#52Ancestors52Weeks....Week 32...Free Space...Henry Hayman Named His 200 Acres "Second Choice" and Became a Planter on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1666

 A tobacco crop growing in an ACLT field on Scientists Cliff Road, 1998

Scientists Cliffs, Calvert County, Maryland

American Chestnut Land Trust 

https://www.acltweb.org/

    The theme for this week is Free Space.  I am going back in time, all the way to 1666, when Henry Hayman set foot in Somerset County, Maryland and was granted 200 acres of free land as a head right.  He named his first piece of land "Second Choice" and became a planter of tobacco in the area.  The Hayman family in Maryland continued on with a strong tradition of land ownership; it  all began with Henry's "Second Choice".  Here is his story....

 What was a headright?

     To encourage settlement in the colony of Maryland,  Lord Baltimore offered grants of acreages of land for each settler.  This privilege was called "headrights", as it literally  meant a right to land for every head settled in the colony.  Headrights were common in other colonies as well and helped increase the labor force and profitability of large plantations. Henry Hayman was thought to have come from Devon, England with his family.   He was granted a patent of 200 acres on Great Monie Creek in Maryland; 50 acres for himself, his wife Elinor, and his son Henry Jr., as well as another 50 acres granted by a Lieutenant William Smith.  The headright system offered Henry a unique way to own land, something he may have not been able to do back in England where land was controlled by the nobility. 

 Monie 

Somerset County, Maryland

Google Maps 2024

Land names... 

   Henry applied for a warrant from the Provincial Land Office to obtain his patent for the land.  His warrant was excepted and the land was surveyed and then named, as was customary in Maryland.  Henry may have named this parcel "Second Choice" after a previous land survey fell through.  The land was then patented and Henry had full rights to the land.  Every step of this process appears in a set of records known as the "Patent Record", and the original records are now held in the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis. These land names followed the land parcel from the creation point forward, and were often the only way used to describe parcels instead of using traditional metes and bounds. 

  Henry continued to acquire land as his family grew.  His next land acquisition was in 1672 and was also located at the headwaters of the Great Monie Creek.  He named his 150 acres "Washford".  This acreage may have been resurveyed from a property called "Shapleigh's Neglect".  His next acquisition was for 200 acres which he named "Castle Haven".  This acreage was located 10 miles from the Monie Creek land and was about 4 miles west of Salisbury, Maryland on the Wicomico River.  

   In 1685 another tract of land was surveyed for Henry's son Henry Jr. in Monie and was named "Henry's Enjoyment".  Eventually, "Second Choice" and "Henry's Enjoyment" were resurveyed into "Covington's Conclusion".  

 What did Henry do with all that land?

    When Henry died in 1685 all of his land holdings passed on to his son Henry Jr.  and his wife Elinor was appointed executrix.  An inventory was taken of Henry's assets and 8150 pounds of tobacco were appraised.  In Elinor's last appraisal before her death in 1688 she recorded 5,000 pounds of tobacco worth 20 pounds, 16 shillings in coin.  Henry was a typical Maryland planter, growing tobacco as his cash crop.  His sons, grandsons and great grandsons would continue in his footsteps, eventually acquiring more land and also the needed labor force to work that land....slaves.  

     Haymans of the Eastern Shore of Maryland 1666-1800, written by Douglass F. Hayman, has been the primary source of my Maryland Hayman family information.  The book was a result of meticulous research into the Maryland State Archives and other original sources to compile a comprehensive genealogical history of the Haymans in Maryland, based on their property ownership, tax lists, wills and other records.  The author added a wonderful description of the typical Maryland planter on page 17.  In this description we can get a sense of who and what Henry Hayman was as a person.   I have excerpted this passage...

 Istock photo of the Eastern Shore of Maryland

    "From freed servants and other immigrants with slender resources came the much misunderstood 'planter' of early Maryland, who established his type in the tidewater during the second half of the seventeenth century.  His plantation, literally a planted place, consisted of a few acres cleared from the ubiquitous hinterland that extended from the bayside back into the hinterland and almost unpenetrated by whites.  Here he built a rude dwelling, usually a single room, and planted his corn and his market crop, tobacco. From the beginning the Maryland planter practiced commercial agriculture and his wellbeing depended on a few hogsheads of tobacco he marketed each winter. With the proceeds he bought, first of all, necessary implements---axes and hilling hoes, guns, needles and the like, then whatever luxuries he could afford----sugar and occasionally rum. For the rest he lived off his own cornfield, vegetable garden and orchard, supplemented by hunting and fishing....Nearly every planting family kept chickens, cows and pigs.  Part of his living he made with his own hands: cups and bowls from dried gourds, plates and trenchers from slabs of wood, benches and bedsteads from hewn logs, even his mattress from corn shucks.  These were the realities that appeared in the thousands of inventories of their modest estates preserved in probate records.....nearly all were unlettered....and illiterate...they made their marks. ....The small planter had...the opportunity to rise in the economic scale.  He and his kind cleared the forest, made the roads, planted the orchards. All this he did with his own hands, aided by the simplest tools....capital formation was the beginning of a different style of life".  

  The tax list of 1783 named 15 families headed by Haymans, owning nearly 1500 acres of land  mostly clustered in a small area then called "Hayman's Savannah" in today's Somerset, Worchester and Wicomico Counties. They were all descendants of Henry and Elinor Hayman.  Most made their living through agriculture.  Some could write their names, but many signed by mark.  Some among the third generation owned slaves by 1748 and by 1783 the combined Hayman families owned a total of 27 slaves. 

    The Revolutionary War created divided loyalties among the Hayman families ....some fought in the war against England, and then there were family members that remained stanchly loyal to the British Crown and fought with the  Maryland Loyalists.  The Loyalist branch of the family ended up in New York, and from there landed in New Brunswick, Canada to start a new life.  The British offered them.....free land! Martin Hayman was granted 100 acres on the St. Croix River as well as farming tools, building materials and army rations for 3 years from the British government.  He came with Captain Nehemiah Marks and this group formed the town of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. 

  This is the branch that our Maine and Oregon Haymans came from!

 Martin Hayman was given land on the St. Croix River, bordering Maine,  in 1784.  He was my 5X great grandfather. 

Canadian Heritage Rivers System/St. Croix River

 *Fun land names from other Hayman family members: 

"Hayman's Exchange"

"Friend's Goodwill"

"Hopewell"

"Little Profit"

"Adley's Chance"

"Fat Arse Quarter".......my personal favorite!

"Paul's Folly"

"Hayman's Hardship"

"Hayman's Purchase'

"Hayman's Addition"

"Hayman's Outlet"

 Google Maps showing Monie and Hayman Drive in Somerset County, Maryland.  A reminder that the Hayman family was there way back when. 

References:

Haymans of the Eastern Shore of Maryland 1666-1800  by Douglass F. Hayman, Jr.  Publisher Douglas F. Hayman Jr.; 1387 Stonecreek Road, Annapolis, Maryland 21403 February 1993.  

Accessed on FamilySearch 640017 August 2024.  

Archives.com Essential Records for Finding Your Colonial Maryland Ancestors by Michael Hall October 16, 2012    https://www.archives.com/experts/hait-michael/records-for-finding-ancestors.html

American Chestnut Land Trust --Tobacco Landscape 

  https://www.acltweb.org/index.php/the-land/cultural-history/tobacco-landscape/

Loyalist Settlements in New Brunswick  based on an article by  Linda Hansen Squires 

  https://www.uelac.org/education/WesternResource/303-NB.pdf

    

52Ancestors52Weeks Week 19 Theme Mother's Day: Lillie Mae Hayman Horner Boothby

 

Lillie Mae Hayman Horner Boothby b. about 1870 Maine d. 6 May 1930 San Francisco, California

   The theme for this week is Mother's Day.  I haven't written much about Lillie Mae Hayman Horner Boothby.  She was my paternal Great Grandmother, the mother of my Grandfather Sterl Boothby.  I have previously written about Lillie Mae's mother Affa Hayman (March 26, 2021) and her untimely death.  As I researched Affa's children,  including Lillie Mae, I was impressed by their resiliency and the families they raised.  Lillie Mae raised a total of seven children.   Here is her story. 

    Lillie Mae was born around 1870 in Calais, Washington County,  Maine to her parents Martin Dinsmore Hayman and Hannah "Affa" Woodcock.  When she was just 6 months old, the family moved to Portland, Oregon where her father worked as a teamster driving horse drawn street cars.   

  I looked at the 1880 US Census for Umatilla County, Midway Precinct more closely for this post.  It appeared that Martin had moved the family to Umatilla County to try his hand at farming.  They lived near the little town of Hermiston.  Dry land wheat farming was just beginning in eastern Oregon at this time.    Most occupations of male heads of family in the Midway precinct were listed as farmer, stock raiser or herder.  Martin's occupation was listed as farmer.  Martin was 40 and Affa was 37 years old.  Interestingly, both Martin and Affa listed themselves as disabled (the definition being either maimed, crippled or bedridden).  I have not been able to find any other mention of disabilities for both of them, although Affa died young and under questionable circumstances.  Perhaps this played a part in her death.  

  By 1880 Lillie Mae's older sister Lizzie was working as a domestic servant in Heppner.  Lizzie was enumerated on both the 1880 Census for Midway and Heppner, on two separate dates.  Lillie Mae was 10 years old, her older brother Holmes was 16 and her younger brother was 8 years old.  They were all attending school.  This must have been a financially rough time for the family because shortly after this census was taken the family moved to Heppner Oregon where Martin first tried farming and then worked at a lodging house.  He and Affa were eventually divorced.  The boys went with Martin to Dayton, Washington where Martin worked as a hotel clerk.  Perhaps his disability prevented him from performing hard laborious farm work at this point. 

    Lizzie was married to F. Dee Cox at the age of 16 and in 1884 Affa gave consent for 15 year old Lillie Mae to marry Silas Horner, as she testified that she was no longer able to provide for her girls.  Affa married William Kirk in 1885.   She sadly  passed away in August of 1886 in Heppner, Oregon.  

  Silas Horner was born in Indiana in 1852 and trained as a harness maker.  Both he and a German immigrant named George Nobel were listed on the 1880 Census for Umatilla County, Midway precinct, so most likely they knew the Hayman family.  George was a harness maker as was Silas.  He and George came to Heppner sometime before 1884 and went into business with each other by 1886.  The Heppner Herald of July 23,  1914 described the current business of E. G. Noble's Harness and Saddlery as having started in 1886 with  his father George.  The name of the business at that time was the Noble, Horner and Harrington Harness Company.  The business "never sacrificed quality for the sake of profits and men came 150 miles from the interior to buy their harness from them.  Heppner Harness was a byword for long service and honest goods".  The article went on to say that in a few years the firm changed to Kirk and Hayes.  I am not sure if this is the same Kirk that was Affa's second husband (William Kirk), or one of his three sons who were living in Heppner in the 1880's.  In 1894 George Noble's son purchased the business back.  There was certainly a relationship between the Haymans, the Horners, the Nobles and the Kirks.  Affa Hayman was buried in an unmarked grave in the Nobel plot in the Heppner Cemetery in 1886.

  There was an almost 18 year difference in age between Silas and Lilllie Mae when they married in 1884.  After the harness firm changed hands, Silas and Lillie Mae were living  north of Portland in Clackamas (Clark County, Washington) where their first son, Marion M. Horner was born 29 April,  1886.  Silas' new occupation on Marion's birth record was "tinsmith".  Perhaps he was trying to branch out from harness making.  Lillie Mae was back in Heppner by August of 1886, as her presence was written about in the sworn statement regarding her mother  Affa's death.  Their daughter Ceola was born 13 March, 1889 in Astoria, Clatsop County, Oregon.  There is no 1890 Census,  and I cannot find any information on Silas' occupation during that time.  But, Silas and Lillie Mae remained in Astoria, because  Harry Richard Horner was born there on 29 March, 1893.  By 1895 the family was in Camas, Washington (just north of Portland) where their last child  Clyde Dale Horner was born 30 May, 1895.  Silas purchased 160 acres of land in Clatsop County that same year.  The land was near what is now the  Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, just south east of Astoria.  After he and Lillie Mae divorced, he remarried Louisa Hagan who had a son "near Snohomish" (Washington) in 1905. Louisa was 34 years old; Silas was 53 years old and working as a farmer.  

    Silas and Lillie Mae divorced sometime after 1895, and Lillie Mae moved back to the Heppner, Lexington Oregon area.  In  1898 she married Josiah Thomas Boothby, a farmer who was living in Lexington, Oregon.  I think the 1900 Census sheds some light on their relationship at the time:  Josiah's occupation was listed as "Farmer", and Lillie Mae's occupation was also listed as "Farmer".  Very unusual for the time!  Lillie Mae and Josiah went on to have three sons together.  

                             

  

Thomas Josiah Boothby b. 5 November 1899 Lexington, Oregon d. 26 April, 1952 Portland, Oregon. Picture taken in Grass Valley, Oregon around 1909. 

Sterl Kenneth Boothby b. 17 January, 1907 Kent, Oregon d. 10 September, 1960 Grass Valley, California.  My Grandfather!  Picture taken in Grass Valley, Oregon around 1909.  Note:  Sterl moved his family from San Francisco to Grass Valley, California in 1947 where he owned and operated Grass Valley Drug.  I have a very unique connection to two Grass Valleys!

 

Harold Glenn Boothby b. 18 September, 1908 Grass Valley, Oregon d. 5 March, 1943 San Francisco, California. Picture taken in Grass Valley, Oregon around 1909. 

  The 1900 US Census also shows us what the Boothby family looked like in Lexington, Oregon...

Boothby, Thomas J. (Josiah) Head   aged 44  ...........Farmer

Lillie M. Wife  aged 39  ..............................................Farmer

Thomas J. (age 7 1/2 months)

Horner, Marion, Stepson aged 14................................Farmer

Horner, Ceola, Stepdaughter  aged 11

Horner, Harry, Stepson aged 7

Horner, Clyde Stepson aged 5

  Lillie Mae and Josiah also lived in the small central Oregon towns of Kent and Grass Valley, where Josiah engaged in farming. They were enumerated in Grass Valley, Oregon in the 1910 US Census.  Both towns are located in the rolling grain fields of southern Sherman County.   Kent is considered a ghost town. 

 Methodist Church Grass Valley, Oregon.  According to Dan Earl of Grass Valley, it is the most photographed church in Sherman County.  oldmethodistchurch.com


  

Lillie Mae and Josiah Thomas Boothby before 1915.

  Lillie Mae and Josiah were married until Josiah's death in 1915.  He went to Portland to have an operation for cancer, and did not survive.   He was remembered as being a loving father who "made no distinction between his own children and his stepchildren", and was a "good husband" (Heppner Gazette Times 28 October, 1915). 

 

  Lillie Mae continued to provide for her youngest boys as she moved to Newberg, Oregon after Josiah's death and worked as a dress maker.  The 1920 Census listed her as head of her family, and living with her sons Thomas J., Sterl and Harold.  Thomas was 20 at the time, and working as a laborer in a juice plant.  They lived at 203 Sheridan Ave. in Newberg.  

  This was on the back of  Thomas Josiah's baby picture.  I'm not sure whose writing this was, possibly Lillie Mae's.  It says "This coat was worn by Tommy, Sterl, Harold, Elmadean, Tressa and Esta."  Elmadean was the daughter of Ceola, and both Tressa and Esta were the daughters of Harry and Mable Horner.  Lillie Mae most likely made the coat for her children and it was handed down and worn by her grandchildren.  

Marion Horner worked as a shingler as an adult, and lived in Sebastopol, California.  Ceola married Willard Heyler in Grass Valley, Oregon and lived in Oakland, California after they divorced.   Harry lived in North Bend and Coquille, Oregon and worked for Raleigh Products as a salesman.   Clyde Dale attended the University of Oregon and became a physician/surgeon in San Francisco, California.  He was known as "Uncle Doc" by the family.   My father was named after him.  

  Thomas went on to serve in WWI, and did not attend college. Both Sterl and Harold attended Oregon State University and both became pharmacists.  Both of Sterl's sons also became pharmacists in California. 

  Lillie Mae was the Great Grandmother I wish I had known.  She certainly was  a survivor with a resilient spirit;  she overcame a stressful childhood, a very early marriage, the loss of her mother, rearing  a total of seven children in isolated Oregon farm country and then experiencing the death of her second husband.  She continued to make sure her children were taken care of and had good educations.  She was living in San Francisco in 1930 with her two youngest sons Sterl and Harold  when she died on the 6th of May.  The cause of death was "streptococeus cellulitus of neck and face"; a bacterial skin infection caused by strep and that is now treated with antibiotics.  She was 60 years old.  

I have posted this picture before.  It was shared on Ancestry.com by RobertPotter62 and shows Lillie Mae (second from right, sitting in the tree) with her siblings Holmes, Lizzie and Harry.  This was taken sometime between 1920 and 1930.  I think I can see some of her personality in this picture!

Relationship Reference:  Me->Dale Richard Boothby->Sterl Kenneth Boothby->Lillie Mae Hayman Horner Boothby

52Ancestors52Weeks Week 18 Theme: Crime and Punishment. Phebe Wildes Day -- Guilt by Association and the Salem Witch Trials

 

Witchcraft Victim's Memorial 172 Hobart Street, Danvers, Massachusetts

    Researching my Boothby family has taken me back to the very beginnings of many New England towns.  Many of my ancestors were founding members or early inhabitants of towns in Massachusetts such as Ipswich, Watertown, Beverly, Framingham, Groton, Mendon, Topsfield, Sudbury, Rowley, Newbury and Lynn.  This was on both the Boothby and Hayman branches of my father's family.  So, it was not at all surprising to find that I had accused witches as ancestors!  They were, of course, innocent people unjustly accused during a time of mass fear and hysteria, and then sentenced to imprisonment or death.  Being related to an accused witch was enough to cast doubt.  That is precisely what happened to Phebe Wildes in 1692 during the hysteria that gripped New England.

  Phebe Wildes was born in Topsfield, Massachusetts in 1653 and died 8 April, 1723.  She married Timothy Day on 24 July 1679 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  She is my 8th Great Grandmother.  Her sister was Sarah Wildes Bishop.  Their father was John Wildes who married Priscilla Gould.  After Priscilla died, John married Sarah Averill. It appears that Sarah was not a well-liked woman, by both the town (she had been accused of wearing a colorful silk scarf violating the town laws in 1663) or the family of Priscilla Gould.  This family resentment, ill-will and  hatred  fueled accusations of witchcraft.  The Wildes were also engaged in a land dispute with Topsfield and Salem Village, which made the couple unpopular. 

  On 21 April , 1692 a complaint of witchcraft was made against Sarah Wildes, along with several other neighbors and her step daughter Sarah and her husband Edward Bishop.  She was arrested on 22 April and "examined" in Salem Village the same day.  Both of her step daughters Sarah and Phebe, along with Edward Bishop were also arrested.  During her examination an afflicted girl named Sarah Bibber claimed to see Sarah's spirit sitting on the beam of the meeting house. When judges asked Wildes to respond to the charge, she replied "I am not guilty, Sir."  She was indicted on one charge of witchcraft and taken to the Salem jail.  Her trial began on 29  June, 1692 and most of the evidence against her came from the family and friends of her husbands first wife Priscilla Gould.  She was found guilty, sentenced to death, and was hung on 19 July, 1692 along with Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin and Sara Good.           https://historyofmassachusetts.org/sarah-wildes/

  So, what happened to Phebe?  She was accused of witchcraft when her step mother, sister and brother-in-law were accused (guilt by association) and she was taken to Ipswich Gaol (jail) where she remained until 24 September of the same year until she was released on bonds for her reappearance.  She had been accused with two other women of bewitching the sister of a Lieut. Stevens and causing another women to go into convulsions while crossing the Ipswich Bridge.  Phebe was never tried, and the fact that she was sent to the Ipswich Gaol and not the Salem Jail probably saved her life.  She was about 39 years old when she was imprisoned.  She died on 8 April, 1723 at the age of seventy.  

A request from ten women and three or four men confined in the unheated Ipswich jail, requesting that they be released on bail so that they do not "perish with cold".  The wife of Timothy Day (line 4 from the top) was Phebe Day.  

     According to Historic Ipswich the accused were kept in the Ipswich jail which was erected in 1652.  The court paid the keeper 5 shillings per prisoner and ordered that each prisoner should additionally pay the keeper before they could be released for their "food and attendance".  Those who were unable to pay for their food were only allowed bread and water.   Her jail experience was probably similar to those in the Salem jail;  dirt floors, lice ridden, dark and smelly.  Shackles were used so that the "specters" of the accused could not fly free and accost the afflicted.   

salemwitchmuseum.com      

https://historicipswich.org/2021/01/25/ipswich-and-the-salem-witchcraft-trials/

   Phebe's sister Sarah and her husband Edward Bishop were imprisoned in the Boston Jail. They were able to escape, and fled to New York.  They returned to Massachusetts after the hysteria subsided.  **On  a fun side note, my husband's relative Captain John Alden was also imprisoned in the Boston jail after being accused of witchcraft.  He escaped with the help of friends and also fled to New York, returning to Massachusetts when it was safe.....

  The Salem Witch Trials were the result of a combination of many things: family feuds, church politics, fear of attack from Native Americans, hysterical behavior that was encouraged and allowed to flourish, and a political authority that was not to be questioned.  19 people and 2 dogs were executed in Salem and one person was pressed to death under a pile of stones for refusing to testify.  The governor of the colony ordered an end to the trials in 1693 after his own wife was accused.  

  Following the trials, no judges involved publicly confessed their egregious error and guilt with the exception of one.  The  only confessor was Judge Samuel Sewell (1652-1730).  He was a member of the court that ultimately sentenced 19 people to be hanged. He called for a public day of fasting, prayer and reparation.  There is a wonderful book about his life and the effect the trials had on his later beliefs of social justice, written by Eve LaPlante called Salem Witch Judge:  The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall  published by Harper One 2008.  I highly recommend it.  

The Public Repentance of Judge Samuel Sewall For His Action In the Witchcraft Trials painted by Albert Herter  in 1942. 

This painting hangs in the Massachusetts State House.

    Samuel Sewall is also an important part of this story, as he sits in my family tree as well.  His sister Hannah married Jacob Toppan in Newbury, Massachusetts in 1670.  From that line, we get to the Angier line, and on down to the Hayman line, which connected to the Boothbys with the marriage of  Lillie Mae Hayman Horner to Josiah Thomas Boothby in 1898 in Lexington, Oregon. 

Relationship Reference:  

Phebe Wildes Day m. Timothy Day

 *Joseph Day m. Patience Hilton

    *Hannah Day m. Nathanial Whitney

       *Moses Whitney m. Mary Page

           *Molly Whitney m. Lemuel Rounds

               *Mary Rounds m. Josiah Boothby 

                    *Josiah Boothby m. Elizabeth Peyton

                          *Josiah Thomas Boothby m. Lillie Mae Hayman

                               *Sterl Kenneth Boothby m. Tersilla Brondolo

                                    *Dale Boothby m. Margaret Hansen

                                           *Me! 

Recommended websites for more information on the Salem Witch Trials:

salemwitchmusuem.com   (their section on Witch Hunts is eye opening and informative, especially in light of current events)

Historic Ipswich on the Massachusetts Northshore Blog (Ipswich and the Salem Witchcraft Trials)

History of Massachusetts Blog (The Witchcraft Trials of Sarah Wildes March 23, 2019).

For those of you who are keeping track, here is my 52Ancestors in 52Weeks Week 17 Theme: My Favorite Place entry.  I literally could not come up with a favorite place to research, or visit, or talk about.  Every place I research is unique and fits into the puzzle that makes up my family history.   So, this is my favorite place to find most of the pieces and hopefully put them together in a cohesive way so that new generations  can gain a sense of  their own unique place in their families and history.  We welcomed  grandchild #2 Elora Lynn to the family just a few weeks ago.  She fits in perfectly! 

52Ancestors52Weeks Week 12 Theme: Loss....The Story of Affa Woodcock Hayman (Boothby/Hayman)

 The theme for this week is loss.  Loss is universal.  It touches everyone at some point  in their lives and in multiple forms.  You can loose a cherished object.  You can loose a loved one.  You can loose your children.  You can loose your livelihood.  You can loose your freedom.  You can loose your ability to tell your own story.  You can loose your life.  

  This is the story of Hannah Aphia "Affa" Woodcock Hayman Kirk (my paternal Great Great Grandmother) and the losses she experienced during her lifetime,  until she eventually lost herself and then her own life.   This is a difficult story to tell, but today I am honoring her memory by relating her life story and the strange events that surrounded her death. 

Back of the above picture.  Joseph Buchtel was one of the earliest photographers in Oregon.  In 1873 he partnered with E.H. Stolte, and they had a gallery on the corner of First and Morrison Streets in Portland (No. 91). That partnership dissolved in 1878.  This picture was taken  between 1873 and 1878.  The Hayman's were living in Portland at the time. 

Top writing: "Mrs. L. Horner (Lillie Mae Horner) Heppner, Ore". My Great Grandmother. 

Bottom writing (upside down) "Mrs. Harry Hayman, Heppner, Oregon". That would have been Harry Rideout Hayman's wife Laura May. Harry was Lillie Mae's brother. 

Side writing on right:  Affa Hayman

This photo ended up in the possession of Terry Boothby (my paternal Grandmother) and came eventually to me. It is one of my favorite photographs on the Boothby side of the family. 

  Hannah Aphia "Affa" Woodcock was born in St. David, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada on 17 March,  1844.  Her mother died when she was 14 years old. By the 1860 US Census the Woodcock family lived in Calais, Maine.  When she was just 16 she married Martin Dinsmore Hayman. 

  

Martin Hayman shared by Ritch Fuhrer on Ancestry.com

  Martin Dinsmore Hayman (my Great Great Grandfather) was born in Robbinston, Maine.  In 1860 he was aged 22, and was working as a laborer.  Calais and Robbinston are about 12 miles apart on the United States side of Passamaquoddy Bay.  Martin and Affa were married October 23, 1860.   Their first child, Holmes Van Buren Hayman, was born in 1864.  Then came Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hayman in 1866, then Lillie Mae in 1870.  

   The Hayman family came from Maine when Lillie Mae was around 6 months old and settled in Portland.  On the 1880 Census Martin's occupation was teamster.   Martin worked for R. Pittock (older brother to Henry the publisher) or Henry Pittock himself as a teamster.  Their last child Harry Rideout Hayman was born in Portland in 1871.  Between 1878 and 1880 Martin drove a horse drawn street car in Portland.  

Horse drawn street cars Portland 1888

   Affa's older sister Harriet and her younger brother Edwin moved to Portland at around the same time as the Haymans.  I can imagine that being close to family again would have been a comfort and support for Affa.  Sadly, Edwin died in 1875 and Harriet died in 1878.  That must have seemed a huge loss.  

   By 1880 the Hayman family had moved to Heppner, Oregon where Martin tried homesteading and  farming on Balm Fork, south of Heppner, Oregon.  Heppner lies about 50 miles south of the Columbia River in northeastern Oregon, and sits on Willow Creek amidst rolling basalt hills and plateaus.  Balm Fork lies several miles from the actual town.  It must have been quite a shock for Affa,  moving from the large and bustling city of Portland to the remote and isolated community of Heppner.  This move set in motion a series of downturns for Affa and her children and eventually led to the loss of her life.  

  The rest of her story comes from Frances A. Cox Griffin, a granddaughter of Lizzie Hayman Cox, sister to Lillie Mae Hayman.  This story was shared on Ancestry.com by Mike Keo, who is a DNA cousin.  She wrote these stories in 1969 and they were preserved by her family.   Her words are in quotations.  

  "Hard times came to Hannah (Affa) as in 1882 she gave an affidavit for her daughter to marry F. D. Cox."  (This would be her older daughter Lizzie). "In it, she states that 'Lizzie is past the age of fifteen and that I am the mother of Lizzie I. Hayman and have sole care of my family including Lizzie. My husband having left me with my children to care for without his aide and support.'  At the age of 14 Lizzie was 'lent out' as an indentured servant".... (She was in service in the family of George Herrington in Heppner.)... In 1884 she gave her consent for Lillie to marry Silas Horner." Lillie Mae would have been around 14-15 years old at the time of her marriage. 

   This loss must have been enormous for Affa and heartbreaking.  For unknown reasons Martin left her and she suffered not only economically but emotionally as she let her two daughters go at such an early age. Although not that uncommon at the time, the early marriages of her daughters took away their company and much needed help.  Her oldest son was living with Martin who was working at the Star Boarding House in Dayton Washington as a clerk.  Her youngest son Harry was around 13 years old and was probably living with Martin until 1886 when he moved back with her.  So, she lost not only her husband, but her daughters and sons as well. She probably could not support her children with the mending and sewing she did to earn money.   She ended up doing what most women did at that time after the loss of a husband and economic stability;  she remarried.

  "On 26 October 1885 Hannah married William Whitney Kirk. They lived on his ranch six miles north of Heppner. I believe this was on Blackhorse Canyon.  She had maintained her family by doing sewing for women in the Heppner area.   She must have continued this practice after her marriage.  This was not a happy marriage and on the 15th of August 1886 Hannah was ill and asked her husband of one year to take her into her daughters in Heppner.  He refused and the next morning she was evidently too ill to eat but drank a cup of coffee and started to Heppner on foot.  It was six miles to town and she bundled some clothes and some work she was doing for a Mrs. Blackman and although her son Harry who was living with her went to get his pony for her she did not wait, telling him she was going to town and not coming back.  Harry was 14 at the time."

  "Hannah got about two miles and stopped at the A.S. Wells home probably for help.  The Wells family was not home. She went to the well for a drink and then into the house.  She came back out and layed down on a 'straw tick' mattress in the yard.  She then went back into the house where the Wells family, at least Mr. Wells, found her dying on his return home.  And on her last trip into the house, stopped and leaned against the door casing.  She must have been in a lot of pain.  In spite of Mr. Wells attempts to revive her she lived but a few minutes."

  She stated that she was going into town and 'not coming back'. What did that mean? Was she so despondent that she was thinking of leaving William Kirk? Or was she thinking about something entirely different?  Was she even able to think coherently on that morning? Had she lost herself entirely at that point due to actual illness or was it profound depression? Francis Cox Griffin had questions, too......

  "There was in inquest into her death, and though they were thorough for that day and age, I feel there were many extenuating circumstances that were not paid attention to, possibly because they didn't even know what these signs meant at the time.  In any case, the ruling was suicide. I have included the following pages to bring these other issues to light." 

State of Oregon 

County of Morrow

In the matter of Coroners Inquest at S. S. Wells place four miles north of Heppner in Morrow County, State of Oregon, on the body of one deceased supposed to be Mrs. W. W. Kirk--August 15 1886. 

The following named persons were duly impowered and sworn as Juror

D.W. Horner, G.W. Shipley, J.D.L. Lockmane, E. Nordyke, John McEntire, Thos. Morgan

(Daniel Webster Horner was the brother of Silas Richard Horner who married Lillie Mae Hayman)

Evidence Adduced

A.S. Wells  Sworn-says

Came to my house at about half past ten this morning. Saw the door open. Went thru and saw a woman seemingly in a fit.  Rubbed her hands with camphor and tried to revive her, but she died within five minutes after I arrived.  Seen her bonnet on the table and bundle of clothes on the floor--saw a teacup containing what appeared to be poisoned wheat--Had not seen her about my place before--When I first seen deceased her lips were blue-Eyes rolled back-lips quivering-Did not notice cramps in hand-Think she was breathing when I went into the house.  No froth or discharge from the mouth.  When I saw she was dead.  Straytned (sp) her head-Her hands were on her breast.  Found no writing about the house-My residence is four miles north of Heppner in Morrow County.  Believe saw track which I think was that of the deceased going up the road and into my house from there to the well and back-Recognize hat and gloves present as those of the deceased-Had some poisoned wheat over sitting in the house which has not been touched.

W. W. Kirk Sworn said--

Recognized deceased as Hannah Kirk, my wife.  Last saw her alive about half past eight o'clock this morning at my house-two miles from this place.  She wanted to go to Heppner last night-I think it was after she had gone to bed-She was not well.  I did not take her to town-Told her she could go on horseback but she did not do so.  She took a severe cold about three weeks ago and has not been well since.  She acted strange since that time was nervous.  Small things seemed to trouble her.  For some time past parties have been circulating stories to the effect that I turned all of my property over to Jeff (his son)-This seemed to trouble her but she was always wild in talking about it.  Did not know when she started this morning. She dressed in the room where I was lying.  Said she was going to Mr. Horners in Heppner (Lillies) to stay awhile-Took some work she was doing for Mr. Blackman-wrapped up a calico dress for everyday ware-We have lived peacefully together for the past few weeks-Her son Harry lived with us.  Could not get him to do anything while I was away.  He would lie about the work would leave and be gone for several days.  He was at home when his mother left this morning.  He might have left when she did.  Deceased had never said to me that she thought of committing suicide sometimes said in a joke I was getting tired of her.  I had a small amount of poisoned wheat around the place. Don't think there was more than two tablespoons full.  She had it put away.   Was cheerful last night she wanted to know if she could put down some butter for Lillie.  I told her she could.  Deceased got breakfast this morning did not eat anything but drank some coffee.  Seemed to have lost her appetite gradually since she last went to town.  Did not rest well nights.  Coughed a good deal did not complain of heart troubling her.  Has complained of her stomach..

J.H. Gentry Sworn said

Saw a woman near Mr. Wells house going toward the well and returning to the house.  After a minute came out and went to a straw tick back of the house.  Went back to the house.  When she came back to the house the second time stopped in the door and leaned against the door post saw no more of her.  Then supposed it to be Mr. Wells daughter.  Soon after this perhaps an hour Os Wells called my house and wanted me to come quick said that a woman was dying at the house and they did not know who she was.  Came down when I arrived she was dead to all appearances. Her color was blue around the nose and a spot on the neck.  Expression of face natural, not painful, mouth slightly open.  Was acquainted with her have know her five years.  Recognized body as that of Mrs. W.W. Kirk-last saw her alive about three months ago.  

Harry Hayman Sworn said

Body present is that of my mother.  Saw her at home this morning.  She started out on foot this morning and said she was going to town and was not coming back.  I told her to wait and I would get a pony for her to ride-she would not wait.  She and Mr. Kirk had quarreled some.  Don't know what about.  Mr. Kirk has not treated her well.  Would not go anywhere with her. She had had no water fit to drink for three days.  She left the house about an hour before I did.  I went to hunt my pony when she started.  Bundle and parasol shown witness, which he recognized as that of decease that she had with her when she left home. I know where poison wheat is kept about the house.  None has been used that I know of since I have been living there.  Have lived with mother since last May last.

Her appetite has been poor lately she ate nothing this morning drank a cup of coffee.  Has coughed much lately.  Would get tired and rest occasionally when at work.  Sometimes would help me run after the hogs and complain of being tired afterward.

W.W. Kirk recalled

"Produced can about 1/8 full of Wakleys squirrel poison.  Said it was the same can his wife had-There was more in it than he thought there was-said "Can't tell whether any has been taken out lately or not--found can where my wife kept it". 

A.S. Fox Sworn said

After careful examination of the body of deceased and the circumstances connected with her death.  I conclude that death was cause by taking poison-It is my opinion that it was strychnine. 

Facts-A teacup containing a small amount of wheat (moist) was standing on table in same room where deceased was found.  Experiment with same on a chicken proved it to be poisoned.

State of Oregon

County of Morrow

I hearby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of all the proceedings of the inquest as indicated by heading of said copy and that this bill of expenses the results attached is a true account of the cost of said inquest that the same was all necessary expense. 

Signed this 20th day of September 1886

C.M. Wollery 

Court of Morrow County

We the jury duly impowered and sworn to hold inquest upon the remains of Hannah Kirk found about five miles north of Heppner Morrow County, Oregon, on the 15th day of August 1886.  The said Hannah Kirk came to her death by means of poison administered by her own hands,

Dated August 15, 1886

D.W. Horner, G.W. Shipley, J.D.L. Lockmane, E. Nordyke, John McEntire, Thos. Morgan.

 We will never know the true details of the morning.  Affa's voice was officially silenced by her neighbors and her husband who made the final pronouncement of suicide.  Was it really suicide? Or was she slowly being poisoned by her husband who seemed indifferent and uncaring to her well being. She seemed to be a lost soul in that marriage, and became powerless to assert herself.  Was she suffering with depression after experiencing so many losses during her short life time?  Or, was she suffering with a long term illness such as tuberculosis?  It was a tremendous loss for her children, certainly.  She was only 42 years old.  

W.W. Kirk died in 1912 and was buried in the Penland Cemetery in Lexington (down the road from Heppner).  A.W. Wells who gave sworn testimony to Affa's death died in the 1903 Heppner Flood. Francis and Nancy Schaffer Gentry lived up Willow Creek and their son J. H. Gentry may have been another witness to give sworn testimony as a witness.  His name was James Hiram Gentry.  Martin Dinsmore Hayman died in 1906 and was buried in Kent, Sherman County, Oregon.  

Martin Hayman's Obituary shared by Ritch Fuhrer on Ancestry

 This is the only record of where Hannah Aphia "Affa" Woodcock Hayman Kirk is buried.  She is buried in the Heppner Memorial Cemetery in an unmarked grave.  All was not lost, however, as all four of her children lived long, resilient lives and raised remarkable families.  My last picture is of all four siblings in their older years. 

Left to Right:  Holmes Van Buren Hayman, Lizzie Hayman Cox, Lillie Mae Hayman Horner Boothby, Harry Rideout Hayman.  Picture shared by RobertPotter62 on Ancestry.