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.)
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
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.
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
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
Monday, August 3, 2009
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.)
I've completed:
Catherine Clement
Francis Anselm Goring
Eleanor Durham (took forever, she has tons of downlines. Lots of verification work here.)
Back to the plan...Combining.
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.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
More woes with Harry Crossman
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.
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.
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