Tonight I scared my husband. I was researching my Beardsley line in hopes to find a snippet of information about the females. I would love more information on Minerva Winchester Beardsley and Ada Curtis Beardsley.
I was playing a bit with the Family Search AI tool. I found something about the second wife of my younger Beverley Beardsley so I decided to see if I could find something in the NYS Historical Newspapers. I was specifically searching in Clinton and Essex Counties, the 1880s time period I was also only using the last name Beardsley.
I knew this would supply a lot of hints so I clicked on one that mentioned a Dr. S.A. Beardsley from 1885. This is my Sarah, you read a lot of her here. She is my 2X great grandmother and she is a favorite of mine.
the 9 April 1885 Essex County Republican had this fabulous gem in it, which had me exclaiming out loud scaring my husband.
B. W. Larkin would be Benjamin Wood Larkin and now I have a death year and place. This is a huge find for me. This might lead me to finding more about the life of Benjamin Wood Larkin.
I next looked up where Sumpterville, Florida is and I don’t think it is a very large place even today.
I do have some homestead records for a Benjamin W. Larkin in Gainesville so it is possible that it is the same person so I am going to have to do some research into this.
I am so excited about this find. Hopefully I can find out more about him.
This is such a fun topic. Changing names we all have those name changes that supposedly happened when our ancestors came through Ellis Island which a lot of times is a myth.
You see me write a lot about my Witherwax family, which was actually Weatherwax. My Great Grandmother Minerva changed it because of a fight with her inlaws but that didn’t stop her from Weatherwax when she wanted to use the family connections.
My last name is Osborne, My husband’s 2X great grandgather changed it from Oosback, when coming to America. I have no idea why but evidently he arrived with a brother Louis that I had no clue about.
Then there is my great grandmother Mildred Mabel Shumway who on her marriage license appears as Dolly. From the story my mom told me it was what her husband called her and she was short.
I find name changes fascinating, probably since I never had a nickname or anything else. Do you have any name changes in your family.
I have been spending a lot of time reading old deeds.
At RootsTech a big Family History Conference held in Utah every March it was announced that Family Search was going to be using AI in their unindexed collections. Currently it is an experimental phase. One of the collections is US Land Records.
Well one of my first discoveries was my 3X Great Grandma’s middle name of Elizabeth. I found a deed from 5 March 1843 about a month before Minerva died. As she died in her twenties this was a huge find.
This just gives me another clue to look at when searching for her.
I have been using the AI to find land records and it is slow going but interesting. I am also using it to try and see if I can solve my John Daby mystery but haven’t found anything yet.
I have found lots of items for my Benjamin Knowlton Coolidge family that is raising some questions like I need to figure out who Isiah Coolidge is because his name keeps coming up. I am also hoping this will help me solve the parents of Obadiah Coolidge as I am beginning to think they might be an Isaiah and a Hannah instead of Josiah and Mary.
Lots of brick walls but my source box on family search is getting big with me saving things there.
I have been a bit obsessed with this line lately. I have been able to trace the Bolton Line back to pre revolution. John Daby on the otherhand is a bit of a mystery.
John Daby was born in approximately 1782 possibly in Massachusetts.
In 1801 he married Olive Bolton in Shirley, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
In 1810 census, he appears in Windham County Vermont in the town Andover.
In 1830, 1840 & 1850 he appears on the United States Census in Jay, Essex County, NY.
John appears on the 1860 United States Mortality Schedule for Jay Essex County, New York. He died in June of 1859 of old age.
John is buried in the North Jay Cemetery in Jay, New York.
I have always thought that John’s parents were Joseph Daby (1748-1825) and Abigal Bennett (1748-1824). A cousin recently reached out to me and said that she was told by another researcher that his parents are a Samuel Darby (1759-1839) and Hepzibeth Wheeler (1762-1794) and no proof was given.
I haven’t been able to find a birth record for John to Samuel and Hepzibeth or to Joseph Daby and Abigal. I am going to try going through each child to see if I can find more.
I was searching in the DAR system the other day and came across patriot Amos Darby. There is only one application under this and it originated with someone born in Plattsburgh. The surname is one I have heard in my life so I was really excited. Then I saw the name Abigal Daby who was a resident of Jay, Essex County. Unfortunately I believe I attributed her to my John Daby and Olive Bolton but her death record said her father was a man name Charles Daby Her Find A Grave profile has a lot of breadcrumbs. Abigal Daby Joy Find A Grave.
Charles Daby/Darby (1798-1874) was the son of Aaron Darby (1761-1848) and Mary Phillips Derby (1767-1833). Aaron was said to be the brother of Samuel and both were the sons of Amos Darby and Helen Hosmar.
According to the Findagrave profile for John Daby he had a son named Amos. I need to see if I can drill down this family because here is some DNA evidence through Ancestry Thrulines that Amos Darby and Helen Hosmar maybe the grandparents to my John Daby.
This is my DNA relationship for Samuel Darby. I will need to figure out this Amos Darby is. I am lucky because my Mom and her siblings have tested also that brings us back a generation. Which is Amos Darby who I believe is the grandfather to John Daby.
I am hoping by putting this out to the universe and my ancestors will help me solve this mystery.
This was a pretty easy prompt for me. I knew I wanted to share these pictures of my Great Grandparents Benjamin Franklin Weatherwax (1852-1935) and Minerva Ruth Beardsley Weatherwax (1870-1925). I am thinking these pictures were taken between 1895 and 1909.
These pictures hang in my old bedroom in my parents house. All these years later I still love that wallpaper. There are other pictures that hang in that room, so when you go stay there you get to sleep with the dead people.
For this prompt I knew I wanted to talk about my Stewart line. My grandma’s maiden name is Stewart. This is how a lot of the genealogy goes in my family it all starts with a story. You know that old saying if I only had 5 minutes with a relative. Oh boy the questions I have for several of them. I really wished I had paid better attention.
This is a letter my grandma wrote my mom back in 1987. I was 15. We did solve the Larkin Mystery and now I would really like to solve the Stewart mystery.
There is family lore that our Stewart line goes back to Scotland. I have theories on that but I think it could possibly be true. I think it is possible they left around the time of the Jacobite Risings, unfortunately the earliest I have gotten to on my Stewart line is John Stewart (1755-1835), I have him born in Ireland and died in County Monaghan Ireland. His son William Stewart (1811-1872) was born in Clones, County Monaghan Ireland and died in Redford, Clinton County, New York. He immigrated to the United states somewhere between 1830-1840 with his brother James and the rumor has it they married Sisters. William married Elizabeth Davis (1826-1897). She was also born in Ireland.
I think I need to search for some wills and property records for this line so I can flesh this generation out a bit better. I know they were in Clinton County New York from 1850 on when they appear in the Federal Census.
If any of my Stewart cousins have any family lore they would like to share on this line I would love to hear it because sometimes there is a grain of truth in story.
Abial Preston is my 6th Great Grandfather, even if someone on Family Search gave his son to someone else. (I hate the family tree part of family search, too many mistakes and people aren’t willing to listen). According to Ancestry DNA I have proof of connections to 4 of his 5 children.
I have decided I would like to work on the DNA connections to Abial Preston and his wife Melatiah Smith. I would love to be able to file a DAR supplemental on this line as it comes through my Grandma’s line.
Abial Preston served as a Lieutenant in the Revolution under Captain Coffeen and he lived in Cavendish, Vermont. This has all checked out. Captain John Coffeen had a son Michael that married Abial Preston’s daughter Sarah Preston.
So according to Ancestry DNA and ThruLines there are suggestions that I am DNA connected to 3 other children of Abial and Melatiah. I manage kits for my Mom, an Uncle and an Aunt so I have lots of DNA matches to weed through and figure it out. I am no where an expert at DNA but I think this and regular documentation will be my friend.
My Mom matches 3 of the children of Abial Preston, Sarah Preston who married Michael Coffeen, Lucretia Preston who married John Russell and Lemuel Preston who married a Mary “Polly” Kelly and who died in 1813. (I should check to see if it was related to the War of 1812.
My Uncle matches Sarah Preston and Lucretia Preston and notice he has 4 matches to Sarah and only 1 with Lucretia.
My aunt matches Sarah Preston with 2 matches.
So right now I think I should make a list of all the DNA matches for each of my family members and find the common ones. I should also start researching down to each match. I should also ask my Mom’s youngest brother if he has any matches to Abial Preston. I should also do the same thing for Melatiah Smith Preston.
The other thing I am doing right now is reading through this record collection for Cavendish Vermont right now.
There are 704 images and last night I stopped at image 88 of 704. I found lots of references to Abial Preston, even one where he served as Constable in 1784. I found birth records for Children of Sarah Preston and Michael Coffeen and Lucretia Preston and John Russell.
A birth record for the oldest child of my 5x Great Grandparents Abner Preston and Sally Kelly for the daughter Sarah Smith Preston.
I also found a birth record for the youngest child of Abial Preston and Melatiah Smith, a son Abial in 1788. This could possibly been a change of life baby. I haven’t found any further records for Abial but will keep an eye out on them.
I am trying to build an argument that Abner is also Abial’s son and brother to Sarah Preston Coffeen so I can tie into this DAR patriot, which is why I am reading through the town records one by one. Also hoping I can see why they left. It is possible there are other Preston children I am missing so maybe I will find those also.
If you have read this far thank you, laying things out here helps me get my thoughts in order. If you have any suggestions how to proceed I would love to hear them.
I have recently been cleaning what will be our office area in our upstairs multi-purpose room. It will serve as an office, guest bedroom, possible tween social area. Part of the reason is I have been wanting to dig deep into my husband’s southern roots in North Carolina.
Almost every line of the Bass family comes from North Carolina and deep roots there. So far I have discovered six Revolutionary War Patriots for my daughters. I am working on a second supplemental for my daughter. The first one, I completed is through Ephraim Bass, who was a soldier and took an oath of allegiance for land.
The next one I am going to work on is John Best. I am at the point of completing the application and printing the proofs. It is always fun putting together a DAR application and supplemental.
I have been pretty lucky because both of these supplementals do not involve proving new children and I have some vital records for them.
As you can see John Best is credited with Patriotic Service. He took an Oath of Allegiance to make a land entry. These are great because you can trace the land then through the will which is what I have done with this line.
I am trying to get this done so I can have C sign the supplemental the next time she is home so we can begin the waiting period for approval. It will also mean that Sami will be able to inherit these patriots when she joins the DAR. Sami has been questioning her ancestor lately.
After this supplemental for C, it will be a bit harder for the next few as there are some new children to probe or female lines to go through and those are always trickier.
I am also setting up the office so I can start reading town records for my next supplementals. I have lots of un-indexed records to read which takes a lot of time but can be rather fun.
Last year for the 52 Ancestors Prompt Lucky I wrote about finding mortgage records about land Beverly Beardsly held when he died. Still need to go revisit that. Anyway back to Ada Curtis Beardsley.
Ada Curtis Beardsley is my presumed 4X great grandmother. She was born about 1775. I believe her parents are Eldad Curtis and his second wife Clotilda Meeks/Weeks. She married Beverly Beardsley in 1791 Wells Vermont.
Here is her ancestry profile.
The children are the ones I was able to glean from the probate of Beverly Beardsley in 1815 as there were minor children, who were appointed guardians. I need to see if I can find any other children between Ada Beardsley and Lydia as there is an 8 year difference so it is possible more living children exist before and after Ada.
I was poking around yesterday and was kept seeing a death date of 1823 in Michigan. No clue if it is true or not since no one listed sources. It is possible as I know one daughter was in Michigan. Also It is possible Ada married again and changed her name.
My most pressing item is to try and figure out who the child and over 16 in the 1820 Census are.
We have 2 Females 1 under 10 and 1 26-44 that I am unsure of. It is possible they are relatives visiting or in a similar situation to Ada but I hadn’t noticed that before yesterday.
I have no records of Ada after 1820 or before she married Beverly Beardsley. I would like to tie her to her father Eldad Curtis, a revolutionary war patriot. I think the answer is either in Wells or Pawlet both in Rutland County Vermont.
I am also thinking it is possible there are more children for Eldad. I believe he left Vermont for New York with his son Aaron who is one of the 2 children proven to Eldad in the DAR database. I think this is going to be a case of browsing page by page through the Vermont records on family search.
I also think I need to put a call into the Essex County, New York Probate Court Clerk and see how to get the entire packet of papers for Beverly Beardsley. I know there has to be an answer out there. I see lots of coffee and computer screen reading in my future.
At least I have a clearer picture of what I need to look for. Thanks for reading my ramblings.
This was a fun topic to go through and see what different members of my family did and in some cases I had to look up terms. Like a Bloomer. It has to do with the iron industry.
I decided to then check out the 1950s census to see what both of my grandfather’s were up to. First let’s look at my Grandpa, Earl Witherwax. He was residing in the town of Ausable, Clinton Co, New York on a farm. He is listed as a Salesman in the Beer industry.
I love this and I can actually totally picture my grandpa doing this. I also now get lots of the stories he would tell.
Next is my Grandpa Tony. I can’t tell you much about him as he died when I was 4 but I can tell you he had the kindest eyes and I remember him smiling.
Anthony DellaVecchia was residing in Long Island City, Queens, NY. He is listed as the Owner of Contracting Business. My Dad is also a contractor.
I think this was kind of fun to look into a small snippet of their lives.
Decoding the Family Tree 