Notes |
- From Charlie Bryant, correspondent, note of October 25th,2003 Letter from "Tica Lawrence" to H.T. Dorrance Esqre onletterhead that says "Tica." one month after the death ofthis wife Achsah Bird Dorrance. (I think this is adifferent Tica than Tica Dorrance Zabriski, who would havebeen his granddaughter):
"S.E. Corner 2d + Market
"March 15, 1882
"Dear Mr. Dorrance: "I feel as though I must send you a few words ofsympathy in your trouble, for that they are heart felt youmay be assured. My own dreadful experience the greattrouble God has laid upon me to bear for His sake, thoughhard, has made me more akin to the sorrows and trials ofothers and especially you and yours for the minute I sawyou and your dear wife I could not help but like you bothand admire you with all my heart. How much, how very much,has happened since; you have lost a dear wife, a devotedcompanion, and I a husband, but ah the difference. It mustbe comfort, it must be happiness, to think of her good andtrue to the last, faithful in every duty to you andeveryone else whilst I cannot have any such comfort andmust scorn even to think of him who has proved himself sofalse, so bad in every way. But God is merciful and he hassent me many blessings. My dear Mother and her friend areone of them for what should I have done without them and somany dear friends have gathered round to comfort me. Dearlittle Kitty, dear little friend, how much I miss her. Shewas so good to me and your 'Fred' too. What comfort it mustbe for you to have them around you. Every cloud has itssilver lining be it ever so dark and if we have to partfrom those we love it is but a short good bye to meet againand never more to part. I lost my dear Father nearly sevenyears ago but often feel as though he were with me inspirit and I take comfort in the thought for some day Ihope to join him. I am so glad to hear from Kitty that youhave recovered from your long illness and are improving dayby day in health and only hope for your children yourfriends sake God may spare you to them a long long time. Ifyou can spare a photograph of yourself and wife will youlet me have one, should be so grateful.
Sincerely yours,
"Tica Lawrence"
Census: 1870, Parents not of foreign birthMoved to California: Abt. 1856, Rutland, Vermont toStockton, California
Occupation: 1870, Saddler
Residence: 1870, Stockton, San Joaquin County, California
Here's an excerpt from a note that I wrote a few yearsago to another correspondent, Mary Beth Wheeler, on H.T.Dorrance and Achsah Bird's descendants that you may find ofinterest. It explains how this branch of my family came tobe in California: "Henry Tully Dorrance, son of Joseph, was born inMiddlebury, Addison County, Vermont in 1819. He marriedAchsah Bird, also an Addison County native. (I found a HUGEpedigree on her in the LDS Ancestral File that I accessedat the local Family History Center at the Mormon Templehere in Oakland. It's so big that even after several hoursof browsing I haven't found the end of all the branches. Itgoes all the way back to the European "royal lines",including Charlemagne, and even further back to around 6A.D.!! Some day when I have time, I'll download it in aGEDCOM file on a floppy disk and import it into my familyfile.) [Note: This was in 1999, before the LDS Church hadput all this information on the Internet.] "Anyway, Achsah Bird had a brother named Myron who wasa saddle maker, and who never married. In 1847, he leftVermont and went to Ohio and then to Michigan. In 1849, hejoined the gold rush and came to California. He didn't havemuch success at gold mining, so in 1851 he moved toStockton and opened a saddle shop. About 1860, HenryDorrance, who was also a saddle maker in Vermont, followedhis brother-in-law to California and joined his business inStockton. Six years later, his wife and children (includingmy grandmother, Sarah Cleveland Dorrance) followed him, andlived the rest of their lives in Stockton. Eventually,"H.T. Dorrance", as he was known, took over Myron Bird'ssaddlery business. "My great grandmother, Sarah Cleveland Dorrance, aVermont native, met my great grandfather, Charles EdwardOwen, in Stockton. He was a musician, born in San Franciscoin 1858, who came to Stockton and opened a piano andjewelry store. She was a music teacher. They lived the restof their lives in Stockton, where my grandmother, EliseDorrance Owen, was born. She had one brother, HenryDorrance Owen, who went by his middle name. He died beforeI was born, but my mother still talks about "UncleDorrance". Funny how a family surname becomes a given name.Elise Owen went to Stanford and graduated in 1907. She thenbecame a high school teacher in nearby Antioch, where shemet my grandfather, Bruce Forrester Brown, Jr., who was themanager of a local paper mill. They moved to SouthernCalifornia where he managed another mill with his brothersand father, and lived in the Los Angeles suburb ofHuntington Park." [1]
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