Pension: App. 1138733, Cert. 855262
P.O.: 765 Cranstone St., Providence, RI
Service: one of Dix's nurses at Lovell General Hospital, June, 1864-April 15, 1865
Applied: 1892
Status: Accepted
Another Lovell nurse! I'm a little stuck on Rhode Island nurses at the moment, and they all seem to be working at Lovell. I promise I'll have another hospital for you next week.
So, Josephine White, born Josephine Hazard on January 18, 1838, in Providence to John and Isabella Hazard, one of four children; still single when she began working at Lovell. Interestingly, Lovell notes that not only did she work the wards like most of her counterparts, she also served as a surgical nurse, which is something you rarely outside field hospitals where there aren't enough hands to go around and needs must. Luckily for White she was in both the Treasury and War Department records when she applied for a pension in 1892, so there are no exciting wartime documents to analyze. Instead, the excitement comes towards the end of her life.
Josephine married Amos. A White, a contractor, in Brockton, on October 29, 1884. It was her first marriage, and his third. He died shortly after. Josephine applied for her pension with the help of James Tanner, claiming that she was unfit to perform any manual labor. The pension went through without a hitch. By 1900, White was living with her mother, Isabella Tweed (apparently she'd remarried), her stepson Bendett White, a hardware dealer, his wife, and two African-American servants. The 1900 Census unfortunately doesn't have any information regarding personal wealth or real estate, but the presence of two servants indicates this was a relatively well-off family. Josephine, however, must have wanted to keep herself marginally independent, and retained her pension as a separate source of income. It's not entirely normal (most nurses were in fairly rough financial straits when they applied for pensions), but it's also not entirely unexpected.
Then, in 1918, she decided to take a trip to the Isle of Pines, Cuba, and asked for her pension to be forwarded to her for the duration of the trip. This did not sit well with the Bureau, which promptly informed her they could not forward her pension. She was still wrangling with them from her hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida (she must have been determined to have that vacation no matter what!) when she died April 10, 1918. She and I would have gotten along well.
Showing posts with label Lovell General Hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lovell General Hospital. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Sarah C. Taylor
Pension File: App. 676286, Cert. 418232
P.O.: 33 Bull St, Newport, RI
Service: Contract nurse at Lovell GH in Portsmouth, RI, from October 15, 1862 to at least August, 1865
Applied: 1888
Status: Accepted (Special Act)
Here's another Lovell nurse for you! Taylor's file is, like most special acts, on the thin side, but whatever it may lack in quantity, it more than makes up for with quality.
Sarah Taylor was born Sarah Catherine Dennis on January 30, 1828, the daughter of Captain Thomas and Margaret Dennis. I believe I have her in the 1860 census living in Newport with an elder brother, his wife, and mother-in-law. Ultimately, however, Sarah--or Kitty, as she was called--ended up in Portsmouth, where she began work at Lovell as an assistant nurse, and, over the course of the next three years, gradually took charge of 14 of the hospital's 28 wards.
Taylor quickly learned the love and respect of the men she tended. She was a "guardian angel," and was "everywhere and at all times, to help the sick and wounded," an anonymous private wrote the Newport Mercury on July 8th, 1865, "not like the many who consider the private so far beneath their notice...No far from that,-she is everywhere among us, and if there is any extra seat in Heaven, I shall cast my vote that she has it. You may think that I am getting enthusiastic over our 'Kitty,' but you know, Mr. Editor, that a soldier must get enthusiastic over something; and as she is the only one we see worthy of getting enthusiastic over, you must excuse me if a few drops of it fall from my pen, and I for one say 'give honor to whom it is due.'"
And give honor the men did, because Taylor's pension file includes not only the anonymous letter to the editor, but also transcripts of several testimonials signed by the men in the wards. Several of them are the standard testimonials from her commanding officers--Katherine Wormley, who was matron in charge of the hospital for a number of years, and William Taney Thurston, the surgeon in command of several of Taylor's wards. Like our anonymous soldier, Thurston had nothing but glowing praise for Taylor: "I am very confident, that to her good nursing, may be under Providence, attributed the restoration to health of a large number of patients, who under ordinary care must have died...the kindness and mildness of her deportment, towards the suffering soldiers, gained the love and gratitude to all to whom she was a ministering spirit."
The remaining testimonials build on what Thurston and the anonymous soldier wrote. Rather than falling back on eloquent testimonials from individual patients though (that would be fantastic if it were though!), the remaining testimonials emphasize quantity over quality. And deservedly so. Got up in May and August, 1865, the testimonials list a total of 77 men, all of whom had apparently agreed to not only testify to Taylor's work, but also to donate money to purchase a "suitable testimonial"--what exactly the testimonial was they don't say, or just how much was donated (so frustrating!), but it appears that her patients gave Taylor several gifts of some sort before the hospital was closed in late 1865. Her file also includes a letter of thanks from the ladies of Fairhaven, MA, "for your very efficient and kind ministrations to our sick and wounded soldiers" (not entirely sure what the connection between Taylor and Fairhaven is, but it's likely either a family connection or that a number of Fairhaven boys ended up in her wards).
It's rare enough to find wartime documents in a pension file, but it's even rarer to find ones of this scope and depth (i.e. I now have 77 individual men to track down, and the archives at Fairhaven to contact to try and dig up more information!). The language of the testimonials, however, is also fascinating. Our anonymous private, for instance, is clearly frustrated with people who dote on officers and overlook the lowly privates--a bit of a class dimension to this, then. And, of course, how Taylor herself is described is revealing: her "sisterly ministrations," a "ministering spirit," and, of course, "guardian angel"--all standard descriptions for a Civil War nurse (at least if you like her), but coached in such a way that the presence of this young, single woman in the masculine world of a military hospital is not deemed a threat to gender norms (is an angel or a sister likely to fraternize with one of her patients?).
Funny that.
On the list of men signing Sarah's testimonial is a Thomas H.B. Taylor, formerly of the 48th Illinois, but, after what was likely an illness, now a private in the 2nd Battalion, Veterans Reserve Corps, and under Sarah's charge. The pair married after the war and had two children, Frank (b. 1866, who probably did not live past his 13th year) and William (b. 1868). The marriage didn't last long--the Newport Daily News reported in October, 1875, that Sarah's petition for divorce had been granted--and Sarah and her son William settled down in Newport, where Sarah worked as matron of Newport Hospital. She was also apparently in touch with MOLLUS (Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the US), because her file also includes a letter from Arnold A. Rand, the commander of MOLLUS, asking for photographs of the hospitals, fellow nurses, or patients, along with signatures and dates, to include in the growing MOLLUS collection (this, by the way, forms the core of the collection at Carlisle Barracks, and is where Taylor's picture up top comes from!).
Taylor applied for and received her $12 pension in 1888. She died on April 22, 1901, and was buried in the Common Burying Ground in Newport.
P.O.: 33 Bull St, Newport, RI
Service: Contract nurse at Lovell GH in Portsmouth, RI, from October 15, 1862 to at least August, 1865
Applied: 1888
Status: Accepted (Special Act)
 |
| Sarah C. Taylor, Courtesy of MOLLUS |
Sarah Taylor was born Sarah Catherine Dennis on January 30, 1828, the daughter of Captain Thomas and Margaret Dennis. I believe I have her in the 1860 census living in Newport with an elder brother, his wife, and mother-in-law. Ultimately, however, Sarah--or Kitty, as she was called--ended up in Portsmouth, where she began work at Lovell as an assistant nurse, and, over the course of the next three years, gradually took charge of 14 of the hospital's 28 wards.
Taylor quickly learned the love and respect of the men she tended. She was a "guardian angel," and was "everywhere and at all times, to help the sick and wounded," an anonymous private wrote the Newport Mercury on July 8th, 1865, "not like the many who consider the private so far beneath their notice...No far from that,-she is everywhere among us, and if there is any extra seat in Heaven, I shall cast my vote that she has it. You may think that I am getting enthusiastic over our 'Kitty,' but you know, Mr. Editor, that a soldier must get enthusiastic over something; and as she is the only one we see worthy of getting enthusiastic over, you must excuse me if a few drops of it fall from my pen, and I for one say 'give honor to whom it is due.'"
And give honor the men did, because Taylor's pension file includes not only the anonymous letter to the editor, but also transcripts of several testimonials signed by the men in the wards. Several of them are the standard testimonials from her commanding officers--Katherine Wormley, who was matron in charge of the hospital for a number of years, and William Taney Thurston, the surgeon in command of several of Taylor's wards. Like our anonymous soldier, Thurston had nothing but glowing praise for Taylor: "I am very confident, that to her good nursing, may be under Providence, attributed the restoration to health of a large number of patients, who under ordinary care must have died...the kindness and mildness of her deportment, towards the suffering soldiers, gained the love and gratitude to all to whom she was a ministering spirit."
The remaining testimonials build on what Thurston and the anonymous soldier wrote. Rather than falling back on eloquent testimonials from individual patients though (that would be fantastic if it were though!), the remaining testimonials emphasize quantity over quality. And deservedly so. Got up in May and August, 1865, the testimonials list a total of 77 men, all of whom had apparently agreed to not only testify to Taylor's work, but also to donate money to purchase a "suitable testimonial"--what exactly the testimonial was they don't say, or just how much was donated (so frustrating!), but it appears that her patients gave Taylor several gifts of some sort before the hospital was closed in late 1865. Her file also includes a letter of thanks from the ladies of Fairhaven, MA, "for your very efficient and kind ministrations to our sick and wounded soldiers" (not entirely sure what the connection between Taylor and Fairhaven is, but it's likely either a family connection or that a number of Fairhaven boys ended up in her wards).
It's rare enough to find wartime documents in a pension file, but it's even rarer to find ones of this scope and depth (i.e. I now have 77 individual men to track down, and the archives at Fairhaven to contact to try and dig up more information!). The language of the testimonials, however, is also fascinating. Our anonymous private, for instance, is clearly frustrated with people who dote on officers and overlook the lowly privates--a bit of a class dimension to this, then. And, of course, how Taylor herself is described is revealing: her "sisterly ministrations," a "ministering spirit," and, of course, "guardian angel"--all standard descriptions for a Civil War nurse (at least if you like her), but coached in such a way that the presence of this young, single woman in the masculine world of a military hospital is not deemed a threat to gender norms (is an angel or a sister likely to fraternize with one of her patients?).
Funny that.
On the list of men signing Sarah's testimonial is a Thomas H.B. Taylor, formerly of the 48th Illinois, but, after what was likely an illness, now a private in the 2nd Battalion, Veterans Reserve Corps, and under Sarah's charge. The pair married after the war and had two children, Frank (b. 1866, who probably did not live past his 13th year) and William (b. 1868). The marriage didn't last long--the Newport Daily News reported in October, 1875, that Sarah's petition for divorce had been granted--and Sarah and her son William settled down in Newport, where Sarah worked as matron of Newport Hospital. She was also apparently in touch with MOLLUS (Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the US), because her file also includes a letter from Arnold A. Rand, the commander of MOLLUS, asking for photographs of the hospitals, fellow nurses, or patients, along with signatures and dates, to include in the growing MOLLUS collection (this, by the way, forms the core of the collection at Carlisle Barracks, and is where Taylor's picture up top comes from!).
Taylor applied for and received her $12 pension in 1888. She died on April 22, 1901, and was buried in the Common Burying Ground in Newport.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Georgiana Smith
Pension File: 695671, 550217
P.O.: 145 Haverhill St, Lawrence, MA
Service: contract nurse at Lovell General Hospital, Portsmouth Grove, RI, in Wards 16, 18, and 20
Applied: 1889
Status: Accepted
Every once in a while you come across a file that makes things a little more personal, a little more tangible. You find a personal connection that reminds you you're only a few degrees removed from everything that happened 150 years ago.
No, there's no long-lost family relative in the file (though I did find out a few weeks ago that a distant cousin of mine served as a nurse--she's on the WRC lists, so guess what I'm looking into next?). But like I said, it's a small world.
So, Georgiana Smith, born Georgiana Butterfield, daughter of Pitts Butterfield and Lucy Damon, in October, 1820, in Dedham, Massachusetts. She married Isacchus Smith and had two children, one of whom died young. The other, a girl named for her mother, was born January 17, 1846. Isacchus died sometime around 1855, leaving Georgiana to make her own way. I think she ends up living with her brother and his family in Attleboro, but I'm not entirely sure--if it is her in the census record, her brother and mother are there, but no baby Georgianna...
In March, 1862, however, Georgiana volunteered her services at Lovell General Hospital in Portsmouth Grove, RI (again, I ask, what happens to her child while she's gone?!). She was given charge of three wards: 16, 18, and 20.
This is where we get into the period documents. Smith had several in her file: a pass, allowing her to come and go as necessary; a letter dated to 1864 recommending her for a leave of absence due to illness, and a testimonial.
Thrilling, right?
Here's why, in all my nerdiness, I'm excited about these documents. First, the letter recommending
her for a leave of absence: usually I'm told these women were taken ill during their service thirty years after the fact, and a very brief description--rheumatism, a fever, worn down by service. Unfortunately the letter doesn't provide details about the nature of Georgiana's illness, but now I have a sense of how that illness was dealt with in the moment--a recommendation from her superior, E.E. Brewster, the lady Supt. of Lovell, for a leave of absence, and just so all formalities and bureaucratic niceties are covered, she even includes the date of her last leave of absence: August (the letter was written in November, '64). Thirty years removed, its hard to get a sense of the day-to-day operation of the hospital, but here I get a tiny snapshot.
The other thing I found exciting were the testimonials. Again, most testimonials are given thirty years after the fact, and Georgiana has two of those, but every so often the soldiers at a given hospital decide to write up something for their ward nurse, and, hopefully, the nurse keeps it. The boys in Ward 18 were among that number. Edward Kent (13th VRI--probably the Veteran Reserve Corps), Benjamin Sweetser (56th MA), Ephraim Esty (1st MA H.A.), Edwin Flagg (57th MA), Edgar Riddell (2nd US S.S.), Josiah Robbins (22nd MA) all signed, So did Sylvanus Hunt, 12th MA.
Something like this is a potential gold mine for me. Given how thin on the ground documents relating to nurses are, any name that appears in the file is a potential new source of information. And since I've already found several instances of networking between nurses, and between them and their former patients, I have high hopes for this lot.
This is also a non-academic nerd moment. All the men, for whatever reason, not only listed the unit they served with, but also their home town. Sylvanus Hunt was from my home town. All I know about him is that he was a draftee, wounded at Spotsylvania, returned to service following a stint at Lovell, and mustered out in June, 1865. My home town has been pretty thorough going through all their wartime records and posting them online, so there's no leads with Sylvanus, but it's still a reminder--even my sleepy little town had a role to play.
Back to Georgiana. The trip home must not have been enough, because Georgiana mustered out in March, '65. From there, we lose the trail again, until 1889, when Georgiana filed for a pension through the Bureau, with Ellen Tolman as her attorney. Since we hadn't gotten to the ANPA yet, the Bureau summarily rejected it, and Georgiana started the process of getting a special act through Congress--which is why we have all those wonderful wartime documents. Congress passed the bill on March 27, 1891, awarding Georgiana $12 a month, and Georgiana went on living her quiet life. At some point she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law (the 1900 census shows them living together), and presumably she remained with them until her death on December 3, 1904. She's buried in Bellevue Cemetery, in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
P.O.: 145 Haverhill St, Lawrence, MA
Service: contract nurse at Lovell General Hospital, Portsmouth Grove, RI, in Wards 16, 18, and 20
Applied: 1889
Status: Accepted
Every once in a while you come across a file that makes things a little more personal, a little more tangible. You find a personal connection that reminds you you're only a few degrees removed from everything that happened 150 years ago.
No, there's no long-lost family relative in the file (though I did find out a few weeks ago that a distant cousin of mine served as a nurse--she's on the WRC lists, so guess what I'm looking into next?). But like I said, it's a small world.
So, Georgiana Smith, born Georgiana Butterfield, daughter of Pitts Butterfield and Lucy Damon, in October, 1820, in Dedham, Massachusetts. She married Isacchus Smith and had two children, one of whom died young. The other, a girl named for her mother, was born January 17, 1846. Isacchus died sometime around 1855, leaving Georgiana to make her own way. I think she ends up living with her brother and his family in Attleboro, but I'm not entirely sure--if it is her in the census record, her brother and mother are there, but no baby Georgianna...
In March, 1862, however, Georgiana volunteered her services at Lovell General Hospital in Portsmouth Grove, RI (again, I ask, what happens to her child while she's gone?!). She was given charge of three wards: 16, 18, and 20.
This is where we get into the period documents. Smith had several in her file: a pass, allowing her to come and go as necessary; a letter dated to 1864 recommending her for a leave of absence due to illness, and a testimonial.
Thrilling, right?
Here's why, in all my nerdiness, I'm excited about these documents. First, the letter recommending
 |
| Lovell General Hospital |
The other thing I found exciting were the testimonials. Again, most testimonials are given thirty years after the fact, and Georgiana has two of those, but every so often the soldiers at a given hospital decide to write up something for their ward nurse, and, hopefully, the nurse keeps it. The boys in Ward 18 were among that number. Edward Kent (13th VRI--probably the Veteran Reserve Corps), Benjamin Sweetser (56th MA), Ephraim Esty (1st MA H.A.), Edwin Flagg (57th MA), Edgar Riddell (2nd US S.S.), Josiah Robbins (22nd MA) all signed, So did Sylvanus Hunt, 12th MA.
Something like this is a potential gold mine for me. Given how thin on the ground documents relating to nurses are, any name that appears in the file is a potential new source of information. And since I've already found several instances of networking between nurses, and between them and their former patients, I have high hopes for this lot.
This is also a non-academic nerd moment. All the men, for whatever reason, not only listed the unit they served with, but also their home town. Sylvanus Hunt was from my home town. All I know about him is that he was a draftee, wounded at Spotsylvania, returned to service following a stint at Lovell, and mustered out in June, 1865. My home town has been pretty thorough going through all their wartime records and posting them online, so there's no leads with Sylvanus, but it's still a reminder--even my sleepy little town had a role to play.
Back to Georgiana. The trip home must not have been enough, because Georgiana mustered out in March, '65. From there, we lose the trail again, until 1889, when Georgiana filed for a pension through the Bureau, with Ellen Tolman as her attorney. Since we hadn't gotten to the ANPA yet, the Bureau summarily rejected it, and Georgiana started the process of getting a special act through Congress--which is why we have all those wonderful wartime documents. Congress passed the bill on March 27, 1891, awarding Georgiana $12 a month, and Georgiana went on living her quiet life. At some point she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law (the 1900 census shows them living together), and presumably she remained with them until her death on December 3, 1904. She's buried in Bellevue Cemetery, in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
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