52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 13 "Light a Candle"

Elias and Laura Higgins Bridgewater

Originally called McQuilkinsville, then simply Macksville or Maxville, West Terre Haute was laid out by Samuel McQuilkin on November 22, 1836. The first building had been put up in 1833, and in 1834 McQuilkin opened a general store on the National Road between present-day Third and Fourth Streets. The store proved useful to those working on the National Road and made McQuilkinsville an important town in the area. Because of the town's fertile soil, soon people started settling there as vegetable farmers.  John Griggs and his son Edward put up a flour mill in 1867, but the structure was burned in 1870. The town expanded quickly, with Smith Hinch building a tavern on the National Road and Richard McIlroy building a brick general store and post office in 1872.

In 1894 citizens of the town voted to change its name to West Terre Haute.

With coal-bearing bluffs immediately to the town's north and west, coal mining became a major industry in the town. By 1906, West Terre Haute had eleven mines in operation, served by both railroads and wagon roads. These mines averaged a daily output of 2,000 tons.

The Bridgewater family moved to Indiana from Kentucky about 1855, settling first in Putnam County then moving on to Vigo County. Elias was born in Putnam County in August 1868. He worked at different jobs throughout his life, but the 1900 Vigo County census shows Elias and three of his brothers - Frank, Edward and Earl - working as coal miners. 

According to the National Museum of American History, 

The depth, the dark, and the dangers inherent in mining created a uniquely dangerous working environment for the miner. Miners faced death from collapsing mines, oxygen deprivation, and haulage accidents, with the specter of fatal lung disease remaining even after the miner had left the mines. But the most instantaneous and catastrophic loss of life was caused by explosions due to miner’s lamps igniting methane gas.

20th c. Canvas Mining Cap & Lamp Bracket

A miner’s light was essential to their labor. Without light there was no sight, no work, and no wages. But this essential light was also lethal. Open flames could ignite the inflammable gas especially prevalent in coal mines and mining explosions with hundreds of casualties was a common occurrence in the late 19th and early 20th century. Miners often carried open flames into the mines in the form of candles and hanging lamps, and later wore the open flames of carbide lamps and oil-wick lamps on their caps and helmets. (https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/mining-lights-and-hats)

Elias married Susan May Cordell in Vigo County on 27 October 1889; after Susan's death in 1900, Elias married Laura May Higgins on 12 Marchh 1905 also in Vigo County. They were the parents of my great grandmother, Bessie Doris Bridgewater who was born 18 January 1914.

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 12 "Membership"

 

 

Membership

​My dad, Robert, grew up on a small family farm in rural Illinois, the youngest of seven children. His father, Dwight, raised Appaloosas; they were especially proud of the stallion that they bred and raised, Washburn’s Appach, who Dad always called "Apache."

Dwight with Appach, Robert in the background on tricycle (April 1965)

Dwight Washburn on Polly with her colt, Appach (Aug. 1965); Robert is nearby, on the left hand side of the photo.

 

Dad lost his dad when he was just a boy, at age 14. Dwight's membership in an Appach's registration with the Appaloosa Horse Club was especially important to my dad. He often talked about it.
 

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 11 "Lucky"

 

  Lucky

 

It was pure luck one day when a couple walked into the library where I worked, searching for some information on an ancestor. The couple was in the area for a cousin's reunion in a town about an hour south of my hometown. They had a little extra time, so decided to stop in our library.

While I chatted with them about their query, the gentleman mentioned that  his family were Rogers from Lawrenceville, Illinois. I told him that my grandpa's family was from Lawrenceville and his grandmother's sister had married a Rogers. 

What a surprise - my grandfather's grandmother's sister was his grandmother! 

He had a lovely collection of photos of the family that I had never seen before and he was so kind to share them. We have kept in touch and currently have a few other photos in the mail to each other. 💓

Sarah (Mills) and Peter Pargin with their daughters. 

My great great grandmother Goldie is standing.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 10 "Translation"

 

 

 

 

 Origins of Washburn Family Name

From Wikipedia:

This family, of Norman origin, can be traced through the lands in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, namely the little hams of "Little Washbourne" and "Great Washbourne". Little Washbourne, historically in the parish of Overbury, and the manor thereon, eventually becoming known as "Wasseburne Militis" or "Knyghtes Wasshebourne", for the many from this line that bore that honour.

In the Herald's College, London, Vol. I., page 54, is given: Washbourne. "A name of ancient Norman descent; the founder was knighted on the field of battle by William the Conqueror and endowed with the lands of Little Washbourne and Great Washbourne, Counties of Gloucester and Worcester".

The name may have come from the Saxon for "from the flooding brook," with "wash" meaning "swift moving current of a stream," and "burn" referring to a brook or a small stream. It may have originated from the River Isbourne, which flowed near Little and Great Washbourne.

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 9 "Gone Too Soon"

  

Gone Too Soon

    My great-grand uncle (brother of my great grandfather) Arthur Jay Washburn 

Born in 1921, Arthur was only 30 years old when he passed away, but he packed so much into those years. He married, fathered seven children, and fought in World War II. After the war, he had gone to work in Lawrenceburg, Indiana and died in a terrible fire at his boarding house. 

His wife, Clarine Moore, never remarried and raised all of their children on her own.