HISTORY MYSTERIES

 

ANOTHER NEW LONDON, IN One of the earliest pages we put up on ROOTS & ROUTES was "New London Connections" (choice.htm), and it's still one of the most frequently visited. Recently we received a query from William Hampton Adams (See our Mailbox) about an earlier New London in Indiana, where his ancestors wintered in 1817. Ed Riley, the historian who contributed the original description of New London, Indiana, sent the following response: Yes, there was an earlier New London, IN, located in Jefferson Co. on the Ohio River. The 1876 map of that county shows New London in Saluda Twp. due east from present-day Saluda and south of present-day Hanover. (These are shown on the current Indiana highway maps.) To see the 1876 map, go to the US GenWeb Project and click on Indiana. Click on Jefferson Co. Then click on Land/Maps located under Records. Last, click on Map of Jefferson Co. 1876.* Ed Riley EBRJR@aol.com *Editor's Note: The USGenWeb site is at http://www.usgenweb.com/. The direct link to the 1876 map is http://www.myindianahome.net/gen/jeff/records/land/jeffmap.gif. Mouse around the lower right corner and a zoom tool should appear. Click it to enlarge the map. New London will then be plainly visible in Saluda County on the Ohio River, near the bottom of the map.

MYSTERY PICS

EARLY NATIVE AMERICANS? Robert Laignelet, of Paris, sent us this sketch of Native Americans, hoping to find out who they were. See his letter. Recently Bill Pitts, creative director for The New Southern View magazine in Jackson, MS, identified these as Natchez Indians carrying their chief, "Great Sun". Read his letter and follow these links to more information: The Natchez Indians - courtesy of the Mississippi Historical Society. Indian Mounds in Mississippi - courtesy of the National Park Service

 

POSTCARD FROM THE HOLLAND HOTEL

Dave Porter sent us this postcard image in hope that someone could locate the original hotel in time and place. (See his letter in our mailbox.). Dave is from New York State and found this postcard at a shop in central NY but he hasn't been able to locate any local info. "There are no clues on the back of the card as it is blank with no postmark, publisher or photographer info. The postcard is a divided back which dates the printing to after 1907; however, the image could have been printed from an earlier negative. The biggest clue seems to be the "Marm Kinney's" printed on the bottom of the card as well as the sign which reads "Holland Hotel" and some first initial (maybe an E) and then "Kinney". Quite a mystery."

click to see full size image.

A challenge for our New London (CT) connections: Elizabeth would like to locate the venue of this performance in 1863. (The following year, a trainload of wounded Civil War soldiers was put up at the hall, “where beds were spread for the sick and lame”… Where was Aborn Hall? See Elizabeth’s letter for more details.

COONSKIN BRIGADE...(A GRAVE MATTER...)
Here's a mystery for our Midwestern cemetery sleuths. It originally came from the Cleveland Slavic Village History pages, which have (temporarily, we hope) vanished from the WWW.

Near the main gate of Harvard Grove Cemetery at 6100 Lansing Avenue, shaded by a towering poplar tree, five headstones stand, each marked with a cross and the name of a New England soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War. They are:

Joseph Upson, Skinner's Connecticut Militia, December 21, 1855.
Abner Cochran, private, Shepherd's Massachusetts Regiment, December 17, 1849.
Charles Miles, captain, Seventh Connecticut Regiment, 1813.
Nathan Broughton, private, Rossiter's Massachusetts Regiment, 1820.
Joshua Palmiter, private, Rhode Island State Troopers, 1839.

Near the soldiers' graves lies the burial plot of the William Wheeler Williams family. Williams was the proprietor of the first mill in Newburgh at Mill Creek Falls. Many other of Newburgh's most prominent citizens are also buried at Harvard Grove. Alonzo Carter and his family, son of Cleveland's first permanent settler, Lorenzo Carter, rest here as do the namesakes of many of Newburgh's old streets. Sadly, the cemetery is now without a permanent custodian. In December 1997, the caretaker's house was demolished. It had been in a state of extreme deterioration, and its restoration cost was prohibitive.

Since our original call for information about these men who "fought the Redcoats and helped wrest the land from the crown," we've had some contributions from readers. (Read our mail!)

ANOTHER NEW LONDON? (A GRAVE MATTER RESOLVED...)
Two years ago we posted the following:

In browsing through the Association for Gravestone Studies Web site, we came across an intriguing item from Bob Berg, asking for information about a Churchyard in New London, PA. Since we are doing a feature on New Londons in the U.S., and had not turned up any evidence of such a town, we were very curious and e-mailed Bob right away. It turned out he was looking for the cemetery in which one of his early ancestors was buried. That ancestor, James Hutchison and his friend Robert Fulton, Sr. founded a Presbyterian church - near Philadelphia - in 1735. Francis Alison, then described as "the best Latin scholar in America," was the pastor for the next fifteen years, and established a "classical school."

According to Berg, who quotes The History of the Presbyterian Church in America—beginning in 1741, there was a schism in the church, indirectly a result of the Great Awakening. Alison's academy was taken under the care of the Philadelphia Synod, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to send its graduates to Yale for further training. In 1749, Alison moved on to take a post in the academy at Philadelphia established with the help of Benjamin Franklin.

After the schism, the church at New London became a "seceeder" church and brought over the first Associate Presbyterian pastor to come from Ireland. "So," writes Berg, "the church begun by my ancestor, James Hutchison, and his friend Robert Fulton, Sr., was a group of malcontents! By the way, at the suggestion of Francis Alison, the Philadelphia Synod wrote a letter to King George III in 1766 asking him to repeal the Stamp Act. (Of course, it was repealed in March, 1766 - perhaps before the king ever received the letter!)"

New London is now enveloped in Philadelphia, but according to Bob, relatives visited the church cemetery in the 1940s. Any Philadelphians know where the churchyard is—and more about the early New London, PA?

Recently we got the following email from the Hoover Family:

New London, PA , is really about 50 miles southwest of Philadelphia, just north of the point where Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware all come together. It is located on PA Route 896, just south of U.S. Route 1. The cemetery and church you mention are just south of the village of New London, just south of the center of the village. Also of interest regarding New London, it was the home of the New London Academy (an early school which later moved south to Newark, DE, and became the University of Delaware). Four graduates of the New London Academy signed the Declaration of Independence!

Jon Hoover
Lincoln University, PA
(Just north and west of New London