52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #33  Theme - Service

This theme could generate all sorts of posts ... military, helpful people, civil or community service. But I immediately thought of Gerry's Gt Grandmother Lucy May Hayward, who was, according to family lore, a Harvey Girl...serving as a waitress or hostess at the famous Fred Harvey Restaurants of the west.   As I search her history, Lucy May was born in 1856 in Christian County, Illinois, daughter of Robert Hayward and America Indiana Leigh.   Lucy's father and mother had both died by the time she was 11 years old, and she was taken in to the home of her older married sister, Nancy Hayward Johnson, during the Civil War.  After the war, Lucy followed her brothers who moved to Kansas.  She was not married until 1881 in Montgomery Co, KS.  So there could have been a period of time that she may have worked for the Harvey Chain of hotels which had sprung up along the Santa Fe Railroad depots, beginning in Topeka, Kansas.  We only know that Lucy's descendants passed along the "story" that she had been a Harvey Girl.

Fred Harvey had a vision to build excellent hotels and dining halls along the route of the Santa Fe railroads.  He put out ads asking for single young women to apply as servers. The women would be housed, properly dressed (usually in black dresses with white aprons) and trained to serve efficiently, but in a pleasant manner (the train stops were not long, and on a tight schedule).  I have read a couple of books about the Harvey Girls.   "Diary of a Waitress" by Carolyn Meyer is a teen fiction novel set in the latter days (1920s) of the Harvey House restaurants in Arizona.  Another is "The Harvey Girls - Women Who Opened the West"  by Lesley Poling-Kempes,  a thorough history of this unique venture.

A fun movie "The Harvey Girls" starring Judy Garland (1946) is very loosely based on the Harvey hotels and the very respectable waitresses, as opposed to the women of the town saloon.  Several other MGM names will be found, including Angela Lansbury, as well as the great song "The Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe".   And NO, this is not a photo of Gerry's Gt Grandmother, Lucy.  But Judy Garland made a cute Harvey Girl.

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #7 Theme - LANDED. 

In 1848, my Gt Gt Grandparents, William Terry and wife, Charlotte Ann Clark Terry, sold their wagon and carriage shop in Deal, County of Kent, England. They set out for the United States, with their 7 children. Family letters say that Charlotte’s marriage to a “tradesman” was frowned upon by her father who was superintendent of the Royal Navy Hospital.  She may have even been disowned.  

The  ship they took was the American Eagle.  It was an American sailing ship that traveled between New York and London from 1846 to 1867, during which period her westbound passages averaged 35 days, her shortest passage being 22 days, her longest 57. 

They sailed from Liverpool and were out 4 or 5 weeks when the captain feared they had yellow fever or smallpox aboard.   The captain turned back to Liverpool, and they were quarantined until given a clean bill of health by port authorities.  One of the children, Amelia, who was about 8 years old at the time, remembered it was a sailing ship and that the voyage took six weeks. She wrote that she saw a man being buried at sea during the voyage. 

They reached New York in 1849, and went first to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Charlotte was traveling for two… as my great grandmother Elizabeth (Lizzie) Terry was born when they reached the town of Milwaukee. William was again in the carriage making business, and they lived next to a livery stable. 

Later they farmed in Illinois, where William and three Terry children died. The widowed Charlotte followed family members to Kansas and then on to Oregon.

In  Kansas, our Lizzie married Samuel Griffin, who had fought as a Union Soldier in the Civil War. In 1891, after Samuel Griffin died, Lizzie and her six children, ages 3 to 17, moved from Kansas to Oklahoma Territory, where she homesteaded a quarter section of land.

William Terry & Charlotte Clark, of Kent, England

William Terry, our gt. gt. grandfather, was born in England around 1812-15. Charlotte Clark, according to family letters, was born in England in 1806. Family letters tell us that William's parents were William and Ann Terry. The parents of Charlotte are said to be John and Nancy Clark. Both families are from the County of Kent. Watch for more to come on these families as we search further.

The name of Terry is found throughout the county records. We find this marriage record of William Terry and Charlotte Ann Clark at St. Luke's Anglican Church, Old Charlton, Kent, England. (Current photo of St. Lukes' above.)

William Terry
Spouse: Charlotte Ann Clark
Marriage: 12 September 1836
St. Luke, Old Charlton
Kent, England

Family lore says that Charlotte was disinherited by her father, John, when she married. William Terry was a tradesman, a carriage maker or wheelwright. John Clark, her father, was superintendent of Government Military Hospitals, stationed at Woolwich. The engraving below is the Woolwich area, drawn in 1775. The St. Luke's Church is mid-left in the skyline.

The County of Kent is east of London, on the southeast coast of England. The cliffs of Dover are in this area, as well as several castles. The ancient town of Bath and legendary area of Canterbury are found in Kent.

Several children were born to William and Charlotte Terry in England, before the family left for America in 1848. We have found birth registrations for: Charles Terry, Amelia Terry, and Edwin A. Terry in Kent County England Records. Family letters state that the family sold their carriage making business in Deal, Kent County, and took a sailing shop to America. Below is a view of the city of Deal, seen from the harbor. Not far from Deal is Dover, famous for the white cliffs. The White Cliffs of Dover would be the first view of England seen by those crossing the English Channel from France (unless they are taking the "chunnel.")