They moved from north Vermont, near Montpelier, to Ohio, near Cleveland. He and Comfort did so, between the births of two children, Ellen, in Vermont, in 1833 and Henry, in Ohio, in 1834.
BRISTOL, A BEAUTIFUL BIRTHPLACE, WHY LEAVE IT?
"THE town of Bristol lies largely upon the mountains, in the northeastern section of the county... It affords many good and usually reliable water powers. The stream, however, is subject to frequent and heavy freshets; in 1830 one of these caused great loss of life and property..."
(From "History of Addison County, Vermont", edited by Hiram Perry Smith, published in Syracuse, NY, the chapter on Bristol, especially pp 399 and 410.)
Flood victim, Lemuel B. Eldridge, was swept away. He managed to crawl out, saving some in his family, but not all. He called it "a deluge occasioned by an unparalleled rise of the New-Haven River, in which nineteen persons were swept away, five of whom only escaped, July 26th, 1830". Eldridge's book was called "The Torrent".
According to Perry, the whole county was affected, but most affected were Uriah's birth town of Bristol (called Pocock, before Addison County broke off from Rutland) and a town beloved by the larger family, New Haven. Those were the two towns/townships where Uriah's parents, Uriah I and Permelia, spent years raising children. A local resource in Bristol was bog iron, but a forge built in 1802 to make bar iron would not be rebuilt after the 1830 flood. This was a loss as "The iron allowed trade", making "its way to Troy, N. Y., in payment for goods." Other damage was here and there-- some bridges wiped out; some mills and factories destroyed; too much farm soil washed away. The town did not shrink much population-wise, but since young families of children-bearing age were the ones to leave, it could not grow much, either. Bristol's town/township population from census counts:
1830, 1274.
1840, 1233.
1850, 1344.
COMMENTS BY A SON, 1902
Uriah switched from Whigs to Republicans, presumably ahead of the Civil War. He had been a tanner and currier before turning farmer once in Ohio, "He took an active interest in politics and in educational affairs and was a member of the Disciples church. Both he and his wife died in Ohio."
Son Henry Seymour Hoyt described his father for his own biography. It is preserved in a 1902 book called "A Biographical History of Central Kansas', vol. 1, by unnamed editors of the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.)
In progress... List of children tentative. (Some ages and birth years were highly inconsistent across documents, as not all family members knew each other's birthdays.)
URIAH'S BIOGRAPHY.
His generation lived in the shadow of their parents, of people who named children from the Old Testament, of people who could simply follow the frontier to become well-off.
People had decided the future required more education. They began with their ministers first and supported Middlebury College. However, in addition to not knowing how to save their tiny rural towns and fragile soil, they had not yet licked whooping cough or cholera or tuberculosis.
The germ theory of disease would not develop until the 1870s, after Uriah died. His and wife Comfort's luck and success, then, was not in great wealth, but an ability to raise many children to adulthood, though others "died like flies" each time a contagious sickness drifted through.
(1) He married Comfort Dayton. They had mostly girls, just two boys known, none with biblical names. Of the eleven in total reported by son Henry, these ten were found, Caroline, Ellen, Henry S., Melissa, Harriet, Oren S., Permelia, Martha, Samantha I and II (same person), and Orille/Orielle.
(2) His last Census was the one done while he and wife Comfort visited son Henry's home in the county next door (Geauga). They were counted on Mar. 21, 1870, mere weeks before Uriah died, once back home, in April. Why did his death certificate call him a widower? We, at this point, don't know what happened to Comfort, except that she died in Ohio, apparently near in time to him.
(3) His death took place in Chagrin Falls. He and his immediate family were seen in that farming area in earlier censuses (1840, 1850, 1860)
(4) His gravestone, like so many of the early ones, could be unreadable or gone. But, someone found it for a photo! Thank you to photographer Gina Jean
(5) His birth year must be calculated from his age at death, counting backward from his death date, producing fall of 1784, rounding up, to 1785 , as old-time undertakers would do is acceptable.
The best situation is when answers agree reasonably with censuses. If they don't? A child answering the door could give wild guesses to a census-taker. The death record, however, could also be flawed, if, say, an in-law or a poorly attentive adult child (who never asked questions when young) is the one asked for answers. There are signs of inattention in his death record, but the fault could also have been the undertaker's, passing too little information along to the town or county clerk.
CHILDREN OF URIAH AND COMFORT HOYT
==================================
Born 1829-1833 (before leaving VT for Ohio).
**Caroline? b. 1829 d. Jan. 1, 1927 at age 97 years and 3 days, Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. Married name supposedly Udall, but no other records. Gone from home before 1850 Census.
**Ellen A., b.1833, VT, m. Clark Knight Vincent, b. NY. To MI & CA, daughters Myrtle/"Myrtie" and Della. No dates on clear stone, but died after 1910, probably before 1920. Spouse died after 1880, probably before 1900.
Born 1834-1849 (in Ohio, seen in the 1850 Census).
**Henry S. Hoyt, b. Jan 19, 1834, with Marcia to Central Kansas 1877, eldest Sarah A. born IL 1858, while David U. b. 1873. Infant daughter Ellen died in her year of birth, 1874, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
**Melissa, Harriet, both to IL, see notes for Melissa
--Orrin/Oren S. Hoyt, m. Mary Jane Kilbee/Kilber.
**Permilia, m. Robert Gane, see notes for spouse's first wife, Virtue Hutchfield.
--Martha, m. Francis M. Moore in 1867.
**Samantha I, b. 1849, age 1 in 1850 Census, m. Wm. Griffin, to Paw Paw, MI,
IN TIME FOR 1860 US CENSUS
Born 1851-1852 (in Ohio, born after 1850, seen in the 1860 Census) .
--Orille? Orielle? b. 1851-52, as age 8 in 1860. Not found later
--Samantha II (age 9 in 1860). Records later in life found only for Samantha I. Wrong age guessed by babysitting couple in 1860, William and Louisa Hoyt? (Parents "en route" somewhere in era of steam ships and trains with sleeper cars? not obviously polled at any house?)
The children did what big families do.
Some children would be each others' "best buddies", sharing good ideas and opportunities. Harriet and Melissa, thus, would both marry brothers named Jones and retire in Antioch, Illinois. Permelia and Henry would both take their families to Kansas, apparently there by 1877, Henry's stay permanent, Permelia to leave sons there and then return.
HIS LAST RECORDS
=================
1870 CENSUS. Age 73.
In Bainbridge. Born Vermont.
Not working. Wife Comfort present.
The census taker marked him a citizen, constitutionally allowed to vote. Wife Comfort was listed as 62, born in Vermont. Not allowed to vote, she was not asked about citizenship? Others present--Son Henry (household head), wife Marcia, their daughter.
1870 DEATH. Age 75 and 6 months.
In Chagrin Falls. Born "Gree..." [Green Mountains]
Farmer. Oddly listed as a widower.
Source: FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99ZR-VDX9
COMMENTS-- At is death, no one still living and close-by remembered his parents' names, though the death record had blanks for that. He was too old and his parents had departed too long ago? Their cemetery too far away, so it was never visited?
Nor did his reporting survivor remember he had been born in Bristol, Vermont, where his father, the prior Uriah, served as Justice of the Peace, according to a local history. (Bristol was north of New Haven, VT, the latter used for more of their burials. His mother, with notes, sister Abigail ,with notes, and his paternal grandparents, Ezra and Sarah Seymour Hoyt, lie buried there, among the many members of the earlier, non-Disciples church. His father is buried in Bristol, by his second wife.)
Instead of birth place, a glib answer was substituted. "Gree..." apparently meant "Green Mountain State", a phrase repeated elsewhere, seen in a grown child's biography, but without naming the state, as if it was then something taught regularly in school. It meant Vermont, a name from the French who there before the British, Ver- for green, verdantly green, -mont for mountains.
The ages shown on the different records, stone and paper, death record vs. Census, are at times not close. The death record is more likely than a census to match the stone on age, so it is used.
BIRTH YEAR CALCULATION.
Subtract age at death, 75 years, from year of death, 1870, to yield rounded birth estimate of 1795, acceptable if months are not available. Count 6 months back from April of 1795 to yield a time more precise, early in the fall of 1794.
SOME PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE. Were daughter Permelia and son Henry postponing a big adventure? Knowing Uriah was too ill to go along? Waited for their own daughters to finish local romances with marriage, so they would not have to come along? By 1878, they would be gone from the area, off to Kansas.
At Uriah's death, daughter Permelia, named for his mother, lived in Chagrin Falls in a house full of British accents, with her blacksmithing husband directly from England, children, and stepchildren, their family "doubled up" with the family of his young brother, a "cheesemonger" when back in England. The brother still listed that occupation on entering the US, turned blacksmith in Ohio, as he may have discovered no local towns large enough to offer jobs for cheesemongers.
Permelia had cared for her youngest stepchild from his infancy (his mother, Virtue, first wife to Robert, is presumed to have died at or soon after his birth), but by 1878 he, their eldest son, would be a maturing teen, with three other boys maturing right behind him.
At Uriah's death, son Henry lived in a township and county next-door, age 38, a farmer, born in Ohio; his wife, Marcia, 39, born in NY. Did her parents perhaps bring her to Ohio? They had one child still at home, Sarah, 12, b.Ohio.
Following the the latest farm frontier, Henry and Marcia would stay, but Permelia and Robert would return. Was their only goal to help maturing sons get started in a new life? They are buried in Chagrin Falls, nearer a married daughter who did not move out to Kansas.
An excellent family historian for his mother's maiden family (the Roblees/ Robleas/ Rublees/ Rubles) is Cindy Walcott. She tracked Uriah's birthplace to Addison County in Vermont specifically to Bristol, VT, north of New Haven, VT, both places not far from Canada. County historians fill in the blanks, saying not that specific people moved, but why they moved and whether to expect a large number or small to have made the change of locations. When his parents first arrived post-Revolution, Addison County was benefitting from Vermont's special and new free trade agreement with Quebec, possible only as Vermont was still an independent republic, delaying a merge into the Union made by other former colonies. England was courting Vermont, hoping it might merge with Canada instead of the Union.
After Vermont made its choice, joined the union, the advantages of independence disappeared, but Addison County still had Vergennes as its waterway shipping town, on Lake Champlain, with access to Canada and the Great Lakes no longer special but no worse off than say, Buffalo, NY. But, then, the new-fangled thing called the railroads came through, beginning to replace schooners and flat boats and steamboats. The railroads would decide to skip the once important waterway town, as its slopes were too steep to climb.
In nearby New Haven were his father's brothers, causing Uriah to grow up around cousins. The many cousins of his Uncle Seth were doubly-related. Their mothers, Permelia and Keturah, appear to have been cousins, married to brothers, his father Uriah and his uncle Seth.
Such doubly-related cousins would normally be extra-close, at least some in their vary large families moving to a new place together. Yet, they did not common to Ohio. Nor did his own siblings come to Ohio. There must have been an estrangement of some sort, that the usual did not happen.
His uncles-
(a) the eldest, Judge Ezra Hoyt, buried in VT, sons raised to be ministers, daughter married to a minister;
(b) the youngest, Seymour Hoyt, buried in Kalamazoo County, Michigan with some sons, followed some distant cousins there, with one of Ezra's sons eventually to be their minister;
(c) Seth, or S.M. Hoyt, died in VT in 1831 (check year), according to pension records found by Cindy. The pension records marked a shift that year, from paying him a pension, to paying his widow a pension.
Revised 2021, JB
BRISTOL, A BEAUTIFUL BIRTHPLACE, WHY LEAVE IT?
"THE town of Bristol lies largely upon the mountains, in the northeastern section of the county... It affords many good and usually reliable water powers. The stream, however, is subject to frequent and heavy freshets; in 1830 one of these caused great loss of life and property..."
(From "History of Addison County, Vermont", edited by Hiram Perry Smith, published in Syracuse, NY, the chapter on Bristol, especially pp 399 and 410.)
Flood victim, Lemuel B. Eldridge, was swept away. He managed to crawl out, saving some in his family, but not all. He called it "a deluge occasioned by an unparalleled rise of the New-Haven River, in which nineteen persons were swept away, five of whom only escaped, July 26th, 1830". Eldridge's book was called "The Torrent".
According to Perry, the whole county was affected, but most affected were Uriah's birth town of Bristol (called Pocock, before Addison County broke off from Rutland) and a town beloved by the larger family, New Haven. Those were the two towns/townships where Uriah's parents, Uriah I and Permelia, spent years raising children. A local resource in Bristol was bog iron, but a forge built in 1802 to make bar iron would not be rebuilt after the 1830 flood. This was a loss as "The iron allowed trade", making "its way to Troy, N. Y., in payment for goods." Other damage was here and there-- some bridges wiped out; some mills and factories destroyed; too much farm soil washed away. The town did not shrink much population-wise, but since young families of children-bearing age were the ones to leave, it could not grow much, either. Bristol's town/township population from census counts:
1830, 1274.
1840, 1233.
1850, 1344.
COMMENTS BY A SON, 1902
Uriah switched from Whigs to Republicans, presumably ahead of the Civil War. He had been a tanner and currier before turning farmer once in Ohio, "He took an active interest in politics and in educational affairs and was a member of the Disciples church. Both he and his wife died in Ohio."
Son Henry Seymour Hoyt described his father for his own biography. It is preserved in a 1902 book called "A Biographical History of Central Kansas', vol. 1, by unnamed editors of the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.)
In progress... List of children tentative. (Some ages and birth years were highly inconsistent across documents, as not all family members knew each other's birthdays.)
URIAH'S BIOGRAPHY.
His generation lived in the shadow of their parents, of people who named children from the Old Testament, of people who could simply follow the frontier to become well-off.
People had decided the future required more education. They began with their ministers first and supported Middlebury College. However, in addition to not knowing how to save their tiny rural towns and fragile soil, they had not yet licked whooping cough or cholera or tuberculosis.
The germ theory of disease would not develop until the 1870s, after Uriah died. His and wife Comfort's luck and success, then, was not in great wealth, but an ability to raise many children to adulthood, though others "died like flies" each time a contagious sickness drifted through.
(1) He married Comfort Dayton. They had mostly girls, just two boys known, none with biblical names. Of the eleven in total reported by son Henry, these ten were found, Caroline, Ellen, Henry S., Melissa, Harriet, Oren S., Permelia, Martha, Samantha I and II (same person), and Orille/Orielle.
(2) His last Census was the one done while he and wife Comfort visited son Henry's home in the county next door (Geauga). They were counted on Mar. 21, 1870, mere weeks before Uriah died, once back home, in April. Why did his death certificate call him a widower? We, at this point, don't know what happened to Comfort, except that she died in Ohio, apparently near in time to him.
(3) His death took place in Chagrin Falls. He and his immediate family were seen in that farming area in earlier censuses (1840, 1850, 1860)
(4) His gravestone, like so many of the early ones, could be unreadable or gone. But, someone found it for a photo! Thank you to photographer Gina Jean
(5) His birth year must be calculated from his age at death, counting backward from his death date, producing fall of 1784, rounding up, to 1785 , as old-time undertakers would do is acceptable.
The best situation is when answers agree reasonably with censuses. If they don't? A child answering the door could give wild guesses to a census-taker. The death record, however, could also be flawed, if, say, an in-law or a poorly attentive adult child (who never asked questions when young) is the one asked for answers. There are signs of inattention in his death record, but the fault could also have been the undertaker's, passing too little information along to the town or county clerk.
CHILDREN OF URIAH AND COMFORT HOYT
==================================
Born 1829-1833 (before leaving VT for Ohio).
**Caroline? b. 1829 d. Jan. 1, 1927 at age 97 years and 3 days, Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. Married name supposedly Udall, but no other records. Gone from home before 1850 Census.
**Ellen A., b.1833, VT, m. Clark Knight Vincent, b. NY. To MI & CA, daughters Myrtle/"Myrtie" and Della. No dates on clear stone, but died after 1910, probably before 1920. Spouse died after 1880, probably before 1900.
Born 1834-1849 (in Ohio, seen in the 1850 Census).
**Henry S. Hoyt, b. Jan 19, 1834, with Marcia to Central Kansas 1877, eldest Sarah A. born IL 1858, while David U. b. 1873. Infant daughter Ellen died in her year of birth, 1874, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
**Melissa, Harriet, both to IL, see notes for Melissa
--Orrin/Oren S. Hoyt, m. Mary Jane Kilbee/Kilber.
**Permilia, m. Robert Gane, see notes for spouse's first wife, Virtue Hutchfield.
--Martha, m. Francis M. Moore in 1867.
**Samantha I, b. 1849, age 1 in 1850 Census, m. Wm. Griffin, to Paw Paw, MI,
IN TIME FOR 1860 US CENSUS
Born 1851-1852 (in Ohio, born after 1850, seen in the 1860 Census) .
--Orille? Orielle? b. 1851-52, as age 8 in 1860. Not found later
--Samantha II (age 9 in 1860). Records later in life found only for Samantha I. Wrong age guessed by babysitting couple in 1860, William and Louisa Hoyt? (Parents "en route" somewhere in era of steam ships and trains with sleeper cars? not obviously polled at any house?)
The children did what big families do.
Some children would be each others' "best buddies", sharing good ideas and opportunities. Harriet and Melissa, thus, would both marry brothers named Jones and retire in Antioch, Illinois. Permelia and Henry would both take their families to Kansas, apparently there by 1877, Henry's stay permanent, Permelia to leave sons there and then return.
HIS LAST RECORDS
=================
1870 CENSUS. Age 73.
In Bainbridge. Born Vermont.
Not working. Wife Comfort present.
The census taker marked him a citizen, constitutionally allowed to vote. Wife Comfort was listed as 62, born in Vermont. Not allowed to vote, she was not asked about citizenship? Others present--Son Henry (household head), wife Marcia, their daughter.
1870 DEATH. Age 75 and 6 months.
In Chagrin Falls. Born "Gree..." [Green Mountains]
Farmer. Oddly listed as a widower.
Source: FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99ZR-VDX9
COMMENTS-- At is death, no one still living and close-by remembered his parents' names, though the death record had blanks for that. He was too old and his parents had departed too long ago? Their cemetery too far away, so it was never visited?
Nor did his reporting survivor remember he had been born in Bristol, Vermont, where his father, the prior Uriah, served as Justice of the Peace, according to a local history. (Bristol was north of New Haven, VT, the latter used for more of their burials. His mother, with notes, sister Abigail ,with notes, and his paternal grandparents, Ezra and Sarah Seymour Hoyt, lie buried there, among the many members of the earlier, non-Disciples church. His father is buried in Bristol, by his second wife.)
Instead of birth place, a glib answer was substituted. "Gree..." apparently meant "Green Mountain State", a phrase repeated elsewhere, seen in a grown child's biography, but without naming the state, as if it was then something taught regularly in school. It meant Vermont, a name from the French who there before the British, Ver- for green, verdantly green, -mont for mountains.
The ages shown on the different records, stone and paper, death record vs. Census, are at times not close. The death record is more likely than a census to match the stone on age, so it is used.
BIRTH YEAR CALCULATION.
Subtract age at death, 75 years, from year of death, 1870, to yield rounded birth estimate of 1795, acceptable if months are not available. Count 6 months back from April of 1795 to yield a time more precise, early in the fall of 1794.
SOME PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE. Were daughter Permelia and son Henry postponing a big adventure? Knowing Uriah was too ill to go along? Waited for their own daughters to finish local romances with marriage, so they would not have to come along? By 1878, they would be gone from the area, off to Kansas.
At Uriah's death, daughter Permelia, named for his mother, lived in Chagrin Falls in a house full of British accents, with her blacksmithing husband directly from England, children, and stepchildren, their family "doubled up" with the family of his young brother, a "cheesemonger" when back in England. The brother still listed that occupation on entering the US, turned blacksmith in Ohio, as he may have discovered no local towns large enough to offer jobs for cheesemongers.
Permelia had cared for her youngest stepchild from his infancy (his mother, Virtue, first wife to Robert, is presumed to have died at or soon after his birth), but by 1878 he, their eldest son, would be a maturing teen, with three other boys maturing right behind him.
At Uriah's death, son Henry lived in a township and county next-door, age 38, a farmer, born in Ohio; his wife, Marcia, 39, born in NY. Did her parents perhaps bring her to Ohio? They had one child still at home, Sarah, 12, b.Ohio.
Following the the latest farm frontier, Henry and Marcia would stay, but Permelia and Robert would return. Was their only goal to help maturing sons get started in a new life? They are buried in Chagrin Falls, nearer a married daughter who did not move out to Kansas.
An excellent family historian for his mother's maiden family (the Roblees/ Robleas/ Rublees/ Rubles) is Cindy Walcott. She tracked Uriah's birthplace to Addison County in Vermont specifically to Bristol, VT, north of New Haven, VT, both places not far from Canada. County historians fill in the blanks, saying not that specific people moved, but why they moved and whether to expect a large number or small to have made the change of locations. When his parents first arrived post-Revolution, Addison County was benefitting from Vermont's special and new free trade agreement with Quebec, possible only as Vermont was still an independent republic, delaying a merge into the Union made by other former colonies. England was courting Vermont, hoping it might merge with Canada instead of the Union.
After Vermont made its choice, joined the union, the advantages of independence disappeared, but Addison County still had Vergennes as its waterway shipping town, on Lake Champlain, with access to Canada and the Great Lakes no longer special but no worse off than say, Buffalo, NY. But, then, the new-fangled thing called the railroads came through, beginning to replace schooners and flat boats and steamboats. The railroads would decide to skip the once important waterway town, as its slopes were too steep to climb.
In nearby New Haven were his father's brothers, causing Uriah to grow up around cousins. The many cousins of his Uncle Seth were doubly-related. Their mothers, Permelia and Keturah, appear to have been cousins, married to brothers, his father Uriah and his uncle Seth.
Such doubly-related cousins would normally be extra-close, at least some in their vary large families moving to a new place together. Yet, they did not common to Ohio. Nor did his own siblings come to Ohio. There must have been an estrangement of some sort, that the usual did not happen.
His uncles-
(a) the eldest, Judge Ezra Hoyt, buried in VT, sons raised to be ministers, daughter married to a minister;
(b) the youngest, Seymour Hoyt, buried in Kalamazoo County, Michigan with some sons, followed some distant cousins there, with one of Ezra's sons eventually to be their minister;
(c) Seth, or S.M. Hoyt, died in VT in 1831 (check year), according to pension records found by Cindy. The pension records marked a shift that year, from paying him a pension, to paying his widow a pension.
Revised 2021, JB
They moved from north Vermont, near Montpelier, to Ohio, near Cleveland. He and Comfort did so, between the births of two children, Ellen, in Vermont, in 1833 and Henry, in Ohio, in 1834.
BRISTOL, A BEAUTIFUL BIRTHPLACE, WHY LEAVE IT?
"THE town of Bristol lies largely upon the mountains, in the northeastern section of the county... It affords many good and usually reliable water powers. The stream, however, is subject to frequent and heavy freshets; in 1830 one of these caused great loss of life and property..."
(From "History of Addison County, Vermont", edited by Hiram Perry Smith, published in Syracuse, NY, the chapter on Bristol, especially pp 399 and 410.)
Flood victim, Lemuel B. Eldridge, was swept away. He managed to crawl out, saving some in his family, but not all. He called it "a deluge occasioned by an unparalleled rise of the New-Haven River, in which nineteen persons were swept away, five of whom only escaped, July 26th, 1830". Eldridge's book was called "The Torrent".
According to Perry, the whole county was affected, but most affected were Uriah's birth town of Bristol (called Pocock, before Addison County broke off from Rutland) and a town beloved by the larger family, New Haven. Those were the two towns/townships where Uriah's parents, Uriah I and Permelia, spent years raising children. A local resource in Bristol was bog iron, but a forge built in 1802 to make bar iron would not be rebuilt after the 1830 flood. This was a loss as "The iron allowed trade", making "its way to Troy, N. Y., in payment for goods." Other damage was here and there-- some bridges wiped out; some mills and factories destroyed; too much farm soil washed away. The town did not shrink much population-wise, but since young families of children-bearing age were the ones to leave, it could not grow much, either. Bristol's town/township population from census counts:
1830, 1274.
1840, 1233.
1850, 1344.
COMMENTS BY A SON, 1902
Uriah switched from Whigs to Republicans, presumably ahead of the Civil War. He had been a tanner and currier before turning farmer once in Ohio, "He took an active interest in politics and in educational affairs and was a member of the Disciples church. Both he and his wife died in Ohio."
Son Henry Seymour Hoyt described his father for his own biography. It is preserved in a 1902 book called "A Biographical History of Central Kansas', vol. 1, by unnamed editors of the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.)
In progress... List of children tentative. (Some ages and birth years were highly inconsistent across documents, as not all family members knew each other's birthdays.)
URIAH'S BIOGRAPHY.
His generation lived in the shadow of their parents, of people who named children from the Old Testament, of people who could simply follow the frontier to become well-off.
People had decided the future required more education. They began with their ministers first and supported Middlebury College. However, in addition to not knowing how to save their tiny rural towns and fragile soil, they had not yet licked whooping cough or cholera or tuberculosis.
The germ theory of disease would not develop until the 1870s, after Uriah died. His and wife Comfort's luck and success, then, was not in great wealth, but an ability to raise many children to adulthood, though others "died like flies" each time a contagious sickness drifted through.
(1) He married Comfort Dayton. They had mostly girls, just two boys known, none with biblical names. Of the eleven in total reported by son Henry, these ten were found, Caroline, Ellen, Henry S., Melissa, Harriet, Oren S., Permelia, Martha, Samantha I and II (same person), and Orille/Orielle.
(2) His last Census was the one done while he and wife Comfort visited son Henry's home in the county next door (Geauga). They were counted on Mar. 21, 1870, mere weeks before Uriah died, once back home, in April. Why did his death certificate call him a widower? We, at this point, don't know what happened to Comfort, except that she died in Ohio, apparently near in time to him.
(3) His death took place in Chagrin Falls. He and his immediate family were seen in that farming area in earlier censuses (1840, 1850, 1860)
(4) His gravestone, like so many of the early ones, could be unreadable or gone. But, someone found it for a photo! Thank you to photographer Gina Jean
(5) His birth year must be calculated from his age at death, counting backward from his death date, producing fall of 1784, rounding up, to 1785 , as old-time undertakers would do is acceptable.
The best situation is when answers agree reasonably with censuses. If they don't? A child answering the door could give wild guesses to a census-taker. The death record, however, could also be flawed, if, say, an in-law or a poorly attentive adult child (who never asked questions when young) is the one asked for answers. There are signs of inattention in his death record, but the fault could also have been the undertaker's, passing too little information along to the town or county clerk.
CHILDREN OF URIAH AND COMFORT HOYT
==================================
Born 1829-1833 (before leaving VT for Ohio).
**Caroline? b. 1829 d. Jan. 1, 1927 at age 97 years and 3 days, Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. Married name supposedly Udall, but no other records. Gone from home before 1850 Census.
**Ellen A., b.1833, VT, m. Clark Knight Vincent, b. NY. To MI & CA, daughters Myrtle/"Myrtie" and Della. No dates on clear stone, but died after 1910, probably before 1920. Spouse died after 1880, probably before 1900.
Born 1834-1849 (in Ohio, seen in the 1850 Census).
**Henry S. Hoyt, b. Jan 19, 1834, with Marcia to Central Kansas 1877, eldest Sarah A. born IL 1858, while David U. b. 1873. Infant daughter Ellen died in her year of birth, 1874, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
**Melissa, Harriet, both to IL, see notes for Melissa
--Orrin/Oren S. Hoyt, m. Mary Jane Kilbee/Kilber.
**Permilia, m. Robert Gane, see notes for spouse's first wife, Virtue Hutchfield.
--Martha, m. Francis M. Moore in 1867.
**Samantha I, b. 1849, age 1 in 1850 Census, m. Wm. Griffin, to Paw Paw, MI,
IN TIME FOR 1860 US CENSUS
Born 1851-1852 (in Ohio, born after 1850, seen in the 1860 Census) .
--Orille? Orielle? b. 1851-52, as age 8 in 1860. Not found later
--Samantha II (age 9 in 1860). Records later in life found only for Samantha I. Wrong age guessed by babysitting couple in 1860, William and Louisa Hoyt? (Parents "en route" somewhere in era of steam ships and trains with sleeper cars? not obviously polled at any house?)
The children did what big families do.
Some children would be each others' "best buddies", sharing good ideas and opportunities. Harriet and Melissa, thus, would both marry brothers named Jones and retire in Antioch, Illinois. Permelia and Henry would both take their families to Kansas, apparently there by 1877, Henry's stay permanent, Permelia to leave sons there and then return.
HIS LAST RECORDS
=================
1870 CENSUS. Age 73.
In Bainbridge. Born Vermont.
Not working. Wife Comfort present.
The census taker marked him a citizen, constitutionally allowed to vote. Wife Comfort was listed as 62, born in Vermont. Not allowed to vote, she was not asked about citizenship? Others present--Son Henry (household head), wife Marcia, their daughter.
1870 DEATH. Age 75 and 6 months.
In Chagrin Falls. Born "Gree..." [Green Mountains]
Farmer. Oddly listed as a widower.
Source: FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99ZR-VDX9
COMMENTS-- At is death, no one still living and close-by remembered his parents' names, though the death record had blanks for that. He was too old and his parents had departed too long ago? Their cemetery too far away, so it was never visited?
Nor did his reporting survivor remember he had been born in Bristol, Vermont, where his father, the prior Uriah, served as Justice of the Peace, according to a local history. (Bristol was north of New Haven, VT, the latter used for more of their burials. His mother, with notes, sister Abigail ,with notes, and his paternal grandparents, Ezra and Sarah Seymour Hoyt, lie buried there, among the many members of the earlier, non-Disciples church. His father is buried in Bristol, by his second wife.)
Instead of birth place, a glib answer was substituted. "Gree..." apparently meant "Green Mountain State", a phrase repeated elsewhere, seen in a grown child's biography, but without naming the state, as if it was then something taught regularly in school. It meant Vermont, a name from the French who there before the British, Ver- for green, verdantly green, -mont for mountains.
The ages shown on the different records, stone and paper, death record vs. Census, are at times not close. The death record is more likely than a census to match the stone on age, so it is used.
BIRTH YEAR CALCULATION.
Subtract age at death, 75 years, from year of death, 1870, to yield rounded birth estimate of 1795, acceptable if months are not available. Count 6 months back from April of 1795 to yield a time more precise, early in the fall of 1794.
SOME PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE. Were daughter Permelia and son Henry postponing a big adventure? Knowing Uriah was too ill to go along? Waited for their own daughters to finish local romances with marriage, so they would not have to come along? By 1878, they would be gone from the area, off to Kansas.
At Uriah's death, daughter Permelia, named for his mother, lived in Chagrin Falls in a house full of British accents, with her blacksmithing husband directly from England, children, and stepchildren, their family "doubled up" with the family of his young brother, a "cheesemonger" when back in England. The brother still listed that occupation on entering the US, turned blacksmith in Ohio, as he may have discovered no local towns large enough to offer jobs for cheesemongers.
Permelia had cared for her youngest stepchild from his infancy (his mother, Virtue, first wife to Robert, is presumed to have died at or soon after his birth), but by 1878 he, their eldest son, would be a maturing teen, with three other boys maturing right behind him.
At Uriah's death, son Henry lived in a township and county next-door, age 38, a farmer, born in Ohio; his wife, Marcia, 39, born in NY. Did her parents perhaps bring her to Ohio? They had one child still at home, Sarah, 12, b.Ohio.
Following the the latest farm frontier, Henry and Marcia would stay, but Permelia and Robert would return. Was their only goal to help maturing sons get started in a new life? They are buried in Chagrin Falls, nearer a married daughter who did not move out to Kansas.
An excellent family historian for his mother's maiden family (the Roblees/ Robleas/ Rublees/ Rubles) is Cindy Walcott. She tracked Uriah's birthplace to Addison County in Vermont specifically to Bristol, VT, north of New Haven, VT, both places not far from Canada. County historians fill in the blanks, saying not that specific people moved, but why they moved and whether to expect a large number or small to have made the change of locations. When his parents first arrived post-Revolution, Addison County was benefitting from Vermont's special and new free trade agreement with Quebec, possible only as Vermont was still an independent republic, delaying a merge into the Union made by other former colonies. England was courting Vermont, hoping it might merge with Canada instead of the Union.
After Vermont made its choice, joined the union, the advantages of independence disappeared, but Addison County still had Vergennes as its waterway shipping town, on Lake Champlain, with access to Canada and the Great Lakes no longer special but no worse off than say, Buffalo, NY. But, then, the new-fangled thing called the railroads came through, beginning to replace schooners and flat boats and steamboats. The railroads would decide to skip the once important waterway town, as its slopes were too steep to climb.
In nearby New Haven were his father's brothers, causing Uriah to grow up around cousins. The many cousins of his Uncle Seth were doubly-related. Their mothers, Permelia and Keturah, appear to have been cousins, married to brothers, his father Uriah and his uncle Seth.
Such doubly-related cousins would normally be extra-close, at least some in their vary large families moving to a new place together. Yet, they did not common to Ohio. Nor did his own siblings come to Ohio. There must have been an estrangement of some sort, that the usual did not happen.
His uncles-
(a) the eldest, Judge Ezra Hoyt, buried in VT, sons raised to be ministers, daughter married to a minister;
(b) the youngest, Seymour Hoyt, buried in Kalamazoo County, Michigan with some sons, followed some distant cousins there, with one of Ezra's sons eventually to be their minister;
(c) Seth, or S.M. Hoyt, died in VT in 1831 (check year), according to pension records found by Cindy. The pension records marked a shift that year, from paying him a pension, to paying his widow a pension.
Revised 2021, JB
BRISTOL, A BEAUTIFUL BIRTHPLACE, WHY LEAVE IT?
"THE town of Bristol lies largely upon the mountains, in the northeastern section of the county... It affords many good and usually reliable water powers. The stream, however, is subject to frequent and heavy freshets; in 1830 one of these caused great loss of life and property..."
(From "History of Addison County, Vermont", edited by Hiram Perry Smith, published in Syracuse, NY, the chapter on Bristol, especially pp 399 and 410.)
Flood victim, Lemuel B. Eldridge, was swept away. He managed to crawl out, saving some in his family, but not all. He called it "a deluge occasioned by an unparalleled rise of the New-Haven River, in which nineteen persons were swept away, five of whom only escaped, July 26th, 1830". Eldridge's book was called "The Torrent".
According to Perry, the whole county was affected, but most affected were Uriah's birth town of Bristol (called Pocock, before Addison County broke off from Rutland) and a town beloved by the larger family, New Haven. Those were the two towns/townships where Uriah's parents, Uriah I and Permelia, spent years raising children. A local resource in Bristol was bog iron, but a forge built in 1802 to make bar iron would not be rebuilt after the 1830 flood. This was a loss as "The iron allowed trade", making "its way to Troy, N. Y., in payment for goods." Other damage was here and there-- some bridges wiped out; some mills and factories destroyed; too much farm soil washed away. The town did not shrink much population-wise, but since young families of children-bearing age were the ones to leave, it could not grow much, either. Bristol's town/township population from census counts:
1830, 1274.
1840, 1233.
1850, 1344.
COMMENTS BY A SON, 1902
Uriah switched from Whigs to Republicans, presumably ahead of the Civil War. He had been a tanner and currier before turning farmer once in Ohio, "He took an active interest in politics and in educational affairs and was a member of the Disciples church. Both he and his wife died in Ohio."
Son Henry Seymour Hoyt described his father for his own biography. It is preserved in a 1902 book called "A Biographical History of Central Kansas', vol. 1, by unnamed editors of the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.)
In progress... List of children tentative. (Some ages and birth years were highly inconsistent across documents, as not all family members knew each other's birthdays.)
URIAH'S BIOGRAPHY.
His generation lived in the shadow of their parents, of people who named children from the Old Testament, of people who could simply follow the frontier to become well-off.
People had decided the future required more education. They began with their ministers first and supported Middlebury College. However, in addition to not knowing how to save their tiny rural towns and fragile soil, they had not yet licked whooping cough or cholera or tuberculosis.
The germ theory of disease would not develop until the 1870s, after Uriah died. His and wife Comfort's luck and success, then, was not in great wealth, but an ability to raise many children to adulthood, though others "died like flies" each time a contagious sickness drifted through.
(1) He married Comfort Dayton. They had mostly girls, just two boys known, none with biblical names. Of the eleven in total reported by son Henry, these ten were found, Caroline, Ellen, Henry S., Melissa, Harriet, Oren S., Permelia, Martha, Samantha I and II (same person), and Orille/Orielle.
(2) His last Census was the one done while he and wife Comfort visited son Henry's home in the county next door (Geauga). They were counted on Mar. 21, 1870, mere weeks before Uriah died, once back home, in April. Why did his death certificate call him a widower? We, at this point, don't know what happened to Comfort, except that she died in Ohio, apparently near in time to him.
(3) His death took place in Chagrin Falls. He and his immediate family were seen in that farming area in earlier censuses (1840, 1850, 1860)
(4) His gravestone, like so many of the early ones, could be unreadable or gone. But, someone found it for a photo! Thank you to photographer Gina Jean
(5) His birth year must be calculated from his age at death, counting backward from his death date, producing fall of 1784, rounding up, to 1785 , as old-time undertakers would do is acceptable.
The best situation is when answers agree reasonably with censuses. If they don't? A child answering the door could give wild guesses to a census-taker. The death record, however, could also be flawed, if, say, an in-law or a poorly attentive adult child (who never asked questions when young) is the one asked for answers. There are signs of inattention in his death record, but the fault could also have been the undertaker's, passing too little information along to the town or county clerk.
CHILDREN OF URIAH AND COMFORT HOYT
==================================
Born 1829-1833 (before leaving VT for Ohio).
**Caroline? b. 1829 d. Jan. 1, 1927 at age 97 years and 3 days, Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. Married name supposedly Udall, but no other records. Gone from home before 1850 Census.
**Ellen A., b.1833, VT, m. Clark Knight Vincent, b. NY. To MI & CA, daughters Myrtle/"Myrtie" and Della. No dates on clear stone, but died after 1910, probably before 1920. Spouse died after 1880, probably before 1900.
Born 1834-1849 (in Ohio, seen in the 1850 Census).
**Henry S. Hoyt, b. Jan 19, 1834, with Marcia to Central Kansas 1877, eldest Sarah A. born IL 1858, while David U. b. 1873. Infant daughter Ellen died in her year of birth, 1874, in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
**Melissa, Harriet, both to IL, see notes for Melissa
--Orrin/Oren S. Hoyt, m. Mary Jane Kilbee/Kilber.
**Permilia, m. Robert Gane, see notes for spouse's first wife, Virtue Hutchfield.
--Martha, m. Francis M. Moore in 1867.
**Samantha I, b. 1849, age 1 in 1850 Census, m. Wm. Griffin, to Paw Paw, MI,
IN TIME FOR 1860 US CENSUS
Born 1851-1852 (in Ohio, born after 1850, seen in the 1860 Census) .
--Orille? Orielle? b. 1851-52, as age 8 in 1860. Not found later
--Samantha II (age 9 in 1860). Records later in life found only for Samantha I. Wrong age guessed by babysitting couple in 1860, William and Louisa Hoyt? (Parents "en route" somewhere in era of steam ships and trains with sleeper cars? not obviously polled at any house?)
The children did what big families do.
Some children would be each others' "best buddies", sharing good ideas and opportunities. Harriet and Melissa, thus, would both marry brothers named Jones and retire in Antioch, Illinois. Permelia and Henry would both take their families to Kansas, apparently there by 1877, Henry's stay permanent, Permelia to leave sons there and then return.
HIS LAST RECORDS
=================
1870 CENSUS. Age 73.
In Bainbridge. Born Vermont.
Not working. Wife Comfort present.
The census taker marked him a citizen, constitutionally allowed to vote. Wife Comfort was listed as 62, born in Vermont. Not allowed to vote, she was not asked about citizenship? Others present--Son Henry (household head), wife Marcia, their daughter.
1870 DEATH. Age 75 and 6 months.
In Chagrin Falls. Born "Gree..." [Green Mountains]
Farmer. Oddly listed as a widower.
Source: FamilySearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99ZR-VDX9
COMMENTS-- At is death, no one still living and close-by remembered his parents' names, though the death record had blanks for that. He was too old and his parents had departed too long ago? Their cemetery too far away, so it was never visited?
Nor did his reporting survivor remember he had been born in Bristol, Vermont, where his father, the prior Uriah, served as Justice of the Peace, according to a local history. (Bristol was north of New Haven, VT, the latter used for more of their burials. His mother, with notes, sister Abigail ,with notes, and his paternal grandparents, Ezra and Sarah Seymour Hoyt, lie buried there, among the many members of the earlier, non-Disciples church. His father is buried in Bristol, by his second wife.)
Instead of birth place, a glib answer was substituted. "Gree..." apparently meant "Green Mountain State", a phrase repeated elsewhere, seen in a grown child's biography, but without naming the state, as if it was then something taught regularly in school. It meant Vermont, a name from the French who there before the British, Ver- for green, verdantly green, -mont for mountains.
The ages shown on the different records, stone and paper, death record vs. Census, are at times not close. The death record is more likely than a census to match the stone on age, so it is used.
BIRTH YEAR CALCULATION.
Subtract age at death, 75 years, from year of death, 1870, to yield rounded birth estimate of 1795, acceptable if months are not available. Count 6 months back from April of 1795 to yield a time more precise, early in the fall of 1794.
SOME PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE. Were daughter Permelia and son Henry postponing a big adventure? Knowing Uriah was too ill to go along? Waited for their own daughters to finish local romances with marriage, so they would not have to come along? By 1878, they would be gone from the area, off to Kansas.
At Uriah's death, daughter Permelia, named for his mother, lived in Chagrin Falls in a house full of British accents, with her blacksmithing husband directly from England, children, and stepchildren, their family "doubled up" with the family of his young brother, a "cheesemonger" when back in England. The brother still listed that occupation on entering the US, turned blacksmith in Ohio, as he may have discovered no local towns large enough to offer jobs for cheesemongers.
Permelia had cared for her youngest stepchild from his infancy (his mother, Virtue, first wife to Robert, is presumed to have died at or soon after his birth), but by 1878 he, their eldest son, would be a maturing teen, with three other boys maturing right behind him.
At Uriah's death, son Henry lived in a township and county next-door, age 38, a farmer, born in Ohio; his wife, Marcia, 39, born in NY. Did her parents perhaps bring her to Ohio? They had one child still at home, Sarah, 12, b.Ohio.
Following the the latest farm frontier, Henry and Marcia would stay, but Permelia and Robert would return. Was their only goal to help maturing sons get started in a new life? They are buried in Chagrin Falls, nearer a married daughter who did not move out to Kansas.
An excellent family historian for his mother's maiden family (the Roblees/ Robleas/ Rublees/ Rubles) is Cindy Walcott. She tracked Uriah's birthplace to Addison County in Vermont specifically to Bristol, VT, north of New Haven, VT, both places not far from Canada. County historians fill in the blanks, saying not that specific people moved, but why they moved and whether to expect a large number or small to have made the change of locations. When his parents first arrived post-Revolution, Addison County was benefitting from Vermont's special and new free trade agreement with Quebec, possible only as Vermont was still an independent republic, delaying a merge into the Union made by other former colonies. England was courting Vermont, hoping it might merge with Canada instead of the Union.
After Vermont made its choice, joined the union, the advantages of independence disappeared, but Addison County still had Vergennes as its waterway shipping town, on Lake Champlain, with access to Canada and the Great Lakes no longer special but no worse off than say, Buffalo, NY. But, then, the new-fangled thing called the railroads came through, beginning to replace schooners and flat boats and steamboats. The railroads would decide to skip the once important waterway town, as its slopes were too steep to climb.
In nearby New Haven were his father's brothers, causing Uriah to grow up around cousins. The many cousins of his Uncle Seth were doubly-related. Their mothers, Permelia and Keturah, appear to have been cousins, married to brothers, his father Uriah and his uncle Seth.
Such doubly-related cousins would normally be extra-close, at least some in their vary large families moving to a new place together. Yet, they did not common to Ohio. Nor did his own siblings come to Ohio. There must have been an estrangement of some sort, that the usual did not happen.
His uncles-
(a) the eldest, Judge Ezra Hoyt, buried in VT, sons raised to be ministers, daughter married to a minister;
(b) the youngest, Seymour Hoyt, buried in Kalamazoo County, Michigan with some sons, followed some distant cousins there, with one of Ezra's sons eventually to be their minister;
(c) Seth, or S.M. Hoyt, died in VT in 1831 (check year), according to pension records found by Cindy. The pension records marked a shift that year, from paying him a pension, to paying his widow a pension.
Revised 2021, JB
Family Members
Siblings
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
