Clues from an 1880s Autograph Album

Signatures in the Autograph Book

in order by pages

1. Your sincere friend, Florence E. Smith
   Milford, Conn.
   Sept. 15, 1902
2. When the golden sun is setting,
   And your mind from care is free,
   When of others you are thinking,
   Will you sometimes think of me?
   Sincerely your friend
   Edna W. Swift (or Sinft)
   Milford, Ct.
   Sept. 14 - 1902
3. Cordially Yours -
   M (?) Ellen Clarke
   Milford
   May 28, 1883
4. Christina McLaughlin
   May 9 - 1902
   Milford Conn
5. Annie E. Knott
   Milford Conn
   June 26th 1902
6. May your path be strewn with roses,
   Bright and thornless to the end
   And when your head in death reposes,
   May your Maker be your friend.
   Etta G. Clarke
   Milford, Conn.
   Mar. 22, 1880
7. Martha B. Tibbals
   July 13, 1902
8. Mame J. Hurk (Hurbe?)
   Milford, Conn.
   May 19, 1902
9. Carolyn E. Stowe
   Milford, Connecticut
   Nov. 2, 1902
10. Yours very Truly
    Nellie B. Wilcox
    Milford
    Jan. 24, 1881
11. Albina L. Addis
    New Milford
    May 30th 1880
12. Anna is your name,
    Single is your station,
    Happy be the little man
    That makes the alteration
    Mrs. A.M. Wilcox
    Feb 4th 1881
    (this inscription makes it sound like the autograph book belonged to Anna, so perhaps Georgie A. Smith just happened to sign inside the front cover)
13. Lizzie McCarroll
    Milford, Conn
    June 15, 1902
14. Virlinda Milton Warren
    East Hartford, Conn
    Milford
    May 19, 1902
15. Straight is the path of duty;
    Curved is the path of beauty,
    Follow the one and thou shalt see
    The other following after thee.
    Your Cousin,
    Mary E. Addis
    New Milford, Conn
    May 24th, 1881

Second Batch of Signatures in the Album

1. Your sincere friend
   Alice W. Stowe
   Milford, Conn.
   Dec 8th 1902
2. Remember, unless you choose to forget.
   Your Friend
   Evie Durand
   Milford, Conn.
   Sept. 25, 1880
3. Your Friend,
   Sadie E. Hickey
   Milford, Conn.
   May 29, 1902
4. Ever, your, friend,
   Cornelia E. Knowles
   Bowie, Maryland
   May 24th 1881
5. Frank A. Smith,
   Milford, Conn.
   Sept. 7, 1902
6. It may be glorious to write
   Thoughts that shall glad the two or three (there are 6 more lines to the inscription)
   Yours very truly
   Gev. H. Griffin (could this be Genevieve H. Griffin?)
   Milford
   June 25 1889 (curiously, instead of "th" after the 25, it looks like a dollar sign $ with two vertical lines through it)
7. "Kind words cost nothing,
   but are worth much."
   Carol Stow Tibbals
   Milford, Connecticut
   July the thirteenth, Nineteen hundred two.
8. Mary Downing
   Wilbraham, Mass.
   May 25th 1880
9. May your joys be as deep as the ocean
   Your sorrows as light as its foam
   May the billows be safe that you ride on
   Till anchored at last safe at home
   Your friend
   Ruth E. Wills
   New Milford, Conn.
   May 28, 1881
10. Friendship has a power
    To sooth affliction in her darkest hour.
    Your true friend,
    Minnie E. Smith
    Milford, Conn.
    Sept. 7th, 1902
11. Your friend,
    Katie E. Wells
    New Milford, Conn.
    May 27th, 1881
12. Yours Very Truly
    R. Sherman Platt
    Milford, Conn.
    August 27th 1880
13. Feb 23 1880
    Lizzie M Feltis
    Milford Conn
    Seaside
    Friendship
    
    (I found a mention of Elizabeth Feltis, daughter of Patrick and Ellen Feltis of Milford. It's in a book called A Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County, Volume 2 By Everett Gleason Hill. page 879)
14. Very truly
    John L. Higgins
    Milford Conn
    June 27th 1902
15. Yours Truly,
    A.V. Merwin
    Milford, Ct.
    Mar. 5th 1880
    
    (I discovered online a mention of "In 1857, oystering became a major industry when Wm. M. Merwin & Sons successfully planted seed oysters in the harbor." This is on the Milford Chamber of Commerce site.)

Third Batch of Signatures in the Album

1. I count these things to be grandly true,
   That a noble deed is a step towards God,
   Lifting the soul from the common sod,
   To a purer air and a broader view. (J.G. Holland)
   Susie D. Smith
   Milford, Conn.
   April 1883
   
   (I checked on the internet and found this poem on page 333 of Hill's manual of social and business forms: a guide to correct writing By Thomas Edie Hill. The book has a great section on penmanship lessons too.)
2. Your friend
   Frankie Turrill
   New Milford
   May 25 1881
   
   (There's a Frank W. Turrell in the 1880 census with the following information:
   Birth Year 1863
   Birthplace MA
   Age 17
   Occupation Express Man
   Marital Status Single
   Race White
   Head of Household Charles W. TURRELL
   Relation Son
   Father's Birthplace MA
   Mother's Birthplace MA
   It seems possible that it might be Frankie.)
3. Annie
   March 24th 1880
   ......
   Sincerely your friend
   Libbie J. Bohan (this one is very faint, so it could be Bahan)
4. W.E. Smith
   Richford, Vermont
   Milford, Ct
   Dec. 29, 1883
5. Milford
   June 24 - 1902
   G.S. Kilpatrick (the G could be another letter)
6. When you choose, from this world a companion for life
   May your lives both in harmony flow
   To battle together in this broad field of strife
   And win laurels where ever you go.
   R.A. Burns
   Milford, Conn
   March 4th 1880
7. Your Friend
   Stella L.C. Stowe
   December the Eighth
   Nineteen hundred two
8. "In the book of life"God's Album,"
   May your name be penned with care;
   And may all who here have written,
   Find their names recorded there."
   Is the wish of your Friend,
   Matie M. Benjamin
   Milford, Conn.
   Feb. 11, 1880
   (She is listed online on page 46 of Life and light for woman, Volume 14 By Woman's Board of Missions. It is a listing of the officers for the Milford "Ivy Vine" Mission Circle. Matie is vice president.)
9. Your Pastor and Friend.
   J. A. Biddle
   June 2, 1880
   
   (He gets three mentions in the book, Proceedings at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the First Church of Christ Milford, Conn. pages 9, 50, 124.)
   
   
   
   
   
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10. Your Friend,
    Anna Light Biddle.
    Milford
    June 2, 1880
    
    (I'm guessing that she is J.A. Biddle's wife. Note they signed on the same day.)
11. J. F. Addis
    New Milford, Conn.
    May 30, 1881
    
    (He is listed in Public documents of the State of Connecticut, Volume 3 By Connecticut. General Assembly. page 72 about fingerling brook trout plants, Fall of 1914 in a report by the State Board of Fisheries.)
12. Mrs. Nancy Leach
    March 23, 1883
13. E. C. Mallory
    Milford, Conn.
    Mar. 15, 1880
14. Your Friend and Pastor,
    Seneca M. Keeler, (At first, I thought it was McKeeler)
    Milford, Conn.
    Feb. 19, 1881
    
    (Seneca M. Keeler was pastor of the First Congregational Church in Smyrna from June, 1866, to Sept., 1870. His middle name is McNeill. There's a brief paragraph on page 339 about his career in The Ministerial Directory: of the ministers in the Presbyterian Church 1898. It states he was in Milford in 1880.)
15. Alice B. Culis (I'm fairly sure the first letter is a C)
    Milford Conn.
    Feb 12, 1881

Fourth Batch of Names in the Autograph Book

(stay tuned, more to come)

1. Your sincere friend,
   Laura F. Keeler
   Milford, TC
   Feb 12, 1881
   
   (Rev. Keeler's daughter, according to Genealogy of the Families of John Rockwell, of Stamford, Connecticut 1641 ...
   by James Boughton, page 219. Her middle name was Frances and her mother was Alice B. Smith Keeler. Laura was born Oct. 2, 1858 and married Robert M. Canfield on July 29, 1892.)
2. W.A. Augur
   Milford, Conn.
   March 10, 1880
3. Your Friend,
   Flora A. Estes
   Centre Village
   Broome Co
   N.Y.
   March 28th 1881
   
   (see the photo of this one above)
4. So live that you each year may be,
   While time glides swiftly by;
   A little farther from the earth,
   And nearer to the sky.
   Your Friend,
   Emma L. Clark
   Milford, Conn., Oct. 18, 1880
5. Minta G Martin
   Milford Conn
   Feby 22nd 1880
   
   (There is a Minta G. Martin listed in Polk's Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County Directory in 1915 and 1917 at 403 State N. It's hard to tell if it might be the same person.)
6. "Though distant lands should us divide
   And we no more each other see
   Should friends more dear with thee abide
   I pray thee still remember me"
   Your True Friend
   Julia E. Prindle
   Roxbury Centre
   May 6th 1881
7. May happiness be e'er thy lot,
   Where ever thou shalt be,
   And love and sunshine light the spot,
   That may be home to thee.
   Your friend,
   Hattie A. Turrill
   New Milford, Conn.
   May 28th, 1881
8. Remember well and bear in mind,
   A faithful friend is hard to find
   And when you find one good and true
   Change not the old one for the new
   Mary A. Burns
   Milford Conn
   March 4th 1880
   
   (There's a Mary A. Burns listed on the 1890 tax list in The History of Milford by George Allen Ramsdell, William P. Colburn. Possibly she is the daughter of Capt. Peter Burns and married James M. Burns. page 449 )
9. Dear Cousin Annie,
   Other skies may bend above thee,
   Other hearts may seek thy shrine,
   But no other Soul will ever love thee
   With the constancy of mine
   Go where thy joy awaits thee,
   And may God your life attend,
   But when parting I would ask thee,
   To remember thy Cousin,
   Remember me dear Annie,
   When on these lines you look,
   Remember it was Mary who wrote this in your book,
   Tender memories around thee twine,
   like the ivy green around the vine,
   Remember I say, when you look on these pages,
   that writing in albums is like working for wages.
   Your Cousin
   Mary Stuart
   Atchison, Kan's
   June 23rd 1885
   Milford, Conn.
   June 22, 1885 - 22, 1895
   
   (I'm not sure why this entry has multiple dates and places)
10. There are no friends like the old friends
    Keep all that you can get
    And when you turn these pages
    This one do not forget
    Clark Wilcox
    Milford
    Jan 26th/81
    
    (Clark Wilcox gave the land for Wilcox Park, affectionately known as "Harbor Woods" to the town of Milford in 1909. Historical Sketches of the Town of Milford by George Hare Ford)
11. Your little friend
    Grace A. Prindle
    Roxbury, Ct.
12. May your life be ever bright
    as this lovely spring afternoon
    is the wish of your true friend
    M.M. Prindle
    Roxbury Centre
    May 7th 1881
13. "Stone walls do not a prison make
    Nor iron bars a cage;
    Minds innocent and quiet take
    That for an hermitage
    Mrs. L.A. Nettleton
    Milford, Conn.
    Oct. 9. 1880.
    
    (The poem is by Richard Lovelace.)
14. It is the secret sympathy,
    The silver link, the silken tie,
    Which heart to heart, and mind to mind
    In body and in soul can bind.
    Your friends,
    Angie B. Smith
    Milford, Conn
    Sept. 7, 1902.
15. Heaven but tried our virtue by affliction;
    As oft the cloud that waxs ? the present hour
    Serves but to lighten all our future days.
    Your Friend
    Mrs. C.W. Miles
    Milford
    June 16 - 1880

Fifth Batch of Names in the Autograph Book

1. Remember your Friend
   Mrs H. Thomas
   Roxbury Centre
   May 14th 1881
2. Place no confidence in man
   Not even in a brother
   So girls if we must love
   Let's love one another
   
   Katie Oneil
   New Haven, Conn
   Feb 22 1880
3. May earth give all its joys to thee
   May summer winds blow lightly -
   May all the blessings life bestows
   Adorn thy head so brightly
   
   truly yours
   Lizzie S. Allen
   New Milford, Conn -
   May 20th 1881
4. We have met in peace together,
   Here upon this earthly shore,
   May we meet in joy forever,
   Meet in Heaven to part no more.
   
   Carrie D. Clark
   Milford Conn.
   Feb. 7, 1880
5. Nellie Nettleton (there's a middle initial, but it could be an I or a J or ??)
   Milford, Conn
   Oct. 9, 1880
6. Your true friend
   Emma J. Munson
   Milford, Conn.
7. compliments of
   F. E. Baldwin
   
   (this name is in the center of an elaborate scrollwork with a bird in the design)
8. Anna S. Phelan
   Milford, Conn
   June 20th, 1902
9. Ida Morris
10. Lillian A. Smith
    Bridgeport, Conn.
    April 12th '84
11. "The deeds we do, the words we say,
    Into still air they seem to fleet;
    We count them ever past,
    But they shall last;
    In the dread judgement, theyAnd we shall meet."
    
    Emma A. Nettleton
    Milford, Conn.
    Oct. 9 1880
    
    (the verse is from John Keble, "Early Warnings," from Lyra Innocentium according to Wikiquote)
12. Your Friend
    W.R. Smith
    Milford, Conn.
    Jan. 27th 1880 (though it could be 1883 or 1888)
13. Lucy Turrill
    New Milford, Conn.
    May 22, 1881
14. "We must not hope to be mowers
    And to gather the ripe gold ears,
    Until we have first been sowers
    And watered the furrows with tears.
    It is not just as we take it,
    This mystical world of ours;
    Life's field will yield, as we make it,
    A harvest of thorns or of flowers."
    
    Truly Yours,
    Julia E. Benjamin
    Milford, Conn. Feb. 11, 1880
    
    (I found the verse attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
15. July 5th 1880
    Greatest bliss have they in living,
    Who receiving join with giving,
    Of all good thy life shall measure
    Scat'ring shall increase they treasure
    With kindly regard, yours,
    M M. R. Clarke
    
    Endorsing the above Sentiment of my Better-Half
    Commending its application to Georgie; I remain with
    great respect and the kindest wishes
    Truly Yours
    Owen T. Clarke
    
    (The first signature could be Martha Miles, born June 20, 1830 who is listed as marrying an Owen T. Clarke in A GENEALOGY of the Descendants of WIDOW MARTHA BEARD)

Sixth Batch of Names in the Autograph Book

1. The fairest view of earth is given
   To those, who climb the nearest heaven!
   Your Sincere Friend
   Mrs. R.N. Smith
   Milford May 26th 1883