My Family Tree

Grave marker 12464 or 12484.
Find A Grave Memorial# 93718590
=====
USA Census, 1900
Name: Lucy Chatfield
Event Place: Marlborough city Ward 4 (east part), Middlesex, Massachusetts
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household: Boarder
Birth Date: Jan 1880
Birthplace: Vermont
Father's Birthplace: Vermont
Mother's Birthplace: Vermont
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Antonio Pine Head M 24 Italy
Bertha Pine Wife F 21 Vermont
Lucy Chatfield Boarder F 20 Vermont
District: 857 , Sheet Number and Letter: 1A , Household ID: 3 , Line Number: 14 , GS Film Number: 1240662 , Digital Folder Number: 004113847 , Image Number: 00805
-----
In the 1920 Census, Lucy was listed as the Head of Household. Thomas Novelle was not living in this residence; however his brother Philip Novelle - Lucy's brother-in-law was living there…
-----
USA Census, 1930
Name: Lucy C Novelle
Event Place: Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts
Gender: Female
Age: 49
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household: Wife
Birth Year (Estimated): 1881
Birthplace: Vermont
Father's Birthplace: Vermont
Mother's Birthplace: Vermont
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Thomas Novelle Head M 53 Michigan
Lucy C Novelle Wife F 49 Vermont
Edward T Novelle Son M 19 Vermont
Harry T Novelle Son M 15 Massachusetts
District: 0115 , Sheet Number and Letter: 17B , Household ID: 312 , Line Number: 73 , GS Film number: 2340706 , Digital Folder Number: 004607707 , Image Number: 00642
-----
Lucina (Lucy) CHATFIELD, daughter of Lewis Chatfield and his first wife Sarah (Durfee) Chatfield was born in 1881 in a log cabin her father built. Her mother died when she was only 2 years old. Initially she went to live with neighbors and when her father remarried Ada Foster in 1890 she came back to live with them. She never knew her natural mother. She was fond of her stepmother Ada, and when she had her 3rd daughter she named her Ada.

Lucy moved away from home before her 18th birthday. She found employment in a shoe shop in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Thomas Novelle met Lucy Chatfield in Marlborough, Massachusetts where they were employed in a shoe factory; he a shoe maker and she was a shoe operative. On 30 June 1903 they were married. The services were officiated by the Reverend L.B. Goodrich. Thomas and Lucy remained in Marlborough for a few years then moved to South Lincoln, Vermont where he found employment on the potato farm of Howard Grant. He worked as a farm laborer. They rented a house next to the Grant farm. They remained in Vermont for about 8 years and then moved to Worcester, Massachusetts. In Worcester Lucy worked as a presser for a laundry and Thomas worked several different factory jobs over the years.
---
Source: George Joseph McLaughlin
-----
Information from a grandchild, daughter of Mary.

My mother, Mary A. Novelle was born on 27 Apr 1920 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the fourth child of Thomas Joseph Novelle and Lucina "Lucy" Clarice Chatfield. She had four siblings: Mabel, Edward, Harry and Ada (who went by Elizabeth and Betty Ann.)

Let me start with the bad news: In the early 1920’s my mother' family were tragically broken-up. Mabel, who was the eldest child, had already moved out. I was told by her brother Harry that Mabel was working as a dancer for a traveling show and that about 1925 she married a stage worker at the Old Howard Theater by the name of William J. Holland.

The rest of the children were removed from the house by social services. Edward went to live with his mother's sister Bertha CHATFIELD, who was living in Worcester. Harold, Mary and Ada were split up and sent to various foster homes. My mother was probably no more than 3 or 4 years old at the time. My mother said she had some bad childhood memories about her experiences in foster care. She said at one foster home she was locked in a room and left alone for hours at a time.

About 1930 Mary was brought from a foster home in Peabody, Massachusetts to the home of John Morrissey and his wife on Ridgeway Road in Medford, Massachusetts. Her sister had been living with the Morrissey's since she was an infant. Apparently, the Morrissey's called Ada Elizabeth, Betty or Betty Ann for short. The sisters were raised as foster children by the Morrissey's until the age of majority (18 years old.) My mother came to regard Mrs. Morrissey as her mother. During this time Mary was told her middle name was Jane. From her birth record we only know that her middle initial was A.

The 1920 Census listed that her father, Thomas Novelle, had moved out of their home. He eventually returned. Harry and Edward were also reunited with their parents about 1929. Mabel was now also living home. Mabel had pulmonary tuberculosis for over two years and her mother, who also had tuberculosis, was caring for her. Aside: In those days tuberculosis was most often incurable and naturally caused great emotional and financial strain on a family. On 28 January 1929, Mabel died at the Belmont Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is buried at the Notre Dame Cemetery in Worcester.

My mother only saw her mother two more times, once when she was brought to a TB hospital in Vermont and another time when her mother Lucy came to visit Mary and Betty Ann (Ada) at the Morrissey's home in Medford. Mary said the Medford visit was short and occurred around 1930. Then shortly before her mother’s death Mary was taken on what she recalled was a "Long bus ride" to a TB sanitarium in Vermont (probably Springfield Vermont.) Mary said the visit was short. She was brought into a room and introduced to a sick woman lying in bed and told that it was her mother. She said I didn’t recognize her. I was separated from her as a little girl and the woman in front of me was a stranger. Lucy (Chatfield) Novelle died on 7 August 1932 from pulmonary tuberculosis. She is buried at St. John’s Cemetery in Worcester.

Over the years Harry and Edward saw their sisters on a few occasions. When Mary was a young girl and Harry got his driver’s license he visited the girls a couple times. He took Mary for ice cream and once he took her to an amusement park near Worcester.

So, the breakup of the family is not entirely clear and the whole story will never be known. Although Harry and Edward eventually went back to live with their father, they never talked openly about their family. Mary said the tuberculosis must have been the reason the family broke up. But about 1980 I had a brief phone conversation with her bother Harry. He said his father worked for Harrington & Richardson a gun manufacturer and his mother worked for many years as a presser in a laundry. All he wanted to say about the family break-up was that “The break-up occurred years before.” He said, “The children were neglected.” Years later I learned from a conversation with Harry's daughter, Virginia (married name, Bishop) that her father told her he didn't want to say too much to me because "they had different fathers, but he didn’t elaborate.” Virginia said he, Harry never talked about his childhood. In the 1920 Census, the year my mother Mary was born her mother Lucy was listed as the Head of Household. Thomas Novelle was not living in this residence; however his brother Philip Novelle - Lucy's brother-in-law was living there…

My mother Mary only saw her father Thomas one time since the family break-up. When she was separated from her first husband Thomas Fraser and contemplating marriage to my father George McLaughlin, she decided to take the bus to Worcester to meet her father. She said she didn’t stay long… She said, “He was No Good and I didn’t want anything to do with him, and that was that.”

During World War II Mary worked for the 197 Electric Shop at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The navy yard was engaged in the constructions, repair and servicing of vessels of the USA Navy. She said that during her work at the navy yard many of the ships that came in for repair were English ships. While working at a buffing machine cleaning coils her hand was crushed. Her left thumb was severed off and all the fingers in her hand were broken. She said, "All I remember was seeing a lot of blood and I passed out." After recovering from the injuries she returned to work at the navy yard in a clerical assignment.

In 1941 Mary married her first husband Thomas Girard Fraser. They had one child, Thomas Girard Fraser Jr. (Aside: I have not found a copy of their divorce record.) During the war years Mary met my father, George Joseph McLaughlin (1914-1991.) Her sister Betty (aka, Ada, Elizabeth, Betty Ann) was married to George's brother Francis McLaughlin (1918-1972.) At age 27 she married my father, 2nd husband George McLaughlin (Son of Neal McLaughlin and Margaret Bibby Adams) on 06 Sep 1947 in Salem, New Hampshire. Aside: In 1980 I found another marriage record of George and Mary McLaughlin at the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, at the McCormack Building in Boston. As I recall, that marriage occurred about February, 1950. My Mother told me at the time that her and my father married twice, but gave no explanation.

My mother was a warm and loving person, but she was over-weight most of her adult life and afraid of doctors… She died on 03 Feb 1987 of heart failure due to complications from diabetes and other factors at her apartment in Medford, Massachusetts. She was 66 years old.

Child of Thomas Girard Fraser and Mary Novelle:

1. Thomas Girard Fraser Jr was born on 29 Jan 1942. He married Kathleen A Horan on 14 Oct 1972 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Children of George Joseph McLaughlin and Mary Novelle:

1. Clare McLaughlin, born 11 July 1944 in Somerville, Massachusetts. Married to William Kolman.
2. Margaret Mary McLaughlin, born 25 Oct 1947 in Somerville, Massachusetts. She married Raymond Fischer about 1967 in New York (Devoice Winchester, MA). She married an Alan Francis Joyce on 29 Nov 1981 in New Britain, Connecticut.
3. George Joseph McLaughlin, born on 09 May 1950 in Somerville, Massachusetts (Sunnyside Hospital). Married to Donna Marie Elliott on 30 Oct 1971 in Tilton-Northfield, Belknap, New Hampshire, USA (Congregational Church).
4. Joseph G. McLaughlin, born 01 Aug 1954. Married to Donna Maria DeLisle on 04 May 1974 in Woburn, MA.