This past week our daughter has been traveling across the country, moving from Philadelphia back to California. She and her boyfriend will be attending graduate schools in the San Francisco Bay area. But their cross country drive has brought back memories for me, of 26 years ago when Doug and I made our cross country drive. That summer we packed our belongings into a rental truck, towing a little Datsun 210 behind, and took off from Kentucky to California. At the time the Midwest job market was tight, especially for the type of academic/research jobs we were seeking. Doug’s brother, who lived in the San Francisco Bay area, kept telling us of all the growth, work, and opportunities in California. By the end of that summer of 1982 we decided to take the plunge and headed to California with the hopes of getting jobs once we arrived and the promise of a spare bedroom in my brother in law's home. It was a leap of faith.
I didn’t know at the time, that this was the story of many of my ancestors. One family member would often venture away from home and then implore others to follow them to a “better place.” Of course in our case Doug was just returning to his homeland but for me it was a big move. I felt like a pioneer headed west to the California “gold.” And, after the death of both my parents earlier that year, I think I was ready to make a big change. It was a big move for Doug also, since he’d been away from California for about 10 years.
I have a copy of an old letter written by my ancestor Alexander Mayo. The letter is dated November 8, 1833 and was written to his brother Henry Mayo. At the time of the writing, Alexander was 20 years old and his brother was 23. Alexander lived in Tewksbury, Mass., and his older brother Henry was living in Troy, Ohio. Apparently Henry had written to Alexander several times, imploring him to move to Ohio. This letter is mostly a response to that plea, and is filled with various excuses and reasons for not yet deciding to make the move. Alexander wanted to make sure there was no cholera outbreak in Ohio. He only wanted to come if Henry came back for a visit and then took him back to Ohio himself. And then, Alexander fears, that if Henry does come back to Massachusetts, perhaps he will find he doesn’t like Alexander and won’t want to take him back to Ohio. Also, an uncle has told Alexander that the climate of Ohio will not agree with him and will prove fatal to his health. And…. If his health deteriorates in Ohio he fears he has little means to support himself and will then become a burden to Henry. Ahhh…. So many worries! Henry must have been amused by this letter from his fretting younger brother. What is the story of these two? Over the years I’ve tried to fill in the picture of their relationship and their history.
The story begins with their father, Seth Mayo, an innkeeper, of Boston and Medford, Massachusetts. In 1810, at the age of 24, Seth married Betsy Brown who at that time was a young widow with no children. Betsy is described as being a “great beauty with remarkable hair.” Their first son, Henry was born the following year. Alexander, my ancestor, was the second son, born in 1813. What a joy it must have been on Christmas Day the follow year (1814) when Seth and Betsy became the parents of a third son, Edward. But joy turned to tragedy the following October when Betsy and baby Edward both died within three days of each other. The cause of Betsy’s death was given as consumption, an old name for tuberculosis. I assume that baby Edward suffered from the same disease. Henry was about 4 years old when his mother died and Alexander was only 2. Perhaps as time passed they barely even remembered their mother. But, seven months later they were blessed with a new mother when their father, Seth, married Charity Titterton in May of 1816. By June of the following year Henry and Edward had a baby sister, Lucy. However, life is often unkind and cruel. In the autumn of 1818 Charity died leaving Seth with the young Lucy, just over a year old and the two boys now 7 and 5. In those days it was rare that a father could care for such young children on his own. I know that Henry and perhaps Lucy were sent to live with their Uncle Henry Mayo in Vermont. The boys had several uncles in Vermont, brothers of Seth who had migrated there in the late 1790’s. Young Henry lived with his Uncle Henry in Burlington, Vermont helping with his uncle’s mercantile business. Then, at the age of 15, Henry was sent to live with another of Seth’s brothers, Uncle Asa, a merchant in Troy, Ohio.
I don’t know if Alexander was also initially sent to Uncle Henry in Vermont, but his letter gives clues to a close relationship with his Aunt Blanchard, his mother’s older sister. So it is very possible that she was entrusted with his care since the letter also refers to Henry’s time in Vermont, as if Alexander were elsewhere. Alexander's aunt Sarah Brown Blanchard and her family lived in Billerica, Massachusetts.
You might wonder what happened to their father Seth, and that is another sad story. Overwhelmed with grief after the deaths, Seth sold everything he had and headed for Newport, Kentucky, where his uncle Daniel Mayo had settled and was serving as Newport’s postmaster. Again tragedy knows no bounds. In 1822 Seth drowned at Newport, Kentucky at the age of 36. Apparently a man had fallen overboard in the fast moving flood waters of the Ohio River, and Seth attempted a rescue, only to perish himself, leaving his children Henry (age 13), Alexander (age 11) and Lucy (age 8) complete orphans.
I think that an interesting part of this story is that despite the distances and tragedies of these three siblings, they seemed to have remained close and loyal to each other. Alexander’s 1833 letter to Henry reads like the desperate plea of a child, not a 20 year old, in his desire to receive a visit from his older brother. Alexander writes, a bit melodramatically, “I have been so many times disappointed of seeing you that I shall think if you fail of coming this time that fate has decreed we shall never see each other.” I’m pretty certain from other things mentioned in the letter that these two brothers had not seen each other for many years, since Alexander mentions his disappointment that Henry did not first come to Massachusetts, before moving from Vermont to Ohio. Henry had made that move when Alexander was 13. Imagine children trying to stay close to their siblings only through letters and news brought by relatives. No wonder Alexander fears that when they finally meet face to face, his older brother might reject him.
Henry must have persisted in his request to have his younger brother move west to Ohio. Perhaps he felt it his duty as the oldest to watch out for his younger siblings even into adulthood. As a testament to their bond, Alexander later did move to Troy, Ohio. This move was made in 1852, after Alexander was married and had two daughters. Henry and Alexander's sister Lucy married Preserved Smith in 1846, and after her marriage she and her husband also moved to Ohio, living in nearby Dayton. In 1863, Henry moved further west to Lafayette, Indiana, but that was only about 150 miles from Troy, just a train ride away by then.
This story of migration is actually quite common. One family member moves to gain opportunity and perhaps adventure. In this case it was Alexander’s Uncle Asa Mayo and his great uncle Daniel who were the first to venture west from New England. Later, they convince others in the family to follow with their news of success. Our rented moving van was no covered wagon but perhaps our story is really not much different than the stories from over 100 years ago.<
-Mary
My Connection:
Seth Mayo and Betsy Brown----Alexander Hanson Mayo and Caroline Pinkham---Caroline Elizabeth Mayo and John W. Riley---Minor F. Riley and Mary Fink---Jack W. Riley and Avery Merriman--Jack W. Riley, Jr. and Betty Geiger--- me
Alexander Hanson MAYO and his Wife Caroline PINKHAM MAYO died in Troy, OH 4 days apart in 1871. Alex died first (of typhoid) on August 8, 1871 and his wife died August 12, 1871, also of typhoid. In the 1870 U.S. Census they were living with their daughter's family, Caroline and John W. RILEY. It seems fortunate that if they were still in that household that other, including Caroline & John's young children, were spared from contracting typhoid also.
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