The Courtship of Gran Hat

Colorized wedding portrait of Hattie Abigail Sapp and William Hiram Calvin on 22 February 1891. Copy in my possession. 

"You said that you never seen a girl that you loved half as well as you did me."

I am sure that my great great grandmother Hattie Sapp never thought that her love letters to her future husband, Will Calvin, would be read by her descendants 133 years after they were written. How would she feel about that?

 I don't recall the exact story, but two letters she wrote, one in 1889 and one in 1890, were discovered under the floorboards in an attic in Ashland, Missouri in the 1990s.  The letters were clearly well read and treasured because they had been taped back together along the seams after frequent folding and unfolding. (See the end of the post for the letters and transcript)

The letter written on October 22, 1890 describes a trip that they took and came back via Fulton Missouri and "the springs." Where had they gone?  The letter describes her father and Lizzie being able to see better. Did they go somewhere for an eye treatment? 

Hattie was clearly popular among the boys and had multiple suitors writing to her by the time she was 15 years old in 1889. In her October 1890 letter she writes to her 23 year old beau, Willliam Hiram Calvin, or as she calls him in an earlier letter, "Mr. Willie Calvin."  

        "That’s right, I am going to drop all my correspondence but yours and I will never quit writing to you as long as you will write and I want you to write the oftener since I have quit writing to all the boys but you."

Her letter goes on to ask "Willie" along with his half brother Orpheus "Orph" Calvin and Bob to come to a mock baseball game at Mr. Jones on Saturday. From the stories my grandfather, Glen Maxwell, told about growing up a few years later playing baseball was one of the most important activities for boys at the time.  The Columbia Tribune in 2014 mentions frequent articles in the Ashland Bugle from the early twentieth century about baseball games that were mostly after church on Sundays.

Hattie Abigail Sapp,  was the first born of the seven children of William Henry Harrison Sapp and Mary Rebecca Fletcher who lived to adulthood. Or was she born just minutes after her twin sister, Mattie, who didn't make it to adulthood? 

As for William Hiram Calvin, I was told he was named after his Uncle Hiram "Hi" Calvin. Will didn't get along with his father, James Calvin, and his stepmother Nancy Dudley Calvin, and had gone to live with his Uncle Hi in Callaway County. He seems to have made regular trips to see his Uncle William Calvin in Ashland and met Hattie Sapp there. His mother Mildred Frances Callaway Calvin had died just before his fourth birthday in 1870.

Marriage license of Mr. Wm. H. Sapp and Miss Hattie A. Sapp. Her father, W.H. Sapp, gave permission because she was under 18.

Uncle Hi wanted Will to wait to marry and said he would pay him $500.00 if he didn't marry until he was 30, the equivalent of over $16,000 in 2022.  However, Will couldn't resist the charms of Gran Hat and they were married on February 22nd, 1891 when he was 25 and she was almost 17. He felt really strongly about her from what Hattie says, "No dear I never thought of anyone killing themselves for me or because they couldn’t get me."

Picture of the Ashland School, possibly close to the time that Hattie was a student.
Southern Boone County Historical Society Collection . Early School Class: ash_school_01. Archives of the Daniel Boone Regional Library. retrieved 15 Jul 2022.

"I went to the school house this evening and I saw Mark but I did not want to see him half as bad as I did you."

When in a far and distant land you see the writing of my hand, although you can not see my face remember me—Hattie

Remember me        Tell Lena bring   [unreadable]

Ashland Mo

Oct. 22 1890

 

“Mr. W. H. Calvin.”

                                                                                Dear Friend

I will answer your most welcome letter received a few days ago. I was so glad to it. I would be glad if I could get a letter every day.

We got home yesterday at 4 o’clock. We came by the springs and Fulton. We had a nice time . We had lots of fun, wish you could have been along.  I would have enjoyed myself better.

Lizzie and Pa think they are entirely well. Lizzie said she could see better than she ever could wash her eyes, but I couldn’t see any better.

I don’t think I haven’t seen no one since I got home but the home folks. Haven’t seen Lou yet. I want to see her, too. Leona is coming home Thursday and I know Ed B. is rejoicing. Nora Johnson is going to marry tomorrow a fellow from Indiana.

You must be sure and come up Saturday and get here by 1 or 2 o’clock and go to the mock game of baseball at Mr. Jones. The school boys are going to play against Willie McGee and Jasper, Ed. B and _____ D. and I don’t know who else. But you bet I am going to see the [diary?] game played. Tell Bob and Orph to be certain and come Saturday.

I haven’t answered Mr. Morris letter yet. I am going but I am not going to correspond with him.  That’s right, I am going to drop all my correspondence but yours and I will never quit writing to you as long as you will write and I want you to write the oftener since I have quit writing to all the boys but you. You said for me to think of you once in a while if it wasn’t too hard a task. I think of you all the time and it is no task at all, and I will ask the same of you, dear love. No dear I never thought of anyone killing themselves for me or because they couldn’t get me. For I never thought of anyone loving me that much and I don’ think they could. Or if they could, they wouldn’t. I don’t think, my love, you got me to love you for I think I loved you without you getting me to. I love you now and always will.

That’s right, I do want you to be certain and come Saturday. I am going to look for you all.

Well, I will close for this time. Hoping to hear from you soon and to see you sooner.

Excuse bad writing. I couldn’t find my pencil and had to write with a pen.

                                                                                Love Hattie

When in a far and distant land you see the writing of my hand, although you can not see my face remember me—Hattie

I will send you a hug and 2 kisses. Remember next Christmas is to be the happiest in my life.

 

                                                                                                December 13, 1889

                                                                                                At home

Mr. Willie Calvin

Much esteemed friend, I will answer your most welcome letter received …[much of letter is impossible to read]

Well I am sure you are the only one who has ever loved me if you do. I have only got for it your word and I said I would never say you was deceitful again and I am not going back on my word if I know you are. You said you guess that you love me a lot more than you did.  ____ you love me fit to kill for I don’t think anyone could love anyone any more than I do you but I guess it will never do me any good .

You said that you never seen a girl that you loved half as well as you did me. I guess you never loved any one then for I don’t think you love me if you do I am glad.

I went to the school house this evening and I saw Mark but I did not want to see him half as bad as I did you.

Well I will close. Hoping to here from you soon.  Yours affectionately, Hattie.

 

 

The Tale of Two Elopements

  "Married at Hotel Here"

     Blanche Sapp McCall was almost 18 when she married her 28 year old beau, Herbert McCall. In contrast to the newspaper account her notes said they "eloped" and were married at "high noon," May 12, 1910 in the Athens Hotel parlors in downtown Columbia, Missouri. 

    This took some gumption as her brother Bert Sapp was the  deputy sheriff for Boone County and another brother, William Hollis "Wood" Sapp was not only a prominent lawyer in Columbia, but in five years would serve as a member of the Missouri State House of Representatives from Boone County. Her marriage license said she was over eighteen, but she did in fact have another 19 days to go.

    After the wedding they moved in with "Father McCall." Her new father-in-law lived in Hartsburg, Missouri, and owned a general store on Second Street. They lived with his family, possibly living above the store and and Herbert continued working for his father as he had done previously.  

    In 1914 they moved to Columbia where they had a grocery store at 3rd and Broadway.

    Blanche Mae Sapp was born in Ashland, Missouri on May 31, 1892.  She was the youngest of the seven children born to William Henry Harrison Sapp, a farmer and confederate veteran, and Mary Rebecca Fletcher Sapp, a midwife and proud supporter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Blanche with her sisters Pearl, Minnie, and Hattie; her brothers Bert, Allen, William H. "Wood; and their mother Mary Fletcher Sapp around 1900.

    Her father was 52 years old at her birth and she was 22 years younger than her older sister, Hattie Sapp Calvin, and three months younger than her niece, Bessie Lou Calvin Maxwell. Blanche and Bessie Lou are seen below in a colorized picture of them sitting in a car around the time Blanche was married. Blanche is on the left.

 

"Miss Ruby Calvin prepares a surprise for the folks at home"

    Blanche's niece Ruby Catherine Calvin, another daughter of Hattie Sapp Calvin, born August 5, 1897, followed her example and eloped in September of 1915 when she was 18 years old. Blanche appears to have not only set an example for her niece, but also helped with her plan.

    According to a front page story in the October 1, 1915 University Missourian,  Ruby eloped on the day she arrived in Columbia to attend college.  The romantic story seems to have caused quite a furor, "it is the honeymoon shining, not the midnight oil..." 

    Ruby moved to Columbia to pursue school as a day student at Christian College and planned to live with her Aunt Blanche, but when she left Ashland she left behind "a lonely young man," Noah Arnold. They decided that "education could be bought at too high a price" if they had to be separated.  

    Noah picked Miss Calvin up at her Aunt Blanche's the day she arrived and drove her to the county recorder's home at 9:30 PM. They "routed him from his warm blankets," and conveyed him "protesting, but good natured" to the courthouse to issue them a wedding license. The preacher followed them to Blanche's house and married the couple that evening.

"I thought she had run along to school like a good little girl."

Will Calvin in a white suit standing in his hardware store in Ashland.

The bride's father, W.H. Calvin, was called on the telephone at his hardware store in Ashland and he was surprised at the news:

"No, I did not know that my daughter was married...I thought she had run along to school today like a good little girl."  

"Do you care, Mr. Calvin?" There was a moment of silence and then, "She was eighteen," came the answer.

Picture in front of the Will Calvin house with Will and his wife Hattie seated. Daughters Ruby, Naomi, and Estelle are pictured, along with sons Aubra "Mule," and Fred.  Also pictured are Paul Maxwell with Bessie Lou and their twin sons Glen and Fred. Picture was taken around 1915, probably just a few months before Ruby was married.

 

"Mr. and Mrs. Arnold have completely made their escape and no one knows where they are." 

Dancing across the Atlantic

I wasn't sure where to start the entries for this blog, so I am just going to jump in and get started. All four of my mother's grandparents immigrated from Sweden between 1881 and 1902. David Johnson was my maternal grandfather Cliff Johnson's father, or morfarfar (mother's father's father in Swedish) and was the last of my great grandparents to arrive in "Amerika."  He is also the one I had the fewest facts about and already had written his biography, so I started with him. I colorized the only picture I have of him as a young man, which you can see below. It appears to have been taken between 1902 and 1906, but is most likely from around 1904 when he had been in the United States long enough to buy a pocket watch and an expensive set of clothes.

Colorized portrait of David Johnson taken around 1904

    David Johansson, born September 13, 1879 in the Swedish province of Dalsland, was the fifth of his parents Johannes Olsson and Johanna Olsdotter's six children. He left Alsbyn, the village where he was born, to go to the United States when he was 22. Alsbyn was located in the parish of Torrskog in Älvsborg County (lan).

The Swedish Household Examination record for 1900-1912. This shows David's widowed mother, Johanna Olsdotter, his older sister, Thea, David, and his brother Axel living in Alsbyn. David left for "Amerika" on May 5, 1902 and his brother Axel on March 28, 1903. The birth dates are written incorrectly.
(County: Älvsborg; Parish: Torrskog; Volume: 169791; Record Type: Församlingsbok; Year Range: 1900-1912)

David and the two neighbors he was travelling with left  Torrskog to travel to America on May 5, 1902.  At that time  England was the only country at the time to board the large ocean liners that crossed the Atlantic. This meant that you could not go from Sweden to New York directly, but had to take a long and complicated series of ship and train rides to get from home to your final destination. Many Swedes left from Gothenburg or other Swedish ports, but others left from Germany or Norway. Christiana (Oslo) in Norway was one of the popular ports located just 95 miles from Torrskog and David and his companions chose this route. Their ship went from Oslo to Hull in England on a shorter route known as "feeder routes." 

After their arrival in Hull, they probably took a short rest and then boarded a train across England to Liverpool, on the west coast of England like most travelers did. On May 15th, 1902, 10 days after their trip began, they boarded one of the world's largest steam ships at the time, the Oceanic, part of the White Star Line.

In contrast to many emigration stories, David recalled the six day crossing of the Atlantic as a fun filled time with great weather and dancing on deck. He had the luck to set sail on the Oceanic, one of the largest ocean liner's at the time, which took 6 days to cross compared to the several weeks older ships had in the past. From 1899 to 1901 the Oceanic was the largest ocean liner in the world at 704 feet long and 63 feet wide. It held 1,710 passengers : 410 in first class, 300 in second class, and 1,000 in third class, which is what David would have been travelling. See the videos below to learn more about the ship and a typical crossing.

Facsimile of the List or Manifest of the Oceanic, you can see the listing for "David Johannesson," second from the bottom. One of his companions was Victor Henriksson.

(Year: 1902; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 0277; Line: 29; Page Number: 44)

David and his two friends arrived at Ellis Island on May 21, 1902. He had $38.00 in his pocket, which would be the equivalent of $1,292.00 in 2022, and a train ticket to Prentice, Wisconsin.  His older brother, Edward was the first in their family to emigrate to the United States and had sent him the money to join him in Prentice.  His two companions joined him as far as Chicago and then he continued alone. You can see David listed on the manifest above as David Johannesson, along with his destination in Prentice. At some point he Americanized his name to David Johnson.

After he joined his brother Edward in Prentice David worked at the tannery in town owned by the United States Leather Company for $10 a week, the equivalent of around $340 in 2022.  Many tanneries were built in the area as the hemlock bark from the trees was used in tanning hides.  As trees were harvested in the east tanneries were forced to go west to find the bark they needed and it was cheaper to tan it where the bark was. This tannery in Prentice was destroyed in a series of two fires in 1906 and a dairy was built in its place.

Postcard of loggers in Wisconsin.

Like many of his fellow Scandinavians at the time, David worked as a lumberjack in the north woods in Wisconsin for a few years. In order to get to the logging camps he took the train from Prentice to Phillips, Wisconsin and walked the rest of the way. Working as a lumberjack was hard and dangerous work and could only be done when it was cold and they would wait until spring thaw to send the logs downstream. Men working in the lumber camps could burn up to 8,000 calories a day and the camps served good food or the men would go somewhere else. David met his future wife Clara Almeda Adeli Frisk in the lumber camp where she was working as a cook.

In his first summers in the U.S. he travelled with other men from Prentice to North Dakota for the harvest  and they spent the season cutting and threshing grain. These jobs were hard work, but they could make good money in a short amount of time.

By 1904 Clara had convinced him to move to Minneapolis. She arranged for him to board with the Nobbelin family and helped get him a job in the shipping department at Electrical Engineering. The rest is a story for another day!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

The impetus for starting this blog was learning about the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks.  I have been so frustrated trying to figure out how to share all the stories and information I have accumulated with family members and others in a way that they will enjoy and not feel too overwhelmed.

 I started working on my family history when I was eight years old.  I loved listening my grandmother talk about her family and I started writing down notes about her mother and all the children she had that didn't survive in an old 1930s era leather bound agenda that my grandmother didn't want.  I should take a picture of it and post it here!

I continued being interested in family history and would pester everyone about stories and when family members eventually passed away they would give me all the stuff they didn't know what to do with including, pictures, old letters, suitcases with random papers, etc.  All this interest led me to go to college and earn both a bachelor's and Master's in history with an emphasis on 19th century women, but my true love was local history and learning about the every day lives of ordinary people. As a student,  I also took classes in their new applied history program which included oral history, archives, and writing articles for the new edition of the Handbook of Texas, which was published in the 1990s.  I loved this so much and was offered a job writing articles for the project as a research assistant.  The articles included county histories, biographies of prominent people, and some businesses.  This helped me become proficient with microfilm records, such as the census schedules.  Not just the population schedule, but also the agricultural schedules and the slave schedules for 1850 and 1860, which are a sobering look at life during that time.

Also, during college in the late 1980s I would borrow Swedish microfilm at the local LDS library to research my mother's family.  This took a lot of dedication to read the records and understand them.  I managed to trace my family back four or five more generations.

In the summer I would visit my grandfather in Columbia, Missouri to work on more of the family history at the State Historical Society of Missouri where I would stay from open to close.  We would also drive around to cemeteries, visit with family members, or anything else I could think of to gather more information.

I didn't realize I had so much to say about this, so I am calling this part 1.  I will continue it later! I am going to start small and improve as I go along.  Stay tuned!