Tag Archives: Williams

How Abraham Lincoln found his way into my family tree…

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Famous People, Genealogy

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Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is the 1st cousin 3x removed of the husband of my 1st great grand aunt

As I expected, and predicted, I have wandered off on a tangent or two as I try to put together my family’s history.  Probably my most interesting tangent so far is the one that led me to the Lincoln family.  It’s not a direct link between me and the 16th President of the United States, but a wild and crazy path that winds through the Ohio River Valley.

It’s probably not that surprising that a connection was made to Lincolns.  Anyone who grew up in Knox County, Indiana should be more than aware of the fact that Abraham’s family supposedly passed through our community in 1830 as the family moved from Spencer County, Indiana to Illinois.  There’s a historical marker on the Illinois side of the Memorial Bridge stating this very fact.  Not to mention that many an Indiana fourth grader has visited the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Spencer County during a class field trip, including myself.

Abraham’s family tree is fairly well known and can be viewed at Archives.com.  His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks.  Thomas’s parents were Abraham Lincoln and Bathsheba Herring.  This is what set off the alarms in my head since my Lincoln tangent includes Bathsheba Herring Lincoln.  It’s a rather unusual name and one most won’t easily forget.

So what is the path that goes from me to Mr. Lincoln?  As I mentioned earlier, it’s not a direct path and we have no common blood relatives.  The connection is through a marriage and many purists will discount the claim based solely on that.  Regardless, I think it’s cool that I could even make a connection to anyone, let alone one of the greatest leaders of our country.

Without further adieu, here’s the relationship path:

  1. Me
  2. my mother – Phyllis Keller DeMoss
  3. my grandmother – Dorothy Cardinal Keller
  4. my great-grandmother – Ethel Thompson Cardinal
  5. my great-great grandparents – Frank & Sarah (Butler) Thompson
  6. my great-grand aunt – Edith Thompson Williams
  7. my great-grand uncle (Edith’s husband) – Everett Williams
  8. Everett’s mother – Mary E Lincoln Williams
  9. Everett’s grandfather – Benjamin Lincoln
  10. Everett’s great-grandfather – Thomas Lincoln
  11. Everett’s great-great-grandfather – Josiah Lincoln
  12. Everett’s 3rd great grandparents – Abraham Linkhorn and Bathsheba (Herring) Lincoln (who are also Abraham Lincoln’s grandparents)
  13. Abraham’s father – Thomas Lincoln
  14. Abraham Lincoln

So there you have it.  My 5 seconds of greatness.

Amanda Newcomb & Eli Thomas Butler

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Genealogy

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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.

 

John Frank Thompson and Sarah Hannah Butler

06 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Genealogy

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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.

Marriage Announcement: Thompson-Williams

04 Thursday Dec 2014

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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.