I Finally Found Matilda Biddle Porter's Obituary!

A couple years ago I posted some plans to research my 3rd great grandmother Matilda Biddle's obituary.  Thankfully Newspapers.com beat me to the punch and I found two variations of her obituary last week.  I may eventually see if I can find Newport, Oregon newspapers mentioning her death, but for now at least I have something!

Unfortunately, most of the information given in the obituary is about her father and her ex-husband, not her.

Corvallis Gazette-Times (accessed from Newspaper.com)
(Corvallis, Oregon)
27 Aug 1927, Sat  • Page 6

Mrs. Porter Dead
Member of Pioneer Benton Family Dies at Home at Newport
Mrs. Matilda Biddle Porter, wife of Orville T. Porter, one of Benton county's early residents, died late yesterday afternoon at the family home at Newport.  The body was brought to Corvallis and prepared for burial and the funeral will be held Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the grave in the I. O. O. F. cemetery.  Rev. E. J. Harper of the Madison street Methodist church will officiate. 

Mrs. Porter was born February 22, 1846, in Springfield, Ill., but apparently came west during her childhood.  She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin R. Biddle, pioneers of Benton county.  From meagre information that could be obtained, it is believed Mrs. Porter's father was Dr. R. B. Biddle, a prominent dentist in Corvallis in the early '70s, who after retiring to Pleasant Valley, 1 1/2 miles south of Philomath, established a short course in dentistry which was probably the first dental college in Oregon.  George Biddle, a brother, is said to have become a leading dentist in Eugene. 

Mrs. Porter was aged 81 years.  She is survived by a daughter who resides in Albany and a son in Seattle.  No definite information regarding the family could be obtained.

Corvallis Gazette-Times (accessed from Newspapers.com)
(Corvallis, Oregon)
30 Aug 1927, Tue  • Page 3

Was of Pioneer Family - The remains of the late Mrs. Matilda Biddle Porter, widow of Orville Porter, were interred Sunday in the I. O. O. F. cemeteryq [sic] where a brief service was conducted by Rev. E. J. Harper.  Mrs. Porter died Friday at the family home at Newport where she had resided in late years.  She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin R. Biddle who crossed the plains to Oregon in 1850, and rode in a wagon with W. B. Carter, and early editor of the Gazette, as driver.  The Porters lived in Corvallis a number of years and Mr. Porter was a teacher here.  He organized bands, was editor of a Republican paper in Albany for a time and later was a member of the Indian commission in Alaska.  He died 15 years ago.  Dr. Biddle, father of Mrs. Porter, was a prominent dentist of the 70's.  There is a brother, Dr. E. W. Biddle of Hillsborough, Cal. A daughter residing in Albany and a son in Seattle survive.

Related posts for Matilda:

Monday Is for Mothers: Matilda Biddle (1846 - 1927)
Hat Tip to Those Relatives Who Wrote Their Stories Down, Part 2
Monday Is for Mothers: Maria Evans (1814 - 1899) Part 1
Working on Wednesday: Orville Tracy Porter (1838 - 1916) North to Alaska
52 Ancestors in 54 Weeks: Week 5: Tracy Darrow Porter
Orville Tracy Porter: Divorce and Marriage
Monday Is for Mothers: Sarah Emma Biddle Spencer (1842 - 1868)

© 2019 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Orville Tracy Porter: Divorce and Marriage

When I posted about O.T. Porter in 2015, we didn't know when this paternal great great grandfather's marriage to Matilda Biddle Porter ended but it appears that my daughter found a notice in an Albany, Oregon, newspaper dated November 2, 1888.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[The state rights democrat. (Albany, Or.) 1865-1900, November 02, 1888, Image 4]

What drew me to O.T.'s profile today was one of those green leaves that denotes a hint from Ancestry which turned out to be the 1890 marriage certificate for his marriage to Carrie Delph in Sitka, Alaska, on August 21, 1890.

[Alaska State Archives; Juneau, Alaska; Description: Marriage Certificates, 1890 - 1913; Reference Number: VS 2999; Volume: Vol. 1. Ancestry.com. Alaska, Vital Records, 1818 -1963 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.]

Alonzo E. Austin, the Presbyterian minister who performed the ceremony, was the chaplain of the Industrial Training School where Carrie was teaching when she met my great great grandfather.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Memento Mori: Oak Mound Cemetery - Healdsburg, California

Early Oregon pioneers Benjamin R. and Maria (Evans) Biddle, a pair of my paternal three-times great grandparents, are buried in this shaded plot. One of their sons (Edwin Webber Biddle 1849-1928), his wife Delora and their son Chester Edwin Biddle are also buried there.

[Courtesy of Nick Juran]

This photograph was taken by a friend who lives in Northern California and kindly volunteered to visit their graves and take some photos.

My direct ancestor, their daughter Matilda Biddle Porter (1846-1928) is buried in Corvallis, Oregon.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Old News, But New To Me: Play the Oregon Trail Game Online

The other night Tessa Keogh presented "Researching Your Oregon Ancestors" at Legacy Family Tree Webinars, and at the end she mentioned that the 1990*** video game "The Oregon Trail" is available to play at Internet Archive. 

My 4th great grandfather B. R. Biddle successfully brought his family over the trail to Corvallis in 1852.

***The original game was first developed in 1971!

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Sarah Emma Biddle Spencer (1842 - 1868)

Sarah Emma, one of my paternal third great aunts, was not quite ten years old when her father returned from the West and packed up his whole family and moved with them to the Oregon Territory.*

[From the Barton/Cardwell/Chalmers/Babler/Fortier Family Tree

of Delby46 on Ancestry.com]

At 17 she married William H. Spencer:

[Ancestry.com. Oregon, Biographical and Other Index Card File, 1700s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:

Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

Original data: Oregon, Biographical and Other Cards. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon.]

Her only child was born two years later and died at 15 months:

[Ancestry.com. Oregon, Biographical and Other Index Card File, 1700s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:

Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

Original data: Oregon, Biographical and Other Cards. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon.]

Today I found Sarah Emma's 1868 obituary at Newspapers.com:

[30 May 1868, Page 3 - Corvallis Gazette-Times at Newspapers.com]

She's buried next to her son in the IOOF Cemetery in Corvallis, Oregon.


*She was just over three years older than her sister Matilda "Puggie" (my great great grandmother).

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Robert Bittle (abt 1720-1795) Gets a Land Grant in 1750 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia

My 7th great grandfather Robert Bittle's 1750 land grant in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  Quite some boilerplate language, but then they were still a colony of England and subject to English law.  Virginia. Colonial Land Office. Land Office Patents No. 29, 1749-1751 (v.1 & 2 p.1-532), p. 288 (Reel 27).  Robert Bittle, grantee, Isle of Wight county, Land grant 3 November 1750; digital images, Library of Virginia catalog (http://image.lva.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/GetLONN.pl?first=288&last=&g_p=P29&collection=LO Patent : 25 March 2017).

Robt. Bittle 150
George the second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith etc.
To all whom there Presents shall come Greeting Know Ye that for divers good causes and
Considerations but more especially for and in consideration of the Sum of Fifteen Shillings of good
and lawful Money for our Use paid to our Receiver General of our Revenues in the this our Colony and
Dominion of Virginia We have given granted and confirmed and by these Presents for us our
Heirs and Successors do give grant and conform unto Robert Bittle one certain Tract or Parcel of Land
containing one hundred and fifty acres lying and being in the County of Isle of Wight on the South
Side of Nottoway River and bounded as followeth, to wit, Beginning at a small black oak a Corner
of Samuel Lucy's Land in the Fork of Cocks Swamps Thence north East fifty eight poles to a white
Oak Then north thirty five Degrees West one hundred and ninety Poles to a Hiccory Thence
north seventy five Degrees West one hundred and thirty five Poles to a Pine then South
twenty five Degrees West thirty six Poles to a black Oak Then South forty Degrees East sixty
two Poles to a white Oak Then South eighty seven Degrees East seventeen Poles to a red Oak
a Corner of William Brooks Land Then by the said Brooks Lines South fifty Degrees East
forty three Poles to a black Oak and South twenty Degrees East one hundred and sixteen Poles
to a Hiccory Saplin in Samuel Lucy's Line aforesaid Then by the said Lucy's Line South eighty
Degrees East eighty four Poles to the Beginning With All Woods Underwoods Swamps
Marshes Lowgrounds Meadows Feedings and his due Share of all Veins Mines and Quarries
as well discovered as not discovered within the Bounds aforesaid and being Part of the said
Quantity of one hundred and fifty acres of Land and the Rivers Waters and WaterCourses
therein contained together with the Privileges of Hunting Hawking Fishing Fowling and all 
other Profits Commodities and Heredetaments whatsoever to the same or any Part thereof
belonging or in anywise appertaining to have hold possess and enjoy the said tract or
Parcel of Land and all other the before granted Premises and every Part thereof with their and
every of their Appurtenances and the said Robert Bittle and to his heirs and Assigns forever
to the only Use and Behoof of him the said Robert Bittle his heirs and Assigns forever
To be held of us our Heirs and Successors as of our Mannor of East Greenwich in the
County of Kent in free and common Soccage and not in Capite or by Knight's Service
Yielding and Paying unto us our heirs and Successors for every fifty Acres of Land
and so proportionably for a lesser or greater Quantity than fifty acres the Fee Rent of one
Shilling yearly to be paid upon the Feast of Saint Michael the Arch Angel and also
cultivating and improving three Acres Part of every fifty of the Tract abovementioned
within three Years after the Date of these Presents Provided always that if three
Years of the said Fee Rent shall at any Time be in Arrear and unpaid or if the said

page 289 of the same land grant.

Robert Bittle his heirs or Assigns do not within the Space of three Years next coming after the Date of
these ^Presents cultivate and improve three acres part of every fifty of the Tract above mentioned then the Estate
hereby granted shall cease and be utterly determined and thereafter it shall and may be lawfull to
and for us our heirs and Successors to grant the same Lands and Premises with with the Appurtences 
unto such other Person or Persons as we our heirs and Successors shall think fit In Witness
whereof we have caused these our Letters Patent to be made Witness our Trusty and Welbeloved
Thomas Lee Esp. President of our Council and Commander in Chief of our said Colony and Dominion
at Williamsburgh under the Seal our said Colony the third Day of November One Thousand
seven hundred and fifty in the twenty fourth year of our Reign.
                                                                 Thomas Lee P.


I keep using the big aggregate websites like FamilySearch and Ancestry.  When I remember to look at state resources, like the Library of Virginia, it amazes me what is available there.

I just typed in Robert Bittle and actually came up with a record on him!  I need to play around with what this Library of Virginia catalog offers since I have so many people who came from Virginia in the Colonial era.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My 7th Great Grandfather Robert Bittle (abt 1720-abt 1795) Was on a Slave Patrol in Southampton County, Virginia

Google Books often provides a limited preview to recently published books, like the one I came across today while searching for my Bittle ancestors in 18th century Southampton County, Virginia, "Lethal Imagination: Violence and Brutality in American History," edited by Michael A. Bellesiles (also available on Amazon).

From page 73:

From these patrol-created files we can learn much about the pattern of violence that slaves experienced in colonial Virginia at the hands of whites who were not necessarily their owners.  The earliest extant notes recording patrol activity come from Southampton County in 1754.  Three patrol groups submitted extensive accounts in that year, listing the days and times they rode and giving details of the slaves they captured. A comparison of the names of patrollers with the names of the plantations visited suggests that the three patrol groups worked as distinct units in different parts of the county and submitted separate reports of their activities.  Multiple patrol groups would have been a necessity in the large and growing counties of Virginia.  Even though Southampton had more white residents than slaves by the mid-1750s, the fact that whites outnumbered blacks did not ease the fears of many Virginia colonists; attempted slave revolts in 1729 and 1730, and rumors of insurrections later in the 1730s must have frightened many whites.  The knowledge that runaway slaves had repeatedly and southern margins of Virginia must have been unsettling, and that knowledge provided a strong rationale for the activities and payment of county slave patrols. 13 

The details in patrolling journals vary dramatically, depending upon the individual recordkeeper, but broad similarities can be found in all.  Colonial Virginia slave patrols typically rode in groups of four or five, and their journals commence by listing the individuals' names.  "John Brantly & Philip Bran[t]ly & Will[ia]m Grimmer & William Joyner Junr have Rode in the patrole servis the 28th of Septem[ber]" runs a standard patrol entry. 14 

Virtually every patrol report gives specifics about the number of hours worked, with a few presenting precise information about the exact number of hours worked by each man in the group.  In Southampton, John Seuter, Jacob Turner, Simon Harris, Robert Bittle and William Kirby worked precisely 50, 32, 126, 108, and 126 hours, respectively, in an eight-month span.  The patrol reports usually carry the signature of the militia captain, justice of the peace, or court clerk who vouched that the work had been completed faithfully.  Patrols most often worked from sundown to sunup, during the "Negro's day" -- when slaves left their cabins to attend meetings or to travel after their workday ended.  As they patrolled, they encountered both slave men and women.  After an evening's work in October 1754, patroller Bennet Hilsman wrote, "We Patrolers did ketch a negroe man slave belonging to Joshua Barnes & a Negro woman slave and Childe...and she was a Runaway she said."  

Where is the "Dislike" button?  This is one of those things that I don't enjoy finding out, that my ancestor was a member of a slave patrol, in an area later rocked by the Nat Turner Slave rebellion over 70 years later, no less.

This information doesn't surprise me, though, given what I already knew about the area during that time, and my people there either owned slaves or were overseers.

Using the "Search Inside This Book" at Amazon I discovered that footnote 14 was taken from "Patrol returns and lists, 1754-1861, Free Negroes, Slaves and Indians records, Southampton County, LV."

This lead me to the Library of Virginia's website, and A Guide To The Southampton County (VA.) Free Negro and Slave Records, 1754-1860, a non-digitized collection of 3 boxes taken from the Southampton County Circuit Court.

This is a good reminder that most stuff is not online!  I just lucked out that a researcher published the records in their work.

Robert Bittle was an ancestor of my 4th great grandfather, Benjamin "B. R." Biddle.  The William Kirby mentioned in the same sentence in the quote is most likely Robert Bittle's brother-in-law.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Searching for Matilda Biddle Porter in the Newspapers Using "Data Visualization: Journalism's Voyage West"

My 3rd great grandmother Matilda (Biddle) Porter (1846-1927) died in Lincoln County, Oregon. After she and Orville Tracy Porter divorced in 1888 she was found living with son Chester Porter in 1900 in Albany, Linn, Oregon (which she rented), and then with married daughter Alice in 1910 at 705 West Fifth Street, Albany, Linn, Oregon.  By 1920 she was renting and living alone on 112 Olive Street, Newport City, Lincoln, Oregon.  Seven years later she died in that county.

Despite using a range of terms, I did not get any results for her in my subscription databases (Newspapers, NewspaperArchive, and GenealogyBank) nor in the free Historic Oregon Newspapers (with the exception of her divorce notice in 1888).


What newspapers were known to be in Lincoln around the time she lived and died there?  One can check the Library of Congress' U.S. Newspaper Directory this way:

But I need visuals!

Instead, I decided to use a visualization of that information from "Data Visualization: Journalism's Voyage West (I did a Fantastic Find post of this resource last year).

This visualization plots over 140,000 newspapers published over three centuries in the United States. The data comes from the Library of Congress' "Chronicling America" project, which maintains a regularly updated directory of newspapers. 

Closeup of Oregon, with the year slider at 1930.  The newspapers published in Lincoln, Oregon (at least known by the Library of Congress) were the "Newport journal" and "Yaquina Bay news," neither of which appear to be digitized online anywhere (yet). Clicking on the newspaper titles takes you to the LOC Chronicling America website.

Using the "Libraries that Have It" tab reveals that the "Univ of Oregon Libr, Eguene, OR" has "Newport journal".

"Univ of Oregon Libr, Eguene, OR" has "Yaquina Bay news" as well.

I assume this means the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.  The UO libraries include Knight Library, possibly the first place I should check for the microfilm of these newspapers.

Both newspapers are at the Knight Library.

Ooh, the microfilm can be borrowed (interlibrary loan)?  Nice.

So at least now I have a lead on where to go and who to contact in order to search these non-digitized newspapers.

If I write up a research plan for additional research on Matilda I can use this information.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Maria Evans (1814 - 1899) Part 1

Because her granddaughter Esther Moreland Leithold wrote a book about them based on family stories, we know more about the personal life of my paternal great-great-great grandmother Maria Evans (and her husband B.R. Biddle).

[Maria Evans Biddle, page 12, from "..And This Is Our Heritage."

Courtesy of the Hathi Trust Digital Library (original from University of Wisconsin).]

Maria was born in Claiborne County in northeast Tennessee in 1814 and was named her for one of her father's sisters, Mary Evans Conway, who had no children of her own. Her parents Elijah and Rutha (Holt) Evans owned an inn on the south bank of the Clinch River on the route from North Carolina to Kentucky, via the Cumberland Gap.

[Map of Kentucky And Tennessee Compiled from the Latest Authorities. Published by S. Augustus Mitchell Philadelphia. 1831. J.H. Young Sc. List No: 3884.010. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

Maria met her future husband, Robert Biddle* as a young girl during a visit to relatives in Grainger County where his family lived. The acquaintance was continued years later after Robert apprenticed himself to a tailor in Middlesborough, in what is now Bell County, Kentucky, staying at her father's inn on his way between there and Grainger County and Maria and Robert formed an attachment.

After his apprenticeship was over, Robert opened a tailor shop in Tazewell, the county seat of Claiborne County but the couple faced opposition to an engagement from Maria's family who considered him an undesirable mate because he was a tradesman with what Leithold terms "parents who would always be a financial burden to him."**

In what proved to be a futile attempt to distract her from her attraction to Robert, Maria was sent to Knoxville Female Academy in 1831-1832. Leithold describes her studies there.***

"Her father thought that the expense was too great for such an unnecessary thing as an advanced education for a girl; but Aunt Mary was determined that Maria should go, and insisted on paying all of the expense herself, which was considered a large amount, at that time. The tuition, alone, was ten dollars for each session. There was no charge for room rent, but the price of board, fire wood, and candles amounted to one dollar and a half each week. Maria also took ornamental needlework, on lace and muslin, which was five dollars extra each session. All students had to recite, once a week, on the Sacred Scriptures; and Maria, who always stood at the head of that class, became so interested in Bible-study, she continued it through the rest of her life. 

The first year, at the Academy, she studied Arithmetic, and Geography (with the drawing of maps and "the solution of the problems of the terrestial Globe", Rhetoric, Astronomy, and the History of Natural Philosophy. 

The next year she had the same studies with an advanced teacher, and an additional five dollars tuition. The second year Astronomy, included "the solution of the problems of the Celestial Globe." There were also lectures on "Good Manners and Proper Behavior in Polite Society." Maria also took a course in Fancy Weaving and Rug Making. 

The school year was divided into two sessions. The winter session of five months, began on November first and continued until March 31st; and the summer session started on the first of May and continued until September 30th; so Maria had vacation during the months of April and October, when she could visit her family and Aunt Mary."

Near the end of her school days in Knoxville Maria promised to marry her sweetheart and the couple were able to carry on a clandestine correspondence with the help of her older married sister Matilda Evans Garrett.

Robert's father Benjamin decided to move to Illinois at about this time and bought some public land in Sangamon County so Robert sold his business in Tazewell and followed his parents there, opening a tailor shop in Springfield in 1833. By the following year his business was doing well enough that he felt he could support a wife and returned to Tennessee with his mother and sister Angeline.

After his prospective son-in-law asked for permission to marry his daughter, Elijah Evans tried to persuade Maria to reconsider.****

That night Elijah Evans asked Maria if she really planned to marry Robert Biddle, and when she told him that she did, he said, "Well, Maria, I reckon Robert is a likely young man, and he has good manners; but you are a little mite of a girl, and should never have to lift and carry, like the Yankee women do. We've always had slaves to do all the hard work, and you've never even had to ready up your own room, lest you felt like it. I've heard tell that the Yankee women out there in Illinois even do their own washin' and ironin', and I don't like to think of you'r goin' there. The Biddles are great spenders too,
and people like them are most always poor. You don't know what it's like to be poor, and I don't want you to have to find out. I only want you to be happy, and the Biddles aren't our kind of folks. So I calculate you'd be better off if you'd stay here amongst your own kin. We all'd like to see you marry Jesse Hirst. He's a fine young man and could give you a good home, near your own folks, but if you won't have him, why can't you take one of the other men who've asked if they could court you? They're our kind of people, and any one of them would make you a good husband."

Maria told him that Jesse Hirst was just like one of her own brothers, and she could never think of marrying him, even though he was really no blood relation, and most of the other men he spoke of were almost as old as he, and she couldn't marry a man as old as her father. Even though most girls married men much older than they were, she was sure she would be happier with some one nearer her own age. At last he said, "Well, Maria, my little one, you are past eighteen and can do as you please. I want to see you happy, and will never give my consent for you to marry Robert Biddle, for I'm sure you'll be sorry if you do."

With her father away from home, on May 3, 1834, Maria and Robert were married by the local preacher in the presence of her mother and sister. Later that day the bride and groom set out for Illinois and their new life together.

To be continued.


*Benjamin Robert "B.R." Biddle (1808-1882)
**And they were right. His parents, Benjamin and Polly Capell Biddle had already squandered a considerable estate in Southampton County,Virginia, before moving west to Tennessee. Benjamin's paltry inheritance from his mother is discussed here.
***And this is our heritage, page 32.
****And this is our heritage, page 41.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: Presidents' Day

Whenever I see this early portrait of Abraham Lincoln I always wonder if the suit he's wearing was made by my paternal 3rd great grandfather, Benjamin Robert "B. R." Biddle (1808-1882).

[Abraham Lincoln, Congressman-elect from Illinois. Three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front. This daguerreotype is the earliest-known photograph of Abraham Lincoln, taken at age 37. (digital file from b&w film copy neg. pre-1992, after 1959 cleaning and restoration?) Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

Records* indicate that in 1843 Lincoln ordered at least one suit at a local store to be made by B.R. Biddle.

"On May 16, 1843 his largest single day's purchase at Irwin's was made. The $45.37 total included $32.50 for cloth, $3.87 for trimmings and $9 to tailor Benjamin R. Biddle for making a suit for Mr. Lincoln. The suiting is described as two yards of superior black cloth at $11 a yard, and three yards of cassimere, a medium-weight woolen cloth of soft texture, at $3.50. Six months later Lincoln had a second suit made from two and three-fourths yards of beaver cloth (a heavy fabric of felted wool) and three yards of cassimere. More expensive trimmings were used in this suit. As Lincoln had recently returned from his fall trip around the Eighth Judicial Circuit and was busy in the second week of the fall term of the Sangamon Circuit Court, he was available for fittings. On December 30, 1843 his account was charged with $9.50, and Biddle probably was paid in cash by Irwin & Co.**"

B.R. and several partners left Springfield for California in 1849 so it's highly unlikely that anything worn by Lincoln much past that date would have been tailored by him. But it's clear that Lincoln remembered his neighbor and former tailor (now living in Oregon with his family) after he was elected president.

[Journal of the Senate, Including the Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate, Volume 35, Issues 2-37. Source: Google Books]

(Alas, B.R.'s actions during his shortened tenure as Indian agent led to a blot on his reputation, but that's a story for another day.)


*The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln allows you to "stalk" Mr. Lincoln.
**Pratt, Harry E. editor, “The Lincoln’s go Shopping.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 48 (Spring 1955): 66.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mary Ann "Polly" Capell (1782 - After 1840)

The only daughter of Patty (Roberson?) and Sterling Capell, this paternal fourth great grandmother was born in Southampton County, Virginia.

[Detail from The State of Virginia from the best Authorities, By Samuel Lewis. Smither Sculpt. Engraved for Carey's American Edition of Guthrie's Geography improved. (1794-1795) Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

With the consent of her father, in 1799 Polly married Benjamin Bittle (Biddle), the son of Kirby Bittle and his wife Lucy Westbrook, and the young couple settled in Southampton County.

[Southampton Records: Marriage Registry 1750-1853. Source The Brantley Association]

When Sterling Capell died in 1803 he left all of his estate to his wife for her lifetime and thereafter to be equally divided among his children.

[Southampton Records: Will Book 5. Source The Brantley Association]

When Kirby Bittle died in 1809 Benjamin, as his oldest son, acted as administrator of his estate.*

In the 1810 U.S. Census Benjamin's household in Southampton County included himself, his wife, their four children** and four enslaved persons.

[Ancestry.com. 1810 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Third Census of the United States, 1810. (NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls). Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

By the 1820 U.S. Census the family had moved east to Amhurst County, Virginia, and there are no longer any slaves in their household.

[Detail from Virginia. Drawn & Published by F. Lucas Jr., Baltimore. Sam Harrison, Scl. Philada. (1822).

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

And the 1830 U.S. Census found them living in Grainger County, Tennessee.

[Detail from Tennessee. Published by A. Finley Philada. Young & Delleker Sc. (1831) Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

The final U.S. Census where Polly and Benjamin appear was in 1840 in Illinois in Maucopin County Benjamin died in 1848 but we haven't been able to find a date of death for Polly.

[Detail from A New Map of Illinois with Its Roads & Distances from place to place along the Stage & Steam Boat Routes by H.S. Tanner (1842). Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

And that's all the official records we have for Polly but we're fortunate to know more about her through stories passed down to a descendant through her daughter-in-law Maria Evans Biddle*** who doesn't appear to have been her biggest fan.

[Page 29 from the online copy of "And This is Our Heritage", courtesy of the Hathi Trust Digital Library (original from University of Wisconsin).  Accessed 25 Jan 2016.]

 *And something he did in this capacity appears to have caused his mother Lucy to leave his younger brother the bulk of her estate upon her death in 1816.
**My three times great grandfather B.R. Biddle was their second son.
***Esther Moreland Leithold (1872-1959), author of  the saga of her maternal grandparents, Maria Evans (1814-1899) and Benjamin "B.R." Biddle (1808-1882) ""..And This Is Our Heritage"

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Matilda Biddle (1846 - 1927)

As Esther Moreland Leithold (1872-1959) wrote in "And this is our heritage," a recounting of the family stories she heard from her grandparents Benjamin R. and Maria (Evans) Biddle, this paternal great great grandmother was always known as "Puggie," a nickname bestowed on her as an infant.

She was born in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, on February 23, 1846, and the first public record of her is in the 1850 U.S. Census. Puggie's mother Maria was listed as the head of the household and Aunt Angeline (Biddle) Atkinson and her son Henry were staying with them. (Her father B.R. was still in California, having traveled overland to the gold fields in 1849 with several partners in order to open a store selling goods to the miners.*)

["United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M859-2M7 : accessed 9 November 2015), Matilda Biddle in household of Mariah Riddle, Springfield, Sangamon, Illinois, United States; citing family 714, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).]

B.R. returned to Illinois determined to take his wife and five children, including six-year-old Puggie, to the Willamette Valley in the Oregon Territory where his sister Harriette and her husband Hamilton Campbell had settled some years earlier. They left Springfield in April of 1852 and several months later a little brother, Arthur Platte Biddle,** was born at a camp on the west side of the Platte River.

["North Platte, 1859" Daniel A. Jenks (1827-1869) Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

The Biddles and the rest of their party had arrived at their destination by October and B.R. bought land in Marysville (now Corvallis).

[A Diagram of a Portion of Oregon Territory. Surveyor General's Office, Oregon City, October 21st, 1852. Surveyor General, J B Preston. Lith. by A. Hoen & Co. Balto. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

By the 1860 U.S. Census another daughter (Alice) had been added to the family.

[City : Corvallis. 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.]

Two years later a local teacher named Orville Tracy Porter began to court the 16-year-old Puggie.

 

[Leithold, E. Moreland. (1944). And this is our heritage. Woodland, Calif. pages 156-7]

By the 1870 U.S. Census, Orville and Puggie and their three children*** were living in Waitsburg, Walla Walla County in the Washington Territory.Orville was still working as a school teacher.

[Township : Waitsburg.  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 Federal Census found the Biddles (with seven children by then) back in Oregon, living in Harrisburg. Orville's occupation was listed as "Editor," of a weekly newspaper.

[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.]

This is the last census that shows Orville and Puggie living in the same household. Their youngest child, Chester Arthur Porter, was born in California in 1884**** so they may have still been together as late as then, but in 1889 Orville was appointed as U.S. Marshall for Alaska and married a second time the following year.

Since the 1890 census was destroyed, the next record we have for Puggie is in the 1900 U.S. Census for Albany, Linn County, Oregon, where she described herself as a widow with her youngest child still at home, although Orville and his new wife were living in the same town.

[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.]

Albany City's directory for 1905 lists both Puggie and her ex-husband.*****

[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]

Puggie was still styling herself as a widow in the 1910 U.S. Census and she was living with her daughter Alice and her family in West Albany.

[Enumeration District : 0198; Description: West Albany Precinct including Albany City (part), Ward 1 Ward 2. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA.]

By the 1920 U.S. Census, Puggie was living by herself in a rented house in Newport City on the Oregon coast. (Whether or not she and Orville ever divorced, describing herself as a widow was more accurate now since he had died in 1916.)

[Enumeration District : 0276; Description: Pacific Precinct including part of Newport City (part). Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA.]

Matilda Biddle Porter died in Lincoln County, Oregon, on August 26, 1927, and is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery (also known as the Pioneer Cemetery) in Corvallis, her first home in Oregon

[Ancestry.com. Oregon, Death Index, 1898-2008 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: State of Oregon. Oregon Death Index, 1903-1998. Salem, OR, USA: Oregon State Archives and Records Center. Oregon Death Indexes, 1903-1970. Salem, OR, USA: Oregon State Library.Oregon Death Indexes, 1971-2008. Salem, OR, USA: Oregon State Library.]

Because Matilda was among the early settlers of Oregon there are several cards for her in the Pioneer Index maintained by the Oregon Historical Society.

[Ancestry.com. Oregon, Biographical and Other Index Card File, 1700s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

Original data: Oregon, Biographical and Other Cards. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon.]

*He is enumerated as a "Merchant" in Shasta, California, in the same census.

[Year: 1850; Census Place: Shasta, Shasta, California; Roll: M432_35; Page: 333A; Image: 648. 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.]

**Sadly, little Arthur died on November 29, 1852.
***My direct ancestor is their oldest child Tracy Darrow Porter.
****Chester was born in Healdsburg, California, two years after her father died in that town and her mother was still a resident there.
*****No record of a divorce between Puggie and Orville has appeared yet.




© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.