52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No.30, Challenging: Charlotte BORTLE

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog based on Themes. Last week's theme was Musical, but I ended up writing about an ancestor with an interesting name:  Taliaferro CRAIG.  This week's alternate theme is CHALLENGING - and oh yes, I have several challenging brick wall ancestors. Here is the fourth post I've written [there are three earlier posts] on Charlotte BORTLE.  She is my 3rd great-grandmother, in my mother's lines.

Oh, Charlotte, where did you come from? I've looked and looked for any records of your parents, and further records which might give more details about you.  Some details are found in the [.pdf] 1881 book compiled by Albert Welles, "History of the Buell Family in England, and in America." Other information is found in Censuses, county and town histories, and FindAGrave headstones.

What I think I know:
Born:  ~10 Oct 1797 in New York state; date calculated from gravestone details.
Parents:  Both father and mother born in N.S. (Nova Scotia) - this detail only shows up on the 1880 Mortality Schedule
Married:  to Grover BUEL(L)  (1794-1874), on 17 Dec 1814 (age 17) in Northumberland, Saratoga, NY, by Reed Lewis, the Town Clerk in Northumberland, from 1811-1815.  Although this information has been copied from "something," I have not found the actual register/certificate. [on to-do list]
Children: 5 known children born:

• Mary, b. 18 Jan 1816 Northumberland, d. 20 Nov 1875 Lysander; m. 31 Aug 1843 to John W. Patterson, 4 children known
• Sally, b. 4 Feb 1819 Northumberland, d. 29 Aug 1826 Lysander, aged 7 yrs.
• Ann Janette, b. 15 Dec 1822 Northumberland, d. 1887 Marathon, Courtland NY; m. 26 Oct 1842 to Benjamin Baird; 2 boys known
• Simon, b. 13 Feb 1827 Lysander, d. 18 Feb 1882; m. 15 Oct 1851 to Julia Adelle Wyckoff in Skaneateles NY; no children
• Harriet [direct ancestor], b. 27 Jan 1829 Lysander, d. 4 Jan 1911 Roselle NJ;  m. 1851 to James M. TERWILLIGER; 2 boys

Died:  22 Sep 1879, Lysander, Onondaga, NY [Mortality Schedule of 1880]; this is 5 years after her husband's death.
Burial: after 22 Sep 1879, in Lysander Union Cemetery, Lysander, Onondaga, NY; listed with her husband Grover BUEL(L) on a gravestone.

That's it.  It's not terrible, and at least I have a last name.  I know from censuses and county/town histories that this Buel(l) family lived first in Northumberland, then moved in 1823 to Lysander, Onondaga, NY, until both Charlotte and her husband Grove(r) died in Lysander.

If she married in Northumberland where Grover also was born and resided with his parents before her 1814 marriage, then I might be able to find her parents - maybe.  Maybe there was a brother somewhere in the region as well.  An uncle.  A grandparent.

So far, I've pored through every page of the Northumberland region Censuses of 1790, 1800, and 1810, looking for any Bortle, Bartle, Bortel(l), Bartel(l), Bottle, Battle, and other variations...
Result:  zero. There are a few Bortle (& variants) in Columbia or Schenectady counties, further east.  But their family members don't seem to connect with Charlotte.

Of course, her family might have lived much further away, and moved to Northumberland after 1810.  Their Bortle family may have only had female children, or any male children may have moved away from this area.  Her parents may have died, and she may have been raised by a relative with a totally different name.  Many possibilities - and none of them help me find her parents.

I've looked at their children's names and their grandchildren's names, which hasn't helped; many of the names are common in the Buell family lines.  Although Charlotte's 3rd daughter - Ann Janette - that Janette spelling looks like a possible Dutch origin to me.

I've also done some preliminary searching in Nova Scotia for any Bortle families in the late 1700s and early 1800s, using all variants. So far, no useful results.

There IS another Charlotte Bortle, 1803-1898, who married a Daniel Ros(s)man, of Columbia County NY.  Some Buel(s) family trees on Ancestry, Family Search, and RootsWeb confuse the two, but there is good research on this alternate Charlotte, including her parents [John Bortle, Rachel Horton] and grandparents.  Definitely, she is not the Charlotte who married Grover BUELL. Sigh. Still, it's useful to know who she is NOT, isn't it.

If you have information or suggestions on "my" Charlotte BORTLE who married Grover BUEL(L) in 1814 in Northumberland, Saratoga, NY - I would be thrilled to research further in adding any more details for Charlotte.  Contact details are below, or add information or suggestions in the Comments section.

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52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No. 29, Taliaferro CRAIG, 1704-1795

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog based on Themes. Last week's theme was Road Trip, and I wrote about how my road trip across Canada and back in relation to Expo '67, Canada's Centennial Exposition in Montréal, Québec. This week's alternate theme is MUSICAL.  No professional musicians, no musical groups or traditions... not in our family.

Instead, I decided to write about an unusual name in my children's father's family lines, Taliaferro CRAIG, 1704-1795, in Virginia and Kentucky.  He is the 5th great-grandfather of my ex-husband, in his mother's lines. Known to be illegitimate, his mother - Jane CRAIG - and father - an Unknown TALIAFERRO - were not wed. There is a story of his mother emigrating from Scotland, having a liaison with a Taliaferro man, resulting in a son who carried the Taliaferro name as a given name.

There were Taliaferro families in Essex County, Virginia quite early on in the 1600s, and it is not clear whether one of the sons of those families was the Taliaferro who was Taliaferro CRAIG's father.  There had been Taliaferro families in England since early 900s, having settled there from Normandy, originally from the Tuscan area of Italy.

Taliaferro CRAIG, was born in 1704 in Virginia, and although it is said he was born in Spotsylvania county, at that time, the area was not named as such.  His name is often spelled as Toliver or Tolliver.

In approximately 1730, Taliaferro married Mary "Polly" HAWKINS, who had been born in King William co., Virginia in about 1715.  The family were Baptists, and several of their sons became preachers. There is a good amount of history of the family and their exploits. Their children are known to be:
  1.  Rev. John, b.1731, d. 15 Aug 1815 Boone co.; m. abt 1761 to Sallie Page (1738-1835).
  2.  Joyce [Rejoice], b. 1735, m. John Faulkner/Falconer, abt 1755
  3.  Toliver jr. [direct ancestor],  b. 1736, d. 20 Mar 1819 in Mason co., KY; m. 31 Dec 1755 to Elizabeth JOHNSON (1738-26 Aug 1808); 8 children
  4.  Rev. Lewis, b. 1738, d. 1825; m. abt 1760 to Elizabeth Saunders (1740-1825)
  5.  Elijah, b. 15 Nov 1738, d. 18 May 1808; m. abt 1760 to Frances Smith
  6.  Rev. Joseph, b. 11 Jun 1741, d. 1819; m. abt 1765 to Sallie Wisdom (1744-1820)
  7.  Jane, b. 1743; m. abt 1765 to John Saunders (bro to Eliz. who married Rev. Lewis)
  8.  Sarah or Sallie, b. abt 1745, d. 1830; m abt 1765 to Manoah Singleton
  9.  Jeremiah, b. 20 Apr 1751; m. 1775 to Lacy Hawkins (cousin)
10.  Elizabeth, b. 1753; m. abt 1775 to Richard Cave.

Although it is thought there were two other children, I have not found confirmation. A "Benjamin" is often added, but he is part of the next generation; another child or two may have died young.  There is a gap between #8 and #9 children, which may point out missing children.

     "TOLLIVER CRAIG - HIS NOTEBOOK AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY, edited by
      Mary Louise Fricle, route 1, box 91-A, Kingdom City, Mo 65262 (1991).
      It is a transcription of an autobiographical sketch written by Toliver Craig the 3rd,
      Son of Toliver Craig, Jr. of Scott Co., Ky. and a grandson of Taliaferro Craig and
      Polly Hawkins. It begins quite simply: 

     "My grandfather was the illegitimate son of Jane Craig who was from Scotland
      and he married Mary Hawkins by whom he had Twelve Children". 

      So Taliaferro's illegitmacy is confirmed by three of his grandsons: Toliver and Francis
      Craig, and Lewis Sanders." 

Taliaferro CRAIG bought and sold quite a bit of land in Virginia, which can be found in land records. Several of his sons also held land by his parcels.  Virginia Land Records provide details of a number of the transactions.

Taliaferro CRAIG died 5 Feb 1795, in Woodford County.  His wife Mary died 6 Jan 1804 in Craig Settlement, Clear Creek, Kentucky, likely living with one of her children's family.  Both Taliaferro and Mary are apparently buried in Great Crossing Cemetery, Great Crossing, Scott, Kentucky.

If you have more information on Taliaferro's parents or family, I would be very happy to receive this, including any corrections you may see in the above.  Please contact me via my address below, or via Comments.

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52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No. 28, Road Trip: Expo '67 - Canada's Centennial

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog based on Themes. Last week's theme was Halfway, and I wrote about how I was half-way through my research plan for my son-in-law's 3rd great-grandparents. This week's theme is ROAD TRIP. 

In July of 1967, my then-boyfriend drove across from Vancouver BC to Brantford Ontario.  I had completed one year of work, doing home nursing for the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON), which was a requirement of having received a large bursary for my final year at University of BC, where I received my BScN.   For the first 9 months of my VON job, I worked in and around Leamington Ontario, the southernmost point in Canada,a very tiny town. Leamington was known for its Heinz factory, and for many greenhouses and farms growing produce for the factory.  For my first nursing experience after graduation - it was wonderful!  In this farming community, I had very mixed nursing problems and situations to handle, which made going to work both exciting and satisfying, every day.

Once my boyfriend picked me up in Brantford in early July, we headed immediately to Montréal to Expo '67.  Earlier that year, we bought a 7-day pass for the Expo, and were very excited to be attending this special Exposition.  Unfortunately, we were late getting to our booked camping spot, got thoroughly lost late at night, and ended up in Joliette, a small town 50 miles [70 km] north of Montréal.  With my little bit of French and much non-verbal communication, and good will on all sides, we managed to park our Volvo and home-made trailer by a friendly Québécois family.  Then each day, we would drive down to a subway station, and head to Expo, getting there very early.  As the doors would open, we would race to the particular popular exhibition building we'd decided on. That very early lineup guaranteed we would see all the major exhibitors in 7 days.  After managing to spend several hours at the day's major exhibit, we would wander to see the others, or stand in a much smaller lineup for other exhibits - lunch time was always a shorter lineup.  Canada's amazing pavilion, Russia with Sputnik,  USA with their space program, Britain, Czechoslovakia - wonderful multi-slide show, Iceland - "Land of Fire & Ice", and so much more.  It was all wonderful, exciting, entertaining, and awe-inspiring!

After we'd spent our 7 days there, we started off to go through to the Maritimes. Out of Montréal to Québec City, then further east, over and down to New Brunswick, stopping to see museums, stores, towns, to Nova Scotia.  We absolutely had to drive not just to Halifax (where that awful ammunition ship exploded in 1917), but further west around to Peggy's Cove - the most beautiful little harbour in Canada.  Eventually we wandered back up through the Maritimes, realizing we wouldn't have time to go over to PEI, and definitely not enough time to take the ferry to/from Newfoundland.

Over the next few weeks, we made it across Canada, taking a few side-trips. Whoops - In Bruce Mines Ontario, going over Lake Huron towards Sault St Marie, we needed to get an axle re-welded. Since that took an extra day, I headed over to their little museum, and enjoyed it very much.  I still have the Bruce Mines Cookbook which I bought.  As a mining community, Bruce Mines had a very varied group of families: from Germany, Ukraine, Italy, Poland, England, and more.  Great recipes!

We had wonderful weather as we drove west, although the rainstorm in Saskatchewan was so awful we had to pull over and wait it out.  The rain was so heavy no one could see the road, let alone the car/truck in front!!  Didn't last long, however. Finally, we could see the foothills of the Rockies after passing through Calgary Alberta.  Mountains.  After a year in southern Ontario, I was so starved for mountains!   Driving west through the Rockies was gorgeous, so beautiful and awe-inspiring. I'd taken the train going eastward to Ontario, and had missed seeing most of the trip through the Rockies.

And when we finally got a few miles past Hope, suddenly my whole body relaxed. Ahhhh. Getting down to sea level, mountains to one side, the open Fraser Valley and the mightly Fraser River heading to the sea, and back to Vancouver... Home. Have you had that experience? Feeling your lungs and your skin relieved at finally experiencing that special moment when you are home? Amazing.

We did other road trips in later years with the kids - various 'circle' camping trips around B.C., and one very memorable trip up to Yellowknife... but that's another story.

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52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No. 27, INDEPENDENT:

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog based on Themes. Last week's theme was Halfway, and I wrote about my son-in-law's 3rd greatgrandparents, and how I'm barely halfway through my research plan for them!  This week, the theme is INDEPENDENT. For some reason I drew a blank on this theme for a particular person, and went back to a related theme, Independence Day.

I decided to check my database for any ancestors, including collaterals, whose birthday was on 4th July, after the War of Independence.  I was surprised to find only two.  But they are ancestors, and perhaps their descendants may find this intereresting!  Both are in my Kuhn line, which goes back to the original settler from Wurrtemberg, John Kuhn. He and his wife, Anna Barbara Adams, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1732 with their 3 sons and 1 daughter.  Our line follows their second son, John George Kuhn & Catherine Riffel.


1.  Guy Joseph Kuhn  - 5th Cousin, 1x removed
     Parents:  Alphonse Ligouri Kuhn (1857-1925),
         & Mary Jane Long, (1872-1942); Pennsylvania
     Born:  4 July 1900,  Paradise Township, York, Pennsylvania
     Baptized: 8 July 1900, Abbottstown, Pennsylvania
     Married:  22 Jul 1937, Harrisonberg, Virginia; to Effie Viola Lau; 1 stepson
     Death: Feb 1966, Pennsylvania.
     Burial: Greenmount Cemetery, York, York, Pennsylvania.


2.  Susanna Kuhn  - 3rd Cousin, 3x removed
     Parents:  George Kuhn (1780-1825)
         & Susanna Felix (1775-1854), Pennsylvania
     Born:  4 July 1812, Adams county, Pennsylvania
     Married:  1st marriage: 30 Dec 1835, Conewago Chapel, Adams,
                          Pennsylvania: to Ignatius Felty, who died unexpectedly
                          in 1841, leaving her with 3 very young children
                     2nd marriage: 15 Nov 1853, Conewago Chapel, Pennsylvania,
                          to David Fink; 2 more children.
     Death:  19 Mar 1880, Pennsylvania
     Burial:  Conewago Chapel Cemetery,  Adams, Pennsylvania
   

If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these collateral ancestors.  And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below.  I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in my family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day.

52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No. 26, Halfway: John PERRY Sr. & Sarah BETTERIDGE

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog based on Themes. Last week's theme was The Old Homestead, and I wrote about the 1738 Terwilliger stone farm house near New Paltz, PA. This week, the theme is Halfway, as we're now half-way through the year.

And this week, I'm barely half-way through my research plans for the couple, John PERRY & Sarah BETTERIDGE!  I'm back at my son-in-law's genealogy line, looking for more details of his 3rd great-grandparents:  John PERRY, Sr., b. abt 1813, Hartshill, Warwick, England, in the Parish of Nuneaton, and his wife, Sarah BETTERIDGE, b. about the same year in Atherstone, Hartshill, Warwick.

We know his mother's name was Elizabeth, as she shows up widowed on later Census records, living with John, his wife Sarah, and children.  I have no information on Sarah's parents, as yet.

As listed in the Nuneaton Parish register, John married Sarah BETTERIDGE, b. abt 1814, Atherstone, Hartshill, Warwick, England, after the 3rd reading of Banns, 11 May 1834.

However, for some unknown reason, the same couple seem to have married once more, again after the 3rd reading of Banns, on 24 Jan 1836.  As before, both are "of this Parish" - Nuneaton.

I have no idea why the couple would have married once more... In this small community, I can't imagine there are two individuals with exactly the same names marrying.  I suppose it is possible, but it stretches possibilities. Did they NOT marry after the 3rd reading of the Banns in 1834?  Why not? What happened?  Their first child was born that year...

Regardless of their marriage date, they appear to have had the following children

  1.  Mary, b. abt 1834, d. 1844.
  2.  Robert, b. 1836
  3.  Elizabeth, b. 1839
  4.  John (jr.) [ancestor], b. July 1840, d. 14 Jan 1912, Atherstone, Hartshill;
             m. 15 Apr 1860 to Sarah WHITE (1836-1908); 9 children
  5.  James, b. 1844
  6.  Sarah, b. 1846
  7.  Hannah/Anne, b. 1849
  8.  Mary, b. abt 1851 [2nd child named Mary]

The 2nd-4th child were baptized at the same time: 26 Apr 1852; whereas the last 4 were baptized a year earlier on 23 Feb 1851.  This is another confusing set of events. Perhaps more research on church records may help make more sense of these dates.  Or, perhaps they baptized them as they could afford to-?  Anyone have more ideas?  The cost of baptizing?  Not the 'right' church?

The 1841 Census in Chapel End, Hartshill shows John and Sarah with their first 4 children, as well as John's widowed mother, Elizabeth Perry, 60 yrs.  Both John, as well as his mother, have their occupation listed as "Ribbon m" [maker]; Sarah is not listed as employed, and their children are listed as Mary 7, Robert 5, Elizabeth 3, and John 11 months.   Note that if Mary is 7, thus born in about 1834, it would seem to indicate the 1834 marriage is valid.

On the 1851 Census [Snowhill, Hartshill], Elizabeth is shown as Head, widowed, 72 yrs old, "Pauper. Former Weaver Ribbons Hand Looms."  Her birthplace is listed as Orton on the Hill, Leicester. A search on the map will show this is only about 15 km north, just across the border.  I'm not certain how I'll find her parents in Orton, but it might help if I can find a marriage record for about 1800...

I have hopes of finding more records, but there are over a dozen items on my research plan for this family. I am walking through Censuses and Parish registers, page by page by page.  John had 3 sons, and perhaps one was named for his own father, so I might focus on those names first.  Perhaps.

By next year, I hope to have more details to add to the PERRY family, and their female lines as well. The BETTERIDGE name is interesting, don't you think?  So many ancestors and ancestresses and so little time!

If you have more information on any of these people, do contact me via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below.  I'm always happy to correct any of my information!

Blogger is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day.