Author: Kirstin Miller

William Crooks and Mary Weir b. 1715

/ Kirstin Miller

William Crooks and Mary Weir 6th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

William and Mary were born around 1715 probably in Pennsylvania. Names of their parents and their home country are unknown, they may have been born in America.  They  married on November 18, 1736 in Philadelphia at the First Presbyterian Church. They had 8 children and the family lived on a farm. Mary Weir has only her marriage record, nothing else. William’s records include a list of founders of Springfield Township in 1743, Bucks County, PA “Immigrants came rapidly into the township during the first years of its settlement, for we have the names of over thirty, probably all heads of families, who were living there, 1743, German and English: James Green, Stephen Twining, William Crooks, …”

William has several  ‘Pennsylvania Land Warrants’ showing acres of Pennsylvania land purchased at 15 pounds per acre in the mid 1700s. 15 ponds in 2020 is about $4000.

William’s will, Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999

William wrote his will in December of 1776 at age 61.  He died soon after. His will mentions wife Mary, sons Henry, Thomas and Robert, daughters Rosanne, Jeannette, Mary and Margaret, grandsons William Crooks and James Dagle. Widow Mary and son Henry are overseers of the will. William had called Mr. William Hopkins to come and help write the will. Hopkins got to William’s home and found William ‘sitting up in a chair and smoking his pipe’ and of sound mind and memory.  William died in 1776 or 77, Mary died about 4 years later.

Henry, overseer of the will, had a son Andrew whose daughter Elizabeth Crooks married William Stewart. Elizabeth and William travelled west to Shell Rock, Iowa where their youngest Elizabeth Margaret Stewart married Manford Speedy: dad of Harve, grandpa of Elizabeth Speedy.

Sources

  • Marriage, U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970 at Ancestry
  • Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952 at Ancestry
  • William’s will, Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999 at Ancestry
  • History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania at HathiTrust
  • Church photo, High Street, with the First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia at Presbyterian Historical Society

Jacob Bair and Barbara b. 1750

/ Kirstin Miller

Jacob Bair and Barbara 4th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree

Jacob Bair and Barbara – last name unknown- were born around 1750, probably in Maryland. Their parents are unknown, it’s likely  their parents migrated from Germany. Jacob and Barbara  married around 1780 and moved from Maryland to Pennsylvania where they had at least 7 children. By 1820 the Bair family had traveled 350 miles  west to Stark County, Ohio.  In Stark County they joined hundreds of other German immigrants that moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio: Bair, Bowman, Druckenbrod, Essig, Fryberger, Fuchs, Grubb, Harter, Kryder, Miller, all moved together.

Barbara died in  Stark County around 1820. Jacob lived 20 more years. Jacob’s estate was brought to the county court on December 18, 1840. On January 5 1841 an inventory and legal papers were presented.  Peter Loutzenheiser ‘a venerable pioneer’ was the overseer and “Abraham Bair, Jacob Bair and John Bair sons of said Jacob Bair” are mentioned in the will. Jacob’s inventory included: A tea kettle, a plough shovel, an auger, a psalm book, a pair of sheep shears, pewter dishes and plates, a light body coat, a pair of pantaloons, 2 shirts, 1 flannel shirt, 2 pocket books, yarn & threads and weavers reeds & shuttles.

Jacob’s will, Ohio, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998

Jacob and Barbara are buried in Henry Warstler Cemetery, Plain Township, Stark, Ohio, United States, their headstones long gone. In the Henry Warstler country church cemetery there are 62 Bair burials. In Stark County 442 Bairs are buried.  Jacob and Barbara’s 2nd great granddaughter Fiana Druckenbrod married William Miller, they moved to Bremer County, Iowa. In the summer Fiana returned to Stark Co. for Bair family reunions. Fiana and William’s daughter Lola kept in touch with her Stark Co. relatives, they visited her in Greene, Iowa.

Sources

  • Jacob’s will, Ohio, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998 at Ancestry
  • Early records of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Canton, Ohio at FamilySearch
  • Find a Grave memorials
  • Bair family, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Mennonite Vital Records, 1750-2014 at Ancestry

Lucy Terry b. 1730

/ Kirstin Miller

Working on the Gaines family and their move to Guilford, Vermont, I found a reference to Lucy Terry, a woman who is sometimes said to be the founder of Guilford. That’s interesting, a woman in Colonial America credited with founding a town.

On Wikipedia, a page devoted to Lucy Terry told more of her story. She was a child, kidnapped with others from Africa and brought to Rhode Island where she was sold, as a slave to Ebenezer Williams who brought her to Deerfield, Massachusetts. Abijah Prince, a free black man bought Lucy’s freedom, they married in 1756 and they had six children.

And Lucy wrote a poem about the August 25, 1746 ‘Bars Fight’ a fight between colonials and natives in Deerfield. Lucy loved to tell this story and it was preserved orally- by Lucy and others until it was published in 1855. Lucy is the first recorded black author in America. She bought writing paper from her general store, records show this and suggest she wrote a lot, this poem is the only writing that has survived. Text of the poem from: Holland, J. G. History of Western Massachusetts: The Counties of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, And Berkshire, Springfield: S. Bowles and Company, 1855. A digital book at HathiTrust .

“August ’twas the twenty-fifth,
Seventeen hundred forty-six ;
The Indians did in ambush lay,
Some very valient men to slay,
The names of whom I’ll not leave out.
Samuel Allen like a hero fout.
And though he was so brave and bold,
His face no more shall we behold.
Eleazer Hawks was killed outright,
Before he had time to fight, —
Before he did the Indians see,
Was shot and killed immediately.
Oliver Amsden he was slain,
Which caused his friends much grief and pain.
Simeon Amsden they found dead,
Not many rods distant from his head.
Adonijah Gillett we do hear
Did lose his life which was so dear.
John Sadler fled across the water,
And thus escaped the dreadful slaughter.
Eunice Allen see the Indians coming,
And hopes to save herself by running,
And had not her petticoats stopped her,
The awful creatures had not catched her,
Nor tommy hawked her on her head,
And left her on the ground for dead.
Young Samuel Allen, Oh lack-a-day !
Was taken and carried to Canada.”

David Gaines and Prudence Risley b. 1732

/ Kirstin Miller

David Gaines and Prudence Risley, my 6th great parents on RoostMagic tree

David Gaines was born on June 25, 1732 in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Prudence Risley was born September 26, 1735 in the same place. The Gaines family came from England to America in 1637, the Risley family in 1633.

David and Prudence married in 1754 in Glastonbury, Connecticut, officially Glastonbury, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Prudence’s 2nd great grandpa Richard Risley built the colony with Thomas Hooker, a Congregational minister who broke with the Puritans in Massachusetts. David and Prudence had 5 sons and 2 daughters and they moved north from Glastonbury to Northfield, Massachusetts to Guilford, Vermont.  Guilford is on the Vermont and Massachusetts border, southern Vermont in between … Sweet Pond and Satan’s Kingdom … One source states the Gaines farm was “near the state line”.  Guilford was the biggest town in Vermont from 1791-1820, today it’s population is about 2000 people.

David’s dad Nathaniel died in 1755 and David and his brothers inherited land, David signed the will. The family was on the 1790 US Federal Census, the first federal census. On this first census one name, the head of house is recorded. Others in the house were recorded by age and gender. In the image, column 1 is males 16 and older,  column 2 males younger than 16, column 3 is females. David Gaines is 2nd in the snapshot with 2 males, and 4 females.

Gaines family 1790 United States census at FamilySearch.org
David and Prudence Gaines 1790 census

David died July 31, 1813 and Prudence died April 15 1816. They are buried in Maplehurst Cemetery in Guilford- with matching headstones. Gaines family burials are 32 of the 235 burials in this small country cemetery.

Sources

  • 1790 United States census at FamilySearch.org
  • Find a grave memorials 21747459 and 21747457
  • The New England historical and genealogical register Volume 85, page 52 Descendants of Henry Gaines of Lynn Mass.
  • Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954 at FamilySearch.org
  • Guilford , Vermont map at Google

Andrew Howlett and Margaret b. 1726

/ Kirstin Miller

Andrew Howlett and Margaret 6th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Andrew Howlett was born around 1726. Margaret  -last name unknown, was born around the same time. Both their birthplaces, their parents names aren’t known. Andrew and Margaret  married in 1747 and had 2 sons and 5 daughters, all born in Maryland. It’s likely Andrew fought in the American Revolution. In 1778 he, son James and son in law Henry Crooks all pledged an Oath of Fidelity. At that time men over 16 were required to take this oath, pledging their loyalties to America and not to the King of England. 

Oath of Fidelity and Support
“I do sware I do not hold myself bound to yield any Allegience or obedience to the King of Great Britain his heirs or Successors and that I will be true and faithful to the State of Maryland and will to the utmost of my power, Support maintain and defend the Freedom and Independence thereof and the Government as now established against all open enemies and secret and traterous Conspriaces and will use my utmost endeavours to disclose and make known to the Governor or some one of the Judges or Justices thereof all Treasons or Treaterous Consperaces, attempts or Combinations against this State or the Government thereof which may come to my Knowledge so help me God.”

Andrew and family are on the 1790 US census in Harford County, Maryland, a family of six. In 1800, same location, with a family of seven.  Andrew made two land purchases in 1774: 15 acres which he named Howlett’s Triangle and 60 acres named Howlett’s Ambition.  In 1776 the Howletts lived in an area called Broad Creek Hundred- total population in 1776 was 342 people. An 1803 court record mentions the road “from William Ashmore’s mill for three or four miles towards the Pennsylvania line, near to the dwelling-house of a certain Andrew Howlett, has been found to be convenient and useful to the public”. The court ordered the road on Andrew’s farm be kept up, in good repair for the people.

Margaret died before April 30, 1809 when Andrew wrote his will. Youngest son John got all the lands. Andrew left his daughter and granddaughters money. John Howlett and son in law George Leamon were executors, the will was settled in 1810. Andrew’s inventory included 1 male slave, 17 years old, there in Maryland in 1810.

Sources

Elizabeth Hibshman b. 1740

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Hibshman 6th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Elizabeth was born around  1740 in Ephrata, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Her parents John and Anna were both recent immigrants from Switzerland. Elizabeth’s brothers Henrich and Wendell both fought in the American Revolution.

Elizabeth married Conrad Meinzer and they had 4 daughters and 3 sons, all baptized at the local Lutheran church. They farmed and by 1789 owned and paid taxes on 200 acres of land, 2 horses and 3 cows.

Elizabeth was a widow in 1781, her husband Conrad’s will names Elizabeth and each of their children “From said income my wife shall educate my children. My sons shall be obedient to their mother but each of said sons shall be free of his mother when fourteen years of age provided he intends to learn a trade. I order that in four weeks after my death all my personal estate shall be sold except my bed, a wardrobe, the best cow which I bequeath to my wife.” 

Elizabeth is the last marriage, daughter Fronica Verona is the first marriage in the list.

On October 7, 1783 Elizabeth married Peter Zeller, they stayed in Lancaster County Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth and Conrad’s daughter Fronica married Mathias Druckenbrod in 1783, their son Samuel married Maria Menser and they went to Ohio in 1850 and had a son Samuel. This son Samuel married Elizabeth Bair and their daughter Fiana married William Miller in 1875, in Ohio. William and Fiana moved to Bremer County, Iowa near Waverly. Their daughter Lola married William Miller and they settled near Greene, Iowa where their grandson, my dad, Faber Miller was born in 1940.

Sources

  • Biographical Annals of Lebanon County at HathiTrust
  • Pennsylvania, U.S., Compiled Marriage Records, 1700-1821 at Ancestry
  • Pennsylvania, Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801 at Ancestry
  • Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Ancestry
  • Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993

Harm Roos b. 1824

/ Kirstin Miller

Harm Roos 2nd great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Harm Janssen Roos was born on December 12, 1824  in East Fresia, Ostfriesland, Germany. His parents were Jan Roos and Meenke Schroder. Harm had seven siblings his brother Garbrand  is the great grandpa of Stanley Roose. Harm married Maarje Tellinghuisen in  1849 in Germany. They came to America in the 1860s and went straight to Ogle County, Illinois. Already set up there was a big German American community from the Ostfriesland area.  

U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 at Ancestry

Harm was a farmer. He and Maarje had 4 sons and 3 daughters. Maarje died in 1896, Harm married Lammechien Takens on July 14, 1898, they had no kids. A 1893 land map shows Harm owned about 300 acres of land, his bother Andrew owned land nearby. Harm , his family and friends were Lutherans . In a history of Ebenezer Reformed Church in Ogle, Illinois, “Starting around 1849, immigrants began settling. After 1855 German immigrants increased, many from Ostfriesland. Families from the Ostfriesland area were invited into the home of Harm Roos for a time of worship and singing. After some time, the group grew so large they could no longer fit in the log cabin home.” The church group bought an unused school building and set up an official church. Harm lived to age 80 and is buried in Ebenezer Cemetery in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 is inscribed on his grave, in German.

A snapshot of Harm and Johann Roos, cousins via FamilySearch

Harm’s oldest son John Roos was about the same age as his cousin Johann Roos youngest son of Garbrand, great grandpa of Stanley Roose. John and Johann grew up together in Ogle, Illinois. When Johann was 15 he and his family moved to Grundy County, Iowa, near Aplington,  200 miles west. It’s likely that John and Johann stayed in touch, maybe their wives traded letters and maybe the 2 Roos cousins got together in Iowa or Illinois in the 1860s, middle aged men with families.

Sources

  • Ebenezer Reformed Church History online
  • Illinois county marriages 1810-1940 database at FamilySearch
  • U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 at Ancestry
  • Find a grave memorial 28532306 photo “Added by:  Tombstone Tourist on 17 Jul 2018”
  • Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971 at Ancestry.

George Harter b. 1764

/ Kirstin Miller

George Harter 6th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

George Harter, also known as John George, was born June 3, 1764 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His parents Mathias Harter and Anna Schuler were born in Pennsylvania too, their ancestors were from Germany.

George married Elizabeth Bowman around 1790 in Pennsylvania. George and Elizabeth had 9 kids. George farmed and inherited farm land from his dad and from his father in law Abraham Bowman. “Early in the spring of 1806 the family of George Harter started from Beaver [Township, PA] in a six-horse wagon for their new home in Ohio”. They traveled 325 miles west to Stark County, Ohio.

The Harter, Bowman, Bair, Druckenbrod and Miller families moved together from Pennsylvania to Ohio with thousands of other families as the American west opened up. Ohio was a state in 1803, George and family arrived 3 years later. In 1809 the first election was held on the first Monday in April at the house of George Harter in Stark County. George Harter was a Jacksonian Democrat, he wanted equal protection for all [all circa 1809], no ‘moneyed aristocracy’, and supported the community’s goals over an individual’s goals.

George Harter’s inventory 1833

George Harter died June 7, 1833 in Stark County. His wife lived 30 more years. George Harter’s estate was settled Monday August 5, 1833. There’s a five page record with an inventory, debts owed to George Harter and items sold at auction. The inventory included: a mantle clock, a German Bible, an atlas of geography, 1 lot of books, a looking glass, 4 forks, 1 windmill, a black mare and a side saddle.

Sources

Grace Child b. 1689

/ Kirstin Miller

Grace Child 7th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Grace was born October 27, 1689 in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Benjamin Child and Grace Morris. Grace’s ancestors came to America from England and Wales in the early 1620-40s. Grace married Timothy Walker on May 14, 1713. Grace’s sister Mary married Timothy’s brother Peter Walker. in 1715. The Walker family ancestors were early colonial immigrants too. Grace and Timothy had 6 children, 5 daughters and a son. Grace and her family belonged to the original church in Rehoboth, today it’s the Newman Congregational Church, they practice and preach “radical hospitality”, established in 1624.

Grace died October 30, 1729, she was 40 years old and is buried at Newman Cemetery, a mile or so north of the Walker House where she and her family lived.

Snapshot of Grace Child’s ancestors, Ancestry family tree

Timothy started building the Walker House in 1724. The house is still there, open for tours and a house study site. Just announced at the site, it will be a farm again in Spring 2021. “When Philip Walker [Timothy Walker’s grandpa] died in 1679 his estate included 177 acres of land,” said Val Talmage, executive director of PRI. “By 1891, the farmland associated with the antique dwelling was 96 acres. And by 1960, the land was reduced to the current configuration of just over one acre. It’s so exciting that this most significant historic place will once again be a productive farm.”

Source

Timothy Walker b. 1687

/ Kirstin Miller

Timothy Walker 7th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Timothy Walker was born on September 14, 1687 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts to Samuel and Martha Ide Walker. Timothy’s 4 grandparents came to America from England in the 1630-40s. Timothy was the 3rd generation to live on his family’s farm. He had an older brother and 4 younger sisters.

On May 6, 1713 Timothy published his intention of marriage to Grace Child and they married on May 14th. Grace and Timothy lived on the Walker family farm. In Rehoboth, Timothy farmed and worked at the family sawmill and inherited both when his dad and his brother both died in 1812. The farm and sawmill are long gone but at 432 Massasoit Ave., East Providence, RI the house Timothy built is still there: The Walker House. Timothy was a widow in 1729 and married 2nd wife Rachel Beverly on January 15, 1730. Timothy wrote his will in November 1744 and died in 1745. The will is 32 pages, it includes his children’s names, an inventory and his signature. Timothy is buried at Newman Cemetery about 1 mile from the Walker House, his house.

The Walker House is on land Timothy’s dad Samuel Walker inherited from his dad Philip Walker. The Walker House stayed in the family until 1812 and was donated to Preserve Rhode Island in 1984. “At the time of its erection it was considered a marvel of architecture. North of the house were apple orchards and outbuildings, including a barn, shed, carriage house, and chicken house.”

Philip Walker House building began in 1724

Major updates were completed in 2008 by Preserve Rhode Island, ‘The Statewide Advocate for Rhode Island’s Historic Places’. Today Timothy Walker’s house is a study house, “for architectural history and historic preservation students, who can benefit from first-hand observations of architectural features”. The website has photos, a field study PDF and an orientation packet PDF, 10 pages of detail about the house, its history and the Walker family. Virtual visit: https://www.preserveri.org/walker-house

Sources