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Monday, September 21, 2015

Death of William Rutherford's Brother in Montreal



 The clipping above is from the Southern Reporter newspaper, Selkirk, Selkirkshire, Scotland, June 19, 1879.  I find it kind of mysterious.  First of all, I didn't know that William Rutherford had a brother who had also moved to Montreal (William is undoubtedly the "Mr. Rutherford, lumber merchant...brother of the missing man" referred to in the story).  And why wasn't Alexander working with his brother in the lumber business?

Here's the Montreal newspaper (the Montreal Daily Witness) where the story originated.  May 12, 1878.



Below are two clippings which show James Rutherford's wicked gardening skills. 





From the Kelso Chronicle, September 28, 1849.  





From the Kelso Chronicle, Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland, July 16, 1869.  

David Scott, Auchtermuchty, Bankrupt


Our ancestor Thomas Chalmers Scott, who immigrated first to the United States (Detroit, Michigan) and then to Canada (Toronto) around 1842, when he was in his 40s.  His parents, who lived in Auchtermuchty, Fife, Scotland, were David Scott and Katharine Greig.   I have never been able to discover much about his parent's lives, but the free weekend at findmypast.com has helped me discover some clues about Thomas's parents.

The clipping from the Caledonian Mercury newspaper, April 24, 1813 (above) indicates that David Scott of Auchtermuchty was partnered in business with a man named Thomas Chalmers. I had always assumed that T.C. Scott had been named after the well-known churchman Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) who lived in Fife as well, but now I'm thinking probably he was named after his father's partner and, presumably, friend.  It looks like 1813 was not a good year for the business.

The clipping below, from the Perthshire Courier, April 20, 1815, suggests that Chalmers &Co. was a cloth manufacturing business.




The clippings below show land owned by Chalmers and Scott being sold off in 1813, presumably to cover business losses.  The following clippings seem to show that Chalmers, at least, recovered financially. 


From the Perth Courier, Thursday April 15, 1813.  



From the Fife Herald, November 4, 1841.



From the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 5, April-September 1819.  This suggests another bankruptcy. 
 



From the Fife Herald, Cupar, Fife, Scotland, May 27, 1847.  Was this David Scott's business partner?




From the Fife Herald, Cupar, Fife, Scotland.  June 10, 1847.

 The Pigot's Directory of Scotland for 1825-6 (below) shows both David Scott and Thomas Chalmers listed under Manufacturers and Agents in Auchtermuchty.  The 1837 edition of the same publication shows only Thomas Chalmers' name. 




Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Will and Estate Papers of John Norton of Hartford, Connecticut


John Norton (or Naughton) Jr. was born May 24, 1651 in Branford, New Haven, Connecticut, and died on April 25, 1725 in Hartford, CT.  He was my husband's 7th great grandfather.  He was married to Ruth Moore and was the son of John Norton Sr. and his wife Dorothea.  Below is his will, an inventory of his effects, and a distribution list (who got what).   



Saturday, September 5, 2015

Tracing the Ladd Family in "The Ladd Family" and other Ladd Family Records

Back in 1890, a gentleman named Warren Ladd wrote a book entitled  The Ladd Family:  A Genealogical and Biographical Memoir of the Descendents of Daniel Ladd of Haverhill, Mass., Joseph Ladd of Portsmouth, R.I.,  John Ladd of Burlington, N.J., John Ladd of Charles City Co., VA. It was "Printed for the author by Edmund Anthony and Sons, New Bedford Mass, 1890."  And it traces the ancestors of Calvin Palmer Ladd, husband of Polly Harmon and father of Elizabeth (Ladd) Bulmer, right back to their earliest American roots.   This book is somewhat anectodal, which makes it even better!   The book is exhaustive and it's petty to quibble but some of the names of Ladd spouses are misspelled.  Also he often doesn't give much detail about the birth families of Ladd mothers. 

To begin with, here are a few documents relating to Calvin Palmer Ladd.  Here's his death record;  he died in Massachusetts on November 12, 1889.


It lists his occupation as "Inventor", his place of birth as Haverhill, and his parents as Joseph and Sarah Ladd.  He died at 81 years, 2 months and 26 days of age and suppression of urine.  He was married to his second wife at the time of his death. 

We know from Calvin Ladd's application to join the Massachussets chapter of the  "Sons of the American Revolution" society that his father was Joseph Ladd and his grandfather was Ezekiel Ladd, which fits nicely into Warren Ladd's chronology.







It's hard to believe that a businessman such as Calvin didn't leave a will, but I can't find one for him.  

Here are some excerpts from The Ladd Family, beginning with Calvin P. and going backwards from there.

Actually, our ancestor Calvin P. Ladd married Mary Patience Harmon, not Mary Parson Harmon.

And here are his parents, Joseph Ladd and Sarah Ring. 
Here she's called Mary Payson Harman, and his daughter Elizabeth's husband is referred to as John Bulwer.

Here's a bit about Ezekiel Ladd and his wife Ruth Hutchins
 


Ezekiel was the son of Daniel Ladd and Mehitabel Roberts.

Daniel was the son of another Daniel Ladd, and his wife Susannah Hartshorn.



  Daniel was the son of Samuel Ladd and Martha Corliss.



Samuel, in turn, was the son of Daniel Ladd, an original settler who came to America on the ship Mary and John which sailed from London, England, in 1633-4, and his wife Ann, last name unknown.  Warren includes a lot of biographical information about this original Daniel Ladd but for now I'll just record the basics.