The Luther Familv Devoted to the lnterests of the Descendants of

CAFTAJIW JOHN LUTHER of the Massachusetts Bay Colony -

- - VOL. VI.-NO. 20 April 1950 50 CTS. YEARLY

I

T H E G E N E A L O G Y H U R R Y !

We have made tentative arrangements with a print- ing house to print the "Luther Genealogy" withinathe next few months. It will be a 6"x9" book and will contain per- haps more than 1,000 pages.

As many of you know, from "The Luther Family" and from correspondence with the present compiler and his predecessors in the work, the first systematic effort in this direction, with the intention of pu:ilishing, was begun by Mr. Sylvester Luther of Garrettsville, Ohio. He was born in 1838 and died in 1920. Much of his life was taken up with the work. During these years Mr. Joseph Gardner Luther, Jr. of Swansea, Mass., worked with him adding his lifetime of research into the early Colonial generations of the family to the data of Sylvester.

The third compiler, Rev. Clair Luther, was boim in Ohio, and as he became interested in the publ!shing of a Luther Genealogy, heard of the work of Sylvester.. The contact thus made resulted in his acquisition of Sylvester's manuscripts, after the latter's death.

Entirely separate, and without knowledge of the for- mer men, the present compiler, Leslie Luther. encouraged by his wife, Bertha, began research, also with the idea of ultimately publishing it. In due time a questionnaire of Clair's and one of Leslie's reached the same Luther in Idaho and resulted in their acquaintance and mutual under- standing. Deciding to avoid duplication of effort, they di- vided the work, Clair concentrating on the New England families east of the Hudson River, and Leslie on the rnst of the United States. Working in complete hakmony, the37 brought about the forming of a National Luther Family Association a t Swansea, Mass., in 1936, and laid plans for future reunions and the early publishing of the book.

Then came the greatest blow of all. Sylvester and Jo- seph had passed to their reward without seeing the hope of their lifetime bear fruit. And just as the goal of Clair seemed within reach, the Master whom he had served so well called him to Eternal Rest, and early in Se~tember. 1938, he was laid among his beloved trees in Wildwood Cemetery in Amherst, Massachusetts.

By the terms of his will, and with the approval of his family who had been so sympathetic in the undertaking, his manuscripts, with those of Sylvester, came to Les!ie, your present scribe.

In the 1930's Clair and Leslie believed that by con- densing the material then on hand, a small volume could be published for $2,000. One plan was to induce five Lu- thers of means to advance $400 each, and after the books had been sold t o reimburse them. But there was no cer- tainty tha t we could realize '$2,000. Other plans were in the forming, t o be presented a t the 1940 reunion, when Clair passed on.

(continued on page 2)

We must very soon set a dead- line date, when no more data can be added to the Luther genealogy manuscript. This is necessary in or- der that the numbering will not be upset.

So we urge you to send in full records of every Luther descend- ant which we do not have, at once. and we will try and place it prop- erly. Here is what we need for each individual.

1-EZI11 name, including middle name.

2-Place and date of birth. %Place and date of death. &Place and date of marriage. 59ccupation and places resid-

ed. &Address, if living. 7-SpouWs full name. &Place and date of birth of

spouse. &Place and date of death of

spouse. IO-Spouse's father's name. Il-Spouse's mother's full maiden

name. 12-Where did spouse's parents

live? 13-A biographical sketch of No. 1,

occupation, interests, church. lodges, military record, etc. - AN EXCELLENT IDEA

Mrs. Marian D. Reilly writes: "There is an item which I, the cu- rator of the Swansea Historical Society, Inc., believe should be m the Luther paper :-All Luthers who possess photographs of Luth- ers and do not care for them, should send them to the Luther Family Asociation, that they may be ffled in the interest of preserva- tion, or given to some good Luther who is trying to collect photographs of hls own special Luther branch."

We heartily agree, and assure you that they will be properly la- beled and kept with the genealoa manuscripts for future Luther historians. And perhaps we can re- produce some of them in the ge- nealogy if you will help with the cost thereof. I t is a Ane way to honor your ancestors, as these books will be treasured by your children's children, and preserved in our libraries as long as they shall stand.

There are many Luthers whase addresses we do not have. If you will tell them to write for infor- mation. you will confer a favor

E2s h&-C! greatlv to ?n 'u the past. i

Thed also, a s you will F2e I

elsewhere herein. wn ho-. ( with your financial help. to publish the Luther genealo- gy within a few rn03~'- :. This will take all of our time, If, after the book is print-3 it is your wish, and 0 .r health permits, we can aga:n put our efforts into the little

Thc LUTEER FAMlLY Published quarterly a t Moravia,

N-Y.f by Lesue and K. Luther* in the interests Of the'de- scendants Of John

Muraehusettr Bay Colonyp &- lied families, genealogists, and libraries, -

Entemd as second-class matter Dee 13, 1945, a t the past oface a t MOravia' N' Y.l under the Act Of March 3, 1879. - Subscription rates* 50 cenb Y-ly -

~ p r i l 1950

FIVE YEARS This issue completes five

years of t"rhe L~~~~~ Fami- ly" and be the last for

the several time reasons for There this are de- cision.

M~~~ of you have been very kind in your expres- sions of our A few

have paid, kept some their quite subSCriptions in advance. ~~t to keep the paid sub- scription list suaiciently large to he celf-supnortin(r, and to maintain our second- class permit is so difficult that it is hardly worth the effort

So to those Of

have paid in advance, we will, upon request, refund Ihe of 'Our wyment. Or if we

it finishing the Luther geneqlo~v. Pleme droll us a card s4-finm yn*rr preference. If we do not hear from you it will be used a s stated.

Another. and a vprv im- nortanf reawn fnr cwaing the puMieation9 is the of your ejifnr. Rerthp T a r -

ther. Her heart swialist says she m u d not use her arms, which. of course. elim-

(continued from page 1) Since then, the present compiler has concentrated cin

making more complete the records of the various families; endeavoring to find the missing generation of aeveral of our very important branches; following out the lines of "stray" Luthers; and publishing a family paper 'Tilt! 1.u- ther Family". This latter project has taken a major part of our spare time for five years, and we now feel that if the genealogy is to be published, we must put all of our effort into it,

In 1947, our president, Kendrick A. Luther, appo'nted Rev. Clair's daughter, Mrs. William B. Nickerson, to solicit and receive funds for publishing the book. She has written numberless letters, each one personal, and a t present the amount n hand is only a little over $200 in cash, and pled- ges of $ 00. Several others have said, in effect, "When the t times comes, I will do my share." Well, we believe the time has come, and following is the most definite statemant r e

$?940 the oldest publisher of genealogies in the Unl. ted States sent a representative to see us. After looking over the manuscript, he was kind enough to say that it would be one of the most complete America11 genealogies. His estimate for printing and binding 300 copies was $4200. Since then our manuscript has increased 50% in size; print- ing costs have more than doubled. On that basis, to hand the contract to a publishing house today would probably entail an expenditure of six or'seven thousand dollars.

That is a lot of money, but we have a lot of Lrxthers who are interested, and if each one will do according to his or her ability, we can accomplish the task. Enclosed here- with are some forms, and we trust that every true T~vther descendant will fill out and return a t least one. The price of the book has been set a t $15, which is less than many genealogies formerly sold for. As sales will not cover the cost, it is necessary for those who enn to make an outright gift. That is the way all genealogies are published, as none ever paid their full way.

To those who will give $50 or more, we will, if YOU wish, dedicate a full page to you, or to your Luther parent, or ancester, you to furnish the copy. The following is a 8ugf3esti0n:

"In grateful appreciation of substantial aid toward tha publication of this genealogy. hy (your name) born (place and date) a resident of ....................... ), this page 1. 8 - 3 a4;4e ?nd dedicated to thn memory of his fa- ther, John Doe Luther, horn (place and dete), died (place and date), a pioneer of the Golden West."

To those who will give $75 or more, we will have copies made on coated parer, of any rhotograph you furnish, full page size. There special nages will annear onqosite the rec-

/ Ord 'Of the person. inates typing, setting the Will -. you help? type, correcting, foldinw, w e expected some reaction to mallin& e t c all of which she the oicture in the January issue.1 YOU WRITE NOW

One 'sweet younz thing whtes:-"I knew we were descended from bab- oons, but I didn't know they wore stove-pipe hats."

If You have missed any of these Papers. drop a card and We will send You the missing numbers.

Over the years we have written many hundreds of letters, m o m - pnnied 1.v - lick of q restions for data for the Luther genealogy. A- bout ten percent were returned with answers. As we will now be unable to c a m on this heavy cor- respondence. we ask each of YOU who is p7illing to give what re-

paper, and perhaps make it vou can, to drop a post card. a better rnedinrni than it has we wi'l then send you a list

been. r" ql-eqtions fo- yo?lr family. Y ~ u 11 want the records of your fa-

w b v e for v r e n t - mily complete as pxsible when The Editom. the book is printed.

~~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~I~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~UIIIIIIII~III~~M(III~~IIIII~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~IIIIIII~IIIIHIIIIIIIHIIIIII~III~HIIIIIII IIIIIII(~IIIIIIIIIIIII~I~IIIIIIII~I&

- - " - - - THE DESCENDANTS O F CAPTAIN JOHN LUTHER By LESLIE L. LUTHER : - - - ....... .......... .........., W.."...." ...""." "."..".,"-

- Octavo, ~ l o t h , Illustrated I 3 - - - PRICE: $15 8 - P .... ..... ..... ................. g W...,..." ".. ...... "... .."a*." 4

f 5 1 hereby subscribe for copies of the LUTHER GENEALOGY, i -

to be paid for on delivery of the book. 5 - I g 3 -

Date Signature ' I - 3

- - . . 1 Mailing Address 2 - - -

TI3[E DESCENDANTS OF CAPTAIN JOHN LUTHER By LESLIE L. LUTHER

Enclosed is my check for $--------- as an outright gift toward thc cost of the above LUTHER GEmALOGY; This amount to be returned to me in case the book is not published.

4 Date - Signature ,-

Address -- . - (Send remittance to Mrs. William B. Nickerson, 27 S. Hilton St.

Baltimore 29, Md.)

MARRIAGES On Feb. 28, 1950, occurred the

marriage of 'Irene Luther Rlch, to George Henry Clifford, president of Stone & Webster Service . Corp.. at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York City. Her only attend- ants were her daughters, Miss Rances Rlch and Mrs William Mueller. They wlll make their home in New York. As you know, cousin Irene is daughter of the late Wil- liam ryld Mable (Robinson) Luther of Hollywood, Calif.. of the Castile, N. Y. branch. Irene states that

On October 29, 1949. in the Mrst Baptist Church, Providence, R. I., occurred the manlage of Miss Mar- tha Waterman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Waterman of Fall .River. Mass.. to Herbert H. Hyland, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Hyland of Attleboro. Mw. The bride is a great granddaughter of Elisha B. and Sarah Sweet (Lu- ther) Gardner of Swansea and 60- merset, Mess. Sarah was a sister of Joseph Ostdner Luther, Jr.. the genealogist to whom we owe so much for early Luther records.

To Mr. and Mrs. Robert Farrell of Brookline. us.. Jan. 12, 1950. a son. Robert Arthur. Tb Mr. and Mrs. Harry Carroll

of Brookline. Mass.. Nov. 3. 1849. a daughter. Barbara Jean.

Mrs. Fsrrell and Mm. Carroll are sisters, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Myron Evoy of Brookline; Mts. Evoy is daughter of Mrs. Mary Tucker of Daytona Beach, ma.; and Mrs. Tucker k daughter of the late Charles and Margaret (Luther) Lameur of the HarrisviUe, N. Y. branch. -. . - - -- .~--. - - ~ .... ....

I -

she is giving up h& bminess career. NECa0U)GY She has had leads in some 800 motion pictures, often leading with Will Rogers; was on one national radio program for over 10 y a ; owns a ranch in California; and has appeared on the legitimate stage, the latest in the Broadway musical production, "As the Girls Go". We wish Irene abundant happiness.

To Mr. and Mrs. Ward Lawrence Luther Jr., (Hope Palmer), of White Plains. N. Y. Feb. 10. 1950. a son, Richard St&?. They also have two daughters. Helen and Margaret.

of Mr.-Ftalgh M. ~ i c h o h n of Me- dina, Wash. He was son of the late John P. and Josephine (Lu- ther) Nicholson of Seattle. Josb phine was daughter of Oeorge Hen- ry Luther who migrated from Ot- ego County, N. Y. to W e Coun- ty, Pa.. and on to Iowa.

681. JAMES (James 6, 5,4, Samuel 3,2, Jdts I) , b. Swan- sea, Mass., Apr. 21, 1781 ; d. Swansea, Jan. I, 1859 ; m. Swan- sea, Oct. 7, 1810, Lydia Luther ( I 175), b. Swansea, Feb. 5, 1789; d. -, May 2, 1836.

Children : *1362. j+yes, $. Aug. 1.6, 181~. *1363. IONATBAN, b. Jan. 25, 1816. *IS@. HENRY GAR~NER, b. bug. 26, 1818. '

1365. LYDIA, b. Swans~a, Mass., July 13, 1820; d. Providence, R. I.,,August 24, 1896; unm. Bur. Mt. Hope Cemetery, Swansea. After th,e death of her mother she presided over hc fs household with a mother's care, devoting herself to hi1 ler brothers.

1366. ANNA GARDNER, b. Swansea, Mass., May 9, 1822; d.-; m. Swansea, Jan. 3, 1843, by Elder Isaac H~ley , Epa- phras J. Reed, b. Swansea, Dec. 31, 1814, of Somerset, Mass.

Children : I. William A. Reed, b. Swansea, Mass., - 1843.

, 1@6. 2. Herbert V. Reed, b. -- - 3. Lydia L. R,qd, b. - - 1848. 4. Charles Reed, b. -, -, 1850.

*1367. SAMUEL SWEET, b. July 8, 1824. 1368. JOSEPH NEWTON, b. Swansea, Mass., Jan. 4, 1828;

d. Worcester, Mass., Oct. 3, 1858; unrn. Bur. Mt. Hope Ceme- tery, Swansea. *1369. BEN JAMIN SISSON, b. Sept. 8, 1830. *1370. JOHN PIERCE, b. Oct. 15, 1832. 8

James Luther (681) resided at Swansea and was a Master Mariner engaged in the West Indies trade, holding the position of Captain for twenty-five y e s s without the loss of a vessel. At one time, during 1812; he was held in the James River by a British blockading squadron. In 1857 he was thrown from his carriage in Providence, breaking his hip, which was ultimately the cause of his death. He was also an Innkeeper. United with Somerset hf. E. Church 1807. liecords give his place of residence as both Swansea and Providence. His wife, Lydia, was daughter of Job Luther (572). A greatgrandson has records giving her as Lydia Green. Perhaps a widow. She was a member of Somerset M. ES. Church at 18 years of age. Her death1 is given by S. M. L. as May 6, 1851, despite a letter from her son, Jonathan to him, stating that she died May 2, 1836, aged 47 years. The present compiler is inclined to accept the earlier date, in view of the daughter, Lydia, remaining unmarried and caring for her brothers, which would have been unnecessary had the mother liveq until 1851. They are buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Swansea.

-- ---- - The above is a sample page from

the LUTXER GENEOLOOY, show- ing how it will be set up. It may not be exactly the same type face. but the arrangement will be the same. The number preceded by a star lndlcates that that child is carried forward ln the next genera- tion as head of a family, the same nn James. 681.