#11 Genealogy is what I do: A trip to Steuben County, New York looking for Knights and Rugars

This is a picture of Aunt Jean with the Jasper town Historian. My sister, Kathy, and I along with Aunt Jean and my cousin Margy traveled to Steuben County, New York last September. (I know it takes a long time for me to get these things written up!) We were looking for more information about our Knight and Rugar ancestors. We made plans to visit two different town halls, but only got to one of them. We had an appointment at the one in Greenwood, but nobody showed up,so as we were looking around we saw a sign for a historical society meeting at a church down the road, that was going on that evening, so we went. It was kind of fun meeting this group, but unfortunately none of them were researching the names we were looking for. We did find out that the town was presently without a town historian.
The next day we went to Jasper which is where we met Scott Chace pictured with Aunt Jean above. They had very little there that was helpful, but Scott took us to the historical society where we found a few tidbits and later he emailed me with information about graves.
So what did we learn? you ask. Someone had done some research on the Knight family and left a few pages of notes in a file at the historical society. So we were all over those taking pictures and making notes. It gave information about the children of William Knight and Paulina Burr as follows:
Lucinda married David Raymond who is burried in Hemlock, MI
Maria or Miria born 11/27/1825 married Will Bartow or Bartoo at Jasper, NY
Danl is listed as unmarried (I think that may be wrong)
Eliakim married Martha Broughton (although the census says his wife is Sarah)
Prudy or Prudence married Benj. Gallop
Alba or Alva born 1805 and died 1902 married Mary Wynn first and later E'beth Broughton

Alba is my great great great grandfather

We also visited a library in Jasper that had historical gazeteers for some years. We found my great great grandfather Moses Rugar listed as a carpenter and his father, John Rugar as a wagon maker. In another place it tells that John Rugar was of German parentage, was born at sea, during passage to this country, four days out from New York. During the war of 1812 the family lived in Albany and later in Saratoga and Yates Counties. he moved to Greenwood in 1851 where he lived until his death. His wife was Elizabeth Rowley.
Now back to the story of our trip. We found out that there was a man descended from the Knight family who still lived nearby, so we called and went to visit him. From what he could tell us we figured out that he was a 5th cousin.
Of course we also visited cemeteries and found some relatives, but the only direct ancestors were Moses Rugar and his wife Mary Colbath.

#10 Genealogy is what I do: The Adams Family-I found my connection back to Plymouth but not to the Mayflower

I actually have two different connections to the Adams family. ( I am humming the tune as I write)
My first connection is When my Great Great Grandfather Philip Price married Mary Adams around 1851 in Macomb County, Michigan. I am stuck on that line about two more generations back.
My other connection is when my Great Great Great Grandfather Timothy Banister married Susan Adams in the state of New York around 1815. (I have not found the record for that marriage yet). They moved to Macomb County, Michigan in the 1830s and Susan Banister purchased Government Land there in 1837. (I admit that I am curious about why she bought the land instead of her husband).
Anyway, Susan's parents were Alden Adams and Mary Wilcox who married in West Greenwich, Rhode Island in 1785. Susan was born in Vermont in 1790, (this family really gets around) They moved to Ontario County, New York before the 1810 census.
Alden Adams was the son of Timothy Adams and Susannah Adams (Yes, her maiden name was also Adams) . They were married in Pomfret, Connecticut in 1764. This was after Timothy served in the military during the French and Indian War and before he again served in the military during the Revolutionary War. Alden was born in 1766 in Canterbury, Connecticut.
Timothy's parents were Isaac Adams and Eleanor (no known maiden name) around 1719. ( no record found so far) Timothy was born in Pomfret, Connecticut in 1742 having about 14 siblings.
Isaac was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts in 1694 and died in 1757 after fathering 15 children, while his wife remarried after his death and had one more child.
Isaac's parents were Richard Adams and Rebecca Davis who were married in Sudbury in 1679. Richard fought in King Philip's Indian War and was wounded at the Swamp Fort Battle on December 19, 1675..
Richard's parents were James Adams and Francis Vassall. Richard was born in Scituate, Massachusetts in1651.
James Adams was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1626. His parents were John Adams Sr. and Eleanor Newton. John Adams Sr. came to Plymouth on the Ship Francis in 1621 a year after the Mayflower. He was probably born in London, England in 1695 and he was a carpenter by trade. He died in 1633. I am still looking for the circumstances of his death because I have read that his body was lost and never buried. his wife, Eleanor, came to Plymouth on the Ship Ann in 1623. She was born in England in 1598.
There you have it;not the Mayflower but pretty close. What do I do next? Dig around a bit more online, before I take any trips to New England or across the pond.

#9 Genealogy is what I do: The Bannister Connection. Did I get it right?

Sometimes when I am working on a new branch of my tree, I get to a spot where other folks have connected my ancestor to a set of parents, but I cannot see where the connection came from. That is the case with my Bannister line. First of all, how am I connected to the Bannisters? Okay, my Great Grandfather, Roland Eugene Price married Eva Elizabeth Bannister. I have the Bannister Bible in my possession so I know a couple generations back. I have noticed that when you go back a little ways on this branch of the family that we lose one of the "n"s and the name becomes Banister. Why did they add another "n" ? I have no idea! Maybe they thought it looked more classy that way. I would actually like to know the answer, because it may tell me an important something about the family.
So here is the line as I know it.
Eva Elizabeth Bannister was the daughter of Joseph Madison Bannister and Phebe Burke. She was born January 9. 1860 in Armada, Macomb County, Michigan and married Roland Eugene Price on December 22, 1877 in Sterling, Michigan.
Joseph Madison Bannister was born December 11, 1822 in New York (the state not the city) and was married to Phebe Ann Burke September 25, 1850 in Macomb County, Michigan. His parents were Timothy Banister and Susan Adams
Timothy was born in Vermont on March 25, 1793 and married Susan Adams in New York around 1815. He was a drummer in the New York Militia during the War of 1812.
I know that Timothy had a brother named Levi Jr. who also fought in the New York Militia.
On several other trees I have found his parents listed as Levi Banister and Anna Woodworth, but I have not found any document that actually proves that as fact. What I do have is the pension file for Levi Jr in which Timothy (living in Macomb County, Michigan) gives testimony for his brother's pension. The interesting part is that he says that they were living in Genesee County, New York when they signed up. That puts them in the same county as the Levi Banister whose wife is Anna Woodworth. This is where they lived for many years until his death. Timothy's death record does not name his parents, but it does say that they lived in New York.
So it looks likely that Levi and Anna are his parents, but I can not state it with certainty until I find more. What do I plan to do? i will continue to look for an obituary for Timothy Banister; I will order Timothy's service record, which is not online yet and hope it names his parents; and maybe I will take a trip to Genesee County, New York to see if there are other documents there or even to Vermont to try to find church records for Timothy's birth. Who knows where it will lead. I do know that Levi Banister (sr) was a Revolutionary War Soldier and the next few generations back are easier to trace.

# 8 Genealogy is what I do: Birth records for Grandma and Grandpa Price

My Grandparents Charles R Price and Edythe G Knight were very clear about when their birthdays were. I remember particularly celebrating Grandpa's birthday, because it was so close to my own birthday. When I began researching them I was in for some surprises! Grandma celebrated her birthday on November 11 and said she was a certain  age that put her birth in 1889. Her official birth record says she was born on December 1, 1888. This record was recorded in June of 1889. Her social security card also says December 1, 1888. I understand that it is a woman's prerogative to lie about her age, but I don't understand the difference in the day. Was it entered wrong for some reason, or did Grandma herself change her birthday? I am thinking that looking for a newspaper birth announcement may clear it up. Possibly school records (if they exist) might give some answers.
Next I found Grandpa's birth record for September 3, 1889! we always celebrated September 13. I can see how that mistake could easily be made, since it is just one digit off. The record was not recorded until 1890. Then I found his birth announcement in the Utica Sentinel dated September 22, 1888. The announcement names his birthday as September 13, so the day is right but the year is different. 1888 has to be correct because that is when the newspaper was printed. His social Security record says September 13, 1889.
I guess I will just keep on digging!

# 7 Genealogy is what I do: GGGGrandpa Keith

John Keith arrived in Indiana before it was a state in the early 1800s. His name appears in 1807 in Dearborn County. He married Ellenor Peak sometime before 1814 when their son Nathan P. Keith was born. I think the P. probably stands for Peak (his mother's maiden name) so he was named for his grandfather Nathan Peak who was a Revolutionary War Veteran. When John came to Indiana he apparently had 5 siblings that came at the same time. His brothers Nicholas and William purchased land warrants right next to John's land warrant in what later became York Twp, Switzerland County, Indiana. John and Ellenor had 10 children as far as I can tell. After Ellenor died in 1749, John married his brother Nicholas's widow, Elizabeth. John died in 1863 and is buried on his land. His is the only gravestone still standing, but there were apparently others buried there as well, including Ellenor. Census records name both Maryland and Pennsylvania as his birth place. He was probably born around 1790, because his gravestone says he was aged 73 at death.
John's son, Nathan, was married to Nancy Sisson on August 27, 1839. They had 4 children:
John Wesley Keith born in 1840, Hiram Wilson Keith born in 1844, Harriet Ellen Keith born in 1847, and Mary A. Keith born in 1849. In 1850,
According to the 1850 Mortality Schedule, Nathan drowned in the Ohio River in May. It is too early for a death certificate and no probate record or will has been located. I have also looked for an obituary or even a news article about his death, without success. I would like to know what Nathan was doing in the Ohio River! Actually there are a lot of things I would like to know about this family. Where did they really come from? Were they simply farmers? Did they attend a local church somewhere nearby? and the list goes on.

#6: Genealogy is what I Do: The Yocums in Steubenville, Ohio

We always had a joke in our family about Granny Yocum, because that was my grandmother's maiden name. If you had known her you would never have guessed that she had real mountain roots, but that is exactly who she was. She talked about growing up running barefoot among the wildflowers in Missouri. My older brother sent me a package once with a note that this was about our family history and of course it was a book about "Lil' Abner".
Another thing Grandma mentioned was that her family had reunions in Steubenville, Ohio. My sister and I decided to look into this, so we drove to Steubenville, to the historical society there. What we found was a write up from one of those Yocum reunions which led us to look around and discover our ancestor, John Yocum, living in that area with his wife, Sarah Davis, and a long list of children. There are land records, church records, grave sites, and obituaries about these ancestors.
According to the records we found there, John Yocum was born in Reading, PA in 1799. Naturally we followed this trip up with a trip to Reading, but do you know how many John Yocum's there are in that part of Pennsylvania? Neither do I, but it is a large number. I have a cousin who spent a lot of time trying to untangle all the John Yocums, but we still don't have a clear connection. Yes, some online trees, name a certain family, but can't seem to prove it. I'm always open to suggestions!
To move forward, John had a son, Philip, who married Margaret Randolph (this was his second wife). They had a son, Lafayette, who married Ida Mae McClure and they are my grandmother's parents.
Ida Mae was a quilter (I have a couple quilts she made) and a great cook ( I enjoy making her recipe for chicken and dumplings-below). They lived in Illinois and later in Missouri, where Grandma grew up.

Ida Mae's Chicken and Dumplings

1 stewing chicken (or a 2 ½ to 3 lb. frying chicken)

2 or 3 quarts of water (enough to cover chicken)

Salt and pepper to taste

2-3 cups of flour (for a fair amount of dumplings)

Cover stewing chicken with water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until tender. (Salt can be added to the water if desired.) Remove chicken from the broth and allow to cool slightly; remove the meat from the bones and cut into bite size pieces. Return the chicken to the broth and add pepper to taste. Bring the broth to a boil.

While the broth is coming to a boil, mix together 2 -3 cups of flour with salt to taste in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour. Pour in enough hot chicken broth to moisten the dry ingredients. Stir together until you get a rollable consistency, Roll out to about a ¼ inch thickness and cut into two inch squares. Drop dumplings into boiling broth one at a time and gently stir after each addition. Cook until done. (no longer tastes doughy) About 10-15 minutes. Makes about 6 servings

Ida Mae McClure Yocum

Part 5: Genealogy is what I do; Swamp Land

My dad told me a story that he remembered from reading his grandfather's Family Bible. he said that one of our ancestors wanted a horse so he could join the army as an officer. In  order to purchase the horse he sold a piece of swamp land. Later this land was part of the site where the city of Rochester, NY was built.
This is a good example of family tradition handed down and altered with the telling.
I found a similar story in the book written by some of the family in the early 1900s in New York for a family reunion.
In this version of the story my ancestor owned horses and someone wanted to trade a piece of land he owned in order to buy one of these horses, so he could join the army. My ancestor looked at the piece of land and found that it was swamp land, so he did not buy it. This story also says that the land is where current day Rochester, NY is.
Both of these stories were written down around the same time, but they both depend on memories passed down over a couple generations.
Which one is true? Is there any evidence for either story?
I later found out that my ancestor Philip Price did own horses. As a matter of fact there is a record in Maryland calling his land there a plantation and telling that he lost 30 horses in a plague. This is several years before he moved to Rush, New York, but he may still have had horses in NY. Who knows!