FrancoAmerican Gravy: Family History & Stories from Upstate New York, Quebec and Acadia

Stories of family and ancestors who lived and worked in Cohoes (textile and garment workers, butchers and barbers), Waterford (canalers), Whitehall (farmers and canalers), Port Henry (iron miners and Civil War soldiers), Champlain (canalers and farmers) and other towns along the Champlain Canal in New York State with some diversions to the places they emigrated from....Quebec (landless farmers, shoemakers, sailors, soldiers), Acadia (more farmers), and even Cornwall, England (tin miners).

Friday, October 8, 2010

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills, Part the Fourth...continued.

On January 19th, 1872, John A.B. Wills filed his intent to became a US citizen in the Essex County, NY county clerk's office. This is a scan of a copy that is in the county clerk's office.

And on September 16th 1876, he became a naturalized United States citizen, after signing the original document now in the Essex County, NY county clerk's office . This copy below, a little difficult to read, states:

State of New York
County of Essex

I, John A.B.Wills, native of England now residing in the town of Westport in the County and State aforesaid, of the age of 32 years, and now, or lately, owing allegiance to her Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, do hereby declare that it is my bona fide intention to became a naturalized citizen of the Unites States of North America, and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any and every foreign Prince, Potentate, State, or Sovereignty whatsoever; and particularly all allegiance and fidelity to her Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland."
Subscribed and sworn this 16th day of September A.D. 1876
John A Wills
Before me
???Roberts

Click on image to view in larger format

Here's the complete sequence of stories about John Albert Berryman Wills and Anne Reed:

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills 1

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills 2

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills 3

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills 4

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills 5

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills 6

The Last of England

Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Journey of John Albert Berryman Wills, Part the Fourth: from coal in Pennsylvania to iron in the Adirondacks

John Albert Berryman and Anne reed did not remain long in Pennsylvania. We know this because in 1871, their third child is born in the mining town of Moriah in the Adirondack Mountains. Here John and Anne remained and had family nearby. John's brother William Henry Wills, a Civil War veteran and his wife also lived.

In the Essex county courthouse in Elizabethtown, John Albert Berryman Wills filed his Declaration of Intent to become an US citizen. on January 19^th 1872. He stated he resided in the town of Moriah. During the 19th century the iron ore beds in Moriah supplied the nation with the ore to built cannon and artillery for the Civil War at the US Arsenal in Watervelit, NY. The ore was also sent to Troy for the manufacturing of parlor stoves for which Troy became so famous.

Moriah is on the west side of Lake Champlain and before the railroads carried the ore down to the Hudson Valley, the Champlain Canal boats did the job.

Aerial view of Port Henry , Moriah and Mineville on the west side of Lake Champlain

It was here in Moriah at the Cheever Ore Bed and/or in Witherbee that John Wills worked as a iron miner, lived and raised his family. It was here, in Essex County, where he became a naturalized United States citizen in 1876. Again working as a miner was not an easy life

The following photos are from the Essex County Historical Society and although taken in a period of time after John Wills worked in the mines in Moriah, they do help to give a sense of the conditions and work the labor force encountered daily.