The Press., 1915-09-22

Aho AuuoEdA Ol OErlu OOuVoTSS, SO, who died the 11th, was held from the Methodist church last Thursday after.
 noon at 3 o'clock, Rev. W. P. Buck officiating. Following the wishes of the deceased the service was very simple one. The pastor spoke in the highest terms of the clean and active life of the deceased. During the ser vice Miss Alberta Eaton played two
 funeral marches. The bearers were 10. P. Hodgson, Burt Eaton, George Eaton and John R. Parkhurst. This service marked the closing chapter of the generation of the Converse family |4H which the deceased was an active member and was in keeping with his plain manliness and upright character.
 MT. Converse was a direct descendent
 of John and Priscilla Alden of May
 flower fame, but it is from the family
 records that this fact is learned. The
 deceased was too modest to talk of his
 family connections, but it is subject
 that may properly be reviewed at
 this time and we reprint the follow
 ing from the Springfield Union: In 1920 the second English colony in America was founded on the coast of what is to-day the state of Massaohu- isetts by a freedom seeking band, known as the Pilgrims. The May flower was the means of their coming Miles Standish, to a large measure, the prime factor of their eventual success Those who have read the poem, Miles Standish," glean that John Alden was very close friend of the Pilgrims leader and warrior, so intimate in fact that Capt. Standish cOnfided to him cherished things of his heart and conferred upon him the delicate task of pleading his cause with 8 maid that he would make his wife. In pursuance of research for the second link of MT. Converse's ancestry, Joseph Alden
 is found, son of John and Priscilla, who married Mary Simmons. In 1890 son of this union, Joseph, IT,, married Plymouth maid. Her name was Hannah Durham. Twenty seven years later, son of the latter
 marriage, Daniel Alden, changed the name of the maid known among her
 brethren and friends as Abigail Shaw. A daughter born to Daniel and Abigail was christened Hannah, after her grandmother. She was the fifth generation of the descendants of the Pilgrims, John and Priscilla. She married Joshua Blodgett, whose great. grandfather was Thomas Blodgett.
 The sixth generation of the Alden Blodgetts was son, Alden Blodgett,
 who was g years old, he married
 Sarah Abbott. Twelve children were
 born to them, the second of whom,
 Esther, married Solva Converse in
 1S12. When they were united, two
 families of ancestral renown were
 welded together. Capt. Solva Con-
 verse, as he was known because of his
 office in the militia, comes we'll with
 in the life of present. Stafford
 residents. His ancestors were of
 French lineage. The progenitor in
 this country was Henry. Converse,
 whose son, Asa, lived for time in
 Thompson, but eventually came to this place, where a son, .Solvin, was born. Solyin married Sarah Holmes of Woodstock in 178O, and to them was born, among other children, a
 son, Solva, on April I. 179O. He was a man of ambition. Beginning life with common school education, with little of this worlds goods. he achieved muoh.- With his brother,
 Farley, he engaged in the teaming
 business between. here and Hartford, oxen being used for "locomotion. ; While interested in this pursuit, he also delved in the lumber industry.
 In 1889, he invested money with
 others, being the chief hare-holder in the Mineral Springs Manufactur- ing company, which erected the first woolen mill in what was then the village of Stafford Springs. He was the first agent of this concern and for a number of years president of the company. To him and Sarah were
 born Almeda, Adeline s., Alden S., Orrin. Josiah, Julius, Hannah B., Francis E., and three others, who
 died in infancy. Orrin Converse,
 about whom interest centers at present,
 was the eighth descendant of John and Priscilla Alden. He was born in house that stands on the road to
 West Stafford on May 5, 1922.
 All One Sided.
 "DO you ever have any family de- hatos Of xro.,x. l,o.,so Rillfilrx 2,,