Francis Martin Pomeroy

I transcribe the following from "A Genealogical Development and Testimony" by F.T. Pomeroy (son of Francis Martin), published in The Genealogical and Historical Magazine, July 1935, relating to Francis Martin Pomeroy.


He was born Feb. 22, 1822, in Somers, Connecticut, where his ancenstors had lived for several generations, in a family of 10 children. When a lad of 14 years he was apprenticed to an uncle not appreciative of the ambitions and talents of the youth, who chafing under severe restrictions at the age of 16 years, one night climbed from his attic window, and Benjamine Franklin-like, with his belongings wrapped in a red handkerchief, made his way to New London, and shipped aboard a whaler for the Artic circle.

He was a sturdy youth of large physique, intelligent and ambitious, and won his way doing his share of work with skill, during the six years, and became first mate on the ship. On his last trip down the west coast of Chile he was ship-wrecked, and by the aid of a friendlly spar, he fought his way to safety, and was the only one of the crew, as far as he ever knew, that reached the shore.

He was found unconscious by a young Castillian, and taken to his home and nursed back to life, health and strength. He remained with the Castillian family for two years, incidently learning the Spanish language.

He finally made his way north, across the Isthmus of Panama, via burro train, shipped for New Orleans, and then to Salem, Mass., where he became acquainted with the Haskell family, who had recently been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Francis Martin Pomeroy investigated the new faith, was converted and also joined the church in his 24th year, and soon after married Irene Azula (Ursula, handwritten in the book) Haskell, and with the family migrated to Nauvoo, and thereafter cast his lot with the then distressed and persecuted Mormon people. Their arrival in Nauvoo was just after the martyrdom of the Prophet, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, by a mob at Carthage jail.

(The article continues, but this transcription ends!)

When and Where?

One of the things that we decided to do at our last reunion was to try to establish a pattern of family get-togethers. We thought that it would be a good idea to get together at least every two years as an entire family for a reunion. We might get together more frequently, but those other activities would be a bit more informal - with less pressure on all of us to really get there.

Sherri indicates that her suggested activity for summer 2006 is most likely off, leaving the next major family gathering for 2007. Well, what would you like to do? Where shall we meet?

We would like this next activity to be something that everyone will make the effort to attend. Sure things will probably come up, so it won't be expulsion from the family if we really don't make it. However, we would like the reunion to be quite high on everyone's priority list.

Does a winter activity work better than a summer one? The thinking is that sports activities and school schedule make summers quite precious. Since everyone takes off around Christmas (and family is usually a good theme for the Christmas season) we might be able to organize something during the Christmas to New Years period. What are your thoughts?

If you can, please comment on when and where we should make the next (2007) reunion. Thanks...

This is going to be a site that we use to post information and discuss issues relating to the Owen Woodruff Allen family. Craig will be the moderator - and you can can e-mail him at any of his e-mail addresses (including the one for this site - NorthShoreHI@gmail.com), or you can just make comments to this blog and he will get a special e-mail (but then every one else will get to see your comments, too).

The main topics that this blog should address will deal with family organization (Craig was selected as head of the family organization during our last family get together in Pine, Arizona at Christmas time), with times that our family should try to get together, with geneology, etc.

We still will use our "MyFamily.com" website - but a blog provides a little better forum for discussion.

We all want to thank Mom & Sandie (and I guess Neil and Sid, too) for all that they did to make the time in Pine so wonderful. There were quilts that they made, preparation of the camp, food arrangments, activities for the kids, and so on and so on. It was greatly appreciated by all of us. - So here is a big "Mahalo" from Hawaii!

We also want to thank those that made such big sacrifices to come together with the family this time. Stacy and Greg drove down from Idaho, Steph and Dave, and Emily and Joe drove over from Texas with their families, Cherry flew in from New Jersey with her two young traveling companions. Lydia and Dan flew over from their Florida Christmas. And Dawn and Chad had to drive up from Mesa, but when you are dealing with early-pregancy sickness, that is a long drive! Shauna and Ron came up (with his Dawn) and that added to the fun. Yes, of course Craig & Linda (and Owen and Steph) came the farthest, but who is keeping track?

Anyhow, welcome to our family site...

We should discuss when (and how often) our family should meet together. We have had suggestions from Sherri that we meet this summer. Craig & Linda think that we should meet at least every two years as the whole family. Post a comment and voice your opinion.