Surname Saturday: Rebecca Frost and her Famed Family of Frostburg, Maryland

Here it is Saturday once more and time for my all-time fav blogging blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers called Surname Saturday. It's at the top of my fav list because I get to look at the chart and report and closely examine a particular line, taking much needed time to think about what I'm looking at. It's nice.

This week is sort of connected to last week's post about Mary Ann (?) Eckhart who was mother of John Eckhart. John married Delilah Porter, and now we're talking about her mother's family. Maybe a chart will help, this one as a cropped screen shot from Mom's tree on Ancestry.com. Find it on Ancestry here.

 



Delilah's mother was Rebecca Frost. Maybe. Well, most likely. After a big review of the main research tool covering the Porters of Allegany County, Maryland, Mom and I came to the exact same conclusion about Delilah's parentage. She is not listed as a child in any of the usual sources so it all came down to conjecture. You can read about our search for here. And then a Surname Saturday post about the Porters here. So I'll not be re-making my case for Gabriel McKenzie Porter and Rebecca Frost being her parents at this time. Instead, let's just enjoy the time and place and follow the people.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, that's Mom, living and loving it!

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly 1892 - 1969
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly 1894 - 1985
 

8. Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923
9. Christiana Eckhart 1861 - 1932

18. John Eckhart 1831 - 1917

19. Mary Myers Eckhart 1837 - 1909
John Eckhart was born 5 Nov 1831 in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland and died 5 Mar 1917 in the same place. He married Mary Myers on 22 Apr 1859 in Allegany County, Maryland.
Mary Myers was born 20 Mar 1837 in Frederick County, Maryland and died 30 Oct 1909 in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland.
They had the following children:
9. Christiana Eckhart 1861 - 1932
Maggie L. Eckhart 1864 - ????. She married William Rechter.
Rachael Eckhart 1865 - 1940, who married Thomas W. Gracie, and then at his passing in 1909 in a horrible mining accident, she married Robert Strathan.
John Thomas Eckhart 1867 -1917. He married Rachael Pengilly.
Mary Catherine Eckhart 1868 - ????.

36. Jacob Eckhart 1801 - 1835/6

37. Delilah Porter 1812 - 1881
This couple were both born and died in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland.
They had the following children:
18. John Eckhart 1831 - 1917, who married first Mary Myers, and when she died, married Rebecca O'Brien.
Rachael Eckhart 1829 - 1895. She married Basil Anderson

OK, so at this point we begin the conjecture portion of our journey. No proof, no numbers. But I'll continue on and sketch it out for you.

Gabriel McKenzie Porter 1776 - 1842
Rebecca Frost 1774 - 1813
Gabriel's second wife was Sarah Jane Anderson (1771 - 1863). See there's another Anderson connection right there! It looks like she might have first been married to Samuel Porter, and I'm not sure which Samuel Porter that was but it looks like it was Gabriel's brother.
Gabriel was born in Carrollton, Baltimore, Maryland as were so many other Porters from this era. But then they moved to the western part of the state. Rebecca Frost comes from the family for whom Frostburg is named.
Gabriel and Rebecca had a bunch of kids however Delilah is not named as one of them. So let's skip naming them, shall we?

Josiah Frost 1745 - 1813
Elizabeth Parcell 1745 - 1813

Look, I have to tell you right here that it was just last fall that Mom and I started feeling comfortable with Gabriel McKenzie Porter and Rebecca Frost as parents of Delilah Porter. This Frost line is fascinating with Revolutionary War guys and town founders all over the place. But we're taking our time and not getting ahead of ourselves. Slow and steady. So let me leave it here. Sorry about that.

Long story short, if you live in Frostburg and say you descend from the Frosts, you better be sure. I'll stop now. Mom still lives in Frostburg;)

Photos courtesy Find A Grave.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/08/surname-saturday-rebecca-frost-and-her.html

 

 

Surname Saturday: Mary Ann, Last Name Unknown, wife of John Eckhart

Here it is, the whole week has gone by and it's time once again for my favorite blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers called Surname Saturday. If I don't get anything else "genealogy" done during the week, the week has been a success for me if Surname Saturday gets posted.

This week we launch into the 4th great grandmothers, with the 2nd and 3rd GGMs and a lot of the GGFs having already been covered in previous posts. If you want to check a surname, just type it in the search box over there on the right.

The featured celebrity ancestor today is an interesting woman. She was the wife of a wealthy and prominent man who owned an inn on the Old Pike in the early years of the 1800s, owned slaves and had a head for business, and who owned quite a bit of very valuable property in the area that's now known as Eckhart and Eckhart Mines, Allegany, Maryland. Mary Ann, his wife, however thought differently about the slaves and apparently tried to free them, especially her personal servant, Matilda, and her children. That caused a furor. But I'm getting ahead of the story. First, the line up stepping back through the generations. Here we go!

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, that's Mom, living and loving it!

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly 1892 - 1969
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly 1894 - 1985

8. Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923
9. Christiana Eckhart 1861 - 1932

18. John Eckhart 1831 - 1917

19. Mary Myers Eckhart 1837 - 1909

John Eckhart was born 5 Nov 1831 in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland and died 5 Mar 1917 in the same place. He married Mary Myers on 22 Apr 1859 in Allegany County, Maryland.
Mary Myers was born 20 Mar 1837 in Frederick County, Maryland and died 30 Oct 1909 in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland.
They had the following children:
9. Christiana Eckhart 1861 - 1932
Maggie L. Eckhart 1864 - ????. She married William Rechter.
Rachael Eckhart 1865 - 1940, who married Thomas W. Gracie, and then at his passing in 1909 in a horrible mining accident, she married Robert Strathan.
John Thomas Eckhart 1867 -1917. He married Rachael Pengilly.
Mary Catherine Eckhart 1868 - ????.

36. Jacob Eckhart 1801 - 1835/6

37. Delilah Porter 1812 - 1881

This couple were both born and died in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland. We find it no end of fascinating that Jacob and his father, John, died in close proximity time-wise to each other. Some ancestors have floated the theory that both might have been poisoned in order to sell the estate to the big coal companies. Read on:)
They had the following children:
18. John Eckhart 1831 - 1917, who married first Mary Myers, and when she died, married Rebecca O'Brien.
Rachael Eckhart 1829 - 1895. She married Basil Anderson.

72. John Eckhart 1768 - 1835

73. Mary Ann ? Eckhart 1780 - 1850 (Find A Grave # 25555482)

John Eckhart inherited the bulk of his father's estate that wasn't reserved for his mother, aside from small items left to his siblings. It was just at the time that the National Road was being developed and he took advantage of its location running right through his property. He was appointed a road commissioner, for which he paid $300 a year fee to the state. In return he was to maintain the road and earned the right to keep a roadhouse, that served those who stopped. In the US Census of 1820 he owned 8 slaves, as he did in the 1830 Census. He was very prosperous.
When John Eckhart died in 1835, his wife, our mysterious Mary Ann who married John then 29 when she was just 17, inherited the bulk of his estate and then attempted to free the slaves. Her sons took her to court and tried to have her declared a "lunatic" and seize the property, including the slaves. She relented and kept the slaves in bondage, but thwarted the sons by moving to Monongahila County, West Virginia. Her will stipulated that the slaves were to be given their freedom upon her death.
Her son, Adam, took custody of seven of the eight slaves when his mother died in 1850. It is generally presumed that Maltilda, her favorite and personal woman servant, was already freed when Mary Ann died. The theory is that Mary Ann, after the dust-up with the sons fled to West Virginia to live with her son Adam and took Matilda.
Shortly after John's death, Mary Ann was approached by Matthew St. Clair Clarke, acting as an agent for a large coal mining conglomerate. He offered and paid $20,000 for the bulk of the Eckhart land. It was shortly thereafter that Mary Ann moved to West Virginia to live with her son Adam. She took that fortune, many millions of dollars in today's money, and her slaves with her.
The old Eckhart land, purchased for $20,000, held some of the best quality coal found anywhere during the 19th Century. This is called The Big Vein and produced millions of tons of coal from the 1830s until after WWI.
It is generally thought that there is miscegenation in this line and that the former Eckhart slave, Maria Johnson, who married Samuel Denson on 7 Jan 1868, in Cumberland Maryland, is a descendant from this line. If you are related to this line, please contact me at dianew858@hotmail.com.
John and Mary Ann's children are:
36. Jacob Eckhart 1801 - 1835/6
Mary Ann Eckhart 1806 - 1893. She married John Hansel and they moved away to Mallory Township, Clayton County, Illinois. Both are buried in the Hansel Cemetery there.
Adam Eckhart 1810 - 1891. He married Sarah Albright. They moved away to the Union District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.
John Eckhart 1824 - 1856. He married Sarah Hayes.
David Eckhart 1824 - 1854. (Find A Grave # 32156854)

That's all we know about Mary Ann. A comprehensive book by H Andrew Brown, "George Adam Eckhart and Philip Hansel of Allegany County, Maryland," sketches out what happened to Mary Ann after John died, and hints that the Adam Eckhart family and some Hansels moved on to Ohio after spending some years in Monongalia, Virginia (now West Virginia) and freed any remaining of their slaves in Ohio. Both Mary Ann and her son David are buried in the Hunt-Eckhart Cemetery, Morgantown, Monongalia County. Also in this cemetery are two boys, James T. who died at four years of age and John W. who died at two years of age. Perhaps Adam, his wife Sarah Albright, along with Adam's sister, Mary Ann and her husband John Hansel are all to be found buried in Ohio. Must say that I'm curious about this line of the family that moved on west.

The book by Brown does not shed any light on Mary Ann's maiden name or any details of her birth family or where they might have resided. Not much to go on. We're looking for a female born about 1780, probably in Western Maryland, probably of the German Lutheran faith. This lot stuck to their own.

 

The above are screen shots from Find A grave for:

Top: The Hunt-Eckhart Cemetery,

Bottom: Mary Ann ? Eckhart.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/07/surname-saturday-mary-ann-last-name.html

Surname Saturday: Plenty of Porters!

I get a headache whenever I think about the Porters of Allegany County, Maryland. There were a lot of them and they passed a bunch of names down through the generations just to make my life miserable... or at least that's how it feels. I generally love doing these Surname Saturday posts, the popular and useful blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers because I learn a lot about what's known and what's not known about each branch on the old family tree. But the Porters, oh, no! Not them!

Here's the deal. The Porters are one of the oldest families in Allegany County and got their land as part of the military lot grants after the Revolutionary War. Plus, some of the written histories about the Porters indicate that Porters in the area predate those lot assignments. They're all over the place in Allegany County! Never mind. Our connection is one female, Delilah Porter, whose presence escaped all of the published material on the Porter line. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. So let's do this chapter and verse.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Recent DNA evidence and further analysis points to Delilah being the daughter of Samuel Porter, son of John Porter the immigrant and patriot soldier. As soon as more information is collected a now Porter post will appear here.
This lineage is not correct!!

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, that's Mom, living and loving it!


4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly 1892 - 1969
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly 1894 - 1985

8. Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923
9. Christiana Eckhart 1861 - 1932
 

18. John Eckhart 1831 - 1917

19. Mary Myers Eckhart 1837 - 1909
 

36. Jacob Eckhart 1801 - 1835/6

37. Delilah Porter 1812 - 1881
This couple were both born and died in Eckhart, Allegany, Maryland.
After Jacob's death Delilah married James Anderson (1818 - after 1860) who came from Grays landing, Pennsylvania, but was in the area after 1845. You'll notice that Delilah and Jacob Eckhart's daughter, Rachael, married Basil Anderson, but we're not certain exactly how all of these Anderson people fit in.
They had the following children:
18. John Eckhart 1831 - 1917, who married first Mary Myers, and when she died, married Rebecca O'Brien.
Rachael Eckhart 1829 - 1895. She married Basil Anderson.

OK, sports fans, here's where we take a leap of faith. Mom and I have worked long and hard on the problem of Delilah Porter's parents and I did a blog post about how we both reached the same conclusion. We did it using a published genealogy by Samuel Doak Porter, "A genealogy of the Porter family of Maryland, West Virginia, Michigan." He cites his sources and they include three known books about this line and other lesser know sources, many of them are old bibles held by descendants as well as personal family records. He did a fine job but as you'll notice we're back in the earliest years of the 1800s and before. Memories fade, records of births were kept at home, if they were kept at all, and primary source documentation... well, good luck with that! There are big holes in the Porter family tree as you can see by the chart below.

 

The hand drawn chart of the Porters from Samuel Doak Porter's book with all of the Josiah's highlight. The Andersons came in on one line and that helped solidify the connection from Delilah to her probable brother Josiah, and then back in through the generations.

 

So here's what we have penciled in for Delilah Porter. We're basing this on the premise that the Josiah Porter named in Jacob Eckhart's will as guardian for their children was the much respected Josiah Porter and Delilah's brother, as would have been the custom. You might notice that there are no numbers with these names and that's because they are "penciled in" pending further proof. They get a number when we're sure they belong to us:)

Gabriel McKenzie Porter (1776 - 1842)
Rebecca Frost (1174 - 1813)
Gabriel's second wife was Sarah Jane Anderson (1771 - 1863). See there's another Anderson connection right there! It looks like she might have first been married to Samuel Porter, and I'm not sure which Samuel Porter that was but it looks like it was Gabriel's brother, see below.
Gabriel was born in Carrollton, Baltimore, Maryland as were so many other Porters from this era. But then they moved to the western part of the state. Rebecca Frost comes from the family for whom Frostburg is named.
Gabriel and Rebecca had a bunch of kids and I have to tell you right here that Delilah is not named as one of them. So let's skip naming them, shall we?

John Anderson Porter Sr. (1737 - 1810)
Nancy Ann McKenzie (1741 -1786)
It's this John Porter who served in the Revolutionary War and is buried at Rose Meadow Cemetery, also called the Old Porter Cemetery, photo below. John and Nancy had about eight children: Mary (1765 - 1765), Michael (1768 - 1826), Samuel (1770 - 1828),  Thomas (1772 - 1854), Gabriel McKenzie Porter (1776 - 1842), Moses (1780 - 1861), John M. "Squire Jack" Porter (1783 - 1863), see painting below, and Elizabeth Eleanor (1785 - 1855).

Below are the maps of the Allegany County Military lots (in sections, as screen shots)

in which you can see those assigned to men named Porter.
(Map courtesy Evergreen Heritage Center.)

 



Grave of John Anderson Porter Sr. (1737 - 1810)

Old Porter Cemetery

John Porter Sr. (1694 - 1776)
Elinor Durier (1692 - 1778)
Both of these people were born in Gloucester, England. It is commonly said that John Sr. was a Jaccobite, and "made himself obnoxious" to the King George I. He landed on these shores in Carrollton, Maryland where his children were born and raised. Not much is known about the children, except for John Jr. who took land in the western part of the state. They also might have had children named Samuel, Henry, Josiah, and Michal plus two girls who are unnamed... but take that with a grain of salt.

 

The Old Porter Cemetery on Rose Meadow, Allegany County, Maryland.

 

View from the Porter land at Rose Meadow.

 

John M. "Squire Jack" Porter, as painted by Frank Maxwell Mayer,

on the porch of his house at Rose Meadow.

Squire Jack served in the War of 1812.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/surname-saturday-plenty-of-porters.html