52 Ancestors - #36 Jane Elizabeth Wilkins -Where Are All Her People?

Where are all Jane’s people and who are they?

I have known for some time that her parents were John Wilkins and Elizabeth Kelly and that they had emigrated from England. I know that Jane was born in New York State in April of 1838.

I have recently found a John and Elizabeth Wilkins who arrived in the Port of New York from England on June 21, 1831. Their ages fit my John and Elizabeth. In the 1850 Census Jane is listed as fourteen years old and living with her father age 51 and mother age 56. They are living in Evans, Erie County, New York. My recent search has also found additional family members of Jane. In the 1855 New York Census Jane is 17 and living with her older sister Lucinda who is 23, Lucinda’s husband Henry Bean and their one year old son John S. Bean. Also in the 1855 New York Census Jane’s parents John and Elizabeth have their daughter Mary Ann Johnson and her two year old son John Johnson living with them along with a three year old grandson Benjamin Wilkins. They are all in Evans, Erie County, New York. In the 1860 Census grandson Benjamin is still living with his grandparents John and Elizabeth Wilkins.

Jane Wilkins married George Riches in about 1855 in New York. George and Jane’s daughter Elizabeth was born in 1857 and Anna Jane was born July 9, 1861. Their third daughter, my great grandmother, Martha Matilda or Mattie, as she was known, was born in New York State on February 17, 1863.

Sometime after 1863, the Riches family moved from New York and was living in Waterville, Pepin, Wisconsin where their daughter Olive was born in 1867 (possibly July 28^th.)  George and Jane’s first son Edward Thomas Riches was born July 28, 1872. There was also another son George Bell born on June 20, 1875 at Round Hill, Pepin County, Wisconsin who died just before he was three years old on March 26, 1878 of diphtheria.

In June 1880 the Riches family was still living in Waterville, Pepin, Wisconsin and George is working as a farm laborer.  At that time, George’s 82 year old father-in-law John Wilkins was living with them. Twelve year old Olive and eight year old Edward are still at home while the daughters, Elizabeth, Anna, and Mattie are all married.

On August 23, 1889, 17 year old son Edward Thomas Riches married Mary (Maime) Gongia. George and Jane’s daughter Olive died after the birth of her third child in 1890.

Members of the Riches family then moved to Washington State from Wisconsin. Anna Jane, her husband Charles Atkinson and family, and Edward and his wife Mary and family settled in Elma, Washington some time before June 18, 1900. On June 20, 1900 George and Jane are living in Mentor, Clark, Wisconsin and their late daughter Olive’s three children are living with them while their father works out of town.

Sometime between June 20, 1900 and July 12, 1903, George and Jane also moved out to Washington with Olive’s husband William Patton and their three children. Mattie and her husband JT followed his father James out to Washington State and settled in the Jackson Prairie/Mary’s Corner area of Lewis County on a farm in 1903.

George Riches died July 12, 1903 in Rayville, Chehalis County (now Grays Harbor County), Washington from complications due to bad kidneys. George was 68 years old. He is buried at the Oddfellows Cemetery in Elma, Grays Harbor, Washington.

Jane remarried on September 24, 1908 to Barton Koontz of Chehalis and was living in Elma, Grays Harbor County, when she died on July 6, 1911. Jane was 72.

So where are all Jane’s people and who are they? I did end up finding two sisters Lucinda and Mary Ann. Her nephew Benjamin may lead to a brother. I have not been able to find anything more about the sisters or their children. I can find nothing more about Elizabeth Kelly and her family or John Wilkins family.

Great great great grandparents: John Wilkins/Elizabeth Kelly

Great great grandparents: Jane Wilkins/George Riches

Great grandparents: Martha Matilda Riches/Jefferson Thomas Graves

Grandparents: Effa Belle Graves/Alva Ashbury Tucker

Parents: E. Rosalie Tucker/Lionell Burris Mitchell

52 Ancestors - #34 Peter Riches/Ann Artis - They Crossed an Ocean and then Settled in Different Countries

In my search for my great great grandfather George Riches’ parents I found more family than I expected – and in unexpected places.

George Riches was born in May 15, 1835 near Yarmouth, Norfolk County, England. He was baptized on May 20^th in the Parish of Brooke in the County of Norfolk, in the Year 1835. His father is listed as Peter Riches and his mother as Ann, late Artis (meaning maiden name Artis though someone when transcribing the records listed her last name as Rute because they couldn’t read the handwritten ‘late’.)

Peter Riches was born in 1793 in South Elham, St. Margaret, Suffolk, England and was christened on January 29, 1797 in South Elham. His parents were Elizabeth Hanner and Henry Riches. Ann Artis was born June 29, 1801 in Yarmouth and was christened on July 14, 1801 in the Parish of Brooke. Her parents were Mary Love and John Artis.

Peter and Ann were married on December 25, 1820 at St Peter’s Church, Parish of Brooke, County of Norfolk. Their witnesses were William Artis and Elizabeth Artis, Ann’s siblings. It is possible that they had a daughter Maria born December 15, 1820 and christened on December 26, 1820 according to some but I haven’t been able to find the records on her.

During the 1841 Census the family was living in the Parish of Brooke, Norfolk County, England. Still at home with Peter and Ann was daughter Mary Ann age 15, daughter Sarah age 10, daughter Martha age 8, son George age 6, son Charles age 4, son Robert age 2, and the baby, one month old Samuel. Peter and Ann were also known to have older children at this time - Edward age 17 and William age 14 that were not living with the family in 1841. The family also was joined by Louisa in 1845/6 and John in 1849.

It is also possible that they were two more children with identical names who died young – another Edward born May 1821 and died June 1821, and another George born May 1834 and died June 1834. In addition there might be a son Henry born 1826, a son James born 1831, and a good possibly of a daughter Adelaide born in late 1841.

In 1849 their son Edward immigrated to Darlington, Ontario, Canada. Their daughter Mary Ann married Thomas Everett and settled in Suffolk, England. In 1853 at the age of 18 their son George Riches immigrated to America. Their daughter Sarah married John Coggle and at some point converted to the LDS Church. After 10 years of marriage John died in January 1861 and in August of 1862 Sarah, traveling with her son Heber, was part of the Henry W. Miller Company leaving Omaha, Nebraska with the Mormon pioneers traveling to settle Salt Lake City, Utah. Three weeks after Sarah arrived in Salt Lake City, she married Stephen Wilkens, who had also traveled with the Henry W. Miller Company and was from the same part of England.

Their daughter Martha married Jonathan Nichols and after his death James Eades. She also stayed in Suffolk, England. Sons Charles, Robert, and John and daughter Louisa also immigrated to Darlington, Ontario, Canada. Louisa married Thomas Humber and moved west to British Columbia.

In the 1871 Census of Canada Peter Riches is living with his son Edward and his family in the Darlington area of Ontario. In the 1881 Census of Canada Peter Riches is living with the Skinner family still in the Darlington area. He died two years later on December 8, 1883 in Darlington Township, Ontario, Canada.

Ann Artis Riches is believed to have immigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1871. In 1880 she is living in Salt Lake City with her daughter Sarah and her husband. Ann Artis Riches died on December 29, 1890 in Salt Lake City six months after her 89^th birthday.  She was buried that day in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

I never did find out why Peter stayed in Canada and Ann moved to Salt Lake City. Perhaps 50 years together was enough.

Great great great grandparents: Peter Riches/Ann Artis

Great great grandparents: George Riches/Jane Wilkins

Great grandparents: Martha Matilda Riches/Jefferson Thomas Graves

Grandparents: Effa Belle Graves/Alva Ashbury Tucker

Parents: E. Rosalie Tucker/Lionell Burris Mitchell

 

52 Ancestors - #25 George Riches – He Traveled to the Americas to Find His Fortune

George Riches was born in May 15, 1835 near Yarmouth, Norfolk County, England. He was baptized on May 20^th in the Parish of Brooke in the County of Norfolk, in the Year 1835. His father is listed as Peter Riches and his mother as Ann, late Artis (meaning maiden name Artis though someone when transcribing the records listed her last name as Rute because they couldn’t read the handwritten ‘late’.) According to information on his death certificate his father’s name was Peter, and with the month and year known to be May 1835 and since he was also known to be from an area near Yarmouth, this is our George Riches.  

During the 1841 Census the family was living in the Parish of Brooke, Norfolk County, England. Still at home with George age 6 was a sister Mary Ann age 15, sister Sarah age 10, sister Martha age 8, brother Charles age 4, brother Robert age 2, and the baby, one month old Samuel. George is also known to have older siblings at this time - Edward age 17 and William age 14 that were not living with the family in 1841. The family also was joined by Louisa in 1845/6 and John in 1849. During the 1851 census George is not with his family so it is possible that he is the 16 year old George Riches listed as a servant for the Utting family in the same Loddon Registration district.

It is also possible that they are two more siblings with identical names who died young – another Edward born May 1821 and died June 1821, and another George born May 1834 and died June 1834. In addition there might be an older sister born in 1820 and possibly a sister born in late 1841.

My George Riches traveled to "the Americas to find his fortune" at the age of 18. He married Jane Elizabeth Wilkins, daughter of John and Elizabeth Kelly Wilkins, in about 1855 in New York. Jane Wilkins was born in New York State in April 1838; Jane’s parents had also emigrated from England.

George and Jane’s daughter Elizabeth was born in 1857 and Anna Jane was born July 9, 1861. Their third daughter, my great grandmother, Martha Matilda or Mattie, as she was known, was born in New York State on February 17, 1863. Sometime after 1863, the Riches family moved from New York and was living in Waterville, Pepin, Wisconsin where their daughter Olive was born in 1867 (possibly July 28^th.)  In the July 26, 1870 census George’s occupation is listed as a raftsman. George and Jane’s first son Edward Thomas Riches was born July 28, 1872. On November 10, 1872, their eldest daughter Elizabeth and Edmund Bignal were married by a Justice of the Peace in Waterville. Elizabeth was 15 years old. There was also another son George Bell born on June 20, 1875 at Round Hill, Pepin County, Wisconsin who died just before he was three years old on March 26, 1878 of diphtheria.

On July 9, 1877 George’s daughter Anna Jane married Charles William Atkinson in Maiden Rock, Pierce County, Wisconsin.  Anna Jane was 16 years old.  His daughter Mattie then married H. (Henry) Pember Taylor on February 13, 1879 in Pierce County, Wisconsin when she was also 16 years old.

On April 26, 1880 daughter Elizabeth is married for a second time at age 23 to Horace Gray by a Justice of the Peace. In June 1880 the Riches family was still living in Waterville, Pepin, Wisconsin and George is working as a farm laborer.  At that time, George’s 82 year old father-in-law John Wilkins was living with them. On July 3, 1883 daughter Olive married William T. Patton in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She was 16 years old.

On August 23, 1889, 17 year old son Edward Thomas Riches married Mary (Maime) Gongia. George and Jane’s daughter Olive died after the birth of her third child in 1890. On December 12, 1895 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin daughter Mattie also married again to Jefferson Thomas Graves.

Members of the Riches family then moved to Washington State from Wisconsin. Anna Jane, her husband Charles and family, and Edward and his wife Mary and family settled in Elma, Washington some time before June 18, 1900. On June 20, 1900 George and Jane are living in Mentor, Clark, Wisconsin and their late daughter Olive’s children are living with them while their father works out of town. George is working as a stationery empem (?).

The 1900 census says that George came to the United States in 1844 and that he had lived here for 44 years. Since that does not add up and because of the family information that he came to this country when he was 18 and he was born in May 1835, it is more likely that he came here in 1854 or 1855.

Sometime between June 20, 1900 and July 12, 1903, George and Jane also moved out to Washington with Olive’s husband William Patton and their three children. Mattie and her husband JT followed his father James out to Washington State and settled in the Jackson Prairie/Mary’s Corner area of Lewis County on a farm in 1903.

George Riches died July 12, 1903 in Rayville, Chehalis County (now Grays Harbor County), Washington from complications due to bad kidneys. George was 68 years old. He is buried at the Oddfellows Cemetery in Elma, Grays Harbor, Washington. His wife Jane remarried on September 24, 1908 to Barton Koontz of Chehalis and was living in Elma, Grays Harbor County, when she died on July 6, 1911. Jane was 72.

By April 18, 1910, Edward had moved to Mukilteo, Snohomish, Washington and later settled in Everett, Washington.

Anna Jane died March 24, 1917 at the age of 56 in Olympia, Thurston County, Washington of mitral regurgitation and is buried at the Oddfellows Cemetery in Elma. Martha Matilda (Mattie) died on March 21, 1940 of cardiac failure at age 77. She is buried in Chehalis, Washington at the Claquato Cemetery. Edward Thomas Riches died on September 17, 1955 at the age of 82 in Everett, Washington.

Great Great Great Grandparents: Peter Riches/Ann Artis

Great Great Grandparents: George Riches/Jane Elizabeth Wilkins

Great Grandparents: Martha Matilda (Mattie) Riches/Jefferson Thomas Graves

Grandparents: Effa Belle Graves/Alva Ashbury Tucker

Parents: E. Rosalie Mitchell/Lionell Burris Mitchell

52 Ancestors - #13 Martha Matilda (Mattie) Riches - She Loved a Nice Car

Martha Matilda’s father George Riches immigrated to the United States from England in 1853 when he 18 years old "to find his fortune in the Americas."  Her mother Jane Wilkens was born in New York State in April 1838; Jane’s parents had also emigrated from England. My mother said that her grandmother always said they were of Scots descent - not Scotch - that was the liquor.

Mattie, as she was known, was born in New York State on February 17, 1863. She had two older sisters, Elizabeth born in 1857 and Anna Jane born July 9, 1861.

Sometime after 1863, the Riches family moved from New York and was living in Waterville, Pepin, Wisconsin where sister Olive was born in 1867/68. Edward Thomas Riches was born July 28, 1872. There was also another brother George Bell born in 1875 who died just before he was three years old.

Mattie married H. (Henry) Pember Taylor on February 13, 1879 in Pierce County, Wisconsin when she was just 16 years old and he was 26. Pember was very well to do and owned a number of Gay 90’s type bars and gambling establishments. Their son Louis Pember Taylor was born in late December 1879. Their second child LaVina died when she was just two years old. Mattie wore fabulous gowns and furs – and danced (which she remembered in her later, religious years with dismay.) In 1880 they were living in Maiden Rock, Pierce, Wisconsin.

Mattie found out that Pember was sleeping with the dance hall girls, something she would not tolerate, so she took their son Louis and left filing for divorce. She received a settlement and opened up a dressmaking shop.

Mattie then met Jefferson Thomas Graves who was five years younger than she.

On December 12, 1895 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin she married Jefferson Thomas Graves, the eldest son of James Americ Graves and Effa Beaubier. JT was very kind and gentle (and someone she could boss!) Mattie made the money decisions and ran everything – she definitely ruled the roost. They had two children - Effa Belle Graves born December 25, 1896 and James Vernon Graves born May 27, 1899. 

Martha Matilda and Jefferson Thomas

JT and Mattie followed his father James out to Washington State and settled in the Jackson Prairie/Mary’s Corner area of Lewis County on a farm in 1903. James helped them clear the land and build their house.

The Riches family also moved to Washington State from Wisconsin. Edward settled in Everett, Washington while her sister Olive’s family and her sister Anna Jane’s and family settled in Elma, Washington.  

Mattie’s sister Olive died after the birth of her third child, daughter Ada Patton and then sadly, Ada Patton Temple died after the birth of her first child, daughter Erma (later spelled Irma) in 1910. JT and Mattie took Erma and raised her for her father Veness Lewis Temple.

Erma and Effa

 November 28, 1911

Louie and Fern

In 1912 Louis moved from Wisconsin to Saskatchewan to farm with his wife Fern and their three children.

JT- Mattie-Effa

Irma-Vern

Fall of 1927 after Effa moved back home after the death of her husband Alva

Rosalie, Mattie with Vina, Effa, Stella, and Arnold

JT never learned to drive, but Mattie did (which was unusual for the time) and she liked having a car. My Aunt Stella remembered her grandmother deciding it was time for a new car (sometime between 1922 and 1928) so she went to the dealership, found a brand new Durant Star she liked and pulled out cash from her money belt on her waist (she didn’t trust banks) and paid for it in full. She was the only woman to have a car in the area and the only one to drive.  

Stella also related a story to me about Mattie getting stuck on the railroad tracks with a train coming and all of the kids were screaming (Stella, Arnold, Rosalie, and Vina.) JT just quietly said, “Now listen kids, quiet down, your grandma always knows what she is doing.” Grandma Mattie was praying loudly, the car started and the train barely missed them.  Her daughter Effa was very upset and declared that, “They were never riding with Grandma again!”

 

In spite of being somewhat indifferent to her own daughter Effa (Mattie definitely favored Vern and Irma), Mattie gave her two oldest granddaughters all the love that was missing from their mother. Along with their brother Arnold, they adored their grandmother even though she could be strict and stern. They all had very fond memories of her.

You have to expect the unexpected when doing genealogy research and that is what I found. I did a search in NewspaperArchives.com and found something in the October 10, 1930 issue of the local paper that I don’t think that my aunt Stella who was almost 14 at the time, my uncle Arnold who was almost 12 or my mother Rosalie who was 8 knew about. It appears that my great grandfather had a filed for separation from Mattie. According to the separation filing in the article I found, that “the defendant (Mattie) has lost all love for him, has treated him in a cruel and abusive manner, and that when angry with him Mattie struck him with an ‘ax, crowbar, clubs, dishes and other instruments.’” (So now I know why when my grandmother Effa would get mad – she would start throwing the dishes – she learned it from her mother.)

 

JT also stated that “a few year ago defendant joined a religious organization with which she had since been prominent, and has pronounced him ‘unfit and unclean and filled with evil spirits’, and refused to cook his meals or take care of his clothing; that he is 62 years of age and is compelled to work away from his farm to get necessities for himself.  The defendant had for the past 10 or 15 years banked the receipts from milk and eggs, which he thinks is now about $4000, but she will not tell him how much, nor give him access to any of it.” I imagine that things were quite chilly in the Graves household for some time after that but they did remain married.

It took me awhile to determine that there were two Mattie Graves in Lewis County born at about the same time – my Mattie M. Graves who lived at Jackson Prairie/South Chehalis area and Mattie N. Graves who lived in Centralia and had been born in Oregon.  Some things just didn’t add up so I just keep looking as many places as I could. It didn’t help that newspapers are notoriously inaccurate at times with names and sometimes it was Mattie K., Mattie V., or Mattie X.

I believe that my Mattie may have also been involved in the W.C.T.U. (the Women’s Christian Temperance Union) from the comment made in JT’s separation filing and because she had seen the evils of drink – up close - during her first marriage and she worried about her baby brother’s soul because he drank wine. She was very, very religious in her later years.

July 27, 1934 at Mt Rainier

Duke La Mere (Irma's 2nd husband), Mattie, Vina, JT

A holiday favorite was an old family recipe for an English Pudding. Unfortunately, Mattie and Effa did not share the recipe and it was lost when they died. There was another family recipe that was shared – The Family Fudge recipe. It is different than any other fudge that I have every tried and it remains a favorite treat when the cousins get together. All the daughters made it for their families when we were growing up. (And my cousin is making it for me Sunday afternoon when I go to her house for dinner and genealogy!)

The Family Fudge

Combine:

3 cups sugar

3 heaping tablespoons of cocoa

½ cube of butter

¼ teaspoon salt

1¼ cups milk

½ cup corn syrup

Cook until a soft ball – at a nice full boil (that can be stirred down).

Remove from heat.  Add:

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cube butter

1 tablespoon of peanut butter (if desired)

Let cool for 10 minutes, then beat it (with mixer) until it starts turning dull.  Then beat by hand a few minutes as it starts to set. Pour onto a large buttered plate.

 Mattie and JT approximately 1936

The Homestead at Jackson Prairie

May 23, 1937

 JT and Mattie Graves 1939

Mattie died on Thursday, March 21, 1940 at 9:15 am of cardiac failure at age 77. She had been in horrible, horrible pain from the severe arthritis that she suffered from for a number of years. She was buried in Chehalis, Washington at the Claquato Cemetery on Saturday, March 23rd.