It's all relative…
Perhaps it has something to do with the large percentage of farmers and coal miners in my own family history that explains why the wills that I find are few and far between or, perhaps, I just have not found them all yet…but I do love to find a good will!
Some will are better than others as far as the information that they give up. Some are crazily vague – “…bequeath to wife…” with no mention of her name! Ugh! There are times when I’m browsing through the wills and probate records at familyserach.org, I’ll just read through other wills that might catch my eye, even if they don’t belong to my family. That might make it seem as if I have too much time on my hands, but it’s refreshing to just back away from my own research at times. Sometimes, I even stumble upon information that helps me a lot with my own research.
I haven’t been able to find a will for David Withrow, but I did find this will of his son, Hugh. It’s a great will because he gives up so much genealogical information.
It might just be me, but when I’m trying to transcribe anything with old handwriting, I have a hard time with going back and forth from the original document to the Word document. I know that at least part of it is that I’m dealing with trifocals (not much to be done about that!), and part of it is my impatience with not being able to immediately find the spot where I left off when I look back to the original document on the screen. So one day, I grabbed this tiny little digital recorder that I have…
…and then I just read the will out loud, noting if there was something that I wasn’t sure of, and spelling out anything that I might not remember the spelling from the document. Then I just hooked up the recorder to a USB port on my laptop and using my Express Scribe software that I have for transcription work, typed out the will. That went well and lowered my level of frustration a LOT! As a final proof, I’ll pull up the transcription side-by-side with the original:
And this is why Hugh’s will is so wonderful.
I Hugh Withrow of the county of Carroll in the State of Ohio do make and publish this my Last Will and testament in manner and form following that is to say:
First it is my will that my funeral expenses and all my just debts be fully paid.
Second I give devise and bequeath to my beloved wife Susan Withrow in lieu of her dower all and singularly of my real estate and all the livestock horses, cattle, sheep, hogs etc by me now owned also all the household and kitchen furniture and other items not particularly named and otherwise disposed of in this will during the time she shall remain my widow. She however first disposing of a sufficiency thereof to pay my just debts as aforesaid. But if she should marry again it is my will she should have one third of my real and personal property then remaining to dispose of at her pleasure and if she should die my widow it is my will that she shall still have the disposal of one third of the property as above mentioned. And the remaining two thirds to be disposed of in the following manner to wit.
First, I give and bequeath to my brother Charles Withrow fifty dollars. Forwith I give devise and bequeath to my brother Samuel Withrow fifty dollars. Third, I give devise and bequeath the remainder of the two thirds of the above specified to the following eleven persons equally, to wit William Withrow my brother, John Withrow my brother and his son Hugh Withrow, James Withrow my brother and his son William Withrow, Boston Withrow my brother, Elizabeth Small my sister wife of Thomas Small, Catherine Earls my sister wife of William Earls, Jane Taylor my sister wife of John Taylor and her son James Green, and Hannah Whitla my sister wife of Hugh Whitla.
Sixthly it is my will that my father-in-law Mordecai Bond have peaceable possession of the five acres he now occupies on my farm in East Township Carroll County during his natural life.
Lastly I hereby constitute and appoint my said wife Susan Withrow and James Withrow, my brother Jonas Lumm and James A. Ball to be the Executers of my Last will and testament revoking and annulling all former wills by me made and ratifying and conforming this and no other to be my Last will and testament.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this eighteenth day of February A.D. eighteen hundred and forty one.
Hugh Withrow
Signed published and declared by
the above named Hugh Withrow as
and for his last will and testament
in the presence of us who at his
request have signed as witnesses
to the same.
Jonas Lumm
James A. Ball
The first thing that impressed me is that he has given everything to his wife as long as she’s his widow and that if she does remarry, she still gets to a keep a third and to dispose of that on her death as she wishes. He also names his father-in-law. Which gives us his wife’s maiden name. And then, bless his heart, he names all of his brothers and sisters and who the sisters are married to. This helped me to list David and Elizabeth’s children. This is so important while piecing together the family considering that all or most of their children would have left home by the time of the 1850 census and a name was noted for everyone in the household. Since Hugh doesn’t list any of his own children, we have to assume that he either had no issue, or that there were no surviving children. This will also helped me fill in a blank that I had concerning Hugh Whitla in connection with my Hackathorn family providing me with his wife, Hannah’s, maiden name. So even though we don’t have David’s will, his son has kindly presented us with a lot of information on David’s family.
David Withrow is my 5th great-grandfather on my mother’s side. I had written a post earlier this year about his wife, Elizabeth, and how I didn’t know what her maiden name was. This is something important to me because she is in my direct matrilineal line and I’d kind of like to get past her. I was contacted shortly after this blog post by a cousin who shares these 5th great-grandparents and have received some good hints, like that Elizabeth might also have gone by the name of Isabelle according to a short biography on one of David’s grandsons (and in his direct line) in a Richland County source. (Thanks, Randy!) Acting on that tip, I started looking at the children of David and Elizabeth to see what they’d named they’re children. Any named after their grandparents? Why, yes! Daughter, Hannah, gave birth to a daughter named Elizabeth I. Whitla. Son, James, had a daughter named Elizabeth and another daughter named Isabell. Son, Samuel, named a daughter Isabell. This looks to be like more than a coincidence. So at this point in time, I am searching for an Elizabeth Isabel, or perhaps an Isabel Elizabeth.
David married his second wife, Catherine Morrison, on 28 December 1824 in Columbiana County, Ohio. I’m assuming that Elizabeth passed away sometime between the birth of her last child, Boston, born 1817 in Beaver Falls, Beaver County, Pennsylvania and David’s marriage to Catherine, so to find her death date is also on my list of things to research. David and Catherine are buried at Glade Run Cemetery in East Township, Carroll County, Ohio.
Also on the research that needs to be done list is finding David Withrow’s parentage. We know that he was in Beaver County, Pennsylvania before moving to Columbiana (now Carroll) County, Ohio, because we find his name on a petition – along with that of Charles Phillis and that of Jacob Hackathorn.
To the Honorable Court of Quarter Sessions for Beaver County: —
The Petition of stmdry Inhabitants of South Beaver Township in
Beaver County most respectfully sheweth that your Petitioners labor
under considerable Difficulties and Inconvainancjrs in attending Town-
ship meetings, working on Public roads and Township officers performing
their several offices — ^from the Distance they have to Travel occasioned
by the Excessive Largeness and Extensive bounds of said Township. .
Your Petitioners respectfully Prays your Honors would take the
Premises into consideration and grant them relief by Dividing the afore-
said Township into Two Townships by a Division Line, to wit beginning
on the line of the State, at a deep gully between James Grorrel’s and Jehu
Coulson’s thence a Direct course to Alexander Reed’s Including said
Reed in the Division next the Ohio river from thence to George Conkle’s
striking B ready’s run at the East side of said Conkle’s Plantation In-
cluded in the above Division, thence down the north side of the Bottom
of said run to Big Beaver creek, the Division next the Ohio river to be
called Ohio Township and the other Division to retain the name of South
Beaver Township,— or whatever other names or Division line, as to your
Honors may appear most practicable, &c.
And your Petitioners shall ever Pray. —
David Drennan, William Duncan, James Drennan, Chas. Phillis,
Alexander Reed, Neal McLaughlin, David Withrow, Samuel Robb, James
Grimes, James Freel, Henry Woods, John Cotton, Henry Corkendall,
James Phillis, Thomas Blackmore, Paul Reed, Henry Barnes, Joseph
Smith, James Cotton, Ezekiel Moore, George Mason, Sen’r, William
Reed, John CHndinning, Alexander Grant, John Bavington, John Himter,
Edward Neville, Solomon Carlile, John Hampton, Wm. Steel, Saml.
Calhoon, George Mason, Jesse Smith, Abrm. Buskirk, David Calhoon,
James Witacre, Saml. Caughey, John Shireers, Benoni Dawson, Robert
Barnes, Philip Mason, Thos. Hoyt, Willum Calhtme, Jacob Hackathom,
John Cross, Robert Himter, John Campbell, Benjamin McGaffick, John
McGaffack, Charles Beventon, Alexander Todd, Thomas McCoy, Daniel
Martin, H. Johnston, Jonathan Grant, James Kennedy.
This petition was presented at the November Sessions, 1804,
and the court at the same Sessions appointed David Drennan,
Henry Kuykendall, and Samuel Caughey as viewers to enquire
into the propriety of granting the petition. A return was made
by the viewers at February Sessions, 1805; and at the same
Sessions a remonstrance was presented against the division of
the said township, which was held under advisement by the
court until the May Sessions. Samuel Caughey filed a dissent
from the return of the other two viewers. At May Sessions,
1805, the court confirmed the report of the viewers and divided
the township, **the south part of the division to be called Ohio
township and the other to retain its original name of South
Beaver.”
That’s the one thing that you can count on with genealogy…there’s always something else that needs to be found out. And there are always new ways to work that make life easier for us. What are some of your favorite tricks for working with old manuscripts? Please share in the comments.
This is my Week #18 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “Where There’s a Will”.
My 6th great-grandfather, Johann Leonhardt May was born 17 January 1719 in Niederhausen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany to Johann Nickel Mey and Maria Catharina Graeff. Before arriving at Philadelphia in September of 1748 on the ship Edinburgh, Johann Leonhardt May had lost to death his father, his wife, and two children. Leonard’s father, Johan Nickel Mey, had died in Niederhausen on 21 February 1743. Leonard’s first-born son, Johann Conradt, died in 1747, followed by the deaths of his wife, Maria Barbara Lorentz, and his recently born daughter, Anna Otilia.
Soon after they had arrived in Philadelphia, the extended May family made their way to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There is little doubt that they traveled by way of the King’s Road, better known as the King’s Highway; otherwise known as the Old Philadelphia Pike, and now, known as State Route 340. The King’s Highway began approximately in 1733 as part of an old Allegheny Indian path and was more like a dirt wagon trail than anything else, but by 1748 when the May family arrived, this was very rapidly becoming the most widely traveled wagon road in the colonies. I happen to be a firm believer that simply by being in the right place, at the right time, can make all of the difference…timing is everything.
This was about 60 miles of road that took travelers from Philadelphia to Lancaster County, ending at Wright’s Ferry on the Susquehanna River, which was, at that time, the westernmost edge of the frontier and required a couple of days (at best) of travel. Whether Leonard and his brother, Daniel, had a plan before they arrived in Pennsylvania, or if it was just a matter of sizing up the opportunities available to them, they quickly set about buying land and establishing businesses. What did the growing population of Pennsylvania need? Ways to get places and to transport goods. What else did they need? Places to stay and to eat while travelling. It is little wonder then that Leonard became a waggoner and that both he and Daniel invested in real estate and the buying and selling of land. Youngest brother, Francis, was also a landowner and had apparently continued on in the occupation of his father as a shoemaker. Tax records show that Daniel was a tavern keeper and an innkeeper and that Leonard was also a tavern keeper at some point.
Although I have not yet found the marriage record of Leonard May and Anna Christina Schuch, it would appear that they were married sometime in 1749 and probably in Lancaster County, although perhaps in Philadelphia. I have been searching in both places. Their first child, Anna Maria, was born 21 January 1750 in Donegal Township, Lancaster County. Followed by Margaretta, Frantz Peter, Johannes, Johann Daniel (my line, born 27 September 1756), Elizabeth, Johann George, and Michael, born about 1766.
While living in Lancaster County, Leonard moved about a bit living first in Donegal Township, and also in Conestoga Township, and in the Borough of Lancaster. During the French and Indian War, which started in 1754 (and lasted until 1763), Lancaster served as a distribution center and as a storage depot for war materials. In Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography he notes that he was surprised that the British were having trouble moving their supplies and suggested to Braddock that they use Conestoga wagons from Lancaster. Following is an advertisement that Franklin published:
ADVERTISEMENT
LANCASTER, April 26, 1755
“Whereas, one hundred and fifty waggons, with four horses to each waggon, and fifteen hundred saddle or pack horses, are wanted for the service of his majesty’s forces now about to rendezvous at Will’s Creek, and his excellency General Braddock having been pleased to empower me to contract for the hire of the same, I hereby give notice that I shall attend for that purpose at Lancaster from this day to next Wednesday evening, and at York from next Thursday morning till Friday evening, where I shall be ready to agree for waggons and teams, or single horses, on the following terms, viz.: I. That there shall be paid for each waggon, with four good horses and a driver, fifteen shillings per diem; and for each able horse with a pack-saddle, or other saddle and furniture, two shillings per diem; and for each able horse without a saddle, eighteen pence per diem. 2. That the pay commence from the time of their joining the forces at Will’s Creek, which must be on or before the 20th of May ensuing, and that a reasonable allowance be paid over and above for the time necessary for their travelling to Will’s Creek and home again after their discharge. 3. Each waggon and team, and every saddle or pack horse, is to be valued by indifferent persons chosen between me and the owner; and in case of the loss of any waggon, team, or other horse in the service, the price according to such valuation is to be allowed and paid. 4. Seven days’ pay is to be advanced and paid in hand by me to the owner of each waggon and team, or horse, at the time of contracting, if required, and the remainder to be paid by General Braddock, or by the paymaster of the army, at the time of their discharge, or from time to time, as it shall be demanded. 5. No drivers of waggons, or persons taking care of the hired horses, are on any account to be called upon to do the duty of soldiers, or be otherwise employed than in conducting or taking care of their carriages or horses. 6. All oats, Indian corn, or other forage that waggons or horses bring to the camp, more than is necessary for the subsistence of the horses, is to be taken for the use of the army, and a reasonable price paid for the same.”
Note. My son, William Franklin, is empowered to enter into like contracts with any person in Cumberland county.
“B. FRANKLIN.”
It is not known for sure whether Leonard was a waggoner before this call for wagons went out or if he seized upon this opportunity to make money.
![By E. Sachse & Co., publisher, No. 5 N. Liberty St. Artist is unknown. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://relativityitsallrelative.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/roadsideinn.jpg)
Although many wagons were probably in use by farmers and waggoners during this period of time, none were as utilitarian as the Conestoga wagon which was developed by German wagon makers in the Conestoga Valley of Lancaster County before the French and Indian War started. The box part of the wagon was made with upward sloping floors and an unusual shape in order to prevent shifting of the cargo over hills and rutted roads. The wagons were pulled by a team of six horses – huge, powerful, and usually, black – that were also bred in Lancaster County. The driver usually walked beside his team, but occasionally, would ride on the “lazy-board” which could be pulled out on the left side of the wagon.
![By Photo Ad Meskens of painting by Newbold Hough Trotter (1827-1898) [Public domain, CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://relativityitsallrelative.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2048px-conestoga_wagon_1883.jpg)
Somewhere around 1768, Leonard May’s family and those families of his two brothers packed up and moved to Loudoun County, Virginia. Leonard and family appear to have owned land and lived around Waterford, Virginia. Leonard and his sons were involved with the road-building in that area. Their names appearing in Loudoun County road order reports.
Then sometime between May of 1775 and May of 1777, Leonard passed away. His brother, Daniel, died in 1777 and it appears that he and his wife were childless. In his will, he left his estate to his namesake and god-son, Leonard’s son, Johann Daniel, who was born in 1756 in Lancaster. (Again, this is my line of descent.) It appears as if Leonard May had purchased land in Bedford County, Pennsylvania before his death and that he was perhaps planning on making the move there from Virginia as his name (and other family member’s names) appears on a list of land warrants issued.
Daniel married Elizabeth Dorcheimer and had moved to Bedford County, Pennsylvania where they had at least six children, including their son, Daniel, born in January of 1794. Daniel, grandson of Leonard, appears to have kept up the family propensity for being innkeepers.
Daniel had three wives – Rachel Miller (who bore all eight of his children), a Charlotte – whose maiden name is unknown, and Eve Diebert Wertz. The following clip describes the boarding house in some detail:
This was a good family story to learn about. Once again, I am forever in debt to those who did such well-documented research in the past.
This is my Week #17 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “And Prosper”.
SOURCES:
https://books.google.com/books/about/Indian_Eve_and_Her_Descendants.html?id=FGlIAAAAMAAJ&hl=en
http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/13-r10.pdf
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Conestoga_Wagon_1883.jpg
The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania By Solon J. Buck, Elizabeth Buck
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, (Chicago: The Lakeside Press, 1915)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARoadside-inn-American-scenery.jpeg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AKitfry-1-.jpg
http://www.ancestry.com Pennsylvania church records – Adams, Berks, and Lancaster 1729-1821
The Shoemaker’s Children, Fred T. May, Baltimore, Maryland : Gateway Press, c1998
“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” ~ George Burns
There’s no doubt that I come from a family of long livers. On both my mother’s my and father’s maternal and paternal lines there are scads of people who lived well into their nineties and some just the other side of one hundred. If the average life expectancy is around 73 years, then we’ve been beating those odds for a couple hundred years.
I’ve always been curious about things that tend to run in families, like longevity, and eye and hair color, and handedness. Not just those things that are explained away in biology classes, but also things like a love a reading, or athletic ability, or artistic talent, or even the sound of one’s voice. In the nature versus nurture argument, I tend to lean more towards nature having the biggest influence on one’s life. With this in mind, a couple of years after I had my DNA tested, out of curiosity I uploaded my results to Promethease, just to see what the report might have to say. I was pretty pleased to see that I carried an SNP associated with “better odds of living to 100” and an SNP related to an exceptional long life and a 70% less chance of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s. My immediate thinking went to my ancestors and realized that this would be one possible explanation for having so many “long livers”.
Since I was a kid, I had heard stories about my great-grandfather, William Grant Moore. Apparently, he was quite the character and among the stories that I’d heard about “The Old Man”, was that he was 100 years old when he died.
If any of you have Moores in your line, you might be able to sympathize with me concerning the trials of searching for any Moores, let alone those with names like William, Charles, David, Thomas, James, Sarah, Emma, Mary. I knew that he had died in 1963, but there are more than 20 William Moores who died in Ohio in 1963 that could have fit the bill and several of them are listed as William G. I didn’t have a lot of information to go on and these were pre-internet days. After waiting 12 long weeks for the first death certificate that I had sent for, I learned that it was the wrong man. Sigh. Back to the library and the microfilm readers.
The scant information that I had from my grandmother suggested that William was born after his father, “Mr. I Don’t Know What His Name Was”, came home from the Civil War. She thought that his mother’s name might be Ruth. She also knew that at one time they lived around Salineville, that he dealt in horses and that the undertaker frequently called on him to provide horses to take the caskets to be buried, and she knew the names of some of William’s brothers and sisters and who they married. There was Thomas, Sadie (who married a Duke), Lucy (who married a Liggett), Charles (who was called “Tally”), and Mary, who was sometimes called Moll, or Polly (who married a Wallace). I spent a lot of time looking for Moore families with children’s names like these.
My breakthrough came several years later when I was digging around in 1870 Coshocton County census films trying to help a friend find something and stumbled upon a “More” family with children with these names. I looked at those names something like 10 times trying to figure out if they were, indeed, my Moores. What the heck were they doing in Coshocton County? Turns out that they were there for work. Stumbling upon this information opened up a bunch of information that I’d been unable to find before, but there was a problem. It looked as if William had been born in 1866. Uh-oh! Not 100 when he died, but a long life nonetheless.
This is the complete list of William’s siblings:
Wesley, born 1849 and married Sarah Catherine Landers, and Mary B. Rose.
Mary, born 1852 and married 1) George W. Ossler and married 2) James Wallace.
Thomas, born 1854 and married Elizabeth Cameron.
Sarah Ann, “Sadie”, born 1856 and married John Duke.
Emma, born 1858 and married Joseph Griffith.
Charles, born 1860 and married Mary Elizabeth Wilson.
James H., born 1862 and married Ida L. Simpson.
Lucinda, born 1862 and married Neal M. Liggett.
William was born on April Fool’s Day, 01 April 1866, to Charles Moore and Jane Johnson near Jacobsport, Coshocton County, Ohio. William married Nancy Jane Hale 14 April 1886 in Jefferson County, Ohio. She was the daughter of Elisha Hale and Mary Ellen Jacobs and was born on 10 May 1868 near New Somerset, Jefferson County, Ohio.
The following census snips show William’s age progression over a period of sixty years.
1870 – 4 years old.
1880 – 14 years old.
1900 – 35 years old. April 1865 stated as birth year and month.
1910 – 43 years old.
1920 – 53 years old.
1930 – 67 years old.
1940 – 75 years old.
William and Nancy were married for 65 years and had seven children, including my grandfather David, who was born 07 April 1903. Nancy Jane passed away on 01 September 1951. William died 18 February 1963. They are both buried in West Lawn Cemetery near McKinley Monument in Canton, Stark County, Ohio.
I guess that sometimes family stories aren’t exactly as they appear to be. Even when faced with evidence that seems to back up some circumstances, the end result is usually a product of pulling all of the pieces together and making some assumptions before you can get a clearer picture of what the actual story was.
This is my Week #16 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “Live Long”.
We like to camp in the fall. A few years ago, we were unhappy to learn that the state was shutting down our favorite camping spot, Jefferson Lake State Park, because of low attendance. (Which is exactly why we liked it.) It was October and camp sites across Ohio were filling up fast because the end of camping season was approaching, and especially for the weekend that we were planning – Halloween weekend. Finding a campsite was proving to be even more difficult because we needed to make sure that we reserved a spot that was pet friendly so that we could bring along our two dogs. Out of frustration, I started calling state parks in West Virginia and finally reserved a campsite at Tomlinson Run State Park. As I hung up the phone, something was nagging at me about the name of this park. It seemed vaguely familiar…
The night before we left for our camping weekend, it occurred to me that maybe the place we were heading off to for camping had something to do with the family history, so I jumped on the computer and searched for a connection to Tomlinson Run. In the thirty-plus years that I have been researching, I tend to take breaks where I don’t do much except maybe update information from obituaries or, perhaps, I veer off into a different direction on some other family line. I don’t find it an easy task to hold specific information in my head at all times about the family. (It’s possible that this is age related.) When I found the connection, I was a little shocked that it hadn’t come to me sooner. My 5th great-grandfather, Joachim Wycoff, had settled in this very area and, from checking out the map, it looked as if he was buried not far from where we would be camping. In fact, Flats Cemetery appeared to be right down the road. And it was! The first cemetery that we found on the left side of Flats Cemetery Road was, I think, a Presbyterian cemetery and there were Wycoffs buried there, but none that I could connect to Joachim. After searching for a while, I spied someone at a house nearby washing their car in the driveway. I ran across the cemetery and asked about Flats Cemetery, and received the answer that we needed to travel up the road a bit and that it would be on the right.
And there it was, a big triangle of a cemetery cut into the woods butting up against state park land. We walked right up to the stone for Joachim.
Joachim Wycoff was born 18 November 1749 at Somerset County, New Jersey, to Jacobus Wyckoff and Catelyntje Gulick, perhaps named after his maternal grandfather, Joachim Peter Gulick. One of 14 children, he was the fourth child and, also, the fourth son born to Jacobus and Catelyntje. Joachim is the great-great-grandson of immigrant ancestor Pieter Claessen Wyckoff and is my 5th great-grandfather.
This short excerpt from the Somerset County Historical Quarterly touches on the many, many different spelling associated with the Wyckoff surname. The sentence in the middle of this clipping made me chuckle, especially because we now know that the “of the town court” meaning is the fanciful one and that Wyckoff is most certainly Friesian in origin with a likelier meaning related to the place name in East Friesland from which Pieter originated. I highly recommend that those who are interested in surname studies and the etymology of Wyckoff, read M. William Wyckoff’s, “What’s in a Name? History and Meaning of Wyckoff”. Others wanting to learn more general knowledge about the Wyckoff family should go to this website of The Wyckoff House Museum in Brooklyn or visit their Facebook page to meet other Wyckoffs.
Within my own family tree, I have the Wyckoff, Wycoff, Wicoff, and Wycuff spellings and, at times, siblings who have adopted a different spelling from each other. Whenever I’m in doubt, I use the spelling Wyckoff. An altogether different problem arose for me with Joachim, though, I didn’t know how to say his first name. When I asked my grandmother about it, she thought that it was probably “Jo-Kim”, but admitted that she’d only seen it written and had never heard anyone pronounce it. I’ve asked others who thought it should be “Wa-Keem”. I found this on YouTube and am going to use this one in my head while I read more about Joachim, because this post will have to serve as an introduction to Joachim until I finish transcribing the many documents that I have found and do more researching on the history of both New Jersey and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. It appears that from 1681 to 1689 there was a big migration of families from Long Island, New York into the Raritan region of New Jersey and that several lines of the Wyckoffs followed suit. While pouring over old history texts, it occurred to me that it might take me some years to sort out which Wyckoffs were which and who belonged to whom as the Wyckoffs were prolific and tended to use the same names within each family line. Sigh…
On 26 February 1772, twenty-three-year-old Joachim married sixteen-year-old, Hannah Yerkes, daughter of Silas Yerkes and Hannah Dungan, at Six Mile Run, New Jersey. Hannah gave birth to 14 children, 13 of which are listed in this pension application.
In 1776, when New York City was captured by the British, Joachim and Hannah were living in White House, New Jersey and Joachim was drafted into the militia, serving in Captain Stillwell’s company. (I have Stillwells in my paternal line in New Jersey at this time and this just begs for more research!) I am looking at Richard Stillwell, Captain of the 4th Regiment, Hunterdon Militia as the probable Captain and company Joachim served with. Joachim served a total of eighteen months and as payment for that time served, he was given a land warrant and on 01 July 1802 was granted 294 acres of land in Brooke County, Virginia near Pughtown and Tomlinson Run (now New Manchester). This portion of Brooke County is now Hancock County, West Virginia. From reading pension applications, it appears that those eighteen months were not served concurrently, but as terms such as one month on duty, one month at home, etc. In the spring of 1780, Joachim and family moved to Somerset County where Joachim finished up his enlistment in the militia.
Family bible records, such as the page below, were used to help establish who the family members of the pensioner were. This also helped to establish the fact that Hannah was, indeed, Joachim’s wife so that she would also be permitted to petition for pension monies.
Joachim would be granted a $60.00 per year pension that would transfer to Hannah after his death and then, because of a provision for Hannah’s living children after her death, would be divided between Joachim and Hannah’s surviving children after her death. Those children were Hannah, Cornelius, and Agnes “Nancy”.
Of these three surviving children, Hannah married a Richard Durham who hailed from Fayette County, Pennsylvania. They removed to Ohio and had nine children.
Cornelius, my line, and my 4th great-grandfather, married Leah Critzer on 20 February 1810. They lived in Ross Township, Jefferson County, Ohio and had 12 children, including Levi, my line, born 22 November 1825. Cornelius died, 28 November 1867, and is buried in Shane Cemetery in Jefferson County, Ohio. Leah died, 17 October 1869. I haven’t found a record of where she might be buried.
Also, of particular interest, is Agnes “Nancy”. In 1811, Nancy married Robert Moore, who was the son of Captain Thomas Moore (another Revolutionary War veteran) and Rachel Phillis, who is suspected to be the sister of my 4th great-grandfather, Charles Phillis. It appears as if Joachim and Hannah were living in the Robert Moore household at the time of the 1840 census. This also helps point to the idea that Nancy was the holder of the family Bible that helped to prove the family relationships. Joachim died, 18 May 1841, and Hannah on, 21 October 1844. Although Hannah is also supposed to be buried in Flats Cemetery, I did not find her stone while we were there.
This tri-state area of western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia (Virginia) is so very rich in history, not only of my own family, but in the history of the United States. I read just about everything that I can get my hands on that has historical information of this area. So many books, so little time. While we were in Flats Cemetery, I turned my back to the road and stood looking at the woods surrounding the cemetery on three sides and tried to absorb the essence of the area. It felt like it was a good place for my ancestor to stop and build his home. As we were leaving, I noted that the entrance to the cemetery has this sign:
This is my Week #15 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “How Do You Spell That?”.
Asking me if I have a favorite photograph is like asking me if I have a favorite song. Favorite of who? What time frame? Just by themselves? Or with others? I worked in the photo-finishing business for more than 35 years and I love photographs. My favorite, though, probably changes quite often. Right now, my favorite photograph is one that I acquired not so long ago. I had been trolling around on the Ancestry site looking through other people’s trees for a clue to a mystery that I had been turning over in my mind and up popped a photograph of one Mace Pittman. Wait! What?
After looking over the information and realizing that it was my great-grandfather, I was pretty excited (and that’s a huge understatement). It didn’t click with me at first because, to me, his name was Jeremiah Mason Pittman and I had only seen my great-grandfather named as Mason or Jerry in the records that I’d found. This was also a good lesson for me in not using tunnel vision while searching for names. I’ve seen very few photographs of my father’s family over time and this was a great photo. I sent off a message to the man whose tree the photo was on and asked permission to attach it to my tree and received back a timely reply not only granting permission but offering up the photo to me if I’d like it. To make a long story short, around the Christmas holiday I received a package containing the framed photo. Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.
So, a little about Mace. He was born on Sunday, 08 May 1870, in Sunsbury Township near Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio to Jeremiah Pittman and Lydia “Jane” Gray, the second of five known children born to them in this marriage. Each had children from previous marriages. Jeremiah had two daughters from his marriage to Rachel Mellott and Jane had four- three sons and a daughter from her marriage to Archibald Mellott. (I haven’t figured out the exact relationship between these two Mellots yet, but I’m fairly certain there is one.) On the 1870 census of Monroe County, we find Jeremiah and Lydia with their three-year-old daughter, Lillie, and Jeremiah Mason, who was a month old. Three of Lydia’s sons from the previous marriage were also living with them.
Jeremiah was a farmer with a modest farm compared to those of his neighbors (mostly Mellott and Pool families). Within six years Jeremiah will be dead, leaving Lydia Jane widowed with four young children again. Her older Mellott sons have moved on and in the 1880 census, we find “Jane” in Switzerland Township, Monroe County, 12-year-old daughter, Lillie, and our 10-year-old Mason, along with the two additional young sons, George and Calvin. Lydia Jane is probably surviving on a widow’s pension going back to her first husband Archibald Mellott. It has been found where Mason’s father, Jeremiah, registered for service in the Civil War, but not if and when he actually served.
On the 28th day of November in 1892, Mason Pittman married Lena Pool in Monroe County, Ohio.
The 1900 census finds Mason and Lena back in Sunsbury Township renting a farm. They have added three young daughters to their family- Lottie, born in October of 1893; Francie, born in February of 1898; and, Esther, born in September of 1899.
By 1910, Mason and Lena have moved to Wayne Township in Belmont County, Ohio where Mason is still farming, but now as an employee. He and Lena have been married for 18 years and Lena has birthed seven children, all of whom have survived. They have added four more daughters to their family (yes, seven girls!), Eva, born in 1901; Lillie, born in 1904; Elma Jane, born in 1906; and, my grandmother, Erma, born in 1907. During the time of the census enumeration, Lena would have been carrying her eighth daughter, Celesta, who would be born in November of 1910.
Come the 1920 census, we find that the family has moved once again to a new farm, this time to Flushing Township in Belmont County, Ohio and Mason is working the farm on his own account. They have added two sons to their family! Raymond was born in 1913 and George was born in 1914. Mason was nearing the age of 50 and I can imagine, that being a farmer, he was glad to see two boys come along. One thing that I found notable while looking at this particular census is that all of the members of the family except for the five and six-year-old boys were able to read and write. After looking at hundreds of census records of farming people, I can tell you that this is not often the case.
It is not known how much the beginning of the Great Depression affected the family but by the time of the 1930 census. We find Mason and Lena living on Sandal Place N.E., near-in to downtown, in Canton, Stark County, Ohio. Mason is still listed as a farmer but is noted as being unemployed. Daughter Elma, now 23, is working as an inspector at the bearing works and son Raymond, 18, is working as a laborer at a gas company. Son George, 15, has not attended school at any time since September of 1929. We also find that Elma’s son, Arnold, 5, is living here also. Although he is listed as the son of the head of household, we know that this is Elma’s son, born in January of 1925 in Berea, Ohio.
In the 1930-31 Canton City Directory, we find Mason, Lena, and children’s address is 1011 Sandal Pl. N.E. with Elma Jane working at the Timken Company, Raymond working for the Cable Company, and George as a laborer.
Then the family moves again the next year to 1550 Greenfield Avenue S.W. (This home no longer exists.) George has moved out and Raymond, and Elma, and her son, Arnold, are the only ones still living with Mason and Lena.
By 1940, Mason (who is going by Jerry now), Lena, son George, and Elma and her son, Arnold, have moved to New Cumberland in Tuscarawas County, Ohio.
The next year, in October, Lena dies from Diabetic Gangrene.
Mason’s son, Raymond, died in January of 1945 from asphyxiation when he fell asleep in his car. Mason passed away in a nursing home in Tuscarawas County on 29 March 1958. He was 87 years old. Note that in the following obituary that his birthdate is stated as being in 1871. We know this not to be true because Mason appears on the 1870 census, being born in May of that year.
While it is true that every picture does, indeed, tell a story, unless we know that person intimately, we can only guess at the stories in the lives of those pictured. The documents that we find while doing genealogical research help us to piece that story together. Bit by bit.
This is my Week #14 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “Favorite Photo”.
SOURCES:
H. F. Walling and O. W. Gray New Topographical Atlas of Ohio
Published by Stedman, Brown and Lyon, Cincinnati, 1872
Photo courtesy of Vernon Hayward
Database online. Year: 1870; Census Place: Sunsbury, Monroe, Ohio; Roll: M593_; Page: ; Image: .
Year: 1880; Census Place: Switzerland, Monroe, Ohio; Roll: 1050; Family History Film: 1255050; Page: 629B; Enumeration District: 134; Image: 0542
Database online. Year: 1900; Census Place: Sunsbury, Monroe, Ohio; Roll: T623_31077_4117770; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 0103; FHL microfilm: 1241305.
Database online. Year: 1910; Census Place: Wayne, Belmont, Ohio; Roll: T624_1157; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 0053; Image: 482; FHL microfilm: 1375170.
Year: 1920; Census Place: Flushing, Belmont, Ohio; Roll: T625_1349; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 4; Image: 193
Database online. Year: 1930; Census Place: Canton, Stark, Ohio; Roll: 1870; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 14; Image: 815.0; FHL microfilm: 2341604.
Database online. Year: 1940; Census Place: Warren, Tuscarawas, Ohio; Roll: T627_3161; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 79-68.
Canton City Directory 1930-31
Canton City Directory 1932
Photograph believed to be that of Lloyd Albert Otto. Photo courtesy of Vicki Schrader Shreve.I had originally planned to write about this ancestor some time in the fall of 2015 after I had, hopefully, stumbled upon more information about my paternal grandfather, Lloyd Albert Schrader. However, the optional theme for this week in the 52 Ancestor challenge, “Different”, prompted me to move this post up some months. I would have loved to have titled this post after the infamous (at least, to my generation) catch-phrase from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, because it was my exact thought upon finding a piece of information a few years ago. But, you know…although I could not find information that the phrase is copyrighted, I would rather err on the safe side and not use it. I believe that a majority of us probably have some version of Michael Lacopo’s Hoosier Daddy? simmering on the back burner in our family histories, but probably few of us are able to put forth that story in such an eloquent and entertaining manner. (I admit that after I had found his blog, I binge read his installments until I got caught up with the series.)
I have admitted here before that I have not researched my father’s family as often or as in-depth as I have my mother’s. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it was my maternal grandmother who peaked my interest in the family history and who passed me a lot of information, sometimes just written on the back of an envelope. When I started actually working on a family tree, though, it bothered me a lot that I knew nothing at all about my paternal grandfather’s father. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. The only thing that I had to go on was the name of the father listed on my grandfather’s death certificate, “Wm. A.”.
I had spent somewhere around seven years attempting to track something down with that information. During this time, I would take my children along with me to the county library for a Saturday “Library-a-thon”. With my daughter in a Snuggly front carrier or a backpack and my son close by my knee, we would pretty much spend the entire day at the library while I searched through old books and microfilm and while the kids looked through a huge stack of board books, and then later on, as they were grew older, they would check in with me every half hour from the children’s department. With the advent of genealogical information becoming available online, everything changed. Slowly, at first, tediously trolling through bulletin board systems. And then, the information available (literally at your fingertips) exploded! And that’s when I found the fact that had me doing a 180, or at the very least, a 165…
Lloyd Albert SchraderThe facts, then:
My dad’s father was born, Lloyd Otto, on Wednesday, 19 April 1899, in Plain Township, Stark County, Ohio to Lydia Pearl May, the unmarried daughter of Joseph C. May and Margaret F. Dobson. The father is listed as Albert Otto.
Lloyd Otto birth 1899.In the 1900 census of Plain Township, we find Lydia listed in the household of one Louisa Stoner as a servant, along with her year-old son, A. Lloyd Otto. Although technically, Lloyd is listed as the son of the head of household, we know that census takers can and did note things incorrectly and that the 61 year old, widowed, Louisa Stoner could not be the mother.
1900 Census Middlebranch, Plain Twp, Stark County, OhioLydia Pearl May married William S. Garner on 16 February 1905. In the 1910 census, we find 11-year- old Lloyd Otto listed as a servant in Lydia and William’s household and it is noted that he is a “helper” on the farm.
1910 Census Osnaburg Twp., Stark County, OhioIn 1918, Lloyd registers for the WWI draft using the name Lloyd Albert Schrader. Hmmmmmmm. This is the first instance where I have a document with the surname Schrader. Lloyd is described as being tall, of medium build, with brown eyes, and dark hair. He lists his mother, Lydia Garner, as his nearest relative. He states his occupation as a thrasher working on the farm of a Fred Brown where he is apparently also boarding, according to addresses given.
WWI Draft RegistrationIn the 1920 census, we find Lloyd Schrader living in North Industry as a boarder in the house of Albert F. Deible. His occupation is listed as a truck driver, hauling coal. Mr. Deible is a coal dealer, so it would seem that Lloyd is probably working for him also.
1920 Census North Industry, Stark County, OhioOn 29 October 1923, Lloyd married 19-year-old Mary Bruce Geisinger, daughter of Erin Bruce Geisinger and Rosa Manley, in Holmes County, Ohio. Lloyd’s occupation is a steam shovel operator and he lists his parents as Harry Schrader and Lydia May.
Marriage to Mary Bruce GeisingerWe find Lloyd and Mary Schrader in the Louisville City Directory living at 123 S. Chapel St. in 1927 and Lloyd is working at Oyler Brothers.
Louisville City DirectoryLloyd and Mary have two sons, but on 06 June 1928, Lloyd is granted a divorce from Mary. Around this point in time is where my grandmother Erma R. Minnie Pittman, daughter of Jeremiah Mason Pittman and Sarah “Lena” Pool, comes into the picture. We find Lloyd and Erma in the 1930 census in North Industry, Stark County with Lloyd’s two sons from his previous marriage and a new son. Lloyd’s occupation is still as a shovel operator and says that he is a “road-builder”.
1930 Census North Industry, Stark County, OhioIn December of 1936, Lloyd applies for his Social Security Number. Notice that the year of his birth is incorrect on this document (below). He is now working for Garaux Brothers and has listed his parents as being Albert Schrader and Lydia Pearl May.
Lloyd’s Application for a Social Security NumberThe 1940 census finds Lloyd and Erma and their growing family living in Plain Township, Stark County, Ohio. It is stated that they were living in Canton, Ohio in 1935, but this might be the North Industry home as the area is also known as Canton South. Lloyd is working for Garaux Brothers as a shovel operator.
1940 Census Plain Twp., Stark County, OhioOn 03 January 1943, Lloyd died of a “heart malady”. He left seven sons and three daughters besides his widow, Erma. He is buried at Valley Chapel Cemetery on Trump Road in Stark County, Ohio in Section 3 South End, Row 7.
Death CertificateThere are a lot of unanswered questions for this line of my ancestry. Besides Lloyd, my grandmother, Erma, the two oldest sons and the youngest son, have all passed away. I have two documents that I have not been able to find that would prove my descent from Erma and Lloyd and those are the marriage document of Erma and Lloyd and the birth document for Erma. Neither one seems to be in existence where they should be located. I have no idea and no viable theories about the name change from Otto to Schrader. After a long search, I have located an Albert Otto associated with the May family in Pennsylvania, and believe him to be the father of Lloyd; however, this is just speculation at this point. It took looking at many, many census records and looking at collateral lines to come up with this information. Because of obvious reasons, foremost being that this is only a theory, I have not laid out my research here that led me to this conclusion.
As far as DNA? I realize that when comparing autosomal DNA results, the results for comparison are only as good as the number of people from a certain surname who have tested, but it is interesting to note that, so far, I have not a single match to anyone with the Schrader surname in their lines, but have more than a dozen carrying the Otto surname. Until more members from my family test, I’m just kind of grasping at straws here. I have no doubt that eventually this mystery will get figured out. It’s just taking such a very long time…
I have to remind myself that patience is a virtue.
Schrader Coal truck with two of Lloyd’s sons flanking his nephew. Photo courtesy of Vicki Schrader Shreve.
This is my Week #13 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “Different”.
SOURCES:
Database online. Year: 1900; Census Place: Plain, Stark, Ohio; Roll: T623_1323; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 143.
Database online. Year: 1910; Census Place: Osnaburg, Stark, Ohio; Roll: T624_1232; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0215; Image: 646; FHL microfilm: 1375245.
Database online. Year: 1920; Census Place: Canton, Stark, Ohio; Roll: T625_1433; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 21; Image: .
Database online. Year: 1930; Census Place: Canton, Stark, Ohio; Roll: 1871; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 60; Image: 539.0.
Database online. Year: 1940; Census Place: Plain, Stark, Ohio; Roll: T627_3151; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 76-91.
Database online. Certificate: ; Volume: Lloyd A Schrader – Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, & 1958-2007
Social Security Administration. Copy of original document.
Database online. Registration Location: Stark County, Ohio; Roll: 1851190; Draft Board: 2.
U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989. Louisville 1927 Directory. Database Online.
“Ohio County Births, 1841-2003” https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X6JD-KR8
“Ohio County Marriages, 1789-2013” https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X8PB-6ZW
http://roots4u.blogspot.com/2014/02/in-beginning.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Now_for_Something_Completely_Different
When researching my ancestors, I am often struck by how similar the lives of a lot of them are. “Same old story, same old song, and dance.” They seem, when just looking at the birth, death, and marriage facts, to start their lives on the east coast, work their way across Pennsylvania to the edge of the frontier (western Pennsylvania), marry and have children – wife dies, marry again, have some more children, settle in Ohio and live out the remainder of their lives there. It’s a distinct pattern with many, many of my ancestors. Rarely, though, is there any indication of who exactly these ancestors might be as a people. Except…with my 4th great-grandfather, Hugh A. Clark.
My grandmother, Elsie Marcella Hackathorn, would often mention her “grandfather’s grandfather” who was a music teacher. I have not spent a lot of time researching the Clark family over the years, but I have a good idea that I will be dedicating a lot more time to this surname after looking into them for this week’s 52 Ancestors posting. This appears to be a very interesting family and there are stories waiting to be told. On the surface, there are many teachers, at least one author, a well-known minister, some lawyers, a few characters, and a lot of well-educated people. I can hardly wait for a good chunk of free time to delve into the Clark’s history, but first, we’ll take a look at Hugh since he’s an ancestor after my own heart.
Hugh A. Clark was born near Brownsville in Fayette County, Pennsylvania around 1778 to Samuel Clark and Eleanor “Nellie” Violette. Samuel had been born in Hagerstown, Maryland and his brothers, George and John, had been killed by Indians. Hugh was the youngest of four brothers (Alexander, George, and Samuel) born to Samuel and Nellie. This family eventually ended up in Washington Couty, Pennsylvania. Soon after Hugh came of age, he was employed by an uncle (a brother of his mother) on the uncle’s slave plantation in Kentucky. Because of his experiences there, he became an abolitionist. Around 1800 (and when Ohio was opening up to settlers) he hopped across the river to Jefferson County, Ohio and married Elizabeth Fishel in 1811.
Hugh and his bride, Elizabeth then moved across the state to Mad River, Clark County, Ohio. Elizabeth gave birth to two daughters, Eleanor and Mary, and then passed away around 1814. After Elizabeth’s death, Hugh moved with his young daughters to Columbiana County, Ohio near Yellow Creek and just a few miles west of what would become the town of Salineville. Although Hugh was a farmer by occupation, during farming down-time he taught school and taught music. One county history has described him as being a “singing-teacher”.
Yes! An ancestor with a strong appreciation and knowledge of music! And these very things are what make me like this ancestor an awful lot. I have always loved school (I’m still attending classes working toward my degree) and music has always been very important to me. I sang in regular choir, concert choir, and ensemble throughout junior high and high school. I took coronet lessons, drum lessons, and guitar lessons when I was a kid. I have a keen appreciation of music and have always listened to a LOT of music and have owned huge music collections over the years. And I absolutely adore books. Yes, I was that kid who when told to go outside and play, took my book outside to read. Under the blankets with my little flashlight reading? Yep. Me. And although I’m not a farmer, I love gardening and have been planting things since I was a second grader. Yes…I can relate to this Mr. Hugh Clark.
On 11 January 1815, the widower, Hugh married Letitia Kerr in Columbiana County. Letitia was the daughter of James Kerr (also a teacher) and Hannah Beard. Hugh and Letitia had seven children together:
Letitia passed away in May of 1855 and Hugh died 12 December 1857. He is buried at the cemetery in Monroeville.
This is my Week #12 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “Same”.
SOURCES:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABaschenis_-_Musical_Instruments.jpg
Descendants of Samuel Clark: From Hart Family History: Silas Hart, HisAncestors and Descendents: William Lincoln Hart; Alliance, Ohio 1942
Mack, Horace. History of Columbiana County, Ohio: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Evansville, IN: Unigraphic, 1976. Web.
History of the Upper Valley – Vol. I – Publ. Madison, Wis. – Brant & Fuller – 1891 – Page 306
Week #11’s 52 Ancestors post is more than a little late and I’m afraid that the only excuse that I have is that with the plethora of Irish research site links posted across the internet over the past week, I felt compelled to investigate many, many of them (and there is only so much free time).
My family never leaned toward any cultural or ethnic traditions while I was growing up. I had lots of friends who had those type of family traditions, but we never did. We were just people who lived in Ohio. Because of my auburn hair, fair skin, blue eyes, and smattering of freckles across my nose, I had been asked many, many times in my life if I was Irish – usually around St. Patrick’s Day. I have usually replied that maybe I was, just a little. I really had no idea. Most of my lines, both maternal and paternal have been kicking around the U.S. for hundreds of years, so I think that would make me mostly an American with a heavy dose of European and Scandinavian roots. Now, thanks to DNA testing estimates, I found that indeed I am a bit Irish – approximately 12% worth. There are certainly surnames in my tree that have the appearance of being Irish, but I have always assumed that these people were probably Scotch-Irish. The problem is that all of these Irish sounding ancestors have been here in America forever. Seemingly so, anyway, since I’m not having much luck tracking down the immigrant ancestor for these lines and the records in Ireland are sketchy, at best, pre-1843.
My maternal grandfather Moore’s death certificate stated that he was Irish/American Indian. But then, that’s what my grandmother told them as the informant and that’s the story that he told her. So far, the Native blood hasn’t surfaced, but he did have black hair, darker skin, and eyes that were so brown that they looked black. Moore’s can be Irish. I did a lot of reading seeking information about what exactly the term “Black Irish” means, but it seems that there is no definitive answer on that. It also seems that there is really no answer about what “Luck of the Irish” means, either. Is that bad luck? Is that good luck? So many questions.
After all of my fruitless searching this week, I decided to put Susannah Crawford out here as blatant “cousin bait”. This is one of my huge brick walls that has a bunch of circumstantial evidence, so let me tell you what I know and don’t know. Susannah is my 3rd great-grandmother. She is the mother of Mary Amna Myers, who married Jacob Hackathorn. According to the 1900 census, Susannah was born in February of 1815. This is very consistent with ages given in all other censuses since 1850. In fact, the very consistency with Susannah’s information is why I’m writing about her this week. In giving information to the census enumerator, she always states that both of her parents were born in Ireland (and that fact has also been part of family tradition) and her age is always consistent with the progression of the census years. There is a researcher in Augusta, Ohio who states that Susannah is daughter of Matthew Crawford and a Susannah. As of this writing, no proof of that exists. I had always taken Susannah to be a daughter of one of Matthew’s sons, either William, Matthew, John, or James. My initial reasoning was circumstantial, at best. All of these people lived relatively nearby each other between Augusta and Norristown in Carroll County. These families also lived nearby the family of Silas Myers and all had settled in Columbiana County early on (this part of Columbiana County became Carroll County in 1832 on December 25).
![Donegal Bay. Kelisi at the English language Wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons](https://relativityitsallrelative.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/donegalbaycloseup.jpg)
Matthew Crawford, Susannah’s suspected father, was born about 1750 in County Donegal, Ireland. County histories all seem to agree that he immigrated to America in 1803 or 1804 and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania accompanied by his four sons William, Matthew, John, and James and their families. James’ birth has been stated to be in Drumhome Parrish, County Donegal. A diligent search of ship’s passenger lists from Ireland from 1802 until 1805 have, so far, failed to produce these Crawford families. While son William remained in Pennsylvania, between 1810 and 1820 Matthew and sons Matthew, John, and James removed to the Augusta Township area and the three boys entered 160 acres of land each.
It appears that Matthew, the father, did not purchase land. Although, apparently, he was living in Augusta Township and “spent his last days on this land”. Matthew has sometimes been associated with two younger daughters – Rebecca, born in 1787 and Mary, born in 1791. The mother of the boys is probably named Margaret Letta Brown (or Lettie). Indeed, in the 1810 census where we find him in Washington County, Pennsylvania, the household would appear to reflect this. I have not found Matthew in the 1820 census in Ohio. The Matthew that is attributed to being Matthew, the father, in several trees for the 1820 census I believe to be Matthew the son because of ages of the males. Information for if, and when, Matthew married a Susannah – who would be my Susannah’s mother – has not been found and neither has what happened to her after Matthew died, assuming that he passed before her. I even put out an S.O.S. to the Carroll County Facebook page to see if anyone there might be related to the Crawford or Myers family and still hanging out in the area. No luck.
During these past two weeks I have systematically gone through the 1850 through 1880 censuses noting the sons of Matthew and their families. First, to get them straight because they continue to repeatedly use the same names for their children (and occasionally, using the names again if a young child dies). And secondly, to make sure that Susannah, my 3rd great-grandmother, doesn’t turn up as one of their children. Excepting Matthew, the father, it has also been relatively easy to find the wills of these people through probate records and my Susannah has not turned up as being named as a child in any of these wills. So…speculatively, Matthew, born in County, Donegal, Ireland is going to be who I’m working with as Susannah’s father.
Susannah Crawford married Lambert Myers, son of Silas Myers and Catherine Eads, on 14 September 1830 in Columbiana County, Ohio.
Susannah gave birth to eleven children who survived to adulthood, 3 daughters and 8 sons.
Between the 1850 and 1860 censuses, Susannah and Lambert moved to the East Liverpool area from Carroll County and would live out the rest of their lives in that vicinity. Lambert passes away sometime after the 1880 census. No death certificate or burial site has been found, as of yet, for him. We find Susan living with her daughter, Margaret Elizabeth, 83 years old and widowed, in the 1900 census. This daughter had lived nearby Lambert and Susannah for many years. The 1904 East Liverpool City Directory lists Susannah living just around the corner from Martha Elizabeth in a room at 118 Jackson Square and then she passes away 24 July 1904 and is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in East Liverpool, Ohio.
I don’t have a positive identification on most of the women in the photograph of Susannah at the beginning of this post. We know that Susannah is sitting front center and standing behind her, slightly left is her daughter Margaret Elizabeth. Susannah had three daughters, and because of the similarities between the woman sitting on left and standing far right to Margaret, I have to believe that the one standing is daughter Katherine and the one sitting in front is daughter Mary. Katherine had two daughters, Minnie G., born 1868 and Mary Susan, born 1870, and it is possible that these two young girls pictured beside and in front of the supposed Katherine in the photo could be those daughters. Because of the clothing styles, it is not unreasonable to think that this photograph could have been taken somewhere between 1880 and 1887, but what the heck would Mary be doing in East Liverpool when she was living in Indiana at that time? One possibility might be that everyone was in town because of the death of Lambert. One might think that Susannah does not look the age of a woman who might be a couple of years either side of 70 in this photo, but some of the women in our family wear their age incredibly well. I really have no idea who the women standing on far left might be. Perhaps they are wives of Susannah’s sons? Perhaps more photographs of the family will surface in the future and we will be able to identify all of these women. Hopefully. So many questions…
This is my Week #11 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “Luck of the Irish”.
THE FLOOD
1828 versus 1875
Destruction and Devastation
“Water, water everywhere! There are few of our citizens who do not know of the extent to which the classic Wabash has, in past years, risen, and but few who have not felt the effects of it in a greater or lesser degree; but such an occurrence as the present rise – the magnitude of which has never been witnessed by any one living – claims more than just a passing notice. January and June freshets used to be looked for in times past, as regularly as those months came round, but for such a rise as the present to pour down upon us in August, is unprecedented and will probably never again be witnessed. The well-remembered rise of 1828 is no longer a data, as the rise of August, 1875, which reached its highest point last Tuesday, saw it and went twelve inches better. The flood of 1828 can now step down and out, and those old citizens who boasted of having seen the Wabash at such height as has never been reached since, and probably never before, will have to keep in the shade and yield to their descendants the “glory” they have themselves so long enjoyed. At this writing, Wednesday evening, or town is surrounded with water…”
Thomas John Hackathorn, my great-grandfather, was a boy of ten years old when his family was caught in the midst of this flood. You can read more about the family’s experience here in the week three posting of the 52 Ancestors Challenge. I am trying to imagine the destruction of the flood through the eyes of a boy and wonder if he was scared, or if he found it exciting, or perhaps a bit of both? It is a little difficult reconstructing Thomas’ life after the flood. We know that his father, Jacob, contracted smallpox and died within ten months of the flood. The oral history account of this time given by Thomas’ younger sibling, and only sister, Jennie, states that they were able to keep the family together after the flood, but what happened after the death of their father in June of 1876 is pretty much unknown.
As was mentioned in week three, Christian had remained in Kansas when the family started their journey back East after successive years of crop failures. James married the Ickes neighbor, Lyde in 1879. At the time of the 1880 census, we find James and Lyde living not too far from James’ mother, Mary, in Vigo County, Indiana. We also find Mary with two of her sons, Jacob and William. Silas is working as a farm hand and boarding there, also in Vigo County. But where are the three youngest children, including Thomas? Thomas, Crawford, and Elizabeth Jane (Jennie) are nowhere to be found. I have searched the 1880 census for years looking for some clue to where they might be. I looked for those children in the households of grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins in Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, West Virginia, and Ohio. I’ve undertaken what amounts to a door-to-door search in Vigo County, Indiana thinking that they might have been farmed out to neighbors. I’ve searched orphanages and asylums without finding a trace. I don’t know if, perhaps, they had been placed under some sort of guardianship after the death of their father or not because I have not found any documents or newspaper articles to that note. They just…disappeared.
This is not the first time that I’ve had problems finding this particular family. I have yet to find them in the 1870 census. After searching for many variants of the Hackathorn surname, including, but not limited to, Heckathorne, Hagglehorn, Hickenhorn, Hackleborn, Hakeltorn, and Headstrom (yes, indeed, Headstrom), I have convinced myself that the family was probably traveling in their covered wagon somewhere in Missouri or Kansas at the time of the census in 1870. What we have are about 30 years where we know almost nothing about where the family was living and what they were up to.
Thomas John Hackathorn was born on Sunday morning, 16 April 1865. It was Easter day and the nation was still in shock at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Just the week before, Lee had surrendered to Grant, the Civil War was winding down, and Jacob and Mary were itching to leave Ohio and try their fortune out West. In 1866 they began their westward trek with their older sons and year old Thomas in tow.
Until we can fill in the missing years after the flood in Indiana, we can pick up the siblings’ lives again when they have all reappeared back in Ohio – with the exception of James, who remained in Indiana. We know that, at least, William was back in Ohio when he married in 1884. Silas married in 1886. Widowed Christian was back in Ohio from Kansas and married in July of 1893. Jennie married in 1893 also, followed by Crawford in 1895, and Jacob in 1898. Thomas’ mother, Mary, passed away in Bergholz in December of 1896. Thomas John married Florence D. Paisley on 18 June 1893 in Jefferson County, Ohio.
Thomas and “Flora” were married just weeks shy of 24 years when Florence died in childbirth with her 15th child, who was born premature. Of their children, only nine survived to adulthood. After his wife’s death, their oldest daughter, Mary, 23 and a teacher, assumed the role of caring for the eight younger children. His entire adult life, Thomas had been a coal miner and, apparently, a moonshiner and bootlegger. Perhaps the rest of the family knew this fact, but I did not until a few years before my grandmother died. One Saturday we were at Grandma’s apartment because my son had to interview someone for a project at school. He chose his great-grandmother. I was sitting on a footstool glancing at a book and listening with half an ear (because I had already heard a lot of the stories) when my son asked what her father did and she revealed this little tidbit. Surprised is not the word for my reaction. I jumped up and said “Grandma, why haven’t you ever told us this before?” And she replied that it wasn’t something that you usually mention in polite company and how did we think that her father fed nine kids? Not from the coal mines…
It appears from talking with various cousins that the production of whiskey was something of a family affair and that there was most certainly a connection to the Whiskey Rebellion in Western, Pennsylvania. (But, that…is another story.)
Thomas died 25 April 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage at 84 years of age. He is buried in the Bergholz Cemetery.
This is my Week #10 post for Amy Johnson Crow’s
52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge.
The optional theme for this week was “Stormy Weather”.
SOURCES:
“Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12456-7689-20?cc=1307272 : accessed 11 March 2015), 1949 > 22101-25300 > image 2399 of 3533
http://www.ushistory.org/us/34f.asp
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/appomattox-courthouse/appomattox-court-house-history/surrender.html
Year: 1880; Census Place: Sugar Creek, Vigo, Indiana; Roll: 318; Family History Film: 1254318; Page: 184A; Enumeration District: 199; Image: 0370
“The Flood.” New Harmony Register 14 Aug. 1875: 3. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
“Pleads Not Guilty.” Zanesville Times Recorder 29 May 1939: 6. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
“Several Plead Guilty Before Federal Judge.” Elyria Chronicle Telegram 13 June 1939: 1. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
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