Witches, Madames, and Turncoats

For years I suffered from what I'm going to call "tunnel vision."
I looked for marriage records in the area that the family lived.  And for years I had problems with the Howard/Helms side of the family in finding marriage records. Here's what happened when I expanded my search.  For starters you need to understand the western PA, WV, Ohio borders. I've cobbled together a map, here.  My trouble was finding marriage records for the family members.  Well, after 20 some years,  here they are: 

My great-grandparents: Malvern Howard and Ray Welsh (both born and raised in PA) were married 28 Feb 1917 in Wellsburg, WV.

My great-great grandparents James E. Howard and Elizabeth G. Helms (both born and raised Marshall Co., WV near Moundsville, WV,  lived their adult lives in the Pittsburgh, PA area) married Dec. 23, 1889 in Belmont County, Ohio.  I never thought to look in Ohio, until 2010!

All genealogists have what we call brick walls.  The person you just can't get past to find out who their parents were.  Usually they are women, as womens names and especially maiden names weren't often recorded.  One of my brick walls was my 3rd great grandmother. Cynthia L. Putnam wife of Ebenezer Putnam. Cynthia was Ebenezer's third wife,  he was her second husband. they married in 1840 and together they had three children; John Howard (My GGgrandfather)  Abbie, and Mary Ann.

For years, all I knew about Cynthia Putnam came from the Groton marriage record that said Ebenezer Putnam married Mrs. Cynthia Conning.  I had no birth date, no death date and most importantly no maiden name.

I began chipping away slowly over the years.  Census records stated she was born in Maine.  I didn't know her husbands first name,  so I started searching for any Conning's who died in Groton, Mass (where Cynthia was living when she remarried) before 1840 and came up empty. Mostly because, as I now know, his name was properly CONNIG. 

Every few months (or at least once a year or so)  I'd dutifully plug the names of Cynthia Putnam or Conning into on-line databases and have another look. About a year ago,  I found a marriage in Portsmouth, NH for Cynthia L. WEBB and Isaac CONNING in 1826. The names and date looked logical enough,  but I had nothing tying them to Maine or Massachusetts. Later I found a newspaper mention of Isaac Conning in Kittery, Maine.  Then I found probate records for a Cynthia A. Putnam who died in Leominster, Mass. in 1885 and who's birthplace was listed as Kittery, Maine. This seemed to tie things together a little further,  but with two big problems.  1) My grandmothers middle initial was L. not A. 2) Why was she in Leominster instead of Groton? 

Nonetheless,  all this felt "right."  So one of my goals when heading to the NEHGS in Boston on a research trip  was to find some conclusive proof that my 3-g grandmother was indeed Cynthia WEBB.  It was there that I began attacking the problem from her children's records.  I found her daughter Abbie Putnam married to David Haley and living in Leominster in 1880.  Now all of the sudden it made sense for my Cynthia to be in Leominster at the time of her death.  And it looked like Cynthia A. Putnam who died in Leominster in Dec. of 1884 was probably in reality Cynthia L. Putnam and someone indexed the name wrong.  I also found Abbie's death record which listed her mother as only Cynthia Putnam but did give her mother's birthplace as Westbrook, Maine. Still, I left NEHGS with no conclusive proof as to her maiden name. 

Last week here at the house,  I did some more on-line searching; again, looking at the children's records,  I found her daughter Mary Ann Putnam Haley's death record.  And yes, her husband was David Haley who was first married to her sister Abbie.  When Abbie died in childbirth;  it looks like Mary Ann stepped in to raise her children and married David. FINALLY, in 1903 at MaryAnn's death someone thought to put her mother's maiden name on an official record!  There in black and white it listed Mary Ann Haley, maiden name Putnam,  father Ebenezer Putnam and mother Cynthia L. Webb.

With this information, a lot more has now fallen into place, including the person I suspect of being her father. William WEBB has a daughter named Sylvia born in Westbrook Maine on July 26, 1805 (Same date and place as my Cynthia Webb).  Again,  I have access only to the index and I think this was another transcription error.  This seems too coincidental; I think it's supposed to be Cynthia.

So, for family needing the official information. Pertinent names/dates are listed below.  And here's a bonus from Andrea IDSO (another of JH Putnam's great-great granddaughters): a photo of Cynthia Webb Putnam.

Cynthia L. Webb was born on 26 Jul 1805 in Westbrook, Cumberland, Maine[2, 3, 4]. She died on 16 Dec 1884 in Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[3]. She married (1) Isaac P. Connig on 06 Nov 1826 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA[5]. He was born. He died in Feb 1839in Cambridge, Middlesex, MA. She married (2) Ebenezer Putnam on 23 Nov 1840 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts[6], son of Roger and Hannah Putnam. He was born about 1786 in Medford, Massachusetts. He died in 1848 in West Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    

Children of Cynthia L. Webb and Isaac P. Connig are:

 

i.           Issac P. Connig, B: 30 Nov 1837 in Cambridge, Middlesex, MA[7], D: 07 May 1911 in Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[7].

 

Children of Cynthia L. Webb and Ebenezer Putnam are:

 

2.         i. John Howard Putnam, B: 08 Apr 1841 in Groton, Massachusetts, D: 10 Nov 1910 in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California[8], M: Antoinette Adele Parsons, 01 May 1864 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts[9].

 

3.         ii. Abbie Connig Putnam, B: 24 Apr 1843 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA, D: 17 Jan 1883 in Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[2].

 

iii.       Mary Ann Putnam, B: Feb 1845 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, D: 02 Mar 1903 in Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[1].

 

Sources

 

1          Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841 - 1910, Vol. 541, p 479. Leominster Deaths.

 

2          Death Certificate, Leominster Deaths. Vol. 348 p. 420.

 

3          Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841 - 1910, v 357 p 416 [Leominster Deaths].

 

4          Maine Births and Christenings, 1739-1900, Database, FamilySearch. Index entries derived from digital copies of originals housed in various repositories throughout Maine. Source Film # 12615.

5          New Hampshire Marriages 1720-1920, "New Hampshire Vital Records Index," database, FamilySearch. Source Film #1000977.

6          Vital Records of Middlesex Co., MA to the end of the year 1849. (Search & Research Publishing. Wheat Ridge, CO. 1999), Groton Marriages, p. 141.

7          Massachusetts Deaths 1841-1915, Massachusetts Death Records, 1841-1915", database, FamilySearch; from Massachusetts State Archives. "Deaths, 1841-1971". Massachusetts Division of Vital Statistics, State House, Boston, Massachusetts. FHL microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. Film #2394508 Image #1881.

 

8          Mary Kathryn (Owens) Putnam birthday book.

 

9          Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910, Vol, 172, p. 90.

 

My last post was about the shipwreck,  but one of my goals for this research trip was to find specifically the names of some of the ships and/or arrival and naturalization dates for a number of folks.

The topic for this particular NEHGS conference was 19th century immigrants.  So I gathered up my (or my husband's) 19th c. immigrant ancestors and headed off. I had varying degrees of success.  Here is some of the new info,  some of the old info,  and where I intend to go from here.

My husband's 4th great-grandparents John D. and Elizabeth (Mullen) GIBB immigrated from Northern Ireland in the middle of the 19th century.  I'm now happy to report that John D. Gibb, his wife Elizabeth and their children John, Elizabeth, Agnes, Paul and Mary all arrived on the 13th of July 1857 on the ship Ellen Austin. [1]Ellen Austin was one of Grinnell, Minturn & Co's Blue Swallowtail line of London to New York Packets. She was a big ship, of 1,812 tons, 210 feet in length, built of white oak at Damariscotta, Maine in 1854.  The Ellen Austin later gained fame when it's crew disappeared off the ship in the Bermuda Triangle.[2]

His 4th great-grandparents John and Elizabeth (Gibb) Stevenson arrived 13 Mar 1871 on the ship Europa.[3] The ship drawn here has the exact same specs as the Europa.

Shipping Line:	Anchor
Ship Description:	Built by Alexander Stephen & Sons, Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland. Tonnage: 1,746. Dimensions: 278' x 34'. Single-screw, 10 knots. Inverted engines. Three masts and one funnel. Iron hull. Compound engines in 1874.
History:	Maiden voyage: Glasgow-New York, September 25, 1867. Lengthened to 338 feet (2,277 tons) in 1874. Sunk in collision, July 17, 1878. [4]

I'm still looking for the ship's names on the SWANSON and BLOOM lines  from Sweden though I'd like to share with anyone reading information about Carl Swanson's trip across the Atlantic as written down by Brian's great-aunt who handed down his actual trunk to his father and it now waits for us.
 

AMERIKA CHEST

 

It was pulled from its place in a cobweb-infested corner of the attic, carried down to the kitchen for inspection and dusting.  No one knew how old it was.  It had passed from Father to Son through many generations.

 

Under the lid of the CHEST valuable things had been secreted.  The lid had been lifted by shaking hands of old women, and by the young, strong maiden fingers.  It had been approached by those in need, mostly at life's great happenings:  Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals.

 

It was the strongest packing case they could find.  It was tested in its joints, and scrubbed clean inside.  After timeless obscurity the heavy, clumsy thing was unexpectedly honored again as Karl Emil Svensson prepared the family's most treasured pieced of furniture for his trip to Amerika.  So he called it the AMERIKA CHEST.

 

In the bottom of the AMERIKA CHEST were placed the heaviest items - iron and steel timberman's and carpenter tools:  Adz, Hatchet, Chisel, Drawknife, Plane, Hammer, Horseshoe tongs, Auger, Sticking knife, Skinning knife, Rule, Yardstick and Hunter's gear.

 

Next he packed warm woolen garments, underwear and outer garments, working clothes, and Sunday best.  His mother placed camphor and lavender between the clothes to prevent mildew and bad odors certain to develop during the long boat trip to Amerika.  In the top compartments she packed some honey, sugar, dried apples, loaves of rye bread, a wooden tub of strongly salted butter, one cheese loaf, 6 smoked sausages, a piece of salt pork, and 20 salted herrings.

 

To protect against contagious ship maladies and sea sickness, he also took a half gallon of wormwood-seed brännvin.  A drink of this every morning at sea on an empty stomach would keep the body working.  (See Moberg.  The Immigrants.)

 

The AMERKIA CHEST traveled safely and intact to Burlington, Iowa, and later became his tool chest for work on the farm and while building the Atcheson Topeka & Santa Fe railroad stockyard and depot in Stronghurst, Illinois, and while building the Svenska Lutheran Church in Stronghurst, Illinois.

 

And now, 120+ years after leaving Småland (in May of 1887) and crossing the Atlantic, the AMERIKA CHEST passes on to more generations.

Sources:
[1] New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_176; Line: 49; List number: 830; .
[2]On-line website: http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/ellen_austin.html
[3] New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 Microfilm serial: M237; Microfilm roll: M237_307; Line: 34; List number: 255;
[4] Ancestry.com. Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

This is another one of my favorite family stories.  I've been trying to actually document it and apparently I'm never going to be able to get beyond the handed down oral tradition.  Here's the story...

Carl (later anglicized to Charles) MEISTER was born in Berlin, Prussia (now Germany) on 14 Feb 1784.  His wife Elizabeth Hierotte FINCK was born 1 May 1796 in Ansbach, Barureuth, Prussia (now part of Bavaria). They married in Ansbach on 17 June 1812 and then set sail for North America.  It's a little unclear what their final destination was supposed to have been.  However, they were "shipwrecked in the West Indies" and their two oldest daughters were  born in St. Lucia. Sometime between 1815 and 1817 the family of four caught a ship north to Nova Scotia and settled in Sherbrooke, which is now New Ross, Nova Scotia.

My grandmother had some china that had been her g-grandmothers (Elizabeth Finck Meister) that was stamped Prussia on the bottom.  After she died, and the family was dividing heirlooms my aunt asked if it came over on the boat with Elizabeth Meister.  My reply (as I was the surviving family historian once my grandmother passed away) was "I don't see how, since they were shipwrecked in the West Indies." But my uncle pointed out that if the ship merely ran aground and was not actually sunk they could have carried all of their possessions off the ship easily enough. And the survival of some Prussian china in the family might mean exactly that. 

At the NEHGS getaway I was hoping for some confirmation of the shipwreck or ship run aground story. It looks like I will never get it.  I was told that if the ship into Nova Scotia really came from the West Indies, then there are no passenger lists.  There was no need to keep any record of a sailing vessel going from one British colony to another.  Might there be some records of ships that ran aground or sunk off of St. Lucia - maybe.  But there would be no passenger lists associated with them.  So,  I'm left with the story that Clara Belle Benjamin Parsons (grandaughter of Charles and Elizabeth Meister) passed down to us.

While I couldn't find confirmation of the shipwreck story,  I did find many deeds involving Carl (Charles) and Elizabeth Meister in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia.  I now have copies of those and of maps that show where the original homestead was. They had 14 children total over a 28-year period. Charles died when the youngest was only 7,  I expected to find probate records, especially for someone who had quite a lot of land, but I did not.  David Lambert the Nova Scotia expert at NEHGS says that they weren't always very good with the probate records.

I was also able to get some Canadian census records that list Elizabeth at age 90 in Nova Scotia, born in Germany (making the birthdate she gave her granddaughter Clara of 1796 suspect; if she was 90 in 1881 she was born in 1791 not 1796. Making her one of MANY women in my family who seem to shave 5 years off their age).

For context to this post you should watch this commercial--


Now you know what I mean when I say "My rock stars aren't like your rock stars."

Last week I was at a three-day program at the New England Historical and Genealogical Society,  arguably the East-coast Mecca for genealogists.  Let me just say that this program was fantastic! Organized by Josh Taylor, it was well-constructed; it mixed informative lectures with lots of time for personal research and consultations with their VERY helpful staff.  I had no less than five professional genealogists helping me with my research throughout the program. And here's a big shout out to  "rock stars"  Julie Otto, Rhonda McClure, Judy Lucey, David Lambert, and Gary Boyd Roberts for their help and guidance. Gary especially didn't quit with the participants until he got them to someone notable.  In my case a few royal Plantagenet lines that I didn't know about.

I highly recommend this program to any genealogist, and especially those with New England roots.

For most genealogists these days, our research revolves around the Internet.  Since I work for Penn State's on-line education my whole life usually revolves around the Internet.  But as thrilled as I am with the Internet and the new resources becoming available every day,  I still love just taking a research trip (even when the ancestors aren't mine!).

Interestingly,  I usually do plenty of research before a trip and gather family sheet information from my database, cemetery information and maps from the web, and then set upon my quest. A few weeks ago,  I agreed to accompany a friend on one of her research trips. As we had to travel 2 hours to our destination it gave me time ask a few basic questions like what our goals were for the day.

She wanted to find her GG grandmother's grave and her GG grandfathers grave.  She knew they were in two different cemeteries, her GG grandfather having remarried and moved after the death of his first wife. 

Me: "So where is GG Grandma buried?"
S:  "It says here she was buried on the Frey family farm in Franklin County."
Me:  " Did you do some internet research?  Do we have directions to this cemetery?"
S: "No,  we're women.  We can stop and ask."
Me:  Stunned.  I say nothing.  I think to myself, 'Do you really think random people are going to know where the Frey family farm was in 1856?'

We arrive in Chambersburg, PA and S. directs me to turn right.  I ask why and then see a yarn shop in front of me.  "Oh,  that's why."  S.  points out that not only is it a fabulous yarn shop (she's a knitter)  but that "old women hang out in yarn shops",  and this is probably a good place to start asking.

One of the women taking a yarn class that Friday morning does indeed know where the Frey family farm is and gives us directions to the only cemetery she knows of on that road.  We get there,  and it's not the right one.  But a chat with a Mennonite woman from across the street, puts us on our way to the Frey dairy farm.  We stop and the farm and look for someone to ask if there is a family plot on the farm. On the farm a phone call from hired help to the owner tells us that the the current "Frey family farm"  has only been here for two generations.  For  something in the mid-1800's we should head to the other side of town.  We get directions to another cemetery,  and head off once again. 

At the next stop we do not find our goal Elizabeth Stauffer Swartz wife of Henry Swartz; but we do very unexpectedly find Henry Swartz's mother.  Anna Swartz Frey (twice married). Not only that her headstone says she is the daughter of Joseph Martin and Elizabeth Miller.  I LOVE tombstones with that kind of information!  Imagine my friends excitement to get another generation back.  I was completely  in awe of a headstone that told us wife of (both husband's names),  daughter of (parents names) and mother of (etc...) Yet we were still disappointed at not being able to find the one grave we actually came looking for.   Enter  the man who lives next door,  he's the keeper of the small cemetery, only about 20 graves.  And he tells us that yes,  this was the original Frey family farm and this would be considered "Frey Family Farm" cemetery but that there are three family plots on the huge original homestead.  Maybe our Elizabeth is in one of the others and we again get directions and proceed on for about another mile. And there she is nestled in the plot that is along Grand Point Road.  It took only 2.5 hours total and six very helpful and friendly people!

We came away from the day with new genealogy information for S. and a story for all time of what all the best detectives call the "leg work."

As I mentioned in part 1 of this story, I began armed with this bit of information from my grandmother, They were the "Howards of Virginia, wealthy and important."  Visions of southern plantations waft through my brain.  When I finally got an official copy of James E. Howard's death certificate which gave his birthplace as West Virginia, I was a lot less impressed. True, that my grandmother didn't really lie, after all, when he was born in 1859 there was no West Virginia it was just Virginia.  However, I now had to put away visions of southern gentility and replace it with a more realistic vision of the hard-scrabble, oft-feuding, mountain-folk.

To find out even more I decided that a trip to Marshall County, West Virginia was in order.  So I left my husband with the family car and the kids and took his pickup off for a weekend in West Virginia.  The trip to Marshall County was a story in itself and really why we should all get out there at times to dig for our roots rather than just sitting and researching at our computers.

Sure at the courthouse I found wills, records, etc...  but I found so much more...politics... geography... and beauty.

First politics: A trip to the local historical society gleaned the names of a few John Howards (my 4th great grandfather) buried in the area.  I asked one of the volunteers for directions to the Howard Cemetery in Cameron. I got a chuckle and a follow up question. "Which Howard Cemetery, the Howard Republican Cemetery or the Howard Democratic Cemetery?"  At this point I was flabberghasted, there are TWO different cemeteries for the same HOWARD family, separated in distance by about a half mile apart but apparently worlds apart politically. During the drive I couldn't help but wonder  what a post-Civil War family must have been like; to have such deep-seated political wounds as to not want to be buried in the same cemetery. Quite the family feud indeed! 

Geography: Now let me set a scene for you,  I grew up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, and WV has the exact same mountain range,  it's all Appalachia. But I'd never been to West Virginia before. The first observation I made was that here in PA, all the roads are at the base of the mountains. OK, new highways may be at the top, but old roads that lead to real villages tend to follow the creeks and rivers, with tiny dirt roads leading up into the mountains. In short, you get used to driving along in PA and looking up at the mountains. After driving in WV for a while I began to notice that I was driving on roads that were at the top of mountains and I was constantly looking down and the little dirt roads led down into the hollows.  That alone set me up for a surreal experience.
 
I arrived at the Democratic Cemetery first at the top of a hill. There were some folks who I thought were probably cousins, but no stones that seemed to be any direct relations, so I moved on to the Republican Cemetery down the dirt road that lead to the ravine.  I got to the bottom and what was there, well... pretty much a swamp.  With a cemetery on one of it's banks.  I put the pickup into park at the end of the dirt road, and got out.  Squish!  My foot was now covered in mud. Furthermore I noticed that the tires seemed to be pretty mired in mud as well.  Next something LARGE that I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye, slipped into the pond that formed the center of this seeming swamp. I shuddered, I didn't want to know!  After not finding my 4th-great grandfather's grave in this cemetery either,  I climbed back into the pickup and at first went nowhere, just spun in the mud.  There was no cell phone service, my truck was stuck in the middle of a swamp and I remember thinking that I would die right there and I'd have to be buried with the "poor relations"  after all if they'd been better off surely they could have been buried up on the hill!  Anyway, 4-wheel drive and some luck did get me back out.

Absolute beauty: After my mud experience I still tried many more cemeteries. Though I never did find my 4th great-grandfather HOWARD, I did find the tombstone for my 4th-great grandfather James LAUGHLIN (1796-1873) in Rock Lick, WV. At the time, I couldn't conclusively prove that he was my grandfather, frankly I still can't but as I stood over his tombstone, the sun broke through the clouds and the most beautiful rainbow appeared.  That rainbow continued to follow me for the rest of the day and back to the hotel. Coincidence, sure.  But I like to think that it was great-grandpa smiling at someone who'd found him -- someone who's blood, and someone who cares. :-) 

Gear up for a long post - but I think this story is worth it. My grandfather, father, and brother all had/have the middle name HOWARD, after my great-grandmother Malvern Blanche Howard. When I decided to get started on the HOWARD line, my great-grandmother and my grandfather were already gone. My grandmother filled me in on what she knew of her husband's HOWARD ancestry.  I got the following information:

• " The 'Howards of Virginia' were a very wealthy and important family."
•  "Pop's grand-daddy James Enos Howard was a doctor who used to light his pipes with $100 bills."
• "James Enos Howard wrote a book once,  I think there might be a copy of it somewhere in the house."
• "Malvern Howard was disowned when she married Ray Welsh, a conductor on the B&O railroad."
• "James E. Howard offered to pay for his grandson's (my grandfathers) college tuition if he would only drop the last name WELSH and use only Ray Howard. My grandfather refused and worked in a steel mill his whole life."

OK, that and a few dates/places seemed like a lot of good information with which to get started.  The book "In the Beginning" by James Enos Howard [1916, Roxburgh Press, Boston, Mass. Library Of Congress # BS1235.H68} about the biblical book of Genesis was indeed written by my GG-Grandfather.  Since the family had only the one copy,  I have a photocopy of the book.

Next, my mother decided that since James Howard was the doctor in Mill Run, PA,  we should take a trip over to find his grave.  I said that we had no idea what cemetery he was buried in, and her reply was that there's probably only one in a town that small anyway.  So, off we went one Saturday.  We arrived in "town" which is pretty much one road,  and couldn't seem to find any cemetery, so we stopped and asked someone which way to the cemetery.

 "Which one?,"  he said. 
"There's more than one?"
"Well, who are you looking for?", he asked. 

My thinking was that I'm looking for a man who died in 1934,  it's not like this guy would know him;  but my mother didn't miss a beat and piped up "Old Doc Howard."
"Oh, my father knew him. He'd be buried in the Baptist Cemetery."  And he gave us directions.

Flabberghasted but happy, I followed his directions and in no time we found his grave. Not fifteen minutes later, this same man pulls in behind us with his car.  Mr. Dull as it turns out, had more information to share that he thought we'd want to know.  His 90-year-old dad lives with him and he went inside to tell his Dad after giving us the directions.  His Dad relayed these two stories and so he came up to the cemetery to share them with us. 

1) Doc Howard had stitched up Mr. Dull's father when he was a little boy after the sled he was riding wedged him under a barbed-wire fence, and

2) that this was a story that Doc Howard himself liked to tell:

Mrs. Shipley had asked him to come around (remember doctors used to make house calls) and check on her teenage daughter.  The girl was prone to bouts of nausea that seemed to come and go. It was like no flu she'd ever seen.  The doc examined her and informed Mrs. Shipley that her daughter didn't have the flu or any other ailment, she was pregnant.  The indignant woman told him that just wasn't possible, as her daughter was now and had always been a good girl.  'Why she's never even been with a boy'.  At this point, he shook his head, laughed and said that "God hadn't done it that way in 1900 years, and he'd guess that wasn't going to change now."

So what did I learn on that trip?  Birthdate and death date from the tombstone, but priceless stories from Mr. Dull.  Don't be afraid to ask the local folks!

As I've mentioned before, the detective work inherent in genealogy research is one of the things I enjoy and the thrill of uncovering a juicy story is equaled by the thrill of finding the next generation back. When I started my grandmother had most of her genealogy already done, back 9 or 10 generations in most cases,  so there wasn't a lot to discover on my own for that side of the family.  Luckily, I had three other grandparents who didn't know (or maybe didn't care).  In any case, there were lots of unknown ancestors to find!  And find I did. However, after 20 years of research the new finds are fewer and farther between. We get so far on a line and hit our "brick walls" and they remain that way for years.  But this past weekend, one of those walls moved!

I found a death certificate for my 3rd great-grandfather Charles C. Parsons;  it listed his parents names (including mother's maiden name!)- Joseph Parsons and Julia Safford.  I just want to say, I love those anal-retentive New Englander's who felt the need to document everything that ever happened in their town.  My Pennsylvania ancestors, were born, married, and died and nobody official ever took note.

So here's to my 4th-great grandparents - Joseph and Julia.  So far that's all I have but I look forward to finding out more about them in months (maybe years) to come.

I love history in general.  Mine or anyone elses.  Since I have a large collection of resource books, I volunteer to do lookups in them for others.   When a request came to me to do a lookup for Indian John Miller,  I knew I had a good bit of information in many different places.  This was a great excuse to cull it all together and add some coherent notes into my database for my 7th great-grand-uncle. (i.e., brother to my 7th great-grandmother). Of my 7G-grandmother who married Benedict Lehman,  I know virtually nothing, not even her first name, but her brother was a big part of Somerset County lore.  So...

According to Gingerich & Kreider(1)  John Miller was know by the names "Wounded John" "Crippled John" or "Indian John."  He was born in Europe and died in Somerset County PA in 1798.

DJH (2) p. 953. states that "John MIller,  was wounded by the Indians when they were taking the family of Jacob Hostetler into captivity."  That means that it also puts John living in the Northkill Settlement, Berks Co., PA in Sept. 1757. Since that was the date and place of the Indian attack mentioned.  He later moved to Somerset County as did many of the Amish in that area. DJH p. 953 also mentions that it gets it's information from an account of the Indian John Miller family by Moses B. Miller of Geistown, PA.

This family info is from G&K p. 270.  Order of issue uncertain. All children were born in  Berks Co, PA . children of John Miller & ?:

• Barbara, born circa 1750 married Jacob Hochstetler
• John, born circa 175, married Veronica, nicknamed  "Fanny". He died June 13, 1802 in Somerset County
• Jacob, born August 1754, married Anna Stutzman. He died 2/25/1835 in Tuscarawas co., Ohio
• Peter, born 1756 married Mary Stutzman. he died 11/1/1818 in Somerset county.
• Catherine, born circa 1758 married Jacob Kauffman
• Christian born circa 1760, married Veronica. He died in 1839 in Somerset county.
• Joseph, born circa 1762 married first Barbara Speicer, then Barbara Bontrager
• Mary, born circa 1764 married John Schrock
• Veronica "Franey", born circa 1766 married Christian Speicer
• a duaghter born circa, 1768 married Christian Mishler
• Elizabeth, born circa 1770 married Joseph Speicher

Somerset county orphans Court records July 28, 1798 show Magdalena widow of John Miller renouncing the right to administer the estate in favor of eldest son John and son-in-law Joseph Speicher.  G&K (still p. 270) notes that Magdalena MAY have been Indian John's second wife and therefore NOT the mother of his children. But it's also possible that she was indeed his only wife.  The reason for the confusion over the wife is as follows: "A near neighbor of wounded John was Benedict Lehman. Since a grandson of Wounded John was named Benedict Miller and since Benedict is a quite uncommon name among the Amish in America except for the Benedict Miller's descendants, it seems likely that there was some connection between the Miller and Lehman families. Benedict Lehman was on the ship list of Oct. 8, 1737 with apparently a son benedict on the list of women and children but no daughter Magdalena. Thus the widow of Wounded John Miller could not have been a daughter of Benedict Lehman But Barbara or Catherine Lehman, probable daughters of Benedict on the ship list might have been the first wife of Wounded John and the mother of his children.

As to when John Miller arrived in America, no one is quite certain, but G&K. p. 269 offers up the following:
"Among the many well-known Amish names on the 9/15/1749 ship list are Hannes Miller, Jacob Miller, Christian Miller, Peter Miller, Jacob Mishler, Joseph Mishler, Benedict Lehman, David Miller, and Abraham Kurtz.  It seems likely that three or more of the MILLERs named above were members of the Miller family under consideration.  Since the real name of Wounded John's son John was Hannas, it's likely that Wounded John's real name was also that and the Hannes Miller listed might well have been "Wounded John."

And in case that really is him, here's the information from the ships list. (see source 3).  "At the Court house at Philadelphia, Friday, the 15th September 1749.  The  foreigners whose Names are underwritten, imported in the ship Phoenix, John Mason, Master ... did this day take the usual Qualifications to the government. By the List 261. 550 whole freights, from Zweybrech, Nassau, Wirtemberg, and Palitinate."   [Just FYI,  550 whole freights were the total number transported.  The list has only 261 names since only men over the age of 16 were required to swear allegiance to the English crown.]

Lastly, Indian John was most probably the son of Christian Miller (also listed on the above-mentioned ships list.)

DJH p. 33 says (when describing  the story of the captive Hostetler family being marched off) "There is a traditional what while crossing the mountains they passed a cleaning where a man named Miller, was chopping. He was shot at and hit in the hand as he raised his ax; he fled and was not pursued."  DBH (see source 4, written after 26 more years of research by the author)) on page 26 relays the exact same language but with a footnote that this Miller was indeed Indian John or Wounded John Miller.


Source list:

(1) Gingerich & Krieder, Amish & Amish Mennonite Genealogies,  (Pequea Publishing, Gordonville, PA. 1986.).

(2)Harvey Hochstetler, Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler,  (Gospel Book Store. Reprint. originally published, 1912).

(3) Strassberger, R. B., Pennsylvania German Pioneers,  (Picton Press. Camden, Maine. 1992.). Volume 1, pp. 404-407

(4)Harvey Hochstetler, Descendants of  Barbara Hochstetler and Christian Stutzman,  (Gospel Book Store. Reprint. originally published, 1938).