Saturday, March 30, 2013

New Home for the Genealogical Society of Marion County

The official word came down that the Genealogical Society of Marion County will be relocating from the Crown Hill Cemetery Waiting Station to the former office building at Memorial Park Cemetery on 9350 E. Washington St., just east of I-465.Our new home will be more accessible and give us more room. Details on the move will be forthcoming at the GSMC website: www.GenealogyIndy.org Here's a photo!!







Monday, March 25, 2013

Ulster Historical Foundation Program - GSMC & IHS

Saturday the Genealogical Society of Marion County & the Indiana Historical Society co-sponsored an  Irish & Scots-Irish Family Research Seminar with speakers Fintan Mullan & Brian Trainor from the Ulster Historical Foundation. The Seminar was held at the Eugene & Marilyn Glick History Center's Basile Theater auditorium.

Fintan & Brian presnted sessions on Introduction to Irish & Scots-Irish Family History Research, Emigration from Ireland to America, Church Records in Ireland, Understanding Irish Townlands, Researching 18th & 19th Century Farming Communities & Irish & Scots-Irish Research: Not Always at the Bottom of the Pile.

The sessions were both informative & entertaining. The turnout was over 200. If you ever have a chance to attend one of the UHF Seminars, it will be well worth your time.

Fintan & Brian visit the US around St. Patrick's Day to present seminars across the country.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Source citings from the Twilight Zone

The Rhodes family gets at least one more post. In searching for the details on Captain Zachariah Rhodes' fate, the source citations got just plain weird!

One of my early breakthrus was locating the book by Adelos Gorton, The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton (George S. Ferguson, Philadelphia, PA, 1907). The page on the Rhodes family stated that Zachariah died at sea in 1815. Progress!

While trying to locate additional information at the FHL in Salt Lake back when the family histories were located in the Joseph Smith Building, I came across the series of genealogies on Roger Williams. The Rhodes family was allied to Williams, so I checked out the following:

Dorothy Higson White, Descendants of Roger Williams: The Waterman and Winsor Lines Through His Daughter Mercy Williams, Volume: I - The Waterman Line (Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1991).

White included the fact that Zachariah and Perry Rhodes were lost at sea in 1815 on a voyage from Baltimore to Puerto Rico. More details! White cited Gorton.

A trip to an FGS Conference to Boston gave me the opportunity to visit the NEHGS Library. There I found the multi-volume set by Frederick A. Holden, Family Record or journal of facts of the Holden Family in America, 1852-1910: from Randall Holden about 1636 to the present time (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, 1989 [photocopy]).

Holden was the mother lode! Captain Rhodes sailed from Baltimore on the schooner "Hannah" on 14 Aug 1815 with brother Perry and was never again heard from. [Citing Gorton]

There I had it: Date of departure, port, destination, ship's name and type.

How is it that Holden and White were able to flesh out the story by sighting the source that had the least amount of information?

Sometimes you are lost in that dimension beyond which is known to man - THE GENEALOGY ZONE!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Standiford Family

Ts could easily be Rhodes & Cunningham Family Part III. Pathiah [Bathiah] Standiford married James Cunningham on 1 Aug 1773 in St. John's Parish in Baltimore, MD. There is less known about the Standiford line than the Cunninghams. I think Pathiah was the daughter of Israel Standiford & Cassandra Anderson, but don't have much to go on for evidence.

Two of Pathiah's possible sisters married men by the name of Rhodes. I have yet to determine if they were related to Captain Zachariah Rhodes. There was another Zachariah Rhodes in Baltimore about the same time. I believe he was a distant cousin.

Since I haven't looked into this branch of the tree in some years, there may be be new data available on the Standifords.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Rhodes & Cunningham Families, Part II

Isaac Prall's story of his Rhodes & Cunningham familes was lacking some in accuracy. I eventually tracked down the Zachariah Rhodes details. He captained the sloop Hannah & sailed from Baltimore on 14 August 1815 for Puerto Rico, with brother Perry as mate. They never reached their destination.

Harriet died a few years later & Ann was left in the care of the Porters. Ann's cousin, John Brown Jr. named the Porters & Ann in his will. After Captain Porter died, Bathia & Ann moved to Harford Co., MD, where both married into the Prall family.

My guess is that the Polix & Castor was one of the ships that Ralph Porter captained & Isaac confused vessels.

The tales related about James Cunnigham's run-ins with pirates, probably took place in the early 1800s during the Barbary Coast wars. He was wounded & captured, but was able to signal a fellow Mason or Redman & his release was arranged. I suspect that this was the younger James, but am not certain.

Isaac recollected that his mother was about the best reader he ever heard & that he was fascinated by "mother-aunt" Bathia's adventures traveling the world with her 1st husband.

Isaac also wrote briefly about his Prall-Rittenhouse line. This was filled with misassumptions as well. 

Monday, March 4, 2013

Rhodes & Cunningham Families, Part I

One of my brick walls that has been chipped away in parts is the Rhodes / Cunningham connection. Zachariah Rhodes, a Baltimore sea captain born in Rhode Island, married Harriet Cunningham in 1810. Harriet's five sisters also married men with seafaring-related careers in Baltimore.

Charlotte married shipbuilder William Etchberger in 1803.
Bathia married sea captain Ralph Porter also in 1803.
Ann married William Carman, a lumber dealer or mariner, in 1799.
Betsy Ann married sea captain John Brown Sr. in 1796.
A fifth sister reportedly married a man named Hunt.

The girls were the daughters of James Cunningham and Bathiah or Pathiah Standiford. There was also a son, James Jr. - a mariner like his father.

The story of the Cunningham-Rhodes family was related in a short family history penned by Harriet's grandson, Isaac Prall. Isaac was the son of Ann Bathia Rhodes & Isaac Rittenhouse Prall.  In Isaac's story all of the husbands were sea captains. He told of Zacariah's death at sea aboard the Polix & Castor. [No dates or destination given], Bathia's travels, James' encounters with pirates [Senior or Junior?] Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down any details on the Cunninghams beyond the marriages. Therein lies the problem! More in the next post!!