These are the diaries of Col. Henry Rose & Mary Loughborough. A bit of history is contained within these books - and part of the reason I am blogging this is to bring the "normalcy" of 19th century life alive. Additionally, it gives me a reason to re-read these and make them available to future historians.
The first diary is an Excelsior Diary, 1881 entitled "A Happy New year, January 1, 81. For Mary from Henry - Fort Randall, D.T." [Dakota Territory]. You can read about Fort Randall here.
Sitting Bull was held at Ft. Randall during this time, along with 158 of his men.
I am a descendant of the Loughborough family, and these passed to me through my grandmother.
A guide to some of the people:
- Mary is Mary Baldridge, engaged to marry Henry Rose Loughborough on June 21, 1881.
- Mama is Mary's mother, Sarah M. Gilmore. A frontier mother and wife of Papa. She has 4 brothers and sisters.
- Papa is an Army chaplain. Rev. Benjamin S. Baldridge is often traveling and moving the family westward with the frontier.
- Henry is Henry Rose Loughborough, an Army colonel. He traveled extensively from N. Dakota, to the Mexican border, across to the Philippines and China. He was one of 13 children, and grew up in Washington D.C. at the Grassland estate. His father is best know for his Civial War diaries, and his grandfather Nathan is known for his disputes with Thomas Jefferson and other oddities.
- Aunt Julia is Mama's sister, Julia Gilmore. She is married to a merchant named Matthew Howell.
I'm assuming that Mary's writing begins at Ft. Leavenworth, with Henry being located at Fort Randall.
I hope you enjoy reading these!
From VMI archives:
The picture was taken in Manilla, Philippines ~ 1900.
Robert Henry Rose Loughborough Class of 1875: Geneaology: Born- Dec. 8, 1853 in Faquier Co. Va. Father- Nathan Loughborough; Mother- Anna Rose Pat. Grandfather- Nathan Loughborough; Pat. Grandmother- Margaret Webster Mat. Grandfather- Robert H. Rose; Mat. Grandmother- Anna R. Fitzhugh Married- Mary Baldridge on June 21, 1881 Children- 1- Marie Stuart Loughborough; 2- William Baldridge Loughborough; 3- Robert H. R. Loughborough, Jr. VMI Record- Entered VMI- Sept. 11, 1871; Left after 2 years Careers- U.S. Army Officer Died- Dec. 15, 1918
8 comments:
Nathan Loughborough was my great great grandfather... Robert Henry Rose was my great granduncle... I've been working Loughborough genealogy for probably 12 or so years...
That's wonderful! Hopefully some of these letters are helpful. There's many, many more pages and hopefully I'll get better at transposing them!!
http://www.archive.org/stream/coloredregularsi01stew contains "Captain Loughborough" account of Spanish-American war episode.
Love.
We have a picture of Robert HR Loughbough on his horse at Fort Myers.
Hi Stuart,
I'd love to have a copy of your picture at Ft. Myers. You can contact me on facebook (Roger Davenport) or at convivialdingo@yahoo.com.
Thanks!
The Military Commissions of
Robert H. R. Loughborough, United States Army
Six [6] original, framed, military commissions donated March 16, 1979 to the Macdonald-Kelce Library of The University of Tampa by Eric H. Wieler, a descendant of Col. Loughborough. Dimensions: 18”w x 22”h.
RANK/UNIT DATE PRESIDENT/SECY OF WAR
2nd Lieut., 28th Regt. Inf. 13 Oct 1875 U.S. Grant/William K. Belknap
1st Lieut., 28th Regt. Inf. 6 Aug 1881 Chester A. Arthur/Robert T. Lincoln
Captain of Infantry 4 Dec 1891 Benjamin Harrison/S. B. Elkins
Major of Infantry 11 Aug 1900 William McKinley/Elihu Root
Lieut.Colonel of Infantry 12 Aug 1903 Theodore Roosevelt/W. H. Taft
Colonel of Infantry 7 Mar 1907 Theodore Roosevelt/
Robert Shaw Oliver
Art Bagley, Special Collections Librarian
Macdonald-Kelce Library, The Univ. of Tampa
813.275.3737 / abagley@ut.edu
Sorry, typo in my phone #: 813.257.3737
AB
My father’s roommate at Yale university n 1948 was the future “Reverend” Robert H “R”? Loughborough Jr. I was looking for my father who wondered if Bob is still with us. His mother was Grace VanArsdale Burt Loughborough.. I think I’m on the right path.
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