52 Ancestors 2020 – 10 – StrongWoman – Catherine (Brown) Baker

If you have been keeping track of the numbers, you will see that I skipped number 9, which was disaster. I couldn't find a woman within the time limits to write about, so I have gone on to number 10.

I have chosen Catherine (Brown) Baker, who was my half 2^nd great-grandaunt. She was the daughter of my 3^rd great-grandmother Sarah Lollar and her first husband, Thomas Brown. I find it very interesting that Ancestry.com in their DNA ThruLines suggests that I have 20 matches from Catherine's descendants, through 9 of her children. This makes me quite confident that I am related to this “strong woman.”

Catherine should have been a strong woman because she had 14 children and at least 13 of them lived to adulthood. Maybe she learned this from her mother, who had just 2 children from her first marriage, but 14 from her second marriage to my 3^rd great-grandfather, Thomas O'Neal. As Catherine was the oldest daughter she was having her first 3 children while her mother was having her youngest 3 children (1841 - 1845).

Catherine married her husband, Oliver Baker, 17 Mar 1841 in Franklin County, Indiana, and they were married for over 60 years until Oliver's death 30 May 1905 in Delaware County, Indiana. This is another indication that Catherine was a strong woman. She lived less than a year as a widow before her death 25 Feb 1906, also in Delaware County. They were both buried there in Union Cemetery, near Eaton. At least through 1900 Catherine and Oliver lived in Franklin County. It was sometime before 1905 they moved about 60 miles to Delaware County. Their son William was living there in 1900.

On censuses (1860 – 1900) Catherine was marked as unable to write, but apparently she could read. I hope she was able to read the information about her son Maxwell, who lived in Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana. A biography for him was published in 1899 in the Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume II, pages 929-931. It included the following about her: “His parents are Oliver and Catherine (Brown) Baker, worthy and esteemed residents of this county.”

Another time that Catherine needed to remain strong was during the Civil War as she had 3 sons who were the right age to fight. Her son Maxwell did become one of the soldiers in Company A of the 35^th Indiana Infantry. It appears he was a substitute for someone else and joined near the end of the war, 15 Oct 1864. The official records show that the 35^th Infantry was involved in the operations against Hood in north Georgia and north Alabama until November 3. They participated in the Nashville Campaign to the end of the year, including the battle of Franklin on Nov 30 and the battle of Nashville Dec 15-16. In 1865 they moved to Huntsville Alabama and were on duty there until March. They were involved in operations in East Tennessee until April 22^nd. I expect both Maxwell and his mother were happy to know the War was ending as Lee signed the document of surrender on April 9^th and other generals were signing until the official end of the War on 26 May 1865. The 35^th Infantry went to Nashville until the middle of June when they were sent to New Orleans. Later they served in Texas until mustered out 30 Sept 1865. Maxwell served long enough that he did get a pension in 1890.

It has been a delight to learn more about this relative of mine, Catherine (Brown) Baker, a “strong woman.”

52 Ancestors 2019 – 2 – Challenge – Letha Ann (O'Neal) Lanning

This weeks theme is “challenge” for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Since I have chosen to write about siblings of my ancestors, this week I have chosen Letha Ann (O'Neal) Lanning, an older sister of my 2^nd gt-grandfather, Commodore Perry O'Neal.

Letha or Leatha was born on 13 January 1827 in Franklin County, Indiana, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Lollar) O'Neal. I believe she fits the theme for challenge since Letha was the mother of 17 children in a period of a little over 27 years. Twelve of her children survived until adulthood and are shown with their parents in the above photo.

Letha was 16 years old when she married John Lanning on the 18^th of August 1843. It was a little less than a year later when their first child, Reuben, was born 31 May 1844. Apparently Reuben was named for his grandfather, John's father. Before the 1850 census was scheduled to be taken, four more children were born: Sarah, Mary, James and Hester. Sadly Mary died a few months after her first birthday and Hester died a little over a month after her first birthday. Then when the census was taken, Reuben wasn't at home, but in his grandfather Lanning's household. The census taker listed Sarah, James and Hester, even though Hester had already died because she had been alive for the official census date.

Children continued to arrive in their family: George, William, Joseph, Aaron, Keturah and David were all born before the 1860 census. Aaron died when he was 2 ½ years old in 1858, so there were eight children enumerated in that Lanning household, aged 16 to 1/12^th. Five children were born during the 1860's: Amanda (who died less than a year old), Nancy, Henrietta, Rosanna and John. The 1870 census shows that the three older surviving children had left home and there were still nine children from age 19 to 2 who were living in their household.

In 1871 Letha's last child, Hiram, was born, but he lived only 2 days. When they took the 1880 census the six younger children were still living at home, four girls and 2 boys. Hopefully that were able to provide help for their parents. It was in this census that Letha stated that her father was born in Ireland and her mother in South Carolina. She repeated that fact in the 1900 census where she was widowed and living with her daughter Keturah. Letha was listed as a 73 year old farmer, who could read, but not write. Her husband John of 56 years had died in November of 1899. At age 83, Letha was shown on the 1910 census with an occupation of manager of a farm. Again Keturah was living there with her. In all her census listings from 1850 through 1910 they were living in Butler Township in Franklin County, Indiana. Letha died there 8 March 1914 and was buried in Wolf Creek Cemetery.

From her obituary which was published in the Brookville Democrat 18 March 1914, we learn that Letha faced physical challenges in her later years:

Aunt Leatha or Grandma Lanning, as she was commonly called, passed through many hardships helping to raise such a large family and accumulating a nice home. Her last years were spent mostly in afflictions, and being so crippled in body she hadn't the pleasure of going about much.

When she died, Letha had 11 children still living and over 150 descendants. Her obituary gives this tribute to her:

Surely many sons and daughters can arise and call her blessed. The last few years of her life the loved ones would gather in and sing and pray with her. She always seemed so glad and happy, often expressing a desire to depart and be with Jesus.

I would say that Letha faced her challenges well.

Fotos of Some of Sarah Lollar's Children

Yesterday I posted about my 3^rd gt-grandmother Sarah Lollar and that she had 16 children. I only have photos of 3 of them, 2 daughters and 1 son.

This is one of the family of an older daughter, Leatha Ann (O'Neal) Lanning, who was born in 1827. I guess Leatha took after her mother since she had 17 children. Only 12 are shown here. My thanks go to Ancestry.com member, kittyacres, who allowed me to use this picture.

This photo is of one of the youngest daughter, Rebecca (O'Neal) Monroe, who was born in 1845. It was in the collection of my grandmother, Florence (Bond) Falk.

This last photo is of my 2^nd gt-grandfather's family. Commodore Perry O'Neal was born in 1835. It was shared with me by my cousin, Robert Bond.

Ancestor Unbirthday - abt 1799 – Sarah Lollar

Another one of my 3rd gt-grandmothers was Sarah Lollar. According to the 1850 census she was born in South Carolina. It gives her age as 46 which would indicate a birth year of about 1804. However the age brackets in the 1830 and 1840 census show a female born between 1790 and 1800, so I estimate her birth year as about 1799.

By 24 Dec 1818 she was living in Franklin County Indiana because that is where she married Thomas Brown. She had at least two children with him: Isaac and Catherine. I have not found a record about what happened to Thomas, but on 20 Aug 1823, Sarah married Thomas O'Neal, as his second wife. With this Thomas Sarah had 14 children, so altogether that makes 16 children for her. According to a family record her husband Thomas O'Neal died in 1847. Sometime before the 1850 census, she along with some of her children moved to Bartholomew County Indiana. Seven of the children were listed in her household including my 2^nd gt-grandfather, Commodore Perry O'Neal. The family record shows her death date as 17 Apr 1854.

Much of the information about this family comes from a family record which is said to have been kept by James Albert O'Neal, one of Sarah's grandsons. I do appreciate my cousin, Linda Wyatt, who shared this information with me. This is from one of the pages from that record.

Early Oregon Cousins – Rachel (Monroe) Stoops

This is an article that I wrote which was published in the Cottage Grove Genealogical Society periodical, Trees From the Grove, 10 years ago, in 2007.  It concerned one of my 1st cousins 3 times removed, Rachel (Monroe) Stoops.

TRACING A TRAGIC INCIDENT

In beginning genealogy we are advised to “listen” to family tradition and do research to discover whether it is true. But often we find some of the more interesting stories by just doing research. I have been trying to use the approach that I research the whole family, including all the children and grandchildren of each direct ancestral couple. With the large size of some of the families, this gives numerous opportunities to discover these stories.

One of my discoveries came while researching one of the grandchildren of my third great-grandparents, Thomas and Sarah (Lollar) O’Neal. Their son, Commodore Perry O’Neal, known as Perry, was my second great-grandfather. His youngest sister was Rebecca, who married Alexander Monroe. Both families had come to Oregon in the Creswell area by 1880.

Following the whole family approach, I researched the easily available basics: the published Lane County Marriage Records at Cottage Grove Genealogical Society Library and my subscription on-line for census records and the Oregon death index. Finding possible names to research, I obtained copies of some of the family death certificates from a trip to the Oregon State Archives in Salem.

One of Rebecca’s daughters was Rachel, born in December 1871 in California and married August 29^th, 1889 to J. O. Stoops, a son of an early Pleasant Hill area settler. The 1900 census showed them as Oscar J. and Rachel Stoops with four children, living in Springfield, Lane County, Oregon. When I checked Rachel’s death certificate for her death on October 17^th, 1905, I found that she had died in Marshfield, Coos County, Oregon and the cause of death was “killed by J.A. Armitage.” What did this mean? More research seemed necessary.

A trip to the Knight Library at the University of Oregon at Eugene was the next step, since all of the known surviving newspapers from Oregon have been microfilmed and are available there. Checking first in the published inventory of available newspapers, I found that there was a paper from Marshfield for that time period. However, when I looked at the Library I found that it was not there that particular day. Was my trip wasted? I decided to check the newspapers from Eugene to determine if any mention of the “killing” was in it.

The October 18^th edition of the Morning Register had it on the front page with the headline: “DOUBLE TRAGEDY AT MARSHFIELD: Both Victims Were Residents of Eugene Several Years Ago, J. A. Armitage Kills Mrs. J. O. Stoops, With Whom He was Infatuated, and Then Ends His own Life---Was Under Peace Bonds for Threatening Woman.” The article gave some of the details. It stated that Mr. Armitage had taken a rifle and revolver and broke into the Stoops home through a window. Mrs. Stoops and her children had taken refuge upstairs. Having taken a gun with her, she shot Mr. Armitage when he came up the stairs, wounding him. He continued up the stairs and grabbed her and shot her with his pistol. He had dropped the rifle and Rachel’s thirteen year old daughter picked it up and hit him on the head to try to save her mother. After he had killed Rachel, Mr. Armitage left the house and went back to his home where he shot himself. The article related that he had been bound over a few weeks before in the sum of $800 to keep the peace because he had threatened Rachel’s life. It also gave the details that Rachel left a husband and five children and Mr. Armitage left a wife and grown family at Eugene.

Then I wondered if a coroner’s inquest had been held. The County Records Inventory on the website for the Oregon State Archives stated that Coos County had inquest records that included 1905 at their Courthouse in Coquille. Since I was already planning a trip to Coos Bay the first weekend in November for a genealogical conference I decided to try to include a side trip to Coquille. I telephoned the County Clerk’s Office at the Courthouse and asked if those inquest records would be available for researching. The person who answered the telephone did not know at first, but asked someone and said it was possible. She asked for the names and said she would check and let me know if they had them, so I would not have to make a special trip for nothing. It was a few days later that there was a message on my voice mail that the records were there and they would have them for me when I arrived on Friday, November 5^th.

Reading the inquest record for Rachel Stoops was a sad experience. It was held later in the evening on the same day that she was killed.

Her husband was called as the first witness. He verified her identity as the 32 year old daughter of Rebbeca O’Neil and Alexander Monroe. He stated that she had told him that Mr. Armitage had threatened her life two months before, in August. Then their fifteen year old son, Frank, was called, but he had been at school so could not give any information about what had happened.

I found the testimony of their daughter, thirteen year old Lulu, the most troubling. She and her mother and the two year old baby were the only ones at home that afternoon. Lulu stated the following: We were up stairs and mama was sewing, and first we knew was when we heard him break in the window, and then mama got up and creamed[sic—screamed] and she grabbed for her gun and ran to the stairs and he was headed up the stairs and mama shot at him and then he fell backwards down the stairs and then he got up and came up the stairs again and she had shot at him as he was coming up and then she grabbed a chair and hit him over the head with a chair and then he commenced to shoot at her and then I picked up his gun and I hit him over the head with it three times and he grabbed the gun away from me, and he started down stairs and then mama fell, and I did not know anything more about him, until I heard a man say he heard him over there and that he was dying….I ran to the window and hollowed to Mrs. Margelt to come that mama was shot and she said she would go and get Mrs. Richardson and she went for her and they came down and Mrs. Richardson was the first one to the house and then Mrs. Bargelt came and then Mr. Carter came. She explained that Mr. Armitage had got into the house through the window, breaking it in. When asked what he said after he had broken in, she said: “When he started up the stairs, he said, Now I’ve got you.” She continued her story: he took his pistol out of his pocket after he came upstairs. He grabbed hold of her [Rachel] and had his arm around her neck and then he commenced to shoot her but I am not sure where he shot her. They questioned Lulu about whether he had tried to do anything to her after her mother had been shot. She told them He started to shoot me, but he must have been too weak I think…He pointed the pistol at me, he tried to pull the trigger but he could’nt. Then Mr. Armitage left.

J. O. Stoops was recalled as a witness and explained that he had left the previous day to go up the Coos River and was there when he received the news about his wife. The Stoops family had lived at Marshfield for three years as had Mr. Armitage. They had known each other, being neighbors, before moving there.

Next, some of the neighbors were called to testify. Then Lulu was called again to clarify her testimony. When asked what she said during the incident, Lulu answered: No sir nothing was said, I was screaming all the time.

The inquest concluded with the testimony of the City Marshall and the doctor who examined the body. The verdict of the jury at the inquest was: “Rachel Stoops.came to her death by gunshot wounds inflicted by James A Armitage, in her home in Marshfield Oregon between the hours of 3 and 4 oclock P.M. on the 17^th day of October 1905.”

At a later trip to the Knight Library, a weekly Marshfield newspaper was available, so I found and copied another story of this murder. Their headline on page one of the October 21^st paper (taken from Wednesday’s Daily): “SHOCKING DOUBLE TRAGEDY. J. A. Armitage Kills Mrs. J. O. Stoops and Then Himself.” On page five was a second article (taken from Thursday’s Daily): “ELEVEN SHOTS WERE FIRED. More Particulars of Tuesday’s Ghastly Tragedy.”

From research I discovered a story of a tragic incident. It appears that Rachel was involved in a case of stalking. She had obtained a type of restraining order against her adversary, but as sometimes happens today, a hundred years later; this did not prevent her death. Now, for me anyway, Rachel will not be forgotten.

SOURCES

Myers, Jane and Arlene Smith, compilers, Lane County Oregon Marriage Records 1880-1889, Vol. III Cottage Grove, Oregon: Cottage Grove Genealogical Society, 1980.

Morning Register, Eugene, Oregon. 18 October 1905

Weekly Coast Mail, Marshfield, Oregon. 21 October 1905

Oregon. Coos County. Inquest Record. Rachel Stoops, October 17, 1905. Coos County Courthouse, Coquille, Oregon

Where Were My Ancestors? - 1850 Census

This will be the last post in this series, since before 1850 the census did not list everyone, but only the head of household, so many of my ancestors (wives and children) were not listed by name.

Yesterday there were 35 ancestors found on the 1860 census (plus 3 were not found) and today there are 42, plus 2 not found . Only 1 of my gt-grandparents was found on the 1850 census, the others were either not born yet or the 2 who were still in Europe.

This map shows where my ancestors were in 1850. It has gained from yesterday for the total number of locations, now up to 17. Of these, 6 are the same and there are 11 different ones. Now there are 6 states represented, Iowa has 6 different counties, Indiana has 5 different counties, and Ohio has 3 different counties. So Connecticut, Missouri and Illinois just have 1 county each. When the counties are close together it is hard to mark them so you can see the different place. If you have questions, get out your maps and atlases and look them up.

Here is chart with their names (women's maiden names), locations (County and State) and their relationship to me. Since our number of ancestors doubles for each generation, the chart gets longer.

1850 Census

Name	County	State	Relationship
Nathan E. Albertson	Hamilton	Indiana	gt-grandfather
Benjamin Albertson	Hamilton	Indiana	gt-gt-grandfather
Sabina Marsh	Hamilton	Indiana	gt-gt-grandmother
Francis Hockett	Lee	Iowa	gt-gt-grandfather
Rebecca Hartley	Lee	Iowa	gt-gt-grandmother
John W. Smalley	Adams	Ohio	gt-gt-grandfather
Rachel A. Hemphill	Adams	Ohio	gt-gt-grandmother
Joshua R. Shipman	Ashtabula	Ohio	gt-gt-grandfather
Lucy J. Chase	Litchfield	Connecticut	gt-gt-grandmother
Solomon Bond	Marion	Iowa	gt-gt-grandfather
Huldah Hayes	Marion	Iowa	gt-gt-grandmother
C. Perry O'Neal	Bartholomew	Indiana	gt-gt-grandfather
Margaret J England	Davis	Iowa	gt-gt-grandmother
Nathan Albertson	Not Found		3rd gt-grandfather
Phariby Nicholson	Not Found		3rd gt-grandmother
Elias Marsh	Hancock	Indiana	3rd gt-grandfather
Isaac Hockett	Henry	Iowa	3rd gt-grandfather
William Smalley	Adams	Ohio	3rd gt-grandfather
Elizabeth Eakins	Adams	Ohio	3rd gt-grandmother
Elizabeth Milligan	Adams	Ohio	3rd gt-grandmother
Joseph L. Shipman	Ashtabula	Ohio	3rd gt-grandfather
Mary Carey	Ashtabula	Ohio	3rd gt-grandmother
Timothy Chase	Litchfield	Connecticut	3rd gt-grandfather
Lucy I Howe	Litchfield	Connecticut	3rd gt-grandmother
John Bond	Mahaska	Iowa	3rd gt-grandfather
Sarah Chastain	Mahaska	Iowa	3rd gt-grandmother
Seth Hayes	Jefferson	Iowa	3rd gt-grandfather
Lydia Jewett	Jefferson	Iowa	3rd gt-grandmother
Sarah Lollar	Bartholomew	Indiana	3rd gt-grandmother
William L England	Davis	Iowa	3rd gt-grandfather
Mary Walker	Davis	Iowa	3rd gt-grandmother
Peninah Parker	Rush	Indiana	4th gt-grandmother
Elizabeth Smith	Adams	Ohio	4th gt-grandmother
John Eakins	Adams	Ohio	4th gt-grandfather
Nancy Patton	Adams	Ohio	4th gt-grandmother
Elisha Shipman	Lake	Ohio	4th gt-grandfather
Catherine	Lake	Ohio	4th gt-grandmother
Ichabod Howe	Litchfield	Connecticut	4th gt-grandfather
Solomon Bond	Mahaska	Iowa	4th gt-grandfather
George Chastain	Washington	Indiana	4th gt-grandfather
Rebecca Staton	Washington	Indiana	4th gt-grandmother
Joseph England	Callaway	Missouri	4th gt-grandfather
Mary Reed	Callaway	Missouri	4th gt-grandmother
Rachel	Greene	Illinois	4th gt-grandmother

Ancestor Birthday - April 14th - Commodore Perry O'Neal 1835 - 1919

The O'Neal Family  

One of my 2nd great-grandfathers was named Commodore Perry O'Neal. As a child, I remember that my mother listed one of her great-grandfathers as Perry O'Neal. It was after I started researching in the 1980s that I realized his full name was Commodore Perry. It is my belief that he was named for the hero in the War of 1812. He did have brothers named George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It seemed to be a common practice to name children for famous people in the time period he was born, 1835. He generally used the name Perry or his initials, C.P. rather than his full name.

Perry was born 14 Apr 1835 in Franklin County, Indiana, the son of Thomas and Sarah (Lollar) O'Neal. Both of his parents had been married previously, so there were 4 half-siblings in his family as well as the 13 full siblings. Six of his siblings were younger than him. He was about 12 years old when his father died in 1847. Sometime before 1850 the family had moved a little farther west to Bartholomew County, Indiana, where they were enumerated in the census. His mother Sarah was the head of the household and by now there were 7 children still in the household. It was 4 years later when Sarah died in 1854, so now Perry was about 19 years old. By 1858 he was living in Davis County, Iowa, because it was 25 Feb 1858 when he married Margaret Jane England. His brother George had moved there earlier. Perry and Margaret's first child was born there, my great-grandmother, Mary Ann O'Neal. On the 1860 census, he was shown as Perry Oneal, with his wife Margaret, his daughter Mary A, and his 14 year old sister, Rebecca.

The family left Iowa in 1865, traveling with some of Margaret's family to California. Perry registered to vote in 1867, listing his residence as Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. He was listed on the 1870 census there as Perry Oneal with his wife Margt J, his daughter Mary A, a son John J. and a 20 year old Chinese servant, Chang.

That fall the family moved to Oregon and Perry purchased for $500 168.89 acres about 4 miles west of the present town of Creswell. Creswell was not established until after the railroad came through that area in 1872. Perry and Margaret had 2 more sons after they had come to Oregon: Edward Chancy born in 1871 and George Elva born in 1873. In 1876 their daughter Mary Ann married John Howard Bond and she moved out of their household. But sometime before 1880 Margaret's father, William L. England came to stay with them because he was listed on the 1880 census as father-in-law. Now Perry was listed as C.P. Oniel with Margaret and the 3 boys also in the household.

It was three years later, in 1883, that Perry filed for about 160 acres of homestead land adjoining his other property. In his final papers in1890 he noted that the land was hilly and good for grazing and farming. It was in May of 1897 that Perry's wife Margaret died. She was buried in the Creswell Pioneer Cemetery. C.P. lived as a widower for over 20 years with his 3 sons who were unmarried at that time. He deeded his land, now over 300 acres, to them a few months before his death 12 Jul 1919. He was buried in the Creswell Cemetery next to his wife.

You can read about him on my website: http://www.joanneskelton.com/p13.htm#i317

Tomorrow I will try to give some more information about Commodore Perry's land in Oregon.

Posted 14 Apr 2017

Was Thomas O'Neal Born in Ireland?

Since today is St. Patrick's Day, it seemed appropriate to check for Irish ancestors. I am not aware of any "for sure" Irish in the family.

Thomas O'Neal does seem one possibility. Thomas shows up in Indiana with a couple of children from a previous marriage and then he marries a widow, Sarah (Lollar) Brown, and they have at least 14 children together, including my ancestor, Commodore Perry O'Neal, who was born in 1835, and eventually moved to Oregon.

So I want to ask Thomas if he was born in Ireland. He didn't want to cooperate and died in 1847 so never appeared on a census where they asked for place of birth. But since he had so many children, maybe one or more of them listed their father's birthplace on the 1880 census or later.

When I checked Commodore Perry's listing, I find he stated his father was born in New York. In looking at others in the family I found a number agreed with the New York birth: Rebecca, Sophronia, James, Thomas, George, Mary and one of the children from the first marriage, Jesse. But there were two who were different. The oldest two girls from Thomas and Sarah's marriage, Martha and Leatha. both stated their father was born in Ireland.

So if majority ruled, New York would win. But the two girls would have been at least 20 years old before their father died, so why would they claim an Irish birthplace if there wasn't some basis for it. I may never know.