Charles and Jane Eliza Aikens

It's been a while since I've written about Charles Aikens, who was the Gettysburg veteran and a blacksmith in Barnard, Vermont. I think I just have a hard time letting these people go. I've been researching Charles for a while, first in regards to Gettysburg, and then from the blacksmith angle. I was so fascinated by the 16^th Vermont Infantry, that my husband and I went to Gettysburg to the 150^th reenactment. We had been there before, but this time I knew much more about the part Vermont troops played in the battle. I read “Nine Months to Gettysburg” out loud on the way down there. Coffin includes instructions on how to trace the route the 16^th took north to Gettysburg. We tried it, and managed to get pretty far on it, but it just took too long and finally we gave up. To think that they marched that long way, and we couldn't even stick with it in a car. It really makes you appreciate interstates.

Anyway, Jane Eliza Paddock was Charles' wife, and they were married on September 17, 1856. Jane's father was Ebenezer Paddock. In 1850, Jane was 12 years old and lived with her father and two siblings, Lauriette and Augustus. Charles and Jane got married in Royalton,in 1856, when Charles was 23 and Jane was 16. The next year, they had a daughter, Nellie, who died when she was about a year old, of burns she got from hot water. They also had a stillborn son, before their son Seth was born in July of 1864.

On the day Seth was born, his father was right in the thick of the fighting in the Siege of Petersburg. He stayed in the Union Army until Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, in April of 1865, and was not mustered out until June 15, 1865, in Brattleboro. Seth would have been almost a year old. We don't know if Charles came home from the war on leave to see his newborn son, but my guess is that he did not.

Eliza was born in 1841, which would have made her 16 years old in 1857. Charles enlisted in the Union Army for the second time in December of 1863, and was mustered in on New Year's Day, 1864. Since Seth was born on July 9, it is possible that Eliza didn't know she was pregnant when Charles left in January. She had lost a baby daughter, given birth to a stillborn son, and she was 23 years old, and pregnant again, while her husband was off fighting in the Union Army.

Who was she living with while Charles was away? In 1860, the census shows Charles and Eliza Aikens living in Enfield, New Hampshire with Elijah and Indiannah Shattuck. Charles worked for Elijah Shattuck as a blacksmith. However, he clearly was credited to the town of Barnard when he enlisted into the Union Army in August of 1862. I'm quite sure that Eliza stayed in Barnard while Charles was at war. She had a stillborn son in June of 1863, approximately during the time when Stannard's troops were marching toward Gettysburg, and the baby's death certificate indicates that Eliza was living in Barnard. Seth's birth certificate is not available on Ancestry.com, but his wedding certificate says that he was born in Barnard. These two documents seem to indicate that she stayed in Barnard. Charles' sister Maria lived in Barnard. She was married and had no children until 1866. It's possible that Eliza lived with Maria and her husband while Charles was gone. It's also possible that Eliza lived in her own house. She and Charles could have bought a house before the war. I think this is unlikely, because even if she lived in her own house, she would have needed help paying the bills, growing the food and getting in firewood.

As we know, Charles came back to Barnard and lived the rest of his life there, earning his living as a blacksmith. Charles and Eliza never had another baby after Seth, so he grew up as an only child, helping his father in the blacksmith shop when he got old enough. Seth eventually took his father's place as a blacksmith in Barnard, but it appears as though he didn't really take over until he was in his late 30's or early 40's. In the Windsor County Gazette and Business Directory of 1883, Charles Aikens is listed as a blacksmith. Charles was 50 years old and Seth was 19. In 1895 Windsor County Gazette, the entry for Charles Aikens says “C.C. Aikens and son”. Charles was 62 and Seth was 31. In 1900, Seth has gained some status, because the entry for that year lists both Charles and Seth's initials, as “C.C. Aikens and S.B. Aikens”. Charles was 69 years old and Seth was 36.

You wonder if Charles was doing a lot of work at 69 years old, or if he was head of the business in name only, and Seth was really running the business and doing most of the work. Charles died in 1918 of arteriosclerosis, at age 85. Jane Eliza died 7 years before him, in 1911. When Charles was 69, he still had twenty years to go, and in the 1800's, many if not most people worked until they were absolutely too infirm to work. There was no concept of retirement. Probably Charles and Seth were equal partners at that point, but really, at 36 years old, Seth was probably ready to take charge of the business. When Charles died, Seth was 54 years old. It is certainly most likely that by that time, he had been doing most of the business in the blacksmith shop for a number of years, but it's impossible to tell for how long. There is no “Windsor County Gazette” in the Vermont History library for any year after 1900, and my guess is that they weren't published into the twentieth century.