Week 41 (Oct. 8-14): Travel

 Many of my ancestors have had wanderlust...or looked for opportunities beyond the horizons they started life with. A lot of them came to America from England, either to New England or Virginia colonies.

And then those who made homes there had many children, who did the same, and before you know it there were Rogers moving from Virginia to Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana. And there were Booths moving from Connecticut to western New York, Illinois, Texas. And others moved to Kentucky then Missouri, then Texas.

And my generation had me moving from Texas to Missouri, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. I say when someone asks why, I just wanted to experience a new place.

The earlier ancestors didn't have roads, trains, cars with U-Hauls behind them, and they depended on their feet and maybe horses, few maps besides perhaps a guide who had been on a trail once before. If they had household goods, they might have wagons also.

Here's a bit of a post I did earlier about the Booths of my mother's ancestors who moved along many paths. 

Hannah Conn Booth was my great great great grandmother. Her husband William Lewis Booth, was an attorney and lived a long life in Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas. Their son Richard also became an attorney, but unfortunately died young, and little is known about him.

How she traveled around - posted originally on April 13, 2014

I figure she traveled on horseback or in wagons...though possibly she did walk much of her travels through the frontier of the early 19th century.  From Kentucky to Indiana, Illinois and finally Texas, this was a hardy pioneer woman.

Conestoga Wagon used mainly for freight

13 APR 1819, Hannah Conn Booth was born in Henry County, Kentucky. She was my 3x great grandmother.   

Notice the man on the lazy board, Conestoga Wagons didn't have seats in the front of the wagon as usually thought. The lazy board was where the driver would sit if he didn't want to ride one of the horses or walk.

Regular covered wagon with room for household goods, and sitting in the front to drive horses or often oxen.

A wagon loaded with saleable goods. Or maybe set to supply the cook.

Yes, most children were barefoot unless it was wintertime.

Hannah somehow met William Lewis Booth, an attorney and a widower with 2 small children. They married in Jackson County, Indiana when she was 25, in 1843.  This is a hand written record which even includes the minister's name.

Not the Booth wedding, but another one in 1850

So we can follow some of her travels with the Booth brothers from there on out.
  
William Booth and his brother Charles M. migrated first from western New York state (Farmington, Ontario County) to Indiana and (then in 1849) to Genesee Township, Whiteside, Illinois, then to Hempstead, Waller County, Texas, and Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas.  It's quite possible that William and Charles and a nephew went to California in 1849 to try their luck at the gold rush. But they returned to their families, leaving the nephew there evidently.

Present day photos of farm now on Booth homestead, 
"2nd farmhouse north of SW corner of section 22
 on Coleta Rd," Genesee Twp, Whiteside, Illinois
Photo by Cheryl Richardson, my 4th Cousin through the Booths

By 1855 William Booth, an attorney, had purchased the land for his home and was living in Hillsboro,Texas. At one point or another he served as a county Judge, and has that title on some of the records.  His obituary actually gives him the title of Colonel, probably an honorific as he was too old to have active duty during the Civil War. I've written blogs about him before (Here).

The Booth Family Home, 208 Waco Street, Hillsboro, TX in the 1970s

And in Aug 2023 Google Earth got this photo of the house, still standing with that hexagonal room on the left, and those porches. It is next to a U-Haul dealership. But the paint is still yellow. Windows do look boarded up however. Since it was built around 1860, I hope somehow there's a historic society which could list it as a historic home. 

Hannah and William had 6 children, 4 of whom lived to adulthood.  William and his first wife had had 3 children, 2 of whom lived to adulthood.

Not the Booth family, but one in 1860

Hannah's oldest son, Richard R. Booth was born 23 Sept 1846, in Jackson, Indiana. (He was my great x3 grandfather.)

Her second child, Frank, was born in 1848 in Illinois, and died at 19 in Texas.  

The third child, Elizabeth was born in 1850 in Illinois, and died at 15 in Texas.  

Lucinda, "Cinnie" Booth was born in 1854 in Groesbeck, Limestone County, TX and lived to 1920.  

Connie Booth was born next, 1856 in Hillsboro TX, and died there at age 7.  

Annie Booth was born in in the home that still stands in Hillsboro TX, in 1859 and lived until 1948.

Many of the family members seemed to die in January, including Hannah herself, and Frank and Connie. This was before the days of penicillin.

William's family was living in Hempstead, Texas around 1880, though he had returned to Hillsboro when he died in 1893. 

Hannah Conn Booth lived until age 64 and died on January 26, 1884 in Hillsboro, TX.

Not Hannah Booth, but an old woman in the 1880s

Doesn't she remind you of Mrs. Doubtfire? (sorry)

Sharing with Facebook group 52 Ancestors, 52 Weeks and Sepia Saturday.