Churchill Jonathan Lary

Churchill Jonathan Lary, my great grandfather, lived far enough back in my ancestry to have had enough children and grandchildren whose lives left interesting legacies. He’s a good place to examine the English side of my family.

This week, I found another of Churchill’s descendants whom I believe is my 2nd cousin, once removed. She lives in Boston, and her family tree shows that her family traces their connection to Churchill from his son George (1880). Mine traces from George’s older brother Albert (1871). Their middle sister, Harriett (1875), completes the siblings of Churchill’s second family. Their mother, Lucy Ellen Watson, married Churchill in 1868, after the death of his first wife, Louise Anne Peabody. Louise and Churchill were married in July of 1850, and had three children: Frank (1852), Emily (1860), and Louisa (1863). Lucy lived on her own after Churchill died, in a house that she owned free of mortgage from 1896 until she moved in with her younger sister, Elizabeth Holden, on a farm in 1915. At 82, she moved in with the family of her son George until her death in Gorham, New Hampshire after 1930.

Churchill lived his entire life (1821 to 1896) on his father’s farm in Shelburne, New Hampshire. The son of a timber harvester, he made sure that his children all went through high school, and pursued occupations which provided well for their own families in the later part of the 19th century. My great grandfather, Albert, loved travel in his younger years.  His training at Worcester Polytechnical School in mechanical engineering led him into automobiles.  While starting a family, he used his knowledge to open an automobile garage, and to obtain a position as chauffeur for wealthy new England families, including one which employed him to ship and drive them in their car throughout Europe.  Later, he was hired as the Maintenance Manager for the Brown Corporation's Paper Mill in La Tuque, Canada, until his death in 1943.  Albert, and his wife Ida Marr, had two sons. His oldest son, Churchill, died as a young man. His younger brother, Everett, was the first of the Lary lineage to attend college. His love of science, encouraged by his brother, led to a degree in chemistry, to a specialization in chemical warfare in the military in World War II, and to a career in oil exploration and production. His daughter, Louisa, became a teacher. His oldest son, Frank, worked for the railroad all his life.

Churchill’s ancestors lived since the mid 1600’s in Rowley and Bradford, Massachusetts and in Sanbornton and Wolfesborough, New Hampshire.