Eleanor Susan Boudinot (1827 - 1856)
My 3rd great grand aunt
May 04, 1827, The first child and first daughter of Elias Boudinot, Cherokee and Harriett Ruggles Gold, was
Eleanor Susan Boudinot born in the Cherokee Nation, East, Georgia, USA. Eleanor
was named for her maternal grandmother, Eleanor Johnson Gold of Cornwall,
Litchfield, Connecticut. It is probable that Harriett's friend, Ann Worcester,
was in attendance at Eleanor's birth. The Boudinot and Worcester families lived
very close to one another. Harriett in a letter to her sister Flora, said of
Ann, "You don't know what a good sister she is to me. We are as one
family. She is just your age Sister Flora."
December 08, 1829, Benjamin Gold describes his
grandchildren, Eleanor and Mary as "two beautiful and interesting
children: would pass in company for full-blooded Yankees. My wife says she
thinks they are rather handsomer than any she has seen at the north."
June 03, 1830, Harriet and Elias in a letter
to her parents, Benjamin and Eleanor Gold.
We are all well here, Eleanor and Mary often talk of you-but Eleanor is
quite reconciled to staying and going with Pa and Ma. Eleanor reads in "No
Man" and her Pa has got her a new spelling book.
March 29, 1832, New Echota, Cherokee Nation,
Georgia Letter from Harriett Gold Boudinot to her sister and brother-in-law,
Herman and Flora Gold Vaill
Harriett describes her daugher Eleanor as an avid reader at the young age
of five years old. She enjoys going to school and is fond of her teacher and
books. She learns a Bible verse everyday. Eleanor's Papa, Benjamin Gold,
ordered her the Juvenile Rambler, a periodical for young readers in the early
1830's. Her mother states that Eleanor reads it with pleasure.
June 15, 1835, ABCFM, 18.3 I, vol. 7, Sophia
Sawyer to David Greene, Letter from Mary Fields included in Sophia Sawyer to
David Greene
Mary Fields writes about the school at Running Waters and describes the
building as cool and pleasant, the trees are thick all around it. It had a
smooth plank floor, a large fire place and five glass windows. Mary also
reports that she Rollin, Betsey Adair and Eleanor Boudinot were studying
arithmetic, geography, geometry and United States history. Rollin, son of John
and Sarah Bird Northrup Ridge, was Eleanor's second cousin.
August 15, 1836, Eleanor's mother, Harriett
Ruggles Gold Boudinot, dies at age thirty one. Eleanor is only nine years old.
March 22, 1837, Brainerd Tennessee, Elias in a
letter to Benjamin and Eleanor Gold (seven months after the death of Harriett)
"After due deliberation I (illegible) have concluded to take Eleanor
only to (illegible) the North, at least for the present.
May 20, 1837, Letter from Elias to Benjamin
and Eleanor Gold
It has been two months since Elias has written to his in-laws telling them
he would bring Eleanor north. His circumstances have changed. He had married
Delight Sargent, daughter of John and Delight Bell Sargent. Delight was a
missionary to the Cherokee having come to the Cherokee Nation some years
earlier. Elias writes about Eleanor, "Eleanor is now quite a large
(illegible) girl, learns well, and will look very much like her mother when she
grows. I am still desirous that Eleanor should go and live with her aunt Mary,
and I trust she may be disposed to do so, when Mr. Potter goes to New England,
although I have understood lately that she was rather disposed to go to
Arkansas. I expect to leave for that Country early in the fall, and I must be
making my calculations shortly."
June 22, 1839, Eleanor's father, Elias, her
cousin John Ridge and great uncle Major Ridge were murdered because they were
three of the more than twenty who signed the 1835 Treaty of New Echota which
signed over the land of the Cherokee to the United States.
December 09, 1845, Washington, Litchfield,
Connecticut. Eleanor was living with her aunt and uncle, Daniel and Mary
Wakeman Gold Brinsmade. Mary was the sister of Eleanor's mother, Harriett Gold
Boudinot. She had received a letter from her Aunt Elizabeth Watie Webber
(sister of Elias) who was living in Arkansas. It had been six years since
Eleanor had seen many of her father's family who lived in Arkansas and the
Cherokee Nation, West. She writes about all the family in Connecticut, how she
misses her father's family, and about deaths that occurred in recent years. She
also mentions that she was sick the previous summer and had lost 20 pounds.
July 31, 1846, Letter from Mary H. Boudinot
(sister of Eleanor) to her Uncle Stand Watie. Mary was living in Manchester,
Vermont
Mary writes, " Eleanor visited us with William. I have not seen her
before for nearly three years. I think you would hardly know her. She is about
as tall as our mother was, and she is very thin, her health has been quite poor
for two or three years. I think she is predisposed to consumption.
September 20, 1847, Washington, Litchfield,
Connecticut
Letter from Eleanor to her Uncle Stand Watie
She talks about the politics of the Cherokee Nation and knows that her
uncle will be happy when all things are restored back to the place they were
eight years ago which refers to the time before the assassinations of her
father Elias, cousin John Ridge and her great uncle, Major Ridge. She reflects
her feelings and writes, "but now I presume it is all for the best. God
saw fit to take Pa and others away at that time. He has a design in every thing
he does and there is some good reason unknown to us why Pa was snatched from
us, and the time too it seemed when he was most needed by his family; but we
have found friends and very near ones too, yet how many times have I thought if
I only had a father and mother I would be happier; but it is wrong to murmur
and I will try and not indulge myself in such murmurings. You asked me if I did
not intend to go to Arkansas, I have expected to visit you in about two years
from now, but I can't tell exactly how it will be, it seems to me if I could
see you all now I would be perfectly happy." She asks her uncle to kiss
little Saladin for her, and to tell him Cousin Elly wants very much to see him.
April 26, 1848, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Letter from William P. Boudinot (Eleanor's brother) to Uncle Stand Watie
William writes, "Elinor is going to marry Frank Brinsmade's clerk
Henry Church." Frank Brinsmade, son of Daniel and Mary Wakeman Gold
Brinsmade, was the first cousin of the Boudinot children.
October 27, 1848, Eleanor marries Henry James
Church in Washington, Litchfield, Connecticut. Henry was the son of Samuel and
Polly Fowler Lemmon Church. He was born 07 Sep 1825 in Bethlehem, Litchfield,
CT. Henry died 22 Mar 1910 in Washington, Litchfield, CT.
August 28, 1850, Federal Census, Washington,
Litchfield, CT Henry was a merchant. He and Eleanor were living with Thomas
Franklin and Elizabeth Leavitt Brinsmade and their two children: Isabelle, age
ten and Silence, age six. Thomas was a farmer with a real estate value of
$3500.00 There was a lady, Mary A. Hutchinson, age 29 and born in Ireland,
living with the family. Thomas, son of Mary Wakeman Gold and Daniel Bourdon
Farrand Wooster Brinsmade, and Eleanor, daughter of Harriett Ruggles Gold and
Elias Boudinot, were first cousins. Their mothers were sisters
Henry and Eleanor were the parents of:
26 July 1850, Mary Boudinot Church born in Washington, Litchfield, CT and
died 4 days later on 30 Jul 1850, Washington, Litchfield, CT
28 March 1854, Mary Brinsmade Church born in Washington, Litchfield, CT and
died after 1913. She never married.
19 July 1856, Franklin Boudinot Church born and died three months later on
27 Oct 1856.
20 August 1856, Eleanor died at age 29, 32
days after the birth of her son Franklin, in Washington, Litchfield, CT and is
buried at the Washington Cemetery, Washington, Litchfield, CT. At the time of
her death Henry was left to raise their two children, Mary aged two years and
five months and their infant son, Franklin, age one month. Franklin died two
months after his mother.
Headstone of Eleanor Susan Boudinot Church
Washington Cemetery, Washington, Litchfield,
Connecticut
26 October 1857, Henry married a second time
to Sarah B. Cooke in Roxbury, Litchfield, CT. It must have been welcome relief
to Henry to have a wife to help raise his young children.
Henry and Sarah had three sons:
07 November 1858, William Henry Church, born in Washington, Litchfield, CT,
d. Oct 1927, Washington, Litchfield, CT. William married Amelia "Amy"
Cannon Spencer on 26 Apr 1893 in Washington, Litchfield, CT.
22 May 1863, Edward Walcott Church, born in Washington, Litchfield, CT, d.
16 Jun 1941, Montclair, Essex, NJ. Edward was married to Marinette Dickerson
Gore on 05 Feb 1891 in Brooklyn, NY
19 February 1865, Frederick Gunn Church, born in Washington, Litchfield, CT
and died 1872 at age six.
18 June 1860, Federal Census Washington,
Litchfield, CT, Henry is living with his wife Sarah, daughter Mary age six and
William Henry age one. Henry is still a merchant and the value of his real
estate was $800 and the value of his property was $5000.00. The family had a
servant, Ann Doharty, age thirty five and born in Ireland in the year 1825.
1870, Federal Census, Washington, Litchfield,
CT
No mention of the Church family. Ann Doharty, servant of the Church family
in 1860, age 45 born in Ireland 1825, was a servant at the home of Sheay (hard
to read)
02 June 1880, Federal Census, Washington,
Litchfield, CT Henry was now 54 years old and a retired merchant. He was living
with his wife Sarah, age 43; daughter Mary, age 26; and son Edward W., age 17,
who was attending school. The family had a servant, Emma Carlson age twenty
three who was born in Sweden in 1857. Neighbors include Catherine B. Smith
Gold, widow of Job Swift Gold, Mary Brinsmade Church's great uncle and brother
of Harriett Ruggles Gold, Mary's grandmother.
1883, Henry married his third wife Lorena F.
Prince.
11 June 1900, Federal Census, Washington,
Litchfield, CT, Henry is seventy four years old, and is the owner of his home
and a general store. He and his wife, Lorena, age fifty five, have been married
seventeen years. Henry's daughter, Mary, age forty six, was still single and
living with her father and step-mother. The family had a servant, Selma
Anderson age twenty seven born Mar 1873 in Sweden. She had immigrated to the
United States in 1893. The Church's neighbor was Abigail Irene
"Abbie" Brinsmade Gunn, first cousin of Henry's first wife, Eleanor
Susan Boudinot Church.
22 March 1910, Henry dies at age eighty four
in Washington, Litchfield, CT
10 May 1910, Federal Census, Washington,
Litchfield, CT. Henry has died. His daughter Mary Brinsmade Church is now head
of the household at age 56 and has never married. She is living with her second
step-mother, Lorena F. Church age 64 and listed as a widow. They have a
servant, Judith Anderson, age 17, born 1893 in Sweden. She immigrated to the
United States in 1894.
1913, Mary Brinsmade Church writes an article
about her grandparents Elias and Harriett Ruggles Gold Boudinot.
There are no living descendants of Eleanor
Susan Boudinot. Her only child to live to adulthood, Mary Brinsmade Church,
never married and died sometime after 1913. Henry on the other hand has many
descendants with his second wife, Sarah B. Cooke. If you have any information,
additions or corrections about Eleanor Susan Boudinot please email me at
gertrude2@juno.com
Sources:
Dale, Edward Everett, and Gaston Litton, eds. Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty
Years of Cherokee History as Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie
Family. @1939, University of Oklahoma Press, Paperback @1995, University of
Oklahoma Press, Foreward by James W. Parins
Cooper, Karen Coody, Artifacts, The American Indian Archaeological
Institute, Vol. X, No. 4 Summer 1982, A Tale of Two Nations, Part III: The
Brinsmades and the Boudinots
Cothren, William, "Cothren's History Of Ancient Woodbury" Vol III
Gabriel, Ralph Henry, Elias Boudinot, Cherokee and His Amercia, @ 1941,
University of Oklahoma Press
Gaul, Theresa Strouth, editor, To Marry and Indian, The Marriage of
Harriett Gold and Elias Boudinot in Letters, 1823-1839, @ 2005, The University
of North Carolina Press
Parins, James W., Elias Cornelius Boudinot, A Life on the Cherokee Border,
@2006, University of Nebraska Press
Parins, James W., John Rollin Ridge, His Life and Works, @1991 University
of Nebraska Press
1850 Federal Census, Washington, Litchfield, CT
1860 Federal Census, Washington, Litchfield, CT
1880 Federal Census, Washington, Litchfield, CT
1900 Federal Census, Washington, Litchfield, CT
1910 Federal Census, Washington, Litchfield, CT
