Where the Name Edwin Ruthven Came From

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scottishchiefsTradition within the Westover family for centuries has been the re-use of common first names. Perhaps the most common is “John”. There is also plenty use of the names Jonas or Jonah, William, and, of course, Gabriel. In researching an upcoming video on the life of Edwin Ruthven Westover we have been a bit hung up on his name. Where did it come from and why did Alexander and Electa choose that name for their first born son?

There has to be a reason for this, right?

In researching we have found that while we can find plenty of Edwin Westovers in both America and in England in the 18th and 19th centuries we cannot find a connection to our branch of the Westover family. There isn’t an uncle or a distant cousin that we can find who would influence the naming of a baby born in 1824. In fact, in looking at the names Alexander and Electa chose for all their children we cannot find a Westover family connection: Edwin Ruthven, Albert, Charles Beal and Oscar Fitzland have no connection within Westover history whatsoever.

Well, there’s no crime in that and we suppose the reasons are clear enough.

One of the lingering questions in our minds is how disconnected Alexander Westover himself may have felt from the Westover family. (We wonder as well about his faith). Unlike his father he was separated while quite young with most Westovers he may have known:

Alexander was one of the younger children of Amos and Ruth and he was born, it appears, during the transitory years of the Amos Westover family migration to Ohio.

Most researchers feel he was born in Canada, though no official birth records exist that confirm 1798 as the actual year of his birth or the place of birth. Records just say he was born “about 1798” and Canada is where most assume the family was based upon the census records found from the early 1790s for Amos and Ruth.

Alexander was clearly with Amos and Ruth in Ohio when they got there around 1815. In 1821 both Amos and Ruth died within weeks of each other, leaving Alexander seemingly alone in the wilderness without much connection to the old family home in Sheffield, Massachusetts or the growing homestead of his uncles in Eastern Canada. (And, obviously he didn’t have text, email or Skype).

Alexander married the sister of his sister Olive’s husband, Electa Beal — and I’m guessing if he had much of a sense of family at all it came from this association and that of the Beal family.

So family is likely not the influence in naming the first child of Alexander and Electa. So where then did the name come from?

In trying to answer that question we have found that the name “Edwin Ruthven” was quite popular in the 19th century.

A quick search of Google or Family Search reveals thousands of uses of the name, mostly from this time period. What caused that?

The answer? Pop culture.

In 1809 a historical novel by the title of The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter was published and it became wildly successful. I’ve never read it but the book very much was an influence to youthful readers in the early 19th century in the ways that movies are an influence today. The book is based in 14th century Scotland and details in a romantic and suspenseful fashion the heroic adventures of Sir William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and — Edwin Ruthven.

How popular was it? Think Harry Potter. That’s how popular it was.

Of course, now I HAVE to read the book. The question in my mind is who was caught by its charms — was it Alexander or Electa? (Or both?)

I’m betting on Electa, at this point, given the romantic nature of the book and the fact that it appears to have been so popular with teenage girls. Electa was born in 1802 — so she would have been a teen right at the height of popularity for the book in the US (it was a sensation in Europe before coming to America).

Can we be sure this is the true origin of Edwin’s name?

No, of course not. And in the grand scheme of things in relation to family history it may in fact not be all that important.

In a more clinical search for the meaning and origin of the names “Edwin” and “Ruthven” we find them to come directly from Scotland.

Edwin was the name of a 7th century King, the first Christian conqueror in Scotland who was famous and beloved — and for whom the city of Edinburgh gets its name.

Ruthven has a dual meaning in Scotland as both the name of a clan but also the name of a place meaning “red river”. There is, as with many words of Gaelic origin, vast confusion over how the name “Ruthven” is pronounced. It is in Scotland pronounced “Riven”. (I’ve never heard anyone here say it that way, though).

This little side note in family history has been helpful to me in a few ways.

First of all, the spelling of “Ruthven” has always been a question in my mind. I’ve seen many instances on official family group sheets of various age that some have spelled it “Ruthvin”. There is enough of that that I have never known which is correct. I’m fairly certain now it is supposed to be “Ruthven”.

But even more important to me is the little glimpse it gives us into the personality of Electa (it HAS to be her) — a bookworm! A romantic! (Would she love The Book of Mormon? No doubt. But what about The Princess Bride? NOT inconceivable).

That makes her one of us, right?

All of this, you know, won’t make the video.

I can’t confirm my theory and, frankly, the story of Edwin is already running long at better than 1500 words.

But, once again, this is just one of the fun little diversions of doing family history — a 30-minute exploration brought on by questions that opens the door just a little more to an endearing part of our family past.

Brothers

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The years of our family history from 1714 to 1834 is something of an emotional journey for me.

I think the more we invest in discovering the lives of our ancestors the more they jump off the page and become real to us. Such is certainly true of Jonathan Westover, brother to Jonas Jr.

I have learned what a critical role he played in the early history of the family. To be honest, I had never considered him much before doing this research. His journey is part of a compelling story, a story marked by one generation after the other where Westover brothers left a mark and had a profound influence. Watch our latest video:

I had never considered Jonathan Westover because he was “just a brother” of my 9th great grandfather, Jonas Westover, Jr.

He’s a good example of the “cousins” initiative put forth by the Church on family history.

The Church is encouraging us to work on the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins in our lines because our temple work is never truly done. We all tend to focus on the Mothers and the Fathers, and well we should. But these from whom we are not directly descended are important, too.

Our Jonathan Westover is a prime example of that.

For me this began in validating some dates — a common task in genealogical work. And I discovered something I had never considered before: I noticed that Hannah Westover, Abigail Westover and Jonas Westover Jr all died within a month of each other. Immediately it led me to question: what about the kids?

You do that don’t you? I do. In the dark of night I’ve had the conversation many times with my wife about what would become of our children if both of us suddenly died. It is horrific to contemplate and it DOES happen to some people. It happened to Jonas, Jr and Abigail.

That’s where I learned about Jonathan. I wanted to find out who took charge of the kids. That wasn’t a necessary question for the purposes of genealogy or temple work. I just wanted to know.

At first I was impressed to look at the sisters of Jonas Jr. It seemed logical to me that one of the aunts would take charge. But that search never really bore fruit.

Then I found the will of Abigail Westover and noticed that she had listed two of her own brothers and the brother of her husband, Jonas Jr, as executors. I decided those were the people I needed to look into.

I never had to look further than Jonathan. I started, as one usually does, with the hard data: when was he born, when did he die, where did he live, when did he marry, how many kids, etc.

I discovered that he was unmarried when Jonas Jr. died and that he himself didn’t marry until years later.

Curious about that, I started looking closer at dates and places. Then I searched for anything I could find about Jonathan in those places.

I found a gold mine about Jonathan in Sheffield, Massachusetts. And by discovering the story of that place I was able to put together the story of Jonathan Westover.

What a story it is! And what a service he performed for the family.

It is hard to me to think of him in terms any less than I feel for others here we have profiled. He was a great, great man and I am proud to be related to him. I’m glad I know this story.

It helps me to better consider my own actions as a man and as a brother. It inspires me to become better.

That’s the value of real family history.

These people are bearing their testimonies to us. They are sharing the lessons of their lives.

And we are better for it.

Take an Indian to Lunch

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When I was a kid my Dad exposed me and my siblings to the satire of Stan Freberg and one of my favorites of all his stuff is the song “Take an Indian to Lunch”, from the classic Stan Freberg album The United States of America. I fear it forever tainted my view of Puritans.

We dig deep into the life of Puritan settlers in a serious way with an in-depth look at the life of Jonas Westover Sr. and Jr in our newest video titled Jonas and Jonas:

Our purpose behind these videos is simply to present our family history in a new way.

We want to engage our younger generations and with so many of them with their faces in screens we are hoping some video family history finds its way to them. This is family history you can share. We hope it gets passed around on social media, used in family nights, and maybe in a lesson now and then.

But by doing this we take some risks.

First of all, for this far-back history especially, it is hard to get the details right in such compressed time.

As I discussed this over the past year or more with my Dad he has always reminded me that we need to make these videos brief. Our first video was 2-minutes but our last two have been better than 7-minutes each. I’ve blown off the brief-video counsel twice now, it seems.

What’s hard is knowing what not to include. We want to be entertaining and we want to be complete. How to do that while being brief?

I lose sleep over getting something wrong. I live in fear that one mistake will discredit all of our other efforts. When you’re going back 300 to 400 years how can you really know?

And I fear I will editorialize, or, worse, slip in a little Stan Freberg or something equally — and inappropriately — light-hearted.

I’m being serious. In a parallel life I have written about the topic of Christmas for 25 years now and part of that has been a rather exhaustive study of Christmas history. Puritans very famously did not celebrate Christmas, at least as we know it, and that too has affected my opinion of them. How could it not? And how can I not talk about that?

If you’ve read this far and haven’t watched the video yet — relax. I didn’t talk about Puritans and Christmas and there’s no Stan Freberg. I restrained myself.

I am learning that every life history has holes.

While you don’t need a day-to-day record to get a good read on a person the more detail you can find the better. Where the information is thin the questions multiply — and so do the theories. And that is where a lot of trouble gets stirred up in doing family history.

So in producing these things I’m attempting to stick with just the facts.

This 7-minute video of the 80-year life of Jonas Sr. and his eldest son has taken weeks of research and has touched on more publications than I care to admit.

It seems a bit of a disservice to cover such a life in so short a window. But in this case, those were the facts I could confirm. I am sure that as time goes by we will uncover more verifiable information about Jonas that we can add to our record.

I am receiving some feedback on the videos and on the site over all. I’m gratified at the response. And yes, we’re working on more videos. in fact, we have about five in various stages.

For now I’m focusing mostly on individuals who lived before William Ruthven Westover.

In my view this becomes a much bigger and more difficult job to feature folks who lived closer to our own time. I’m not sure yet how I would approach doing a video about my grandparents, for example — especially since my Dad and his siblings are still living and have a lot to say. How any of that gets covered briefly is really beyond me. For now, I’m putting that responsibility on them.

For now, there are lots more videos we can do of a low-hanging fruit variety to keep us busy.

Some are asking — what about the Riggs? What about the Smiths? Or what about whoever?

And the answer is yes: we want to be as inclusive as we can. We want to get to them all.

And we want to involve more people in producing these things as we can.

I’m thrilled to report that one of my favorite cousins has agreed to voice a video and that Dad too will not only narrate but write an upcoming video. This excites me greatly and I invite as many others as want to jump in here as we can possibly get.

The lessons I’m learning by doing all this are many. The miracles I’m experiencing are NOT insignificant.

I am growing in respect and admiration for my ancestors and I feel inspired as I learn more about them.

One of the things I’ve discovered about these 17th and 18th century Puritan ancestors is that they usually created some sort of will towards the end of their lives. A common thread I’ve noticed after they have discussed the disposition of their worldly goods to various family members is an expression of faith — a testimony! — right there in the will.

It’s the coolest thing.

I’ve seen enough of these things now to not only feel the Spirit of what they are expressing but to change my mind about my own will. What examples they are.

And, for the record, if you must, you can catch Take an Indian to Lunch right here.

Who Raised John Westover?

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As we dig deeper into the history of our Westover family in the 18th century we can only come up with more questions than answers. Consider the long life of John Westover, son of Jonas, Jr. and Abigail Case Westover. John was the baby of the family — the last of five children to Jonas Jr. and Abigail that came into the world between 1702 and 1711.

Grandfather Jonas St. died in 1709. Then Grandma Hannah Westover died in early May of 1714. A few weeks later, mother Abigail died and finally, on June 3rd, Jonas Jr. died. Within a span of a month the Westover children lost grandmother and both parents. Was there a sickness?

The Westover children were ages 12, 11, 9, 5 — and our John was only 3. Who raised these orphan Westover children? And, more importantly, what happened to these grandchildren of patriarch Jonas Westover, who came from England?

We may never know the details of that saga. What we do know is that the Westover family experienced something between the years 1714 to 1734. In all likelihood the children were placed under the care of three uncles, all tied to the probate records we can find associated with Jonas, Jr. and Hannah. They were John Case, Jr. and Samuel Case, as well as Jonathan Westover — all of them being around the age 50 in 1714 and clearly the patriarchal leaders of their families who would have influence and authority given to them by the parents.

What became of those kids?

First born Abigail lived until 1755. She married in 1719 to a John Forbes, who was nearly a decade older. She would have been about 17. They had one son. It appears Abigail never left Simsbury.

First born son Nathaniel Westover, born in 1703, also died in 1755. But he died in Sheffield, Massachusetts after he married and had a very large family. Perhaps somewhere within his posterity we can find more clues about what happened in his childhood.

Next up is Sarah Westover, who was born around 1705 but died just a few years after her parents in 1718. She was quite young, so she didn’t marry. And her burial is recorded in Simsbury, which only means that the bulk of the Westovers had not yet moved into Massachusetts.

The next child is son Jonah Westover. He lived until 1768, buried with the other Westovers at Sheffield. He married Deborah Eno — that’s a big family name in Puritan New England — and they had a large family. The town of Egremont was formally organized in 1761 and Jonah Westover was chosen as a selectman of the town council.

His property is referenced many times in the probate records of other settlers as a boundary, so it appears he either had a central piece of real estate or own a substantial amount of land. Being older than our John by a few years you have to question whether or not he was the defacto head of the family of Westovers that had settled in Sheffield. If you recall from our last post that the pictured Westover Bacon Potts farm was originally built by John Westover in 1742 but was also known as the Jonah Westover House. Could they possibly have lived together with their large families?

That brings us to what we can find of our John Westover. The years of 1730-1735 — when John would have turned about 21 years or age or so — are telling in the record. By this point the Westovers are in Sheffield. Sheffield is recognized as being officially organized in 1734. According to History of Berkshire County Massachusetts settlers began arriving and developing lands around 1726.

In the “first division” — or the portion first settled — is a record of Jonathan Westover — meaning uncle to our John Westover and siblings, brother to Jonas, Jr. In the “second division” — or lots later developed — was John Westover (but no mention of Jonah). The “third division” appears to be set aside for future generations and town properties for ministers, schools and cemeteries. For the next couple of decades the town fought for recognition in the territory and annexed additional areas — such as Egremont — in later years. The Westover name appears throughout these records with John, Nathaniel, and Jonah often mentioned.

There is surprising detail that has survived of life in Sheffield during these years. Much of it has to do with religion and the debates from the differing nationalities that were settling the area. These broad histories give us brief clues into the lives and characters of the Westovers. In the early 1760s a church was formed — tied to the Church of England — and John Westover was chosen by the minister as clerk, which was some calling of distinction within the church. As such he could lead from the book of common prayers and was recognized in surviving letters as a “good and pious man”.

This is an important clue because it establishes a link of sorts with loyalties to the crown that the John Westover family was at least influenced by. As the American Revolution approached, as will be shown in John’s profile here later, it would become a house divided among his many sons and their choices just before and during the revolution would scatter them far and wide.

This really is a sweeping tale, every bit as compelling as the Westover migration from England a century before and the Westover pioneers a century later who would push in to the American West.

The Westover family, it appears, were constantly moved by deep religious conviction.

Westover Bacon Potts Farm

Adventures in Finding Colonial Westovers

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Tonight we added profiles for Gabriel Westover Jr, Jonas Westover, Sr, and Captain Jonas Westover Jr. What we posted is a summary of information we have been collecting for the past two years — which, admittedly, isn’t much.

Our efforts now turn to the lives of John and Rachel Westover and Amos and Ruth Westover, whose lives spanned the 18th century.

These colonial Westover families spread the family out significantly with descendants moving north into Canada and south to parts of the US East Coast and Midwest. Like every generation these Westovers were greatly influenced by the politics of the time and they have a story to tell. We hope to uncover it.

In our quest for information we stumbled on stuff we were not looking for. Including this little gem about a Stephen Westover, son of Moses Westover, who is a son of John Westover (and brother to our Amos Westover):

Stephen Westover, born in 1786, son of Moses Westover and his wife Elizabeth Holmes, was the second youngest in a family of eight boys and three girls. Moses Westover came from Sheffield, Mass., in 1796, first settling at Caldwell’s Manor, later moving to Sutton. Stephen Westover was a self-taught land surveyor, and practised his profession in Brome and Missisquoi Counties. His commission appointing him “Surveyor of Lands” was issued under date of March 9th, 1816. On December 9th, 1816 he married Dorinda, daughter of Jacob Ball, who built the first frame house in the County of Brome. They had two sons and three daughters: Elizabeth, born in 1817; Sophronia, in 1819; Olive, in 1821; Roswell, in 1823 and Stephen, in 1825. On Thursday, October 5, 1826, barely ten years after Westover married, he met a sudden death when he fell overboard from a ferry boat on the St. Lawrence River.

That information came from the Brome County Historical website and it popped up as a result of a Google search for information about Amos Westover and his activities in a neighboring county. The amazing thing about this is that I’ve done this search before — but this was a new result.

This is one of the realities of modern family history research: Google is your friend, and check it frequently.

Stephen is what we call a cousin. His work is important, as is all that we find. And we’ll get to him — eventually. It is nice to know where we can find more about him.

The real nugget of tonight’s searches came in the form of this photograph:

Westover Bacon Potts Farm

This house is on the National Historic Register and has been the register since 1990. Tonight is the first time I have seen it. This is the house that our John Westover built in 1774 when he moved to Sheffield, Massachusetts. It is largely the same as it was those many years ago and has only in recent decades even been upgraded with water and electricity.

It has two known names — the Westover-Bacon-Potts Farm — named after John Westover who built the house, a man named Bacon who purchased it from the family in 1790, and Potts who later acquired it. The other known name for this house is the Westover Jonah House (surprise, surprise).

Try Googling those names. You’ll find precious little. We’re digging to find more but for a place that is on the national register of historic places little more is actually known about the place. Even still, isn’t it cool to have some photographic connection to family from 1744?