Adams County Cousins - Harrison Monroe Hamilton

 I am going to try again and write about some of my great-grandfather, Lafayette Pierce "Lafe" Smalley's first cousins, who are my 1st cousins 3 times removed. This time they will be from his mother's side of the family. This first name, Harrison Monroe Hamilton, may sound familiar since I already wrote about his cousin Mary Elizabeth Hamilton. This can get confusing because Mary Elizabeth's father, William J. Hamilton, and Harrison's father, John C. Hamilton, were 1st cousins, so Mary Elizabeth and Harrison Monroe were 2nd cousins to each other, but they each were also 1st cousins to Lafe, one from each side of his family.

confused

Harrison was born in Adams County Ohio 21 Oct 1857 to John Campbell and Nancy Jane (Hemphill) Hamilton. Nancy was about 1 1/2 years older than Lafe's mother, Rachel. Nancy had married John in 1855. John was a step-brother to Nancy, since his widower father had married Nancy's widowed mother. Did I mention that this family can get confusing?                                     

Harrison was the 2nd child and oldest son in a family of 11 children. In the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses the he was living with his parents in Oliver Township, in Adams County. In 1870 he was marked as attending school and in 1880 he was working on the farm.

It was within the next year that he married Anna Eliza Green, as their oldest daughter Roxie or Robie or Ronie was born in Aug 1881 according to the 1900 census. However if you want to talk about confusing just look at Harrison, or Harry M. Hamilton as he was listed there, on the 1900 census in Franklin Township, Adams County, Ohio. He was listed as age 24, it should have been 42, and born in Oct 1875, when it really was 1857. But it did say he had been married 19 years, which is rather remarkable if he was only 24 years old. His oldest daughter was marked as a son and his 5th child who was a son was marked as a daughter. I was able to find his children in later censuses and confirmed their correct gender. His wife was shown as Lida E. I expect that was a variation from her middle name. Later censuses and her gravestone show her name as Anna E.

Harrison died 6 Jan 1908 and was buried in Locust Grove Cemetery, Peebles, Adams County, Ohio. Anna was listed on the 1910 census still in Franklin Township with her 3 youngest sons, Monroe, John and Edgar. In 1920 she was living with the youngest son, Charles Edgar and his wife Zora and young son John in Sheridan Wyoming. I haven't found her in 1930, but in the 1940 census she was living with her oldest daughter, Robie, or Roxie, Taylor and her family in Dayton, Ohio. Anna died a few years later 20 Jan 1942 and was buried next to Harrison in Locust Grove Cemetery.

Ancestor Unbirthday - About 1655 - Joseph Jewett

I have decided to occasionally write about ancestors where I don't have an exact birthdate. Today I want to feature one of my 8th great-grandfathers, Joseph Jewett. Tomorrow (1 Jun 2017) is his wife's birthday so I plan to write about her then.

Much of the information I have about Joseph Jewett comes from the book, Early Settlers of Rowley Massachusetts, by George Brainard Blodgette and Amos Everett Jewett which was published by Picton Press in Camden, Maine in 1997, a third printing of the book originally published in 1933. It is a book I enjoy looking through as I had ancestors living there for almost a hundred years, and relatives for many years after that. Of course there is also a section about Joseph in the Jewett Genealogy, Volume 1, pages 24-27, copyright 1908. Now that I have downloaded to my computer a copy of that book, which would now be in the public domain, I can easily check its contents also.

So I did that. To my surprise I find that Frederick Clarke Jewett, who wrote the genealogy has assigned a birthdate to Joseph. He states that Joseph was born 1 Feb 1654. However in checking the published birth records for Rowley, I find a Joseph born 1 Feb 1656, the son of Joseph and Ann. The month and day are the same, but the year is different and my Joseph was not the son of Joseph and Ann, but he was the son of Maximilian and Ann. Maximilian and the older Joseph were the immigrants, sons of Edward and Mary (Taylor) Jewett of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The published Rowley records do not include a birth record for Joseph, the son of Maximilian, so I will leave his birthdate as about 1655.

Both publications call my Joseph, Ensign Joseph Jewett. It is recorded that he was a soldier in King Philip's War 1675-6 and received a small pension and a land grant. This War is not well known as it was a hundred years before the American Revolution. History Bits calls it "the most devastating war in American history as measured by deaths in proportion to the population of the combatants." The English settlers and allies from the Mohegan Indians battled against the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc and other native people. After many deaths and devastation, the English had control of New England.

Apparently after the War, on 2 Mar 1676/77 Joseph married Rebecca Law. Joseph and Rebecca had 4 children who all lived to adulthood and were married and had children. Joseph became a widower when his wife died in Dec 1729. Joseph remarried in Bradford, a neighboring town, 20 Jan 1731/32 to Mary who was the widow of Nathaniel Gage and before that the widow of Thomas Green. They were married over 3 years before Joseph died 29 Oct 1735. His grandson, the Rev. Jedidiah Jewett noted that he died "in the 81 year of his age."