Canal Days – Page 30 – Historical Tours of the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts

Williams family story

At one time Hampden and Hampshire Counties of Massachusetts were principally farmland. Towns like Westfield, Southampton, Worthington, and Granville still have farming characteristics but have changed into highly residential. They were settled as farming towns by the late 1680s by colonial Americans but as emigrants moved into the area in the 1700s and early 1800s, more and more farms were being settled. New settlers were coming from England, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Scotland. These patterns are seen in the Williams quarter. The Williams family itself came from England in about 1830, but the families they married into were all different from one another. They were the Loomis of Connecticut, the Strong of Southampton, the Dubian of Dalton, the Bill of Southwick, the McDonald of New Brunswick, and the Wingate of Scotland.

These families would change occupations as America would develop. They would enter into the manufacturing jobs that booming Westfield would have by the era from 1880 to 1930. They would keep their family farms but take on other occupations like retail and police work. These early immigrants to America are called the Yankees since they were of British extraction. The wave from 1880 to 1920 were from Quebec and Ireland. These immigrants had lower education but were still hard workers.

The Lamontagne family of Holyoke came to work in the mills of Holyoke by the 1880s. Some of them worked farms in Agawam and West Springfield but mostly they were mill workers. In Holyoke, they would marry into the Beauchesne, Monaghan, Cavanaugh, and Gorman families. This new wave of settlers were Catholic compared to the Yankee farmers who were Protestant. Families were much larger and education slight. Virtually all Irish that came to Holyoke were from County Mayo or County Kerry and most of those were from only a few farm towns in Ireland. Entire villages in Ireland were abandoned especially along the western seacoast. Most of the Irish would work in paper or fiber mills in Holyoke like the Parsons Paper Mill, Farr Alpaca Company, and the Skinner Silk Mill.

Grant family story

Grime family story

The Grime family of New Bedford can be broken into its four parts: Grime – Brierley – Spoor – Brault. The Spoor and Brault have been written about extensively before, so here we concentrate on the Grime and Brierley parts. David Grime immigrated with his family in 1892 from Blackburn of Lancashire County in England to New Bedford of Massachusetts. He had with him his wife Elizabeth Nowell and their 7 children. The industrial revolution had started in England in 1760 and stayed strong there until about 1880. It continued in the small towns of New England from about 1800 to 1850 and then moved to the medium-sized cities. Lancashire County of England is the heart of industrial England. Thus when times changed and jobs got scarce it suffered the most. David Grime was a weaver like most of that region. He could see the shift in the industry and struck out for the cotton mills of New Bedford. He would have 3 more children in Massachusetts and the entire family was employed as weavers in the mills. At least five generations of the Grime family had lived in Blackburn England and had all married at the Blackburn Cathedral. The children, the 6th generation, would carry on their hard work in the mills of a new country.

Thomas Grime was the first son of David and Elizabeth. He would first marry Evelyn Saxon in 1908 and they would have three children – Leonard, Reynolds, and Norman. Evelyn would die after 6 years of marriage and Thomas would remarry. His second marriage was to Inez Maud Brierley of South Berwick Maine. Their children were Muriel, Hazel, Thomas, Robert, Annetta, and June. Robert would marry one of the Spoor sisters in 1953.

Inez Brierley was born to Charles Brierley and Winetta Alice Hilbourn in 1895. The Brierley family had come to South Berwick by way of Ontario and before that England and Ireland. The Hilbourn family had been in southern Maine for over 200 years. They were farmers and also worked the woods as hunters and fishermen. Old Maine data is easy enough to find. The South Berwick Historical Society is very active and has an excellent web page. I was able to find an image of the maternal grandparents of Inez.

Industrialization changes not only the landscape but also the people. Farming would give way to industry and small towns would become big cities. South Berwick has not changed much but cities like New Bedford were changed forever. Former farmers with go there with their traditional values and within a generation even their personal lives would change. Inez Brierley had 9 siblings but only 3 of them lived past their youth. A chance at a better life must have thrilled her.

Fernandes family story

Jacintho Fernandes the First was born on Madeira Island in the Atlantic in 1899. He was born in the small village of Freguezia dos Cunhas of Seitos Anjos Province. In 1917 he would immigrate on his own to New Bedford to open a grocery. There he would meet Odilia Rezendes and in 1927 they would marry. Odilia was one of 8 children of Francisco Medeiros Rezendes and Maria Angelina Mello. Francisco and Angelina had meet and wed in Santa Maria Island of the Azores in 1894. They had moved from there to Brazil where they had their first four children. After 12 years in Brazil, they moved back to Sao Miguel Island of the Azores where they had four more children. In 1914, Francisco died and Angelina decided to move her family to New Bedford. They had to travel in steerage during the entirety of the voyage. Once in New Bedford, they banded together as a family. Only 4 of the 8 children had children of their own.

Odilia Rezendes and Jacintho Fernandes had 3 children of their own. The first of whom is Jacintho Fernandes the Second known as Uncle Jesse to most of us. Like most immigrant families, these families continued to climb the educational and economic ladder. Neither Jacintho nor Odilia had much education but they made sure that their children did. Jacintho Fernandes would meet a sister of the Spoor family of New Bedford and in 1953 would wed. The Spoor story was told before. Their child and they would moved to Dartmouth and participate in the community as teachers.

Mayo family story

The Mayo family of Chicopee Massachusetts comes from both Quebec and English lines. They can be divided into the four grandparents – Mayo, Hamel, Walpole, and Blazer. Solyme Mailloux entered into Chittenden County of Vermont in about 1810. Like many that came from Quebec into northern Vermont, he changed his last name to fit into the society. This was not done among the Quebec of southern New England. Only a small number of Quebec immigrants went into any given Vermont town and they needed to fit in. All his children had an American name including one of his sons William Mayhew. Even this was not enough and when William had children in the era from 1850 to 1870, he named them differently too with one of his sons being John Henry Mayo. Thus the transformation was complete. Farming was getting tough in northern Vermont so John Mayo moved his family to Granby Massachusetts in 1910. Then in 1925 his son Charles would marry a Holyoke native.

Firmin Hamel was one of the first Quebec settlers of the new city of Holyoke. He first came to Holyoke in 1860 but quickly noted that he had a knack for getting others to immigrate to Holyoke. He was hired to do just that. He would every year travel back to Quebec to encourage more settlers to come to the new industrial city. Of his many children there was one Telesphore that selected to be a dairy farmer in western Holyoke. His sons likewise worked on the farm and likewise married other Quebec immigrants. His son George a milkman married Rosalie Goyette in 1898. Longevity is a trait in the Hamel family of Holyoke especially among the woman. Many would live past 90 years old. George and Rosalie had one daughter Loretta that lived to 100 years old. She had outlived her husband Charles Mayo by 34 years.

John Walpole in the early 1800s moved to Hellesdon of Norfolk County England. Like in America the industrial revolution forced workers from the farms to the small towns near streams and then into the large mill cities. His grandson William would marry a city-dweller in 1875 and become a servant – a very desirable job for the lower class. His own son William would be a French polisher in Norwich and would own a small business doing that. This is a trade that treats fine wood until it acquires a high luster. By then they were well established in Norwich. The last of the Walpole line Arthur would marry a Blazer in 1930.

In 1800, Norwich was the 2nd largest city in England. All cities have poverty and Norwich just as London had a lot of poor. Bernard and Anne Deary perhaps tried to raise their children well. To lift oneself from poverty is very hard. Their daughter Sophia was a charwoman her entire life. This is the equivalent of a housekeeper. Such woman of the lowest economic class found it too hard to marry due to lack of interest from the men. Still she became the mother to five children without ever marrying – that is, they were born out of wedlock. This was very common in the 1800s in England. Poor houses were common in this period – recall the stories of Charles Dickens. Sophia’s children would also struggle. Her daughter Susan would do the same – work as a charwoman and raise four children herself out of wedlock. One of the daughters of Susan – Alice Deary – would marry James Blazer in 1888 in Norwich. James was a night watchman. He had enough of a salary from that to raise a strong family. Their daughter Gladys Blazer married the above Arthur Walpole. In turn their daughter would marry into the Mayo family of America. Via doing genealogy one can see the development of society from very hard times to prosperous times. These Mayo and Walpole families are no exception.

Klindt family story

Claus Klindt moved from Fahren of Holstein, Germany to Maquoketa Iowa in 1871 with his wife Esther Brockman. They had their six teenage children with them. The Franco-Prussian War had started the year before and that might have been the reason for the move. Their son Wilhelm Klindt would be a farm hand in Iowa and then after marriage in Arkansas. His five siblings would stay in Iowa for many decades and it was with good fortune that I was finally able to trace the family using their obituaries.

Johann Rödelsperger and his wife Dorothea Luft would move from Hesse State of Germany in 1846 to New York State and then to Michigan. One of his sons also called Johann Rödelsperger would live in Michigan and then move onto Arkansas. This second Johann would change his name to John Raedels. His daughter Cora would marry Wilhelm Klindt in 1896 in Arkansas. In 1907 they would have a son Fred William Klindt.

James Arwine was born in 1799 in Pennsylvania. He would marry Mary Ellen Martin in 1822 in Anderson County, Tennessee. She herself had been born there to North Carolina natives. Most vital records of the Midwest and West are kept by county and not by town. There were no towns but just farmland spread throughout the county. Marriage records would typically not note the names of the parents. People moved a lot out West seeking better farms and better ranches. In 1844 David Lively Arwine was born to this couple. David would fight in the Civil War for 145th Regiment, Indiana Infantry. After the war he would settle in Tarrant County of Texas.

Henry David Smith and Sarah Ann Murphy would marry in 1867 in Brown County of Indiana. They had many children including Eliza Annie Smith who was born in 1877 in Indiana. The family would move to Arkansas and that is where Eliza would marry David Arwine in 1909 in Benton County. In 1911 they would have a daughter Grace Marie Smith. There the four families would unite when Fred Klindt and Grace Smith would wed in 1931 in Benton County. Ruby Klindt would be born to the couple.

Orange Spoor

The Orange Spoors of the Past

by Claudette M. Comeau Snow-Schell

July 15, 2020

In doing genealogy research on the Spoor line of my family, I keep bumping into multiple Orange Spoors. My 3^rd great-grandfather was Orange Spoor (1803-1868) who was born in Vermont, US and lived much of his life in Missisquoi County, Quebec, Canada. From what I can tell, five Orange Spoors lived in North America during the time period of 1797-1935. The following is my attempt to clarify just who the various Orange Spoors were in order to have a reference as I continue my research into my 3^rd great-grandfather.

Orange Spoor was born 1797/1798 in the US and died in 1852. He, like my 3^rd great-grandfather, lived much of his life in Missisquoi County, Canada not too far from Farnham, Quebec where my 3^rd great-grandfather spent much of his life. On September 3, 1818, Orange married Jane Friot (?) in the Episcopal church of Iberville, Quebec. Jane was a “spinster of minor age” from Christie Manor and was given permission to marry by her parents. Orange was the Christie Manor innkeeper of major age. Jane was baptized in the Episcopal Church in 1825 in Iberville, Quebec. In the 1830 census of Quebec and Lower Canada, Orange and Jane are living in the seigniory of Noyan. In the 1831 census of the subdistrict of Noyan, county of Rouville, Quebec, Lower Canada, Orange is a farmer (“cultivateur”) living with 9 inhabitants in the household. Also on this census are Allen and William Spoor. In 1838, during the Canadian Rebellion, he served in the Rouville militia with his brothers, William, and his brother or son, Joseph. In the 1842 census of St. George de Henryville, Rouville, Quebec, Orange is a farmer with 10 people in his household. He was aged 55 in the 1851 census of St. Georges de Clarenceville, Rouville County, Canada east, Quebec where he is listed as a labourer that was Methodist and born in the US. Also listed on this census are Andrew Spoor (20) and Mary Spoor (12) both born in Canada and Episcopalian. Orange died March 20, 1852 (aaprx. aged 55) and according to the records of the Clarenceville Anglican church of St. George he was buried on March 22, 1852. He was interred in the presence of his brother, William Spoor, and his son, Joseph Spoor.

Orange Spoor, my 3^rd great-grandfather, was born September 23, 1803 in Franklin County, Vermont, US and died in 1868 in Farnham, Canada. Orange’s parents were Abraham and Rebecca. Orange was the youngest of their eight children (David, Ephraim, Asahel, Mary, John, Almond, Loisa, and Orange). Orange was the grandson of Captain John Spoor who served in the Revolutionary War in the Sheffield, Massachusetts militia. He lived with his parents in Franklin County, VT until he was at least 27 years old. Before marrying his wife, Charlotte, in 1843, Orange had three other children. At the age of 29, Orange had Edwin (b. 1832) and then Luiza (b. 1833), both born in Vermont to Mathilde Morris. Orange likely moved with Luiza and Edwin to Farnham, Quebec around 1837. Orange married Charlotte Cook on July 26, 1843 in Farnham in the Church of England, Iberville, Quebec. His daughter, Luiza, died in 1847 in Farnham, Quebec at the age of 14 years old. In the record, Charlotte is listed as her mother but she was likely adopted by Charlotte as perhaps Edwin was as well. Edwin went on to live his whole life in Farnham. Orange was listed as a saw mill owner in the 1851 and 1852 directories of Farnham West (a village situated in the Township of Farnham, County of Shefford, District of Montreal). He was listed as a saw mill owner in an 1857 directory as living in West Farnham (Parish of St. Romuald, Township of Farnham, County of Missisquoi). The lumber from the saw mill was manufactured and exported to the US. In the 1861 Missisquoi, Canada East census, Orange (58) was listed with his wife “Sharlot” (actually Charlotte) (45), their five children (William Orange (16), Lucy A. (15), Joseph (12), and Elisabeth (6)). Also living with them were two spinsters, Lucy A. Cook (21), the likely daughter of Charlotte from another father, and Sally Danoley (56), likely a boarder or servant. As indicated on the census, Charlotte and her children were all born in Lower Canada while Orange was born in the US. Orange and his children are listed as Methodist while Charlotte is listed as a member of the Church of England. Notarial records exist for Orange from 1837-1862 from various points in Quebec. Orange and Charlotte’s son, William Orange Spoor, died April 1864 during the US Civil War at the prisoner of war camp in Andersonville, Georgia. Orange died on January 11, 1868 and was buried in West Farnham on January 14 in the St. James Anglican Cemetery of the Methodist Church. Buried with Orange are his wife Charlotte and their grandson from their son Joseph, Frederick, and his wife, Alice. On December 29, 1868, after the death of Orange, both Charlotte and Lucy Ann Spoor legally renounced him in order to not be obligated to his debts.

Rev. Orange Herbert Spoor was born July 4, 1831 in Georgia, Vermont on a farm. In the 1850 census of Franklin, Georgia, Vermont, Orange is a laborer, aged 19. He began teaching and studying at the New Hampton Institute in VT. Orange married Laura F. Dewy, also of Georgia, VT on May 23, 1855 in Burlington, VT. Orange served for three years as the principal of Mattapoisett Academy in Massachusetts where his wife was the preceptress and an instructor at the school. In the 1855 census of Massachusetts, Orange lived in Marion, Plymouth, Massachusetts and was a teacher. He attended the Theological Seminary in Oberlin, Ohio, graduating in 1861. On his July 1, 1863 US Civil War draft registration, Orange indicates that he was from Vermontville, Michigan. He was a congregational minister in Michigan for 25 years, 11 years in Vermontville, four years in Traverse City, five years in Dowagiac, and five years in Charlotte. He was for several years the Inspector of Public Schools and Director of Sunday School Normal. In the 1870 census of Michigan, Orange is listed with his children Eddy, William, and Laura. In the 1880 census in Michigan, Orange (48) was living with his wife Laura (48) and children Eddy (20), William (18), and Laura (14). He moved to Redlands, CA in the spring of 1887 due to failing health due to overwork. In November of 1890, he became the pastor of Terrace Congregational Church. According to his California voter registry, in October of 1894, Orange (63) lived in Redlands, CA and was a minister. He died in mid-July 1905.

Orange Spoor was born circa 1860 in Pennsylvania. According to the 1880 census of PA, he was single and was a servant that worked on a farm. His father was born in PA and his mother in Rhode Island.

Orange Mansel Spoor was born October 25, 1877 in Missouri to William and Lydia. In the 1880 census, he had two brothers (Warren and George) and two sisters (Julia and Sarah). Orange married his wife Amy on January 14, 1904 in Missouri. According to his 1918 WWI draft card, Orange, aged 41, lived in Hickory, Missouri with his wife, Amy, and was a farmer. Orange died November 1, 1935.