ancestral-anecdotes

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On this day in history, August 2, 1790, the first census of the United States was conducted. This page from the census of Ashford, Windham County, Connecticut, contains James Russell and his father, Benjamin. James Russell (cir 1763-cir 1810)served as a private in Captain Throop's company, 4th Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Col. John Durkee, during the American Revolution. He enlisted on 16 August 1779 and was discharged 15 January 1780. The regiment wintered at Morristown from about 1 December 1779 to 22 June 1780. The Connecticut regiments mutinied at Morristown, protesting the poor conditions, but James Russell had been discharged before that mutiny occurred. He probably did not participate in any major battles. James married Lydia Brown, daughter of Obadiah and Ann Watkins Brown. They were married by Adoniram Judson, father of the famous missionary of the same name. The son of James and Lydia, another James, served in the army during the War of 1812.

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World War I Archive

My wife's grandfather served in an ambulance corps in the United States Army toward the end of World War I. He saved a number of mementos from his time in France and Germany. Follow this link to view an online archive of these items.

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Today, April 3, is the anniversary of the death of our 4x-great-grandfather, Rev. George Sackville Cotter. He was a younger son of Sir James Cotter, 1st Baronet of Rockforest. This is his obituary in The Freeman's Journal (Dublin, Ireland) of 12 April 1831. The text following the obituary is his biographical sketch in the Dictionary of National Biography.

COTTER, GEORGE SACKVILLE, poet and translator, was the fourth son of Sir James Cotter. He was educated at Westminster School, of which he was captain in 1770, and in 1771 he was elected to St. Peter's College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1775 and M.A. in 1779. Having taken holy orders he became vicar of Kilmacdonough, and rector of Kilcreddan-Garrivoe and Ightermorragh, diocese of Cloyne. In 1788 he published two volumes of 'Poems' dedicated to Lady Shannon, and consisting of a poem in two books, entitled 'Prospects' and a collection of odes and other fugitive pieces. In 1826 he published a translation of Terence for the use of schools, in the preface to which he states that when at Westminster School he had been an actor in three of Terence's comedies. In the following year he printed seven of the plays of Plautus, 'translated literally and grammatically, and cleared of objectionable passages.' The later years of his life were spent at Youghal, Cork, and he died in 1831. By his wife, a daughter of Bayley Rogers, physician and banker of Cork, he left, with other issue, four sons.

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Back in the 1960s, our Aunt Donna MacGruder was one of the founders of Camp Ko-Man-She, a camp for children with Type 1 diabetes. You can see her name on the sign in this photograph. The camp is now run by Diabetes Dayton, whose goal is "to offer children living with Type 1 diabetes an opportunity to enjoy a fun outdoor experience with other children like themselves in a safe, medically supervised setting." My cousins and I were counselors in the early days of the camp back in the 1960s, and my brother worked in the kitchen one summer. This year, the camp will award a full scholarship, the Donna M. MacGruder Scholarship, to one of the campers. For more information about this wonderful camp, visit their website at https://www.diabetesdaytoncamp.com/.

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On this day, January 28, 1980, my wife's grandfather, Clarence Ray Bryan, Sr., died in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Born in Georgia in 1887, he led an interesting early life. He lived for a time in Florida and spent some time in the West as a cowboy. He joined the Chattanooga police department around 1911 and was appointed Chief in 1930 after the sudden death of the previous chief. He is on the far left in the front row in this photograph. He retired from the police department on December 31, 1941. He is described in the online history of the Chattanooga police department as having "developed a reputation as a criminologist. He was also reputed to be an expert pistol shot and experienced horseman. Chief Bryan created a fingerprint bureau and was [a] firm believer in the scientific method of criminal investigation. He was also successful in establishing the first system of radio communication for the police department. With the coming of the police radio in 1934, the motor squad was eliminated. Radio receivers were too large to be mounted on motorcycles so the department changed to cars. "

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Today, December 16, is Beethoven's birthday! But it's also the 178th anniversary of the wedding of great-great-grandparents, Alexander Duff and Catherine Edward. In this photo, they're probably getting ready to leave the cottage to go hear an all-Beethoven concert. The photo of the cottage, still standing on Buttar's Loan in Dundee, Scotland, was taken around 1876. Two of their children are also in the photograph. It was Alexander and Catherine's eldest son, great-grandfather Charles Edward Duff, who left Scotland with his family in 1872 and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Pictured also is the marriage record from Kinfauns Parish in Perthshire, Scotland. The banns were declared both in Errol parish, Alexander's home, and Kinfauns parish, Catherine's home, but they were married in Kilspindie. I have no explanation for that!

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My grandparents, Alex and Jessie Duff Martin, were married 118 years ago today, November 30, 1905, in Cleveland, Ohio. This is how Alex described their meeting and marriage in his memoirs, Hedunit:

Eventually, I was introduced to a fine young lady—about five months younger than I was. She was a little taller—light complexion and blue eyes. She had five brothers and sisters—and she was the youngest of the family. Her sisters were all married—her father and mother were deceased. The more I called on her, the more I felt sure that she was just the girl for me, if she would have me. So I tried it one night and she said “yes.” We were married on Thanksgiving Day, 1905.

I believe this photograph was taken on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1955. Jessie died the next year, and Alex died in 1960.

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As we approach the anniversary of the end of World War I, I wanted to let people know about the postcards that my wife's grandfather collected while serving as a medic during the war in France and Germany. The collection is spotlighted by Permanent.org this month and can be viewed at https://www.permanent.org/p/archive/0a05-0000.

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A Tale of Two Family Homes

I was listening to a genealogy podcast during which the host interviewed a person who does house histories, and it made me think about these two ancestral homes. The fancy house, called Rockforest, was the home of great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Sir James Cotter, Baronet, and is near the city of Mallow in County Cork, Ireland. Probably the last of our ancestors to actually stay in the home might have been great-great-grandfather James Cotter, a younger son of a younger son, etc., who emigrated with his parents in 1835. The smaller house was called Buttar's Loan Cottage, also called Oak Cottage in a census record. It was the home of great-great-grandparents Alexander and Catherine Duff, who are in the photograph, and is now in the city of Dundee, Scotland. At the time the Duffs lived there, it was a cottage on the Camperdown estate near Dundee, the home of Admiral Duncan, the Earl of Camperdown. Alexander worked on the estate as a forester and carriage driver. I'm sure my great-grandfather, Charles Duff, would have been in the home many times before he emigrated in 1872. I'm very thankful that I've actually been inside both houses, Rockforest in 2005 and Oak Cottage in 2000. Rockforest has been for sale a few times since I visited, but it's a little out of my price range. Both homes, despite their obvious differences, had a warm, inviting feel to them. They're a reminder for those of us who are descendants of immigrants that no matter who or what our ancestors were, they left their homes and families for what they hoped would be a better life for their own posterity and that we alone are responsible for what we do with our lives. Two homes, two ancestors, one with servants to care for his every need, and one who served as a lowly servant for another man. And they both ended up with me!

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One of my more interesting distant relatives is James Baldwin (1818-1895), my great-great-great-great-uncle who went to California during the 1849 Gold Rush. He's mentioned in a book about Muskingum County, Ohio, by Norris F. Schneider, entitled "Y Bridge City." The book states that "the returning forty-niners did not always tell how much gold they found. All were believed to be rich. James Baldwin came home and divided his gold with the man who furnished money for his trip. With his own share of the gold he bought a farm in Perry Township on the site of the Zanesville Airport. Many people tried to borrow money from Baldwin, thinking he had plenty and would not miss it. Baldwin was honest and did not want to lie to people. So he carried two pocketbooks. One was named 'World.' When some one asked him for money, Baldwin opened that pocket book and truthfully said, 'You see, I haven't got a cent in the World.' " Contrary to that, one of his obituaries said he was extremely generous and would help anyone in need. The estate records support that, because there's a long list of people who owed him money. By the time of his death, he owned several tracts of land in Perry and Salt Creek Townships. His estate was valued at about $50,000, which is about $1.9 million in today's money. His nephew, Samuel Russell, was accused of ransacking James' personal papers on the night of his death and destroying evidence of his debts to James. In his obituaries, he was also said to be eccentric, and the photo above of one of the pages from his estate record seems to confirm that, since a lot of money was found hidden in the oats, rye, wheat, etc.

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On this date, June 26, 1748, great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Jacques Martin, died in Nemours, France. He was a master locksmith, as were his father, Pierre Martin, and grandfather, Jean Martin. His first wife, Marie-Magdeleine Colinet, died in November 1727, probably as a result of complications following the birth of their first child, Marie-Magdeleine Martin, who was buried just two days before her mother. Jacques's second wife, Claire Landry, was our ancestor. Their son, Jacques Martin, a shoemaker, is our immigrant (sort of) ancestor. He was born in 1732 and left France around 1760 to go to Québec. His great-grandson, Maxime Martin, left Canada with his family around 1868 and went to the Providence, Rhode Island, area. Follow this link to see a postcard of the interior of St-Jean-Baptiste, the church where all the Martin baptisms, marriages, and burials in Nemours took place. The note on the back of this postcard (mailed in 1904) reads: Un bon Souvenir de Nemours, Jeanne Noël.

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It was 141 years ago today, June 18, 1882, that great-grandparents Joseph and Marie Oliva Jean were married in Providence, Rhode Island. Both had been born in Quebec and emigrated to Rhode Island with their families. Marie's parents and most of her siblings later returned to Quebec, but since Marie was already married, she remained in Rhode Island. Unfortunately, she died in 1887. Her death certificate lists "consumption" as the cause of death, but family tradition holds that she died in childbirth. There was an unnamed child born to Joseph and Marie in 1887, so the childbirth story may be correct, or perhaps she became ill following the birth and died at a later time. Joseph remarried, had further children, and moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

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It was 101 years ago today, Saturday morning, May 13, 1922, that grandparents Howell Joshua MacGruder and Mayme Elizabeth Kohn were married in the home of the Rev. Dr. R. H. Hume of the First United Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Ohio. They were married "quietly", according to the newspaper account, but it's hard to imagine Grandma doing anything quietly! They had been married for 34 years when Grandpa Mac had a fatal heart attack at work. Most of the grandchildren were too young (or not yet born!) to have many memories of him, but we all have fond memories of Grandma, who died in 1984. I'd love to know the story of this photograph. Follow this link to view a scan of their marriage license.

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Today, April 19, is the 140th anniversary of the birth of our grandfather, Alexander Arthur Martin. Alex was born in Providence, Rhode Island. As a young boy, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he enlisted in the United States Navy in December 1899 at age 16. He served until his 21st birthday in 1904, and was in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. In 1957 he wrote his memoirs about his time in the Navy, and those memoirs can be read by following this link. He married Jessie Helen Duff in Cleveland in 1905, and they had eight children, two of whom died young. Alex worked a number of different jobs, finally ending up in Dayton, Ohio, where he worked for the United States Air Force as an inspector at NCR. He died in 1960. April 19 is also the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, Shirley Temple's film debut in 1937, and the debut of The Simpsons on the Tracy Ullman Show, but Alex had nothing to do with any of those things! You can learn more about Alex's family by following this link.

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Birth of Margaret Porter Magruder

On this day, April 17, 1810, great-great-grandmother Margaret Porter Magruder was born. This image is taken from the family Bible of John W. and Margaret Porter Magruder, who were married in 1826. I have the Bible, which is not in very good condition, and this link will take you to the pages from the Bible that contain the genealogical information. The birth dates of all their children and the death dates of a few of them are recorded in the Bible, as well as marriage dates for some of the children and for John W. Magruder and Margaret Porter. The Bible was apparently given first to Hester Caroline Magruder Howell, the daughter of John W. and Margaret Porter Magruder. Hester gave the Bible to her daughter, Ida Howell Hyer, who in turn gave it to John Garrett Magruder, Hester's brother. From John Garrett, the Bible passed to his daughter, Della Magruder Pettit, then to Thomas Martin, who gave it to Gregory Martin, both great-grandsons of John Garrett Magruder.

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Oral Histories

We came across two audiocassette tapes of our niece and possibly our daughter interviewing their grandparents, Clarence Ray and Almo Gay Sanford Bryan, about their childhoods. We had the audiocassettes digitized, and they make for interesting listening. Grandpa's interview is more personal, while Grandmama's interview deals with her experiences in a one-room schoolhouse where her mother was the teacher. The interviews can be heard here - http://bryan-martin.net/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=4206&medialinkID=4015 - and here - http://bryan-martin.net/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=4205&medialinkID=4014.

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On this date, March 25, 1899, great-grandparents John Garrett Magruder and Hannah Lewis were married in Jackson County, Ohio. Apparently, there was at least one reporter who did not appreciate the nuptial proceedings. This is a clipping from the Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times of March 30, 1899, describing the "disgusting" wedding ceremony. It's hard to believe that the kindly couple seen in this photograph could have been such rebels in their youth.