My Loyalist Ancestors: Arriving in New Brunswick From New York

In the last post, I wrote about my 4th great Uncle Murphy Giberson, who lived in New Brunswick, was descended from Loyalists, and is related to me through my mother's mother.

My mother's father's side of the family was also descended from a Loyalist--my paternal great great great great grandfather, John Crabb, who was born in 1741 in Duchess County, New York. This is how we are related:




John Crabb (1741 - 1792)
My 4th great-grandfather

John Crabb Jr. (1770 - 1853)
son of John Crabb

William Henry Crabb Sr. (1802 - 1868)
son of John Crabb Jr.

William Henry Crabb Jr. (1837 - 1890)
son of William Henry Crabb Sr.

David Jewett Crabtree Sr. (1875 - 1954)
son of William Henry Crabb Jr. (my grandfather)

Elva Myrtle Crabtree (1914 - 1998)
daughter of David Jewett Crabtree Sr. (my mother)

Clair Marie Harris Zarges
This is me, the daughter of Elva Myrtle Crabtree

***

During the American Revolutionary War John Crabb, Sr. remained loyal to the King of England, serving as a 2nd Lieutenant in the King's military.(1)

When the war was over the

 Loyalists fled to New York, the last British bastion in the 13 Colonies, from where they were transported to safety and a new settlement. Those who had ample time retreated with dignity, carrying the family's prized possessions with them. Most fled with little more than the clothes on their backs. On arrival in the new land they were herded into camps where they survived on government rations and dreams of a new life in a new land.(2)

Last British soldiers leave New York, 1783 (2)

John, age 42, and his wife, Elizabeth Bassett, age 34, and their five children (Stephen, 17; John, Jr., 13; Elizabeth, 12; Polly, 10; and Charity, almost 4) , boarded the ship Cyrus in New York City on Aug. 21, 1783. They didn't set sail until Sept. 6, 1783, and they were on the St. John River [in what is now New Brunswick, Canada] by Sept. 14, 1783.(3)

(2)

It was a terrible time of year to arrive in a cold climate, with a brutal winter to come, and little preparation made.  To describe the conditions the Loyalists experienced, I am quoting the following article by W.O. Raymond in its entirety.

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The Loyalists and Their First New Brunswick Winter

The first winter in New Brunswick was long remembered by the loyalists. Those who came early in the season were able to build log houses which, though rude structures in comparison with former dwellings, enabled them to pass the cold weather with comfort. But the later arrivals were not so fortunate. When they arrived they found that scarcely any preparations had been made for their reception. 

At Parrtown, Portland and Carleton every habitation was crowded, and up the river St. John the houses of the old inhabitants at Gagetown, Sheffield and Maugerville were in many cases filled to overflowing with as many of the loyalists as could find accommodation.

During the month of October many of the disbanded soldiers pushed their way up the Saint John transporting their few possessions in boats provided by government. But the season was cold and wet and the hardships and exposure very great.

Mrs. Mary Bradley, in her curious old autobiography, describes the effect produced in her mind by the arrival of the loyalists. She was living at the time in the lower part of the township of Maugerville, now known as Sheffield. "My heart," she says, "was filled with pity and affection when I saw them in a strange land without house or home, and many of them were sick and helpless. I often looked at them when they passed by in boats in rainy weather and wished for them to call and refresh themselves and was glad when they did so." She adds that during the winter one of the loyalist families occupied a part of her father's house.

Colonel Richard Hewlett, seeing the impossibility of disbanding the loyalist corps at their several locations as originally intended by Sir Guy Carleton, was compelled to disband them at St. John, urging them at the same time to make the best provision they could for the approaching winter. 

The more adventurous spirits pressed on up the river, some finding shelter in the houses of the old settlers, while others took possession of the abandoned French settlements at Grimross and St. Anne's Point, where they set about building huts and repairing the ruined dwellings of the Acadians, but before they had made much progress the snow was on the ground and the winter frost in the air. They then endured the greatest hardships, their situation being at times rendered well nigh desperate in consequence of the non arrival of supplies expected up the river before the close of navigation. 

Frequently the stout hearted fathers and sons of the little colony at St. Anne's had to journey from fifty to a hundred miles with toboggans through wild woods or on the ice to procure a precarious supply of food for their famishing families. Women, delicately reared, cared for their children beneath canvas tents rendered habitable only by the banks of snow which lay six feet deep in the open spaces of the forest, and as one said who had as a child passed through the terrible experience of that first winter: "There were times when strong proud men wept like children and lay down in their snow bound tents to die."

A few of the pioneer settlers doubtless found shelter among the French Acadians of whom there were then several families living near Springhill, others may have passed the winter at Prince William where the disbanded men of the King's American Dragoons had been sent sufficiently early to finish their log cabins and provisions for passing the winter in comfort. 

It has commonly been supposed that a party of de Lancey's men under the leadership of Lieut.

Benjamin P. Griffith arrived at Woodstock before the close of the year 1783, but in the absence of any positive evidence on the point this appears improbable. True, it is barely possible that by prompt and decisive action a party of men might have gathered the necessary supplies and pushed up the river nearly 150 miles before the close of navigation, and then have contrived in some way to exist through the winter, but the undertaking seems such a rash and even perilous one, that the writer is disposed to think it was not until the spring of 1784 that the actual settlement of Woodstock began.

Very many men from all the loyal American regiments spent their first winter at St. John. Some of them drew town lots there and became permanent residents, others removed to their lands up the river the following year. For lack of other accommodation many were forced to live in bark camps and even under canvas tents pitched upon what is now known as the barrack square. These tents were trenched around and covered with spruce brought in the ship's boats from Partridge Island but even then they were a pitiful protection against the biting cold of a New Brunswick winter. 

Still it was wonderful what the brave hearted founders of this province endured. The late Hon. John Ward, who died at St. John, Jan. 2nd, 1875, at the advanced age of 92 years, was born in a canvas tent on the barrack square Dec. 18th 1783.

In his little work on New Brunswick history, published in the year 1825, Mr. Peter Fisher (father of ex-Mayor Fisher of Woodstock) speaks of the tribulations endured by the pioneer settlers in the words following, "The privations and sufferings of these people almost exceed belief. The want of food and clothing in a wild, cold country, was not easily dispensed with or soon remedied. Frequently in the piercing cold of winter a part of the family had to remain up during the night to keep fire in their huts to prevent the other part from freezing. Some very destitute families made use of boards to supply the want of bedding; the father or some of the elder children remaining up by turns, and warming two suitable pieces of boards, which they applied alternately to the smaller children to keep warm; with many similar expedients. . . . I have received the above facts with many other expedients, which were at that time adopted by the settlers, from persons of undoubted veracity, and who had been eye witness of what they related." 

Quite a number of officers and men of De Lancey's first and second battalions drew lots in Parrtown, and amongst them were Major Joseph Green, Captain Jacob Smith, Captain Thomas French, Surgeon Nathan Smith, Quarter Master George Everett, Lieut. Benjamin Lester, Ensigns Nicholas E. Old, Ralph Smith, Geo. Brewerton and Henry Ferguson; Sergeants David Newman, Daniel McSherfry, Patrick McNamara, Thomas Fowler and Edward Neil; Corporals Richard Rogers, Thomas Stanley, Jonas Highby; Privates James Craig, Daniel Cummings, Lawrence McDonald. Most of their lots were side by side extending along the south side of Britain street from Wentworth street eastward to Canterbury Bay and also including adjoining lots on Broad street where the "Old Ladies Home" now stands.

Early in the year 1784 pioneer settlers of Woodstock proceeded to the place allotted them for settlement. The leader of the party was Lieut. Benjamin P. Griffith -- afterwards Colonel Griffith of the York County militia. He was born in the then province of New York, July 4th, 1754, and the fact that he received a commission as lieutenant in Lt. Col. Stephen de Lancey's company of de Lancey's brigade, when about twenty-three years of age, shows him to have been a young man of spirit and decision. One of the first engagements in which his company saw active service was in repelling an attack made by the Americans on King's Bridge at the head of Manhattan Island, August 22, 1777, where the 2nd de Lancey battalion was then stationed. The "rebels" were beaten off, but the youthful rashness of Lieutenant Griffith led to his being captured by the enemy. He soon after effected his escape or was exchanged and served gallantly through the war including the southern campaign, to which reference has already been made. At the peace in 1783 he came with his company to St. John. Lt. Col. de Lancey who commanded the company did not come to the province, having received the appointment of chief justice of the Bahamas, and governor of Tobago. Lieut. Griffith's influence with his men is seen in the fact that a larger number of his company were grantees at Woodstock than any other company in the brigade, and more of them became actual settlers.

Doubtless the pioneer party found it a difficult task to propel their heavily laden boat against the strong current of the upper St. John, the navigation of which was then more difficult than now. The Meductic rapids were a much more serious hindrance to navigation than now owing to the occurrence of dangerous rocks in the channel. During the ensuing summer the grant for the de Lancey battalions was surveyed and the lots for the officers and men were drawn in the usual manner, after which the grant was recorded at Halifax.

W. O. Raymond (4)

***

Sources:

1, 3. Smith, Louise Elizabeth: Grandma and Me; Family Stories, Information and Photos of the Crabtree and Higginson Families of Amanda Myrtie Crabtree Briggs. Cave Creek, AZ: Austin-Smith Books, 2007.

2. Historical Narratives of Early Canada: Two Nations. http://www.uppercanadahistory.ca/uel/uel6.html

4. The article by W.O. Raymond was found on RootsWeb.com, where genealogists share their family history:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbsunbur/historyarticles/loyalistsfirstwinter.htm. It was accessed 28 May 2017.

My Mother, Born One Hundred Years Ago Today

One hundred years ago today my mother was born in New Brunswick, Canada. Her parents, David Jewett Crabtree and Edith Rae Giberson Crabtree, had legally changed the family name from Crabb to Crabtree just four years before. She was the seventh of their thirteen children, and they named her Elva Myrtle.

Elva on the left, with some of her siblings

Over the next few months, I hope to tell some more about her life, but here are just a few of the facts that I know for now. She grew up on farms in Beaconsfield, New Brunswick and Easton, Maine. She attended Normal School to become a teacher and began her teaching career in rural schools in Maine and eventually retired from an elementary school in California. Education was very important to Elva and she took classes for as long as I can remember, eventually ending up with many, many credits beyond her Bachelor's degree.

Glamor shot (from the 1930s?)

Elva, looking lovely. I think that this photo might have been taken while she was dating my father.

Our family in Marinwood, California. L to R: Clair Harris Zarges (me), Elva Myrtle Crabtree Harris (my mother), Jean Lee Harris (my sister), and Daniel Lawrence Harris (my father).

She married Daniel Lawrence Harris, my father, in 1940. I was born in Maine in 1944, then we all moved to California in early 1945. My little sister was born in San Francisco in 1949.

Daddy died in 1972 and Mother died in 1998. That's the very barest outline of her life; there's much more to tell, of course.

Some Late August Birthdays

For some reason, just looking at birth dates like this makes me feel connected to a whole lot of people. These are names from the Crabtree ancestors (my mother's family) and from my husband Bill's Mallozzi/Zarges ancestors. Click on any name to see a profile, and on "share tree" to see each family tree.

27 Aug 1924: Lois Stockson [share tree]

Lois was my mother's sister. I really loved the sound of her voice. 

Kinney siblings; Richard is on the right in the back row

29 Aug 1856: Richard Wayman Kinney [share tree]

Richard was my great grand uncle. He was the son of "Sugar John" Kinney who brought his little 15-year old wife down the frozen St. John River in 1835 in a sled pulled by a Newfoundland dog. 

Mary is on the left with an unknown sailor at her sister, Delia's wedding.
Mary never married. 

30 Aug 1912: Mary Mallozzi [share tree]

Mary was the sister of Bill's mother, Delia Mallozzi Zarges. She came to America from Italy on the ship, The Roma, in 1927 or 1928. Our family stayed at her house in Stamford, Connecticut many times, and even lived there for part of one year. She lived to be 97 years old.

30 Aug 1928: Arnold McLellan [share tree]

Arnold was my maternal first cousin, son of my mother's sister, Alma Crabtree McLellan. He died in 2010. 

31 Aug 1885: Everett Crabb [share tree]

Everett was born a Crabb but later became a Crabtree after the family changed its name in 1910. He was my grand uncle (brother of my grandfather David J. Crabtree, Sr.) and died the same year I was born. 

More About My Grandfather, David J. Crabtree, Sr.

Grandfather David in the field with his youngest son, David, Jr. 

c. 1940

From our family's photo collection

My grandfather, David J. Crabtree, Sr., was born David Jewett Crabb in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada in 1875; the ninth child of thirteen born to William Henry Crabb and Sarah Ann Kinney. He had five sisters and seven brothers. 

The family name was changed from Crabb to Crabtree in 1910 in Maine. See A Family Changes its Names for the details and the text of the legal document.

I had always heard that the Crabtrees came straight from England to Canada, so it was a great surprise to find that the truth was quite different. David was descended from both Loyalists and Pre-Loyalists. During the American Revolution, the Loyalists were the folks who remained loyal to the King of England, lost their lands, and left America to resettle in Canada. The Pre-Loyalists were those who had come to Canada from America prior to the Loyalist immigration of 1783. The story of the Loyalists is a dramatic one and full of hardship, and I hope to tell it eventually on this blog. 

David's maternal great-great grandparents, Israel Kinney and Susannah Hood, moved in 1767 from Topsfield, Massachusetts to Maugerville, in what would later become New Brunswick, Canada. Another set of great-great grandparents, John Crabb, Sr. and Elizabeth Bassett (who show up on both sides of David's family tree--David's father's grandfather, John Crabb, Jr., and David's mother's grandfather, Richard Arnold Crabb, were brothers), left Dutchess County, New York for New Brunswick in 1783.  

I never met my grandfather; what I know about him is the result of research, reading books, correspondence, and interviews. I haven't learned anything about his younger days, but I know that one of his sisters, Gertrude, died at the age of two; another sister, Elizabeth, died at the age of 24 of tuberculosis; and his brother, Aaron, died in the goldfields of Alaska in 1897. His sister, Sarah Ermina "Sadie" Kinney Thomas, was  the "Auntie" in my Aunt Sadie's memoirs (see Separated from the Family, etc.). Another sister, Anna Thursa Crabb, married Charles Field and I met them when I was a child and they visited our home in San Francisco in the 1950's. 

However, I have read about the grown and married David as both a farmer and neighbor. His neighbors called him Dave, and knew they could call on him for help with cutting ice, cutting brush, sawing wood, threshing, and moving machinery. I read about his hard-working farming days in Sheila Antworth Lafferty's blog, Diary of an Aroostook Farmer; The farm journals of Milton Lloyd Flewelling (1901-1996), a farmer from Easton, Aroostook County, Maine. "Dave" and "Cliff" (my uncle Clifford Crabtree) are mentioned frequently in Milton's journals, and Patricia Pickard's booklet (No. 5 in the Bibliography, below) on Clifford Crabtree tells us that Clifford worked on Milton's farm in Easton, Maine. Milton mentions a great deal of going back and forth between his farm and Dave's place in Beaconsfield, New Brunswick.

These next three quotes are from Pat Pickard's booklet, and are used with her kind permission. 

[Dave] was a farmer, plus he was busy at the local Baptist church where he was Sunday school superintendent. With godly parentage, the children of this family learned to love the things of God. David never failed to take his family of 13 children to church, even trudging on foot through snow at times. (Page 1)

Evelyn (Allen) Crabtree shares a bit of history on the Crabtree family: "Clifford's parents owned a nice home in Easton, [Maine] and they had an opportunity to sell it, which they did. They moved from Easton to Beaconsfield, New Brunswick--just over the border from Easton [some time after 1905]. The move to Beaconsfield seemed to be a mistake. Clifford's father, David, found that the soil was full of rocks and it caused him a lot of grief. He worked and worked to clear them out, only to find more rocks the following year. It was a hard life on that farm." [NOTE: The writer of this book had the opportunity to visit this farm in the 1970s, and wonders how they managed to farm at all. It was a beautiful spot--high on a hill, overlooking the town of Easton--but not for farming]. (Pages 1-2)

Donny Ladner used to butcher hogs in the Easton/Beaconsfield area, and whenever someone had a hog that they wanted to have butchered, they would call him up, fill a barrel full of water, and put it on to boil so that they could dip the hog in it for easy removal of its hair after it was slaughtered. One day David had a hog to be butchered, and Donny came to the Crabtree home in Beaconsfield and did the job. After he got the hog killed, it was time to put it in the hot water. David looked at his wife and said, "Ede (as he called her), we forgot to boil the water!" (Page 7)

Form for replacement of lost naturalization papers

Dave left behind a physical description of himself. This is a copy of an undated form requesting replacement of lost naturalization papers. It was apparently used as a draft or kept at home as a record of the completed form. Dave tells us that he is male, white with a medium complexion, has blue eyes and brown hair, is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 148 pounds. He "kept papers in pocket. Lost while working in the field."

David is mentioned several times in the book, Prevailing Westerlies; The Pentecostal Heritage of Maine. It seems that David was often on hand to help with building and maintaining the churches of the area. His grandson, Charles T. Crabtree (see photo below) remembers: When the new sanctuary was built, I remember my dad talking to my grandfather, David Jewett [Crabtree], about getting permits to remove a big elm tree. He went on and on about the danger and expense. My grandfather just snorted. It was a thrilling sight for me to watch as the men began to ax away. They tied great ropes to guide the fall. It was a great victory to watch that monster fall in the exact spot my grandfather had planned. The only fly in the ointment was when Billy Washington sawed off a limb he was sitting on. He fell a long way but, miraculously, was not hurt. (pages 169-170).

Another church-building memory from the same book: Let's go back to the summer of 1947. The work on our new church on Court Street had been completed, and a group of us went down to Cape Jellison [Maine] to work on building a new church. Grampie Crabtree; Pastor [Clifford] Crabtree; [Clifford's] son, David, and I [author James Peters] traveled back and forth most of those days. We tore down an old barn for the lumber, which we hauled half way around the Cape to build the church... 

...as we tore the old building down and built the church... We had a few nails in our feet and bloodblisters under our nails from time to time, but we worked for the Lord and He blessed our efforts. I recall some of the antics of Charlie [Charles Flewelling, a missionary just back from Africa] and Grampie (David) Crabtree--who says Christians can't have fun? They were always playing practical jokes on each other and on anyone who happened to be in the vicinity. I considered it a great privilege to work alongside these men who, as we look back on our heritage, made such an impact for the Lord, both at home and on the foreign field. (Pages 171-172)

The late Rev. David J. Crabtree assisted greatly in the work of this church. [He] laid the foundation. (Pages 175-176)

Grandfather "Grampie" David and his grandson, Charles Talmage Crabtree (son of Clifford Crabtree)
All three served as ministers in the Pentecostal Church (David started out as a Baptist)
As Charles was born in 1937, I am guessing that this photo was taken c. 1952,
or two years before Grampie's death in 1954
(Photo courtesy of Patricia Pickard)

Undated photo of Grandfather David
Courtesy of Patricia Pickard

Undated photo from Patricia Pickard

This is an indirect (and not very flattering) story about Grandfather. My mother (Elva Crabtree Harris Rodriguez) told me about a time when her mother, Edith, was in labor with her last baby, David, Jr. My mother's older brothers were out with the horse and wagon and stopped to talk with a neighbor who asked after Edith's health. He jokingly asked that since they already had kids named Faith and Hope in the family, were they planning to name this new baby-to-be Charity? One of the brothers, no doubt feeling great sympathy for his mother's labor with her 13th child, said "'Twould be a great charity if he [David, Sr.] would leave her alone so's she'd have no more babies!"

Here are the last two stories that I have about my grandfather. The first was received in an email from Patricia Pickard, 4 May 2014:

I just came across a typescript that has a story about David Jewett Crabtree:
"A former neighbor from Beaconsfield, N.B., Handy Nevers, recalls that many a time David J. Crabtree and Frank Nevers (who became very good friends) walked twelve miles to Perth to attend Pentecostal meetings there. David lived in Beaconsfield, N.B. with his family, and Frank's family lived nearby in Dover Hill.
"David J. Crabtree had a terrible accident while living in Beaconsfield. He fell off a load of hay and broke his neck. He was prayed for and God healed him completely."

And from my cousin, Cheryl Blakely (via Facebook, August 11, 2014): I very rarely heard my mom [Faith Crabtree Blakely] talk of her dad. She did say he was like an old banty hen, tough and stubborn. She said he fell off the roof and broke his neck. She said it didn't kill him the first time. The second time did. Whether that's true or not, I have no idea.

Copy of David's obituary, courtesy of Patricia Pickard

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree

Bibliography

1. Bell, Edwin Wallace: Israel Kenny; His Children and Their Families. [Vancouver, B.C.], 1944. May be borrowed from Open Library for reading online: https://archive.org/details/israelkennyhisch00bell.

2. Kinney, Fern Gallup: Kith and Kin of the Kinneys. [nd]. PDF file available for download:http://home.comcast.net/~kinneyed/KithAndKin_image.pdf.

3. Lafferty, Sheila Antworth:  Diary of an Aroostook Farmer; The farm journals of Milton Lloyd Flewelling (1901-1996), a farmer from Easton, Aroostook County, Maine.

4. Peters, James E. and Patricia Pickard: Prevailing Westerlies; the Pentecostal Heritage of Maine. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 1988.

5. Pickard, Patricia P.: Rev. Clifford A. Crabtree, Called of God. Prepared for the 90th anniversary celebration of Glad Tidings Church, Bangor, Maine, November 24, 2013. Published by Glad Tidings Church, 1033 Broadway, Bangor, Maine 04401. 2013. (A copy may be purchased from Glad Tidings Church for a suggested donation of $10.00 or more).

6. Pickard, Patricia, from a typescript, "Notes taken during a phone conversation that Pat Pickard of Bangor, Maine had with Handy Nevers of Brockville, Ontario on April 26, 2013."

7. Smith, Louise Elizabeth, compiler and editor: Grandma and Me; Family Stories, Information, and Photos of the Crabtree and Higginson Families of Amanda Myrtie Crabtree Briggs. Cave Creek, Arizona: Austin-Smith Books, 2007. (May be purchased from Lulu.com at http://www.lulu.com/shop/louise-smith/grandma-and-me/paperback/product-1070857.html)

My Grandfather, David J. Crabtree, Sr.: A Timeline

Back in November 2013, I wrote down what I knew then about my Grandfather David J. Crabtree, Sr. (A Little About My Grandfather). I've done a lot of research and found out more about his life since then. 

Since my mother always said that, although she was born in New Brunswick, her family moved back and forth a lot between Canada and the United States, I thought it might be useful to show a timeline for her father's life. Since these facts all come from official documentation, there are plenty of gaps and, I'm sure, lots of stories missing about the family's moves from one country to another. 

A very brief summary of his life: When David Jewett Crabb was born on June 20, 1875, in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada, his father William was 38 and his mother Sarah was 32. (David was born a Crabb, but became a Crabtree when the family name was legally changed in 1910 in Maine). He married Edith Rae Giberson on April 29, 1899, in Easton, Maine. They had 13 children in 27 years. He died on April 17, 1954, in Belfast, Maine, at the age of 78, and was buried in Houlton, Maine.

I have more information, including a physical description, photos, and a pretty good story about Grandfather, and will put all that together in the next post. In the meantime, here is the timeline. 

Timeline

A couple of notes: 

I have used the ages written down by the census takers, and you will see that sometimes the ages for individuals are off from one census to another. 

Although some census takers thought Jesse was a girl when he was little, I kept him among the sons!

I like to imagine these big households, bursting with teenagers and toddlers.

In 1881, David Crabb was 5 years old and lived in Carleton County, Canada. Also listed in the household: Parents William H. (age 45) and Sarah A. (35); siblings John F. (18), Aaron C. (15), Sarah E. (14), Henry A. (13), Adelia (11), Elizabeth (8), Charles W. (7), Talmage (6), and Wesley D. (3). This screen shot (click for a larger version) of a page from the 1881 Census of Canada shows the family.

April 29, 1899
David J. Crabtree married Edith R. Giberson on April 29, 1899, in Maine. He was 21 and she was 18; his occupation was farmer, and hers was housekeeper. His parents were also a farmer and a housekeeper, as were her parents. All of the parents were born in New Brunswick. Here is a copy of the record from Maine.

1900

In 1900, David was 22 years old and lived in Easton, Maine with his wife, Edith (age 18); they are listed here in the 1900 U.S. Census. You will see that they are living next door to David's widowed mother, Sarah (age 53), and David's brothers, Talmage (24) and "Everard" (actually Everett, age 14), and sister Annie (Anna, age 16). 

1910

In 1910, David J. Crabb was 32 years old and lived in Dover, Maine with his wife, Edith (age 26), 3 sons (Clifford, age 7; Beecher, age 5; and Jesse, age 3), and 2 daughters (Alma, age 9; and Hope, age 1 month); they are all listed in the 1910 U.S. Census:

1921

On June 1, 1921, David J. Crabtree was 40 years old and lived in Victoria County, Canada with his wife, Edith, 3 sons (Clifford, age 17; Beecher, age 15; and Jesse, age 13), and 6 daughters (Alma, age 21; Hope, age 10; Bessie, age 7; Elva, age 6; Anna, age 4; and Sadie, age 1). Here they are in the 6th Census of Canada, 1921:

1940

On April 1, 1940, David A. Crabtree was 64 years old and lived in Ludlow, Maine with his wife, Edith, 3 sons (Beecher, age 37; Jesse, age 25; and David, Jr., age 11), 2 daughters (Lois, age 16; and Faith, age 14), and a grandson (Alma's son, Ivan McLellan, age 4). They lived next door to David and Edith's daughter, Gladys, her husband, Murray Victory, and their son, Wayne (spelled "Wane" here). They are listed in the 16th Census of the U.S., 1940:

1946

On Sept. 26, 1946, Edith died in Houlton, Maine at the age of 65 or 66, depending on which birth date you go by. She was buried in Houlton, Maine. 

1954

David died at age 78 on April 17, 1954 in Belfast, Maine. He was buried with Edith and with their son, Jesse (who had died in 1950) in the Evergreen Cemetery in Houlton, Maine. 

~~~

One more note: Thank you to Sheila Lafferty for showing me a better way to do screen shots!

Sadie's "Pleasant View Farm" Found!

Pleasant View Farm
28 Sargent Hill Drive in Milo, Maine

When my Aunt Sadie remembered her Aunt Sarah Thomas' house where she spent so many of her childhood years (see Aunt Sadie: Separated from the Family), she made us all want to find that house so that we could see what it looked like. 

She said: Auntie...lived on a beautiful estate in Milo, Maine called "Pleasant View Farm." You could sit on the veranda and see the lakes around Mt. Kahtahdin. The house was so vast I would get lost exploring. 

One person took her desire to see the house a step further--she went exploring in Milo, Maine. From the Town Offices, to the Registry of Deeds, to an exploration of the roads of Milo, Pentecostal historian, Patricia Pickard and her husband, Carroll, spent a day talking to officials and record keepers and possible neighbors. Of course she found the house, she's a family history detective!

Along the way, she also found the real estate deed from when William Thomas bought the property, as well as his will, leaving it to his wife for her lifetime.

Pat said, in an email to me: 

I have a copy of a real estate deed drafted on the 12th day of February, 1910, conveying to William G. Thomas the homestead farm....situated on "Sargent Hill" so called, containing 127 acres; also another parcel of land....excepting and reserving from this deed a certain parcel of land, measuring 100 feet by 105 feet, by 100 feet by 105 feet. 

And:

I have a copy of a portion of William G. Thomas' will, probated on the 17th of August 1923. This portion covers fourth and fifth parts of the will:

Fourth, I give....my said beloved wife, Sarah E. Thomas, for and during the term of her natural life, the homestead farm in Milo, being the same conveyed to me by Sarah A. Bradeen, and known as the "Sargent place,".....I also give and devise to my said wife for and during the term of her natural life, the eleven acre bog or muck lot.

Fifth, At the decease of my said wife, I dispose of my said estate as follows, viz: After the payment of the legacies named in paragraphs second and third, then all the rest, residue and remainder of said estate I give, bequeath and devise to my five children, their heirs and assigns forever, in the following proportions: To Hayward S. Thomas and John P. Thomas, one fourth part of said estate or residue to be divided equally between them. To Annie M. Thomas Kinney, William E. Thomas and Bernice C. Thomas, the remaining three-fourths of said residue and remainder, share and share alike. By the term estate meaning to include real, personal and mixed, wherever situated and however and whenever acquired.
Recorded 18 August 1923.

With all this information in hand, Pat and Carroll drove to Sargent Hill Road in Milo. There they found and photographed two houses that were possibilities. 

Pat said: 

Both of these places could easily be called "Pleasant View," because they do offer a very pleasant view (one, east; and the other, south). On one of the locations, I was told by the neighbor lady, that in the early years, one could see clear to the town of Milo from Sargent's Hill, but now the trees have grown too tall for this to be done. Sargent Hill is just one mile away from town. 

I really feel that the last place I took a picture of would be the place. It is a large, large old home. Today, it is very well kept, and the architecture is beautiful. I don't think they could have raised 5 kids in the other house picture that I took. 

Route 16 is the county road between Milo and Dover-Foxcroft, and Sargent Hill is "off" this county road (to the north). I have a feeling that the area was so called because Mr. Sargent owned all the land in that area, and he had a large, impressive set of buildings. I think Mr. Sargent may have been wealthy. There are slate quarries not too far from Milo, and part of this house has slate siding. The house is really beautiful. I would say that the barn is gone, and now they have a two-car garage. 

On the following day, the rest of the mystery was solved. In Pat's words:

I just got a call from a lady (Gwen Bradeen; husband is Paul Bradeen) that lives on Sargent Hill. She confirmed to me that the house that I hoped was the Thomas place IS in fact the Thomas place.

She has been in touch with a lady whose family bought this house in 1940. The father's name was Earl Ingerson. His daughter, Dearle Ingerson Flint, still lives in the general area, and she has pictures of the place. Her husband is just getting out of the hospital, but she will bring the pix over to Gwen and Gwen will be in touch with me. 

Dearle states that the barn was across the street. It burned in 1958.  The black that you see up in the peak on the left are slate pieces that came from the nearby quarry.

By the way, the Ingersons paid $3,000 for this homestead! I need to get a copy of the deed where it was sold so as to see how the description reads in 1940. Without a doubt, not all 127 acres were sold with the house.

Gwen told me that, in later years (1970s), one of the owners used to have Pentecostal revivals out back on this property. Gwen asked me if Mr. Thomas was a Pentecostal minister and I told her that I did not know that he was. 

*****

I do not know either if William Thomas was a Pentecostal minister, but we already know from Sadie that Sarah Thomas was a strong supporter of the Pentecostal movement, and at least one of their sons, Hayward, was a clergyman. Sadie wrote about Sarah:

Now I will go into [Sarah's] religious affiliations. This was in the heyday of the famous evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. Pap was converted to Pentecost under her and Auntie followed suit wholeheartedly. She decided there must be a Pentecostal church in Milo. She bought a schoolhouse and refurbished it. She imported young ministers from the Glad Tidings Institute in California. She fixed beautiful apartments for them. Her motto was "If someone said 'Praise the Lord' it was hang up your hat and make yourself at home."

It would be no surprise that, after Sarah Thomas' death in 1938,  the house would be sold to others of the Pentecostal church, and that revivals would continue to be held there.

I owe the energetic Patricia Pickard (did I mention that she is 82 years old?) and her patient husband, Carroll,  a great debt of gratitude for their successful search to find Pleasant View Farm.

Aunt Sadie's Memoirs, Part 6: Marriage, Motherhood, and Losing Dickie

This is the sixth and final excerpt from my Aunt Sadie's Memoirs. Previous posts were: 
Part 1 and Part 2 (Life on the Farm)
Part 3 (Separated From the Family)  
Part 4 (Life With the Thomas Family)
Part 5 (Brother Lindholm, Uncle Jesse, and Grammie Crabtree).

*****

My next memory [was] in 1933, in the middle of the Great Depression. My family had moved from Canada to Ludlow, Maine, and Papa [David Jewett Crabtree, Sr.] had also brought [Sadie's oldest sister] Alma's family over. 

Ludlow had no high school so if your family could not pay for your board in town, you had to work for it. I spent my sophomore year with a family with three small children. I had to get up very early in the morning and feed and dress them before I went to school. 

In my junior year, I got lucky. The entire Middleton family had migrated to the U.S. from Canada, to Hatfield Point, I think. Anyway, John Middleton [father of Eugene, who was to marry Sadie's sister, Anna] made arrangements to have his sister Louise Murphy board his daughter Geraldine and I was sent along to work my board and help "Aunt Louise." Louise was diabetic and had to have an insulin shot daily. Her widowed daughter Pearl (a nurse) lived with us and took care of that. Geraldine and I had fun going to school together. Pearl and I became close friends. 

Now, the plot thickens. Across the street lived the Ayotte family and that's how I met Joe Ayotte. He had beautiful eyes and looked like Bing Crosby. Besides, [Sadie's sister] Anna and Eugene were getting married, and [Sadie's sister] Gladys was marrying Murray Victory, and I wasn't about to let them get ahead of me. So we planned to be married when I finished school. I do know I went back to Milo High for my senior year and he came to see me once and Auntie [Sarah Ermina Crabb Thomas] liked him. 

So, immediately after my graduation I returned to Houlton and we were married from Aunt Louise's house. Pearl and her brother George stood up with us.

One Sunday evening [in February 1938], I was listening to Charlie McCarthy on the radio when my water broke and I started hemorrhaging and was taken to the hospital by Joe's brothers. I wasn't due until March and he [Richard "Dickie" Ayotte] weighed just five pounds and wasn't quite finished. Anna sat with him in the palm of her hand and I started to cry. I said, "He looks like a little rat." Nobody thought I would ever raise him. The first year was touch and go with ear infections, swollen glands, high fevers, etc. I would climb into his security bed with him. I only weighed 110 pounds after his birth. 

After 11 years, I got a divorce [about 1948]. I refused [any] help and went on my own. I became a divorcee. A divorced woman was considered fair game by the men and a threat to the women. 

My first job was washing dishes in the Woolworth's Cafeteria in Houlton. It was very popular with the Canadians and we did a thriving business on Canadian holidays. I worked up to be the manager and was offered the opportunity to travel New England and help other stores that might be in trouble. What a great life, living in hotels. But I had a little girl [Jane, born in 1944] I would never leave. So I came to Connecticut with Jane and lived with Alma until I got situated. 

Dick came down to Connecticut one winter and utterly despised it. He was deeply attached to his friends and classmates [in Maine] who he had been with since kindergarten. I arranged for him to stay with relatives and I sent him $15 a week. It was very painful to be separated from him because I worshipped the ground he walked on. But, I think if he had been forced to stay in Connecticut it would have ruined his life. 

Dick had two brushes with death before the final one. During the winter he stayed with me in Connecticut, one night he came home with intense pain in his stomach that turned out to be a ruptured appendix. He was gravely ill in New Britain Hospital. 

The night he graduated from high school he was in the car with a dear friend whose father had given him a new car for graduation. They ran into Rockefeller's Wall in Bar Harbor. The friend was killed instantly and Dick suffered a broken neck. He didn't want me to know about this but Dan Ayotte [Dick's uncle] informed me. Anna and Eugene took me to Bar Harbor immediately and I stayed with him a week. You would never believe the cards and letters he received. One lawyer from Houlton wanted to help him with medical expenses. His visitors were standing in line. He never rode in a car with a drinking driver again. 

[After Dick married Martha Jellison] he developed a passion for skiing and they moved to Carrabassett, Maine, and he is credited with being a pioneer in the development of Sugarloaf Ski Resort. He was called "The Mayor."

On October 5, 1981, Martha called with the terrible news that Dick and Jud Strunk had been killed in a plane crash. Jud was a TV personality who had been a regular on "Laugh-In" where he satirized the Maine native. He also wrote a hit song, "A Daisy a Day." He was a buddy of Dick's and came to Sugarloaf in a vintage World War II plane and asked Dick to go for a spin with him and see the foliage. Jud had a heart attack and they crashed in the woods. 

Janey and I [went] to Maine immediately. I know the funeral was very big with a lot of prominent people but I don't remember much. I died inside and stayed that way for the next 25 years. 

Martha and Dick's daughter, Aimee, was ten when her father was killed and right after she graduated high school, Martha developed cancer and passed away. Aimee was alone in the world except for her half sister, Holly. She was married and when she had a baby girl, she started bringing the baby to see me twice a year and my broken heart started to mend. I celebrated Christmas last year (2004) for the first time since Dick's death. 

Sarah Norma "Sadie" Crabtree Ayotte Ariel

Sadie's family
Back row, left to right: Sadie, Joey Cichon III, Christine Cichon Bolduc, Marcel Bolduc, Anita Cichon Simmons, Bill Simmons
Front, left to right:Jane Ayotte Cichon, Joseph Cichon, Jr.; Krystel Simmons
(Thanks to Joey Cichon for sharing photos)

I lived alone in my house on Pine Street with tenants on the first floor. But expenses kept increasing and my income was decreasing until I could no longer make ends meet. Then, in June 2005, I had surgery for colon cancer. I have a treatable heart condition but my heart doctors said I could not live alone. So, here I am, living with my daughter, so I guess I have to come to the end of my story. 

May I say that not one sister ever withheld their love and support for me. They just loved me and prayed for me. This has been very painful for me to write and I cried a lot because I can't go back and correct my mistakes. I have to go forward. I have had a miraculous recovery and I am getting stronger every day. 

Stay tuned; there might be a sequel. 

Love to all, 

Aunt Sade

*****

Sadie died in 2009, four years after writing this memoir. This was her obituary:

Sarah N. Ariale

MERIDEN - Sarah N. Ariale, 89, lovingly known as Nanny by her family and friends, passed away peacefully, Oct. 3, 2009, at MidState Medical Center. Born Jan. 14, 1920, in Andover, New Brunswick Canada. She moved to Meriden in 1951. She worked in several area restaurants, until retiring in 1975. She enjoyed spending time with her great-grandchildren and enjoyed family games and playing the piano. She is survived by her daughter, Jane Cichon and her husband, Joseph Jr. of Meriden; five grandchildren, Anita Simmons of Meriden, Christine Bolduc of Kensington, Joseph Cichon III of Meriden, Aimee Case of Boothbay Maine and Holly Behre of South Carolina; five great-grandchildren, Krystel and Cassandra Simmons, Kyle and Luc Bolduc, Evy Case; and several nieces and nephews. Sarah was predeceased by her parents, David and Edith Crabtree; her beloved son, Dick Ayotte; four brothers; and eight sisters. She was also predeceased by her late husbands, Joseph Ayotte and Joseph Ariale. Friends and relatives are invited to attend a funeral service to be held on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 11 a.m. at Family Christian Worship Center located at 53 Coe Ave. in Meriden. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to the American Cancer Society , 538 Preston Ave., P.O. Box 1004, Meriden, CT 06450-1004, or the charity of your choice. Arrangements are under the direction of the John J. Ferry & Sons Funeral Home, 88 East Main St., Meriden, CT 06450 www.jferryfh.com.

Published in The Record-Journal on Oct. 11, 2009