All posts by Scott C. Steward

About Scott C. Steward

Scott C. Steward was the founding editor at Vita Brevis; he served as NEHGS Editor-in-Chief 2013-2022. He is the author, co-author, or editor of genealogies of the Ayer, Le Roy, Lowell, Saltonstall, Thorndike, and Winthrop families. His articles have appeared in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, NEXUS, New England Ancestors, American Ancestors, and The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, and he has written book reviews for the Register, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.

“What utter madness it seems”

American History, Family Stories, NEHGS Collections, ,

PP231.236 Regina Shober Gray. Not dated.
Regina Shober Gray by [Edward L.] Allen, ca. 1860. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Item PP231.236
Continuing my occasional series on the month of May in Regina Shober Gray’s diary,[1] I thought it might be interesting to look at the first five years after the end of the Civil War. One can generally guess where Mrs. Gray will be at any given moment, but the year 1866 breaks the pattern, and we find the diarist visiting her cousins in Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia, Wednesday, 23 May 1866: We had a very successful day at Tom K’s.[2] and enjoyed our visit, spite of its unavoidable fatigue. It is a very pretty farming country there – low rolling hills – and from every summit the river winding away through wood and wold. He came up yest’y mg. to escort us down, though we assured him it was quite unnecessary – we would find our own way &c.

When here we offered to release him of the whole matter if he wished to remain in town on acct. of this news of disastrous financial panic in Eng’.d, received by telegraph from Halifax. Continue reading “What utter madness it seems” →

At the margin

American History, Collections, Family Stories, , , ,
ABA album for VB
My grandmother’s album.

One of the joys of old photographs is the occasional detail, the one that hovers at the margin, away from the central feature of the image. Looking through one of my grandmother’s albums – helpfully marked “Vol. 1,” although I’m not sure there are any subsequent ones in the series – I’m struck by the horses and cars (even the occasional ostrich) that coexist with the people peopling the photographs. My grandmother’s family was considered very “horsey,” and they were happy to be associated with their powerful cars – and I think there is a bit of a story to be found in these images. Continue reading At the margin →

“The dear old lady”

American History, Family Stories, Genealogical Writing, NEHGS Collections, , , ,

PP231.236 Regina Shober Gray. Not dated.
Regina Shober Gray by [Edward L.] Allen, ca. 1860. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Item PP231.236
Another way in to Regina Shober Gray’s diary is through selected entries clustered around the same date. Today is 19 May, so – to pick the arbitrary span of the Civil War years – what sorts of observations does she make in her mid-May entries?[1]

Boston, Saturday, 18 May 1861: These two or three clear days have helped Morris[2] a good deal – he drives often, and walks twice a day with me. I shall be known as “the woman that follows the drill” ere long, for he trudges after each company all over the parade ground [on Boston Common], and his military accoutrements attract no little attention to his poor pale face…

A report is very current to-day that Gen.l Beauregard[3] has died of wounds rec’d at the attack on Sumter. Somebody has heard somebody’s letter read, giving an acct. of his funeral!! Continue reading “The dear old lady” →

“Then we cleared out fast…”

American History, Family Stories, , ,
Frothingham and GLS for VB
My grandfather with (at left) William Bainbridge Frothingham (1898-1967) during the summer of 1918.

My paternal grandfather kept scrapbooks all his adult life, beginning with volumes chronicling his time at school in Arizona a century ago. He started at Harvard in 1917, and during the summer of 1918 – traveling with some college friends – he drove ambulances in Italy. His album of that summer indicates that these Harvard boys had time to go to the beach and in other ways amuse themselves, but he was – and they were – also on the front lines, and almost as soon as they arrived.

A newspaper clipping, probably from his hometown newspaper in Goshen, New York, quotes from a letter he sent home to his mother:[1]

 

Thursday, 27 June 1918: The first day six of us stayed at our post until the Austrians were only 200 yards away. Continue reading “Then we cleared out fast…” →

“Boston people do not like such nonsense”

American History, NEHGS Collections, ,

PP231.236 Regina Shober Gray. Not dated.
Regina Shober Gray by [Edward L.] Allen, ca. 1860. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Item PP231.236
Regina Shober Gray’s diary changes tone after the onset of her husband’s fatal illness, in 1876, so what does the year 1875 sound like? Mrs. Gray is 56 years old when the year begins, and her children are almost all grown up. Her daughter Mary has already received, and rejected, at least one marriage proposal, while the boys are either in business or still studying at Harvard.

Early in the year, in the midst of a particularly terrible cold snap, Mrs. Gray recalls the winter of 1844, shortly before her marriage:[1]

1 Beacon Hill Place, Boston, Saturday, 20 February 1875: Thirty-one years ago the English Steamer was released from Boston Harbour, by the cutting of a channel through the ice __ miles long, to liberate it, and I well remember, being then a visitor at Mr. Josiah Bradlee’s[2] [house] in Pearl St., the excitement about it… Continue reading “Boston people do not like such nonsense” →

ICYMI: Jump starting your genealogical research

Genealogical Writing, ICYMI, Research Methods, , , ,

[Author’s note: This blog post originally appeared in Vita Brevis on 19 December 2014.]

Newbury Street TodayConsider sending a holiday letter out via email to your relatives. Then print a copy for posterity. – David Allen Lambert Continue reading ICYMI: Jump starting your genealogical research →

Solving a mystery?

American History, Collections, Family Stories, , , , ,

Steward 3I have written several blog posts on the contents of my grandfather’s box of family papers, but even this seemingly inexhaustible resource must eventually run dry. I don’t think I’m quite there, yet, although it’s true that I am reaching the tail end of the easily identified documents and photographs. Now for one or two remaining mysteries. Continue reading Solving a mystery? →

An unusual family

American History, Family Stories, , ,
Steward 1
The John Steward family of Goshen, New York. Harriet Le Roy Steward (later Stuyvesant) stands in the doorway; her brother Campbell, my great-grandfather, stands behind the toy cannon.

It is always a nice surprise to open a book and find a reference to a family member, especially a family member about whom one knows little. This recently happened to me as I was reading Robert Winthrop Kean’s memoir, Fourscore Years, published privately in 1974. The book’s subtitle, “My First Twenty-four,” indicates that this volume covers the beginning of the author’s life; an earlier book, Dear Marraine, concerns his service during the First World War.

Winthrop Kean’s mother was Katharine Taylor Winthrop (1866–1943). Her “most intimate girlhood friend,” Katie Stuyvesant, was my grandfather’s first cousin. Continue reading An unusual family →

“A good many sharp speeches”

American History, Family Stories, NEHGS Collections, , , ,

PP231.236 Regina Shober Gray. Not dated.
Regina Shober Gray by [Edward L.] Allen, ca. 1860. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Item PP231.236
Rhonda McClure’s Tuesday post on finding the correct death date of Martha Babcock Greene Amory in Paris reminded me that Regina Shober Gray (1818–1885) mentions her in several entries in the early years of her diary.[1] A sharp-eyed chronicler of her contemporaries, Mrs. Gray’s words bring Martha Amory to uneasy life.

1 Beacon Hill Place, Boston, Monday, 16 January 1860: Fanny Gray[2] came to take tea – [she] played some sweet airs on the piano, with a great deal of feeling – and described a number of fancy ball dresses for Mrs. C. Amory’s[3]  next Thursday.

Sunday, 22 January 1860: Have heard of little else than the [Amorys’] fancy ball – it was a grand success and kept up until 5 a.m. Continue reading “A good many sharp speeches” →

A growing family

American History, Family Stories, , , ,
Maryland Casualty Tower Building for VB
Edward Hughes Glidden’s sketch of the Maryland Casualty Tower.

We pick up the Bouchers in 1912 with Mrs. Frances Boucher[1] and her sons Carlos H., clerk, and Emile G., “2d vice pres. Crook-Horner Supply Co.,” at 1718 Linden Avenue in Baltimore, along with Mrs. Boucher’s grandson Harry P. Stone, clerk.[2] Thomas J. Wentworth, now a member of the Melbourne Advertising Agency with an office at 210 East Lexington Street, is back at 1731 Linden Avenue.[3] Edward H. Glidden appears as a member of Glidden & Friz, architects (in the Glenn Building, 16 St. Paul Street), and the treasurer of the Maryland Apartment House Company; he has already moved into the Glidden & Friz-designed Homewood Apartments on North Charles Street.[4] As in 1910, Claude Burch is at 804 North Calvert Street.[5]

In 1913, Edgar L. Brooks (who married Josephine Boucher Stone in that year) is listed as secretary of the Baltimore Chemical Company at Seventh Street, east corner of Gough; Julien P. Friez, instrument maker and the father of Lucien Louis Friez, was living at 1230 East Baltimore Street.[6] Edward H. Glidden and Clyde N. Friz now had their office on the twelfth floor of the Maryland Casualty Building.[7] Continue reading A growing family →