Charlotte Butler Nelson memorial window dedicated at First Baptist Church 2

As I said in my post here about the church stained glass window dedicated to my great

 

grandmother, in all the references I found about this, she is referred to as Mrs Elias Nelson.


When I contacted the First Baptist Church in Truro hoping to have a photo of
the window, I referred to my great grandmother as Charlotte Butler Nelson. They had trouble finding anything until I sent them an excerpt from the dedication service program and a newspaper story about the event.

Success. I soon received two photos. You can see why they had trouble finding the window.

It's a beautiful window that remains installed in First Baptist Church to this day, almost 53 years after it was dedicated.

I'm glad that women are now known by their own names, and not those of their husbands, and understand that it was different era, but it really wasn't that long ago.

The never ending story continues....













© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2018 All rights reserved

Charlotte Butler Nelson memorial window dedicated at First Baptist Church 1

photo courtesy of Karen Nelson

My Nova Scotia great grandmother, Charlotte Butler Nelson, was a devout Baptist. She joined the First Baptist Church in Truro in 1886, and remained an active member of the congregation for the rest of her days -- that would be 60 years in all.

In 1966, 20 years after her death, Charlotte's son Robert donated a stained glass window depicting the Resurrection to the First Baptist Church in her memory. As was the practice of the time, in all references to this event, she is referred to as Mrs Elias Nelson. Times changed.

Truro Daily News

The window was dedicated at the church is a special service on 10 Jul 1966, and reported on in the Truro Daily News.

Sadly, I don't think the window is installed any longer. I've contacted the church on Facebook, hoping to have a photo of the window. I provided them the story you see here, together with the dedication service program.

They're still looking. What happened to the window, I wonder?

The never ending story continues....

© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Elias Nelson and Charlotte Butler celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary

Updated 17 Jul 2019

My second great grandparents, Elias Nelson and Charlotte Butler, lived long lives, as I recounted here in 2016.

A cousin recently sent me the story below, published on the remarkable occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary in February 1937. The story tells me more about their lives than what is written about them in their respective obituaries in 1942 and 1946.

Truro Daily News, February 1937

I learned that Elias lost his leg in an accident in the Truro railroad yard in 1913. I never knew that. My cousin tells me that he hated his artificial leg, and rarely wore it. I can only imagine how uncomfortable and heavy artificial legs were in the early 20th century. When he lost his leg in 1913, Elias was 59 years old. He was in his 92nd year when he died in 1946. How difficult the rest of his life must have been.

As an employee of the Canadian National Railway, Elias was able to travel by train at a discount. Charlotte was also able to travel on his pass too.

While they were married by a Presbyterian minister on 15 Feb 1877, Elias was a lifelong Anglican, while Charlotte was a devout Baptist. As their children grew up, each adopted either the Anglican or Baptist traditions. I suppose the Presbyterian minister was a neutral territory decision, perhaps?

photo courtesy of Karen Nelson

The Nelson homestead referred to in the story was originally in Salmon River. It is where my grandmother and all of her siblings were born. Yes, Elias and Charlotte lived at the same address from 1877. Elias may have been born there. At some point after 1921, Salmon River was absorbed into Truro proper.

The photo of the house (see left) was taken in 1968. The original structure had been added on to, more than once, over the years. As of July 2019, the house is still standing.

Google Street View July 2015

The never ending story continues ....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

Our immigrant ancestors -- Thomas Butler (1781-aft 1819)

Much of my 3rd great grandfather Thomas Butler's life after his marriage on 7 Apr 1806 in Massachusetts to Mary Southwick (1788-1865) remains a mystery to this day. He wasn't considered part of the New England planter migration and settlement in Nova Scotia -- that era had passed by the time he migrated to Nova Scotia.

Massachusetts Vital Records

Thomas was born on 20 May 1781 in Falmouth on Cape Cod to Captain John Butler (1751-1794) and Parnel (or Pernal) Hatch (abt 1759-1842). He was the eldest of six children.

There is an unproven story passed down that Captain John served in the British Navy and was lost at sea.

At some point after their 1806 marriage, Thomas and Mary arrived in Nova Scotia, initially in Halifax. Was this Thomas a sailor?

Thomas and Mary had perhaps four sons. It's not known whether the two eldest were born in Massachusetts or Nova Scotia. However the marriage certificate of their third son, my 2nd great grandfather Samuel (1816-1887) to his second wife, Esther Lawson, notes that he was born in Halifax.

Thomas may have died around 1819, but documentation for that is difficult to find. His widow Mary remained in Upper Stewiacke, no doubt to be near her son and grandchildren, until she died in 1865.

I've traced Thomas' ancestry back five generations, to another Thomas Butler (abt 1617-abt 1689), who was born in England, and arrived in New England in about 1637, settling in Sandwich on Cape Cod. We don't know where in England that first Thomas was born.

There is another old Butler family in Massachusetts, this one on Martha's Vineyard, where the first recorded there was a Nicholas Butler (abt 1588-1671). There is no proven link between Nicholas of Martha's Vineyard and Thomas of Cape Cod, but perhaps Nicholas was a nephew? One of  Nicholas' Martha's Vineyard descendants -- yet another Thomas Butler (1654-1732) -- married a 1st cousins 9x removed of mine, Jemima Daggett (abt 1666-?), granddaughter of Governor Thomas Mayhew, who was the second immigrant ancestor that I profiled here.

There are many unsolved mysteries with this immigrant ancestor. Hopefully, there are records yet to be found in both Cape Cod and Nova Scotia that will explain all....eventually.

The never ending story continues....

Lives lived (but the details are sometimes fuzzy)

My Nova Scotia great grandparents both died after living long lives in the 1940s. Charlotte Butler Nelson (1854-1942) predeceased my great grandfather Elias Nelson (1854-1946). Two confusing and error-riddled funeral notices for Charlotte appeared, one following the other, in the Truro Daily News on 15 May 1942 five days after her death.

Very little fact checking seems to have been done once these two stories were filed. Charlotte's middle name wasn't Moore. This was a family name on Elias' side, not on Charlotte's side. My 2nd great grandmother, Charlotte's mother, was Mary Olive Fisher (abt 1819-1865), not Alice Fisher. Yet, perhaps she was known as Alice, and perhaps that's why my grandmother was called Alice. Certainly, that name wasn't seen in either the Butlers or the Nelsons until my grandmother came along. Since Charlotte lost her mother when she was just ten or 11 years old, this too could account for her mother's name discrepancy.

Charlotte was born on 3 Sep 1853. It was Elias who was born on 17 Aug 1854. Listed as her surviving children are her son Robert and daughters Emma and Alice. Except my grandmother is identified as Mrs Alice Purdy of Great Village, instead of Mrs Alice Dougherty of Montreal.  Two of Charlotte's daughters (my great aunts) Loie Nelson Purdy (1891-1930) and Letitia Nelson (1880-1941) preceded her in death.

Phew! Those are a lot of mistakes. When you lose a loved one, it can be hard enough. But to have the details so thoroughly muddled in print, and then never corrected (I haven't found any correction) definitely would rub salt in the wound for her loved ones.

Still, Charlotte's obituary did give me new information -- that she had moved to Truro to act as housekeeper for her brother, after his wife had passed away in 1873. In time, she and Elias met. They were married in Truro on 15 Feb 1877. When Charlotte died in 1942 , they had been married 65 years. A milestone to be sure.

When Elias died four years later, all of the details were correctly reported in the Truro Daily News (see right). I suppose the newspaper wanted to make sure of the facts in 1946.

As you can see, the causes of Charlotte and Elias' deaths weren't reported. In Charlotte's case, it was bronchial pneumonia and influenza, while the cause of death recorded for Elias was senility.

Charlotte was a Baptist, while Elias was Anglican. Their children were all raised as Baptists.

The never ending story continues....

Death Calls Charlotte Butler Nelson and Elias Nelson

Yesterday, I wrote about my great grandparents. Thanks to one of my found, distant, far flung cousins (well, she does live in Nova Scotia), I have their newspaper obituaries which, written in 1942 and 1946, hark back to an obsolete era of writing and are full of tidbits that shine a light on their lives.

Reports of Charlotte Nelson's death and funeral 

The report of Charlotte's death does have a couple of errors. Moore was not her middle or maiden name. In fact Moore is not a Butler family name, but a Nelson family name. And her mother's name was Olive, not Alice, but reading handwritten notes, I imagine it would be easy enough to mistake Olive for Alice. There are other mistakes in the report of Charlotte's death, mixing up her daughters' names.

Report of Elias Nelson's death

Charlotte was a Baptist, while Elias was Anglican and a Mason. Their children were raised as Baptist. I'm fortunate to have my great grandparents' marriage and death certificates. But I do wonder what happened to their family bible, photos and other records.

The never ending story continues....

Charlotte Butler & Elias Nelson of Colchester, Nova Scotia

My paternal great grandparents, the parents of Alice Nelson Dougherty, were Charlotte Butler (1853-1942) and Elias Nelson (1854-1946). Elias was a farmer, and the son of Charles Nelson (1812-1892) and Sarah Ann Moore (1819-1889). It's not clear if Elias farmed the land granted to Alexander Nelson. There were after all, many descendants of Alexander still throughout the Colchester, Nova Scotia area in the late 19th century.

Charlotte was born in Upper Stewiake to Samuel Butler (1816-1887), who was a blacksmith, and Mary Olive Fisher (abt 1819-1865), as one of ten children, most of whom survived childhood. After her mother died in 1865, Samuel married again, to Esther Taylor Lawson the following year, and had seven more children.

Samuel Butler was born in Halifax to parents who had migrated to Nova Scotia from Cape Cod. He was one of three sons. It isn't clear when his parents Captain John Butler and Mary Southwick died. At some point, Samuel found himself living in Upper Stewiake, where he met Mary Olive.

Mary Olive Fisher was the daughter of John Waddell Fisher and Margaret White Godfrey, who was a cousin of Noah Webster who created Webster's Dictionary.

Elias had one brother, Horatio--yes, really--who was born about 1848. Horatio appears in the 1871 census, but then he disappears.

Charlotte and Elias married on February 15, 1877, in Truro, Colchester. In addition to my grandmother Alice, they had five other children. Their eldest daughter, also Charlotte, died young, making my grandmother the eldest surviving child. The others were Letitia, Emma, Robert and Lophemia, called Loie. Below is the 1901 census of the household. Note the liberty taken with the spelling of Charlotte: Sharlot. In another census, she is identified as Charlet, and in yet another, Sharlott. Finally, in the 1921 census, the last one available right now, she is identified as Charles. Oh, the indignity.

Sadly, I have no photographs of my great grandparents Charlotte and Elias or of my grandmother's siblings.


Charlotte, Elias and their daughter Emma are buried in one plot at Watson Cemetery in Truro. Loie, Letitia and Robert are buried in the same cemetery, separately. My grandparents Alice and John are buried in Sherbrooke, Quebec. But that's a whole other blog post yet to come.

The never ending story continues...