Two Different Men With Same Name: Part One MATTHIAS CLINE of Bedford Co Pennsylvania

One of the fortunate parts of sheltering in place  during this time of coronavirus is having many hours to devote to genealogy research!  So for the past six weeks, I've been taking research requests from friends & family.

I was asked to research the ancestry of MATTHIAS CLINE, father of Dr JACOB ALONZO CLINE b 1822 Bracken Co Kentucky, who was married twice, 1st to REBECCA HARVEY  1 June 1843 in Rush County, Indiana, and 2nd to MARY DEMPSEY 1871 in Montana.

Practically the only document or clue relating to this MATTHIAS CLINE is a newspaper article written in 1931 Rush County Indiana about MATTHIAS'  son CONRAD "COONROD" CLINE, who also was born in Bracken Co Kentucky, and also was a resident of Rush County, Indiana.

The article states that MATTHIAS CLINE, father of CONRAD CLINE, was "of Bedford County, Pennsylvania".

Sure enough, there was a MATTHIAS CLINE of the correct age who lived in Bedford County, Pennsylvania up until his death in 1846.  He married PHOEBE SOLEY, daughter of THOMAS SOLEY, 21 September 1794 in Perkiomen Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

And as I dug deeper into this person and his family, several facts emerged which clearly show that this MATTHIAS was not the father of CONRAD CLINE and Dr JACOB ALONZO CLINE.

Fact One: This MATTHIAS CLINE, born about 1770,  never lived in Bracken County, Kentucky.  He is in census records from 1800 until 1840;  in Belfast Township in 1800, but in  Dublin Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania 1810-1840.

Fact Two:  This MATTHIAS CLINE left a will dated 21 Aug 1845, which does not name his wife, but does name his children:

--WILSON L CLINE
--MATTHIAS CLINE Jr
--JESSE M CLINE
--JOHN DAVIS CLINE
--ELIZA, wife of PETER KUHN

His will does not include CONRAD or JACOB.

However, the will does mentions his sister BARBARA, indicating that if she bequeathed any real estate, money or property, that it was to be divided equally between his children.




The mention of a sister owning land really piqued my interest. It was not common in 1846 for a woman to own land unless she had inherited it from either her husband or her father.  Could she have been unmarried?  I began wondering if I could find this sister BARBARA, and whether or not she also migrated from Montgomery County to Bedford County Pennsylvania.

First off, I wanted to find out who MATTHIAS CLINE's parents were, if I could, to see if I could find a will which named both MATTHIAS and BARBARA.  I started by searching early census records to see exactly which CLINEs were living in Montgomery County at about the time that MATTHIAS married PHOEBE SOLEY.

I eventually narrowed the search to a MICHAEL CLINE born about 1750, who was of the correct age  to be MATTHIAS' father and who lived in Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania from about 1785 until 1807.

Fortunately, the US Genweb site for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania had a good selection of will abstracts, and low & behold!  I found MICHAEL CLINE's 1807 will:

Wife not mentioned; children of my son HENRY; children of my son MATTHIAS; sons PETER & JOHN; daughter BARBARA to have 3 acres of land.  

Later I found a copy of the original will



This definitely seemed to be the correct BARBARA,  mentioned both in MATTHIAS CLINE's 1846 Bedford County Pennsylvania will and in  MICHAEL CLINE's 1807 Montgomery County Pennsylvania will!  But I wanted a little more proof.

With a little further investigating, I found BARBARA CLINE in the 1850 census Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, an unmarried woman age 66, with 3 other unmarried women in household, likely boarders.  Her brother PETER CLINE  lived nearby with his family.

Rarely do I get this lucky with genealogical research!  The key factor in my success with this family was that both MICHEAL CLINE and his son MATTHIAS CLINE remained in the same location for 40-50 years, and both left detailed wills. BARBARA CLINE & her brother PETER CLINE lived in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania all their lives, and BARBARA CLINE never married. Apparently BARBARA did leave a will, but I have yet to find a copy.

But this research raised the question: if this MATTHIAS CLINE who died 1846 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania was not the father of CONRAD CLINE and Dr JACOB ALONZO CLINE, both born in Bracken County, Kentucky, then who was?

Stay Tuned for Part Two!


Be well, be safe, stay home & research on!


Betty

© Betty Tartas  2020

2010-2020: Reflections on A Decade in Genealogy

This past year I have been much more involved in researching genealogy, rather than writing about it. But as the year comes to an end, I feel I must publish at least one more blog post, just to show that I have not abandoned this blog altogether!

Here are some of the amazing developments in my genealogical life over the last decade!

--Researched and documented the Mayflower ancestors in the lineage of my maternal grandmother, RUBY BOLTON BROWN. Submitted the pedigree and documentation to the Mayflower Society in 2010; it was approved in 2011.

--Helped start a local genealogy group, Tree Climbers,  in 2011. We are still meeting every month.  Last year two of us organized and taught a "Genealogy & DNA" class for our local Senior College.

--Had my DNA tested with 23andMe, and FamilyTree DNA, then uploaded to Gedmatch, and later MyHeritage.  Most interesting genealogical adventure ever!

--Through DNA testing, discovered that my paternal great grandfather PHILLIP LUTHER HUBER, who was presumed dead in 1888 Marshalltown, Iowa, in fact ran away, remarried and started a second family in 1897 in Nashville, Tennessee.  I have several DNA matches with descendants from this second family.

--DNA testing finally laid to rest the family legend that my paternal grandmother MINTIE MAE (BRUTON) HUBER was half Cherokee through her maternal WHITECOTTON family. She was not, and they were not-- although  there is a definite connection to several Melungeon families of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee, who have Native American, European and African ancestry.

--This past decade has seen a tremendous upsurge in new sources of records online!! With the Cornwall Online Parish Records website, I was able to trace my great x 2 grandmother CORDELIA RICKARD and her family back to the 1600's in Kenwyn Parish, Cornwall, where they lived for many generations.  Surnames include RICKARD, HICKS, GILBERT, VARLEY, GILL, WEARN/WARNE and more.   I now have solid DNA matches to descendants of Cordelia's ancestors in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

--Discovered my Canadian roots through the families of my great x 3 grandparents JOHN KENNEDY and ELIZABETH BETSY RINES. Their ancestors were Scottish immigrant to Hants County, Nova Scotia.  I now have numerous DNA matches to descendants of this couple. 

--Visited many graveyards. Took lots of photos.  

--Met lots of cousins. Lots and lots of cousins!

--Researched the amazing and historical Virginia ancestry of my great grandmother ALICE (MILLER) MARTINE.  Earliest ancestors were at Jamestown. Many connections to both US Presidents and English royalty. And sadly, lots of plantations and slaves.

--Came to fully understand my Quaker ancestry through my paternal great grandmother CAROLINE AMELIA "CRAMELIA" FRAZIER, the wife of PHILLIP LUTHER HUBER.  Lots of abolitionists and the Indiana Underground Railway.  Many, many DNA matches to this Quaker FRAZIER family--including several matches who were adoptees, and with my extensive list of matches & well-researched tree, were able to find their birth families.

--Through DNA testing, I discovered that my 1st cousin had a son he never knew existed, born in Viet Nam, now living in Australia.  He came to the US to meet his father in 2018, and we  visited him in Australia  in 2019. One of the most wonderful experiences ever!

-- Also discovered through DNA testing that an uncle fathered an illegitimate child while he was in high school.  Sadly, the descendant of that child is very upset and not open to contact.

--Attended the Northwest Genealogy Conference--more than once.  It's hosted by the Stilliguamish Valley Genealogy Society.  Speakers included CeCe Moore, Blaine Bettinger, Judy G Russell--need I say more?

--Recently I have been enjoying the upsurge of new tools available to analyze DNA matches.  Personally, I have found DNAPainter to be particularly useful. Auto-clustering from Genetic Affairs can be exceptional helpful, especially if you are just starting to analyze your matches.  Thank you, Jonny Perl and Evert-Jan Blom for creating such amazing tools!


May you have a happy, healthy & prosperous New Year, filled with exciting genealogy discoveries.

Betty Tartas

© Betty Tartas  2019