The Crostons of Haverhill, Part 3: Dr. John F. Croston

Dr. John Francis Croston was well known and loved in Haverhill and his name appeared many times in newspaper articles and books. I have been told there is a memorial plaque dedicated to him in the town of Haverhill but I've never seen in person. If you are going to Haverhill or live there, I would like to see a picture of it, if does exist.

Mary Frances (nee Ferrell), Rose Elaine, George Henry (front), John Francis (back), Francis and Mary Genevieve Croston

Dr. Croston was born on the 25th of September 1855 in Bradford. His parents had immigrated separately from County Cork Ireland to Bradford where his father George was a farmer. Despite John's humble beginning as a farmers son, he earned a medical degree from New York University and then returned to Haverhill in 1880 to set up his practice.

In 1881, John married Mary Frances Ferrell, a blacksmiths daughter from Lawrence, MA.
John and Mary had 4 children: Frank b.1882, Mary b.1884, and George and Elaine (who were twins) b. 1886.

The family was well off financially because of John's profession. All 4 children went to college.

-Frank Croston earned his degree at Harvard University in 1904, after which he returned home and worked as a playwright. There is a copyright on file in the US library of congress for his play titled "Unknown Voice".

-Mary Croston attended Bradford College and was a long time teacher at Haverhill High School.

-Elaine graduated from Smith College and was a beloved English teacher at Haverhill High School.  She also lead the poetry and drama clubs there. To this day the school holds an annual Elaine Croston Poetry Reading Contest and Award.

Haverhill High School Drama Club 1946

-George Croston attended Cornell University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1911, after which he returned to Haverhill and started a shoe manufacturing company.

Croston Shoe Company Listed in the Haverhill Gazette

The family was a close knit group. All of the children returned home after college and none of them married or had children. Similar to the family of Francis Croston and Susan Love in Part 2, the family line ended with this generation.

Mary and Elaine had a close friendship. They worked together at the high school and traveled together including trips in 1923 to Finland, 1927 to France and 1937 to Hawaii.

Their father also enjoyed traveling as there are records of him sailing to and from to Prince Edward Island in Canada as well as 2 trips to Havana, Cuba.

Although my immediate family did not know if there was a connection between Dr. Croston's family and our family, my father said they knew of them- because of Dr. Crostons  presence in the community.

As I dug deeper into the records I found one document where our families records crossed: 

In the Census of 1860 in Bradford, my 3X great grandfather Frank (son of John and Margaret), and his wife Bridget were living with their infant son John and Bridget’s younger sister Ellen Cragin. Their address was dwelling #165. I’ve included an image of the census below. You’ll see just above my family is the McCluster family. The house contained two apartments and the Crostons and McClusters lived in different apartments.

Just above the McClusters in dwelling #164 you’ll see a family with the surname "Closton.” Names are often misspelled on census records, which can make research confusing. In this case other Bradford records prove that “Closton” in this case was actually Croston.

 

George Croston, age 35, laborer born in Ireland, is living in dwelling #164 with Ellen L. Croston, age 28, born in Ireland with two children: John, age 5, and William, age 1, both born in Massachusetts.

This George, was about 10 years older than Frank. Frank’s younger brother also named George was living with his parents and siblings on Summer Street in 1860 so they were not the same person. This George was born about 1825. Frank’s brother George was born in 1842.

This George and his wife Ellen were the parents of Dr. Croston.

At first glance this may seem like an obvious family match. It was common for family members to live next door to each other. Were they 1st cousins, was George Frank's uncle? But the more I dug into the records the more mysterious it became.

Dr. Croston's father George became a naturalized US citizen. On his naturalization document it states that he arrived in New York from County Cork, Ireland in 1847. 

George married Ellen Quinn February 28, 1854 in Lawrence, MA. Lawrence is the town next to Haverhill. George's parents names were William and Mary Croston. George and Ellen had 2 children: John and William. William died at the age of 13 leaving John an only child.

In 1855 George and his family were living in Bradford, next door to the family of a Jeffery Croston.

1855 Census of Bradford

If you remember above; in 1860, George lived next to my ancestors Frank and Bridget.

By 1865 the family had moved again and were again living next door to the family of Jeffery Croston.

1865 Census of Bradford

By 1870 George had purchased a house in Bradford. His address was 31 Salem Street, located about 2 blocks from Francis Croston (of Part 2) and 7 blocks from my families house on Summer Street (Part 1).

To avoid confusing you more I will write about Jeffery Croston another time, except to say here that he born in County Cork, was Catholic and like George his parents names were William and Mary. All facts suggest a sibling relationship between George and Jeffery.

Around this time in my research I was starting to look at the records of Croston's in County Cork. Soon after this the Catholic Church released their parish records online. My family to my knowledge was Catholic as far back as we knew. Not finding what I was looking for I looked to the Church of Ireland records and finally came across the birth of my 3X great grandfather in Schull, County Cork on the Durrus History website.

As it turned out and much to my surprise, John and his siblings (Thomas and Sarah) were part of the Church of Ireland. It was not until the marriage of my ancestor Frank (Jr.) to Nelly Barry that my family became Catholic. 

DNA has proven that all of the West Cork Croston families were/are the same paternal line. What is left to discover is how they connect, how far back and who was the common ancestor.

Here are a couple of thoughts- not to be taken as facts but as starting points for future research:

-Was Francis (Part 2) sibling to Thomas, Sarah and my ancestor John (Part 1)? They arrived around the same time, to the same place, bought houses in Bradford the same year (1850), were of the same faith and parents names were John and Mary.

-George and Jeffery (Part 3) were from a larger family group that came from Poundlick, Skibbereen and still live in Skibbereen today. Poundlick and the surrounding area including Gortshanecrone and Castlehaven was the main stronghold of the Catholic Croston family from the mid 1800's.

There was a great divide surrounding religion in Ireland and so it is hard to wrap my mind around the relationship between these 3 families and I am still in the process of trying to sort it out. It would seem to me that they knew each other, both in Ireland and in Bradford. The fact that they lived so close together suggests that these family branches were not held back by each others religious beliefs in the US as they might have been in Ireland. 

I am off to visit Ireland soon and will post some pictures from some of the areas that I have written about.