EARLY HISTORY
OF THE MALLORY FAMILY
E. H. Mallory (EHM 2)

Edited by E. H. Mallory 3 (EHM 3)

     One of the first Mallory's to arrive in this country was Peter Mallory.
The exact date is unknown, but the year is usually given as 1637. He signed the
Planter's Covenant in the New Haven Colony in 1644. His parentage is unknown.

     It is believed that Peter Mallory came to this country by way of Virginia.
By 1639, there was heavy traffic between New Haven and Virginia, and the young
Mallory may well have decided to move North, leaving his older and wealthier
relatives behind. There are a number of descendants from the Virginia Branch,
including many Nathaniels. There are many Nathaniels in Peter's descendants as
well.

     He married Mary ________, usually thought to be Mary Preston of New Haven.
There is recorded, on Feb 6, 1648, this report:

     "Peeter Mallory and his wife was called before the court and was charged
with the sinn of vncleaness or fornication, a sinn wch they was told shutts out
the kingdome of heaven, without repentaine and a sinn wch layes them open to
shame and punishment in the court. It is that wch the Holy Ghost brands with
the name of folly, it is that wherein men show their brutishness, therefore as
a whip is for the horse and asse, so a rod is for ye follish backs. They
confessed their sinn, and desired the court to show them mercy in respect of
their bodies, she being weakely, and for ought is known, with child, and he
subject to distraction, haueing sometime bine distempered that way. Wch things
the court considereding, thought it most meete to punish by fine and not by
corporall punishment,and therefore ordered that they pay 5 pounds as fine to
the town, and that they be brought forth to the place of correction that they
may be ashamed and that it appeare the corporall punishment is remitted in
respect of mercy to their bodies, but with the shame of the sinn as if the
correction was laide on."

     The "sinn" is without doubt pre-marital sex relations. It is not uncommon
for young people to be called into court for this, and there are many similar
instances in the old records.

     Peter was successful and was a large land owner. He died between 1697 and
1701, leaving ten children. The family prospered and a great many descendants
have been documented.

     With the advent of the Revolutionary War, many Mallory's emigrated from
Connecticut to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. They settled on land along
the St Lawrence River and founded what is now Mallorytown there. They also
settled in New Brunswick as well.

     At least one, Caleb Mallory, went to New Brunswick in 1783 with his
family. In 1794, he returned, applied for, and got citizenship in Connecticut.
He was recorded in the 1790 census as living in Huntington Town, Connecticut,
probably with his brother Johnathan Nobel Mallory. (Refer to the Milford
appendix for the account of the murder of his father and the 4 children of his
brother Johnathan.)

     Family tradition says that our Mallory family came to Connecticut from
Canada. As you see, this is not inconsistent with the history of the times.
Despite vigorous research, the exact family connection with these early
Mallory,s is not yet known.

     The first known direct ancestor in the Mallory line is Joseph Mallory, He
was also known as Jasper. He was born in 1755, probably in Connecticut. He died
in 1784 in Hartford, Connecticut. His wife, born 1756, died Feb 17, 1818 in
Litchfield, Connecticut, was named Suzanna Pond, younger sister of Peter Pond.
Peter was a famous Canadian Indian trader and expert. Suzanna Pond has a long
line of known ancestors.  (We still have no definitive ancestor for Jasper/Joseph Mallory. 2004)

     Joseph died shortly after the birth of his son, Jasper Mallory. Jasper
Mallory was born in Connecticut on May 1, 1784, the year his father died. He
married Harriet L. Newton, born in Connecticut in 1792. Their first child,
DeWitt Clinton Mallory, was born in Hartford, Connecticut on Jan 9, 1807.
Harriet was then only 15 years old.

     Shortly after the birth of Dewitt, the family moved to Ohio near
Beallsville and Clarington on the Ohio River. The family settled there, raising
nine more children, and remained there for the rest of their lives. Family
tradition says that Mr. Newton was a trader, and that the family rafted down
the Ohio River to Claremont, Ohio where they raised corn and rye. This was made
into whiskey and alcohol. This was shipped to New Orleans on barges and
steamships. It is alleged that they owned the first steamship on the Ohio
River. Jasper died May 23, 1864. age 80. He is buried on Sykes Ridge above
Clarington where the stone stood as of 1962. He had survived his wife by
several years.

     Harriett is descended from a long line of Connecticut founders. She is the
daughter of Roger and Elizabeth Mary (Peck) Newton. More of this ancestry is
shown in the appendix.

     Their children were: Dewitt Clinton I, Nelson (b May 28, 1811), Isaac N.
(b May 28, 1813, d Aug 12, 1856), Garwood Pond (b July 22, 1815, d June 29,
1856), Sarah Janet (b July 13, 1819), Mary Lacerta (b July 9, 1822), John
Quincy Adams (b Oct 25, 1824), Newton (b July 2 1827), Benjamin (b Oct 19,
1829), William Hubbard (b July 27, 1832).

     Nelson married Lydia A. Phillips (b July 10, 1823, d Jan 11, 1905). Isaac
married Mary Ann _______. John married Mary R. Walton, daughter of James and
Elizabeth Walton. She died April 14, 1845 at age 24. John served in the Civil
War. Benjamin married Ellen Miller. She died at age 21. Their line continues
today to John Wick Mallory living in Avon, Connecticut. Benjamin married again
to Ann A. Jackson Oct 2, 1853 in Clarington. William married Amanda McCoy on
Oct 23, 1853 in Clarington also.

     Finally, do not confuse these Jasper Mallory's with a Jasper J. Mallory
who settled in Freeport, Stephenson Co, Illinois around 1800. While I am sure
that they are related, the relationship is unknown. As we shall see, D. C.
Mallory I settled in Stephenson Co, Illinois before 1830. These are the only
Jasper Mallory's known to me.

     Dewitt Clinton Mallory married, in Belmont, Ohio, on Dec 28, 1827,
Eleanore Brown, daughter of John and Jane (Hurley) Brown. Ellen was born in
Greene Co., Pennsylvania around 1810. Her father was a noted surveyor and a
member of the Pennsylvania Legislature for that county. John Brown was the son
of William and Mary (Daily) Brown who had emigrated from Ireland at the ages of
18 and 14 respectively. Jane was the daughter of _______ and Sally (Stump)
Hurley, also from Ireland.

     The first born of Dewitt and Ellen, Newton, the first of their 15
children, was born in Belmont Co, Ohio. He was named Newton after Dewitt's then
younger brother. The family soon moved to Stephenson Co, Illinois. They also
owned land in Vermillion Co, Illinois. Family tradition says that Dewitt did
not like the liquor business. He and his family followed the army up into
Illinois and, at the end of the Black Hawk War, settled there.

     The family of Dewitt and Ellen are as follows: Newton (b 1829), Clarence
Garwood (b Jan 27, 1830), Jasper Benjamin (b Sept 30, 1831), Jane (b Oct 25,
1833), James C. (b Feb 8, 1835), DeWitt Clinton II (b Mar 4, 1837), Daniel W.
(b Jan 27, 1838), Harriet N. (b Oct 20, 1840), Sarah Ellen (b Nov 30, 1841),
Mary Jenet (b Oct 10, 1844), Catharine (b Nov 11, 1846), Francis M. (b Dec 9,
1849), John B. (b Jan 16, 1851), Franklin (b 1859), and Hershelle (b 1861). All
except Newton (b Belmont Co, Ohio) and Jasper (b Vermillion Co, Illinois) were
born in Stephenson Co, Illinois.

     Ellen was 22 when her first child was born. The last was born at age 54. A
remarkable record. She died May 5, 1870 in Freeport, Illinois. Dewitt moved to
Vernon Co, Missouri, where he died on Aug 28, 1896 at the age of 89.

     Dewitt I was both a farmer and a merchant. In later years, he was
successful as a farmer and gave up merchandising. He had operated as a merchant
both in Pawpaw Grove (now Pawpaw) in Vermillion Co and in Stephenson Co.

     History records another Mallory in Illinois at about the same time. In
Havana, Mason Co, Illinois, in 1824, a Major Ossian Ross initiated ferry
service at the confluence of the Spoon and Illinois Rivers. Two years later,
Major Ross rented the ferry and trading rights to Samuel Mallory. Unaccustomed
to dealing with Indians, Samuel was forced by a group of Indians to exchange
whiskey for furs. Only the timely intervention of settlers saved Mallory in the
excitement that ensued. Fifteen mounted men from Lewistown routed the Indians,
who had consumed sufficient whiskey to contemplate the destruction of the
entire settlement. The relationship of Samuel Mallory and our family is
unknown, but the incident must have been known to Dewitt.

     Dewitt Clinton Mallory II married into the Harper/Hutchinson families.
Remember this while I digress and discuss the Harper's.

     James Harper and his wife Jannet Lewis immigrated from County Derry,
Ireland about 1720. The settled near Casco Bay, near what is now Portland
Maine. They brought their teenage son, John Harper, with them. A few years
later, intolerable Indian raids caused the family, with the exception of John,
to move to Hopkinton, near Boston. John remained behind to fight the Indians
for four more years. He then joined the family in Hopkinton. John married
Abigail Montgomery in Hopkinton in Nov 1728. Abigail's family, also from
Ireland and Casco Bay, settled in Hopkinton.

     John and Abigail had eleven children. The five known surviving children
are: William, the eldest, (b Sept 14, 1729), James (b Mar 26, 1731), Col. John
(b May 31, 1743), Maj. Joseph (b May 31, 1742), and Capt. Alexander, the ninth,
(b Feb 22, 1744).

     Alexander was born in Middletown, Connecticut. A decade later, the family
settled in Cherry Valley, Otsego Co, New York, near Albany. In 1768, a royal
patent for 22,000 acres of land, south and west of Albany, was purchased by
Alexander, his older brothers, and his father. They established the town of
Harpersfield, New York and settled there.

     In 1771, Alexander married Elizabeth Bartholomew, born Feb 13, 1749, in
Bethlehem, New Jersey. She was from a Huguenot Family that settled in New
Jersey after leaving France. They had eight children: Margaret Harper (b June
12, 1772), John Harper (b Mar 30, 1774), James A. Harper (b May 6, 1784), Mary
Harper (b Mar 24, 1786), Alexander Harper Jr. (b Sept 3, 1768), and Robert
Harper (b May 16, 17__).

     John and James married sisters Lorain and Sarah, daughters of William and
Gertrude (Prost) Miner. James and Sarah are the parents of Sarah Ann Harper.

     In the spring of 1780, Capt. Alexander, leader of a scouting party near
Schoharie, was captured by Chief Joseph Brant, Mohawk Indian ally of the
British. Chief Brant spared his life because they had attended the same school,
Eleazar Wheelock's Dartmouth College at Lebanon, Connecticut. Alexander was
taken to Fort Niagara, where he survived the Indian ritual of running the
gauntlet. He was incarcerated in a prison ship at Quebec, where he remained for
two and one half years. His family had no knowledge of his survival and
Harpersfield was burned by the Indians as well, although rebuilt after the war.

     When freed, Alexander returned to Harpersfield and his family. He remained
there for 15 years. Then interest was directed to the newly opened lands in the
Western Reserve, what would eventually be North Eastern Ohio. A party was
formed and six townships were purchased. After a preliminary journey in 1797,
Alexander chose a township to be called Harpersfield. In March of 1798, he
returned with his family by way of Buffalo and Lake Erie to the present site of
Madison, Ohio. Their house was the first dwelling in Ashtabula Co, Ohio.

     Malaria fever claimed Alexander in a few months and he died in Sept 1798.
He was buried in what is now the Unionville cemetery in a hollow log, the
oldest grave in the Wester Reserve. His widow survived him by 35 years, dying
at the age of 84. Her remains lie beside his.

     Let me digress a second time to discuss the Hutchinson family. Family
tradition says that the Hutchinson line is descended from Thomas Hutchinson,
the last Royal Governer of Massachusetts, great grandson of Anne Hutchinson,
religious rebel. Anne was born a Marbury, and the Marbury's trace their
ancestry to such luminaries as Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, the kings of
Castile, Leon, and Denmark, and many lesser lights.

     The record shows that Abel Wealthy Hutchinson was the son of Wealthy
Hutchinson and a Miss Jacques. Tradition has it that Wealthy died early. The
record shows Abel living in Lake Co, Ohio with his widowed mother in 1850. No
older record has been found of Wealthy or Miss Jacques. Miss Jacques used the
name Wealthy Hutchinson for the rest of her life.

     Abel Hutchinson was born in June 1813 in Ashtabula, Ohio. In March of
1838, he married Sarah Ann Harper, grand daughter of Capt Alexander Harper
above. They had seven children: Lewis (b 1833), Mary Jane (b Dec 8, 1839),
Elizabeth Ann (b May 14, 1841), Herbert Jacques (b Oct 22, 1846), James Harper
(b Jan 22, 1850), Benjamin (b 1854) and Adeh (b Feb 26, 1855).

     Abel Wealthy Hutchinson moved his family and widowed mother to Warren,
Illinois just after 1850. In August of 1854, Abel and two of his sons, died in
a cholera epidemic. Abel had been taking care of the sick. Family story says
that Abel fell sick on the way to town. He had heard that burnt whiskey was a
remedy and stopped at the Stone or Tisdale Hotel and asked for the bartender to
prepare it for him. The railroad was then under construction just West of
Warren, and some of the railroad men were in the tavern, the worse for booze.
upon seeing them, Abel did not wait for his drink, but left saying, "If that is
the way whiskey makes a man act, the I'll die before taking it." He died a few
hours later. The last child, Adeh, was born after his death.

     Dewitt Clinton Mallory II married Elizabeth Ann Hutchinson, daughter of
Able and Sarah. Elizabeth Ann Hutchinson was described as an intelligent,
active lady with considerable pride of ancestry. She was active in the church
and missionary work, and given to travel in the time covered by the diary.

     Dewitt and Elizabeth were married, Dec 8, 1859, at Paw Paw Grove,
Vermillion Co, Illinois. They had four children, Edgar Allen (b Nov 23, 1860),
Eugene Hutchinson (b Feb 27, 1864), Benjamin Howard (b May 19, 1867), and May
(b Aug 4, 1869). May died at age 13 in 1882. Later that year, Lou was born and
adopted. Lou kept the Mallory name all her life and always signed her poems and
songs "Lou Mallory Luke". The family always said that she was more Mallory than
the others.

     Dewitt Clinton Mallory II was financially successful, living in a house at
the Northwest corner of the Hampton, Iowa business district. The family
presented him with a gold handled cane on his 75th birthday. The cane remains
in the family today. The central monument in the old Mallory plot in the
Hampton cemetery is not the largest or most elaborate, but it is, at least for
me, the most dignified and altogether pleasing. Also, I have been told, it is
one of the most expensive. There is an echo of family controversy over that
subject. As for me, I am convinced the money was well spent.

     DC Mallory, as he was called, can be seen to have lived and died with
considerable dignity. My mother's diary records the house he built for his
adopted daughter, Lou, and her new husband Andy Luke. (Where they lived for the
rest of their lives.) Also the legacy thoughtfully left to his unborn
grandchildren. Altogether the sort of grandfather I am sorry to have missed,
especially as grandfather Ferris was such a distant and controversial figure.

     DC died in Hampton on March 12, 1913 at the age of 76. He was survived by
his widow, Elizabeth, for four years. She died on May 17, 1917, also in
Hampton.

     Edgar, the eldest of the boys was the only real farmer, living on a farm
between Hampton and Geneva. The farm is still operated by his descendants,
although now from town. When I knew him, he was pretty well retired, living in
a cottage on the farm in summer, raising melons, etc. He spent winter in
McAllen, Texas, in a home he bought there. His sons, Arthur and Dewitt, worked
the farm. Uncle Ed was rather a rustic, earthy person, but endowed with a sharp
intelligence and a wry ironic cast of mind. He could tell a tall tale and argue
with the best of them, and was not impressed by anyone's pretense, even those
in the family.

     Ed's wife was Effie Reeve of the pioneer Reeve's. She was known as Effie
Ed to distinguish her from Ben's wife Effie, known as Effie Ben. She was a warm
hearty lady and a farm wife, but well aware that the Reeve's, the Phelp's and
the Mayne's had made the first settlement in Franklin County. The Phelp's had
left discouraged by the hardships. The footloose and profane Mayne had taken
his family West on the heels of the Buffalo. The Reeve's had remained and
prospered, bequeathing their name on the principle street in the county seat
and the township in which they had settled.

     Ed and Effie had three sons, Arthur, Dewitt, and Kirkwood. Effie lived to
the age of 83, dying in December of 1945. Ed survived to the age of 92, and
died in March of 1952. Both are buried at Hampton.

     DC Mallory's second son, my father, Eugene Hutchinson Mallory (EHM 1), was
assigned the task of perpetuating the Hutchinson name. He remained a bachelor
until his late 40's, but finally knuckled down and perpetuated both the Mallory
and Hutchinson names.

     I do not know the reason for his prolonged bachelorhood. He was a
reticent, perhaps even a shy man, and certainly cautious in all of his
dealings, although capable of bold and even speculative investment when sure of
his ground. Beneath his rather stiff exterior, there was a streak of the family
flamboyance, so evident in the Ferris' and well covered in the Mallory's. This
came out in my father in the size of the farm buildings he built. All were
twice the size set by the standards of the time and place. Also his tree
plantings were on a baronial scale and looked it in their prime.

     He certainly faced the world with a stiff upper lip and a determined jaw,
but there was always a free floating anxiety and a tendency to depression. This
later surfaced and destroyed him mentally and physically when he faced my
mother's death, the economic collapse of the late 20's, and the grim advance of
old age.

     Father had worked on the land in his youth, but really was a town man. I
don't know how much education he had, but it was enough to teach school for a
time, to extract cube roots, and keep the counties books. He was also a public
insurance adjuster for a while. The buying and selling of farm land was his
real vocation and he was expert, no doubt of that. A big asset in this line was
an earned reputation of financial soundness and honesty. In the words of the
time, "His name was good for whatever he put it to."

     He was by no means a humorless man, although his sense of humor was
somewhat strained when his adopted sister's cat had her kittens on his shirts
in his bureau.

     As a bachelor, he lived in his parents home many years. He and his father
both had their daily newspaper, and would read and discuss the events of the
day like the two dignified gentlemen they were. One April 1, my father got an
extra copy of the newspaper and carefully preserved it for a year. The next
April 1, he substituted it for his fathers paper. Their discussion was somewhat
strained as my father kept a straight face and gently disagreed with the old
gentlemen until he provoked an explosion.

     This was the year my parents married. After Gramp's (John C. Ferris)
nursery had failed, and he had gone West again seeking his fortune, my mother's
family was really clinging to their middle class status by their fingernails.
Uncle Ben, my fathers lawyer brother, called my father and asked what he was
going to do about the Ferris'. My father said "I am not going to give them any
money, but they will not want for anything." My father did put land in my
mother's name later. My mother's diary mention of gifts to the Ferris household
shows that he meant what he said. He knew how to help without injury to the
Ferris pride, which was considerable.

     Uncle Ben Mallory was the youngest, and considered somewhat spoiled. He
was given a university education and became a successful and erudite attorney.
He was more sophisticated and given to freer spending and a higher life style
than his brothers. His Mallory dignity of manner was considered to verge on the
pompous and arrogant, perhaps due in part to his shorter stature and heavier
figure.

     These brothers can be compared in many ways, with my father always in the
middle. There was age, of course, height and figure. Ed was tall, my father not
quite so, and Ben short and heavy. In later life Ben had one of those bellies
that cost $50,000 in good living to obtain, and that the owner would give the
same to get rid of it.

     In dress, Ed was countryfied, a good suit or two, but overalls and heavy
shoes available. My father, no work clothes ever, a small town conservative
with a rather scanty wardrobe. However, brother William, a judge of clothes
himself, said that father knew good clothes and bought him the best. Ben had
city clothes and plenty of them.

     All smoked, Ed, a corncob pipe, my father, a brier pipe and medium priced
cigars, Ben, long expensive cigars, large brier pipe and powerful exotic pipe
mixtures. Ben was a heavy smoker, and in later years, he was really steeped in
tobacco and looked it. He was the darkest of the brothers and well tobacco
tanned.

     One day, Ben and Ed were smoking together. Ed got out his Prince Albert
mixture to fill his corncob. Ben pulls out his pouch and says, "Do you want to
try some adult tobacco?" Ed accepted and smokes out his pipe in silence. He
starts to pocket his pipe.

Ben says, "Do you want another fill?"
Ed "No."
Ben "Was it too strong?"
Ed "No."
Ben "Well how do you feel?"
Ed "Satisfied."

     Faced with an offensive person, Ed would probably manage to say something
subtly sarcastic that would fester in the offenders ego.

     In a similar circumstance, my father would consider the source, conclude
the matter, and never have anything to do with the offender again.

     As for Ben, another antidote is needed.

     Mr Griffin came to town to organize and lead the school band. He did well
enough to win some contests and was, in the opinion of some, extravagantly
rewarded by the school board. He also rewarded himself by considerably adding
to his own good opinion of himself.

     He had decided to buy our old house on Bridge St., move it away and build
himself a suitable residence. Incidentally, this was the first new house built
in Hampton since the WW1 boom. Uncle Ben was in charge of my fathers estate at
the time and negotiated the deal. Mr. Griffin said something that Uncle Ben
considered to reflect on his veracity. Uncle Ben swelled up, as only he could,
and said "I am not accustomed to having my word questioned by band masters!"
The somewhat deflated Griffin bought the house. Uncle Ben was not easily
defeated in an ego to ego contest.

     Effie and Ben had two daughters, Elizabeth Wilde Mallory (b Dec 11, 1895)
and Margaret Wilde Mallory (b August 1, 1897). Effie died, age 47, as recorded
in the diary, in 1918. Ben lived until 1945, dying at the age of 78.

     At the time of my mother's Mallory marriage, Ben and Effie and their
teenage daughters were living the good life across the street and sharing it
with the new bride.

     Eugene H. Mallory (EHM 1), my father, married Edna Clair Ferris as
recorded in her diary.

     The Ferris' originated from Leicestershire, England. Henry de Ferriers,
son of Guetchelme de Ferriers, master of the houses of the Duke of Normandy,
who had obtained, from William the Conqueror, large grants of land in the
counties of Stafford, Derby and Leicester.

     One of the early founders of the Ferris family in America was Jeffrey
Ferris. He settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, and was admitted as a free-man
in May 6, 1635. The earliest recorded Ferris in the Mohawk Valley, New York, is
Zachariah Ferris, who settled in Judson Falls, New York, in 1675.

     The earliest known ancestor in my Ferris family is Henry Ferris, (d June
13, 1807), born in Stanford, Duchess Co, New York. He married Priscella
Cudbeth, (b November 21, 1754, d April 11, 1849). They had eight children. One
child, my ancestor, is John Cudbeth Ferris, (b Nov 15, 1786) born in
Westchester Co, New York.

     John first married Hannah Bullock. The Bullock's were one of the pioneer
families of Duchess Co. They had seven children, Sarah, Ann Emeline, Albert G.,
Thomas, Hannah, Elisha, and George. There are many descendants from this union.

     John married again in 1820 at Binghampton, NY to Elisa Kattell, (b 1804,
NY, d 1885, Doland, Spink Co, SD). They remained in New York and raised a
family of eight. These were Finnette (b 1824), Elias Kattell (b 1829), Henry E.
(b 1830), John Charles (b January 2, 1835), Benjamin Franklin (b 1837), Soloman
Wayne (b 1841), Mary Jane (b 1845), and Julia (b 1847). John fathered the last
child at age 60.

     John Charles Ferris is the Gramp of my mother's diary. John, Ben and Sol
went out west together from New York. Some of this is recorded in the memoirs
of Ben Ferris. John and Ben served in the Army of the West during the Civil
War. They encountered little fighting, but much hardship, including a bout with
scurvy for John.

     John, upon return from the War, married, Feb 22, 1866, in Idaho, to
Elizabeth Ann Bagley(Cynthia Ann Eliza Bagley), Cynthia Ann Eliza Bagley. 
Elizabeth was born in May 13, 1849 in Southhampton, York, New Brunswick, 
daughter of Edward Cyrenus Bagley and Julia Ann Grant.  There are many 
generations of ancestors of Edward Bagley. Edward had become interested in the 
Mormons and took on several more wives and headed to Utah, the promised land. 
Julia Ann Grant did not survive the trip, dying near the Utah border on the 
trail. Elizabeth Ann Bagley died September 13, 1928 as recorded in the diary. It 
is not clear whether John's marriage to Elizabeth was sanctioned or if it was an 
elopement.

     Considering the ferocious reputation of the Mormons of that day, and their
attitude toward marriages outside of the church, this was an act of considerable 
daring on both sides. Gramp was well in character, and Elizabeth was not a woman 
to accept the plurality of wives and the subservient condition of women in the 
Mormon church of that day. Her Mormon upbringing had, however, left her with a 
lifelong belief in a solid, secure, and well provided-for household economy. 
This was never within Gramp's considerable capabilities and was bitterly 
resented by Elizabeth. In her words "He was always making himself illustrious 
instead of looking after his family."

     John and Elizabeth had five children. They were Mary Finnette (b Jan 5,
1867, d Oct 8, 1942), Henry Edward (b Apr 22, 1870, d Jan 9, 1906), John
Charles Jr. (b 1874, d 1889), Frank Morton (b Aug 22, 1876, d April 14, 1934),
and Edna Claire (b May 6, 1878, d 1931).

     Elizabeth's complaints seem to have been justified early on. Her first
child, Mary Finnette, the Aunt Nettie or Auntie of the following chronicle, was
born on a winter Trek into Idaho. There was no help or shelter about, but Gramp
was not at a loss. He found a little stack of hay on the prairie, burned it,
and spread a buffalo robe on the warm ashes. The child born there was to
outlive the four children that followed.

     Traveling on to the Wyoming territory, he organized a land and cattle
company which somehow resulted in Elizabeth and little Nettie being much alone
in an isolated ranch house. Nettie recalled being sent to hide while Elizabeth
negotiated with surly begging Indians. The ranch did not prosper long.
Pressures from the big ranchers, draught and blizzard made this a precarious
road to riches. Gramp was elected to the territorial legislature, but politics
were not the way either. However, later on, he called himself Senator.

     A wood yard to supply fuel for the Union Pacific Railroad looked promising
until a fire wiped that out. Elizabeth had acquired some furs somewhere along
the uneven path of fortune. She sold the furs and bought a team of mules, which
she leased to a grading contractor on the railroad. She also started a boarding
house to feed the Irish laborers, whom she described as worse than animals. She
was never without money of her own for the rest of her life. Gramp was not to
be depended on.

     Also, some time in the Wyoming period, a vigilante posse hung an outlaw on
her barn, She found it the next morning, to her everlasting resentment.

     Perhaps this was the last straw, for the family is next found on a farm
near Bristow in Butler Co, Iowa. In spite of the plentiful prairie chickens for
food, and red root (wild rose) plowed out of the virgin soil for fuel, this was
not an easy life. Gramp and his brother saw the need for horses, and the West
was full of mustangs for the taking. Off they went to round up a herd of 100
and drive them to Iowa.

     Somehow mustangs were not what the farmers needed, and the farm was soon
sold. The brothers moved to Hampton, Iowa. Sol, Ben and Gramp all started
nurseries. Farmers needed fruit trees and their wives longed for a few shrubs
or roses. Sol's nursery prospered, and in fact, continues today. Gramp's did
not, and dwindled gradually away. Sol was considered a success, and a kind,
considerate family man. His son Earl boasted of fabulous wealth. Gramp was
definitely slipping.

     Elizabeth bought an old house in her name on the West side of Hampton. She
remodeled it and added a second story and attic. While this was being done, she
partitioned off a part of the hayloft in the large square barn, and told Gramp
to move in. This was too much, he moved out and went back to the West, Collins,
Montana, this time, ranching again. I remember seeing a picture of a stark tall
house labeled Ferris Hall. Gramp was illustrious to the end. Gramp ended his time
in San Diego well into the 20th Century, just shy of 100 years.

     Elizabeth, too, had overdone it. The foundation of the old house soon
started to give way under the weight of the second floor and attic. This
worried her for the rest of her life, although the house outlasted her by many
years.

     One brief visit and an occasional call for funds for a promising mine (We
still have the prospectus.) or to save Ferris Hall is about all the direct
knowledge I ever had of Gramp, but I was well indoctrinated with his faults by
Grandma and only gradually have realized what a remarkable man he was.

     Brother Ben once made these notes:

Sept. 17 1926
     "Met brother John in Des Moines (Iowa), broke as usual."

Oct 17, 1926
     "Brother John came to Hampton after a thrilling experience in Des Moines -
spent 15 days here and left for California."

     What these characters considered a thrilling experience, even at their
age, is hard to imagine. Ben's memoir relates that John nearly got him killed
twice in childhood. The fought all over the West and Mexico and were shot at or
shot on more than one occasion. When a man who wrote a memoir like Ben Ferris
did, considers his brother as irresponsible, one must wonder.

     Gramp's scurvy cost him all his teeth, and gave him an army pension. He
lived to great age on his pension in California. He was nearly 100 years old
when he fell downstairs and broke his arm and some ribs. Pneumonia deprived him
of a three digit birthday. He died November 3, 1934 in San Diego, California.

     The marital discord certainly affected all his children, who all showed an
ambivalent attitude for their father, resentment at the problems he caused
them, and admiration that could not be expressed around their mother.

     Of the children, Mary Finnette, born in the ashes, was always Finnette or
Nettie, but insisted that Mary Finnette go on her gravestone. It was her name
she said. A small frail woman of indomitable determination and sharp intellect,
she never married. She graduated from the Cedar Falls Teachers College in the
late 1880's and taught in various schools in early years. In my time, she
taught either at county school (one room)at Reeve, near the REA generating
plant so she could be at home, or at Vinton College for the Blind for more
money. She taught the deaf and blind, was proficient in the Braille and "point"
systems of touch reading, and also the touch signs like Helen Keller. Her
speciality was mathematics, algebra and geometry, which for the blind, are
particularly difficult.

     Henry, the next child, was born in the early western times, in Paris
Idaho. He was always spoken of as a kind and gentle type. He married and had
one child, Harry, but his wife was never spoken of in the family. Harry appears
in the chronicle, but was excluded from Elizabeth's will. Henry sold nursery
stock and wholesale groceries, traveling extensively. He did not bear up as
well as his older sister in late life. Sometime before the diary begins, he was
brought home to Hampton in a state of mental breakdown. He was not manageable,
and was sent to the asylum at Independence, Iowa. In this diary, his death and
funeral are recorded.

     John Charles Jr. was next. He died at the age of 14 in 1889. He was always
described as a sweet obedient child. His rather pitiful letters to his absent
father well confirm this report. Death was from rheumatic heart disease. His is
mentioned in the diary as little John.

     Frank Morton followed. He never married and appears in the diary often as
fond Uncle Frank. He made his living as an itinerant sewing machine repair man.
Traveling throughout the middle West by train, hiring livery rigs, he went from
farm to farm collecting machine heads to take to a rented shop for repair. He
usually had a partner mechanic. He did much repeat business by covering the
territory every 4 or 5 years. The sewing machine was an essential part of
almost every household in those times. He also spent some time in Montana with
Gramp and homesteaded 160 acres of rather inferior land. He held onto the land
in the hope of finding oil. The mineral rights are still held in the family
today and oil lease money had been paid several times. Still, 40 years after
his death, no oil has been found.

     Edna Claire was the last, born at the Bristol farm. She studied piano at
Oberlin College in Ohio. When she came home, she married William Sidel. He was
a railroad conductor and had to go to the Missouri Pacific to find work. There
he fell off the top of the train under unknown circumstances, and was killed,
leaving my mother with his unborn child, soon to be named William Sidel after
his father. Her later marriage to the much older Eugene Hutchinson Mallory (EHM
1) was perhaps in search of a substitute for her absent father and for
financial security.

     An account of William Sidel's death.


     This is where my mother's diary begins. Edna with a husband and one
brother dead, another brother in a mental hospital. Elizabeth, now Grandma, was
keeping 2 cows, chickens and gardening the lot across the street from her tall
house. Nettie, Frank and the new mother contributing what they could. Monetary
accounts in the diary are not clear, but they show respectable amounts for the
time. If they were poor, they didn't know it.

     Edna's diary is a record kept of 25 years (1905 to 1930) by my mother,
born Edna Clair Ferris, briefly and tragically Edna C. Sidel, and finally Edna
C. Mallory.

     Before that though, appears the memoirs of Ben Ferris writing of the
adventures of he and his brother John Charles Ferris. John C. is of course the
Gramp of Edna's diary. This details events leading up to JC's marriage to a
Mormon wife, Elizabeth Ann Bagley, Edna's mother, known as grandma in her
diary.

Eugene H. Mallory (EHM 2)
March 17, 1979



Preface to These Documents. (Brief)
Family History
Ben Franklin Ferris - Memoir
Henry Ferris Genealogy
Edna Clair Ferris - Diary.
Mallory Home Page
Eugene Hutchinson Mallory Genealogy
My Father's Stories