Some Text in the Middle of Pictures

This is taken from a report that Ruth's granddaughter did in school. You can really tell that a lot of the information came from grandma's journals.

"Thomas Alber (r)y of Warwich, England enlisted in Braddoch’ army in 1775 at the age of 17. After Braddoch’s defeat he located in Maryland near Cummberland. Tradition has it that he was George Washington’s tailor. He married the widow Hawkin’s and had three children: Margaret, James and John. John married Mary Myer. They had 14 children. Seven were born in Maryland and seven in Ohio after they moved there. One son, William, married Maria Baldwin, who was the widow of Abraham Stagg.

William Albery and his family moved to Iowa in 1855 in a covered wagon. The story about it was written by their granddaughter, Maria Louisa Albery, who married Thomas Spence. Maria is one of the daughters in the story. The story goes like this:

“Early in the spring of 1855 a family from Franklin county, Ohio, by the name of Albery, loaded their belongings into wagons and started for Iowa which was then known as the “far west.” There was the father, mother, four sons, two daughters, a brother of the mother, and a son by her first marriage. Mrs. Amelia Knowles, a widow, now living in Hubbard, Iowa was one of the daughters and then a child scarcely eighteen months old. This family was more fortunate than most of the people living at that time, having horses, instead of oxen. The father’s team was a black horse and a white one and their names were Colie and Miley. Perhaps the reason for calling the one “Miley” was because it would travel so many miles before reaching its destination. The wagons were all covered with heavy canvas. The family not only had their household goods, but also their farm implements; scythes. Cradles, plows, and garden tools. The men all had guns and were prepared to use them if the occasion demanded. They crossed the line between Ohio and Indiana the first of May 1855 and from then on were watchful for trouble for at that time there were some very rough people in the west. They came through Joliet, Illinois but did not tarry as the town was full of the roughest kind of characters, including horse thieves in abundance. Coming through the western part of Indiana and Illinois they were harrassed by the spring rains which made traveling slow and difficult. The thunder and lightning was terrific and it seemed at times they would all be killed. The lightning was so intense that the wagon wheels looked as if they were balls of fire. When they came to the Mississippi River they were ferried across the “Great Father of Waters” as at that time there were no bridges of any kind and no railroads west of the river.
After getting into Iowa they stopped at Vinton where a family of four joined them, making a company of fourteen. Then again they began the journey to Hardin county. They came as far as Marshall country where they made another stop in the banks of a small creek called Linn creek, giving themselves and their stock (they brought three cows) a much needed rest.
Then they began the last lap of the long journey, arriving in Pleasant township, Hardin county and settling on a farm four miles east of Hubbard, which is now known as the Old Albery Homestead. Having purchased ox teams they began the great stuggle of breaking Iowa sod and building the log cabin for their western home.
The Family:
Father: William S. Albery
Mother: Maria Baldwin Stagg Albery
Sons: Isaac
William (Arthur)
Marquis D., Mae Moon’s father
Jeremiah, Birdie Albery’s father
Daughters: Louisa
Amelia, Arthur Knowles mother
---------- Ann Sept 28
Also, Amos Stagg, Maria’s son by a previous marriage
Also, a Mr. Baldwin, brother of Maria Isaac”


James Bridgman probably came from Winchester Co of Hants, England to America in 1640 locating first to Hartford, Conn. From there he moved in 1643 to Springfield, Mass where he became owner of a smal tract of land lying on the river bank. His descendent, Laura Bridgman, who was deaf, dumb and blind, was pupil of Dr. Samuel C Howe. Capt. John Bridgman (his son) served in the Revolutionary War, settling in South Hardwick, Vt. In 1795. He purchased 300 acres of unbroken land and with true pioneer courage and persistence improved and homesteaded. The following stories are about Capt John Bridgman.
Annals of battleboro, VT 1681-1895 complied by Mary C. Cabot
Pg 15

“Fort Bridgman was built.. 1737 by Orlando Bridgman… and located 100rds SE of Fort Sartwell. It was larger than Fort Sartwell and was protected by a stockade. In 1776 the Indians who had made an attack the previous year succeeded in destroying the fort, killed several of the inhabitants and carried a number of others into captivity.”

Civil History of Vermont
Part II Chap I pg. 7

“Bridgman’s Fort in Vernon, Vermont was attacked by Indians June 24, 1746, killing two English, wounding one and taking several prisoners. The following year the fort was destroyed, several inhabitantss killed and a number carried away prisoners.”

Alvah Thomas Bridgman was born at Tioga, NY, July 25, 1836 and was married to Sue Hackett at Beloit, Wisconsin, December 14, 1862. They became parents of H. Allen, Nannie, Jean, Max, Ben, John, and Hannah. Alvah served in the Civil Wat. He came to Springfield, South Dakota in the 1870’s with his family and was a resident of Springfield until his death in 1913. He served as postmaster in Springfield for 10 years. Springfield was described as “a rolling prairie along a wide, slowly flowing river, inhabited only by buffalo, prairie chickens, high-flying ducks and geese, and an occasional wandering Indian band, to a thriving community of well over 1,200 people, with beautiful homes, attractive churches, excellent schools, a widely known boarding school for Indian girls, and a four year college of excellent quality”, written by Dr. Daniel E. Kerr. I can only imagine the wonders of such a town with those pioneer women cooking meals in a fireplace, washing clothes on scrub boards, and hanging their clothes on the line to dry.

Jean Hackett Bridgman was born November 13, 1869 in Evansville, Wisconsin. His family later moved to Springfield, South Dakota. My great grandma and my great grandfather’s brother, Max, also worked at the post office with their father, Alvah Thomas Bridgman.

My great grandmother, Maude Amelia Spence, was born October 28, 1877 in Eldora, Iowa. She had two older brothers and a twin brother, Edgar. Her father, Thomas Spence, was a carpenter. The family moved to Springfield, South Dakota sometime before 1895. Her fahter purchased property there and started building houses. It was here that my great grandparents met and were married February 22, 1896.

My great grandfather had studied to be a dentist, but seemed undecided about his career from the start. He had a practice in Springfield and also in the nearby town of Tyndall. He also had a folding dental chair and tool kits which he carried on a wagon and went to people at their houses to fix teeth. The folding chair was donated to the North Shore Historical Society in Bothell, Washington, but never got there for some reason.

Something about the dental work did not agree with my great grandfather and his doctor recommended outdoor work. In 1902 my great grandparents took up a homestead in Viewfield, which is halfway betwwen Rapid City and Deadwood. While there, my great grandfather delivered mail with a horse and wagon. One day a tornado picked up his horse and wagon, turned them around and set them down in the road going in the opposite direction. Later my great grandfather bought a grocery store in Pinehurst and was the first postmaster there.

My great grandfather worked in Everett in a food processing plant. They used canned soybean oil and he would put the empty cans through a roller to smash them. One day he got his fingers caught in the press and smashed two of them. Helen remembers him coming home with his arm in a sling and how her mother cried and everyone was upset. He lost those two fingers.

Birthdays were always a special occasion in their family-a cake with candles and spankings for everyone-one swat for each year. Harley thought he would trick the spankers and put a board in his pants. Chet Hayner, Marie’s husband, was up to the trick and gave Harley a kick in the pants. Harley screamed, “Ouch, there’s a nail in it” Down came the pants to look for the trouble. The board had split and pinched a piece of skin in his buttocks. No one else ever tried that stunt.

My great grnadmother was a petite five-foot-two woman with a soft voice and quiet ways. She had dark brown hair that came almost to the floor when she sat down. Helen wrote, “One of my great delights was to brush this long hair. I suppose that was relaxing for mother, because she always seemed to enjoy it, too. Some years later short hair came into style and Mother had hers cut very short. The family was aghast. When Alvah (called Cy for cyclone) saw Mother’s hair he refused to speak to her for days.”

My great grandparents never owned a car. My great grandfather’s mode of transportation was a bicycle. The rest of the family walked when they wanted to go somewhere. Sometimes they took a street car, but it was considered a luxury.

My great grandparents belonged to the International Bible students of America shortened to IBSA and known today as Jehovah’s witnesses. Those candidates for baptism were fully immersed in a huge metal portable tank. Those participating wore white clothing. Members often wore a button stating, “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” Helen wrote, “After church on Sunday my father would give Ruth and me each 15 cents-ten cents for the theater and a nickel for popcorn. They had vaudeville acts and then a silent movie.”

Wash day was always on Monday and took all day. When Helen was a small child, it was done in a tub on a washboard that had ridges over which the clothes were rubbed, then rinsed in two other tubs of water. It took hours. In early days ironing had been done with irons that were heated on the kitchen stove. Later electric irons were invented and improvements have been made in them from time to time. Helen wrote, “What a blessing the discovery of wash and wear materials has been to women! Today I wash clothes in a automatic machine and put them in an electric or gas dryer, take them out when dry and either fold them carefully or hang them on hangers. No more hours spent over the ironing board. When I shop for clothes, it the label doesn’t say “Wash and Wear”, I don’t buy it.

My grandma was born September 2, 1915. She was number 8 in a family of 8. When she was born, some of her sisters (who were married) were living at home. Her older sister, Fern, wanted her middle name to be Elizabeth but her mother wanted her to be Ruth Ellen. So Grandma went by Ruth Ellen until 1955. She got a copy of her birth certificate because she wanted to travel outside the United States. She found out her name wasn’t Ruth Ellen, but Ruth Elizabeth. She was in a state of shock for a while. Here she was forty years old and found out she had been signing things wrong all these years. "