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Robert Holman remembers:

Alfred Walter Whitman 

His name was Alfred Walter Whitman but to me, he was Gramp. He was a short fellow, bald-headed and had a jolly personality. He would come to our house a lot down on the Cape because he liked to fish and he liked it down on the Cape. When I was small, I got to know a good bit.

One time he had some trouble with his blood. I know he had heart problems, but the doctor told him to eat raw hamburger meat. I think that is where I learned to eat raw hamburger meat because he always gave me a little pinch of it, and I got to where I liked it pretty well myself.

I can remember going up to his house when he wasmarried to his second wife, Emma. He had a little workshop out back that was just a small building. 

One time, he reroofed it. The bees had gotten up into the very top of the roof. So that he would not disturb the bees, he built a little house with holes in it to set on top of the roof. He set the house up there, shingled the whole roof all around, the bees buzzing around him. He said they never did bother him. They just went in and out of their nest while he shingled the roof and then he patched around that little house up on topand left the bees to continue to have their next up there.

I remember that he loved flowers and his backyard was not all lawn. He had little trails or pathways through the flowers. He had a grape arbor where you could sit under the arbor and the grapes would hang down inside. You could pick grapes there and sit there where it was cool.

In his kitchen, he sat in the corner where the end of the table was. He had a rocking chair and pendulum clock in the kitchen. That clock would tick-tock all the time. He also had a little cavalry and that thing would sing like mad. 

He had a dog, which I think was a cocker spaniel, whose name was Manny. Aside from the dog’s name being Manny everybody in the family called my mothe Mannie. My mother told me one time Aunt Alice was up in Abington and she met a woman on the street who knew the whole family and she happened to tell aunt Alice, “Oh, wasn’t it terrible about Manny dying.” Poor Aunt Alice got all upset and said, “Well, people in my family die and no one lets me know about it.” Come to find out, the woman was talking about Manny the dog and Aunt alice thought that she was talking about my mother. That got her all shook up. It was a joke in the family for a long time. 

I don’t know what my grandfather did for a living, because he was retired when I got big enough to really know him. I believe that he was a painter and wallpaper-hanger I know he worked in a shoe shop as a maintenance man because that is where he lost his thumb. He said he was working on a machine and he got his thumb cut off. He grabbed ahold of his wrist and held his wrist up. He walked down the long line of machines holding his hand up and blood dripping of his elbow. The women sewing shoes on the sewing machine would look up and see his hand all bloody and they were just falling out as he went by them.

One thing that he told me was that he and another man wired the house of John L. Sullivan, a world champion prize fighter, for electricity. Back in those days people were just beginning  to get electricity in their houses. Y mother told me that my grandfather and my dad built one of the first raios in Abington. It was what they called  a “cat-whisker” radio. 

When my brother Bert was small, he had a fire truck which would really pump water, a little truck that you push on the floor. My grandfather would take toilet paper, fluff it all up and light it  on fire in the toilet and Grandpa would shout “fire” and Bert would make the truck pump water to put it out. 

( I have researched census records and Alfred spent his first marriage actually in Whitman living in an apartment at 83 Washington, now Whitman. After his daughter Laura married Til Balentine, she lived at 845 Washing St, Abington. Her father, Alfred and sisters, joined her living in a rented home next to her at 847 Washington Street. After his wife passed and he remarried Emily and they owned a home at 17 Wall St, Rockland. It is likely that this is the address where the gardens in the letter existed. There is a home which stands at this address but I cant be sure without research if it is the same home. There is a back yard that would have enough space for a garden.)

From Dorothy (MacNeill) Dupont, Mary D. Hudson’s granddaughter



(Please note that this is a copy of a letter that includes the authors knowledge at the time and does not reflect all children and great grandchildren born to Mary’s and Alfred’s children)



Alfred W. Whitman – was short of stature, worked as a janitor, a trolley mechanic, and several other jobs. He was a hobbyist toymaker. He made ingenious toys for children. My mother adored him. He was a very forgiving man. He was orphaned at 14 and was left to raise his younger brother.

1st wife –Mary D. (Hudson) Whitman – Grandpa’s (Alfred Whitman) first wife died when my mother was born. We don’t know much about her, but we have a copy of her wedding picture. She looks fierce, but then, they all looked rather stern in those days. They had six children, five girls, and a boy.

2nd Wife –Emma Whitman – Grandpa’s (Alfred Whitman) second wife. We didn’t see her often but I remember her being a little judgmental, but that was through stories that my aunts told about her. Because my hair gradually darkened from blond to black in junior high, she thought I dyed it. She had two children, a boy whose name escapes me and a girl named Ethel. 



Children of Mary D. Hudson and Alfred W. Whitman:

Laura Mae (Whitman) Balentine – Laura May Whitman married young to Bill Balentine who was much older than her. She died of tuberculosis before I was born. I was told she was very sweet and had at least six children, Gerald, Gilbert, Rosella, Isabel, Alfred, Bill jr. and maybe another.

• Rosella (balentine) Fitts – Rosella Balentine married Walter Fitts. We saw her only on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July in parades. The parade ended at the Mount Vernon Cemetery in Abington where they held a service. I never saw her closer than fifty feet away except at my mother’s funeral. She had four boys. 
• Isabel (Balentine) Price, Wight – Isabel Balentine married a man named Price, then a man named Wight. was a ball of fire and my mother’s best friend among the relatives. We went to see her about once every other month. She had seven kids, but only one was my friend, Rose. Isabel had no filter and would say almost anything that popped into her head. She was married at least twice. 
• Rose Ann (Price) Monti – Isabel’s oldest child was and is my favorite relative, Laura’s granddaughter. Rose Ann Price married a Monti. She is a year younger than me but of the next generation. I lost her for about forty years but found her through her mother’s obituary. We have connected ever since. She had a boy, Richard, and a girl, Cindy. We are friends on Facebook.
• Alfred Balentine  – Laura’s son.
• Ruth (Balentine) Carlson – is Cousin Alfred Balentine’s daughter, Laura’s granddaughter. I do not know her three siblings (one is Bruce). I met her through letters only when I published a family newsletter between 1994 and 2004. Ruth has four children and we are friends on Facebook.
• Susannah (Carlson) Allen – is Cousin Ruth ’s daughter, Alfred’s granddaughter, Laura’s great-granddaughter. She has an apron business in Vermont. She is the mother of two boys and a girl. She came to visit me last year to talk about genealogy. She is my first cousin, three times removed. Her great-grandmother is my aunt. We are friends on Facebook. 
• Gilbert Vinal Whitman  — Gibby and his wife Mildred had two children: Robert and Phyllis. I wrote to Phyllis about genealogy and she gave me some handwritten clues to investigate. He divorced Mildred and married Eleanor. He enjoyed photography and he was a lot of fun as a young man.

Alice Osgood (Whitman) Raymond – Alice was married to Rufus Raymond. We visited them very often. We were fascinated that they fought about everything, anywhere, and loudly. It was their way of playing. They were very into baseball and their only son, Richard. Dad didn’t always like her, but she was Ma’s sister, so they got along.

• Richard Raymond – Alice and Rufie’s son was older than us and we didn’t see him often. We were very much interested in his wedding and her family though. Us girls were smitten by the wedding bug. After he married and had children, we saw a lot more of him. He was at our first Family Reunion and all the others that followed. He and his wife, Lorraine, had four children: Denise, Judy, Richard, Jr., and Jeffrey. 

Marion Cushing (Whitman) Holman   – Mannie was married to Melvin Holman and had four boys. One died as a small child. Her husband died when I was young. She canned goods from her garden. She and Alice were very close and often would whisper to each other and giggle. They also fought a lot.

• Melvin Holman, Jr. (Buster) – He was severely mentally disabled. He had an extensive record collection of which, although he could not read, he knew the names of the artists of each, what songs were on each record, whether or not it even had a label on it. He sat in his rocking chair on the porch for hours, humming. They say he had the intellect of a three-year-old.  
• Herbert Holman – Bert was married to a fireball, Paulette, and had two children, Paula and Dana. He played in a band on guitar and mandolin. Moved to Florida.
• Paula (Holman)  – Paula helped me organize our family reunions and was a fireball like her mother. Moved to Florida.
• Dana Holman – Dana was the owner of Sandy’s restaurant at the Bourne Bridge Rotary with his wife, Susan. He sold the restaurant and became an auto detailer. Susan is a veterinarian’s assistant. 
• Robert Holman – Bobby married June from Alabama and had two children, Pat, and Mark. Bobby was our favorite cousin because he had such a kind nature. He was in the navy when he was stationed in Alabama and met June.

Blanche (Whitman) Wyatt – Blanche married Earl Wyatt and had ten children, three (?) died in childbirth. Dad said she was more fun than a barrel of monkeys. She was left-handed and learned to bowl right-handed to join a league. Earl was very bitter when she died in childbirth. He told all the relatives to stay away from the funeral and when no one showed up, told his children, “See nobody loves you.” He collected antique cars and even though he lost a finger in an accident, played the piano expertly.

• Mary (Wyatt) White(?) – Went to several reunions and brought a handmade trolley fashioned by Grandpa Whitman. She wrote me several letters and she lives in Florida.
• Earl Wyatt, Jr.  – Young Earl married a single mom with four boys and had two more boys with her. They were Charlie, Walter, Jan, Bill, Jon, and Tom. Earl and his family used to ride around visiting relatives in a big blue bus.
• William Wyatt – Billy married and had three children: Bill, Jr., _________, and Lynette. My sister Janice found him in a newspaper article when he was the Animal Control Officer in Middleborough, MA.  I called the house looking for Billy and Lynette answered. She talked him into going to the reunion and we are friends on Facebook.
• Lynette (Wyatt) Washburn – She is married to Derek Washburn, has three children and we are friends on Facebook.
• Charles Wyatt – Charlie suffered greatly when his mother died and went to live in the woods for several years as a teenager. He joined the navy and later married, but was scarred deeply by the tragedy. He met my sister Janice at the Brockton Hospital where he was a patient and she was a patient billing counselor.
• Bea (Wyatt) Tellier – I met her only once. She wrote me several letters and she lives in Florida.
• Anne (Wyatt) ________ – sister to Mary and Bea, she lives in Florida.
• Eugene Wyatt – Gene was married and had two girls and a boy: Gene, Susan, and another girl. He left them and went to California.
• Eugene Wyatt, Jr. – I contacted him through the family reunion and newsletter and although he didn’t think they would, they all showed up to one of the reunions. Gene had a motorcycle and I told him about his cousin Wyatts and their motorcycle group. 
• (Eugene Wyatt’s twin) – I can’t recall his name. He died young. 

Mary Jeanette (Whitman) MacNeill — Jeanette married Raymond H. MacNeill, a carpenter, and they had four living children: Janice, David, Joyce, and Dorothy. Her mother died having her. She died in 1970 of open-heart surgery complications.

• Janice Ruth (MacNeill) Hammond — Janice married Richard R. Hammond and had five children: Richard Russell, Jr., Linda Sharon, Laura Anne, Gregory Alan, and Scott. Laura and I are friends on Facebook. 
• David William MacNeill — David married Celia Mederios and had three children: Jennifer, Heather, and Jonathan. 
• Joyce Laura (MacNeill) Presley — Joyce married Gerald R. Presley, and had three children: Ronald, Michelle, and Kyle. 
• Dorothy Louise (MacNeill) Dupont — Dottie married George E. Dupont and had two sons: Thomas and Anthony.