Tree Talks, Vol. 44 No.2 June 2004
Reprinted with permission from the CNY Genealogical Society
Back to Borodino Bullett History
THE BERRY LETTERS
Part II
by Bill Breihan*
[ Intro and Index | Notes Part I | Notes Part II | Notes Part III ]
I am the great, great, great, great grandson of Jonathan Berry (1771 -1849) of Borodino (cf Collins), a dozen of whose letters appear in the collection. My dying mother passed down the family archives to me in 1991. A similar act of inheritance had taken place in 1973, 1938, 1916, 1881, and 1849. The collection includes nearly one hundred letters, many dozen of family documents, and several diaries. Except for a single eighteenth century item, all are from 1824-1881. I’ve been transcribing and studying the material since 1997. The following, The Berry Letters 1834-1881, is an abstraction of the names from the 96 letters. Notes is additional information that I have researched and abstracted from the original letters and from other items in the collection that are in my possession. I am also including samples of the letters in this article. To peruse copies of each of the 96 letters in their entirety, contact Barbara Shoemaker, Town of Spafford Historian, 686 Bacon Hill Road, Homer, NY 13077. (315) 636-7700.
Notes (Continued from Tree Talks, Vol. 44. No. 1 March 2004)
26. John Babcock, Jr. (1781-1849), an early Borodino settler and cooper by trade, was married to Ellis Wallace (second wife). Esther (Woodworth) Johnson (1810-93) was wife of Joseph’s cousin Jonathan Johnson, another Spafford cooper. Jerry Nodine and wife are Jeremiah W. Nodine, Sr. and Maria (Strope) (1795-1876) Nordine of Cold Brook (South Spafford). Jonathan Berry, overwhelmed with grandchildren in his care, tries to convince son Joseph to take Mary Ann, Edward E. Berry’s older sister, back with him.
The primary reason for Joseph’s return to Borodino in 1841 was to close out his business once and for all. He had cleared up most of his debt, but many in Spafford still owed him, particularly a group of farmers down the road from his old store. Peter Picket owned a sawmill in Cold Brook. Chester Sharp (1768-40) had recently died and his widow, Martha Churchill, married the recently widowed Peter Picket. Orrin Town (1787-1842) and Moses and Benjamin Pressey were other Cold Brook debtors. Joseph is discouraged at having once again to accept lumber, goods or promissory notes, along with the inevitable pleas of penury (“the white bowl”).
Joseph tells of taking four of his nephews (three Winchesters, one Hillebert) to n. A carding mill and clothing works was built before 1828 by Capt. Asahel Roundy at the Upper Falls at the end of Bucktail road. It was moved and reassembled at South Spafford about the time of Josepthe “carding machine.” The four-year-old is George Winchester, sister Ann’s son’s visit. “P” who married Samuel Rice’s widow is William Patten, Jr. of Borodino (1795-1872). Rice’s widow was Elizabeth Davis. Walt Hinman’s wife was Maria Albro, abandoned like Joseph’s plans to return to her home near Galena, IL with her brother-in-law Smila Bemus after visiting kin in sister Ann. Judges in the Iowa Territory were apparently not lenient. Anne Spaudling, a teacher, was the sister of Silas Cox’s wife Abigail and the wife of George Spaulding of Borodino. Joseph takes his sister Thankful to Jordon, Onondaga Co., to catch a Canal boat west. Visiting in NY, she Medina and Ellery, NY.
Joseph comments on the latest national political crisis. After twelve years of Democratic rule under Jackson and Van Buren, the Whig William Henry Harrison was elected in 1840. When he died in office a month later, the Presidency went to John Tyler. The Whigs in Congress tried to pass a bill chartering a powerful national bank like the one the ever-popular Andrew Jackson had destroyed. When Tyler twice vetoed the bill, all but one of his cabinet resigned and the Whigs effectively expel him from the party. A hard line Jackson man, Joseph Berry was delighted. Democrats everywhere celebrated.
Milton Streeter lived until 1864. Thomas B. Anderson was a Spafford merchant. Sophia M. Berry apparently never made it west. Joseph writes to his brother Isaac about going west. Isaac lived in Galena, IL briefly in 1837. John Baxter—Borodino farmer, businessman, surveyor and Daniel’s brother—moved to MI. Hall is probably Rufus Hall of Borodino.
27. Job Churchill and Elias and Edward Hunt were hired by the Boston and Western Land Company in the late nineteen-thirties to run the company’s blacksmith and wheelwright shops in Winslow..
28. Farmer and tanner Amasa Kneeland was Sarah’s uncle from Thomhill, Marcellus township, just up the road from Spafford. Amasa’s daughter Stella Bennett (Collins has “Bassett” elsewhere) (1808-1891) left with her husband to East India as a missionary. Joseph’s brother Isaac deliberates on a return west. Cornelius (1780-1858) and Eliza (Ostrander) (1782-1864) Williamson were Spafford farmers. Adeline and Thankful are Joseph’s sisters. “The Rice’s country” was on the west side of Otisco Lake in Marcellus. Christian Rice (1771-1843) was married to Thankful Berry’s sister Mary (Polly) Mills (1774-1831). There was a Rice’s Hill and is today a Rice Grove in Otisco. Joseph and his sister write a letter to brother Simeon in IL. Sarah’s sister Catherine is mentioned. The Doct. is probably Dr. Jonathan Kneeland (1812-98), future President of the Onondaga County Medical Society. Son of area school teacher and early settler Warren Kneeland, Sr.(1771-1868), Dr. Kneeland was born in Borodino in 1812.
29. Mrs. Perry was probably the woman by that name from nearby Homer, NY. Old Mrs. Orton is Rachel (Fischer) Orton (1779-1841), wife of Osmor Orton of Spafford Hollow. (Collins has her dying in 1842.). Nancy is apparently Christian Rice’s second wife. Charles is Sarah’s brother Charles Kneeland. Constant Dedrick lived in Skaneateles, Onondaga Co., NY. Mr. Loring in Homer is the father of Thomas Loring of Winslow. Ruth F. Berry, the youngest of Joseph’s siblings, had died several months earlier of consumption at age 21. Hector is Sarah’s brother in Winslow. Joseph visits his sister Elizabeth (Betsy) Hillebert in Cattaraugus Co., NY as he prepares to go west, about the same time as brother Isaac. He parts with sister Sophia and cousin Charlotte.
30. Two
longtime Spafford area residents, Christian Rice and Stephen Albro, had
recently died. Albro, a Revolutionary war veteran originally from RI, was the
father of Maria Hinman of Spafford. The Bemus folks were Joseph’s sister
Thankful and husband James, who lived in the Galena, IL area. Brother Simeon
was mining ore somewhere in the WI-IL lead region. Joseph’s bachelor brother
Nelson in Borodino had finally married, to Lucretia Lyman.
Like many pioneers, Joseph and Sarah Berry were squatters, having settled on public lands before they could be surveyed and auctioned by the federal government. A Preemption Act was passed by Congress in 1841 in response to the demands of the western states that sq be allowed first choice to purchase their land. When land was eventually surveyed and readied for public auction, squatters had, by this act, the right to appear at the local land office and lay claim to 160 acres of their illegal holdings for $1.25 per acre. They could, in this way, pi or prevent any subsequent claims, as long as proof was provided of 14 months residence, a dwelling and improvements to the land. As Joseph bad too little money for outright purchase, he preempted and was given a deadline to make payment or else lose the land. By achieving-after eight long years—final release from all debts incurred from his Spafford Corners store, his financial position had improved to a degree.
31. Ague is malaria or intermittent fever. Bilious fever is a loose term applied to intestinal and malarial fevers. Ague was a widespread complaint amongst western immigrants. Neither term is used today. Before the first well was dug in the village in 1842 many were ill with ague due to the lack of clean water. Cyrus Woodman, agent of the Boston and Western Land Company then living in Winslow, raised money in 1842 to build the town’s first across the Pecatonica River. Joseph’s brother Isaac built this first wooden bridge, which was open for use in 1844. The bridge’s charter was held by Woodman who had sole right to tolls, but he apparently ceded that right to Isaac until such time as the latter’s construction was satisfied. “Mills” is Timothy Mills Berry, Isaac’s son who was later a Winslow wagon maker. There was a dam and millpond in Winslow, which supplied power for the flour and saw mills.
Charles Kneeland purchased Winslow’s only hotel, the American House, in 1843 and Sarah apparently worked there. The Boston and Western Land Company had the three-story, ten-bed hotel built in 1838. Before Kneeland’s purchase it had been leased to several proprietors. Brewster and McNulty are still prominent names in Shullsburg, WI. Sarah’s sister Cornelia was probably working and living at Charles’ hotel. Sarah invites Joseph’s sister Sophia to visit again and asks siblings Adeline and Nelson and Edward’s sister Mary Ann to write. Almyra Berry is a cousin.
32. Jane (Jennie, Jenine) Knapp is Joseph’s sister Polly’s daughter.
33. Howardsville no longer exists. There was a Stevens family in Spafford (Cold Brook). Many from Spafford migrated to MI.
34. Included with the letter is a deed from Charles and Angelica Mason. As soon as clear of debt and had secured his farm through preemption, then purchase, Joseph reentered the business of land transactions. Not since he left NY in 1834 had he been in the financial position to do so. Conditions had been not good for such speculation, in any case, following the Panic of 1837.
It’s not clear how Joseph befriended New York native Charles Mason (1804-1882)--perhaps through the Masons clan at Spafford, more likely through his association with real estate speculator Cyrus Woodman. Several months before this letter Mason bad resigned as Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, a position he held since his appointment by President Buren in 1838 following the formation of the Iowa Territory. Mason graduated first in his class in 1829 from West Point Military Academy. (Number two in the class was General Robert E. Lee.) He taught there three years, then studied law before settling in Burlington, IA in the 1830s. In 1853 he was appointed U. S. Commissioner of Patents.
Iowa became a state in 1846 but was unable to elect anyone to the U. S. Senate for two years due to a political dispute. The Iowa legislature at that time was divided into three warring parties: Democrats, Wbigs and “Possums” with the latter holding the balance of power. Senators in those days were elected by state legislatures but the dispute was such that no combination was strong enough to win a majority and elect a representative. The Possum Party grew out of conflicting claims in a battle over land involving New York speculators and thousands of squatters who refused to move. The settlers’ representatives were known as Possums. At the founding of the Iowa Territory a border dispute broke out with the state of Missouri. In 1839 the respective militias squared off in the bloodless “Honey War,” so-called because the only casualties were a few damaged bee trees.
35. At times Joseph appears to have acted as Woodman’s business agent.
36. Ezra D. Wickwire was a Winslow merchant. His brother Eli was the town blacksmith. One of the Wickwires was also part owner of the flourmill. This was Sarah’s only trip back to NY after leaving for WI in 1835. The Keil Road is the Erie Canal.
37. Jonathan Berry died in August 1849 and Joseph returned the following summer to settle his father’s estate. Joseph’s son Edward probably carried him by wagon to Chicago, where he boarded the steamboat Mayflower to Buffalo. From there he traveled by packet (Erie Canal passenger boat) to Medina to visit his sister Polly and husband Isaac Knapp. Joseph discusses his sister’s children. Joseph had a mail route through northern IL and southern WI during the late 1840s and early 1850s. Catherine is Sarah’s sister; Esq. Woodman is Cyrus Woodman’s father Joseph who moved to Winslow in 1842 and continued to live there after his son and family moved to Mineral Point, WI.
38. Mail came down the canal. Sister Sophia never makes it west due to her fear of lake travel. Joseph’s older brother Isaac died in 1846, probably in Winslow. His sons Edward (adopted by Joseph) and Timothy, both living in Winslow, signed papers granting Joseph power of attorney on their behalf. Jonathan Berry was likely another son of Isaac. Uncle Mill’s neighborhood was Thornhill in the town of Marcellus, just north of Spafford. Isaac Mills (1779-1863), a soldier in the War of 1812, married Jonathan Berry’s sister Mary (Polly) (1779-1813) in 1800. Anderson may be Borodino merchant Thomas Anderson. Jonathan is cousin Jonathan Johnson of Spafford.
39. Amber, Marietta, Skaneateles are Spafford’s neighboring towns. Joseph was awarded the new mail route upon his return. Esquire is Joseph Woodman of Winslow.
40. A Rev. Harris lived in Borodino for a time after moving from Monroe Co., NY. Mrs. Evarts is probably Nancy (Kneeland) Evarts, wife of Rev. Jeremiah Evarts and daughter of Warren Kneeland of Marcellus, Sarah’s uncle. Mr. Vandenburgh is probably Stephen Vandenburgh (1800-1882) of Thomhill, Marcellus. Benjamin (b. 1825), Judson (b. 1821) and Dolphus (b. 1827) Kneeland are Sarah’s cousins and the sons of Amasa Kneeland of Spafford. Nelson Mills (1831-1857) is Isaac Mills’ son and Prudy (Hyde) (1790-1852) Mills his second wife. Besides fear of the lakes, sister Sophia had another reason to equivocate on a decision to travel west: a visit by her love interest and future husband John J. Rowan of New York City. Ann is probably Joseph’s sister Ann Winchester.
41. Nancy is Sarah’s cousin Nancy Evarts. Groton is in nearby Thompkins Co. George is Joseph’s sister Ann’s son, George W. Winchester. Scott is a village south of Spafford in Cortland Co. Edward is Joseph’s son and Mills is Edward’s brother, Winslow wagon maker Timothy Mills Berry.
42. Fat Cousin Mary is Mary Kneeland, daughter of either Warren or brother Amasa Kneeland. Both had daughters named Mary. As executor, Joseph struggles to guarantee all heirs their fair share of the Jonathan Berry estate. In particular he wants to ensure that sister Adeline Eddy has possession of the Berry house. Mrs. Carver is Deborah (Tahpenes) Carver, originally of Troy, PA, wife of Dr. William D. Carver of Winslow. The Carvers settled in Winslow in 1849. Joseph’s son Edward later apprenticed under Dr. Carver before attending Rush Medical College in Chicago.
43. Only this last page remains of a letter from longtime friend Caleb N. Potter. Though undated, the content suggests follow-up to Joseph’s 1850 visit with Potter at his home in Clintonville, NY.
44. Jonathan Berry is probably the oldest son of Joseph’s deceased brother Isaac.
45. Woodman refers to the dam, canal and millpond in Winslow. Joseph owned adjoining lands. Mrs. Baker is Sarah’s sister Cornelia and Mrs. Meacham is her sister Catherine.
46. Sarah Berry died on Consumption at age 49. Joseph put their hotel and house up for sale shortly thereafter.
47. Joseph’s niece Jane refers to his sisters Thankful Bemus and Adeline Eddy. Mills is Timothy M. Berry of Winslow. Ada Rowan is Joseph’s sister Sophia’s daughter. James Bemus, Thankful’s husband, was apparently a wanderer. Frank may be Joseph’s nephew Frank Hillebert, his sister Elizabeth’s son.
48. Edwin Eddy of Spafford is Joseph’s brother-in-law, his sister Adeline’s husband. Sophia Berry, Joseph’s sister, married John J. Rowan, a New York City broker. Joseph made a trip back to NY in 1854 soon after his wife’s death. He returned to Winslow March 1855, then traveled to New York City in May 1855, remarrying the following month. His second wife is Elisabeth S. Rowan, sister of John J. Rowan. The “Maine law” refers to legislation passed in 1851 prohibiting the sale of alcohol in Maine. By 1855 twelve other states, all in the northeast and mid west including NY, had gone dry. A massive, nationwide temperance movement, the byproduct of decades of religious revivalism, had by the 1 850s found powerful allies in government. Joseph’s brother Nelson’s first wife died. His second wife was Amy Ann Eddy (1815-1857), probably Edwin Eddy’s sister.
49. John Bradford was born in Plympton, Plymouth Co., MA and died in Winslow, IL. He was a direct descendant of the second governor of the Plymouth colony. A millwright, he worked for Cyrus Woodman for many years; between 1853 to 1857 as manager of the Helena, WI shot tower, which annually produced many tons of lead shot.
50. Isaiah Grinnell (1773-1861) and William Kirkpatrick (1794-1861) were both buried in Borodino. The Harmon lady is probably Mary Jane (Williamson) Harmon (1826-79) of Spafford. Joseph is updated on the well being of his many nieces. Mr. Wm. Rowan is probably
Sophia’s brother-in-law. Edwin Eddy contemplates a move west. Aunt Lizzy is Joseph’s wife.
51. Joseph’s nephew George Winchester appears to have been badly wounded in battle. Ada is Sophia’s daughter.
52. Therese French is the daughter of Dr. Simeon French and Ruth (Cox) French, originally of Otisco, Onondaga Co., NY. Uncle Edward is Dr. Edward Cox, son of Silas Cox of Spafford.
53. Ruth M. Pierce is Joseph’s cousin; Sottie their daughter. T. Mills is Timothy Mills (1803-1888) of Thorn Hill, Marcellus, NY, son of Isaac Mills.
54. Aunt Adeline is Joseph’s sister Adeline Eddy of Borodino.
55. Sophie B. Eddy (185 1-1873) is Joseph’s niece, his sister Adeline’s daughter. The Churchills were a large Spafford clan. George C. Anderson is the son of John Anderson (1807-1890), both of Spafford. Aunt Abby is Abigail (Stringham) Berry, the third wife of Nelson Berry of Borodino, Joseph’s brother. His first two wives died.
56. Niece Sophie surveys the well-being and doings of Joseph’s nieces, nephews and in-laws. About six miles northeast of Spafford lay the large Onondaga Indian Reservation. It is still there today, just south of Syracuse. Sophie’s attitude typifies traditional settler hostility toward the natives.
57. Helen Marian Lee (1844-1878) is the future wife of Dr. Edward E. Berry, son of Joseph’s deceased brother Isaac. Henry S. Magoon (b. 1832) was a prominent Lafayette County, WI lawyer, who lived in Shullsburg 1857-1864. He served as Lafayette County District Attorney 1859-60, State Senator 1871-72 and U. S. Congressman 1875-76. A scholarly man, his personal library, legal and literary, had over 4000 volumes. This undated note was probably from 1863. Dr. Berry, her father’s medical partner and a former boarder at the Lee house, was away at war. Helen and her doctor friend corresponded regularly yet the lovely nineteen-year old was pursued by others, including this successful thirty-one year old attorney.
58. Ed W. Perry was probably Helen (“Nellie”) Lee’s first cousin on her mother’s side. Cora Lee (b. 1854) and George W. Lee Jr. (b. 1847) are Helen’s siblings. Dr. Berry, Helen’s love interest, served in the 33rd Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry as a hospital steward and later assistant surgeon. The 33rd regiment was mustered into service mid-1862 and was deployed on the western front throughout the war. Here they are just returning from the ill-fated campaign up the Red River under the bungling Nathaniel Banks, one of Lincoln’s “political” generals.
59. Dr. Berry was by this time more than a "friend."
60. Charles Knickerbocker of Shullsburg was quartermaster for the 33rd Wisconsin. His friend Edward Berry contracted malaria and later spent several weeks at Overton U. S. Military General Hospital in Memphis. The Red River campaign in the spring of 1864 was a military disaster. Union forces were routed in the one major engagement of the campaign and the naval flotilla barely escaped annihilation when trapped by receding waters. This setback contrasted with the euphoria of victory the 33rd and other Union units experienced earlier at Vicksburg and with the subsequent Meridian Expedition under General William T. Sherman. Knickerbocker’s speculation on the steamer Madison’s destination proved wrong. They went only as far north as Memphis, where they camped and prepared for the next campaign into Mississippi. Helen Lee’s father was Virginia native Dr. George W. Lee (1818-1889), a Shullsburg mine owner and Republican Superintendent of county schools.
61. Niece Sophie gives another report on Joseph’s numerous NY nieces and nephews. Dr. Edward E. Berry and Helen M. Lee married in 1866. Their third child, six month old George, died earlier that month. Dr. Isaac Morrell of Borodino had relocated to Fulton, Oswego County, NY in 1866.
62. Dr. Jonathan Kneeland was one of Onondaga County’s most prominent citizens.
63. Joseph’s sister Sophia Rowan, husband and family had given up on New York City, settling in Onondaga Valley, just south of Syracuse.
64. Joseph gave up his Winslow, IL farm and moved into the home of Dr. Edward E. Berry in Platteville, WI in August 1870. His sister provides yet another update concerning Joseph’s numerous Onondaga County relatives.
65. A sizable group of Berrys and kin settled in Coldwater, MI at mid-century.
66. Joseph’s brother Nelson’s boys in MT were William G. and Fred M. Berry. Zara Berry and family had relocated to Grand Ledge, Ml. His oldest daughter, Harriet Conover, lived in Skaneateles, NY.
67. Jane Fitzgerald was Dr. Jonathan Kneeland’s half-sister.
68. Zara Berry’s Sons Frank and George lived in Minneapolis and Grand Ledge, Ml, respectively.
69. Shuler Conover of Skaneateles was Zara Berry’s son-in-law. Nearly the entire business hub of Borodino burned to the ground 12 September 1871.
70. Jane Gerald is undoubtedly Jane Fitzgerald. Henry Ide (1809-1892) married Harriet Colton (1812-1871), both of Borodino.
71. Mrs. William Wallace was the former Amelia (Lilly) Eddy of Spafford, sister of Joseph’s brother-in-law Edwin Eddy. William Patten (1795-1872), a Revolutionary War veteran who settled in Borodino in 1817, ran a clothing works with Elijah Manley at Factory Gulf. Peter Churchell (1798-1876) lived in Spafford. Laura Patterson of Spafford was married to Amos Christler. Volney Patterson, son of Dr. Ebenezar Patterson of Spafford, was married to Susan Green. They moved to Chautauqua County, NY from Spafford in 1855. Joseph’s niece Addie Rowan vacations in Baldwinsville, northwest of Syracuse. Theresa French is the daughter of Dr. Simeon French of Battle Creek, MI, formerly of Spafford. Walter is Addie’s younger brother, Charlotte her cousin.
72. Mrs. Knapp is Joseph’s sister Polly. Orrin Eddy’s (1809-1897) wife was Harriet Streeter, daughter of Alexander and Susan Streeter of Borodino. George is probably Joseph’s nephew George Winchester.
73. Abby is Joseph’s brother Nelson’s third wife Abigail Stingham. Amy A. is Nelson’s deceased second wife Amy Ann Eddy. Sophia gives Joseph an update on all his nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters.
74. Though mail service had improved greatly in recent decades, a forty-day wait was still not unusual.
75. Ward Bearse’s wife was the former Mary Burns, both of Spafford.
76. Letter is incomplete.
77. Sophia B. Eddy, Joseph’s sister Adeline’s daughter died at age 22. Elison P. may be Elsina (Patterson) Harvey of Ellery, Chautauqua County, NY, daughter of Volney and Susann Patterson.
78. Horace Kneeland (l80~-l875), brother of Joseph’s first wife Sarah, was a sculptor.
79. Timothy Mills of Thorn Hill, north of Spafford was Joseph’s first cousin. Warren Kneeland of Marcellus, NY was Joseph’s first wife Sarah’s uncle. Chester Ferry (1799-1876) lived in Borodino.
80. Battle Creek, MI mayor Dr. Edward Cox was son of early Spafford settler Silas Cox, who died in 1855. Dr Simeon French and Ruth (Cox) French, formerly of Spafford, and their children, Edward and Theresa, also lived in Battle Creek, ML The Democrats gradually wrestled political control away from the Republicans nationally during the late 1 870s.
8l. Sophia reports on her two sisters; also on the well being of Joseph’s Spafford kin. Joseph’s first cousin Jonathan Johnson, the latter’s son Edwin Johnson and his wife Helen (Breed) Johnson all died in 1874.
82. Edmund C. Weston (1798-1874), a clothier from Maine, was an early Spafford settler and part owner of the Clothing, Fulling and Carding Works at Factory Gulf, Marcellus, NY. Russell Tinkham (1794-1874) was the son of Capt. Daniel Tinkham, who settled in Spafford in 1803. Hiram Linus Darling (1826-1874), son of Free Will Baptist minister Jacob Darling, was a Spafford dentist and amateur lawyer.
84. Dr. Berry’s wife Helen’s sister Cora Lee (b. 1854) lives with them. Warren i~ Daviess County, IL and Lena in Stephenson County, near Winslow.
85. John Mapes may be John Mapes, Jr. of Spafford, NY. Geo. may be Dr. Berry’s brother-in-law Dr. George Washington Lee , Jr. (b. 1847) of Georgetown, WI.
86. Ruth, Susan, Adeline and Edward Cox were children of Silas and Ruth (Spaulding) Cox, originally from Spafford, NY. Therese French is Ruth’s daughter.
87. Jane Knapp reports on the death of Joseph’s sister Polly Knapp.
88. David and Leydia Almy were probably some of Joseph’s old Spafford neighbors. There was an Almy family living in the area when he lived there. David Almy fills Joseph in on Spafford folks who relocated to Allegany County, NY. Worden Babcock (18l9-l849) Borodino was a son of Elihu Babcock (1779-1819), who settled in Spafford from Cam Washington County, NY some time before 1810. Sheldon Stanton was a son of Benjamin Stanton (1780-1871) of Spafford, originally from Pownal, Bennington County, VT. Sheldon's sister Rhoda married Delos Billings of Spafford. His other sister Melinda married Samuel Shearman who moved from Allegany Couny to Georgia. Sam Shearman’s sons were living in nearby Bolivar, NY; his father Peleg and his wife both died in Allegany County. The Applebees were another Spafford clan. Thomas Babcock was another son of Elihu Babcock, as was Cyrus. Calvin Streeter, son of Alexander Streeter of Spafford, married another Babcock sibling, Malentha. Calvin’s sisters Ada and Dorcas and their husbands also relocated from Spaf ford to Allegany County.
89. Mother Johnson is Joseph’s first cousin Ruth (Mills) Johnson (1802-1877), wife of David Johnson (1801-1848) and daughter of Isaac Mills of Marcellus, NY.
90. Helen (Lee) Berry is the wife of Dr. Edward E. Berry; Ernest Berry (1876-1820) son.
91. Edward Hunt, probably now retired, had been a Winslow wagon maker since the late 1830s.
92. Postcard. Sgt. Spaulding may be George Spaulding, originally of Borodino.
93. Edward Gerard Kneeland (1833-1906) was Joseph’s nephew, the son of his fir Sarah’s brother Edward G. Kneeland who died at Gratiots Grove in 1841. The younger Edward Kneeland was a concert violinist and professor of music who led orchestras in St. Louis and elsewhere. Joseph had just spent several months at Edward’s home recovering from an illness. He was visiting on the first stop of another trip east. Thomas McNulty was an early settler and prominent businessman in Shullsburg, WI.
The Platteville Normal School became a teacher’s college and eventually the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Duncan McGregor replaced Professor Edwin W. Charlton as Principal. Yellow Jack is the yellow fever. The “trade depression” refers to the difficult years following the Panic of 1873. The rest of the decade witnessed severe economic dislocation: business failures, collapsing farm prices and manufacturing wage cuts. Things finally came to a head with the great rail strike of 1877, crushed militarily by the federal government with great loss of life.
Mary is probably Dr. Berry’s sister Mary Ann Springer. The Squires were a Grant County, WI family headed by Joel C. Squires, a former state senator and county official. Joel Squires lived in Lancaster and later in Platteville.
95. Mrs. E. G. Jones is the sister of Joseph’s second wife Elisabeth S. Rowan (d. 1882).
96. Envelope only. Joseph R. Berry died three weeks later on 8 February 1881, probably at the house of Dr. Edward E. Berry in Platteville WI, age 81 years, one month and 22 days.
This article will be concluded in Tree Talks Vol. 44 No. 3 September 2004.