Giles B Smith of Mechanicville, NY

[update - 27 May 2016 -  to my chagrin, Giles is not linked directly to the Vincent line as first thought -  initially had him as the son William J Smith of 1801 but that would have made him 11 yrs of age during the war! Giles' father was William of abt 1792 (FindaGrave #91990716) the son of John T Smith & Hepzibah Carey, 2 of John's brother married Rogers girls who are Vincent descendants, so, related the long way around?!]

Giles B Smith, also known as Daddy Smith, was the oldest living pioneer resident of Mechanicville, and he died at 95 doing what he loved, caring for the yard.  In fact, he insisted on the activity as part of his daily exercise.

1835-1930

Born 1835 in a log cabin in Halfmoon with 8 other siblings, he loved to tell the younger folks true tales of Indians and early life.  His family was the 4th generation of Smiths of colonial, pre-revolutionary days; direct descendants of the Smiths who settled in Dutchess County in the early 1600s and his forefathers were Quakers

He farmed in Halfmoon for 50 years and served in the Civil War for 3 years.  He then moved to Mechanicville where he abandoned farming.  He took odd jobs until he settled on landscaping.  His last job was caretaker of the city parks and was appointed Superintendent of Streets and Parks.

He was a staunch democrat and it was a great source of pride for him that he had voted 74 times – never missing an election.  The first presidential candidate he could remember was James K Polk but his first vote went to James Buchanan; he voted in 19 presidential elections.

He remembered the history of Mechanicville, details long lost to many.  Such as it was the first place in the country to make sulfur matches at the Terry Match Factory.  Later the factory was turned into a grist mill.  Mechanicville was also the first place in the area to have a tannery near the bank of the Tenadoah [Thenendehowa] Creek - farmers from miles would bring in a hide to have them cured (took about a year) and these hides provided the shoes and boots for the family.  The first woolen mill was in Stillwater and his mother had the first carpet with flowers woven in, only stripes before.  And true to history, many payments were done in trade, that is, folks would leave a bit of hide, wool, or grist in exchange for having items made.

Hudson View Cemetery, Mechanicville, NY

He celebrated his 90th birthday reliving a moment he shared with his wife when he was 30.  He had promised his young bride that he would one day take her to the circus.  When the time came, they hitched up the wagon and rode to town to witness the Walter L Main Circus - the same company he went to see 60 years later!






The Saratogian, Wed, 25 Jun 1924 - 90th Birthday
The Saratogian, Tues, 26 Jun 1928 - 93th Birthday                   Go Figure
The Saratogian, Thurs, 3 Jul 1930 - Obit

One Small Step For Man...wait, Woman

"Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." 

Neil Armstrong

I wouldn't normally include a living person but I had to celebrate the female Astronaut in the Vincent clan!

Cmdr Susan Leigh (Still) Kilrain

Susan Leigh Still was born in Augusta, GA and is the daughter of Dr Joseph Still Jr & Jean Ann Batho.   

She married active Navy Seal Rear Admiral, Colin Kilrain and they have four children.  

Susan graduated with her bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1982.  Then went on to earn a Masters of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Tech in 1985.  

Her connection to the Vincent line is via Benjamin & Phebe (Vincent) Rosekrans who are her 6x maternal grandparents and a link to the Daughters of the American Revolution.  

In the late 1980s, she was commissioned to the Navy and became one of the first females designated as a Naval Aviator, that is, she was a qualified pilot and flew a few kick-ass navy planes!

She was a flight instructor for the Skyhawks and flew the electric intruder prowlers of the Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 (VAQ-33) in Key West, FL.  Later she reported for duty in Virginia Beach and was assigned to the Fighter Squadron 101 (VF-101) where she flew Tomcats! 

In 1995, she reported to the Johnson Space Center as an Astronaut Candidate and became a member of Nasa Group 15.  She flew two notable missions - the STS-83 in April of 1997 (video link below) and then the STS-94 in July of 1997.

She retired in 2002 from the Astronaut Office and 2005 from the Navy and has ventured into public speaking.

From outer space to feet planted firmly on the ground, she is the epitome of LIVING YOUR DREAM!!!

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Center Bio
STS 83 - Space Shuttle Columbia Launch
Discussing her career
Motivational Speaker 
Wiki 

JFK Interloper!

Capt Benjamin Rosekrans and Phebe Vincent had a few interesting descendants.  We already met B/General Rosecrans - now we meet Helen Grace Banta, 3x great-granddaughter of the pair.

Helen was born in Kansas City, the daughter of Harry S Banta and Lydia Gookins.  Harry was the son of Ira Banta who had married Helen Swartwout - Swartwout being the link to the Vincent lines.

Helen Grace had a fairly, normal, life?   

She was a music teacher who received her degree from the Warnsburg College in Missouri.  Apparently teaching didn't come without its difficulties.  

She was so young that there were rumors that she was dating her students.  It wasn't true, but an easy rumor to start given that she was very beautiful; so beautiful that she won Miss Kansas City in 1925!  

(Perhaps this was a county or school contest as I couldn't find a Miss Kansas for 1925 and she would have been 15 at the time.) 

Although homemaking became her focus,  she did play the piano for a game show on KRLD-TV called 'Questions that Count', a Christian trivia show during the 1950s.

Helen met and married a Harry D Holmes in 1934 at Missouri.  He was the son of H Davis Holmes and Margaret 'Edith' Powers and was born in Oklahoma.

Harry's life started out easy enough - playing in fields and taking odd jobs such as working in a bakery, a factory, and he was a lamplighter at one point.  

But events would transpire to put him front and center and forever linked to the assassination, or rather, the conspiracies surrounding the assassination of John F Kennedy. 

He began working for the postal service and was going to school part-time to become a dentist but Pearl Harbor changed the trajectory of his life.  

Whatever it was about his demeanor or character, he was encouraged to become a Postal Inspector.  Once accepted, he was sent to Louisiana before landing in Dallas, Texas around 1948.

On that tragic day in 1963, our Inspector Holmes witnessed the assassination through binoculars but didn't see Oswald.  Our Inspector Holmes found a piece of JFK's skull on the sidewalk and discarded it rather than turning it over.  Our Inspector Holmes was one of the first officers to interview Oswald, not the FBI.  And more.  That's his story!

Did he hinder or help the process?  He did drop the ball if one believes everything on the internet but in my humble opinion, most of it reads like a man caught up in the chaos of ground zero and perhaps tried too hard.  

Regardless............he was there!

I am sure that he and his family were never the same again - like the country.


Interrogation of Holmes - PDF download 
Holmes Testimony 2 Apr 1964
Holmes Testimony 23 Jul 1964
Four Faces of Harry D Holmes
'No More Silence' by Larry A Sneed

Just Add Ice

You thought I meant scotch?  





I am talking about the sport that has made dentists rich since 1875!





Let me introduce you to  Louella Florence Rhude, she's the daughter of Lewis G Rhude and Florence Zettler - Lewis's 3x maternal grandparents are Samuel Whidden (1813) and Sophia Vincent (1824).

Louella married one Hector Joseph Lalande in 1957 at North Bay, Ontario.  Hector was the son of Emile Lalande and Dorina Demontigny and he was born on 24 Nov 1934 and passed away on 18 Aug 2010 in North Bay, Ontario.

He broke into the National Hockey League when he was 19 years old and was a centerman for the Chicago Blackhawks from 1955 to 1958 and ended NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings.  He rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bobby Hull and Elmer Vasko - all three were credited for the revitalization of the Hawks franchise around 1957.  After he left the NHL, he was considered a nomad and landed with the Hershey Bears of the AHL in 1958.  After hockey, he coached hockey and baseball and organized & coached sledge hockey for disabled athletes.

The Nugget, Tues, 24 Aug 2010
Funeral for Former NHLer Hec Lelande
A funeral service will be held today for Hector 'Hec' Lalande, who played 151 NHL games with the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings during his 15-year pro hockey career.

Lalande, who was inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame in 1986, died Wednesday at age 75.

Lalande broke into the NHL as a 19-year-old junior with the 1953-54 Chicago Blackhawks. He would go on to score 21 goals and 60 points in 151 games over three NHL seasons with the Blackhawks and Red Wings, before spending 12 more seasons of pro hockey in the AHL and Eastern Professional Hockey League.

Lalande started out in junior hockey in Belleville, after that city was recommended as "a good place to play" by North Bay's Don Hogan, who would later play against Lalande in the AHL and EPHL.

"He was a good centreman, a good playmaker," said Hogan, a fellow North Bay Sports Hall of Famer. "And he was a tough player. Nobody pushed him around."

Hogan spent three seasons with the AHL's Cleveland Barons facing off against Lalande, who was then playing for the Hershey Bears. Lalande captured two straight Calder Cups with Hershey in 1957-58 and 1958-59.

Lalande, whose brothers Harvey and Lionel are also recognized by the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame, was a teammate of Hogan's during summers playing fastball for North Bay Dairy.  "He was a good all-around athlete, a good ball player," Hogan said. "You could say he was an outstanding athlete."

Lalande's most productive seasons in pro hockey were with the Clinton Comets in 1963-64 and 1964-65, when he had back-to-back 100-point seasons and helped the team win a championship.

Family and friends will celebrate Lalande's life at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Name of Jesus Church.
 

North Bay Hall of Fame 
Find A Grave Memorial
Joe Pelletier's Greatest Hockey League
Wiki

Newspaper - Evening Standard, Uniontown, PA; Thurs, 12 Dec 1957

Hockey players wear numbers because you can't always identify the body from the dental records

African American Connections

I love to find stories of the people who were different....who dared to follow their heart....who challenged the status quo.......how absolutely glorious is it to be different!

Sarah Everett, 1859, was born in Colchester Co, Nova Scotia to Philip Vincent Everett and Catherine Creighton; Sarah was the great-granddaughter of George Vincent and Mary Higgins.

Sarah was a dressmaker who landed in Massachusetts abt 1881 and shortly thereafter, married a black man by the name of William Farrow. Although they had five children together, only one lived long enough to get married and have her own family.

All I was able to discover about William Farrow was based on the marriage record which indicated that he was from Charlottesville, VA and that his parents were William & Evelina Farrow.  That's it.  

Sarah died in 1905 and is buried at the Cambridge Cemetery in Cambridge, MA along with four of her children.  It appears William died before 1900 as Sarah indicated she was a widow on the 1900 census; he is most likely buried at the same cemetery but I could find no evidence.

Their daughter, Florence Louise Farrow, went on to marry a black man by the name of Adolphus Armstead Mitchell.  He was the son of Berry Mitchell and Leah Ann Barrett.  Adolphus was born in Boston but his parents hailed from Virginia.

I couldn't find death or burial entries for these two but it appears they lived in the Winthrop & Newburyport areas of Massachusetts and had six children together: Olive, Ralph, Doris, Ernest, Ruth, and Dorothy. 

I wish I could have found out more about this wonderfully liberal clan!

FHL - William and Sarah's Marriage Entry  
FHL - Adolphus & Florence's Marriage Entry

Spunky Sisters

Who said strong, independent, women were a modern phenomenon!

Catharine A (1822) and Sarah M Swade (1826) were spinster daughters of Abraham Swade and Sarah Johnson out of Dutchess Co, New York, but as they were to prove, never underestimate a woman! 

Random female with shotgun

THE DAILY EAGLE, Fri, 14 Sep 1877

"Burglars in La Grange - On the last Saturday night, one or more persons entered a room, which is a little detached from the residence of Misses Catharine and Sarah M Swade, and tied up a feather bed and bedding and threw it out in a cellar way and were proceeding to bundle up the other beds in the room, but were heard by the ladies, who fired on them, when they departed without any plunder.  The Misses Swade are prepared to give them a warm reception should they return, as they have three shot guns loaded and are not afraid to use them."

The two girls lived together all their lives and on Sarah's death bed, she bequeathed everything to Catharine.  However, it wasn't formalized in a will and would result in Catharine fighting off extended kin. The family home, held onto by generations of Swades, would be split up.  

Catharine's obituary was so well written, I had to post verbatim.

THE NEWBURGH REGISTER, Mon, 31 Jul 1905
 
They Loved The Dear Old Farm - Four Generations Made It Their Home
Death of a Woman 82 Years of Age, Who Maintained the Customs of Her Girlhood Days and Was an Unique Character - She Could Drive a Bargain, Was Sharp As Any Man, But When it Came to the Law, She Wasn't Well Versed

A link between the present and the past was broken by the death of Catharine A Swade, on Tuesday last at her home in the Town of LaGrange, Dutchess County, aged 82 years.  Miss Swade was of the fourth generation of her family in La Grange, and she clung to the customs of living and habits of dress that obtained over seventy years ago, when she was a girl.  Her father was Abraham Swade, was born in LaGrange in 1787.  He died in 1862 leaving a large landed estate.  Abraham Swade's father was Richard Swade and Richard's father was Peter Swade, the first settler who purchased the farm where Miss Swade died.  The Swades from Peter's day down to that of Miss Catharine, clung to the old homestead, each succeeding generation passing their lives there.

Catharine Swade was recognized says the Courier, through all the countryside as a woman of remarkable force of character . She gave her personal attention to the management of the home farm.  She could rake hay like a man and buy seeds with the judgment of an expert.  She and her two sisters, Sarah and Susan, for many years occupied the Swade Pavilion - the name given to the dwelling house on the home farm, which was built specifically to provide room for them all.  Catharine did the business and could drive as sharp a bargain as any man.  Farm hands early learned that they could not escape her sharp and searching eye and that they had to perform their duties well or retire.

Catharine and Sarah never married but Susan did.  It is her children - the Delematers - who looked after Catharine in her declining days.  There was a brother, Johnson Swade, with whom Catharine was never on good terms.  Sarah Swade died several years ago, and on her death bed, gave her bank book and securities to Catharine and verbally made her heir to her interest in the real estate.  Catharine thought that the transfer was good and resented the interference of the courts.  She sustained her claim to the personal property, but the real estate was partitioned and the nephews and nieces received their legal share.

Catharine Swade's home was conducted as homes were a century ago.  She made her own cheese, her own rag carpet and did a thousand and one things that are neglected or unthought of today in farm houses.  She was direct and positive in her way and her strength of character and vigor of mind impressed all who met her and earned their respect and admiration.  She was a remarkable woman, with uncommon force and virility".

Tombstone for Both 

Brigadier General Rosecrans

I was surprised to discover that Canada does not have a Marine Corps.  A navy, an army and an air force, yes; specially trained members, yes; but no designated specialty forces.  The government toyed with the idea of creating an equivalent, such as the SCFT, Standing Contingency Task Force or the Marine Commando Regiment which would have been based in Comox BC; however, money and politics got in the way.  Some opponents argued that by adopting the models of other countries, we would appear to be more about 'war making' rather than 'peace keeping' and financially, the cost outweighed the size our military.  

In contrast, the military forces of the United States are vast and varied. There are seven uniformed services including the US Marine Corps which was formed in 1775 in Philadelphia as an infantry force.  It may be the smallest of the US Armed Forces but the US Marine Corps has evolved to provide a rapid response from the sea, air and land; a combined-arms task force like no other.

To date, I have found the following Marines in the Vincent family tree:  M/Sgt Daniel Joseph Carroll was killed in action during Korea; John Webster Hull; Robert Paul Peck; Robert Darling Rosecrans; Arthur William Rosecrans; George Gabriel Everett; William E Bonin; Karl E Norton; Sgt Chester Arthur Steven; Edward Joseph Dennehy; Joseph Marshall Roop; Capt Wayne Edward Faulkner; Raymond 'Bud' Pepper; Francis 'Junie' Rafter; and B/General Rosecrans.

The Vincent family is linked to the Rosekrans family through Phebe Vincent (1753) who married Capt Benjamin 'Jacobus' Rosekrans (1750) of Dutchess Co, NY.  Phebe was the great-granddaughter of Charles Sr of Yonkers. 

Harold's 4x grandfather, Capt Benjamin Rosekrans lived in Saratoga Co, NY during the Revolutionary period.  He was one of the first Supervisors elected for the area and served as a Justice of the Peace for over twenty years.  His family homestead was near Crescent and it is told that the family once had to flee an attack made by a band of Canadian Indians! 

Harold Ellett Rosecrans

Brigadier General Harold E Rosecrans 

Harold Ellett Rosecrans was born 1 Mar 1897 in Cohoes, NY to Benjamin Rosekrans Jr & Mary Ellett.  His father was a machinist at an electric shop and Harold was the 2nd child, oldest boy, of five children.

Harold married Dorothy Darling who was the daughter of Harry Darling and Ida Smith.  Harold and Dorothy died in Dayton, Florida and were buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Robert Darling Rosecrans listed above was their son who was a Lt/Col; and Arthur W Rosecrans was Harold's nephew.

Harold enlisted in Cohoes, 20 Apr 1917 and from his military abstract, things moved very quickly afterward.  He was sent to Philadelphia three days later then arrived in France, 27 Jun 1917 where upon completing his training, his company was ordered to the battle field.  After being promoted to Corp on 5 Apr 1918, he went on to get himself shot up on 7 Jun 1918, at the Battle of Belleau Wood!

Adjutant General's Office. Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917–1919. Series B0808. NY State Archives, Albany, NY

• 1918 - Wounded at Belleau Wood
• 1919 - Promoted to 2nd Lt
• 1919 - Discharged to receive officer training
• 1926 - Posted to Manila & China
• 1931 - Posted to Haiti
• 1933 - Graduated Company Officers' School at Quantico & posted to Washington
• 1935 - Promoted to Capt  
• 1936 - Promoted to Major
• 1942 - Promoted to Lt Col
• 1943 - Promoted to Col
• 1944 - Col Harold E Rosecrans was named director of the Marine Corps Command & Staff School at Quantico, VA. 
• 1945 - C/O of the 7th Reg, III Amphibious Corps during the battle of Okinawa
• 1958 - Retired 1 star General

During WWII at Tulugi Island, Harold's unit was surprised by a night attack from the Japanese but he was able to break camp just minutes beforehand without a loss of life which earned him the Silver Star - commanded the 2nd Battl, 5th Marine Regiment.

A very long and distinguished career indeed!   

                       .......But......what's fame without a bit of infamy??? 

Ok, it's not that exciting.  The newspaper of 1947 reported that the top brass were using Marines as servants after the war despite regulation 553.  Harold's name was tossed into the mix.  


Medals
Tombstone Picture 
Military Jacket for sale & more bio


Newspaper Sources
Knickerbocker News, Sat, 13 May 1944
Buffalo Courier-Express, Sun, 22 Jul 1934
Philadelphia Inquirer, Thurs, 29 Oct 1942
Shortsville Enterprise, Wed, 30 Dec 1942
Troy Daily Times, Mon, 31 Mar 1919
Troy Times, Thurs, 1 Jun 1933
Troy Times Record, Fri, 9 Jan 1942
Troy Times Record,  Thurs, 27 Jul 1944
Greenfield Recorder-Gazette, Thurs, 3 Apr 1947


Name Game - Rosecrans, Rosecrantz, Rosekrans, Rosekrantz, Rosencrantz, Rosenkrantz

The Shoemaker of Shoemakers

Cobbler....I love that word!  It not only sounds old fashioned but also conjures up competing visions of Dutch clogs and layered desserts - you're doing it now right?! 

But, this is genealogy and I am talking about cordwainers....shoemakers

Other than farming and the railroad, shoemaking was another common trade for many of the Vincent men of my line.  I haven't discovered who the first shoemaker was but I am leaning towards that Uncle John Vincent who went to Ireland with a couple of brothers, but it's just a guess.

Of my line, Benjamin Treen Vincent was a man on a mission and succeeded where others didn't. 

He left Nova Scotia and first landed in Massachusetts where he learned about crimping.  Crimping is the process of creating the curve on the boot; bending the leather to where the foot meets the leg and ridding it of all the wrinkles.  The leather is soaked in water to make it pliable and then molded around a wooden foot form - nowadays it's all done by machines.

Benjamin married Samantha Darling in 1861 in Massachusetts and they went on to have five children before she died young in 1887.  He then married Laura Worcester/Wooster and all the family have a large plot at the Masonic Memorial Park Cemetery in Tumwater, WA.

Rev Harvey K Hines in "An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens", 1893 wrote about Benjamin:

"Benjamin Vincent, manufacturer of and dealer in boots and shoes at Olympia, was born in Wallace, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, in 1834.

His parents, Joshua, and Hannah (Treen) Vincent, were also relatives of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, and were descendants of the refugees who were there prior to the Revolutionary War.  Joshua Vincent was by trade and occupation a millwright and was also interested in agricultural pursuits. He superintended the construction of saw and flour mills all over the province.

Benjamin Vincent was the first born in a family of twelve children; was reared on the farm and educated in the schools near his home.  When he was twenty years old he started out in life for himself.  Going to Boston, Massachusetts, he found employment as driver of a milk wagon, and was thus engaged for three years.  Then he went to Medway, Massachusetts, and in a large boot and shoe factory learned the trade of crimping boots.

In 1866 Mr. Vincent made a prospecting tour of the Pacific coast, coming by steamer and the Nicaragua route to San Francisco, thence to Portland and from there across the mountains on foot to Seattle to join his cousin, L. A. Treen, who came to the coast in 1865, via the Strait of Magellan, with the Asa Mercer colony that made settlement in the vicinity of of Seattle.  Mr. Treen was manufacturing boots and shoes at Seattle, but in the spring of 1867 moved his factory to Olympia.  Mr. Vincent was in his employ until 1869, when he returned East.  The following year he brought his family to Olympia, and he again entered the factory, this time as a partner with Mr. Treen.  At the end of one year the partnership was dissolved.  Mr. Vincent then formed a co-partnership with George B. Capen, opened a manufactory of boots and shoes, and after three years purchased the entire interest, having since conducted the establishment alone.  He also carries a large manufactured stock in all grades and finish.

Mr. Vincent was married in Medway, Massachusetts, in 1864, to Miss Samantha Darling, a native of New York, born on Grindstone Island in the St. Lawrence river.  She died in 1886, leaving four children, George, Benjamin, Jr., Philip and Mabel.  In 1888 he was married in Olympia to Mrs. Laura A. (Wooster) Hood, a native of Maine.

Socially, Mr. Vincent is a member of the F. & A. M. and the A. O. U. W.  He owns valuable residence property in Olympia, and is today the only boot and shoe manufacturer in this city.  He devotes his whole time and energy to his business affairs, and to his natural ability, his integrity and his perseverance is due the success he has attained."

Find A Grave Memorial 

Silence Is Golden

Oh the drama....oh the exaggeration....

Silent movies, a symbol  of bygone days - was movie making simpler back then?  

 Certainly technology has advanced the quality of movie making but from reading up on silent movies, it was anything but easy!  

Dialogue was conveyed through expressive gestures, mime and title cards.

Brought to life by the music which was fundamental to creating the atmosphere and providing emotional cues.  Smaller cities hired pianists to play the cue music that was provided by the movie studio.

In walks Leah Olive Vincent, born in Winnipeg and the daughter of David Robinson Vincent and Mabel Erroll Marshall, who played the piano for the local movie house.  

I wonder how she reacted to the the first 'talkie'.

Leah Vincent

"Piano playing is a dying art.  I love the fact that I can be one guy with one instrument evoking an emotional and musical experience" - Jon Bon Jovi

History of American Film Music Through Film by composer Mark Oates

http://www.markmusicproduction.com/blog.php?id=34

Silent Sample

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gai2KfaLg3U&noredirect=1