Sibling Saturday: 1860 Letter from Ellen J. Bonney of Hanson, Mass. to her brother Otis L. Bonney of Boston, Mass.

Below are scanned images, a transcription, and explanatory footnotes of a letter written on 18 March 1860 by fifteen-year old Ellen Josephine Bonney (b. 22 Feb. 1845) of Bonney Hill, South Hanson, Mass. to her older brother, twenty-one year old Otis Lafayette Bonney (b. 2 Dec. 1838) who at the time was working for Daniel Allen & Co. in Boston, Mass. They were both the children of Ezekiel Bonney and Angeline White of Hanson, Mass. Three years after writing this letter, Ellen J. Bonney married Noah A. Ford at East Bridgewater in 1863. In addition to reporting local news relating … Continue reading Sibling Saturday: 1860 Letter from Ellen J. Bonney of Hanson, Mass. to her brother Otis L. Bonney of Boston, Mass.

Stetson Cemetery, Hanson, MA

No longer found upon modern-day maps, this forgotten cemetery on the border of Hanson, Pembroke, and Halifax had become my Holy Grail during the past year. I came upon a document from the late 1800s detailing it’s location and also found a map from 1879 which had it’s location marked. For photographs and more info, see my USGenWeb Hanson cemeteries page. Armed with lots of bug-spray and long sleeves, my mother (an avid supporter of these graveyard wanderings, one of the blesssed few to be enthusiastic about such ventures!) and I trekked down past the railroad tracks, cranberry bogs and … Continue reading Stetson Cemetery, Hanson, MA