Extract of a Letter from Jack Elder, Ont. Canada to J. F. Caldwell, Belfast
Extract of Letter had 8 children. On Jan [January?] 17, 1893 he sent me a copy of his father's family register. For further information he referred me to the oldest of his father's children, Jane (Mrs Gregg) who was born in 1811, and was then, being a widow for 6 years, living at the home of her daughter, Mary Eliza (Mrs Purdy) in Chicago. I wrote Mrs Gregg, who was then 82 years and received a most interesting letter in regard to her father. I quote from her letter on page 3 of the Elder genealogy. I had looked forward eagerly to meeting Mrs Gregg when I visited the World's Fair in Chicago in May 1893, but unfortunately she died suddenly a week before the fair opened. When in Chicago I called to see Mrs. Purdy. In Indianapolis a few years later I made the acquaintance of Mrs Purdy's sister Julia (Dr Julia Eberle). She still lives there at the age of 78, and last fall collected much information regarding her children and grandchildren I was in correspondence also with Dr. Julia's son and granddaughter, so you see no less than 4 generations (Mrs Gregg, her daughter, her grandson, and her great-granddaughter) have supplied data for the family record. In 1894 my office work became so heavy that I had not sufficient leisure for genealogical research, so I was with reluctance compelled to abandon it for the time being. I did not expect that it would be 33 years before I would take it up again, but last Spring I began to realize that if I were suddenly called away no use would likely be made of the 6 box-files of genealogical data that I have carefully preserved for 33 years and which have really been a subconscious burden on my mind all that time. Besides I know that they might be destroyed by fire and could never be replaced. So I decided to share my data, in the form of blue prints, with interested relations, after doing my best to bring the genealogies up to date; but I drew the line at the descendants of my four great-grandfathers-that is, I did not try to get the names of descendants of the brothers and sisters of my four great-grandfathers. The limit I set was in truth wide enough. In the 6 months from May to December 1927 I wrote 192 letters (of course not as long as this one) and more than 90 post cards on genealogical subjects. When I resumed my researches I was doubtful whether any relative who gave me information on or before 1894, in regard to descendants of my four great-grandfathers, was still living. I have since found that they are all dead. My letters were addressed to the relative "or any of his near relations" or "any of his descendants". Where the relative of 1894 lived in a city, and could find a directory of the city, I searched for his name-but in vain. But in some cases I found the name of his son engaged in the same business. In this way I found Frank Stewart Elder of Buffalo, son of Stewart Elder II (who died in 1898). Frank Stewart's son, Stewart Wesley Elder, comes to Toronto occasionally to audit the books of Canadian branches of American concerns. In October we had a "gathering of the clan" to meet him at my brother Stuart's house. At the end of December he spent four hours alone with me. I found he had a minute knowledge of Elder genealogy and is very much interested in it. Stewart is very anxious to posses [possess?] the sundial (mentioned on page 8) that his great-grandfather made before he left Roughan for America, and wonders whether Sam Mahon would be willing to sell it. Without Stewart's knowledge I wrote to Sam Mahon (whom I knew in my boyhood) about six weeks ago, telling him of Stewart's desire to purchase the sundial because of its value, from a sentimental standpoint to him; but I pointed out that he is not one of the wealthy Americans, being an employee of a firm of auditors and working on a salary basis. Sam Mahon answered saying that Mrs Stewart Elder gave him the sundial, that he would not sell it but would make a gift of it to S.E. of Buffalo if Mrs. Elder gave her consent. I wrote to Oliver Elder last Tuesday to obtain the desired consent, but, in accordance with the tardiness that seems to characterize that branch of the Elder family, he has not yet answered my letter. You may have noted that the descendants of Stewart Elder I are very numerous, that one may find them in 18 States of the Union, but only two men of the number bear the surname of Elder-namely Stewart of Buffalo and his father Frank Stewart. Stewart's family consists of two small girls aged 5 and 7, so unless a son arrives the name will disappear at Stewart's death. Strange as it may appear, there were several branches of the descendants of Stewart Elder I that did not know of the existence of other branches of the family until they received the genealogical tables. Some of them did not know that their second cousins were living within a few miles of them, but now they have become acquainted, thanks to the family record. You may have noticed on page 6A of the record a list of the places in 18 States where Stewart Elder's descendants reside. This will be of service to motorists in planning their Summer trips. I may point out here a mistake in that list, which arose from another error on page 10, where the present abode of Montrose W. Cousens is given as Hastings N.J. instead of Hastings, N.Y. I do not want to weary you with any more stuff about the American Elders, but I may be pardoned for adding another paragraph in regard to the Newbury branch, as you may suppose, neither my father nor my Aunt Caldwell knew that they had any first cousins in America. They had never heard of the 8 sons and daughters of that Uncle Stewart Elder I. His second daughter, Eliza Anna (see page 7 of the Record) married 1st a Mr Gregg, who died early. She then went South to visit friends there who owned an army of slaves, the Superintendent of which was a widower named Joseph D. Newbury, who I hope, was a merciful man. The widow and he became acquainted, and afterward married (in 1838). This was about the beginning of the Abolition movement. The wife quite naturally sided with the Abolitionists. "Her husband", as his granddaughter, Mrs. Loulie M. Hampton wrote me recently, "was a man of very strong opinions, which he did not mind expressing. He owned many slaves and it (abolition) meant stripping him of his property. The children of course became divided: her first son, [Edward Stewart Elder Newbury] went north as early as possible and married a New York lady, so when the Civil War really broke, he went with them [Another relative says that Edward "ran away from home when he was 16 and went north to live with his mother's parents-Stewart Elder I and his wife- who lived in New York]. Her other sons all went to the Confederacy. That was a great burden on her, causing her health to fail; her mind gave way and she died from softening of the brain, long after the war was ended. My mother sided in her mother's views and went north to school. When the was was [sic] at its worst she came back to help her mother, for all the servants had been taken (drafted) then, and my grandmother had two young children." Perhaps the following table will make the foregoing page or two more easy to follow: Stewart Elder I m. Elizabeth Gordon | ____________________________________________|____________ | | | | | | Jane (Elder Eliza Anna (Elder) | John ELDER | | | | | m. Hobart GREGG m 1st Newton Gregg | of Binghamton| | | M 2nd J.D. NEWBURY | N.Y. | | |_____________ | Sarah A | | | | | (unm) | | | | | | Mary E. (Gregg)| Dr Julia (Gregg) | Stewart Elder m. J.H. PURDY | m. J.K. EBERLE | of Buffalo | | | | Chas.S. PURDY | | Frank Stewart ELDER Josiah Collins GREGG | | (b. 1840) | Stewart Wesley ELDER _____________________________|_____________ | | | Edw. S.E. NEWBURY I | Sarah (Newbury) | m Levi BLOUNT Demetrius NEWBURY | | Loulie (Blount) | m. W.H. HAMPTON Maud C. (Newbury) In the above table I have added a few names not mentioned previously. One of them is Josiah C. Gregg, the first grandson of Stewart Elder I just as I am the first grandson of Andrew Elder, brother of Stewart. Last fall I was surprised to learn that Josiah Gregg was still living, at the age of 87, so I immediately wrote to his daughter (only child), Mrs. Sachse, with whom he makes his home at Alhambra, Calif. [California?] a few miles east of Los Angeles, and enclosed a list of questions for her father to answer. I asked her to take down the answer from his lips. But to my surprise the old gentleman answered the questions himself in a regular hand as steady as that of a man of 40. In 1893 I had correspondence with Edward Stewart Elder Newbury I. He gave me the name of his wife but did not mention children, so I concluded he had not any. He gave me the names of his brothers and their children. Edward at that time lived in Paterson, NJ [New Jersey?]. When I resumed my researches last fall I did not know whether Edward was still living. If he had been, it would be difficult to find one who lived in a city 33 years before, especially if he had left the city, for his neighbors [neighbours?] would not be likely to know anything about his new address. So I wrote to his brother Demetrius who lived in 1893 in a small village in Maryland, so small that his neighbors [neighbours?] would know where he removed to. But Demetrius had gone to a better world, and some one sent my post card to his unmarried daughter, Maud, who is County Superintendant of Schools at Currituck, North Carolina. She started the work among the Newburys by sending out questions and turning the answers over to me. When I got what I supposed was complete information regarding the Newburys and was ready to finish the Elder Genealogy, I learned Edward SE Newbury did not die childless but had a family of 11 children of whom 9 are still living, 5 of them being married men living in the Pacific States. This was disheartening news, indeed. I asked Edward's daughter (Edna Stewart Elder Carmody) to write to her 5 brothers in the West requesting them, in order to save time, to send genealogical data direct to me, but one of the brothers was very neglectful, and it was 6 weeks before the information came in. In the meantime I completed the Thomson Genealogy and distributed 28 copies of it, two copies going to Australia, one to the Yukon, etc. You of course noted that three pages of the Elder genealogy were duplicated in the Mathewson Genealogy. That was because the descendants of Mrs Robert Blair (nee Rebecca Mathewson) are not of Elder descent, and the American Elders are not of Mathewson descent. In 1890 and 1891 there were 5 families of the Blairs living in Nova Scotia. I got full genealogical data from them and would have visited them in 1891 had I not removed from New Brunswick to Kentucky in Nov [November?] 1890. When I attempted to find these Blairs in 1927 I had some trouble. All of my Blair correspondents of 1890 and 1891 were, I found, no longer living. But where were their descendants? Seemingly they were unknown in Nova Scotia. At last I found one of them who was still in the province, and he gave me addresses of his kindred in the New England States. He himself removed to Massachusetts in November last, so there are now none of the kin in Nova Scotia. As regards the blue prints that you have already received and others that are going to you by this mail, you will notice that the Sproule Charts made last May are even more amateurish in expectation than the Family Records of Elders and Mathewsons made in December. The fact is that I knew practically nothing last May about making tracings for blue prints and have much to learn yet despite the large experiences I have had in making 54 pages of tracings (of which 48 were used), each of which took from 4 to 6 hours work to complete. In May last I thought the only way to remove an erroneous word, written [sic] India ink, from a tracing was to scratch it out with a knife, thus causing the print to be a much lighter blue at the place of correction. I did not learn until months afterwards that there is a liquid preparation for removing India ink, without leaving a trace, or very little of a trace. I also did not know last May that fine lines and small dots in the tracing linen do not come out white in the blue print but a light blue, because the light gets in from both sides with too little of a barrier. You will notice the difference between the Sproule chart I am sending you to-day and the leaves from Thomson Family Record. There is another difference to which I wish to call your attention. In the Sproule Chart surnames are irregularly dealt with. Sometimes they are not given, and when they are you will find them occasionally in full capitals and at other times in small letters. I was groping my way blindly at that time, for in the days prior to 1894 I did not give surnames of children but referred readers to the surnames shown just above the horizontal lines. In May 1927 I had not developed the plan adopted in the Family Records-namely to give the surname in all cases, placing it in capitals if it was the name of a son, and in small letters (in parentheses) if it was the name of a daughter. This plan took up a good deal more space but made the tables more readily comprehended by those not accustomed to peruse genealogies. In regard to blue prints I did not know until October last that there was any way of correcting a blue print other than pasting a strip over the error, or of adding words &c to a blue print. Then I learned about the fluid called "Blue Print Corrector," which I have found of great advantage. Now to return to the Caldwell kin in New Brunswick, mentioned on pages 3 and 4 (if you will excuse my jumping around so much). I stated that Andrew C. Caldwell was a County Councillor; he was a fluent talker and a veteran politician. His son Tom was then 19 years old, 6 ft 3 in tall and with herculean arms and wrists. He was the most powerful young fellow I had ever seen. He could lift an anvil, weighing 1809 lbs. by the horn, and had taken 10 barrels, each weighing 300 lbs. off a wagon, and put them on a scale. He put his arms around the barrel and walked off. Not many months after I first met him he left for Wisconsin, where he had numerous relations. I have not see him since that time and had not heard of him for 35 years, when press dispatches told me that he was elected M.P. in the Dominican House for his native county of Carleton, as a Progressive. He sat in the House from 1919 to 1926 and made his mark there. He has 4 sons and 1 daughter. Two of his sons served overseas in the C.E.F. [Canadian Expeditionary Force?] The four sons are married. Reverting to what was said on page 4 about a "Sproule Genealogy-Caldwell Branch". I find a note in my Diary for April 24 1890 in regard to a book of genealogical tables which I sent to your grandfather Caldwell that day. The charts were enclosed in a pasteboard case, covered with green cloth. The book is oblong, measuring 12 in x 9 in. Attached to front inside of case is a genealogical chart on tracing linen, 36 x 9, folded in three. Then follow 11 pages, 11 x 8 1/2 of drawing papers, with tables of the family connections of the Caldwells, including Cunninghams, Kilpatricks, McCains, MacKays, Elders Stephensons, etc. There are also maps, showing places mentioned on charts" Most of the data in the books was obtained, in conversations in Sept [September?] of the preceding year, from two old ladies at Florenceville-your grandfather's aunt Mary Caldwell and his Aunt Jane, widow of his Uncle Casper and mother of A.C. Caldwell. I was then spending a week's vacation among the Caldwell kin, and I jotted down all the genealogical information that the old ladies give utterance to-in the first instance to pass the time and as a matter of curiosity; but as they went on I found that both ladies, especially your Aunt Mary, know as much about the Caldwell family that I considered it wise to preserve all the particulars they could give me, and then send a condensation of it to your grandfather. There is no one living from whom the largest part of the data could now be obtained. In writing to Uncle at the time, I said: "By having the space covered by descendants of your Uncles and Aunts colored in the way I have done it, you can now easily find from whom any person mentioned in the chart is descended, and besides you can see which branch has got the most members." The book above described was sent to your grandfather and I supposed it was in the possession of your Aunt Annie. She wrote me last March that "A.A. Crockett and Hubert have spent hours over your books. Hubert takes a great interest in genealogy." I have been wondering what the "books" are. I thought one of them was the 12 x 9 book above described, but what was the second one? The book produced on duplicating machine in July 1890 was sent to your father, but I do not think your grandfather got a copy, he having the more complete genealogy sent in April. Among the letters of your father that I have preserved is one dated Apr. [April?] 17, 1890, which reads: "After investigation have at last found the crest, motto, and coat of arms you wrote for (a family of Caldwells, descended from Sproules and living at Newmarket, Ont. [Ontario?] wanted the coat of arms for a memorial over their father in the local cemetary). It is a photo taken off some old plate at one time in possession of a Caldwell in Castlederg. I find that Crest and Motto are same as Castle-Caldwell family, but coat of arms differ. In Castle C arms there is a plain shield with three covers for wells. In ours the same thing is quartered on shield-the other quarter of our shield differing. Our shield is guarded by two greyhounds, but Castle Caldwell shield is unguarded. I shall get a drawing taken off photo and send it to you. I have inspected the old title deed of M.geeragh, which have descended in direct line to Matt. They commence by deed of 21 Oct. [October?] 1678 and continue direct to my grandfather, showing all ancestors by name to present. the original and first ancestor of 21 Oct[October?] 1678 was William, who had a son Charles, who had a grandson Casper, who had a nephew of same name in America." In a letter of April 21, 1895, your father wrote: "It may interest you to know that amongst a pile of old deeds and documents supplied me by "Toronto Charlie" when he was at home some months ago. I found the original last Will and Testament of Charles Caldwell, the only son and heir of William the First owner of Maghernageeragh; it is dated 10th October 1748 and was made by him when he was 72 years of age; it is in excellent preservation, and by it he left his freehold lands of Maghernageeragh, Trenboy & Slieve Duff to his two sons Henry and Samuel, share and share alike... Charles died on the 14th October 1748, and he is buried in my grandfather's portion of Castlederg Church burying ground. My grandfather's portion is covered by two flat old gravestones side by side. One of them is so old and worn that I was unable at the time (the day of Wm [William?] John Caldwell's funeral) to make out what was on it, but resolved to take a nice day and go up specially. I assume that it contained the inscription to the memory of William, the first owner, and Janet his wife; because the other and apparently newer stone is headed with the record of the death of Charles, his son. Next to Charles comes his son Samuel who died Feb [February?]19, 1774 aged 55 years. Then is recorded the death of Robert, son of Samuel, on the 12th day of June 1783, aged 23 years. Robert was brother to my great grandfather (Mathew) as you will see from the Caldwell Genealogy which you have so accurately prepared already. I regret-and am ashamed-to say that so careless have our branch been since that date (Robert's death) that they never went to the trouble of getting an inscription on after the death either of my great-grandfather (Mathew) or my grandfather (Charles). It seems shameful, does it not? Fortunately I know the dates, for I have got (amongst the other documents) the marriage settlement which was executed on the marriage of my grandfather with Rebecca Hemphill, prepared by an attorney named Ramsey, who then practised in Newtownstewart." The above seem to be the last letter I got from your father, and I have not heard whether the missing names were inscribed on the tombstone. Curiously enough the immigrant ancestors of the Sproules and the Caldwells are buried in the same churchyard. As to the John Caldwell who was attainted by the so-called "Portrait Parliament of 1689 he was probably an ancestor of the Caldwells of Killen, and perhaps was a brother of William, the first owner of Maghernageeragh. When corresponding with the late Colonel L.M. Buchanan of Edenfel, Omagh, in 1892 and after, I learned from a letter he enclosed that Dr Oliver Sproule of Omagh(See Sproule Table F) "married the great Dr Caldwell's sister of Derry." The writer (an old lady) probably referred to John Caldwell, M.D.[doctor of medicine?] of Derry, who married Mary Lecky of Bushmills (as recorded in Burke's "Landed Gentry of Ireland"). I found his name last Summer when looking into the history of the Leckys of Co.[County?] Antrim. At that time I thought of having a Lecky genealogy, with a Mathewson branch, but failing to get any response from Irish correspondents I abandoned the idea and limited the record to Mathewson of Kirlish, going half a page at the end to the Lecky genealogy as it was in 1894. Oliver Lecky, whose daughter Isabella married James Mathewson, Jun[Junior?], and who himself married Anne Sproule, sister of "the Nabob," seems to have been of some account socially, There was a governess in the home of his son Oliver. I have heard that he was descended from the Laird of Laskie, who fled to Ireland, but I failed to find proof of the kinship. Reverting to the Thomson family: Morgan Thomson lived at Lurgan, and afterwards at Newtownstewart. He was a boy of 13 when he "was at Lough Swilly in the time of the wars", as he says in one of his letters. Some say that his immigrant ancestor came from Maybole, Ayrshire; others say he was an Englishman. In the hope of finding something definite about his ancestry I wrote last September to the Registrar General of Northern Ireland, for a marriage certificate of Morgan Thomson's father (who, it is said, married a Miss Morgan) but I was informed that the records of births, deaths, and marriages extend back only as far as 1864. I had been under the impression that in Ireland, as in Scotland, where compulsory registration came into force, the old church registers of baptisms and marriages were sent to the Registrar-General's office, but apparently this was not done in Ireland. At my suggestion last fall, two of my Uncle Robert Elder's sons, who were born in Co.[County?] Tyrone but were uncertain as to the exact date, wrote to the Registrar-General, Belfast, for birth certificates. They got them, but the certificates bore the stamp of the Free State. Tuesday, Apr [April?] 3, 1928. I was very much interested in the items of information you gave regarding your Mother's ancestry. Her father was, I think, a first cousin of the late William Scott of Indianapolis, and his brother, Robert Foster Scott-who, as Wm[William?] Scott & Co- were my employees from 1891 until they dissolved partnership in Nov[November?] 1893. Their father Rev [Reverend?] William Scott, of Netowncunningham, married, I think, a Miss Mills, sister of your Mother's paternal grandmother. Mrs R.F. Scott visited Ireland, with her sons, William and Robert, a few years before your Mother's marriage. I keep up a somewhat irregular correspondence with Robert-my correspondence last year with everybody who was not a source of genealogical data was temporarily abandoned-and I heard from him about two months ago. His office, as a grain dealer, is in the Merchant's Exchange, St Louis, but his home is at 135 Bodley Ave [Avenue?] Kirkwood, Mo. [Missouri?] (about 14 miles from St Louis). Mrs Scott has been a diabetic for 14 years, but the treatment with insulin keeps her fairly well. Their eldest son, William, is a major in the U.S. Army; is married and has 4 children. He wrote me a couple of years ago asking for suggestions as to compiling a family history of the Scotts, but all the old people who could have given him information have passed away. He is just in the position I would have been in if I had not begun genealogical research until last year; the foundation of it all was laid before 1894. I understand he is meeting with some success; he gets much pleasure from the correspondence. His grandfather Rev [Reverend?] Wm [William?] Scott, wrote out for his son Robert F. a family record going back some seven generations, but the record was lost when Robert F. was moving from one house in Indianapolis to another. What a pity! If that record had only been distributed in the form of blue prints or otherwise, all the copies would not have been lost or burned. Robert Scott, Jun [Junior?] (who is, I think, a civil engineer) was married in New York on Sept [September?] 18, 1926. Norman, the 3rd son, is an officer in the US Navy, and is married, as is his youngest brother Holman, who lives in Buffalo. The old folks are all alone.Close