The Kirtons of Hampshire

 It’s been a long time since I wrote about my Kirton ancestry.  I have discovered a few things over the years, and continue to pick away at it, seeking to push back the line ever more.  Here is some information I’ve discovered since I wrote my Kirtons of Kentucky blog entry, 10 years ago.

The earliest ancestor I’ve identified thus far is William Kirton, born circa 1762.  He and his wife Elizabeth (maiden name currently unknown) lived in Hampshire county, England.  There they had a son, Richard Shaw Kirton, born 13 November 1794.  Richard was a shoemaker, so it’s possible that his father was, as well.

Richard Shaw Kirton married Elizabeth Carpenter on 26 April 1818 in Maryleborne, Middlesex, England. They had 4 daughters and a son that I’ve been able to uncover.

Elizabeth Kirton (born 21 July 1820, died 5 December 1822)

Sarah Kirton (born 19 January 1822)

Ann Kirton (born 5 July 1824)

Richard Thomas Kirton (my 4x great grandfather, born 4 July 1830, died 22 February 1910)

Louisa Kirton (born 1835)

I am not sure when the Kirtons moved from England to the United States, but I suspect it was around 1850. Richard Thomas Kirton married Ellen Hyler in 1854, and he and his father appear separately on the 1860 census.  Richard Shaw Kirton lived in Cincinnati, while his son settled in Covington, Kentucky, just across the state border.

By 1870, Richard Shaw Kirton was living with his daughter Louisa “Lucy” and her husband, Elttin Edgely, in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He was also living with them in 1880 according to the census.

Louisa and her husband had two known children, Elizabeth “Bessie” Edgely (born 1856) , and George Edgely (born 1858).  Bessie married Charles Roberts and had children, but more research is needed on those lines.

Richard Thomas Kirton and his wife Ellen had two sons, Nelson W. Kirton and Sidney Alfred Kirton, and from there we run into my column from 10 years ago, The Kirtons of Kentucky .

A few added details are that both Nelson and Sidney Kirton also worked as shoemakers.  I’m having a hard time figuring out when Nelson died, as he simply vanishes from records after the 1880’s.  His wife, Sarah Drusilla Wallwork, got remarried on 24 November 1892 to Jerome Boyd, so I suspect Nelson may have died before then.

Nelson’s two sons, Newton Charles and Sidney Alfred, both started working as train porters around 1900.  Newton (my great-great grandfather) worked his way up to Fireman by 1910, while Sidney ended up becoming a house servant before his death in 1932.

My Hyler Line

 Lately, I’ve been poking around with genealogy again, as I have on and off over the past 11 years.

In researching my mother’s line, I have long been perturbed by the Hylers.  It’s a small section that I know very little about, but I continue to look around and see what I can dig up.

It goes back to my 5x great grandfather, Anthony V. Hyler, who was born in New Jersey about 1794.  He was a shoemaker by trade.  His wife is unknown, and she died sometime before the 1850 census. They moved to Ohio and Kentucky, moving back and forth between the two states.  In 1830, they lived in Mason County, Kentucky, and in 1840 they were in Lewis, Ohio.  Anthony was living with his children in the 10th ward of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1850.

I’ve been able to identify 4 children through census records, though there may have been more that either died or moved out before 1850.

Ellen Hyler (my 4x great-grandmother, born August 1824, died 28 January 1901) married Richard Thomas Kirton in 1854.

Jeremiah Hyler (born 1828 in Kentucky, died 1891 in Cincinnati, Ohio), married Mary Ann Ralphy in 1850.  I’ve yet to identify any children they had.

Albert Hyler, born in 1834 in Ohio.  I have found little about him, though there is an Albert Hyler who joined the US Army on 9 December 1852, as an Albert Hyler born in Ohio is in a Register of enlistments.  In that enlistment, his civilian profession is listed as “shoemaker,” so this lends more circumstantial evidence.  After that, the trail is unclear.

Ann Maria Hyler, born in 1840 in Ohio.  She married Napoleon Marshall and they had 7 known children.

It is not surprising that Richard Kirton was also a shoemaker.  It was probably this trade that brought him into contact with the Hylers.  Ellen and Richard had 2 sons, Nelson and Sidney, Nelson being my 3x great grandfather, and a shoemaker as well.  He was the last shoemaker in the line as far as I can tell, as Nelson’s son, Newton, became a train engineer.

There still lies more possibilities along the Hyler line.  One interesting potential connection could be Adam Hyler (originally Huyler, or Hiler), a New Jersey whale boat captain of German descent who preyed on the English as a pirate during the Revolutionary War.  He could possibly have been Anthony’s grandfather.  There’s also a James Hyler, born about 1795 who could possibly have been Anthony’s brother.  Sadly, New Jersey records from the end of the 18th century are sparse.

So, the hunt continues…

Counts Family Photo

It has been a long time since I wrote a column about my ancestry, and there's one that I've been thinking about for quite a while.  A couple of years ago, my cousin Esther sent me a photo of the Counts family from around 1901.  The quality is okay, though not the greatest as it's a photo of a photo.  I'm not sure who has the original, but I'd love to see a clearer copy someday, perhaps one that's computer-scanned.

So, in this photo we see my great-great grand parents, James Wilson Counts (b. 14 Nov 1856 /died 16 March 1931) and Mertie Florella (Gamble) Counts (b. 23 June 1864 /died 18 April 1946), along with their 6 children:

Florella T. Counts (b. 8 February 1886 /died April 1969.  Married Walter D. McKittrick)

Hugh Wiley Counts (b. 16 January 1888 /died 20 September 1975.  Married Ada Bartlett, later Charlotte Law)

George Sylvester (my great-grandfather, b. 9 December 1889 /died 10 November 1974.  Married Lois Hazel Bailey)

Wilson James Counts (b. 11 June 1891 /died March 1979.  Married Wilma B. Crossan)

Mary Counts (b. 30 April 1895 /died 30 November 1993.  Married O. Boone Morgan)

Milton Irwin Counts (b. 24 February 1899 /died 10 July 1974.  Married Clara Eugenia Van Vleck)

The other people in the photo are at present uncertain.  Esther initially suspected that the old couple in the middle could be Mertie's parents, Theodore Beza Gamble and Florella Amanda (Tucker) Gamble, but this is quite impossible, as both of them died before this photo was taken (1893 & 1895, respectively).  The Counts kids are far too old for this to be the 1890's.

Confirmed S.T. Counts

Suspected S.T. Counts

I suspect that the old couple in the photo are actually Sylvester Tobias Counts and his wife, Mary Ann (Wilson) Counts.  I also suspect the lady on the far left of the photo is their daughter, James Wilson Count's sister, Jennie Hannah (Counts) Marcy.  This is pure speculation, as I do not have other photos of them, except for Sylvester's old Civil War photo.  It's hard to make out his facial features in that grainy photo, so it's not enough for a positive identification.

I would love to find an attributed photo of Sylvester, Mary, or Jennie, for comparison, but thus far such photos have proven elusive.  So, the search goes on.

The Mystery of Eliza Jane Dillon

As winter begins to sink in again, I've resumed research into my ancestry, picking away at the many threads of my bloodline.  Although I have mapped out a fairly extensive list in many regards, there is still much to do, and lingering lines that will forever remain lost in the fog of time.  I was looking at one dead-end in particular not so long ago, that of my great-great-great grandmother, Eliza Jane Dillon (or Denny).

Her maiden name, itself, is sometimes disputed. Depending on which descendant researcher you run across, some say her last name was Dillon, and others list it as Denny.  She was born 17 April 1836 in Zanesville, Ohio.  On 1 January 1852, she married Frederick Stark, a German immigrant almost 10 years her senior.  They moved out to Indiana, then later to Illinois, and together they had 3 children, Henry Irving Stark, James Franklin Stark, and my great-great grandmother, Mary-Etta Stark, the future wife of Charles W. Bailey.  Fred Stark died in 1867, and Eliza remarried twice (Sampson Cantrell in 1868, and Josiah S. Fletcher in 1893).

Eliza died on 19 August 1914 in Fort Scott, Kansas.



Mary-Etta Stark, daughter of
Eliza Jane Dillon/Denny

Trying to find Eliza's parents has been an arduous process, and I have made little progress.  To my knowledge, nobody alive currently knows who her parents were, and census data isn't that helpful, either.  Their alleged birthplace varies with each census Eliza took.  In 1880, they were from Virginia and Ohio.  In 1900, they were from France, and in 1910 they were from Maine.  I've confirmed beyond a doubt that all of these census reports are for the same woman, yet she clearly didn't feed the census takers the same information each time they came around (or whoever was answering for her didn't know and/or made stuff up).  This has led me to wonder if the truth about her parents might even be different than any of these claims.

In my continuing quest to unlock the secret of Eliza's origins, I came across an interesting 1850 census form for Zanesville, Ohio (actually two, since the household started at the bottom of one page and continued on another).  This census report was for the household of Moses & Mary Dillon.  They had 4 children listed, and two other individuals living with them:  Mary A. McCormack and Elizabeth Denny.  I find this to be a very compelling coincidence, indeed.  Since Eliza is known by both names, Dillon and Denny, it could be that she was born Denny, and was "adopted" by the Dillons.  The 1850 census didn't ask for all that much information, and didn't even list a person's relation to the head of household, so it is unclear if this Elizabeth Denny was an adopted daughter or not.

Another curiosity with this record is Elizabeth Denny's birthplace.  On this form, it's listed as Germany, and this gives us more circumstantial evidence to consider.  We know that Frederick Stark was from Germany, and it is possible that his wife had her origins there, as well.  She may have come over very young, or perhaps she truly was born in Zanesville, Ohio, as is consistently reported.  She may have been born to German parents shortly after their arrival, giving some people the impression that she was also "from" Germany.  Either way, it seems logical that Eliza may have had a similar origin/background as that of the man she wed at the tender young age of 15.

The truth of Eliza's parents may never come to light, though I continue my pursuit.  New possibilities continue to emerge, leaving renewed hope that the answers are out there to be found, eventually.

Too Many Tuckers

Last year, when I needed a "T" for the A to Z challenge, I put together a post about my Tucker line, which I hadn't thoroughly researched.  Now that I've had a little more time to pick through the available data, I have found possible inconsistencies, as is sometimes the case with data over 200 years old.

The line that follows my 5x great-grandfather James Tucker appears to be undisputed, and many other descendants have laid his line down with reliable documentation.  However, his alleged marriage to Sarah Angell Tucker on November 5, 1795 is probably incorrect.  Having now identified the siblings of Simeon Tucker, it is obvious that James and Sarah were married before this date.  No doubt, there was another James & Sarah Tucker who got married in 1795 in Charlemont, Massachusetts, and this may lead to the other disputed data, concerning Sarah Angel Tucker.



The Grave of Sarah Angell Tucker



The data I had received from a cousin about Sarah Angell Tucker's line asserted that she and James were cousins.  However, I was recently contacted by another cousin who had data showing that James Tucker's wife was actually Sarah "Angell," and that she was the daughter of William Angell & Christian Church.  Digging deeper, there appears to be some evidence to suggest this is the case, as explained by researcher Diana Todd.  A note she wrote concerning James Tucker and Sarah Angell's family has been circulating, which disputes several erroneous claims that I hadn't encountered before (such as James having two different wives named Sarah), and also lays out a pretty convincing case about the Angell line, that Diana has apparently researched thoroughly.

While I feel inclined to believe in the Angell connection, the sands of time have eroded the history enough to leave uncertainty.  I feel fortunate I have only run into such ambiguity a couple of times in my research, and that many of my other lines are more concrete and proven.

I still have a lot of work to do on the Tucker line, and I hope to find more time to research it when time permits.

Before I go, here are the children of James and Sarah Tucker, all born in Halifax, Vermont:

Lydia Tucker (b. 15 January, 1792)

Stephen Tucker (b. 19 February 1794 /Died 17 February 1882 in Jackson, PA)

Sarah Tucker (b. 4 November 1795 –Married James Niles on 23 April 1818 in Charlesmont, MA)

Amos Tucker (b. 13 June 1797 /Died 22 February 1855 in Halifax, VT)

Mary Tucker (b. 9 July 1799)

Cinthey Tucker (b. 22 April 1802)

Simeon Tucker (my 4x great grandfather, b. 22 February 1804 /Died 17 June 1867 in Harford, PA)

Joseph Tucker (b. 26 April 1806 /Died 9 September 1883 in Halifax, VT)

Esther Tucker (b. 22 May 1809)

Hibernian Roots

As St. Patrick's Day was just last week, I've been thinking about my Irish ancestry.  There are quite a few of my forebears who came across from the Emerald Isle, and it would be nice to learn more about their own lineage, though the Irish were notorious for not keeping records.  Those of us with Irish ancestors generally find a dead end in our research once we get to Ireland, and I could probably write an entire post about the various social and cultural reasons for the absence of information, though not today.

Moving forward, here are a few of the Irish ancestors I've found:



George Gamble
Circa 1860



George Gamble:  He was born on 16 October 1795 in Ballybay, Monaghan County, Ireland, the youngest of six children born to John Gamble and Elizabeth Kennedy.  He came to the United States in April 1811, aboard the Protection, with his parents and siblings William, Joseph, and James, as well as James' wife Isabella (Nesbit), and John Morrow, Jr., the son of George's sister, Nancy.  The rest of the family, including John Gamble, Jr., migrated over at different times on different ships, and they settled in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, to work as farmers.

On 16 October, 1818, George married Anne Keeney, a woman whose ancestry goes all the way back to William Bradford.  They settled on a farm in the town of Harford, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where they spent the rest of their lives.  They had 4 sons and 6 daughters, including my 3x great grandfather, Theodore Beza Gamble.

James MacCain:  I don't know a whole lot about the MacCain side of my family, largely because it was disowned generations ago.  Since my great-grandfather Raymond Wilmer MacCain, Sr. divorced my great-grandmother Effie Kurtz Robinson, little has been said of them.  Attempts to contact different cousins on this side of the family have gone unanswered, though I'm still hopeful that somebody with information about the MacCains will contact me someday.

Here's what little I know.  James MacCain (grandfather of aforementioned Raymond) was born circa 1810 in Armagh County, Ireland.  He married Nancy Agnes Nixon and they came to America sometime before 1840.  Their daughter, Agnes, was born in Pennsylvania in 1839, and they later had 3 sons, Robert MacCain (1840), James Penn MacCain (1844), and William John MacCain (April 1850).  William was the father of Raymond, and 3 other sons.

Alexander Moore:  Here's the other side of my MacCain heritage.  Alexander Moore was born 15 March 1830 in the town of Ballygawley, Tyrone County, Ireland.  His father was also Alexander Moore, but it may be inaccurate to call them Sr. and Jr., as there seems to be a long line of Alexanders in the Moore family.  If the Irish had kept proper records (damn their defiant non-compliance with English record-keeping), I'd probably be able to tell who's who, but there were certainly a lot of "Alexander Moore, son of Alexander Moore" baptisms in the 18^th Century in Northern Ireland.  It is possible that my ancestor Alexander Moore born 15 March 1830 was the third, fourth, or tenth in his line.  There's no way to tell at the moment.

Alexander married Anna Jane Young the daughter of James and Elenor Young, also of Ballygawley, and they settled in Philadelphia, where they raised their 2 sons and 5 daughters, one of whom was my great-great grandmother, Mary Helen Moore, the wife of William John MacCain.

Thomas Nelson:  Moving over to my mother's side of the family, there are two families of Nelson.  One originates in England, and the other came from Ireland.  Thomas Nelson was born circa 1766 in Armagh County, Ireland.  He married Sarah Martin and they immigrated to the United States sometime during the 1790's.  It's uncertain how many children they had, but there are currently only two that I know of.  One was my 4x great-grandfather Joseph Nelson, who was born circa 1790 in Ireland.  The other child is a daughter, Lana Nelson, born September 1802 in New York.  Thomas died in Cambridge, New York, on 6 June 1808, though his wife lived until 1844.

Isaiah Rogers Nelson, son of Thomas, married Alice Jane Doughty, whose grandmother was also a Nelson, only from a branch that came over from England around 1640.  Of course, if you trace the English Nelson line back far enough, you eventually find yourself in Ireland again, when they spelled the name Nelleson.



Ann Carney Littlefield
w/ daughter Anna L. Forthman
New Orleans, 1912



Ann Carney:  Last Mother's Day, I wrote a little about my great-great grandmother, and over the last year I've uncovered a few more details about her.  Ann (or Annie) Carney was born 22 April 1853 in Roscommon County, Ireland.  Her parents were John Carney and Anna Nesbitt.  The particulars of her arrival in America are not certain, though she may have come aboard the Edith in 1868.  She ended up in Chicago, Illinois, where she met and married Henry Littlefield, Jr., an Iron Smelter whose father was an Irish sailor.  They were married on 19 February 1873 by a Catholic Priest, presumably in a traditional wedding ceremony, and they had 5 sons and 2 daughters, including my great-grandmother, Anna Louise Littlefield, the wife of William Edward Forthman, Sr.

Although her husband Henry died before 1900, Ann lived until 29 September 1930.

So, there you have it, a whole bunch of Irish ancestors that made a better life for themselves in the land of opportunity.

Merry Christmas, 1922

I hope you're all having a wonderful day!  As everyone's ripping open presents and getting ready to feast, here's a look back 89 years.  On December 25, 1922, this is what my grandfather, John Julius Kirton, and his sister, Mary Alice Kirton, found when they woke up.  John was almost 5, and Mary was a little over 18 month old at the time.  It's a rare look at Christmas Past.

Another Forthman Photo

Here's an interesting photo from the vault.

Taken about 1940, here we have my great-grandparents, William Edward Forthman, Sr., and his wife, Anna Louise Littlefield Forthman (left).  The other ladies in the picture are two of their five daughters.  The one standing behind them is my grandmother Nadine (about 20 at the time), and the one sitting is Aunt Anabell.  I recently discovered that Anabell got married on January 10, 1945 to Martin L. Dawson.  I don't know if they had any kids, but they were both in their early forties at the time of the marriage.

New Discoveries Forthcoming

On Friday, I won National Novel Writing Month with a little over 50,000 words written in "The Six-Gun Conjurer."  After 25 days of solid writing, it was time I took a little break.  I still have a few scenes to write, and the big finale to complete, and I'll get to that in a few days, but it's sometimes good to sit back and take a breather.  Creativity takes time.

Anyway, yesterday morning I finally got around to activating my subscription to Ancestry.com.  A few months ago, I purchased a copy of their Family Tree Maker 2011 software, and it came with 3 free months of full access to their site.  There are a lot of things they have in their database that you can't find elsewhere, and it is helping me to uncover more bits of information about my various family lines.

Here are just a few highlights of what I've uncovered so far.

New information has already cropped up concerning my Robinson line.  It turns out that William V. Robinson was a Civil War Veteran.  He signed up as a Private with the New Jersey 6^th Infantry Regiment, and ended up as a Sergeant with the 8^th.  I also found his death record, stating he died on 28 July 1910.

Joseph B. Robinson, as it turns out, was a house painter in Camden, New Jersey, until his untimely death on 18 March 1918.  He died of Tuberculosis.  I'd been unaware of this information, as Joseph ran off on his wife and daughter about 20 years earlier.  Joseph's older sister, Mary J. Robinson, also died of TB on 10 December 1904.



John Julius Kirton



I found WWI army enlistment cards for two of my grandmother's uncles, Hugh Wiley Counts and Milton Counts.  I'm sure there are some interesting stories to be had there, though I haven't had the chance to hear too much from my Counts cousins recently.

In addition to these discoveries, I am finding more data that substantiates my earlier findings.  I've also found a few photographs of interest, including my father's parents' yearbook photos from the University of Michigan, and a picture of my mother's father with the Glee Club from his freshman year at East Orange High School in 1933.

There is much more to uncover, so I'll get back to it.  I expect to resume work on my writing projects in a few days, after I've dug up enough family data to satisfy my curiosity and compose a few more posts.

Veterans Day Remembrance

It's Veterans Day in the United States (or as the old-timers would call it, Armistice Day), and it is Remembrance Day for our neighbors to the north.  As such, I'd like to take a moment to honor the brave men and women who have served so proudly in the armed forces.  It is often a thankless job to serve your country, and it's not something you do for money or praise.  You do it because it's right.

I, myself, have not served.  My health and temperament were never up to the task, though I have great respect for those who have sacrificed for the safety and security of America over the years.  While I didn't take up the charge, many in my family have over the years, so I feel obliged to mention them.

Going back to the American Revolution, several direct ancestors served to found this nation, including Conrad Hoyer (7x great grandfather), and John Hubbell (6x great grandfather).



Only known photograph
of Sylvester T. Counts



In the Civil War, my 3x great grandfather Sylvester Tobias Counts was a Corporal with the 1^st Company, 42^nd Regiment of the Ohio Infantry, while my 2x great grandfather Charles W. Bailey fought for Wisconsin.  Charles' father, William Sullivan Bailey, may have also fought in the war.  Charles Bailey took a bullet in the leg at Gettysburg while repelling Pickett's charge, and Sylvester Counts caught encephalitis, all to preserve the Union and stomp out slavery.  No doubt, I'll get some ribbing from the Rebs for my Yankee Republican ancestors.

Moving on to World War I, my adopted Great Grandfather, Edward S. "Ned" Ingham, took up the charge to stop the Kaiser.  He was rejected by the U.S. Army for having "poor eyesight," so he hopped a ship and volunteered to drive ambulances, and eventually wrangled himself a position with the French Army.  Despite his allegedly bad eyes, he could hit a man-sized target at a mile with his issued rifle (or so the story goes).

The Mighty Eighth!

In World War II, my grandfather, Raymond W. Ingham, served with the 8^th Army Air Force, and helped to flatten most of Europe in order to stop Hitler.  My grandmother (Ray's wife) Esther Counts Ingham, served as clerical staff on the Manhattan project, thereby helping to create the first atomic bomb.  And a while back I told you about my cousin, Ned Nelson, Jr., who gave his life as a bomber pilot during WWII.  My wife's grandfather, Harry Roll Short, fought for Canada during the war.

To all the men and women who have served and continue to serve, I salute you!

Vacation Destinations

Yes, it is Sunday, and yes this is a Family Sunday posting.  In my continuing ancestral research, numerous locations pop up, places where different branches of my family originally settled, or called home in the past centuries.  It is my hope to visit a few of these someday, but at the moment it is fairly impossible for me to get away.  Perhaps future years and fortune will give me the opportunity.

Today, I'll share a few of the places I'd like to visit at some point.  Mind you, these aren't liable to be hot tourist destinations, and are only interesting to me because of my familial ties.

Bridgeton, New Jersey:  Really, all of Cumberland County would be on the tour, but Bridgeton is the center of it all.  Hendersons, Ballingers, Robinsons, and other assorted ancestors came from this area, and it would be interesting to have a look around.

Baldwin City, Kansas:  Home of the Counts family.  My great grandfather, George Sylvester Counts, was born and raised with three brothers and two sisters on a farm outside of town, and it would be interesting to drop by for a visit.  I know there have been a few "cousin reunions" held at the old homestead, though I've never had the pleasure of an invitation.  Maybe someday I'll get out there, reunion or otherwise.

Old Saybrook, Connecticut:  It was here that Joseph Ingham the weaver first settled in America around 1640.

Cato, New York:  Another site of Ingham interest, this is where William Ingham set up shop around 1814, and he made a fortune running a general store.  Later on, his sons overextended themselves and lost pretty much everything.  William's youngest son, Albert, was the grandfather of my adopted great-grandfather.

Hagerstown, Maryland:  It was here that the Forthmans first settled in America before the Civil War.  My great-grandfather, William Edward Forthman, was born here in 1863.  His mother, Ann Creager, was also from Hagerstown, and her ancestors settled there before the Revolution.

There are plenty of other locations of note in my family, though these are a few that stand out the most.  It may be little more than a daydream to think of visiting these distant towns and cities, though perhaps I'll go one day.  Only, what ever will I find when I get there?

Here's to You, Mr. Robinson

After a great deal of researching, I have finally had a breakthrough in the case of Joseph B. Robinson (my great-great grandfather).  This had been a stumbling block for me, as this family line ended so abruptly, while many others I've researched go much further back.  I knew the answer to Mr. Robinson's identity was right there in plain sight; I just needed a little more information and time to figure it out.

I won't go into detail regarding the many hours of digging I did or the many documents I combed through.  That's liable to put you to sleep.  However, I will share what I was able to discover through that diligent search.

Joseph B. Robinson was born on March 3, 1874, in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  His father was William V. Robinson (born circa 1840) -Updated-, and his mother was Josephine Busby (sometimes spelled Buzby).  William was "Overseer of the Road" for the 3^rd Ward of Bridgeton back in 1880, and he died sometime before 1920.

William & Josephine Robinson had 5 daughters and 1 other son besides Joseph:

Vermenta (b. December 28, 1869)

Mary J. (b. March 9, 1872) -Updated-

Maggie (b. 1877 /Died November 2, 1880)

Catherine (b. May 29, 1879)

Alma (b. December 1, 1885)

William V. Jr., (b. May 3, 1888)

All of Joseph's siblings were also born in Bridgeton, NJ.  I haven't discovered who any of the sisters married, but I did find that William Jr. married Emma C. Yost (b.1896 in NJ).  They had at least 2 sons and 2 daughters (all born in NJ):

Elizabeth (b. 1917)

Margaret (b. 1919)

William B. (b. 1923)

Charles R. (b. 1925)

Where they went from here remains a mystery, but I hope to learn more about the Robinson line as time goes by.  I'm now on a quest to find out who William V. Robinson's parents were, and I'm still doing more work on Josephine Busby's line (though I have already identified her father and many of her siblings; we'll discuss them in a future post).  Perhaps there are some other descendants out there who know more about the Robinsons in our family.  If so, I'd like to hear from them.

Family History Update: Ballinger & Henderson

In my ongoing ancestral research, I have uncovered some new cousins through both the Henderson and Ballinger lines.

Hendersons:

Where we left off:  In my Horde of Hendersons column, I listed the children of Robert B. Henderson and Joanna Brooks.  I'm pleased to announce that I've discovered more about Elizabeth Brooks "Lizzie" Henderson (b. September 15, 1876 /Died March 4, 1958).

Elizabeth married Thomas Mason Davis (b. May 27, 1872 in Salem, NJ /Died November 15, 1941) on November 26, 1896, and they had 10 children (generation 6):

Robert Wesley (b. June 27, 1898 /Died May 29, 1979)

Jonathan Bonham (b. April 20, 1900 /Died May 14, 1979)

Sanford Thomas (b. July 31, 1901 /Died August 16, 1901)

Bernice Whitaker (b. January 12, 1903 /Died August 24, 1948)

Mary Henderson (b. December 28, 1904 /Died September 18, 1999)

Lucy Fogg (b. November 3, 1906 /Died May 8, 1996)

Bessie Joanna (b. January 21, 1909 /Died November 13, 1983)

Julia Tomlinson (b. July 22, 1910 /Died November 25, 1982)

Ida Shimp (b. February 17, 1912 /Died February 10, 1981)

Mabel E. (b. 1918)

Robert Wesley Davis married Janet MacDonald Stopani (b. July 1, 1901 in Aberdeen, Scotland /Died July 22, 1969), and they had at least 1 daughter.

Jonathan Bonham Davis married Lucille Ellen Rainear (b. August 7, 1905 /Died May 13, 1982), and they had 5 daughters & 2 sons.

Bernice Whitaker Davis married Elwood S. Ayars (b. May 12, 1900 /Died February 8, 1979) on July 2, 1921, and they had the following children:

Ralph Edward (b. May 7, 1922 /Died 1978)

Ethel (b. 1923)

Arthur (b. 1926)

Kenneth R. (b. March 10, 1929 /Died July 3, 2002)

Mary Henderson Davis married Frank Marion Green (b. July 6, 1905 /Died August 11, 1963).  I don't know if they had any children.

Lucy Fogg Davis married Edward Richard Rainear (b. 1904), and they had 2 daughters & 1 son.

Bessie Joanna Davis married Charles Leonard Van Meter, and they had 2 sons.

Julia Tomlinson Davis married Charles James Heritage, and they had a son.

Ida Shimp Davis married Oliver Wallace Green (b March 1, 1911 /Died February 2, 1972) on March 1, 1932.  They had two sons and a daughter.

That's what I have been able to uncover thus far about this line of cousins.  Much of my knowledge about more recent generations is limited, as the closer you get to modern times, the less public information is readily available.  If you are able to add anything to this, I would welcome it.  Please, don't be afraid to contact me.

Ballinger:

The Ballinger update involves Harriet Ballinger, daughter of William Ballinger & Caroline Facemire.  Harriet is my first cousin five times removed.  I have recently uncovered that Harriet was married twice.

Harriett first married Edward S. Penton (b. August 12, 1855 in Elsinborough, NJ /Died August 5, 1893) on March 31, 1877.  They had at least 2 children:

A son (name not listed on birth certificate) born December 7, 1882.

Blanche Penton (b. June 4, 1886 /Died February 12, 1955), married Warren Saul Langley (b. May 19, 1884 /Died May 13, 1938).

After Edward's death, Harriett married John R. Reeves (b. November 1861 /Died after 1930) on November 11, 1894 in Millville, NJ.  John & Harriett had 2 children:

Frederick G. Reeves (b. November 15, 1899 /Died June 13, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida)

Edna P. Reeves (b. November 15, 1899)

I hope someone finds this data as interesting as I do.  I'm certain there are some living cousins out there who could use this information in their own ancestral searches.

On a concluding note, one thing I'm lacking from the Ballinger & Henderson lines is photographs.  It would be nice to find some eventually.

Mary Alice Nelson

This week, I'm going to share a few photos of my great-grandmother, Mary Alice Nelson.  She was the daughter of Ira Rogers Nelson, Sr., and Ada Belle Urech.  She married Julius Kirton in 1917, and their son, John Julius Kirton, was my mother's father.  I'll be posting more about the Nelson line in later posts, but here's one just for my great-grandmother.

Here's the earliest picture I have of her, taken in July 1894.  She was eighteen months old!

Here we have a picture taken about 3 years later, with her older brother Edward Franklin "Ned" Nelson, Sr., and her younger brother Ira Rogers Nelson, Jr.:

For a picture of Mary Alice Nelson on her wedding day in 1917, check out my Kirtons of Kentucy blog post here.

Jump ahead to circa 1919, and a picture of her holding my grandfather, John Kirton:

And for a nice photo finish, here she is in 1948.  She's holding my Uncle Stephen.  Uncle Clifton is standing beside, and my mother is the grinning little girl in her own little chair.

The Littlefields of Illinois

Getting back to my "Family Sunday" columns, let's go over one of the lesser-known branches of my family; the Littlefields of Illinois.  My grandmother's mother was a Littlefield, and I've managed to dig up quite a bit on them, thanks to some family photos, notes, and tiring research.

The earliest Littlefield I've been able to identify is Henry Littlefield, born in Ireland circa 1804.  He came to America before 1840, and settled in Waukegan, Illinois, with his wife Joanna.  They had the following children (Generation 2):

Jane (b. 1841)

George (b. November 23, 1842 /Died May 9, 1904)

Amelia (b. 1846)

Henry II(my 2x great grandfather, b. September 23, 1849 /Died October 2, 1899)

James (b. 1856)

Charles (b. 1862)

I haven't been able to trace Jane, James, or Amelia past their childhood.  The daughters likely got married and changed their names, so I haven't found their marriage certificates.  I learned that Charles married Annie Hearne (b. 1858 /Died January 5, 1921), though I don't know if they had any children.

George Littlefield married Betty Wilson (b. November 22, 1856 /Died June 16, 1946) in 1882, and they had at least 2 children (Generation 3):

Paul M. (b. January 1884)

Martha Adelia (b. April 26, 1886 /Died 1963).

Martha Adelia Littlefield married Canadian-born Joseph Robert Collinson (b. May 27, 1879 /Died December 21, 1943) and they had 3 children (Generation 4):

Dickenson Ober Collinson (b. November 28, 1909 /Died December 9, 1996)



Annie Carney Littlefield
w/ Daughter Anna Louise Forthman
New Orleans, 1912



Susan Elizabeth Collinson (b. January 21, 1915 /Died May 11, 1984) married Thornton Taylor Shively (b. February 26, 1913 /Died June 21, 1980).

Hazel Collinson (b. 1917 in Montana)



Henry Littlefield II married Annie Carney (b. 1853 in Northern Ireland), and they had the following children (also Generation 3):



Joseph Henry (b. March 1877 /Died before 1930)

Anna Louise (my great-grandmother, b. 1880)

Alexander C. (b. 1884 /Died November 17, 1939)

John (b. 1885)

Alfred James (b. June 19, 1888)

Mary N. (b. January 1891)

Edward G. (b. April 1894)

Anna Louise Littlefield married William E. Forthman, Sr. before 1900, and you can find their children listed under my Fistful of Forthmans column.

Joseph Henry Littlefield married Sarah Gertrud Marshall (b. 1880), and they had four children (Generation 4):



Harry, Flo, Anna, & Ruth
1915



Harry P. (b. September 20, 1899 /Died January 1983)

Ruth L. (b. 1901)

Mary Florence (b. May 11, 1902 /Died September 4, 1994)

Anna Louise (b. December 15, 1904 /Died December 27, 1937)

Alexander C. Littlefield married a woman named Rose, but I don't know if they had any children.

Alfred James Littlefield married Adele Maria Lennen (b. September 10, 1888 /Died November 12, 1969), and they had four children:

Edward J. (b. June 21, 1911 /Died January 6, 1956)

Alfred James II (b. August 31, 1913 /Died January 6, 1970)

Mary Anna (b. August 2, 1913 /Died September 16, 1913)

John Francis (b. September 19, 1918 /Died July 26, 2005)

Harry P. Littlefield married Winifred M. (b. 1900 in Illinois), and they had at least 2 daughters (Generation 5):

Patricia M. (b. 1925)

Joan A. (b. 1930)

Mary Florence Littlefield married John Francis Nichols (b. March 22, 1898 /Died July 20, 1955), and they had at least 2 children:

Mary J. Nichols (b. 1923)

John F. Nichols (b. 1925)

Anna Louise Littlefield married James Lonergan (b. December 17, 1902), and they had at least 2 children:

Lois Mary Lonergan (b. April 9 1926 /Died April 24, 1926)

Florence Lonergan (b. 1927)

Ileen Lonergan (b. November 9, 1928 /Died December 2, 1928)
Lois Ann Longergan (b. July 8, 1930 /Died July 9, 1996 in CA)

There it is, the sizeable hunk of the Littlefield line I've uncovered thus far.  I'll update it as discoveries are made.

New Surnames on the Tree

Over the last few weeks, I've managed to fit in some genealogical research, and uncovered a new branch on my mother's side.  Discovering more about Nancy Rogers (b. August 11, 1794 /Died May 15, 1825), I have been able to identify a few more surnames to my list.  More distant cousins await!

Additional surnames

Generation 8: Otis

Generation 9: Gardner

Generation 10: Gustin, Little

Generation 11: Bushnell, Sherman, Southworth, Thomas

Add these to the longer list from my previous blog post: You Might Be a Cousin If...

Dead Ends

Digging through my family history last winter, I found more than I ever thought I would.  Some lines go back to the Mayflower and beyond, though there are some that don't reach so far.  All lines eventually fade into the fog of time, but there are certain branches that end prematurely.  This "Family Sunday" column will be to introduce a few of my ancestors whose parents are unknown.  Someday, I hope to learn more about them, and perhaps extend the lines back further in these cases.  Here we go, some dead ends:

• Joseph B. Robinson.  Born circa 1873 in Pennsylvania, he was my great-great grandfather.  I previously mentioned him in my Ballinger column a while back, as he married Nellie Ballinger on October 24, 1895 in Bridgeton, NJ.  Their daughter Effie was born in Philadelphia, PA, so I believe Joseph and Nellie were living there at the time, and Joseph may have been from there originally.  They separated sometime before 1900, and by 1910 Nellie listed herself as "widowed" on the census, but that may have simply been to avoid the stigma of having her husband run off on her.  So little is known about Mr. Robinson, I really would like to explore this line of the family further.  There could be gold here.

• Mary Ann Wilson.  Born August 5, 1837 in Miami County, Ohio.  Died July 14, 1916 in Baldwin City, Kansas.  Married Sylvester Tobias Counts on October 27, 1855.  With all these dates and places, you'd think there'd be some hint about who her parents were, but no luck.  For some reason, her heritage eludes me.  She apparently had brothers who moved to Minnesota and founded a town named Wilson.  The surname is so common, and every other woman was named "Mary" back then, so it is very difficult to find positive paternal records for her.  I'm sure somebody out there has an answer.

• Richard Kirton.  Born circa 1830 in England.  He moved to Kentucky sometime around 1850, though it's difficult to find records about anyone from the old country.  His wife was Ellen Hyler.  His sons were Nelson & Sidney.

• Caroline Royal Sheppard.  Born March 19, 1833, Died April 6, 1904.  Married Daniel Woodruff Henderson on September 28, 1849.  Family lore says she had 20 children who lived to adulthood, though I've only found records for 15 of them.  She's another ancestor who just popped up out of nowhere (aka southern New Jersey).  Digging through the Henderson line has been a daunting task, though from my previous column about them you can see I have made some progress.  I wish I could find a few photographs from this side of the family.  I'm sure some cousin has a few, but tracking living relatives is sometimes harder than learning about dead ones.

• Mark Bailey.  Born in 1796, married Bethia Hubbell around 1816.  Nobody I've talked to is quite sure where Mark came from, though some suspect it was either Connecticut or Vermont.  I suspect the latter, as Vermont's birth records from the 18^th century are spotty at best (while Connecticut's are pretty reliable).  I'm wondering if he's related to any of the Baileys of Maine, such as the founders of "Baileyville."  Regardless, I'd like to know where he came from for certain.

• James Ballinger.  Born circa 1800 in Pennsylvania.  His wife was Sarah Sutton (born in NJ), and their sons were Benjamin (my 4x great grandfather), and William.  It was exceedingly difficult to uncover James.  For months, I thought Benjamin would be as far back as I'd be able to go, but then I found a marriage certificate for Benjamin's brother, William.  The certificate listed the groom's parents, and the state they were each born in.  Thus, I was able to push the envelope back further into the fog of history, though details remain sketchy.  There were a lot of different Sarah Suttons born in New Jersey around 1800, and I haven't found much else about James yet, though time may reveal more.

There are many more dead ends throughout my family tree, but these are some I would really like to work on.  If anyone has any information about these people, do not hesitate to contact me.  The truth is out there, somewhere!