The
Toulmins
Copied
in 1948 by Priestley Toulmin III, from the original in the possession of
Peter
Toulmin; communicated to Stephen Edelston Toulmin 9 Jan 1965. [Almost all of
this
has been copied under appropriate names in the Notes; but it seems of
sufficient
interest to give in full. Priestley
(Lond*133119211, descended from
Joshua
Toulmin DD) and Peter (*611341 above) met as undergraduates at Harvard.]
The Toulmins were originally French
Huguenots and the name Toulmin was
pronounced
in the French way. My sister's teacher said there were Toulmins
now in
France,
but that was very long ago, and like other Huguenots, they probably fled to
England
where they settled in Preston, Lancashire.
They were protestants and
natural
dissenters, so became adherents of the Methodist Church. My knowledge of
the
family begins with my great-grandfather, who was a cheese-monger or merchant
dealing
wholesale in the great Cheshire cheeses of the county.
He was successful, but during a depression
failed in business. At that time he
had six
sons and two daughters; John, the
eldest, was my grandfather, the others
were James,
William, Michael, George and Joseph.
John married a Welsh girl and
decided
to come to America, which seemed to be a mistake, as the business was
getting
better and the father was able to continue and give the boys and girls a
fine
start in life. They all became prosperous, and James and
Joseph very wealthy.
George
became a newspaper man and owned and edited the Preston Guardian and a weekly
called
the Blackburn Times. I have a picture
of their homes-- all on one street,
which I
would like the children to see. Many
times the family tried to get
grandfather
to return to England but he liked American Democracy. He was a local
preacher
here and a keen man. Today I think his
descendants are in fully as good a
postion
as the English ones, for America has more opportunities. One of his
brothers,
George, the newspaper man, had two sons, John and George. John, the
so-called
head of the family, is a brilliant person.
Both brothers carried on in
the
newspapers, and George was sent to Parliament, where he was knighted.
Now, in this country, Grandfather (John
Toulmin) had one son, William (my
father),
and five daughters, Sarah, Mary ,Margaret, Ann and Elizabeth. Evelyn
remembers
Margaret Moon and her two daughters, Anna and Carrie.
His only son, William B., became a
Methodist Minister, following the tradition of
the
family, for I believe that in every generation there was one clergyman. It is
interesting
that one of the six brothers gave his life to the poor, and the other
five
brothers built him a chapel and supported it.
My father, William, married
Levina
Booth and had five children:
1. Joseph, who was a musician, and worked in
the Shoe and Leather Bank and died at
22.
2. Lydia A., who married Melvin W. Gould of
Newton. She died at the age of 26,
leaving
one son, Melvin.
3. John E., a banker, who married Alice
Barber and had three children, Evelyn,
Edith
and John.
4. George, 16 months younger than John, who
at 18 went South for his health and
finally
settled in Kansas City, married Aurie Kirk and went into Real Estate.
5. Flora T. who in 1903 married Dr J. Emmons
Briggs, a surgeon, and lived in
Boston.
You will notice that there has always been
a John in the family. The names
John,
George and William are repeated many times.
Naturally I was very sorry to
have
the line broken and hoped until the last that one of John's sons would carry on
using
one of the names. I am sending you the
Herald notice of my father's death.
I think
your children would like to read it.
Please return it later. I think
Evelyn
may know of her father's career, but I will review it. After a year in a
wholesale
house, he went into the Shoe and Leather Bank, following in the footsteps
of his
brother Joseph. Later he joined his
brother George in Kansas City, where
together
they were in a trust company. John did
not care for the West, the venture
was not
very successful, and in about eight months he returned to Boston, becoming
cashier
of the Traders National. Later he left
to become Vice President of the Shoe
and
Leather Bank and then President of the Bank of the Redemption (I think the Shoe
and
Leather merged with the Redemption).
John felt that the time was right for
large
banks, and was instrumental in bringing five banks together, among them the
First
National. It was smaller than the
Redemption but he liked the name better,
saying
that a bank should not serve one particular class. The merger was
concluded,
John to be President, Mr Wing Vice President, but before it was announced
in the
papers, John died.
The
Booths
Letter from Mrs Briggs (*6115) to her niece
Evelyn Toulmin/Mackenzie (*61132);
passed
on to Elaine Mackenzie/Hill (*611321) and later to PNT. Copied from letter,
PNT to
Mrs Bernhardt (v. notes below). Notes
on the letter are largely from PNT.
L.T. April 12 [1]
Dear Evelyn,
I have just received your note[.] I wrote you yesterday. I know very little
about
mother's family. She had a large
leather covered bible which contained all
the
births and names of her family, written up by her[2] father in the most
beautiful
penmanship, so he must have been an educated man but she gave it, I think,
years
ago to one of her brothers and I don't remember what was his first name.
She was born in Righton, England. Her mother[3] died when she was about seven
years
old. She had three brothers who came
[4] to this country when mother was
young.
Before coming, I think, her father
married[5]. They settled in Rhode
Island,
later
living in Central Falls [6] and soon had a [7] son, John. They were all
successful. William was Superintendent of the large
celluloid factory in Newark,
N.J. James was in the same business in
Worcester[8]. Joseph went into the War
--
ran
away, enlisted in the Southern Army and married the daughter of a slave
owner.
John
owned a small factory in Central Falls.
They adored mother and came regularly
to see
her. They were all charming -
interested in social events and theatricals.
We
children liked to have them come. I
have only one picture of mother which does
not do
her justice. She was pretty and
amiable. I'm sure you remember
her. She
loved
you.
love, Aunt Flo.
[1] Significance of L.T. not known; no year
given.
[2] Original has "my": but it is
far more likely that Mr Booth is referred to than
the
Rev. W.B.Toulmin - the latter's daughter would hardly have commented of him
"he
must
have been an educated man"! (GHT).
[3] Original has "She, mother",
obviously wrong.
[4] Must mean they all came.
[5] ie, remarried (PNT). 13 May 1844 : to Mary Broom, widow, at
par.ch., Oldham
(GRO). "Mary" confirmed by an 1859 letter
(Booth) & 1880 census noted under [7];
"Broom"
by obituary of a Robert Broome (per Booth, source uncertain) showing she had
(at
least) sons Richard and Robert. Her
father was John Booth, so she may well have
been a
cousin. (GHT).
[6] A very small, now poor, city almost
surrounded by Pawtucket (PNT); only 6 ml N
of
Providence & E.Providence (GHT).
[7] PNT inserts "fifth child?" in
brackets here - perhaps deleted or illegible.
Information
about John is available from 1880, 1900 censuses, 1890, 1899, 1909
directories,
& obit. in Pawtucket Evening Times after his d. 30 May 1910 (per PNT &
Booth). In fact b. 2 March 1845, Sandy Lane, Royton
(GRO) & emigrated 1847, but
never
naturalised; m. Etta before 1880 & had a dau., Mrs J. Everett Andrew; 2nd
wife
Mary
(m. before 1900). His factory in
Central Falls was the Pawtucket Spinning Ring
Co., of
which he was President & Treasurer.
His mother, Mary, was 72 in 1880.
[8] Mass.
PNT quotes Tufts as finding Lavinia born on
August 12, 1832 in "Righton, England"
and
deceased on May 31, 1911 in Boston. I
suspect this information comes from
Lavinia/Levina's
death certificate, where it was very likely supplied by Mrs Briggs.
Unfortunately,
Righton does not seem to exist: it was certainly an error for Royton,
Lancs.
(nr Oldham).
It is convenient to insert here some more
information about the Booths, supplied
by Mrs
Martha Booth Bernhardt (referenced as "Booth"), who is trying to
trace the
family
back. She is the grand-daughter of the
Joseph referred to in the letter, who
became
a well-known Texas character; she has given me copies of various papers.
Obituary
notices from Texas papers refer to him as "Major Joe G. Booth", died
at his
home in
Austin 1 Oct 1910 "aged 72 or 73".
His death certificate (which gives his
mother's
name as "Lavina Graves" - perhaps due to confusion with his sister)
gives
his
date of birth as 4 July 1840; in a paper from the Texas archives dated 2 Apr
1903 he
is named as "Joseph Grave Booth" & himself gives "Age 62,
born Royton,
England,
came to US when 4 years old". He
came to Texas "several years previous to
the
war", but the obits. say nothing of his earlier life (or of surviving
relatives
outside
Texas). There were probably several
Joseph Booths in the Southern Army, but
the
identity is clinched by an autograph book handed down in Major Booth's family
which
includes (among other entries from Providence, E.Somerville, etc)
Flora L. Toulmin Somerville Mass.
Geo. W. Toulmin Somerville Mass. Nov 30 1879,
which
can only be *6115 and *6114. Further,
Mrs Bernhardt found in the 1880 census
a
George Toulmin (doubtless *6114) staying at the home of Joseph Booth in
Terrell,
Texas.
On a visit to England in 1996, she found a
family listed in the 1841 census at
Royton,
Lancs. (HO107/548/13 f.8 lh), which seems to fit the facts well (all born in
Lancs.):
Bottom of Fold William Booth 42 Cotton Spinner
Sarah Do
14
William Do
12
Levina Do
10
James Do
7
Joseph Do 4
Joseph's
age is not clear on a print, but careful examination of the microfilm shows
it was
undoubtedly written 4. The younger girl's name is clearly "Levina";
her age
does
not exactly fit the date of birth 12 Aug 1832 quoted above, but her children
might
not have known her correct age. Note
that no wife is listed, which fits with
Mrs
Briggs' story that Levina's mother died when the latter was about 7, and the
parish
register (still at Oldham) has births of all the children and the death of
Sarah
or Sally Booth of consumption 25 June 1840 (probably date of burial: GRO 23
June
1840, at Royton). Joseph's baptism was
registered 3 Jul 1838 as "Joseph
Greaves,
son of William and Sally Booth of Royton, Spinner", but neither date of
birth
nor age at baptism is given. There is a
US record of a William Booth who d.
RI 1
Feb 1868 aged 70 and 1 month, probably the father of the family. There seems
to be
no US record of the eldest child, Sarah: possibly she married before the
family
emigrated.