22 July 2014

Tombstone Tuesday: Walker Family Plot - North Selma Cemetery (Selma, Fresno, California)


What a wonderful find!  And what a wonderful gift for the Find-a-Grave volunteer to identify the specific locations of the individual graves on the picture before sharing it with me.

Samuel Mills Walker (1827-1920) and Mary Jane Shumway Walker (1826-1910) were the patriarch and matriarch of this family.  Samuel Mills Walker was my 2xg-grand uncle, on my father's paternal side quite obviously.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

16 July 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Needham and Mills Clans in Oregon


My grand-aunt's family on my father's maternal side, proud of their farm.  Immigrants from Nebraska.  Circa 1910.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

15 July 2014

Tombstone Tuesday: Capt. Edward Everett (1739-1815)



EDWARD EVERETT
Captain of 
N. H. Volt
1776

Buried in Quaker Cemetery, Au Sable, Clinton County, New York, USA
      "This is a large, uncared for cemetery, enclosed by an iron and wire fence. In front of it, on the corner, formerly stood a Quaker Meeting House, which has been removed, partly incorporated in a nearby house. The ground around the old Meeting House have many poplars growing in it; not many years ago traces of the location of the building, and of the drives, could be seen. The gate to the cemetery was behind the Meeting House.
      "Although in the Town of Au Sable, it stands just south of the northern bounds of the Town, and is usually thought of as in the Town of Peru. Location shown on map of Au Sable in Beers' Atlas. The Meeting House stood on the south-east corner of the road running from Peru to Keeseville, west of the main highway, and a cross a road running east. The fine old Keese house stands a little south of it, on the west side of the road.
      "The graveyard is overgrown with wild roses, etc.; there are many graves marked with flat field stones, some of which bear crude initials. Many of the stones have fallen and many are broken." 
-- M. N. McLellan, 1929, "McLellan Cemetery Records," Plattsburgh (NY) Public Library
Capt. Edward Everett was my 5xg-grandfather on my father's maternal side.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

14 July 2014

Amanuensis Monday: "The Town of Ausable"

From Reminiscences and Early History of Old Peru compiled by Seward Arnold, Lecturer of the Peru Grange, and published in 1913.  No publisher is listed --
THE TOWN OF AUSABLE

When the first white settlers of Ausable came to this locality in 1786 it was not to Ausable, or to Peru, or even to Clinton county that they came, for there were no such towns or county then, but they came to Plattsburgh, in the County of Washington, and built their log cabin at the foot of what is now known as Hallock Hill, on land now owned by Percy Keese. It may be proper to say in this connection that this County of Washington to which our first settlers came was about the size of the present State of Vermont, and that Clinton County when first taken from Washington was at least six if not eight times as large as it is today, for it comprised not only the present territory but all of what is now Essex County, over half of Franklin, all of Lake Champlain that lies north of the south line of Ticonderoga, and the northwestern one-fourth of what is now the State of Vermont. Vermont had not then been admitted to the Union and its territory was claimed by both New York, and New Hampshire, but the former held possession, at least of its western part. Now I will return to our first settlers and devote a few lines to their history.

Their name was Everett and they came from the central part of New Hampshire where they had lived about seventeen years, though the parents were born at Dedham and Milton, near Boston. Edward Everett, the father, had been a member of the New Hampshire Legislature and captain of a company of New Hampshire troops in the Revolution. His brother, David Everett, was a soldier in a company that fought the British at Bunker Hill, and he died nine days after that battle, leaving a son, David, who in his day was quite famous as a poet, but is now best known as the author of the juvenile recitation :

"You'd scarce expect one of my age To speak in public on the stage."

Captain Edward Everett's first cousin, Judge Oliver Everett, was the father of the celebrated orator and statesman, Hon. Edward Everett of Boston, and grandfather of Dr. Edward Everett Hale, the famous author. Judge Oliver Everett's brother, Andrew, was the great-great grandfather of Helen Keller, whose achievements, considering her limitations, have caused her to be called "the most wonderful woman on earth." During the first six and one-half years that our first settlers lived in their new home they were in Plattsburgh, for Peru was not made a town till the last days of 1792. Captain Everett served three years as Commissioner of Highways of Plattsburgh, and as such helped to lay out the first road in what is now Ausable, the road that we call Arthur street. After 1 792 he held the office of Supervisor of Peru four terms of one year each, spent the remainder of his days as a resident of Peru, and not only he but most of his family of ten members died in Peru without knowing that there was or would be such a town as Ausable. The youngest member of that family, David Allen Everett, lived till 1861, and has two sons still living, George and Harvey Everett, aged 84 and 80 years, respectively, the latter being the father of William E. Everett, Worthy Treasurer of Peru Grange.

When Peru was first taken from Plattsburgh it was half as large as the present County of Clinton, but it was gradually reduced by taking other towns and parts of towns from it till 1808, after which year it contained 257 square miles till 1839, when it was divided into three towns containing 38, 81 and 138 square miles, respectively. Why they put 100 square miles more into Black Brook than they gave to Ausable is hard to explain, but it is a fact that one is the largest and the other one of the two smallest towns in the county, exceeding only the town of Schuyler Falls by one and one-half square miles. The little town of Ausable thus created is bounded on the north by Peru, on the east by Lake Champlain and Chesterfield, on the south by Chesterfield and Jay, and on the west by Black Brook. Its principal streams are the Great and Little Ausable rivers, both of which flow into Lake Champlain. It has no city of village wholly within its borders, but contains parts of three villages — Keeseville, Clintonville and Ausable Chasm.
Captain Edward Everett (1739-1815) was my 5xg-grandfather on my father's maternal side.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

13 July 2014

Sunday's Obituary: Teresa "Terri" Stormberg (1948-2007)

From the Scottsbluff Star-Herald (Scottsbluff, NE), 7/31/2007 --
Teresa 'Terri' Stormberg 
KIMBALL - Teresa "Terri" Stormberg, 58, of Kimball, died at the Kimball County Manor Tuesday, July 31, 2007. 
A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 2, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Kimball with Fr. Robert Karnish officiating. Burial will follow in the Kimball Cemetery. 
Christian wake service will be held at 7 p.m., Wednesday at the Cantrell Funeral Home in Kimball. 
Friends may call at the funeral home Wednesday from 1 to 8 p.m. Condolences for the family may be left online at afscc@earthlink.net and they will be forwarded to the family. 
Memorials have been established to St. Joseph's Catholic Church or the Cancer Center in Scottsbluff. Cantrell Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. 
Teresa Lee Stormberg was born in Kimball Aug. 20, 1948, the daughter of Wilbur and Virginia (Wistrom) Stormberg. She attended the Kimball schools and graduated in 1967. She continued her education in Nurses Aid Training and worked at Kimball Health Services for two years. She was married to Bill Haverty in Kimball March 15, 1969. They moved to El Paso, Texas and then to Germany where they lived for three years and then they lived in Loton, Okla. for a year. Terri moved back to Kimball and attended nurses school in Scottsbluff and obtained her LPN degree. She was married to Manuel Gallegos in Scottsbluff Nov. 22, 1973. They lived in Virginia Beach, Va. for two years before moving back to Kimball. 
Terri loved reading, movies and traveling. She was a volunteer at the library and was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and she enjoyed spending time with her family and friends. 
Survivors include her sister Cindy Rasmussen of Kimball; nephew Scott and wife Carrie Rasmussen and their children KayLee Jo and Shealynn Mae of Chappell, Neb.; niece, Lisa and husband Darin Buescher and their daughter, Mallorie Ann of Grand Island, Neb. 
Her parents preceded her in death.
Terri Stormberg was my first cousin once-removed, on my father's side.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

05 July 2014

Capt. David Cochran (1765-1836) and Peru, NY militia face the British

From A collection of articles based on local history by J. Warren Harkness (Peru, N.Y.: Quaker Union Society, 1966) --
In 1814, when the British invaded the county, David Cochran and a Peru militia of whom he was chosen Captain, performed very efficient service in the defense of Plattsburgh. 
It is stated in the history of Clinton County that these Peru men under the command of Captain Cochran were the first to meet the foe. This encounter is said to have taken place on the 6th of Sept., five days before the battle, about four miles north of Plattsburgh. When on the llth a detachment of British succeeded in fording the river near Pike's cantonment they found the militia on the south bank ready to meet them. Of course, they retreated before the superior numbers of the trained British regulars but kept up an incessant firing from behind the large pines which covered the Plattsburgh plains and thus greatly annoyed the enemy. Instead of retreating towards the forts they went in the direction of Peru and the British, not knowing the way or supposing that the main body of Americans was before them, were thus led away from the forts which they had crossed the river on purpose to attack. About three miles from the river on the road toward Peru stands a small stone house on the west side of the road. In front of that house the British column stopped and an officer was about to enter, perhaps to inquire the way to Plattsburgh, when as he stood on the steps he was struck by a ball from a field piece which had been planted by the Americans in the road on a little hill about half a mile further south. About that time, it was discovered that they had "got too far from Canada" and began a hasty retreat towards the river. This was an opportunity for Captain Cochran and his men, and they availed themselves of it. Running from tree to tree, they kept up a rattling fire which caused many a Briton to bite the dust, 
"Behold the hedges and the ditches
And the trees and every stump
In their homespun shirts and breeches
See the Yankees farmers jump." 
It is said that Captain Cochran was a very prominent one in this fight, being known by his broad-brimmed hat and sheep's gray suit, but while that might indicate that he was a Quaker, such was not the case unless he joined "the meeting" after he left the hill. Positive proof exists that in the year 1802 when he sold his farm to David Hoag, the Cochran family were called "world's people" and the fact that he was a "bloody man of war" in 1814 indicates that he never became one of the Society of Friends. The exact date of his death is unknown, but the REPUBLICAN's worthy correspondent "scribe" says that in 1836 the old Captain was living but very feeble and probably died soon after. He is believed to have been buried in the little graveyard near the present residence of George Everett, his grave being very near the spot where the old blockhouse formerly stood.
Capt. David Cochran was my 4xg-grandfather on my father's paternal side.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

04 July 2014

"Fourth of July" or "Independence Day?"


New York, 7-4-1911.
Happy Independence Day on this Fourth of July.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

03 July 2014

Genealogical Serendipity?

In the year 1661 there were five selectmen (members of the local government board) in Dedham, Massachusetts.  One was Richard Everett and a second was Ralph Day. Sr.  Little did they know.........

Two hundred and fifty-six years later in 1917, Richard Everett's 7xg-grandson Keith G. Walker (1894-1980) would marry Ralph Day's 6xg-granddaughter Mattie Mae Needham (1884-1938) in Custer County, Nebraska.  Little did they know.

And their sixth child would be my father. :-)

Now you know.

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

02 July 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Our "Gibson Girl"


Emma Gibson Waggoner Calkins Boll (1898-1975)

Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker

01 July 2014

Tuesday Tips: "How To DNA" Website

A brand new blog has been created that is dedicated to multimedia (videos and audios) on how to do genetic genealogy!  Visit it here -- http://howtodna.com/



Copyright © 2014 by Kevin W. Walker