Family Friday: Pauline, Bernice & Kenneth Brown - About 1909

I love this studio portrait of Hattie Pauline (1903-1981), Lillian Bernice (1905-2004) and William Kenneth Brown (1907-1979) who are some of my maternal third cousins, three times removed.* They were born in LaGrange County, Indiana and appear to have lived in that state their whole lives.

["Top to Bottom: Pauline, Bernice, Kenneth Brown about 1908-1910." 

Added to her Ancestry.com family tree by elynn7.]

*As you can see we're related through the Worden line.

[Ancestry.com]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Princess Niobrara McLain (1884 - 1975)

The woman with this splendid name is related to me through her 1908 marriage to Roscoe Conklin McCulley, one of my maternal second cousins, three times removed.* Her descendants have shared quite a few pictures of Princess taken throughout her life, and yes, that really was her name.

[Picture attached to an Ancestry.com family tree by nancyphipps180]

When I first started writing this post I thought that her romantic name was taken from a contemporary novel or poem but a search turned up the fact that the local river of her Oklahoma birth county, Keya Paha, is called Niobrara.**

[Princess McLain, School Teacher taught in a one room sod schoolhouse, about 1904.

Photo attached to Ancestry.com family tree by bower1939.]

Princess married Roscoe McCulley in 1908 and the couple had three children: a son Darwin and daughters Margery and Orrien Jane.

[Princess McCulley & children; Darwin, Margery & Jane about 1917.

Photo attached to Ancestry.com family tree by bower1939. ]

[Princess & Daughters, Margery & Jane--August 1956.

Photo attached to Ancestry.com family tree by bower1939.]

[Princess McLain McCulley--1950's, Ainsworth, NE.

Photo attached to Ancestry.com family tree by bower1939.]

After a long life together Roscoe and Princess N. died within a year of each other and are buried in Ainsworth Cemetery in Brown County, Nebraska.

[Findagrave 18242877, Photo by Harv 47030477]

*Roscoe was the son of Celina Worden and our common ancestors are Lyman Worden and Elizabeth Brown.
**Seventy-six miles of the Niobrara have been designated a National Scenic River.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: Clyburn Mathis - Chatham County, North Carolina, 1806

Once again we're far up the Matthews line with this maternal fifth great grandfather who appears to have lived his whole life in North Carolina. His will was probated in 1806.

[Title of the document from the reverse side of the will below]

[Wills and Estate Papers (Chatham County), 1663-1978; Author: North Carolina. Division of Archives and History; Probate Place: Chatham, North Carolina. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts.]

In the name of God Amen
I Clyborn Mathis of Chatham County and state of
North Carolina being weak in body but of perfect
mind and memory Thanks be to God and cawling
to mind that it is appointed for all men once to
and first of all I Recommend my sole in
to my Makers hand and my body I Recommend
to the Ground at the descresion of my Executors
hearaftere named and what it hath pleased
God to bestowe on me as to temperol Goods I bestowe
in the following Manner
first of all = I Leave to my well beloved wife
Mary Mathis the use of all my personal Estate
as Long as she Continues my widow on death that
is to say my Land Stock of Every Kind all working
Tools of Every Kind and at her death or Marriadge
my desire is that my too sons by the names of 
Wiley Mathis and Lewis Mathis shall have my
Land to be devied Equly between Each of Them
and the rest of my Estate my desire is that
it shall be Equally Devied amongst all my
Children that is now single
I Leave to my son Kinchin Mathis the sum
of five Shillings to be Raised out of my Estate
==
I Leave to my Daughter Lucreasy horn
the sum of five Shillings to be Raised out of my
Estate
---
I do anominate Leave and appoint my wife 
Mary Mathis and my son[?] Britain Mathis to be Exectrs
to this my Last will and Testament Revoking all other
wills by me maid in witness whereof I have hearunto
set my hand and affixed my seal this 6 day octebr 1797
in the presants of                                     his
Jo[?] Brantley                             Clyburn X Mathis{seal}
Anthony Thomas {???] X                      mark

Although Clyburn didn't name all of his children in his will--only sons Wiley, Kinchin and Britain and daughter Lucresy Horn, we can deduce the names of the two others from a note on the back of the will dated 1801. "Clibon Mathes Jnr" is my direct ancestor.

[Wills and Estate Papers (Chatham County), 1663-1978; Author: North Carolina. Division of Archives and History; Probate Place: Chatham, North Carolina. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts.]

October 19 1801 This May Certify that Clibon Mathis Jnr and
     Mary Scidmore have Recvd their full share of all my
     Estate as witness my hand this day and year above written
     Test                                          His
     Jo[?] Brantley              Clibon C Mathis
     Wm Brown                           mark

Here's how I'm related to this man, however he spelled his name:

[Ancestry.com]

By 1830 his son Claiburn was spelling his surname Matthews in census records.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Lyman Worden (1790 - 1883) Farmer, Soldier

Sometimes a genealogist's dreams come true! Almost exactly 137 years ago a reporter from the Oswego Daily Palladium interviewed my 4X great grandfather Lyman Worden who provided him (and us) with an invaluable account of his life.

[The Oswego daily palladium., April 21, 1880, Page 2.

Source: NYS Historic Newspapers, Image provided by: SUNY Oswego]

Alas for Lyman's belief that he was descended from Mayflower passengers--Christine debunked this some time ago:

 I found an online text of the genealogy referred to, and they just say his ancestor Peter Worden was a very early ("if not the earliest") settler in Plymouth. There is an official list of Mayflower passengers and Worden is not listed.

Our ancestor was Peter Worden who arrived in New England in 1638 and was the first Englishman to die in Yarmouth that same year.





© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Elizabeth Brown (About 1794 - 1857)

Last week I posted about my third great grandfather Porter Worden so I felt this week was a good time to take a look at his ancestry starting with his mother Elizabeth, the daughter of Jeremiah Brown.*

Although there are several accounts claiming Cayuga County, New York, as her birthplace both the 1850 federal census and 1855 New York State census list Elizabeth's home state as Massachusetts. The Browns were living in Cayuga County by the 1800 U.S. Census and her husband-to-be Lyman Worden's family moved there about seven years later. Both families appear in the 1810 U.S. Census.

[Map Of The Northern Part of the State Of New York. Compiled from actual Survey By Amos Lay 1812. Entered ... 16th day of July 1812 by Amos Lay ... New-York. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

[Detail of above map--Cayuga County is outlined in pink.]

[Year: 1810; Census Place:Cayuga, New York; 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.]

[Year: 1810; Census Place:Cayuga, New York; 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.]

We haven't found a marriage record for Elizabeth and Lyman but their first child Porter was born on May 12, 1811. By 1820 the family was living in neighboring Oswego County where Elizabeth and her husband would live the rest of their lives.

In the 1850 U.S. Census we have the first official record naming Elizabeth. She and Lyman are living with their son Joseph and next door to Porter and Hannah and their growing family.**

[Year: 1850; Census Place: Oswego, Oswego, New York. 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.]

In the New York State census five years later we have a last glimpse of Elizabeth.

["New York State Census, 1855," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-8BP2-BM?cc=1937366&wc=M6GQ-C6D%3A237408001%2C237541501 : 22 May 2014), Oswego > image 9 of 28; count clerk offices, New York.]

Elizabeth Brown Worden died on September 19, 1857, and is buried in the Rural Cemetery in Oswego. Lyman would join her there in 1883.


*In the Records of the First Baptist Church in Cheshire (formerly New Providence) whose presiding Elder was Peter Worden there is this entry:

Unfortunately Brown is a very common surname and we can't be sure this Jeremiah Brown is Elizabeth's father but it points to a possible previous connection between the Browns and the Wordens in Massachusetts.

**This is the only time in census records that my great great grandfather Willet Orlando Worden is called by that name. 

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Few Acres Jersey Farm - Bonita, California

My home was built in 1926 so it was 70 years old when I moved here. As necessary repairs and upgrades were completed over the years, some interesting objects were discovered. This battered milk bottle cap is an example:

[From my personal collection]

I loved the dairy's unpretentious name and always planned to do some research about it but somehow I never got around to it. So when the bottle cap re-surfaced during a junk drawer clean-out yesterday, I decided the time had come and here's what I found.

[Monday, May 4, 1931   Paper: Evening Tribune (San Diego, California)   Page: 25  

This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

[Few Acres Jersey Farm - Bonita, California. Source: Chula Vista Public Library]

The proprietor F[rancis] M[arion} Brown was born in Kansas in 1891 and already had his dairy in 1917 when he registered for the World War I draft.

[Registration State: California; Registration County: San Diego; Roll: 1543758. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.]

Here's a later picture of the farm trucks including a delivery van. I wonder if that's how the bottle cap got here?

[Few Acres Jersey Farm Trucks - Bonita, California. Source: Chula Vista Public Library]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate files: Jeremiah Warren Part 10, Receipt for Bequest to Martha & William Warren

If you've been following my journey through the probate files for my fourth great uncle Jeremiah Warren, you may recall that he bequeathed to the orphans of his brother James (1790-1820) two young enslaved persons.

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch, Hancock > Wills and administration records 1831-1840 vol N > image 78 of 376; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

Item 6th. I give to Martha Warren one Negroe boy named William
and to William Warren son of James Warren dec'd one negroe
boy named Robbin.

Their guardian acknowledged receipt of these two boy on December 22, 1832, along with five enslaved people who had formerly been the property of James Warren.*

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-30371-14370-70?cc=1999178 : 20 May 2014), Hancock > Wills and administration records 1831-1840 vol N > image 209 of 376;

county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

Georgia Hancock County.

     Received   John Graybill and Jess G Butts Exrs of

the last Will and testament of Jeremiah Warren late of said

County dec'd. negroes Robin & William they being Negroes bequeathed

by said dec'd to Martha & William Warren Orphans of James Warren

dec'd also a negro man sam a woman Milly boys George

Henry & Burwell they being negroes belonging to the Estate

of said James Warren dec'd. In consideration whereof I hereby

bind myself my heirs and assigns to bear the said John & 

Jesse their heirs and assigns free and harmless clear of any

further liability to said Orphans of James Warren dec'd. for said 

negroes this 22nd of December 1832.

                                                               Jno. Brown Grde for

                                                              Martha & Wm. Warren

William Silas Warren was 16 and his sister a year younger at the time of Jeremiah's death. William was the first to marry (1837) and had moved to Tallapoosa County, Alabama, with his growing family by 1839. And that's where Martha married Elijah Carter in 1841 and they remained in Alabama until at least 1856. By 1860 the Carters were living in Wood County, Texas, and don't seem to every have been very prosperous.

In the 1840 U.S. Census William's entry listed 9 slaves in his household but it's impossible to know whether any of the enslaved people named in the above receipt were among them. Ten years later he listed "Personal Property" of $2000 which most likely represented his human property and in 1860 we have the Slave Schedule from the U.S. Census in which he listed 27 individuals (which he valued at $15,600).**

[Township : Beat 7. Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1860. M653, 1,438 rolls.]

William died in 1863 about a month before my great great great grandmother Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips but unfortunately if there are any probate records associated with his estate, they're not available online.

So we're left wondering what happened to William, Robin, Sam, Milly, George, Henry and Burwell.

*From the wording of the receipt, it appears that Graybill and Butts had been responsible for the slaves of James Warren before that date.

**Here's the entry in the 1860 U.S. Census:

[Year: 1860; Census Place: Beat 7, Tallapoosa, Alabama; Roll: M653_25; Page: 3; Image: 5; Family History Library Film: 803025. 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.]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Walsh/Brown

These two children, whose parents were my second great aunt Catherine May "Kitty" Walsh 1874-1966) and her first husband Peter Louis Brown (1870-1898), are my first cousins, twice removed.

[Frances Ethel Brown (1894-1964), courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

[Charles Peter Brown (1895-1939), courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mercy Moone (1723 - 1805)

I've been waiting for the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) to add the genealogical sketch of Elder Peter Worden, Sr., my maternal sixth great grandfather, to their database Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. It finally happened just before Christmas and had information that's new to me, including some about his wife Mercy* Moone.

Mercy, the daughter of Ebenezer Moon(e) and his wife Elizabeth, was born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, possibly on November 10, 1723 (apparently her birth record was partially destroyed in a fire in the 1890s so the year is uncertain).

[Detail from A map of the colonies in Connecticut and Rhode Island, divided by counties & townships, from best authorities. Thomas Kitchin, London, 1758. Source: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

She married Peter Worden on August 18, 1749, in Coventry, northwest of her home town. Since Peter was born in 1728, his new wife could have been as much as five years older than he.

Peter served as Elder of the Baptist Church in Coventry and part of Warwick but by the 1760s falling church attendance and their growing family put strains on Peter's resources so when the chance to relocate to western Massachusetts arose in about 1770, the couple readily agreed to the move. They settled in New Providence, now known as Cheshire, in Berkshire County.

[Detail from Massachusetts, D.F. Sotzmann, Carl Ernst. Bohn, Paulus Schmidt (Engraver), Hamburg, Germany, 1796.

Source: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

Other than two lists of church members, there is no mention of Mercy in public records but when Elder Peter made his will on April 18, 1804, in it he called on their son Peter, whom he named executor, to take care of Mercy because she "is reduced in her rational and animal powers." 

Elder Peter survived Mercy who died on December 6, 1805. Her age at death is given as 80 but that could be the result of rounding.

I descend from this couple through their son Richmond Worden and his wife Orinda Lippett whose son Lyman married Elizabeth Brown--and the next generation is represented by my three times great grandparents, Porter Worden and Hannah Leonard, the earliest of my ancestors that we have a photograph of.


*There is some confusion about what her given name was--both Mary and Mercy appear in records. The sketch considers Mercy to be "probably correct" and spells her surname with a final "e".

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Darling/Walsh

In Texas on September 6, 1864, my maternal great great grandmother Mercy Ann Darling Webb, a 29-year-old widow with a 4-year-old son,* married Joshua Walsh (1810-1888), a South Carolina native and veteran of the Mexican War. Before the end of 1868 the couple had re-located to Fairview in Jones County, Iowa, to be near her family and added a son and daughter to their household which eventually included two more children, the youngest of which was Catherine Mae Walsh (1874-1966) known as Kitty.

[Mercy Ann Darling Webb Walsh, photo courtesy of Olive Kennedy]

[Joshua Butler Walsh, photo courtesy of Olive Kennedy]

[Catherine Mae Walsh, photo courtesy of Olive Kennedy]

After residing in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and Idaho,** by 1930 Kitty was living in Southern California, first in Los Angeles and then Long Beach. By 1944 she had moved to San Diego County where she died in 1966.

[Date: Sunday, March 6, 1966   Paper: San Diego Union (San Diego, California)   Page: 16  

This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com]

Today we met up with Kitty Walsh Brown's granddaughter Catherine Brandenburg (born in 1921) together with three generations of her descendants, first for brunch and then later at Mount Hope Cemetery where Kitty is buried.

*My great grandfather Jesse David Webb (1860-1935), the only child of Abner Webb (1834-1861?) whose death had stranded his family in Texas during the Civil War.
**That we know of, there is a gap of 30 years we haven't account for yet.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.