went south

Samuel Hill b. 1680

/ Kirstin Miller

Samuel Hill 7th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.
Samuel was born February 16, 1680 in Newbury, Massachusetts. His parents were Samuel and Abigail Wheeler Hill, they came to Newbury before 1679, Samuel’s grandparents came from England to America around 1638.

Painting at Wikipedia, Sunlight and Shadow: The Newbury Marshes, by Martin Johnson Heade.

Samuel grew up in Newbury, MA on the Atlantic Coast know for its ‘marshes’. In 1708 Samuel bought or was given land in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, 80 miles south of Newbury and 10 miles west of Plymouth, Massachusetts. In Rehoboth he married Ann Brown and they had 9 children.

Samuel died July 27, 1732, at age 53, within a month of his dad’s death. Estate papers in Rehoboth are dated August 15, 1732 and include an inventory. In the inventory were money, books, pewter, linen, sheep’s wool, flax, cotton, a cart and plows, livestock and lands with “a piece of meadow”.

Most of Samuel’s information comes from his wife Ann Brown, the great granddaughter of Elizabeth Tilley and John Howland who both sailed on the Mayflower. Elizabeth Tilley and John Howland had 10 children who all survived to adulthood, a rare thing in the 1600s. They had more than 88 grandkids, “As a result, they likely have more descendants living today than any other Mayflower passengers” about 3,000,000. The Mayflower’s 400th Anniversary was in 2020, but minimized, because of the global pandemic. (Proving Elizabeth Speedy Roose’s Mayflower connection requires a couple more notarized records- then done. I’ve written an informal ‘proof’ here)

Sources

Pleasant Davis b. 1844

/ Kirstin Miller

Pleasant Davis: 1st cousin 4 times removed on RootsMagic tree.

Davis, Pleasant son of HortonPleasant Davis was born in Ohio on November 30, 1844. He was one of 13 kids of Horton and Florida Russell Davis. Horton’s dad, Pleasant’s grandpa was Pleasant Davis married to Sarah Horton, both of Virginia. Names ‘Pleasant’ and ‘Horton’ were carried on through the generations as first or middle names for sons. One ‘Pleasant’ went by Plez. This Pleasant married Huldah England on February 17, 1868 in Ohio. Soon after Pleasant’s family and older sister Sarah Davis Martin and her family left Ohio for Illinois where Pleasant lived for a few years. Pleasant’s other siblings were in Iowa, North Dakota and sister Martha, in photo, went all the way to Oregon. By 1883 Pleasant was in Union, Iowa with his dad, mom and some siblings. Pleasant and Florina’s son Clement Pleasant Davis was born in Union and 4 Davis daughters Florina, Mary, Sarah and Victoria were all married in Iowa.

Florina died around 1888 and Pleasant with his younger kids, they all headed for the Cherokee Nation where the 1889 Indian (land) Appropriations Act gave up land for purchase and President Harrison proclaimed “unassigned lands were open for settlement under much less stringent rules”. Today the area is north eastern Oklahoma, it was called ‘Cherokee Nation’ on census forms from about 1840? until Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

1900 census Davis family in Cherokee Nation

Pleasant’s family lived in Bluejacket where he farmed. His sons Horton and Warren helped on the farm, the younger kids were in school. Bluejacket is 50 miles north east of Tulsa with a population of about 300 today. Pleasant’s daughters Florina and Victoria with their families joined their dad in Bluejacket, Oklahoma. Pleasant died at age 78 on April 3, 1924 and is buried at Bluejacket Cemetery.

Sources

  • Davis, Pleasant, Public Ancestry photo, “wrae7711 originally shared this on 25 Apr 2013”
  • This Land podcast on Cherokee Nation, how it began
  • Cherokee Nation, some history at Wikipedia
  • Iowa, Delayed Birth Records, 1850-1939 at FamilySearch
  • Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934 at FamilySearch
  • 1900 US census at FamilySearch

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

Nora Cable b. 1892

/ Kirstin Miller

Nora Cable great aunt on RootsMagic tree.

Nora was born on August 25, 1892 in Pleasant Grove, Floyd County, Iowa. She was the third child of William Cable and first wife Nellie Stroud. The Cable kids lived on a farm. Nora and bother Leonard, sister Ruth went to Marble Rock, Iowa schools. After Nor’s parents divorced she and siblings moved to Kansas.

On July 31, 1912 Nora returned to Pleasant Grove, Iowa. In the Iowa (Greene) Recorder, “Miss Nora Cable of Kansas City arrived in Greene last Friday for a visit with her father Wm Cable and family.” That same weekend the Buffalo Bill show was in Charles City, many families from Greene drove to see the show.

Tosh, Marguerite 1930 yearbook photo

On August 31, 1912 Nora married Cecil Orzo Tosh in Wyandotte County, Kansas. The 1920 US census shows Nora, Orzo and their 2 daughters Marguerite and Marjorie, lived with Orzo’s mom and dad. Orzo’s dad was in real estate, Orzo was a credit man. The home was at 719 West 44th street in Kansas City, still a residential area today.

On the 1930 census Nora and family are in the same home, Orzo a manger at a whole sale hosiery business, daughters Marguerite and Marjorie are in their teens. Marguerite was born in 1913, she was a year younger than Nora’s sister Gladys Cable. Marguerite’s photo is in the 1930 yearbook of Westport High School, in Kansas City. She’s 16 years old.

Nora’s husband was a traveling salesman in 1934 when he picked up a hitchhiker near Clarinda, Iowa. After sharing a meal the hitcher pulled a knife and demanded money. Orzo fought the hitcher then leaped out of the car and ended up in the local hospital in serious condition. Orzo recovered and was 46 at his death in 1936. On the 1940 census Nora, now a widow, was in the same house, with daughter Marjorie and Marjorie’s husband William Boone. William was from Little Rock, Arkansas and worked as a shop foreman in a bakery.

Nora lived to age 87, she died in May 1980. Both she and Orzo are buried at Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City.

Sources

  • Iowa Recorder 1912 Jul 31 page 5 of 8 column 2 mid bottom
  • 1934 Jul 19 Maryville Daily Forum at Newspaper Archive, Cedar Rapids Public Library
  • U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 at Ancestry
  • 1920, 30, 40 US censuses at FamilySearch or Ancestry

 

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 borther John owned a saloon in Greene, Iowa. In 1880 Chancey was in Chippewa, Wisconsin with John and sister, 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. Chancey  was in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1885. 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 “New Era”. When Chancey died 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