Keepsakes and kin: Treasuring family stories for posterity

Some of Priscilla Linville’s family treasures: a trunk of literary and cultural artifacts from the 19th century, including the Christmas 1899 issue ofThe Connecticut Magazine.

Every so often, through the years since I've been writing here at Town History, someone will be in touch to ask a question about the local cemetery or to explore connections to one of the old families in Woodbridge. Through these contacts — and the little history puzzles we’ve pieced together — I've had the pleasure of discovering new cousins.

I was recently going through some old email records and thought to reach out again to one of these cousins, and I was delighted to receive an almost immediate reply — along with a few new photographs to rekindle our connection (see the collage, above). We have promised each other that we will find a way to collaborate on telling some more family stories in the new year.

Priscilla Nelson Linville was first introduced to me about a year after meeting one of my fellow Eastside Burying Ground Association board of director members at an in-person genealogy conference in 2012. At the time we began to email back and forth in the autumn of 2013, Priscilla was diligently searching for information to locate the gravestones of family members on her maternal great-grandmother's side of the family, who were buried at Eastside. Her initial message read in part:

...I'd love to see if I can find out any more information on the graves of some of my ancient family members. ... While I was there last year I tromped around quite a bit looking for others but was not able to find them. ... Sarah Downs Cowell's mother was Rhoda Beecher Downs married to Joseph Downs. David Cowell's parents were Amasa Cowell and Susanna Sperry. These names are every where in the cemetery but many of the old stones are impossible to read. So I am hoping there is more information somewhere.

And indeed, there was much information to share — as the 2013 Eagle Scout project led by Benjamin DiBudou had just finished mapping the old section of the cemetery, where Priscilla's kin were buried. We began to correspond and Priscilla provided so many interesting stories related to her family, I was immediately hooked.

It turned out that we share ancestors across many branches of our family trees, making us related in 31 different ways. Our closest connection, through the Sperry family, makes us 8th cousins once removed.

family connections — *We are connected through one of Richard and Dennis Sperry's sons, Richard Sperry Jr., and his wife, Martha Mansfield, who lived in Woodbridge around the turn of the 18th century.*

In subsequent years, several old family photographs that Priscilla shared made their way into the book Historic Woodbridge: An Historic and Architectural Resource Survey, Second Edition (which can be purchased from the Woodbridge Town Clerk). And I'm happy to add, her collection of family lore inspired a good deal of the 'weaving together' approach the project to update this book eventually took. There were too many good stories in this family; we had to find a way to begin telling some of them!

James Cowell in the yard of his house on Beecher Road and with family members — *The house at 59 Beecher Road with James standing in the yard and flanked by family; his daughter Annie Cowell, his second wide Martha, and his mother Sarah (all photos courtesy of Priscilla Linville).*

Priscilla's great-grandmother Annie Elizabeth Cowell (1865-1940) was a daughter of James Sherman Cowell (1817-1907) and his second wife Martha Ann Evarts (1824-1905), who lived in the David Beecher House on the corner of Rimmon and Beecher roads — number 47 in the Historic Woodbridge book. Jame's mother, Sarah Downs Cowell (1792-1883) was a daughter of Joseph Downs (abt. 1758-1822) and Rhoda Beecher (abt. 1759-1832) and the family had long lived in this area of Woodbridge — in fact, Rhoda's father, Captain John Beecher III (1722-1793), had built the house later owned by Roger Sherman that once stood on Cloverhill (the former CCW property).

The occasion of Annie Cowell's wedding on September 16th 1884 provides a glimpse back in time, as the newspaper captured the small-town scene:

WOODBRIDGE
People passing through Beecher street last Wednesday might have observed a number of hacks and carriages standing in front of Mr. Sherman Cowell's residence. The occasion was the marriage of his daughter, Annie, to Mr. Walter Petrie of Westville. The ceremony took place at 8:30 p.m., Rev. Mr. Willard officiating. Only the immediate relatives were present. After the ceremony refreshments were served. The bride has been a successful school teacher, and the past year has taught in this town. The wedding dress was cyere silk and garnet velvet with tea roses. Many useful and ornamental presents of silverware, table linen and toilet articles were received from their many friends. The couple left at 5 p.m. for the Catskills, to be gone about one week. After their return they will make their home at 25 Wooster street, New Haven. We wish to thank them for their kind remembrance in the way of seven kinds of cake and a bouquet, and also to wish them a happy, prosperous and long life.

Walter and Anna Petrie and wedding news clipping — *The happy couple and a newspaper clipping describing the wedding of Annie Cowell to Walter Petrie in Woodbridge in September 1884 (photo and clipping courtesy of Priscilla Linville).*

Reviewing my correspondence with Priscilla earlier this week, I was reminded of the sparks of inspiration that were kindled over the years — finding flame in the publication of the Historic Woodbridge book in 2015 — and yet, this material seems to still offer more fuel to consume, so many years later. On this wintery weekend before Christmas 2024, I visited Eastside to pause by Annie and Walter's final resting place, where this little story of connection between distant cousins began over a decade ago.

Petrie gravestones at Eastside cemetery in the snow — *Walter and Anna Petrie are buried alongside family members at Eastside Cemetery on Pease Road in Woodbridge.*

Dear readers: Over the holidays, you might get a chance to talk with family members about your own family's stories. You never know what snippets of memory or souvenirs of the past they may be able to tell you about... until you ask.