January 2014 – Edition 106

Welcome back to the home country. We feature Thomas Mayborn, who was born in Dover, England in 1843. He left the UK ninety-eight years before the creation of the lyrical song referenced below.”

Recently I looked back through my list of published articles and realised that we have not had an article about the “Wappenham” arm of the Jerrems family since May 2011.

To rectify this oversight I have chosen from my archives an article about one of the Jerrems family’s five Civil War veterans and their families. It tells the story of Thomas Mayborn.

Why was Thomas a “Jerrems”?
I must admit that some of the people I write about have rather tenuous links to the Jerrems lineage. However in this instance we have a clearcut link.

Thomas Mayborn’s claim to fame was that he married Rebecca Jerrems. To top this off, jumping ahead for a moment, in a further twist Caroline Mayborn (Thomas’s mother) later married Rebecca’s father (James Jerrems). In simple terms, a man married a woman, and later the man’s mother married the woman’s father Simple!

Sandra is an avid reader of the Journal and researcher who keeps a photo of a portrait of “Uncle Nick” (General Herkeimer, who served in the American War of Independence) on her refrigerator door.

Overview

Historically, most Jerrems families originating from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire migrated to Australia and the United States in the mid 1800s and settled successfully into an urban environment. However some of the families from the “Wappenham” arm chose a rural environment and also served in the American Civil War, providing a quite different story, but one which was typical of many families migrating to the United States at the time. This provides an interesting theme.

Thomas was one of five Civil War veterans having a connection with the Jerrems family. All five had childhoods marked by financial struggle, but two (including Thomas) went on to eventually enjoy financial security and a long life.

In addition, Thomas had an eventful time in the army, being wounded, captured and released.

It is rather puzzling as to why a family would want to leave a town like Dover. At the time employment would have been readily available; there were a lot of small-scale industries, including breweries, mills (paper and corn) and an ironworks. When the railway arrived in 1844 the channel traffic boomed, and the harbour was rebuilt.

Another aspect is that in Dover the family would not have gained any experience in farming, which they pursued in America.

In those days at least 80% of the population lived in the vast rural areas of the United States. This meant that most migrants soon moved into these areas in their quest for fame and fortune. In most cases they would not have had sufficient capital to buy a good farm and stock it, or buy agricultural equipment (such as it was in those days). Instead they pioneered new localities, undertaking what probably turned out to be little better than subsistence farming.

In the case of Thomas Snr he bought a small farm and operated it until his premature death about 5 years later at the early age of about 45, a not uncommon occurrence in those days.
Caroline carries on
This would have left his widow Caroline to struggle along on her own because Thomas Jnr was only 7 years of age and there were two much younger children (James bc 1850, Alfred bc 1852) as shown in the 1860 Census. It seems that another 3 children (two girls and a boy) died before that date, showing a high (and very sad) infant mortality rate similar to that of the family of James Jerrems Snr.

This infant mortality rate and the early death of adults like Thomas Snr could be indicative of a family’s poor living conditions, poor diet, poor quality water supply and inability to afford medical help.

Perhaps Caroline wondered at this stage whether the family would have been better off staying in picturesque Dover in far-off England.

The aspect that (as shown in the 1860 Census) Caroline had a personal estate of a very useful sum of $100 indicates that she must have been able to accumulate sufficient income to support the family, but it would have been a continual struggle. Many of her neighbours were fellow English migrants so she probably received a lot of local support also. Traditionally widows sought work by housekeeping or taking in washing, however this depended on the ability of the local community to afford this.

Thomas’s childhood

Thomas acquired his early education in the local public schools (called common schools), however his formal education would have been small because as the eldest child he would have had to help support the family. For instance we find him in the 1860 Census at the grand age of 16 describing himself as a “Farmer”, and in later Censuses he described himself as a labourer or a farmer, showing that he had not been able to undertake any trade or other training.

His next move was to join the army at the age of seventeen.

Company “A” was originally constituted in 1808 and had served in the 1812 Indian Wars. After the Civil War it would serve in the Spanish War (1898-9) and the First World War.

On face value his enlistment seems to have been a most peculiar thing to do in the light of the family’s straitened circumstances. Had he travelled for upwards of ten days to renew his acquaintance with his future wife Rebecca? Or, less romantically, was the objective of his trip to join the army and provide a means of obtaining a regular income for the family?

Also I cannot help thinking that the Jerrems family may have played a part in influencing Thomas. Jesse Jerrems had signed up two days earlier in the same village, and his brother Thomas Jerrems had already joined the unit, so they may have suggested to him that he join their unit, despite the fact that he had to travel more than 600 miles from Essex to do this.

Supporting this theory, as previously mentioned, Thomas Mayborn later married their younger sister Rebecca Jerrems.
No previous connection with the Jerrems family

I cannot find any earlier connection between the Jerrems and Mayborn families. They originally came from different parts of England, so perhaps they met in New York when they first arrived there.

In any case they must have kept in contact because Thomas Mayborn’s trip from Essex to Utica, of over 600 miles, was a big undertaking. I have not been able to work out specifically how he travelled this distance. Perhaps it was a combination of travel by rail and canal.

The 14th Regiment wintered at Minor’s Hill in Virginia until March 1862 and then took part in the siege of Yorktown, the Battle of Hanover Court and engagements at Mechanicsville and Gaines’ Mills (the latter against the famous General Stonewall Jackson). We then pick up on an account of the Battle of Malvern Hill (where Thomas was wounded) compiled by veterans of the 14th Regiment published in Utica’s Sunday Journal in May 1896:

“This engagement was followed by marching by night and fighting by day until the Union army reached the vicinity of the James River, where the fighting closed with the brilliant victory at Malvern. In this battle the Fourteenth added to its laurels by the repulse of repeated charges and the capture of the flag of a South Carolina regiment. The losses to the Regiment in these engagements were severe, being 54 killed, 200 wounded and many taken prisoner out of a total of 500 engaged“.

These casualties were reminiscent of the terrible casualties endured by the Jerrems family men in the First World War and demonstrate the severity of the Civil War. No doubt many of the 200 wounded died later owing to the primitive medical and hospital standards of the time. A serious wound was tantamount to a death sentence.

The capture of an enemy unit’s flag was the ultimate proof of victory.
The story continues later
As often happens, I have run out of space, so I will tell you in a later Journal how Thomas was wounded, taken prisoner and released, recuperated, married Rebecca Jerrems, followed by an account of his later life.