Hughes Family Biography

Hughes Family Biography – Including Ancestors of their Wives

This biography of the Hughes family starts with Charles Victor Hughes, my maternal grandfather.  In addition, this bio includes the Hughes line going back from Charles to Victor Hughes, John Hughes (Jr.) and John Hughes (Sr.), and their wives, respectively Sarah Covey, Emily Hurlbut and Mary B. Hawkins. Also included is Lula Hurd, my maternal grandmother and her mother Emma Patzer.  For these women I’ll include some information about their ancestorial lines, which I find to be quite interesting.

Our ancestors did or were involved in some amazing things.  These things include the Pequot War, King Phillips War, French & Indian War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, World War I, Civil War, the Mayflower and Plymouth Colony, Jamestown Colony, a Governor, and colonial era tavern keepers.  Some of our ancestors’ historical houses are still preserved today.  They were also seamen, bricklayers, mechanics, carpenters, shoe makers, postal workers, smelter workers, painters, artists, nurses, landlords, deacons, preachers and teachers.  All of this from a family that consisted of mostly farmers and simple people.  I’ll also include, just for fun, some possible connections to Vikings, Knights and Royalty. 

A theme I see is that our ancestors were certainly not lazy.  They had determination, ambition and motive.  They were patriots in a young America, or even earlier they were English/British or Prussians who went across the Atlantic to make a life in the New World.

Origin of the Hughes Name

Hughes is a patronymic surname meaning Son of Hugh.^[1]  This means that it refers back to a father, grandfather or earlier male ancestor.  Using John Hughes as example, it’s John of Hugh meaning that John is descended from Hugh.  Originally, a patronymic surname changed with each generation.  Extending the example of John, if he had a son named Mark, then Mark would be Mark John or Johnson (son of John). 

Fixed surnames weren’t used in England until around 1300.  This means they kept the same surname from generation to generation rather than changing it each generation.  Hughes is thought to be Welsh and Irish.  In Wales, fixed surnames weren’t common until the 1400’s.

It is believed that the name Hugh goes back to France and came to Britain with the Norman Conquest of 1066 by William the Conqueror.  Hughe or Hue was an Old French personal name.  It later became popular in Britian due to several saints being named Hugh, including St. Hugh of Lincoln (1140-1200) and St. Hugh of Cluny (1024-1109).

Variations of Hughes includes Hughs, Hews, Huws, Hugues, McHugh, O’Hugh and others.

A patronymic surname means that the origin of a Hughes family line goes back to a man named Hugh.  While there would be multiple family lines that trace back to a specific Hugh, other Hughes family lines would trace back to a different Hugh.  There were of course many Hugh’s that lived in various places.  In other words, not all Hughes are related.

A company that does DNA testing called Family Tree DNA has a feature of surname projects.  There is a Hughes project for Y DNA (only males have Y DNA, and this is passed down through the generations from father to son).  This Hughes Y DNA project currently has 789 members.  The Y DNA for these members varies greatly, thus showing the point that there are many unrelated Hughes family lines. (Note: a goal of mine is to obtain a Y DNA test from a known male in our Hughes line, then use this to attempt to trace back the source of our Hughes line, I have done this with my Y DNA in the Marcum/Markham line with great results.)

Charles Victor Hughes

Charles is my grandad on my mother’s side.  He was a great guy and I have wonderful memories of him.  He was a kind, gentle, humble and smart man who was fun to be around.  Everyone who knew him liked him.  He lived his entire life around and in the small town of Asbury, Jasper County, Missouri.  He built a house there after he and my Grandma got married, and lived in it until he died.

Charles Victor Hughes was born on December 8, 1892, in Pleasant View township, Cherokee, Kansas.^[2]  There are documents that have his birth year as being 1890 or 1891.  We believe the correct year is 1892.  He was in all likelihood born in their home, on the family farm, which was in a small farming township called Pleasant View.  He died January 11, 1986 at the age of 93 at his home in Asbury.^[3]  He is buried in Crocker Cemetery outside of Pittsburg, Crawford, Kansas, and is next to his wife.  Both of his parents and his grandmother, Emily Hurlbut, are also in this same cemetery.

His parents were Victor Hughes and Sarah Covey.^[4]  Victor was born on March 7, 1847 in Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan.^[5]  He died May 19, 1915 in Prairie View, Cherokee, Kansas.^[6]  Victor’s parents were John Hughes and Emily Hurlbut.^[7]  Sarah was born in July, 1857 in Morgan, Mercer, Missouri.  She died in 1946.^[8]  Sarah’s parents were John Covey and Susannah Petty.^[9]

Charles married Mary Luilla (Lula) Hurd (my Grandma) of Pittsburg, Crawford, Kansas on December, 19, 1914 in Carthage, Jasper, Missouri.^[10]  Lula was born November 19, 1891 and died February 19, 1977.^[11]  She was the daughter of Emma Patzer and James Samuel Nance.

Charles and Lula had the following children:

• Charles Wilfred Hughes, born February 14, 1916, Asbury, Jasper County, Missouri; married Virginia Hoadley, January 28, 1940, Marion, Indiana; she was born October 27, 1918 and died December 12, 1996; Wilfred died September 9, 1975, Indiana.  Wilfred and Virginia are buried together in Gosport Cemetery in Gosport, Indiana.
  
• Dorothy Maxine Hughes, born October 11, 1918, Asbury, Jasper, Missouri; married Theodore Edward Marcum, April 29, 1956, Miami, Ottawa, Oklahoma; died August 9, 1998, Topeka, Shawnee, Kansas. Both are buried in Crocker Cemetery, next to Grandma and Grandad.
  
• Martha Jane Hughes, born March 29, 1924, Asbury, Jasper, Missouri; married Charles Smirl, June 1, 1958, Asbury, Jasper, MO; died January 17, 2005, Parkville, Platte, Missouri.  Charles was born December 29, 1920 and died March 6, 2015.  Janie and Charles are buried together in Park Cemetery in Columbus, Kansas.
  
• Roger Hughes, born June 19, 1929, Asbury, Jasper, Missouri and died May 7, 2023; married first Lois M. Theurer, May 5, 1950, Benton County, Arkansas, second Shirley (Kinder) Ireland.

Grandad was born on his parents’ family farm, which was called Sunny Slope Farm according to a picture of him holding a gun in front of a barn.  He attended school and learned to read and write.  On the 1900 Federal Census, he was 8 years old and was attending school.^[12]  On the 1910 Federal Census he was 18 and had attended school.^[13]  On the 1940 Census he is shown to have an 8^th grade education.^[14]  He would have worked on the farm, helping his father.  Grandad was the only grown son of Victor.  Victor and Sarah’s first child was a son, named Johnnie, but he died young.  They had five daughters, so Grandad grew up being the only boy and had five sisters.

Grandad married Grandma, Lula, in 1914.  His dad, Victor, died the next year at the age of 68, leaving the farm to his wife Sarah, Grandad and their five daughters.  In 1917 Grandad bought a lot in Asbury.^[15]  Asbury was just a couple of miles from Pleasant View township.  Pleasant View is in the very southeast corner of Kansas and Asbury is in the southwest corner of Missouri.  The next year he bought another small piece of land next to that lot.^[16]  He built a house on this land.  He must have been a good carpenter, a skill he would have learned from Victor on the farm.  He was good at woodworking, I watched him make a lot of things in the small shop in his garage.  This is the house he and Grandma lived in the rest of their lives.  According to the 1920 Federal Census, Grandad owned his home with no mortgage.^[17]

It was a nice, 3-bedroom house.  Maxine, my Mom, and her younger sister, Janie, probably had one bedroom and the two brothers, Wilfred and Roger were in another.  There was a large living room and dining room, and a big kitchen with a potbelly coal stove.  There was a small cellar where Grandma kept the food items from the garden that she had canned.  There was also a smokehouse and an outhouse.  The house was still standing in 2022.  But it was run down, literally caving in, and the yard was quite overgrown.  I went by there again in May, 2023, and the house had been torn down.  It was completely leveled and all the debris was hauled away.  It’s sad to think that the house is gone.  But it had been neglected for a number of years, the owners did not live in the local area and just let it deteriorate.

The town of Asbury began about 1893.  It was promoted by the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway and attracted quite a few investors.  It grew quickly, within a year there were six stores, two livery stables, two hotels and an implement house.  A post office was opened in 1894, a two-room school house was built in 1896 and there was a newspaper (which I have not been able to find copies of today).  But the quick business growth could not be supported and Asbury remained a small farming town.^[18]  The population was about 200.  According to a document in the Rutherford Collection, the founder of Asbury was J. M. Rutherford, he promoted the town and ran the newspaper.^[19]  The document in this collection says that the Asbury bank was robbed in 1924 (which there are also Joplin Globe newspaper articles about), and that “Mr. Charles Hughes, who still lives in Asbury remembers how it happened”.  This document was written in 1980.  The Rutherford Collection also contains pictures of downtown Asbury after it was destroyed in a tornado in 1937.  It missed Grandad’s house by a couple of blocks.

In 1917 Grandad got a draft card for World War 1.^[20]  He was 25 years old and was exempted from being drafted as he had a wife and child (Wilfred would have been one year old).   His signature is on this card.  He is listed as medium height and build, with light brown eyes and black hair.  His occupation is shown to be a farmer.

After Victor died in 1915, his wife Sarah moved in with their daughter Maggie in Pittsburg, Kansas.^[21]  Victor died without a will but it was obvious the farm went to his wife and their six children.  In 1917 and then again in 1941 they filed an affidavit to formalize this.^[22]  Then they sold the farm, part of it in 1943^[23] and the rest in 1945^[24]. 

In 1917 the heirs leased the mineral rights on part of the farm to W. R. Miller of Tulsa, Oklahoma.^[25]  It was a 10-year lease.  The lease payment was only $1, but they would get 7.5% of the value of any ore found.  The miners would have been looking for lead or zinc, which was a big industry in that general area.  They must not have found much.  In 1922, after only five years, the miners surrendered the lease back to the Hughes family.^[26]

In 1921, on January 19, there was an article in the Joplin Globe titled “League to Fight Alleged Evils of Asbury is Formed”.^[27]  The issue centered around Sunday gambling at the local pool hall.  The town was apparently divided over this issue and tempers had risen.  I don’t know if Grandad was involved in this.  But I do know he could play pool.  I remember playing with him.  He must have played at the local pool hall.  But there is no mention of him in any of the articles about this.  Maybe he didn’t play on Sunday or didn’t play for money.

A great story that Grandad told was about how he became an auto mechanic.  It must have been before 1920 when he decided to go to the Ford dealer in Pittsburg, Kansas to look at the Model T’s.  Cars were becoming popular and the Model T was the best seller.  He took his horse pulled wagon.  It was about a 15-mile trip.  When he got there, they told him they didn’t have any Model T’s to sell.  They were sold out.  But they did have a display model.  It was torn apart to show people what all the pieces of the car looked like.  Grandad asked if they would sell it.  They said they would, but they didn’t have anyone to put it together.  Grandad said he would take it anyway.  He hauled it home in his wagon (wouldn’t a picture of this be amazing!).  He got it put together, which would have been an incredible feat.  Then he drove it back to the dealership to show them.   They must have been impressed.  They started sending people to him to have their Model T’s worked on, there weren’t many mechanics at that time.  This is how Grandad became an auto mechanic.

Grandad worked as a mechanic at Asbury Garage for many years.  He was working as a “garage operator” according to the 1920 Federal Census.^[28]  The earliest record I have of Asbury Garage is from an April, 1921 newspaper advertisement.^[29]  The ad is for U.S. Tires and one of the locations shown is for Hughes & Green; Asbury Garage, Asbury.  Grandad and Charles Green, who was his brother-in-law, sold tires.  Charles Green was the husband of Mary Hughes, Grandad’s sister.  They also lived in Asbury.  The owner of Asbury Garage was Pete Ytell.  I remember Grandad talking about him a lot, he really liked Pete.  He was a pallbearer at Pete’s funeral.  Pete was a former semi-pro baseball player and was mayor of Asbury at one point.  In his obituary (he died in 1951), it states that he owned and operated Asbury Garage for 30 years.^[30]  This is consistent with Asbury Garage being started about 1921.  In 1926, the garage merged with R&S Chevrolet of Joplin and became one of the dealerships within the R&S Chevrolet business.^[31]

There is no mention of Asbury Garage after 1951.  I believe it closed down after Pete Ytell passed away.  This is when I think Grandad started his own auto repair business.  His house was right across the alley from the Chevrolet dealership, literally about 100 feet away.  He already had a small two car garage.  He added on to this with another garage connected to the first one, it was two cars wide but longer so there was more room to work.  People in the area already knew he was a good mechanic.  So, it was relatively easy for him to start his own business.  He did this until he retired, which must have been by around 1960.  I only remember him being retired.

The Great Depression was from 1929 to 1939.  Grandad was a mechanic at the local Chevrolet dealership and would have been helping his mother (Sarah Covey) with the family farm.  Times would have been tough.  Sales in the overall U.S. automobile industry were down 75 percent from 1929 to 1932.^[32]  The auto industry lost $191 million in 1932, compared to a profit of $413 million in 1929.  But General Motors, Chevrolet in particular, actually did pretty well.  GM focused on lower prices cars, cutting back on more expensive ones and they worked hard to lower costs.  They advertised heavily and started offering financing as banks were cutting way back on loans.  Chevrolet made a profit each year during the Depression and GM grew its market share by 15 percentage points to become the number one auto maker over Ford.  By working for a Chevrolet dealer, Grandad was in the best place he could be as a mechanic during the Depression.

Grandma and Grandad always had a large garden that provided a lot of their food.  Grandma would can some of it to save for winter.  They must have been able to buy they things they needed.  I would speculate that people still needed their cars worked on, but didn’t always have the money.  They may have bartered with the Garage to have work done.  Grandad may have gotten some things the family needed in this manner. 

Another story Grandad liked to tell was about his motorcycle.  It was a late 1920’s or early 1930’s Indian Chief.  He was riding it one day and went around a corner a little too fast.  He lost control of it and wrecked off the side of the road.  He was thrown off the motorcycle but wasn’t hurt.  The motorcycle was laying on its side with the throttle stuck wide open.  The engine sounded like it was going to blow up as it was going full speed.  He slowly crawled over, reached out to the bike, and shut it off.  He always made funny expressions of being scared when he told this.  After recovering from the incident, he picked the bike up and rode home.

I don’t know when this was, but possibly in the late 1920’s Grandma, Grandad and their kids went on a trip to California.  I remember Mom talking about it.  The car they were in had side curtains, so it was probably a 1920’s car.  She said they would stop along the road at night and sleep outside.  Grandad did some odd jobs along the way to make extra money for the trip.  They may have gone to El Monte, Los Angeles, California.  This is where Grandma’s sister, Melvina, lived.  Melvina had married Raymond Wofford, and they moved to California.  It is also possible they were taking, or going to visit Emma (Patzer) Hurd.  Emma was Grandma’s mother and went out to California to live with Melvina before 1930 (she is there on the 1930 Census^[33]).  Their trip must have been during the summer, Mom talked about it being hot.  It had to be quite a trip.  To my knowledge there are no pictures or other artifacts from this trip.

According to the 1930 Federal Census Grandad’s house was valued at $2000.  He did not have a radio.  On the 1940 Census his house was valued at $700.  The depression had apparently caused home values to go down.  He made $1200 the previous year as a mechanic and had worked 60 hours the previous week.  The average family income in 1939 was $1231 according to the Census Bureau.^[34]

Grandad got a draft registration card again for World War 2.^[35]  He was 51 years old.  This type of card was for men born between 1877 and 1897.  They must have wanted older men to be registered in case it was necessary to draft them.  He is listed as being 5 foot 9 ½ inches tall and 155 pounds, with brown eyes, gray hair and a dark complexion.

Grandad belonged to the Lions Club in Asbury.  According to the Lions Club web site the organization’s purpose is “To Promote the principles of good government and good citizenship. To Take an active interest in the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare of the community. To Unite the clubs in the bonds of friendship, good fellowship and mutual understanding”.  In 1951 he was elected to the position of Lion Tamer.^[36]  The Lions Club definition of this position is “As such you will be in charge of and responsible for the club’s property. You will see to it that the flags, gong, gavel and badge boards are properly placed, that the standard organization chart is displayed conspicuously at every meeting; and that all materials are properly distributed. You are to assist the past presidents as the official greeters, always welcome and introduce all guests and see that places are provided for all”.

One of the things Grandad did after retiring was woodworking.  He used part of his garage for a woodworking shop.  He bought a lot of the tools he needed.  But he didn’t have a wood lathe, they were pretty expensive.  So, he made one.  He bought the mechanisms for the two ends that hold a piece of wood.  He already had an old electric motor.  He built a wood stand to hold the mechanisms and motor.  It had a slider to adjust one of the mechanisms to fit the piece of wood he was working on, and to be able to move the rail that you held the carving tools on.  It worked great.  He used this a lot.

We have a couple of rocking chairs that he made.  One is a medium sized chair and the other is a small, baby sized one.  Sometimes Grandad would buy an old piece of furniture and restore it.  Once he bought an old bureau that had a broken leg.  He made a new leg on his lathe and replaced the broken one.  He stained it an antique green color.  This bureau sat in the living room of their house for many years.  We have it now.  We painted it an off pink color and it is sitting in our living room.  It’s another good memory of Grandad.

My Dad worked 6 days a week as a meatcutter, his day off was Sunday.  This is the day we always went to Grandma and Grandad’s house in Asbury.  We did this every week.  Grandma would make lunch, which of course was always good.  Most weeks we would then all go over to Joplin.  Grandad and Dad liked to go to the auction at Webb City.  There was always a lot of stuff being sold.  It was interesting to hear the auctioneer.  You had to be careful how you moved, a scratch of the ear could result in you buying something.  A lot of the smaller items were grouped in boxes, and the box was auctioned off.  If there was one thing you wanted in the box you had to buy the whole box to get it. 

Another place we often went on these Sunday trips to Joplin was May’s City.  This was kind of like a Walgreens today, it was a drug store but with many other items like a variety store.  But Missouri had what was called the Blue Law.  Items such as clothes, furniture, tools, jewelry, toys, hardware, appliances and many other things could not be sold on Sunday.  The law was a carryover from the days when working on the Sabbath was frowned upon.  The sections of a store that held the restricted items would be roped off, or the items covered up. 

During the summer when I was out of school, I always spent at least one week at Grandma and Grandad’s house.  This was always fun.  Grandad would take me fishing, most likely at Nichols Pond or Spring River.  We sat out in the backyard and read car magazines.  But I had to do some work.  I had to help weed the garden, Grandad always had a big garden.  He grew large sunflowers in his garden to help shade some of the plants.  Sometimes I had to dig potatoes, which I didn’t really like to do. 

Sometimes I mowed the grass.  In the 1960’s Grandad’s mower didn’t have a motor; it was an old-fashioned push mower.  Pushing it caused the wheels to turn, which through some gears caused the blades to spin around and cut grass.  It was kind of hard to push, especially if the grass was very tall.

In addition to going to Grandma and Grandad’s house a lot, and me staying there during the summers, we also took some trips with them.  One time we all went to Louisiana, to a lake that I don’t remember the name of.  Grandad and my Dad wanted to go fishing.  I remember the lake had a lot of water lilies on it. 

Other shorter trips we took together were to Branson, Missouri and to War Eagle, Arkansas.  The annual War Eagle Craft Fair is in October.  It’s a huge craft show.  Grandma and my Mom really liked it.  This is a multiple day craft show that is one of the best in the nation.

On Sunday there were drag races at Mo-Kan drag strip, a race track just a few miles north of Asbury.  It opened in 1962.  It’s still open today and is the oldest continuously operated drag strip in Missouri.  You could see the highway from Grandad’s back yard, and he liked to set outside and watch the cars go by.  On Sunday’s a lot of race cars were being pulled on trailers to Mo-Kan, and he liked to see these.

I remember one day a guy came to Grandad’s house.  He was a drag racer and knew Grandad.  He had broken a part of the drivetrain in his race car and needed help.  They determined that a metal pin had broken in the rear end of the car.  Grandad found an old metal chisel.  He used his grinder to grind it down to be the right shape, then they put it in place in the car.  It worked.  The guy was very grateful.  He left to go back to the races.

Grandad did like to sit in his backyard.  He did this a lot.  He had some bird houses, he liked to watch the wrens and finches fly around.  There were usually some flowers along the backside of the house, next to the back door.  For several years hollyhocks grew there.  He said they came up “volunteer.”  They grew pretty well and I think he liked them.

Grandad loved fishing.  He made his own fishing poles and some of his own fishing lures.  His car was a station wagon, he kept the back seat folded down so there was room to put his fishing poles in the back without having to break them down.  A TV show he always watched was Harold Ensley on The Sportsman’s Friend.  This was a show about fishing and hunting.  Harold Ensley always drove a red Ford Country Sedan, a station wagon.

Grandad always wore overalls when he was at home, and a long-sleeved shirt.  And he typically wore a hat when he was outside.  But when he went to town, which was usually Joplin, he put on khaki pants and a nice shirt.  I think Grandma wanted him to look good when they went somewhere.

In 1965 Grandad was in a serious car accident.  He was going fishing with a friend of his.  They were going north on highway 171 from Asbury when a Supreme Bakery truck ran a stop sign and they collided.  The man driving the truck said the brakes went out.  Grandad fishing buddy, Ben Slatten, was killed instantly.  Grandad was badly hurt.  In addition to being bruised up, he had a broken leg and a broken arm.^[37]  He was in the hospital for a long time.  At 73 years old, they said he would never walk on his own again.  When he finally got to go home, he was on crutches.  He could get around on them, but not very well.  Uncle Roger bought him a remote-control TV so he could turn the TV on and off and change the channel with having to get up.  It was the first remote control TV I had ever seen and I thought it was very cool. 

Grandad did his own physical therapy.  He would watch the clock and every hour he would get up to move around some.  He never complained.  It became obvious that he was not going to let his injuries keep him from walking on his own again.  After a while he got rid of one crutch and replaced it with a cane.  Then he got rid of the second crutch and began using two canes.  A little later he was using one cane.  I don’t remember how long all of this took, but he eventually got rid of the cane and he could walk on his own.  It was amazing.  He could walk as well as most other men in their mid-70’s.  He had quiet determination.  He just kept working and working to get closer and closer to walking.  He didn’t talk about it, but you knew that was what he was doing.  Given what he had been through, and at his age, it was truly inspirational. 

When he was able to drive again, Roger worked with the insurance company to get Grandad a new station wagon.  It was a brand new 1966 Chevy Chevelle wagon, white with a blue interior.  He could put his fishing poles in it and fish again, which he did.

Sometime in the late 1960’s Grandad mentioned that he needed a new roof on his garage.  My Dad said he would be glad to do it for him.  We picked a day to do it.  We bought all the shingles and stuff we would need and had it delivered.  Grandad wanted to help but we didn’t want him climbing up a ladder and getting on the roof.  I think it took us a couple of days to replace the roof and clean everything up.  Grandad was very appreciative.

When I was old enough to drive and got my first car,  I took it over to Grandma and Grandad’s house.  This was in 1972.  My car was a 1966 Ford Mustang.  Grandad was impressed with how shiny it was (I had just waxed it to show him).  He liked the chrome wheels.  But he didn’t really see the need for the big tires on the back, which I really liked.  I took him for a ride in it.  He thought it was too loud, it had some pretty loud dual exhaust pipes.

Shortly after that I got a different motorcycle.  It was a Honda 450 chopper.  It had an extended front end, custom gas tank and paint.  I thought it was very cool.  I took it to show Grandad.  Once again, he thought it was too loud.  And it was loud.  But he liked it and spent a lot of time looking it over. 

When I was about 19, in 1978, I had a 1970 Chevy Camaro.  It was an ugly green color which I didn’t care for.  I told Grandad one day I wished I could get it painted.  He said to bring it over sometime and we would paint it.  I thought this was a great idea.  I was working at my first full time job, and the first chance I got to take a week’s vacation I told Grandad I’d be over to paint my car.  He was 85 years old and still pretty energetic.  We went to Joplin to a paint store to get paint and all of the supplies we would need.  An older guy at the paint store knew Grandad and joked about him still painting cars.  We took all of the stuff we needed back to his garage and got to work. 

I did most of the prep work – sanding and preparing the surface.  Grandad would show me how to do something, then watched as I did it.  He had a good eye for spots that needed more work.  Next, we masked all of the trim, chrome, windows, wheels, etc.  It was going pretty well.  All of this work took about four days.  Then it was ready to paint.  Grandad had a paint gun and air compressor to run it.  He showed me how to spray paint properly.  We practiced on some boards until I felt comfortable.  First, we sprayed the entire car with primer, then sanded and resprayed areas to make the surface as smooth as possible.  Next came the new black paint. 

I sprayed the whole car and it looked good.  But it was kind of hot.  When the paint dried it looked pretty good, but not great.  I had been worried about holding the paint gun too close and making runs.  So, I held it a little too far away and swept it back and forth a little too fast.  This made the paint a little too thin and it didn’t have quite enough time to cure properly for a glossy finish.  I couldn’t afford to buy more paint.  Grandad said we could wet sand it and that would make it look better.  We wet sanded it carefully.  When we were done it really did look good.  Amazingly, the best part of the paint job was the underside of the trunk.  I wasn’t worried about getting runs there and I sprayed this area with the gun closer and moved it slower.  Inside the trunk was great!

It really was fun doing this with Grandad.  He thought it turned out quite well and I think he really enjoyed helping me.  At his age this was truly an amazing thing.  I learned a lot from him and I really enjoyed the experience.  It is a great memory for me.

Sometime in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s Grandad got a Chevy Vega.  It’s a small, economical car.  I’m not sure why he got it, it would have been hard for him to get in and out of.  But he had it.  One day when my Uncle Charles (husband of Janie) was there, he wanted to work on it as it wasn’t starting very well.  Uncle Charles was in the car and Grandad was under the hood.  He decided to pour a little gas in the carburetor to help get it started.   When Uncle Charles turned the key, the engine backfired and flames shot up out of the carburetor.  Uncle Charles jumped out of the car and rolled Grandad onto the ground as it looked like Grandad was on fire.  He suffered some burns but wasn’t hurt too badly.  He sold the Vega after that.

Holidays like Christmas and Fourth of July were always spent at Grandma and Grandad’s house.  All of my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins would be there.  There would be a big dinner, and lots of talking.  It was great fun.

Here are some cars that Grandad had.

After building his house in Asbury, Grandad lived there the rest of his life.  He died in his sleep on January 11, 1986.  He is buried in Crocker Cemetery outside of Pittsburg, Kansas.  He’s next to Grandma.  My parents are next to them.   Grandad’s parents, Victor and Sarah, are in the same cemetery.  Victor’s mother, Emily Hurlbut, is also there.  The cemetery is about 7 miles from Asbury.  I think he lived a good life.  He was always happy.  He didn’t need extravagant or expensive material things; his needs were simple and he had everything he needed.  He and Grandma were married for 64 years before she passed away.  I think this is great.  He had quiet determination, if he wanted something he would figure out how to get it.  The best example of this was him working to walk again after his car wreck.  Another example is him putting together the Ford Model T that he bought in pieces.  He was a really good person and I’m very grateful that he was my Grandad.

In thinking about the things that happened during Grandad’s life, there was a lot.  He lived through World War I, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.  He lived through the Great Depression. 

He lived before electricity was available in houses, before indoor plumbing and before the telephone, radio and television were available.  Refrigerators weren’t common in households until the 1940’s.  Rural Route mail service was started when he was young.  At the time he was born mail was brought to Pleasant View by stagecoach, then by train a few years later.  He would have been familiar with the telegraph.  Every county seat would have a telegraph office, and this was an important means of communication until the radio and telephone become prevalent.

He saw the start of the automobile industry and all the things that came along with that like gas stations and highways.  A concrete highway from Joplin to Pittsburg, running through Asbury, wasn’t completed until 1926.  Before that the road was dirt or gravel.

He saw the airplane become a new type of transportation.  Then he later saw the first man walk on the moon.

Grandad really did live through some amazing times. 

Victor Hughes

Victor was Charles Victor’s (Grandad) father.  He was born in Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan on March 7, 1847.^[38]  His parents were John Hughes and Emily Hurlbut.^[39]  He died May 19, 1915 in Pleasant View, Cherokee, Kansas.^[40]  He is buried in Crocker Cemetery outside of Pittsburg, Kansas, just a few miles from Pleasant View.

Victor married Sarah Covey on March 27, 1877 in Mason County, Illinois.^[41]  Sarah was born in July, 1857 in Morgan, Mercer, Missouri.  She died in 1946 in Pittsburg, Crawford, Kansas.^[42]  Sarah’s parents were John Covey (1810-1883) and Susannah Petty (1815-1864).^[43]

Sarah Covey apparently went to Mason County, Illinois sometime after 1870 to live with her older brother Samuel.  This was after her mother had died in 1864 and her father had moved from Missouri to California.  Her father, John Covey, was with his second wife, Jane Martin, in Shasta, California in 1871^[44] and lived there until he died in 1883.^[45]  Sarah’s brother Samuel married Jane Meeker in 1870 in Illinois,^[46] and was in Mason City, Illinois on the 1870 Federal Census.^[47]  Mason County was where Victor and Sarah got married, and is about 15 miles from Malone where the Hughes lived.  This is how she met Victor.

Victor and Sarah had the following children:

• Johnnie Hughes died in 1878 at 6 months old. He was buried in Pleasant View Township, Cherokee County, Kansas. He was born in 1878.
  
• Emily M  Hughes, born 1880, Kansas; married Ralph Burr, February 14, 1900, Cherokee, Kansas; died July 30, 1964, Pittsburg, Crawford County, Kansas.
  
• Bertha Hughes, born 1882, Kansas; born 1882, died 1976; buried in Crocker Cemetery next to her husband Alfred Thomas.
  
• Maggie Hughes, born September 23, 1884, Cherokee County, Kansas; died September 18, 1967, Pittsburg, Crawford, Kansas.  Buried in Crocker Cemetery.
  
• Mary Hughes, born about 1886, Kansas; married Charles Burry Green, 23 Den 1914, Columbus, Cherokee County, Kansas; died 1974, Kansas.
  
• Charles Victor Hughes, born December 8, 1892, Pleasant View Township, Cherokee County, Kansas; married Lula Hurd, December 19, 1914, Jasper County, Missouri, USA; died January 11, 1986, Asbury, Jasper, Missouri.
  
• Flora Hughes, born September 7, 1896, Kansas; married David Herman, January 24, 1918, Carthage, Jasper, Missouri; married Charles Johnson, Carthage, Jasper, Missouri; died April 3, 1993, Monterey, California.  Buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Pittsburg, Kansas.

After being born in Reading, Michigan, Victor’s family moved to Malone, Tazewell, Illinois in about 1856, when he was 9 years old.^[48]  His father, John, died there in 1959 when Victor was 12.

Victor could read and write, according to the 1860 Federal Census he was attending school.^[49]  His mother is the head of household on this census and is a widow with 5 children.

Victor is on the 1870 Federal Census as living with his mother and her then husband Jacob Beals.^[50]  Victor is a farm laborer and does own $300 in farm implements but does not own land.  Jacob Beals is shown as owning a farm worth $2500 but is not on the 1870 agricultural schedule.

In 1878, at the age of 31 and a year after he and Sarah were married, they moved to Pleasant View township, Kansas.  The specific area was called Neutral City at that time.  He first bought 80 acres of land for $800 on March 12, 1878.^[51]  Then on January 13, 1883 he bought another 80 acres, for $1000.^[52]  This second piece of land was not connected to his first piece, but was less than a mile away.  He would own and farm all this land for the rest of his life.  He named his place Sunny Slope Farm.

A factor that could have influenced Victor to move to Pleasant View, Kansas is that his mother’s brother already lived there.  His mother’s (Emily) older brother was George Lewis Hurlbut.  George (also went by Lewis, Louis and Leroy) had moved to Pleasant View in 1866^[53] and received a land grant there in 1870.^[54]  George previously lived in Mason County, Illinois before moving to Kansas.  This is only a few miles from Malone, Tazewell County where Emily and Victor had lived.  Victor and Sarah were married in Mason County.  According to the 1880 Federal Census Emily is living with Victor and Sarah in Pleasant View in 1880.^[55]  So, Emily was now near her brother again.

The population of Pleasant View township was 1107 in 1880, by 1900 it was down slightly to 1073.^[56]  In 2000 the population was 658.^[57]

Victor was a member of the Woodmen of the World (WoW).  WoW was founded in 1892 as a fraternal organization.  The objectives of Wow were to help others, promote patriotism and civic responsibility, and provide financial protection for the member’s family.  After the first few years when funds were gathered for a deceased member by “passing the hat”, the organization turned into a life insurance company.  It still operates today.  Victor’s gravestone was provided by WoW, and Sarah, his widow, would have received a death benefit.  Interesting, George Lewis Hurlbut was also a Woodman, so Victor and his uncle were both members.

Victor also belonged to the Anti-Horse Thief Association.^[58]  From the constitution of this organization their purpose was to “aid in the upholding of civil laws, to insure the safety of our people, and the security of our property against loss by thieves, robbers, murderers, vagrants, tramps, incendiaries and all violators of the law.”^[59]  They were considered a vigilance committee, a group of private citizens who took it upon themselves to administer law and order or exercise power through violence in places where they considered the governmental structures or actions inadequate.  A Vigilance Committee was a form of vigilantism.  Many of these groups also worked to free enslaved people and transport them to freedom.

Victor mined coal on his farm.  In a 1885 newspaper item is this: “Victor Hughes is very busy taking out the black diamonds on his farm.”^[60]  A year later there is this: “Victor Hughes has the best patronized coal bank in the township.  Teams are daily seen going after the winter supply of fuel.”^[61]  He apparently mined enough coal to sell it to other farmers in the area.

In a 1908 newspaper article in The Pittsburg Headlight, there is a list of amounts paid to school district treasurers.  Victor is treasurer for school district 26 and received $48.88.^[62]  He is listed again in a 1910 article as receiving $133.08 for school district 26.^[63]

Grandma was the teacher at the school in this district in 1914.^[64]  The schoolhouse was right next to Victor’s farm.^[65]  Grandma and Grandad got married later that same year.  This is likely how Grandma and Grandad met.

We have a booklet that was Grandma’s from her being a teacher.  It is dated 1914 and is titled “Public School Souvenir”.  It has her picture on the cover and her name is shown to be Lula Hurd.  Inside it shows the school she taught at, school 26, which is how we know where it was.  There is also a list of her pupils and several poems about school days.  It’s really nice to have this.

In 1912 Victor ran for office, to be a Trustee of Pleasant View Township.^[66]  He was a democrat.  However, the incumbent republican won.^[67]

There is a 1913 newspaper article about silos that had been built in the area.  It states that the silo had been proven to be effective.  There is a list of those with silos and Victor is listed.  You can see the silo in the background of the Sunny Slope Farm picture above with Grandad holding a gun.

Victor died May 19, 1915 from a stroke of apoplexy, a blood clot in the brain.  At 68 years old it apparently came on suddenly.^[68]  He is buried in Crocker Cemetery and the funeral services were conducted by the Woodmen of the World.  His gravestone is a WoW stone and has their insignia on it.  Victor must have been a hardworking and honest man.  He was an avid farmer and involved in his community.  He lived in Pleasant View for 38 years and was a respected member of the community.  Judging by the pictures of his house and farm buildings, he must have been good at building things.  I like that he named his farm and put this name on his barn.  He certainly instilled his good values in Grandad.

Sarah Covey

Sarah’s mother, Susannah Petty, died in 1864 when Sarah was 7 years old.  Her father, John Covey, remarried in 1867 and then moved to California in 1871 when Sarah was about 13 years old.  At this point she must have gone to Mason County, Illinois to live with her brother Samuel.  This is where she met and then married Victor.  A year after getting married the young couple moved to Kansas.  All of this must have been a lot of change for Sarah. 

Going back through time, here is a summary of Sarah’s family line:

Parents – John Covey, born in Virgin in 1810, lived in Missouri and married Susannah Petty there in 1834; he died in Shasta, California in 1883.  Susannah Petty was born in Kentucky in 1815 and died in Missouri in 1864.  Her parents were William Petty (1786-1860) and Polly Sphar (1796-1831).  

• Polly’s parents were Daniel Sphar (1773-1857) and Isabella Rogers (1776-1850).
• Daniel’s parents were Matthias Sphar (1741-1785) and Mary Wells (1752-1830).  Matthias was in the Revolution War, and is a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Patriot.^[69]
• Isabella Rogers’s parents were William Rodgers (1750-1824) and Femmetje “Phebe” Swart (1756-1823).  William Rodgers was in the Revolutionary War.^[70]

John Covey’s parents were William Covey (1791-1840) and Susannah Godbey (1793-1850).  William was born in Pulaski, Virginia and died in Ray County, Missouri. 

• Susannah Godbey’s parents were William Godbey (1750—1833) and Susannah Terry (1751-1834).  William was born and died in Virginia.  He served in the Revolutionary War and is recognized as a Patriot by DAR.^[71]
  • Susannah Terry’s parents were William Terry (1732-1797) and Susannah Johns (1735-unknown).  William Terry was a Major (an officer) in the Revolutionary War and is recognized by DAR.^[72]
• William Godbey’s parents were William Covey Godbey (1725-1769) and Rhoda Miller (1730-1759). 
• The paternal line going back from William Covey Godbey is John Godbey (1705-1761) > Edward Godbey (1670-1707) > Thomas Godbey (III) (1648-1686) > Thomas Godbey (II) (1623-1653) > Thomas Godbey (1587-1628) (my 10^th Great Grandfather).
• The eldest Thomas Godbey was a Jamestown Colonist.  However, I cannot prove that he is the father of Thomas II.  There is no birth record or primary source of information for Thomas II proving he is the son of Thomas Sr.  But I do think they are father and son based upon them having the same name, Thomas II being the right age to be his son, and Thomas II in later years owning land where his fathers was.  This is circumstantial evidence.  The Godbey family thinks they are father and son.^[73]  So, while I do believe they are father and son, I want to state that this is not proven.  Thomas was definitely a Jamestown Colonist, but the Jamestown Society does not recognize any descendants for him.^[74]
  • Thomas left England in June of 1609 on the Seaventure (sometimes called the Sea Adventure) headed for Jamestown.  This was the Third Supply of the Virginia Company.  The ship ran into a hurricane and started taking on water.  It then wrecked on the island of Bermuda (this sounds like a Bermuda Triangle incident).  All of the passengers were OK.  They spent 9 months on the island building two smaller ships, the Deliverance and the Patience.  Thomas was on the Deliverance which arrived in Jamestown in May of 1610.  At that point there were only about 60 settlers left of the approximately 500 who had come from England starting with the first group in 1607.  This was due to food shortages and attacks by Indians.  Thomas received a couple of land grants and there is a map showing the location of his land in 1624. 
  • In a land grant on December 1, 1624, Thomas is referred to as an “ancient planter” and as coming on the Deliverance in 1608 (which should be 1610).^[75]
  • The first census taken in what would become America was done in January of 1625.  It was called a Muster.  Thomas and his wife, Joane, are listed.
  • Thomas is killed in 1628 by William Bentley.^[76]  Thomas and a group of men were at a neighbor’s house drinking wine.  Bentley came in a rowboat and was having trouble landing.  He called for help.  One guy went out to help him.  Bentley was mad and came into the house asking why others didn’t also come to help him.  Thomas and Bentley got into an argument and Bentley hit Thomas, knocked him down and then kicked him.  Thomas was badly hurt and the other men took him to a bed.  He was dead the next morning.  Bentley was found guilty of manslaughter, but was not severely punished due to a plead by a preacher. 

William Covey’s parents were Samuel Polster Covey (1761-1840) and Elizabeth Knapp (1753-1830).  Samuel was born in Dutchess County, New York and died in Jefferson, Tennessee.  He was in the Revolutionary War and is recognized as a Patriot by DAR.^[77]

Samuel’s parents were James Hope Covey (1715-1787) and Mary Lanphere (1721-1795), James and Mary were first cousins.  James was born in Westerly, Rhode Island and died in Dutchess County, New York.  James was in the French and Indian War.^[78]

James’ parents were James Hope Covey (1687-1729) and Sarah Lanphere (1687-1726), Sarah is Mary Lanphere’s aunt.  Sarah’s father was George Lanphere (1642-1731).  George’s father was Richard Lanphere (1594-1665) (my 8^th Great Grandfather), he was born in England and died in London.  He died from the plague and was a Huguenot (which was a group of the Calvinist religion who suffered persecution at the hands of the Catholic majority in France, many of them migrated to England to avoid this).  James Covey was born and died in Westerly, Rhode Island.

James Hope’s parents were Hope Covey (1660-1704) and Mary (abt. 1664-1705, unknown maiden name, Hope and Mary were married about 1686 in Rhode Island, no record of her maiden name has been found).  Hope died in Westerly, Rhode Island.  His birthplace is uncertain, various sources have it as England, Virginia or Massachusetts.  Items listed in his probate inventory included carpenter tools and shoemaker tools.

After Victor’s death Sarah moved to Pittsburg and lived with her daughter Maggie for the rest of her life.  She died in 1946 in Pittsburg at the age of 89 and is buried in Crocker Cemetery next to Victor. 

John Hughes Jr.

This is Victor’s father.  I refer to him as Jr. as his father is also John, who I refer to as John Sr. 

John Jr. was born in 1811 in Newport, Rhode Island.^[79]  We do not have his birth record, this is from the 1850 Federal Census where he is listed as being 39 years old and lists the state that he was born in.  This census also states that he could read and write.  His parents, John Hughes Sr. and Mary B. Hawkins were married in 1810 in Newport, Rhode Island.^[80]  They were in Newport on the 1820 Federal Census.^[81]

He married Emily Hurlbut on the evening of September 26, 1841.^[82]  The marriage was in Castleton (Seneca Castle), New York. 

John Jr. and Emily had the following children:

• Mary Emily Hughes was born about 1842 in Seneca Castle, New York.  She lived in Malone, Tazewell, Illinois in 1860.  She married Oscar Pugh in 1867 in Tazewell.  Mary died in 1913 in Green Valley, Tazewell, Illinois.

• Stephen Henry Hughes was born about 1844 in Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan.  On the 1860 census he is 15 and disabled. His name is shown as Henry and also Stephen Henry.   He died from softening of the brain on November 4, 1875 at the age of 31 in MT. Morris, Genesee, Michigan.  He did not marry.

• Victor Hughes, born 1847, Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan; married Sarah Covey, March 21, 1877, Mason County, Illinois; died May 19, 1915, Prairie View, Cherokee County, Kansas.

• Annette Abby Hughes, born December 10, 1849, Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan; married Thomas J. Casey, January 6, 1875; died December 10, 1922, Randolph, McLean, Illinois.

• George Willis Hughes, born August 21, 1855, Michigan; married Mary Ann Sanert, 1880, Tazewell, Illinois; died January 22, 1929, Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

On the 1830 Federal Census the family was still in Newport^[83], but later that year they moved to Seneca Castle, Ontario, New York.  John Jr. would have been 19 years old at this point.  John Sr. bought 60 acres in Seneca Castle on October 9, 1830.^[84]  He paid $1500 and there is no mortgage shown.  In 1832 he bought another 40 acres for $1156.^[85]  Seneca Castle is a small farming community a few miles west of Geneva, New York. 

In the October 4, 1838 issue of the Herald of The Times newspaper, published in Newport, Rhode Island, there is a death notice for “Mrs. Jeanette Hughes, wife of Mr. John Hughes, Jr. formerly of this town.”^[86]  It says she died in York, Michigan at the age of 21.  There wasn’t another John Hughes Jr. in Newport that we have seen.  This means that John Jr. was first married before 1838 and his wife died young.  We have not found a marriage record for this, and do not know her maiden name.  It also means that he was in Michigan at this time and that Emily Hurlbut was his second wife.

In 1839 John Jr. was in Michigan buying land.  He bought 44 acres on October 10^th that year in Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan for $126.^[87]  He bought another 40 acres on October 18, 1841 for $120.^[88]  The sellers on this second transaction were Stukley and Jonathan Colwell.  Jonathan was John’s brother-in-law; he was married to Abby Hughes, who was John’s sister.  The Colwell’s were from Seneca Castle and their farm was right across the road from the Hughes farm.  This is from an 1852 land ownership map of Ontario County, New York.^[89]

Note: Old land ownership maps are a wonderful source of information.  Not only can you see where the person’s land was, but also the surrounding neighbors and any other interesting landmarks.  We used this map to find where the Hughes farm was and then went there in 2018.  The land is still farmland today and Seneca Castle is still a very small community.  Just a few miles east is Geneva, a nice small town with a good historical society.  Whitney Cemetery, where John Sr. and Mary B. are buried, is along the road between Seneca Castle and Geneva.

John’s brother Charles was also in Reading when John bought land.  Charles was there in 1838.^[90]  The county of Hillsdale was populated by settlers from the east starting in 1835.  The town of Reading was established in 1837.  Charles and John were early settlers in the area.  Their lots were about two miles apart, this is from an 1857 land ownership map of Hillsdale County, Michigan.^[91]

Before his second land purchase, in 1841, John got married to Emily.  The marriage notice indicates that John is “late of Hillsdale, Michigan.”  The notice also refers to Emily as being from Castleton (Seneca Castle was originally called Castleton, but soon became known as Seneca Castle).  John Jr. apparently met Emily in Seneca Castle where the John Sr. family lived.  Then he went to Michigan, perhaps to scope out the area.  Then he went back to Seneca Castle to get married, which would have been nice for their families.  After that he went back to Michigan and bought the second piece of land, which was from his brother-in-law.  John Jr. is not found on the 1840 Federal Census either in Michigan or New York.  As only the head of household is listed by name (which was the case on census records until 1850), he is likely living with his father on their farm in Seneca Castle. 

Interestingly, the marriage notice in the newspaper, refers to John as “Capt. John Hughes, Jr.”  I have not seen any other reference to him being a Captain and have not found any other records indicating this.  But there must be something to this.  Perhaps he was a sailor in his younger days, as his father was, and became a Captain at some point.  Or he may have been in a local militia group.  Another possibility is that it was a carryover from his father being a merchant ship Captain (more on this to come).  More research is needed on this.

I want to explain more about the connection of John and Emily.  This isn’t a connection that is found on other online genealogy sites.  And the Hurlbut connection leads to quite an interesting line of ancestors.

Emily Hurlbut was born (actually baptized) October 29, 1820 in West Hartford, Connecticut.^[92]  She was the daughter of Samuel Hurlbut and Catherine Goodman.  Emily’s mother, Catherine died in 1837 when Emily was 17.  Her father, Samuel, remarried in 1839 to Elizabeth Hills. 

According to the Hurlbut Genealogy book Emily married “Mr. Hughes of NY.”^[93]   Her parents are shown to be Samuel Hurlbut and Catherine Goodman, who lived in West Hartford.  In the History of Cherokee County, it is stated that John Hughes “married Emily Hurlbut, also of New York.”^[94]  On the 1850 Federal Census, the family is listed in Reading, Michigan.  John’s birthplace is shown as Rhode Island and Emily’s is Connecticut.  Also, Harry Hurlbut is living with them.  Harry is Emily’s brother.  He is also shown as being born in Connecticut.

In the records of Illinois, County Marriages, 1800-1940,^[95]  John Hughes and Emily Hurlbut (there are various spellings of this name, the most common is Hurlbut) are listed as parents on the marriage record for their son George Willis.  George was born in 1855 (in Michigan) and married in 1879 in Illinois.  In “The Hurlbut Genealogy,”^[96] there are 13 Emily’s listed.  But no other Emily is of the same age.  This is a quite comprehensive book on the Hurlbut family line.

This background of information shows that John Hughes and Emily Hurlbut did get married in New York.  And that John was born in Rhode Island and Emily was born in Connecticut.  Both of them ended up in Seneca Castle, New York.  John Sr. and his family, including John Jr. at the age of 19, were there in 1830.  Emily had to be there before 1841, when they got married.

The remaining question is, what took Emily to Seneca Castle, New York?  She likely left her birthplace in Connecticut after her mother passed away, and after her father remarried.  Perhaps she didn’t like the new family situation. 

There is one Hurlbut shown on the 1840 Federal Census for the Senaca Castle area.  This is Lorinda Hurlbut.  She was the widow of Gilman Hurlburt, who died before 1840.  He was the town doctor.  The local doctor would have been known to the Hughes.  Gilman would have been a distant cousin to Emily.  It’s possible that Emily went to live with Lorinda, but Lorinda was a cousin by marriage and was about 25 years older than Emily.  So, this is not very likely.  There could be another family connection that we just aren’t aware of.

John and Emily’s first child, Mary Emily Hughes, was born in New York in 1842.  This is according to the 1850 Federal Census.^[97]  The rest of John and Emily’s children, including Victor, were born in Reading, Michigan.  This means that the couple stayed in New York for a year or two after getting married, then moved to Michigan.  John had already purchased the two parcels of land there.  They may have lived with John Sr. and Mary B. on the Hughes farm in Seneca Castle for a while after they got married. 

After living in Reading for several years, John Jr. sold his land in four transactions over a ten-year period:

• October 10, 1846, sold 20 acres for $80 in section 32, township 7, range 4.^[98]
• March 1, 1848, sold 44 acres for $133 in section 4, township 8, range 4.^[99]
• October 2, 1851, sold 10 acres for $50 in section 32, township 7, range 4.^[100]
• October 24, 1856, sold 50 acres for $200 in section 32, township 7, range 4.^[101]

He sold a total of 124 acres.  His two purchases were for 84 acres.  So, 40 acres are unaccounted for.  There are no other records for him in the Hillsdale County deed files.  He did not receive a land grant according to the Bureau of Land Management land grant records.  This is a mystery. 

John Jr. is listed on the 1850 Agriculture Schedule for Reading, which was taken on September 3^rd of that year.^[102]  For each person listed there are two sheets of information.  Unfortunately, the second sheet for John’s information is missing.  From the first sheet we can see that he had 25 acres of improved land, 25 acres of unimproved land, that the cash value of his farm was $500, farm implements and machinery valued at $35, 2 milch cows, 2 oxen, 1 other cattle, 14 sheep, 1 swine, livestock was valued at $116, 30 bushels of wheat and 90 bushels of Indian corn.

In addition to being a farmer, John Jr. was a painter.  The History of Cherokee County states that he was “a painter by trade.”^[103]

In the “History of Hillsdale” book there is a list of persons who held the office of Town Supervisor for Reading.  A John Hughes is listed for 1847.^[104]  The same source also shows John Hughes as being a Justice of the Peace in 1849.  Then in 1856 there is a newspaper article about John Hughes losing in an election for County Clerk (he received 1445 votes out of 4900).^[105]  I don’t know if this is our John Hughes or not.  But, there is not another John Hughes listed on the 1850 Federal Census in Reading.^[106]  There is also not a John Hughes on the 1860 Federal Census in Reading.^[107]  Reading was still a small, young town.  So, perhaps this is our John. 

John Jr. died in Malone, Tazewell, Illinois in December, 1859 at the age of 48.^[108]  His cause of death was diabetes.  His occupation is listed as farmer.  John and Emily must have moved from Michigan to Illinois.  They sold their last piece of land in Michigan in 1856.  Then John dies in 1859.  On the 1860 Federal Census for Malone, Tazewell County, Illinois Emily is listed as a widow and the kids are all listed as well.^[109]  Emily is 40 years old and Victor is 13.  There is no value of real estate, which means she did not own land.  But she has her own dwelling number, which means that she was the head of household and lived in her own home (not with someone else).  It seems like John and Emily would have purchased a place to live upon migrating to Illinois.  I found no land records for John in Tazewell County.  And no land grants either.  They may have been renting, maybe John was sick for some time.  Why did they go to Illinois? 

Emily’s brother, George Lewis Hurlbut, was in Mason County, Illinois in 1855.^[110]  This is per the 1855 Illinois State Census.  Mason County adjoins Tazewell County to the west.  So, George was pretty close by.  This could be the connection that took John and Emily to Illinois.  If John’s health was in decline, they may have wanted to be somewhere close to Emily’s family.

John Jr’s. burial location is unknown.  He is probably buried in Tazewell County, Illinois, but we have not been able to find a record of this.  More research is needed to locate his grave.

Emily Hurlbut

As explained above, Emily Hurlbut was baptized October 29, 1820 in West Hartford, Connecticut.   She was the daughter of Samuel Hurlbut and Catherine Goodman.  She could read and write according to the 1850 Federal Census.^[111]

An interesting bit of history, the house Emily grew up in was purchased by her grandfather, Lemuel Hurlbut, from Noah Webster (of Webster’s dictionary fame).^[112]  This was the house Noah grew up in.  Lemuel bought it from him on April 19, 1790 for 600 pounds.^[113]  We have a copy of this deed and the original is hanging on a wall at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford, Connecticut.^[114]  The farm was 81 acres.  After Lemuel passed away, his son Samuel acquired the house.  It stayed in the family until 1889, when Samuel’s wife (widow) and their son Samuel Jr. sold it to Henry D. Tillotson.  They sold the house and 8 acres of land for $1100.^[115]

So, Emily was born and grew up in the same house as Noah Webster.  The house has been restored and is open for tours today.  It is at 227 South Main Street in West Hartford.  It is called the Noah Webster House and is the home of the West Hartford Historical Society.  We went there in 2017.  It’s a wonderful house and is full of period furnishings.  An older gentleman who was a retired professor from Connecticut University gave us an excellent tour.  He was quite interested in the research we had done on the Hurlbut family.  A book titled “Old Houses of Connecticut” has a full description of the house and more historical information.^[116]  The house is on the National Register of Historical Places.^[117]

Emily’s mother, Catherine died in 1837 when Emily was 17.  Her father, Samuel, remarried in 1839 to Elizabeth Hills.  Emily then goes to Seneca Castle, New York where she married John Hughes Jr. on September 26, 1841.  After their first child, Mary, was born in 1842 in Seneca Castle, they moved to the land that John had previously purchased in Reading, Michigan.  Their next four children, including Victor, were born in Reading.  They sold their land in Reading, the last piece being in 1856.  John dies three years later, in 1859, in Malone, Tazewell County, Illinois.  They had not purchased land in Illinois.  I could not find any land purchase records for them and Emily is listed on the 1860 Federal Census as a head of household with their five children but not owning land.  They may have gone to Illinois to be close to Emily’s brother, George Lewis Hurlbut. 

On March 5, 1865 Emily married Jacob Beals.^[118]  Jacob lived in Tazewell County and had been a Union soldier in the Civil War for the Illinois Calvary.^[119]

Previous to her second marriage, on December 3, 1864, Emily bought 80 acres for $320.^[120]  She bought it from the Trustees of Schools.  I believe this was the land she was living on in the 1860 Federal Census.  This is based on comparing neighbors on the census to a 1864 Tazewell County land plat^[121] and a 1873 Tazewell County land plat.^[122]  I think John and Emily must have been renting this farm from the school district, or perhaps they made a deal to be caretakers of the land.  Another oddity, on the 1864 map the 80 acres is shown to be occupied (you can’t tell ownership versus occupation on the map) by J. Hughes.   John had passed away five years before this.  And an 1864 map would have been drawn before Emily purchased the land in December of that year.  So, it seems they were living on this 80-acre piece of land before Emily purchased it. 

Then, a Feb 28, 1868 land transaction between H. W. Reynolds, buyer, and the Sheriff of Tazewell County, seller, refers to an 1864 court ruling regarding tax delinquent land from 1863.^[123]  The lot Emily owned was being sold for tax delinquency.  For the land to be tax delinquent in 1863 means that Emily couldn’t pay the taxes, and this is before the first record of her buying the land.  This is another oddity.

A year later, Reynolds sold Emily’s land to Mark Bennett in 1869,^[124] who two weeks later sold it back to Emily.^[125]  What doesn’t make sense is the first record we have for her buying it is in 1864, so it shouldn’t be tax delinquent for Emily in 1863 based on this.  Also, there is the 1864 land plat map with John Hughes shown on this same land.  Emily bought it in December 1864, the land plat should have been printed before this.  So, there may be an earlier land record of some kind.  I have found no record of John Hughes buying land in Tazewell (or any land grants from the Bureau of Land Management), and he was there by 1859 per his death in Tazewell.

John and Emily sold their last piece of land in Michigan in 1856, so they probably moved to Illinois between 1856 and 1859.  The 1860 Federal Census shows Emily as a widow and as head of household (based on her having a household number which is not with anyone else), but as not owning land (based on the land value).  But, on this census she is listed next to A. D. Ingersoll who owns the land that is right next to this land.  On the 1870 Federal Census she is with Jacob Beals (after getting married in 1865) and they own land valued at $2400, Jacob is a farmer and Victor is a farm laborer (at age 23).^[126]  This should be the land that Emily repurchased in 1869 for $50.

The sale of this land by Emily was not found in the deed index book dating to 1879.  Later deed rec books are not online, her sale may have been recorded in a later book.  Later land records are at the Tazewell County offices.

No Tazewell County newspapers are online from this period, and Tazewell County court records are not online for this period either.  Further info on the tax delinquency would be in both of these sources.  More research is needed on the tax delinquency records, any notifications in newspapers and in court records, which are kept at Tazewell County offices.

On February 25, 1878 Jacob Beals filed for divorce from Emily.^[127]  He was in Elk Creek, Republic County, Kansas.  This was the same year Victor bought land in Pleasant View, Cherokee, Kansas.  Emily must have gone to Kansas with Victor and Sarah.  She is on the 1880 Federal Census living with them, and is listed as Emily Beals.  Interestingly, her marital status is listed as widowed.  It looks like Emily and Jacob separated and both left Illinois and went to different places in Kansas.  Elk Creek and Pleasant View are about 320 miles apart, so they were not close to each other.  Jacob apparently wanted a legal divorce and so he filed for one in Republic County.  The Notice of Publication in the newspaper is a formal notification for Emily to appear and answer the petition.  Republic County court records are not online.  I don’t know if she did respond or not, it’s certainly unlikely she would have seen this newspaper.  More research into Republic County court records may uncover additional information.  Jacob died the next year, on July 20 of 1879.^[128] 

His death at age 61 was caused by dropsy of the heart and his marital status is listed as married.  This would indicate that he was not legally divorced.  He does have a Union Civil War Veteran headstone.  He was a private in the 4^th regiment, company C of the Illinois calvary.^[129]  Emily must have known about his death since she was listed as a widow on the 1880 census.

In 1880 Emily was in Peasant View, Kansas living with Victor and Sarah, according to the 1880 Federal Census.^[130]  She must have gone with them when they moved there in 1878.

Emily died in 1898.  This year comes from the History of Cherokee County, which refers to her “dying in her 77^th year”.^[131]  We can find no record of her after the 1880 Census, at age 60, when she was living with Victor.  She is not on the 1885 Kansas State Census with Victor, and not on that Kansas census anywhere.  The 1890 Federal Census was lost to fire.  She is also not on the 1895 Kansas State Census.  No death record of any type has been found.  So, after 1880 to her death in 1898 we have no record of her.   We believe she is buried in Crocker Cemetery.  Next to Victor and Sarah there is a small stone marked Mother.  We believe this is her.  There is no date or name on the stone, it just says Mother.  I would guess it was put there at the time of Victor’s death.  It looks like it’s from that timeframe.  So, all we have to go with for Emily’s death is the History of Cherokee County book.  We assume the book is accurate, it would have come from an interview with Victor (the bio of Victor would have come from an interview with him by the author).  We use 1898 as the year of Emily’s death based on this.  I wish we knew more.

Going back through time, here is a summary of Emily’s family line:

Parents – Samuel Hurlbut, born March 3, 1786 in West Hartford, Connecticut and died March 13, 1861 in West Hartford.  He married first Mary Butler in 1806.  Mary died in 1812.  Samuel married second Catherine Goodman in 1813.  Catherine was born in 1791 in West Hartford and died November 22, 1837 also in West Hartford.  Her parents were Moses Goodman (1750-1831) and Amy Seymour (1756-1814).  Samuel married third Elizabeth Hills in 1839, she was born in 1806 and died as his widow in 1889. 

• Moses Goodman was a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War.^[132]  There is a good story about Moses in the book “West Hartford” by William H. Hall, which is a history of the town.^[133]  The following is taken directly from this book:

In 1777, when the American soldiers were suffering on account of hardships and want at Valley Forge, the people of this section of Connecticut around Hartford contributed the sum of $30,000 to be sent to them for their relief.  When question arose as to how this money could be safely conveyed, Moses Goodman of West Hartford bravely volunteered to take it to Valley Forge on horseback.  He placed the money in his saddlebags, mounted his fine trained horse, and in due time accomplished the daring feat, returning to his home in safety.  It is related of him that when he stopped for the night on his journey at some tavern or inn, he would throw his saddle-bags down in a corner or under a bench, thus disarming suspicion.  It is also related that at some of the places where he spent the night, some of the people were very desirous of obtaining possession of his fine horse, and that at one time he greatly feared that his horse would be taken from him. (Note: Today these saddlebags are at the Noah Webster House.)

• Moses’ father was Timothy Goodman (1708-1786).  His house, built a little after 1754, is still standing and is on the National Register of Historical Places.^[134]  It is at 567 South Quaker Lane in Hartford.  He bought the land from Daniel Webster (Noah Webster’s grandfather) in 1754.^[135]  Timothy also ran a tavern in Hartford.
• Timothy’s father was Richard Goodman (1663-1730), and his father was Richard Goodman Sr. (1609-1676).  Richard Sr. (my 7^th Great Grandfather) was an original Hartford Founder, coming from Cambridge, Massachusetts with Thomas Hooker’s group.  Richard Sr. was born in England.  We do not know the date or ship he came to the colonies on, but he was in Cambridge in 1632.  He was a Deacon and was in King Phillips War, where he was killed by Indians.  This information along with a good sketch of the early Goodman’s is in “New England Genealogical and Memorial.”^[136]  Richard ran a tavern in Hadley, Massachusetts.  This is described in another good sketch of him in “The Goodman’s of Bolton, New York.”^[137]  This book outlines Richard’s life before going on to describe a later genealogical line that migrates to Bolton, NY (which is not Timothy and Moses).
  • Richard Goodman’s (1663) wife was Abigail Pantry (1679-1708). 
    • Abigail’s father was John Pantry Jr. (1650-1736).  He was known as the richest man in Hartford. 
    • John Jr.’s father was John Pantry Sr. (1629-1653).  He was a Hartford Founder.
    • John Sr.’s father was William Pantry (1597-1649) (my 8^th Great Grandfather).  William was from Kent, England.  He came to the Colonies in 1637 and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  His land there became part of Harvard University.  Then he migrated to Hartford where he was also a Founder.  His land location is from a 1638 Cambridge map that shows the location of the inhabitants at that time.^[138]
      • (Note: My Dad’s ancestors, the Markham line, has its American beginning in the Colonies with my 7^th Great Grandfather, Daniel Markham.  Daniel came from Earls Colne, Essex, England to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1655.  He lived with his uncle, Edward Collins.  Edward Collins was a wealthy merchant and one of the first colonial land speculators.  One of the many pieces of land Edward owned was a 2500-acre plantation that is today Medford, Massachusetts.  He acquired this from Governor Craddock.  His home in Cambridge in 1636, where Daniel later lived with him, is off the intersection of today’s Linden St. and Bow St.  This is about a block from where William Pantry lived.)

The Hughes ancestral line has a lot of connections that go back to Hartford, Connecticut.  There is a group, the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford that has a list of the acknowledged original founders.  There are 183 listed Founders, our Hughes line has 15 of them.  Also, there is a 1640 Hartford map that shows the landowners.  Our line has many people on this map, which is available on this Society’s website.^[139]

 As mentioned above, Catherine Goodman’s mother was Amy Seymour (wife of Moses Goodman).  Her parents were Timothy Seymour Jr. (1728-1782) and Lydia Kellogg (1729-1810). 

• Timothy Jr. was an inn/tavern operator.  This is seen in a 1766 newspaper court notice where a court ordered probate meeting is to be held “at the house of Capt. Timothy Seymour, inn-holder in said Hartford”.^[140]

Timothy Jr.’s parents were Timothy Seymour Sr. (1696-1749) and Rachel Allen (1694-1756).  Timothy Sr.’s parents were John Seymour (1666-1748) and Elizabeth Webster (1673-1754). 

• John Seymour built a house in West Hartford about 1720.  He eventually sold it to Thomas Hooker (descendant of Hartford founder Thomas Hooker) and Sarah Whitman Hooker.  Today, this house is known as the Sarah Whitman House.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places^[141] and is located at 1237 New Britian Avenue in West Hartford. 
• John Seymour’s parents were John Seymour (1639-1713) and Mary Watson (1644-1712).  They were both born and died in Hartford, Connecticut.
• John Seymour’s (1639) parents were Richard Seymour (1604-1655) and Mercy Ruscoe (1610-1668).  Richard was born in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England and was an original Hartford Founder.  He was a carpenter.  Mercy was also born in Hertfordshire, England.
• Richard’s parents were Robert Seymour (1573-1637) and Elizabeth Waller (1578-1637).  They were both born and died in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England.  Robert was a shoemaker, this is from his will.
• Robert’s parents were John Seymour (1535-1605) and Desiree Porter (1550-1605).  These are my 11^th Great Grandparents.  They were both born and died in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England. 
• Lydia Kellogg’s parents were Jacob Kellogg (1699-1765) and Mary Sedgwick (1705-1759).  They were both born in Hartford, Connecticut and died in Farmington, Connecticut.
• Jacob’s parents were Samuel Kellogg (1662-1718) and Sarah Merrill (1664-1719).  Samuel was born in Hadley, Massachusetts and died in Hartford.  He was a Deacon of the Hartford church.  Sarah was born and died in Hartford.
  • An interesting connection, Sarah’s father is John Merrill (1636-1712).  John was a Deacon.  This John is also my 8^th Great Grandfather on my Dad’s side, he’s a two-way Grandfather for me.  His father, Nathaniel Merrill (1601-1655), came to America in 1635 on the ship Hector.  He was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England and died in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts.  The Merrill’s were Huguenots.
• Mary Sedgwick’s parents were Samuel Sedgwick (1667-1735) and Mary Hopkins (1670-1743).  Samuel and Mary were both born and died in Hartford.  Samuel was a Captain in the local militia.
• Samuel’s parents were William Sedgwick (1643-1674) and Elizabeth Stone (1642-1681).  William apparently was not a good family man.  He took many trips to the West Indies and eventually died in Jamaica.  Elizabeth was in the process of divorcing him before his death.  They only had one child, which was our Samuel.
  • Elizabeth Stone’s father was Reverend Samuel Stone (1602-1663).  Reverend Stone was quite a guy.  He was from Hertford, Hertfordshire, England and went to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, England, graduating in 1624.^[142]  He came to America in 1633 on the ship Griffin.  Thomas Hooker was with him.  Thomas and Samuel would become a team. They were Puritans, as were most who came to the Massachusetts Colony.   They founded the First Church at Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Thomas was the Preacher and Samuel was the Teacher.  These two men are very well documented.  After a disagreement in Cambridge, Hooker led his followers to Connecticut.  They founded what would become the town of Hartford.  It is named after Samuel’s hometown in England, where there is a statue of him today.  They established the First Church in Hartford, again with Thomas as Preacher and Samuel as Teacher.  Thomas was also the founder of the Colony of Connecticut.  In his probate inventory, Samual had books valued at 137 Pounds.  This is a lot of books, one of the larger personal libraries in the Colonies at that time.
• William Sedgwick’s parents were Robert Sedgwick (1590-1656) and Joanna Blake (161-1667).  Robert was born in England.^[143]  He was the Major-General of the Massachusetts Colony Militia Commander in 1652, and then Major-General for Jamaica.  He owned an Ironworks along with John Winthrop.  He died in Jamaica. 

Eliabeth Webster is the daughter of Robert Webster (1619-1676) and Susanna Treat (1629-1705).  Robert is the son of John Webster (1590-1661) (my 9^th Great Grandfather) and Agnes Smith (1585-1667).

• John Webster was the Governor of the Colony of Connecticut in 1656.  He was a magistrate from 1639 to 1655, Deputy Governor in 1655 and the first magistrate from 1657 to 1659.^[144]  John and his wife, Agnes, were both from Cossington, Leicestershire, England.

Samuel Hurlbut’s parents (this is the Samuel that is Emily’s father) were Lemuel Hurlbut (1750-1808) and Tabitha Nott (1752-1813).  Lemuel was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut and died in West Hartford.  He was a farmer.  He was also a Freemason (or a Mason).  This is according to his probate inventory where “masonic clothing” is listed.^[145]  Tabitha was born in Rocky Hill, Connecticut and died in West Hartford.  She was the daughter of Abraham Nott (1719-1794) and Mercy Dimmock (1723-1787.

• Tabitha Nott’s ancestral line traces back to the Mayflower.  It goes from her mother, Mercy Dimmock > Jabez Dimmock (1700-1771) > Bethia Chipman (1666-1703) > Hope Howland (1629-1683) > John Howland (1592-1673).  John Howland was a Mayflower passenger and lived at Plymouth Colony.  John’s wife was Elizabeth Tilley (1607-1687), also a Mayflower passenger (at about age 13) along with her parents John Tilley (1571-1621) (my 10^th Great Grandfather) and Joan Hurst (1568-1621).  This means the Hughes line is connected to four Mayflower passengers.  The Pilgram John Howland Society has a lot of information about John and Elizabeth.^[146]  So does the General Society of Mayflower Descendants[147] and Caleb Johnson’s “Mayflower History”,^[148] among many others (such as Wikipedia).  John Tilley and his wife Joan both died the first winter at Plymouth Colony (about half of the group died the first year).  This left Elizabeth alone at about 14 years old.  John Howland and Elizabeth got married in 1623.  They went on to have 10 children. 

Lemuel’s parents were Amos Hurlbut (1717-1777) and Hannah Wright (1716-1756).  Amos was born and died in Wethersfield, Connecticut.  According to “The Hurlbut Genealogy,” “the cause of Amos’ death it is said was the falling of a barrel of cider upon him, his foot slipping while he was unloading it from a cart”.^[149]  He would have been 60 years old.  Hannah’s parents were David Wright (1677-1752) and Mary Belden (1687-1769). 

• The Wright ancestral line goes back to the 1400’s, to John Wright (my 12^th Great Grandfather)born July 12, 1488 and died October 5, 1551.  He acquired Kelvedon Hall in Essex County, England and was Lord of the Manor.^[150]  (Note: I take genealogy in the 1500’s and earlier with a grain of salt, it’s hard enough to document someone in the 1600’s and it’s even harder to go further back; the records are fewer and hard to find, and there is a lot of incorrect information on the internet; however, despite this I’m fairly comfortable with this line)
• The line back from David Wright to this very early John Wright is:  David Wright (1677-1752) > Samuel Wright (1636-1690) > Thomas Wright (1610-1670) > John Wright (1577-1640) > Thomas Wright (1548-1647) > Robert Wright (1516-1587) > John Wright 1488-1551.

Amos’ parents were Thomas Hurlbut (1680-1761) and Rebecca Meakins (1681-1760).  Thomas and Rebecca were both born and died in Wethersfield, Connecticut.  Thomas was a farmer.

Thomas’ parents were Stephen Hurlbut (1649-1713) and Phebe Dickinson (1660-1694).  Stephen was born in Wethersfield and his exact death date and place is not known, it was about 1713 and likely in Wethersfield.  Phebe was born in Massachusetts and died in Wethersfield.

Stephen’s parents were Thomas Hurlbut (1610-1671) (my 8^th Great Grandfather) and Sarah Nye (1612-1679) (Sarah’s surname is uncertain, many sources say unknown, her given name is shown as Sarah on the birth record for their children; there is one source for Nye being her surname but it is not a primary source^[151]).  The precise birth of Thomas is not known, he must have been born about 1610 and possibly in Wiltshire, England.  But some sources say he was born in Scotland.  He came to the colonies in 1635 with Lion Gardener and was part of Lion’s small group that established Saybrook, Connecticut.  He later moved to Wethersfield where he died.  He was the town’s blacksmith and a farmer.  Sarah was born in Ockley, Surrey, England and died in Wethersfield.

• In Saybrook, Thomas Hurlbut was in the group commanded by Lion Gardener.  Much has been written about him, and Lion wrote a document about his experiences in building the fort and fighting Indians.  This is called “Relation of the Pequot Warres”, written in 1660 by Lion Gardener”.^[152]  This book is considered one of the best firsthand accounts of colonial time battles with Indians, making friends with Indians and establishing a new settlement.  There is also a summary in “The History of Ancient Wethersfield”.^[153]   This book, in two volumes, is a comprehensive history of Wethersfield and has many mentions of the Hurlbut family.  Lion Gardener was an engineer and a professional soldier.  He was hired by the English Company to establish a settlement and fort in Saybrook (Connecticut), which is located where the Connecticut River meets the Long Island Sound.  Lion and his small group of 10 men, including Thomas, left England in August of 1635 on a ship called the Bachelor and arrived in Boston that December.  It was a small ship and he brought with him a lot of the supplies he would need to build a fort.  They started work in 1636, which was also when the Pequot War started.  They successfully built a fort and established the new town of Saybrook (called Old Saybrook today).  They also had fights with Indians.  In one skirmish, a group of Indians attacked Lion, Thomas and their small group of nine other men while they were out burning brush.  Thomas was shot in the thigh by an arrow, and Lion was also shot in the leg.  Two other men were killed and another two ran away “like cowards.”  After the Pequot War and after Saybrook was successfully established, and before 1640, Thomas moved to Wethersfield.  He was granted 120 acres of land by the Connecticut General Court in consideration of his services in the Indian campaigns in the Pequot War.

• We have a 1600’s map of Wethersfield that was drawn by the Town Clerks of Wethersfield in 1951 from land ownership information in the “Ancient Wethersfield” book.  Thomas Hurlbut’s home lot is shown to be in the south part of town.^[154]  It’s on the south end of today’s Main Street just east of Beaver Brook.  His son Stephen Hurlbut’s home lot is a little north from Thomas and is on today’s Garden Street.  There were about 200 families living in Wethersfield at this time.  Eighteen people listed on this map are our Hughes Grandparents, so our ancestors are well represented in ancient Wethersfield.

John Hughes Sr. – Captain

John Sr. was born on July 1, 1785.  This is according to his gravestone at Whitney Cemetery just outside of Seneca Castle, New York.^[155]  We do not know where he was born or who his parents were.  My Mom, Maxine, thought they were from Wales.  Some sources say Scotland or England.  I tend to believe he was from Wales, but may have been born in Scotland.  The History of Cherokee does state that he was born in Scotland.^[156]  I think the information in this book came from an interview with Victor, who should have known where his Grandfather was from.  He died August 8, 1870 in Seneca Castle, Ontario, New York at the age of 85.^[157]

He did receive an education.  According to the 1850 Federal Census John could read and write.^[158]

On December 9, 1810 he married Mary B. Hawkins in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island.^[159]  The wedding was at the First Baptist Church in Newport and was conducted by Reverend Michael Eddy (pastor from 1790-1835).  This is the oldest church in Newport and the second oldest Baptist Church in the U.S.^[160]  In a book listing the marriages performed by Reverend Eddy, the entry for John and Mary B. says that John is “of New York.”^[161]  This would indicate that he resided in New York before moving to Newport.

Newport was first settled in 1639 and became part of the Colony of Rhode Island in 1644.  It was incorporated as a town in 1784.^[162]  Rhode Island was founded in 1636.  It was a refuge for people persecuted elsewhere for their religious beliefs and people of all religions were welcome.  It was one of the original thirteen colonies.  Rhode Island is the smallest state in the U.S.

In 1810 the U.S. population was 7,239,881.^[163]  The population of New York City was 96,373 and it was the largest U.S. city.  Newport’s population was 7,907.  Newport’s population today is about 25,000.

John Sr. and Mary B. had the following children:

• John Hughes, born 1811, Newport, Rhode Island; married Emily Hurlbert, September 26, 1841; died December, 1859, West District, Tazewell, Illinois.

• Abagail G. Hughes, born 1814 in Newport, Rhode Island; married Jonathan Wade Colwell about 1834; died in 1851 in Seneca Castle, Ontario, New York.

• Patrick Hughes, born 1817, Newport, Rhode Island; married Mary Kinney, November 11, 1851; died June 7, 1894 in Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan.

• Charles A. Hughes, born April 28, 1818, Newport, Rhode Island; married Matilda Doud (Dowd), 1843; died May 8, 1883, Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan.

• William Hughes, born 1824, Newport, Rhode Island; married Susan Depue, October 5, 1867, Coldwater, Branch, Michigan; died November 4, 1878, Reading, Hillsdale, Michigan.

• Sarah Hughes, born 1825, Newport, Rhode Island; married Miles Erity; died June 21, 1867, Seneca Castle, Ontario, New York.

Researching John Hughes is challenging as there are many of this name.  Here is a summary of the count of John Hughes from four different U.S. Federal Censuses.

Census Year	# in U.S.	# in New York	# in Rhode Island
1800	65	6	0
1810	112	16	0
1820	170	19	1 (our John)
1830	250	26	2 (one is our John)

There are other notable John Hughes, in the U.S and in the same timeframe, that can show up on searches (I’m sure there are more, these came up most often in our research):

• John L. Hughes – General Assembly member for RI, from Providence, also Commissioner of State Prison (this is the other JH on the 1830 Census in RI)
• Reverend John M. Hughes from Victor, NY (same county as Seneca Castle where our John lived)
• Pastor John Hughes – From Philadelphia, Catholic Pastor
• Archbishop John Hughes of New York, founder of Fordham University
• Captain John Hughes of Virginia, from the War of 1812 and was a Virginia Assemblyman
• John Hughes of New York, who received his citizenship in 1807, he was a lawyer and is not our John.

We do not know when or how John immigrated to the United States.  He could have come on a passenger ship or perhaps as a seaman on a merchant vessel.  I assume he did not come with his parents, there is no indication of his parents coming to the U.S.  He apparently went to New York.  Immigration records were not required to be kept until 1820.  There are records of passenger ship lists before this, but certainly not for all ships.  Merchant crew lists are even more sporadic. 

According to the History of Cherokee County he “chose the life of a sailor, and spent his early manhood on the seas.”^[164]  In our research on John, we found Newport, RI merchant mariner records showing a John Hughes being a seaman on a number of ships from 1809 to 1830.^[165]  It is hard to prove definitively that this is our John.  But I believe it is him and there is good evidence to support this.  There is the statement in the Cherokee County book saying he was a sailor.  There was not another John Hughes in Rhode Island records for that time.  The John Hughes on these ship records in this span of years is the same person each time.  The registers list the age, height and complexion.  These are the same on each one of these ship’s registers.  He was 5 foot 7 inches tall with black hair and a fair complexion.  His age is accurate through the years.  He lists his residence as Newport (except for the first one in February of 1809, which shows New York).  His place of birth is shown to be New York City. 

At first, I thought this birthplace was a problem.  John wasn’t born in New York.  But he also says the same thing on the 1850 Federal Census.^[166]  This census record is clearly him, he’s living in Seneca, NY, with Mary B. as his wife, and his youngest daughter Sarah living with them.  He’s 65 years old, which would be right.  And his birthplace is listed as New York.  I think he said this in his younger seaman days to not be seen as a “foreigner.”  According to an article entitled “Early American Merchant Seafarers” by Ira Dye,^[167] which describes the makeup of seamen, almost all seamen in the early 1800’s were native born in the U.S.  Very few were naturalized citizens.  Perhaps there was a stigma towards seamen not born in the U.S.  This was only about 25 years after the end of the Revolutionary War, and the actions of Britian was about to cause the War of 1812.  Being born in the U.S. was preferable to being born in Britian.

So, he kept saying he was born in New York on the 1850 Federal Census.  Strangely, on the 1860 Federal Census^[168] he says his birthplace was Rhode Island.  More strangeness, on the 1870 Federal Census he says he was born in England.^[169]

I think he immigrated to New York by 1804, lived there a while, then moved to Newport in 1809 for the merchant mariner work available there.  To work as a seaman on a merchant ship required him to have a Protection Certificate.  This was a document, kind of like a passport, that was obtained from the local Customs official at a sea port.^[170]  It was needed to be registered as a seaman on a crew list for a ship’s voyage.  In order to acquire this document, he had to be a U.S. citizen.  This meant he had to go through the naturalization process, which was five years.  This gave him U.S. citizenship.  Using this, he could get a Protection Certificate.  The customs official used this document to list the seamen for each ship leaving the port, the register of each ship leaving the port contains the date, name of the ship, the ship master, destination and a list of the seaman (the crew).  The seaman list contains name, station (position or title), age, height, complexion, residence and place of birth.  This information came from each seaman’s Protection Certification.  Occasionally, a seaman is noted as having “no proof,” meaning they didn’t have their certificate.

We have not been about to find his Citizenship record or his Protection Certificate record.  There are Naturalization and Protection Certificate records available online for Newport.  We reviewed those and did not find John.  But I think he became a citizen and got his certificate in New York prior to 1809.  The New York records are needed to prove this.  Naturalization and Citizenship documents were created by a local court, they were not kept by the Federal Government until about 1820 (and even then, they are not complete).  We have looked at all of the available online resources for Naturalization documents and have not found any for him.  They may be at the National Archives, either still paper or perhaps on microfilm.  The Protection Certificate was kept by the seaman, but a document recording it was created and kept by the Customs Official’s office.  These were also only kept locally until after 1820, and many are at the National Archives today.  More research is needed on both of these items.

To summarize this, John did have a Protection Certificate.  This was used to list his information on a ship’s register by the Customs Official.  And he must have acquired U.S. Citizenship to get this certificate.  This puts his arrival in the U.S. as at least by 1804 (first ship register in 1809, and 5 years of naturalization before this to get citizenship).  He would have been 19 years old at this time, old enough to leave home and go to the United States.

According to the ship registers, John lived in New York in February of 1809.  Then in April of 1809 he is listed as living in Newport, which is the case in all of the following ship registers for the voyages he was on.  This would indicate that he moved from New York to Newport, RI in March of 1809.  It would also indicate he had received Citizenship and his Protection Certificate in New York.

John is not on the 1810 Federal Census.  He should have been in Newport when it was taken, but he was a single man (it was taken before his marriage later that year in December) and was likely on a ship voyage when the census was taken.  I think he just wasn’t counted.

He is on the 1820 Federal Census.  His name is spelled Heughes.  The headcount shows Mary B. and their first 4 children.  They are in Newport.  This particular census is listed in alphabetic order by last name.  This means the neighbors are not indicated (census counts are typically taken and written from house to house so you can see who lived by who).

From 1809 to 1827 he was on 18 voyages.^[171]  (Note: there are typically two pages for a given ship for a given departure date, they are not indexed in any way, Becky read through several thousand slides of these to find the following 18 records).  Here is a summary of those voyages:

Date	Ship	Captain	Destination
February 3, 1809	Huntress	John Earl	New York
April 10, 1809	Sachem	Jacob B. Earle	Not listed
August 30, 1809	Patty	Joseph Barker	Matanzas, Cuba
December 25, 1810	Fame	John Burroughs	Havana, Cuba
March 27, 1811	William	George Lawton Jr.	Havana, Cuba
December 7, 1811	Resolution	Jacob Smith	Labrador, Canada
April 26, 1815	Mars	Charles Devens	West Indies
September 16, 1815	Shibboleth	Charles Southworth	Martinique (Island by Trinidad)
August 1, 1817	Mary	John Dunwell	Copenhagen, Denmark
March 13, 1818	John	John Bigley	Havana, Cuba
December 25, 1822	John	William Norris	Havana, Cuba
November 14, 1823	Robinson Potter	Beriah Waite	Liverpool, England
February 7, 1824	Diadamia	Charles Russell	Matanzas, Cuba
December 24, 1824	Ann	James Eaton	Haiti
May 28, 1825	John	William Norris	Matanzas, Cuba
September 6, 1825	Criterion	Edward E. Taylor	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
January 27, 1827	John	William Norris	Havana, Cuba
May 29, 1827	John	William Norris	Havana, Cuba

The record for the February 1809 voyage shows him earning $10 per month (this is the only one that shows the wages).  This was well below average earnings for that time.  An average nonfarm labor wage was $1 per day, or about $25 per month given a 6-day workweek.^[172]  A carpenter made $1.50 per day or $37 per month.  Of course, he did get room and board during the trip.  But with a wife and children at home, this wasn’t a lucrative profession.

On September 23, 1815, the “Great September Gail of 1815” occurred in New England, marking the first hurricane (a category 3) to strike the region since 1635.^[173]  John was on a ship at this time.  The ship Shibboleth left Newport on September 16 headed for Martinique.  This was probably one of many rough rides he had at sea.

Then, in 1830, he is the Captain of a ship.  It’s the brig Criterion, which arrived at Newport from New York on August 5, 1830.^[174]  To complement this, in the marriage notice for his daughter Abby (Abigail), who married Wade Colwell on May 8, 1834 in Seneca, NY, is this: “Miss Abby Hughes, daughter of Capt. John Hughes, formerly of this town.”^[175]  This is in a Newport, RI newspaper.  This shows John being referred to as a Captain, being in Seneca at that time and being previously from Newport.  It is our John.

The Criterion was a ship he worked on previously, in September of 1825.  The Captain was Edward E. Taylor.  Taylor was the Captain for several years after this.  The port city newspapers regularly contained a section about ship news that lists the coming and going of ships.^[176]  Following these news records over time, Taylor was the Captain of the Criterion until 1829.  Then Captain John Brooks took over in late 1829 to early 1830.  Then it was John Hughes from March to August of 1830.  After John it was Brooks again in September of 1830.

The Criterion was built at Berkley, Massachusetts in 1824.  It was 154 tons, 77 foot 9 inches in length and 22 foot 7 inches in width.  It had one deck and 2 masts.  It was a brig type ship, which means it had two masts with square type sails.  The owners were Robinson Potter (merchant) and Levi Gale (mariner), both of Newport.  The master at the time of being registered was Edward E. Taylor.  The ship was surrendered (taken out of service) July 27, 1831.^[177]

So, John became Captain of a ship after many years of working as a seaman.  I think this is a great story.  He was Captain of the Criterion.  This was in 1830.  He went to Havana and New Orleans before returning to Newport.

I believe John was in the War of 1812.  He would have served as a Sea Fencible.  The Sea Fencibles were volunteers who signed up to help protect U.S. Sea ports.  The British had a much larger navy than the U.S., and the U.S. needed all the help it could get for ships and seamen.  Congress created the Sea Fencibles in 1813 as a way to provide more naval support.^[178]  In the War of 1812 Service Records there is a John Hughes listed as a seaman and rank of private.^[179]  The document is for those in the Sea Fencibles. 

A primary factor causing the War of 1812 was impressment, the British Navy capturing American sailors from merchant vessels to fill out the crews of their chronically undermanned warships.  The other key factor was the British trying to limit U.S. economic trade with other European countries.  With their large number of Naval ships, the British needed more seaman than they could gather.  They would hijack a U.S. ship and take seamen as prisoners to work on a British ship.^[180]  This was impressment and it was a serious risk for all U.S. merchant ships.  The British had a philosophy of “once British, always British.”  This would explain why John said he was born in New York for his Protection Certificate.

Another piece of information comes from the book Civil and Military Lists of Rhode Island.  John Hughes is shown to be on a Revenue Cutter named the Vigilant.^[181]  A Revenue Cutter was a type of ship used by U.S. Customs to patrol the coast looking for ships that were trying to avoid the taxes required by Customs.  These Revenue Cutter ships were put into military use in the War.  The Captain of the Vigilant was John Cahoone.  The ship was built and based in Newport, Rhode Island.  John’s position was Boatswain.  This is the deck boss, the person responsible for the workings of the deck and for supervising the deck hands. 

There is quite a story about John Cahoone and the Vigilant.  From the U.S. Coast Guard History Program is this:^[182]

Captain John Cahoone commanded the revenue cutter Vigilant during its engagement with the British privateer Dart during the War of 1812.  The Dart had preyed upon Yankee shipping in Long Island Sound for some time, taking 20 to 30 vessels.  She appeared off Newport on 4 October 1813 with two freshly caught prizes, and this braggadocio proved her undoing.  Capt. Cahoone took 20 Navy volunteers on board to augment his regular crew and made sail to engage the brazen Britisher.  Vigilant boldly sailed well within gun range of the more heavily armed sloop and loosed a broadside, which stunned the privateer.  A boarding party from the revenue cutter quickly scrambled aboard the enemy vessel as she brushed alongside her quarry and quickly carried the Briton.  Vigilant lost two men in the engagement, both of whom fell into the water and drowned while attempting to board.

An interesting historical note, Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” during the War of 1812 while witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.^[183]  There were 18 states at this time.  The stars and stripes configuration of the U.S. Flag that we know today was officially adopted by Congress on April 4, 1818.^[184]

Later in the year 1830, at the age of 45, John gave up the life of a seaman.  On October 9, 1830 he bought 60 acres of land in Seneca Castle, Ontario County, New York for $1,500.^[185]  There is no mention of a mortgage so he must have paid cash.  He apparently saved his money from being a seaman.  He started farming and would do so the rest of his life.  On April 2, 1832 he bought another 40 acres next to his farm for $1,156.^[186]  Again, there is no mention of a mortgage.  What took him to Seneca Castle?  We don’t know.  There was another Hughes in Ontario County.  A John M. Hughes was the pastor of a church in Victor, which is about 20 miles west of Seneca Castle.  We have not found any family connection to this other John.  Perhaps there was another family connection, or even close friends from the past.

On the 1830 Federal Census, there is an interesting thing.  John and Mary B. are in Newport.  The census was taken before they moved to Seneca Castle, New York later that year.  Before 1850 the Census only lists the heads of household along with a count of persons in various age groups.  There is an 80-89 year old male indicated as living with them.  Who is this man?  It could be John’s father, but I find this unlikely.  There is no definitive information on his parents.  Perhaps it’s Mary B’s father.  An older man living with them was most likely a relative.  We have not found any information on Mary B’s family, but she was from Newport.  Her parents were certainly there.  Maybe her mother passed away and they were taking care of her elderly father.

The 1840 Federal Census shows John, Mary B. and their kids living in Seneca, New York. 

The 1850 Federal Census shows John, Mary B., living with them is their daughter Sarah and her husband, Miles Euty (Erity).  They are in Seneca.  John’s real estate is valued at $4950 and he is shown to be a farmer.

On the 1850 Federal Agricultural Schedule, John had 80 acres of improved land and 19 acres of unimproved.^[187]  The cash value of his farm was $4,950 and the farm implements were valued at $120.  His livestock was valued at $315.  He had 3 horses, 5 milch (milk) cows, 2 other cattle, 11 swine, 250 bushels of wheat, 110 bushels of Indian corn, 100 bushels of oats, 100 pounds of wool, 50 bushels of Irish potatoes, 160 bushels of barley, 300 pounds of butter, 100 pounds of cheese, 15 ton of hay, and 100 pounds of maple sugar.

The 1855 New York State Census shows John and Mary B. in Seneca.^[188]  Living with them is Sarah Colwell, their granddaughter.  She is 12 years old.  Sarah is the daughter of John and Mary B.’s daughter Abby, who married Jonathan Colwell.  Abby died in 1851, so John and Mary B. apparently became Sarah’s guardians.

In 1860, the Federal Census shows John and Mary B.  John is still a farmer in Seneca.  His real estate is valued at $686 and his personal estate at $400.  Living with them is Mary Garrett, age 20, and her son Clarence, age 4.  Mary was John and Mary B.’s granddaughter, the daughter of Abby who died in 1851.  Clarence was their great grandson.  Also living with them as a separate family on the census is Stephen Hughes, his wife Alsina and their son Nelson.  In addition, on the 1860 Agriculture Schedule,^[189] John’s farm is listed under Stephen Hughes.  Stephen apparently was managing John’s farm.  John was 75 years old at this point.

On this Agriculture Schedule for 1860 John had 90 acres of improved land and 8 acres of unimproved.  The cash value of his farm was $6860 and the farm implements were valued at $50.  He had 2 horses, 3 milch cows, 1 other cattle, 4 swine, Livestock worth $1100, 180 bushels of wheat, 800 bushels of Indian corn, 40 bushels of oats, 2 bushels of peas and beans, 50 bushels of Irish potatoes, 80 bushels of barley, orchard produce valued at $30, 100 pounds of butter, 50 ton of hay and the value of animals that were slaughtered was $30.

Who is this Stephen?  Given that he is a Hughes, he must be a relative of John’s.  On the 1860 Census he is 43 years old, so born in 1817.  He is also on the 1850 Census, in Seneca Castle but not with or next to John.  On this census he is 30 years old, so born in 1820.  He is a shoemaker and he can read and write.  He does not own property.  On the 1870 Census he has moved to Manchester, New York, which is just 10 miles from Seneca Castle.  The 1880 Census contains an interesting piece of information.  He has moved to Elmira, New York, about 60 miles south of Seneca Castle.  What is interesting is that he says his father was born in the Shetland Islands (a question on the 1880 Census was the birthplace of your parents).   This is in Scotland, a set of small islands north of Scotland and West of Norway.  This is really an out of the way place. 

Stephen is the right age to be a nephew of John.  If this is true, given that Stephen’s father would be John’s brother, and that Stephen said his father was born in the Shetland Islands, then that could be the birthplace of John.

We researched the genealogy of the Shetland Island.  Their spelling of Hughes is Hughson.  There are a lot of Hughson’s there.  There are several John’s born close to the right time, but none that seem to match our John.  This search was done using church records accessed at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and genealogy information at https://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/index.php.  Both sites contain a lot of information on Shetland.  I do intend to pursue this research further, but at this point I could not find anything that convinced me that John was born there.  We also researched the John Hughes’ (all spellings) born in Wales, Scotland and England in his timeframe with similar results, nothing definitive.   This was done using birth and baptism records as well as other record types available on Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org.

On the 1865 New York State Census are John and Mary B., along with their son-in-law and daughter, Miles and Sarah Evety (Erity).^[190]  At this point Miles is helping John to manage his farm.

In 1867, John is listed in the Gazetteer and Business Directory of Ontario County, NY.  He is shown to be a farmer with 98 acres, living in Seneca Castle.^[191]  In this same directory Miles Erity, his son-in-law, is listed as being a farmer and leasing 98 acres.  He is working John’s farm.

On the 1870 Federal Agricultural Schedule, John had 90 acres of improved land and 6 acres of unimproved.^[192]  The farm’s cash value was $18,000 and his implements were worth $300.  He paid $216 in wages that year (apparently to farm workers he had working for him).  His livestock was valued at $1,040.  He had 4 horses, 5 milch cows, 27 sheep, 6 swine, 60 bushels of wheat, 200 bushels of Indian corn, 200 bushels of oats, 300 bushels of barley, 12 pounds of wool, 100 bushels of Irish potatoes, 12 ton of hay.  The estimated value of all farm production was $855.

We found no mention of John in any court records in Newport or in Seneca Castle (we research every type of record available for a given person and timeframe, sometimes a search does not find anything which of course wouldn’t be known without doing the research).  He apparently stayed out of trouble.  There is also no mention of him holding any kind of civil service position.  He must have kept to himself, minding his own business.

On October 31, 1867 there was a public auction at the John Hughes farm.  This is per an advertisement in the local newspaper, The Geneva Gazette.^[193]  The family was selling their livestock, farm equipment and household furniture.  John may have been sick, or just too old to take care of his farm.  They were living with their son Charles.

John Sr. died on August 8, 1870 in Seneca Castle.  He was 85 years old.  He is buried in Whitney Cemetery alongside his wife, Mary B.  John was a seaman until he was 45 years old, then he was a farmer for the rest of his life.  He died without a will.  On the 1870 Federal Census, taken two months before his death, his real estate was valued at $10,000 and his personal estate at $1,000.^[194]  His son Charles, with his wife Matilda and two children, were living with them.   Charles was managing the farm, and after John’s death continued working the family farm.  He is still there in 1880, according to the Federal Census.^[195]  Mary B. was still living with him, she died later that same year.

John lived quite a life.  He was born somewhere in Britian and came to America when he was young.  He was looking for the opportunities that a very young America offered.  He was a sailor, living a lot of his early life at sea.  He went to many places and was very well travelled.  He may have spoken, at least partially, some other languages.  He had to have had many great stories to tell about his voyages at sea.  One of these was in a hurricane, and there had to be other storms he sailed in.  He crossed the Bermuda Triangle numerous times.  He survived all the sicknesses of the early 1800’s such as smallpox, typhoid fever, dysentery, malaria, yellow fever, measles, flu and others.  He married and raised a family.  He experienced the War of 1812 up close and saw the Civil War happen.  He became a farmer; census records show he had a lot of livestock and crops.  He must have been successful and respected.  John certainly was an interesting man.

Mary B. Hawkins

Mary B. was born on January 22, 1787.  This is according to her gravestone at Whitney Cemetery just outside of Seneca Castle, New York.^[196]  She was born in Rhode Island.  This is according to the 1850, 1860 and 1870 Federal Census records.  We have not found a birth or baptism record for her, and this is typically how the parents are discovered. 

According to the 1870 Federal Census her parents were born in the United States.  On the1880 Census she says her parents were born in Rhode Island.

On the 1830 Federal Census there is an 80-89 year old male indicated as living with John and Mary B.  I believe it’s Mary B’s father.  An older man living with them was most likely a relative.  We have not found any information on Mary B’s family, but she was from Newport.  Her parents were certainly there.  Maybe her mother passed away and they were taking care of her elderly father.  In the Rhode-Island Republican newspaper for December 30, 1830 there is a death notice that says “On Wednesday evening last, Mr. Stephen Hawkins in the 87^th year of his age”.^[197] 

On both the 1800 and 1810 Federal Census records there is only one Hawkins in Newport, and it’s Stephen.  The 1820 Federal Census also has Stephen Hawkins.  There is second Hawkins in 1820, but it is a free black man named Shadrach.  The age of the Stephen’s on these three census records is consistent with the Stephen living with John and Mary B. in 1830 and with the death notice.  There is not a Stephen Hawkins on the 1830 Federal census (where only head of households are listed), another indication that he was living with John and Mary B.  Given all of this, I believe Stephen Hawkins is Mary B.’s father.  Unfortunately, we do not know the name of his wife.

There is a female on the 1800, 1810 and 1820 Census records living with Stephen who I assume is his wife and therefore Mary B.’s mother.  Only the head of household is listed, all others are indicated by count within age group.  So, we don’t know who she was.  She must have died after 1820 and before 1830.  We have not found any record of her death.  We also have not found any record of their marriage.

There were other Hawkins in Rhode Island.  They were in Providence and Glocester.  There was another Stephen Hawkins in Glocester.  This Stephen also had a son named Stephen.  They may all be related, but they are not our direct ancestors.

We found a birth record for Stephen.  He was born June 29, 1744 in Newport.^[198]  His parents were James Hawkins and Amey Higgins (my 5^th great grandparents).  James and Amey were married in Newport on June 19, 1743.^[199]

Mary B. married John Hughes on December 9, 1810 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island.^[200]  The wedding was at the First Baptist Church in Newport.

She died August 27, 1880 in Seneca Castle, New York at the age of 93.  This is according to her gravestone.  She lived the last 10 years of her life with her son Charles, this being after John passed away in 1870. 

Mary B. lived the first 43 years of her life in Newport, Rhode Island.  She was educated, according to the 1850 Federal Census she could read and write.  Being the wife of a seaman had to be tough.  John would have been gone a lot.  She had to take care of the household and their kids when he was on a sea voyage.  She was likely close to her parents and they may have helped her.  Perhaps her father and/or brothers (if she had any) were seaman.  She may have been familiar with this life.  As a port town, Newport’s economy was connected to the merchant ship activity.  Many jobs in Newport would have been tied somehow to shipping.

Moving to Seneca Castle, New York late in 1830 or early in 1831 would have been a big change for the family.  John was now at home, being a farmer.  Mary B. was living on a farm outside of a small town that was a long way from Newport.  Her father had just passed away in December of 1830 and her mother had died a few years before that.  Their six children were 19, 16, 13, 12, 6 and 5 years old.  It must have been very different for her.  She lived to be 93 years old based on the death date on her gravestone that says August 17, 1880.  She is buried next to John in Whitney Cemetery.

Lula Hurd

Lula is my Grandma.  She was a fantastic person and I really loved her.  She was gentle, thoughtful, kind and caring, really a great Grandmother. 

Mary Luilla (Lula) Hurd was born November 19, 1891.^[201]  Lula, then of Pittsburg, Crawford, Kansas, married Charles Victor Hughes on December, 19, 1914 in Carthage, Jasper, Missouri.^[202]  She died February 19, 1977 in St. John’s Medical Center in Joplin.^[203]  She had been in the hospital for two weeks and had been sick for three years after having a stroke.  She was the daughter of Emma Patzer and James Samuel Nance.

James Nance was Grandma’s biological father.  The circumstances of Emma and James are not clear.  The information we have on this is from a letter from Melvina “Dolly” (Hurd) Wofford Frost who is Grandma’s younger sister, which was written in the late 1970’s.  We also have a letter and emails from correspondence with Beth Davidson, who is Dolly’s granddaughter from Oregon.  Becky communicated with her in 2010-2012.

Emma became pregnant with Grandma in early 1891.  According to both Dolly and Beth, Emma and James were married.  We have not been able to find a marriage record.  James lived in Winfield, Kansas.  Shortly after becoming pregnant Emma left James and went to Pittsburg, Kansas, she “came to her people” according to Dolly’s letter.  This must mean Emma’s mother, Pauline (Hauck) Patzer Jastrow, and her brother, Michael.  James had two sisters and they apparently either didn’t like Emma or were just hard to be around.  Beth’s letter says the sisters were mean to Emma, and James wouldn’t intervene to stop them.  Neither sister was married.  For whatever reason, Emma left.  It obviously wasn’t a good situation for her.  According to Beth, Emma left when she found out she was pregnant and did not tell James about her pregnancy. 

Emma married John Hurd on April 10, 1893.  They lived in Pittsburg and were married by the Justice of the Peace at the county seat in Girard, Kansas.  On the marriage license her name is Emma Potzer (Patzer), not Nance.  Dolly thought that Grandma may have had Emma’s marriage and divorce papers.  We have not seen these.  We have not been able to find a divorce record either. 

According to Dolly the family never talked about this.  They were all brother and sisters, and Grandma being a half-sister just never came up.  I think Emma and John wanted to have a happy family.  John Hurd became Grandma’s adopted father and there were no issues.  On records such as the census, she referred to John as her father.  She used the name Hurd.  We have seen only one exception to this, on the 1900 Federal Census she is listed as Lula Nance. 

Grandma grew up in Pittsburg, Kansas.  She graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1910.  This is second hand information based on a copy of a letter from the Pittsburg Library (which we retrieved when doing research there) which was a response to genealogy questions in 1980 from a lady researching the Hurd family.  On the 1910 Federal Census Grandma is indicated as attending school.  This would fit with her attending high school. 

What was Pittsburg like in 1910?  Here’s a description from “Kansas, A Cyclopedia of State History,” published in 1912:^[204]

Pittsburg, one of the important cities of southeastern Kansas, is located in Crawford County, 11 miles southeast of Girard, the judicial seat.  It is 3 miles from the Missouri line and 134 miles from Kansas City, at the junction of four railway systems — the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Missouri Pacific, the Kansas City Southern and the St. Louis & San Francisco.  The main shops of the Kansas City Southern are located here and give employment to 1,600 men.  It is in the mineral and oil district and the zinc smelters give employment to 1,200.  Coal is extensively mined and shipped.  Other important industries are the foundries and machine shops, cornice works, flour and planing mills, tent and awning factory, boiler works, paving and building brick plant, sewer pipe works, factories for the manufacture of gloves, mittens, garments and cigars, stone quarries and packing houses.  There are 4 banks, 4 newspapers, the Headlight, the Kansan, the Labor Herald and the Volkesfreund (note: this is a German language newspaper published from 1891 to 1912), and a monthly fraternal paper (the Cyclone).  The city has electric lights, fire and police departments, sewer system, waterworks, paved streets, electric street railway, a $60,000 opera house and fine school and church buildings. This is the seat of the manual training branch of the state normal school, a Catholic academy, and a German Lutheran school.  There are telegraph and express offices and an international money order post office with eight rural routes.  This is one of the points designated by the government for a postal savings bank.  The population in 1910 was 14,755.

Grandma attended two years of college.  This is according to the 1940 Federal Census.  There is a question on this form for “highest grade completed” and it is coded as college, 2 years.

The college Grandma went to was the State Manual Training Normal School in Pittsburg, which became Kansas State Teachers College and later became today’s Pittsburg State University.  This school was founded in 1903.  A Normal school means one that provided training on education, the profession of teaching.  The school was founded to supply teachers to the southeast Kansas area, which were much needed.

We found a 1913 yearbook showing her as a sophomore, the second of her two years.^[205]  Her 2^nd year enrollment is listed in The Girard Press newspaper on June 13, 1912.^[206]  She is listed in a couple of Normal school alumni books as graduating with a Life degree in 1913.^{[207] [208]} 

Grandma earned a Life Certificate, which was the certification to teach at any public school in Kansas.  This was a two-year program.  Coursework included the typical subjects of reading, writing, arithmetic, history, science, etc., as well as educational psychology, school methods and management, school organization, history of education, sociology, and teaching.  The subject of teaching consisted of being the teacher, classification and promotion, defective children, physical conditions, motives, school officials and school supervision. 

A school year at the State Manual Training Normal School consisted of five terms of ten weeks each, so it was a 50-week school year.^[209]  In 1910 the cost of tuition was $6.25 per year plus a $1.00 medical fee.  Grandma would have been living at home so she didn’t have any room and board cost.

At the State Manual Training Normal School, total enrollment in 1912-13 was 1416 students.  There were 113 which earned the Life Certificate.^[210] 

Here is some interesting information about the level of education in the United States in 1940 (which comes from the results of the highest grade attended question on the census that year).^[211] 

Level of education	Percent of Females completing	Percent of Males completing
Elementary school 8 years	27.5%	28.8%
High School graduate	16.4%	12.2%
College 1-3 years	6.1%	4.9%
College 4 or more years	3.8%	5.5%

This shows that only 6.1 percent of women attended college as of 1940.  This number would have been even lower in the 1910’s.  The same study shows that only 13.5% of adults had an 8^th grade education or higher in 1910.  By attending college and getting a degree in education Grandma certainly was in a special group.

In 1912 she is listed as a teacher in the 1912 City Directory for Pittsburg.^[212]  In September of 1911 an article in The Girard Press shows her as being hired as a teacher.^[213]

                “Lula Hurd, district 79, West Union, 5 months, at $40, commencing Sept. 4^th.”

It’s only for 5 months as she would be starting college at Normal the next year.  West Union is a rural area a few miles west of Pittsburg.  Her salary was $40 per month.  Grandma was 19 years old at this point.  She must have taken a test to get a one-year teaching certificate.  Someone with a high school education could do this in the state of Kansas.

In 1914 she is a teacher according to the 1914 directory.^[214]  The schoolhouse Grandma taught at was right next to Victor’s farm.^[215]  Victor was Grandad’s father and would be Grandma’s future father-in-law.  It was Neutral Public School District Number 26, Pleasant View Township, Cherokee County, Kansas.  She taught there for the school year 1913-1914.  It was a one room schoolhouse.  This is likely how Grandma and Grandad met. 

We have the booklet that was Grandma’s from her being a teacher at Neutral.  It is dated 1914 and is titled “Public School Souvenir”.  It has her picture on the cover and her name is shown to be Lula Hurd.  Inside it shows the school she taught at, which is how we know where it was.  There is also a list of her pupils and several poems about school days.  It’s really nice to have this.

The next school year, 1914-1915, she was the teacher at Smelter school in Pittsburg, Kansas.  This comes from an article in the July 23, 1914 issue of The Girard Press.^[216]  It says:

                “Lula Hurd, district 102, Smelter, 9 months, at $50, commencing Sept. 7^th.”

This school is only a few blocks from Emma’s house in the northeast part of Pittsburg.  Emma lived in a subdivision called Pacific Place.  We also see that Grandma earned $50 per month.  This was about average for a teacher.

Teachers are special people.  From an article on country schools a hundred years ago is this: ^[217]

“The school teacher, sometimes slightly older than her pupils, was a renaissance individual. She had to be a nurse, janitor, musician, philosopher, peacemaker, wrangler, fire stoker, baseball player, professor, and poet for less than $50 a month. Equipped with little more than a blackboard and a few textbooks, teachers passed on to their pupils cultural values along with a sound knowledge of the three Rs.”

Grandma and Grandad got married in 1914.  Their marriage date was December 19^th.  They probably chose this date as it was during Grandma’s holiday break from teaching school.  They apparently didn’t want to wait until school was out the next year.  We have a small card that Grandad gave Grandma while they were dating.  It says “To the one I love.”  They would be married for 62 years before Grandma passed away.  I think this is a great story.

On the 1915 Kansas state Census Grandma is living in Pittsburg with her mother, Emma, and her brother Walter and sister Melvina.^[218]  She is listed as Lula Hughes as she is married.  She’s living with her mother and is shown to be a teacher, as she is teaching at Smelter school.  This same year Grandad was dealing with the death of his father which meant taking care of the family farm, and he was getting ready to build a house in Asbury, Missouri.

In 1916 their first child, Wilfred, was born on February 14^th.

In 1917 Grandad bought some land in Asbury and began building them a house.  By 1920 the couple is living in their house in Asbury.  They owned their house with no mortgage.  Grandad is a garage operator and Grandma is at home taking care of their first two children, Wilfred and Maxine (my mother).  They likely had a nice garden and Grandma would can fruits and vegetables.  The house had a cellar where she kept her canned goods.  As a little kid I thought the cellar was scary.  It smelled funny (just being underground), felt damp and musty, and there were spiders.  But it was cooler there in the summer.

World War I was 1914-1918.  Grandad received a draft registration in 1917.  He didn’t get called to serve, having a family kept him from being on the call list.  But times would have been tough.  The U.S. was in recession before the war.  During the war the economy became very positive as the U.S. was exporting more products to Europe.  When the U.S. entered the war domestic manufacturers began making war supplies.  Farmers needed to produce more to feed soldiers.  With so many men at war, more women began working.  Two years after the war, in 1920, the 19^th amendment was passed giving all women the right to vote.  All of this was happening while Grandma and Grandad were trying to start their new lives together. 

By 1930 Janie and Roger had been born.  Grandad was an auto mechanic.  Grandma was taking care of the kids and running the household.  They did not have a radio (this was a question on the 1930 Federal Census).  Some of their neighbors did have a radio, perhaps they would go over sometimes to listen to shows or the news.  They were living in the Great Depression at this time.  They would live through World War II a decade later.

In 1950 Grandma entered a painting she had done in a fair at Carl Junction.^[219]  The fair was sponsored by the Future Farmers of America.  She won second place.  Mary Green also entered a painting and got fourth place.  Mary was Grandad’s sister and Grandma’s sister-in-law.

In 1953 Grandma joined a new club being formed in Asbury.^[220]  This is from a newspaper article in the Joplin Globe.  It was a home economics Extension Club.  She was the Parliamentarian, the person responsible for their rules of order.   Mary Green was also a member. 

I remember watching Grandma wash clothes in her wringer washer, she always said to be very careful around the wringers.  The washer was in the garage, which was not attached to the house.  She used a garden hose to put water in it.  After washing the clothes, she would hang them on the clothesline to dry.

One day Grandma brought out a big jar of pennies and gave it to me.  There were over 1000, I counted them on the kitchen table.  I thought this was great.  I think she had saved them from the change she got from buying things.  I still have some of these.  I collected coins as a kid, and I knew the wheat pennies were going to be harder to find.  The last wheat penny was minted in 1958, after that it was the Lincoln Memorial penny.  She gave me these in the mid 1960’s, so while most would have been Memorials there were still a good number of Wheats.

Going to Grandma’s house was always fun.  We went every Sunday and on most holidays.  I would stay there at least a week every summer.  Grandma always made good meals and she didn’t make me eat anything I didn’t like.  Sometimes Grandma and Grandad would come to our house.  I would show them all of the stuff in my room, mostly model cars.  Grandma wasn’t too interested in this but Grandad did think they were interesting.  He could see the work that I had put into them.

Grandma liked crafts.  She would sew, embroider, paint and do other craft things.  She also had a thimble collection.  Grandad made her a little wall plaque to put them on.  We have this plaque and her thimbles.

Grandma didn’t drive.  I don’t think she ever had a drivers license.  I don’t know why, I guess she just didn’t want to.  Asbury was a small place.  It was just a few blocks to anywhere in town.

I never saw Grandma wearing anything but a dress.  She always wore one.  I never saw her in pants.  She also typically wore an apron in her kitchen.  It was just something she did.  She even wore a dress when fishing.

Grandma was a wonderful person and Grandmother.  I think she thought the circumstances of her biological father was a dark spot.  But I do think she just avoided this.  John Hurd was her adopted father and she grew up in a good family environment.  She was well educated and I’m sure she was a good teacher.  Grandma and Grandad made a great couple and I believe they had a good life together.  They raised their children well.  A lot of things happened in the world during their lifetimes – wars, recessions, the Great Depression, and new things like cars, airplanes, television, radio, telephone and much more.  But they were happy living in Asbury during all of this.  They were consistent and stable, they had each other and they were strong together.  I feel very lucky that they were my Grandparents and that I got to spend as much time with them as I did.

Emma Patzer

Emma Patzer was born on December 28, 1859 in Josephowo, Prussia.  This comes from her Certificate of Confirmation record dated April 11, 1875.  We have this document.  It came from Grandma’s house, she had it hanging on a wall.  It was placed on a plaque and laminated.  It is in German and we had it translated.  Here is what it says:

Emma died June 26, 1936 in Asbury, Missouri, at Grandma’s house.^[221]  She died from cirrhosis of the liver, and it is stated as being non-alcoholic. 

Emma’s parents were Johann (John) William Patzer and Pauline Houck (sometimes spelled Hauck, Hawk or even Haag).

Josephowo is small village in today’s Poland.  Today it is called Jozefowo and the population is 121 (ironically, about the size of Asbury).  When it was Prussia, it was in Mogilno county (called a Kreis), Bromberg district and Posen province.  Today it is in Mogilno county, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Province, Poland.

Prussia has a long and complicated history.  The beginnings of Prussia go back to the 5^th century AD.  After the collapse of the Roman Empire in central and western Europe, various tribes inhabited the area of northern central Europe south of the Baltic Sea.  After many battles and territorial changes over centuries, the Kingdom of Prussia was formed in 1701.  After the Three Partitions of Poland in the late 1700’s, Posen (where Emma’s homeland is) remained part of Prussia.  In 1871, Prussia was the largest part of the German empire.  The German Empire was dissolved after World War I, in 1918.  Then Prussia ceased to exist after World War II in 1947.  This is when the Posen area Emma lived in became part of Poland.

German speaking people were in the minority in Posen in the 1800’s.  In 1837 only 28.3% of people spoke German, the rest spoke Polish.^[222]  About one third of the people were Protestants, which includes Lutherans.  Most of the rest were Catholic and the Jewish were a small number.

We don’t know much about Emma’s father Johann.  There were multiple Johann Patzers in Prussia.  We have not found a birth, marriage or death record that we can be sure is for him.  We have found none in the Josephowo area.  The records we have found for a Johann are not close by.  We believe he was born about 1832, which would make him the same age as his wife, Pauline.  Pauline was born in 1832 which is from her gravestone and census records.  In addition to having Emma in 1859, they had a son Michael Patzer in 1863.  This date is from a passenger ship record and census records.  Then, Pauline married as her second husband Wilhelm (William) Jastrow in 1870.  This date is also from census records.  Johann must have died before this, and after Michael was born.  So, his death would be between 1863 and 1870.  He would have been in his 30’s.  We don’t know where he is buried. 

What we do know about Johann comes from the information received from Dolly and Beth that I referred to earlier.  I consider this to be the family story.  Johann apparently died from heart trouble.  Also, he must have been an artist.  He was given a job to paint domes of churches.  We have seen the artwork on the ceilings of some churches in Germany.  If he did this type of art painting then he really was quite an artist.  And we do know he was in Josephowo when Emma was born.  The family story is not specific about whether or not Johann was in the military.  But he apparently did have brothers that were in the Prussian Guard.

Pauline’s birthplace was Germany and is thought to be in the Posen Province.  With one exception she always lists Germany as her place of birth.  But on the 1920 Federal Census she says she was born in Alsace-Lorraine.  She lists this same place for her parents’ birthplace as well.  This is an area that was in France before 1871, then became part of the German Empire.  In 1918, after World War 1, it went back to France.  We have not found any birth records for Pauline, so we cannot verify her birthplace.

Pauline Houck and Johann were married before 1859 when Emma was born.  After Johann passed away, she married Wilhelm Jastrow. 

On November 21, 1872 Wilhelm, Pauline, Michael (Patzer) and Wilhelm Jastrow Jr. left Prussia and came to America.  Michael was 7 years old.  Wilhelm Lewis Jr. was 9 months old.  He was the first child of Wilhelm and Pauline.  The ship was the Prinz Albert and left from Hamburg, Germany on November 21, 1872.  This is from the ship’s departure manifest record.^[223]  It arrived in New York on January 28, 1873.  This information is from the ship’s arrival manifest.^[224]  Wilhelm is shown on the manifest to be a brickmaker.  There were 193 passengers on board.  This Prinz Albert voyage in 1873 was one of the last sailing ship voyages to arrive in America carrying immigrants.  The transition to steam was taking place.  Emma was not on this ship, she stayed in Prussia.

An important piece of information on the departure manifest is that it shows the family is from Mirucin, in Mogilno county and province of Posen.  Mirucin is a small town of about 300 people and just a few miles from Josephowo.  It shows that Pauline had remained living in the small area of Mogilno county in Prussia.

Pauline and Wilhelm had two other children after coming to the U.S.  Ludwig Leonhard Jastrow was born November 6, 1874 at St. Peters Lutheran Church in Edon, Ohio.^[225]  Phebe Maria Jastrow was born August 2, 1877 at the same place.  This means Pauline and Wilhelm were living in Ohio a couple of years after arriving in New York.

In 1885 they are living in Centerville, Neosho, Kansas.  This is according to the 1885 Kansas State Census.   Centerville is a small township (Note: I found some irony here, I grew up in Erie, Kansas, which is just a few miles from Centerville township).  Wilhelm was a farmer.

There is not an 1890 Federal Census.  Unfortunately, it was lost in a fire.  But they were moving to Pittsburg, Kansas.  According to Crawford County (Kansas) Deed Records, on October 16, 1890 Pauline and Wilhelm bought lot 22 in Pacific Place subdivision, which was just outside the Pittsburg city limits at that time.^[226]

On the 1895 Kansas State Census Pauline and Wilhelm were still in Pittsburg, Kansas.  The census says Baker, which is the township that Pittsburg is in.  That same year their son Wilhelm Lewis Jastrow Jr. got married in Pittsburg.^[227]  The year before, 1894, their daughter Phebe Maria “Mary” Jastrow also got married in Pittsburg.^[228]  The marriage license indicates that her parent gave consent as she was 17 years old.

In 1900 they had moved to McDonald, Jasper County, Missouri.  This is from the 1900 Federal Census.  This is about 45 miles east of Pittsburg.  Wilhelm was a farmer.  They own their farm with no mortgage.

The 1910 Federal Census shows them still in McDonald.  Michael Patzer, Pauline’s son, is living next to them.  Michael is a woodcutter.  Wilhelm is still a farmer. 

In 1920 Pauline had moved to Sarcoxie, Jasper County, Missouri.  Sarcoxie is about 12 miles south of McDonald.  She is living with Michael.  Her husband Wilhelm was not there, and he didn’t die until 1924.  Michael was renting a house.  Pauline is 86 years old, Michael is 54. 

Wilhelm died 2 years later, on March 2, 1924 in Fruitland, Muscatine County, Iowa.^[229]  He was in the “Old People Lutheran Home.”   Interestingly, on his death certificate he is shown to be a widower and his wife is listed as “Mrs. John Patzer.”  WIlhelm may have left Missouri to go to the Lutheran Home in Iowa because he was sick.

Pauline died on August 11, 1922 in Bartlesville, Washington County, Oklahoma.  According to the family story, she went dancing the night before.  She is buried there at White Rose Cemetery.  She went to Bartlesville as this is where her son Wilhelm Lewis lived.  Michael Patzer also went to Bartlesville.

The Morning Examiner in Bartlesville published this in the death notices:^[230]

“Mrs. Pauline Jastrow, 90 years old, died Friday at her home 809 Elm Avenue.  Burial was in White Rose cemetery Friday afternoon.”

Michael Patzer was with Pauline and Wilhelm until he got married in 1889.^[231]  This was in Arkansas; his wife was Sarah Ellen Williams.  They then went to Pittsburg.  Michael bought lot 22 in Pacific Place from his brother Wilhelm Lewis Jr. on July 20, 1899^[232]. Wilhelm Jr. had bought it from his parents in 1897.^[233]  Michael divorced his wife in 1908.^[234]  He was living next to Pauline and Wilhelm in McDonald, Missouri in 1910 and then also went to Bartlesville, Oklahoma by 1920. 

Michael died May 22, 1925 in Bartlesville at the age of 62.  He was found dead in his home.  He died alone.  From local newspaper articles concerning his death he had been a smelter worker, lived in “his little hovel in smeltertown” and died of natural causes.^[235]  Recent letters from his two daughters, one in Nebraska and one in California, were found.  He had $2200 in the local savings and loan.  Michael is buried in White Rose Cemetery in Bartlesville next to his mother Pauline.  Grandma and Emma would have been very sad about this, losing Pauline and Michael just three years apart.

Emma was Lutheran German.  In the U.S. she referred to herself as being from Germany.  Prussia was part of the German Empire at that time.  She spoke German and English.  She may have spoken some Polish, given the prevalence of that language  in the area where she grew up.

I discussed earlier the circumstances of her relationship with James Nance.  He is Grandma’s biological father, which means he is my great grandfather. 

James Samuel Nance was born March 13, 1850 in Menard, Illinois.  He was a twin, his sister born the same day was Martha A. Nance.  He had another sister, Sarah E. Nance born in 1951, and a brother, Thomas R. Nance born in 1853.  His parents were Redding Nance and Harriet Malinda Berry.  Redding was born in Green County, Kentucky on January 17, 1825.  He died on February 7, 1854 in Menard, Illinois.  He was 29 years old.  James would have not turned 4 yet.  Harriet was born on Oct 6, 1827 in Winchester, Tennessee and died October 19, 1902 in Scot, Iowa. 

Despite being a bad guy for Emma (I would call him a loser and probably a slick talker) the Nance and Berry ancestry is quite interesting.  The Berry family is well documented in a book, “Berry-Brownlee Family History,” written by two brothers – John Dale Berry and William Dean Berry.^[236]  I contacted John Berry a couple of years ago to ask him some questions and thank him for the book.  He was very friendly and interested in the work we were doing.  Here is a brief summary of the Berry line.

• Harriet Berry’s parents were Samuel Berry (1780-1855) and Jane Ann Weir (1784-1834).
  • Jane Ann’s parents were James Weir (1763-1820) and Margaret Peggy Sharp (1763-1853).  James Weir served in the Revolutionary War; this is memorialized on his gravestone.^[237]
• Samuel’s parents were James Berry (1739-1804) and Elizabeth McCutchen (1748-1790).
  • James Berry was in the Revolutionary War and is recognized by SAR (Sons of the American Revolution).^[238]
• James Berry’s parents were Thomas Berry (1718-1798) and Mary Buchanan (1718-1755).  Thomas was born in Ireland and was a patriot in the Revolutionary War, he is recognized by DAR.^[239]
• Thomas’ parents were James Berry (1690-1756) and Elizabeth Davis (1690-death unknown).  The ancestry of this James Berry is unknown.  Although there is speculation and some possible parents, there is no definitive proof.  The Berry line is Scot-Irish.  The family originated in Scotland, then migrated to Ireland, then came to America.  James was in Augusta County, Virginia by 1750.   

Redding Nance’s parents were James Nance (1798-1842) and Hephzibh Money (1796-1859).  James was born in Charles City, Virginia and died in Sangamon County, Illinois.  Hephzibh was born in Kentucky and died in Menard, Illinois. 

• Hephzibh’s parents were James Money (1727-1822) and Almedia Rebecca Noe (1770-1840).  James Money was in the French & Indian War and was a companion of Daniel Boone during Boone’s exploration of Kentucky.^[240]

James Nance’s parents were Zachariah Nance (1760-1835) and Jane Wilkins (1760-1800).  Zachariah was in the Revolutionary War.  His 1833 war pension file is on Ancestry.com associated with his second wife, Elizabeth Morris.^[241]

Whatever romance Emma had with James didn’t last very long.  James’ sisters appear to have been a big cause of this.  They didn’t like Emma.  And James wouldn’t, or couldn’t, stop them.  Emma realized she was looking at a bad situation and decided to get out.  We have not been able to find a marriage or divorce record.  While pregnant, she left Winfield and went to “her people,” this means her mother Pauline and brother Michael, in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Another way to corroborate a genealogical relationship is with DNA matches.  Many people have taken a DNA test through Ancestry.com.  This type of test is called an autosomal DNA test.  Matching is done on chromosomes 1 through 22, using an algorithm to find people who match at a certain level for a particular relationship.  Using this tool, I have 12 DNA matches that also connect back to the Nance family line.  These 12 are not through Grandma, but other Nance family lines.  This is an indicator that these 12 people and I all have a common ancestor, which is Zachariah Nance (James Nances great grandfather).   I consider this corroboration that Grandma is indeed genetically related to the Nances.  With the lack of hard evidence (no birth certificate showing that James Nance is the father to Grandma) to prove this, DNA does prove a relationship.

There are still outstanding questions.  How, and where, did Emma meet James Nance?  The family story says they were in Winfield, Kansas.  But what would have taken her there?  We don’t know the answer to this.

According to the correspondence with Beth, Emma went to medical school at the University of Berlin.  I take this to mean she went to school to be a nurse.  When Pauline and Wilhelm left Prussia in 1872, Emma stayed with her Grandma while going to school.  We don’t know if this was Johann’s mother or Pauline’s mother, or where this Grandma lived.  I have not been able to find any graduation records from the University of Berlin from the 1870’s.  So, I can’t verify this is where she went to school.  It looks as though she was a midwife, this must have been from the education she received. 

My Mom’s baby book, written by Grandma, states that Emma was the nurse who along with Dr. Coleman delivered her at home.^[242]  Emma must have been known in the area of Pittsburg where she lived as being a medical person.  She used a horse and carriage to make house calls for people needing medical attention.  We also know she delivered some of Dolly’s children.  She probably did the same for Grandma when Wilfred, Janie and Roger were born.

Emma left Prussia in 1877 to come to America.  This is from a New York arriving passenger list.^[243]  She was on the ship Mosel, at the age of 17 (the ship’s manifest says she was 16).   She sailed from Bremen, Germany and arrived in New York on March 19, 1877.  While it seems hard to believe that she came by herself at this young age, there is no one on the ship manifest that we have been able to connect to her. 

The Mosel was 350 foot long and 40 foot wide, and weighed 3200 tons.  The ship accommodated 800 passengers.  It was first launched in 1872.  It was steam powered and also had two masts for sails (this was in case of an emergency, steam power without sails didn’t become prevalent until the 1890’s).  The Mosel crashed in fog at Lizard Peninsula (southernmost tip of England) and sank on September 8, 1882.^[244]

From the time when Emma arrived in the U.S. in 1877 until she was with James Nance in Winfield, Kansas in 1891, we do not know where she went or what she did.  She did become a U.S. citizen.  This is shown on the Federal Census Records.  The State of Kansas Census records had a question that asked “where from before Kansas?”  On the 1895 Kansas Census Emma said she was from Ohio.  Pauline said the same thing on this 1895 census.  Edon, Ohio is where Pauline and Wilhelm were when their two children were born in the U.S., in 1874 and 1877.  It would make sense that Emma went to be with her mother.  Pauline and Wilhelm must have left Ohio before 1880, they are not on the Federal Census for that year.  There is no one named Jastrow or Patzer listed in Edon or the surrounding area.  We have not been about to find Emma, Paulina or Wilhelm anywhere on the 1880 census.

On the 1905 Kansas Census Emma answers this question as being from Germany.  This doesn’t help, we know she didn’t go directly to Kansas after getting off the Mosel in 1877.  In 1915, on the Kansas Census she answers this question as being from Pennsylvania.  Wilhelm also put Pennsylvania on the 1900 Federal Census as being where he was naturalized to become a U.S. citizen.  So, Emma gave three different answers to the same “where from before Kansas?” question on three different Kansas Census records.

Lula, Grandma, was born November 19, 1891 in Pittsburg.  We have not been able to find the original birth certificate.  It is not in the Crawford County records.  She was likely born at Pauline’s house, where Emma went when she left Winfield.  This is at 1704 N. Rouse Street today.  The house is gone, it is an empty lot.

On March 1, 1893 Emma bought two lots of land, numbers 9 and 10, in the Chaplin Place subdivision in Pittsburg.^[245]  The price was $200.  On April 1^st, Emma and John Hurd mortgaged these two lots for $275.^[246]  It’s interesting that they mortgaged them for more than the sale price.  And also, that they did the mortgage together but weren’t married yet.

Emma married John Hurd on April 10, 1893.  They were married by the Justice of the Peace in Girard, Kansas.  Girard is the county seat of Crawford County, where Pittsburg is located.  John was 61 years old and Emma is shown to be 30 (she was actually 33).  The marriage license shows her name as Potser, which should be Patzer.  She did not use the name Nance.  John Hurd was born January 9, 1832 in Allegany County, New York and died September 30, 1906 in Pittsburg.  He was 27 years older than her and was a Civil War veteran.   He was a Union soldier in the Iowa Calvary from 1862 to 1865.  He is buried next to Emma in Mt. Olive cemetery in Pittsburg and he has a military gravestone.

According to the family story, John hunted buffalo with Buffalo Bill.  Buffalo Bill, whose real name was William Cody, is famous for killing buffalo.^[247]  He hunted buffalo to provide meat for the soldiers at Fort Wallace, a U.S. Calvary fort in western Kansas in the Civil War era.  After the war he worked for the Kansas Pacific Railroad to provide meat for their railroad construction crews.  He is known to have shot 4,280 buffalo over 18 months.  Buffalo Bill supposably came to John and Emma’s house in Pittsburg to visit John.  Dolly would sit on his knee and play horsy with him.  Buffalo Bill and John both lived in Leavenworth, Kansas.  It is very possible they met during the war.  They both served time in the 5^th Calvary Regiment. 

John Hurd was in Pittsburg, Kansas in 1885 according to the Grand Army of the Republic Post Reports.^[248]  On March 15, 1889 he bought three lots, 24, 25 & 30 in the Pacific Place subdivision of Pittsburg.^[249] 

As already mentioned, Pauline and William Jastrow bought lot 22 in Pacific Place in 1890.  So, the Jastrow’s were next to John Hurd. 

To recap the land records, Emma and John own lots 24, 25 and 30 in Pacific Place.  They also own lots 9 and 10 in Chaplin Place.  These two subdivisions are just a few blocks apart.  According to Beth they were landlords, renting the properties that they weren’t living in. 

Emma and John had the following children. 

• Walter J. Hurd was born on January 22, 1894 in Pittsburg, Kansas.  He died July 17, 1941 in Pittsburg, Allegheny, Pennsylvania.
• Harry Hurd was born February 11, 1897 in Pittsburg and died November 29, 1898.  He died from being burned in a fire when playing outside their house. 
• Melvina May (Dolly) Hurd was born March 5, 1901 in Pittsburg.  She married first, Raymond Wofford in 1922, second, Dewight Frost.  Melvina died May 4, 1992 in Orange County, California.  She was a teacher.

The family story is that little Harry was burned in a fire started by playing with fireworks (this does seem odd in November, but maybe it wasn’t unusual back then).  He was badly burned.  Emma nursed him for several days but he did die from his injury.  He was one year and nine months old.  Emma was just sick over this.  She was pregnant with another baby and ended up losing it to a miscarriage.  This had to be devastating for Emma.  There was not a hospital in Pittsburg to take Harry to at this time (the first hospital in Pittsburg opened in 1903).

There is some contradiction as to Harry’s name.  There are references to him as being named Johnnie.  The baptism record from February 11, 1897 does not have a given name.   But the name Harry is on the gravestone next to Emma. 

How did Melvina become referred to as Dolly?  Grandma was the older sister by nine years.  She played with Melvina a lot when Melvina was little.  It was like Melvina was her little doll.  This is how Melvina became known as Dolly.

On the 1895 Kansas Census Emma and John are in Pittsburg.  Pauline and Wilhelm are listed next to them, they all live in the Pacific Place subdivision.

The 1900 Federal Census shows Emma and John still in Pittsburg.  Pauline and Wilhelm are no longer there.

On March 13, 1905 John “sold” the 5 lots to Emma.^[250]  The price was “One dollar and Love and affection.”  He must have been sick as he would die the next year.  He wanted the land to be in Emma’s name.  It’s odd that the Chaplin Place lots were included in this transaction.  Emma was the sole purchaser when she bought those, so they were already in her name.

The 1905 Kansas Census shows them still in Pittsburg.

In 1910 the Federal Census shows Emma living at 1608 N Highland Ave.  This is an empty lot today.  For her occupation Emma says “living on income.”  This is income from her rental properties.  She owned five properties, living in one and renting the other four.  She may have received something from John Hurd’s Civil War pension.  There is a record of him receiving a pension for his service, and Emma is listed as being his widow.^[251]

Managing rental properties would have been a good way for Emma to have income.  It was also a lot of work.  She had to find and approve tenants when she had an empty rental.  There was maintenance that had to be done.  Tenants would have problems that she needed to take care of.  There was also the chance of having a tenant that couldn’t pay their rent.  This would be an issue for her.  She probably took her horse and buggy to ride to her properties.  The cold winters in Kansas would add to the challenge.

In December of 1913, Emma bought the Pacific Place lot 22 from her brother Michael.  This was the lot Pauline and Wilhelm first bought in 1890.  The price was $1.  We could not find the deed record for this, but the transaction was listed in the newspaper.^[252]

World War 1 was from 1914 to 1918.  The U.S. entered the war in 1917.  Up until this time Germans were the largest immigrant group in the country and they were well established and integrated.  The good attitude towards Germans changed with the war.^[253]  People in the U.S. began to distrust those of German origin, thinking they would return to their German ways and support Germany.  German immigrants began to suffer harassment and lynchings, and some were tarred and feathered.  They were forced to buy liberty bonds (U.S. savings bonds to support the war), publicly declare their loyalty to the country by kissing the American flag, and denouncing the Kaiser of Germany (Emperor of the German Empire, Wilhelm II).  Many German immigrants were investigated by the U.S. Government.  Many states banned the German language in schools and removed German books from libraries.  A hamburger was called a “liberty sandwich” (the name hamburger came from Hamburg, Germany) as anything with a German connotation were avoided.

I don’t know how much discrimination Emma and her family experienced.  But I’m sure they were well aware of what was happening and may have just kept a low profile.  As I’ll discuss later, Emma’s son Walter fought in World War 1.

Today over 44 million U.S. citizens claim some level of German descent.  Because of Emma, this includes our family born through her.  For me, this means I’m one-eighth German, which bears out in my DNA ethnicity test.  In Kansas about one-fourth of the population has a German heritage.^[254]

Emma sold her lots starting in 1922.^[255]  She sold the last piece in 1924, which was the 2 lots in Chaplin Place.  I believe she sold her lots in Pittsburg as she was getting ready to move to California to live with her daughter Dolly.  She is living with Dolly and her husband, Raymond Wofford, on the 1930 Federal Census.  She may have gone about 1925.  If this was the case, she probably helped to deliver Dolly’s first child, Donald.  There were two more children to deliver over the next few years.

My Mom, Maxine, told a story about their family going to California when she was young.  I wrote about this earlier in Grandad’s bio.  I think they may have been taking Emma to live with Dolly, or perhaps they went later to visit them.

A couple of things about Emma came from my Uncle Roger.  He said Emma would make blackbird pie.  Someone would get some blackbirds and she would clean them and put them into a pie.  This doesn’t sound too appetizing to me.  Maybe it was a German thing.  Also, while Emma always spoke English, she would sing to the kids in German.  It would have been fun to hear this.

Emma got sick in the mid 1930’s.  She went back to Asbury from California to live with Grandma.  She took a train, and this was during the Great Depression.  When she died, she wanted to be buried next to her husband and young son.  She died June 26, 1936 at Grandma’s house.   Emma is buried at Mt. Olive cemetery in Pittsburg and is next to her husband John Hurd and her son Harry that died young.

Walter Hurd

As I write this it is Veterans Day.  I feel like it’s important to include some information about Walter Hurd.  He was Grandma’s younger brother, she grew up with him.  This also makes him my half great uncle.  Walter was in World War I.  He was a Private First Class.  Specifically, he was the in the U.S. Army, in Battery A of the 60^th Artillery, CAC.^[256]  The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was responsible for and operated heavy artillery during World War I. 

Walter enlisted June 15, 1911.^[257]  He was 18 years old.  I don’t know what he did for the next few years.  He was initially at Fort Monroe, Virginia.  Then in 1918 he was called upon for active service.  Walter was being sent to France.  He was on the USS Siboney which left Newport News, Virginia on April 23, 1918.  They reached Brest, France on May 6^th.  A man named Joseph Allen Hartwell wrote an article about the 60^th Artillery, CAC.^[258]  His grandfather was in this unit and his history of this group is quite comprehensive.  I have used his article to summarize Walter’s experience.

Walter fought on the front lines against the Germans.  His heavy artillery group was responsible for using a big gun called the 155mm Filloux Gun.  It was made by the French.  It had a 19 ½ foot long barrel and overall was 28 ½ foot long.  It weighed 12 tons, and shot a 6-inch diameter shell weighing 96 pounds.  It could hit a target up to 10 miles away. 

Walter’s group was in an area that was gassed by the Germans.  They were using chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas.  The Allied troops had to use gas masks for extended periods of time.  This had to be a horrifying experience.  The gas was dangerous and deadly.

There were 20 million deaths in WW I.  About 117,000 of those were American deaths.  Overall, gas was responsible for only about 1% of these.  But the psychological factor was huge.  Soldiers were scared of the gas, rightfully so.  Just the fear of gas was a big deal.

Walter’s time in France ended with the conclusion of the war.  He came back to the U.S. on the ship Cedric early in 1919.  He was not immediately discharged.  On the 1920 Federal Census he is in Camp Meade, Maryland.  He was still in the Army, in the Tank Corps. 

According to family stories Walter was never the same after the war.  He may have suffered ill effects from being exposed to the poisonous gases.  He also may have had PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), which was referred to as Shell Shock at that time.  There was little understanding of this by the medical profession and little to no treatment available. 

Walter did get married in about 1924.  This is according to the 1930 Federal Census, where he is indicated as being a widower and having been married at age 30.  We could not find a marriage certificate.  His wife must have died before 1930.  They apparently did not have any children.  Walter was a U.S. Postal worker for many years in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

On July 17, 1941 Walter was found dead in his home.  He had shot himself, committing suicide.  He was 46 years old.  An article in The Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) Sun-Telegraph describes the incident.^[259]  He left a note blaming his “poor health” and the “dread of getting old.”  He named Mrs. Charles Hughes of Asbury, MO (Grandma) as he nearest relative.  The article notes his World War I service as being from 1911 to 1920.

It appears that Grandma went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to take care of the arrangements.  She signed the death certificate.  Walter was cremated.  Grandma buried some of his ashes next to John and Emma at Mt. Olive cemetery in Pittsburg, Kansas.  She also gave the remainder of his ashes to Dolly.  His U.S. Veteran Burial Card does show him as being buried in Mt. Olive.^[260]

I think this is a sad story.  Walter fought for our country and is a U.S. Veteran.  He had to deal with whatever suffering he had after the war.  He got married then lost his wife.  Then he took his own life while alone in his house.  His closest relative was half a country away.  This had to be very sad for Emma and Grandma.

Knights, Vikings, Magna Carta Sureties and Royalty

Several years ago, when having a conversation about genealogy I was asked if I had found any famous or royal ancestors.  I said no, this wasn’t something I had looked into.  But I decided it would be interesting to see what I might find.  It didn’t take a lot of research to find quite a bit.  I do take this with a big grain of salt.  As I mentioned earlier, anything before the 1600’s is harder to prove given the scarcity of documentation.  Medieval times, before 1500, are hard to research from a genealogical perspective.  However, the genealogy of many royal families and famous historical people is documented.  There are quite a few books on this subject.  The goal in this type of research is to use these resources and try to find matches with your known ancestry.  I was surprised to find a number of interesting matches on my Markham side, then I found more on the Hughes side.

We have not put these people into our tree.  I consider it just an entertainment thing.

Sources for this includes: Wikitree.com, Fabpedigree.com, Wikipedia.com, Steven Collins tree on ancestry.com called Patricians (Steven Collins is a distant cousin of mine on my Markham side), books – “Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants” by Gary Boyd Roberts; “Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families” by Douglas Richardson; “Americans of Royal Descent” by Charles H. Browning; Burke’s guide to the Royal Family by John Burke; the Berry family genealogy book previously mentioned.

I have summarized some of my findings below.  A single > sign means a direct relationship, a double >> sign means that multiple generations have been skipped just to keep this brief.

Samuel Hurlbut (1786-1861) >> Shubael Dimmock (1644-1732) >> Elizabeth Paine (1586-1676) >> Hughes de Paynes (1070-1136) (First Grand Master of the Knights Templar)

Governor John Webster (1590-1661) > Elizabeth Ashton (1566-1640) >> Ralph de Sudeley (1131-1192) (Knights Templar)

Samuel Berry (1780-1855) >> Sir William Wallace (Abt. 1270-1305) (Knight, Scottish national hero; “Braveheart,” is the character in the movie)

Isabel Welles (1565-1635) >> William the Marshall ( -1219) (“The Greatest Knight”, known for winning over 500 jousting matches)

Moses Goodman (1750-1831) >> John Wakeman (1601-1661) >> Joan Beauchamp (1526-1587) >> Richard “The Fearless” of Normandy (932-996) > William Longsword (893-942) > Rollo Ragnvaldsson (abt. 870 – abt- 928) (Viking; first ruler of Normandy; character on the History Channel show Vikings)

Samuel Berry (1780-1855) >> William Buchanan (1677-1749) >> Harald Sigurdsson (1015-1066) (King of Norway – known as “The Last Great Viking”)

Captain John Wakeman > Francis Wakeman (1565-1626) > Joan Beauchamp (1526-1587) >> Hugh Capet – King of France (941-996)

Hugh Capet – King of France >> Gisela de Lorraine >> Charlemagne – Roman Emperor (742-814)

Elizabeth Hopkins (1610-1658) >> Robert the Bruce – King of Scotland (1274-1329)

Samuel Berry (1780-1855) >> John Campbell (1674-1741) >> William Sinclair (1410-1480) (Built Roslin Chapel, which was in the book and movie The da Vinci Code)

Elizabeth Hopkins (1610-1658) >> Robert de Vere (Abt. 1165-1221) (3^rd Earl of Oxford; Magna Carta Surety (signer))

For three particular Kings of England there are multiple lines and connections: 8 to King Edward III, 7 to King Henry III and 3 to William the Conqueror.  In addition to these 18 lines in our family tree there are more connections between our tree and the end person (in other words, beyond our tree).  This brings the total connections to these three Kings to 74.  So, there are at least 74 possible connections to these three Kings from our Hughes family to one of these three Kings.  Of course, a connection to one King means more connections to their ancestors, and the royalty groups did marry each other or even interbreed.

While I am skeptical about each one of these connections, having a larger number increases the odds that one or more is really true. 

For this list I just show the surnames in our tree going back, then there’s a jump from the final surname to the King.

Lines to King Edward III of England

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Seymour >> Edward III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Pantry > Tuttle > Bryan >> Edward III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Pantry > Tuttle > Wells >> Edward III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Terry > White >> Edward III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Wadsworth > Talcott >> Edward III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Wadsworth > Talcott > Mott > Harington >> Edward III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Wadsworth > Talcott > Wakeman > Hopkins >> Edward III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Wright > Edwards > Baldwin >> Edward III

Lines to King Henry III of England

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Pantry > Tuttle > Antrobus >> Henry III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Seymour > Kellogg >> Henry III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Seymour > Kellogg > Foote >> Henry III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Seymour > Kellogg > Minot >> Henry III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Wadsworth > Stone >> Henry III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Meakins > Bidwell > Biddulph >> Henry III

Hughes > Hurlbut > Nott > Dimmock > Bursley > Hull >> Henry III

Lines to King William the Conqueror of England

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Wadsworth > Hovey >> William the Conqueror

Hughes > Hurlbut > Goodman > Wadsworth > Talcott > Wakeman > Goode >> William the Conqueror      

Hughes > Hurlbut > Nott > Dimmock > Chipman > Howland > Tilley > Hurst >> William the Conqueror

A couple of examples of connections from these Kings going further back in time are:

Edward III >> Niall of the Nine hostages (early to mid-400’s) (Irish King, started family dynasty that lasted many centuries)

Henry II >> Fulk – King of Jerusalem (1092-1143)

Suggested reading:

“A History of Jasper County, Missouri, and its People” by Joel Thomas Livingston, Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, New York & San Francisco, 1912.

“A History of the Town of Seneca” by Rodney S. Lightfoote, Printed by 1-T Publishing Corp., Interlaken, NY, 1989.

“A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Crawford County, Kansas”, by Home Authors, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago & New York, 1905.

“History of Cherokee County, Kansas, and Representative Citizens”, Edited and Compiled by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, Columbus, Kansas, Published by Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1904.

“History of Hillsdale County Michigan, with Illustrations and Biographical sketches of Some of it’s Prominent Men and Pioneers”, Philadelphia, Everts & Abbott, 1879.

“History of Jasper County, Missouri;” Des Moines, Iowa: Mills & Company, 1883.

“History of Newport County, Rhode Island, From the Year 1638 to the year 1887, Including the Settlement of its Towns, and their Subsequent Progress”, Edited by Richard M. Bayles, New York, L. E. Preston & Co., 1888.

“History of Ontario County New York, with Illustrations and Family Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Families”, Edited by George S. Conover, Compiled by Lewis Cass Aldrich, Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1893.

Biography written by Kem & Becky Marcum; November, 2023.

This biography and a copy of our family tree can be viewed at https://markham-and-marcum-genealogy.com.

---

^[1] This information on the origin of the Hughes name comes from House of Names (houseofnames.com), Forebears (forebears.io) and Wikipedia (the Hughes surname entry).

^[2] U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Kansas, Cherokee County; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[3] Missouri, U.S., Death Records, 1968-2015; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[4] History of Cherokee County, Kansas, and Representative Citizens, Edited and Compiled by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, Columbus, Kansas, Published by Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1904, Page 387.

^[5] Obituary for Victor Hughes, The Pittsburg Daily Headlight, Pittsburg, Kansas, May 20, 1915, Page 2, Column 6.

^[6] Ibid, Obituary for Victor Hughes.

^[7] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 387.

^[8] This is per her gravestone in Crocker Cemetery outside of Pittsburg, Kansas.

^[9] 1870 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[10] Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002, Jasper County, 1912-1915, Page 140; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[11] Grandma’s obituary, The Parsons Sun, October 3, 1977, Page 10, Column 8.

^[12] 1900 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[13] 1910 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[14] 1940 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[15] Jasper County (Missouri) Land Records, Volume was unmarked, Page 266; accessed at the Jasper County Register of Deeds, Carthage, Missouri.

^[16] Ibid Jasper County (Missouri) Land Records, Volume unmarked, Page 205.

^[17] 1920 United States Federal Census, accessed on Ancestry.com.

^[18] A History of Jasper County, Missouri, and its People, by Joel Thomas Livingston, Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, New York & San Francisco, 1912, Page 433.

^[19] J.M. Rutherford Collection, George A. Spiva Library, Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, Missouri, Special Collections SC#7, Donated in 1980 by Annette St. Clair and R. Donavan.

^[20] U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 for Charles Victor Hughes; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[21] 1920 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[22] Cherokee County (Kansas) Land Records, Volume 5, Page 250; accessed at the Cherokee County Register of Deeds, Columbus, Kansas; Volume 5 contains the 1917 document, the 1941 document is in Volume 10, Page 163.

^[23] Ibid, Cherokee County (Kansas) Land Records, Volume 137, Page 136.

^[24] Ibid, Cherokee County (Kansas) Land Records, Volume 139, Page 649.

^[25] Ibid, Cherokee County (Kansas) Land Records, Volume G, Page 319.

^[26] Ibid, Cherokee County (Kansas) Land Records, Volume J, Page 477.

^[27] The Joplin Globe, Joplin, Missouri, January 19, 1921, Page 1, Column 1; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[28] 1920 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[29] Ibid, Joplin Globe, April 27, 1921, Page 4, Column 5.

^[30] Ibid, Joplin Globe, October 23, 1952, Page 9, Column 2.

^[31] Ibid, Joplin Globe, September 12, 1926, Page 28, Column 5.

^[32] How Automakers Accelerated Out of the Great Depression, by David Rhodes and Deniel Stelter, Boston Consulting Group;  accessed at https://www.bcg.com/publications/2010/growth-automakers-accelerated-out-great-depression.

^[33] 1930 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[34] “Family Income at $1231”, New York Times, April 30, 1943, Page 24; accessed at nytimes.com.

^[35] U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, for Charles Victor Hughes; accessed at Ancestry.com

^[36] The Joplin Globe, Joplin, Missouri, May 14, 1952, Page 7, Column 4; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[37] The Parsons Sun, Parsons, Kansas, July 28, 1965, Page 2; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[38] Victor Hughes Obituary, The Pittsburg Daily Headlight, May 20, 1915, Page 2, Column 6; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[39] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 387.

^[40] Ibid, Victor Hughes Obituary.

^[41] Illinois, Marriage Index, 1860-1920, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[42] This is per her gravestone in Crocker Cemetery outside of Pittsburg, Kansas.

^[43] 1870 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[44] California, Voter Registers, 1866-1898; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[45] Jane Covey obituary, The Searchlight, Redding, California, October 3, 1925, Page 2; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[46] Illinois, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900; accessed at Ancestry.com

^[47] 1870 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[48] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 387.

^[49] 1860 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[50] 1870 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[51] Cherokee County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book Q, Page 16.

^[52] Cherokee County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Volume 6, Page 590.

^[53] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 447.

^[54] Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, Accession Nr: KS4550_.350, Cherokee Neutral Lands, No. 848; accessed at glorecords.blm.gov.

^[55] 1880 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[56] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 81.

^[57] Cherokee County, Kansas; Wikipedia; accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_County,_Kansas.

^[58] Ibid, Victor Hughes Obituary.

^[59] Constitution of the Anti-Horse Thief Association, Kansas Division, 1905; accessed at https://www.kansasmemory.org.

^[60] The Columbus Weekly Advocate, Columbus, Kansas, October 22, 1885, Page 3; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[61] The Columbus Weekly Advocate, Columbus, Kansas, December 30, 1886, Page 4; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[62] “Usual Batch of Money Paid Out To School Districts by Treasurer Ryan”, The Pittsburg Headlight, Pittsburg, Kansas, November 26, 1908, Page 3; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[63] “$35,000 Paid In, People Are Paying Their Taxes Early This Year”, The Pittsburg Headlight, Pittsburg, Kansas, November 24, 1910, Page 3, accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[64] Public School Souvenir booklet, 1914; we have this booklet, it has a picture of Lula on the front, and also has a list of her students.

^[65] Plat Book of Cherokee County Kansas, 1902, Pleasant View Township; accessed at https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209386.

^[66] “Filing Nomination Papers”, Modern Light, Columbus, Kansas, June 20, 1912, page 9; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[67] “Pleasant View”, Modern Light, Columbus, Kansas, November 14, 1912, page 9; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[68] Ibid, Victor Hughes Obituary.

^[69] DAR Ancestor #A107484, accessed at services.dar.org.

^[70] DAR Lineage Book, NSDAR: Volume 150, Published 1919, Page 137; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[71] DAR Ancestor #A045844, accessed at services.dar.org.

^[72] DAR Ancestor #A113735, accessed at services.dar.org.

^[73] This is from the Godbey family website; The Godbey Family in America, Biographical Sketches; accessed at www.godbey.org.

^[74] The Jamestowne Society can be accessed at www.jamestowne.org.

^[75] Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623-1800, in five volumes, by Nell Marion Nugent, Virginia Land Office, Richmond, Virginia, Press of The Dietz Printing Co., 1934, Volume 1, Page xxviii.

^[76] Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635, A Biographical Dictionary, by Martha W. McCartney, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007, Page 329.

^[77] DAR Ancestor #A026806, accessed at services.dar.org.

^[78] French and Indian War Rolls, 1758-1762, Volume II, page 249.

^[79] 1850 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[80] Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[81] 1820 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[82] Married, Geneva Courier, September 28, 1841, Page 3, Column 1; accessed at nyhistoricalnewspapers.org.

^[83] 1830 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[84] Ontario County, New York Land Records, Volume 50, Page 172; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[85] Ontario County, New York Land Records, Volume 52, Page 479; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[86] Death notices, Herald of the Times, Newport, Rhode Island, October 4, 1838, Page 3, Column 3; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[87] Hillsdale County, Michigan Land Records, Volume F, Page 24; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[88] Hillsdale County, Michigan Land Records, Volume H, Page 468; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[89] Map of Ontario County, New York, from actual surveys, by Henry Francis Walling, Published in Philadelphia by John E. Gillett, 1852; accessed at loc.gov (Library of Congress website).

^[90] History of Hillsdale County, Michigan, Philadelphia: Everts & Abbott, Published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1879, Page 312.

^[91] Map of Hillsdale County, Michigan, Published in Philadelphia, Kellogg & Randall, 1857; accessed at loc.gov.

^[92] Congregational Church, West Hartford, Connecticut, Church Records, 1713-1933; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[93] The Hurlbut Genealogy, or Record of the Descendants of Thomas Hurlbut, of Saybrook and Wethersfield, Conn., Who Came to America as Early as the Year 1637, With Notices of Others Not Identified as His Descendants, by Henry H. Hurlbut, Albany, N.Y., Joel Munsell’s Sons, Publishers, 1888, Page 219.

^[94] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 387.

^[95] Illinois, County Marriages, 1800-1940; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[96] The Hurlbut Genealogy, by Henry Higgins Hurlbut, Albany, N.Y., Joel Munsell’s Sons, Publishers, 1888.

^[97] 1850 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[98] Hillsdale County, Michigan Land Records, Volume AE, Page 404; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[99] Ibid, Volume W, Page 576.

^[100] Ibid, Volume U, Page 550.

^[101] Ibid, Volume AE, Page 345.

^[102] U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Hillsdale (Michigan), Reading, 1850; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[103] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 387.

^[104] Ibid, History of Hillsdale County, Page 315.

^[105] The Hillsdale Standard, Hillsdale, Michigan, December 2, 1856, Page 2, Column 4.

^[106] 1850 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[107] 1860 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[108] U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[109] 1860 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[110] Illinois, State Census Collection, 1825-1865, Peoria, Illinois, 1855; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[111] 1850 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[112] “Noah Webster’s House”, The Morning Journal-Courier, New Haven, Connecticut, July 2, 1898, Page 4, Column 4; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[113] Hartford County, Connecticut, Land Records, Volume 18, Page 43; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[114] “Big Dictionary and Its Maker”, Hartford Courant, October 3, 1908, Page 11, Column 1; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[115] West Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, Land Records, Volume 10, Page 488; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[116] Old Houses of Connecticut, by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Connecticut, Yale University Press, 1923, Page 101; accessed at http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha000339741.

^[117] National Register of Historic Places, Webster, Noah, Birthplace, ID number 66000886; accessed at npgallery.nps.gov.

^[118] Illinois, Marriages, 1851-1900; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[119] Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, 1879-1903; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[120] Tazewell County Illinois Land Records, Volume 56, Page 459; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[121] Map of Tazewell County Illinois, By M. H. Thompson, Surveyor & Map Publisher, Dundee, Illinois, 1864; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[122] Map of Tazewell County Illinois, Published by Andreas, Lyter & Co., 1873; accessed at Historicmapworks.com.

^[123] Tazewell County Illinois Land Records, Volume 56, Page 107; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[124] Tazewell County Illinois Land Records, Volume 58, Page 454; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[125] Tazewell County Illinois Land Records, Volume 49, Page 536; accessed at Familysearch.org.

^[126] 1870 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[127] “Notice of Publication”, The Weekly Belleview Telescope, Belleview, Kansas, August 22, 1878, Page 3, Column 4; accessed at Newspapers.com.

^[128] U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, Republic, Kansas, 1880; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[129] Ibid, Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans.

^[130] 1880 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[131] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Kansas, Page 387.

^[132] DAR Ancestor #A046478, accessed at services.dar.org.

^[133] West Hartford, by William H. Hall, West Hartford Chamber of Commerce, 1930, Page 231.

^[134] National Register of Historic Places, Timothy Goodman House, ID number 86001993; accessed at npgallery.nps.gov.

^[135] Ibid, West Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, Land Records, Volume 8, Page 192.

^[136] New England Genealogical and Memorial, Volume III (of IV), Compiled under the editorial supervision of William Richard Cutter, A. M., New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1914, Page 1200.

^[137] The Goodmans of Bolton, New York, Their Ancestry and Descendants, by Edity Willoughby Goodman West, Glens Falls, New York, Published by the Goodmans, 1930.  Richard operating a tavern is on page 22.

^[138] “Cambridge around 1638”, drawn by Erin Raisz, Ph. D., from data compiled by Albert P. Norris, M.D., Prepared at the Institute of Geographical Exploration, Harvard University, 1934; accessed at https://sites.google.com/a/oldconnecticutpath.com/oldconnecticutpath/1-0-cambridge-to-sutton-massachusetts/1-05-newtown-common-1636-the-old-connecticut-path-begins-cambridge-ma.

^[139] Hartford in1640, Prepared from the original Records and Drawn by William S. Porter, 1838; accessed at https://www.foundersofhartford.org/.

^[140] Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut, September 15, 1766, Page 3, Column 2.

^[141] National Register of Historic Places, Sarah Whitman Hooker House, ID number 79002627; accessed at npgallery.nps.gov.

^[142] Samuel Stone, Wikipedia; accessed at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Stone.

^[143] Robert Sedgwick, Wikipedia; accessed at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sedgwick.

^[144] John Webster (governor), Wikipedia; accessed at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Webster_(governor).

^[145] Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999, Hartford, for Lemuel Hurlbert; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[146] This can be found at pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org.

^[147] This can be found at themayflowersociety.org.

^[148] This can be found at mayflowerhistory.com.

^[149] The Hurlbut Genealogy, by Henry Higgins Hurlbut, Albany, N.Y., Joel Munsell’s Sons, Publishers, 1888, Page 69.

^[150] Wikitree entry for John Wright (1488-1551); accessed at www.wikitree.com/wiki.Wright-326.

^[151] U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, for Sarah Ney; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[152] Relation of the Pequot Warres”, written in 1660 by Lion Gardener, And Now First Printed from the Original Manuscript, With an Historical Introduction, Copyright by the Acorn Club, 1901, Hartford Press, The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company.

^[153] The History of Ancient Wethersfield Connecticut, by Henry R. Stiles, A.M., M.D., Volume 2, Page 442. 

^[154] 17^th Century Wethersfield Connecticut Map, by the Wethersfield Town Clerks Arthur Willard and W. Dudley Burmingham, February 1951; we acquired a copy of this map from the Wethersfield Historical Society.

^[155] We went to Seneca Castle, NY in June of 2010, we took pictures of John and Mary’s gravestone in Whitney Cemetery.  The stone contains his birth and death date.

^[156] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Page 387.

^[157] This is also from John’s gravestone.

^[158] 1850 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[159] Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916; accessed at familysearch.org.

^[160] A Hand-book of Newport and Rhode Island, by C. E. Hammett Jr., Newport, RI, 1852, Page 103.

^[161] Nine Hundred Sixty Numbered Marriages Performed by Rev. Michael Eddy, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Newport, R.I. between 1709 and 1835, Compiled from Original Records in Newport Historical Society, Copied by C. M. O’Neill, June 1971, Page 12; accessed at familysearch.org.

^[162] Ibid, A Hand-book of Newport and Rhode Island, Page 16.

^[163] U.S. Census Bureau, History, Through the Decades; accessed at https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1810_fast_facts.html.

^[164] Ibid, History of Cherokee County, Page 387.

^[165] Rhode Island, Newport County, Seamen’s Records, 1798-1930; accessed at familysearch.org.

^[166] 1850 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[167] “Early American Merchant Seafarers” by Ira Dye, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 120, Number 5, October, 5, 1976, Pages 331-360; accessed at www.jstor.org/stable/986266.

^[168] 1860 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[169] 1870 United States Federal Census, accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[170] Early American Merchant Seafarers, by Ira Dye, published in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 120, No. 5, October 15, 1976, page 331)

^[171] Rhode Island, Newport County, Seamen’s Records, 1798-1930; accessed at familysearch.org.

^[172] National Bureau of Economic Research, Trends in the American Economy in the Nineteenth Century, by The Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, Published by Princeton University Press, 1960, Chapter Title is Wage Trends, 1800-1900, by Stanley Lebergott; accessed at https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c2486/c2486.pdf.

^[173] United States Census Bureau, History, Pop Culture: 1810; accessed at https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1810_fast_facts.html.

^[174] “Marine List,” Herald of The Times, Newport, Rhode Island, August 11, 1830, Page 3.

^[175] “Married,” The Rhode-Island Republican, Newport, Rhode Island, May 21, 1834, Page 3.

^[176] The Rhode Island Republican is one newspaper that regularly contained a section on ship news for the Port of Newport.

^[177] Survey of Federal Archives (U.S.)., National Archives Project (Boston, M. (193841), Ship registers and enrollments of Newport, Rhode Island, 1790-1939. Providence, R.I., Page 123; accessed at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c025892830&seq=137&q1=criterion&start=1.

^[178] National Archives NARAtions, Family Tree Friday: Who were the Sea Fencibles in the War of 1812?, September 17, 2010, by Dstokes; accessed at https://narations.blogs.archives.gov/2010/09/17/family-tree-friday-who-were-the-sea-fencibles-in-the-war-of-1812/.

^[179] United States War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815; accessed at familysearch.org.

^[180] USS Constitution Museum website, War of 1812 Overview; accessed at https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/major-events/war-of-1812-overview.

^[181] New Index to the Civil and Military Lists of Rhode Island, Compiled by Joseph J. Smith, Providence, R.I., 1907, Page 729.  We found this book at the Grapevine (Texas) Library.

^[182] United States Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard History Program, Revenue Cutter Heroes, War of 1812; accessed at https://media.defense.gov/2017/Jun/25/2001768443/-1/-1/0/WAR1812HEROES.PDF.

^[183] Ibid, United States Census Bureau, History.

^[184] Ibid, United States Census Bureau, History.

^[185] Ontario County, New York Land Records, Volume 50, Page 172; accessed at familysearch.org.

^[186] Ibid, Ontario County, New York Land Records, Volume 52, Page 459.

^[187] Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Type – Agriculture, 1850, Seneca, Ontario, New York; accessed at ancestry,com.

^[188] New York, State Census, 1855; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[189] Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Type – Agriculture, 1860, Seneca, Ontario, New York; accessed at ancestry,com.

^[190] New York, State Census, 1865; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[191] Gazetteer and Business Directory of Ontario County, NY, 1867-68; accessed at U.S., City Directories at ancestry.com.

^[192] Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Type – Agriculture, 1870, Seneca, Ontario, New York; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[193] The Geneva Gazette, October 2, 1867; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[194] 1870 United States Federal Census, accessed at ancestry.com.

^[195] 1880 United States Federal Census, accessed at ancestry.com.

^[196] We went to Seneca Castle, NY in June of 2010, we took pictures of John and Mary’s gravestone in Whitney Cemetery.  The stone contains her birth and death date.

^[197] Rhode-Island Republican, December 30, 1830, Page 3, Column 4; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[198] Rhode Island, U.S., Vital Extracts, 1636-1899, Volume 4, Newport County, Births, Marriages, Deaths, Page 100; accessed at ancestry.com

^[199] Ibid, Rhode Island, U.S., Vital Extracts, Page 86.

^[200] Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916; accessed at familysearch.org.

^[201] Lula Hughes, U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[202] Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002, Jasper County, 1912-1915, Page 140; accessed at Ancestry.com.

^[203] Grandma’s obituary, The Parsons Sun, October 3, 1977, Page 10, Column 8.

^[204] Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc., Volume 2, edited by Frank W Blackmar. Published 1912, Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, Page 479; accessed at https://archive.org/details/kansascyclopedia02blac.

^[205] State Manual Training Normal School, “The Kanza 1913”; The Kanza, 1910-2010, 12; accessed at https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/kanza/12.

^[206] The Girard Press, July 23, 1914, Page 1, Column 1; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[207] The Messenger, An Alumni Directory, 1921-1922, State Manual Training Normal, Pittsburg, Kansas, Volume 18, Number 1, Page 22.

^[208] State Manual Training Normal School, Alumni Number, March, 1916, Volume 12, Number 2, Page 29.

^[209] General Catalog, contained in Kansas State Manual Training Normal School, Pittsburg, Kansas, Volume 6, Number 4, September 1, 1910, Page 15.

^[210] Ibid, The Messenger, An Alumni Directory, 1921-1922, Page 39.

^[211] 120 Years of American Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Edited by Thomas D. Snyder, January 1993, Page 18; accessed at nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93442.pdf.

^[212] Pittsburg, Kansas, City Directory, 1912; U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[213] The Girard Press, September 21, 1911, Page 1, Column 5; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[214] Pittsburg, Kansas, City Directory, 1914; U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[215] Plat Book of Cherokee County Kansas, 1902, Pleasant View Township; accessed at https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209386.

^[216] The Girard Press, July 23, 1914, Page 1, Column 1; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[217] “Country Schools”, Kansapedia, Your Stories Our History, Kansas Historical Society; accessed at kshs.org/kansapedia/country-schools/12021.

^[218] Kansas, U.S., State Census Collection, 1855-1925; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[219] “Exhibits Feature FFA Fair”, Joplin Globe, September 10, 1950, Page 1D, Column 1; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[220] “New Community Club Organized at Asbury”, Joplin Globe, May 17, 1953, Page 1D, Column 3; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[221] Emma’s death certificate, Missouri State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death, Number 23309.

^[222] Province of Posen, Wikipedia; accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Posen.

^[223] Hamburg (Germany) Passenger Lists, 1850-1934, Direkt Band 027, for Pauline Jastrow; accessed at ancestry.com

^[224] New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, 1873, Priz Albert; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[225] U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969; accessed at ancestry.com

^[226] Cherokee County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 15, Page 171.

^[227] Kansas, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1811-1911 for Lewis L. Jastrow; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[228] Kansas, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1811-1911 for Mary Jastrow; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[229] Iowa, U.S., Death Records, 1880-1972 for William Jastrow; accessed at ancestry.com

^[230] Morning Examiner, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, August 12, 1922, Page 5; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[231] Arkansas, Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900 for Michael Patzer; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[232] Crawford County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 23, Page 275.

^[233] Crawford County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 34, Page 601.

^[234] There are articles about this over several years, beginning in 1902, the last article we found is in the Web City register, May 22, 1908, Page 8; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[235] Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise, March 25, 1925, Page 4 and Morning Examiner (Bartlesville), March 25, 1925, Page 1; both accessed at newspapers.com.

^[236] Berry-Brownlee Family History, by John Dale Berry and William Dean Berry, self published.

^[237] Find a Grave memorial for James Weir, memorial ID 54634217; accessed at www.findagrave.com.

^[238] Find a Grave memorial for James Berry, memorial ID 153073153; accessed at www.findagrave.com.

^[239] DAR Ancestor #A009640, accessed at services.dar.org.

^[240] Find a Grave memorial for James Money Sr., memorial ID 78539117; accessed at www.findagrave.com.

^[241] U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application files, 1800-1900, for Zachariah Nance; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[242] Maxine Hughes’ baby book, written by Lula (Hughes) Hurd, which we have.

^[243] New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 for Emma Patzer; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[244] Immigration Records, Ship Records, S.S. Mosel; accessed at http://www.eltiste-kaiser.com/Immigration/Mosel-Ship.htm.

^[245] Crawford County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 22, Page 42.

^[246] Crawford County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 39, Pages 48-52.

^[247] Buffalo Bill; Wikipedia; accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill.

^[248] Kansas, Grand Army of the Republic Post Reports, 1880-1940, for John D. Hurd; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[249] Crawford County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 10, Page 245.

^[250] Crawford County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 60, Page 290.

^[251] U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 for Emma Hurd; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[252] Reall Estate Transfers, The Pittsburg Headlight, December 24, 1913, Page 2, Column 4; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[253] “How Do Immigrants Respond to Discrimination? The Case of Germans in the US During World War I,” by Vasiliki Fouka, American Political Science Review, 2019, Volume 113(2), Pages 405-422.

^[254] “Germans in Kansas,” by Eleanor L. Turk; Kansas History, Spring 2005, Volume 28, Number 1, Page 44, Published by Kansas State Historical Society; accessed at https://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2005spring_turk.pdf.

^[255] Cherokee County Kansas, Register of Deeds, Book 123, Page 492, Book 134, Page 130, and Book 133, P 401.

^[256] Pennsylvania, U.S., Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-2012 for Walter J. Hurd; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[257] U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914; accessed at ancestry.com.

^[258] History of the 60^th Artillery, C.A.C During WW1, by Joseph Allen Hartwell, last updated January 1, 2020; accessed at https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~cacunithistories/military/60thartycac.htm.

^[259] “Postal Worker Dies by Gun”, Pittsburg Sun-Telegraph, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1941, Page 21; accessed at newspapers.com.

^[260] Pennsylvania, Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-2012 for Walter J. Hurd; accessed at ancestry.com.