Joseph and Harriet Nute: Was it the Genes?

Just two days after his 17th birthday, young Raymond Nute took a ride with the men of the family on a motor truck vehicle in Fall River, Massachusetts.  It was documented with a photo and perhaps published at the time in the Fall River newspaper.  In any event, the photo was published some unknown years later, likely as a historical photo, and the news clipping recently found in family papers.

The narrative reads,

COMFORT IS RELATIVE.  This was a gala holiday trip, April 19, 1909, on one of the first motor trucks purchased by the Fall River Gas Works Company.  Judging from the happy smiles of the passengers, one gathers this vehicle had more to offer than a surrey.  In the front seat, right, Joseph E. Nute, general manager of the Gas Company, with George Hadley, the driver.  In the second seat are Mr. Nute's sons, Raymond, Alden, and Warren.  Charles Leonard, superintendent of the Pond Street gas works, is facing in the rear seat.  Behind him are Matthew Kelly, spare office, and Fred J. Hopkins, Paymaster.  Many people may remember this truck.  It had coil springs in the rear - what we call today "knee action" - was chain driven, and had solid rubber tires.  Background is probably the Narrows.

GGF Joseph Nute was the seventh of Orsamus' children, and second born from the marriage of 2nd GGPs Orsamus and Lovina Dunn Davis. Born in Woodstock in 1863, he was an infant when his oldest half-brother, Samuel Ambrose Nute, died and Orsamus gathered up the family and moved everyone to Boston. Two of Joseph's half sibs died before he was born and another three sibs and his mother would die by 1880.

Joseph graduated from Boston's Massachusetts Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering in 1885.  Fresh out of school, he took his first job in Philadelphia as an engineer for the United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia.  Two years later, he married a young music teacher from Boston, GGM Harriet Gove Wilkins, and transferred with his new bride to Jersey City, New Jersey, where he worked for the next three years as superintendent for United Gas and their first born, Helen Elizabeth, was born.   Joseph moved his young family to Fall River in 1890 where he took charge of the Fall River Gas Works Company, and remained in this position until his retirement.

His biography published in Our Country and Its People, Part 2, by Alanson Borden, Boston History Company, relates that Joseph was a member of the American Gas Light Association, the New England Association of Gas Engineers and a recognized authority on all matters pertaining to gas construction. 

Harriet was descended from the Gove (of Edward, John and Nathaniel family in Lincoln, MA) and Wilkins families in Boston. 

Joseph Edson Nute

Harriet Gove Wilkins

Joseph and Harriet lived in various addresses in Fall River, including 11 Maple Street in 1891, 47 Durfee Street in 1893, 94 Lincoln in 1896, 14 Bedford 1897-1899, and 94 Wilkens Avenue in 1899. Their home at 914 Highland Avenue was completed in 1900, a lovely Colonial Revival. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Highlands Historic District.

914 Highland Avenue

News articles in Fall River and Boston shed light on Joseph and Harriet's activities while living in Fall River. In 1902, the family took a vacation to South Paris, ME, likely with Orsamus. A fire occurred in a kitchen closet at the Highland Avenue home in May 1904. The news article indicates Joseph and family lived in an apartment on the second floor and another occupant lived in the first floor apartment. A news article in 1909 showed Joseph taking sons Raymond, Alden, and Warren, as well as some officials for a ride in one of the first motor trucks purchased by the Fall River Gas Works. In 1910, Joseph took the family camping at Camp Madockawando. In 1911, a surprise birthday party was given for Warren, a junior at BMC Durfee High School. In 1914, the paper reported Helen and a girlfriend were lost in the woods on Cape Cod.

Numerous news articles relate Joseph's involvement in scouting and civic activities. He was treasurer of a relief fund for a devastating Salem, MA, fire in 1914, as well as treasurer of a WWI Belgian Relief fund drive ini 1914, treasurer for the Chamber of Commerce in 1916, chairman and treasure of a campaign to raise funds for Boy Scouts in 1917, chairman of Fall River's Red Cross War Fund in WWI, a director of the Fall River Chamber of Commerce in 1918, committee chairman for a hospital building campaign in 1920, in charge of a European Children's Relief Fund drive in 1920, and a toastmaster in charge of fund raising for the YMCA in 1921.

The paper also reported Joseph ran over a man who jumped from a trolley car into his path in 1917.

All three boys - Raymond, Alden, and Warren -  and the youngest child, Katharine, were born in Fall River. Their oldest son, Raymond, married Alice Packard Studley in the bride's home in 1915, and the paper notes Harriet wore her own wedding dress to the ceremony. Sons Alden enlisted in the chemical division of the US Army and Warren enlisted in the US Nave with a submarine chaser in July 1918.

Helen (1888-1985) taught on the faculty at Mount Holyoke College and married a student, Arthur G. Wadsworth, in 1917; he was 19 and she 28.  They lived in New Bedford and had one child, Ann, who died at an early age. The newspaper indicated Arthur was a lieutenant in the aviation corps when the couple visited Joseph and Harriet in 1919.

Warren (1894-1960) served World War I in the Splinter fleet, SC 259, a submarine chaser, and worked as a bank clerk after the war.  Working on a World War I submarine chaser was considered to be a pretty hazardous way to spend your time. Warren married Maud Bamford Tattersall and lived in New Bedford, employed as a clerk at the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Company. Two of their sons fought in World War II, Warren Wilkins II in the Navy, and Gordon Bamford Nute a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps flew 35 missions over the European theater as a navigator. Warren was cremated at Forest Hills in Boston and is buried in New Bedford.

Alden (1895-1971) graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1917, and married a fellow student, Loretta Dakin, who also graduated from MIT and went on to further graduate work.  An article in a 1920 M.I.T. paper reported,

Miss Loretta Mildred Dakin Sp  '18 has just been appointed bacteriologist for the United States Health Service at New Haven, Connecticut.  Ms Dakin goes to New Haven from the health department of Toledo, Ohio

After graduation from the Toledo Normal School, she came to the Institute and specialized under Professor William T. Sedgwick of the Biology Department in bacteriology and chemistry, leaving in 1918 to take further work at Harvard Medical and Columbia University.

The appointment of women in the health service has been found to be better than filling the positions with men.  The war gave the first impetus to this movement and the women have become more and more prominent in health work.

Alden had a career as a chemist after serving in the army in WWI. He became the assistant superintendent of the cotton company in Fall River, later working for the Calco Chemical Company in Connecticut. Joseph, class of 1885, and Alden, class of 1917, attended an MIT Alumni meeting together in 1923. Alden was cremated at Waring-Ashton in Fall River.

The youngest, Katharine (1899-1933), graduated from the Boston School of Occupational Therapy and was an occupational therapist at the Lakeville Sanitorium for tuberculosis. She lived at home, never married, until her death from lymphoma at the young age of 34. She was cremated at Forest Hills.

Living in the Highland Avenue home in 1920 were Joseph and Harriet, Warren who was working as a bank clerk, Alden working as a chemist in a cotton mill, Katharine, age 20, and a household employee, Susan Simmons.

And, of course, we know about the career of young Raymond who left MIT for Mass Ag to study pomology and created the wonderful orchard in Kentucky.  Such an illustrious group of kids they all were.

Joseph, age 61, retired from the Gas Works in 1924, and became involved in business partnerships, including a partnership with Helen's husband, Arthur, for a dirigible to operate at the South Dartmouth airport. The blimp was destroyed in El Paso in 1932. Joseph was unable to meet his obligations as a private investor in a gas company that went into receivership in 1929.

At age 68, Joseph received Fall River's first silver beaver for his contributions to the Boy Scouts.

Raymond Edson Nute, Sr. Joseph Nute holding Raymond Nute III, Raymond Edson Nute Jr.
1944

Joseph exhaustively researched the Nute genealogy with a distant cousin, Percy Elmer Nute (1884-1965) of Lynnfield, MA. Together, they traced descendants from the original 1632 Nute settler in Dover, New Hampshire. Information was compiled by Amy Emery and put into book form. A copy is in the New Hampshire Historical Society library. His research was donated to the New England Genealogical and Historical Society in Boston and are available on request.

Following Harriet's death May 21, 1941, Joseph, age 77, went to live with Helen and Arthur in South Dartmouth. He died September 15, 1949, and was cremated at Forest Hills in Boston.

Don't Hold Your Breath

What kind of ingrate goes on an all-expense paid trip to Ireland and Iceland, then waits nine months to blog about it? You’re lookin’ at her. OK, so you’re not – you’re just reading the first of her very belated blogposts about the trip.

After our very inspiring and character-building 200-mile hike on the Camino de Santiago in the fall of 2010 – about which it also took me months to get around to writing, I figured 80 miles on the Kerry Way in Ireland would be a relative piece of cake. So when Kathie told me that Kathleen was planning the trip and asked if I would like to go…well, really, what would you say? 

We took off on Friday, August 12^th, for Dublin. The overnight flight was the crampedest – yes, that is now a word in my dictionary - I have ever experienced. I mean, really, Delta? We’re not 3 feet tall.  A few more inches between rows would not kill you, would it? Or maybe those seats should have been reserved for leprechauns. 

Upon arriving in Dublin on Saturday morning, we caught a bus that stopped right in front of the Portabello Bed and Breakfast, a lovely Victorian row house on South Circular Road, owned by Paul and Eileen Coughlin. We dragged our stuff in, chatted with Paul a bit, got situated in the front basement apartment (1 room with 3 beds and an itty bitty bathroom in a closet-sized space – which is not really so unusual in Europe), grabbed some euros at the ATM across the street, and hopped on the bus to downtown. Later we found out that we could easily walk there, but taking the bus this time was a good thing because we met a young lady who recommended Taste Food Co. for lunch.   

 

I had the roasted Mediterranean vegetable something or other (the menu description: “toasted focaccia buttered with our own hummus, topped with rocket tossed in balsamic dressing, mozzarella, basil pesto & roasted med veg”), which was quite tasty.

Then we wandered around a bit on our way to the tourist office. Along the way, we passed this sign for McDonald’s.

(Whaddya think – is that a hoot or what?) Then picked up some tickets for River Dance on Sunday evening.  We finally made it to the tourist office where we bought tickets for the hop on-hop off bus and got the scoop on Molly Malone from the tourist office lady.

According to Wikipedia, “Molly is commemorated in a statue designed by Jeanne Rynhart, erected to celebrate the city's first millennium in 1988. Placed at the bottom of Grafton Street in Dublin, this statue is known colloquially as 'The Tart With The Cart', 'The Dish With The Fish', 'The Trollop With The Scallop(s)', 'The Dolly With the Trolley', and 'The Flirt in the Skirt'. The statue portrays Molly as a busty young woman in seventeenth-century dress. Her low-cut dress and large breasts were justified on the grounds that as ‘women breastfed publicly in Molly's time, breasts were popped out all over the place.’"

In Dublin's fair city,
Where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"
"Alive, alive, oh,
Alive, alive, oh",
Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh".

She was a fishmonger,
But sure 'twas no wonder,
For so were her father and mother before,
And they each wheeled their barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"
(chorus)

She died of a fever,
And no one could save her,
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone. Now her ghost wheels her barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"
(chorus)

Apparently U2 did a version of that.  Huh.

So we hopped on and off the hop on-hop off bus – which is obviously what you’re supposed to do - to get the lay of the land.  Somewhere about halfway through the route, the three of us started nodding off.  Having slept all of 3 minutes on the flight, we were pretty tired puppies.  When the route ended, we were not sorry to hop off for good and get some dinner at O'Neill's, where Paul had recommended we get the fish and chips.  The fish and chips were so-so, but what do Yankees know about such things?

When will I write about the rest of the trip?  Who knows?  It might be tomorrow…or it might be in another nine months.  Don’t hold your breath.  It's been so long since I've blogged that I have to catch up on all the new Blogger tricks.  Oy.

Sunset Trail, Laguna Meadow, and More

A couple weeks ago, two friends and I set out on a Jim Duggan adventure to the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego - and an amazing adventure it was. Jim is a horticulturalist for the Getty Museum Central Garden, a wonder of the art and plant world, and an expert on San Diego hiking. I can remember the first time I looked over the edge to the Getty Central Garden, a Wow! experience, unforgettable like where were you when you heard Kennedy died.

Everyone goes to the Anza Borrego desert for early spring flowers. How many know about the spectacular mountain meadows and hillsides of the Lagunas in springtime? Our mission was Noble Canyon in late April to hike and see the flowers.  The original trail was put in by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's.  Why aren't we putting people to work these days with lasting projects like this?

 

We set off through  pine and oak forests, Kathleen (pink shirt) covered head to toe due to severe allergy to poison oak, Jim in his trademark shorts regardless of rattlesnake risk.  While our trail head was Penny Pines leading onto the Noble Canyon trail, Jim cut off at one point to our destination, the Sunset Trail skirting Laguna Meadow.

 

We climbed to a ridge with view to a beautiful valley below which may be Filaree Flats. 

Still everywhere is evidence of the wildfires that raged through this area almost a decade ago.  I worried about all the critters that must have been crisped, but Kathleen reassured me that many smaller animals went underground, the larger ones were able to flee, and not many carcasses were found after the fire.

Life renews itself in the spring., like these sprouting black oak leaves.  The very baby ones are still red.

Farther on, the long Laguna Meadow opened up and I got a Wyeth Christina photo of Debra.

After heading into the forest ridge down to Big Laguna Lake in the distance, we headed back along the edge of the meadow, Jim and Kathleen stopping to examine, photo and note the botany of the area.  Deb said later she was grateful for their stops.  He's a hard guy to keep up with.

 I took a few flower photos of my own,

we headed back to the trail head, and climbed into the car to head north on Sunrise Highway.  Hillsides on both sides of the road were filled with Ceanothus, the California version of lilacs, and magenta western redbud. How many times can you say Wow!

We got out again at the Pedro Fages Historical Marker,

which reads,

On October 29, 1772, Colonel Pedro Fages headed east from San Diego searching for army deserters.  It was the first entry by Europeans into Oriflamme Canyon.  From there, Fages and his men travelled on through Cajon Pass, around the Mojave and the Central Valley, and eventually reached Mission San Luis Obispo.  As a result, he discovered the Colorado Desert and the San Joaquin Valley.

Whoever placed this marker was clearly having a Columbus discovered America moment.

Colonel Pedro Fages commanded the original Spanish army sent to stake a claim in California.   Along with Father Junipero Serra, they all climbed the Presidio hill in 1769 and planted the cross for Spain.  

You gotta wonder about a guy willing to head this far out into uncharted- for them - territory looking for a few deserters.  I wondered how they made their way, fed themselves,  and kept on track until I read this letter written by Don Pedro to Don Jose de Galvez.  If you're from San Diego, take the time to read this part of our history.   You've also gotta wonder about anyone who would desert in an unknown land into the back wilderness of San Diego County.

An old road could be seen going east, crossing into Oriflamme Canyon, used by travelers and stage coaches in the 1800's, but we turned west along an unnamed trail with wonderful tree skeletons,

and a view toward Cuyamaca Reservoir.

We were all walked out for the day, ready to turn back, when Jim pointed out a stripe through the valley below.

"Part of the old road where it turned to go into San Diego", he said.  

History, it's everywhere.

The Shot Heard Round the World

On the night of April 18, 1775, 800 British regulars were moving out of Boston, west toward Lexington and Concord, with objectives to capture two troublemakers, Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington, as well as stores of patriot munitions at a farm in Concord. Paul Revere set off on his famous midnight ride,

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,--- from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Along the way he warned the patriot locals and other riders were dispersed to spread the word to the “Minutemen” who were prepared to muster at a minute’s notice. Revere and two buddies warned Lexington and were detained at Lincoln, a small town adjacent to Concord and Lexington. By that time the wheel was in motion and in the early morning hours of April 19 about 70 patriot militia confronted the British at Lexington Green. After a fierce defense by vastly outnumbered Lexington Minutemen, the British advanced on toward Concord, six miles away, looking to capture a large patriot munitions store on a farm two miles west of the North Bridge over the Concord River.

Meanwhile, Minutemen from Concord and surrounding farm towns of Middlesex County had mustered and marched toward the North Bridge to confront the British and prevent their movement across the small river toward the munitions store. Believed to be first at the bridge were minutemen from Lincoln. In face of the large British force, 250 minutemen retreated across the bridge. As reinforcements arrived and smoke was seen coming from the meetinghouse, spreading through town, the growing force of Minute men advanced with orders to fire only if fired upon.

The British retreated back across the bridge, but a shot rang out and the fight was on.


By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world. From Concord Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson

The British fled and retreated toward Boston, harassed all the way back by patriot militia. The British lost 200 men by the end of the day, a victory setting the Revolution in motion.

A young Lincoln farmer, Nathaniel Gove, 26 years, would have been wakened by the alarm in the early morning hours, likely by 1:00 AM on April 19, and hurriedly put on his clothes, gathered his rifle or musket, perhaps grabbed a biscuit, and mounted his horse to join the other Lincoln minutemen in Colonel Abijah Pierce’s Regiment. The weather was probably a chilly 40 degrees. He left behind a young 22 year old wife, Elizabeth, and two children, Tabitha, age 2 and Nathaniel, almost a year old. He was off to join with his buddies of Lincoln who had been expecting this situation to arise sooner or later.

They marched from Lincoln at about 2:00 AM and arrived at Concord, four miles away about 4:00 AM, the first Minutemen to reach the North Bridge “in a body, under their two captains, Abijah Pierce and William Smith, bringing the rumor that men had been killed at Lexington. The Lincoln men, then, with the two Concord minute companies (some members being probably absent saving the stores) marched down the Lexington Road."
Allen French, The Day of Lexington and Concord (1925)

"One compney I beleave of minnit men was raisd in a most every town to stand at a minnits warning. Before sunrise thair was I beleave 150 of us and more of all that was thair. -- We thought we wood go and meet the Britsch. We marched Down to wards L[exington] about a mild or a mild half and we see them acomming, we halted and stayd till they got within about 100 Rods then we was orded to the about face and marchd before them with our Droms and fifes agoing and also the B[ritish]. We had grand musick.”
Amos Barrett, letter of April 19, 1825 in We Were There! The American Rebels

And meet the British they did. By noon, the British were retreating back to Boston, the Minutemen having won the first battle of the American Revolution.

Nathaniel, our 5th great grandfather, returned home to the farm and had eight more children. His great grandfather was John Gove, immigrant from England in 1635 and brother to the “treasonous” Edward Gove who led Gove’s Rebellion against the British in 1683.

Edward Gove, Touched with Fire

There is more to our story of Edward Gove.

In The Treason and Trial of Edward Gove, I spoke of his personal characteristics - "strenuous", quick to avenge, taken to court for assaults - and his accomplishments as a leader in the militia, member of the New Hampshire assembly, and then "Gove's Rebellion" that brought on a death sentence and confinement to the Tower of London.

As I was reading about Edward in The Gove Book, I couldn't help but be struck by this man's endless energy. He migrated from Charlestown forty miles north to Salisbury at age 27 and bought a right of commonage, i.e., to pasture animals on common land. A dizzying rate of buying and selling land over the next 20 years followed this humble beginning, in the process moving to Hampton, New Hampshire, where he acquired a large home, stables, a tavern and was a large landholder.

As an aside, in 1787 a Georgian colonial home, Elmfield, was built on Edward's original 1670 land grant in Hampton, New Hampshire. The Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whitter was a frequent guest and died here in 1892. The home was passed through generations of Goves until moved to a new site in Greenwich, CT in 1996.


But, back to my story.

Edward's indictment on this first armed resistance in the British Colonies accused him of "raising insurrection with treasonable words... inciting the people to sedition and rebellion, declaring for liberty and the like, to the great disturbance of his Majesties peace". Indeed, he rode into the colonial village of Seacoast at the head of only a dozen men from Hampton on the day before his final arrest, "waving his sword and the trumpeter sounding a military medley", but was surrounded by militia and all put on house arrest. The group escaped and when the constable showed up at Edward's house, Edward pointed his sword at his chest, "I will not be taken in my house".

The following day Edward again arrives in Hampton with his rebels, complete with the trumpeter and Edward riding at their head with carbine and sword drawn, this time taken into custody and immediately placed on trial.

Needless to say, Edward was a colorful person.

What interests this writer is the trial deposition of a 70 year old neighbor, John Stephens,

That Edward Gove now of Hampton in the Province of New Hampshire was some years since in a Strange Distemper, Seemingly Lunatick, and did attempt to kill the wife of George Martin, Saying that shee bewitched him and did to that end charged his pistolls and endeavored it of which condition of his the Court at Hampton being enformed did sent for him and understanding his condition, ordered that he should be committed into safe custody to prevent his doeing hurt to himselfe or others. Ipswich prison was the place intended, but the said Steephens, out of respects to Gove, undertook to look to him, with this condition that, if he could not rule him, he should be assisted to carry him to the aforesaid Prison.

The said Steephens saith that he did abide with him about three weekes, in which time he did humor him as a child, to keep him quiet and from doeing hurt to himselfe or others; sometimes he was seemingly Rationall, and at other times seemingly distracted, that the said Steephens was forced to lock up the dores and lock him in, sometimes he would take a booke and read an houre or two, sometimes he would be more like a mad man, and would not medle with it, Mr. Dolton the minister of Hampton being there one time, advised that we should keep bookes from him, that he might not read too long to trouble his head, which wee carefully observed.

After a while he grew pritty well and went from the said Steephens house, But the said Steephens do further declare that he did look upon him as a man that was always subject to that distemper. He thinks it was naturall to him for his mother lived and died in that kind of Distemper...

And, forty three year old John Steephens, a son of the above Stephens, gave deposition,

"He doth well Remember that when Edward Gove was at his fathers house, he was in generall as his father hath above affermed... doth affirme and declare that the said Gove was distracted and unsafe in his actions and motions and that his father attended him and followed him alway day and night during the time of his aboad at his house, for none of the house besides him could prevail with him, he lay with him at night and he hath heard his father often say that he was often fourst to hold him in his arms to keep him from rising and going about in the night...

There be also many more that can testifie to the like; if need be, & some that can sweare they were in company and did many times help to bind the said Edward Gove hand & foote (when he was out in his head) for feare he should doe hurt to himselfe or others."

When Edward was in the Tower of London, his wife, Hannah, petitioned the king and begged for the life of her husband "who by means of a distemper of Lunacy or some such like, which he have benn Subject unto (by times) from his youth, and yet is untill now (as his mother was before him) (though at some times seemingly very Rationall) which have occasioned him Irationally and evily to demeane himself (by means of some unhappy provocation) to such actions whereby he may have incured until himselfe the Sentence of Death..."

A petition from another colonial to King Charles II documented that after Governor Cranfield imposed custom on merchant ships,

"hereupon the said Edw. Gove was much troubled in mind and these and the other violent proceedings of Mr. Cranfield had such an influence upon him that it hindered by his ordinary Rest, neither had he above 2 hours Sleep in 18 days, whereby he became almost distracted... scarce knowing at that time what he either did or said".

As a psychiatrist who has cared for countless patients in the throes of mania, I believe these testimonies give good evidence Edward Gove suffered from bipolar disorder with episodes of mania. In the interim between bouts of mania, he was energetic, intense, driven, gregarious, volatile, reckless, and a man of high achievement, a temperament often associated with bipolar disorder. The genetic nature of bipolar disorder has been established and the depositions of the Stephens' indicate Edward's mother was likely also bipolar.

Kay Jamison in her book Touched with Fire has written about madness and suicide in countless artistic and creative individuals - Shumann, Shelley, Keats, Van Gogh, and Lord Tennyson among many others. Who hasn't wondered about Robert Downey, Jr. and Mel Gibson?

I think it's a good bet our Edward joins this illustrious list,

Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre.
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.
Stephen Spender, 1933

Edward is our 8th great grand uncle, and his mother our 9th great grandmother.

Resource: The Gove Book, History and Genealogy of The American Family of Gove and Notes of European Goves, by William Henry Gove, 1922.

Salton Sea: Once in a Lifetime, No Need to Repeat

The bucket list got shorter this weekend with an excursion east to the Salton Sea. I've seen it in a distance from mountain tops and flyovers but never set foot on its dead fish bone beaches.

My buddy in adventure, Kathleen, and I picked up her friend, Laura, on a ridge top in Julian in the early morning. Laura's home had been totally crisped in a San Diego wildfire. Rebuilt on the same location, the home has a stunning view across the mountains and high desert to the Salton Sea 50 miles away.

We drove through the Anza Borrego Desert, down Banner grade - I blinked, and missed Banner - through all terrain vehicle Ocotillo Wells where those young men and boys get maimed and killed while tearing up the desert, past the Los Puertecito marker where DeAnza camped on his way from Mexico to San Francisco in 1775, and dropped down 200 feet below sea level into the Salton Sea Basin.

The accidental lake of the Salton Sea lies on the site of Lake Cuahilla, an ancient sea that dried up in the 1500's when the Colorado River feeder on its way to the Gulf of California silted up. A engineering incident in 1905 breached the wall of the river, again filling up the basin until the breach was repaired in 1907. Since then, the sea has been kept alive with feeder run-off from farm irrigation in Imperial Valley filled with pesticides and fertilizer. The salinity has risen to exceed the Pacific Ocean and Great Salt Lake. Periodic die offs of unbelievable millions of fish and the 2003 water deal to divert Colorado River water from the Imperial Valley farms to San Diego has sealed the fate of the Sea in spite of token bureaucratic gestures to restore the area. The playground of celebrities and resort mecca of retirees in the 1950's has been replaced with rusted out trailers, naked telephone poles, and crumbling concrete piers.

Kathleen and I had romanticized preconceived images of the Salton from an Scott London's online photography site and You Tube video, The Accidental Sea.

Getting out of the car at the Salton City pier we were met first with a wind that nearly took off the car door, then a less than romantic stench of dead and decaying fish lining the shore.



The blue lake color is a reflection of the sky as the water itself is a dark tannish brown. The "sandy beaches" are actually pulverized skeletons of the millions and millions of fish that have died off.


Kathleen and I walked to the end of the pier where Kathleen checked out a circular grime encrusted concrete mystery. Yes, in its day this had been an old hot tub out in the water.


We continued our circumnavigation around the lake from the western shore to Mecca at the northern shore where two thirds of the population are in the federal poverty range and a new Indian gaming casino has been opened. We turned south down the eastern shore and stopped to picnic at a little beach in the Salton Sea State Park, clearly the most pleasant part of our day.


We watched the sea,


and the birds,


before heading farther south to check out Bombay Beach. We thought our photographic opportunities might lie here, but it was another rusted out, decaying, smelly, and very windy place. Telephone poles and foundation outlines, even toilet bowls in the sand, stand where once there was a beach community. Not to say there isn't still a beach community. Set back from the beach is still a community consisting mostly of trailers.


Pilons from a long gone pier,


and a truly bizarre crusted construction crane. What ever possessed those who left it here to further junk up the "beach".



We stopped by the Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge, checked out a large flock of napping white snow geese, and later I regretted not climbing the small Rock Hill in the distance when I learned it is an extinct volcano. We passed several huge geothermal plants dotting the south shore, all taking advantage that the San Andreas fault passes directly through the Salton Sea basin on its way north.

The Salton goes into the category of a once in a life time adventure, not needing to be repeated.

The Treason and Trial of Edward Gove

Sometimes in the course of researching family history a story arises that should be put down in our family collection of stories, and this is one.

Londoner John Gove, a brazier (brass worker), sailed to Charlestown (now Boston) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 with three children, John, Edward, and young Mary, and there bought a house. He died in 1647, leaving 50 shillings each to 16 year old John and 18 year old Edward. Mary was given to a family friend, Ralph Mousall, a turner (in pottery he turns the dried clay ware to the required outline before firing). John appears to have apprenticed himself to Mr. Mousall as he also becomes a turner, leading a somewhat traditional life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and outliving three wives.

This story is about Edward. Readers, beware, this is a long story but read through to the end.

Edward moved up the coast of Massachusetts to Salisbury by age 27, farmed, and began buying and selling land by the time he was thirty. He married a girl from Salisbury moved his family to Hampton, in New Hampshire but bordering Massachusetts, when he was 35. Keep in mind there was a fair amount of dickering about territory in those days beyond the scope of this story.

He was described as a “strenuous man, frank even to bluntness” and “quickly sought to avenge himself”, resulting in being brought before the court for verbal and personal assaults on several occasions. By age 50, he was a lieutenant in the militia and represented Hampton in the first assembly of the royal province of New Hampshire. We could say he seemed to have some leadership abilities and didn’t lack in assertiveness.

Edward is credited with leading the “first American Revolution” against the English appointed governor, Edward Cranfield, in 1682-83, not unlike the Boston Tea Party some eighty five years later. In short, the issue involved issues of jurisdiction, land ownership, taxation, and kickbacks to the king and probably the greedy Governor Cranfield.

He (Governor Cranfield) demanded all the Antient records & Deeds of the Inhabitants lands, which were granted him by his Majesty's Predecessors to their Fathers & by them purchased of the natives & enjoyed about 50 years. And because the said Edward Gove seem'd to oppose those (as he believed) unwarrantable proceedings, he questioned Edw. Gove before the Councill & Assembly and threatened to punish him at Comon Pleas & indite him at White hall, & then dissolved the Assembly

After the dissolution of the Assembly he imposed Custom upon merchant's ships these by his own Authority which was unknown before. Hereupon the said Edw. Gove was much troubled in mind and these and other the violent proceedings of Mr. Cranfield had such an influence upon him that it hindered his ordinary Rest, neither had he above 2 hours Sleep in 18 days, whereby he became almost distracted, & during this time 'tis probable that Edw" Gove might say that Mr Cranfield was a Traytor for denying & acting contrary to the Kings Commission, he scarce knowing at that time what he either did or said.

Edward was determined to bring about “reform or revolution”, even if singlehandedly. “Sword drawn, he would not lay it down till he knew who should hold the government”. Governor Cranfield complained to the Lords of Trade and Plantations that Edward was “making it his business to stir up the people in several towns to rebellion”.

Finally, on the night of January 27, 1683, Edward and his rebels rode into the town of Hampton, “armed with swords, pistols and guns, a trumpet sounding, and with his sword drawn riding at their head”.

Edward and his rebels were arrested and a trial held five days later in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The prisoners being indited according to ye presentment of ye Grand Jury, they severally pleaded not guilty, & being demanded how they would be tryed, they said, by God & Country.

The witnesses were sworne one by one thus. The evidence that you shall give on y behalf of our Sover. Lord and King against prisoners at the Barr shall be ye truth, ye whole truth & Nothing but the Truth. So help you God.

Richard Martin of Portsm. Esq being sworne, saith That upon Thursday night last past about Eight of the Clock, Edward Gove & Jonathan Thing came to the Deponents House & asked if Mr Moody were there. I told him no, I thought he was at home, he told me he was not at home. I told him then I thought he was at Mrs Cutts. he then asked me how things looked here. I told him as they used to doe. I asked him whether he went home tomorrow. He told me no, he was upon a designe, & said, we have swords by our sides as well as others & would see things mended before we will lay them downe. I told him he spake great words, & wished him to be moderate & serious in his words & actions about such matters, he told me he was going to Dover, & we should hear further from him in three or four days & then went away from my house, & I have not seen him since.

Jonathan Thing, yeoman, being sworne, deposed the same as Richard Martin did.

Reuben Hull of Portsmouth mere', being sworne, saith That being at Dover on Friday the 26 of January 1682 as I was going in my Cannoe to come home I mett with Edward Gove having his sword & boots on. how now, Gove, said I, where are you bound? Whats ye matter with you? matter ! says he, matter enough. We at Hampton have had a Towne meeting & we are resolved as one man that things shall not be carried on end as it is like to be, & we have all our Guns ready, to stand upon our guard. And I have been at Exeter, & they are resolved to doe ye same, said he. I have my sword by my side, & brought my Carabine also with me which I have left some where, said he, Jonathan Thing came with me. I have left him at Portsm. to treat with John Pickering & some others & I am going to Major Waldern's to see what he will say to it. he said the Governor had stretched his Commission, & said I to him, Gove, what are you mad, do you know what you are going to doe? said he, if you will be of the other side, wee shall know you. And if they should take me & put me to Gaol I have them that will bring me out. he asked me to goe to Joseph Beard with him : but I told him I would not, & so did part with him.

Nathaniel Weare, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in ye Towne of Hampton being sworne saith. That on the 27 of Jan., as I take it ye Constable William Marston, ye Marshall, & Samuel Sherborn came to my house in ye night, & called me up, delivered me a Warrant from the Hon Governor. I did accordingly. Soon after our return from Edward Goves house, I heard a Trumpett sound, & being exceedingly troubled & desirous to know the cause, while I considered the matter ye Marshall, ye Constable & Samuel Sherborn came again to my house. I told ye Constable he knew what he had to do by ye warrant he had in relation to Gove & I required him to seize ye person that did sound the Trumpett. Soon after Edward Gove came to my yard, near ye door, some person called. I went out & desired them to come in, but Edward Gove & one with him that I did take to be Nathaniel Lad, they said they would not come in to be taken in a house, they went away, & I saw them no more till they were taken at ye Towne.

Henry Green of Hampton one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, being sworn, saith, That upon the 27 of Jan. 1682 I saw Edward Gove come into Towne with a Trumpett with him and several men with him in two files several of them having arms, they were taken & secured by a Guard. Soon after I being informed ye Prisoners were broke out, I made haste to Cornett Sherborns, I being at Mr Cotton's, & when I came, Edward Gove & his company were out, & Gove presented a Gun at me.

Henry Roby of Hampton yeoman being sworn deposed ye same as Henry Green did. And further saith That Edward Gove presented his gun with ye company, when they broke prison.

William Marston of Hampton Constable being sworn saith, That immediately upon receipt of ye warrant to apprehend Edward Gove, I went in pursuance of ye same with others to his house, making diligent search, but could not find him, then coming homeward in ye night, when I could not well see, I heard ye Trumpett sound & quickly mett with said Gove with Trumpeter going towards Gove's house, but being well mounted they got past us, & said Gove said he would not speak with me there, but at his house, but when I came to his house, the string of the latch was in, but said Gove bid ye door to be opened, but ye said Gove stood upon his defence with his sword (or cutlash) drawn in his hand to- wards me, saying hand off, I know your business as well as yourself, saying I will not be taken in my house, upon which words Nathaniel Lad, ye Trumpeter stepped to him to assist him with his sword or cutlash drawne towards my breast, upon which I was constrained to goe to raise more Aid. But in ye mean while when I came again, they were quickly mounted & rid away four in company, ye said Gove & Lad, John Gove and William Hely, and I saw them no more till ye next morning when they came towards Mr Sherborns in two files, with their arms mounted, Edward Gove in ye front & ye Trumpeter sounded. Upon ye Leiutenants speaking to them, they made no resistance, but delivered their arms & dismounted, & I seized Edward Gove, & by order of ye Justices I seized the rest of his company, & commanded them up ye chamber, & sett a guard by order of our Justices.

The prisoners made their answer in defence Edward Gove did acknowledge that what was sworn against him was true, & withal railed at ye Governor, & said he was a Traitor & acted by a pretended Commission, & that he should have those that would fetch him out of prison, and demeaned himself with great insolence & impudence.

John Gove owned he was in ye Company at ye time of ye break of prison at Hampton with ye prisoners at ye barr, and that he went along with Edward Gove his father by his command.

William Hely confessed That his rising in arms was for liberty, & that he did say so, because he heard Edward Gove say the same words, & that he was in company at ye break of prison, & stood upon his defence.

Joseph Hadley owned he was in Goves company with others when he was apprehended & broke prison. Robert Wadley confessed the same.
Thomas Rawlins confessed the same Mark Baker confessed the same & that Edward Gove putt a pistoll in his hand.
John Sleper confessed ye same, but that having made his escape, he did withal in one hour surrender himself.
John Wadley confessed he was in company of Edward Gove when apprehended, but that he did not break prison

The Jury being withdrawne for six hours or more brought in their Verdict as followeth —

Edward Gove, guilty according to the inditement.

The judge, with tears in his eyes, sentenced Edward to death:

You Edward Gove shall be drawn on a Hedge to the place of Execution, & there you shall be hanged by ye neck, And when yet living be cut down & cast on ye ground, & your bowels shall be taken out of your belly, & your privy members cut off & burnt while you are yet alive, your head shall be cutt off, & your body divided in four parts, & your head & quarters shall be placed where our Soveraigne Lord ye King pleaseth to appoint. And ye Lord have mercy on your Soul.

His son, John Gove, was pardoned. Edward’s estate was seized and forfeited to the Crown and his family left destitute. Fearing to execute Edward locally, the Governor sent Edward to England where he spent three years in the Tower of London before being pardoned by the King.

The people were outraged at Edward’s sentence and continued resistance against Governor Cranfield’s taxation, throwing scalding water on tax collectors when they arrived at the door, roughly handling officials trying to enforce the Governor’s laws, until finally Cranfield was removed by the King. After receiving word of his removal, a self appointed committee escorted him to a nearby town with a rope around his neck and legs tied until the belly of the horse.

Edward returned home to Hampton after the pardon and his estate was restored. He died there in 1691, contending a slow poison had been administered to him in the Tower.

A commemorative stone is placed in Newbury, Massachusetts:



In honor of Edward Gove, patriot, assemblyman, convicted of high treason for attempting to incite a rebellion in 1683 against King Charles II of England. Sentenced to be hanged and later pardoned by King James II.

Edward is our 8th great grand uncle. His brother, John, is our direct ancestor, our 8th great grandfather. The different paths of their lives may well be explained by what we would call a mental disorder these days. More evidence on that in the next post.

* Material derived from The Gove Book, History and Genealogy of The American Family of Gove and Notes of European Goves, by William Henry Gove, 1922.

Winter Solstice on Viejas Mountain

After knocking El Cajon Mountain off our bucket list, my buddy Kathleen and I decided to tackle winter solstice on Viejas Mountain. It meant getting up at 3:00 AM, climbing in the cold dark night, and waiting on the windy summit until the sun rose. Winter solstice was actually on December 22 this year, not the 21st as most observed. I checked the weather report a few days before and it occurred to me that a rainy or cloudy forecast could be an excuse to stay in my warm bed.

Kumeyaay native Americans observed winter solstice on the Viejas summit and at one time there was still a T shaped rock formation pointing toward Buckman Mountain in the distant southeast. On solstice the sun rises directly behind the mountain.

After ditzing around trying to locate the trail head in the dark we were on our way up the steep, almost 2 miles straight uphill, rocky, bouldery trail through chapparrel, two puddles of light under the huge Milky Way.


Without any moon, we were grateful for our police grade flashlights, and at one point I heard Kathleen say only the foolhardy would be doing this. Indeed, we were the only ones out of 3 million San Diegans. Even in the dark Kathleen was going on about the biodiversity of Viejas. I was just focused on one foot in front of the other and periodically checking behind for the glowing eyes of a stalking mountain lion. We went through a verbal rehearsal of how we would handle a mountain lion attack, and I reminded Kathleen about the lady who saved her friend in Orange County a few years ago.

It was 39 degrees at mountain base, and about three quarters of the way up the wind started. The sliver moon became visible from behind the mountain, and the pale light of dawn began. We reached a collection of stones at the top, but the true summit was another quarter mile across a wind swept ridge.

We reached the stone circle of the summit just before sunrise and a few minutes later the only other solstice hiker arrived, a Menzies clan Scot by the name of Pat. Together the three of us watched the glow on the horizon,


and toasted the coming New Year with hot chocolate,


until the sun came peeking,


then bursting out behind the saddle of Buckman.


The Alpine Historical Society has documented an account of the winter solstice celebration on Viejas Mountain by a Kumeyaay elder, Maria Alto, in 1914, and I repeat it in entirety here as an abbreviated account would lose the significance of what used to happen here.

Long before Kwut’ah Lu’ e-ah (Song-Dance, or Viejas, east of El Cajon) mountain fell into the hands of See-i (Evil One), the Indians made a pilgrimage once a year to its very top to watch In’ya (Sun) come out of En-yak’ (East), and praise and honor him with song and dance.  For In’ya (Sun) was the great Ruler of All Things.  He governed the universe; he commanded the earth, nothing grew unless he caused it; he even dominated the bodies of men, some of whom he made energetic and strong, others weak and lazy.  When he disappeared at night he cast a drowsiness o’er the world, so that everything slept until it was time for him to come again in the morning.  Such a great ruler as he, received due reverence and worship.

For many preceding moons the young Braves prepared themselves for the race which began the celebration of Kwut’-ah Lu’ e-ah (Song-Dance).  They ate no meat while in training for this event, and daily they bathed and rubbed their bodies with Cha-hoor’ (Clear Rock).  This crystal made them light on their feet like animals, so they could jump over high boulders and run with the swiftness of deer.

When the time came, everything was in readiness.  The big circle on top of the mountain had been freshly prepared and cleared for the dancers and singers.  The aged and feeble, with the small children of the village, had been carefully carried up there the previous afternoon, that they might be on hand to take part in the ceremonies.

Then, in that mystic hour which is neither night nor day, the able-bodied ones made the ascent.  Last of all, after the others had reached the top, the runners came; swiftly they vied with each other over the steep trails - some so fleet they seemed to fly like birds over the course.

When all had reached the summit, the ritualistic ceremonies began.  With song and dance in the blushing dawn, they watched for In’ya (Sun), Ruler of All.  Opalescent streamers of golden radiance and flaming banners of crimson flaunting across the pearly tints of the receding night, heralded his arrival; while the people chanted songs of praise in honor of his wonderful light, and made obeisance in the dance in homage of his great power over all things.

Year after year this celebration took place till See’i (Evil One) grew envious, and cast a spell over the mountain; then the Indians feared to make the ascent any more.
One or two foolhardy ones made the attempt, but they found the trails tedious and wearisome.  The springs of water by the pathway were poisonous, and frightful noises like the hissing and rattle of snakes pursued their footsteps, and they gave up in despair.

So, though the old trails are faintly discernible and traces of the ring where they danced and sang still remain, no more does the red man swiftly ascend Kwut’ah Lu’e-ah (Song-Dance) mountain to watch In’-ya (Sun) come out of En-yak’ (East) in all his glory.

I am grateful this year not to be so "aged and feeble" that I can still take myself up a mountain. What an amazing experience this was!

Wreaths Across America 2011

The second Saturday in December every year volunteers turn out to lay wreaths on headstones of our veterans in national cemeteries. Over 1,100 volunteers turned out on this beautiful sunny day in San Diego to lay wreaths at Fort Rosecrans and Miramar cemeteries. Fort Rosecrans has veterans from the time of the Mexican American war, 101,000 graves in all. Miramar opened just last year after Fort Rosecrans ran out of space, and prime real estate it is, overlooking San Diego on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

This year I didn't get many pictures since the growing-up-too-fast grandgirls and I were working most of the time signing in volunteers. Not an easy task as the list was not alphabetized! The photo shots would have been much like last year's Wreaths 2010, except that we had one of those envy of the country sunny San Diego days from the start.

Last year we laid wreaths in the area around the ceremony site, but this year all 1100 volunteers walked a half mile to the far end for our section. If it weren't that the way was through a cemetery I thought this could be a good workout route. Not only was the view spectacular, it was inspiring to be part of this cross section of San Diego come to pay tribute and who included Scouts, high school service groups, college students, employee groups, Blue Star mothers, at least two sheriff deputies, Children, Sons, and Daughters of the American Revolution, families, veterans, and active duty military among them.


Hayley, Jennifer, and I took our wreaths to lay, and when they were finished I asked who were their veterans. One of Hayley's was a female World War II veteran and we assumed she must have been a nurse. When we pulled back the wreath to check her branch of service - a surprise! She was a spy! Betty E Schneider. Born 1921, so she would have been only 20 years old when the US joined the war. We imagined she must have been German speaking. We tried looking her up on Google. Nothing. What a story she must have!


Next December, wherever you are, take time on the second Saturday of the month, lay a wreath on a veteran's grave. Take your children, or children, take your parents. Take your friends. Leave your cell phone, iPod, iPad and the rest at home.


As this Freedom Rider's jacket reminds us, we should stand for those who stood for US.

Mr. Nute's Peach Fed Free Range Turkeys

Three hundred years after the original Nute colonist arrived in New Hampshire, our grandfather made a bold move to leave New England for Medora, Kentucky, there to manage a successful and innovative orchard enhanced by thousands of turkeys. And this is the story.

Raymond grew up in a well to do family in Fall River, Massachusetts, and as a young man attended first Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then the Massachusetts Agricultural College, now the University of Massachusetts. Unlike his father who was a mechanical engineer, Raymond majored in "pomology", the study of raising fruit. Whatever possessed this young man to study fruit raising is anyone's guess. He came from a long line of farmers starting with the original Nute was killed in his garden by Indians in the 1600's, interrupted briefly when his farmer/teacher grandfather moved from New Hampshire to Boston.


He was an officer of the Rifle Club, ran a 5 minute mile, and went to school with young men with names like Murray Danforth Lincoln, Merton Chesleigh Lane, and Lewis Phillips Howard. He could have had a life of ease living in the city, but after graduating in 1914, he got himself a farm in Lakeville, Massachusetts, a few miles outside town with a good sized house,



and barn.


Nor was the family happy when Raymond soon took a young wife, Alice, who was the daughter of a grocer. "She wasn't good enough for them", Raymond's daughter, Jeannette, recalls. Over the next five years, they lived on the New England farm and had two children. What made Raymond and Alice move their young family to rural Kentucky in 1920? Was it Raymond's best friend at Mass Ag moving to Ohio to found Nationwide Insurance, a cooperative insurance company for farmers? Was he recruited to Kentucky Orchards by the owner?  According to Jeannette, he wanted a place to try out his ideas.

Whatever the reason, the young farmer brought scientific farming to Kentucky with a flourish. A 1924 article in the Farmers Home Journal says:

"R.E. Nute is one of the most remarkable fruit pioneers in Kentucky, and the constant wonder of his neighbors, who predicted loss from the start because of his ideas on scientific growing.

That hill-top of apparently worthless land is now the wonder of the countryside. To begin with, Mr. Nute had to build a road to the top that auto trucks could navigate. The road was built. A saw mill was constructed so that lumber on the property could be converted into houses and a packing shed.

The ground was torn up and prepared with the aid of a Fordson and various plows, harrows, cultivators, and the like. Trees by the thousand were planted where only a few old ones were on hand for a nucleus. None in those parts believed in such modern devices as thinning out and spraying and cultivating.

Nute did. He knew how. He came from Massachusetts with his family and buckled down to work. The trees were pruned, dusted, sprayed, cultivated. A big bean spray pump and duster, taking care of two or more rows at a time, destroyed all insects and pests. Borers were gotten rid of with "paracide" planted around the trunks every year. Lime sulphur dust took care of the upper works of the orchard.

Although Mr. Nute has already attained a one-pound peach, on rare occasions slightly over a pound, a two pound peach is one of his ambitions.

His packing house is another wonder to fruit growers, who now come for miles to see, and often to buy peaches. Not long ago visitors made the pilgrimage to the top of the hill in such numbers one day that $100 worth of peaches were sold in the front yard. Some of the peaches are snapped up at 10 cents apiece as curiosities. Last year a number of Mr. Nute's products took first prizes in the Kentucky State fair."

This photo was taken at the Massachusetts farm shortly before their move to Kentucky. They still have that refined New England look.


A short time later, they are looking more like Kentucky farmers.


Raymond's fame as an orchardist brought other agriculturists from around the country and he was sought as a speaker for meetings and radio. By 1928, Raymond was looking another way to boost his orchard's profitability and from this came the concept of raising turkeys in his 100 acre orchard. From a start of two hens and a tom, his flock grew to over 7000 birds, and a mill was added to the orchard to grind the grain. The birds provided natural and labor free fertilization, ate the insects, weeds, and dead fruit on the ground, and apple trees that usually produced fruit every three years were yielding fruit every year.

So grew Raymond's fame as a turkey grower and innovator, and he became known as the Turkey King of Kentucky. He collaborated with the University of Kentucky, presided over State Farm Bureau meetings, and continued to raise his family on the farm.


Then, in the midst of this tremendous success, it ends in 1937, and Raymond moved his family away to small town Washington, Kentucky, then to Vanceburg and became agricultural agent for Lewis County, never again to show the world what a hard working young man from Massachusetts with a Mass Ag education could do with a 100 acres of hard scrabble land, some peach and apple trees and a few turkeys. What happened? Jeannette says the owner of the orchard died and the land was sold.

This Thanksgiving as you all are enjoying your fabulous turkey dinner, eating until you can't push yourself away from the table, be thankful for the farmers in the country who have made it all possible with a few hours cooking on your part.