Ella Josephine Mansfield

Ella Josephine Mansfield and her six oldest siblings were part of the adaptive Progressive Generation. Her father and her husband were part of the nomadic, reactive Gilded Generation. Her two youngest siblings, her three stepsons, and all but the youngest of her four sons were part of the idealistic Missionary Generation; that youngest son was part of the nomadic, reactive Lost Generation.

Ella was the eldest of nine children; she was 15 years older than her youngest sibling, Edith. She was listed as a "weaver" at age 16 in the 1865 census. When she was 24 years old she married the widower, Artemas Seymour Edmands (her third cousin once removed), 12 years her senior, and became stepmother to his three sons, ages 10, 8, and 5. Over the next 11 years, she bore Artemas four more sons. Soon after the birth of her youngest son, her kid sister Edith married her eldest stepson, Arthur.

Around the turn of the century, Ella and Artemas operated a dairy farm on Route 1, just north of Main Street in Saugus, Massachusetts. (According to the 1910 census, their address was 165 Main Street.) At that time, Ella's widowered father, Ephraim Sylvester Mansfield, age 85, was living with them. Granddaughter Margaret Lillian Edmands was living with them then as well.

Ella's niece Mildred Florence Edmands Gardner (1895-1989), daughter of Ella's stepson Edward, remembered Ella as "a beautiful housekeeper, always straining and bottling the milk."

According to Ella's granddaughter, (Ethel) Jean Weeks, b. 1909, daughter of Ella's youngest son, Ernest: "I remember her well, because I used to spend vacations in Saugus. She was short, round, and baked the best bread! She also would give me a peppermint cream before I went to bed, if I'd been a 'good girl.'"

Year by year in the life of Ella Josephine Mansfield

The childhood and early adulthood of Ella Josephine Mansfield in their historical context
The prime adult years and midlife of Ella Josephine Mansfield Edmands in their historical context
The historical context of Ella Josephine Mansfield Edmands's life (age 52 through 61)
The historical context of Ella Josephine Mansfield Edmands's life (age 62 through 71)
The historical context of Ella Josephine Mansfield Edmands's life (age 72 until her death)

Descent chart

Birth of Ella Josephine Mansfield
Born: 16 July 1849
Birthplace: Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Parents
Father: Ephraim Sylvester ("Sylvesta") Mansfield, 1825-1910 (our ancestor), from Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
Mother: Hannah Elizabeth Hinchcliff, 1826->1900(1) According to Geneva A. Daland and James S. Mansfield, Mansfield Genealogy: Descendants of Robert and Elizabeth Mansfield and Sons Andrew and Joseph who came to Lynn, 1639-1640 (1980), "Hannah E." UNKNOWN Mansfield was Ephraim's second wife, the stepmother of all (or at least some) of the children, including Ella Josephine Mansfield; the children's mother was "Elizabeth" UNKNOWN Mansfield, who died, leaving Ephraim a widower, who then married again to Hannah, who would then be Ella's stepmother. Yet, Ephraim's great-granddaughter Ethel Jean Edmands Weeks, b. 1909, regarded Hannah as her great-grandmother (not step-great-grandmother). a great-great-granddaughter: Hannah had always been understood in her branch of the family to be the sole wife of Ephraim Sylvester Mansfield--that is, the same person as "Elizabeth UNKNOWN," and therefore the mother of all the children of Ephraim (including Ella), and therfore our ancestor. Whether these descendants or Daland and Mansfield are correct must still be determined conclusively by researching census and other vital records, but--for now--I am favoring the idea that "Hannah E." (Hannah Elizabeth Hinchcliff) and "Elizabeth" are the same person, the sole wife of Ephraim Sylvester Mansfield, and therefore Ella's mother. I base my conclusion on the juxtaposition of the following two statements of research done by others:
  • Nancy B. Edmands Allen (granddaughter of Edward Wesley Edmands, who was the second son of our common ancestor Artemas Seymour Edmands) did a lot of family history of us back in the 1980s and reported her findings from the 1860 census and the 1870 census, listing the various children as "members of the family of Ephraim Sylvester and Elizabeth Mansfield" and then she lists the several children that I have put on this page, from Ella as the eldest to Edith as the youngest; that is, in 1870 the following six surviving children were living with Ephraim and Elizabeth: Ella Josephine Mansfield, 21; Lorenzo H. Mansfield, 19; Florence E. Mansfield, 17; Edgar R. Mansfield, 15; Laura G. Mansfield, 13; Edith G. Mansfield, 5.
  • Patricia Brown Mathews has reported from the 1870 census that Hannah's parents were living with Ephraim and Hannah.
Seems to me that Ephraim's wife Elizabeth would not have tolerated letting Ephraim's girlfriend Hannah and her parents live in the same house--unless Elizabeth and Hannah Elizabeth were the same person. Sometimes she is known as Hannah and sometimes as Elizabeth.
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Siblings
Sister: Lucy Mansfield
Born 1849
Died 26 March 1861
Brother: Lorenzo H. Mansfield
Born 1851(2) This date is from Patricia Brown Mathews, who researched the Saugus Town Hall records. Our other sources had the date as 1850 (no day or month).
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---- in Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
Worked as a grocer
Married 19 November 1871
---- in Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
---- to Isabella Dearborn
---- b. 1853
---- daughter of James and Clara Dearborn
Sister: Florence E. Mansfield
Born 1853(3) This date is from Patricia Brown Mathews, who researched the Saugus Town Hall records. Our other sources had the date as 1852 (no day or month).
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Worked in a shoe factory
Married 27 October 1882
---- to George F. Kennard
---- b. 1851
---- in Maine
Brother: Edgar L. Mansfield
Born 15 November 1855(4) This date is from Patricia Brown Mathews, who researched the Saugus Town Hall records. Our other sources had the date as 1854 (no day or month).
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Married (?) Theresa UNKOWN(5) According to the 1880 census of the Mansfield household in Saugus, more than 6 years after Edgar's death, a "daughter" Theresa is listed as living with Ephraim and Hannah Mansfield. Theresa was probably a widowed daughter-in-law. Patricia Brown Mathews has commented: "I've never seen her before [in any of the records], possibly the wife of one of the sons, maybe Edgar, who was drowned in 1873." Seems like a good guess to me.
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Died 5 December 1873
---- by drowning
Sister: Laura G. Mansfield
Born 2 August 1856
Married 27 November 1878
---- to James R. Hughes
---- b. 1850
Brother: Horace K. Mansfield
Born 8 February 1858
Died 3 May 1869
---- of scarlet fever
Brother: BOY Mansfield
Born 1859
Died 1860
---- of a lung complaint
Sister: Susy Vesta Mansfield
Born 30 December 1860
Died 1861
---- of inflammation
Brother: Charles A. Mansfield
Born 18 March 1862(6) This date is from Patricia Brown Mathews, who researched the Saugus Town Hall records. Our other sources had the date as 1861 (no day or month).
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Sister: Edith G. Mansfield
Born 14 May 1865
---- in Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
Married 27 July 1891
---- in Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
---- to Arthur Seymour Edmands, 1862-1951
---- stepson of Ella
---- (so, in a way, Arthur was Edith's nephew;
---- he was also her third cousin, twice removed)
Music teacher and organist
Died 6 June 1926
---- in Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
Buried Riverside Cmtry (lot 49)(7), Patricia Brown Mathews has Edith's burial lot (49) from the Riverside cemetery records. Our other sources had lot 45N.5.
To close this footnote, click the number again or click (Close) Saugus, MA
    Daughters:
    Elizabeth "Bess" Caroline Edmands, 1892-1937
    Frances Josephine Edmands, 1893-1941

    For more information on her descendants,
    including the surnames Brown, Hatch, and Mathews,
    see Descendants of Arthur Edmands (password-protected)

Spouse and children
Husband: Artemas Seymour Edmands, 1837-1920 (our ancestor),
(son of Artemas Edmands and Margaret M. Wilson Edmands
[our ancestors]
from Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts)
Married 23 July 1873
Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
Stepson: Arthur Seymour Edmands, 1862-1951
Stepson: Edward Wesley Edmands, 1864-1956
Stepson: Ellis Lincoln Edmands, 1868-1947
Son: Nelson Wilfred Edmands, 1875-1950
Son: Oscar Melvin Edmands, 1876-1966
Son: Elbert Horace "Bert" Edmands, 1878-1946
Son: Ernest Carl Edmands, 1884-1928 (our ancestor)
Other information
Occupation: As a teenager, listed as "weaver,"
later a farm housewife,
operated a dairy farm at the turn of the century in Saugus, MA
Religion: No information available
Death of Ella Josephine Mansfield Edmands
Died: 26 April 1923
(age 73 years 9 months 10 days)
Deathplace: Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
Burial place: Riverside Cmtry (lot 85), Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
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Sources on Ella Josephine Mansfield Edmands:

  • ("Pat"), b. 1951, great-granddaughter of Arthur Seymour Edmands, 1862-1951, for considerable information and pictures, as well as data on Ella's siblings from the Saugus Town Hall records. Pat also provided much information on Arthur Seymour Edmands and Edith G. Mansfield Edmands; she cited the 1910 census records [Essex, Mass., roll 588, book 2, p. 416 [sheet 246]). (The other sources had, no doubt incorrectly, Arthur and Edith married in 1890, and their daughter Frances born in 1894.) That census data also supplied information about Ella's household in 1910.
  • Nancy B. Edmands Allen, b. 1925, granddaughter of Ella's second stepson, Edward Wesley Edmands, 1864-1956.
    Nancy cites Geneva A. Daland and James S. Mansfield, Mansfield Genealogy: Descendants of Robert and Elizabeth Mansfield and Sons Andrew and Joseph who came to Lynn, 1639-1640 (1980). Nancy also cites her aunt Mildred Florence Edmands Gardner (1895-1989), daughter of Ella's stepson Edward, regarding Ella's character.
  • Theodore Wesley "Ted" Edmands, 1928-1999, grandson of Ella's second stepson, Edward Wesley Edmands, 1864-1956.
    Ted cited federal census data for 1865.
  • Ethel Jean Edmands Weeks, b. 1909 in an interview with Allan Christie Edmands II, b. 1942
  • Mary Caroline Findley Edmands, 1887-1970

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