Martha Monroe m. Peter Crews 1824

I've started work on the Martha Monroe married 1824 Peter Crews line. They moved to Wayne Co., IL from Barren Co., KY between 1828 and 1830. I have 203 descendants for them but have not acquired a lot of the needed supporting documentation so it's time to go back and do that as well as follow these families on down through the 1930 census. I owe a great deal of thanks to Martha & Peter's great-granddaughter Mary Ellen (Crews) Brach (1901-1994) who compiled the _Genealogy Survey of the Crews Family_ in 1968. After Mary Ellen died her sister Evelyn Alene (Crews) Donoho (1913-?) updated this survey. This document is wonderful because it tells who moved where and when. I wonder what Mary Ellen would have done had she had access to the Internet and all the wonderful family history information available today.

I haven't looked at these Wayne Co., IL surnames for a while so it's like discovering a whole new set of cousins with names like Pharr, Sams, Fishel and more. But there are also familiar names from the Barren Co., Kentucky area like Martin, Shaw, Bradshaw, Young, Shelton and Owen.

I hope while I do this research I will make contact with a cousin or two in this line to join us in our research.

Collins Descendants and What I'm Up to Next

Yesterday I added a link on the Johnson Monroe Yahoo group site to my register report of the descendants of Dabney Collins (f/o Francis Marion Collins m. Polly B. Monroe) . I hope a Collins researcher/descendant will check Logan Co. and Simpson Co. marriage records to verify the names and dates of the two wives I have for Dabney. I haven't followed all of FM and Polly's children but have some descendants for Leonidas, Georgia, Charles Elmore, Susan Eva and Marion Boles. Please let me know of errors/additions, etc. I'm about "Collins'ed out" for now and I'm itching to move on to look at other cousin lines.

I haven't decided which Monroe descendant lines I will concentrate on next but think maybe those who went to Wayne Co., Illinois from Barren Co., KY prior to 1850. I have earlier done census work on many of them through 1880 and some through 1900. Since then I've gathered a lot more information re spouse names, who moved where and when so maybe now I can follow more of them through the 1930 census. Do any of my Mathew and Rebecca descendant cousins know Mathew Monroe and Rebecca Allen are in the 1830 Wayne Co., IL census? I've always found this curious as all their children claim to be born in Barren Co., KY and they are Barren Co census in 1840 and 1850 censuses so they must not have lived in Wayne Co. for very long. They move to Cass Co., Illinois about 1852/53.

Hope some of you will comment once in a while. I feel like I am writing into a void.

This 'n That

Been trying to clear up loose ends the last few days. Received a package of Magee data on Monday from a fellow I promised (2 months ago?) to copy an affadavit for and hadn't yet done. As my guilt meter was way up I got out James King Monroe's Civil War file and copied the affadavit of Benjamin F. Magee which states he is married to a sister of James K's wife. The sisters are Sarah E. and Josephine Conyers. I have never been able to link all the Conyers that interact with the Monroes with total confidence. I still am not sure how Sarah and Josephine relate to John Wesley Conyers who is the second husband of Mary Ann (Thomas) Monroe. So... I gather what data I can in drabs and dribbles and maybe someday I will be able to put it all together. But I wouldn't bet on it!

I've also been trying to identify the Monroe ancestry of all the people on the Kentucky Monroe Reunion mailing list. I'm to the point I have one more set of "unknown to me" people to post to the Johnson_Monroe Yahoo group in hopes someone there can help with the identification and then I'll be through with this project. I thought I would use this list as a start for building a data base for our Yahoo group to be able to refer to for cousin contacts in the area they live or are planning to visit.

I'm in the process of changing computers - the CD drive and screen both went out on the laptop I was mainly using. Fortunately it still runs fine and I have to have it hooked up to the monitor that belongs to my older desktop computer. I have a new laptop but lots not yet implemented on it so sometimes I can't find whatever I am looking for. Frustrating. I hate all the time it takes to do the transition.

Some of you may know I manage a Yahoo group for my high school class. I've been trying to help a few classmates with some family history hunting so that's been taking time too.

So... I've been busy but haven't made much progress of interest to you.

Susan Eva Collins

Started census hunting for Francis & Polly's daughter Susan Eva Collins m. 1) John Foster Baker and 2) J. Lee Johnson. Have had a heck of a time as Ancestry's indexing is not very good. Was about to give up on 1900 when I finally found Beker, Jeff and that's the right family. Found the family in 1910 but have struck out so far in 1920 census. However in 1920 I found evidence these folks are really ours (besides family stories and documentation) as Susan Eva Collins oldest daughter Lossie Baker marries her first cousin Marion Boles Butler (s/o Elmore C Collins & Edward Johnson Butler). Guess it's the old "gotta keep the genes in the family" thing. We have cousin marriages in other branches of the family too. I have more census work to do and haven't even started on the data entry. Hopefully I can finish Susan's family branch in a week or two.

Collins continued

Today I finished the census data entry for Charles Elmore Collins (m. Edward Johnson Butler) and their descendants I could locate through 1930. Next I need to do census work on Elmore's sister Susan Eva Collins. I have enough hints/clues re her two marriages to hopefully trace her and her children at least through the 1930 census. I already have her 1942 death certificate.

After I research Susan's family my plan is to create a register report of Francis Marion Collins & Polly B. Monroe descendants and link it to our Johnson_Monroe Yahoo site and have it available to you for a time. My plan also includes a link to a Monroe/Collins photo album. Let's hope I get this done!!!

Collins continued

I'm still not finished entering all the Elmore C. (Collins) Butler descendant data I have. But... I have more data now then when I last blogged. A couple of death certificates and a WW1 draft card, located a couple of folks in 1930 census, etc.

Had a nice note from Debbie and also one from Ethel. Ethel included a scan of a newspaper article about the murder of Anna (Collins) Carney and suicide of Arthur Carney. I was very happy to receive this. Ann sent an obituary for her father Wilbert B. "Bill" Howard. I've started a Collins folder with items of this type plus photos I will link into the Johnson_Monroe Yahoo site once I get a little further with it.

Collins - Elmore C. line continued

I did the census work on Elmore C. Collins married Edward Johnson Butler in 1900/10/20. She dies in 1927. I haven't yet found Edward or most of their children in 1930. Think a bunch of them may no longer be in Kentucky so I need to look further. Found a KY WW1 record for one of Elmore's son's. Will be posted later to our Yahoo Johnson Monroe site. A wonderful thing happened about cousin contact when the mother of Suzanne who I mentioned in my earlier post contacted me. I haven't heard a peep from Suzanne or Debbie or Ethel or Tonya since I put them in touch ---- but Suzanne's mother Ann and I are talking so I'm happy about that. Ann has given me some good leads on tracing other descendants. Many thanks to Ann! I've invited her to the blog and the Yahoo group. Hope she will join us.