Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Working on Wednesday: Samuel Bixler (1742-1803), Farmer, his Will and Estate Inventory

My maternal ancestor Samuel Bixler* signed his will on May 15, 1797. It begins in the traditional manner by stating his name, place of residence and occupation, and commending his soul to God and his body to "Decent Christian Burial."



When he comes to the distribution of his worldly estate, the first bequest Samuel makes is to provide for his wife Elizabeth and he's quite specific about what she is to have.



"...and as for my Worldly Estate wherewith it has Pleased God to bless me with
in this life I give Devise and dispose of the Same in the following manner
and form - it is my will and Pleasure that my wife Elizabeth shall have
ninety pounds Specie out of my Moveable Estate and a Good bed and bedstead
& furniture thereto belonging and her Spinning Wheel and a good Chest and
all the Puter and Kitching Whear which she brought to me and my son
Peter Shall Keep her a riding creature Suficient for her use and two Cows and
two Sheep and them shall be used as his own and these during her natural
life if she remains a widow but if not it shall fall to my Children again
and it is further my will that my wife Elizabeth Shall have yearly as long as
she remains a widow Twenty Bushels of wheat and ten Bushels of Rye and
fifteen Pounds of Hackelt flax and fifteen Pounds of Toe and one
hundred Pounds of Good Pork and fifty pounds of good beef and one Pair
of Shoes one Bushel of Salt and she shall have Suficient firewood
brought to the Door and cut suficient for her house and she shall have her
Widow Seat in the house where I live in now And shall have the old Gartain
next to the house and room in the Spring house and three of the largest
apple Trees and two rows in the next orchard and two rows in the Ober orchard
and the one third Part of my Personal Estate and all the Linnen & Woollen
Stuff which remains after my Decease and the remainder of my Personal
Estate Shall be Praised after my Decease and Sold and the money shall be
Equally Divided amongst all my Children Excepting my son Samuel..."**
The detail above and my transcription come from FamilySearch's Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999, Frederick County, Wills 1794-1803 vol 3

["Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-24294-37256-52?cc=1803986&wc=SNYC-FM3:146535301,147314001 : accessed 12 August 2015), Frederick > Wills 1794-1803 vol 3 > image 309-310 of 332; Hall of Records, Annapolis.]


Even though in his 1797 will Samuel said he was "weak in Body" he didn't die until four years later and his will was brought to Frederick County's probate court by his oldest surviving son Peter Bixler*** on June 14, 1803. Elizabeth and her brother-in-law Samuel Flickinger, who had both been named as executors along with Peter, signed a document refusing to act in that role, leaving the administration of the estate to Peter.****

In the inventory of Samuel's estate, taken in July of 1803, the total value given was $557.78. It's clear from the list of the livestock and crops in the fields that the property was still a working farm, but in the descriptions of the tools and household goods the words "old" and "broken" appear constantly--what's missing are the things I would expect to find in a house that was occupied. To see what was customary, I looked at inventories taken before and after Samuel's and they list clothing, linens and food supplies (like wheat, coffee and bacon), and although old stuff is included it doesn't predominate.





While it doesn't appear to me that Samuel was living there, the house wasn't derelict--it still held three beds (although no bed linen), some walnut furniture, a clock worth $24 dollars and two iron stoves, a ten plate with pipe ($20)***** and an six plate one ($10). At the end of the inventory list my fourth great grandfather Emanuel Bixler and his brother Benjamin signed the record as the nearest relatives and Peter Bixler, as "Acting Executor" swore on his oath that the foregoing was a "True and Perfect Inventory of all & Singular the Goods and Chattles of the said Deceased that have come into his hands and possession at the time of the making thereof."

All of the detail above comes from FamilySearch's Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999, Frederick County, Inventories 1803-1805 vol 4.

["Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-24262-57284-84?cc=1803986&wc=SNYH-ZNL:146535301,146999701 : accessed 12 August 2015), Frederick > Inventories 1803-1805 vol 4 > image 70-71 of 299; Hall of Records, Annapolis.]


Samuel Bixler, who appeared in the 1790 U.S. Census, is not named anywhere in the 1800 Census which only listed the head of each household. But their 29-year old son Peter's household included a free white man and woman aged 45 or older which would describe Samuel and Elizabeth. I think it's possible (though not provable) that Samuel's health, already poor in 1797, worsened to the point where he and Elizabeth moved in with their son sometime before 1800.

[Year: 1800; Census Place: Westminster, Frederick, Maryland; Series: M32; Roll: 10; Page: 198; Image: 205; Family History Library Film: 193663. Ancestry.com. 1800 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Second Census of the United States, 1800. NARA microfilm publication M32 (52 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Second Census of the United States, 1800]



*He is my maternal fifth great grandfather. His granddaughter Leah Bixler married Frederick Grove (or Groves) and their daughter Delilah's marriage to Dick Worden brings them into my line through my grandmother Anna Delilah Webb.
**Some clarification is needed here, although I think you can guess what "Puter and Kitching Whear" are, unless you happen to be familiar with linen production you wouldn't know what hackled flax is but if you watch this video you'll know all about it. Flax tow is the name given to the shorter fibers left over after hackling; you can see a picture of it here (and buy a pound or two if you want). The "old Gartain" is, I think, a lapse into German (garten) and the "Ober orchard" probably is too. If you want to understand what a spring house, here is a video tour of a stone one in Forks Township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. (We don't know any details about the Bixler's spring house but the principle would be the same.)
***His oldest son Samuel died the previous year.
****You can see 58-year old Elizabeth's signature on this document in my previous post about her here.
*****Read all about this kind of stove here

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Fantastic Find: Missouri, Death Certificates, 1910-1962 now on Ancestry

The Ancestry search form for the Missouri, Death Certificate, 1910-1962.



"Missouri Death Certificates, 1910 - 1964" has been available free for years from the Missouri Digital Heritage through the Missouri Secretary of State's office.  Now it looks like Ancestry has incorporated a search form for that collection through its Ancestry Web Search.

You don't have to have an account with Ancestry to search these records, it just provides a link to the Missouri site--Ancestry already does this with FindAGrave, among other sources.  While the FindAGrave search form on Ancestry is a big improvement on the original site's search form (as I covered here), I found the Ancestry search form for the Missouri Death Certificates to be only slightly more flexible (you can search exact date of death instead of just year and month, and you can also search other locations beside death place).


The advanced search page for the Missouri site.


For an Ancestry user this is a nice addition to the search.  If you are not an Ancestry user you can go directly to the free Missouri site.


A "Brief History of Vital Records in Missouri" here.  There is also a "Missouri Birth & Death Records Database, Pre-1910" that is not as comprehensive as the 1910-1964, but still worth a look.  Ancestry has a collection, "Missouri, Death Records, 1834-1910," that may or may not contain the same set of records as the pre-1910 mentioned above (it's not clear to me, although the Ancestry database description indicates that it comes from the Missouri state archives).



© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Monday Is for Mothers: Mary (Polly) Gates (1809 - 1883)

Almost everything we know about this maternal third great grandmother comes from census records. She was born in New York in 1809 and may have been the daughter of Joseph Gates (1776-1854) who was living in Otsego County by 1810. Her mother's name isn't known for certain, although she may have been a Burdick or a Partridge.

Joseph Gates and his family were living in Virgil in Courtland County, New York, by 1820 and that's probably where Polly* married David Darling (1805-1895)** around 1830.

[A Map of the State Of New York. Compiled from the latest authorities; including the Turnpike Roads now granted as also the principal common roads connected therewith. Intended as well for the Student in Geography as a directory to the Traveller.
By Wm. McCalpin. Oxford, 1808. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]


Polly and David and their growing family remained in Courtland County for the next two U.S. Census enumerations. In the 1850 Census for Harford, New York, we see Polly's name for the first time.***

[Year: 1850; Census Place: Harford, Cortland, New York; Roll: M432_493; Page: 425B; Image: 605. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]


[Colton's Township Map Of The State Of Iowa Compiled from the United States Surveys, & other Authentic Sources. Published By J.H. Colton. No. 86 Cedar St. New York. 1851. Entered ... 1851, by J.H. Colton ... New York. Drawn by Geo W. Colton. Engraved by J.M. Atwood. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]


But the 1852 Iowa State Census shows that the Darlings had moved to Fairview Township in Jones County. Their daughter Olive, died there on January 15th of that year and is buried in Norwich Cemetery.


[Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.]


Just David is named in Iowa's 1854 census which only included heads of household, but the whole family is enumerated in the 1856 census.****

[Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.]


By the 1860 U.S. Census, their only child left at home is 19-year old Amanda, who six year later will become the second wife of my great great grandfather George Marion Tomlinson.

[Year: 1860; Census Place: Fairview, Jones, Iowa; Roll: M653_328; Page: 593; Image: 585; Family History Library Film: 803328. Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. ]


In the 1870 U.S. Census, Polly and David had been joined by their widowed daughter Lovenia whose husband Corporal Moses Sipe had died of pneumonia in Helena, Arkansas, in 1862. Their 11-year old grandson George Sipe is living there too.

[Year: 1870; Census Place: Fairview, Jones, Iowa; Roll: M593_401; Page: 67A; Image: 137; Family History Library Film: 545900. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]


The 1880 U.S. Census is the last enumeration that Polly appears in. She and David are living alone.

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Fairview, Jones, Iowa; Roll: 348; Family History Film: 1254348; Page: 433B; Enumeration District: 336; Image: 0450. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Three years later, on May 14, 1883, Polly died and was buried next to her daughter Olive in Norwich Cemetery. David survived her by 12 years, dying on January 28, 1895, possibly in Boulder County, Colorado.

[Photo by Earl Munday (#46874433); findagrave.com]


*Polly is a traditional nickname for Mary.
**The Darlings left their native Rhode Island when David was about 11 and after first settling in Chenango County, New York, were living in Virgil by 1825.
***My direct ancestor Mercy A. Darling (Webb-Walsh) is their second daughter.
****Note that there's a Webb family living nearby--are they related to the two Webb men, Abner and Jesse Sill, who married my great great grandmother Mercy and her sister Nancy Adelia?

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Sunday Drive: Curreys and Travel Trailer #2

This is the travel trailer that the Curreys had during the 1940s and up until 1952. The earlier photos were taken before I arrived on the scene and the trailer is being towed by a pre-war Dodge truck.* The color slides were taken in 1951 during our trip to South Dakota to visit Bernice's father; the tow vehicle is a post-war Dodge.

[Location unknown]

[Possibly at Agua Caliente County Park]


[Parked in front of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C.]

[At Indio, California]

[Grenfell Ranch, Lawrence County, South Dakota]
[Shell Highway Map of South Dakota, 1949. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]


*I can't tell the exact year--it could be 1939, 1940 or 1941. Whatever the year, I'm certain the truck was red, Dad's favorite color.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Fantastic Find: "Personal Ads in Historic Oregon Newspapers" from the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program

"Mrs. Cookson of Fairfield, Me., Comes Across the Continent to Wed H. E. Nosler of Bonny Doon." Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California), 22 Jul 1905, pg 12; digital image, accessed 26 Sep 2015 from Newspapers.com.

Harrison Elcanah Nosler (1846-1916, my 1st cousin 3x removed), a woodsman and resident of Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz, California, apparently advertised for a wife in "a matrimonial paper."  I haven't found the ad (yet), but I did find a great article, "Searching for Love in All the Right Pages: Personal Ads in Historic Oregon Newspapers," written by "srabun" in 2011 about personal ads in Oregon before Match.com.

The Project blog for Historic Newspapers Online in general is great for getting ideas on mining the online Oregon newspapers.




© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Family Friday: John Henry O'Brien (1868 - 1942) and Fitzgerald Kin

I love this photo--even the dog looks very serious. It's on another page of the family scrapbook assembled by best friend's Aunt Janette Trainer.

Taken about 1898 in the Klondike and titled "Fitzgerald Camp, Wright Creek"* it depicts Bonnie's 30-year old great uncle John Henry O'Brien who had left Indiana that year to join the Alaska Gold Rush.** "Uncle Billy Fitz" might be his mother Jane's sibling William L. T. Fitzgerald (1839-1920) or he could be one of her cousins, another William Fitzgerald (1844-1917) because "Chas Fitz" is his son Charles J. Fitzgerald (1878-1957).***


[Courtesy of B. Poppe]

[The Gold and Coal Fields of Alaska, Together With The Principal Steamer Routes and Trails. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Charles D. Walcott, Director. Note: Published January, 1898. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]




It's clear that John didn't strike it rich in the Klondike because in the 1900 Census of Alaska John O'Brien was working on the White Pass & Yukon Railway**** construction as a "plummer."

[Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.:
National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.]



*The name of the photographers appears to be M. Bros. which I haven't been able to identify so far. The only Wright Creek I find is in British Columbia.
**There is an enormous amount of information about the Gold Rush online, if you want to know more this is a great place to start.
***I'm so confused. Maybe Bonnie can clarify this? Also, since I have no idea who "Alice luley" could be, I can't identify her uncle and grandfather, the only other men labeled in the photo.
****This narrow-gauge railroad is still in operation. you can visit their website here which includes a link to a 1900 magazine article here.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Fantastic Find: Heather Collins' Video Series on Genetic Genealogy

"Introduction to using GEDmatch.com. Understanding the One-to-Many list, the One-to-One Comparison, and the Admixture utilities."

This video, "Genetic Genealogy for Beginners: Part 3" by Heather Collins, a blogger at Young & Savvy Genealogists and a fellow GEDmatch enthusiast, is possibly my favorite yet on using GEDmatch.  I'm shocked at how few views this video has gotten.


Other videos in the series:
"Thinking about taking a DNA test as part of your genealogy research? There are some things you need to know first. SNPs, centimorgans, and phasing are where we'll begin."

"A continuing introduction to genetic genealogy and DNA testing. Covers an introduction to chromosome browsers, false matches, and the matching criteria of 23&Me, Family Tree DNA, and AncestryDNA."


Here and here for my previous blog posts on videos made about using GEDmatch.








© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Working on Wednesday: Orville Tracy Porter (1838 - 1916) North to Alaska

The son of Martha Shepard (1800-1875) and William Porter (1796-1868), this paternal great great grandfather Orville Tracy "O.T." Porter was born in Mexico (Oswego County, New York) on November 23, 1838. The 1850 U.S. Census listed him as attending school, and by the 1855 New York State Census, 17-year old Orville was described as a "Farmer" in the household of his older brother Charles Dixon Porter.*

[Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1855. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.]

O.T. must not have found farming the life he wanted to dedicate himself to because in 1860 he traveled to Oregon, although sources are divided whether he arrived via Panama or around Cape Horn.**

In her book  "..And This Is Our Heritage," Esther Moreland Leithold gives a brief description of Orville in 1862 when he courted and married my great great grandmother Matilda "Puggie" Biddle (1846-1927)*** who was living in Corvallis with her parents.
"Puggie was then sixteen; and, as she was living in a country where eligible young men outnumbered young women, of their own class, almost six to one, she had many admirers with matrimonial designs. Among those who saw Puggie most frequently was a handsome young teacher named Orville Porter, who had alluring brown eyes and an engaging manner. He was very intelligent, and was always employed; but he lacked the accumulative instinct,--the ability to spend less than he made;--and, while Robert liked him personally, he did not consider him a suitable husband for his daughter; and was very glad to have her at the Agency (the Indian Agency) where should would not see the charming Orville for awhile."
But parental objections didn't stop the pair from getting together.
"Each day she walked down to town to get the mail and the needed supplies for the house; and if she went at the right time (which she usually did) Orville Porter would walk home with her, and stay, to sit on the front porch, until time for him to return to his work. Then on Sunday afternoons he would stay until time for the evening Church Service and walk, with her, to the church. No one thought seriously of their friendship: but, on the morning of August 26th, he drove up to the house in a buggy; and Puggie went out, carrying a hat-box, to join him. She did not tell anyone where she was going: but, before the day was over, the secret had leaked out, and the family learned that they had gone to Albany to be married: and there they remained for a wonderful two day's honeymoon at the St. Charles Hotel."
In the 1870 U.S. Census for Waitsburg, Walla Walla County, Washington Territory, O.T.'s occupation was listed as school teacher and the household includes Matilda and three children, the youngest of which was born in 1868 in the territory so the family must have moved there sometime after Walter's birth two years earlier in Oregon.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

The Porters didn't remain in Washington and were living in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon, where O.T. began publishing a weekly newspaper, The Nucleus, amid high hopes for the area.
"The centennial year of 1876 saw the birth of journalism in Harrisburg, when O. T. Porter started the Nucleus, a four-page Saturday weekly, Republican, 22x32, for which he charged $2.50 a year.
Like a good many other newspapers of the period, the Nucleus had a mission and frankly proclaimed it. In Pettengill’s newspaper directory for 1878 the publisher, announcing a circulation of 400, and proclaiming that “it will soon . . . possibly treble its circulation,” declared that “portions of Linn, Lane, and Benton counties are destined, at no distant day, to be separated and form a new county, with Harrisburg as the county seat. The Nucleus will be THE newspaper of Nucleus county. . . . Circulation in six incorporated villages.” In Ayer’s for the same year Porter asserted that the Nucleus “circulates as the local journal of Brownsville, Halsey, Junction, and Harrisburg, none of which has a smaller population than 300, all incorporated.” 
The ambitious dreams of Mr. Porter failed to save his little paper. Brownsville and Junction proceeded at once to establish their own papers, and within three years the Nucleus was not."****
O.T.'s occupation is listed as Editor in the 1880 U.S. Census when he and his expanding family were still living in Harrisburg.



[Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

According to his Oregon Biographical Index Card File 1900-1986, over his newspaper career had papers not only in Harrisburg, but also Albany,***** Waitsburg (Washington), and Healdsburg, California, probably where his youngest child was born. His editorial support during the 1888 election must have been the reason he was given a juicy political appointment, that of U.S. Marshall****** and Surveyor General (ex officio) of Alaska, by newly-elected Republican President Benjamin Harrison in 1889.


[Official Register of the United States ..., Volume 1, U.S. Government Printing Office 1892, Google Books]


We don't know at what point O.T. and Matilda's marriage ended but he married Carrie Delph****** in Sitka in 1890. She had come to Alaska a year earlier to teach at a missionary school sponsored by the Presbyterian Church.


As the only U.S. Marshall for all of Alaska, O.T. kept busy not only professionally but also personally. He was elected Treasurer of the Alaska Historical Society in December of 1889, co-authored a book of poems about Alaska, and collected Native Art. Some of his actions made the national news.

[Date: Wednesday, May 14, 1890   Paper: New York Herald (New York, New York)   Issue: 134   Page: 7 . This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.Source: GenealogyBank.com]

[Date: Friday, January 12, 1894   Paper: Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, New Mexico)   Volume: 30   Issue: 275   Page: 1. This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004
Source: GenealogyBank.com]

Since it was a political appointment, it must have been clear to O.T. that when Harrison lost the 1892 election to Democrat Grover Cleveland his job as Marshall was in jeopardy and he was replaced by Louis L. Williams in 1894.

By the 1900 U.S. Census O.T. and Callie were living in West Albany, in the same ward and enumeration district of the city as the "widowed" Matilda Porter and their youngest child Chester A. Porter, a 15-year old student.


[Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.:
National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.]

The 1905 Albany City Directory gives their addresses; note that O.T. had become a Justice of the Peace by then.
[Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Title : Albany, Oregon, City Directory, 1905]

And O.T. and Carrie were still living in the same area as the "widowed" Matilda who was now residing in the household of her daughter Alice's family in the 1910 U.S. Census.

Orville Porter died on January 30, 1916.


[Date: Monday, January 31, 1916   Paper: Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)   Volume: LV   Issue: 17220   Page: 4   Piece: One of Two. This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004
Source: GenealogyBank.com]

As an example of how obituaries are not always accurate, of the eight children O.T. and Matilda had together, five survived him. Somehow his oldest child, my great grandfather Tracy Darrow Porter, another newspaperman, who was alive and well in Mississippi at the time wasn't mentioned at all.

Matilda survived him by 11 years, Carrie by 17.


*Although Charles is listed as head of household, both parents and two elderly aunts are living there too.
**Orville's obituary states that he came by way of Panama; the Oregon Biographical Index Card File 1900-1986 says via Cape Horn.
***She was the daughter of Benjamin Robert "B.R." Biddle (1808-1882) and Maria Evans (1814-1899).
****Source for this quote from Linn County Roots here.
*****Linn County Roots names him as a partner in the Albany Herald by 1883 here.
******You can read more about Carrie on a blog post by a member of the Delph family here.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Some Notes About Joshua Shepard



It's always nice to find an obituary of an ancestor that reflects how well thought of he was.  Saturday, September 1, 1804, New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire), vol 6, issue 285, pg 3. from GenealogyBank.com

My 5th great grandfather, Joshua Shepard (1753-1804), yeoman and Revolutionary War veteran, son of Jonathan Shepard and Love Palmer, died intestate on 22 August 1804 in Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire, at a relatively young age, with minor children including my four year old ancestress Martha "Patty" Shepard (b. 1800, married William Porter). Elsewhere in the probate it showed Cyrus Kingsbury was appointed to be guardian of Patty and her sisters Caty (who had turned 9 just days before Joshua's death) and Polly (about 8).  

His death warranted notice in a variety of newspapers at the time, from New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania.  I'm surprised there were no mentions in Connecticut papers, where Joshua was born, but maybe that is just reflection on GenealogyBank's holdings. 

Using GenealogyBank and restricting the search to "Joshua Shepard" in 1804, I found his death was reported from late August 1804 to mid-September 1804, from Maine all the way down until Doylestown, Pennsylvania (marked red dots).  The green arrow indicates approximate location of Alstead.  Image is from Abraham Bradley's postal routes in 1796 (Abraham Bradley's Map of the United States, exhibiting the post-roads, the situations, connections & distances of the post-offices, stage roads, counties, ports of entry and delivery for foreign vessels, and the principal rivers (Philadelphia: William Harrison, c. 1796); digital image, Library of Congress Geography and Map collection (http://www.loc.gov/resource/g3700.ct003710/ : accessed 22 Sep 2015).


Joshua's wife, my 5th great grandmother Lucy Farnsworth (born 1762), had to go to the court in Jaffrey, Cheshire, New Hampshire (over 36 miles) to file as administratrix.


Lucy (Farnsworth) Shepard's application to be administratrix of her late husband's estate.  This document shows that Joshua's wife was named Lucy and that her brother was Joseph Farnsworth.  This information was already known to me, but it is nice to see confirmation of what I already have. Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Joshua Shepard probate file No. 114, Estate Files, S58-S143, 1793-1807: digital images, "New Hampshire, Wills and Probate Records, 1643-1982", Ancestry (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8996 : accessed 22 Sep 2015), search "Joshua Shepard."

A transcription:

To Abel Parker Esp. Judge of the probate of Wills &(?) for the County of Cheshire
Respectfully sheweth Lucy Shepard that she was the lawful wife of Joshua Shepard of Alstead in said county deceased whereby administration of the estate of said Joshua by law belongs to her.
She therefore prays that the administration of the estate aforesaid may be granted to her together with her brother Joseph Farnsworth of said Alstead
Dated(?) at Jaffrey the 3d day of Sept. 1804
Lucy Shepard





* Joshua's service record from Fold3.
* This is the most relevant set of laws in place I could find for New Hampshire c. 1804: The Laws of the State of New Hampshire: The Constitution of the State of New-Hampshire, and the Consitution of the United States, with Its Proposed Amendments. by J. Melcher, 1797.  I only briefly examined the work, but put it here in case I should need to consult it regarding the laws of probate.




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