went north

Jonathan Rawson and Bathsheba Tracy b. 1749

/ Kirstin Miller

Jonathan Rawson and Bathsheba Tracy, 6th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Jonathan Rawson was born March 15, 1749 in Mendon, Massachusetts.  Bathsheba Tracy was born  27 April 1752 in Preston, Connecticut. Jonathan and Bathsheba married on January 1, 1772 in Preston. They had three sons and three daughters born from 1773 to 1788. Jonathan is said to be a private in the American Revolution but there aren’t any records to prove this, only ‘REV WAR’ inscribed on his and Bathsheba’s headstones. Jonathan and Bathsheba joined their sons Solomon and William in Lyndon New York where, “The first settlement was made in 1808 by Solomon Rawson and his brother William. They came with their wives from Pennsylvania.” William ran a tavern, Solomon was a deacon of the church. “Rawson is[was] a postal hamlet near the northeast corner of the town, lying partly in Allegany county. It derives its name from Lyndon’s pioneer. Solomon Rawson.”

Bathsheba and Jonathan died around 1827 and both are buried at  Rawson Cemetery, next to Rawson Church  in Cattaraugus County, New York, USA. The cemetery is also known as Lyndon Cemetery and on the county line between Allegany and Cattaraugus counties. On Google maps the address is Rawson Rd, Cuba, NY 14727.

Rawson cemetery and church via Google maps https://goo.gl/maps/8TuXzSfb3N9AsTnp9

The Rawson family came to America from England in the 1630s, On my maternal side Francis Tracy married Elizabeth Parrish, their son Isaac Tracy married Mehitable Rude, their daughter Bathsheba Tracy married Jonathan Rawson their daughter Margaret married Joseph Benight, their daughter Clementina married Dexter Angell, their daughter Delia married William Flood, their daughter Matilda married Richard Mockford their daughter Philippa married Harve Speedy and had a daughter Elizabeth Speedy who married Stanley Roose, my grandparents.

The Tracy family came to America in the 1630s too. On my paternal side Jonathan Tracy married Mary Griswold, their son Christopher married Lydia Parrish, their daughter Deborah Tracy married David Dewey, their son David married Sarah Witter, their daughter Sarah married John Connable whose daughter Lydia married Obed Gaines, whose son William married Sarah Swain, their daughter Mary Ella married James Miller their son William is the dad of Faber Miller who married Gladys Cable, my grandparents

Sources

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

Phebe McNeil b. 1789

/ Kirstin Miller

Phebe McNeil, my 5th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Phebe was born March 12, 1789 to Jonathan and Jane McCord McNeil. Phebe’s mom and dad married in Virginia, between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains, then moved to the “Western Colony of Virginia”- where they raised their family in current day Knox County, Kentucky. Kentucky became a state in 1792, a few years after Phebe’s birth.

Eight miles south of Knox County is a national park, Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site. Thomas Walker was a doctor, farmer, served in the Virginia General Assembly and explored the “Western Colony of Virginia”. At the park there’s “a replica of the first Kentucky home” a cabin, similar to Phebe’s family home.

Original 1790s log house

In Knox County, Phebe married Elbert Howard on October 24, 1811. Phebe and Elbert had 1 daughter and 5 sons. By 1820 they’d moved 250 miles southwest and settled in Lawrence County, Indiana where Phebe’s older sister Elizabeth and Elbert’s older sister Elizabeth lived with their husbands and families.

Phoebe died in June 1826 she was about 40 years old. She’s buried at Old Shiloh Cemetery in Lawrence, Indiana. After Phebe’s death Elbert moved to Lake, Illinois with his 4 younger sons, aged 10, 6, 4 and 2 years old. He married again and was in Floyd County, Iowa by 1855.

Sources

Franklin Pierce Miller b. 1855

/ Kirstin Miller

Franklin Pierce Miller, great uncle on RootsMagic tree.

Franklin was born September 1, 1855 in Stark, Ohio. He was the 2nd child of Peter and Esther Young Miller and the older brother of William L Miller, grandpa of Faber Miller.

Frank’s family moved from Stark County, Ohio to Bremer County, Iowa before 1870. Frank had 5 brothers and 1 sister, Lillie and all grew up on the family farm in In Lafayette Township, Bremer County. On Christmas Day 1888 Frank married Harriet ‘Hattie’ Finney, her family was also from Stark, Ohio. Frank and Hattie had one son John Cleveland Miller.

In August 1898 Frank and brother in law George Bailey, husband of Lillie Miller Bailey, went to Nebraska to look at farms. The Bailey and Miller families decided to move to Nebraska and in January 1899 a farewell surprise party was held, “Frank Miller of LaFayette leaves next week for Nebraska with a car of household goods, etc. and his family will go later. Their neighbors gave Mr. and Mrs. Miller a farewell surprise party one evening last week, enjoying a pleasant time socially and before bidding their host and hostess good bye presented them with a handsome center table.”

The Millers and Baileys stayed in Nebraska and for about 7 years. By 1910 both families had moved to Aurora County, South Dakota. Brother Sylvester Miller was already there with his family, the southeast . Frank and Hattie’s son John married Teresa Gales. The couple had 10 kids, stayed in South Dakota where John farmed, owned a lunch room in the 1930s.

Frank was a widow in 1913. In Aurora he was a produce merchant on the 1920 census. The 1930 census shows Frank was retired and lived with John Gelsen and family and other boarders. John Gelsen was 43, a retired police officer, his parents from Germany and New York. David Marsh was 21, a retail merchant at a general store his parents were from Russia. John Robinson was 27, he managed a lumberyard his parents were from South Dakota and the Netherlands. Peter McGooty was 74, same age as Frank, he owned a billiard hall and his parents were from Ireland. Narem Grueznor. was 31, she sold hardware, her parents were from Wisconsin. Frank lived to age 78. He and Hattie are buried at Silver Ridge Cemetery
in Stickney, Aurora, South Dakota.

Sources

Chancey Cable b. 1850

/ Kirstin Miller

Chancey Cable, 2nd great uncle on RootsMagic tree.

Chancey was born April 1850 in Wisconsin, the 2nd son of Jonathan Cable and Eliza Frey. In 1870 his family lived on a farm in Pleasant Grove, Floyd County, Iowa. Chancey is in the local news papers in 1877, at the 4th of July celebration he won a race and played on the baseball team. Chancey and older brother John owned a saloon in Greene, Iowa.

In 1880 Chancey was in Chippewa, Wisconsin living in a boarding house with siblings John and Sarah. John and Chancey were Railroad Contractors. Sarah kept house with 35 boarders including Sarah’s husband Horace Towsley. On the 1880 census Chancey was a widow. If he ever married, it was for a very short time with no record yet of his wife and no known children. In 1885 Chancey  was in St. Paul, Minnesota. His brother John was there too, married and soon to have a son he would name Chancey.

By 1900 Chancey was further west in Sunshine, Colorado, on his own, a gold and silver miner. In 1910 he lived in Port Townsend, Washington on the northwest corner near Victoria and Vancouver,  Canada. He owned a tugboat named “New Era”. When Chancey died on October 30, 1910 his probate named each of his siblings and his handwritten will left everything to his sister Sarah Cable Towsley.

Will, listing Chancey’s siblings.

Cable- Chancey handwritten will

Chancey’s handwritten note, a will.

 

Sources

    • Washington death certificates 1907-1960 at FamilySearch.org

    • At Ancestry.com: Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905, Washington, Wills and Probate Records, 1851-1970, 1900 US Census, 1880 US Census.