Samuel and Martha (Howard) Tupper

Samuel and Martha Tupper - 1880s?

Samuel Tupper was born on 19 Apr 1808 in Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was Canadian and Presbyterian. Samuel Tupper and Martha Howard were married on 7 Apr 1831.

 

According to the Historical and Genealogical Record of Colchester County, by Thomas Millar, Samuel and Martha had six sons and three daughters; "three of their sons were deaf and dumb" (John, Robert, and Franklin). This is supported by a large monument to Samuel and Martha Tupper and their family in the Old Middle Stewiacke Cemetery. On one side is the inscription for Samuel, on the opposite, is the inscription for Martha ("wife of Samuel Tupper"), and on the last two sides are lists of their children. The children listed are: Amelia, Rachel, Sarah, Samuel, Howard, John, Robert, Brock, and Franklin. However, both John and Robert completed surveys about their families (tracking deafness) and both mention an additional sister, Mary. They both note that Samuel and Martha had ten children: three deaf and seven that could hear (I haven't found her anywhere else yet, however). 

 

Although they were living on McNab's Island from 1855 until after 1873, by 1881 they were back in Colchester County: first in Upper Stewiacke, then in Middle Stewiacke, in the home of their son Robert.

 

 Samuel was ill with an unknown illness in Apr 1891; he wrote to his daughter Amelia, "three weeks ago I took an unusual soreness in my breast for 2 or 3 days...and I was pretty bad. I had two very bad nights. I could not lay still and it hurt me dreadful to turn so I had a pretty hard time...I could not sit up on end for 2 or 3 days; it was just like running a stake up through me but it all got better then one morning." He goes on to say, "Mother was not well either; only for Robert [their son] I don't know what would have come of us. He is the best nurse ever I seen. He knows every thing you want and just how to fix it."  Although Samuel did recover from that illness, he did die later that year, on 22 Sep 1891. He was buried in Old Middle Stewiacke Cemetery, Colchester County.

    

 

Martha Howard was born on 16 Aug 1808 in Nova Scotia, Canada.  She was Canadian. Martha is listed in the 1881 Census as having been born in Nova Scotia of English ancestry.  She was Presbyterian.  She lived in McNab's Island, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1873. (She might have been the daughter of Simeon Howard and Janet M'Callum, but I have not confirmed this.)

     In her later years, Martha had some sort of dementia. Samuel mentions it to their daughter Amelia in a letter on May 14, 1889: "Mother had one of them turns Sabbath day quite light. I noticed her when I came from Church. After dinner I got her to go to bed; she was better Monday morning and smarter by dinner time than she has been this good while - we have reason for to be thankful that we are so well." Almost two years later, on April 16, 1891, Samuel writes again to their daughter Amelia: "Mother is hearty to her victuals and sleeps well but she is loosing her mind every day. She asks me every day where Sammy is [their son]; tells me what Sammy said. [We] had a great spell with her. Brocke was here; after he went away she wanted to know who he was. I told her he was her son and Rob [was] too. What is the good of telling me such stuff as that she never suckled that man? I am afraid she will go wild altogether." Samuel finally writes again to Amelia, on May 17, 1891: "Mother is loosing her mind every day. I can't hardly [make] her understand any thing about any body now, only them that we speak about every day. She could not tell me anything now about the names of your family now. She don't know any body that comes in now and yet she is quite smart and hearty to her victuals as ever she was. Sometimes she seems quite well...this morning she expected they would take the feathers out of her bed next."  

 

Samuel Tupper and Martha Howard had the following children:

1. Samuel Tupper (born on 19 Jan 1832).
2. Howard Tupper (born on 1 Oct 1833).
3. John C. Tupper (born on 10 Sep 1835).
4. Robert G. Tupper (born on 10 Sep 1837).
5. F. Brock Tupper (born on 20 Oct 1839).
6. Cynthia Amelia Tupper (born on 8 Jun 1842).
7. Rachel Tupper (born on 1 Nov 1845).
8. Sarah Tupper (born on 17 Feb 1848).
9. Franklin Tupper (born on 18 Sep 1851).
10. Mary Tupper.