52 Ancestors 2020 – 6 – Same Name – Nancy (Hemphill) Hamilton

I realized that during January I had written about “uncles” in my family, so in February I will attempt to write about some of the “aunts.”

Nancy Jane (Hemphill) Hamilton was one of my 2^nd great-grandaunts. She fits in the “Same Name” category because her first name is the same as her grandmother, Nancy (Patton) Milligan, her maiden name is the same as her father as expected, and her married name is the same as her mother's second husband. This happened because Nancy married her step-brother, John C. Hamilton.

But, let's go back to the beginning. Nancy Jane Hemphill was born on 11 Feb 1837 in Adams County, Ohio. She was the oldest child of John and Elizabeth (Milligan) Hemphill. Her father had been married before, so she had step-brothers. Nancy had 5 more siblings before her father died in 1847. So in the 1850 census in Wayne township in Adams County, her mother Elizabeth was the head of household. Nancy's step-brother David, age 25, was in the household and Nancy, who was now 13, and her 5 siblings, Rachel (who was my ancestor), Mary, John, Elizabeth and William.

It was just the next year when Nancy's mother married a widower William M. Hamilton on 14 Jan 1851. Now Nancy acquired 5 more step-siblings. Then as William and Nancy had children Nancy had some half-siblings. But just to make things a little more confusing Nancy married one of William's children from his first marriage, John Campbell Hamilton, on 29 Aug 1855. Then Nancy's youngest half-brother was born the next year, 1856, just 3 months before her first child was born. So Nancy and her mother, who were now both married to men named Hamilton, had been pregnant at the same time. I wonder if all those named Hamilton living there in Adams County ever got confused about their relationships.

 Nancy and John had 10 more children before they would celebrate their 20^th wedding anniversary, including one set of twins. On the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses Nancy and her family were living in Oliver Township in Adams County, Ohio. In 1860 three children were in the household. In 1870 the number of children had increased to nine. They were enumerated between their parents William and Elizabeth and Nancy's sister Mary who was married to David Rhodes. There were ten children in their household in 1880, so the census never shows all eleven at once.

It was 12 more years before Nancy died on 1 Nov 1892 at age 55. She was buried in

Locust Grove Cemetery in Franklin Township, Adams County. John was also buried there after his death in 1906

52 Ancestors 2020 – 5 – Far Away – Thomas Elder Patton

Thomas Elder Patton 1783 – 1840

Photo added to Find A Grave by Karen Winters

Thomas Elder Patton was born far away from me here in Oregon in 2020 in space and in time. He was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia on 29 Jan 1783, the son of John and Martha (Sharp) Patton. Thomas was one of eight children, all born in Rockbridge County. They all eventually moved west to Adams County, Ohio. All but Jane, who was listed as idiotic on the 1860 census, were married in Rockbridge County.

Thomas married Jenny or Jane Glasgow 18 Apr 1805. On her memorial page on Find A Grave, it is stated that they moved to Adams County by covered wagon in Oct 1806. I believe that it is this Thomas who was listed on the “Male Enumeration List” in 1807 in Wayne Township. He is also found on the lists there for 1811 and 1815. Scott Township was formed from the north part of Wayne in 1818, so it is reasonable that it is our Thomas who is listed in Scott Township on the lists for 1819, 1823 and 1827. I have always been thankful to the Adams County Genealogical Society for publishing these lists since Ohio does not have surviving census records until 1820. They also published voter lists for 1810, 1811 and 1812. There is a Thomas Patton for each of those years in Wayne Township.

A history of Adams County was published in 1900. I was able to obtain a reprint which had added an index. Thomas Patton has three entries in the index. In the Pioneer Character Sketches there is an entry for Thomas' father John and it says “Thomas Patton, a son, lived and died on West Fork.” (Page 608) In the Biographical Sketches there are two for Thomas' son-in-laws, which mention Thomas: “Thomas Patton, a native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, who settled on the West Fork of Brush Creek.” (Page 682) and “Thomas Patton, a native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, though he emigrated to Ohio, settled on West Fork and died there.” (Page 754) So I checked my reprint of the 1868 Atlas of Ohio and found that the West Fork of Brush Creek was in Scott Township not far from Meigs Township.

I believe that Thomas and his family are on the 1820 census in Meigs Township, as it is an adjoining county to Scott. Since no names other than the head of household are shown on these early censuses I used the children and their ages as shown on Find A Grave and they all match, Thomas and Jenny and the older 6 of their children (3 boys and 3 girls.) In 1830 they are listed in Scott Township with 4 of the older children plus 3 who had been born between 1820 and 1830. The 2 oldest were married and in households of their own by this time.

June 1^st was the official enumeration date for the 1840 census. Find A Grave lists Thomas' death date as 4 Jun 1840. I have not been able to find a census entry for Thomas in 1840, so I suspect the census taker came after his death so did not list him. The household was probably in a state of disorganization at that time so it may be that none of those still living there were counted. Without having the names listed, it would be hard to find them if they were counted.

As I previously stated, there is a memorial page for Thomas on Find A Grave which gives his death date as 4 Jun 1840. It shows his burial place as Tranquility Cemetery but there is no photo of a gravestone. I checked my cemetery booklets from the Adams County Genealogical Society and found that Tranquility Cemetery is located in Scott Township. But neither Thomas or his wife are listed in their book. However my ancestor, Elizabeth (Milligan) Hemphill Hamilton, is shown as buried in Tranquility Cemetery. She was the daughter of Thomas' sister Nancy. So it is likely that Thomas was buried at Tranquility and there was either no stone or it has not survived.

Ancestor Birthday - Oct 5 - William Milligan 1787 - 1845

My father, Lester Albertson, shared a birthday with his 2nd gt-grandfather, William Milligan, just 120 years apart. My father had his birthday post on the 5th and my 3rd gt-grandfather, William had to wait until today, October 6th.

I believe that William was born in Virginia 5 Oct 1787. A family history of the Gordon Family mentions him because 2 of his daughters married Gordon brothers. William married Nancy Patton 2 Oct 1812 in Rockbridge County Virginia. They were married by Daniel Blain, a Presbyterian minister.

They moved to Adams County, Ohio and lived in Wayne Township. He was probably the William Milligan listed in Wayne Township in 1823 and 1831 on the "male enumeration lists."

William and Nancy had 8 children. According to the Gordon book, they all had middle names. The children were Elizabeth Hawkins (my 2nd gt-grandmother), John Patton, James Campbell, Martha Barton, Rachel Amanda, Mary Jane, Phebe Elmira and William Steele.

The Gordon book lists his death date as 1849. However Adams County has an inventory of the estate of a William Milligan who died in 1845. I believe this was probably my William, although there were other William Milligans living in Adams County, with at least 2 still alive by 1847 in other townships. One item in the estate sale papers from 1845 state that 1 mans saddle went to Wm. S. Milligan "under the will." Most of the wills from Adams County were destroyed by a courthouse fire in the early 1900's, but since William and Nancy's youngest son was William Steele Milligan this helps my belief that my 3rd gt-grandfather was the William who died in 1845.

Ancestor Birthday - July 9th - Elizabeth Milligan 1813-1885

This is supposed to be a photo of Elizabeth Hawkins Milligan, my 3rd great-grandmother. It was shared with me by my cousin, Lauren "Bob" Smalley in 1994 at a family reunion.

Elizabeth was born 9 Jul 1813. Some sources give her birthplace as Virginia and other show Adams County Ohio. She was the daughter of William Milligan and Nancy Patton. The Rockbridge County Virginia marriage records show they were married 2 Oct 1812. Apparently they moved to Adams County Ohio within a few years after their marriage. Elizabeth was their oldest child and had 7 younger brothers and sisters. Two of her sisters married Gordon brothers and so family information is included in a Gordon family history.

Elizabeth married John Hemphill about 1836 in Adams County. He was married previously, so she had at step children. They had 6 children together before John died in 1847. She remained a widow until 14 Jan 1851 when she married William Hamilton. He also had been married before, so again she became a step-mother of at least 5. In fact in 1855 her oldest daughter, Nancy Hemphill, married one of William's sons, John C. Hamilton. Elizabeth and William had 3 children, so now Elizabeth had 9 children, plus Hemphill and Hamilton step-children.

William died in 1877, so Elizabeth was again a widow. On the 1880 census she was living with her 24 year old son Thomas. Elizabeth died at age 72 on 28 Nov 1885 and was buried at Tranquility Cemetery, Adams County Ohio.

Ancestor Birthday - February 21st - Lydia Jewett 1793-1864

I find it interesting that my 3rd great-grandmother, Lydia (Jewett) Hayes lived nearly at the same time as my 4th great-grandmother, Nancy (Patton) Milligan who I wrote about a few days ago. This means we can't always predict how many generations will be within a certain number of years.

Lydia has also been very interesting to me because of where she lived. She was born in New Hampshire to Joseph and Huldah (Fenton) Jewett, married Seth Hayes in Ohio, moved to Indiana, then Iowa, and crossed the plains to Oregon where she died. Within her 71 years she traveled from coast to coast without the benefit of airplanes, trains or automobiles.

In 2015 I used an airplane to get to the East Coast and then traveled by motorcoach for a tour of New England. The tour materials told me that we would visit New Hampshire, but they didn't let me know that we would drive through the "town" of Lisbon. I was really excited to see the type of geography where my ancestor had been born. I wrote in my trip journal, "in a valley, harvested fields, ponds and marshy areas."

posted 21 Feb 2017

An Unknown Cousin in Halsey

Pine Grove Cemetery, Halsey, Oregon

I grew up in the Halsey, Oregon, area. I knew I had some Hayes and Bond relatives in the area since my 3rd great-grandparents Hayes and 2nd great-grandparents Bond were original settlers there. In the early 1900s some of my Albertson and Falk ancestors moved into the area. When I graduated from Halsey High School I had an Albertson 2nd cousin and a Falk 2nd cousin in my graduating class. But I had no idea while growing up that I had any relatives from the Patton family who lived at Halsey. In fact, I had never even realized that I had any Patton ancestors.

When I began researching my family history in the mid-1980s, my Albertson, Falk, Bond and Hayes cousins shared much information with me. I began working on my Smalley relatives from Kansas and learned they had previously lived in Adams County Ohio. As was usual at that time, I began writing letters and corresponded with various relatives. When I had traced back to Nancy (Patton) Milligan, some of the correspondents noted that two of the Milligan daughters had married Gordon brothers. A Gordon descendant (Robert Abram Gordon) had self-published a book about the Gordon family and included sections on the Milligans and Pattons, so some of my ancestors were in it. Copies were shared with me and I began to study the book. Several generations down in the Patton family it noted that a certain descendant was born in "Halsey, Linn Co., Oregon," the daughter of Thomas Porter Patton who was born in Illinois in 1855 and died in 1933. If his daughter was born in Halsey and he didn't die until 1933, maybe my father, who lived in Halsey area from 1911, would have known him. So on one of my visits I asked my father if he remembered a Thomas Porter Patton. He replied yes. He and his father had considered buying some sheep that Thomas had for sale, but then decided against it.

Later in doing newspaper research in the microfilmed Halsey newspapers, in the Halsey Journal on 9 Mar 1933, there on the same page as a Falk item was an obituary for T. P. Patton. The headline stated: "Pioneer Passes." In the article: "Thomas Porter Patton was born in Illinois, June 26, 1855, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Patton. He came to Oregon in 1879, and has lived in this locality ever since." It also stated he would be buried at Pine Grove Cemetery. In a visit there looking for other relatives, I photographed his gravestone. I suspect that my grandmother Albertson never knew that her 2nd cousin twice removed lived close by. We probably have many unknown cousins out there.

Some Descendants of Nancy (Patton) Milligan

The John Wilson Smalley Family about 1890

  Front Row (l to r): Samuel Fred b. 1877, Rosa b. 1879

  2nd Row: Mary V. b. 1857, John Wilson b. 1832, Rachel Ann b. 1838, Lafe v. 1858

  3rd Row: Eliza b. 1867, Martha Ella b. 1875

  4th Row: John H. b. 1871, James C. b. 1862, David L. b. 1860, William S. b. 1864, Joseph F. b. 1873

Yesterday (18 Feb 2017) I posted about my 4th great-grandmother, Nancy (Patton) Milligan. These are some of her descendants, because Rachel Ann (in the 2nd Row) was the daughter of John Hemphill and Elizabeth Hawkins Milligan, which makes Rachel Nancy's granddaughter and therefore all of Rachel' s children are Nancy's great-grandchildren. With fairly large families descendants can increase rapidly.

Ancestor Birthday - February 17 - Nancy Patton - 1791-1866

On 17 Feb 1791 or 1792 my 4th great-grandmother, Nancy Patton, was born to John Patton and Martha (Sharp) Patton in Rockbridge County, Virginia. She was their eighth and youngest child.

Nancy was named as an heir in her father's will written in 1809. A special bequest to her stated "I bequeath to my daughter Nancy such quantity of property so as to be equal in value to what any of my other daughters has received of my estate." Nancy had three older sisters. Jane never married and also had a special bequest along with her mother as apparently Jane had special needs. The other two: Martha "Patsy" and Mary "Polly" had married before 1809. Did Nancy's bequest indicate they had something like a dowery when they had married? I don't know, but maybe.

Nancy did get married 2 Oct 1812 to William Milligan in Rockbridge by Daniel Blaine, a Presbyterian minister. Soon Nancy and William moved to Adams County, Ohio as their first child may have been born there (reports are conflicting) and certainly their second child in 1815. Nancy's siblings as well as her mother moved to Adams County before 1820.

Her mother's will written in 1819, named Nancy as an heir. Nancy got a share of her mother's books, household effects and wearing apparel. I wonder if the books had originally belonged to John since Martha signed with her mark. Maybe she could read and not write.

William, Nancy's husband, died in the 1840's. She was enumerated on the 1850 US census in Wayne Township, Adams County, as the head of household, with real estate valued at $1200. Also living with her were her youngest son, William Steele Milligan, and her sister Jane Patton.

By the 1860 census, Nancy was living with her son William his wife and 3 children in Oliver Township, Adams County. Nancy was shown as a housekeeper. Her sister Jane, who was marked idiotic, was also living there. This listing helps explain the special bequest from their father. I was glad to see that Nancy appears to be taking care of her sister.

Nancy (Patton) Milligan died 19 Jun 1866 and was buried in Unity Cemetery, Unity, Adams County, Ohio. I was glad to find an entry on Find A Grave website which shows a photo of her "old" barely readable gravestone.