Thirty-miles and One Hundred Years

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I have never had a familial affinity for Illinois.  My heart has always belonged to Nebraska.  It was Nebraska that I associated with family, and my family history.  But truth be told, Illinois could reasonably lay a claim to my heritage.  Direct ancestors of both my father and mother made homes here.  And startlingly they did it only thirty miles apart from each other. 

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Around 1855 in Woodford County, in and around the town of Metamora were my Dad's ancestors 3xg-grands Aaron and Submit (Clark) Walker, my 2xg-grands Henry and Louisa (Dutton) Walker Sr., and my g-grandfather Henry M. Walker, Jr.  Also my 3xg-grandmother Nancy (Smith) Dutton.

At the same time, only thirty miles away in McLean County, in and around the town of Danvers were my Mom's ancestors 3xg-grands Jeremiah and Jane (Combs) Hall, and also 3xg-grands William and Sarah (Moore) McKee.

One hundred years later in northern California, my Mother from Phoenix, Arizona would meet my Dad from Dix, Nebraska, get married and produce me.

As I currently reside in Illinois, this state reminds me of her involvement in my development everytime I travel her highways, and of course visit the graves of my deceased ancestors.  I am blessed that I live so close to where I can walk the same ground my ancestors walked on.











Copyright © 2020 by Kevin W. Walker

A Lot of Hard Work for Little Reward? : The Essential Need for "Hope" in Genealogy

Presented here is the marriage record for my 4xg-grandparents Sylvanus Smith and Roxa Rich.  It is impossible for me to express the difficulty in locating it!  Note the groom is in the bride's place, and the bride is in the groom's place.  Note that Sylvanus's name has been made into a nickname and Roxa's first name is completely different.  Ugh!

And then, when I finally find the card, after all the hard searching, what is my reward -- all the treasured boxes are blank. :-(  Double Ugh.

But wait!  I did get a date, and from that I can search periodicals and local records.  I can research the name of the minister and find out his church, and look for records there.  Finally, I now also have alternative names for my ancestors to research with, especially Roxa's alternative name of Constant.

"Glass half full," you might say rolling your eyes.  Perhaps.  But I see potential and possibility!  "Hope" is essential to the hobby of genealogy.  It is a treasure hunt where we hope for the next big find, and are rewarded with little nuggets as we follow the trails.  Without hope there is no heart, and without heart, the only people willing (literally from human "will") to play the game would be paid professionals.

Copyright © 2015 by Kevin W. Walker

My Duttons in D.A.R. Lineage Book

From the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book (1900) --

MRS. NATALIE THOMPSON TUTTLE. 31055
Born in Perry, Ohio.
Wife of Henry A. Tuttle.
Descendant of Thomas Thompson, Major Richard Sinclair, Samuel Dutton and Joseph Call.
Daughter of Thomas Thompson and Carlista Adelle Call, his wife.Granddaughter of Moses Thompson and Rachel T. Dutton, his wife; Amherst Call (1804-69) and Olive Sinclair, his wife.
Gr.-granddaughter of Thomas Thompson and Ruhama Barrows, his wife; Daniel B. Dutton (1767-1813) and Lorana Smith, his wife;
Rufus Call (1769-1869) and Lydia Ellis Dutton, his wife; Joseph Sinclair (b. 1766) and Olive Coolbath, his wife.
Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of Samuel Dutton and Joanna Root, his first wife; Joseph Call and Mary Sanderson, his wife; Richard Sinclair and Mary Cilley, his wife.
Thomas Thompson, (1762-1828), was placed on the pension roll of Vermont, 1818, for service as private in the Massachusetts Continental line. He was born in Halifax, Mass. ; died in Stowe, Vt.
Samuel Dutton, (1737-1813), served as a private in Capt. Jesse Safford's Co., of Vermont militia. He died in Hartford.
Joseph Call, (1741-1821), served in the Vermont militia on guard duty 1777. He died in Perry, Ohio.
Richard Sinclair, (1731-1813), commanded a company in Col. Thomas Bartlett's regiment and was promoted major.  He died in Barnstead, N. H.
Also Nos. 509, 2134, 5669, 5551, 10757, 15335. 18497.

Copyright © 2011 by Kevin W. Walker

"Spider-web" Genealogy

From The History of Hartford, Vermont July 4, 1761 - April 4, 1889 by William Howard Tucker (Burlington, VT: Free Press Association, 1889) --

No longer than sixty years ago there was in one school district in Hartford six families whose total membership, parents and children, was ninety-nine persons, viz :—
David Newton and wife, and 16 children ;
Sylvanus Smith and wife, and 20 children ;
Samuel Dutton and wife, and 16 children ;
Philip Sprague and wife, and 12 children ;
Harvey Gibbs and wife, and 10 children ;
Daniel Benedict Dutton and wife, and 13 children :
number of children, 87. The number of other children in the same district at that time swelled the aggregate to nearly 120.

-- And then they all grew up and got married.  And then their children got married to what are effectively their cousins.  And then again to their second cousins.  And of course you must name some of the kids after yourselves, and their grandparents, and their aunts and uncles!  And if you tragically had a Rachel die while a toddler, well, no problem, you just named the next girl "Rachel."  Your husband die?  Well of course you married his brother, who was named after his father.  And if your wife dies, why of course you married her niece who was named after your sister in law, and whom you named two of your daughters after!

Then some day, over a hundred years later, a descendant like me comes along and must try to sort it all out.  I am sure it all made perfect sense to them back them, but for a researcher it is terribly confusing.  I haven't actually started the hard slosh, because I have done a cursory look ahead, and I dread it.  Mind you this is just a cursory look, but I note I am descended from three of the above families, and Sylvanus Smith at least twice.

Copyright © 2011 by Kevin W. Walker

Roxa Rich (1785-1868) in D.A.R. Lineage Book

Lineage book, Volume 23 by Daughters of the American Revolution --

MRS. ROMELIA M. QUAYLE. 22376

Born in Dover, Ohio.

Widow of William H. Quayle.

Descendant of David Foote and of Capt. Divan Berry, Jr., of Connecticut.

Daughter of Lyman Perry Foote and Ruth Berry Smith, his wife.

Granddaughter of Thomas Foote and Dema Perry, his wife; Sylvanus Smith and Roxa Rich, his wife.

Gr.-granddaughter of David Foote and Betsey Hamlin, his wife; David Rich and Ruth Berry, his wife.

Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of Divan Berry, Jr., and Lydia Yale, his wife.

David Foote, (1760-1851-4), served at various alarms in the Berkshire county militia, 1777-80. He was born in Lee, Mass.; died in Dover, Ohio.

Divan Berry, Jr., (1735-83), served as ensign at the Lexington Alarm, as lieutenant in the New York campaign, 1776. He was appointed by the Assembly, 1778, captain of the Sixth Company. He was born in Wallingford; died in Meriden.

Also Nos. 2501, 10348, 16606.

There you go ladies!  If your maiden name is Walker and you are my direct relative, you are very likely eligible for membership in the D.A.R. (Men are eligible for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution.)

Sylvanus Smith and Roxa Rich are my 4th great-grandparents.

Copyright © 2011 by Kevin W. Walker

Tombstone Tuesday, S.E.: Oakwood Cemetery Trip, Part 2

Oakwood Cemetery does not exist.  At least that is what my TomTom GPS says, we had to punch in the longitude and latitude to get it to work.

The trip down was fairly uneventful.  It was a hot and sunny day, and I got a little sunburned.  We were running a little behind schedule so the sexton Jerry had to cancel meeting us.  I must admit my heart beat just a little faster when we passed the sign announcing "Woodford County."  So many of my ancestors are from there -- the towns of Metamora, Secor, and Washington are continually appearing and reappearing in my research. 

I wouldn't exactly call the cemetery "beautiful."  There is almost no uniformity.  But it is very peaceful and restful.  It is extremely shaded by centuries old oaks, so the grass does not grow very well at all, but the overall feeling is one of comfort.  When we pulled into the cemetery we were greeted by FaG volunteer Jane who was there photographing gravemarkers for the website.  She was only too happy to show us the burial sites for our ancestors that we had driven to see.

We started at the Dutton family plot.  It is marked by a column with the names of eight deceased but is marked on the ground by at least nine graves. 

Dutton family monument in back, individual stones line up to the west facing each other.

 Jane had warned me that many of the markers at the cemetery were broken, missing, and even rubbed smooth.  In the case of the Dutton family plot, two were rubbed smooth, one was broken and missing, one was cracked.

We were able to identify six of the markers on the ground -- Norman J. Dutton (1810-1889), James M. Owen (1846-1883), Ella Dutton Rickets (1854-1887), Henry M. Dutton (1852-1853), Horace S. Dutton (1843-1862) and finally, drum roll please, Roxa Smith (1785-1868)!

Roxa Smith's marker with the Dutton monument in the back.  We believe the stone to the left is not a gravemarker but a cornerstone of some type.

Roxa's gravemarker was probably our biggest surprise of the visit.  A little backstory -- when I learned that the remains of Norman Dutton had been dug up in Kansas and reintered here in Oakwood Cemetery, Metamora, Illinois, I knew immediately there had to be a reason.  And I was correct, this was the location of the gravesite of his wife, my g-g-g-grandmother Nancy (Dutton) Smith (1812-1868), but not in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would also locate her mother, my g-g-g-g-grandmother Roxa (Rich) Smith!  We summize that Nancy must occupy one of the other graves with a smooth stone, or broken and missing stone.  The grave between her husband Norman and her mother Roxa is has the broken missing stone, our best guess that is Nancy because of the placement.

Another necessary comment about the appearance of the above stone.  The first time I saw one like it that Jane sent me I was horrified, I was just sure she was splashing the stone with bleach or hydrogen peroxide!  But she assured me that she felt as strongly as all of us that the stones need to be protected and she would never use anything that would harm them.  She uses shaving cream, smears it on, and then squeegee's off the excess, and when the rains come they wash off the rest.  Made sense to me, shaving cream is especially known for being gentle.  Well it turns out I found out after I got home that the use of shaving cream can also be harmful to the stones.  I didn't know then, now I do.

Anyway, more to come about our surprising and eventful trip to Oakwood Cemetery in part 3.

Copyright © 2010 by Kevin W. Walker

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

Amanuensis Monday: The Biography of Norman John Dutton (1810-1888)

(Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.  "Amanuensis Monday" is a blogging theme hosted by John Newmark at the Transylvanian Dutch Genealogy Blog.)

From THE PAST AND PRESENT OF WOODFORD COUNTY, ILLINOIS (LeBaron & Co., Chicago, 1878) --

DUTTON, NORMAN, farmer and
stock raiser ; Sec. 9 ; P. 0. Metamora ;
one of the early settlers of the county ;
was born in Lamoille Co., Vt., Feb. 14,
1810 ; he resided there until he was 23
years of age, and then came to Lake Co.,
Ohio, where he remained two years ; he
then came to Illinois, spending a year in
Morgan Co., and settled in Woodford
Co. in 1836 ; he was married Nov. 7,
1835, to Mrs. Nancy Dutton, of Morgan
Co., who was born in Canada ; she died
in March, 1868, leaving six children-
Louisa L.: Samuel S.: James H., Julia
E. ; the oldest two being the children
of her former husband ; Mr. Dutton was
married again June 6: 1869, to Miss
Maria Sleeper, who was born in
Hillsborough Co., N.H., Dec. 1, 1825;
he owns 100 acres of land valued at $6,400.

Before I found this entry, all indication was leading me to believe Norman was my direct ancestor, father of Louisa, my great-great-grandmother.  But this simple little paragraph provided me with two clues to a small little family research sidetrack.  The first clue was obvious, "the oldest two children were of a former husband."  Louisa was second oldest, she was not Norman's daughter!  So who was her father?  Second clue, her mother Nancy's surname is shown as "Dutton" the same as Norman's.  But her maiden name was "Smith."  Further research would show Nancy's first husband, and Louisa's father, and my g-g-g-grandfather was Samuel Dutton (1808-1835), Norman's older brother.  Nancy was widowed for seven months before marrying Norman.

Copyright © 2010 by Kevin W. Walker