The Journals of Harry D. Pomeroy, The World War I Years, 1915-1919

by  Alethea Connolly

In her teaching about historic primary resources, Stacia Kuceyeski distinguishes between the diary and the journal.  The diary, she says, was originally a tool for reflecting on one’s spiritual growth, and later developed into a “general recording of personal feelings and self-examination…” ¹   The journal, by contrast, is a less intimate record of events and activities often including details of weather and business.

According to these descriptions, the small pocket-size notebooks of Harry Dwight Pomeroy, part of a family collection donated by his son, Donald Pomeroy Sr., to the Onondaga Historical Association in Syracuse, New York are journals, even though they were commercially sold under the name “Standard Diary.”  Indeed, Pomeroy’s entries always give a weather report, though they reveal much more.
  
Harry D. Pomeroy was the youngest son of Dr. Theodore Clapp Pomeroy, a physician, and his second wife, Jane Amelia Blodgett of Cortland.  His grandparents, Captain Stephen Pomeroy and Hannah (Polly) Clapp, started their family in Otisco, New York in 1806, after a westward journey from Southampton, Massachusetts.   

Harry was a keen observer.  He wrote in pocket journals since he was fourteen, and continued to do so until 1937, the year of his death at age seventy.   Brief, almost telegram style entries showed he lived an energetic life, over thirty years of it in Syracuse, within many social circles: family, work, neighborhood, city, state and nation.  All of these interactions were frequent, and important to him. 

He was a mechanical engineer and an inventor; a recorder of detail. ²   His diary is a kaleidoscope of images, activities, and observations.  Catastrophes got his attention, as did any parade or a circus.  He worked diligently, but also had a peevish side that surfaced when he felt underappreciated at work.  Pomeroy’s diaries are particularly interesting because they depict not only interactions at his home at 134 Baker Street and at work, but within a larger context of historical time, place, and responsibility.   What was going on in the nation and the city of Syracuse mattered to him.   The nation was gradually being drawn into the European war theater as a combatant, and Harry’s notes show family members getting involved in the war effort amidst their ordinary daily routines. 

In 1915 when he started work as a draftsman at Semet-Solvay Company, Harry Pomeroy was fifty years old, a widower of eight years, with four children.   The Semet-Solvay Company, a chemical manufacturing business, made an array of products distilled from coal in coke ovens.  The preceding year, the company started building a plant to manufacture explosives, picric acid, ammonium picrate, and trinitrotoluene (TNT) at Split Rock.  

As the war spread across Europe, the United States identified a need for independent supplies of ammonia because both the food and munitions industry required it.  One way ammonia was used in explosives was by oxidizing it to get nitric acid.  Much of this was under secret experimentation, much of it at the Semet-Solvay plant.  It was a dangerous business.   

During the course of World War I this company accounted for almost 25% of the nation’s military munitions.   Chemical engineer Ludwig A. Zohe was in charge of the building project, and was Pomeroy’s supervisor.  The TNT was set up in one quarry, and the picric acid plant in another. 

Feb.1, 1916:  Snow squalls.  Worked part of the day on Synthetic ammonia apparatus for Zohe and then back on N A 4 & P A 3.

Feb 19: …an explosion occurred about 9 last eve in the TNT #2 Plant at Split Rock, killing 5 and injuring 5.  We got a .094% bonus today on our Jan salaries.  Went down town in aft. 

Nov 6: … A nice day.  Mr Conklin came over and brought a sketch of an electric furnace for me to design.   In eve stayed home & read.

Nov 28: …Worked all day on the Metallic Sodium furnace.  In eve worked on Shoe Polisher for Sanborn.  Robt arrived fr  NY with a hard cold.  The boys went down to the Empire and saw The Birth of a Nation in the moving pictures…

Dec. 5: ...We had a notice of over time work to begin tonight.  Most of the boys complied.

Dec 13: …the German offer of peace is spurned by the Allies.  The stock market suffered on announcement of the proposal.  Wheat took a drop.

Dec 30: …Zohe & I spent most of the forenoon studying on a sodium carbide furnace.   Payday. …deposited my paycheck…Went to the Eckel.  Walked home. 

 
In 1917, the company pressed forward with its munitions contracts, in what was a relatively new industry, handling volatile and unstable chemicals.

Jan 9:  Zohe went to Split Rock to start the new men who are to build the new acid towers….

Mar 31:  Cold and cloudy with snow flurries….a very heavy explosion occurred at 5:50 which I afterwards learned was at the C. A. Plant at Semet-Solvay. 18 men injured…in eve I attended services in the church.

 
In April, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany.

Apr 2:  Cloudy and threatening.  Congress met at 12 noon in special session to hear President Wilson’s message requesting them to give him permission to prepare for war with Germany.  A most momentous time for the nation.  In the eve attended prayer meeting in the chapel.  Zohe returned from his trip to NJ  rather suddenly.

Apr: 4:  The Senate took a vote on the resolution that we declare war on Germany, and carried it by a large majority.

Apr 5:  The House has the war message in debate…..

Apr 6: …A company of State militia is here from Buffalo to do guard duty on the canal and railroads east of here.

As the European war expanded, Semet-Solvay accelerated its product experimentation and manufacturing in the weeks and months following the declaration of war,

May 1: …Zohe got out the prints today of the ammonia oxidizing plant at the Rock to send to England.

May 21:  Cold, rainy and disagreeable.  I started a floor drawing for the Prussiate plant at Buffalo for Miller.

May 24:  Cold, cloudy and rainy.  I subscribed for a Liberty bond of $50 today through the company.  Yesterday Mr. E. L. Pierce was elected president of the Solvay Process Co. and Judge Nathan L. Miller vice president.

Jun 8: …Mr Zohe told me that they began to make picric acid today for the first time at Split Rock

June 22:  Zohe spent the day in conference with government officials over the Ammonia Oxidizing experiment…

June 23: …After dinner Harry, Dwight and I walked down town and saw the great military parade, probably 4500 men, four regiments, the largest ever held here…

June 28: …The papers report the safe arrival in France of our first contingent of ten thousand troops.

July 2:  A beautiful day, cool and clear.  The Red Cross fund raising here in Syracuse has reached $1,250,000….

July 4: …no fireworks of any kind here today.  The lid is on tight.

July 20:  Warmer and clear.  Everybody is all excited over the draft which is held today to make a new army of 900,000.  Dwight wasn’t drawn, but Edgar was…I wrote Dwight and sent him clippings of the draft numbers.

 

Harry and His Horn

Early in 1918, Harry D. Pomeroy accepted an opportunity that added focus and delight to his life.  He loved music, and that year Semet-Solvay started a band.  Carl Becker was their director.  Marching bands and free concerts were often sponsored by large corporations during the war years. They helped enliven patriotic sentiments and financial support for the war effort, while promoting the industry or business.  Pomeroy played the French horn.

Apr 25, 1918:  At 2 P.M. the band assembled at Guild Hall and were provided with linen dusters and white hats and practiced marching, after which we marched over to the Patrol bldg….At 4 we went to the armory and participated in the Liberty Loan parade.  About 50,000 were in it.  It took 2:15 to pass.  The biggest ever.  I walked home…

Apr 30: …Reports from the battle front indicate terrific fighting with great losses on both sides but with the Allies holding….Donald went out in the eve to sell thrift stamps

May 2: …Band practice at Guild Hall this afternoon from 4 to 6.  We rehearsed three new pieces.

June 13: …Becker announced that we would play tomorrow at 11:45 for a flag raising at the Patrol bldg. also at 2:30 at Split Rock…

Jun 15: …Clear and cool…We saw the parade of fathers and mothers of soldiers at 4:45.  Secy of the Navy Daniels walked with Mayor Stone and lieut. Gov. Schoeneck at the head of the parade, and reviewed it from a stand in front of the Wieting Opera house.  Walked home….

June 18: …During the forenoon the War Chest subscription cards were passed out for signature.  In the eve the band played for a meeting at the old Solvay village hall….

June 27: …Another of our band men leaves for “the service,” his name is Northrup, and he plays the bassoon.  He is to go into the Naval Recruit Band at Pelham Bay, L. I.

July 2: …On the way home stopped at Foxes and while visiting with them a terrific explosion occurred at Split Rock and we could see a fire was in progress over there.  Harry rode out as far as he was allowed on his wheel.

July 3: …the main topic of conversation is the terrible catastrophe of last night at the rock 40 to 60 dead and 50 or more casualties.  A full report will be impossible for some days.  Attended prayer meeting in the eve….

July 5:…Helen went down to Red Cross work.  The evening papers report 50 bodies found at Split Rock.

July 18:…A big victory for American arms in France announced…

            While the war lasted four more months, other anxieties gripped Syracuse residents for weeks.

Sept 23: …when I went to bed I had a chill.  The hospitals are full of soldiers who are afflicted with the Spanish Influenza,”  5 deaths today.

Oct 2 :..Fourteen deaths from influenza epidemic reported today.  Abroad the allies continue to advance.

Oct. 5: …23 deaths in the city reported from influenza

Oct. 10: …the influenza epidemic increasing here and through the country  38 deaths have occurred in this city during the last 24 hours.

Oct 13: …Late in the afternoon Harry and I took a walk up thru Oakwood.  We noted the many new graves as a result of the epidemic…

Oct 16:  In the afternoon went over to Willis Ave and had a conference with Dr. Jordan, Wermick, Zohe, and Townsend regarding arrangement of apparatus for benzaldehyde experiment.  32 deaths today.

Nov. 11, 1918:  I was aroused at 3’oclock this morning by noises of horns, bells, and whistles.  The occasion was the signing of the armistice terms by german officials.  Hostilities ceased at 11.  The city began to celebrate early.  When I went to Solvay at 8 people were parading.  The band was called at 8:30 and we made a tour of the works until 11.  At 2 we met at Guild Hall and took trucks for downtown and participated in the parade.  The weather was cool and clear.

____________________________

NOTES:

1. Journals & Diaries, by Stacia Kuceyeski, History WORKS Technician. Online at: http://backtohistory.osu.edu/tcontent.cfm?id=8

2. While Harry D. Pomeroy worked on various designs and ideas for his employers, he also designed machine projects for private contractors, and had his name on several patents.  In 1894, he and two colleague patented improvements to a chain making machine.  In Syracuse he worked on the blueprints for Melville Clark’s small harp base in 1911.  With two colleagues, he received a patent on a disk record cabinet in 1920.

THE LABYRINTH OF CANADIAN POMEROYS PART II

by Alethea “Lee” Connolly 

While we continue sleuthing through old deeds, wills, journals, letters, and church records, we spend a good amount of time sifting through images on the computer screen for newly posted resources. But sometimes we find gold, just because fellow searchers come forward and share what they found. They provide the missing link that leads us giant steps forward. Much research today is about such generosity and collaboration.

THE QUEBEC PONTBRIAND/POMEROY CONNECTION IN ONONDAGA
AND OSWEGO COUNTY

Recently, these random acts of kindness came my way when I continued researching the French Canadian brothers, Louis and Germain Pontbriand, who, for some reason, changed their name to Pomeroy when they emigrated from Canada to the United States. (See our August Blog) We discovered Louis and Jeremiah had the same father, but different mothers. They were half brothers. Louis’ mother was Marie Louise Martin dit Pelland (first wife, deceased). Germain/Jeremiah was a son of Louise Preville (second wife of the elder Louis). This was a very large family, though not uncommon for the times in French Canadian families. Therefore, age differences between siblings sometimes ranged between fifteen to twenty years.

Since our August posting, I’ve received information from several descendants of these Pontbriand/Pomeroys. The 1850 federal census showed Jeremiah and family then living in Syracuse, and later in nearby Lysander, New York. One descendant of Jeremiah sent me a very clear photo of the grave stone of John and Harriett Pomeroy Pomeroy, his great grandparents, located in Oak View cemetery, Frankfort, Herkimer County, New York.1 The inscription on the gravestone shows their new POMEROY POMEROY surname identity.

Gravestone of John Pomeroy and wife Harriet Pomeroy Pomeroy

 His ancestors, are both of Pontbriand lineage, as Harriett was a daughter of Jeremiah, and John, the son of his Jeremiah’s elder brother Louis. Richard, who sent the photos, is a great grandson, of Gertrude, John and Harriett’s daughter.

Richard’s cousin, Diane, also sent us family information. She descends from Jasper, John and Harriett’s son. She told us about Harriett’s sudden death in December, 1917. It was reported a “strangulation, ” Diane explained Harriet had a condition of a goiter which restricted her throat. Tragically, one day, while doing food preparation, she choked when she ate some peas! Who would have known such a detail?

Another cousin, Jane, sent me a copy of the wedding photo of her great grandparents, Jasper Pomeroy and Maud Littlewood. Jasper and Maud married in 1906 in Frankfort, New York. Jane also sent copies of family obituaries, and Jay’s (Jasper’s) death certificate, which noted he was born in Brewerton, New York, where the family lived before moving to Herkimer County. Every tidbit of information illuminates the portrait of a family and leads to other investigations.

Wedding photo of Jasper Pomeroy and Maud Littlewood

In fact, it was a comment of Diane’s that prompted me to go back and look at the Onondaga County Poor house records. She mentioned Jeremiah had been sheltered at the poor house prior to his death. These records indicate that prior to his admission in May 1888 he had been a “salt boiler,” not an unusual occupation for Syracuse men in that time period. Some might say Syracuse, New York was the city built on salt, as this industry started early and lasted lucratively until into the early 1900s. That was a very tough occupation. In the days of corporate salt boiling “men worked in 90-degree heat and humidity, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, from April to November, boiling brine to isolate salt,” according to one journalist.2 They could produce three to four bushels in five hours. The poorhouse record confirmed Jeremiah’s birth in Canada; that he had five brothers and two sisters, and died while in the poorhouse, either in 1890 or 1891.3

POMEROY/PONTBRIANTS IN OSWEGO COUNTY

 While we knew Jeremiah and family moved between Onondaga, Oneida and Madison Counties in the 1860s, we just recently noticed he was in in Oswego County, likely not far from Louis, his elder brother, for several years. My colleague Barbara Dix, historian for the Town of Schroeppel, checked the 1855 NYS census and found PUMEROY family.4 The census taker used initials for given names, but we were still able to establish this was Jeremiah “Pomeroy”. If information on the record is accurate, especially the birth locations and ages of the children, then it seems Jeremiah and family had spent ten years in Onondaga County before coming in 1854 into Oswego County. Since all of his children were recorded as born in Oswego County, we estimate he was in this county perhaps by 1851. We now speculate that the Pontbriands arrival into this area of New York is about the year 1844.

We know that Jeremiah and family were in Verona, Oneida County in 1860, then for a few years in Bridgeport, Madison County, before coming back and settling in Onondaga County. It is here that his daughter Harriett married John Pomeroy, and where their three children Jasper, Gertrude and Wayne are born. They later moved east, to Herkimer County, and then west to Ohio, as our generous correspondents have shared. Other descendants of Jeremiah have been more difficult to trace. One daughter, Maria, married in 1883, when in her late thirties, to Brazil Pepper, and they settled in Granby. The 1900 census data indicates one child born to Maria, not then living in the household.5 It is not clear whether this child was born to Brazil and Maria.

 It is not surprising that some of Jeremiah descendants remained in the Granby area, while others went to Herkimer, and Ohio, as their uncle, Lewis Pomeroy, and their “cousins” remained there. When son Lewis Pomeroy died in 1908, his will identified him by both surnames of Pomeroy and Pontbriant.6 This discovery propelled much of our extended French-Canadian research resulting in grandchildren with the names of DAVIS and VIEW. Many of his children remained in the county. Daughters and granddaughters married into households with surnames such as MURRY, DAVIS, VIEW, WILLIAMS, ADAMS, LA BEEF and BURDEN. Perhaps now they will know that some of their ancestors were once Pontbriants from Quebec whose surname was changed to Pomeroy!

POMEROYS FROM STANSTEAD, QUEBEC THAT MIGRATED INTO NEW YORK

In the midst of digging through Quebec records for information about the Louis and Jeremiah family lines, I came across another puzzle. Several years ago I researched Judge Selah Pomeroy who, migrated from Vermont into Stanstead, Quebec in the early 1800s, where he raised his family. They were direct descendants of the Eltweed line. We knew Nancy Pomeroy, a daughter of Judge Selah’s son Hazen Pomeroy Sr., and his wife Lois Mansur, married Horace Wells in Syracuse, New York in 1847. 7 It was curious, but didn’t, at the time, prompt any intensive investigation.

Then one day, our county historical association archivist mentioned to our director that she had seen a Pomeroy name in an old diary she had been looking through. When I went to examine it, I learned the name was “Adele Pomeroy.”8 I recognized Adele as Nancy Pomeroy (Wells) sister. She was, according to this small journal, employed in 1847 as a teacher in a select school in Syracuse, which was just opened by Madame Anastasie Julia Raoul. Madame Raoul’s life had its own mysteries and secrets. By 1847, her fortune was depleted. With debts piling on her doorstep, she started a select school, and saved herself from the poorhouse.9 This meant that two sisters, Nancy and Adele Pomeroy, daughters of Hazen Pomeroy Sr., Judge Selah’s son, and wife Lois Mansur, were in Syracuse in 1847 and 1848. Had Adele read some advertisement for teachers, and taken advantage of this opportunity?

It was certainly an interesting coincidence that two families from Quebec who were, or became Pomeroys, ended up in Syracuse, between 1847 and 1850. Was there any connection of these Stanstead Pomeroys to the Louis and Jeremiah Pontbriand/Pomeroys? It was a longshot speculation, but puzzles and labyrinths are the peculiar territory of genealogists.

 I started to trace the Horace and Nancy Wells family unit. I found that in the 1850 U. S. census record they were in Broome County, and was surprised at their household members. Nancy and Horace were living in Chenango then, with sister, Louisa, and their 11 year old brother Selah.10 Further research showed that brother Charles was in the U. S. at least by 1854, when he married Mary Calkins.11 Perhaps he traveled with them, and then the siblings split up. It seemed like half of Hazen Pomeroy’s family bolted out of Stanstead for the United States!

 In tracing the descendants of the Stanstead Pomeroy sisters and their brother Charles, I found some stayed in the United States, and moved west, but some descendants returned to Canada, though not to Quebec. Nancy and Horace moved west to Illinois Her sisters, and brother Charles, married and a multitude of descendants have been traced – whose surnames are HARPER, SMITH, REED, LAFRANCE, FLETCHER and CURTIS.

Charles married Mary Calkins, but five years after their marriage (1859) he died in Michigan at age 35, leaving a wife and two children. I was able to trace descendants of his son, Charles W. Pomeroy, but not his daughter Mary. Another “act of random kindness” from Guy, a great-great-grandson of Charles W. Pomeroy, filled in some interesting family details, because his great grandmother, Nettie (Pomeroy) Curtis left family notes. Guy shared with us some of Nettie’s memories. She wrote that “when her (Nancy’s) brother Charles died, she took his little daughter Carrie to raise.” She also wrote that Horace, had a “furniture business in Troy” and “was a professional singer” of both church and opera music. Such recollections spice up a family history!

I still don’t know what motivated the three sisters (Nancy, Adele and Emily Louisa), and their brother Charles to move to the U.S., but I found no connection between the Quebec Pontbriands and the Stanstead “Eltweed” Pomeroys.

“THE STRANGE CASE OF PETER POMEROY”

Sometimes when you follow a loose string through a labyrinth, you end up somewhere in an unknown land, maybe with Dorothy in Kansas. But if you are fortunate, it may actually make sense.

In April 2012 a Pomeroy descendant contacted our director. She had traced her ancestry through a Peter Pomeroy in Illinois, but found Peter did not “link up” with our Eltweed Pomeroy family tree. She then asked a male relative to take a DNA test to help solve her “brick wall” She was surprised when instead of getting a Pomeroy match, the “markers” lined up with a PONTBRIANT line!

 Since we were doing research into the Louis and Jeremiah Pontbriand/Pomeroys families in New York State, it seemed promising to speculate Peter was somehow related to these families. It was a confusing trail, complicated by multiple marriages and half sibling relationships. There seemed to be no direct link to Louis and Jeremiah. Since sorting out these multiple marriages in the Quebec Drouin and Tanguay records was a challenging maze, I decided to push back to earlier generations and documents, and noticed that not only did our Louis Pontbriand in Onondaga and Oswego counties, marry three times, but so did his grandfather. I finally realized his grandfather, Jean Baptiste Briand dit Sansregret, was the key to unraveling my puzzle.

Louis Pontbriand, whose sons Louis and Germain (Jeremiah) migrated to New York with him (and his second wife Louisa), was the son of Jean Pierre Briand and Marguerite Lambert. 12 Jean Pierre, was the youngest surviving son of Jean Baptiste Briand dit Sansregret and third wife Marie Genevieve Cantara, born 1779. 13

However, Jean Baptiste Briand dit Sansregret was married three times. By his first wife, Francoise Jodouin, he had a son, Jean Baptiste Brilland born abt 1760.14. There was then about a twenty year difference in age between these half brothers. Descendants of Jean Baptiste Brilland emigrated into the town of Chazy, Clinton County, New York, while Louis Pontbriand and some of his family, including Lewis and Germain/Jeremiah, settled in Onondaga and Oswego counties.

Specifically, the elder half brother, John Baptiste Brilland, married Therese Perron, and their son Francois Eustache Pontbriand Sansregret married Felicite Vandal.15 A portion of this latter large family came to New York, and their surname became POMBRIO.16 One of their children was a Pierre, or Peter. Peter’s mother Felicite died in 1848, and his father remarried. In the 1850 census for Chazy, Clinton County, Peter is shown, as abt 11 years old, with his step-mother, and several siblings.17 I could not locate Peter in subsequent census records, nor in cemetery records, though other family members were located in the old St. Louis cemetery in Sciota. 18

A month ago, having already done some research in the Chazy, New York area, I came across a POMBRIO Family genealogical posting. Following this thread, I fortuitously found the genealogy work done by Susan L. Pombrio on the POMBRIO family ancestry. I received a copy of some of her research through the Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society in Plattsburgh. “Pierre” is listed as the 12th child of Francois Eustache Pontbriand-Sansregret and Felicite Vandal. After his name she has noted “ b ca 1839 Sciota, NY went either west or south.”19 Oh happy day!

This was another piece in the Peter Pomeroy identity puzzle, one that supports our belief that the Peter Pomeroy in the U. S. 1860 Illinois census, is Peter/Pierre POMBRIO in the 1850 Clinton County census, a descendant, linked generations back to Jean Baptiste Briand dit Sansregret, and, therefore, linked to Louis and Germain.

 In the 1860 census of Plainfield, Illinois Peter’s place of birth is listed as Canada.20 It appears from the household that Peter is an apprentice in the John Virgil household. Virgil is a successful carriage maker, it seems, and Peter, age 21, is listed as a “wagon maker.” As he is unrelated to the family, as far as we know, it is not likely information was given to the census taker by Peter, but by John Virgil. It probably “sounded like” Peter was “French Canadian,” and certainly the head of household would have known some aspect of his origins. In subsequent census records, when Peter is head of household, Peter consistently states his place of birth as New York.

One descendant said family memoirs reported Peter never referred to his French Canadian heritage, but apparently told his adult sons he was a stowaway and came from France. Our research shows this unlikely, as do census records over the years where he himself claims his birth as New York State.

A great granddaughter of Peter Pomeroy, in writing to us, noted, according to Peter’s “Civil War Records that he was born in 1839 in New York.” The old Kansas GAR Post records in fact reported his birth locality as “Clinton City.” Well, that’s 50% correct.21 When Peter Pomeroy was 76 years old, he was listed in the 1915 Kansas State Census. He and wife Karen were living in Mulvane, Sedgwick County. He was cited as born abt 1839, in Clinton Co. NY. 22 

It seems at least, for the time being, I’m out of the labyrinth, even if all mysteries haven’t been solved. Still, part of the family story may be true. Peter may very well have run away from his Clinton County family sometime after 1850.

There is the possibility that he knew he had these half-cousins, Lewis and Jeremiah, in Oswego, and Verona, at this time. Perhaps he went as a young teenager to work with one of them, seeking an off-the-farm opportunity, especially since Jeremiah was listed as a boat captain. It would have been quite easy, from that point, to stowaway on a boat and find one’s way to Chicago. But then, that’s another puzzle.

Peter Pontbriand/Pombrio/Pomeroy died in 1916.23

 ENDNOTES

*The surname Pontbriand has been recorded and transcribed Pontbriant, Pontbrillant, in the Drouin Records of Quebec for the same person and family, but I have used the “d” spelling for consistency here. Some branches of these ancestors were recorded as Briand, and Briand dit Sansregret, as you will see, and the descendants of a branch in Clinton County retained the Americanized change to Pombrio as a surname.

1. We have used only first names of our information donors to protect their privacy. I’m using the spelling on Harriett’s gravestone, with two “ts” for Harriett’s given name throughout this text.

2. Sewell Chan, December 31, 2009, “On the Road: A Proudly Salty Reputation,” City Room, New York Times, online at: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/on-the-road-a-proudly-salty-reputation/

3. Onondaga County Poorhouse records, Town of Onondaga Historical Society, 9/27/2012, Record Books HO-2, and M/W. Volunteer look-up by M. L. Michalec. It appears Jeremiah returned to the poorhouse after a dismissal in 1889. A later entry shows he died there September 6, 1890 or 1891, the date being difficult to determine due to confusion in page numbering.

4. 1855 New York State Census, Town of Schroeppel, Second District, Family 241. Ancestry.com.

5. 1892, New York State Census, First Election District, p. 2, line 12-13. Ancestry.com; also 1900 U. S. Census, Oswego, New York, 5A, Ed 108, line19-20.

6. In the matter of the estate of Louis Pontbriant-also known as Louis Pomeroy…, Surrogate Court, County of Oswego, New York, 12 September, 1910.

7. Marriage Horace W. Well and Nancy M. Pomeroy, Onondaga Standard, April 12, 1848, p. 3. C. 3

8. See: The Anastasie Raoul Collection, Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, New York at http://www.cnyhistory.org/

9. Ibid.

10. 1850 U. S. Census Chenango, Broome County, New York State, P. 348, Dwelling 1796, Fam 1866.

11. Charles Pomeroy married Mary Calkins of Lowell, Massachusetts in 1854 according to B. F. Hubbard’s The History of Stanstead County Province of Quebec, with Sketches of more that Five Hundred Families, (Quebec: Heritage, 1874), p. 123-124. A thank you to Guy G. for some confirmations and interesting new information.

12. Baptism of Louis Pontbriand, July 14, 1807, son of Jean Pontbriand and Marguerite Lambert. Yamaska, Quebec. Ancestry.com Quebec, (Drouin Collection, 1621-1967) [database online]

13. Marriage of Jean Briand dit Sansregret, widow of Jeanne Voine (Venne-Voyne) to Maria Cantara, 1779, Feb 15, Yamaska, Quebec. Drouin. Source same.

14. The marriage of Jean Brilland to Therese Perron, September, 1794, cites his parents as deceased Jean Baptiste Brilland and Francoise Jodouin. Drouin. Source same.

15. (1) Marriage of Jean Brilland, son of deceased Jean Baptiste Brilland and Francoise Jodouin, to Therese Perron, Sept 29, 1794. Contrecoeur, St-Trinite´ Quebec. (2) Marriage of F. Eustache, older son of Jean Baptiste PontBrillant and Therese Perron to Felicite Vandal, Jan 11, 1820, Sorel, St. Pierre, Quebec. Ancestry.com Quebec. Drouin. Source same.

16. See POMBRIO Family Genealogy researched by Susan L. Pombrio. Before coming into this family genealogy, I had noted this surname while looking at burials in St. Louis Roman Catholic Cemetery (see ftn 18) and researching the Clinton County census records.

 17. 1850 U. S. Census, Chazy, Clinton County, New York , p. 242, line 34 Dwelling: 1659, Family: 1768, “Eustace POBRIA.” Peter is cited age 11. Ancestry. Com.

18. St. Louis Roman Catholic Cemetery, (Sciota, Town of Chazy, Clinton County, NY.) Surname of POMBRAH shows Augustus, and Phillisa (Eustache and Felicite Pombrio Pontbriant). POMBRIO also recorded. Northern New York Tombstone Transcription Project at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~frgen/clinton/chazy/st_louis.htm

19. Susan L. Pombrio, A Genealogy of the Pombrio Family in the United States, (#008), p. 45. provided by the Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society Library, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

20. 1860 U.S. Census, Plainfield, Will County, Illinois, pg 164, line 1, part of John Virgil household, Family # 1223. Peter Pomeroy notes his birth location as New York in the 1885 and 1895 Kansas State Census records, and also in the 1870, 1900, 1910 U.S. census records. Ancestry.com

21. Kansas Grand Army of the Republic Post Reports, The James Shields Post 57 (1882-1937) Wellington County Sumner, Kansas records Peter Pomeroy mustered roll citing his birth location as “Clinton City.” Ancestry. Pomeroy served until the end of the war..

22. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925, Reel K-1-K-271, Kansas State Historical Society, 1915 Census, p. 7, line 23, Family 10. Ancestry.com

23. Peter Pomeroy, died 1916. Kansas, Find A Grave Index, 1854-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Another Pomeroy Mystery, by Alethea Connolly

Another Pomeroy Mystery
Sorting Out the Harriets of Syracuse, NY

It all started when a colleague and I, were trying to track down Canadian-born Pomeroys in Onondaga County, with the hope that some might link to our Eltweed ancestry. Particularly confusing was the family of Jeremiah/Daniel/James Pomeroy, who, according to the 1850 census, was born in Canada abt 1818, migrated to central New York, and was then living in Syracuse. He married a Harriet born in New York, but we didn’t know her maiden name. In 1850 they had six children living in their household. They stayed in Syracuse briefly, Jeremiah making a livelihood later as a boat captain in Verona, and in the 1860s as a butcher in Bridgeport.

Their third child, born in June 1850 in Syracuse, was named Harriet. She married John Pomeroy, whose father Lewis, was a native of Canada. Lewis, and his family settled in Oswego. Perhaps Jeremiah and Lewis were brothers, but Harriet by marriage remained a Pomeroy, and the trail got murky. Still finding Harriet might lead me back to clearer ancestral lines.

Enter the third Harriet! While searching through the www.fultonhistory.com newspaper website, I found a Supreme Court summons regarding the will of Dr. Samuel Healy published in the Syracuse Daily Standard in 1855, naming a Harriet S. Pomeroy, as well as John Henry Pomeroy, Ellen Adele Pomeroy, and a Julia Emma Pomeroy, a bunch of Higgins, Smith, Bliss, and Hargan names, as well as three Orphan Asylums in three cities1. What was the connection of all these people? Were they part of the Canadian connection?

Tracking Harriet S. Pomeroy, I came across a notice of appointment of guardianship for her for Harriet B. Cook. A trip to the Onondaga County Surrogate Office resulted in a copy of the guardianship papers dated 1855, indicating that Harriet S. Pomeroy, was “a minor child of Seneca G. Pomeroy late of the town of Genoa in the county of Cayuga. 2” Seneca G. Pomeroy (8003), the son of Reuben Pomeroy and Esther Bradley Pomeroy, is a descendant of the Eltweed line.

This Harriet was 17 when she applied for the appointment of a guardian, thereby protecting her legal rights and any entitlement to estate in the future. The application identified Harriet B. Cook as her guardian.

The 1850 Census for Syracuse, Ward 3, showed a 12 year old Harriet Pomeroy, living with a Harriet B/P Cook, with several seemingly unrelated young women 3. The 1860 census for Syracuse, Ward 6, showed her living with Harriet B. Cook, a family of Fosters, and several women in their twenties 4.

Our database showed that the four children of Seneca G. Pomeroy and Laura Ellis, Harriet (8587), John Henry (8585), Ellen Adele (8586), and Julia Emma (8588) were the Pomeroys listed in the Supreme Court summons.

All we knew of Laura Ellis at the time, was that she was 36 when she died in 1842, had been ill for some time, and was buried in the family burial grounds on Onondaga Hill 5. We did not yet know her parentage, nor did we know who Harriet B. Cook was.

One of Laura’s children, Julia E., was located in the 1850 census, age abt 10 years old in the household of a Mary C. Hargin in Auburn, Cayuga County 6. It is likely that this is Mary Caroline Hargin, who will later appear in this summary. Our own database revealed her son, John Henry Pomeroy (8585) had died, according to an obituary record in November 1865, “at the home of his aunt, H. B. Cook.” 7

This information pointed to the Ellis surname, and an Ancestry.com search revealed a family tree showing the many children of John Ellis (1764-1820) and Submit Olds 8. It showed that a Harriet Byron Ellis, born 1798, and Laura Ellis, born 1807, were sisters, born on Onondaga Hill, and that the Ellis family were among the early settlers of this region. There was a will for Harriet B. Cook at the Onondaga County Surrogate Office, and while there no was mention of a niece, Mrs. Cook identified her brother as James M. Ellis.9

Searching the Ellis connection provided some interesting details. A Syracuse newspaper article on Harriet B. (Ellis) Cook written in 1899, described her as “Syracuse’s First Milliner.” Mrs. Cook, who married Major William A. Cook, operated a millinery establishment on Fayette Street, Syracuse. No wonder there were several young women living, (and working, as seamstresses no doubt) in the household! The article goes on to say her father John Ellis of Onondaga Hill, was a great landowner, and identified a sister, Mrs. Charles Hargen, living in Syracuse, as a member of the Onondaga County chapter, D. A. R 10. An obituary, in the Syracuse Daily Courier, cited her death as November 4, 1875. 11

A third Ellis sister was identified in several articles as Mary Caroline Ellis Hargin. The 1894 Onondaga Standard celebrated her 82nd birthday under the title “She Saw Lafayette.” The article goes on to say, she “was born in 1812, the youngest of nine children of Maj. Gen. John Ellis and his wife Submit Ellis…Gen. Ellis…was born in Pittsfield, Mass, and at the age of 14 ran away from home and served in the continental army…[Mrs Hargin] married Charles B. Hargin in 1832, and with him came to the Burnet farm…Mr Hargin died in 1840. 12

Thirteen years later, when Mrs. Hargin was 97, the Syracuse Post Standard published even more about her pioneer history. Her husband’s death at 29 resulted from pneumonia, after he caught a cold when his store was flooded. It also notes that “the sword used by her father in the Revolutionary War …will some day, she says, become the possession of the Onondaga Historical Association.” 13

While the original task seemed to be finding more about Harriet Pomeroy and the Canadian connection, the direction it took was a profitable diversion. Now we know more about the maternal Ellis line, through Laura Ellis, the mother of four Pomeroy children. Through her sisters Harriet B., and Mary Caroline, we know more about the pioneering Ellis family of Onondaga Hill. And we know some of the reason why these Pomeroy children could not be found in their father’s household in the 1850 or 1860 census records.

Laura Ellis died December 21, 1842. Two months prior, Seneca G. Pomeroy was in some financial distress, and had filed a petition of bankruptcy as an individual, and as one of the firm of Pomeroy & Ellis, and Thorp & Pomeroy 14. He remarried, divorced, and at age 82 applied for his deceased son’s Civil War pension. He died in 1894. There might be more to learn about this man, who seems to have separated from his children. He left no will in Cayuga County where he died.

The death, and subsequent determination of the will, of Dr. Samuel Healy was the cause of the 1855 Onondaga County Supreme Court summons to members of the Pomeroy, Ellis, and Hargen families published on November 26, 1855 in the Syracuse newspaper cited earlier. It appears that Dr. Healy left money to individuals and orphan asylums in four counties, and there was some dispute of claims 15. His relationship to these named individuals becomes clear when we learned that his only child Henry, and wife Mitte Ellis Healey, were buried in the Ellis Family Cemetery, on Onondaga Hill, alongside her parents, General John Ellis and Submit Olds 16.

It is of interest that Harriet S. Pomeroy’s request to the Surrogate Court for legal guardianship, was made on August 14, 1855, after the court had notified parties to make claims upon the estate of her uncle, in late June 17. A lot might be learned from these estate decisions.

And there are still other unanswered questions about Seneca’s daughter, Harriet S. Pomeroy. She married Joshua L. Marsh on October 10, 1860 17. He was an elected official in Chicago, Ill in the 1870s, but her footprints have dimmed, and I’ve lost the trail. Has anyone seen Harriet?

And Jeremiah and Lewis Pomeroy who came to NY from Canada, are they brothers? And are they, and the Harriets of their families, in the Eltweed line, or just those “other Pomeroys”

If you can solve a few corners of the puzzle please let us know.

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NOTES

1 Supreme Court-Onondaga County, summons [contest re: will of Dr. Samuel Healy] Syracuse Daily Standard, November 26, 1855, pg 3. Fultonhistory.com, 0202 pdf

2 Onondaga County, Surrogate Office, Syracuse, NY, Guardianship Appointments, Harriet S. Pomeroy, Book D, p. 10, August 14, 1855.

3 1850 census, Onondaga County, City of Syracuse, Ward 3, Roll:M432_569; page 194A (76)

4 1860 census, Onondaga County, Syracuse, Ward 6, Roll: M653_830; page 936 (p. 80)

5 Mrs. Laura Pomeroy obituary, Onondaga Standard, Onondaga Hill, New York, 28 Dec 1842,

6 1850 census, Cayuga County, Auburn, Ward 3, Roll: M432_482; page 273A

7 Death, John Henry Pomeroy, Syracuse Library, compiler, Obituaries & Biographical Clippings of Residents of Syracuse Onondaga County...from 1860 to 1926 (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse Public Library, 1926)

8 Cook Family Tree (Ellis) http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/940662/person/-1069937113?ssrc=

9 Onondaga County Surrogate Office, Syracuse, NY, Harriet B. Cook, Wills, Book S , page 488-489.

10 The Evening Herald, (Syracuse) January 6, 1899. Onondaga Historical Association. Vertical Surname File folder, Hargin.

11 The Daily Courier (Syracuse), November 6, 1875. Onondaga Historical Association. Vertical Surname File folder, Cook.

12 The Onondaga Standard, June 6, 1894. Onondaga Historical Association. Vertical Surname File folder, Hargin.

13 The Syracuse Post Standard, September 8, 1909. Onondaga Historical Association. Vertical Surname File folder, Hargin. See also The Syracuse Herald, October 8, 1909, “Is Dead At 97 Years”, Onondaga Historical Association. Vertical Surname File folder, Hargin.

14 Onondaga Standard, October 26, 1842. Onondaga Historical Association. Index Card Surname File. Pomeroy, Seneca G

15 Syracuse Daily Journal of May 3, 1854 reported Dr. Healey Death. Fultonhistory.com, 0215 pdf

16 Ellis Family Cemetery, copied by Minnie L. C. Coleman, Daughters of the American Revolution Cemetery Records,” Vol. 21, pg. 56

17 Syracuse Daily Journal, July 9, 1855, pg. 3, fultonhistory.com, 0709 pdf

18 Syracuse Journal, October 12, 1860, p. 3. C. 6; Onondaga Historical Association, POMEROY: Harriet S., card index file