My last three postings have been about 24 of my third great grandparents, all Scandinavians. Now for something quite different: my grandmother Della's 8 great grandparents. Until a couple of months ago, I would have been able to report on just 6 of the 8, but thanks to DNA analysis, I can now add the other two with some degree of confidence. Here are my final 8 third great grandparents:
25. George Adam Saum (1797-1836)
DNA analysis (both Y chromosome and autosomal matches for a number of Idella's father's extended family) has led me to the family of George Adam Saum and his wife Susannah Henderson. I have not as yet been able to pinpoint exactly which of three of their sons is the biological father of my grandmother's father Charles Edwards, but it is most likely one of the two who lived conveniently nearby in Iowa at the relevant time - Stephen Adam Saum or older brother George Thompson Saum. Not surprisingly, I have not uncovered a paper trail to confirm this connection, but the DNA evidence is quite persuasive.
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Location of Saumsville in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Google Earth Image |
George Saum was born in Saumsville, Shenandoah, Virginia on 23 March 1797 to Frederick Saum and Catherine Caley. The Saum(s) male line can likely be traced back to the Rhine Valley of what is now Germany. The Caley family had deep roots in Ballaugh on the Isle of Man.
George's parents had married in the Shenandoah Valley in 1794 and their first three children were born there.
By 1809, the family had uprooted and left for Newmarket, Highland County, Ohio. It is not known whether they traveled there on
Zane's Trace road, but it is likely. The Ohio River and canals built early in the 19th century added to the transportation network to Ohio as it opened up for new settlers.
On 4 November 1819 George married Susannah Henderson in Highland City, Highland County, Ohio. George can be found in Ohio in the 1820 and 1830 United States Censuses. He and Susannah had a family of seven children, 4 sons and 3 daughters. The eldest son, Charles Frederick, lived out his life in Kansas. Son Jacob died in 1861 (8 years before Charles Edwards was born). Two of the sons, George Thompson and Stephen Adam, moved to Jasper County, Iowa (near where Charles would be born).
George Adam Saum died in Highland County, Ohio at the young age of 39.
26. Susannah Henderson (1805-1855)
Susannah was born 21 January 1805 in Fairfax, Virginia. Her parents were Nathaniel Henderson and Mary Thompson. Susannah's Henderson and Thompson ancestors had deep roots in Virginia dating back at least to the very early 1700s.
Susannah's family would no longer be living in Fairfax at the time of the historic
Battle of Fairfax Court House in 1861, but the Court House shown in the Wikipedia article would have been a landmark in their day. When she was only about 5 years old, her family moved from Virginia to Ohio. What an adventure that must have seemed to young Susannah!
She wasn't yet 15 when she married George Saum on 4 November 1819. Their first child, son Charles Frederick Saum was born in 1822 and she would go on to give birth to another six children.
Susannah died on 8 April 1855 at the age of 50 at Clark, Clinton, Ohio.
27. Christian Hoover (1809-1897)
Christian Hoover was born 6 October 1809 in Armstrong, Pennsylvania, to Christian Hoover and Maria Barbara Harmon. The family had roots in Pennsylvania and perhaps Maryland dating back well into the 1700's.
When he was 23, he married Mary Green in Cowanshannock, Armstrong County, PA and the couple made their home at Plum Creek, Armstrong, PA until 1856 when they moved with family to Illinois, then to Iowa and finally to Kansas.
Christian and Mary had a family of 9 children between about 1834 and 1849. The eldest was daughter Barbara Hoover who was my grandmother Idella's paternal grandmother. The family seemed to be a close one as shown by how often they were living with or near one another in the various census records.
Christian and his wife Mary were both listed as doctors in the medical listings at the time. Both were of the "eclectic" school, meaning they were not formally educated in medicine but were self-taught and simply hung out their shingles, she probably as midwife and he as a general physician.
There is some evidence that Christian was a staunch abolitionist which may have precipitated his unwise move to sign up in Company C, 11th Illinois Cavalry for the Union at the start of the Civil War. He was 52 at the time, but shaved 10 years off his age when he enrolled. His war career did not last long and he returned home with serious health issues as a result. More details about his war experience can be found in this blog story about my
Civil War ancestors.
The agony that he endured for years after his Civil War service eventually resulted in the tragic ending of his life by suicide in 1897 when he was 88.
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Christian's Tombstone in Burlingame Cemetery, Kansas
Image courtesy Jean Pinick on Findagrave.com |
28. Mary Green (1812-1907)
Mary was born 4 September 1812 in Muncy Twp., Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania, USA. Her father was Ezekiel Green and she had 8 siblings.
In the 1830 census, father Ezekiel is in Plumcreek, Armstrong, PA. He is between 40 and 50 and has 2 males living in his household (one under 5 and one between 5-10). His wife (unfortunately not named) is between 40 and 50 and three females are aged between 15 and 20 and one between 10 and 15. There is a Samuel Hoover family two households away from him on the census form and Christian Hoover is listed next. Proximity led to Christian and Mary marrying on 15 August 1833 at the home of her parents.
Mary's life would not have been an easy one. She raised a large family and often had grandchildren living with her as well. The family moved frequently and no doubt she would have set up home over and over again. She acted as a midwife and is found in the list of Kansas doctors. She was left home when her husband decided to sign up for the Civil War and then she would have had to nurse him through his years of ill health after he returned. In the meantime, she was going blind (I cannot help but wonder if the macular degeneration disease found in so many members of the family is what caused her to lose her sight.) Finally, she lived on in penury after her husband's suicide. Fortunately, her son Professor Samuel Hoover took her in and would have cared for her in her last years. She died at the age of 95.
More details about Mary's life can be found in my
blog story about her.
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Mary Green Hoover
(so far, the only photograph found for any of my 32 third great grandparents) |
29. Stephen Henry Wescott (c1809-1889)
Stephen Henry Wescott was born about 1809 in Butler, Wayne County, New York to parents Stephen Westcott and
Elizabeth Carver. The Wes(t)cotts can trace back to immigrant ancestor
Stukely Westcott who arrived in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 and was one of the original founders of Providence, Rhode Island. The Carver line can be traced back to families who had arrived at Plymouth aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Both sides are steeped in early New England history.
The Wes(t)cotts tended to be quite prolific: Stephen had 12 siblings. On 2 December 1830 he married Catherine ("Katie") Barton. Stephen and Katie went on to have 11 children themselves, including my great great grandfather George Garner Wescott. The first 6 children were born in Butler, Wayne County, New York and the family can be found there in the 1830 and 1840 U.S. censuses.
By the mid 1840's, Stephen moved his growing family to Wisconsin. The first town meeting of the Town of Farmington (renamed from the Town of Clarence) was held at his home 5 April 1848; at the meeting, he was elected as an Assessor and later that year as a Justice. All early town meetings were held at his home.
The 1859 plat map of Farmington Township shows the location of Stephen's land in Section 36, Twp. 12N, Rge 20E. (The David Bullen family lived very nearby in Section 35 so it is not surprising with such proximity that their children George Garner Wescott and Sarah Catherine Bullen would marry and become my second great grandparents.)
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Location of Farmington WI
Google Earth Image |
Stephen is named in at Farmington, Washington Co., WI in the censuses of 1850, 1855 and 1860 but by 1870 was located at Kaukauna, Outagamie, Wisconsin.
Like so many other American families, the Wescott family participated in the Civil War (1861-1865). On 1 October 1881, Stephen applied for a civil war pension based on son Carver Wescott's Civil War service and death. Son George Garner Wescott had also served in the War; he was in Co. D, 12th Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and survived (fortunately for those of us descending from his children born after the War!) Another son, Barton had served in Co. K 1st Regiment Cavalry, Wisconsin Volunteers, and happily also survived.
Stephen died in 1889 and was buried in Kelso Cemetery at Kaukauna, Wisconsin.
30. Catherine ("Katie") Barton (1812-1880)
Catherine was born 30 August 1812 in Wayne County, N.Y., to Isaac Barton and Margaret ("Abba") Vought.
Katie's Barton ancestors were found in Westchester County, New York state since the 1600's. Her mother's Voughts were in Peekskill, Westchester County but had originated in Holland (Reusel-de Mierden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands).
Katie moved along with husband Stephen from New York to Wisconsin and raised their large family of 11 children. With at least 3 sons serving in the Civil War, she must have worried about them and then mourned the loss of son Carver (aged about 19) but rejoiced when sons George and Barton returned home to their families. In 1880 she made application for a mother's Civil War pension resulting from service and loss of son Carver.
She died 9 October 1880 and is buried with Stephen at Kelso Cemetery, Kaukauna, Wisconsin.
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Westcott Memorial in Kelso Cemetery, Kaukauna, WI
Photo Courtesy Jack Brown |
31. David Bullen (1788-1872)
David Bullen, the son of John Bullen and Mary Whitcomb, was born in Clinton, Oneida Co., NY in about 1788. His ancestors were early New England immigrants who came from various parts of England, settling in Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s. His father
John Bullen served in the American Revolution. After the War, John participated in the uprising known as
Shay's Rebellion. To avoid capture and prosecution, he fled with his family from Massachusetts to Clinton, NY. His pregnant wife Jane gave birth to a daughter en route, supposedly under a bush. It was about a year later that son David was born, no doubt in more comfortable circumstances.
David's first wife died quite young, and 35 year-old David then married Jane Murdie.
An excellent resource for details about David and the extended Bullen family is a collection of stories and letters amassed in the 1930's by descendants Myrtle Bullen Nelson and Ruth Dunlop called "Source Book for the Bullen Family". Some family members alive at the time remembered David and were able to provide such details as the fact that he had "reddish" hair up to old age. We also learn from them that David Bullen moved his family west from New York in 1836. (However, this is called into question by the appearance of the family in the 1840 census for Oswego, New York.) His brother John Bullen was the instigator of the move by several families to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Apparently, David made the journey overland in the winter in a covered sleigh. His family followed by boat, "The Michigan", owned by brother John Bullen. At Milwaukee the boat drifted ashore in a storm. From there they proceeded by wagon. David also had a farm near Paddock's Lake in southern Wisconsin. The family moved to Washington County in 1850.
By 23 July 1860, David was 70 and a farmer, but Jane has passed away. David's real estate is valued at 1500 and his personal estate at 280. When the next US Census was done ten years later, David was said to be 84 and living with daughter Jane and her husband Nelson Hull and their 4 children at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
A letter from daughter Jane Hull in Arlingtonbury dated 5 August 1872 in the "Source Book for Bullen Family" to "Dear Sister and Brother: - It is with a heavy heart, that I seat myself to write a few lines to you. Our poor father is no more. He died last Monday afternoon. He was taken sick the Wednesday before. Win sent for the doctor. He came and called it the typhoid fever and said the chance for him was very small. They done all they could for him but could not keep him. His work was done. He was called and must go. Gladly would we have kept him, but not our will but His be done. He has left this world and gone to a better world where he will not have to say any more, "I am sick." May we all be so happy as to meet him, and her that went before him. Little did we think when Mother died that he would live 14 years. It was a little over 14 years. I have forgotten the day of the month that she died. . . . He died in the afternoon the day before we got here. All I could see of Father was his cold form. His funeral was Wednesday at the school house. . . . I will send you some of father's hair."
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David Bullen's stone in Arlington Presbyterian Cemetery, Arlington, WI
Photo Courtesy "Grave Walker" (L Kopet) Findagrave.com |
31. Jane Murdie (1801-1858)
Mitochondria are the tiny energy-producing bodies located in almost every cell in our bodies. Each contains mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is passed almost unchanged from mothers to all their children. Only daughters pass that same mtDNA on to all their children. As Jane is my direct female-only line, my mtDNA is Jane's mitochondrial DNA. The only mtDNA test done to date was through National Geographic several years ago indicating that the haplogroup inherited from Jane was called H2a1, a group most closely linked to southern Scandinavia and Russia.
Jane was born 31 January 1801 in New York. She was said to be of Scottish origin, making one wonder if perhaps her female line generations back might have moved across the North Sea from Scandinavia. A more thorough mitochondrial DNA test might be in order!
The "Source Book for the Bullen Family" contained the following reference to Jane's parentage provided in a letter dated 19 October 1935 from Americus Vespucius Brown (son of Mary Bullen and John Brown, a grandson of David and Jane's) to Eva Bullen: "Mother was born in Hannibal, NY. Her mother was Jane Murdy. Her grandmother and she who was her mother came west from NY and settled in northern Illinois with their people. Her grandfather came later as he was a breeder of fine horses - bringing some blooded stock. When he got where they were he wanted to see farther west so he hitched up a team and started out. It was the last seen or heard of him. It was always supposed he was killed by the Indians for his team."
Notes from the "Source Book for the Bullen Family" in the handwriting of Mrs AH Nelson: "My grandmother's (Jane Murdy) father died and her mother married a Mr Chambers who was the father of Kate and Mary Chambers." I had always, perhaps mistakenly, taken that to mean that Jane's mother married a widower with two daughters, but other family members believe that Kate and Mary Chambers were actually Jane's half sisters. If so, Jane's mother would have been Jane Daviddson, another link back on our mtDNA chain.
In 1823 Jane Murdie married widower David Bullen in Hannibal, Oswego, New York. She was said to be just 16, which would have put her birth at about 1807 instead of 1801. She and David had 8 children, spaced two years apart, between 1824 and 1838, the youngest being my great great grandmother Sarah Catherine Bullen. All of the children were born before the family's move from New York to Wisconsin. You may recall that husband David went ahead first and Jane followed with the children by boat owned by her brother-in-law John Bullen. When that boat drifted ashore in a storm at Milwaukee, Jane must have been terrified for the fate of her children. But all survived the ordeal and carried on by wagon to join David.
Jane died about 1857 or 1858 in Wisconsin. No record has been found for her burial location.
Here is a link for another story about
Jane Murdie.
The Thirty-Two: Conclusion
All 32 of my third great grandparents have been identified. They were born in the period of about 1760-1815. 3/4 were Scandinavian and 1/4 were a mixture of British and western European ancestry.
On my Dad's side, all were born in Norway; it was mainly their children who would become immigrants to the United States. On my mother's paternal side, my Swedish third great parents were born in Sweden but died in America; the Norwegians were born and died in Norway. It is my mother's maternal line that has been in America the longest, many since the 1600's; as a result, all 8 of those third great grandparents were born and died in the United States.
As with all families, stories of hardships abound. Emigration across the Atlantic Ocean in steerage would have posed many challenges on top of the emotional upheaval of leaving family and friends behind. Life in Scandinavia at the time was not easy either and helps explain the allure of moving to a different place to start a new life. Those already in the United States had challenging tales of the Revolutionary War, Shay's Rebellion and the Civil War. All 16 of the women had few choices in their lives. They were expected to marry and raise families, and this they did, generally producing large families with babies spaced just about two years apart. There were few luxuries and everything had to be created by hand, whether a new home built in the wilderness or clothing for all the family members. Happily, all 32 survived to produce children so that their descendants can count themselves very fortunate to enjoy the lives we have today.
Links to the other 24 can be found here:
John Bardahl Ancestors
Louise Nelson Ancestors
Ingwald Anderson Ancestors
Labels: Anderson, Bullen, Edwards, Hoover, New York, Wescott
