52 Ancestors 2020 – 7 – Favorite Discovery – Deborah (Hockett) Blair

I wasn't sure how this topic would work for this great-grandaunt of mine, Deborah (Hockett) Blair, an older sister of my Great-grandmother Mary Magdalene (Hockett) Albertson. They were daughters of Francis and Rebecca (Hartley) Hockett. They had 9 other brothers and sisters. I had a bare minimum about Deborah on my genealogy website – joanne skelton.com. It does show Deborah was born 18 Feb 1849 in Henry County, Iowa. She married Albert Dillon about 1868 and they had two children: Ella Kay and Allie May. After Albert died she married Joseph Blair and they had four children: Lawrence Edwin, Henrietta M, Howard and Gale E. She was listed as surviving in her sister Lydia's obituary in Nov 1922.

But when I began researching to discover what more I could learn about her, I did make 3 interesting discoveries.

First was her death certificate which was listed as a source for her death at familysearch Family Tree. I was glad to find documentation for her death, which was 12 June 1925 in Hardin County, Iowa. But I was surprised at the maiden name given for Deborah's mother. It shows her maiden name as Rebecca Larr. It was Rebecca's mother who probably had the maiden name Larr. So this does give me evidence that the Larr name is in the family.

Secondly I found her Find a Grave entry as Deborah Ann Hockett Blair. It shows that she was buried in Honey Creek Cemetery in New Providence, Hardin County, Iowa. There are links to her parents, 8 of her siblings, her first husband and 6 children.

The third discovery is a mystery. Looking at the familysearch Family Tree it showed one more child than I had already entered on my website, Archie Artell Blair. I am not convinced that he is a child of Deborah. His birthdate is shown as 29 Mar 1899. Since Deborah was born in 1849 she would have been 50 years old, which would be possible but not probable. There was a nine year gap from the previous known child. In the information about Archie or Artell, there is a document showing his mother as Deborah, but there is another which shows Etta. Deborah had a daughter Henrietta aka Etta who was born in Oct 1878, so would have been old enough to be his mother.

I decided to check for Archie on the census of 1900 and try to find who he was living with as a baby. I have not yet found him. Deborah was living in Hardin County, Iowa with her husband Joseph and their two sons, Edwin and Gale. The census taker marked that she had had 4 children, 3 living. The Dillon girls seem to be left out but it does account for the Blair children I have on my website. Henrietta was also living in Hardin County in the household of Seth Hammer, marked as a servant and single. But it does list her as having 1 child, who was living.

Since the 1910 census also asks the question about number of children and number living, I checked both Deborah and Henrietta in 1910. Deborah and Joseph and their son Gale were living with Edwin in neighboring Marshall County, Iowa. There her number

of children is 6, with 5 living. So this matches what I have entered on my website, including both Dillon and Blair children. But what about Henrietta? She was married in Marshall County in 1902 to John Mohler as Etta Blair. She and John are in the 1910 census back in Hardin County with a baby daughter Garnet age 9/12. On the number of children question the census taker wrote down 2, with 2 living. So again I searched for Archie or Artell in the 1910 census. I looked for anyone named Blair, born in 1899 plus/minus 5 years, first in Hardin County, Iowa and then in Marshall County. He does not show up in either of those searches.

He does appear on the 1920 census in the household of John and Etta in Hardin County, as Artell Blair, along with 3 Mohler children and Deborah. With John as the head of household, Deborah is marked as mother-in-law and Artell as brother-in-law. So I still have not solved the mystery. Is there anyone who has further information?

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 11 – Lucky

The theme for week 11 on 52 Ancestors is Lucky. I consider my self lucky (or I prefer the term blessed) that with all the moving my family did, my earlier ancestors were at the right place at the right time to meet and marry and become the parents of my later ancestors.

For example, my 4 grandparents were born in 4 different states: Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and Oregon.

My paternal grandfather, Oran Jesse “OJ” Albertson, was born in Marshall County Iowa in 1882, but in 1887 the family moved to a homestead in Sherman County Kansas. My grandmother, Lucie Rachel Smalley, had been born in 1886 in Sherman County just after her family had moved there from Saline County Nebraska. It was in Sherman County that OJ and Lucie were married in 1906 and my father, Lester Oran Albertson, was born in 1907. The family moved to Linn County Oregon in 1911.

My maternal grandmother, Florence Edna Bond, was born in 1891 in the Willamette Valley, Lane County, Oregon. About 1894 the family went north to Gilliam County Oregon, but by 1905 they had moved back to the Valley to Linn County Oregon. My grandfather, Julius Adolph Falk, was born in 1880 about 2000 miles away in Iowa County Wisconsin. A number of his family moved to Iowa and then 6 brothers moved to Linn County Oregon between 1900 and 1910. Julius came by 1905 and it was in 1910 when he and Florence were married. My mother, Wilma Anna Falk, was born in Oregon in 1912 and because Lester and family had moved to the area in 1911, they eventually met and were married in 1933.

Ancestor Birthday - January 24th - Benjamin Albertson 1826-1908

Benjamin is my 2nd great-grandfather. He was born in 1826 in Perquimans County, North Carolina, which is in the northeastern corner of the state, which I visited in 1996. He was the son of Nathan Albertson and Phariby Nicholson. I wrote about Nathan on the 5th of January post.

Benjamin, while still a child, traveled with his parents and extended family going north in the 1830's to Rush County Indiana. He was still living with his parents when they moved to Hancock County Indiana in 1837. The family were charter members of the Quaker Walnut Ridge Monthly Meeting. It was at the Westland Meeting House on 26 November 18, 1847, that he married Sabina Marsh. Her family had also been Quakers for a number of years coming from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio before arriving in Indiana. In 1852 Benjamin and Sabina and their two small sons, Nathan and William, were granted certificates from Walnut Ridge to transfer to Westfield Monthly Meeting in Hamilton County, Indiana, but Benjamin's family had already moved westward to that area because they were counted there in the 1850 census. In 1855, the family moved again, going farther west into Hardin County, Iowa. By the 1880 census they went across the county line and were living in Marshall County, Iowa.

A family history of Bejamins's gt-grandmother's family, Genealogy of the Bell Family: A Record of the Decendants of Lancelot Bell which was published in 1907, lists Sabina's death as 4 Oct 1897, so Benjamin was now a widower. He apparently moved with his daughter's family as they are in Jericho Springs, Cedar County, Missouri by the 1900 census. When and where Benjamin died is a mystery I haven't yet solved. Other researchers have listed the date as 23 Feb 1908, but I have not seen their documentation for this. This date would not contradict the family history publlshed in 1907 as it does not give any death information for him.

Although Benjamin owned land and worked as a farmer, he also worked as woodworker, being listed in the 1850 census as a wagonmaker and as a carpenter in 1870, 1880 and 1900.

Benjamin was one of nine children, having seven brothers and one sister. I find it interesting that Benjamin and Sabina had only one daughter along with four sons. Then their oldest son, my ancestor Nathan Elias Albertson, had only one daughter and four sons. So in my direct line there were three generations where there was just one daughter. Do you suppose those girls were given special attention in their families?

See Benjamin on my website:http://www.joanneskelton.com/p9.htm#i208

Ancestor Birthday - January 5th - Nathan Albertson 1801-1883

Nathan is my 3rd great-grandfather. He was born in 1801 in Perquimans County, North Carolina, whic is in the northeastern corner of the state. I was privileged to visit that area in 1996. The Albertsons had lived in that area for over a century as Nathan's 3rd great-grandfather Albert settled a land grant there in 1694.

By the time Nathan was ten, his mother had died, as his father, Benjamin Albertson, remarried in 1811, to a widow, Margaret (Bagley) Nixon, with three children from her previous marriage. Nathan gained a half-brother William in about 1814. Nathan's father had died before October 1824, when Nathan married Phariby Nicholson in a Quaker ceremony at Suttons Creek Monthly Meeting. Nathan's step-mother, Margaret Albertson's name was listed as one of the witnesses.

Nathan and Phariby followed the trend of Quakers moving north in the 1830's and purchased government land in Rush County Indiana in 1834. They continued moving, buying land in Hancock County Indiana in 1837 and then in 1855 buying land in Hardin County, Iowa. By the 1880 census Nathan and Phariby were living with their son Benjamin's family in Marshall County, Iowa.

A family history (Genealogy of the Bell Family: A Record of the Decendants of Lancelot Bell ) gives Nathan's death date as 12 January 1883. Benjamin's family is listed on the 1885 Nebraska state census with Phariby in their household.

See Nathan on my website:http://www.joanneskelton.com/p9.htm#i215