First Friday Folder: Grice & Gibb

I chose this folder for review this month because I knew it would be pretty quick to check!  After all, I have to get back to analyzing and inputting all the new Richardson & Shaw data I got on my recent trip to Missouri....  On the other hand, Grice & Gib will be the ones I return to after I get all of Missouri sorted out.

The Couple
John GRICE and Sarah GIBB are my 4th-great-grandparents on the paternal side of my Carr line.  I have posted before about these surnames and geography and specifically about their marriage. [1]

There is a nice sequence of baptisms in the West Lutton / Weaverthorpe area for children of John & Sally GRICE, including my 3rd-great-grandmother Rachel (Grice) Ethell.  Two trees from solid family researchers had given me the marriage of John Grice and Sarah Gigs as 1808 in Yorkshire, with unsourced, online trees giving John's birth as 1754.

My early research found an 1823 Baine's Directory for Yorkshire with both a John Grice senior (farmer & grocer) and John Grice junior (wheelwright & farmer).  This and John's calculated age at the marriage worried me and made me think I should at least consider the idea that Sarah had married Junior or even that "Sally" and "Sarah" were two different women.

But, now having followed both Bishop's Transcripts and Parish Records [3] in the area for a whole lot of years, I agree that

• Sarah/Sally is one person,
• she married John Grice senior, and
• the Rachel Grice who marries Joseph Ethell is their daughter.

The tricky part is that Senior was a widower when they married!  Junior was one of at least seven children of Senior and Ann Simpson, who was buried 27 Dec 1807.

Senior was buried in 1833, after he and Sarah had another seven children.  Then, widow Sarah Grice married widower George IRELAND in 1834.  They had no children together.  They appear together in the 1841 census District 6, Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire [2].  Conveniently, Jane GRICE, the youngest daughter of Senior and Sally is with them, cementing the family groups I've formed:

The Folder
Given the time span, the folder is not swollen with census extracts.  But, it does need three family group sheets: Grice/Gibb, Grice/Simpson, and Ireland/Gibb.  I had only printed out one of those previously, so I fixed that omission today.

The folder also holds several sheets of info on "unknown" Grice's.  I think I will be able to label several of those after I finish with the parish records and sorting all the kids and grandkids.  I also have a few printouts from online family trees with clearly incorrect and/or incomplete info on this couple. 

The Plan

• after I "finish" all the work left from my wonderful Missouri research trip, I have to go back and finish reading/analyzing the parish records, land tax records, and church wardens' accounts for this area
• input all the data from that analysis
• try to see what I can find on the kids in the 1841 and later censuses
• verify Senior's birth/baptism and parents as much as possible
• look for Sarah Gibbs' birth and parents; I have a clue that leads me to Acklan and I'm excited to start looking there!

Conclusions
It really pays to use multiple sources.  I'm pretty proud of the research I've done on this couple.  I wonder if I should try to contact some of the owners of those online trees?

Watch out, "Missouri pile," here I come!  I've got a thing or two to show you!

Sources & Disclaimer

[1] see those posts for additional source citations

[2] census image cropped from that at ancestry.com

[3] Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire, England.  Parish register 1682-1862, FHL # 1,068,415, Item 14-19

I do not and have never worked for nor received any special consideration for any of the entities listed above.

Carl Traugott Hegwer, 1833-1893

Our trip to Missouri was wonderful!  There will be posts about it and all my new info for weeks and weeks to come!

Trinity Lutheran Church & Cemetery: Freistatt, Missouri

Here's how an unexpected conversation led to my standing at the grave of great-grand-uncle Carl Traugott HEGWER:  I was sitting with 3rd-Cousin Donald, filling in some missing Hegwer data for him, which was unexpected that he would even want it since the Hegwer's are NOT in his ancestry at all.  Donald's eyes widened in recognition as I told him that CT was probably buried somewhere in Freistatt, Missouri.  Imagine my surprise as Donald said that not only did he know where it was, but that I would be driving right by there on my way to see Cousin Kate!

I jumped to the computer to see if I could find a Lutheran cemetery there in Find A Grave.  Another surprise: not only did I find the cemetery, but also a photo of CT's headstone!  (That's another reminder to revisit websites such as findagrave on a regular basis!)

My photo above shows the back of CT's headstone and how close the site is to the current church building.  A plaque on the building says the church was founded in 1874 and this building erected in 1954.  I wonder if I can find a photo of the original building....

Here is one of my photos of the front of the headstone.  Given the scroll work on the other 3 sides, it appears that the original intent may have been to eventually carve more names but there are none.

There are not any more Hegwer's in this cemetery at findagrave nor did I see any others nearby.  Checking my database just now, I see that his wife did not die until 1924 and is buried in Joplin, Missouri.  Oh, dear me:  We drove the highway past Joplin on the way to Springfield and saw convoys of relief vehicles.  And, of course, the tornado was a frequent topic of conversation and media coverage during our entire trip.  I did not remember that I had a connection to Joplin. 

Here's a link to an earlier post including Carl Traugott Hegwer.

Conclusions

• Meeting face-to-face and spending a week with Donald & Linda was an incredible gift.  I do not have the words to express what a wonderful time we had. 
• I must remember to check websites such as Findagrave.com more regularly!
• I went to Missouri to work on RICHARDSON lines and had been reviewing them in my database and folders for months.  But, I should have also reviewed the Hegwer's, too.  I bet Joplin and Freistatt were not the only places I was close to.  Hmm, another reason for a return visit to Donald & Linda?!
• I should probably make it a goal to find the burial sites of all 10 of the children (and their spouses) of Carl Benjamin Hegwer and Maria Rosina Ilgner....

PS: The search for photos of an older church here has led me to:
Escape to the Silent Cities.  Nothing older there, but several lovely photos of the  cemetery.  I've left a comment hoping for help.
PPS: Hurray!  Tammi of Escape to the Silent Cities has already come to my aide!  Here's a link to the original church.  Thanks, Tammi!

Great-grandmother Margaret Lavina Richardson

Another treasure!  Come share my excitement...
When I started my genealogy research, I didn't have photos of all my grandparents, let alone any of the "greats."  This month has brought another milestone: my first-ever photo of great-grandmother Margaret Lavina RICHARDSON!  I am so very happy to finally see what "Maggie" looked like!

Left to right: Margaret, son Raymond Dudley Hegwer, second husband A.W. Danes

Margaret was the fourth child of John Richardson and his wife, Isabela Shaw.  She was born 28 July 1860 in Tiffany, Morgan County, Missouri.  She married Charles Hegwer 9 December 1883 in Corning, Nemaha, Kansas; they were divorced 14 August 1905 in Durango, La Plata, Colorado.  She married Albert Wentling Danes a few days later in Aztec, San Juan County, New Mexico Territory.  Margaret died 13 July 1919 in Grand Junction, Mesa, Colorado.  [Click here for an earlier post about the divorce, which includes source notations.]

Third-cousin Donald found this photo in his To-File pile! Interestingly, from the reverse side of this photo, it seems that, on the Richardson side, she was called "Vina." If the reverse side of the photo had not been so well labeled, I'm not sure either of us would have known these people.  I have photos of Raymond much younger and much older; I might have guessed it was he, but I'd never have been sure. 

We don't know when or where the photo was taken.  It looks like some sort of retaining wall in the background, perhaps a mining site?  It is probably in or near Mesa County, Colorado.  Any ideas?  Given Raymond's appearance and his mother's marriage/death dates, I'm guessing this is circa 1915.  Comments?

Conclusions

• Donald found this photo while tidying-up his files for my visit next month!  I haven't even left yet and, already, the trip is a blazing success!!!
• Donald found me a few years ago because of a birth-name comment I'd left on a census record for one of our distant Richardson aunts.  I am very grateful to both ancestry.com and Donald for making all of this possible.  Donald is an excellent researcher, a helpful collaborator, and an extremely nice person.
• I can't wait to meet Donald and see our ancestral lands in Missouri with a personal tour guide!

Disclaimer

I subscribe to ancestry.com, but I have no other connection to them and have never received any special consideration from them.

First Friday Folder: Dr. Daniel Porter, Immigrant

The ancestry of my Porter grandparent is easily my largest database with almost 4,000 names.  [See my 'Surnames' blog page for a list of the direct-line surnames of that grandparent's ancestry.]  However, I've written relatively few blog posts about my Porter line, and never a First Friday Folder analysis of any of my PORTER surname'd ancestors.

I selected this folder for review this month because of a new (only 16 posts so far) blog dedicated to Porter's: Porter Family Genealogy.  Perhaps most interestingly, it talks about a Porter Surname Genealogy website.  It seems to have begun in 2002, but it's certainly new to me!  It's fairly extensive and I need to spend more time there going over all the info.  I'm thinking of contacting the blog and/or the website, so I best review my info first! 

The Couple
Daniel Porter was probably born in England perhaps around 1630.  The earliest colonial record for him is 1644 in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was a 'bonesetter' (doctor) in Farmington with a yearly salary in 1661 of 6 pounds.  His will, 15 August 1688, appears in Manwaring's Early Probate Records of Connecticut, and was probated in 1690.

Little is known about his wife, Mary.  She was alive at the time of the will.  The couple had seven children between 1653 and 1665; at least 6 of whom married. 

The Folder
A relatively thin folder, there were only 7 items besides two old versions of the family group sheet.  Of the seven items, only one really belongs in this folder!  The other six items have now been moved to the folder of son Daniel Porter & Deborah Holcomb.

I printed out a new family group sheet.  Comparing it to the previous one shows I have done a good deal of work on the family, but I don't remember targeting them at all. The newest one:

• is the first I've printed in 5 years
• is 2 full pages longer
• has 12 new sources
• has 28 additional footnotes
• has comments on all 7 children (vs. only 3 previously)

Problems

• How many more folders do I have where 85% of the contents are misfiled???
• I don't have full, info let alone good sources, on the marriages of most of their children.
• I need to map the towns on the family group sheet to get a better idea of movements.  I think many new towns listed may really be newly created towns rather than the Porters moving.
• My notes refer to a Memorial History of Hartford County, 1886, Vol. 2, p. 166, but it is not listed in the sources.
• I haven't looked at any land records for Daniel.  That's depressing....

Conclusions
Yet again, I've shown myself that First Friday Folder review is worthwhile.   In this case, it can also be pretty upsetting.  Perhaps I should add a day a week where all I do I check folders and immediately fix any misfiled info?!

I've added the problems listed above to my master genealogy to-do list.  There will be no shortage of tasks to tackle when I rotate back to working on my Porter line.  But, first there's the Richardsons, and then the Keatings, and there's all my recent finds for the Carr line and where they may lead ...  So much genealogy ... so little time!

First Friday Folder: Amos Richardson & Elizabeth Hicks

I selected this folder for review this month, again, in preparation for my trip to Missouri in June, although I am becoming apprehensive that life will get in the way and keep me at home.  Amos and Elizabeth are the parents of John Richardson of last month's post. 

The Couple
Amos Greene Richardson was probably born about 1792 in Virginia or a part of Virginia about to become Kentucky.  His ancestry is one of my biggest problems in my Hegwer line.  Elizabeth Hicks was probably born about 1796 in Kentucky.  Her ancestry is also unproven. 

They married 4 October 1810 in Estill County, Kentucky.  Amos died in 1853 in Morgan County, Missouri.  Elizabeth was still alive for the 1870 US census of Haugh Creek, Morgan, Missouri.  They had at least 10 children, three or four of whom were born after the family moved to Missouri.  Their lives in Missouri are fairly well documented.

Yes, there are numerous online pedigrees attributing ancestors to both of them, but I have seen no verifiable sources or logical proof statements, nor have Cousin Donald or I yet found solid evidence or drawn a conclusion we feel good about. 

The Folder
This folder is 7/8 of an inch thick, mostly because it includes all my leads and possibilities to consider for their ancestry.  It was fairly well organized; I've been working on it off and on the last year.  I think that for review this week, I'll look at all the problems and questions I have, and perhaps pick a few to work on before the trip to Missouri. 

Problems / Questions
If Benjamin Richardson and Ellen Holt are the parents of this Amos, why are none of his children or grandchildren named "Benjamin" or "Ellen?"  It is very tempting to adopt this couple as Amos' parents, especially since their own ancestries are well-documented and it means an immediate jump back for lots of generations ....  But, at least for me, there are too many problems and not enough alternative proof/logic yet.

Is the Sara/Sallie Richardson who marries Bemjamin Franklin McFarland a provable daughter of  Amos and Elizabeth? 

I don't have sources indicated for the births of Amos & Elizabeth's children.  I know I have at least census indications for most of them. 

Breaking News: Cousin Donald has just proven the husband of Amos & Elizabeth's youngest daughter, Amanda.  I have to get that info into my database and see where else it leads us.  I think that deserves its own blog entry!

Have I tried to locate or pinpoint my Amos in the 1800-1810 censuses?  I think I have him in 1820-30.  Does it all line up reasonably with known children?

I have a 'research log' from 2006/7 with 34 items on it for further research.  I need to go over that list and incorporate still-resolved issues into this list.

I have to go back and revisit the fine Morgan County Genealogy website.  I've learned a lot since I was last there, and they've probably added new info, too!

I need to work on the HIX/HICKS of Morgan County, Missouri.  Perhaps there is a link there to Kentucky that will help with finding Amos & Elizabeth's ancestors.

There are Estill County, Kentucky, land records that I have not seen and need to comb.  The big problem there is that with all the changes in boundaries, I'll really be looking at at least Bourbon, Fayette, Clark, Madison, Clay, Montgomery, Lincoln, Floyd, Knox, AND Estill counties in Kentucky.  And, then there's the issue of Kentucky County, Virginia, before Kentucky statehood.  In my dreams, a Kentucky expert comes to my aide....

I must write-up / blog the whole rationale proving that this is NOT the Amos Richardson who marries Nancy San(d)ford.  The county history mugbook is wrong and so there!

I need to do the GoogleEarth thing as I did for John on all of my Amos' land!

Donald has reviewed all the Kentucky tax lists and sent me his findings.  I need to buckle down and try to make sense of it.  There's just so many Richardsons in the area and they all have the same few forenames....@#$%#!

I need to reread all the probate info on Amos & Elizabeth and the first couple to die of their children. 

DNA
This may be the biggest to-do of them all!  We've got the 67-marker Y-DNA of this line and I must sit down and make a huge spreadsheet with it and that of the Richardson group at FamilyTreeDNA, etc.  I'm afraid that all the possible candidates for the father of this Amos are closely related themselves.  I think we're also going to need to find mtDNA candidates for Elizabeth's line, and possibly the Hix line and see if we can rule anyone out that way.  That's all I need: another field to study.  So much to do, so little time .... 

Conclusions
Obviously, there's a lot I should do before doing anything really new with this couple.   I'll start in this order: Morgan County genweb site, the Amanda news, census and other records for kids' birthplaces, the Sanford issue, the land records, and the DNA.

This is a complex problem.  I have to face the "facts" (or the lack thereof!) and look at more of the collateral kin and neighbors and use cluster methodology, ala Chapter 4 of Marsha Hoffman Rising's The FamilyTree Problem Solver.  Many of the surnames in Kentucky and Missouri are the same and there are many similar surnames among the children's spouses.

June is going to be here before I know it!  Hmm...do I blog or work on research?  I need a resolution to focus, focus, focus...

Big & Little Things I've Been Doing

Big Thing
I regret my recent absence from the genealogy blogosphere, but I know you'll understand.  Ah, it feels so good to again sit at my computer and breathe ....  We are caregivers for our dear neighbor.  He'll be 85 next month.  He's retired, career Navy and, oh, the stories he has told, including having been on a ship off Japan for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  He's been very independent until March 9, long story short: ER, hospital, surgery, skilled nursing, and now we are planning the next step.  I have had the privilege of giving him all the time I could these last two weeks.  Things are better now, but I don't know when my blogs will be regular again.

Relatively Teeney Little Thing
With just a bit of "free" time now, I sat down and started on the accumulated blog postings in Reader.  Wow, people have been very, very busy, ..., there are hundreds to read...  I don't know if I'll ever get caught up.

I say a recent post at Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings
on how to make these personalized maps for blogs.  He credited Becky Jamison and Sheri Fenley with leading him to it.  It's so easy that I made this one in just a few moments.  The BigHugeLabs webpage really is incredibly easy to use! 

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Some of these states were very short stays for my ancestors.  I can probably add Illinois (great-grandparents had one child born there, I think on the way to a South Dakota / Minnesota border town) and New York (4th great-grandfather owned land there, but I haven't proven he lived there).

It strikes me that my ancestors lived in at least 20 states, yet if I made a map for my husband's ancestors, it would only show New York and Italy before that.  If I made one for our dear neighbor's ancestors, it would only show Pennsylvania and Germany before that.

How different we all are ....

First Friday Folder: John Richardson & Isabella Shaw

I've been wondering if this monthly post is worth my time since it is often totally NOT what I'm really working on at the time.  I've even been thinking about dropping the project.  But, recently, Randy Seaver posted about checking his files, and I am now reassured and re-motivated!

This month I picked great-great-grandparents John D. RICHARDSON and  Isabella SHAW because I have to start getting ready for my next big genealogy trip: Hubby and I are going all the way to Morgan County, Missouri to the Richardson Family reunion hosted by Cousin Donald in June!  This is the first First Friday Folder I've done from my Hegwer line.

Third-cousin Donald found me online a few years ago through some comments I'd left at ancestry.com.  We've communicated quite a bit including several long phone calls.  Donald has very graciously offered to show us historic Richardson family sights!  He said there won't be too much genealogy at the reunion itself, but I assured him that I will be very happy to finally meet him in person, see the area, and feel the Missouri earth between my toes!

The Couple
I've written about John D. a bit before and there's even a photo of him here.  The eighth child of Amos Richardson and Elizabeth Hicks/Hix, John D. was born in 1829 in Cooper County, Missouri, just before that area became Morgan County.  Isabella, born in 1828 in Ohio (probably Knox County in an area that later became Morrow County), was the fifth child of Robert Shaw and Sarah Miller.

They married in Morgan County in 1849 and had 7 children before Isabella died in 1877.  John remarried 1880 to Mary Jane Krues.  John D. died in 1908, just shy of 80, and having outlived both wives and two of his children.

The Folder
This folder is about 1/2 inch thick, mostly because of all the census printout for all the kids.  Its organization is in pretty good shape: just 2 pages to reposition.  I did a little census work on son John Franklin Richardson, and then printed a new family group sheet.  I have full, well sourced data on all the kids except for daughter Anna Bell Richardson who married Wallace Mattox/Maddox in 1885.  I don't know what happened to either of them, but she apparently died before 1908 without heirs.

I reviewed my copy (courtesy of Cousin Donald) of John D's 1908 obituary.  While it has many errors in info of his early life, it does give details of his last few years which would have been more likely to be accurate anyway.  I reviewed a photocopy of a 1908 probate document [1], which names youngest son Amos as administrator and names the heirs: the five surviving children and two sons of deceased son James.

Something New to Try
Last weekend, I attended a full day seminar at the local genealogy association.  Lisa Louise Cooke was a wonderful presenter and covered all sorts of tips for Google stuff in genealogy.  I used her directions for using Google Earth with the Bureau of Land Management's General Federal Land Records website and EarthPoint  to get a view of where one of John D.'s original land patents would appear.

The orange line towards the top of this snip is the north side of 43N Township in Morgan County, Missouri.  The purple square is Sec 5.  Both of those came up on Google Earth after following Lisa's directions.  I added the yellow rectangle (again, following her directions) to show John's W1/2NW1/4, about 40 acres, issued in 1853.  I can't wait to try this on other ancestral patents!!

The Plan
I don't think that I need a plan per se for this couple right now.  Info and sources are pretty solid.  I think this review helped with a little tidying up and as a chance to try a new skill with Google Earth.  I think I achieved my main goal of reviewing all info before moving to John D.'s parents next month.

Conclusions

• It's mandatory to review all the data I have on one generation before I tackle earlier generations.  I want all my Richardson data to be as clear as possible in my head for the trip in June!
• Local societies have lots to offer and this seminar was especially useful.  And, as soon as Ms. Cooke started the Google Earth portion of her presentation, I knew I could use that info right away for illustrating John D.'s land patents here. 
• I'm so excited about this trip! I just hope I have time to be fully prepared....

Sources

[1] Morgan County, Missouri, Probate Court.  Will Record, Vol. 3, 1892-1919.  FHL # 983,550; p. 96.

Full Disclosure

I am not employed by nor do I receive any special consideration from any of the entities named above.  Lisa Louise Cooke follows this blog, we share middle names, I subscribe to her podcast, and I bought her new book package with the very nice seminar discount available to everyone who was there.

Forgotten Settlers of Kansas: To Register or Not?

This group has publications, a nice webpage, and more, both for societies and individuals.  One of their projects is, in essence, a lineage society for direct descendants of so-called "Forgotten Settlers of Kansas."  Certificates are available in the following categories of Kansas residency:

• Territorial  --   before 29 Jan 1861
• Pioneer  --  between 29 Jan 1861 and 31 Dec 1880
• Early Settler  --  between 1 Jan 1881 and 31 Dec 1900

It appears that great-great-grandparents Carl Benjamin Hegwer and Maria Rosina Ilgner, great-grandfather Charles Hegwer, and most of his siblings are eligible for the Territorial category and I could receive a certificate(s) by completing the application, supplying documentation, and paying $12. per individual.  Part of the application and documentation would be published in a book; names would be on their website.

I know Carl, Maria, Charles, and the other Hegwers are NOT forgotten!  While it's still a bit sad to me that all the Hegwer/Ilgner names do not appear on the lists at the website, I don't think I'll join the program.  What do you think?