| Notes |
- From Rosemarie Karlan, correspondent.
MARY SPRAGUE AND WM. A. LADD
We have fascinating legends of Mary Sprague. She issaid to be of "the Smiths of Virginia" As far as wecan determine, she was born in Vermont so the "Smiths" musthave traveled. Their daughter, Aris Ladd Grimshaw,told that she grew up where she could hear Niagara Fallsbut never saw them. Another puzzling legend is"Sprague dirt." Her son, David Ladd, was "darkcomplected" (as was a nephew Claude Grimshaw), attributedto "Sprague dirt" by the Ladds. I would love to knowwhat this is all about. We have corresponded, now,with descendents of Mary's son, David Ladd, and they atfirst told us that Mary was an "Iroquois Princess" but asfar as I know now they have backed the Indian blood thingoff at least another generation. They also say thatshe originally spelled her name Meary.
Mary kept her age a mystery. In 1870 Census atDayton, Richland Center, Wisconsin she was 45, in 1880 inJackson twp. Boone County, Iowa she was 56, in 1900 Butlertwp., Sanborn County, SD her birth date was listed as Feb.1821. I'm inclined to believe this birth date becauseit also agrees with her age of 81 years on her will datedNov. 17, 1902. It doesn't agree with Aunt Lyra'schart (she has "born 1829, died 1904"). Her tombstonesays 1820. What can you expect? Her daughter,Aris, our great-grandmother, had the wrong birth date puton her husband's stone so he wouldn't be younger than shewas.
William doesn't have as many legends. It is said thathe was 6 foot 7-1/2 inches tall. This has to be so,because why would they make up that extra half-inch. We find from the censuses that he was first a sawyer in NYand then a farmer in WI. He is said to have diedbecause a tree fell on him
They moved a lot. Wouldn't it be great to know just howthey made these moves! I wonder if they went by boatacross the Great Lakes. It was about the time theystarted using steamboats on the lakes. We have them(Wm. Ladd and Mary) in New York, then maybe Canada. (Son,Wallace is listed as having been born in Canada)
We have recently made contact with Suzan Ladd, adescendent of son, David who says they have David and hisfamily on a census in Iowa, next, in 1860 and they have amilitary record for him in the Civil War.
By 1870 Mary and William were in Wisconsin and newlyweddaughter Aris and George Thomas Grimshaw were living withthem. William died there in 1871. (We don'thave any record of this death though)
Mary was living next in Jackson Boone County Iowa in1880 living with her son Wallace and near her son, Davidand family. Her brother Hela Sprague lived in FayetteCounty too. On this same census was another Spraguefamily: William 35 (probably isn't Hela's son, aWilliam born 1866 is buried in their plot) his wife Lizbeth28 and Anna M. 8 and Kerry? A. 2.
In 1885, Mary and son, Wallace, lived together in SanbornCounty, Dakota Territory, with David and family livingnearby. Her brother Hela Sprague and his family livedthere also. He died in 1901 and is buried there whereMary is, in the Prairie Home Cemetery out in the country inButler twp., Sanborn County, SD. Three of Hela andSarah's children died in late 1893. She obtained apatent on 160 acres in Sec 15, 105N 060W in Sanborn County6/8/1902 and Wallace had a patent on 40 acres, Sec. 2,105N, 060W, dated 4/27/1889. Wallace died Nov.29, 1896, age 41, leaving Mary alone. There is astory about Wallace having been operated on forappendicitis at home.
When Mary wrote her will November 17, 1902 she provided:individual bequests to her children and grandchildren anddesignated money for a tombstone for herself andWallace. Her son, David and his family were living inTripoli, Iowa at the time; and Aris was living at Oacoma SD.
The earliest Census we have for them is 1850 New YorkCensus - St. Lawrence County (my copy is blurry but I haveheard that this is Lawrenceville, NY) shows entries 509,521
WILLIAM A. LADD, age 31, male, occupation Sawyer, bornNY, MARY M. LADD age 24, born NH, David A. Ladd age 7(? could be 4) male, born ditto same as Mary, ARICE F. LADD(this is phonetic spelling; her name is Aris Phedora) age2, F. born ditto same as Mary, Anna C. Ladd, age 21, F.born ditto same as Mary.
(Note, we don't know who Anna C. Ladd was but we knowsomeone of that name was married in Dayton, Richland, WI toLyman Bingham, Farmer, Feb. 16, 1868 subscribing witnesseswere Wm A. Ladd and Asher Ladd. Father and Mother ofwife were Wm. A. Ladd and Mary M. Ladd. They weren'told enough to be her parents but maybe they adopted her) his New York census is handwrittenand on further study, it looks like they are all born in NHbecause the H or Y looks similar to the H on Farm Handelsewhere. In a later census in 1870 in Wisconsinthey were all listed as coming from Vermont. What isSt. Lawrence Co. NY now could have been NH or Vermont whenthey were born; I haven't researched this.
We have the 1851 Census of Frontenac County (WolfeIsland) It shows Grimshaws living there Thismay or may not have had anything to do with Mary & William.
Then we have the August 10, 1870 Census of DaytonRichland Center County Wisconsin.
WILLIAM A. LADD age 51, farmer, 800 value of real estate,100 value of personal estate, born in Vermont.
MARY A. LADD age 45, keeping house, born in Vermont.
David A. Ladd, age 24 farmer, 200 value of personal estate,born in Vermont.
Wallace Ladd, age 15 work on farm, born Canada (107-106)
GEORGE GRIMSHAW, age 21, farm laborer, born Canada
ARIS P. GRIMSHAW, age 22, at home, born New York (same location 107-106)(living with her folks)
Same Census: The Grimshaw family had moved from Wolf Islandto Richland WINotice from this census Wallace Ladd was born in Canadaapprox 1855; they were near the border, could have justgone up there; but maybe they lived there for a while
William A. Ladd died soon after this census. November 29,1871. We believe that a tree fell on him. It isinteresting to note that the great Chicago fire and thefire that destroyed Peshtigo, WI happened in October thatyear. More than a million acres of timberland wereburned.
Anna Celestine Grimshaw (our grandmother) was born inBremmer Co., Iowa, near Olewein Iowa. Dec. 7,1874.
The Census for June 17, 1880 Franklin Twp. Bremmer Co. Iowashows:
GEORGE GRIMSHAW 30 farmer, born in Canada, ARIS GRIMSHAW 32wife, keeping house, born NY, William Grimshaw 8, son, bornIowa. TYNE GRIMSHAW (our grandmother Anna Celestine)age 5, daughter, born Iowa.
The Census for June 15 1880 Iowa shows
MARY LADD age 56 keeping house and her son Wallace A., Age24, a farmer. Her other son, David, age 34 is listedthere with his family
Next comes the Census Dist. No. 94 County of Sanborn,Territory of South Dakota 1885 shows Mary Ladd living withher son W.A. Ladd single, farmer, born Canada, father bornVermont. She is 60, widowed, farmer, born New York,father born New York, mother born New York. Her otherson, David, is listed with his family as is her brother,Hela Sprague with his family.
From Rosemary Karlen, correspondent, note of April 29th,2005
Actually we just haven't gotten any further with MarySprague than when I started way, way back there before Ieven thought of checking genealogy. That is, we haven'tfound out who her parents were. We know a lot about her -we've read her will, we read her homestead papers and herson's homestead papers, also her brother's homesteadpapers, her two brothers' Civil War Pension requests AND wethink we have hooked her husband, William Asher Ladd, tothe published history of Daniel Ladd who was born inEngland and came to America in 1634. That history bookstops just one generation before our William Asher Ladd whowas born in 1819 but we believe we have established aconnection to Asher Ladd (born Jan 16, 1783 as his father)
We really worked on it. Thanks for recommending thecorrespondents you did. I e-mailed the man in England a lotand we both wanted to make the connection but just couldn'tfind any evidence other than coming to Fayette Co., IA fromSt. Lawrence Co., NY in pretty much the same time frame. Itprobably is a lot more complicated than we thought. Thestories about Mary being an Indian princess (maybe relatedto Pocahontus) could be just that the relatives thoughtanybody dark complected had a secret but our two separatefamilies of descendents had heard them. I haven't made anyprogress on a possible first marraige. I know that HelaSprague was called "Uncle" but maybe that wasn't goodenough for me to even assume her maiden name was Sprague.We even found a picture of her and the picture of my Greatgrandmother Arris, they could have Indian blood. I'menclosing 2 pictures of Aris (young & old) I must havemisplaced Mary.
From Rosemarie Karlen, correspondent, note of May 7th, 2005
1901-1910 Edward VII ruled England (Victoria had been Queenfrom 1837-1901)1901 MARY M. LADD filed Homestead Proof Dec. 14, 1901saying she had resided upon the land , NE ¼ of Section 15,in Twp. 105N of Range 60W, since the 9th day of Dec., 1896.Her Homestead Proof statement gives her age as 80, POLetcher. Yes to native born and it is filled in New Yorkand crossed out to Vermont. "House was built for formerentry man. I established residence at date of entry. Houseis 16 x 24 ft, granary, stable, 50 acres fenced, 80 acresbroken, value $1200. Other answers: two children, I am anunmarried woman, Not been absent from the land, 80 acrescropped each season, ordinary prairie farming land, has notsold or mortgaged any portion of the land, has no personalproperty of any kind elsewhere than on this claim. Hertestimony was backed up by Harry Taylor Letcher, CliftonReeves, age 30, Mitchell SD (he mentions a corn crib too)Two other witnesses are listed but we don't have testimonyfrom them: Julius Smith and Ephraim Corliss. M. A. Skinner,Publisher of the Chronicle, Letcher, SD swears that it waspublished 6 consecutive weeks Oct. 31, 1901 thru Dec. 5,1901. [3, 5]
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1825 - 1904 (79 years)
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Census
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: County/Shire
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