Attending Genealogical Seminars

Why attending genealogical seminars, workshops & conferences is the

IN thing:

You get:

• INformation on genealogical subjects 
• INterconnections with other genealogists 
• INspiration to work on your genealogy

Lucinda Hall and her connection to Cottage Grove

Lucinda Hall is found on my website,
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p755.htm
because she was married to my 2nd great-granduncle, Ebenezer Hayes. Lucinda was born on the 14th of October 1846. She was the daughter of Thomas Hall and Lucinda Robinett.
Recently I have been doing research on some of the families of the donation land claim settlers in the Cottage Grove area. One of these families I was working on was the Shields family. One of the Shields children was Jemima Shields, who married James Robinett. James was a brother to Lucinda Robinett, Lucinda Hall's mother, so James was Lucinda's uncle. So through marriages I am connected to one of Cottage Grove's early settlers and it just so happens that my home is located on a part of the Shields Donation Land Claim.

Sarah Bond and Preston Murphy wedding day

Sarah Bond was the daughter of my 2nd great grand uncle, George W. Bond. You can read about her on my website:
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p1112.htm
Last week while researching on Genealogy Bank historical newspapers, I found the notice of Sarah's marriage to P. H. Murphy as published in the Oregon State Journal, Eugene, Oregon. It said:
MARRIED.  On June 21st 1874, at the residence of G. W. Bond near Eugene City, by N. Hull, J. P., Mr. P. H. Murphy of Monmouth, Polk Co, and Miss Sarah A. Bond of Lane Co., Oregon, both deaf mutes.
Near the end of April I wrote about Sarah's  brother Joseph who was also deaf and mentioned Sarah there.
I wonder how it made Sarah feel to have the newspaper list that fact in the account of her marriage.

Elizabeth Jewett and Francis Nelson Wedding Day

Elizabeth Jewett, my 1st cousin 9 times removed, was married on the 6th of June 1716 in Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts to Francis Nelson.  You can read a little about her on my website:
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p1465.htm
I began considering the math of her life. This was the second marriage for both Elizabeth and Francis. When Elizabeth was married for the first time to Isaac Platts in 1704, she was 26 years old. When Isaac died in 1711 she was a few days short of age 33 and had three daughters ages 5 1/2, almost 3 and 9 months. It was 5 years before she remarried to Francis Nelson, who had 5 children from his first marriage, 3 boys and 2 girls. His oldest was just 12 1/2 when Francis and Elizabeth married and hers was 10 1/2. So their household had 8 children. It was a little less than 4 years later when Francis died in March 1719/20. He named Elizabeth and his 5 children in his will. Apparently Elizabeth lived as a widow for the remainder of her life, 42 years, as she died in 1762 at age 84.
Then I wondered if Elizabeth had any descendants. The book, Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts, shows that her 3 daughters had all married. I chose to check Roots Web World Connect project to see if anyone had posted family information. I found that the "Treadwell family" had 2 daughters listed with 5 generations of descendants totaling 598 individuals. Many of these lived in Massachusetts, New Brunswick and Maine. So yes, Elizabeth did have descendants.

Update on Website

Today I updated my website, http://www.joanneskelton.com/

I added a timeline chart showing the children of Rachel and John W. Smalley. It helps me to understand the dynamics within a family when I can see who is alive when.

I also added a person page for Mary N. England's husband, John T. Elkins. I included some of the information that I had posted on this blog. So Mary also has information added as well as a photo of her gravestone. I also created a memorial for her on the Find a Grave website.

Some of the information shown on this blog about Dummer Jewett was added to his person page.

I am hoping that this blog and my website can complement each other.

Luman Chase and the Civil War

Luman Chase, my 2nd great-granduncle, was born in Connecticut May 11, 1846. So when the Civil War began in April of 1861, Luman was almost 15 years old. The family was living in Ohio at that time and Luman's older brother, Ralph, enlisted the next year in August 1862. By Luman's 18th birthday in 1864, he was living in Mercer County, Illinois. It is unknown how much Luman knew about his brother's service, but the history of Ralph's unit (23rd Regiment, Ohio Infantry) shows they were involved in the Battles of Cloyd's Mountain in western Virginia on May 9th and New River Bridge and Doublin Depot on May 10th.
It was only a few days later, May 14th, when Luman enlisted as a private in Company E of the 138th Infantry Regiment Illinois. This was one of the groups of the "Hundred Days Men." See the article on Wikipedia about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days_Men

He was mustered in June 21, 1864 at Camp Wood, Quincy, Illinois. On June 26, they were moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and were on duty there till October. It appears there were no battles fought there but there was concern that the Confederate Army would try to attack so they needed to be ready. Luman was mustered out October 14, 1864 at Springfield, Illinois. On his pension application filed in 1912 in Nuckolls County, Nebraska, Luman stated that he lived in Illinois until 1873 and then moved to Nebraska. That application also stated that he was 5' 8" tall, had light complexion, gray eyes and light hair.

In 1915 Luman and his wife Lucy moved to Deer Park Washington area. Evidently Luman joined the GAR (the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veterans organization) in that area. His obituary in 1932 stated that he was the last survivor among the GAR veterans in the area. You can read the entire obituary on my website: http://www.joanneskelton.com/p288.htm

Theodore Falk's Birthday

Granduncle Theodore Falk was born on the 7th of May in 1876 in Pulaski Township, Iowa County, Wisconsin. See his person page on my website which includes a photo of him.
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p87.htm
I find him interesting since he was the nearest in age to my grandfather, Julius Falk.  By the 1900 census Theodore had moved from Wisconsin to Iowa and was living with his brother Conrad. When Conrad and family moved to Salem Oregon  in March 1905, Theodore came with him. A newspaper item in the Daily Capital Journal of Salem stated "they propose to become Oregonians."  It was in October of 1905 when Theodore and his younger brother Julius purchased 280 acres between Halsey and Harrisburg, Oregon. The next year in December Theodore married Jessie Brady.  Julius bought another property in October of 1908 and sold his half of the first property to Theodore in January 1909. I am wondering if Julius did this since Theodore was married and Julius was still single. Theodore and Jessie were on the 1910 census in Halsey Precinct and he was listed as a farmer. Later they moved to the Salem area where they lived until his death in 1930.

Nellie Chase's Birthday

Nellie Grace Chase was born May 5, 1872, in Illinois.

Relationship

Nellie was my 1st cousin 3 times removed as her father, Wells Morgan Chase, was the brother of my 2nd great-grandmother, Lucy Jane Chase. However, I knew her as "Aunt Nellie", since she was married to my great-granduncle William Sherman Smalley.

Memories

Aunt Nellie came out from Nebraska a few times to visit family in Oregon where I lived. I always looked forward to a visit from Aunt Nellie and have fond memories of her. One time she came to visit during the time that the sweet cherries were ripe on our trees and she so enjoyed eating them.

Seth Caldwell's Birthday

My second cousin, Seth Caldwell, was born on May 4, 1911. If he had lived until today he would have been 100 years old. However, he died almost 5 years ago, so only lived to be 95. I'm sorry that I never got to know him. I did some more research on him and found that he was still living with his parents on the 1930 census in Portland, Oregon. By 1938 the Eugene Oregon City Directory shows he was married to Dorothy C and they were living at 1660 E. 23rd Ave. Seth was employed as a wrapper at Williams Bakery. This was repeated in the 1939 directory. In 1940 they had moved to Central Blvd, Floral Hill, RD 2, Box 11. Seth's parents are also in the 1940 directory in Eugene. 1941 shows Seth and Dorothy at the same address and occupation. But in 1942 the address is Central Blvd, Floral Hill, RD 4, and Seth's occupation was listed as whsmn for McDonald Candy Co. Research in the "White Pages" showed that Seth lived at Florence, Oregon from 1996 to 2002. His death was at Florence 19 July 2006. I tried and tried to find an obituary on-line for him and was unsuccessful. So finally telephoned the funeral home in Florence and discovered that they had handled the cremation and there was no obituary.

One reason for wanting the obituary was to verify that his wife's maiden name was Clifford. She died in October of 2006 and also had no obituary. But sometimes the smallest type of item can give us the clue we need. While researching newspapers on-line, I found the following item in the Eugene Register-Guard for June 6, 1939 under City News Notes: "Visit at Albany. Mr. and Mrs. Seth Caldwell and children of Eugene have been visiting at the home of Mrs. Caldwell's parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Clifford, in Albany."

John Elkins and Mary England Wedding Day

Mary England, my 1st cousin 3 times removed, was married on the 2nd of May 1888 in Marion County, Oregon, to John Elkins.  You can read a little about her and see her picture on my website:
http://www.joanneskelton.com/p463.htm
Today I did a little more research about Mary and John and discovered that both of them had been deaf. This was found in the special census for deaf marriages which was online at Ancestry.com. John stated that he was born deaf and attended the deaf school in Salem Oregon beginning in 1870 at age 19 and was there for 6 years. The 1880 census indicates that both John and his younger brother James were deaf. By 1880 John was living with his parents in Polk County, Oregon. Mary stated that she became deaf at age 9 months due to "brain fever." She also attended the deaf school in Salem, beginning in 1875 at age 9 and was there for 7 years. On the 1880 census she was shown as a student at the Deaf Mute School, outside Salem. It was just 3 days ago that I wrote about another cousin who was deaf and found the information about the Oregon school for the deaf.

Joseph A Bond's Birthday

Joseph A Bond was born on April 29, 1857 in Lane County, Oregon Territory, two  years before Oregon became a state.

To check my research done about Joseph, see his page on my website:

http://www.joanneskelton.com/p1116.htm

Relationship

You will see that he is listed as my 1^st cousin 3 times removed. In other words, he was the grandson of my 3^rd great-grandparents, John Bond and Sarah Chastain. His father George and my 2^nd great-grandfather Solomon were brothers. However, his parents were 1^st cousins so he is also my 2^nd cousin 3 times removed as my 3^rd great-grandfather John and Joseph's grandmother Selia were siblings. It does get rather confusing.

Deaf and Dumb

You can see that Joseph was listed as deaf and dumb on the 1860 and 1870 census. I thought it was interesting that the census taker in 1870 added the comment smart to Joseph's entry. According to the history of Oregon Deaf School,

http://www.salemhistory.net/education/oregon_school_deaf.htm

there were at least 30 deaf children in Oregon in 1870, so a state school was started. Did Joseph attend this school? Are there lists of students available? His sister Sarah who was also deaf and dumb did attend this school and met her future husband. By the 1880 census, Joseph's entry has a mark in the deaf and dumb column, but not in the cannot read or cannot write columns. In 1900 when Joseph was living with his brother James, the census taker wrote “yes” on Joseph's line on the columns can read and can write. So apparently someway Joseph did learn to read and write. However the census taker wrote “no” for the column can speak English. How could Joseph speak English when he was deaf and dumb? I really don't think that's what the designers of the census had in mind with that question.

More about Dummer Jewett

On their website, www.americanancestors.org, the New England Historic Genealogical Society has an interesting article about Dummer in the Harvard section of a database called Colonial Collegians. From this article, I learned that “except for cutting a few classes, he was a model undergraduate.” After his marriage to Mary Staniford in December 1757, they moved to Ipswich and Dummer opened a store and practiced law on the side. He served in the community as a feoffee of the Ipswich Grammar School (I had to look that word up and Wikipedia informed me that “in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the Feoffees of the Grammar School have been trustees for a piece of land deeded to the town since the 1600s.

The modern equivalent of a feoffee to uses is the trustee, one who holds a legal and managerial ownership in trust for the enjoyment of the beneficiary.”) Dummer was a justice of the peace for Essex County and by 1775 he was sent to the Provincial Congress where he took an active part. Then in 1779 he was sent by the town to the Constitutional Convention. It was in 1784 that he was elcted to the board of trustees of Dummer Academy. (Another sidetrack to check the history of Dummer Academy. It is still in existence under the new name of The Governor's Academy. See http://en.wikipedia.ore/wiki/The_Governor's_Academy ) Dummer's life came to a sad end in October 1788 when the Ipswich First Church Records states: “20th. D. J. being in a melancholly desparing State of Mind leap'd out of his garret window, which was about 30 feet from the Ground..” Within a week he had died from his injuries. So far I have been unable to find any record about his burial.

John Smalley and Rachel Hemphill Wedding Day

My 2nd great-grandparents, John Wilson Smalley and Rachel Ann Hemphill, were married on the 26th of April 1856 in Adams County, Ohio.  The marriage records of 1856 were among the few marriage records of the 1850's which survived the courthouse fire of 1910. The Adams County Genealogical Society has republished these. Their marriage information shows that John and Rachel were married in Oliver Township. Both resided in and were born in Adams County and had not been previously married. John was age 23, the son of Wm and Elizabeth Smalley, and Rachel was 18, the daughter of John and Eliza Hemphill.

You can read more about my family at my website  www.joanneskelton.com.

Dummer Jewett's Birthday

I decided to begin a blog today because my genealogy program calendar showed that today was Dummer Jewett's birthday back in 1732. However as I thought about it I remembered that this was before the calendar change in 1752, so I'm not sure what date Dummer would have considered his birthday after he graduated from Harvard College in 1752.  He was the grandson of my 7th great-grandfather, Jonathan Jewett, and the son of Jedediah Jewett and his wife Elizabeth Dummer. So you can guess where his first name came from. These relationships make Dummer my 1st cousin 7 times removed.

I find Dummer interesting due to his name. Reading more about him in the Jewett Family History published in the early 1900's, I discovered that after he married Mary Staniford in 1754 he settled in the town of Ipswich where he was a lawyer and merchant. He was a representative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1776 and 1780