W3: Jane Caroline Reed(1846-1936)

1846-1870

Jane was born in Whately, MA on February 12th, 1846 to Benjamin Franklin Reed and Sarah Wheeler Sanders.  She was the oldest child in the family, followed by Lucy Amy Reed (1848-1918) and Albert David Sanders (1852-1947)

The 1850 U.S. Census shows her living in Whately with her father, mother and sister (Albert had yet to be born).  By 1855 they the family had moved in with Jane's Grandparents, David Sanders, Amy Wheeler Sanders, and her Aunt Lucy S. Sanders.  A maid, Mary Grace, was also living in the home.  She was 24 years old from Ireland.  Oddly, Jane's sister does not appear to be living in the house.

In 1860, the family is still living with Jane's Grandparents and aunt.  There is a different individual living with them, Sarah Barrett,  age 22 from England.  I assumed she was a servant save for one oddity in that she is listed as owning $200 dollars in land and $200 in personal property.  Still no sign of Jane's sister Lucy.

Some time after the census was taken in 1860 and before the draft rolls were collected for the Civil War in 1861, Jane's father moved to New York.  This is the last we hear from him, and he represents a family mystery.

Jane's Grandfather past away in 1864 and by 1865 the remainder of the family had moved to Northampton, MA.  This included Jane's mother, grandmother, aunt and brother.  The women don't appear to be employed and are listed as being ladies.  The have a different servant, Ellen Sullivan, who was from Ireland and 20 years of age. Their living arrangements where similar in 1870 according to the U.S. Census.  The only change was that they had a different Irish woman as a servant.  Namely Maggie Shannon, age 19.

Jane copied poems into a poem book in the 1860 and 1870 which I am transcribing here.

1871-1900

Jane appears to have continued living with her mother until she got married on October 8th, 1879 to David Joy Wright at age 33.  She and David moved in with David's parents and lived there until David's father died in 1883.  At that point, they, including her mother-in-law, moved to 19 West Street.  I believe both children where born at this house.  The older son, Edward Nims, was born April 3rd, 1884 and the second, David Sanders, was born November 16th, 1887.

Sometime in 1887, the family moved to the 67 West Street address.  Her mother was living next door at 59 West Street.  Her mother-in-law passed away in 1894.  The family remained at 67 West street for the rest of her life.  In 1900, they had a live in servant, Nellie Conway from Ireland.

ADVISORY COUNCIL OF EXTENSION SERVICE MEETS

Homemakers' Department Has Session at Smith School

The First quarterly meeting of the coming season of the work done by the advisory council of the Hampshire County Extension service, homemakers' department, was held Thursday afternoon at the Smith's Agricultural school cottage, with Miss Hazel, member of the council, as hostess. Six of the eight members of the board were present and at this time two members were elected, one to fill a resignation, and one new addition. These two are: Mrs. David Wright of West street, this city, elected as new member, and Mrs. Philip Parsons of Southampton, elected to fill the resignation of another member, Mrs. Charles Kisiel, of Ware.

Officers of the board were elected as follows: Mrs. Clifton John-

nan; Mrs. Herbert Mascho of Westhampton, vice-chairman, and Mrs. Joseph Cook of Hadley, secretary.

    The purpose of the advisory council is to supervise and and advise a specified district of the county. The county is divided into eight districts, M[ILLEGIBLE]ss Roos, because of other duties, not having this year special district. The other eight members of the board, with their districts, are: Mrs. Percy Tuller of Grandby, representing South Hadley, Grandby and Greenwich; Mrs. Joseph Cook of Hadley, representing Amherst, Hadley and Pelham; Mrs. Clifton Johnson of Hadley, representing Ware, Belchertown and Enfield; Mrs. Herbert Mascho of Westhampton, representing Westhampton and Huntington; Mrs. H.D. Stanton of Chesterfield representing Chesterfield, Middlefield and Worthington; Mrs. C.J. Thayer of Cummington, representing Cummington, Goshen and Plainfield, and the newly elected members, Mrs. Philip Parsons of Southampton, representing Southampton, Easthampton and Williamsburg and Mrs. David Wright

I am not sure when this article was written or if the Mrs. David Wright referenced was my Grandmother Florence Edna Smith Wright or my great grandmother Jane Caroline Reed Wright.  Given the apparent age of the paper and the reference to Smith's Agricultural school, which was founded in 1909, I suspect it was Great Grandmother Jane.  The clipping does not include the full article. I suspect Mrs. David Wright was representing Northampton but the article is cut off.  Here is the full scanned document.