HELBLING, SPRINGSTEEN Family (Click for Family Tree)

An earlier post that began the series on the Springsteen Family Bible has been revised due to further research. We have realized that the bible most likely was owned by Anna (Connor) Springsteen and her husband, Jefferson Springsteen. Please take a look at the original post,  “Treasure Chest Thursday: The Springsteen Family Bible,” beginning 19 Jun 2016. Please update your information as needed.

Genealogy- always a work in progress!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “Treasure Chest Thursday: The Springsteen Family Bible,”  heritageramblings.net/…/treasure-chest-thursday-the-springsteen-family-bible

 

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Original content copyright 2013-2020 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 

Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.

 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

 

Helbling/Springsteen Family, and ALL our American family!

What if we knew of an object that was 243 years old, had been an active part of making America free, and had a connection to our family? Would that make you even more proud to be an American? Would that make you even more proud to have the DNA of such ancestors that used the artifact? Would you feel more connected to history?

Would you also be amazed???

Those were some of my emotions when I saw the following treasure on the website, AmericanPowderHorns.com:

 

Incredibly, this fragile piece of animal horn has survived 243 years thanks to the wonderful care of collectors like Rich Nardi. If you are a descendant, this is really special, but in the U.S., we are all beneficiaries of the persons who used these horns and settled this country, and who fought for our freedoms.

This horn originally belonged to Capt. Abraham Remsen (1730-1807), who is a 6th great-uncle to the grandchildren of Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling and her husband Gerard William “G. W.” Helbling of St. Louis, MO. (To know your relationship to Capt. Remsen, figure the number of generations you are removed from the grandchildren of Anna May & G.W., and add 6 to know the number of generations between yourself and this Revolutionary War hero.) We cannot know if Capt. Remsen carved it himself, if his troops did the work and gave it to him, or if it was professionally carved, but it is a fantastic artifact, whatever its origin.

So what is a powder horn? Yes, it is just what it sounds like- a horn-shaped object which is hollow and used to store powder for the guns of an earlier time. Cow and ox horns were typically used in the Eastern US. Oxen were plentiful as they were used in farming to pull a plow or to help remove felled trees, drag barges against the current in a canal, or pull heavy loads such as pioneer wagons or military cannon across mountains and plains. Cows were even more plentiful and kept on farms (and even on city lots!) for milk but also for butter, which was often traded for other goods at the general store, and when they were no longer good milk producers, the cows became a source of meat. There were also powder horns made from a variety of animal horns, like bison or water buffalo; powder horns were even made of ivory, wood, or tin.

As Rich states on his website, “The powder horn was the companion to every musket and rifle in early America.” If you didn’t keep your powder dry, your rifle would not fire properly and you would miss the shot of the animal that was to be your family’s dinner… or the shot that would save your child from the attack of a mountain lion… or the shot that would protect the safety of your family and property from nefarious individuals or soldiers coming to take your freedoms. You could even be injured or killed when the gun misfired due to wet powder.

 

A powder horn was closed at the larger end by a metal or wood plug, and it generally would have a knob on which a strap was attached, as in the right of the powder horn above. The other end often had a metal spout with a cover. In the Remsen horn, the pouring spout is tin that is threaded and pegs made of wood  hold the spout to the horn. The cap was also made of tin, and open at both ends to be used like a funnel in filling the horn from the smaller end. A wooden or cork stopper would have been inserted into the spout to keep the gunpowder from spilling out, but that piece has been lost to time. The spout end would be carried toward the front of the soldier or hunter, or when worn cross-body, often slung to the back when marching. When needed, the horn could be quickly grabbed and pulled forward, then cap removed and powder poured into the pan or muzzle, setting up another shot as quickly as possible.

 

Many- or most?- early Americans, especially those on the frontier, created their own powder horns- its preparation was a good evening or winter activity, or, for a soldier, something to keep the mind and hands busy during the interminable, worrisome, boring hours of waiting for battle. Some polished their horns, both inside and out, as that would make the horn translucent and the amount of powder left inside was easily visible. (“Do I have enough for one more shot at the bear running toward me or should I run?”*) Most horns were probably very utilitarian, but many became beautiful pieces of folk art, with scrimshaw-like carvings that showed what was important to the owner- perhaps a place, a battle, a date, bible verse or saying, or images of nature or people. Some, like Abraham’s horn, give us the gift of their name, too.

 

Transcription:

“CAPT. ABRAH

AM REMSE

N. NEWT

ON LONG

ISLAND

MILITIA

JUN 1776″

We have so few artifacts that bring us down to the month and day they were created, and even provide the owner’s name. He was “Capt. Abraham Remsen” in June of 1776- the month before he heard the Declaration of Independence! By July, Abraham had been promoted to Major. Abraham was in charge of a section of Long Island, New York militia that were already fighting to gain our freedom from British tyranny, even though the Declaration of Independence had not yet been signed or circulated in June of 1776, the date on the horn.

(There is a lot of story to tell about this family and Capt. Remsen- that will be done in upcoming blogs.)

Speaking of the British, you may have heard them called “Redcoats” as in the iconic ride of Paul Revere, “The Redcoats are coming!”

 

“Redcoat” definitely described the British uniform, but it was also a derogatory term for the king’s soldiers. In the psychological war that always plays a part in any international or civil conflict, the American patriots had yet another name for the highly trained, professional British army, a name that was even worse. Probably spoken most often with a sneer and a spit, (and maybe some fear), they called the British soldiers, “Lobsters.”

We know that our (some number) great uncle Capt. Abraham Remsen, definitely used the term, “Lobsters” for the British:

(Love that New York accent in the spelling!)

 

“MY POWDER MAKES LOBSTARS FLEE”

What delightful words to put on the object that holds the powder for his rifle or musket!

In those days, it was thought that the local red lobsters mainly lived on ocean detritus (remains of dead creatures). Lobsters were thus sometimes called “the cockroaches of the sea.” Did the patriots think that was how low the British were- cockroaches? After a storm, lobsters would wash up on the New England coastline, sometimes in piles two feet high! It was a great source of protein, but went bad quickly after the lobster died. Because it was so plentiful, lobster became a food for the poor. Living on Long Island so near the sea, the Remsen family may have eaten red lobster, but they were certainly familiar with piles of lobster rotting on the beach, and the accompanying stench.  The Captain and his troops would have been as eager to finish off the British as they would have been for having piles of rotting lobster on the beach just disappear!

One other fun wordplay on this beautiful powder horn- certain powders make fleas jump off mangy dogs.  Was the maker of this horn implying that the British soldiers were as unwelcome in America as fleas??

The other side of the powder horn has two ships, full masted, in a harbor, probably New York Harbor. Abraham would have seen them there frequently as the British mustered their forces by land as well as sea to put down the insurrection of British citizens against their king. These carvings have become very worn and hard to photograph over the years, so we currently do not have images of them, but that is in the works.

The bold images and words on Abraham’s horn have brought us into the trenches with him to feel the hatred, the anger, and the emotions of a soldier risking it all for the lives of family, friends, property, and freedom. Now, take a closer look at the rest of this powder horn, and the beautiful, fine-line carving behind the bolder words. There are trees and flowers, graphic bars dividing sections and the cartouche framing his name and information, ‘wingdings’- small graphics use to separate words, etc. And then there are the two rows of houses and a band that states “Newtown,” the town he lived in on Long Island, in what was called “New Netherland” when his Dutch ancestors helped settle it. That image was a good reminder for even the really bad times (which were to come- soon) of why he he had left home and family to take the life of others. Perhaps Abraham could momentarily escape into the images of the houses and trees and be removed from the mundane, often miserable, scenes of camp life and battle that he was living, no matter how brief the sweet reverie. Abraham’s beautiful powder horn would have kept him going, both mentally and militarily, for the long series of battles that was just beginning.

 

There is much more to come on Abraham Remsen and our Dutch Colonial ancestors of the Springsteen family. In the meantime, please visit Rich Nardi’s website, AmericanPowderHorns.com, for more information about this horn, and other fantastic artifacts from our early history as a country.

Thank you so much, Rich, for preserving and so generously sharing these treasures!

 

Notes and Sources:

1. *Running is not necessarily the best tactic for dealing with a bear- please learn what is currently recommended before you go out into the woods.
2. Rich Nardi’s wonderful website is AmericanPowderHorns.com. You can see Capt. Remsen’s horn at https://americanpowderhorns.com/?s=remsen.
3. Personal correspondence with Rich Nardi over the years. Thank you for your patience, explanations, generosity, and tender care of these treasures.
4. More about powder horns– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_horn and https://www.nps.gov/vafo/learn/historyculture/upload/PowderHorns-with-arrowhead.pdf

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images. We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog. 

Original content copyright 2013-2019 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly. Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family, Beerbower Family (Click for Family Tree)

Tuesday’s Tip: Assess the accuracy of photo captions by looking at clothes, backgrounds, hairstyles, age of subjects, etc. in all the pictures on one page. Images that have too many differences may not actually be ‘attached’ to a date or caption nearby.

Yesterday’s post, “Matrilineal Monday: Easter, 1914 with the Helblings,” included an image that had “Easter 1914” written on it by Anna “May” (Beerbower) Helbling. The scan of the whole page is important to see how /where the date is written and the relationship to other photos.

Unless the little ones changed out of their Easter best clothes, the picture of Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower with her grandchildren may have been taken on another date. The children look a bit older, too.

Those ‘of an age’ to remember putting pictures in a photo album, may also recall just adding a picture in here and there, if there was space.

This second picture was possibly on another page, but does seem to be the same time as the first picture of Anna Missouri and her grandchildren. Her clothing looks more like a robe than a dress, so it does seem to be a different day than Easter Sunday.

Knowing a bit of history helps- or muddies the analysis- when assessing a photo too. In April of 1914, the world still had some of the innocence seen in the Easter Sunday images of yesterday’s post. By August of that year, Europe had become embroiled in World War I; the United States would join the fight in 1917. Were Edgar’s homemade ‘swords,’ wooden ‘rifle,’ and play reflecting the world at war in later 1914? Or was it typical boy’s play? If we knew the answer, it would help us to better date the photos.

Three more important tips:

1. When scanning photo albums, it is important to scan the whole page, in addition to individual photos, in order to maintain the context.
2. Look critically at all that is on the page to ensure that any date or caption is truly attached to any one picture.
3. When writing about the image, or adding a caption to the photo, be careful about the wording if there is a question as to the date. Note the above captions do not actually state the date, but only the date listed on the page where they were found.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Helbling Family Photo Album.
2. “Matrilineal Monday: Easter, 1914 with the Helblings”– https://heritageramblings.net/2018/04/02/matrilineal-monday-easter-1914-with-the-helblings/

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

 

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 

Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.

 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

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McMurray Family, Payne Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Trees)

Tuesday’s Tip:

Look for the context of your ancestor’s life-

from politics to clothing,

from community happenings to the style of their house.

Thankfully most family historians have moved away from being collectors of names and dates, and now want to tell the stories of their ancestors lives. Without detailed daily diaries or bundles of old letters, how do we learn about their lives? Newspapers are a great way to learn what was happening in a community, and an ancestor might be mentioned in a story or obituary. Also, browsing the pages around where one finds an ancestor article can help us to fill in the blanks about the little things in their lives- or even the big things.

Politics can be messy, as we all have experienced these last two years of this what seems to be a never-ending election. (In Great Britain, they only have a certain number of WEEKS they are allowed to campaign- that seems much more sensible.) Elections in our country’s history have been just as bad, maybe even worse than this one, but learning about them will help us to understand our ancestors a bit more.

Edward B.Payne (1847-1923) and his wife, Nanie M. (Burnell) Payne (1847-1898), lived in Leominster, Massachusetts in 1888, the year of this article. Their only child, Lynette Payne (who later married William Elmer McMurray), was about to turn nine years old just eight days after this article was published. Rev. Payne was the pastor of the First Congregational Unitarian Church in Leominster. Further down this newspaper column about Leominster happenings was a report of the Porter-Davis wedding at which he officiated, but a few moments of browsing the paper turned up this nugget of context.

In 1888, the Democratic incumbent President, Grover Cleveland, desired a second term. The Republican nominee was Benjamin Harrison, and US tariffs were the biggest issue of the campaign. Tariffs are a tax on imported goods, paid by the importer, and until the Federal Income Tax began in 1913, tariffs were the main source of federal income- up to 95% of the total at times.

Since high tariffs, paid by foreign manufacturers and importers, provided income to our federal government, they reduced the need for taxes to be paid by our citizens. Sounds good- make the other country pay, right? Well, the bad part  is that U.S. tariffs make the cost of imported goods higher to the consumer in this country- the cost just gets passed through to the buyer, of course.

Tariffs that are high make domestic products more affordable than imports, and thus more desirable. Therefore those in U.S. industries, including factory workers, preferred high tariffs so that their own production had a lower comparative cost, and they could sell more. Our own citizens would be in high demand as workers, too.

Since the country was prospering and there were no wars going on in 1888, tariffs became THE issue. Grover Cleveland was adamant that high U.S. tariffs were hurting the consumer.  He knew that our citizens felt it every time that they bought an imported item, and it hurt their pocketbook. Cleveland thus proposed a large tariff reduction to Congress.

(But then would personal taxes go up? The money has to come from somewhere…)

Harrison, however, felt that high tariffs protected our workers and manufacturers.

Benjamin Harrison was a Republican from Indiana, and he gave speeches from his front porch in Indianapolis- our Springsteen ancestors, such as Jefferson Springsteen and his son Abram Furman Springsteen, may have been a part of those crowds. The Springsteens were Democrats, so may have been part of the hecklers, although they may have had divided loyalties. Their party’s man, President Cleveland, was against military pensions. Since Jeff had at least 2 sons who had served in the Civil War, one of which was Abram, the Springsteens may not have been so happy with Cleveland, either.

Back in Leominster, Massachusetts, where Edward B.Payne and family were living, the factory workers, as expected, were supporting Harrison with his views of keeping tariffs high. It is interesting that the shirt factory ladies were going to “unfurl one of the finest flags in town, bearing the names of Harrison and Morton.” (Morton was the V.P. nominee.) Since women in most states could not legally vote in a Presidential election until 32 years later, it was one small way they could voice their political opinions and help influence the outcome.

Rev. Payne was a Christian Socialist in his later years, and surely, with his devotion to the poor, he exemplified that philosophy even earlier in life. He most likely would have favored a candidate who had the middle and lower classes in mind. (Later in California, he registered as a Socialist; we have found no other documentation of his political leanings.) He worked quite a lot with factory workers though, so he too may have had a difficult time deciding between candidates when he was ready to cast his ballot in the Cleveland-Harrison contest. Although just 41 years old in 1888, he also was a Civil War veteran, thus probably liked the idea of a military pension in his future- after all, preachers really do not make very much income.

In 1888, America still was one of the biggest manufacturers in the world, and the costs for our products were among the lowest in the world. So the tariff issue may not have been of such importance after all, but it was the loudest of the campaign.

Harrison carried Indiana as well as Massachusetts, and received the majority of  electoral votes. Cleveland, however, received the majority of the popular votes. It was a close election, but as one of only four elections when the popular vote did not match the Electoral College vote, the Republican Benjamin Harrison became the next President of the United States.

The context of our ancestor’s lives in 1888 included tariffs; today, ours include trade agreements, which can affect prices and demand in similar ways.

Our ancestors needed to educate themselves well before they voted, just as we need to do today.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Image sources per captions.

2. “United States Presidential Election, 1888,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1888

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 

Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.

 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

The New York Public Library Digital Collections webpage is an unbelievable resource for those researching in New York City and beyond. They have so generously made a push to make their collections available freely on the internet, and they allow use of much of their collection without fees or even required citations. There is so much on the site, and they continually add to it- it will keep many a dedicated family historian from sleep tonight and long into the future.

We know that our Helbling ancestors, the Springsteens, lived in New York City at various times. Jefferson Springsteen (1820-1909), the great-grandfather of Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray, married the Irish immigrant Anna M. Connor (1824-1887) in Brooklyn in 1843, and they are found in the 1850 US Federal Census in Brooklyn with three of their children. By 1853 they had moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, but Jefferson’s father, John Springsteen (1782-1867), his grandfather, Abraham Springsteen (abt 1755-1844 or before), or his siblings, may have been in NYC in 1856, when the City Directory listed quite a number of Springsteens and associated names.

An upcoming project is to go through this directory’s listings above, and determine exactly who each of these persons are, and how they might be related. Thankfully this publication places these Springsteens between the 1850 and 1860 US Federal Censuses, so those enumerations may help to sort out family lines, as might the occupations and addresses listed in the city directory.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. New York City Directory for 1856–
   https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8f502510-52b4-0134-dacd-00505686a51c/book#page/787/mode/2up
2. Thank you, New York Public Library, for your Digital Collections and making public information truly public and freely usable!

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 

Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.

 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.