Saturday, March 27, 2010

Ellenor Kendall Campbell 1815-1898


Meet Ellenor Kendall Campbell, my husband's great, great, great grandmother! I feel like I know her well, though I actually know very little about her. I've spent time with her each day for the past month and was very surprised and thrilled to find this photo of her on Ancestry.com last night. I think it's unique to have a photo of a 3rd great grandmother. I personally have pictures of two great, great grandmothers, but not of any of my 3rd great grandparents.


Ellenor was born on Christmas Day, 1815 in Monongalia County, West Virginia. In 1837 she became the wife of Dennis Delaney Campbell, and by 1858 they had become the parents of 10 children. Around the year 1882 Ellenor and Dennis left West Virginia and moved to St. John, Stafford County, Kansas, along with her parents and four of her siblings. It looks like four of her children also migrated with the family to St. John, Kansas.


Their third daughter Catherine was born July 19, 1842. In 1867 Catherine married John Haught and the next year gave birth to a son, Lafayette, who, in 1887, married Priscilla Yost in Marion County, West Virginia. Lafayette and Priscilla had a daughter Rhea, who married Paul Lester Jamison in 1914. Paul and Rhea named their second son, who was born in 1917, Lafayette Richard, after her father. Lafayette Richard "Dick" Jamison married E. Irene Roberts in Waynesburg, Greene, Pennsylvania in 1939 and became the parents of son Richard Laird in 1940 and my husband Larry C. Jamison in 1946.  
Lafayette and Priscilla Yost Haught
Rhea Haught Jamison
Lt. Col. Lafayette Richard "Dick" Jamison

Larry C. and Becky (Margheim) Jamison

I wish I had a picture of Larry's great, great grandmother Catherine Campbell Haught to add to the direct line of photos above, from Larry to Ellenor Kendall Campbell, his great, great, great grandmother!

Friday, March 26, 2010

My 3rd Cousin is my Husband's 5th Cousin

I wish I could have met Owen B. Rowe. He was born in 1922 in Dighton, Kansas and passed away in 1974 in Scott City, Kansas. He and I share one set of great, great grandparents: Johann Becker and Ana Maria Martini. Their daughter Anna Maria Becker married Johann Mayer, and they had a daughter Matilda, wife of August Rowe. Matilda and August had a son Clarence who married Elizabeth Yost. Clarence and Elizabeth were the parents of Owen B. Rowe. There's nothing astounding about discovering that. But I was researching MY HUSBAND'S family when I found Owen.

During the past month I've spent countless hours researching members of my husband's extended family who migrated from West Virginia in the early 1880s to Stafford and Barton County, Kansas. I'm from Great Bend, which is the county seat of Barton County, so I've been drawn to these relatives of my husband who were early settlers of MY home territory. It's funny how we get "territorial" about our homeland. My husband was born and raised in Pennsylvania and had grandparents who resided in neighboring West Virginia. So I've wondered "What were a few of HIS relatives doing in MY county in Kansas in the 1880s?"

I recently met my friend Jill through our Ancestry.com trees and she is from St. John, Stafford County, Kansas. When she shared her ancestry with me, I discovered a distant cousin of my husband (Dr. Stephen M. Haught) who was married to a cousin of hers (Blanch Dixon). Last night I was exploring that family line more thoroughly. In tracking Stephen Haught's sister Jemima, I discovered that she married a Yost and I knew my husband had a great grandmother who was a Yost. I found that Jemima Haught Yost had a daughter Elizabeth who married Clarence A. Rowe. Their son was Owen B. Rowe! Do you remember Owen from my opening paragraph?

My RootsMagic software is so valuable in showing relationships, so I was able to determine that Owen's 3rd great grandparents, John and Catherine Snuiche Youst are also my husband Larry's 5th great grandparents. And Larry's 5th great grandparents Jacob and Elizabeth Funk Showalter are also Owen's 3rd great grandparents.  Owen is Larry's 5th cousin and also my 3rd cousin.

It would have been interesting to have known an individual who shared a bloodline with both me and my husband Larry Jamison!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Kendall Headstones: My Husband's 4th and 5th Great Grandparents


 Samuel Kendall, born 1749, died 1823 and his wife Mary Susanna Smith Kendall, born 1755, died 1808.

Samuel Kendall, born 1781 and died 1853 and his wife Mary Shuman Kendall, born 1789, died 1876.

Samuel and Susanna Smith Kendall are my husband's 5th great grandparents and are the parents of Samuel Kendall, husband of Mary Shuman Kendall, his 4th great grandparents. All are buried in the Jones Cemetery near Mannington, Marion, West Virginia. Their headstones and grave information are found online at the website for the West Virginia Cemetery Preservation Association, Inc.
I join the WVCPA in thanking Gianetta Hays for contributing the wonderful information on this site.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Phyllis Jean Jones Margheim
March 16, 1924 - February 24, 1997

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Special Screening: "Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America's Immigrant Hospital"

Attendees at the "Immigration Family History Expo" in Salt Lake City, March 8th will have the opportunity to see a special screening of author, producer and director Lorie Conway's "Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America's Immigrant Hospital". What an opportunity!

I'm not going to be able to attend this particular Expo because I live in Colorado and I'm saving up to attend the Expo in Loveland, CO in June. But I would benefit so much from the knowledge I could gain at this Salt Lake City event. My paternal grandmother arrived in America through Ellis Island in July, 1904, and I'm hungry for any further information and education I can gain about the Ellis Island experience.

If you're fortunate enough to attend this wonderful Expo, for the cost of the $45 registration fee you'll be able to hear such noted speakers as Fred E. Woods, Brigham Young University Professor, Arlene Eakle, PhD, president and founder of The Gernealogical Institute, Inc., Kory L. Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA, vice-president of ProGenealogists, Inc, and Holly T. Hansen, Founder and President of Family History Expos, Inc.

Exhibitors will be at this Expo to offer hands-on demonstrations and techniques and technology to help researchers trace your roots.

I'll be serving as a "Blogger of Honor" for this Immigration Expo, so please follow my updates on Facebook, my tweets on Twitter, my updates at Genealogy Wise, or bookmark this blog.

If you can't attend, read about this Expo and make plans to join us at another upcoming Family History Expo. You'll find them this year in (1) Salt Lake City April 12-17 for the Family History Libray Research Retreat, in (2) Loveland, Colorado June 25-26, (3) Kansas City, Missouri July 30-31, (4) Sandy, Utah August 27-28 and (5) Pleasanton, California October 8-9, 2010.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

St. John, Kansas On My Mind

Don't you love this photo? I "borrowed" it from my new Facebook friend Jill. I've accused Jill recently of contributing to my genealogy obsession by posting this photo and others that are similar on the "St. John Memories" profile at Facebook. I can hardly pull myself away from her photos and get to bed when it's so late at night.

It all started a few weeks ago when I got an email from Jill as she explained her connection to my family, as displayed on our Ancestry.com family trees. As I viewed our family trees, I was astonished to find that Jill was not only connected to a family in my tree, but also to my husband's family in two different lines. Jill is not technically my cousin, but I want her to be!

It was this tiny introduction to Jill that drew my attention to the St. John High Facebook profile and the wonderful photos that have been posted there in the St. John Memories album. The above photo is from that album and shows Jill's 3rd great-grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. James Jenkins in 1883 in downtown St. John, Stafford, Kansas.

I was born and raised in Great Bend, Barton, Kansas, which lies 19 miles straight north of St. John. My mother was born near St. John and her parents lived in Stafford, Stafford, Kansas, which lies 12 miles southeast of St. John. So this is my familiar home territory. But as I began researching my husband's family a decade ago, I saw that, while 99% of his ancestors were in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, one set of his 3rd great-grandparents lived, died and are buried in St. John, Stafford County, Kansas.

This kind of discovery has such an impact on me that I'm nearly just blown away. I'm a person who's easily impressed, easily struck by what other people call "coincidences".  After I enjoyed reviewing all the wonderful photos in the St. John album on Facebook, I went back to my husband's Jamison file in my RootsMagic database and studied his 3rd great-grandparents, Dennis Delaney (1816-1889) and Ellenor Kendall (1815-1898) Campbell. They were residing in their hometown of Monongalia, Marion, West Virginia in 1880 and were in St. John when the March 1, 1885 Kansas State Census was taken. So they were about 68 years old when they made the long trip from West Virginia to the dry, hot, dusty plains of central Kansas. In the 1880 census Dennis's occupation is listed as "farmer" but in the 1885 Kansas State Census he's listed as a "Wagonmaker". I haven't fully developed any facts on the reason for their move west, but I have some ideas that I'll post as I'm able to determine their validity. And while the people in the photo at the top of this story are my friend Jill's ancestors, I appreciate the picture, as it's representative of the St. John that my husband's great, great, great grandparents experienced in their Kansas residency. 

Saturday, March 6, 2010

What I Have in Common with Sarah Jessica Parker

Along with the thousands of viewers of the first episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?", I was intrigued by the story revealed to Sarah Jessica Parker of her 9th (?) great grandmother Esther Elwell, who was convicted as a witch during the witch hysteria in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts in 1692. Sarah J. Parker was relieved to know that her ancestor was not executed, however. As I watched her story unfold, I realized that Sarah and I have this in common: my 9th great grandmother, Mary Perkins (Mrs. Thomas) Bradbury (1614-1700) was also convicted, but not executed as a witch during the Salem trials in 1692.

This is my descendency from Mary Perkins Bradbury:
1. Thomas and Mary Perkins Bradbury to their son William (b. 1649) 
2. William and Rebecca Wheelwright Bradbury to their son William (b. 1672)
3. William and Sarah Cotton Bradbury to their son John (b. 1699)
4. John and Hannah Greeley Bradbury to their son Rowland (b. 1725)
5. Rowland and Mary Stevens Bradbury to their daughter Molly (b. 1760)
6. John and Molly Bradbury Burbank to their daughter Mary Burbank (b. 1779)
7. Onesiphorus and Mary Burbank Flanders to their son Jesse (b. 1813)
8. Jesse and Elizabeth Phelps Flanders to their son Lewis (b. 1849)
9. Lewis and Sarah McMillan Flanders to their son Milo (b. 1883)
10. Milo and Nannie Becker Flanders to their daughter Ruby (b. 1924)
11. Ernest and Ruby Flanders Margheim to ME, Mary Rebecca Margheim Jamison (b. 1947) 

The following brief article explains the events better than I can.

Mary Perkins Witch Trial Information
Source: "The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich, Massachusetts", by Geo. A. Perkins, M.D., Salem, 1882

"In 1692, Jacob Perkins’s sister Mary Perkins Bradbury was placed on trial for witchcraft. At the time, she was living in Salisbury, Massachusetts. Richard Carr's father had been a suitor of Mary before she married Thomas Bradbury. This led to a fifteen year disagreement with Mary and he probably influenced his sons’ and his son's friend in their testimony. Her reply to the indictment was as follows:

"I plead not guilty. I am wholly innocent of such wickedness through the goodness of God that hath kept me hitherto. I am the servant of Jesus Christ, and have given myself up to him as my only Lord and Saviour, and to the diligent attendance upon him in all his holy ordinances, in utter contempt and defiance of the Devil and all his works, as horrid and detestable; and have endeavored to frame my life and conversation in accordance with His holy word and in that faith and practice, resolve, by the help and assistance of God, to continue to my life's end. For the truth of what I have to say as to the matter of practice, I humbly refer myself to my brethren and neighbors that know me, and to the searcher of all hearts, for the truth and uprightness of my heart therein, human frailties & unavoidable infirmaties excepted, of which I bitterly complain every day."

All of the depositions against Mary were recorded in Seargent Thomas Putnam's handwriting except one. Richard Carr and Zarubabel Endicott testified that they had seen a blue boar come from and re-enter her yard and window. This was spectral evidence. Samuel Carr, Richard's brother also testified that he had seen Mary perched on the capstan of a ship at sea when things were going badly. William Carr testified that there was nothing he knew against Mary and referred to a broken love affair between the families.

Mr. and Mrs. Bradbury were prominent citizens and signatures of 118 of her friends and neighbors of a statement
"Concerning Mary Bradbury's life and conversation, we, the subscribers, do testify, that it was such as became the gospel: she was a lover of the ministry, in all appearance, and a diligent attender upon God' holy ordinances, being of a courteous and peaceable disposition and carriage. Neither did any of us (some of whom have lived in the town with her above fifty years) ever hear or ever know that she ever had any differences of falling-out with any of her neighbors, man, woman or child, but was always ready and willing to do for them what lay in her power night and day, though with hazard of her health or other danger. More might be spoken in her commendation, but this for the present."

This written testimony was not enough, as she was convicted anyway. By this time the Court of Oyer and Terminer had agreed not to execute any who plead guilty, but Mary had pleaded not guilty. She was convicted of witchcraft on 9 Sep 1692 and sentenced to be executed on 22 Sep 1692. Her husband and friends, including Jacob, broke her out of the Ipswich jail and she fled to Amesbury where she died two years later. The last convicted witch execution took place on 22 Sep 1692. Any remaining convicted witches (those that had plead guilty) had their sentences commuted by the governor. This was the end of the trials.


On 17 Dec 1711, the governor and council authorized payment to twenty-three persons condemned at Salem. Mary’s descendants received twenty pounds in compensation."

Now if I can just figure out how to get an all-expense-paid trip to the Massachusetts Historical Society and view all the original documentation regarding my great-grandmother's trial like Sarah Jessica Parker was privileged to do! But if anyone asks me "Who do you think you are?" after researching my family's history for the past decade, I can tell them, "I don't have to Think who I am, I KNOW who I am."