My Blog Pays Me Back -- Signatures of my Great-Great-Grandfather and Great-Great-Great-Grandfather

I had two main reasons for starting this blog.  The first was to keep my family and relatives abreast of my research.  The second was to try and make connections with other cousins researching the same lines so we can share data.  The hope being that through searches on Google and other search engines would hit this site, and the cousins would come visiting.  Well it finally happened!  This weekend I got an email from from a "not-really-cousin" who was Googling my g-g-grandmother Nancy Dutton.  She wrote that Nancy's mother "Roxa was the 3rd wife of my great-great-great grandfather Elisha Collins.  My ancestors are from Cynthia Osborn his 2nd wife."

Since Nancy's father was likely Sylvanus Smith of Vermont, my new found friend and I are "not really cousins" but she did provide for me something I was not likely to find anytime soon -- Roxa (Smith) Colllins' application for a Revolution War Widow's Pension, in the name of her deceased husband Elisha. And what did I find but the signatures of my great-great-grandfather Henry M. Walker, Sr. and his father, my great-great-great-grandfather Aaron Walker as witnesses!

The date was April 5, 1860.  In the family's timeline, Henry had been married to Roxa's granddaughter Louisa for four years.  Henry and Louisa's first child Letta was almost three, and Louisa was three months pregnant with their second child Samuel.

More to follow from this resourceful document as I transcribe it.  Thanks to my new found friend and contact for pointing it out to me.  And if I have any other cousins or "not-really-cousins" out there reading this that want to share data, my contact email is not very cryptically on the right.

Copyright © 2010 by Kevin W. Walker