Tombstone Tuesday-Lois Wilcox Alden

Lois,

Wife of

Timothy Alden

Died

Jan. 10, 1851

Aged 77 Yrs

11 M & 8 D

Lois is buried at the Monroeton Cemetery, Monroeton, Bradford County, PA

You can read more about the life of my maternal 5x great-grandmother at Celebrating the Life of Lois Wilcox Alden.

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

San Diego Genealogical Society Presents Laurice Johnson

Laurice Johnson was the presenter at this month’s San Diego Genealogical Society Monthly Meeting. She is a long time researcher and an active member of the Temecula Valley Genealogical Society. Laurice was an informative presenter with many examples.

Laurice’s first presentation was entitled Facebook! And Websites! And Blogs! Oh My!

In this presentation we learned about how helpful Facebook can be with all the many genealogical groups available.  Be careful to protect your privacy by being safe and smart when using Facebook and don't forget to set 'Notifications' for the groups you want to follow on Facebook. We also learned about a website run by Katherine R. Wilson (www.socialmediagenealogy.org/genealogy-on-facebook-list) that contains lists of genealogical and historical pages available on Facebook. What an amazing site this is! Laurice also talked about Webinars on YouTube, University Archives, Message Boards on Roots Web and Ancestry, Books, USGenWeb and Blogs. Did you know there are over 23 million ‘genealogy blogs’? Katherine R. Wilson even has lists of country specific research blogs. SDGS members alone author at least 10 ongoing Blogs!

Laurice’s second presentation was entitled Family Search-The Other ‘beast’ of Genealogy Research!

In this presentation Laurice went into details about the immense, free, FamilySearch website and the millions of pages of records to be found there. Not all records there are currently searchable or indexed. Laurice walked us through using the WIKI for searching through the Online Genealogy Records. Records can be located by looking for records available for a particular location. This will let you know where to look for records and another way will allow you to search for the records that are available for a particular location.

• Previously, I had not been able to locate the Will of my maternal great-grandfather Jacob Hamman. When I searched the Wiki for records in Iowa and then looked for Probate records I first found:

(click on images to enlarge)

• This led me to Ancestry and an index of Probate records:

• Then by scanning through the microfilm records I was able to locate the record for Jacob Hamman:

• YEA! Success! Now, at last, I have the record and I will be able to transcribe the Will at a later date.

There are Research Tools available as well as How-To Videos about using the Wiki. FamilySearch also has “Community” groups where you can post a copy of a document in another language that someone at FamilySearch can translate for you. This will be a tremendous help for me when I finally locate some German records for ancestors.

The “Tree” at FamilySearch is a worldwide tree that anyone can add it. The “Tree” can be changed so be sure to add your sources if you decide to change something and keep your own records apart from the “Tree”.

Reminder-the light bulb at the bottom of the page on FamilySearch is your ‘help’ area.

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Celebrating the Life of Lois Wilcox Alden

Lois Wilcox Alden

my maternal 5^th great-grandmother.

Lois was born to Sheffield Wilcox Sr. and Eunice Ross Wilcox on 5 February 1773 in Westerly, Rhode Island. Lois was, I believe the oldest of nine children born to Sheffield and Eunice. Westerly is a town on the southwestern shoreline of Washington County, Rhode Island. English colonists first settled this area in 1661.

The family moved from Westerly to Cooperstown, New York before settling in Monroe township, Pennsylvania in 1798.

On 11 November 1790 a 17 year old Lois Wilcox and a 20 year old Timothy Alden would marry in Tyringham, Berkshire County, Massachusetts before moving to Monroe Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania in 1801. I wonder what brought Lois to Tyringham?

When the couple came to the area 'Monroe Township' wasn’t even formed yet. The area was a wilderness and they were among the early settlers.

Lois and Timothy would have 7 children, that I know of, between 1792-1810: Adonijah, Sophronia, Louisa (my 4^th great-grandmother), Permilla, Philinda, and twins Sylvester William and Sevellon Wells.

  

Lois would die on 10 January 1851 in Monroe, Bradford County, Pennsylvania at the age of 78. Lois was a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother. She would have traveled a distance of about 266 miles from her place of birth to her home in Monroe, Pennsylvania. Perhaps a day trip today but by horse and wagon a long way to travel by the time she was 28 years old.

Unfortunately, women of that era left very few records for us to discover and know about them. What I do know is that today is her birthday and I can remember her birth 247 years later! Happy birthday Great-Grandmother Lois!

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

San Diego Genealogical Society Presents Warren Bittner

Warren Bittner

On Saturday, January 18^th, the San Diego Genealogical Society held it’s Annual Meeting at Marina Village with Warren Bittner as the guest Speaker. F. Warren Bittner is well-known genealogical researcher and lecturer. I have had the privilege of listening to Warren speak on several occasions and find him to be very knowledgeable and entertaining. Each time I learn valuable new information for researching my ancestors.

The first session was entitled Meyer’s Gazetteer: Gateway to Germany.
Meyer’s Gazetteer has the most complete list of German towns anywhere from 1910 and that the FamilySearch Catalog is based on Meyer’s Gazetteer. Warren started out explaining the six levels of jurisdictions in Germany and then explained how to decipher the listings (names of areas, religions, courts, services, etc.) you would encounter when looking at a particular locality. There is a tremendous amount of information contained in the listing for a particular site. Warren also told us about an amazing new website called Search the Meyers Gazetteer that allows us to search Meyer’s Gazetteer and helps us in deciphering the information we find. So many States and Abbreviations to learn. Trying to read the original Meyers Fraktur font

can be very difficult, so, this website will be a tremendous help. While I have German ancestry I still have been unable to locate a region or town they have come from. As soon as I can find an area within Germany I will be heading straight to Meyer’s Gazette.

The second session was entitled German Maps and Territories.
In us beginning to understand Maps of Germany Warren first talked about how Germany’s boundaries have changed over time. Today there are 16 ‘states’ in Germany. He visually showed us these changes using an animated map that he found on YouTube. I found one such map on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY9P0QSxlnI which not only showed boundary changes over the years but also population growth. As Warren pointed out you need to know where your ancestor lived at the particular time period so you will know where to start looking for records. Villages could be under one area in one time period and not with that area at another time period. The following is an example of Europe in 1831 when my ancestor Theodore King is believed to have come to America.

(click on images to enlarge)

The third session was entitled German Marriage Laws and Customs.
Warren started out this session by explaining that “German peasants never enjoyed freedom of choice in marriage decisions.” He used pictures to help explain many of the marriage customs of the German people. Some customs depended on the region you lived in. It was also interesting to learn how many influences controlled who you could marry from the Noblemen, the Church, the Town/Village, not to mention the parents. Warren also talked about the types of marriage records you are likely to find and where you might go to search for those church and civil marriage records.

Warren’s fourth session was entitled The Fisherman Who Wanted to Mary the Executioner’s Daughter: Stories You Missed for German Marriage Resources.
In this final session Warren started off by telling us the story of the Fisherman who wanted to marry the Executioner’s daughter. This story helped us learn about the many groups that could influence who people could marry and the reasons they influenced these decisions. As Warren demonstrated and explained, using actual family research, he has been successful using a wide variety of sources beyond Civil and Church records for information. I was truly amazed at where and how he was able to find information about his ancestors.

I will definitely use the information that Warren presented when doing my own research on my German ancestors. When I hear about many of the customs and learn of the life that my peasant ancestors might have led in Germany I can understand why they may have decided to leave for the promise of a better life in America.

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Tombstone Tuesday–Merritt Howell Jr.

My 4th great-grandfather Merritt Howell, Jr. died in Riverhead, Suffolk County, New York on 4 December 1857 at the age of 74.  (See previous post The Life of Merritt Howell, Jr. and The Will of Merritt Howell, Jr.)  He had outlived his wife and several of his children.

Merritt Howell

Died

Dec. 1, 1857

AE. 74 years 4 days 

(there is an inscription at the bottom that is, unfortunately, very difficult to now read)

Riverhead Cemetery, Riverhead, New York

The photo for FindAGrave, added by Joy Ann Strasser in 2013, shows the writing as much clearer.     It is astonishing to note the deterioration that has occurred in 6 years.

• I noticed the death date on the stone as 1 December and I have found it listed elsewhere as 4 December.  Hmm...I need Church records and perhaps a Family Bible?
• After I read Codicil One where Merritt directed “As for the tombstones for myself and my said wife it is my will that my Executor shall pay forty dollars for each and that he shall enclose our graves and that of my deceased child Elenor Ann with a substantial iron fence” I looked again at the photo and realized there was no iron fence.  On the ground I can see what might have been part of a stone base and stone posts and wonder if perhaps an iron fence one day had been connected to that?
• I hadn’t realized until I was recently researching Merritt that he was buried in the Riverhead Cemetery.  While visiting New York during the Holidays I decided I ‘needed’ to go to the Cemetery and find his grave, as any good Genealogist would need to do, in order to get my own photo and pay my respects.  (Yes, there was already a photo on FindAGrave but I needed my own photo.)
• My father, step-mother and I set out on a quest to find the grave.  How difficult could that be?  His grave was listed as Grave #1 for the cemetery and my father knew where the original entrance had been.  I drove in to the cemetery and parked.  We fanned out in different directions looking for a stone that said Howell.  We walked and walked only to realize, eventually, that Merritt's grave was right next to the right bumper of the car.  Without realizing it I had parked right next to the Howell plot.
• I found it very interesting that as I stood there behind his grave and looked up, this is what I saw 

there in the background stood the school (Pulaski Street School) I had worked at for 11 years, right there adjacent to the cemetery!  For most of those years I even had classrooms on the side overlooking the end of the cemetery where my ancestors lay.  You just never know the connections you may have to a specific area.


If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Codicils Two and Three for Merritt Howell Jr.

If you have been following the Life of Merritt Howell Jr., and the  Will of Merritt Howell Jr., you know there were Three Codicils to his Will.  The First Codicil for Merritt Howell Jr. was previously presented and discussed.  We can see and understand the reason for several of the changes to the original Will. What can we learn from the last two Codicils that follow:

Second Codicil (11 November 1857)

(click on image to enlarge)

Transcription: 
Whereas I, Meritt Howell of the town of Riverhead in Suffolk County have made my last will and testament I hereby give and bequeath to be equally divided among my said seven children, Fanny B., Hampton F., Betsey, Sally, Harriet, Francis and Jemima (the children of Jemima to take together the same share their mother would have taken if living) all my personal property including money notes and stock, except household furniture after paying my just debts and the legacy given by my Codicil to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and except the notes I hold against John K. Smith and Hallock Edwards decd [deceased] which are given away by my said will_
I hereby appoint my son Hampton F. Howell and Sylvester Hallock my son in law Executors of my said will and of this Codicil and I hereby substitute the said Hampton F. Howell and Sylvester Hallock in the place of my daughter Sally Edwards as Trustees of the lands given by my said Will and Codicil for the use of my grandson Elbert H. Edwards and it is my will that they shall take the said lands with the same powers & for the same purposes (&subject to the same legacy to the said Sally Edwards might have taken them under the said Codicil, and that they shall furnish the said Elbert a house and support and ordinary schooling till 21 years old (unless he shall sooner marry) out of the income of such property_And I hereby annul so much of said Will & Codicil as gives to Sally Edwards any fire wood or cordwood out of said lands_ I desire that this Codicil may be annexed to & taken as a part of my said last will and testament as aforesaid to all intents & purposes_ In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal this eleventh day of November one thousand eight hundred and fifty seven_
                                                                                                         Merritt Howell L.S.

Signed sealed published & declared by the said Merritt Howell as & for the Second Codicil to his last will & testament in presence & in the presence of each other have signed our names as witnesses-
     James H. Tuthill residing in Riverhead in Suffolk County
     Sylvester Miller residing in Riverhead in Suffolk County


Some thoughts and questions:

• Daughter Jemima (my 3^rd great grandmother) died 22 October 1857 only weeks before this Codicil was written.
• In the original Will Merritt’s wife Elenor and only son Hampton were listed as Executors. In Codicil One Elenor has passed away and no one is mentioned as Executor except his son Hampton. Now in Codicil Two Merritt lists Hampton again and adds his son-in-law Sylvester Hallock as Executor. Why did he decide to add his son-in-law Sylvester Hallock (Frances' husband) as an Executor? Why not add one of his other son-in-laws?
• What happened with Sally and why did he make these changes?  Why did he no longer what her to be trustee for her son?  Is it because she remarried?
• Now in this Codicil he adds his personal property to his Will and divides it equally among his living children but also includes the children of his deceased daughter Jemima.

Third Codicil (24 November 1857)

Transcription:
I, Merritt Howell, hereby make this third Codicil to my last will and to testament by which Codicil I hereby give and bequeath to the children of my deceased daughter Jemima Howell all the notes I hold against my son in law Daniel Howell to be divided equally between them share and share alike, which notes are to be executed from the personal property bequeathed by my second Codicil bearing date the eleventh day of November 1857, and this bequest is not to affect the share of the said children in the other personal estate given them by the said second Codicil_In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty fourth day of November one thousand eight hundred and fifty seven_ his

                                                                                                              Merritt Howell L.S.


Signed sealed published and declared by the said Merritt Howell as & for the third Codicil to his last will and testament in presence of us who at his request & in his presence & in the presence of each other have signed our names as witnesses_
     James H. Tuthill residing in Riverhead in Suffolk County
     Joshua L. Wells residing in Riverhead in Suffolk County


Some thoughts and questions:

• This Codicil is dated 13 days after the 2^nd Codicil.
• This Codicil only relates to the death of Merritt’s daughter Jemima (my 3^rd great grandmother) and the ‘Notes’ Merritt holds against Jemima’s husband Daniel Howell. I wonder if Merritt didn’t feel he had been explicit enough in the 2^nd Codicil about dispersing what he had given to Jemima previously as now going to her children upon her death?
• Joshua L. Wells was a witness for the original Will also. James H. Tuthill was a witness for all three Codicil.
• Merritt would die on 10 days after this Codicil was written.  Looking at the events occurring in Merritt's life during the time of the original Will and the Codicils tells me more about what he was thinking at the time.  While there are still unanswered questions I feel like I know more about Merritt then I did before I reviewed his Will and the Codicils.  I also learned valuable information on who his daughters married and their children's names.  What a wealth of information!

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby

First Codicil for Merritt Howell Jr

In two previous posts I have told the story of the life (The Life of Merritt Howell Jr) and have reported on the Will (The Will of Merritt Howell Jr) of my 4th great-grandfather Merritt Howell Jr.  Next there are three Codicils to his Will to look at next. This is the 1st Codicil:

(click on images to enlarge)

First Codicil     (19 March 1855)

Transcription:

Whereas I, Merritt Howell, of the town of Riverhead in Suffolk County have made my last will and testament bearing date the seventh day of February one thousand eight hundred and fifty three, in and by which I have devised to my wife Elenor Howell (now deceased) certain real estate during her natural life and after her death the same to go to my grandson Elbert H. H. Edwards and have given the care and control of such real estate to my daughter Sally Edwards after the death of my said wife until the said Elbert H. H. Edwards shall arrive at twenty five years of age, and have directed my son Hampton L. Howell to pay to the said Sally Edwards four hundred dollars for the said Elbert to build a house with, and have directed my Executors to pay thirty dollars a piece for tombstones for myself and my said wife. Now therefore will by this my writing, which I hereby declare to be a Codicil to my said last will and testament, and to be taken as a part thereof, order and declare that my will is that all the real estate which in my said will I gave to my said wife for her natural life, now that she is dead, shall go to and I do hereby give and devise the said real estate to my daughter Sally now the wife of David Horton in trust for the use and benefit of my said grandson Elbert H. H. Edwards until he shall arrive at the age of twenty five years as aforesaid then I do devise the said real estate to the said Elbert H. H. Edwards when he arrives at the age of twenty one years shall convey to his brothers and sister James H. Edwards, Serepta E. Edwards and Chauncey A. Edwards or to such of them as shall then be living all his interest in the estate of his father Hallock Edwards deceased_ And if the said Elbert H. H. Edwards shall die before he arrives at the age of twenty one years the said real estate shall go to my heirs at law_ But the devise of the real estate above mentioned is subject to the payment of six hundred dollars to my said daughter Sally, wife of David Horton, and I do hereby direct my Executor Hampton L. Howell to sell enough off of the North part of the west half of my homestead, at my decease to said the said sum of money and pay the same to her_ as for the sum of four hundred dollars to be paid the said Elbert H. H. Edwards by my son Hampton, my will is that the said Hampton shall pay out of his own money to the said Elbert the sum of four hundred dollars and deliver to him or his _ the back kitchen answered to the __ I have in with the store of the cellar under it, when the said Elbert shall devise to build a house on the lands above mentioned_ it is my will that my daughter Sally, wife of David Horton, shall furnish the said Elbert H. H. Edwards a home and support and ordinary schooling until he shall arrive at twenty one years of age unless he shall marry before that, and reimburse himself out of the income of the lands given to her for his use, and the said Sally may cut from the part of the homestead given to her in trust as aforesaid what firewood she shall need for her family, and also twenty four foot cords of wood annually for the purpose of obtaining manure to put on __ part_As for the tombstones for myself and my said wife it is my will that my Executor shall pay forty dollars for each and that he shall enclose one graves and that of my deceased child Elenor Ann with a substantial iron fence_My will is that the rightof way mentioned at the bottom of the second page of my said will shall begin at that part of the cedar swamp which Hampton may convey to Elbert’s land_And I do further give and bequeath the sum of one hundred dollars to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, unless I shall have given that sum to that Board before my death and after the date of this Codicil_ And lastly it is my desire that this Codicil be annexed to and made a part of, my last will and testament as aforesaid to all intents and purposes_In witness where of I have hereunto set my hand & deal this nineteenth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty five.
                                                                                                 Merritt Howell L. S.

The above instrument consisting of one sheet was at the date thereof signed sealed published and declared by the said Merritt Howell as and for the Codicil to his last will and testament, in presence of us who, at his request and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names as witnesses thereto. The word “dollars” interlined over sixth line of 2^nd page and word “ordinary” intertwined over fourteenth line of same page_
     James H. Tuthill of Riverhead Suffolk County
     Ira Land of Riverhead Suffolk County


Some thoughts and questions:

• Merritt’s wife Elenor died on 31 October 1854 so this may have been the first reason for him to add a Codicil.
• Merritt makes sure there is money for tombstones for himself and Elenor. The money has increased by $10 for each. He is also requesting a fence around his, Elenor and deceased daughter Elenor Ann’s graves. I believe Elenor Ann died at the age of 15 in 1823.
• Merritt’s widowed daughter Sally has remarried. Perhaps an additional reason for the 1st Codicil. Her son Elbert was 11 years old at the time of this Codicil. I wonder why Merritt was so concerned about Elbert having money for a home when this was not a concern for any of the other grandchildren? Was it because Elbert’s father had passed away and his mother Sally had remarried? It also sounds like there is an estate that Elbert will be eligible for from his father, so, that may be why he is then transferring some of his estate to Elbert’s brothers and sister. Sister Rosalie was not born at this time. I find this change interesting.
• What is the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions? Merritt is leaving them a substantial amount of money ($100 then would be equivalent to about $3,000 today). After some research I learned that the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was among one of the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most important of American missionary organizations and consisted of participants from Reformed traditions such as Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and German Reformed churches. I am not finding Merritt in local Presbyterian records, so, I am guessing he may have attended the Congregational Church in the area?  What does this tell me about his religious beliefs?
• There are new witnesses to this Codicil then in the original Will: James H. Tuthill and Ira Land.

Some major changes in life and interests have led to this first Codicil.  There are two more Codicils to learn from.  Merritt would live for two more years.  How will Merritt’s wishes change in the next Codicil?


If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.
Enjoy the journey,
Debby