A Fantastic Find Who's Working on Wednesday: Tom Tryniski of Fultonhistory.com

And every other day of the week, as far as I can tell.

The title of Alexandria Neason's article about him in the Columbia Journalism Review says it all: How Tom Tryniski digitized nearly 50 million pages of newspapers in his living room.*

Seriously, if you have ancestors who lived in New York State** you should check out his website. I found a tiny obituary of Lyman Worden, my fourth great grandfather, at the bottom of one of his scans years ago.

[Fultonhistory.com home page]

As Ms. Neason points out, it takes patience to use his system but it worth the effort. Best of all, it's free and Mr. Tryniski intends to keep it that way.




*And if that doesn't make you feel like a slacker, I don't know what possibly could! I hope you will take the time to read about this man who has single handedly scanned an astounding number of pages.
**That's where the coverage is most complete but a quick check turned up papers in Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana among others.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Chauncey Shepard Porter (1822 - 1891), Bookseller

Chauncey, the oldest brother of my paternal grandfather Orville Tracy Porter, listed his occupation as "Bookseller" in the 1855 New York State Census. (We also learn that he was living in a frame--not log--house worth $700 and a boarder named Alfred Tubbs was residing there.)

[Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1855. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.]

Five years later his occupation is given as "Pedlar" and I wonder if he was still selling books. (His family had grown and his house was still worth $700.)

[Year: 1860; Census Place: Mexico, Oswego, New York; Roll: M653_838; Page: 525; Family History Library Film: 803838. 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.]

Chauncey lives in Mexico in Oswego County, New York, for the rest of his life and in later census records he was called a farmer. He's buried in Mexico Village Cemetery.

I worked in bookstores for many years so the occupation of this third great-uncle naturally caught my eye.





© 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.

Working on Wednesday: Porter Worden (1811 - 1891) Cooper & Farmer

If we had to rely only on the census records to follow this 3X great grandfather and his family we wouldn't know about several of the places he and his wife Hannah lived after they left their home state of New York. Fortunately his 1891 obituary in the Anamosa Eureka has come to light.

[Detail of a joint portrait of Porter and Hannah Leonard, c1860, Anamosa, Iowa.

Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

[Iowa  Anamosa  The Anamosa Eureka   Thursday , February 26th , 1891.

Source: Digital Archives of the Jones County Genealogical Society.]

                  PORTER WORDEN
   Died, at the residence of Thurston Joslin, his
son-in-law, Feb 15, 1891 Porter Worden. He was
born in Oswego county New York, May 12, 1811,
was married to Hannah M. Leonard in the year
1838, ten children being the fruit of this union.
He came to Iowa in 1853. In the course of time he
moved to Missouri, lived in Nebraska for a time
and later returned to Iowa. In early life he
united with the Methodist church but in after
years united with the Baptist church at Fairview,
of which he was a consistent member at the time
of his death. The companion of his youth died in
Nebraska in January, 1887, at the age of 74 years.
They leave a family of eight children living. Six
of them were present to assist in caring for him.
He was a great sufferer in the last days but mur
mured not. He looked forward to the time when
he would soon be free from trouble. He fell asleep
in Jesus. His remains were followed to the church
by many relatives and friends, where services were
held, and then they bore him to Wilcox ceme-
tery where he now rests to aait the summons to arise.
  Mr. and Mrs.Joslin wish to tender their thanks
to the friends for their kind assistance in this
time of trouble.
                                      D. GIVEN, Pastor.

The information in the obituary would have been supplied by his children including Polly Ann Joslin and it mostly agrees with the records we have except that Porter was actually born in Cayuga County, New York--his family moved to Oswego when he was about five years old.

Hannah's family lived in Jefferson County, New York, and that's where she and Porter were living at the time of the 1840 and 1850 federal censuses. They moved to Iowa* within a year of her father Isaac Leonard's second marriage to a much younger woman.

His occupation was listed as "Cooper" in the 1850 U.S. Census, but in all later enumerations he was a farmer.

*First to Linn County before moving on to Fairview in Jones County by 1870. Neither their move to Missouri, possibly in connection with their daughter Elizabeth Anna and her husband Steven Peregoy who moved their family to Missouri around 1870, nor their sojourn in Nebraska (and Hannah's death there) would be known except for the obituary. Since their granddaughter (and my great grandmother) Elnora Worden Webb and her family had moved to Know County in 1885 it's likely that influenced Porter and Hannah's move there.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Book Shelf: Historical collections of the state of New York, 1841

The subtitle to this tome explains why I'm posting about it here: containing a general collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities, with geographical descriptions of every township in the state. Additionally the book has 230 engravings so there's some chance you might find one that depicts some part of the town where your New York State ancestors were in 1841.

[Historical Collections of the State of New York; John Warner Barber, 1798-1885, Henry Howe 1816-1893, joint authors,

published by S. Tuttle, New York, 1841. Source: Internet Archive]

Here's what it has to say about Brownville in Jefferson County where my maternal fourth great grandfather Isaac Leonard (c. 1780-1862) was living according to the 1840 U.S. Census.*

The authors have less to say about Mexico, located in Oswego County, the home of my paternal third great grandfather William Porter (1792-1868) and his family.**

In contrast the section for the town of Oswego (in the same county) where Lyman Worden (1791-1883), another maternal fourth great grandfather***, was a resident covers 4-1/2 pages of text and includes two engravings. That's too long to insert in this post but if you're interested, it begins here.


*Isaac Leonard

**William Porter

***Lyman Worden

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Martha "Patty" Shepard (1800 - Before 1875)

The time has come to give some attention to this third great grandmother. After all, we've already considered her father Joshua Shepard (1753-1804), her husband William Porter (1796-1868) and her son Orville Tracy Porter (1838-1916).

[Detail from New Hampshire. S. Lewis del. Tanner sc. (Published by John Conrad & Co., Philadelphia. 1804).

Source David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

Patty* was born in Alstead, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, in 1800 and was her parents' youngest child. She was only four years old when her father suddenly died while harvesting wheat in August of 1804.

Her mother Lucy became the head of the household as we can see in the 1810 U.S. Census. (Patty and her next-oldest sister Catherine are represented by the "2" in the column that enumerates those "FREE WHITE FEMALES: Of ten years, and under sixteen."

[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.]

The next record we have for Patty is her marriage to William Porter, who lived in neighboring Walpole, on June 18, 1818, almost certainly in the building known as the Langdon Meeting House, which has served many functions over its lifetime. The clergyman who performed the ceremony was Robert Bartlett, a well-known Universalist** minister.

[Ancestry,com. New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: “New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659–1947.” Online index and digital images. New England Historical Genealogical Society. Citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire.]

[Langdon Meeting House. Source: Langdon Heritage Commission]

The young family left New Hampshire for the Township of Mexico*** in Oswego County, New York, in about 1826.

[Map of the County of Oswego. By David H. Burr. Published by the Surveyor General, pursuant to an Act of the Legislature. Entered according to an Act of Congress Jany. 5th. 1829 by David H. Burr of the State of New York. Engd. by Rawdon, Clark & Co., Albany & Rawdon, Wright & Co., N.Y. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

And that's where we find Williams's household in the 1830 and 1840 U.S. Census records; there's no record naming Patty until the 1850 U.S. Census. By then her 88-year-old mother Lucy Royce (now widowed a second time) and two of her sisters Lucy (66) and Mary (56) have joined the Porters in 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 New York State's 1855 Census, we see that their 27-year-old son Charles is now the head of the house as his parents, several of his siblings and his aunts are now living with him in a frame (not log) house valued at $75. (I can't help but think they must have been really crowded in there.)

[Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1855. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.]

In the Federal Census five years later, Charles is still head of the household but there's no sign of his wife or the baby girl who had just been born in 1855 and there's a 3-year-old girl named Frances so it's clear that tragedy has stuck the family.

[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.]

More changes have taken place by the 1865 New York State Census. William is once again listed as head of a household which now includes son Chauncy Shepard Porter and his growing family. Patty's sister Mary is still living with them.

[Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1865. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.]

William died in 1868 and Patty and her sister Mary continued to live with Chauncy and his family until her own death sometime before the 1875 New York State Census. Mary Shepard died in 1877.

[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.]

The place where William and Patty are buried isn't known.


*Patty and Patsy were common nicknames for girls named Martha. You can find out more about that here.
**Although today Universalists and Unitarians seem to have been conflated, in early years the Universalists considered themselves different. If you want to learn more, here's a link to an 1840 publication titled Plain Guide to Universalism.
***Represented on this 1829 map by the pink section that's closest to Lake Ontario.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.