Clues from an 1880s Autograph Album

Years ago, I bought this autograph album at an antiques flea market in Pennsylvania. For a long time, it was tucked away in a box with the old diaries that I collect. Now I've brought it out and want to discover who these people were that signed this book.

The first name was Georgie A. Smith. I'm not sure if Georgie was a man or woman even. Smith is such a common name, so it will be hard to track this one down. At first I thought the album belonged to Georgie. Later I saw several verses inscribed to Anna or Annie, so Georgie merely signed inside the front cover and was not the owner.

I'll include in this article sample pages from the book and lists of the names that I could decipher. Maybe someone out there is looking for these people. I hope they find this information.

Photo Credit: vallain

Here's the e-mail that I'm sending out whenever I find a lead with an e-mail address with it:

"I have an old autograph book signed by many people from Milford, CT. I'd like to find the family or a historical society that this would be meaningful to.

The dates in the book range from 1880 to 1902 with most of the signers putting Milford for their town. You can see more details about the book on my web page, Clues from an 1880s Autograph Book.

Virginia Allain

retired librarian"

Milford

New Milford

Bridgeport

East Hartford

Roxbury

Besides the Connecticut towns, the autograph signers also came from these places:

Stouffville, Ontario (?)

The dates jump around, so people apparently did not sign just the first blank page, but selected a page at random to sign. I've put the signatures in the order they were in the autograph book.

I'll leave out the verses and mostly just put the signatures.

When I'm not sure of a letter or can't decipher the handwriting, I'll put a question mark.

More will be added as I have time. This is incomplete at the moment.

1. Your sincere friend, Florence E. Smith

   Milford, Conn.

   Sept. 15, 1902

2. When the golden sun is setting,

   And your mind from care is free,

   When of others you are thinking,

   Will you sometimes think of me?

   Sincerely your friend

   Edna W. Swift (or Sinft)

   Milford, Ct.

   Sept. 14 - 1902

3. Cordially Yours -

   M (?) Ellen Clarke

   Milford

   May 28, 1883

4. Christina McLaughlin

   May 9 - 1902

   Milford Conn

5. Annie E. Knott

   Milford Conn

   June 26th 1902

6. May your path be strewn with roses,

   Bright and thornless to the end

   And when your head in death reposes,

   May your Maker be your friend.

   Etta G. Clarke

   Milford, Conn.

   Mar. 22, 1880

7. Martha B. Tibbals

   July 13, 1902

8. Mame J. Hurk (Hurbe?)

   Milford, Conn.

   May 19, 1902

9. Carolyn E. Stowe

   Milford, Connecticut

   Nov. 2, 1902

10. Yours very Truly

    Nellie B. Wilcox

    Milford

    Jan. 24, 1881

11. Albina L. Addis

    New Milford

    May 30th 1880

12. Anna is your name,

    Single is your station,

    Happy be the little man

    That makes the alteration

    Mrs. A.M. Wilcox

    Feb 4th 1881

    (this inscription makes it sound like the autograph book belonged to Anna, so perhaps Georgie A. Smith just happened to sign inside the front cover)

13. Lizzie McCarroll

    Milford, Conn

    June 15, 1902

14. Virlinda Milton Warren

    East Hartford, Conn

    Milford

    May 19, 1902

15. Straight is the path of duty;

    Curved is the path of beauty,

    Follow the one and thou shalt see

    The other following after thee.

    Your Cousin,

    Mary E. Addis

    New Milford, Conn

    May 24th, 1881

The first list was getting too long, so I'm breaking it up into segments.

1. Your sincere friend

   Alice W. Stowe

   Milford, Conn.

   Dec 8th 1902

2. Remember, unless you choose to forget.

   Your Friend

   Evie Durand

   Milford, Conn.

   Sept. 25, 1880

3. Your Friend,

   Sadie E. Hickey

   Milford, Conn.

   May 29, 1902

4. Ever, your, friend,

   Cornelia E. Knowles

   Bowie, Maryland

   May 24th 1881

5. Frank A. Smith,

   Milford, Conn.

   Sept. 7, 1902

6. It may be glorious to write

   Thoughts that shall glad the two or three (there are 6 more lines to the inscription)

   Yours very truly

   Gev. H. Griffin (could this be Genevieve H. Griffin?)

   Milford

   June 25 1889 (curiously, instead of "th" after the 25, it looks like a dollar sign $ with two vertical lines through it)

7. "Kind words cost nothing,

   but are worth much."

   Carol Stow Tibbals

   Milford, Connecticut

   July the thirteenth, Nineteen hundred two.

8. Mary Downing

   Wilbraham, Mass.

   May 25th 1880

9. May your joys be as deep as the ocean

   Your sorrows as light as its foam

   May the billows be safe that you ride on

   Till anchored at last safe at home

   Your friend

   Ruth E. Wills

   New Milford, Conn.

   May 28, 1881

10. Friendship has a power

    To sooth affliction in her darkest hour.

    Your true friend,

    Minnie E. Smith

    Milford, Conn.

    Sept. 7th, 1902

11. Your friend,

    Katie E. Wells

    New Milford, Conn.

    May 27th, 1881

12. Yours Very Truly

    R. Sherman Platt

    Milford, Conn.

    August 27th 1880

13. Feb 23 1880

    Lizzie M Feltis

    Milford Conn

    Seaside

    Friendship

    (I found a mention of Elizabeth Feltis, daughter of Patrick and Ellen Feltis of Milford. It's in a book called A Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County, Volume 2 By Everett Gleason Hill. page 879)

14. Very truly

    John L. Higgins

    Milford Conn

    June 27th 1902

15. Yours Truly,

    A.V. Merwin

    Milford, Ct.

    Mar. 5th 1880

    (I discovered online a mention of "In 1857, oystering became a major industry when Wm. M. Merwin & Sons successfully planted seed oysters in the harbor." This is on the Milford Chamber of Commerce site.)

I couldn't find some of the place names on the map, so the villages may have disappeared or changed the name since the time of the signatures in the autograph album.

Centre Village, NY

Mary Downing - Wilbraham, Massachussets

Cornelia E. Knowles - Bowie, Maryland

Madison, Maine

W.E. Smith 1883 - Richford Vermont

Atchison, KS

• History of the towns of New Milford and Bridgewater, Connecticut, 1703-1882 By Samuel Orcutt

  You can read this book online or download it.

• The History of Milford.

  Published in 1901. You can read this book online or download it.

• Families of Early Milford, Connecticut By Susan Emma Woodruff Abbott

  Google Books has this online so you can read it or download it.

• Historical sketches of the town of Milford by George Hare Ford - Google Books

  Again this one is online for reading or downloading.

• History of Milford, Connecticut : 1639-1939 by Federal Writer's Project - Google Books

  Online for reading or downloading.

After I finish some of my current projects, I'd like to get some of these books to research further on the names included in this autograph book. Here are some of the histories I've found so far.

1. I count these things to be grandly true,

   That a noble deed is a step towards God,

   Lifting the soul from the common sod,

   To a purer air and a broader view. (J.G. Holland)

   Susie D. Smith

   Milford, Conn.

   April 1883

   (I checked on the internet and found this poem on page 333 of Hill's manual of social and business forms: a guide to correct writing By Thomas Edie Hill. The book has a great section on penmanship lessons too.)

2. Your friend

   Frankie Turrill

   New Milford

   May 25 1881

   (There's a Frank W. Turrell in the 1880 census with the following information:

   Birth Year 1863, Birthplace: MA, Age 17, Occupation: Express Man, Marital Status Single, Race White, Head of Household Charles W. TURRELL, Relation Son, Father's Birthplace MA, Mother's Birthplace MA

   It seems likely that it might be Frankie.)

3. Annie

   March 24th 1880

   ......

   Sincerely your friend

   Libbie J. Bohan (this one is very faint, so it could be Bahan)

4. W.E. Smith

   Richford, Vermont

   Milford, Ct

   Dec. 29, 1883

5. Milford

   June 24 - 1902

   G.S. Kilpatrick (the G could be another letter)

6. When you choose, from this world a companion for life

   May your lives both in harmony flow

   To battle together in this broad field of strife

   And win laurels where ever you go.

   R.A. Burns

   Milford, Conn

   March 4th 1880

7. Your Friend

   Stella L.C. Stowe

   December the Eighth

   Nineteen hundred two

8. "In the book of life "God's Album,"

   May your name be penned with care;

   And may all who here have written,

   Find their names recorded there."

   Is the wish of your Friend,

   Matie M. Benjamin

   Milford, Conn.

   Feb. 11, 1880

   (She is listed online on page 46 of Life and Light for Woman, Volume 14 By Woman's Board of Missions. It is a listing of the officers for the Milford "Ivy Vine" Mission Circle. Matie is vice president.)

9. Your Pastor and Friend.

   J. A. Biddle

   June 2, 1880

   (He gets three mentions in the book, Proceedings at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the First Church of Christ Milford, Conn. pages 9, 50, 124.)

10. Your Friend,

    Anna Light Biddle.

    Milford

    June 2, 1880

    (I'm guessing that she is J.A. Biddle's wife. Note they signed on the same day.)

11. J. F. Addis

    New Milford, Conn.

    May 30, 1881

    (He is listed in Public documents of the State of Connecticut, Volume 3 By Connecticut. General Assembly. page 72 about fingerling brook trout plants, Fall of 1914 in a report by the State Board of Fisheries.)

12. Mrs. Nancy Leach

    March 23, 1883

13. E. C. Mallory

    Milford, Conn.

    Mar. 15, 1880

14. Your Friend and Pastor,

    Seneca M. Keeler, (At first, I thought it was McKeeler)

    Milford, Conn.

    Feb. 19, 1881

    (Seneca M. Keeler was pastor of the First Congregational Church in Smyrna from June 1866, to September 1870. His middle name is McNeill. There's a brief paragraph on page 339 about his career in The Ministerial Directory: of the ministers in the Presbyterian Church 1898. It states he was in Milford in 1880.)

15. Alice B. Culis (I'm fairly sure the first letter is a C)

    Milford Conn.

    Feb 12, 1881

1. Your sincere friend,

   Laura F. Keeler

   Milford, TC

   Feb 12, 1881

   (Rev. Keeler's daughter, according to Genealogy of the Families of John Rockwell, of Stamford, Connecticut 1641 ...

   by James Boughton, page 219. Her middle name was Frances and her mother was Alice B. Smith Keeler. Laura was born Oct. 2, 1858 and married Robert M. Canfield on July 29, 1892.)

2. W.A. Augur

   Milford, Conn.

   March 10, 1880

3. Your Friend,

   Flora A. Estes

   Centre Village

   Broome Co

   N.Y.

   March 28th 1881

   (see the photo of this one above)

4. So live that you each year may be,

   While time glides swiftly by;

   A little farther from the earth,

   And nearer to the sky.

   Your Friend,

   Emma L. Clark

   Milford, Conn., Oct. 18, 1880

5. Minta G Martin

   Milford Conn

   Feby 22nd 1880

   (There is a Minta G. Martin listed in Polk's Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County Directory in 1915 and 1917 at 403 State N. It's hard to tell if it might be the same person.)

6. "Though distant lands should us divide

   And we no more each other see

   Should friends more dear with thee abide

   I pray thee still remember me"

   Your True Friend

   Julia E. Prindle

   Roxbury Centre

   May 6th 1881

7. May happiness be e'er thy lot,

   Where ever thou shalt be,

   And love and sunshine light the spot,

   That may be home to thee.

   Your friend,

   Hattie A. Turrill

   New Milford, Conn.

   May 28th, 1881

8. Remember well and bear in mind,

   A faithful friend is hard to find

   And when you find one good and true

   Change not the old one for the new

   Mary A. Burns

   Milford Conn

   March 4th 1880

   (There's a Mary A. Burns listed on the 1890 tax list in The History of Milford by George Allen Ramsdell, William P. Colburn. Possibly she is the daughter of Capt. Peter Burns and married James M. Burns. page 449 )

9. Dear Cousin Annie,

   Other skies may bend above thee,

   Other hearts may seek thy shrine,

   But no other Soul will ever love thee

   With the constancy of mine

   Go where thy joy awaits thee,

   And may God your life attend,

   But when parting I would ask thee,

   To remember thy Cousin,

   Remember me dear Annie,

   When on these lines you look,

   Remember it was Mary who wrote this in your book,

   Tender memories around thee twine,

   like the ivy green around the vine,

   Remember I say, when you look on these pages,

   that writing in albums is like working for wages.

   Your Cousin

   Mary Stuart

   Atchison, Kan's

   June 23rd 1885

   Milford, Conn.

   June 22, 1885 - 22, 1895

   (I'm not sure why this entry has multiple dates and places)

10. There are no friends like the old friends

    Keep all that you can get

    And when you turn these pages

    This one do not forget

    Clark Wilcox

    Milford

    Jan 26th/81

    (Clark Wilcox gave the land for Wilcox Park, affectionately known as "Harbor Woods" to the town of Milford in 1909. Historical Sketches of the Town of Milford by George Hare Ford)

11. Your little friend

    Grace A. Prindle

    Roxbury, Ct.

12. May your life be ever bright

    as this lovely spring afternoon

    is the wish of your true friend

    M.M. Prindle

    Roxbury Centre

    May 7th 1881

13. "Stone walls do not a prison make

    Nor iron bars a cage;

    Minds innocent and quiet take

    That for an hermitage

    Mrs. L.A. Nettleton

    Milford, Conn.

    Oct. 9. 1880.

    (The poem is by Richard Lovelace.)

14. It is the secret sympathy,

    The silver link, the silken tie,

    Which heart to heart, and mind to mind

    In body and in soul can bind.

    Your friends,

    Angie B. Smith

    Milford, Conn

    Sept. 7, 1902.

15. Heaven but tried our virtue by affliction;

    As oft the cloud that waxs ? the present hour

    Serves but to lighten all our future days.

    Your Friend

    Mrs. C.W. Miles

    Milford

    June 16 - 1880

1. Remember your Friend

   Mrs H. Thomas

   Roxbury Centre

   May 14th 1881

2. Place no confidence in man

   Not even in a brother

   So girls if we must love

   Let's love one another

   Katie Oneil

   New Haven, Conn

   Feb 22 1880

3. May earth give all its joys to thee

   May summer winds blow lightly -

   May all the blessings life bestows

   Adorn thy head so brightly

   truly yours

   Lizzie S. Allen

   New Milford, Conn -

   May 20th 1881

4. We have met in peace together,

   Here upon this earthly shore,

   May we meet in joy forever,

   Meet in Heaven to part no more.

   Carrie D. Clark

   Milford Conn.

   Feb. 7, 1880

5. Nellie Nettleton (there's a middle initial, but it could be an I or a J or ??)

   Milford, Conn

   Oct. 9, 1880

6. Your true friend

   Emma J. Munson

   Milford, Conn.

7. compliments of

   F. E. Baldwin

   (this name is in the center of an elaborate scrollwork with a bird in the design)

8. Anna S. Phelan

   Milford, Conn

   June 20th, 1902

9. Ida Morris
10. Lillian A. Smith

    Bridgeport, Conn.

    April 12th '84

11. "The deeds we do, the words we say,

    Into still air they seem to fleet;

    We count them ever past,

    But they shall last;

    In the dread judgement, theyAnd we shall meet."

    Emma A. Nettleton

    Milford, Conn.

    Oct. 9 1880

    (the verse is from "Early Warnings," from Keble's poem: Lyra innocentium according to Wikiquote)

12. Your Friend

    W.R. Smith

    Milford, Conn.

    Jan. 27th 1880 (though it could be 1883 or 1888)

13. Lucy Turrill

    New Milford, Conn.

    May 22, 1881

14. "We must not hope to be mowers

    And to gather the ripe gold ears,

    Until we have first been sowers

    And watered the furrows with tears.

    It is not just as we take it,

    This mystical world of ours;

    Life's field will yield, as we make it,

    A harvest of thorns or of flowers."

    Truly Yours,

    Julia E. Benjamin

    Milford, Conn. Feb. 11, 1880

    (I found the verse attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

15. July 5th 1880

    Greatest bliss have they in living,

    Who receiving join with giving,

    Of all good thy life shall measure

    Scat'ring shall increase they treasure

    With kindly regard, yours,

    M M. R. Clarke

    Endorsing the above Sentiment of my Better-Half

    Commending its application to Georgie; I remain with

    great respect and the kindest wishes

    Truly Yours

    Owen T. Clarke

    (The first signature could be Martha Miles, born June 20, 1830 who is listed as marrying an Owen T. Clarke in A GENEALOGY of the Descendants of WIDOW MARTHA BEARD)

The fairest view of earth is given

To those, who climb the nearest heaven!

Your Sincere Friend

Mrs. R.N. Smith

Milford May 26th 1883

(There were more names after this one, but the small book has gone to a new owner, so no more will be added here.)

A distant relative of the original autograph book owner contacted me and I sent her the book. It gives me great satisfaction that it is now in the hands of someone who will treasure it and pass it down to the next generation.

The lovely handwriting seen in autograph books of the late 1800s is called Spencerian penmanship.

• Spencerian Penmanship

  The cover page from H.C. Spencer's 1874 Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship and samples of this style of writing.

• Autograph Book Verses

  Verses Gleaned from 19th Century Autograph Books.

• Directory of Antiquarian Book, Map, & Manuscript Dealers

  A List of Dealers in Fine Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Maps The following dealers are among the approximately 475 members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. Listing is in alphabetical order by dealer name. Old Books II Art Pri

• Newfoundland Club of America: History & Collectibles: Victorian Chromolithograph Die- Cuts

  Tells the history of the Victorian die-cuts (colorful artwork used in autograph albums).