Catching up with known birth anniversaries of ancestors

No posts for the last 10 days!
Which ancestors had their birth anniversaries since my last post?

Apri 18, 1853 was the birthday of Alice Luella Rogers Ross. A great aunt who helped raise her nephew's children, including my grandfather, George E. Rogers Sr.  Aunt Alice Luella also gave birth to 12 children of her own.  When her brother (and George Rogers' father) W. Sam Rogers died, she was only 26 years old, and just had her first 2 children, who were about the same age a my 2 year old grandfather and his 1 year old sister.

There was no mention in any of the records I've found, as to what happened to my great grandmother, Betty Bass, who was just 19 years old at the death of W. Sam Rogers, her husband (who was 29 years old.) She apparently moved to Galveston and later on had her 2 children living with her.  But the Ross family had guardianship of the 2 Rogers children for much of their childhood.  Aunt Alice Luella was never talked about by my grandfather. But he carried the middle name, Elmore, the same as his guardian, Alice Luella's husband, John Elmore Ross.  Uncle John Elmore Ross went by his middle name, much as Aunt Luella went by her middle name. And my own father carried the middle name of Elmore as a junior also, but went by George.

But from all those children (most of whom lived to adulthood) I've never tried to contact any of these cousins!  So that's an interesting proposition.  Here's an early list of their families. 

April 23 was the birthday of Marion J. Philips, 1823-1907.  He was my grandmother, Ada Philips Swasey Rogers' great uncle.   I've written about him before (Here) with a copy of his letter to my grandmother...and HERE about my discovering more about his life and death.

Now to go back another hundred years, April 23 was also the birth anniversary of Elizabeth Lewis Kennon, 1724-1799. I focused on her life in this post HERE.  She was my 6 times great grandmother, who lived in Virginia during the American Revolution, and was buried in an unmarked grave in North Carolina.  She had 7 children, at least 6 of whom lived to adulthood.  The cemetery she was buried in is part of a historic site known as Machpelah, in Townsville, Granville County, NC, which has some buildings dating back to the 1850s, but not as far back as her own life.  This county is just over the line from Virginia, where the Kennon family had lived. The different counties names on records of the Kennon/Cannon sons in NC are probably based on how these counties were formed as the area became settled.  They are all along the northern border of NC with Virginia...Caswell County, Vance County and Orange County, NC.    I have looked a bit more at her children (mainly the sons) to see more about their lives, and found one John Cannon that probaby wasn't my great times 5 grandfather.  This man wrote a will, and called himself a mariner, married to Elizabeth, and no mention of children, but lived in New Bern NC...which is not near the area the other Cannons lived, nor near Knoxville TN where I believe my ancestor died. Some of my research about the early Kennon/Cannon families is minimal, and deserves more in-depth looks. This was last year's start of this pursuit HERE.

There were 2 more (at least) birthdays of ancestors which I missed sharing here.  So I'll have something to post about tomorrow!

Happy birthday 6th great grandmother Elizabeth Lewis Kennon

Elizabeth Lewis Kennon

1724–1799

Birth 23 APR 1724 • Goochland County, Virginia, United States of America

Death 1799 • Granville, North Carolina, United States

Born at Chemokins (a plantation in Coochland County, VA). Daughter of Col Charles Lewis and Mary (Howell) Lewis. Sister of Charles Lewis Jr.; Anne (Taylor); James B.; Mary and John Lewis.

Married Col. William Kennon on April 3,1744 in Goochland, VA. Some of her children included William Kennon 1745-1804, Charles Lewis Kennon 1750-1820, Mary Kennon 1750-1782, John Kennon 1752-1812, Richard Kennon 1752-1804 and Elizabeth Howell Kennon Nov. 13, 1754- Jan. 14,1825.

 Buried in unmarked grave and has no inscription. (Source William and Mary College Quarterly, Genealogy of Virginia, Vol III)

Another source states she was born on Col. Charles Lewis' plantation named The Byrd. (Source: Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and their connections.)  Her father had been born on Chemokins plantation.

Her husband and father and even she herself, wrote wills, which are available to read on Ancestry.

She said she lived in Orange County NC at the time she wrote her will.  There is a "Find a Grave" notation that she was buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Townsville, Vance County, NC.  She is listed as having been buried there by their records, but having no marker or designation as to where she was buried.

PHoto of Machpelah Cemetery, Townsville, Vance County, NC.

Other graves in Machpelah Cemetery

I believe the county confusion about where she died is that the North Carolina counties boundaries and names changed several times during her lifetime. Elizabeth lived through the Revolutionary War.  Many revolutionaries were in the north part (near the Virginia border) of North Carolina, and I dare say her family was active.  I don't have time right now to check to see if her sons were involved, but at least one (or maybe a grandson) was part of the Mecklenberg Declaration, (of North Carolina) which was signed before the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776.

Since her husband died in 1759, she may have been part of one of her children's household the rest of her life.

So now I'm going to look at the lives of her children.  Be back tomorrow!