday It finally stopped raining but is not clear yet. My cold does not get much better. Went to prayer meeting tonight and felt that it did me good. I went with more of a purpose than I had before. A letter from Lucia.
Dec 22, 1882 - Friday School closed this afternoon. Fall term is over. My scholars gave me a vase, autograph album, and Christmas card. It was quite a surprise. Tonight I went with Jim, Jessie and ??ie to the M.E. Mission Band Japanese (sic?) tea at the opera house.
Dec 23, 1882 - Saturday Started at 9 A.M. for Effingham. got there at noon. found the Fitches as usual. Spent the afternoon visiting and down to the store looking at pretty things.
Dec 24, 1882 - Sunday The Presbyterians have no minister so I did not go to church. was real disappointed. Went to S.S. this P.M. with Alfred. had to teach a class as usual. Tonight came over to Altamont and was just in time for church where they had a Christmas cantata. It was real grand for Altamont and I was agreeably surprised. They have a minister who can do more with them than anyone who has been here before. Hattie and Arthur were glad to see me and I to see them. Found a card here from home.
Dec 25, 1882 - Monday We had lots of presents this morning. mine have been coming for three days. I received a pair of fine linen towels from Ellen Smith, flannel for a skirt from Mollie, box of paper from Jim, pen knife from the girls, silk handkerchief from Aunt Lucy, another from Hattie and a linen one from Susie and a paper knife from Alfred Fitch, a Christmas card from Frank and hand bag from Arthur. tonight the Spence family and Mr Shuford were here to eat oysters and all went to Xmas tree.
Dec 26, 1882 - Tuesday I called on Mrs Kinniman this morning to get her to sew for me but could not. Mr Wright and family were here to dinner. This P.M. Mrs Rice, Mrs Kilburn and Mrs Melville called. at dusk Hattie and I went to Mrs Krammers for a short call. Jessie seems sick tonight.
Dec 27, 1882 - Wednesday The Rice family were all here to dinner today. We had a pleasant visit considering that Jessie was sick all day.
Dec 28, 1882 - Thursday We have not had company today for a wonder. it snowed some this morning. I wrote a letter home, a card to C- and sent a hat-band to Alfred Fitch, all this A.M. This P.M. Susie and I visited the factory and tonight we were all invited to Mrs Spence's to spend the evening.
Dec 29, 1882 - Friday We spent today at Mrs Rice's The Dr has gone to Colorado. Jessie is better but we did not take her. Tonight we saw a magic lantern exhibition of bible scenes at the M.E. Church.
Dec 30, 1882 - Saturday A lovely day. Susie went to Louisville this P.M. we went to the train with her. then called on Mrs Orrell. The Kramer girls and Mrs Cole called here. later I called on Mrs Watton, Mrs Cade, Mrs Kilburn and Mrs Wright. finished up at the store about tired out.
Dec 31, 1882 - Sunday Quarterly meeting at the M.E. church this morning and a long review at Sunday school this P.M. so I did not care to go out again tonight. It has begun snowing this P.M.
Jan 1, 1883 - Monday A bright pleasant day. Was busy all the forenoon doing last things and getting ready to return to Centralia. Started at 2 o'clock. had to go by Edgewood as the train was late. got through at 7:30 P.M. Walter Sanders came at 10 o'clock.
Jan 2, 1883 - Tuesday School began again today and did very well too. Tonight Jim and I went to a grand German concert by a military band from Prussia. It was very fine. a letter from Clara Ellson.
Jan 3, 1883 - Wednesday Very pleasant again. Jessie is 13 today and she had some of the young folks here to a candy pull. They had a gay time. I went to dinner at Mrs Rahm's today. Received a letter from Mother.
Jan 4, 1883 - Thursday A rain and sleet storm today has made every thing as slippery as possible. We gave up going to prayer meeting and I wrote letters to Hattie and Ella Hutchins. Sent a card home this morning.
Jan 5, 1883 - Friday I am getting tired out very quick it seems to me, but there is so much going on. We had teachers' meeting tonight. I then went to a tea party at Mr Green's. about 20 were there and we had a very pleasant time.
Jan 6, 1883 - Saturday Have been busy all day. Walter Sanders went home this morning. I did a little washing, mending and fixing up. then spent some time over my register. Tonight went to Preparitory (sic) lecture at the church.
Jan 7, 1883 - Sunday Today has been well filled. Communion after the morning service, and went to church tonight as usual.
Jan 8, 1883 - Monday Cold and icy. can hardly stand up on the walks and very cold tonight. As this is the week of prayer, I went to church tonight. had teachers' meeting after it. Alice Styles came home with me and stayed all night.
Jan 9, 1883 - Tuesday Cold and clear. school goes on as usual. a map and little writing from Almon. Wrote to Irving and Ellen Smith.
Jan 10, 1883 - Wednesday It has blowed furiously all day and is snowing hard tonight. a regular blizzard. The wind was so bad that I did not come home to dinner but Mollie sent it to the school-house. I put in 8 ½ hours of work there. Came home tired out. Received a letter from Nettie.
Jan 11, 1883 - Thursday A snowy cold time but cleared off tonight. I went to meeting with Libbie and walked back with Mr & Mrs Hall. Began examination today.
Jan 12, 1883 - Friday Finished examination today and am tired out. Worked at my papers all the evening, but have much more to do yet.
Jan 13, 1883 - Saturday Put things to right this morning, cleaned up and then went to work on school records again. I did not feel a bit like it and it was all force work but I had to do it. Mrs Moody and daughter and Mr Leffill were here this P.M. Josie's ankle was hurt yesterday by a "shinny" ball.
Jan 14, 1883 - Sunday A clear cool day. Attended the three services as usual. Tonight it was a praise service and very good. Mrs Keho and son were here this P.M. a while. Received a letter from Mrs Julia P. Law.
Jan 15, 1883 - Monday School has been very hard today and I was so tired when I got home, but I determined to finish my examination work anyway and it took till after 10 to do it. that about finished me.
Jan 16, 1883 - Tuesday My head has ached fearfully all day and it has been hard work to get around. tonight I went to Mrs Rahm's and went with them to teachers' meeting at Mr McKee's.
Jan 17, 1883 - Wednesday Today finishes examination work for this month. I had to work all the evening to fill out my report cards. Am so tired again. The snow is almost gone again.
Jan 18, 1883 - Thursday Very pleasant today. I have not had extra work to do for a wonder and I am so glad as I am not well. though tonight I walked over to prayer meeting and back. have been blessed with letters from Mother, Laura, Hattie and Susie.
Jan 19, 1883 - Friday It has grown cold steadily all day. had to go down to teacher's meeting tonight but had none after we got there. Mr Leffel and Fannie were here to tea tonight but had to leave early.
Jan 20, 1883 - Saturday A most disagreeable day. it has snowed and sleeted and blowed as hard as it could. Mollie and I went down town in it all shopping. then I mended up and sewed some. wrote to Lucia and sent $10. to So. Haven church. Tonight Jim, Mollie, Jessie and I went to the grand "Litta" concert. She was very fine.
Jan 21, 1883 - Sunday Very cold but clear. Services as usual. I wrote to Mother this P.M. and went with Aunt L. and Mollie to Mrs Hall's a little while. Church again tonight.
Jan 22, 1883 - Monday Cool and clear and sharp. I took my cloth to Mrs Probst this morning to have a new waist. tonight sewed on my skirt.
Jan 23, 1883 - Tuesday Teachers' meeting at Mr Bailey's tonight. was well attended and very pleasant. I rode over with the Rahm's.
Jan 24, 1883 - Wednesday A lovely day. I decided to visit school tomorrow A.M. so went to Mrs Ullyette's to stay tonight to be so much on my way. He is away and she is glad of company.
Jan 25, 1883 - Thursday Beginning to be cloudy and threaten storm. I visited Miss Sailley, Peters and Breaver and came home feeling better and brighter. Did not feel like walking back to prayer meeting tonight and went over to Mr Row's instead to a birthday candy-pull minus the candy.
Jan 26, 1883 - Friday Josie's birthday, 11 years old. Work as usual. Mr Burdick gave an object lesson in my room this P.M. Went to see Alice tonight and finally stayed all night.
Jan 27, 1883 - Saturday Tried to do so much work today but did not get half through. sewed on my overskirt. tonight we had choir meeting here.
Jan 28, 1883 - Sunday A lovely day over head but very muddy underfoot. Charlie Keho was here about two hours this P.M. After he went I wrote to Cousin Hannah Roys. Received letters from her, mother and Ella Hutchins. Went to church tonight again.
Jan 29, 1883 - Monday I worked early and late to finish my sewing, but did not get it done. Mr & Mrs Burdick were here a while this evening. Mary and Jim were out.
Jan 30, 1883 - Tuesday So warm this morning that it seemed like spring, but tonight it is growing colder again. A little rain and light snow this forenoon. After school I sent to Libbie's expecting to go to teacher's meeting, but it was so muddy that they did not go, so Libbie and I had our teacher's meeting together as Alice was tired out.
Jan 31, 1883 - Wednesday Clear and cold today. tonight Mollie, Jim and I went to Mrs Parkinson's to spend the evening with Mr & Mrs Burdick. We had a very pleasant time. I got "Irving's Life of Washington" from the library to read.
Feb 1, 1883 - Thursday A real cold wind today. walked over to prayer and choir meeting tonight and got tired out. Received a letter from Laura and the children last night. Artie has been very sick but is on the gain.
Feb 2, 1883 - Friday Grand Pa would have been 88 years old today. A dark gloomy day, and raining this P.M. and evening. Spent the evening on my monthly examinations. A letter from Lucia tonight.
Feb 3, 1883 - Saturday It rained very hard all night and the most of the time today. so we all had to stay at home all day. It took me 2/3 of the day to finish my monthly reports, what I could do of them. then wrote to Laura and Nettie. Miss gray called on me this P.M. sleeting hard tonight.
Feb 4, 1883 - Sunday Everything was encased in ice this morning and about six inches of sleet on the ground. It was frozen hard enough to bear up a horse. Mr Hall brought me home from church in a cutter, my first sleigh ride in a long time. I took cold in the rain Friday and it settled in my throat today so I can not sing tonight. Wrote to Mother and Hattie. My cold got so much worse by night that I had to take a sweat and felt pretty sick.
Feb 5, 1883 - Monday I felt so bad this morning that I stayed at home from school though I felt so sorry to lose a day. but I doctored up all day and hope to go tomorrow.
Feb 6, 1883 - Tuesday i bundled up and went to school this morning though not feeling very keen, but much better than yesterday. After I got to school it began to rain and rained all day much as it did Saturday, only it is not freezing tonight. I stayed at school and had my dinner sent to me. Wrote out my report cards tonight. 80 of them.
Feb 7, 1883 - Wednesday A cold day again but clear tonight. I went with Aunt and Mary to a surprise party at Mr Turley's. felt all the time that I had no business there.
Feb 8, 1883 - Thursday My cold mends very slowly. The sleighing is fine and every one is trying to improve it. our folks are on the go all the time. I went to prayer meeting with Mr & Mrs Rahm.
Feb 9, 1883 - Friday A lovely day. sleighing so nice. Tonight a load went to Mr Burk's for a ride and I went along too.
Feb 10, 1883 - Saturday Cloudy all the forenoon with snow and rain this P.M. making bad weather. But this P.M. I made a long call on Fannie Leffell and a short one at Mr Tuft's. Should have gone farther if it had not rained so hard.
Feb 11, 1883 - Sunday I did not feel a bit well this morning but went to Sunday school and church. managed to sing a little but coughed so that I did not go out tonight. Finished reading the first volume of "Irving's Life of Washington".
Feb 12, 1883 - Monday A lovely day, so clear and bright. Had three visitors this P.M. for a little while. Tonight the girls and I went down town and bought valentines. A letter from Mother this morning and I wrote one to Dakota tonight.
Feb 13, 1883 - Tuesday Cloudy all day and rainy tonight. weather milder. I intended going to meeting tonight but gave it up on account of the rain. Wrote to Mother and Susie Davis. A card from Nettie. Mary has one minister to entertain tonight.
Feb 14, 1883 - Wednesday Foggy and dark nearly all day. warm and murky air. several sharp thunder showers tonight. I went with Mrs Moody and Miss Brunton to hear Prof Cumnock (sic?) read tonight. it was a rare treat though we did have to come home in the rain. Geo Sanders came today. Received a letter from Jennie Monk.
Feb 15, 1883 - Thursday Foggy and dark still. it is so much warmer that it must rain some more. Walked over to prayer meeting tonight and had choir practice after it. was very tired.
Feb 16, 1883 - Friday Very warm this morning. Began raining about noon and kept up pretty steady till after dark then turned to sleet again. I went to Mrs Rahm's to dinner. Wrote to Lucia tonight.
Feb 17, 1883 - Saturday Cold and icy again. tried to snow a little this forenoon but cleared off by night. I made two linen collars for myself. this P.M. went to Mrs Hall's, stayed till evening and Mr H. went with me to a surprise party at Mr Wilson's. about 25 were there. a letter from Millie at last.
Feb 18, 1883 - Sunday A bright beautiful day. I had to walk to church both morning and evening so got pretty tired. Ida Row was over this P.M. and we had quite a sing.
Feb 19, 1883 - Monday Another fine day. School has gone better than common so I was not as tired as usual by night. After tea I called on Miss Parkinson at Mr Burrough's. then spent the evening at Mr Woodward's.
Feb 20, 1883 - Tuesday A letter from Hattie today. Went to Libbie's to tea and then to teachers' meeting at Mrs Probst. Still pleasant.
Feb 21, 1883 - Wednesday This has been the last pleasant day for this week I guess. cloudy tonight. Jessie and I spent the evening at Miss Gray's. A letter from Gertie and the children.
Feb 22, 1883 - Thursday Am completely tired out tonight. Had to punish a boy this A.M. and whip one tonight. got an impudent note from Mr Jas. Parkinson which had to be ans. then had to walk to prayer meeting and back. that finished me. Was agreeably surprised by pleasant weather today. a little rain last night.
Feb 23, 1883 - Friday Matters have been very quiet today and gone on well. Teachers' meeting tonight. Spent the evening reading.
Feb 24, 1883 - Saturday Warm and murky, dark. We were surprised this morning by Aunt Amanda and Mabel walking in. She left Mich. yesterday and is on her way south. We have spent the day visiting.
Feb 25, 1883 - Sunday Sunday school and church as usual today. I had to walk both morning and evening so feel tired out. wrote to Mother.
Feb 26, 1883 - Monday Cold and clear. school as usual. Tonight I prepared examination questions. Mr and Mr Woodward spent the evening here. Received a card from Mother.
Feb 27, 1883 - Tuesday A fine day for out doors but I have not felt fine. My head ached badly all the P.M. went to Libbie's after school. teachers' meeting was held there tonight.
Feb 28, 1883 - Wednesday So warm and pleasant. Head ached so hard all day. I went with other teachers to view the new school house after school. worked all the evening.
March 1, 1883 - Thursday Weather very spring-like. Examination began today and got along very well. Went to prayer and choir meeting tonight. a letter from Mother this morn.
March 2, 1883 - Friday Examination was finished today. school report made out. then I worked all the evening over my papers.
March 3, 1883 - Saturday I worked from the time I got up till 4:15 P.M. and got my reports all finished. But how tired I was. tonight Mary, Jim and I went to Mr Hall's.
March 4, 1883 - Sunday What lovely weather for a week, but I fear it will not last much longer. Sunday school and church as usual. my class(es) are so interesting I shall hate to leave them soon.
March 5, 1883 - Monday As I thought, the weather has changed. sleet this morning and drizzling rain all day. Aunt A and Mabel started for Altamont this morning on her homeward way. I do not feel rested from examination work yet.
March 6, 1883 - Tuesday Dark and rainy but turned cold tonight and is windy. I was dumbfounded this morning at hearing of Mrs Moody's being discharged by the School Board. wonder where the bolt will fall next. went to Libbie's tonight and to teachers' meeting at Mrs McKee's.
March 7, 1883 - Wednesday Clear and cold. Miss McKee takes Mrs Moody's room. it is decided that we have only two months more of school. Wrote to Gertie and the children tonight.
March 8, 1883 - Thursday Cold and clear. have not felt well today so my school work has dragged. tonight was so tired out that I did not go to prayer meeting but rested at home.
March 9, 1883 - Friday A lovely day. work has gone easier but we had teachers' meeting tonight and I did not get home till 6 P.M. went down town tonight and got braid to send to the girls. also inspected the new clothing store which is to be opened tomorrow.
March 10, 1883 - Saturday The great storm prophesied for today is all wind so far that blows furiously. I visited Mrs Moody, Mrs Green and Minnie Sailley today. then came home tonight and wrote to Julia Law. A letter from Lucia.
March 11, 1883 - Sunday Clear and blustering. we were expecting a great storm according to Wiggins, but it comes not. only regular March weather. All church services as usual and I got tired as usual.
March 12, 1883 - Monday A sharp frost this morning but a lovely day though cool. Another letter from Mother. tonight Alice Styles and I attended the "Young People's Literary and Social Union" organized by Mrs Green. Alice stayed with me all night.
March 13, 1883 - Tuesday Warmed and a thunderstorm tonight. A new piano came hear (sic) this morning to the great delight of the children. Tonight Ida Row was over and played some time. I wrote letters to Mother and Dana and Eva. Aunt Lucy is sick abed with a cold.
March 14, 1883 - Wednesday Very warm all day. I got a letter written to Hattie this morning and after school. Tonight Mollie gave a big tea-party to the S.S. teachers and choir. Teachers' meeting was held first and we had a very pleasant time. Minnie Sailley came and stayed all night with me.
March 15, 1883 - Thursday All feel rather tired today. Aunt L is still sick. tonight Libbie called for me to go to prayer meeting followed by choir meeting.
March 16, 1883 - Friday Another fine day. I have had warm work today. whipped two boys and suspended one of them. tonight I put in the time ripping up my black cashmere.
March 17, 1883 - Saturday Sill pleasant. I went to Odin in company with Miss Gray. Brunton and McKee to attend a teachers' institute. but alas, we attended a funeral. Miss Jackson came down and I went home with her and had a pleasant visit. We all came home tired. Letters from Myrtle and Orion and one from Miss Jackson.
GPR Note: This is the last dated entry in the diary. There is next a blank page except for the notation "Porters's Human Intellect" on the first line (perhaps the name of a book).
The back side of the very last sheet in the diary contains a record of the music lessons she gave her nieces during the summer of 1882 while she visited with her family in Michigan. However, the list is not complete, in that she recorded on July 29 that she had given Jennie and Lutie their last music lesson.
Jennie June 6, June 12, June 20, July 5, July 17
Lutie June 6, June 9, June 15, June 26, July 5, July 8, July 17
Myrtle June 6, June 8, June 13, June 20, June 27, July 5, July 10, July 17, July 22, July 28
On this same last page she noted some expenditures during the last week of December 1882:
Dec 22 Jap (?) tea caddy .50
Dec 23 To Effingham 1.60
Tar drops . 05
Dec 24 To Altamont .35
Collection .10
Dec 26 3 yds cashmere 2.70
B. H. silk .20
Dec 29 net .10
Dec 31 collection .10
Citations
(1) Transcription of part of narrative autobiography of Irwin Pierce. Transcribed by Arlin Fairbanks, granddaughter of Gertrude Pierce Eby, who was a sister of Irwin Pierce. Clark Pierce was father of Irwin and Gertrude. Clark married Mary Sarepta Roys, daughter of Rufus Almon Roys. Transcription furnished by William J. T. Brown.
(2) History of Effingham County Illinois, William Henry Perrin (Editor). 1883. pg 101. Copy furnished by Ellie Maroon, Altamont County Librarian.
(3) Cemetery records of Marion County Illinois, Row 28.
(4) Copy of newspaper notice of death of Fred W. Roys. Died 22 Sept 1882. full name Alfred Walker Roys. Original in possession of George M. Roys. Russellville, Arkansas. No indication of name of newspaper, but death was in Centralia, Illinois according to various other sources and this notice.
(5) Letter from F.M. Tomkins; Centralia, Illinois to Marco Bozzaris Roys; Russellville, Arkansas; 16 January 1879. Envelope has rubber-stamped return address: “Tomkins and Ullyette, Dealers in Hardware, Stoves, Tinware, Iron and Steel, Centralia Illinois.” See (7).
(6) Entry for Francis M. Tomkins in Portrait and Biographical Record of Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois, 1894; Chapman Publishing Co.
(7) Collection of thirteen letters from Francis M. Tomkins in Centralia Illinois to his brother-in-law Marco Bozzaris Roys in Russellville, Arkansas dated from 4 September 1877 to 2 March 1880. Originals in possession of George Pat Roys; Atlanta Georgia.
Return to CONTRIBUTIONS
Arthur Hower Biographical History
Compiled By George P. Roys
Last Update: February 7, 1994
Numbers in ( ) identify citations at end of article
INTRODUCTION
My great-grandfather, Marco Bozzaris Roys, died of influenza (according to oral history) on February 18, 1881 in Russellville Arkansas where he owned a hardware store and tin shop. Shortly afterwards his widow, Amanda Melina Walker Roys, returned to either Illinois or Michigan (I have no objective evidence which it was) with her two children: Reuben Francis, age about 14, and Lucy Mabel Emily, age about 2. One of Marco’s sisters (Lucy Amelia, married to Francis M. Tomkins) lived in Illinois, and another (Mary Sarepta, married to Clark Pierce) lived in Michigan. A cousin in Michigan was dispatched by the family to Russellville to continue operation of the hardware store, probably because Marco’s brother-in-law, Francis M. Tomkins, had financed Marco’s move to Russellville in 1872 to establish the hardware store.
Oral history related by my father, George Milton Roys, is that his father, Reuben Francis, completed his schooling in Michigan/Illinois and later returned to Russellville to assume responsibility for the hardware store. My father told how his father had worked in a “toy” wagon factory while in Illinois/Michigan. When he returned to Russellville he was asked to take a wagon with him and show it to a prospective dealer in Little Rock Arkansas while en route to Russellville. Still according to my father, Marco disassembled the wagon and packed it in a flat package held together by two leather school book straps for the trip. When telling my father of this incident Reuben Francis said that he had participated in all the steps of making a toy wagon from felling the trees and pulling them out of the woods with mules to turning them into lumber to manufacturing the wagons to sales (the latter referring to his trip back to Russellville).
There the story sat until 1990 when my father gave me a diary (1) kept by a female I was able to identify as Silvia Etta Pierce. Silva was a niece of my great-grandfather, Marco Bozzaris Roys. In this diary she reveals a connection with Arthur Hower who was associated with a “boys” wagon factory in Illinois. From Silvia’s diary entries it appeared to me that Arthur Hower must have had some sort of family relationship to the Roys, and I decided to uncover it.
My approach was to assemble as much information as I could on Arthur Hower which I recorded in chronological order (not the order in which I found it). Although this present document is a Biographical History of Arthur Hower, I decided to include information on the Bristol family (resulting from the marriage of Nancy Laura Roys (sister of Rufus Almon Roys) to Luther Bristol when during the course of my investigations of the relationship between Arthur Hower and the Rufus Almon Roys family it became apparent that the connection most likely was through the Bristol family. I thought that inclusion of this Bristol information would assist in tracing the connection of Arthur Hower and his toy wagons to my grandfather, Reuben Francis Roys, Sr – which was the original objective of my investigation.
7/11/1784 Nancy Laura Roys (Royce) baptized in Cheshire Connecticut. Father Reuben Roys (Royce), mother Lois Doolittle (2),(3),(4).
2/25/1805 Nancy Laura Roys marries Luther Bristol in Chester, Middlesex, Connecticut (3), (4),(5).
1/22/1830 Lucy Johnson writes from The Square, New York to Miss Laura L. Roys, care of Rufus A. Roys. "Beloved Niece, ........PS to Mary Salome - try to collect from Luther Bristol for pantaloons I made for him." (6). Context of letter identifies Lucy as a sister of Mary Salome Johnson, wife of Rufus Almon Roys.
1831 Nancy Roys Bristol moves to Vicksburg Michigan, or near there, with her husband (7).
1832 Nancy Roys Bristol writes from Kalamazoo County, Michigan to her brother Rufus Almon Roys in Wayne County, New York that he should not come to Michigan because of hardships, poverty and sickness (6).
5/22/1833 Rufus Almon Roys with his family (wife Mary Salome Johnson, daughters Laura Lorula, Mary Sarepta and Lucy Amelia, and son Marco Bozzarius) departs from Newark, Wayne County, New York for Michigan, arriving at Prairie Ronde on June 9, 1833. (6) Various historical family documents indicate that sister Nancy and her husband Luther Bristol were already in this vicinity when Rufus Almon made the move to Michigan.
11/25/1833 Rufus Almon Roys and family move into Luther Bristol's house (6).
2/18/1834 Rufus Almon Roys makes contract with Luther Bristol for the house and 2 acres of land. "...after having built a chimney in the house and made some other improvements he refused to acknowledge the deed and in that way fell back from the contract much to my disadvantage."
5/15/1835 In a letter addressed "Dear Brother and Sister", Maria Hale writes from Newark, New York (probably) to Rufus A. and Mary Salome Roys in Michigan, "Luther Bristol will be forgiven for his sins. Seamon Bristol sent $1" (6).
7/10/1838 Louisa Bush writes from Guilford, New York to Rufus Almon Roys in Brady, Michigan. In telling of the death of her son, she may have referred to Luther Bristol, saying, "It was the same fatal disease which so suddenly terminated Luther's life." (6)
9/23/1838 Philander B. Roys writes from Pultneyville, New York to his brother Rufus Almon Roys in Brady Michigan, "Reuben Bristol has had trouble about his father's house and lot in Newark." (6)
11/25/1842 Philander B. Roys writes from Pultneyville, New York to Rufus Almon Roys in Brady, Michigan, "Regards to Nancy", implying that their sister Nancy lives nearby. (6)
12/15/1844 Philander B. Roys writes from Pultneyville, New York to Rufus Almon Roys in Brady Michigan, "Remember me to sister Nancy. Not sure what post office correct address for her." (6)
1845 N. L. Bristol listed in 1845 State Census for Town of Park, St. Joseph County, Michigan (8). Park Township is immediately south of Schoolcraft Township in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The towns of Schoolcraft and Vicksburg (the latter formerly known as Brady (8) are located in Schoolcraft Township.
(GPR Note: The librarian at Sturgis City Library, Michigan, who collected this information for me noted that N. L. Bristol was not shown in 1840 or 1850 census, but I am not certain if she investigated the records of every township in the vicinity. Nancy's death date is unknown to me.)
8/10/1845 Philander B. Roys writes from Pultneyville, New York to Rufus Almon Roys at Holland Post Office, Kalamazoo County Michigan. Letter is also intended for their sister, "Please send this to sister Nancy when you have read it." Nancy appears to have signed her name at bottom of page (6).
12/13/1847 Arthur Hower born in St. Joseph County, Michigan. He is the eldest son of Nicholas Hower, who was born in Pennsylvania and who "came to Michigan as a young man" where he married Sophia M. Bristol, who was born in New York, daughter of Capt Seman Bristol who "ran on the lakes". (9), (10)
GPR NOTE: There may be some information here that I have reported erroneously. I have put down here my interpretation of what I read in Reference 9, but there were a lot of pronouns floating around loose in that account, and I may have interpreted wrongly. In addition, the 1860 census for Comstock Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan lists the family of Seman Bristol (age 50, born New York) , wife Abigail (age 48, born New York), son Solon (sic?) S. (age 16), and daughters Louisa (age 13) and Ella (age 11). All of the children are shown born in Michigan. This census data results in Seman's birth year as 1810, which only allows a total of 37 years (1847 minus 1810) for him to father a child (Sophia) who then gave birth to a child (Arthur Hower) — not impossible, but close. Then Seman would have to produce the set of children that show up in the 1860 census.
4/16/1848 Philander B. Roys writes from Pultneyville, New York to Rufus Almon Roys, Postmaster, Holland Michigan. "Letter from you and Nancy received. I wish Nancy could come and stay with us if she has broke up housekeeping." (6)
1849 Arthur Hower's wife Harriet Davis born in Ohio. (10)
1850 Arthur Hower (age 3 years) living in Park Township, St. Joseph County, Michigan with father Nicholas, mother Sophia M. and brother Arginala (age 5 months). Arthur shown as born in Michigan, father in Pennsylvania, mother in New York. (12). This information confirms Arthur's birth year and the first names of his father and mother as obtained from References 9 and 10.
1854 Arthur Hower's father dies (9).
8/6/1854 Sophia and her children visit at the home of Rufus Almon Roys and his wife Mary Salome Johnson Roys (11).
GPR Note: Author of Reference 11 is Mary Salome Johnson Roys, the family then living in Brady/Schoolcraft, Michigan. Context in the following entries indicate that this apparently is a relatively local trip, meaning that Sophia is living in the vicinity of Brady/Schoolcraft.
9/5/1854 Salome Orriette Roys (daughter or Rufus Almon and Mary Salome Roys) visits Sophia's, taken there by her father (11).
10/8/1854 Sophia has been at the Roys home "since last Wednesday", while Laura Lorula Roys (daughter of Rufus Almon and Mary Salome Roys) is ill. Marco takes Sophia to her home on this day (11).
10/15/1854 Laura Lorula dies. Sophia arrives in Roys home "just before her breath left her." (11)
11/27/1854 Sophia, Philander and children arrive at the Roys home (11).
GPR Note: Philander could have been Rufus Almon's brother visiting from New York. There also is a Philander E. Bristol, age 12 years, listed in 1850 census for Park Township, St. Joseph County Michigan (12). His birth place is shown as New York, indicating that he came to Michigan no earlier than 1838, so he probably is not a child of Nancy and Luther Bristol who came to Michigan before 1832 (6).
12/19/1854 Orriette goes to Sophia's to stay two or three days (11).
12/21/1854 Marco goes to Sophia's to bring Orriette back to Roys home (11).
1/17/1855 Mary Salome Roys, Rufus Almon Roys and Lucy Amelia Roys Tomkins go to Sophia's to visit. Lucy stays for two or three days visit (11).
1/22/1855 Rufus Almon Roys goes to Sophia's and brings Lucy back to Roys home (11).
2/15/1855 Phineas and Leander Bristol called at Roys home ("as Phineas and wife have come to burg to live awhile") (11).
2/17/1855 Phineas Bristol and wife go with "young folk to singing school in south neighborhood." They stay the night at Roys home (11).
2/18/1855 Phineas Bristol and wife leave Roys home. Mary Salome is happy to see them go (11).
4/27/1855 Sophia visits in Roys home (11).
5/15/1855 Roys household learns of Phineas Bristol's death on April 22, 1855 (11).
GPR note: The implication here is that Phineas Bristol and wife (her name is never disclosed) are no longer in the vicinity of Brady/Schoolcraft, else the Roys would have learned of his death much quicker.
6/11/1855 Sophia stops at Roys home on her way to Kalamazoo (11).
7/7/1855 Sophia comes to Roys home because she wants some brick (11).
GPR note: This event meshes with information in letters Marco Bozzaris Roys (son of Rufus Almon and Mary Salome Roys) is writing to his future wife (Amanda Melina Walker) about his work in making brick during the summer of 1855.
7/30/1855 Mary Salome Roys goes with husband Rufus Almon Roys to carding machine to get their wool and visits at Sophia's (11).
8/23/1855 Sophia stops at Roys home to eat supper as she returns to her home from Kalamazoo (11).
9/6/1855 Orriette goes to Sophia's on stage (11).
9/9/1855 Marco goes to Sophia's for Sunday meeting, and Orriette returns home with him (11).
9/23/1855 Marco and wife Amanda Melina Walker go to Sophia's (11).
GPR note: Marco and Amanda married on September 18, 1855.
1/4/1856 Sophia calls at Roys home on her way to her home with Mr and Mrs Perren (11).
3/14/1856 Marco and Amanda go to Park to Sophia's and to mill (11).
GPR note: According to 1864 map, Park Township is in St Joseph County, Michigan immediately south of Schoolcraft Township and southwest of Brady Township (the latter two in Kalamazoo County).
6/20/1856 Mary Salome Johnson Roys visits Sophia Hower (13).
6/26/1856 Sophia Hower and her "two little boys" visits the Rufus Almon Roys home in Brady, Mich (13).
GPR Note: apparently a relatively local trip, meaning that Sophia is living in the vicinity of Brady/Schoolcraft. This is the first indication in Reference 13 that Sophia's last name is Hower, corresponding to the 1850 census data of Reference 12.
10/23/1856 Sophia and her "little boys" again visit Roys home (13).
2/14/1857 Marco Bozzaris Roys and wife Amanda go to Sophia's to stay overnight (13).
2/15/1857 Marco and Amanda Roys return to their home in Brady Michigan from Sophia's (13).
2/17/1857 Marco Roys takes plaster to Sophia's (13).
6/6/1857 Rufus Almon and wife Mary Salome go to Sophia's, i.e., "down to Sophia's (13).
6/27/1857 Sophia and "her two little boys" in Brady "on business, more than visiting" (13).
9/10/1857 Sophia at the Roys home all day (13).
10/10/1857 Marco, Amanda, Lucy and Mary go to Sophia's home (13).
GPR Note: Lucy (Amelia) is one of Marco's older sisters who is married to Francis M. Tomkins, the family then living in Manteno (Kankakee County), Illinois. Mary (Tomkins) is their only child (10 years old at time of this visit).
10/17/1857 Mary Salome Roys and husband Rufus Almon go to Sophia's "as Lucy was there". They returned with Lucy and Mary (13).
1/6/1858 Sophia H. visits in Roys home (13).
1/22/1858 Mary Salome and Rufus Almon Roys visit Sophia Hower (13).
9/1/1858 Marco Bozzaris and wife Amanda Roys went to Sophia's to visit (13).
1862 Arthur Hower goes to Illinois, apparently with his mother staying in Michigan. He enters grocery business in Kinmundy, Marion County, Illinois (9)(14, page 38).
1869 Arthur Hower sells his interest in grocery business. He is engaged in handling produce, fruits, etc (9)(14, page 38).
2/9/1872 Arthur Hower marries Harriet Davis, native of Morrow County Ohio, daughter of John Davis (9).
9/??/1876 Arthur Hower moves to Altamont Illinois and starts in merchandising business in partnership with J. P. Aydelott. Firm is known as Hower & Aydelott (9)(14, page 38).
9/4/1877 "Mary and Josie spent a few days at Arthur's last week. Arthur has a thriving trade." (15)
GPR NOTE: "Mary" is Mary A. Tomkins Sanders, daughter of Francis M. Tomkins (author of the letters of Reference 15) and his wife Lucy Amelia Roys Tomkins. "Josie" is Lucy Josephine Sanders, second child (daughter) of Mary A. Tomkins and her husband James B. Sanders. Both Tomkins and Sanders families were living in Centralia, Illinois.
1/??/1878 Arthur Hower is associated with Mr Davis who purchased interest of Aydelott (9).
2/18/1878 "Grandma and Jossie have gone to visit Arthur. They return next week. Tell Frank [that] Jessie has learned the multiplication table. Yours and Frank's came this A.M. We forward them to Altamont today." (15)
GPR NOTE: "Grandma" probably is Francis M. Tomkins's wife, Lucy Amelia Roys Tomkins. "Frank" is my grandfather, Reuben Francis Roys, Sr, who was 11 years old at the time this letter was written to Francis Tomkins's brother-in-law, Marco B. Roys, my great-grandfather, who was in Russellville, Arkansas. "Jessie" is Jessie T. Sanders, granddaughter of Francis M. Tomkins and first child (daughter) of Mary A. Tomkins Sanders and James B. Sanders.
1/??/1879 Arthur Hower purchases interest of Mr Davis (9).
4/25/1879 "Lucy and I went to Altamont first Mch to see Arthur and Family. They were quite well except Etta Pierce. She was quite sick but is better since. Arthur has had a good business. Will probably buy some property and remain there. He makes well in buying RR ties for cash from three to eight cts more than he pays in goods." (15)
GPR NOTE: "Etta Pierce" is Silvia Etta Pierce, youngest child of Mary Sarepta Roys Pierce and Clark Pierce. This note in the Reference 15 letter is part of the relatively strong evidence that Arthur Hower or his wife Harriet were in some way kinfolk to either the Tomkins, Roys, or Pierce branches of the Rufus Almon Roys family. It appears that Etta Pierce is living in the Hower home.
3/22/1880 "Lucy is still at Altamont. Been gone two weeks." (15)
6/15/1880 According to 1880 census, Arthur Hower is living with wife Harriet and two single men (physician and attorney) in Altamont, Illinois. Arthur shown as born in Michigan, his father in Pennsylvania, his mother in Connecticut (note discrepancy of mother’s birth state -- Connecticut in this census, New York in 1850 census, Ref 12). (10)
10/18/1880 Daughter Jessie born (17). Date was deduced from 1882 entry in Reference 17.
GPR Note: Note that Arthur and Harriet appear to be participating in the then-common practice of the Roys family, dating from the 1700's, of naming children for the parents' brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc. Sometimes the child's first and middle name would be taken from two different relatives.
5/7/1882 Entries in Reference 17 verify Arthur Hower is in Altamont in 1882.
5/9/1882 Arthur Hower is "away from Altamont at Odin", Illinois (17)
5/11/1882 Arthur Hower returns to Altamont. His future partner, Mr Spence, is in Altamont, apparently staying at the Hower home. Arthur and Mr Spence are looking for location for their wagon factory (17).
Summer/1882 Baby wagon factory is established by Spence Bros & Hower in two-story 40 by 50 feet frame building employing eight people and manufacturing full line of baby wagons, buggies and carriages (18, Page 185). Children's wagons were manufactured for a short time (30, page 47). These latter wagons apparently were also identified as "boy's wagons" in (14, page 39).
8/29/1882 Arthur Hower visits factory with Silvia Etta Pierce (17).
8/30/1882 Arthur Hower goes to Mason on business (17).
Late/1882 Arthur Hower badly hurt in Altamont (17).
12/24/1882 Arthur Hower hosts, along with his wife Harriet, Silvia Etta Pierce in their home for the Christmas holiday. Silvia Etta is teaching school in Centralia, Illinois and travels back to Altamont for the holidays. The Hower's are glad to see her, according to Etta's diary. It appears from the context that Silvia stays with the Hower family during this visit. (17)
12/25/1882 Arthur Hower gives Silvia Etta Pierce a handbag for Christmas present (17).
GPR Note: It seems more appropriate that the gift was from both Arthur and Harriet -- Silvia and Harriet exchanged many letters during the year that Reference 17 was being written -- but Silvia notes in her Reference 117diary only that Arthur was the giver of the gift.
1883 At the time that Reference 9 was published, it was noted that Arthur Hower is keeping a general store, dealing in railroad ties and hard lumber. He has half-interest in manufacturing firm of Spence Bros & Co, manufacturers of babies and children's wagons in Altamont Illinois (9).
Fall/1883 Toy wagon factory is moved from Odin (Altamont?) to Centralia by Spence Bros "in company with Kohl & Warner"; Hower is not mentioned (19). Information in (14, page 28) notes that the factory stayed in Altamont a little more than one year, suggesting that the move to Centralia was in the Fall of 1883 (as I have indicated here in the chronology).
1885 Spence, Kohl & Warner listed in (20) as having a toy wagon factory in Centralia, Illinois.
7/23/1886 Arthur Hower's wife Harriet (Hattie) dies. She is buried in Marion County Illinois (21). Reference 21 notes that Harriet is buried without Arthur.
7/24/1886 "Mr and Mrs J. B. Sanders went to Kinmundy to attend funeral of a cousin", according to a newspaper account (22), but no other information was provided.
GPR Note: It is almost certain that the funeral was for Harriet Hower who had died the previous day. There is no certain means to identify exactly how Harriet was a "cousin", particularly since in this type of newspaper announcement it could easily refer to either blood or marriage relationship. Subsequent investigations suggest that it was her husband Arthur Hower who was the blood relation - cousin - to the Sanders, and this announcement was acknowledging Harriet's relationship through marriage.
1889 Kohl and Spence are still associated in business, but not identified as to how; their business is shown as having personal property assessment at "over $500" (23).
8/15/1889 Arthur Hower is living in Fort Smith Arkansas — "Arthur Hower, formerly of Kinmundy, is now at Fort Smith, Arkansas" (24).
1890 Arthur Hower is living at the corner of 6th and Hickory Streets, Fort Smith Arkansas. He is employed as a salesman for Townsley-Myrick Dry Goods Co. (25).
GPR Note: As of this date, February 7, 1994, there are still three major issues still open in this investigation.
First, I do not have direct evidence of how Arthur's mother Sophia M. Bristol Hower is related to the Rufus Almon Roys family. Reference 21 states that Arthur's grandfather (father of his mother Sophia M. Bristol) was Semam Bristol, but Sophia cannot be the daughter of the Seman Bristol shown living in Comstock Township, Kalamazoo County Michigan in the 1860 census unless Seman married at an early age, i.e, younger than 16 years. The 1850 census of Park Township, St Joseph County, Michigan indicates that Sophia M. (married to Nicholas Hower) was born in 1826, only 16 years after Seman Bristol was born in 1810 as calculated from the 1860 census records from Comstock Township, Kalamazoo County Michigan. Certainly this is possible, but at the moment I do not have documented evidence.
Second, I do not have any further information on the final whereabouts of Arthur Hower beyond the final entry of this Biographical History. Preliminary inquiries by a member of the Fort Smith Public Library staff failed to uncover any additional information. Which is not say that somewhere in the Fort Smith archives there is not some indication of Arthur's final story.
Third, and foremost, it appears after all that Arthur Hower was no longer associated with the toy wagon factory in which my grandfather, Reuben Francis Roys, Sr, worked prior to his return to Russellville, Arkansas to resume managership of the family hardware store which was being operated by George Eby, a "cousin" from the Pierce branch of the Rufus Almon Roys family since the death of my great-grandfather, Marco Bozzarius Roys in February 1881. It appears that Reuben Francis worked in the toy wagon factory in the 1884-1885 time period, returning to Arkansas in 1886. By 1885 the toy wagon factory was in Centralia Illinois and owned by an group (corporation?, partnership?) known as Spence, Kohl & Warner; Hower does not seem to be associated with them.
Therefore, Arthur Hower does not seem to be the most direct link between my grandfather and the toy wagon factory, but it is obvious that the wagon factory was associated with family members at one time. The most probable scenario is that my grandfather obtained his position in the toy wagon factory through his uncle, Francis M. Tomkins (for whom he most likely was named). Francis Tomkins appears to have been a prosperous businessman in Centralia, Illinois, and it would not have been unseemly for him to have seen that his nephew had a job after completing his schooling.
Citations
(1) Diary of Silvia Etta Pierce, covering the period 1 May 1882 through 16 March 1883, with the major geographical locales of Altamont, Illinois; Geneva Township, Michigan; and Centralia, Illinois. Original in possession of George Pat Roys. Transcription by George Pat Roys. Transcription in Sylvia Etta Pierce file of George Pat Roys.
(2) Children’s baptisms. Congregational Church (Parson Foote). Cheshire Connecticut. Cheshire History; pg 377-378. See Reference 31.
(3) Either Wallingford Records Book or Cheshire History; pg 426. Cannot determine which is source document from the notes of Reference 31. “Child of Col Reuben Rice, Feb 13, 1794". It is assumed that this entry refers to the baptism of Philander B. Royce because remainder of children are listed in Reference 32 and Philander B. is listed as heir in Reference 33. There is a discrepancy in these records that show eight children and Reference 34 that shows seven children. The difference may be the early death of the firstborn, Thomas Doolittle Roys. Reference 34 correctly identifies Rufus Almon Roys as the youngest child. See Reference 31.
(4) Families of Ancient New Haven. New Haven Genealogical Magazine, July 1930. Vol VI, No. 1. Donald Lines Jacobus, pg 1549-1572.
(5) Information obtained from Church of Latter Day Saints files. Film No. 0184633, on which detailed information probably is available but cannot be circulated per attached request.
(6) Index and Summary of Roys Family Records Held by William J. T. Brown; compiled by William J. T. Brown ca 1991. Document is stored in “Wm. J. T. Brown” file of George Pat Roys.
(7) Copy of letter dated 1 Feb 1920 to “cousin” from Gertrude L. Pierce Eby; grand-daughter of Rufus Almon Roys and Mary Salome Johnson Roys through Mary Serapta Roys Pierce. “Cousin” was probably Lois Fears. There is a reference in the letter to a “Mrs. Smith” letter, and Nettie Smith performed some research for Lois Fears (see Reference 26 and Reference 35).
(8) Transcription of 1845 State Census obtained from Sturgis Public Library, Sturgis Michigan.
(9) History of Effingham County Illinois, William Henry Perrin (Editor). 1883. pg 101. Copy furnished by Ellie Maroon, Altamont County Librarian.
(10) Extract from 1880 U.S. Census for Illinois, Effingham County, Village of Altamont; pg 23.
(11) Diary of Mary Salome Johnson Roys. Period covered 19 June 1854 through 18 April 1856. Original in possession of George Pat Roys; Atlanta, Georgia. Transcribed by George Pat Roys
(12) History of Vicksburg, Kalamazoo County, Michigan: Michigan Place Names. Obtained from Sturgis Public Library; Sturgis, Michigan.
(13) Diary of Mary Salome Johnson Roys, 21 April 1856 through 2 January 1859. Original in possession of William J. T. Brown, New York City. Transcribed by Catherine Drake. Transcription furnished by William J. T. Brown which is stored in “Wm. J. T. Brown” file of George Pat Roys.
(14) Pages from booklet published in 1926. Copied by Ellie Maroon in Altamont/Centralia resources. Title page not provided.
(15) Collection of thirteen letters from Francis M. Tomkins in Centralia Illinois to his brother-in-law Marco Bozzaris Roys in Russellville, Arkansas dated from 4 September 1877 to 2 March 1880. Originals in possession of George Pat Roys; Atlanta Georgia.
(16) Reserved
(17) Diary of Silvia Etta Pierce, covering the period 1 May 1882 through 16 March 1883, with the major geographical locales of Altamont, Illinois; Geneva Township, Michigan; and Centralia, Illinois. Original in possession of George Pat Roys. Transcription by George Pat Roys. Transcription in Sylvia Etta Pierce file of George Pat Roys.
(18) History of Effingham County Illinois, William Henry Perrin (Editor). 1883. pg 185. Copy furnished by Ellie Maroon, Altamont County Librarian
(19) Special Issue of Centralia, Illinois Daily Sentinel; published in 1910; copy furnished by Ellie Maroon.
(20) Directory of Marion County Illinois Business and Industries, 1985.
(21) Cemetery records of Marion County Illinois, Row 28.
(22) Centralia Daily Sentinel, 24 July 1886.
(23) Footprints of Marion County Illinois, Vol VI, Spring 1982; Marion County Genealogical and Historical Society; Salem Illinois.
(24) Centralia Illinois Sentinel (newspaper); 15 August 1889; “Arthur Hower, formerly of Kinmundy ......”
(25) 1890 City Directory of Fort Smith, Arkansas; on file in Fort Smith Public Library.
(26) Research data obtained from copy that belongs to Lucile Roys Black (Mrs Oscar Lee); Apparently provided by Lois Fears. In possession of George Pat Roys
(27) Children’s baptisms. Congregational Church (Parson Foote). Cheshire Connecticut. Cheshire History; pg 377-378. See Reference 26.
(28) Wallingford Probate Records. Reuben Royce estate. Administration granted 13 June 1811 to Reuben W. Roys, son of deceased. Note change in spelling of last name in this document. See Reference 26.
(29) Original and typewritten copy of obituary of Rufus Almon Roys. South Haven (Michigan) Sentinel, October 6, 1877. Transcriber of obituary from newspaper unknown.
(30) Altamont, Illinois Area Centennial, 1871-1971 publication; pg 47. Obtained from Altamont Public Library.
(31) Marriages; Cheshire History; pg 394. See Reference 26.
(32) Cheshire History; pg 369. Baptism of Mary Salome Johnson. See Reference 26
(33) Cheshire Land Records; Vol 8; pg 455. See Reference 26.
(34) Cheshire Land Records; Vol 11; pg 297. See Reference 26.
(35) Copy of letter from Nettie C. Smith, genealogical research (in Cheshire, Connecticut), to Mrs W. H. Fears; Portland Oregon, 7 Jan 1920.
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