Category: Ellis

Statistically Speaking

Posted on by FHadmin

Family history is about facts and stories.  However, it is also interesting to look at it from a statistical perspective.  Statistics about a family can include number of direct ancestors, size of family tree, immigration years, longevity, causes of death, military service branches, occupations, political leanings, religious beliefs, and more.  This article takes a look at a few set of statistics using both numerical and  visual methods.

 

 

Family Tree Size

The chart shows the size of my official trees compared to the size of the same tree on Ancestry.com.  It might seem odd that they are different sizes.  Many people synchronize their trees on ancestry.com with their local tree.  However, I have chosen not to do that.  In part, I use the tree on ancestry when researching people or entire family lines (e.g. Lemuel McCracken’s ancestry).  In that case, I have added many people to my tree online that I haven’t yet attached to the family or where I have created a temporary attachment that allows me to do additional searching. (And, yes, I make notes on them that they are not confirmed relationships.)

You will notice that in the case of Rod’s family that the online tree is actually smaller.  This comes from data that we learned in places other than ancestry.com.  In the case of my family, much of the information I had from other sources was already in my tree before I did an initial upload.

You will also notice a huge difference in the size of Rod’s family tree and my family tree.  The primary reason, besides the fact that I have been researching my family tree for a longer period of time, is that three of his family lines immigrated to the United States in the mid-1850s while most of my family lines immigrated prior to that time.  See the Immigration section for more details.

 

Military

The chart shows the relatives in our families that served in the Revolutionary War by surname with the surnames grouped by color into the various family lines.  It demonstrates that the Klinefelter family line had the most participants followed by the Ellis family line.  See Soldiers and Fireworks for more charts about military service.

Immigration

McCracken-Pellett

The chart shows the earliest year that I can confirm each family line was in the United States.  In some cases, it is when the family immigrated to the United States.  However, often it is the earliest record for someone in that family line.  For example, if I show someone was born in the United States in 1780 and I have no records that show the specific date that the family came to the country (or Colonies), it would be included in the 1751-1800 range.

Of the families identified back as far as my 5th great grandparents, a vast majority of them were in the United States prior to 1800.  Five of those identified never immigrated to the United States. It is very likely that with additional research that some of the families where I do not know a firm immigration date will be found to have been in the country at an earlier time period than their current category.

The forty that are yet to be determined are in that category either because I hit a brick wall in research or more likely simply because I haven’t had time to research those families in depth.  I suspect that they will split with a smaller percentage having early arrival dates and the larger percentage never having immigrated.

 

Immigration

Thomson – Helm

The Thomson-Helm chart looks very different than the McCracken-Pellett chart. You will notice that the number of families with known dates in the United States or Colonies is much smaller.  This is because three of Rod’s four main family lines did not immigrated to the United States until the mid-1800s.

Of the 103 family lines that are not yet determined, a vast majority are expected to fall into the category of “Never Immigrated.”  With additional research many of these can be verified.  However, a portion of them are from Eastern Europe likely in or near Poland and Ukraine.  These family lines may be impossible to trace with any accuracy.

Name Infographic

Helm

Phillip & Mary, their children, grandchildren, and the spouses

This image shows the prevalence of given names in Phillip and Mary Helm’s family.  I created it for a post about the confusion around the Helm family due to so many people having the same or similar names.  This type of graphic does not include the numerical values.  Instead, it demonstrates the values using the size of the text.  Clearly, the variations of the name Wilhelm/Wilhelmena are the most common name in the family.  The actual numbers aren’t always important when looking at trends or prevalence of certain pieces of data.  This type of chart can also be useful in looking at locations of birth/death, causes of death, or any other piece of data or characteristic with repetitive values.

The blog Helm Confusion further discusses information about this graphic.

 

 

Age at Time of Death

Pellett

The chart shows the age of death of members of the Pellett family.  My mom is the person in the center semi-circle.  This provides a visual that shows not only age of death of ancestors, but also trends (or lack there of) by generation and by family line.

One thing that is obvious from this chart is that the further back the generation the younger people tended to die on average.  That said, you will see examples of people living longer back many generations.  So, the fact that the average lifespan today is greater than it was generations ago seems to be based a lot on eradicating  and minimizing childhood diseases and  the availability of more advanced medical assistance rather than any changes that make humans naturally live longer.

In the chart, the ones that died very young often are women who died in childbirth.  When all the charts are completed (Okay, created.  With genealogy, nothing is ever complete), this chart will have a companion chart that shows cause of death when known.  This will give a bit of insight into the correlation between age of death and cause of death.

It is also interesting to look at the age of death compared to location, time period, and cause of death.  One of my observations, which is not proven, is that early settlers in cities often lived longer than their descendants who moved westward. 

I have a section on the website for Statistics.  The Earliest Ancestor sections have data in them.  However, most other sections are blank right now.  Expect this section of the website to start to take shape in 2025.

DNA

Lemuel & Louisiana

 

Descendants of Lemuel and Louisiana

This chart is focused specifically on DNA matches related to my research of Lemuel L. and Louisiana (Matteer) McCracken.  The first three entries show that 95 total descendants of Lemuel and/or Louisiana have taken DNA tests with one of the companies that members of our closer family have tested.  A considerable majority of them are descendants of the children that they had together.  However, it is possible that additional descendants have tested with other companies or simply do not match as third cousins and beyond are not guaranteed to match.

 

McCracken DNA Matches

The 80 DNA matches who have been identified as descendants of James  & Rachel (Kelly) McCracken show why this couple appears to be Lemuel’s maternal grandparents or great-grandparents (Y-DNA indicates Peppard is likely our paternal line).  It does include descendants of a couple of people that are not proven by records to be their grandchildren, but where DNA and available data indicate that it is very likely that they are members of this family. 

 

Peppard DNA Matches

Similarly, the 119 matches to descendants of Johnathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard indicate why they are believed to be Lemuel’s grandparents.  In this case, there are another 18 matches that are in the Bailey family.  However, this specific Bailey family has a Y-DNA match to the Peppard family along with many autosomal matches to the Peppard family.  Thus, it is believed that this specific Bailey family descends from the Peppard family despite a different paper trail. 

The graphic also shows a group of matches through Louisiana to the Matteer family.  We do have a paper trail on Louisiana back to her parents.  However, the DNA matches help prove in her family line.

Additionally, several hundred DNA matches to Louisiana have been identified that are believed to fit into several earlier generations of her family.  This information will be shared when it is finalized. 

I have worked more on Lemuel’s ancestors since I have been working to identify his parents.  In his case, an additional 1200 matches have been identified that are believed to most likely be related to Lemuel.  However, it is possible that some of them are not actually connected the way they appear.

 

A Challenging Life

Posted on by FHadmin

Not a lot is known about my great-great grandfather Joseph Lewis Ellis’ brother Stephen.  However, his life and the life of those around him must have been very challenging.

 

Stephen’s Illness

Stephen E. Ellis (Elless) was born August 5, 1841 in Ripley County, Indiana.  He was the fourth child and third son of David and Lucy Ann (Storms) Ellis.  David and Lucy Ann would go on to have 4 more children after Stephen was born.

Apparently, Stephen was a normal little boy until around age two or three when he had spinal fever (spinal meningitis).  It affected his limbs and left them useless.  At the same time, he became totally blind although his hearing remained intact.  The fever also resulted in him being epileptic and what was described at the time as “idiotic.”  The latter term appears to have been used to described a variety of mental issues.  It was used for everything from depression to someone who was mentally disabled.  Thus, it is unclear as to Stephen’s exact mental state.  However, his obituary states,

“[H]is life was mingled with deep sorrow on account of the loss of his eyes and the use of his limbs.  For fifty-two years in total darkness.  The days, weeks, months and years went wearly by.  The clouds, the deep blue sky, the sun, the verdant plains, rolling hills, the murmuring brooks and the beautiful and romantic scenes of this fairy world had no charm for him.”

It is hard to imagine a playful young boy whose ability to run and play was so quickly snatched away from him. 

 

Life Afterward

The census stated that when he was eight that he was attending school alongside his older brothers and sisters.  However, this appears to have been an error as it seems he never had that opportunity.  His days it appears where spent at home with his mother and younger siblings that were not in school.  Without use of his arms and legs, he couldn’t play with his siblings, help around the house, or even do basic care of himself.

 

Move to Illinois

By 1870, Stephen’s father David had died.  Lucy Ann, Stephen, his younger brother Henry, and his younger sister Susan had moved to Rutland, La Salle, Illinois, which was about 100 miles southwest of Chicago.  I can’t imagine making that move in that era with a grown man who was both blind and physically disabled.  It is unclear if he even fully understood what was happening.  Making a move like that must have been a bit unnerving for him with the change in routine, his bed, and all the movement.

 

Moving Again

A few years later, Lucy Ann would make another big move.  This time moving from Illinois to Galesburg in Neosho County, Kansas.  Lucy Ann’s son James had previously relocated to Neosho County, arriving there prior to 1870.  Galesburg had been created the following year with the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas (MK&T) Railroad extending to the small village.

By the mid-1870s, some of Lucy Ann’s other children came up to La Salle County.  My great-grandmother Rosa Isabella (Ellis) McCracken Apt was a young child and she had her photograph taken by J. A. Wilson, whose studio was above the 1st National Bank on the corner of Maine and La Salle streets in nearby Ottawa, Illinois.

In September 1876, the La Salle Board of Supervisors recognized Lucy and Stephen as paupers.  Thus, they allocated money to the town of Rutland to provide them railroad fare to Neosho County if the leaders of Rutland felt so inclined.  It seems that it would have been very difficult for Lucy to travel alone with Stephen.  Perhaps Susan or some other member of the family traveled with them.

All of Lucy and David’s living children ended up relocating to Neosho County except Henry, who spent time back in Indiana before moving to South Dakota.  However, it is unknown how the others traveled and if they traveled together.  In any case, all of Lucy’s children that moved to Neosho County ended up arriving there by 1880 with her daughter Ellen and her husband William H. Nicholson making the trip sometime between May 1876 and May 1877.  So, they traveled close to the time Lucy did, but it is unknown if they traveled from La Salle County, Illinois or elsewhere.

 

Kansas

 

In Galesburg, Lucy Ann, Stephen and Susan lived with her daughter Amanda and Amanda’s husband John Kirkpatrick. Their household made up 8% of the village, which had only 63 inhabitants in 1880.  The women were Stephen’s primary caretakers, as John worked for the railroad.

Lucy received money from the county to help with expenses.  The county would continue to assist the family from time to time throughout the remainder of Stephen’s life.

In December 1880, Susan married Ormas Doolittle.  By 1885 Susan and her husband, who was a Civil War veteran turned plasterer, were living in a separate home.  Similarly, Amanda and her husband, who had quit the railroad to become a hotel keeper, had a separate property.  Lucy and Stephen are not listed in the 1885 state census, but it is clear that they are not living with either Lucy or Susan.  Thus, it is most likely that they were living in a separate residence in Galesburg since Lucy was not known to live anywhere else.  

It would seem that the care-taking of Stephen fell squarely on Lucy’s shoulders.  Likely, Susan and possibly Amanda continued to help care for Stephen part-time.  However, having a hotel, Amanda would likely not have been able to get away often.  By this time, Lucy’s son Joseph and her daughter Ellen had moved to other nearby counties.  Leaving James, who lived in Osage Mission, as the only other of her children nearby.

 

In The End

After Lucy died at age 71 in October 1886, Stephen lived with Susan and her husband until his death on June 26, 1897.  He was only 55, but death must have come as a relief to him.  Finally, Stephen could once again run, play, and see the world.  He was buried next to his mother at Mt. Hope Cemetery and he shares a gravestone with her.

 

The Double Helix & Genealogy

Posted on by FHadmin

 

 

What if DNA hadn’t been discovered ?  Similarly, what if the United States was like some other countries that prohibited or severely limited DNA testing ?  The lack of DNA evidence would definitely change my research.  There are relatives that I likely would not have found and stories that would be lost.

DNA & Genetic Genealogy

We take the knowledge of DNA for granted as it was discovered more than 150 years ago.  DNA testing for paternity was developed in the 1980s.  By comparison, genetic genealogy is a relatively new field.  As such, many misconceptions exist about DNA, DNA testing, and genetic genealogy.  Before I jump into what I have found using genetic genealogy, I thought I would address the top seven common misconceptions I regularly see expressed.

Misconception: Testing Anywhere Automatically Matches Anybody

>Complaint: “I tested and I don’t see a match to X.” 

>Response: “Did they test with the same company?”

>Answer: “No.”

A DNA match will not show up to someone that hasn’t tested with the same company.  So, if you are looking for a specific person (e.g. someone’s child that was adopted), you may not find them.  This is why it is recommended that people looking for someone specific test on multiple sites and upload to any that allow it.

Misconception: DNA Results Should Tell Me Who My parent/grandparent is

>Complaint: “The results don’t tell me . . . “

>Related Question: “How can it tell me I am related to an ancestor as they never took a DNA test?”

You can determine your parent or grandparent without them testing IF their descendants or other relatives have tested.  However, in most cases, it requires research. The more distant the match; the more work that will be required to find the answer (and this includes a lot of traditional research).

Misconception: You Will Have Many Matches With Your Surname

Because you don’t see your surname among your top matches does NOT mean that you were adopted or the product of an affair.  It is not uncommon to find few if any people in your top matches that have your surname.

Misconception: Gender Matters With Autosomal DNA

Question:  “Should I have my male cousin test?  Will that give me a better match to my dad’s family?”

When using autosomal DNA (E.g. Ancestry.com) it does not matter if you are male or female.  In other words, two males will not necessarily match better than a male and a female.  However, having multiple people test is very useful, particularly if you are looking for someone several generations back.

Misconception:  Testing Company Labels Are Gospel

The labels assigned by the companies are not always how you relate to the person.  With the exception of self, parent/child, and sibling labels, which are generally accurate, the other labels are a guess of the relationship.  It is important to use dnapainter.com or other reliable source to determine the possible relationships to the match.

Misconception: Ethnicities are 100% Accurate and DNA Inherits Evenly

DNA is not this cut and dried.  Each person matches approximately 50% of each parent, but not exactly 50-50.  When they have children, there is no guarantee what portion of their DNA the child will get.  Hence, the smaller the amount of DNA shared is, the wider the range of potential relationships.  In addition, companies are still evolving their data sets and algorithms for these computations.  Additionally, each company has different data sets and different algorithms.  It is far from settled technology. So, look for it to continue to change. 

Misconception: DNA Results Can Be Flawed

The most important rule is that DNA does not lie.  Tests may be inadvertently switched by the user or the results may be misinterpreted, but the companies don’t just “get it wrong.”  The chances of a test getting switched in the company’s lab is extremely small. And, no, matching mom’s side and not dad’s side is not an error by the company.

My Research

A majority of my personal DNA research has been focused on solving the question of “Who were Lemuel McCracken’s parents?”  Lemuel is my great-great grandfather.  Thus, this is a complex problem to solve. And, given the genetic distance, proving who his parents are even with extensive genetic and traditional genealogy may not be possible.  However, a lot has been learned and many new relatives identified along the way.

Close Relatives Identified

I have determined that 18 DNA matches are descendants of Lemuel and his first wife Sarah Dufer.  59 matches (including myself) descend from Lemuel and our great-great grandmother Louisiana (Mateer) (Badgley) McCracken.  And, I have identified 11 DNA matches that descend from Louisiana (Matteer) (Badgley) McCracken through her first marriage.  This is a total of 88 cousins this branch of the family that have done DNA testing. 

Most are fourth cousins or closer with a few with relationships beyond that.  However, it is important to remember that those through other marriages are half relationships.  Thus, they generally share a smaller amount of DNA with us.

In identifying these relatives, I found numerous that I did not know existed.  Some of them I would have eventually found via the paper trail although research of living people can be challenging.  However, others might have been extremely difficult or impossible without genetic genealogy.  Some have been placed at the appropriate location in my tree. 

Others are still under investigation and are not included in the numbers listed.  One example is a sister and brother that have ties to Girard, Kansas.  I have been able to determine that they are descendants of Andrew Johnson and Rosa Isabella (Ellis) McCracken.  Also, using DNA, I have been able to eliminate certain sons of Andrew and Rosa as their potential grandfather.

Confirming Louisiana’s Name  

DNA matches have also provided evidence confirming Louisiana’s maiden name as Matteer.  This is important as her name was shown as several different names on different documents. We have matches to 18 direct descendants of her father Mathias Matteer.  Additionally, many others have been identified to the Matteer family in general.

Search For Lemuel’s Parents

The search for Lemuel’s parents has consumed hundreds (ok, thousands) of hours.  Like most cases, it is a mix of genetic genealogy and traditional genealogy.  So little was known about him prior to his marriage to my great-great grandmother Louisiana (Matteer) (Badgley) McCracken that I began to think a space ship just dropped him off in Iowa one day in the early 1850s.

I didn’t even have a specific place to look for records as his location of birth was listed as both Ohio and Pennsylvania.  And, nothing more specific was given anywhere.  So, I asked as many people as possible to test.  It was very useful having results for a lot of people, as some of them matched one family a lot more than another did. 

As, a result of efforts to date, Lemuel appears to be the son of a Ms. McCracken and a Mr. Peppard.  These two families were first identified with autosomal DNA using primarily ancestry.com, but also on other sites.

McCracken

In the McCracken family, I have been able to determine that Lemuel is likely the son or grandson of James McCracken and Rachel Kelly.  To determine this I have found 35 DNA matches that trace directly to James and Rachel.  I have also found 20 matches that go back to Julia Ann (McCracken) Byers and 9 to Rachel (McCracken) Lytle . Both women lived in the same county where James lived at the time Lemuel was born.  My hypothesis is that they are daughters of his son Thomas, who was deceased prior to Lemuel’s birth. 

Additionally, I have found 9 matches to Henry McCracken who raised his family several counties away (referred to as “Henry of Ohio” so as not to be confused with Lemuel’s son Henry).  I have also been of the belief that he was also a son of Thomas as it was specified in James’ will that Thomas had sons Henry and William that were underage.  A William was also found living in the area where Henry lived.

Assuming Lemuel’s mother was a McCracken, she is the daughter of one of James and Rachel’s daughters or granddaughters.  Some of them can be eliminated because they were married and they had children at intervals that would make it impossible or unlikely that they are his mother.  A more detailed analysis will be included in a later article.

Peppard

Autosomal data shows a large group of DNA matches to descendants of Jonathan Peppard and his wife Elizabeth Gilmore.  To break it down, we match 43 descendants of their son John, 6 of their son William, 21 of their daughter Rebecca, 10 of their son Francis, 26 of their daughter Phoebe, and 14 descendants of their son David.  This is a total of 120 DNA matches that have been directly connected to this couple using traditional genealogy.

One of their sons (John, William, Francis, David, and Isaac) would seem to be Lemuel’s father unless there is an unknown son of John.  The latter cannot be ruled out yet.

The greatest number of matches are to John.  However, numbers of matches alone isn’t meaningful as it depends on the size of families how people many tested, how much shared DNA they have with the tests that I use for research, and whether I can connect them to the tree.  It is very possible that if I am able to connect the many outstanding matches that the numbers will shift significantly.  In addition, some members of John’s family came to Kansas. Thus, some of these descendants may be the result of mixing with other families that relate to us.  That is yet to be determined.

I determined that our surname likely should be Peppard by adding the results of Y-DNA to autosomal DNA research.  Without the autosomal DNA, I might think the Peppard was an anomaly and McCracken was the actual surname.  However, since the autosomal DNA shows a strong match to both family names and Peppard shows up as a Y-DNA match, it is seems highly likely that Lemuel’s father was a Peppard.  Now, it is possible that a McCracken is the parent of a Peppard, but I will explain in the next section how new data shows that to be extremely unlikely.

Throw In a Monkey Wrench

New Y-DNA Match

A recent new Y-DNA match led to new questions.  This new match has the last name of Bailey.  Talking with a member of the family, I learned that the family was in Vermont and one man served in the Union Army during the Civil War.  During that interval, he was stationed at Ft. Riley.  There he married and had a son.  After the war, the family moved to Oregon and then Canada.

The new match made me wonder how the Bailey family fit into the picture. I questioned if we were all part of the Bailey family.  Or, were they both McCrackens?  What exactly was going on?

The first thing I did was dig into autosomal DNA looking for matches to descendants of the Bailey family in question.  To date, I have identified 18 Bailey DNA matches that I have been able to trace.  All of them trace to the son that was born in Kansas.  Whether this means anything specific or not is still to be determined.

The Bailey DNA matches also match many of our Peppard DNA matches, but not to McCracken DNA matches in James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken’s known family.  Many of them matched through John Peppard’s sons Thomas and Samuel.  Of interest is the fact that those two were both in Kansas by 1859.  Given that we have DNA matches across several of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard’s children, it appears that the Baileys are a subset of the Peppards and not the other way around.  For the Peppards that we match to be Bailey’s, the connection would have had to had occurred prior to 1744 and likely even earlier.  Given the localization of the Bailey DNA matches and the amount of DNA shared, it seems a Peppard must have fathered a Bailey sometime in the 1800s.

Heny of Ohio And The Peppard Family

During this investigation, I discovered that Henry of Ohio’s descendants are similar to us in that they match Bailey DNA matches, Peppard DNA matches, and McCracken DNA matches.  This led me to again examine if the Peppard family had a stronger connection to the McCracken family than I realized.  To date, none has been found.  And, Henry of Ohio’s descendants do not appear to be closer DNA matches to Lemuel’s descendants than James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken’s descendants.  Thus, I am currently scratching my head on this topic.

 McCracken-Peppard Relationships As Of September 2024

The above diagram attempts to give a visual of what I believe I am seeing in the DNA relationships between the various McCracken and Peppard lines.  All groups have DNA matches not related to the other groups.  However, it was not possible to demonstrate that in the diagram.  Thus, this diagram simply shows groups that share DNA matches with other groups.

Also, I included Rachel and Julia Ann as a part of James and Rachel’s family.  This is not proven; however, it seems highly likely based on DNA matches.  Note that so far I have not identified matches between Henry and Rachel or Julia Ann.

Future DNA Research

Who Were Arthur Reid Thomson’s parents?

Arthur Thomson arrived in Canada from Scotland as a teenage orphan. He then immigrated to the United States.  We have bits and pieces of stories about his life in Scotland.  However, no one has been able to confirm his parents’ names or that of the grandfather with whom he supposedly lived.  He is Rod’s great-great grandfather.  Thus, the same generationally as Lemuel is to me.  However, additional complications may be encountered since he was born in Scotland and his parents died some time before he left Scotland.

Who Were Roger Ellis’ Parents?

Many Ellis families lived in the areas of Kentucky and Indiana where Roger Ellis, my 4th great grandfather lived.  However, he claimed to be born in Pennsylvania while many of the others claimed to have been born in Virginia.  I have done some research into Washington County, Pennsylvania as various pieces of data lend to that area being a possible location for his family.  Some people have identified a man that they believe is his father.  However, this appears to be based on them living in a similar area – not on a paper trail.

I have started some basic genetic genealogy work on this project.  However, the Lemuel project keeps pulling me away from this one.  Additionally, given the number of generations and the fact that Ellis is a common name, it is unclear how fruitful this project will be.

Which Thomas Marshall is the grandfather of Elizabeth Brown Donaldson?

Elizabeth Brown Donaldson claimed to be relation to Chief Justice John Marshall.  The paper trail is a bit broken.  One researcher who focuses on the Marshall family, connected what he believes to be the family line.  However, there was one specific relationship that he could not prove.  Additionally, a woman has been in touch with me who is using DNA to solve this question.  However, it is a big question that will require a lot of work.   Again, this is challenging as it is looking for the parent of a 4th great grandparent and there were at least 3 different family lines, including that of John Marshall, in the same county in the early 1800s.

Did any of Martha (Johnson) Peelle’s siblings have children?

This project is looking for descendants of siblings of my great-great grandmother.  The scenario is that there were supposedly eight children in the family.  The parents died a couple years apart.  Martha’s oldest brother and her youngest sister are known.  Both lived in Iowa and visited her in their later years.  Both of them married, however, neither of them had any known biological children.  The fate of the other five children is unknown.

Can DNA Solve These Problems?

DNA can help find evidence and point us toward a solution.  However, the Lemuel project and the other future projects are huge problems.  I have already made great progress on Lemuel’s story with families, locations, and more.  I fully believe that I can narrow down the answers to any of these projects using a combination of DNA results, traditional genealogy, lots of hard work, and a bit of luck.  Proving that the answers are correct is a whole other animal.

 

 

DNA image by Sinousxl via pixabay.com

 

Family Secrets

Posted on by FHadmin

I find that many of the stories that I write are about family secrets or at a minimum – things that were taboo or just weren’t talked about in the family even if the intent wasn’t to keep them a secret.  I find them very intriguing because as Paul Harvey would say they tell us “the rest of the story.”

 

Setting the Stage

Each family seems to have their own slant on what is or was acceptable to discuss and what is or was considered hush, hush.  Many of the secrets in a family have to do with maintaining the family’s reputation.  No doubt some of this changed over time as certain things became more acceptable to occur and/or more acceptable to discuss.  However, even today there are things that families don’t discuss.

This article touches on some of the many secrets in the families that I research.  Some of the stories have been written in detail, others will be written, and others I will avoid writing as they aren’t my story to tell.

If you think anything mentioned herein wouldn’t happen in your family, you are most likely incorrect.  All families have secrets and things that aren’t discussed

Health

I found that some of the families didn’t want to discuss health issues in the family – no matter what kind of issue existed.  It was many years before we knew the whole story about my husband’s father’s death.  It was only after we got our hands on a copy of his autopsy that we learned what had occurred back in 1968.  And, thankfully, they had written a very thorough report.

Mental Health

Mental health seemed to be more sensitive than physical health.  My Grandfather Pellett, for instance, fell, injured his leg, got gangrene, and was hospitalized at the VA hospital for years.  And, if you asked the family, that is the story that they would tell.  However, they left out the part that he had what we would call PTSD from his time serving in World War I in France.  That, it appears, is the primary reason that he was hospitalized for so many years.  Read more . . .

In a similar vein, my husband’s grandfather’s first wife Lulu was in and out of the hospital for mental reasons.  This occurred after her children were born and may very well have been related to post-partum depression, although I do not know exactly what her issue was.  Never knew about it until I found multiple newspaper articles that mentioned it.  I had assumed she was just at the state hospital because of her tuberculosis since they often placed patients with it in state facilities.

Reproductive Health

Women’s health issues were among the hush, hush topics across all the families I have researched.  Miscarriages, hysterectomies, and the like were not to be discussed, especially in front of men or children.

I asked a member of the older generation once about why her parents had a 10-year gap between two of their children.  I knew they had lost one child, but wondered if there were others or if something else had occurred.  Well, that was the last time she communicated with me on any subject.  Clearly, it was something she wasn’t going to talk about and did not like that I had asked.

So, little was the discussion about such things that Mom didn’t even tell Dad that she had a prescription for birth control pills.  I assume the doctor gave it to her because he was greatly concerned with her having more children.  Anyway, we found it after she had passed.  She had never filled it, but she also had never thrown it away.  She probably didn’t want anyone to see it in the trash.  Of course, she was embarrassed by bra and girdle commercials when she was dating.  So, . . .

Births, Adoptions, & More

The short first pregnancy seemed to be something that was often hidden.  I have found this hidden so often that people in the last 50 years seem to think it is a recent phenomena.  It clearly has existed over the generations.  For instance, my mother-in-law’s oldest full sister was the result of a short pregnancy as was my great-aunt Lydia.  In some cases, it is difficult to detect as they easily changed dates to make it seem as if everything was proper.  Read more . . .

Adoptions were also sensitive and my husband experienced being told not to mention that a family member was adopted.  Of course, people were also led to believe his cousin was actually his uncle as his grandparents raised their daughter’s child. 

Similarly, my Grandma Pellett was so petrified of what people would think about her daughters having a child outside marriage that she had a fit when her daughter Ruby wrote on a postcard that she was bringing Babe home.  Babe was a cat that she was getting, but Grandma Pellett was petrified that the mailman would read the postcard and think her daughter had had a baby.  And, she had an even bigger fit when her granddaughter had a child too soon after her marriage.

On the other hand, in my dad’s family, it was perfectly acceptable to talk about my cousin Heather being adopted.  However, when one of my cousins became pregnant outside marriage, she still felt the need to hide the pregnancy and give the child up for adoption.  Meanwhile, my more distant cousins tried to convince me and others of a pregnancy outside marriage that would make us related to President John Adams.  Read more . . .

First Spouses

Numerous first spouses were never mentioned or only minimally.  In some cases, it almost seemed like a secret, but I suspect it just wasn’t part of the conversation.  Lemuel McCracken and Louisiana (Matteer) Badgley McCracken are two examples.  However, it seems that their entire lives were one big secret.  Read more . . .

In other cases, I think it was a secret for whatever reason.  One situation was Herman Kutzner and his first wife Ernstine.  They had two daughters and then divorced.  My mother-in-law never had the opportunity to meet her two half-aunts although her mother knew her half-sisters.  Read more . . .

William Johnson Peelle’s possible first wife and child, is another example of a hidden story.  If this story is accurate as it appears to be, it clearly was hidden.  However, my aunts seemed to overhear something and created a new story.  It wasn’t accurate as they clearly only heard piece parts of the story.  Read more . . .

David Ellis was Lucy Ann (Storms) Ellis’ only husband, but he was treated a lot like a previous husband.  Other than grandsons and great-grandsons named David, he is simply not mentioned in any documents or obituaries after the family left Indiana.  A record exists for a David Ellis that died during the Civil War, but it is not clear that this is the same David Ellis.  And, if it was, it would seem that the family would mention him as most families viewed those who served with great respect.  What happened to him is at least a mystery and possibly a family secret.

Maintaining A Reputation

Marriage Secrets

Elizabeth Ashby’s name was always shown as Ashby and it was always thought that her maiden name either wasn’t known or an error was made and her married surname had been listed.  With research, I learned that both her maiden and married surnames were Ashby.  Recently, I discovered a letter where a relative explained to my aunt that her maiden name was also Ashby, but that her and her husband Grant were not related.  I am sure that is what she had been told and fully believed.  However, they were half-first cousins.

It was not a secret that Johann Phillip Helm married Maria Katherina about a month after she arrived in the country.  However, the circumstances that led to that quick marriage appear to be a bit of a secret.  Read more . . .   

Secret Babies

I found two siblings that are descendants of my great-grandparents.  They didn’t know they were related to us.  They always believed their paper genealogy.  I never knew about this connection and I am still working to find out exactly how we connect.

Run-ins With The Law

Great-grandpa William Johnson Peelle spent a night in the calaboose, per his own admission.  However, it was written in his journals.  My grandparents kept them in a desk that he had made.  My dad and his siblings were not allowed to even touch the desk.  Dad always figured this is one of the facts that his mom did not want her kids to know.

When Warren Jury was upset because the girl he had his eye on turned him down.  He took matters into his own hands.  It was all over the news, but the women in the family never spoke of the incident.  Read more . . .

Arthur Callaway deciding to shoot Jake Helm made the newspaper and a court case ensued.  Yet, the story as told doesn’t seem to add up.  The story seemed to be swept under the rug even though my mother-in-law was present.  In this case, it wasn’t family doing the shooting.  Well, not exactly.  Arthur was a cousin of Jake’s daughter Rosa’s husband.

Just Pure Tragedy

No one spoke out loud about Rebecca Jury and her tragic life.  If it were not for newspapers and records, the family would never have known what was behind those whispers between Grandma McCracken and her sister Lydia Peelle.  Read more . . .

More Secrets

There are more secrets that I have uncovered.  Some that I will write about one day and some that I think are best left alone.  Yet, I doubt that I am done uncovering secrets.  Matter of fact, I am currently researching a genetic tie to a Bailey family.  Before anyone gets excited – They are NOT related at least in any close way and likely not at all to the Baileys of Bourbon County.  It appears that connection occurred during or before the Civil War and they tie into our Peppard ancestry.  I hope to have more to share on that soon.

 

Woman Image by: Willgard Krause from Pixabay;

 

Substitute Grandpa

Posted on by FHadmin

It isn’t unusual for a grandfather to be absent from their grandchildren’s lives.  But, it is rare for a special man to step into his shoes and be adored by his step-grandchildren.

 

Special Memories

After Andrew Johnson McCracken died at age 53 of a heart attack, Andrew and Rosa (Ellis) McCracken’s grandchildren were left without a grandfather.  Although Andrew and Rosa’s youngest child, Ray Eugene McCracken, was only 10 years old, they already had several grandchildren.  The oldest of the grandchildren were Cora Salyer (daughter of Cynthia McCracken & Vernie Salyer) and O’Ella McCracken (daughter of Joe and Nellie Peelle McCracken). 

Being around five years of age, Cora and O’Ella hadn’t had an opportunity to create a lot of memories with their grandfather.  O’Ella told me that all she really remembered about her “official” grandfather was that one time he took her to his store, which also had counter service, and she got an ice cream cone.  That was quite a treat for a country girl in the late 1910s.

 

Will Apt, Rosa Ellis McCracken Apt, Ray McCracken, Bell McCracken when Will and Rosa married.

Filling The Grandpa Shoes

It wasn’t until September 22, 1924, four and a half years after Andrew died, that Rosa remarried to William Ellsworth Apt.  Rosa had known Will, as she called him, for years as he had boarded with her sister Martha “Mattie” and her husband Abe Francis since the early to mid-1880s.  They initially lived in Galesburg, Kansas, which Will had lived for many years.  However, they ended up moving to Farlington, Kansas near several of Rosa’s children. 

That move gave many of Andrew and Rosa’s grandchildren the opportunity to get to know their step-grandfather.  Unlike many men thrust into that role, he cherished and enjoyed it.  The grandkids called him “Grandpa Apt” and considered him more than grandma’s husband.  He was grandpa and for most of them, he was the only grandpa that they had ever known.

 

Fish Stories

Multiple of the grandkids reported that Grandpa Apt was tons of fun.  He would tell the best stories and Grandma Rosa would often say, “Oh, Will!” when overhearing his tales.  He had plenty of practice telling stories as he liked to fish – a lot.  Sometimes the fishing was successful and sometimes it wasn’t.  On May 3, 1901, the Galesburg Enterprise wrote that Will and several other men went to the river to “manufacture fish stories.”

One of the stories he told occurred about a year before Will married Rosa.  Apparently, that day he had two spare hooks baited with grasshoppers attached to his hat.  Somehow he tangled with a tree and the tree caught his hat and pulled it from his head.  Before it could be retrieved, it was dropped into the river and swept away.  Another of the men was fishing further downstream and lo and behold he caught a cat fish wearing Will’s hat!  The fish had got caught on one of the hooks on Will’s hat.  Now, that’s a fish tale! (Adapted from the Chanute Weekly Tribune, August 23, 1923)

 

The Dentist

Even a trip to the dentist could be a good story if Grandpa Apt was involved.  One time he had a tooth bothering him, but did he say that he had a tooth ache?  No, instead, he said that it “kept him doing a tango on one foot.”  The dentist decided against pulling it and put in a filling.  Apparently, Will found this process quite painful and said that he wanted to kick the furniture out of the dentist’s office.

 

Travels

However, many of Grandpa Apt’s stories likely came from his travels around Southeast Kansas and beyond.  He was always on the go, typically with friends.  Included were many fishing trips, a little hunting, and lots of events.  One of Grandpa Apt’s favorite things to do was to get a bunch of guys together to go to a baseball game in another town.  However, he also went to races, wrestling matches and more.

In the evening, he attended shows, the opera, and productions, such as, Ben Hur.  In addition, he joined organizations around the region, such as, Modern Woodmen of America and the Eagles, which met in other towns. 

Will was often seen in Erie, Parsons, and Chanute.  However, he would fairly regularly venture to more distant locations, including Ft. Scott, Walnut, Farlington, Kansas City, Rich Hill, Yates Center, Cherryvale, and Baxter Springs.  In 1904, he, along with 11 of his closest friends, packed their bags and hopped a train to the World’s Fair in St. Louis.  Some years later, he vacationed with friends in Galveston, Texas, which he determined was a good place to visit, but he did not want to live there.

In his hometown, Will was a part of the city council, the election board, and helped plan Decoration Day (Memorial Day) and 4th of July celebrations.  All of this kept him busy and on the go.

 

The Bearded Woman

Among the events Grandpa Apt attended were circuses put on by several different companies.  When the Ringling Brothers were in the area.  He was faced with a decision that could have changed his life.  They offered him a position as the head canvasman where he would have been in charge of putting up and taking down the tents. 

Officially, he turned down the job over a misunderstanding over how much he would be paid.  However, rumor had it that they had just offered him this job as ruse to get him with the circus so that they could convince him to perform as the bearded woman.

You see, Grandpa Apt was handsome, sported facial hair, and was quite diminutive in stature.  It was the perfect combination for the role.

 

Floating

Another thing that amazed Will’s step-grandchildren was his ability to lay on his back and float with a beer sitting steadily balanced upon his stomach.  Now, this is quite a feat for anyone, but it was especially impressive since Grandpa Apt had only one leg.  Thus, he had to balance his body without the use of two legs to counter-balance each other.

 

The Illness

I don’t know the entire story of how Will came to lose a leg.  I do know that Will, along with his siblings and his parents Samuel and Elizabeth Apt, moved from Ohio to Kansas about 1871.  A couple of years later when Will was around 11, he was stricken with some illness and was bedridden for around six years.  His illness likely contributed to Will being very short as his body did not get any exercise or sunshine.  In addition, his body was using the fuel it had to fight his illness rather than for growth.

 

Cemetery Plot

It was during this time that Mount Hope Cemetery (a.k.a. Galesburg Cemetery) was laid out.  Will was in such low condition that a man remarked to Will’s father, “Your son will probably be the first to be buried in it.”  Whether this man’s statement made a difference or not to Samuel is unknown.  However, he purchased one of the first cemetery plots for Will.

Years later when Dad and his brother Don were at Mount Hope looking for Grandpa Apt’s grave, Don mentioned this story.  Dad responded that in that case, they were looking in the wrong place.  They needed to go up to the entrance to the cemetery.

 

Survival

A doctor, however, decided that his issue had something to do with blood poisoning and that amputating his leg was the only way to possibly save him.  Thus, Will lost his leg, but his life was saved.  Through it all, his personality, positive outlook, and good humor survived.  It was stated that in May 1878 when they loaded the couch he was laying on into a wagon and took him to his brother-in-law’s home that “his joy would nearly equal that of a blind man receiving sight.” (The Head-Light, Thayer, Kansas May 8, 1878)

The illness left Grandpa Apt as a well-functioning addict who still needed the morphine he had taken for years.  He would go to the junk piles looking for old morphine bottles.  Grandpa Apt would then add water to them and swirl it around in hopes that traces of the drug remained in the bottle.

His recovery must have been long.  He had to gain his strength back.  Then he had to learn to walk and do daily activities while using crutches.  Still, he somehow managed  to learn to get around well enough to become the croquet champion of Galesburg.

 

Making A Living

A Barber

Will, despite being a semi-biped, was a barber for around 45 years.  I am unaware of how Will decided to become a barber, but it seems interesting that he chose a profession where he had to stand on one leg all day.  Of course, he only had a 7th grade education and being a farmer like his father was not an option.

He got around using crutches and there was excitement when he got a set with “rubber wheels.”.  When working in his barber shop he put his “stump” up on a stool, freeing him from the crutches.  He became well-known and was referred to as the resident tonsorial artist, the genial knight of the “razor,” and the painless whisker extractor.

 

Proprietor

He started barbering sometime prior to 1888 when he opened his own shop on Main Street.  Business must have been slow nine years later when he reduced the price for a shave to 5 cents with a special of 22 for a dollar. 

However, it wasn’t long before he was dressing up his shop.  In July 1901, he got a new chair for his shop.  Then in 1903, he moved his shop to near the Francis home and moved a new building that he bought from a doctor to the lot on Main Street.  The new building was larger and offered more opportunity for business.  That December he added new signage on the door and window.

At the beginning of 1904, he offered a haircut for 20 cents, a shave for 10 cents, a neck shave for 2 cents, sea foam for 15 cents and hair tonic for 10 cents.   In 1905, he also started selling barber related products.  His income allowed him to add new carpet in November 1905 and a new hydraulic chair the following spring.

In May 1911, Will was again renovating his shop.  It was said that with the updates and new fixtures that customers would feel like they were in a big city barbershop.  Yet, he wasn’t done.  The following summer he had the exterior painted with wallpaper and other decorations updated on the interior.  

 

Landmark

It was a small town and his barber shop was so well known that Will didn’t need to advertise the location.  Matter of fact, the barbershop became a landmark for describing other locations and events in town.  It was also likely a place the men hung out and stories were told.  Given Will’s jolly personality and his story telling to his grandchildren, it seems likely that he was a major contributor to stories told in the barbershop in Galesburg.

Will, himself, was also well-known and considered a top-notch barber.  At least three aspiring barbers apprenticed with him.  In 1915, Will took on a partner, which was likely needed because he was performing barbering services in at least one other town.  It was that same year that he took the barber examination – after being a barber for around 30 years.

 

Taxi & Auto Livery

For several years Will had a taxi service.  He would take people or things to other towns.  It is unclear how he could be away from the barbershop so often, but it was a small town and he probably just hung up a sign when he was gone.

What was really surprising was that he was driving people around after he got his Ford car in 1914.   Assuming it was a Model T, it would have had three pedals – one for first/neutral/top gear, one for reverse, and one for braking.  Based on the description of how one started to move the car, which included pressing on the gear pedal and the brake simultaneously, it is unclear how he managed to drive with one leg.  It is possible that he had some modification that assisted him in this process.  However, it would have had to have been something other people were comfortable driving, as he also rented out his car.  

Due to extensive business, Will purchased another car a mere two years later.

 

Not All Care Free

Life as an adult wasn’t all care free for Will.  It seemed that when he became ill that he was out of commission for a week or two.  His ability to fight off illness was likely inhibited by his earlier illness.

Then, in July of 1912, he became very ill and was considered in critical condition.  A couple doctors consulted and decided that a blood vessel/blood vessels had burst.  It was a close call, but Will’s resilience came through and again he recovered.  Another time he had a stomach hemorrhage.  He just seemed to be susceptible to those types of issues.

On a lighter note, he was 62 before he caught himself a lady.  It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested or hadn’t tried.  He went to dances, went a courting, and it was said that he had ladies that had caught his eye.  One time the newspaper even reported that he “goes with Mame Hurt. And they do say that he is Apt to get Hurt.”

 

Best Substitute Grandpa

When Grandpa Apt stayed with Dad’s family, Dad said that his grandpa would get up really early and hack for what seemed like eternity.  Then when everyone was awakened, he went back to bed.  He was fast asleep by the time they drug themselves out of bed.  Still, Dad said that he couldn’t imagine a better grandpa. 

The man who doctors thought would never see the age of majority, lived to be 85 years, 9 months and 10 days.  And, despite not taking an actual step after age 11, he sure did get around.