Delilah Porter's Parentage: Good Luck With That

Mom and I have been looking for Delilah Porter's parents for a long time now. All we had was was a handful of interesting clues and the knowledge that we were looking in a small geographic area about 5 miles square. It was getting on our nerves!

Delilah Porter (1812 - 1881) was was the wife of Jacob Eckhart (1801 - 1836), son of John Eckhart (1776 - 1835), and grandson son of the Eckhart family line progenitor, George Adam Eckhart (1729 - 1806). George Adam was the guy who came from Germany and moved west to what's now Allegany County, Maryland and the place eventually known as Eckhart Mines.

The Porters of the area are well known too. And there's a fine book documenting their lines by Samuel Doak Porter, entitled, "A genealogy of the Porter family of Maryland, West Virginia, Michigan." I ordered the microfilm of this book through The Family History Library to be delivered to our local multi-stake center here in San Diego. When it arrived I went to the Center and scanned the front 100 pages, came home and printed out a copy for Mom and another copy for me. We've both been over it with a sharp eye and don't see Delilah mentioned anywhere. Nuts!

What we do know is that the will of Jacob Eckhart, her husband, names Josiah Porter as guardian of the couple's children. Mom said that it was usually the brother of the wife who was charged in the will with the task of keeping an eye on the wife and kids as guardian. So Mom and I penciled in Josiah as Delilah's brother. Was Josiah in the Porter book? And if so, who was Delilah and Josiah's father?

Mom and I devoured the Porter book looking for every clue, however meager. Our plan was to keep our thoughts to ourselves and try to work it out, each on her own, then compare conclusions. If we both got that same answer and it pointed to the same person as the father of Josiah and Delilah, then we had something. But if not, we agreed before hand, we had to give it up until some better information came along.

Now I have to share with you here that Mom had done her due diligence researching Delilah's parents! Over the years she's been hot on Delilah's record trail: down to the courthouse, checked every church record possible, looked at every stone in the Old Porter Cemetery, as well as the Eckhart Cemetery. She came up empty handed. This Porter book was kind of our last chance.

Above is a chart from the Porter book with all the Josiahs highlighted. Yes, there are four! But never mind. I put the chart aside and read the text sleuthing out which Josiah might be the brother of Delilah, and thereby learn who their father might be.

I concluded that the best candidate for the father is Gabriel McKenzie Porter, 17 September 1776 - 20 August 1842. His son and the presumed brother of Delilah (if this theory works out) is Josiah Porter, or "Grandpap Si", 1799 - 1882. There's a wealth of stories about all of these people but I'll save them for later.

When I got to Frostburg Maryland to see Mom recently, we sat down and had a little visit and then I asked her: who's Josaih and Delilah' s father? "Gabriel McKenzie Porter", she said. Ladies and gents, we have a winner! We both agreed that Gabriel was probably the baby-daddy!

Interestingly, Grandpa Si married Mary Margaret Coombs (1803 - 1837) who is sister to Amelia.  Amelia Coombs is my 4th GGM on my paternal grandmother's side. Delilah Porter is my 3rd GGM on my paternal grandfather's side... so does that make my Dad's parents cousins?!!

Back to the case at hand. The leading piece of evidence is the will naming Josiah guardian of Delilah and Jacob Eckhart's children, and the presumption that Josiah was her brother, thus following local custom.

The the second piece of evidence, from the Porter book, and the "hook" that snagged the attention of Mom and I, is that Gabriel McKenzie Porter was married a second time to Sarah ANDERSON after his first wife, Rebecca Frost died.  (Rebecca Frost is the daughter of Josiah Frost for whom the town of Frostburg is named. Frostburg is where Mom lives.) It is also fascinating that Delilah Porter married a second time after Jacob Eckhart died. She cut a few years off her age and married James ANDERSON, a younger man.

OK, so there you have it. It's the best case Mom and I can make for the connection between Delilah, Josiah, and their possible father, Gabriel.

I can hear you thinking: flimsy case and no proof. It is isn't it? But it's all we have at present... that and Mom's gut feel that Gabriel is the father of Delilah and Josiah. I trust Mom's gut:)

Photo of the day:

"Independance (Squire Jack Porter)"
a painting by Frank Blackwell Mayer,

Now in the Smithsonian.
Squire Jack was Gabriel's brother.

Link: http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=16618

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/06/delilah-porters-parentage-good-luck.html

FRUSTRATION!

I'm supremely frustrated! Here's the deal. The Eckhart story of the family being swindled out of land that came down through the generations and finally into my family would, it seems, be born out and proven by an article in the New York Evening Post newspaper of 22 OCT 1860. I've found the digitized images of that very issue on Old Fulton Post Card Company's web site. Downloaded it to my computer and viewed it in PhotoShop. BUT... I can't see it clearly enough to read it. There it is, I have my hands on it but I can't read it!!

H. Andrew Brown who wrote the book, "George Adam Eckhart and Philip Hansel of Allegany County, Maryland" says that he tried to find this article but could not. The original exists or existed somewhere, but where? And can a better copy be had at some location or other?

Or is it the way I'm looking at the image? Is PhotoShop the best way to read an old digitized newspaper image? I don't know.

If you have any thoughts on how I might proceed I'd really be happy to learn what to do next!

Photo of the day from my Archive:

My brother being held by Grandparents,
Helen Zeller Kelly and John Lee Kelly
of the Eckhart clan.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/05/frustration.html

Two Books, One Location

I have two new best friends: Samuel Doak Porter and H. Andrew Brown! Actually they are both deceased as are many of my new friends;) You know how it is... you "meet" ancestors or whatever online and the next thing you know you are dreaming about them, right Mom?

I ordered up two microfilms of books about ancestors through FamilySearch.com and the Family History Library. Had been trying to get a copy of each forever, trolling bookseller web sites, gazing longingly at WorldCat to see which libraries held them, and wondering how on earth I was going to travel to far-away locations. Then I noticed that one of the WorldCat listings was for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Hmmm... could I get them on microfilm?! YES!

So I ordered them up to be sent to the local Family History Center here in San Diego. And I've seen them. Not only that but I scanned the relevant bits and made copies for Mom! I'm thrilled!

The first is about my Eckhart ancestors, "George Adam Eckhart and Philip Hansel of Allegany County, Maryland," by H. Andrew Brown. It's mostly about the Hansel family because Andrew Brown descended from that line, but never mind. There's enough meat in it about the George Adam Eckhart side to interest me.

My big "take-away" moment from the Brown book is the mention of an article in the 22 OCT 1860 New York Evening Post about the Eckhart heirs being "cheated out of land". That goes along with family oral tradition and to my knowledge this is the only thing ever written about that whole affair. (Scroll down to read more about the Eckharts and their land.) Andy Brown was not able to see that article from himself, and he was a super researcher, you can tell by reading his work. Interestingly, Mom has correspondences with him in her file about the Eckharts when he was writing the book. Now I'm wondering, how can I get to see that article?

The second book on microfilm is "A genealogy of the Porter family of Maryland, West Virginia, Michigan," by Samuel Doak Porter. I've been after it for a long time and here's why. George Adam Eckhart's grandson Jacob Eckhart (1801 - 1836) was married to Delilah Porter (1812 - 1881). Mom and I have tried repeatedly to figure out who her father was. There are tons of Porters in the area and the generations use the same handful of given names over and over which drives us to distraction! You ever run into that? Yikes!

I've only had the most basic peek at the Porter book - which I scanned at the Center yesterday afternoon - but I can tell already that this is going to be a real challenge to sort out. The author pretty much starts the book by saying that it was frustrating for him as well as many others trying to trace this line when sorting out all the various Moses, Samuel, and Josiah men!! But Mom is a really good detective and there are a couple of telling moments in the lineage where Delilah and her presumed brother Josiah could fit in. This mystery will be an educated guess at best with no solid proof available, I'm sorry to say.

The interesting thing for me right off the bat is how these families, the Eckharts, the Porters, the Frosts, the Workmans, the Combs and all the rest living just a few short miles from each other, one hill away, married and re-married in to each other's families again and again. Geography determining biology once more. Seems like church was the Match.com of the day;)

The photo of the day from my archive:

The Eckhart land, in part, Eckhart Maryland.

The Eckhart Cemetery, Eckhart Maryland
Looking toward the Porter property on Rose Hill... sort of.

The Porter Cemetery, Rose Hill.

See the yellow? All Josiah Porters! Yikes!!
(From the Samuel Doak Porter book.)

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/05/two-book-one-location.html

When In Doubt, Make A Timeline

Have been enjoying the facebook group for the descendants of George Adam Eckhart, a LOT! It's fun to see what cousins, however close or distant, know and remember.

We all got started talking about the Eckhart land and the mining that eventually got done on it. (See posts below, if you feel like it:) Someone said, we need a timeline and I agreed. Then it came up again. I was thinking of doing one anyway. The history of the Eckharts and their land is complicated so a timeline would be helpful. So I started a new page here in hopes that a cousin or two will chime in.

It's messy, at least for me, to build a timeline: items get added willy-nilly with no apparent order. Guess the nature of it is that order comes later and out the accumulation of items listed. It's only then that you get a sense of the flow of events that form a life or a generation.

The timeline for Nehimiah Newans took forever! But it was very worth it. I had it just about resolved before I put it on the blog. But this time I think I'll just jump on in and build the Eckhart timeline out here... mess and all;)

Photo of the day from Cousin Rich via the Eckhart descendants facebook page:

Thanks Cousin Rich!!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/when-in-doubt-make-timeline.html

Paranoid, Or Was Someone Really Stealing from Them?

Am working on the Eckhart bunch right now... the Eckharts, descendants of George Adam Eckhart of Eckhart and Eckhart Mines, Maryland. Down through the decades, they have been telling a tale of intrigues and rumors that "someone stole our land." (See posts below.) Here I am over 200 years later sitting at the computer trying to piece together what really might have happened back then. To be completely candid about this matter, have to say, I get two pictures: one of double dealing and one of paranoia. Here's what I'm finding so far.

George Adam Eckhart came to this country about 1750. He acquired through purchase and whatever, in total almost 650 acres of land. Some of this land was used for farming and his family and children settled on some other parcels. He died in 1806. His will left a third of the estate to his wife Anna Marie and two-thirds to his son John who was named executor of the estate.

I'm getting a feeling that John was quite the business man, and it was written that he "became quite wealthy". In 1830 he ran a roadhouse where one of the four stagecoach lines that serviced the National Road (that was built in 1812 or so) stopped. That was pretty big business then. He also owned 8 slaves.

Coal was found on the Eckhart property along about the same time as the National Road was built. Some sources report that John had already found coal on his land and was already offering it to local residents to heat and cook with. It's also written that he dug the first deep mine on his land about this time.

John married a woman named Mary Ann, whose surname is not yet known. John died in 1835. Ten days later, more or less, she sold the land to Matthew St Claire Clarke. (See post below, "Cousin Rich, The Sleuth".) Clarke was an agent for a mining company and had already had the land surveyed and the minerals assayed. He also wrote a report for the mining company.

Mary Ann accepted the tidy sum of $20,000 for the land. What is that in today's money, I thought? Go to: www.measuringworth.com 

Here's what it said when I plugged in $20,000 in 1835:

If you want to compare the value of a $20,000.00 Income or Wealth, in 1835 there are three choices. In 2011 the relative:
historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is $527,000.00
economic status value of that income or wealth is $10,900,000.00
economic power value of that income or wealth is $227,000,000.00

As for John's slave's value, it was listed in probate as $3600 in 1835. Back to the Measuring Worth Calculator again to find this, values of commodities, which sadly, slaves were at that time:

If you want to compare the value of a $3,600.00 Commodity in 1835 there are three choices. In 2011 the relative:
real price of that commodity is $94,800.00
labor value of that commodity is $810,000.00(using the unskilled wage) or $1,790,000.00(using production worker compensation)
income value of that commodity is $1,960,000.00


That's a fortune!!

After her husband's death, it's said that Mary Ann wanted to free her slaves, but the sons stepped in. In 1836, a year after Mary Ann came into a considerable fortune, her sons filed a Writ of Lunacy against Mary Ann. A trustee was appointed. She appealed from her home now in another state, West Virginia, living with her son Adam.

I'm wondering how long the negotiations with Clarke went on. Were they going on as John Eckhart lay dying? Or was he kept in the dark? There's no way of knowing.

Additionally, Mary Ann's oldest son, Jacob, died either within five days of his father or within the next year. Suspicious?
Was $20,000 a fair sum? Did Mary Ann know about the mineral wealth sitting right under her and her family? Did Mary Ann's sons have a legitimate concern for her mental health after the death of her husband (and one other son, close on) and the pressures Mr. Clarke possibly might have been making on her?

As the years passed, might not her sons and grandsons who stayed in Eckhart Mines not have felt some bitterness as they saw the Big Vein of coal on their ancestral land being mined by large coal conglomerates only interested in profits, leaving them in the coal dust? It would make me mad, I must say!

With this picture in mind it's easy to see how down through the years family oral tradition came to tell of land being "stolen" from us. The real-life Jenkins didn't come into the picture until the 1940s as far as I can tell, yet I heard my grandparents tell of "Jenkins" paying off the court clerk in Cumberland to get rid of the original Eckhart deed. Not likely.

Other branches of this family also tell stories, similar yet different, of wrong doing when it comes to clear title of the Eckhart land.

On a side note, the Jenkins firm did tear down the old home place and as I hear it, bull dozed most of the old family cemetery. That right there is enough to make a person super angry!

NOTE to Cousins: If I got any of this wrong, please tell me! It's complicated:)



The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/paranoid-or-was-someone-really-stealing.html

Cousin Rich, the Sleuth

Have been reading facebook post by cousins in the Descendants of George Adam Eckhart of Eckhart MD group with great interest. As time goes by the flurry of posts has fallen off but there was Easter and all too. (See posts below to catch-up.)

Where we are now is that Mary Ann's husband, John Eckhart (1768 - 1822?), son of George Adams (1729 - 1806) died and The Consolidated Coal Company's man finessed the sale from the Eckharts. What actually went down is left to CSI investigators.

The operative for the Consolidated Coal Company was a man with the improbably theatrical name of Mathew St. Clair Clarke... perfect with which to paint him the villain in this narrative!

Cousin Rich posted the following to the group's facebook page. Can you read anything into it? We sure could... bet then maybe that's just family lore of the Consol. "stealing" the Eckhart land coming forward;)

Again, so sorry for any strangeness with the fonts as I'm cutting and pasting from sketchy sources.

It's interesting to note that Mary's two sons tried to have her declared "crazy" after the death of her husband. I don't know the laws back in 1835, but nowadays, the sons could have challenged the sale of the property, based on the fact that Mary could have been under mental duress. If the laws were similar back then, that might have been their only hope of getting the land back - having her declared insane at the time of the sale, thus voiding the sale.

Here's the Wikipedia history of Matthew St. Clair Clarke (the person who represented Consolidated Coal Co. during the purchase of the Eckhart land. He is also the "author" of a book about "Our New Land Purchase in Eckhart Maryland").

Matthew St. Clair Clarke was admitted to the bar in 1811, and practiced in Greencastle, PA. Later he removed to Washington, D.C.

On December 3, 1822, he was elected on the 11th ballot Clerk of the House of Representatives in the 17th United States Congress, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Clerk Thomas Dougherty. He was re-elected five times, serving throughout the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd United States Congresses, and opened the proceedings in the House of the 23rd United States Congress on December 2, 1833, when he was succeeded by Walter S. Franklin.

On May 31, 1841, Clarke was again elected Clerk of the House of Representatives in the 27th United States Congress. Clarke opened the proceedings of the 28th United States Congress on December 4, 1843, but was defeated for re-election by Caleb J. McNulty two days later.

In 1843, he was appointed Sixth Auditor of the United States Treasury and remained in office until 1845.

In 1852, his daughter Anna L. Clarke married Gen. William B. Franklin, the son of Clerk of the House Walter S. Franklin who had succeeded Clarke in 1833.

*** My observation: Clarke was out of elected office between the years 1833 and 1841. From 1834 to 1836: he had the land in Eckhart surveyed; he had the underlying mineral composition determined; he wrote a book extolling the land's great mineral value (primarily COAL); he represented the Consolidated Coal Co. during the purchase of the land; and who knows what else he was involved in.

Maybe he was the one who applied pressure on Mary Eckhart to sell her land (within 5 days of her husband [and maybe her son] dying). Maybe he was responsible for her having a mental break down and her sons trying to have her committed to a mental institution. We can only speculate as to what really happened and why the Eckharts sold their land.

Well! The plot thickens. And maybe, as Rich wisely points out, we never will know what really happened. The Eckhart people aren't talking from their graves above the little place called Eckhart Mines.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/cousin-rich-sleuth.html

"Idiots" and Slaves

This will be a long-ish post as I want to copy and paste the post from Cousin Rich of the "Descendants of George Adam Eckhart, of Eckhart MD" group on facebook. He's done a marvelous job of keeping the information flowing!! Thanks, a thousand thanks, to Cousin Rich!!!

Here's what he posted about our shared ancestor, George Adam Eckhart's son, John Sr. and what happened to the slaves as can be seen from documents. Note that Mary Ann's son David had been listed as an "Idiot" on the 1850 census. Who knows what that really meant and how it would be described in today's terms. But she "sufficiently provided for him", the will states. I wonder in what way.

The 1830 Md. census showed that John Sr. owned 8 slaves, 4 males under 10 years old, 3 males 10 to 24 years & 1 female 10 to 24 years. He also employed 1 free colored female age 24 to 36 years old.
-------------------------------------------------------------
John Eckhart was an early slaveholder as evidenced by a transaction recorded in Allegany Co., MD on 23 Oct 1805 in which John J. Buch & Christian Deetz of Alahany Co., MD bound themselves for "the full sum of $240" for the negro girl Jill.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Slaves appraised in the 1835 estate inventory included:
Black man (Harry) $600.00 - sold to John Eckhart.
Black boy (Bile/Rile) $600.00 - sold to Hannah Eckhart.
Black boy (Levi) $400.00 - sold to Adam Echart.
Black boy (Mandy) $350.00 sold to John McGittigan.
Black boy (Tom) $400.00 - sold to David Eckhart.
Black boy (Dennis) $250.00 - sold to Mary Eckhart.
Black boy (William) $100.00 - sold to Mary Eckhart.
Black girl (Lyndy) - sold to Mary Eckhart.
Black girl (Milly) $450.00 - sold to John Hansel.
-------------------------------------------------------------
In August 1850, Mary Ann's slaves were appraised thus: Dennis (23 yrs), William (17 yrs) & Fielding (10 yrs) at $220 each. Lucinda was appraised at $200. All were handed over to son, Adam. Approximatley $350 was owed the estate by Evan Ellicott & Richard Grays for purchase of unnamed negroe children (Lavinia, Martha, & Matilda ?). The notes were judged worthless because Ellicott was insolvent and Grays was a blackman without property.
The notes were marked 'B' and returned to the court.

Mary Eckhart left bequest to them in her will dated July 3, 1843, which was probated July 1850 and read:

In the name of God amen, I Mary Ann Eckhart now of Monongalia County, Virginia being weak in body but sound of mind and memory, am calling to mind the uncertainty of life and the necessity of arranging my worldly affairs do make this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all other or former wills and Testaments.

First I hereby direct that my just debts shall first be paid, and after payment of the same and my funeral expenses I hereby devise and bequeath as follows vis:

Secondly - That after my decease I direct that my black woman Malinda shall be free and that all necessary papers showing her freedom be furnished to her.

Thirdly - That the children of said Malinda shall be free in manner following to Vz the boys at the age of thirty five and the girls at the age of twenty five Vs. Dennis of the age of 16 on the 5 of August 1843 - William 11 year old 4 February 1844 - Matilda 8 year old 16 of June, 1843 - Lininia 6 year old the 16 May 1843 - Fielding three years old the 22nd February 1843 and Martha one year old the 22 August in the year 1843.

The above named being the children of said Malinda and any further increase that said Malinda may have previous to my decease shall be freed in like manner at the ages of 25 and 35 years.

Fourthly - to my Sons Adam Eckert and John Eckert I hereby give and bequeath the before mentioned negroes and increase until they shall by this will become free, and all the rest of my Estate of all kinds whatsoever, believing that the said Adam & John Eckart have greater claims upon me than any of the rest of my children except my afflicted son David (1850 census listed David as an Idiot) who is sufficiently provided for - But I hereby direct that of my Estate, my son John shall have my household & kitchen furniture to himself.

Fifthly I hereby appoint Edgar C. Wilson Executor to this my last will and testament. In Testimony whereof I have hereto set my hand and seal this 3rd day of July in the year 1843.

Mary Ann Eckhart

See why I'm stumbling all over the place thanking Cousin Rich? Mom has this information in her file with a copy of Mary Ann's will. But Rich put it together in a time flow and that makes it easier to understand. I think it's easier to comprehend a lot of information this way.

And, it makes the information dynamic in a contemporary way. Cousins can comment and add to it on the group facebook page. It gets us thinking here and now about what happened long ago.

I'm wondering how my cousins feel about our ancestors owning slaves and if they ever had a troubled heart over it as I did when I found out.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/idiots-and-slaves.html

Murder? Theft? Bribery?

Yesterday I posted that it finally struck me like a bolt of lightning how facebook can be used for genealogy when I joined the group, "Descendants of George Adam Eckhart of Eckhart, MD". Rich, bless him, created the group March 22, just eight days ago and already the group has almost 20 cousins.

But the most extraordinary thing is that we're sharing family history. And photos too... you know me, I love the photos... but this story takes the cake!!!

There's always been an oral history story in my Eckhart line about how the Consolidation Coal Company, the Consol, "stole" the Eckhart land from the family. Their man, "Jenkins", supposedly went to the county court house and paid a clerk to make one (or more) of the parcel deeds "disappear". It's hard, I would imagine, to get evidence to substantiate that claim now. I think at one point Mom did try to go and look to no avail. So I doubted the story or at least just chalked it up to family legend and lore. But here's a twist!

Here's what Rich posted to the Eckhart facebook group and it's very interesting indeed! And sorry about the font size craziness... I just copied and pasted and it went berserk:)

I was just reading some of the "history" of the Eckharts on the Genealogy web site. Here is an excerpt: "The original Eckhart farm was 600+ acres extending into what is now Frostburg. The Eckhart mansion stood close to where the McDonald's and Food Lion are in Frostburg now. There is actually a saw mill there now.

Nearby there are some small cottages built on rock foundations; those were the slave quarters. Everything was left to John, & he became quite a wealthy man. Harry said Matthew St. Claire Clark bought the Eckhart land. John Edwin Eckhart said a man by the name of Jenkins ended up with Consolidation Coal Co., and they bought out the Eckhart Farm".

Interesting reading, but I think a few facts were left out.

From research that I did, the Eckhart farm was indeed sold to Matthew St. Claire Clark, in 1835. The land was purchased from Mary Eckhart. The excerpt does not include the fact that her "wealthy" husband and her oldest son, had both died within 5 days of the sale.

It seems Mr St. Claire Clark, who was the Washington D.C. based attorney for The Consolidated Coal Co. of New York, was also privy to the fact that the land contained the largest vein of coal ever found in Maryland. Mr St. Claire Clark had authorized the production and publication of a book which described in detail the minerals located within "our new land purchase in Eckhart, Maryland". The book was published shortly after the purchase of the land. So shortly after, that it seems Mr. St Claire Clark had to have his geologists working on the land before they even owned it.

Finding the mother lode of coal in 1835 was like finding the mother lode of gold in 1849. Who knows how many people lost their lives in the name of greed? I believe John and his son did.

 

 

Today's photo from my archive, the town of Eckhart Maryland taken about 1909:

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/03/murder-theft-bribery.html

Worth At Least Two Posts!

Today's news is worth at least two separate posts but I'll combine into one.

Working on Capt. Jacob

I continue to search for information about my ancestor, Capt. Jacob Whetstone (1738 - 1833). Holy-Toledo! These papers are still piling up! I needed one of those big blue binders and some diver tabs so it was off to Staples.

Recently, was on Fold3 and had intended to return there (see post below) on the hunt for his Revolutionary War records. Instead, I spent the day sitting on the Ancestry.com looking at and printing out census pages.

If you'll remember, there is some confusion about multiple Jacob Whetstones with ours having a son, Jacob Jr. (1776 - 1889). I wanted to see where they were living with proximity to each other because I remember Mom saying that you can track them pretty well on the US Census. I can use her records but where's the fun in that? Plus, I think it gives me better comprehension of the line of time marching through their lives.

I also made a spread sheet of sorts for each of the UN Census listing all the relevant Whetstones (and close name variations) with Capt. Jacob's brothers, Abraham and Henry as well as son's Jacob Jr., Solomon, Isaac, and John... if I spotted them on the census search. I also noted any Whetstones (or variations) living nearby. I only checked the page before and after the listing page and I hope that's enough, but am still pretty new at this so don't know for sure.

Good practice dictates working backward but this time I began at a starting point of which I was certain: the census closest in time to his war service and geographically to his place of birth.

So what did I find so far? That sure as Mom said, the 1790 census shows Capt. Jacob and his son Jacob Jr. living close by. I have more work to do on this track checking all the other census years... which I'll do as soon as I get all these papers organized in the new big blue binder, with tabs.

Social Media

I like and use facebook mostly to keep up with friends and the art world. (You might remember that when I'm not doing genealogy I'm a landscape painter.) I never really used it much for genealogy but have "liked" pages about it. Today... WOAH!

Mom who is 93 years old and on facebook alerted me to the fact that Cousin Cynthia posted a comment to a photo of our great great grandparents, John Eckhart and Mary Myers Eckhart!! There's a fracebook group page, Descendants of George Adam Eckhart of Eckhart, MD., with this picture on it.

How cool is this?? It's the first time I'm looking at the faces of these great great grandparents!! I am so grateful to Rich who put the page together and posted this picture:) Thanks cousin!

And now I know how to use facebook to connecting with living descendants of my ancestors;) NICE.

John Eckhart (1831 - 1917) and

Mary Catherine Myers Eckhart (1837 - 1909)

Posted by Rich!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/03/worth-at-least-two-posts.html

First Shot at Using Google Earth to Find the Eckhart Mansion

Last Tuesday went to a North San Diego County Genealogical Society presentation on using Google Earth for genealogy. I had fiddled with GE but hadn't a clue as to how to put this awesome tool to work for me.

As the presentation came to a close it popped into my newbie head that since I already knew where my ancestor, John Eckhart (1768 - 1835), son of George Adam Eckhart (1729 - 1806), had his home and land called the Eckhart Mansion I could fly over using GE. So off I went to fly over the south side of Frostburg, Maryland, down the hill from the Foodline, and high above the village of Eckhart and Eckhart Mines!

Here's the screen capture, saved and punched up in PhotoShop. See for yourself.

Here's a screen shot of the left hand section of the above image.

Is it just me or does that look like the footprint of a house and two out buildings in the upper left quadrant? The two out buildings would be to the left of the house and smaller. The Eckharts owned slaves, sad to say, and the reports of the time mention slave quarters. Wish I was an archaeologist and knew what I was looking at!

I emailed my brother and asked him to check it out and he did. He says that next time I'm in to visit Mom we'll take his Tahoe 4-wheel drive vehicle and ride down there.  What I'm really curious about is the center of the green mound on the right of the second image above. Is it a target for archery or shooting (folks do own guns there and enjoy target practice) or some other stone structure?

There was also on old family cemetery there and subsequent owners dozed it all over demolishing the old stones. (Don't ask me if I'm bitter... the answer is yes. People, you know who you are!) I'd really like to take that Tahoe and go looking for it.

Last time I was visiting Mom I tried climbing down from Foodline, but alas, I have a bad knee so felt like at least two of the Three Stooges sliding on down and crawling back up;) Tahoe, here I come!