(LUKE) Please Come Get Your Carp

“In 1877, the U.S. Fish Commission imported common carp from Germany and for the next two decades the agency began stocking and distributing the species as food fish throughout much of the United States and its territories”.¹ For two decades, the federal government disseminated up to 350,000 carp per year.² “There was at this time a fever of enthusiasm for carp…throughout all parts of the United States.”³

“In 1880, the carp bug bit Utah, and a Deputy United States Fish Commissioner promised to transport free carp to Utah as early as 1881. The commissioner required interested parties to fill out a written application, pay for the shipping container and cover freight expenses. The price per fish ran between 35 and 85 cents, depending on size and how many fish fit into the container.”⁴

Several articles were printed preparing people to care for carp. One paper ran a lengthy, two-part feature on properly constructing a carp pond.⁵ Another article discussed the best types of water, soil, and plants for the fish.⁶

As many as 23,000 carp were delivered to Utah per annum. Most were put in private ponds, but over 10,000 were intentionally stocked in public waters.⁷ As an interesting side note, the fish were not stocked in Utah Lake or the river that feeds it. Instead, “a spring flood washed some of the fish out of” a private pond, and they made their way to the lake.⁸

The carp quickly overtook Utah Lake, severely straining native fishes like the June Sucker. A fisherman lamented in 1894 that if a law was passed to stop seining (fishing with nets) in Utah Lake, the lake would be filled “again with suckers and chubs, the same as it was years ago when no imported fish could exist in Utah Lake… The lake is now well stocked with carp… There are millions of them and they have come to stay… The carp are twice as good as the suckers.”⁹

For a time, Utahns were a carp-loving people. Some of my ancestors got in on the craze. In October, 1890, the newspaper reported, “We propose to commence the annual distribution of German carp as soon as practicable after November 1^st, and…we expect to be able to comply with all reasonable requests.”¹⁰

My ancestors were among those with “reasonable requests” that year.

Salt Lake Herald, 26 Nov 1890, http://digitalnewspapers.org/

Alexander Gillespie Adamson, my great-
great-great grandfather

Alexander and Elizabeth Adamson were from Lanarkshire, Scotland. The males in their families started mining coal around age 8. Elizabeth was a maid. Alex and Elizabeth immigrated separately to Utah in the mid-1860s and were married in Salt Lake City.

In Utah, the Adamsons could give their children a future better than coal mining. Alex farmed and did construction projects. The family grew their own produce.¹¹ And, apparently, they raised carp, too. They would likely have constructed a pond specifically for that purpose, as many other Americans did at that time.

His wife Elizabeth McGill Adamson,
my great-great-great grandmother

By 1899, however, public sentiment about carp was changing. One newspaper article reported that when the US government was distributing the fish, “a great many Utahns were among those who received allotments for their private waters. It was said that in Germany carp was highly esteemed and…would become a very valuable factor among the pond fishes of the United States. But when the testing and tasteing time came, they were found to be an inferior fish,…and many are now turning their noses up at them.”¹²

Their son George Hunter
Adamson, my great-
great grandfather

A Utah State senator spoke out against State Fish Commissioner A. M. Musser, declaring that, as “Musser had introduced carp into the waters of Utah, he should be compelled to reimburse the State.”¹³ Musser rebutted that carp were “highly recommended,” and were in fact sent by the federal government “on the thousand and one applications for them by the people of Utah.”¹⁴

Carp have been further maligned over the years as “trash fish.” Currently, a tax-funded multi-million dollar government project is removing them from Utah Lake at the cost of 20¢ per pound—about three times more than they originally cost to purchase—all for the sake of that "inferior" native, the June Sucker.¹⁵

________________________________________________________

Line of descent:
Alexander Gillespie ADAMSON (1841 - 1902) is your 3rd great grandfather

George Hunter ADAMSON (1880 - 1954) son of Alexander Gillespie ADAMSON

Jennie Constance Adamson (1903 - 1975) daughter of George Hunter ADAMSON

Zenda Constance Lang [my grandmother] (1924 - 2005) daughter of Jennie Constance Adamson

Sources:

1 - USGS Fact Sheet, http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?speciesID=4

2 - The German Carp in the United States (Google eBook), Leon Jacob Cole, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1905, p. 547 http://books.google.com/books?id=IbEqAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

3 - The German Carp in the United States (Google eBook), Leon Jacob Cole, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1905, p. 548 http://books.google.com/books?id=IbEqAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

4 - http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/fish-a-flop-as-utah-county-business/article_22b027ab-6e06-5514-9df7-d443c353b285.html

5 - The Daily Enquirer Newspaper 1887-07-19 vol. 11 no. 56 and 1887-07-22 vol. 11 no. 57 http://digitalnewspapers.org/

6 - “About Carp,” The Daily Enquirer Newspaper 1887-11-15 vol. 11 no. 89 http://digitalnewspapers.org/

7 - “Pisciculture in Utah,” Deseret Evening News, 2 Jan 1891, http://digitalnewspapers.org/

8 - http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/fish-a-flop-as-utah-county-business/article_22b027ab-6e06-5514-9df7-d443c353b285.html

9 - “About Seining,” The Daily Enquirer, 24 Jan 1894,  http://digitalnewspapers.org/

10 - “Carp, Etc.,” Deseret Evening News, 10 Oct 1890, http://digitalnewspapers.org/

11 – Adamson family information is from “A Compilation of Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes: Alexander Gillespie Adamson and Family,” compiled by Nathan W. Adamson, Jr., published Salt Lake City, 1996.

12 - “All About Fish,” Deseret Evening News, 3 Feb 1899, http://digitalnewspapers.org/

13 - “An Attack on Mr. A. M. Musser,” Deseret Evening News, 14 Mar 1899, http://digitalnewspapers.org/

14 - “An Attack on Mr. A. M. Musser,” Deseret Evening News, 14 Mar 1899, http://digitalnewspapers.org/

15 – See http://utahlake.gov/fish-be-gone-two-years-in-carp-removal-continues-at-utah-lake/ and http://www.slcdocs.com/utilities/NewsEvents/news2008/news6272008.htm

(ROBERTS) Coming to America

In the 1840s, about 100,000 German emigrants arrived in America each year. In 1848, “when it seemed that Germany might be at last a place worth living in,” that number was cut in half. But hopes were dashed, and emigration swelled. Throughout the 1850s, more than 250,000 Germans arrived annually on US shores.¹ “By 1900, almost one third of people born in Mecklenburg lived outside of the state.”² “These emigrants were the best of their race – the adventurous, the independent, the men who might have made Germany a free and civilized county. They brought to the United States a contribution on inestimable value, but they were lost to Germany.”³

Among the waves of immigrants came several of my ancestors, including Johann Friederich Heinrich Gronow, his wife, Johannah Maria (Fischer) Gronow, and some of their children. But why emigrate?

Lübz is situated on the river Elde.

Johann was born in Lübz, Mecklenberg-Schwerin, Germany. Lübz is a beautiful little town along the river Elde, about 60 miles south of the Baltic Sea and 100 miles northwest of Berlin. Like most of historic Germany, however, the area was riddled with problems.

 

Johann Gronow was christened at this Lutheran Church in Lübz. 

Johann was born April 13, 1810. This was the age of Napoleon.

“From 1806 to 1813, the country suffered great hardship and destruction during the period which came to be known to all Mecklenburgers as the "Franzosentid" (period of French occupation). Robbery and pillage became commonplace.”⁴ “French troops took horses, food, and whatever other supplies they needed without any compensation to the people. Throughout the next few years, peasants were periodically forced to take in troops and provide for them. The French government levied heavy taxes on the people to support the continual warfare and drafted young men into the French army. Prices on common goods increased enormously. Although Napoleon did bring some progressive changes with him, in the end, the main effect was repression and suffering.”⁵

Mecklenburg-Schwerin had been “forced to join”⁶ the Confederation of the Rhine, which was a military alliance “for mutual defense and [to] supply France with large numbers of military personnel.”⁷ After Napoleon’s defeat in Russia, a campaign from which fewer than 5% of Mecklenburg’s soldiers returned,⁸ Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the first member-state to renounce the alliance with Napoleon, and in the War of German Liberation (1813-1815) fought against Napoleon⁹ until his final defeat in 1815.¹⁰

After a decade of war, peace must have been a welcome change. Unfortunately, peace also brought an economic depression.

In 1815, the duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined the German Confederation and became a grand duchy. (A grand duke ranks one step under a king.) It was about the size of the US state of Connecticut.¹¹ “All power was placed in the hands of the Duke, nobles, and upper classes. The lower classes had no voice. Land was held under a Feudal system.”¹² Absolute rule continued until well into the 20^th century.

Inherited Serfdom was the Mecklenburg way of life. Peasants were dependent on the nobles. Peasants and their property could be bought and sold and they could not acquire additional land. Taxes were typically increased every few years. The police force and the church were controlled by the nobility. “The servant of a noble landowner was not even permitted to marry unless his master gave him permission.”¹³ “Practices such as having to ask for permission from the Grand Duke to get married, or having to apply for permission to emigrate,” continued until after World War I.¹⁴ Serfdom was technically abolished around 1820, but in fact continued for at least two dozen years. “Mecklenburg was known for being perhaps the most backwards of the German states.”¹⁵

The Gronows lived on this street, Plauer Strasse.

Johann apparently did not work the land. He lived in the small town of Lübz, which had a population of less than 2,000,¹⁶ and was either a stonemason or a ropemaker. His life was of course affected by the social rigidity of Mecklenburg. At some point, he met Johannah Fischer; her father was from Güstrow, about 25 miles north of Lübz. Presumably, they had to seek permission to marry and were forced to wait on a noble’s timeframe, as restrictions on marriages were not removed until 1867.¹⁷ Like most Germans of the time, they had a loving, monogamous relationship for quite some time before they wed. When they married at the church in Lübz on November 16, 1836, they were already the parents of two boys, ages 3 years and 5 weeks.

Johann and Johannah married in the Lutheran Church at Lübz,
pictured here in 2008 (with me!)

Johan and Johannah's marriage record. "Gronow" and "Fischer" are underlined.
From microfilm #0069316, page 384, at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This house, on Plauer Strasse, was inhabited in 2008 by K.
Gronow. Johann and Johannah might have lived here.

After their marriage, Johann and Johannah lived together in Lübz from 1836-1849. During that time, they had 6 more children. Sadly, two of those children, aged almost-5 and almost-2, died in September 1842.

The political situation in Mecklenburg-Schwerin remained mostly the same until 1848. In February, Parisians revolted and the king abdicated. The revolutionary fervor swept across Europe, including the “March Revolution” in Germany. The demands of the people included “arming of the people, freedom of the press, trial by jury and creation of a German parliament.”¹⁸ The people wanted a unified Germany. Initially, rulers were fearful of being overthrown and gave in to some of the demands. A National Assembly convened and spent the summer drafting “Basic Rights for the German People,” which were declared in December 1848 and included equal legal rights for all citizens.¹⁹ In April 1849, the Assembly offered all of Germany to the king of Prussia. He, however, “would not ‘pick up a Crown from the gutter,’” and refused.²⁰ “Thus, all the deliberation of the Frankfurt Assembly resulted in nothing. Germany remained fragmented after 1848, and the small rulers of the various small German states came back to power.”²¹ With no leader for a unified Germany, the movement failed. The Assembly disbanded and “the revolution of 1848/49 was over. The achievements of March 1848 were repealed in all states.”²² The aristocrats who had been so willing to make concessions a year before now swept them away; the “Basic Rights” were abolished, and life in Germany became even more repressive.

Against this backdrop, in 1849, Johann and Johannah Gronow left for America. They settled in Frankfort, Illinois, where they had four more children. Here, John and Hannah enjoyed the rights and freedoms denied to them in Mecklenburg.

  

_________________________________________________________

Line of descent from Johann, who was the great-grandfather of John Curtis Roberts. 

Johann Friederich Heinrich GRONOW (1810 - 1897)

is your 3rd great grandfather

Henry Carl Gronow (1850 - 1928)

son of Johann Friederich Heinrich GRONOW

Aurelia Charlotte Gronow (1877 - 1961)

daughter of Henry Carl Gronow

John Curtis Roberts (1921 - 1983)

son of Aurelia Charlotte Gronow

Sources: 

1 - The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History Since 1815, by Alan John Percivale Taylor, p. 94. http://books.google.com/books?id=XxJrcgnMh5wC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

2 - http://www.understandingyourancestors.com/asl/mecklenburgEvents.aspx See also http://www.emecklenburg.de/Mecklenburg/en/emi_intr.html

3 - The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History Since 1815, by Alan John Percivale Taylor, p. 94. He is British, by the way. I am not sure that a German historian would agree that all the best Germans left. J http://books.google.com/books?id=XxJrcgnMh5wC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

4 - “Mecklenburg Since the Middle Ages,” by Carol Gohsman Bowen http://www.emecklenburg.de/Mecklenburg/en/history.htm

5 - http://www.understandingyourancestors.com/asl/mecklenburgEvents.aspx

6 - “Mecklenburg Since the Middle Ages,” by Carol Gohsman Bowen http://www.emecklenburg.de/Mecklenburg/en/history.htm

7 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_of_the_Rhine

8 -  “Mecklenburg Since the Middle Ages,” by Carol Gohsman Bowen http://www.emecklenburg.de/Mecklenburg/en/history.htm

9 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Mecklenburg-Schwerin

10 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empire

11-13 - “Mecklenburg Since the Middle Ages,” by Carol Gohsman Bowen http://www.emecklenburg.de/Mecklenburg/en/history.htm

14 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecklenburg

15 - http://www.understandingyourancestors.com/asl/mecklenburg.aspx

16-17 - http://www.luebz-online.de/history.htm

18 - http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/ip/marrev.htm

19 - http://www.germanheritage.com/Essays/1848/unity_and_justice_and_freedom.html

20 - The Course of German History: A Survey of the Development of German History Since 1815, by Alan John Percivale Taylor, p. 93 http://books.google.com/books?id=XxJrcgnMh5wC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

21 - http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1848/section10.rhtml

22 - http://www.germanheritage.com/Essays/1848/unity_and_justice_and_freedom.html

(SMITH) Roger Williams, father of religious liberty

Roger Williams was born near London into a middle-class family in the early 17th century. He was formally educated and excelled in many subjects, including languages. Before leaving England, he was fluent in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch, and French¹. He later learned several Native American languages.

Roger Williams thought it prudent to leave England because of his religious beliefs, and he arrived in Boston in 1631. He refused a position in the Boston church because it had not separated from the Church of England. He taught briefly in Salem, then made his way to Plymouth². His "strange opinions,"^3--such as, no kings, merely because they were Christian, had the right to "take and give away the Lands and Countries of other men," ie: Natives--made him unpopular with the Plymouth leadership, and after 2 years he returned to Salem. 

The rulers of Salem were more moderate, but Roger's ideas also got him in trouble there. In October 1635, Roger Williams was charged with "new and dangerous opinions," including "That we have not our Land by Patent from the King, but that the Natives are the true owners of it" and "That the Civil Magistrates power extends only to the...outward state of men"⁴. In other words, Roger Williams believed that Indians should be paid for their land, and that individuals should have the right to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience, for "God requireth not a uniformity of religion to be enacted and enforced in any civil state; which enforced uniformity (sooner or later) is the greatest occasion of civil war, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of the hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls."⁵ For this, the Massachusetts court decided, "Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church of Salem, hath broached & divulged diverse new & dangerous opinions... it is therefore ordered, that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks."⁴

Meanwhile, Roger Williams continued sharing these radical ideas, and the court decided to deport him to England immediately. He was warned, however, by a good friend, former governor John Winthrop, and fled Salem a few days before the sheriff arrived to arrest him.⁶

"The winter of 1635/6 was cold even by New England standards. That winter, Narragansett Bay froze over, an event that rarely happens. In this extreme cold, Roger Williams, a city boy from London, made his escape on foot from Salem."⁴ Of this event, Williams later wrote: "I was unmercifully driven from my chamber to a winter's flight, exposed to the miseries, poverties, necessities, wants, debts, hardships, of sea and land, in a banished condition. For...fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter season, I was sorely tossed and knew not what bread or bed did mean."⁶

Williams headed south, walking over 100 miles through deep snow. Eventually, he was given shelter among a Wampanoag tribe. After a few months, Williams negotiated with the Natives for his own land on Narragansett Bay. Then, "having made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the sachems [chiefs] and natives round about us, and having, in a sense of God’s merciful providence unto me in my distress, called the place PROVIDENCE, I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience."⁴

Me at Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, Oct. 2012.
This park marks the site where Roger Williams built his home.

Roger Williams firmly believed in "soul liberty"--that all people should be allowed freedom of conscience, provided such an exercise did not harm others. He said of his settlement, "The Most High and only Wise hath provided this country and this corner as a shelter for the poor and persecuted according to their several persuasions."⁴ Rhode Island quickly became a haven for those of different beliefs, including Quakers and Antinomians. The state boasts the first Baptist church in America and the oldest synagogue on the continent⁷, both of which were built during Williams' lifetime.

The First Baptist Church in America, founded by Roger Williams in 1638,
though he eventually left organized religion. This building was erected in 1775.
Photo taken October 2012.

That his colony might be legally recognized by the English government, Williams traveled to London. He obtained a charter with two amazing provisions. First, "that it shall not bee lawfull to or for the rest of the Collonies to invade or molest the native Indians, or any other inhabittants, inhabiting within" the colony's bounds, they "being by us taken into our speciall protection." And more incredibly, considering that English citizens in England were not given this privilege, granting a "lively experiment...that all and every person and persons may...at all times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments."⁴

Roger Williams is credited with the beginning of separation of church and state in the New World. Although deeply religious, he believed the government should not interfere in a person's relationship with God; government should only be concerned with community relations.

Roger was born into the Church of England, became a Puritan minister, and spent a few years as a Baptist. But "his search for the true church eventually carried him out of ... any visible church," although he continued to actively preach. "From 1639 forward, he waited for Christ to send a new apostle to reestablish the church, and he saw himself as a 'witness' to Christianity until that time came."⁸

Williams was convinced that authority to perform ordinances was lost in the Apostasy, and "could not be validly restored without a special divine commission."⁸ He declared: There is "no regularly-constituted church on earth, nor any person authorized to administer any Church ordinance; nor could there be until new apostles were sent by the great Head of the Church for whose coming he was seeking."⁹

Williams had several other beliefs that separated him from the churches of the time. He was opposed to infant baptism, as infants could not understand and accept the ordinance. 

He "did not believe in taking money for being a preacher. He earned his living by farming and trading blankets and knives with the Indians.”¹ He wrote of ministers, "in their wages...they have always run in the way of a hire, and rendered such workmen absolute hirelings between whom and the true Shepherd, the Lord Jesus (John 10), puts so express and sharp a difference. [In John 10, the Lord declares that the true shepherd gives his life for the sheep, but the hireling sees the wolf coming and flees, caring not for the sheep.]...I am bold to maintain that it is one of [the] grand designs of the Most High to break down the Hireling Ministry, that trade, faculty, calling, and living by preaching."¹⁰

His ideas on freedom of conscience continued to differ sharply from the mainstream. In 1644, Williams was in London to secure a charter for his colony. While there, he wrote the book A Bloudy Tenant, "one of the most comprehensive treatises about the freedom of religion ever written,"¹¹ which contained the revolutionary idea that governmental authority was granted by the people, not by God. Parliament, outraged, ordered that all copies of the book be burned. I'd say it's a pretty successful revolutionary who inspires a book burning. :)

Furthermore, Williams opposed slavery. In 1652, his settlement passed a law prohibiting it. Unfortunately, when other settlements were joined together to make the colony of Rhode Island, some areas refused to accept the law and it was disregarded.⁸

This great man consistently lived according to his conscience, whatever the consequences. He was courageous, charismatic, and an exceptionally good human being. Even his enemies agreed on that.

Thus was the life of Roger Williams, the founder of the state officially named "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." 


_____________________________________________________________________________
***I did NOT research the genealogy for this post. I researched Roger Williams thoroughly and have cited sources below. However, I am depending on someone else's genealogic accuracy; I have NOT verified this line of descent. That being said, here is the genealogy, according to contributors on familysearch.org:

Alice Zemp, born 1925
Lucia Scoville, born 1889
Maria Holt, born 1861
Sarah Carr, born 1838
Thomas Carr, born 1791
Benjamin Carr, born 1762
Benjamin Carr, born 1725
Caleb Carr, born 1700
Deborah Sayles, born 1656
Mary Williams, born 1620
Roger Williams, born about 1603


1 - PBS biography of Roger Williams, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web03/features/bio/B05.html
2 - Roger Williams, by Henry Chupack, 1969
3 - History of the Pilgrims and Puritans, Joseph Dillaway Sawyer, 1922 http://books.google.com/books?id=HK4TAAAAYAAJ&dq=history+of+the+pilgrims+and+puritans&source=gbs_navlinks_s
4 - NPS biography of Roger Williams: http://www.nps.gov/rowi/historyculture/rogerslife.htm and ensuing pages
5 - Roger Williams, A Plea for Religious Liberty, http://www.constitution.org/bcp/religlib.htm
6 - Voices from Colonial America: Rhode Island, 1636-1776, by Jesse McDermott
7 - The Thirteen Colonies: Rhode Island, by Craig & Katherine Doherty

8 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(theologian)

9 - Picturesque America, ed. William C. Bryant, 1872, p. 496-502
http://books.google.com/books?id=HwRUAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=picturesque+america&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Xvl2UsGiOc_EiwLB24GgBw&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=picturesque%20america&f=false
10 - Roger Williams, "The Hireling Ministry," in On Religious Liberty: Selections from the Works of Roger Williams, by Roger Davis, http://books.google.com/books?id=DUn2VWvZG0sC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
11 - Smithsonian Mag: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/God-Government-and-Roger-Williams-Big-Idea.html?c=y&story=fullstory [I strongly recommend this one for further reading! It's an excellent article.]

(SCOFIELD) The Irascible Sir Cuthbert

Cuthbert Scofield was a pugnacious fellow. Perhaps it is fitting that he was the first Scofield to be granted a crest.

Crest granted to Cuthbert in 1582

The records of his life are primarily from the courts. Even his knighthood, granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1588, resulted from his assistance during a war. (He somehow helped defeat the Spanish Armada, probably by donating money.) 

As one author said, "Cuthbert Scolfeld was evidently a man either fond of litigation or uncommonly unfortunate, for he appears in the Duchy Court more frequently than any other inhabitant of the parish." (B)

Cuthbert went to court several times claiming various lands. His legal squabbles with relatives and neighbors, however, are the most interesting.

In 1561, Cuthbert sued his wife, Anne, for divorce. Herself the product of an affair, she apparently thought nothing of conducting a dalliance while her husband was at the market. Upon arriving home, Cuthbert was informed by others of the goings-on at Schofield Hall. Anne's lover fled from a window; she followed. Cuthbert pursued them, "brandishing his sword and giving chase through several fields." The pair escaped and made their way to Ireland; Cuthbert sued for divorce. (E)

Scofield Hall, 1829. Inhabited from the 16th-20th century. Now in ruins.

In 1565, Cuthbert quarreled with a neighbor about the ownership of a piece of land that included the local chapel. Apparently, Cuthbert attempted to enforce his opinion. According to another neighbor, Cuthbert, "a very evill disposed person... hath in verie riotous and forceable manor entered into the...chapell... and with strong locks and bars hath shut up the same," and when the locals tried to attend services they found "several disordered persons with drawn swords in their hands, who did make assault and affray upon divers persons." (A, C) 

Ah, Cuthbert, fractious and feisty till the end.

_________________________________________________________________
***I did NOT research the genealogy for this post. I researched Sir Cuthbert and have cited sources below. However, I am depending on someone else's genealogic accuracy; I have NOT verified this line of descent. That being said, here is the genealogy, according to contributors on familysearch.org: 

Guy Wixon Scofield, 1913-1984
John Wixon Scofield, 1888-1962
Charles Andrew Scofield, 1840-1910
Eleazer Scofield, 1811-1881
Rufus Scofield, 1773-1854
Noah Scofield, 1750-1790
Jonathan Scofield, 1719-1788
Nathaniel Scofield, 1688-?
John Scofield, 1647-1699
Daniel Scofield, 1620-1669
Alexander Scofield, 1588-1620
Sir Cuthbert Scofield, 1555-1605


A) Rebe Taylor, Rochdale Retrospect, chapter 3,
http://artsandheritage.link4life.org/images/stories/ebooks/rochdale-retrospect-rebe-taylor/chapter-iii-rochdale-retrospect-tudor-rochdale-1485-1603.pdf
B) Henry Fishwick, History of Rochdale, chapter 17, this is also the source of the picture of Schofield Hall, from a pen and ink sketch by George Shaw, architect, and the information about the Scofield crest
http://artsandheritage.link4life.org/images/stories/ebooks/history-of-rochdale-fishwick/chapter-xvii-old-houses-and-old-families-butterworth-pages337-389.pdf
C) ibid, chapter 10
http://artsandheritage.link4life.org/images/stories/ebooks/history-of-rochdale-fishwick/chapter-x-ecclesiastical-history-milnrow-chapel-pages202-215.pdf
D) ibid, chapter 15
http://artsandheritage.link4life.org/images/stories/ebooks/history-of-rochdale-fishwick/chapter-xv-manor-court-records-pages286-303.pdf
E) "Schofield Hall" at http://artsandheritage.link4life.org/index.php/discover/local-history-online/pennines/milnrow-a-newhey/schofield-hall

(LUKE) John Lang, Miner

My great-great-grandfather, John Emil Lang, left Sweden in the 1880s. By 1895 he had settled in Silver City, Utah. He mined in the American West for 30 years.

Me in Silver City, September 2012.
Another website says these are the basement steps of the store. 

The US Department of Labor reports that “From 1880 to 1910, mine explosions and other accidents claimed thousands of victims. ...mining was...highly hazardous. Fires, explosions and roof falls caused many deaths and injuries.” In the early 20^th century approximately 1,500 miners died annually.¹

Despite the dangers, even children participated in mining. As a “youth,” John's son Rudolph worked in the mines, carrying buckets of water on a yoke.³

"Job insecurity also plagued miners. Few could count on full-time work the year around. The periodic recessions and depressions that affected both the American economy as a whole and the mining industry in particular resulted in long periods of unemployment and often wiped out the savings of even the most frugal families.”²

Miners in Silver City also faced local troubles. In the 1890s water began to flood the mines. In 1902, a fire caused widespread destruction. Reinvestment five years later doubled the population to 1,500, but the boom did not last. By 1912, only 300 people remained in Silver City. The Langs rode out all of these storms, staying in the town for at least ten more years.

All that's left of Silver City, September 2012

Falling rocks. Runaway ore cars. Bad air. Lead poisoning. Lung disease. Cave-ins. Miners faced a multitude of job-related dangers. But in the end, it was living near a mine, not being a miner, that spelled the end for John Lang.

On Saturday morning, September 2, 1922, 57-year-old John Lang disappeared while walking near his home. His absence was noted within minutes and the alarm was sounded, but it was already too late: John had fallen into an abandoned mineshaft. The 75' fall resulted in a fractured skull, and probably instant death.

The local newspaper carried reports of four other injuries in local mines that week, caused by 2 less serious falls, a cave-in, and someone falling under a mine cart.⁴ John's death made the front page.

Between a picture of a European monarch and an article on local democracy lies my great-great-grandfather's obituary: bridging the Old World and the New, even in death.

__________________________________________________

• According to Utah History-To-Go, “Falls down mine shafts were one of the  most common fatalities.”²

• For the curious, my lineage:
  • John Emil Lang (1865 – 1922) is your 2nd great grandfather
  • Rudolph Edwin Lang (1899 – 1987) son of John Emil Lang
  • Zenda Constance Lang (1924 – 2005) daughter of Rudolph Edwin Lang
    (Zenda is my grandma.)

1 http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT2.HTM

2 http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/mining_and_railroads/silverinthebeehivestate.html

3 Rudolph Lang Eulogy, given by Dean Lang on 8 Dec 1987. Copy in my possession.

4 Eureka Reporter, 8 Sep 1922. That week's issue also included an ad that advocated letting children “eat their fill” of “pure candy,” a report on labor agitators, and an ad for 17¢ cans of “ripe olives.”

(ROBERTS) "You...rascal! We are Americans, not British."

The Battle of Haw River of the Revolutionary War: deception, a family history tie, and a win for the Patriots add up to a great story! (You know, if you ignore the carnage part.)

In February, 1781, the British were seeking Loyalist recruits for the army in North Carolina. Dr. John Pyle answered the call, gathering at least 300 men. He asked (British) General Cornwallis to send an escort for his men. Cornwallis complied, sending (British) Lt. Col. Tarleton with about 450 men. Pyle seemed to be concerned enough about his safety to ask for an escort, yet he allowed his men, against higher orders, to linger in the area to socialize with friends and family, which resulted in their missing their rendezvous with Tarleton.

On February 24th, two men from (Loyalist) Pyle's group were out looking for (British) Col. Tarleton's force. They came across an army wearing green coats, like Tarleton's men did. Unfortunately for them, (Patriot) Col. Henry Lee and his men also wore green coats. William McAdams, my 6th-great-grandfather, was at that time serving under Col. Henry Lee. William was present for all that followed, although his specific actions are unknown.

Pyle's men assumed that (Patriot) Lt. Col. Lee was (British) Lt. Col. Tarleton, as both units dressed in green coats. The two men freely revealed the nearby location of Pyle's army. Lt. Col. Lee sent the two back to Pyle with "Colonel Tarleton's compliments," and asked them to have Pyle's force move off the road so "Tarleton's" group could pass.

Then Lee broke his army into three groups, apparently to surround the Loyalist forces, to either capture or bypass them on his way to attack Tarleton. Lee's contingent openly approached Pyle's men and began to pass them on the road, while other of Lee's forces got behind the Loyalists in the Woods. Dr. Pyle saluted Lee, assuming he was Tarleton, and even shook his hand.

At that moment, shooting commenced near the woods. Apparently, some of the Loyalists had seen the Patriots hidden in the woods and started shooting, realizing that these weren't the British. (It has alternately been suggested that the Patriots started shooting first. As the evidence is unclear, I think that's mostly irrelevant over 200 years later.) Lee dropped Pyle's hand and drew his own sword, and Patriot troops swarmed from the woods and attacked the Loyalist troops. 

"'Stop! Stop!' screamed Col. Pyle, 'You are killing your own men!'

"His cry ended abruptly as a Patriot sword knocked him from his horse. ... As each Patriot wheeled his horse to face a new opponent, he called out, 'Whose man are you?' 'The King's! The King's!' screamed the Loyalists, and the Patriot sword cut them down." [A]

Amazingly, though smitten as soon as they proclaimed to be friends of the king, the Loyalists continued to be confused about the identity of their assailants. Several who escaped later found the British camp, and they complained to the real Tarleton "of the cruelty of his dragoons." [B] One injured Loyalist, taken as a prisoner, exclaimed to Lee, "Mr. Tarleton, you have this day killed a parcel of as good subjects as ever His Majesty had." Angered, Lee replied, "You...rascal! We are Americans, not British. I am Lee of the American Legion!" [A]

The battle was a clear Patriot victory. At least 90 Loyalists were killed, and several hundred were wounded. No Patriots were killed. The head of William McAdams' regiment, Col. Moore, was injured when his horse was shot and fell on him. He was the only Patriot wounded.

The Battle of Haw River helped weaken British morale, and from the American Patriot point of view was "of infinite Service. It has knocked up Toryism [previously a big problem in that area] altogether in this part."[C] 

William McAdams served in the militia for over two years. He also participated in the Battle of Stono, the pursuit of Col. David Fanning the Tory, and various skirmishes with the Tories and British. He eventually settled in Illinois.


_________________________________
For the curious, the genealogy is:

William McAdams (1760 - 1843)

is your 6th great grandfather

Mary "Polly" McAdams (1792 - 1871)

daughter of William McAdams

Hannah Dugger (1821 - 1853)

daughter of Mary "Polly" McAdams

Mary Anne Graham (1843 - 1914)

daughter of Hannah Dugger

William H Peter (1868 - 1923)

son of Mary Anne Graham

Earl Raymond PETER(S) (1893 - 1963)

son of William H Peter

Dolores Mae Peters (1927 - 1992)

daughter of Earl Raymond PETER(S)

and then down to me.

A http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_battle_of_haw_river.html
B http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/06/light-horse-harry-lee-and-pyles-massacre/
C http://www.revolutionarywar101.com/battles/810225-haw-river/

(LUKE) Ann Kirkman – Emigration to Utah

Ann Kirkman Howarth

Ann Kirkman, my great-great-grandmother, was born in 1850 in Darcy Lever, England (near Manchester). Her family were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At that time, members of the Church, “Mormons,” were persecuted throughout the world. Accordingly, many traveled to Utah or “Zion” to live in peace with other Mormons. Ann Kirkman had a strong desire to emigrate to Utah.

Her mother, however, believed some of the rumors spread about that settlement and did not want Ann to go. “When she first told her mother she wanted to come, her mother told her she would cut her throat before [she] would permit it and [Ann] was quite frightened and couldn't sleep for many nights for fear her mother would carry out her threats.”

Regardless of her fear, Ann somehow gathered the funds needed to make the voyage. Her mother, seeing that she was really determined to go, went to the dock with her and gave her a shilling, which Ann kept until her death.

At age 23, Ann courageously left her native home, alone. She sailed to the United States aboard the Wyoming, a ship chartered for Mormon emigrants, which left Liverpool on Wednesday, September 2, 1874. For the first three or four days of the voyage, just about all of the passengers were sick and ate very little. But by the time they arrived in New York, on the 14^th, most of them were in good health. The next day, the company boarded a train in Jersey City, arriving in Utah on September 23^rd. Ann lived in this new home until her death in 1927.

____________________________________________________________

Quoted text is from "The Life of Ann Kirkman Howarth," a short biography written by her daughter, Sarah Jane Howarth Luke, available at http://sharing.ancestry.com/2735972?h=9453a3

 

Other sources: mormonmigration.lib.by.edu (search for Ann Kirkman) - Includes descriptions of the ocean voyage taken from letters and journals.