The Pennsylvania Quaker Split

I did not know this!

I had enjoyed the pilot of the new series, Turn.

I was thinking about it while doing my usual perusal through our various online sites and decided to look up the names of the characters to keep them straight in my head. 

Well! I ended up looking up Anna Strong as the female spy and then ended up in Townsend's  history and some how found a connection to the Pennsylvanian Quakers.

It is noted that during the tension of our nations uprising some of the Quakers began siding with the colonists that felt they had rights to what they had worked for and the stirrings of patriotism along with Thomas Paine's writings caused a split between 'political Quakers' and 'religious Quakers".

Ok, so I've been diverted.

My attention has now been focused on my ancestors.

I could say some Quakers married into my family or my family married Quakers...

Way back in the beginning of my husband and my quest to find the Quaker cemetery and site of the Quaker meeting house built on a piece of ground donated by my ancestor we wondered why the religion was not continued down through the generations.

One of my ancestors felt so deeply about the religion they donated land for a meeting house but the names disappear form the meetings records after so long...

Why? 

I don't know. 

We have fractured off into so many different quests I haven't found all the info in my families history but am documenting as much info as I can. 

I have always loved history and have focused more closely on American history as I've progressed.

With this new info found about the Pennsylvanian Quaker split I have a new bit of insight into why some Quakers diverted to Patriots.

I knew Ben Franklin had started a Militia to protect Philadelphia because the Quakers were pacifists and Philly was a bedazzling jewel ready to be plucked!

 Not to mention I've still not found out why there is a GAR marker in the Quaker cemetery...

History is who we are!
Don't you just love it?

Some One Asked: Why'd You Get Into Genealogy?

Well, for me it was two separate things that got me started. 

First a  binder of papers families had filled out and returned to one of my grandmother's brothers had my great grandparents and three of their children buried in three different cemeteries.

I wanted to find them for my grandmother before she passed away. 

I started checking out the cemeteries when I went by. One in particular had lost it's records to a chapel fire so I had to hoof it all over the cemetery! 

They, of course, were in one of the last sections I could look in and all together. 

I'm not sure if it was this excitement I had at finding them or his finding Find a Grave first but my husband and I started looking for my ancestors at a Quaker cemetery. 

 This quest for my relatives and the ability to fill requests for FAG fueled a common love for genealogy between us. 

I do confess though, I know I was driven by an underlying motive. Years ago my Grandmother had said the girls in our family could be DARS, Daughters of the American Revolution. Both she and my Mom wanted to do the process but never got to it.

I was told it was through a particular person so I began searching for this person only to find, eventually, this was not the correct person but that they had identified him by his given and middle name. I needed to find an ancestor with a different last name. 

Holy cow, there were so many people with this name in my family...and to confuse me more I had two different lines that followed a Robert to James to Finley generational progression that I kept getting confused. 

When you find one wonderful, hard to find answer it always leads to a dozen more questions.

We have been doing our genealogy for years now and know it will never be done...but it sure is fun doing the research and filling in the blanks.

What got you started in genealogy? 

Owning Up To Your Family's Past

Owning Up To Your Family's Past

Being relating in multiple ways.

 My maternal grandmother was always telling me, "...we're related to ..". I wanted to hear it but she usually did so when I was driving and interacting with my car seated  little one in my Grandmother's car car that required more than the usual attention to drive. She and my "Pap" had bought it and even though it was very difficult to steer she was keeping it! It just wasn't conducive to writing it all down. When we were at home we both were usually busy doing other daily things.

Anyway, when I was young I remember my (Great)Aunt Gladys and her husband, Uncle Bill coming to visit.  They were both ministers and missionaries. They were always dressed in their 'Sunday clothes'. 

 Aunt Gladys was my Grandpa, Pap's, sister but their last name was Cochenour. Hmmm that name was from my mother's other side...not my Pap's side. 

I'd walk up to Uncle Bill and start a conversation and tell him we were probably related and he'd shrug it off. It made me feel 'warm and fuzzy' that we could be related by family to Uncle Bill and to Aunt Gladys. 

He may have indicated he 'was not related to his wife, Aunt Gladys' in response  but I know time and time again I would try to explain to him it was on his side not Aunt Gladys' so he wasn't married to his cousin.

He just didn't want to hear it. 

To get to the point Uncle Bill was related to us , he was my third cousin twice removed. To make it even more complex he's related to me again; his grandmother is my first cousin four times removed.  So Uncle Bill was related to me three different ways, through his wife by marriage, his 2nd great grandfather and his grandmother. Whew...

Do you have any multiple relationships in your family? 

The Great Flu Epidemic's Effect on Family Females!.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my Mom and her Mom's family. I knew my grandmother, Gan; as we called her, had been through the Great Flu Epidemic back in 1918.

I, also, knew her Dad, Sidney,  died October 27 of that year.
In researching the Great Flu Epidemic the statistics indicate October 27, 1918 was the day the largest number of people died as a result of the flu epidemic in one day.

In retrospect I always found myself thinking how the death of my great-grandfather effected the women in his life.

I know my great-grandfather's death left a widow (at 38 y.o.) with 11 children, having already lost two of them. She had lost a son, Brynley, in 1907 at the tender age of three and an infant not quite two months old in 1914. 

Sidney Davis family in 1913 at Kennywood Park, Pittsburgh, PA 

Now she was left a widow with a 21 year old WWI soldier son, a 20 year old son, a 17 year old son, a 15 year old son, a 12 year old daughter, a 10 year old daughter, an 8 year old daughter, a 6 year old son, a three year old son, a 22 month old daughter and a 9 day old son.

She had her hands full and she was on her own. Her parents and both sets of grand-parents were deceased. What a struggle her and her children's lives must have been. She was thrust into a life without an income. Her perfectly healthy working husband got the Spanish flu and died! How many of the children that lived through the flu epidemic were sick? Did  she suffer the flu herself? I'm sure some of the children old enough to work helped out financially and the older girls helped with youngest children but I can't fathom how she did it. How many were still in school? How many could actually find employment and help with the finances? There was no pension, no social security benefits for her underage children, how did she make ends meet? I know my Mom always told me she came from strong pioneer stock, maybe that was it. My great-grandmother's family had been here for almost 200 years at the time of the Great Flu Epidemic.

Sidney's mom, Mary, had just lost her husband of 49 years, William, 9 months ago. Mary, still grieving her husbands loss, loses  her 44 year old son, with 11 children.  She was dealt another blow by her first son's death at 49 years seventeen days later on November 13, 1918. At the age of  70 years she was living under the roof of two of her coal miner sons, a pregnant daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Mary will go on to lose a 39 year old daughter, Ida, with  in a year. Ida leaving  3 of her children, girls  ages 12 years to  17 years old motherless and fatherless and her three children from her second marriage with out a mom. (The oldest being 6 years of age and the youngest being 17 months old.) Did the three older girls live with their step dad and their 3 other siblings and help raise them after Mom died? (I know Ida was a milliner and a seamstress so with her death they had less income. )

The oldest girl became a nurse and I don't know if she ever married. The 5 year old was hit by a train at 10 years of age and died. The rest of the kids went on to marry and have their own families.

That brings up the sisters of Sidney: Edith and Ida lost their dear brother. (Ida dies in October 3, 1919)

Next comes the daughters: Margaret, Kathryn, Neva and Marie lost their Dad. How emotionally and financially devistating would that be? They had been the first in their town to have a telephone in their home, now luxuries like that would be unattainable. 

None of the children were married yet so when the widow became a grandmother the grandchildren knew no grandfather.

 Back in 1918 life was hard. In looking at census records you can see a definative pattern of babies showing up on the scene within a year or two of marraige and then about every two years.

Yes, many didn't make it to adulthood but that the doesn't belittle the loss. Losing a viable productive husband with 11 children ages 9 days to 21 years of age had to be mind numbing, but 'pick yourself up and get on with it' would be the only choice the working class family had back then...

I

honor all those who did so.

Thank you for reading our story. Feel free to add anything or ask anything.

Surname Saturday: "Indian Captures and Murders" was the title!

Indian Captures and Murders Western Pennsylvania Frontier

Insomnia and the love of history and genealogy drives my husband to do online research late into the night. When he finds something really exciting he actually wakes me to tell me! I'm usually equally as excited with his finds and this one really sticks with me.

Let me first say that all my life I've wanted to move to the Ligonier, Pennsylvania area. Why? I just felt drawn to it. Pennsylvania is the Keystone State. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is where Ben Franklin lived and where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Here in PA the Founding Fathers made the decisions to move to independence.
Many early settlers were Quakers that came here to Pennsylvania to seek two things they could not achieve in Europe;  religious freedom and land that would be theirs. In our search for our ancestors we have found many of mine were in fact Quakers. Ligonier was the first Fort  west of the Allegheny mountains on the way to Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh, PA. It was the gateway west for "pioneers" over those hard to cross mountains. For more info on Fort Ligonier see: http://fortligonier.org/

To get back to the Indian captures and murders: Nick, my husband, came upstairs with startling news one night about one of my ancestors we knew about but never heard this exact story before.

It appears as though my fifth great grandfather, James Means had come to Fort Ligonier with his family in 1777 to seek protection from the Indian allies of the British. He would have been about 12 years old. We knew he had a sister that was killed by the Indians but not any details.

This new info gave us stark details.

Four children, two were children of Robert Reed and two were children of Robert and Elizabeth Means. James and Rebecca Means along with Martha Ann and George Reed were headed out to pick berries in a clearing near the fort during the summer of 1778.

The story goes: "On their way and just as they ascended the hill on the other side of the Loyalhanna, the young men, who were walking ahead, met Major William McDowell, who was on horseback, coming toward the fort. At that instant, the whole party was fired upon by Indians lying behind a log. Young Reed fell dead, and McDowell's rifle was splintered by a bullet which glanced and wounded him in the hand. Young Means ran back to protect the girls, who had started to run to the fort. He was captured. The Indians soon caught Miss Means and tomahawked her; but Miss Reed succeeded in outdistancing her pursuers as she fled toward the fort."
"The garrison hearing the firing,a relief party"..."met Miss Reed a short distance from the fort," ..."conducted her to safety while the others proceeded to the scene of the firing, where they found the lifeless bodies of Reed and Miss Means."*
"Three years later young Means returned from his captivity and reported that the warrior who had chased Miss Reed was renowned as an athlete among the Indians, but had lost his prestige on account of his failure to catch the "white squaw".
James Means went on to marry my fifth great grandmother Rebecca McGrew a Quaker that was known for breaking Quaker rules by dancing! They went on to have 16 children!
What a happy ending!
Now I know my connection with Ligonier may have something to do with my ancestry!

Thank you for sharing your time with us.

If you would like more info on this area and Indian situation check out our blog on Col. Pomerroy who was the commander of Fort Ligonier at the time of my anscestors plight!

http://restinginwestmoreland.blogspot.com/2011/07/lt-col-pomeroy-more-info-on.html

http://fortligonier.org/

*"Pennsylvania In The Revolution, Fort Ligonier and It's Times. by C. Hale Sipe, Telegraph Press, Harrisburg, PA., 1932. 

Tombstone Tuesday:

Walking through Saint Vincent's Cemetery looking for monuments to fulfill photo requests we came upon this stone. No other stones close and no clue as to where J. F & E. F. BRIDGE are buried is seen.

Now I can hardly image having 12 children let alone losing 12 children. 

J.F. & E. F. BRIDGE lost just that many in a span of 28 years.

The deaths of these children started in 1862 with a one year old child dying. In 1865 two children, a 9 and a 7 year old were gone. A 19 year gap is broken by the 1884 deaths of four children. Four children in one year. They were a 7 year old, an 8 year old, a 9 year old and a 10 year old.  I checked for epidemics in the 1800's none are listed for 1884 all though TB, Malaria or Scarlet fever could happen at any time none were listed as significant that year.

By now the Bridges had lost 6 children between 10 and 1 year(s) of age at the time of their deaths.

A reprieve for 6 years allowed the rest of the family to continue to age.

But then came 1890 and the death of 5 more of the children.

An 8, a 10, a 12 a 19 and a 20 year old all died in 1890. 

Can you even imagine going through that after a gap of 6 years to recover from the loss of the last 4 deaths?

There was a flu epidemic in 1889 and one of Diphtheria in 1890 that continued through until 1895. Typhoid Fever was a problem in these years, also.

The couple continued to have new births through out this time with the last birth of the expired children in 1882.

How many children did this family have? Did any make it through adulthood to have their own families?

One of my ancestors had 16 children and 1 died in infancy, two I don't know their death dates yet. Another ancestor had 14 children and 3 died before adulthood. In all my genealogical research I've never seen this many from one immediate family.  I do know there is a story that my family had a history of herbalists to treat patients and mid wife. The chemicals/medications we currently used had their start from natural items.

We know childhood diseases were more prevalent before chemotherapeutic treatments were discovered and used. Penicillin was first used in 1942 for soldiers.No matter the problems and controversies over immunizations they have decreased childhood deaths significantly.

I understand families lost babies and it was an expected loss but I can't fathom the devastation of  losing 12 children.

Please, comment if you know of other diseases of these years. I'd like to know more!

Thanks for reading our post.

Have a good healthy day!

Military Monday: Jacob R.Zuck

Jacob R. Zuck  1843-1915

"Jacob R. Zuck was a leading book and stationer of Mt.Pleasant and one who fought under the "Stars and Stripes" in the dark days of the rebellion. Jacob was born in Mt.Pleasant, Westmoreland County, Pa., Christmas 1843 and is a son of Samuel and Susan (Keister) Zuck."

At eighteen years of age he left the schoolroom for the tented field, having enlisted Oct. 5, 1861 in Co. B.28th Regt. Pa. Vol. He served in the army of northern Virginia and was later transfered to the army of the Potomac. Jacob was severely wounded at the battle of Antietam and honorably discharged Jan. 1863 on account of disability.

"On May 1, 1867, he was united in marriage to Emma Smitley and to their union have born two sons: Edwin born March 8, 1871, and Orray, born july 29, 1875."

In 1871 he became a member of the National Guards of Pennsylvania and was elected captain of the Mt.Pleasant rifles or Independent  company, seventeenth division. He was a member of  Robert Worden Post, No. 163, Grand Army of the Republic and was its commander in 1888.

Jacob is buried in Mt.Pleasant Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, Pa.

Sources: Biographical And Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania. Printed 1890

Bates, Samuel P. History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, Harrisburg, 1868-1871

Tombstone Tuesday: George Rinsel

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In memory of 

George Rinsel

Died

March 6, 1845 in 

the 54th year of his life

It took over 165 years for Georges stone to deteriorate but thanks to digital photographs he may be remembered for much longer.

George Rinsel is buried in St. Vincents Cemetery, Latrobe Pa.

Matrilineal line

In response to Randy at Genea-musing my mother's line:
(My mitocondrial DNA line:)
1) Neva Waltonbaugh 1929
2) Neva Davis (Davies) 1909
3) Neva Cochenour 1880
4) Catherine Frew 1862
5) Eliza Duff (McElduff) 1831-34? *(see our RIP blog on finally finding her headstone!)
6) Margaret Myers ?
And here this line ends.
It is a different perspective doing it this way.
I have not had a DNA test done but plan to do so.
(Hint: we found many of my female ancestors looking for and finding the males.)
On my mom's side many lines go back to the 1600's 'domestically'!
We're working on finding and verifying.
Right now we're concentrating on verifying back to Revolutionary War Patriots.
Thanks for the challenge though, it opened up my genealogy in a different light and , also, renewed my desire to find Margaret Myers and verify her and find her family history.
JLK/NK56

Doing the 'Happy Dance'

We kept hitting a brick wall on my husband's fathers side of the family. Even with the internet and all the sites for family trees and document sites we just couldn't find his Dad's family to verify or disprove all the 'word of mouth' info we had..
His grandmother had several children with different 'husbands'. We found info on her family because she came from a large prominent family but her relationship with my husband's grandfather was not verified. We had documents of two of her children that noted him as the father using his last name but couldn't find him anywhere.
Rumor was he was 'from' Canada. Another barrier.
Finally we had a chance to travel near the area a marriage between them may be documented. We found a place to park very close to the courthouse, everyone was open and friendly to us. The registrars office was homey and welcome. Most of the computers were being used. Just a very good experience compared to others we've had.
Then we found his grandmother's name and started pulling up the documents. Whoa! We found a marriage application and marriage between his grand parents. So it did happen! We almost did the 'Genealogy Happy Dance' right there in that office.
We had heard vague good and bad things about his Dad's family. But now we know it wasn't because of an illegitimacy stigma.
When we got started looking at the application document we were in shock. Not only had they applied but the names of his grandfathers parents, their birthplace and that they were deceased at the time were noted. His grandfathers place of residence and his occupation were marked. Were these items fact? We would have to verify.
There were multiple 'eye openers' in the first few lines. The document was filled in by hand and being a copy was in places hard to decipher. They did not give access to the originals so we had to rely on the computer copies and the enlargement on screen.
Immediately we noted that three things on the left side of the document , the male applicant's side,  were not at all what we had heard. The surnames were not what we expected. His grandfather's name was either misunderstood by the person doing the documentation or just not what we had been told for years. Did his grandfather have an accent or was not fluent in English? Maybe French Canadian? Then in scrolling down we found my husband's surname was listed as his great-grandmother's maiden name. We were told at one time his father had a falling out with his dad and changed the spelling of his last name. The problem being the grandfather's name on the document is the last half of his mother's maiden name, the confusion gets more complicated and our happy dance moment is a whole new set of info to search for and verify.

My husband's surname is Kayhart. We were told his grandfathers name was Earl Kahart and that Earl's son added a y to his surname. What we think is  found is Earl K. Hart on this document.  J.K. Hart listed as Earl's father and possibly Mollie or Millie Kayhart on the mother site. Earl's place of birth is hard to read. But looking at the father's place of birth it  looks similar to it and more like Ontario!?  But are those words after each of these places  shorthand for Canada? The only possible C on the document to compare it to is on the females Dad's occupation. It  appears as though he was a carpenter. And what was Earl's occupation? Only more mysteries to unravel.

        What does it look like to you? 

Lt. Col. Pomeroy, more info on a revolutionary patriot!

When we first saw the Lt. Colonel's gravestone we smiled and chuckled at the 'Indian killer' reference.  But having lived here in one of the first thriving states in the colonies and being hungry for that time period's history we know a little bit about this areas 'indian' attacks.

To give you a quick overview... first of all most of the people that came to the Quaker State (PA) came for the religious freedom and the ability to make it on their own and possibly own land. As Philadelphia grew and more people moved west the exposure to the native American nomads grew.
Understanding that this is a broad overview here it is: Most natives viewed this great, vast land as a gift of abundance to be utilized and taken care of for all people. They fought with other native tribes to retain the ability to utilize this mother earth. So there was violence among the natives long before the white man came.
During the French and Indian War and following through the Revolutionary War, many of the Indian raids that killed settlers were brought about by the instigation and collaboration of the French or British commanders.
The attack on the Westmoreland Co. seat of Hannah's town July 13, 1782 was just that. Working with the British, about 60 Canadian Rangers and  100 Seneca Indians fighting; under Guyasuta, attacked the small fort during the Revolutionary War. A young girl died trying to protect a child. (to see more about the death of Margaret, Peggy, Shaw and the Hannah's town raid see "Hannah's Town" a book  by local historians Helen Smith and George Swetnam, written in 1973 during Hannastown excavation. "ISBN 0-913228-06-0".) This was part of a multi-day raid on this area. Most attacks occurred during the summer because of the harsh winters and tracks in the snow led to the culprits. See, also,   http://www.starofthewest.org/hannastown/index.cfm

At that time settlers carried rifles to work their fields and always feared attack from the stealth natives. The Revolutionary War was fought on all fronts including in the backyards of the settlers, who were defending their family(s). Every few miles a family would be the voluntary "block parents" or block house, a safe haven during raids. My ancestors being inhabitants of this area had one such block house not far from where I've lived most of my life.

Pomeroy was one of the magistrates of Westmoreland Co. and  established the county seat at "Newtown", now Greensburg, PA.

His older brother, Thomas Pomeroy is said to have been the first white child born in Lancaster Co, a county between Philly and the Westmoreland co. area . Thomas left early July 21, 1763, to hunt for food for his wife and two children only to return to find a band of Indians had killed and scalped his wife and children. A women named Mrs. Johnson survived the attack. She "had an broken arm, her skull fractured and the scalp torn off her head." From History of the Cumberland County, Counties of Franklin and Cumberland Co.

So one can understand why after surviving the French and Indian War and having been commander of Fort Ligonier in 1777 ( taken from the French in the war)   he could have become "popularly known as the Indian killer". As commander he may have been labeled for actions at that time.

Fort Ligonier on Forbe's Trail, was the only major fort  on the way to Fort Pitt. (Fort Pitt was, also, originally French and known as Fort Duquesne.) Pitt gave  access to the very important Ohio river and thus access north to Canada and south to the mouth of the Mississippi.) Lewis and Clark had a their keel-boat built here before their trip west and of course George Washington was frequently in the area.
 Ligonier was just west of the difficult to navigate Allegheny Mountains at the gateway to the rolling hills of southwestern PA and in the area of many killings of settlers. To go west settlers had to pass through this  glacial gorge so it was the hub of much activity.

People didn't have the communications we have today so many of the natives and settlers only understood that the others had to be 'stopped'. This was self preservation on all sides.

All this history found from researching the inscription on an interesting grave marker.

Other sources: Old Westmoreland, the History of Western Pennsylvania during the Revolution. by Edgar W. Hassler. Fort Ligonier Museum site.   http://fortligonier.org/
 

Corp. Harry Furry

This marker evoked so many questions, I kept going back to it. John and Catherine Furry had a son and named him Harry. He died at 22 years of age. He attained the rank of Corp. in WWI and most likely died because of his service. Such a sad and short story.

On the lighter side did his superiors and his fellow soldiers, as well as, his subordinates have a field day with  his oxymoron of a name? I many times come upon a marker and see a name that causes me to wonder... the new Mom is handed her beautiful bundle of joy and decides to name this sweet, tiny bundle... WHAT? Harry Furry!
Did this name make him stronger, like in the Johnny Cash song "a boy named Sue"? Or...?
Both my spouse and I have histories of being teased because of our last names so the question comes through our experiences. Just reliving these feelings, we wonder what Corp. Harry Furry endured because of his parents choice of his given name.

We can all recall someone with an unusual name. My husband went to school with a girl named Holly Wood,. I was in class with a Candy Cane. Now do I have you thinking about his name?