We know very little about my 2nd great-grandmother, Sophia. Her surname has been spelled as either ROLAND or RULAND. We do not know where in "New York" she was born, nor do we know anything about her family, parents, siblings. Another messy brick wall which I will have to do more research on "soon". Written in my To-Do list, with where, what, why details. Other details in my Research Log. (Thank you Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers for the great research tools!).
The Oregon Historical Society (Portland, OR) has a card on her as follows. Unfortunately I have yet to find out the basis of their information noted here:
She married in early 1842 in at the age of 18 years to a 28 year old entrepreneur, Francis William PETTYGROVE. After marrying, likely in Calais Maine, the couple stopped in New York to bring aboard various supplies which FW intended to sell to the new settlers making their way across North America to the Pacific Northwest. He was an agent with A.G. & A.W. Benson of New York, purchasing over $15,000 of merchandise to bring with him.
The newly-weds immediately embarked on 10 Mar 1842 sailing around Cape Horn to the Sandwich Islands (Hawai'i), where Sophia delivered her first child, Alfred, on 3 Jan 1843. FW brought not only his new wife and items to sell, he also brought his one-year-older sister, Mary Charlotte Pettygrove, married to Phillip Foster, with their four children. Happily this meant that Sophia had an experienced sister-in-law to help her in her first child's birth. From Hawai'i, the two couples and their families moved to a different barque and in 19 May 1843 arrived in Oregon City, then moving to Portland, Oregon Territories. After 3 more children were born, they moved up the coast, where FW founded Port Townsend; and 3 more children were born in Port Townsend.
In other words, Sophia spent the first year of their married life - this 18 year old girl and her 10 years older husband - on a sailing boat, pregnant, then with a small baby, born in a strange island out in the Pacific Ocean, ending up in a wilderness forest by the sea. Whew! Courage indeed. And I'll suppose definitely, LOVE as well.
While in Portland region, FW tossed a coin with his partner A.L. Lovejoy for the rights of naming the new city known as "Portland". FW Pettygrove won the toss.
Sophia & FW had the following 7 children, all but the first born in Portland:
1. Alfred Benson, b 3 Jan 1843 Sandwich Islands, d. 19 Apr 1878; m. 1867 to Sarah F. Shean, 4 children (all deceased as children)
2. Amelia "Millie" Ann [ancestor], b 1844, d 18 Jan 1888 Brooklyn NY; m. 17 Jan1864 Dr. Louis DeBarth KUHN, Port Townsend, WA Territories; 10 children
3. Benjamin Stark, b 30 Sep 1846, d. 7 Mar 1913; m 10 Oct 1874 to Zalia McKinley, Victoria BC, 1 son, 3 stepchildren
4. Sophia, b 14 Nov 1848, d. after 1930; m. 17 Nov 1865 to James McIntyre Port Townsend, WA; 6 children
5. Lucinda R., b 28 Sep 1866, d 5 Apr 1872 (16 yrs old)
6. Lucy Charlotte, b 8 Feb 1858, d 21 Nov 1928 San Francisco CA; m abt 1890 to Edward Stephenson, 1 daughter known
7. Francis "Frank" W. Jr., b 28 Jul 1861, d 1 Dec 1922 San Francisco CA; m abt 1885 to Isabella Burkett, 2 children known
Unfortunately, when Sophia died on 21 Feb 1889, her obituary notice in the Morning Oregonian (Portland) stated only the following minimal detail:"Port Townsend, Feb. 21. - Mrs. Sophia Pettygrove, wife of the late T.W. Pettygrove, the oldest pioneer in Port Townsend, died today after a lingering illness of several months." [note error in husband's name]
The photo of the Pettygrove family (Oregon Historical Society) has been copied into a number of books and articles about the Pettygroves, and shows FW PETTYGROVE seated with wife Sophia on the right, FW's sister, Mary Charlotte Foster seated on the left, Benjamin S. standing, daughter Sophia behind, Frank Jr on the ground.
Note that the standing daughter could be either Sophia or Lucy.
If you have information about the Pettygrove family, or about Sophia Ruland/Roland, I would be thrilled to receive any details via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below. Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting.
2 comments:
Hi Cecila,
I was quite interested in this post because I also have a distant relative who was in the Sandwich Island around the same time as your Sophia. My Harriet Fairchild and Anthony Ten Eyck married 1836 in Albany, and they had two children b. 1839 and 1844 (don't know where they were born).
Unfortunately, I don't know the exact date they sailed, but I do know she died 5 Nov. 1846 of tuberculosis. Her husband was the U. S. Commissioner in the Sandwich Island bet. 1841-1843. He must have held another job, because they were still there in 1846.
My question to you is, where did you find your information, is there a ship manifest anywhere? Wouldn't it be wonderful if they were on the same ship together? Many thanks.
Look at Find A Grave Memorial# 147834667 I just listed Sophia and her Obituary from the Port Townsend NEWS paper.
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