Sue Harris Moses

My mother-in-law died this week.  She was a wonderful mother-in-law and an exceptional woman.  I could spend hours telling her stories.  There are probably many of them on this blog.  Just put Harris in the search box to read some of them.  Here is the obituary from the Huntington, WV paper:

SUE HARRIS MOSES, 98, of Huntington, widow of Jackson F. Moses, died Jan. 23 in Woodlands Retirement Community. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church. Visitation will be one hour before service at the church. Donations may be made to the Marshall University Foundation or Hospice of Huntington. 

Here is the bigger one in the Huntington Herald Dispatch Friday, January 26:

SUE HARRIS MOSES, 98, passed away peacefully on January 23, 2018, at Woodlands Retirement Community in Huntington, West Virginia. Sue was born in Twin Branch, West Virginia, on September 29, 1919, the daughter of Hewitt Samuel and Mattie Lee Harris. Sue was preceded in death by her parents, her three siblings, Nora, James and Everett, her husband of more than 60 years, Jackson Fitzgerald Moses (founder of Moses Auto Group), and her son, Jackson Fitzgerald Moses II. Sue is survived by her two sons, Robert Lee Moses and his wife Nikki and John Steven Moses and his wife Doris of Charleston, W.Va.; her daughter, Barbara Sue Moses Cook and her husband Ted of Knoxville, Tenn.; and her daughter-in-law, Marsha Hawkins Moses of Huntington, W.Va.; and her 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Sue was a loving wife and mother and a delightful grandmother who amazingly never forgot a single birthday. Sue graduated from Welch High School in 1937 and then attended college at Roanoke Business College. Sue was the first of her family to graduate from college. After graduation, Sue worked for Appalachian Power as a bookkeeper while her husband, Jack, was overseas fighting as a Captain of the Ninety-Ninth Company Division of the United States Army in World War II. Jack and Sue met through a mutual friend at a dance, which Jack later said was the greatest day of his life. They married in 1943, while he was on furlough, and later honeymooned on his return in 1946, at The Hotel Roanoke. The $11,000 Sue saved during her seven years working for Appalachian Power while Jack was deployed served as the seed money to help Jack buy his first Lincoln Mercury dealership in Welch, W.Va., in 1947. Sue and Jack were active in their local communities. Sue was a longstanding member of Welch's Women's Club and was chosen to represent her chapter at the National Convention. Upon moving to Huntington, Sue became an avid bridge and tennis player and also excelled at needlepointing. She was one of the first members of her community to take up jogging and earn her 1,000-mile jogging award. She was an honorary member of Guyan Country Club in Huntington, W.Va., as well as the Bent Pine Golf Club in Vero Beach, Florida. Sue and Jack loved to travel and visited every state in the union. Sue was also a faithful congregant of the Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church in Huntington, W.Va., for more than 71 years. Her warm and caring nature coupled with her abilities as a talented cook made the Moses household a magnet for family and friends alike. She was a wonderful person who will be greatly missed. The family would like to express their gratitude to the staff and nurses at Woodlands and her devoted caregivers, Wanda Adkins, Gail McComas and Jill Hatfield, who helped her so much in her later life. Services to honor Sue's life will be held Saturday, January 27, 2018, at Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 513 10th Street, Huntington, at 11 a.m., with Rev. Terri Deane officiating. Friends and family may call after 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Woodmere Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Marshall University Foundation or Hospice of Huntington. Beard Mortuary is assisting the family.

Published in The Herald-Dispatch on Jan. 26, 2018

Sue in 1938 at National Business College In Roanoke, Virginia:

Sue's sailfish:














Sue with son, Jack on her 80th birthday:


Sue with Marsha and Jack's grandkids 2011:


Granny and Drew:


Granny and Sarah and Rudy:



Granny with Suzanne and Virginia:

McKinsey in Ohio and Indiana

This post is not only about my McKinsey family, but also the wonderful serendipity that this hobby brings!  Roberta McReynolds and I have had a long history of sharing information.  She researches a couple who married in Sullivan County, Indiana in 1820:  Eleazor Elmore and Rachel Elliott Elmore.  These are ancestors of her husband.

I research a couple who married in Warren County, Ohio in 1816:  Nehemiah McKinsey and Catherine Elliott.

This story is about the fact that neither of us would have discovered much of what we know about these families without the other person.

This week Roberta sent me copies of photos that had been sent to her by a relative of her husbands.  Not only is it a much prized photo of Nehemiah and his wife (called Kate on the photo), but it is further proof of the fact that Rachel and Catherine are sisters:





And the back of the photo:




Some of the many pieces of information that Roberta and I have shared over the year about this family line:

 Here is the original e-mail message that Roberta sent:

Hi Marsha,

I found your address on the Rootsweb Quaker site.

I am researching Rachel Elliott, b. Apr. 11, 1802.  She married Eleazar Elmore on May 29, 1820 in  Sullivan co. IN.  However, the marriage license records show that the license was taken out in Vigo Co. 

Their children that I know of were Abraham Elliott Elmore, Ruth, Mary Ann, Elizabeth Catherine, Ambrose Milton Elmore, Alfred, Johab and Eliza Jane.

Is she possibly a daughter of Abraham Elliott?   I thought since their first son was named Abraham Elliott Elmore that that was a good clue.  Have you ever heard of her?

Thanks so much for your time.

Roberta McReynolds

It turned out that I had found an abstract of the will for Abraham Elliott on a research trip to Indiana.  And I was sure of all of his children except for Rachel.  I descend from Abraham Elliot's daughter Catherine Elliott.  The question was:  Are Rachel and Catherine sisters?  Rachel is not mentioned in the abstract of the will.  

Later it turned out that I found 

Rachel was the only child not mentioned in the transcription of Abraham’s will.  The transcriber indicated that there was a hole in the document just after Abraham’s mention of his other three daughters.  She is not mentioned either later in the document when Abraham adds some more items that he wants his daughters to receive.  I can only guess that the reason for her not being mentioned is that her father had just given her wedding presents as she had just married the year before.  It is also possible that she had moved away while the other girls were living close.  

and from Roberta:

Rachel Elliott Elmore on the 1850 and 1860 census records puts her place of birth as Tennessee.  She was born in 1802. 

This piece of information led to my spending many hour on very fun research on Lost Creek MM in TN.  I even visited the Lost Creek MM a couple of years ago.  I wrote at least one blog post about this part of the Elliott family's migration from NC to Ohio and Indiana:

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-elliott-family-in-tn-lost-creek-mm.html

Traveling Church

After all of the many hours that I spent looking at the John and Mary (notlong) Hawkins family line and the Traveling Church, I am surprised that I don't find something about this event on my blog.  I suppose that the research done on this event was before my blogging days.  It is now looking as if I will eventually have to give all of these people up as possible ancestors or related lines as it is looking as if Family Group #2 of the Hawkins DNA project may be the connected family group.  However, I haven't yet absolutely for sure made that connection.   It is the daughter of this couple, Mary, who married Tolliver (Taliaferro) Craig and was the mother of the Craig children many of whom were a part of the Traveling Church.
I was looking something up today and much to my surprise couldn't find a link on my blog.  So this post is a place to organize my links and my information.  Below is part of what I have written in my data base for Lewis Craig (son of Tolliver and Mary Hawkins Craig).  I have taken this from the Franklin County, Kentucky website (see link):

Lewis Craig was born in Orange County, Va about the year 1737.  He was raised on a farm, receiving very limited education, and, in early life, was married to Betsy Landers.  He was first awakened to a sense of his guilt and condemnation about the year 1765 under the preaching of Samuel Harris.....there are several pages of information on his preaching in Orange....During a revival in Upper Spotsylvania, in  1776, over one hundred were added to its membership (referring to Dover Association) This church prospered as long as Mr. Craig remained with it in its first location....He was now in the vigor and strength of manhood--a little under 45 years of age.  He had been fourteen years in the ministry, had enjoyed extraordinary success, and had had a wider and more varied experience than most men have in a life-time.  

    Mr. Craig continued to serve Upper Spottsylvania church as pastor, til 1781 when he moved to Kentucky.  So strongly was the church attached to him, that most of its members came with him.  At exactly what time in the fall they started has not been ascertained.  But Mr. Craig was on the Holsten river on the road leading from his former home, by way of Cumberland Gap, to his destination in Kentucky on the 28th of September, 1781, for on that day, he aided in constituting a church at that point, then the extreme western settlement in Virginia.  

    Dr. S H. Ford, in the Christian Repository of March, 1856 says of Craig and his traveling charge: “about the 1st of December, they passed the Cumberland Gap....and on the second Lord’s day in December 1781, they had arrived in Lincoln (now Garrard Co.) and met as a Baptist CHurch of Christ at Gilberts Creek.  Old William Marshall preached to them, with their pastor, the first Sunday after their arrival.” ....there is more good information on Lewis Craig in this book.    

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ky/county/franklin/index/LewisCraig.html

 I am looking for lists of what surnames were represented among the group that formed the Traveling Church and found other links that I don't want to loose.

http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/travel.church.html

I actually bought a copy of Mr. Ranck's book via amazon just now so it should be in my library.  However, it is available on-line at the URL above.

In July of 2020, I was chatting with Roger Hardesty about our "twin blogs".  His post, ‘Condemned to a life eternal?’ at Hard Honesty, has lots of information about the traveling church that I did not already know

 http://rdhardesty.blogspot.com/2013/08/condemned-to-life-eternal.html

Jack's yDNA: Clark?

This past week, I had a bit of time to look at some DNA information.  Much to my surprise, I had missed the fact that Jack had a new 111 marker match!  This participant's surname is Clark.  And more exciting is the fact that his paper trail seems to connect him back to a Clark male in the 1700s.  So often these kinds of exciting new information end up connecting to an orphan or someone with no paper trail at all.  So I requested that Fay who is the administrator of the Clark yDNA project for FTDNA join Jack to the Clark project.  And the good luck of the New Year let me ask just as a new match to Jack had results that were just released.  And, oh WOW!, we are now a legitimate group in the Clark DNA project.

We are haplogroup R1b- Lineage 01 Water Oak.    The Water Oak title seems to be an arbitrary title assigned by the administrator.   So this morning I took a look at Jack's 11 closest matches at 67 markers and of those 5 carry surname Clark.  I plan to contact each of them and ask them to join the Clark project if they are not already members.  And begin to chat about their ancestry.  This may be a false lead, but it also might  a real step forward.  Only time and chipping away will tell!

Grandma Lou

My mother-in-law has always told warm and fond stories about Grandma Lou.  Grandma Lou was Louise Frances Woodson Harris who married Samuel Sterling Harris in 1882 at Allen's Creek in Nelson County, Virginia.  In 1971, I interviewed Grandma Lou's son, Hewitt Samuel Harris, at his home in Huntington, WV.  Here is what my husband's grandfather said about his mother:

  Pop Harris (Hewitt Samuel Harris) said that Louise raised 4 step-children, 9 of her own, and 4 grandchildren and had all of the family for Sunday dinner every Sunday.  He said that she was great. 

Samuel Sterling was in bed for five years at the end of his life and she waited on him.

   Louise Frances’s great aunts died and she went to stay with the Harris family and help when the first wife died and after that Samuel Sterling married her. Samuel Sterling's first wife was Eliza Jenning. She died 7 Nov 1881 and is called Eliza in the census of 1880.

 I found Samuel Sterling's death certificate and it has the word senility on it, so my guess is that Grandma Lou had her hands full before he died.

The family story was that Louise had lived with two maiden aunts after the death of her parents.  The two maiden aunts were so mean to her and made her get them dressed every Sunday for church that she never set foot in a Baptist Church the rest of her life.  She became a methodist.

I asked Fran about which Baptist Church the Routon women were likely to have attended and her answer was:

"Chestnut Grove Baptist, built in 1823.  I was there on Christmas Eve.  It is the church the Routon's belonged too."



Address:  

4639 Francisco Road
Appomattox,  VA  24522

More than 10 years ago, I came into possession of Bible pages that had belonged to Samuel W. Harris and his wife Nancy Apperson.  I wrote a blog post about these pages that you can read at:

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2012/08/harrisapperson-bible-pages.html

Buckingham County is a burned county, so the Bible pages are very important in establishing relationships between some of these Buckingham County families.  At the time Gregg Bonner was putting the pages and their explanation on the internet, Fran and I became buddies.  The pages established a link between her Harris family and the Harris family that I look at (my mother-in-law's).  Fran and I have chatted for many years.  I want to put down some of the thoughts that she has shared with me.  

Fran has told me that: 

Louise's father, James died of typhoid fever in 1862, the year she was born.  Her Mother Martha died in 1869.  

1870 census shows children in homes of the following Uncles:

Uncle James H. Routon caring for Richard and Louisa Woodson

Uncle George D. Woodson caring for George E. & Lucy Virginia Woodson in Appomattox Co.

Uncle Peter H. Routon caring for Samuel Woodson in Bedford Co

In the 1870 census Frances Louise is living in household of James Routon who is 50 years old.  Also in the household are Lucy Routon who is 76 (likely to be mother of James),  Eliza Routon who is 40, Finnetta G. Routon who is 30 and female, Richard Woodson who is 10 and Louisa who is 8.  This would have been right after Louisa’s mother died.  This is located in Francisco in Buckingham County, Virginia.  

Because of this census entry, Fran and I began to guess that the women Louisa had considered to be so mean were her  two old maid aunts, Eliza Routon and Finnet Routon.  Eliza was 40 in 1870 and Finnet was 30.

From Fran:  Marsha - I found a note where you and I corresponded and there was a note that Louise Frances went to live with the Harris family after the death of the aunts but that could not be true because she is not on the 1880 census for Samuel Sterling.  Her grandmother Lucy died in 1883, Eliza in 1895, and Finetta in 1928.  Louise married Samuel in 1882....  Thanks, Fran

 So I will change the story just a bit to say that Louise took advantage of the chance to get out of the household in which she was living sometime after 1880 to work in the home of Samuel Sterling Harris to care for his orphan children.  Soon after she and Samuel Sterling married.

I am rereading an older post while I work on this....take a look to see if I leave anything out:

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2013/11/woodson.html

Ok the big reason that I started a new post is that Fran sent me a map to show me where the Routon home was when Louise lived there.  It turns out that it is directly across the street from where Fran now owns property in Buckingham.  You can see on the map the xx is where Fran's property is located and the other side of the road is where the Routon home was located (only one x).  The dotted line is the path of Lee's retreat at the end of the Civil War.  April 9, 1865 would have been the date of the surrender.  So Louise (born 1862) would not have have been living in the house when the army made it's retreat.  Unless her mother moved back in with her own mother after her husband's death....But this would have been where she was living after her mother's death in 1869.  There is some family folklore that Louise was in the kitchen when the Yankees came through.  I might follow up on this story to see if the Yankees used the same road that Lee's army used in retreat.
  

Fran was kind enough to also send me a photo of the site on which the Routon home would have sat as it faced the road during the retreat of Lee's troops.  The site is shown on the previous map.

Alsace Lorraine ancestors and x match to mom

I am cleaning out my downloads today and found a chart that I had done for my mother.  It is about x-matches to her family finder autosomal DNA test on FTDNA.  Once I file this chart, I may never think of it again.  So I wanted to do a blog post to remember what I was thinking when I did this chart.

Mom would have received one x chromosome from both her father and her mother.  So some of her x-matches will come from her father's mother side of the family which are mostly families living in Eastern Kentucky or what would have then been southeastern Virginia (now WV).in the early 1800s.  But the ancestors that I am focusing on today are those who lived in the Alsace Lorraine are (sometimes in Germany and sometimes in France) until the late 1800s.   Through wonderful researchers who are on the Alsace Lorraine mail list, I have expanded what I know about these families in the last few years.

As a reminder, a male only receives an x from his mother.  He receives a y from his father and that is what makes him male.  So the blank boxes in the chart are ancestors who could not have given my mother an x.

 

the area directly from Alsace Lorraine. 

Harris family in Buckingham/Nelson/Amherst

It seems that every year I look at the Harris family one more time about this time of year.  I have to almost start from scratch as I seem to forget everything that I used to know .....but I do enjoy the search.  This year Fran shared a document that I find of great interest.  The document is from

Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters

http://revwarapps.org

This is a wonderful resource for information about the Revolutionary war.  Here is the document that she shared:

 Pension Application of William Harris S6956Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris. Revised 8 Sep 2011.At a Court of Monthly Session held for Nelson County at the Courthouse on the 22nd  day ofOctober 1832.State of Virginia }County of Nelson } SS.On this 22nd day of October in the year 1832 personally appeared in open Court before theJustices of the Court of Nelson County now sitting William Harris a resident of the County of Nelson inthe State of Virginia, aged eighty four years who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oathmake the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as hereinstated. He entered the service some time in the month of September in the year as well as he recollects1776 and served four months as a volunteer under the command of Coln’l Joseph Cabell, CaptainNicholas Cabell [pension application R1577] and Lieutenant Nathan Crawford he was first marched toRichmond and from thence to Williamsburg where he was discharged. he was not in any battle duringthat tour. That he was drafted some time in the month of April 1777 and served a tour of three monthsunder the command of a Colon’l Lindsey [sic: Reuben Lindsay], Captain Christian [possibly JohnChristian] and Lieutenant James Higginbotham, was stationed at the Mobbin Hills [sic: Malvern Hill 15mi SE of Richmond] where he was discharged, was in no battle during that tour. He was again draftedsome time in the year 1780 and served a tour of three months under the command of a Coln’l Richerson[sic: Holt Richardson], Captain James Pamplin, Lieutenant Joseph Staples and Ensign Thomas Smith hewas stationed near the same Morbin Hills and was there discharged. he was drafted a third time andserved a fourth tour of three months under the command of Capt. John Loving and Lieutenant AbrahamSeay in the year 1781 and was discharged at Yorktown shortly after the seige. he was present at the siege,but the Corpse to which he was attached was not actually engaged. he received regular and honorabledischarges at the end of each tower, but has lost them. he resided during the time aforesaid in the thenCounty of Amherst, now Nelson, where he has ever since and still resides. he marched direct from thesaid County to Richmond during each tour and from thence to the place where he was discharged. herecollects the number of only one regiment to which he was attached and that was the second Regimentof Virginia Militia. He has no particular acquaintance with any of the Officers of the regular army, butfrequently saw Generals Washington, Lafayette, [Anthony] Wayne and [Daniel] Morgan. he saw LordCornwallis surrender his sword after the surrender of Yorktown [sic: see endnote]. That he has nodocumentary evidence and knows of no person who can testify to the whole service herein stated, butthat a certain Joseph Matthews [S7179] can testify to his services of one tour.He hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his namein not on the pension roll of the agency of any State. Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaidWilliam HarrisThe following Interrogatories were propounded by the Court to the said William Harris the applicant towhich the answers thereto annexed were given.1 Where and in what year were you born?Answer. I was born in the County of Goochland in Virginia on the 13th day of July 1748.2 Have you any record of your age, and if so, where is it?Answer. I have an old Bible which is at home3 Where were you living when called into service, where have you lived since the revolutionarywar, and where do you now live?Answer. I lived in the County of Amherst which is now the County of Nelson and have lived there eversince.4 How were you called into service; were you drafted, did you volunteer, or were you asubstitute; and if a substitute, for whom?Answer. The first tour I volunteered. the three last I was drafted.5 State the names of some of the regular officers who were with the troops where you served;such Continental and militia regiments as you can recollect and the general circumstances ofyour service?Answer. General Washington, General Lafayette, General Morgan and General Wayne were incommand of the troops where I served. I have no recollection of the number of any regimentexcept the 2nd Regiment of Virginia Militia. There are no particular circumstances that Irecollect attending my service except my being within hearing of the firing when GeneralWayne made an unsuccessful attack upon the British army near James River, with greatdisparity of force.6 Did you ever receive a discharge from the service; and if so by whom was it given and what hasbecome of it?Answer. I received a discharge at the end of each tour, first from Captain Nicholas Cabell 2d fromCaptain Christian. 3d from Captain James Pamplin & 4th from Captain John Loving all ofwhich I have lost.7 State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighbourhood, and whocan testify as to your character for veracity, and their belief of your services as a soldier.Answer. William Allen & Joseph Matthews and many others.State of Virginia & }County of Nelson } towit:On this the fourth day of October one thousand eight hundred & thirty two Nathan Crawfordpersonally appeared before me James Woods Jr a Justice of the Peace for the aforesaid County and afterbeing first duly sworn sayes that himself and William Harris marched together from the County ofAmherst in the State of Virginia in the time of the revolutionary war and went below Richmond to theTown of Williamsburg where they served a short tower of duty as volunteers two companies of Militiahaving been regularly ordered out from the said County of Amherst the place which companies we filledand farther this affiant saith not. Sworn and subscribed to the day and year above affixed.Nathan CrawfordNOTE: Cornwallis, being indisposed, was not present at the surrender at Yorktown on 19 Oct 1781. Hedelegated the task to his second-in-command, Gen. Charles O’Hara

Fran suggested that this William Harris might have been our William who married Lurita Harris and was the father of Fran's William C. Harris and my children's Samuel W. Harris.  And my gut feeling is that she is right.  Why?  

First of all Fran had told me before that:

    * Information that I have on the parents of William C. Harris came from an interview with Monroe Anderson Harris when he visited his grandson in Missouri in the summer of 1898.   He gave the following information:

----- said the early Harris home was on a high bluff overlooking James River called Stony Point

Does the James River run through Nelson County?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 474 square miles (1,230 km²), of which 471 square miles (1,220 km²) is land and 3.5 square miles (9.1 km²) (0.7%) is water.^[9] The Blue Ridge Mountains form the northwest boundary of the county; the James River forms the boundary to the southeast. Internally, Nelson consists of the Rockfish, Tye and Piney rivers, along with many known creeks.  

So yes that entire boundary between Nelson county and Buckingham County is the James River.  

Have we looked for William Harris and wife Lurita Harris in Amherst County?  Nelson County wasn't carved out of Amherst County until about 1809 (doing that from memory now)

And in my blog post  

http://marshamoses.blogspot.pe/2013/01/the-samuel-harris-family-in-appomattox.html

I explain that Samuel Sterling Harris married his second wife Louisa Frances Woodson at Allen's Creek in 1882 and where Allen's Creek would have been located.  Of course, Allen's Creek could have been where the Woodson family lived.  But also it could have been located close to where the old Harris home was located.

And it does look as if there are a few hills around this area overlooking the James.  What do you think? 

After I wrote this blog post yesterday, Fran told me that she had information that her William C. Harris, Jr.  was buried on Sycamore Island.  I had trouble finding the location of Sycamore Island.  However, finally I googled Sycamore Island in Nelson County and found the following: 

 

It turns out that Sycamore Island and Allen's Creek are not at all close to one another.  If you look at the above map Sycamore Creek is where the red marker is pointing.  Allen's Creek is not on the map.  It is located west of Gladstone which can just be barely seen in the left, bottom corner.

So that theory is proven to be only wistful......