Laurel Messenger: The joys of the county genealogical and historical society newsletter!

For years, Mom has subscribed to the Laurel Messenger, the newsletter of the Historical and Genealogical Society of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. About a year ago when I was raiding Mom's shelves of things I'd need to carry on her genealogy work, I came across stacks of old Laurel Messengers and packed them up and shipped them all to my home here in San Diego. When I got home and had some time to look at this treasure, I decided that I too needed to subscribe with a membership.

Published quarterly, it's focus is two-fold: it brings news of the history side of the house and covers events like the recent Mountain Craft Day, as well as publishes genealogy focused articles about news of yesteryear and diaries of locals. The most recent issue contains a lively mix of both.

These local groups are the lifeblood of many a small town or distant county for those of us who research from afar. We depend on their archives, if they are fortunate to have support for one, and we spend our travel dollars to get there. We send in our requests for requests for research, and it usually comes at very reasonable rates. Sure we might have to wait months for their lone research volunteer to get to it, but we know that it will be worth it.

Back to the Laurel Messenger's recent issue. In it was the story of an German girl, traveling alone, who came to America in the early 1800s. She married in Germany in 1830 and her husband left there for America and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio to find work. By 1835, his wife, Liwwat, was on her way to him. The excerpt begins for us at her day 61 of travel from Germany when she arrives in Baltimore and hires a driver to take her west over the Old Pike, or National Highway. Here are just a few samples.

Day 64. It was indeed a perilous and long day. We stayed the night in the inn west of Hancock, at Piney Grove. It cost 70 cents with black bread, and they made us food for the next day also, for eating on the way. The water here is horrible and tastes like gunpowder.

Day 65. Today we traveled again over high mountains, and by afternoon heavy thunder and thunder clouds cracked between the mountains. The storm was unpleasant. The horses were frightened and so was I. This evening we stayed in a little house with a Cumberland (Maryland) family. The meal was the best with bread, meat, milk and vegetables.

Day 65. (Number duplicated.) There was a dispute between the travelers and the wagoners. They thought the trip too slow... city people who don't realize the weakness of and difficult pulling of the horses. Their patience is thin, too many days, and people are tired.

Day 66. It poured with rain showers, one after the another, so driving the team was dangerous and slow. We stayed the night outside of Frostburg (Maryland). The host immediately made a fire in the fireplace, and prepared the soup and evening meal. The man spoke German very well. Everything cost me 55 cents for the night with enough for breakfast.

Interesting. One of our ancestors, John Eckhart and family ran an Inn on the National Road about this time and might have been her host because his inn was just east of Frostburg. He died in 1835 and would have been hale and hearty during the time Liwwat traveled through.

Day 67. The Country is all mountains and valleys with thick forests and wide streams. Now we came through Grantsville, a nice village, and here we bought fresh meat and cooked it ourselves. The weather is better and the travelers as well.

Just a bit later than this, and about 1840, another ancestor of mine, Joseph Edward Whetstone,  had a blacksmith service in Grantsville. Then in about 1845, he took over the operation of an inn right there in Grantsville on the National Road!

This is just a small excerpt from the article which is full of the details of travel west during this time. I could easily imagine my ancestors who ran the inns on the National Road as being Liwwat's host or shoeing the team of horses.

I simply love how our local societies are the conduit of information of all sorts to those of us on the hunt for even more details about our ancestors!!

Joseph E Whetstone 1816-1897, blacksmith and farrier, then innkeeper on the National Road.
Lastly he was a stonemason and worked all over Western Maryland.

 

The URL for this post is:

My photo file tells a story

While looking at my photo files, discovered two big fat files that hadn't yet been processed. I'm a little miffed that I've overlooked these treasures when I would have bet that all the photos had been properly processed by photo editing, sorting and naming, with details put in labels within the file. But I'm also thrilled that there are more delicious pictures. So off I went to start that task and that's gonna take time. That's OK because I just love working with old family photos.

What I realized when looking through the yet to be sorted files as well as the older sorted photos is that they tell the story of photography in our family as well as photography in general and in the small Western Maryland world in which the taking of photos in our family operated. So I'd like to share with you what I observed, here in this post.

The oldest photos come from the mid 1800s, about 1850 or 1860 and on to about 1910-ish. They are formal portraits taken by professional photographers in their studios. There were a number of photographers operating in Western Maryland then. A couple in Cumberland, the largest town in the region, and two or three in Frostburg which is smaller and situated just west on the Old Pike or National Road, a major route west before the railroad came to the area. Let's start with a couple of those images.

The above was taken by a photographer named E. Gilbert Irwin and bound up in a book documenting the National Road about 1910 which Mom has in her collection. As far as I've been able to discover he did this project under the auspices of the management of the National Road.

The small plate in the rear of the book identifies him by name, and you can see that up top. The middle image shows the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania where the Maryland road work ends. As you can see, It looked bad for Maryland and the state of the road is pretty awful compared to how Pennsylvania took care of their portion of the road. That would have been a perfect shot to document the need for more Maryland funds to be allocated. The last image is included just because it's one of my favorites. Plus it was probably handy in demonstrating the general terrain which was farmland and forest. This image is often referred to as an example of the photographer's artistic eye, and indeed while this album had a practical use, it is a work of art, as well of history.

The real formal studio portraits are a treasure to us, and I bet you have your own grouping of these. Here are just a few. I love to look at what our ancestors are wearing. I'll put these in presumed order by date with the oldest first. They stop about 1913 with the formal wedding portrait of Dad's parents and they were married September 30, 1913.

Enoch Clise (1843 - 1896) in his Civil War uniform. He is not an old man here and died in 1896, which leaves a window of about 1865 to 1880-ish. Maybe.

They were married 19 April, 1878 and this is thought to be their wedding portrait.

Joseph E Whetstone 1816-1897.
He is quite old here so maybe about 1890?

 

 

His son, Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858 - 1939) on the right, in his Frostburg Fire Department uniform. Date about 1890s, maybe.

Moretta Workman 1859-1946.
Maybe she's in her 20s here?

Moretta's husband, Gustav Zeller 1858 - 1925.
Wondering if these two images were their wedding portraits? If so then there would have been a couple photo. None of the relatives seem to have that. Too bad.

Their daughter and my paternal grandma, Helen Zeller Kelly 1894-1985. About 1900.

Wedding photos, 1913.

 

 When Grandma, above, married Grandpop, John Lee Kelly (1892 - 1969) these two photos of his family were also taken. That's he and his mother in the oval, and the whole Kelly bunch, with labels.

 

I like to examine all of the formal portraits we have and especially the backgrounds to see which were taken in the same studio. Those big backdrops are a good clue!

Just about the time Mom was born in 1918, the informal snapshots start to appear. These are wonderfully plentiful and their informality tells so much about the people in them. I'll just share a few for your enjoyment.

 

 

Mom with her parents, Emma Susan (Whetstone) Williams (1897 - 1956) and Cambria Williams (1897 - 1960).

John Lee Kelly (1892 - 1969) with his children, about 1925.

Mom with a kitten.

Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858 - 1939) who we saw in his fire department uniform, above. What a difference! This image tells a broader story of family as he and his wife Catherine Elizabeth (House) Whetstone (1865 - 1947) sit with some of their grandchildren, Mom in the big hair bow.

These pictures tell, I think, a fuller story, about the family and times. The frequency of the images and their abundance tell me that it was easy and relatively inexpensive for the family to take their own photos. They are, of course, less formal by stretches! The family would have chosen, as we all do, where and when the picture was to be made so it tells even more about them. Plus, and I really like this, it catches them in their every-day clothes. Candid's: gotta love them!

Mom with her camera, August 1942.



After this date, photos in our file multiply like rabbits. Mom has a camera and is obviously using it. I bet she got it for her birthday on July 29. I mean now that I think about it, if you have your own camera you are going to take pictures, for sure!

Do you remember your first camera? I sure do. And the thrill of going to the drug store to pick up the processed photos to see how they came out? I usually went with friends. Once you have your own camera, you are free to capture your personal world as you see it, and that makes all the difference to those of us interested in family history. We get to see the family as it saw itself, or at least as one member saw it.

Here are some images from Mom, as photo documentarian. I won't label them because I want you to look at the content of the images and se what they tell.

 

Yeah, it's all there in those pictures: all the family history of the most recent generations. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every generation going back just five or six had their own cameras with which to document family? Wouldn't that be a treasure?

And so I ask myself, what with all the new media, are we taking enough photos? I wonder if I am?


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-photo-file-tells-story.html

Stories Mom Told Me: Part 1, Pepper is a Whetstones thing

Mom has written up some memories and we've put them together in a book form, with a lot of photos, to make sharing easy. She wrote them years ago in those stenographer's notebooks that she took to libraries and court houses when she went to do genealogy research in years past. She was a good note taker and we've been able to piece together sources for almost every bit of information we looked at in her files. You see, she only did her genealogy for herself and never intended to share it, so sources were recorded on the fly just to help her find her way back to where she first saw a thing. But I digress.

When Mom had a memory of her life and was in a writing mood she'd grab one of those steno books and write it down on blank pages in the back. I noticed the steno books last spring on a visit to see Mom and she read me a couple of stories. I knew then that they should be shared. Over the last ten days I've posted them to this blog.

That done, I think I'll share some more stories Mom told me. You see I call Mom almost every morning and we do go on about family history! I keep notes on what she tells me in spiral notebooks. Now I have three fat ones brimming over with what Mom knows. Sometimes it's just a detail about our ancestors, a small event, or a note about what happened to whom and when. It's the kind of stuff that can easily get lost if a person doesn't write it down then and there.

So here goes, and in no particular order. I'll just work my way back through my "Conversations with Mom" notebooks in a first attempt to get it down in writing, or rather typing. Might be said that it's going to be just a wild basket of kittens!

Stories Mom Told Me: Part 1, Pepper loving Whetstones

I was standing in the kitchen here in our home in San Diego, California, on a cold and rainy winter day a while back. It was a soup or stew day, for sure. We love how a good soup makes the house smell like a home, don't you? When I first got married Mom gave me some tips about cooking and marriage. Men like meat. When you start any cooking that's not a cake, begin with sautéing onions and garlic because it makes the house smell wonderful. Over the years and through all of the vagaries of life, there has been one constant: every savory meal is likely to start with onions and garlic!

As my soup (or stew, I forget) got going and was into the seasoning stage about 45 minutes before it landed on the table, I grabbed for the pepper. Lots of pepper. Love it. I put pepper on everything. So does Mom. We love pepper. I've been criticized for adding too much of it to salads, roasts, and soups. Every beef dish turns into Steak au poivre! It just seems right.

Just as I made this observation, I reached out and grabbed for the phone: let's call Mom and find out about why we love pepper! She said immediately, "That's a Whetstone thing. My grandfather Whetstone put pepper on everything, and lots of it too. So did my Mama. We all love pepper."

What about the Kellys? Do they like pepper like that, I inquired about Dad's side of the family. I wanted to know this because my Grandma Kelly was a wonderful cook and an exceptional baker of sweets. Her wilted spring greens would have made a New York City chef weep! Sauté up some bacon to crispy, remove from the iron skillet (you know the ones, all black) add some vinegar and a dash of sugar swirl in the hot pan and let come to a small boil, then add the greens. The greens wilt immediately, but cover the skillet and take off the heat. The objective is to wilt not cook them, and that's a delicate matter. If overcooked those fresh spring greens can turn bitter and that's no good at all.

Nope, said Mom, pepper is a Whetstone thing. Even a cousin of mine through the Whetstone line says she loves pepper! I wonder how many Whetstone descendants are out there today grabbing for the pepper instead of the salt?

I wondered if there were health benefits associated with black pepper and sure enough, there are. You can see one write-up here and another one here. From the looks of it, pepper, and that's common black pepper that we usually have on the table or in a pepper grinder, is full of antioxidants, and promotes digestion and absorption. Piperine is a substance in it that is known to be a little powerhouse of an item that often works synergistically (especially with turmeric, which I'm willing to bet the Whetstones din not use) to enhance anti-inflammatory properties of other good nutritious foods.

Now I'm wondering if this use of pepper isn't adaptive and old Joseph E Whetstone (1816-1897) and even his father, Jacob Whetstone Junior (1776 - 1889) used pepper to protect from strange intestinal troubles out on the frontier of Western Maryland?  And as an added bonus, it kept arthritis and other inflammatory type ailments at bay? Pretty smart, those Whetstones!

Me on right with cousins, sons of Mom's sister: all pepper lovers.

Mom: possibly the biggest pepper lover of us all!

Mom's mother, Emma Susan (Whetstone) Williams (1897 - 1956) with her brothers, pepper lovers, all!

 

Pepper lover:

Mom's grandfather Whetstone and her mother's father, Joseph H. Whetstone (1858 - 1939), on the right in his Frostburg Fire Department uniform. Recent news from the FFD historian indicates that his hat says "Assistant Chief."

Joseph H's father, Joseph E Whetstone (1816-1897.)

Another pepper lover? I'm willing to bet.

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/11/stories-mom-told-me-part-1-pepper-is.html

Sentimental Sunday: I Hardly Know Ya'

 But what were they like?

 

Was watching the live stream from RootsTech online and listening to Ron Tanner's presentation about FamilySearch Family Tree. He said a lot of fascinating things and one of them struck me hard. He said that after four generations no one knows us.

Oh sure, they can research the facts of us, but will they be able to answer that question we've all as family history buffs asked of living relatives: what was he or she like? "He was a tall bear of a man with big strong embracing arms." "She was a small woman who was the strongest person I ever met." "He was ill most of the time, but he had a wickedly good sense of humor. It kept him going." When it all boils down, that's the stuff we, or at least I, want most and is hardest to come by. I'll give up more than a couple of records to hear the answer to that one question: What was he or she like?

While watching RootsTech I was struck by how much emphasis there was on images (photos and video) as well as narrative, the stories. In the past I've heard a lot of folks be dismissive of "soft" information as compared to records. But now it seems the world is balancing out. We want those records but as human beings we need those photos and stories. They warm our hearts and sustain us.

Let's touch our collective toe in the water with my GGF, Daniel Williams (1852 - 1920). He was Mom's father's father and three generations back for me. He died a couple of years after Mom was born, and I'm guessing he held her in his arms. I can feel the soft information slipping away as I try to document his life. He's right there on the cusp and because of him, I get it how exactly people are forgotten by the fourth generation.

Now let's go just one more generation to that elusive and too easily forgotten fourth generation back and the 2nd great grandparents, another way to put it, my grandparent's grandparents. I'll list who is there and what I know about them in the way of soft info. Here's the line up, first with Mom's side and then with Dad's. Maybe some cousin out there will search and find me so we can connect. Maybe they will have a photo. Hey, a girl can hope:)

Here are Mom's people starting with her paternal grandfather, Daniel William's parents:

Thomas Williams (1815 - 1868)
He was a coal miner in Wales and lived in a small market town of Strata Florida, Cardiganshire. We think he died about 1868. He had seven children. What was he like? Probably strong and maybe big because all of his sons were large men. You'd have to be strong to work in a coal mine. No picture of him yet found.

Jane (James) Williams (1815 - ????)
Small, sturdy. Jane was the one who birthed those seven children, kept the house, made do when times were hard in the Welsh mine fields. After Thomas died she immigrated to the US and was in Upstate New York. Where she lived and died is still a mystery to us. But what was she like? In the one photo of her she looks delicate and frail but she's old.

 

 

Daniel William's wife was Jane Price and here are her parents:

 



William Price (1829 - 1872)
William Jr. was born in Bedfordshire, England, and died in Aux Sable Township, Grundy County, Illinois. Our working theory is that they went west, possibly mining, and to be with family. He's listed in the 1841 English Census living with his mother, Ann who is a lace maker. In both the 1850 and 1870 US Census he is listed as a miner and then more specifically, a coal miner.
Here's another coal miner who was likely strong and sturdy. But I still don't know what he was like.

 

Diane Thomas Price (1832 - 1871)

Diane was born in Wales. She died in Mount Savage, Allegany County, Maryland. Mom believes that she traveled back to where family was to have her last child and died in childbirth or shortly thereafter. That's very little to know about a person. And there's no photo of her in our possession so I can't look into her eyes and wish I knew her.

Mom's mother was Susan Whetstone Williams (1897 - 1965). Here are her grandparents.

Joseph Edward Whetstone (1816 - 1997)
We know quite a bit about my grandma Williams' grandparents by comparison to some of the others listed here. There are stories and some photos too. Here's Joseph E, Whatstone who started working as a blacksmith in conjunction with his father in law, Peter Yeast, who owned an roadhouse on the Old Pike going west near Grantsville, Garrett County, Maryland. He later became a stone mason and enjoyed a nice career in that work. Here's his photo. He looks strong and stone masonry was probably work for a very able-bodied man then. But look, he's holding a book. He was literate and my guess is that it's a bible. And look at those eyes!

Sarah Waggoner Whetstone (1825 - 1880)
Sarah was the step-daughter of the roadhouse and inn owner mentioned above, Peter Yeast. We have no photo of her but we do have an amazing letter written by Sarah to her daughter, so I'll post that instead. As you can see, she was literate and that was quite an accomplishment for the time - about 1869 - and place - extreme wilds of Western Maryland. Perhaps it was from her that Mom and I got our love of reading and writing.

Samuel Albert House (1832 - 1917)
We know a lot about Samuel Albert House and you can see it here. He's just that far out of immediate reach but somehow he imposed his presence down through four generations. Maybe you have to be quite the character in order to do that? I feel as though I'd know him if he walked into the room today, and that's saying something.

Mary Elizabeth Farrell (1835 - 1919)
We know about Mary Elizabeth by way of her husband and in many regards she has been defined by him. She had 16 children with him and that couldn't have been easy given his life. Well, at least we have a photo of her, for which I am very glad.

Here's Dad's line up starting with his father's grandparents.

John Kelly (1821 - 1891)
Born in Shannonbridge, Clonmacnoise Parrish, County Offlay, Ireland and died in Eckhart, Allegany County, Maryland. We have no idea why or when he came over . And the only photo we have for him is his grave marker, a lovely Irish cross, in St. Michaels Cemetery, in Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland. I have no idea what he or his wife were like.

Bridget Cockrane (1830 - 1910)
Bridget married John Kelly on 21 June 1846 in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland. We know she was born in Ireland but don't know where. And we don't know when she died or where she's buried. It's a mess. And lastly, very sad, we have no picture of her even though she lived till 1910. Why?

John Eckhart (1831 - 1917)
Mary Myers Eckhart (1837 - 1909)
I think of these two as a couple because the visual I have for them is a couple graphic made by a cousin I found through facebook. I just did a post about them and you can see it here. I know where they lived and what work he did, but other than that, I don't know what they were like.

Dad's mother's grandparents were:

Charles William Zeller ( 1829 - 1901)
We have a nice portrait photo of Charles William and you see it below. There's a very recent post recapping all that's known about him and his wife Anna Mary. But it's not enough. I deduce that he was resourceful and ambitious having brought his candy making skills from Germany then moved his them from the little mountain town of Frostburg in Western Maryland and finally to the metropolis of Chicago where real money was to be made. He does look prosperous in this photo, don't you think?

Anna Mary (possibly Breuning/ Browning/ Bruning) Zeller (1834 - 1906)
Because of the comment to the post mentioned under Charles above, I now want and need to go research Anna Mary! She is probably not the woman I think and now I'm not sure what I think. But never mind because I love a mystery:) Do I know her and what she was like? No way.

When family stories were told, the exotic Zellers often took the spotlight and the couple below were left in the shadows.

Elijah Workman (1816 - 1864)
Nancy Ann Troutman (1826 - 1882)
I know very little about either person of this couple. Both families have long lines that go back to the earliest frontier days in the area now known as Allegany County, Maryland. But personal information that would help a descendant know what they were like? Forget it. A photo? No way. One tiny story? Forget it.

So there you have it. It's sad really, and that's why it's here on Sentimental Sunday. Four generations back and forgotten about. I can do better for them. How are you doing with your fourth generation back? Do you know what they were like?

NOTE: I finished this post Saturday late and checked it out later to edit. Blogger, it seems, had eaten the whole last half of my work here. So if you see something that needs a bit more polish, please have mercy. Sorry.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/03/sentimental-sunday-i-hardly-know-ya.html

Surname Saturday: The Wonderful Whetstone Family

True confession, I like my Whetstone ancestors. Some of my kinfolk give me the chuckles with their misbegotten adventures and I enjoy them because it's fun to watch from the relative safety and comfort of my home as they stumble their way through records and leave a trail a mile wide. But the Whetstones are different: their records are about service to country and community, and of course family.

There's even a major (to us) genealogical fist-fight that's been going on for years about another Jacob Whetstone Jr. from the Somerset PA area (and not our Jacob Whetstone Jr. 1776 - 1889 form Berks County) and a book's claim that it was this other Whettstone line that descended from Capt. Jacob Whetstone Sr. (1738 - 1833) who served in the Revolutionary War. This particular book is given as a source for some applications to the DAR. All of this confusion finds perfect breeding ground throughout the 21 Member Trees on Ancestry.com, and probably counting upward every hour.

The bottom line is that our Jacob Whetstone Jr. was the son of Captain Jacob Whetstone and was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The other guy, bless him, was born in Somerset Pennsylvania, I know not when, and perhaps ended up out west... but I try not to pay too close attention and clog up my brain.

We found much more about Capt. Jacob Whetstone from the vast and fabulous Pennsylvania Archives on-line here. Any lookie there! There's a portal just for us genealogy freaks!

Also need to mention the vast array of spelling of the name: Whetstone, Whetstein, Wetzstine, Wettsttne, and the Dutch version, Van Der Woestyne. Maybe Probably I don't have them all;) Good grief!

So let's start the countdown, and look at Mom's mother's Whetstone line as far back as we can.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

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

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

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938
15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947
Joseph Hampton Whetstone followed his father's chosen occupation as a stone mason in a time when even the streets were cobble stones and needed to be set by hand. They lived just on the outer edged of the town of Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland.
Catherine Elizabeth kept a garden and was often seen working in it sporting her large sunbonnet. Joseph turned a portion of the basement into a cold cellar with his masonry skills so that what Catherine grew would be well kept over the winter.
When Mom's mother, Emma, was small and maybe less than 8 or 10 years old, their house in town burned to the ground. The entire family was left in the middle of January with only the clothes on their backs. Afterward, Joseph did two things: he joined the Frostburg Fire Department, all volunteers, and built for his family a fine house on the outer edges of town, the one with the big garden and cold cellar in the basement.
Joseph H. and Catherine were the love birds in this line-up. Mom has letters they wrote back and forth while he was away working as a stone mason. They are sweet and tender. Interestingly, she was his housekeeper after his first wife, Amanda Dennison, died. They eventually married.
They had 12 children in all and they are:
Charles Albert Whetstone 1887 - 1965
James Franklin Whetstone 1889 - 1960
Clarance Hampton 1891 - 1976
Grace Elizabeth 1893 - 1959
Peter Whetstone 1895 - 1906
7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956
Edna Whetstone 1900 - 1922
Margaret Ann Whetstone 1902 - 1996
Joseph Edward 1903 - 1972
Leslie Laurance Whetstone 1905 - 1995
Viola Whetstone 1906 - 1997
George Washington Whetstone 1911 - 1975

28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897
29. Sarah Wagoner/Waggoner 1825 - 1880
Joseph Edward and wife Sarah were born and died in Garrett County Maryland in and around the tiny community of Grantsville. He was a stonemason. The winters are harsh here and my guess is that daily life then was not easy. I blogged not too long ago about a letter Sarah received from her mother, also named Sarah, just before she died and you can read it here to get a feel for the times.
They had these 13 children:
Elizabeth Jane Whetstone 1842 - 1896
Susan Emily Whetstone 1844 - 1877
Peter Yeast Whetstone 1847 - 1918
William Whetstone 1850 - ?
Charles Whetstone 1851 - 1880
Charlotte "Lottie" Whetstone 1852 - 1872
Mary Alice Whetstone 1856 - 1862
14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938
G. O. Theodore Whetstone 1860 - 1861
John Edward Whetstone 1862 - 1896
Bradford Whetstone ?
Zoe Violet Whetstone 1864 - 1948
Frank Whetstone 1869 - 1959

56. Jacob Whetstone Jr. 1776 - 1869
57. Christiana Frantz 1744 - ?
Jacob and his brother Solomon married the Frantz girls: Jacob Jr. married Christiana and Solomon married her sister Catherine.
By tracing the birth location of the children we find this couple first living in Berks County, Pennsylvania, then a brief stop in Somerset County (and thus the confusion in records mentioned in the introduction), and lastly in Selbysport, Garrett, Maryland, a move taken as best we can guess about 1815. He was a farmer.
They had the following children:
Female Whetstone born in 1792
Samuel Whetstone 1794 - ?
Female Whetstone born 1795
John W. Whetstone 1796 - 1848
Female Whetstone born 1804
Hannah Whetstone 1808 - ?
Catherine Whetstone 1810 - 1893
Daniel Whetstone 1812 - 1888
28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897
Rebecca Susan Whetstone 1803 - 1881

112. Jacob Whetstone Sr. 1738 - 1833
113. Anna Marie Schaeffer 1748 - ?
Here's our Revolutionary War ancestor! Mom writes the following in her Notes on Family Tree Maker:
The Whetstone's were from near Mckeansburg and are on record for Pine Grove, Twp. Their company was recruited largely from the North side of the Blue Mountains.
Aug 1777 Jacob Whetstone's Company  mustered under Coloniel Daniel Hunter of Oley, and was on duty around Philadelphia, participating in the Battle of Germantown under General George Washington. The return roster of the company  is given as containing 49 men and 8 officers and includes the following: May 17, 1777
First Company Capt. Jacob Whetstone
Ensign: Heney Whetstone (spelled Wetstein), Conrad Sheffer, Rudolph Buzzard, Ludwig Herring,George Brouch.
Jacob Whetstone was a Captain in the Rev. War. He served from 05 Aug 1777 until 05 Jan 1778.
Their children are:
56. Jacob Whetstone Jr. 1776 - 1869
Solomon Whetstone 1775 - ?
Isaac Whetstone 1777- 1850
John Whetstone 1778 - ?

224. Isaac Whetstone about 1710 - 1789
225. Persus Hunsicker
Isaac came from Baden-Wurtenberg, Germany and his wife, Persus, was born in Tamaqua, Schuylkill, PA.
They had these children:
112. Jacob Whetstone Sr. 1738 - 1833
Abraham Whetstone 1740 - ?, who served in the Berks County Militia in the Revolutionary War.
Henry Whetstone 1742 - ?

28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897, as a younger man

28. Joseph Edward Whetstone 1816 - 1897, later in life

 

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938 as a younger man.

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938, on right in his

Frostburg Fire Department uniform.

14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938 and 15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947

with grandchildren. Mom has the big bow.

15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947, later in life,

standing in her garden behind the house.

 

6. Cambria Williams 1897 - 1960 and 7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956.
Emma was the daughter of 14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone 1858 - 1938 and 15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947.

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