30 Tuesday Dec 2014
Posted in Miscellaneous
Tags
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 630 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 11 trips to carry that many people.
29 Monday Dec 2014
Posted in Genealogy
On Sunday, July 6, 1930, the Johnson family of southern Knox County suffered a double tragedy when they lost two of their menfolk. Prominent Johnson Township farmer Clark Johnson, 79, passed away at home, the result of a stroke. It was his second and it had been reported that he had been in ill health for some time prior to his death. Clark was born February 29, 1852 in Knox County, the third of four sons to Thomas and Catherine (Lane) Johnson. Clark also had several half-brothers and sisters, most of which had resided in the area. He married Louisa Bailey on December 31, 1876 in Knox County and she survived him. Together they had 8 children, 5 of which who were still living, and numerous grandchildren.
Also losing his life on that day was Clark’s grandson, Lawrence Tewalt. The 20 year old apparently was at the family farm keeping vigil at his grandfather’s bedside, after possibly partaking in festivities over the Fourth of July holiday. At some point he decided to get some relief from the July heat and went for a swim in the nearby White River with his younger brother and several cousins. He became fatigued and went under, not resurfacing. It took several hours for the neighbors to recover the body. He was born in 1909 to William and Bessie (Johnson) Tewalt in Knox County. He married his young widow Elsie Dunning in 1929. They were residing in Terre Haute where Lawrence worked in a glass factory. He also left behind a brother, Donald, and two sisters, Evelyn and Julie.
Services for both men were held on July 8th at the Decker Methodist Church. Clark was interred at Greenlawn Cemetery while Lawrence was laid to rest in Fairview Cemetery.
Note: Clark Johnson was a first cousin of my third great grandmother, Sarah Roderick Thompson.
25 Thursday Dec 2014
For those who aren’t familiar with Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker, they will provide you with “hints” from their vast collection of databases to assist you in finding your ancestors. As more information is integrated into their collection, new hints are generated for everyone in your database, not just those you are currently working on.
This morning I was blessed with some additional information for my Sarah Ireland ancestors. For starters, more information was uncovered for Sarah’s great-grandparents, William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith.
Elizabeth’s line was extended several generations, going back to the Plymouth Colony. Once I make an initial pass through my initial tree, extensively studying both the Plymouth Colony and the New Haven (CT) settlement will be near the top of my list of things to do.
On the other side of Sarah Ireland’s family, additional information was discovered regarding her 2nd-great-grandparents, Nathaniel and Mary Bunnell. Nathaniel married Mary Searing in 1690. She was born in 1672 in New Jersey. Also unearthed was that Nathaniel’s mother, Susanna Whitehead Bunnell, died on February 13, 1733 in Elizabeth, NJ.
Updated related Pedigree Charts: Sarah Ireland, Captain Nathaniel Bonnell, Colonel John Quincy and Elizabeth Norton.
24 Wednesday Dec 2014
My 4th great grandparents are Henry and Nancy Cunningham Thompson. They are the grandparents of John Frank Thompson.
Henry was born on March 9, 1803 in Virginia. Some researchers have identified his parents as Robert Thompson and Margaret Gray. He ventured westward at some point prior to 1830, settling in Washington Township in Gibson County, IN. He married Nancy Cunningham on April 20, 1830 in Gibson County. Not a lot is known about Nancy since she died prior to 1850 when the Census listed each person individually. She is thought to have been born between 1805 and 1810 and died between 1846 and 1850. Henry died in 1853 and is buried in Vermillion County, IL. It’s not obvious what he was doing that far from home since the boys remained in the Knox-Gibson area for the duration of their lives.
Henry and Nancy had six children that were alive in 1850 or later.
The whereabouts of the girls is unknown after their father died in 1853. They are not showing up in the 1860 census records or the Indiana marriage index.
It doesn’t appear that any of Henry’s sons fought in the Civil War, based on a quick glance of the 80th Indiana Infantry rosters. Most of the men living in the Knox, Gibson area belonged to that regiment, although it’s not out of the question for them to have joined up with another unit.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Washington Township is in the north central part of Gibson County, IN, bordered by the White River on the north. It sits east of Patoka.
Vermilion County IL is west of Lafayette, IN along the Indiana-Illinois border.
21 Sunday Dec 2014
John and Tamer Pool Butler appear to be my dead-ends for the Butler line. They are my 4th great-grandparents.
John M. Butler was born in Kentucky about 1813. Tamer Pool was born in Indiana about 1814. They were married in Jennings County, IN (north of Louisville, KY) on October 13, 1831. It is currently unknown who their parents were.
They had eight children that lived past infancy:
In 1850 the family was recorded to be in Blue River, Johnson Co, IN (north of Columbus IN). By 1860, John and Tamer were living in Clay County, IL (west of Olney, near Flora). By this time, only James, Jemima, Sarah and Robert were still at home. Based on later census data, Eli was married with children, location unknown. Joseph had married Delilah Wright and they had a son, John F., prior to moving to Clay Co, IL, where they lived next door to John and Tamer. It’s believed that Eli wasn’t far away since both Eli and Joseph mustered with the 98th Illinois Infantry. Unfortunately, Joseph didn’t make it home as he died in Georgia in June 1864 and is buried at the Marietta National Cemetery. Delilah remarried later that year to Joseph Pool and moved back to Indiana with John F and Loretta, who was born in 1861. Joseph Pool was quite a bit older than Delilah, so it’s possible that he was a younger brother to her mother-in-law. Nancy and John P’s whereabouts after the 1850 census are unclear. It’s possible that Nancy married a D.S. Ulrey, but anything past a marriage record supporting this hasn’t surfaced yet.
The whereabouts of nearly everyone in this family, except Eli and Joseph’s families, is unknown after the 1860 census.
07 Sunday Dec 2014
Eli was born in 1832 in either Indiana or Illinois. It appears he was actually married twice, the first time to an unknown person who died sometime between 1861 and 1867. The first marriage produced at least four children–John S, Eliza, Mary C, and Naomi. I have been unable to locate an 1860 census for this family so the mother can be identified. Based on the birth locations of the children, they probably resided in Illinois at the time. Eli served during the Civil War in the 98th Illinois Infantry. They mustered at Noble, IL which is west of Olney. After the war, he then moved to Knox County and married Amanda. The whereabouts of his first family are unknown after the 1870 census.
Amanda was born in 1840 in Ohio and married Eli Butler in 1867 in Knox County, IN. They had eight children, five of which were still alive in 1900. The children that have been identified through census records are Robert, Nancy, Annie, Benjamin, and Sarah. Nancy did not appear in the 1880 census so it is assumed she died. It’s possible there was at least one additional birth after 1880, most likely a girl. Amanda died in 1901 and Eli followed in 1911. According to his obituary, he had five surviving children. Sarah, Robert, and Benjamin were called out by name, however, there were two additional daughters that were not so easily identified–Mrs. A Myers and Mrs. John Ridgeley. One of them is Annie, however, which is a mystery. Annie married Henry Williams in 1897, but their whereabouts are unknown after the 1900 census. I haven’t been able to determine if Henry died or they were divorced. I’m assuming Annie remarried, but have not been able to match her up with either a Myers or a Ridgeley. Residential locations for the five survivors was not included in the obituary.
Parents for both Eli and Amanda are still questionable. In fact, Amanda is wildcard prior to 1867. She was 27 when she married Eli which is old by standards for the day for first marriages. This made me consider that she was remarrying as well. A search came up empty for an Amanda Newcome(b) in 1860, however, there were several Newcome households in Johnson Township, Knox County very near each other. In one household was an Amanda Crisap, servant age 18. In another was a Nancy with several younger children, likely related to Amanda. The Newcomes were originally from Ohio, as were the Crisaps. The question now is: was Amanda married to one of the Newcomes between 1860 and 1867? or did she assume their last name for some reason? It’s a mystery and one that probably won’t be answered easily.
06 Saturday Dec 2014
Posted in Genealogy
John Frank Thompson and Sarah Hannah Butler are my 2nd great grandparents. Frank was born to Robert C. and Sarah (Roderick) Thompson on October 19, 1872 in Knox County. Sarah, also known as Sadie, was born to Eli and Amanda (Newcomb) Butler on October 4, 1875 in Indiana. They were married on June 7, 1894 in Knox County. They lived their lives together in Johnson Township where Frank farmed. Frank and Sarah had four daughters together: Ethel, Edith, Pearl, and Gertrude.
Ethel (1895-1949) married August Cardinal in 1915. They had seven children: Donald, Virginia, Marlin, Norma, Dorothy, Morris, and Wayne. Ethel was my great-grandmother.
Edith (1896-1991) married Everett Williams in 1916. They lived in Knox County until about 1936 when they moved to Owensville in Gibson County. They had eight children: Kenneth, Inez, Marvin, Eldon, Max, Everett, Billy, and Bobbie.
Pearl (1902-1997) married Cleatus Beamon sometime around 1924. They lived in Vincennes and had nine children, including a pair of twins: Frank, Erma, Dorothy, Mary, Harry, Betty, Paul, Dale, and Pearl.
Gertrude (1906-2001) married Ewing Steffy around 1928. Ewing farmed and they lived a time with his parents in Palmyra Township, which is essentially in the middle of the county between Vincennes, Wheatland, Bruceville, and Monroe City. They did not have any children prior to 1940 and no one was listed in Gertrude’s obituary. After Ewing died, Gertrude lived in Vincennes, just down the alley from my grandmother. She would mention often about going to check on Aunt Gerty.
In January 1937, the Ohio River Valley suffered massive flooding. This included the rivers that feed into the Ohio, such as the White River and the Wabash River which both border southern Knox County. Johnson Township borders the White River and the area does sit in a known flood plain. It was reported that levies were breached impacting the local residents. Sarah died on January 22, 1937 at Good Samaritan Hospital. The newspaper did not specify the cause of death, but there is always the possibility that it was related to the weather or the flooding. The paper did say her body was returned to the Thompson home in Rural Johnson Township, so it’s possible they were not affected adversely by the flooding after all.
On January 26, 1939, Frank died of tuberculosis which he had been suffering from for a number of years. He had been a patient at the Hillcrest Hospital which over the years served as a quarantine facility for various infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis. With the advances of modern medicine, the hospital closed in 1971. The building still stands and is thought to be haunted.
04 Thursday Dec 2014
Posted in Newspapers
Now that I’m working on my mother’s family which is mainly from southern Knox County, use of the online archives for the Vincennes papers is more relevant. While looking for information on my 2nd great grandfather, John Franklin Thompson, I came across the following announcement for marriage license applications.
“Everett Williams, farmer, of this county, son of Louis Williams, farmer, of this county, and Miss Ethel Thompson, of this county, daughter of Frank Thompson, farmer, of this county.” [The Vincennes Commercial, January 14, 1916, page 2.]
Okay, so what? you say. The wrong daughter is named. Ethel, my great-grandmother, was already married to August Cardinal when this was printed. It should have read Edith, her younger sister. Edith and Everett were indeed married the day before on January 13, 1916.
01 Monday Dec 2014
Posted in Genealogy
As promised, I’m going to start on my mother’s family tonight. Searchable Vincennes newspaper archives are a dangerous tool to let me have access to.
August Cardinal was my great grandfather. He was born August 21, 1893 in Knox County, IN to James S and Anna Gravel Cardinal. It’s likely he was named after his birth month. There is a discrepancy in the year of his birth, however, as some sources say he was born in 1894. He was the oldest of 4 children who lived to maturity.
In January 1911, he attended the 18th birthday party of Maggie Dellinger. Others in attendance whose names caught my eye were Ben Gravel (possibly his cousin), Leo Sievers and Lawrence and Raymond Siewers.
In 1915, August met and married Ethel Thompson, daughter of John and Hannah (Butler) Thompson. Their first child, Donald, was born in 1916. A couple years later, in June 1917, August was arrested for stealing farm equipment from farms south of Vincennes. His daughter Virginia was born while awaiting trial which was set for April 1918. Nothing was easily found in the newspapers regarding the outcome of the trial, however, their third child, Marlin wasn’t born until 1920, so maybe he did do some time in the pokey.
Things were fairly quiet for the next few years for August. Norma, Dorothy, and Morris were all born in the 1920s. The family seemed to move around a bit living in both Harrison and Johnson Townships (Monroe City and Decker areas, respectively). In 1934 it was reported that August ran his car into a guy wire, taking out a light pole. Wayne, their youngest child, was born around this time as well.
1940 found the family renting in Busseron Township (Emison/Oaktown area). When World War II came along, Marlin enlisted and August and Ethel were reported to live at 309 Depot Street, near the present day Vincennes University campus. In 1949 when they were living at 121 Tecumseh, Ethel passed away at age 53.
Nothing more could be found in the archives regarding August until his death in 1964. His obituary mentions a widow surviving him, but I have no idea who that might have been as she was not specifically named.
Digging Up My Roots 