DANIEL CARD OF SCRIBA & OSWEGO, NY

Many thanks to Esther Rancier for sharing her information on the Card family. Esther is researching in Richland and Mexico the Soul/Soule, Brace and Daniel P. Smith families, and would appreciate hearing from anyone researching these surnames.   Esther Rancier at: [email protected]

For more information on the Card Family, please contact the 
Historians and Historical Societies.

 Richard Card, born in England about the time that the Pilgrims sailed west, arrived in America before 1647 when he married Rebecca from Newport, RI.  The family settled in  Newport where Richard became a freeman in 1655.  He was the presumed father of four sons according to John O. Austin, the leading early RI genealogist.  

 Richard’s son James married before 1688 Ruth DeHavens.  Their son Peleg was born in North Kingstown [sic], RI ca. 1685.  He married Rebecca Dolover before 1709.  This family resided in North Kingston, RI.

 Peleg and Rebecca’s son William was born ca. 1710.  He wed Mercy Briggs from East Greenwich, RI where the family resided for many years.  Two sons, Jonathan and Daniel removed to Pownal, Bennington Co., VT by 1770.  

 Both brothers were enumerated in the 1790 Pownal census living near each other.  Daniel had a household of 1 son below 16, one male over 16 and 5 females.  His wife was reputed to have been Sarah Place, but she was more likely to have been a second wife. The first marriage may have been with a female of the Leverett family possibly by ca. 1777 as several of their oldest children were gone from the home by 1790.  Daniel’s youngest son was born ca. 1797/98 at Pownal.  His name was also Daniel.

 Jonathan’s family at that time stayed at Pownal,  although later some of his children removed to Herkimer Co., NY.  Daniel accompanied by many of his children began living at West Burlington, Otsego Co., NY. The family eventually spread out into most of the county.  The elder Daniel died at West Burlington on 29 May 1839.

 The youngest son Daniel, on 31 October 1820 in East Oswego, Oswego Co., NY, married Jane C. Shapleigh.  Daniel lived in Oswego Village in the 1830 census.  By 1840 his family was on a farm at Scriba, NY where they remained until after 1860.  Daniel and Jane had five children: Leverett A. Card, born 1824 in Oswego, NY; Lucia Card, born 1828; Julia Hannah Card, born ca. 1838; Mary Florence Card, born ca. 1839; and Francis Card, born ca. 1847.

 Daniel prospered as a farmer.  He estimated his net worth as $5,000 in the 1850 Scriba census.  He was faring better than many of his neighbors.  In the 1860 Scriba census he declared his worth of $6100.  After this census, no more references could be found about Daniel or his wife.

 Daughter Lucia married before 1850 to an English immigrant John M. Baynes, age 24, in 1850 when he was a hired hand on her father Daniel’s farm. They had one known child, Jennie F. Baynes.  Lucia died 2 July 1884 according to a family researcher, but place of death was unstated.

 In 1850 Leverett resided in Ward 2, Oswego, NY.  He would live out the rest of his life in Ward 3.  He had married Elizabeth J. Bickford born in Canada of American parents James and Elizabeth Bickford, also living in Ward 3 of 1850 Oswego.  The Bickfords had four children born in Canada and two more after their return to the states.  James Bickford had been born in New Hampshire where Bickfords came early to Stratford County.  The Bickford name figures in nearly all the early New Hampshire histories.  James Bickford and his son Edwin ran a furniture store in 1859 at 169 W. First St., Oswego.  They also were prosperous.  James called himself a cabinet maker.  While making furniture he probably met young Leverett Card through their mutual interest in wood. 

 Leverett, although a lawyer by profession, actually worked as a timber merchant at that time.  There was a local boom in processing Canadian timber brought into the port.

 It was a good marriage for Elizabeth.  She lived in apparent luxury.  She was able to make a home for her unmarried sister Frances and her 70-year old brother Russell Bickford and his wife later in her life.  

 Leverett declared his worth as $53,000 in the 1870 Oswego census, making him one of Oswego’s wealthiest citizens.  In 1878 He became Oswego City Treasurer.

 Leverett and Elizabeth had two sons: Frederick A. Card, born ca. 1849, and Edward C. Card, born ca. 1863.  In the 1900 Oswego census Elizabeth declared she had only two children and they both were still alive.

 Leverett had his interest in politics.  Elizabeth served on the first Board of Directors for the Home for the Homeless, a well-supported charity.  She served with Mrs. Cheney Ames, the banker’s wife, and Mrs. Thomas Kingsford, from two of Oswego’s most successful and famous families. Kingsford is still a well-known name in cornstarch.  Thomas Kingford built an empire from his cornstarch factory in Oswego. 

 After the lumber industry boom faded, Leverett became a successful and well-known attorney about Oswego.   Historian John Churchill mentioned him as an outstanding member of the bar.  His son Frederick A. Card also was cited as a well-regarded lawyer.

 The Cards lacked for nothing apparently, but most of their lives they had a need for companionship or hospitality or exra cash.  In the 1850 census they lived with E. W. Bosities(?), his wife Frances, and their son Edward, age 2.  In 1870 they had a servant living with them. But in 1880 there were five strangers living with them: 3 single males, an unmarried female school-teacher and a widowed stenographer.  There were no live-in servants listed, leaving Elizabeth with a large household to care for beyond her husband and sons who both still lived at home. None of these strangers called themselves roomers or boarders which was the usual practice with unrelated persons in the home.  Their presence remained decidedly odd.

 Leverett died before 1900.  The two sons moved possibly out of state.  Elizabeth, 70, filled her home with her unmarried sister Frances Bickford, 61, and her brother Russell Bickford, 64.  Russell had been married for 30 years to Julia M., born in 1840.  She lived in the house too.  They were all next door to the wealthy Thomas Kingsford and his elaborate home.
 By 1910 all this line of Cards were gone from Oswego County.  Frederick and Edward were probably dead before 1920.  No trace of them could be located.

 Special thanks are given to family researcher Paul D. Card for contributing his research so freely.  

SOURCES:

 Austin, John Osborne.  The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island.  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1978.
 Churchill, John. Landmarks of Oswego County, New York.
Syracuse: Mason, 1895.
 Duncanson, John Victor.  Newport, Nova Scotia – A Rhode Island Township.  Belleville, Ontario: Mika Press, 1985.
 1859 Oswego City, Residence and Advertising Directory. (LDS fische #60443030).
 Lines, Villa Maxine Phelps.  Descendants of Richard Card of Rhode Island and His Wife Rebecca, 1596-1918.  Manuscript.  (LDS #1307501).
 Marriages and Death Notices, Oswego Co., N.Y. 1819-1825. Available [online] http:rootsweb.com/~nyoswego [12 December 2003].   
  New England Marriages Prior to 1700.  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1985.
 U.S. Census, Ward 3, Oswego, Oswego Co., NY 1850, 1870, 1880 & 1900.
 U.S.  Census, Oswego Village, Oswego Co., NY 1830.
 U.S.  Census, Scriba, Oswego Co., NY 1840, 1850 & 1860.
 U.S.  Census, Pownal, Bennington Co., VT 1790.
 WorldConnect Project.  Available [online] http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com [13 December 2003].