A Peek Behind the Curtain of Time

I just love that little book Aunt Edith gave Mom in the 1950s, "Ancestral History of Thomas F. Myers." It's provided clues to all manner of family history mysteries and I go back to it often and find new stuff. (Find a copy in one of the tabs at the top of this page.)

The funny and strange thing of it is that Aunt Edith was Dad's auntie. She had four sons, but somehow she decided to give the original printed book to my Mom and not one of her sons. I always thought it a tad unusual but who am I to question the wisdom of the ancestors... she surely had her reasons.

As the years passed, Mom got super interested in genealogy and started the slow and painstaking process of finding all of the over 60,000 people on our tree... yup, your read it right, 60 thousand! So the Myers book has been safely stored in its original envelope in Mom's file all this time. Safe.

I always wondered at the immense good fortune that Mom has what might be the only original copy of that book! Recently, found Cousin Molly in Florida who has a photo copy of the text portion of the book but that's the only other one "in captivity."

And also recently was in touch with one of Aunt Edith's sons, Cousin Joe, and his lovely wife, Eileen, also living in Florida. Then I started to feel bad that maybe Aunt Edith should have kept the book for her sons and their sons. But I have to now say, NEVER second guess the ancestors! Listen to this.

Joe emailed this story of his family and I've copied what he wrote about Aunt Edith and her papers:
"And when my brother, Mike, was living with mother, when she died in l965, he gathered up all the papers that she had, and burned them."

WOW! Thank you Aunt Edith and your wisdom to know who to give that book to so that it could be preserved!

The Kelly Family about 1910.

Aunt Edith with son, about 1938.

Done Looking For Nehemiah, I Think

Have spent the better part of the last year looking for traces of my Revolutionary War ancestor and 5th GGF, Nehemiah Newens (or Newin, Newan/s, Newens, or maybe even Newing or Nuens. Take your pick.) All of the collected records are in a big blue binder and in a data file of which I have numerous back-ups both on line and off. Now I'm thinking that I'm done with this project and here's my reasoning on the matter.

See, here's why I love my blog: reason number six (see below.) My blog keeps my thinking as lucid as possible. If I can explain it clearly and concisely to you then it keeps me on track to the best of my ability:)

So back to why I'm feeling done with my search for Nehemiah. I've answered all the major questions from the start of the project that I can. And here they are.

Where did he come from? Most likely the Derbyshire area of England and quite possibly he was a country boy, not a city boy. City boys don't aspire to stone masonry.

Did he serve with General Braddock in the French and Indian War? Maybe but maybe not. If he did he was very young and most likely just a lad. But I find no record of his service as a commissioned officer. Doesn't mean that there are records still to be found but I've looked under ever rock short of going to London and looking in the British Archive... and who knows, I might just do that some day. But for now the indication from records is that he was really too young to have been an officer in the F&I War.

How did he get to York PA? I'm clueless. But he wasn't an indentured servant as far as I can tell. He married into a very prosperous family and if he was an indentured servant, well that's not a conclusion I draw. The most obvious path is that he knew his wife's uncle, Colonel Corry, who did serve in the F&I War and followed him to York.

Did he die in the Battle of Yorktown? No. For whatever reasons he didn't return home to his wife and son in York PA, but moved around to Northumberland and then Upstate New York. He received his Bounty Land Grant from the state of PA while he was in Northumberland County, and filed his pension application from Canandaigue NY.

Why did he end up in Canandaigue, NY? The most likely conclusion is that he knew the area, which was the frontier, because he served in the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. The officer names from his pension application match up with the S-C Campaign.

Who is Elias Thompson named as his son in Nehemiah's will? It might be that Elias replied to an ad Nehemiah ran for stone masons. Elias came from Pennsylvania but didn't appear in Canandaigue until after Nehemiah has been there about 10 years. Was he the faithful apprentice that took the role of a son? Maybe. Nehemiah thought enough of him to name him in the will.

What was Nehemaih's wife's given name?  He had two wives. The first was Cathrine Kepplinger, referred to in the Myers book as Miss Kepplinger. Her widow's pension application is signed Cathrine Newans. That said, Nehemiah's will drafted in 1820 names his wife, Mary, his sole beneficiary for the rest of her life (and then the remainder to sons Thomas Newans and Elias Thompson.)

What of the little book, "Ancestral History of Thomas F. Myers"? I believe it was written by Myers and printed by a printer just down the street from where Myers had his prosperous grocery store. The book served as evidence backing up Myers Bounty Land Grant claim in Ohio on behalf of his sister Christiana. The claim was never resolved in their favor.

How sure am I about the above information. Not too sure. You know data... it drifts. And so much of this is simply my conclusions based on what I know of the family and facts strung together. Not great genealogy, I admit. In my own defense, I really do believe that most frequently the most accurate conclusion is the most obvious, baring new information.

That said, I'll organize my big blue binder, making notes where needed so that I can remember what I did. Then I'll write up a short version of the Nehemiah Newans story so that others can share in the search if they wish... and I truly hope someone does!

Some Awsome New (to me) Cousins!!

Was out on the google-thing giving Nehemiah Newans one more shot. My thinking at the moment is to wrap up what I know (or think I know) about his life now and write it up while it's fresher in my mind. Don't want to get down the road a ways, pick up the project again and think, now where was I on this?

So I go google and what pops up is something I've seen a number of times before and that's an entry to a massive project with Nehemiah Newan as one of the named individuals. It transcribes a portion of the Thomas F. Myers book (see tab above). So what the heck, no stone left unturned, right? I email the contact person and whamo! I get an email back and we're off to the races. It's John on the other end of the email and he provides a connection to a Myers line cousin, Molly! Two new, to me, cousins!!

Cousin John has this truly awsome web site and here's a link.
http://www.himedo.net/TheHopkinThomasProject/TheHopThomasProject.html
There's so much rich information there, I'm just getting going on it! WOW!

My absolutely favorite "toy" of the day is this family finder. Really, you have to click on this link and then click on one of those blue dots... I promise you will be impressed!
http://www.himedo.net/TheHopkinThomasProject/FamilyTies/FamilyTreeHtmls/FamilyTreeIndex.html

Did you click on one of the blue dots with photos? I love that!! Way ta go, cousin John!

Anyways, I don't know much more about Nehemiah Newans now that I did before contact with Cousin John but the journey sure is fun!

Puzzle Pieces all Asunder

OK, so here's information pertinent to filling in puzzle pieces of the life of my 5th GGF, Nehemiah Newans, as concerns his first wife Miss Kepplinger, that I've gleaned from the Myers book (see tab at top for full contents.)

Thomas F. Myers was the great grandson of Nehemiah Newans. Newans married Miss Kepplinger. (Her given name, as per her widows pension application, was Catharine.) Her mother was sister to Colonel Corry of the French and Indian War. (Therefore might we consider that Catharine Kepplinger's mother's maiden name was Corry?)

Catharine was sister to Mrs. Macelvaine. No given name.

Catharine's uncle was Mr. Koontz who owned the Colonial Hotel of York PA. The Myers book reports that the Continental Congress assembled there while it was vacated from Philladelphia. Can we assume that Catherine had then two sisters, a Mrs. Koontz and a Mrs. Macelvaine... therefore can we assume that there were at least three sisters in the family?

Miss Kepplinger's father ground wheat for the soldiers at Valley Forge. He had seven indentured service and paid for their work for seven years. He was partners in a salt works on the Patapsco River where Baltimore is now located, called Beason, Kepplinger and Magoun. This firm conveyed salt to Beasontown, now Uniontown, PA.

The best I can think to do now is to Google all this mess and see if I can make the puzzle pieces grow a bit... maybe grow enough so that they fit together.