Separate Bells

    Mildred Jane Hughes Mahaney and John Richard Bell were married in Lake County, Indiana on 5 Apr 1850¹.  Prior to her marriage to John R. Bell she had married to Edward Mahony in 1844².  
    Both John and Edward owed land in Porter County, near the border with Lake County. 

In 1870 were still living in Indiana (census data).  However, by at least 1873, the Bell family was living in Kansas. (In 1873, John A. Bell wed Amanda Jones.) By 1875 Mildred Bell is living separately from John R. Bell³.

John R. Bell is listed several pages later in there census.









     In the 1880s they both owned land about four miles apart.  



     In the 1885 Kansas Census she states that she is widowed.  Shortly after this they packed up and headed west to Comanche County and then Stevens County.  John R. Bell is buried in Stevens County, Kansas where the gravestone states that he died in 1889.  Mildred Bell remarried and purchased land near her son John A. Bell in Stevens County.  She died in 1898.

1. "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNTX-P1Y : accessed 28 July 2015), John R Bell and Mildred Mahany, 05 Apr 1850; citing , Lake, Indiana, county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm 2,413,488.
2.  "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDH3-KTQ : accessed 28 July 2015), Edward Mahony and Mildred Jane Hughes, 09 Dec 1844; citing , Porter, Indiana, county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm 1,686,155.
3. Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; 1875 Kansas Territory Census; Roll: ks1875_10; Line: 55  Ancestry.com. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.

Should it be an "A" or Should it be a "W"?

      John Andrew Bell was the son of John Richard Bell and father of John Fletcher Bell. All three live in Labette County, Kansas in 1775¹.  

      But wait a minute.  That 1775 Kansas Territorial Census shows the name John W. Bell.  How do I know that this is my John A. Bell?  This John Bell was born in Indiana and lived in Indiana prior to coming to Kansas. That is what I expected.  He was married to Amanda who was born in Kentucky.  He had a son named John Fletcher Bell.  The ages are about what I would expect.  If we examine land records, a John W. Bell owns land adjacent to a Benjamin F. Jones and near John R. Bell and Mildred Bell.  Benjamin Fletcher Jones is the father-in-law of John A. Bell. Mildred Bell was his mother.  I am convinced that this John W. Bell is the same person as my John A. Bell.

     For some reason all records that I have found prior to Labette County refer to a John Bell.  In Labette County the records refer to our John A. Bell several times as James W. Bell and then in 1885 as John H. Bell³.  When the family moved west to Comanche County for a few years, land records referred to him as John W. Bell.  

     After the family arrived in Stevens County, John A. Bell was the name used.  It was used in court records, land records, tombstone, and a published county history.  For now I am leaving the name, John Andrew Bell, in my records, but  . . .
     Why did the name change?  Was it intentional or accidental?  I would love to know the reason.


1. Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; 1875 Kansas Territory Census; Roll: ks1875_10; Line: 75  Ancestry.com. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.
2. "HistoryGeo.com" 14 July 2015 <https://www.historygeo.com/>
3. Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; 1885 Kansas Territory Census; Roll: KS1885_69; Line: 1  Ancestry.com. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.

Bell Marriage in Jasper County

     John A. Bell and Amanda C. Jones wed on 7 Aug 1873¹ in Jasper County, Missouri.  In the "History of Stevens County & Its People" several of their children state that this marriage took place in Indiana².  This may have been the story that John and Amanda told their children but no record has been found to show that they were married there or that Amanda ever lived in Indiana.  At the time of the marriage they were living in Mount Pleasant Township, Labette County, Kansas^3,4.  In the years prior, Amanda lived in Kentucky and Missouri. John had arrived from Indiana.  Later they homesteaded land in Labette County, near Mound City, where several of their children were born before moving west to Stevens County, Kansas..  

     At the time of the marriage John Andrew Bell was probably eighteen years old and Amanda was most likely sixteen years old.  Was it legal for them to get married at that age?  Did their parents approve? In any case, John and Amanda chose to travel from Labette County, through Cherokee County, crossing the Kansas-Missouri border, and to Jasper County, Missouri.  At that time it appears that Jasper County may have served as the area's 'Gretna Green'.  (Gretna Green is a border town in Scotland, which is famous for weddings of couples who elope.)  Twin Groves is one of the townships in Jasper County that borders Kansas.  There is a William Bishop in that township in 1880 Census.

     So, considering John's and Amanda's ages and location of wedding, is it possible that they eloped?  

    

1. "Missouri, County Marriage Records, 1819-1969." Marriage of John Bell and Amanda Jones. Jasper County, Missouri FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org : accessed 7 Apr 2013.
2. The History of Stevens County & Its People. pages 367-373, Hugoton, Kansas: Stevens County History Association, 1979.
3. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch
4. Year: 1870; Census Place: Mount Pleasant, Labette, Kansas; Roll: M593_436; Page: 48B; Image: 100; Family History Library Film: 545935

Proctor Perley Sargent

     While attempting to determine how and why one of Jayme's ancestors went from New Hampshire to Louisiana around the time of the Civil War, I needed to trace her first husband.  
     Olivia Mead married P. P. (Proctor Perley) Sargent in New Hampshire in 1858; followed him to Louisiana where he died in 1865; married husband number two in Louisiana in 1868; and moved to Hunt County, Texas  by 1870 with her second husband.
     Proctor Perley Sargent was born on 7 Oct 1830 to Marcus Sargent and Ann Severns in New London, New Hampshire¹.
     On 11 Nov 1858, P. P. Sargent of Texas and Olivia A. Mead of New London, New Hampshire were married in Bradford, New Hampshire².
     In the 1850 Census, Proctor P. Sargent is working as a shoemaker and living with his parents in New London³. He is also listed as a shoemaker in the 1850 Concord, New Hampshire City Directory⁴.  His wife is living in New London with their child and his parents at the time of the 1860 Census. The whereabouts of Proctor P. Sargent in the 1860 Census is unknown at this time.  
     P. P Sargent died in New Orleans on 28 Feb 1865, shortly before the end of the Civil War⁵.
     Two separate family genealogies published in 1882 and 1906 mention that Proctor moved around.  The Perley family (Proctor's ancestry) genealogy states that he traveled to California and other states and died in New Orleans⁶.  The Folsom family genealogy (Olivia's ancestry) doesn't mention California but states similar information⁷. Both mention that their child died around 1860.  Both mention her marriage to Wilson H. McKie on 5 Aug 1867.
    An additional record exists of a muster call of a man named P. P. Sargent with the Confederate Guards Regiment, Louisiana Militia⁸.  
    Could the man in the militia be Proctor Perley Sargent?  
    What was the cause of Proctor's death?  Was it war related?   
    When did Olivia follow her husband south?  Before the war?
    Where did their daughter die?


1. "New Hampshire, Birth Records, Early to 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLPD-HN5 : accessed 15 April 2015), Proctor Perley Sargent, 07 Oct 1830; citing New London, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord; FHL microfilm 1,001,044.2. "New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947." Index and images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015. Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
3. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Year: 1850; Census Place: New London, Merrimack, New Hampshire; Roll: M432_436; Page: 110A; Image: 228
4. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011  Concord, New Hampshire, City Directory, 1850
5. "Louisiana, Orleans Parish Vital Records, 1910, 1960." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015. State Archives, Baton Rouge
6. Perley, M. V. B. History and Genealogy of the Perley Family. Salem, Massachusetts, 1906, M. V. B. Perley Publisher
7. Chapman, Jacob. A Genealogy of the Folsom Family: John Folsom and His Descendants, 1615-1882. Concord, N.H.: Printed by the Republican Press Association, 1882. (Google E-Books)
8. "Louisiana, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFD5-CTV : accessed 15 April 2015), P P Sargent, 1862; from "Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing military unit Confederate Guards Regiment, Militia, H- S, NARA microfilm publication M320 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1961), roll 375.

Ginwright

    While examining the 1850 Census Record for Wilson MacKie (McKie) of East Feliciano Parish, Louisiana¹, I noticed his listed occupation.

     It wasn't a word I recognized and I tried searching on Google for old occupations but the websites I happened to check didn't have any occupation that was even close.  

     The first letter was definitely a 'G' based on Georgiana and Georgia which appeared earlier on the same page.

     After sleeping on it I read the pages of the census before and after this page and there I found an occupation listed which I recognized.

     Wheelwright was probably written by a different person based upon the 'ght' but wheelwright brought me to Ginwright. It turns out that a ginwright (gin wright) is someone who builds cotton gins or maintains and repairs existing cotton gins.   

       By the middle of the nineteenth century, cotton gins were large machines which were housed in large industrial-sized buildings.  Cotton was big business and it is easy to see that it could be costly if the cotton gin didn't operate. 
    So the 1850 Census shows Wilson H MacKie (McKie) as a Ginwright.  He is living, along with his first wife, Elizabeth, and child, James. They are living with Elizabeth's parents, Sothy and Nancy Hays.

1. Year: 1850; Census Place: East Feliciana, Louisiana; Roll: M432_231; Page: 248B; Image: 177

Old Hill Burying Ground, Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census

Ancestors Traveling Around Cape Horn

     For the last few weeks I have been following six sailboats as they make their way around the world in the Volvo Ocean Race. There were seven boats but one ended up on a reef in the Indian Ocean.   Recently they have been making their way across the Southern Ocean from New Zealand to Cape Horn.  The Southern Ocean is considered the toughest stretch of ocean to cross.  Cape Horn is considered the Mount Everest of ocean sailing.  The Internet carried live coverage of four of the boats as they made their way around the Horn on a 'good' weather day.  (The two other boats include one which lost a sail and is limping along several days behind and another boat which lost their mast and had to withdraw from the race.)
     These modern racing yachts are among the best boats made.  Equipment is top notch. Their positions are sent to race headquarters every fifteen seconds.  Satellites give them weather information and the positions of icebergs.  The crews are the most experienced sailors in the world.  And yet three of the seven have been or are in serious trouble.




     Shortly after I watched the four boats pass Cape Horn, I was reading a digital book about the genealogy of one branch of Jayme's family¹.  Joseph Libbey Folsom (the founder of Folsom, CA) was the half-brother of Jayme's great-great-grandmother, Olivia Ann Mead Sargent McKie.  Captain Joseph Libbey Folsom was sent by the army from the east coast of the United States around  Cape Horn to California in 1846.  The trip took six months. WOW. I admire the inner strength of these people to undertake such a journey.  Thousands died attempting to travel to California by traveling around South America.  (In the nineteenth century alone over fifty boats were documented to have sunk while rounding the Horn.  Countless others were lost at other points in the passage from east to west.)

1. Chapman, Jacob. A Genealogy of the Folsom Family: John Folsom and His Descendants, 1615-1882. Concord, N.H.: Printed by the Republican Press Association, 1882. (Google E-Books)

Massacre at Hurtleberry Hill

     Current town boundaries in Middlesex County, Massachusetts are considerably smaller than they were in the the seventeenth century.  Concord boundaries extended farther south.  Mt. Misery and part of the town of Lincoln were originally part of Concord. 

     The Goble family moved from Charlestown to Concord sometime around the middle of the between 1652 (records showing Thomas Goble in Charlestown) and 1657 (Thomas Goble's will).  The Goble house, still standing in 1904, was described as being on the edge of Walden Woods on the road leading west from the Village of Lincoln.  This description would put the Goble farm about a half-mile from Mt. Misery and Walden Pond(see map below¹).

     Current day researchers believe that Mt. Misery was called Hurtlebery Hill during the seventeenth century.

     Metacom, a Native American leader, known to the colonists as King Phillip had come to the conclusion that the settlers were dishonest and the only solution was to drive them from his land.  The war lasted only about two years (1675-1676) but was particularly bloody.  Ten percent of the adult male colonists were killed along with many women and children.  Two-thirds of the English towns in Massachusetts were attacked.  The Native American population fared even worse.  Those who were not among the thousands who were killed, were captured and shipped off as slaves to the sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

      Life was just a precarious for those Indians who fought as allies of the English. Since some Indians had at times switched sides, the settlers decided that Native Americans couldn't be trusted.  Laws were passed which allowed the English to kill Indians who were not in their designated area.  

      A short time before the end of the war, three Indian women and three children were given permission to leave their assigned location to gather berries near Hurtleberry Hill. It seems that hurtleberry can be used interchangeably with whortleberry, huckleberry and even blueberry.  A local militia unit came upon the six indians.  A short while later four of the soldiers returned.  Daniel Hoar, Daniel Goble, Stephen Goble, and Nathaniel Wilder shot and hacked to death all six Indians². Numerous similar incidents were known to have occurred but this was the only incident where the men were convicted.  They were all sentenced to death. Stephen Goble was hung first.  A week later Daniel Goble was hung.  The other two men appealed their conviction on the basis that they were young and didn't participate.  They were released after paying a fine.  It probably didn't hurt that their fathers were upstanding members of the community. 

     Daniel Goble was married and left a wife and four children.  His wife remarried and ironically years later she and her second husband and their child were killed in an Indian attack.  

     Stephen Goble was unmarried.

 Note: Daniel Goble was the brother of my 8great-grandfather, Thomas Goble Jr.  Stephen Goble was a son of Thomas Goble.  Ruth Goble, a daughter of Thomas and brother of Stephen, was my 7great-grandmother.  Ruth Goble married Samuel Stratton.   

1.   Google Maps Engine, Google Imagery 2013 Digital Globe, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Farm Service Agency.
2. Pulsipher, Jenny Hale. "Massacre at Hurtleberry Hill: Christian Indians and English Authority in Metacom's War." The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, July 1, 1996, 459-86.

Lying Rascal

     Do you have a troublesome neighbor?  I suspect that throughout history there have been neighbors who haven't seen eye to eye. But have you ever called you neighbor a 'lying rascal' and then been sued.

     On 25 March 1650, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, John Goble was served with a summons¹.  Richard Temple had filed a complaint that John had called Richard a 'lying rascal'.  This was just one of a series of differences between the Goble family and Richard Temple. 

     There was an incident with a loose goose.  Evidently, Goble's goose had wandered onto Temple's land and Temple warned Goble not to trespass.  It seems that there was a scuffle with John's father, Thomas Goble, involved. John's mother, Alice grabbed her son's goose. There must have been some bad blood between the neighbors prior to this.  As Roger Thompson suggests in From Deference to Defiance, Charlestown 1629-1692, Richard Temple was probably scared for his physical well-being.  At the same time Thomas Goble may have suspected Richard Temple of supernatural recriminations.

     The situation had been serious enough that both parties had been summoned to Rev. Zechariah Symmes's house along with several leaders of the community.  The failure of this mediation led to the summons. The first court appearance was a short-lived victory for Goble (possibly as a result of the fact that Goble was a freeman and church member in Charleston whereas Temple was not). Later a jury found that Goble had indeed libeled Temple and Thomas Goble was fined 20 shillings and John Goble was fined 40 shillings. The Goble family was forced to put up a bond of £20 to keep the peace.  

     Problems continued for a few more years but eventually things quieted down and problems ended in Charlestown between the Gobles and Temples. Things could have quieted down because Richard moved to Concord.  

     Both Richard Temple and Thomas Goble died in 1657, and at that time they both lived in Concord.

1.  Thompson, Roger,  From Deference to Defiance, Charlestown, 1629-1692, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston 2012

Annotated Picture

     As Jayme and I were departing from Boston Logan Airport last November, we snapped a picture out of the window of the plane.  Some time after returning, when I got around to examining our photographs, I realized that this picture showed many of the places that were important to our trip and also my family research.

     We had spent a week at the Marriott Custom House, and from there we had visited many of Boston's points of interest. It was a short walk to the North End, Faneuil Hall, and the Boston Freedom Trail. We had visited "Old Ironsides" in Charlestown.  

     We had also visited Watertown, where Samuel Stratton had lived. It is likely that Samuel and his son, Richard, are buried in the cemetery that was active at that time. Samuel had owned several lots in Watertown.  

     Another ancestor, Thomas Goble, had settled in Charlestown. In the early days of colonization, Charlestown was much larger than today. I know that Thomas Goble worked the "Line Field" in 1649.  He owned several lots in Charlestown.

On the map shown below¹, the blue line represents the approximate boundary of seventeenth century Charlestown.  The red pin shows the area of the "Line Field". The other pins show the location of Fresh Pond and the Old Burying Place.




1.  Google Maps Engine, Google Imagery 2013 Digital Globe, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Farm Service Agency.

Thomas was a Hog Reeve

    While preparing for our trip to New England last November, I decided to look into info on the Goble family. I knew that Samuel Stratton, son of Richard Stratton and grandson of the Samuel Stratton who settled in Watertown had married Ruth Goble in Concord, Massachusetts. But I hadn't spent any time researching the Goble family.  I had just kept putting off that part of my research.
    It turns out that several books have been written on the Goble family and Thomas Goble and his sons are mentioned in several additional books including the Great Migration series¹. The information appears to be solid but I will eventually verify the sources.  In the meantime several facts about the Goble family stand out.
    Thomas Goble was baptised in 1591 in Aldingbourne, West Sussex, England   He was a elected a freeman in Charlestown on  September 3, 1634.
    Roger Thompson is emeritus professor of American Colonial History at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. I possess two of his books. I have used his book on Watertown as a reference for my research into my Stratton ancestors. Another book, From Deference to Defiance, Charlestown, 1629-1692 mentions Thomas Goble² several times.  In this book Professor Thompson includes lists of office holders of Charlestown which had not been previously published.
    In 1649, Thomas Goble serves the townspeople as a Hog Reeve².  I didn't know the definition of a hog reeve so a search was necessary. A hog reeve³ is one who rounded up stray hogs and assessed the damage caused by the hog.  The owner of the hog was then required to pay a fine when he retrieved the hog.
     Also in 1649, Thomas served the town in two other positions. He was a Fence Viewer and a Field Driver. A fence viewer made sure that settlers followed the rules about fencing in animals and certain crops.  The fence viewer also attempted to settle disputes arising between adjacent landowners. A field driver took stray animal to the pound to prevent damage to crops. Both Fence Viewer and Field Driver are positions still included in Massachusetts law⁴.
     In the early days Charlestown included much of the land that is today Somersville and Arlington. Thomas was a field driver in the 'Line Field'. The line field was near Mystic Ponds (Lakes) about where Highway 60 intersects Broadway in Arlington. At that time the boundaries of Watertown Cambridge and Charlestown were much different than today.  Thomas Goble probably lived fairly close to the line Field.  This happens to be close to where the Strattons lived in Watertown.
     Ruth Goble and Samuel Stratton are my seventh-great grandparents.
  
The map⁵ below shows the approximate location of the Line Field (red), area where the Strattons owned land (orange), and Charlestown Today (pink).


1. Anderson, Robert Charles Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume III, G-H New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston 2003
2. Thompson, Roger Deference to Defiance, Charlestown, 1629-1692, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston 2012
3. Janice Brown, “New Hampshire Glossary: Hog Reeve,” Cow Hampshire, 8 April 2006 <http://www.cowhampshireblog.com/2006/04/08/new-hampshire-glossary-hog-reeve/>.
4.  "General Laws: CHAPTER 49 - MAlegislature.gov." 2013. 4 Mar. 2015 <https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter49>
5. Google Maps Engine, Google Imagery 2013 Digital Globe, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Farm Service Agency.

Richard Stratton - Two Years in Watertown

     Richard Stratton, my 8th great-grandfather lived in the Massachusetts Colony for about 26 months.  In that time a few records about him have survived.   
     Richard Stratton was a son of Samuel Stratton.  Samuel had arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts sometime before 1647.  Samuel had settled in Watertown with his wife, Alice and two of his sons, Samuel and John.  Richard Stratton arrived in Massachusetts in late spring or early summer of 1656, aboard the Speedwell.   

1656 A lyst of the passengers aboard the Speedwell of London
Robert Lock Master bound for New England¹

     The next two documents pertaining to Richard appear in the records of Watertown, Massachusetts².  On April 8, 1658, a son named, Samuel, is born to Richard and Susannah Stratton in Watertown.  A little less than four months later, Richard Stratton died.   

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850

     Richard's death gives rise to the last record, a Probate record, regarding Richard.  According to A Book of Strattons³, Richard's estate left no land to his wife or son.  

     Richard's wife remarried a few years later and lived in Concord, Massachusetts.  Richard's son, Samuel, was mentioned in his grandfather, Samuel's will and Samuel received land when he became of age. 

     Richard is most likely buried in the Old Burying Place in Watertown since it was the active cemetery at that time.  The land that Samuel Stratton owned was in close proximity.

Standing near some Stratton graves at the Old Burying Place in Watertown

1. "The passenger list of the "Speedwell," 1656 - Beinecke Rare ..." 2013. 3 Aug. 2014 <http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3522732>
2. Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010).
3.  Stratton, Harriet Russell, A Book of Strattons; being a collection of Stratton records from England and Scotland, and a genealogical history of the early colonial Strattons in America, with five generations of their descendants Volume 1, The Grafton Press, New York, 1908

World Cup Soccer and Great-Grandfathers

     Many Americans are getting ready to watch the World Cup soccer game between Germany and America.  I have been watching the World Cup games since Spain 1982.  That also explains why I haven't written many blog entries for the last few weeks.        
     This morning I was quite surprised to read the following statement by conservative columnist, Ann Coulter.  "I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer."¹
     Well, I guess all my genealogical research has been for naught, because I thought all my great-grandparents were born in the United States of America.

   By the way, fourteen of my sixteen great-great grandparents were born in the USA also.  And Jayme's great-grandparents were born here also.  

Go, Go, USA!

I believe the we will win!  I believe the we will win! I believe the we will win! I believe the we will win! I believe the we will win!

1. "Coulter: Any growing interest in soccer a sign of nation's ..." 2014. 26 Jun. 2014 <http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/06/25/coulter-growing-interest-soccer-sign-nations-moral-decay/11372137/>

A Wedding Anniversary

       Above is an image of the marriage license for Francis Walker and Eliza Ann Simison¹.  It is dated 4 June 1855.  Since I had seen this image on an ancestry.com family tree and the marriage was listed as 4 June 1855, I recorded that date.  Recently, I located the same record on familysearch.org.  As I browsed through this book of marriage licenses on familysearch.org I noticed that next to this document is a statement that the marriage was executed on the same day.
       However, by going back to the first page in this book of marriages one can see that the date of execution of marriages are written on the following page.  The next page shows that Francis Walker and Eliza Ann Simison were married on 19 June 1855.    
     That is a good date.  It turns out that Jayme and I share the same wedding anniversary as Jayme's great-great-grandparents.   Eliza Ann and Francis were  married for 24 years when Francis passed away in Texas.  Jayme and I celebrated out 43rd anniversary this past week.

1.  "Alabama, Marriages, 1816-1957," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FQKS-CZQ : accessed 24 May 2014), Francis Walker and Eliza Ann Simerson, 19 Jun 1855; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 1294419  Book 14 Page 159.

Susannah Keeney, Keeny, Kenney, Keney, Kinny, Kinney

Susannah Wife of Chester 
died 8 Oct 1881, aged 83y 9m 4d

     Susannah Keeney was the wife of Chester Fox. They were married on May 18, 1817 in Manchester, Hartford County, Connecticut¹.   Various spellings of her surname include but are not limited to: Keeney, Keeny, Kenney, Keney, Kinny, Kinney, and Kinne. 

     The family moved west in 1836, settling in Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio.  

     Chester Fox passed away in 1863 and in the 1870 Census Susannah is living by herself and not with any of her nearby living children.  In the 1880 Census she has paralysis and is living with her sister, Mary Winget in nearby Delaware County².

     Who are Susannah's parents? Would her sister's records leave some clue?  By combing several records as well as a published history of Union County, we find that her sister Mary had married Martin Webster in Manchester, Connecticut¹ in 1824.  

     After also moving west to Union County, Martin passed away and Mary married Ezra Winget in 1858³.

     Mary Winget passed away in late 1880 and Susannah lived another year.  Who took care of Susannah during that year?  Was the paralysis permanent? 

     And then there is the question that I have to answer if I am to discover more about the Keeney family.  Who are the parents of Susannah and Mary?  At this time I haven't a clue, but that won't stop me from looking.

1. Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: 2013.  Original data: Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
2. Year: 1880; Census Place: Ostrander, Delaware, Ohio; Roll: 1012; Family History Film: 1255012; Page: 291C; Enumeration District: 102; Image: 0082.
3."Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994." Index and images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2014. Citing Probate Court.

Old Names versus New Names

     One website that I like to peruse occasionally is fivethirtyeight.com.  In my previous life I taught mathematics and this website gives me an insight into news and sports from a mathematical (statistical) point of view.  As I scanned through the articles one article caught my eye.  
     How to Tell Someone’s Age When All You Know Is Her Name 
     The article was interesting to me from a genealogical standpoint.  The authors discuss the median age of some young names and  some older names.  My sister's grandson is named Jadon (Jayden). The median age for people named Jayden is about four years old.  (50% of the boys with that name are younger than four.)  On the other end of the spectrum is my grandfather's name, Elmer.  The median age for people named Elmer is sixty-six.  
    In my family tree there women named, Beulah, Minnie, Mabel, and Agnes.  The median age for those names is at least seventy-five.  
    My granddaughter, Hailey, is fourteen and the median age for the name Hailey is thirteen.  
     The next time I go to my other granddaughter's soccer game I bet I hear the names that appear on the youngest name list: Ava, Ella, Isabella, Zoe. 
    Take a look at this graph¹ from the article.  Mabel was my grandmother's middle name.  And there is my grandfather's name at the top of the list for men.

1. "How to Tell Someone's Age When All You Know Is Her Name." 2014. 5 Jun. 2014 <http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-someones-age-when-all-you-know-is-her-name/>

Amos Fox - Wintering in Valley Forge & Crossing the Delaware

     When I was young, my mother showed me the picture of Washington Crossing the Delaware¹ and told me, "the soldier at the bow of the boat is one of our ancestors."  Years later, I learned more about the painting and learned that it is extremely doubtful that the artist knew any of my ancestors.  (The artist,  Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, was born in 1816 in Germany. As a child he came to America, living in Virginia and Philadelphia.)  As with many family stories there is some part of the story that may be true, so in my genealogical research I am attempting to uncover that truth.  Were any of my ancestors with Washington's army when he crossed the Delaware?   Since the army had left and later returned to Valley Forge, were any ancestors at Valley Forge. 
     Several of my ancestors were soldiers in the Revolution and at least one of them fought in the battles at the end of 1776. A recent New England Historical Genealogical Society's newsletter contained a link to the non-profit Friends of Valley Forge Park.  The Friends of Valley Forge maintain a database of soldiers who served in Valley Forge².  Valley Forge Muster Rolls   Amos Fox is listed in their database.

     My 4th great-grandfather, Amos Fox, was from Connecticut and had served in the Revolution.  His wife was Mary Stratton, and Dency was his oldest daughter.  Chester (my 3rd great-grandfather) was his youngest child and second son with that name.  The birth and death dates match the records that I have uncovered.  Pension files obtained from the National Archives for the time period verify that Amos Fox served under Col. Jedediah Huntington at this particular time in history.  Oddly, the pension files mention several battles that Amos would have fought under Col. Huntington (later General Huntington), but the files do not mention Valley Forge or the Battle of Trenton.  But it would appear that soldiers serving under General Huntington were at Valley Forge. Amos Fox was discharged from the service in January 1777 in Crumpond, New York, which is about midway between New Jersey and his hometown of Glastonbury. 
         So was Amos the ancestor that my mother mentioned?  I had assumed that it was one of the Pennsylvanian ancestors but it appears to be my Connecticut ancestor.

1.  Emanual Leutze, “Washington Crossing the Delaware” (1851); Gift of John Stewart Kennedy, 1897, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (www.netmuseum.org).

2.  "Valley Forge Muster Roll." 2010. 2 Mar. 2014 <http://valleyforgemusterroll.org/muster.asp>
  

No Marriage License for These People

    As I was browsing through a volume of marriage licenses from Mobile County, Alabama, I came across the first page of Book 29¹. Across the top was written:  

Lists of names of persons to whom

Marriage Licenses must not be issued

     What could cause a name to appear on such a list.  Is this what you did when you didn't like a daughter's beau?  I wonder if any of these couples eventually got married.  It would be interesting to learn the story behind the names.

1.  "Alabama, Marriages, 1816-1957," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FQKS-CZQ : accessed 24 May 2014),  citing reference ; FHL microfilm 1550484  Book 29 Page 1.

Memorial Day - 2014

Caption:  Only men left who joined company Sept. 1917

Photo - March 1, 1919, Appenai Locis Bellune (?) France

Enough said.

Note: My grandfather, Elmer J. Armstrong is on the far right.  I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to decipher the location in France. Maybe one of you can figure it out.

Some Things Get Better

     Yesterday, I wrote about how the grave stone of Elisha had deteriorated in the last decade.  But not everything has gotten worse.  

     My grandmother visited St Gregory Cemetery in Samuels, Kentucky around 1950.  Two pictures survive of her visit. The first shows a row of grave stones of her mother and her maternal grandparents.  In 2005 we visited the same cemetery and happened to take a pictures from a similar position.  In the fifties, the cemetery was overgrown with brush and appears to be in disrepair.  Not so now.  

     By examining the following photos, you can see that the community of St. Gregory Church is now maintaining the cemetery in good condition.  A big THANK YOU for all who help maintain the cemetery from this descendant of at least six direct ancestors who are buried here.

1950 photo of grave of Eliza Jane Gates Blandford in the foreground

Similar view from 2005

The first four graves (seen above) from left to right: Eliza Jane Gates Blandford;
 Eliza's brother, Truman James Gates;
Eliza's parents, Elizabeth Mattingly Gates and William R. Gates.

Here is a wider view of the cemetery in 2005 

Photo taken in 2008 (courtesy of Amanda-findagrave contributor #47289435)

A low-resolution picture of my grandmother, Mary Cathering Blandford Armstrong,
 standing next to the grave of her mother, Eliza Jane Gates Blandford.