Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Biography: Alice Josephine Barber Pendleton, 1860-1922


Photograph of Alice Josephine Barber Pendleton, c. 1887-1891


Alice Josephine Barber was born in March of 1860 in the small historic town of Stonington, Connecticut. Her parents were a fisherman named Henry Barber, and his wife Eliza. Henry owned the family's house, a property worth $1,000-- equivalent to about $25,000 today. Many of the other residents of this small coastal community were also fishermen, while others were stone cutters, farmers, or sailors.

At the age of 16, she married a young man named William Hyde Pendleton, a tool blacksmith by trade. William's family had strong roots in the area; his ancestors, including Captain James Pendleton (1627-1709), had been among its earliest European settlers.

The Pendletons took up residence in William's ancestral hometown-- the nearby town of Westerly, Rhode Island, just across the river and state border from Alice's Connecticut birthplace. Later that year, their daughter Mary was born. After their 1875 marriage, William and Alice lived with his parents in their home on Beach Street, but the couple moved out on their own by 1880. In 1886, their son William Junior was born. The family resided for many years in a multi-family home at 201 Main St. that overlooked the Pawcatuck River.

By 1910, Alice and William had moved immediately across the river, now living on the Connecticut side at 191 Mechanic Street, in a large multi-family home where Alice's brother Winthrop and his wife Minnie also resided. The house, built in 1820, also looked out over the Pawcatuck River. William continued to work as a blacksmith, while Alice kept house. The textile industry had brought a large amount of business to the small towns on the Connecticut/Rhode Island border, especially after the opening of a large mill in the 1890s, and many of the Pendletons' neighbors worked at the nearby thread mill..

By 1920, the Pendletons had moved back across the river to their previous home at 201 Main, and William had his own blacksmith shop.

Alice passed away the day after Christmas in 1922. William passed away just over a year later, and the two of them are buried next to each other in the River Bend Cemetery in Westerly, Rhode Island. Their son William Junior followed in his father's footsteps and went on to have a lengthy career as a blacksmith.

Notes about photograph provenance:

The photographer's name and studio location can be clearly seen on the reverse of this cabinet card, as was customary. As the photographer Charles A. Blackman appears to have lived and worked in Norwalk only from 1887 to 1891, it seems reasonable to assume that this photograph was taken during this time.

The woman in the photograph appears to be in her 30s or 40s. Per census data, the aforementioned Alice Pendleton is the only woman of that name residing in the Rhode Island/Connecticut area at that time who would have been even close to that age range at the time the photo was taken, leading to a conclusion that this photograph is of the above Alice Pendleton.


References

Bayside Blog. "Friends Album: Photos 5&6". March 9, 2011. https://baysideblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/friends-album-photos-5-6/

Connecticut. Stonington. "1860 U.S. census, population schedule." Digital image, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://ancestry.com.

Connecticut. Stonington. "Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910." Digital image, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://ancestry.com.

Find A Grave. "Alice Josephine Barber Pendleton." Accessed June 17, 2015. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=pendleton&GSfn=alice&GSby=1860&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=21711409&df=all&

Find A Grave. "Capt. James Pendleton". Accessed June 23, 2015. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=2284322&GRid=31757205&

Find a Grave. "Pendleton Ground." Accessed June 23, 2015. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=97580597&CRid=2284322&

Friedman, S. Morgan. "The Inflation Calculator". Accessed June 23, 2015. http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

Realtor. "189-191 Mechanic St." Accessed June 16, 2015. http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/189-191-Mechanic-St_Stonington_CT_M43242-44539?source=web

Realtor. "201 Main St." Accessed June 23, 2015. http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/201-Main-St_Westerly_RI_02891_M35161-15058?source=web

Rhode Island. Westerly. "City Directory, 1922". Digital image, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://ancestry.com.

Rhode Island. Westerly. "City Directory, 1924". Digital image, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://ancestry.com.
Rhode Island. Westerly. "Tenth Census of the United States, 1880." Digital image, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://ancestry.com.

Rhode Island. "Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900." New England Historic Genealogical Society. Digital image, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://ancestry.com.

Rhode Island. Westerly. "Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900." Digital image, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 22, 2015. http://ancestry.com.

Textile Industry History. "Clark Thread Co., Newark and East Newark, NJ, 1866-1949". Accessed June 22, 2015. http://www.textilehistory.org/ClarkThread.html

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