Curious – Am I Related to an Opera Singer?

 When I began my journey into genealogical research, I contacted one of my paternal 2^nd cousins who had been working on our family’s history. He very graciously shared some of the information he had found. This section of my family had been members of the Society of Friends, often called Quakers. Since our local genealogical society had a series of books in their library, entitled Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, I eagerly began researching there. This was a 6 volume set, compiled through the efforts of William Wade Hinshaw. I was thrilled to find so many of my ancestors listed in these books. In doing more reading I found that Mr. Hinshaw had an earlier career as an opera singer. He was known as the leading American baritone singer with the Metropolitan Opera from 1910 to 1912.

Photo of W W Hinshaw, digital image from

The Musical Blue Book of America, 1916-1917, page 5

Accessed on Internet Archive, 25 Jan 2022

I continued to research my Quaker relatives in other sources. Eventually I learned that a sister (Elizabeth 1813-1882) of my 2^nd great-grandfather, Francis Hockett, had married a man named Hinshaw. Then I discovered that a sister (Elizabeth 1809-1866) of my 3^rd great-grandfather, Isaac Hockett, had also married a man named Hinshaw as her 2^ndhusband. Was it possible they were from the same family as the compiler of the books? Recently I found a pedigree chart for William Wade Hinshaw in the Family Search Family Tree. There I discovered that it was his grandfather who married my 3^rd great-aunt, so I am related to him by marriage.

Many people who have Quaker ancestors find they are related to other Quaker descendants. William was born in Hardin County, Iowa, in 1867. My Quaker great-grandparents, Nathan E. and Mary M. (Hockett) Albertson, were married in Hardin County in 1870. But, am I really related to William Wade Hinshaw by blood? Using that same pedigree chart, I found that not only am I related to him, I am related to him in two different ways.

First: William Hunt (1693-1746) and Mary E. Woolman (1692-1745) were his 3^rd great-grandparents. They were my 7^th great-grandparents, so we are 4^th cousins 4 times removed.

Second: John Beals (1685-1745) and Sarah Bowater (1689-1765) were his 4^th great-grandparents. They were my 7^th great-grandparents, so we are 5^th cousins 3 times removed.

Therefore I can say that I am related to an opera singer.

A Favorite Photo – Rebecca (O’Neal) Monroe

As I mentioned last week, (9 Jan 2022) generally I do not have favorites. But I do find photos that I especially like and this is one of them. I posted this photo once before as a part of a group of three when I wrote a post 17 Nov 2017 entitled: Fotos of Some of Sarah Lollar’s Children. Now I want to tell you more about the person in the photo.

This photo of Rebecca (O'Neal) Monroe was handed down to me from the belongings of my grandmother, Florence (Bond) Falk. Rebecca was my grandmother's mother's aunt. This photo was one of those printed on a postcard and the card was sent to my great-grandparents, probably in an envelope since it has no stamp. But a message was written on the post card side. It was addressed “To John and Molly Bond From Aunt Becca.” This was first time I learned that my great-grandmother Mary Ann was called Molly.

The message section said: “We are all well and hope your the same. I wish you was here to have thanksgiving dinner with me. Write soon. Becca Monroe 286 11st Portland, Org.” Using the book, Real Photo Postcards Kwik Guide, I discovered that the post card stock used was from 1908 to 1924. Since Rebecca gave her address, I decided to try to find out when she lived there. I did find her on the 1910 census, living with a married daughter, at that address. Then I wondered about how long she had lived there. The next logical step was to look at city directories, since Portland was the largest city in Oregon and Ancestry.com had many directories in their database from Portland. A search for Rebecca Monroe showed me that she was listed in 6 different years from 1906 to 1920. I was surprised to find that she was at a different address in each one of those. However,in the 1911 city directory, her address shown was 286 11^th. Possibly the information was gathered near the same time that the 1910 census had been taken. So this dates this postcard to about 1910.

But what other information have I found about Rebecca She was born 9 Jun 1845 in Bartholomew County, Indiana, the youngest child of Thomas and Sarah (Lollar) O'Neal. She would have been a small child when her father died in 1847. The 1850 census gives the family location as Sand Creek Township in Bartholomew County. Rebecca was still young when her mother died in 1854. Some of the family had moved west to Davis County, Iowa, and by 1860, as a teenager, she was in the household of her brother Commodore Perry O'Neal and his wife and daughter. When Perry and family went to California with his wife's family in 1865, Rebecca traveled with them. But this signaled a big change in Rebecca's life. On the journey west, in Salt Lake City, Rebecca married Alexander Monroe. They apparently stopped in Nevada for awhile, since their oldest daughter, Alice, was later listed as born in Nevada. But by the 1870 census the family; now with 3 children: Alice Augusta, Perry and Mary; was located in Coyote Valley, Lake County, California.

It was probably the next year when Rebecca's family moved north to Oregon. They were near where Rebecca's brother, Commodore Perry O'Neal, had settled in 1870 in the Coast Fork Precinct of Lane County, Oregon. Rebecca and Alexander and their 8 children were enumerated on the 1880 census in Coast Fork Precinct. The younger 5 had been born in Oregon: Rachel, Sarah, James, Charles and William. Then 4 more children were born: Mattie, George, Marie and Lottie. Alexander bought 8 acres of government land in 1895 in the nearby Cloverdale area. But it was just a little over 3 years later, 29 Sep 1898, when Alexander died. He was buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

So, on the 1900 census Rebecca was enumerated with her oldest daughter's family in the Creswell Precinct of Lane County. Alice had married John Cruzan in Dec 1883 and they had 4 children by 1900. I found it interesting that Rebecca’s 2 youngest children, Marie and Lottie were very close in age to her Cruzan grandchildren.

It was in 1905 that a tragic incident happened for the Monroe family. One of Rebecca’s married daughters, Rachel (Monroe) Stoops, was murdered. This could never be a pleasant memory for Rebecca. I did write about the tragedy on my blog on 10 Oct 2017.

By the 1910 census Rebecca had moved to Portland to be with another daughter, Lottie, listed as Bernie Pinard. As I noted earlier, they lived at 286 11^th. Rebecca’s son-in-law, John Pinard, worked as a bartender in a saloon. Rebecca was living with yet another daughter, Marie Adams, at the time of the 1920 census. Marie was working as a housekeeper at a hotel.

At age 79, Rebecca died on 10 Oct 1924 in Portland, Oregon and was buried at Rose City Cemetery there. Her obituary stated 10 of her children were still living, 6 daughters and 4 sons. I am glad that now some of her descendants are among my DNA matches.

A Favorite Find – USA Marriage Places

The theme for week 2 is Favorite Find. In general, I do not have favorites, but like many items equally. However, I can say that this is one of my favorite finds while rereading my blogs from 2015. https://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2015/05/

That was a map I posted on 26 May 2015 showing the states in the United States where 24 of my 3^rd great-grandparents (or 12 couples) were married. I haven’t yet discovered the information about the other 4 couples, but am confident they were still in the “old country.” As I restudied this map, I discovered I had made an error. Indiana should have been included in the one section and Ohio increased to six.

So here is a corrected map: reddish = 1, blue = 6. Note half were married in Ohio.

Since the original post did not include their names, this time I am including a table showing the names, dates, and the counties where these marriages took place.

Groom	Bride	Date	County	State
Nathan Albertson	Phariby Nicholson	14 Oct 1824	Perquimans	North Carolina
Elias Marsh	Edith Townsend	__ Jul 1810	Columbiana	Ohio
Isaac Hockett	Sarah Frazier	10 Jul 1812	Clinton	Ohio
Thomas Hartley	Barbara Larr	7 Jul 1808	Fayette	Pennsylvania
William Smalley	Elizabeth Eakins	21 Sep 1826	Adams	Ohio
John Hemphill	Elizabeth Milligan	30 Mar 1836	Adams	Ohio
Joseph Shipman	Mary Carey	16 Feb 1837	Ashtabula	Ohio
Timothy Chase	Lucy Howe	31 Dec 1832	Litchfield	Connecticut
John Bond	Sarah Chastain	5 Oct 1815	Henry	Kentucky
Seth Hayes	Lydia Jewett	17 Dec 1818	Geauga	Ohio
Thomas O’Neal	Sarah Lollar	20 Aug 1823	Franklin	Indiana
William England	Mary Walker	2 Mar 1827	Gibson	Tennessee

Starting New Year Again

It was ten years ago today that I posted “Starting New Year” on my blog. So to start this new year, I will begin by looking back and then look ahead.

My blog posts have certainly had their ups and downs in the number of posts I have done, as you can see from these statistics.

2011 – 14

2012 –   3

2013 –   5

2014 – 25

2015 –   7

2016 – 12

2017 –365

2018 – 32

2019 – 11

2020 – 22

2021 –   1

Last year was a low point in my blog writing, but it did bring the total up to 497. At the very least I hope that this year I will write post number 500.

When I look back at 2020, I see my first post that year was a “Fresh Start.” I began with these words: “Again in 2020 I am attempting to write about family using the themes from 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks by Amy Johnson Crow.” Now in 2022 I can basically repeat that sentence.

The theme for this week is Foundations. I have already written about many of my known ancestors. So what do I intend to write about this year? I want to look over my pedigree chart and see who I have missed and write about them. Also there are all those aunts and uncles and cousins who deserve to be remembered. Maybe I’ll throw in some questions I have, some childhood memories or even some family connections I have found in the town where I now live.

Writing can be fun, so I am looking forward to seeing what 2022 will bring.