JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
I'd like this thread to be commemorating the stories of our ancestors who who endured other kinds of wounds and amputations in those unbelievable years. Despite much discussion, we'll probably never be able to get into their heads, understand what it must have been like on any of the home fronts, their men off to war, North or South. It would be lovely to meet the ancestors of the forum, any of them- wives, mothers, sisters and daughters, any women who had to wait and endure.
This is just for the stories, whatever anyone wishes to say, in whatever amount or content, photos or not, to the graceful heros who held it all together. I'll start with my grgrgr grandmother, Elizabeth Crego Huson.
She had 16 children, you'd never think so given some of her photos and yes, she did indeed have a lot of 'help'. Her husband was some years older than she, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a local and New York state politician. They had already received word of the death of one son, on a far coast seeking his fortune by the time their abolitionist beliefs launched the family into the Civil War. Another had lived a few short days only. 2 offspring gone, the war barely begun when the eldest son and namesake, lawyer and politician Calvin Jr. perished in Richmond after being swept up in the chaos following Bull Run. The shock was severe, followed by son Samuel's death at Shiloh, another lawyer who had left his practice to follow his beliefs. Gettysburg found the family mourning yet another soldier son, the James PK Huson whose User ID I've adopted. I've seriously studied this woman, out of respect and a ton of admiration- how did they make it through?
Her obituary is quite lovely, has to have been written by a dear friend.
Died, in this village, on the 18th inst. Mrs. Elizabeth (Betsey) Huson, widow of the late Mr. Calvin Huson, aged 80 years, 1 month and 6 days.
Her maiden name was Crego. She was born in Canaan, Columbia county, N.Y., August 12, 1801, and was married to Mr. Huson in Hillsdale, same county, in 1817, and in 1818 came to this town, then a part of Reading, where she remained some years, when they went to Seneca, New York, until after the death of Mr. Nathaniel Huson, Sen., the father of her husband, when they returned to Starkey, and purchased the old homestead, and she has lived in this town ever since, and in the village for the last 13 or 14 years. Mr. Huson died in 1869, and she has remained a widow till the close of her life. She was the mother of 16 children, the first of them died quite young, the rest lived to manhood, seven of them have died and only one of them (the eldest) has passed away within her reach, so she has not seen any of them die or attended their funerals except her first born.
She was a woman of integrity and decision of character, extremely industrious and fixed determination of purpose, and was generally respected. Trained to domestic labor in her youth, she steadily taught her children that labor was honorable and becoming to all, and enforced her precepts by her constant example. She filled her station in life, in all its relations in a conscientious manner, and ever managed her domestic concerns in a manner that bespoke a woman of managing ability.
The living children are widely scattered, and only four of them were at her funeral, which was attended on the afternoon of the 19th, and her remains were then laid in Hillside, beside her husband to rest from labor, while the world in which she has played an active part so long passes on, and others occupy the place left vacant by her removal. In religious matters Mrs. Huson was in independent liberalist. She thought for herself; life hereafter as a reward of those duties, ever acted from principle, and a innate sense of duty and did not stop to ask what others might think of her course, yet while she claimed the free exercise of her own intellect, and the enjoyment of her own opinion, she was willing to accord to others a like privilege.
She was a social companionable woman who relished pleasant lively company, and ever evinced a disposition to take her part in making it so when with her friends, and she retained this disposition till near the last. She was a robust woman, not afraid of any duty, or to grapple with any seeming difficulty which might loom up before her as she was ever accustomed to think that courage, activity, and perseverance, could and would accomplish any work, and overcome any hindrance that might present itself before her, and never while in the vigor of life, allowed herself to use the word can't. It was not in her vocabulary.
Her life has been a long and eventful one. She has seen great changes in this country. In her time the wilderness has disappeared, and the land has bloomed under the influence of civilization. The log cottage has been superseded by the stately mansion, and the thriving villages have sprung up, where she saw in the past a dense forest. When she came here the Lakes of the Lake country were land locked and of no special use to the world, only for the fish they afforded, but canals were made, and Lakes made available to the commerce of the world. These have been succeeded by the railroads, and, for the last few years she has heard the whistle, and seen the trains from her dwelling daily.
We have had an intimate acquaintance with her for a long time. She was our friend, and thus we enter in our journal the fact that another of our long time friends has departed. Her vigorous frame has given way, old age has shown its withering influence upon her, and she has entered upon that quiet slumber to which all are to come. She has outlived her generation, and was becoming a stranger among her surroundings, and she has laid aside labor, and gone from the trails of earth. Let her memory be sacred and her grave honored. Adieu to our friend, till the coming day shall open, when immortality shall be revealed.
This is just for the stories, whatever anyone wishes to say, in whatever amount or content, photos or not, to the graceful heros who held it all together. I'll start with my grgrgr grandmother, Elizabeth Crego Huson.
She had 16 children, you'd never think so given some of her photos and yes, she did indeed have a lot of 'help'. Her husband was some years older than she, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a local and New York state politician. They had already received word of the death of one son, on a far coast seeking his fortune by the time their abolitionist beliefs launched the family into the Civil War. Another had lived a few short days only. 2 offspring gone, the war barely begun when the eldest son and namesake, lawyer and politician Calvin Jr. perished in Richmond after being swept up in the chaos following Bull Run. The shock was severe, followed by son Samuel's death at Shiloh, another lawyer who had left his practice to follow his beliefs. Gettysburg found the family mourning yet another soldier son, the James PK Huson whose User ID I've adopted. I've seriously studied this woman, out of respect and a ton of admiration- how did they make it through?
Her obituary is quite lovely, has to have been written by a dear friend.
Died, in this village, on the 18th inst. Mrs. Elizabeth (Betsey) Huson, widow of the late Mr. Calvin Huson, aged 80 years, 1 month and 6 days.
Her maiden name was Crego. She was born in Canaan, Columbia county, N.Y., August 12, 1801, and was married to Mr. Huson in Hillsdale, same county, in 1817, and in 1818 came to this town, then a part of Reading, where she remained some years, when they went to Seneca, New York, until after the death of Mr. Nathaniel Huson, Sen., the father of her husband, when they returned to Starkey, and purchased the old homestead, and she has lived in this town ever since, and in the village for the last 13 or 14 years. Mr. Huson died in 1869, and she has remained a widow till the close of her life. She was the mother of 16 children, the first of them died quite young, the rest lived to manhood, seven of them have died and only one of them (the eldest) has passed away within her reach, so she has not seen any of them die or attended their funerals except her first born.
She was a woman of integrity and decision of character, extremely industrious and fixed determination of purpose, and was generally respected. Trained to domestic labor in her youth, she steadily taught her children that labor was honorable and becoming to all, and enforced her precepts by her constant example. She filled her station in life, in all its relations in a conscientious manner, and ever managed her domestic concerns in a manner that bespoke a woman of managing ability.
The living children are widely scattered, and only four of them were at her funeral, which was attended on the afternoon of the 19th, and her remains were then laid in Hillside, beside her husband to rest from labor, while the world in which she has played an active part so long passes on, and others occupy the place left vacant by her removal. In religious matters Mrs. Huson was in independent liberalist. She thought for herself; life hereafter as a reward of those duties, ever acted from principle, and a innate sense of duty and did not stop to ask what others might think of her course, yet while she claimed the free exercise of her own intellect, and the enjoyment of her own opinion, she was willing to accord to others a like privilege.
She was a social companionable woman who relished pleasant lively company, and ever evinced a disposition to take her part in making it so when with her friends, and she retained this disposition till near the last. She was a robust woman, not afraid of any duty, or to grapple with any seeming difficulty which might loom up before her as she was ever accustomed to think that courage, activity, and perseverance, could and would accomplish any work, and overcome any hindrance that might present itself before her, and never while in the vigor of life, allowed herself to use the word can't. It was not in her vocabulary.
Her life has been a long and eventful one. She has seen great changes in this country. In her time the wilderness has disappeared, and the land has bloomed under the influence of civilization. The log cottage has been superseded by the stately mansion, and the thriving villages have sprung up, where she saw in the past a dense forest. When she came here the Lakes of the Lake country were land locked and of no special use to the world, only for the fish they afforded, but canals were made, and Lakes made available to the commerce of the world. These have been succeeded by the railroads, and, for the last few years she has heard the whistle, and seen the trains from her dwelling daily.
We have had an intimate acquaintance with her for a long time. She was our friend, and thus we enter in our journal the fact that another of our long time friends has departed. Her vigorous frame has given way, old age has shown its withering influence upon her, and she has entered upon that quiet slumber to which all are to come. She has outlived her generation, and was becoming a stranger among her surroundings, and she has laid aside labor, and gone from the trails of earth. Let her memory be sacred and her grave honored. Adieu to our friend, till the coming day shall open, when immortality shall be revealed.
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