Miniature Book Abundant Genealogy: As Presented by Mary Craven Hawley

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 craven coverwCraven with penw

    Just imagine, if you will, the genealogy of three families written in a miniature book--which describes this situation precisely. A lot of information, mainly birth dates, were put in this tiny book (if you can believe it!). The Craven, Griswold, and Hawley descendants appear to be active on genealogy websites and it appears as if some dates might be clarified for today's researcher by their ancestor (possibly Mary S. Craven)!

    Dew-Drops was published by the American Tract Society of New York, circa 1847 as a devotional calendar. It was not meant as a family record and as you can imagine, reading tiny entries proves somewhat difficult. In addition to the size, Dew Drops presents another problem in that it is fragile. As such I cannot take photographs beyond those you see here. Scanning the book would destroy it. I have been as careful as possible to accurately record the information within, but there are some guidelines of which the reader should be aware.

    The entries were recorded in two different hands. The presentation page and some entries are written in one elegant hand while others were recorded in another handwriting. Subsequent records look as if they were inserted haphazardly. I have a suspicion, however, which may prove out. Because Dew Drops is a miniature calendar, it appears as if the elegant-handed scrivener placed her entries upon the corresponding month of the life event being recorded. Please do not take these months as gospel, I was only able to check against the dates of Giles Griswold and Richard Craven, but both entries and their corresponding months were confirmed by online research. To ensure I do not provide inaccurate information, I will put the month of these entries in brackets, so you will know it is my addition based on evidence in the calendar book and not information actually recorded in the book.

    The less elegant scrivener did not apparently feel like following this same pattern. Yet, he or she usually wrote the month of the life event being recorded. Due to these circumstances, I listed the entries as they appear in the book and not chronologically.

  craven presentation pagew  I used the exact spelling/grammar/punctuation as found in the book and yes, your ancestor changed back and forth from "Craven" to "Cravin," sometimes only one entry apart. Lastly, a couple of entries are divided as such "/." This is a way to denote these entries were written on the exact same page (not two pages facing one another). 

 

 Entries in the order and spelling/grammar as they appear: 

Mary S. Craven Presented by A.E. Griswold May 15, 1849.

Richard Craven Born Mar 26, 1814 / Hannah Goff Born Oct 29, 1815

Mary Craven Born May 30, 1835 (there is the possibility that it is Mar, not May)

Rachel Cravin Born August 30, 1836

Georg Cravin Born Dec 3, 1837

Richard Craven Born Oct 18, 1838

James Cravin Born Dec 3, 1840

Angeline Craven Born May 25, 1843 /  Mary C(?) Hawley [March] 1835 Philadelphia, Pa. The word "born" is written next to "Mary"

Chas. Cravin Born May 28, 1838

 

Samuel Craven Born Dec 8 1843

Born & Died E (J) M C Hawleys oldest boy [[March] 1861 Salem Ohio.

Cooper? Craven born Dec -- 1847

Born illegible Hawley [March] 1867 Iowa

Emma Craven Born Dec 2, 1850

Connie Craven Born Oct 4, 1851

Elmer Craven Born May 16 1861

Grace Craven Born May 16, 1863

Born [April] 1812 M.M. Griswold

Born [May] 1847 Mary Adelaide Griswold / R.E. Hawley [May] 1862

Born Rachel A. Smith [July] 1836  / Killed in battle R. P. Craven Petersburg [July]1864

Lida Hawley Born [September] 1864 Iowa. Added in a different hand "Oct 30" The entry was written at the very end of September, which might explain the discrepency between September and October birth dates. 

Died [October] 1838 Mary Adelaide Griswold

Born [October] 1834 Angeline Eliza Griswold (This one is tough. Looking through a magnifying glass it originally looked like 1835, with a "7" right to the left of the "5". Another look revealed a "4" written above the "5". I believe it is not a "7" but instead a strike through and the date is meant to be 1834.)

Enoch Hawley born [November] 1819

Born [December] 1810 Giles O (G?) Griswold

 

     The bit of information I found online is as follows. The research is not mine, beyond gathering it for the article. I've provided links to the pages where I found the information. 

Craven

     Mary Simpkins Craven was born in 1835 to Richard Craven and Hannah Goff. Mary married Enoch Hawley in 1859 in Columbiana County, Salem, Ohio. Around 1863 Enoch and Mary moved to Cedar County, Iowa. I found a little about their lives in and entry of  The Coast by Honor Wilhelm. 

 

"The first store was operated by Mrs. Mary C. Hawley, wife of Enoch Hawley.
About 1885 the settlement of the surrounding country had grown so that a town was platted by Mr. Judson, shortly after which Enoch Hawley platted another adjoining and called his, 'Forest City.''

     Mary Craven Hawley  died in 1892.

 

     Mary's sister, Rachel married H. Watson Smith in 1873, which might explain the lone "Smith" entry.

 

     craven georgw Searches on their brother George have born no fruit.

 

      Richard, was a Lieutenant with Company K. 100th P.V.V. (Roundheads). As recorded in Dew Drops, he was killed at Petersburg, Virginia at about twenty-six years of age. I am providing the following link and information in case anyone  from the family wants to follow up. 

From the Michael Kraus Collection

  1. Lt. Richard P. Craven, CDV, ink signature on front, “Yours Truly, R. P. Craven” Keenans Gallery, 118 West Fourth St., Cincinnati, Ohio.

  2. Lt. Richard P. Craven, CDV, identified from identical image KCT collection. , A.W. Phipps, photgrapher, New Castle, Pa.

  3. Lt. Richard P. Craven, CDV, woodcut portrait memorial card “Richard P. Craven, Lieut. Company K, 100th P.V.V. (Roundheads) KILLED at Petersburg, Va., July 30th, 1864”

     Thanks to Ohio Genealogy Express.the I was able to find more about brother James. You will notice the following states James as the fourth child in a family of seven, and yet in the record he is clearly the fifth. Perhaps George died young,? "James was born in Lawrence Co., Pa., in Dec. 1840; he was the fourth child of a family of seven children born to Richard and Hannah (Goff) Craven.  His father was a heavy contractor and builder, which business our subject also early in life adopted.  In 1860 he went from Pennsylvania to Tennessee, and was contracting and building in Nashville at the outbreak of the late war.  On account of the war and demoralized state of business in the South, he came to Ohio, and while stopping at Salem, Columbiana Co., he enlisted in Co. B. 65th O. V. I., in October, 1861.  Shortly afterward his sight became seriously affected, which unfitted him for the service; he was promptly discharged, but was confined to hospital in Philadelphia for some time in consequence.  Having recovered his usual health he returned to Ohio, and assisted his father who had taken the contract for building the Mt. Union College in 1862.  The following year the subject of these notes took the contract, on his own account, for building the round house for the P., Ft. W. & Chicago R. R. Co., at Alliance.  July 3, 1863, he married Emma Werner, daughter of George Werner, of this county.  He has since resided in Alliance, except one year in Pennsylvania, and has made contracting and building his life work; some of the best business rooms of Alliance were erected under his direction.  In 1876, he erected his own handsome two story brick residence on Linden Ave.  Mr. and Mrs. Craven have four children living, viz. - Nellie M., George R., Minnie S. and James F.  Mr. Craven is an active member of the I. O. O. F."

Hawley

    Lida Hawley married one Hans Berthusen. A discussion of their barn, which sounds like quite a barn,  and her love of hiding easter eggs for the area children is here. She died in 1943. 

 

   Griswold

     It is obvious why the Hawley family is included in the book, considering Mary married Enoch, but I am curious about the Griswolds. The book was given to Mary S. by Angeline Eliza Griswold, so they were in all likelihood friends. From that maybe Griswold genealogy made its way into the book. In any event, the Griswolds are an interesting family. I found the following information about Giles Oliver Griswold:

    "Mr. Dunham's first venture in Cleveland was in the wholesale drug business. . .with G. O. Griswold and Horace Benton, under the firm name of Benton & Dunham. In 1864. . .the drug trade was taken by Horace Benton, under the name of Benton, Myers & Canfield. . . Truman Dunham & Co., with Mr. Griswold as the company, took charge of the paints, oils and glass trade. The next year they admitted Henry A. Sherwin as a member of the firm. In a few years another division was made and Mr. Sherwin took as his share the paint and varnish lines, thus beginning the Sherwin-Williams Company, now known all over the world. A new firm, Griswold & Dunham, confined attention entirely to linseed oil in connection with the Warren plant." The link which supplied the above information is here. Angeline Eliza Griswold was Truman Dunham's second wife and Giles Oliver Griswold was her father.  

    I did find one Mary Adelaide Griswold who was born about 1843 who married Edgar Daniel Markham in 1861. She died about 1880, and I have no idea if one of the above Mary Adelaide is this woman, due to the contradiction in dates. 

      I have done cursory glances for everyone mentioned in Dew Drops. Obviously, some searches did not provide information. Other information is only available through subscription services and Passed Time is still operating on a shoe-string budget. Besides, I really do not want to take all the fun out of the search for the descendants of these families. As always, our hopes are that descendants will share their information here on PT--which is always FREE to readers and contributors.

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Author Pat Earnest, currently lives in Dover, Delaware, with family, both two- and four-footed. I am a published author and history enthusiast, who has great regard for the past and is especially proud of the Pennsylvania German culture. In addition to Passed Time, I am currently working on a project for the German Historical Institutes Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies (http://www.ghi-dc.org). I also contribute to various newsletters and I am working on another book...or two. Feel free to email me at pcsuter@hotmail.com with questions, comments, information, a shared love of history, an idea, because you want to chat or you have an great idea for PT. Please be aware, Files With Attachments will not be opened, but immediately deleted.

 

 

 

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