Sarah "Sally" Buchanan wife of George W. Colegrove

 Sarah "Sally" Buchanan is one of my mystery ancestors. She was, according to census records, born in Indiana about 1805/06. She married George W. Colegrove in 1823 in Knox Co., IN. Sarah died in Bicknell, Knox Co., IN on 6 April 1864. She was the mother of five children.

But what of her parentage? Thus far, I haven't run across any other Buchanans in the Knox Co. area prior to 1830. Her family should have been in Knox or an adjoining county. Could she have been raised by another family? [maternal grandparents, aunt or unle] Could her family have been missed or incorrectly transcribed in the 1820 census?

While several families have been relatively easy to track down - give or take a spouse or two - Sarah Buchanan is another story. Hopefully, Knox Co. records willl answer some of questions.

Another Cat Day! Knox County Observations

 The new kittens were taken in to the vet today for spaying and neutering. They're going to be cranking for a few days with meds and such!

My paternal families ended up in Knox County, Indiana. The earliest arrivals show up on the 1807 tax list. Knox County covered more territory back then. Other families arrived between 1810 and 1850 from neighboring counties [or old Knox Co.] vThe last arrival was much later - between 1910 and 1915. So there's a ton of work to do in one location. All I have to do is find the time to make the trip!😏

Adoptions delay posts & a Goodman update

I have a good excuse for not posting over the last four days. We adopted two 8 month old kittens Thursday night. Callie and Camden are from the same litter. Callie looks to have a lot of Siamese in her. Camden will have issues with superstitious types - he's a black little guy. Time has been consumed with taking turns sitting in the room hoping to get the kittens used to us. Callie is opening up, but Camden prefers hiding under the bed.

Back to the Goodman clan.

Carl Goodman [25] appeared in the 1850 Knox County, Indiana household of William Goodman [40] and wife Lucinda [23]. Other sources [1860 census, Find A Grave] suggest an 1806 birth for William, making him 44 in 1850 and 19 years older than Carl. 

Lucinda [Lawson] turns out to be William's second wife whom he married in 1844. Thus, Carl, William and George [both 14] and Elizabeth Goodman Frakes [20] were all from William's first marriage to - you guessed it - an unknown first wife!

William haied from Kentucky, so may have married there. Indiana is also a possibility. The digging continues.

"Convenient Research" on Both Sides of the Family

 Researching my birth family comes with some advantages. On both sides Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky are common residences on both sides. Scottish ancestry is common to both sides of the family.

What really makes it convenient is that my maternal line has a limited number of families to research. My grandparents were first cousins. That narrows the number of families to research.

The majority of the families in my paternal line settled in Knox Co., Indiana. Although they originated in other states or countries, they primarily ended up in one location. [I just need to get down to Vincennes and research all of those families!]

When I was researching my adopted family, things didn't come together until the early 1900s when the Pralls, McHughs, Faucetts, Crails and Cawbys started arriving in Indianapolis.

Carl Goodman & Jane Colegrove

 I haven't had much luck with tracking information on Carl Goodman and Jane Colegrove.. Both families ended up in Knox Co., Indiana toward the midle of the 19th century. They had a son, John L., born in 1854. John was living with his Colegrove grandparents in 1860. The Colegrove Family in America only mentions that Carl and Jane wre married.

Yesterday a breakthrough on Family Search!  Indiana Marriages 1811-1929: 31 July 1851, Knox Co., IN - Jane Colegrove married CARROLL Goodman. Carroll is close to Carl. This should be the correct couple. Place, time frame and surnames are a match.

My guess is that Jane either died during childbirth or before the 1860 enumeration. Carl either died before 1860 or remarried and left John with his grandparents. I need to dig deeper now that I have more info!

 

The George Line: Which Brother is the Direct Ancestor?

 While conducting my paternal George line research, I have come across two possible fathers for Samuel Wilson George: Alexander Gordon Young [AYG] George and his brother Robert Moody George.

Solid documentation is scarce. However, I feel that there are clues that point to one brother over the other.

Samuel Wilson George was born in 1821 in Kentucky.

Robert Moody George was married in 1822. Could he have fathered a son before the marriage? Yes.

In 1850, Albert, a son of AYG was living with Wilson George's family. Could Albert have been living with a cousin rather than a brother? Entirely possible.

Wilson and Albert married Robinson sisters. Of course, cousins could have married sisters.

On the other side:

AGY George and Betsy May wer married in 1819. This precedes Wilson's birth, so is a better fit. 

According to May family research, one of the sons of AGY George and Betsy May was named Wilse. Wilse is likely a nickname for Wilson.

It is very likely that Albert was Wilson's brother rather than his cousin.

My working theory is that Wilson is the son of Alexander Gordon Yong George rather than his brother Robert Moody George

Possible Incorrect Information: Hiram Boyles

 Well, sometimes a record looks like it fits and doesn't. Such appears to be the case with Hiram Boyles.

A Civil War death record for a Hiram Boyles has been added to my tree and numerous others, but it is not the death record for the Hiram Boyles who served with the 82nd Indiana.

The record references a Hiram Boyles who served with the 70th Indiana and died at Resaca, GA in May 1864.

My Hiram didn't mister in until September 1864 and died at Savannah, GA in early 1865. Indiana State Archives online record for Hiram gives the "final date" as 15 January 1865, so he had died by that date.

Sorry folks, sloppy research. Best to start from scratch, I guess. I've written the IN Archives for Hiram's record and will update when I received additional info.

My Hoosier Civil War Ancestors: James Clark & Thomas Arbuckle

 I am combining my final two ancestors in one post. The stories of James Clark and Thomas Arbuckle would be linked in the next generation.

Clark was mustered in on 5 August 1862 in Company B 69th Indiana Infantry. The 69th was sent west. Less than a year inti his enlistment, James H. Clark contracted pneumonia which developed into phthisis pulmonalis [pulmonary consumption]. He was admitted to the field hospital at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, MO. James died there on 22 June 1863.

James' wife, Ann [Graham] applied for a widow's pension, but the pension was transferred to daughter Lucy Jane Clark after Ann remarried.

Arbuckle enlisted on 28 December 1863 in Company E 13th Indiana Cavalry. Like Clark, Arbuckle was assigned duty in the west. Due to conditions in the field, Thomas fell victim to chronic diarrhea. He died at the hospital in New Orleans and was buried in Chalamet National Cemetery.

Thomas M. Arbuckle left a widow, Sarah [Akers] and five children. 

Son James Crawford Arbuckle married on 10 August 1879 Lucy Jane Clark. 

My Hoosier Civil War Ancestors: Hiram Boyles

 Hiram Boyles was mustered on 22 September 1864 in the 37th Indiana Company U at Evansville, IN. He later transferred to Company D of the 82nd Indiana Infantry. While serving at Savannah, GA, Hiram contracted pneumonia and was admitted to the General Field Hospital at Resaca, GA. He died there early in 1865.

Hiram left a wife, Elizabeth [Dillon] Boyles and three children Catherine, Laura and Andrew.

My Hoosier Civil War Soldiers - Part II: Two from Kentucky

 Among my ancestors who reached adulthood during the Civil War, there were two who appeared on draft lists. Whether or not they served in the war remains a mystery. Considering both were in their 40s, service is doubtful,

Samuel Wilson George appeared on the October 1863 list of draft eligible men in Johnson County, Kentucky. He was 43, a farmer, born in Kentucky. His son Francis Marion would turn 18 by war's end.

Thomas Banfield appeared on the same list as a resident of Greenup County. He was listed as 40, a loafer*, born in Kentucky.

Eastern Kentucky tended to have Union sympathies, but either man could have had Confederate leanings as a Kentucky resident.

My Hoosier Civil War Soldiers

 Two of my Civil War ancestors served their country and were able to return home.

[1] William Hogue [1824-1902] Mustered in 14 December 1861 and mustered out 27 April 1863. He was a corporal in Company E of the 51st Indiana Infantry. Action at Shiloh, Corinth, Guard duty Memphis & Charleston Railroad, pursuit of Bragg, Perryville, Stone's River. At Murfreesboro until April 1863 when discharged. William would see the turn of the 20th century.

[2] Charles "Gus" Everhart [1848-1942] Mustered 2 February 1865 and mustered out 21 January 1866. Skirmishes at Spring Place, GA & railroad guard duty at Dalton, Marietta & Cuthbert. At some point suffered a back injury. Gus would live through World War I & see the outbreak of World War II.

Civil War Soldiers Who Didn't Come Home

 During my first round of research [1990-2018], I found my Mom's great-grandfather, Aaron Crail, and two of his brothers Sylvester and John as Civil War soldiers who made it home.

 Aaron had contracted consumption during the siege of Atlanta. He returned home and died from the disease in 1868, leaving a wife and six children.

Sylvester was wounded and captured, serving a brief time as a POW. He retuned home and died at the Indiana State Soldiers Home in 1898. His wound led to complications later in life and he died a shell of the young man who joined the Union Army.

John served with Aaron during the Atlanta Campaign. Conditions there led to a cold that settled in his back and, like his brother Sylvester, was in extremely ill health until his death in 1906.

Research Round 2 [2018-present] focuses on my birth family. There were quite a few Civil War volunteers, all  Union.

James Clark, Thomas Arbuckle, Charles Everhart, Hiram Boyles and William Hogue all served in Indiana regiments.

Only Charles Everhart and William Hogue returned home. None fell to Confederate fire. All fell to various diseases and were buried in National Cemeteries far from home.

[to be continued.....]

1950 Census Observations

 Like most genealogists/family historians, I was looking forward to the release of the 1950 census. Tring to maneuver the Enumeration District was a challenge, bit I managed to find most of my birth and adopted family and my wife's family.

Once the indexed images were available, I started the hunt for my birth parents. 

My birth father's identity isn't set in concrete, but a first cousin is fairly sure of which George brother is the most likely candidate. Interestingly enough, all three brothers were living together in Indianapolis. 

The search for my birth mother was a different story. Nada! I knew she had to be in Indianapolis. However, not one search was successful. First name, middle name, last name. 

The story that was passed on to me by cousins is that my birth mother and a couple of brothers or brothers-in-law moved to Indy about 1949-50. I haven't found her brother in the '50 census either.

That leads me to believe that all of Indy hasn't been indexed as of yet.

I did turn to one of my favorite sources, the city directory.  The 1951 City Directory for Indianapolis shows my mother and uncle living in the city. So I know they were there.

Her address is given and her occupation - "helper." That's about as general as you can get! Unfortunately, her place of work is not given.

The waiting game for ALL of the 1950 census to be indexed continues.

Eastern Kentucky Roots

 Quite a number of my "birth families" settled in eastern Kentucky after migrating from western Virginia and the Carolinas. My ancestors called Greenup, Boyd, Lawrence, Floyd, Johnson, Morgan and Carter home for a few months to several years. A few families resided in several counties and never moved, as their home county broke off to for another county, them reformed again.

Interestingly enough, nearly all of my birth families end up in that eastern Kentucky region. A Virginia to western Virginia to Kentucky route was most common. Virginia to the western parts of North and South Caroliina into Kentucky was another common migation route. A few families arrived in Pennsylvania , New York or New Jersey before migrating south. All of the families eventually settled in southern Indiana.

There were a few exceptions of course. The George family moved to the coal fields of Ohio before my grandfather opted for the coal mines of Knox Co., Indiana.

The Hogues traveled from New Jersey south to Virginia, but took the Ohio River to Indiana, bypassing Kentucky settlements. The Phillippis, Evilsizers and a few other families followed a similar path to Knox Co.

The Colegroves were an exception to the rule: New York to Indiana.

Online research in these Kentucky counties is tricky. Family Search has some records available for home-based research. The fact that Kentucky [and some other states] have preserved early tax records is a blessing.

Hopefully, those eastern Kentucky counties will put more records online!

Another suspicious family!

 I am trying to return to the blog, hopefully! So here goes......

Yesterday I began re-examining my paternal Alleine family. One would think that if just about every source in print and nearly every family tree available have the same information, then you'd think there would be no issues. Right? Not so fast.

Isabelle Alleine [1655-1740] was the daughter of Joseph Alleine [1633-1668] and his cousin Theodosia Alleine [1635-1681].. Joseph was a renowned pastor in Taunton, England.

Isabelle married John Rutherford [1653-1737/40]. 

Rutherford was a Presbyterian minister in Scotland and later in County Down, Ireland.. John and Isabelle had a daughter, Catherine, who married John Walker in Wigton, Scotland and later immigrated to.Pennsylvania.

All nice and tidy, except for a few issues:

1) In his will dated 18 Oct 1667, Joseph Alleine did not name ANY children. Wife, brother, niece, nephew, and other family members were named, but no daughter Isabelle.

2) In Alleine's writings and those of his wife, there was no mention of children.

3) I have found no references to the Alleines living in Scotland or Ireland [or Rutherford in Taunton], necessary for Isabelle and John Rutherford to meet.

4) None of the primary sources confirm a daughter, Isabelle, born to Joseph and Theodosia. 

Conclusions: 

1) The Alleines had no children or Joseph, for some reason, did not name his daughter.

2) The Alleines had no children.

3) If the Alleines did not visit Scotland or Ireland and John Rutherford did not visit Taunton, then Isabelle Alleine, daughter of Joseph, did not marry John Rutherford of Scotland and County Down, Ireland.

4) Joseph and Theodosia apparently did not have a daughter named Isabelle.

How could all of those sources naming Isabelle Alleine as the daughter of Joseph and Theodosia be wrong [if, indeed they are]? Someone back in that wonderful era of "fuzzy genealogy research and publication" printed it and all who followed piggy-backed on the first. 

Could they be correct? Yes, but doubtful.

Final conclusion: John Rutherford may have married a woman named Isabelle.