James David Armstrong - Part II: Living in New Jersey

     The Obituary¹ of James David Armstrong states the following;
“On August 20, 1849, Mr. Armstrong landed in New York, whence he proceeded to Trenton, N. J. in which vicinity he remained for several years busy ever as a farmer or laborer, at one time being a trusted employee of old Peter Cooper’s rolling mill ".
     As is sometimes the case not all information in obituaries is completely true.  The date of arrival was a couple months off. In the image below² the date of arrival is given as Oct 22, 1849.  
     Jas (shortened form of James) and Margaret Armstrong left Belfast with an infant daughter, Sarah.  They made passage on the Bark Warrior and were among 88 passengers on board.  They arrived in New York on Oct 22, 1849.  The Bark WARRIOR, 221 tons, was built in Granville, Nova Scotia, in 1844, and first registered in St. John, New Brunswick. The Bark Warrior made several transatlantic passages usually carrying about 90 passengers and carrying other cargo, sometimes iron.  The voyages took anywhere from 30 to 50 days. 

     The 1850 Census, which was taken about six months after they arrived in Castle Garden, New York shows they lived in Nottingham Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.  In 1856 Nottingham Township ceased existence with parts being merged into Hamilton Township and part into Trenton.  No  occupation is shown for James in 1850 and so they probably lived like most Irish immigrants of that time who typically lived in dirty tenement buildings.  No wonder the family left for the Midwest.  Birthdates and birthplaces listed in later census records indicate that the family moved on to McLean County, Illinois between 1856 and 1859.  This is consistent with his obituary which indicates they came to Illinois in 1858. 
     Who is 'old Peter Cooper'?  Peter Cooper³ was an industrialist who made his fortune in glue but then founded an iron mill in New York in order to make railroad tracks for the burgeoning railroad industry. He actually built the first steam powered locomotive built in America. He moved his mill to Trenton, New Jersey in 1846.   The first iron structural beam was made at that mill in 1854.  These structural iron beams would have been fabricated about the time that James David Armstrong was employed at that mill³.  


1.   “Passing of a Nestor” Pantograph, Bloomington, Illinois March 30, 1906

2.  "United States Famine Irish Passenger Index, 1846-1851," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KDXG-FKJ : accessed 30 Aug 2013), Jas. Armstrong, 1849.

3.   "Peter Cooper - The Robinson Library." 2011. 30 Aug. 2013 <http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/social/pathology/social/cooper.htm>

James David Armstrong - Part I: Getting Older

     The Obituary of James David Armstrong¹ starts:

     "The Passing of a Nestor

James Armstrong, Oldest Mason

Soome [sic] Interesting Facts About 

the Career of One of the County’s Oldest Residents

     Mr. Armstrong was born on December 26, 1820, at Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian parentage. His mother was Miss Hannah Scott, through whom he is akin to the widely extended family of that name in this county. His father, Robert Armstrong, died while James was in his early youth, leaving the son and wife with little of this world’s goods." 

     Nestor, an uncommon word in today's vernacular, means a patriarch; a wise old man; a sage.  
     It has been difficult pinning down the birthday of James David Armstrong. Using the recorded age together with the date of the recorded age, I calculated a year of birth.
Record                Recorded Age          Computed birth year
1847 Marriage            24                        1822
1849 Immigration       22                        1826
1850 Census              24                        1825
1860 Census              38                        1821
1870 Census              49                        1820
1880 Census              59                        1820
1900 Census              79                        1820
     His year of birth was consistently given as or around 1820 later in life.  It is possible that when he married or immigrated that it was advantageous to be slightly younger.  
     His mother's maiden name was Briggs.  After Robert Armstrong died, Hannah Briggs Armstrong married someone with the last name of Scott.
     The obituary hints at connections to extended family in McLean County but at this time I haven't determined any connections.


1.   “Passing of a Nestor” Pantograph, Bloomington, Illinois March 30, 1906

William C. McBee: Union Soldier or Confederate Soldier?

     Missouri was one of those states which supplied soldiers to both sides of the Civil War.  Did William C. McBee serve?  If he did serve, which side did he support?  
     There are records of a William C. McBee serving Union Army in Company K, 5th Kentucky Infantry.  There is another William C. McBee serving in the Confederate Army in Company E, 7th Missouri Infantry (later known as the 16th Missouri Infantry).  There is another William C McBee in the 27th Arkansas Infantry.  Additional  William C. McBees show up in North Carolina and Alabama.  Could one of these men be the William C. McBee who was the Great-Grandfather of Garna McBee?  
     Up to this point I have suspected that our William McBee would have sided with the Confederacy.  He was born in Tennessee before moving with his father to Arkansas and then to Missouri.  He named one son, Henry Claydean McBee and another, Robert E. Lee McBee. (Henry Clay Dean was a know opponent of the Lincoln administration who lived in Iowa and later Missouri.)  The William C. McBee in Arkansas is too young.  Alabama and North Carolina would seem to be too far away.   
     But if the records for the William C, McBee in the 7th Missouri Infantry are correct then this can’t be our William McBee.  This William McBee was wounded and captured at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.  Our William was married in Schuyler County, Missouri on 15 December 1863.  Records show that that this William McBee was a prisoner in Delaware in December 1863.   

Marriage Record

     The William C. McBee who joined the Union Army in Kentucky is possibly our man. Records show that he was wounded (broken leg) at the Battle of Shilo in 1862 and subsequently discharged before December, 1863 because of this injury.  Records show that this William McBee was born in Tennessee. 

     At this time the evidence would seem to support the case for the  William C. McBee who enlisted in Kentucky and fought for the Union as being our William McBee.
     But, why would he have traveled 400+ miles from Schuyler County, Missouri to Louisville, Kentucky?  Was it the 160 acres promised to all men who enlisted in the Louisville Legion?  And why would he name his sons Henry Claydean and Robert E. Lee?

Did Clement Gardiner Need Title Insurance in 1797?

     On July 3, 1797 Clement Gardiner agreed to purchase 380 acres of land in the waters of Coxs Creek in Nelson County, Kentucky¹. The agreed upon price was 342 pounds Kentucky Currency.  The seller was Nicholas Paul alias Powell.  The deed was recorded by the County Clerk on July 9, 1797.

A small portion of the recorded deed
Nelson County, Kentucky Deeds Vol 7 1796-1813 page 191

Now if I was purchasing property from someone and they had an alias, I would think twice before finishing the deal.  In 1797 not everyone could read and write so names were often spelled numerous ways.  (I have seen situations where the same name was spelled several different ways in the same document.)  So this was not uncommon.  But there was a problem because less than two months later a notice appeared in the Stewart Kentucky Herald.

Notice of Bond²

     Nicholas Powell had received a Warrant for one thousand acres from the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1780.  That thousand acres was surveyed and the deed was recorded in Nelson County in 1791.  He may have mortgaged his land in 1792 and then cleared that mortgage about the time of the sale. This may have been at the root of the dispute.  In any case Clement Gardiner lived in Fairfield for the rest of his life.

1.  Nelson County, Kentucky Deeds Vol 7 1796-1813 page 191

2. "Notice", Stewart Kentucky Herald, Sep 12, 1797

Some Stratton Land in Watertown, Massachusetts

     Last week I received a new book, Divided We Stand: Watertown, Massachusetts, 1630-1680 by Roger Thompson.  As I started reading the book I  began to wonder where Samuel Stratton lived in Watertown.  Samuel is my 9Great-grandfather.  He arrived in Watertown by 1637.  
     Google, Middlesex County Land Deeds, and a little persistence helped me find an image of the original plat of the townsite.  It was actually much larger in area than the current town.  In the Google Map that I have embedded on this page you can see 
1. the original plat of Watertown (large red outlined area somewhat triangular in shape).  You may have to zoom out to see the entire region.  This area extends almost to Concord, where Samuel also lived for a time.
2. the current Watertown town limits.  This region is outlined in blue.
3. four of the parcels of land that Samuel owned around the years 1650-1672. These parcels only represent what I have uncovered by this time.
You may need to zoom in and out using the =/- button in the lower right.  You can also click and move the hand around in order to recenter the map.  

1.  "Divided We Stand: Watertown, Massachusetts, 1630-1680",  Roger Thompson, University of Massachusetts Press, 2001


2.  "Family Memorials: Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Including Waltham and Weston; to which is Appended the Early History of the Town", Henry Bond, Little, Brown & Company, 1855


3.  "Google Maps Engine Lite." 2012. 31 Aug. 2013 <https://mapsengine.google.com/>

Clement Gardiner and Henrietta Boone Gardiner

     Clement Gardiner and Henrietta Boone Gardiner arrived in Kentucky about 1797.   Like many Catholics, they left Maryland because of religious oppression. In the years prior to the revolution, Catholics were double taxed and prohibited from certain professions.  The area around Bardstown, Kentucky was a destination for many Catholics.  
     Clement and Henrietta settled along Coxs Creek in what is now Fairfield. They were generous to the church.  Visiting priests celebrated mass at their house.  Later they donated land for St. Michael's Church and cemetery.  They also donated money to build the church.  (The first church in Louisville started as a mission of St. Michael's.)  Clement and Henrietta wanted a school for girls in the Fairfield area so again they provided land so that could happen.  They had difficulty finding teachers for the school.  The Sisters of Loretto answered the call but after illness took the lives of several sisters the school had to be closed. After the death of Clement Gardiner and the closure of the school, Henrietta moved to Loretto and lived out her remaining days in prayer and solitude with the sisters.  
     Clement's and Henrietta's legacy in the church lived on for many generations.  Numerous descendants joined the religious life.  Son Harry joined the Trappist Monastery although he died young.  At least three granddaughters joined the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.  A great-grandson became a priest.  This legacy even lived on into my generation as my sister became a Dominican nun.  The parish hall at present day St. Michael Church in Fairfield is named Gardiner Hall.
   
1. "Gardiner Descendants plus Hatton Family and Weire Family Histories", Mary Louise Donnelly, 2004

2. "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky : Webb ... - Internet Archive." 2012. 29 Aug. 2013 <http://archive.org/details/centenaryofcatho00webb>

What a Lady!

Mother Catherine Spalding  SCN

     In 1813 a group of young women in Kentucky, joined together to form a new Catholic Religious Order, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.  The sisters elected Catherine Spalding, aged nineteen, as their leader.   She must have had an extremely dynamic personality.  Nazareth is located in Nelson County, Kentucky, just south of Louisville.  In 2003 she was named to a list of the most influential people in the history of Louisville and Jefferson County.  She was the only woman.

     The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth had started a school in Louisville as well as an orphanage.  In 1832 a cholera epidemic hit Louisville and the sisters were at the forefront of caring for victims.  The sisters offered to care for the dying if the city council would cover expenses.  The city council and mayor agreed.  Below is a transcription of  a letter written to the city council when their expenses were not covered and she returns some money to the council. 

To the Mayor & Council of the City of Louisville,

Gentlemen,
At that gloomy period, when the Cholera threatened to lay our city desolate, & nurses for the sick poor could not be obtained on any terms – Rev’d Mr. Abell, in the name of the Society of which I have the honor to be a member, proffered the gratuitous services of as many of our Sisters as might be necessary in the then existing distress: requiring merely, that their expenses should be paid. – This offer was accepted; as the order from your honorable board, inviting the Sisters, will now show. – But, when the money was ordered from your Treasury to defray those expenses, I had the mortification to remark that instead of saying: “the expenses of the Sisters of Charity,” the word services was substituted. – I immediately remonstrated against it, - & even mentioned the circumstances to the Mayor & another gentleman of the Council. – & upon being promised that the error should be corrected, I remained satisfied that it had been attended to; until a late assertion from one of the pulpits of the city leads me to believe that it stands yet uncorrected on your books; as these same books were referred to in proof of the asertion. – If so, Gentlemen, pardon the liberty I take in refunding you the amt. paid for the above named expenses. Well convinced, that our Community, for whom I have acted in this case, would far prefer incurring the expense themselves rather than submit to so unjust an odium. –

Gentlemen, be pleased to understand, that we are not hirelings. - & if we are, in practice, the Servants of the poor, the sick & the orphan; - we are voluntarily so:
But we look for our reward, in another & a better World.
With sincere respect, 
Gentlemen, 
Your obt. Sert. 
Catherine Spalding, 
Sister of Charity. 

($75. ----) 

     There is a big difference between having you expenses covered and being paid for your services.   Firstly, expenses could be considerably more and secondly, the sisters wouldn't want to be seen collecting a salary.  Catherine Spalding had no trouble speaking her mind.  The City Council eventually greed to go back and cover expenses.

Note:  I suspect that Mother Catherine Spalding is somehow related because there are several Spaldings in our family tree.  They seemed to live in the same areas of Maryland and later Kentucky.  At this time I am uncertain of the exact relationship.  Based upon her letter to the city council, I would be proud to have her in my family tree.  I wrote about her because she was such an interesting person and because during my research of the Nazareth Academy (attended by several ancestors) I found at least three granddaughters of Clement and Henrietta Gardiner (my GGGG-Grandparents) who were members of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Sister Harriet Gardiner was one of the original six founding sister of the order.  Sister Harriet had been a childhood playmate and friend of Mother Catherine.  She founded a school in Vincennes, Indiana.  Mother Frances Gardiner was a superior of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth after Mother Catherine.  Sister Clare was younger than the others and joined about 1819. 

Read more letters of Mother Catherine Spalding

1.  "Sisters of Charity of Nazareth - Mother Catherine Spalding Biography." 2011. 26 Aug. 2013 <http://www.scnfamily.org/archives/collections/bio/index.php>

2.  "The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Kentucky",  Anna Blanche McGill, Encyclopedia Press, New York, 1917

You've Got Mail

 

Maryland Gazette, Aug 4, 1791

   Because of current technology, it only takes a few moments to check to see if you have received any email.  Can you imagine waiting weeks for a letter or walking miles to pick up that letter?

    One feature that used to be appear in newspapers was a section that listed people who had letters waiting at the post office.  I have found a number of instances where ancestors had their names printed in a mail-waiting list.

    On Aug 4, 1791 the Maryland Gazette indicated that the was a letter waiting for James T. Gates at the Annapolis Post Office.  Unfortunately, James lived approximately 40 miles from Annapolis.  (James T. Gates was my GGGG-Grandfather and the father of Elisha Gates.) James had until October to get to Annapolis.

On July 7, 1852 the Sacramento Union printed almost two pages of names.  An estimated 3000 names were printed in the newspaper on that date.  The most likely reason for the excessive number of letters in the newspaper is the fact that the 49ers had arrived in California by the thousands and disappeared up into the foothills looking for gold.

One of the letters was for James T. Lorton.  James T. Lorton was the great grandfather of John Boyd.  (Jayme considers John as her father and John is known affectionately to us as ‘Pop’.)  In 1849, James Lorton had come west with his parents.  He was about 16 years old and both of them had died on the journey west.  In 1852, James was most likely living somewhere in the foothills of the Sierras with other miners.  He was trying to eek out a living by panning for gold. He would probably have been anywhere from 40 to 120 miles from Sacramento.  

This causes one to wonder about three things. 1)  Did James Gates or James Lorton ever pick up their mail?  2)  Who sent them the letter? 3) Could they read the letter.

  I cannot imagine that we will ever find out.

More New Books!

     As we know in order to understand our ancestors we must know the history of their times.  I received three new books in the mail yesterday.  I hope that these books help me better understand the lives of my ancestors.  I have a lot of reading to do but that won't be a problem.  I love to read.
     James David Armstrong left Ireland with his wife and infant daughter in 1849 during the Irish Potato Famine so I ordered the Atlas of the Great Irish Famine edited by Crowley, Smyth, and Murphy.  I am looking forward to this book. I will be reading this book off and on over months because it is a large heavy book.

     Samuel Stratton and his wife Alice arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts by 1647.  My branch of the Strattons stayed in the area for a few generations, so I want to understand this time period. The book that I hope will help with this part of history is Divided We Stand: Watertown, Massachusetts, 1630-1680 by Roger Thompson. I have already found a few references to Samuel, Alice and Richard Stratton.
     Railroad Depots of Central Ohio by Mark J. Camp is my third book.  It will give me a visual of where my grandfather, Lloyd V. Hugus worked.  I don't have any pictures of him working on the railroad. 
      If I miss a day of blogging, you'll know what I 'm doing.

Ancestors at the Nazareth Academy

   In 1814 the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth founded a girls’ school just outside of Bardstown, Kentucky. The Sisters called the location Nazareth.  Nazareth was about 5 miles from the location of the future home of Elisha Gates and family.     

    My Aunt Jane had told us that several of our ancestors had attended and graduated from the Nazareth Academy.   On a trip to Kentucky in 2005, my sister, my wife and I stopped by the the girls’ school.  The academy has now been merged with Nazareth College and renamed. Some of the building now serve other purposes. The Sisters were wonderful hosts.  They showed us through their wonderful museum, and some of the rooms where our ancestors would have congregated.  The Sisters shared some old records with us.  It appeared that around 1900 someone at the academy had transcribed records of each alumnus onto 3 by 5 cards.   The front of the cards for my two ancestors are shown below.

Elizabeth Mattingly

(1832 - 1918)

Daughter of George Mattingly and Catherine Miles

Eliza Jane Gates

(1853 - 1903)

Daughter of William R. Gates and Elizabeth Mattingly

    As is normally the case, each record that is found opens new questions or areas of research.  Aunt Jane did not believe that these records were accurate.  She had been quite adamant that Eliza Jane Gates and Elizabeth Mattingly were:

1. catholic.
2. graduates of the Academy.
3. longtime students at Nazareth Academy.

Returning to Nazareth Academy is on my list of things to do.  It always seems that shortly after I have visited archives I realize there is a few more pieces of information that I should have looked up.  At Nazareth I should have examined records of some of the siblings and cousins of Eliza Jane and Elizabeth.  These records might have shed more light on the accuracy of all the records.  But at this point I would certainly agree with Aunt Jane that the statement in that first record about the religion of Elizabeth Mattingly.   The Nelson County marriage record of her parents show that they were married by I. A. Reynolds.   The Rev. Ignatius A. Reynolds was pastor at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Bardstown at the time.  Her uncle, Richard Pius Miles was the Catholic Bishop of Nashville from 1837 until 1860.  I would tend to believe that Elizabeth Mattingly was Catholic.   I also would tend to believe that Elizabeth’s age is incorrect.   She is shown as being 14 years old in 1848.   Her birthyear on her tombstone¹ and her death certificate² is given as 1832. Were these transcription errors? We might get some answers with another visit to Kentucky.

1. "Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records." 25 Aug. 2013 <http://www.findagrave.com/>
2. "Kentucky, Death Records, 1911-1955," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N9LF-6V9 : accessed 25 Aug 2013), Elizabeth Gates, 1918.

The Civil War Ended at Samuel's Depot, Nelson County, Kentucky

     On April 10, 1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.  But the war didn’t end on that day.   The last men to surrender did so not too far from where William R. Gates resided. William Gates is the second son of Elisha and Christina Gates and my GG-grandfather.   
     During the Civil War groups of men, not officially connected to the Confederate Army roamed the south and border states, raided flanks of the Union Army and stole provisions from wagons and trains.  Among the groups of Confederate Irregulars were Quantrill’s Raiders. Quantrill’’s Raiders started in Missouri where there were atrocities performed on and by both sides.  They were a quasi-guerilla type of unit that fought as far south as Texas and east into Kentucky and Tennessee.  After the official surrender by Robert E. Lee,  the Partisan Rangers (Quantrill’s Raiders) continued making raids throughout central Kentucky.
     On 10th May 1865 William C. Quantrill and some of his men were ambushed by Union soldiers in the vicinity of Bloomfield, Kentucky.  Bloomfield lay in Nelson County not too far from the Gates’ Cox’s Creek residence.  Quantrill was shot and paralyzed while trying to escape.  He died about a month later.  The remainder of his men continued raiding.  They were eventually surrounded and surrendered to Capt. Young, US Army, at Samuel's Depot, Nelson County, KY, on 26 July 1865.  Supposedly they surrendered on the front porch of the Samuel’s general store¹.  Samuels [Samuel’s Depot] is the location of Saint Gregory’s Catholic Church.  Elisha Gates was one of the founders of the church and was buried in Saint Gregory’s Cemetery.  
    Among those who surrendered that day was Frank James, the older brother of Jesse James.  There was a good possibility that the James brothers knew the Samuel family well because their mother had married Dr. Reuben Samuel after her second husband had died.  
     Also surrendering that day was Alexander “Donnie” Pence.  Donnie remained in Nelson County, married Sarah Isabel Samuel,  and operated a 50-acre farm near Samuel’s Depot fairly close to Saint Gregory’s Church.  He became sheriff of Nelson County in 1871². 
     I would have to believe that William Gates and his daughter, Eliza Jane Gates (my great-grandmother) were very aware of the activities that took place in 1865.  At the very least they probably met Donnie Pence in the next few decades especially since Donnie Pence's wife was born about the same time as Eliza Jane Gates.

1. "1865 - Maker's Mark."

2011. 22 Aug. 2013 <http://www.makersmark.com/wax-museum/history/3-1865>

2. "QUANTRELL'S RAIDERS: story, pictures and information - Fold3.com." 2011. 22 Aug. 2013 <http://www.fold3.com/page/1089_quantrells_raiders/>

Western Kansas Homesteads

Clara and Jake Kilbourn

     In 1892 John Andrew Bell homesteaded 160 acres in the southwest quarter of section 15 in Township 33 South range 35 West of the Sixth Prime Meridan of Kansas.   This farm was about 12 miles east of Hugoton, Kansas.
     In 1894 Jonathan C. Kilbourn, homesteaded 160 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 4 in Township 35 South Range 40 West of the sixth Prime Meridian in Kansas.   The Kilbourn homestead was about 20 miles southwest of Hugoton.
     Lewis Joseph "Jake" Kilbourn married Clara Bell on 5 Sep 1901.  In 1913 they homesteaded 160 acres in the northeast quarter of section 28 in Township 34 South Range 38 West of the Sixth Prime Meridian in Kansas.
    All three homestead were within Stevens County.  Jonathan Kilbourn probably was not too successful at farming or he wasn't healthy enough to continue farming because in less than six years he was living in Indiana, where he had met and married his wife.
     While running the homestead, Jake drilled water wells as a sideline.  That eventually became his sole source of income so about 20 years after claiming the homestead he moved the family into Hugoton¹.     
     On aerial images from 1990 there appears to be farm buildings on Jake's property, but there doesn't appear to be any now on Jake's or Jonathan's old homesteads.


By zooming in on this map you can see the land as it appears today.


1. "Jake Kilbourn Passes Following Long Illness." Hugoton Hermes, Nov 7, 1947.

2. "Google Maps Engine Lite." 2012. 23 Aug. 2013 <https://mapsengine.google.com/>

Mapping Three Farms

     Maps have always interested me.  When I was young I use to enjoy following our trips in the station wagon on whatever maps I could obtain.  I even had a map collection for a while.  I wish I had saved those maps.   
    While searching for information on a 3G-Grandfather, Joseph Homan I came across a page that gave me the location of his farm.  It was located along the banks of the Scioto River in Concord Township, Delaware County, Ohio.  
     Joseph's daughter, Elizabeth married Ira Fox of Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio.   I had originally found them in Union County but when I couldn't find their marriage record I had to broaden my search. Their marriage record was recorded in Delaware County.  The marriage record brought me to the land in Delaware County.  
     Ira and Elizabeth Fox settled on Ira's father's farm and upon the death of Chester Fox, Ira took over the farm.  Between 1851 and 1863 Ira and Elizabeth had seven children.  The youngest was Elizabeth Josephine (Lizzie) Fox.  
     Tragically, Ira drowned in the Scioto River on 9 Sep 1865.  I am still looking for newspaper accounts about this tragedy.
     Lizzie didn't go to far afield to find a husband.  She married Hardin R. Pickett.  That marriage lasted over 52 years.
     Studying these farms got me interested in creating a map to show the locations of these three farms.  The border between the two counties is between Concord Road and Jerome Road (at least in the vicinity of the Homan and Fox farms). All three farms are within five miles of each other.

To see the aerial view, change the Base map to Satellite View. 

Be sure to zoom in to get a better view.

Marriage Record of Ira Fox and Elizabeth Ann Homan¹

1. "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X8X1-SY2 : accessed 21 Aug 2013), Ira Fox and Elizabeth Ann Hamons, 1850.


2. Google Maps Engine, Google Imagery 2013 Digital Globe, State of Ohio / OSIP, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Farm Service Agency.

The Barn is Gone

The Home of Henry Fox, 2007

     My mother's maternal grandparents grew up in Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio.  Since they are buried there we decided to visit Jerome during a trip to Ohio in 2007.   In the years prior to that trip I had ordered a copy of a county atlas in order to try to locate the farms of my ancestors.  In the atlas they had an image of the Farm and Residence of Henry Fox¹ and as well as its location.   Henry Fox is my Great-Great-Granduncle.

The Barn of Henry Fox, 2007 

    What a surprise we had when we arrived in Jerome.  The house and barn were still standing and in reasonably good condition.   I knocked on the door to contact the owners but to no avail.  Later I learned that a real estate developer owned the house.
     Today as I was trying to create a new map to share on this blog,  I noticed on Google Maps that there was some construction in the area.  The barn was gone.  By using Google Earth's historical imagery I was able to determine that the barn was taken down sometime between 2007 and 2009.  I wish that I could have gone inside the barn back in 2007.   It is disappointing that we can't save all our old buildings.  In the name of progress, I guess.  There is something about walking in the same place that your ancestors once walked.





1.  Atlas of Union County Ohio,  A.S. Mowry, C. E.,  Harrison, Sutton & Hale, Philadelphia, 1877

2. Google Maps Engine, Google Imagery 2013 Digital Globe, State of Ohio / OSIP, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Farm Service Agency.

Dust Storms

Dust Storm in Oklahoma
Possibly in Hooker, Oklahoma

     The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was a series of severe dust storms that swept across the midwest.  This disaster was caused by poor farming techniques as well as the severe drought that the region experienced. The drought devastated the farmland and that together with the Depression was certainly one the reasons that Jayme’s maternal grandparents left Kansas and moved west.  

Dust Storm in Kansas
Probably in or near Hugoton, Kansas

     As one who enjoys his daily shower, I can't imagine having to live through one of these storms.  The fine dust made it inside the houses and covered everything.  The dust coated people's bodies but because of the drought, showers were not a daily affair.  
     If you missed the PBS Ken Burns Documentary, you ought to watch it.  It is available on DVD.
     Lewis Joseph "Jake" Kilbourne and Clara Bell Kilbourne (Jayme's great-grandparents) homesteaded land in Stevens County, Kansas but later moved into Hugoton.  Henry Claydean McBee and Ella Mae Tarr McBee (also Jayme's great-grandparents) lived in Hooker, Oklahoma.  Both Hugoton, Kansas and Hooker, Oklahoma felt the full force of these dust storms.

1. Burns, Ken,  The Dust Bowl. PBS Documentary, 2012 http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/

Drilling for Water instead of Oil

                    



     In the wake of the Dust Bowl the United States Geological Survey together with the State Geological Survey of Kansas undertook an investigation of ground-water in Morton County, Kansas.  At the end of the study¹ is an acknowledgement to Jake Kilbourne for providing data on wells drilled by him in Morton County.
     In 1906 Lewis Joseph “Jake”  Kilbourn (1879-1947),  (Jayme’s great-grandfather) homesteaded 160 acres in Stevens County close to the border of Morton County.  He ran cattle and drilled wells as a sideline.  About 1922 “Jake and his family moved to Hugoton and after that devoted much of his time to drilling water wells in the Hugoton Gas field”².  


1. Morton County Geohydrology  Kansas Geological Survey 
Accessed 16 Aug 2013   http://www.kgs.ku.edu/General/Geology/Morton/03_intro.html

2. "Jake Kilbourn Passes Following Long Illness." Hugoton Hermes, Nov 7, 1947.

In the foreground
Jake Kilbourn and Clara Bell Kilbourn

Drilling for Pennsylvania Oil

Jeremiah Berlin
Permelia Olive Ensign Berlin

     The first oil boom in the United States occurred in Pennsylvania starting in 1859.  During the next few decades there were dramatic swings in the price of oil and production capacity far exceeded supply.
     In 1872 drilling was still big news as demonstrated by a few newspaper articles regarding wells on my 2nd great-grandfather, Jeremiah Berlin’s farm.

5 Mar 1872 Petroleum Centre
“Baum, Prentice & Co. have a well down about 300 feet on the Jeremiah Berlin farm in Ashland township about a mile and a half south of Mimm’s Hotel.“

22 May 1872 Petroleum Center Pennsylvania
“The well on the Jeremiah Berlin farm is down over 1,000 feet, and the rocks passed through have been very much the same as that found in the wells at St. Petersburg.  A third sand and paying well is confidentially looked for.”

No further news regarding the well could be located so the outcome is unknown.   By 1900 Standard Oil had created a monopoly and gained control of the oil market and oil discoveries in other parts of the country had moved the focus of the oil industry elsewhere.

Atlas of Clarion County¹

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1. Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clarion County, Pennsylvania,  J.A. Caldwell, Condit, Ohio 1877

Becoming a Citizen in 1820 Harrison County, Ohio

Harrison County Courthouse, Cadiz, Ohio

     A Union County, Ohio history pointed me towards some ancestors who might have lived in Harrison County. So when we were visiting relatives in Ohio, we arranged a side trip to coincide with a day when the Harrison County Genealogical Society was open.  After a drive through rural southeastern Ohio, with a stop at a cemetery, we arrived in Cadiz. I was blown away with the original documents that were filed with the genealogical society.  Evidently the local government had thrown many original documents in the dump but the society members rescued these papers.  Holding pages that were written between 1820 and 1850 was an experience.
     One of the documents was a request for citizenship by James B. Norris. The document was loaded with important genealogical information. Below is an image of the page with a transcription.

State of Ohio
Harrison County

To the Honourable the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Harrison and the State of Ohio.   
Now Sitting
 James B. Norris aged fifty years Born in the County of Wilshear (Wiltshire?), England & Parish of Dunhead, Removed from that to Novoscota [sic] and from thence to New York, arrived at New York within The United States of America from Novo Scota on the twentieth day of May in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred & seventeen owing allegience to George the third King of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland and intending to settle in the State of Ohio hereby reports himself for the purpose of being admitted to the rights of Citizenship within the United States, and prays that a record may be made of the same

July Ten 1820    J B Norris

     Finding this type of document certainly proves that local societies and archives are an essential resource for researchers.  It is also a shame when agencies (governmental or otherwise) are unable to store documents and artifacts with historical value.  

Jacob Hugus: Another case of Moving Graves

     I wrote about Jacob Hugus in an earlier post.  He had several patents about stills or making wine.  He also was well known for making Grandfather clocks.  There are currently several of his clocks that are still in working order.  A number of years ago I missed by a few months a clock that was up for auction.  I hope that if any come up for sale in the future that I can afford to purchase it or at the very least see it.
    Jacob Hugus died in 1835 and was buried in the Old German Cemetery in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.  The German cemetery was probably laid out by the German Reformed and Lutheran congregations¹.  But if you were to drive to Greensburg today then you won't find the Old German Cemetery.  Instead you will find this parking lot.


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     In 1890 the city of Greensburg passed an ordinance which prohibited burials inside city limits.  After 1890 the cemetery fell into disrepair.   Around 1937 the city took possession of the property.  After moving some of the remains the land was turned into a city park.  An acquaintance of mine used to play at the park when he was young. Around 1957 the park was changed into a parking lot.  Photo of Old German cemetery/park 
     There seems to be some uncertainty whether Jacob and his wife were among those whose remains were moved.  There is a list of those not moved. These may not have been moved.  However there is a picture of a gravestone for both he and his wife in Saint Claire Cemetery on Findagrave.  Jacob Hugus Stone in Saint Claire Cemetery  List of old burials.  I guess when I visit Greesburg I will need to visit both locations, parking lot and cemetery.


1.  Boucher, John N.,  History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,  The Lewis Publishing Company,  New York, Chicago, 1906

An Abolitionist Ancestor

   Last night's episode of the genealogical television show, Who Do You Think You Are followed the search for Zooey Deschanel's ancestor who had been involved in the abolitionist movement.  I have ancestors who were on both sides of the slavery issue so John G. Norris holds a special place in my family tree because of his opposition to slavery.  
     The obituary of John Gilbert Norris appeared in the Marysville Tribune on May 20, 1874 page 2 Column 3.  In part it says, 

"Rev. John Gilbert Norris ... was reared in the Episcopalian faith but June 25, 1822 he joined the M. E. movement. In October 1829 he left the Methodist Episcopal  because they censured him for preaching against slavery. In 1830 he united with the Protestant Methodists but as they commenced to affiliate with slavery, he helped organize several churches in Ohio called Anti-Slavery Methodists."

     Preaching against slavery got John G. Norris into trouble in 1829 - more than thirty years before the Civil War.  It must have been difficult to speak out in opposition when you know there might be a severe cost for that opposition.  I'm glad that I had such ancestors.