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Robert Bardwell Woolsey

Superintendent of telegraph, Vandalia line, Terre Haute, IN, was born at Seneca Falls, NY, 26 Dec 1837. He learned telegraphy at Geneva, NY, in 1853, and went from there to Tonawanda, where he remained six months, and from there into the Buffalo office as operator on the Canadian circuit. He remained there a little over a year, when he got the railroad craze and was sent to Canandaigua, as operator for the New York Central and the Canadaigua railroads. This was where he first commenced to "try' to dispatch trains.

After two years of service at that place, he drifted around until 1859, when he went to Chicago with the Illinois Central Railroad, as operator in the general superintendent's office. He was soon promoted to train dispatcher, and served in that capacity until 1873, when he was appointed superintendent of telegraph and chief train dispatcher, and shortly had the position of train master added to his duties on the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad, at Mattoon, IL. He held on there until 1881. He then resigned to accept his present position, that of superintendent of telegraph and chief train dispatcher. - related from the pages of "Telegraphers of Today" by John T. Tattavall, 1894.
[This information was sent to Wilford Whitaker by Lynn A. Burlingame.]

Robert Bardwell Woolsey comes from a line of Woolseys, who descend directly from the Immigrant Ancestors George Woolsey and Rebecca Cornell of New Amsterdam, (New York), in 1647. Robert Bardwell Woolsey is the son of Henry Livingston Woolsey and Hannah Bardwell, who is the son of Henry Livingston Woolsey and Eunice Hubbell; who is the son of Melancthon Lloyd Woolsey and Alida Livingston, who is the son of Col. Melancthon Taylor Woolsey and Rebecca Lloyd, who is the son of Benjamin Woolsey and Abigail Taylor, who is the son of Capt. George Woolsey and Hannah Van Zandt, who is the oldest son of the immigrant ancestors George Woolsey and Rebecca Cornell.

Photo of Robert Bardwell Woolsey

Robert Bardwell Woolsey was born 26 Dec 1835/1837, at Seneca Falls, Seneca, NY, and died after 1892, possibly in Terra Haute, Vigo, Indiana. His first marriage was to Acy R. in 1854 in Cook County, IL. Acy was born in 1836 in New York. It is believed that she may have died before 1862. No record has been found of children by his first wife Acy.

Emma G. Somarindyck was to become Robert Bardwell Woolsey's second wife. They were married 26 Apr 1862, in Cook County, IL. Emma was born in 1842 in New York. Emma and Robert had four children born in Illinois: Cornelia, born in 1865; Julia Y. , born in 1872; a son Lansing A. Woolsey, born in 1874 and who died in 1922 in Frankville, Winneshiek, Iowa; and daughter Mary, born in 1877. - www


Other Woolsey Telegraphers


Lansing A Woolsey
"Telegrapher"

Lansing A Woolsey, son of Robert Woolsey and Emma Somarindyck, was born July 1873 in IL, and died 1922 in IA - Frankville, Winneshiek. He married Cora "Ko" Ehrlich 1897, daughter of Jules and Mary Ehrlich. She was born December 1874 in IN.

Census:
1900 June 14 Pueblo, Pueblo, CO - Dist. 111, Pct. 40, 57-59
Woolsey, Lansing H. Head Jul 1873 26 md 3 yrs ILL NY NY Telegrapher
Ko Wife Dec 1874 25 " [1-1] Ind Ger Ger
Amelia E. dau Jun 1900 1/12 single Colo ILL Ind


Samuel T. Woolsey
"Laborer on Telegraph Line"

1880 Census, Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa, shows Samuel T. Woolsey, age 22, as being the oldest son of John B. and Charity Woolsey and residing in the family home in Bloomfield. Samuel gave his occupation as "Laborer on Telegraph Line".

Samuel's father, John B. Woolsey (s/o Daniel Woolsey and Mary of New York), was born in 1831 in New York and died after 1880. In about 1857 (and possibly in Iowa), John married Charity. Charity was born in 1835 in Indiana - www

James W. Paine
"Telegraph Operator"

Also living in Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa, in the 1880 census, was James W. Paine age 30, born in MA, and he gave his occupation as "Telegraph Operator". James W. Paine was married to Elinore Hagen, daughter of Leroy Hagen and Jane Ann Woolsey. Jane Ann was the daughter of Rev. Charles Woolsey and Elizabeth Hills, of Westchester Co, NY.

Rev. Charles Woolsey was the son of William Woolsey (Rev. War Vet) & Jerusha Lyons, the son of John Woolsey & Elizabeth Haviland, son of John Woolsey & Rebecca ____, son of Jonathan Woolsey & Abigail, son of Thomas Woolsey and Ruth Baylis - www

Georgiana Woolsey
"Telegraph Operator"


Georgiana Woolsey was born October of 1859 in California. The daughter of Thomas D and Sarah Ireland Woolsey and sister of Adddison Woolsey also a Telegraph Operator. Note the following census records.

Addison Woolsey
"Telegraph Operator"


1900 June 18, Kern County, CA - 73/73 Woolsey, Thomas D. Head wm Jun 1818 81 widowed NY NY NY HH: 74/74 Woolsey, Addison L, head, w, m, Nov 1862, 37, mrd 11 yrs, CA, NY, WALES, teleg operator & farmer Woolsey, Kate E, wife, w, f, Nov 1867, 32, mrd 11, CA, MI, VT Woolsey, Crittenden L, son, w, m, Feb 1890, 10, single, CA, CA, CA, at school Woolsey, Harold S, son, w, m, Jul 1895, 4, single, CA, CA, CA, at school Woolsey, Clarence P, son, w, m, Jan 1898, 2, single, CA, CA, CA, at school Molles, Pierre, servant, w, m, Jan 1847, 53, single, FRA, FRA, FRA, farm labor Erreckson, Isaac, servant, w, m, Dec 1845, 34, single, FIN, FIN, FIN, farm labor Anderson, Samuel, servant, w, m, May 1852, 48, single, FIN, FIN, FIN, farm labor Buhn, Cherbert, servant, w, m, Aug 1882, 21, single, CA, GER, GER, farm labor Chappell, Edward, servant, w, m, Mar 1881, 19, single, CA CA CA, farm labor HH: 75/75 Woolsey, Georgiana, head, w, f, Oct 1859, 40, single, CA, NY, WALES, teleg operator RR

William Woolsey
"Telegraph Operator"

In the 1870 census of Winabago County, IL, we found William Woolsey, age 19 in 1870, born in England, who gave his occupation as "Telegraph Operator". William Woolsey, age 19, was the son of William and Jane Woolseys of England and Winnebago County, IL.

William Walton Woolsey
"One of the engineers who built the first telegraph line over the Andes."

William Walton Woolsey was an extremely wealthy man of New York, Ohio, and South Carolina. He was born in 1842 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, and made his fortune in New York City and elsewhere. William died 28 Apr 1910, in Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina. William Walton Woolsey was a brother of the noted writer Sarah Woolsey who wrote under the name of Susan Coolidge, and a brother of Elizabeth who married Daniel C. Gilman, the first president of John Hopkins. [The father of William Walton Woolsey, b 1842, was John Mumford Woolsey, and Jane W. Andrews, who was the son of William Walton Woolsey and Elizabeth Dwight, who was the son of Benjamin Woolsey, Jr. and Ann Muirson, who was the son of Rev. Benjamin Woolsey and Abigail Taylor. - www



Bascomb Woolsey
Quote from Moving On by Elmo M Woolsey, brother of Bascomb

"Bascomb went to work on the farm for Tom Friar, and after work hours he walked two miles to Tyner where be stayed until midnight, listening to the telegraph instruments as they ticked off their messages. I forgot to tell you that at Dunlap he hung around the Western Union Office with Crip Johnson, the Agent, until he learned the Morse Code, and incidentally, got a determination to be a telegraph operator. At the time of his death he was a dispatcher for the Southern Railway at Knoxville, but more of this later.

Before we hardly realized it, Bascomb completed his study of telegraphy, but he never fooled around about anything, and one day he came home announcing he bad quit Mr. Friar that very day, but when we looked horrified, he pulled a letter out of his pocket that ordered him to report at the Q & C telegraph office at Harriman (TN) to go to work as night operator, three days later. A pass was with the letter. His salary would be $30.00 per month - think of it - and besides that, Uncle Sam Goddard lived there and this new town of Harriman was only 3 miles from where he and I were born. October 1896 Bascomb was 21 and was a telegraph operator at Clinton, TN., and considered among the least on the division." - cww


Elmo Murray Woolsey
Quote from Moving On by Elmo M Woolsey

I could not find a job, so I persuaded Frank Booth, the agent at Powell, to let me study telegraphy in his office. The outcome was,the Railroad decided to put a night operator at Powell, and I got the job, through the influence of Bascomb, who was at the time in the dispatcher's office at Knoxville. The job paid 30 dollars a month and it looked like I was at last on my way. However, things always just happened to me, and it wasn't long coming this time. There was one of those "just don't give a dam" kind of fellows night operator at the K&O junction at the time, so not long after I went to work this chap got drunk one night, left all his red signals out and went down in the tall grass to sleep it off. As fast as the trains rolled in they were stacked up on the siding for miles, not daring to go on - still the operator was not to be found. Finally, Hyal Collier, who was day operator at the junction, was rousted out to get things moving, which he did. When the facts were discovered, Rardin, the drunk night operator, was fired. Mr. Powell, the O.R.T. president, said they couldn't do that, and insisted that he be reinstated, and when the Railroad refused, Mr. Powell called a strike. I was a member of the union, in fact, had to be to get a job. Result was, we all lost our jobs. The union was wrong. Hardin should have been fired, if not hanged. That was the last labor union I ever joined, still don't like the way they operate, but admit they could be a great benefit to the country if they would quit trying to impose their demands upon all others, regardless of right and justice. After that I went to work for the L&N at Blue Ridge, Georgia, but when I came home a few months later, about May, 1899, I got a job in the store at Powell, so thus ended my career of Railroading. I was, and always have been a "ham" operator anyway, so it was just as well that I quit when I did." - cww


Adelia Woolsey March 1874 - Resident 1900 June 11, Minneapolis, Hennepin, MN - Ward 8, Dist 90, Aldrich Ave, 3137/249/319


Sources of information of Wilford W. Whitaker's research:

  1. GENE: Woolsey, Robert M. THE WOOLSEY FAMILY --- A Genealogy in the form of annotated Family Charts. 1936- 1969. 2.181.
  2. ON-LINE: Illinois State Marriage Index. / Robert B. Woolsey = Emma G. Somarindyck, Cook Co, IL. 26 Apr 1862
  3. CENSUS: 1860 Census 1st Ward, Chicago, Cook co, IL. FHL# 803164. p. 1 2-2. Robert Woolsey 28 m Telegraph Operator NY, Acy R. 24 f wife "
  4. ON-LINE: Illinois State Marriage Index - also Will Co. 23 Apr 1862. - 12.
  5. CENSUS: 1870 Census 4th Ward, Chicago, Cook Co., ILL. FHL# 545699. 16 Aug p. 276. 1664-1895 Woolsey, Robert 32 m R. R. Train Dispatcher $3000 $800. NY
    Emma G. 28 f kh "
    Cornelia 5 f ILL
    Somerindyak, Minnie 20 f ah NY
  6. CENSUS: 1880 Census Mattoon, Coles, Illinois. FHL film 1254183. N. A. film T9-0183. p. 193B R. B. Woolsey Self M M W 40 NY Western Union Supt. NY NY
    Emma G. Wife F M W 34 NY k. h. NY NY
    Cornelia Dau F S W 15 ILL a. h. NY NY
    Julia Dau F S W 8 ILL a. h. NY NY
    Lansing Son M S W 6 ILL "
    Mary Dau F S W 3 ILL "
  7. ON-LINE: Terra Haute, Vigo, Indiana Directories, 1890-1892. 27 Sep 2000.
    Robert B. Woolsey @ Vandalia Line, Union Depot - Chief train dispatcher and Supertendent, Telegraph -
    Res. 1017 N. 8th, Terre Haute, IN. 1890.
    Miss Julia Y. Woolsey Res. 1017 N. 8th, Terre Haute, IN. 1890.
    Robert B. Woolsey @ Van Line, Chief train dispatcher, Res. 1015 N. 8th, Terre Haute, IN 1892.
    Miss Julia Y. Woolsey Res. 1015 N. 8th, Terre Haute, IN 1892
    Lansing A. Woolsey, Res. 1015 N. 8th, Terre Haute, IN 1892


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