What's New
Below is a list of documents or pages that have recently been added to this archive.
Patrick Burke Listed as Having Arrived in America in 1854
Source, 1910 US Census
Added April 27, 2022
Patrick Burke Residence in Tuolumne County Traced to September of 1867
In the Voter Book for Tuolumne County of 1896 his naturalization is given this place and time.
Added April 27, 2022
Pat Burke Wagon Shop, Sonora, California in 1909
This photo is from the Sonora Historical Society Archives. It shows a large parade of Sonora school children walking to a celebration of the completion of the dome for the new Sonora Union HIgh School, which opened in 1910. The shop is at the left front of the photo, directly behind the telephone pole with what looks like ivy on it. This may be one of the last photos to show Paddy Burke's wagon shop. It was destroyed by a fire that started in an adjacent Chinese laundry in 1911.. The building was a complete loss. It is my understanding that some of the blacksmithing equipment ended up in the possession of a blacksmith who had apprenticed with Burke. When this man went into business for himself, he designed a shop that was an exact layout of Pat Burke's shop, according to Hart Ralph Tambs, the grandson of Burke's apprentice. This is the blacksmith shop at Columbia State Park in Columbia, California. According to Tambs, several pieces of equipment in the Columbia shop were in Burke's shop in Sonora. After the fire, Pat Burke went to live with his daughter, Mary Ellen Burke McMurdo and her family in San Francisco, in 1911. He lived with them until his death in 1917.
Added January 13, 2022
Our Family in the News
Check here for a growing selection of articles where family members made the news!.
Added April 25, 2021
Our Family Tudors
A fascinating family story is found in the times of Henry the VIII and his daughter, Queen Elizabeth.
Click on the link to learn about our ancestors in Tudor England.
(Under construction)
Added March 11, 2019
An Historic Site Inventory of the Hale Farm
We are direct descendants of the Hale family of Beverly (Salem), Massachusetts. The home and relict lands of our ancestor, Rev. Robert Hale,
still stand in the town of Beverly. Robert's son, the Rev. John Hale, was one of the leading inquisitors in the Salem Trials.
His sister, Joanna, was our ancestor. She was an ancestor of the Woods of Concord and on through to Hadassah Thompson Wilder, of Norridgewock, Maine.
Another person who was descended from the same family was Nathan Hale, known in American history for supposedly saying
"I only regret that I have only one life to give for my country" just before he was hanged as a spy by the British.
Added March 3, 2019
Here is an archaeological survey from the National Register of Historic Plof the Rev. Robert Hale house in Beverly, with family information.
Added March 3,2019
A short story about the Fairbanks Apotropaic Mark at Fairbanks House, Dedham, Massachusetts
What's this? It's an ancient hex mark hidden in the framing timbers of the Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts. Jonathan and Grace are our direct lineal ancestors on Mom and Mim's side of the family. The Fairbanks House is the oldest frame construction house surviving in North America, and has been in the Fairbanks family since its construction in the mid 1600's.
Added March 1, 2019
An Archaeological Survey of the Jonathan Hosmer Jr. House of Acton, Massachusetts.
Jonathan Hosmer Jr. was the son of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer and his wife, Martha Conant Hosmer.
Deacon Jonathan was the younger brother of our direct ancestor, Prudence Hosmer. This house belonged to Deacon Jonathan's son, Jonathan Hosmer Jr. He would have been our ancestor Lucy Hosmer Wood's first cousin. Jonathan's younger brother, Abner Hosmer, was one
of the first two American militiamen killed at Concord Bridge, and one of the first ten men killed in the service of the Revolution in 1775.
Archaeological Survey of the Jonathan Hosmer Jr. House of Acton, Massachusetts
(Added November 8, 2018)
The First American Eagle
In Massachusetts, each April 19 is celebrated as Patriot's Day, commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord which started the American Revolution. As you know, our family were present in large numbers at Concord on that day. I offer these links to you and encourage you to read them.
These stories revolve around the Hosmer family and the Jacob Baker family, both of whom we are directly descended from . In spite of the division in our country today, read these brief stories and be proud the role our own family played in the birth of America.
The eagle is used on the buttons of American servicemen. Its first known use in US history is traced to Concord Bridge. Mentioned below is Abner Hosmer, who was killed at Concord Bridge at the age of twenty one.
Abner Hosmer was the son of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer. He was the younger brother of a Prudence Hosmer, our own great grandmother. They were born on the Hosmer Homestead, which still stands in Concord.
This Prudence Hosmer is referred to in the story "Embattled Farmers", shared below, by Henry David Thoreau, as the old mother who sat by the fireside and recited poetry to her children.
The pin was engraved with the initials "S.H." As Jonathan's father's name was Steven Hosmer, perhaps it was his, originally. This Steven Hosmer built the Hosmer Homestead. It's also possible the pin originated as well with Steven's father, also named Steven.
The Embattled Farmers, by Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau is best known for his time living at Walden Pond. Less known is that Walden Pond lays adjacent to Concord, and that Thoreau was fascinated with the local culture and families of Concord, including the Hosmer family and the Baker family, both of whom we descend directly from through the Wilders. In the book "Walden", an entire chapter is devoted to the Jacob Baker Farm, he being our great grandfather 5x. The Baker farm lies only about two hundred yards from the banks of Walden Pond. The farm was purchased a number of years ago by a member of the rock band The Eagles, to protect it because of its historic importance to the birth of environmentalism.
In this reading, however, Thoreau tells the story of the time leading up to the Battle of Concord and its day. In this story he devotes much time to the story of the Hosmers--our family. The two James Hosmers, father and son, and Thomas Hosmer are all our great grandparents. Joseph Hosmer's mother who sat by the fireplace was our ancestral grandmother, too. The British raid was onto the Hosmer farm, as well as their neighbors and kin, the Woods--also our direct ancestors. Joseph Hosmer himself was the younger brother of our ancestor, Lucy Hosmer Wood, the grandmother of Polly Thompson, of Cassie's sampler.
The Embattled Farmers, by Henry David Thoreau
Affidavit of the Last Survivor
In April 1850, the seventy fifth anniversary of the Battle of Concord was celebrated. Invited to speak was
Edward Everitt, a renowned orator of the day--later known as the other man who spoke at Gettysburg along with Abraham Lincoln. Also invited were the last living survivors of the battle, including Amos Baker. Amos Baker was the great uncle of Lew Wilder's grandfather. In this brief account, Amos Baker remembers the battle. He mentions his brothers, his father Jacob Baker, and his brother in law Daniel Hosmer Jr. Daniel Hosmer was Lew Wilder's great great grandfather.
This story was published in a number of newspapers around the country at the time.
The Affidavit of Amos Baker, Last Survivor of the Battle of Concord.
(Added April 16, 2018)
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This link is to a document created by Steven Wile Ward, a cousin who is descended from Maggie Wile Ward, the sister of Anna Wile Wilder (Lew Wilder's mother). The document discusses the various patent medicines that Dr. William Conrad Wile ("Uncle Will Wile") developed or had a part in developing.
The paper includes a number of images of advertisements for Will Wile's medicines,
including one that Mom remembered and spoke of, "Thialion"
The Patent Medicines of William C. Wile
(Added April 15, 2018)
This is a folder of images taken by Burke and Chong Hui of the Katie Banahan Burke Quilt. A crazy quilt, it seems to have been created in the mid to late 1880's. Family tradition (according to either Snoozie or Dad or both) is that there is a scrap of fabric on the quilt that was part of the dress the Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, wore at a ball celebrating the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. How a scrap of Eugenie's dress got to Tuolumne County, who knows?
The Katie Banahan Burke Quilt, c. 1886
(Added April 14, 2018)
This link is to the application to the National Register of Historic Places for the James Smith House of
Needham, Massachusetts. James Smith's grand daughter was the grandmother of Hadassah Thompson Wilder.
While not known for fact, this house would seem to be where Sybil Smith, the wife of Silas Wood and grandmother of Hadassah Thompson Wilder, would have
The James Smith House of Needham, Massachusetts
(Added April 6, 2018)
Click this link to see extensive information about the Hosmer Homestead in Concord, Massachusetts,
provided on its application for National Register of Historic Places.
(Added April 6, 2018)
A link to an ad for land sales at Chicago Ranch, in Tulare County, California, 1892. This is the year that J.L. "Lew" Wilder seems to have come into ownership of a twenty acre parcel he farmed here.
Morris and Ganse Ad for Chicago Ranch, 1892
(Added April 4, 2018)
This link has several pictures of Francis Burke (F.B. ) McMurdo as a naval officer in the Pacific during World War II. The location isn't known in most of the pictures, except for one which shows his minesweeper YMS-90 after it was beached at Buckner Bay following the typhoon at Okinawa in October of 1945. Photos of him wearing a beard may be from his time serving in the waters off New Guinea in 1943.
F.B. McMurdo During World War II
(Added March 26, 2018)
Here is an updated document detailing what is known about the voyages of Captain John McMurdo. This file was originally published in 2012, but since then a large amount of new information has been discovered.
The Voyages of John McMurdo, Master Mariner (1839-1862)
Added March 23, 2018
Click on this link to read Robert Gamble Tells the Story of the Gambles Coming to America from Ireland (1896) Robert Gamble was Nana's great uncle.
Added December 18, 2017
In December of 1861, William Gamble, the older brother of Wilson Gamble by two years, and James H. Hatheway, the older brother of Wilson's future wife, Sarah Jane Hatheway, enlisted in the 43rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, two days before Sarah Jane's sixteenth birthday. In 1862, the regiment had moved south to fight the Confederates. The links below to the Cadiz, Ohio newspaper reported that both young men had sent their pay home to their families.
Cadiz Ohio Sentinel , Wednesday, April 30, 1862
Samuel H. Hatheway and William Gamble were Nana's two grandfathers.
Samuel Hatheway and William Gamble Receive Money from their Sons, Wednesday, July 9, 1862
Added December 18, 2017
Random Gamble and Hatheway Stuff
Assorted Gamble and Hatheway Pics
Added November 9, 2017
Pictures of Nana and Her Tulare High School Class Mates, About 1898-99
My best guess, anyway. I included the old picture of the football team of 1899. There are two guys in the class pix I've enclosed who seem to be in the pictures, as well. Do any of you have any idea who these people were?
Nana and Her High School Classmates
Added November 7, 2017
Here are some pictures of Hatheway family members. The baby, Samuel Hatheway, was Nana's first cousin. He was born in Ohio in 1869. The lady in the long dress was Nana's aunt, Mary Mahala Fisher Hatheway, who married James Hatheway after his return from Andersonville prison in 1865. Two of her brothers were killed in the Civil War. The young girl with the curls was Frances Elvira Gamble, Wilson Gamble's younger sister born about 1855.
Samuel Gamble, Nana's first cousin, as a baby in 1869 or 1870
Frances Gamble, (b. 1855), the younger sister of Wilson M. Gamble.
Mary Mahala Fisher Hatheway, James Hatheway's wife and Nana's Aunt.
Added November 7, 2017
We are descended from a man named John Tomson who came to Plymouth Colony about 1621, as a boy. He was a well known man in his time, a founder of the Massachusetts town of Middleborough. In the collection of historic artifacts at Pilgrim Hall, in Plynouth, Massachusetts, his sword, possibly his helmet, and is pistol are kept. Here is a link to a replica pistol that was created based on John Tomson's pistol. The last Tomson in our family line was Haddassah Thompson Wilder.
A Replica of the Pistol of Pilgrim John Tomson
Added November 7, 2017
Originally Added October 19, 2012
This link is to a newspaper, The May 21st 1864 edition of the Ohio Statesman from Columbus, Ohio. In the middle of the top of the page, under "Sherman's Army", is a subtitle "List of the Killed and Wounded Ohio Soldiers in the Georgia Campaign." Under "Resaca" (for the Battle of Resaca find the list for Forty Third Ohio, and the name "William Gambl" (sic) appears, as slightly wounded. William was the older brother by two years of Wilson Gamble. What the wound was isn't known but it required him to be sent home to his father's farm for nearly a year to recuperate. Shortly after returning to the Forty Third Ohio in the Spring of 1865, William was ambushed and killed by a Confederate deserter near Pocotaligo, South Carolina, four days before the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, Virginia.
1864 Newspaper Casualty List Reporting the Wounding of William Gamble, Brother of Wilson Gamble
Added November 7, 2017
Click on this link to see the remains of the musket of our ancestor, John Prescott, who was one of the founders of the
town of Lancaster, in Massachusetts.
A Story About John Prescott's Gun
Added November 7, 2017
This link is to an article in the New York Times in 1865 regarding the sinking of the Union Army Troop Ship General Lyon off the coast
of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Military records for Wilson McKnight Gamble report that he was died in this disaster at sea, which he didn't. What isn't clear is whether he might have been aboard. There was never a complete list of the dead or of the survivors. Two reasons were that this incident happened at the time of the surrender of the Confederates at Appomattox, and also Lincoln's assassination.
Wilson Gamble was discharged in North Carolina a few days before this disaster, and there were known to be men
from his regiment on the ship. Whether he was isn't known.
The Sinking of the General Lyon Reported by the New York Times
Added November 7, 2017
Click this link to access a collection of written articles related to Dr. John R. McMurdo
Articles about Dr. John R. McMurdo
Added May 27, 2017
This link goes to a collection of articles written by or about Dr.William Conrad Wile
William Wile, also known professionally as "W.C. Wile", or "Uncle Will" as he was affectionately known in the family, was the younger half brother of Anna Wile, and the uncle of Lew Wilder. He lived a life of adventure , professional achievement and philanthropy. Included here are many newspaper, journal and book articles about his life and times.
Articles about Dr. William C. Wile
Added May 27, 2017
A link to information about the Keyser Family from whom we are descendants. Elizabeth Keyser was the mother of Rev. Benjamin Franklin Wile. Beyond her, there is uncertainty about the line, but it appears to continue to Dirck Keyser, who immigrated to Germantown from Amsterdam in the early 1680's. DNA relations and anecdotal comments from Dr. William C. "Uncle Will" Wile seem to support this but the connection is confusing. This link includes archeological drawings from the collection of the Library of Congress.
Information about the Dirck Keyser House
Added May 26, 2017
Here's a link to a newspaper article revealing the "chambers of tranquility", or death houses, that existed in San Francisco's Chinatown before the earthquake. In this story, our grandfather, John R. McMurdo, is part of a small group of city officials who shed light on these dens.
The Chambers of Tranquility, an Article in the San Francisco Call, March 14, 1896
Added, May 25, 2016
From the San Francisco Call, September 24, 1897. Dr. John McMurdo is one of a small group of public health officials who expose the miserable health conditions in pre-earthquake Chinatown.
"Bacilli in Chinese Dens: Health Officials Make Horrifying Discoveries in the Quarter"
Added May 25, 2016
Dr. John R. McMurdo makes a motion that begins the development of the University of California at San Francisco. Read the story in this issue of the San Francisco Call from September 6, 1895. (He is misnamed as J.M. rather than J. R. McMurdo. There was no J.M. at the time).
John McMurdo Motions for the Acceptance of the Sutro Site for UCSF
Added May 25, 2016
We have learned a great deal about our family’s history in the United States. But what happened before? Click on this link and begin to explore the fascinating histories of several of our more distant ancestors. (Under Construction)
A Glimpse of Our Family in the Tudor Era
Added May 11, 2017
The link below shows images of the Tarrywile Band Stand, erected at the leper colony at Molokai, Hawaii about 1903. The band stand was a gift to the leper colony by William Conrad Wile, known to Mom and Mim as "Uncle Will", their dad's uncle. This page is under construction, but you might find the story of Will Wile to be quite interesting...
The Tarrywile Band Shell at Molokai
Added April 9, 2017
Tufts University in Boston has created a large database of early American politicians and their election results. Below are links to men from the early United States that we are directly descended from or who were the siblings of direct ancestors.
Edward Vaughan born probably at Upper Darby or Haverford, Pennsylvania, (abt. 1761-1806) was the great great grandfather of Marian and Agnes Wilder. He was the grandfather of Anna Wile Wilder, and the husband of Besty Andrews Vaughn, whose small sampler from 1787 was on mom's wall in Berkeley for many years.
The Elections of Edward Vaughn
Added March 21, 2016
Conrad Wile (1769-1839) of Philadelphia was the father of Rev. Benjamin Franklin Wile, and the great great grandfather of Marian and Agnes Wilder.
Added March 21, 2016
Joseph Hosmer (about 1746 - ?) was the younger brother of Lucy Hosmer Wood, the grandmother of Hadassah Thompson Wilder, who was the grandmother of Lew Wilder. A hero of the Battle of Concord, he was well known in Massachusetts politics in the days following the American Revolution. He was the first American sheriff of Middlesex County.
The Elections of Joseph Hosmer
Added March 21, 2016
Ephraim Wood was the younger brother of our ancestor, Oliver Wood who immigrated from Concord, Massachusetts in 1774 to Norridgewock, Maine.
Ephraim Wood was a prominent American patriot in the Concord area before, during and after the Revolution.
Added March 21, 2016
The Four links immediately below show new information about land that Wilson Gamble obtained under the Homestead Act of 1862, in the year 1887. The land is between Brush, Colorado, and Fort Morgan, in Morgan County. Of interest is the South Platte River, to the north a couple of miles (in the 21st century). My understanding is that Nana remembered either visiting or swimming in the river.
See a recently discovered copy of a Homestead Act parcel granted to Wilson M. Gamble in Colorado in 1887 for 153.59 acres of land.
Added November 15, 2016
BLM map showing location of Wilson Gamble's 1887 grant near Brush, Colorado
Added November 15, 2015
In this image from Google Maps, the Wilson Gamble land grant of 1887 is seen by finding the white dot directly above the yellow man icon in the lower right of the image. There is a mile scale at the bottom of the image. The river at the top is the South Platte River, about two miles from the site of the Gamble grant. The community to the right is Brush, Colorado. The development to the left is Fort Morgan, Colorado.
Google Map showing proximity of Gamble Land to Brush, CO and the South Platte River
Added November 15, 2016
A view from Google Maps showing the intersection of the lower southwest corner of Land Grant of Wilson Gamble in 1887. The land grant would be the land shown with the long white farm structure. From and aerial view there appears to be an old farm house in the trees.
Google Maps doesn't go up Road 23. Note that Road Q is still dirt.
View of the Southwest Corner of Land Grant of Wilson Gamble 1887
Added November 15, 2016
A look at what's known about Elizabeth "Betsy" Andrews, great grandmother of Lew Wilder.
Added September 19, 2016
Recently information has been discovered that seems to solve a family mystery, the story of the family of Betsy Andrews, whose small sampler hung on the walls of the houses we grew up in. Click on the link to learn more about this fascinating and previously forgotten side of our family.
Added September 8, 2016
A link to an expanded Google Map of Family Homesteads and sites from the Colonial Era in Massachusetts.
Added June 8, 2016
Family Flags
A link to battle flags family members marched under in the Civil War. The flags are shown in a Picasa slide show. You can stop the slide show or adjust the amount of time per image if you prefer.
Added April 15, 2016
The military record of James H. Hatheway with the 111th United States Colored Troops (USCT). James Hatheway was the older brother of our great grandmother, Sarah Jane Hatheway Gamble. He was the uncle of Nana and Aunt Alice. He enlisted in late 1861 in the 43rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company C, along with William Gamble, the older brother of our great grandfather, Wilson McKnight Gamble. William Gamble and James Hatheway served in the same company of the 43rd Ohio until the spring of 1864, when James joined the USCT as a sergeant (officers and nco's were all white). James was captured at the Battle of Sulfer Trestle, Alabama, by the cavalry of Nathan Bedford Forrest, and served many months as a prisoner of the confederates, including time at the infamous Andersonville, Georgia prison camp, where over 14,000 union prisoners died from starvation and mistreatment. While there is no James Hatheway of the 111th USCT on the list at Andersonville, there is, interestingly, a James Haggerty of the 43rd Ohio, Company C listed. Regimental records show that there was no James Haggerty. This was the name, however, of James and Sarah Hatheway's maternal grandfather, who lived with them or close by as they grew up. The US Park ranger at Andersonville suggested that this might be because white union officers and NCO's of black regiments were often singled out for particular abuse by the confederate guards.
The link shows 23 records, many simply pay records, for James H. Hatheway. They do show that it is the same James Hatheway who served earlier with the 43rd Ohio, Company C, and that he was born in Carroll County, Ohio, where New Hagerstown is located (the birthplace of Sarah Jane Hatheway).
There are several references to James Hatheway being on the 111th USCT's regimental rolls, but being held prisoner. There are at least two references to him as having been held prisoner at Andersonville.
Click here for the link to James Hatheway's USCT records.
Added April 13, 2016
This link shows several interior images of the Stephen Hosmer Homestead (commonly known as the "Hosmer Homestead").
Added January 29, 2016
Link to photo of the 17 Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the field, May 3, 1864. Among the soldiers shown is Silas Wilder, the brother of James M. Wilder who was the grandfather of our grandfather, James Lewellyn "Lew" Wilder.
Silas Wilder with 17th Maine Volunteer Infantry, May 3, 1864, Virginia
Click on this link for an explanation of this photo:
Added January 23, 2016
Click this link to view information about the probable location of Wilder homesteads from the late 1790's through the late 1850's in Temple, Maine.
Wilder Sites in Temple, Maine 1796-1857
Added December 27, 2015
Here's a link to a Google map identifying many sites relating to Dr. John McMurdo between 1887 and 1919 in San Francisco, CA. The map includes pinned locations that have stories collected relating to him.
Map of Sites Relating to Dr. John R. McMurdo in San Francisco, California 1887-1919
Updated November 28, 2015
A link to a developing Google map of Wilder, Prescott, White,Sawyer and Fairbank family farmsteads in the Lancaster Massachusetts area during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Map of Wilder Family Sites in Colonial Lancaster Massachusetts
Updated November 13, 2015
A link to the death record of Betsey Wilder Maynard, the sister of our ancestor, Abel Wilder. The record adds substance to the belief that their mother, Eunice Forbush Wilder, was the daughter of John Forbush of Harvard, Worcester, Massachusetts. The reference to Eunice Forbush Wilder from Harvard is the sixth row down on the right side of the document.
Betsy Wilder Maynard's death record
Added October 27, 2015
Here is a document created in 1987 for adding the Tarrywile Mansion of William Conrad Wile to the National Register of Historic Places. The document includes biographical information and specifics about the construction and history of Tarrywile Mansion and Park.
Added October 27, 2015
Here are links to a list of Google maps that show known colonial homes that our ancestors lived in, still standing in the Massachusetts area.
Location of Colonial Homesteads of Our Family in Concord, Massachusetts Map 1 /
Location of Colonial Homesteads of Our Family in Concord, Massachusetts, Map 2 /
Baker, Billing, Hartwell and Merriam Sites
Location of Colonial Homesteads of Our Family in Dedham and Needham, Massachusetts
The three links below provide information and anecdotes about the location of the Nathaniel Wilder Homestead on George Hill, in Lancaster, Worcester County, Massachusetts. The first link tells the story of an Indian massacre that Nathaniel Wilder was involved in, and which according to local tradition, was probably the reason many years later for his murder in his yard.
The link tells the story of a murder of several Indian women and children that Nathaniel Wilder was accused of being nvolved with at a place near Walden Pond called Hurtleberry Hill.
Nathaniel Wilder and the Hurtleberry Hill Massacre
The link below is to information collected by the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MCRIS), who have created a large database about historic structures in the commonwealth. This document provides information about an existing homestead on George Hill, in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, and is associated through context to Nathaniel Wilder, father of Colonel Oliver Wilder. The last two pages are an old newspaper article that suggests that the land is either part of the Nathaniel Wilder house, or sits on land from the Nathaniel Wilder Homestead. This house is dated to about 1700. Nathaniel Wilder was murdered by an Indian raiding party in 1704. The description places ownership of the land to a David Wilder, who lived there in the late 1800's, but the home an apparent Wilder ownership seems to much older from the context of the document.
Wilder House on George Hill, Lancaster, Massachusetts
A link to a document that investigates the possible location of the Nathaniel Wilder garrison house on George Hill, Lancaster, Massachusetts.
References to the Site of Nathaniel Wilder's Garrison House
Added September 18, 2015
New Information from National Archives Records Administration (NARA) concerning the widow of revolutionary war pensioner application of Sibyl Smith Wood of Norridgewock and Chesterville, Maine. Sibyl Wood was the great grandmother of Francis L. Wllder, Lew Wilder's father.
New Pension Files of Sibyl Smith Wood and of Silas Wood's Revolutionary War Service.
Added September 15, 2015
New information has been discovered about the Revolutionary War service of Jonas Wood, the brother of Silas Wood and Hadassah Thompson Wilder's great uncle. It contributes information that may help to understand Jonas Wood's mysterious death in 1777.
The Fate of Jonas Wood (1750 - 1777)
Added September 14, 2015
Edited and added to September 18, 2015
This link shows the Benjamin F. Wile manse, north of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, New York, as it appears in 2015. The home of the Wile family from at least 1845 until about the end of the Civil War, it is located on US 44 N, north of Pleasant Valley, between Lake Shore Dr. and Mill Lane, on the right hand side of the road as you drive north. It is almost immediately after the southbound sign for Pleasant Valley, on the other side of the road from the sign. It has a fairly large paved turnout for parking in front, and is set back slightly from the road.
Google Map Showing Site of Benjamin F. Wile "Manse"
Added June 7, 2015
This link is to a document that looks at the possibility that our lineal ancestor, Roger Conant, may have known Sir Walter Raleigh.
Did Roger Conant Know Sir Walter Raleigh?
Added May 29, 2015
Here is a link to a list of historic family homes, either information or locations of existing homesteads.
Added May 31, 2015
Here are two links to information about the Hosmer Homestead of Concord, Massachusetts. Our ancestor, Stephen Hosmer Jr., built this home sometime between 1707 and 1710. The links are from the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS), a large archive of information about historic architecture in Massachusetts.
Inventory One for the Hosmer Homestead
Link to Hosmer Homestead National Register of Historic Places Application
Added May 15, 2015
These are links to the last colonial commission of Oliver Wilder, issued In 1753 by the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Oliver Wilder was commander of the 2nd Worcester Regiment of Foot (Infantry) during the French and Indian War. This regiment was one of the largest in Massachusetts at this time, with about 1800 men. On the back side of this document, there is a hand written list of his earlier commissions going back to lieutenant in 1722. The original document is part of the Plimpton Collection of French and Indian War Documents at Amherst College, Massachusetts.
Oliver Wilder Colonial Commission to Colonel, 1753, Front Side
Added May 4, 2015
This is a word document that provides the known series of events of the Gamble and Hatheway families during the era of the Civil War. This text only document is currently 52 pages long, and may take a moment to load. The document is current to May 8, 2014.
Our Family in the Civil War, Part 1, Gamble, Hatheway and Hagerty Families
Added May 8, 2014
This is a link to documents concerning William Gamble III (1843-1865), the older brother of Wilson M. Gamble. William joined the Union Army in the autumn of 1861, serving in the 43rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment. He was wounded at the Battle of Resaca in Georgia in May of 1864, went north to convalesce at an army hospital there, and spent time at the Gamble home, before returning to his regiment in the spring of 1865. Shortly after returning, he was shot down by a Confederate deserter and died three days later, on April 4, 1865, at Pocataligo, South Carolina. He is buried at the Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, South Carolina, a short distance from Parris Island Marine Base. Documents here include muster rolls, casualty sheets, report of expense to provide him travel to the Gamble home, and an inquiry into the circumstances of his shooting. William Gamble served in the same company (about 100 men) as James H. Hatheway, the older brother of Sarah Jane Hatheway, the wife of William's brother Wilson. Also in this company was John Hagerty, the first cousin of Sarah Jane and James H. Hatheway. John Hagerty died in the Civil War, as well.
William Gamble Civil War Papers
Added May 8, 2014
An 1864 Union Newspaper that reports "William Gambl" of Company C, 43d Ohio Infantry, slightly wounded. He was the older brother of our great grandfather, Wilson M. Gamble. Find him under the column "Sherman's Army", about midway down under 43rd Ohio Wounded. This is a report for the Battle of Resaca, Georgia, a major battle in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864.
William Gamble on Casualty Repot, May 1864 from Battle of Resaca, Georgia
Added May 24, 2015
Here is a link briefly explaining our ties to the Mayflower Pilgrims--known as "Saints" or "First Comers" in their time. These terms also apply to the ships that came in the nine or ten years after the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. It is said that as many as twenty or thirty million Americans can trace an ancestor to the Mayflower. Happy Thanksgiving!
Our family ancestors who were Mayflower Pilgrims
Added November 28, 2013
This link shows a "clock reel" or "spinner's weasel". It is a wooden machine that was owned by Prudence Billings Hosmer, and is dated as used by her to 1707. The clock reel allowed a woman to measure how much thread or yarn she was collecting--normally a skein at a time. The reel often included a device inside the machine that would make a pop sound when the desired amount of yarn was collected. This is a possible origin of the phrase "pop goes the weasel" in the old nursery song. Prudence Billing Hosmer was born in 1690 in Concord, Massachusetts. Prudence Billings' family were among the earliest settlers in the Concord area. She married Stephen Hosmer around 1706. Their children included our ancestor Prudence Hosmer, who married her second cousin Thomas Hosmer Jr., and her brother, Deacon Jonathan Hosmer who settled in Acton, adjacent to Concord. His son, Abner Hosmer, was one of two Americans killed at Concord Bridge by British troops beginning the American Revolution in April of 1775.
Prudence Billings Hosmer's clock reel came into possession of her granddaughter, Dinah Hosmer, sometime around 1784. Dinah Hosmer never married, and seems to have lived with her widowed brother Benjamin, and perhaps earlier with her older brother Joseph Hosmer on the family farm. Dinah Hosmer was the great aunt of Polly Wood Thompson, the mother of Hadassah Thompson Wilder.
It would seem pretty probable to me that our own ancestor Lucy Hosmer Wood, the oldest daughter of Prudence's daughter Prudence, would have known this particular machine well and probably used it herself.
The link to Prudence Billings Hosmer's "Clock Reel" Machine
Added November 26, 2013
Here is an interesting painting. It's of the British barque "Naomi", of Liverpool, painted in 1848. The ship was listed as 410 tons, and had been part of the shipping trade carrying Irish immigrants to Canada during the potato famine around 1846-1847. Our great grandfather, John McMurdo (Dr. John's father) was about 21 years old in early 1846, and had just spent five years as a sailor and mate on the barque "Coaxer", travelling several times (four or five, I think) from Liverpool to Calcutta (twice), Ceylon, as well as Singapore and China. He returned to Liverpool aboard the Coaxer in late 1845 on a voyage where the master of the ship died of cholera. In early 1846 he signed on as a mate on this barque, the Naomi, to sail for Dalhousie, a port town in Nova Scotia, then a major point for immigrants coming from Ireland.
He only made one voyage on the Naomi, by the end of 1846 he was on another ship, "the Porcupine", which was sailing the Mediterranean.
The Naomi gained fame twice--as a "coffin ship" on the voyage after John McMurdo left, over 100 of its approximately 300 passengers from Ireland died en route to Quebec. Several years later, the Naomi was found at sea abandoned, much like the legendary "Mary Celeste". The mystery of the Naomi was solved when it was determined that she had sustained major damage and the crew of twelve had abandoned her. They were apparently rescued.
The painting attached here is from the archives of the British Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. It has apparently recently been restored and scanned for the web.There were an incredible number of British ships at this time. I would assume the barque Naomi was painted in 1848 because the story of its 1847 passage was a huge story at the time.
The British barque Naomi shown about two years after John McMurdo sailed on her as a mate in 1846
Added November 7, 2013
Here is a link to a high cabinet built by Joseph Hosmer, the great uncle of Polly Wood Thompson, of family sampler fame. This piece is particularly interesting because, according to the Concord Museum, it is signed in chalk on the back of one of the drawers by our ancestor, Silas Wood.
High Chest attributed to Joseph Hosmer, which Silas Wood was believed to have helped build in 1782
Added September 30, 2013
The closest in age younger brother to our ancestor, Lucy Hosmer Wood, Joseph Hosmer was known for three things: He was a cabinet maker of note from Concord, Massachusetts, he was the Sheriff of Middlesex County in Massachusetts, and as the British Army were firing and ransacking the town of Concord (and the family farm a mile distant), he, the second in command of the American militia arrayed on a hill facing the British, said to the commander of the American militia ""I have often heard it said that the British have boasted that they could march through our country, laying waste to the hamlets and villages and we would not oppose them. And I begin to think it true... Will you let them burn the town down?" At which point the commander basically said "Hellllll No!, Let's saddle up, Big Joe!"and they went down and opened up a can of Whoopass on the British, and the United States was born. An interesting note about the piece of furniture shown, our great great great grandfather's name is signed on the back of one of the drawers in chalk. The curator of the Concord Museum presumes that he, named Silas Wood, was working with Hosmer, who was his uncle, when the piece was made and probably helped to build this piece. Silas Wood was a cabinet maker most of his life in Maine, where he moved to from Concord. Growing up, we had a sewing table that I assume was made by him, being as it was from Maine. A final interesting thing is that Hosmer had inherited a small cottage called The Dovecote, adjacent to his house, that had belonged to Lucy Hosmer Wood's and Joseph Hosmer's father, Thomas Hosmer Jr. It's believed that Silas Wood may have lived there when he worked for Hosmer, it being his own grandfather's place. The cottage many years later was rented by the Hosmers to a young man and his family of small girls. The man's name was Bronson Alcott, and one of his little girls was named Louisa May Alcott. Many years later, Louisa May Alcott would remember the Hosmer home and make it the home of her family in "Little Women", referring to it as The Dovecote.
A link to the Dovecote Cottage of Concord, Massachusetts:
The Hosmer Cottage also known as The Dovecote
Added September 30, 2013
The link below is to the senior class photo of Alice Gamble of Tulare, California, from the San Jose Normal School yearbook of 1910.
Added June 7, 2013
George Patrick Burke was the brother of Mary Ellen Burke McMurdo and the son of Patrick Burke and Katherine Banahan Burke. I really don't know a lot about him. My dad (Dick McMurdo) said at some point he was a cowboy up in the Sierra Nevada, and he was trained as a blacksmith, plying this trade in the twilight of this job in the years up to the 1930's. I would think that he learned this trade in his father's blacksmith shop in Sonora. There is a funny recipe he wrote for fudge in an old cookbook that I am now in possession of. In this photo, George Burke poses with friends belonging to a "Gentleman's Club" in Sonora, California in the late 1890's. George is the young guy second from the right, leaning in on his friend. Photo of the Tuolumne County Historical Society.
Gentleman's Club of Sonora, 1897
Added June 7, 2013
Sarah Jane Hathaway was the daughter of Isabel Hagerty Hathaway, the daughter of Elenor Crawford Hagerty, the daughter of Mary Wiggins Crawford , the daughter of Charity Preble Wiggins. Charity Preble was the wife of Edward Wiggins, a farmer in (then) Brooke County, Virginia, (now in the panhandle region of West Virginia between Pennsylvania and Ohio). The Wiggins homesteaded in this area sometime after the American Revolution. Edward Wiggins, originally from Ireland, as tradition has it, claimed his land by virtue of a "tomohawk" grant; he blazed hatchet marks on trees to mark the boundaries of his land. About 1794 or '95, the last Indian raid in Brooke County occurred on the Wiggins farm. As they were sitting down to lunch, gunfire was heard coming from a creek below their cabin. Their son, Thomas, grabbed his musket and ran to find out what was happening. He found the scalped body of a traveler, who had been waylaid by a band of Indians from beyond the nearby Ohio river. The Indians were tracked back to the river, but the pursuit was abandoned there. The dead traveler , named Decker, was buried in the Wiggins family plot on their farm. Edward Wiggins died in 1799. Mary Wiggins Crawford and her husband Edward Crawford, sold their farm about 1806 and moved near to Cadiz, Ohio. Edward Wiggins' widow, Charity Preble Wiggins, lived on her farm until her death in 1828. About 1800, a new home of brick was built for her, replacing the Wiggins' original log cabin. It was built on Puntney Ridge of the Tent Church area of Brooke County. Click on the link to see a photo of Charity Preble Wiggins' home.
The Home of Widow Charity Preble Wiggins, Brooke County, West Virginia
Added May 30, 2013
For Memorial Day, 2013, an illuminated roster of the 150th New York Infantry, Company G, also called the Dutchess County Regiment. In the lower right hand column is listed William C. Wile, the uncle of James Lewellyn Wilder. Will Wile enlisted at age 15, and was one of the youngest soldiers in the Union Army to serve at Gettysburg. Surviving a mule's kick in Virginia as Lee was pursued south after the battle that sent him to a hospital, he rejoined his regiment near Atlanta, and served during the siege of Atlanta, Sherman's March to the Sea, and the Carolina's campaign of 1865.
When you view the image, click on "Slideshow" above it to access the zoom function. The link:
Added May 27, 2013
George Jackson is a descendant of Margaret Banahan Brady, the younger sister of Katie Banahan Burke, our great grandmother. In this link, George provides information about the Banahan family, and their kin, the Kilduffs, the name of their grandparents, which was shortened to Duffy when they came to the United States. An interesting note about the Kilduffs is it appears that they had a connection to people named Kilduff who were grandparents of Elizabeth Quigley McMurdo, Dr. John McMurdo's second wife. Either her mother or grandmother was apparently a Kilduff. While the connection isn't clearly established, it seems this Kilduff might have been a sibling or cousin of our own family. Another interesting comment in this document is a reference to Mary Theresa Duffy (probably originally Kilduff) Banahan Mellynn, the grandmother of our grandmother Mary Ellen Burke McMurdo. George Jackson gives a death date for her and says she was believed buried in Sonora. But there is a Mary, wife of Michael Mellynn (who she did in fact marry) with the exact death date, buried in an Antioch California cemetery, very near Somersville, a mining town on the shoulder of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, where there are records of Mike Mellynn working in the 1880's. Their son, Hubert Mellynn lived with Patrick and Katie Burke in the 1880's.
George Jackson's Comments on the Banahans, Kilduffs and Mellynns
Added May 25, 2013
A link to view the headstone of Mary Theresa Kilduff Banahan Mellynn, maternal grandmother of Mary Ellen Burke McMurdo. Scroll down to see the Mary Mellynn Cemetery Stone.
Mary Kilduff Banahan Mellynn's Gravesite, Holy Cross Cemetery, Antioch, California
Added May 25, 2013
Here is a link to three song recordings of Hubert Brady, found in the digital files of the Library of Congress. During the Depression, the WPA compiled an extensive list of American folk song recordings from around the country. Part of this effort was a collection of early songs from California. Among them were three sung by Hubert Brady, Dick McMurdo's cousin. These were recorded between July 18 and 31, 1939. Hubert Brady was the son of Matthew Brady and Margaret Banahan Brady, who was the younger sister of Katie Banahan Burke. The Brady's lived in Columbia, California, where they ran a store, and the Burkes lived in Sonora, about four miles away. Katie's husband, Patrick, was a wagon maker and wheelwright there for many years. Hubert Brady was something of a character or eccentric, affecting the dress of the old time '49ers. He was photographed at local historic sites for several books and magazines. There are three recordings accessed through this link: "The Captain and His Whiskers", "Aunt Jemima's Plaster", and "I'm Old but I'm Awfully Tough". To me, Hubert Brady's voice and accent are reminiscent of my dad.
Voice Recordings of Hubert Brady of Columbia California Singing Early California Songs
Added May 22, 2013
Brett graduates from UC Davis Law School, May 17, 2013
Added May 20, 2013
William Conrad Wile, the younger half brother of Anna Wile Wilder, served in the Civil War as a member of the 150th New York Volunteer Infantry, also known as the Dutchess Regiment. Many years after the war, Wile, by then a prominent doctor and owner of a medical publishing company, printed this book, a collaborative effort of many men who were veterans of the regiment. William Wile himself wrote the chapters relating to the regiment's movements and operations during the seige and battle of Atlanta, Georgia, immediately before they began their march with William Tecumseh Sherman across Georgia in 1864. A .pdf file of the entire book, it may take a minute or two to load but is an interesting source for this part of Will Wile's life.
Added May 11, 2013
New information about the burial site of Wilson Gambles father and both sets of his grandparents.
Gamble Family Burials at Leesville, Ohio, Cemetery
Added May 5, 2013
James Lewellyn Wilder, the son of
Francis L. Wilder the son of
James Marvel Wilder the son of
Abel Wilder the son of
Moses Wilder, the son of
Colonel Oliver Wilder, and his wife, Mary Fairbanks Wilder.
Mary Fairbanks Wilder was the daughter of
Jonathan Fairbanks, the son of
Jonas Fairbanks, the son or
Jonathan Fairbanks and Grace Lee Fairbanks, immigrants from England and original builders of the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Mary Fairbanks Wilder was the great granddaughter of Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks, immigrants from England to Dedham,Massachusetts in the 1630's. At Dedham, then called Contentment, they built their family home, which was inhabited by their descendants from the early 1640's until the late 1890's. The home, now known as the Fairbanks House, is generally considered to be the oldest existing wood frame house in the United States. It has the distinction of never having had a mortage placed upon it. By the 1890's two spinster women---Fairbanks descendants, moved out of the house, and it was purchased by a group of Fairbanks Descendants, who held it in trust as a family monument, a designation that it holds to this day. The home, still standing on a couple of acres of the original homestead, has been the site of extensive archaeological research, with ongoing digs on the land adjacent to the house, and extensive photography and notes by the National Archives concerning the structure itself. A scale reconstruction of the building techniques used on the Fairbanks House was created for the United States Bicentennial in 1976, in Boston. Below are links to photos of the Fairbanks House.
Photographic Details of the Fairbanks House, 1641, Dedham, Massachusetts
Added April 6, 2013
There is a great deal of writing about the Fairbanks House. Here is a Wikipedia Article, for what it's worth...
Fairbanks House Wikipedia Article
Added April 6, 2013
Follow this link to access a recently discovered collection of Thompson family papers from the 1820's. They are from the Beinecke Collection of Early American Children's Literature at the library of Yale University.
Thompson Family Papers from Yale University Library
Added March 15, 2013
The family of Benjamin Franklin Wile has suffered a strange odyssey since their deaths in the early 1800's. First being buried in the churchyard of their church in Philadelphia, where Conrad Wile had purchased a family plot, the cemetery was moved about the early 1850's to make way for a municipal park. The cemetery they were moved to at that time was closed in the 1950's, and moved yet again, to make room for a housing project. Here is a link to a directory of Wile family members, and where they are believed to be at this time. Conrad and Elizabeth Wile were the grandparents of Anna Wile Wilder. George, Juliann, Maria and Mary were all brothers and sisters of Benjamin F. Wile. Not known is where Benjamin Wiile's brother is buried.
The headstone of Benjamin Franklin Wile, in the Pleasant Valley, NY Cemetery. The Presbyterian Church where he was pastor for 38 years in the early 1800's is in the background.
The Grave of Benjamin Franklin Wile
Added March 12, 2013
William Conrad Wile, his second wife and his daughter, Alice Buckley Wile, are buried in the Wooster Cemetery in Danbury, Connecticut. Here are some photos of their gravesite. Note the inscription "He Marched with Sherman to the Sea", and the GAR "spike" which seems to lock the grave of Will Wile...
The Wile Family Tomb, Wooster, CT
Added March 5, 2013
William Conrad Wile was the uncle of James Lewellyn Wilder, and the younger brother of Anna Wile Wilder. Here is a photo from 1900 of William Wile riding in a carriage with the governor of Connecticut, in Bethel, CT.
Added March 5, 2013
The grave of Samuel H. Hathaway and Isabel Hagerty Hathaway, the parents of Sarah Jane Hathaway Gamble, and the grandparents of Stella, Flora and Alice Gamble.
The Graves of Samuel and Isabel Hathaway
Added March 5, 2013
On May 3, 1914, the Oakland Tribune reported that at the end of the upcoming school year in Tulare, several teachers were planning on walking from Tulare to Lake Sequoia, in the Sierra. Among the hikers was Alice Gamble, about twenty five.
Tulare Teachers Hike to Lake Sequoia, 1914
Added February 23, 2013
Katie Banahan Burke's Cookbook, c. 1870-1908
Use the magnifying glass to zoom in.
Added February 5, 2013
Through the Hosmer family, here's a look at a very very long family line back into history...
Our Longest Known Family LIne into History
Added February 4, 2013
A brief look at our family's experience in the Civil War.
The role of the Gambles, Hathaways, Wiles and Burkes in the Civil War
Added January 28, 2013
William Conrad Wile was the younger half brother of Anna Wile Wilder. A boy soldier in the Civil War, he returned and studied medicine, becoming a prominent physician in Connecticutt in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a successful businessman, operating a large medical publishing firm. Not as well known, however, is his work territorial Hawaii in the very early 1900's. He was a patron of the Molokai Leper Colony. His philanthropy towards the colony made him a man of high stature in Hawaii. In this link the Hawaii Evening Bulletin printed an extensive interview with Wile, drawing him out on his thoughts about the possibilities of Hawaii becoming a tourist destination.
Will Wile Interviewed about the Potential for Hawaii to be a Tourist Destination, 1903
Added January 4, 2013
This is the back inside cover of a family Bible printed in Germany in 1776. It belonged to the part of mom's family that settled in Philadelphia and the nearby village of Germantown in the the 1750's. I originally thought that this might come from the Helfensteins, but I think its possible that it comes from the Wiles, or perhaps from the Keysers. Elizabeth Keyser was Benjamin Wile's mother, and her family, also German, were early settlers in Germantown, coming there in the 1650's. The names on the front panel don't add up with any people that I have learned about, but I know very little about the Keyers or the earlier Wiles, before Conrad Wile, Benjamin's father. The back panel is strewn with a child's scribblings, in long ago faded brown ink, and the name Elizabeth, practiced. There are three or so simple drawings of faces on the cover. One, near the bottom, seems to pretty clearly be a drawing of a Hessian soldier's head. The details are correct--the helmet, the small feather plume at the top, and the ribbon on the side of the helmet--all are correct to these troops. Hessians operated in the New jersey and Philadelphia, and interestingly, were present at the Battle of Germantown under General Knyphausen, against George Washington's American Continentals. Maybe the girl named Elizabeth was drawing from memory.
Apparent 18th Century Child's Scribblings in Back Panel Of Family Bible
Added January 3, 2013
We are descendants of a couple named John White and Joanne West White, who came to Wenham, a village adjacent to Salem Massachusetts, in the 1630's. A few years later, they moved to Lancaster, in Worcester County, Massachusetts, where John and Joanne ended their lives as the wealthiest people of the village. Through the White and the West families, we are descended from a very long family lineage, including the Plantagenet family, a number of royal houses of France and Italy, the Norsemen and it seems, perhaps a Roman Consul. In this link, a link is shown that goes from our time to Catherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, and to Sir Walter Raleigh
The White Family Connection to Catherine Parr and Walter Raleigh
Added December 28, 2012
This is a link to a discussion of the Excelsior Marble and Granite Works of San Jose, who created headstones in the 19th century. Among the stones that are shown is one for Mary Mellynn, the wife of Michael Mellynn. I believe this is the mother of Katie Banahan Burke. Her mother married a Michael Mellyn after the death of her first husband. The dates on the headstone would make this Mary a logical age to be Katie Banahan's mother. The burial is in Antioch,Contra Costa County, and is very near where Michael Mellynn, and his children lived in the 1880's, in the nearby Black Diamond region of Mount Diablo. One of these children, Hubert Mellynn, lived for a time with the Burkes in Sonora. It is possible that Mary Burke was the namesake of this Mary Mellynn, who would have been her grandmother, as this was a normal naming convention at the time. Katie Burke's younger sister, Margaret Banahan Brady, may have been a namesake of their grandmother, Margaret Mulvey Kilduff, George Burke, Mary McMurdo's brother, may have been the namesake of Katie Burke's father, George Banahan, and Bart Banahan Burke (Uncle Bart) may have been named after Patrick Burke's brother, Bart Burke, who was a longtime wagon maker and Mayor of Virginia City, Nevada in the 1880's.
Added December 27, 2012
These are links to two views of Patrick Burke's blacksmith shop on South Washington Street in Sonora, California. The second one, from 1897 is from the Sonora Union Democrat newspaper, and I don't think anyone in our family is familiar with it.
Freight wagon in front of Patrick Burke's shop, 1891
The Blacksmith Shop of Patrick Burke, Sonora, California, 1897
This link is to a .pdf file that extensively explores the history and construction of the City of Paris building in San Francisco on Union Square. Before City of Paris took over the building, it was known as the Spring Valley Water Works building. John McMurdo had his medical offices here from at least 1900 until, presumably, the earthquake in 1906. I couldn't find a directory for 1906, but in 1905 he was here. After the earthquake, he relocated temporarily to Steiner street, where, it appears, his temporary office might still stand.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1zwhBzNuXmKtCe7dSfFC7C6B5W6WJ7CVnXA59ZymImLlRZ07Rp6rbiA6BJgpd/edit
This is a link to a photo of the Wilson Gamble family, probably from about 1894 or '95. The Gambles came to Tulare, California by train from Colorado in 1894, according to Alice Gamble Mulcahy. Aunt Alice looks to be about six, which would make Nana about fifteen or so.
Gamble Family Portrait, about 1894 or '95
Added October 29, 2012
Lew Wilder began farming near Tulare in January of 1891. Below is a clipping from the Tulare Evening Register of 1893, describing his farm near the Chicago Colony, west of town.
A Description of the Lew Wilder Farm
Added October 29, 2012
The discharge of Wilson M. Gamble from the Union Army, given in March of 1865 in North Carolina.
Army Discharge of Wilson M. Gamble
Added October 29, 2012
This is a link to a collection of odd facts and anecdotes relating to the McMurdo family.
A Growing Collection of Weird McMurdo Family Facts
Added October 24, 2012
John Tomson was the great great great grandfather of Dr. Asaph Thompson. John Tomson immigrated with his mother and possibly step father to Plymouth Colony in 1623, and lived his life on the New England frontier, working as a carpenter. He was a lieutenant in the local militia, close friends with the Church brothers who were instrumental in the English efforts against the Native Americans during the King Phillip's War. Several relics from the Tomson (later Thomson and finally Thompson) family have survived to modern times; a plate that belonged to John Tomson's wife, Mary Cooke, Tomson's sword, a helmet which is believed to have been his, his seven foot long musket, and his pistol. This link is a photo of Tomson's pistol, equipped with a firing mechanism known as a "dog lock". It is believed to have been make in England about the time that John Tomson's family came to America. Whether it came with them at that time or was purchased later, isn't known.
Added October 19, 2012
Two photos composited to show how Wilson M. Gamble might have looked in 1863 as a member of the Pioneer Brigade. The face is Wilson Gamble, probably in the late 1860's, or perhaps as a wedding photo. The soldier is of another member of the Pioneer Brigade, from Wilson Gamble's battalion, in 1863. While no photo of Gamble is known to exist from the Civil War, the clothing shown here is probably accurate to what he would have worn and carried as a Pioneer.
What Wilson Gamble may have looked like in 1863 during the Civil War.
Added October 10, 2012
A photo from the 1890's of the Grimes Golden Apple Tree. The tree was part of an orchard that Edward Crawford, the great great grandfather of Sarah Jane Hathaway, planted in about 1790, in Brooke County, Virginia (now West Virginia) . Crawford, and his wife, Mary Wiggins Crawford after they married in 1794, farmed the land until 1806, when they sold their farm to Thomas Grimes, and moved to Harrison County, Ohio, near Cadiz. Grimes early on began selling the apples from this orchard to pioneers traveling down the nearby Ohio river by flatboat, and the apples were highly regarded. The Grimes Golden apple was one of the parent apple stocks used to create today's Golden Delicious Apple. Local legend claims that Samuel Chapman, known as "Johnny Appleseed", may have worked for either Grimes or perhaps Edward Crawford. Chapman was originally from Massachusetts, but came to Virginia and began his apple planting. His biography states that he learned about apples from a "Mr. Crawford" who he worked for, but the context of the statement makes it seem that this man lived in Massachusetts. The rest of the story seems to be true.
Added October 10, 2012
Marian and Agnes Wilder (she, with the blonde hair bobbed short) are shown with their baby cousin, Lowell "Tod" Mulcahy, and a cat (on Marian's lap), about the year 1918. Just over Marian's head is what appears to be a church wall. I don't believe it's the Congregational Church, which was near the Wilder home. Use the magnifying glass to view closeup details.
Marian and Agnes Wilder, with their baby cousin Lowell "Tod" Mulcahy. Tulare, California, about 1918
Added October 10, 2012
Wilson M. Gamble's father, William Clifford Gamble, was married four times, Wilson being the last child born to his first wife (and first cousin!) Isabel Gamble. Nancy Weyandt Gamble, his third wife, gave birth to the young woman shown here, Francis Elvira Gamble, who was Wilson's half sister.
Francis Elvira Gamble, half sister of Wilson M. Gamble
Added October 10, 2012
Photo of Frank Gamble, the older brother of Flora and Alice Gamble. The photo is one of three or four tintypes from the Wilson M. Gamble family Bible that appear to have been taken at the same time and place, based upon the background drape and the furniture prop. One is a photo of Sarah Hathaway Gamble holding Flora Gamble as a baby, which seems to place the set of tintypes at about 1882 or perhaps 1883.
Frank Gamble, about 1882 or '83
Added October 10, 2012
Photo of Flora Gamble, about 1899. From the Wilson M. Gamble Family Photo Album.
Added October 8, 2012
A story about an Indian raid near the home of Edward (or Thomas Edward) Wiggins, the ancestor of Marian and Agnes Wilder in 1793, in what was then the wilderness of western Virginia.
The Last Indian raid in Brooke County Virginia happened next to Edward Wiggins' farm house
Added October 3, 2012
New photos have been added for Flora G. Wilder.
Added October 2, 2012
The dimensions and ship building specifics for the British barque Pandora, which John McMurdo commanded from 1860 until 1862. Use the magnifying glass to zoom in on the document.
Ship's Specifications for the Barque Pandora from 1853
Added September 28, 2012
A timeline of the life of John McMurdo, master mariner
A timeline of the Life of John McMurdo, Master Mariner
Added September 28, 2012
A photo of Sarah Gamble, probably the 1920's.
Sarah Jane Hathaway Gamble (1845-1925)
Added September 26, 2012
This is an excellent overview of the ancestors of Wilson M. Gamble.
Gamble Family Information--Excellent Link
Added September 25, 2012
From the Mormon LDS.org website, a screen capture of the marriage of Samuel and Isabel Hathaway, 1841
Marriage notation for Samuel and Isabella Hathaway, 1841
Added September 25, 2012
New information added about the family of Sarah Jane Hathaway, the wife of Wilson M. Gamble.
Sarah Jane Hathaway Gamble and Her Ancestors
Added September 25, 2012
New information added about the family of Wilson McKnight Gamble of Tulare, California.
The Wilson McKnight Gamble Family
Added September 19, 2012
New content has been added to the page for the Burke family of Sonora, California, relating to Margaret Mulvey Kilduff, the great grandmother of Mary Ellen McMurdo
The grave of Margaret Mulvey Kilduff (1798-1877), the grandmother of Katie Banahan Burke
Added September 12, 2012
This is a collection of Revolutionary War items that recently came up as an auction lot. The items, an English scabbard, bayonet and cartridge box, were, according to tradition and the provenance provided here, possibly collected by Joseph Hosmer in 1775 after the battle of Concord. According to this description, the items have been passed down through the Hosmer family since this time. Note in the description that the connection to Joseph Hosmer is not certain, but implied. Joseph Hosmer was the younger brother of our ancestor, Lucy Hosmer Wood. Hosmer is known in American history as the adjutant on the field at the Battle of Concord who challenged his superiors with the question "will you let them burn the town down?" upon seeing smoke from fires set by the English in the middle of Concord during searches there. The challenge was the catalyst for the American advance to confront and fight the British, starting the American Revolution. Hosmer, a furniture maker by trade, produced work that is still highly prized when it comes to auction. Our ancestor Silas Wood, the son of Lucy, is known to have worked in Joseph Hosmer's shop, almost certainly in the year 1782, because his own signature is on at least one piece of Hosmer's work still in existence. It is possible that Silas Wood, himself a furniture maker, learned his trade at his uncle Joseph's shop. Joseph Hosmer housed his workmen in a small cottage next door to his own farmhouse. The cottage itself has a small role in American history. Known originally as "the Hosmer Cottage", it was rented in 1840 by Bronson Alcott to house his family, including his small daughter Louisa May Alcott, who later wrote Little Women. Louisa May Alcott said that her model for the home "the Dovecote" in her books was the Hosmer Cottage, which today is known as the Dovecote. While there is no way of knowing, it is perhaps possible that Silas Wood himself stayed at the Dovecote while he worked for his uncle, if his experience was the same as other workmen employed there.
Added September 11, 2012
This link is a list of the reinterments at the American Mechanics Cemetery in Philadelphia. The Conrad Wile who died in 1839 is most likely James Lewellyn Wilder's great grandfather. Elizabeth Wile who died in May of 1850 matches the name and death date of Conrad's wife, Elizabeth Keyser Wile. Julia and Mary Ann Wile match with two of Benjamin Wile's sisters, and George Wile, according to Steven Wile Ward, would appear to be either an older brother of Benjamin Wile or perhaps his cousin.
List of Wile Family Reinterments at American Mechanics Cemetery, Philadelphia
Added September 6, 2012
In 1951, the American Mechanics Cemetery, where the graves of the Wile family and others exhumed from the First German Reformed Cemetery around 1850 had been moved to, were again exhumed and moved. The American Mechanics Cemetery in 1951 had fallen into a considerable state of neglect, and the city of Philadelphia decided to use the land for a subdivision. The graves, with headstones attached to the coffins, were moved to the Philadelphia Memorial Park in Philadelphia. In searching this site, I have located the marker for George Wile, who may have been a son or a nephew of Conrad Wile. He appears to be the same person on the list of graves moved to the American Mechanics Cemetery in 1851. The George Wile in our family was apparently also a War of 1812 veteran, as this marker shows. At this link, there are no other listings for Wiles, but the source, findagrave.com may be incomplete.
Added September 6, 2012
Philadelphia Memorial Park, Possible Location of Conrad Wile Family Graves
Added September 6, 2012
Wile Interments at Philadelphia Memorial Park
Added September 6, 2012
Four LInes of Family History Tracing to James Hosmer, Sr
Added August 26, 2012
Mayflower Ancestors of James Lewellyn Wilder
Added August 20, 2012
Added August 20, 2012
A Brief Biography of Silas Wood (1753-1834)
Added August 18, 2012
A Biography of Oliver Wood from HIstory of Norridgewock
Added August 18, 2012
Updated August 19, 2012
Weird Gamble and Hathaway Family Facts
Updated August 19, 2012