John and Charles Glass

John Glass has long been a mystery to me. His wife died young, and it's been nearly impossible to find anything about his life prior to moving to Santa Cruz County.

A few months ago, after a swim meet in Santa Cruz, we visited the IOOF cemetery where some members of the Glass and Ball families are buried. We found the plots easily enough, but most of the decedents lacked headstones. John Glass had a headstone, but it had been broken in half, with only the top remaining. I took photos (disappointedly), and after visiting the bare Ball plot, we left.

After I got home, a lightbulb went on when I took another look at John's headstone. It had the design of a civil war vet's headstone. I looked him up in the Civil War pensions database, and surely enough, I found him. I also uncovered an article in the Santa Cruz public library describing his reunion with his brother, Charles:

A Long Lost Brother
After Twenty-three Years They Meet in Helena-
Each Supposed the Other was Dead

From a letter received by Mr. C.S. Hohmann, Commander of W.H.L. Wallace Post, G.A.R., the following news of comrade John Glass is received:

The Helena (M.T.) Independent of the 27th inst. says: Two brothers, who had not seen each other for twenty three years, shook hands in the Grand Central hotel Saturday night. They were Charles Glass, of the Alhambra Flume company, and John Glass, of Santa Cruz county Cal. When the war broke out the brothers, who were born in Ireland, lived with their parents on Long Island, N.Y. Each of them, although only 16 and 18 years old respectively, wanted to take part in the fight. Charles joined the army and went with a New York regiment. He was in the army of the Potomac. John went to the navy and tread the deck of a man of war for five years. Charles and John lost track of each other on Island no. 10, just before the surrender of Lee's army. They had bravely fought in the most terrific battles during the war, and though wounded several times, Charles Glass says "he is as sound today as ever." Mr. Glass and his brother have the advantage of many, as a glass is always handled with care.

John left the service and went to California, settling down in Santa Cruz County. Charles went to Iowa where the regiment was mustered out and moved around in Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota, finally coming to Montana. The brothers parted in 1865, had not heard from each other in twenty-three years, and each one supposed that the other was dead. A few weeks ago H.S. McKinnon went from Montana to California in search of an old sweet heart whom he had not heard of for eight years. Charles Glass asked McKinnon to make inquiries about his brother and try and ascertain something about him. McKinnon found the brother and the latter concluded to come to Helena. When he arrived Saturday night the two met in the hotel, but the one from the coast did not know Charles, and the latter would not have remembered the former except by seeing him place his name on the register. Finally the two of them met, and each shook the hand of "the long lost brother." The gentlemen look something alike, and a peculiar thing about them was that both alike should be wearing a mustache and chin whiskers. They went to Alhambra yesterday where John Glass will remain until they have talked over the ups and downs of the last twenty three years.

Mr. John Glass and his son will remain at Alhambra Springs, Jefferson County, Montana, as he has started in the flume business with his brother.

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No word on what happened with the flume business, but both brothers ended up back in Santa Cruz county.

The library entry also included a description of his civil war service. Click here to read more.

Annie McCoy Ball's Obit

Last weekend we took a field trip to the Boulder Creek Library where we spent the day scrolling through microfilm looking at old issues of the "Mountain Echo," a newspaper published for the San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, etc.) around the turn of the century (about 1895 - 1915).

After wrestling with ancient microfilm technology (and reading through 167 ads for remedies for piles and catarrh), we came away with a ream of info on family members from the Felton area. The best find was a good obituary for your great-great grandmother (Annie McCoy Ball) who died suddenly at the age of 45. Here's the transcription:

DEATH OF MRS. ANNIE L BALL

Mrs Annie Letitia Ball, wife of Supervisor Joseph Ball, died suddenly and unexpectedly at the family apartments in the Hotel Ben Lomond last Sunday night at 10:30 o'clock. Mrs Ball had been subject to attacks of heart trouble during the past year and it was one of these that caused her sudden taking off as stated above, the immediate cause of death being diagnosed as paralysis of the heart.

Mrs Ball had been about her duties as usual the day before her death and seemed to be as well as usual and in good spirits. There was nothing to indicate her being called so suddenly. Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky the shaft of the destroyer came and in a few minutes after it struck the wife and mother had passed from the earth.

The funeral took place Tuesday afternoon and was largely attended. The home services were held at the Hotel Ben Lomond at one o'clock. Rev Wm Hicks, of the Presbyterian church of this place, officiating. The remains were then taken by the afternoon train to Santa Cruz, accompanied by many other friends and a long procession of carriages
wended its way to the Odd Fellow's cemetery, where the impressive burial services were conducted by Isabella Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Santa Cruz, of which Mrs Ball was a member in good standing. Court adjourned and all of the county officials attended. Many beautiful floral pieces testified to the sympathy and good will of friends and the esteem in which deceased (sic) was held. Interment was in the family plot in the Odd Fellow's cemetery.

Mrs Annie L. Ball was a sister of Mrs L N Hayes, Mrs T B Hubbard and Mrs G C West, all of San Jose, and was the second daughter of Mr and Mrs H. W. McKoy, old residents of Felton, where her life from girlhood, until recently, has been passed. She was united in marriage to Mr Jos. Ball in the early seventies. Three children blessed the union, one deceased, and the two daughters, Lucy and Bessie, now grown to womanhood, and left to mourn the loss of a faithful, devoted mother. Mrs. Ball was a native of El Dorado county, this state, and was aged 45 years at the time of her death. Her bereaved family have the sincere sympathy of a wide circle of friends in their great and unexpected affliction.

DATE: 16 MAR 1901

Also found an obituary for your great-great grandfather, John Glass. He had no funeral ceremony other than the I.O.O.F. rites:

The funeral of John Glass took place in Santa Cruz last Sunday at 11 AM from Odd Fellow's Hall and the interment was in the Odd Fellow's cemetery. There was no ceremony other than the burial service of the order, which was used both in the hall and at the grave. The pall bearers were: A M Fraser, Dan Hartman, G P Lane and Thos Maddock of Boulder Creek; Jas. H Curtis of Felton and Prof W T Forsyth of Santa Cruz.

Date: 28 JUN 1902

Passenger List for the Andrew Foster

You'll need to click the image below to enlarge it...

This is from the passenger manifest for the ship the Andrew Foster, from Liverpool to New York which arrived 9 JAN 1854. The entire manifest is here. I'm not sure, but there's a good chance this is your great-great-grandfather, John Glass (1841-1902), the father of Will Glass who went to the Yukon. The emigration date matches up to what he stated for the census, and he has a brother named Charles (a name which appears throughout the Glass family tree); so far, nothing to suggest this is not the same John Glass.

But the thing I want to call to your attention is the story behind the manifest. The mother (age 40) is travelling with the five children; the father is not on the manifest --- I'd guess that he may have come over during the famine years to earn money, then sent for them later, but that's purely speculation. (I did find a John Glass who arrived in NY in 1852.) So, the mother, Isabella, is travelling with John, age 12; [illegible] son, age 9; Charles, age 6; James, age 4; and Margaret, age 2. Now, scroll over to the far right column, in which it is noted the the mother, Isabella, died on December 15th (in transit), James and Margaret died on December 13th. My eyes well up just typing this. I just hope a father was waiting at the docks to meet them --- I can't imagine what it would have been like to be a 12-year old boy with his 9- and 6-year-old brothers in tow, alone in the streets of New York (they would have ended up on orphan trains were that the case.)