This week's #52Ancestors/52Weeks: Huldah B. SMITH, 1783-1831, New York

For this week's post, I've chosen Huldah B. SMITH, the 3rd great-grandmother of my ex-husband's lines, 4th for our children, 5th great-grandmother for our grandchildren.

Huldah SMITH was born 15 August 1783, in Addison Vermont, of unknown parents. This information was found in several online family trees, as well as on headstones in Olin Cemetery, Canton NY.

As is common with women ancestors, Huldah left very little trace during her rather short life. The marriage card for Vermont marriages lists the bride, groom, date and place, plus the Justice of the Peace, Henry Smith. That makes me wonder if Huldah is a relative of the JP. More clues to use in researching her family in Vermont.


On December 25th, 1806, Huldah married [Deacon] Joseph Mitchell OLIN, son of Caleb OLIN & Freelove MITCHELL. The couple moved shortly afterwards to Canton, St Lawrence county in New York state, where all their 9 children were born. Apparently Joseph was very active in the Canton First Baptist church [see on right], and I would assume his wife would have a supporting role. Many women were quite active in Church events and activities, but not likely to be mentioned by name back in the early 1800s.

Huldah and Joseph had the following children, all born in Canton NY - note the surnames showing marriages to brothers/sisters or cousins:
   1.  Joseph Mitchell [jr.], b. 6 Oct, 1807, d. 11 Oct 1855, bur. Olin Cemetery, Canton NY; m. Jan 1, 1832 to Mary Barrett, 1813-1883
   2.  Mary, ancestor, b. 20 Jan 1809, d. 18 Aug 1872 Norris IL; m. Dec 25,
            1825 to Calvin HEALY, 1807-1881; 7 known children
   3.  George Smith, b. 11 Apr 1811, d. 22 Jun 1906; m. Jan 1, 1833 to Fanny
             M. Barrett, 1815-1893
   4.  Charlotte, b. 18 Jan 1815, d. 22 Oct 1844 Morley, NY; m. Aug 14, 1837
             to Charles E. Barrett, 1811-1892
   5.  Asa W., b. 1 Jan 1818, d. 16 Jan 1865; m. Feb 6, 1838 to Harriet Hila Day,
             1817-1842
   6.  James M., b. 1 Oct 1820; m. Oct 10, 1848 in Hopkinton, NY to Elizabeth
             Abbott
   7.  Elmina, b. 20 May 1822, d. 16 Dec 1887 Minneapolis MN; m. Dec 8, 1840
             to Martin Smith, 1813-1872 Wisconsin
   8.  Sarah, b. 25 Jul 1824, d. Wisconsin; m. Nov 17, 1844 to Edward R. Smith
             1819-1874 Wisconsin
   9.  Daniel Alpheus, b. 3 Jun 1826; m. Jul 5, 1850 in Madrid NY to Sarah S.
             Sweet, 1829-1851 Wisconsin.

As the Territories opened up for land, a number of the younger OLIN married children moved to Illinois and Wisconsin, as seen above. They would have had family moving and settling with them, as the Smiths and Barretts were related. There are several unusual names in this family, such as #7 Elmina, and #9 Daniel Alpheus. I still need to do more research on name patterns in the OLIN family, and I do so wish I could research the SMITH family as well!

Another oddity is that all the boys appear to have middle names, but none of the girls do. Middle names were not particularly common until a bit later in the 1800s.

Huldah died fairly young, aged 48, on Feb 7, 1831, and her headstone slab can still be seen in the OLIN Cemetery in Canton, NY. Next to her slab is a small obelisk marking Joseph's burial place. I have  not seen any records indicating what caused her death.

Joseph married soon after Huldah's death, to Hebsibah "Seba" B. Andrews, [1817-1868]. Again, I have not researched thoroughly for her parents or other family members. Censuses show her born in Vermont, which is where the OLIN family lived.

Hebsibah and Joseph had at least two children:
  10.  Huldah, b. abt 1834 [common to name after deceased]
  11.  Edwin, b. abt 1835

The OLIN/SMITH ancestral couple descend down to early New England immigrant families HEALY [bef 1640] and RICE [1632] families by the 1900s.

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these 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.

This week's #52Ancestors/52Weeks: Hans Jacob ADAMS b. c1665

I have missed a few weeks of genealogist Amy J Crow's year long challenge to write about an ancestor each week, but I'm determined to blog more often. This week, I am writing on Hans Jacob ADAMS, my possible 6th great-grandfather (7th for my children, 8th for my grandchildren). 

He is not yet proven in my tree, but I am placing some information about him here, in the hopes that others may have had better results. I would like to remove him if he is not the correct ADAMS father.

Hans Jacob ADAMS is estimated to be born about 1665, aparently in Schlaitdorf, Wuerttemberg region in what is now south-west Germany. The tip of the red marker on the map above is on Schlaitdorf. Approximately 27km south of  Stuttgart, Schlaitdorf is a very small town on the Neckar River. Below the map is the small write-up on Schlaitdorf in the Meyers Gazetteer - a wonderful online resource.

Currently the population is approximately 2,000, but would likely be smaller in the early-mid 1700s, when he and his small family emigrated from Wuerttemberg to Pennsylvania.

I have very little information on the ADAMS family who came from Wurttemberg to Pennsylvania. Several online trees state his wife was Margaret Schäffer - however a marriage record in Wurttemberg only has a Hans Jacob Adams marrying Margaret Schäffer in 1715. Clearly, that date is incompatible with the details of an Anna Barbara ADAMS b. abt 1698 Schlaitdorf, Germany, who was possibly the one who married our immigrant John [Johan] KUHN. At this point, Anna Barbara ____ is a fairly hard brick wall, at least until I find more likely documents and stories. No confirmed parents or siblings.

An important point about the ADAMS family is that for Anna Barbara to marry John [Johan] KUHN, she and her parents would be highly likely to be in the Roman Catholic faith. All of their children, grandchildren, and all down the descendants, the KUHN family are Catholic. In fact, John KUHN, a carpenter, opened his home to Rev. Father  Theodore Schneider, the founder of the Goshenhoppen Mission,until he had his own home. John is said to have built - with others of course - the first Chapel at Goshenhoppen [above]. It would be very unusual for a Catholic to marry a Protestant in the early 1700s in Wurttemberg.

Children of Anna Barbara [possibly ADAMS] and John KUHN, all b. in Wurttemberg:
  1.  Henry/Heinrich, b. abt 1718, d. Aug 22, 1765 Salisbury PA; m. before 1741 Anna Margaret Schmidt in Macungie, PA; 10 children.
  2.  John George [ancestor], b. abt 1720, d. Jan 1760 Conewago PA; m. Nov 27, 1744 to Catherine RIFFEL in Macungie, PA; 5 children; [Catherine's 2nd husband and had 3 additional children w. him]
  3.  Eva Mary, b. abt 1722, d. abt 1756; m. Apr 24, 1743 to Philip Schmidt in "John Kuhn's house" Macungie PA; 6 chidlren
  4.  Joseph/Jost, b. abt 1724, d. 1782 Macungie PA; apparently married with one son, also named John b. abt 1747, no further info found to date.

As you see, I have an extremely limited amount of data about Anna Barbara [possibly ADAMS]. I have seen a note on family files and online trees, that perhaps her name is Ickerode [variant spellings]. Dig, dig, dig.

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these 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.