Emily Louise Stackhouse: Influential Mother

1855-1922

Emily Stackhouse Carroll; Carroll Family Album, page 40, in possession of Dorothy Crooks.
Photographer was L. O. Cantin, 175 McGill Street, Montreal. 

      Emily Louise Stackhouse was born November 24, 1855, in Sainte-Justine-de-Newton or Peveril, Quebec Province, Canada, the daughter of Charles Gilbert Stackhouse and Samantha Munson. (Canada did not become a country until 1867.) She was the youngest of six children, her siblings being: Charles Franklin (1842), George Henry (1845), Elizabeth (1848), Mary J. E. (1849) and Emily Ann (1851). In addition, her mother had 3 children with Eden Johnson, who died about 1839, in his early 20's. Those children were Emily Munson (1835), William E. (1836) and Louisa S. (1838). By the time Emily was born, 5 of her 8 siblings were deceased! Only William E. Johnson, Charles Stackhouse and Mary Stackhouse were still living.

      Emily grew up in Newton/Peveril, in Quebec Province, but within a few miles of the English-speaking Ontario Province.  On July 6, 1876, she married George Eden Carroll, in Peveril. The connection between the 2 families is interesting! Emily's mother, Samantha Munson, was married to Eden Johnson, George's uncle, before she married Charles Stackhouse! So Emily's mother Samantha and George's mother Susan were sisters-in-law. (Still, there was no biological relationship between George and Emily!)

       After her marriage, Emily lived in Waitsfield VT, Danbury IA, Sioux City IA and Chicago IL. Her first child was born in Waitsfield. In the late 1870's, the family moved to the village of Danbury, where George kept store. In about 1892, they moved to Sioux City, where George worked as a traveling salesman.  In about 1908, George and Emily moved to Chicago. 

      Even though censuses just list her as a housewife, I am certain that she was instrumental in the education of her 3 children. Both photos that I have of her show a reflective intelligent woman! Her children were Charles Eden (1877), Maude Emily (1881), Effie G. (1882, died young) and Ira Munson (1890).  Her daughter Maude never married, but worked as a stenographer for law firms and for Standard Oil. (Mom remembers Maude eating an apple in the midst of an opera, saying that "these people will never see me again.") Charles Eden was a Methodist minister with pastorates in Lincoln NE, Denver CO, Boston MA, Wilkes-Barre PA, Hastings FL, Miami FL and St. Petersburg FL. In addition, he was a professor of social sciences on the faculty of Boston University for almost 10 years and a professor of sociology at Stetson University. (Mom remembers checking the book 'Who's Who' in America whenever she wanted to find out what Uncle Charlie was up to!) Ira Munson, my grandfather, was a passionate man, who held a variety of jobs, including machinist, farmer, fireman, policeman, truck driver and business manager. (See blogpost,  006: Ira Munson Carroll: Passionate Rolling Stone.)

      There must have been some conflict between Ira and Charlie because the 2 families did not stay in touch. Although, I do have a silver cup given to me at birth by Charlie's son Donald! (They thought I had been named after Donald's sister Dorothy Carroll, and perhaps, in part, I was. Dorothy was one of the first women ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mom admired her very much.) According to Mom, Donald was a judge-advocate with the Nuremberg trials.

      Emily was possibly a Christian Scientist. In 1898, Emily sent a letter to the Clarinda State Hospital superintendent, stating that the Christian Science people were going to effect a cure of her brother-in-law Herbert Carroll, who had been hospitalized for 18 years.

Emily Stackhouse Carroll, in Chicago; photo in possession of Dorothy Crooks.

     When her husband died on December 8, 1917, in Chicago, Emily continued to live with her daughter Maude, still single, who rented a house or apartment at 5417 Cottage Grove Avenue, and worked as a stenographer. On April 29, 1922, age 66, Emily died at her home on 119 E. 44th Street, where she was living with daughter Maude. Causes of death were chronic interstitial nephritis and arteriosclerosis. Emily is also buried in Oak Woods Cemetery, although not near George!  

Written by Dorothy Crooks, her great-granddaughter.

Charles Henry Crooks: Brilliant and Flamboyant

1883 - 1926

Charles Henry Crooks and Nellie Reed Williams, on their wedding day

Charles Henry Crooks

      Charles Henry Crooks was born June 16, 1883, in Gilman, Illinois, the son of Thomas Armor Crooks and Meroa Louisa Yeomans. He had 2 siblings: Helen Redfield Crooks (1885) and Fred Raymond Crooks (1888). Helen married William McFarland, a farmer from Loda, Illinois, and a man 20 years her senior. Raymond served as the principal of several Illinois schools, graduated from and taught at the University of Illinois medical school and practiced medicine. He lived in Chicago from about 1913 until his death in 1966. Dad had much more contact with his McFarland cousins than his Crooks cousins. Even though Raymond was the attending doctor at Charles' death, when Dad went to visit his Uncle Raymond while attending the University of Chicago, he received a very cool reception.

       According to Old Gilman Lore, Charles graduated from Gilman High School when he was 13 years old. While in school, he shared honors with Calvin Coolidge for writing the best essays in the U. S. on the topic "The Causes of the American Revolution". He later graduated from a business course at Grand Prairie Seminary. later attending Oberlin College in Ohio. After the Spanish-American war, when he was about 21, he went to the Philippines to help set up a school system. This involved training the more educated Philippines in the organization and administration of local schools. When he returned to the States, he served as principal of several Lake County schools. He later worked in a telephone factory in Waukegan with his cousin, Arthur Yeomans, which is how he probably met Nellie! For a time, he worked at Marshall Fields as a security guard, but the time frame is not clear. In about 1910, he was a sales manager for the Cincinnati Clock Company.

      In January 1920, he was living with his aunt, Anna Yeomans, in Waukegan. On February 11, 1920, he married Nellie Reed Williams in Waukegan, and they moved to New York. A month later, though, he returned to Illinois for his father's funeral. By March, they were residing in Cincinnati, Ohio and by January 1921, they were living in Brooklyn, New York, where his first son Raymond (Dad) was born.

     By 1922, he returned to Chicago, where he lived with his family at 1141 Laurel Avenue in Chicago. His next 2 children, Dorothy (1922) and George (1924) were born there.  He worked as a real estate salesman and no doubt encountered lots of people. This is probably how he contracted the streptococci infection which resulted in the lobar pneumonia that killed him on December 22, 1926, at the age of 43. His attending physician was his brother Raymond. Services were held at his home on Laurel Avenue. His obituary mentions that he was a Mason.

    Dad remembers his Mom describing Charley as a flashy dresser who wore expensive ties. The McFarland cousins said he worked at lots of different places and quickly rose to the top wherever he worked. His brother, Ray, was evidently jealous of him.  Dad's cousin, Bob McFarland, said that Charlie was an avid reader. He would get several books from the library after school on Friday, stop by his father's store to get a box of cookies and have all the books read by Monday.

Written by Dorothy Crooks, his granddaughter.

Ira Munson Carroll: Passionate Rolling Stone

1890-1956

Ira Munson Carroll, in police uniform

Ira Munson Carroll, while in the navy during World War I

Ira Carroll, with his wife, Lillian Blanche (Kaufman) Carroll
Photo taken Sept 1955, their last picture together

      Ira Munson Carroll was born February 6, 1890, in Danbury, Iowa, the son of George Eden Carroll and Emily Louise Stackhouse. He was the youngest of 4 children, his siblings being: Charles Eden (1877), Maude Emily (1881) and Effie (1882). Effie died before Ira was born.

      In about 1893, when Ira was 3 years old, his family moved from Danbury, Iowa, to Sioux City, Iowa, about 50 miles to the northwest. By 16 years of age, he was working, first as a laborer, then as a driver. He was a driver for at least 3 different companies, including 1 retail grocery and 2 companies specializing in meats. This work was no doubt facilitated by his father, George, who sold groceries. By 1914, he was working as a fireman. He was a pipe man, responsible for holding the hose nozzle and directing the spray. At this same time, Arthur Jordan was a driver for the fire department. Gramie's sister Winifred had married Arthur and both Lillian and her mother were living with Arthur and Winifred!

      On April 8, 1914, Ira Munson Carroll married Lillian Blanche Kaufman (Gramie!) in Sioux City, Iowa. Their children were Robert Edwin (1915), Richard Charles (1917) and Lois Elizabeth (1920). In 1915 and 1916, Ira was working as a machinist at an auto radiator repair shop. By early 1917, he was farming in Corsica, South Dakota. (According to Mom, this was a tree claim, which meant he could obtain 160 acres if he planted 10 acres of trees.) When Ira registeredfor the WWI draft, he claimed an exemption based on family and crops. In late 1917, son Richard was born in Odebolt, Iowa, 70 miles east of Sioux City. (The move appears to have been related to the war.) Ira went on to serve as a fireman in the Navy Reserve from May through November 1918. He appears to have served at the Dunwoody Naval Training School, but may have had a stint at the Great Lakes Naval Training school in Chicago.
 
      After the war, he worked as a policeman in Sioux City. He also worked for the National Fidelity Life Insurance Company, in both Sioux City and Kansas City, MO. About 1923, Ira left Lillian and his 3 children with Lillian's sister, Winifred, in Omaha, Nebraska, and went to both Florida and California looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! When Ira returned, they moved to a South Dakota farm in the Garden City vicinity. Ira farmed, raised pure-bred Hampshire swine and worked as an auctioneer.  The family lived through the Dust Bowl and the Depression, but always had food to eat.

      By 1935, the family moved back to a Sioux City apartment, where Ira and son Dick worked as truckers. They later moved to a farm outside the city, but the home burned down in about 1938. Gramie was the one to discover the fire! Ira continued to work in farming and gardening, but they did move back to Sioux City. By 1950, they had moved to Mitchell, South Dakota, where Ira worked as a business manager for the Faith Home School and Church, where Mom went to high school and where Uncle Bob had strong connections!

      Ira died on November 14, 1956, age 66, in Sioux City, and is buried in Logan Park Cemetery. About a week later, Gramie applied for a flat bronze military marker to be embedded in his tombstone. Causes of death were congestive heart failure and diabetes.  In the late 1940's, he had had a stroke, was given 3 months to live and wanted to make one last trip to Seattle to see Mom and baby George.

      Ira had numerous occupations in the course of his life! When Mom asked Gramie "what is a rolling stone", Gramie replied "that's what your father is, dear." Ira never went to college, but learned psychology, German and handwriting from correspondence courses. He was a powerful man and taught boxing and wrestling at the YMCA. He was also a passionate and volatile man. One grandson remembers that when you walked into a room with Ira present, he was either the life of the party or it was as if someone had just died. Mom remembers him sobbing as if his heart would break when he had to put down 2 injured horses. Ira was ordained by the Wesleyan Immanuel Mission in 1953 and was active in the Nazarene Church. Ira wrote Mom a wonderful letter in 1944, beginning with "Who am I that God should give me such a wonderful daughter?"

Written by Dorothy Crooks, his granddaughter.

Nathaniel Merriman: Immigrant 1632

      Nathaniel Merriman is one of my 8-great grandfathers! (He is part of my maternal MUNSON lineage.) He piqued my curiosity because he is an immigrant and a great deal of information has been collected about him by his descendants. His descendants met in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1913, and subsequently published a book on the papers presented at the reunion, as well as a family genealogy prepared by Donald Jacobus, who has done many wonderful genealogies of New England families. In addition, these descendants appear to have erected a new tombstone for Nathaniel in the Center Street Cemetery in Wallingford.

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Nathaniel's Father

      Nathaniel Merriman was most likely born about 1613 in the London area. His surname has also been spelled Meriman, Merryman, Meryman and Merriam, but variations in spelling were very common in this time period. His father appears to have been George Merriman, based on "Genealogical gleanings in England", by Henry F. Waters, an eminent antiquarian. The will is proved below:

"GEORGE MERIMAN, citizen and cooper of London, 31 October 1655, proved 19 May 1656. I do give unto my son Nathaniel Merriman, now resident in New England, the sum of ten pounds of lawful English money; and unto my daughter Elizabeth Norman, whom I have already advanced in marriage with Master John Norman, I give twenty shillings to buy her a ring in remembrance of my love. My servant Henry Allison to serve out the remainder of his time of apprenticeship with my son John Merriman. The residue to son John whom I do hereby make and ordain full and sole executor &c.     Berkley, 175" [This is from Calendar 21, Register Berkley (1656).]

Based on the will, George's wife is already deceased. His children are Nathaniel Merriman, Elizabeth Norman and John Merriman. The significant fact is that his son Nathaniel is named a 'resident in New England'! Although this is not conclusive, it is very compelling.

      Mansfield Merriman, in 1913, visited England and examined the records of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Coopers. George Merryman, John Merriman and William Merryman were all mentioned and were highly likely freemen of the Cooper Company. Certainly, George was paying dues to the guild... John was George's son, but it is not clear who William was. He was likely a brother or cousin of George. Twice, George is mentioned as paying 20 pence for apprentices who were assigned to him. On July 27, 1635, John Roman was assigned to him for 8 years. On November 16, 1638, William Myles was assigned to him for 8 years. From his will, we know that George also had an apprentice named Henry Allison. On February 5, 1656,  "John Merriman had turned over to him Henry Allison . . . formerly apprentice of George Merriman." This shows that George Merriman died before February 5.

      There is an alternate theory that Nathaniel Merriman was born June 2, 1613, in Tenterden, Kent, England, but I have not seen the documents to support this. George Merriman and Mansfield Merriman reject this theory in the "Reunion of descendants of Nathaniel Merriman".

Nathaniel's Grandfather

      The earliest entry for George Merriman, found by Mansfield Merriman, was in the minutes of a Court "held on Thirdsay the xixth day of June 1606" and is as follows:

"This day Raphaell Warter brought into this Court one George Merryman the sonne of Gregory Meryman of Whytney in the county of Oxon Weav and psented him heare has desired this Company to take notice of an Indenture of Appnticep dated the xviijth day of ffebruary 1598 whereby the said George was bound unto him for ix yeares from the day of the date of said Indenture and submitted himself to the censure of the table for binding him forth of his howse who in regard of his posstye and subission forgave his fyne and tooke onely of hym in the respect of the pntemt…xx d."

Based on this entry, George Merryman was apprenticed to Raphael Warter on February 18th, 1598/1599, for 9 years, even though Raphael did not formally acknowledge this until 1606, during the last year of the apprenticeship. This also identifies George's father as Gregory Merriman, a weaver from Witney in Oxfordshire, which is about 70 miles northwest of London. There is another entry reported by Mansfield Merriman that states that George Merriman, on October 4, 1610, paid "3s 4d for his hubley by Taxhall worter." I think this is a transcription error by Mansfield and that George was actually making payment to Raphaell Warter! Since I do not understand the word 'hubley', I am not sure what this means either! Perhaps, he left the apprenticeship early and had to make partial restitution.

      I am guessing that George Merriman was born about 1584 based on an understanding that young persons were often apprentices until age 24.

Last residence in England

      According to Charles Edward Banks, Nathaniel Merriam (Merriman) was from the English parish of Saint Mary Somerset in London and part of the Queenhithe Ward. It is not clear to me if this is meant to be his place of birth or his residence at the time he came to the colonies. Per the FamilySearch wiki, St. Mary Somerset and St. Mary Mounthaw were initially 2 separate parishes, both 'Within the Walls' of London. They were united after the Great Fire of London in 1666. At this time, however, it is not clear to me what the primary source is for this information.

Emigration from England

      I have seen 2 different theories about the ship on which Nathaniel Merriman came to the colonies. Both theories, however, say that Nathaniel was associated with the Puritan Plough Company (or Company of Husbandmen) of 1630. According to Roger Merriman, the Plough Company was made up largely of artisans and tradesmen and they were not particularly well-educated. There were, however, some wealthy persons among them. They applied to the Council of Plymouth for land in New England, and on June 26, 1630, received a patent for a sizable piece of land covering most of what is today southern Maine. The company was associated with the Puritan religion, but their pastor, Stephen Bachiler, was known for his religious irregularities.

      According to Charles Banks, Nathaniel Merriman emigrated to the colonies on the first ship sent by the Puritan Plough Company, "The Plough". The master of the ship was Mr. Graves and there were 10 passengers from London aboard this ship. The ship departed from London about May, 1631, and arrived at their patented land in June 1631. Being displeased with the land, they came into Boston on July 6, 1631.

      According to the paper written by Roger Merriman, Nathaniel Merriman emigrated to the colonies on "The Whale", the second ship sent by the Puritan Plough Company. This ship departed from Hampton, England, on April 8, 1632, and arrived in Boston on May 26, 1632. He claims that Nathaniel's passage, about 10 pounds, was paid by Peter Wooster. The ship included 30 passengers and 70 cows. Five of the passengers were from the Plough Company, including Nathaniel Merriman.
   
      Based on The Winthrop Papers, published in the Massachusetts Historical Society Collection, Nathaniel Merriman did come over on the Whale! He probably knew other passengers as fellow members of the Puritan Plough Company, but no one else has the last name of Merriman.

Life in the Colonies

      Nathaniel Merriman fought in the Pequot War in Connecticut in 1637. At the time, he was either a resident of Wethersfield, Connecticut, or possibly Massachusetts.
      In 1639 or 1640, he went to the New Haven area, where he was one of the signers of the Fundamental Agreement that established New Haven. This is where he married his first wife and where he had his children: Nathaniel (abt 1647), John (1649, d young), Hannah (1651), Abigail (1654), Mary (1657), John (1660), Samuel (1662), Caleb (1665), 2 sons (1667, d. young), Elizabeth (1669).
      In about 1670, he moved north of New Haven where he was one of the founding fathers of Wallingford, Connecticut. He died here on February 13, 1693/94. No doubt, he would have been buried in Center Street Cemetery near the downtown square. A modern tombstone for Nathaniel Merriman is now present in this cemetery, erected by his descendants.


SOURCES

Banks, Charles Edward (author) and Elijah Ellsworth Brownell (editor and indexer), Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England 1620-1650 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1976 (originally 1937)), p 105, 102, 60.

Massachusetts Historical Society, editor, Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. VII - Fourth Series.  (Boston: John Wilson and Son, 1865),  p. 92-93.

Merriman, Mansfield and Donald L. Jacobus, editors, Reunion of descendants of Nathaniel Merriman at Wallingford, Conn. June 4, 1913 ; Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/reunionofdescend00merriala/reunionofdescend00merriala_djvu.txt : downloaded 21 Aug 2015),
        "The Ancestry and Parentage of Nathaniel Merriman", pgs. 19-20, 32-37.
        "The Puritan Plough Company of 1630', by Roger B. Merriman, pgs. 20-21, 38-46.

        "Nathaniel Merriman in New Haven, 1640-1670".

        "Family of Nathaniel Merriman", pgs. 137-138.
        "Genealogical Searches in England", p. 129-133.

Waters, Henry F., Genealogical gleanings in England, 2 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1901), Vol. 2: p. 1445.

Winthrop, John and James Kendall Hosmer, Winthrop's journal; "History of New England," 1630-1649 , 2 volumes (1908; reprint, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1946), Vol. 1, pgs. 69, 92-93.