The Choctaw Rainmaker

The Choctaws had several classes of dignitaries among them who were held in the highest reverence: The Medicine Man or Prophet, the Rain Maker, the Doctor a veritable chip of Esculapius. Well indeed did each fill his allotted position in life, and faithfully discharge the mystic duties appertaining thereunto, both in their own opinion as well as that of their people. The Choctaws Materia Medica, like all their race, was Nature, herbs and roots furnishing their remedies both externally and internally; and the success with which they used those remedies proved their knowledge of the healing properties of the various … Read more

Genealogical and Family History of Vermont

Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont vol 1

Hiram Charlton took on the publication of the Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont for Lewis Publishing. In it, he enlisted the assistance of living residents of the state in providing biographical and genealogical details about their family, and then he published all 1104 family histories in two distinct volumes.

Descendants of Hon. Horatio Leonard Cushman of Taunton, MA

CUSHMAN (Taunton family). The Cushman family of Taunton here briefly reviewed, the family and lineage of the late Hon. Horatio Leonard Cushman, long one of the leading citizens and substantial men of Taunton, at one time the city’s chief executive officer, and who had served most efficiently in both branches of the city government, as alderman and councilman, and who in turn has been followed by his son, Seth Leonard Cushman, Esq., who for many years has been president of the Bristol County National Bank, is a branch of the family bearing the name of ancient Plymouth, which with its … Read more

Mr. Cushman and the Choctaw’s

Curiosity was one of the chief characteristics of the Choctaws, and held a prominent position in their breasts. They were desirous to know everything peculiar or strange that was transpiring about them; not more so, however, than any others of the human race. Yet the Choctaw differed from his white brother in this particular; the white man expressed openly his curiosity at anything unusual or strange, and asked innumerable questions concerning it, and manifested the greatest excitement until his curiosity was gratified; but the Choctaw asked no questions, nor manifested any surprise whatever, no matter how strange or incomprehensible to him, … Read more

First Settlements in Norwich Vermont

Having glanced thus briefly at the action of the Norwich proprietors in opening a way to reach their new township in the wilderness, and in dividing up a portion of its surface into lots suitable to become the homesteads of future settlers, let us pause a moment and see what had meantime been done in the work of actual settlement. I am indebted to Rev. Edmund F. Slafter of Boston for an interesting account of what was unquestionably the first attempt at settlement made within the limits of the town. I quote from the Slafter Memorial: “Samuel Slafter [of Mansfield, … Read more

1918 Warren County Farmers’ Directory – C Surnames

Abbreviations Used in this Directory a–Acres; Ch — Children; O–Owner; T–Tenant or Renter; R –Rural Route; Sec-Section; Maiden name of wife follows directory name in parentheses (); figures at end of information–year became resident of county. Star (*) indicates children not at home. Name of farm follows names of children in quotations marks. In case of a tenant, the farm owner’s name follows the figures giving size of farm. Example: ABBEY, William L. (Lena Riggs) Martha and Cora Abbey, Mother and Sister; Kirkwood R1 Tompking Sec8-5 T80a H.M. Abbey Est. (1886) Tel. Farmers’ Line Kirkwood MEANS ABBEY, William L. – … Read more

The Meeting in 1811 of Tecumseh and Apushamatahah

Peter Perkins Pitchlynn was the Choctaw Principal Chief from 1864-1866

The meeting in 1811, of Tecumseh, the mighty Shawnee, with Apushamatahah, the intrepid Choctaw. I will here give a true narrative of an incident in the life of the great and noble Choctaw chief, Apushamatahah, as related by Colonel John Pitchlynn, a white man of sterling integrity, and who acted for many years as interpreter to the Choctaws for the United States Government, and who was an eye-witness to the thrilling scene, a similar one, never before nor afterwards befell the lot of a white man to witness, except that of Sam Dale, the great scout of General Andrew Jackson, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of A. J. Cushman

Cushman, A. J. (doctor), Lincoln, was born in the town of Georgia, Franklin county, Vt.,. on May 21., 1843. His father, Francis Cushman, was a school teacher in Franklin county and also at the University of Vermont. In later life he engaged in the mercantile business. His wife was Amelia Brown, by whom he had a family of seven children, of whom A. J. is the third youngest. Dr. Cushman came to Lincoln, Vt., in 1859. He is a blacksmith by trade. He enlisted in Company A, Sixth Vermont Volunteers, infantry company, and served three years. The last two years … Read more

Missionaries Among the Choctaw

In 1832, at Hebron, the home of the missionary, Calvin Cushman and his family, was the place appointed for the assembling of all the Choctaws in that district preparatory to their exodus from their ancient domains to a place they knew not where; but toward the setting sun as arbitrary power had decreed. Sad and mournful indeed was their gathering together helpless and hopeless under the hand of a human power that knew no justice or mercy. I was an eyewitness to that scene of despairing woe and heard their sad refrain. I frequently visited their encampment and strolled from one … Read more

Weymouth ways and Weymouth people

Weymouth ways and Weymouth people

Edward Hunt’s “Weymouth ways and Weymouth people: Reminiscences” takes the reader back in Weymouth Massachusetts past to the 1830s through the 1880s as he provides glimpses into the people of the community. These reminiscences were mostly printed in the Weymouth Gazette and provide a fair example of early New England village life as it occurred in the mid 1800s. Of specific interest to the genealogist will be the Hunt material scattered throughout, but most specifically 286-295, and of course, those lucky enough to have had somebody “remembered” by Edward.

Gurney Family of Brockton, MA

Gurney Brothers Advertisement

Lysander Franklin Gurney, late of Brockton, Plymouth Co., Mass., was a descendant of some of the earliest settlers of this section. Going back to the mother country, we find the following general information in “The Gurneys of Earlham” (two volumes, Hart, Mich., March 16, 1906).

Descendants of Alexander Bisset Munro of Bristol, Maine

Munro Family

Alexander Bisset Munro was born 25 Dec. 1793 at Inverness, Scotland to Donald and Janet (Bisset) Munro. Alexander left Scotland at the age of 14, and lived in Dimecrana in the West Indies for 18 years. He owned a plantation, raising cotton, coffee and other produce. He brought produce to Boston Massachusetts on the ship of Solomon Dockendorff. To be sure he got his money, Solomon asked his to come home with him, where he met Solomon’s sister, Jane Dockendorff. Alexander went back to the West Indies, sold out, and moved to Round Pond, Maine, and married Jane. They had 14 children: Janet, Alexander, Margaret, Nancy, Jane, Mary, Solomon, Donald, John, William, Bettie, Edmund, Joseph and Lydia.

Migration of Families out of Norwich VT

At the first enumeration of the inhabitants of eastern Vermont, as made by the authority of New York in 1771, Norwich was found to be the most populous of all the towns of Windsor County, having forty families and 206 inhabitants. Windsor followed with 203, and Hartford was third with 190. The aggregate population of the county (ten towns reported) was then but 1,205, mostly confined to the first and second tiers of towns west of the Connecticut River. Twenty years later, in 1791, Hartland led all the towns of the county with 1,652 inhabitants, Woodstock and Windsor coming next … Read more

Soule Family of New Bedford Massachusetts

Rufus A. Soule

SOULE (New Bedford family). The family bearing this name at New Bedford, Mass., is a branch of the Old Plymouth family, descending from George Soule, one of the “Mayflower” Pilgrims and a signer of the compact in 1620. The present head of the family is the Hon. Rufus Albertson Soule, citizen soldier, now collector of the port of New Bedford, who for many years has been a conspicuous figure in the business and political life of that place, a public servant of high and honorable service, one who as man, citizen and neighbor enjoys that popularity that comes to but few.

People and Buildings of the Choctaw Nation

The missionaries found the precepts of the Choctaw’s to be moral; and also that they respected old age, and kept fresh in memory the wise councils of their; fathers, whose lessons of wisdom the experience of the past, taught their youthful minds to look upward, and whose teachings they did not forget in their mature years. Their tenderness to and watchful care of the aged and infirm was truly remarkable; they looked upon home and regarded their country as sacred institutions, and in the defense of which they freely staked their lives; they also inculcated a high regard for parents, … Read more

Ancestry of Capt. Jacob Taber of New Bedford, Massachusetts

Jacob Taber

Capt. Jacob Taber, late of New Bedford, and long successfully engaged as a master mariner in the whaling industry, was a descendant of an early settled New England family. He was a direct descendant of Philip Taber, who was at Watertown in 1634, and contributed toward building the galley for the security of the harbor, was made freeman in that same year, and was later at Yarmouth among the first settlers and deputy to Plymouth, 1639-40. Still later he was at the Vineyard, and afterward at New London, Portsmouth, and at Providence and Tiverton, respectively, being a representative from Providence.

Tunapinachuffa

The first conversion among the full blooded Choctaws was that of an aged man, who lived near Col. David Folsom, chief of the Choctaws, named Tun-a pin a-chuf-fa, (Our one weaver) hitherto as ignorant of the principles of the religion of Jesus Christ as it is possible to conceive. He manifested an interest in the subject of religion about six months before any other of his people in the neighborhood, and soon began to speak publicly in religious meetings, and gave evidence, by his daily walk and conversation, of a happy and glorious change, to the astonishment of his people, who … Read more

Cushman Family of Acushnet, MA

For perhaps fifty years there has lived in what is now Acushnet and figured largely in the industrial life of the locality a branch of the ancient and historic Cushman family of the Old Colony, in the immediate family of the late Emery Cushman, whose early life was passed in Duxbury; himself the founder of an enterprise here in which he was succeeded by his son and the latter by his sons, all of whom contributed through the manufacturing plant to the material progress and welfare of their locality.

It will be remembered that Robert Cushman was one of the most active and influential men in all of the preliminary movements of the Pilgrims in going to Leyden and thence to New England, he the ancestor of the Cushman family here in question, the marriage of whose son into the Howland family further identifies it with the “Mayflower” party.

There follows the history and genealogy of this Acushnet Cushman family in chronological order from this first American ancestor.

Ancestry of Henry Huttleston Rogers of Fairhaven Massachusetts

Henry Huttleson Rogers

Henry Huttleston Rogers, Fairhaven’s most distinguished son, was born there Jan. 29, 1840, and died May 19, 1909, in New York City. Of typical New England stock and Old Colony antecedents, his continued identity with Fairhaven made him dearly beloved in that community. The Rogers family is, perhaps, one of the most ancient and numerous of the old settled families in the country. There were no less than a dozen who bore the name of John Rogers among the seventeenth century emigrants, and one of this Christian name was president of Harvard College in the latter part of that century. It is the purpose in this article to deal, briefly, with only one of the New England Rogers families – that of which Henry Huttleston Rogers was a representative.

Death of Cyrus Kingsbury

Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury

Early in the year 1820, an English traveler from Liverpool, named Adam Hodgson, who had heard of the Elliot mission when at home, visited the mission, though he had to turn from his main route of travel the distance of sixty miles. He, at one time on his sixty miles route, employed a Choctaw to conduct him ten or twelve miles on his new way, which he did, then received his pay and left him to finish his journey alone. Of this Choctaw guide Mr. Hodgson, as an example of noble benevolence and faithful trust, states: “After going about a … Read more