52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 14 – Priscilla (Hayes) Windom Hill

The theme for this week is “Maiden Aunt” I did not find a maiden aunt within my closer generations, so decided to write about an “aunt” who escaped marriage, was married, was divorced and then remarried during her 35 years of life in the mid -1800s.

My 2^nd gt-grandaunt Priscilla was the daughter of Seth and Lydia (Jewett) Hayes. She was the youngest of 8 children and was the only one born in Indiana as her older siblings were born in Ohio. She was born 5 Feb 1837. Apparently the family was not in Indiana for long as by 1840 the family was listed on the census in Jefferson County Iowa.

By 1850 her 5 oldest siblings were all married. But when her parents decided to go to Oregon in 1853 all the family went together on a wagon train where Nelson Davis was Captain. Nelson's wife was a sister to 2 of Priscilla's brothers-in-law. So it really was a family affair.

In the Year Book of 1968 for the Jewett Family of America, a granddaughter of Priscilla's sister Louisa related a story she had heard about 16 year old Priscilla on that journey. When some friendly Indians visited where the wagon train was camped, they had spread out blankets and it seems that Priscilla picked one up and put it around her shoulders and danced around. It was then they discovered their Indian custom was that it meant she would be married to that Indian. Apparently it took a fair amount of persuading to get the Indians to leave and they continued to follow the train for several days. But Priscilla did not have to marry the Indian and she arrived safely in Oregon. But there was sadness on that trip, for one of Priscilla's sisters delivered a baby girl while they were traveling in the Blue Mountains and then died when they were going over Mt. Hood.

I wonder if Priscilla was excited when her 22 year old sister Sybil was married to Benjamin Windom in the fall of 1853. It was in the spring of 1854 when Priscilla, at age 17, married Benjamin's brother, Drury Douglas Windom. By the time of the 1860 census Priscilla and Douglas and their 3 children (Alanson, James Henry and Polly Anna) were living with her unmarried brother, Ebenezer, in the Peoria Precinct of Linn County, Oregon. In about 5 more years, 3 more children were born to this family: Emily, Jesse and Carrie.

But things must have gone wrong somehow, because Priscilla filed for divorce and 31 Oct 1868 the Circuit Court in Linn County granted her a divorce with custody of the children. The next door neighbor in 1860, George M. Hill, was now a widower and he and Priscilla were married on the 14^th of Nov 1868. So when the 1870 census was taken it included George and Priscilla; George's 3 daughters ages 12 – 17; Priscilla's 6 children ages 5 – 15; and their 1 year old daughter Sarah.

It was about a year and a half later. 2 Mar 1872, when Priscilla died at age 35. Her infant daughter Lydia died almost a month later on 29 Mar 1872.

Related to a Museum

I enjoyed the time in the past when I visited the Maryhill Museum in the State of Washington, along the Columbia Gorge. I found it interesting that the man who was credited as the founder was a Mr. Samuel Hill, known as Sam Hill. Why I found it interesting was that the information about him stated that he had Quaker heritage. Since I have a Hill in my Quaker ancestry, I wondered if we might be related. It took until now to do the research and I was glad to find that he was my 2^nd gt-grandfather, Benjamin Albertson's 4^th cousin, so he is my 4^th cousin 4 times removed. This chart shows how we are related.

Ancestor:

William Hill

of Pasquotank County, North Carolina

Mary Hill 1705-	Siblings	Aaron Hill 1707-1761
Nicholas Nicholson 1741-	1st Cousin	William Hill 1740-1792
Nathan Nicholson 1776-	2th Cousin	Samuel Hill 1782-1859
Phariby Nicholson 1801-1883	3rd Cousin	Nathan B Hill 1817-1895
Benjamin Albertson 1826-c1908	4th Cousin	Samuel Hill “Sam” 1857-1931
Nathan E Albertson 1849-1917	4th Cousin 1 time removed
Oran J Albertson 1882-1948	4th Cousin 2 times removed
Lester O Albertson 1907-2004	4th Cousin 3 times removed
Me	4th Cousin 4 times removed

Maryhill Museum

By Cacophony - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37978

Ancestor Birthday - June 7th - Nicholas Nicholson - 1741

He was my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Nicholas Nicholson. It all sounds a little repetitive. He was born 7 Jun 1741 in Pasquotank County, North Carolina to Thomas and Mary (Hill) Nicholson. It was 17 Nov 1762 when he married Sarah White, the daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Jordan) White.

Note that the Quaker record shows his birth date as 7th day of 4th month in 1741. Remember this is before the calendar change in 1752, so the 4th month was June. It also gives his parents as "dittos." This is in a series of the children of Thomas and Mary Nicholson.

Last month, May 2017, I wrote about some of his close family. His granddaughter, Phariby Nicholson, daughter of his son Nathan, was on my blog 12 May 2017. Then his niece, Miriam Bell, the daughter of his sister Miriam appeared on 23 May 2017. On 24 May I featured Rachel Jordan, who was his mother-in-law. I enjoy seeing how these family members connect to each other.

Apparently Nicholas was active in the Quaker Pasquotank Monthly Meeting as he signed as a witness for 10 marriages there plus 2 more from neighboring Perquimans County. Of course it didn't hurt that he had a number of relatives getting married. I was able to identify the relationship for 10 of these: his father's 2nd marriage, 3 sisters, a brother, a brother-in-law, 2 nieces, and 2 daughters. A family history does state they lived in Perquimans County.

Nicholas was the 4th child of 7 born to Thomas and Mary and then he had 3 half-siblings from his father's second marriage to Sarah (Smith) Nixon, widow of Thomas. This Sarah was a 1st cousin once removed to Nicholas' wife, Sarah White. Sometimes the relationships can get confusing.

In the abstracts of deed records in Perquimans County it shows a deed from 1777 where Thomas Nicholson deeded for "love I bear my son Nicholas, do give 100a[cres]." Then again in 1784 for "love I bear my son Nicholas Nicholson of Perq. do give 100a." It is good to have a father who loves you enough to give you 200 acres.

In their 30 plus years of marriage Nicholas and Sarah had at least 9 children. Their 7th child, Nathan Nicholson, was my 4th great-grandfather. When Nathan was married in 1799, his father was not listed as one of the witnesses, but the record did not state that Nicholas was deceased. Some family researchers have given his death date as 1800. Sarah died 22 Apr 1800. I have not found a record for Nicholas.

Early Oregon Cousins -- Charles Clarence Hayes

Charles Hayes was one of John Howard Bond's younger 1st cousins. His father, Ebenezer Hayes, was a younger brother of John's mother, Huldah (Hayes) Bond. Ebenezer had married later in life after he was 35 and his first wife died. When he remarried at age 43 he married Laura Hill, the 18 year old step-daughter of Priscilla (Hayes) Hill, Ebenezer's youngest sister. Charles was the 4th child of Ebenezer and Laura, born 7 May 1878. He was just 2 months older than John's oldest daughter.

The 1880 census listed him as Clarence Hayes, age 2, in the household of Ebenezer and Laura in Halsey Precinct, Linn County Oregon. He was not listed with his parents in the 1900 census, but in 1905 he was shown as Chas. C., age 26, again in his parents' household in the city of Halsey. The family had moved to Portland, Multnomah County Oregon, by the 1910 census. Charles was living with his parents and he was working as a laborer at odd jobs. His father died in 1911 and Charles was one of the 5 children living with his mother on the 1920 census in Portland where his occupation was laborer in a furniture factory. On the 1930 census he was working as a farmer in the Willamette Precinct in Lane County Oregon.

Charles is not enumerated in the 1940 census since he died 28 Feb 1940, before the census was taken. I found the circumstances of his death to be sad. When I located his death certificate it stated that the cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage, due to traumatic fracture of the skull, due to struck by auto. Some of the other facts on the certificate were revealing. He died at Portland General Hospital where he had been for 3 months. The informant had no records of Charles' birthdate, or birthplace, or occupation or parents. They estimated his age as 56 and gave his address as "transient - no address."

Since his death was due to an automobile accident marked as happening 1 Dec 1939 in Portland Oregon, I thought that it might have been mentioned in a newspaper. When I checked that I found there were a series of articles about the accident and the aftermath involving Charles published in the Oregonian newspaper from Portland, Oregon. It was all so sad.

2 Dec 1939 - Headline: Car Hits Man, Skull Cracked. He was listed as an unidentified pedestrian who was struck while walking near the Jones Lumber Company. They described him as bearded and approximately 55 years old.

4 Dec 1939 - Victim Unidentified. He was described as an elderly bearded man whose skull was fractured when he was struck down by an automobile. His condition was critical. Officers reported that he had been seen walking along the road with one shoe off.

8 Dec 1939 - Unidentified Auto Victim Remains in Coma Here. They repeated the previous information, but added that he was unconscious, but improving.

12 Dec 1939 - Auto Victim Yet Unknown. It was 10 days after the accident and the hospital still did not know who he was. He had not completely regained consciousness and could only mumble responses. They described him as about 50 years old, 5 ft 4 inches tall, slender build, hazel eyes, sandy hair and Van Dyke beard.

14 Dec 1939 - Identity of Traffic Victim Still Puzzles Authorities. With this article the paper published a photo of him. They stated he was slowly improving, though not able to talk.

15 Dec 1939 - Auto Accident Victim Identified. The paper finally could say that the victim was Charles Hayes, 62. His brother, Fred W. Hayes, who lived in Portland, saw the photo, went to the hospital and was able to identify Charles.

29 Feb 1940 - Death Increases '39 Traffic Toll. When Charles died at the hospital it was counted in the traffic deaths from 1939.

I wonder how this affected the rest of the family. He had at least 2 brothers in Oregon and 1 in California.