The Mystery of Emma Jane Evans of the Mid 1800s Regarding Her Maiden Name

Is Emma Jane an Evans or is Her Surname Piper?

While working on Ancestry.com recently I found a family tree that listed Emma Jane as Emma Jane Piper. Where did Piper come from? I wrote the owner of that information, but no response. So what do I do with this controversy. I have her as Emma Jane Evans and truly believe she was an Evans, particularly because my mother's middle name is her namesake. Emma Jane Evans is mom's great grandmother. Emma's husband and my mom's great granddad is William Bennett. There is no question that William and Emma Jane married and lived in Guilford in the 1880 Census. 

How I proved she is an Evans:

To start with I went to familysearch.org which is free and to ancestry.com where I have a membership.

On familysearch.org I searched for Emma Jane Evans and found her marriage. According to the Maine Marriage Records, Emma Jane Evans married William Bennett on October 3, 1862. They married in Guilford, Maine which is in Piscataquis County. There are a lot of my family's ancestors in Guilford. This is a good fit.

It makes sense to select a federal census from either website for Guilford, Maine. I selected the 1900 census. In this census William Bennett and wife Emma Bennett are 69 and 52 years of age respectively and are living with their daughter Clara Nickerson's family. Clara is one of their daughters and she did marry a Nickerson so this is a good fit also.

The Piper genealogist had her Emma Jane being born in June 1847 and dying in 1898 on October 14, in Gilead Maine. Since this is the 1900 census, the mysterious Emma Jane "Piper" Bennett is already deceased. Piper is the wrong surname. Emma Jane Evans Bennett was born in the same month and year, but she is still alive in 1900.

The census shows me that Emma Jane and William have been married 37 years, or since about 1863. I know from the marriage records that they married on October 3, 1862; so this fact is verified additionally.

Next I looked at the census page for Guilford in Piscataquis County Maine and found my family surnames of Bennett, Evans, and Titcomb as close neighbors. This is outstanding information.

Living on North Guilford Road is the Nickerson family, the home where Emma Jane and William are living. The head of the household is their son-in-law Alexander Nickerson, his wife Clara, the three Nickerson children, and my mother's grandparents. This all fits well.

Next door to this Nickerson home is an Evans residence. Stewart and Annie P. Evans with their two children live here along with Stewart's brother James. An Evans family living next door to another couple of Evans is not likely a coincidence, so this is again a very good fit.

The next house is the Titcomb home of John P. and Emmie Titcomb. Titcombs are ancestors of my family, so we have another good family fit.

I did pick up a fact in the 1900 census that I did not know. Emma Jane Evans Bennett was in "nursing."

I am no longer concerned about Emma Jane "Piper". I think my proof for the surname Evans is very solid. I could gather a lot more through other censuses but don't see a need for this research at this point. William Bennett and Emma Jane Evans Bennett are my mother's great grandparents.

Research is good. Use the information you gather to build a timeline for your family members and the facts unveil themselves nicely.

Ruth Ridgeway Cator Fowler Ultimately Dies as a result of Bootlegger Auto Crash in DC

Ruth and two of her Cator children

On July 7, 1929, at the age of 33, Ruth Fowler died of pneumonia following an auto accident approximately two weeks earlier.  Ruth's sister "Aunt Elvie" (Mrs. Elva J. Ridgeway Trammell) relayed the story to the family and Mary Alice Cator told it to me many years later:

In 1929 my husband's grandmother, Ruth Alice Ridgeway (Cator) Fowler lived with her husband George and her three daughters by her first husband, my husband's grandfather Charles Conrad Cator, Jr. 

The Fowlers resided at 204 F Street NW in Apartment 2.  He worked in "autos."  Georgetown University has a law center campus here now.

George Fowler and Ruth had been driving around one of the street circles in Washington DC when revenuers, chasing bootleggers, slammed into their car.  Ruth struck her head very hard. She was taken to Providence Hospital but refused to stay there.  Ruth was brought home on a stretcher to their apartment on F Street.

The accident took a lot out of her. One of Ruth's friends cared for her at home for two weeks even though that friend was suffering from a cold.  While recovering, Ruth contracted the cold or the flu. Her system failed to be able to handle the overwhelming accident and illness simultaneously and she worsened.  Ruth was taken back to Old Providence Hospital in Washington DC where she died.

Grandmother Ruth had no children by her then husband, George Fowler, but Grandmother Ruth and Granddaddy Charlie Cator Jr.'s children were still underage.  Bernice (in the flowered dress) was born in 1915, was only 14; Evelyn was 12; and Mary Alice Cator was just 11.  It is said that the three girls spent a short time in a local orphanage before being moved to live with their father, Charlie Cator, in Washington DC.  This meant that Charlie Jr and his 2nd wife Florence were now parenting 6 daughters including Jerri (Florence's daughter), and both Dorothy and Cora Cator, children of Florence and Charlie Jr.  All were living at 910 G Street, SE in DC.

About Prohibition and Washington DC

During Prohibition, people, states and political sides referred to themselves as "wet" or "dry." During this American experiment in trying to be freed from alcohol, the efforts were quickly unraveled. 

In the book, Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Weren't it was stated that bootleggers routinely, week after week, brought 22,000 gallons of whiskey, moonshine and the like to DC's 3000 speakeasies.  The bootleggers traveled about town with their clandestine goods, the revenuers raced after and tried to detain and arrest the bootleggers and confiscate their illegal goods.  Prohibition began to fade in 1933. 

It is interesting to note that drinking was not illegal. Enforcement was aimed at banning or barring the making, selling and shipping of alcohol for consumption.*

* http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/12/five-interesting-facts-about-prohibition%E2%80%99s-end-in-1933/

CSS Shenandoah, The Last Ship Engaged in Raids During the Civil War 1864-1865

Bark Delphine: Capt. and Mrs. William Greene Nichols (Lillias Pendleton Nichols) boarded the Delphine, a merchant ship built by Eliah Wight Metcalf. Lillias is the daughter of my 3rd Great Grand Uncle, Capt. Phineas Pendleton, Jr., and she and I come from a long line of Searsport sea captains traveling the world on Maine-built merchant ships. Capt. and Mrs. Nichols boarded the ship Delphine in Bangor Maine, along with their 6 year old son, Phineas Pendleton Nichols, and their maid. Their long voyage took them to the Indian Ocean. 

<  Capt. William Green Nichols

CSS Shenandoah: The Confederates used ruses to secretly purchase, refit, and take command of the Scottish-built civilian steamer the Sea King, a 1160-tone screw steam cruiser, a very fast iron-sided ship with teak plank flooring, which Commander James Iredell Waddell renamed as the Shenandoah. Waddell, though an experienced mariner of 20 years helped in the refitting of the Sea King for war, he tended to not gain the confidence of the Shenandoah's crew who kept wanting to second-guess his commands on this ship, the first he commanded himself. His ship needed a crew of 150, but had just 42 men despite recruitment efforts in October of 1864. Slowly he would gain a full crew by taking volunteers from the many Yankee ships that he and his crew would halt, seize and burn as he maneuvered through the Atlantic and into the Indian Ocean. He and his ship were always at war despite many monotonous long days at sea. The role of Confederate raider was to reek havoc with any encountered Yankee merchant trade ships upon the high seas.

<  Commander James Iredell Waddell 

On December 29, 1864 a leg of their voyages took both the Delphine and the Shenandoah within proximity near Java Head, Cape Indonesia in the Sunda Strait. The Shenandoah believed the bark to be French and deceptively raised a flag identifying their ship as English. The Delphine was used to meeting other ships at sea and approached to exchange news, etc. Naive, the Delphine raised its flag, the Yankee flag. Waddell fired a blank shot and prepared forward guns. Capt. Nichols of the Delphine  hoved  to! Waddell informed Nichols that the Delphine would be sunk.

Capt. Nichols tried his own subterfuge, but failed. He claimed that his wife Lillias  Nichols was too delicate and in failing health to board the Shenandoah and pleaded for the Delphine to be spared. Waddell  almost let the Delphine go but at the last moment decided to send the ship's surgeon, Dr. Lining, to examine Ms. Nichols. The truth was out; Lillias  was a force to be reckoned with, a beautiful woman, in robust health, but sharp tongued which she used to tongue-lash the Confederates for firing upon the Delphine.

Out came the boson's chair which was rigged between the ships and and Lillias in all her verbal glory no doubt managed the perilous transfer to the Shenandoah along with her son Phineas and the maid. She coerced the sailors to transport her canary bird in its cage also. Later her books were salvaged, but she was not allowed to keep her copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The raiders also kept the Delphine's chronometer, against the lashings of Lillias'  tart tongue.

She and her husband, Capt. Nichols watched as the Delphine  was set afire and adrift. Nichols took the ship's loss very badly. Lt. Chew of the Shenandoah actually tried his best to comfort the Delphine's  captain saying "Captain, just think that if at daylight this morning you had changed your course a quarter of a point, you would have passed out of our reach and sight." To which Nichols replied: "That shows how darn little you know about it. This morning at daylight I just did change my course a quarter of a point and that's what fetched me here."

The handsomely dashing and aloof six foot tall North Carolinian Capt. Waddell, perhaps merely courteous with a fellow captain, or perhaps quite curious about the his wife's manner, invited the Capt. and Mrs. Nichols, their son and their maid to his cabin. Capt Waddell wrote in his journal later that "Mrs. Nichols asked in a stentorian voice if I was captain, what I intended to do with them, and where would they be landed." Waddell told her St. Paul, joking. St. Paul is a volcanic rock island in the Indian Ocean. Lillias replied "Oh, no, never. I would rather remain with you." Waddell also jotted in his journal, "I was surprised to see in the sick lady, a tall, finely proportioned woman of twenty-six years, in robust health, evidently possessing a will and a voice of her own." In fact, they would head to Hobson's Bay in Melbourne, Australia as prisoners; and the Shenandoah for repairs.

                                            >The lovely Lillias Pendleton Nichols

Interestingly enough, Lillias and Waddell did form a confidante relationship sufficient for some personal exchanges such as his yearning to see his wife again in Maryland, East London, England. According to the book Sea of Gray, "In time, she and her entire family became a welcome fixture aboard the raider. Officers and crew took particular pleasure in watching the boy Phineas, by now 'Phinizy' to the Confederates, running back and forth across the raider's deck as he played with two goats taken from the Delphine."

The Shenandoah put ashore in Australia and in the morn of January 26, 1865, the U.S. consul William Blanchard found an office full of Yankees who told him they had each signed parole papers requiring confidentiality about any doings of the Confederacy. Blanchard was not pleased that the Shenandoah had landed as he considered them to be nothing but lowly pirates. He contacted officials to capture the steamer and he began deposing the passengers immediately.

Lillias felt no need for confidentiality though her husband tried to remain so. She shared facts on how the Shenandoah came about, how their mission was to destroy everything "flying the federal flag" and how she was not a prisoner though required to sign parole papers before landing in Australia, which papers she stubbornly contested. 

Despite his country's neutral policy, Blanchard disliked the people on the Shenandoah. The colonists of Australia accepted them, almost as celebrities. They were wildly interested in the American happenings. They admired the fine looking Captain Waddell "with thick black hair and a weather-beaten face, the colour of  deep mahogany. He limps slightly from a dueling wound which he never discusses. A gentleman of most prepossessing appearance and bears about him the frank expression of a sailor." (Illustrated Melbourne Post)

The Shenandoah dropped anchor off Sandridge Pier (now Port Melbourne) and became surrounded by a small boat flotilla. Waddell was granted the right to repairs and provisions by the Governor. So popular was the Shenandoah and its crew that the railroad put in extra train schedules to accommodate the thousands of sightseers. The ship's officers attended a ball in their honor and similarly a dinner attended by citizens including politicians, judges and law enforcement. The crew by the way was composed of motley volunteers from near and far, but not necessarily from America.

The longer the ship stayed at port, the more controversial she became being seen more and more as respectable pirates. Eventually the Governor issued their departure papers, so to speak; they set off to sea with stowaways to be new crew members.

1) To the best of my research, the builder was never reimbursed for his burned ship despite 20 years of efforts to do so.

2) The world-famous Shenandoah captured 38 Union merchant vessels, most being New Bedford whalers. All the while, Union ships tried but failed in their hunt for the Shenandoah.

3) Ultimately the Confederacy lost, but news was slow, especially upon the sea. The Shenandoah's raiding lasted past the official end of the Civil War. Upon learning of this end months afterwards while headed for San Francisco, the Shenandoah was turned and headed for England where Waddell turned it over to the Royal Navy.

4) The Shenandoah was the only Confederate ship to sail the world and the last ship in the Civil War action.

Sources:

The Last Shot: The Incredible Story of the CSS Shenandoah and the True Conclusion of the American Civil War by Lynn Schooler, HarperCollins

Sea of Gray; The around-the-world odyssey of the Confederate raider Shenandoah by Tom Chaffin 

Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs Part I: US Dept of State (Google books) 

American Ship Phineas Pendleton

In 1866 in the small town of Brewer, near Bangor Maine, a new American sailing ship, the Phineas Pendleton, was built at the Dunning shipyard on the lower Penobscot River. This ship was destined to have a mere lifespan of 19 years. Per the book titled Brewer by Richard Shaw, the Phineas Pendleton sailed the China Trade and, per legend, only entered an American port once during 19 years. Shaw also noted that her lower masts were painted black as memorials to the death of three of the captain’s children following a diphtheria outbreak off the Peruvian coastline.


The owner and captain till 1873 of the sailing ship was Phineas Pendleton, Jr. and Company. His company had named the ship in honor of Phineas Pendleton, Sr.

Capt. Phineas Sr. is my 4th Great Grandfather and was born in Stonington, New London, CT in 1780 on September 26th.  He died February 26th in 1873 in Searsport, ME.  Searsport is the town famous for its China Trade sea captains and the home of many of my sea captain ancestors.  I descend from Phineas Sr. through his daughter Esther Houston Pendleton.

His son, Capt. Phineas Jr. is my 3rd Great Grand Uncle and was born in on August 29 in 1806 and died on the 19th of July in 1895, the same year as my husband's grandfather Charlie Cator was born. 

Jr's pic is right, Sr's is left.

   
The ship's dimensions were 185 feet long on deck, 37 feet breath of beam, 23 feet depth of hold and 1332 tons registered, with fastenings of copper and iron.


In 1885 she was scheduled for sale from Hong Kong to New York under Captain Blanchard of Searsport. On August 7^th, the Ship Phineas Pendleton was scuttled to extinguish a fire that began while she was lying in port in Manila. When a ship is scuttled due to fire, it is deliberately sunk. Water is introduced into the ship’s interior by means such as valves being opened, hatches being flooded, and even by setting explosives.

The Phineas Pendleton was a total loss.

In 1869 the ship was immortalized in an oil painting by Irish-born artist Charles Waldron of Liverpool, England. His studio was located in Seacombe from which he was able to observe the many vessels entering and leaving Liverpool Harbor.

Painting:  http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/collection/ship-phineas-pendleton

                                                                                      Donna Cator

My 9th Great Grandmother Wore the Scarlet Letter "A" (Part II)

Mary Magdalene Baily Bachiler May Well Be the Inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's Novel, the Scarlet Letter, Published in 1850

I was emotionally captivated in high school with The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Never did I realize then that my own 9th Great Grandmother, Mary Bachiler, was likely the source of the novel's protagonist and heroine, Hester Pyrnne. In a book written in 1910 Mary was revealed as the woman inspiring Nathaniel Hawthorne's account of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. She is not the only possible inspiration, but highly possible.

THE GRAVES OF HESTER PYRNNE AND ELIZABETH PAIN 
The grave of Hester Pyrnne as described in The Scarlett Letter is that of Mrs. Elizabeth Pain at King's Chapel Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts, the same cemetery mentioned in the novel. Her grave had a crest upon it which could be perceived as a letter "A", a great scene for a movie. She gave birth to an illegitimate child by Samuel Pain, whom she later did wed. The child died in 1692 and Elizabeth was tried for murder in 1693. She was found not guilty of murder but was guilty of negligence in failing to get help to save the child. She was fined and flogged twenty times. I have found no information that she was charged with adultery and flogged and forced to wear the letter A.

THE LIFE OF HESTER CRAFORD AND HESTER PYRNNE 
Writer Laurie Rozakis has written that the inspiration, or an additional source of inspiration, for Hester Pyrnne is that of the life of Hester Craford who was flogged for adultery with John Wedg with whom she had a baby. Major John Hathorne was a magistrate in Salem in 1688, knew Hester Craford, and ordered her to be flogged publicly after the birth for her sin against society. I do not know what happened to Wedg for his punishment against society.

THE LIFE OF MARY BACHILER 
So we have two potential people inspiring Nathaniel Hawthorne's book. There is a third, Mary Bachiler, whom I have written about in My 9th Great Grandmother Wore the Scarlet Letter A Part 1. Briefly Mary Magdalene Baily Beedle Bachiler Turner had an affair while married to the excommunicated Rev. Stephen Bachiler, 60 years her senior. The affair was with her next door neighbor, George Rogers; they had a child together. Their relationship did not survive the social mores of the 1600s in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Puritan intolerance. George and Mary were each given 40 lashes and she was forced to wear the Letter A emblazoned upon her clothing.

THE CASE FOR MARY BACHILER AS HESTER PRYNNE 
Eleanor Campbell Schoen in a presentation on the Reverend Stephen Bachiler, stated that "A book written in 1910 states that Mary Magdalene Bailey Beedle Bachiler Turner was the woman upon whom Nathaniel Hawthorne patterned Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter." This book was published at the time of the week-long Town of Eliot's Centennial of Incorporation. Eliot was part of Kittery until 1810. On page 25 of this 1910 book it states"The home of Mary Batchelder, wife of Samuel [Stephen] Batchelder, said to be the original of Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter." On page 35 it states that Mary Bachellor, "said to be the original of Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, signed the document" in 1652 along with the male landowners of Kittery acknowledging Kittery as subject to Massachusetts and its protections, rather than Maine.

Hawthorne's description of Hester Prynne's cottage was similar to the Staple property, the land and home of my ancestor, Mary's daughter Elizabeth Beadle who married immigrant Peter Staple. Mary is my grandchildren's 11th great grandmother.

The Staples Family History Association wrote in their newsletter volume 3, number 2 in January of 1980 that Nathaniel Hawthorne's ancestor, Captain William Hathorne, a Massachusetts Bay Colony commissioner, owned 870 acres of land just three farmsteads north of Mary's land in Kittery. Nathaniel made many long visits to Kittery and knew of the story of Mary Bachiler. Nathaniel was fascinated with colonial history and journaled the history of Mary, though not by name. He wrote extensive historical notes for his novels, such as The Scarlet Letter. According to the newsletter, Nathaniel wrote in his journal of a young woman "doomed to wear the letter A on the breast of her gown under an old colony law as punishment for adultery." Nathaniel had an very broad knowledge of Kittery and its people. The newsletter declares that the evidence is "strong" that Mary is Hester in the novel.

Significance can also be gained in realizing that Nathaniel knew Thomas Waite and his wife Maria Staples who was a descendant of Mary's. Thomas ran the Province House Tavern in Boston, one of Nathaniel's hangouts before 1838, the year he published Legends of the Province House, later republished as Twice Told Tales. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850. Nathaniel treasured history and used historical accounts in his stories. From the Waites he likely heard of Mary Bachilir.

In the Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life on page 214, there is a section devoted to the possibility of Mary Bachilir being the inspiration for Hester Prynne.

PARALLELS: Hester and Mary were strong women who were too often self-reliant. Both were strong willed. Both overcame public humiliation. Both had missing husbands. Both bear a child of adultery. Both wear the letter A. Mary was one to stand up to a battle, while Hester's acceptance was more low key and calmly reserved. Both accepted their punishments. Both found ways to support themselves; Hester did needlework and Mary did housework. Mary was bold in managing her property. Both were steadfast. Both married again. Both were memorable and even heroic. Both earned community respect.

A QUOTE FROM CHAPTER 2: "On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A."

PROOF: Is the proof unshakable? No, but it definitely bears consideration. At the very least Mary's history is another support of the life of Hester Pyrnne and was known to the Hawthorne family personally. Perhaps Hester Pyrnne may well have been inspired by my intriguing 9th great grandmother. Remarkable.

Book Sources: 
History of the Centennial of the Incorporation of the Town of Eliot, Maine, August 7-13, 1910. Ed. Aaron B. Cole & J. L. M. Willis, (1912), pp 25, 31, 35.

The 'Staples Family History Association Newsletter' (SFHAN), Jan 1980, ed. James C. Staples, with Martha S. Dildilian, Ross P. Staples, and Mrs Burton Murdock 

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins Victor C Sanborn ; Stephen Bachiler and Unforgiven Puritan; Excerpt from "History of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire" page 589-590; Excerpt from the "Press Reference Library, Notables of the Southwest" page 13 

Old Kittery and her Families by Everett S. Stackpole, author. 1903.

Schoen, Eleanor Campbell. Our Fascinating Ancestor, Stephen Bachiler - A Presentation by Eleanor Campbell Schoen, Record Type: Presentation, Location: Solomon and Naom. (May 22, 1999). 

Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy, Author: Frederick Clifton Pierce Call Number: CS71.B366

Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: a literary reference to his life and work, by Sarah Bird Wright 

My 9th Great Grandmother Wore the Scarlet Letter "A" (Part I)

                             Did Mary Magdalene Baily Bachiler Inspire Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 Novel the Scarlet Letter?

As a longtime genealogy buff, I decided to research the Staples surname, part of my maternal lineage. My grandmother Esther Eaton of Searsport Maine was the granddaughter of Hiram Eaton and Nancy A. Staples. I knew a lot about Captain Eaton, but very little about Nancy. My research led me to the Massachusetts Bay Colony town of Kittery, which is now part of Maine, and to the family of Peter and Elizabeth Beadle Staples. Elizabeth's mom was Mary Baily Beadle Bachiler Turner. Other ways to spell these surnames, for example, would be Bailey, Baley, Beedle, Batchelder. Mary made my breath catch. 

Of all the books I read in my high school's literature class, The Scarlet Letter was and is my favorite. The struggle of Hester Pyrnne was my struggle to understand her life and the society of her generation. Never did I imagine my ninth great grandmother could be the catalyst for Hester Pyrnne. In a book written in 1910 Mary was revealed as the woman inspiring Nathaniel Hawthorne's account of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AND THE SCARLET LETTER 
Captain William Hathorne, as the name was originally spelled, was an immigrant and a Massachusetts Bay Colony commissioner. Captain Hathorne was an ancestor of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. For his valued service to the Colony, Hathorne was granted 870 acres of land along the Piscataqua River, just three farmsteads north of that of my ancestor Mary in Kittery so Capt. William Hathorne knew the story of Mary and Stephen. On his later visits to the area, Nathaniel Hawthorne, an avid follower of colonial stories, learned about Mary Beadle Bachiler of Kittery. Hawthorne's journal does not name Mary specifically, but does "note a young woman doomed to wear the Letter A on the breast of her gown under an old colony law as punishment for adultery."

THE LIFE OF MARY BAILY BEADLE BACHILER TURNER 
Mary Baily's first husband was fisherman Robert Beadle, lost at sea in 1648. Widowed, her second husband was Reverend Stephen Bachiler, who was in his 80s, about sixty years her senior. Stephen had been excommunicated in England and in America he was punished for allegedly attempting to seduce the wife of a neighbor in Hampton, NH, which took him to Kittery as a missionary. Oliver Wendell Holmes described him as "that terrible old sinner and ancestor of great men"; i.e. President Nixon and Daniel Webster. Mary was hired as his housekeeper. The townsfolk buzzed about her being in the same house as the tainted reverend, forcing them to marry on April 1, 1650. Stephen conducted their marriage but failed to file a record of the marriage within a few days and was forced by the Colony to do so. In 1651, while married to the elderly Stephen, Mary was convicted of adultery with her next door neighbor, widower George Rogers by whom she became pregnant. George received flogging of "forty stripes save one" and, following the birth of their child which adulteress Mary named as Mary Bachiler instead of Mary Rogers, Mary was flogged with 40 stripes and was forced to wear the letter A on her gown. The reverend was ordered to live with his wife Mary. The reverend tried and failed to get a divorce, was pursued by many religious enemies, and ultimately returned to London where he died at 95 years of age. The child of George and Mary grew to up to wed William Richards and led a respectable life in Portsmouth, NH.

Adulteress Mary Bachiler, on the other hand, was further involved with the law on 14 October 1652 when the Kittery District Court charged her with "entertaining idle people on the Sabbath." Despite her run-ins with the governing law, just a few days later on November 1, 1652 Mary signed a Certificate of Submission turning Kittery over to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Mary, who was a principal land owner in Kittery after she was granted the land of her former husband, Robert Beadle, was eligible to sign the document, and did. Mary knew how to write her signature; many men did not. It is interesting that the town put the property of Robert Beadle in her name and did not follow the custom of her current legal husband, the Reverend, being granted the land. Mary received additional land in 1653 and 1654 because she had signed this certificate.

Thomas Turner worked at the Hansom Shipyard in Kittery and wanted to marry her, but was not able to as the Reverend failed in his divorce request. So, the resilient Mary appealed to the Massachusetts General Court for divorce in 1656. To support her position she stated that she did not wish to live on charity of others and needed to be free to marry and care for two ailing children who were in her charge and to preserve her holdings. Also she alleged that Reverend Stephen was married again in England. Add possible bigamy to his list of sins. She married Thomas in 1657 when she was 34 and led a respectable and quiet life thereafter. Ironically, 17 days after her divorce was granted, Stephen died in England on October 31, 1656.

Mary's life does, in fact, fit with the fictional account of Hester Pyrnne, the Puritan protagonist in The Scarlett Letter. In Part II of this article, I will share what I found about Mary inspiring Hawthorne to write his novel.  Read on....

Photo of an A:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/ScarletLetter.svg

Drinking and Driving and Oops!

August 8, 1915 Washington Post:

In the summer of 1915, Charles Conrad Cator, Sr., proudly purchased a Baby Grand Chevrolet, a touring car, from Henderson- Rowe Auto Company.  It was truly a grand touring car. 

As the family tale goes...

Charles Jr. and his dad used to go drinking together, often.  Charlie Jr., or Buck, as he was often called, would drive them home after their lively evening on the town.

Since neither really was alert, Charles Sr. would repeatedly command his son at every intersection to "Watch it!"  These intersections came at a slow pace as Buck drove slower and slower, the drunker he got.

At one such intersection, Dad told his son to "Watch it!"  He may well have watched, but not well enough. Their vehicle was struck.  Guess Buck failed to stop at the intersection.  Immediately following the sound of the crash, Charles Conrad Cator, Sr., boisterously stated, "God Damn It! I told you to watch it!"

Oh, well.  Didn't really stop them.  They went drinking again and driving, very slowly always.

Henderson-Rowe Showroom

Antique cars of today couldn't get up Good Hope Road in their heyday!

As boy Granddaddy (Charles Cator Jr.) used to push cars up Good Hope Road in Washington DC because many of the cars simply just didn't have enough umpff to make it up the hill back in the olden days. 


He charged a nickel which evidently drivers thought was well worth it!

Mom and Riverside in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Mom, Marjorie Fuller, did the hand coloring of photographs for dad's photography copying and photographic enlargement business. She really liked to work on the pictures when sitting outside in Fort Lauderdale, FL, enjoying balmy breezes and sunny days. Mom grew a small garden along the porch canopy and railings and garden beds surrounding the porch. Chameleons visited her regularly and watched her color.

One day the Miami Herald stopped by to see if she would chat with them for an article about her neighborhood, Riverside...along the New River.  This photo was snapped for the front page of the Broward section of the Miami Herald dated Friday, July 12, 1974.

Below is the section of the article that resulted from her interview with the reporter.  In the article "Rehard" is the owner of Rehard's Grocery store in Riverside.  

Mom was a history buff and read much about Florida's history when we all first moved to Ft. Lauderdale from Connecticut.  It is interesting that she is quoted in the article about the roads in Riverside originally being Indian paths. I did not remember this.  
  

Eddie and Jane

Grammy, Alice Southworth Healey, our Aunt Jane Southworth, and Eddie Dionne lived just a house or two from the swing bridge that the article mentions.  Many enjoyable memories were created here in our teenage years.  After we married and moved away, Mom and Dad moved to the cottage and she took pleasure in time spent on the porch everyday.

Alice Healey (Grammy...Nanny)