Monday, December 17, 2012

Lost and Found

This is a new type of post for my blog, and I know I have been absent from the blog for awhile, I'm still digging and discovering new things though! 

The other day a photo request came in from Find A Grave for a local family cemetery I had never heard of. Where I live is not where I grew up, but I've been here more than 20 years now, so the place has really taken me in, as many transplants may understand. As I read the description of the cemetery itself, I became intrigued. My husband was born and raised here and I read the description to him in case he would remember anything, then we pulled up Google Maps and zoomed in to the area we thought it was describing.
as you can see, the little wooded area where the cemetery is located is surrounded by modern life. It is snuggled in between a motel, what used to be a restaurant, a medical lab, doctors offices, then in the back, a new housing development. 

The description said the cemetery was behind  a place that used to be a restaurant called The Briarpatch. I have not been here long enough to remember a restaurant by that name. My husband remembered it, but I asked my local friends on Facebook if they remember it, and to confirm my husband's recollections. Looking on the maps, and zooming into the suspected location, we could see that development was closing in on the location, but there was still a small wooded patch right where we suspected the cemetery might be. Though many of the locals remembered the restaurant, none recalled knowing of a cemetery behind it. Between the encroaching of society and the lack of knowledge of the locals of a cemetery being there, my husband and I began to wonder if any remains of the cemetery even still exists.
The next couple days were a bit busy for us, but yesterday we needed to go get some groceries. The location in question is not far from where we live (maybe a half mile or so away), so we decided to drive by and at least look to see if there were any signs of a cemetery remaining. We drove around to the back of the building that used to be the restaurant, a paved drive allowed us to drive right to the back. We walked into the small overgrown wooded patch, with my camera at the ready.

the small wooded patch as it looks from the back of the former restaurant

 It only took a moment to find a small cluster of stones laying on the ground. A small stone was marked simply "mother", a large stone near it, laying face up, still had inscriptions mostly readable. I took some pictures, after we brushed some of the dirt and vegetation off. But, It would be easier to read if we could go back and clean it up some more, and maybe use some cornstarch to help bring out the markings.

Cluster of stones where small "Mother" stone and stone for Garland  Withers and his wife Sarah Morrison were found. We did not see markings on the 3rd stone seen here. 

Garland H. Withers born ___ 26, 1810 (?) Died Sept ___1889 (?)
His wife Sarah C Morrison Born July 20, 1818 (?) Died  Aug 14, 1891 (?) 

Mother

Another stone, not far away, obviously broken, only had partial markings still visible. We could see it said Elizabeth, but no last name, and not real sure we can make out any dates or partial dates.

Elizabeth


We looked and walked around some more, not really seeing any more stones standing or laying, but as we stepped around on what we thought was just solid ground covered with dead leaves and vines, often our foot would land on something hard. Clearing back the vines and leaves would reveal a stone, close to the ground. It's hard to decide if many of those stones were once head stones or markers now broken and weathered, or if they were part of what once had been a wall, or just random stones.

these two we didn't touch, this is how they appeared as we found them

my husband clearing dirt and vine and leaves off a long stone. Was it  once part of a rock wall?  Or the base of a marker? 

my shoe for size reference on what is left of a stone we uncovered. Was it once the base of a  marker? 

Another set of stones we didn't bother,  but how we found them 



At the edge of the wooded spot, there was a pile of dirt and stones, most likely left from the construction of the housing area on the other side of the wooded grove.

a pile of dirt and rock piled at the edge of the wooded spot, probably left over from  construction. We did not see any stones with markings, but we didn't dig or try to clean any off either. 


We decided this spot needed a return visit. It also needed some cleaning up with rakes, maybe shovels and who knows what else. We will have to find out who now owns the property and get permission to attempt to clean things up a bit. At the grocery store we ran into the wife of our boys' Boy Scout troop master and mentioned it to her, in case any boys were looking for an Eagle Project. We think it would be best to do what we can before growing season comes back. Can you imagine what this will be like in the spring and summer?
We were only there for a few minutes, but before we left, I whispered over the graves to those resting, so if they can hear from where ever they are, they now know they have not been forgotten.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Samuel Riggs, Continued...

I found another source with the some of the same info as the previous post, but this source is easier to read. I did a screen capture of the relevant pages and cropped them down so I could print just those pages and also find them easier in my electronic files too. For anyone interested, the PDF of this source is right here:  Illustrated Centennial Sketches, Map and Directory of Union County, Iowa Published by C.J. Colby, Creston, Iowa 1876   clicking this link will open the book in a PDF that you can read online or download. If you have any interest in Union County Iowa, I recommend checking this book out, it has wonderful illustrations of the community!
  Here I am adding images of the cover page (cute drawing!) and the pages that Samuel wrote.




Also found was this interesting little paragraph about Samuel and his cousin in The Making of Iowa by Henry Sabin and Edwin Legrand Sabin copyright 1900 (clicking link will open the book page in Google Books which is fully readable, or you can download for free) This appears on page 205. The chapter this paragraph appears in is about the Border Wars, a strip of land between Missouri and Iowa that both states claimed at the same time.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Samuel Riggs

I know I have neglected this page, there are just so many things going on in life. I still do plenty of research, I had just let this blog slip away. But what I found yesterday I think is worth sharing, since I know there are lots of other Riggs' descendants out there in this big, small world.

The other day I had gotten an email invitation to a Riggs family reunion back in Kansas. They have one every year for descendants of James Daugherty Riggs and Lucinda Barker, who are my 3rd great grandparents. I know I won't be able to attend the reunion, and I'm sure there wouldn't be a familiar face in the whole crowd anyway. But it got me to thinking about the line again and I started to dig around for new info. Well, new information is exactly what I found. Most of the information I had found before, was found by other researchers. The folks who run the reunion have shared lots of work with me, and it was a huge help is growing my family tree.

This bit I'm about to share I found, sort of, through Ancestry as a hint from browsing records for Samuel Riggs, so then I ran a Google search for him, and came upon a text document on ebooksread.com. We all know how garbled that can be, so back to the search until I found the same book on Archives.org.  (the following link will take you directly to the PDF if anyone would like to read it or download it for themselves. But I did my best transcribing the relevant content and am sharing that here.) Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Union Counties, Iowa Vol 2. By The Lewis Publishing Company 1887.

Here is my transcription of two separate entries in the book concerning Samuel Riggs. There were a couple errors I noticed, and several places where I had a hard time reading the fading pages. I was particularly excited to see that a large portion of the second entry was originally written by Samuel Riggs himself!

Biographical Sketches 

page 649- 
  Samuel Riggs, __(hard to read)___farmer, residing  in Kent, Union County, was born in Dodd (sic) County, Kentucky in 1806, and is the son of Daniel Riggs and Nancy Riggs. In 1817 the family settled in Missouri, remaining in the state twenty-five years. Samuel Riggs then lived in Davis County, Iowa for thirteen years, when in 1853 he settled in what is known as Riggs’ Grove, in Douglas Township, where he entered and bought 400 acres of land, and remained a resident there until 1876. He was the third settler in the western half of Union County and experienced many of the hardships and privations of pioneer life. He was married in Howard County, Missouri in 1825 to Rhoda Belch (sic), by whom he had four children. -- James D., Eli H., Nancy, and H.P. Mrs. Riggs died in 1836 and Mr. Riggs was again married the same year, in Kentucky, to Marinda (sp?) Piper, who was born in Smith County, Tennessee in 1806. To this union were born five children—Mary, S.M., Rebecca, Joseph and Daniel. Since his residence in Iowa, Mr. Riggs has represented the people of Davis County in the State Legislature for one term. He was also sheriff four years, and held the office of Deputy Sheriff the same length of time. He has voted he Democratic ticket the past fifty years, missing but one election. He is classed among the influential citizens of Douglas Township, where he has made his home so many years.
 
 

Early and Civil History

Page 667- Douglas Township

  Frank Bruning and Asa Ames came to Union County at the same time, May 1853. Bruning settled on the southwest quarter of section 37 and Ames on section 27. In September Samuel Riggs arrived at their shanty. They were not aware of any neighbors nearer than Missouri, except Indians. John Green had a band of Pottawatomies, about 100 braves, on Grand River, ten miles southeast of Afton.
   Previous to Bruning and Ames’ settling on the Platte, they had made a selection on Grand River, and started from Missouri for their lands, they followed the divide between Platte and Grand Rivers. A very dark night coming on they got lost, and in their wanderings fell into Platte River. Coming out, they located as above stated.
  Bruning at that time had never seen a map of Iowa, and did not know what county he was in, but was pleased with the country and satisfied to locate here.
  On the 12th day of October 1853, Mr. Riggs commenced work on a cabin of the ‘Tippecanoe’ style, on section 30.  H. Pitman, John Snow, Reuben and Mahlon Riggs came with Riggs and took claims. By February following many others had taken claims; among them were Henry Cline, Jonathan Coons, and James Howard.
  Early in march 1854, Reuben Riggs and Reuben Madden moved into the county, and Madden bought Ames’ cabin.
  Mr. Riggs writes in Colby’s Atlas: “When we were here in November we staked out a road leaving the Mormon trace where Afton now stands. Soon after our return two surveyors, from Glenwood came along surveying a state road from Glenwood to Chariton. At the time there was not even an Indian trail leading east and west; but there were several running northwest and southeast. They intended to mark out the road so that it could be followed. A few days afterward four travelers undertook to follow the trace, going west past our camp about three o’clock, pm., it soon became very foggy, and they lost their way and wandered around until two o’clock in the morning when they got back to Platte, a mile below our camp. There one of the party, an old man seventy-two years old, gave out and said he must rest before he could travel further; he was as comfortably cared for and bedded as saddle and blankets would allow, and then two of the party started to find our camp, while one remained with the old man and horses. The two came in sight of our campfire and commenced hallooing. We answered them that they had passed our camp the evening before. They at once started back for their horses and companions. On returning, they found that their hallooing had frightened their horses who had broken loose and run off, and they were left to foot it back to our camp, hungry and very much fatigued. We at once commenced preparing breakfast. We had plenty of cornmeal and coffee, but fried all our bacon.
  “After breakfast, the proposition was made to get us and our two horses and one of their number to hunt their horses. The morning was still foggy; on striking the trail we found they had started off at full speed; about ten o’clock the fog blew off and we came in sight of the run-aways; they had crossed their trail several times, running in a circle; as soon as they discovered us they were as wild as elks; they were between us and our camp and ran in that direction, coming up to it, they became more tame and we caught them.
  “The strangers now proposed to stay until the next morning and as ___ us in raising our cabin. We showed them our stock of provisions. It was found we had plenty of  cornmeal and coffee, and some dried fruit, but if they would stay we would send down to neighbor Bruning’s only eight miles distant, and get some meat. We accordingly, started a boy off to Bruning’s on horseback, while we went to putting up house logs. In due time the boy returned, bringing back the word that neither Bruning or Ames had either beef, pork or bacon, but they had just finished dressing two fine coons, and they, with pleasure, sent us the best one.
  I mention this incident more to show the fraternal spirit which governed the pioneers in their dealings than for any other purpose. The hardships and privations endured by the first settlers were, in great measure, modified by an open-hearted liberality, not found in more densely populated communities.
  “On the 13th of April, 1854, I moved my family into our log cabin. At that time there were about eight families in what is now Platte Township, but there was no township organization. In June 1854, we carried a petition to Judge Nun, asking for a township organization, which he granted and included the whole southwest fourth of the county in one township, which we called ‘Platte’.   The first election was held at the house of H. Prentice, on the first Monday in August 1854, at which fourteen votes were cast, and necessary township officers were elected.
  “The next accession to our settlement was William Moore, who settled on section 28; then came “Uncle Jimmy” Lytle who was located on section 17 and the Meyers family, on the same section, about July 1854. In August, 1854, a man settled on section 6 who, in the spring of 1855 sold to William H. Terpenning.
  “In 1857 Platte Township was reorganized taking from her territory township 72, 30, now Highland (sic); 71, 30, now Grant; and in 1860 Douglas Township was organized. The writer of this sketch carried the petition for organization to the then county judge Hon. J.W. McDill, who granted the prayer of the petitioners, and as no name was indicated, the judge conferred the responsibility of christening the new township upon the writer, who unhesitatingly named it Douglas, in honor of Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. At the first election but seven votes were cast, to wit:  J.S. Lytle, Robert Davis, D.M. and Samuel Riggs, William Morrow; and for four years subsequently the vote did not exceed fourteen at any election.
  “The first years we were here, we had either to go to Compton’s, near Winterset, or to Hawleyville (sp?), Page County, to get milling done, except that a small mill at Petersville would crack corn for us, provided we had any to crack.
  “Blacksmiths were scarce; Frank Bruning had a few tools and with a black oak tree for a shop, and a rude forge, improvised for the occasion, he sharpened our plows and shod our horses, as necessity compelled to patronize him.
  “The first school-house in this part of the county was erected in 1855, on Reuben Madden’s land, and was built of logs. It was probably more highly appreciated than are the commodious and attractive school buildings of to day.
  “The settlements during the years 1855-‘6 were quite rapid on Platte—Joseph Roberts, B. R. Baker, James Wisherd, The Blisses, E. Orr, and others.
  “The first post office in the west part of the county was established in 1854, S. M. Riggs, postmaster. A mail route was established from Pisgah to Glenwood the same year, and the writer was the contractor for the mail service on the route, which was carried weekly, and supplied the offices of Afton, Platte, Scioly (sp?), White Cloud, Indian Creek, and Glenwood; the distance was one hundred miles and not a bridge the entire distance and very little road.
  “The writer was the first justice of the peace in the west part of the county, being commissioned in 1854.
  “The first saw mill was a portable one, and located on section 10, and was built by Tarpenning & Company, in the summer of 1855. They completed their saw mill, sawed some, quarreled more, and spent more money at the law than they made at the saw.
  “The first school-house in Douglas Township was a frame 18x26, built of native lumber, sawed at Sharpe’s Mill in Ringgold County, and was located on section 30. The first teacher was Miss Mary Lambert. Religious meetings were not of frequent occurrence at our first settlement, but only occasionally an itinerant preacher would call the neighbors together and preach to them. The first sermon was preached in this township by Isaac Sidewell, at the house of the writer, in 1855, the next was by Moses Case, in 1861, at the school house.
  “The first store in Douglas Township was started by Lemon & Cresswell, in Cromwell, in November 1868; they were soon followed by J.C. Williams, in January 1869.
  Good fortune and natural advantages together have given to Douglas the largest city in Southwestern Iowa, except Council Bluffs. Creston has grown up on wild prairie in seventeen years.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

William Morgan and Rebecca Mills

As with the previous couple, I have not very much documentation on this one either but, also like the previous couple, most researchers seem to agree (somewhat) with dates, places and names. Until I find more records to validate dates and places, this is also incomplete data and should not be mistaken for absolute fact.

William Morgan was born about 1742. Some sources say Pasquotank, N.C., some say 1738 in Frederick, Virginia. For now, I am going with the former.  he was the son of John Morgan and Sarah Lloyd.  William married Rebecca Mills  (I believe) July 10, 1760 at New Garden Monthly Meeting. I found a transcribed record online that lists the marriage as follows:
William Morgan, Roan Co., son of John of the same, m. Rebecca Mills, dt. Thomas, Roan Co., 10-7-1760 at New Garden. Wit: William Baldwin, John Mills, Hur Mills, Wm Beeson, John Hodson, Richard Beeson, Elizabeth Mills, Elizabeth Baldwin, Sarah Mills, Mary Mirphew, Phelis Baldwin, Mary Beeson.

that is from the following site: http:www.newrivernotes.com/va/swift/newgarden_marriages.html 

William Morgan died April 7, 1771 at Deep River, Guilford, N.C.
This marriage, and William's death, is also recorded in the Beals Family History (Rebecca Mills is the granddaughter of Mary Ann Beals, daughter of John Beals and Mary Jane Clayton) A PDF file can be seen and downloaded via this page for the Canaday Family. Look under the heading for Maryland Families and click on Beals to open the PDF.  This is what it says about William Morgan and Rebecca Mills:
Rebecca Mills born April 30, 1744 who married William Morgan. William died at the age twenty nine in 1771, and Rebecca then married Joseph Thornbrugh on February 5, 1778. Joseph was the son of Thomas Thornbrugh and Abigail Brown.

 Rebecca Mills was born April 30, 1744, possibly in Frederick, Virginia. I've yet to confirm the location. She was the daughter of Thomas Mills and Elizabeth Harrold.  Rebecca died September 20, 1821, in Wayne Indiana.

William and Rebecca had the following children:
  1. Reuben Morgan born December 18, 1761
  2. John Morgan born June 26, 1763
  3. *Thomas Morgan born November 7 1765 in New Garden , Guilford Co. N.C. died February 28, 1819 in Jefferson, TN. 
  4. Elizabeth Morgan born November 3, 1767 
  5. William Morgan born March 2, 1770
I have seen the birth places for most of William's children as Rowan, North Carolina, but that makes for inconsistencies with locations since I have seen Thomas (my ancestor) being born in Guilford, and I haven't really studied the locations very much yet or found records to verify locations of any of the children. So, as with te previous post, anyone researching these individuals should take this information as clues and do your own research to verify dates and locations.

Thomas Morgan and Ruth Weisner

I really don't have much on this couple. (most of this information is yet to be be confirmed, so if you are researching take this as clues and try to verify for yourself. This is just what I've seen from various rootsweb files.)

From what most researchers seem to agree on, Thomas Morgan was born November 7, 1765 in New Garden, Guildford County, North Carolina. He is the son of William Morgan and Rebecca Mills. He married Ruth Weisner November 14, 1819 in Jefferson TN.
 Ruth Weisner was born 19 September either 1767 or 1700 (I've seen both dates and haven't confirmed either) in Pasquotank, North Carolina (or Orange County, N.C.). She is the daughter of Michael Weisner and Ruth Pike. Ruth Weisner Morgan died March 19, 1816 in Lost Creek, TN.

Thomas Morgan and Ruth Weisner had the following children:
  1. *William H. Morgan born Aug 4, 1793. Died October 14, 1869
  2. Hezikiah Morgan born February 6, 1796
  3. Obediah Morgan born February 6, 1796
  4. Abigail Morgan born November 25, 1790
  5. Miriam Morgan born March 6, 1802
  6. Rebecca Morgan born October 22, 1788
One of the files I printed off says Ruth Weisner's death is recorded in the Lost Creek, TN. Monthly Meeting record/Quaker records/Hinshaw book. Thomas and Ruth death, page 1110.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

William H. Morgan and Catherine Peck

I don't seem to know a whole lot about William H. Morgan and his wife Catherine Peck. From what I have found William H. Morgan was born August 4, 1793 probably in North Carolina. He was the son of Thomas Morgan and Ruth Weisner.
William married Catherine Peck February 5, 1817. Catherine was the daughter of Peter Porter Peck and Catherine (Last name unknown). Not much of anything is known about her parents. It's another dead end.
Catherine Peck was born April 15, 1795 and died April 23, 1879.
The graves for both William and Catherine are in Ackworth, Iowa, where the family reportedly migrated after leaving Tennessee.  Their graves can be seen here along with many other family members, you can also see a photo of their church on this link.

This page on the same site has photos of some descendants of William and Catherine. I haven't figured out exactly who everyone is, it doesn't appear any are my ancestors, but they certainly are related somehow, and looking at old photos is always fun.

From what I have found so far these are the children of William and Catherine Peck Morgan:

  1. Matilda Morgan- born Dec 5, 1817. died April 20, 1855. She married James Allen
  2. Ruth Morgan- born Aug. 6, 1819 in TN. Died Dec 6, 1900. She married Jacob Beals in 1838 in Lost Creek, TN.
  3. *Elizabeth Morgan (my ancestor)- born Jan 16, 1821 in Lost Creek, Jefferson, TN. Died June 16 1890 probably in Iowa. She married Thomas Norris Allen
  4. David Morgan- born July 18, 1822. Died Dec 13, 1892. He married Lucinda Lee.
  5. Jonathan Morgan- born Mar 13, 1824 in TN. Died Mar 18, 1895. He married Jane Cuthbert.
  6. Abigail Morgan- born Dec 23, 1825 in TN. (no death date recorded right now). She married Abraham Beals.
  7. John Basil Morgan- born Sep 29, 1828 in Lost Creek, TN. Died Aug 15, 1879 in Fruitland, Kansas. He married Abigail Moore Aug 17, 1852. (I believe this is some of those pictured on the page I linked to above)
  8. Catherine Morgan- Born Apr 17, 1830 in TN. (no death date recorded). She married Frederick Smith
  9. Elisha H. Morgan- Born Jan 5, 1832 in TN. Died Sep 6, 1868 in Fruitland, Kansas. He married Eliza Jones. It appears these two are also buried in the same cemetery as his parents. 
  10. Susannah Morgan- Born Jun 17, 1833 in TN. Died Nov. 9, 1882. She married James C. Bales.
  11. Mirriam Morgan- Born Feb. 9, 1835 in TN. Died July 28, 1852. 
  12. Jeptha W. Morgan- Born Nov. 20, 1836 in Lost Creek, Jefferson, TN.  Died Jan 8, 1924 in Oskaloosa, Mahaska, Iowa. He married Arminta Canady in 1876.
  13. Rebecca Morgan- born Apr 23, 1838 in TN. Died Feb 19, 1892. She married Pleasant Jones
  14. William Morgan Jr.- born Dec 4, 1840 in TN. Died Feb 17, 1912. He married Elizabeth Carey.
That's pretty much what I have on this family group, I'm not even sure how accurate it all is.