Gilbert James Tourgee

Notes:

Obituary:
Gilbert J. Tourgee, of West Greenwich, RI, 85 years old, peacefully passed on Monday, July 15, 2019, at home surrounded by his loving family and friends. He was the devoted husband of Joan (Houlihan) Tourgee for the past 62 years. He was born on Knotty Oak Road in Coventry, RI on April 2, 1934 and was the son of the late James Tourgee and Helen Bartlett [should say Helen Remington].

In addition to his wife, he leaves behind his son, Mark D. Tourgee, Esq., and his wife Lisa (Bovill) Tourgee, as well as his four grandchildren, Alfred Georgio, Olivia Tourgee, Allisa Georgio and Ashley Tourgee, all of West Greenwich, RI. He was the brother of Phyllis Lewis, Janice Cornell, and Carolyn Parente of Coventry, RI Loxi Ellingwood of Hope, RI and Brian Tourgee of North Port, FL and the late Russell Tourgee, Lyn Long and Sharon Pero.

He served during peacetime in the United States Army in Iceland. He was a fifty-year employee for the State of Rhode Island DOT. Additionally, he was a life member of the Lake Mishnock Volunteer Fire Department. He was also a manager and coach for the EWG Little League for over twenty years. Also, he was a longtime member of the Exeter Grange, and spent about twenty years behind the fryolator at the Washington County Fair.

His Funeral Service will be held at Carpenter-Jenks Funeral Home, 659 East Greenwich Avenue, West Warwick on Saturday, July 20 at 10:00 a.m. Burial to follow in St. Joseph Cemetery, West Greenwich. Calling hours will be on Friday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Gilbert married Joan Houlihan 6 Apr 1957. Joan (daughter of Joseph F. Houlihan and Emma L. Braley) was born 2 Feb 1935, Providence, RI; died 1 May 2021, RI; was buried , St. Joseph Cemetery, West Greenwich, RI. [Group Sheet]

1. Mark D. Tourgee was born 1967.

James married Helen Mae Remington 9 Oct 1931, Coventry, RI. Helen (daughter of John Francis Remington and Edith Mae Wright) was born 4 Feb 1913, Anthony RI; died 11 Mar 2005, Coventry, RI; was buried 14 Mar 2005, Woodland Cemetery, Washington & Knotty Oak Sts., Coventry, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

In the 1900 Federal Census, the family is in Warwick as follows: James Card 38, Eliza 33, Grace 8, Myra E. 6, George E. 4, Henry 2, and Dewey Maine?, son 6 months; all born RI; also a boarder Sophie? Hunt, widow 64. (some writing unclear)

In 1905 the Card family was living on Hope Rd., Coventry. James's birthplace is given as Warwick.

In the 1910 Federal Census, James W. & Eliza A. Tourgee and family are living on Knotty Oak Rd. Their household has one daughter, Myra, and three sons -- George, Henry, & James. They are located next to the Charles C. Whitford family, which includes extended family such as grandfather Philip Johnson, 88, two sons and their wives, an unmarried daughter, and daughter Angeretta (Whitford) Remington and her two teenaged sons, John F. & Philip C. (later known as Fran & Chet). One of John F.'s daughters later married young James Tourgee.

In the 1925 RI State Census, the Tourgee family is living on Hope Rd., Coventry, and is listed next to the family of John F. Remington.

In 1930 he is J. Whitman Tourgee 68, laborer in farming. The family is living on Blackrock Rd. Eliza A. 62, Henry W. 32, and James E. 23 are in the household.

The 1935 RI State Census has his dob as 2 May 1862; residence was 53 Blackrock Rd.; he was disabled from paralytic shcok

The book "Descendants of Piere Tourjee" says that James was raised by Cora Belle Card (p. 387). However, I can not find anyone by that name in the censuses, nor can I find James when he was young. James & Eliza named a daughter Cora Belle. Also, Bertha Card, b1906, is buried near them; she is probably their granddaughter.

The marriage record gives his name as James Whitman Card. The birth records of some of his children also have the surname Card. Sometime between the 1905 and 1910 censuses, his surname changed from Card to Tourgee. However, on some of the earlier death records of his very young children, the surname is given as Tourgee.

His death record says he was born in Crompton; parents' names unknown. However, the marriage record gives their names as Nathan and Rhoda A. (Sunderland) Card.

James married Eliza Ann Pierce 10 Feb 1884, Scituate, RI. Eliza (daughter of William A. Pierce and Sarah Catherine Matteson) was born 20 May 1867, Scituate or Fiskeville, RI; died 4 Oct 1930, Coventry, RI; was buried , Pine Grove Cemetery, Washington St., Coventry, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

She is likely the Eliza A. Pierce, 13, who is in the 1880 Federal Census, living at Warwick (West Arctic), RI, with her grandparents, William T. & Catharine C. Matteson, ages 54 & 56. Also in the household is Abby F. Matteson, 26, daughter of William & Catharine. All were born in RI. Both Abby & Eliza work in a cotton mill.

This is the same family living at North Scituate in the 1870 census: William & Catherine Mattison, ages 44 & 47; with them are Abby Mattison, 16, and Eliza A. Mattison, 3. (There is no mention of the name Pierce here, but it is the same girl. Her parents appear to be in Coventry.)

The marriage record in Scituate names her parents as William and Sarah C. (Mattese?) Pierce. Eliza's death record names them as William Pierce and Sarah Matteson.

Notes:

The location of marriage came from the book "Descendants of Piere Tourjee," p. 387.

Notes:

I have a copy of his death certificate from the State of Rhode Island. Also, his gravestone has been photographed.

John married Edith Mae Wright 4 Feb 1911, Coventry, Kent Co., RI. Edith (daughter of John Otis Thurston and Mary Elizabeth McNeil) was born 9 Oct 1893, West Greenwich, Kent Co., RI; died 21 Apr 1951, Providence, Providence Co., RI; was buried , Woodland Cemetery, Coventry, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

In the Federal Census of 1900, Edith Wright, b Oct 1894, is age 5 (boarder, at school), living in Coventry, RI, with Jerome & Mary Laselle.

This couple is Jerome Laselle (sometimes Lasalle) born c 1856, who md Mary Randall Lindoll 1 June 1891 in Providence (familysearch.org).

In the Federal census of 1910, Edith Wright is age 16 "daughter," living in Coventy with Mary Lasalle 52 and Lydia Harvey 73 (boarder).

I have a copy of her death certificate from the State of Rhode Island. Also, her gravestone has been photographed.

Edith Mae Remington died at age 57 y 6 m 12 d.

Notes:

In the 1870 Federal Census the family is at Coventry: William A. Pierce 21 RI works in woolen mill, Sarah C. 21 RI keeping house, Abby F. 1 CT, and Lorenzo 13 RI works in woolen mill. Daughter Eliza age 3 appears to be living with her Matteson grandparents in 1870 and 1880.

William married Sarah Catherine Matteson Abt 1866. Sarah (daughter of William T. Matteson and Catherine Matteson) was born 19 Feb 1849, Cranston, RI; died 11 Apr 1922, Coventry, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

I have a copy of his birth certificate from Warwick, RI (Warwick Births, 1850 - 1882, Vol. 2, p. 5); a copy of his official marriage record from the RI State Offices in Providence, as well as the original page from the Town of Coventry marriage record book, p. 89; and his death certificate from Cranston, RI.

The 1880 census lists John A. Remington as age 12 at that time. I have a copy of the page from the census showing his family.

We have a nice portrait of John Allen dressed in his best suit, with a boutonnierre pinned to his right lapel. Perhaps it was a graduation picture, or even a wedding picture, as he was married quite young the first time -- not yet nineteen. His brown hair is neatly parted in the center and combed with a slight wave to either side. He has light eyes, like his father's, and fine regular features in an oval face. I definitely see a bit of his looks in our family, especially my uncles and my dad's cousins. We never knew much about my Great-grandfather Remington; things were left unsaid. His first wife died young of consumption, after only 1 1/2 years of marriage, which must have brought him much grief. Perhaps he took up drinking to cope with the sorrow, and then couldn't get away from it, even after marrying Angeretta, with whom he had two fine sons. For some reason they separated. He died so young, only 28 years old, of some form of cancer, according to the death certificate. I guess the whole story will never be known, so we've left it in God's hands.

John married Angeretta Williams WHITFORD 10 Nov 1891, Coventry, Kent Co., RI. Angeretta (daughter of Charles Carmi WHITFORD and Harty Potter JOHNSON) was born 10 Nov 1870, West Greenwich, Kent Co., RI; died 12 Oct 1958, Warwick, Kent Co., RI; was buried , Woodland Cemetery, Coventry, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

I have a photocopy of her original birth record in the official Book of Births for 1870 in the Town of West Greenwich, p. 20; a copy of the original marriage record from the official Book of Marriages for 1891 in the Town of Coventry, p. 89; a copy of the marriage certificate from the State Offices at Providence, RI; a copy of her death certificate from the State of Rhode Island; and a copy of the newspaper obituary. Her gravestone has been photographed.

Angeretta was a midwife.

I remember occasionally going to visit my Great-grandma Remington in a house on Knotty Oak Road in Coventry, RI, where she lived with "Aunt Ollie and Uncle Allen," who were actually my great aunt -- Angeretta's sister -- and her husband, Allen Hopkins. The older folks would sit around the living room and talk, while we children would sometimes sit and listen, and sometimes amuse ourselves by walking around -- but never upstairs, as I recall. There was a square metal grate in the floor between the living room and kitchen, through which the heat would blow from the basement furnace. Being a small child, I had to take a rather large step to walk, or rather jump, over this grate, and I was somehow worried that I might fall through!

Great-grandma Remington came to stay overnight with us once, and she slept in the room next to mine. When she was in the hospital with her final illness, I was allowed to go up to her hospital room to see her one last time. I was seven years old.

Aunt Ollie lived quite a few years longer, and died when I was sixteen. I have memories of going to her funeral. But the best memories are of the three generations of family sitting around that comfortable living room, where the older folks would talk in their gentle and pleasant voices.

John married Mary Elizabeth McNeil 1893. Mary (daughter of John McNeil and Josephine Unknown) was born Abt 1875, CT; died 1966; was buried , Greenville Cemetery, Smith Ave., Smithfield, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Family information from my cousin Marilyn tells me that Mary was not married, and the Thurston connection was conjecture from her mother.