If you are a follower of this space you will already know that three of my last four posts have been about Woodside, Maplewood’s oldest home and the Rannells family that built it and occupied it for 70+ years. If you don’t know this you can find out by examining the following links.
- Woodside and the Rannells Family
- Edward “Ned” Rannells of Woodside
- The Historic Papers of Woodside 1838-1914
- On Edward “Ned” Rannells
In this post, I’m displaying some material generously sent by a descendant of the Rannells family, Ms. Rachel Potter. These images are of exceedingly rare and early items that we are very fortunate to have a look at.
To help you orient yourself, I’ll start with a Rannells family tree that was provided to me by Elise Todd.
In 2017, I received a number of very interesting emails from Ms. Potter. To these she attached images of paintings, photographs and even pages from Ann Aston’s will. I will excerpt them here in the order received. The first arrived on January the 23rd.
I had written somewhere in an earlier post that there may have been a family home in England that was named Woodside. I no longer remember the source of that information but Ms. Potter believes that it is incorrect. The next email arrived on January the 27th.
Then on April 16:
And on the 17th:
He must have drowned about 1911. Beloved is not a bad way to be remembered when you’ve been dead over 100 years. Let’s hope someone will feel the same way about us.
Rachel also sent four pages of Ann Aston’s will. They are handwritten, of course. Deciphering them is a chore I probably won’t tackle. If you’d like to just say so and I’ll forward them to you.
As always, I appreciate your interest and support.
Doug Houser August 30, 2021
Ann’s great grandson, my grandfather, John Paul Rannells (1901-1999) wrote: “The two portraits of Greatgrandmother Warder, done 30 years apart, show remarkable growth of character – from not-quite mature society bride to forceful pioneer matriarch.” A comment I cherish.
Definitely. We are very lucky to have his memoir that contains so much valuable information some of which you have quoted in the comments sections of this and other related posts. Much thanks for that.
Thank you so much, Doug! A few additional comments:
The tree you have was created by John Paul Rannells (1901-1997) my grandfather.
I would like to find out more about Ann’s uncle’s house, Woodside, I believe in Germantown, possibly in Fairmount or Wissahickon Park. One of their son’s (John Aston Rannells) obits includes some interesting comments about his parents hosting John James Audubon and other influential naturalists at their Philadelphia home when he was a youth. Re: Springfield Ohio Woodside: I have since seen the photo I referred to as being owned by someone else at the same time, so I question if the photo I have is of Ann and Jeremiah’s house.
Yes, the deFranca portrait of Elizabeth is Mary’s older sister. Are the portraits of Mary and Charles deFranca also, or are you surmising? Fascinating history about deFranca. We knew he was from Portugal, but not that he was sentenced to death! I am looking forward to sharing it with my mother, since the portrait was in her family all of her life.
As I understand, the portraits are “attributed” to Rembrandt Peale, son of Charles Wilson Peale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_Peale) , not signed by him. A correction, they are in the possession of Ann and Jeremiah descendant Christopher Hale.
The deFranca portrait of Ann is owned by Molly Rannells. lI have lots more info about the family on my public Ancestry Tree that subscribers ca n view at: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/66537868/person/46157607520/facts
I will try to decipher them for you. I write a blog about my ancestors so have a little bit of experience with old documents.
I will try and get those to you, Tonya. Thanks.
Thank you, Tonya!!
Rachel Potter- Ann’s 3rd Great grandaughter.