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Hi Marj,

Thank you so much for responding to my request. I would love to have a copy of the photo and article about Moses and his wife Olive. In fact, I’d love to know more about their lives in general. Copying it in sections is fine, as I’m adept at Photoshop and can piece the segments together. I’m not sure what the next action should be, as I haven’t used RootsChat in quite awhile. Is there a way I could get a personal, non-public message to you? If you plan to send paper copy to me, I can send you my street address. If you’re able to acquire a quality xerox or digital scan and I’m able to enhance it, I’d be happy to send a reprint or digital copy back to you as a back-up to your original.

Moses’s daughter Alice J. Whittier was the wife of my great grandfather, Henry Chase Davis, a lumberman in Davisville, Warner, NH. I don’t know if you have any interest in Alice, but I have records of her marriage and death and a story of her short life with Henry if you’re interested. I’m going to see if I can attach what we believe is a photo of her, which we found among our family’s possessions.

Thank you again and I look forward to hearing from you.

Meredith

Looking for clarification on the birth date and birth place of a Francis Davis, son of Philip Francis Davis and a Welsh woman (name unknown). Sources here in the States vary widely. Philip Francis Davis is said to have been born in Cardigan, Wales in the late 1500s. (His father, John, is said to have come from Scotland.) It’s reported Philip Francis Davis moved to Southampton, England, where he became a merchant and where two of his sons were born: Gideon in 1615 and Philip in 1617. I’m interested in the third son, Francis - one source reports that the family returned to Wales, but their third son, Francis, may have been born just across the border in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, anywhere from 1619 to 1626. Francis from this Davis line settled in Amesbury, Mass., USA, and his descendants were numerous in Warner, New Hampshire, where they farmed and ran paper mills. The date of Francis's arrival in New England varies from 1638 to 1647 (a lot depends on his contested birth date). Any information one can provide on the three brothers born in this time frame will be much appreciated!

Thanks for the info on William Henry Mellor and the correction on Mary Willey. I've made sure my files are up to date.

We haven't been able to trace John Healy back to his Irish roots. We did find the following possibility: According to Lancaster vital records, on June 17, 1805 a calico printer named John “Haley” (age 21) married Elizabeth Alexander (age 18) in Bolton Le Sands, a large village in Lancashire. She was probably pregnant, as her first son, James, was born less than nine months later. John and Betty may be the parents of the children in the 1841 England census — John “Healey,” a  57- to 60-year-old calico printer from Ireland lives with his wife Elizabeth, age 54, and six children (including Elizabeth, age 16) near Oswaldtwistle.

Our Elizabeth Healy had an older brother James, born around 1806. By 1841, he was settled in northwest England. A marriage record shows that James Healy married Mary Liddle on June 19, 1831 in Wigton, Cumberland. Mary was born in Workington, Cumberland, a port town on the coast. They had 7 known children: John and George, born in Wigton in 1832 and 1834; Thomas and William born in England in 1836 and 1838. Daughter Ruth Elizabeth and sons James and Alexander were born in America. Mary and her two youngest sons lived for a time with her parents, while her two older sons lived with her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Ellenor (Healy) and James Halstead near Carlisle. Ellenor (or Ellen) was born circa 1810; in an 1841 census she gives Ireland as her birthplace. (Her relationship to our Elizabeth is confirmed by her Lowell death certificate.)

It appears there were three waves of Healys emigrating to Massachusetts. First to arrive was the James Healy family aboard Eli Whitney, which sailed from Liverpool to Boston in 1842. Next James and Ellenor (Healy) Halstead arrived in 1849. Ship passenger records for the Milton show a couple named James and Eleanor “Alston,” who arrived in Boston on April 20, 1849. James Healy’s in-laws, the Liddles, came to America about 20 years later. According to census & death records, the Healy/Halstead clan settled on John and Lee Streets in Lowell during the 1850s. Both streets fall within the Boott Mill boardinghouse block, and the Healy family was affiliated with Kirk Boott’s Episcopal church, St. Anne’s, and the Rev. Theodore Edson.

On May 19, 1853, Elizabeth’s older sister, Ellenor (Healy) Halstead, died at age 45 of “heart problems” (probably mill-related) and was buried in the Edson Cemetery, Lowell. On July 12, 1858, Jane Healy died of dropsy at age 41 and was buried at Edson. Elizabeth’s third sister Maria lived in 1860 with Elizabeth, a recent widow with a young child to raise. Between 1860 and 1870, she married John Haigh (Hague), a mill worker from Lawrence, Mass. I visited the Edson Cemetery, and they had records of Healy and Mellor graves, but the stones were buried underground. Samuel Mellor's death certificate doesn't say where he was buried, but it must be at Edson, the cemetery for non-Catholic, lower income Lowell residents. You can obtain the certificate from the Archives Division of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 220 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, Mass 02125 (but he's recorded as Samuel "Mellon," probably also the name at the cemetery).

When cotton supplies dried up and many Lowell mills shut down, Samuel enlisted in the Union Army from 1861 to 1862. In case you're interested, most of James Healy's sons also enlisted in the Civil War: I've seen pension records for John (a clerk in Lowell, 5’ 6” tall, with a light complexion, blue eyes, and sandy or auburn hair), William (a teamster, 5’ 5 ½” tall with light complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair), James Jr. (a plumber in Boston, 5’ 7 ½” tall, with blue eyes and brown hair), and George (at 63, 5' 3" so when young he was probably also around 5' 5" or 5' 6").

Once Samuel's eldest son, Frank (by a previous wife back in England) was discharged in 1864, the Reeves family headed to Ohio, looking for jobs. Frank married and stayed in Ohio. Again, according to pension records, the Reeves (and Joseph Mellor) settled inin Holmesville, a pastoral village near Millersburg. In 1871, Sam moved his family to Cleveland and tried working on the railroad, but his poor health forced him to quit manual labor. The Reeves stayed in Cleveland until 1875, then they headed back to Massachusetts. So Joseph Mellor would have spent almost a decade in Ohio.

If you come across any information on Elizabeth's grandparents, I'd be interested. Good luck in your search!

Is anyone descended from one of the children of William and Sarah REEVES, who were married in Rugeley, Staffordshire, in October 1812? I'd like to know what happened to

Margaret (christened Rugeley 1 Jan 1816),
Samuel (christened Mavesyn Ridware 14 Dec 1817),
Thomas (christened Mavesyn Ridware 4 Juy 1819), and
William (christened Rugeley 11 Jan 1821)

If anyone knows where they moved, who they married,  and what occupations they took up, I could really use your help. Information on any of them will be much appreciated!