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Following the Life of Lottie M. (Riley) Howes and Family

 

§  Lottie Mae Riley was the third daughter and fifth child of Timothy W. and Mary Jane Riley of Bear River East, NS. She appears to have been born in Bear River East on March 19, 1883. There is no record of her being called Charlotte, for which Lottie is sometimes a nickname.            

          

§  The earliest record for Lottie is reference in the 1891 Canadian census for Clementsvale where, at 8 years of age, she was enumerated with the full Riley family minus Ida May who had died in December of the previous year and Boyd who would not be born until December of 1892.  

 

§  There is an IGI record in the Latter Day Saint’s microfiche collection which originally appeared to be a christening record. The computerized version of the record however indicates the record was collected and submitted by a church member(s). The record (actually there are two separate IGI computerized records) gave her birth as March 19, 1883, her father as John A. Riley, and her mother as Mary Jane Clark. One computerized record notes that she was born in Digby (County), the other Annapolis (County), not an uncommon contradiction as the county line runs along the river and, like the river, bifurcates the community. The family actually lived in Annapolis County about 3 miles east of Bear River. The suspicion is that the second record may have been introduced as a means of correcting the information in the first.

 

§  Obviously the parental information in this record is incorrect, John was not her father’s name but her brother’s, and her mother’s maiden name was not Clark (there were a lot of Clarks in the Bear River area) but Cress. Interestingly, memory suggests there was a reference in the record to the Catholic Church, probably why the record was perceived to be a christening record. While Timothy had Catholic roots, the 1891 census notes that Mary Jane was Methodist, and ascribes all the children to that persuasion, except 16 year old George who was noted to be a Baptist. It may have been that in 1883 Timothy had for whatever reason made a reconnection with his church and convinced Mary Jane to have Lottie baptized therein. Interestingly, baptismal records for none of the other Riley family have been located.

 

§  The other rationale for this record is that it was actually derived from the Lottie/Horace marriage record from South Braintree MA by LDS church member(s). Until it can be confirmed or otherwise the christening hypotheses will be the guiding rationale. 

 

§  Lottie was not with the family by the time of the 1901 Canadian census. The 1900 US census indicates she had immigrated to the US (Somerville, MA) and in early June 17 year old Lottie was working as a servant in the household of one Arthur Taylor at 65 Chandler Street. Interestingly this location was some 8 blocks or so from the location of the Kempton residence at 402 Highland Ave. in which her sister Margaret was working as a domestic at the same time.

 

§  The 1900 US census provides no information on Lottie’s immigration date. Although a date of 1897(?) and the number 2 appears in the appropriate boxes on the form against Lottie’s name, they were subsequently scratched out by the census taker likely as a result of a data entry error. The box designed to capture her citizenship as alien or naturalized was not filled in. There is however a record of a 17 year old “Lattie” Riley, easily interpreted as Lottie from the original handwriting, who arrived in Boston on the ship “Boston”, the Yarmouth-Boston ferry of the day, on August 19, 1899. This is interpreted to be our Lottie. 

 

§  Lottie married 21 year old Horace Binney Sargent Howes in Braintree, MA on March 8, 1892 just a couple weeks short of her 19th birthday. The marriage record indicates that Lottie by that time was living in Brocton, MA at 17 Linden St. and that she worked as a ”shoe operative”. It noted that this was her first marriage, that she was born in Nova Scotia, and that her parents’ names were John A. Riley and Mary B. Clark (the same suspect information noted above, and in fact this likely is the original source of the information). Horace was likewise living in Brocton, MA at 11 (indecipherable), was working as a shoe operative as well, it was his first marriage, and that he had been born in Winslow, CT (other records would suggest otherwise). The record gives Horace’s parents as Charles A Howes and Nellie O. Barrow.

 

§  Interestingly, the available records of Horace’s forebears are quite extensive, and the family can be traced back to the Mayflower on his mother side. Horace was the first son and fourth child of six of Charles A. Howes and Leonice Jacob Barrows. He was born in Middleboro, Plymouth Co., MA (not Winslow, CT) on June 20, 1882. In 1900 he was living with his father and three siblings in Middleboro, his mother having died in December of 1891, two and a half years after the birth and untimely death of her last and unnamed child in early July 1889. In 1910 Horace’s father Charles, by then 71, had remarried to a then 56 year old Sara E. Howes and the couple was living at 206 Main Street in Lakeville, MA a few doors from the State sanitarium.

 

§  In 1910 Lottie and Horace were tracked by the April US census as still living in Brockton, MA at 50 May Ave. This record gave Lottie’s birthplace and that of her parents as Massachusetts. Horace was working in a shoe factory. By this time they had added to their family with the birth of 4 year old daughter Evelyn E. on May 10, 1905.

 

§  Horace registered for the WWI draft on September 12, 1918. His draft registration card indicated the couple were now living at 55 May St, Brocton and that he was still employed as a shoe-worker, at this time with Stacy Adams Co. on Montello St. The registration noted Horace to be a tall man of medium complexion with brown eyes and brown hair.

 

§  The January 1920 US census found the couple still in Brockton but now residing at 25 Woodlands Ave.  Lottie’s Nova Scotia roots were properly recorded in this census, although Timothy W.’s birthplace was still given incorrectly as MA. Lottie was recorded as having immigrated in 1910, and having become a naturalized US citizen in 1912. Horace continued to work in a shoe factory and his occupation appeared (likewise in 1910 and 1930) to be ‘Goodyear operator’. Evelyn in 1920 was listed as 14 years old and attending school, and she now had a 5 year old brother, Willard C. Howes (b Aug. 1914).

 

§  By the time of the April 1930 US census the family consisted only of three members, Lottie, Horace, and son Willard, now 15.  The family had by this time moved again and was now living at 29 Prospect Street in Hingham, MA. Lottie’s date of immigration was given in this record as 1901, and she was again listed as a naturalized US citizen. Horace continued to be in shoe manufacturing as a ‘Goodyear operator’. Timothy W’s birth place was still given as MA.

 

§  By 1930 daughter Evelyn had married one Charles S. Hanington. The marriage records indicate that 23 year old Charles and 22 year old Evelyn E. were married on February 22, 1928, in Boston by R. H. Stafford, Minister of Gospel. At the time of the marriage, a first for both, Charles was noted to be a ‘Clerk’ and living at 45 Westland Ave., Boston. Evelyn was likewise noted to have been a ‘Clerk’ and her residence was given as 386 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. Their residences were at the time only a few blocks apart in an area south of the St. Charles River west of the core of downtown Boston. The record notes that Charles was born in Calais, Maine and that his parents were L. J. Guthrie Hanington and Annie Collins. The record identifies Evelyn’s birthplace as Brockton and her parents as Horace and Lottie.

 

§  The 1930 census indicates that by this date Charles and Evelyn had settled in Hingham and were living in rental accommodation at 362 Main St. The location of Evelyn’s mother’s birthplace was incorrectly given as MA. Charles’ occupation was listed as a clerk in a restaurant. By this time the couple had had their first of two eventual children, a son Richard whose age was given as 11/12 indicating a likely May 1929 birthdate.

 

§  A second son Bradford S. was born in Weymouth, MA to the young couple on July 20, 1930, shortly after the census information was recorded.

 

§  The next record of significance in the family is that of Evelyn’s untimely August 13, 1931 death. The record indicates that by this time the couple was living at 106 Central St., in Weymouth, MA. Evelyn died at an early 26 years of age after a seven week illness brought on from an infection in her leg caused by scratching her shin against a pail. She was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, in West Bridgewater, MA on August 24, 1931. The informant for the death record was husband Charles.

 

§  According to Jennie Fahie, Lottie’s niece, who had met Lottie on a couple of her return trips to Nova Scotia and knew something of the oral history of the Howes family circumstances, Lottie took the death of Evelyn very hard. She apparently became a fanatic about cleanliness and always ensured dishes were scalded clean; Jennie described her as something of a ‘fuss budget’.

 

§  She also apparently abandoned her ‘faith in God’ as a result of Evelyn’s (and perhaps also Willard’s) early death. Jennie relates one NS encounter with the Lottie's grandchildren where they clearly communicated to her the fact that there was no God.

 

§  After Evelyn’s death Lottie raised the boys. The children were still registered as Hanington in the 1940 census; according to Lottie’s great grandson Carl Howes in early 2013 the brothers were formally adopted by their grandparents in the early 1940s. The record as it is known at this point in time suggests little communication between the Howes and Charles Hanington after Evelyn’s death.

 

§  In a personal communication from Lottie's great grandson Carl Howes, on Feb 2, 2013 he observed:  "What little I know about relationships among the US siblings came from my father [Bradford Howes]. He recalled gatherings hosted by Lottie for the extended family when he was young. She was the only one to make this effort. At some point there was a general falling out among the sisters and very little or no contact after that time. The timing of the falling out is lost, but I would surmise it was within a few years one way or the other of 1940".

 

§  Willard Charles Howes was born on August 2, 1914 at the family home at 55 May St. Brocton. The record shows he died in the early afternoon of June 5, 1938, at 23 years, 10 months and 3 days of age at the family home at 26 Prospect Street, Hingham, MA. The record indicates he died of bronchitis which he had been known to have had since the previous year. He is also recorded as having had myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) during 1938. The record indicates that he was employed selling vegetables from a roadside stand. He was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, West Bridgewater, MA.   

 

§  There are three available records of Lottie visiting Nova Scotia: the first is in October of 1834 when she was recorded on October 9 as arriving Boston from Yarmouth on the ferry “Yarmouth” accompanied by Richard and Bradford Hanington; the second is on August 1, 1935 when she was recorded as arriving by herself in Boston on the ferry “Yarmouth”, and the third is on October 4, 1938 when she, accompanied by sister Jennie Floyd and Richard and Bradford Howes (note name change), arrived in Boston on board the ferry “Evangeline”. 

 

§  Horace died on September 26, 1959 of cardiac failure at the back of the yard of the family home on Route 28, Bedford St, Middleboro, MA. His age was given as 77 years, 3 months, and 6 days. He, like his children, was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, West Bridgewater, MA, the date of internment being September 29, 1959. His occupation was listed as shoe worker. The informant for the death record was wife Lottie.

 

§  Lottie (Riley) Howes died at 94 years of age on February 20, 1978 in the Sudbury Pines Nursing Home, in Sudbury, MA. Her usual residence was given at the time as 642 Post Road, Sudbury, which is likely the address of the nursing home. Her age was given as 94 years, 11 months, and 1 day suggesting a recorded birth date of March 19, 1883. She is reported to have died of cardiac arrest. She was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, West Bridgewater, MA on February 22, 1978. The informant for the death record was Bradford Howes of 51 Quaboag Road, Acton, MA.

 

§  Charles S. Hanington died on June 30, 1987 in Norwood, Norfolk Co., MA.  

 

§  Richard (Hanington) Howes was born in Boston on May 15, 1929; the family was living in Hingham by the mid-April time of the 1930 census. Richard married Sally L Henderson circa 1953; Sally had been born in MA on May 2, 1931. The couple proceeded to have nine children: Janet S born in 1954, Richard W born in 1957, twins Nancy Jean and Kenneth Andrew born in 1960, Thomas E born in1962, Sally Ann born in 1965, Christopher R born in 1966, Laura in 1967, and Evelyn. In early 2006 wife Sally L Howes was recorded as continuing to live in the family home on 238 Main St., Middleboro, MA.

    

§  Bradford S. (Hanington) Howes of Groveland, Essex Co., MA, born July 20, 1930, passed away on January 24, 2004 at 74 years of age. Bradford’s wife was 71 year old Diana Brown originally from Ft Lauderdale, FL. Their Groveland address was 2 Abbott Street (or Circle); they appear to have had a previous address of 138 Lakeshore Rd., Boxford, MA, a country address a few miles to the southwest. Widow Diana Brown Howes died in Haverhill, MA in July of 2010.

 

§  Bradford and Diana had two children, a son Carl Bradford Howes, born in 1961 and married to Deborah Grenier, and a daughter Linda L Howes born in 1964 and who appeared to have been living with her parents at the time of Bradford’s death in 2004.

 

RAR-29.03.05

Updated -10.02.13