Genealogy Trip 2013

May 2013 was my chance to finally take a trip to the Northeast part of the USA and do some genealogy research...grave hunting...and just seeing where the ancestors were from.  We covered a lot of ground in a short time, and didn't make a huge dent in the family tree, but did have a chance to get some interesting information.

Our first stop was Lewis and Jefferson Counties in Upstate New York.  North of Rochester and just south of the Canadian Border, my Nichols ancestors lived in this area.  Two generations of my direct ancestors lived here before heading west to Wisconsin and Minnesota.  According to the records I have, my 4th great grandparents, Amos Nichols and his wife, Amy Greene, were married in this area about 1820. Their only son (as far as I can tell), my 3rd great grandfather Ethelbert Nichols, was born in this area about 1821.  He may have married his first wife, Laura Cooper, here about 1840.  The family moved west between 1840 and 1850, and were living in Wisconsin by 1850.  I was hoping to find some evidence of Amos's family, but did not locate any new Nichols graves that seemed like they might be related.

We found Green Settlement Cemetery on Green Settlement Road just outside of Adams Center, NY.  There were few signs of a settlement, but the cemetery yielded gravestones of many relatives that were related to Amy Greene.

Our second stop was Barnes Corner Cemetery just outside of Pinckney, NY.  Here, too, we found relatives of the Greene family.

Our third stop was near Saratoga Springs, New York.  We found the remnants of Daketown, NY.  The Dake family is related on the Armstrong side of my family.  My 3rd great grandmother, Elizabeth Dake, was born in this county.  She married John Craig.  Their daughter, Mary (my 2nd great grandmother), married Thomas Emmett Ryan.  Their daughter, Emma, married Michael Armstrong, and their son, Thomas, was my grandfather.

We were unable to find the Dake cemetery, despite having some directions to the approximate location.  I suspect it was moved, overgrown, or hidden on private property.

We also found a reference to the Dake family in the Saratoga Springs museum.  Apparently, members of the Dake family are the owners of Stewart's Dairy, which has a number of stores in the area.

Our next stop was Berlin, New York.  This is where Amy Greene and Amos Nichols were born.  Their families settled in this area shortly after the Revolutionary War.

The Greene family was primarily Seventh Day Baptists, and we found many Greene graves in their cemetery.  We also found some relatives and some "maybe" relatives in the Berlin City Cemetery.

A monument in the Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery led me to a fascinating story of murder and romance.  Mary Ann Wyatt married my 2nd cousin 5x removed, Henry Greene.  Shortly thereafter, the story goes, his ex-girlfriend said she would have married him if he had waited.  So, on the pretense of giving his new wife medication, he poisoned her and she died about a week after they were married.  He was executed.

"Henry was tried for murder in Troy in July of 1845 and being found guilty was hung on the gallows on September 10th. Only fifty people saw the hanging but thousands came from the Berlin-Stephentown area to cheer it on. Justice was done, but Berlin would never forget. They erected the beautiful monument with the story engraved on it and someone wrote a ballad. "
(http://www.stephentowngenealogy.com/hometowntales.html#Henry Green)

Our next stop was Salem, Massachusetts.  Three of my 9th great grand aunts were tried in Salem as witches during the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692.  Sisters of my 9th great grandfather, Jacob Towne, Rebecca Nourse and Mary Estey, were hanged as witches.  Their sister, Sarah Cloyes, was initially convicted, but was later acquitted when the witch trials came to an end.  We toured the museums dealing with the witch trials, and walked through a cemetery in central Salem which was adjacent to a memorial to the Witch Trial victims.

We then moved on to Stonington, Connecticut.  There we visited the home of Nathaniel Palmer and a lighthouse with history of the area.  Nathaniel Palmer was a 7th cousin 6x removed....so not really a close relative, but...he was the first American to explore Antarctica.  So that was cool enough to visit his home site.

Our next stop was Newport, Rhode Island.

 We found the Coggeshall Burial Plot on Coggeshall Avenue.  Here, there was a central monument to President John Coggeshall, who was President/Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island in 1646-1647.  John Coggeshall was my 11th great grandfather.  He emigrated from England to the United States in 1632 and settled in Massachusetts.  He was a resident and prominent citizen in Boston until 1637 when he voted for the acquittal of Anne Hutchinson (my 11th great grand aunt) when she was tried as a heretic.  He and the others who voted for acquittal were banished from the Massachusetts Colony in 1638.  Coggeshall then settled in Rhode Island.  He was reported to have been a "Puritan of the highest form."  He initially settled in Portsmouth, then founded Newport after a rift with other colonists.

We also found a number of ancestors in the Clifton Burial Grounds in Newport, including another Rhode Island Governor, Joseph Wanton, who was related by marriage to some of my ancestors.

We also visited the grounds of Trinity Church, where many ancestors were married.

And the Friends Meeting House, where the Quaker ancestors worshiped

And the Community Church, formerly the home of the Newport Seventh Day Baptists

At the Newport Museum, there was a walkway with bricks dedicated to the founders of Newport.  William Dyre is related by marriage, John Clarke is my 10th great grand uncle, Henry Bull is related by marriage, William Brenton is related by marriage, William Coddington is related by marriage, Nicholas Easton is related by marriage, John Coggeshall is my 11th great grandfather, Jeremiah Clarke is my 11th great grandfather.  I haven't found a connection to Thomas Hazard -- yet.

Our final genealogy stop was in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.  We first found the remnants of Davisville, RI.  Davisville was founded by Joshua Davis, my 9th Great Grandfather, who ran a mill on the site.

All that we found to commemorate it was a street sign and a library that had the Davisville name.

In East Greenwich, we explored several small historical cemeteries, as well as the larger East Greenwich Cemetery and found a few distant relatives.

Philip Huber 1901-1940

Philip Huber was my grandmother's brother (my great-uncle on my dad's side).

Philip was born to Susan Estella Brown Huber and Milton Milo Huber on March 31, 1901.  His sister, Charlotte (my grandmother) was born in 1903.  In 1905, their mother died at age 28.  Milton remarried to Jessie Wilcox in 1908, but Charlotte was primarily raised by her grandmother, Ann Bottomley Brown.  It is unclear whether Philip remained with Milton or  lived with "Grandma Brown" and Charlotte.  He is shown in the household of Milton and Jessie in the 1910 and 1920 censuses.

According to his obituary, Philip left home at age 19, and spent a year in the army at Camp Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, receiving an honorable discharge in 1921.  By 1930, Philip was living in Riverside, California.  He was a boarder in the home of Willard Martin, and his occupation was listed as "trucker."  He is also listed as a military veteran.  He reportedly moved to Arkansas in 1933.  On October 11, 1935, he married Thelma Taylor Wells in Carroll County, Arkansas.  Thelma had married Frank Wells in 1924, and had three daughters by him, Mildred, Marjorie, and Mary Ellen.  I have assumed that Frank died between 1930, when he and Thelma were living in Searcy County, and 1935 when Thelma married Philip.  I was unable to confirm this, although there is a Frank Wells listed in Arkansas death records who died in 1934 in Jackson County.

One year after their marriage, Philip, Thelma and the 3 girls moved to Yakima, Washington.  Thelma died in a fire on the day they arrived in Yakima.  According to the newspaper clipping I found at the Historical Museum in Winnebago, Minnesota, Thelma was was cleaning clothes with gasoline in the upper story of the tourist camp home they were staying in when the fire started.  She was able to get her children out, but she died in the fire.

According to Philip's obituary, he found work in Yakima, and cared for the girls himself for two years.  He then left them with a family  to be cared for, and returned to Winnebago alone.

On September 13, 1940, his stepdaughter, Mildred, died unexpectedly in Washington.   On September 15, 1940 at 11:00 am, Philip suffered a compound fracture of his skull in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident.  He died on September 19, 1940 from those injuries.

As of now, I have not found the cause of death for Mildred or been able to trace what happened to Marjorie and Mary Ellen.  I am looking forward to the 1940 census being released, hoping I can find the family that they were living with in the census.

Ethelbert Nichols

I am getting a little frustrated trying to find Ethelbert Nichols and his family in the Wisconsin Censuses.  Ethelbert, my 3rd great-grandfather, came to Wisconsin around 1840-1845.  He was married to Laura Cooper, and all of their children were born in Wisconsin.  At some point, he married Laura's sister, Roxy Ann, presumably after Laura's death.  In 1863, Ethelbert is listed on the rolls of the US Civil War draft registrations as living in Manchester, Green Lake County, Wisconsin.  In 1870, he and Roxy Ann were in Spencer, Iowa.

After fruitless searches, I began a page by page review of the 1860 US Census of Green Lake County to see if I could find Ethelbert in there.  No luck.  However, I did find his mother, Amy Nichols.  She was living with her sister, Amanda Gilbert, in Green Lake County (Berlin).  This was interesting to me, because the previous information I had on Amy was that she had remarried in 1854.  Apparently, her second marriage was later than that!  Also, I found out that the census transcriptions can really screw up a search.  Amy Nichols was transcribed as Amy Michalos.  And the Gilberts had been transcribed as Jilberts.  So, I've learned something new about my ancestors...but still can't find Ethelbert and Laura and children!  So, the search goes on.

Think I'll take a break from the Ethelbert search for a little while, though.

My Ketchum brick wall: Isaac Ketchum

Isaac is Chuck's great-great grandfather.  The earliest record I have for him is that he was living in Tennessee in 1837 working for someone clearing a road.  In the 1850 census, Isaac and his family were living in Marshall County Tennesee, and he is listed as having real estate worth $300. Listed:

Isaac-43, Susan-32, Mary-15, John-13, William-12, George-10, Squire-8, Sarah-6 and Eliza-1

In 1860, he is found (listed as Isaiah Ketchem) in the US Census living in St. Francois County, Missouri with his second wife, Elizabeth and  their children


Listed: Isaac - 52, Elizabeth - 36, George - 17, Squier - 15, Ann - 13, Eliza - 11, Virginia - 8, Tennessee - 6, William Randolph - 17, Julia Randolph - 14, and Josephine Randolph - 4

In 1865, he is listed as living in Verandah township in Randolph County, Illinois with a total of 8 people in his household.

In 1870, his 2nd wife, Elizabeth, is listed in the 1870 census in Plattin, Missouri.  (Jefferson County)

I have not found any record of  Isaac's death, but it is likely that he died between 1865 and 1870 in either Missouri or Illinois.  Seeing if his grave is found in Illinois is one of my goals for our next genealogy field trip.

Trying to chase his parentage is a little difficult, too.  Others with family trees that include Isaac have him as the son of Joel Anderson Thomas Ketchum, who died in 1809 in West Virginia...and his mother is listed as Eleanor Tinsley who died in 1797, probably in North Carolina....since he was born in Virginia in 1808, I am pretty sure there is an error in this connection...so, I wait and hope that a record somewhere will shed some light on where he came from and where he ended up.

In the censuses, Isaac is listed as being born in Virginia around 1808

Gordon Kuether 1909-1987

Gordon Kuether would be my 2nd cousin 2x removed.  His grandfather, Carl Kuether was the brother of my great-great grandmother, Louise Kuether (Kuter), who married Henry Groppel, the father of my great-grandmother, Martha Groppel Nichols.

So, doing my online Ancestry.com research, I found Gordon.  In 1910, he was 10 years old and was living with his parents Charles and Marie at 100 Maria Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota.  This is near the address where Louise and Henry Groppel lived in 1800.  Also living on that same street in 1800 was Carl Kuether, Gordon's grandfather.

In 1925, Gordon Kuether, along with two others was arrested for an attempted armed robbery.  The victim turned the tables and the robbery was unsuccessful.





In June 1928, at age 18, Gordon enlisted in the Marines.  He was at a Marine Corps base in San Diego, California until October 1928, when he was discharged for "inaptitude for service".

In the 1930 census, Gordon is an inmate at the Minnesota State Reformatory in St Cloud, Minnesota and is a woodworker in a door factory.

In 1942, Gordon sailed from Argentia, Newfoundland to the United States on the SS Santa Maria.  The passenger list indicates that his home address was 810 Sherbourne Avenue in St Paul, Minnesota.  He is noted to be serving at the Air Force Base in Newfoundland.

In April 1944, he signed on as a member of the crew on a Panamanian ship, Alderbaran, sailing from New York to the "High Seas".

In June 1994, the Alderbaran returned to New York, from Cuba.  Gordon is listed on the manifest as a Junior Engineer in the crew.  He was noted to have a tattoo on his right arm.

In November 1945, Gordon was on the US ship, SS Frederick Victory, traveling from Le Havre, France to New York, USA.  In this passenger list, his home address is again 810 Sherburne Street in St Paul, Minnesota.  He is also listed as a married man.

I have found no other records for Gordon, until his death on December 3, 1987 in St. Paul.

I would love to know the rest of Gordon's story.  How did he end up in the reformatory?  Did he re-enlist in the service during World War II?  Who did he marry?  Did he have any children?  What did he do between 1945 and 1987?  Perhaps I will be able to find more if and when we ever get to do a genealogy field trip to Minnesota.

Time to plan our next Genealogy Field Trip

The tourist season will end in a few weeks, and I'll be able to take a little time off.  We've been talking about our next field trip for almost a year.  We are planning a trip to western Illinois, within an hour or so of St Louis.  Chuck's Ketchum ancestors lived in small towns in Randolph County...so small there aren't any hotels there....so we're trying to find a bigger city to stay in while we explore.  If we can take a little more time, we are thinking of tracking his mom's side up in Grafton area.  There are so many places to explore in that area...I'd love to have time to visit some cemeteries in St Louis, too, since I have found a number of his ancestors' final resting places documented online.  We will see what we find time to do.  There is never enough time.

George Alonzo McColley (1882-1921)

(Martha's 1st cousin, 3x removed)

George Alonzo McColley was the son of James McColley and Caroline Greene.  James McColley was the brother of Martha's 2nd great grandmother (Hannah Elizabeth McColley m. Daniel Nichols).  Caroline's father was the brother of Martha's 4th great grandmother (Amy Greene, m. Amos Nichols).


George was born in Faribault County, Minnesota in 1882.  According to Pioneer Heritage (by Dallas McColley, 1993), George moved to the San Francisco, California area before 1905 and was there during the 1906 earthquake.  He married Lulu Longergon with whom he had two children, Maurice (born 1908 in Oregon) and Marion (born 1910 in California).  In the 1900 census, George was living with his parents in Prescott, Minnesota and working as a Farm Laborer.  In the 1910 census, George, his wife Lulu and their two children were living in Santa Rosa, California with Lulu's parents and siblings.  George was listed as being a restaurant worker.  He and Lulu were still married when he registered for the World War I draft in 1917.  At that time he was working as a driver for Standard Oil.   At some point after that he divorced Lulu and married Ione Peterson.   Reportedly, he and Ione were divorced in 1919 and Ione remarried to a Mr. F.E. Barrett.  However, another article indicated that she was married to Mr. Barrett before she married George McColley, and was still married to George at the time of her death.  In 1920, George was registered to vote and living in San Francisco.

On December 11, 1921, George McColley hand-wrote a will giving his belongings to his children, should they care to have them.  On December 12, 1921, after George reportedly spent the weekend with Ione at the home of her parents,  Ione was driving him to Petaluma and apparently along the way, he killed her and then killed himself.

Here is a copy of an article from the San Francisco Chronicle (taken from Newspapers.com) regarding the circumstances of his death (click photo to get an enlarged version):



The Oakland paper had a somewhat different description, indicating that Ione and George were still married at the time of the incident.