My Grandfather Remembered

I only knew one of my grandfathers, Charles Henry Hughes, my maternal grandfather.  My paternal grandfather had died long before I was born.  My earliest memories of my mother’s parents, Charles & Nina, were at their Chesapeake, Virginia home.  They had a 2-story home built near the river with a dock, small boat, and a barn, though I don’t remember any animals.  I do remember often eating crab in the summer, and the lovely meandering river.  Also there were plenty of wonderful trees and flowering azaleas along with magical fireflies in the evening. 

Granddaddy worked for the City of Norfolk, Virginia and held positions of Superintendent of Highways and also Director of Public Works prior to retirement.

Charles Henry Hughes was born nearby in Berkley, Norfolk County, Virginia in 1898.  He was the youngest son of Luke G Hughes & Jane Roberts Hughes who had eight children.  The Hughes family had moved from North Carolina to Virginia when their family was young [see my 21 Nov 2020 blog post on Charles’ father titled Lamplighter Luke].

In the earliest photo that I have of Charles, you can clearly see the mischief in his eyes – I love this photo.  Charles married Nina Cecelia Nash in 1920, and they had two daughters, Ann Hart Hughes (my mother) and Nina Nash Hughes (my Aunt Teene).  I wish I had a wedding photo for Charles & Nina, as I’m sure they made a handsome newlywed couple. 

Charles & Nina lived in the Norfolk and Chesapeake area of Virginia for most of their life together.  However after Charles retired from the City of Norfolk, they decided to move to New Mexico to be near our family. 

In the mid-1960’s, my family was living in Alto, New Mexico, and Charles & Nina made the decision to cross the country and move closer to us, settling in nearby San Patricio, New Mexico.  At one point, the family of my mother’s younger sister, Teene, also came to New Mexico for a year or more. Those were wonderful years for me as I got to spend so much time with my mother’s side of our family.  For the first time in my life I actually lived near grandparents, and for a time saw much of my aunt, uncle and five cousins.  It was so great!

Charles & Nina Hughes, Granny & Granddaddy to me, lived only about 45 minutes from our family.  They purchased a small 2-bedroom home in the Hondo Valley of New Mexico.  It was a sweet, lovely stucco southwestern style home located on the banks of the small the Hondo River.  There were also several acres with the property including a small apple orchard, a pear tree, and space for a large summer garden.  They even had a few lambs to eat the grass under the apple trees.  In the summer, we (the grandchildren) would often play in the river. There was a rope swing hung from a tree that would arc out over the deepest part of the water, and we could let go and drop into the water hole.

 

I would sometimes pack a bag to take with me to school on a Friday, and then after school I could get on the bus that headed down to the Hondo Valley.  Granddaddy would meet the bus, and I got to stay with my grandparents until Sunday when my parents would come to visit and fetch me.  I would help Granny fix and prepare meals, do odd jobs, and in the summer I helped Granddaddy sell apples from the orchard at his small apple house, sort of a roadside apple stand that was along the highway.  I remember being so proud of myself one weekend when I sold $20 worth of apples for my grandparents!

In the summer of 1965 the Hondo River, which was just behind their home, had a flash flood and filled their home with several feet of water and mud.  I think that a tree stump even took out the front window.  During the storm Granny & Granddaddy took refuge in the apple house which was built on a higher elevation than their home and the river.  The flood was devastating for everyone in the Valley, and it took all summer and into the next year for them to get everything dried out and cleaned, repair the damage, and replace what could be replaced.  I remember that my grandparents were so grateful that they were fine and their home could be saved, and they never complained about the hardship and the mess of it all.  Granny’s only real sadness was the loss of all their early family photos, letters and papers.

Granddaddy was tall and thin, and he wasn’t a man of many words, so when he talked, we listened.  He loved the land and spent most of his time outdoors working in his garden or the orchard, puttering around with his projects, or just sitting on the back porch enjoying life and nature, reading and listening to the sound of the river.  He would get up early and after a big breakfast, weather permitting, he would spend all morning working outside before coming in for lunch.  I remember that he loved lots of gravy and plenty of salt & pepper on everything.  Lunch was always followed by a short nap stretched out on the sofa in the living room before he headed outside again. 

In their later years, Granddaddy usually did the grocery shopping, and Granny would give him a list of what was needed, but at the bottom of that list she would add a NO list, i.e. NO toilet paper, NO napkins, NO milk, etc. because he often would come home with extras that he thought they “just might need”.

Granddaddy died in early January of 1973 at home in San Patricio, New Mexico at age 74.  Charles & Nina had been living in New Mexico for their last 9 years together, and both he and Nina truly loved it.  On the day he died, Granddaddy spent the morning outside, came in for lunch and took his short nap, and then went back outside again.  He had a massive heart attack and died instantly, surrounded by his lovely fruit trees. 

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Key Individuals:

     Charles Henry Hughes  (1898 – 1973)

     Nina Cecelia Nash Hughes  (1896 – 1977)

Notes:

I’m not ignoring Nina, I will give you more information on my Granny and her story in a future blog post.

- Jane Scribner McCrary

Dangerous Fire Aboard a Clipper Ship

Previous blog posts (Visits to Pitcairn Island, August 2020, and Ships’ Logs from the 1870’s, December 2020) introduced you to Capt David Alba Scribner, my great grandfather.  His last sea voyage was on the clipper ship, Henry B Hyde, and unfortunately, it was the most difficult sea voyage of his career.  David was at the end of a forty year career as the master of many sea voyages including forty-three hazardous trips around the cold and bitter Cape Horn of South America. 

In late 1899, Captain Scribner sailed the 2,500 ton clipper ship, Henry B Hyde, from the port in Norfolk, Virginia with a load of coal to make his way around the Horn and then on to Honolulu, Hawaii.  A Brunswick, Maine newspaper account, recalls that during the voyage the coal in the hold of the ship caught on fire, and the ship was at risk of sinking if the fire burned through the hull:

“It is a singular fact that that the last voyage made by Capt. Scribner brought to him the worst experiences in his sea-faring career.  Having sailed out of Norfolk on the Ship Henry B. Hyde with coal for Honolulu, he was off Cape Horn when he found that the ship and cargo were on fire, the result of spontaneous combustion. 

Over a thousand miles from the nearest port and in latitude famous for its gales, the situation was a most desperate one.  Capt. Scribner set at work throwing the coal overboard to get at the fire, but after two days of hard work, the smoke and gas made it impossible for the men to live below decks, and he headed the ship for Valparaiso, Chili, 1400 miles away.  It was a battle for life.  While constantly prepared to take to the boats, the heavy weather made such a course suicidal and they kept up the fight.  Ten days after the fire was discovered, the ship arrived in Valparaiso.  Capt. Scribner had burned his hands severely and lack of suitable care resulted in blood poisoning.  The surgeons told him that amputation of his hands was the only thing that could save his life, but Capt. Scribner thought differently and recovered without their assistance. 

Having arrived in port, they filled the ship as full of water as possible, and drowned out the fire, which was mostly in the bottom of the ship.  Two thousand tons of coal were discharged to ascertain the damage, and it was found to be more serious than was anticipated, but the ship was allowed to proceed to Honolulu, her destination, with half of the cargo.

After repairing the ship in Honolulu, Capt. Scribner turned her over to the California owners who had bought her while on the passage out.  He took steam passage to San Francisco and came home.” – excerpt from “Forty Years of Sea Life” news story in the Brunswick Record newspaper; October 2, 1903. 

Another newspaper accounting of the tragic voyage records that “Capt. Scribner deserves great praise for getting his vessel into port against the most adverse conditions, and thereby saving the entire crew.  For many days they, captain, officers and men, were all fighting the fire in the cargo, and a furious gale blowing all the time.  Cape Horn is justly the sailors’ terror.” – Sailors Magazine, May 1900.

The clipper ship, Henry B Hyde; an oil painting by Antonio Jacobsen, 1896; http://blueworldwebmuseum.org/ 

In one of the letters that David sent from Valparaiso to his wife, he told her that even after having been docked a week they had only unloaded a fourth of the cargo and the burning coal that remained on the ship was still “burning as bright as ever you saw in our furnace” in half a dozen places and required repeated calls to the water boat to continue trying to drown it out.  His letter tells that they had put 9 ½ feet of water inside the hold of the ship by the second week of fighting the fire while in port and still didn’t have it under control.  It must have been tricky to try and put enough water into the hold to put out the fire, and yet not sink the ship.

Born in 1840 in Topsham, Maine, David had gone to sea by the time he was twenty-years of age.  He was the eleventh child and the youngest son of Deacon David Scribner and Islethera Howland Scribner.

For thirty-five of his forty years as a mariner, David A Scribner sailed ships belonging to the Chapman & Flint companies of Maine and New York.  Captain Scribner sailed many of their ships and often shared an ownership interest in the vessels.  Ships under his command at various times were the St Charles, St Lucie, St John, St David and the St Frances which he sailed for a dozen years.  Benjamin Flint, of Chapman & Flint, was married to Frances Ellen Scribner, David’s sister.  The two families were lifelong friends and in the early years, the Scribner and Flint families lived near to each other in Maine, and later again in Brooklyn.

Captain Scribner often sailed a route from eastern seaboard ports or from Liverpool, England southward, around the Cape Horn, and then north to San Francisco, often stopping in Hawaii to exchange goods for sugar – and then back again. David’s mariner career included many hazardous trips around the cold and bitter Cape Horn.  He also engaged in the California trade transporting goods between various ports in Japan and back to San Francisco or Puget Sound.

By the time of his retirement from the sea in 1900, David and his family were living in Brooklyn, New York.  He became a Trustee, and later Governor, of a retired sailor's home known as the Sailors' Snug Harbor, located on Staten Island, New York.  Snug Harbor opened in 1833 as the first maritime home and hospital for retired seamen in America. The seamen were provided a home, food and healthcare in the company of other retired seafarers. In 1900, over 1,000 men lived at Sailors’ Snug Harbor.

David Alba Scribner was a true mariner with a love for life at sea.  He was quoted as saying, "I have friends all over the world, and, if I had my life to live over again, I would choose the same profession that I followed.  In my forty years at sea I have seen a good many shipmasters, and, as a class, I have a great deal of respect for them."

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Key individuals:

    Capt David Alba Scribner  (1840 – 1911)

    Benjamin Chapman Flint  (1813 – 1891)

    Frances Ellen Scribner Flint  (1835 – 1916)

 

Notes:

Captain Scribner’s wife, Virginia, sailed with him for seventeen years, going around the Cape twenty-one times with him.  Their three young children also sailed aboard Capt Scribner’s clipper ships in the family’s younger years.  The children were schooled on board ship during that time, however, when their eldest, Henry, was 12 years old, David & Virginia decided that it was time for the children to attend public school, and they settled in Brooklyn, New York.  David sailed without his family for eight more years before his retirement.

Virginia kept a sea journal of her travels with her husband and young family, and I will share that in a future blog post.

 – Jane Scribner McCrary 

Who is Benny Scribner?

Benny Scribner has been referred to as the adopted son of Captain David A Scribner.  There was never a formal adoption, but Benny assumed the name of Benny David Scribner, and David cared for Benny for many years of his life.  Much of what I have discovered about Benny was written in either books or news stories – and his story is an  interesting one. 

Captain Scribner discovered Benny in 1874 on a beach in a South American port.  Captain Scribner was at the time in port on the ship Abner Coburn, and invited Benny to join him as a steward on the ship preparing meals for the crew.  Benny was a Chinese boy about twelve years old at the time and was an orphan making his way on his own. Benny claimed to have never known his parents, and he believed that he was born in Singapore.

David married two years after Benny joined him aboard the ship, and for the next dozen years Benny was regarded as a part of the family by David’s wife, Virginia, and the Scribner children who all also sailed aboard ship with Captain Scribner on his voyages.

Benny sailed as a steward on voyages with Capt David Scribner for the next 26 years until David retired from the sea in 1900.  At the time that Captain Scribner retired, one news story said that he had owned an interest in a ship called the J. B. Walker.  Scribner sold his interest in the ship to a friend, Captain George Wallace of San Francisco who assumed command of the ship.  By agreement of all, Benny joined the Wallace family maritime business which grew to a successful bar pilot business in the San Francisco area.  Bar pilot ships would assist other vessels in safely navigating the waterways of the western coast.  Benny sailed not only with Captain George Wallace as a steward aboard his ships for several years, but also with his son, Captain John Wallace until Benny finally retired in 1932.

Benny served as ship’s steward, and he was also lauded for his skills preparing clam chowder and other foods for ships of the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association.  When he retired, Benny had both a pension and savings from his many years at sea. He lived his final days at the Wallace home in California, and died in 1939. 

Benny’s obituary summarizes his life in this way:

CHARACTER OF WATERFRONT DIES – “Death came yesterday to Benny Scribner, Chinese chef, who for 40 years ruled the galley of the bar pilots’ schooner, Gracie S, and who was one of the most picturesque of all of old San Francisco waterfront characters. Benny who was somewhere around 85 years of age never knew who his parents were. He was found by Capt David Scribner of the old bark Abner Coburn, a deserted orphan, on the beach in a South American port. He grew up with Captain and Mrs Scribner and took their name. When the former retired from the sea, Benny became the ward of Capt George Wallace of the J B Wallace. He served both Captain Wallace and his son, Capt John Wallace, outliving both. When he finally retired as cook in the pilot service in 1932, he went to the Wallace home down the Peninsula to end his last days."

Source:  Newspaper: Oakland Tribune; Oakland, CA; Date: Monday, March 13, 1939; Section: C; Page: 7.

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Key Individuals:

     Captain David Alba Scribner  (1840 – 1911)

          Benny Scribner  (abt 1862 – 1939)

                                   

- Jane Scribner McCrary

New London & Joshua Hempstead’s Diary

It’s interesting, but not unusual, to find a cluster of families that are related living in the same geographic area for several generations.  One of those instances for my family is the area of New London, Connecticut.  And another bonus for me is the rich historical documentation that is also available for early New London.

One of my New London family lines is the Hempstead family.  Joshua Hempstead (1678-1758), my 7^th great grandfather, kept a diary for almost half a century.  And as you might expect, the diary is rich in information about his family even though the entries are typically quite brief.  The Joshua Hempstead Diary 1711-1758, first published in 1901 by the New London Historical Society, is a treasure trove of tidbits of everyday life in colonial Connecticut.

Joshua Hempstead had a wide variety of occupations and interests during his life.  He was primarily a farmer, however he was often involved in other activities that contributed to the family income including surveyor, carpenter, attorney, stone-cutter, sailor and trader.  Joshua also served the community as a justice of the peace, judge of probate, executor of various wills, overseer to widows, guardian of orphans, and a consultant and advisor to many.  As a 3^rd generation Hempstead in New London, he was related to most everyone in the area and his Diary includes entries that mention many family and friends throughout the New London community.  Joshua’s 47 years of almost daily entries filled over 700 pages with facts, remarks and commentary.

I read through The Joshua Hempstead Diary noting entries or comments about my own ancestors.  Of course, many comments were included that mentioned Joshua’s immediate family: 

28 Apr 1715, the Sorrowful News of ye Death of father Bayley [father-in-law]

30 Jul 1716, my wife delivered a Daughter about Sunset in good [health].

4 Aug 1716, my wife very ill.

5 Aug 1716, my Dear Wife Died about half an hour before Sunrise.  I was at home al day except in the Evening I went to ye burying place.

6 Aug 1716, the body of my dear wife was buried about 2 Clock in ye aftern. ... I Carryed my babe to Mary Trumans at night to Nurse.

7 Aug 1716, I was down to Capt Rogers's to get a Nurse for my Infant.

10 Aug 1716, my Dutyfull Son Joshua Died about Noon like a Lamb being 17 years & 20 days old a patren of patience.

11 Aug 1716, I was home al day Except going to ye funerall of my dear Child who was Interred by his Mother about 2 or 3 of ye Clock afternoon.

12 Aug 1716, my daughter Mary babtized.

28 Aug 1716, I was home al day physicking abigal.

29 Aug 1716, I was about home mending fence & looking after Abigal who Remained very ill.

5 Dec 1727, we buried mother att Sunset.  [Joshua’s mother, Elizabeth Larrabee Hempstead]

And, several entries referenced Joshua’s son, John Hempstead and his wife Hannah Salmon Hempstead, my 6^th great grandparents:

13 Nov 1731, ... about to go to So hold [Southold, NY] with John in order to Marry.

16 Nov 1731, I went with Mr Woolsey to Brother Salmons and then toward night with Brother to get Mr Lamb to Marry John.

17 Nov 1731, John & Hannah Salmon were married toward night a housefull of People & Stayed to play till midnight

18 Nov 1731, I was at Brother Salmons al day.

7 Dec 1731, yesterday adam Carted Abigails household Stuff & put it on bord Tit Hurlbut bound to Stonington.

5 Nov 1738,  Babtized, a Child of Jno Hempsteads Abigail.

 

I was pleasantly surprised when I found quite a few comments about another of my family lines, that of James Smith (1704-1758) “the Barber”, my 6^th great grandfather: 

25 Sep 1729,  I was at Smiths the Barbers...

21 Nov 1754,  ... after nine I maried Anthony Fraisyer & Eliza Bayley ye Daughter of  Ja. Smith Barber at the house of Ichabod Powers.

12 Nov 1756,  I went over to Jno Hempsteds & had Leave to marry their Daughter Abigail (She being pregnant) to James Smith Son of James Smith the Barber.  I married them att John Griffings in the night after 9 oe Clock &c.

3 Aug 1758,  James Smith the Barber buryed Died yesterday.  he was a Decriped man.  he had the numpalsie I Supose 20 year ago & Never had the use of his limbs Since.  a poor man in the care of the Town Eptr B.

 

Non-Hempstead ancestors were also mentioned such as John Rogers (1675-1739) & Deborah Dayton (abt 1680 - ?), my 6^th great grandparents:

7 Aug 1716, I was down to Capt Rogers's to get a Nurse for my Infant.

11 Jan 1719,  Jno Rogers & Deb Daton published.

14 Jul 1739,  John Rogers the Son of Joseph Rogers was buried Died this morning having had the measels the fevar & flux afterwards aged 60 odd.

And John Rogers (1716-1779) & Martha Colver (1717-1760) / my 5^th great grandparents:

23 Apr 1738,  Jno Rogers and Martha Colver Published.

 

Joshua Hempstead, the diarist, was the grandson of Robert Hempstead who was believed to be one of 36 grantees of original house lots in the settlement of New London in the mid-1600's.  Joshua was one of 9 children, his father’s only son, and he inherited his father’s homestead.  He married as a young man and had 9 children of his own before his wife passed away a few days after the birth of his last child.  Joshua never remarried.  He worked hard to support and raise his family with the help of relatives and hired help.  Joshua’s diary entries ended only 6 weeks before he died at 80 years of age.

*  *  *  *  * 

My early Hempstead line:

1) Robert Hempstead (1613-1655)

   2) Joshua Hempstead (1649-1688) m. Elizabeth Larrabee (1652-1727)

      3) Joshua Hempstead [Joshua’s Diary] (1678-1758) m. Abigail Bailey (1677-1716)

         4) John Hempstead (1709-1779) m. Hannah Salmon (1710-1765)

            5) Abigail Hempstead (1738-1814) m. James Smith (1732-1798)

Notes:

There are plenty of Hempstead family members and events mentioned in the 47 year span of Joshua’s Diary.  Several other of my family lines also mentioned in various diary entries include the surnames of Larrabee, Rogers, Colver, Dayton, Bailey, Salmon, Smith, Bill and Chapman – families living in New London in the 1700’s.

All of these surnames and family branches connect in later generations to my Dickinson and Hale lines on the Scribner side of my family.

 – Jane Scribner McCrary

An Early Snedeker Immigrant

Snedeker is one of the early surnames found in our family genealogy.  Mary Elizabeth Snedeker married John C Gordon, probably in Brooklyn, in the early 1850’s.  One of my first blog posts, Echoes of a Past Epidemic posted in April 2020, involved Mary Elizabeth Snedeker’s family and the loss of so many of her younger siblings in just a few weeks.  

The first Snedeker to arrive in America was Jan Snediger, my 9^th great grandfather, who emigrated from the Netherlands along with his wife Annetje Ruijs before the mid-1600’s.  Jan Snediger was born about 1608 in the Oldenberg territory in the Saxon Netherlands that is now a part of Germany and known as Amersfoort, a village 14 miles south of Amsterdam. 

Jan’s father, Gerdt Snediger was a shoemaker by trade, with two sons and a daughter, Jan being the youngest.  Jan learned the shoemaker and leatherwork trade working in his father’s shop.  However, as a young man, Jan ended up in Amsterdam as a member of the Oldenburg militia assigned to military units under the direction of local political officials and emissaries.   

Working in the militia was an uncertain career due to the shifting economic and political times, and Jan, while trained as a shoemaker, would not have been allowed to practice the trade due to local Guild control.  Thus it is believed that Jan made the decision to leave with his wife, Annetje, and possibly two small children for the New World. 

Sometime around 1640, the family arrived in New York to settle in the area of Long Island, then known as the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Jan was believed to have arrived as a freeman because he was a trained tradesman, and he did not arrive as an indentured servant.  The early Dutch settlers were mostly farmers and tradesmen.

By 1645, Jan was granted a double lot south of the Fort of New Amsterdam where he owned and operated a tavern and tap room.  He was also granted a lot and residence on Flatbush Avenue where he lived for several years.

Later, in 1652, nearby land known as Midwout (meaning Middle Woods) had been parceled and granted to several of the Dutch inhabitants and freeholders.  Jan Snediger was among those having been granted letters of patent for this land where he then built a homestead.  Midwout was one of several Long Island Dutch communities all referred to as New Amsterdam.  Jan was appointed Magistrate in 1654 by Governor Peter Stuyvesant, and was recognized as one of the “Original Proprietors” in the New Netherlands settlement.

It is believed that Jan married and lost his first wife in Amsterdam, possibly she died in childbirth.  Jan next married Annetje who joined him on the journey to the New World.  Jan had at least five children, one son and four daughters.  Annetje died about 1674.  Several years later in 1677, Jan married Egbertje Hendrickse, a widow.  Jan Snediger died in May of 1679 in the Flatbush area of Long Island, New York.

Anyone interested in reading more about the life of Jan Snedeker might want to read the book titled “The Cadet” by Walt C Snedeker, a descendant of Jan Snedeker, published in 2003.  In this instance, the term “cadet” was used in Europe for a younger son who typically would not inherit and would be expected to create a life of his own.  The book was written as an historical fiction novel, however many of the characters and events are true to the life of our ancestor, Jan Snediger.

 

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Key Individuals:

     Jan Snediger  (abt 1608 – 1679)

     Annetje Ruijs/Ruys Snediger (unknown – abt 1674)

          Gerrit Janse Snedeker  (abt 1640 – abt 1693)

 

Notes:

1)  There are many variant spellings of the name Snedeker belonging to the same family, and while the original name did change over time, spelling errors in records for this name are also quite common.

2)  The Snedeker lineage is pretty well documented and available in books and online, as well as records of the early New York Dutch Reformed Churches.  Feel free to contact me if you need help connecting our line back to Jan Snediger.

- Jane Scribner McCrary