Botchford Connection to Thomas Craig

In my piece about Thomas Craig on September 13th I wrote that I thought he was related to the Botchford family somehow. Hawley Botchford wrote to me and filled in the details. Here is what he said.

"Delighted to fill in some details on the Craig family at least to the best of my knowledge. The connection goes back to 1846 when Napoleon William Beach married Malinda Woodworth, the eldest child of my great, great grandparents, David and Orilla Woodworth. (David and Orilla’s eleventh child was my great grandmother, Clementine, whose charming picture has graced the blog in the past). Both the Woodworth and Beach families lived in the East Jewett area (Hunter). In 1849 David Woodworth and Will Beach decided to go into the lumber business together in Woodland Valley. They acquired a significant amount of property in the central valley and set out to harvest hemlock bark for the tanning industry and lumber for furniture manufacturing. The Woodworth family built their home on the property now owned and loved by the Botchford and Gillespie families. The Beach family built the house mentioned in your piece on Thomas Craig. (The house was never painted but treated with a preservative made from buttermilk and stream clay.) William and Malinda had a daughter, Daisy Beach who married Thomas Craig. Thomas had his studio in back of the house. Their daughter was Evelyn Craig, who never married. She continued to live in the home until her death. The property left the family with the death of Evelyn."

- Hawley

Thanks for filling in the history Hawley!