Occupation: "Worn Out Minister"

While looking at the 1880 census for my 1st cousin 4x removed, William A McKay, I had to smile when I saw the occupation of the next head of household. At 71 years old, Riley E Anderson was a "worn out minister." Hopefully, he told the minister that mainly in jest!

1880 US Federal Census for Utica, Venango County, Pennsylvania, image 2 of 7 on Ancestry

Just in case someone might be related... William A McKay's mother, Jane Eliza Close, was a sister of my 3rd great grandmother, Julia Ann "July" Close (1826-1905), who married John W McClintock (1825-1890).

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Adam Close: Dependent on Only Son (#8 of 52 Ancestors)

My 4th great grandfather, Adam Close, wrote his will on February 1st, 1865. He stated he wanted his debts and "funded expenses" to be taken care of, and then he proceeded to give money to his heirs. He bequeathed five dollars to each of his daughters: Catharine intermarried with M P Crosthwaite, Julia Ann intermarried with John W. McClintock, Jane relict of David W. McKay, and Harriet intermarried with Doctor John W. Riddle. And then he gives five dollars to his "son, James M Close (if living)."

From Adam Close's Will in Mercer County, Pennsylvania 1865

When I first came across this will, I was saddened to think that Adam didn't even know if his son was still alive. Was James off fighting in the Civil War? And, did he survive?

When I found James' death date, I became confused. James did fight in the Civil War and was killed on May 8th, 1864, about 9 months before Adam wrote his will. Why didn't Adam know his son had been killed? And did Adam learn of his son's death before he died nine months after writing his will?

Just a few days ago, I got more insight into this family. I was surprised to find that Adam's widow, Catharine, had applied for a pension for her son's service. But, after reading through forty-four pages, I understood why. I guess it was somewhat unusual, but a dependent father or mother could also apply for a pension. And, from this file, it appears that James' parents had been dependent on him.

Adam Close suffered from Phthesis Pulmonalis, also known as consumption, for at least five years and possibly for fifteen or more years. Now known as tuberculosis (TB), this bacterial infection can attack any organ in the body though it most commonly is found in the lungs. It was also called "consumption" because it basically consumed a body causing a severe weight loss. Besides weight loss, patients often suffered from weakness, fever, and night sweats. When TB attacked lungs, patients would suffer from coughing, chest pain, and coughing up blood. [From CDC site.]

Although this disease was contagious, at this time people thought it was hereditary. Many people with a TB infection don't suffer from the affects of it but can still spread the disease.

For the last three years of his life, Adam was confined to his "room and bed." One affidavit states that Adam "was so reduced by the disease that he was a charge and care to his wife and family instead of a support for them..."  It goes on to say that Adam refused prescriptions that an elderly doctor gave him which left James "soley and entirely" in support of his family... by his labor with all the necessaries of life for a period of five years previous to [James'] death. 

James took on the responsibility of caring for his parents. By the age of 16, he worked as a farmer and gave his parents all of his money "except so much as was necessary for his own clothing." While in the army, he sent money home in his letters.James registered for the draft in 1863 at the age of 21, but he actually joined Company H of the 150th Infantry Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers on February 13th, 1864. Less than 3 months later, he took place in what I believe was his first battle, the battle of the Wilderness in Virginia. At the age of 23, James was shot "by a ball passing through from the back and coming out at the breast." [Widow's Pension Application]

Although James died less than three months after leaving to join the fighting, his parents evidently didn't know of his death for presumably many months. Some friends said that Adam and Catharine "could not maintain themselves but it became necessary for the neighbors to assist them in order to keep them from suffering." Catharine, who was only 62, was described as "old and feeble." "She has no means else of support and cannot possibly live without aid from some source having lost her husband and given her only son and support to her country."

So, Adam Close lived dependent on his only son for the last three to five years of his life. He suffered from a dreadful disease and had to watch his "feeble" wife depend on their son, and later their neighbors, too. As Adam approached death, it appears he held out hope that his only son was still living.

Adam's own father, Peter Close, had died when Adam was only about 12 years old. Though Adam lived with an older brother, I imagine he had to 'grow up' and take care of himself at a fairly young age. Adam was only 68 when he died and, though evidently quite ill, it must have been hard for him to depend on his own son for not only his welfare, but his wife's, also.

Source: All quotes are from Catharine Close's pension application for the service of James M Close (WC136993) found on Fold3

My Line of Descent

• Adam Close (1797-1865) m. Catharine [Longwell?] (1804-1889) 
• Julia Ann "July" Close (1826-1905) m. John W McClintock (1825-1890) 
• Catharine Jane McClintock (1852-1929) m. Alexander Stewart (1852-1922) 
• Andrew "Andy" McClinock Stewart (1882-1954) m. Bessie Waldron Merrill (1879-1959) 
• James Edward Stewart (1910-1972) m. Hazel Lucille Peters (1910-1975) (my paternal grandparents) 

(Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow at "No Story Too Small" for creating "52 Ancestors" where we can share our ancestors stories, one week at a time.)

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

SNGF: Best Find of 2014 & Research Challenge for 2015

I was on the road last night, so am doing Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this morning. This week's challenge is to share your best find of 2014 and a research challenge of 2015. I already did a "top 10 finds of 2014" post, but this time I will share the one that wasn't so much a story as a breaking of a brick wall. Here are the guidelines:

1) What was your best research achievement in 2014? Tell us - show us a document, or tell us a story, or display a photograph. Brag a bit! You've earned it!

2) We all have elusive ancestors. What research problem do you want to work on in 2015? Tell us where you want to research and what you hope to find.

3) Put the answers in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

MY BEST FIND of 2014:

My best find of the year was finding the father of my 4th great grandfather, Andrew McClintock (1804-abt 1864 in PA). The breakthrough actually came about through a genealogist I hired to do research in Pennsylvania. She had actually transcribed some church records which included the baptism of Andrew McClintock, which listed his father as John McClintock. This researcher also found Andrew's wife's maiden name, Decker, which added another surname to my direct line of ancestors! And, she told me about her father, Michael Decker, who fought in the Revolutionary War.

MY RESEARCH CHALLENGE for 2015:

My biggest research challenge continues to be proving (or disproving) that Adam Close's wife, Catharine, was the daughter of Mathew Longwell (1782-1883) & Elizabeth Orr 1785-1848). I made it a few steps closer this year both by some old letters that I received copies of from a distant cousin and a DNA match that links to me to another Longwell descendant. I would love to prove this because, in part, Mathew Longwell's father was in the Revolutionary War and was at the fated Winter at Valley Forge with George Washington!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

My Top 10 Genealogy Finds in 2014

2014 has been an amazing year for me and my genealogy research. With increased knowledge, time, and resources available, I've uncovered some amazing discoveries! I had thought about making a "top 10" booklet for my family as Christmas gifts, but didn't get around to it. Maybe I will still do that but give it to them for Valentine's Day. But, for now, I thought I'd highlight my top 10 finds of the year.

1839 Marriage Record - Parish of Prestwich, Lancaster County, England from Ancestry.com

#10 - I didn't start blogging until March of this year, so my first "find" is actually from the end of 2013. It was huge! In November, I made my first "jump across the pond" when I found my 3rd great grandparent's (James Eastwood & Sarah Hall) 1839 marriage record from Lancaster, England! After finding this location, I was able to find birth, marriage, and death records and go back another generation.

Gov. LaFollette of Wisconsin addressing Chautauqua assembly, Decatur, Ill. c.1905
(image from Wikipedia)

#9 - This is a more distant relative and I didn't blog about it, but I found out my 2nd cousin, 5 times removed was Bishop John Heyl Vincent. Bishop J. H. Vincent was one of the two founders of Chautauqua - an adult education movement in the late 1800's & early 1900's. I found many newspaper articles about him including one that starts with this... "General Grant once introduced Bishop J. H. Vincent to President Lincoln and said: 'Dr. Vincent was my pastor at Galena, Ill., and I do not think that I missed one of his sermons while I lived there.'" The next paragraph said, "This same Bishop Vincent, of good old Pennsylvania stock and for many years a resident of Pennsylvania, was the founder of the Chautauqua assembly, next only to the public school system in bringing to the masses of the people some share of their inheritance in the world's great creations in art and literature." [Today in Pennsylvania History, Altoona Mirror, Altoona, Pennsylvania, 09 May 1924, page 11, column 1, digital image newspapers.com, accessed 08 Dec 2014.]

Barbara Grozinger's 1616 baptism record found on FHL film

#8 - After finding my English ancestors, I made another huge discovery when I found the place of origin of one of my German families: the Kaechle's. I first found a marriage record (index only) of my 3rd great grandparents (Thaddeus Kaechle & Katharina Kern) which gave the names of Thaddeus' parents (Anton Koechle/Kaechle & Anna Diringer). From there, I found a site where someone had indexed hundreds of years of church records (Ortsfamilienbuch fur Grissheim) at the church where Thaddeus was born! His ancestors had attended that church for centuries. The oldest record I found was the 1616 baptism of my 8th great grandmother, Barbara Grozinger. That's almost 400 years old! (The location was Grissheim in Baden-Wurttemberg.)

U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records from Selected States, 1660-1926
Marriage record; date: Aug 12, 1710
found on ancestry.com

#7 - Several years ago I discovered I had French Huguenot ancestors (surnames Doremus & Vincent/Van Sant) who had escaped to The Netherlands before coming to America in the late 1600's. But, just recently I found my first document that shows my 8th great grandfather, Cornelis Cornelisse Doremus, was born in The Netherlands! The record is his 1710 marriage record to my 8th great grandmother, Rachel Pietersen. It says he was born in Middleburg, Zeeland, which is part of The Netherlands!

1847 marriage record of Anton Kehrbach & Maria Anna Reuter

#6 - I traced another family back to Germany this year (so, my 3rd location in Europe!) when I located a distant cousin on My Heritage. He had an 1847 marriage record for my 3rd great grandparents, Anton Kehrbach (Korback) & Maria Anna Reuter. Not only did this record show where this family had come from (Ediger which is a small village in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate), but it also gave the names of both of their parents!

#5 - I busted through a brick wall by uncovering my 4th great grandfather's father! Andrew McClintock/McClintic was born in August of 1804 in Pennsylvania. I'd been stuck at this generation for many years. This information came from a researcher I'd hired in Pennsylvania. (The same one who helped me with the Stiver's in #9.) She had transcribed some church records and had the baptism of Andrew McClintock listing his father, John McClintock.

Headstone of Jacob T Dickson, Confederate soldier

#4 - The Civil War Questionnaire of Jacob Tipton Dickson, my great, great grandfather's younger brother. The questionnaire was sent out to Civil War soldiers who were still alive in 1920.  Besides verifying their mother's maiden name, Sally McCage, I love the language of this man from Tennessee and can only imagine that my great, great grandfather would have talked (& spelled words!) the same way. Here are a few of the questions:

...Remarks on Ancestry... my grate parance was from Orolan [?]  and they Died while I were small and I dident never know them

...If you owned land... Now I diden owen any thing I were stayen at home

...Did you parents own slaves?... My father Owen 6 Slaves

I will definitely blog more about this document as I think it is priceless and a wonderful 'find'!

Her Death is Cause for Four Being Held, Springfield Republican, Springfield, Missouri, 01 Nov 1911,
page 1, column 4, digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 30 Oct 2014

#3 - I uncovered not one, but two MURDERS in my family this year! That's just crazy! This first one was the murder of my 3rd great grandfather's granddaughter. Her name was Ollie Werther and she married Roy Crockett in about 1909 or 1910. The marriage lasted maybe a year and then, after quarreling, Ollie went home to her dad and told him she had proof that her husband had committed arson on one of their houses to collect the insurance money. They turned this information over to the authorities and Roy was arrested. Allegedly, Roy's sister, brother, cousin & a friend poisoned Ollie with morphine to keep her from testifying against Roy! I found articles acquitting the two females of their murder charges, but have yet to find anything about the two males. As for Roy, he was "surrendered to his bondsman" a few years later, but also started another family, an oil business, and became both a judge and  mayor in Texas!

Ephraim P Bennett's Missouri State Penitentiary Records from the Missouri State Archives

#2 - The other murder I uncovered was actually one that had been passed down in my family, though I hadn't heard the story. I first discovered it after finding my great, great grandmother's brother in the state penitentiary in the 1900 census. From there, I ordered prison records and then found newspaper articles about the murder. 

Ephraim Bennett's brother-in-law, Nathan L Buchanan, was physically abusing his wife, Louisa Jane, Ephraim's sister. At one point, Nathan hit her on the head with a log from the fire and she ended up having to go to an asylum for awhile. Ephraim loaned Nathan the money he needed to commit her, but then one day came out into the field where Nathan was working and shot and killed him. He then turned himself in to the authorities. There most be more to the story as, that night, a lynch mob of somewhere between 50 to 200 men came to hang Ephraim! The family story that was passed down made Ephraim sound like a hero. But, the lynch mob makes me wonder what really happened. I hope to find out more! (I wrote quite a few posts about this murder as I uncovered the story.)

My grandmother & her best friend, circa 1925 (original at my aunt & uncle's in Kansas)

#1 - My biggest "find" of 2014 was the absolutely amazing amount of family photos & memorabilia that my aunt & uncle have at their house. Not only do they have at least 100 old photos, they have baby books, report cards, journals, poems written by family members, land records, newspaper clippings, and so much more! They inherited the work of my Grand Aunt, Beulah Brewer, who started me on this journey back in 1998. Their friend, Cheryl, is a retired librarian who has spent several years putting all of the records both in binders and in a genealogy program. I visited them in Kansas back in October and came home with over 900 images! Wow!!! Some of my favorite photos are those of my grandmother as a young girl.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Sarah's LNU are in Your Genealogy Database?

Randy has posted another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge. This week we are looking at Sarah's in our database with 'last names unknown' or LNU. I'm going to summarize the rules this time:

Basically, search your database and see how many females you have with the first name of "Sarah" where you don't know the last name. Then, do a little research and see if you can discover her maiden name. If you don't have any Sarah's, feel free to use a different first name. Then, post your findings!

So, here goes!

I have two Sarah's, but they are such distant relatives that I decided to chose a different name. So, I'm going with Ann. I found six Ann's and was able to discover the maiden name of one of these... which I'll share at the end.

1. Ann (abt 1762-aft 1809), who married Charles BOOKOUT, is my 5th great grandmother. The only record I have for her is her husband's will from 1809 in Wayne County, Kentucky that lists his wife, Ann, and four children: John, Mary, Benjamin and Joseph.

2. Ann, who married Jno. THOMPSON, is the mother-in-law of my 4th great grandfather, Joseph EASTWOOD (1773-1844), through his first wife. She lived in England in the 1700's.

3. Ann (?-1827), who married Nicholas QUIGLEY (abt 1740 in PA - abt 1810 in Clinton Co, PA) the son of Christian QUIGLEY (see #4), is the wife of my 5th great grand uncle. The only record I have for her is a SAR (Sons of American Revolution) application from 1945. Now that I look at it again, it says her father is Gayen MILLER. So, I need to see if I can verify that her last name is MILLER.

4. Ann, who married Christian QUIGLEY, is my 6th great grandmother.The only record I have for her is also the SAR application from 1945. It says that there were married about 1750. The application says he served directly under General Washington. (His son, Michael QUIGLEY (1748-1804) is the Patriot through which I joined DAR two years ago.)

5. Anna M (abt 1871-?), who married Charles M QUIGLEY, is my second cousin four times removed. I have her in the 1920 and 1930 censuses.

6. Anna/Annie M (1836-bef 1910), who married Adam Close McCLINTOCK, is the wife of my 3rd great grand uncle. I have her in the 1870, 1880 & 1900 censuses in Clinton County, Pennsylvania. Her husband is a widower in the 1910 census. 

Pennsylvania Death Certificate of Anna M (Bickle) McClintock

There are a total of 44 McClintick/McClintock/McClintic's listed on FindAGrave in that cemetery and I'm going to make sure I have them all accounted for! Also, I need to make sure I have all of their death certificates if they died between 1906-1944. "My" Ann is not currently listed, so I will add her.

The Ann I had the most success with was #6. Ancestry showed a hint listing a death record, and it was hers. The informant is her husband, A C McCLINTOCK. It lists her parents as John BICKLE (so, that's her maiden name!) and Catharine DUKES. I also got her birthdate (20 Feb 1838), date of death 07 May 1909), and burial place (Cedar Hill Cemetery, Mackeyville, Clinton County, PA). I then found her parents in the 1860 census when she would've been 22, but she's not with her family. I think it is likely this was a second marriage for her as she was about 30 years old when she married Adam. I couldn't find her parents in 1850.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Genealogy Fun - 16 Great-Great-Grands

Carrie at Under the Nut Tree Genealogy participated in an 'old' Saturday Night Genealogy Fun posted at Genea-Musings by Randy. The title is "Your 16 Great-Great-Grands." I thought it sounded like a great activity, so I'm going to participate, too.

Here are the steps:

1. List your 16 great-great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.
2. Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.
3. Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).
4. If you don't know all 16 of your great-great-grandparents, then do it for the last full generation you have.
5. Write your own blog post, or make a comment on Facebook or in this post.

My results:

1. Alexander STEWART (1852-1922) born in Pennsylvania - mixture of German/Irish/French
2. Catharine Jane McCLINTOCK/McCLINTICK (1852-1929) born in Pennsylvania - some German
3. Augustus L MERRILL (1848-1920) born in Pennsylvania - unknown
4. Sarah Jane EASTWOOD (1848-1923) born in England - English
5. Charles PETERS (1847-1910) born in Germany - German
6. Guntherine Fredericka WERTHER (1847-1888) born in Germany - German
7. Josiah Randolph COPPENBARGER (1844-1934) born in Illinois - primarily German
8. Elizabeth BENNETT (1849-1914) born in Missouri - unknown
9. Rheinhard KAECHLE (1844-1900) born in Germany - German
10. Mary Magdalena "Lena" KARBACH/KOERBACH (1848-1938) born in Germany - German
11. Francis "Frank" ADAM (1826-1902) born in Germany - German
12. Francesca "Frances" HOLTHOEFER (1833-1907) born in Germany - German
13. James B DICKSON (1840-1902) born in Tennessee - unknown
14. Elizabeth Ann BOYERS (1842-1882) born in Mississippi - unknown
15. Reuben Houston WARD (1859-1906) born in Tennessee - unknown
16. Sallie Harried DICKSON (1860-1960) born in Tennessee - unknown

My "nationalities" from my great-great-grandparent are:
7 German
1 English
8 unknown (with a little more German, Irish & French thrown in).

My calculated percentages are:
44% German
6% English
50 % unknown (with a small portion of that being Irish & French)

Strangely, my DNA results show:
35% Scandinavian (which could include German)
30% Irish (which could include French & English)
20% Western European (which could include German & English)
10% Italy/Greece (which could include French)

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Brick Wall: Busted

I have tried to identify the father of Andrew McClintock (1804-abt 1864 in PA) for several years. The key to busting this brick wall was in the newly released Pennsylvania certificates of death.

Andrew and his wife, Mary Jane, had eight children that I know of. Three of those children died between 1906 and 1922, the years for which these death records have been released and are available at ancestry.com.

(image from ancestry.com)

Two of these records, those for Samuel & Adam, list the maiden name of their mother as "unknown." But the third child, their daughter Sarah Elizabeth (McClintock) Furst who died in 1922, lists the mother's maiden name as Jane Decker who was born in Pennsylvania. The informant was I. Torrence Shearer. Torrence Shearer was a grandson of Andrew & Mary Jane. Mary Jane didn't die until 1892 when Torrence was in his mid-30's, so it is likely that he knew her maiden name. He gave his grandmother's name as Jane Decker.

1830 Census, Gregg, Centre Co, PA (Andrew McClintick last in image) (image from ancestry.com)

Andrew & Mary Jane McClintock were living with three young sons in Gregg, Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1830. From the birth date of their oldest son, William, in February of 1823, I am guessing that they probably married in that county in 1821 or 1822. But, we couldn't find a marriage record.

In 1830 in Gregg, Centre County, there weren't any other McClintock's. I decided to look in Gregg in 1820 to see if I could find a McClintock family & a Decker family with children the right ages for Andrew & Mary Jane since they would have married just a couple of years later.

I discovered that the township of Gregg didn't form until 1826. It was taken from three other townships: Potter, Miles, and Haines. In the 1820 census, there weren't any McClintock's or Decker's in Miles or Haines. But, there were some in Potter! In fact, there were 5 Decker's or Deckard's listed as heads of household and two McClintock's.

1810 Potter census pg 4 - Sarah Decker (top name); Jno McClintick (10 from bottom); Jno Decker (bottom name)

1810 Potter census pg 5 - Jno McClintick

I next went back to the 1810 census. At this time, Andrew would have been about 6 years old and Mary Jane about 7. I only found two McClintock/McClintick famlies and two Decker families.These were all found on pages 4 & 5 of the 6 page census

1800 Potter, Centre Co, PA census - showing John Decker & Sarah Deckert (from ancestry)

A possibility for Mary Jane Decker was the easy to pick out. There were two Decker head of households: Sarah (age 45+) & Jno (also age 45+). (Note: As they were both in the 26-44 category in 1800, that makes them now between the ages of 45-54. I'm guessing they are probably siblings.) But, only one of these households had a female living there who was less than 10 years old. That household is Sarah Decker's house. By also looking at the 1800 census, I discovered that Sarah was already listed as a head of household at age 26-44. Since she was probably already widowed, it doesn't make a lot of sense that she has a daughter under the age of 10 in the census taken 10 years later. At this point, I'm hypothesizing that Sarah is actually Mary Jane's grandmother and the female aged 16-26 in the household is Mary Jane's mother.

1820 Potter, Centre Co, PA census - showing Michael Deckad's family (from ancestry)

In the 1820 census, Sarah is no longer a head of household. But, there is a Michael Deckard listed as head of household at the young age of 16-18. There are only two other people in the household: a female under the age of 10 (possibly a younger sister?) and a female over the age of 45 (which is possibly Sarah). I have contacted a family member who is related to the Decker family of Potter. She's on vacation this weekend, but I hope to hear from her next week and either solidify these suppositions or gain some new insight.

Going back to the 1810 census and looking for Andrew McClintock's father (see earlier images). There were only two McClintock families found in 1810, both of them listed as Jno McClintick. Remember, Andrew should have been about 6 years old at this time. The second Jno only had one young female listed as a possible child. But, the other Jno had two sons under the age of 10. So, this Jno is probably the father of Andrew McClintock.

But, then came further evidence. I had hired a professional researcher to look up some records in Pennsylvania. While she didn't find a marriage record for Andrew McClintock & Mary Jane Decker, she did find a baptism record for Andrew!

A few years ago, she put the records of the Sinking Creek Presbyterian Church into alphabetical order. And, there was a match for my Andrew! She is looking to see if she can find the original record, but so far I have what she has in her database. It lists Andrew McClintock, son of John McClintock, baptized Aug 26, 1804! I will continue to gather proof, but I believe I have now found the father of my Andrew!

One last issue: she actually gave me a list of 6 children for John McClintock, with baptisms between 1804 - 1822. In 1820, John only had 3 children listed, when there 'should have' been 5. (One was baptized after 1820.) But, it is possible that two of these children died.

Lastly, she told me she didn't find any records for the Decker's in Sinking Creek Presbyterian Church, but she had other church records she would search.

This is one of the most complex genealogical puzzles I have solved. It took a lot of work and creativity to piece this family together. But, it paid off by busting through a brick wall!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net