American AcornsElla Pethybridge: a Haverhill nurse's life
Ella Pethybridge was a Haverhill nurse whose portrait was probably made at Herbert C. Oak's Merrimac studio. No family relationship to the Oaks has been established.
Source: Courtesy of The Trustees of the Haverhill Public Library, Special Collections Department. Senter HPH 9-119A; catalog 31479006468556.
How it is shown: Display only; the original file is not offered for download. Complete library-supplied scan of the front and mount as delivered (unwatermarked); no crop, no retouch.
Keep in mind: Likely: the attribution to Herbert C. Oak's studio rests on the mount imprint 'Oak, Merrimac' (the first name is not expanded); the reverse inscription the catalog reports has not been seen. Shown by the library's item-specific permission (online display, americanacorns.com, dated 30 Sep 2026); this is not a Creative Commons licence and not permission for other images.
Image details
Ella C. Pethybridge was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on October 26, 1866, the daughter of William H. Pethybridge, an English-born carriage maker, and Mary Ann Copeland, whom he'd married in Haverhill two years earlier. By 1880, Ella was thirteen, in school, and living with her parents; her brother, Harry Moore Pethybridge, was five that year, about nine years younger than Ella.
Source: National Archives and Records Administration / Ancestry.
How it is shown: Readable household-row crop; complete original retained privately.
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In 1900, Ella, 33, lived at Boston City Hospital as a single employee working as a nurse. Where she trained is not known.
Source: National Archives and Records Administration / Ancestry.
How it is shown: Readable header crop; complete original retained privately.
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Ella was back in Haverhill by 1904. City directories list her there in several years up to 1919. The 1910 census fills in more: at forty-three, she was boarding on Arlington Street with Laura E. Lockhart and three others. The census lists her occupation as "Trained Nurse," her line of work as "General Practice," and her status as self-employed rather than working for an institution.
Source: National Archives and Records Administration / Ancestry.
How it is shown: Readable household-row crop; complete original retained privately.
Image details
Haverhill Public Library dates the Thoughtful Circle, a King's Daughters chapter at Centre Congregational Church, to around 1898. An inscription on a group photograph credits Ella Pethybridge and Margie M. Clark with forming it. The circle supported the Old Ladies' Home. The catalog tentatively identifies Ella among the women pictured; her exact position remains uncertain.
At 45, Ella traveled from Boston to Glasgow aboard the Parisian, arriving July 6, 1912. Laura S. Lockhart is listed directly above her. She was probably the Laura E. Lockhart with whom Ella boarded in Haverhill, though the middle initial differs.
Source: Ancestry (UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960).
How it is shown: Readable row crop; complete original retained privately.
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Ella returned from Liverpool aboard the Devonia, arriving in Boston on September 1 and giving Haverhill as her destination. The manifest recorded her as single. Laura Lockhart does not appear on that page.
Source: National Archives and Records Administration / Ancestry.
How it is shown: Readable row crop; complete original retained privately.
Image details
In 1930 Ella still lived at 76 Arlington Street with Laura Lockhart; no occupation was recorded. By 1940 she was at 15 Columbia Park. That census recorded her as unmarried, with no earnings in 1939 but income from another, unspecified source. She remained at Columbia Park until her death.
Death, 1943
Ella died at home, 15 Columbia Park, Haverhill, on November 16, 1943, at seventy-seven. Her obituary describes her as a retired nurse and names her brother, Harry M. Pethybridge, by then a former president of the Haverhill Trust Company. She is buried at Walnut Grove Cemetery in Methuen, beside her father.
!["Ella C. Pethybridge" [obituary], The Boston Globe, 17 November 1943, p. 9.](/media/ed78e437175ef/display.jpg)
Source: The Boston Globe, via Newspapers.com.
How it is shown: Readable crop of the printed notice; no retouch.
Image details
About the evidence
The 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1940 censuses and both 1912 passenger lists were examined as images. The 1870, 1920 and 1930 entries are known here through transcriptions. The library catalog supplies the portrait identification and Thoughtful Circle connection. Every record that gives her marital status calls her single.
The evidence packet includes the sources and images behind this account: Downloads.
Sources
- Ella C. Pethybridge. Haverhill Public Library, Haverhill History Collection, Senter Digital Archive. Gift of the Clark Estate. 1898; catalog reports verso dated March 1, 1898.
- Find a Grave memorial 187054970, Ella C. Pethybridge, Walnut Grove Cemetery, Methuen, MA.
- 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts.
- 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Boston Ward 24, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
- 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Haverhill Ward 2, Essex County, Massachusetts.
- 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts.
- UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960: S.S. Parisian, Boston to Glasgow, 6 July 1912.
- Massachusetts, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963: S.S. Devonia, Liverpool to Boston, 1 September 1912.
- ["Ella C. Pethybridge" [obituary]](www.newspapers.com/image/434002143/). The Boston Globe, 17 November 1943, p. 9.
