Sources
1. Boston (photocopied book page, unidentified, with photo. Top of page says "Boston."), 129.
In most essential respects the boston Journal is an ideal newspaper, combining, as it does, reliability with enterprise and brillianch. The influene which it wields to-day in New England is largely due to the ability of its general manager, Stephen O'Meara, who has done much to improve its various departments, introduced new machinery and methods, changed the old-fashioned folio into a modern quarto, greatly enlarged its resources and maerially increased its circulation.
Mr. O'Meara was born in Charlolttetown, Prince Edward Island, July 26, 1854, and came to Boston with his parents when he was ten years of age. He was educated at the Harvard Grammar School and at the Charlestown High School, from which he graduated with honors. His regular newspaper career began the day after he left school, for he was at once engaged as Charlestown reporter for the Boston Globe, a few months later becoming a member of the reportorial staff. He remained on the Globe until December 1874, when he resigned to accept a position as shorthand reporter on the Boston Journal. His work as political reporter gained him a substantial reputation, and in May, 1879, he ws promoted to the position of city editor. In 1881, after the death of Managing Editor Stockwell, Mr. O'Meara ws advanced to the post of news editor, a position which gave him the immediate direction of all reporters and correspondents, and the supervision of the work of all persons engaged in the collection of news for the Journal. He filled this position for ten years, and on July 1, 1891, became general manager of the paper, when failing health necessitated teh resignation of the late Colonel W.W. Clapp. Mr. O'Meara was for two years president of the Charlestown High School Association, and in 1885 he ws the orator of that organization at its annual reunion. He ws the first instructor in phonography in the Boston Evening High School, in which capacity he served with marked success for four years. He hs been auditor and is now treasurer and a member of the executive committed of the New England Associated Press.
His interest in journalism and his popularity amoung newspaper men are evidenced by the fact that within a few months oafter the organization of the Boston Press Club he was elected its president, in which position he remained for three years. He is at present secretary and treasure of teh Boston Daily Newspaper Association, which is composed of the managers of the Boston daily papers. Mr. O'Meara is a trustee of the Massachusetts State Library by appointment of Governor Brackett. He has been a member of the executive committee of the Republican Club of Massachusetts, and served as member-at-large of the Committee on Resolutions at the Republican State Convention of 1891. In 1888, the honorary degree of master of arts ws conferred upon him by Dartmouth College. Mr O'Meara was married, in 1878 to Miss Isabella M. Squire, of Charlestown, where he now resides with his family of three children. His brother is Henry O'Meara, the poet and Journalist.
Hand-written addendum:
"After Stpehen sold the Journal & retired he was asked to be a reforming Police Commissioner of City of Boston. He introduced one-way streets to boston--quite helpful to traffic in old downtown ('cow paths') Police boat named after Stephen O'Meara."
2. The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, The Biographical Society, Boston, VIII.
O',Meara, Stepheh, editor and publisher was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, July 26, 1854; son of Stephen and Maria (Meade) o'Meara. In 1864 he came to the United States with his parents, who settled first in Braintree and then in Charlestown, Mass. He was graduated at the grammar and high schools of Charlestown. In 1872 he became the Charlestown reporter for the Boston Globe, and was a member of the regular staff, 1873-74. He was state house and shorthand reporter on the Boston Journal, 1874-79; city editor, 1879-81, news and managing editor, 1881-91. On the retirement of William W. Clapp in 1891, he became editor-in-chief and general manager; and publisher of the paper in 1896. He was married, Aug. 5, 1878, to Isabella M., daughter of Henry Squire of Charlestown, Mass. He was the first instructor in phonography in the Boston evening high school, 1880-84; president of the Boston Press Club, 1886-88; auditor, treasure and a member of the executive committe of the New England Associated Press, 1888-95, and secretary and treasurer of the Boston Daily Newspaper associan, 1892-94. In 1896 he became connected with the Associated Press, serving at different times as a vice-president of the New England director. He was elected a trustee of the Massachusetts state library in 1890, and became a member of the Union, Exchange, St. Botolph and Algonquin clubs. He received the honorary degree A.M. from
Dartmouth college in 1888. In 1900 he delivered the annual Fourth of July oration before the city authorities of Boston.
3. "Census for Massachusetts, 1880," http://www.3-cities.com/~nlmara/census/1880ma.htm.
4. Mrs. Sheldon C. Brown
Document on her letterhead which appears to be an obituary
5. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines of the Civil War, 2, 170.
6. James Bernard Cullen, The Story of the Irish in Boston, revised edition, 1893, 523-7.
BOSTON AUTHORS
Courage, mine own, nor faltter, but cling for thy life to me--
Hear the home-welcoming music, nor faint nor far away--
And the conquering Cross ablaze in the heavens above us--see!
We are out of the Shadow of Death--but one step more to the day.
HENRY O'MEARA
Henry O'Meara, author, poet and journalist was born in St. John, Newfoundland, Sept. 1, 1850. He was educated chiefly at the Central Academy of St. Dunstan's College in Charlottetown, P.E.I. While at the latter he manifested a special interes in the rhetoric class, in which he was associated with the present Archbishop of Halifax, and with the poet-editor Mr. James Jeffery Roche.
At the clsoe of his classical studies he came with other members of his family to Boston, and after a brief experience at the Merchants' Exchange news room he was engaged in the book department of the "Pilot" publishing establishment, then conducted by Mr. Patrick Donahoe, in which position he availed himself of its opportunities for an acquaintance with books and authors.
He was promoted to an editorial position on "The Pilot," where for some years he was a co-sorker with the chief editor, Mr. John Boyle O'Reilly. Subsequently, during an interval of half a year, he taught classes at theHouse of the Angel Guardian in Boston Highlands. He afterwards accepted an engagement for special department work on the Boston "Herald." The editorial charge of the "Catholic Herald" at Lawrence, Mass., was given him during the first six months of its existence.
Mr. O'Meara has also contributed to most of the papers in Boston at various times, particularly in the matter of poems, sketches, and stories.
He has been for a numer of years past employed in the editorial department of the "Boston Journal," where he has had charge of the "Weekly Jourhal," and his varied work on the daily, particularly in the line of descriptive writing, has been uniformly credited with grace and diction.
In dramatic matters he has long displayed a special taste, having been the dramatic critic of the "Boston Times," and having also contributed critical articles to other Boston papers. One of the projects whe has in part accomlished has been the preparation of short poems in tribute to the heroines of Shakespeare. He has also written a drama entitled "Desertion, or the Bridge of Ice," which is based on provintial life during the civil war.
It is in the line of poetry that Mr. O'Meara has attained most of his prominence. He has published a handsome volume entitled "Ballads of America" which has already passed through two editions, the last containing among the additional verses the "Ode to our Naval Heroes," written by him at the invitation of the city of Boston, and sung at the meeting in memory of Admiral Porter. The work has won high praise from the press and literary critics. The poet John G. Whittier wrote, "I have read with much satisfaction the spirited 'Ballads of america.'" In the course of an interesting correspendence Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "I am almos afraide to compliment you on [inkblot] and beautiful book after the flattering tribute you have paid me in your dedication, and the poem specially inscribed to me. I hope you will live to give us many more songs of patriotism, friendship and all the generous emotions which find their fitting expression in melodious verse."
Mr. O'Meara has served as poet for the city of Boston on various occasions. Prominent among these was Columbus Day, on which he contributed a poem to be read by him in the presence of upwards of fifteen thousand persons, including the Most Rev. Archbishop Williams, the Lieutenant Governor, the Mayor of Boston and the consuls of European countries at the unveiling of the Columbus stature.
In this connection a Boston paper remarked, "Mr. O'Meara is undoubtedly the official exponenet of poesy in Boston."
At the dedication of the Boston Chamber of Commerce building he was the poet of the day. The stanza was:
"From realm to realm, o binding Commerce, range,
Full as thy hope-wrought banner flies unfurled;
Enfold each race that trending hates estrange,
Link hearts as lands in thy far interchange,
To knit the nations and to unify the world!"
When he had concluded the utterance of the last sentiment, Ex-Secretary of State Bayard, now ambassador to Great Britain, who was on the platform, presented with a copy of his programme, on which was his autograph with the words, "Your poem is beautiful and true."
Among the other occasions on which Mr. O'Meara served as poet were the dedication of the Elkss' monument, the field day of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, and the anniversary celebration by the town of Lexington. Incedentally, poems by him have been delivered at reunions and banquets of the Druggists' Association, the Gettysburg Club, the Clover Club, the Catholic Union, of which he is a zealous member, the Vermont Veterans, the odd Glen Club, the Young Men's Christian Association of Boston College, the Boston Press Club, the New England Ladies' Press Association and divers other organizations. Various hymns and songs by him have been set to music, a prominent one being "The Flag above the School," which has become the standard one for school flag-raisings. At the festival in Mechanics' building, Boston, in aid fo the Working Girls' Home, a song by him was sung by the entire audience.
an idea of the widespread sympathies of his muse may be had from the fact that when St. John's, Newfoundland, was desolated by fire he acceded to a request to write a poem to be sold for the benefit of the sufferers; and when the Hawaiian Islanders were urging their proposition for annexation to the United States he wrote a poem in that interest which was formally acknowledged by the commissioners at Washington, and transmitted by them for publication in the islands.
Mr. O'Meara is married and is the father of four children, his wife being also a talented writer; his sister, a member of the Order of Notre Dame also wrote poetry.
Handwritten addendum:
My grandmother, Mary Lynch O'Meara used to write the children's page in the Sunday
7. Census for Massachusetts 1900, http://www.3-cities.com/~nlmara/census/1900ma.htm#b1399, 4/28/2000.
8. "Marjorie O'Meara Timmins Smolka letter," December 3, 1999, Paula Jane Marcus.
My Grandmother, Mary Adeline Lynch born May 12, 1855(?). She died March 24, 1926
Mary went to school in Montreal and fluent in French. She became a writer, and wrote John L. Sullivan's autobiography. For a time Mary did the Children's page in the 'Boston Journal.' At that time it was owned by her brother-in-law, Stephen O'Meara. The Journal later became the 'Boston Traveler.' It was an evening paper owned when I was young by the same people who published the 'Boston Herald', a morning paper.
I was in County Cork in Oct '39 when the chartered ship was supposed to bring stranded Americans home. We waited in bay at Southamton & when there were only about 12-15 passenters. We moved to Cobh in County Cork and filled the ship. The U.S. governed offere accomodations to anyone who had their first citizenship papers.
John Lynch resided in East Boston (He use the name Leach for substitute in business. There was so much predjudice against the Irish at the time & Lynch was known to be Irish.
John Lynch was born in County Cork, Ireland March 27, 1827. He died of pneumonia which he developed after being shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar (I think.)
John Lynch went to sea at age 10, as a cabin boy, and worked his way up until he owned his own sailing ship. He first work for the Dana family in Salem. I believe they had a mortgage on his boat, whichhis widow paid off. She did not want anyone to lose money because it was not paid.
John sailed around to India and China. He brought home a white silk wedding shawl, a lacquer lap desk and several other gifts from his travels.
9. sheet with "Rachel Stolzenberg & Kiva Fell (Seven Children)" at the top.
10. 8-sheet Greenspan tree 12/96
11. Cheryl Stewart Leshay email:
At 8:13 PM -0500 3/6/99, RevUnit@aol.com wrote:
>Dear Sheldon:
> We have never met, but you have my family on your website at genealogy. I
>am Rev. Cheryl Stewart Leshay. Bruce Leshay is my husband, son of Morton
>Leshay. My 15 year old son is Eric, and my 13 year old Daughter is Ilana.
>You have them listed as Erica and Ilane. Bruce's sister, Linda Leshay is
>married to Raphael Guadelupe and they have two children, Gabrielle and Julian.
>Bruce and I also live in Massachusetts. I was unclear how exactly we are
>related. Can you enlighten me?
>Distant relative in close proximity,
>Cheryl
12. Earl (Roland) Cowden
ercowden@juno.com (Earl R Cowden)
email Jan 11, 1999
13. Kalle Julle Mattes letter to Betty Brunelle, 8-10-53
14. Howard Mill, 342 Nevada Ave, Ely Nevada
15. famlysearch.org
16. dec 21, 1913, myrtle point, Oregon ?
Myrtle Point Ore (?) Dec 21, 1913
Mrs Olive Brown
and family Zillah, Wash
Dear Sister I received your card of Nov 4 reminding me that i had arived at another mile post and stil further reminds me that I have but a few more if any to pass. I was sorry to hear of Andrew's bad luck for men of his Age can't stnad such attacks (illegible) I hope he has fully recovered.
We are all enjoying our usual good health in fact we have never had any Serious Sickness in our family during our entire history Louisa and I are both injoying very good health for years but that is not Saying that we are not qauite infirm and decriped but we are both able to get About and do Some work my worst trouble is my feet they so injured in the Army that they neer recovered. I have suffered much with them ever since my big toe joint is inlarged tha tI can't get shoes to fit and the bottoms of my feet is covered with callouses that is very sore yet I can work at such as (ill.) the barn take care of the dairy house saw wiid abd naje garden
Well I am enjoying life I sleep well hav a good apetite (in fact too good like all old people I want to eat too much) and am quite free from aches and pains feet excepted.
Henry lives 2 miles fromus and 1 myle from Myrtle Point. He has a very goood wife full of business and industrious. They have 4 children bright healthy children. Daphne 10 G(ill) 8 Lucille 6 Lois 3 all but the youngest in shcoool.
They have a 20 acre bottom farm and are doing quite well milking which is the business of this country. William lives 6 miles from stockton California they have 2 boys the oldest 15 years youngest 13 him and his wife are both Visionary (like myslef) they tryed every place in the northwest since they got back in California they seem to be satisfied they have rented a dairy six miles from Stockton.
Edwin settled on a place 3 miles from Myrtle Point 10 years ago it has good timber contains 120 acres he sold 40 acres of timber and sold the timber off and cleared up another 40 he has 40 left of good timber which he will sell the timber off and clear up and put to grass. He is now milking 8 cows seperates the milk at home and sends the cream to the creamery he has young bearing orchards plenty fruit and berries in fact a pleasnat home.
Mary has a place of 30 acres ajoining with a house and baren and young orchard coming to bearing her and Ed are both single asyou are awere we all live together and have nothing to complain of it is a pleasant home for us not like most old people life does not drag heavily with me there are no clouds or shadows cross my path.
I injoy life and would like to live a hundred year longer I am a socialist believe in the Brotherhood of Man aful faith in humanity and believe we are fast immerging from ignorance and criminal inequity to higher plain of civilization where all will have equal opportunities to enjoy life.
I wrote Betsy last week you have no doubt heard that we lost our house and most it contents by fire there was no insurance we saved a Sewing machine and threw beds and a few quilts two beds upstairs was los even with all the furniturebook papers clothing and other to numerous to mention Mary and Ed had gon to the fair wore only a second suits on account of the tust {louisa?} and I weree alone so couldn't do but little in saving things. Louisa lost all clothes I saved an old suit and pants and vest of the new suit dropping the coat on the last trip out of the burning house.
The house was old and but little loss but the loss in side was over 500 dollars the [book?] cost over 200 the fire started from a spark from the stove while starting it from the main fire it was on the 13 day of Sept Every thing very dry and the fire very soon caught to the papers inside ans doon drove me out is the reason we saved so little we were preparing to buld a new house this fall which we have got built but the fire hurried the weatehr before was quite ready we put up a good roomy house but [illegible line on fold] we have replaced enough of our lost things to be comrortable an without debt al we suffered was a little nervous strain at the time. Now we sleep wellas tho noghing ever happened. Well I have wrote enough for the time I want to hear from your again tell Andrew to write give some of his experiances since I saw him last [ill] ago tell us all about your family where your boys are and how they get on in this friendly world i hope they catch on the Social idea and are striving for a higher civilizaiton our best wishes for all bood by for this time (and may be forever)
W.R. Harris
17. email from Tim Merrill, "Hi, this is Tim, we spoke on the phone today!," 12/9/00.
18. Notarized copy of Bible page July 25, 1938
Andrew Brown, Feb. 1843 Halveo, Finland
Olive Brown, May 15, 1848, on Monday, Finn County, Iowa
Children.
Charles Sheldon Brown, 8 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 10, 1873, Clarke Co. W.T.
Iva Coral Brown on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 4 A.M. 1877, Clarke Co. W.T.
Ivan Corlas Brown, Sept 26 4.30 A.M. 1877, Clarke Co. W.T.
Andrew Forrest Brown, Dec. 24, 2 A.M. 1883,, Clarke Co. W.T.
Vivian Violet Brown march 25, 7.P.M. 1886, Clarke Co. W.T.
STATE OF WASHINGTON)
) SS
COUNTY OF YAKIMA )
I, The undersigned, a Notary Public, in and for the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy from a page in the Family Bible belonging to Mrs. Olive Brown, of Zillah, Washington
Witness my hand and official seal this 25th. of July, 1938
19. Aug 21 1975.
Charles Brown, Hockinson Pioneer
My father, always known as Charles Brown although his legal name was Charles Junel, was born on Dec. 8th 1846 in Gamlakarlepy, Finland. At the age of 15 he went to sea making about twenty crossings of the Atlantic in the next few years. About the year 1871 when his sailing ship landed in America he decided to seek his fortune in this new land hoping to make a home for the wife he left in Sweden.
He worked on a steamboat on the Mississippi River until he could come to Washington Territory around 1873 to join his brothers Andrew and Leonard who had homesteaded in what is now Hockinson. After securing a homestead of 40 acres on the hill directly east and above what is now Hockinson (and which has often been known as Charlie Brown's hill) he sent for his wife and the two year old son he had never seen.
The homestead cabin, which still stood well into the 1930s, was constructed of cedar which he handcut and carried a quarter of a mile uphill. Eventually 10 acres of land needed to be cleared around the cabin to keep it safe from the tall old growth trees in case of wind. All was handwork, no blastinf powder or stump pullers as yet. The fourteenmiles to Vancouver over a dirt road took two days for the roundtrip when provisions were needed. The loads of wood he haled to town provided the necessary money.
It took about 4 to 6 months to clear an acre of land to grow grain and vegetables it was necessary for him to fish in the Columbia River during the summer months in order to support his growing family. As soon as his boys were old enough to help he bought and cleared another fifty acres of land at prices ranging from 5 to 15 dollars per acre. For a time he owned about 190 acres of land valued at 10 dollars per acre. By the way, these sons, Care, Alfred and Otto Brown were probably the Brown Boys referred to by Zachary Sakrison as sinking the dugout canoe in Battle Ground Lake as they would have been the right age for that kind of an adventure. This could be the dugout boat in the museum now.
Oxen were still in use when Charles Brown first homesteaded but he used a horse to turn the wood lathe with which he fashioned many pieces of furniture for himself and the neighbors. During these years many a family turned to him for help during sorrow and the old cemeteries near Brush Prairie still have crumbling cement tombstones made and crudely engraved by him. he also "laid out" the dead and made their coffins as there were no funeral parlors until in the early 1900s. With a few scattered neighbors my father helped to build the cabin that served as the first real schoolhouse in Hockinson.
In 1889 his wife Maria died leaving him with seven children ranging in age from 4 years to 15 years. His eighth child had died as an infant. Later he remarriedonly to lose his second wife in a short tim when she too died.
Although his rugged childhood as the son of a fisherman in Sweden and Finland left little tim for formal education my father spoke Swedish, Finnish and English fluently although he could only read in Swedish and Finnish. Along with Ambrosious Hokenson (for whom Hockinson was named) Charled Brown became a leader in the community, church and school life. On march 22, 1884 a swedish Lutheran Church, Elim, was organized by the Rev. L.C. Lindh with these two and other pioneers as charter members. Carl Brown, the oldest son, was in Elim's first confirmation class.
When his first family was grown and gone and his farm was a prosperous 4000 acre tre prune ranch Mr. Brown married teh widowed Ann Christine Ellertson in 1910 and brought her and her small son Homer Ellertson to life in a new home built to replace the house which burned in the 1902 Yacolt burn.
Charles Brown died in 1923 at the age or 76 and is buried beside his third wife in Elim cemetery at Brush Prairie. The pioneer graves of his first wife and children are in the old Baptist Church cemetery south of Brush Prairie
[list of Charles Brown's children]
All are now deceased except Inez Lucille Goings who lives in Vancouver.
To the best of my knowledge and from old family records this is the story of Charles Brown, a pioneer in Hockinson.
Explanation of the Junel name: When my father came to Hockinson he found his two brothers Andrew and Leonard were using the name Brown so he did the same although his name was never changed legally.
August 21, 1975 (Inez Lucille Goings)
20. N.S.D.A.R. membership form for Madalyn Joyce (Brown) (Sargent) national number 322337.
Dated October 10, 1940, copy dated Marth 29, 1999
"Bliss, Samuel. Western [now Warren], Private, Capt. Josiah Putnam's Co., Col Jedidah Foster's regt., which marched April 21, 1775 in response to the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Roxbury; service 8 days; also Capt. John Grainger's Co., Col. Learned's regt., muster roll dated Aug. 1, 1775, enlisted April 28 1775 service 3 mos. 1 week 4 days; also company return dated Oct. 7, 1775"
Listing:
John T. Joyce-Helen O'Meara
John G. Joyce-Mary E. Bliss Newton Centre, Mass
Oliver Bliss-Mary Schofield (Myers?) Brookfield, Mass.; Sicklerville, N.J.
Rensselaer Bliss-Maria B. Gilbert North Brookfield, Mass
Oliver Bliss-Betsey Works Warren [then Western] Mass
Samuel Bliss-Mary Gleason Warren [then Western] Mass
References: Geneology of the Bliss family, J.H.Bliss , other "vital records"
21. Compilation from the Archives prepared and published by the Secretary of the commonwealth in accordance with Chapter 100 resolves of 1891, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, Wright and Potter Printing Co., State Printers 18 Post Office Square 1896, II BES-BYX, 189.
Contents * Index * Surnames * Contact
Created 23 Mar 2002 by Reunion, from Leister Productions, Inc.