Elgin, Illinois
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth 1832-1908
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth
On October 17th, 1832 Sarah Emeline Hunt was born to Ward Ensign and Mary (Bascom) Hunt in Perrysburg, Cattaraugus, New York, USA. Ward Ensign Hunt was from Vermont and Mary Bascom from Massachusetts. Ward and Mary (Bascom) Hunt were very early pioneers of western New York.
Sarah’s parents had 12 children: Hiram Bascom Hunt (1818-1852), Henry Ensign Hunt (1819-1893), Rev. Ward Isaac Hunt(1820-1904), William Edwin Hunt (1822-1889), an infant-unknown name (1824-1824), Reuben Gay Hunt (1826-1861), Mary Elizabeth Hunt (1827-____), Joshua Bascom Hunt (1830-1835), George Hunt (1832-____), Sarah Emeline Hunt (1832-1908), Ellen Hunt (1834-1854) and Aaron Bascom Hunt (1837-1900).
Sarah Emeline Hunt was a teacher by training and experience. In the book “Biography of a Mind: Bosworth of Oberlin,” Sarah wrote an account of her life and in it she spoke of her mother “keeping abreast of current events. I remember her telling us that the Civil War was inevitable.” Widowed early in life, the mother was deeply religious and practically poised. “She would take me on horseback, in front or behind her,” to attend the Presbyterian church some four miles from the family farm in northwestern New York state. Sarah writes of her mother, Mary Bascom’s, influence upon her own life: “Parents should remember that in training children they are also training grandchildren indirectly.”
In Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, Miss Hunt was a public school teacher and teacher at Collamer Academy. Later, Sarah Emeline Hunt taught at Notre Dame located in St. Joseph County, Indiana. It was there Sarah met her future husband, Franklin Smith Bosworth who was actually a student of hers. Both were of the same age at the time.
Sarah Emeline Hunt and Franklin Smith Bosworth (1832-1919) were joined in marriage Jan. 4, 1859 in Dundee, Kane County, Illinois. At that point it appears Sarah’s career in teaching ended.
In 1852, Franklin S. Bosworth was engaged in business with his uncle, Increase C. Bosworth, in Dundee. A home tour in 1975 featured the Franklin Bosworth home at West Main and Fourth Streets in Dundee, Illinois as one of their homes of interest.
After about 20 years, Franklin and Sarah established their home in Elgin. An 1880 U. S. Census shows the couple and their daughter, Mary Abbie, along with a servant, Mary Moran, living at 37 Fulton Street. Franklin is listed on that census as a hardware merchant. Another census shows them at that home with their son, Frank Hunt Bosworth.
The Bosworths had four children: Reuben Hunt Bosworth (1859-1860), Dr. Edward Increase Bosworth (1861-1927) of Oberlin College, Mary Abbie Bosworth (1867-1942) and Frank Hunt Bosworth (1870-1919) a mayor of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois.
Sarah’s husband, Franklin S. Bosworth, held several terms as mayor of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois and her son Frank Hunt Bosworth was mayor of Elgin for one term.
In an 1877 newspaper article in the “Inter Ocean” mentioned Sarah’s membership in the Women’s Temperance Union in Kane County, Illinois.
The family attended the Congregational Church in Elgin, in which Franklin S. Bosworth held several official positions. We learn from another newspaper clipping that Sarah E. (Hunt) Bosworth, at the age of 57 years old, gave the welcoming speech at the local Baptist Church for the fifth annual meeting of The Ladies Home Missionary of the Congregational Church on May 21, 1890.
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth passed away June 25, 1908 in Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. She is buried with her husband in Dundee Township Cemetery West in Kane County, the place they began their life together and raised their family.
——–
Respectfully submitted by Tenderly Rose Robin Melissa Bosworth, great great granddaughter of Franklin Smith and Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth – September 26, 2018
Sarah Emeline HUNT (1832 – 1908)
2nd great-grandmother
—–
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH I (1870 – 1919)
Son of Sarah Emeline HUNT
Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr. (1905 – 1990)
Son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1933 – )
Son of Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr.
Tenderly Rose Robin Melissa BOSWORTH
Tthe daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Dundee Pioneer Charles Blow A Hero at 94 Years Old
The Rock Island Argus
July 18, 1913
Page 9
***
HUSBAND, 94, SAVES WIFE FROM FLAMES
Stairway Crashes as Aged Man Bears Helpmate Away from Burning House.
***
Muscatine, Iowa, July 18
Heroism which parallels that of genuine fiction was exhibited by Charles Blow, 94 years old, from possible death in a fire which totally destroyed the residence of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Contriman at Fruitland yesterday.
The aged people were in the home alone at the time of the fire. They have been guests at the Contriman home for the past several weeks, coming here from their home at Elgin, Ill. Their daughter, Mrs. Contriman was out in the pasture while Mr. Contriman was in the field.
The fire was discovered by Mr. Blow just as he had descended to the kitchen preparatory toward securing his breakfast. Considerable headway has already been made by the fire, a gust of flame enveloping him as he opened the kitchen door. Staggering from the noxious fumes he pluckily made his way upstairs where his wife was dressing. The aged woman was almost prostrated by the smoke which filled the upstairs portion of the dwelling and her husband practically carried her down the flight of the stairs. The passageway was dense with smoke and the two old people were compelled to fight their way to safety blindly. Flames singed the hair of both although neither was otherwise injured.
Barely a minute after they reached fresh air, the stairway crashed in.
The home was burned to the ground in its entirety. Nothing was saved. The loss to the furniture is estimated at about $1,500, while to the dwelling about $1,2000. The house was owned by Theodore Drake, a well known Muscatine Island resident. But a small amount of insurance was carried. The dwelling had recently been remodeled but since the improvements the insurance had not been increased.
Mr. and Mrs. Contriman had made their home in Fruitland since last February coming here from Chicago.
daughter of Charles BLOW
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Me, the daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Mr. Charles Blow and his wife, Lucy Flude Knott, are my 3x great grandparents.
Submitted by Tenderly Rose-Robin Melissa Bosworth Reininger
Wealthy Elgin Youth Shot by Caddie Master – 1929
*****
Chicago Daily Tribune
April 28, 1929
Wealthy Elgin Youth Shot by Caddie Master
Wilder M. Bosworth, 26 years old, member of a wealthy Elgin family, was shot and critically wounded early this morning as he sat with a party of friends amid a crowd of dancers and diners in El Rora Inn, on the Lincoln highway, in North Aurora. Emmett Lyons, 24 years old, caddie master at the Aurora Country club, was seized as Bosworth’s assailant and locked up at Geneva.
Café Crowded with Dancers
Bosworth, with Miss Evelyn Kingsley, 24 years old of Elgin, and three couples, went to the Inn shortly before midnight. The party was seated at a table in the large room where an orchestra was playing and the dance floor was crowded. Witnesses said that Lyons, who appeared to have been drinking, was strolling among the tables chatting with other guests. Suddenly he approached the Elgin party’s table and addressed Bosworth.
“How would you like to get shot?” he is reported to have said.
Rushed to Aurora Hospital
Then without another word he drew a pistol and fired as Miss Kingsley ran screaming across the floor. The bullet struck Bosworth in the abdomen. Two deputy sheriffs, Clarence Sayre and Charles Anderson, who were in the place, dashed through the terrified crowd and seized Lyons. Bosworth was hurried to St. Joseph’s hospital in Aurora.
Bosworth is the son of the late F. H. Bosworth, coal and lumber merchant of Elgin. His uncles Henry I. and Alfred Bosworth, are retired Elgin bankers. It is believed Bosworth and Lyons were strangers.
*****
Seattle Daily Times
April 29, 1929
Seattle, Washington
Caddy Master Takes Eight Drinks and Shoots Stranger
“What Happened?” Asks Golf Club Employee When He Wakes Up in Jail; Victim Smiling When Hit by Bullet
By Associated Press
Aurora, Ill., Monday, April 29.
“Where do you want it?” asked Emmett Lyons, 25-year-old caddy master of the Aurora Country Club, pointing a revolver at Wilder M. Bosworth, 23; “in the stomach or in the head?”
Bosworth, one of a party of young men and women seated in the El Rora Inn smiled. He did not think this man he never before had seen would shoot. He was still smiling when the weapon sent a bullet into his abdomen.
Lyons awoke in jail yesterday wondering why he was there.
“I must have been pretty much under the weather to be brought here,” he said to the jailer. “What happened?”
The jailer told him that Bosworth, member of a prominent Elgin family, had been seriously wounded.
George Carbary, prosecuting Attorney of Kane County, said he would pay particular attention in the investigation to the liquor angle, but believed no liquor angle, but, believed no liquor had been sold at the inn. Lyons told arresting officers that he had eight drinks from a friend’s bottle shortly before the shooting. He carried a pistol, he said, because he sometimes acted as night watchman at the country club.
*****
Decatur Evening Herald
Monday, April 29, 1929
Decatur, Illinois
CADDIE MASTER HELD FOR SHOOTING STRANGER
AURORA—April 29—Emmett Lyons 25 caddie master awoke in jail here to be told that he had sot and probably fatally wounded another youth, a stranger to him.
The victim of the shooting Wilder M. Bosworth, 23 was reported near death with a bullet wound in his abdomen.
The shooting occurred at a dance hall. Witnesses told police that Lyons apparently intoxicated approached a table where Bosworth was seated with seven girl companions and demanded one of the girls to dance with him.
Thy ignored him and Lyons drew a gun and shot Bosworth.
*****
Sterling Daily Gazette
Friday, May 10, 1929
FORGIVING MOTHER MAY SAVE THE CADDY
AURORA, ILL—(A.P.)—A mother’s capacity to forgive may save Emmett Lyons, young caddy master, from prison.
Last April 27 Lyons shot and seriously wounded Wilder Bosworth at a dance. Bosworth was a stranger to him. Lyons was drunk for the first time in his life.
“It was the liquor, not the boy,” the mother of Bosworth told State’s Attorney George D. Carbury in asking him not to prosecute Lyons.
Bosworth is recovering from the wound.
*****
Elgin, Illinois, Bosworth-Hoagland Family Tree Written on Bible Page
Celia M. Sears Hoagland, Death Notice- Nov. 9, 1889
Elgin Every Saturday
Elgin, Kane, Illinois, USA
Celia M. Sears Hoagland, Death Notice
9 Nov 1889
Celia M., wife of Zephaniah C. Hoagland, died very suddenly at her home 186 Kimball Street, Nov. 4th, aged 64 years. Two weeks ago she had a paralytic stroke, though up to that time in good health. She was apparently recovering, when a second stroke carried her off. She came to Elgin in 1849 and has always been much respected and beloved. She leaves five children to mourn for her.
Celia Mary SEARS (1825 – 1889)
My 3rd great-grandmother
Samuel Campbell HOAGLAND (1855 – 1940)
son of Celia Mary SEARS
Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND (1880 – 1961)
son of Samuel Campbell HOAGLAND
Helen Marie HOAGLAND (1907 – 1965)
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II (1933 – )
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Me – the daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Maria Elizabeth (Blow) Hoagland of Dundee, Illinois, Pioneer Family
Frank Hunt Bosworth Wins Mayoral Race by Act of God
Frank Hunt Bosworth Wins Mayoral Race by Act of God: April 19th was the day of the city election. The backers of mayoral candidate Frank H. Bosworth had voted early, but the west side supporters of his opponent, William H. Hintze, were planning to vote en masse in the late afternoon. Before they had assembled to cross the river to the one polling place, word spread that the dam and bridge were giving way. Crowds watched parts of buildings and cakes of ice six feet in thickness and many yards square whirl about in the river. The climax came when a barn sweeping along with the torrent struck the crumbling supports at the east end of the bridge, bending and twisting the iron. Two sections fell with a resounding crash, and in the excitement, voting came to a halt. The Hintze men long claimed the bridge collapse was responsible for his defeat.
http://www.elginhistory.com/eaah/eaah-ch04.htm
There was no date provided for the above newspaper article. My guess would be about 1881.
Elgin, Kane County, Illinois
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1870 – 1919)
was my great-grandfather
Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S. (1905 – 1990)
son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH\
Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II (1933 – )
son of Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S.
Me, the daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Franklin Smith Bosworth (1832-1919)
Franklin Smith Bosworth (1832-1919)
Franklin S. BOSWORTH – a native of Boston, Erie Co., New York, and son of Benjamin F. and Almira SMITH BOSWORTH. The father was born in Greenfield, New York, and was the son of Alfred BOSWORTH, born in Bristol, Rhode Island, of English parentage. Alfred came west in the fall of 1839, to Dundee, Ill. where he died in June 1861. He followed the hatter’s trade, and later farming. He married Olive CHILD of New York, and they had 6 children: Benjamin F., Oliver C., Increase C., Lucinda C., Mary C. wife of Harry WEED, Lucinda wife of Alfred EDWARDS and Abbie M, wife of Benj. SIMONDS; all are now deceased.
Dr. Benjamine F. BOSWORTH the father practiced medicine til his removal to Illinois; locating in Chicago in 1856, he engaged in merchandising in that place until his removal to McHenry, Ill where he conducted a mercatile establishment until his death in Sept. 1843. (transcribers note: these dates are as given. Perhaps reversed?)His wife was the daughter of Amos SMITH, of NY.
Franklin S. BOSWORTH, their only child, was born Dec. 17, 1832. He began merchandising in 1852, in connection with I.C. BOSWORTH, at Dundee, Ill. until June 1871, when he removed to Elgin. There he pruchased [sic] interest in an east side hardware store, until Sept. 1883 when he sold to Metcalf and Reed. 1888 he purchased part of a coal and lumber yard – 1896 he became partners with his son Frank H. BOSWORTH.
Jan 1859 he married Miss Sarah E. HUNT of Dundee, daughter of Ward E. and Mary HUNT, her father a native of Vermont. 4 BOSWORTH children: Reuben H., Edward, married to Bertha McCLURE of Elgin; Mary, wife of Walter SKEELE; and Frank H.
Mr. BOSWORTH was elected mayor of Elgin in 1880, for 2 terms.
Biographical Record of Kane Co., Ill.S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.Chicago, Ill 1898 page 42
Republican Liberal, Mayor of Elgin, Illinois. He was elected a member of the city council in 1879, and in 1880 was elected mayor of Elgin, filling that office for two consecutive terms. Progressive administration.
The good, the bad and the ugly truth…
Relationship between Franklin Smith BOSWORTH & Me
Franklin Smith BOSWORTH (1832 – 1919)
2nd great-grandfather
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1870 – 1919)
son of Franklin Smith BOSWORTH
Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S. (1905 – 1990)
son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
son of Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S.
The Death of Wilder Morris Bosworth, Jr.
The Death of Wilder Morris “Tuffy” Bosworth
The Daily Herald, Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi Coast
Saturday Afternoon – December 13, 1958
Deaths
WILDER BOSWORTH
Wilder Morris Bosworth Jr., 23, 207 Reynoir St., Biloxi, died Friday, 2:30 p.m. at St. Joseph Hospital, Elgin, Ill. He was a native of Chicago and resided in Biloxi most of his life. He was in the Navy from 1954-58, was a member of First Methodist Church, Biloxi, Biloxi Yacht Club and he and his family had been visiting in Elgin for the past week. His death followed a long illness.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Virginia Champlin Bosworth, mother, Mrs. Helen Mason, Biloxi; father, Dr. Wm. [sic-should be Wilder] Bosworth, Columbus, Miss., and two brothers Wm. Shales Bosworth [sic-correction last name was Shales, not Bosworth], Dixon, Calif., and Frank Hunt Bosworth OCS, Fort Benning Ga., and grandfather, Thad Hogland [sic-correction Fred Hoagland], Elgin, Ill.
The body will arrive in Biloxi at 2:50 a.m. Monday. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday from Bradford Funeral Home with services at First Methodist Church by the Rev. W. F. Whaley.
Biloxi Daily Herald
December 17, 1958
BOSWORTH RITES
The funeral of Wilder Bosworth Jr., who died Friday at Elgin, Ill., was held Tuesday afternoon from Bradford Funeral Home with services at the First Methodist Church conducted by the Rev. W. F. Whaley. Burial was in the Biloxi Cemetery. Pallbearer were Vallie Lepre, John Baltar, Keith Fountain, Franklin Middleton, Jack Perez and John Switzer.
Wilder Morris Bosworth, Jr., was my paternal uncle. His family members called him “Tuffy”. This was a nickname I was frequently affectionately called by my mother, Janie. She told me I looked like him and reminded her of him. I was 2 ½ years old when Tuffy died. I have no memories of him. I first visited Tuffy’s grave in the Biloxi National Cemetery just a few years ago. He is buried in a beautiful spot under a sprawling live oak tree. I took photos of his grave. I was told Tuffy died from cancer that was located in his leg. I wept for the uncle I never got to know. By all accounts, Tuffy was a kind and loving person with an adventuresome nature.
A Letter from Alfred Bosworth (1773-1861) – to His Brother Hezekiah
Alfred Bosworth’s Letter to His Brother Hezekiah
Dundee Kane Co. Ill. Jan. 7 AD 1846
Dear Brother,
I must say I have for a long time neglected to wright to you. When I left you I was soon unwell and not willing for my son to leave me. After leaving Warren I was soon in Pittstown. I was in Pittstown 7 or 8 days. My hoarseness and cold wore off.
Brother Nathaniel took me to Adams and about to see his children.
I left Pittstown and went to Gorham, Ontario where Judge Child lives and his children. I was in Ontario County 6 days. They took me about the county to see some relatives and old acquaintances. I was on the Fourth of July in Canandaigue Village. The people was celebrating the Fourth of July.
I left Ontario ounty for Hanover in Chautauqua county where my daughter in law and three little children lives. I was with them 6 days. She has a good house and lot and some money at interest. I went from Chautauqua to Michigan State. There I stopt to see Mrs. Bosworth’s relatives.
From Michigan I went to Chicago and I arrived home in Dundee the 22 of July. In looking over my journey in 2 months and 2 days I traveled near four thousand miles in the time, visited a number of relatives and friends. It was a consolation to find my relatives enjoying good health. Mrs. Bosworth and my children enjoyed good health the past year. My health in September and October was poor but through Divine Goodness my health is now good. I see it stated in some of the western papers that the health of the people was for 2 or 3 months the last year poor in the great Valley of the Mississippi but now good.
The farmers in this country have been blest with good crops the past year and the short crops in Europe helped them to an advanced price for their produce. This country is increasing fast in population and wealth. The people are enterprising and of industrious habits and respect the Sabbath. There is in Dundee Baptists Methodists and Presbyterians preaching. There will soon be a railroad from Chiago through Dundee to Galena.
I have just received a newspaper from Leonard Waldron. I received it as a favor. I must come to a close I never was a ready wrighter. If I had a been I would have wrighten to you all, and much oftener than I have done. It is seldom that I take a pen in my hand. I will be 73 years of age….months and I do feel a degree of thankfulness for the health and blessings that I have enjoyed. I have had some unpleasant feeling about Sister Usher’s living alone in her advanced age.
I do wish that my near relatives might see this letter for I cannot wright to them all–and I do hope that some one of the number will soon let me hear from you all. I have just received a newspaper from Leonard Waldron. I received it as a favor and I have sent in this letter a five dollar bill No. 141 the Ontario bank, Canandaigue. Brother I wish you would take this money and pay the Bristol printer for a newspaper one year directed to A. Bosworth, Dundee, Kane co., Ill. Give the balance of it to our Sister Waldron. In so doing you will oblige a brother.
I must close and leave room for Mrs. Bosworth to wright a few lines. Now we want four or five or six of you to come out and see us and see where we live. Such a visit would be gratifying to all.
4th great-grandfather
son of Alfred BOSWORTH
son of Benjamin Franklin BOSWORTH M.D.
son of Franklin Smith BOSWORTH
son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
son of Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S.
James Knott 1804–1874, Elgin’s Grocer
When James Knott was born about 1804, in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, his father, Thomas, was 13 and his mother, Anna, was 17. He was married three times and had three sons and two daughters. He died on March 5, 1874, in Elgin, Illinois, at the age of 70, and was buried there.
James KNOTT (1804 – 1874)
My 4th great-grandfather
daughter of James KNOTT & Deborah FLUDE
daughter of Lucy Flude KNOTT
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
The daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
James Knott married Deborah Flude in 1822 in Leicester, Leicestershire, when he was 18 years old.
St. Nicholas Church – “England Marriages, 1538–1973 ,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ8W-TQK : accessed 24 February 2016), James Knott and Debora Flude, 25 Aug 1822; citing St. Nicholas, Leicester, Leicester, England, ref
Read about Deborah Flude by clicking on this link:
https://thetenderlyrosecollection.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/deborah-flude-1800-1847/
Excerpt from British History Online:
“Of the other early shoemakers, James Knott advertised himself in 1842 as a ‘Fashionable Boot and Shoe Manufacturer’, who supplied the trade as well as private customers and executed shipping orders. He continued to appear with his son, Thomas, in the lists of boot and shoe manufacturers until 1850.”
‘The City of Leicester: Footwear manufacture’, A History of the County of Leicester: volume 4: The City of Leicester (1958), pp. 314-326. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.
My note: Is it possible that the author of this history may have listed James as the father of Thomas in error. In my research, Thomas Knott was the father of James Knott. But, I am just beginning to gather information on this family, so I may be incorrect in my information. Would love to hear from anyone familiar with this family.
After Deborah’s death in 1847, James Knott arrived in America on June 28, 1849 in New York, New York after a 38 day voyage on the ship named Guy Mannering. The ship’s manifest lists James Knott 45, William Knott 18, Anne Knott 20, Eliz. Knott 16 and Fred Knott 12. His oldest child, Lucy, my GGG Grandmother, was not listed on the manifest with her family. I found she had traveled ahead of the family to America and was living with her Uncle John Knott in Chicago at the time of her family’s arrival.
Around 1849-1851, James Knott married Elizabeth Anne Hawly (1800-1852) in Illinois.
On the 1850 U.S. Federal Census the family is living in the Town of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. The census lists James Knott 46, Elisabeth Knott 26, Elisabeth Knott 18, Frederick J. Knott 13. Only James is listed as having been born in Illinois. On the ship’s manifest for James Knott upon arrival to the U.S., an Elizabeth is listed, so at least that would indicated she was born in England, not Illinois. The same page of the census also shows his father, Thomas Knott 61 with Ann Knott 63-both born in England-his occupation is “Tanner or Tuner”.
After the death of James’ second wife, Elizabeth Hawly, he then married Charlotte Bunce on November 18, 1852.
James Knott is listed on the Illinois State Census for 1855 as residing in Elgin, Kane, Illinois.
A U.S. IRS Tax Assessment List for Illinois, District 2, for 1862-1864 lists James Knott as “Retail Dealer”, but then that was crossed out and it looks like “Butcher” was written beside it. Another U.S. IRS Tax Assessment List for the same district lists James Knott as “Retail Dealer”.
On the 1870 U.S. Census for Elgin, Kane, Illinois, James Knott is listed as “Retired Merchant” with possible wife (3 years younger), Charlotte Knott & Margaret Bunce (whom I found on a census in PA with George F. Knott on same page – Marg. was listed as domestic) at same address.
James Knott is listed as buried in the Channing Street Cemetery (Channing Street Cemetary Sexton’s Certificates) on March 5, 1874, however, the Channing Street Cemetery was “repurposed” for the building of a school. The story is here:
http://www.elginroots.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=146
Deborah FLUDE (1800 – 1847)
Deborah FLUDE Knott (1800 – 1847)
My 4th great-grandmother
daughter of Deborah FLUDE
daughter of Lucy Flude KNOTT
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
The daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Forget Me Knott
BBC Leicester’s Tony Wadsworth goes in search of a Leicester woman who was born, married and buried in the same street.
How often do you pass familiar buildings, statues and objects in the street without giving them a second thought?
One sunny day BBC Leicester’s Tony Wadsworth stopped to take a look round the churchyard he walks past everyday, and found one woman’s remarkable story amongst the gravestones.
It got him thinking about the area around St. Nicholas Church and how it had changed since her days in the 1800s, and even in the last 50 years.
Deborah’s Death
Deborah’s death certificate states that she died of “enlargement of the liver” and “heart disease”.
BBC Leicester’s Julie Mayer spoke to Dr Clive Harrison to find out what could have caused Deborah’s poor health…
Leicester in the mid 1800s was a very different place from the city we know today and the environment would have affected everyone’s health.
In 1813 the Inspector of Nuisances, George Brown painted the city conditions as a radical risk to the health of its residents.
He said the River Soar was “torpid and turbid”, describing parts of it as an “open cesspool” emitting “pestiferous gasses which cause disease of the most malignant and mortal character”.
Doctors of the time often didn’t understand much more about disease than their patients; miasma, the belief that illness came from bad smells, was a popular concept.
Infant mortality was particularly high with a fifth of children dying before they reached the age of one.
In the 19th Century diarrhoea, consumption, scarlet fever and lung infections were all common causes of deaths.
With people living in cramped conditions, next to cesspits, abattoirs and stables, Clive believes it’s no wonder disease was rife.
Before the time of the NHS and antibiotics, city residents would normally be treated by local doctors who used reference books to give prescriptions from their own pharmacies.
There was just one hospital in the area during the 1800’s. Leicester Infirmary was founded in 1771 but was only open to a small section of society.
Overall Dr Clive said it was unsurprisingly Deborah had died of disease and all things considered she didn’t do too badly to last until 47 years-old: “I’d have said she was almost elderly.”
Life after Deborah
Although Deborah’s grave clearly marks her marriage to James Knott, her husband and children do not rest in the same churchyard.
Peter Cousins searched the 1851 census but was unable to find their names, “Husband, children – just disappeared off the face of Leicester.”
After quite a bit of thinking and investigating Peter traced down the family’s movements after the death of Deborah.
An 1849 shipping list reveals that James Knott, his sons William and Fredrick, and daughter Elizabeth, emigrated to America.
The travelled on the Guy Mannering ship on her first East-West voyage from Liverpool to New York on 22 May 1849.
The journey to the new world and their new home took 38 days.
After digging a bit deeper Peter found the Knott’s settled in Illinois the next year, with what appears to be a young wife for James:
“So he’s not only gone to start a new life, it looks like he’s started a new family.”
St. Nicholas Church, Leicester
In Search of Deborah
BBC Leicester’s Tony Wadsworth and Julie Mayer went in search of the woman who was born and buried on the same street in Leicester…
Deborah was born in 1800 on St. Nicholas Street, which is now a continuation of the High Street – just round the corner from the BBC Leicester studios.
At that time Leicester’s population would have rested at around 17,000 people. Her particular neighbourhood was small but densely inhabited.
Her unusually modern name, which first drew Tony to her story, was passed on from her older sister who died in infancy just a year before her arrival in the world.
She married James Knott in 1822 at St. Nicholas Church, at the age of 22. Find out more about marriage in the 1800s…
Weddings at this time would have been simple and quiet affairs, with just a few close family members witnessing their solemnisation of matrimony.
Local Historian Richard Gill commented, “this notion that we have to have 150 guests at your wedding and you have a huge slap up meal afterwards, that is actually middle to late 20th Century.
“It didn’t happen for my parents in the 1920s.”
A Different Life
Deborah continued to live with her husband on the same road she grew up on, raising six children in the process.
Local genealogist Peter Cousins discovered that at the time of the 1841 Census the children ranged from between three and 16 years-old:
“They were quite regular in their habits, you might say!”
James worked as a shoemaker, which was a common profession in an area home to many shoe factories, however Mrs Knott is likely to have been a housewife.
It is difficult to know how comfortably the Knotts lived as James’ specific position is unknown and could range from business owner to manual worker.
However Richard believes there may be some clues to the family’s wealth in Deborah’s gravestone – a smart but not overly elaborate piece made from local Swithland slate:
“This would rather suggest that there was at least sufficient money to memorialise her when she died.”
Deborah’s life in the 1800s would have been a very different experience to the Leicester women of today.
There were no aeroplanes, no electric light bulbs, no phones, no water pipes delivering fresh water, no flushing toilets, no NHS, and definitely no television or radio!
Leicester: 1800s
With the St. Nicholas area now home to several car parks and a developing park and ride scheme it is particularly interesting to consider that Deborah would have never seen a motor vehicle.
Very few areas of Leicester would still be recognisable to Deborah now, including the Guildhall, five medieval churches, a few chapels, the City Rooms, and a small network of streets south of St. Martins.
Richard said, “In the period in which she lived, that first half of the 19th Century, Leicester was very different and the sort of Leicester we think of as Victorian Leicester came more or less as was dying. So very little survives.”
Deborah died on 15 May 1847 at the age of 47 and was buried in the grounds of St. Nicholas Church in Leicester, where she remains to this day.
It may seem young to us now, but Richard believes it wouldn’t have been at all shocking in the 1840s:
“No drains, no deposal sewage, clean water uncertain – so one was pray to all kinds of things.
“And medicine was really just a case of nursing people, no antibiotics or anything like that, and often the flus in the winter and summer diarrhoea carried people off.
“So it may well be some people thought, ‘well she might have lived longer’, but 47 wasn’t bad.”
last updated: 04/09/2009 at 09:34
created: 07/07/2009
BBC
The story about Deborah as documented by Tony Wadsworth can be heard by clicking on this link and following the links within the story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2009/07/07/deborah_knott_feature.shtml
The Tenderly Rose Collection 