OUR COLORFUL FAMILY

IN 2018 I put this chart together (for fun) showing all the colorful names in our family tree. Not a lot has changed since then but we could add a handful of new colorful names now:

WHITEMAN

BROWNLEE

GREENAWALT

GOLDEN

GREYMANTLE

GRAYHAM

We've also got the four points of the compass:

NORTHFIELD

SOUTHCOTT & SOUTHGATE

EASTBURN

WEST & WESTERGARD & WESTON

And some weather!

 WEATHERALD & WETHERELL 

RAINS & RAINSBOROUGH

SNOWBERGER

SLEIGHS for the snow!

WINDER

HALES

William Lake Forman (1829-1919) WORK

What did they do for a living? We know that most of the women took care of the home and the children until well into the 20th century when they were finally able to enter the workforce in large numbers. The men in our family tree worked at most occupations you can think of from farmers to cobblers to gardeners to carpenters to engineers to business executives, and so on. 

 William Lake Forman (1829-1919) didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps of being a confectioner. Samuel L. Forman died at age 39 in 1844, so we only know about his business because of 2 city directory listings and the inventory that was done after his untimely death which listed “confectionary tools of the trade.” In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the confectioner was the most highly regarded of all tradesmen involved with food preparation. The confectioner prepared desserts, candies, and other sugar-related delicacies. But William was only 15 when his father died, so he wasn’t ready to take over such a business.

In the 1850 census, William L., now 21, is living at home with his mother Eliza, his sisters Mary and Emma (19 & 14) and little brother Isaac (10). This is the first time we see his occupation listed as House Painter. He married Amanda McAllister in 1853. 

From 1855-1867 he is listed as a house painter in the Philadelphia City directories. In 1858 he is the secretary of the Journeyman House Painters Association, and as such posted notices in the newspaper regarding meetings so we get this glimpse of his serious involvement in his trade.

In 1868, brother Isaac joins him and they become “Forman and Brother” house painters. They continued together for a few years before parting ways. Isaac continued on as a house painter for the rest of his life, as far as can be determined. But somehow by 1877 William is employed as a clerk.

We got lucky in that he was employed by the City of Philadelphia, so there are some records to be found. From the Journal of the Common Council of the City of Philadelphia, he is listed as the signer of warrants of the department of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions. 

In 1879 there was a big reaction to the news that citizens felt that the salaries of the city officials were too high. The opinion was that the city clerks (of which William L. was one) should make no more than clerks working outside city government, such as bank clerks. Initially there was talk of a reduction in force, but instead the decision was made to reduce salaries. William L. Forman is listed as a ‘search clerk’ earning $1000 per year. After the change, his salary was reduced to $900 per year. How would you enjoy that 10% cut in pay?

In 2017 I was contacted by a woman whose maiden name was Magurn (the same as my mother Josephine Teresa Magurn Forman.) Her ancestor and my grandfather were both from the same area in Northern Ireland so we were sure we had to be related. We both had our DNA results and were so surprised to find that we were not related! That is a whole ‘nother mystery to solve, but the interesting part is that she sent me a copy of her ancestor’s naturalization papers from 1889 Philadelphia. I was stunned and delighted to see who had signed the document: William L. Forman!See the document at right. (He has beautiful penmanship!)

Whether he was tired of the life of a clerk, feeling his age, or whatever the reason, in 1899 William L. has left the city offices and is again listed in the city directories as a house painter, as well as a glazier (one who cuts, installs, or removes glass.) This continues until 1905 when he is 76 years old, and again working as a clerk! The last we know of his occupation is the 1910 Census which indicates he is still working as a clerk in an office. (He’s 81 at that time!)

Another interesting tidbit was found in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper in 1911. There was another big shake-up at City Hall. 58 clerks in the law department were asked to resign, while 21 were retained. 82 year old William L. Forman was one of those retained as a clerk to a trial assistant, earning $900 per year. (The same as he made 30 years earlier!!)

I can’t find any other mention of him between then and his death in 1919. But those invited to his funeral show his wide range of interests: Philadelphia Association of Disabled Firemen, employees of City Solicitor’s Office, 40th Ward Republican Club, and Veteran Firemen’s Association.

Trail of the Copper King - Orlando Baragwanath (1872-1972)

 

We’ve talked about our Baragwanaths in Cornwall, England, but what about the branch that traveled to South Africa?

We aren’t closely related to Orlando Baragwanath, the subject of the book“Trail of the Copper King” by T. V. Bulpin – he’s my second cousin 7 times removed! Our common ancestors are Richard Baragwanath (born 1699) and Zenobia Stevens (born 1705), of Cornwall, England. 

 Jump forward 5 generations and we encounter John Albert Baragwanath who took his family on the trip of a lifetime – from Cornwall, England to Durban, South Africa, in 1850. John had been a Cornish sea captain. His first wife, Elizabeth Jane Trise, mother of Elizabeth Grace, Orlando, John Albert Jr., and Emily E., passed away the year before the voyage. He quickly married Wilmot Baragwanath (a cousin) later the same year. The family set sail in February 1850 on the “Lady Bruce.” 

They joined 150 other settlers intent on a new life in a new land, with the promise of land at the end of the journey. “Each adult will be provided with an intermediate passage, including provisions on a liberal dietary scale, for the sum of 19 pounds, or a steerage passage for 10 pounds, and on arrival in Natal [Durban] have secured to him twenty acres of freehold land.” The passage monies had to be paid in advance and each passenger needed their own knife, fork, tablespoon, teaspoon, metal plate, a hook-pot, a mug and bedding. Each ship was required to carry a doctor. 

John and Wilmot’s first child together, Charles, was born on the ship, but died a few weeks after arriving at their destination, aged 8 weeks. They reached their destination on 9 May 1850. John, Wilmot and the 4 living children settled on a farm called “Isipingo” just south of Durban. Son John Albert was later apprenticed to a saddle maker. He opened his own trading store, ran the Concordia hotel, and had some prospecting operations. He was very successful and prosperous. 

He married Elizabeth Adelaide Trennery and together they had ten children. Oldest son Orlando (Orrie), born in 1872, was the stuff legends were made of! Orlando lived to be 100 years old (photo right,) and on the occasion of that milestone, an article was written about him in the “Rhodesiana” publication. “In the autumn of 1894 a solitary passenger climbed off ...[an] ox-drawn Cape cart in Fort Victoria. . . He was Orlando Baragwanath, a young man of 22 years with some mining experience, a prospector’s zest for the unknown and an explorer’s nature.” For the next few years he worked at different mines, learning and yearning for adventure. 

 In May 1899, Orrie and his partner Frank Lewis, set out, their supplies packed in 50 lb. loads packed on two wagons and a four-ply canoe. They had six pack donkeys and ten armed natives. They had no need of money so they took white calico called “limbo” for currency. They had contracted for a 3-year stint with the Tanganyika Concessions Company, earning £25/month. The surface copper had been known, worked and traded long before. But these men were the first to use dynamite to find more beneath the surface in Northern Rhodesia! They pegged and named many copper mines on their travels, and in 1901 discovered the vast copper field on the Wusikili river, which later became the great Nkana Mine and the heart of the fabulous Copperbelt. 

 At the spot where John Albert had his farm and hotel now stands Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in what is now the black township of Soweta in Johannesburg, which opened in World War II to care for British soldiers. It once held the Guinness World Record for the largest hospital on earth with almost 3300 beds but has been edged out by at least 3 others by 2016. 

 Some of this material was found in an article from: http://www.rhodesia.nl/rhodesiana/volume28.pdf “Orlando Baragwanath: A Centenarian Pioneer of Rhodesia” by Roger Howman. “Rhodesiana” Publication No. 28, July 1973, The Rhodesiana Society, Salisbury, Rhodesia.

Drawings are from the book pictured above, Trail of the Copper King. This copy was given to my dad by his parents in 1961. It is presently in my possession.

So Far Away - Swanton Morley and Abraham Lincoln

 

I’ve previously written about Joseph Canham, his home named Clondalkin, and the cemetery in Swanton Morley. Did you know that through Swanton Morley we have a connection to Abraham Lincoln??

 

Swanton Morley is a village located at the geographical center of Norfolk County in England. This small village has a long history; it was documented in the 11th-century Domesday Book*, and was home to the ancestors of Abraham Lincoln. And since at least the early 1700s, it has been the home to many of our ancestors. The Canham line alone can be found there as far back as 1789 when Zachariah Canham married Mary Fish in All Saints Church (pictured) which was built in the 1370s. Other family lines branching off from the Canhams in more recent generations, such as the Harvey line which extends from the wife (Mary Ann Dawson Smyth) of John Canham (son of Zachariah Canham) can be traced as far as Christmas Eve 1706 when William Harvey was baptized in All Saints Church. And chances are if the proper records are located, this line will extend even further back in Swanton. “Swanton” is derived from the Old English for herdsman’s enclosure, and “Morley” refers to the fact that the parish was held by Robert de Morli in 1346. The oldest recorded objects found in the area include items from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and the Roman occupation. The Angel, a pub run by Canham family members in earlier times, was probably named for a medieval stone carving of a genuflecting angel found in a nearby well house.

Oh, and about that Abraham Lincoln connection? So far, I haven’t found out we’re family, but it could yet happen! Richard Lincoln (1550-1620), a local churchwarden who built the above-named Angel public house was the wealthy grandfather of Samuel Lincoln.

Richard Lincoln disinherited Samuel’s father Edward in favor of his fourth wife, thus throwing the Lincoln family into penury and forcing young Samuel to flee from Swanton Morley to Hingham, Massachusetts. His great-great-great-great-grandson was none other than Abraham Lincoln!

Such a far-away place with a connection to our very genes! How far away exactly? Well, obviously this will vary for each of us, but from my home to the church in Swanton Morley is 4,803.55 miles.

Many of the details of this piece are from Wikipedia. 

 *A record of the “Great Survey” of much of England and parts of Wales, completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conquerer.

Close-Up on John Magurn (1878-1956)

 

We’re all familiar with this great photo of John Magurn (Grammy’s father) from World War I. He served in the Argyll and Sutherland, and also the Seaforth Highlander kilted brigades. (As shown in his medal record - A&S.H., Seaforth)

In trying to lighten the very dark and faded photo and bring out some detail, it became clear that close up, he’s holding something in his left hand. The handle is apparent below his index finger. I did some searching and it appears that many of the men carried a cane, baton or ‘swagger stick’ with their uniforms, though it was a private purchase, not part of the official ‘kit.’ Doing a search online shows many men in similar poses.

So I got interested in the rest of his uniform, and learned a few interesting things. On his head is a glengarry bonnet, a traditional Scots cap made of dark blue woolen cloth. There would be flat black ribbons about an inch wide hanging down the back. A red ‘toorie” (pom pom) is on the crown. The checkerboard pattern around the cap is red and white ‘dicing’. It sounds like this was used in the early days of World War I, so this photo might be older than 1914. By 1915 a khaki “Tam-o-Shanter” type bonnet was worn. I believe the badge on his cap is the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders medal. The center scroll would read: Argyll and Sutherland. In the center is a very fancy “L” which stands for Princess Louise (Duchess of Argyll), with a boars head on the left and the cat of Clan Sutherland on the right under a coronet. Ten thistles and their greenery form the outer edge.

The jacket is a cut-away with rifle patches and pleated breast pockets. It was likely dark brown. Khaki spats (gaiters) were worn over low Highland shoes – not boots. Some wore socks with the same ‘dicing’ as on the hat, but I don’t think Grandpa is wearing them in this photo. The ‘things’ on his socks are called ‘flashes’ and served as garters to keep the socks up. Have you ever wondered why his kilt was so plain? Well, wonder no more. He is wearing a ‘kilt cover’! The cover fully wrapped around the body and had a pleated rear. Many had front pockets to replace the sporran, but this one doesn’t look like it has one. Why cover the beautiful tartan kilt? World War I was largely fought in the nasty dirty environment of trenches throughout Europe and soldiers were looking for a way to protect their kilts from the grime and wet. The cover helped the uniform survive the elements. The only question now is why did he have his photo taken in the cover instead of the kilt, which was likely beneath it? I have seen many formal portraits just like this, so there must have been a reason. The kilt itself would have been of the Black Watch tartan in the Argyll and Sutherlands. The Seaforths wore the MacKenzie tartan. So just by looking closer, we know a lot more about John Magurn’s military uniform than we did before!

Here is a colorized photo of what Grandpa's uniform would have looked like with all the bells and whistles. Notice the swagger stick.

Canham - The Old Homestead & The Cemetery in Swanton Morley, Norfolk, England

 

Joseph Canham (1857-1939) was Grammy’s grandfather. He built a house in Swanton Morley and named it Clondalkin. Long ago, the houses were named, not numbered. Joseph’s wife, Jane Mangan (1866-1950) was born in Ireland. Her birth and baptism records only name Oldcastle, Meath, Ireland as her residence. But in the 1939 English Register she lists her place of birth as “Clondalkin.” Both of their death records list their residence as Clondalkin, Swanton Morley.

The photo shows the house in 2011. There is a sign above the front porch that says “Clondalkin.” I zoomed in and added that slice to the photo – it’s fuzzy but readable. I like that the current homeowners have kept the name. Grammy (Josephine Teresa Magurn - “Terry”) remembers visiting her grandparents at Clondalkin as a child. “One time we were visiting my grandparents in Swanton [Morley,] England and my grandfather – Grandjoe we called him, was up a ladder by the house and [when] he turned around I was right behind him. He nearly had a fit. Another time I poisoned his goldfish in the side garden. He used to love to let my grandmother's pet pig – they called the pig Dennis – she was called Nan – out of his pen and he'd chase my sister Joan and I all over the place. I thought it was fun. Joan was petrified.”

This Latin cross with a curbed surround is the resting place for Joseph Canham and his wife Jane. Located in the church yard of All Saints Church in Swanton Morley, Norfolk, England, it is fitting that they are buried where they served so valiantly during their lives. Joseph was the church clerk and sexton, appointed in January 1900. A sexton is an officer of the Church of England charged with the maintenance of its buildings and the surrounding graveyard. From the small book “Our Knickers Were Interesting – A Norfolk Village Childhood” by Daisy Rayner we learn that as the sexton, he rang the church bells and dug the graves. “Today they cannot bury in Swanton Morley churchyard because the graves cave in. It did in those days as well, but Joe knew the way. He made a frame the size of the grave and as he dug a foot or so he would fix a plank in it at the top, like they used to brick wells. The well-sinkers made their wells from the top and dropped them as they went along. For all his cleverness Joe was a most unassuming man, small, wearing glasses and a cap. He was very well loved.” His wife, Jane, was described as a very small, quiet woman. She was the church cleaner. On a side note, the previous sexton and parish clerk was James Hickleton, the husband of Joseph’s aunt Harriet. Hickleton died in January 1900 and Joseph began his 33 years of service. The inscription on their grave marker reads: In every loving memory of Joseph the beloved husband of Jenny* CANHAM who died June 7th 1939 aged 82 years Parish clerk for 33 years Also his beloved wife Jenny* CANHAM died Oct 13th 1950 aged 84 years *This is the only place I have found where Jane is referred to as Jenny.

William Lewis Ross (1859-1923) SINGLE TAX REFORMER

 

As a young man, Will Ross (1859-1923) worked in the iron trade with his father, John Ross (1833-1890), and both were members of trade unions. Sometime in the 1880’s John joined a “Henry George Club” after hearing George speak in Cincinnati. He was a convert to Free Trade and the Single Tax and was an early and devoted reader of The Standard, the weekly newspaper started by Henry George.

 We can assume that Will joined his father because in 1892 he is a member of the Philadelphia Single Tax club, where he spent much time in studying and learning to speak in public. Henry George’s philosophy is explained in a letter Will wrote to the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger newspaper, published 14 Feb 1917:

Land value is the only part of real estate that we propose to tax; not houses and other improvements. Personal property may be thine or it may be mine. But it is not ours. The land is neither mine nor thine; it is ours. According to justice, according to nature and nature’s laws, it is a free gift of the Creator, just as truly as the air, the sunshine and the ocean are of His bounty. We can establish our equal right to the earth by taking the rental value of land for public expenses. This would not burden agriculture, because there would be no tax on improvements. The single tax would lighten the burden on farmers who farm their farms, but would increase the burden on speculators who farm the farmers. He spent his adult life fighting for a Constitutional Amendment supporting the Single Tax. He was even jailed for 20 days in Dover, Delaware in 1896, along with 19 others, for violating town ordinances. After his release he spoke outside City Hall in Philadelphia: Let us place a square, honest tax on land valuation and let all other forms of taxation go. In the end it will be not only to the advantage of the workingman, but also to that of the man he works for. In 1919 he left his job as Superintendent of Public Baths for Philadelphia and moved with his wife, Anna, to California to take charge of the “Great Adventure Movement” as the Single Tax movement was called there. His wife was an active participant in the movement and often spoke at gatherings. He never lost faith in the “ultimate emancipation of the race” through Henry George’s remedy: The Single Tax. To him it was a religion. He was not successful in California and the movement splintered. His death in 1923 at age 64 was attributed to “acute nervous prostration” over the disappointments suffered in California. He died at his brother’s home in Camden, New Jersey. Hundreds attended his memorial in Arden, Delaware (a Single Tax community.) One of the Single Tax leaders said of William L. Ross that he was a martyr to the cause and spoke in glowing terms of Will’s faithfulness in anything he did.

[William Lewis Ross is my great-great uncle]

Ann Curtis Kriebel (1955-1983)

Ann Curtis Kriebel is my 4th cousin. I never met her but we were born just about a year apart - me in 1954 in California, Ann in 1955, Ohio. I 'met' her while extending our Harned line from common ancestors John Harned (1783-1848) and Phoebe Laing (1790-1839). I was first intrigued by her birth year, but then struck by the fact that she died in 1983 at age 28 in Costa Rica. Why was she there? I had to know more about this cousin.

I was able to locate her story written in the 15 December 1984 Friends Journal-Quaker Thought and Life Today. The article, titled Gracias a la Vida was written by Joyce Balderston.

Ann Curtis Kriebel - the name brings to mind happy smiles, big hugs, backpacks, fresh loaves of bread, walks in the woods, dulcimers, songs and singing, weaving, and hours of sharing ideas, plans, and dreams. My earliest recollection of Ann was in Wooster Friends Meeting, in Wooster, Ohio, when she was 11 years old and sitting quietly with her parents. Not having grown up as a Friend, I wondered how a young person could sit so quietly for an hour and what could be happening in that silence.

 Her Quaker background is mentioned with roots dating back to some of America's earliest history. Her mother's family [and ours - Harned] had been New Jersey Friends since their arrival in Burlington, New Jersey in 1683. 

Ann with guitar in San Luis, Costa Rica

She was educated at a private Quaker school: Westtown School, where her philosophy of simplicity began to develop. The verse about not laying up treasure on earth but rather in heaven led her to limit her own personal belongings. 

When asked to sing to her new friends in Costa Rica with her dulcimer she chose to sing "Simple Gifts." 

"Quakers have a testimony about simplicity," she explained. "To put material cares aside, and other more important things first..."

She struggled to define simplicity in a world of such obvious physical contrasts. "What does it really mean to 'live simply'? Will we arrive once we sell our blender and stereo? Does it mean giving up electricity and building an outhouse? Does simplicity come with making our own bread and granola? Is it really a matter of our material possessions or, rather, a state of mind, heart, and spirit? One of the lines of the song 'Simple Gifts' got stuck in my mind: 'When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shall not be ashamed.' "

Ann attended Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. She first volunteered in Mexico after her junior year, and later worked in the barrios of Mexico City after she graduated. From there she moved to Monteverde, Costa Rica, a Friends community high in the mountains. She taught in the community school using her skills in language, music, and drama, teaching English to the Spanish-speaking and Spanish to the English-speaking. 

She returned to the United States in 1980 to teach Spanish-speaking adults in Boston. She struggled with the values of the high-tech, urban existence there. At the end of the year, she returned to Monteverde and secured funding for a literacy program in San Luis. In a letter home, she wrote: 

"Ovideo Leiton, who is in my literacy class, stood up and read aloud a two-page report, complete with lists of figures, and he did it beautifully...People seem proud of their pasts and eager to tell their stories...I wrote a song about deforestation, which I sang as Guillermo pantomimed it in dancelike fashion."

She wrote of the incredible success of the eyeglass project they were wrapping up. "But it will take some time to get used to suddenly seeing San Luis farmers in glasses!"

She was pleased with the seeds that she had helped to plant but was anxious for the people to be committed to furthering their own projects to address the needs of their people. 'Sometimes when you're so in the thick of it it's hard to see what's really going on, but then looking back...something has definitely happened - is happening - oftentimes very intangible, but still evident in subtle ways."

She died 24 November 1983 of an infection while serving in Costa Rica.

"True simplicity should connote not poverty but, rather, a richness of spirit, a joy in living, the nurturing of creativity, sensitivity to the natural world, and love for all its creatures. As an expression of this love, this true simplicity, we must then, too, commit ourselves to building a more equitable world - a world in which this simplicity may thrive and be enjoyed by everyone: 'And when we find ourselves in the place just right it will be in the valley of love and delight.' "

--excerpt from an article written by Ann Kriebel and published in the Friends Journal 15 Dec 1984

Her pedigree: Ann Curtis Kriebel>>Dorothea Harned Reeder>>Walter Lewis Reeder>> Alice H. Harned>>John Harned>>John Harned & Phebe Laing (where we intersect with her.)

Favorite Discovery - Samuel Longstreet Forman (1856-1857)

I found a baby in the fall of 2018. He’d been lost for 161 years. And it’s only because of the Forman Family Bible that I’m confident he belongs in our family. You’ll recall that we learned from the family names listed in the Bible that the “L” in Samuel L. Forman’s name stood for “Longstreet.” So I wasn’t immediately surprised to happen upon a death record for Samuel Longstreet Foreman. Until I read that he died at age 14 months in 1857. Ancestry.com only had the indexed details, but FamilySearch.org had an image of the actual document (shown above.) No parents are listed for this baby.

Samuel Longstreet Forman, born 1805

The original SLF is named after his mother’s father (Samuel Longstreet.) So who would be likely to name a child Samuel Longstreet Forman in 1856? Wouldn’t it be logical that the son of Samuel Longstreet Forman would give that name to his son, possibly his first-born son? Samuel L. Forman had 2 sons: William Lake and Isaac E. In 1856, Isaac was only 15 years old, but William Lake had been married to Amanda Orilla McAllister since 1853. That date is fairly new since I only found their marriage date in a newspaper record in the past year or two. What troubled me about the date is that their first known child is our direct ancestor, William Charles Forman, born to them in 1859. Six years with no children? Though possible, it was unlikely, so I assumed they’d dealt with miscarriages or lost babies. So let’s assume William Lake and Amanda Forman have a baby boy in 1856, 3 years after their marriage, and they name him after William’s father, who died 12 years earlier. I think it’s a logical conclusion. I’m so confident that this baby belongs to them that I have added him to my trees on Ancestry and FamilySearch. Though it’s possible I’m wrong, I’m willing to risk being wrong than to leave this baby without a family (until we get to the next life and can find him and ask him!) But the mystery doesn’t stop there! Curious now about other potential lost babies to this couple, I searched for deaths of Forman children between 1853 and 1859. There was only one that didn’t connect to another family somehow, a baby girl named Mary who died in 1856 at the age of 15 days. Let’s do some math: Samuel Longstreet died 25 Sep 1857 at age 14 months, so he was born around July of 1856. Baby Mary died at 15 days on 4 Aug 1856, putting her birthdate in July 1856, the same as Samuel Longstreet. Could they be twins? 

 The single clue that makes me believe they belong in the same family is that both babies were buried in Machpelah Cemetery (now defunct) located at 11th St. and Washington Ave in Philadelphia. No other Formans who died in that time period were buried there. I’d never come across this cemetery before. (All interments were moved in 1895 to Graceland [North Mount Moriah] Cemetery in Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.) I am not as confident about placing Mary in the family because her name is so common, but I’m keeping her information with the family just in case. Had Baby Samuel Longstreet’s father or mother not insisted on including his middle name on the death record, we wouldn’t even be discussing any possibilities. It would have been so easy for the doctor to just write down “Samuel Forman.” In the elder Samuel L.’s death record, his middle name isn’t written out on his death record (or anywhere else but the Bible.) I am grateful to believe in a universal resurrection, the redemption of little children, the sealing ordinances that bind families together forever, and I am thrilled to know that Samuel Longstreet Forman can now take his place as the oldest son born to William Lake and Amanda Forman.

SO FAR AWAY

We’ve talked about our Baragwanaths in Cornwall, England, but what about the branch that traveled "so far away" - to South Africa?

  We aren’t closely related to Orlando Baragwanath, the subject of the book “Trail of the Copper King” by T. V. Bulpin – he’s my second cousin 7 times removed! Our common ancestors are Richard Baragwanath (born 1699) and Zenobia Stevens (born 1705), of Cornwall, England. 

Jump forward 5 generations and we encounter John Albert Baragwanath who took his family on the trip of a lifetime – from Cornwall, England to Durban, South Africa, in 1850. John Albert had been a Cornish sea captain.

  His first wife, Elizabeth Jane Trise, mother of Elizabeth Grace, Orlando, John Albert Jr., and Emily E., passed away the year before the voyage. He quickly married Wilmot Baragwanath (a cousin) later the same year. 

The family set sail in February 1850 on the “Lady Bruce.” They joined 150 other settlers intent on a new life in a new land, with the promise of land at the end of the journey.

Lady Bruce

“Each adult will be provided with an intermediate passage, including provisions on a liberal dietary scale, for the sum of 19 pounds, or a steerage passage for 10 pounds, and on arrival in Natal [Durban] have secured to him twenty acres of freehold land.”

The passage monies had to be paid in advance and each passenger needed their own knife, fork, tablespoon, teaspoon, metal plate, a hook-pot, a mug and bedding. Each ship was required to carry a doctor. John and Wilmot’s first child together, Charles, was born on the ship, but died a few weeks after arriving at their destination, aged 8 weeks. They arrived in Durban on 9 May 1850. John, Wilmot and the 4 living children settled on a farm called “Isipingo” just south of Durban. Son John Albert was later apprenticed to a saddle maker. He opened his own trading store, ran the Concordia hotel, and had some prospecting operations. He was very successful and prosperous. He married Elizabeth Adelaide Trennery and together they had ten children. But oldest son Orlando (Orrie), born in 1872, was the stuff legends were made of!

Orlando on his 100th birthday

Orlando lived to be 100 years old, and on the occasion of that milestone, an article was written about him in the “Rhodesiana” publication. “In the autumn of 1894 a solitary passenger climbed off ...[an] ox-drawn Cape cart in Fort Victoria. . . He was Orlando Baragwanath, a young man of 22 years with some mining experience, a prospector’s zest for the unknown and an explorer’s nature.” For the next few years he worked at different mines, learning and yearning for adventure.

In May 1899, Orrie and his partner Frank Lewis, set out, their supplies packed in 50 lb. loads packed on two wagons and a four-ply canoe. They had six pack donkeys and ten armed natives. They had no need of money so they took white calico called “limbo” for currency.

They had contracted for a 3-year stint with the Tanganyika Concessions Company, earning £25/month.
The surface copper had been known, worked and traded long before. But these men were the first to use dynamite to find more beneath the surface in Northern Rhodesia! They pegged and named many copper mines on their travels, and in 1901 discovered the vast copper field on the Wusikili river, which later became the great Nkana Mine and the heart of the fabulous Copperbelt. At the spot where John Albert had his farm and hotel now stands Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, which holds the Guinness World Record for the largest hospital on earth with almost 3300 beds! Some of this material was found in an article from: http://www.rhodesia.nl/rhodesiana/volume28.pdf “Orlando Baragwanath: A Centenarian Pioneer of Rhodesia” by Roger Howman. “Rhodesiana” Publication No. 28, July 1973, The Rhodesiana Society Salisbury, Rhodesia.
- "Trail of the Copper King" by T. V. Bulpin, illustrations used above by A. A. Telford, published November 1959 by Bailey Bros & Swinfen Ltd., London W.C.

CLOSE TO HOME - The Forman Home in Westmont NJ

 My grandparents, Edgar Charles Forman and Annie Elizabeth Baragwanath were planning a fall wedding in 1922. During that spring they bought some land in Westmont, New Jersey, just two blocks away from a large farm known as Morgan's Orchard. In that area, they saw their Dutch Colonial dream house. They had a modified version of the house built during that summer.

Edgar and Annie were married on October 5, 1922 and immediately moved into their new home.

3 boys were born in quick succession, then a daughter, Mildred. 

Later Ed purchased the corner lot next to the house, which was used for various purposes during the children's growing up years, including a chicken coop and some goats and even a calf at one time! Finally the lot was transformed into a beautiful garden with walkways, a pond, and a wishing well. 

Mildred outside the family home, 1940s

After Mildred married Nick Montana in 1950, they moved into the family home and stayed. Mildred took care of her parents as they aged, and her husband as his health declined. He passed away in 2014. She is 90 and still living in the family home.

The home (thanks Google!) in 2017. Nearly 100 years after it was built, it has never been owned by anyone else but the original Forman family.