4 tragic deaths & 6 motherless orphans
… and the grandmother, Lydia Jane Barnard Northcutt (1820-1901), who helped pick up the pieces.
I don’t know much about my 3x great-grandmother, Lydia Jane Barnard Northcutt. She died well before my time. But recently I received a copy of a letter from a distant cousin that shed some light on her character and resilience.
The letter was written by my grandmother Helen back in 1994. It contains some of her recollections about her great-grandmother Lydia that had been related to her by her mother, May Northcutt Hinkson. Although my grandmother Helen had never known her grandmother, she had been told some stories by her mother that were worth sharing.
Growing up, I recall “Momma Green” (that’s how we, her grandchildren, referred to her as we grew older) telling me that Lydia Northcutt was a kind and loving woman who had raised many orphans. But until I started researching this family history, I never realized that there were four family tragedies that resulted in this outpouring of love. The letter written to my distant cousin Linda confirmed these tragedies and my 3x great-grandmother’s notable contributions in raising four different sets of grandchildren.
Lydia Jane Barnard (1820-1901) was the wife of Benjamin Franklin Northcutt (aka the preacher). They were both born in Montgomery County, Kentucky in 1820 and migrated with their families to Ralls County, MO around 1828. Their move to Missouri followed the lead of a former family companion and famous frontiersman, Daniel Boone.
Both families settled in Ralls County, just north of the growing community of St. Louis along the Mississippi River. Land in the newly formed county was fertile and plentiful, a good combination for farming and raising a family.
Lydia married Benjamin on June 17, 1841, when she was 21 years old. She had known Ben for much of her life and was only four months older than him. Their marriage was recorded by John Ralls (the son of Daniel Ralls for whom Ralls County, MO is named).
In November of 1843, they would be blessed with their first son, Hosea. Over the next twenty-one years, Lydia would give birth to nine more children, of which only six would live to adulthood. Her four adult sons would all live into their senior years. But, that was not the case for many female members of the family. Within five years, Benjamin and Lydia would lose both their daughters and two daughters-in-law, leaving six young grandchildren motherless and badly in need of love and attention.
Hosea, the oldest son, was the first to lose his wife Nancy Elvira Beach in December 1872, just six days before the Christmas holiday. Nancy had a “protracted illness” that caused her death. Most likely it was consumption, the disease known today as tuberculosis. “Mamie” was only six years old when she lost her mother and went to live with her grandparents. Her father Hosea was a preacher who traveled frequently and never remarried. As a result, Mamie grew up in her grandparent's home. But, when she was older she did travel some with her father.
During the fall of 1877 and the winter of 1878 tragedy hit the Northcutt family multiple times with the premature death of three more female members. Both of Lydia and Benjamin’s daughters, Susan Virginia and Nancy Elizabeth, died from consumption, leaving behind widowed husbands and very young children. Ambrose Dudley’s wife Emma Houser also died from complications from childbirth, leaving behind an infant daughter. The deaths of all three young women in the family occurred within just fifteen months of each other. The family was devastated and bereft in grief. In such a short period of time, a total of six young Northcutt cousins had become motherless.
This chart displays the individuals affected by the loss of the women and mothers:
The death of Emma Houser Northcutt was doubly heartbreaking for the family, as she was not only the wife of Ambrose Dudley Northcutt, but she was also the sister of Ella “Lee“ Houser Northcutt, Dr. James Northcutt’s wife. With two Northcutt brothers married to two Houser sisters, the loss of Emma was hard on multiple levels; wife, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, and sibling.
In researching the deaths, I could only find notices for three of the four women. The one for Nancy Northcutt Crawford I wouldn’t call a death notice. Rather, it’s more of a small news item that merely mentions her only as the “wife of Dr. Crawford.” It’s a bit surprising to me to see that Susan was the only woman who had a proper obituary published. I would have thought that the other three would have been better memorialized. This is given the fact that by 1878, H.A. Northcutt, the young preacher in the family, was well-practiced in writing obituaries. His name often appeared as the obituary writer of many individuals whose funeral services he presided over. Perhaps, I haven’t uncovered these yet and they are in newspapers that have not yet been digitized. For now, these are the few notices that I have discovered. It seems consumption was a common ailment in the 1870s that took many young lives.
I believe it was Lydia’s strength and the family’s strong faith that helped them pick up the pieces and move forward. Grandpa and Grandmother Northcutt’s home in Knox City was located directly next door to their son Dr. J.R. Northcutt. It became the place of refuge for the motherless children, while the men figured out the landscape of widowhood.
The letter that my grandmother Helen wrote to my distant cousin Linda in 1994 contains her recollection of the “four sets” of grandchildren that Lydia took under her wings. It’s rich in some smaller details, so I’ll let you read it for yourself.
The mention in my grandmother’s letter of the three cemetery graves being near each other makes me wish I was close enough to visit the cemetery. In researching these graves online I discovered that two of the women, Nancy Northcutt Crawford and Emma Houser Northcutt, are surprisingly identified as having the same death date, August 10, 1878. In all probability, I believe this may be a mistake. I know this date is correct for Nancy because it’s confirmed by a published newspaper item. But the date on Emma’s headstone is so faint that I can’t quite make it out fully. If it is indeed true that both these women died on the same day, that would make this event even more tragic for the family.
Here are the grave markers for the three women who died within a short period of each other; Nancy Northcutt Crawford, Susan Northcutt Adams, and Emma Houser Northcutt. They are all buried very close to each other in the Millport Cemetery, Millport, MO.
Fealdon Alexander Adams was the first to remarry less than a year after Susan’s death. He married Maria McQuiod of Millport in 1878. Maria was already like an extended family member to the Northcutts. She grew up directly next door to the family when they lived in Millport.
Barton Stone Crawford, the son-in-law who was a dentist, also remarried within a year or two after Nancy Elvira’s death. Although Barton relocated his family to Canton, MO, the children were frequent visitors back in Knox City.
Ambrose Dudley (A.D.) Northcutt took the longest to let another woman capture his heart. In 1887 he married Miss Annie Eliza Bryson, a local Knox City girl. Annie was kind, extremely likable, and very talented with a pen. She loved to write stories for her stepdaughter Lillie. These stories were equally enjoyed by all of Lillie’s cousins, who also adored “Aunt Annie”. My great-grandmother May was especially close to Lillie as they were only a year apart in age. And given that Lillie was a ‘double cousin’ (cousins related by both sets of parents), the girls were practically inseparable from an early age.
In Benjamin Franklin Northcutt’s biography (see From Civil War Captain to Christian Church Minister: Part 2) he and Lydia are credited with supporting eight orphans, in addition to raising their own six children. The motherless grandchildren account for six orphans, but I am unsure of two others that make up the “eight.” I suspect that one of these orphans may be a niece named Jenny Northcutt. I discovered her name among the Northcutts who attended the Kirksville State Normal School in 1876 (see The Classmate who tutored May). But the other orphan at present time, I am unsure. Perhaps I’ll find the answer in some future research. But for now, I’ll settle with knowing the grandchildren.
When Lydia fell ill and died in 1901 while visiting her son Hosea she was 81 years old. Brief notices of her death were published in the Kirksville paper when she died. But Hosea would craft a much more fitting obituary for his mother that would be published a week later. In her obituary he compared his mother to Queen Victoria, who had been the same age as Lydia when she had passed away two months before:
“She was gathered to her fathers in a ripe old age, as the late queen of England, and what can we say of Victoria the Good, than of her? She was a faithful wife, mother and Christian”
Below are these notices as well as a photo of Lydia in her senior years. Although this photo makes her appear stern, I am struck by its contrast to the comment made by my grandmother in her letter to my cousin Linda (above), “I think my grandmother was what I’d call a jolly woman. She found fun in things.” From this, I can only assume that 3x great-grandmother didn’t photograph well. She doesn’t look like a woman (at least in this photo) who exudes much joy.
I feel pretty sure that the six grandchildren that Lydia “mothered” during those difficult years were in attendance at her funeral. When she died she left behind four sons, eleven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Here’s a compilation of photos of five of the grandchildren Lydia helped to raise along with a brief synopsis of each of their lives.
Mary “Mamie” Lydia Northcutt (1867-1944) became Mrs. Elwyn Reed Locke in 1894. She had two sons, Benjamin and Sam, and spent most of her adult life living in Mexico, MO
Eva May Crawford (1870-1933) married Edward L. Aldrich in 1896. Edward owned a grocery store in Keokuk, Iowa. The couple had two daughters, Margaret Virginia and Dorothy Elizabeth.
Margaret Lydia Crawford (1872-1898) was only 26 years old when she died. Her cause of death is unknown. She is buried next to her father Barton S. Crawford in Kahoka, MO.
Perry Franklin “Frank” Crawford (1873-1966) became a dentist. He lived in St. Joseph, MO, and had two daughters Mildred and Catherine, and one son Bartlett Franklin Crawford.
Lillie Lee Northcutt (1877-1937) was my great-grandmother’s closest cousin. They grew up together, attended Kirksville Normal School at the same time, and had many adventures together (such as their 1901 trip to Colorado). The girl's parents were from the same families as two Northcutt brothers had married two Houser sisters. Lillie would marry Lafayette Dare in 1906. He worked in retail/dry goods sales. They had three children, Kenneth, Ned, and Virginia Lee. The family lived in St. Louis and were frequent guests at my great-grandmother’s home.
Emma Alice Adams (1853-1950) married Walter J. Shepard, a political science professor who taught at the University of Wisconsin and Ohio State. They had two children, Max and Mildred.
As mentioned before the female cousins were extremely close growing up. As a result, they often had their photos taken together. Here are two portraits of some of the cousins together. Cousins May (my great-grandmother), Virginia Ray, Lillie, and Emma Alice appear in both photos. Mary “Mamie” Lydia Northcutt joins the foursome in the first photo. Eva Crawford is the fifth cousin in the second photo.
Lastly, my recent correspondence with Linda has provided this gem to help close out this chapter. Linda shared a page from her great-grandmother Mamie’s diary that contained this entry written from November 8, 1886, on the eve of her twentieth birthday. In it, she laments about never really knowing her mother:
Dearest Old Diary,
Tonight I am still in my teens. “On the morrows light shall dawn” I shall on standing besides the twentieth milestone of life, looking back at the nineteen milestones behind and forward to - how many, oh, who can tell ? “Watch for I come as a thief in the night”
Mr. Wilson came over this evening. He thought himself rich. I’m poor and ignorant of my poverty. “O Backward, turned forward oh time in your flight, and make me a child again just for tonight.”
My mother, it is only a name to me - that it might have been more. What am I but a weak, crying, sinful girl with not even a mother’s hand to guide me. Father! quench this rebellious spirit and keep within me thy own callus, weak submissions. Sometimes I feel as if I would give all to lay my head on my mother’s breast. Oh, why must it be as it? But then, why can I not realize that Jesus is near to wrap his loving arms about me and pillow. My tired thoughts on the bosum of his peace which kasath understanding?
Dr. Collin’s preached an eloquent sermon yesterday. “great is the mystery of goodness God manifest.
Footnote: It’s easy to tell that Mamie was a preacher’s daughter from this diary entry, isn’t it? 😊
Once again, you have put this together so eloquently. So wish I could show my Grandmother Kathryn, who I credit for saving these Northcutt materials, since they are her husband's line rather than her own. I did a little looking at my Beach tree, since Barton Crawford married Catherine Beach. She and Mary Lydia 'Mamie' Beach Northcutt were first cousins. I had not found a name to go with Mary Northcutt Crawford's middle initial E. Mamie's mother's middle name was Elvira. Somewhere I believe I read Lydia Jane Barnard Northcutt was referred to as Jane. I initially referred to her as Lydia, since it's part of my own name. Linda