My ancestor mothers

  How many mothers might you know about in your ancestry?

I had a few dead ends, because there were often few documents of just whoever Joe Smith married named unfortunately Mary or Susan. These women raised a family, and cared for at least one of my direct ancestors. But their own mothers remained a mystery.

So I'm getting out my trusty Ancestry app, where I think I've got about 8000 people on my main tree (yes I've got a few off shoots also, which add about 3000 more potential relatives.)

My main tree has almost 4000 photos as well. 

Let's just find some sepia mothers to share today.

My grandmother on the left with her sister.

1. Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers (my father's mother) (1886-1964)

2. Ada's mother, Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey (Dear Nan)  (1858-1935)

Dear Nan with her granddaughter, Ada Mary Rogers

3.Dear Nan/Zulieka's mother, Mary Hull Granger Phillips,  (1829-1861)

A woman's portrait, unknown, but showing hair style and clothes worn in the 1820s.

The following are my transcriptions from copies of original letters that were written by Mary Granger Phillips:

(No notation of date or place;  MaryPhillips.001 and 002)

 There is plenty of Game in the woods but William has had little time for hunting now.  Does are rather scarse. (sic) The Black tong(?? Two letters added above word, unclear) killed a great many off last year they say.

        I have not got my Piano yet – waiting for a draft on P.O. as I think I can be better suited by sending there for it.

        I must remind you will wirte me as I am anxious to hear how you are this cold Winter.  I almost feel as if I had got back to the North.  Do you remember of ever experiencing such cold weather any Winter before?

        Lizzie writes me Mother has suffered a great deal with the Asthma, It is impossible for her to endure the cold.

 ===(on back page)

I receive the Harpers and regret I did not take the Ladys also (perhaps publications?)  I find many people even away up here (Monde?) who know you and ask with no little interst after you.

        The river is rising very fast today and we are listening for a Seamboat every moment.  There are some seven or eight flat-boats on their way down with Cotton.  Hoping to hear from you soon, I close,

                Yours affectionately,

                        Mary H. Phillips

 ------

(note by author: Lizzie is her sister, Elizabeth Granger, and Mother is probably Mary Granger. The piano arrived, according to a letter posted on_ June 10th, 1860)
(no heading, written to her Mother-in-law, Mary Gainer, see MaryPhillips.002)

 The children are quite well.  Zulie often talks of you all.  She is growing very fast and talks us nearly crazy.  Is very curious must know and understand every thing she hears and sees.  She is pretty, bad and smart and I am I regret to say entirely unable to control her never having seen ever such a temper.  I often wonder how Lizzie would manage her, although Zulie has been much spoiled (--?--) everyone, she is very affectionate, child loves me dearly  but does not want to mind.  Ada is different more mild the sweetest and caring little thing will let you kiss her all day and not get mad.  Pa Gainer says Zulie is the worst child he ever saw and Ada the best now if they do not spoil her.  She began to walk a little past nine months it is so cunning to see her walking her hair curls and she goes round

 (on back page)

jabbering to herself you all would eat her up.  I have not had a pair of shoes to fit her since those you sent and they are all worn out.  I have let her go barefooted this Summer on account of not being able to get any for her.  I do hope some goods will come to Town Bluff.  Zulie too wears anything for shoes.  I am very much troubled about getting everything.  There are no goods any near us.  I expect we shall see sights to get things to wear this Winter.  I think you will find a letter of winds if nothing else.  I will try to write often as I can.  I have on hand a monstrous pile of sewing though, but will answer all who write.  All desire Love keep a cheerful heart dear Mother. I think of you much and often.

        Your affectionate Daughter,

                        Mary

 (Author’s notes: Pa Gainer (William Phillips step-father) is in Texas, or has been to have seen both granddaughters.  His words are being relayed either to his wife, Mother Gainer, or Mary's mother, Mary Granger, by Mary.  The time may be after Confederate blockade has made goods hard to obtain.  Ada had been born Sept 15, 1860, so would be 9 mos old by June of 1861)  But the blockade wasn’t really holding manufactured goods back entirely. Perhaps goods just weren’t being shipped at this time, except for war needs.)

4. Mary's mother, Lucy Elizabeth Parsons Pulsifer,  (1807-1876) (I have yet to find out who/why the Parsons name is included for her.) See below about her earlier sister and brothers. Incidentally, she apparently died in Galveston TX in 1876 (according to a news record and a probate in 1877 in Massachusetts). Yet she, as Lucia, and an unmarried daughter, Elizabeth Granger appear on the 1880 census in Southwick, Hampton, Massachusetts. That is another one I haven't figured out yet. Her real daughter Elizabeth married and had 3 children, and continued living in Galveston. Who was this other Elizabeth and mother Lucia?

Incidentally, her brother, Joseph Perkins Pulsifer was one of the founders of Beaumont TX. Here's a bit of information about him:

PULSIFER, JOSEPH PERKINS (1805–1861). Joseph P. Pulsifer, early Texas apothecary and a founder of Beaumont, the son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Dwelbee) Pulsifer, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on July 8, 1805. Little is known about Pulsifer's education, except that his letters show him to have been an extremely literate man. Probably through apprenticeship, he became an apothecary, and sometime after 1827 he opened a drugstore in partnership with his brother Eben in nearby Charlestown, now a suburb of Boston. There Pulsifer became a member of the Mechanics' Society and served as its secretary in 1831. Sometime during 1832 or 1833 he returned to Newburyport to work in the drug firm of Thomas Davis and Company. In the fall of 1833 Pulsifer moved to New Orleans in search of economic opportunity and found employment in the store of druggist and retail merchant Henry W. Millard . By 1835, however, the firm developed financial troubles. Pulsifer and Millard then entered into a partnership, J. P. Pulsifer and Company, with Texas merchant Thomas B. Huling . The men moved to Texas in July of that year. In a small settlement named Santa Anna, on the Neches River, they opened a store under Pulsifer's management. In the fall of 1835 the firm purchased fifty acres on the Neches River and laid out the boundaries of a new town, which they called Beaumont.

 From Beaumont, Pulsifer took an active, if nonmilitary, part in the Texas Revolution . Citizens of the Neches River Settlement, as that area was called, appointed him chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, secretary of the Committee of Safety, and a member of a local committee to draft ideas for a constitution and bylaws for Texas. He also served as Beaumont's first postmaster and as a trustee of the first school. After the revolution Pulsifer, Huling, and Millard added fifty acres to the original Beaumont townsite. By entering into partnership with Nancy Tevis and Joseph Grigsby , each of whom donated an additional fifty acres, they increased the original area of the town to a total of 200 acres. Beaumont ultimately incorporated both Santa Anna and Tevis Bluff, an older settlement about a mile upriver from Santa Anna. Pulsifer, who never married, remained a citizen of Beaumont for the rest of his life. In addition to practicing his professions of storekeeper and apothecary, he served in various public offices: collector of revenue for the port of Sabine, county clerk, county commissioner, and clerk of the Jefferson County Board of Land Commissioners. Before the first Jefferson County Courthouse was built in 1854, the county commissioners periodically held court on the second floor of his combination home and store in Beaumont. He also served as an agent in Jefferson County for the Austin State Gazette . Pulsifer died in Beaumont in 1861. The one extant volume of his correspondence remains unpublished. It covers the period from 1833 to 1836 and describes his immigration to Texas and his ordeal during the Texas Revolution.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

 Judith Walker Linsley and Ellen Walker Rienstra, Beaumont: A Chronicle of Promise (Woodland Hills, California: Windsor, 1982).

 Source: Texas History Online

 

5.  Lucy's mother, Elizabeeth (Betsy) Dwelle Pulsifer (and similar spellings)(1762 or 72 - 1824) Betsy had her first three children die quite young. So they named later children the same names. Joseph the first died at 9 months in 1798. Elizabeth had her death noted as May 28, 1800, but no birth record. And Ebeneezer the first just lived from July 1801 to April 20, 1806.

6. Betsy's mother, Elizabeth Browne Dwelly (or similar spellings)  (1737 or 1740 - abt.1768) 

7. Elizabeth's mother, Abigail Goodenow Browne,  (1716-1803)

8. Abigail's mother, Prudence Morrison Goodenow/Goodnew,  (1691-1720)

And we know no further along that maternal line... though there were mothers of each of the fathers which would mean about a hundred or so more mothers just from my one grandmother's line!

Prudence was my seven times great grandmother. 

Sharing with Sepia Saturday where I'm completely off the meme this week. But we'll get by, and share my Mother's Day eve post with my sepia friends!

Today's Quote:

Maya Angelou

Another Pulsifer (Pulsipher) ancestor

 Remembering ancestors:

Map of Ipswich MA,1717

Benedictus Pulsifer (Benedict) abt. 1635– abt. 1710

Birth 1630-1635 • Whitehall, England

Death 1695-1710 • Ipswich, Essex, Mass

HISTORY OF BENEDICT PULSIPHER

abt. 1630 – 1695

"Benedict Pulsipher had settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, according to his own statement, by 1659. He was probably married a year or two before coming to this country. He very likely brought his wife and infant son, Benedict II or Junior. We have no record of the birth of the son (Benedict II) or of another son, John, but (daughter) Elizabeth’s birth in 1669 is recorded in the town records of Ipswich. His first wife, of whose maiden name we are ignorant, died at Ipswich 16 July 1673. His son, Mr. William Henry Pulsipher says, "We’re of little help or comfort to his family." Evidently John moved to Gloucester, where he became a respected member of the family. There he probably supplemented his income as a farmer by occasionally building or helping to build houses for his neighbors. He is styled in one document "Yeoman" and in another "mason". In the History of Gloucester", J. J. Babson – 1860, page 130, appears the following:

According to tradition near a spot still occupied by one if his descendants on the old road leading to Coffin’s Beach (Gloucester). In 1688 he had a piece of land "given to the house where he then lived." Benedict Jr., proved to be a "roving blade", according to Mr. William Henry Pulsipher. "We hear," says Mr. Pulsipher, "of a Benedict Pulsipher engaged in an Indian fight in Maine in 1688. This was probably Benedict Jr.  Cotton Mather refers to the incident in his ‘Magnalia Christi Americana’ London 1702. VII, page 63. Benedict, Jr., probably never married. In 1690 he engaged in Sir William Philip’s expedition to Quebec as a member of Captain Abraham Titton’s Company, and it is quite possible that he was killed or taken prisoner in the unfortunate attempt to capture the Canadian stronghold.

"A Compendious History of New England" by Morse and Parrish, page 146, makes a confirmatory reference to this episode. 

After the death of his first wife on 16 July 1673, Benedict, Sr. married in the succeeding February, Susan A. Waters of Salem, Massachusetts, who was the fifth daughter of Richard and Joyce Waters. She was born at Salem, Massachusetts 01 Feb 1649. "Benedict Pulsipher, Sr. brought his young wife to Ipswich immediately after his marriage and entered upon what might be termed the second period of his career." The records show that his young wife was rather vain. She liked to adorn herself. "She,  among others, braved the laws in 1675 by appearing in the meeting house with a silk hood and scarf. She and the others were arrested, tried, and fined ten shillings each for yielding to their vanity."

Benedict Pulsipher was a man of some means. He was also "a man of considerable education" in a period when educated Englishmen were rare.

Late in 1663 or early 1664 he bought a dwelling house with outhouse, orchard, gardens, etc. of Moses Pingry of Ipswich, Massachusetts, which property Pingry had acquired in 1652 of Richard Scofield who came to New England in 1635. This estate was situated on the north of the "Tom River". Its site is now occupied by a factory. The original deed to this property was either lost or "casually" burned, and on 7 Feb 1667, Pingry made a supplementary deed of the property which he gave Benedict Pulsipher. Benedict was then styled a "planter."

He added to his estate in 1664. In the same year, 1664, the town of Ipswich granted him a share (No. 55) in the town lands on Plumb Island, Castle Neck, and Hogg Island. He continued to reside at Ipswich, pursuing his occupation as planter or farmer for many years.

SOURCe:Ancestry and descendants of Jonathan Pulsifer and his wife, Nancy Ryerson Pulsifer of  Maine

Line of descent from Benedict 1 Pulsifer to Jonathan 6 Pulsifer 

 ----------------------

I think it's interesting to find that this ancestor is also an ancestor of Joseph Smith of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons.) We're all related, aren't we?

He's my 8th great grandfather on my grandmother Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers' tree.

Though several documents mention (many years later) that he'd been born in England, and that he was educated, the Ancestry tree people today (2025) are saying he was born in Ireland. Until I find more details that click, I'll stay with the unknown English ancestors. The good news is that his second wife, Susanna Waters Pulsifer does have parents and so I'll look to add to the ancestors on my tree in that way.

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Today's quote:

"I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.” 
Saul Bellow,

Shoemaker

 Whether an ancestor was listed as a cobbler or a shoemaker, it's pretty much the same thing. Isn't it?

My 6 times great uncle. Thomas Bass, (1719-1786) Lived in Norfok VA and Bertie, NC was listed as a cordwainer or shoe maker.

Cordwainer vs. Cobbler vs. Shoemaker
Getting the Lingo Right

Before we get started, we need to know what we are discussing:

• Cordwainer: The English term for shoemakers, which originated from France
• Shoemaker: Artisan who works with new leather to make shoes
• Cobbler: Forbidden to work with new leather. They are the shoe repairmen, who must make their repairs with old leather

While nowadays the terms may be interchangeable, it was considered a major insult to call a shoemaker a cobbler! After all, it is believed that Cobblers got their name from the phrase “to cobble things together,” which meant to work clumsily.

Walking through history

Shoemakers have existed all through human history, whether it’s been:

• Working with cord and leather or grass to create the first sandals to
• Carving out the insides of the wooden clogs used in the Medival Europe (yes, those famous shoes from Holland) to
• Working on leather moccasins to
• Working with new leather to create soft slippers for royalty

They’ve been one of the most important trades in the history of the world.
They even helped with the creation of the new colonies in America:

• In the first American colony of Jamestown, VA, 1607, a cobbler was abroad the ship to the new world. Since importing new materials was expensive, the cobblers were able to get people’s shoes going until the Cordwainers could come to the colony later in 1629.
• Shoemakers and Cobblers were such important trades that they started the first unions in the country! The Shoemakers of Boston, of 1648, and The Daughters of St. Crispin (the patron saint of Cobblers) was the first female union in the US.
• Cobblers were also important because, as they traveled around to the rural towns and cities of the American colonies, they took the news with them as well.
• Eventually, the shoemakers and cobblers were able to settle down in cities and have their clients come to them. They were able to have apprentices and have tiers of labor, which helped lead them right into the storm of the Industrial Age.

Surviving the Industrial Age
Industrialization was not a kind time for many people and the makers and cobblers were no different. The 4 people who helped usher in the fall of these men were:

• 1812: Marc Brunei created a tool to help affix leather uppers to the shoe outers with metal pins
• 1846: The creation of the sewing machine made sewing leather faster and in need of fewer laborers.
• 1850 Thomas Crick created a rolling riveter and cutter for shoes
• 1864: Lyman Blake creates a sewing machine for shoes

Thus the factories were able to mass-produce shoes at cheaper prices, taking the shoes out of the 

hands of the people who had been making them since civilization began.

It was around the 1850s when, as work became scarce, shoemakers had to turn to the lowly art of shoe repair to make ends meet. This was when the distinction between shoemaker and a cobbler began to fade, until today they are almost synonymous to most of the public.
So, What Now?
While shoemakers and cobblers are not common anymore, there are still some trying to keep the trades alive. The recession in 2008 did spurn customers back towards the cobblers to keep their shoes lasting longer as money was tight.

The younger generations, like Millenials and Gen Z, are trying to live a less wasteful society so there 

is a chance that shoes repaired and well-kept will keep the cobblers in business in the future.

Thanks to the Old Timey

So when one kicks off his/her shoes and wiggles their feet in the sand, they can thank a shoemaker for keeping their feet safe from sand-spurs, hot sand, rocks, pieces  of broken glass, rough edged shells, etc.

Today's quote:

What power has love but forgiveness? -William Carlos Williams, poet (17 Sep 1883-1963)

The year without summer and my ancestors

 What tangent might I go off on today? Well, I decided to check on my ancestors who lived through a trying time, meteorologically speaking that is. 1816  is known as the year without a summer .

In 1815 a volcano in Indonesia (as it is now called) caused enough ash to be in the atmosphere that the sun reflected from it, and cold wet weather caused massive crop failures in Europe and the New England states in the United States.

The main cause of the Year Without a Summer is generally held to be a volcanic winter created by the April 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa.

Countries such as Great Britain, Ireland, and France experienced significant hardship, with food riots and famine becoming common. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that Europe was still recovering from the Napoleonic Wars, adding to the socio-economic stress.

North America also faced extreme weather conditions. In the eastern United States, a persistent "dry fog" dimmed the sunlight, causing unusual cold and frost throughout the summer months. Crops failed in regions like New England, leading to food shortages and economic distress. These conditions forced many families to leave their homes in search of better farming opportunities, contributing to Westward expansion.

In the spring and summer of 1816, a persistent "dry fog" was observed in parts of the eastern United States. The fog reddened and dimmed sunlight such that sunspots were visible to the naked eye. Neither wind nor rainfall dispersed the "fog", retrospectively characterized by Clive Oppenheimer as a "stratospheric sulfate aerosol veil".

The weather was not in itself a hardship for those accustomed to long winters. Hardship came from the weather's effect on crops and thus on the supply of food and firewood. The consequences were felt most strongly at higher elevations, where farming was already difficult even in good years. In May 1816, frost killed off most crops in the higher elevations of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and upstate New York. On June 6, snow fell in Albany, New York, and Dennysville, Maine. In Cape May, New Jersey, frost was reported five nights in a row in late June, causing extensive crop damage. Though fruit and vegetable crops survived in New England, corn was reported to have ripened so poorly that no more than a quarter of it was usable for food, and much of it was moldy and not even fit for animal feed. 

The crop failures in New England, Canada, and parts of Europe caused food prices to rise sharply. In Canada, Quebec ran out of bread and milk, and Nova Scotians found themselves boiling foraged herbs for sustenance.

Sarah Snell Bryant, of Cummington, Massachusetts, wrote in her diary: "Weather backward." At the Church Family of Shakers near New Lebanon, New York, Nicholas Bennet wrote in May 1816 that "all was froze" and the hills were "barren like winter". Temperatures fell below freezing almost every day in May. The ground froze on June 9; on June 12, the Shakers had to replant crops destroyed by the cold. On July 7, it was so cold that all of their crops had stopped growing. Salem, Massachusetts physician Edward Holyoke—a weather observer and amateur astronomer—while in Franconia, New Hampshire, wrote on June 7, "exceedingly cold. Ground frozen hard, and squalls of snow through the day. Icicles 12 inches long in the shade of noon day." After a lull, by August 17, Holyoke noted an abrupt change from summer to winter by August 21, when a meager bean and corn crop were killed. "The fields," he wrote, "were as empty and white as October." The Berkshires saw frost again on August 23, as did much of New England and upstate New York.

Massachusetts historian William G. Atkins summed up the disaster:

Severe frosts occurred every month; June 7th and 8th snow fell, and it was so cold that crops were cut down, even freezing the roots ... In the early Autumn when corn was in the milk [the endosperm inside the kernel was still liquid] it was so thoroughly frozen that it never ripened and was scarcely worth harvesting. Breadstuffs were scarce and prices high and the poorer class of people were often in straits for want of food. It must be remembered that the granaries of the great west had not then been opened to us by railroad communication, and people were obliged to rely upon their own resources or upon others in their immediate locality.

In July and August, lake and river ice was observed as far south as northwestern Pennsylvania. Frost was reported in Virginia on August 20 and 21. Rapid, dramatic temperature swings were common, with temperatures sometimes reverting from normal or above-normal summer temperatures as high as 95 °F (35 °C) to near-freezing within hours. Thomas Jefferson, by then retired from politics to his estate at Monticello in Virginia, sustained crop failures that sent him further into debt. On September 13, a Virginia newspaper reported that corn crops would be one half to two-thirds short and lamented that "the cold as well as the drought has nipt the buds of hope". A Norfolk, Virginia, newspaper reported:

It is now the middle of July, and we have not yet had what could properly be called summer. Easterly winds have prevailed for nearly three months past ... the sun during that time has generally been obscured and the sky overcast with clouds; the air has been damp and uncomfortable, and frequently so chilling as to render the fireside a desirable retreat.

Regional farmers succeeded in bringing some crops to maturity, but corn and other grain prices rose dramatically. The price of oats, for example, rose from 12¢ per bushel in 1815 to 92¢ per bushel in 1816. Crop failures were aggravated by inadequate transportation infrastructure; with few roads or navigable inland waterways and no railroads, it was prohibitively expensive to import food in most of the country.

Maryland experienced brown, bluish, and yellow snowfall in April and May, colored by volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

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So I just spent an hour on my private Ancestry tree straightening out (who or how does this mix-up keep occurring on my tree?) various people who were married to their mothers, and had their wives as their daughters born the year they were 1 year old!

There is one widow whose husband was alive and well and didn't die till after her. But she was called his widow on several original sources. But how were their lives effected by the cold of 1816 summer? No idea...

So I started looking at my ancestors from Massachusetts...to see if there were any deaths in 1816. So far, none.

In the Rhode Island (probably Quakers) family of the Swaseys, one daughter was born on May 8, 1814, in Newport, RI, and died Sept. 20 of 1815, same city. It's interesting that the same name was again given to another daughter born on April 11, 1827, who lived till 1853.

That's all that my sleuthing has discovered, since many of the sisters/brothers of my direct line haven't been "fluffed out." That means many nieces and nephews of 'great' generations haven't even been added to my tree. Since I've already got about 7600 people, with quite a few photos also, I have only looked back at the New England ancestors on my father's line. There probably are some as well on my mom's side of the family.

One ancestor did die age 50 in 1816. In North Carolina. He was John Franklin Tate III. His older sister (Casandra "Cassiah" Elizabeth Tate 1765-1851) was born in Cherokee County, NC. That is the area where the Eastern Band of Cherokee now live. The Cherokee were forced to leave their homes in 1838 and join 4 other tribes on the Trail of Tears, forced removal to the Oklahoma reservation. But it's very unlikely my 4 time great grandmother probably had any Indian blood. She was the first born of 9 children, with John III her next younger brother, who was born elsewhere.

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But let's see if I can find just one photo of relations/ancestors looking like the Sepia Saturday posted suggestion.

John LeRoy Webb's wife was Lizzie Hohn. John LeRoy Webb was brother to my own grandfather, Albert J. "Bud" Webb, who had died when my mother was just 2-1/2 years old.

The Hohn Family 1894   Standing L to R: Elizabeth, Theodore, Louis, Emil, Henry ==> Seated parents: Louis & Johanna ==> On lap: John ==> On floor L to R: Paul, Caesar ==> Not present: Oscar (died 1891) & Alexander (born 1896)

From L to R: Alex, Caesar, Paul, Lizzie, Henry, Emil, Theodore, Louis P F

John LeRoy Webb married Lizzie Hohn Webb, and here are lots of men in ties...probably her brothers. Since John LeRoy died in 1938, it's possible this photo was taken after that date since he's not in it....or he was the photographer!

 From Sepia Saturday this week we have...

Women in Suits...hats, and purses, with sensible shoes, and a man.

My photos have an opposite ratio, with only a few women and lots of men!

Erin go Bragh

 Duplicate post today from "When I was 69" because it looks at my ancestors from Ireland...maybe

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 For St. Patrick's Day...from an area with a few Irish descendants, in western North Carolina.

Have a happy St. Paddy's Day all! Raise a glass of green beer to cheer everyone for a good new year ahead. May all experience peace, abundance, good health, love and joy!

Slàinte ! To your health!

And for the non-alcoholic among us, the same wishes apply!

A shamrock blooms in my window on my desk, but it's a ruddy version, so doesn't remind one of the Isle of Green! 

My roots include the Scotch-Irish, which means some ancestors were born in Ireland, though they had been immigrants from Scotland. 

One ancestor is:

John Francis Beattie II, (1718-1790) b. 1718 Killishandra, Cavan County, Ireland, d. 18 Aug 1790 Emory, Washington County, Virginia

Another descendant attached this coat of arms to his page in Ancestry. (yes a tiny file and there're no details about it.)

And the more I look into his life story on Ancestry, the more confused I got. A will written by one John Beattie says his wife is Margared, and he had 8 children which are named. He died in Virginia.

Another John Beattie lived in New York.

And there were 3 different wives names given, Ellen or Eleanor, Martha, and Margaret/Margared.

My ancestress, Margaret Beattie (1762-1861) married a man named Rev. Thomas "Junior" Hansford (1758-1841). They were both born in Virginia and married there in 1788. There are 13 children listed, but some duplicate names with different birth dates...so they may actually be the same persons.

Right after their marriage they moved to the frontier of Kentucky, where they raised all their children and are the Hansford parents buried in Crab Orchard KY. 

So whatever the connection to Ireland may be, these are some American documented ancestors. I can sometime go through all the siblings of my direct line and sort out who was duplicated, but that's for another day.

Today (Wednesday March 12 while I'm writing this) is warm again and I'm going to enjoy some of the green shoots that are finally showing after the greys of winter.

Happy St. Patrick's Day if you celebrate, with or without any Irish roots.

Many large cities have a parade!

Huntsville TX grave marker

 Lucinda Benson (Gibbs) Rogers Grave

James O. PeaveyWalker County Historical Commission (2018 post on FB)

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Lucinda Benson (Gibbs) Rogers is buried at Oakwood Cemetery - Huntsville, TX among three of her children, her mother, and various other members of her family. She was born March 28, 1818 in Union District, South Carolina to Hiram and Sabra Ann (Wilbourn) Gibbs.

She married Col. George Washington Rogers, a Mexican War hero, on September 14, 1848 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. His name is inscribed in the Gillaspie Monument across the street from Sam Houston's grave. They settled in Huntsville, Texas where they became one of the wealthiest couples in town. The Rogers home was built in 1845 on a magnificent hill on as many as 600 acres that Rogers had purchased from Huntsville founder, Pleasant Gray. The home was considered one of the finest homes of its day and entertained Huntsville's most prominent citizens with its magnificent ballroom. Sam Houston was a neighbor and personal friend. This home, located at what is now 1418 University Avenue, has been preserved and is the oldest surviving home in Huntsville. (Link to my photo of the Rogers home:

https://m.facebook.com/photosbytown/photos/a.801526706692314.1073741834.801036196741365/890944211083896/?type=3&source=54#)

The five acre hill that was the original site of the Rogers home was donated by the Rogers to serve as the location of the new state capital, but instead became the home of Austin College. Today, the Austin College building, built in 1851-52, is the oldest building on the Sam Houston State University campus. The Rogers raised five children: William Sandford, Laura Terrissa, Alice Luella, George Henry, and George Washington Jr. A sixth child, Jasper Gibbs, died as an infant. Col. Rogers died in 1864 in Cotton Gin, Texas, at just 44 years of age and was buried there. Two years later, his remains were re-interred near his previous home in LA. Mrs. Rogers remained in Huntsville where she passed away in 1884 at age 66.

James O. Peavey

December 1, 2017

A Facebook post