One of my most persistent genealogical brick walls has been finding the parents of my 3xGreat-Grandfather on my mother’s side, Peter Little. I have searched high and low for his parents and in the process have learned quite a bit about his adult life in Stanstead, Quebec with his wife Polly (Carpenter) Little.

Peter was an early pioneer to the Stanstead area — an area on the US-Quebec border settled in the years following the American Revolutionary War. Many of the settlers came from New Hampshire and Vermont; while some of them were certainly Loyalists, many were lured by the prospect of free or cheap land. Peter may have arrived around 1798 at the age of 18. By 1805 he had met and married Polly Little, the daughter of Amos and Betsy (Lane) Carpenter from Vermont.

Pioneer life was not easy — land had to be cleared and log houses built. There were no roads and it would be many years before churches, and schools would be established. The settlers planted crops such as potatoes, pumpkins, and beans and hunted or trapped wild duck, goose, rabbit, and deer.

And, also in 1805, Peter and Polly’s first child was born, Guy Little. The family grew as follows:

Guy (born 1805)
Lucretia (1807)
Henry F (1809)
Morris (1811)
Arnold (1814)
Mary (1816)
Daniel K (1818)
James S (1819)
Joshua (1821)
Clarissa (1822)
Orrin C (1823) - my 2xGreat Grandfather
Osman (1824)
Joel S (1825)
Cyrus Peter (1829)

That is 14 children in 24 years - just imagine!

I will pause her to interject that the above list does not correspond exactly to the undated typed list I have that is headed “From: Anna Little Hammond”. Anna Little Hammond was my Great Grandmother, the daughter of Orrin Little. I have not seen the source where these notes originated — maybe a family Bible? But through researching some published school records from Stanstead in the 1820’s along with Canadian and United States census records, I believe the above list to be more accurate.

Peter was a partner with Silas Mack in owning Mack’s Mills on what is now called the Tomifobia River. In 1830, shortly after Cyrus was born, Peter was killed in an accident at the mill, leaving Polly with 9 children under the age of 17 (plus 4 adult children). (Sadly, little Clarissa, had died at the age of 5 in an accident. ). Peter is buried in Ruiters Corner Cemetery in Stanstead County, Quebec. I’ve done a lot of census and other research to find out what became of the family.

Polly (Peter’s wife): re-married to Nathan Cross in 1832 in Derby, Vermont, about 8 miles from where she had lived with Peter. She died in 1843 at the age of 58 and is buried in Derby. Curiously, her headstone identifies her as the “wife of Peter Little” and does not mention Nathan Cross at all.

Polly Little’s headstone; photo from Finadagrave.com

Guy: Guy was 25 years old when Peter died. From at least 1840 until his death in 1875 he lived in Lancaster, Erie County, New York. He married Direxa W___ and they had 6 children. Guy worked as a millwright and house carpenter. Ancestry DNA has identified 2 of Guy and Direxa’s descendants as possible cousins of mine.

Lucretia: Lucretia was 22 and married to Ezra Badger at the time of Peter’s death. They lived in Derby, Vermont, near her mother Polly in 1840. They had 7 children and continued to live in Vermont until her death in 1876 at the age of 68. Ancestry DNA has also identified 2 possible cousins of mine descended from Lucretia.

Henry F: was 21 years old at the time of Peter’s death in 1830. By 1835 he had relocated to Claremont, New Hampshire, where he married his first wife, Mary W. Fletcher. Henry and Mary had two children before her death in 1846. Henry subsequently married Nancy M. Cochran (who died in 1865) and Lucy Humphrey (who survived him). From at least 1850 until his death in 1870 he lived in Manchester, New Hampshire, and his occupation was carpenter. Ancestry DNA hasn’t suggested any of Henry’s descendants as possible cousins of mine.

Morris: Morris was 19 years old when his father died. He married Mary Esther Ellis in 1835 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and they had five children - two born in Quebec and three in New York. In 1850 and 1860 they lived in Chazy and Mooers, New York, not far from Stanstead and Derby. By 1870 they had moved to Clymer, New York, about 90 miles from Lancaster where brother Guy was living. Morris worked as a tanner in the leather industry in 1850 and later he was a farmer. Ancestry DNA has not suggested any cousins descended from Morris, and there was no death date for Morris in the notes from Anna Little Hammond.

Arnold was 15 years old when his father Peter died. He married Nancy Blake and they had one daughter born in Stanstead. Arnold died in Irasburg, Vermont, in 1853 at the age of 38. His occupation was blacksmith. No cousins suggested by Ancestry DNA.

Mary was 14 years old when Peter died and she died four years later at the age of 18.

Daniel K was 12 years old when his father passed away. In 1844, at the age of 26, he married Elizabeth Fogg in Lowell, Massachusetts, and they had two children. From at least 1850 until his death in 1867 they lived in Manchester, New Hampshire, the same city as his older brother Henry. He was a tin worker and machinist. Daniel’s wife Elizabeth outlived both their children and died in 1915 in Manchester at the age of 91. Again, Ancestry DNA has not found any cousins for me descended from this line.

James S was 10 years old when Peter died. He married Betsey Warner and they lived in Mankato, Minnesota and Independence, Kansas and had at least two children. For two years before his death in 1880 he lived in Colorado and his occupation was listed in the census as “miner”. He then returned to Independence where he died at the age of 61. Betsey died in 1885; she is not mentioned in the obituary, but she is buried with him at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Independence.

Joshua was 8 years old when Peter died. He is the only one of Peter and Polly’s children to remain (mostly) in Stanstead until his death in 1901. When he was 20 he married Eliza Bachelder and they had 7 children. After Eliza died in 1857, he married Nancy Grace and then, following her death, he married Sarah Wainwright. For a brief time following the death of his second wife, he lived in Grinnell, Iowa, where his son Warren resided but by 1885 he had moved back to Stanstead. The 1861 Canadian census recorded his religion as Wesleyan Methodist, then in 1871 and 1881 he was listed as Congregational (a question never asked in the Uniter States census) and in every census his occupation was given as farmer. Joshua was 79 (headstone says 80) when he died, and he is buried in the same cemetery as his father (Ruiter’s Corner, Quebec). Ancestry DNA has identified a possible 7 cousins of mine descended from Joshua and Eliza.

Joshua Little headstone, photo from Findagrave.com

As mentioned above, little Clarissa died at the age of 5, before Peter’s accident. A newspaper clipping describes a horrible household accident where she was scalded by boiling water and died two days later of her burns.

Orrin C (my great-great-grandfather) was 6 years old when his father died. At the age of 31 he married Judith Arrene Brown in Exeter, Maine. Their first child, Orrin, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1855 and died at birth. The next two children (Renie and Anna (my great-grandmother)) were born in New Albany, Indiana, followed by Elsie (born in Cane Springs, Kentucky) and Onias (back to New Albany). Onias also died at birth. In 1860 the family lived in Van Buren, Arkansas, where Orrin worked in manufacturing, and by 1870 the family had returned to New Albany and Orrin was working as a watchman in a mill. In 1880 the family still resided in New Albany, and Orrin was working as a tanner (like his brother Morris) and by 1883 the family had relocated to Durango, Colorado, where Anna married her husband, Nahum Hammond. Orrin died in Durango in 1895 at the age of 71. Ancestry DNA links me to 13 DNA matches descended from Orrin.

I am pretty sure Orrin traveled the farthest of all of Peter and Polly’s children. From Stanstead to Exeter, ME, to New Albany, IN, to Van Buren, Arkansas, back to New Albany, then to Durango - a total of more than 4000 miles (thanks, Google Maps!).

Osman was 5 years old when Peter died. By 1850 he was in Lancaster, Erie County, New York, working as a lathmaker. In subsequent censuses he was also identified as a carpenter and a sawyer. His wife was Mary, and they had four children. Osman remained in Erie County for the rest of his life, dying in 1886 at the age of 62. Ancestry has identified one fourth-cousin descended from Osman who shares DNA with me.

Joel S was 4 years old when his father died. By 1849, at the age of 23, he married Lucy Jane Jackman in Lancaster, Massachusetts. In 1860 he and Lucy lived in Manchester, New Hampshire (where brothers Henry and Daniel also resided); Joel’s occupation in both censuses was baker. In 1860 his “personal estate” was valued at $500, which would be about $18,000 today. In 1870 he was listed in the census for Bloomington, Illinois, living with a family named Jackman (same as Lucy), but she was not there. His occupation was RR engineer. In 1875 the local newspaper announced that Joel and a partner would be taking on an existing baking business. By 1889 his occupation was listed as “junk dealer” — I believe he owned a profitable second-hand store. He died in Bloomington in 1891 at the age of 65. It appears Joel did not have any children with Lucy, nor with his second wife, Mary E. Mann (married in 1872). He left his estate to a niece and nephew, Mary Etta (or Marietta) Little and Charles W. Little, the children of his brother James (above).

Cyrus P: and now we come to the baby of the family. Cyrus was just 11 months old at the time of his father’s death and just 14 when his mother Polly passed away. He was listed in the 1850 census as a furnace man in Irasburgh, Vermont (where brother Arnold was living) and in 1855 he was an iron moulder in Roxbury, Massachusetts. In 1857 and 1860 he was listed as a farmer with his wife Rosalinda in Blue Earth, Minnesota. In 1862 he was inducted into the US Army (Minnesota Infantry, 7th regiment). Cyrus died August 20, 1864 and it is likely he was a casualty of the Battle of Tupelo (July 1864). He is buried at the Memphis National Cemetery in Tennessee.

Cyrus P. Little’s headstone, Memphis National Cemetery. Photo from Findagrave.com

Themes: as I researched and wrote these brief sketches, a couple of themes emerged. These siblings traveled a lot, and not generally as a group. The older siblings (Guy, Lucretia, Henry, Morris, Arnold, and Daniel) clustered in three areas: New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Four of the younger siblings (James, Orrin, Joel, and Cyrus) lived and died in Kansas, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Only Joshua stayed in Stanstead, Quebec. I have often wondered WHY Orrin moved first to Exeter, Maine, then to New Albany, Indiana — I have not identified any relatives in those locations. Maybe on his mother (Polly Carpenter Little)’ s side?

Another theme that came to me was “occupations” — the men of the Little family were craftsmen, with occupations such as carpenter, tanner, tin smith, blacksmith, iron moulder, machinist, millwright, engineer, lathmaker, sawyer, and even baker. Three were also farmers at some point, but only Joshua was a farmer throughout his life. These occupations may have facilitated all that moving around — it’s harder to pack up and move when your occupation is tied to the land. People with skills can be more mobile, moving to wherever work could be found.

Grandchildren: Of the 12 children of Peter and Polly who survived to adulthood, 10 had children of their own, giving Peter and Polly a total of (at least) 42 grandchildren, most of whom they would never had met.

Mortality: as far as I can tell, only two of Peter and Polly’s children lived into their 70s: Joshua (died at 79) and Orrin (died at 71). The only daughter to reach adulthood (Lucretia) died at age 68.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments

The Fourteen Children of Peter and Polly Little

The Pearces travel from New Zealand to California, via England

The Danielsens - from England and Norway to California