Sunday, November 24, 2013

Review of site as we move into the holidays of 2013

I wanted to move the scans that Bonnie sent me down a bit so that my sideline information did not bleed over into the scans....the scans are VERY special.  So this post will be edited later when I want to add additional information of some sort.

I would like to continue to add and edit this blog in 2014.  I feel very close to the researchers and to the families that our group researches after spending the week in September in Warren County.  I would like to plan a get together again in 2014 or in 2015 at which time we could spend more time with our respective ancestors.....trying to get their stories.....trying to understand their lives in the time frame of what was going on in each of their lives.  And hopefully even more of the Bush River Mail list would be able to be a part of future homecomings.

I do not feel strongly about where nor when....just that I don't want to loose touch with each of you. 
My goal "one of these days" is to get to the Philadelphia area ....Put Philadelphia into the search box in the top left hand corner of my main blog:


to see some of the areas that I would like to visit to do research.  I have many Quaker lines who moved through these areas.  A homecoming in that area would be lots of fun!  But nothing could beat the special homecomings that we have already participated in at Newberry and at Miami MM.

Let me know what you would like for me to add to this blog.  All of us will be busy this next month.  The holidays cut into our research time....but January and February will bring us time to update, edit, add, illustrate, and chat about our research.



Friday, November 22, 2013

Russell, Pearson, Jenkins

Bonnie Bell  and John Woolfinger  scanned documents this week to share with our group.  They are absolutely amazing!  I believe that they speak for themselves, so I will just add them here.  However, I am happy to add information from anyone in this spot if you would like to add facts about  any of these families (including the witnesses).  It would be fun to think about how everyone was friends, family, and associates.











Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Additions to the information in Tom Hamm's talk from the homecoming group

As researchers read Tom's talk (for which you can find a link in the top line on the right hand side of the top of the blog) there were several who had suggestions for further information that is available.  Here are some of the additions that others sent me:

From Martha:

FYI, from Tom's article, here's a link to the Annals of Newberry he mentions, if you dont have it already.
 
"A wonderfully engaging sketch of Bush River Friends can be found in chapter 5 of John Belton O'Neall and John A Chapman’s book, The Annals of Newberry (Newberry, SC, 1892).  O'Neall's section was writen in the 1850s. "
This book is freely downloadable in its entirety as a PDF file :

Monday, October 7, 2013

Townsend



 Townsend cousins, Mary Kay Ross and Sue Downey.  I think that Milton Cook also is a Townsend descendent through Elizabeth Townsend Cook.



Kim Townsend Spangrude who was unable to attend the Homecoming sent the following information:

I recently was able to correct some DAR records on John and Elvira (Cain) Townsend and the brief military role he and his brothers had in the Revolutionary War.  They were the sons of John and Elizabeth (Pearson) Townsend, and because they "took up arms in a war-like manner", they were di-united with the Bush River MM.  They later became reunited/reinstated when the war was over.  

John and Elvira Townsend and family eventually made their way through Ohio and down to Wayne, Indiana, with the other Bush River members, where they stayed.  Born in 1763, John died in 1853, and is buried in Fountain City, Indiana, in the Willow Grove Cemetery. His wife Elvira died at the age of 102 in 1870, and is buried in Friends Cemetery, West Elkton, Preble County Ohio.

Some major errors in the very first applications for John Townsend as a patriot,were made by DAR members in the early 20th Century.   The biggest error found by contemporary researchers of the DAR and SAR, was that the earliest applications for John Townsend as patriot stated that he and his family were in Burke County, North Carolina.  (This John Townsend who lived there is actually a very distant cousin to our John Townsend).  Because there was inadequate documentation that they served under Nathanial Greene and later received land for their military service, my initial application to the DAR was denied; all the earlier applications and members who had applied through this John Townsend with the very same information would be able to remain as members, although the information given was found to be inaccurate.  And all future applications based on this information would also be denied membership.   I had to prove that he actually was in South Carolina at Padgets Creek MM (which reported to the Bush River Friends Meeting) having come from Pennsylvania (including the Pearsons, Cains, Chandlers, Cooks, Wrights, Jones and of course many other family names), and that he and his brothers fought in the Revolutionary War when Charlston was under seige.  They served under Col. Thomas Brandon, a militia leader in Union County, South Carolina, a neighbor of the Townsends – John Jr., William and James.

Mary Kay recently contacted me with the following question.  Please get in touch if you have any answers for Mary Kay:

I am currently addressing an old question, but trying new avenues for the answer. My ancestor, William Townsend, 1759-1824 is my mover. He was born in PA and died in Greenville, Ohio. He lived in the Bush River area and he along with his brother were disowned by the faith for "going out in a warlike manner"in 1781. It is documented in Hinshaw.

 Records show he had children in SC before leaving for Ohio in the early 1800's. I simply cannot find the maiden name of  Margaret, his wife. He must have been
married in SC probably some time before his war service..(1778 - 1780) (first child was born  about 1780).
I have researched Margaret (William's wife),  even have her "will". No mention of a maiden name. In an effort to follow up on our Ohio trip, I called Guilford College and spoke to someone in the research library. She simply gave me the information from Hinshaw, nothing more. Any clue where I go from here??

Obviously they met and married in SC. The couple moved to Waynesville and then on to Greenville, Ohio. After William's death, she moved to Allen County, Indiana. She died there in 1845

If you have any further comments or suggestions re: Margaret Townsend, I would be forever grateful. For instance, are there records of Quaker marriages in the Bush River groups? I think they were married before his service. Are there records of members of the Quaker Meetings? I wonder if she sought a widow's pension which might have her maiden name.

Misc Thomas and Cox information from Kathie Johnston


Kathie sent the following in an answer to this Question?

Re: How long did Cox and Thomas folks stay at Miami MM and would they have worshipped in log cabins or White Brick meeting houses.

William and Elizabeth Thomas Cox's certificate from Bush River was definitely for Miami MM. (3/29/1806 Wm Cox and fam gct Miami MM, OH).

Per Bush River MM minutes. A Jesse Thomas and fam., gct Miami MM in 1805. Not sure who he is.  Isaac and Mary Thomas's children: John and fam. 1806, Edward and w. Mary 1807, have certificates from Bush River to Miami MM. A Sarah Thomas (not sure if she is connected) gct Mill Creek MM, Ohio in 1819.

Per Miami MM records: William Cox and w. Elizabeth and ch. Jemima, John, Elizabeth and Sarah rocf 4/9/1807 from Bush River MM.  John Thomas and family received on cert. from Bush River 4/9/1807; Mary Thomas and ch. Evan, Nehemiah, Sarah and Phebe Thomas rocf Bush River 5/4/1807; Edward and w. Mary Thomas and children rocf Bush River 7/9/1807. Jacob and Mary Thomas Wisener rocf Bush River 5/4/1807- with three children.  Jacob and Mary Wisener gct to West Branch MM 4/8/1809. Several other Thomases mentioned between 1805 and 1810 in Miami MM - not sure of connections.  Between 1813 and 1816 several Thomas individuals and families gct West Branch MM. In 1830, Edward and w. Mary Thomas (possibly "ours") gct to Arba MM in Randolph Co, IN. We are pretty sure that "our" Edward and Mary Wright Thomas are the ones buried at Arba, so this makes sense.

West Branch MM (set off from Miami MM early in 1807 but they had been meeting for about two years. Located in Miami County near West Milton, OH) records include lots of Coxes and Thomases. Can't sort all of them out, but in Birth and Death section lists some of Isaac and Mary Thomas's children: John and wife Anna Pemberton and children; Abel (probably "ours") and wife  Ruth and children; Evan s. Isaac and Mary and his wife Sara Cox dt of David and Jane and children; Phebe (Isaac and Mary Thomas's youngest) m. David Cox in 1809; Isaiah (son of John and Ann- probably Isaac and Mary's 3rd son) and his wife Elizabeth Cox dt of David and Ann and their children. Isaiah died in 1862, and record says he is buried at South Fork. Also, Sarah Thomas, Isaac and Mary Thomas's second youngest, married Thomas Thornton in 1813 and on and on for several pages.

West Branch shows that on 11/19/1808 Mary (Davies) Thomas and children Evan, Nehemiah, Sarah and Phebe rocf Bush River MM dated 1/31/1807, endorsed by Miami MM 8/11/1808. SO they pretty much were endorsed by Miami and began attending West Branch immediately. Same with Jacob and Mary Thomas Wisener. Jacob and son Isaac Wisener on 5/20/1809 were rocf Miami MM dated 4/8/1809. Per the records, it appears that some of the other children stayed in the Miami Meeting til 1813, 1817, etc. before transferring into West Branch.

Union MM (set off from West Branch in early 1813, located in Miami County, OH) in Ohio shows on 9/8/1819, that Nehemiah Thomas of Montgomery Co, s of Isaac and Mary,married Elizabeth Pemberton, daut of Isaiah and Esther of Miami County. Several other Thomas - Pemberton marriages over the next 36 years show up in Union MM records!

Sometimes it is very easy to tell if someone is a son/daut of Isaac and Mary Davies Thomas family, or the William and Elizabeth Thomas Cox family, but there are a fair number of Cox and Thomas individuals with similar names that I can't sort out- but it's fun to speculate!

OK- my head is spinning now... off to choir and a different challenge to my brain!

Kathie Johnston

Miami Monthly Meeting

I wanted to add a few more things to the information about the Miami Monthly Meeting itself.  I was afraid that adding a lot of text into the already existing blog post would make it unwieldy.  So I will add it in this post.


On Saturday morning, Milton talked with us about the history of the Red Brick and the White brick and the Orthodox and Hicksite split and many things of interest to the group.  I want to add some of it here as I have time.

Re: Red and White Brick Meeting Houses.
According to Milton's talk- there was a small log cabin built approximately where the Red Brick Meeting House is now.  Shortly after that, there was a 30' x 30' bigger log cabin meeting house built in the same location.  The White Brick was built in 1822.   It is most likely that one of the log cabins would have been the place of meeting when the bulk of the Bush River folks would have arrived.


In April, 1801, twelve families (81 individuals) in the Waynesville area began meeting for worship in a member‘s home. Near the end of that year they sent a request to Westland Meeting, Pennsylvania (Baltimore Yearly Meeting) for establishing a regular meeting for worship on First and Fifth Days. This request was granted in Ninth Month, 1802. The Meeting was called Miami. Early in 1803 Miami asked Westland Meeting for permission to establish a Monthly Meeting; and when the request was approved, the Monthly Meeting was opened, Tenth Month 13, 1803. The eastern boundary was the Hocking River, the southern was the Ohio River, but there was no limit to the north or to the west. During this period of migration, hundreds of Friends from the Carolinas and Georgia brought their membership to Miami Monthly Meeting, until such time as other meetings could be established in the Northwest Territory. By 1815, Miami Monthly Meeting was said to have the largest membership of any Friends Meeting in Quakerdom.

After its establishment in 1803, Miami Monthly Meeting set off many new Meetings. Among the earliest ones were Lees Creek, Hardin Creek, Caesar‘s Creek, West Branch, Elk, Center and Whitewater. In 1807 Miami, West Branch and Center Monthly Meetings requested that a new Quarterly Meeting be established to be known as Miami Quarterly Meeting, to be held at Waynesville, Ohio, on the second Seventh Day in the Second, Fifth, Eighth and Eleventh Months. Baltimore Yearly Meeting having approved the request, Miami Quarterly Meeting was opened, Fifth month 1809. The building of the White Brick Meetinghouse at Waynesville was begun in 1811 to accommodate the Quarterly Meeting.




The following information came from an article that Bob Cooke shared with me:


MIAMI MONTHLY MEETING: HISTORICAL.

A NOTEWORTHY omission occurred in the recent reports of the proceedings of Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends, published in the INTELLIGENCER; there is no mention that the place of meeting was at Waynesville, Ohio. After the memorable and deplorable division of 1828 this branch of the Society gathered in a yearly meeting capacity at Miami (Waynesville), commencing in the year 1828 and continuing until 1835, when a change of meeting-place was made. In the year 1836 the sessions were held at Whitewater (Richmond, Indiana), and from that time until 1898 the yearly meetings of the Society were held alternately at Richmond and at Waynesville.  The yearly meeting for the first time convened at Pendleton, Ind., in 1899, then they followed in regular succession at Richmond in 1900, and at Waynesville this year, and in this order they will follow, at Pendleton, Richmond, and Waynesville, until changed. In this connection it will be interesting to note the remarkable emigration of Friends during the early years of the last century, from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia, to the then newly-created Miami Monthly Meeting. This monthly meeting was first established Tenth month 13, 1803, and it embraced all of the territory north of the Ohio river and west of the Hocking. The membership of the meeting increased 365 during the year 1804, mostly by removals from Bush River and Cain Creek Meetings, in South Carolina,
Wrightsboro' Meeting, Georgia, and from Monthly Meetings in North Carolina, Virginia, and Lost Creek, Tennessee. During one month of that year 120 persons, adults and children, were received into membership by certificates from other monthly meetings. The increase during the next year was yet more marked; it rose to 621. From Bush Creek, S. C., came the families of Pugh, Hollingsworth, Furnas, Jay, Evans, Compton,
Mills, Steddom, Lewis, Cook, and Kelly. From Cain Creek the families of Hawkins, Kenworthy, Stout, Doan, and Spray. From Deep Creek, N. C., the Mendenhalls. From Wrightsboro' Monthly Meeting, Georgia, the families of Davis, Mote, and Stubbs. From meetings in Tennessee, the Newmans, Nordykes, Sanders, Ballards, and Tothunters. From Virginia the Haines, Walker, and Lupton families. From New Jersey came the Silver, Brown, Ward, Packer, Hopkins, and Test families. From Maryland the Wright family. And at about the same time, but a little later, came the families of Farquhar (from Pipe Creek, Md.), Pedrick (Pilesgrove Monthly Meeting), Whitacre (Crooked Run Monthly Meeting), and Johnson (New Garden, N. C.). As might be surmised, with the rapid increase in the membership of the meeting it was but a short time until other monthly meetings were established near to Miami. In the year 1807 Centre Monthly to
the East and West Branch Monthly to the West were " set up." We have realized that while the lives and examples of the Friends of this community have left a lasting, and we believe, a moral influence, the inviting opportunities opened to Friends in the newer States of the West have been embraced, and the descendants of the Friends' families mentioned are scattered over the great West and to-day Miami Monthly Meeting contains but a few of the faithful. In preparing this article the writer has availed
himself of the copious notes compiled by friend Clarkson Butterworth. C. Waynesville, Ohio.
Friends’ Intelligencer Vol. 58, page 668, Tenth month 11, 1901

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Map of Warren County


Last night at the Golden Lamb many of us were looking at an old map of Warren County that shows many of the original farms.  Ron reminded me that it can be found on the website of the Warren County Genealogical Society.    Ron says that Arne Trelvik has been wonderful in helping Ron locate his own people's farm.

Website:

Milton's books

Sunday morning as I am packing up, I already miss everyone!  I stayed so busy that I did not get a chance to look at Milton's books.  Here are some of the things that I might want to look at next time:

Quaker Migration to Southwestern Ohio by Clayton Terrell
Bush River by Wilson S. Doan
Centennial of Whitewater Monthly Meeting 1909


and Milton had printed out Life and Times of Abijah O'Neall by George T. O'Neall from:

Http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~joneall/famhisty/aoneall_lifetimes.html

and

The Diary kept by Abijah O'Neall during his first exporatory trip to Ohio, accompanied by his brother

Http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~joneall/famhisty/bijdiary.htm

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Photos from our homecoming 2013

I will be editing and adding to this blog for the rest of the year as others send me information or maps or photos to add to the blog.....or as I have more information about my own family.   Most of the below photos were taken by Sharon Hastings.   I would be happy to add any others that anyone wants to share.  Also, I would like to add names of your ancestors .....but you will have to help me.  I never did seem to get everyone's ancestors straight in my heads.  I do believe that many of us are probably cousins many times over as our research goes back in the past farther and farther.  It was a wonderful weekend.   I won't soon forget anything that we did









Cook cousins in photo above


















The next photos are taken at Caesars Creek Pioneer Village which we visited on Friday Morning











The next two photos are of our Hollingsworth group in front of the cabin that was donated by the Hollingsworth family.  Will one of you please tell me more about the cabin?




The below photo is Phil Hawkins who is a direct descendent of Amos and Ann Milhous Hawkins who lived in this cabin.  The cabin was located in an area that has now been flooded by building of a dam on Caesars Creek.







Below photo of three of our participants who had ancestors who attended Caesar's Creek Friends Meeting:  Milton Cook, Ron Fleming, Phil Hawkins



Below photo is of Bonnie Bell and John Wolfinger.  John was not at the Homecoming, but Bonnie was and she sent photo about the same time that she sent the wonderful scans that John had made of the Pearson/Russell/Jenkins original documents that are on this blog with date of Nov 24, 2014.

Quakers in the CIvil War in Warren County

Dolly McKeehan who is the curator of the Museum at the Friends Home spoke to us Saturday after lunch while we visited the museum.  A story that in particular caught my attention was about Quaker men who lived in the Warren County area during the Civil War.  These men had almost for certain been very anti-slavery....perhaps had participated in the Underground Railroad.....they must have had very strong feelings about doing anything that they could do to rid our nation of slavery!

These men decided that they wanted to serve in the military against the wishes of their Quaker Meeting because their desire to end the issue of slavery and their belief in the equality of all men out weighed their fear of being disowned by the meeting.

The 79th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was formed with Azariah Doan as their commander. The men promised their respective Meeting Houses that they would never carry a weapon.  They served three years and mustered out in Washington DC in 1865.

I copied some of the pages from a notebook that named men who served in the 79th.  If you had Quaker grandfathers in Warren County during the Civil war keep prodding me until I get those names posted.

There was some discussion about Quaker involvement on the Quaker mail list and I received this from:


Marsha,

Not from Ohio, but my great grandfather moved from Philadelphia to Kansas because the war was approaching.

To the disfavor of his family, he joined the 11th Cav, Kansas. From his letters and what I can tell, he held a clerks position. Did a lot of writing. Have seen nothing in my research that he fought, although his unit was involved if military action. One set of letters was from the Battle of Pea Ridge.

I have not way to prove either way, about being armed, except with a pen. Apparently, some of his military writing appears in an Ohio newspaper.

But your story appears much like mine. (Will have to do some more research to see IF I can confirm he is every carried a weapon)

Thank you,

Russ   rworthington@att.net
I am filing the pages naming these men in a file in my bedroom labelled Warren/Miami MM Homecoming Sept 2013.

Miami Meeting House Cemetery: Elizabeth Townsend Cook and George McKinsey

My big goal for the weekend was accomplished at lunch on Saturday.  I had looked at the list of people who were buried in the Hicksite part of the cemetery on-line at the Wilmington College Library:

http://www.wilmington.edu/academics/documents/MiamiMonthlyMeetingRecords-Hicksite-1832-1946.pdf

In 2021 Bruce Locken told me that the link was not working for him.  I tried to fix it with no luck.  Bruce found the following link which takes one to the list of those buried in the Hicksite part of the Cemetery:

https://quaker.org/legacy/miami/documents/Miami%20Burial%20Ground.pdf

I had some doubts that the McKinney entry of a person  buried in the third row and entered in 9/41 was my George.  However, when I asked Milton to take me out there to help me look.  He said that the McKinney person that I was looking at was buried almost just beside his Elizabeth Townsend Cook!

And when I went outside to look at the sign, someone else had decided before me that it was indeed MY George McKinsey who was buried in the cemetery.




We used the sign's lists showing each of the persons buried in each row to establish that George and Elizabeth would have been buried two rows from John Satterwaite who is listed to be number 39 in the first row who has a large marker:


So guessing that #35 in third row would be somewhat near #39 in row 1 we judge George and Elizabeth to have been buried fairly close to the area in which Milton Cook, Mary Kay Ross, and Sue Downey are standing in this photo....probably in the area just behind them.  Milton explained that the graves started with small numbers at the side of the cemetery farthest from the road.  To take this photo I was standing slightly to the non-road side of John Satterthwaite's marker.

Milton, Mary Kay and Sue all descend  from this Elizabeth Townsend Cook.  Am I right on this fact, Milton, Mary Kay and Sue?


Milton explained to me that the cemetery is divided by the large white sign.  The graves that are closest to the red brick meeting house would be graves that are from the time period before the split between the Hicksite and Orthodox members in 1828.  The next area that has fewer stones would be the area that belongs to the Orthodox members.  And the area beyond the big sign is the Hicksite burial area.

The sign that divides that two sides show from the side closest to the Red Brick Meeting House is shown below.  Note that it is the Orthodox Monthly Meeting that was laid down in 1920.  After it was laid down the building was sold to the Hicksite Monthly meeting and they now use that building as a social room.


Elliott family in Waynesville

I had another family who lived in Waynesville, Ohio in the early 1800's.  My Abraham Elliott's daughter, Catherine, married Nehemiah McKinsey in Waynesville in

North Carolina Quakers who moved to southwestern Ohio in the late 1700's and early 1800's

Kathie Johnston (who is planning to attend our homecoming event and researches Cox and Thomas) sent me a URL for a very recent thesis that can be read on-line.  The thesis was written by Ashley Ellen Humphries and has title:  The Migration of Westfield Quakers from Surrey County, North Carolina 1786-1828.


Submitted to the Graduate School
at Appalachian State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
May 2013  Department of History

You can read this thesis by going to following URL:


http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Humphries,%20Ashley_2013_Thesis.pdf

I have not yet read this information.

Here is what Kathie said about the thesis:


I found a neat thing yesterday while searching for more Thomas-Cox info and thought it could maybe be mentioned on the blog. A thesis written in May 2013 by a brand new master's degree grad from Appalachian State, on the reasons for Quaker Migration from three monthly meetings in Western N.C. to Southwest Ohio (Miami MM and others in Ohio and Whitewater MM in Indiana-Ohio). The whole thesis is online and some folks might be interested in reading it. Deals with disownments especially related to MOU, slavery (a pretty insignificant reason for these folks in western NC), and crowding of land. The young lady is a descendant of Jessops and might be a cousin of mine, because she also talks about Jacksons (one of my lines from that part of NC).  It has some maps, quotes from actual meeting minutes, info about land records, wonderful source documents in the bibliography, etc. .....

Friday, September 20, 2013

Ghost Tour of the Quaker area of Waynesville


Milton gave us the ghost tour on Thursday night.  I am not going to spoil the ghost tour for others who will want to do this for themselves.  The proceeds support the museum that we will be spending time in on Saturday.  But I will share a few pieces of information for those of you who live too far away and who could not attend our Homecoming.

One of the most interesting things that Milton told us is that Main Street Waynesville used to be up the hill .....Third Street rather than where it is now at the bottom of the hill.  The Meeting Houses are on Fourth Street which is one block higher than Third.

We had the perfect night with a cloudy sky and a full moon!