Ron Dutcher
The clues my father gave me about my Great Grandfather,
William Henry Dutcher, were that he had two brothers John Dutcher
and Charles Worthington (an adopted name). William Also had
two sisters, Madelin and Grace. My father made note of
something called an "orphan train"
My Father said that he once went with his father and Grand Father
to Pittsfield Mass to try to find some old relatives. They
visited an old Family with the name of Scribner who took them to
an old graveyard to see some old Dutcher graves. My father
was only Six at the time, so he doesn't remember much.
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A while back I was posting here, searching for information on WILLIAM H. Dutcher b. Jan 14th 1856. I finally found him as being born in Alfordr Mass. I found his Birth Index records and his Parents were DAVID M. Dutcher b 1823 in Hillsdale NY and his mother was Catharine (Austin)Dutcher b 1830 in Dutchess co NY. This is rather exciting for me becaue all my life my father told me that my Great grandfather was an orphan, riding the orphan trains to Indiana from somewhere back East, and that it would be impossible to trace the line back any further. It looks as he was terribly worng.
I looked up the 1855 Census for Alford Mass and found the
David Dutcher Family there. From this I learned that my
ggGrandfather had several brothers and sisters:
Ambrose J (b 1848)
Mary J (b 1851)
Charity A (b 1853)
My William was born in 1856 a year after the Census
Also Alford Mass has a Nancy Dutcher born in 1858. Since I have
only seen one Dutcher family ever having lived in Alford (even
today less than 200 people live there) I think it is safe to
assume that this is a younger sister.
I found information about Charity. She married a Fredrick L. Ryder. Charity died in 1916 in Wethersfield CT. A Ryder researcher had submitted a Gedcom file}
The new exciting information is that this Gedcom File had DAVID M. Dutcher's parents listed. JAMES HARVEY Dutcher and CHRISTINE (SCOTT) Dutcher.
If anyone has any information about these Dutchers in their databases, please please let me know.
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There is a Harvey Dutcher in census, Hillsdale, Columbia County, NY 1820 & 1830.
I have a booklet by a David Dutcher which has the following entry:
David Morris Dutcher, b. 23 Sep 1823 in Hillsdale, NY, Son of James Harvey Dutcher & Christine Scott. Married Catherine Austin, b. 20 or 28 May 1831 in Elyria, Ohio. Daughter of Homer & Sena Austin. Died 67 years, 11 months in Winsted, Conn. David died 22 Feb, 1910 in Winsted, Conn.
Children:
Ambrose, b. 22 Jan 1848, d. 3 Feb 1933. Married Emma I. Sprague.
Had 2 daughters, Alice & Mabel. Alice married a Dodge and
then a Seabring.
Charity, b. 1 Sep 1853, d. 23 Feb 1916. Married F.I. Ryder. Had:
Frank, Charles, Anna May, Lula Augusta, Bertha Adella, Dora
Estelle. (one daughter married a Gorman and had 3 children, one
being catherine who helped with this.)
Wm. Harvey, b. 14 Jan 1856 in Alford Mass. Died 20 Sep 1939 in
Winsted Conn. Married Reamie Thorne.
Nancy, b. 15 Apr 1858, Alford, Mass. Died 2 May 1939 in
Harwington, Ct. Married Lyman King.
Charles T., b. 29 Jun 1860 in Great Barrington, MA, died 25 Dec.
1944 in Winsted CT, married Laura M. Drum (born 1852, died 1913).
Lena Augusta, b. 9 Dec 1862 Alford MA, died 15 July 1949 Winsted,
CT. never married
Alice A., b. 2 May 1865. Alfred (sic) Mass. Died 14 Nov 1933.
Married Eden I. Middlebrooks, Pittsfield MA.\par David Morris, b.
2 Nov 1868. died 1951. had a daughter Pearl. buried Winsted, CT.
Alonzo S., b. 3 Dec 1869 or 70, died 1 Apr 1955 Pittsfield, MA.
Married Leona Chamberlin. one son Floyd.
Harry A., b. 2 Jun 1872 Colebrook Ct. died 10 oct 1942 Winsted
Ct. married Gertrude Raydenbow.
Sharon
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I have found two William H. Dutchers both born in 1856 in Berkshire County, Mass. My brother found a birth Index record for one William and a marriage Index record for the other one. But both records gave birth dates and places of birth as well as parent's names.
The first William is the one I wrote about previously: William H. Dutcher born in Alford Mass to the parents of David M. Dutcher and Catherine (Austin) Dutcher. I was sure this had to have been the correct Dutcher in my line because the other William H. Dutcher born in Lee, Mass to John and Ann Dutcher, was married to a Flora A. Collins. From family records I learned that my William married a woman named Adeline Van Alstein. But last night Sharon sent me the Information that the William born in Alford married Reamie Thorne! So from what I knew neither William Dutcher was correct.
I found a letter from a distant cousin, also a member of this list. She wrote that while visiting her mother-in-law's house and digging through old photos, she found a small letter. Basically the letter was a confession from William's Daughter, Grace. Our Family records showed that Grace's full name was Grace Van Alstein Dutcher, the middle name in honor of her mother's maiden name. But the confession stated that Grace's real name was Grace Elizabeth Dutcher. She had an Uncle who was kind to her and she took his name. The confession letter also noted that her Mother's maiden name was Collins!
So now I am aiming at the right tree, but I have much less to
go on. I know that my William was born in Lee, Mass in 1855 or
1856, He married Flora A. Collins in 1878 in Great Barrington,
Mass, and his father was John Dutcher and his mother was Ann. So
Does anyone here know this John Dutcher? It is difficult to find
family information because my William H. Dutcher died in 1894 and
his wife, Flora had died in 1890. Their Children:
John E. born April 18, 1884
Grace Elisabeth born June 4, 1879
William Henry born April 18, 1884 (my gGrandfather)
Charles R. born Jan. 13, 1888
Lena May born May 22, 1890
From Family records, John stayed in Mass, But all of the other children rode the Orphan Train to Indiana.