Elizabeth Gertrude Shaw, known her whole life as Bessie.
For years, as I searched, I wondered what it would be like to find a tangible trace of my grandmothers childhood.
Her documented life began with her marriage to Adrian St.Germain in 1916. Married in St.John's Episcopal Church on North Main Street, Providence, they settled up the hill, at 46 Camp Street.
Little was known about her childhood. She only would say that it was horrible. My cousin Leonard surprised me when I recently asked him if his mom Adeline (the oldest of the four sisters) had provided any additional information - he said all that he knew was that she was an orphan.
I had never heard the word orphan used to describe her before and thought it was an over generalization. We were told that Bessie's mother had died in childbirth and that the father was John Shaw. A query to the cemetery for records produced only this information, a possible mother's maiden name of Green(e). For a long time that name was all I had to go on.
My research for Bessie's history has been tireless and yet completely blank. All I have had to use is the DNA of 2 daughters, Jane and Martha, and the DNA of several grandchildren, representing each of Bessie's live children.
I found Bessie Shaw on the 1900 Census last week. She was an orphan. In an orphanage.
In Providence, on Tobey Street, just down the block from Nick's on Broadway.
This discovery was a solid confirmation. Her birth date was a few years off of family belief but certainly truth. She was in the Providence Children's Friend Society with 45 boys, 35 girls and a staff of 10. I can only imagine her horror.
I mentioned the DNA of Bessie's daughters. That provided a few groups of stronger matches with common family names. Among them a few Irish clusters, including Atkinson, Acheson, Gould, Fanning and Walpole as probable connections on her paternal side. Although Bessie's maternal line is somewhat of a mystery, we thought that her father was Irish.
Well, as I said I read the census, the 1900, 1910 and 1915, all over Camp Street and the surrounding neighborhood. Bessie and Adrian lived at 46 Camp Street in 1920 Census. So I went back to that street and examined the residents more closely. Guess who was living at 45 Camp Street in 1900? Patrick Walpole and his wife, Catherine Atkinson. In genealogy there is little coincidence.
I believe that Bessie knew the house well, from her childhood. I do not think that it was any accident of fate that placed her back at 46 Camp Street in 1920.
I questioned the possibility that the Walpole's on Camp Street were Bessie's great aunt and uncle. My guess is that John Shaw's mother is either an Atkinson or a Walpole.
I am consumed with curiosity now about the orphanage. Where did Bessie go next? I cannot find her in the 1910 census, but of course in 1920 she is at 46 Camp Street. I do another search and find that only 5 of the original 81 children are accountable as adults on the census by 1920. The odds for becoming a successful and productive person after being orphaned seem to be pretty bad.
My research on the orphanage begins here, The Privilege of Caring, a Brief History of Children's Friend.
According to what I have found, the Tobey Street Home was constructed in 1863 and served as the Home for Children’s Friend Society until 1926. Here, children would be educated and trained until the age of 12 when they were placed in private homes. In the 20th century, reformers argued for the removal of children from institutions and their placement in family foster homes.
Dependent on private support for its operation, Children’s Friend Society attempted to balance the children’s needs with frugality at the Tobey Street Home. A 1906 inventory documented “90 iron cots, furnished, including blankets, at $3.75 per pair, clothing for 75 children including three changes for boys and girls, Sunday suit, school suit and play suit, also three pairs of shoes for each at an average of $20.00 per capita.” By the 1920s, operating the large, drafty building was a major drain on Children’s Friend Society’s resources and it was deemed impractical to keep the orphanage open.
About the agency, As the oldest child welfare organization in the state, the roots of Children’s Friend reach back to the 1830s. With this long history comes an unusually rich treasure of historical documents and materials that tell the story of how this agency and others have cared for children over the course of three centuries.
The agency’s archives include handwritten intake ledgers where the cases were presented to the Society’s Board of Managers to evaluate whether a child should be admitted to the Society’s Home. Annual reports chronicling the activities and challenges faced by the organization have been published since 1836. Agency archives also include board minutes, correspondence with children, rules and regulations enforced in the orphanage managed by Children’s Friend, and other materials.
A little bit of luck and I find Bessie still living at the Tobey Street Home in 1905. This surprised me because clearly she was past 12 years old.
I haven't yet accounted for the time between 1905 and 1916 but soon. How did she get out? Where did she go?
The Children's Friend Society employed Mrs. Caroline Easterbrooks as the matron of Tobey Street House. The nurse was Louise Moore. In 1901 Louise Moore married Walter Easterbrooks, son of Caroline.
Sometime after the 1905 census Bessie moved to Dexter Street to the home of the Easterbrooks. Probably when Caroline retired from her position as Matron of Tobey Street in 1907. Bessie is shown to be living with them in the 1910 census.
Caroline Easterbrooks passed away in 1914, two years before Bessie's marriage to Adrian. From stories told to her children Bessie apparently worked a bit for the Telephone Company. We know that Martha Dunbar also worked there and introduced Bessie to Adrian. They would marry in 1916.
Bessie's Marriage Intention was filed in June of 1916. As I sift through the information I can dismiss many "facts" as lies.
Bessie states here that her date of birth was July 4, 1893, making her conveniently the same age as her husband-to-be. We have three documents that place Bessie's date of birth at July 11 or 13, 1890.
Martha Dunbar and William Ferguson introduced Bessie and Adrian. Bessie named her second daughter, Martha, after Martha Dunbar. They were pals who had supposedly met while they both worked at the telephone company.
Bessie's witness, Bertha May Harribine also worked at the telephone company. Bertha's mother was from England and her name was Mary Jackson. Since Bessie has no mother to name I believe that she "adopted" an Elizabeth Jackson, from England as her mother on this document.
Next let's look at the address Bessie uses. 394 Blackstone Street. She was not living there in the 1915 census. But the family living at that address had a daughter Gretchen Bens, who also worked at the telephone company. I would again speculate that Bessie "adopted" this address for the purpose of the document.
Here is the notice of the Engagement announcement at the home of Miss Harribine,
After they were married Bessie continued to be skilled at Whist,
I decided to schedule an appointment with the Providence Children's Friend to look at their archives. It was there that I learned more about Bessie, and John J. Shaw. One of the journals which they kept had some entries for Bessie Shaw that were astonishing. The journals were indexed alphabetically, and numerically. This page represents the surnames beginning with "S", and as you see, Bessie Shaw.
The next page was a brief history of what is known of Bessie's background. It states her father, John J. Shaw Died Sept. 1898, janitor, ### college?
A closer look provides more details; Her date of intake is in the left hand margin, February 3, 1894.
As I read on, Bessie born July 4, 1890. Daughter of John J. and ____ Shaw. It goes on with details of an apparent attempt to place Bessie in the home of H.P. Westbrook, in Philadelphia, Pa. This was a fact confirmed by Bessie's daughters, that she had "spent some time" in Philadelphia.
Eventually a search for John J. Shaw with the correct time frame leads to this death return. Note that the articles from the death notice in the Providence Journal indicate that he was college educated and confirm the death in September 1898. Janitor is on the death return as well.
Once I knew that he was the station master at Riverside I was able to gather much more information about their life. Here you see the Bristol, Rhode Island City Directory for 1887 placing John J. Shaw at the Riverside Station.
The East Providence City Directory in 1891 had John J. Shaw living in Riverside, on Burnside Avenue. Burnside Avenue ends right across from the Riverside Depot. Following that is a reference to a Hotelier license in 1887.
On Wednesday night, July 27, 1887, John J. Shaw and his wife were in a buggy accident on Warren Avenue. I know that he was living on Burnside Avenue in 1891 so I am guessing that they were heading up Warren Avenue towards Riverside when the accident happened.
A quick look at the 1885 census confirms John J. Shaw as the station master then also.
And his wife, in 1885, Elizabeth Shaw, same house number.
After I found John J. Shaw it seemed easy to find the wife's death with the time frame we had.
Well, this certainly gave me more information than I expected. I now have the names of her parents as well, William and Catherine Johnston. Here is her short story from the Providence Journal,
Going back to see what the neighborhood was like when they lived in it I began to search for familiar names. This map from 1875 names the owners of several properties surrounding John and Elizabeth's residence at the corner of 2nd and Warren Avenue.
Below is the census for the same year. This is a few years before John J. Shaw and Elizabeth come into the picture and the names of Charles Davis and Levi Easterbrooks are right there. I believe that one of them is the future landlord for the Shaws. Charles Davis is John J. Shaw's friend in the newspaper article, and Levi Eaterbrooks is a connection to Caroline Easterbrooks at the Tobey Street home. Sometime between the death of Elizabeth Shaw in September 1893 and the Providence Journal, Sept 1898 death notice of John J. Shaw, someone took Bessie to the orphanage, because she is already there when her father dies.
In 1880 census Elizabeth Shaw is a house servant for the family of Waterman Stone, Superintendent of the Railroad. This is probably John's connection to the job of Station Master.
More research about the Tobey Street Home shows me that Bessie was in fact a resident for many years, she appears in the newspaper several times, 1899, 1900, 1907, and 1908,
Most children at the Tobey Street Home were placed out around the age of 12. We already know that Bessie went to live with Caroline Easterbrooks in 1907 but there were notes of another attempt to place Bessie earlier. Two pages from the journal tell a bit more of the story,
In October of 1899 Mrs. Albert Johnson had shown an interest in taking Bessie. Born in 1846, she was Caroline Tillinghast, the sister of Pardon S.Tillinghast. In October of 1899 the board voted on this and decided to turn the decision over to Mrs. Ladd. In November of 1899 Mrs. Ladd gave the recommendations above, Bessie was not ready to leave the home.
