The Cable family, July 4th 1877

/ Kirstin Miller

The Cable family lived in Pleasant Grove, a tiny town outside Greene, Iowa. Jonathan Cable born around 1807 is the first known Cable in my tree. He married Eliza Frey, they had 5 kids and moved from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, where Eliza died, John married Charlotte Knapp, they moved to Iowa. William, my great grandpa, stayed in Pleasant Grove on the family farm. His brothers and sisters moved around to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado, and Washington.

In Iowa, 1877 Jonathan was 70, Charlotte 40, John was 30, Chancey 27, William 25, Sarah 23 and Violetta was 20.

In Greene, they had a big 4th of July celebration with: the Greene Band, baseball, a parade, a picnic dinner, races, fireworks, a baby show, horse races, a bowery dance and ice cream. Chancey and John had a saloon in Greene, almost certain it was part of the 1877 holiday celebration, it was sold in 1878.

Celebration

Described in the July 5, 1877 Butler County Press newspaper : THE CELEBRATION. A Complete Success. The morning of the Fourth dawned favorably, the sun arose and smiled pleasantly on Greene, and all of our citizens were alive and stirring at an early hour, everybody on the alert, endeavoring to have everything in the best of order for the eventful day, while Marble Rock was asleep, holding sweet counsels with Morpheus while indulging in her usual morning doze. A black cloud hung off in the direction of Clarksville a warning to the people of that benighted town of the gloom and silence that was to pervade all who tarried for the slim celebration there.”

Chancey was in the ‘picked nine’ baseball game, “Chauncey Cable came to bat and knocked a fly clear off into a foreign country and while some of the unfortunate Actives groped for it two tallies were slipped in. An unfortunate miss throw let in Cable and S. Thomas, and other fine scores were made and the shouts that arose for the picked nine were fairly deafening. Although the picked nine had the inconvenience of two extra men and double play they won laurels ever to be remembered and their names will be carried down to posterity.” And he was in the races, “4th of July festivities Chancey takes 2nd money in the foot race”.

Sources

Speedys visit Devil’s Backbone State Park

/ Kirstin Miller

Clarksville, Iowa newspaper July 24, 1930, “Mr. and Mrs. Harve Speedy and family and Miss Laura Wubbena spent Thursday at the Devil’s Backbone state park near Strawberry Point.”

Backbone State Park was dedicated in 1920, Iowa’s first state park. It’s named for the “steep and narrow ridge of bedrock cut by a loop of the Maquoketa River and forming the highest point in northeast Iowa – the Devils Backbone”.

Devil's Stairway at Backbone State Park

The 1920 dedication by Senator Byron Newberry: Everyone on the streets seems late for … a conference, meeting, luncheon. Hurry is stamped in the wrinkles of the American face. Parks let us look at things in leisure & give us a better view of life. Through parks we give health, build character, make use of leisure and build for future greatness. (Condensed)

Harve, Philippa and family would have driven about 2 hours, in a car, a 1920-30s model big enough for 2 parents, 6 kids and a friend. Philippa was 38 years old, Harve was 47. Children’s ages were Elizabeth age 13, Richard 11, Marjorie 9, Norma 7, Ivadell 5, Clair 3 years old.

In the same Clarksville, Iowa newspaper July 24, 1930, Harve’s brother Ernest Speedy’s family had a vacation in Clear Lake, Iowa. Philippa’s aunt and uncle Nettie and George Flood and family had visited George’s daughter Edith Flood Rathbone and her family at Sumner, Iowa.

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

Clarissa Mockford b. 1847

/ Kirstin Miller

Clarissa Mockford 4th great aunt on RootsMagic tree.
Clarissa was born in 1847 in Cornwall, England. In 1860 Clarissa received a graduation certificate, praising her work “very attentive and industrious”. This Victorian era certificate could have been from Sunday School or a public school. In most families -not landowning and not wealthy- kids older than 10 worked and didn’t go to school.

The certificate has these quotes running along the edge:

Honor all men, fear God, honor the King, love the brotherhood.
Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
Enter not in to the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men.  Better is little with the fear of the lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.
Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.

Clarissa lived in Cornwall until she was 19 and in 1866 with her parents and younger siblings she sailed to America and joined older brothers Henry, great grandpa of Elizabeth Speedy, and William. Henry and William had been in America for about 10 years. In 1870 Clarissa was living in Monroe County, New York and was a dressmaker. Clarissa married James A. Edmonds, a carpenter, around 1872 and they had their first child Lena in 1874 and second child Lewis in 1877.  Clarissa and James stayed in Monroe County, NY and lived 10 miles South of Lake Ontario, 40 miles east of Niagara Falls. Lena, Clarissa and James’s daughter married William Spies at Niagara Falls on May 18, 1902. Son James Edmunds married Ada Patitillo in Los Angeles on May 24, 1918. At James’s death in 1954 their home was at 1847 S La Brea Ave about 10 miles west of the Pacific Ocean. Clarissa died in 1920, James in 1922. Both are buried at High Street Cemetery in Brockport,  Monroe County, New York.

Sources

  • England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010 at FamilySearch
  • California, County Marriages, 1850-1952
  • Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927
  • California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-19941870
  • US census at FamilySearch
  • Certificate, Public Ancestry photo, ” JoAnna Messing originally shared this on 12 jul 2014”

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

Minnie Roose b. 1855

/ Kirstin Miller

Minnie Charlotte Roose 2nd great aunt on RootsMagic tree.

Minnie Roose was born 12 November 1855 in Germany, a middle child of Garbrand and Catherine Renistra Roose. When Minnie was 6 years old in 1862, she sailed with her family to America. They left from Bremen, Germany and sailed on the Adler, ‘eagle’ in the English language. The Roos family docked in New York and went on to Freeport, Illinois, 900 miles west. No idea how they traveled. When they got to Freeport an established German American community welcomed them. Minnie’s youngest brother Johann, grandpa of Stanley Roose, was born in Freeport in 1865.

New York arrival 1862

Around 1876 Minnie and family were in southern Butler County, Iowa near Aplington and Parkersburg. On July 18, 1878 Minnie married Harm Haren, also from Germany. Harm and Minnie married in Grundy County and lived the remainder of their lives there, in Palermo Township, Grundy County, Iowa. Harm was a farmhand “for two years, after which he engaged in the operation of rented land until 1882 when with the capital he had acquired through industry, perseverance and economy he purchased the farm which has since been his home.” Minnie and Harm had 9 kids, 5 sons and 4 daughters. Harm died in 1918, a long life, he was 67 years old.

34 years later in 1952, Minnie was 97 years old and featured in a 75th anniversary issue of the Grundy Register, Grundy Center’s local newspaper. Minnie was the oldest resident of the area. There’s a photo and a story of her life, family.

Minnie lived another 13 years to age 109 or 110. Minnie and Harm are both buried at Fairview Cemetery in Grundy Center, Iowa.

Sources

  • New York passenger lists 1820-1891 at FamilySearch
  • The Grundy Register 1952 Jun 5 at Ancestry
  • Portrait and biographical record of Jasper, Marshall, and Grundy Counties, Iowa at HathiTrust
  • Public Ancestry photo, “ivametge originally shared this on 04 Aug 2012. Top Row L-R Henry, Otto, Claus Bottom Row L-R John, Harm, Hubert”Public Ancestry photo, “ivametge originally shared this on 04 Aug 2012. Top Row L to R_ Ella, Anna Second Row- Mae, Kathryn (Trina) Front- Minnie”
  • Public photo on FamilySearch, ” Contributed By SchwartzBarbaraHaren1 24 December 2017″

Mary Magdalena [ ] Young b. 1787

/ Kirstin Miller

Mary 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Mary Magdalena was born in 1787 in Pennsylvania. Her last name, parents, nothing is known of her until she was married to Michael Young around 1807. They married in Pennsylvania and lived there until about 1820.

In 1820 Mary and Michael had moved to Stark County, Ohio. They had 2 children in Pennsylvania, then 5 more were born in Ohio. The Young family owned land, farmed. In 1850 Mary was 63 years old and on the 1850 census she lived in Marlborough Township, Stark, Ohio with her husband and youngest son Israel. Her older kids were married and in homes of their own. Michael and Israel farmed, Mary kept house and probably had a spectacular garden. Mary’s daughter Esther had married Peter Miller and they moved near Waverly Iowa. Their son William Miller was the grandad of Faber Miller.

Mary died at age 70 and is buried at Union Cemetery in Hartville, Stark County, Ohio.

Sources

  • 1850 United States Federal Census at Ancestry
  • New map of Stark County, Ohio at Library of Congress
  • Trinity Lutheran Church, Canton, Ohio : births, baptisms, deaths, marriages at FamilySearch
  • Find a grave memorial 105743390

Elizabeth Jeffrey b. 1779

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Jeffrey 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Elizabeth was born in 1779 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. She was the oldest child of Samuel and Jane Hanna Jeffrey. A published family history states Elizabeth’s dad Samuel Jeffrey was from Ireland and came to America, first Maryland then Pennsylvania. There’s no proof for this, just a statement.

Around 1795 Elizabeth married Andrew Crooks from Pennsylvania. Elizabeth and Andrew had 7 kids. Four of the seven kids stayed in Pennsylvania. 2 moved to Ohio and 6th child Elizabeth Crooks married William Stewart in PA then went all the way west to Shell Rock, Iowa. Elizabeth Crooks Stewart was the great grandma of Elizabeth Speedy.

Elizabeth Jeffrey Crooks died in 1818 at age 36. She is buried at Montour Cemetery in Oakdale, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Her husband Andrew remarried, died 30 years later and is buried in the same cemetery.

Sources

Christian and Anna Renistra b. 1800

/ Kirstin Miller

Christian and Anna Renistra, 4th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Christian and Anna have one record each. They were probably born in 1800, lived in Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands. Christian probably died in 1845, Anna probably died in the 1860s. Their 2 records are for the marriage and then death of their daughter Catherina who married Garbrand Roos. Christian and Anna probably had additional kids.

Anna, her last name unknown, is on Catherina’s marriage record of June 14, 1846. The marriage record is handwritten and in German, so it’s a mystery what’s actually written. Catherina and her mom Anna are on the record, dad Christian is not, so probably deceased. Catherina’s husband Garbrand Roos with his parents Jan and Meenke Schroder are also on the 1846 record.

Roos, Garbrand and Catharina Renistra 1846 marriage

Christian and Anna lived in Harlingen, Netherlands, near the Wadden Sea, a strange space -intertidal- on the coasts of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. The Wadden Sea at high tide is a regular coastline with water, waves. At low tide the sea disappears and the ‘bottom’ of the ocean is exposed for miles, it’s called ‘mudflats’. There are six-and-a-half hours between high tide -1.5 meters, about 5 feet deep; and low tide -mudflats.

Probably shortly after Anna’s death, daughter Catherina with Garbrand and their Roos family migrated to America in 1862, first Illinois, then Grundy County, Iowa. Their son Johan married Lena Wisbar, whose son George Roose and wife Mary Frerichs had a son Stanley Roose, who married Elizabeth Speedy. When Catherina died in Iowa, in 1909 her dad Christian is on her death record, her mom’s name isn’t on the record.

Sources

Sarah Dewey b. 1770

/ Kirstin Miller

Sarah Dewey 6th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Sarah Dewey was born on February 14, 1770 in Vermont, the 2nd of 7 kids of David and Sarah Witter Dewey. Sarah’s 4th great grandpa was Thomas Dewey, in colonial America in 1631, from England. Some say all American ‘Dewey’s’ are descended from this Thomas Dewey. No proof, just a rumor.

Connable-Dewey

Sarah Dewey married John Connable, a widow, on November 5, 1786. They lived in Franklin, Massachusetts, 10 miles north of Rhode Island. They had at least 10 children. At their home they farmed and John had a mill pond and mill yard. Sarah had her last child Samuel Connable in 1805. It’s stated in a family history book that Sarah, with her baby Samuel, her husband and her dad. they all went to Oneida County, New York to visit family. Sarah died there on October 25, 1806 and is probably buried in Bridgewater, New York. She was 37 years old.

Sarah’s children married, had families and stayed in the Massachusetts, New York area, except for 2: John Jr. went to Ohio. Daughter Leydia and husband Obed Gaines moved west, all the way to Iowa where their son, William’s daughter Mary Gaines, married James Miller, whose son William was the dad of Faber, husband to Gladys Cable.

Sources