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My own life and my opinions are shared at When I was 69.

REMEMBER: In North America, the month of September 1752 was exceptionally short, skipping 11 days, when the Gregorian Calendar was adapted from the old Julian one, which didn't have leap year days.

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Happy birthday to Elizabeth Anne Worsham Kennon Liggon 1656–1743

Elizabeth Anne Worsham Kennon Liggon 1656–1743  

Birth 1656 • Henrico County, Virginia Colony

(Or she was born in 1650 or 1651 or 1656 in Colchester, Essex England.)

She was my 8th great grandmother on my father's family tree (George Rogers)

She was married to Col. Richard Kennon, who built The Brick House, in Henrico County, Virginia.(see below)


Her Death was probably in 1743 • Conjurers Neck, Henrico, Virginia Colony

Her son, Richard Kennon Jr,  was born sometime in 1690  Conjurors Neck, Henrico, Virginia Colony, Death AUG 1736  Conjurors Neck, Henrico, Virginia

About half the Ancestry trees have this man confused with his older deceased brother.  
Both are the sons of Col. Richard Kennon Sr. and Elizabeth Anne Worsham Kennon.

Six years before he was born, another son had been the first son of this colonial couple (after three daughters).  He was also named Richard Kennon, but died when he was 4.  His grave is on the premises of The Brick House, including his dates.  He had been born Dec. 5, 1684 and died in 1688.

By the time Richard Jr was born in 1690, another brother, William had been born in 1685. They were the only two boys in the household with five sisters.  Here was my post about his father Col. Richard Kennon, who built The Brick House.

The Brick House, Home of Col. Richard and Elizabeth Kennon (built by Col. Richard Kennon)

When Richard Jr. was 6, his father died, and he had a sister two years younger than he was.  

His mother remarried within a year to Thomas A. Liggon (or Ligon), who was about 20 years her junior, and who had a son the same age as her youngest daughter.

At least that is the way I've been putting together very fine threads in the ancestry information.  The dates of people's birth/marriage/deaths are somewhat ambivilent because so many records have been lost. 

Thomas Liggon's wife had been named Annie, and no maiden name was given.  His second wife, Richard Jr.'s mother was Elizabeth Anne Worsham Kennon (1656-1743).  And the way I figured Annie Liggon wasn't the same woman was that they both had children the same year, with their different husbands.  Elizabeth  gave birth to Judith Kennon, and Annie Liggon gave birth to Thomas Liggon Jr. in 1692.  

Then apparently Elizabeth Ann Worsham Kennon Liggon and Thomas Sr. had a child, Elizabeth Liggon in 1701 after their marriage in 1697.  However, Elizabeth Anne (Richard Jr's mother) had already had a daughter also named Elizabeth Kennon, (1682-1773) who was still alive in 1701...according to the records over at Ancestry.  It might happen that a mother would name another daughter the same name only after the older one had died, so this is a bit confusing to me.  That was how she had the two Richard Kennon Jr. sons. Of course her second Elizabeth daughter had the last name Liggon.

Thomas Liggon died probably in 1705.  Several different sources say Elizabeth Anne lived until 1736, or 1743.  If she lived to 1743, she outlived her son, Richard Jr, who died in 1736, when he was just 46. 

I already posted about Richard Kennon Jr.'s wife Mary Bolling Kennon HERE (including their children) and I'll repost when Nov. 30 comes, her birthday.

Richard Kennon Jr. and Mary Bolling Kennon, had a daughter, Mary Kennon Clack, born on Jan. 28, 1728 in Gloucester County, VA, on my ancestry tree...married to John Clack.

Richard Jr. died when his daughter was 8 years old.  Since Richard Jr. was the second son, his older brother William probably inherited "The Brick House," where all the children had been born. But if their mother was still living, it's possible she still lived in it.

Richard Jr. was well respected, having been a justice in the House of Burgess. His father, Col. Richard Kennon had been busy shipping things back and forth to England. Richard Kennon Jr. was the 7th great grandfather on my father, George Rogers' Family Tree.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

John Moss III born 10 Nov 1682

Happy birthday to my 7 times great grandfather. He is on my mother's family tree, which I call the Booth Family Tree.

Born in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony to one of the founders of Wallingford. His father was John Moss Jr, and his grandfather was Capt. John Moss Sr, also known as John Morse. His grandfather, John Sr. was an immigrant to the colonies from England.  


Both John III and his father had been born in the colonies. His mother, Martha Lathrop Moss had also been born in the Connecticut Colony. John III had 12 siblings.


This document speaks about the husband of Mary Moss, daughter of John III and Elizabeth Hall Moss. It mentions that her mother, Elizabeth Hall Moss was a second cousin of her husband.

In the second line above we read about Martha and John Moss, our John III's parents. John Jr. was the one who lived 103 years, and I'll be featuring him on a post soon. You can see their 4th child was John Moss III, who married Elizabeth Hall. Only 9 of their children are listed there.

John III married Elizabeth Hall Moss, in either 1703 or 1708, who had also been born in Wallingford CT. They had 12 children that I've been able to list on my family tree at Ancestry. 

Above are details of some of the children of John III and Elizabeth Hall Moss.

After Elizabeth's death in Jan. 1754, John married in Dec. 1754 Martha Doolittle Moss, daughter of Daniel Doolittle (28 Dec 1675-11 May 1755) & Hannah Cornwall (5 Sep 1677-16 Jun 1736), in First Congregational Society, Meriden CT.  Born on 16 Apr 1703 in Wallingford, CT.  Martha died in 1760.


John III died 14 MARCH 1755 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, and is buried in the Center St. Cemetery in Wallingford, New Haven, CT. He only lived 4 months with his new wife.  All his children had grown, and only 3 had predeceased him. I have no idea how many grandchildren he had. Since his father lived to be 103 years old, dying in 1717, it's too bad that John III only lived till his 72 year.



Center Street Cemetery, Wallingford, New Haven  County, CT

Here's a list of his and Elizabeth's 12 children:

Children of John and Elizabeth (Hall) Moss, born at Wallingford: 
    i. Hannah Moss, b. 11 Nov 1709, d. 20 Jan 1787 at Cheshire, m. 1st at Wallingford 6 may 1728 Benjamin Ives, m. 2nd there 15 Jun 1768 Phineas Atwater; 
    ii. Elizabeth Moss, b. 6 Dec 1711; 
    iii. Joseph Moss, b. 9 Feb 1714, d. 10 Jul 1775 at Cheshire, m. at Wallingford 4 Feb 1735 Lydia Jones (dau. of Theophilus & Hannah (Mix) Jones); 
    iv. Mary Moss, b. 22 Apr 1716, d. 9 Oct 1791 at Wallingford, m. there 5 Nov 1739 Isaac Hall; 
    v. Kezia Moss, b. ca. 1718, d. 3 Oct 1770 æ. 53 at Wallingford, m. there 18 Nov 1736 Reuben Royce; 
    vi. John Moss, b. 14 Nov 1720; 
    vii. Levi Moss, b. 31 Dec 1722; 
    viii. Eunice Moss, b. 6 Feb 1726; 
    ix. Thankful Moss, b. 26 Apr 1728; 
    x. Ann Moss, b. 18 Aug 1730, d. soon; 
    xi. Martha Moss, b. Sep 1733, d. 1804 æ. 71 at Goshen, m. 1st at Waterbury 17 Jun 1752 Ebenezer Foot of Waterbury, m. 2nd John Hart of Cornwall, m. 3rd John Thompson of Goshen; and 
    xii. Ann Moss, b. Aug 1738, d. 15 Jan 1782 at Waterbury, m. there 22 Jan 1756 Thomas Merriam.

My line was through his son John Moss IV, (1720-1790) whose daughter Elizabeth Moss married Isaac Booth (1755-1841) and their son was Isaac Booth Jr. the shoemaker (1795-1836) who I wrote about recently HERE.




Monday, November 9, 2020

Happy birthday to my father, George Elmore Rogers, Jr. (1914-1985)

 (a repost about) 

My Father was born Nov. 9, 1914, Galveston TX.

I was so loved by him, and I loved him in return, always trying to be his "good girl."
I really don't remember him ever disapproving of me, or saying no.  He would just say, you have to check with your mother on that.

What have I not yet shared about his life? (After all he lived a lot of it without me around!) (Here's another blog I posted around 2016)


 All the people around him usually had positive things to say about him, and would smile and joke with him, as I remember.

Above was a photo of our Studebaker besides our first house we owned in St. Ann, MO, probably around 1956.  My parents had owned a home in Dallas TX and Houston TX before we moved to St. Louis MO where we lived in apartments for the first 7 years there.

My dad was an accountant, and a devoted Christian Scientist who didn't go to church much.
    
His father had been a bookkeeper before him.  I guess that's why I always felt pretty secure about math.

Chauncey, Zulie, Alex, and George, Kansas City, Mo 1918  George was 4 as they visited their mother's sister's family.  Zulie was a cousin while Chauncey and Alex were his older brothers.

December, 1921, George in sailor suit at age 7, Chauncey sitting next to him with Alex in the back.


James (baby in this photo) had been born in January of 1922, and mother, Ada Rogers ("me") and George standing behind on porch wearing something on his head.  This house burned before they built a new one out of brick which was photographed in 1927 (see below).  They lived in the garage while Poppy built the new home and probably worked his full time job as well in the packing company in Fort Worth, TX.


12/26/36 Junior (George E. Rogers Jr.) at Dumble's ranch


My father's parents, George (Sr.) and Ada Rogers had married at the home of the bride's parents in Galveston, Texas, They resided in Galveston in the home built by George Sr. until 1918, at which time they moved to Meadowbrook Drive in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was employed by the Fort Worth Packing Company as office manager. This began a friendship with the company manager, Norman Dumble that lasted twenty-five years.  They would go hunting on his ranch (as in photo above.)

Poppy (George Sr.) on l, Chauncey in rear, Alex, and George Jr. on r.  

His father had been 37 when George Jr. was born. Very few photos exist where Poppy didn't look old, but he certainly was an active father all his life. 

My father never saw a doctor in his life.  His family always called him Junior with the Texan accent sounding like "Joonie."

I remember how when he'd retired from the Mother Church (of Christ Scientist in Boston, MA) and moved to Houston again, he worked part time in an Ace Hardware store.  Most of my information came through letters from my mom.  He apparently had trouble with his feet working in the store, and I suggested one of those foot-baths...which weren't at all medical.  I don't know if he ever used it.

I wasn't able to go see him in his last months, and was sorry in many ways.  But also I was unable to move beyond the strictness of the Christian Scientist refusal of medical treatment.

And my mother had always been the gatekeeper of information, which she slowly designated my sister to do...and that was not a good thing.  I got mis-information as much as truth as far as their conditions.  I'd been given sunny reports for months, and then someone else would let me know that he was dying.  Then I'd get another letter saying "they don't want you there."  This was probably because I might try to push them to get medical help.

So when he was leaving this life 32 years ago and my parents chose to have no memorial service or funeral - I sat in his memory in meditation for 40 days, and I went out to Houston from FL (after being invited) and mother gave me some of his things, like a lot of baby food jars full of screws and nails. Today the remaining screws are still in my own toolbox (but the baby-food jars are now gone.)  

I took the bus to Houston after he died, because he'd left their car to me...an older Pontiac sedan, which had supposedly been checked over by a mechanic, but had been sitting in the garage for a few months. My mom was effectively blind with cataracts untreated at this time. (When she later had a stroke, she was hospitalized and had surgery with my sister's direction so she could again see.)

I started home to FL, never having driven the old Pontiac before, and got on the bridge over the bayou near Louisiana and had a tire blow-out, and no idea how to jack up this new to me old car, or change a tire...while semi's were zooming past about 2 feet away from me (no shoulder to speak of, and of course it was driver's side rear tire.)  Some kid stopped and helped me change it, and I went and bought tires in the next city.

Sunday, November 8, 2020

And there was the Civil War

 It wasn't so civil...we've all got to remember. War is war.

I recently read a beautiful but harsh book "When the Crows Took Their Eyes" by Vicki Lane, another blogger. She is an accomplished mystery writer from nearby Marshall, NC. This book is historic fiction about the Shelton Laurel Massacre during the Civil War...with wonderful characterization of some of the real people who lived and died in that area, as well as one fictional character. It is griping, and I couldn't stop reading it, and indeed, I want to reread it again soon.

I'm reposting a post of 2017 in which I looked at the area of Georgia some of my relatives came from. My great grandmother (Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey (Dear Nan)(1858-1935)was born in Fort Gaines GA, though her parents were settling in the east Texas area on the Sabine River called Town Bluff TX.


Fort Gaines GA ancestors

The Queen City loaded with bales of cotton, near a covered bridge, Chattahoochee River at Fort Gaines

I've been researching how my ancestors from the south lived and died during the years of the Civil War and following.
So to talk a bit about Fort Gaines GA, where my ancestors the William Phillips Sr. and Samuel Gainer family lived as of 1850. Before looking at 1850, here's some background of the location.

History lesson about Fort Gaines Georgia:
Located in southwest Georgia, on the Chattahoochee River in Fort Gaines was a smallish city where cotton had been shipped down river to the Gulf of Mexico prior to the Civil War. There were three forts built at that location, with the earliest having been a frontier fort to protect settlers from Indians. (The Indian culture had been established in that area for 2000 years, and included building Kolomoki Mounds nearby.) 




The First Fort:  Fort Gaines was established in 1816 by order of Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, commander of a large district, who used this as his headquarters. Containing two blockhouses, the 100-foot square fort was enclosed by a stockade eight feet high. During 1817, when Indians were active in the area, settlers look refuge in the fort, garrisoned by Federal troops under Gen. John Dill.  (Incidentally, a 100-foot square is 100 feet on each side, not 10 feet which brings a 100-square foot size.)
  

The Fort at Fort Gaines, and to the right, the railing overlooking the Chatahoochee River/ 

Frontier village restoration at Fort Gaines GA

The Second Fort: In May of 1836 the 88th Regiment of the Georgia Militia built a small fort in anticipation of an attack by the Creek Indians. The Steamer Georgian had arrived crowded with women and children fleeing from the Indian uprising at Roanoke upriver. The Steamer, Anna Calhoun was pressed for 5,000 pounds of bacon and 8 barrels of flour in order to feed the refugees and militia. 

The uprising was quelled before the fighting reached Fort Gaines. This was one of the last major insurgences of the Creeks before their removal to the West by Andrew Jackson. That was also known as the Trail of Tears.

Two Covered Bridges
 A covered bridge near The Queen City loaded with bales of cotton
Coheelee Creek Covered Bridge, Early County GA
I think these are 2 different bridges, based on the height over the water surface.  And the Queen City paddlewheeler (Steamer) is probably in the Chattahoochee River, not a creek! Early County later was divided into other counties, and Fort Gaines now is the county seat of Clay County.


Today's quote:


Be humble for you are made of Earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Happy birthday Martha Poor Granger Nov 4, 1654

Yesterday was also her birthday.

She was part of a post a couple of years ago, HERE. 

-------------A repost from...Monday, January 22, 2018

Distracted but back to Grangers, Poors, and Farnums


I admit, I've been happily following those green leaves (hints) over on Ancestry, and also have succumbed to their sending me emails of new additions to the people on my trees.  Oh my goodness, I'd never heard of some of them, but then there were others...and so I've gotten distracted. Remember I've got around 3000 people on my three trees. Sorry.


Now back to the Swasey family roots.  


Martha Poor Granger  1654–1723

Birth 4 NOVEMBER 1654 • Andover, Essex, MA

Death 4 DECEMBER 1723 • Andover, Essex, MA

Martha Poor's father Daniel, has 30 hints that I have to weed through before I can tell you about him. He was one of those early immigrants to Essex County MA.


Martha's mother was Mary Farnum Poor (we've heard of the Farnum (Farnham) name before in the Andover area.  Mary Farnum Poor only got 5 hints on her name, so let's see what we can find about... 

Mary Farnum Poor  1628–1713

Birth 13 JULY 1628 • St Nicholas, Rochester, Kent, Eng

Death 3 FEB 1713-1714 • Andover, Essex, Mass

Mary Farnum was born in England, the eldest of the Farnum children who came with their parents on the ship "James" to Boston in 1635.  Her parents were Ralph and Alice Farnum.  (On checking with Wikipedia, there were several ships named "James" during the reign of King James.)


Martha Poor Granger's father was:

Daniel Poor Jr  1624–1689

Birth 1624 • Marlborough, England

Death 8 JUN 1689 • Andover, Essex, Mass


Mary Farnam and Daniel Poor married Oct. 20, 1650.  He also had been born in England, and they married in Andover, MA. 


He was a "youth, aged fourteen years, whose name is on the list of passengers in the ship "Bevis," from Southhampton, England, in 1638, and his name is there written Dayell Poore, that he came with his sister Alee, or Alice, aged twenty years, and his brothers, Samuel, aged eighteen years, and John, all under the designation of servants of Richard Dummer." 

From: 

GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS - Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. PREPARED UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION Of WILLL\M RICHARD CUTTER, A.M, VOLUME I.NEW YORK, LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1908


To continue:

" In 1644 he became one of the original settlers of Andover and spent the greater part of his life in that town, where he acquired a large estate in lands and other property, which at his death in 1713 was appraised at eight hundred pounds. He also became prominent in town afifairs, held several important offices and served as selectman eight years. His farm and home in Andover were on the east side of Shawshin river, near where now stands the station at the junction of the Boston & Maine and Essex railroads. Daniel Poore married Mary Farnum, who bore him eleven children."


"One of their sons, Daniel Poore, III, born in Andover, Massachusetts. 1656, lived on the old homestead in that town. He married Mehitable Osgood, and by her had nineteen children."


Daniel Poore Jr (the father) left a will giving land to his eldest son.  But his will also mentions daughter Martha, "to whom he gave 20 acres of land."  As several of his other daughters are specifically mentioned as unmarried, it must be assumed that Martha was married when he wrote his will in 1689.  And this is substantiated in other records, that she married Captain John Granger in 1679.


Martha, it seems, was listed in the Andover Births Record as Matthew, a daughter, (sic) on her birthdate of Nov. 4, 1654. and as "d. of Daniell Pore, Jr and Mary."  


But Matthew isn't mentioned in the will of his father though all the other children are.   


(So now I'm checking the 18 hints on Matthew Poor's name at Ancestry.  He has no records apparently, besides those which Ancestry has devised, no death date on Find a Grave, no marriage, no children, and the unfortunate copying of non-information over and over again, as a result of being listed as a daughter at this birthdate.  Half of the listings for his name are actually for his sister Martha, or mother, Mary.


So I am thinking at this point that Martha was the only one born on that date (since there are many records with her birthdate corroborated, like marriage, death, etc.) and perhaps she would have been named Matthew if she had been a boy.  Or perhaps there was a twin who died at birth.  Who knows.  For now I'm marking Matthew as just listed as "d" under his name.  If you do count a Matthew as a real person, then there were 11 children born to Daniel and Mary Poor.  Otherwise it comes to just 10. 


--------------

Who was Martha Poor's husband?

She married (Feb 7, 1679) to Capt. John Granger when she was 24 years old, and he was 25.

They had 8 children, one of which became my ancestor...Samuel, born 1701...when she was 46 years old.

Samuel's great great grandson, George Granger, married Lucy E. Pulsifer (Pulsipher) the great granddaughter of Ebenezer Pulsipher (whose birthday was also Nov 4 and I mentioned yesterday!

Martha lived her whole life in Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts. She didn't live long enough to see her son, Samuel marry Martha Marston in 1728, and their first child was also named Martha Granger (born 1730).





Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Happy birthday Ebenezer Pulsifer (1744-1795)

 I posted on his birthday earlier HERE.

Ebenezer Pulsifer
Birth 4 NOV 1744 • Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

Death 1795 • New York, or perhaps 1780 on a prison ship in NY harbor, (of the English).

married to Sarah Pratt Williams Perkins birth1 Dec.1751 • Ipswich, Essex Co., MA

Death Unknown

These Pulsifers were the parents of Capt Ebenezer Pulsifer, mariner

who was the 3rd great grandfather of Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers, my grandmother.

So Ebenezer and Sarah were my 5 times great grandparents.


Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Following the hints at Ancestry

 I have a new ambition.

I can spend an hour each evening (or whenever I have some time available) to click on all those little hint leaves on my various family trees.

This evening was fun going into trees that go back to Italy and Germany.

I really didn't find any documents from those countries, but I found a few arrival dates for immigrants to our family.

It was gratifying work. And I think I may have made just a few boo-boos. Usually in spelling names.

So if anything comes up that looks interesting, I'll include it here...because it will represent new information about some ancestors!

None for today though.