Jane Buchanan 1852-1925

On May 26, 2021May 25, 2022 By jenbumannIn buchanan, ShepardLeave a comment

Jane (Buchanan) Shepard; I think she looks beautiful in this picture.

[Author’s note: I know it doesn’t seem like it should have, but this post took me over 2 years to write. It was one of those writer’s block episodes. Maybe because there is so little to write about, I didn’t know how to put it down on paper and make it seem…meaningful. Well, here it is, although I still don’t think I did her justice! Maybe I will find more about her life in the future – fingers crossed.]

The family papers from our Shepard side of the family have lots and lots of photos of Jane, her husband, and her children, but we know very little about her life other than what we see in these pictures. Hm, and I don’t recall my grandfather talking much about her either. Which means this bio is not full of much data, but, I have tried to piece together a bit of a life for her. So, here goes.

We know nothing about the how, or why, of our Buchanan line’s arrival in America.

It was possibly sometime in the 1700s, (the date is not currently known, nor has it been proven). The current theory is that John Buchanan is the first in the U.S. of the name in our line. So, until we know differently, he is the dude we start with.

John Buchanan and his wife Jean/Jane Rowan[?] are found in York County, Pennsylvania, where the family stayed for a good 25 years before their grown children started moving out and about the country. Their son William, Jane’s great grandfather, was living in Virginia by the 1780s. I know this because land records were found for him in the area at that time.

When Jane was born, on October 10, 1852, her parents, William Atkinson Buchanan and Margaret Mobley, had settled in Wood County, Virginia (later to become West Virginia). The map below shows the approximate location of the family farm in Wood County, which was deduced using land records for William and Margaret. I think the farm was more towards the right part of the encircled area on the image. Pond Creek Road can be seen towards the bottom of the image; (I think this is the road my mother and I were trying to find the cemetery for Hartley and Susannah Shepard on when we visited years ago.)

Road up Bear Run, there is no view down the road.

Jane attended school from about 1857 to about 1866. Which gave her enough time to learn the basics of reading and writing. (I found some great images of old schools in the County). It is possible that one of these two schools is where the Buchanan children attended, (I lean more towards Mount Hope as it just seemed closer to their farm).

Jane must have been in a hurry to get out of the house, (or maybe it was what all the cool girls were doing), because she was married at the age of 15. The groom was Elza Shepard, the eldest child of Hartley Shepard and Susanna Smith, and he was 21.

Number 16 on the list is the marriage record for Jane and Elza. *[Wood County Register of Marriages, 1868, page 38, line 16, County Clerks Office, Parkersburg, West Virginia.]*

At the time of the marriage Elza’s family was living in Jackson County. So, I believe that because Elza was 21, he was out on his own making a living as a farm hand, or working at oil rigs in the Wood County area, and that is how he met Jane. Of course, I have no proof of that, but it seems plausible.

After Jane and Elza were married they made their first home together on a farm that they didn’t own, at least not in 1870, (there was no ‘value of real estate’ entered for them in the 1870 census, just ‘value of personal property’). By 1872 they had purchased 110 acres, (4 acres of this property description were owned by W. A. Buchanan, Jane’s father), and Elza appears in the 1873 Table of Tracts of Land, which included valuation and acreage (which was listed as 106). However, they didn’t live on this property for long, their son Thomas was born in Wood County in about 1874, and they stopped paying property taxes in Wood County after 1874. Their son Isaiah was born in Jackson County in 1877. This indicates that by at least 1875 they were living in Jackson County.

Elza and Jane purchased property from her parents when they moved to Jackson County. And they lived on that property for about 10 years before they made another move, this time to property in Wirt County that Jane’s father had sold to her for $1.00 in August of 1888. Maybe her parents realized they were having a hard time of it and wanted to help them out by selling them property at this nice discount. or they possibly made side deals regarding crops and the like.

It is believed that the above pictures are of Jane and Elza’s home. If it is, then it would likely be in Wirt County, as that is where they settled permanently after the move from Jackson County (and the photograph seem like they was taken in the early 1900s). But, again, I don’t know for sure. I need cousins to verify!

You can see the oil rig in the background of one of the pictures. Oil was a big industry in this area at the time. And, our relatives took full advantage of the money making opportunities when they could by leasing their property to these oil companies. In fact my mother inherited a share in one of the leases, it wasn’t worth much by the time she inherited, and it has since been sold.

Jane and Elza had 14 children together (which included a set of twins), but only 11 of those children lived to adulthood.^[1]

This picture is great, you can see the stone under Elza’s stool/chair to keep it even, and Jane, holding the treasured family bible, is a little downhill. I believe this is the earliest photograph of Jane and Elza in our collection.

That’s really all I can say about Jane at this time. She looks like she lived a hard life, but she also looks like she enjoyed her grandchildren. Her family was large and poor, but Jane was a respected and loved wife and mother. She died 12 Mar 1925 in Wood County, West Virginia.

…as you go south from Parkersburg on “old” Route 2, you go up what is called “Limestone Hill”. There is a church to the left, as you reach the top of the hill. To the right is a junction with a dirt road, called Gate’s Ridge Road. It is one lane and, if the weather is dry, is passable. Winding about three miles on this road, you come to a church on the left. The church-yard also serves as a cemetery. Here lie the remains of Elza, Jane and several of their children, as well as many friends and relatives. Where the church sets is the junction of another road coming from the left. Down this road about a mile or so (setting on a rise of the hill) is the old farm. It appears that the old barn may still be there; but obviously the house with its electric wiring and modern siding must be a replacement. Grandmother died in about 1925, I guess. I recall being taken on a long journey during the winter from Verasailles Avenue to Parkersburg, and being presented to Grandmother lying on a bed; she knew me but I not her. (She had cared for me as an infant at the farm). Brother Bud told the story of being chased, as a small boy, by a large Tom turkey in the yard of the farmhouse, it appearing that the bird was about to catch him; but as he ran screaming from the bird (which stood higher than he) it passed the front porch step, where stood grandmother, who had run from the kitchen to see what the commotion was all about. She made a fast grab for the turkey, and seized it by the neck and started to shake it. After a vigorous shaking the turkey suddenly went limp, and Bud, in complete amazement watched her wheel about and carry the bird into the house. They had turkey for dinner that evening!! When grandmother cared for me as an infant at the farm, it was the winter of 1917-18 when a terrible flu epidemic swept the nation. There were deaths in the family at that time at the farm, so I understand. Some time after her death, grandad moved into Parkersburg to stay with Uncle Hod, where I visited with him overnight in the 1930’s. He had a large picture of her by his bed, and he would look at it and say “she was a good woman.”
Notes from a letter to Sally from Zara and Brooks, [currently unknown Shepard relatives].

We are lucky in that we have many images of Jane, although they are when she is older. You can get a good sense of her in the pictures. (Click on first image then you can click through each at its proper size.)

Sources:

1910 Federal Census, Tucker, Wirt County, West Virginia; Roll: T624_1699; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0114; FHL microfilm: 1375712. [Ancestry.com image 11 of 24, lines 11-17, dwelling 94, family 97.]
Jane Shepard entry, Wood County Deaths, Death Record no. 3: 209, County Clerks Office, Parkersburg, West Virginia.

The Mobley connection…

On April 7, 2016April 20, 2016 By jenbumannIn buchanan, mobberly, mobley, mobly, Uncategorized2 Comments

3105196464_8b1aa0edd3_b — This is most likely a picture of William Buchanan and Margaret Mobley.

A while back in my research I was investigating the parents of Jane Buchanan, because while much research was done on the Buchanan line and I could fill it out pretty well, I didn’t have much on her mother’s side in my files. Even my grandfather’s research records gave her short shrift, all I could find in his records was her first name Margaret.

Through time and much effort I have been able to flesh out Margaret’s origins. Origins of which bring a more prominent role of Quakers into the family and, as I knew would happen sooner or later, slavery.

When I started my research on Margaret I did have a good starting point because her birth name is found on her daughter Jane’s death registration. Using that information as a guide I found Margaret’s death registration, along with her husband’s on the same page, in the records. Thankfully her parent’s names were also recorded in the death record, which doesn’t happened all the time. They were listed as William and Sarah Mabley, (which should have been Mobley).

The search for William and Sarah Mobley led me to Monroe County, Ohio where a marriage registration is found for William Mobley and Sarah Millison in 1825. This record seemed the most likely and fits in with the approximated 1833 birth year for Margaret. I was pretty confident that this line runs true and so continued my research following this trail’s bread crumbs.

As I ventured further and further down the rabbit hole of the Mobley line I eventually ended up in Maryland. It was at this point that I immediately knew I wasn’t going to like what I was going to find. You see once your research takes you certain parts of the country in certain periods of time, slavery is going to rear it’s ugly head, and it did.

There are a few publications and websites dedicated to the Mobley surname to be found out in the world, so I have been able to fill in lots of blanks pretty well regarding the first few generations in America. Some sources are still suspect, which is to be expected. (An unfortunate habit of many early genealogy surname history books is their tendency to spend several chapters talking about the family crest, or how the surname is somehow of ‘upper crust’ descent. All very silly and pretentious, and these Mobley histories are no exception.)

It is believed that the earliest Mobley documented with confidence is John Mobley, jr. who was most likely born in England and emigrated in the latter part of the 1600s to America, settling in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The surname in England was generally known as Moberly or various other iterations.

John was born about 1658, possibly in Cheshire, England. When he was about 30 years old he married Ann Biggers on the 21st of Oct 1686, in Maryland. Together they had five boys. The youngest boy, Thomas, was our ancestor. He was born on 18 Jan 1698 in All Hallow’s Parish, as were all the other children.

John was a planter, and living in Maryland his main crop was tobacco. Not surprisingly his main labor force was slaves and possibly indentured servants, although we have no record of such. Besides, indenture was so 1600s, enslaving Africans was all the rage now.

In the early days of Africans being involuntarily brought to Maryland, they could actually work off their indenture and become free. Apparently this annoyed the rich white folks to no end, so in 1664 an act was passed in the Maryland Assembly that once a slave always a slave, and any child of a slave automatically became a slave when born, and could expect the same treatment. To make matters even more depressing, in 1753 they passed another assinine law, this one forbade owners from manumitting their slaves at all. So even if they wanted to free a slave they couldn’t.

Several years before Thomas died he had made out a deed of gift for his younger children.

deed_moblythos_slavestochildren — The boxes area in the image says *“One Negro boy named Ben to my beloved son Levin Mobberly”,* Levin is our ancestor, who had William, who had Margaret.

Here is a transcription of the relevant parts of the document:

.”..hereby grant unto my beloved children, Dorcus Mobberly, Levin Mobberly, Mary Mobberly and William Mobberly, at the day of their marriage, or at my death. Viz. one negro girl named Dinah, and her increase to my beloved daughter Dorcus Mobberly, one negro boy named Ben to my beloved son Levin Mobberly. One negro girl named Hagar and her increase to my beloved daughter Mary Mobberly and one negro girl named Jane and her increase to my beloved son William Mobberly. If in case either of the said negroes die before received, I then give the boy Jack to make good the loss if either of these my children die before they receive the said negroes, the whole to be equally divided amongst them remaining and if all die to one, then my son John Mobberly to have half the negroes if more then one living. To have and to hold the said negroes, unto the above children their heirs and assigned to his and her and their own proper use for ever…”

I made a promise to myself that when I did run into the issue of slavery in our family, which I knew I would, there would be no glossing over the issue, and in the best way I know how I will try to give voice to those persons whom my ancestors owned like cattle. So here I give their names: Dinah, Ben, Hagar, Jane and Jack.

Thomas’s son Levin moved his family to Ohio between 1810 and 1820 at which time they can be found living in Belmont County. One good thing I can say about Levin is that in the 1800 census there is no notation that his family owned slaves, so either he sold them to family or others, or freed them, and whether his lack of slaves in the census is due to economics or personal belief I do not know. I am just glad that at this point on, in our Moberly line, the owning of slaves has ceased.

A note of interest regarding Thomas Mobley/Mobberly, you can see that he left his mark of a pretty capital “T” as his signature on the deed of gift document. This indicates that he was not a formally educated man. He could probably read, but most likely didn’t write.

The family doesn’t appear to have invented any wondrous devices, written any novels, or left any big impact on history. They were tobacco farmers, owned slaves, were born, had children, died. When the country was opening up the next generation started to spread out heading south and west. Where we find Margaret, first in Ohio and then finally settling in West Virginia. It is here that she left her legacy to her four children: Jane, Rebecca, Ebenezer, and Sarah Buchanan.
moblytree

Who gets the children…

On April 1, 2015July 28, 2015 By jenbumannIn 1761, 1762, buchanan, guardianship, mcmullen, mcmullin, pennsylvania, york countyLeave a comment

One of my five times great grandmother’s was Mary McMullen/McMullin. She married William Buchanan sometime in the 1790s. Before she married William she can be found in court records when she was as young as 5.

In times past if the ‘head of the household’ (that being the father, of course) died, the mother didn’t necessarily become the guardian of her children. Common law dictated that the father and only the father was in control of the estate and persons included in that estate. According to the legalgenealogist.com’s blog post regarding the matter of guardianship, she quoted Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Law of England “a mother…is entitled to no power, but only to reverence and respect.”

This practice is demonstrated quite clearly in the guardianship record for Mary McMullen, whose father James died in 1761 in Shrewsbury, York County, New York. She was 5 in 1762 when the September term of court heard her Uncle John, their father’s brother, requesting that guardianship of her and her brother Robert, who was a year younger, be appointed to Ebenezer Newton and David Kirkpatrick.

“Came into Court John McMullin Brother of James McMullen late of Shrewsbury Township Yeoman Deceased who Died Intestate and prayed the Court to appoint some proper persons Guardians of Mary and Robert McMullin Minor Orphan Children of the said Deceased the former aged Five years in October last, and the latter Aged Four in Feb.y last. It is Considered by the Court and David Kirkpatrick Esquire and Ebenezer Newton of Shrewsbury Township Yeoman are appointed Guardians over the Persons and Estates of the said Mary and Robert McMullan during their Minority or until they shall be of Age to chuse for themselves.”1

Actual court record pages from book.

Their mother Jean was still very much alive as she married shortly after James’ death, a gentleman by the name of Nelson. The last record found for Jean, at this time, is in the May term of court in 1761.2 She was petitioning the court regarding the bequest she received from her husband’s will. She wasn’t happy with the terms and was requesting a one third portion of property and money from the estate. The court granted her petition. At this time we do not know if she was still alive when her children’s guardianship was being decided, or if she had died by September of 1762.

But, my focus is really on the interesting bits found in the two related items located close to the case regarding their guardianship appointment (between another case or two):

“Came into Court David Kirkpatrick Esquire and Ebenezer Newton Guardians of Mary McMullan a Minor Orphan Daughter of James McMullin late of Shrewsbury Township Yeoman Deceased who Died Intestate aged five years sometime in October last, and prayed that the said Mary McMullin may be bound and Apprentice to John McMullin of Fawn Township yeoman. It is considered by the Court, and the said Mary is hereby bound an Apprentice to the said John McMullin until she shall be of the Age of Eighteen years In Consideration Whereof the said John McMullin doth covenant and agree to teach or cause to be taught the said Apprentice to Read the Bible to knit sew and Spin and to furnish and allow the said Apprentice sufficient Meat Drink Apparel Washing and Lodging during the said Term and at the Experation thereof the pay unto her Two suits of apparel one whereof shall be New, and of the value of six pounds, one New Spinning Wheel and one Cow and Calf, or four Pounds in Money, which the said Apprentice shall then chuse.”1

“Came into Court David Kirkpatrick Esquire and Ebenezer Newton Guardians of Robert McMullan a Minor Orphan Son of James McMullin late of Shrewsbury Township Yeoman Deceased Aged four years some time in February last, and prayed that the said Robert may be bound an Apprentice to patrick Poore of East Nottingham Township Chester County Weaver It is considered by the Court, and the said Robert McMullin is hereby bound an Apprentice to the said Patrick Poore until he shall be of the age of Twenty one years In Consideration whereof the said Patrick Poor doth Covenant and agree to teach or Cause to be taught the said Apprentice the Art or Mystery of a Weaver which he now practiseth to Read the Bible to Write and Arithmetick as far as the Rule of Three direct, to furnish and allow the said Apprentice sufficient Meat Drink Apparel Washing and Lodging during the said Term and at the Expiration thereof to pay unto him to suits of Apparel one whereof shall be New and of the value of six pounds, and one new Loom and Tackling of the value of three pounds. And the Court do decree that in the mean Time the said Patrick Poor give Bond, in Fifty pounds with sufficient security to the Guardians of the said Robert McMullin conditioned for the performance of the Covenants mentioned in the foregoing record on his part to be performed and kept.”1

So as would be typical of the times, Mary was to be taught to read, sew and spin, her brother was to be taught the trade of weaving, along with readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmetic. Thanks goodness the court required their masters to feed, water, and clothe them too.

This is the first time I have run into a guardianship record in my own research. I don’t know much more about the family than this little bit, so I am anxious to delved into York County, Pennsylvania records when I make my yearly trek to SLC this summer.

1 Pennsylvania, probate records, 1683-1994 digital images from FHL; York County Orphans’ Court Dockets 1749-1781 vol. A-D, image 140 of 593; Court Term September 1, 1872 vol. A, pages 231-232.

2 Pennsylvania, probate records, 1683-1994 digital images from FHL; York County Orphans’ Court Dockets 1749-1781 vol A-D, image 111 of 593 Court Term May 26, 1761, vol. A, page 173.

Looking over the family tree…

On August 25, 2014April 30, 2015 By jenbumannIn atkinson, buchanan, cousins, elza, Shepard, smithLeave a comment

This morning I was looking over my family tree chart to get a feel for how it was looking these days, (and I must say, my efforts have filled it out pretty well in the last few years), when I realized that my great great grandparents Elza Shepard and Jane Buchanan were second cousins. Susan Smith, who married Hartley Shepard, was the daughter of Catharine Atkinson, William A. Buchanan was the son of Rebecca Atkinson, sister of Catharine. Susan’s son Elza married William’s daughter Jane.

That also means we descend from James Atkinson and Margaret Brown twice. Not an unusual occurrence at all, but one I just realized.

Elza Shepard and Jane Buchanan, 2nd cousins, my great great grandparents on my maternal size. They are sitting on chairs that are on an incline. Hilly country in West Virginia.

A mystery possibly solved…

On July 7, 2014April 30, 2015 By jenbumannIn adams township, atkinson, buchanan, monroe, ohio, smithLeave a comment

I don’t know if I can say enough times how important land records are in genealogical research.

Case in point.

I have been slowly transcribing the digital images I took of land records from my last trip to SLC. I am currently working on land deeds from Monroe County, Ohio. The surnames I am interested in are SMITH, MOBLY, MILLISON, BUCHANAN, and ATKINSON.

Monroe County, Ohio map

Joseph Smith and his wife Catherine were the parents of Susannah who married Hartley Shepard. Rebecca Atkinson married William Buchanan.

I have never known the name of Catherine’s parents, it has never been stated in any of my research. However, it is possible that I have found it out.

One of the land records I transcribed for Joseph and his wife, spelled Katherine in this particular deed, indicated a tract or parcel in Section 7 of Township 4, Range 4, I believe it was the SW 1/4. Okay. Cool. I marked the position on my hard copy. Then, a while later, I am transcribing a land record for William Buchanan and Rebecca his wife, remember she is an Atkinson by birth. The tract or parcel described is the exact same one described in Joseph and Katherine’s deed, the Buchanan’s had acquired the property through the decease of Rebecca’s father James Atkinson. Both couples were selling the land to the same person, John Adams.

The property was described as some type of inheritance in Joseph’s deed, but James’ name wasn’t mentioned.

The only reason I could see for the property description to be the same, was if Katherine was a daughter of James and had inherited her portion of the estate. And if that isn’t interesting enough, there is a Jeremiah Smith who married an Atkinson girl living in the same area, and involved in land transactions related to the same Atkinson family.

My belief is that Jeremiah and Joseph are SMITH brothers, who married ATKINSON sisters. Of course, it is possible that I am wrong and Joseph is somehow related to James Atkinson, but I have my doubts, because he would have to be a pretty close relative to be inheriting part of the estate, when there are children and a wife getting their portions also.

Well, that’s my theory so far.

More union soldiers, a wedding and a death…

On June 11, 2013April 30, 2015 By jenbumannIn 17th, buchanan, buckhannon, civil war, company d, deeds, emily duke, jackson county, janett smith, jannett, jennie, oconto, rosa, west virginia, williamLeave a comment

I am back from my trip to Salt Lake City. Who would think that a weeks vacation could be that exhausting.

I spent many an hour looking bleary eyed at microfilm. All in an effort to find something new about our ancestors. I am happy to say that I did find a tidbit or two.

Firstly, until just this last week I had no idea when Jennie/Jannett Smith Rosa Lavelley died. I did know it was after 1870 and before 1898 (according to her ex-husband, Abram Rosa’s, pension). But this week I found a quit claim deed filed in Berrien County, Michigan labeled ‘Jannett Rosa, by heirs’ to Michael Smith [her brother]. The incriminating bit of information in that index entry was the ‘by heirs’ part. The deed was filed in 1877. Okay, it didn’t give me the exact date of death, but now I know that Jennie died between 1870 and 1877, a much shorter date range. Who knows, maybe a bit of digging in my own backyard will turn up more on that issue, after all she lived in Oconto.

Secondly, the Buchanan family has been researched by others, but some of what they have put out there is wrong. I now know that Margaret and William Buchanan died in Jackson County, West Virginia. Margaret in 1883 and William in 1891. I found their death records online. Easy peasy. Well, after Margaret died, William must have been feeling a bit lonely because he married again in 1884 to an Emily Duke. How do I know this, land records. William and Emily are selling land together to family, etc. in Jackson County in the 1880s. It took me a while to realize that the name of his wife was Emily in the deeds as I am mostly just photographing records and looking at them later. I am glad I did though. Now I can add Emily to the records. I even confirmed the marriage by finding their certificate online.

Thirdly, After learning about Emily, I dug around on Ancestry to see if there was something I missed about William Buchanan in their online records. William is the first Shepard side ancestor I have found to have been an actual soldier in the Civil War. He joined the Union’s 17th Regiment, Company D, Infantry. He was only in the war for about a year, the same as F. W. John. He appears to have survived the war without any incidents. But, he didn’t live long enough to file a pension having died in 1891. Emily his wife died by 1900, as we know from the land records. When she died the land she inherited from William, had to pass on to his children: Jane, Ebenezer, Rebecca and Sarah.

All in all I have had affirmed in my mind the importance of land records in doing one’s research. It can lead you to finding all kinds of little gems.