Fearless Females: Anne Dudley Bradstreet, First Woman Poet in the American Colonies

Thanks again to Lisa Alzo The Accidental Genealogist for the great writing prompts for Women's History Month!

ANNE DUDLEY was born about 1612 in Northamptonshire, England, the daughter of Sir THOMAS DUDLEY and his wife DOROTHY YORKE. When she was 16, she married SIMON BRADSTREET in England. In 1630, Sir THOMAS DUDLEY, his wife and children, and SIMON and ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET all accompanied the Puritan Rev John Winthrop on the ship "Arbella",  bound for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET was exceedingly well-educated for her time, having been tutored in literature and history in several languages including Greek, Latin, French and Hebrew. She began writing poetry mainly for herself, family and friends.  How she managed to have time to write is unfathomable; she bore eight children within ten years,  rarely was in good health, and had left the relative civilization of England for a home in an undeveloped new land.

Both her father Sir THOMAS DUDLEY, and her husband SIMON BRADSTREET became colonial governors of Massachusetts. Although their portraits were painted while they were in office, none exists for ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET.  She was, however, memorialized in stained glass at St Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The painting below is an artist's idea of what ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET may have looked like; I don't know who the artist was, however.

Stained glass window of ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET, St Botolph's Church, Boston, Lincolnshire, England

In 1650, some of ANNE's early poetry was appropriated by a brother-in-law in England and published as a collection entitled "The Tenth Muse Sprung Up Lately in America". This may have been done without her knowledge or consent.  Most of her later poems are very personal and emotional.  I especially like her poem, "To My Dear and Loving Husband":

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole Mines of Gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.

Thy love is such I can no way repay,

The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.

Then while we live, in love lets so persevere,

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Although ANNE was a Puritan, she often had doubts, and questioned the power of  male dominance in society, as well as the Puritan concept of a harsh & punitive God.   Her views and intellect were very unusual for a woman of that time and place. She died Sept 16, 1672, age 60,  in Andover, Essex Co MA.


I am a direct descendent of ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET through my maternal grandmother, RUBY BOLTON BROWN:


ANNE DUDLEY , poet, b 1612 Northamptonshire, England m SIMON BRADSTREET, Colonial Governor of MA
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HANNAH BRADSTREET b Oct 1642 Andover, Essex Co MA m ANDREW WIGGIN, b Sept 26, 1641 Dover, Strafford Co NH son of THOMAS WIGGIN, colonial gov of NH
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JONATHAN WIGGIN b March 11, 1681 Newbury, Essex Co MA m MARY EMERY b Dec 29, 1684 Newbury, Essex Co MA
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ANNA WIGGIN b abt 1720 Stratham, Rockingham Co NH m JOSEPH JEWETT b Dec 31, 1700 Rowley, Essex Co MA
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ANDREW JEWETT b Oct 28, 1750 Stratham, Rockingham Co, NH m MARY PIPER b Jan 20, 1756 Stratham, NH
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MOLLY JEWETT b March 5, 1777 Sanbornton, Belknap Co NH m STEPHEN GALE III b Nov 23, 1770 Sanbornton, NH
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PHEBE GALE b Jan 24, 1802 Sanbornton, NH m BENJAMIN BUTLER BROWN b April 19, 1800, of Sanbornton, Belknap Co NH
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HENRY "New Hampshire" BROWN b Sept 21, 1825 Sanbornton, Belknap Co, NH m Mrs CORDELIA (RICKARD) MYERS b 1830 Kenwyn Parish, Redruth, Cornwall, England.
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FRANK RICARD BROWN b Feb 5, 1858 Sacramento CA m MARY ETTA KENNEDY b March 3, 1858 Portland, Cumberland Co, ME
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RUBY BOLTON BROWN b July 17, 1893 Alameda CA m RANDOLPH BENJAMIN "Rolla" MARTINE b Dec 24, 1888 Kansas City, MO (my grandparents)



Have a great day!

Betty

Tombstone Tuesday: Bangor Friends Church Cemetery, Marshall Co Iowa

In August 2001, I finally met my Aunt Argo (Huber) Menter and her daughter Barbara Collins for the first time.  Barb and I had been corresponding for a couple of years, and as my husband and I were driving across country, we arranged to stop by for a visit.  My parents divorced when I was very young, so I had little contact with my father's family as I was growing up. It was wonderful for me to finally see the town where my Dad grew up and meet relatives I never knew I had. We made three more trips, in 2003, 2005 and 2007, attended the Huber family reunion and met even more relatives. In 2008 Cousin Barb and her sister Sharon came out to visit me in Washington state.

Barb was (and is) very involved in compiling the Huber family history.  I am very thankful for the information and family photos she has shared with me over the last decade.

Cousin Barb and Aunt Argo took me to the Bangor Friends Church Cemetery during that 2001 visit.  My paternal grandparents, great grandmother and great great grandparents are all buried there.

My paternal grandparents ALONZO  HUBER and MINTTIE MAE BRUTON HUBER. Their graves are on either side of  a large peony plant.

My great grandmother CAROLINE AMELIA "CRAMELIA" FRAZIER who married 1st) PHILLIP L HUBER and 2nd) PETER CLOW.  I don't know why her first name appears as CRAY on the tombstone--might be a nickname? See previous post for her story.

My great great grandmother, NANCY VAN ARSDALE FRAZIER.  At her feet lies the grave of her husband ELI BRANSON FRAZIER.  Nancy and Eli were Quakers, and attended the Bangor Friends Church from 1870 until their deaths. Below, the tombstone of ELI BRANSON FRAZIER, which has fallen over and is barely readable.

Have a great day!

Betty

Mystery Monday: The Disappearance of Phillip L Huber

Can there be anything more frustrating than an ancestor who simply disappears from the face of the earth with no explanation?

My great grandmother CAROLINE AMELIA "CRAMELIA" FRAZIER (b April 9, 1848 Boone Co Indiana) married PHILLIP L HUBER (b 1844 Ohio) on Nov 24, 1869 in Boone Co Indiana.  She was from a Quaker family, and his family had been Lutherans for several generations.   In 1870, shortly after their marriage, PHILLIP & CRAMELIA HUBER were living (with his mother) in nearby Montgomery Co Indiana, and by 1880 were living in Bangor, Marshall Co Iowa, where her parents  ELI BRANSON FRAZIER and NANCY VAN ARSDALE had settled in 1870.

Here is a photo of great grandmother CRAMELIA FRAZIER, taken about 1860, before she married.

PHILLIP L HUBER and CRAMELIA FRAZIER had four children, all born before 1880: CLARA HUBER who died in infancy; ARETTA HUBER who married JEFFERSON SPAKE;  ALONZO C HUBER who married MINTTIE MAE BRUTON, and MINNIE HUBER who married  MELVIN CLEMENS and 2nd) WILLIAM PLANDER.

In the summer of 1882, according to family members,  PHILLIP L HUBER took his son ALONZO to the Hardin County fair.  He gave ALONZO some money and told him to meet him at the horse barn at a certain hour.  When ALONZO returned to the horse barn, his father wasn't there. ALONZO waited, and waited, but PHILLIP never returned.

In fact, PHILLIP disappeared completely and left no trace whatsoever, according to family members.  CRAMELIA was left with three children to support.  In the 1885 Iowa state census she is shown as head of household, in the town of Bangor,  working as a seamstress.

I have searched for ten years and have never found any trace of PHILLIP L HUBER in census or other records after 1880.  Of course, if he wasn't murdered, it is possible that he changed his name and started a new life. There have been accounts of that kind of thing happening. I do not have access to newspaper archives for Hardin or Marshall County Iowa, but one would think there would be some mention of such a disappearance in the local papers of the time.

CRAMELIA waited over ten years to marry again. She married 2nd) to PETER CLOW in 1895.  He died in 1899, so their life together was very short.  It is apparent from census records that she worked to support her family in the years between 1882 and 1920.  She must have had a difficult, lonely life.  She lived in the household of  my grandfather ALONZO in the 1920s, and my father told me that he did remember her, even though he was very young.

CRAMELIA FRAZIER HUBER about 1890s. 

No photo exists of PHILLIP L HUBER, to my knowledge

So the mystery remains.  The how and why will probably never be known.

Have a great day!

Betty

Fearless Females / Sentimental Sunday: My Mother's Best Friend

Thanks again to Lisa Alzo The Accidental Genealogist for the great writing prompts for Women's History Month!

In the early 1930's my mother, my grandparents and my uncle moved into an old house in San Francisco that had been converted into two flats.  My grandparents & their two children occupied the upstairs flat;  the downstairs flat was occupied by a divorcee, Verneta Forth and her two children, a son Courtney Forth, and a daughter Virginia Forth.

I don't know how or why my mother & Virginia became acquainted, beyond the fact that my mother was likely tap-dancing upstairs and making a racket!  Little would they know that their meeting would turn into a friendship that would last more that 60 years.

In personality, my mother Alice and her friend Virginia were complete opposites:  My mother was painfully shy, awkward & underconfident; Virginia was bold, sociable,  and very talkative.  My mother loved to dance, but probably lacked the confidence to get up on stage. Virginia loved to dance, also,  and pretty soon they were attending dance classes together, and then started teaming up to perform!

Alice age 12  on left, Virginia age 10 on right. Taken about 1933.

It likely didn't take long for Alice and Virginia to become the best of friends.  And their mothers, Verneta Forth and my grandmother Ruby, also became the best of friends, and stayed close for over 20 years.  Both girls used to joke that they had two mothers!

This was Alice & Virginia's favorite photo, taken by my uncle Ted, at a beach south of San Francisco (not sure exactly where). Alice age 15 or 16, Virginia age 13 or 14.  Two California girls!

The photo below was taken at the same place, same trip: Virginia's mother Verneta Forth, unknown woman, my Grandmother Ruby (drinking beer? Grandma I'm shocked!! :- ) and an unknown man.

My mother Alice was two years older than Virginia, and they both attended Polytechnic High School in San Francisco.  While they were not in the same classes at school, they did continue dance classes together, and later both joined the Junior Game Patrol. 

Junior Game Patrol, San Francisco CA: my mother on bottom left age 17,  and Virginia sitting on the horse, age 15.  Others unknown. The couple on right were likely the Patrol leaders/chaperones.  Not sure exactly what the club did, or what it's purpose was??

In 1941 Virginia Forth  married  Robert Gilliland.  My grandmother Ruby hosted the wedding and reception in their upstairs flat--no easy feat, considering it was not a particularly  large flat!

Virginia's wedding, about 1941. Virginia Forth in center, the bride; my mother Alice standing directly behind her; Virginia's groom Bob Gilliland to her right, her mother Verneta Forth to her left, and my Grandmother Ruby to her left. My Grandfather was likely hiding somewhere at this point. He didn't appreciate crowds, and this was probably overwhelming to him!

Alice and Virginia kept in close contact all through the WWII years, and visited often. Their mothers were still neighbors in San Francisco until about 1952. After my mother married, Virginia came to Washington state to visit.  In fact, I remember her visiting a couple of times during my childhood.

My mother Alice, father Bill Huber and Virginia about 1950 or 1951 Maple Valley, Washington.

When my mother retired in 1980, she contacted Virginia to see if they might meet up for a visit.  Apparently Virginia had just divorced (she was married several times, but never had any children of her own), and when they got together, the two of them decided it might be fun to live together for a while. My mother was moving to property on Whidbey Island, so Virginia joined her there.   My husband & I  called them the "Golden Girls", and I used to joke that I also had "two mothers". They had A LOT of fun together, travelled a bit, and went to church functions together.  They lived together for over ten years, until Virginia got married--again!-- at age 72.  But they still remained close friends even after Virginia's late life marriage, even after my mother moved to be closer to us (she passed away in 2004).

Virginia died Oct 2002.  She was more than a best friend to my mother--she was like a sister to her.  Their friendship had its ups and downs, as all friendships do, but it is remarkable that they stayed so close for so long.

Have a great day!

Betty

Betty's Online Source of the Week: Cornwall England Online Parish Records 1600s onward

OPC Cornwall England Online Parish Records

This is an excellent easy-to-use source for anyone seeking birth, death or marriage records in Cornwall, England from the 1600s onward. This resource allowed me to find two previous generations of the family of gg grandmother CORDELIA RICKARD b 1830 Redruth, Kenwyn Parish, Cornwall.  My only wish is that other localities in the UK would publish their early parish records in this kind of format as well!

Have a great day!

Betty

Fearless Females: Education and the Women in my Family Tree

Thanks again to Lisa Alzo The Accidental Genealogist for the great writing prompts for Women's History Month!

None of my female ancestors attended college or held advanced degrees.  But most were literate and many were well-educated by the standard of their times.


My maternal grandmother Ruby Bolton Brown was raised on Unga Island in Alaska. Basically she was home schooled until a  Mrs Fletcher came to the village and became teacher for the children of those families employed by the Alaska Commercial Company.  Ruby's family moved back to San Francisco in 1904 and shared a house with her aunt Addie & uncle Billy Hawthorne and their daughters.  I am certain that Ruby, her sisters, and her female cousins would have all attended some kind of high school in San Francisco. However, I have not been able to find out exactly which school they attended.

Grandma Ruby wrote an excellent article in 1963 about her childhood on Unga Island for the Alaska Sportsman Magazine (now Alaska Magazine).  Her writing style is quite literary.   I am so thankful to have a copy of this article, which gives amazing insight into her life and the place she was raised.



My paternal grandmother Minttie Mae Bruton was likely educated by her father, Benjamin Benton Bruton, who was himself educated at a Baptist seminary,  just after the Civil War, and was a published author. BB Bruton became a Baptist minister (he presided over at least 20 marriages) and later a beloved & popular school teacher in Christian Co MO. Minttie Mae's brother James J Bruton b 1876,  her grandfather Thomas Bruton b 1811, and her great grandfather David Bruton b Jan 18, 1790 were also teachers. This particular branch of the Bruton family was well-educated and had a large number of doctors, politicians and educators in its ranks.

I never had the opportunity to meet Grandma Minttie Mae and have never seen any of her writing or letters, but I suspect she may have held books & education in high regard. None of her children went beyond high school, to the best of my knowledge, but several of her grand children and great grandchildren have graduated from college or university.



My maternal great grandmother Alice Miller was the youngest daughter of a Virginia lawyer, William Frederick Miller, who moved his wife & children in 1844 to Springhill, Livingston Co MO. As William was the only educated person in the settlement, he became school teacher in Spring Hill for a brief period, until a school could be built and another teacher could be found.  After the Civil War, William F Miller no longer practiced law; possibly he was disbarred for being a Confederate. At any rate, William F Miller became a tutor and then headmaster at a private school in Chillicothe, Livingston Co MO.  Great grandmother Alice was educated at her father's school, and at age 16, was deemed "qualified to teach school".  However, I don't know if she ever taught in her father's school or anyplace else.  She was married in about 1880 to Charles Albert Martine.


I have no information on the education of my  maternal great grandmother Mary Etta Kennedy but I do have a transcription of one of her letters (see one here), and she was obviously quite literate.

I have no information on the education of my paternal great grandmother Siloama Whitecotton. Most of her Thompson & Whitecotton kin could neither read nor write.

Likewise I have no information on the education of my paternal great grandmother Caroline Amelia "Cramelia" Frazier;  however she came from a Quaker family that was quite literate.  I have a number of examples of the writings of  her aunt Ann M. Frazier Way, who was a prolific letter writer (see one here), and also wrote poetry.  Quakers generally were literate & well-educated, so I am guessing this must have been the case with Cramelia.

Have a great day!

Betty

Treasure Chest Thursday: The Story of Grandma Ruby's China

In the cabinet above the refrigerator, I have only the only few remaining pieces of my Grandmother Ruby's Haviland China. The "Troy" pattern, I believe, with blue & gold scrolling along the edges interspersed with tiny pink roses.

I remember this china from every family holiday and special occasion that we had from my earliest years onward. Finally in 2000, my mother gave it to me when she moved into a small apartment. That was when she told me the story of Ruby's china.

Grandma Ruby and her husband Rolla lived in Seattle after their marriage in 1914.  They had one son, Theodore, born in 1915.  Then my mother came along in 1921, born on Grandma Ruby's birthday.

It was a difficult and dangerous breech birth, an excruciatingly long labor.  The doctors made the decision to let the birth occur naturally, but the results of their decision were harrowing.  Both Ruby and my mother nearly died.

The china was a birthday present both for Ruby, and her newborn daughter: A celebration of their survival.  Grandpa Rolla was so relieved and thankful  that he went right out and bought it.  Apparently Ruby  had seen it in a store, and had expressed a longing for it, this beautiful china, but at the time Rolla had felt they couldn't afford it.

Sadly, most of the china was broken, over the years, as the family moved to San Francisco, and then in later years, back to Seattle. So I am happy to have the little bit that was handed down to me.

Grandma Ruby was the light of my life when I was a child,  a time when there was a great deal of pain, sorrow & darkness in our family.  She was beautiful in both face and spirit, the kindest of souls who never ceased to give love to everyone around her, whatever the circumstance.  I never heard her disparage or judge anyone unkindly, in all the years I knew her.  She was a remarkable woman.

My grandmother Ruby Bolton Brown Martine, with her son Ted, about 1916, Seattle WA.

Have a great day!

Betty

Wordless Wednesday...well, almost wordless

MABEL RHODES b Jan 18, 1901 Victoria BC Canada m FRANCIS MIDDLETON STERRY. Her two children went to live in England with their father after her death in 1930.

ETHEL RHODES b Oct 22, 1896 Victoria, BC Canada m JOHN THOMAS DOVEY; died 1981.

First cousins of my grandmother, RUBY BOLTON BROWN.

Tombstone Tuesday: Thompson Family, Old Boston Cemetery, Christian Co MO

This photo taken 2003 at the Old Boston Cemetery, near Oldfield, Christian Co MO. In the photo: Norma Stewart Maples; Merrill Dean Gray, my husband Jim and behind him a couple whose names I can't recall, also Thompson descendants. Cousin Dean and Cousin Norma were showing us the Thompson family graves. 

 ISAAC AVERY THOMPSON  is buried at the  foot of the  big tree and to his right, sister MALINDA THOMPSON WHITECOTTON RIDDLE, then my great great grandmother SARAH THOMPSON  WHITECOTTON GRIFFIN,  and Malinda's daughter MARYLINE THOMPSON HALL.  Avery, Sarah & Malinda were the children of JOSEPH & JANE THOMPSON who migrated from Burke Co NC to Bradley Co TN to Carroll Co AR to Christian & Taney Co MO. 

In the 1980s,  new gravestones were placed by Norma's mother, Alta Thompson Stewart, and Lela Hall McCoy, as the old ones were missing or falling apart.  Lela and Alta wrote down the Thompson oral history in a series of letters which Norma has gathered and put into a book.  The Thompson family history would have been lost without the efforts of Alta, Lela and Norma.

This is the grave of my gg grandmother SARAH THOMPSON, who married first JAMES MONROE WHITECOTTON b 1825 AL; and second to NATHAN GRIFFIN. Her daughters were: SILOAMA WHITECOTTON who married BENJAMIN B BRUTON, parents of my grandmother MINTTIE MAE BRUTON; and SOPHRONA WHITECOTTON who married TILFORD HOPPER.

 This is the grave of Sarah Thompson's sister MALINDA THOMPSON who "married" first  JAMES MONROE WHITECOTTON b 1825 AL (yes same man her sister Sarah later married) and second WILLIAM RIDDLE of Bradley Co TN who died before 1860. Alta & Lela probably did not have access to records showing the second marriage and so put the Whitecotton name on the gravestone, even though everyone in the family knew that the first marriage to Monroe Whitecotton, which produced  three children--GEORGE W THOMPSON, DANIEL JACKSON THOMPSON and MARYLINE THOMPSON HALL--was not a legal marriage.

The grave of Sarah & Malinda's brother ISAAC AVERY THOMPSON, the eldest son of the Joseph & Jane Thompson, at the foot of the big tree.

In a another part of the Old Boston Cemetery is the grave of JOSIAH BLAIR THOMPSON, one of the younger brothers of Avery, Sarah and Malinda Thompson. Love the phonetic spelling of his first name!

This last photo shows the view looking west (I think?) from where we were standing in the first photo.

The gravestone pics were sent to me in 2000-2001 by a Thompson descendant from Taney Co MO whose name unfortunately I can't remember (Hughes family--LOUISA THOMPSON m CHARLES HUGHES). The other photos were taken by me in 2003.

I post this in loving memory of my 4th cousin, MERRILL DEAN GRAY, who passed away Feb 2010.

Betty

Little Miracles: Finding Susannah "Susan" Huber at last

Don't you just love it when, in your genealogy research, you find one record or historical reference that opens a door to a cascade of other records and information?

That's exactly what happened to me yesterday.

For eight years, I have been trying to trace SUSANNAH "SUSAN" HUBER b abt 1830 Hocking Co OH, the eldest daughter of my great great grandparents, ELIJAH HUBER  and CATHERINE SHRIVER, and sister of my great grandfather PHILLIP L. HUBER. She was likely named after her maternal grandmother, SUSANNAH LUCKHART SHRIVER.

SUSANNAH HUBER appears on the 1850 Montgomery Co IN census with parents and siblings, listed  as SUSAN HUBER age 19; then after 1850, I could find no other records.  She was not in subsequent census records with the family, and I couldn't find a marriage record for her in Montgomery Co IN. She wasn't buried with the rest of the family  at St James Lutheran Church, Franklin twp, Montgomery Co IN. She just seemed to vanish into thin air.

Yesterday, I decided to run some Google and Ancestry.com searches, just to see if I could find ANY clues as to the fate of SUSANNAH "SUSAN" HUBER. After a few minutes searching, I discovered the bio of CAPT. REUBEN GOOD of Osage twp, Henry Co MO, from the book "History of Henry County Missouri" published 1883.  In the bio was this tantalizing  line:  "He (REUBEN GOOD) was married June 20, 1854, to Miss SUSAN HUBER, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of ELISHA  and CATHERINE HUBER. They have a family of five children: MARGARET C. (wife of John Darby), ELLEN A., THEODORE, AGNES  J. and CHRISTINA. "

My mind started racing. Where were they married? Could her father's name ELISHA have actually been ELIJAH? I could not find a marriage record for them in Henry Co MO, but I did find them both listed in a transcription of the Mt Zion Cemetery in Osage twp, Henry Co MO. On the tombstone she shares with her husband, her name is "SUSANNA". Then I found census records for them 1860 through 1900 Osage twp, Henry Co MO.  From the bio, census records and cemetery records,  I was able to list all of the children of REUBEN GOOD and SUSANNAH "SUSAN" HUBER:

MARGARET C GOOD b abt 1856 m JOHN T DARBY
MARTHA A GOOD b abt 1857 died Aug 1868 buried Mt Zion Cemetery
ELIJAH A GOOD b abt 1858 died infancy buried Mt Zion Cemetery
MARY GOOD b abt 1859 died infancy buried Mt Zion Cemetery
ELLEN GOOD b abt 1860 married ?
THEODORE H GOOD b abt 1862
AGNES J GOOD b abt 1864, died 1947 buried Mt Zion Cemetery, never married
TERRANCE GOOD b abt 1868
CHRISTINA "TENA" GOOD b abt 1869 d 1953 m JOHN BONNARD, buried Mt Zion Cemetery

The fact that REUBEN GOOD and SUSANNAH "SUSAN" HUBER had named a son ELIJAH quickened my pulse.  This just had to be the SUSANNAH/SUSAN HUBER I was looking for!

There were a couple other facts that added to my fervor.  First off, in the bio of REUBEN GOOD, it is noted that he migrated from Ohio before 1850 and lived for several years  in Fountain Co, IN.  And I know from other bios of the HUBER family of Montgomery Co IN that they also migrated from Ohio and spent several years in Fountain Co, IN during that same time period 1840-1850. Fountain Co IN is just west of Montgomery Co IN, where both ELIJAH HUBER and his brother JACOB HUBER would settle by 1850.

The next fact was even more compelling.  About a month ago, I finally located the youngest son of ELIJAH and CATHERINE HUBER in Osage twp, Henry Co MO, as per 1900 and 1910 census.  ELIJAH HUBER Jr b abt 1855 Montgomery Co IN married first to AMERICA ROGERS in Boone Co IN (right next to Montgomery Co IN). She died in 1877.  In the 1880 census ELIJAH Jr was living in Montgomery Co IN in the household of his sister MARIAH HUBER CLOUSER, wife of ALFRED CLOUSER.

 In the 1900 and 1910 census ELIJAH HUBER Jr's wife was PHEBE. They were living practically next door to REUBEN GOOD and SUSANNAH "SUSAN" HUBER in Osage twp, Henry Co MO.

So finally, this morning,  I located a marriage record for REUBEN GOOD in Montgomery Co IN.  The record shows REUBEN GOOD married SUSAN "HULER" July 20, 1854 ( shades of  last Monday's post, "Oh Those Transcription Errors!"). The Henry Co MO bio indicates their marriage date as June 20, 1854; the marriage record in Montgomery Co IN shows July 20, 1854.

So is this the same SUSANNAH "SUSAN" HUBER, daughter of ELIJAH & CATHERINE HUBER, wife of REUBEN GOOD who ended up living in Osage twp, Henry Co MO?  I think it is.

My task now is to find even more records to prove it.  But my instincts tell me I am on the right track.

Oh, and finding REUBEN GOOD & SUSANNAH "SUSAN" HUBER's family has helped shed light on another family mystery.

In about the spring or summer of 1900, after the death? disappearance? of his first wife & infant child, my grandfather ALONZO COX HUBER left Boone Co IN and went down to Christian Co Missouri. It was there he met and married MINTTIE MAE BRUTON July 6, 1901.

But why on earth did he go to Christian Co MO from Boone Co IN?  Was it simply a random rambling; was he just drifting around  and  got a job there or something? But why specifically in Christian Co MO? I have heard a lot of wild speculation, but nobody seems to know why.

Well, as it turns out, in 1900 MARGARET C GOOD, my grandfather ALONZO's first cousin, and her husband JOHN T DARBY were living in South Marion twp, Christian Co MO, near the town of Sparta,  as per census records ( I know it is them, because they had a son with an unusual name, CASWELL A DARBY, who is listed with them in the 1900 Christian Co MO census, and who was named in an obituary of MARGARET's sister, CHRISTINA GOOD BONNARD.  CASWELL DARBY and his mother MARGARET C DARBY ended up in San Francisco, CA as per CHRISTINA's obit and CASWELL's WWI draft registration).

In 1900, ALONZO's future wife MINTTIE MAE BRUTON was living in Sparta, Christian Co MO, in the household of her parents BENJAMIN B BRUTON and SILOAMA WHITECOTTON.

So there WAS a reason for grandfather ALONZO HUBER to go down to Christian Co Missouri:  His first cousin lived there!

Have a great day!

Betty

PS Could not have accomplished the above research w/o the efforts of wonderful volunteers who have transcribed records and tombstones at cemeteries for the following websites:

Henry Co Missouri US Genweb

Montgomery Co Indiana US Genweb

Christian Co Missouri US Genweb

Many thanks!

Betty's Online Source of the Week: Early Massachusetts Vital Records

This week's online source of note is a searchable database of Massachusetts birth, death & marriage records 1600-1850.  Counties included in the database are: Barnstable, Berkshire, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk and Worcester.

Early Massachusetts Vital Records 1600-1850 BMD

I believe this Massachusetts Vital Records Project was originally part of the US Genweb site for Essex Co, MA--or at least that is where I found it originally. Now it seems to be independent of  US Genweb. The page is copyrighted by John Slaughter.

This is an excellent resource for anyone researching ancestors in Massachusetts!

Have a great day!

Betty

Fearless Females: Brick Walls: Mystery Women in My Family Tree

Thanks again to Lisa Alzo The Accidental Genealogist for the great writing prompts for Women's History Month!

I am going to repeat here a post that I wrote in June 2009 on the female brick walls  in my family tree.  I have made progress on one or two of them, so will  update as necessary:


Mystery Women in My Family Tree June 2009

--MARY MITCHELL, b 1727-1730 VA or NC, wife of THOMAS SANDER/SAUNDERS born probably 1727-1728 probably Middlesex County, VA, who lived probably Orange/Caswell Co? NC (or at least other family members did), was a soldier in the Revolutionary War in NC as per DAR index, and who died Nov 28, 1812 Davidson Co TN. Some researchers have indicated that THOMAS & MARY were wed in New Bern, NC, but I have never been able to ascertain that. Can't seem to connect MARY with any MITCHELL family living in NC or VA. Records show that THOMAS & MARY were living in Tennessee possibly as early as 1800, when their son EDWARD T. SANDERS married LOCKEY TRIGG. THOMAS SANDERS/SAUNDERS died Nov 27, 1812 Davidson Co TN, as per his will. Two of his daughters married two brothers, landed gentlemen from Buckingham Co VA. JULIET/JUDITH SANDERS/SAUNDERS married PETER GUERRANT MOSELEY, and MARY POLLY SANDERS/SAUNDERS married WILLIAM FRANCIS MOSELEY (my ggg grandparents). The rest of the sons & daughters lived in Sumner, Wilson or Davidson Co TN after 1800. You'd think there would be some record of MARY MITCHELL's parents, but no.

Photo of great grandfather CHARLES ALBERT MARTINE, his two young sons FREDERICK EARL MARTINE & WALTER LLOYD MARTINE, and great grandmother ALICE MILLER, who was a great granddaughter of MARY MITCHELL. Photo taken Albuquerque NM, where the family lived for only a very short time in abt 1884.

--NANCY WALKER  born abt 1790 VA, wife of SIMON VAN ARSDALE (alt. spelling Vanasdall, Van Orsdol, Vanarsdale, Van Ausdal, Van Alsdale and a million other spelling variations) also born 1790 probably Bucks Co PA. They were married Sept 21, 1814 in Corydon, Harrison Co IN, after SIMON's service in the war of 1812.  SIMON died May 1828 as per a handwritten will by his father JOHN VAN ARSDALE, which was later registered at Corydon. NANCY was left a widow with nine children; unfortunately she and all but three of her children perished in the 1832 Cholera epidemic. The three surviving daughters were HARRIET VAN ARSDALE b 1818 who married SAMUEL ENFIELD ; MARGARET VAN ARSDALE b Feb 18, 1823 who married NATHAN CALDWELL, and NANCY VAN ARSDALE b March 31, 1828 who married a Quaker, ELI BRANSON FRAZIER (my gg grandparents). The three girls were raised by family (likely aunts & uncles) in Montgomery or Boone Co IN. I have never been able to find the names of NANCY WALKER's parents, or connect her with any Walker family in Harrison Co IN. Some descendants have indicated that she may have come from Elizabethtown, Hardin Co KY, which is just across the river from Corydon, Harrison Co IN; I have never found any records at all to support this.  Two of NANCY & SIMON's sons were named ALEXANDER VAN ARSDALE and WILLIAM H VAN ARSDALE, names which do not appear in previous generations of the VAN ARSDALE family. One daughter was named JULIA ANN VAN ARSDALE, and the name "Julia Ann" was used by two of the surviving daughters, but did not appear in previous generations of the VAN ARSDALE family.

UPDATE MARCH 2010:   I now strongly suspect that NANCY WALKER, wife of  SIMON VAN ARSDALE of Harrison Co IN , was likely the daughter of ALEXANDER WALKER b abt 1755 Rockbridge Co VA and JANE TELFORD/TILFORD. ALEXANDER WALKER moved his family & widowed mother from Adair Co KY to Clark Co IN sometime before 1820; he is in census there 1820 and 1830. NANCY WALKER married SIMON VAN ARSDALE in 1814 in Harrison Co IN, which is right next to Clark Co IN. There were no other WALKER's living in Harrison Co IN at the time of NANCY's marriage. 

Several researchers & published sources have indicated that this particular ALEXANDER WALKER b 1775 Rockbrigde Co VA died 1838 in McDonough Co IL, but so far I have not found any evidence of this, or that any of his children ever moved there. There were several with the name "Alexander Walker" from this very large family, so it is possible this is a case of mistaken identity. For example, the family of Alexander Walker who married Margaret Peggy Combs DID migrate there. This couple would have been aunt & uncle to ALEXANDER WALKER b 1775 who married JANE/JEAN TELFORD. A younger "Alexander Walker" b abt 1826 also lived in McDonough Co IL. Very confusing!! More Research to come.

If NANCY WALKER was the daughter of ALEXANDER WALKER and JANE TELFORD/TILFORD, then she would be the granddaughter of WILLIAM HAMMER WALKER and JANE McCLUNG WALKER, and a great granddaughter of ALEXANDER WALKER b abt 1716 d 1785-86  and JANE HAMMER, all  of whom lived in Rockbridge Co VA. 

This would certainly explain why NANCY WALKER & SIMON VAN ARSDALE named their sons ALEXANDER VAN ARSDALE and WILLIAM H VAN ARSDALE.

Photo of gg grandmother NANCY (VAN ARSDALE) FRAZIER , taken about 1890s, Marshall Co Iowa, daughter of NANCY WALKER & SIMON VAN ARSDALE

--HAPPY (maiden name unknown, possibly LINDLEY) born about 1804, census indicates VA, wife of MOSES WHITECOTTON who was born about 1804 Knox Co TN, and who died before 1840 census in AL or TN. MOSES WHITECOTTON is present in the 1830 Jackson Co AL census as a couple age 20-30, three sons under 5, one son 5-10, one elderly male age 60-70 probably HAPPY's father; no slaves; they were listed right next to his father ISAAC NEWTON WHITECOTTON who married ELIZABETH STUMP, and very near his brother JAMES "Jim" WHITECOTTON b 1811 KY who married LOUISA TURNER. The census record is very difficult to decipher, and the surname was mistakenly transcribed as "Wilcolton". Then HAPPY appears alone with her children in the 1840 Bledsoe Co TN census, and in 1850 as a widow with children in the Morgan Co AL census, Decatur division 11, which shows her born in Virginia. One of her sons, Harrison Whitecotton, appears to have been born at least two years after the supposed death of her husband! Several researchers have postulated that HAPPY's maiden name was LINDLEY, since she named one of her eldest sons LINDLEY M. WHITECOTTON. But I have never been able to connect her with any LINDLEY family in the south, and beyond that there are few clues to her origins. Family members have maintained that there was Cherokee blood in this branch of the WHITECOTTON family, but I have not been able to prove that, either. 

Photo taken WWII era of grandfather ALONZO COX HUBER, my father BILL HUBER and grandmother MINTTIE MAE (BRUTON) HUBER, who was great granddaughter of HAPPY & MOSES WHITECOTTON.  I recently found MINTTIE MAE, her sister HATTIE BRUTON and their brother JAMES J BRUTON  on a list of people who applied to the Guion Miller rolls for inclusion in the Cherokee tribe in around 1902-1906 (they were all living Christian Co MO at the time). Their applications were denied, meaning there was not enough evidence to enroll them in the Cherokee tribe.  But clearly they believed they were part Cherokee, as did all their Thompson & Bruton kin in Missouri.

--JANE (maiden name unknown), born 1797-1800 VA or NC, wife of JOSEPH ISAAC THOMPSON b 1797-1801 Burke Co NC. After leaving NC, they lived in Bradley Co TN, Carroll Co AR and ultimately Christian Co MO. JOSEPH came from a landed family in Rowan/Burke Co NC, but was listed as a solder in the 1838 Cherokee removal. Apparently he deserted when reaching TN, and by 1840 was settled in Bradley Co TN. A land deed later shows him selling his land in Burke Co NC in absentia. No marriage bond or record exists for JANE & JOSEPH ISAAC THOMPSON in Burke or Rowan NC. I am wondering if they just never got hitched legally--which apparently was not uncommon in NC during that time period, and actually seemed to be the status quo for some of their children. JANE & JOSEPH ISAAC THOMPSON had 15 children (!!), ten girls and five boys, and most made the trip from TN to AR to MO, and can be found in census. Family members sometimes refer to JANE as VIRGINIA JANE, but she is always listed in census records as JANE. She is supposedly buried in Green Forest, Boone Co AR.

Photo of  JOSIAH BLAIR THOMPSON (right b abt 1838 TN) and his son LEVI DUNLAP THOMPSON (left b abt 1862 AR) taken  abt 1920 Christian Co MO.  JOSIAH BLAIR THOMPSON was a son of JANE and JOSEPH ISAAC THOMPSON. This the the only photo that has surfaced so far of any of their 15 children. In memory of MERRILL DEAN GRAY (d Feb 2010), my 4th cousin, who sent me this photo.

--ELEANOR or SARAH BUSHROD born 1730-1750 supposedly in Maryland, wife of JOHN WOFFORD born 1730-1750 supposedly Prince George's Co MD. JOHN settled in Spartanburg, SC along with his brothers JAMES, BENJAMIN, WILLIAM & JOSEPH WOFFORD, and all fought in the Revolutionary War--except BENJAMIN who was a Tory-- as per DAR Patriot Index, and "A History of Spartanburg County " by Dr J B O Landrum. JOHN died in 1813 in Spartanburg, but did not mention his wife by name in his will. I have been unable to connect ELEANOR / SARAH with any of the BUSHROD families in VA, and have had no luck tracing them in Maryland.

--SARAH HOSEA/HOSEY born about 1710 supposedly Maryland who married ABSALOM/ABSOLOM WOFFORD, father of the five brothers listed above. ABSALOM was supposedly born 1703 in either PA or MD, and supposedly died about 1755 in Rock Creek, Montgomery Co MD. I have never been able to find any records of any kind for these two individuals in Maryland, and yet numerous researchers have cited them as ancestors.

Your comments appreciated--Have a great day!

Betty

Follow-up to previous post on Bodie California and Unga Island Alaska

After making my previous post this morning, I discovered several YouTube videos on Bodie State Historical Park.  Here are two very good videos:

The Road to Bodie (gives a clear idea of how long it actually takes to get there and the desolate terrain)

One Minute Vacation in Bodie (gives you an excellent idea of what the place is really like)

I have posted these two on my Facebook page.

Unfortunately there were no YouTube videos of Unga Island, Alaska.  I would love to see one.  Apparently it is now a nature preserve, open only to eco-tourism.  I believe many of the houses are still standing.  My mother's first cousin, Winifred Stetson, visited there in the 1980s.

Have a great day!

Betty

PS Thanks to Thomas MacEntee for the tutorial on adding html links to blogposts on Geneabloggers!

Fearless Females: Surprising Facts: Mary Etta Kennedy Brown -- Bodie, California and Unga Island Alaska

"--talk about stiff upper lip--a woman needs several--" MARY ETTA KENNEDY BROWN, Unga Island Alaska, 1894 letter to her sister, ADDIE.

There are several surprising facts that I have discovered about my maternal great grandmother, MARY ETTA KENNEDY BROWN. The fact that she was a very good writer is just the beginning

This is one of my favorite family photographs. Left to right, GENEVIEVE BROWN b 1894 Unga Island, AK ;   great grandmother MARY ETTA KENNEDY BROWN;   my maternal grandmother RUBY BOLTON BROWN b July 17, 1893 Alameda, CA;   and GLADYS ADELINE BROWN b Aug 1890 Onalaska, AK. Photo taken about 1899 in either Bodie CA or San Francisco CA.

MARY ETTA KENNEDY was born March 2, 1858 in Portland, Cumberland Co Maine, the youngest daughter of THOMAS KENNEDY born bf 1830 Windsor, Hants Co, Nova Scotia, Canada  and SARAH JANE BOLTON born bf 1835 Cumberland  Co Maine. SARAH JANE  died either at the time of MARY ETTA's birth, or shortly thereafter.

THOMAS KENNEDY re- married on July 22, 1861,  Portland, ME,  to Elizabeth "Lizzie" Corbett, also born Nova Scotia.  But according to census records, they apparently did not have any children other than THOMAS' three girls  by his first marriage: SARAH ADELINE KENNEDY b 1852 ; HELEN FRANCES KENNEDY b March 7, 1856 and MARY ETTA KENNEDY.

The family was still living in Portland, Cumberland Co Maine in 1870, according to census records. But by 1878, THOMAS KENNEDY was a merchant in the wild, raucous, gold-mining town of Bodie, Mono Co CA, according to tax records there.  I am not certain exactly how or why the Kennedy family ended up in Bodie. But they lived there from about 1878 until about 1896. In the 1880 census, THOMAS KENNEDY and his wife ELIZABETH were ranching on a piece of land just south of the town of Bodie.

MARY ETTA KENNEDY married FRANK RICARD BROWN on July 2, 1878 in Aurora, Esmerelda Co, Nevada. It is likely that Aurora, which is about 15 miles east of Bodie, had the only Justice of the Peace in the area. Both are ghost towns, now, and Bodie is a California State Historical park.  My mother and I visited Bodie in 2001, my gift to her for her 80th birthday.

FRANK R. BROWN was employed as an assayer, and he had offices at both Bodie and nearby Lundy.

Bodie was an amazingly inhospitable place to live. It's hard to believe that anyone would even attempt to raise a family there. Besides its renowned lawlessness, the climate was utterly brutal. At over 8000 ft altitude, it is above the treeline. Not much grows there except scrub sage. Summers were relentlessly hot, and winters brought deep snow and bitter temperatures.  But Bodie had two things that made it very attractive: lots of gold, and a good water source.

FRANK and MARY ETTA (KENNEDY) BROWN lost at least two children while they were living at Bodie: a boy Frank Kennedy Brown died at birth in 1883, and a girl Helen Frances Brown b Aug 20, 1884 died at age one. Pneumonia was common in both adults & children, and many died from it.  Their only surviving child in 1887 was daughter EMMA BROWN who was born in 1879.

1887 was an important year for the Brown family. FRANK R. BROWN was offered a position with the Alaska Commercial Company to build and manage the Apollo Gold & Silver Mine on Unga Island, Alaska.  FRANK sailed from San Francisco in spring of 1887, according to his diary, leaving his wife MARY ETTA and daughter EMMA in California.   I believe they were staying with FRANK's father, H N H BROWN, a widower, who had just retired to Sacramento from the gold mining town of Lundy, where he had been employed as a Wells Fargo agent.

MARY ETTA and FRANK R. BROWN were apart for over a year and a half. It must have seemed to her that Frank had sailed off to the ends of the earth. That wasn't far from the truth!  FRANK's letters & diary of his experiences indicate that he was literally building everything from scratch: the mine, the manager's house, even the tools they used in the process. It was a grueling, desperately lonely time for both of them.

On Sept 4, 1888, MARY ETTA and her daughter EMMA arrived by schooner  at their new home, Unga Island Alaska--another treeless, desolate and extremely remote place. I can't even imagine the courage it took for MARY ETTA to leave all that she had ever known to make a life in such a place. At first, they moved into a small house near the beach, as the large frame house that FRANK was building, which was owned by the AC Company, was as yet unfinished. The large house would be the Brown family home for over a decade. See photo below.

My grandmother RUBY told me that MARY ETTA was very, very lonely when she first moved to Unga Island-- especially for female companionship.   Eventually she would befriend some of the native Aleut women, but this was not until quite a bit later. She was very close to her sister ADDIE, but Addie & her husband BILLY HAWTHORNE still lived in Bodie, CA. It is hard to fathom the kind of isolation MARY ETTA & her daughters endured, so far from family & friends.

MARY ETTA and FRANK R. BROWN lived at Unga Island from 1888 until 1904. During that time they had three daughters, but only the youngest GENEVIEVE was actually born on Unga Island (previous to 1894, there were no doctors on the island). And my grandmother wrote that MARY ETTA and her children sailed back and forth several times between Unga Island and California to visit her sister ADDIE.  On the 1893 trip my grandmother RUBY was born, in Alameda, California.

In 1897, the isolation of Unga Island took its toll, and daughter EMMA BROWN age 16, took her own life. No one knows the exact circumstances of her death.

After the Apollo Mine shut down in 1904, the Brown family returned to the "Lower 48",  and settled in  San Francisco. FRANK R BROWN went back up to Nome that same year to prospect for gold, but at that time was already suffering from tuberculosis, and was told by a friend, Dr Call, that he must return to California for his health.

The Browns were living in San Francisco at the time of the 1906 Earthquake. MARY's sister ADDIE KENNEDY and her husband BILLY HAWTHORNE and their daughters also lived at the same address. No one in the family was injured, and apparently their house or apartment was not badly damaged. My great aunt GLADYS BROWN DRYDEN told me of how the Brown girls & their cousins wandered through the streets in the days following the quake. She said they were teenagers at the time, and did not appreciate the seriousness of the situation, or the suffering the quake caused  for so many of San Francisco's residents.

On April 19, 1907,  MARY ETTA KENNEDY BROWN died  in San Francisco, CA.  She was 46 years old. MARY's sister ADDIE and brother-in-law BILLY HAWTHORNE and their daughters continued to live with FRANK R. BROWN and his three daughters, as per the 1910 census.

FRANK R. BROWN continued to go up to Unga Island every summer, and returned "down below" in the winters. He was such a fixture in the community that he became known as "Unga" Brown.  In 1914 he and several others formed the Delaroff Development Company and  sought to work the tailings of the original mine. I am not sure what became of this venture.

FRANK R. BROWN died of tuberculosis June 19, 1939 at the home of his daughter RUBY B. MARTINE, my grandmother, in San Francisco, CA

In 1963, my grandmother RUBY B. MARTINE wrote an excellent article about the Apollo Mine and her childhood on Unga Island for the  Alaskan Sportsman Magazine (now known as Alaska Magazine). It was published, but unfortunately Ruby passed away suddenly, and never saw the article in print.

I inherited the handwritten 1887-1888 diary of FRANK R BROWN after the death of my mother's first cousin Winifred Stetson. I made a full transcription of the diary.  The original volume is currently on loan to the Alaska State Library in Juneau, AK, in the "Winifred Stetson Collection".

All photos in this blog are from my personal collection.

Other related links:

Dan Heller's photos of Bodie, California

1894 letter MARY ETTA KENNEDY BROWN to her sister ADDIE transcribed by me

My webpage on my Bodie & Lundy Ancestors from Betty's Boneyard Genealogy

Have a great day!

Betty

Fearless Females: Nina Martine, Concert Pianist, Shining Star

My great aunt NINA MILLER MARTINE was born Feb 9, 1893 in N. Yamhill, Oregon, the youngest daughter of my maternal great grandparents, CHARLES ALBERT MARTINE and ALICE MILLER. Top row of photo: my maternal grandfather RANDOLPH BENJAMIN "ROLLA" MARTINE;  LIZZIE MAY MARTINE (m NICK NICHOLS); WALTER LLOYD MARTINE. Bottom row: my maternal great grandfather CHARLES ALBERT MARTINE; NINA MARTINE; my maternal great grandmother ALICE (MILLER) MARTINE; FREDERICK EARL MARTINE. Photo taken about 1900 probably Seattle, King Co WA, my collection. 

Just after their marriage in 1880, CHARLES and ALICE (MILLER) MARTINE were living in Chillicothe, Livingston Co  MO. CHARLES' occupation was listed as a grocer in the 1880 census, and I suspect he was working with his father  (my gg grandfather) JOHN F MARTINE and brother-in-law James Asa Myers. Then, by 1884, CHARLES and ALICE MARTINE  moved to Alburqurque NM.  By 1886 they were in Wyandott KA. By 1887 they were living in Kansas City MO, and that is where my grandfather ROLLA was born, in 1888. According to a business directory for Kansas City MO 1887-1891, CHARLES A. MARTINE was working as a bookeeper for the National Bank of Commerce. The family lived first at 612 Elisabeth St in 1887, and then at 924 Ohio St. It appears that they moved to Oregon around 1893, as that is where youngest daughter NINA MILLER MARTINE was born. By 1897 the Martines were living in Seattle, WA, this according to JOHN F. MARTINE's Civil War Pension records. Family members indicate that they lived in the White Center area of S. Seattle. Around 1908 they moved to Stanwood WA in Snohomish Co, not far from where I live now. They were present in the 1910 Stanwood Snohomish Co WA census, but only youngest daughter NINA MARTINE age 14 was living at home. She attended Stanwood High School. CHARLES A. MARTINE is listed in the Polk Business Directory for Stanwood, Snohomish Co WA for the years 1908 through 1915. He was working has a bookeeper for the Bank of Stanwood. After 1915 the Martines moved back to the Seattle area, again to the White Center area. At they end of their lives they had a home at 10602 19th SW, Seattle, King Co WA, according to their death certificates.

NINA MARTINE became a concert pianist of some renown during the early part of the 20th century. The only adult photo I've seen of her (c. 1920, see below) shows an intense-looking woman with bobbed hair and piercing eyes. She graduated from Stanwood High School about 1913. She studied piano in NYC, and taught and performed extensively on the E. Coast. She was affiliated with a music school in Wallingford, Connecticut. She never married. At the end of her life she lived and taught piano in Olympia, WA until the ripe old age of 91, then moved to Oregon to be near her nephew Robert Nichols.  She died in Linn Co Oregon April 6, 1989 at the age of 96. 

Have a great day!

Betty

Happy St. Patrick's Day: Just a Little Bit Irish

One of the most interesting thing I have discovered in my research is that most of my Irish ancestors weren't really Irish. They came from England or Scotland, lived in Ireland for a couple of generations, then moved on to the American Colonies  or Nova Scotia, Canada.

The most documented group I have found thus far are some of the Quaker ancestors of my paternal grandfather, Alonzo Cox Huber, through the lineage of his mother, Caroline Amelia "Cramelia" Frazier.

They were:

--JOHN HUTTON b abt 1629 Lupton, Westmoreland Co England; d abt 1684 probably County Meath, Ireland; m RACHEL LADBURNER. Was living in County Cavan Ireland as early as 1658, where it is noted by Joseph Besse in the book "Suffering of the Quakers" that  "In 1658, John Hutton and other Quakers were taken from a meeting at Co. Cavan and imprisoned eleven days" - Besse II., 464. John Hutton was living in County Meath by 1677, when some of his property was seized for not paying tithes.
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--THOMAS HUTTON b Feb 7, 1659 Lupton, Westmoreland Co England; d June 1736 Rainstown, County Carlow, Ireland; m SARAH STARKEY
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--JOSEPH HUTTON birth registered 1693 Carlow Monthly Meeting, Rainstown, County Carlow, Ireland; d 1735 New Garden MM, Chester Co PA; m MARY MILLER (see below) at New Garden MM, Chester Co PA.

Second family:

--JOHN MILLER b abt 1633 Breckenbrough, Yorkshire, England; d aft 1676 Glin, County Westmeath, Leinster Province, Ireland; m ANN CLIBBORN. Moved  to Ireland in 1657 as a planter, and there was married to wife Ann, daughter of William Clibborn.
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--JOHN MILLER Jr b 1660s Moate, County Westmeath, Leinster Province, Ireland; d aft 1714 Chester Co PA; m MARY IGNEW/AGNEW b abt 1660 County Antrim, Ulster Province, N. Ireland. John Miller Jr &  family were living in Charlemont, County Armagh, Ulster Province, Ireland by 1693.
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--MARY MILLER b abt 1694 Charlemont, County Armagh, Ulster Province, Ireland; d aft 1735 New Garden MM, Chester Co PA; m JOHN MILLER at New Garden Monthly Meeting, Chester Co PA

SOURCE: "Immigration of Irish Quakers to Pennsylvania 1652-1750" by Albert Cook Myers. This is an excellent source.  These Quaker families moved to Ireland to escape religious persecution in England, but of course did not find safe haven until they reached Pennsylvania.

The other group of immigrants from Ireland in my family tree can be found in the ancestry of my maternal grandmother, Ruby Bolton Brown. The majority of her Irish ancestors came from N. Ireland:

--WILLIAM BOLTON b abt 1680 Londonderry, Ulster Province, Ireland; d Sept 10, 1725 Reading, Middlesex Co MA; m ELIZABETH WHITE b April 8, 1688 Andover, Essex Co, MA

--ELIZABETH TOAL b 1730-1740 Ulster Province, N Ireland; parents unknown; died Maitland, Hants Co, Nova Scotia, Canada; m JOHN RANES/RINES b 1730-1740 Corn Hill, Barnstable Co, MA; died Maitland, Hants Co, Nova Scotia.   Apparently JOHN RANES/RINES from MA was conscripted by the British Army to take part in the expulsion of the French Acadians from Nova Scotia. He decided not to return to Massachusetts, settled in Maitland, Hants Co Nova Scotia,  and married Elizabeth Toal. "The first settler in the surroundings of Maitland after the expulsion of the Acadians (1755) was JOHN RANES (later called Rines) from Mass. His first house was on this side of the foundry site, built over an old French cellar. Later he built another house opposite the spring. "  SOURCE: History of Maitland Nova Scotia, EastHants.com website, and  "Rawdon & Douglas: Two Loyalist Townships in Nova Scotia" by John V. Duncanson, p 519- 520

The TOAL surname is the only truly Irish surname I have found in my years of researching my family; it is a variation of O'Toole.


--ELIZABETH Mc LEAN born April 7, 1748 County Down, Ulster Province, N. Ireland; parents unknown; d Nov 3, 1796 Upper Kennetcook, Hants Co, Nova Scotia, Canada; m June 1, 1762 in N. Ireland PATRICK McDONALD who was b March 17, 1727 Invernesshire, Scotland; d Jan 20, 1801 Upper Kennetcook, Hants Co, Nova Scotia.
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ELIZABETH McDONALD b June 24, 1778 probably N. Ireland; d aft 1826 Maitland, Hants Co, Nova Scotia, Canada; m JOHN RINES Jr, son of JOHN RANES/RINES & ELIZABETH TOAL.

SOURCE: "Rawdon & Douglas: Two Loyalist Townships in Nova Scotia" by John V. Duncanson, p 519- 520

See my website Betty's Boneyard or my Rootsweb Online family trees for  full discussion & documentation of these families.

For more on the RANES/RINES family of Nova Scotia & Maine, see my previous posting Sept 2008 "Little Miracles"

Have a great day! Erin go Bragh!

Betty

Tombstone Tuesday: Cordelia H (Rickard) Brown, Old Masonic Lawn Cemetery, Sacramento, CA

This is  the gravestone of my great great grandmother, Cordelia Hicks Rickard born 1830 Kenwyn Parish, Redruth, Cornwall, England,  died at age 45 on Jan 22, 1875 in Sacramento, CA.   For a full discussion of her life, see my previous post Sept 2008, "The Woman in the Picture".  I use her photo for my profile icon on this blog. She married 1st) Henry William Frederick Myers on Jan 29, 1850 in Platteville, Grant Co Wisconsin; and 2nd) to Henry "New Hampshire" Brown on June 1, 1857 in Sacramento, CA

Right next to her grave is my gg grandfather's, Henry "New Hampshire" Brown, who frequently signed his name H N H Brown (Yes, those are my toes).

Next to them are the graves of Cordelia's daughter by her first marriage, Emma J Myers who , who married Walter J Emery. Apparently they never had children.  After Cordelia's death in 1875, Walter & Emma (Myers) Emery raised Phoebe/Phebe C Brown, Cordelia & H N H  Brown's youngest daughter, until their deaths in 1894 (Emma) and 1895 (Walter). Phoebe/Phebe C Brown married  Charles Wallace Rhodes, a Canadian, in 1896 in Sacramento, CA and then moved to Victoria, BC, Canada, where she lived all of her adult life. Her father H N H Brown died the following year, 1897, in Sacramento, CA.


All photos taken by me, 2002, Old Masonic Lawn Cemetery, Sacramento, CA.

Fearless Females: Six Word Memoir Tributes for Women's History Month

Thanks to Liza Alzo The Accidental Genealogist for the great writing prompts for this month.  I sort of missed out on the first half, as I was not writing much on my blog.

In my opinion, one of the most wonderful parts of genealogy research is the joy of finding out the stories of my female ancestors (So many of them remain yet unknown).  So, in essence, every month is Women's History Month, to me.

My six word tributes:

ALICE MARTINE HUBER (mother): Sensitive. Difficult. Craved attention. Unrequited love.

RUBY BOLTON BROWN MARTINE (maternal grandmother): Loving heart. Beautiful. Bon Vivant. Adventurous.

MINTTIE MAE BRUTON HUBER (paternal grandmother): Good cook. Feisty. Mystery to me.


Have a great day!

Betty

Madness Monday: Oh Those Transcription Errors!!

Madness Monday.  Demented ancestors?  Well, yes, actually. There are more than a few "loose branches" in my family tree.  But that's not what I want to talk about today.

I want to discuss the one thing in my genealogy research that burns my butt, rattles my cage and drives me buggy--transcription errors in census and other records.

Now, let me state first of all that I have transcribed more than my fair share of original old documents over the past ten years and I know how hard it can be to decipher the loopy, often illegible handwriting styles of the past. And seriously folks, there were a lot of census takers, especially before 1920, who couldn't spell if their life depended on it--and a transcriber had to be some kind of mind reader to make sense of it. And I know that often transcribers were and are volunteers, and that they have the best intentions. But besides all that,  some of the transcription errors I've found are just plain ludicrous.

The worst offender in my own family tree is the surname BRUTON.  You would not believe how many people see this surname in records, and  just can't accept it as a viable surname. So they transcribe it as BURTON.  This erroneous practice continues to this very day, which is amazing considering a quick search on Google would prove that BRUTON is indeed a real surname and not the same as BURTON. Yes it is largely a southern surname, but the errors in transcription don't seem to be specific to any one part of the US!!

Sheesh.

Ancestry.com now has a way for users to tag & correct transcription errors in the US census index. This is a really helpful tool (That is, when their search engine "decides" to work correctly--ah yes, my love/hate relationship with Ancestry.com--fodder for another day).

As always, your comments appreciated.

Betty



 

It Must Be Spring...

For some reason, I had this incredible urge yesterday to shake things up. Must be the spring-like weather that we have been enjoying recently here in the Pac NW.

So I decided to give my genealogy website Betty's Boneyard a whole new look.  Hard to believe, but it has been eight years since I originally designed the website! Gone is the old turquoise background--lately, even I had trouble reading the text over it. While I was at it,  I made sure all the links REALLY DO work, and  added a couple of transcribed letters which I have been meaning to add to the website.

That little project encouraged me to redecorate my genealogy blog, as you might have noticed. I wanted it to be a little brighter, cheerier, and easier to read than it's previous incarnation.  I added several new features, graphics, etc.  I also changed the name of the blog to Betty's Boneyard Genealogy Blog!

It was a good day's work. And a nice break from all the research I have been doing lately.

And by the way,  thanks to all the folks who are now following my blog!  How exciting!!

Betty

Betty's Online Source of the Week: Dutch Door Genealogy

This is something new that I am trying out.  Every weekend, I'll post a link to a genealogy resource website that I think goes above and beyond the obvious choices.  Ancestry.com, Cyndi's List, US Genweb and FamilySearch are all very good, but there are lots of smaller, independent websites that you may not know about, which provide excellent information.

This week's selection is Dutch Door Genealogy, which has tons of records for Rockland Co NY and Bergen Co NJ, from the 1600s to the 1800s
http://www.dutchdoorgenealogy.com/

Let me know what you think--!

Betty

Looking for Maryland Church Records

I have a number of ancestors who either lived in Maryland for several generations or passed through Maryland on their way to western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Iowa. Recently, with the help of Google books, I have discovered two out-of-print sources that I just can't seem to locate anywhere:

1)MARYLAND GERMAN CHURCH RECORDS Vol 1-14, & 16 by Frederick Sheely Weiser, published 1986. This covers a number of Lutheran & German Reformed Churches in Frederick, Carroll & Washington Co MD.

2) SOMERSET COUNTY MARYLAND COVENTRY PARISH CHURCH RECORDS Vol 1, 1703-1834 by Jody Powell published 1993.

I live in a fairly remote area away from large libraries, LDS centers, etc, and have not been able to locate copies through our local library's inter-library loan service. Have not been able to find copies on Alibris, Amazon.com, or Ebay.

Several people have recommended I ask for look-ups, but since I am researching several different families in several different locations, this seems like a cumbersome proposition to me!! Most folks doing look-ups request that you ask about one person at a time.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Betty