I have but one question about the August 11th, 1993 Page 08A article....
Is that John Wayne to Nancy (Millette) Cruger's left?
The August 23rd, 1993 Page 15 newspaper article is in regards to my "cousin" Newton Washburn, his brown ash Sweetser basketmaking, and his granddaughter Leah. This is the first time in publication I have ever seen Newt, as I known him all these 15 years, ever stated he was a Sweetser by birth. His oral history "that he was descendant of a German Great Grandfather who emigrated to Canada and married an Abenaki woman. Both were Brown Ash basketmakers...." I am not sure he even knew honestly the "foundation" of this oral history he was perpetuating.
Let me explain this out a bit more for clarification. There was a Jeremiah Washburn b. ca. 1771 in Sandwich, New Hampshire....who married to Hannah Orcutt on June 26th, 1794 in Lyndon, Caledonia County, Vermont. They had 3 son's Samuel Orcutt born May 05, 1798 in Sutton, Orleans County, Vermont (who married to Mary Palmatier in March 1829 in St. Hyacinthe's Protestant Church in Abbottsford, Quebec, Canada)...then there was the 2nd son John Washburn (whom married to Emily Higgins and they had Charles Polaski Washburn on January 05, 1836 and it was he, who married to Matilda Chamberlain in 1860 and it was this couple that had a son Leslie Chamberlain Washburn on January 09, 1864 who then married to Leifa nee: Armstrong who was Newton Washburn a.k.a. Ernest Newton Davis's real mother. Newt was brought up by the Sweetser's in Stowe, Vermont by Frank Gilman Sweetser's sister Lula May Sweetser and her husband Roy R. Davis.
(Ok, so now that I got that out of the way....here is the rest of the story since you'll need this to understand why I am even putting this all out here). My 3rd- Great-Grandfather Alonzo John Woodward had a brother Uriah Sawyer Woodward who married to Mary S. Washburn, daughter of Samuel Orcutt Washburn and his wife Mary Palmatier. The mother was born on January 19th, 1812 in Salisbury, Addison County, Vermont and died April 04, 1879. Mary Palmatier's parents were John Palmatier and Mary Conner.
It is documented that Mary S. Washburn-Woodward's Great-Grandmother was "full blooded -squa" and her father as being "full blooded German". (The person in the family, whoever wrote it in pencil on brown lined paper mistakenly wrote that it was Mary Hawley nee: Sawyer's Uriah and Alonzo's mother that was Mary Palmatier - Washburn, but this is a definitive genealogical error. The date's on this document are sometimes incorrect as well.
This front and back of such document (which was photocopied by me years ago in ca. 1994 or 1995) was or still is in the possession of Mary S. Washburn-Woodward's descendant Eugene Carroll Woodward and/ or his wife Ramona R. nee: Hawkins of Dummer, Coos County, New Hampshire. Eugene Carroll Woodward died on March 03, 2001 in Berlin, New Hampshire.
So, the Baldwins Mills, Quebec, Canada "Washburn folks" and the Holland, Vermont/Dummer, New Hampshire "Washburn-Yates-Woodward folks" share the same ancestors: that being Jeremiah Washburn and Hannah Orcutt.
So, genealogically-speaking John Washburn born November 26th, 1620 in Bengeworth, Worcestershire County, England and having died in Bridgewater, Massachusetts is the Washburn emigrant.
This is why I say "Genealogy supports the oral history and oral history likewise supports the genealogy".
Stephen Craig Sweetser born in ca. 1793 in Bath, New Hampshire and he married to Hannah nee: Willey March or April of 1812 in Wheelock, Vermont. Their son Stephen Sweetser Jr. married to Lydia nee: Hill (and it is likely her parents were up in the Barnston, Quebec, Canada as well) and they had Gilman William Sweetser who married to Clarissa nee: Simpson; Gilman and Clarissa's son Samuel Almon Sweetser married to Sarah Sepreta nee: Way and they had (9) children that I know of, two of which were Lula May Sweetser and Frank Gilman Sweetser. I'll explain more about the Sweeser family in a later posting.
If my memory serves me correctly, retrospectively-speaking Nancy (Millette) Cruger recieved a grant in which to learn basketmaking from Newton Washburn in Bethlehem either in the summer of 1992 or perhaps it was that winter (or somewhere around that timeframe) "but she didn't follow through with the arrangement because basketmaking hurt her hands and the grant wasn't used", according to Newton Washburn.
