b. 1700

Arabella, How unevenly the world is divided

/ Kirstin Miller

This book, The burying place of Governor Arnold by Alice Brayton, I found  while researching Christiana Peake who married William Arnold. Benedict Arnold, the Governor was their son. Alice Brayton purchased land that was/is the Governor Benedict Arnold Graveyard in Newport Rhode, Island and she set the cemetery’s restoration in motion then wrote the book, documenting “the establishment, destruction, and restoration of the Burying Place of Benedict Arnold, first Governor of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”. The book contains thousands of small stories and facts. 

One story is Arabella Cowley’s, great-great-granddaughter of Governor Arnold and Damaris. Arabella’s mom Mary Cowley married Mr. Sweet, then Joseph Cowley, they had 3 daughters and a son. One daughter Elizabeth Sweet was blessed with four husbands, and beauty. Half sister Arabella Cowley, as plain as Elizabeth was beautiful said to Elizabeth, “How unevenly the world is divided; you have had four husbands, I have had none.”

The gravestone photo is in the book at HathiTrust.

Leydia Connable b. 1795

/ Kirstin Miller

Leydia Connable 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.
Leydia Connable was born in Bernardston, Massachusetts on April 23 1795. She was the third of John and Sarah Dewey Connable’s 8 kids. She also had 5 siblings from her dad’s first marriage. Leydia married Obed Gaines in 1815. They have 2 marriage records. One dated August 10 and another dated September 23. The August record was probably an ‘intention of marriage’.

By 1820 Leydia and Obed had 5 kids, 3 of them triplets. So Leydia was caring for 3 infants, a 2 year old and a 4 year old- all at the same time! The 1820, 1840 and 1850 censuses show Leydia and family in Cazenovia, New York, then Steuben, Indiana, then Van Buren, Indiana. Leydia’s 6th child William Gaines, great grandpa of Faber Miller, was in Bremer County, Iowa in 1850. In 1854, probably in August, most likely in a covered wagon with a coupe horses, Leydia, husband and 2 kids made the 500 mile trip to Iowa. They would have traveled 10-20 miles per day probably for about 37 days. When the family entered Iowa they’d traveled 1,200 miles and 6 states.

Connable, Leydia d.1854

Headstone Leydia wife of Obid Gaines

A Connable family history book tells that Leydia died of cholera October 23, 1854. Her death date is verified in Iowa Cemetery Records. She is buried in Old Barclay Cemetery near Dunkerton, Iowa. Leydia is the only Gaines buried in the cemetery. Her family would have arranged a funeral, buried Lydia, then kept moving on to son William’s location about 50 mile north near Plainfield, Iowa. When Leydia was buried in 1854 Iowa was 80% native prairie. Barclay township was founded in August 1854, so the town was just beginning when Leydia was buried there.

Oliver Angell b. 1717

/ Kirstin Miller

Oliver Angell 7th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Oliver was born February 20, 1717, the 2nd of Hope and Lydia Olney Angell’s 7 children. On June 13, 1740 Oliver and Naomi Smith were married by Reverend Josiah Cotton in Providence, Rhode Island. Oliver and Naomi farmed and raised 7 children in Providence. Oliver was also a ‘cooper’ he made barrels, baskets and casks; a carpenter and a shoemaker.


Oliver died on April 1, 1799, his wife Naomi died December 3, 1799 and their grand daughter Adah died October 9, 1799. These 3 Angells and 16 others are buried in the Rhode Island Hist. Cemetery North Providence #8, also known as the Hope Angell Lot, or the Oliver Angell Lot. This tiny cemetery has 19 burials, was originally on Angell farmland and is now in a residential area between two houses. If you’re related to Elizabeth Speedy Roose, you’re related to 17 of the 19 buried there, all but Smith Angell’s 2 wives.


Oliver Angell has an obituary posted on his Find a Grave Memorial:  Obituary — Providence Gazette, April 6,1799, p. 2: At North-Providence, on the 1st inst. Mr. Oliver Angell, in the 83d year of his age, who sustained an unblemished character. As a citizen he was firm in the support of government; as a husband he was kind and affectionate; as a parent he taught his children the love of virtue in their early years, and by his example daily set before them, shewed that he had himself experienced the happy effects. Few who lived to his advanced age could say, as he did, that he was never sued at law, nor sued any person, but lived in peace with them all.


The 19 burials in the Hope and/or Oliver Angell Lot 1,2 Oliver and Naomi Smith Angell, 3 Ruth Angell daughter 4, 5 Elisha Angell, son and his wife Anna Fenner 6, 7, 8, 9 – Elisha’s son Fenner Angell, Fenner’s wife Mary Smith Angell, their son Zachariah Angell, Elisha’s 2nd wife Mary Dean Angell. 10, 11, 12, Hope Angell son and his wife Avis Olney, their daughter Adah.  13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 – Hope’s son Smith Angell, Smith’s wife Freelove Harris, their daughters Asenath and Minerva, their sons Horace Lafayette, Thomas and Zalmon.

Sources

Benjamin English b. 1705

/ Kirstin Miller

Benjamin English 7th great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Benjamin was born February 3, 1705 in New Haven Connecticut, British America. He lived through the early days of the Revolutionary War and died towards the end of it, murdered in the Invasion of New Haven. This July 5, 1779 invasion is in lots of sources. Benjamin’s daughter in law Abigail provided a first hand account of his death in court. It’s sad and tragic but makes a reader appreciate all that went in to making America a free country 240 years ago.

Map of Hew Haven invasion

Drawing of 1779 Jul 5 invasion of New Haven

Benjamin was named after his dad, the 2nd of seven children. He married Sarah Dayton, “Benjamin English and Sarah Daton both of New Haven were Joined in marriage to Each other the 25th day of Sept:1735 Isaac Dickerman Justice of Peace.” Benjamin and Sarah stayed in New Haven and had at least 5 children. They named their first son Benjamin, he was s a Captain in King Philips War.

Sources

Richard Risley b. 1709

/ Kirstin Miller

Richard Risley 7th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Richard was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut on July 24, 1709. On September 24, 1729 he married Hannah Smith. They had 8 or 9 children and lived in Bolton, Connecticut. Richard was a widow in 1785 then married Mary Smith. On the 1790 census Richard is head of house living, probably, with a son with 2nd wife Mary.

Richard died in 1792. There’s no record of his will. His probate was on August 7, 1792 with Joseph Carver (no clues on who this person was) and Mary the widow as executors. The inventory of Richard’s estate included: One great coat, one bed with pillows and bolsters, 16 runs of linen yarn, a trunk, a chest of drawers, a tea kettle, pewter plates and cups, some livestock, 20 acres of land. An estate sale was held on April 18, 1793. Handwritten inventories of the 1600 and 1700s seemed to include every thing the person owned from buttons and seeds to land and livestock.

Risley, Richard estate papers page 4

Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 at Ancestry

Sources

Naomi Smith b. 1720

/ Kirstin Miller

Naomi Smith 7th great grandmother on RootsMagic tree.
Naomi was born October 28, 1720 in Providence, Rhode Island. Her parents Israel and Elizabeth Arnold Smith and ancestors lived in 1636 RI.  Naomi married Oliver Angell- his family also of 1636 RI. Naomi was a teacher, ‘She had the satisfaction of knowing that her boys and girls were all unusually intelligent.’ Page 9. Israel Angell Colonel of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment at HathiTrust. She’s described as a ‘small alert woman with remarkably keen dark eyes’. Naomi and Oliver had seven children and this Angell family lived right through the American Revolution. Naomi’s son Israel was a Colonel, son Hope helped with the draft. Naomi would have been part of the Homespun Movement. Americans tired of taxes on English imports, began protesting these imports, this included cloth. So before and during the war women upped their spinning and weaving to produce clothing, bedding, textiles, yarns  for their communities and the troops. 

Naomi Smith Angell headstone at Hope Angell Lot

Naomi Smith Angell headstone at Hope Angell Lot, RI

Naomi and Oliver both died in 1799, same year as George Washington. Naomi and Oliver are buried in a cemetery known as Rhode Island Hist. Cemetery North Providence #8, the Hope Angell Lot, or the Oliver Angell Lot. The cemetery was originally on an Angell farm and is now in a residential area between two houses. Photo shows the location on Google Maps. GPS coordinates: 41.8733900, -71.4574900 

Angell Cemetery in Rhode Island

Hope Angell Lot,. North Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

 

Ludwig Fryburger and Anna Beatty b. 1743

/ Kirstin Miller

Ludwig Fryburger 6th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Ludwig Fryburger was born in 1743 in Baden, Germany. He arrived in America on ‘The Hero’ October 27, 1764 and took an oath to the ‘Province and State of Pennsylvania’. Around 1766 Ludwig married Anna Maria Beattty. Ludwig probably fought in the American Revolution, shown by a marker at his headstone, no records found yet to prove this. In 1786 he paid taxes in Northumberland, Pennsylvania on: 50 acres of land, 1 horse, 2 cows, valued at  $13, state tax was 0 pounds 2 shillings 2 pence. In 1790 he is on the country’s first federal census living in Northumberland. PA with wife Anna, 4 sons and 2 daughters. Ludwig and family moved to Goshen, Ohio around 1800. Ludwig died there in 1802 and is buried in Myers Cemetery, Goshen, Ohio. His headstone has him as the first burial in this cemetery. He shares a headstone with his wife Anna. There are several Fryburgers buried in this cemetery.

Sources

  • Names of foreigners who took the oath at HathiTrust. Page 466 List of foreigners imported in the ship Hero Capt. Ralph Forster from Rotterdam last from Cowes. Qualified Oct 27, 1764 [30 – Vol XVII random?], Ludwig Frieburger, page 466 right column 4th name. 
  • Pennsylvania, Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801 at Ancestry. 1786 Northumberland Penn image 83 of 111 Penns. on Ancestry.
  • Find a Grave memorial 20297018
  • 1790 census at FamilySearch.org. FHL 0568149 Digital Folder 005157141 Image 00298 (43 of 53). Ludwick Freyberger, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, United States; citing p. 80, NARA microfilm publication M637, roll 9

Elbert Howard b. 1791

/ Kirstin Miller

Elbert Howard 5th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Elbert Howard was born in Georgia around 1791. In 1811 he was in Knox, Kentucky, in 1820 Lawrence, Indiana, 1840 in Lake, Illinois and by 1855 in Floyd County, Iowa. Elbert married Phone McNeil in 1811 in Kentucky, after her death he married Rachel Burlingham. Rachel and Elbert’s marriage was ‘the first marriage license granted by the County of Lake issued out of the Commissioners’ Court under date of September 10, 1839’. A history of Lake County, Illinois page 71 a free ebook at HathiTrust.

On June 15 1855 Elbert purchased 160 acres of land. Certificate 23,975 Elbert Howard of Floyd County, Iowa, 160 acres, 15 June 1855. Howard, Elbert 1855 land purchase

In 1857 he was appointed postmaster of Howardville, Iowa. Elbert Howard and some of his family are buried in the Howardville Cemetery. 

Ancestry . co sources: U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832-1971, Kentucky, County Marriages, 1783-1965 and U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907.

 

Henry Miller b. 1789

/ Kirstin Miller

Henry Miller b. 1789 4th great grandfather Henry Miller in RootsMagic tree

Henry was born in 1789 in Pennsylvania and is newly added as the father of Peter Miller b. 1827. Researching Peter in Waverly newspapers, he visited Canton, Stark County, Ohio a lot and in June of 1898 he visited with daughter in law Fiana Druckenbrod Miller, both were attending family reunions. It turned out the Stark, Ohio newspaper actually recorded Peter Miller’s visit and featured a full page article about the famous Miller family reunion with perhaps 500+ Millers attending.Miller family reunion 1898

The article is in the Stark County (Ohio) Democrat newspaper of 1898 June 30, provided by Stark Library. https://starklibrary.org/home/genealogy/digital-archives/

Henry Miller was born about 1782 in Pennsylvania, probably Berks County and probably descended from parents or grandparents who arrived from Germany.  He married Elizabeth Fryberger, they moved to Ohio around 1810 and were pioneers in the area. Henry was a widow around 1834 and married again, he may have had 12 children total. An 1830 census shows him and his family in Stark, Ohio. Before 1850 only the heads of homes names were recorded so the 1830 census has Henry Miller and 9 other people identified by tick marks in an age and gender category. Henry is second from bottom on this list. There also an Ohio marriage record for Henry and Julia Essig Troxel, both widowed, they married October 4, 1835 in Stark, Ohio.

Fronica Meinzer b. 1763

/ Kirstin Miller

Fronica Meinzer, my 5th great grandmother on RootsMagic tree.

Fronica -her name could have been Verona, Veronica or Fronica, all appear on records- was born about 1763 to Conrad and Elizabeth Hibshman Meinzer. The Meinzer family lived in Pennsylvania, in the Lancaster area, on a farm, part of the Pennsylvania Dutch or Deutsch community. Fronica’s dad Conrad died in 1781 and mentions his children in his will “All my lands shall be divided into six plots the share that I live on at present shall be appointed to my son John and the other five shares to Catharina, Anna Maria, Verona, Frederick and Conrad until all of my heirs are made equal.”

Fronica and Mathias marriage

General Washington in New York

Fronica married Mathias Druckenbrod on November 25, 1783. They married on the exact day the British troops left New York, called Evacuation Day, there were parades, monuments and more. Part of the 1783 celebration was General Washington arriving in New York then during the next weeks riding on through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and then Maryland where he met with the Confederation Congress and formally retired as Commander in Chief and finally returned to his home.

News traveled very slowly in 1783 so Mathias and Fronica may not have known what was happening 160 miles to the east as they exchanged wedding vows.

Sources