Juniper Family

Cheshire County20th centuryManufacturingMilitary historyMusic/Dance

Aug 2

William and Bessie (Hazard) Juniper Family

Winchester, NH

At the age of 42, William Juniper of Boston married Bessie Hazard of Woodstock, VT. The couple had their ceremony in the home of Winchester, NH, residents Mr. and Mrs. David Thornton. At the time of the wedding, in 1922, they had decided that they would move to Winchester to start their lives together. William and Bessie remained in Cheshire County the remainder of their lives, raising a family, and getting involved in the local community.

William Juniper was born around 1878 in Boston, MA, the son of Joseph J. and Louisa A. (Surrey) Juniper. His paternal family line originated in Pennsylvania but his grandparents, William and Sarah Juniper, relocated to Boston in the 1850s. William’s maternal family line, the Surrey family, was from Westmoreland, New Brunswick, Canada.

In Boston, the Junipers resided at 7 Primus Ave in the 1880s. Father Joseph worked as a laborer. Mother Louisa kept the house and raised the children which included: William, George, Joseph Jr., and Charles by 1888. Joseph J. Juniper Sr. died in 1888 leaving Louisa to find work as a laundress to make ends meet. Within ten years of her husband’s death, Louisa remarried local teamster Edward J. Roberts in 1898.

By the close of the 19th century, the three remaining Juniper boys, now in their teens, had found work acting. The 1900 census indicates that William (21 years old) and John (15 years old) were working as actors. Charles Juniper was only 12 years old and in school, but soon joined his brothers in the entertainment industry.

Details about the type of entertainment the Junipers participated in appear in a Boston Globe article, dated October 18, 1904, when brother Joseph J. Juniper became a witness to an accidental shooting and was called in for questioning. Prized ‘colored’ boxer, Joe Wolcott, had shot a man at Nelson Hall in Boston during a show that was being performed by the “West End and South End clubs of color.” Thirteen witnesses came forward to say that the shooting was an accident, most of whom were vaudevillian actors of color.

The Juniper brothers continued to act in vaudeville in Boston throughout the 1900s and 1910s. By the time William Juniper reached his 40s, he was ready to settle down and start a family. He and his wife Bessie lived between Winchester, NH, and Woodstock, VT, throughout the 1920s.

In 1925, William Juniper advertised in the Vermont Standard newspaper that he had opened a shoe shine and clothes cleaning business in a local barber shop in Woodstock, VT. The following year they welcomed their son Charles J. Juniper in Woodstock. In 1928, daughter Elizabeth L. Juniper was born in VT. Soon after her birth, the couple moved back to New Hampshire.

In 1930, William and Bessie lived at 220 Elm Street in Winchester where they rented their home for $8/month. William worked doing general labor while Bessie was at home with the children. William soon found a better work opportunity and relocated his family to West Swanzey, NH.

During the early 1930s, William Juniper revived his acting skills and began performing at local vaudeville and minstrel shows in southwest New Hampshire. An April 9, 1932, article in the Keene Sentinel reveals that William performed as one of the ‘end men’ in minstrel shows, where he was very well received. Often these performances were fundraisers to support the local GAR.

One such fundraiser, in May 1933, included a stage set, in the Keene city auditorium, that mimicked a Union camp in Virginia in 1864. William and 3 other men were ‘end men’-- the three white actors dressed in black face but “Mr. Juniper was in his natural color.” Juniper sang the song “Way over Yonder”. He and one of his children did a song and dance number that had the audience laughing with delight and he was called back with encores at the end of the show.

Another show, hosted by the Westmoreland, NH, Parent-Teacher Association, made sure to include Juniper’s participation in its advertisements. “William Juniper, a colored man of West Swanzey, will take part. He will be assisted by local talent.” The proceeds went to support a dental clinic at the school.

While acting was a passion of Junipers, it most likely didn’t bring much, if anything, in the way of income. In 1935, he and his family were listed as county paupers in Swanzey. The town reimbursed the county and individuals on nine occasions to provide William Juniper with goods, wood, medical aid, rent, and a funeral for one of the Juniper children. William H. Juniper died at the Cheshire County Farm in Westmoreland, on August 8, 1935. He had been living there for 23 days. He was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in West Swanzey, NH.

Immediately following her husband’s death, Bessie Juniper remarried widow David G. Thornton of Winchester in 1935. Years prior, it was Thornton’s home that served as the wedding location for her and her husband William Juniper. The 1940 census shows that Bessie was 37 years old, at the time of her second marriage; she was working as a housekeeper. Her husband, David, was 70 years old and worked as a laborer. The Juniper children also lived with them: Elizabeth (12), Lawrence (7), and James (4). 16-year old Charles Juniper was not living with the rest of the family.

At the outbreak of World War II, Charles Juniper was one of six boys from Winchester who enlisted in the Navy in August 1943. He served as an S1 cadet at the Naval Air Station in Seattle, WA. Following his discharge in 1946, Charles moved back to Winchester and married Grace Lorenzo, a 36 year old waitress from Plattsburg, NY. Grace was listed in the marriage record as mulatto and it was her second marriage. Charles was 21 years old and had been working at a local sawmill. Charles and Grace moved into their own home on Main Street in Keene, NH, and Charles continued to commute to Hinsdale for work.

Bessie (Hazard) Juniper Thornton married for a third time in 1946, this time marrying Herbert Ross Fischer of Baltimore, MD, at the Federated Church in Winchester, NH. The wedding was attended by her son Charles J. Juniper and by Mrs. Grace Lorenzo of North Adams, MA. Bessie and Herbert Fisher moved into her home on Elm Street in Winchester. Herbert was employed at the New England Box Company. Bessie died in 1980 at Maplewood Hospital in Westmoreland, NH, at the age of 76.

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

WILLIAM H. JUNIPER was born in 1878 in Boston, MA, to Joseph J. and Louisa A. (Surrey) Juniper. In 1922, he married ELIZABAETH “BESSIE” HAZARD in Winchester, NH. They had: William David (1924-1925), Charles (1925), Elizabeth (1926), Lawrence (1933), and James (1936). William died on August 8, 1935 in Westmoreland, NH. Bessie married 2nd DAVID THORNTON in 1935. She married 3rd HERBERT ROSS FISHER in 1946. Bessie died in 1980 in Westmoreland, NH, at the age of 76.