Charles Jefferson Mansfield
September 28, 1879 - May 14, 1940
with wife Valle (Shelton) Mansfield
Children: tall girl in back row, Ada
baby is Ruthel and girl standing between parents is Lola
Lola Berma (Mansfield) (Steed) LoweSeptember 10, 1902 - March 25, 1995
Aunt Lola
Thomas F. AstleSeptember 1, 1914 - December 22, 2004
As always cousin Richard Evirs and I welcome your comments, suggestions, stories and pictures. If you have information you would like to share, please send it to sastle@comcast.net.
This is his graduation picture from Dorchester High School for Boys. He was sixteen.
The Branches blog has been quiet because it has been a very busy few months at work and at home. We're baaaaack......
NEWEST BRANCH ON THE FAMILY TREE
Laurie St. Hilaire married Jeff Lacharite on July 12, 2008 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
We wish them every happiness in their marriage.
HUNTING FOR FAMILY
Searching for family members can be an adventure. For instance, I was looking for my son's great-grandfather, Thomas Astle, and his second wife, Elizabeth, in the 1900 Census. I did searches and could not find them. I knew they lived in the North End of Boston, MA, but they did not turn up in the computer search. I finally went page by page through the hundreds of pages of Census for that section of Boston. I found the whole family under the name of Harkins. Elizabeth's maiden name was Harkins. How they got into the Census under her maiden name is a mystery.
If you need information for 1890, good luck, the U.S. Census was almost totally destroyed in a fire. There are just a few remnants left and naturally they are not the ones my family is in. There are various places to look. I have been using city directories to find people in 1890 and between census years.
There was a family legend that Walter Astle, my son's grandfather, was a civil engineer. He was also said to be a butcher as a young man. All of my information showed Walter as an engineer. When I looked in one of the Boston City Directories he was listed as a butcher. The family legend is true.
OTHER RECENT DISCOVERIES
Charles O. Humphrey of Waterbury, VT, was the Master of the Colbyville Grange.
Charles O. Humphrey of Waterbury, VT, was the Master of the Colbyville Grange.
I found this bit of information in Waton's Vermont Register and Farmers' Almanac for 1879.
Paul J. DesLauriers, Sr. was a John Alden in a fourth grade Thanksgiving play at the Greehalge School in Lowell, MA, in November 1945. He also worked the curtain for the other parts of the performance. A man of many talents.
Paul J. DesLauriers, Sr. was a John Alden in a fourth grade Thanksgiving play at the Greehalge School in Lowell, MA, in November 1945. He also worked the curtain for the other parts of the performance. A man of many talents.
Thomas Astle and first wife, Jane Byrne, were married in 1886 in Danville, Asbestos, Quebec, Canada. This is just outside Montreal. Their son Walter was born there. I have discovered more about this family recently. After Walter was born, they had a daughter, Eliz Astle. She died at the age of three. They had a second son, Thomas Astle. Their third child was a girl, Jane, and their fourth child was a daughter, Catherine.
We found several of the Purvee family buried in the Maple St. Cemetery in Waterbury, VT. This is interesting because some of the Humphrey family is buried very near them. The story gets more interesting because Thomas Astle of Massachuetts, son of Susan Humphrey Astle, married Jenifer Purvee of Vermont in Vermont in 2001. It was not until three years ago that we found out that our Humphrey family had a history in Waterbury, VT going back to the 1790s. Tom and Jenifer currently live within 20 miles of Waterbury. This part of the family tree has come full circle.
Morton Humphrey, of the Waterbury Humphreys, moved his family to California in the mid-1870s. The San Franciso Call of December 7, 1900 mentions Morton as the foreman of a Coroner's jury in an inquest into the death of a man caused by a train wreck. The paper did not seem impressed with the verdict. Headline: Inquest into the killing of Mahoney develops only the meager verdict that he is dead.
SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS
Specific day unknown: Barbara Kenneson, John A. Shea, Marion E. Davis, Willie Kenneson. Abagail Eddy would be 407 this month.
1 Thomas F. Astle
3 Michael Hutchinson, Delia DesLauriers
4. Norman Kenneson, D. Humphrey
5 Abraham Monticue Shelton
6 Lillian DesLauriers, Lloyd Curtis
8 James D. Cartwright
9 Ray M. Moran, David J. Cotter
10 Lola Lowe
11 Florence DesLauriers, Cecelia DesLauriers, Alma Humphrey
14 Richard K. Evirs, Diana D. Joyce, Harold W. Humphrey
16 Robert P. Humphrey, Harold H. Humphrey, George W. Humphrey (Robert's paternal great-grandfather)
17 Thomas H. Shea
21 Mildred W. Sullivan
22 Gail Gaudette
23 Karen K. Sullivan
25 Brooke E. Ruberti, Marjorie Davis
26 Joseph L. Sweeney, Ethan G. Evirs, Mary Davis, Sarah H. Rand
27 Amber J. Mingus
28 Charles Jefferson Mansfield
29 William D. Slayers, Jenny E. Slayers
OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS
Specific day unknown: Clara Purvee, Thomas F. Walsh, Leander Gates
2 Edmund Hearn, Oscar Pius Nelson
7 William B. Moran
8 Ellen Rand Humphrey
9 Robert Astle
10 John A. Weatherford
11 Arthur DesLauriers
13 Gwen Davis Humphrey, Brent Mingus
14 Thomas Purvee, Virginia Shelton
15 Kathleen Ryan, Louetta Nicolle
16 Earl Davis
17 Daniel Young, Ariana Humphrey
23 Marion Nicolle, Lydia Whittemore
24 Harry K. Kenneson
24 Charles O. Humphrey
26 Charles R. Humphrey, Carson Dooley, Rev. Calvin Moody
27 Harlie Wheeler Humphrey
28 Paul DesLauriers, Jr.
29 Isaac Whittemore
30 Alexander Shelton
As always cousin Richard Evirs and I welcome your comments, suggestions, stories and pictures. If you have information you would like to share, please send it to sastle@comcast.net.
If you have stumbled on this blog while surfing the net, welcome.
