This post is based on Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge. This week’s theme is: START. Beulah Peters, born in 1923, was the baby of her family. One of her big sisters, Hazel, was my grandmother. For many years, Beulah was the family historian for the Peters side of our family. Not only did she collect many family photos and documents, but she also wrote down thoughts and stories about various family members. In 1998, “Aunt” Beulah graciously introduced me to the amazing world of genealogy. She generously sent me a copy of her tree with all...
Sarah Jane (Watson) Stewart, was only 27 years old when she died in 1853. She’d been married to John Q Stewart for a little over four years and given birth to two sons. Her oldest, George, would’ve been 3 years old, but it is possible he preceded his mother in death. The youngest, Alexander, was only 22 months old. Sarah Jane’s mother, Betsy, had died 7 years earlier while Sarah Jane was probably still living at home. Betsy was buried alongside other family members at Warrior Run Church Cemetery in Delaware Run, Pennsylvania. Five years later, Sarah Jane’s older brother,...
Yellow fever did not recur; one either died or survived. It came in mysterious, vicious waves, killing anywhere from 12 to 70 percent of its victims. It started with shivering, high fever, insatiable thirst, savage headaches, and severe back and leg pains. In a day or so, the restless patient would become jaundiced and turn yellow. In the terminal stages, the patient would spit up mouthfuls of dark blood, the terrifying “black vomit” (vomito negro), the body temperature would drop, the pulse fade, and the comatose patient, cold to the touch, would die in about 8 to 10 hours. So...
Elkanah Anderson and his brother-in-law, Thomas B Whitwel, were two of my 5 times great grandfathers. In December 1814, Elkanah and Thomas joined the West Tennessee Milita and were “part of a flotila that went down to New Orleans via the Cumberland, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.” Once there, they fought in the famous Battle of New Orleans under Andrew Jackson. During the bloody, one-sided battle which lasted only about 30 minutes on January 8th, the British suffered 2,000 casualties while the Americans only had about one hundred. Painting of Battle of New Orleans by Edward Percy Moran (image from Wikipedia)...
Almost 3 years ago, I came across the obituary of Bethuel Vincent (1798-1828), my 5th great grandfather’s youngest son, posted on Find a Grave. The short, sad obituary said the following: Died – In Turbut township, on the 11th inst., Bethuel Vincent, junior, aged about 30 years. The deceased had gone to the fields to collect raspberries and while crossing a small brook was taken with convulsive fits, to which he was daily subject, fell into the water, where he was, shortly after, found lifeless. [The States Advocate, Thursday, 17 July 1828. Posted on Bethuel Vincent’s Find a Grave memorial page...
In 1896, the new law firm of Biddle, Boyd, & Sheppard filed their first case. It was the case of Robert Stewart (son of my 4th great grandfather, also named Robert Stewart) vs the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, otherwise known as “The Katy.” The suit was for damages of $5,000 based on the alleged personal injuries of Robert’s wife, Kate. Here is the story from the paper… Ad for the M. K. & T. Railway (image from Wikipedia) The petition alleges that Mrs. Kate M Stewart on April 20, 1894 purchased a ticket from this city to Boonville,...
Today I came across this sad death notice for the half-sister of my great, great grandfather, Alexander Stewart. Before today, I only knew her maiden name, Ella Maud Stewart, and approximate birth year of 1870. But, then I found her Pennsylvania death record and, through it, found both her married name, Wagner, and date of death in 1910. It was signed by “J. P. Wagner” who I thought was likely her husband. I wasn’t able to find any marriage or any census records after she married, but then I came across this sad death notice… Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pennsylvania, 16...
Thaddeus Kaechle, my 3rd great grandfather, arrived at Castle Garden in New York aboard the ship Monmouth in the summer of 1851 with his wife, Katherine, and five or six children. (Only five are listed on the passenger list, but there should be six.) They were in Huron County, Ohio when, two years later, his wife gave birth to their 7th and later 8th children, both daughters. Thada Koechle, passenger #281, 05 July 1851, Ship Monmouth, Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010 A big breakthrough on this family was the German marriage records on...
My great, great grandparents, Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger & Elizabeth (Bennett) Coppenbarger, lived in the small community of Ashton, Kansas near the Oklahoma border. In 1899, four of their children, including my great grandmother Myrtle Mae, were still living at home. I’m not sure where one son, Alva, was living, but their oldest daughter, Mary Ellen or “Ella,” was married and living nearby with her husband, D. V. Waggoner, and their 10-month-old baby, Floyd. Living in Tornado Alley, the family must have been accustomed to the fear of twisters. But, on the night of May 31st, those fears became reality as...
As a child, I loved to watch Grizzly Adams on television along with his pet bear, Ben. I had no idea that my own ancestor, Robert Stewart, also had a pet bear! His bear’s name was “Bruin” (which means “bear”) and they lived in Pennsylvania in the mid-1800s. While doing research, I uncovered an article titled “Mike Swartz and the Black Bear” in History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania which was published in 1883. The “black bear” in this story was Bruin, and I’m assuming things must have turned out alright. Robert died about 30 years before this book...
