Family Migrations II

Round two of my maternal family migrations includes the Simmons, Jennison, Crousore, Smith and O'Neill families.

Simmons: The Simmons clan is another one that didn't totally follow the standard western migration pattern. John Simmons, Sr. came from Hampshire, England during the early 1750s and opened a tavern at the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets in New York City. John and his tavern achieved quite a bit of notoriety. John was called the "most corpulent man" in the colonies and the tavern became a hotbed for patriotic activity. The British occupation of NY City during the Revolutionary War forced the Simmons family to flee. The family resided in Orange Co., NY [where John Jr. enlisted], possibly Burlington Co., NJ, Philadelphia, and Dutchess Co., NY before returning home to reopen the tavern after the war. John acquired land in what is now Chenango Co., NY. John Jr. became his land agent and relocated there. He later operated a "public house" near Cannonsburgh, Pennsylvania. John spent some time in Dearborn Co., Indiana before moving to Monroe Co., Ohio and Wheeling, (West) Virginia, where he died in 1843. Son John W. found land in Switzerland Co., Indiana, Butler Co., Ohio, Henry Co., Ohio and Campbell Co., Kentucky [d. 1857] James Morris Simmons resided in southwestern Ohio, Howard and Carroll Co., Indiana. John T. was a bit more grounded than his ancestors, spending most of his life in Howard and Tipton Co., Indiana. His daughter, Mima, married into the Crail  family in 1882. England, New York, (NJ?), Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky. Indiana

Jennison: Robert Jennison was born in Colchester, England and settled in Watertown,  Massachusetts between 1630-1637. The family remained in Massachusetts for several generations, until Peter Jennison moved to Chenango Co., New York prior to 1812. His daughter, Dolly joined husband John W. Simmons' migration. England, Massachusetts, New York.

Crousore: Nicholas Kraushaar was born in "Germany," settled in eastern Pennsylvania and later in Fayette Co. in western Pennsylvania. John Crousore and most of his brood settled in Clinton Co., Ohio, before cutting a swath through Rush, Delaware, Madison and Howard Co., Indiana. Son Jacob would eventually end up in McPherson Co., Kansas, where he and wife Amy [Smith] died during the late 1870s. Germany, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas

Smith: The family's country of origin is unknown, but the British Isles is a fair bet. The Smiths settled in western Virginia and Pennsylvania, William [son of Henry] settled in Clinton Co., Ohio, where two of his children, John and Ama Jemima "Amy" married into the Crousores. The Smiths joined the migration into Indiana. Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana

O'Neill: Catherine O'Neill was born in County Cork, Ireland about 1833/34. She arrived in New York about 1852 and settled in Indianapolis, where she married Aaron Crail in 1857. The next 77 years were spent moving around Indiana and to Chicago, or residing with family in Indianapolis. Ireland, Indiana, Illinois, Indiana

Family Migrations I

Have you ever traced your family migration from the "old country" to your home town or their place of retirement?

I'm going to trace the various families for a few posts beginning with my Mom's McHugh, Crail, Wagner and Laubscher families.

McHugh: John McHugh was born in County Donegal, Ireland in 1807. John apparently left Ireland with his brother Daniel, Daniel's wife and two children during the early 1830s for the coal mines of Schuylkill Co., Pennsylvania. John married in the Keystone State and then both families moved to Jo Daviess Co., Illinois by about 1845, where James McHugh was born. They were in Gratiot, Lafayette Co., Wisconsin by 1850 and later moved to nearby Shullsburg. After James died in 1898, wife Louisa and the six surviving children moved to Chicago, Illinois. My grandfather, Charles J. McHugh married in Chicago and his eldest son was born there. The family then moved to Indianapolis in 1912. My mother spent her final years [1977-2000] in Bonita Springs, Lee Co., Florida. Other members of the McHugh clan scattered across the country: Texas, California, Georgia, Iowa and other states. The basic move for my line of the family was not the typical westward move. It was more west, northwest, southeast. Ireland, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Florida

Crail: The family's place of origin is a bit of a mystery, but they probably hailed from Scotland. The Crails appeared to have then gone to Maryland, Pennsylvania and later Kentucky. Hamilton Co., Ohio was the first confirmed home for the family. James B. Crail was a hard trace. His three sons were born in Ohio and the family was in Shelby Co., Indiana in 1851 and 1854. The boys and their families were in Marion Co. and Hamilton Co., Indiana in 1860-1870. [James and wife Mary did not show up in the 1850-1870 censuses.] Youngest son Aaron died in 1868. His widow and children moved to Miami Co. , Indiana by 1880. Aaron's son James was a blacksmith and resided in Miami, Marion and Howard Co.'s, Indiana before packing his family off to Ontario, Canada and veterinary medical school in 1894. Returning to the States, the Crails settled in Shelbyville, Shelby Co., Indiana. Chicago was the next stop and finally Indianapolis. James' mother spent most of her final years in Indianapolis. Once again, this was not the typical westward migration. Scotland, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Canada, Indiana, Illinois, Indiana

Wagner & Laubscher: I have combined these two German families together. John Wagner and Catherine Laubscher were both born in Baden. They met and married in Pennsylvania and then moved to the mining country around Fredericktown, Madison Co., Missouri, where daughter Louisa was born in 1849. Catherine's brother George also moved to Missouri. George and John were involved in land transactions in Lafayette Co., Wisconsin in 1850-51. Catherine was a widow with three children by 1855. Louisa married James McHugh in 1874 and died in Chicago in 1906. Her Uncle George returned to Missouri and served in the Union Artillery , later returning to Pennsylvania. Baden [Germany], Pennsylvania, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois

SLIG 2014 & GSMC's Annual Conference

I've been on hiatus for awhile, but am now back and ready to post.

The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy [Jan. 13-17] is quickly approaching. The early bird registration ends October 31. Check out the SLIG at www.info@uga.org. The evening session presentations are now posted. Speaking of the evening sessions, I have the honor of announcing that I will be presenting my "Researching Collateral Ancestors" program on Tuesday [Jan. 14] at 7:00 P.M.

Also, the Genealogical Society of Marion County will be holding its annual conference on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick History Center [Indiana Historical Society]: "Photographic History, Preservation and Archiving" with Joan Hostetler.
For details, see our homepage at http://genealogyindy.org.

GSMC Meeting September 14

The GSMC will be holding it's monthly meeting at the Franklin Road branch of the IMCPL on Saturday, September 14. Our speaker will be Ken Nowlan. His presentation will be "Making Sense of DNA." The program will begin at 1:00. For further details: www.genealogyindy.org

The Salt Lake Institute [Jan. 13-17] still has openings! It is a worthwhile event. Check it out at http://www.infouga.org/aem.php?eid=8

I'm venturing into "new territory" this time around. My Problem Solving project is exclusively Medieval British Isles [with a touch of the Spanish Netherlands thrown in.]

GSMC's new research library Grand Opening - Saturday, Sept. 7 at 11:00

The Genealogical Society of Marion County will celebrate the Grand Opening of its new research library this Saturday [September 7] at 11:00 A.M. The GSMC Library is locate at Memorial Park Cemetery on East Washington St./US 40 [just east of Post Road] in Warren Township.

Come and join us if you are in the neighborhood! Food, tours and a chance to sign up for classes. The library will be a satellite Family History Center, so you can order microfilm from Salt Lake's Family History Library!

For more info, see our website at www.genealogyindy.org

Updates

I've been neglecting blog posts again. [sigh!]

The FGS Conference is underway in Fort Wayne, IN. The Genealogical Society of Marion County will have a display table. Drop by and say hello. [I should be on duty Friday afternoon and Saturday.]

GSMC will hold it's Grand Opening for the new research library on September 7. Drop by and visit our new facility. It is located on E. Washington St. [US 40] just east of Post Road at Memorial Park Cemetery.

St. John Genealogy - Another Twist!

In an earlier post I mentioned my excitement over Jerome Santken's NEHGS Register article about discovering the ancestry of Mathias St. John. In recent weeks an alternate ancestry has been brought to my attention. Suzanne St. John has been researching a cadet line of the St. Johns with Welsh connections.

Mathias' parents remain the same: Christopher St. John & Joane [possibly Fleming], but the ancestry is vastly different.

Suzanne has been kind enough to provide me with a handful of documents.

I've been trying to wade through the Welsh/English ancestry through various on-line sources. I've decided that this will be a good project for the Salt Lake Institute in January. My research of English, Welsh & Dutch records is very limited, so this will be a great opportunity to hone my skills.

Does the St. John family come from Norman origins or Dutch? That will be the question I hope to be able to answer!!