Sweet, French, Toomey and Sibbald family history

Mark Dionne199 Jackson St.Newton, MA 02459

[email protected]

Dear ,

Here is an updated 2007 snapshot of my research on our family's ancestors. There are a number of additions to my original 1999 version. A vast amount of details are available on my web page at http://markdionne.com/ged/

My interest in genealogy started about a year ago, when my son Sam and I were in New York and took a tour at Ellis Island. Sam asked a lot of questions which I could not answer, and I when we got home I started doing some research. The pursuit can be quite absorbing, like playing detective, and the puzzle is different for everyone who tries to solve it.

Warm regards,

Mark Dionne

Sweet, French, Sibbald and Toomey

Family History

Mark Dionne August 2007

by Mark Dionne

What is called my character, or nature, is made of infinite particles of inherited tendencies from my ancestors-those whose blood runs in my veins. A little seed of laziness comes from this grandfather; and of prodigality from that other one. One of them may have been a moody person and a pessimist; while another was of a jovial nature who always saw the sunny side; while another ambitious one never was contented with actual conditions whatever they were. Some remote grandmother, perhaps, has stamped me with a fear of dogs and a love of horses. There may be in me a bit of outlawry from some pirate forefather and a dash of piety from one who was a saint.

My so-called particularities, my gestures, my ways and mannerisms, I borrowed from all. Without any exception. So everything in me passes on through my children. I am sewn between ancestry and posterity. I am a drop of water in the flowing river of time. A molecule in a mountain; a cell in a great family tree.

- Oliver Wendell Holmes


The Sweets

Clarence Sweet’s father Arthur Coon Sweet was born in 1849 and was just a bit too young to serve in the

Civil War like his older brother Ira. In April 1866 though, he entered F company of the 5th U.S. Infantry, where he served three years in the “Indian Wars”, stationed at Fort Union, New Mexico; Fort Garland, Fort Pueblo, Fort Reynolds and Cedar Point in Colorado Territory; and Asher Creek, Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was a corporal at discharge and his wife Fannie French later obtained a widow’s pension.

Arthur died in 1910, and his obituary says, "At the close of military service, he went to California in 1870 and for about two years was engaged in the wholesale meat business in that state. In 1873 he came to Bennington, was employed in a market here for a while but has been in business for about 30 years. He had conducted a market for the past six years at the corner of Main and North Streets." A newspaper announcement at his death says: "The Old Corner Market will continue business at the old stand - Harold M. Sweet - Administrator."

Clarence, Fanny and Harold eventually moved to the Boston area. Clarence knew Helen Toomy in Bennington and they were married in Cambridge, Mass in 1917. Younger brother Harold was an artist who produced magazine covers, posters and paintings. One of his paintings was supposedly exhibited in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He died by accidental drowning in Sturbridge, Mass in 1921.


June 1912 magazine cover by Harold Sweet

Arthur’s middle name “Coon” is a bit of a mystery. The surname Coon was common in Rensselaer County, NY, where he was born. Perhaps his mother Laura Babcock, whose ancestry is so far a mystery, had a Coon forebear. Arthur’s father, Ephraim, was married twice. Arthur was the second of three children of his first wife. In 1858, Ephraim married Mary Merrithew and had four more children.

Ephraim’s father was Luther., who was born in North Kingston, Rhode Island, in 1783 and moved to Berlin, New York, in 1802 at the age of 19. His house is still standing in Petersburg, NY, and is known as Painted Window Farm, because of a diamond-shaped stained glass window near the peak of the roof. Many of the Sweets are buried in a small cemetery behind the house, including Luther’s wife Sally Sweet, who may have been a distant cousin. This cemetery was repaired by descendants in 2006.


Painted Window Farm, Petersburg, NY

The Rhode Island Sweets begin with John, who came from England in December of 1630 aboard the ship Lyon, with his wife, two sons John and James, and daughter Meribah. They sailed with Roger Williams and his family, bringing much needed supplies to Salem, in the Mass. Bay Colony, and he was a founder of the first Baptist church in America. His origins in England are unknown. In 1637 he was one of the fist grantees of land in Providence, and he died the same year. The Old State house stands on the lot he was granted in 1637.

John’s son James was the first of the famous “Bonesetter Sweets” ???verify of Rhode Island. He married Mary Greene, whose family also moved from Salem. Our Sweet ancestors follow: James, James, Sylvester and finally another Sylvester, father of Luther, mentioned above. Sylvester Sr. served as a Captain in the


Revolutionary War, serving in the “Alarm” of 1777, and was discharged at East Greenwich, R.I. because of injury to his eye. He was Deacon and Justice of the Peace in East Greenwich, RI. Sylvester Sr. owned at least one slave, a woman named Peg, who he provided for in his will:

My mind and will is and I hereby order that my negro woman called Peg be not considered a slave, and that it be not in the power of my heirs, executors or administrators to dispose of her or treat her as such, but that during the time that she shall be capable of doing business, she shall have her choice of living with my wife or either of my children that are free to accept her, and when she shall be rendered incapable of business by age or otherwise that then she be comfortably supported and maintained by my executors hereafter named, they being equal in the expense thereof.

Sylvester Sweet Sr. married four times: our ancestor was his third wife, Mary Johnson. His first wife was Anie Luther, a descendant of Martin Luther.

Mary Greene’s father was John Greene, another founder of Providence, Rhode Island, and great-great-grandfather of Major General Nathanael Greene (making him my third cousin, seven times removed). General Green was noted for his campaigns against the British in North and South Carolina between 1780 and 1782. Many historians rank him only second to Washington as a military leader. John Greene’s ancestors can be traced back to British royalty, and thence back to Charlemagne, if one can believe the royal family trees.


The Frenchs

Clarence Sweet’s mother was Fannie French, who was born in Vermont in 1857, probably around Bennington. Her mother was Hannah E. Ripley, daughter of Nathanial Ripley and Phoebe Fox, who were married in Pownal, VT (just south of Bennington) in 1830.

According to the census in 1870, at the age of 13, Fannie was working in a cotton mill in Bennington. Jessie Sibbald was also 13 and working in a cotton mill in Bennington. Jessie’s sister Christine eventually married William Toomey, and their daughter Helen married Fannie’s son Clarence. Did Fannie and Jessie know each other?

Fannie had a brother Gordon who died in 1890, and sisters Catharine and Jennie. I don't know about Catharine, but Jennie married Harry W. Whitney in Bennington and they had two children, Edwin and Sarah. Fannie died in Arlington, Mass. in 1929, but was buried in Bennington. Her gravestone is marked “The most wonderful mother that ever lived.”

Fannie’s father was Frederick French, born in1832 in New York, probably around Hoosick, which is just a few miles from Bennington. He married Hannah E. Ripley in 1852 and they had four children before he

joined Company E of the 10th Vermont Volunteer Infantry in 1862. (His older brothers William and Franklin also served in the Civil War.)

He was taken prisoner 24 Jun 1864; listed on the rolls of Andersonville Prison in Georgia; released 24 Nov

1864; and discharged 22 Jun 1865. The 10th Infantry wasn’t engaged on 24 Jun 1864, so the date may be a typo; they were at the first battle of Weldon RR, Virginia, also known as Jerusalem Plank Road. A veterans census lists him with the note “Finger shot off, prisoner in Andersonville 5 months.”

It appears that Frederick abandoned his family after the war. In the 1880 census, Hannah was living with her mother and listed as divorced. In the 1890 special veteran’s census, she is listed as his widow, but she apparently did not apply for a pension. Her grave in Bennington says “Wife of Frederick French” but he is not buried there.


Meanwhile, it looks like Frederick married Hannah E. Montanye in Esperance, New York in March 1867. She was 15 and he was 35. They had nine children, the last being born after his death by drowning in the Erie Canal, in 1881, at Florida, NY. By coincidence (?) both wives were named “Hannah E.”. His second wife applied for and received a widow’s pension, and according to her affidavit, and another by her sister,

Frederick had never been married before marrying her. Both widows list Company E, 10th Vermont Volunteers, and there was only one Frederick French in that battalion. I have written more about this at this web page: http://markdionne.com/frederickfrench.html

Frederick was the youngest child of William French, and the last of a long line of French military men. William was born in Williamsburg, Mass in 1790 and probably moved around more than any other ancestor of ours. He married Eunice Coats on June 15, 1812. From her widow’s pension application we learn a lot about him.

William enlisted in the 9th U.S. Infantry Apr 5, 1813 at Northampton for 5 years service. He served as a musician (fife-major) until he was discharged at Detroit, Feb 23, 1816, having furnished a substitute, Amos Gordon. In an affidavit, his sister Sophia French Cady writes: “Soon after they were married said William (my brother) joined the Army of the United States as a musician and said Eunice went with him to the Western frontier. One of the children was born at Detroit, Michigan as I have been informed. After the war they lived together in Pittsfield, Mass several years and they also lived in North Adams, Mass, Hoosic, NY and Bennington, Vt. and other places as husband and wife.”


http://markdionne.com/frederickfrench.html

The pension application mentions “he served at Pittsfield, Mass under Gen. Harris I think, in all the battles at Sacketts Harbor.” When discharged he was 5 feet 7 ½ inches, hazel eyes, brown hair, light complexion. In an affidavit, Alonzo Rudd of Bennington said “He used to fiddle, and I often went to his house in the evening to hear him play.” He died in 1863 in White Creek, NY, just across the border from Bennington.

Eunice Coats was probably the daughter of Stephen Coats and Eunice Kentfield. In May 1782, Eunice Kentfield's brother Shem was convicted of "desertion and bearing arms inthe service of the King of Great Britain against the U.S.: death by hanging." He was hanged in Marlborough, NH in June of 1782 according to Vol. 3 of the Revolutionary War Rolls of New Hampshire.

William’s father Asa French was born in 1757 in Braintree, Mass, where the many French’s had lived for over 100 years. There are official records that he served from Sept 14, 1777 to Sept 14, 1780 as a Private in (Capt. William R.) Lee’s Regiment of the Continental Troops. He also claimed he served for six or seven months in 1776 in the militia under Capt. Joseph Lyman and was at Ticonderoga, but no official records could be found.

Asa also participated in Shay’s Rebellion. In August and September 1786, about 600 armed farmers stormed courthouses in Northampton and Springfield, Mass., to prevent the trial and imprisonment of debtors. Governor Bowdoin countered with a militia of 4400 troops. On January 25, 1787, Shays led 2000 rebels to Springfield, MA to storm the arsenal, but government forces of 1200 soldiers led by General Shepard quelled the uprising. The rebels were captured and sentenced to death for treason in February 1787, but they were later pardoned.

Reminiscences by Henry Shepherd.Hampshire Gazette newspaper, Northampton, July 11, 1896

The old Revolutionary hero, "Captain" Asa French, the father ofJabez, (as a boy I remember him), was cheerful and jolly,and yet his record declares him a Bonaparte when occasionrequired it, and one of those occasions is interestingeven at this late day. During Shay's rebellion, as itwas called, in 1786, the state of Massachusetts hurriedlyordered troops to assemble at Springfield to check Shay'smen, who were marching there, as they had before, toprevent the court's sitting, which would give power toindividuals who had mortgages on farms and homes of poorsoldiers and others to foreclose those mortgages and thusdeprive the soldiers and others of their homes.The real facts were terribly severe upon the soldiersof the Revolution, who had fought seven years to form this


government, and the same government was depriving thesesoldiers of their homes and would not accept in paymentthe U.S. scrip, which was the only payment the soldiershad received for their services. This scrip paid to thesoldiers for one month's services would buy only onebushel of wheat.Among troops hurriedly mustered by the state to Spring-field at that time was a company from Williamsburg. Themen marched nearly to West Springfield the first day, andcamped for the night, and there talked matters over, andthen came to the conclusion that their homes would be soldfor their debts and it was their duty to assist Shay. Thencame the question who would dare to defy the state of Massa-chusetts and assume command of the company. Asa French, aprivate in the company, declared that he would take command,which involved a death penalty if not successful. The nextmorning the captain of the company formed it in line ofmarch, and then Asa French stepped from the ranks andcommanded Sergeant Hemingway to take a file of soldiers andput the captain under guard. He was held a prisoner, andthe company crossed the Connecticut river on the ice andjoined Shay's army, which was defeated that day by the statetroops. Shay's men dispersed in small squads to their homesand were disgraced for defending a just cause. So great wasthe odium that no record of its company was kept in Williams-burg. There was so much sympathy in the community for theShay cause that all, or nearly all, the members were treatedwith leniency and slight records were made of their trans-action except at the state house in Boston. Asa French wasa resident of Williamsburg then, but later of Northampton.

Asa French married Sarah White of Weymouth, his third cousin once removed, in 1784, and they had nine children. Sarah White’s father Ezekiel is listed as a soldier in Revolutionary War records. Since he was born in 1722, perhaps these records really belong to his son, Ezekiel Jr. Two other sons were also soldiers in the Revolution. The White homestead is supposedly still standing, on White Road in the town of Chesterfield, Massachusetts.

Asa first applied for a pension in 1820, claiming that he was impoverished and disabled, with total personal property (which he listed) of $20.58. He also asked that he be reimbursed for a musket, "having brought one when he joined the army and never getting it back". In 1842 Asa died in Northampton, where he and his wife are buried in Bridge St. Cemetery. His wife was eventually granted a pension of $80 per year in 1843.


One of Asa’s grandchildren, John Watton French needs to be mentioned. In 1848, he and his wife purchased Mount Holyoke, (not the college, the actual mountain), for $1,100 and built a fabulous hotel and resort at the summit which still exists today. This hotel sparked a fashion of building mountain hotels, such as those on Mt. Monadanock and Mt. Washington. It eventually included a mechanically powered tramway up the side of the mountain right into the hotel, and John also ran a ferryboat from Northampton, across the Connecticut River. The hotel building has been partially restored and is one of the most visible landmarks in the Pioneer Valley. The view from the hotel is one of the most spectacular mountain views I have ever seen, showing the extended landscape of the Connecticut River. The area has been preserved as a Skinner State Park, and a book has been written about it by David Graci: Mt. Holyoke, an Enduring Prospect.

Prospect House on Mount Holyoke in Hadley, Mass.

Asa’s father was Samuel. He served at a young age at the battle of Louisberg, Nova Scotia, in the War of Austrian Succession. In 1771 he moved his family from Braintree to Williamsburgh. Samuel’s father, Ensign Alexander French, was prominent in Braintree and Randolph. A will describing his estate is in existence. His father was also named Samuel, and was the first of our French line born in the New World. Our immigrant ancestor was John French, who was born in England in 1612 and settled in Braintree, Mass., in 1640 after living a short while in Dorchester. His wife, named Grace, is buried in Hancock Cemetery in Quincy, Mass, along with several of his descendants.


Grace French died Feb. 28, 1680 age 59 (Hancock Cemetery, Quincy, Mass.)

I love a little portion of John French's will, which ends:

...To the true performance whereof the said John French doth hereto set hand this eighth day of July Anno Domini one thousand six hundred eighty three ---- and she shall have apples what she please for spending, and a place for a garden plot.

It refers to John's second wife, Eleanor Veazie, who I imagine bent over his shoulder as he wrote his will, nagging him to add that postscript.

Now back to Alexander French for an interesting connection. He married Mary White, daughter of Thomas White and Mehitable Adams. Mehitable’s parents were Joseph Adams and Abigail Baxter. Joseph’s great-grandson was John Adams, our second president, and also our second cousin (seven times removed, in my case). Another great-grandson was Samuel Adams, one of the principal leaders of the American Revolution, Governor of Massachusetts, and also our second cousin.

Other presidents in this branch of the family are also distant cousins: John Quincy Adams, sixth president,

third cousin six times removed; Millard Fillmore, 13th president, seventh cousin four times removed;

Howard Taft 27th president, ninth cousin twice removed; and Calvin Coolidge, 30th president, ninth cousin


once removed.

We also have roots in Weymouth, Mass, starting with Capt. Thomas White, born about 1599 in England,

who married Anne Workman in Weymouth in 1639. He is both my 8th great grandfather and 9th great grandfather, because Asa French married his third cousin, once removed.

The Ripleys


Nathaniel Ripley, Jr. led a short life in Bennington, about 1804-1847, but there is a good story about him:


In a collection of newspaper clippings kept by the late Dr. Henry Clay Day of Bennington and in the possession of the Bennington Historical Museum mention is made of the second Nathaniel Ripley, as follows: "Drowned in this town on Thursday evening the 26th instant, Mr. Jesse Downs of Bennington, aged 49, and Mr. Seth Keys of Pownal, age 45. They were in a wagon with a boy who drove the horses, on their way to their respective families, from the East Village, and the road passes very near the Safford Mill Pond which has a very steep bank. The evening being very dark the horses got out of the road and plunged into the water where it was ten feet deep. Some persons in the company gave the alarm. Their bodies were found in about half an hour, but too late to restore them to life. The boy was taken from the wagon without having sustained any injury. The horses were drowned." Vermont Gazette, December 1, 1818. Dr. Day had added in his own handwriting; "The boy mentioned above was Nathaniel Ripley, father of Mrs. Edward Kelley and Mrs. Hannah French and the grandfather of Mrs. Arthur Sweet and Mrs. John Brant."


A lot more is known about Nathaniel Ripley Sr. He was born in Plympton, Massachusetts in 1755, with ancestors from Plymouth. After serving in the Revolution, he and several brothers moved to Ashuelot, New Hampshire where there was a growing iron making industry. With two sons from an earlier marriage, he married Molly Hawkins and they had six more children. Several if not all of these children died young, and Molly apparently fell into mental illness. Around 1800, Nathaniel moved to Bennington, leaving Molly back in New Hampshire. He apparently took another wife, Rachel Oliver, in Bennington though no marriage record can be found, and they had six children including Nathaniel Jr. After the elder Nathaniel's death, Rachel moved to Caanan, Connecticut with two daughters.


"In memory of Billey son of Nath'l and Mrs. Moley Ripleydied May 20, 1792 age 14 months and 5 days" (Ashuelot, NH)


Nathaniel's Plymouth ancestors include five Mayflower passengers list???. Stephen Hawkins??? List presidents???


The Toomeys

My great great grandfather Patrick Toomey who was born in Ireland around 1832-1838. He was granted citizenship in Albany County, NY in 1854, on the same day as his brother Kennedy Toomey. He married Mary Mahoney about 1856, and they had five children, John, Michael, Kennedy, William and Mary. They lived in Cohoes, NY at least from 1860 to 1880. From time to time, the family frequently spelled the name Toomy. Nothing much is known about Michael, Kennedy and Mary. The name Kennedy Toomey is common in this family, occurring at least six times in several generations.

John attended St. Mary’s Jesuit College in Montreal, Lady of Angels Seminary, graduated from Troy Seminary in 1877, and received Holy Orders in 1882. He became a priest at St. Agatha’s church in Utica, NY, and died at the age of 34 in 1891. According to a newspaper account, 10,000 people attended his funeral.

In several census’, Patrick is listed as “working in cotton mill.” In a taped interview with Isabel Toomey, his granddaughter, she said: “He was head of all the Harlem (?) mills in Cohoes. He made wonderful money. I also had an uncle John. He made over $20,000 one year. Patrick was the head of 10 to 12 textile mills. Grandma never did a day’s work once she was married. He would send a few of the girls over to do the cleaning.” (It sounds like she could be saying uncle John made over $20K, but it’s probably Patrick.) She is certainly referring to Harmony Mills, a very large company in Cohoes.

Harmony Mill #3, Cohoes, NY

Census records show a Kennedy Toomey of about the same age living in neighboring Troy, NY. He and his wife Ann had children Mary, Anna, Katie, Maggie and Kennedy Jr. In 1880, the census listed his occupation as “Boss in cotton mill.”


Patrick's parents were Patrick and Ellen Looby from Solohead Parish, just west of the town of Tippererary. Baptismal records mention several villages in that area: Ballygodoon, Monard, Gotinstown, and Ardlaman, so apparently they moved around frequently. That part of Tipperary is also known as Sologhodmore. Patrick Toomey Sr's parents were probably Kennedy Toomey and Catherine Ryan.


The Sibbalds

John Sibbald was born in Alva, Stirlingshire, Scotland around 1831. His father was Robert and his mother Mary (possibly McIntyre). His siblings were Janet, Mary and Duncan. Alva was a major textile mill center, and the Sibbalds brought their skills to the Albany area where several of them designed and patented mill machinery.

Old mill in Alva Scotland (May 2007)

Ellen Lyle was born in Scotland around 1837. Her mother Mary was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire. They married in 1853 and their first child Isabella was born in New York in 1855. In 1860 they were living in Cohoes, NY. John is reported to have laid parquet flooring and may have made some invention related to linoleum-like floor covering. John was a strict religious man, a protestant.

John Sibbald died sometime around 1864-67, and Ellen married Patrick Lyons, a Catholic, who was supposedly very kind to his step-children. Patrick’s son Robert was an important businessman in Waltham, Mass. and president of the city council for several years starting in 1918. Later he was vice president at Waltham Trust Co. Grandson John O. Sibbald was a well-known family physician in Troy, New York for many years.


Old family stories suggest that there were Sibbald relatives in Ontario, Canada. Indeed, there were a number of Sibbalds concentrated on one area in Ontario, and in fact there is a Sibbald Provincial Park and a Lake Sibbald there. Sir Robert Sibbald (1641-1722) Physician to King Charles II, founder of the Edinburgh College of Physicians, King’s Geographer in Scotland, First Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and founder of the Royal Botanical Gardens for medicinal herbs. While some family members have claimed that he is our ancestor, I find records that he only had daughters and did not pass on the Sibbald name to any descendants.

??? add images of trees


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Sweet, French, Toomey and Sibbald family history

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