The Cramer puzzle

 I have been working overtime the last few years on my Morrison line that is found in Pittsylvania County, Virginia during the Revolution.  The main reason that I spend extra time on this line is that I have found a very enthusiastic and hardworking Morrison group that was already working together before I joined the group. 

I believe that my 4-gr-grandparents were Solomon and Elizabeth Hensley who moved to what is now Cabell County WV in early 1800.  Both of them died in this area where I still live today.  All of the old time researchers say that Elizabeth's maiden name was Morrison.  I can not find proof of that fact.  However, I do believe it to be true.  One of the main reasons I believe it to be true is that I have two dna matches to Ronald Bridges' mother and aunt and two dna matches to Valerie Morrison and her aunt and the grandmother of Melissa Smythe:  Willodean Marshall Smythe.  All of these matches almost certainly have to be connections to the h2 Morrison family.  I can find no other sensible connection.

But a second dna puzzle of interest has shown up that I am going to talk about on this blog.  I have tested probably 6 Hensley participants in the last 10 years.  The first one was Denny Hensley.  Both Denny and I were disappointed when his test came back with no match to any Hensley participants.  So I continued to test other Hensley men in our area.  And all of them matched Denny.  And all of them descend from the oldest child found in  Solomon and Elizabeth's home:  Samuel Hensley.  So I began to look for another participant.  And with the help of Mary Gordon Smith, I found a male who was willing to test who descends from the second oldest child found in the home of Solomon and Elizabeth:  Bird Hensley.  Bird is my ancestor.  And this kit results came back.  The results do not match those of the descendants of Samuel Hensley, but they also do not match any other Hensley results.

Solomon and Elizabeth Hensley were living in Pittsylvania County, Virginia when my ancestor, Bird Hensley was born c. 1810.  I know this because Bird enlisted in the army for 24 hours before they threw him out for being underage.  However, the records remained.  Bird knew where he was born.  I am certain that he gave correct information.  Solomon's parents are found living in Pittsylvania County on Potter Creek in the time period as well.....quite close to where the Morrison family are proven to be living in 1809.    

So several years later and a lot more research, I believe that Samuel Hensley was not the son of Solomon.  And I believe that Solomon was not a Hensley in spite of the fact that I have found parents for Solomon of John Hensley and his wife, Milly. who lived in Pittsylvania County during the Revolutionary War.  Somewhere in Solomon's ancestry there is a birth incident with a Foster Male and a Hensley female.  The Hensley and Foster families are found to be interconnected for many generations.  I find them together in Louisa County, Virginia in 1757.  I made this note on another blot (clear at the bottom of the page)

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2012/10/hensleyfoster-connections.html 

However, I would say that the majority of Hensley's in Cabell/Wayne Counties in WV descend from Samuel.  And now that I have looked for many years, I see that Samuel was about six years older than the rest of the children.  And I have found information in the Marshall Special Collections that Samuel was the half brother of Bird.  And in another place in the Marshall Special Collections that Samuel was the son of Solomon's first wife by another man.  I can not make either of these ideas work.  But I am working on this puzzle at this time.  

So first, the men who have done yDNA testing for me who descend from Samuel, match a small number of miscellaneous surnames....none make sense.  Second, The Marshall special collections suggest that Samuel was actually Samuel Cramer who was adopted by Solomon, raised in Solomon's home, and given the Hensley surname. 

Samuel's was not Solomon's son.  

One of the Hensley men who did yDNA and family finder testing for me is Jack Hensley.  Jack is a descendant of Samuel.  Jack's family finder shows clear connections to the Morrison family with matches to several Morrison participants.  Jack also matches me and my mother.  However, this is not clear indication that he might be Elizabeth Morrison Hensley's child as he has another Morrison connection in his tree.  But Jack's family folklore says that his however many gr grandfather's was a Morrison adopted by a Hensley.  So I have looked at the possibility that Samuel (Cramer?) Hensley might have been Elizabeth's child that she brought into the home when she married Solomon.  Samuel does not seem to have a male Cramer's yDNA. 

Nothing seems to work perfectly.  This past week  I began looking at possible Cramer connections.  I pulled up Trees on Ancestry that had Cramer/Kramer in their branches.  And one tree stood out.  It is owned by Brandon Joyner.  I have sent him a message.  Much to my amazement, Brandon shows the following in his tree:

The Kramer/Cramer family were right there as well according to Brandon's tree.  I became quite excited about the fact that Johann Christian's son, Samuel was almost certainly living there before his move to Georgia where he married Jenny Brown in 1806.  Samuel (Cramer?) Hensley was born almost certainly in Pittsylvania County in 1804.  I am quite puzzled at this point.  My descendants from Samuel (Cramer?) Hensley do not seem to have a yDNA match to a Kramer/Cramer male.  So my next step is to look to see if there are Kramer/Cramer yDNA results for this family line.

And that is my puzzle.  If you have any ideas for me, e-mail me at mosesm@earthlink.net

The Clendenin Massacre

 While working on another project, I found a great account of the Clendenin massacre with wonderful photos:

https://scavengeology.com/the-site-of-the-clendenin-massacre-on-the-big-levels-of-greenbrier-county-1763/

Grandma Lou

 My mother-in-law lived next door to her Grandma Lou in Davey WV.  Ada Sue Harris Moses loved Louise Frances Woodson Harris very much and told many stories that were connected to Louisa Frances Woodson Harris.  My niece, Meredith Moses Titus, has received an invitation to the Colonial Dames of America.  Lynn Goldsmith and I have promised to do her papers for her and we are working on just that today on this cold, snowy February day.  Another member of our Colonial Dames group used Obadiah Woodson as her ancestor, so we know that if we can get the proofs back to him, we will have no problem proving the service of the ancestor.

The family folklore is that Louisa Woodson was an orphan at a young age as her father died of Typhoid fever at Winchester Virginia during the Civil War and her mother died only a few years after.  I have found Louisa in the census in her grandmother's home along with her brother Richard and two maiden aunts and an uncle in the 1870 census.....and they fit the story quite well as the story says that the old aunts were so mean that Louisa wouldn't set foot in a Baptist church for the rest of her life.   Louisa had moved into the home of S.Sterling Harris when his wife died to take care of his children....and then married him and raised his first four children as well as the nine children they had together and then raised another four grandchildren.....

Louisa's parents in my data base are James Woodson and Martha Jane Routon.  And I have lots of good information ......including the service records for James that tell that he died in Winchester, Virginia that I found on Fold4.  But today we had a major surprise.  Working together, Lynn and I found the marriage record for Louisa and S. Sterling and it says that her father was GEORGE Woodson.  Phooey!  A mystery to solve!  Here is the marriage record:

and a close up of the actual record:

The date is 3 September 1882.  And it is in Register 3 of the Amherst marriage record book on page 120

You can see it for your self on family search at: 

 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XF-FZ9M?i=306

Suddenly, new information names Louisa's father as George rather than James.  Phooey!

It isn't such a surprise that the couple married in Amherst County, Virginia.  After the death of S.Sterling's first wife, Louisa moved into his home to care for his children.  While she was from Buckingham County, Samuel Sterling was from Appomattox and the Couple were married at Allen's Creek.  On a previous blog post written several years ago I showed that the place of marriage was very close to all three counties.

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

Ok...now I need to solve the mystery of the REAL name of Louisa's father.  And at the end of the day I have a theory.  When Louise and S. Sterling Harris, Louisa was only 19.  I believe it possible that she needed to take a permission with her to the place where she and her betrothed would marry.  I have googled and googled and about the only piece of information that I found was this:  

Hi Jeanette Yes you are right, the legal age of consent was always 21 so they did need permission to marry before that. With permission a girl could marry at 12 and a boy at 14. This was changed early last century, I don't know the exact date but 1920's or 1930's it changed to 16 for both sexes with permission, 21 without. Later again last century it changed to 18 without permission 16 with permission. Dianne

Louisa's parents were both dead by then.  So she asked her older brother, George to write a note for her.

When she presented the note to the justice of the peace or who ever was doing the marrying, he wrote the name of the person giving permission into the blank for father.  Perhaps the wedding couple even encouraged him to think that it was Louisa's father if they weren't known by the man presiding over their marriage.  

I have spent time today looking for possible George Woodsons who would fit as possible parent for Louise with no success.  James Woodson on the other hand is a perfect fit for my children's genealogical family folklore.  I believe there is not doubt that the husband of Martha Jane Routon and the father of Louise Frances Woodson Harris was James Woodson.  

The following is added several days later:  In the 1860 census there is only one George Woodson in the entire county of Buckingham.  That is Louise's brother George who is 6 at the time and living in the household of James and Martha.  Frances Louise has not yet been born.  It is very clear to me that at the time of Frances Louise's marriage her brother, George, is acting as her guardian in giving permission for her marriage. Louise is found in George's household in the census of 1870 and is identified as sister.

There was one more sibling to Frances Louise who had been conceived but not yet born at the time of this census: 

 Samuel Thomas Woodson (b. August 30,  1860, Buckingham County, VA;

d. September 28,  1952, Pike County, MO; bur. Curryville Cemetery,

Pike County, MO)

From Damon Woodson:  1 Samuel Thomas Woodson (never married and appears to have gone to live with Uncle Peter Routon after orphaned and they all moved to Pike county Missouri)

Damon sent me a death certificate for this man from Missouri.  I have filed it in Woodson in genealogy documents.  The informant named Martha Jane Routon and James Woodson correctly as parents.

 Virginia is the oldest child in the family and lucky for me, when Virginia died, the informant names very clearly the her parents.  Virginia had married 

Married November 30,  1875, Appomattox County, VA, to

Henry M. Brown 

I am quite satisfied with the relationships of these orphans of James Woodson and his wife, Martha Jane Routon.

We solved the mystery of why George is said to have been Louisa's father.  In the 1880 census, Louisa is shown living in George's home with George's young family.  Louisa is clearly named as sister to the head of the house.  However, when Louisa and Samuel Sterling Harris got married in 1882, Louisa was under age and needed permission to marry.  George acted as guardian and gave the permission and was entered into the official document as father.

Francis Gaines Hawkins

This weekend I did Vogue Live most of the weekend.  So my genealogy was limited.  I found myself doing easy "stuff".  And one of the most mindless, easy stuff in genealogy is to browse through the public trees.  So I concentrated on Francis Gaines Hawkins.  And this blog is where I am going to put my thoughts while I continue to do this.  

The first idea isn't really about Francis Gaines Hawkins.  I am cleaning a bit today and want to put the Forks of the Elkhorn Church book away.  On page 249 Ermina begins the small section about various Hawkins family members with this paragraph:  

Hawkins:  Thought there were many branches of the Hawkins Family in this section, space can be given to only a few of the most widely connected,.  The early records show Elisha, Reuben, Moses, Arculous, Thomas, and so many Williams that they were designated as "Black Head Billy", "red Head Billy", Cooper Billy", "green River Billy" and Post and Rail Billy".  And then the author goes on to explain various facts about many of these Hawkins men.  I may want to copy this information into this spot one day. 

William Hawkins, my 5-gr-grandfather

 My huge breakthrough in finding the father of Thomas R. Hawkins leads next to thinking about the grandfather of T.R.  The consensus of opinion is that the father of James Hawkins (father of T.R.) was William Hawkins who married Elizabeth Bourne.    

I have done the research on the children of Benjamin and Sarah Willis Hawkins.  This was low hanging fruit that I worked on many years ago.  Benjamin and Sarah had four sons.  Benjamin Jr married Nancy/Ann Bourne, James married Jane Bourne, and William married Elizabeth Bourne.  These women were sisters and were the children of Andrew Bourne and his wife Jane Morton.  Son Moses married Susannah Strother.  Moses wrote a will.  He died in the Revolutionary war at the battle of Germantown.  The paper work that was thus created about the care of his children made it quite easy to sort this family out.  There were in addition to the sons, five daughters.  I have information about them, but am not going to share it in this post as this is a post about one of the sons.....William.....my ancestor.

I know almost nothing yet about the early years in which William and Elizabeth were raising their family.  When Andrew Bourne wrote his will in 1788, Elizabeth was already deceased and he says so in the will.

Here is a transcription of the will of Andrew Bourne (taken from http://www.sherrysharp.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I91849&tree=Roots)

• WILL OF ANDREW BOURNE WILL BOOK C. PAGE 357, 1790.
  Culpeper County, Va. COPY
  
  In the name of God, Amen, I Andrew Bourne of the county of Culpeper being sound of mind, do make this my last will and testament: Viz. Imprimis. I give my soul to God and my body to the grave in hope of a resurrection to eternal life through the merits of a redeemer.
  
  Item: I give and bequeath unto the children of my dau. Elizabeth Hawkins, deceased, James and Winnie and increase to them and their heirs forever.(Wm. Hawkins DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Anne Hawkins, during the life of the children of Jude that died in her possession and increase and at her death equally divided between her children and her heirs. (Benjamin Hawkins DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my dau. Sarah Price during her life, Molly and increase and at her death for them to be equally divided between her children and their heirs forever. (Col. John Price. DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Jane Hawkins, during her life, Winnie, wife of Bill and increase and at her death for them to be equally divided between her children. (Capt. James Hawkins of Orange County, Va. DGB)
  
  Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter, Frances Newman, Dinah to her and her heirs forever. (Ensign Alexander Newman b. Oct. 11, 1740 Orange County, Va. he was her first cousin as their Mothers were sisters, Jane Morton Bourne; and Elizabeth Morton Newman, DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Judith Zimmerman, during her life Nell and her heirs forever. (Frederick Zimmerman, Esq. of Culpeper County, came to Jessamine Co. Ky. DGB)
  
  page two WILL OF ANDREW BOURNE WILL BOOK C. P. 357, 1790 CulpeperCo., Va.
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Polly, during her life, Terry, FAnne and little Dick an increase to be divided between the heirs of her body at her death. But if she should die without issue of her body to be equally divided. between my two sons, Andrew and William. (married George Newman Sept. 10, 1790, marriage Book - page 70. Culpeper County, Va. DGB)
  
  Item: I lend unto my wife, Jane Bourne, during her life Milly, Judge, Tom of old Lackey and Simpson, her my wife by will or otherwise at her decease to give the said Negro to my daughter, Frances Newman, or any of her legal children, she may choose in case she should fail to give them to my daughter Frances
  
  Newman, or her grandchildren, by will or otherwise. Then they shall be equally divided between my two sons Andrew and William.
  
  Item: I give and bequeath to my son Andrew Bourne, Kuffy, George and Fielding to him, his heirs forever, and in case he should die without lawful issue of his body then for them to be divided equally between all my children. (Wm. Bourne married Elizabeth Robertson, dau. of Wm. Robertson; she died and he married 2nd Eleanor Bourne, his first cousin, daughter of John Bourne. DGB)
  
  Item: I give and bequeath- to my son, Andrew Bourne, all my land whereon I now live together with all my flat ground land which I bought of Alexander Spottswood to him and his heirs forever, provided he pays unto my executor or executress, hereinafter named, the sum of L 100 for the discharge of my debts after my death, and in case he should fail to pay the above said L 100 when demanded from them, my exrs. or exrts., are hereby impowered to sell and convey the whole of any part of said land to raise the said sum of 100 pounds for the purpose of discharging my debts. (Wm. Bourne m. Mildred Helms. DGB) Page 3 Will of Andrew Bourne, of Culpeper County, Va.
  
  Item: It is my further will and pleasure that all of my personal estate be equally divided between my wife, my son, Andrew and my son, William.
  
  Lastly, I constitute and appoint William Morton and William Pannell, to he the executors of this my only will and hereby revoke all former wills by me or at any time heretofore made and declare this to by my last will and testament; in witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this 22nd day of August in the year of our Lord 1788.
  Signed, sealed and-acknowledged in the presence of John Bourne; Benjamin Thornton, Reuben Newman and William Bourne.
  
  At a court held for Culpeper County, the 18th day of Jan., 1790, the last will and testament of Andrew Bourne, deceased, was exhibited to the court by Wm. Morton, one of the executors therein and was proved by the oath of Benjamin Thornton and John Bourne two of the witnesses thereto and in order to be recorded and on motion of the said executors, certificate is granted him for attaining a probate thereof in due foam; he having made other thereto and gave Bond and Security according to law. Liberty being reserved for the other executor to quality when he shall think fit. Teste: John Jameson CCC.
  findagrave

[In looking for the will, I came across an URL that I don't want to loose so I will put it here to look at another day: 

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/taliaferro/1534/ ]

Now, I know who Elizabeth and William's children are because of a document that I saw many years ago. I was negligent when I made my notes and did not say which county.  Other researchers tell me that it is Jessamine County.   I will add that fact at a later date:  

Deed Book B. Pg 328 John, Benjamin, and James Hawkins, Polly Barnett, Willis Hawkins, and Sally Hawkins children of Elizabeth Hawkins daug of Andrew Bourne of Culpeper Co, VA to our brother Moses Hawkins P of A to recover slaves left us by our grandfather, Andr. Bourne: Feb 1808 s and ack. by John Barnett and Willis and Sally Hawkins only and rec. same.”

So what do I know about William so far?  He grew up in the home of Benjamin Hawkins and his wife Sarah Willis Hawkins.  He and his brothers seem to have been adults during the Revolutionary War.  He married Elizabeth Bourne and had seven children with Elizabeth.  Elizabeth died before 1788.  But a new piece of information has come to light.  Elaine actually sent it to me a while ago, but my year has been busy and I only this week began to look at William.  The information is from the British Mercantile Claims.  I asked Elaine to send a photo of the explanation of what the British Mercantile Claims were from the Virginia Genealogist that ran copies of these documents in the 1900s in case anyone who is reading this is not familiar with these notes:

The document that Elaine has sent me is from the Virginia Genealogist

William Hawkins was not a Junior.  His father was Benjamin.  However, it is possible that there was an older William Hawkins in the area that the report was trying to differentiate.  But this is indeed a question in the information.   I also do not believe that William was living on the Green River in Kentucky.  He is said to have lived in Jessamine County.   I am starting to have doubts about my theory.  Dolly Gaines is said to have died in Barren County in Kentucky.  The Green River would be closer to Barren rather than Jessamine.  I need to look at the son of William Hawkins and wife Dolly Gaines:  Francis Gaines Hawkins to see what I can find out about him.

Is this the right William....go back up to read Andrew Bourne's will, you will see that Sarah Bourne is named as Sarah Price in the will and that the person who put this will on the internet believed Sarah to be married to John Price.  But then I have the doubts from the previous paragraph.  

Ok....I am going to put bits and pieces in next of possible facts.  From a website I have found that William was born 1749 and died in Jessamine County, Kentucky in 1836.  I will start with these dates to just limit the William Hawkins' that are in the "books".  

In the Deed Books of Culpeper County there is a William Hawkins and Elizabeth his wife selling land 10 OCt 1764.  If the date for his birth is close to being accurate this is not my William and Elizabeth as William would have only been 15 at the time....not likely to have been married.  I will not copy this deed until I have worked on birth date a bit.  The question in my mind is who could this couple be if it is NOT my William and Elizabeth?  Again in 1760 there is a deed in which William Hawkins is buying land in Culpeper.  And one more in 1765 in which William Hawkins is named as having a cover near Devil's Run to land being conveyed by James Sims of Culpeper County to his son Robert Sims for love, good will and affection. and for his better support and maintanance.  1765  I have filed the transcriptions for these deeds in a "basket file" in my closet in folder labelled Culpeper County.

Ode to Mary/Polly Bickers Hawkins and Abigail Moore Thomas

These two women are among my favorite ancestors even though I do not descend from either of these women.  Neither women were blessed with children of their own.  I think about it often.  It must have been disappointing as over the years no children were born.  Both of them had husbands who loved them very much.  No children did not change their love.

Both of these women were on my husband's side of my tree.  Both of them had very full lives.   

Catherine Elliott McKinsey

I wrote a post for Memorial Day more than two months ago that I liked so much, I had trouble writing a new post that would cause my Memorial Day post to move down to get hidden among my miscellaneous posts which have no order.  But I had a dna match get in touch with me last week.  The two of us share Catherine Elliott McKinsey....she is 4-gr-grandmother to both of us.  And I wrote an e-mail to her that had so much information in it that I wanted to preserve it by putting it on my blog.  This e-mail is a "road map" telling an overall view of my Elliott family.  One can then use the search box on this blog site to pull up more specific posts about the Elliott and McKinsey family.  Here is part of what I wrote to her:

 I know lots and lots and lots about this family and I am happy to share!  Let me start by sending you links to blog posts that I have written over the years….and then you can ask questions about what I need to clarify.  I am not the best to go back and edit my old posts, so I always appreciate having people ask for clarification if I haven’t made something clear or if I have done more research since the original post. 

Put Elliott in the search box….that will pull up posts that have the name Elliott in them.  And since I don’t know how much you know about this family line I will give you a quick road map,  My best tree is on Ancestry….you can get to it by clicking on the link on my blog home page.  If you are not a member of Ancestry, let me  know and I’ll send you an invitation.  I have been told that the link to my Ancestry tree on my blog site doesn’t work if the person clicking on it is not an Ancestry member.  And I do have an adequate tree on MyHeritage as well if you want to look there….everything I do is PUBLIC….I want to share with as many people as possible anything that I know!  I love these ancestors and I never get tired of telling their stories…and if at any time you need instant help with anything, my phone number is 340-638-3348….you might text if you are unable to get me so that I know who it is who is trying to get in touch.   

The earliest Elliott ancestor in my tree is 

The first I will start with is John Ellot/Elliot born about 1665 (dates are of my own deduction) and died in 1693, Kingsessing, Chester Co. Pa.  

It is this John Ellot’s grandson, Jacob who moves his family in the mid 1700s to what is now Randolph County, NC.  They live on Polecat Creek until the Revolutionary War when Jacob moves his family to Virginia for safety as he is a staunch Quaker and is trying to stay totally out of the Revolution.  This is one of my favorite genealogy stories….if it is not readily available on my blog, ask me to find it for you!  

After the Revolution they move back to NC.  I haven’t done the research to know exactly the sequence of events….but I guess that Jacob and Elizabeth die in Randolph County and the children begin to move from NC.  The Quaker families moved en mass in the first decade of the 1800s out of the south and into the non-slave states of Ohio and Indiana….However, Jacob’s children stop first in TN at the Lost Creek MM…..and then move again to Ohio and Indiana,

Catherine’s father, Abraham, actually moves his family to Indiana near what is now Richmond, Indiana.  But during the war of 1812, he moves his family back to Warren County, Ohio for safety from the Indians….and it is here that Catherine meets Nehemiah McKinsey and they are married.  After the war, Nehemiah who is not Quaker receives bounty land in Indiana for his service during the war….and Abraham accompanies his daughter and her husband and takes all of his other children except for Abner who has married Hannah Stubbs.  Abner moves to Prebble County, Ohio and lives with the Quaker families in that area who are the friends and neighbors of his wife. 

Abraham dies in Indiana…..I think in Vigo County….and Nehemiah and Catherine move from Vigo County to Clinton County by the census of 1850.  I descend from their oldest child:  Andrew Jackson McKinsey.  A.J. has a wife who dies young leaving him with three young children.  He leaves these children with his parents and goes to California as everyone is doing in this time period.  The children are totally raised by his parents and I know very little about them as I descend from A.J. and his second wife who he marries in California.  My Grandmother was 4th generation Californian when she met my grandfather and moved back to the East to marry him.  He moved her to Huntington WV where I live today…..and my father was born in 1924 here in Huntington.  

Ok…..that is the road map.  Ask any questions that you have.  Marsha Hawkins Moses

PS.  I have equal amounts of information about the McKinsey family and when you are ready to hear those stories, I’ll give you a road map for the McKinsey and Moore side of the family,  And Also if I mention documentation, I am happy to send that to you as well…I have most of it digitalized so it isn’t hard.