This is an account of family ancestry though my Dad, Randal Charles Ruchti via his mother, Helen Louise Bostwick Ruchti. Grandma Helen was my longest-living grandparent so I knew her the longest and probably the best. She was a perfectionist. This would humorously come out when we would play family games of Pictionary. She would try and draw her clue to the utmost precision and detail. Of course this was impossible to do given the time constraints of the game- so she would comically get frustrated when her team would lose the rounds where she was drawing. Her split pea soup and Thanksgiving dressing are of legend in the family. Unfortunately her split pea soup recipe is forever lost. However, her dressing now lives through me as my signature holiday dish. She invented the game "Sleeping Car" to persuade my Dad and his siblings to have nap/quiet time. It also worked to fairly good effect on my brother and I. I fondly remember having tea with her and Grandpa, which I especially enjoyed when I came home from college. I have her bone china teacups stored safely in my cabinets and use them on special occasions. Tea was especially nice paired with her anise seed Christmas cookies of which I still have the recipe. (Hmmmm- I forsee ANOTHER future post!!!) Her perfectionism also helped to ensure that family photos were put in albums with names and dates printed on the back. She also cataloged her own family ancestry. I will be using her materials to supplement and update what I write in this post as I am able to access them. I find I take after her very much in my personality (for both better and worse) and in my desire to catalog family history and stories.
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| Helen Louise Bostwick, 1939 |
After marriage, she followed my Grandpa around the country and the globe, including Canada, Germany, and Nairobi Kenya as he fulfilled his various assignments as a diplomat for the U.S. State Department and Foreign Service (more will be written about that in a future post). Before they were first married as they were gathering the proper legal documents for their union, my Grandpa discovered that on her birth certificate, my Grandma's name was listed as "Ruth". He helped her to get the document officially changed to her legal name "Helen Louise". However he used to call her by the name of "Ruth" forever after that. Together James and Helen had three children: Randal Charles, Jefri Robert, and Jamie Ann. In their later years they made their home in Washington D.C. After my Grandpa's retirement, they lived in a house in the summer on the Rock River in Edgerton, WI just outside of Janesville, WI. They lived during the winter months in South Bend, IN. South Bend, IN was their final home site. Helen died on April 10, 2010. Here is her family's story.
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| Helen Louise Bostwick Family Tree |
My Grandma's maiden name is Bostwick. Bostwick is a very, very old Colonial America family name (originally "Bostock" and renamed "Bostwick").
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| Bostwick Coat of Arms |
The Wisconsin Bostwick's trace their ancestry back to their first emigration ancestor, Arthur Bostwick (1603-1681), born circa 1603 in Tarporley, Cheshire, England near Ireland. Arhtur would be my 9th Great Grandfather. Arthur and family were Puritans and it was the persecution of the Puritan faith that likely compelled them to leave England and seek residence in the New World. Arthur came over to the American Colonies circa 1693 with his wife and children where there are records of land purchase and settlement in Stratford, Connecticut.
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| Arthur Bostwick estate: Plot 25 |
Arthur's line through his son John continued through progression to Joseph Bostwick (1799-1867) who lived in the east and then made his way westward with his family and settled in Janesville, WI. Joseph was born in 1799 to Noble Bostwick (1769-1812) and Betsey Wheaton Glassford (1778 - ????). Joseph married Fanny Huling (nee Matteson) in 1832 and they had 6 children together including brothers John M Bostwick and Robert Matteson Bostwick who would become respected Janesville businessmen.
Fanny Matteson (1753-1881) was born to Peter Matteson Sr (1753-1825) and Betsy Goff (1758-1852) on January 9, 1806 in Shaftsbury, Vermont. She was cousin to the famous State Governor Matteson of Illinois. Interestingly, her grandfather, father, and four of her brothers all fought in the Battle of Bennington Vermont in August 1977 with none receiving a scratch! At 15 years of age she was married to her first husband, Mr. Huling, and moved to Genesco County, NY. After his death, she married Joseph Bostwick and they moved their family to Janesville, WI in 1847.
Considered one of Janesville's oldest merchants, Robert Matteson Bostwick was born on January 24, 1836 in New York and then moved to Janesville, WI with his family when he was 9 years old. He began his career in the clothing business at the age of 13 entering employment with Stone and Gates. After a series of additional apprenticeships, he entered into partnership with M.C. Smith in 1864. In 1872 he purchased Mr. Smith's interests and continued the business under his own name "R.M. Bostwick" and later "R.M. Bostwick and Son". Robert's brother John was in the dry goods and general store business in Janesville under the name "J.M. Bostick and Sons".
Robert Matteson Bostwick married Helen Mary Bailey (my Grandma's namesake) on February 12, 1863. Helen was the daughter of William H. H. Bailey (1842-1872) and Mary Dixson (1816-1884). WHH Baily was born in New Hampshire in 1814 nd then moved to Danville, VT. He married Mary Dixon in 1836, and then in October of that same year moved to Janesville, WI joining Mary's brother, John P. Dixon, and family who moved to Janesville in the spring. The two families were some of the first settlers in the area, located on claims next to the Rock River of what is now the southwestern portion of Janesville. William assisted in the building of the first bridge across the Rock River at Janesville. He also assisted in building of the first dam across the river circa 1844-1845. In 1848 he was one of the first incorporators of the Madison and Beloit Railway Company, the first railway company incorporated in the state of Wisconsin. William died of chronic diarrhea in 1872. Mary died in 1884 after a four year illness.
Helen was born to William and Mary on June 24, 1837 in a log cabin in Springbrook. She was the first female white person to be born in the area. Helen claimed in an interview at age 87 that Indians peered through the log cabin windows to get a glimpse of the "white papoose". They never entered the house, just looked, and were always friendly. She was born just 5 years after the Black Hawk War. Black Hawk's grove was located just outside the limits of present day Janesville and was where the Indians resided. As such, the family often met the Indians as they were headed to trade in the nearest city center of Galena, Illinois and the Indians were seldom hostile. William, who was considered friend to the Indians, would often bring home Indian trinkets to the children. Helen was 7 years old when we went on a trip to Vermont with her parents to visit relatives. However a cholera outbreak forced them to stay for longer than expected. So Helen was educated at a private school near Hanover, New Hampshire. She then returned to Janesville with her parents to marry Robert Bostwick in 1863. Together they had 7 children including Charles "Chas" Blake Bostwick. Robert died in 1913 after a long illness. Helen died on June 28, 1930 at the age of 93.
The following picture is of a card case given to Helen Bailey by her father, WHH Bailey on January 1, 1860. It came into the possession of my Grandma Helen who gave it to me in 1998.
Charles "Chas" Blake Bostwick was born on January 14, 1870 in Janesville to Robert and Helen Bostwick.
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| Charles "Chas" Blake Bostwick |
He helped his father run the family clothing store "R.M. Bostwick and Son" and took over the business after his father's death in 1913. Chas married Clara Smith in 1892 in Janesville. She passed away unexpectedly while recovering from an operation in 1909. In 1911 he married Miss Mary Magdalena Tuisl.
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| Mary Magdalena Tuisl Bostwick |
Mary was born in Vienna, Austria on March 20, 1889 to Franz Joseph Tuisl (1855-1920) and Victoria Schneider (1855-1910). (There is a story that my Grandma told that Chas met Mary while he was abroad in Europe while she was working in a deli, but I have not been able to confirm this.) Mary immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1908. Chas and Mary had five children together including my Grandma Helen. Charles died on August 19, 1924 from a chronic illness when my Grandma was only 2 years old. After Chas' death, the family store was managed by his two sons, William and Charles Jr. Mary acted as Vice President of the store. She died on January 18, 1969 at the age of 79.
Possible Meanings of Surnames mentioned in this post:
Bailey: Three possibilities- 1) Occupational name for a steward or official (e.g. "bailiff"); 2) topographical- one who lives by the outmost wall of a castle or fortified town (e.g. Old Bailey in London); 3) "berry wood"
Bostwick: One who came from Bostock (Bota's cell), in Cheshire
Dixson: "Son of Richard"
Glassford: Habitational name for someone from Glassford in Lanarkshire
Goff: Occupational name for "smith"
Matteson: Patronymic name derived from first name Matthew; "son of Matthew"
Tuisl: Could be a derivative of "Twizel" meaning someone who lived near the fork of a river
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