The Land Office

The Ohio Company Land Office, Marietta, Ohio (image from Roseohioresident), built in 1788 (oldest known building in Ohio).  The building is located in Marietta, Ohio at the Campus Martius Museum of the Northwest Territory.

I've attached many Bureau of Land Management General Land Office records to various ancestors, and when I see the land office name I've always wondered what the actual land office looked like.  I can't find a direct ancestor who bought land from this particular office, but I would assume this is generally how the buildings would look.

Part of a 1789 advertisement by Winthrop Sargent in a New York city newspaper announcing the Ohio Company land sales.  The building above was already built!  "Advertisement. Extracts from the Journal of the Ohio Company." Gazette of the United States (New York, New York), 23 December 1789, p 4 [292], col 3; digital image, GenealogyBank (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 17 Nov 2016).

As an example here is my 4th great grandfather Samuel Avery's patent for land bought land in Marengo County, Alabama in 16 November 1830 at the Cahaba land office, at least 70 miles east from Marengo.  That happens to be 186 years ago as of yesterday!  (What a coincidence).  Bureau of Land Management, "Land Patent Search," digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx?searchTabIndex=0&searchByTypeIndex=0 : accessed 17 Nov 2016), Samuel Avery (Marengo County, Alabama), patent no. 4424.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Muench

There was a cobblestone-faced fireplace in the patio of the house I where I lived until my mid-thirties. These photos from the Currey family album show William Muench (1874-1962)* adding the finishing touches to the brick structure, probably around 1934.

As the caption on the bottom picture notes, the project took the Curreys two years to complete.

[From my personal collection]

In recent weeks I've been posting about my fourth great uncle Jeremiah Warren's probate records from 1830's Hancock County, Georgia, on Wednesdays. I will be continuing with that project but posting about it** on Fridays instead..


*Mr. Muench lived at 4873 Kansas Street in a small bungalow that's still there.

[Directory Title : San Diego (California) City Directory. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Original sources vary according to directory.]

**And later exploring the sort of information that can be gleaned from probate records.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Bookshelf: "Niwot, Colorado: Birth of a Railroad Town" by Anne Quinby Dyni

Image taken from Amazon.

Just received my copy of "Niwot, Colorado: Birth of a Railroad Town," one of Arcadia Publishings and History Press "American Chronicle" series.  My mother's biological mother Alta Mae Slater was born in Niwot in 1917.

Niwot is in Boulder County, north of Denver.

The first census record I ever saw was this image of Alta and her family there in 1920:

1920 U.S. Census, Boulder County, Colorado, population schedule, Precinct No. 20 (Niwot), enumeration district (ED) 29, p. 10A, dwelling 201, family 201; Alta May Slater; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Nov 2016); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 156.

An interesting tidbit I had not known before was about Alta's youngest brother, my grand uncle John "Jack" Slater (page 114):

"John Nelson's Conoco station is now occupied by Wise Buys Antiques.  Nelson built it in 1907, shortly after completing Nelson Hall across the street. Since his summers were often spent at the mineral baths in Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado, Nelson hired fifteen-year-old Jack Slater to run the business in his absence."

Talk about work experience!  How many fifteen-year-olds nowadays get the opportunity to run a business over the summer?







© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863) - Probate Records, Part 8, What Happened to Doctor, Harriet, Enoch and Martha Ann?

You may recall that the inventory of my Great Great Great Grandmother Timney P. (Watts) Phillips' property in 1863 included four enslaved persons, the first three of whom were inherited from her husband's estate:

[Description : Estate Papers, Phillips, Nancy (Minor) to Piques, Sarah. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line].Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Among Timney's probate records are bills from two doctors* which include treatment and medicine for these individuals. Martha Ann received the greatest number of visits, many of them for treatment of a recurring eye ailment.

Even though the Ancestry.com database includes 111 images, it occurred to me that these weren't all the records that would have been created during probate. There were only the supporting documents, not the probate court's records. A very short search brought up the unindexed Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 and that's where I found the following petition:

[Description : Probate Records, Vol 10, 1863-1866; Probate Records, Vol 11, 1866-1868. 

Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Timney Phillips
The State of Alabama          }  To the Hon C A Stanton Judge of
     Macon County                }   Probate Court of said County,
                 The Petition of Jeremiah D Phillips as adm-
inistrator of Timney Phillips respectfully showeth un to your
Honor that the estate of the Said Timney Phillips owns four
Negroes, which cannot be divided between the heirs of the Said
Timney Phillips without a Sale and that it is to the interest of
Said Estate to sell said negroes, that Said estate owns perisha-
ble property, Consisting of Stock, house hold & furniture etc
which it is to the interest of Said Estate to sell, Your petitioner
therefore asks an order to sell Said negroes & perishable prop-
erty Sworn & Subscribed Oct 16, 1863
   C A Stanton Judge of Probate                   J.D. Phillips

Although I didn't see a separate order allowing J.D. Phillips to hold a sale, permission must have been given and a list of the good sold on December 15, 1863, takes up several pages. At the very end of the list are these lines:

Doctor Wife & Child     L.B. Phillips         4000.00    1 Table              Jno Webb             1.50
 Enoch                      "  "       "             1000.00    5. Bushel Wheat   A Lockwood   80.00


Who was L.B. PHillips? There are two possible candidates Timney's brother-in-law Littleberry Bostick Phillips (1801-1874) and her son, also named  Littleberry Bostick Phillips (1840-1886). While it could be either man, I'm inclined to believe it's the younger one, who remained in Macon County, Alabama, for the rest of his life. His uncle was residing in Monroe County, Alabama, by the 1860 U.S. Census and it may have been difficult for him to attend the sale. He later moved to Texas.

In any case, Doctor, Harriett and Martha Ann remained in Macon County after the end of the Civil War, appearing in the 1870 U.S. Census.

[Year: 1870; Census Place: Tuskegee, Macon, Alabama.

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.]

From this record we learn that Martha Ann had been only about 10 when Timney died. Since this isn't a censu that listed the relationship of the inhabitants to the head of the household, we don't know who Frances and Mary Ann are--I hope they were other children of Harriett and Doctor who were reunited with their parents after Emancipation.

Sadly I haven't been able to trace this family any farther but maybe one of my readers can help.

And next week I'll return to share what I've found out about the lawsuit is mentioned last time, but I was excited to share these records.





*Dr. W[esley] F[orbush] Hodnett was the main physician for Timney's household; while Dr. William D. Hall's first visits were to treat Martha Ann, later he seems to have only attended Timney in her final illness.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: French Pirate Bikers, Beziers 2012

Apparently this is an annual event in Beziers but it certainly wasn't what Bonnie and I were expecting on our trip to the flower market that's held every Friday on the allees Paul Riquet. All other traffic was brought to a halt but the spectacle was worth the wait as several hundred bikers circled the promenade before parking their motorcycles and settling down to enjoying themselves.

[From my personal collection]

If I recall correctly, the man in the middle with the upraised arm was singing pirate songs (in French, of course).


And at the other end of the allees Paul Riquet the flower market proceeded as usual.

[From my personal collection]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My Great Aunt Fern

Fern Fister (1907-1993), probably 1920s.  Courtesy of Tom Cairns.

I always think of my grandmother Margaret Fister Hartley's sister Fern as an elderly woman (she was already 63 when I was born), but of course she was young once.  I was delighted when I received this undated photo of her.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

The Veterans History Project

Beginning in 2000 Folklife Center of the Library of Congress has been collecting, preserving and making accessible "the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war." The Veterans History Project is the largest oral history archive in the nation.

Here's a video explaining how individuals can participate:

P.S. The database that's been created can be searched here.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.