If you go to this web site you can read a letter from Mrs. Mary Emma Hughes of Medicine Lodge, KS to her mother, Mrs. Harriet Alice Strayer of Davenport, IA. The letter is dated 4-May-1884.
Mary Emma (STRAYER) HUGHES was one of the aunts of my maternal grandmother, Esther (JOHNSON) OGDEN. Harriet Alice (HOWARD) STRAYER was my grandmother's maternal grandmother. The letter also mentions Mary Emma's sisters, Mattie and Flo/Flora. These would be two more of my grandmother's aunts, Martha Ellen and Flora Alice. Mary, Martha and Emma are all sisters of my great-grandmother, Rosabell "Rose" (STRAYER) JOHNSON.
At this web site you can read another letter from Mary Emma. This one was written to her sister Mattie on 2-Jan-1903. The very first sentence mentions a letter Mary Emma received from her sister, my great-grandmother, Rose. I wish I could find that letter!
The last nuggets that I want to share are a couple of brief news item from the Milan (IL) Independent newspaper that I found here.
29-May-1902: Mrs. H.A. Strayer of Davenport , Iowa has been here visiting her son John Strayer.
That would of course be Harriet visiting my grandmother's uncle, John Howard STRAYER, brother to Rose, Flora, Mattie and Mary. Milan is south of Rock Island, which is just across the Mississippi River from Davenport, where Harriet lived.
And another entry from May 1902
"Mr. and Mrs. John Strayer have been visiting his brother, Lou Strayer, in South Rock Island ."
This introduces yet another of my grandmother's uncles: Louis B. STRAYER, the oldest of Harriet's many children.
19 April 2009
04 April 2009
Maria HUIGENS (1860-before 1870)
A while back I received an abstract of some baptismal records from St. Mary's Catholic Church in Henry, IL. This list included the records from 1850 to 1860 of all of the names similar to HUIGENS. Two of the entries were of interest.
1856-Nov-1: Mary Julia 9 ds. Dau of Edward HAGENS and Catherine THOMAS, ss Peter and Mary THOMAS
1860: Maria Born to Eberhard HENCHEN and Cathirina THOMAS, wit Mathias TOMMES, Maria SCHMITT
The first entry is for the older sister of my great-grandfather John HUIGENS. I had her listed as Julia M., born Oct. 1856. This record provides not only her exact birthdate (23-Oct-1856, 9 days before her baptismal date), it also provides more information on her name, although she always went by Julia.
The second entry presents a whole host of problems. Is this a previously unknown daughter of my great-great-grandparents? The mother's name matches Catherine TOEMMES and the sponsors are Mathias TOEMMES, Catherine's brother and Maria SCHMITT, the maiden name of Catherine's mother and my great-great-great-grandmother.
There is also a 4-year gap between Bernard HAUGENS (born 18-Aug-1858) and my great-grandfather John HUIGENS (born 15-June-1862). An 1860 birth would fit neatly between those two dates.
However, I had my great-great-grandfather's first name as Edward or Evert. Eberhard was only an outside possibility. There is a gravestone for Eberhard HEIGENS in the Old Catholic Cemetary outside of Henry. The year of death on it is a match for my ancestor and it is near that of what wold be his mother-in-law, but the age, 21 yrs., is way too young. The stone is broken across the engraved birthdate making it very difficult to double check the death age. I need to go back and give the stone a closer look.
The last name is not a very good match either, but it's as close as any other version of the name I've seen. The first "en" may be a transcription error of "ui." I'll need to ask my source to double check that.
There is no Maria listed with the family on the 1860 census. The date on the census form is 2-Jul-1860, which leaves two possibilities. Maria may have been born in 1860 and died before the census. Or she may have been born that year after the census taker came around. In the latter case, she presumably died before the 1870 census because she is not listed with Catherine and her second husband, Nicholas WEND, on that census. I'll also have to ask my source check on the exact date of the baptism.
Given what I know so far, I'm inclined to add Maria HUIGENS as a previously unknown child of my great-great-grandparents.
1856-Nov-1: Mary Julia 9 ds. Dau of Edward HAGENS and Catherine THOMAS, ss Peter and Mary THOMAS
1860: Maria Born to Eberhard HENCHEN and Cathirina THOMAS, wit Mathias TOMMES, Maria SCHMITT
The first entry is for the older sister of my great-grandfather John HUIGENS. I had her listed as Julia M., born Oct. 1856. This record provides not only her exact birthdate (23-Oct-1856, 9 days before her baptismal date), it also provides more information on her name, although she always went by Julia.
The second entry presents a whole host of problems. Is this a previously unknown daughter of my great-great-grandparents? The mother's name matches Catherine TOEMMES and the sponsors are Mathias TOEMMES, Catherine's brother and Maria SCHMITT, the maiden name of Catherine's mother and my great-great-great-grandmother.
There is also a 4-year gap between Bernard HAUGENS (born 18-Aug-1858) and my great-grandfather John HUIGENS (born 15-June-1862). An 1860 birth would fit neatly between those two dates.
However, I had my great-great-grandfather's first name as Edward or Evert. Eberhard was only an outside possibility. There is a gravestone for Eberhard HEIGENS in the Old Catholic Cemetary outside of Henry. The year of death on it is a match for my ancestor and it is near that of what wold be his mother-in-law, but the age, 21 yrs., is way too young. The stone is broken across the engraved birthdate making it very difficult to double check the death age. I need to go back and give the stone a closer look.
The last name is not a very good match either, but it's as close as any other version of the name I've seen. The first "en" may be a transcription error of "ui." I'll need to ask my source to double check that.
There is no Maria listed with the family on the 1860 census. The date on the census form is 2-Jul-1860, which leaves two possibilities. Maria may have been born in 1860 and died before the census. Or she may have been born that year after the census taker came around. In the latter case, she presumably died before the 1870 census because she is not listed with Catherine and her second husband, Nicholas WEND, on that census. I'll also have to ask my source check on the exact date of the baptism.
Given what I know so far, I'm inclined to add Maria HUIGENS as a previously unknown child of my great-great-grandparents.
21 March 2009
John Ogden, Loyalist
With the signing of the Treaty of Paris is 1783, the United Kingdom officially recognized the independence of thirteen of their former North American colonies.
Although this treaty included provisions stating that Loyalists were to be compensated for property that had been taken from them, neither the new Congress nor the state governments provided any assistance or compensation to those who had remained loyal to the Crown. The Loyalists felt compelled to seek their futures elsewhere.
Although this treaty included provisions stating that Loyalists were to be compensated for property that had been taken from them, neither the new Congress nor the state governments provided any assistance or compensation to those who had remained loyal to the Crown. The Loyalists felt compelled to seek their futures elsewhere.
Canada welcomed more than 35,000 of these refugees, giving them provisions, support and land. Urged by King George III, Parliament in July, 1783 appointed a commission of five members to classify the losses and services of those who had suffered due to "the late unhappy dissentions in the Americas." By April, 1788, the commission had examined 1,680 claims and authorized the payment of nearly $10 million.
On Feb. 26, 1787 in St. John, New Brunswick, my great-great-great-great-grandfather John Ogden (Kevin Huigens, Shirley Ogden, Emery Ogden, William Ogden, James Robert Ogden, Robert Ogden, John Ogden) presented his claim to Commissioner Jeremy Pemberton. The record of his claim is as follows:
New Claim
743. Case of John Ogden, late of New York.
Claimt. says. He came in July, '83. Went up to Gage town. Did not come down. Never heard of the act till last year. Now settled in Queens County.
Lived in Westchester Co. Went within the Brit. Lines on Long Island, the spring after New York was taken. He was draughted in the Militia & did not choose to serve, on which he went into the Brit. Lines.
Lost--yoke of oxen, 2 horses, 2 Cows, 2 Calves, 17 Sheep, 2 2 years old, 5 Swine, Cart, farm utensils.
Left all these things on a hired Farm. They were taken from the Place. His Wife was there. They would not let her have anything. She came to New York . Part sold by Vendue. The sheep were taken for the Rebel Militia.
Produces Certificate of his taking the Oath of Allegiance. Mathews , Mayor of New York , 27th March, 1777.
Joseph Ferris, Wits:
Knew Claimt. He was always reckoned a Loyalist. He went within the Lines, rather than serve in the Militia. Believes him a very honest man. Knew of his having some stock; yoke of oxen, 2 horses, Cart.
Heard of his stock being taken on acct. of his Loyalty.
(pages 886-887, Fraser, Alexander. 1905. United Empire Loyalists: enquiry into the losses and services in consequence of their loyalty : evidence in the Canadian claims : second report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province of Ontario, Part II. Toronto: L.K. Cameron, Printer to the King.)
Jonathan (John) Ogden was 35 years old when he left New York for New Brunswick with his father Michael Ogden. The farm he had left behind was near Rye or North Castle in Westchester Co., NY. John eventually left Queens County and settled in Kings County where he died in 1845 at the very old age of 97.
I don't know if John's wife mentioned in his claim was the Milla (Millie Whitlock?) with whom he baptized three children in Hampstead parish on March 2, 1794 or a previous wife. I'm not sure what the "2 years old" that he lost were. Maybe thoroughbreds?
The New York mayor before whom he took his Oath of Allegiance was David Mathews. Mayor Mathews had early been accused of taking part in a plot to kidnap the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington. Mathews eventually settled in Nova Scotia.
02 March 2009
Fr. James Duggan
"St. Louis State of Missouri On the 2nd day of July 1848 the undersigned Catholic Priest united in matrimony John Kain and Mary Fox J. DugganFiled October 24th 1848"
John and Mary KAIN were my great-great-grandparents, my paternal grandmother's paternal grand parents. They came to this country from Ireland separately in the late 1840s.
Mary FOX arrived in the New Orleans, LA in May 1847 with her brother Patrick on the Radius. They joined their brother Thomas and his family in St. Louis.
I have no information yet on when and how John KAIN arrived in the U.S. and how he ended up in St. Louis.
John and Mary were married by Father James DUGGAN at St Patrick's in St. Louis. He was born May 2, 1825 in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland. He was ordained a priest at St. Vincent's, Cape Girardeau, MO in 1847 and was assigned to St. Patrick's parish in St. Louis.
In 1859, after having served as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis, he became the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago. He served in that position until he was committed to the Sisters of Charity Asylum in St. Louis in 1869. He died there thirty years later on March 27, 1899 at the age of 74.
St. Patrick's church stood at 6th and Biddle until it was torn down in the 1970s.
22 February 2009
Keokuk Civil War Hospital Cornerstone
Recently, I have been going through the 147 pages of the Civil War pension file of my great-great-grandfather, Abraham STRAYER (1823-1893). He enlisted in Company D of the 17th Regiment of the Iowa Volunteer Infantry at Brighton, IA on 26-Mar-1862. He was 39 years old. The regiment mustered in on 16-Apr-1862 in Keokuk, IA.
The regiment was on duty at the Benton Barracks, MO until May 5, 1862. They then moved to Hamburg Landing, TN on May 5-7. They participated in the advance on and siege of Corinth, MS from May 8-30. There saw action on Corinth Road on May 29 and were involved in pursuit operations to Booneville, MS from May 31-June 12. They encamped at Clear Creek, near Corinth, until August 15. They undertook an expedition to Ripley, MS from June 27-July 1. They moved their camp to Jacinto, MS on August 15.
I had always assumed that Abraham's disability discharge in Jan. 1863 was do to a wound received in battle. I was sadly mistaken. According to various affadavits, Abraham's legs swelled up from rheumatism and he suffered from chronic diarrhea. He was not the only soldier affected with this problem. According to Union records of 1,739,135 cases, 57,265 Yankee soldiers died of dysentery or diarrhea, compared with 44,238 men dying in battle.
I am still working through transcribing all of the paper work related to Abraham's pension claims so I am not exactly sure when his medical problems began. The general time frame is the Fall of 1862, when the regiment was encamped at Jacinto. I do know that he was admitted to the General Hospital at Mound City, IL on 4-Oct-1862 and was discharged on 23-Oct-1862. He was admitted to the hospital steamer "D.A. January" on 30-Oct-1862 and was thereafter transfered to the General Hospital in Keokuk, IA on 4-Nov-1862. He was discharged from service from the Keokuk hospital on 28-Jan-1863, less than a year after enlisting.
The Civil War Hospital in Keokuk was established in 1862 in the hotel, Estes House, which had been built in 1857. It stood at the corner of 5th and Main. This hospital had 16 wards with more than 1300 beds. The building was razed in 1929, and the cornerstone was removed and brought to the cemetery in memory of those who died in the hospital. The cornerstone is in Section B in the eastern section of the cemetery in a copper case with a glass top.
CORNERSTONE OF THE OLD ESTES HOUSE
FIFTH & MAIN KEOKUK, IOWA
SITE OF ARMY HOSPITAL APRIL 17, 1862 - OCT. 1, 1865
ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS WHO
DIED IN THE OLD GENERAL HOSPITAL AT KEOKUK
AND ARE BURIED IN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY
There are more than 4000 Civil War dead buried in the Keokuk National Cemetery. Luckily, my great-great-grandfather is not one of them. Although he lived for another 30 years after his discharge, he was always sickly, feeble, walked with a cane and had trouble making a living.
The regiment was on duty at the Benton Barracks, MO until May 5, 1862. They then moved to Hamburg Landing, TN on May 5-7. They participated in the advance on and siege of Corinth, MS from May 8-30. There saw action on Corinth Road on May 29 and were involved in pursuit operations to Booneville, MS from May 31-June 12. They encamped at Clear Creek, near Corinth, until August 15. They undertook an expedition to Ripley, MS from June 27-July 1. They moved their camp to Jacinto, MS on August 15.
I had always assumed that Abraham's disability discharge in Jan. 1863 was do to a wound received in battle. I was sadly mistaken. According to various affadavits, Abraham's legs swelled up from rheumatism and he suffered from chronic diarrhea. He was not the only soldier affected with this problem. According to Union records of 1,739,135 cases, 57,265 Yankee soldiers died of dysentery or diarrhea, compared with 44,238 men dying in battle.
I am still working through transcribing all of the paper work related to Abraham's pension claims so I am not exactly sure when his medical problems began. The general time frame is the Fall of 1862, when the regiment was encamped at Jacinto. I do know that he was admitted to the General Hospital at Mound City, IL on 4-Oct-1862 and was discharged on 23-Oct-1862. He was admitted to the hospital steamer "D.A. January" on 30-Oct-1862 and was thereafter transfered to the General Hospital in Keokuk, IA on 4-Nov-1862. He was discharged from service from the Keokuk hospital on 28-Jan-1863, less than a year after enlisting.
The Civil War Hospital in Keokuk was established in 1862 in the hotel, Estes House, which had been built in 1857. It stood at the corner of 5th and Main. This hospital had 16 wards with more than 1300 beds. The building was razed in 1929, and the cornerstone was removed and brought to the cemetery in memory of those who died in the hospital. The cornerstone is in Section B in the eastern section of the cemetery in a copper case with a glass top.
CORNERSTONE OF THE OLD ESTES HOUSE
FIFTH & MAIN KEOKUK, IOWA
SITE OF ARMY HOSPITAL APRIL 17, 1862 - OCT. 1, 1865
ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS WHO
DIED IN THE OLD GENERAL HOSPITAL AT KEOKUK
AND ARE BURIED IN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY
There are more than 4000 Civil War dead buried in the Keokuk National Cemetery. Luckily, my great-great-grandfather is not one of them. Although he lived for another 30 years after his discharge, he was always sickly, feeble, walked with a cane and had trouble making a living.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)