Working on an ancestry binder for a client, and came across this 1930 census record for Aurora, Illinois... Census taker was Harold Forsyth. Look at the wonderful rows of neat printing! What if all census records looked like this!
I like telling stories - and true stories are the best kind. That's why I like genealogy.
Monday, May 25, 2015
Thank you, Harold!
Working on an ancestry binder for a client, and came across this 1930 census record for Aurora, Illinois... Census taker was Harold Forsyth. Look at the wonderful rows of neat printing! What if all census records looked like this!
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Captain Jack
Recently I found another great story from the vast riches of
my latest client’s family tree. This one
crosses two centuries and four states.
It’s the story of his 5th great grandfather, John “Captain
Jack” Hurst, and his two wives and many children. For the details of this story, I draw from
the work of many researchers before me, who left notes on several trees on
rootsweb.
John Hurst was born in 1732 in Virginia; his father William
had come from England in 1715. He was
married to Lydia Ann Smith around 1760, and they had ten children. (One daughter, Nancy, was most likely an
orphaned niece of Lydia’s whom they adopted.)
But Lydia died in 1786, not long after having her last child. This left John, who by now was a Revolutionary
War veteran and a prosperous landowner in Virginia, a widower at age 54—but not
for long.
John was called “Captain John” or “Captain Jack” during his
lifetime, but this was a nickname. His
rank in the military was Lieutenant, according to what scant records exist, and
that’s what the military grave marker issued in 1955 says (application
pictured). His large family was often
referred to as an “army,” so perhaps that’s where the nickname came from.
Researchers John & Cindy McCachern relate this story
about John’s second marriage:
“John heard of Mary
[Lindsey], a widow in Georgia, and hitched up his 4-horse team and, taking
several of his slaves and provisions for the journey, went to see her. Immediately on his arrival, he proposed and
gave her until the next morning to think about it. Next morning after breakfast he pushed back
[the table] and said (he had a deep commanding voice), “Well, what do you say
about it?” and she said “Yes.” He gave orders to his slaves and promptly loaded
up her household effects and along with her children, took them to his Virginia
home.”
Descendant Benjamin Franklin Hurst gives these details about
their life afterwards:
“John [Jack] Hurst
was raising an army of his own which was destined to fight battles west of the
Cumberland Mountains, as we shall see... He chose his first move to Green
County, Tennessee about 1790 and remained there ten years… He then gathered his large family of sons and
daughters and many grandchildren, and moved north-eastward through Kentucky,
stopping at Beargrass Creek in what is now Bullitt County, Kentucky.
John Hurst, now 71
years of age, marshaled his forces and crossed the Ohio River in 1803. John settled his “army” twenty miles west of
New Albany, Indiana… John Hurst had now
found his Paradise in a new land far from the grand old dominion of his
nativity. He now had all of his family
with him, with the exception of one, son, John, who broke ranks and strayed off
to Kentucky… In 1806 this John Hurst and
his family drifted across the Ohio River and renewed his place in the hitherto
unbroken ranks. It was a second lucky twist of fate that his son William 14,
was not drowned in crossing the Ohio River, or else you would not be reading
this story.”
John and Mary each had around ten children from their first
marriages. But this is one “blended
family” that truly got along! They
stayed together as they moved westward from Virginia, and two of John’s
children from his first marriage ended up marrying two of Mary’s children from
her first marriage. Yes, indeed—two
different pairs of stepsiblings ended up marrying. Elijah Hurst married Mary Lindsey, and Leah
Hurst married Jesse Lindsey. And thus,
Leah and Jesse became my client’s 4th great grandparents.
John became quite the leader in Hursttown, Indiana. According to a history of the area written by
Mrs. Victor MacIntosh, John deeded land for a school house, a Methodist church,
and a cemetery. Other families came and settled near them, and Hursttown
became a community center with a post office, shoe shop, and blacksmith’s shop.
John served as sheriff of Harrison
County from 1812 to 1816. Whitten Chapel,
the church he founded, was the first church built in Jackson Township. One researcher claims that John bought
eighteen quarter sections of land and gave one to each of his eighteen sons and
stepsons, so that they would settle there.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Levi Newton Scott, In War and in Peace
I found another great story on my latest client’s tree… This one concerns one of his 3rd
great grandfathers, Levi Newton Scott.
Levi was born in Tennessee in 1841, fourth son of Anthony
“Hanty” and Lucinda Barnes Scott. (Family
tradition has it that Lucinda was Cherokee Indian, but that remains to be
proven.) He grew up in a large farm
family that moved from Wayne County, Tennessee to Dallas County, Missouri in
1854.
Levi served in the Union forces
during the Civil War (as did his father).
Familysearch.com turned up three different service records for
Levi. The first shows him in Company G
of the Dallas County Regiment of the Missouri Home Guard, where he served from
June to September 1861. The Missouri
History Museum website (www.civilwarmo.org)
tells us this about the Missouri Home Guards:
Created in the
summer of 1861 by General Nathaniel Lyon, the Home Guard were to stay at home and
go into action only to defend their neighborhoods. Around 15,000 Home Guard
were enlisted. They were armed by the Union government but received no
pay unless on active duty. They wore no uniforms, and only 10,000 troops
actually received weapons—the rest used their own. Camp gear and food
were supplied for some when on active duty. Approximately 241 Home Guard
companies were formed, but they were disbanded in late 1861.
By 1862 Levi was married for the first time, to Elizabeth
Ann Box. They had at least three
children in the next six years.
In the meantime, Levi ended up back in the military—pressure
must have been strong for volunteers, even married men. This time, he was in Company M of the 8th
Cavalry Regiment, Missouri State Militia.
The regiment saw action all over Arkansas and Missouri—scouting,
attacking trains, capturing a fort, and other operations. He also spent some time in Company H of the
14th Cavalry Regiment in April 1862 to March 1863. The 1890 veteran’s census tells us that he served three years (1862-65) during the “war
of the rebellion” and that he was injured—but at least he survived. Civilwararchive.com tells us that the 8th
Cavalry Regiment lost 77 enlisted men to war injuries and 131 enlisted men to
disease during the course of the war.
A few years after the war, Elizabeth died at age 25. Levi found himself a widower at age 27 with
three young children—Sarah, Melissa Ann, and Henry. As was often the case in those days, within a
year the young father had found a new mother for his children. His second wife, Mary Catherine Hoover,
helped him raise his three children, and they had two more—James and Cora. By the 1870 census they had settled down to
spend the rest of their lives farming in Dallas County, Missouri.
The Veteran’s Schedule of the 1890 Census lists Levi as
a Civil War veteran with an invalid pension.
His disabilities included catarrh (chronic sinus problems) and “injured
with powder, right leg.” Pension index
cards indicate that he received a pension starting in 1880, and it was
increased in 1912.
Levi and his family must have been proud of his wartime
service to his country; his gravestone proudly displays the details. He died in 1915 at age 74 and was buried at
Reynolds Cemetery, next to his second wife.
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