Saturday, July 8, 2017

Israel Reed son of William and Polly Reed

I think I have found Israel Reed, but I don't know for sure. Too tired tonight to sort it out, so I'm going to copy the links here and I'll come back to it later.

1850 Census:
Married and living in New York
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1850usfedcenancestry&indiv=try&h=11735858

1860 Census
Living in Wisconsin, born in New York. Last name spelled "Read." But children's names and ages match
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWMG-PVY

Find a Grave in Iowa
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62536870&ref=acom

Wife Ann's headstone in Tama Iowa
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62536899

1870 Census
Both Israel and Ann are dead. Found James living in Tama
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=1870usfedcen&h=35709680&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&rhSource=8054


Son James married in Iowa: but, marriage record identifies his father's name as Jared not Israel.
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=IAMarriageRec&h=3348698&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&rhSource=6742


Friday, June 16, 2017

South Perinton Methodist Church and Smith Family

South Perinton Methodist Church and Lewis H. Smith Family Research Notes

Following are notes and impressions from my genealogy trip to Western New York
June 16 through June 20, 2017

              The South Perinton Methodist Church was beautiful and serene. I went there nearly every day of my research trip. The attraction to the cemetery was strong, too strong to resist. The first day I went was Friday the 16th. I had no idea where to find my ancestors grave sites. I started looking behind the Church. There I found a group of inlaws to Sarah Smith Wilson, among who were a son of Mitchell N. Wilson and Sarah; Mitchel’s parents and brothers, including Reverend Robert O. Wilson. On the same row were several Mott Family members.

Description of Smith Family Headstones
              I kept looking and in the west third section of the cemetery I found my direct line ancestors and some anunts, uncles, and cousins. The joy and sweetness are hard to describe. I saw Samuel Mott Smith and his wife, Elizabeth Lapham Beal—the same Elizabeth whose parents are buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Farminton. Just north was a set of headstones for Sarah S. Smith Wilson, Samuel’s sister, and her husband, Mitchel N. Wilson. Buried there also were there son, Oliver Wilson and right next to them, their daughter, Sarah. East a couple of rows is an obelisk which is Lewis H Smith’s headstone and his son’s Lewis H. Smith. Right next to them was the headstone for his wife, Phebe Ann Mott Smith. One more row east is a memorial for Lewis and Phebe’s oldest daughter, Eliza Smith Haight and her husband James and son Nicholas. I believe that her husband and son died in Dutchess County, which is where I found them initially from a cemetery transcription. Either they were moved to this cemetery or when Eiza died in Wayne County, someone built a memorial for the little family. Just west of them are my 4th great grandmother, Phebe Haight Mott, wife of Samuel Mott and his sister, Martha Mott. They are also Edwin Mott’s sisters.

Floris Lint and Her Ancestor Mary Smith Wilkinson
              Like I said, the Spirit was so strong and sweet. I didn’t want to leave. I tried making some headstone rubbings of Lewis’s obelisk. It didn’t work. The years of weather have left the stone pitted and the inscriptions difficult to read. That day I tried crayon. Later I tried sidewalk chalk. I even tried play dough to see if I could get an inscription of various headstones. Nothing was successful. So, I resort to taking pictures and hoping I could manipulate the pictures in Photoshop to read images.
              I lingered long in the cemetery and didn’t want to leave. After a while, I went to leave but came across a little old lady who was tending graves under a tree closer to the Church. I stopped to talk to her. Her name is Floris Lent. She is 95 years old. She has never married and is a family historian. She is descended from the Wilkinson’s in the cemetery and Abraham Lapham’s son, William Sarvey Lapham. He is the brother to my 4th great grandmother, Deborah Lapham. We’re cousins. She started telling me about different people in the cemetery and the founding of the Church.
              She showed me a headstone for Mary Smith who married Joseph Wilkinson, of the same family that street the Church is on was named for. (One or two rows west of Mary and Joseph is a headstone for Lewis Smith, who served in the civil war. Don’t know if there is  a connection, but I needed to record this information while I’m thinking about it.) She said Mary was born in the Poughkeepsie area in Dutchess County. That is the same place Samuel Mott and Phebe Haight are from. I was dumbstruck. Smith? From Dutchess? Could she be a sister to Lewis? I started video recording her stories to see if there is anything I can glean from them for my research.
              She invited me to come to her house, which is right across the street, and she’d show me her genealogy. I took her up on that on Tuesday, June 20. She showed me a lot of her records, and I took some of her Wilkinson research with me to put into FamilySearch. She knew I was interested in the Smith family and the origin of the Church. She told me that her ancestor, Joseph Wilkinson, husband of Mary Smith, paid $1,000 to pay off the mortgage for the Church. She said that the Wilkinsons were involved in the beginning of that Church. Well, it is beginning to appear to me that my family members were deeply involved with this Church, more than I thought. Eventually she found some notes from a Fairport historian. If these records are accurate, Mary and Lewis are not siblings. Still, are they related somehow? I snapped a picture for future reference. Something deep inside tells me there is a reason why I lingered on Saturday; a reason why I met Floris. Perhaps is it just so that I can make sure her records make it to family search. Yet, I feel like there is more. A connection that I can’t explain. It just feels like it’s there.

Smith Connections with Methodist Church
              On Sunday, June 18, 2017, I decided to attend Sacrament Meeting at 9:00 in Palmyra and the Methodist service at this Church at 11:00. I’m so glad I did!! There is a beautiful stained glass window right behind the minister’s pulpit. The dedication plaque reads: “Sacred to the memory of Rev. Oliver Wilson and his wife Helen; Mitchell Wilson and his wife Sarah; Lewis M. Wilson.” My family is intimately involved with this Church! This was made even more clear to me when I combine a snippet of information by I garnered visiting with Church and a record I found while visiting the Wayne County Historian’s office on Monday, June 19.
              The first important point is one I learned on Sunday. This Methodist Church and the Methodist Church in Macedon are interconnected. In fact, one of the ladies I was talking to who attends that congregation said she is secretary for the Church in Macedon. They also told me that the minister sometimes preaches at both churches. The second fact, discovered at the Historian’s office was astonishing. The Historian’s office had a transcription of vital records from the Methodist Church in Macedon. I located a transcription of my great great grandparents wedding!! Samuel Mott Smith and Elizabeth Lapham Beal were married in 1868. Not in a Quaker Church as I have assumed for years. But in the Macedon Methodist Church. It gets even better. They were married by Reverend Robert O. Wilson—Mitchell N. Wilson’s brother! I’m dazed. As I mentioned earlier, this changes a lot!
              In fact, there is something that I need to find about the South Perinton Church that is intricately connected to my Smith family. I don’t know how or what, but I know it; it’s there.

Leonard Smith
              While I’m talking about the Smiths and the research at Lyons, I will insert this here even though it doesn’t pertain to this cemetery. I found some Macedon Vital records that were transcribe from three or four years, about 1846 to 1849. I don’t know where these records came from so I don’t have a primary source. I copied several records, but one death caught my attention. In the book about Mott genealogy, it lists the children of Phebe Haight and Samuel Mott. It says that Millie (Parmelia) had a twin, Lewis H. Smith. That is verified by the headstone in the South Perinton Cemetery. The book also lists another son, Leonard Smith, born in August 1840. I have never found anything relating to Leonard until now. Death record for Leonard H. Smith, died July 17, 1847, native to Macedon, age 6, with dropsy on the brain as cause of death. It all fits. I think I have finally found Leonard. (see notes on Dropsy of the Brain for more information.)



Friday, February 17, 2017

Lois Reed md. Samuel Knowles

2/16/2017 Found a FindAGrave memorial for Lois Reed Knowels in the Farmington Friends Cemetery, Ontario County, NY. She died in 1846, four years before the 1850 census. The memorial identifies husband as Samuel Knowles. It has two links to children:

* John Knowles, Birth: Jul. 27, 1835; Death: Jan. 3, 1838; Son of Samuel S. & Lois Knowles

* Sarah Jane Knowles Kelley; Birth: 1828, New York, USA; Death: 1901, USA; Daughter of Samuel and Lois Knowles; Family links: Parents: Lois Knowles (1815 - 1846) and Spouse: Asa Spencer Kelly (1824 - 1891)
     Asa Spencer Kelley is the son of Asa Kelley and Rebecca Phillips. He is the brother of William Henry Kelley who married Mercy Ann Beal, daughter of Seth Beal and Hannah Gould Smith (info about the Kelleys is according to FamilySearch, but it makes sense).

PROBLEM: When I went to add Sarah Jane Knowles to her parents, Lois Reed and Samuel Knowles, I got a flag that indicated that Sarah would have been born before child-bearing age of mother. 
   * Are the dates recorded wrong?
   * Is Sarah Jane not the daughter of Lois Reed and Samuel Knowles?
   * Is Sarah the daughter of Samuel but not Lois?

FindAGrave did not have pictures of the headstones, and I made a photo request today.

I got an answer to two of my FindAGRave requests, the two in the North Farmington Cemetery. One was for Lois Reed Knowles and the other for her son, John Knowles. On the headstone, it lists her son's birth and death date information. I will add him to their family.

March 4, 2017
Today I finished working through the descendants of Lois Reed and Samuel Knowles. I think I got all of them through about the early part of the 20th century. UPDATE: June 30, 2017: My trip to New York revealed a wife and daughter for John H. Knowles. Daughter is Minnie E. who is buried next to her grandmother, Lois Reed Knowles.

March 4, 2017
I still don't know about Sarah Jane Knowles. I'll have to look for her records when I visit Macedon this summer.


Thursday, February 16, 2017

Misc. Findings--Smiths in Early Macedon/Palmyra, Either Wayne, Ontario, or Monre Counties

February 16, 2017
* 1800 Washington, Dutchess Census records a Samuel Smith. Two boys and two girls under the age of 10; 1 male and 1 female age 26 to 44.


* 1810 Palmyra Census records a Sam. Smith. There is a male listed that would fit the age of Lewis Smith. Some names on same page as Sam Smith are Simon Lapham, Abr. Aldrich Abr. Lapham, Ira Lapham, Peter Aldrich, Gardner Peters (directly above Sam Smith). A little further down on the list is Chas. Smith.

On the next page are some familiar names. Barrett Peters: In an 1828 land transaction, Lewis H Smith purchase land, part of Lot 35. The land directly west of his purchase was owned by Barrett Peters. Stephen Peters: Lewis and Elias Smith purchased land from Stephen Peters (and his wife Larry) in 1829.

This is a clue that Sam Smith was settling in an area of West Palmyra that later became West Macedon.


* 1820 Federal Census
There are four Samuel Smiths living in Ontario County in 1820. The locations are: Ontario, Ontario; Phelps Ontario; Pittsford Ontario; and Pittsford Ontario.

This same census shows two Elias Smiths living in Ontario County. The locations are: Pittsford, Ontario and Mendon Ontario


South Perinton Cemetery, Monroe County

For a long time, I was puzzled about why so many members of the Smith Family would be buried in the South Perinton Cemetery, South Perinton United Methodist Church rather than in Macedon Village where other family members are buried. Today I realized how close the cemetery is to where they lived.

1. They were probably Methodists and wanted to be buried there.
AND
2. This church is only 2.5 miles from the location of Lewis H Smith's Farm.

Location of Monroe and Ontario Counties

Until recently, I have focused almost all of my searches in Wayne County. This is only good so far since Wayne County was formed in April 1823 and Macedon was formed in January 1823. Before then, Macedon and Wayne were part of Ontario County.

Monroe County was formed in 1821. West Macedon, where the Smiths lived, is only 1 1/2 plot of land east of the Monroe County boundary.

In the book The History of Wayne County 1877 it says this: Paul Reed was an old-time and life-long settler in Macedon. His son Nathan is living at Fairport; his daughter, Diantha Blackman, is a resident of the town, while two daughters are living in the west.

Fairport is now part of Monroe County.



* Index to Probates of Wayne County
     Lewis H. Smith, 1854, File Number 0386
     Elias Smith, 1871, File Number 0982
     Paul Reed: No record in index


* 1820 Federal Census



* Philetus Blackman married Nancy, May 1830, from Perrinton, Monroe County. They lived in West Macedon. Nancy died in 1877 while they were living at home of  her daughter, Mrs. Legrand Couch. http://interactive.ancestry.com/12023/dvm_LocHist002679-00217-0/218?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fgst%3d-6&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&rc=1806,1279,2013,1323;2075,1279,2333,1321

Could Philetus be related to Lewis Blackman (possible husband of Diantha Reed)?

Changing Names in Monroe County


Today there are 19 towns and 10 villages in Monroe County, as well as a number of hamlets. Monroe County itself was formed in 1821 from parts of Western New York originally in Ontario County. The two towns of Ontario County that became Monroe County were Northampton (west of the Genesee River) and Northfield (east of the Genesee). Northampton was formed in 1797, while Northfield was formed in 1796.


Boyle: later became Penfield and Perinton
There is a Nathan Stone in the 1810 Census, Boyle, Ontario, New York. Lois Stone (who married Paul Reed) had a brother named Nathan Stone, b. 1778.

http://www.townofpittsford.org/home-name
[Caleb Hopkins] His hometown was "gaining ground" too and in 1803, the town known as Northfield changed its name to Boyle, ostensibly due to too many towns and communities in New York by the name of Northfield.... An area of land was separated from the huge town of Boyle in 1810, and became known as Penfield. The town of Perinton was formed from another section of Boyle in 1812, and after these divisions, the remaining community was called Smallwood. .... Thus Northfield, which became Boyle, which became Smallwood, was divided one last time into two towns. One section became Brighton and the honor of naming the remaining land was given to Colonel Caleb Hopkins. He chose the name Pittsford after his childhood home of Pittsford, Vermont.

Gates: Originally Town of Northampton, Ontario County
1800 Census shows a Moody Stone living in Northampton. Lois Stone has a brother named Moody.

The Town of Gates was originally known as the Town of Northampton in Ontario County. In 1813 it became known as Gates, named after General Horatio Gates, an officer of the American Revolution. Isaac Dean became the first settler around 1799. At several periods of time parts of the town were taken by Rochester. Sections of Gates included in the map collections are Genesee Rapids, Bethlem and Gates Centre.

Fairport: Originally part of Perinton
The Town of Perinton was established in 1812. The early settlers of the town were William Walker and Glover Perrin. Area of settlement included in the map collections are Bushnell's Basin, Egypt and the Village of Fairport. The Village of Fairport was incorporated in 1867.