The Importance of Ephemera

My 2nd cousin 3x removed cousin Besse Pearl (Greene) Modesitt's funeral card, thanks to Ancestry user robpower11.

I found this gem while I was straightening up my Tibbetts relations.  There was little information available online for Besse Greene, daughter of Samantha Eva Tibbetts.  I couldn't find her obituary in the three newspaper databases I subscribe to, and her death date was only available as 1969 (FindAGrave). 

But thanks to another Ancestry user I was able to fill in her death date and place.

I share George Tibbetts, Mary Burnight, John Hill Messinger, and Mary Martha Miller with Besse Pearl (Greene) Modesitt.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My Cousin, Mary Margaret Strong, aka Margaret De Patta, Mid-Century Jewelry Artist

"De Patta with her second husband, Eugene Bielawski, in 1957. Courtesy of the Margaret De Patta Archives (Bielawski Trust)." http://www.eichlernetwork.com/blog/margaret-de-pattas-house-sale-and-her-influence-shows

My 2nd 2x removed cousin, Mary Margaret Strong (1903-1964), was a jewelry designer in the San Francisco Bay area.  I knew nothing about her until I found her in my genealogy, but she made some very cool jewelry (that I can't afford lol). 

Her original name was Mary Margaret Strong.  She married Sam De Patta (1900-1967), a hat salesman, in 1928, and although she later remarried she kept his last name.  Her second husband, Eugene Bielawski (1911-2002), was also an artist.

Accoring to Wikipedia:

Margaret De Patta (née Strong; 1903–1964) was an American jewelry designer active in the mid-century jewelry movement.[1] Her innovative jewelry was influenced by the "Bauhaus school, constructivism, and democratic ideals".[2] Her work is collected in many major museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum[3] and the Oakland Museum of California.[4] The first major retrospective of her work, Space-Light-Structure: The Jewelry of Margaret De Patta, opened at the Museum of Arts and Design in 2012.[1]

Her obituary named her as Margaret DePatta Bielawski:

San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, Mar 22, 1964
Page: 30
from GenealogyBank.com 

Bielawski - In Oakland, March 19, 1964, Margaret DePatta Bielawski, beloved wife of Eugene Bielawski and sister of Mrs. Benjamin Ginsburg of Van Nuys, Mrs. William, J. O'Brien of Oakland and Harold Strong Jr. of San Diego; aunt of Mrs. M. Mathans of Escondido, Mrs. Charles Carter of Santa Maria and Miss Diane O'Brien of Oakland.  A member of the Metae[sic] Arts Guild, the Designers Craftsmen of California, and the American Craftsmen Council.  A native of Tacoma, Washington. 

Private services were held Saturday afternoon, March 21, in Oakland.
(Albert Brown Mortuary)

Margaret's grandmother was a sister of my 2nd great grandmother Mary Jane (Tibbetts) Hartley.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Bremer County, Iowa is a Genealogical Hotspot for Me

Bremer County's location compared to major cities in the Midwest.  Image taken from City-Data.com's entry on Bremer County, Iowa.

This is Waverly (filmed in 1961 for the Chamber of Commerce).

WAVERLY: Bremer Co. Historical Society Museum (from KGAN CBS 2)

As I am straightening out my ancestral locations, I come back over and over again to places in Bremer County, Iowa (including the towns of Waverly and Waterloo), where my Tibbetts and Messingers settled in the early 1850s after leaving the Indianapolis area about 1845.  Although my direct ancestors left the area by the 1870s, I still have distant cousins living there.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

John Hill Messinger Was a Democrat in 1840

This were going to be disappointed soon enough.  Van Buren was about to lose.  "Franklin Township," Indiana Democrat (Indianapolis, Indiana), 4 Jul 1840, p. 3, col. 2; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com: accessed 15 Dec 2015).

John Hill Messinger Was a Democrat in 1840.  Well, that is what I am assuming from a notice* in the Indiana Democrat on July 4, 1840, where John Hill Messinger is listed among the "Commitles[Committees?] of Vigilance" for the Franklin Township Van Buren Club. Franklin Township is in the southeastern part of the greater Indianapolis area. The notice was for a committee to draft a constitution for a "Democratic Association" in Franklin Township, Marion County, Indiana, to be call "The Franklin Township Van Buren Club."

Martin Van Buren, former New York governor and previous Secretary of State and Vice President to Andrew Jackson, was the incumbent President, and was about to be voted out by Whig William Henry Harrison.

A nice summary about that election comes from the Virginia Historical Society:

In a national convention, the Whig Party united to nominate William Henry Harrison, who had been its most popular candidate in the 1836 election. Despite a severe and prolonged economic depression that had plagued his first term in office, President Martin Van Buren continued to have the support of the Democratic Party. The antislavery Liberty Party nominated James Birney as its candidate. Harrison’s nickname, “Old Tippecanoe,” came from his victory over the Creek Indians at the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. The result of the nomination of John Tyler for vice president was a rhyming campaign slogan: “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."

The opposing Democratic Party made a huge tactical blunder when it attacked Harrison’s character. A Democratic newspaper article joked that he would be content to quit the race and retire to his log cabin for a pension and a barrel of hard cider. Even though the Harrison came from an aristocratic Virginia family and currently lived in a mansion in Ohio, the Whigs turned this comment into a campaign symbol and began to promote its candidate as a common “man of the people” who lived in a log cabin and was always ready to greet visitors who ventured by with a cup of refreshment. Harrison became the first candidate to give speeches on his own behalf, but he confined himself to talking about his military career. As opposed to its candidate’s rustic image, the Whigs mocked Van Buren as an effete dandy who drank from gold goblets in the White House while the people suffered from hard times. Because Van Buren was too well known, the Democrats could not project the same “common man” persona for their candidate and were unable to compete with this new type of campaign strategy.

More people voted in this election than in any previous one (80 percent of eligible voters). Harrison received 234 electoral votes to 60 for Van Buren. After only a month in office, however, Harrison caught pneumonia and died. There were no constitutional guidelines for succession after the death of a sitting president, so John Tyler merely assumed the full powers of the president, thus establishing the precedent that the vice president would actually serve as president rather than as acting temporary chief executive until the next election. Virginia cast its 23 electoral votes for Martin Van Buren.

John Hill Messinger and his friends probably wore ribbons similar to this during the election.
Image from the Virginia Historical Society.

Here's more on the 1840 US Presidential election.




* "Franklin Township," Indiana Democrat (Indianapolis, Indiana), 4 Jul 1840, p. 3, col. 2; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com: accessed 15 Dec 2015).




© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Some Notes on the German Miller Family in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and Marion County, Indiana

My grandfather George Hartley and the line going back to the Miller family.

May Tibbetts Jarvis has provided the only information I have on Mary Martha Miller (1800-1871):

John Hill Messinger..., farmer, mill-wright, soldier in the War of 1812, was born in 1789 near the Monohghela [sic] river, in Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania: died 4 July 1859, aged 70 years, at his home in Jefferson township, Bremer Co., Iowa, a few miles east of Waverly; buried in the old burial ground just south of what is now the village of Denver (Gravestone).  He was the son of Abraham and Catherine Messinger, both of German descent.  His death was instantaneous and was caused by a stroke. He was short in stature, had blue eyes and curly hair of yellow tinge.

He was married twice.  He married first, in Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania, probably some five or six years before his service in the War of 1812. The name of his first wife is not remembered.  They had three sons, viz., John, George and Peter, who, after they had grown to manhood, went to Illinois where they spent the remainder of their lives.  Nothing further is known in regard to them.  The following records deal only with the history of his ten children  by his second marriage.

John Hill Messinger was married secondly, about 1817, in Allegheny Co., Pa., Mary Martha Miller, who was eleven years younger than himself.  She was born 14 Aug. 1900 [1800] in Allegheny Co., Pa.; died 1 June 1871, aged 70 years, 9 mos., 17 days (gravestone), at the home farm in Jefferson township, Bremer Co., Iowa, having survived her husband twelve years; buried beside her husband in the old burial ground south of the village of Denver. This was the first cemetery in the township and is located in the northeast corner of Sec. 25, on the farm which was originally owned by Elias J. Messinger (her son).  it consists of about one half acre of land and was deeded to the township by Elias J. Messinger.  Their graves are marked by gravestones which are now, 1931, in a good state of preservation.

Mrs. Mary Martha (Miller) Messinger was of medium height and had dark hair and dark eyes.  She was twelve years of age when she learned to speak English. She spoke German and "Pennsylvania Dutch". She was daughter of Rudio [Rudie?] and Abigail Miller, both of German descent, who resided in Allegheny Co., Pa., and who had undoubtedly removed there from Forks township, Northampton Co., Pa., where many families of Millers were among the early settlers. It is quite probable that the name of Amos may be found in one of her ancestral lines as she named her eldest son Amos, and her brother John Miller named one of his sons Amos.

(Note: She was a sister of the John Miller who married her busband's sister Catherine Messinger and moved to Franklin township, Marion Co., Indiana, about 1826 and located on lands which he, John Miller, purchased three or four years later.  In 1853 he, the said John Miller, sold his land to William Miller who afterward sold it to Thomas Porteous (See Sulgrove's History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, pp. 519-520. Pub. 1884). 

Catherine Messinger (1827-1862), daughter of Mary Martha Miller and John Hill Messinger.  Like her mother she had dark hair and dark eyes--her father apparently had curly blond hair and blue eyes.  User HermitInTheValley originally shared this on Ancestry on 14 Jan 2009.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

52 Ancestors in 54 Weeks: Week 6: Mary Jane "Jennie" Tibbetts

Mary Jane "Jennie" Tibbetts, my 2nd great grandmother, was born on April 30, 1852, near Waverly, Bremer, Iowa, to Henry Charles Tibbetts (1826-1902) and Catherine Messinger (1827-1862).

She was listed in both the Iowa State Census of 1856 and in the 1860 Federal Census as living in Jefferson Township, Bremer, Iowa.  Her parents, grandparents, and extended family moved to the area in 1846.  Jennie's mother Catherine died in January 1862, when Jennie was 12.  Her father married Catherine's niece Sarah Ellen Messinger (Jennie's first cousin on her mother's side) the following year.  I wonder how the dynamics of that worked out?  My impression from what I've read is that Jennie and her siblings embraced Sarah, as she was already family.

[A young Mary Jane Tibbetts, date unknown. From Ancestry user marsch37 from the Frady Family Tree: "Photo scanned from an album from the home of Chap. Charles Henry Frady"]

[Jennie Tibbetts, probably about 1870.  From Ancestry user HermitInTheValley on the Beckley/St Clair Family Tree]

Her future husband, James Monroe "Jimmie" Hartley was a young teacher at a local business college in Cedar Falls (about 15 miles south of Jefferson) and possibly already an insurance agent when Jennie met him.  It is unclear exactly how they met, possibly when he was going door-to-door selling insurance.  This most likely happened in 1868 or 1869, as Henry Tibbetts moved his entire family south to Labette, Oswego, Kansas in 1869.  The romance endured the distance, as Jennie and Jimmie married at her father's home in Labette on August 11, 1871, when she was 19.  Then she and Jimmie lived with his parents (George W Hartley and Rebecca Paul) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for two years, and her first two children (Mary and Delia) were born there.

In November 1873 they moved to Waverly (near where she was born) and leased a farm.  Her younger brothers Wellie and Worthy lived with them for a while.  Jennie's next two children, Jack and George, were born near Waverly.  Sometime before the 1880 Census they left that farm and lived temporarily with Jimmie's older brother, George Hartley and his family in Marcus, Cherokee, Iowa.  Jennie's daughter Maud was born in Marcus in September 1880.

Jennie's father Henry Tibbetts was still in Labette, Kansas, and Jennie and Jimmie had originally planned to live in a house there in 1881, but by 1882 the pull to go to California was too great for everyone.  According to family sources Jimmie bought 10 acres of land in Nestor, San Diego, California in January 1882.  I suspect Jimmie was not a country boy, and wanted to figure out how to make a living without being a farmer.  By January 1883 Jimmie and Jennie went way up north about 460 miles to Soquel, California, and bought a large house with the intention to rent to roomers, but the endeavor didn't pan out.  Jennie had her son Joey, born in March 1883, in either Soquel or back in San Diego.  By June 1883 the family was back in San Diego, living at 19th and J near downtown, and the children all contracted measles and whooping cough. Tragically Joey died when he was three months old, due to complications from these diseases.  The family lived for in the area for about 4 more years.

In September 1889 Jimmie bought 372 acres of land out in Dehesa (right by where Sycuan Casino is now).  I believe they lived out there for about a year.  After moving around a bit more, with a brief stint in Los Angeles, Jimmie made the fateful decision to buy land in 1892 in the area that is now North Park in San Diego, and area at one time referred to as Hartley's North Park.

[Jennie with husband James Monroe Harltey and their family, probably about 1890]

Jennie, 42, had her last child, Paul in 1894.

Jennie and Jimmie lived in San Diego until about 1901, when Jimmie was offered a job up in Tacoma, Washington.  They moved up there and Jennie had numerous family from her mother's side (the Messingers).  But at this time Jimmie become more and more sick.

Jimmie died on July 23, 1904, likely from cancer.  Jennie's father, Henry, had died two years before.  But despite these losses her children were doing quite well, and between her Civil War widow's pension and her children's frequent monetary contributions Jennie lived comfortably for the rest of her life, for many years with her widowed sister, Delia.

[With my grandfather, her grandson, about 1910]

She died in San Diego on December 9, 1940.  She was 88.


© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Hat Tip to Those Relatives Who Wrote Their Stories Down, Part 1

If you are lucky, you have a genealogist or two lurking in your family tree who has already done much of the heavy genealogical lifting for you.  I have three relatives whose written work helped me tremendously, each in their own way:

• May (Tibbetts) Jarvis, 
• Esther (Moreland) Leithold, and 
• James Milo Nosler.

Today I'll cover May (Tibbetts) Jarvis.

[Smartphone image of May Tibbetts Jarvis, her portrait from 1916 in Indianapolis, Indiana, taken from my copy of "The Tibbetts Family, 1636-1940."]

May (Tibbetts) Jarvis (1864-1958), sister of my 2nd great grandmother Mary Jane (Tibbetts) Hartley and my 2nd great grand aunt, was the author/compiler of the enormous and detailed "Henry Tibbetts of Dover, New Hampshire and Some of His Descendants."

The book is available in a number of ways.

May placed a copy of the full two-volume work at the following libraries, where they can be referenced:

• the New England Historical Society library in Boston, Massachusetts, 
• in the Jefferson and Adams Reading Rooms at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.,
• the National Library at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Washington, D.C.,
• the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois,
• the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library in Los Angeles, California,
• the Sutro Library in San Francisco (a branch of the California State Library) (they also have a microfiche version). 

It is available online.  Ancestry.com members can access it here.  If you have access to databases via The University of California, San Diego (UCSD), you can view the work electronically through their subscription to HeritageQuest (actually this is probably viewable by anyone who can access HeritageQuest).  It is also available at Internet Archive and Open Library (although it may not be immediately available as you may have to wait in line to "borrow" it on those services).

The Genealogical Society of Utah microfilmed the DAR Library's copy in 1971, and those microfilm copies are available to view at the Family History Center and the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University, both in Salt Lake City, Utah.

You can usually purchase a physical copy, and occasionally a CD version, on Amazon.com and eBay.

To get an idea of her style and presentation see this page describing herself:

[Section: Vol. II. 9th generation. Jarvis, May Tibbetts,. Henry Tibbetts of Dover, New Hampshire, and some of his descendants. San Diego, Calif.,: unknown, 1934-1939. Accessed from Ancestry.com on 12 Oct 2014.  NOTE: she had two sons, Van Buren Jarvis and George Tibbals Jarvis.]

May began her Tibbetts genealogical work in 1918.  She used the work of distant cousin Charles Wesley Tibbetts, Esq. (1846-1928), for much of the Tibbetts information (he lived his life in Dover, New Hampshire and Moody, Wells, Maine, and was thus close to where his Tibbetts ancestors had originally settled).  She also compiled tons of genealogical information on collateral lines outside of New England, and would make custom versions of this work to give to various relatives.  She traveled to places like Maine, New Hampshire, Indiana, Iowa, and California to gather information.  It is my understanding that her sister Olive Renah (Tibbetts) Puryear helped with the gathering and typing out of information for the work.  I have yet to list all the people who were principal informants (that's for a future blog post, apparently).

I inherited three versions of her work, each in one volume.  The first, called "The Tibbetts Family, 1636-1940," dedicated to "Dr. George Hartley" (my grandfather and May's grand nephew) which has the most amount of Tibbetts info of my copies (although not as much as the "official" version of this work). The second is entitled simply "The Hartley Family," which was likely done for her sister Mary Jane, whose husband was a Hartley.  (I have seen, but do not possess, another, larger, Hartley version, which has much more information on the extended Hartley clan.)  The third version, "The Tibbetts Family" is a much abridged lineage, made from a Glencoe Loose-Leaf Note book cover and filled with typed pages and photostat images, and just shows May Jarvis's direct Tibbetts lineage.

May had a "just the facts" approach to her subject, following the Register style (more on Register style).  It is a wonderful source of facts and dates on the Tibbetts and related families, names which include Jarvis, Messinger, Burnight, and Worrell (at least in my copies these names are included anyway, and there are many, many more I have not mentioned here).  As was common at the time, she would list the many accomplishments and positive attributes of her subjects, and tended to leave out the more unsavory aspects of the black sheep members of the family, including the folks who got divorced, went insane, or got in trouble with the law.  This is not the place to discover juicy gossip!

She does cover Hannah (Snow) Tibbetts' family, but I believe she traced up the wrong Snow tree on that one (see my post concerning Hannah Snow's disputed parentage).

A number of us Tibbetts descendants have faithfully used her work, including her own descendants, as you might notice if you look at some of the trees on Ancestry and on the open web.  May left many blank pages in her books (at least in my copies), no doubt to encourage later family historians to continue her work.  I will leave my pages blank, as the personal computer and cloud computing have replaced those blank pages.

There is one later Tibbetts/Hartley researcher who deserves a special mention, Richard "Dick" Stanley Dunlop (1931-2011), great grand nephew of May Tibbetts Jarvis, great grandson of Mary Jane (Tibbetts) Hartley, and my 2nd cousin 1x removed.  Following May Tibbetts Jarvis, he produced a number of updated versions of her work in the 1980's and 1990's.  Unlike May, he infused much chatty commentary and humor into his versions.  I don't think he ever officially published his works, but he did distribute a large stack of copies to various Tibbetts/Hartley relatives.  I plan to include a few of his selections from time to time.  To get a feel for his style you can read his obituary, which I am certain he wrote.





© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.