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William O. Straw
(1781-1870)
Hannah Huse
(1790-1818)
James Flanders
(1790-1928)
Mary Peaslee
(1783-1853)
William Stocker Straw
(1817-1902)
Mary Ann Flanders
(1822-1917)

Charles Herbert Straw
(1859-1905)

 

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Charles Herbert Straw

  • Born: 22 Jan 1859, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, New Hampshire
  • Died: 1 Mar 1905, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, New Hampshire at age 46
  • Buried: Stumpfield Cemetery Contoocook, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, USA

bullet   Cause of his death was Typhoid Fever; suicide by shooting.

picture

bullet  General Notes:

He was an artist who lived at home. (this per genealogy of Ellen Straw Thompson). He was unmarried.

1880 census Hopkinton,NH
age 20 living in HH of father
Name: Charles H. STRAW Age: 20 Estimated birth year: <1860> Birthplace: New Hampshire Occupation: Farmer Relation: Son Home in 1880: Hopkinton, Merrimack, New Hampshire Marital status: Single Race: White Gender: Male Head of household: William S. STRAW Father's birthplace: NH Mother's birthplace: NH

1900 Hopkinton, Merrimack County NH
William Straw age 82 born NH c1818; married 58 yrs; farmer
Mary P Straw age 77 born NH Oct 1823; married 58 yrs; 6ch 4 living
Charles Straw age 40 born Jan 1860 NH; single; artist

www.familysearch.com - pilot search: DOD POD

www.NewsLibrary.com
Concord Monitor (NH) May 6, 2005 Section: Local/State Page: B01 e
Straw's legacy grasped at last

Farmer painted on the side
Author: JOELLE FARRELL
Monitor staff

Article Text:
Charles Straw, a man whose connection to Hopkinton was only generally known through two 19th century landscape paintings found in the town vault, has been identified.
His great grand-niece, Mary Ann Douglas, 78, of Henniker, said Charles Straw was a Hopkinton farmer who painted in his spare time. His paintings, and his love for painting, have been passed down through the Straw family for generations. Douglas's living room displays paintings by Charles Straw, her father, Clayton Bayrd Straw, and even one small winter scene she painted herself.
"My one-and-only attempt, right there," she said, pointing at a small oil painting of snow-covered barn. "I was just fooling around with some oils," she said, adding, "It's a natural talent. It kind of runs in the family."
Douglas keeps two of Charles Straw's paintings, which feature a peasant couple in a field and near the ocean, in a corner of her living room. They have the same weathered brown hues as the paintings of Mt. Kearsarge that were locked in Hopkinton's vault for decades.
Sue Strickford, Hopkinton's town clerk, took the paintings from the vault and hung them on her office wall three years ago. Since then, she's tried to collect information on the painter, but no local museums had heard of him and the Hopkinton town history had no definitive information on him.
Douglas and Joyce Meyer, chairwoman of acquisitions at the Henniker Historical Society, confirmed that Charles Straw was the son of William S. Straw and Mary Ann Flanders, born Jan 22, 1859, at the family farm on College Hill Road in Hopkinton. He had five siblings, including James Otis Straw, Douglas's great-grandfather.
Straw family records at the New Hampshire Antiquarian Society in Hopkinton indicate that a Charles Straw married Elita Montgomery and died in 1942. But he was not buried in Hopkinton, and so far no one has produced any burial record for him.
Douglas was born at the farm on College Hill Road, but her family moved to Henniker when she was 5 years old, she said. She never really knew Charles Straw and her parents never told her much about his life.
Douglas said she has no idea how two of his paintings ended up in ornate gold frames in the Hopkinton vault, next to town birth records dating back hundreds of years.
Straw never signed the front of his paintings, and family members, like Douglas's mother, scrawled his name in pencil on the backs of his works. In contrast, Douglas's father, a machinist named Clayton Bayrd Straw, neatly signed all of his paintings as "C.B. Straw."
"I think my mother made him,"Douglas said, adding that she wanted to make sure that future family members didn't have lingering questions like those left behind by Charles Straw.
(Joelle Farrell can be reached at 224-5301, ext. 304, or by e-mail at jfarrell@cmonitor.com.)
Copyright (c) 2005 Concord Monitor
Record Number: 0c1974ee

Concord Monitor (NH)
May 2, 2005
Section: Front Page
Page: A01

Topics:
Index Terms:
News
Arts Culture
Painting
Human Interest
Mysteries
Paintings' admirers search for more on mystery man
Little known of 19th century artist
Author: JOELLE FARRELL
Monitor staff
Article Text:
For Sue Strickford, the mystery began three years ago, when she found two 19th century paintings buried among records in the town vault. The paintings are landscapes featuring Mount Kearsarge and are held in ornate gold frames. Strickford, the town clerk, hung them in her office next to a giant clock that covers a hole in the wall.
"I fell in love with them because of the pictures, for one thing, and the frames for another," Strickford said.
But Strickford, like others before her, has been unable to trace the history of the paintings or find information about the painter, Charles Straw.
The Straw family name first appeared in Hopkinton in 1817, and their mark on the town is evident in the road between Stickney Hill Road and Route 202 that bears the family name.
But no one has claimed any connection to the painter. Several local and New Hampshire art and history experts interviewed Friday were stumped.
"I checked a couple of
places, but no Straws," said Sharon Atkins, assistant curator at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. The New Hampshire Historical Society has no record of him, and neither does the Museum of New Hampshire History.
Strickford even placed a sign on the front desk asking for more information on Charles Straw. After three years, not one tip, she said.
The most information anyone has dug up on any Charles Straws is the New Hampshire Antiquarian Society. Two men named Charles Straw lived in Hopkinton during the time period when the paintings were completed. The paintings are dated 1894 and 1895, Strickford said.
One Charles H. Straw was born in 1860, the son of Gilman and Weltha Straw, and was an engineer in Concord, town birth records show. He married Mary Ann Flanders and died in 1905, Strickford said.
The second man, Charles Herber Straw, was born in 1859, the son of William and Mary Ann Straw. No information about his professional life was available. Strickford said he married Elita Montgomery and died in 1942.
No Charles Straw is buried in Hopkinton, and no record of his artwork been found, said Catherine Roberts, museum assistant at the New Hampshire Antiquarian Society.
"He's not indicated to be a painter," she said. "Maybe he was a local farmer who painted landscapes."
The paintings have been in the vault at the Bates building on Main Street in Contoocook for as long as anyone can remember. The building, which was dedicated in 1959, housed the library until the new library was built on Houston Fields. Thelma Mitchell, who worked at the library, also tried to unravel the mystery of the paintings in the vault, but without success, she said.
Roberts is still hoping that someone in town will have some information on the Charles Straw.
"If anybody else knows, we'd love to have the information," she said.
(Joelle Farrell can be reached at 224-5301, ext. 304, or by e-mail at jfarrell@cmonitor.com.)
Copyright (c) 2005 Concord Monitor
Record Number: 0c1962d4




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