Genealogy Story – Martin Powell (Povelonis)

In preparing for the 100^th Pierpont Family Reunion, I was having a conversation with one of my third cousins, Bonnie Fleming-Richardson. We got talking about some of our shared experiences growing up in Wolcott and got on to the topic of the farm hand on her relative’s farm. I want to relate his story – which has never been told before – but I first need to put that part of our family into context. So let me give a background on the Miller/Northrop/Fleming/Kraft/Peterson family and their connections to me.

 

Extended Family Connections in Wolcott

I had written about this part of the family before (see here), but only mentioned that besides my uncles/aunts/cousins, they represented the primary other relatives in town. My connection to them is as follows.

My grandfather was Harold Granger Pierpont (1898-1969). His father was Wilson Levinus Pierpont (1855-1921). Wilson was one of six children of Charles Joseph Pierpont (1825-1884) and Wilson’s younger sister was Mary Ann Pierpont (1860-1938). Mary Ann was married to Charles Somers Miller (1858-1943). I’ve written about Charles Miller before (see here). Among other things, he was responsible for revitalizing and then leading the Mattatuck Drum Band for 50 years (see here).

Charles and Mary Ann had a daughter, Margaret Miller (1889-1987) whom I’ve also written about before (see here). Because she had such a long life, I knew Margaret while growing up in Wolcott. Her first husband, Clifford Northrop, had passed away in 1936, and her second husband, George Ransom Hall, had passed away in 1946, but she lived another 40+ years. Two of her children, who were second cousins of my mother, also lived in Wolcott.

Marian Northrop (1912-2006) had married Howard Kraft (1911-2000). Their children, my third cousins, included Charles (1932-), Robert (Bob) (1934-), twins David (1942-) and Daniel (1942-1942), and Sharon (1947-). Marian’s sister, Jean Northrop (1916-2009), had married Byron Fleming (1919-2017). Their children, also my third cousins, included Lisle (1943-) and Bonnie (1950-).

While the Peterson family were not directly related to me, Howard Kraft’s mother was Lillian Peterson (1889-1960) and she was from a large family which included her sister, Hilma (1892-1969), and Hilma’s husband, Carl (1891-1954). Carl and Hilma had four children, Carl jr. (1914-1969), Albert (1918-2000), Arthur (1920-1983), and Marjorie (1920-1990). They were all about the age of my parents. Thus, the Peterson children in Wolcott were 2^nd cousins of the Kraft children in Wolcott, as well as being cousins-of-cousins both to the Fleming children and the Pierpont/Russell children. All one-big-happy-family! The Kraft/Fleming/Peterson families all lived in close proximity to each other near the intersection of Spindle Hill Rd, Mad River Rd, and Peterson Lane. Our family and my Pierpont cousins lived just a few houses apart in the northern section of town.

But the interactions did not end at just family relationships. We interacted in school – not with the Krafts who were a bit older, but there were many same-grade connections between the Russell/Pierpont/Fleming/Peterson families. The Petersons owned a dairy farm and Albert Peterson was our milkman – delivering seven quarts of unpasteurized, un-homogenized milk to our house every other day. My life-saving instructor was from this family group (see here). And the songs in French that I learned on a beach in Dennis Port, MA, were courtesy of one of these distant cousins (see here). Finally, one of the school nurses with whom we all interacted was Doris Peterson, the wife of Albert. And my mother was a girl scout leader to several of the girls in this part of our extended family.

Thus, there were interactions at both our parent’s generation as well as my generation.

 

The Farm Hand

All of the above is just to set the stage for telling the genealogy story of Martin Powell (Povelonis).

In my interactions with Bonnie, she mentioned that the “hired hand, Martin” lived in the farmhouse with “Aunt Hilma”. That prompted me to look up the 1950 census where I could see the Fleming family (including Bonnie who was just a few months old), the Krafts, and a couple of the Peterson families all living in the same area. On the farm were living Carl, his wife Hilma, and their “farm helper”, Martin. But of interest to me was that he was listed as having been born in Lithuania. Since the Petersons were of Swedish background, that seemed unusual. I mentioned it to Bonnie, and she responded “How did you find out that? My Dad always said he was from Russia.” So, it was “off to the races” in my genealogy research to see what I could find out about Martin.

 

Martin’s Story

Martin was born on 11 October 1888 in Kaunas, Lithuania. However, while Lithuania has a long history – the first recording of that name being in the year 1009 – it was not an independent country for many centuries of its history. It became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1795, then was part of the Russian Empire. It was not until 1918 that it was re-established as a democratic state. That lasted until WWII when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. Finally, it became independent again in 2004. Thus, when Martin was born, he was born in Russia – even though he spoke Lithuanian. And it was not until he was 30 years old that he could say he was from Lithuania.

It is not known when Martin arrived in the US. He apparently took on the last name Powell as a shortened version of Povelonis. Except for his WWII draft card, the 1950 census, and his gravestone, all other documents list the name of Powell. (I have not been able to find any record of a formal name change.)

Martin served with the NY National Guard from 27 Jun 1916 until 16 Jul 1917. He was a private with the unit from Catskill, NY. Following his service, he moved from NY to Waterbury, CT where he was working for Scovill. When the US formally entered WWI, he was drafted, but was apparently not required to serve because he had already done so. On his draft card he recorded that he was supporting his father and five sisters who were still living in Europe – presumably in Lithuania/Russia.

Carl and Hilma Peterson began their dairy farm in Wolcott in 1923. About that same time, Martin began working for Carl. He stayed on for the remainder of his life, being recorded there in the 1930, 1940, and 1950 census.  In the 1940 census he is shown as only having a 3^rd grade education.

Incorrect/missing information:

·       Although Martin is in the Waterbury city directory in 1920, he was missed in the census which took place that year.

·       In the 1930 census, Martin is listed as being 40 years old, a typical off-by-one error.

·       In the 1940 census, Martin is listed as “US Citizen, born abroad”. This is clearly incorrect as both his parents are also from Lithuania. A correct response would have been either “Alien” or “Naturalized Citizen”.

·       In the 1950 census, Martin is declared to be a US citizen. In the 1918 draft record, it showed that he has recently applied for citizenship, but there is no record of it being granted.

·       In Martin’s WWII draft record, the name on the form was recorded as “Povilonis” where his signature on the bottom of the form is clearly “Povelonis”.

·       The spelling of “Povelonis” is quite unusual in Lithuania (only 6 results in Google), where the spelling of “Povilonis” has over 31,000 results. Did Martin not know the spelling of his Lithuanian name? Or perhaps since it would have originally been in the Cyrillic language, did he simply transliterate it wrong into the English alphabet?

·       I have been unable to locate any immigration record for Martin.

Carl passed away in 1954 and Martin stayed, living with Hilma and working on the farm. In 1962 the large barn on the property burned. It was at this time that our family could no longer get raw milk from the Peterson dairy (see article in Wolcott History website here). When Hilma passed away in 1969, Martin was still there. The Peterson children apparently helped him with the needed paperwork, and he remained until his passing in 1979 (at age 90), although death records indicate that he may have been in a hospital in Meriden at the end of his life.

Martin was buried by the family in the Edgewood Cemetery in Wolcott, near his Peterson and Fleming “relatives”. His grave reads, “Martin Povelonis, Oct. 11, 1888, May 22, 1979, A Good Friend”. A fitting tribute to someone who was more than just a “farm hand” – but who lived with the family for over 50 years.