The Long Road To A Homestead

Posted on September 27, 2024September 28, 2024 by FHadmin

Arthur Reid Thomson was only 16 years of age when he boarded a ship for America. His grandfather, he claimed, was sending him to his uncle in New York. However, he never arrived at his uncle’s doorstep. Had he, his road to a homestead would have taken a very different path.

Canada

It was May 1843 when Arthur arrived in Quebec, Canada. It is hard to imagine what was going through his mind during his journey and upon seeing a whole new land, which was so vast in comparison to his homeland of Scotland. He was truly alone, as he had sailed without his brother Alexander “Sandy”, his sister Genia and her husband, or his grandparents. And, his parents were long deceased. He stated that he wrote letters home, but received no response. Thus, he was truly alone in a vast new country.

His only support came from friends, supposedly of the name Hutchinson. He apparently spent time in Montreal, Canada with them. However, he did not put down roots there. Instead, he traveled on. He may have traveled to Rochester, New York. This was likely before he immigrated to the United States in 1847, since it is much closer to Montreal than it is to Detroit, where he crossed when immigrating.

Immigration

Exactly where Arthur traveled in those early days in the Americas isn’t 100% clear. It is said that he may have come to Nebraska about the time Nebraska City became the first city to be incorporated in Nebraska Territory. However, other accounts seem to leave out this early journey to Nebraska.

Marriage

It would be 12 years before Arthur would settle down enough to marry Margaret Ronald. Margaret, who was about 10 years Arthur’s junior, was also an immigrant from Scotland, having arrived in the United States in 1856. At 7:00 p.m. on May 9, 1859, they married at the home of Andrew Christy in Berlin, Wisconsin. However, they would not make Wisconsin their home for long.

Nebraska Territory Here We Come

1860

Within a few months, Arthur and Margaret moved to Nebraska City. In February 1860, their first child was born in their new hometown. Only a couple of months later, Margaret’s father died in Nebraska. Life would continue to be busy the following month as a major fire broke out in Nebraska City.

Fighting the fire was complicated by the lack of fire-fighting equipment and a shortage of water. The city was ravaged and approximately 40 buildings in and near the business district were destroyed. Fortunately, Arthur and Margaret’s home was spared.

The following year the city formed its first fire-fighting company. It was one step in recovering from the fire. The fact that the city didn’t have competition and it was in the perfect location contributed to its quick recovery.

Property Ownership

During their time in Nebraska City, Arthur and Margaret ran The Western House, which is where the Grand Hotel was later located. However, they did not initially own any property with Arthur having only $300 in personal property and Margaret having $50 in personal property in 1860. The first property purchased was by Margaret in 1862.

At that time she bought lot 2 of block 44 of the Prairie City Addition (18^th & Central). Why it was purchased by Margaret and not Arthur is unknown. It is also unclear if they lived on the property, which Margaret held until 1872 when she sold it to her sister Mary Thorne. The sale was witnessed by their brothers John and Robert Ronald.

Mary had come from Wisconsin to Nebraska City by covered wagon. She worked at the Grand Hotel to support herself. There she had met James Thorne, her third husband.

Steam Wagon Road

In the spring of 1863, Arthur and Margaret left the comforts of city life for life on the prairie. They lived in a dugout near Wallen Ridge on the Steam Wagon Road. The prior year, a special election had been held to fund the road and associated bridges.

The family called this location Nebraska City Ranch. However, it is unclear why they gave it that name as it was not near Nebraska City. Instead, it was halfway between Nebraska City and Lincoln, which was originally named Lancaster. The location was a freighters’ inn. It had a grocery, post office, and a place for travelers to rest themselves and their horses/oxen.

The post office was unnamed until Margaret’s brother Robert Ronald approached the government asking that they name it Paisley after the hometown of the Ronald family in Scotland. It received the name Paisley in 1869. About the same time Paisley School #6 and Paisley Church came into existence. However, a town never sprung up in the location. Although the school and church continued on for some time, the post office closed in 1872.

While living here, Arthur sometimes worked in Nebraska City, returning home only on the weekends.

Obtaining A Homestead

Property Improvements

On January 8, 1863, prior to their move to the dugout on Steam Wagon Road, Arthur filed a homestead application with the Nebraska City Land Office. It was the seventeenth application filed in the county.

As soon as they moved to the dugout, Arthur began improving his future homestead, which was about ¾ mile from the dugout. By the following year, he had constructed a 12 ft. by 16 ft. log cabin and broken ground for crops on the land he hoped to one day call his own.

The Log Cabin

The log cabin provided only basic accommodations of the prairie. All the small openings, along with the chimney, were filled with a mixture of straw and clay. The roof of the log cabin was composed of clay on top of sod on top of pieces of wood on top of rafters. The floor was dirt at first, but later covered with wood. A small window provided daylight. Additionally, the interior had been whitewashed, which got on anything and anyone that touched it.

The fanciest feature of the cabin was its one-way locking door. It had a bar that latched into a slot. The bar had a string attached. When someone wanted to open the door from the outside, they simply pulled the string and it would move the bar and open the door. However, if the family wanted to lock the door, they could simply pull the string inside and no one could get in. However, that meant that they could only lock the door when they were inside.

The family moved to the homestead property as soon as they could as they had to live there continuously for five years and improve the land before they could obtain ownership of it.

Arthur worked hard for this land, building a frame house to replace the log cabin, plowed and planted many acres of land, adding a shed, granary, cellar, corn crib, pens for animals, and more.

More Property

In 1864, Margaret purchased 3 1/2 acres of land along Steam Wagon Road for $21.30. The land was in the S.W. of the N.W. of N.E. quarter of Section 32. This property was described as “lying South of the Creek, and East of a certain cotton wood tree, (and the Steam Wagon Road).” This land is likely where the dugout was located although I am not yet entirely sure.

In 1868, Arthur purchased at a sale the S. E. 1/4 of the S.W. 1/4 of Section 19 and the N.E. 1/4 of the N.W. 1/4 of Section 30 (This section number is from a text version of a legal document. I think this should be Section 29 per the map shown). The land had outstanding taxes for several prior years and the sale amount of $38.43 was to cover the taxes owed and other fees.

Thomson property in 1917 (green). Paisley Church and Paisley School shown with blue dots.

Where Are The Deeds?

Homestead Deed

In 1869, Arthur wrote to the land office in Washington, D.C. regarding obtaining the deed to the homestead. In the letter, he wrote,

“Now seeing that I have now half starved myself and family to put improvements on the place which I now have 70 acres of land under the plow and a pasture fenced for my stock, a good house and other out buildings, and a grove of young timber planted out. If I being a citizen of the United States has to lose it, I presume I might have got my deed from the land office at the time if I had given them money that they asked from me which I thought did not belong to them.” (Some grammar changes were made for readability.)

It appears that there was some question over why they had not moved immediately to the property. In response to those questions, Arthur and his brothers-in-law John Ronald and Robert Ronald made three points.

Arthur had to work for others as he didn’t initially have means to support his family and for what was needed to improve the land.
While he worked away, Arthur claimed that he could not leave his family on the homestead out of concern for their safety from Native Americans. Note: Arthur was friendly with some of the local “Indians.” However, bands of unfriendly “Indians” sometimes came through the area, including onto the homestead. When this occurred, Arthur and the family would hide from them.
He was informed by the land office that if he began improvements that he wasn’t required to immediately occupy the land, but that he should do so as soon as he could.

Deed to Purchased Property

Now, all he could do was wait for a response from the government. In the meantime, Arthur provided the sales receipt for the additional property he had purchased to the country treasurer in order to get a deed to the property. It is unclear exactly what occurred. However, again, he waited.

Getting The Deeds

In July 1870, everything started coming together. The county determined that Arthur was the rightful owner to the property he had purchased. This included acceptance of the certificate of purchase and ensuring taxation and all other legal laws, including proper advertising of the land for sale, had been followed.

In addition, the government accepted Arthur’s response to their concern about him not moving immediately to the homestead. And, Arthur finally secured the deed, to the homestead. He paid $200 for the E 1/2 S.E., 1/4 Section 19 and the N 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 30 in Township 9, Range 10 East containing 160 acres at $1.25 per acre.

Finally, Arthur had a homestead that he could call his own – 27 years after he left Scotland. By this time, he had a 14 ft. x 17 ft. frame house with bedrooms over the main room. A few years later, Arthur added a kitchen followed by two additional bedrooms. In 1893, the house was completely remodeled. As a result, it was an 8-room house with a basement.

Arthur died on Christmas Day in 1913. He dearly loved his home and family and his advice was “Live right and do right.” (Taken from family notes.)

The Double Helix & Genealogy

Posted on September 17, 2024 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 4^th 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 4^th 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

One Gravestone, Three Ancestor Lines

Posted on September 11, 2024 by FHadmin

It is one thing to be related to almost everybody in the cemetery. It is another thing to be related to three of your mom’s four grandparents’ family lines through one person in that cemetery.

When you visit Lola’s grave at Clarksburg Cemetery, you are visiting with someone who ties my Carson, Pellett, and Ashby families together. And, yes, you are going to need a picture of the family tree for this one. Thus, a simplified family tree and explanation is provided at the end of the article.

Lola Mary Carson

Lola Mary Carson was the daughter of John Henry Carson. John was the son of William Henry Carson, who was the son of Henry Carson and Rebecca Fowler. Henry and Rebecca were the parents of my great-great grandmother Louisa Madeline Carson, who married George Andrew Thomas. They were ancestors in my mom’s maternal family line.

Lola grew up south/southeast of Fort Scott. In 1901, she was attending the Diamond School. At the same time, Lloyd Ashby, also attended Diamond School. Lloyd was the son of Grant and Elizabeth Ashby, who were my great-great grandparents.

Martha Marsh (top) with her siblings Otto, Gilbert, and Bertha

Lola’s life seemed to be full of friends and good times. However, she experienced sad occasions as well. On two occasions, Lola was called upon to be a pallbearer, which I found unusual as typically men are called upon for that duty. One time was for a nine-year-old girl and another time was for one of her friends. The young girl was Martha Marsh, whose older sister Bertha later married Henry Pellett Jr., brother of my grandfather Clifford Claney Pellett.

Rufus Ezra Pellett

Fortunately, the good times outweighed the sad times. There were numerous parties in the community. Some were family celebrations and others were gatherings of young people for no reason other than to have a party.

Courtship

It is unknown when Rufus Pellett first met Lola. However, they had both grew up in Drywood Township south of Fort Scott. In September of 1916, they were both at a party hosted by Ruth Jamison. The prior month it had been reported that Rufus was working at the brick plant at Oskaloosa, Missouri, which was several miles south of Garland. He may have been making a daily journey to work. However, he may have just been home for the party.

It is not known if he continued to work at Oskaloosa; however, he was also at Ruth Jamison’s party the following March. In late May, 62 of Lola and her sisters Gladys and Pearl’s friends surprised the Carson sisters with a party. Rufus was again among the young men in attendance. In late June, their paths crossed again at a party at the Lauber home and at another in the first half of July.

The first indicator in the news that they were a couple is when they spent time with Lola’s sister Bessie and her husband Walter Hurt. Only days later in early August 1917, Lola and Rufus married, bringing together the Carson and Pellett families.

Early Married Life

Initially, they lived on Seth Pellett’s farm, which was also known as the Will Carter Farm. The following year Rufus was granted a license for explosives. Apparently, the World War had prompted the approval of more licenses. It seemed that there were many small mining operations and likely Rufus was trying to take advantage of that opportunity. Oddly, Williams Hardware Company of Hiattville was also issued a license at the same time. I really wonder why a hardware store needed an explosive license.

Not sure if the explosives business didn’t work out or not, but later Rufus was described as a farmer. The following April, Rufus rented the O.O. Barker farm west of Garland. That year Rufus had two major milestones as he got a new binder and he turned 21-years-old. The birthday was, of course, another reason for a celebration.

A Near Disaster

Later that year, disaster nearly struck when Rufus opened an umbrella while driving a buggy. The horse was spooked and took off at a full run. At the bottom of the hill, the horse fell, overturning the buggy and throwing Rufus, Lola, their baby Nola, and Clarence Johnson to the ground. Rufus had a badly bruised back, but miraculously no one else was injured.

Rufus and Lola spent the following year living near Richards, Missouri before moving back to Ezra’s farm in 1921. I can’t imagine moving around every year with little kids. Granted, families did not have as much “stuff” in their houses. However, farmers had to move all their equipment and any livestock that they owned.

In 1922, Rufus and C. A. Hahn advertised that they were quitting farming and having a sale. Eleven horses, eight cattle, corn, fodder, timothy hay, and all farm implements were included in the sale. However, three years later Rufus was farming and he appeared to continue farming for the next several years.

Moving To Town

Rufus and Lola stayed on the farm until 1931 when they moved to Fort Scott where he worked for a time for the city water department. According to the Footprints of Bourbon County, the family moved to Waterloo, Iowa in 1942, where Rufus worked at a plant that did defense work in support of World War II. After the war, they moved back to Bourbon County. This seems to contradict city records showing Rufus in Fort Scott during at least a portion of that period.

After The War

The book also stated that they purchased Lola’s grandparent’s property, which is better known as the Catt property. It contained a rock home that her Grandfather Catt had built in the 1860s. The exact date of the acquisition needs to be researched. It was sometime after March 1, 1946 as Rufus and Lola were living in Pawnee Township on that date.

In June of that year, the family had another close call with disaster. As, Lola was cooking on the kitchen stove, she saw a flash of light and was knocked to the floor. A lightning bolt had entered the home creating a four-foot-wide hole. It had also damaged the upstairs floor before continuing to the kitchen where it put a hole through the center of a chair. Lola and Rufus’ son and his wife were also in the home. Luckily, the lightning missed directly hitting any of the occupants.

Lola and Rufus’ son had been born in 1923. He was their only son and last child, following their daughters Nola Marie and Mary Lillie. Their children were doubly related to me. Their relationship to me goes as follows: Rufus was the son of Ezra Mitchell Pellett and Lillie Pearl Carver. Ezra was the son of Seth M. Pellett and Aseneth E. Crawford, who were my great-great grandparents. And, Lola was related to me through Henry Carson and Rebecca Fowler as previously described.

In late 1966, about 9 months shy of his and Lola’s 50^th Anniversary, Rufus died.

William (Lloyd) Ashby

The year after Rufus died, William (Lloyd) Ashby, came to Kansas for a visit. Lloyd was a widower. He had married Emma Witt in 1915. They had both lived southeast of Fort Scott near Garland while growing up and then moved away. He had moved with his parents to an area south of Holly, Colorado, which might as well be called No Man’s Land as it is just dirt, rock, and sun. Emma, on the other hand, had moved to Hooker, Oklahoma, which was about as desolate. After they married, they had lived near Garland and he had been a clerk at the G.W. Million & Son store until they moved to California in 1919.

That visit resulted in a marriage between Lloyd and Lola. Grandma Pellett told the story of how they came to marry. During Lloyd’s visit, someone (maybe her, we are not sure on that detail) took Lloyd around to all the widow’s homes to visit. As the story goes, he stayed the longest at his old schoolmate Lola’s home. They married in Atascadero, CA just over a year after Rufus died. Lloyd was 75 and Lola was almost 71 at the time of their marriage.

Lola outlived Lloyd. He is buried at Atascadero, California. Lola returned to Kansas and is buried at Clarksburg Cemetery.

Lloyd was the son of Grant and Elizabeth Ashby. Their daughter Sarah Ellen “Sadie Ella” or simply “Ella” was my great-grandmother.

Coming Full Circle

To complete the connection, Grant and Elizabeth Ashby’s granddaughter, my grandmother Dessie May (Thomas) Pellett, was also the granddaughter of Louisa Madeline Carson and George Andrew Thomas (g-grand of Henry Carson and Martha Fowler) married Clifford Claney Pellett grandson of Seth and Asenith Pellett. My mom’s Conner family is the only one without a connection to that one gravestone!

The Connections Explained

The following chart shows the connections of these three people to me. Each family line is represented by a color group. The shades of each color are to help visualize the family line of key people in the article vs. my ancestors in those families. The male of the family is shown without the spouse due to space limitations except where critical to show the connection between families.

To read the chart:

The center line shows common ancestors between myself and the key people in the article.
The key people in the article are the top person in each column above the center line.
Ancestors of the people in the article are read from top to bottom.
My ancestors connecting to these families are shown underneath the center line.
Ancestors are read from bottom to top.
Key marriages are shown with a light yellow background.

Family Secrets

Posted on September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 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;

Helm Confusion

Posted on August 27, 2024 by FHadmin

A few years back, I went to a reunion for my mother-in-law’s family. I took charts (including the tri-fold shown above), my computer, and my scanner, with a plan to gather lots of family information. That is the day that it sunk in just how confusing the Helm family could be.

The Patriarch and Matriarch

In 1854, Johann (Phillip) Helm arrived in the United States from Edenboken, Germany. As far as it has been determined, he was about 30 years of age and single. By 1860, he had made his way to Granville, Putnam County, Illinois.

The following year, Maria Katherina “Mary” Herzberger, who was 14 years his junior, departed Bremen, Germany headed for New York City. Once she arrived in the United States, Mary quickly made her way to Illinois. In less than a month Phillip had taken her as his bride.

Phillip and Mary Helm with some of their children

Size & Timeline

Despite Phillip’s late start on a family, he and Mary became the parents of 13 children. Nine grew to adulthood. Their children gave them 72 grandchildren, although many were born after Phillip died and a smaller number after Mary died.

Despite numerous grandchildren having only single children or none at all, Phillip and Mary’s grandchildren gave them 145 great-grandchildren. Adopted and step-great-grandchildren, are not included in those counts.

As you can see, the confusion starts with a very large family. Add to that the fact that despite the children being born over a 17-year span, the grandchildren were born over a 51-year span. As the youngest of all the grandchildren, my mother-in-law’s earliest born first cousin was a grandmother when my mother-in-law was born. Members of the family who were her age were her cousins’ children and grandchildren.

Additionally, my mother-in-law had half-siblings that were 30 years her senior. The generation differences confused everyone.

Names

Naming Conventions

So, if the size and timeline of the family wasn’t cause enough for confusion, being German, the family had several naming conventions that added to the complexity of understanding who was who. First, it was not uncommon for people to have three or even four given names. Additionally, family members often used a middle name or a nickname as their primary name.

When my sister-in-law was in high school, she took her grandfather’s baptism record to the German teacher to have it translated. That is when the family found out that Jacob was his middle name, not his first name. They always thought his name was Jacob Phillip, but it was actually Phillip Jacob.

Repeating Names

In addition, this family loved to repeat names and sometimes parents even used the same or similar names within their own children. Phillip and Mary used the name Phillip with two sons and a form of it for a daughter. They also used the name Johann with two sons and Wilhelm/Wilhelmena with three children. It didn’t follow the tradition that I have seen in some German families where the first name for all the boys’ names is derived from the fathers and the first name for all the girls’ names is derived from the mother’s name.

In some later cases, the families just simply seem attached to a certain name. For instance, one family had four daughters named: Carol, Coral, Coralee, and Carolyn. In addition, they all had the middle initial of “A.” Talk about confusing!

More Name Fun!

To make it even more fun, names were inconsistently used and inconsistently spelled. The name Phillip, for instance, was primarily spelled Phillip, Philip, and Philipp. Sometimes it seems intentional, but in the end, it seems that it was just how it happened to be written.

All of the factors discussed lead to complexity when discussing the family. For instance, we had a long discussion about the picture that is shown at the side of the family tree chart. I had placed it as Frederick the son of Phillip and Mary. However, someone thought it was a different Frederick/Fred. A discussion of several people took place. In the end, we decided the photo was of the Frederick, son of Johann (Phillip) Jr. And, I must say that I am still not 100% sure.

Infographics

Discussing this family is very complicated. Sometimes it is even difficult to describe, for example, where the Katherina you are talking about fits in the tree. That is, even when you know. To demonstrate this issue, I created two infographics where the size of the words indicate how often they occur in the family.

The First Three Generations

The first shows the names of Phillip and Mary, their kids, grandchildren and the spouses. All of these people would have been a part of the discussion. It was always very important to ask if the last name was Helm because the Henry that is being discussed might just be someone who married into the family.

Note: To create the infographics, names that were similar, were forms of the other name, were nicknames for a name, were female/male versions of a name, etc. were standardized so that they could be counted together. For instance Marie, Maria, and Mary were recorded as Maria.

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

Four Generations And Counting

At the time of the reunion, the family in the United States had grown beyond the first three generations. All of the great-grandchildren had been born. Thus, taking a look with everyone who had been in the American Helm family and their spouses through this generation is reasonable since all of them were potential subjects of conversation. Many or most of the great-great grandchildren and a portion of the 3rd-great grandchildren had also been born. However, more research on the family is needed before they can be included in a graphic.

The graphics clearly show that some names were used in bulk. However, a shift definitely occurs in the great-grandchildren to more Americanized names. And, based on the changes in common baby names over the years, I suspect that a future view of the next generation will show yet another shift.

One final note . . . I plan to do a similar graphic with another large family, likely the Peelle or Pellett families. I know they will look very different in part because they have origins in the U.K. and have been in this country for 400+ and approximately 225 years, respectively.