Jerry, Emma, Cathi and Willy on the Boston Subway
One of the highlights for me on this trip was visiting the old East Harwich Church on Cape Cod. We used the GPS to find Harwich and stopped for a bite to eat at a little cafe in the small, quaint downtown area. Next to the cafe, was a tile retail business. I went in and asked if anyone new where this old Methodist church was located. One of the ladies happened to be a member of the Harwich Historical Society and gave me good directions to follow. Here's what the restored church looks like today:
Old East Harwich Methodist Church on Cape Code
The kids immediately found grave stones in the cemetery with Eldredge written across the top. Within minutes, I found the markers for both Ebenezer and Deliverance Nickerson Eldredge and Elnathan and Dorothy Freeman Eldredge.
Ebenezer and Deliverence Nickerson Eldredge grave stones
Elnathan and Dorothy Freeman Eldredge grave stones
Ebenezer Eldredge 1707-1797
Here's a photograph of Ebenezer Eldredge (the picture I'm holding in the photo above). From Aunt Leah's history...
Ebenezer Eldredge, son of Jehosephat and Elizabeth Covell Eldredge, was born about 1707 at Chatham MA and died there February 25, 1797, age ninety years, married about 1742. Ebenezer inherited land from his father at Chathamport and spent his life there. The children were all born and recorded at Chatham.
Deliverence Nickerson, who died April 25, 1808 at the age of eighty-one years, was a daughter of William and Sarah Covell Nickerson. The tradition in the family is that Ebenezer first saw Deliverance when she was a babe at his mother's breast and he a young swain of twenty years, and he vowed to wait for her to grow up to womanhood to make her his bride. This he did, and they were married when she was between fourteen and fifteen years of age; and it is said that they lived happily in spite of the disparity of their ages. Deliverance was born June 11, 1727 and died April 25, 1808, at the age of 81 years. Both she and her husband are buried in the Old Methodist Cemetery at East Harwich.
They lived in the old "Covell House" in Chathamport, where his father had lived. They lived in one half of the house, while his mother and sister, Elizabeth, lived in the other half. July 27, 1758, his sister conveyed to him a half interest in her part of her father's estate, reserving to herself half of the house. August 24th of the same year, his brother, Barnabus, conveyed his share of it to Ebenezer, reserving half of the home for his sister. On the back of the transfer is a receipt dated May 12, 1759 signed by Ebenezer, apparently for the reserved portion of his sister's half of the house, calling it the Covell House.
He seems to have been a miller as well as a farmer and fisherman. The old mill stood not far from his farm just north of the residence of the late Rufus Smith. The old Covell House was build about 1665 by Ebenezer's grandfather, Nathaniel Covell.
Ebenezer's son was Elnathan Eldredge who lived on Cape Cod (married to Dorothy Freeman); his grandson was also Elnathan Eldredge who lived on Cape Cad (married to Jane or Jean Wixom); his great grandson was Elnathan Eldredge, my great, great, great grandfather who left Dennis MA after being converted by some Mormon missionaries and made the difficult trek to Nauvoo IL and then to Salt Lake City UT.
Elnathan Eldredge 1810-1871
Ruth Baker Eldredge 1810-1884
Here is more history written by Aunt Leah about these pioneer ancestors...
It was in 1846, while the Eldredge family were residing in Dennis MA that two Mormon missionaries introduced the gospel to them. The father and mother listened and understood it's message. A while later they were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Their hearts rejoiced at the new found faith and upon learning that the Saints were gathering at Winter Quarters on the Missouri River preparatory to the great migration westward, they decided to join them.
The parents with their three children, Elnathan, Joseph and Frederick, left Massachusetts in the early part of 1847. Grandfather (Elnathan), who was a year and a half at the time, was carried in the arms of this mother a great part of the long dreary journey by river boat, and then on the trail across the plains he was lovingly cared for by her.
They made the great trek westward in John Nebeker's ten, George B. Wallace's fifty, and Abraham Smoot's company of a hundred. They first beheld the desert valley of Salt Lake on September 26, 1847, when the creaking wagons pulled by the tired oxen came through Emigration Canyon. The scene before them was one of desolation, a barren and sage brush land, but how thankful the pioneers were that the journey was over. Grandmother Eldredge with tears streaming down her face dropped on her knees and said, "This is the place. Our journey is ended." Then she offered a humble prayer to God.
Our trip to Cape Cod and the preparation time we spent as a family looking at old photos and reading histories of this Eldredge line left me humble and grateful for these noble fore-bearers. There are so many other wonderful stories that come from this line...for instance, the account of how Ruth Baker Eldredge was forced to leave her daughter Adelaide behind to join the Mormon pioneers, believing her daughter would be sent by her family to meet her in Utah...and she never saw this little daughter again. More great blog material for the future!
This last photo is a picture of Cathi and me walking through the forest surrounding the little cabin where Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont. I like how it captures us walking hand in hand, away from the camera...sort of symbolic of how time passes and we become the ancestors of those that follow us...a good reminder of the eternal connection we call "family"!
Cathi and Jerry Van Leuven in Sharon VT
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