Lucy Sheldon Goss and her Daughter Grace, Both Dressed in Mourning, Albumen Carte de Visite, Circa 1865

Written on reverse: “Lucy Goss & dau. Grace.”

 

“Photographed by F. Mowrey, Main St., Rutland, Vt.”

 

Lucy L. (possibly Lavinda) Sheldon, born in 1838, was the daughter of physician Lorenzo Sheldon and his wife Mahala Smith (1804 – 1883). She was named after her paternal grandmother Lucy Bass Sheldon (d. 1831), and was the second child of that born to her parents. The first Lucy had been born sometime before 1837 and died in infancy.

 

Much is known about the family, and I reproduce here a long section from the “History of Rutland County, Vermont,” edited by H. P. Smith and W.S. Rann; published by D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, New York, 1886:

 

“Dr. Lorenzo Sheldon, son of Medad [(1776 – 1846)] and Lucy (Bass) Sheldon [(d. 1831)], was born in Rutland, Vt., May 8, 1801. He was the eldest of a family of eleven children, consisting of five sons and six daughters. His father carried on a farm north of what is now known as West Rutland village.

 

“The subject of the sketch early manifested a desire for a broader culture than a constant devotion to the farm permitted; and, having a taste for the study and practice of medicine, the way was opened for his entrance upon the necessary preparation for that profession. He entered the Academy of Medicine at Castleton, Vt., where he continued his studies until his graduation, January 16, 1820. After completing his course at the medical college he returned to his native place and commenced study and practice with Dr. Jonathan Shaw, with whom he formed a partnership. This connection, however, continued only about one year, when Dr. Shaw removed to Clarendon Springs, leaving young Dr. Sheldon to practice independently in his chosen field.

 

“He soon won a good practice, and commanded the confidence of the community as a conscientious, attentive, intelligent and skillful physician. After a few years' practice, inducements were held out to secure his removal to Waddington, St. Lawrence County, N. Y., to which place he removed in the year 1826.

 

“On his return, 1828, he entered, with all the ardor and energy of his nature, into the practice of his profession, and won an honored position which he maintained till death, continuing to respond to the last to calls of friends who would not give him up, though he sought relief from the fatigues and cares of practice as the infirmities of age crept on.

 

“In the year 1829, February 6, Dr. Sheldon was married to Mahala Smith, of West Rutland. Of this marriage were born seven children — Sophronia M., Darwin Rush, Lucy Amorette, Charles S., Lucy L., Harley G., and Mary Kate, only two of whom, Lucy and Harley survive him.

 

[The Sheldon children, in order of birth, were Sophronia M. (b. 1823); Darwin Rush (1826 – 1834); Charles Smith, born in 1834, who died aged six months and five days in 1835; the aforementioned Lucy the first, who died age four months and eight days in 1837; Lucy; Harley G. (1840 – 1917); and Mary Kate (1844 – 1869).]

 

“In the year 1835, Dr. Sheldon entered into partnership with Mr. William F. Barnes, and commenced the marble business, then in its infancy. At one time this company owned the entire marble deposit extending from the present quarry of Sheldon & Slason, north. Dr. Sheldon, at a later date, became senior member of the firm of Sheldon & Slason, continuing his connection with the firm till 1865, when he sold out, and ceased to have any connection with the marble business. But he continued to have large interests in real estate, which absorbed a considerable portion of his time through the remainder of his life.

 

“While the responsibilities of his large marble interests were upon him, he sought some relief from his professional duties, and hence during those years his practice was somewhat restricted.

He died Sunday morning, September 5, 1880, at the age of eighty years.

 

“He was a prominent member of the Congregational Church from 1826 and deacon from 1865 to his death. He was also a member of the Masonic order and conspicuous in all good works. It was written of him by his biographer: that ‘his was a well-balanced, well-developed, rounded manhood, which, while presenting no very striking features, was strong at every point.’” (from "History of Rutland County, Vermont",)

 

On the 1850 census of Rutland shows the Sheldon family unit consisted of Lorenzo and Mahala, 26-year-old Saphonia, 12-year-old Lucy, 9-year-old Harley, and 5-year-old Mary.

 

Shortly after the census was taken, Sophronia (a photo of her is here: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/14113774436/) married Daniel Conway on 19 May, 1851. He had been born in about 1824 in Ireland, the son of James and Ellen Conway. Sophronia bore Daniel five children: Julia Conway, who died in 24 September, 1854, age two years and five months; Alice Conway (1856 – 1886), Lorenzo Sheldon Conway (1858 – 1932); an unnamed infant born 25 February, 1862, who died 5 June of the same year, and Guy L., born 14 October, 1866, who died 14 May, 1867.

 

Daniel Conway (photo here: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/14113763906/in/photost...) served in the Civil War as 2nd lieutenant in the 14th Vermont Infantry, Company H; and as a captain in the 17th Vermont Infantry, Company I. He enlisted 10 September, 1862. His records note that he was “Commissioned an officer in Company H, Vermont 14th Infantry Regiment on 7 Oct., 1862. Mustered out on 30 July, 1863, at Brattleboro, VT.” He then was “commissioned an officer in Company I, Vermont 17th Infantry Regiment on 7 July, 1864. Mustered out on 14 July, 1865, at Washington, D.C.”

 

Sophronia died 5 November, 1872, of “ossification of the heart.”

 

Daniel Conway appears alone on the 1880 census, working as a blacksmith. He drew an army pension of $10 per month; the cause for which he was pensioned was “chr. diarrhea.” He lived on, probably uncomfortably, until 1890, when he died of “paralysis” in West Rutland on 22 January. Both, along with their children, are buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

 

Lucy Shelton married Harmon B. Goss, who had been born in 1833 in Hanby, New Hampshire, on 1 September, 1857. He was the son of Rutland hotelier and tavern-keeper Pliny L. Goss (b. 1810) and his wife Jane (b. 1813). On the 1850 census, Harmon appears as a 16-year-old barkeep in his father’s tavern in a hotel occupied by railroad workers, laborers, clerks, and stonecutters.

 

The marriage was but brief. While pregnant with her first and only child, Lucy suffered the loss of her young husband to Cholera on 16 July, 1861. The disease washed over the United States in waves of epidemic during much of the 1800s. Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are watery diarrhea and vomiting leading to extreme and often fatal dehydration. Transmission occurs through water or foodstuffs tainted by feces from an infected person.

 

Harmon’s daughter, Grace Mahala, was born posthumously on 19 September. Lucy returned to her father’s home with her child, and remained there at least as late as the day the 1880 census. Her father died in September of that year and her mother passed away in 1883. Lucy died at age 60 of cancer in a house in Pine Street, Rutland, on 18 November, 1898. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery with her husband.

 

It is unclear who Lucy and Grace are in mourning for in this image. The clothing and the apparent age of Grace Goss in the photo makes the most likely family member Lucy’s nephew, Guy, the son of Sophronia and Daniel, who died as a toddler in May 1867. The next likely candidate is Lucy’s younger sister Mary Kate, who died in 1869. But Lucy’s fashions and Grace’s appearance make this problematic.

 

Grace Goss married William Andrew Graham in about 1882. He worked for his entire career as a factory machinist. They had three children: William Robert (1884 – 1950); Katherine Lucy (b. 1886); and Sidney Graham (1889 – 1944). Grace died of Bronchopneumonia, complicated by senility and orthopedic injuries, on 21 June, 1945.

 

Lucy’s brother Harley’s life can be encompassed in his lengthy obituary, which can be found in the “Rutland Daily Herald” of January 16, 1917:

 

“Harley G. Sheldon (photo here: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/13950269517/in/photost...) of West Rutland, a Civil War veteran and well-known farmer of Rutland County, died suddenly at his home yesterday morning. He had been in his usually good health until about 10 minutes previous to his death when he had an attack of heart trouble. He was 76 years old.

 

“Mr. Sheldon was born September 23, 1840, the son of Lorenzo and Mahala Smith Sheldon. His father was one of the pioneer marble men of the state. Mr. Sheldon graduated in 1857 from the Riverside institute at Auburndale, Mass., and the same year joined the Rutland Light Guard. He responded to the president's first call for volunteers for the defense of the Union and a little later engaged in the Battle of Bethel.

When his first enlistment expired, he joined Company H, 14th Vermont regiment, and was mustered into service October 21, 1862, as first sergeant. The following January the first promotion in the regiment was offered Mr. Sheldon but he declined the honor. On March 12, 1863, he was made second lieutenant in Company K. In December, Mr. Sheldon assisted in the repulse of Stuart's cavalry raid near Fairfax Courthouse in Virginia.

 

“He was at Wolf Run Shoals doing outer picket duty at Washington from March ‘til June of 1863. Mr. Sheldon's regiment was attached to the first army corps on June 25 and began the march north which ended at Gettysburg.

 

“Company K., of which Mr. Sheldon was second lieutenant, was the only company which reported all three officers on duty at the end of the march and ready to enter the battle of Gettysburg.

 

“Mr. Sheldon was mustered out of service in 1863 and a little later joined the army and became attached to the Commissary Department. He was associated with Gen. Farrero's Brigade and remained in this position until the end of the war.

 

“On December 11, 1866, he married Eliza Harman, and last month they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Besides his wife, Mr. Sheldon leaves a daughter, Mrs. [Mary Sheldon] Erwin E. Keyes [(1867 – 1931)] of this city, and a son, Lorenzo Harmon Sheldon [(1871 -1947)], also of Rutland.

 

“The funeral will be held at the house tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock. The burial will be in the family lot in Evergreen cemetery.”

 

Lucy’s younger sister, Mary Kate, married Delett B. Haynes (1841 – 1883). The couple had one child, William Haynes, who was born in 1868 and lived until 1933. His mother died when he was about a year old, in 1869, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in the family plot.

 

Done