John A. Dale

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

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...

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

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.

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

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...

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 (took forever, she has tons of downlines. Lots of verification work here.)