Tag: Paternal Line

One of the most common difficulties in researching your family is the common, repetitive use of given names in families. This can not only make it difficult to correctly identify men of the same name and generation, but also to distinguish between father and son.

I’ve run into that situation in my Landis family. Molly Landis was the daughter of Henry Landis and Catharine Baum. According to my Reunion file, Henry was the son of Henry Landis Sr. and Catharine Baum.

At best this would be unusual. It strikes me as suspicious for two reasons: one, I have absolutely no idea where I got this information. None at all. And, two, I’ve repeatedly seen information for Henry Landis Sr. and Henry Landis Jr. conflated into one person.

Henry Landis Jr. was born 10 May 1764 in Lancaster County.¹ He died 27 March 1824 in Swatara Township, Dauphin County.² He wrote his last will and testament on 23 October 1823 and added a codicil on 1 March 1824.³ It was recorded on 14 April 1824. In it he mentions his children, but no wife, meaning she predeceased him. His children included: Jacob, Barbara wife of John Walter, Molly wife of George Hocker, Henry, John, Elizabeth, Adam, Samuel, Sarah Ann, and Joseph. According to Henry’s 1824 codicil, Sarah Ann and Joseph were to be supported out of the funds from the estate until they reach the age of 15 years-old.⁴

Prior to his death, Henry had stated in a 29 June 1821 Orphan’s Court record that his wife Catharine, a daughter of Barbara Baum of Lancaster County, died before her mother, leaving several children under the age of 14.⁵ He asked to be appointed as their guardian. They were Henry, John, Adam, Samuel, and Elizabeth.

On 26 April 1785, Henry Landis of Derry Township wrote his last will and testament, naming his wife Anna, and his sons Felix and Henry, and brother John.⁶ On 4 October 1791, John Kaufman and Abraham Derr were appointed guardians for Elizabeth, Ann, and Jacob Landis, “children of Henry Landis deceased during their minority’s the said children being severally under the age of fourteen years.”⁷ Henry’s son John Landis, being over 14 years, chose John Kaufman as his guardian.⁸

His widow Anna wrote her last will and testament on 25 September 1807 and it was proven on 30 March 1818.⁹ She named her husband Henry Landis and children Elizabeth Reesor, Anne, Christopher (aka Stophel), Peter, and John.

There are several facts that I can deduce from these documents.

1. Molly’s father Henry Landis died in 1824.
2. Molly’s mother Catharine Baum died before 1821.
3. Henry Landis Jr. had children who were born after Catharine Baum died—Sarah Ann and Joseph.¹⁰
4. Henry Landis Jr.’s second wife died before 23 October 1823 as she is not mentioned in his will.
5. Henry’s father Henry Landis died in 1785.
6. Henry Sr. was married to Anna when he died.
7. Henry Sr.’s two eldest sons were Henry and Felix.
8. Anna named her children as being: Elizabeth, Anne, Christopher, Peter, and John.
9. Henry Sr.’s youngest children—minors when he died—were John, Elizabeth, Anne and Jacob.

Based on these documents it is not possible to determine if Henry Jr.’s mother could have been a woman named Catharine Baum. Anna did not name Felix or Henry in her will, so they could have been born to an unknown first wife. They were the only living children not named in Anna’s will.

I have not found documentation to show that Henry Sr. had a wife prior to Anna. I have not found a marriage record and/or date for his marriage to Anna that would show whether or not she married him prior to Felix or Henry Jr.’s births. At this point I have no way of knowing whether or not Anna was Henry Jr.’s mother.

Can DNA Help?

Could my AncestryDNA matches shed some light on this question?

I have several matches to known children of Henry Landis Sr. and Anna Poorman (aka Böhrman). Presumably, this could be through DNA that we’ve inherited from Henry. Or it could be DNA inherited from Anna, since I also have a number of matches with no known recent common ancestor, whose ancestral surnames include Poorman. Or it could be from both of them. Triangulation of the segments with Landis or Poorman matches from outside this specific family would be the only way to determine where the matching DNA came from.

I also have a match who is descended from Johann Georg Böhrman. Anna (Poorman) Landis was George’s granddaughter. The match is through one of Anna’s uncles. Assuming that Henry Jr. is the son of Anna, that would make us seventh cousins twice removed.

However, just when I started to get excited, I saw that Ancestry predicts our possible relationship to be fourth-to-sixth cousins. We share 24.3 centimorgans of DNA on two segments. That’s about three times the average amount for seventh cousins. Furthermore, our shared matches do not include any of the other Henry Landis Sr. descendants. So, most likely our shared DNA is not from the Böhrman/Poorman line.¹¹

Conclusions

I’m inclined to believe that I made an error in entering Catharine Baum as Henry Jr.’s mother. Outside of Anna’s will, I’ve found no reason to believe that Henry Sr. had more than one wife in the documentary record. There is no break in the children’s birth years that would indicate a death and remarriage. Anna’s birth in 1745 would make her only 15 years-old in 1760 when Felix was reportedly born, but  either of those dates could be incorrect.

So, based on these assumptions (until proven otherwise), I have the following:

Henry and Anna (Poorman) Landis had the following children:

1. Felix Landis (1760–bef 30 Apr 1810), married Christina (___)
2. Henry Landis (10 May 1764–27 Mar 1824), married Catharina Baum:
   1. Barbara Landis (1796–ca 1824) married John Walter (1792–1854)
   2. Jacob F. Landis (1797–1863) married Hanna Emma Fishburn (1798-1838)
   3. Mary Magdalena “Molly” Landis (1800–1825) married George Hocker (1794–1873)
   4. Rev. Henry Landis (1804–1875) married Christina Hocker (1808–1865)
   5. John B. Landis (1805–1857)
   6. Elizabeth Landis (1807–aft Mar 1824)
   7. Adam Landis (1808–aft 1821)
   8. Samuel Landis (20 May 1810–aft 1821)

   Henry Landis married Unknown:

   1. Sarah Ann Landis (1812–?)
   2. Joseph Landis (ca 1809-1814–?)
3. Anna Landis (30 Jun 1767–8 Jul 1767)
4. Christopher Landis (27 Aug 1770–13 Jul 1830)
5. Peter Landis (ca 1773–?) married Eva Lauman
6. John B. Landis (7 Aug 1775–bef Sep 1829) married Elizabeth Rutt (bef 1785–1823-29)
7. Anna B. Landis (aft 4 Oct 1777-23 May 1818) married John Reesor
8. Elizabeth Landis (1778-1846) married Christian Reesor
9. Jacob B. Landis (9 Apr 1781-3 Feb 1806)

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my sixteenth 52 Ancestors post.

William Bonnington, my four times great grandfather, was born about 1816 most likely in Bowden, Roxburghshire, Scotland.¹ He was the son of Robert and Agnes (Inglis) Bonnington.² He died 11 June 1885 in his brother’s house in Bowden.³

About 1838, he married Margaret Purves⁴ (or Fairborn).⁵ She was born about 1821 and died between 1844 and 1847. William married for the second time on 9 July 1847 in Melrose, Scotland to Mary Reavely.⁶ She was born about 1825 in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, daughter of Mark and Margareth (Paterson) Reavely, and died 21 April 1855 in Newington and Grange, Edinburgh.⁷ After her death, William married for the third time to Elizabeth Thomson on 16 June 1857 in St. Boswell’s Parish, Roxburghshire.⁸ Elizabeth was born about 1803, daughter of James and Janet (Goodfellow) Thomson, and died 15 November 1880 in the district of Bathgate.⁹

William worked as a joiner, a carpenter, and apparently moved with his work. In 1841, he can be found in the census for Galashiels, Selkirkshire.¹⁰ By 1851, he and family were in Ladhope, Melrose, Roxburghshire.¹¹ Ten years later, the family was in Colinton, Edinburgh, Midlothian.¹² He and third wife Elizabeth, as well as his daughter Isabella, were in Ilkley, Yorkshire, England in 1871.¹³ By 1881, William was living alone with a domestic in Bathgate, Linlithgow.¹⁴

William and Margaret (Purves) Bonnington had children:

1. Anne Bonnington was born 5 May 1839 in Galashiels and likely died before 1851.
2. Robert Bonnington was born 30 May 1841 in Galashiels and may have died prior to 1851.
3. Peter Purvis Bonnington was born about 1844 and died 16 September 1891 of Phthisis Pulmonalis, a.k.a. Tuberculosis, in Lasswade Parish, Edinburgh. He married Elizabeth Buchanan on 17 June 1864 in Colinton.

William and Mary (Reavely) Bonnington had children:

4. Margaret Bonnington was born about 1849 in Galashiels and died of Typhoid Fever on 23 December 1883 in Selkirk, Selkirkshire. She was a lady’s maid.
5. Agnes Bonnington was born about 1850 in Galashiels and died sometime before 1855.
6. Isabella Bonnington was born 16 February 1855 in Edinburgh, Midlothian. She was living with her father and step-mother in Ilkley in 1871, but no more is known about her after that time.

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my thirteenth 52 Ancestors post, and a make-up post for week twelve.

James Smith, my three times great grandfather, was born about 1812 in Whitburn, Linlithgow, Scotland¹ to Thomas and Agnes (Nimmo) Smith and died on 8 February 1856 at age 44 in Whitburn.² He was an “engineer,” a.k.a. engine worker, who worked in the coal mines.

On 25 December 1840, he married Isabella Aitken, daughter of William Aitken and Marion Brown of Lanark, Scotland.³ Isabella was born 27 February 1816 in Carnwath⁴ and died 1 December 1856 in Whitburn.⁵ Both she and James were buried in the Whitburn church yard.

On Sunday, 6 June 1841, the couple was living with Isabella’s parents at Auchengray in Carnwath parish.⁶ William and his son John were wrights, son-in-law George Tweedie a laborer, and son-in-law William Smith an ironstone miner.

By 30 March 1851, James and Isabella and their children were living at Crossroads in the parish of Whitburn in Linlithgow.⁷ They had apparently moved there by 1844 as all their childrens’ birthplaces are listed as Whitburn.

1856 was a terrible year for Thomas, Marion and William Smith, James and Isabella’s three children. After the death of their parents in February and December, they likely went to live with James’ brother and sister: William and Margaret. Marion died 11 May 1857⁸ of hydrocephalus, likely acquired hydrocephalus caused by an injury, infection or tumor. Thomas and William can be found in Uncle William’s household in Whitburn in 1861.⁹

Thomas remained in Fauldhouse until his death in 1909. William became a ship’s engineer and travelled abroad, eventually marrying in Edinburgh and emigrating to the United States. He filed an intention to become a naturalized American citizen on 20 September 1886 in Berks County and became a citizen on 12 January 1893 at Harrisburg.¹⁰

James and Isabella (Aitken) Smith had children:

1.  Thomas Smith was born circa 1844 and 9 May 1909, Fauldhouse, Greenburn, Whitburn parish. He married married Jane Bryce.
2. Marion Smith was born circa 1846 and died 11 May 1857, Greenburn, Whitburn parish.
3. William Smith (25 Sep 1851—23 Feb 1905, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), married Eliza Craig Bennington, 12 December 1882, Uphill parish, Linlithgow

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my twelfth 52 Ancestors post, and a make-up post for week eleven.

My 3x great grandfather Jefferson Force’s ancestry remains a mystery. He was born 9 December 1833 in Centre County, Pennsylvania and died 20 October 1910 in Pine Glen.¹ He married Susan L. Mulhollan, daughter of John and Emily (Boileau) Mulhollan, on 22 March 1857.² His obituary reads:

“Died at his home in Pine Glen on Thursday, October 20th, Jefferson Force, a well known and respected citizen of that place, aged 76 years, 10 months and 11 days. During the Civil War, he was drafted in 1864 and received an honorable discharge in 1865. He was married to Susan Mulholland in 1857, with whom he spent a long and happy life. Mr Force was a charter member of Messiah Church, of that place and always remained steadfast to the church of his choice and served its teachings. He leaves a large circle of friends to mourn his loss. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. E.A. Meredith.”³

He enlisted in the Civil War on 20 December 1864 and mustered out 17 July 1865 at Alexandria, Virginia. He served in Company E of the 45th Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers, 1st Brigade, 1st Division.⁴ During this period the regiment was involved in the advance on Richmond, Virginia, the Battle of Cold Harbor, the siege of Petersburg, the Battle of Chaffin’s farm, and the Appomattox campaign.⁵ Jefferson apparently was not wounded during the war, or at least not enough to impact his health.⁶

After the war, Jefferson lived and worked in Pine Glen, Centre County, Pennsylvania, as a house plasterer and farmer.⁷ Between 1857 and 1884, Jefferson and Susan had 14 children, five of whom died before 1900—nine daughters and five sons.

It’s been suggested to me that Jefferson was the son of Isaac and Polly (___) Force, who both died in the 1840s based on a Bible owned by Mrs. Agnes E. Shope. I have yet to find evidence to prove this supposition. A number of young Force children—including Martin and Agnes—can be found in a variety of non-Force-led households in the 1850 census enumeration for Centre County, indicating that they were most likely orphaned.

Agnes was born 8 April 1839 and may have been Jefferson’s sister. She named two of her sons Jefferson T. Shope and Martin V. Shope—both names of Centre County Force men. Jefferson also named a daughter Agnes E., perhaps after Mrs. Shope. She lived in Milesburg, Centre County and died in 1922. Martin V. Force (12 Dec 1835-28 May 1902) lived in Pine Glen and was Jefferson’s neighbor.

Jefferson and Susan (Mulhollan) Force had the following children:

1. Wilhelmina Susan Force (29 Oct 1857-5 Nov 1921), married Robert Askey
2. Catharine E. Force (13 Sep 1859-9 Mar 1899), married Albert Gilmore
3. Hannah M. Force (1 Sep 1861-1 May 1938), married Johnson Watson
4. Agnes E. Force (1 Aug 1863-16 Jul 1936), married John Thomas Fye
5. Carrie Amanda Force (23 Aug 1865-3 May 1932), married William Henry Meeker
6. Martin Luther Force (6 Feb 1868-23 May 1945), married Delilah N. Hamilton
7. John C. Force (16 Jan 1870-27 Aug 1890)
8. Lovina Caroline Force (28 Jan 1872-28 Oct 1964), married George W. Youdeshell
9. Mary Alice Force (28 Jun 1873-12 Oct 1913), married Richard Whiles
10. Martha Ellen Force (9 May 1875-10 Aug 1934), married Jacob Whiles, Wilson R. Smeal
11. Lucy Malinda Force (26 Sep 1876-Mar 1960), married William Emetic, John G. Kein/King
12. George W. Force (6 Jan 1878-10 Jan 1878)
13. William E. Force (14 Sep 1883-9 Oct 1883)
14. Albert M. Force (4 Sep 1884-5 Sep 1884)

Jefferson and Susan are my 3x great grandparents.

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my eleventh 52 Ancestors post, and a make-up post for week ten.

I’ve written extensively about my ancestor Christian Hoover and the search for his family. Now that I’ve got another piece of evidence that his parents were Philip Hoover and Hannah Thomas, I thought I’d write about them.

Philip Hoover was born about 1802, most likely on his father’s property on Plum Creek in Armstrong County.¹  He was the third son and fourth child of Christian and Barbara (Harmon) Hoover. He died in May 1882 in Burlingame Township, Osage County, Kansas.²

1820 Survey for Plum Creek Township land

About 1820, Philip married Hannah Thomas, daughter of John and Margaretta (Mackin) Thomas. She was born 14 July 1802 in Armstrong County and died 16 August 1880 in Burlingame Township.³  Hannah’s sister Sarah had married Samuel Hoover, Philip’s eldest brother, several years earlier. They lived in Plum Creek Township where Philip was a farmer.

On 21 August 1820, Philip had 73 acres surveyed.⁴ The survey was returned 28 June 1825. Philip sold this land on 3 February 1826.⁵ When his father died in 1850, Philip received land from his estate. He sold this land in a series of transactions in January 1876 and April 1877 before he and his wife headed west with his son Jacob and his family. Philip and Hannah both died in Burlingame several years later. Jacob and his family continued moving west, finally settling in Grays Harbor County in Washington by 1889.⁶

Philip Hoover 1850 census household

Based on census records, Philip and Hannah (Thomas) Hoover had children, born in Armstrong County:

1. Christopher Hoover was born circa 1821 and died 1 October 1887, Covington Township, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. He married Caroline Kinnard, also of Armstrong County. She was born about 1830 and died 11 February 1877 in Covington Township.
2. Mary Ann Hoover was born 22 Nov 1825. She may have married a Fisher.
3. John Thomas Hoover was born 4 November 1827.
4. Margaret Hoover was born 1831. She married Stewart Davis Pitt.
5. Barbara Hoover was born 1833. She may have married a Gibson.
6. William Hoover was born 1835.
7. Jacob Hoover was born 8 February 1846 and died 14 September 1909 in Aberdeen, Grays Harbor County, Washington. He married Julia Ann Rupert in Pennsylvania.
8. Ralston Hoover was born 1839 and died 13 June 1862 at Baltimore Cross Roads in Virginia as a result of injuries sustained during fighting in battle during the Civil War.
9. Sarah Hoover was born 1842 and died 1917. She married Henry Blystone on 28 March 1860.
10. Samuel M. Hoover was born 1845.

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my ninth 52 Ancestors post, part of week eight.

According to William Wingeard’s A German-American Hacker-Hocker Genealogy, Elizabeth Walter, second wife of Michael Frantz Jr. and mother of my ancestor Anna (Frantz) Hocker, was the daughter of Jacob Walter and Anna Stauffer.¹ She was born 20 October 1800, probably in Rapho Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.²

I’ve been working on Jacob and Anna, trying to identify their family, but I haven’t gotten too far. Jacob and Nancy (as she was called) were living with their daughter and son-in-law in Upper Swatara Township in 1840.³ Jacob died there on 23 September 1840.⁴ Nancy died 5 March 1845.⁵ They were both buried in the Frantz/Hagy family cemetery.

Looking back through census records, Jacob and family were enumerated in Upper Swatara in 1840 and 1830⁶, Swatara Township in 1820⁷ and 1810⁸, and Rapho Township, Lancaster County in 1800.⁹ Assuming all the children in their household in these records were theirs, their family included:

• Jacob Walter, born 1760-1770
• Anna (Stauffer?) Walter, born 1770-1780
• Male Walter, born 1790-1794
• Female Walter, born 1790-1794
• Male Walter, born 1794-1800 [Christian?]
• Male Walter, born 1794-1800 [John?]
• Female Walter, born 1795-1800
• Elizabeth Walter, born 2 Oct 1800
• Male Walter, born 1800-1810
• Male Walter, born 1804-1810
• Female Walter, born 1804-1810
• Female Walter, born 1804-1810
• Female Walter, born 1810-1815
• Female Walter, born 1810-1815

Jacob and Anna received a marriage license from Lancaster County 18 April 1795.¹⁰ In the 1800 census, they had 3 boys and 2 girls under 10 in their household. Daughter Elizabeth wasn’t born until October, so she is not included in these five children.

In 1810, they had five males—1 male (1784-1794), 2 males (1794-1800), and 2 males (1800-1810)—and four females—1 female (1784-1794) and 3 females (1800-1810). By 1820, there were two younger males—one born 1794-1804 and the second born 1804-1810—and four females—two born 1794-1804 and two born 1810-1820.

So, either not all the children survived or they were not living at home in every census. It’s also possible that Ann was Jacob’s second wife. Several of the household members consistently show birth years prior to 1795 when Jacob and Anna married.

Jacob purchased 129 acres in Rapho Township from James Mayes (aka “Mease”) on 27 February 1790.¹¹ He sold three acres of this land 20 March 1795 to Jacob Otto.¹² He sold the rest of the land to Peter Lindemuth on 27 March 1800.¹³

He purchased 58 acres in Mount Joy and Donegal townships from Christian Bare on 2 May 1801.¹⁴ This land adjoined land of John Stauffer, deceased. He sold it on 17 April 1807 to Jacob Rohrer.¹⁵

Jacob patented 290 acres of land in Swatara Township on 31 December 1813. He sold 42 acres to Jacob Steigelman on 6 April 1815.¹⁶ He sold another nine acres to William Rutherford 22 May 1822,¹⁷ 20 acres to Daniel Page 2 April 1835,¹⁸ and 103 acres to Jacob Shuh on 2 April 1839.¹⁹ By my calculations, there are about 120 acres for which I need to account.

I have found no estate records for Jacob in either Dauphin or Lancaster County. If he still owned land at the time of his death, then there should have been a probate record dealing with the dispersing of the property to his heirs. It’s likely he sold the land prior to his death and the pertinent deeds were not recorded at the county Recorder of Deeds office.

I believe Jacob might have been the son of Jacob Walther of Rapho Township who wrote his last will and testament on 26 January 1789, naming his children: Andrew, Margaret, Magdalena, Peter, Baltzer, Barbara, Jacob, and Dorothea. I need to request this will from the Lancaster County archives as it is not available on FamilySearch.

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my sixth 52 Ancestors post, part of week five.