Herschell & Sarah Goodspeed, part three

Mysterious Visits

In July 1888, Herschell and Sarah Goodspeed received a visit from Milo W. Whittaker. The Ypsilanti Commercial reported that he had a splendid time, but said nothing else about him. Then in June 1889, the Goodspeeds were visited by their nephew Fred Whittaker, who was employed at the East Aurora Advertiser, a New York newspaper. Other than the limited information provided by the Goodspeed Genealogy, this was the first hint that Sarah W. Goodspeed had family in New York.

So far, Ben and I have not been able to connect Milo W. Whittaker with Sarah’s family. Census records show that he was born in 1867 to Benjamin Franklin Whittaker and Sarah Burton. Benjamin Franklin Whittaker was born in Maine in 1838, and was not named as a child of Samuel and Sarah Noble Whitaker of New York. He did move to Wayne Co., Michigan where he married Sarah Burton in 1862.

Fred Whittaker offers more possibilities. He was Frederick Augustus Whittaker, born October 13, 1861 at Silver Creek, Chautauqua Co., NY to Samuel Whittaker and Hester Ann Hanford. Samuel Whittaker was born about 1824, and is most likely the brother of Sarah Whitaker Goodspeed. But New York records are so sparse that I have not been able to find information on their parents through Samuel Jr.

Fred Whittaker was associated with Roycroft, a utopian community of artisans created during the Arts and Crafts Movement in 1895. It was located in East Aurora, Erie County, New York, and Fred Whittaker resided there for most of his life. He was a printer by trade, which is interesting since the name Roycroft comes from the London printers Samuel and Thomas Roycroft, who produced high quality books in the 17th century. Fred Whittaker was no doubt employed at the Roycroft Press.

Another curious visitor to Herschell and Sarah Goodspeed arrived in 1895, when the Ypsilanti Commercial wrote: “H. Goodspeed is entertaining his brother, who is on his way from California to his home in Newark, N.J.” Which of Herschell’s brothers was living in Newark, NJ? The New Jersey census of 1895 shows several Goodspeeds living there, but none in Newark, and none of them related to Herschell Goodspeed. By “his brother,” could the paper have meant a brother-in-law? Or was there another "H. Goodspeed" living in Ypsilanti?

Weddings and Grandchildren

In the early 1880s, Herschell and Sarah Goodspeed became grandparents when their son Delbert and his wife Henriette C. Bruckner had their three sons: first the twins, George Bruckner and Herschell Levant Goodspeed, born on October 18, 1881, followed by Richard Cecil Goodspeed, born on February 8, 1883.

In 1892, Herschell and Sarah were invited to attend the wedding of their son John W. Goodspeed, on January 12th, held in Clarkston, Michigan. He married Agnes Emma Walter (1870-1905), daughter of Harrison Walter and Mary M. Howell. John’s sister Clara was a bridesmaid. By August 1894, Herschell and Sarah became grandparents again with the birth of Harrison L. Goodspeed on August 23, 1894, followed by a second child, John W. Goodspeed Jr. who died an infant in 1901, and a third child, Walter S. Goodspeed born on November 17, 1902.

Detail of photograph of the Walter family in Clarkston, Michigan, about 1896;
Sarah W. Goodspeed on left, Harry L. and John W. Goodspeed on right

For many years, I was unable to find a photograph of Sarah W. Goodspeed. Then in 2008, a cousin sent me a photograph of the Walter family of Clarkston that included Agnes Walter, her husband John W. Goodspeed and son Harrison L. Goodspeed. It appears to have been taken about 1896. Also in the photograph is Agnes’ grandmother Esther Edmonson Howell, and sitting near John W. Goodspeed, an older woman who I believe was Sarah Whitaker Goodspeed. Judge for yourselves.

Theron Goodspeed, the youngest son of Herschell and Sarah, was married a year after John W., in 1893. His wife was Edith Champion (1868-1954), daughter of Theodore H. Champion and Anna Bennett, one-time residents of Ypsilanti, but later residing in Detroit. The first child born to Theron and Edith was Helen Louise, on March 21, 1894, the same year as John W.’s first child. Theron and Edith’s second child, Edith Champion Goodspeed, was born on March 25, 1897, and their third child, Theron Herschell Goodspeed was born on February 5, 1904.

Clara Goodspeed

In June 1893, the same year that Theron and Edith Goodspeed married, Clara Louise, daughter of Herschell and Sarah, married Nelson Bartholomew in Jackson, Michigan, which is something of a mystery, since Jackson is half way between Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo.

Nelson J. Bartholomew was born on April 5, 1859 at Dunkirk, Chautauqua Co., New York, which is along Lake Erie, much closer to Buffalo than to Michigan. I have wondered how he and Clara met. It might have been in August 1885, when Clara, accompanied by her brother Theron, went to visit relatives in Lockport, Brockport and Silver Creek in New York.[1]

At the time of the wedding, Clara was 22 and Nelson was 34. The couple went to live in Dunkirk, NY, but only briefly. Nelson died of typhoid only eight months after the wedding. Here is his obituary:

No death in this city in recent years has caused more sorrow or called forth more sincere sympathy than that of Nelson J. Bartholomew, who departed this life last evening at ten minutes before six o’clock at his residence, No. 534 Central Ave., after an illness of a few weeks duration of typhoid fever which left him in such an exhausted state that he could not rally.
    “Born here about thirty-five years ago, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bartholomew, and ever since has virtually made his home here, where he was ever popular in social and business circles. The first of last June he entered into business with A. H. Whitney under the firm name of Whitney & Bartholomew, and shortly after in the same month was united in marriage to Miss Clara Goodspeed of Ypsilanti, Mich., who is the only one of his immediate family who survives him, his father dying several years ago and his mother in May. Mrs. Bartholomew has the sympathy of her many friends in this city and abroad.”[2]

Before she married, Clara Goodspeed studied music. She graduated from the Michigan State Normal School and the District Conservatory of Music. In the late 1880s she was teaching music, and attended the University of Michigan, where she graduated in 1892. Following the death of her husband, Clara moved to New York City and resumed teaching music. There she found her future second husband, George Ellis Reed, whom she married on September 2, 1903. Reed had graduated from the University of Michigan in 1894, and that may have been how Clara first met him. They had two children, Brooks Reed, born December 12, 1904, and Philip Albright Reed, born February 1, 1907.

From Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor

In 1895, Herschell was still actively involved in construction, as shown in this charming little notice:

“The house at the corner of Cross and Huron streets which was recently damaged by fire is being rebuilt. Mr. Goodspeed and his gang of men are putting the building up almost as fast as the fire took it down.”[3]

There is no census available for 1890. All the census records for that year were destroyed in a fire; a genealogical disaster. So the next census was taken on June 4, 1900, in which Herschell Goodspeed, age 70, was living at 216 Pearl St., Ypsilanti, Michigan, still working as a contractor and builder. His wife Sarah was also 70; they had been married for 40 years. They had five children, and four were still alive. This is surprising as it neglects Abram Lincoln, who died about 1864. However, this is not the first example I have seen in which families no longer count children who died in infancy for the census enumerators.

None of the  children were living with their parents this year, but there were grandchildren there: George B. and Herschell L., both 18, and Richard C. Goodspeed, 17. These were the sons of Delbert Cranmer Goodspeed and his wife Henriette C. Bruckner. They had married on September 15, 1880. Also in the household was servant Lulu Hubbard, only 13, and May Weston 34, widow, and her son Steven Weston, age one.[4]

Not long after the census was taken, the family moved to Ann Arbor, where Herschell and Sarah found a house at 314 East Huron Street. Living with them was their son Delbert and his sons Herschell and Richard. Their son George was elsewhere, possibly in Marlin, Texas, where he advertised the sale of a half-interest in a movie theatre in 1907.[5] I cannot say what their house on East Huron St. looked like; it is long gone. In its place is a tall commercial building owned by AT&T.

The 1903 Directory of Ann Arbor gives us a good idea of what was happening with Herschell and Sarah’s family.[6] They were living at 314 East Huron, together with Delbert, Herschell L. and Richard. (Delbert had not yet married his second wife, Mary.) Herschell and Delbert owned a company called “Goodspeed & Son,” described as “Merchant Tailors, Hatters, Furnishers and Furriers,” located at 117 Main St. and 110 East Washington. The business of Goodspeed & Sons is interesting, given that Herschell’s experience as a carpenter was so different from selling hats, furs and gentlemen’s attire. By 1903, Herschell was 74, and was probably retired from his construction business. The Goodspeed & Sons company was really Delbert's; the name shows how close Delbert was to his father. Herschell’s other sons, John and Theron had both relocated to Grand Rapids, but owned a company called “Goodspeed Brothers.” The Directory did not give an Ann Arbor location for the company, even though they listed John and Theron’s names.

On May 4, 1907, Sara Whitaker Goodspeed died at the age of 78. She was buried in the Highland Park Cemetery in Ypsilanti.[7] Three years later, in the 1910 census, Herschell Goodspeed was still a head of household, age 80, living on his own income. With him was his son Delbert, age 52, a manufacturer, his wife Mary H., age 37 (born in Ohio, father born in England, mother born in Pennsylvania). There was also a 24-year-old servant whose name I could not read.[8]

The census was taken on April 27, 1910. The date must have been a mistake, because Herschell Goodspeed had died 12 days earlier, on April 15, 1910. According to his death certificate, he was living at 314 East Huron St., first ward, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw Co., Michigan, a widower, born July 7, 1829, died at the age of 80 years 9 months 8 days. He was a retired merchant born in New York to Heman Goodspeed and Louisa Albright. His doctor attended him from May 1, 1809 to April 14, 1910. Cause of death was cancer of the gall bladder and liver. (The doctor’s name is illegible.)[9] Herschell Goodspeed was buried on April 18, 1910 in the Highland Park Cemetery next to his wife.[10] 

Postscript

This has been a long story, but a good genealogist will recognize that some things are missing. Where are the birth certificates, baptismal records, marriage licenses and certificates, death certificates? How about deeds and mortgages? Did Herschell write a will? This collection of documents makes the bedrock of good genealogy, and I have hardly any of it. Part of the reason is that New York State, where Herschell and Sarah were born, did not require recording of vital statistics until 1881. I was able to obtain a death certificate for Herschell Goodspeed from the State of Michigan, but not for Sarah. I also do not have a marriage record, so I cannot say what church they were married in, or, for that matter, what religion they practiced. And a visit to Washtenaw County will be necessary to find land and probate records for this couple. All of the interesting newspaper articles and city directories were found by Ben Zimmer.

1]  Ypsilanti Commercial, Aug. 8, 1885

2]  From the Dunkirk (N.Y.) Evening Observer, Feb. 13, 1894

3]  Ypsilanti Commercial, March 1, 1895
4]  U.S. Federal Census, 1900, Ypsilanti, Washtenaw, MI, ward 2, #40-44, ED 111
5]  Dallas Morning News, 20 Oct 1907, p. 37

6]  The Glen V. Mills Directory Co.’s Directory of the City of Ann Arbor for 1903.

7]  Also known as St. John’s Cemetery, at 943 North River Street. I attempted to get her death certificate, but ran into a brick wall with the Michigan bureaucracy. Fortunately, Ancestry.com now has a database of Michigan death records. Not as good as the document itself, but a decent substitute.

8]  U.S. Federal Census, 1910, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, MI, ED 112, #314-284-4; 'Supplemental' written across top of sheet.

9]  Michigan Death Certificate No. 117; information provided by Delbert C. Goodspeed

10]  Inscription “Father,” Block 88, lot 2, all, grave 5. Undertaker was Enoch Dieterle.