Mysteries

There are obviously lots of questions about lots of people in our family tree. The following people, however, present mysteries that we'd especially like to solve. Some of these are "brick walls," people we've known about and investigated off and on for many years, but whose parents remain undiscovered. Others are simply people that have caught our interest for a variety of reasons, that we'd like to know more about.

Towne Side

The following are a few of the mysteries on the Towne side of the family.

• Abraham Crow and Rachel Craven -- Abraham was born about 1748 in Ireland, according to an article published in the Ottawa, Ohio, Gazette on 2 September 1910. This date is consistent with information on him in the History of Columbiana County Ohio, which says he died in October 1844 at age 97. But a transcript of a historical marker erected by his descendents in 1926 says both Abraham and Rachel were born in 1754 in Bucks Co., Pennsylvania. And the Gazette article says Rachel was from Holland, Berks Co., Pennsylvania.

  They were Quakers, and crossed the Alleghenies in 1787 and settled in Crossroads, Washington Co., Pennsylvania. In 1814 they moved to Elk Run Twp., Columbiana Co., Ohio, and the area eventually became known as "Crowtown" because most of the residents had that name.

  Although this is an interesting couple, it's actually the brothers of both Abraham and Rachel that we'd most like to learn more about.

  According to the Gazette article, Abraham was the youngest of three brothers who came to America from Ireland around the time the Revolutionary War began. One of the brothers was killed at the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777, and his descendants settled near New Castle, Pennsylvania. The other brother was a prisoner of the British, and escaped through a tunnel, but later died in a well. The grave site marker has the same information, and also says that one of Rachel's brothers served during the Revolutionary War, and was with Washington at Trenton, Germantown, Princeton, and Valley Forge.

• Leonard Hall -- All of the information we have on Leonard Hall is from the book The Life and Times of Leonard Hall by Henry Clay Conner. We only have photocopies of selected pages, from microfilm. He seems to have had an interesting life, and we'd like to see the original book to learn more about him.

  He was born about 1728, married Johanna Letton about 1750 in Prince Georges Co., Maryland, and died sometime before 2 February 1809, when the inventory of his estate was filed in Barren Co., Kentucky. He served in the Bedford Co., Virginia, militia during the French and Indian War. For his service he received four land grants in Fayette Co., Kentucky, one of which was surveyed for him by Daniel Boone. He apparently never lived in Fayette Co., however, instead moving to Barren Co., Kentucky. He died intestate, and the settlement of his estate caused a great deal of dissension among his heirs.

• Caroline Kelley -- Until very recently we had her last name as Cleveland, based on a Hamilton pedigree chart in the family. But a couple of new discoveries show that she was actually Caroline Kelley. So now we've got a new name to search for! She was born about 1811 (based on her age in the 1850 census), and married Keys C. Hamilton on 7 December 1826 at the First Presbyterian Church in Whitehall, Washington Co., New York. (The day before, in the same church, Ansel Record married Keys' sister Mary Hamilton.) They moved to Schroon, Essex Co., New York, by 1830, to Ohio sometime between 1835 and 1838, and to Whitley Co., Indiana, by 1840, where they were members of the Eel River Baptist Church in Cleveland Twp. In 1841 they sold 40 acres of land in Whitley Co. to Henry B. Kelley, likely a relative (brother?) of Caroline. Caroline probably died sometime between 1850, when she and Keys are listed in the census, and 1860, when Keys' second wife Elizabeth (Morrison) Hamilton sold some land.

• Lucretia Millard -- Who were her parents?

  Robert and Hannah (Eddy) Millard had a daughter Lucretia, born 8 September 1728. Several genealogies on the Internet list this Lucretia as the wife of Amos Woodin, with essentially the same children as we have. However, the birth dates of Lucretia's children, from 1777 to 1795, are clearly too late for a woman born in 1728. An article by Ruth Kline Lee entitled "Descendants of Robert Millard 1702-1784, of Rehoboth, Ma and Pawling, NY" published in the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine says:

  Lucretia, b. 8 Sept 1728. This Lucretia Millard has frequently been "married" to Amos Woodin. But Woodin's wife Lucretia nee' Millard, who d. 19 dec 1859, bur. Beekman Cemetery, and who had her first child (of six) in 1777, was obviously not born in 1728. She was probably a niece of this original Lucretia Millard, but her father is thus far unidentified.

  We currently list our Lucretia's father as Joshua Millard, based on information in the book Family History from Edward Richards, the Puritan, Through Mary Kathryn Richards Hurt and Family, With Allied Families of Amos Woodin and Robert Torrens by Mary Lee Hurt. Robert and Hannah (Eddy) Millard also had a son named Joshua, born 3 March 1729/30, in addition to Lucretia born 8 September 1728. Some online trees list this Joshua as Lucretia's father, but none of those I've examined list a source for that. Frank J. Doherty, in The Settlers of the Beekman Patent, also lists this Joshua as Lucretia's father, citing the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project tree "Ingle-Millard Family History" by Robert Cecil "Bob" Ingle Jr. as the source. (In 1997-1998 I exchanged email with Bob Ingle about Lucretia's possible father, but no source identifying him as Joshua, other than the Mary Lee Hurt book (which doesn't name Joshua's parents), was found.) Ancestry acquired RootsWeb in 2000, and unfortunately deleted the WorldConnect trees in 2023. They've announced that the trees will become available as a free resource at Ancestry in early 2024, but as of March 2024 they're still unavailable.

  If this Joshua is our Lucretia's father, we would be related to Pres. Millard Fillmore, through Joshua's brother Abiather (see The American Genealogist, 63:46, 1988).

• Philip Phelps -- We know bits and pieces about Philip Phelps, but not much about the big stuff, like who were his parents, where did he come from, and when did he die? It'd also be nice to learn more about his marriage.

  A biography of his grandson Silas Phelps in Portrait and Biographical Album of Calhoun County, Michigan says he was born in Massachusetts, served during the Revolution for five years under Capt. Moss, married his Captain's daughter Catherine, and died at over 80 years of age. His entry in the 1800 census lists (among others) both one male and one female over age 45, meaning that both he and his wife Catherine were born before 1755.

  He lived in Blandford, Massachusetts, and moved to St. Lawrence Co., New York, about 1811. The date comes from his son Calvin's obituary, who was born in 1790, and says he and his parents moved there when he (Calvin) was 21.

  Calvin Phelps' obituary says that his mother died during the move to St. Lawrence Co., in 1811, and the bio of Silas Phelps says she died at age 70. If both are true, Catherine was born about 1741. However, at least three of her children were born in 1790 or later, which seems unlikely for a woman born in 1741.

• Luke P. Phillips -- Who were his parents? Phillips is a pretty common name, and adding just one or two generations to his line would probably allow us to connect him to previously published genealogies.

  Luke was born in 1808 in Marion, Ontario Co. (now Wayne Co.), New York, and moved to Oakland Co., Michigan, in 1828. He married Patience Simmons, probably in the spring of 1831. He died on 8 February 1893, and is buried with Patience at Oak Hill Cemetery in Pontiac, Michigan.

  We've identified who we think are Patience's parents - Samuel Simmons and Amy Beal - although the evidence for that is circumstantial, and it'd be nice to have something better. But Luke's parents are still a mystery.

• John W. Swikert and his wife Ann Sophia (?) -- Trying to find the parents of John Swikert and his wife has been a frustrating process. We assume that the name Swikert is German, with several spelling variants in the records, and of course John is a very common given name. Even his wife's name is a bit uncertain.

  John Swikert was born 17 August 1781, based on his tombstone which says he died on 30 September 1864 at age 83 years, 1 month, 13 days. He was born in Pennsylvania according to his entries in the 1850 and 1860 censuses, but the 1880 census entries for his sons Jesse and Samuel say he was born in Ohio and Germany, respectively. He died in Branch Co., Michigan.

  According to her tombstone, his wife was Ann Sophia, who died 5 September 1854 at age 66 years, 3 months, 6 days, making her birth date 30 May 1788. She was born in Maryland according to her entry in the 1850 census, but the 1880 census entries for her sons Jesse and George say she was born in Ohio and Virginia, respectively. She died in Branch Co., Michigan.

  The name Ann Sophia is from her tombstone, but she is listed as Sophia Ann in the 1850 census. However, according to the document "18th Century PA German Naming Customs" by Charles Kerchner, the first name given at baptism was a spiritual, or saint's, name, and the second name was the name the person actually used. Her surname may have been Frager, based on a marriage record for John Swigart and Sophia Frager in Stark Co., Ohio, on 18 October 1814.

  We think John Swikert came to Ohio from Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. He bought land in Stark Co., Ohio, in 1831, and in Hancock Co., Ohio, in 1835. He and his family are listed in Hancock Co. in the 1850 census. The family must have moved to Branch Co., Michigan, sometime between 1850 and 1854, when Ann Sophia died there.

Bowditch Side

The following are some mysteries on the Bowditch side of the family.

• The family of George Abbot and Nancy Stickney -- On 2 April 1845 George and Nancy Abbot's daughter Elizabeth married Joseph Henry Bowditch in Beverly, Massachusetts, and moved to his home in Tarboro, North Carolina. Many letters written to her in North Carolina by her friends and family in Massachusetts, as well as some others between other family members, have been handed down in the family, and offer a fascinating insight into their lives, and life in general, in the mid to late 1800s. So, ironically, the main reason we want to learn more about this family is because we feel like we know some of them so well through these letters.

  George Abbot was born 26 March 1791 in Beverly, Massachusetts, the son of William Abbot and Elizabeth Leach. He married Nancy Stickney, daughter of Samuel Stickney Jr. and Edith Wallis, on 2 April 1820 in Beverly, and died on 18 January 1848. He was a ship captain, sailing to places such as Africa, Cape de Verds, and Pernambuco. On one trip home from Africa his ship was raided by Spanish pirates.

  Nancy Stickney was born 9 November 1796 in Beverly, and drowned there on 19 June 1851.

  George and Nancy had the following children. Except for the two who died young, all of them are at least mentioned in the letters, and most were writers of some of them. They led interesting, sometimes tragic, lives.

  	Elizabeth Blanchard Abbot		Born 28 February 1821, died 26 August 1902.
  	Georgiana Abbot		Born 28 October 1823, died in childbirth 8 March 1848.
  	George William Abbot		Born 3 September 1825, died 24 June 1861. His first wife Sarah Bowditch, sister of Elizabeth's husband Joseph Henry Bowditch, died in childbirth less than a year after their marriage, when he was away at sea. He remarried, but died about three months later.
  	Martha Ellen Abbot		Born 23 May 1829, died 7 August 1830.
  	John Edwin Abbot		Born 17 August 1831, died 15 January 1911. He traveled extensively at sea during his youth, including one trip around the world that included an attempted mutiny. He moved to North Carolina in 1868, and lived for a time with his sister Elizabeth's family, and later with Elizabeth's daughter Georgiana.
  	Charles Henry Abbot		Born 28 July 1834, died 5 March 1844.
  	Martha Elizabeth Abbot		Born 28 December 1835, died 15 September 1870. She married Dr. William Thorndike and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where William became fairly well known. Their son Paul was also a doctor, and married Rachel Ewing Sherman, daughter of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.
  	Ellen Louisa Abbot		Born 15 September 1837, died 8 March 1887. She married Johnson McClure, and like her sister Martha moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their son Abbot McClure was a furniture designer, and co-author with Harold Eberlein of several books on home furnishing and decoration published in the early 1900s. He also traveled extensively in Europe, was a war correspondent during World War I, and was part of the Y.M.C.A. service in Italy from 1918 to 1920.
  	Frederick Abbot		Born 15 August 1841 (or 24 May 1840?), and married Emily Lynde Whiting on 7 June 1865. He died 8 July 1903 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but was buried in his home town of Beverly, Massachusetts.

• William Abbot -- William Abbot married Martha White on 9 May 1758, and died sometime before 8 December 1768 when his wife was appointed administrator of his estate.

  Who were his parents? Extensive published genealogies exist for the Abbott/Abbot families, but the only mention we've found for this William Abbot is in the Abbot genealogy by Abiel and Ephraim Abbot, in the section on the descendents of Arthur Abbot of Ipswich. It says that William was the son of Arthur Abbot and Sarah Willcomb, baptized 28 February 1741. This is apparently wrong, however. The Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850, as well as an article in The Essex Antiquarian, show that Arthur and Sarah Abbot's son William died young, on 14 June 1742 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

 

Copyright Charles Towne. Usage of this work is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0
Compiler: Charles Towne

Page created by John Cardinal's Second Site v8.03.