Six degrees of separation?

Earl Pinkley and Gladys True Pinkley with one of their sons

Hmm....let's see..

I was going through Ancestry.com, looking for links to my relatives.  I was working on the Bottomley family.  My Grandma Nichols's grandmother (my 2nd great grandmother) was Ann Bottomley (1843-1933).

Ann's brother, Seth Bottomley (1838-1912), had a daughter Anna, who married Sturtevant (Steve) True.  The Trues moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas area in the early 1900's.  Their daughter, Gladys True married Earl Pinkley, who just happens to be the uncle of one of my husband's friends, who we met here when we moved to Eureka Springs.  Chuck's friend even sent me a family photo!

So...that makes me the 3rd cousin 1x removed of my husband's friend's first cousins....

Elizabeth Ketchum Bremner (1873-1960)

(Relationship to me:  First Cousin 2x removed in law)

Elizabeth Ann Ketchum was the third child of John and Frances Ketchum.  Born in St. Francois County in 1873, she married George T. Bremner in July 1901 in Farmington.  In 1917, George and Lizzie were living in St. Louis and  George was a foreman for American Railway Express.  Probate files for John Ketchum showed that Lizzie and George bought part of his land on a warranty for deed.  George is shown as a farmer in Liberty Township in the 1920, and he owned the farm without a mortgage.  George and Lizzie had two children, Noel, born in 1902, and Dorothy, born in 1905. 

Noel Bremner married Bertha Marie Bess in Farmington in 1924.  They were living in New Lisbon, Stoddard County, Missouri in the 1930 census with two sons.  Noel was noted to be a farmer, renting his home.  Noel and Bertha had a daughter, Patricia, who died as an infant from colitis and meningitis at the age of 14 months.  She is buried in Knob Lick Cemetery.

George Bremner died in 1954 and Elizabeth in 1960.  On his death certificate, George's occupation is listed as "locksmith."  His cause of death was chronic myocarditis.  By the time Elizabeth died in 1960, their son Noel had moved to Iowa Falls, Iowa.  Noel died in December 1983 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  Noel's son George died in 2007 in San Diego, California at the age of 81.  I haven't found a record of his other son's death.   A public records search indicates that he was living in Cedar Falls in the 1960's, and was a doctor.

Lizzie and George's daughter, Dorothy, married Leo Oelger.  They resided in Overland, Missouri, on the outskirts of St. Louis.  Dorothy died in Overland in 1990.  Dorothy and Leo had six children, but I have not yet found records of their names.

John Samuel Ketchum (1886-1969)

(Relation to me:  First cousin 2x removed in-law)

John Samuel Ketchum was the only son of John M. Ketchum and Frances Williams.  John Samuel was born on December 10, 1876 in Knob Lick, Missouri.  He lived in St. Francois County his entire life.  He married Minnie Summer in 1905 and in 1907, their only child, Kermit, was born.  John Samuel was a farmer.  It appears that he moved into the city of Farmington at some point before his death.  He died in November of 1969 just a few days short of his 93rd birthday.  His obituary did not provide much information regarding his life activities:

 

Minnie died in 1975 at the age of 92.

Kermit Ketchum married Ruth Burgess and they had one daughter, Norma Jean.  Ruth died in 1966.

Kermit married Bernice Evans after Ruth's death.  In 1974, Kermit was listed in the Farmington City Directory.  He was listed as working for Rose Exterminator.   Kermit died in  March 1995, and he was buried next to Minnie in Hillview Memorial Gardens in Farmington.

Bernice died in April 1995.

Mary Lucinda Ketchum Porter (1862-1922)

(Relation to me:  First cousin 2x removed in law)

The eldest of Jack and Frances Ketchum's four children, Mary was born in 1862 in St. Francois County, Missouri.  Her story, and that of her children, included quite a bit of tragedy.  In January 1883, she married Thomas Myers.  Mary and Thomas had one son, John, who was born in 1883.   Thomas died in the mid-1880's.  I haven't been able to find a record of his death yet.  On July 4, 1886, Mary married John Henry Porter.  Mary and John had three children:  Myrtle Ann (born in 1888), James J. Harry Porter (born in 1890), and an infant son, who was never named, in 1896.  The Porter family was living in Liberty Township, St. Francois County in 1900.  John Porter was listed as railroading.  John Myers was a farm laborer.    In 1910, John and Mary were living with her sister, Jennie (Virginia) Ketchum Bourland in De Soto, Jefferson County, Missouri.  John died in 1919.  Mary, Myrtle, James and Myrtle's 8-year-old son were in St. Francois Township, St. Francois County, Missouri in  the 1920 census. 

Myrtle never married, but she did have a child, Nathan, in 1911.  Her obituary writer apparently tried to hide that fact, by giving her the title of Mrs. Porter.  The inscription on her grave was sad, saying only "Pray for Me".  Apparently her family was concerned about her salvation.  There was a flower on the grave, though (which I didn't even notice until I saw this picture again).

James J. Harry Porter served as a private in the army in World War I.  Records show he was in the Battle of Argonne.  He married Hazel Jarrett in 1921 and they had two children.  James died in September 1928 at Jefferson Barracks Hospital in St. Louis, as the result of a perforated duodenal ulcer. 

Mary's son from her first marriage, John H. Meyers, apparently moved to East St. Louis, Illinois and then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he died in 1946 from a bleeding ulcer.  He left a wife, Emma.


Mary's husband, John, died in 1919.  Mary apparently had a nervous breakdown a few years before her death.  She died in February 1922 as the result of suicide by hanging.  Her obituary was lurid, describing her suicide in detail.  She and John were buried in the Knob Lick Cemetery.

Isaac Ketchum's Descendents - John M. (Jack) Ketchum

John M. (Jack) Ketchum (Relation to me:  Great grand uncle in law)

John. M. Ketchum, Isaac and Susan's eldest child, was born in March 1836 in Marshall County, Tennessee.  He moved to St. Francois County, Missouri with the family in the mid 1850's and on February 12, 1857, he married Frances Williams.  Frances was the daughter of Gardner Williams and Bedie Callum, and was born in St. Francois County in January 1837.

There is a land patent for John Ketchum in St. Francois County in 1859.  In the 1860 Census, John and Frances were living in Liberty Township, St. Francois County.  In 1865, John Ketchum was listed in the Illinois State Census in Randolph County.  There were three members of the household: one male aged 20-30 (John), a female aged 20-30 (Frances) and a female under 10 (eldest daughter, Mary).  In the 1870 census, the family is back in St. Francois County.  John's household includes himself and Frances, and children Mary (age 7) and Dora (age 1).  His youngest sister, Tennessee (age 15) is also living with them.  In the 1880 census, the family remains in Liberty Township (Farmington PO).  They've added two children:  Lizzie (age 6) and John S. (age 3).  In the 1900 census, Lizzie and John S. are still living at home.  At that time, John is 64 years old and is a farmer who owns his farm free, without a mortgage.  John S. is 23 years old and a farm laborer.  Frances died in 1905, and in 1910, John (Jack) was living with his sister Virginia (Jennie) Ketchum Bourland in Desoto, Jefferson County, Missouri.

Probate court records we found at the library in Farmington showed that John M. Ketchum was declared of unsound mind and incapable of managing his own affairs.  He was apparently confined to the State Hospital, since bills for his care were part of his estate debts when he died in 1918.  His daughter, Mary Ketchum Porter, appears to have been appointed to manage his affairs for the last year of his life.  His property was deeded to his children, Lizzie Ketchum Bremner and John S. Ketchum.  He died with $450 in the bank.

John and Frances were buried in the Knob Lick Cemetery, south of Farmington.

Welcome to my genealogy blog - Part 1 - Isaac Ketchum

I have been researching the ancestors (and their descendants) of my husband and myself for about 10 years, off and on.  Most of the research I've done has been online.  And the records that are becoming available online are just astounding!  But, there are still a lot of things that only exist on the dinosaur technologies like paper and microfilm.  So, my newest genealogy venture is to do field trips to places where our ancestors lived and see what else we can find out.  Our first genealogy field trip was last month.

My husband's family, the Isaac Ketchum family, moved to St. Francois County, Missouri in the 1850's.  Since that's only a few hours from our home, we chose that for our first visit.

Isaac, my husband's 2nd great grandfather,  is my brick wall on the Ketchum side of the family.  All of the information I've found in various US Censuses indicates that Isaac was born in 1807 or 1808 in Virginia.  I've been unable to determine who his parents were.  Some researchers looking at this family have linked this Isaac to Isaac Newton Ketchum, who was reportedly the son of Joel Ketchum and Eleanor Tinsley.  However, I've not found any trees that have any sources for this information, so I'm still skeptical.  Especially since Eleanor Tinsley's death date was in 1797, 10 years before Isaac was born. 

Isaac and his children (John, Mary, William, George, Monroe, Sarah, Eliza, Virginia and Tennessee) are found in the 1860 census in Liberty Township, St. Francois County, Missouri.  At that time, he was living with his second wife, Elizabeth Durham Randolph, who he married in 1858 in St. Francois County.  Since his daughter Tennessee Ketchum was born in 1854, I've assumed that his first wife, Susan (Daughton) died between 1854 and 1858.  Tennessee was also born in Tennessee, so he and his family moved to Missouri between 1854 and 1857, when he filed his first land patent in St. Francois County.

The 1850 census in Marshall County, Tennessee shows Isaac as a farmer, with real estate worth $300.  According to the information on this website: the average price of land in Tennessee in 1850 was $5.50 per acre.  So Isaac owned approximately 50 acres of land.  I found 3 land patents that Isaac got in St. Francois County.  In April 1857, he purchased 80 acres.  In January 1859, he purchased 39.94 acres and in August 1860, he purchased the 40.65 adjacent acres.

At the library in Farmington, Missouri, we found a book showing the land patents for the county, and indicating where Isaac's property was.  We're hoping to find a way to map that, so we can go back and actually see what is on that land today.

It appears that some of  Isaac's children remained in St. Francois County.  I'll share what we found out about them later.  Isaac, however, appears in the 1865 Illinois State Census in Verandah Township, Randolph County, Illinois.  His son John - who later returned to St. Francois County - is living next to him.  Isaac's family is shown to contain one male between the ages of 10 and 20 (presumed to be Elizabeth's son, John Randolph), and one between 60 and 70 (Isaac).  Females were 5 between 10 and 20 (Presumed to be Eliza, Tennessee, and Virginia Ketchum and Julia and Nancy Randolph) and 1 between 40 and 50 (Elizabeth).  It is possible that the move from Missouri to Illinois between 1860 and 1865 was due to the Civil War.  Missouri was divided between north and south, while Illinois was a northern state. 

By the 1870 census, Elizabeth is living in Plattin County, Missouri, living with her children John and Nancy.  She does not appear to own her home, but has a personal estate estimated at $230.

At this point, I have been unable to determine when and where Isaac Ketchum died.  The 1870 census does not show whether Elizabeth is widowed or not, but assuming that she is, then Isaac died between 1865 and 1870.  

So, that is Isaac's story, as far as I can tell it.