Loyalist William How(e) of Kingston... Who Are Your Parents?

One of the many reasons I write these posts is to help me record my thoughts concerning research that either has me stumped or has been tricky to resolve. This post is about the former.

In my researching of The Fair Captive I was finally able to add the oldest son of Caleb How(e)¹ and Jemima Sawtelle, William. Based on various material I came across documenting the story of Jemima, it would appear that William was born about 1747.

Daniel Wait Howe, Howe Genealogies. This Volume Contains the Genealogy of John Howe of Sudbury and Marlborough, Massachusetts, Gilman Bigelow Howe, editor, (Haverhill, Massachusetts: Record Publishing Company, 1929), children of Caleb Howe and Jemima Sawtelle, p. 46; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/howegenealogiesb01howe/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 27 May 2020).

Of course, once I recorded that information into my cousin-bait tree on Ancestry, hints started appearing for him including trees having him residing in what later became Kingston, Ontario, Canada. For those that know me, when it comes to my genealogy research one of my research mantras is "Trust know one, verify everything, and even if it's written in stone it might be wrong." So when I saw some people connecting William Howe to Caleb and Jemima Howe of Vermont as his parents I got very interested in finding out their sources and hopefully confirming (refuting would be OK also) that supposed connection.

The first possible clue from the Howe Genealogies is that William was a tory and went to Nova Scotia. That sounds like a Loyalist to me. But, much like his younger brother Caleb, my 5th great-grandfather, William appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth or at least disappeared from the United States of America. Even in Emma Lewis Coleman's work New England Captives Carried to Canada Between 1677 and 1760 During the French and Indian War, Vol. 2 beyond stating William's age when captured and then the ransom paid by Colonel Schuyler nothing else is mentioned about William. So my usually method of following a person from cradle to grave isn't going to work. Instead I'm going to start with the William Howe that ended up in the Kingston, Ontario, Canada area and see if the records about him mention anything about his parents or clues are offered up by the names of his children.

Several of the trees had images for land petitions made by his children and wife. The bottom of the images they had a source description like this:

Image from the bottom of the microfilmed image from Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865), H Bundle (1806-1807), RG1 L3 Vol 226, petition 71; Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-2046, image 55.

From that I knew that the source of these images was from the Library and Archives "Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865" database and archived microform collection. With a bit of searching I was able to create a table of those names of interest and the details needed to find them in microfim (the page number was added after I found the petition):

Surname	Given Name(s)	Place	Year	Volume	Bundle	Petition	Page(s)	Reference	Microfilm
HOWE	Mathew	Kingston	1798	224A	H 4	81	607-614	RG 1 L3	C-2044
HOWE/VANORDER	Margaret	Kingston	1806	226	H 8	71	55-56	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE/GALLOWAY	Margaret	Kingston	1807	226	H 8	99	158-159	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE/BUCK	Eve	Kingston	1808	226	H 8	112	217-219	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE/DENYLA	Jane	Kingston	1809	226	H 9	44	475-476	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE	Peter	Kingston	1810	226A	H 9	85	649-652	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE	George	Kingston	1811	226A	H 9	92	682-684	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE	John W.	Kingston	1849	247	H 5	44	237-271	RG 1 L3	C-2101
HOWE	Daniel	Kingston	1797	224	H 3	135	119-122	RG 1 L3	C-2044
HOWE	Margaret		1797	224	H 3	57	840-841	RG 1 L3	C-2043

Some of the entries, such as Eve Howe/Buck, Jane Howe/Denyla, and John W. Howe, I've not confirmed are connected to the William Howe family since they don't reference William How(e) directly. Since I wasn't planning on going down the rabbit hole of completely documenting this William Howe family I haven't dug into those names. In each case I retrieved the multiple pages for each petition to see what clues were presented aside from the family connection. I also referenced William D Reid's book The Loyalists In Ontario to aid in my searching where we find William Howe listed along with his children that were mentioned in the Orders-in-Council records:

William D. Reid, The Loyalists in Ontario: The Sons and Daughters of the American Loyalists of Upper Canada, ( Lambertville , New Jersey: Hunterdon House, 1973), p.157, HOWE, William of Kingston; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/49231/: accessed 18 May 2020).

The petition for Margaret Howe/Vanorder was important since it established that Margaret was the daughter of Mathew Van order and the widow of William Howe. This will become important later on.

Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1763-1865, petition of Margaret Howe Widow of William Howe and Daughter of Mathew Vanorder, dated 24 Jan 1807; RG 1 L3, C-2046, images 55; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

The petition signed by Matthew Howe and Daniel Howe dated 15 Jul 1797 also provided a few clues about William:

• he died about 1795,
• he had joined the British Forces and did Garrison Duty in the Embodied Loyalists at New York, and
• he arrived in the province, now known as Upper Canada, in 1783.

Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1763-1865, Volume 224, "H" Bundle 3, 1797, petition 135, for Daniel Howe; RG 1 L3, C-2044, image 120; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

The separate land petition submitted in by his son Mathew in 1798 was interesting not from what was written but the response by the Land Board. In his petition he wrote:

"That your Petitioners Father served during the War as a Lieutenant of Embodied Loyalists and is Since deceased in this Country..."

Mathew even had statements from David Babcock and John Burnett attesting that William Howe served under Major Ward in Captain Hamilton's Company as a Lieutenant of Embodied Loyalists from the time of the Action of the Blockhouse. However, as you can see in the image below, the board didn't accept that proof his William's rank as a Lieutenant, "There must be better proof of W^m Howe's having been a Lieut".

Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1763-1865, Volume 224a, "H" Bundle 4, 1798, petition 81, for Mathew Howe; RG 1 L3, C-2044, image 614; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

Yes, even with his rank not accepted, the petition of Mathew gives another clue about William:

• he was at the "Action of the Blockhouse".

It didn't take too much digging to find this action for it seems it was the Battle of Bull's Ferry that took place in New Jersey in Bergen Township along the Hudson River opposite New York City on 20-21 Jul 1780. A stockade, the "Blockhouse", was held by 70 loyalists commanded by Thomas Ward and successfully held off the attacks by Brigadier General Anthony Wayne and his men. Could William have been made a lieutenant and placed in the chain of command of these men? Possibly, but I've not yet seen any documents such as an after action report that substantiates the claim. The story of "The Block House in Bergen Wood" was told by Dr. H. H. Burleigh in an address on 3 Mar 1965 to the Bay of Quinte Branch of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.

Based on these petitions we have William Howe in the New York City area in 1780s and he has been acknowledged as a Loyalist.

What can I find in New York City for that time?

Knowing the name of his wife, Margaret Vanorder, I put the following information in to the search on Ancestry:

• Surname: Howe
• Father's Name: William Howe
• Mother's Name: Margaret
• Born: 1777
• Collection: United States

I was pleasantly surprised when I got results from the "U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989" collection for baptisms of several children: Mathew (born 1774, baptized 1775), Mary Magdalen (1776), Daniel (1778), Margareth (1780). The baptism of Mathew was particularly interesting due to one of the sponsors:

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2020), entry for Matthew, child of William Howe and wife Margareth; citing New York City Lutheran, Volume 1, Book 85, p 517 [stamped], New York City, New York.

I wonder, could this Matthew Van Orden be related to Margareth? Could he be the Mathew Vanorder listed in Margaret Howe's land petition?

A bit more digging through the records I find what appears to be record for the marriage of William How and Margareth Van Orden on 24 Sep 1770.

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 May 2020), entry for William How and Margareth Van Orden, married 24 Sep 1770; citing Holland Society of New York; New York, New York; New York City Lutheran, Vol III, Book 87, p 103 [stamped].

As an aside, I also came across the baptism of their first son, Robert Albert, in that collection. What got me was the note above the entry, "married in September 1770 Who can help it?"

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2020), entry for Robert Albert, child of William Howe and wife Margareth; citing New York City Lutheran, Volume 1, Book 85, p 495 [stamped], New York City, New York.

Unfortunately, Robert Albert Howe was buried on 9 Sep 1772.

Based on what I found in this collection and in the land petitions and and Land Boards of Upper Canada, 1765-1804 databases the children of William Howe and Margareth Van Orden that were born in New York appear to be:

• Robert Albert (1770-1772)
• Elizabeth
• Mathew (1774-)
• Mary Magdalen (1776-)
• Daniel (1778-)
• Margareth (1780-)
• William (1783-)

Sons Peter (1786-) and George, which I found via other trees and records, appear to have been born after the family left New York City. Keep in mind that I'm not researching the family so I haven't kept looking for death dates for those that left New York. However, it seems that Mary Magdalen and Margareth may have passed away in New York since I haven't found them named in land or other Loyalist claimant documents. The burial registrations for the New York Lutheran Church that Ancestry has end in 1775.

Can we find this family leaving New York?

The baptism record from 1783 for their son, William, holds a useful clue.

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2020), entry for William, child of William Howe and wife Margareth; citing New York City Lutheran, Volume 1, Book 85, p 585 [stamped], New York City, New York.

It appears that the family was still in New York in Oct 18, 1783.

After a bit of searching and following the various leads when sources were provided I came across the "HMS Amphitrite, Capt. Robert Briggs" under Wallace Hale's Fort Havoc pages hosted by the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. There recorded, along with the other passengers, was a William Howe and family:

Name	Women	Ch. above 8 years	Ch. under 8 years
Howe, William	1	2	2

If you have gotten this far, you know that I like to find the source of the documents, and if at all possible, save the images to my computer. The transcription stated that the information came from the Amos Botsford papers. That led me to the "Finding aid no. 525 to the Amos Botsford and Family fonds" on Heritage. I don't know about you but manually reviewing 536 images for a single line is a bit of a drudge. Lucky for us that there is a subject matter index for the fonds and for 19 Oct 1782 it had "Return of men, women and children arrived at Annapolis from New York (the list gives names of the men, with numbers of women and children)." and it could be found on page 108-111. A quick hop and jump and on page 111 near the bottom I found a William Howe and family.

Return of Men, Women & Children arrived at Annapolis from New York 19th Octr 1782, p. 111, MG 23, D 4 - Finding aid no. 525 to the Amos Botsford and Family fonds, microfilm H-1687, image 280; digital images, Canadian Research Knowledge Network, Canadiana Héritage (heritage.canadiana.ca : accessed 27 May 2020).

Assuming that Elizabeth was born about 1772 (based on the gap between Robert and Mathew, and other trees on Ancestry), this would appear to be the right family consisting of William, his wife Margareth, Elizabeth and Mathew, and Daniel and William.

Only one problem!

If the baptism record for William Howe is correct then this isn't the family of William Howe and Margaret Van Orden. The family was still in New York City in 1782. Now it gets to be a challenge since there might be two Loyalist William Howe families floating around at this time in history in the New York area.

I next turned to the Loyalists landing page at Library and Archives Canada for ideas. The first place I checked was the Carleton Papers – Loyalists and British Soldiers, 1772-1784. After checking the various returned items one stood out:

Item: William HOW (27873)

Given Names(s): William

Surname: HOW

Gender: Male

Destination: Nova Scotia

Type of Document: Return of Loyalists

Date (yyyy/mm/dd) : 1782-09-22

Additional Information: LIST OF LOYALISTS FOR NOVA SCOTIA;WITH ONE WOMAN AND TWO CHILDREN

Place where the Document was Created: New York

Document Page Number: 5663 (2)

Fonds: British Headquarters Papers (Carleton Papers or American Manuscripts)

Microfilm: M-357

Reference: MG23 B1

Item Number: 27873

It is around the right time and place but the additional information only states with one woman and two children. We seem to be two children short. Regrettably, viewing this microfilm will have to wait since the M microfilms are only at Library and Archives Canada and it may be sometime before they reopen to the public.

However, is this referring to the other William How(e) that arrived in 1782? Might this be the family that is connected to the Caleb and Jemima Howe family and not the family that settled in the Kingston area?

I did find a William Howe/How of the New York Volunteers in the Loyalists in the Maritimes — Ward Chipman Muster Master's Office, 1777–1785 database at Library and Archives Canada. However, after viewing the record on Heritage in microfilm "Ward Chipman (senior and junior) fonds : C-9818" on image 426 it looks like it is written as "Wm Haws". But I can't discount it yet.

The next resource I checked was the Sir Frederick Haldimand (MG21) collection. The link to the index of Loyalists brought me to microfilm C-1475 on Heritage. It didn't take too much work to find the entries for How(e).

Name	Volume	Page	Film	Image	Notes
Howe, William	167	155h2	H-1654	1058	Sir William
Howe, William	167	156a	H-1654	1062	Sir William Howe
Howe, William	167	168	H-1654	1080	General How
Howe, William	167	353	H-1655	39	Refugees from New York at Sorell and Yamaska 25 Dec 1783
Howe, William	168	81	H-1655	196	Return of Disbanded Troops & Loyalists settled in Township No 1 Cataraqui Mustered 9th Oct 1784
Howe, Mrs.	166	161	H-1654	782	Dated 7 Dec 1783 at "Sorell" [Sorel, Quebec] signed by Will How

With much assistance from Lorine McGinnis Schulze's Olive Tree Genealogy post Finding a Loyalist in the Haldimand Papers (Loyalist Research Part 6) I was able to quickly determine which microfilms I needed to review on the Heritage site.

I knew I could discount the mentions of Sir William or General How but the other entries got my attention. Could they be the same William Howe family that settled in the Kingston area that we have been chasing?

I'm fairly certain that this is the family that we started with in Kingston.

Only one problem! (again)

And this is the really frustrating part of doing genealogy and family history research.

I'm still no closer to establishing that this William Howe that settled in Township No. 1 Cataraqui, now the Kingston area of Ontario, Canada, is the same person as the son of Caleb and Jemima (Sawtelle) Howe. Even worse, there may be another Loyalist William Howe family out there. It might be this other William Howe family that I need to be finding.

If anyone reading this can help me in the conundrum, please leave a comment. I'd like to hear from you.

Here is a list of some of the sources I consulted in addition to the ones I've mentioned or linked to in the body of this post:

• The Centennial Committee, The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada by the United Empire Loyalists, 1784-1884. The Celebrations at Adolphustown, Toronto and Niagara, with an Appendix., (Toronto, Ontario: Rose Publishing Company, 1885), p.196, entry for Wm. Howe; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/cu31924028900475/page/n6/mode/2up : accessed 19 May 2020).
• "Herbert Clarence Burleigh fonds - Family files series - Howe." Supplied by Queen's University Archives, Kingston, Ontario. 2014; digital images, Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/hcbhowe2/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 19 May 2020).
• Isaac W. Hammond, editor, The State of New Hampshire. Miscellaneous Provincial and State Papers 1725-1800, Vol 18, (Manchester, New Hampshire: John B. Clarke, 1890), p.495, ransom of William Howe and sundry express submitted by Colonel Schuyler; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.ca/books?id=XfM7AAAAIAAJ : accessed 20 May 2020).
• Ontario Department of Lands and Forests : Loyalist List, microfilm C-2222; digital images, Canadian Research Knowledge Network, Canadiana Héritage (heritage.canadiana.ca : accessed 27 May 2020).
• The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies - page for Loyal Refugee Volunteers History
• United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada website

---

1. The spelling of the name "Howe" varies in the early documents and I have seen it recorded as "How" and "Howe". From this point on, I will generally be using "Howe" unless specifically referring to a document with a different spelling.

The Fair Captive

After a recent question was asked in my blog concerning Caleb Howe, my 5th great-grandfather, I decided to review what I had about him, his siblings, and his parents, Caleb Howe and Jemima Sawtelle. The good part about doing this kind of review is that I was able to finally add an older brother, William, into the tree as a child of Caleb and Jemima. However, it also started me down an interesting rabbit hole of research concerning the story of Jemima.

My encounter with Jemima's story was years ago when I came across the genealogy of the Howe family posted under the Phipps Family Pages. There I learned about the "Fair Captive" and the story of her capture during the French and Indian War. The write up on that web page mentioned that "Jemima's story became part of the "American Preceptor"..." Courtesy of the Internet Archive I was able find and download various editions of the "The American Preceptor; being a new Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools" by Caleb Bingham, initially the 1837 edition but recently I was able to find the 1801 edition on the Internet Archive. For general reading I prefer the 1837 edition since the earlier editions make use of the "long s" or "ſ" so that a word like "disposed" looks like "diſpoſed" as you can see below.

Caleb Bingham. American Preceptor; Being a New Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools (Boston, Massachusetts: Manning and Loring, 1801), p 183; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/americanprecept09binggoog/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 20 May 2020).

Until you get used to reading text like that it can get confusing at times. By the way, you will have an opportunity to practice reading words with the "long s" by the end of this post.

But where did this "Fair Captive" designation come from? Please bear with me as the journey is a bit of a long one since it is all about following clues and, in one case, a bit of luck and cobbled with experience.

I started with a simple Google search with the keywords of "Jemima Sawtelle" and one of the first results was from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography for SAWTELLE, JEMIMA (Phipps; Howe; Tute). The good thing about this dictionary is that they include a list of sources used. In that list was mentioned the book New England captives carried to Canada between 1677 and 1760 during the French and Indian wars by Emma Lewis Coleman published in 1925. On pages 314-321 Jemima's story is recounted and even a few sources are stated in the footnotes. I like when I come across sources mentioned in foot or end notes!

pp.316-317:

Colonel Schuyler was again her friend, interesting himself in her ransom as is shown by the following letter from Dr. Benjamin Stakes, Surgeon of New Jersey troops, who frequently acted for him. Written in New Haven in December, 1757, it was addressed to Ebenezer Hinsdale, who enclosed it to Gov. Benning Wentworth.³¹

³¹N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll., V, 256

p.319:

Schuyler's official list³⁴ gives "Miss How, and boys William, Josia and Peter."
³⁴ N. Y. Docs., X, 882

Fortunately Ms. Coleman includes in her appendix of the book the abbreviations that she used. One of them, "N. Y. Docs." was defined as "Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York". However, "N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll." wasn't defined but from other definitions it seemed reasonable that it was "New Hampshire Historical Society Collections".

After a bit of searching through various catalogues such as Google Books, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive it turns out that those aren't exactly the titles of the works that Ms. Coleman was referencing.

Starting with that possible "N.H. Hist. Soc. Coll., V, 256" it took a little bit of searching but I finally turned up "Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Volume V" on the Internet Archive and on pages 256 to 258 I came across transcriptions of the letters mentioned.

[John Farmer, Nathaniel Bouton, Isaac Hill]. Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Vol. V (Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1837), pp.254-256, Letter of Col. Ebenezer Hindsdale to Gov. Benning Wentwork-1755; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/collectionsnewh06socigoog/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

For "N. Y. Docs." the title turned out to be "Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Volume X". What was interesting to me was that the "Miss How, and the boys William Josia and Peter" was not written that way, at least in the 1858 edition:

E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Vol. X, (Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1858), pp.882; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ10newyuoft/page/n4/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020); List of English prisoners delivered to Colonel Schuyler, &c.

E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Vol. X, (Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1858), pp.883; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ10newyuoft/page/n4/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020); List of English prisoners delivered to Colonel Schuyler, &c.

These are transcriptions from documents in the Archives of the "Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies;" of the "Ministère de la Guerre," and in the "Bibliothèque de Roi," at Paris. Of course, going to France at this time is not in the cards. However, on a whim as I was writing this, I did a search for the archives in question and one web site mentioned that:

Les originaux sont conservés aux Archives nationales de France. Les Archives nationales du Canada possèdent des copies des documents de la série B et d'autres séries.

That got me thinking, what about searching the Library and Archives Canada site. Even if it is just a microfilm number, once the pandemic subsides and buildings open up to the public, I can look up the microfilm. My initial search of the archives collections using the keywords "Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies" returned more than 2000 matches. That's a lot to review but not unrealistic. But what about "Schuyler"? Were there less matches and could I find one that might apply?

I couldn't believe it when the third item in the list of 789 results was "["Rôle des prisonniers anglais remis au colonel Schuyler". Certificat signé ...]. 1758, novembre, 01". That is exactly the document I was looking for. Even more amazing was that they have been digitized and put online:

"Rôle des prisonniers anglais remis au colonel Schuyler." Série C11A. Correspondance générale; Canada [document textuel (surtout des microformes)] (R11577-4-2-F). Library and Archives Canada microfilm F-103, p.289 and 291[stamped]. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa; digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3073215 : accessed 20 May 2020). 

As you can see, unlike what Ms. Coleman recorded, Miss How and her sons are not listed together but on separate pages in different categories.

Looking back at the various sources cited in the entry for Jemima Sawtelle in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography also mentioned in The history of New-Hampshire by Jeremy Belknap. Again, this book is available on the Internet Archive in various editions. I always prefer the edition closest to the time of the events.

Jeremy Belknap, A.M., The History of New-Hampshire, Vol. III, (Boston, Massachusetts: Belknap and Young, 1792), pp.370-388, A particular Account of the Captivity of Mrs Jemima Howe, by the Rev. Bunker Gay, of Hinsdale, in a Letter to the Author; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyofnewham03belk/page/n10/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

In the stories that were published they reference Maj. Israel Putnam and in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography one of the sources is "An essay on the life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam..." by David Humphreys. That wasn't too hard to chase down although there are multiple digitized copies available. The oldest edition I could find was "An Essay of the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam: Addressed to the State Society of the Cincinnati in Connecticut" published in 1788.

At the houſe of Colonel Schuyler, Major Putnam became acquainted with Mrs. Howe, a fair captive, whoſe hiſtory would not be read without emotion if it could be written in the ſame affecting manner, in which I have often heard it told. She was ſtill young and handſome herſelf, though ſhe had two daughters of marriagable age. Diſtreſs, which had taken ſomewhat from the original redundancy of her bloom and added a ſoftening paleneſs to her cheeks, rendered her appearance the more engaging. Her face, that ſeemed to have been formed for the aſſemblage of dimples and ſmiles, was clouded, with care. The nature ſweetness was not, however, ſoured by deſpondency and petulance; but chaſtened by humility and reſignation. This mild daughter of ſorrow looked as if ſhe had known the day of proſperity, when ſerenity and gladneſs of ſoul were the inmates of her boſom. That day was paſt, and the once lively features now aſſumed a tender melancholy, which witneſſed her irreparable loſs.

David Humphreys, An Essay of the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam: Addressed to the State Society of the Cincinnati in Connecticut,  (Hartford, Connecticut: Hudson and Goodwin, 1788), pp.74-81; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/essayonlifeofhon1788hump/page/n3/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

Although the story as recorded by Mr. Humphreys in the telling of Israel Putnam's life is romanticized it does add some dimension to the story of Jemima How. The description of her definitely describes a "fair captive."

Jemima's story has been told in numerous publications in addition to the ones mentioned above. Some appear to be derived from the account recorded by Rev. Bunker Gay.

• Indian Captivities or Life in the Wigwam pp.156-165
• Harper's new monthly magazine, volume 12, "Israel Putnam," p.588
• Marguerite Allis, Not without peril, a novel by Marguerite Allis, founded on the life and adventures of Jemima Sartwell, one of the first settlers in Vermont.
• Angela Marco, Fair captive, a colonial story
  

Her monumental inscription tells the tale of her life.

Mrs. Jemima Tute Succeſsively Relict of Meſsrs. William Phips, Caleb Howe & Amos Tute The firſt two were killed by Indians Phips July 5th AD 1743 Howe June 27th 1755 When Howe was killed She & her Children Then ſeven in number Were carried into Captivity. The oldest a Daughter went to France And was married to a French Gentleman The youngeſt was torn from her breaſt And periſhed with Hunger By the aid of ſome benevolent Gent'n And her own perſonal Heroiſm She recovered the Reſt She had two by her laſt Huſband She outlived him & them And died March 7th 1805 aged 82 Having pasted thro more viciſsitudes And endured more hardſhips Than any of her Cotemporaries No more can Savage Foes annoy Nor aught her wideſread Fame Deſtroy

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 May 2020), memorial page for Jemima Sawtelle(Phipps/Howe) Tute (7 Mar 1723–7 Mar 1805), Find a Grave Memorial no. 17509287, citing North Vernon Cemetery, North Vernon, Windham County, Vermont, USA; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

So follow those citations in the books you come across that mention your ancestors. You never know what documents that you will come across will lead you.

Records that don't make sense...and what to do with them

Everyone comes across records on the genealogy sites that don't tell us much and we are puzzled as to where the record came. Such was the case of a posting in one of the genealogy related groups I follow on Facebook.

"Can someone explain to me how and where I can access the actual record for this marriage? I found this index on ancestry, but I guess I am not smart enough to figure out where the actual source document is or how to reference it. It does mention the film number, but that's all I've got (Film Number: 000010066)."

Screen capture from Ancestry.com for the index entry of Lillian E Overlock and Chas A Overlook from the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection.

First of all, never sell yourself short when it comes to your genealogy and family history research knowledge. We have all been in the same boat way too many times. Just by asking the question shows that you are smarter that many others that will just take that index entry at face value. Even I didn't know where that film number came from. Fortunately the hive mind on Facebook did but I'll get to that shortly along with a common problem that I came across with some of the records we use.

What also caught my attention with this query is that the original poster provided all the details needed to help us to answer the question and he was only asking one question. This is something that I mentioned in my post "Questions and Answers: Dos and don'ts". Even better, his question include a screen capture that included the Ancestry logo and the collection name at the top with all the necessary details.

My first reaction when I come across an index entry like this is to click on the link for the other party listed to see if there is any additional information. However, in this case, nothing new was provided:

Screen capture from Ancestry.com for the index entry of Chas A Overlook and Lillian E Overlock from the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection.

Next I will check the "Learn more..." link under Description for the collection. Again, no additional information was provided by Ancestry as to the source other than it was from "Various Maine County marriage collections." Great...it came from a bunch of stuff and you aren't going to tell us from where.

I also noticed that there was no marriage date recorded in the index. That seemed strange to me for an index consisting of marriages.

Fortunately there are many that are familiar with this collection within this Facebook community and they stated that the "Film Number" is from FamilySearch. The hive mind can be so awesome!

So what can you find out about that film number? After logging on to FamilySearch with your free account start a search of the catalog by Film/Fiche Number:

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a search of Film/Fiche Number 10066.

The search reported back that the film/fiche number is for the "Vital records, 1892-1907" authored by "Maine. Division of Vital Statistics; Maine. Division of Vital Statistics." Following that link brought me to this collection that has 184 microfilm reels.

Screen capture of the description for the collection, Vital records, 1892-1907, containing film 10066.

A search for 10066 on the page brought me to the following:

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a search of 10066 on the Vital records, 1892-1907 collection page.

Only one problem, we are looking for a surname that started with an "O" and the digitized microfilm reel has surnames Woodward to Wyzanski. Something is definitely not right. Time to go back a few steps to see if we can straighten out this point of confusion.

We are going to go back to Ancestry and the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection and try searching again but using a bit of the knowledge we have gained. As you can see below I've just entered in the surname of "Overlock" and the exact film number "000010066". It is important to include those leading zeros since that is what the original record for Lillian E Overlock used.

Screen capture from Ancestry for a search of the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection for a Last Name of "Overlock" and exact film number of "000010066".

Only one results appears with that criteria and the spouse listed has a surname of Wotton. A name that fits within the range provided for film 10066 on FamilySearch.

Screen capture from Ancestry for a search results of the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection for a Last Name of "Overlock" and exact film number of "000010066".

Now we can go back to FamilySearch and look for a 1905 marriage in Maine for Grace M Overlock and George B Wotton.

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a 1905 marriage in Maine, United States for Grace Overlock and George Wotton.

That first record looks like a promising candidate and there is even an image available as indicated by the camera icon on the right side. After selecting that entry I clicked on the image that was presented.

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBGW-P?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1681 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

I always try to remember to check the next image to see if there are any additional details. In this case the names of the bride's parents didn't make sense to me:

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBR3-C?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1682 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

So, what about going to the previous image? I know from experience that sometimes the back of these cards/forms get microfilmed first.

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBLL-H?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1680 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

Look at that, there is a Chas . A. Overlock and Lillian E. Overlock listed as the bride's parents! I think we found the image of the document that the original poster was asking about.

How do I know that this image isn't associated with the image before this one? Well I checked that image and it is for a birth registration. So it seems that this image is the back of the form for the marriage of Grace M. Overlock and George B. Wotton.

Why is there a separate entry for Chas A Overlook [as transcribed by Ancestry] and Lillian E Overlock? I'm guessing that the transcribers didn't realize that the cards had a front and back to them and just recorded what they saw, creating a marriage entry for Chas A Overlook and Lillian E Overlock plus a separate entry for Grace M Overlock and George B. Wotton.

So the short answer, which was provided by the others in the Facebook group where the question was originally proposed, is that the film number is from the FamilySearch collections. However, the longer answer found a marriage registration for a daughter and a possible explanation as to why the original index entry was created.

Canadian War Diaries from the Second World War

With the 75th anniversary commemorating the end of the Second World War occurring this year more people are researching what happened to their ancestors and relatives that served during that war. Unlike the First World War, many of the personnel service records are not easily available to researchers due to privacy restrictions. For researching into those that served Canada during the Second World War I'll generally send people to the Second World War: 1939-1945 landing page on the Library and Archives Canada site as a starting point.

One often overlooked resource when researching the events that involved our men and women that served and fought in the Second World War are the War Diaries, Ships Logs, and Operations Record Books. Keep in mind that these are not the diaries of those that served but of the units and ships. You will often find mentions of officers but in these diaries and logs it is uncommon to find the enlisted personnel recorded in the pages. Unlike the First World War where the war diaries of the Canadian Expeditionary Force have been digitized, not all the Army war diaries from the Second World War have been digitized or even microfilmed. From the Library and Archives Canada page their guidance for searching states:

Second World War (1939-1945) and Korean Conflict (1950-1953)

References to War diaries (RG24-C-3) can be identified by using the Advanced Archives Search.

• In the pull down menu, select Finding Aid Number, and enter: 24-60
• Enter a keyword, for example, the unit name: "Royal Canadian Dragoons" or "Princess Patricia's"
• Some volumes are available on microfilm.
• Some of the microfilm reels have been digitized on our partner site Héritage.

Sounds almost simple doesn't it? It is, and yet, like most of our research, it often isn't. I'm going to walk you through a few examples.

First of all, you need to go to the Library and Archives Canada Enhanced Archives Search - Advanced page. Once there you need to instruct the search engine to search by Finding aid number 24-60 and also by the keyword of the regiment or unit you are interested in finding. In this case it is the unit of my grand-uncle Ronald McGregor Warrener who died on July 25, 1943 in Sicily, the 48th Highlanders.

Screen capture from Library and Archives Canada Enhanced Archives Search - Advanced with search terms of Finding aid number 24-60 and keyword 48th highlanders.

If everything works out, after you click the Submit button, you will get a list of results.

Screen capture with the results from the Library and Archives Canada Enhanced Archives Search - Advanced with search terms of Finding aid number 24-60 and keyword 48th highlanders.

In this case you see that there are several items with PDFs. The first for May 1944 to August 1945 and the second from August 1945 to October 1945. The PDFs contain the digitized regimental war diaries. However, the one that I'm interested in is #3, March 1942 to April 1944. There are no images or indications of PDF files so I will will need to click on that link to see what is available.

Screen capture from Library and Archives Canada record description for 48th Highlanders of Canada, Canadian Active Service Force, 1902/03-1944/04.

What you will find is a description of the item in the collection. For our purposes the "Conditions of access" is what we are interested in. In this case, there are no references to a microfilm and no links to a Online MIKAN item are found in the description. This means that we will need to visit Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa or have someone visit that place for us to view the actual regimental war diaries. Fortunately, back in 2015 I did just that.

Photo of the spine of the Regimental War Diary for the 48th Highlanders of Canada, May 43 to Apr 44

In addition to the weather report and the often boring daily accounts of unit business you some times find funny or interesting items in the diary, like what they thought of films "Saboteur", rated poor, and "Footlight Serenade", which was rated as good.

Regimental War Diary for the 48th Highlanders of Canada, 26-27 May 1943

Or, in the case of the entry for July 25, 1943, a very bad day with the death of Lt. R. F. Osler and 10 O.Rs. along with 2 missing and 38 wounded. It was through reading about that day in the book "Dileas: History of The 48th Highlanders of Canada 1929-1956" by Kim Beattie that I learned more about what happened to to "Pte. Red (R.M.) Warriner" and the rest of his brothers-in-arms of Dog Company.

Regimental War Diary for the 48th Highlanders of Canada, 25 Jul 1943

Sometimes, in the search for the war diaries, you will come across a description like this for the Headquarters of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade:

Screen capture from Library and Archives Canada record description for Headquarters, 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 1944/05-1944/06.

In the "Conditions of access" you will note that there are references to two microfilm reels, T-12331 and T-12332. Remember that one of the bullets in the guidance from Library and Archives Canada was that "Some of the microfilm reels have been digitized on our partner site Héritage." Let's open a new tab in our browser and head over to the Héritage site to search their catalogue. If you haven't used the Héritage site before, pop over to my post "Old School" Research With a Modern Twist" to learn about what that site has and how to search it. As you can see below, I've entered in the microfilm number T-12331 in quotes in the search box.

Screen capture from Héritage site looking for microfilm T-12331.

We see that there are two results returned when searching for T-12331.

Screen capture from Héritage site with search results when looking for microfilm T-12331.

Clicking on "War diaries : T-12331" will bring up the first image from that microfilm. You might have noticed that there are 1674 pages. There is no easy way to search the diary for mentions of any names since, unlike the T-1489 microfilm, it hasn't been indexed for a full-text search. You will need to flip through the various digitized pages to find the dates that you are interested in.

Since this is from the Headquarters of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade it has quite of bit of military information about the upcoming Operation Overlord, the landings on Normandy Beach. You will find various maps, unit boarding allocations for the landing crafts, and other details. There is also some interesting art work!

"Cover page for Signal Instructions, Appendix "D" 9 CDN INF BDE Operations Order No. 1, 18 May 1944.", War diaries : T-12331. Library and Archives Canada. Heritage microfilm T-12331, image 515.

As for the number of digitized microfilms that may pertain to the Second World War regimental war diaries hosted on the Héritage site, it has 1353 reels available in this collection. Unfortunately the metadata provided for the microfilms doesn't include the name of the units. So flipping through the microfilms will be time consuming. To learn what units may be on a specific microfilm go back to the Library and Archives Canada Enhanced Archives Search - Advanced page and enter in the Finding aid number 24-60 and for Any Keyword use the microfilm number. For example, on microfilm T-10561 the search results include:

• 7th Canadian Division - war diaries [textual record]. 1942-1943. Series.
• 7th Canadian Division - General Staff. 1942/06-1943/09
• 6th Canadian Division - Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General. 1942/06-1943/10
• 6th Canadian Division - Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General. 1944/01-1944/05

I have come across a few cases where this search doesn't return any results but it is better than nothing.

I hope that you have fun learning more about what happened in the Canadian units that your ancestor or relative served in during the Second World War.