#37 Influencers and Dividers - John Willis and Mary Kirby Willis and George F White, Firebrand

Influencer or Divider

This post is about the amazing influence of persuading people to share your opinions.

My 4th great grandmother had two sisters who were quite happy to remain as Quakers until a powerful influencer (for lack of a better word) made remaining in the Quaker fold intolerable for them.

The two sisters (Amy and Sarah) were great supporters of abolition of slavery and there were forces inside Quakerism which felt that that was inappropriate.

Background:

Their parents (my 5th great grandparents)

Father: Jacob Kirby (Son of Willets Kirby and Hannah Titus)
B 11 Aug 1765 Jericho, Nassau, NY
D 1859 Oyster Bay New York,
Married:
Mother: Mary Seaman (Daughter of William S Seaman & Mary Jackson)
B 27 Mar 1774 Nassau Co, NY
D 21 Sep 1854

Marriage -B 24 Jun 1790 in Jericho, NY

Their Children
*1 Mary Willis Kirby&
B 30 Jul 1791 D 1873
Married
John Willis on 24 Dec 1812
2 William Kirby Born 17 Mar 1795 Died 19 Sep 1797
3 Hannah Kirby Born 1799–1827
4 Amy Kirby Born 20 Dec 1803 Died 1889
5 Willets Kirby Born September 1806 Died 1882
6 Edmond Kirby Born 1808
7 Elizabeth Kirby Born 21 Jun 1814 Died 1900
8 Sarah Kirby Born 16 Jan 1818 Died 1914

Three sisters of my 4th great grandmother (Mary Kirby) had a tumultuous time after leaving Long Island.
HANNAH:Hannah and Isaac Post married in Jericho, Long Island, NY in the early 1820s. In 1823 they moved to Cayuga County, NY.
In 1827, Hannah Kirby Post died.
AMY: In the meantime, sister Amy Kirby had moved upstate to nurse Hannah. The year after her death, Isaac Post (widower) and Amy Kirby were wed.
SARAH: In 1838 Sarah Kirby moved upstate and married 1st, Jefferies Hallowell in 1838 (d. 1844); Married 2nd, Edmund P Willis in 1853.
MARY (my great grandmother): Remained in Jericho, married to John Willis.

Both Sarah Kirby (Hallowell/Willis) and Amy Kirby (Post) were active in anti-slavery work (abolitionist movement).
They were members of the newly-formed Western New York Anti-Slavery Society in 1842, and worked on its many Antislavery Fairs (fundraising events).

There was quite an exchange of letters between the sisters in Rochester and Long Island.
One letter (which is in the Univ. of Rochester Library) is to Amy Kirby Post and is a recounting, or a reporting of a Quaker business meeting which took place in May 1842 in Westbury, and was written by Mary's husband John Willis.
He gives a report on the outcome of an appeal from a person who was to be disowned from the Friends meeting. I had believed until I read the background at that period that I understood why people were disowned. What caught my attention was his warning to his sister-in-law at at the end of the letter.

"Father and Mother expects to make you a visit and if you want them to have an agreeable visit you must talk something besides Abolition and George F White." (for transcription, see end of post)

John Willis to sister-in-law Amy Post

John Willis warns Amy not to mention George F White

Thanks to George F White,the Genesee Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, to which Sarah & her husband belonged, was against slavery, but its ministers and elders disapproved of the aactivities of many anti-slavery advocates.

Who WAS George F White & what was the problem with speaking of Abolition?

In the 1840s George F White was a prominent Quaker minister and followed Elias Hicks' teachings (which had created a division around 1827).
Minister George F White was “anti-Anti.” He was quite persuasive; preaching that the Quakers should not come out against anything.
For example, he was against being against slavery (anti-abolitionist), but he was not pro-slavery. White strongly warned the Friends using forceful terms, against participating in antislavery and other reform movements, which were otherwise seen as advancing Quaker ideas.
He was apparently pro-George F White.
He was highly controversial figure, creating division among the Quakers.
His influence was so strongly felt that New England & New York Yearly Meetings prohibited abolitionist speeches and later on temperance and suffrage meetings in its facilities.

Amy Kirby (sister of Mary Kirby Willis) during this time worked with Frederick Douglass in Rochester and invited him to speak at Westbury (Long Island) Meeting.
However, this was cancelled when some in the meeting objected to Douglass’ message. Frederick Douglass instead met with locals but did not speak at the Quaker meetinghouse.
George F White's influence was felt all over, and in Western New York (Rochester and surrounding areas), the ground shifted for the Quakers.
There, the NY (Hicksite) Quarterly Meeting refused to allow anti‐slavery lecturers in the meetinghouse, saying even though Quaker, they were paid by abolition societies. This broke the general Quaker rule against using a “hireling ministry” (paid).
Tensions grew over how to resolve the conflicts within meetings: George F White had created more problems than he had solved.
In Western NY some people, such as Amy (Kirby) and Isaac Post left Genesee Yearly Meeting altogether. Then in 1848 about 200 others formed a separate Yearly meeting.
The controversy that surrounded George F White’s crusade against reform movements eventually created fracture nearly every Hicksite Yearly meeting.
Going back to the letter at the beginning of the post:
The letter is John Willis' account to his sister-in-law is his own recollection of an appeal by James S Gibbons on his possible disownment. There were three people in jeopardy at this time: Isaac T Hopper, his son-in-law James S. Gibbons, and Charles Marriott. The problem? They had what was viewed as improper associations with nonQuaker abolitionist movements.
After over a year of deliberation, New York Monthly Meeting disowned the men in 1842.
A few (not all) reasons listed for disowning the men:

"1. Such activity implied that something was wrong with Friends testimonies. Faith should be sufficient to cause change; therefore, it was not necessary to form or participate in man‐made organizations.

2. Such activity ignored the slaveholders, many of whom were performing a moral good by making slaves morally good and happy; it also ignored the problems that abolition would bring to slaveholders.

3. Such activity employed strong language and harsh activities unbefitting to Friends.

4. Quakers belong to a religious society, not a benevolent society; therefore, slavery was not a proper issue for the care of the Religious Society of Friends."

The above list pretty much lays bare the problem changing things in society for the better; one of the great obstacles to change is overcoming inertia against change.

[The two sisters of Mary, Sarah and Amy, eventually left the Society of Friends (Quakers). Both Sarah and Amy were one of the many former Quakers who often gathered at the Anthony home on Sundays to discuss reform activities, including anti-slavery and women's rights.]
First and last page of John Willis' letter to Amy Kirby Post (transcribed)

Jericho 5th (May) 30th 1842
My much esteemed sister - [meaning sister-in-law-]
Amy Post
    We have now returned from our Yearly Meeting and feel something of a cold  otherwise all pretty well. Our Yearly meeting was large and the business that came before it was conducted in much harmony and brotherly love we had in the company of good many strangers  some from Philadelphia, Baltimore, Genessee [county] and Can`n`ady, and the subjects that thee may feel an interest in 
I will give some account of the first business take up in the second sitting was the appeal of TTH (?) ht meeting appointed four-from each quarterly, Westbury excepted which made 36 in number. I had objected to 3 of those that where appointed and they were accordingly released and 3 others appointed in their stead with which Isaac [Hopper] felt satisfyed [sic] in the commencement of the appointment Isaac requested that he might have the company of his son in law James S Gibbons to set with him, which was granted  then asked James S G. weather [sic] he intended to prosecute  appeal James said before he answered that question it would be necessary for him to make a few remarks. He said it never was agreeable to his judgement to appeal but he did so on consideration
to his friend (but I think such friends are not worth having) and to prosecute the appeal for the sake of controversy he had no wish to do and further  he had no wish to be a member of N. York monthly Meeting as he thought the regulations of that meeting would conflict with his duty's [sic] he therefore declined proceeding any further and would withdraw from the contest. he said a good deal more but the above is about the substance.
The Meeting then proseeded [sic] on with its usual business until Sixth Day morning when the clerk informed that there was
a report from the committee on the appeal on the table which was accordingly taken up The report was as follows that they had attended to their  appointment had heard the appellant and the quarterly Meeting committee in the case, and that 18 where [sic] for confirming the judgment of the quarterly Meeting 15 for reversing it, and three declined giving any opinion in the case. John (Rh)uman asked weather [sic] it would be thought....
-----------ETC -----------
(END OF LETTER)
I have wrote a considerable >this is the last (page?)< but I suppose it will not be very exceptable [sic] information to thee but thee must try to hear it for it does appear that moddern [sic] abbolitionism [sic] is on the dicline [sic] with us [meaning Quakers], not that the interes[t] in the welfare of the slave is on the dicline [sic] by any means, that and moddern abbolition [sic] is two very different subjects--- Father and Mother expects to make
you a visit and if you want them to have an agreeable visit you must talk something besides Abolition and George F White.
Effectionately [sic] thine -
John Willis
---------
 1 https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5406/illinois/9780252038266.001.0001/upso-9780252038266-chapter-004
2  https://www.friendsjournal.org/2004030/
3 Quakers and Abolition, Edited by Brycchan Carey and Geoffrey Plank, 2014, University of Illinois Press
4 https://rrlc.org/winningthevote/biographies/amy-post/

#36 : An Epidemic. 100 Years Ago - Spanish Flu 1918-1919

Spanish Flu of 1918

The Spanish Flu of 1918 didn't stop on Dec 31, 1918. It naturally flowed into 1919. My great grandmother kept a diary off and on over the years. I haven’t found one from 1918, but she ‘resolved’ to keep on in 1919. 

The diary she kept starts New Year’s Day, January 1919. Their first born daughter, my grandmother, Elizabeth Tyson turned 15 in 1919.

Elizabeth had 2 elder brothers (Donald Charles 1902-1980 and Robert William 1903-1969).
In 1919 below her were seven children (in order):

• Margaret Janet {Keefer, Bouchelle} 1906-1994;
• Frederick Carroll 1908-1974;
• Edwin Phillip 1909-1973;
• Richard Stanley 1911-1987;
• Chester Julian Jr 1912-1972 (called Jr. below);
• Ralph Watts 1914-1998;
• Paul F "Dix" 1916-2008

Two more children came later. When Bertha started the diary in January 1919, her two youngest children Alan Hawxhurst 1919-1993, and Norman Eugene 1921-2010 weren’t yet conceived. (Alan born at the end of 1919).

 

Echoes of today: 

Bertha was in 1919 a mother of 10 children, and her husband worked a large farm, and he was active in PA agricultural communities. 
 

Parallels to today include: 

* Sanitary habits. In January, she’s teaching her children to be more sanitary about their runny noses.

* Widespread. Even though she was in a rural farming area, there were friends and relatives who "are sick with the 'flue'” as she spelled it. 
* Isolation. This family though comparatively well-off (they had two cars and a phone), could only call people who owned phones as well. 
* Cancellations: "Meeting"—or Quaker worship—was cancelled several Sundays.

* Deaths: Several friends/relatives died 
 

Note: driving for pleasure was not really part of the equation. 

 

Esp. in winter. Then trips were mostly with a purpose.

 

Cars were relatively new and roads were often too bad (snow, mud, ruts, etc.) in winter to go anywhere. The Pennsylvania Turnpike was opened as a "large" paved road when my mother could remember it (it opened October 1940 and was just 160 miles long).

Below is a typewritten transcript from her diary: 

 

 

Click on picture to enlarge.

 

Bertha (Hawhurst) Tyson’s Jan  & Feb 1919 Diary 

(Chester is her husband. Most people mentioned are close or distant relatives by marriage).

Wednesday 1 January 1919

No sun. Rain lasted all day. Had goose stuffed with apples and prunes, good but kids not fond of it. Most everyone one around has “flue.” [flu]

All Geo Peters family but himself & (olive?), Will & Edna (Tyson) & all colored folks,etc. Read a little & sewed. Ralph [son] wants me to get him to Uncle Ralph’s, and has been leading up to it for some time. Told me Uncle Ralph has a pony & play things for him & that he ought to ____his cousins up there! 

Resolved to keep a diary!

Thursday 2 January 1919

Rain & snow in PM. No sun. Electricians here to make changes. Made doughnuts. 

All Geo. Peters  (family) all but Olive has influenza. Olive is only caretaker. Geo. kept up as long as he could. Mary cooking as much as she could.

All well here Everyone else (nearly) is sick or has sickness in family.

Friday 3 January 1919

Snowed about 6 in. Children excited. I mended & put away, etc. 

Children have learned to be sanitary about their noses. Jr. & Stan use paper & then run quickly & burn it up! 

Boys went down to Guernsey [about 2.5 miles, depending on destination] & started generator & etc. All sick down there including the colored folks. Electricians here to make changes. 

Chester [her husband] came home feeling miserably, wen tot bed right after dinner & felt better by the time I went to bed. Big boys caught up in work too___
Saturday 4 January 1919

6 °t. Robert went up for Daisy. Froze the Ford radiator & a hole developed. Both cars out of commission. Cold all day. A little coasting Too cold for a good bread. Made tarts, good. Don went to Guernsey to fix pipes & to prevent freezing. M. J. T & Don Garretson played cards all PM.

Sunday 5 January 1919

Cold ° 8 t here ° -6 at night. 

Most of the men sick so far D--? And Don and Chester went down to clean stables & etc. 

No meeting [Quaker worship] due to flue [flu]. 

Had two meals; tea & tarts (sand)__  . W.E. read & sat in my b?. 

Tired. Clothes for the boys [side cut off]  

Sunday January 12 1919

Sunny & cold. No meeting [Quaker worship] account of flue [flu].

Chester tried to fix sitting-room fireplace so it would not smoke, it was better but not without some smoke yet. We let the fire go out. 

After dinner, Chester, Fred & I went to Mapleton and looked at the cows & their m__, and the office. I wrote his [Chester’s] letters. 

Children at home, everything more or less in disorder!

Marg. Koser’s husband died very suddenly at Middletown. 

Mrs. Warren on the Annex very sick; a nurse, hardly expects her to live thru the in night.

Wednesday 15 January 1919

Cloudy in AM Sunday a little while in PM.

Chester still has a cold. Went to the office about 9:30. 

Lizzie Garretson here to mend rug & etc. Electricians here to finish but didn’t quite. 

Mended everything, took all day.

Everything running out. 

Chester not yet feeling good. 

Thursday January 16 1919

Sunny all day. Electricians still here. Will Deardorf here to repair.  Lizzie S here to mend quilts. Daisy & I cleaned 4 roosters & canned them in 1/2 gal jars. Lovely & warm. 6 eggs gathered. Cleaned lots of nice celery. 

Chester not feeling well. (he) had supper in bed.

Children called me to see a beautiful mackerel sky in the eve. I told them it would rain.

Dix [the youngest at this time] threw a spoon into the fireplace. I scolded & I found I had consented (absentmindedly) when he asked me if he could!

Friday 17 January 1919

Cloudy all day. Didn't feel good all day & accomplished nothing! Electricians here. Finishing at last. They can kill time faster than anyone else I ever saw, walk slowly & sit on their jobs.

Eliz. has been calling [little brother] Ralph "Sweetheart" & he answers by calling her "Ducky-love" but he didn't want to be called that last night but wanted "Window"! Everything he does is concerned with "States-College," he has a suitcase that is to go to States-College, and then  he is to ? send it back? Dix..___

{Jump to the following month}

Saturday 1 February 1919 
Clear & warm. So nice. 
We went to Gettysburg in PM over good roads but such stones in it! Margaret was sick in AM but went with us. Got home just before 5 and had supper of beans & hot doggies. Went to bed and asleep. Chester phoned at 9 o’clock from Harrisburg. 

Sunday 2 February 1919

Clear & warm. Ground was frozen. 

Mary Rush came over on the 10:45 train and left at 5 o’clock. A short day but well worthwhile. The clutch [on the car] is still slipping so did not go for Chester [to train station]. Elizabeth [my grandmother] is buttering up girls to join a girls’ cooking club. All enthusiastic. Had a lovely visit with Mary Rush, all too short.

#36-Close but not in conflict 2 Quaker Houses of Worship in Westbury, NY

Quaker Houses of Worship, Westbury, NY: Hicksite & Orthodox

For a long period of time there were simultaneous Quaker Meetings in Westbury, not far from one another. So, yes, there would  be TWO Friends Meetings in Westbury, NY

In the Beginning

A Friends Meeting House was Built in Westbury:
When the "Friends" (Quakers) finally decided to build a meeting near Westbury (it was not the oldest one on the Island), it was 1701. That was built at Post Avenue and Jericho Turnpike in Westbury. The cost of the 3 1/4 acres of land was 4 British pounds.  (The current building is not the original, several have replaced it.)

"Hicksite" Meeting Westbury NY 1869 as it was

The Orthodox - Hicksite Split
- What could be more painful than a split in the same community?
In the early 1800s forces drove the Quaker community in the East into two main groups. It was not the only split, but it was a major schism for that time.

It was so deep that the Orthodox Quakers in Westbury (who continued the tradition preaching and recognized ministers within the meetings, as well as a structured Sunday School) decided they needed their own building.

So it was that that arm of the Society of Friends had an Orthodox Meeting House near Post Avenue in 1830. Most of the members were former members of the older meeting, which was right near them.

The other (original) branch (called "Hicksite") remained in the original building which was so aged they  had to replace. 
So though the Hicksite building site is older, and has had continuous worship for longer, the Orthodox Meeting House (which is close to the Hicksite building) has become the oldest building for religious purposes in Westbury.

"Orthodox" Friends Meeting Westbury, NY

Many years ago, the two branches of Friends in Nassau County came back together.
No doubt there were problems after the split, but how did these two peace-loving communities cope with being separate yet so close?  Unavoidably, families would be split between the two houses in close proximity if only because Quakers often married close cousins.

I have preserved letters which made mention of an ancestor who, when she was at her grandmother's house, naturally attended the other meeting. Of course, this hardly bears mentioning, except that they were physically and relationally close.
In another case, my great grandmother's maternal grandmother, Sarah Rushmore (Hicks) lived through the schism to see her collateral relatives attend the other Meeting.
(Sarah Rushmore married John Doughty Hicks).
This is a bit of bitter irony because Sarah's father-in-law, Isaac Hicks (1767-1820) had helped to fund Elias Hicks' travel and ministry--it is Elias who is most often associated with the split.
But, Sarah Rushmore Hicks lived through the split, and had family members in both parts of the Society of Friends in Westbury.
For example, her granddaughter Marianna Hicks and her husband, William Hawxhurst were Hicksite Quakers.
But her son-in-law's (William) sister, Margaret Hawxhurst, was an Orthodox Friend, as were many other friends, relatives and neighbors.

Now, you already know this story has a happy ending, but I found the letters and photos;
When my great grandmother Bertha (Hawxhurst) Tyson was young in the 1880s, the Orthodox Meeting was used by both Meetings for Sunday School.

Bldg Used for Sunday School in Westbury c. 1890

Apparently the worshipers at the Orthodox Meeting offered to give all the children of the Society of Friends in the area Sunday School. They held it in a little building near both Meetings (see photos).
So, while my gr, gr grandparents were Hicksite Quakers (William Hawxhurst & Marianna (Hicks) )  they sent my great grandmother to Sunday School taught by the Orthodox Quakers.

From her notes (I have digitized copies of Bertha's diaries and some letters), she enjoyed her time there enormously.
So much so, that she saved and labeled this photo of some of the women in the Orthodox Meeting in Westbury who were attached to the Sunday School. Her aunt is the 2nd from left, below.

Henrietta Titus, Marg Hawxhurst,Mary Post, Sarah Titus, Sarah Bunyan "Orthod Friends who conducted our Sunday School"

I know *Margaret Hawxhurst is the sister of William Ephraim Hawxhurst, my great great grandfather. The other women's names may or may not be married names, any information regading that would be welcome.
------
1 Hawxhurst has been spelled: Hauxhurst (and less often Hawkshurst)
2 The digitized photos, except for the second (of the Orthodox Meeting), are from the Margaret B Walmer collection or AC Johnson collection.

#35 Prosperity - How Charles J Tyson Made Money

Prosperity: Charles Tyson Pursued It

One direct ancestor really saw prosperity, that would be my mother's great grandfather on her maternal side, Charles John Tyson.
A newspaper said this of my gr-great grandfather: "the architect of his own fortune...on his arrival in Gettysburg his ready cash consisted of $10 and was $150 in debt."

Charles was born in 1838.

Jumping ahead to 1901, he's 62 and traveling throughout California. He is still in business though he's slowed his pace (he claims). In 1901 there are two things that still engaged his interest, carried over from his early years: photography (he owns a Kodak camera--and takes photos), and the growing fruit, its sale and its distribution.

How do I know this? He wrote about both in a letter to a friend and which I have at the end of this post--so keep reading.
Charles J Tyson was born (as far as I can tell) in New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia. He grew up in Philadelphia. 

Born  5 Sep 1838, to  Edwin Comly Tyson and Susannah Griffith. His father was of modest means.

Charles' Early Employment:
A newspaper article claims that when he was 11 Charles went to work for himself in a "house-furnishing company" in Philadelphia. Following that, he worked for six years in a grocery store.
Joins with brother Isaac in the new business of photography and moves to Gettysburg:

Somehow he learned daguerreotyping. He and his brother Isaac Griffith Tyson were able to buy enough equipment to open their own business. But they decided to move to a small city (Gettysburg) to start the business. They moved to Gettysburg and opened their own "Photography Gallery"  in 16 Aug 1859. It went under a variety of names: Tyson & Bro; Tyson Brothers; etc.

1859 Tysons aggressively advertising in Gettysburg

The "Tyson Brothers Studio" made the first photographs ever finished in Adams County, Pennsylvania.

Charles J Tyson

At this time the Civil War was raging. If you're not familiar with Adams County, it is a county on the south-east border of Pennsylvania, bordering Maryland. Though north of the Mason-Dixon Line, and in the "Union," this area and much of Maryland was still much-contested. Gettysburg is only a few miles away from the Maryland border.
Charles Tyson joined the "Wide Awakes" of Gettysburg in 1860; a group who supported Abraham Lincoln and was against slavery.

In the middle of the war, Charles married his wife Maria E Griest, a local gal, on 30 Apr 1863 (b. 7 Mar 1840). She was the daughter of a local farm family, Mary Ann Cook and Cyrus Griest. 

Charles and Maria had only begun to set up house just 3 weeks before the Battle at Gettysburg in July (Jul 1-Jul 3). They were still working on the house when the battle came to town.
An officer came by to warn the citizens to evacuate ahead of the coming battle. When they returned a few days later, they had quite a mess to clean up, but most of their belongings were there (apart from some food and clothes).
The photography studio was in surprisingly good shape, apart from the soldiers' hunt for alcohol in some form.

Shell in wall of Tyson Bros Studios York St Gettysburg

With soldiers still encamped in town, the brothers busied themselves taking photos of soldiers in the gallery in town. They also cobbled together a mobile photography studio to go on the trail, taking photos of the landscape after the battle, helped by their able young assistant, William Tipton, who was a teen.

William Tipton in Tyson Bros Photo "Mobile"  Gettysburg, PA 1863

The Springdale Nurseries and others:

1860 Springdale Nursery Brochure Cyrus Griest & Sons

Within a year  Charles was persuaded by the Griest family that this was a good place to farm. In 1864 (while the war was still on), he bought a 1/3 interest in the Spring Dale nurseries of Cyrus Griest & Sons, (his wife's family). But he retained his interest in the photograph business. [See front of Griests' Catalog from 1860, found by my cousin]
In 1865 he sold the photography business. By then his brother Isaac had married another Griest, a cousin of Charles' wife Maria. Isaac and his wife moved away to set up a photographic studio in Philadelphia.

Then again in 1866 Charles bought back the photography gallery, but presumably was still involved in the nursery business. In 1867 Charles bought the entire interest in Springdale Nurseries.

A Big House

In 1869 he bought a 167 acre farm in Menallen Township and moved into a house called “Mapleton” in Flora Dale, PA, very close to the Menallen Friends Meeting House. He lived in that house for some years.

"Mapleton" as it looked abt 1890

He still loved photography. So yet again, in 1874 he bought the 1/2 interest in the same photograph gallery. 
In 1875 he sold out his nursery business, only to buy, in 1878, a 1/2 interest in Chambersburg (PA) nurseries.
The 1860s and 1870s he ws busy in learning the nursery business, buying and selling, as well as popping in and out of the Gettysburg photography. The young assistant Tipton who had bought the business had apparently bonded closely with Charles (so much so that William Tipton named a son "Charles Tyson Tipton.")

Then came 1880:
Charles eventually disposed of the photography (as a business, but not a hobby) all together to Tipton in 1880. In doing so, he exchanged his half interest in the photography business for a house in Gettysburg.
About the Changing Nature of Farming in the US:
In his lifetime, many farms had changed from small family meant to feed oneself to larger farms which could provide for more than one family. Many farms had grown to the point they had to hire local hands for the farming, as it was too much work for the family members.
Between mechanized machinery to do the work, and the railroads, large farms could now sell produce to cities, where immigrants had greatly swelled the population, and where there was also established factories and men and women working there. Large cities required food and meat from from the countryside.
Tyson's Background - Although Charles was a city boy, he had been living in farm country for two decades. (His parents still lived in Philadelphia.) By 1880, I would guess he had made a good number of business friends, and by now, some decades into growing fruit, he grasped the value of fertilizer to farmers.
So in 1881 Charles was a charter member of the Susquehanna Fertilizer Company.
The fertilizer company built a factory near Perryville, Maryland with capital stock of $15,000. It increased in 1882, to $35,000.
Of course there was a Fire!
On 29 Sept 1883, the plant burned. Charles retrenched and moved on.

A Move and a Reorganization:
The company was reorganized in Baltimore with a paid up capital stock of $100,000. The new plant cost about $50,000.  It was renamed "The Susquehanna Fertilizer Company of Baltimore City"
Its officers:
1 - President: Charles J Tyson
2 - Treasurer: George B Passmore
3 - Superintendent: S. P. Broomell
How did the new company fare? In 1881 they sold 1,200 tons of fertilizer. 4 years later in 1885, they sold 11,000 tons.

Back to City Living
The retrenchment meant the Tysons had to take drastic measures. Charles and Maria moved into a much smaller home in Baltimore so he could oversee the company business. Maria was no longer near her family, she was no longer taking in fresh country air. And Charles was no longer a young man. 
But the factory disaster in Perryville could be viewed as a blessing because, once freed from the location in Perryville, Charles could focus his time and energy in Baltimore: living close to the plant allowed him to monitor the activity closely.

So, How did Prosperity Find Him?
It did not: he pursued prosperity with vigor. He worked most of his life, and he moved between very different jobs. He seems to be visionary, resilient, connected, and energetic. What finally made the most money? The fertilizer business. But he stayed interested in his first 2 areas, as mentioned.

You may recognize it as the photo from the front of the blog:

Flora Dale, Menallen. Hill House where son Chester & Bertha lived.

Charles Tyson eventually "settled down" at a house he dubbed "Loma Linda” in Guernsey, not far from the Menallen Meeting House. (This book calls it Loma Vista, but family records of Margaret B Walmer's "Loma Linda"). See 2 photos of the house below (the second one shows how large it is, from front to back). Also a photo of the barn at Loma Linda.

Loma Linda - Chas and Maria Tyson's final Residence; Guernsey MBW Collection

Barn at Loma Linda, Guernsey - Chas J Tyson

A Vacation! Yes, Charles and Maria Tyson took a well-earned trip West (quite a journey if you read his letter). They marveled at the flora of Southern California.

They stayed at the hotel pictured below.

Charles and Maria on vacation in California:

Charles Tyson Maria (Griest) Tyson in California 1901

 A letter he wrote to a friend in 1901  

Letter from Charles (and Maria Griest) Tyson to friend in PA on their trip to the West Coast

Santa Barbara, California, April 1901 

Seneca P. Bromell

My Dear friend,

I received thy very welcome and interesting letter of the 24th and on the 4th inst we left Pasadena for this quaint old place of seven thousand population and a hundred years old. I am really and honestly ashamed of not writing thee long ago. [He adds the other letters he’s had to respond to in the meantime]

I find Sight seeing as hard work as I have tackled for many a day and occasional rest ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. On the 1st inst I had a wire on the death of Wm Wood. [Continues about the man’s illness and his widow]

We had a very pleasant and comfortable passage from Balt to N.O (New Orleans?) and four days there—one of rain and three of sight seeing. Of all places visited thus far, we found extremes meeting us there more decidedly than any other. The old part is old and quaint in the extreme and not over clean indeed, quite the reverse—while the new is very  beautiful. We find that a carriage and good driver enables us to do up a place in less time and more satisfactorily than any other way. We left N. O. on the 14th of 2nd mo and arrived in Pasadena seventh day eve the 16th. Found Clark at the Station to welcome us and take us to rooms he had engaged for us just across the street from the “Whittier” where he takes his meals and where he had made arrangements for us also. Next day he had a carriage come for us and we all took a ride. The most delightful one of the trip I think for all was so new. And surprises met us at every turn. Snow on the mountains in full view, and the most beautiful flowers in the greatest profusion on all sides, magnificent date Palms, pepper trees, live oaks and many other varieties comparatively new to us. Since then we have gone around a good deal—have explored several of the Canyons noted for their beauty and well deserving of all that is said about them. Have also tempted Providence by going to the top of Mt Lowe 6000 Feet above sea level on the backs of burros. When the path was not over two feet wide in some places and almost straight down for hundreds of feet on the one side and a corresponding slope upwards on the other, and we still Live! We have visited the noted “Catalina Island” and the wonderful “Avalon Bay” exploring its crystal depths through a glass bottom boat, the most beautiful sight I ever beheld. Rocks, ferns, fishes of many kinds large and small.  Many of them new to us and very pretty as they moved about so gracefully in and out among the rocks and plants nearly a hundred feet below us. We only remained there over one night. Catalina Island is 30 miles from the Main land which we leave at "San Pedro.”

We have visited Redlands and Riverside; the great orange growing center of the “Citrus Belt” When 40,000 acres are planted in oranges within a radius of 20 miles, and the finest fruit in the state grown–of this there is not a doubt. The variety in the greatest form is the “Washington Navel” sweet, juicy and tender when through with one, there is nothing left but the skin . Twenty thousand car loads of oranges will go from Southern California this year, and each car will carry three hundred and sixty two boxes. It is estimated that fully three thousand boxes will rot on the ground for want of cars to ship them After returning to Pasadena for a few days we went to “San Diego” stopping for a few hours at Capistrano and visited the Old Mission where I found much of interest to photograph. We took dinner with an Old German and his wife who keep store and accommodate travelers. The old gentleman informed us that the English walnuts on the table were grown on his place and that he had shipped his last crop—forty thousand pounds, to the east and realize 9 cents per pound for them—a great many are grown in that section and the quality is Extra Good. From San Diego we visited the Old and Diego Mission, the oldest in the state. Also took a forty mile ride into Old Mexico. Took lunch at Tia Juana, a queer little town consisting of a saloon, two stores, and half a dozen small houses, nearly all one story. Several Cowboys rode into town while we were there, full rigged and ready for the chase. I understand that San Diego is supplied with beef from that quarter. On our return we drove along the shore of the Pacific for nearly six miles which was very delightful. Our drive took us by the famous “Hotel Del Coronado” where we had spent the first day before. This hotel is owned by Spreckels the Sugar King of San Francisco and is one of the finest I ever saw, inside and out.

I have a 3 1/3 x 4 ¼ Kodak along and am taking “snap shots” as we go so as to illustrate our trip for future reference. I have developed and printed over a hundred but from now on I shall be obliged to store my undeveloped films until I get home. I find it adds much to the interest of the trip to feel that we are taking some of it along with us as we go. While at San Diego we also visited La Jolla, a very interesting spot on the Pacific about fifteen miles away.  Also, Chula Vista, Paradise alley, Sweet Water Valley, Otay Valley and a pretty drive through Mission Valley. A great many lemons are grown in that section, but it is not as well watered as some other places we have been and a California Ranch without plenty of water is valueless— 

On our return to Pasadena we stopped off at Ocean Side and took a nine mile drive to San Louise Rey Mission and the old Ranch house said to be Ramonas Home, Clark says there is some doubt about this and that the old Spanish house at Camulos is the genuine. So we called there on our way here and spent about six hours there, ate our lunch in the Old Chapel and had a very interesting talk with the daughter of the Old Senora, photographed the South Porch the Old chapel the watering plan, the Willows, the court Yard, the fountain in the garden, etc. I have just stopped to eat a couple of oranges bought from Pasadena. They are fine. I tell thee. We get none such in Baltimore. Wish I could send you a box but the expenses on the box would cost 15 cents per pound, almost as much by mail. And after all, would not be as good as they are here fresh from tree.

There is another old Spanish Mission here, but it is in a better state of preservation than any we have visited, and regular services are held. They are just now building a new and handsome Stone College and have it nearly completed. “Father Peter” who has charge of it informed us that he had been sent here four and half years ago by the Holy Father at Rome to take charge of and restore the mission of Santa Barbara and that since that time he has raised and expended $650,000 on the buildings.

This morning we took a twenty mile drive over the Boulevard which runs along over the foot hills of the mountains which overlook the town and for part of the way the Grand Old Ocean. Truly a very pretty drive. On third day next we move on to Pacific Grove and from there we will visit the noted Hotel Del Monte at Monterey and then go on to Santa Cruz and San Jose reaching San Francisco about the 18th or 19th and remain until 4 Pm of the 22nd when we take train for Berenda and Raymond, the entrance to the Yosemite.

On the same day Clark Vrooman and his friend Homer Hoopes from Media, PA who has spent the winter in Pasadena will leave Los Angeles and join us at either Berend or Raymond where we are due at 5:30 am on the 23rd stop for breakfast and at 6:30 start on a sixty nine mile stage ride into the valley. More anon?
We do not know how long it will require to do the valley. It will be Clark’s first visit and he will go prepared to carry away a lot of negatives. Homer is also very enthusiastic photographer and is very expert. From Yosemite we will return to San Francisco where we will remain for about a week, say, until the 5th of May or thereabouts during which time our address will be Grand Hotel, San Francisco, Calfor. From there we will go to Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago and home. Where we expected to turn up about June 1st. I am not sure I will get to the Cattle Ranch though have written to Jos. Pyle asking best way to go there after leaving San Francisco. 

I have kept very well all the time, though do get pretty tired and find it necessary to take a day off now and then for rest and recuperation. Maria and Elizabeth have had several days of not feeling up to par but both are better now and ready to move on. We are surely having a wonderfully good time full of interest at every turn and a trip we can live over and over again to the end of our lives. Thee and Rebecca must surely make it—you cannot afford not to do so. The time to do it will be next winter after thee gets through with the A.A. and before thee settles down to anything else. Everybody says we will be back again then but I see no prospect of it now. 

I was much interested in thy mention of the situation of things at the Canton factories and as I understand it concentration goes quietly on with the one end in view that of dispensing with every last man that can be spared and why not? That was the intention from the start and I have no doubt will be carried right along to the end, without fear or favor. I am glad to know that Arthur is likely to become a fixture and hope that a plan will be found for Charles and Len where they may earn satisfactory salaries. I would also like to see Frank comfortably fixed. Like thyself my concern for the boys has been greater than for myself.  I was surprised to learn that Will Ashly had gone to Hanover. The AA have parted with an exceptionally good man and one with more to them than he will get at Hanover. I am not surprised that Baugh and Sons are going to build. I wonder they did not do so long ago. The one great surprise to me is that the AA allowed them to get possession of that property. But smart people make mistakes sometimes, as well as green horns from the country. No doubt they know what they are about. Regarding the Veneer CO. I received a notice from Sec. Williams asking for a return of notes and 15% of my stock. I have not replied and do not intend to. All of that can wait I return.

Of course, it is to his interest to get some money into the treasury to pay his expenses. I have not the least particle of confidence in that man and believe the more we run after him, the more trouble we will run into. His last proposition is coming towards mine was he and Peck give back their notes and all the last issue of stock. Then we take of that stock for our notes. The other Stockholders who have done nothing ought to put up some of their stock or something to help put the Co on some sort of footing for business. We ought not to be asked to do anything more. We have already done more than our share, through gross misrepresentation. That’s the way I feel about it. But as thee says we cannot write very intelligently or satisfactorily on this subject. And it will have to wait as far as I am concerned until I get home. 

I have written right along, against time as I want to get this into the next mail. So, thee must make allowance for any mistakes that I have made. Would be glad to hear from thee at San Francisco if thee finds time to write. I have had several hitches at this letter, and it is now time to start to Pacific Grove. The 9th inst.. and the girls have their bonnets on and are saying hurry up. They say give our love to all. So I close with love and best wishes to everyone.

Afect. Thy Friend,              CJ Tyson

Page 1 of letter, Chas J Tyson from California

Final page of Chas J Tyson's letter from California

After Charles' death (22 Dec 1906) Maria moved into this house (where her daughter lived). She died 11 Mar 1927. See below:

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*Except for the photos from the published book, all photos, letters and information is from the archives and files of Margaret B Walmer Collection, Flora Dale, PA accessible by family.