Worse than the Hidenburg?

Is that possible? Could anyone have imagined?

While I was familiar with the Hindenburg, I had no idea how far back the inception went or how extensively 'airships' were used during war time.

It is important to note the difference between a blimp & a zeppelin. A blimp is like a balloon, soft shelled like the Good Year Blimp that uses a lifting gas like helium. The zeppelin has a rigid shell covered by a fabric that encases many individual gas cells and it has engines; the rigid shell allows it to be built much larger than a blimp.

courtesy of

The concept of an airship was literally that, a ship in the air! 

Contrived in 1670, it was the brain-child of Jesuit Father, Francesco Lana de Terzi, a priest, mathematician, naturalist & aeronautics pioneer.  

While the concept is as impossible today as it was then due to the design & weight, it was the first using the vacuum principle.

From there, there were many types created right down to the ship being carried by a balloon - which I have seen in movies but I really thought it was the imagination of some Hollywood writer, not reality!  

But in 1785, Blanchard crossed the English channel in exactly that, a ship being carried by a balloon! Note the wings & tail designed for propulsion & steering - I can't even....who knew!  This was real!!

courtesy of

Throughout the 19th century, the concept continued to grow with many designs & flights. But my interest is in the use of air ships as a military machine, again, I had no clue!

The first use of an airship in a war was during the Civil War when Solomon Andrews gave his to the US Military in 1863 (a blimp rather than the zeppelin which wasn't fully invented until 1899).

While they were used in several wars over the years, they were vulnerable once areoplanes took to the air and they were useless for targeted bombing which was the primary interest & use intially, along with scouting.But that didn't stop the various countries from trying to fine tune these devices for their uses - including the United States - and continues to this day.

Having said that, with success comes failure and here is where our lines tie in.

The US Navy experimented with using airships as airborne aircraft carriers before WWII.  There were three in particular but they were lost to accidents - and the USS Akron was the worst and worse than the Hidenburg.

USS Akron - courtesy of

The USS Akron was the used to carry F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes between 1931 and the accident of 1933. 

After casting off on the 4th of April in 1933, the airship ran into a storm that the captains couldn't out maneuver. 

It was slammed by an updraft then a downdraft that left the vessel facing tail first into the ocean where the fin broke off causing the Akron to go down - only 3 survived, 73 died.  

One of the men who died was Hilbert Norman Graves. 

He was the son of William Richard Graves & Sarah Henrietta Baldwin. In 1929, he married Marie A Sommerfeld, the daughter of Martin L Sommerfeld & Emma Bernice Specht. In the 4 short years of marriage, they had no children & Marie never remarried.

The Noon, Reunion Edition, Summer 2007
Marie Graves, 97, of Manchester , NJ, died February 12 at Community Medical Center, Toms River. She had been in poor health and living in a Nursing Home facility for several years. Marie was, as far as we know, the last living widow left behind from the crash of the USS Akron, (ZRS4) at sea off Barnegat, NJ, April 4, 1933 which took the life of her husband, Aviation Machinist's Mate 3rd Class Hilbert N Graves and 72 others aboard. Marie was born in Trenton, NJ and met Hilbert Graves when he was just starting Rigid Airship duty. It was her intention that as a Navy wife married to a man in a glamorous branch of the service flying the great dirigibles, she would eventually get to "see the world." As it turned out, she never got much beyond Lakehurst, NJ, some 35 miles from her birthplace. In their short married life together, they never had children and she never remarried. Marie got a teaching degree from Trenton State Teacher's College and settle in to a 30 year career as an elementary school teacher in the town of Lakehurst, where she also served as something of an unofficial historian, Girls Scout leader and a pillar of the small community. She was a member of the Naval Airship Association, the Lakehurst Elementary Education Association and the Lakehurst Borough Historical Society as well as a parishioner at St John's Roman Catholic Church, Lakehurst for over 70 years.

Airship History

USS Akron 

"Jersey Roots" article by Erik Larsen

Birdsall Tidbits

courtesy of Lisa Jacobs - Find A Grave

John Graham Millar married into our line via Annie Harriet Birdsall, the daughter of Henry Dwight Birdsall & Ann Eliza Graves.  Their only child, Eleanor Graham Millar married Edward Weeks Lee. 

The New York Herald, Fri, 16 Oct 1903
MILLAR - At St Luke's Hospital, New York on October 15, 1903. John Graham Millar, beloved husband of Anna Birdsall Millar, in his 42d year. Interment at Westfield, Conn.

 

courtesy of Lisa Jacobs - Find a Grave

The Brooklyn Eagle, Tues, 28 Oct 1941  

Edward W Lee, Insurance Broker - Was Member of Noted Lee Family of Virginia
Special to the Brooklyn Eagle
Port Washington, Oct 28 - Edward W Lee, 51, an insurance broker, died of a cerebral hemorrhage Sunday in his home, 22 Ivy Way. He was associated with the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States since 1925. He had been secretary of the New York Alumni Association of Washington and Lee University for the last 12 years. Born in New Iberia, La, Mr Lee was a member of the Lee family of Virginia of which Gen Robert E Lee was a member. He was graduated in 1913 from Washington and Lee University. He served in the Navy as a Lieutenant in the World War. Survivors are his widow, Mrs Eleanor Graham Miller Lee; a daughter, Miss Joan Lucinda Lee of Port Washington; a son, Ensign James A Lee 2d; a sister, Miss Dora C Lee of New Iberia, and a brother, James A Lee of East Orange, NJ.
~~~

NY Daily Tribune, 5 Sep 1900

Caroline Josephine Birdsall, the second daughter of Henry Birdsall & Ann Graves was a vaudeville performer who was the victim of fire in 1900.  

She married Dr Charles Cowan Osborne and lost their 2 year old son in 1897. Charles ran the Osborne Rest Cure in New Canaan, CT - the name was changed to the Osborne Sanatorium but around 1898, the pair left amid scandalous circumstances and the place became the Brooks Sanatorium. 

I couldn't find a death entry for Caroline or obits for either.  

~~~

The third Birdsall girl, Charlotte Augusta Birdsall, married Edward Irving Williams, the son of Robert L Williams & Elizabeth Jones. They had one daughter, Dorothy Louise Williams who married Mark Leslie Hull.

Washington Post & Times Herald, 15 Mar 1957
Hull, Mark Leslie - On March 13, 1957 at Suburban Hospital. Mark Leslie Hull of 4125 Harrison St, NW, Washington, DC, beloved husband of Dorothy W Hull and father of John Webster and Donald S Hull. He also is survived by five grandchildren. Private memorial services will be held on Friday, March 15.

courtesy of Lisa Jacobs - Find A Grave

Tarrytown Daily News, Wed, 12 Oct 1977
HULL - Dorothy W, Wed, age 85, Glenmont Home, Columbus, Ohio of 59 Creekwood Glendale, Ohio. Widow of Marl L Hull/ Predeceased in death by son Jack W Hull. Survived by son Donald Hull, Glendale, Ohio, 5 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Formerly of West Chester, Pa and Mamaroneck. Private services were held Oct 6 at Weir-Arend Funeral Home, 4221 No High St, Columbus, Ohio. Friends who wish may make memorials in her name to Glenmont Home, 72 Woodland Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43203

~~

Their son Walter Dwight Birdsall is a dead end for me - he became a lawyer like his father and married but after that - nothing.  I think he may relocated to New Jersey which would explain the lack of records - a few trees on ancestry have his death in 1906 but I couldn't corroborate

A Queer Will

courtesy of nedbixler - Ancestry

Ann Eliza Graves was the older sister of Ellen Josephine Graves, and the daughter of Joshua Bradley Graves & Ann Eliza Rosekrans.

Ann Eliza Graves married Henry Dwight Birdsall, the son of Michael Calkins Birdsall & Wealthy Webster ~~ I love her first name!

Ann & Henry had 4 children - Annie Harriet, Caroline Josephine, Charlotte Augusta & Walter Dwight; Anna died in 1909 after Henry died in 1896.

But his will - it was so surprising it made the papers!

Let's start with the obits .... 

New York Herald, Sun, 15 Aug 1909
Mrs Anna Eliza Birdsall, widow of Henry D Birdsall, formerly a lawyer of Brooklyn, who died at her home in Stamford last week, was a native of Middletown, the daughter of Bradley Graves.  She was seventy-one years old.  She was an author and inventor.  She is survived by two daughters, Mrs John Graham Millar of New York City and Mrs Edward Irving Williams of Brooklyn.

courtesy of Lisa Jacobs - Find A Grave

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Mon, 1 Jun 1896
Henry D Birdsall, for many years a lawyer at 115 Broadway, in the eastern district, died of cerebral apoplexy at his home, 150 Taylor Street, yesterday morning, at 8 o'clock. Mr Birdsall was taken ill early last winter, and for a few months was unable to leave the house. In the spring he partially recovered his health and for the past few months had been able to attend to his law practice on Broadway, although he never fully regained his former vigor. A week ago he became seriously ill again and up to his death, was attended by his son-in-law, Dr Charles C Osborne of New York City. He is survived by three daughters, all married, Mrs J G Millar of Stamford, Conn; Mrs Osbrone, and Mrs E E Williams of Brooklyn, and one son, Walter Dwight, who is a student of law and will probably succeed to his father's business. The funeral service will be held at Mr Birdsall's late residence tomorrow evening at 8 o'clock and will be conducted by the Rev Dr S M Haskins of St Mark's Church, Bedford Avenue and South Fifth Street. The interment will take place Wednesday at Westfield, Conn, where the family has a plot. For many years Mr Birdsall had been prominent in Brooklyn politics. From his calling and from the fact that he once ran for a local judgeship, and was defeated by, as it was claimed, one ballot, he was generally called Judge Birdsall. In the practice of his profession, the most celebrated case in which the late Mr Birdsall was engaged was a breach of promise suit - Homan vs Earle. Mr Birdsall appeared for the plaintiff and secured a verdict, including costs, amounting to $20,000. It is acknowledged by members of the legal profession that certain amendments made in the law soon after regarding declaration of intention to marry were due to Mr Bridsall's work in this celebrate case. Mr Bridsall showed the court that while the defendant did not say to the plaintiff in so many words "Will you be my wife?", his actions really constituted a declaration of intention to marry. In business and social life, Mr Birdsall was known for his uprightness and generosity. A trait of his was generosity toward newsboys, and not a few of them in the eastern district are indebted to Mr Birdsall for caps, shoes or overcoats when they most needed them. As a politician, he was not successful. He stood for the assembly on one occasion but was defeated. His want of ultimate success was attributed by many of his friends to his avowed determination not to work for the machine. Mr Birdsall was born in Otego, Otsego County, NY in 1827. At the age of 16 he taught school in his native town, and at 23 graduated from the Franklin College. At 24 he came to this city, where he immediately took up the practice of the law. His mother was a Webster and a first cousin of Daniel Webster. The late Mr Birdsall was thus a second cousin of the great statesman.

Now have a look at his will - it's the third request and the newspaper article....

It is strange to specifically exclude children before they were ever born! 

But why? 

The date of the will was Dec 10, 1861 - 8 months after he was married, 8 months after the start of the Civil War and BEFORE he had any children.  

Did he want to ensure his wife would be well taken care of and not pawned off somewhere to be forgotten? Perhaps he knew he would help establish his children's security & success while he was alive so there would be no need to include them. 

OR given that she wasn't even pregnant in the 8 months since the marriage something else was behind it?  Their first child wasn't born until 1864? 

Lucille, Thomas & Ellenor Hall

Winn - courtesy of abbryan66 - Ancestry

The last 3 living children of Thomas Hall & Ellen Graves are Lucille, Thomas & Ellenor. 

Lucille 'Winifred' Hall, right, was born in 1874 & died in 1963.

Thomas Wells Hall Jr, married twice.  The mother of his children was Rosalie Rogers, the daughter of Henry B Rogers & Mary L Hoyt; their children were Mary, Thomas & David.  

His second wife was Helen Rogers, Rosalie's half-sister - Henry B's 2nd wife was Edna Hoyt (Edna, b 1858, was the daughter of Edwin Hoyt & Sarah Davis while Mary, b 1838, was the daughter of Charles Hoyt & Hannah Mather)

1904 - courtesy of TWHII - Ancestry

Bridgeport Post, 4 Feb 1958

Norwalk, Feb 4 - Services will take place tomorrow in New Canaan for Thomas W Hall, 71, of New Canaan, manufacturer of printing supplies who died yesterday in Norwalk Hospital after a brief illness. He was president and treasurer of the Thomas W Hall company which he founded in New York in 1919. The company moved to Stamford in 1927. He was deacon of the New Canaan Congregational Church. Mr Hall is survived by a daughter, Mrs John King of New Canaan; two sons, Thomas W and David R Hall and two sisters, L Winifred Hall and Mrs Robert H Bradley, both of Waterville, Me.

The Bridgeport Press, 27 Dec 1956
Mrs Thomas W Hall
New Canaan, Dec 27 - Mrs Helen Roger hall, 75, wife of Thomas W Hall, died yesterday in her home, St John's Place.  Services will take place Friday at 2pm in the Congregational Church with the Rev Loring D Chase, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Lakeview Cemetery. Mrs Hall was a lifelong resident of New Canaan.  In addition to her husband, she is survived by a step-daughter, Mrs Mary Louise Hall King; Thomas W Hall Jr, and David Hall, all of New Canaan.

And the baby girl of this line was Ellenor Rosecrans Hall. She married Robert Holmes Bradley, the son of William Bradley & Anna Aspenwall. They had 6 children - Anne, Robert, Philip, Margaret, David & Thomas.

Ellenor had a scary experience with her mother in 1907 when the vehicle they were in went over an embankment!

courtesy of abbryan66 - Ancestry