Family Friday: Slater/Tomlinson

The young couple pictured here are my maternal great grandparents, Lewis Logan Slater and Rufina* Ellen Tomlinson, who were married in Severy, Greenwood County, Kansas, on December 13, 1885.

[Courtesy of Olive Kennedy]

["Kansas, County Marriages, 1855-1911," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16091-19039-85?cc=1851040&wc=M6VS-CM9:166157501,166197301 : accessed 21 May 2014),

Greenwood Marriage records, 1882-1887, v. C image 127 of 198. Image edited and re-sized.]

*Her nickname was Fina, the name used on her marriage license.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Hat Tip from NEHGS Blog "Vita Brevis": The Sport of Genealogy

Image from the FamilySearch.org website

Kyle Hurst notes in "The Sport of Genealogy":

It takes physical and mental strength and endurance to pursue the ultimate prize of accurately identifying an ancestor.

It's so true!

Last year I decided to get a little more serious in my research and ordered some FHL microfilms for records not digitized (yet).  I went down to the local Family History Center with the intention of doing some amazing research.  It only took scrolling through a few microfilms of ante bellum Alabama estate papers for a few short hours for my brain to turn into mush.  I was woefully unprepared for the firehose of information those files contained, and went home exhausted.  Worst of all, I didn't spend much additional time analyzing what little I did take home, which consisted of blurry photos I took with my phone.  Who knew such a sedentary pursuit could be so grueling?







© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Abner Webb (About 1834 - About 1861), Carpenter

The first record we have that mentions this maternal great great grandfather by name* is in the 1850 U.S. Census in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; his age was listed as 16 and his occupation as "Lab" (for laborer). It doesn't appear that the family owned any real estate so he and his father probably were either renting farm land or working for neighbors. Abner was the oldest child with a brother Jesse** and sister Elizabeth, all of whom were born in Pennsylvania.

[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.]

By 1856 his and his brother were in Jones County, Iowa, where on November 6th of that year Abner married Mercy Ann Darling***

In their grandfather Jesse Sill's will, dated July 17, 1857, and probated five months later, both Abner and Jesse were left bequests of $300****. Since no mention is made of their mother Jane we assume that she predeceased her father and we have no record of their father Isaac Webb later than the 1850 U.S. Census.

["Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-28783-25273-3?cc=1999196&wc=9PMJ-MNG:268499101,281994701 : accessed 11 January 2015), Allegheny - Wills 1855-1860 vol 8 no 79-vol 9 no 304 - image 1574 of 3099; county courthouses, Pennsylvania.]

The 1860 U.S. Census listed 26-year old Abner Webb as one of three carpenters working for a well-to-do attorney in Collin County, Texas. And that's the last official record we have for him.

[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.]

What happened to him? Family stories are conflicting--one view is that he was forced into fighting for the Confederacy and another story places him with Sherman's army in Georgia. There is no evidence to support either claim. Another possibility, also unverified, is that he was in Galveston when his only son, Jesse David Webb, was reported born on July 17, 1860, and died there in one of the yellow fever or cholera epidemics that plagued that city.


*Their surname was spelled Weub in this census.
**Named for his maternal grandfather Jesse Sill.
***The next year his brother married her sister Nancy Adelia Darling.
****Originally they were left $350 but Jesse Sill changed his mind and crossed out the 50. I've already posted about their sister Elizabeth's bequest here.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Book Shelf: G.A.R. Souvenir Sporting Guide

If you're at all familiar with 19th century euphemisms, you may recognize that the word "sporting" in the title to this 29-page 1895 Louisville guide has nothing to do with baseball (or any other sport). But if any of the veterans attending the Grand Army of the Republic Encampment that year were looking for some "high-class" and "liberal entertainment" this guide would have been very helpful. 

 

 

[A guide to the houses of ill fame for the 1895 encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in Louisville, Ky.

From the Internet Archive; Original Source: University of Louisville.]

Every one of the ladies in the guide could also supply her callers with wine and beer.

A big hat tip to Andy Hall of Dead Confederates blog for this.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Hat Tip to a Classmate: Pinterest board "Hot Men from History"

People Magazine has famously been on the case for years.

When I'm doing genealogy research I sometimes wonder, who was the hot guy of this family?  Maybe it was the neighbor next door. Such a shame that since photography was developed so late in human history, we'll never know in most cases.

My classmate Susan has a great Pinterest board dedicated to nice-looking men from history.  I approve and consider this a very important field of inquiry.



© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Hope Rossell (About 1745 - Before 1804)

Often, as in the case of this maternal fifth great grandmother, the only record we can find that actually names the woman relates to her marriage. Otherwise we must rely on her husband's records for her whereabouts.

[New Jersey State Archives, Colonial Marriages, 1665-1799]

What we have here is the marriage bond posted by the bridegroom Caleb Gaskill* and Joseph Gaskill (most likely his uncle) which served as a marriage license and didn't require banns being read out in church for three weeks before the wedding could take place. Because getting the license cost a fee, it wasn't something that poor people could afford to do.

 [The early marriage laws of New Jersey, by W. Nelson.--Index to marriage bonds and records in the office of the secretary of state at Trenton. Paterson, N.J., The Press Printing & Publishing Co. Year: 1900.

Source: Internet Archive. Original: Library of Congress]

Hope and Caleb were married on July 15, 1765, and continued living in Burlington County, New Jersey, where their third child and oldest son, also named Caleb**, was born about 1775.

By the time their eighth child Mary was born in 1781, the family had moved to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where they are found in the 1790 U.S. Census in Washington Township.

[Ancestry.com. 1790 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: First Census of the United States, 1790 (NARA microfilm publication M637, 12 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

We can get an idea of their 200-acre farm in Washington Township from tax records in 1798 which valued it at $1,200.

[Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S. Direct Tax Lists, 1798 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data: United States Direct Tax of 1798: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania. M372, microfilm, 24 rolls. Records of the Internal Revenue Service, 1791-2006, Record Group 58. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.]

In the 1800 U.S. Census they were still living in Washington Township and we believe that Hope is represented by the 1 entered in the 10th column which enumerated "Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over".

[Ancestry.com. 1800 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Second Census of the United States, 1800. NARA microfilm publication M32 (52 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Second Census of the United States, 1800: Population Schedules, Washington County, Territory Northwest of the River Ohio; and Population Census, 1803: Washington County, Ohio. NARA microfilm publication M1804 (1 roll).]

We don't know when Hope died, probably in Pennsylvania, but it was sometime before 1804 when Caleb married a woman whose given name was Elizabeth. Sometime later he moved to Ohio where his son Caleb and several of his married daughters were living. He died in 1817 in Deer Creek, Pickaway County.

*This Caleb Gaskill was the great grandson of Provided Southwick and her husband Samuel Gaskill, and the great great grandson of Dirick Areson.
**My direct ancestor, whose daughter Catherine married Jesse Tomlinson.
© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: The History of America in 50 Documents: 1493 - 1859

The latest news from The Gilder Lehrman Collection:

"We are thrilled to announce that from now until March 31st, you can access "American History in 50 Documents," - featuring 50 hand-picked and analyzed Gilder Lehrman Collection documents, ranging from 1493-1859 - for free!"

This is a fantastic opportunity to view documents like the "Barcelona Letter" originally addressed to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain by Columbus glowingly describing his discoveries which persuaded them to allow him to make more voyages to what he steadfastly believed was East Asia.

[Source: Smithsonian Magazine]

Among the other documents included are Samuel F.B. Morse's 1843 expense report for the cost of creating the first telegraph line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, and part of a draft of Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech of 1857.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.