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Alonzo Blodget |
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Sarah Ann Morgan |
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Alonzo Blodget (probably Ziba, Dianna) was born about 1826 in New York UN10. A firm connection between Alonzo and his
parents has not yet been found, but there is a significant amount of evidence
which links Alonzo to Ziba and Dianna Blodget.
A
record dated February 12, 1849 by H. Wallace, Deputy Clerk for Lorain County,
Ohio, indicated that Alonzo Blodgett (as spelled by H. Wallace; Alonzo himself
wrote his surname with just one final “t”) applied for a marriage license for
himself and Sarah Ann Morgan, both of Lorain County OH1. Their marriage
record indicated that they were wed the following day in Wellington Township,
Lorain County, by A.N. McConoughey. At the time of the 1850 census, Alonzo was a chairmaker. Alonzo
and Sarah moved to Michigan and probably lived in Grand Rapids, since there was
a large furniture industry located there. Incidentally, the nickname of Grand
Rapids was “Furniture City”.
On February 29, 1864 in Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Alonzo enlisted in Michigan’s 21st Infantry, Company D as a private BR13, SP2, US2, US8, FE1. He volunteered for a term of service of
three years, and he served under Captain Thomas C. Stevenson, commanded by
Colonel William B. McCreary FE1. On
March 11, 1864, he joined his regiment at Chattanooga, Tennessee BR13. Alonzo’s unit was assigned to the
Engineers Corps, led by General Smith, which was positioned on the north side
of the Tennessee River, near Chattanooga SC2, EV3. The Engineering Brigade built a bridge over the river, as well
as storehouses in Chattanooga SC2, EV3.
On June 11, 1864, the regiment marched to Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, where
the men began to construct hospitals and were involved in the operation of
mills EV3. Alonzo died of chronic diarrhea on
August 25, 1864 at the hospital on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee FE1, BR13, AM3, SP2. He was buried at Section C, Site 1389 US2 or Section C, Site 1289 US8 at the Chattanooga National Cemetery US2, US8.
·
1850 US Census: lived in Wellington Township, Lorain County,
Ohio.
Sarah
Ann Morgan (Zenas, Rebecca) was
born on May 10, 1825 in Ohio, according to her death certificate. Other
possible birth years included 1828, as stated on her pension declaration FE1, about 1829 in “O” (Ohio) UN10, in 1830 according to her marriage record MI7, about 1832 in Ohio UN13, or
in May 1833 UN14. A
mark in the 1870 census indicated that her father may have been born in a
foreign country, but the absence of a mark in the same field for her mother
meant that her mother was born in the United States. In 1880, Sarah stated that
both of her parents were born in Massachusetts UN13, but in 1900, she stated that her father was born in Connecticut
and her mother was born in New York UN14. The
death certificate for her son, Myron A. Blodgett, stated that his mother’s
maiden name was “Morgan” MI21.
Sarah
and “Alanson” Blodget were witnesses to the wedding of her sister, Harriet
Morgan, to William Owen on September 23, 1855 in Orleans, Ionia County,
Michigan IO3. She was widowed in August 1864, and was listed as “Sarah, Widow of
Blodget Alonzo” in the 1890 Veterans Schedule Record SP2. Alonzo Blodget’s pension record, which was filed on March 24,
1893, stated that on October 20, 1864, Sarah Ann Blodgett appeared before John
S. Bennett, the County Clerk for Ionia County, Michigan, and swore that she was
thirty-six years old, a resident of Otisco in Ionia County, and the widow of
Alonzo Blodgett FE1. She stated that she
married Alonzo on February 13, 1849 in Pittsfield, “Loraine” County, Ohio by
“Rev Mr McCony”, a minister of the
gospel, and under oath, she also stated that her name before she was married
was Sarah Ann Blodgett FE1. As witnesses to the Declaration of Pension, Harriet Owen and H.F. Brown stated that
they were personally acquainted with Sarah and Alonzo “for a number of years”
before he entered the service and attested that they were married FE1.
According
to a sworn statement made by Sarah Ann Blodgett on October 20, 1864, her son,
Homer E. “Blodgette”, was then twelve years old and was born in January FE1, which indicates that his birth year was 1852. Homer E. Blodgett, who was twenty-six
and was born in Hillsdale County, Michigan, was married to Ellen Covey in
Belding, Ionia County, Michigan by William A. Luther, Justice of the Peace on
May 13, 1878 MI23. Homer E. and Ellen
E. Blodgett resided in Otisco, Ionia County, Michigan during the 1900 US
Census, which recorded that he was born in January 1853 in Michigan to a father
who was born in New York and a mother who was born in Ohio UN14. The death certificate for Eugene Blodgett stated that he died
as a widower on February 20, 1924 in “Fairplains” (Fairplain Township),
Montcalm County, Michigan at age seventy-five MI5.
Alice Lillian
Blodgett was born on September 27, 1858 in Michigan,
according to her Oceana County, Michigan, death certificate. Alice L. Blodgett
was born on September 27 and was seven years old as of October 20, 1864,
according to a sworn statement made by Sarah Ann Blodgett FE1, which would indicate that her birth
year was 1857. In 1870, she was thirteen years old UN12.
Sarah stated that
“Moryon M. Blodgette” was born on September 10, and he was five years old in
October 1864 FE1, placing his birth in 1859. The birthdate
for Moryon was written in a very cramped hand and was partially faded, and his
name was misspelled FE1. His death certificate stated that he was
born on September 10, 1859 in Ionia County, Michigan to Alonzo Blodgett and
Sarah Morgan, who was born in Ohio MI21. Myron was
eleven years old in 1870 UN12. In
1880, he was listed in the household of Thomas and Sarah A. Sharkey as
“Blodgit, Myron”, the son-in-law of Thomas Sharkey UN13. Myron R. Blodgett, twenty-one, and Lydia A. Brown,
seventeen, were married on August 20, 1881 in Belding, Ionia County, Michigan MI23. In this marriage record, Myron stated
that he was born in Otisco, Ionia County MI23. “Lida A. Blodget” died less than two months later on October
7, 1881 from “Lung Fever” MI21.
Myron A. Blodgett next married Mary Shannon on August 3, 1882; the marriage
location was not provided, but probably occurred in Ionia County because the
record of the marriage was written in the Return
of Marriages for Ionia County MI23. Sarah A. Sharkey of Belding, Ionia County was a witness to the
marriage MI23. A Kent County, Michigan divorce record
dated June 10, 1897 indicated that Myron A. Blodgett was the complainant
against Mary A. Blodgett; the alleged cause for divorce was cruelty, and the
case was contested and then dismissed MI22. Myron was enumerated in Fairplain, Montcalm County, Michigan
with his wife, Louise, with whom he had been married for eleven years UN15, which would place their marriage in
1899. Their marriage record has not yet been located. Myron and “Louis”, his
wife, were again recorded in Fairplain Township in 1930, but Nancy Loper was
the head of the household, and Myron A. Blodgett was Nancy’s son-in-law UN17. Myron A. Blodgett died at age
seventy-two on November 20, 1931 from apoplexy in Bushnell Township, Montcalm
County Michigan MI21.
Sarah’s
second marriage was to Thomas Sharkey MI7, IO3; the
1870 and 1880 census records report that Thomas was a peddler originally from
Ireland, born in either 1835 or 1836 UN12, UN13, and
the marriage record stated that he was thirty-three years old MI7, IO3, which indicates a birth year of
approximately 1834. Sarah A. Blodgett, age thirty-seven of Otisco, Michigan married
Thomas Sharkey, age thirty-three of “Panes ville” (probably Painesville) Ohio
on July 3, 1867 in Otisco, Ionia County, Michigan in a ceremony officiated by
C.H. Fisher and witnessed by William and Lucy Sitrou or Sitson IO3, MI7. The 1870 census reported that
the household of Thomas Sharky included Sarah A., Eugene, age nineteen (born
circa 1851), Alice, age thirteen (born circa 1857), and Myron, age eleven (born
circa 1859, although the 1880 census indicated that he was nineteen, born circa
1861) UN12. All of these family members had ditto marks under the surname of
“Sharky”, and all of them indicated that their father was of foreign birth UN12. Two aspects of this census record are unclear. The surnames of
Sarah’s children with Alonzo were listed as “Sharky”, rather than “Blodget”,
and the census made a reference to their father as being of foreign birth,
while the 1850 census indicated that Alonzo was born in New York. This
was without a doubt an error of the census enumerator, because later records
show that the surname of Homer Eugene, Alice, and Myron was “Blodgett”.
She may have been the Sarah A. Sharkey who was described as the
widow of Thomas who lived at 228 4th
Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1893 US17. According
to her probate record, Sarah Sharkey signed a mortgage on December 12, 1895 for
$200 with 6% interest for Lot Number Twenty of Vincent’s Second Addition to the
Village of Belding, Ionia County MI24. Myron
Blodgett, the son of Sarah A. Sharkey, petitioned the Probate Court for Ionia
County on May 3, 1900; his petition stated that Sarah was seventy-one years old
and was “feeble and infirm” and at that time owned real estate with an
estimated value of about $250 and an estimated personal estate of about $100 MI24. Myron requested that a guardian be appointed for Sarah because
she “by reason of extreme old age and sickness, and other causes, is now
mentally incompetent to have the charge and management of her property, and has
been mentally incompetent for some time past” MI24. He stated that on or about March 15, 1900 she owned
approximately $775 but had spent all but $100, and MI24:
she
did on the 3rd. day of May, A.D.
1900 bargain and purchase a house and lot in the said City of Belding paying in
cash on the said above property about the sum of two hundred dollars and giving
a mortgage thereon as security for the balance of the purchase price of about
two hundred dollars. That the said Sarah A. Sharkey has no conception of the
value of money, and your petitioner further represents that he has good reasons
to believe that the said Sarah… will barter and fool away what little property
she still has left…
On May 5, 1900, George W.
Moulton as appointed as a Special Guardian for Sarah A. Sharkey by the Judge of
the Ionia Probate Court, and on May 24, 1900 he presented an inventory of her
goods and chattel, which included $200 in the Belding Savings Bank, one lot and
house, and $5 collected for rent for the house MI24. A little less than two months before her death, she was enumerated
in the 1900 census, which stated that she lived with her daughter-in-law, Mary
Blodgett, who was married, not widowed, but was the head of the household, with
no husband listed with her UN14. In
this census, Sarah was listed as “single”, rather than divorced or widowed UN14.
According to her death certificate,
at 5:00am on July 27, 1900, at age seventy-five, she died as a widow in Belding,
Ionia County, Michigan from a weeklong bout of pneumonia. Her handwritten death
certificate listed her father as Al… Blodgett and her mother as Rebecca Morgan,
but a Copy of Record of Death, which was typed, listed her father as Almy C.
Blodgett. The manner in which her father’s name was written on her death
certificate could be interpreted as Alenzo, Alenyo, Almzo, or Almyo. Sarah’s
death certificate also stated that she was twenty-two years old when she first
married, and she had eight children, but three were alive in 1900. She was
buried in Otisco Cemetery, in Belding, Ionia County, Michigan.
Her
probate record stated that she died intestate on July 27, 1900 and listed her
three children: Alice L. Morse of Elwood, Oceana County, Michigan, and her sons
Myron Blodgett of Belding and Homer E. Blodgett of Otisco in Ionia County,
Michigan MI24. Elizabeth Bradley petitioned the Probate Court as she stated
she was a creditor of the late Sarah Sharkey in the sum of “two hundred dollars
and upwards” MI24. On July 30, 1900,
Homer E. Blodgett petitioned the court that the administration of the estate be
granted to William J. Wilson, but it was instead granted to William J. Just on
March 25, 1901 MI24. The debts and valid
claims against her estate amounted to $400, but because her personal estate was
insufficient to pay these debts, William Just was ordered to sell her real
estate, which was appraised by George Rosevelt and William Foote at not more
than $280 MI24. Her numerous debts included $73.75 to Wilson & Friedly,
$51.75 to William J. Clark for a gravestone, $4.50 to Palmer Coville, M.D.,
$4.00 to J.F. Pinkham, M.D., $4.25 to W. Andrew Dutt, M.D., and $29 to J.D.
Morris, M.D. MI24. In addition to the
four physicians listed in her probate record, three nurses were also owed money
MI24. Mary Town was owed $3 and Mrs. N.R. Hulbert stated that she
provided nursing care for Sarah for one week in December 1899 for which she was
owed $6 MI24. Nellie Gessler stated that she was her nurse “night and day”
from July 21, 1900 until July 29 (it is unclear who made the date error, as
Sarah died on July 27), for which she was owed $10 MI24. William Just’s undated “true and perfect inventory” of her
estate comprised just two items MI24. He
noted that she had “cash in Belding Savings Bank” of $130.90 and she held Lot Number
Twenty of Vincent’s second addition to the Village of Belding, Ionia County,
which he valued at $300 MI24.
This he sold on February 19, 1902 to Elizabeth Bradley for $53.50 MI24.
·
1850 US Census: lived in Wellington Township, Lorain County,
Ohio.
·
1870 US Census: lived in Otisco, Ionia County, Michigan.
·
1880 US Census: lived in Otisco, Ionia County, Michigan.
·
1890 Veterans Schedule: lived in Ionia, Ionia County, Michigan.
·
1900 US Census: lived on Main Street in Otisco, Ionia County, Michigan.