Boniface Newsletter, July 25, 2004
Here it is, mid July, and nearing time for the Boniface Reunion, and we are facing a sudden change of venue. Marsh Pallett, husband of Barbara Bellingham Pallett, is in a nursing home, and Barb has had to close the public beach because of time restraints. Whether we will ever be able to gather there again for another reunion is yet to be seen. Meanwhile, as people research other possible sites, our prayers are with Marsh and Barb and their family.
As I write this, I am still not certain whether I will make it back from New Jersey this year, or whether I will be a “no-show”. Either way, my heart is with you as you gather.
It has been a busy year, and a good one for research. In April , Sylvia Delaney welcomed me into her home for several nights, and shared what she had on Boniface history. The Buffalo Library and City Hall also gave up some Boniface secrets. A trip to Albany (a day trip from here) netted an 1865 NY State Census, and some great information on Francis and Lucy and their family life. Jane Graham, of Ontario, has helped fill in descendants of Harriet Boniface and James Longley. The picture is filling out, and it’s inspiring. I’ll try to share some of it here. (A word of caution -- Frank, Francis, Sarah, Lucy, and Mary Ann are well-used names.) Michele Tsuji.
Parting of the Ways
When my father Lloyd’s Grandpa William arrived in New York on June 29, 1857, after a six week voyage, he and his sisters Lucy, Sarah, and Caroline, and his brothers Frank and baby David had already said goodbye to their great-grandma Elizabeth, their Uncle Thomas and Aunt Harriet Boniface, and their Aunt Lucy and Uncle Trayton Honeysett (Hunnisett). In New York, they had to say good-bye again, this time to their grandparents, Frank and Lucy, their Uncles George and Caleb, their Aunt Harriet and Uncle James Longley, their Aunt Charlotte, and their cousin, Moses. Moses was the same age as William, 6, and had been his constant play companion on the crowded sailing boat that they had called home for 6 weeks, through good weather and bad, hunger and thirst. William, his brothers, sisters, Mom and Dad, would travel on to Michigan, where Mom’s Dad, David Dann, had already made a home with many of her brothers and sisters who had come to the U.S. earlier. Grandpa Frank and Grandma Lucy Boniface, however, didn’t want to travel that far. Grandpa was already 63 years old, even though he had given his age as 59 when buying passage to America. (He had probably wanted to be sure they would let him in, and not send him packing back to England.) Caleb and George planned on helping him set up a home, and possibly, farm. Charlotte and Moses would also help, as would James and Harriet Longley. Buffalo, New York looked like a good place to them. It was a thriving city, near the waters of Lake Erie, and it’s rolling, green hills kind of reminded them of their home In Pevensey, not so far from Eastbourne and the English Channel. In Buffalo they would also be just across the river from Canada, still a part of their bonny England.
Moses and his cousins said goodbye, knowing that their playing days together were now ended, and that they quite possibly would never see each other again. William and his family still had to make a long trek to Michigan, where they would do the same thing Moses would do with his Mom, Uncles and Grandparents in New York ; try to build a home in a new land. Moses would stay on with his grandparents, helping on the farm until after he was 20. After the 1870 census we have yet found no record of his whereabouts. William and his family lived in a log cabin on Marsh road, Orangeville Twp., Barry Co, Michigan, farming the rich bottom land along the Gun River. Later they were able to build and move into a fine big house, next door. William grew up and eventually bought a home on Pine Lake Road, backing up to Pine Lake, sharing a fence with a large fruit orchard on the east, and stretching to the west to Shelp Resort, run by J.T. Shelp and Sarah Boniface Shelp, William’s sister.
So here were two six-year-old cousins, come from England to America, one living near Buffalo, Erie Co. New York, one near Orangeville Mills, Barry Co. Michigan. When they left England, they had said goodbye to seven other cousins. Mary Ann, who was just a year or so older than they, was living with her father, John Boniface. Her mother, Aunt Ann, had died when she was a toddler. Trayton and Lucy Honeysett (Hunnisett), sons of Aunt Lucy and Trayton Honeysett, were close in age to William’s older sisters, Lucy, Sarah and Caroline. James Honeysett was a bit older than Moses and William, and Jess Honeysett was a bit younger. Then, Samuel and Mary Honeysett, born in 1854 and 1856, were just little tykes, under 3 years of age, like William’s brother Francis. Uncle Thomas and his wife, Harriet stayed in England. Their little girl, Mary Ann, was born just before Moses and William left.
Cousins, part of a large family that had grown up within visiting and playing distance of each other, were suddenly strewn across 2 continents, with an ocean and lots of land between the three pockets of Boniface settlement. Then, of course, more cousins were born into the families, cousins whom they could only read about, and maybe see in photos. They must have kept in touch, for the Michigan group has some photos from Buffalo, and even some photos taken in Hailsham, England. For one generation, at least, the cousins kept in touch with childhood playmates and their siblings. After that, the relationships passed into family lore, eventually disappearing. Three and four generations later, we are finally finding each other again, driven by the empty stretches in our family history. What is intriguing is how often someone from one pocket of family has almost made contact with another pocket.
Jean Mahaffey Brown, in Port Colbourne, Ontario, Canada, tells of her father, Harry Mahaffey, going to Buffalo to get an elderly Longley Uncle and bringing him back to Canada to live out his years. Frank and Jenora Boniface, near Buffalo, NY, remember that Frank Caleb Boniface went to Port Colbourne, Canada, looking for cousins, of whom there were many, if he had but known where. Later, (in the early 1970’s) Frank Wesley Sr., his son, acting on an old address in the family bible, wrote to Barry County, looking for any Frank Boniface. The court house sent the letter to Frank Raymond Boniface, who corresponded several times with Frank Wesley Boniface in Buffalo, until at last his letters from the old gentleman were unanswered.
147 Years after that immense, life-changing goodbye, branches of the family are saying hello and pooling resources. Glimpse by glimpse, we are peeking back through time. April 27 and 28, Michele visited Sylvia Delaney, Frank Wesley Boniface’s daughter, and with Sylvia and her brother, Frank Boniface (is that a popular name, or what?) visited the grave site of Francis and Lucy Boniface, Caleb and Catherine Boniface, and their children and spouses. Michele also talked to Jean Mahaffey Brown on April 28, and Jane Graham on April 30, via telephone. They live in Canada, and are the descendants of Harriet and James Longley. Transcripts and information are being sent to Barbara Osborne and June Read in Sussex, England. They are descendants of Thomas and Harriet. Cousins are reconnecting, by web, by phone, and in person.
What’s new “News”?
Francis and Lucy Boniface are buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York. The “Boniface” stone marker can be seen just beyond the white section “31” sign, one large marker for 10 graves.
The remains of Francis, Lucy, Caleb, Catherine, Thomas and Emma were moved to Forest Lawn in 1936, and are buried in one plot. They were moved from a cemetery on Ridge Road, in Lackawanna. Forest Lawn has no further records or information on them. The headstone has inscriptions on both sides of the base. On one side the stone reads:
Father Frank C. 1868-1952, Mother Anna Grant 1866-1936, Sister Sarah J. Grant 1863-1944.
The other side reads:
Maisie Craig 1895-1925, 1793 Francis 1881, 1798 Lucy 1880, 1871 Thomas 1876, 1840 Caleb 1886, 1840 Catherine 1891, 1865 Emma 1882.
What kind of records did you find?
The search for death, marriage, and birth records has so far come up empty. New York did not make a law mandating official recording until the mid 1880s and didn’t enforce it until around 1915. Michele did search the State Archives for Erie County records, but no luck. Very few people reported deaths, birth, marriages in the 1880s. Our best bet will be church records, but that will be slow work. Which church?
Where exactly did the Bonifaces live? Hamburgh (now Hamburg)? Lackawanna? Buffalo?
Census records and land records have given the best information so far. Also, old city directories from Buffalo can tell us if anyone was living within the city limits. Caleb, George and James Longley seem to have moved in and out of Buffalo. The Boniface farm was right at the border of Hamburgh and Lackawanna.
The 1860 census places Francis Boniface, 66, Lucy, 63, George, 22, and Moses, 8, in Hamburgh, Erie Co., NY. Francis is a farmer, George a farm laborer. Caleb Boneyface, 19, is living with the William Huston family in Buffalo, Erie Co., NY, and is working as a teamster.
In 1870, Calib Bonaface, 30, Catherine, 33, Emma, 4, and Francis, 2, are living in West Seneca, Erie Co., NY. Calib is a laborer. George Boniface, 35, a teamster, and Mary, 20, are living in the Third Ward of Buffalo, Erie Co. NY. Francis Bonniface, 78, a farmer, Lucy, 71, and Moses, 20, are living in Hamburgh, Erie Co. NY.
1880 finds Caleb Boniface, 33, Catherine, 30, Emma, 14, and Frank, 12, still living in West Seneca. George, 42, and his father Francis, 88, are living together in Hamburgh.
The Longley family show up in the 1860 federal census, but not in later federal censuses. In 1860 James, 32, Harriet, 23, Henry, 2, and Mary Ann, 9 months, are living in Aurora, Erie Co, NY.
How about the land records?
In the Erie County Hall, in downtown Buffalo, Michele was able to find record of two pieces of property owned by Francis Boniface at some time, and several pieces owned by James Longley.
Interestingly, the first piece of property bought by Francis was a small plot of about 15 acres that he purchased from a John and Mary Boniface in 1877. Of course, the deed is recorded once the debt is paid off. We don’t know when he began paying on the land. John and Mary Boniface had purchased that piece of property in 1873. So who were John and Mary Boniface? Were they related to us in some way? In 1883, Francis sold this piece of property to his sons, George and Caleb.
Francis also bought a lot in the city of Buffalo. He got deed and title in Oct., 1868, and sold it in April 1869 to a Mary Woodhams.
The fact that James Longley also bought and sold several pieces of land in the area between 1889 and 1892 suggests that they were living in the U.S. at least part of the time. I haven’t been able to find them in the federal censuses, so I was beginning to wonder if they might have moved across the border to Canada, where their daughter, Mary Ann, eventually married and lived. However, Buffalo city directories for the years 1873-1878 list them as actually living within the city of Buffalo at that time.
What help was the 1865 New York State Census?
With the 1865 New York State Census, we hit the Jackpot! It gives us data that allows us a glimpse of the early years for both the Longley’s and the Bonifaces. For one thing, it lists the Longley children and their ages. It states that Henry, age 7, was born in Indiana, while Mary Ann , 5, and Thomas, 2 months, were born in Erie County! For another, it states that Francis was a farmer, and then in the Agricultural Census pages, gives us a look at what he planted and harvested in 1864 and 1865. We see what animals he owned (3 cows, 2 horses, 15 pigs), what crops did well (oats, barley, corn, potatoes) and how much butter Lucy churned (100 lbs.)! Francis, farm laborer in England, son of a marsh looker (a laborer who tended marshland and the animals that grazed there) was a farm owner, making a living in a new land.