Once again - where has Lyn been?

I hoped my medical soap opera was over when I posted over a year ago but no such luck.  Since then rather than blogging I spent my time on Johnson & Amelia descendent research between this 'n that medical operatic act.  My documented descendants of Johnaon and Amelia now number 3777 (10 generations - I'm in generation 5 - some of my cousin's within 5 years of my age are in generation 7!).   Most of the documented descendents are born prior to the 1930 census.   I find it curious as I read others blogs that folks older than me are talking about being generation 12 & 13 and their research goes back as far as mine (1680s) and I'm just just a generation 5 or 6! 

Another thing I did during the past 18 months is link many of the descendants of Mathew Hooper Monroe and Eunice Hinman Englis on Find-A-Grave.  My inspiration to do this came from my cousin Leslie Saint who started a  project linking descendants of my great-grandfather M. Hooper Monroe's parents Mathew Hooper Monroe and Rebecca Allen - emphasizing his line of Simon Peter Monroe and Elizabeth Wright (both Johnson and Amelia descendants).  I owe huge thanks to Leslie not only for his work but also for his inspiration to me and other cousins to share our knowledge and link our family branches on Find-A-Grave.  Leslie located many obituaries for our ancestors and cousins in old newspapers and added them to the memorials on Find-A-Grave. 

I didn't break down any brick walls this past year in my direct line but I did crush one a bit for my my cousins by documenting the father of Alethia Hatcher (m. 1848 Nathaniel Perry Monroe). A couple of cousins were very excited about the news but most who asked me eagerly years back if I knew Alethia's parents didn't express much enthusiasm.  This was a huge disappointment to me.  Alethia has many descendants and very few responded to the news when I told them.  It was sort of like they either expected me to find the answer or it didn't matter.  Either way I was disappointed.  I didn't want praise I just wanted her descendents to say "I'm glad to know".

Thanks to all the new records added in the past year by our friends at familysearch.org I have discovered lots of "goodies".  Most are confirming information but some times there is something that really makes me smile.  The will of Benjamin Polk Johnson is one of those.  I'll let you know about it in my next post.

Where has Lyn been this past year?

It's been a year since I posted. I've been involved in what I call a medical soap opera for the past 15 months. I believe I have now escaped from the opera house and can get back to real life. So... what have I been up to re researching family history over the past year? I've been all over the US. Mostly in Kentucky, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri but also in Texas and Iowa and California too. I can't possibly summarize it all - mostly because I can't remember! So I will restart this blog with what I've been up to recently. And much of this is based on information cousins were kind enough to give me - hints and pointers - while I was playing a role in my soap opera. I'm trying to prove all they told me and so far most of the information is right on.

One project has been trying to prove who is the father of Crissy J. Crews (1869-1953). He is thought by descendants to be the son of William J. Crews (1833-1872?) by a 2nd wife whose name may be Helen DeWolfe. William J. Crews is s/o Jesse Crews and Susan A. E. Sneed. William J. Crews first wife was Mary Elizabeth Beggs (d/o George W. Beggs and Muhulda Garner).

There is much to support Crissy J. Crews being related to this Crews family. His descendants have pictures of William J. Crews' brother David and Crissy lived near David in late 1800s. There is an autograph book of Crissy's in which a Mary Crews refers to him as brother (or herself as sister - I'd have to look it up). William J. Crew's youngest child by his first wife was named Mary and she was brought up by relatives and lived near where Crissy did as a youth. If you look at a picture of Crissy Crews and his (thought to be half-brother) George Beggs Crews the resemblance is uncanny.

One would think the 1870 census would have the answer. I have not been able to reliably identify William J. or Crissy in this census. William, according to his son George's bio, after his wife died " he moved to Kansas where he operated a sawmill. He then moved to the lumber district of Arkansas where he set up a sawmill which he operated until his health failed because of the swampy nature of the country."

Census shows 1900+ Crissy born in Arkansas and Kansas. I personally believe he is a son of William J. Crews s/o Jesse Crews and Susan A. E. Sneed. I have been unable to prove it. I would love to hear from anyone who can. Or from anyone who would like to work on this puzzle. Maybe there is a DeWolfe researcher out there who wondered what happened to Helen and he/she has family knowledge to help solve this problem. Or maybe there is a Beggs researcher who has heard something about a 1/2 brother to his/her Crews m. Beggs kin. If so... please contact me. I'd love to hear from you.

Where has Lyn been and what is she up to now?

I haven't posted for months. I apologize. My guilt level is high. In January I had emergency surgery and all my plans for 2009 took a backseat. In the past month or so I've started back into family history research on a more than "here and there" level.

My most recent "Monroe snooping" is attempting to trace the descendants of James A. Monroe (s/o Johnson Monroe and Jane Ann McClanahan) m. ~1854 Elizabeth Stevens (d/o Job Stevens and Martha _____). James A. was born in Kentucky and Elizabeth in Indiana. All their children (Frances Emeline, David Johnson, Alexander T, John B, Elizabeth, James M, Jobe D., George Sylvester, Ida M and Lou) are born in Wayne Co., Illinois.

Chris Wilkins is also working on these lines and together we are making progress. There are still avenues to explore but for now we are both totally stumped on what happened to Alexander T. Monroe and his wife after the 1900 Wayne Co, IL. census. His wife in 1900 is Elizabeth Garrison. They married in Wayne Co. IL in January 1900. Elizabeth had a previous marriage to a Mr. Osborn and I believe the two children listed as Monroe's on Alexander's 1900 census are actually Osborns. From cemetery records I believe Alexander T. had a first marriage to Malinda C. ____. Her stone in Cincinnati Cemetery in Wayne Co., IL gives 22 Oct 1867 - 15 Feb 1898 and says "wife of A. T. Monroe". I have not yet confirmed this marriage or Malinda's maiden name. I do not know if Malinda and Alexander had children. They may have. This is one of those times one really, really wants to see the 1890 census that burned.

If anyone reading this blog knows anything about James A. Monroe m. Elizabeth Stevens and their descendants I would very much appreciate hearing from you.

Crews/Travers in Wayne Co., Illinois

I was very pleased last week when Judi Finnell commented on my blog post about Peter Crews m. Martha Monroe. I always wondered who the Travis (Travers) children (John and Mary) were in their 1860 census. I thought they were likely grandchildren but Wayne Co., IL is a "burned county" so finding marriages for daughters in this time period isn't easy. Peter and Martha had two daughters of marriageable age Nancy and Mary who were with them in the 1850 census and not with them in the 1960 census. Either might have been the mother of the children. Judi informed me Nancy was the mother. Nancy was the second wife of Judi's great-great grandfather Nathaniel Travers. Judi said Nathaniel and both his wives were buried in the Travers Cemetery and I checked my cemetery book by Doris Bland and there they were. It was wonderful to finally know who Mary and John Travers were and their parents. Judi also had further information about Mary and John. What a great day it was when I heard from Judi!

Now... if someone would please come forward and let me know what happened to Nancy's sister Mary Crews (b. about 1828 in KY) after the 1850 census....

Alcorn/Englis kin

I recently heard from 3 Alcorn researchers responding to a message I left years ago on either an Alcorn site or a Cass Co. Illinois site. What fun this is! Two were related to me by marriage and not my bio cousins (an Alcorn cousin of mine was the second husband of the woman they descended from). I didn't know about this marriage so I was delighted to hear from them. Last year I submitted some Alcorn/Englis photos to the Cass Co., Illinois Historial & Genealogical Society site and they can be viewed there.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilcchgs/

For anyone researching in Cass Co., Illinois this is a great site (besides the fact you can see the photos I contributed!).

My Alcorn bio cousin who recently contacted me has been too busy (two teen age kids plus a full time job) to go through her old pictures and documents. But she plans to and we will talk more then. I'm sure she will have lots to share. I'm so happy to have her email so we can talk later.

McClure & Monroe

Last month I made contact with Barbara Wright who researches the McClure family of Grayson Co., KY who marry into our Monroe lines. She shared information with me and I am attempting to update all the Johnson Monroe descendant lines who are also Samuel McClure (m. Frances Craven) descendant lines to share with her. The lines I am trying to complete are Annie Elizabeth McClure m. 1866 Absolam S. Kerr (parents of Samuel R. Kerr m. 1896 Sarah Pearl Monroe), Alice McClure m. 1884 George Washington Taylor Monroe and Ida Belle McClure m. 1888 Henry William Monroe. Annie Elizabeth McClure, Alice McClure and Ida Belle McClure are sisters. As always happens I have run into some snags because I don't have any "family story" information to guide me.

I have documented 9 children from Samuel R. Kerr and Sarah Pearl Monroe. I have a marriage for only one of them and death dates for only 3 of the nine. Maybe I can trace a some of the daughters through KY birth records - or at least get a potential surname or two for them.

I lose track of descendants of Alice McClure and GWT Monroe after the 1930 census. (This is Emeline Monroe's (b. 1915) family line). I'd love to talk to her and learn what she knows about her aunts and uncles and 1st cousins and their descendants.

I lose track of some of the descendants of Ida Belle McClure and Henry William Monroe after the 1930 census.

Their daughter Frances married a Mr. Ryan (on her gravestone) but was this her first husband? Did she have children? I have not found her in 1920 or 1930 census. She is likely married but I can't find her under the surname Monroe or Ryan.

Their daughter Ida N. I think I found in 1920 and 1930 census but I'm not positive. In 1920 she is in St. Louis and working as a bookkeeper and in 1930 she is a manager of a flour mill in TN. She is single in 1920/1930 if this is our Ida N. Monroe.

Their son George William Monroe (the one who has a monument in Camp Ground Cemetery) second wife was Mary B on the 1930 census. Is she the Mary Biles Monroe in Cave City Cemetery 1889-1970? If so then her birthdate on the stone (and on the Soc. Sec death index) doesn't match the 1930 census which shows her age 39 (b. ca. 1891). Maybe the age is close enough.

I surely need some Kentucky cousin help!

August-September 2008

I haven't blogged for a while. Seems like every time I started to something came up. I've been all over the place research wise since my last blog. I started to look at my Wayne Co. Illinois cousins and got side tracked from that with an email of a possible cousin related by marriage to the Owen family my Monroe's married into and maybe this person was a descendant. Best we can tell for now is no relationship proved but that doesn't mean there isn't one. We agreed to keep in contact.

My Hobson research hasn't gone much of anywhere but I have had continued contact via phone and email with my "new" second cousins. So... this is basically positive news.

I need to step back and look at where I was when I last blogged and my recent emails. Then I'll have a better idea what to write. I've worked on several projects and if I tell you about them maybe you have something to contribute - or maybe some of it will help you with your research.

Today I'm in a situation I don't want to be in - I'm a potential juror for a case that is estimated to last 9 weeks and if it goes into a penalty phase it could be another 3 weeks. I can't say anything beyond this. I don't want to be on this (or any) jury. I've been on several juries in the past and feel I've already "done my civic duty" and don't want to be on another one. And of course my spinal arthritis makes it difficult for me to sit or maintain any physical position for an hour (some times less) without pain/ache. So far the court wants me to come back for another interview on September 30. Ugh!