Surname Saturday – Bookless

My great-great-grandmother Louisa Bookless is the ancestor closest to me with the surname of Bookless. She was born to David Bookless and Mary Cartmell in Coshocton, Ohio on April 13, 1834. She was the fourth of five children; the others were Anna, an unnamed infant daughter, William, and James Scott. In early Coshocton county records, the surname was often spelled Buckless. At the age of 5, Louisa lost her mother and at 12 her father. She was living in the James Rice household at the time of the 1850 census along with her older brother William. When she was 18, she married William Washington Werts. The couple had 2 chidren – my great-grandmother Mary Angeline Werts and George Wesley Werts. In April 1857, Louisa’s husband died leaving her with a 4 year old son and 2 year old daughter. Louisa sent her children to live with relatives as she was unable to provide for them.

Louisa married John Simon on April 28, 1861, and the couple had one daughter, Sarah Ellen Simon – my great-grandmother’s half-sister. Louisa died on July 26, 1912 at the age of 78. The obituary in the Coshocton Tribune on July 27, 1812 on page 8 is filled with errors. She is listed as “Mrs. Eliza Simmons” instead of Mrs. Louisa Simon. My great-grandmother often went by a shortened version of her middle name – Annie –  but she is listed as Anna, and her widower is not listed in the obituary even though he also lived with my great-grandmother. John died two years later. The couple are buried together at St. Paul Cemetery in Coshocton, Ohio.

David Bookless was born in Coshocton county in 1808 and only lived to the age of 40. While in Coshocton, David became it’s very first coroner as referenced by a news article in the Coshocton Tribune on May 6, 1952. Before he died, David moved to Iroquois county, Illinois – even though he still had minor children in Coshocton. Perhaps he went looking for work. He and his wife Mary are buried in the Bookless Cemetery in Iroquois county.

David’s father was William Bookless, and presently I do not have any documented information on him.

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Surname Saturday – Mullis

My most recent common ancestor with the surname of Mullis would be my great-great-grandmother, Amanda Eveline Mullis. She was born in North Carolina about 1833 to John Mullis and Darlett Stanley. She was the seventh of their eight children who included: Reuben, Nancy, Lucinda, Sophia, Dollie, Thomas, and Margaret. She was the last child born in North Carolina for shortly after her birth the family traveled from their home in Wilkes county, North Carolina to Rush county, Indiana.

Amanda was about 19 when she married my great-great-grandfather James Wilson Johnson in Rush county on December 26, 1852. Soon the family was blessed with children: Martha Emily, Clara (who died at 7 months), John Lafayette (my great-grandfather), Florella (who died at six weeks), Olive Belle, and an infant who died soon after birth on February 11, 1868. Almost six weeks later, Amanda died and was buried in the Little Blue River Cemetery in Rush county.

Although Amanda is my direct ancestor, she was not the only Mullis who married a Johnson. Her sister Dollie married James’ brother, John J. Johnson, on March 4, 1848 in Rush county. Dollie was eight years older than Amanda. She and John had five children: Ann Marie, Elizabeth Ellen, Mary Jane, Rosa Alice, and John Marshall.

Dollie and Amanda’s parents John and Darlett Mullis lived in Rush county for the remainder of their lives. John died in June 1863 at the age of 73 and Darlett died six years later at the age of 82. The couple are buried in Center Church Cemetery in Rush county.

John Mullis was the son of George Mullis and Margaret Polly Owens, born in North Carolina. There were 12 chidren in the family.

The name has also been spelled Mulles. I don’t have an origin for the Mullis family nor do I have information on George Mullis’ parents. For now, this is as far as I’ve been able to go on that line.

(Digital image of marriage record: Ancestry.com. Indiana, Marriages, 1810-2001 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Indiana, Marriages, 1810-2001. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
Gravestone: photographer Virginia Nuta, digital photo used by permission.)

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Surname Saturday – Lewis

In a previous article – Tracking Julia – I lamented that I could not be sure that my great-great-grandmother, Julia Ann Lewis House, was the daughter of Abel Lewis. That changed about a month ago when I found a news article that reported:

Mr. Geo. J. Lewis, daughter Julia, son and family, of Zanesville, were visiting his daughters, Mrs. Alex Jennings, Mrs. John Wagoner, and sister, Mrs. F. A. House, and other relatives.

BOOM! Happy dance! George Lewis was the son of Abel Lewis and Nancy Johnson Robinson. If his sister was Mrs. F. A. House (Florus Allen House), then that would mean that my 2nd great-grandmother was George’s sister.

Two things that I found very serendipitous about that small news clipping from the November 2, 1886 edition of The Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton, Ohio):

1. It lists George’s daughter, Julia but doesn’t list the name of his son.
2. It mentions that they will visit Mrs. F. A. House but the “other relatives” are not named.(1)

Today, I located a Quaker meeting record from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that mentions that Abel Lewis left that location many years previous to the date of record – 1808 – living in Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio and had married. (U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014, Provo, UT, USA, Haverford College; Haverford, Pennsylvania; Minutes, 1803-1812; Collection: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes; Call Number: JK2.6 : accessed 12 Mar 2012.)

In the Muskingum Marriage Records (database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18858-10888-51?cc=1614804 : accessed 12 March 2016), Muskingum > Marriage records 1804-1818 > image 59 of 135; county courthouses, Ohio.), Abel Lewis married Nancy Robinson were married on May 26, 1805 by William Newel, Justice of the Peace.

Now, if I can just figure out who Abel Lewis’ and Nancy Johnson Robinson’s parents are!

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Surname Saturday – Treat

Richard Treat, who came from England, has many notable descendants including: both Presidents Bush, John P. Morgan, Treat Williams, Tennessee Williams, and Thomas Edison. Treat, born in 1584, immigrated to Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut with his wife, the former Alice Gaylard, and their ten children. There has been much written about the Treat family and one predominant book is The Treat Family: A Genealogy of Trott, Tratt, and Treat for Fifteen Generations, and Four Hundred and Fifty Years in England and America, Containing More Than Fifteen Hundred Families in America by John Harvey Treat and published by the Salem Press Publishing and Printing Company in 1893 which is found online through Google Books.

Although, some online genealogies mention that Richard Treat was married to someone named “Joanna” prior to his marriage to Alice Gaylord on April 27, 1615 in Pitminster, England, there has been no documentation to support that. My ancestor, daughter Joanna Treat, was born just a few years after the marriage of Richard and Alice. Alice was still living at the time Richard’s will was proved in March 1669.

Wife, Alice, was the daughter of Hugh. Her surname at baptism was spelled Gaylaud and her father’s name is reported as Gaylard according to John Harvey Treat’s book. It has also been reported as Gaylord over time. Find a Grave lists her burial location by Richard in the Wethersfield Village Cemetery although a stone has not been located.

The photo above (Attribution: Derek Harper [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons) is of the church in Pitminster, Somerset, England where all of the children of Richard and Alice, including my ancestor, Joanna, were baptized.

Descendants of my 9th great-grandparents, Richard Treat and Alice Gaylard:

1. Honor Treat b. 1616
2. Joanna Treat b. 1618
3. Sarah Treat b. 1620
4. Richard Treat b. 1622
5. Robert Treat b. 1624
6. Elizabeth Treat b. 1627
7. Susanna Treat b. 1629
8. Alice Treat b. 1631/32
9. James Treat b. 1634
10. Katherine Treat b. 1637

My ancestor, Joanna Treat, was married to John Hollister in Hartford, Connecticut and  had eight children who were all born in Wethersfield. Their oldest son, John Hollister Jr., was my ancestor. Joanna Treat Hollister died in Wethersfield in October 1694. Her grave just like her husband’s is unknown although I’m sure it is somewhere in the Wethersfield area.

I’m excited that the church where my eighth great-grandmother was baptized is still standing. Perhaps someday I’ll be able to travel to England to visit this building and walk among the stones in the graveyard and pay my respects to other ancestors who are buried there.

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Surname Saturday: Feuerstein

Nicholas (Hans) Feuerstein, born on March 25, 1712 in the Alsace region of France, is my 6th great-grandfather on my father’s side. That area of France is next to Switzerland and Germany along the Rhine. He married Anna Nonnenmacher in the Berg Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bas-Rhin, Alsace.  She was born on August 2, 1711 in that region. The couple had ten children: Anna Catherina, Johan Nicolas, Johan Joseph, Eva Catherina, Rosina (my ancestor), Mathias, Maria Dorothea, Maria Magdalena, Michael, and Theobald. After oldest son, Johan Nicolas, was drafted into the French army, the rest of the family moved to Holland and eventually set sail for America on the ship “Peggy.” In order to pay for their passage, father and sons were indentured for a period of five years. The family is located in records of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Daughter, Anna Catherina (b. August 23, 1733) married Conrad Stautzenberger (b. about 1730) on June 3, 1754 in the Trinity Lutheran Church and died in 1769.

Son, Johan Nicholas (b. April 17, 1735) married Eva Catharina Schwab (b. about 1739) about 1761. They had eight children. Johan Nicholas died in 1807 in Virginia.

Son, Johan Joseph (b. May 7, 1737) married Catharina (LNU) (b. about 1735) about 1764. They had seven children. He died in January 1793 in Virginia.

Daughter, Eva Catherina (b. June 3, 1739) married John Stiffler (b. about 1739) before 1763. Her death date is unknown.

Daughter, Rosina (b. March 13, 1741) married Phillip Hoff/Huff (b. about 1743) before June 1, 1768. They had six children. Rosina died after 1810 in Virginia.

Son, Mathias (b. April 5, 1744) married Anna Maria Bieber (b. July 15, 1752) on April 4, 1774. They had fourteen children. He was also known as Johann Mathias as well as Mathias Firestone. He died in 1829 in Columbiana, Ohio.

Daughter, Maria Dorothea (b. either February 17, 1746 or 1747) married John Wall or Waller (b. unknown) before 1779. Her death date is unknown.

Daughter, Maria Magdalena (b. either March 22, 1749 or 1750) married Philip Emig/Emigh/Emich. Her death date is unknown.

Son, Michael, is listed as born on June 10, 1750 (which, if correct, would mean that Maria Magdalena was born in 1749) but no further information is known about this son.

Son, Theobald, (b. March 3, 1752) died about 1760 in Pennsylvania.

(Source of above information: Shirer Family Genealogy Project; Denny Shirer; Ancestry.com; hosted by Rootsweb; 2014)

This is the family from which Harvey Samuel Firestone (founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company) descended. (Wikipedia)

My line from Rosina Feuerstein:

Rosina and Phillip Hoff/Huff > Susannah Huff and (George) Peter Werts > George Peter Werts and Margaret Catherine Maple > William Washington Werts and Louisa Bookless/Buckless > Mary Angelina Werts and William Henry Amore > Lloyd William Amore and Ella Maria House > my dad and mom > me! (So that means I am related to the Firestone founder which explains why I get my auto repairs and new tires from our local Firestone! And no, I don’t get a family discount!)

 

 

 

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Surname Saturday – Adolla

ADOLLA

Dorothy “Dolly” Adolla is my 5th great-grandmother through my mother’s paternal side.  She was born in Germany in 1755 and married Jacob Blazer on March 28, 1799 in Pennsylvania. Dolly died (according to her headstone) on December 30, 1829 in Gallia County, Ohio. She is buried next to her husband in the Centenary Cemetery in Gallipolis in the same county. On the stone is the inscription for both of them “Born in Germany.”  The couple had twelve children: Phillip (my 4th great-grandfather), Maria, John Adam, John George, Christina, Margaret, Peter, Elizabeth, Christopher, Dorothy, Katherine, and Phoebe.  There are very few sources to prove relationships. There is a christening record for daughter Maria Phillippina Blaser (the name has been spelled both ways) for June 8, 1777 at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and for son J. Phillip Blaser at the same church on March 31, 1776 showing his birth to be June 16, 1775. I can only imagine what Pennsylvania was like during the birth of our nation’s Independence.

Sources:

Headstone, Find a Grave, www.findagrave.com, Memorial #78491612, User submitted information.
Christening Record for Maria Phillippina Blaser, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org, “Pennsylvania, Births and Christenings, 1709-1950,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V2VK-4PC : accessed 19 Jan 2013), Maria Philippina Bläser, 08 Jun 1777; citing reference , FHL microfilm 1305845.
Christening Record for J. Phillip Blaser, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org, “Pennsylvania, Births and Christenings, 1709-1950,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V2VL-W66 : accessed 19 Jan 2013), J. Philip Blaser, 31 Mar 1776; citing reference , FHL microfilm 1305845.

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Surname Saturday – Adams

ADAMS

1. Jeremy ADAMS was my 9th great-grandfather on my paternal side. He was born about 1604 in England. Henry Whitmore’s book, The History of the Adams Family, published by the Higgenson Book Company in 1893, gives a good deal of information about this man.  It reports that Adams arrived in America with Thomas Hooker and lived in Braintree, Cambridge and finally Hartford, Connecticut. His first wife, Rebecca Baseden, had previously been married to Samuel Greenhill.  The widow and Adams married in Hartford, Connecticut. When she died in 1678, and he married Rebecca Fletcher, widow of Andrew Warner, Jr. John ADAMS, son of Adams and the first Rebecca, became my 8th great-grandfather.  Jeremy ADAMS died on August 11, 1683 in Hartford and is buried in the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford. His name is listed on the “Founders” Monument. Further information concerning this man and his family can be found in the book Genealogies of Connecticut Families: From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1 by Judith McGhan, published by the Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983, page 5.

2. John ADAMS, born 1637 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut married Abigail Smith on August 24, 1657 in Connecticut.  She was born 1638 and died in New York after 1683. John and Abigail Adams are not to be confused with our second President and First Lady (they were born almost one hundred years apart). The couple had eight children: Rebecca (who I am descended from), Abigail, Sarah, Jeremiah, John, Jonathan, Thomas and Lydia. John Adams died on September 6, 1670 in Hartford.

3. Rebecca ADAMS,  my 7th great-grandmother, was born in August 1658 in Hartford and died before May 1726. She married Richard Risley in 1676 in Hartford. He was born August 2, 1645 and died in 1730 in Hartford. Eleven children were born to this union. Their son, Samuel, is my ancestor.

From Samuel to myself: Samuel Risley m. Rebecca Gaines; their son, Thomas Risley m. Elizabeth Burnham; their daughter, Rebecca Risley, m. Lazarus House; their son, Allen House, m. Editha Bigelow; their son, Florus Allen House, m. Julia Ann Lewis; their son, James Emory House, m. Frances Virginia Ogan; their daughter, Ella Maria House, m. Lloyd William Amore.  My dad is Ella and Lloyd’s son!

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Surname Saturday – Albrecht

ALBRECHT

Eva Albrecht is my 6th great-grandmother. She was born about 1718 in Virginia and married Daniel Stover before 1740. The children born to this marriage were: Catherine, Samuel, Daniel, David (who I am descended from), and Magdalina.

(I do not have documentation to support this information – on my to do list!)

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Surname Saturday – Aeder

In deciding which Surname I would begin my “Surname Saturday” posts, the only logical thing to do was start at the beginning – alphabetically!

AEDER

Catherine AEDER is my 5th great-grandmother, born about 1750 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and died before March 31, 1835 in Carrollton, Carroll County, Ohio.  Her parents are UNKNOWN.  Catherine married John Peter STERN on July 30, 1771 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

It is reported that the couple had ten children: Barbara, Catherine, Christian (my direct ancestor), Elizabeth, John, Martha, Nancy, Polly, Sarah, and Susannah.

(Disclaimer: I do not have any solid documentation about Catherine Aeder. My information comes from the FamilySearch ancestry file. Do not take this information as gospel until documentation is found.)

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