Namesakes: Roger Pearson Webber

What's the story behind your name? 

Today it's common for new parents to choose their baby's name because they like the sound of it, or because it's cool and popular.  (Hi to all the Finleys and Liams out there!)  

This, however, is a departure from the customary naming conventions that have prevailed over the last few hundred years in the United States.  Children were often named after their parents and grandparents.  This is a bonus for genealogists because it helps when following the family line.

This is the first installment in my little series of Namesakes.  Let's find out where our family members got their names, and the possible stories behind them.

Roger Pearson Webber

Family member name: Roger Pearson Webber
Tree branch: Webber
Lifetime: 1914 - 2000
Relation: My grandfather (my dad's dad)

In the case of my grandpa, both his first and middle names were handed down to him.  

• First name: From his dad, whose middle name was Rogers (with an s), which was his grandma's maiden name (that is my grandpa's great-grandmother).  
• Middle name: from his mom, whose maiden name was Pearson.  The Pearsons had lived in New England as far back as 1740.

Follow the orange boxes.

Fripp family secrets

My grandmother did not have e-mail in 2010.  So the researcher contacted her assisted living complex.  "Your cousin is looking for you" he told her.  She replied, "I don't have any cousins." She did not yet know Ellen Fripp's secret.  

Ellen Fripp

Ellen Fripp had three children from her first husband, Henry W. Bromley: Percy, Ernest  and Florence.  Later, Ernest was married and had one son named Ernest, Jr. and Florence married and had Charlotte.  Charlotte is my grandmother.  Ernest, Jr. (Charlotte's cousin) died when he was 12 years old of appendicitis. 

Charlotte grew up with her grandmother, Ellen. They were very close. 

Ruth Fripp

Ruth grew up in England with her elderly father, Frank. Frank was raised by his Aunt Kate.  Ruth's grandparents passed away long ago, but she heard that they had moved to America.  She wondered if she had any living relatives there.  

Ruth hired Dave the researcher to find out.  He found that Kate's sister Ellen married a Bromley. Then he found Ernest Bromley's obituary which mentioned his niece, Mrs. Roger Webber of Duxbury, Massachusetts.  When Dave found that Mrs. Roger Webber's full name was Charlotte Ellen, he knew he had found a relative.  But the year was 2010, and Charlotte was born in 1915.  Could she still be alive? He made the phone call.

The secret: Frank Fripp

Ellen Fripp had a child out of wedlock in 1875 in London. (Today, October 25th, is the anniversary of his birth.) The father's name is lost to time, but she called her son Frank.  When Ellen married in 1880 and moved to the United States, she left her son in care of her sister, Kate.  My grandma Charlotte never knew about Frank.  As an elderly man, Frank married and had a daughter named Ruth.

The secret revealed

Through Dave the researcher, Ruth found her only living cousin, Charlotte, in America.  My grandma was 95 at the time. Before my grandma died in 2014, Ruth and her husband flew from London to Boston multiple times over the next couple years to connect with family they never knew and to hear the firsthand account about her own grandmother.  

They still keep in touch with us.

The Father of American Geography

Growing up in a newly formed country, Jedidiah Morse, Jr. saw the need for a geography book about the United States of America, so he wrote one.  If you were a student at school in the United States between 1784 and the 1830s, you no doubt studied out of his geography books.  He has been titled "the father of American Geography".

Family member name: Jedidiah Morse, Jr.
Lifetime: 1761 - 1826

Places lived: Woodstock, CT; Charlestown, MA; New Haven, CT
Tree branch: Pearson

Relation: My 6th great-uncle (my dad's dad's mom's mom's mom's mom's dad's brother)

On display at the Museum Pavilion at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, we saw some original volumes of Jedidiah Morse's books.  I took both of these pictures. I hope to read one or more of them in digital or hard copy someday.

Jedidiah decided to provide a copy of one of his books to the first President, George Washington.  Here is their correspondence to each other.  (Source: Archives.gov )

Charlestown [Mass.] June 25th 1793

Sir,

I do myself the honour herewith to present for your acceptance, a sett of “The American Universal Geography.”1 Compiled under the auspices of your Presidency over the United States, & describing, in a more particular manner, that distinguished country, whh is so deeply indebted to you, sir, for her present tranquillity & happiness—it is a tribute I owe you—& I most cheerfully pay it. I have only to regret that it is not more worthy of your acceptance, & that it bears so small a proportion to that gratitude & respect whh I bear for your character. With the sincerest respect, & the most earnest prayers for your health, long life, & happiness here & hereafter, I am, sir, your most obdt & humble servt2

Jedh Morse

In his reply to Morse of 17 July 1793, George Washington wrote:

“I should, at an earlier moment, have acknowledged the receipt of your polite letter of the 25th of June, and returned my best thanks for the acceptable work which accompanied it, had I not been at Mount Vernon when they reached this place. You will therefore be pleased now, Sir, to accept the thanks and acknowledgements which are due for your polite attention in sending me a sett of The American Un[i]versal Geography. And, at the same time, be assured you have my best wishes that you may be amply rewarded for the time and labour spent in preparing so useful a work”

Sources:

Encyclopedia Britannica - Jedidiah Morse

"Father of American Geography" source: JSTOR Digital Library

Locust Grove Estate - Morse

National Archives: “To George Washington from Jedidiah Morse, 25 June 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives,  [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 13, 1 June–31 August 1793, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007, pp. 148–149.]

Manitoulin

Forty-nine years ago this month, on August 18, 1970, my family experienced a terrible tragedy.  

My great-grandfather, his son Bernie, and Bernie's two sons went on a fishing trip to Manitoulin, Ontario, Canada from Michigan.  They were caught in a fast-moving storm and their boat capsized.  After a horrific night spent in frigid waters, only two of the four survived.  

My great-grandfather and his 12 year-old grandson (also named Bernie) drowned.  Despite the fatigue and anguish, my mom's uncle Bernie did not give up.  He was able to save his youngest son, Johnny who was 10 at the time.  Yet how awful to lose his father and older son.

It was a miracle that any of them survived.  I can't imagine the pain and heartache of the whole family in the months and years to come.  My grandpa lost his dad and his nephew in one night.  My mom lost her grandpa and her cousin in one night.

We will never forget the tragedy at Manitoulin.

Family member name: Bernard Boyle
Lifetime: 1889 - 1970
Tree branch: Boyle
Relation: My great-grandfather (my mom's dad's dad)


Family member name: Bernard William Boyle
Lifetime: 1930 - 2008
Tree branch: Boyle
Relation: My great-uncle (my mom's dad's brother)

One town. Two namesakes.

I had the privilege to visit the town of Standish,  Maine.  I wanted to go there because it was named after my 10x great-grandfather, Myles Standish.  What I didn't realize is that before it was named Standish, it was named for another one of my family members.

Family member name: Myles Standish
Tree branch: Smith
Lifetime: 1584-1656
Relation: My 10x great-grandfather (my dad's mom's dad's mom's mom's mom's mom's mom's dad's mom's dad's dad)

At  the Maine Historical Society in Portland, I was doing research on the Pearson branch of my family tree who lived in Maine.  A cousin of my 5x great grandfather, William Pearson, was Moses Pearson.  

Moses Pearson was a company commander in the first battle of Louisbourg, in King George's War, in Canada.  Upon his return, he petitioned the State of Massachusetts (because Maine was not a state yet) for a land grant for himself and his company.  One hundred twenty land grants were issued to him and another company commander named Humphrey Hobbs.

The land grants became a community, and here is how this little town's name evolved over 35 years.

1750 - Pearson Hobbs Town
1759 - Pearsontown
1785 - Standish

Hobbs died shortly after the land grants were awarded and Pearson never did end up living in Pearsontown.  So the residents renamed the town after a famous American, Myles Standish, of Mayflower fame.  It's pretty cool that this cute little town was named after two of my ancestors, Pearson and Standish.

More info: Town of Standish website

At the Standish Historical Society.  Standish, Maine, 2016.

Doing family tree research at the Maine Historical Society.  Portland, Maine, 2016.

Born in Holland, but not Dutch

Five generations of my ancestors were born in Holland.  However, I'm not even 1% Dutch.  How can that be?  They're from a town called Holland, in Massachusetts.  I recently discovered that I have deep roots in Holland.

Holland is in Central Mass, right on the Connecticut border.  If you've traveled to Boston via route 84, you've driven right through it.

Family member name: Trenance Weber
Tree branch: Webber
Lifetime: 1710- unknown (after 1760)
Relation: My 7x great-grandfather

Trenance Webber was born to John and Elizabeth Trenance Webber in Beverly, Massachusetts, but moved to Holland around 1760.  Then the next five generations of Webber children were born in Holland.  They are:

Samuel Webber, born about 1735
his son Samuel Webber, Jr., born 1761
his son Eleazer Webber, born 1785
his son Edwin Ballard Webber, born 1819
his son Charles Arnold Webber, born 1858

Charles Arnold Webber and his wife Emma moved closer to Boston, and their son Harlan (my great grandfather) was born in Dorchester.  Then they moved to Needham, where the Webber family lived for 100 years.

As of 2019 in Holland, there is a home that was painstakingly and lovingly built as a replica of the John Webber house of 1760.  Here's what my 8x great-grandfather and grandmother's home looked like.

Cheesemonger

I love cheese.  Now I know it's an inherited trait.

Family member name: Orestes Allen Blashfield
Tree branch: Webber
Lifetime: 1830-1892
Relation: My 3x great grandfather (my dad's dad's dad's mom's dad)

When doing family research, it's good to examine every piece of the paper trail.  In the late 1800s, the US census included an extra form called the Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedule.  It recorded details of family farmers.  Orestes Blashfield was a farmer in Brimfield, Massachusetts.  Let's see what he grew.

On the first picture shown below, we can see the column header is "Meat, cattle and their products", then a subheading "Cheese made on the farm in 1879."  Notice the yellow circled area: 200 pounds of cheese!  And notice how much cheese his neighbors made.  None.  Therefore, Orestes Blashfield was the cheese man in his area.  Orestes the cheesemonger.

cheese·mon·ger

/ˈCHēzˌmäNGɡər,-ˌməNGɡər/

Learn to pronounce

noun

BRITISH

1. a person who sells cheese, butter, and other dairy products.

We can also see that he made 500 lbs of butter, had 3 "milch" (milk) cows and 4 "other" animals in the herd.  Five calves were "dropped", none purchased in 1879, and 5 were "sold living".

1. 
   

The record continues with more details.  The column header here says "Orchards-1879".  He did not grow peaches, but he had two acres of apples, specifically 166 bearing trees.

This page also shows he grew potatoes on a half acre of land, producing 60 bushels.

Cheese and apples, a great combination!  That must have been quite a lot of work to milk those cows in order to churn all that butter and process all that cheese.  I would have loved to be his neighbor.