My 64 ~ Researching My Fourth Great Grandparents : Hans Hamilton and Jane Cottam

My fourth great grandfather, Hans (also spelled Hants) Hamilton, was born on January 1, 1780, in Truro, in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, the sixth son and youngest of nine children born to Robert Hamilton and Agnes "Nancy" Ferguson.

In the summer of 1771, his parents Robert and "Nancy" and his five oldest siblings, had immigrated from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, aboard the schooner "Hopewell" to Halifax, Nova Scotia. From there, they had moved to Truro.

Later, his father Robert was among a group of men who received a grant of land at "Wilmot River," which later became known as the Stewiacke River. He was settled there with his family by 1792.

On November 14, 1811, Hans married Jane Cottam, the daughter of James Cottam, Sr. and Mary Wilson. Hans was 31; Jane was 18.

My fourth great grandmother, Jane Cottam, was born on February 22, 1793, the oldest of seven children. Many of her family members, including my 5th great grandparents, are buried in the Cottam Settlement Cemetary, near Debert.

James Cottam and Mary Wilson
Graves
Cottam Settlement Cemetery
near Debert, Nova Scotia

Alan Ross made a short video of his visit there, about a year and a half ago:

Together, Hans and Jane had 13 children, from 1813 to 1840 (27 years):

Agnes, b. 1813

Mary, b. 1815

Robert, b. 1817

Agnes, b. 1818

James, b. 1921

Hants, b. 1823

John, b. 1825

Jane, b. 1927

Susan, b. 1830

Margaret, b. 1832

William Alexander, b. 1834

Rebecca, b. 1837

Robert Samuel, b. 1840

A farmer all his life, Hans passed away on February 4, 1858, at the age of 78.  Jane died a little over a year later, at age 66. Both died in Upper Stewiacke. Hans is buried in Riverside Cemetery, in Upper Stewiacke. Jane is probably buried there as well.

Hans Hamilton's Grave
Riverside Cemetery
Upper Stewiacke
Nova Scotia

Sources:

1838 Census, Colchester Historeum (http://colchesterhistoreum.ca/search/)

"Cottam Settlement Cemetery" video recorded by Alan Ross, published Oct. 8, 2015. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAXrpN41iYs). Used with permission.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com  : accessed 23 Feb 2017), memorial page for Hans Hamilton (1780-1858), Find A Grave Memorial no. 153020671, citing Riverside Cemetery, Upper Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Four Nova Scotia Families: Hennigar, Elliott, Harvey, Chipman [webpage](http://www.hhennigar.ca/index.php)

Miller, Thomas, Historical and genealogical record of the first settlers of Colchester County:  down to the present time compiled from the most authentic sources  (1873; facsimile edition, Belleville, Ontario:  Mika Studios, 1972).

Wile, Jane Currie, comp. Robert & Hants Hamilton: Two Brothers in Nova Scotia; eBook content from Jane Currie-Wile's Colchester County Families Database. February 2017. PDF download. (https://www.etsy.com/listing/513880171/robert-hants-hamiltio-two-brothers-in?ref=shop_home_active_1).

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Richard Norris and Jane

My fourth great grandfather, Richard Norris, was born in England sometime around 1820. In the fall of 1836, he married Jane, who was born in Scotland.

He apparently had an early military career in the British army, which may have required him to travel to such places as Gibraltar and Barbados. Two of their first children were born there.

In the early 1840's, the Norris family arrived in the United States, and by 1850, Richard and Jane were living in Aroostook County, Maine, in Letter D Plantation, with 5 children. Three more children were born in the next five years. In March of 1855, Richard became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

As tensions leading to the Civil War were heating up, Richard organized a local militia in Aroostook County in May of 1861. However, he was arrested for desertion and put in jail in August, supposedly for not moving out with his company. He went so far as to write a letter to Maine Governor Washburn's wife Mary, petitioning her for his release. I have transcribed it below:

He eventually was released, and enlisted on October 24, 1861, in Co. A, Me 7th Infantry. He was, however, given a disability discharge one year later, having been found unfit for duty for 60 days.

Following the War, Richard returned to his wife and family in Fort Fairfield. It is apparent, however, that his homelife was less than happy. 

In divorce papers filed in 1883, Jane attested to abandonment, physical abuse, and extra-marital affairs:

"In a plea of libel for divorce wherein showeth Jane Norris of Fort Fairfield aforesaid, that she was lawfully married to Richard Norris aforesaid, in the fall of the year eighteen hundred and thirty six, in the City of Dublin, Ireland; that she has lived, always observant of her marriage vows, in the marriage relation with said Norris, since said marriage, in different places and countries, and for more than twenty years, ending in June 1874, she so lived with said Norris, in said Fort Fairfield; that of said marriage were born eleven children, seven of whom are now living, all being of age and all married but one; that on or about June 10^th 1874, said Richard Norris, without cause from your libellant, or intent upon her part to procure divorce, did willfully desert and abandon your said libellant, and has never since then contributed to her support, nor lived with her as her husband; that since said desertion, said Norris has returned three times, at intervals of  from three to five years, remaining but a short period at each time; that he came back the last time about September 1882, and has since that time treated your libellant with great cruelty and abuse; that on the 4^th day of February last past, he assaulted your said libellant with force and arms, and struck her in the face and breast to her great injury; that at other times he has assaulted and beaten her; that your libellant believes and has good reason to believe that said Norris committed adultery with a Mary Ellsworth,  prior to his desertion of her in 1874; also with one Annie Weaver just previous to his deserting her as aforesaid; your libellant also believes and has good reason to believe that said Norris since his desertion of her in 1874 has committed adultery with a woman whose name is not known to your libellant, living in New York City, where said Norris has made it his home for most of the time since 1874; that said Norris, since his last return, has continually  interfered with her property and has habitually threatened your libellant that he will take her life, and so speaks, acts and threatens her, that she is afraid of her life, and is put in constant and continual dread.  Wherefore inasmuch as it is reasonable and proper conducive to domestic harmony, consistent with the peace and morality of society, and in accordance with the statute in such cases made and provided, your libellant prays that a divorce from the bonds of matrimony now subsisting between her and the said Richard Norris may be decreed.

Fort Fairfield.  February 10^th 1883

Witness Nicholas Fessenden                Jane X Norris (her mark)"

The divorce was granted on February 27, 1883. Jane lived another 8 years, died on October 4, 1891, and is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Fort Fairfield.

Richard's ties to New York remained after the divorce. He passed away on May 12, 1893, in the Soldiers and Sailors Home, in Bath, New York. He is buried in Bath National Cemetery there.

Sources:

1870 US Census, population schedule, Maine, Aroostook; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com).

Ancestry.com. Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, 1879-1903 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  6 June 2016), memorial page for Richard Norris (unknown-1893), Find A Grave Memorial no. 1038200, citing Bath National Cemetery, Bath, Steuben County, New York.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed  6 June 2016), memorial page for Jane Norris (unknown-1891), Find A Grave Memorial no. 26228046, citing Riverside Cemetery, Fort Fairfield, Aroostook County, Maine.

Maine. Aroostook County. Supreme Judicial Court, divorce file (February 1883), Jane Norris v. Richard Norris. Vol. 14, Page 345. Maine, Divorce Records, 1798–1891. Augusta, Maine: Maine State Archives.

The National Cemetery Administration; Bath National Cemetery, Burial Ledger No 1, Jun 25, 1879-1921.

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6JK-9WQ : accessed 28 September 2015), Richard Norris, Aroostook county, part of, Aroostook, Maine, United States; citing family 59, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDHR-B68 : accessed 6 June 2016), Richard Norris, 1860.

United States, New England Petitions for Naturalization Index, 1791-1906," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VXRH-F1K : accessed 28 September 2015), Richard Norris, 1855; citing Maine, NARA microfilm publication M1299 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 97; FHL microfilm 1,429,767.

Sunday's Obituary ~ Henry Eric Purchase (1894-1961)

Here's another obituary from Nana's scrapbook. This one marks the passage of Henry Eric Purchase, the husband of my 1st cousin 3x removed, Lila Mae MacKay. Lila and my great grandmother were paternal 1st cousins.

Henry Eric Purchase (He was known as Eric as far as I can tell) was born on August 8, 1894, in Smethwick, Staffordshire, England, the only child of Henry Archer Purchase and Emily Hatton Cookson.  He first appears in the 1911 Census of Canada as a 17 year old lodger in Halifax.

He fought in World War I, first with the 193rd Battalion, and later as part of the "Fighting 25th" Battalion, Nova Scotia Regiment, of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.*

He came to the States in time to be enumerated in the 1930 U.S. Census as a single 35 year old roomer, living in Chicago, Illinois. By the 1940 Census, he had married Lila Mae MacKay, daughter of John William MacKay and Emma Jane Deyarmond from Upper Stewiacke, and together they had two children, Jean aged 6, and Ian aged 4.

He also registered for the World War II draft.

For most of his post wartime life, he was a switchman on the railroad.

I don't know whether he and Lila returned to Canada in their later years. Even if they did not, it would not be unlikely that they wished to be buried down east.

Eric Purchase passed away in Otter Brook, Upper Stewiacke, and is buried in Riverside Cemetery, in Upper Stewiacke, Nova Scotia.

* For more on "The Fighting 25th," read:

Merry Hell: The Story of the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Regiment), Canadian Expeditionary Forces 1914-1919.

Sources:

1911 Census of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Halifax County, Henry E. Purchase, transcribed digital image, Automated Genealogy (http://automatedgenealogy.com/census11/View.jsp?id=7612&highlight=25&desc=1911+Census+of+Canada+page+containing+Henry+E.+Purchase) : accessed 1 March 2014).

1930 U.S. Census; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 440; Page: 16B; Image: 813.0, Henry E. Purchase.

1940; U.S. Census; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T627_948; Page: 14B, Henry E. Purchase.

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

"Public Member Trees," database, Ancestry.com, "Whatley Family Tree," for Henry Eric Purchase (b. 8 Aug 1894), with linked image.

“Stories of the Stewiacke Valley,” spiral-bound, published for the Stewiacke Valley Bicentennial, 1980