Ron Elder Family Tree

Ivan Elder spent the decade of his 80s writing the story of his life. He had in front of him as aids to his remarkably clear personal memories a collection of the appointment diaries which he had used to keep his daily life in order. More importantly he had a war-time diary and a collection of the letters he had written home during WW2 and which his mother had carefully preserved. His Pilot’s Logbook and scrapbooks from later overseas trips and collections of cuttings from local newspapers together with notes of meetings and drafts of speeches he had given were additional sources. At times there was probably too much material to work with and he realised that he risked being overwhelmed by detail.

The reality was that Ivan was reviewing the course of his life – reliving past experiences and fondly recalling loved ones and friends from long ago.

It was always Ivan’s intention that his book would be published to give a picture of his life in New Zealand to his grandchildren, especially to the two who were born and brought up in the USA. It was a hope that was not realised during his lifetime. In the course of time the manuscript was painstakingly edited and prepared for printing – i’s were dotted and t’s crossed and typos corrected. In 2017 he agreed that publishing online rather than in physical book form was a more realistic goal. But the work was then lost in a computer crash.

However, recently the harddrive from the old computer has been revived along with the software that was being used for the editing. The files have been recovered and The Book is now offered in PDF format for Ivan’s family and friends to enjoy online.

Ivan’s book ‘My Life’ can be accessed at the elderfamilytree.wordpress.com website alongside other elements of our famiy history.
The direct link to Ivan’s book is here:
https://elderfamilytree.wordpress.com/david-elder-abt-1771-abt-1845/ivan-elder/

There is a Comments section at the bottom of each website page where readers can contribute any corrections of fact or orthography. Likewise it might be a place for family and friends to contribute their own recollections and stories of Ivan’s event-full life.

Warm Regards
Ron Elder

On 11 Feb 1867 Samuel Carr left New York on the Henry Chauncey bound for Panama with his three children and accompanied by Mary Jane Burpee, recently employed by him as a housekeeper at the New London Hotel.  His wife Eunice Keller Carr had been sent back to Boston on a trumped up errand and found them gone upon her return to New York.

The abandonment of Eunice Carr appears to have been a widely publicised event from the very beginning, both in her hometown of New London and wider afield.  I have recently discovered a near-contemporary news item published only a month later on the front page of the New York Times for Sunday 17 March repeating a report from the Boston Journal.  It is clearly the source for some of the later reporting from San Francisco in 1887.

Elopement of a Citizen of New Hampshire

A correspondent of the Boston Journal gives the following account of the recent elopement of a citizen of New London, N.H.:

The name of the eloping husband Capt. SAMUEL M. CARR . He is about 45 years old and belongs to one of the most respectable families in New London. For many years he was a farmer. When the war broke out he entered the military service, and for a abort time was a Captain in the Eleventh Regiment, where his record was of a doubtful character. Returning borne he kept the New London Hotel about a year, and then concluded to emigrate, as he affirmed, to California. The divorced woman with whom he eloped from New-York, was a Mrs Burpee, who is about 23 years of age and of a rather prepossessing appearance. She was married young to a New-London farmer, who was not pleased with her conduct, and who got a divorce from her about a year ago. Mrs. Burpee was employed by Mr. Carr in the hotel to do some light duties and to assist In taking care of the children. While so employed an intimacy sprang up between her and the proprietor of the house, which culminated in one of the most heartless elopements on record. Up to within two or three years, Mr. Carr had been regarded as one of the solid and reliable men of the town, and even his suspicious intimacy with Mrs. Burpee was not universally looked upon in a criminal light. Only when he neglected and abused his own faithful wife did the New-London public believe him a thoroughly guilty man. When he left New-London with his wife and three interesting children, Mrs. Burpee rode in his team to the Potter Place. On the afternoon of that day Mr. Carr and family took the train for New-York In the meantime Mrs. Burpee took the morning train tor Grafton, where she stopped and took the return cars, actually traveling to New-York on the same train and boat with Carr and his family, and, on reaching the City, going unobserved to the same hotel. Carr sent his wife back alone to Boston, to look after imaginary lost baggage, and then went to Mrs. Burpee’s room, and took immediate measures for his hasty departure. He took a vessel for South America, which has to touch at Panama, traveling under the name of Samuel M. Carter. He bought a ticket for himself, wile, three children and baggage, for which he paid $800 in gold. The price paid for his passage is pretty sure evidence that he sailed for South America. A telegram has been sent to Panama, directing his arrest as soon the steamer the steamer touches that port. His wife journeyed alone to Boston and back to New-York, and then sorrowfully returned to the protection of her friends in New-Hampshire. Arriving in Hopkinton, where she had relatives, she found her entire worldly possessions to consist of $1 and one suit of clothes. Her guilty husband took not only her children, to whom she was fondly attached, but the greater portion of her clothing and keepsakes, together with his own property, amounting, as was supposed, to six or seven thousand dollars. As would have been expected, the intelligence created great excitement in New-London, where the injured woman had long lived. and where she is universally esteemed. Immediately after her return prominent men tendered their services to aid in the arrest of her husband while the ladles of New-London went at once to work to raise money for her present comfort and support. Several hundred dollars were subscribed by citizens to defray the expenses of the detective officers in New-York who have this matter in charge. But the crowning proof of the interest which the public take in the unfortunate affair is the fact that in the town meeting in New-London yesterday it was voted to raise $1000 to aid in the arrest, return and prosecution of SAMUEL M. CARR.  His detention at Panama is considered quite probable.

Clipped from

The New York Times, 17 Mar 1867, Sun, Page 1

Arrival in New Zealand  1867

The San Francisco Chronicle of 28 April 1887 quoted an 1867 report from the Superintendent of Police in Wellington, New Zealand saying that “Carr and family arrived at Wellington on 11^th April (1867) On that evening they took the steamer Tarrawakai for the town of Nelson, where they arrived the next morning. From there they took, a short time after, the steamer Adelaide for the city of Auckland; and on the 8^th day of September of this year (1867) Carr and family were living on a farm and lands he had taken possession of and was residing on a few miles from Auckland.” [1]  The mention of “various aliases of Henry M Carr, Carter, Stevens and Curtain” and the source being a report from the New Zealand Police are both hints of a larger story to be uncovered.

1887  Alice Burrows

A story appeared in The West Coast Times on 6 July 1887 quoting a source in the Australasian. [2]  It was repeated in the Southland Times the following day [3] and then in the Mataura Ensign nearly three weeks later. The story sought further information from the public.

The publication in both the Southland Times and the Mataura Ensign must certainly have come to the attention of the Elder family as both versions refer to the connection of people in the story to the district. The time lapse between the Southland Times and Mataura Ensign versions suggests that the paper may have had time to do some checking before publication.

The name quoted in the story is Henry. M. Carr who had been known in the district as Henry Kurtain – his wife’s name is given as “Curtain”.  However, the connection would have been made clear by the reference to a local girl Mary Burrows whose marriage to Edward Kurtain in 5 May 1885 is recorded in the Knapdale Parish records. [4]  It can only be imagined what consternation this story must have raised in the Elder family and in the wider community.

The following is the version of the story which appeared in the Mataura Ensign:[5]

A STRANGE CASE.

As it is believed that some of the parties alluded to in the subjoined clipping from a recent number of the ‘Australasian’ at one time lived in this district, the paragraph should not be without interest:- ‘A persevering reporter in San Francisco has been trying with the zeal of his profession, to get at the bottom of a strange case, in which there figure- some persons who were formerly living in New Zealand. The principal object of his attack was one Henry M.Carr, ‘sewing machine agent and chief sachem of a knot of spiritualists,’ noted for his ‘jubilant disposition’ and ‘love of controversy,’ and the job the reporter has undertaken is to find out how Carr and his wife (a nurse) got possession of a girl named Alice Burrows, now. about fifteen. Mr and Mrs Carr have been married not quite two years, the lady’s previous name being Mary Curtain, though Carr says her surname was Beffe.  Both were in New Zealand the girl Alice and a boy named Freddy crossed the Pacific with them in June- July, 1885, but the marriage took place in San Francisco on their arrival.  The case has become public property through some legal proceedings being taken to get the girl out of the Magdalen Asylum, in which she was placed by Carr.  Carr’s allegation is that she had become vicious and uncontrollable but the nuns report her to be excellent in her behaviour, and she denies all the sins attributed to her by Carr, who contradicts his own statement by admitting that he had tried to persuade Alice to marry his son, a streetcar conductor, thirty years of age. The girl, having got into the Asylum, wants to stay there, to be away from the Carrs.  Both her parents are dead.  She says that they lived at ‘Chatham’ New Zealand, where her father was shipping clerk but there being no such post town in the Colony, the reporter must have written the name wrongly down. As she remembers that her father (whose name was John Burrows) owned several houses, and that she herself always wore ‘nice clothes,’ it is, surmised by the San Francisco reporter that the Carrs possessed themselves of whatever property was coming to the Burrows children; but Carr says that the father was a laboring man, and laughs at the idea of him owning  houses. It is a very queer case  – the modest behaviour of the girl in Court, and with the nuns, the fearful things said about her by Carr, Carr’s self-contradictions, and various minor incidents, all contributing to awaken curiosity, arid a desire to get at the ‘truth of the story. Perhaps now that the case is in the newspapers, it will attract notice in the right quarter in New Zealand.  It seems that the Burrows family consisted of four children:  three girls Mary (18), who is married to one of Carr’s sons in New Zealand;  Theresa (16), Alice (15), ; and Frank.  The case occupies three columns of the ‘Weekly Chronicle’ of April 28, and outline portraits are given of all the persons conspicuous in it. As the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children has interested itself in Alice Burrows, it is probable that the complete facts will in due time be gathered together, and precautions taken, at any rate, to prevent the girl going back into the custody of the Carrs.”

San Francisco 1887

The story published in New Zealand refers to a substantive article in the San Francisco ‘Weekly Chronicle’ of 28 April 1887. This was the first in a series of four articles published between April 23^rd and April 28^th with a concluding story on 5 May 1887.  They can be accessed online through Newspapers.com.[6]  The treatment is somewhat sensationalised and the journal has clearly taken a strongly disapproving if not crusading stance against the Carrs and against Samuel Carr in particular as can be seen from the titles and sub-headings of the articles – “Among the Fallen … Efforts to Hush up Evil Doing”, Carr Unmasked”, “Old Man Carr – More of His Misdeeds”, “A Reeking Record – Bad Man Carr’s Terrible Career.”  This bias needs to be borne in mind when assessing the material presented.

The story concerns a girl named Alice Burrows, aged 15, who is thought by friends to be held against her will in the care of the sisters of the Magdelan Convent.  The Magdelan Sisters are known for their mission to care for young pregnant women who are unmarried – while the charity of the sisters is lauded the reputation of the young women is not.  Alice Carr’s friends have noticed her absence from their usual activities but have been fobbed off when they enquired at her home – “Alice was always out.”  A group of older women have become involved and have discovered that she is indeed an inmate of the asylum but under the name of Alice Burrows.  So concerned are they for her welfare that they have persuaded a friend to brief a lawyer to take a writ of habeus corpus commanding the Sister Superior to produce her in court.  During a brief delay before the start of proceedings her supporters are concerned to see Alice being pressured by Carr and the lawyer for the convent.  Under intense questioning in the court session the girl says that she is “not an unwilling prisoner.”  The case draws to an abrupt close and she is returned to the convent.

There the story would have ended had it not been for the Chronicle reporter’s sense that “something like an outrage was being perpetrated upon an innocent child in the name of justice” and his determination “to unravel the mystery.”  What follows is a combination of two stories – the unfolding story of Alice Burrows and her relationship to the Carrs on the one hand and the deeper background story of “Old Man Carr” which the reporter begins to uncover.  While of course very closely related the two stories need to be kept separate.

SF Chronicle 23 April 1887: “Among the Fallen”
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226238/18870423_among_the_fallensamuel/

SF Chronicle 24 April 1887:  “Carr Unmasked”
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226230/18870424_carr_unmaskedsamuel_murray/

SF Chronicle 25 April 1887  “Old Man Carr – More of his Misdeeds”
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226259/18870425_old_man_carrsamuel_murray/

SF Chronicle 28 April 1887.  “A reeking Record. Bad Man Carr’s Terrible Career”
http://www.newspapers.com/image/#27519435

SF Chronicle 5 May 1887:  Alice Burrows – Freed from Magdelan Asylum” (including a statement given to the Chronicle by Mary Jane Burpee/Curtain)
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226272/18870503_alice_burrows_free_from_the/

A version of the story was published in the New York Herald:
New York Herald  1 May 1887  “Old Scandals Revived”
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201887/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201887%20-%201608.pdf

A much earlier story from ten years earlier in 1877 told of Eunice Keller Carr’s fruitless attempt to find her husband and children.

http://www.newspapers.com/clip/82319/1877_eunice_carr_in_san_francisco/

[1] http://www.newspapers.com/clip/348947/18870428_sf_chronicle_police_report/

[2]West Coast Times, 6 July 1881
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WCT18870706.2.13&srpos=2&e=-05-1887—–100–1-byDA—0Carr+Curtain–

[3] .Southland Times 7 July 1887 ( “some of the parties alluded to … at one time lived in Dunedin”)
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ST18870707.2.32&srpos=3&e=-05-1887—–100–1-byDA—0Carr+Curtain–

[4] http://www.archives.presbyterian.org.nz/marriageregisters/knapdalemarriages.htm

[5] Mataura Ensign  26 July 1887 ( “some of the parties alluded to … at one time lived in this district”
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ME18870726.2.37&srpos=5&e=-05-1887—–100–1-byDA—0Carr+Curtain–

[6] SF Chronicle 23 April 1887: “Among the Fallen”
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226238/18870423_among_the_fallensamuel/

SF Chronicle 24 April 1887:  “Carr Unmasked”
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226230/18870424_carr_unmaskedsamuel_murray/

SF Chronicle 25 April 1887  “Old Man Carr – More of his Misdeeds”
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226259/18870425_old_man_carrsamuel_murray/

SF Chronicle 28 April 1887.  “A reeking Record. Bad Man Carr’s Terrible Career”
http://www.newspapers.com/image/#27519435

SF Chronicle 5 May 1887:  Alice Burrows – Freed from Magdelan Asylum” (including a statement given to the Chronicle by Mary Jane Burpee/Curtain)
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/226272/18870503_alice_burrows_free_from_the/

Samuel Murray Carr (aka Henry Wade Kurtain)

B:  19 Nov 1834 in New London, New Hampshire, USA
D:  21 Sep 1909 in Alameda County, California, USA

There is a mystery lying not yet fully explained in the dual identities of my Gt-Gt-Grandfather.  He was born Samuel Murray Carr on 19 Nov 1834 in New London, NH, USA but was known during his time in New Zealand as Henry Wade Kurtain.  He renamed his three children not only with the new surname but also with new forenames – the Carr children Lizzie Florence, Frederick Elmer and Frank Weston became known as Edner, Herbert and Edward Kurtain.  Lizzie, the eldest and my Gt-Grandmother, was married under her new identity and carried her new forename of Edner for the rest of her life even after she was reconnected with her American family.  Her two brothers later took back their original identities although the older brother was known on return to the US as both Fred and Herbert Carr.

For many years Carr’s reasons for taking up this alias were speculated upon in our wider family. In the myths that developed within the family there were a number of recurring common elements but there was always a hint of some kind of scandal that had needed to be concealed.  Some of the versions were clearly designed to defend the reputation of the family.  There are some in the family who continue to think that the explanation should remain undisclosed.

Carr’s background as a younger son of a respected New Hampshire family is known from a History of the Town of New London published in 1895. The earliest reference under the name of his father Samuel Murray Carr records his birth on 19 Nov 1834 and his marriage to Eunice Keller of Machiasport, ME.   A later entry under his own name records the births of his three children, Lizzie Florance (1859), Fred Elmer (1861) and Frank Weston (1863).  It also reports his enlistment as an officer in the 11^th New Hampshire Volunteers during the Civil War.  This unit took heavy casualties during the Battle of Fredericksberg when it was ordered into the attack across open ground against an impregnable Confederate position.  The entry says that Carr was discharged disabled from the army but his military record is ambivalent.  It contains a copy of his letter of resignation on account of “very important business” that made it ‘imperative’ that he should return to New Hampshire.  It has been suggested that this business might have concerned his wife who was at the time expecting their third child.  There is little mention of his[1] post-war career other than to say that “since 1882 Captain Carr has been a resident of San Francisco, Cal., with the Singer Machine company and is adjutant of Liberty Post, G.A.R.” [2] The history also reports that he had married a Mrs Louisa A. Sayer of Temescal, Cal on Oct 27 1895.

The remainder of Samuel Carr’s story has remained largely unknown until the recent development of digitised historical records which has made it possible to search a growing number of newspapers online.[3]  Some of the previously accepted facts now need to be revised and new information on Henry Kurtain’s time in New Zealand and in the USA can be supplied to fill in some of the blanks in his story.  In particular it may be possible to throw light on the mystery of why he felt the need to change his name from Samuel Murray Carr to Henry Wade Kurtain.  The following is a summary of references to Henry Wade Kurtain  that have been found in newspapers and official records in New Zealand during the period between his arrival in 1867 and his departure probably in 1884.

1868 Ahipara Highway District

The earliest of the Kurtain newspaper references confirm his election as a trustee of the Ahipara district in February 1868 – “the following gentlemen were elected trustees:- Mr R Duffus, Thomas Hunt, R H Matthews, Mr Walpole, and Mr Kurtain” [4]  The appointment did not last long – a Provincial Government Gazette notice in the Daily Southern Cross of 11 September confirmed the appointment of “Mr Ephraim Shannon for the Ahipara district, in the room of Mr Kurtain, resigned” [5]

1869 Thames Mining Interests

The reason for his resignation may have been the attraction of mining operations in the Thames goldfield. In February 1869 Kurtain is named as one of a deputation of miners in relation to the location of a proposed stamping battery.[6]  In July of the same year “Henry W Kurtain, Tararu” is named as a shareholder in the La Plata Mining Company[7] and the Little Nell Mining Company[8] at Tararu Creek, Thames.  That he was a hands-on investor is demonstrated by a report from a correspondent named “Morepork” on 16 July 1869 which mentions a visit to the Little Nell claim where he was “kindly taken in tow by Mr Kurtain who has the management of that (flume) department”. [9]

In early November of 1869 Henry Wade Kurtain is named as Manager as well as a shareholder of the Tinker’s Gully Gold Mining Company and the registration application is submitted in his name. [10]  Later that month he issues a notice as Manager of an extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders in the Tinkers Gully Gold Mining Company.[11]

1873 Ahipara

It is not known how long Kurtain remained in the Thames district but by July 1873 he was back in Ahipara. An article in the Daily Southern Cross reports a meeting of householders in the Ahipara District “to take measures for increasing educational facilities in the district.” The meeting was held in Mr Elder’s house and elected trustees from each of the five sub-districts. That Messrs Elder and Kurtain were both elected suggests that they lived in different sub-districts.  Mr Kurtain was appointed chairman of the trustees and Mr Elder secretary. [12]

Kurtain’s time in Ahipara comes to an end in 1876.  He is mentioned in the report of Mr A Buckland’s fortnightly wool sale of January 7: “H.W.Kurtain, 1 bale, H on line, half-bred, washed,13¾d, Sutherland; H.W.Kurtain, 1 bale, (over K and – under, half-bred, washed, 12d, Sutherland; H.W.Kurtain, 3 bales, – W – Under, longwool, washed, 13d, Henderson and McFarlane.”[13]  But the next references are from the shipping news and record the family’s journey to the south.

On 20 October “Kurtain and family” sailed on the Iona from Russell.[14]  On the 24^th “The SS Hawea left Onehunga for the South” with passengers “Mr and Mrs Kurtain and 2 sons” [15]  Edner was perhaps left in Auckland at this time.  This is the first mention in any known record of a Mrs Kurtain or Kurtain children although children might be implied in Kurtain’s support for educational facilities in Ahipara.  It has to be questioned, however, who this “Mrs Kurtain” might have been as Kurtain’s (Carr’s) wife Eunice Keller was still alive at this time in the USA.

1876 Southland

The family’s arrival in Southland is implied in the recorded arrival of their goods at the port of Bluff – 6 pkgs Kurtain per SS Wanganui on 2 November[16] and 10 pkgs Kurtain per SS Wanganui on 24 November 1876. [17]  These dates are nearly a full year before the Big Land Sale of the Knapdale Run in October 1877. It seems that Kurtain was already in the district when James Elder appointed him manager of his newly-purchased properties in 1877 rather than moving there to take up the position.

Henry Kurtain was by now managing a farm in the Chatton District in Eastern Southland on behalf of James Elder. In 1880 the ownership of the Springdale property was transferred into his own name.  Between 1878 and 1881 Henry Kurtain is mentioned several times in the newspapers of the district.  In March 1878 he is reported as contributing to a meeting on the route to be followed by a proposed railway extension – he calls for greater consultation with residents who might be involved in ‘heavy liabilites’ as a result. [18]  In January of the following year a letter is received from H.W.Kurtain by the Knapdale Road Board seeking the deferment of decision on the siting of a new bridge until after a meeting of Chatton residents to consider the matter. [19]  Kurtain’s son Edward is named as 3^rd placed in the Under-18 category of the 1880 Knapdale Ploughing Match with H.W.Kurtain listed as ‘Owner’, presumably of the plough and team of horses.  He is reported as proposer of the toast the “Unsuccessful Competitors” at the after match dinner and also responded to another speaker “in a neat speech … on behalf of the pastoral interests.” [20]

The picture of Kurtain as a respected and public-minded member of the community is supported by a brief report in the Evening Post of 6 September 1880 that “Mr Kurtain, Chairman of the Knapdale Road Board, is spoken of as a candidate for Waikaia.”  [21] The same report was carried in the Otago Daily Times and the Timaru Herald. However, the withdrawal of his candidacy was reported in the Otago Daily Times only a couple of weeks later. [22]

Mrs Kurtain receives a very warm mention in the Southland Times for being one of “two respected settlers’ wives (who) did their share handsomely in providing a little rational recreation for the young folks” in the form of an evening of dancing in the homes of “the genial hosts and their kindly spouses.” [23]  Here again, although Mrs Kurtain is recognised as one of the “respected settlers’ wives” she cannot have been so in a legal sense as Kurtain’s first wife was still alive in the USA.

Kurtain continues to appear as an active member of the Eastern Southland community. At the end of 1880 he is listed as an “attending member” of the Mataura A&P Association at the annual show. [24]  Early in the new year he writes as Chairman of the Knapdale Road Board complaining about the poor state of repair of a road near the Waikaka township. The Tuapeka Road Board resolves to return the letter to him with their advice that Kurtain has mistaken the boundaries and the area is not under their jurisdiction. [25]  He also writes to the Southland County Council about faulty box drains in the Chatton district. [26] And on the 24^th January 1881 he is reported as making submissions to the Minister of Public Works in Dunedin at the request of the inhabitants in the Otama and Chatton districts. [27]  The Otago Witness also reported the interview with the comment that Kurtain had “received a favourable reply” and adding that he had been accompanied and introduced by the local member of parliament. [28]

In late February of 1881 Henry Kurtain chaired a “semi-public meeting” in Gore to discuss the establishment of a second newspaper.  Three members of parliament were included in the committee elected to proceed with the proposal.  That Kurtain was asked to chair such a meeting is indicative of the regard with which he was held in the district.  He is not, however, without his critics.  His leadership of the Knapdale Road Board is given credit by an Otago Witness correspondent for a welcome improvement in its efficiency and impartiality in tending to the residents’ roading requirements.[29]  However, the reporter is taken to task in a letter from ‘Chatton’ who claims that the old Board had been unfairly criticised and that Kurtain had engineered his way onto the Board by way of a challenge to the electoral process.[30]  As the to-and-fro correspondence continues it is clear that the pseudonyms are thin disguises and that the protagonists are well aware of each other’s identity.  ‘Settler’ dismisses Kurtain’s character in a letter published on May 28^th: “He seems in your correspondent’s eyes to be a model of perfection, but if his mode of displaying justice is in harmony with the way in which he obtained a seat at the Board, the less said about it the better.” [31]

Another contentious matter appears in the newspaper reports in the latter part of the year. It begins with a report in September that the Education Board had received “a deputation from Chatton, Messrs Milne, Donald and Kurtain, with a petition for the removal of the teacher.” [32]  The Board clearly granted their request as the paper reports a couple of weeks later on a “boil over in school affairs” at Chatton.  A meeting had been held to elect a chairman and secretary replacing Kurtain and two other former committee members. The new officers were commissioned to draw up a “true statement of the case and forward it to the Board, soliciting them to … retain the present teacher, such being the wish of the majority of the householders interested.”[33]  The Board’s decision that the teacher would be better to resign was reluctantly accepted by the new Committee who had felt that the actions of Kurtain, Donald and Milne had been taken out of “private spite.” [34]

1881 Gisborne, Poverty Bay

As 1881 draws to a close the shipping news reports from Port Chalmers the departure of passengers “For Gisborne: Mrs Kurtain and Miss Kurtain.“  So begins the next phase of the Kurtain story.  Once again the identities are not clear, in particular in respect of the “Miss Kurtain.”[35]  It is possible that this was in fact Alice Burrowes, sister of the wife of Edward Kurtain, who had been taken into Mrs Kurtain’s care.  It was previously thought that Kurtain had returned to the USA about 1882.  However, it now appears that he spent some time in Poverty Bay before his final departure from New Zealand and return to California probably in 1884.

The first reference to Henry Kurtain in the Poverty Bay Herald displays him in March of 1882 already taking a familiar role as chairman of a public event.  The occasion is the farewell to the Rev J Dellow of the Wesleyan Chapel during which “a public meeting was held, Mr Kurtain being in the chair.” [36]  To be cast in such a prominent role so soon after his arrival in the district speaks much for the confidence Kurtain was able to engender in those around him.  He must have performed the task well for he is called into a similar role at the annual soiree of the Wesleyan Church a few months later [37] as well as for the farewell to Rev L. Hudson in the following year. [38] On all three of these occasions Mrs Kurtain and Miss Kurtain are listed among the ladies and girls who decorated the venue and served refreshments to the substantial number of attendees.

The close association of the Kurtains with the Wesleyan Church and the high regard in which Mrs Kurtain in particular was held are evident in this paid notice placed in the Poverty Bay Herald of 26 April 1883:

“THE following resolutions were passed at a meeting of the Ladies’ Sewing Bee, held in the Wesleyan Church, on. April 25th, the Circuit Minister being in. the Chair “This meeting having heard with deep regret that a certain person has, by his late actions, been casting reflections upon the character of one of its members, desires to express its entire confidence in Mrs Kurtain, and the manner in which she has discharged her duties as treasurer of our society, and requests her to accept our hearty thanks for past services and That the above resolution be inserted in the daily paper.” (Signed) HANNAH HACCHE, President.[39]

The concern of the church ladies for their friend’s reputation is very clear as is their determination that the intent of their resolution should reach a public audience.  It is tempting to speculate on whether the “certain person” they refer to might have been Kurtain himself.

Perhaps not, however, as Henry Kurtain’s acceptance as a respectable member of Gisborne society continues to be reflected in the pages of the Poverty Bay Herald.  In May 1883 he is listed as one of the ‘gentlemen’ present at a reception for the Governor Sir William Jervois who was making an official visit to the district.  Listed alongside his are the names of many prominent settlers whose names are known in the town to this day – Sieveright, Chrisp, Bull, Crawford, Ferris, Williams, DeLautour, Nolan, Haache. [40]  In the same month Kurtain was called to jury service in an assault case tried in the first-ever sitting of the Supreme Court in Gisborne. [41]  In July of the same year Kurtain is reported as one of a small working committee charged with establishing a local branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners which may give an indication of his occupation at the time. [42]

In July 1883 Henry Kurtain was reported as re-elected to the Committee of the Turanganui Library on which he had already served for the previous year.[43]  He must have been first elected only a few months after his arrival in the district.  The committee would have been a very active one for they were constructing a new building and were planning a week-long Fine Arts Exhibition to commence on the 22^nd October in connection with the opening.  Kurtain was named as one of the Executive Committee for the exhibition [44] and public notices advertising the exhibition listed him as one of the members from whom tickets could be obtained. [45]

Kurtain’s occupation as a storeman at Messrs Common, Shelton & Co  is mentioned in a report of an accident which befell him on his way home from work one evening in August 1882.  While taking a short-cut in the dark he fell down an unused well behind the Borough Council building.  He was able to extricate himself and make his way to his home in Gladstone Road where the doctor diagnosed a couple of broken ribs.[46]  It may have been the experience gained in this position that led him early in 1884 to open a General Store “up the road, at the corner of Disraeli Street (and Gladstone Road).”[47]  It is probable that he lived on the premises.  He may have been trading on his own account prior to this as a shipping note in June 1883 records a shipment from Port Chalmers to Gisborne of “157 sacks oats H. Kurtain” – it is tempting to think they may have been consigned from the Chatton farm as a similar shipment of 84 sacks left Bluff for Port Chalmers in November in the Kurtain name.[48]  In any event, a series of notices dating from 14 January 1884 announce the opening of the store and advertise the items on sale – “a selection of most CHOICE TEAS, GROCERIES, DRAPERY, CLOTHING, PAINTS, OILS, IRONMONGERY, BOOTS, SADDLERY, TENTS, TARPAULINS, CORDIALS, PATENT MEDICINES, FOWL FEED, MAIZE, whole and crashed.”[49]

The venture was short-lived.  On the 18th February, although the store advertisements still ran (presumably pre-paid) until the 6^th March, Kurtain was advertising “TO LET: A STORE in Gladstone Road, with nearly 12 years lease to run; with or without stock” [50]  There were no takers.  On 28 February the auctioneers Graham, Pitt & Bennet advertise the mortgagee sale of “All the goods, stock-in-trade, fixtures and chattels now being upon those premises corner of Gladstone Road and Disraeli Street, lately in the occupation of HENRY WADE KURTAIN, and also, All the unexpired Residue of a Term of Lease of 12 years (having nearly the whole of the term to run), of Part Section 303 and Part Sectioon 304, Gisborne, containining (sic) by admeasurement 34 perches, more or less, and lately in the occupation of HENRY WADE KURTAIN.” [51]

The imminent collapse of the business must have been obvious as the shipping news for 16 February records the departure of Mrs Kurtain and family: “DEPARTURES. Februarv. 16 – S.S. Rotomahana, for South.  Passengers – Mesdames Kurtain, Palmer, and Hobarts; Misses Kurtain, Booth, and Keenan;  Messrs.Westrupp, Cassin, and Redmond;  Masters Burgess and Kurtain, and two natives.” [52]  It will be noted that the mysterious “Miss Kurtain” has been joined by a previously unmentioned “Master Kurtain.”  Kurtain himself followed soon afterwards although travelling in the opposite direction – “Wairarapa SS. For the North” – on the 3rd of March 1884. [53]  His resignation from the committee and the fact that he had left the district are reported  in July in the annual report of the Turanganui Library. [54]

So draws to a close the Gisborne chapter of Henry Wade Kurtain’s time in New Zealand.

[1] p227 “A History of the Town of New London, Merrimack NH”, Myra B Lord (1899 New Hampshire Publishing Co, Somerton)

[2] p451 “A History of the Town of New London, Merrimack NH”, Myra B Lord (1899 New Hampshire Publishing Co, Somerton)

[3] For New Zealand papers see the Papers Past website of the National Library in Wellington: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

[4] New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1324, 13 February 1868, Page 4 – reported also in the Daily Southern Cross of the same date.

[5] PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT GAZETTE Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3481, 11 September 1868, Page 3

[6] New Zealand Herald, Volume VI, Issue 1644, 27 February 1869, Page 5

[7] Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3736, 9 July 1869, Page 2

[8] New Zealand Herald, Volume VI, Issue 1759, 12 July 1869, Page 2

[9] New Zealand Herald, Volume VI, Issue 1763, 16 July 1869, Page 5

[10] Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3808, 2 November 1869, Page 5

[11] Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3824, 20 November 1869, Page 1

[12] Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIX, Issue 4969, 28 July 1873, Page 2

[13] New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4422, 15 January 1876, Page 6

[14] Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 2090, 20 October 1876, Page 3

[15] Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 2092, 24 October 1876, Page 2

[16] Southland Times , Issue 2585, 3 November 1876, Page 2

[17] Southland Times , Issue 2606, 24 November 1876, Page 2

[18] Otago Witness , Issue 1371, 9 March 1878, Page 10

[19] Bruce Herald, Volume XI, Issue 1077, 10 January 1879, Page 3

[20] Otago Witness , Issue 1498, 31 July 1880, Page 22

[21] Evening Post, Volume XX, Issue 208, 6 September 1880, Page 3

[22] Otago Daily Times , Issue 5799, 20 September 1880, Page 2

[23] Southland Times , Issue 3817, 14 September 1880, Page 2

[24] Southland Times , Issue 3884, 1 December 1880, Page 2

[25] Tuapeka Times, Volume XIII, Issue 702, 15 January 1881, Page 2

[26] Southland Times , Issue 3922, 17 January 1881, Page 2

[27] Southland Times , Issue 3928, 24 January 1881, Page 2

[28] Otago Witness , Issue 1525, 29 January 1881, Page 18

[29] Otago Witness , Issue 1534, 2 April 1881, Page 13

[30] Otago Witness , Issue 1537, 23 April 1881, Page 13

[31] Otago Witness , Issue 1542, 28 May 1881, Page 12

[32] Southland Times , Issue 4113, 5 September 1881, Page 3

[33] Southland Times , Issue 4133, 28 September 1881, Page 2

[34] Southland Times , Issue 4163, 2 November 1881, Page 2

[35] New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6247, 24 November 1881, Page 4

[36] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume IX, Issue 1580, 30 March 1882, Page 2

[37] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume IX, Issue 1708, 30 August 1882, Page 2

[38] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 1875, 21 March 1883, Page 2

[39] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 1905, 26 April 1883, Page 2

[40] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 1932, 29 May 1883, Page 2

[41] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 1951, 20 June 1883, Page 2

[42] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 1985, 30 July 1883, Page 2

[43] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 1967, 9 July 1883, Page 2

[44] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 2033, 4 October 1883, Page 2

[45] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume X, Issue 2013, 18 October 1883, Page 3

[46] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume IX, Issue 1687, 5 August 1882, Page 2

[47] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XI, Issue 2082, 12 January 1884, Page 2

[48] Southland Times , Issue 4784, 6 November 1883, Page 2

[49] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XI, Issue 2083, 14 January 1884, Page 3

[50] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XI, Issue 3013, 18 February 1884, Page 2

[51] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XI, Issue 3022, 28 February 1884, Page 3

[52] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XI, Issue 3012, 16 February 1884, Page 2

[53] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XI, Issue 3025, 3 March 1884, Page 2

[54] Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XI, Issue 4035, 11 July 1884, Page 2

The History of New London gives this brief summary of Samuel Murray Carr’s military career in an individual biographical sketch:

“… enlisted Eleventh N.H.V., Aug 11 1862; mustered in as captain of Company F; discharged disabled Jan 29 1863 …”
[https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofn00lord#page/450/mode/2up]

A similar summary is given in the biographical sketch presented in the History of the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment:

“Samuel Carr was a resident of New London when the Eleventh Regiment was recruited, in which he was commissioned caption of Company F., September 4, 1862.  He was with the regiment at the Battle of Fredericksburg on the 13 December 1862, and was discharged from the service for disability, January 29 1863. He had been a resident of New London for many years and was an officer in the state militia. He now resides in San Francisco, and is prominent in G.A.R matters upon the Pacific coast.”
[https://archive.org/stream/02511527.3272.emory.edu/02511527_3272#page/n217/mode/2up/search/Carr ]

Enlistment:

A little more detail is given in the History of New London chapter for the 1851-1875 period.  In April 1861 Lieut. Samuel M Carr had been left in charge of the local militia, the McCutcheon’s Guards, after the two senior officers enlisted for duty in the 11th NHV.  He remained in command of the militia unit for over a year.  The following August 1862, when the New Hampshire Volunteers (N.H.V) was again recruiting, Sam Carr and the greater part of the remaining complement also enlisted. [https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofn00lord#page/410/mode/2up]

Rank:

Carr’s rank as Captain is confirmed by a muster roll ticket in his military record which lists him on 29 August 1862 in Concord NH as a “Capt” in Company F of the 11th New Hampshire Volunteers.  Muster rolls tickets are recorded for Aug, Sept-Oct and Nov-Dec 1862. The final ticket for Jany&Feby 1863 records his discharge “by order of Maj Gen Sedgewick, Jan 29,  1863”.

Discharge:

There is some doubt as to the reason for Carr’s discharge from the NH Volunteers.  The History of New London says he was “discharged disabled” and this version is repeated in the regimental history.   However, the muster roll ticket says he was “Dischargd on tender of Resignation.”  Carr’s military record contains a letter of resignation which appears to settle the matter:

“To Col Harriman.  On account of Very Important Business it is imperitively necessary that I should be in New Hampshire immediately. Therefore I very respectfully resign as Captain of said company, and respectfully request to be discharged.  Samuel M Carr, Capt”  (underlinings in the original)

The confusion may have been caused by an “Officer’s Casualty Sheet” issued for Sam’l M Carr on the same date as his discharge.  However, the description of the Casualty is given as “Res’d.”  The form appears to be purposed for recording resignations of officers rather than their injuries.

So Samuel Carr was not discharged from the 11th NH Volunteers on account of disability.  He resigned on account of  “Very Important Business” that was accepted by his commanding officers as warranting his immediate return to New Hampshire.  It is not known what that important business was, although a cynical suggestion for it is hinted at in a letter quoted below.

The Battle of Fredericksburg –  December 11-15 1862

The Eleventh New Hampshire Volunteers took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13th 1862.  The regiment was ordered into the thick of the ultimately disastrous assault on an almost impregnable Rebel position at Marye’s Hill. Several first-hand accounts of the regiment’s part in the battle can be found in the regimental history.  All give strong affirmation to the performance of the troops under fire, especially in view of the fact that they were a “new regiment”.
[ https://archive.org/stream/02511527.3272.emory.edu/02511527_3272#page/n65/mode/2up ]

A backgrounder piece in the San Francisco Chronicle many years later reported that Samuel Carr returned from the war “a changed man.”  He would not have been the first returned soldier to have been profoundly affected by his war experiences.  Given the part played by his unit in the fiercest actions of the Fredericksburg battle it would have been completely understandable for Carr to have suffered from what later came to be called “shell-shock” or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  None of which need detract from his reputation as a war hero.

Except that letters from soldiers in Carr’s unit tell a somewhat different story.

Research by the Archivist for the New London Historical Society has uncovered letters sent home by one of Carr’s men. Jim Perkins reports:

Perkins may well have found the corroboration he was seeking in another letter written many years after the Civil War:

“While conducting research for one of my class lectures, I did take a break to review a collection of Civil War letters from another soldier in Samual Carr’s company. He did not have anything to say about Carr, but there was one additional letter in the file, written by a fellow veteran in 1893. According to my notes, it contained the following reference…

Letter: Francis E. Derby (Sherburne VT, now Killington VT) to Walter Pingree (New London NH)
January 26, 1893

“… I am always glad to hear from or see any of my Old Co. F. Boys & would be glad to meet those all that are alive. Excepting Lam Lewis & Capt. Carr (or rather Sam Carr). I never wish to meet them again in this world or the world to come.”

Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College
Reviewed September 21, 2017

Nothing new in there, but interesting how strongly Francis Derby felt some 60 years after the fact.”
[Email from Jim Perkins  19 Mar 2018]

It seems there was a disjoint between Samuel Carr’s account of his war service and the recollections of the men under his command.  Something must have happened to cause such a radical and deeply-held disregard.  However, it was probably Carr’s own version that prevailed as he was later to play a significant and leading part in the activities of the Civil War veterans’ association – the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) – in California.

I have recently discovered an online family tree for the Kellers – the internet links are given below. I have been in contact with one of the family historians, Ken Kalloch who turns out to be a 4th-cousin through the Keller\Kallochs and is also related to the same degree on our Greeley line.

The Kalloch Family website gives this brief history of the family origins and the following account of the spelling variants. (Eunice W. Keller was a Gt-Gt-Granddaughter of the Mathew Kelloch and Mary Robinsom mentioned in the last paragraph).

Introducing the Kalloch Family

Our first known direct ancestor was John Killough.  He came from the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.  Circa 1580 or 1590 he was with a unit of mounted Scots mercenaries in France.  His son John II, known as John of Drogheda, joined a regiment of heavy horse in Ulster and in 1649 served with Cromwell’s New Model Army.

By about 1660, John II and his wife Mary (Hyde) Killough, with son John III settled in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.  John III married Anne McNeil and they had three sons, Robert (b. 1681), John IV (b. 1689), and James (b. 1692).  Son James stayed in County Antrim, and Robert and John IV came to America.

Robert with wife Margaret (Finley) Killough and their sons Allen, Finley and John, and John IV with wife Jean (Young) Killough, came in the ship “William” from County Antrim, Northern Ireland to Boston in 1718.  From Boston they journeyed to Freetown (now Assonet), Mass., near Worcester.

The English Congregationalist living there did not welcome the influx of Scots Presbyterians.  John IV however, determined to make the best of the situation decided to stay, and his sons Samuel and John were born there.  After a few years John IV joined fellow Presbyterians on the migration to Pennsylvania where they were to find a better sort of religious toleration.  Robert and Margaret had another son David probably born at Worcester, but they soon moved to Portsmouth, N.H. where he set up a fish oil factory.  When this burned Robert and his family also went south to Pennsylvania.  Only their son Finley stayed in New England, a first settler in the Upper Settlement of St. Georges (now Warren), Maine.

Finley was only about 14 when his first child David was born in 1725.  This may explain why he came north in 1735 with his parents-in-law who settled across the St. George’s River.  His wife Mary Young was 11 years his senior.  For several generations none of the Maine Kellochs named their children after Finley’s father, Robert, making it likely a family dispute was associated with this move.

Of Finley and Mary’s children, John and Matthew settled in what is now the town of St. George, Maine, David and Alexander in what is now Warren, Maine, Margaret Boyd in Boothbay, Maine and Mary Brown perhaps in Boston, Mass.

Our Name

In 1743 when Samuel Waldo gave a deed to “Finlo Kellough” for 90 acres of land on the St. Georges River.  In 1762 when Finley’s estate was settled, the name was given as “Findley Kelly (or Kellock)”.  His children however at once began to use the name “Kelloch” and this name uniformly runs through their Army and Navy records of the French and Indian war, the Revolution, and War of 1812, and all land conveyances down to around the year 1805.  Then we diversified.

Witness the old St. George Cemetery where in a radius of 30 feet you can find it spelled Kelloch, Kallock, Kalloch, Keller and Kellar.  Gravestones for husbands and wives spell it differently side by side in St. George and West Rockport.  In Warren Benjamin’s stone reads Kellar while a monument in his memory nearby spells it Kalloch.  Why?  Illiteracy, family disputes, whimsy?  We don’t know.  Spell it as you like!  The Reunion spells it Kalloch probably out of esteem bordering on reverence for our first Family Reunion Association president, Rev. Joseph Kalloch.

Sources:

1. Kalloch Family Reunion website
2. Kalloch Family Tree Database – Eunice W Keller

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 1877 that Mrs Eunice Carr had come to San Francisco in search of her absconding husband Samuel Murray Carr and their three children:
A Sorrowing Mother

I have discovered that Eunice Carr remained in San Francisco for about three years before returning to the east where she died in Boston on 15 May 1881 of pneumonia. Her residence in San Francisco is attested in the City Directories for 1878, 1879 and 1880 which record three different addresses and that her occupation was ‘nurse.’

In the 1880 listing she is shown with the initial K (for Keller).

Click the links below to view the listings – Note: r = ‘resides, or residence’

1878: Carr Eunice W. Mrs., nurse, dwl 711 Bush
1879: Carr, Eunice W., Mrs., r, 2418 Mission
1880: Carr, Eunice K., r, 1009 Valencia

Eunice Keller had a sister called Orinda. The Chronicle reports of 1887 had mentioned a brother George who was a merchant sea captain and who had assisted her in the search for Samuel Carr in 1867. They had also mentioned a nephew called Weston White whom Eunice Keller had asked to assist in the search.

Both the 1850 and 1860 Census records for the Keller household show an Orinda White living with her children in the Machiasport ME home of Eunice Keller’s parents Matthew and Hannah Keller:
Matthew Keller  54
Hannah Keller   50
Orinda J White  23
George E White    1

The marriage of Orinda J Keller to Samuel L White is recorded on 17 October 1847 at which time she was 19 years of age.  Matthew and Hannah Keller are named as her parents, so this was Eunice Keller’s older sister, born about 1827-8.

The 1860 Census record shows a second child in addition to George:
Matthew Keller  64
Hannah Keller   59
Orinda J White  34
George White  10
Weston R White   7

It can probably be assumed that this is the nephew Weston White referred to in the San Francisco Chronicle article of 28 April 1887 who was sent by Eunice Keller to investigate a sighting report on Samuel Carr:
“… poor Weston White, Mrs Carr’s unfortunate nephew who too zealously searched for Carr while he was in Nebraska.”
There is a Weston Reade White (Age 22, Birthplace Mass.) listed in the electoral rolls for the 8th Ward, San Francisco County in 1875 who may well be the same man. This would either confirm his presence in San Francisco on his commission from Eunice Keller or suggest that he was already living in San Francisco when she called upon his assistance.

Orinda (Keller) White died at the relatively young age of 38 on 15 Jan 1866 in Dracut, Massachusetts, USA.  In three successive years Eunice Keller suffered significant losses – her father Matthew in 1865, her sister Orinda in 1866 and her husband and her three children in 1867.

One of the San Francisco Chronicle articles refers to “a young woman called Burpee” and says “She claimed to be divorced from her husband but no one knew anything about her.” This was not true. Her husband was Arthur Elbridge Burpee who came from one of the more prominent New London families. (The Chronicle apologises for initially spelling the name ‘Beppe’ and explains that this was the way the name was pronounced.)

Arthur E Burpee married Mary J Flanders in New London on 7 June 1860. He was 45 years old and she was 18. They were divorced  6 years later on 5 Dec 1866 in an action instigated by him.  There can be no doubt that both the marriage and the divorce were very well known in the New London community.

Elbridge Burpee is mentioned twice in ‘The History of New London…’

1.  In the Second Period listings Arthur Elbridge Burpee is listed as #1 in
the family of Thomas and Lydia Burpee:
“1. Arthur Elbridge Burpee, b March 20 1814; m. June 7 1860, Mary J Flanders” (Their divorce on 5 Dec 1866 is not noted)
https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofn00lord#page/224/mode/2up
The 3rd child in the same family, Elbridge’s younger brother,  is listed as:
“3. Benjamin Pratt Burpee b. August 17 1818; m. Feb 21 1855 Martha, dau. of Capt Samuel and Nancy (Greeley) Carr; res. in N.L.”

2. In the Third Period listings Elbridge Burpee’s own entry again makes no mention of his divorce from Mary Jane Flanders and does not mention the first marriage at all.
“Burpee, Arthur Elbridge – Elbridge, eldest son of Thomas and Lydia (Blake) Burpee, m. in middle life, and res. in the Smiley Bohanan house. He d. Feb 25 1888. No children.”
https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofn00lord#page/330/mode/2up/search/Burpee
The corresponding entry for Benjamin Pratt Burpee again notes his marriage to Martha Carr (Samuel Murray Carr’s older sister) and lists their 6 children.

So … the (divorced) husband of Mary Jane Flanders was Elbridge Burpee, the brother-in-law of Samuel Murray Carr’s older sister Martha Jane Carr.  The 1880 Federal Census shows him at age 66,  a widower from his second marriage and living with Benjamin and Martha (Carr) Burpee. He died in 1888.

A third member of the Burpee family also plays a bit part in this saga.  The Chronicle article of 28 April 1887 publishes two documents signed by Anthony C Burpee in his capacity as Justice of the Peace in Merrimack County. One of them is a warrant for the arrest of Samuel M Carr and Mary J Burpee on a complaint of adultery sworn before him by Eunice W Carr – the warrant is dated 26 Feb 1867. Anthony C Burpee, a universally respected member of the New London community, was the 2nd-cousin of Elbridge and Benjamin Burpee.

As always comments and feedback are welcome.