Robert Paul and Sarah Davies Marry

Robert Paul and Sarah Davies are my ancestors through my father's father, George Hartley Jr.

I have not yet figured out the parentage of Robert Paul (1774-1831?) and Sarah Davies (1780-1856), but I did just recently find out their marriage record.

Since the family story was that they were Quakers of English origin, I was surprised to find they married in the German-language St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Germantown, Philadelphia!

I wonder if they spoke German?

They were married on Sunday, April 29, 1798 by Pfarrer Schäfer (Pastor Schäfer), most likely Frederick David Schaeffer (1760-1836).  Robert and Sara were both single from Plymouth Township, Montgomery County ("beide ledig aus Plymouth Townships, Montgomery County").

More here and here on St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Germantown.

This may indicate they were members of this church, and maybe their parents or relatives were as well.  No wonder I wasn't finding Robert and Sarah in the Quaker record.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: William Wilcockson (1601 - 1652), Linen Weaver, Farmer

One April 2, 1635, three people were enrolled as passengers on the ship Planter in London bound for Massachusetts Bay. They were my eighth great grandfather 24-year-old William Wilcockson,* his wife Margaret (Harvey), who was 24, and their two-year-old John. The Planter left England eight days later and landed in Boston on June 7th.

Because the couple produced the required certificate attesting to their conformity with the Church of England** signed by the Vicar of St. Albans, it used to be believed that they were residents of Hertfordshire. However, more recent research hasn't found any record of them in that county and now it's thought they came from Derbyshire, perhaps because of William's occupation as a linen weaver.*** Once he arrived in Massachusetts, he appears to have become a farmer.

[Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae Tabula. Published by Willem Janszoon Blaeu, Amsterdam-1630.

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

[Detail of above map showing Derbyshire, St. Albans and London.]

These two couples, taken from the right margin of the 1630 map above, show an artist's conception of how the English dressed in the city and country. William and Margaret probably wore similar clothes.












Their first residence was in Concord, Massachusetts, where William became a freeman on December 7, 1636, which meant he had to have been admitted as a member of the church before that date.

However, William and Margaret didn't remain in Massachusetts, removing to Stratford, Connecticut, by 1639. And that's where my direct ancestor Obediah, the seventh of their ten children, was born about 1645.

[Detail of A Map of New England and New York, 1676, showing locations of Boston and Stratford. Sold by Tho. Basset in Fleet Street and Richard Chiswell in St. Paul's Church Yard. Source: Wikimedia Commons]

In 1647 William acted as the Deputy for Stratford to the Connecticut General Court (he served on petit juries there) so he had some standing in the community.

His will was signed on May 29, 1651. It was damaged in a fire and the top part of the page was lost but he desired his younger children to live with their mother who was to give each one a cow along with their property when they reached adulthood. The inventory of his estate is dated June 16, 1652, suffered a similar loss. William's total estate was valued at £322 13s. 3d. most of which appears to have been land but included "arms" worth £3 and "books" valued at £3 14s. He left £30 to the Concord Church which he had been a member of many years earlier.

William Wilcockson is buried in the Old Congregational Burying Ground in Stratford. His widow Margaret married William Hayden some time between May 1656 and December 22, 1657, when John Winthrop, Jr. treated "Heiden William his wife 47 years old" at Windsor, Connecticut, and several of her children in later years.

William's entry in volume VII of The Great Migration is five pages long and is my source for most of what I've written here (via the New England Historic Genealogical Society's website).

*Alternate spellings of the surname include Willcoxson and Wilcoxon. Several generations later it was shortened to Willcox.
**You can read more about what government requirements were for prospective travelers to the New World here.
***Hertfordshire was known for its silk weavers. According to the Great Migration Project, the case for his father being William Wilcockson of Biggin-by-Hulland in Derbyshire is "suggested but not proven."

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Diary of James Milo Nosler: Moving Around Iowa and Checking Out Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri

James Milo Nosler (1843-1886), my 3rd great uncle who kept a diary for many years.  He was the youngest brother of my 2nd great grandfather, William "Will" Nosler (1840-1914).

In the Autumn of "55" Father married a widow [Valeria Young, 1819-1897, widow of Job Dewey] with three children notwithstanding the remonstrances of all his children who were bitterly opposed to it.  My sisters immediately left him and soon after Emily was married to Dr. Hunt ["Docks" Benjamin Franklin Hunt, 1832-1910]. The subsequent winter we lived in the S.E. corner of the county on a farm father had bought, but in the spring we moved up in the Hunt settlement on another of our farms.

Approximate locations of John Nosler (1800-1864) and Docks, in "55".  Detail from the BLM record for "Benjamin J. Hunt" in Polk County, Iowa.  This is all just north of Des Moines.

Same areas, in the larger context.

This spring Caroline was married to Jerrymire S. Dawson [Jeremiah "Jerry" S Lawson, b 1833] , Bird Vowel and Wieth Nosler moved to Wis. (?) (probably Neb.) [Bird Vowel and Wieth (Riley Wyatt Nosler, 1822-1878, James' oldest brother) moved to Nebraska--I find record of "Wieth" in Nehama, Nebraska in 1860].

"Wieth" Nosler was in Peru, Nemaha, Nebraska by 1860, so this is possibly where both he and Bird Vowel went to in 1856.  Peru is shown relative to Des Moines and Omaha in this modern Google map.

1857
I had my first experience in farming this summer, during the winter went to school [he was 14]; in the fall John [his brother John, 1831-1907] moved to S.W. Iowa and in the coming spring Jerry moved to Nebraska, taking Will [William Nosler, my 2nd great grandfather, 1840-1914] with them; in May the old folks, Docks, and myself went on down to look at the country in Nebraska.  We left Docks and went on down (taking Will) to look at Kansas; from thence up through Mo. and back to Iowa.  Docks got back sometime after.  

A close up of Colton's Kansas and Nebraska (1858), in areas where the Noslers were likely looking around, trying to find a place to settle.  Nebraska and Kansas are in colors on the left of the Missouri River, Iowa and Missouri on the right.  "Wieth" was in Nemaha (arrow) by 1860, and the counties in Missouri where Noslers went are circled.

From "Annals of Polk County, Iowa: and city of Des Moines" on Ancestry.  This may explain all the moving around in this year, even though James didn't mention it by name (the Panic of 1857).

That winter I went to school some [I need to look at what record there would be for schools in Polk County in that time]; attended the first revival I ever was at.  Docks and Will experience religion, at last, seeing everybody else go I went forward, and just done what they required of me, but all in vain.  I think now I wasn't sufficiently charged with electricity, or I might have showed to advantage too. 

This must be a reference to the beginnings of the religious phenomenon now referred to as the Third Great Awakening in America.  It doesn't seem James was that into it.

Father had bought a house and lots in Winterset [in Madison County, Iowa, same place where the later novel "Bridges of Madison County" took place]--lived there during the winter while Will and I stayed with Docks; in the spring he intended moving to Mo., taking Will and I with him. A step sister [Angeline Dewey, 1842-1918] had in the fall married Austin McLain [William Austin McLain, 1837-1863].

Winterset, Madison, Iowa in relation to Des Moines.  James' father John Nosler would die almost 7 years later in Winterset in 1864.  Although John's mother Martha Snavely is not mentioned in James' diary as far as I can tell, she was still living and would die in Madison County in 1871 at age 95.  From "Parker's sectional & geological map of Iowa" (1856).

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

March Is Women's History Month: Vivian Claire Cadman Eddy (1921 - 2013), WASP Pilot, World War II

One day last month a friend and I decided to take one of our biweekly walks at Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma. Afterwards, instead of coming directly home, we parked at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery and while we walked around the columbarium court this marker caught my eye and I promised myself I would research this woman's history.*

[My photo]

[Map of Vivian C Eddy's grave in Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery; the National Cemetery Administration Nationwide Gravesite Locator]

Vivian Claire Cadman** was born in Fullerton, California, and fell in love with flying in her teens. By 1942 when she joined the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS)*** Vivian already had her pilot's license. By the end of her service (as a civilian) she had flown at least eight North American P-51 Mustang fighter planes from their factory in Los Angeles to New Jersey and had been at the controls of almost every other pursuit fighter being made, including the Bell P-39 Aircobra she's pictured in below.

[Women Air Service Pilots]

[WASP pilot Vivian Eddy in the door of a P-39 Airacobra, 1945. Location unknown.]

Despite her experience, Vivian couldn't find a job as a pilot in the commercial air world so she became what she felt was the next best thing--a stewardess. Here's what she says about it in an interview quoted in Gallery of Legends:

"She joined American Airlines, where the job interviewer asked, 'Why do you want to be a stewardess?' 'Well, you won’t hire me as a pilot,' she answered. Every captain who learned she was a DC-3 pilot invited her to the cockpit to take the controls. She worries that she might still get in trouble with American for flying. (Not likely.)"

After Congress rejected a bill to formalize the WASPS' as a branch of the military in December of 1944, the program came to an end and all the women had to buy their own tickets home. They weren't eligible for veterans' benefits until 1978.

Finally in 2010, they were awarded America's highest civilian honor: the Congressional Gold Medal and Vivian was among the survivors who traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive it.****

[Vivian Cadman Eddy shows the Congressional Gold Medal she received for flying for the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II after a ceremony at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., March 10, 2010. During her service, Eddy delivered nine P-51 aircraft from California to New Jersey. All 1,102 women who served as civilian pilots under the direction of U.S. forces received the medal.

Department of Defense Photo Essay; DoD photo by Linda Hosek]

Read about Women's History Month here.


*She's not one of my relatives but I loved finding out about her story.
**More about Vivian Claire (Cadman) Eddy here and here. Here's her findagrave page.
***You can read more about the WASPs here and here.
****SD Tribune story (not mentioning Vivian) about WASPs getting Congressional Medal in 2010 here. 2009 UT story including Vivian here

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Easter Sunday: 1951 (Again & Again)

Here's four-year old me with my Easter basket on my trusty tricycle in the backyard in Encanto; the blooming tree behind me is an avocado.

[From my personal collection]

I first posted this photo last Easter but decided to share it again this year.

And again in 2024


© 2024 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: Easter Greeting

[Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Easter greeting." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-4fb9-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

His Mother Nancy (Hibbs) Nosler Dies: The Diary of James Milo Nosler

James Milo Nosler (1843-1886), my 3rd great uncle who kept a diary for many years, was born in Putnam County, Indiana.  When he was six his parents took him out to Iowa to visit an older brother, and soon after the family moved out to Iowa by 1850.  A few weeks before his 11th birthday his mother, Nancy Hibbs (1800-1854) died of illness on a trip back from an extended visit to family and friends in Putnam County, Indiana.

In the fall of 1853 my parents (M) sisters [Syotha Caroline, Mary, and Emily], Will [William Nosler, my 2nd great grandfather], and myself made an overland trip to Indiana where we remained during the winter visiting our old neighbors and relatives.  Early in the spring we started back  and just in the edge of Ill. mother and Emily were both taken sick, and we stopped with a man by the name of Landreth in the middle of an 18 mile prairie.

I am still struggling to discover where this was exactly.  I'm assuming somewhere on the road in eastern Illinois along a route to Springfield, as he mentions that after his mother died they buried her on the "Springfield road" in Smigton(?), but I don't find a Smigton. It is not clear to me what route they were taking, as I would have expected Edgar or Coles counties to be where they would have gone through if they were going toward Springfield, that is), but maybe they took a more southern route, as the only men with last name Landreth that I could find in the 1855 Illinois Census were in Clay County (toward the bottom of the map).  Also, in the BLM records I find a Wells Landreth in neighboring Effingham County who bought land in 1853, just the year before.  Maybe the family went from Green Castle to Terre Haute, and then due south to Vincennes and across into Illinois?

On the other hand, even though I don't find Landreth men in the Clark County area in that time period, it did run along a route from Green Castle to Terre Haute to Vandalia, there is a *Livingston*  east of Marshall, Clark, Illinois, on a modern map along that route (maybe the person transcribing the diary mistook the L for an S?--that might make sense).  And it is just inside Illinois, as James said. But it doesn't satisfy the "middle of an 18 miles prairie" description.

For a while I had her dying possibly near Gordon, Crawford County, Illinois, as that is also on the border of Illinois and Indiana, and has a Landreth man there by 1860, but it doesn't seem like a logical place they would have traveled through.

It is also possible that James didn't give an entirely accurate location, since I don't think he was overly familiar with Illinois at any point in his life.

If anyone else can figure this out, that would be great!  I'd love to know where my ancestress is buried.

I am assuming somewhere between Greencastle, Putnam, Indiana (right) and Springfield (circled left) is where they stopped and where Nancy is buried.  I have looked up Landreth (and other spelling variations) in the 1855 Illinois Census and found men of that name only in Clay county (toward the bottom) and also land records indicate a man in neighboring Effingham.  From the 1856 Map of Illinois.

After an illness of about two weeks, I was left motherless on the 12 day of April 1854.  Two or three days before she died, (her mind had been wandering for some time), when she was noticed looking very attentive at me.  Caroline [Syotha Caroline Nosler, b 1829] asked her if she knew who it was.  She said, "Is it Jimmy?" Answer, "Yes," "Well then Jimmy bring me a drink," and these were the last words she ever spoke to me.  I can remember how these words filled my young heart with joy, for I thought it an indication of my mother's recovery.  

She was buried near a little town by the name of Smigton (?) [possibly Livingston, Clark County, Illinois], seven miles west of Landrettis (?) on the Springfield road. 

After a few days travel, Emily [Emily Ellin Nosler, 1833-1888] was taken worse, and had to lay over another week, but at last we got back to the old mill [in Jefferson Township, Polk County, Iowa, on Beaver Creek, just northwest of Des Moines, for an image of the general area see this post], father had disposed of all his land and sold the mill to Jno. Nosler [likely son John Houston Nosler, 1831-1907] and Samle Kent, but during the summer he bought one third of the mill back and Bird Voweland [Bird Vowell, who was daughter Mary Nosler's husband, not sure why James sometimes puts Voweland instead of Vowell??] bought Hunt's share [Hunt was the last name of James' soon-to-be brother-in-law, Benjamin Hunt, so likely either him or a near relative], rented his farm in Jasper county and moved up.  Bird did not buy though until the summer of "55".  

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Currey

This slide is titled "Easter 1948--Agua Caliente" and Mother and I are standing near an ocotillo in full bloom.

[From my personal collection]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Diary of James Milo Nosler: Introduction, part 2

Continued from Part 1.

James Milo Nosler (1843-1886), my 3rd great uncle who kept a diary for many years, was born in Putnam County, Indiana.  When he was six his parents took him out to Iowa to visit an older brother, and soon after the family moved out to Iowa:

When I was about six years old my parents took me and Will on a visit to Wapello to Iowa to see Wieth and Mary who had married and gone out before and also to look at the country.  

Since James was born in 1843 then the year he is discussing is probably 1849, and likely in the the spring, as the next passage indicates they got back by summer.  William "Will" Nosler (1840-1914) is his brother, my 2nd great grandfather.  Wieth is their oldest brother, Riley Wyatt Nosler (1822-1878), and his first wife Mary? Jane Turner (1822-abt 1850).

James doesn't explain how they traveled from Indiana to Iowa.  It doesn't appear to be by train, at least in Iowa itself, which didn't have railroad until a few years after this trip.  The National Road ran right across Putnam County (between Indianapolis and Terre Haute), so my theory is that the family may have taken that all the way to Vandalia, Illinois, and then from there to the Mississippi on the same road  to St Louis possibly (but not part of the National Road officially which stopped in Vandalia because of lack of funding after the 1837 financial panic).  


Conner Prairie has an overview of transportation in Indiana from 1800 to 1860.

The Historic National Road from Wikipedia, courtesy of Citynoise.  Putnam County is between Terre Haute and Indianapolis.

Or, they could have taken the National Road to Terre Haute, and then taken the Wabash and Erie Canal, and then to the Ohio and then Mississippi?:

From Wikipedia, the Wabash and Erie Canal, courtesy of Charles Edward.

I suspect that Wapello was Ottumwa (which is in Wapello County), and that James and his family may have taken a steamboat from the Mississippi up the Des Moines River.  

From Enchanted Learning.  Jasper County, just east of Des Moines, is where James'  sister Mary Vowell lived with her husband Bird Vowell.

As you can see in the right image, Iowa was only just beginning to be settled, and much of it along the watershed area of the Des Moines River.  From "Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States."

We got back during the summer and the next spring father sold out "root and branch" bound for the West; got through safe enough to Bird Virott [Bird Vowell, 1826-1902] in Jasper Co.  (He is Mary's man [James' sister Mary Ann Nosler, 1829-1904]); stayed there a short time and moved on into about Des Moines thru a little village, Jushapse***, 300 or 400 inhabitants on the Des Moines river.  

I haven't a clue what "Jushapse" was actually called, since the French were in the area it might be a French sounding name, or even a mishearing of a Native American name.  ***EDITED TO ADD: A view of the original writing provided by one of James Milo's direct descendants made me realize that "Jushapse" is just the word "perhaps".  This is yet another lesson to me that it is always important to get as close to the original writing as possible.

After perhaps perambulating around in this country a few days, he [I'm assuming James' father John?] struck a trade. (John [this is likely James' brother John Houston Nosler, 1831-1907, whose descendant John Amos Nosler started the Nosler ammunitions company] was married [to Matilda Farmer, 1832-1897] just before we left Indiana, but had not gone to house keeping yet). 

Father [John Nosler, 1800-1864] bought a good tract of land 5 1/2 miles north of Des Moines on Beaver Creek on which was situated a good saw mill, good house and well, and thought we was at home, but oh what a home it was!  In a few days we all began to feel kind sick, then cold, then we would begin to shake, and finally our teeth began to rattle.  Oh horror of horrors we had the Iowa ague [Ague: Usually malaria but can be any feverish illness with fits of shivering--more on Iowa ague here].  No use now for James Milo to squall; old ague is so miserable.  We were at times all down, but father, but finally we wore it out by the quinine, but it left its mark on me in shape of an ague cake that almost covered one side and did not disappear for weeks.  

In the 1850 John Nosler and family were among the residents in a community in Polk County, and if John was on the same land as he was in the 1852 Iowa census then this was in the area of Jefferson Township, Polk County, Iowa (some history here).  I need to find the land purchase record for this tract of land as I don't have a record of this yet.

Beaver Creek is indicated by the "A", in Jefferson Township, Polk County, Iowa (about 6 miles north from downtown Des Moines).  From city-data.com on Jefferson Township, Polk, Iowa.

It was in the spring of 1850 when we came to this place, and for the three succeeding years I enjoyed myself, I think better than ever before.  I was a boy and had no cares, surrounded by kind and indulgent friends.  Will and I were continually together, and when I now look back on those days they seem only the shadows of a bright, but receding dawn.  The only thing, I think, that marred that happiness was occasionally spills of the croup, of which I had a mortal fear. 

It was during the winter of '53 that father had a tremendous spell of sickness, and nothing I guess but his strong constitution ever brought him through it.  He had been away busily engaged running the mill ever since he bought it with the exceptions of two or three summers as they came far and near for lumber and ghrists (he had built a ghristmill) and had been working on the water from which he took cold and disease set in.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Mehlschau/Currey/Romero

Dad took a break from helping the Mehlschaus' pour a new walkway to take this snapshot in the summer of 1958. Richie's on the truck shoveling sand into the cement mixer and his father Andrew's cooling off with a cup of water. The man with the leather apron and the big hat whose face is hidden is Tony Romero, an old vaquero who had known Andrew's wife Kate since she was a child. Mother is watching the whole production, probably glad that her help wasn't needed.

[From my personal collection]

And here, standing on the finished walkway are Andrew Mehlschau and his older brother Pete (1896-1991).

[From my personal collection]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Solomon Joseph Hartley's Y-DNA: What Will It Reveal?

I'm waiting!

Last month I had my dad do the Family Tree DNA Y-DNA test (to 37 markers).  I have since received notice from the company that they had received the kit and were processing the results.

The results are expected sometime between 04/27/2016 - 05/11/2016.  It is sooo hard to wait.

I've looked high and low online, but it doesn't appear that any men with the Hartley last name who are direct descendants of Solomon Joseph Hartley (1775-1815) have made their Y-DNA results public, or even if any have done it at all.  When I went through my tree I quickly realized that there really aren't too many of those Hartley's left.  The line has daughtered out to a large degree.

My Hartley line.  Since no one else appears to have tested to discover Solomon's Y-DNA yet I will have no way of knowing if there are any non-paternal events, but I'm pretty confident this line is correct.

After watching a few Family Tree DNA videos on Y-DNA results ("Family Tree DNA Results Explained: Y-DNA Markers, Matching and Genealogy" and especially "Help, My Y-DNA Matches Have a Different Surname!") I think I will have one of the three following types of results:

1.  Most of the men my dad will match to will also have the last name Hartley.

I'm not expecting this, due to discovering that Solomon was either from Germany or Poland (according his two sons' 1880 census), and Hartley to a very large extent appears to be English or British Isles.  I suspect Solomon is Dutch, German, or Polish, and would therefore have a name reflecting that.  I think this would be the most convenient result, however, as that means I could continue researching the Hartley name.  I have signed up to the Hartley Y-DNA Project already, and will be able to see how Dad's results measure up to the others.

2.  Most of the men my dad will match to will all have a similar name to each other, but not Hartley.

I think this would point to an adoption or non-paternal event, or maybe he just adopted a new name in the US.  This kind of result would be very convenient, as then I'd know what new name to pursue.  Although this would be the most desirable result (from my research perspective), I think it is the least likely. This is because I think he may come from an ancestry that either follows Scandinavian patronymic patterns, or may even be of Jewish origin, and they didn't adopt surnames until quite recently.  Which leads me to what I think I am most likely to find when the results finally come up....

3.  The other testers will have a large variety of names with no common last names, but maybe they will tend to have an origin in a similar region in Europe (I'm assuming Dad has a European Y-DNA), like maybe all in the eastern Europe, or largely in the Netherlands, etc.

I think this is the most likely result.  Maybe I'm just being cynical, but since everything else about Solomon's ancestry has been such a battle to discover, I think it is pollyannish to think I'll get a straightforward result with the Y-DNA.

For fun, here are some successful Y-DNA stories at Family Tree DNA.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Catherine Gaskill (1804 - 1874)

We know so little for certain about this maternal third great grandmother but a few things seem clear. The oldest daughter of Phoebe Budd? (1775?-1845?) and Caleb Gaskill (1775-1837), her given name is consistently spelled "Catharine" (including on her gravestone) not the more usual "Catherine." Also census records almost always list her birthplace as Pennsylvania, most likely in Brownsville Township in Fayette County. Her paternal grandparents were Hope Rossell and Caleb Gaskill and we can trace her lineage back to Edward Gaskill.

The family moved to Ross County, Ohio,* in 1809 when Catharine was about five years old. Unfortunately the 1810 U.S. Census records for all Ohio counties except one do not survive so we don't know exactly where the Gaskills settled.**

[A new map of part of the United States of North America, exhibiting the Western Territory, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia &c., also the lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario & Erie; with Upper and Lower Canada &c. From the latest authorities. By John Cary, engraver. 1805. London: Published by J. Cary, Engraver & Map-seller, No. 181, Strand, June 1st, 1805.

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

[Detail of above map showing location of Brownsville and general area surrounding Chillicothe in Ross County.]

On March 2, 1820, Catharine married Henry Freeman*** who apparently died the following year. A year later his widow married Jesse Tomlinson in Fayette County, Ohio.

In the 1830 U.S. Census, when Jesse Tomlinson's household was enumerated in Perry Township in the southwest corner of Pickaway County, his family had grown to seven people including three little boys, a little girl, and an elderly man over 70 whose identity is unknown.**** Ten years later the Tomlinson's were still living in Perry Township and had added four more children, two boys and two girls.*****

[Detail of Map Of The State Of Ohio From the latest & best Authorities; Including the Census of 1830. Engraved by A. Reed, East Windsor Connecticut; 1831. Published by Silas Andrus, Hartford Con. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

[Perry Township; Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fifth Census of the United States, 1830. (NARA microfilm publication M19, 201 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

[Perry Township; Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

In the 1850 U.S. Census, Catharine finally got her own listing. She and her family were now living in Union Township in Madison County, Ohio, next door to her brother Noah Gaskill. Only six of their children were still living at home including my direct ancestor George who was 11 and their youngest child Albert who was three years old.

[Union Township is located west and south of London which isn't included in it; Detail of Map Of The State Of Ohio. Published By Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. No. 253 Market St. Philadelphia. 1850. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

[Union Township; 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 1856 the Tomlinsons left Ohio for Washington County, Iowa, where Jesse died on May 24, 1857. Three years later the 1860 U.S. Census listed Catharine as head of a household and a farmer . Two of her sons, Albert and George, were living with her and one of her other sons, Samuel, and his family were living nearby. (Note that Catharine's place of birth was listed as "unknown" which makes me think that she probably wasn't the person who answered the enumerator's questions.)

[Detail from A New Map of the State of Iowa. Published By Charles Desilver, No. 714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1856 by Charles Desilver in the Clerk's office if the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 35. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

["United States Census, 1860," database with images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-25248-2235-2?cc=1473181 : accessed 21 March 2016), Iowa &gt; Washington &gt; English River Township &gt; image 12 of 34; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, <i>Fold3.com</i> (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).]

We haven't been able to locate Catharine in the 1870 U.S. Census but in Grave Records of Washington County, Iowa, compiled by the Graves Registration Project of W. P. A. lists her date of death as May 2, 1874. She's buried near her husband in the Richmond Protestant Cemetery (now Richmond Public Cemetery). Find A Grave's photograph of her gravestone shows that it's been broken and only the top part appears to have survived

[Catharine, wife of Jesse Tomlinson, Richmond Public Cemetery, Washington County, Iowa.

Source: Find A Grave Memorial# 19698590; Photo by Connie (#46496968)]

Catharine and Jesse's son George Marion Tomlinson married Elizabeth Taylor who died shortly after their daughter Rufina Ellen Tomlinson was born in 1863. Fina married Lewis Logan Slater and their second child, Harry Allen Slater, is my maternal grandfather.

*Chillicothe is the present county seat for Ross County. In 1800 Chillicothe became the capital of the Northwest Territory and from 1803 through 1816 (except for a brief interval) it served as the Ohio state capital.
**I haven't been able to locate Caleb Gaskill in the 1820 U.S. Census either. In the 1830 U.S. Census his household was listed in Scioto Township in Ross County but we don't know if that's where they settled when they first arrived in Ohio or whether they relocated once they were there.
***I haven't found any further information about Henry.
****Jesse's father died in 1815 and Catharine's father was still living in Ross County.
*****Another daughter, named Phoebe for her grandmother, was born in 1832 and died in 1836.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Curreys + Mehlschaus

This 1956 photo was definitely taken on a Sunday because we're all dressed up for Mass at St. Joseph's Church in Nipomo. The adults are (left to right), Bernice Grenfell Currey, Catherine "Kate" Ontiveros Mehlschau (1912-1996) and her husband Andrew Mehlschau (1900-1970). Standing next to nine-year-old me* are the Mehlschau boys, Richard "Richie" (1944-1975) and Charles "Charlie" (1942-2014).

[From my personal collection]

The Mehlschau's car appears to be a 1955 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan which sold for about $1,845. (It was really Kate's car.)

[1955 Ford Customline Sedans; source: American-Automobiles.com]

*Obviously not appreciating the sun in my eyes.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Free Newspaper Archives

[Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. "Woman reading a newspaper in the living room." New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 20, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-f85e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99]

David Sarokin at XooxleAnswers, a professional research service website, has done the work so we don't have to. Here's what he has to say about his collection of online newspapers:

Increasingly, there are digital archives of old newspapers available to everyone at no charge…if you know where to look. That’s what my collection of resources is all about: free historical newspapers on the Internet. Here are those links again.

• US state and regional newspaper archives

• College and student newspapers

• Historical magazine archives

• European archives

• Other international archives, including numerous foreign language sources

Thank you David!

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

The Famous Nosler

Growing up, the only thing I knew about the Nosler name is that is was my paternal great grandmother's maiden name (Minnie Nosler, my father's father's mother).

I guess most people know the Nosler name from the Nosler ammunition company, begun by my 2nd cousin 2x's removed John Amos Nosler (1913 - 1910).

Here is how I am related, starting with my grandfather George Hartley Jr (1907 - 1977), who was about the same vintage as John Amos Nosler:

Grandfather's Nosler connection (through his mother).

John Nosler's Nosler lineage.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Currey/Mehlschau + Mehlschau

In these photos, which were taken in 1956, I'm riding Red while Richie (plaid shirt) and Charley (white shirt) are showing off their 4-H project steers.

[From my personal collection]

You can find pictures more pictures from the Mehlschau farm in Nipomo here.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Discover the Inventory of Counties, Cities, and other Organizations throughout the United States using Historical Records Survey Reports

From the New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources:

The Historical Records Survey was inaugurated in 1935. Employing white-collar workers, the project inventoried and published state and county historical records. It surveyed and indexed selections of manuscript collections held in public and private depositories, prepared a bibliographic record of books published before the copyright law of 1876, surveyed federal records in state depositories, and undertook related historical projects designed to provide scholars with a more detailed account of public and private records throughout the country.

Oooh!!  This is helpful!

I stumbled upon these works when I kept noticing that that at the top of the FamilySearch catalog results list, for any given county I was researching, there seemed to be a "Historical Records Survey" work, available to view online no less.

These can be used in conjunction with FamilySearch's Wiki pages, Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, and The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy, to discover what types of records can be found in any given area.

A few ways to access these works:
FamilySearch Catalog results page for author search: Historical Records Survey
The Online Books Page by author: Historical Records Survey (U.S.)



For example, using FamilySearch to see what they have on Anderson County, Tennessee (where my Noslers and Hibbs were in the early 1800's), I found the following:

I've been under-utilizing the catalog section of FamilySearch.  It pays to spend some time to see what works exist.

There's that Inventory entry.  I wonder what that means?

I love instant gratification: "To view a digital version of this item click here" 

There is page after page of sourced information about the county, some information reflecting the contemporary conditions when the report was created, and some include historical overviews:

Names, sources, all kinds of things to play with.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.