Elizabeth Bowman b. 1769

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Bowman 6th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Elizabeth was born on October 5, 1769 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She was the 2nd of 8 kids of Abraham and Christina Bowman. Abraham was in the Revolutionary War and the family lived on a farm. Around 1790 Elizabeth married George John Harter. By 1800 the Harters were living in Stark County, Ohio. Also in Stark County were the Bair, Druckenbrod, Fryberger, Kreider and Miller families, all traveled from Pennsylvania to Ohio. Elizabeth and George Harter had 9 children: 5 daughters and 4 sons. The Harter kids stayed in the area, in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The Harter grandkids, great grandkids went to Iowa and further west to the coast. Elizabeth’s 3rd daughter, also Elizabeth, had at least 10 kids, great granddaughter Fianna Druckenbrod married William Miller in Ohio, then went to Iowa.

Elizabeth was a widow in 1833, age 64. She stayed in Ohio and would have lived with her grown children, her grandkids. On the 1860 US census she was 93 years old and lived with daughter Christina, married to Joel Rhodes with 4 kids. The census was taken on July 3, 1860. News at the time included the Covode Committee investigating alleged corruption of President Buchanan, an Andrew Jackson Democrat; and Abraham Lincoln the Republican nominee, his strange appearance. Yes, scandal and smallness have always been in politics- all parties. Elizabeth probably lived to see Lincoln elected in November, the start of the Civil war in April 1861 and her grandsons signing up for the war through 1865.

Sources

Mary Bowen b. 1635

/ Kirstin Miller

Mary Bowen 9th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Mary was born in Glamorgan, Wales in 1635, a middle child of Griffin and Margaret Fleming Bowen who had at least 12 children. Glamorgan is an historic county in Wales, at the southern most edge on the Bristol Channel. Mary and her siblings, parents all sailed for America in 1638. They were in Boston and on December 6, 1638 the Bowen family joined The First Church in Boston. They lived at Muddy River on the Charles River. “On the 25th of March 1639 Mr Gryffen Bowen had a great Lot granted to him at Muddy River”. By 1648 Mary’s mom and dad sailed back to Wales, or England to live. The kids all stayed America.

Mary married Benjamin Child in Massachusetts around 1652 and they went 4 miles south to Roxbury, Massachusetts. In Roxbury Mary and Benjamin joined the First Church of Roxbury. Churches also served a meeting houses, Benjamin was one who provided money to build the church and meeting house. Mary’s sisters, their husbands were also in Roxbury.

Mary and Benjamin had 12 children between the years 1654-1673. Mary’s husband and dad died around the same time about 1678, she is mentioned in both wills. In her dad’s will, “Widow Child had a share in the distribution of Griffith Bowen’s estate.“ Mary was administrated of her husband’s estate, she provided an inventory which included the lands, livestock, 3 silver spoons and a silver cup, a feather bed, bolsters & blankets, a rug, 10 lbs. of flax, a frying pan and an iron pot.

Mary died at age 72 on Halloween 1707, “The widow Mary Child dyed the last day of October at night”. Both she and Benjamin are buried in Eliot Burying Ground in Roxbury, their headstones are long gone.

Sources

Stephen Green and Mary Hoad b. 1765

/ Kirstin Miller

Stephen Green and Mary Hoad, 5th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Stephen Green was born in Seaford, Sussex, England. He was christened on March 9, 1765 his parents were Hannah and Stephen Green. Stephen had 8 siblings. Mary Hoad was christened on March 31, 1774 in Seaford. Her parents were John and Elizabeth Finch Hoad. Mary had 9 siblings.

Mary and Stephen were married on January 19, 1795. “Stephen Green and Mary Hoad, No. 179 Stephen Green of this parish, widower, of the same parish spinster Married in this Church by Banns this 19th day of January in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety five by me Tho. Evans. This marriage was solemnized between us the mark of Stephen Green the mark of Mary Hoad. In the presence of the mark of Richard Hoad the mark of Mary. -And- 1795 Banns marriage between Stephen Green widower and Mary Hoad spinster of this parish were published on the three Sundays underwritten. That is to say 4th, 11th 18th of January 1795 by me Tho. Evans, Vicar.” Spinster is the same as maiden, unmarried.

Their parish was most likely St Leonards, now an episcopal church. Their town Seaford is on the southwest edge of England on the English Channel. There is a place there called Seven Sisters, 500 feet chalk cliffs along the coast. If a person were standing in the panoramic photo they’d be a speck.

Seven Sisters Panorama, East Sussex, England at Wikipedia

Stephen’s first wife was Ann Levant, they had 4 children. Stephen and Mary had 7 children. Elizabeth Green was the youngest daughter- 2nd great grandma of Elizabeth Speedy, she would leave for America in 1862 with her husband Richard Mockford – they lived in Monroe, New York, their grandkids would go west, Richard Mockford to Iowa where he married Matilda Flood, their daughter was Philippa Mockford Speedy, their granddaughter was Elizabeth Speedy.

Sources

Ezekiel and Elizabeth Tubbs b. 1727

/ Kirstin Miller

Ezekiel and Elizabeth Tubbs, 6th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree

Ezekiel Tubbs was born on July 13, 1727 in New London, Connecticut. He was the youngest of nine kids of Isaac and Martha Smith Tubbs. His family was troubled and his mom had to go to court to get control of lands, or money and support the family because husband Isaac wasn’t. Ezekiel was the 3rd generation of his family born in America, great grandpa William Tubbs left England for America around 1634.

When Ezekiel was about 19 he married Elizabeth. She was from the same area and the same age, that’s all that’s known of her. Ezekiel and Elizabeth had 6 kids, 3 sons and 3 daughters.

Collections of the Connecticut historical society

Ezekiel was a soldier in the French Indian Wars in 1755 to 1759 from about age 28 to age 32. The French and Indian War had 2 sides: colonists from British America against New France (Canada) with American Indian allies on both sides. The War ended with the Treaty of Paris, then more wars followed. In 1778 records show an Ezekiel Tubbs fighting in the Revolutionary War, maybe it was this Ezekiel at age 51 or it could have been a son or nephew, it’s unsure.

Ezekiel and Elizabeth probably died around 1790, probably in New London, Connecticut. Their 3 sons Ananias, Lemuel and Ezekiel fought in the Revolutionary War then married, had families. Daughter Experience married Samuel Cooley. Daughters Elizabeth and Abigail married Gaines brothers. Elizabeth married David, Abigail married Joseph Gaines. Abigail and Joseph, 3rd great grandparents of Faber Miller had a son Obed. Obed traveled to Iowa with his older sons who farmed, started families in Bremer & Butler Counties.

Sources

Samuel Jeffrey and Jane Hanna b. 1750

/ Kirstin Miller

Samuel Jeffrey and Jane Hanna 5th great grandparents on RootsMagic Tree

Samuel Jeffrey was born in 1750, probably in Pennsylvania, maybe in Ireland or Scotland. HIs parents and past aren’t known. Wife Jane Hanna has even less information, just that she was in the area and about the same age. Samuel and Jane married around 1775 and had 9 kids.

The Jeffreys married near Maryland, then settled in Allegheny County in western Pennsylvania, about 15 miles west of Pittsburgh. In the area, near the towns of Clinton, Moon and Imperial, the Pittsburgh International Airport is there now.

Samuel was in the Revolutionary War with the Chester, Pennsylvania Militia, from 1781-1782. A Pennsylvania Veteran Burial Card shows this info. On December 8, 1786 Samuel and James Brice were on a land deed, they bought 3.4 acres.

Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952 at Ancestry

The Jeffrey family is on the 1790 US census which is 9 pages with 5800 total households, heads listed by name, wife and spouse by tick marks. With Samuel and Jana are 3 daughters and 4 sons. On this same census are William Stewart, William Speedy, Henry Crooks, the Howlett and Hanna families- all ancestors of Elizabeth Speedy. Some members of these families traveled west together from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and a few to Iowa.

In the digital book from 1889, History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, there’s a bio with details on Samuel Jeffrey, “R. W. Jeffrey (Robert Walker Jeffrey b. 1824), farmer, is a grandson of one of the early settlers of Fayette township. Samuel Jeffrey, who was born in Ireland, emigrated to America, locating first in Maryland, but later coming to Allegheny county, where he took up a tract of land from the government.” The ‘born in Ireland, emigrated to America’ part is a maybe, there’s no records to prove this yet.

Samuel died on August 26, 1798. Jane Hanna Jeffrey probably died about the same time. Samuel has a headstone at Montour Cemetery, Oakdale, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The current newer headstone was placed in 1970. Inscribed on the headstone: Samuel Jefferey Sr. Died August 26, 1798 Revolutionary War Veteran Pvt. H? Chester Co. Penna Militia Served Apr 23 1781 to Jan 1, 1782 The Oldest Marked Grave … Cemetery. Jane is probably buried in the same cemetery.

In the same Montour Cemetery other Jeffrey family are buried including Elizabeth Jeffrey Crooks whose daughter Elizabeth Crooks Stewart went all the way to Iowa where her daughter Elizabeth Stewart and husband Manford Speedy had a son Harve Speedy, dad of Elizabeth Speedy .

Sources

  • Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952 at Ancestry
  • Pennsylvania, Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-2012 at Ancestry
  • History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania at HathiTrust
  • 1790 US Census at FamilySearch

John Connable b. 1749

/ Kirstin Miller

John Connable 5th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

John Connable was born in 1749 in Bernardston, Massachusetts, the 3rd of 7 kids of Samuel & Mary English Connable. John grew up in Bernardston on the northern edge of Massachusetts and stayed there for most of his life with a short time in Guilford, Vermont a town 10 miles north.

John farmed and owned a sawmill. He was a deer reeve- decided hunting quotas for the community. He was on inspection committees, a surveyor of highways and also built, engineered bridges like his dad Samuel. John was the executor for his dad’s estate and inherited the family home which he passed on to his oldest son Joseph Connable.

Genealogical memoir of the Cunnabell, Conable or Connable family

John and was a private in the Revolutionary War with Colonel Elisha Parker who kept a diary noting orders from General George Washington and from Colonel Benedict Arnold in an expedition to Canada with 1000+ men.

John married 3 times, was a widow twice. He and 2nd wife Sarah Dewey were parents of Leydia Connable who with her husband Obed Gaines went west to Black Hawk County, Iowa in 1854. Leydia and Obed’s son William had a daughter Mary Ella Gaines who married James Miller in Waverly, Iowa. Their son William married Lola and they were the parents of Faber Miller born 1905.

John Connable is buried at Old Cemetery in Bernardston, Massachusetts. His headstone still stands, it’s faded, with this inscription ‘Death is a sweet sonorous sound To those who have salvation found, It wafts them to the courts of bliss, Where all is joy and happiness’.

Sources

Seibelt Henrichs b. 1844

/ Kirstin Miller

Seibelt Gerd Henrichs 4th great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Seibelt “Sila” was born August 28, 1844 in Germany, probably Aurich a town in Lower Saxony, on the northern edge of Germany. Sila’s parents were Gerd and Flora Janssen Henrichs. In the family were at least 7 siblings including Henrich ‘Henry’ Henrichs great grandpa of Stanley Roose. Seibelt and Henrich’s family relationship is somewhat iffy, but is probable and once found, a DNA match will prove they are brothers. Sila’s niece Annie Antje Henrichs married Enno Frerichs, grandparents of Stanley Roose.

In Germany, Sila married Anna Itjes in 1870. On March 20, 1881 this Henrichs family sailed on the ship Leipzig from Bremen to Baltimore, Maryland. Sila, Anna and their first 4 daughters Flora or Foolke, Dena or Bernadine, Jenny or Fauken and Katie or Gretje. The family went from Baltimore to Butler County, Iowa, a journey of 1,000 miles. Most likely German American immigrants, churches? provided food and shelter, if needed, along the way.

Henrichs, Seibelt 1917 land

Sila and family on the 1895 Iowa census lived in Albion township, near Parkersburg. On the 1900 US census they were in Ripley Township, closer to Butler Center, a tiny town no longer there. Siebelt had purchased a farm, his neighbors were from Germany, Holland, Iowa, Michigan, New York. Four more daughters, Annie, Johannah, Mattie and Christina were born and Ben Hinders, also from Germany, lived with the family as a servant or farm hand. By 1900 daughter Dena had married John Classe Hoodjer, they farmed nearby and had 3 children. Other Henrichs daughter married, had families and stayed in the area except oldest daughter Flora who stayed single and daughter Hannah who died of pneumonia in her 20s.

Sila and family were members of the Ebenezer Lutheran Church along with almost all ancestors of Stanley Roose. The church is gone, was in Butler Center. A published book Mission in a Mile by Henry Freese tells the story and history of the church. On page 33, a list of baptisms at the church shows Sila’s daughter Johanna Henrichs baptized in 1888. On that same page Claus Endlemann, a future son in law and Jantje Reents, a future grandniece are also baptized.

Sila lived to age 75 and his wife Anna lived to age 96. Both are buried at Butler Center Cemetery near where Ebenezer Lutheran church used to be. Sila and Anna share a large ‘Hinrichs’ headstone and each have a smaller Mother, Father headstone with Ruhe Sanft ~ rest gently, or peacefully. Of the 22 Henrichs buried in there, 10 are of Sila’s family. Daughter Christina who married Harold Hartson, they are buried at Lynwood Cemetery in Clarksville.

Sources

  • Mission in a mile by Henry Freese published 2002.
  • United States Germans to America index 1850-1897 at FamilySearch
  • Iowa death records 1904-1951 at FamilySearch
  • Headstone photo at Find a grave, public photo, “Added by Hooked On Family 21 Apr 2014”
  • US and Iowa censuses at FamilySearch
  • Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948 FamilySearch
  • 1917 Atlas, Jefferson Townshipat UI Iowa Digital Library

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

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

Elizabeth Parrish b. 1691

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Parrish: 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Elizabeth Parrish was born March 19, 1691 in Groton, Massachusetts.  Elizabeth was the 2nd of 10 children of John and Mary Waddell Parrish. Elizabeth’s dad John and mom Mary Waddle were both born in Massachusetts, their ancestors were from England and Scotland. Elizabeth had 9 bothers and sisters and 4 half siblings.

Sometime before 1704 Elizabeth and her family moved to Preston, Connecticut where the family was admitted to the First Congregational Church, “Nov 15, 1704 John PARISH & Mary, his wife, by letter from Ipswich”

Also in Preston, CT Elizabeth married Francis Tracy, grandson of Thomas Tracy, on January 6, 1714. The Tracy family of England were original settlers, founders of Preston. “Thomas Parke, Thomas Tracy, and others established Preston … Owaneco, son of the Mohegan sachem Uncas, gave a confirmatory deed for the land in 1687”.

The Parrish and Tracy families were interconnected. Benjamin Parrish married a Tracy sister, Elizabeth’s sisters Mary, Sarah and Lydia married a Tracy brother.
And in my family tree Elizabeth Parrish and Francis Tracy are 6th great grandparents on my mom’s family side.
Elizabeth’s sister Lydia P. and Francis’s brother Christopher T. are 6th great grandparents on my dad’s family side.
In Elizabeth and Lydia Parrish’s lives, from 1680s on, the chances not taken, choices made, relationships built, risks taken, all led to my descendants in Iowa connecting. I don’t think about it for too long- it makes my head spin.

Parrish to speedy

Elizabeth and Francis’s first Iowa ancestor was Delia Angell, age 15, she came to Iowa after her dad Dexter died and she lived with older brother Charles Angell . Delia would marry William Flood, the great grandparents of Elizabeth Speedy, my grandma.

Parrish to miller

Lydia and Christopher’s first Iowa ancestor was Leydia Connable Gaines, age 59. Leydia and husband Obed Gaines traveled by wagon from Indiana to Waverly, Iowa to live with son William Gaines and his wife Sarah Swain, the great grandparents of Faber Miller, my grandpa.

Sources