175 Years Ago: The start of the Thomas family in America

Wait, I thought as I looked at that ship's register transcription on USGenWeb by Pat Thomas, that's 175 years ago! This week! My Thomas ancestors sailed on the Barque Tiberius from Newport (or New Port) Harbor in Wales headed for Baltimore exactly 175 years ago this Sunday. At 109 feet long, it carried 76 passengers and took 46 days to reach Baltimore, Maryland, which they did on 11 Sept 1838.

When I visited Mom last fall we went to the Frostburg Museum in lovely little Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland, and I took a photo of their replica of the ship's passenger list. When I got back home and looked very carefully at it, it jumped to life. Imagine what their journey was like!

Benjamin Thomas, my 3rd great grandfather, head of the family and 45 years old at the sailing, had been recruited out of the coal mines of South Wales by the George's Creek Coal company, which is referenced on the manifest, as you can see below. He came with wife Hannah (Evans), and eight children ranging from an infant, Jane, to four boys who were colliers (William, Benjamin, James, and John) as well as my 2nd great grandmother, Diane (or Diana) age six. Joseph, age three, and Phillip, age two, were also listed. That's a family of 10 people.

George's Creek Coal Company had its headquarters in London and Baltimore and was the owner and operator of their mine in Western Maryland, near Frostburg. They recruited skilled miners from Wales and then paid for their passage with the proviso that the cost was to be deducted from wages. There were 29 "colliers" on that ship and that would mean 29 good and strong men who were immediately available, well trained and experienced, who could go to work in the coal mines. And that strong work force would be tied to the company for however long it took to pay off the cost of the passage.

There were two Thomas families on that ship who came and worked in the mines and prospered. Lewis, Watkins, Reese, two Williams families, two Davis families and a Treasure family were there as well. I'd love to find out more about them all, especially that other Thomas family. Were they related?

The legacy of our Benjamin Thomas is broad and deep, and there are many avid genealogists amongst their descendants. And all of my Thomas cousins are the nicest folks! Benjamin and Hannah would be proud, I think, to know that here we are 175 years later, scattered from coast to coast, all communicating and sharing what we know of them... and wishing we knew much more!

I recently was enticed to find out more about the South Wales coal mines, especially those of the Rhondda Valley, when I came across a web page by one of the descendants of the Lewis family, also on the Barque Tiberius sailing, Debbie Lewis Allen. You can see her blog here. Debbie's posts about the Lewis surname, the preponderance of Welsh surnames amongst African-Americas, and especially the coal region of South Wales got me thinking and googling around. Debbie has some nice information about where her Lewis people lived and maybe worked and I got to thinking that all of the coal mining families who were on the Barque Tiberius were likely recruited out of close-by mines. And, that I should probably know more about where exactly that was if I ever hoped to make any progress in finding locations for my Thomas ancestors. More on that in a later post:)

Here's what Debbie posted about her ancestor on the Tiberius, and note that she has a birthplace for him:
John F. Lewis, Born October 31, 1802 - Died November 7, 1885, He was born in Merthyr-Tidwil Wales.

Hey, what's a "barque" anyway? Off to Google. It's a three masted sailing ship. Interestingly, the barque was also used as a collier or coal ship. Now I'm wondering if the Georges Creek Coal company owned it? The barque was faster and required a smaller crew than other vessels of the day. There were even four-masted barques and they were faster still. San Diego's own Star of India was a full-rigged ship converted into a barque.

Typical three-masted barque.

 

Star of India, the oldest active sailing vessel in the world.

(Both images above, Wikimedia Commons.)

 

So today I'm imagining my Thomas ancestors of 175 years ago, saying their goodbyes to family and friends knowing that they would never see them again. Leaving loved ones behind, that would be the hardest part. Then packing up what they could in trunks, gathering the children, little Diane and baby Jane, too. The older boys hoisting the trunks to start the journey. Did they take a rest in Newport before the journey? I do not know. There is too much that we do not know. But we do know that on the last day of June 1838 the Thomas family sailed out of Newport Harbor set for Baltimore and a brand new life in the coal mines of Western Maryland. And Mom still lives there, and Aunt Betty and Cousin Daniel, and all the rest! Ahhh-mazing!


Here are two other posts about the Thomas Family. This first is mostly about the Barque Tiberius and the second is a Surname Saturday post tracing back from me to this Thomas family.
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/02/treasure-chest-thursday-barque-tiberius.html
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-thomas-family-from.html
UPDATE: Next blog post about the Thomas family in America here:
http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/more-about-thomas-familys-new-home-in.html

In the Frostburg Museum, The ship's register of the Barque Tiberius!

(Here's a link to the transcribed version of the manifest on the Imigrant Ships Transcribers Guild.)

 

The heading for the ship's register mentioning the George's Creek Coal company.

 

My Thomas ancestors on the ship's list.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/175-years-ago-start-of-thomas-family-in.html

Wisdom Wednesday: Thank goodness for...

It's that middle day of the week and here we go on a GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays. This week it's all about what I'm thankful for, even though it's not November, which, for those of you not in the USA, is when we celebrate my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I was talking to Mom the other day and we were marveling at how genealogy has changed as she entertained me with stories of how she did it when she started in the 1970s! How we laughed! I've seen her stacks of 3 by 5 cards, family group sheets, and the rest, all hand written, and they look strange to my eye used to a computer print out.

So here are all the things I'm thankful for most recently, in no particular order. And I have to say that right now I'm in my usual June slump and just would rather sit in a hammock, and let the laundry pile up and up. (But maybe with a laptop and a cool adult beverage.)

The Internet. I shudder to think how slow my progress both in learning about genealogy, meeting up with cousins and fellow researchers, as well as digging as deep as I can into those records, would be if there was no internet and web service! Ugh!

Google Satellite View. I sit here in sunny Southern California emailing Cousin Andrew who lives back east about our shared ancestors who were Welsh. And we're talking about the Barque Tiberius on which our Thomas ancestors sailed out of Newport Harbor, Wales, on 30 June, 1838, and that's 175 years ago this week!!
Wait, I thought to myself, where is Newport Harbor? And I'm especially curious because we don't know where these Thomas folks lived when they were recruited to be coal miners in the George's Creek mines in Western Maryland by the Consolidation Coal Company. Wow, I think, looking at the satellite view, we drove right by there on the M4 when we went to Wales that time in the 1980s! Love you, Google Satellite View!

Latest Guilty Pleasure: Shades of the Departed! A cuppa and a cookie and I sit down to thumb through Shades, the most fabulous on-line magazine this gal has ever seen!  Shades carries the imagination back into the past and over hills and valleys to towns and farm lands to meet ancestors we never knew or people of the past not even connected to us. I feel as though I'm sitting in a late 1800s train station and people arrive and sit and chat and reveal themselves to me, and I can gaze as long as I like without being rude. This is absolutely my new "guilty pleasure" and I use that term because I probably should be doing something else like laundry, but don't really care one fig.

Blog posts that come along at the right time. Here's an example. Research and connecting the dots on the ancestors is especially difficult for me in West Virginia and if you have the magic potion to help me find them, then please have mercy on a stumbling fool and let me know! I always feel like many of the dead-end brick wall situations on the tree lead over to West Virginia... or Ireland and Wales. I can understand the last two because it's a Pond hop. But WV, even though it's just "over the hill a bit" is all messed up! I just love The Legal Genealogist blog by Judy G. Russell. I've learned so much from her. Then she did a blog post about the forming of West Virginia and a light went off: it's not so much me as it is them! Whew. WV, you are difficult. (Go WVU Mountaineers!)

The Encouragers! I do like those in the land of genealogy who encourage and help. Look, we're all trying to learn. So here's to the encouragers, and most are, who daily take up blogging to share and maybe help others, as well as those many helpful and dear souls who come to the local groups to help and find help. Hugs to all!! What a nice community we are!

Thank goodness for so much stuff to be grateful about! (Am feeling so good I might even do some laundry, but later.)

 

Eckhart Cemetery, Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland.

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/06/wisdom-wednesday-thank-goodness-for.html

Surname Saturday: The Thomas Family From Wales

It's off to Wales once again for Surname Saturday, the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. We've been to Wales a couple of times before as we explored the roots of the Williams, Price, and James clans before these Thomas folks. Unfortunately for Mom and I the records only go back too short a ways for us, in spite of the old saying that a proper Welshman could recite his ancestry back nine generations. Imagine: if all of our Welshmen could have done so how happy Mom and I would now be!

We're here in the 5th generation back sitting amongst the 2nd great grandmothers.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it!

6. Cambria Williams 1897 - 1960
7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956

12. Daniel Williams 1852 - 1920
13. Jane Price 1862 - 1939

26. William Price 1829 - 1872
27. Diane Thomas about 1832 - 1871
They had these children:
William Henry Price 1852 - 1910.
Benjamin Price 1854 - 1906.
Diane Price 1856 - ????.
13. Jane Price 1862 - 1939.
Ellen Nellie Price 1864 - ????.
James H. Price 1856 - 1933.
Mary Price 1869 - ????
Victoria Price 1871 - ????

54. Benjamin Thomas (1793 - 1846)
55. Hannah Evans (1798- 1868)
Too little is known about this family for our liking. Benjamin Thomas is the founding member of this family and I previously blogged about them all here.
Benjamin and Hannah were born in Wales but we don't know where. They made their way to America in 1838 with the intention that the males work for the George's Creek Coal company. They landed in Baltimore on 11 Sept, 1838 after a voyage of 46 days. Here's the list of their children followed by an image of the  manifest. As you can see there are five able-bodied men willing to go to work as coal miners, or "colliers".
The children are:
John W. Thomas (1817 - ????) Born in South Wales, John married Lucinda Rice on 29 Aug 1846 in Allegany County, Maryland.
Benjamin L. Thomas (1818 - ????) Also born in Wales, Benjamin L. married Catherine Jones on 20 Feb 1840. She also was born in Wales. They both died in Mt. Savage, Allegany, MD.
James Benjamin Thomas (1822 - 1884) Born in Wales. He married Margaret Lewis on 17 June 1840 in Allegany County, MD.
William Benjamin Thomas (1823 - 1885) Born in Wales, he married Elizabeth Lewis, also born in Wales.
27. Diane Thomas (about 1832 - 1871)
Joseph Thomas ( 1835 - 1915) Born in Wales and died in Eckhart, Allegany, MD, he had three wives: Martha Davis, Rebecca Mosser, and Jane Watkins.
Philip Thomas (1836 - 1885) Also born in Wales, he married Ann Davis.
Jane Thomas (1837 b- 1917) Born in Wales, she married Joseph Scott Robertson.
Ann Eliz Thomas (abt. 1839 - ????) Born in Ocean Mines, MD, she married John Howells.
Maria Ellen Thomas (1841 - 1908) Born in Lonaconing, she married John James Anthony.

Well, there you have it. Obviously, Mom and I are not done here! And a new-to-me cousin, Robert, contacted me through Ancestry.com messages and we chatted so now we'll be working on this line together. So much to do, so little time!

Manifest from the Barque Tiberius, landing in Baltimore 11 Sept 1838.

(Photo by me taken in the Frostburg Museum, Frostburg, Allegany, MD, October, 2012.)

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-thomas-family-from.html

Wisdom Wednesday: My Changing World

It's Wednesday again so I'm using GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays and time is flying because I'm having fun! Hope you are too:) This week I'm struck by how fast my genea-world is changing. News flies in the window at every turn, DNA is my new toy, new-to-me cousins are teaming up to bust down brick walls (at least that's the plan), and I'm feeling like the 18-wheeler of information pulled up to my door and unloaded! That's a good thing:)

Right now, it's hard to stick to task as so much pops up and I need to respond to it. Seems like just when I get going on a project, get it organized and make a research plan, a juicy piece of new information about another family line falls in my lap and I need to turn my attention away from my plan to capture information that could be fleeting. That ever happen to you? I was working on the Biggerstaffs and whatta ya know, my Bridget Cocoran Kelly, my 2nd great grandmother, makes an appearance at the exact same time as I hear from a cousin who has information about my 3rd great grandfather Benjamin Thomas and possibly Benjamin's father who might be named Thomas Thomas. Where to turn first?
Feels like what I need is a two-pronged system in which I first save my latest thoughts on the present project, but move swiftly to capture what I can about the other lines. Multitasking, anyone?
Evernote is working for me on the long-term projects. However, I'm thinking that I might actually go back a couple of steps in the technology time line to ye olde spiral notebook that I can grab and go with for stuff that pops up. It's about solving problems with whatever works for each of us, isn't it?

I made a contribution to Ancestry.com by correcting/ updating an entry or three. Was having trouble finding my Whetstone ancestors in the 1850 census. Couldn't figure it out. They should be there, of that there was no discussion. But where had they hidden? Explored all the usual reasons some family might not be where they should, such as a move that year or being missed by the enumerator. Finally I just went "door to door" so to speak looking for them in the area where they should have been. Found them listed as Wheatstone. Now I don't know what it was about that search and the way it was processed but it wouldn't bring back my Whetstones no matter what I tried, and admittedly I was probably just not doing the magical combination of things the search gremlins wanted. But when I found them, I suggested the way it should be listed and they accepted the update and notified me. Cool, they notify you! That felt good.
The same thing happened to my Kelly people in the same census. They were listed as Kelley which I kinda guessed might happen. That got updated and accepted too and I got to feel good all over again.
But here's one I didn't know how to handle and maybe didn't do this correctly. My 3rd GGF, Benjamin Thomas came over on the Barque Tiberius. No discussion there at all. Well documented. Easy-peasy. Except I couldn't find it on Ancestry. Whaa? The other day I finally did find it but the ship's name was listed as the "Liberius" and not "Tiberius". I didn't know how to enter an update for a ship name, so I did it using the update mechanism for my 3rd GGF's name. If there's a better way please let me know! If this confounded me it's probably confounding other.

Geo-Grave, anyone? My good genea-pal, Shawn, mentioned that she puts the Find A Grave memorial numbers in her Family Tree Maker files! Cool idea! This good idea had not crossed my radar before, but it's brilliant and so I'm thinking that everyone but me must be doing it:)
Was also thinking about those really hard to find stones and how a hand-held GPSr (Global Positioning System reader) would be a great helper in knowing exactly where those markers are.
Over here in our house we're avid geocachers (adult hide-and-seek using million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods.) We can see the opportunity to tie Find A Grave memorials into their GPS locations (and package it as a Geo-Grave system...?) My hand-held GPSr will make note of any location anywhere and it would be a breeze to add that notation to the Find A Grave listing, especially for difficult-to-find tombstones or family cemeteries off the beaten path, and we've all been to those. Most GPSr will give an audible beep when you're close to target as well as info on which direction you need to go to get there. It's very cool stuff!

Eckhart Cemetery, Eckhart Mines, Allegany, Maryland.

Could have used a Geo-Grave system there!!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/wisdom-wednesday-my-changing-world.html