Rod's Magical Ancestry Mystery Tour
May 12-19, 2008
Edson
Corners, Milford NY looking for Lemuel
Sargeant.
I drove down to
Milford NY, to a place called Edson Corners looking
for graves of Sargeant and Avery families, and went to the exact GPS
location that previous platt maps and family bios said were
cemeteries, but they were totally overgrown and I found only one
stone flattened in the mud with a tractor print running over it.
Edson Corners was a very pretty place with rolling hills and
farmland. Milford was a little town past its prime.
Cole's
Cemetery, Monroeton, Pennsylvania
Looking for Williston
West Senior and first wife's name. Was she Benjamin's West's mother or
was Susannah Bosworth his mother? Did not find and Wests or Bosworths.
Monroeton, PA, looking for West, Bosworth and Avery
families. The oldest stones were literally melted or half buried in
dirt. The family bio said that the Williston West I was looking for
had no stone, but I was looking for his wives. Ben. Bosworth was
supposed to be there (I previously found a pic of his stone), but I
could not find any. His might be the ABM rev. war markers that was
totally melted.
From: http://www.joycetice.com/heverly/h2p171.htm
"Williston West came to the
Harry Decker place in Towanda township before 1812 and cleared a considerable
part of the farm. He died in 1819 at an advanced age and was buried at Cole's.
His second wife was Susannah, daughter of Benjamin Bosworth by whom he had
children, Williston, Andrew, Harrison, Lorenzo and Amy. His widow afterwards
married John Haithorn. Williston married Polly Avery; Andrew and Amy went West
with the Mormons. "
Friend's
Cove, Bedford, Pennsylvania
Looking for Drennings/Drennans
and McCormicks. Found none.
Great great grand uncle Samuel
McCormick.
Then onto Bedford,
PA, looking for McCormick, Province, and Drennan
families in a place called Friend's Cove. I only knew that they used
to farm there before 1795, and doubted finding any markers. Friend's
Cove is beautiful nestled between ridges of hills and mountains.
New Salem
Methodist Church, Anderson Township, Hamilton County, Ohio
Was Rev. Francis McCormick's
mother Ann Province? Evidence?
Onto Cincinnati, and visited Salem Methodist Church cemetery and the
family of Francis and Rebecca McCormick. Evidence is that Francis is
our grgrgrgrgranduncle. He did name his children's middle name
Province for his mother, which links him back to the Virginia
McCormick places I visited last summer.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3320658&id=I668113864
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=41&GScid=2153273&GRid=11729609&
Tombstones of his children
indicate middle names of "Province."
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3320658&id=I668113872
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=41&GScid=2153273&GRid=28118633&
This is pretty positive
evidence that Francis was indeed the same Francis mentioned in several books
that moved to Ohio and was the son of Ann Province.
Laurel,
Franklin County, Indiana, looking for Straights &
Russells
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=197683&GRid=27137491&
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3320658&id=I668111263
Hoped to find who were the
Parents of Frances Russell Straight. Several Russells nearby, possibly
siblings. Could not find George W. Straight's grave.
Then Laurel, Indiana, for Straight and Russell families… had some
interesting results where grgrgrandfather Millard's brother Weeden
made himself a huge monument next to his mother's dinky little
stone.
Connersville,
Indiana, looking for John McCormick's grave.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3320658&id=I668112901
Then onto Connersville, IN, to find the grave of grgrgrgrgrandfather
John McCormick, Sr. It took me about 3 hours of searching but I
found it alone. His family is there unmarked, but his is the ABM
stone for revolutionary war soldiers. It is getting faded and hard
to read. I consider him the patriarch and patriot of the McCormick
line. I did not know it until I did that DNA thingy.
Found the church that was built on land bought from John McCormick in Connersville (slide 43 in above slideshow). http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=McCormick&GSfn=John&GSbyrel=in&GSdy=1837&GSdyrel=in&GSst=17&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=5512063&
Indianapolis,
Indiana, White River State Park, and the John McCormick Jr
Memorial.
On to Indianapolis and White river state park where they
have a
memorial to grgrgrgranduncle John Wesley McCormick who was one of the
first settlers of Indianapolis. It is called McCormick rock and it
has an interesting plaque commemorating the founding of Indianapolis
as the capital. John's wife Bethiah persuaded the legislature to
name the city Indianapolis to honor the first settlers, the
Indians.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3320658&id=I668113225
Cartersburg,
Indiana, Spring Hill Cemetery and many McCormicks.
Then to
Cartersburg, IN, to find another grgrgrgranduncle, James
McCormick, who was noted on his stone to be the second white settler
of Indianapolis.
Found James
McCormick brother of my Robert McCormick
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3320658&id=I668112940
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=86988&GSln=Mccorm
Bainbridge,
Indiana.
Then to Bainbridge, IN, where I think
grgrgrandfather Isham McCormick was born. I found in-laws, but the
McCormicks had all moved out before anyone died.
Looking for Job and Starr family. Job and McCormick families had all moved out. Found a Starr family, who seems to be distant in-laws. Found out later the Jobs were buried elsewhere in Palestine Cemetery in Putnam County, Indiana
Stop in
Champaign, Illinois, to pick up my sister to continue on
west.
I picked up Sue, and visited with Carol and Jerry and went onto
Macomb with a mission to find Vails, Stones, Scudders, Wests, Averys,
Irvins, and Cordells (for another distant cousin David Cordell in
Texas). We met Brain and Rob at the Ford Hopkins, had
coffee/tea/cocao (it was freezing) and headed out grave hunting. In
that area we went to Industry Cemetery, Vail Cem., Camp Creek,
Blackburn, Brooklyn, Hughes. Brian was especially good at seeing the
dinky little signs to the cemeteries.
Industry,
Illinois
Industry Cemetery. Looking for Wests, Vails, Stones
& Mills
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1811165&CScn=Industry+&CScntry=4&
Camp Creek
Cemetery
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=105021&CScn=camp+creek&CScntry=4&CSst=16&
Vail
Cemetery
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2261935&CScn=vail&CScntry=4&CSst=16&
Schuyler
County
Blackburn Cemetery
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=104778&CScn=blackburn&CScntry=4&CSst=16&
Brooklyn
Cemetery
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1826425
Macomb,
IL
Oakwood Cemetery
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=107286&CScn=oakwood&CScntry=4&CSst=16&
Looking for
Vails, McCormicks, Straights, and Cordells.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Vail&GScid=107286&GRid=27181627&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=107286&GSln=McCormick
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Straight&GScid=107286&GRid=26526072&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Cordell&GScid=107286&GRid=27181773&
Carthage, Illinois. County clerk's office, looking for land transactions for McCormick in-laws to help explain history.
Found Savil Wilson Sr giving away his land to his kids for a few dollars.
The next day we went to Hancock county court and found some
interesting land documents and some leads. Then onto Warsaw, IL, and
saw the Ft. Edwards monument.
Warsaw, Illinois: Fort Edwards Memorial
Van
Buren County, Iowa
Looking for McCormicks and
Boyers.
We drove via Keokuk, and Farmington to
Thompson Cemetery and found the grave of a grgrgrandaunt Rachel Jane
McCormick Boyer and her husband. She was Isham's sister.
Thompson Cemetery
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1984746&CScn=Thompson&CScntry=4&CSst=14&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=1984746&GRid=8949857&
Kahoka
& Winchester Missouri
Then down to Kahoka, MO, where
were got our parents marriage license
from the clerk's office (Dad lied that he was 21, when he was
actually 20 when they eloped). We miraculously found grgrandaunt
Rebecca Ann McCormick Golliher (Isham and Eliza's first girl, and
sister of Lafayette H.) and her family in the Kahoka Cemetery. I
said to Rebecca if you are listening, direct me through this huge
cemetery to the right place. I stopped the car using my intuition,
walked down a couple of hundred feet and lo! And behold! There she
was. (Sue must have thought I was nuts... or had it confirmed yet
again) We headed south and tried to find several cemeteries in the
Winchester, Clark County, MO, area. Strangely we found the graves of
what might have been Isham's Civil War captain, but no ancestors, in
Day Cemetery. Several other cemeteries were not accessible because
of highway construction.
Kahoka and Day Cemeteries looking for
Gollihers and McCormicks
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Golliher&GScid=218101&GRid=27138550&
Ursa,
Lima & Tioga, Illinois
We spent the night in Canton, MO, hoping to take the ferry to
Illinois in the morning, but the Mississippi was so flooded that the
road to the ferry was underwater, so we drove down to Quincy and back
up to Lima, IL, cemetery. Two stones that Sue had photographed 20
years ago, those of Isaac and Amelia Conover Wilson, were missing or
buried or stolen. Lots of Conovers there anyway. We went on to
Tioga, IL, and the neat little cemetery there full of German names,
but not our Germans. We went a few miles west to Fletcher Cem, and
found great grandfather Lafayette H. McCormac, his mother Eliza Jane
Wilson McCormac (she preferred McCormick, but her son got the stone).
Also before it fades away we found grgrgrgrandparents Alexander and
Lydia Littell Goodwin. Also, Eliza's sisters Rebecca Frazier and
Caroline Shipe were there. From there we hunted out and found deep
in the outback, Oak Valley Cemetery and found some of our Germans,
though distant aunts and uncles.
New Providence
Cemetery, Ursa, IL.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=107161&CScnty=690&CSsr=101&
Found Savil Orr,
which led to a understanding how McCormick and Wilsons got together.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Orr&GScid=107161&GRid=27343228&
Lima Cemetery.
Wilsons and Conovers.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=183417&CScnty=690&CSsr=81&
Fletcher
Cemetery, Frazer, Goodwin and McCormick.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=105676&CScn=Fletcher&CScntry=4&CSst=16&
Oak Valley
Cemetery, Straight and Frederick.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=107266&CScn=Oak+Valley&CScntry=4&CSst=16&
These old cemeteries were beautiful, and in very tranquil settings.
The birds seem to love such places. I am amazed how the stones fade
away, with the lettering melting away, cracking falling over and time
buries even the stones. So much for the saying "carved in stone."