A Woman to be Remembered

 

The family bible my mom used to
refer to birth records,
death records, marriage records,
and old photographs.
This gave her an avenue
to begin researching
cemeteries and census
records to further understand
our family heritage.



My mom’s grandmother had a bible that she was interested in from the time she was about ten years old.  Her grandmother had been raised by her grandparents because her own parents had both died when she was little.  This bible had been passed down through the years, and sometimes at family gatherings, everyone would go through the bible, look at old photographs and various records that were kept in this bible.  One of the things that stood out to everyone was an old folded up newspaper, with an article describing a woman who was celebrating her 100^th birthday.  No one knew who this woman was or even why the newspaper was in this bible.  As my mom got older she became increasingly interested in researching our family history and piecing together the people listed in the bible.  Her grandmother lent her the bible because it contained birth records, death records and marriage records written by her three greats grandmother, Lucinda.  My mom took the hand written bible records and went to the cemetery and walked around until she found every family member’s grave.  Afterwards she went to the courthouse and the State Historical Library to obtain whatever additional information she could to further her research about our family.  My mom discovered that the woman celebrating her 100^th birthday in the old folded up newspaper was her fourth great grandmother, Sophia. 




Sophia Kingsbury's birth
record:
September 2nd, 1789
Kingsbury was her
maiden name

 

Sophia was born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, however moved shortly thereafter to Granby, Connecticut.   She and her family moved back to Massachusetts where she married Obadiah Hyde at the age of 17.  They are both my fifth great grandparents.  Obadiah and Sophia moved to New York, and about two years later they decided to move west, embarking on a raft at Olean Point, New York for Ohio.  The journey was far from easy, however they finally made it to Cincinnati which was only a “straggling little village” at the time.  They settled in Mill Creek and became good friends with General William Henry Harrison and his family, who, at the time, lived on North Bend.  The article states that the Harrisons often made Sophia and Obadiah’s home a stopping place on their way to and from Cincinnati. 



The newspaper that was found inside
the bible, telling about her 100th
birthday celebration



Sophia’s husband, Obadiah, returned to New York for a while and Sophia supported herself and four children by doing laundry for other people.  When Obadiah returned they relocated to Rising Sun, Ohio County, Indiana.  After struggling for a few years they moved back to Cincinnati, again to Middletown, Ohio, and then again to New Madison, Darke County, Ohio where Obadiah left her and their children, forcing her to be the sole provider.  Determined to succeed she obtained a job teaching school.  In order to be able to provide for her younger children, she was forced to bound out one of her eldest daughters, Lucinda (finding work for her daughter that would pay for her room and board) who is my mom’s third great grandmother.  Eventually she and her family moved to New Madison where she again began teaching, and later married Benjamin Lawrence in 1825.  They were happily married for over fifty years until the time of his death just over four years before she herself passed away. 

In the article, the entire town of Bethel, Indiana is gathering to celebrate this woman’s 100^th birthday.  Although the weather that day was uncooperative due to rain, there were still at least fifteen hundred relatives and friends who gathered together to celebrate this remarkable woman.  At the age of 100, she still insisted on getting up early, bright and cheerful, eating breakfast, and clearing the table.  Afterwards, she spent some time writing a number of autographs. 

An old photo we have of Sophia
next to a picture of her in the paper

At the time of the celebration, she had three children living (one of whom was Lucinda, who attended the celebration), twenty-five grandchildren, seventy-three great grandchildren, twenty-three great-great grandchildren, and two great-great-great grandchildren.  The newspaper went on to say, “The excitement naturally caused by meeting such a large number of people seems not to have affected Mrs. Lawrence in the least, and at the close of the eventful day she seemed as bright and cheerful as in the morning, and bids fair to live several years yet.”

Sources:

Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, September 3^rd, 1889

Special thanks to my mom, Christy Jay, who helped bring together the memory of her fourth great grandmother; a wonderful lady who should never be forgotten…

 

Sophia's grave