went west

Oscar Speedy b. 1867

/ Kirstin Miller

Oscar Alexander Speedy 2nd great uncle on RootsMagic tree.

Speedy, Oscar in Stockton California

Oscar’s parents were Manford and first wife Ann Coats Speedy. Ann died of typhoid fever in 1869, Oscar was 2. His 2nd mom was Elizabeth Stewart Speedy. Oscar grew up in Butler County, Iowa. He attended school and lived on a farm. By 1888 at age 21 he was out west in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. He was first a miner then an engineer at the Stockton Jackson Baths, mineral baths. “The facility included twelve bath houses for private parties, a clubhouse for entertaining and a grand stand for musical concerts. The thirteen acre resort destination also featured lawn areas with picnic tables and barbecue pits, and even a small zoo and a scenic railway.” Article by Alice Van Ommeren, 2014 . The baths ended in the 1940s.

Speedy, Oscar Stockton, CA

Jackson Baths in Stockton California

Oscar is on the California Voter Lists in 1888 and 1892, not yet found on a census in California. ON voter lists Oscar is described “5′ 10″ dark complexion, hazel eyes, brown hair”.

He is not mentioned in his dad Manford’s 1914 obituary so may have died before 1914, not sure. Update Fall 2019, Oscar Speedy has a Find a Grave memorial with details. At Find a Grave: Oscar A. Speedy is buried in Block 27N, Row G, Lot 164. He died in 1895, he was 28 years old. There’s no grave marker or death certificate, details. Burial information was provided by Cathleen Boccia, an employee of the Stockton Rural Cemetery, memorial created by “lawman on 29 Jun 2019”.

Sources

William L. Miller b. 1852

/ Kirstin Miller
William L. Miller, my 2nd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.
William was born in August 1852 in Stark Ohio, his middle name may be Louis. William was the oldest of 7 children of Peter and Esther Young Miller. His family farmed in Ohio and by 1870 when William was 18 they were living on a farm in Bremer County, Iowa.
William kept in touch with Fianna Druckenbrod of Stark Ohio, and they were married on September 5, 1875 in Stark, Ohio.  The newlyweds settled in Bremer County, Iowa, had 7 children and farmed. On the  1880 Iowa agricultural census William’s farm had: 230 tilled acres, 10 acres of meadow, 30 acres of forest, 60 acres of hay, 3 horses, 2 cows, 2 calves, 21 pigs, 15 chickens, 40 acres of Indian corn, 20 acres of oats, 85 acres of wheat, half acre of potatoes.
By 1905 William and Fiana lived in Amery, Wisconsin. William was a teamster and a truck gardener. When Fiana died in 1923 William lived with his son Frank and family in Amery, Wisconsin.
William and Fiana are buried in Andrews Cemetery near Waverly, Iowa. I visited the cemetery in summer, 2017. William and Fiana’s headstone is surrounded by 5’ day lilies.
Headstone Miller, William and Fiana Druckenbrod
Sources at FamilySearch.org
  • Ohio, County Marriages 1789-2013
  • US census records
  • 1880 Iowa agricultural census

Dexter Angell b. 1794

/ Kirstin Miller

Dexter Angell was perhaps the favorite grandson of Israel Angell. Israel’s letter to his son Asa no date, has Israel remembering Dexter and hoping to see him soon.

Angell, Israel to son Asa re grandson Dexter

Israel’s letter to his favorite grandson, Dexter

Dexter was born in Providence and died in northeastern New York. By age 20 he was in Prairieton, Indiana where he owned land, farmed, married and had a family 2 daughters and 1 son. When his wife Clementina Benight died in 1847 Dexter returned to Rhode Island, married Betsy Gazley they had a son Julius.

In 1831 the year before Israel died Dexter was definitely in Rhode Island and on the Committee to investigate the Governor of Rhode Island, Lemuel Arnold so probably stopped in Providence to see his granddad in 1831. Dexter would have been 37, Israel was 90, twice a widow and married to his 3rd wife.

Dexter Angell (1794 – 1854) > Delia Viola Angell (1839 – 1916) > Matilda Elizabeth Flood (1858 – 1940) > Philippa Flood Mockford (1891 – 1979) > Elizabeth Matilda Speedy (1917 – 2005)

Sources:
Lovell, Louise Lewis. Israel Angell: Colonel of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment. New York, The Knickerbocker press (G.P. Putnam’s sons), 1921

National Republican Party (U.S.). Rhode Island. Examination of Certain Charges Against Lemuel H. Arnold, Esq., the National Republican Candidate for Governor. Providence, 1831.

William Newcomb Gaines b. 1825

/ Kirstin Miller

William was born Nov 16, 1825 in Madison county New York, he died May 16 1907 in Lane, Oregon and is buried in Janesville, Iowa. He was the sixth child of Obed and Leydia Connable Gaines born after triplets Abigail, Lydia and Obed. William was either adopted or ‘bound out to’ his mom’s first cousin Samuel Newcomb. With Samuel, an early Mormon, William went to Salt Lake Territory in 1850. By 1854 he was married to Sarah Swain and living in Bremer County, Iowa. William was a hotel proprietor, a postmaster, a farmer, an assessor and a carpenter. He and Sarah had 6 children. William in the History of Butler and Bremer Counties.
The 1860 Agricultural census shows William producing 200 lbs. of maple sugar or syrup. William probably had no idea that his great great grandfather Samuel Connable was most likely the person who refined or engineered the way to extract maple syrup: History of Bernardston and The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, And Literature for the Year
William was a widow at age 64. At 70 he lived with his son and family in Wadena Minnesota. At 75 he was living with a daughter in Lane, Oregon.

Obed Gaines married Leydia Connable > William Newcomb Gaines married Sarah Swain > Mary Ella Gaines married James Davis Miller  > William Earl Miller married Lola Miller > Faber Miller married Gladys Cable Miller.

Israel Angell b. 1740

/ Kirstin Miller
Israel Angell 4th great grandfather of Elizabeth Speedy b. 1917 who married Stanley Roose, Sr b. 1915
In 1775 Israel was in Prospect Hill outside of Boston after the  Battle of Bunker Hill which followed the Siege of Boston, which is considered the beginning of the American Revolution.  Israel is a major and in the thick of it. This letter concerns 2 things: nails to finish his home for the winter and people arguing with each other about insignificant things instead of standing together for the revolution.
The full letter is here, from a book. (Israel Angell’s handwriting is described as ‘one of the finest specimens of penmanship we have in the Archives of Washington’)
Prospect Hill, December the 1st, 1775.
Dear Brother: I take this opportunity to inform you that I Still Enjoy that Blessing which is my health, GOD be praised; and I hope that You and all yours Receive the Same blessing. I was informed by Our brother Elisha that there were no nails to be had in Providence, but that you thought likely there wore Some in Newport. If there is, pray Brother, send and get them, and See that one Room is finished this winter, otherwise I Shall be very Discontented about my family. Let Me know what Sum of money you Shall want to Carry on the Business and I will Send it as Soon as possible. There are no Nails to be had in this part of the world.
and
Brother I am much alarmed At the News of the Conduct of the people in Providence And the towns Adjacent, to hear that they are likely to Rise in mobs on the account of Salt’s rising and Some other Small Articles. I beg of Every honest and well meant Person, both in town and country, to Exert them Selves to The utmost of their power to Suppress any riotous proceedings Among your Selves, Especially at this time. For God Sake Let us unite all as one in America. If we don’t, but fall at variance among our Selves, of all GOD’s Creation we Shall be the most Miserable.
Israel Angell (1740 – 1832) > Asa Angell (1771 – 1842) > Dexter Angell (1794 – 1854) > Delia Viola Angell (1839 – 1916) > Matilda Elizabeth Flood (1858 – 1940) > Philippa Flood Mockford (1891 – 1979) > Elizabeth Speedy (1917 – 2005) married Stanley Roose (1915 – 2004).

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.

Charles Angell b. 1825

/ Kirstin Miller

Charles Angell, my 3rd great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Charles Angell was born in Utica, New York to Dexter Angell and Clementine Benight. He grew up in Prairieton, Indiana and by 1845 he was in Illinois where he married Eleanor Black on April 2. They had eight children and were farmers in Illinois then in Butler County, Iowa near Clarksville.

The 1870 US agricultural census shows Charles owned a 120 acre farm, valued at $4800. He had 4 horses, 5 milk cows, 5 other cows, 41 sheep and 17 swine. The farm produced 240 bushels of wheat, 350 of Indian corn and 180 of oats. 146 pounds of wool, 30 pounds of potatoes, 150 pounds of butter, 40 bales of hay and 40 gallons of molasses were also recorded.

Sources

  • U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1870; Butler, Iowa; -at Ancestry
  • New York, Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999 Wills, 1792-1922at Ancestry

Elizabeth Harter b. 1795

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Harter 5th great grandmother on RootsMagic tree

Elizabeth was born in 1795 in Beaver, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. At age 9 or so Elizabeth and her family set out for Ohio, ‘Early in the spring of 1806 the family of George Harter started from Beaver in a six-horse wagon for their new home in Ohio. A daughter, then in her ninth year, later Mrs. Jehu Grubb, had in after years a very distinct recollection of the journey out; of seeing the men at work digging the race for Slusser’s mill, as they crossed Nimishillen: of her great disappointment at the size of Canton, expecting to see it as large as Pittsburg-, when it contained only three cabins, all told.” Page 43 Old Landmarks of Canton and Stark Ohio at HathiTrust.

Part of Elizabeth’s childhood in Canton was working the family farm. At 15 she’s sent to the town mill with bushels of wheat. On Elizabeth’s horse is the lighter sack, also she’s leading a second horse with the heavier 3 pound sack. It’s a long day riding to the mill, then waiting at the mill. Elizabeth starts home closer to dark than she had hoped. Following the trail through the woods is more difficult without sunlight. She rides on with her milled wheat (flour- but not like 2016 flour) and two horses. At one point she strays from the trail and a tree bough sweeps the bag of flour off the second horse.

“Here was a new difficulty, and she was about at her wits’ ends : but the girls of that time did not readily yield to trifles, and Elizabeth dismounted and used her best endeavors to put the sack back to its place; she did succeed in getting it upon her shoulder, but her strength was not great enough to throw it over the horse ; she worried herself with it, however, a long time, and was about giving up in despair, with the thought of going back to Canton until morning, as she had yet several miles home, when an old settler, Frederick Rodacker, happened to come along, and threw the sack upon the horse.”

The old Mr. Rodacker offers Elizabeth a place to stay till morning, she accepts. Back home her mom Elizabeth Bowman Bair is worried and “she blew a horn for more than half the night, so that her daughter might discern the way to the house”.

Elizabeth Harter was married to Abraham Bair and a mom at 18. After marrying Abraham she wasn’t so much a housewife. She didn’t stay in the house but was outside with her husband clearing land, rolling logs and burning brush. She may have had 10 children total with Abraham and her 2nd husband Jehu Grubb. Elizabeth’s War of 1812 pension application and her record keeping were majorly responsible for 2nd husband Jehu Grubb being recognized as a son in the Grubb Family dynasty, Curtis Grubb was Jehu’s father. Jehu’s story is worth reading, on Wikipedia.

bair-house-jacob-hFirst child Jacob built this house (at Wikipedia, photo by Sanfranman59). It is part of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Stark County, Ohio. The home was probably built in 1869 in Elizabeth’s 73rd year. Jacob inherited land from his stepfather Jehu Grubb’s estate and built this house on that land.

Sources

Bradford Hale b. Jan 1844

/ Kirstin Miller

Bradford Hale 1st cousin 2 times removed or 2 generations back from Elizabeth Speedy who married Stanley Roose.  Bradford Hale on RootsMagic tree.

Bradford Hale was born in Prairieton, Vigo, Indiana. His father’s family, the Hales, and mother’s family, the Angells, were original settlers in Prarieton. Bradford’s grandfathers are featured in the book “History of Vigo and Parke Counties together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources” by H. W. Beckwith. Available at the Vigo County Public Library and on Ancestry.com .

In 1862, at age 18 Bradford enlisted and entered the Civil War. He was part of three regiments:
33rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry
54th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (3 months, 1862)
85th Regiment, Indiana Infantry

The 85th regiment “took part in all the operations before Atlanta and was present at its fall. It engaged in the destruction of railroads and also in the building of roads and bridges.”  Source: Index with transcription Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., American Civil War Regiments, 1861-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.

Bradford ended up at the infamous Confederate Andersonville Prison or Camp Sumter- known for seriously inhumane conditions. Bradford was exchanged the day President Abraham Lincoln died April 15, 1865. The camp was officially liberated May 1865 and today it’s a National Historic site in Georgia, at Wikipedia Andersonville Historic site.

After the war Bradford worked, married later in life and had a daughter. By 1885 he was 44 and a rancher in Chafee Colorado. 

Part of Bradford Hale’s military record at the National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, online.

Name: Bradford Hale
Enlistment Date: 18 Jun 1862
Rank at enlistment: Private
State Served: Indiana
Survived the War?: Yes
Service Record: Enlisted in Company F, Indiana 54th Infantry Regiment on 18 Jun 1862.Mustered out on 18 Sep 1862 at Indiana

Name: Bradford Hale
Side: Union Regiment
State/Origin: Indiana
Regiment Name: 85 Indiana Infantry.
Regiment Name Expanded: 85th Regiment, Indiana Infantry Company: E
Rank In: Private
Rank In Expanded: Private
Rank Out: Private
Rank Out Ex –

Civil War Trust Saving America’s Battlefields provides maps, photos and great detail on the Civil War.

A copy of Bradford’s headstone application c. 1936. Bradford’s great grandfather was Israel Angell, a Revolutionary War Colonel who wrote to and received letters from General George Washington. I wonder if Bradford knew this.

screenshot

Hale, Bradford. U.S. Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963

National Archives at Washington, D.C.Applications for Headstones,
compiled 01/01/1925 – 06/30/1970, documenting the period ca. 1776 – 1970
ARC: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985,
Record Group 92. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.