Whetstones vs. Eckharts

Having recently announced here that I was declaring a new project for myself, that is the pursuit of all information about Capt. Jacob Whetstone of the American Revolution, on my mother's side, the Eckhart bunch on my father's side jumps in demanding attention! (See posts below, if you want.)

I had a nice blue binder started for the Whetstone project and was up and running. Had a work plan and everything.

Then Cousin Cynthia sent Mom some posts from the facebook page of a group, Descendants of George Adam Eckhart of Eckhart MD ... and I was off task. Way off task! But it's been fun too. Met a lot of cousins and learned a ton of stuff.

Now I have yet another blue binder for the Eckhart thing - see, I can't even call it a project yet. Funny, that, because as a relative newbie my first big project was on my Dad's side, Nehemiah Newans who also served in the Revolutionary War as did Capt. Whetstone... and my Eckhart connection, one Mary Myers Eckhart, was great granddaughter of Nehemiah Newans. I've learned a lot about Newans and his great grandson, Thomas F. Myers, Mary Myers Eckhart's brother. It would be good to tie it all together and get a better picture of that side of the family.

So I'm off taking slave inventory to try and figure out where the Eckhart slaves went to after Mary Ann, wife of John Eckhart (son of George Adam Eckhart), died. John died in 1835 and his estate went to Mary Ann... but I haven't seen his will yet. Anyway, the land was sold almost immediately to the representative of a mining company, so we know where the land went and the story behind that. (See post below.) But what about the slaves? So how could I not follow that up?!!

I guess that no matter how well you plan your genealogy projects, there might be an opportunity you have to jump on:)

Picture of the day from my archive:

Mary Catharine Myers Eckhart

(1837 - 1909)

My Myers/Eckhart connection

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/whetstones-vs-eckharts.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