1890 Creelsboro District H – Z

Celina H answered for *** of Hadley Charles – 12 Ky Inf

Hadley, Thomas – 3 Ky Inft

Helm, John W – 12 Ky Cav

Higginbottom, George A – 13 Ky Cav

Holt, Jerry – 125 Ky Inft

Hughs, John A - 12 Ky Inf

Jackman, Sou**le – 108 Ky Inf

Lawless, James – 5 Ky Cav

Lawless, Joseph – 5 Ky Cav

Loyd, Henry – 12 Ky Inf

Mann, John – 13 Ky Cav

Maynard, Waymire W.  – 5 Penn Cav

Miller, Benjamin W – 14 Ky Inf

Miller, Jacob – 3 Ky Inf

Louiza V widow of Moore, Jimy – 13 Ky Cav

Morrison, James W – 13 Ky Cav

Northrip, William M – 13 Ky Cav

Oliver, John C. – 12 Ky Inf

Ramsey, Joshaway W - 32 Ky Inf

Shearer, Allen – 13 Ky Cav

Shearer, William – 12 Ky Inf

Vigle, William T – 5 Ky Cav

Talitha A widow of Wheat, B.C.W.  – 5 Ky Cav

Wheat, Wesley – blank

Wilburn, William – 13 Ky Cav

Woldord, Fo**tain – 12 Ky Inf

Wooldridge, John B – 13 Ky Cav

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1890 Creelsboro District A – G

Abbott, Richard - 22 Ind Inf
Antle, William – 12 Ky Inf
Baily, Winton B. – 12 Ky Inf
Eliza widow of Ballinger, Benjamin – 32 Ky Cav
Belk, William T – 3 Ky Inf
Blakey, Milton – 13 Ky Cav
Blankenship, George S – 3 Ky Inf
Bradshaw, William – 13 (Ohio?) Inf
Brummett, John R – 13 Ky Cav
Bunch, Milton – 13 Ky Cav
Sallie S Hill for ****of Buster, P.G. – 32 Ky Inf
Cape, Thomas – 12 Ky Inf
Chapman, Anderson – 5 Ky Cav
Clayton, Zack – 42 N.S. Col***
Coe, Sonville – 3 Ky Inf
Coe, Thomas – 5 Ky Cav
Collins, John W – 13 Ky Cav
Ann L Widow of Dixson, John R – 12 Ky Cav
Francis Mann for **** of Elmore, Robert – blank
Garner, Abriham – 5 Ky Cav
Elizabeth widow of George, John – 2 Ky Inf
Goodman, Jessie J – 32 Ky Inf
Guthrie, William – 13 Ky Cav
Celina H answered for *** of Hadley Charles- 12 Ky Inf
Hadley, Thomas – 3 Ky Inf
Helm, John W – 12 Ky Inf
Higginbottom, George A – 13 Ky Cav

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Madness Monday – Joseph Scott 1860

Joseph Wade Scott and Nancy Jain Gilpin were my great-great grandparents.  My “madness” comes from trying to find this family in 1860.

According to his death certificate, Joseph Wade Scott was born in April of 1834 in Kentucky to Andrew Scott and Elizabeth Wade.  Andrew Scott is listed in the tax lists for Russell County, Kentucky for every year from 1826 to 1838 with the exception of 1830, 32 and 34.  Andrew is listed along with his family in the 1840 and 1850 Russell County census records.  Andrew continued to be listed in the tax records for Russell County through 1855 when I believe he died.

Elizabeth Scott and Joseph Scott both are listed in the 1856 – 1858 tax records.  Joseph was 24 years old when he showed up in his first tax records.  1858 is the last year for tax lists on the microfilm until 1875.

On Nov. 12, 1857, Joseph Scott married Nancy Jain Gilpin in Casey County, Kentucky. 

In 1860, Elizabeth Scott is found with 4 of her children in the Russell County census.  Nancy’s father is living with her brother, William, and his family in Casey County. 

But where are Joseph and Nancy Jain?  Joseph Scott is listed in the 1860 Casey County tax list, however, he owned no land.  This is the only year that Joseph is listed in the Casey County records.  I have searched census records for Russell County and Casey County, as well as Tennessee and Ohio in general.  Based on possible listings I found in the Ancestry Civil War Soldiers Records collection, I also searched Kosciusko Co, Indiana and Cumberland Co, Illinois.  (I ordered the service records for the most likely civil war soldier and ruled him out.)  Joseph is not listed in the Russell County militia lists for this time period either.  He is not found in the 1890 special census for veterans for Russell County or Casey County, so perhaps he did not serve.

Joseph and Nancy’s first child was born around 1860.  She died in Russell County on June 19, 1941.  No date of birth is given on her death certificate, but her age is listed as 81 years, 6 days.  The 6 days seems pretty specific to me, so I have her date of birth potentially set at June 13, 1860.  There is a family tree on Ancestry that lists her place of birth as Casey County, so that’s the area I have been searching, but I have not personally confirmed the date or location.  If she was born in 1860 in Casey County and Joseph Scott was in the tax records for Casey County for 1860, it would seem that he should be in the Casey County census records.  I have spent significant time searching the Casey County census and have not found the family. (I believe I have done an every page search, but I usually indicate that in my notes.)

The family can be found in the 1870 census for Casey County.

In the 1880 census, 2 of Joseph and Nancy’s 9 children have their birth location as Indiana, while every other member of the family was born in Kentucky.  These 2 children were born in 1865 and 1868, which leads me to believe the family spent at least a few years at least.  I have not been able to locate specific birth records for either of these children.

Joseph passed away in Russell County in 1914.  I have other records for this family, but I’ve included the records that seem to be the most helpful for finding this family in 1860.  I have searched for the 1860 census for this family for many years.  I would love to finally put this in the “solved” file!

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1890 Special Census of Veterans and their Widows

This week, I intend to start listing the names and units of the people listed in the 1890 special census for Russell County. I have transcribed the information into a Excel file by precinct. Within each precinct, I have performed a sort to see the names alphabetically. That is how I intend to copy the list. Please note that images of these files are available on Ancestry, but I transcribed them several years ago from Microfilm at the Allen County Public Library. I do not imagine that my transcriptions are 100% correct, but I thught they might be helpful to someone.

My plan is to list 15-20 names each post. I’ll list the name and the unit for each person. Before I begin posting, I thought a little background information on the census itself could be helpful.

From http://www.archives.gov/publications/microfilm-catalogs/census/1790-1890/part-08.html

An act of March 1, 1889, provided that the Superintendent of Census in taking the Eleventh Census should “cause to be taken on a special schedule of inquiry, according to such form as he may prescribe, the names, organizations, and length of service of those who had served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States in the war of the rebellion, and who are survivors at the time of said inquiry, and the widows of soldiers, sailors, or marines.”

Each schedule calls for the following information: name of the veteran (or if he did not survive, the names of both the widow and her deceased husband); the veteran’s rank, company, regiment or vessel, date of enlistment, date of discharge, and length of service in years, months, and days; post office and address of each person listed; disability incurred by the veteran; and remarks necessary to a complete statement of his term of service.

PS – If anyone can tell me how to make this category a separate tag at the top of this screen, I’d love to know!

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

What event or person inspired you to start your genealogy research?

When I was a child, we would go to visit my paternal grandmother. She had folders full of charts and letters and I was fascinated by it all. My dad thought it was a huge waste of time and didn’t want to talk about any of it, but I felt like it was a challenge to be solved!

I didn’t really start my own research until I had started a family of my own, but I have loved every minute of being a “genealogy detective” who solves those mysteries! Thank heavens for the internet and the opportunities we have for research now that my grandmother never imagined!

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Week-end

It’s the week-end and since I didn’t see my mom on Mother’s Day, I’m taking the opportunity to spend time with her this week-end. We are working on scanning the photos from the photos albums from when I was growing up, so that’s my genealogy project for the week-end.

Next week, I intend to start posting my transcription of the 1890 special census for Russell County, Kentucky. I transcribed it several years ago and have it available on Excel (of course!) If anyone would like me to email them the file, please leave me a comment!

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Thoughtful Thursday – Spring!

A carpet of crab apple petals, the gentle calls of mourning doves, the smell of lilac bushes drifting in through the window…these are some of my springtime memory triggers.

It seems to happen overnight – I’ll be driving down the road and suddenly realize that EVERYTHING is green! I find great contentment in the color of springtime leaves and grass. It’s a newborn green – fresh and clean from spring showers. Summer green is deep and “baked”, but springtime green makes me feel refreshed and nostalgic. Spring holds a lot of memories for me and the sights, sounds and aromas instantly take my mind to other times and places.

The crab apple trees usually drop their petals in beautiful carpets on the yards, sidewalks and driveways. We were greeted with this beautiful rose-colored carpet on the day we brought our newborn daughter home from the hospital 14 years ago.

As the weather warms, house windows are opened and the aroma of lilac bushes instantly takes me back to the days when my oldest son was learning how to climb the stairs in our very first house. Days were quieter then with only one child. The scents from the garden and the caress of the breeze through the window were easier to notice and appreciate. I would sit on the stairs behind my son, ready to catch him as his learned the balance needed to climb higher each day.

 
Several years ago, my mother and I discovered that we both shared thoughts of one another whenever we would hear the call of a mourning dove in the early morning hours. We agreed that we would send up quick prayers for one another whenever we hear the gentle calls. I find it interesting that the Indiana birds call slowly and soothingly, while the doves in Florida, where my mother spends the winter, are much faster and a bit frenzied. Maybe the Indiana doves are reminding me to slow down and relish the memories that I’m making today.

Springtime – wonderful weather and wonderful memories!

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Group Sheets using Excel

I LOVE excel for my genealogy work.  I use it for all kinds of databases I have compiled because it is useful for sorting information in different columns to reveal patterns and missing information.  I use Excel to make my own 5 Gen charts and family group sheets.  I designed my own family group sheets using Excel for several reasons.

Family Group Sheet created in Excel

1. I HATE my handwriting.  I love being able to keep my group sheets readable and professional looking.  And often, the spaces in pre-printed forms are too small for me to write my information in.  So when I take my binder of group sheets to the library, I write notes all over them and later make changes to my Excel file then reprint.  Often, as I’m typing things into the Excel file, more questions come to mind that I didn’t think of at the library.  (Why does that always seem to happen?)  I include these questions in my bottom “Notes” section to allow me to continue my train of thought.
2. I was able to include fields that the forms I had been using didn’t include or take out fields that I never use.  For example, my forms have a space for cemetery name and location, more spaces for children, space for notes for the husband and wife and then an additional notes box at the bottom for general family notes or a “to-do” list.  I do not have spaces for christenings or sealing dates since those don’t apply to my family.
3. I can use color and formatting to help keep track of my research.  For example:

•  
  • Questions or comments to myself are in red.  Un-confirmed information from another researcher can be in green.  Contact information for that researcher would also be in green in the “Notes” section at the bottom.
  • Boxes that will never have information can be shaded or colored.  For example: a child who dies at birth will not have marriage information.     
  • The name of my direct ancestor can be in bold.  This helps me in families that have multiple uses of the same name.    
  • You can’t see it in the image, but I use the footer to indicate the life span of the husband and the counties that I have found records in. 
        

The only thing I DON’T like about group sheets using Excel is that I can’t use the reference tools that I can with Word.  (At least not in my current version.  Maybe it’s been updated?)  In Word, I click a reference button and it automatically selects my footnote number and then jumps to the footnote location for me to enter my citation.  If I find new information closer to the top of my group sheet, it automatically rearranges my footnotes and updates all of the numbers.  In Excel, I can enter my own superscripts for footnotes, but they don’t change automatically if I add something new.  And I have just enough OCD tendencies that I can’t stand to see my numbers out of order.  (Must be the math teacher in me…)

So I recently started converting my charts to Word files to take advantage of the reference options there.  The conversion is slow, but so far, I like it.

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Wordless Wednesday – Lester Smith family

Lester Smith, Rachel Johnson and children

I don’t know about “Wordless”, but this family leaves me speechless! My grandfather’s brother and his wife had a total of 28 children, 13 of whom survived.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Vesper Smith

Vesper Mary Bennett Smith

Vesper Smith was my maternal grandmother.  She was born in Russell County, Kentucky in 1918 and died in Johnson County, Indiana in 1999.

My grandmother had a difficult life.  When she was 8 years old, she peeked around the corner of the bedroom and watched as her mother passed away from tuberculosis.  She became a mother to her 2 younger brothers especially when their new step-mother proved to be quite hateful toward them.  Step-siblings were permitted to eat first while Vesper and her brothers waited for left-overs.  They were never allowed to be ill, but had to sneak outside at night to be sick.  When Vesper’s father moved the family to Indiana for better job prospects, he bought 2 houses – one for Grandma and her brothers and the other for his 2nd family.

Vesper met my grandfather, who was also from Russell County, in a church in Franklin.  She recalls that he had the largest Bible in the church.  After they were married, the hard truth came out – he was an alcoholic.  As a colicky baby, his mother had added alcohol to his bottle to induce sleep.  Life with an alcoholic husband was a difficult one and raising 5 children was a challenge.  Some family members have hinted that Grandma may have “turned him in to the draft board” around 1944 in order to have a reliable income to support the family.  Eventually, my grandparents divorced.

In spite of these years of hardship, my Grandmother had a gentle, caring spirit.  She was a dedicated Christian woman and my most vivid memories of being at her house include the sounds of good old fashioned Gospel music coming from the radio in her kitchen as we spent evenings sitting on her front porch.  We lived far away from her while I was growing up, so I didn’t get to spend much time with her.  When I think of Grandma, I can taste the “church gum” and smell the Jergins lotion! 

My mother says I look like her when she was young.  I’ve chosen to make her picture my Twitter icon in honor of her!

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