James B F Davis Genealogy

John A. Dale

2010-07-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to document some of the disputed information on John A. Dale, I've found some good resources.

This book, with information on Dale's county of origina and his grandfather's name, is finally available to read on google-books: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paforest/history/chapt2.htm

This link to a well sourced document: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ho5jXOs1FNUJ:www.mcnabbs.org/~nancy/Nelle/Gates.doc+%22henry+gates%22+%22oldtown+flats%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Geneaology Bug

2009-12-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

I have never had a very strong urge to do genealogy. Either because I come from families where a lot of it was already done by people who know what they're doing a lot more than I do, or because I have little kids and have always felt it's not my "season" for doing this kind of time intensive work. But I got assigned to attend a Family Search Sunday school class recently and attended my first class today. It uses the LDS genealogy website www.new.familysearch.org. As I sat in class with my iPhone in hand, I was so excited that I had to get online, register, and start exploring, right there in church!

It was hard to view on my iPhone, so when I got home I got out the laptop to take a better look. And I spent the next several hours just viewing what others had done, seeing how far back my lines went, and reading detailed information on several ancestors. I have to say, I found myself more interested than I thought I would be. But I noticed some lines that dead ended. And some information that was missing. And some temple work that needed to be done, and I wondered why. So I called my brother, who had done most of the work on our immediate family lines, and found out that he had this blog. We talked for a while and I think I'm going to have to give up my excuse that it isn't my season. I probably won't have a ton of time, and maybe I won't contribute much. But for posterity's sake (as well as my ancestors' sake), I figured I better start writing down what I accomplish....if anything. (I'm trying to be realistic.)

Thanks, Ben, for including me on this. Hopefully we'll find some new information!

5th generation combining continued...

2009-08-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Here is where I will track the 'duplicate combination' for the second half of the 5th generation up from James BF Davis (I've already done Emogene's side, now time for James Hutt Davis' side). I'll still be working from the female end of the line, upwards (or bottom to top.)

I've completed:
Catherine Clement
Francis Anselm Goring
Eleanor Durham
William Nelles Hutt
Jane Eliza Richardson
Judge John A. Dale
Lucy Dow
Greeley Davis

5th Generation Complete!

Note: Jane Eliza is the first dead-end I've hit since I started combining I think. I have no record in NFS of any parents or siblings. This is pretty surprising for being the wife of a prominent judge of the time. I'm sure I'll find records for her family, and Judge Dale's other wife quickly. There is a pretty in depth Bio of him at: http://hostetters.pa-roots.com/forest/articles.php?article_id=66

Note: Judge John A. Dale has some parents in NFS that need to be separated. They are from England, and his parents were not. He has also been combined with another John Dale christened in England in 1812. Different John and I'll have to clean this up later. (NFS won't let me now. I've submitted a ticket.)

James Benjamin Freeman Davis Tombstone

2009-08-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Ancestry.com has a new service, Find an Expert. You use it to find a genealogist in the area where you are performing research, and they will go out and pull records or take pictures for you. I wanted to give it a try, and also to get records of my fathers Tombstone, which I've never been able to visit. (I haven't been to Michigan since I was 18!) It cost $20, but was a great investment to get this:

Davis and Dow cont.

2009-08-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

So in my searches for more leads on the Davis Line, I did come across a book with a wealth of information:

Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley ..., Volume 1, by By John Woolf Jordan

It's available for full browsing in Google:books. Page 382-383 has information on Mrs. Lucy Marie (Davis) Cowan was born in Watkins, New York, the only daughter of Lot Barnum Davis and his second wife, Julia (Hudson) Davis. Lot B. Davis was the eldest son of Greley Davis, born in 1787, in Saratoga, New York, and Lucy (Dow) Davis, daughter of John Dow, first settler in Reading, New York, a member of the New York state assembly from Steuben county for three terms, and judge of the court of common pleas for forty years. He was a son of Benjamin Dow, of Voluntown, Connecticut, who served as sergeant in the revolution, son of Ebenezer Dow, one of the founders of Voluntown, one of the founders of the first Presbyterian church in Connecticut, elder in the same until his death, a justice of the peace under King George II. Ebenezer Dow was the son of Thomas Dow, who was in the Great Swamp fight, December, 1675, and grandson of Henry Dow, of Watertown and Hampton. Greley Davis served in the war of 1812, and his father, Alpheus, and grandfather, John Davis, both served in the revolution. Julia (Hudson) Davis was the daughter of Dr. Lemuel and Mary Treadwell (Woodruff) Hudson. Dr. Hudson served in the war of 1812-14 as surgeon, and afterward he was appointed brigadier-general in the New York state militia; he was the son of Asa Hudson, a revolutionary soldier, and his wife, Mary.

The book goes on to another few family tangents, and is showing Mary as the wife of Willis Cowan. The book has TONS of info on all of the Cowans. Though not my ancestors, I'm married in and might go ahead and add those lines when I get to the Davis' and Dows. I did add Lucy Marie Davis and husband Willis Cowan into NFS, but didn't take it any further right now. Back to combining.

Davis and Dow lines

2009-08-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

I wish I could stick to my plan, but I keep getting bored doing combining and wanting to do some original research. So, true to form, I started getting curious about my oldest known Davis ancestor. Captain John Davis (1721-ish to 1815) is the oldest one I know of. It seems he was born in England, though the records back then were sparse. He served in the Massachusets Militia as did his son, Alpheus Davis (1747-1818). Both were original settlers of Reading, Schuyler, New York. I did find the 1790, 1800, and 1810 census records today with both of them. The records don't show any other family names, so I'll hopefully find in dads records how he got all the other info. Alpheus had a son Greeley, or Greley Davis (1787-1862) who served in the war of 1812.

One other researcher gave me the following lead as to how to get more info on the family of Capt. John Davis:

You'd want to look in person for the estate file (locally called the 'packet') in the Surrogate Court office in Steuben Co, which is where Reading Town was when your man died. Since he appears to have died intestate, there could be a wealth of information about heirs here, such as receipts for estate distributions signed by each one datelined where they lived, or affidavits by one or more relatives as to the identities and residences of the heirs, or 'returns of service' giving name and residence, proving that they were summoned to a hearing regarding the estate.

There may also be helpful deeds filed in the Steuben Co. Register of Deeds office, if heirs sold his land.

If you can't do this yourself you may find it well worth while to hire a researcher to look for you and make the copies. The Town Historian may be able to point you to someone familiar with the available records who is willing to do research for you on a fee basis. You can get contact information through the USGenweb page for Schuyler Co. Remember that the Town Historian probably has a 'day job' and other commitments.

Another vital resource can be the Town Clerk's office. The Town offices sometimes still have such valuable documents as old electoral records, road-survey records, Chattel Mortgage records, in addition to vital records that begin in the 1880s and would be too late for your quest. The Town Historian can give you an idea of what Town Records may be still in existence and still held by the Town Clerk (rather than, say, sent to the NY State Library in Albany, or destroyed by flood or fire.)

Be aware that due to the financial crunch of not only this year but recent decades, some County offices have begun to charge essentially a user-fee for access to records. This is only fair, since genealogical genuine-researchers can take up appreciable staff time with questions. County staff cannot and will not do your research for you, such as looking in indexes.

Good hunting,
Jade

5th generation combining continued...

2009-08-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Back to the plan...Combining.

2009-08-03T00:17:00.001-07:00

Getting this obit for Harry has certainly livened my genealogy drive. Doing original research is way more fun that double-checking for combined records. But I'm realizing that I'm getting way far off track. So, next thing on my list is to fix Harry, and then get back to combining the rest of the original GEDCOM I submitted, and then combing through the box that started this whole mess. In the future, I'll log tidbits to come back to, but in the year or so it will take me to upload all of the info in the box, it should only get easier to find stuff online that will help in the search, and by then, hopefully none of the key genealogists that I need to talk to will have died by then. In any case, I'm getting back to the original plan.

More woes with Harry Crossman

2009-08-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Harry wasn't the son of Asa Crosman. At least, not exactly. I went back through the will of Asa Crosman, and Asa definitely had a son names Harrison. But, the will notes at the bottom that at the time of the will's execution Dec 11 1876, Harrison was not living in Henry Co, OH where we'd expect him. Instead he was living in Forsythe, Macon Co, Ill. (which means I ought to have a look through the same Macon Co History in 1880 that gave me Rufus' (son of Asa) Bio, and see if there is one for Harrison.

So Harry isn't Harrison. I re-looked at Harry's Bio, and it clearly says: "Harry Crossman, the son of a family which came to Henry Co from New York, was born in Monroe Township on November 1 1853. He was reared on a farm, and remained a farmer for life."

The Crossman that was a son to Asa that lived in Henry Co, per the will, was Hirem. I checked the dates, and Hirem was born in 1826, which means he sure could have emigrated to Henry Co, and born Harrison (calling him Harry, to distinguish him from Hirem's brother, perhaps?) This also clarifies why Harry's bio names to brothers attending Harry's funeral: "the brothers, Charles and Albert..." I'll need to check the census and see if I can find Hirem and kids, to tie this all up neatly. Wouldn't that be great!

In the mean time, I still need to add all of the kids listed in Asa's will, and figure out who they all were (spouses, children, sourcing.), and glean Rufus' will for more details on Asa. Just now in checking it, I found that it shows Asa's birthplace, which I previously had not had. And it also mentions where Asa's parents were from, though not by name. This could give some leads.

Since I had Rufus Crossman on the brain, I spent some time looking for his death date, and couldn't find a thing. I did stumble onto a site for another Crossman researcher, and they have less death data than I, but more birth data; including Harry as the Son of Hirem, with the same brothers mentioned in the obit. [http://jllewis.tripod.com/geneology/375/index.htm] I'll make corrections in NFS. I'll probably spend some time mining data from this site to give a framework for further sourcing so I don't wasted time mixing things up like I did with Harry vs. Harrison again.

Harry Crossman (Crosman) Continued

2009-07-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

I spent some more time today, wrapping up the data mine from the Harry Crossman Obit. He was born 1 Nov 1853 in Henry Co., Ohio. He married Annie Irene Weaver on 24 Jan 1875. They had four children. Two were mentioned by name in the obit, and the other two died in infancy. I found the couple and three of their children buried in the Cole Cemetery that was mentioned in the Obit. The younger girls were named Olive (Ollie) E, Florence, and Mary A. The oldest daughter was married: Julia Mary Crosman. was also buried in Cole with her husband. I obtained census information to substantiate all of the family data quite well, and also all of the cemetery info. I'd like to get more detailed cemetery records if there are any. Everything is well sourced in NFS, and I've kept scanned copies of the obit, censuses. (there weren't any tombstone pictures.)

I'll also need better sourcing to tie the Harrison I found with his dates to the Harrison that is shown in the will for Asa Crossman. I presume them to be the same since he follows the same migratory pattern as Asa from NY to Henry, OH; and his obit mentions his family moving from NY. The censuses also all show him being born in NY. I just haven't sourced the link as well as I ought to have for original research.

I can still do some work investigating the spouses of Julia and Ollie, and their children, if any. Julia died 6 years before Harry (per the obit) and there isn't mention on any children. Ollie shows up living with her parents single in the 1920 census (Henry, OH), but isn't with them in the 1930 Census. I know her married name is Price (she is also buried in Cole), but her husband isn't buried there, and there isn't a death date in the tombstone transcriptions. I'll need to get the cemetery records to get her death date. I'll also have to re-comb the 1930 census to see if I can find her there. There shouldn't be too many Ollie's in the area, and we'll hope she hasn't moved to far. Also see if she has any children. If none of Harry's girls had any children, then that whole family branch has no proginy to carry on the work.

Harry's wife, Annie Irene Weaver, and her brother, mentioned in the obit linked up nicely with the same family that already had work done in NFS. They were combined and I'll abandon that family since it's getting a little far from my core and leave it to the original researcher (paschristiansen5568646) who obviously has more info on the Weaver Clan.

[The obit was sent to me by a genealogist in Arkansas who had found the obit in her families records, and she found me asking questions online about the Crossman's. She sent it to me knowing it would help me, and asking for some help on some other Henry County families that I didn't have any record of. Without this key info I don't think I'd have had much luck working up this whole family.]

Harrison Crossman Obit

2009-07-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

I received a letter in the mail at random with an Obit For Harry Crossman, aka Harrison Crossman, son of Asa Crosman. I input the basics into FS, but will need to add the other information (4 daughters, 1 surviving; widow; and spouse info.) His work was already done through extraction, but this should be an easy line to update and do some original research once I've caught up with other work I've started. I'll scan the obit and add it to the files, and try to find the source, which is currently unknown.

Goring Dilemas

2009-01-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

So right in the middle of combining my 5th generation, I hit some problems with Francis Anslem Goring. Our line should look like this:

James Edward Hutt (1855-1908) son of
Delilah Catherine Goring (1859-1927) daughter of
Francis Anslem Goring (1806-1869) & [2nd wife] Catherine Clement (1824-1906); son of
Frederick Augustus Goring (1785-1868) & Ann Hosteder (1785-1850); son of
Francis Goring (1755-1842) & Lucy Secord (1763-1801); etc

Most internet searches agree. But Dad had Francis Anslem (which probably should be spelled Anselm), as son of "Francis Judson? Goring (1788-)". I don't know who this Judson guy is, and the '?' makes it even more suspect. Combine that with the fact that some of the family records skip Frederick Augustus and have Francis Anselm as son of Francis Goring and Lucy Dow. Wrong.

While looking for some answers, I found a book on GoogleBooks by a guy who wrote a book about the Hostetter family and am trying to get the book to clarify the situation. "Hostetter, U.E.L.: Origins and History of an Ontario Family, By Brian K Narhi, Published by Ganymede Press, 1992." Here's some stuff he sent across a few emails. (He's a professional genealogist):

1. "You may or may not know that I live on part of what was the original Hostetter farm which Herman Hostetter (father of Ann Goring) bought in the early 1800s. The family burial ground, where Herman and other members of his family are buried, is about 500 feet west of my house. I can send you some pictures if you like, although due to vandalism there's not much left there now." (He sent lo-res pictures of the stones, now in my database of stuff.)

2. "Just a few items of interest that I can add to your lineage:
Abraham Hostetter (1723-1796) was the son of "Bishop" Jacob Hostetter (ca. 1690-1761) and his wife Anna Lorenz (ca. 1695, died sometime between 1773 and 1779). Abraham's wife, Catharine, was the daughter of Herman Long.

Herman Hostetter's wife, Ann Newman Kennedy, was daughter of John Kennedy, an Irish settler who went to South Carolina and served with the British forces during the American Revolution. He may have settled in Nova Scotia afterwards. Herman also served with the British forces during that war, and he first settled in Nova Scotia in 1783-84. He married Ann Newman Kennedy there, and their daughter Ann was born in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Herman came to Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1793, and his family followed him here a few years later in 1795.

Frederick Augustus Goring (1785-1868) was the son of Francis Goring (1755-1842) and his wife, Lucy Secord (died 1801). Francis Goring came to Fort Niagara (New York) in the late 1770s as a merchant's clerk. His parents were Abraham Goring (Goringe) and Ann Lloyd who were married ca. 1753. Lucy Secord was the daughter of Peter Secord (1715-1818). Frederick and Ann Hostetter Goring are buried in the Homer Cemetery, on the east side of the present Welland Canal, just outside of the limits of the city of St. Catharines. I will send you pictures of their tombstones.

The Hutts are another very old family in the Niagara area. They have been in this region since the 1790s. The family appears to have been descended from Adam Hutt (1763-1842), a German emigrant, and his wife, Dorothea. Their family cemetery is located in Stamford Township (now part of the city of Niagara Falls) near the townline with Niagara Township (now part of the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake)."

3. "I believe that I have larger photos of the Goring tombstones, I just have to find them first. Those were quick shots that I took from a photocopy that I had on hand near my desk. The Ann Goring tombstone was already broken over 30 years ago when I first saw it, but when you see it in person it clearly states 1850 as the death date. The smaller lettering has been badly worn due to the weather. I believe the birth date is given as 1786 on that stone.

Ann Hostetter Goring was christened in the Anglican Church at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. I have not seen that record in person, but I do have a letter from the Shelburne Historical Society confirming this fact. Four of the children of Herman and Ann Hostetter were christened there. Ann Hostetter married Goring at St. Mark's Anglican Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake on November 5, 1805.

Ann Goring died 1 Jun 1850 in Niagara Township (just east of St. Catharines). Her family owned lands in both Niagara Township and Grantham Township (Grantham is what is now St. Catharines). The Homer Cemetery, where she is buried, was close to the border between Grantham and Niagara, and on the main highway through the Niagara Peninsula, so it was a convenient place for her to be buried.

FYI, I have a photo of Frederick Augustus Goring taken in old age with two of his daughters. Once I find it, I'll scan it and send it to you.

The spelling of the name is problematic. It was probably originally spelled "Hochstãder" or something similar to that. There are many variations of it, mainly due to the incompetency of British colonial bureaucrats. But by the mid 1700s, the name was mainly spelled "Hosteter" or "Hosteder." In many documents, your ancestor Herman signs himself as "Hosteter." At some point in the mid-19th century, the family added another "t" and the name in Ontario has become standardized as "Hostetter." But the question remains, why did they add the extra "t." Some have suggested that maybe it was to distinguish themselves from their American "Hosteter" cousins, but the spelling of the name seems to have been changed to "Hostetter" at that same time. Dunno.

So many questions, I wish I had a time machine to get all the answers. Have a great weekend.
Brian.

Brian gave me loads of good info. I'll have to incorporate more of his book into my records when he finally republishes it later this year (2009). [his email for the record is BrianNarhi (at) a o l (d.o.t.) com as shown elsewhere by the internet and his publisher.]

More Combining, 5th Gen

2008-12-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can see how this is getting exponentially more difficult. Literally.

Here is where I will track the 'duplicate combination' for the 5th generation up from James BF Davis. This time, I'll be working from the female end of the line, upwards (or bottom to top.)

5th Generation:
Lucy Ann Holton
Selah Dickerson
Mabel Sterling
William Mead
Sarah Baker
Asa Crosman (Crossman)
Mina Cramer
Samuel Leonard Coleman

Combining Duplicates

2008-12-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

So, before I started this blog, here's what I got done:

I've combined all of the records for these peoples children and their descendants:

1st Gen
James Benjamin Freeman Davis

2nd Gen
James Hutt Davis
Grace Emogene Coleman

3rd Gen
Benjamin Freeman Davis, Sr.
Rena Grace Hutt
Crosman Asa Coleman
Lucy Irene Mead

4th Gen
Ephriam Lemuel Davis
Mary Elizabeth Davis
James Edward Hutt
Delilah Catherine Goring
Samuel Handy Coleman
Marian Alice Crosman
James M. Mead
Mary Ann Dickerson

5th Gen will be updated elsewhere...

A few of them had some pretty lengthy downlines.

A set of boxes

2008-12-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

Dad left a gedcom file on diskette (3.5 in), a printed pedigree chart with no family group records (showing only parents, no children). He also left 2 boxes of pictures, certificates, and fmily group sheets. There's a third box that mom has, and I'm not sure what's in it yet.

One of the big motivators for me to get going on family history was the advent of the new familysearch. So here is my plan of attack:

I've imported the gedcom file that I have into new.familysearch.com It contained about 600 names. I suspect that this is only a small portion of what dad had completed. The pedigree chart/ folder that I have has names with numbers ranging up into the 2600's. I'm not sure what numbering system he used, but I'm sure there are more names that I simply don't have included in the gedcom file that he knew about, or input into the computer from group sheets which are hopefully in my posession.

Next, I'll go back through all of the names linked to me in new.familysearch.com (NFS). This review will allow me to check for duplicates and make sure that any original research I do in the future isn't on lines that already have work done. To facilitate this, I imported the gedcom file of dad's research in all caps, and I'm changing the names to regular type as I've corroborated the info and checked for duplicates. I started at me, then straight to the Davis family, skipping the whole Nicholes line.

Each new generation, I check the siblings from youngest to oldest for children, and go to children if there are any, and their children if there are any... working down generations, until there are no more down lines, then checking for duplicates as I work my way back up. I'l track which ones I finish here.

Once I finish combining duplicates, I'll go back through my dad's files and add as much information as I can find on pedigrees, family group sheets, with or without sourcing.

Once this is complete, I'll go back and try to source as much of Dad's original research as I can. This will include obtaining original documents, copies of certificates of birth, marriage, and death. Getting census records, etc. This will be labor intensive, but is the only way to ensure that the research done is correct. I'll probably scan all the documents I get and make them available online so no more of them are lost than already were from Dad's original research. This step should also start to provide more leads for original research as new siblings, children and parents are uncovered.

Once all the information I have has been sourced (which ought to take a few years), I'll follow up on those leads, and try to do the best I can tracing back in time, as well as the children of siblings of actual direct ancestors.

I'm the only namesake left...

2008-12-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

My father, James Benjamin Freeman Davis, was an avid genealogist. He spent most of his adult life from age 20 to age 51 doing genealogy. We went to libraries, visited cemeteries, and dug up family info. But he passed away mid-stride of a surprise heart attack in 1993. I was only 15. No one in the family knew how to pick up the pieces of his research. Much of it was lost. Now that I have a family of my own, I'm restarting that research. This blog will be my notebook to track my progress. Partly to help me keep track of where I've been, and what leads to follow. Partly to keep my siblings in the loop. And mostly, just in case I keel over unexpectedly, so that my children, hopefully James, can pick up and continue to trace our roots where I'll have left off.

After all, the Davis name (though common in our modern world) is nearly gone in my line. Not that an extinct family name is much cause for any fuss. So far, I have only one son (James) to pass on my Davis name:

I am the only son (me: Benjamin James) of my father (James Benjamin Freeman). He was one of two sons, but the second was still born, of James Hutt Davis, who was also one of two sons. James Hutt's brother, Benjamin Freeman Davis Jr. died at age 20, and had no children to his name. So effectively, James Hutt was the only Davis to pass on his name from his father Benjamin Freeman Davis, Sr., who was one of 7 boys of Ephraim Lemuel Davis.

So my son is the only Davis in the world who will be able to pass on the Davis name, that came through Benjamin Freeman Davis, Sr born in 1876.