Asa’s great heist…

On August 9, 2015August 9, 2015 By jenbumannIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Asa Newell Lyon, the only surviving child of Newell and his wife Arrietta, was born in 1848 in Burlington, Vermont. When I was researching his background, in an effort to find out more about Esther, I found that he was living in St. Louis, Missouri by 1870 working in an advertising agency, at the age of 21, and in later years he was working in a tailor shop, always as a clerk. He spent the rest of his life in St. Louis eventually marrying and dying there.

I was curious about why he might have moved all that way from home, when I ran into an article in the New York Herald from September of 1874.

Court of General Sessions.
Larcenies.

Asa N. Lyon, who was indicted for stealing, on the 10th of July, four coats, worth $80, the property of the Wilde Brothers, No. 452 Broadway, pleaded guilty to an attempt at grand larceny. In consequence of the previous good character and the respectable connections of the prisoner His Honor sent him to the Penitentiary for six months instead of to the State Prison.

Asa, grandson of Asa Lyon, a former representative of Vermont, found out that having well known and ‘rich’ relatives sure helps grease the wheels of justice in your favor. HIs father had died in 1868, and his mother remarried to Ardin Styles. I am sure that his incarceration was an embarrassment for him, and the family, as he high-tailed it back to a far away city, where no one knew his family or his “respectable connections.”

asa n lyon court — New York Herald, September 30, 1874 vol.XXXIX, Issue 273, page 5.

John Fay’s naughty exploits…

On July 29, 2015 By jenbumannIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I have more goodies to share from my recent research trip to Salt Lake City. Sit back and enjoy.

massbaycolony003_s — Just some picture of Puritans I stole from the internet. Have to add media interest.

The Fay family has appeared in a previous post when I talked about Stephen Fay who was the owner of a famous tavern in Vermont during the Revolutionary War. The Fay in this post is either his grandfather or father, I am not 100% sure which one is the principal character.

John Fay, sr. was born in England about 1640 and came to America sometime after. He settled in Middlesex County, Massachusetts and sometime before 1669 he married Mary Brigham (his first wife). She bore him 4 children, dying shortly after the birth of Mary, the youngest, in 1676.

The publication titled: The History of the Brigham Family; Descendants of Thomas Brigham, compiled by Rhonda R. McClure has a quote from Sex in Middlesex: Popular Mores in Massachusetts County, 1649-1699, by Roger Thompson, which is of interest to us Fay descendants as it regards a court case I have summarized as follows:

William Hudson, came to court in April of 1691 and bewailed “the danger that whores accuse rich single men or married men as the father of their bastards.” Because he was protesting his innocence in the case of fathering a child he was asked to provide evidence that another male could be responsible. Hudson produced evidence that “in August [1689] the soldier John Fay had been at the house of Ephraim Roper** in Lancaster, in or on the bed with sd. Mercy Rugg, lying upon his belly with some violent motions toward her.” By the time of William’s testimony in the case John Fay, sr. had conveniently died, so could offer up no defense. Hudson was judged to be the father.

I was a little taken aback when I saw this entry, then I started shaking my head trying to get the images out that had popped in there. Geez gramps, close the curtains! (Well, that’s assuming they had curtains. Or doors.)

After reading the entry a few time the next thought that came to mind was: “Is it possible Mr. Hudson is actually taking about John Fay, jr., who would have been about 20 years old at the time.” The mention of ‘soldier John Fay’ brings to mind someone younger. But, if it was John, sr. then he was definitely having sexual relations outside of his marriage. Susanna, his 2nd wife, would not have been pleased. If it was John, jr., then he would also have committed adultery, as he was married December 1 of 1690 to my 8x great grandmother Elizabeth Wellington. Or he had relations shortly before his marriage; the case doesn’t say whether Mercy had had the child, or was still pregnant in April of 1691. (As I haven’t seen the actual case it is possible that mention is made of John Fay, sr.’s demise, which would of course answer the question of which ‘John’ (ouch! no pun intended).)

Typically, William, who is being accused, calls Mercy a whore, it is doubtful she actually was one. He was just a little too free with his favors, proceeded to get her pregnant, and didn’t want to pay the price for unprotected sex. I have a little violin playing just for him in the ‘oh woes me’ band.

While investigating this source I ended up reading the whole book by Roger Thompson. I learned quite a bit about our ancestral Puritan’s and everyday shenanigans. They were a group of pretty typical humans whose Puritan beliefs really didn’t change the natural tendencies of human nature, and their children were just as rebellious and annoying as teenagers today. The Puritans fooled around, got into squabbles, swore, and blasphemed with the best of them.

**Interesting side note: The Ephraim Roper mention in the above case file, was the second husband of Hannah Brewer Goble Roper, our ancestress. So this incident involved two ancestors or ours, Hannah Brewer and John Fay, who was having sex in her house, with her servant. And…when Montreal Goble Shaw married Charlotte Hatch in 1909 the two families were now connected by marriage. In our family at least.

More about crazy Esther and the Lyons…

On July 26, 2015 By jenbumannIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

One of my goals on my trip to Salt Lake City the week before last, was to see if I could find more out about my crazy 5x great grandmother Esther (Newell) Lyon.

My belief was that because I could not find a death record for her in Vermont, maybe there is something in Asa Lyon’s probate records that could help answer the question. The assumption being that if she wasn’t mentioned in his probate records she had probably died.

probate_lyon_asap199 — A page from Asa Lyon’s probate records of Chittenden County, Vermont.

I am happy to say that she was.

For those who don’t remember – Esther was born in 1761 in Goshen, Litchfield County, Connecticut eldest daughter of the Rev. Abel Newell and his wife Abigail Smith. She married Rev. Asa Lyon, who was two years younger than her, in 1796 when she was 34 years old. They lived in Grand Isle County, Vermont for most of their married life and had three known children together: Abigail, who married Abijah Hatch, Esther, who married Daniel Brown, and Newell, who married Arrietta unknown.

Asa Lyon, the patriarch of the family, died in 1841, and thankfully he left us probate records regarding his estate. In these estate papers I learned several interesting things, the most important was that Esther, his wife, was still alive at the time of his death. However, it was also learned that his daughter Esther had died. She had lived long enough to marry, but it is doubtful she had any children as they are not mentioned in the probate record. The only two children inheriting any part of the estate were Abigail and her brother Newell.

When Asa died he owned close to 1500 acres of land in Vermont, the largest tract being about 300 acres. not all together, but in various places in the state. Its total worth was about $29,000 (that would be about $830,000 in 2015 dollars). So needless to say the Lyons were a family of means and property. I guess it helps if you are a bit of a skinflint, as Asa was known to be.

Abigail’s husband Abijah had been named as Esther’s guardian:

On Application of Abijah B. Hatch guardian of Esther Lyon, widow of Asa Lyon, late of Grand Isle, deceased, an insane person.

and one of the responsibilities of probate court was to make sure that Esther’s needs were going to be taken care of, as seen in this entry:

The said Abijah & Abigail agree to maintain and support the widow of the said Asa Lyon during the residue of her natural life free of any charges upon the said Newell or upon that part of the estate of the said Asa Lyon which shall in the distribution thereof be set to him by procuring for her suitable apartments in the house in which she now resides, and such meats and drinks medicines, bedding, attendance and other accommodations as shall render her as comfortable and happy as in her circumstances she can be made during her life, and inter her remains and lay her coffin beside that of her husband Asa Lyon.

The court even makes sure that her body is properly ‘placed’ when she does pass out of this world.

The probate case file continues until 1843, at no time during this period is it indicated that Esther has died, but, she is not listed in the 1850 census as living with her daughter Abigail. So I can only assume that sometime between 1843 and 1850 Esther died.

This was more than I knew before, so even if I don’t have an exact date I am very pleased.

Their son Newell married and had 6 children with his wife Arrietta. Only his eldest, Asa N. Lyon, survived to adulthood. But Asa married very late in life and never had any children of his own, so, it was up to my 4x great grandmother Abigail to keep the family line going, which she did with great gusto as she had 11 children with Abijah, (that we know of). Her son Oscar Ebenezer Hatch is my ancestor.

Irish troubles…

On July 9, 2015July 28, 2015 By jenbumannIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This weekend I received an offer from FindMyPast for a really cheap yearly subscription. I wasn’t sure what databases they had on their site that would be of interest to me, but what the heck. So, I went ahead and bit the bullet.

Come to find out they have databases that I can not get from other sites. Specifically, Irish records that have been newly digitized and indexed. The British databases are not as much of an interest to me, at this time, because the vast majority of my British ancestors emigrated in the 1600s.

The most interesting record that I found was for Dennis Connelly my 4x great grandparent. It was a record related to the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund. The fund was set up in 1824 as a micro credit project, that would provide tiny loans to the poor. The loans could be for as little as one pound, and repayment could not exceed 12 months. When one applied for a loan two sureties signed who agreed to pay if the borrower defaulted. Lending ceased in 1848 because the famine was so great that the number of defaulters out-weighed those able to pay back their debt, and a large majority just left the country instead to trying to pay off their loan.

The caption is a transcription of the entry:

poorrecords_connellydennis — Denis Conaly, 5 Sept. 1846, Denis Conaly resided here at this date. Laborer since gone to America. Circumstances bad.

Dennis signed as surety for several local resident’s loans. Friends, family, I don’t know. The loans were for only 2-3 pounds. It is telling that while his own family was going through difficulties, they put themselves out to help others in the same circumstances. The Connellys left Ireland in 1849 and went to Rhode Island, although most of the family eventually went on to Wisconsin and Nebraska.

The following .pdf file contains all the records that I found for Dennis in the collection. He is confirmed as a tailor in several indexes and entries. But apparently being possessed of a skill was of no use when it came to feeding his family.

poorrecords_connellydennis

Next week I will be in Salt Lake City, hopefully finding new and wonderful thing out about other ancestors. Well, it doesn’t even have to be wonderful, anything at all will be great.

Later.

A 4th of July celebration…

On July 3, 2015July 28, 2015 By jenbumannIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

In celebration of the 4th of July and America’s 239th year of independence from the tyranny of Great Britain I am posting this newspaper clipping from the Cincinnati ‘Liberty Hall’ Newspaper from 1813. The article goes on to list all the toasts that were made at the Newtown celebration at Mr. Allison’s tavern. Our ancestor Col. Clayton Webb delivered an oration ‘suited to the occasion.’ He also delivered a toast to “Capt. James Lawrence, who nobly fell fighting the battles of his county…”.

Have a great 4th of July. I’m planning on being in a parade in White Lake. Hope the day is fine.

Jury duty anecdotes…

On June 16, 2015July 28, 2015 By jenbumannIn Uncategorized2 Comments

3275124578_e9cfc514ed_o — FW John out in the woods.

While perusing the newspapers of Oconto County, (by the way thanks for the heads up on this Ron), I came across an amusing little story regarding F.W. John I thought I would share:

When Postmaster Frederick William John of Gillett visited Oconto a few weeks ago he was greeted by a bunch of old residents gathered at the Beyer House with:

“Frederick William John, by J____s!”

Many who heard the expression were astonished, but those who were present and who had lived here when Mr. John was a young man knew the full meaning of the greeting.

Mr. John is one of the pioneers of Oconto county, and a great many years ago was prominent among the then young men of the vicinity. He scarcely failed to be drawn on the jury at every term of the circuit court, and one time, as usual, he was summoned to appear at the county seat as a juror. He entered the court room, dressed in the garb of a lumberman, wearing a red sash tied around his waist, which in those days was considered essential to the efficient vocation of a lumberjack. He was in his shirt sleeves and wore high boots, and being tall, broad shouldered and as straight as an arrow, he presented a find specimen of physical manhood. On entering the court room he took a seat at the rear, and soon Richard Hall, who was then clerk of the court, began calling the roll.

Soon the clerk called, “Bill John.”

There was no response. Again the clark called:

“Bill John.”

And again there was no response. For the third time the clerk called in a loud voice:

“Bill John!”

Still there was no response, and Judge Cotton, who at that time presided in this circuit, inquired of Clerk Hall whether Bill John was in the court room.

“Yes, your honor,” replied Mr. Hall, “there he sits in the rear of the hall–that big fellow wearing a red sash.”

“Is your name Bill John?’ thundered the judge, pointing straight at him with his finger.

“No, sir,” replied Mr. John indignantly, “my name is not Bill John. My name is Frederick William John, by J___s!”

“Well Mr. Frederick William John by J___s, you will take your seat in front with the rest of the jurors.” commanded the judge, suppressing a smile.

Some of the old residents were reminded of the incident when Mr. John entered the hotel.1

tt-82 — A lumberjack in dress most similar to what FW John would have been wearing.

Now if only there were more stories about Johanna that were to be found.

1 The Lena Enterprise, volume1, issue 21, page 1 column 4, 1903-10-30.

Enjoying living relatives…

On June 9, 2015July 28, 2015 By jenbumannIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

One of the fun results of researching ones ancestors is finding living relatives that you never knew existed and then meeting them and sharing stories, pictures, research, or just plain having fun.

This last weekend Dale and I decided to take the time to visit, and catch up with, my John side cousin Ron and his wife Nancy down in southern Wisconsin. The day was almost perfect (I can always do with a little bit warmer). It was warmish, sunnyish and downright nice. So we had good food, lots of laughs and even got to feed a crane. Well I did. Our next visit will not be 9 years in the future.

Nancy shared her abundance of rhubarb with us and I made some of my luscious rhubarb muffins.

We will be seeing them again this September in Gillett, when the Gillett Area Historical Society has their cemetery walk, two of our ancestors will be represented, FW John and Cal John. Ron will be pretending to be Cal, with the aid of a high platform. Cal was 6’6 or so. Ron, not so much : )

Jen, Dale, and Nancy. Where's Ron? — Jen, Dale, and Nancy. Where’s Ron?

Here's a pic of FW John I hadn't seen before. Ron shared it with me. — Here’s a pic of FW John I hadn’t seen before. Ron shared it with me. I’ll be adding this to my flickr site.

Ummm! Tasty goodness. Lots in the freezer too!

August(us) Cl. Johns, or, the things you learn from newspapers…

On June 5, 2015July 28, 2015 By jenbumannIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

August, who has used the name Augustus at times, was the younger brother of my great great grandfather Friedrich Wilhelm Jahn. August went by the surname Johns after arriving in the United States. As I have mentioned before, regarding his military service during the Civil War, he married Mary Schaal shortly after his arrival.

The family lived in Dodge County, Wisconsin until sometime between 1880 and 1885 when they packed up the household and family of 4 girls and moved to Algona, Kossuth County, Iowa.

While living in Algona the family ran a hotel and eatery in association with the Milwaukee Railroad depot in town. Not all of their customers were of upstanding quality1:

August was mentioned in an article in an Iowa paper because of their hotel and eatery business. Judge Conklin of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin was taking Bowe’s Excursion through Iowa on the railway in 1887, he stopped in for breakfast with August “the erstwhile cooper at Josh Large’s Oakfield mills.”2

In 1890 his son-in-law George Adams came down from Minneapolis to pick up his wife and visit with the in-laws.3

When the Civil War Veterans had their 30th encampment in St. Paul, in 1896, August and Mary thought it would be a good time to visit their daughter in Minneapolis.4

Due to August’s ill health, from what I believe was an injury caused by being kicked by a horse, August and Mary headed up to Minneapolis to spend their later years, so that they could be around their daughter and her family. He died July 26, 1917 and his body was transported back to Iowa for burial.5

1 The Upper Des Moines: Algona, Iowa, Wednesday, August 4, 1886, no page, col. 2

2 The Spirit Lake Beacon, Vol. XVII, No. 17, Spirit Lake, Dickinson County, Iowa, Friday, March 18, 1887, page 1, col. 3.

3 The Upper Des Moines: Algona, Iowa, Wednesday Dec. 10, 1890, no page, col. 3.

4 The Republican, Algona, Iowa, Wednesday, September 2, 1896, no page, col. 4.

5 Upper Des Moines Republican Algona, Iowa, Wednesday, August 1, 1917, Vol 16, No. 5, page 1 col. 5.

To John…

On March 13, 2015April 30, 2015 By jenbumannIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I ran across this image while researching my Rosa and Cross families from Niagara County, New York. I thought that it was fitting to share.

John Brooks my 4xgreat grandfather died in Niagara County in 1815 during the war of 1812. There most likely was no transportation of his body back home to his family, it would have been extremely difficult. It is doubtful that there was a headstone or permanent marker for him either. I have certainly not run across one in my cemetery searches.

But I did find a lovely memorial for those unnamed soldiers who died in the Fort Niagara area during the War of 1812. While the memorial mentions those who died in action or of wounds, and John died of an illness, I still consider this for him. After all, he did put his life on the line for his country and survived a bloody battle. It is not his fault he died of an illness, which could have been contracted because of wounds he received in the line of duty.

This image was found at the findagrave website. It is from the Old Fort Niagara Cemetery.

A little update…

On January 24, 2015April 30, 2015 By jenbumannIn Uncategorized5 Comments

Our ancestry all boils down to DNA.

Well, I know that at least one person reads my blog, my old man was complaining because it had been a while since he had seen anything new. Yes, it has been a month or so. But folks are usually busy with the holidays and have no time for such minor matters, including me.

For the new year I am putting forth a challenge to my readers, of which I am sure there are 1’s – post any future comments on my blog, even if it is to say this post sucks, or ‘hey’. I dare you.

I will no longer be informing folks of a new post on Facebook. Become a subscriber to my blog and you will get emails telling you there is a new post. Or visit it once a week to check it out. I double dare you.

I decided for my first post for the new year that I would mention a few updates to my research and miscellany.

WEBSITES:
jensgenealogy updated 1/24/2015, with changes happening much more often in the future; now being hosted through my dropbox account, so delete those old website links of mine, they are outdated and useless. (By the way if you click on the little tree image by a name it will bring up a small tree chart.) Right now the surnames link isn’t working, I will work on that.

Flickr – a few new images have been added, some video, comments. I am still waiting for family to add their comments to images they see on the site, like who’s who, what’s what. Come on, I triple dare you.

It’s all there folks, pictures, family trees, etc. all you have to do is ‘click’ or ‘tap.’

DNA:
No big news on that front. I have now added my mother to the pool, familyfinder results have come in. Here is her ethnic breakdown map:

I am intrigued by the Norwegian and Middle Eastern results in both my Grandfather and Mother. Research, so far, shows no such ancestors in our tree.

My grandfather William Shepard and cousin Robert Cain have both passed away, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing happens to their samples.

CONTACTS:
My forays into communications with distant cousins over the last year or two have resulted in ‘nada’. No one wants to talk to me and it appears that the thought of DNA testing has them shaking in their boots in fear. Not really sure what that is all about. But, it’s hard to move on with one’s research when others don’t want to share or talk to you. All that aside, I will continue with my efforts, you never know what the future holds.

CORRECTIONS; ADDENDUMS:
Samuel Johnson who married Elizabeth Fox and was living with Almyra Johnson Brooks in Burlington, Vermont, was the son of John Johnson and Margaret Fing. So not a brother of Almyra, possibly a cousin.

The death record for Christina Johnson Warren of Albany, New York indicates that her parents are Thomas Johnson and Catherine Dunlap. So, not a sister to Almira Johnson Brooks as I was hoping.

The William Buchanan who was in the Civil War was not our William, further research and, finally, a pension record proved initial conclusions incorrect.

Other than that, the year will be interesting, for me anyway. I have several new surnames to pursue and another trip to Salt Lake City coming up in July. I have many leads but can’t really flesh stories out without more research, so I can’t blog about much of any of it yet. A little frustrating to say the least.

Here are some hints regarding future posts: Quakers, slavery, Loyalists, beheadings, incest, royalty…

Be seeing you on the interwebs, jen

jen's ancestors

Category: Uncategorized