AMANUENSIS MONDAY ~ The will of John VAUGHT (1761-1813)–husband of my maternal 5th great grandaunt and father of 11 children

What does Amanuensis mean anyway?
To put it simply, it means a “person employed to write what another dictates or copy what has been written by another.”

There are 24 people with the VAUGHT surname in my tree. Five of them bear that name through marriage.

Today I’m writing about John VAUGHT who married my 5th great grandaunt, Elizabeth MARTIN in about 1784 in Pennsylvania.  John’s brother, Gilbert Vaught married Elizabeth’s sister, Mary Martin.  It’s not unusual, as we know, for families to intermarry back then.  It’s less common as we go into the 20th century.

John Vaught was the son of Christian Vaught & Hannah Crum.  He was born in Maryland on 15 Dec 1761.¹  He married Elizabeth Martin in 1784.² John is listed in the Indiana DAR book on page 660 as having been in “Pvt in Capt. Wm. Wilson's Co. on duty in Penn's Valley in 1781.”

NOTE/TIP:  I had located a transcription of John Vaught’s will a few years ago.  While it is always nice to find such a thing, I don't like to settle for just a transcription if I don’t have to.  I would much prefer to see the actual entry in a will book, which may include additional information.  I would also prefer to transcribe the will myself.  Sure enough, today, I hunted until I located the images on Family Search.  The will was located in Kentucky Probate Records, 1727-1990, Muhlenberg, Will records, 1801-1814, Vol. 1, pages 170-173

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Here is my transcription of the will of John Vaught in 1813

In the name of God Amen. I, John Vought, of the county of Muhlenberg and state of Kentucky being in low in health but of sound mind & memory do constitute and ordain this my last will and testament.

First of all I commit my soul to the Almighty God who gave it and my body I request to be buried in a Christian manner by my executors.

And as touching my worldly affects wherewith it has bin please God to gave I gave and bequeath them in a manner and form as as follows (viz.)

After all my just debts is paid First of all I gave and to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, the plantation whereon I now live during her natural life time & her widowhood together with all my farming utensils & stock of all kinds and all the household and kitchen furniture except such as I shall hereafter mention.

Secondly, I gave and bequeath to my daughter, Margaret, one horse and saddle and two cows also her equal part of all my estate at the decease of my widow including the above as part of her portion.
I also gave and bequeath to my son Abraham two hundred and fifty acres of land bought of Peter Myers, he the said Abraham is to pay fifteen dollars to my estate in good trade And it is further understood that this is his full portion of my estate.

I also gave and bequeath to my son, John, one hundred acres of land on the waters Rocky Creek entered and surveyed in the name of Benjamin Biggerstaff and patented in his name. I also gave a mare and one horse & saddle one cow and her increase which is to be considered as his full portion of my estate the above property he the said John has already received and has in his possession.

I also gave and bequeath to my daughter, Eleanor, one horse & saddle & two cows.

I also gave and bequeath to my daughter, Polly, one horse, saddle & two cows to to be raised at the expense of my estate.
It is also my will at the decease of my widow that the whole of my land and other property left be sold and equally divided among my children namely, Margaret Smith, Eleanor & Polly, Francis, Simon & Martin, Samuel & Christopher, the property mention & gave to Eleanor & Polly is considered a part of my equal proportion of my estate.

It is further to be understood that I have hereunto gave my son Abraham one mare & saddle which is also to be considered a part of his portion of my estate.

I do further ordain this my last will and testament revoking all others heretofore made by me and I do also constitute and appoint Elias Smith & my son John Vaught executors to this my last will. In witness thereof I have set my hand & seal in the presence of us June 11th day 1813.

The above & foregoing will was exhibited into court by the executors therein named and proven by the oaths of Gilbert Vaught and Thomas Foster two subscribing witnesses thereto to be the act and deed of John Vaught decd. whereupon the same is admitted to record.
Att. Chs. F. Wing C.M.C.

Question - John’s will mentions 10 of the 11 children I have listed for him in my tree.  The only one not mentioned is Daniel, born about 1794.  Did he die?  Was he out of favor?  Had he already been given his portion of the estate?

With so many Vaught’s in my tree I am learning more and more about this family all the time.

If you are related to anyone mentioned in this post, I’d love to hear from you.

Sources: 1 - Raymond Martin Bell, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania Families & Records before 1800 Supplement  (N.p) Supplement: 16a in the original book.; 2 - U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

A GREAT DISCOVERY YESTERDAY–ASK FOR HELP AND YOU MAY GET IT

Yesterday I decided to work on a particular branch of the family, the BOGGS line.  I began by looking at my 2nd great grandmother, Susan Caroline Boggs 1842-1913.  She’s the nearest Boggs to me, so it seemed a good place to begin.  I already know a lot about her, dates of birth & death, burial location, three marriages, nine children etc.  And have documentation for most of that information.

Here is a screen shot of the family.

Family Group Record for James Gillen Hunter

What do you suppose is the first thing I do?

I look over at her husband, my 2nd great grandfather, James Gillen HUNTER and see that I still don’t have a location for his death or his burial. 

I checked the sources I have attached to James and here is what I see.



You can see that my source for his death date is a handwritten family tree from my grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne.  That’s it.  That’s all I have for any reference to his death.  

NOTE:  My grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne, who is mentioned often in this blog, was also a genealogist.  She kept a LOT of records on the family.  We have found very few errors in her records.  She died in 1986.  Wouldn’t she just love to be here now and have all the online resources that we all have?

Here is a screenshot of her reference to James Gillen Hunter on her handwritten family tree.  You can clearly see she recorded his death date as 25 Aug 1884.



After reviewing this information, and for what reason, I don’t know, I clicked on his parents, Rev. Isaac C. Hunter & Emily Gillen.  They are my 3rd great grandparents.  

What do I see when I look at Emily Gillen?  

No date of death or burial location.  

Family Group Record for Emily Gillen

This lack of information on both Emily Gillen & James Gillen Hunter goes back a good 8-9 years.  I have hunted and I have searched, again and again.  Because these are my direct line ancestors it is very important to me to find out as much as I can about them.  

WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT?  WHAT DID I DO NEXT?

• I looked at all sources I had for Emily Gillen. 

• I reviewed those sources, just like I reviewed the sources for James Gillen Hunter.
• I conducted another search on both Ancestry.com and Family Search.  Nothing new found.
• What I didn’t do were any Google searches.  NOTE:  I should have, and that is a mistake.
• I decide that my next best move is to put this out there to my fellow researchers on a particular Facebook group I belong to.

TIP:  Facebook is a wonderful source for information and collaboration.  If you haven’t yet discovered the value of joining genealogy groups on the site, I urge you to do so.  You can find the groups by doing a search on Facebook for “genealogy,” entering the name of various counties or states you are researching, or find out from other genealogists how they use Facebook to assist their research.  I have been using the site for 6-7 years now for just that purpose.  Should that be a future post on my blog?  How to use Facebook?  Or do all of you already know?  I do know my readers are very smart.

• I belong to several county specific groups on Facebook.  In this case I decided to post my “problem” on The Lawrence Register group (Lawrence County, Ohio) for both James Hunter and Emily Gillen. And on the Boyd County, Kentucky Genealogy & History group for James only, as he was living in that county in 1880.

Here is the post I put on those group pages yesterday.

This post went on The Lawrence Register group page as both James Hunter & Emily Gillen lived in Lawrence County, Ohio at one time or another.

Problem: I need to find a death record and/or burial location for two people that I've been researching for 10 years. I've searched every kind of way on familysearch and Ancestry. No shaky leaves on Ancestry for them either. Hoping maybe someone out there can help. Here's the two that I need:
Emily/Emilia GILLEN born about 1810 in PA died after 1870 (last census I have for her) and she was in Illinois then. She was in Ohio in 1850 & 1860. First married Rev. Isaac C. HUNTER 1828 in Lawr Co. he died, then she married David POPE in 1846 in Columbus, OH (don't know what became of him), then she married Joel STOVER in 1858 in Lawr Co. He died after 1870 - nothing on him after that.

Second person - same problem - can't locate any death or burial records.

James Gillen HUNTER (son of the above Emily & her first husband), he was born 1832 in Ohio and died 25 Aug 1884. Where did he die? Where is he buried? He lived in Lawrence Co and then lastely in Covington, KY.
I've got census records, Civil War Draft Reg., marriage records etc. but no death or burial records for these two. Any suggestions, ideas or help welcome. Thanks in advance.

For the post on the Boyd County, Kentucky site I took out the information about Emily and only posted for James Hunter as he was the one who lived there.

These posts were put on the site at about noon yesterday, 17 Jan 2014.  I immediately began to get remarks from those I have known on the Lawrence Register site for many years.  A couple of people wished me luck.  Always good to know your friends are pulling for you.  But, then, within an hour of my post comes an entry from my cousin, Amy (a 4th cousin, once removed) who lives over in Denmark.  We have never met in person, but have been exchanging information online for several years.  She is a very good researcher and we have enjoyed sharing with one another.

This is what she wrote:
“Emily died on 6 Dec 1887 and is buried in Old Bethel Cemetery, Belmont, Wabash County, Illinois.”

What?  Where did this information come from?  Amy swears she told me this last year, but I don’t remember ever hearing it.  Was I busy at the time?  Did I miss her message?  I don't know.

The next entry from Amy was a link to Interment.net for Old Bethel Cemetery. (How nice was that?)



I immediately went to the site and scrolled down the page to the letter S.  I knew that Emily was married 3 times and her last husband’s name was Joel STOVER.  I certainly had searched under that name many times.  

Lo and behold here is what I found.



Can you see me doing my genealogy happy dance? 



Here is how Emily’s information on the Family View looks now.  Much better, don’t you think?



I still don’t have a death date or burial location for James Gillen Hunter.  But, that doesn’t mean I won’t find it or have someone share it with me.

I have created a memorial on FindAGrave.com for Emily (memorial #123610787) and requested a picture of her headstone, if there is one.

Next, I will try to locate a death certificate or record online, or send for one, so that I can verify the information posted on the cemetery website.

Now you know the story of how I found out when my 3rd great grandmother died and where she is buried.

Oh, and let’s review.  What was my original mission when I started yesterday?

       To research my Boggs line

Isn’t it funny how our paths can go off in a different direction?  Sometimes I feel bad about that and think that I’m not focused enough and should try to stay with my “mission.”  

LESSON LEARNED:  You never know where that other path may lead or what you will find.  As long as it ends with us knowing more about our ancestor than when we started, then it’s all worthwhile.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

SURPRISE! A BIRTH RECORD WHERE IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE

TODAY OUR SEARCH TAKES US TO KENTUCKY & WEST VIRGINIA

Today I was looking….again, for some information on my great grandfather, Robert Lee Bowden.  He is one of the many brick walls in our family tree. 

He is the father of my maternal grandmother.  She is my source for a lot of family information.  She’s the one who kept the journal from which I take various recipes from the early 1900’s for, not only food, but how to curl hair and how to make shampoo.  I’ve posted some of these treasured, handwritten items and you can view them here:

http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2013/10/family-recipe-friday-my-grandmother_4.html  HOW TO MAKE COMPLEXION CREAM

http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2013/11/family-recipe-friday.html   HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE FUDGE

http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2013/11/family-recipe-friday-how-to-make-shampoo.html  HOW TO MAKE SHAMPOO

http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2013/11/family-recipe-friday-how-to-keep-hair.html  HOW TO KEEP YOUR HAIR CURLED

Here are things I know about Robert Lee BOWDEN.  He was reported to have been born 8 Feb 1863 in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier, West Virginia.  He married my great grandmother, Florence HUNTER on 10 Mar 1887 in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio.  I have their marriage record. They had two daughters: my grandmother, Florence Lenora born 31 Jan 1888 and Edna Mabel born 1 Jan 1890.  He worked for a railroad company, possibly as a brakeman.  He and my great grandmother divorced in 1899.  I have those records.  He may have married again in 1900 to Bertie KEARNEY.  According to my grandmother (his daughter), he died on 9 Oct 1906.

Between myself and my brother, John, we have not been able to locate any record of his death or burial.  We have been looking for about 7 years.  As experienced genealogists we have explored many sources to try and locate a record.

TIP:  One thing we do all the time is revisit records we have previously viewed.  You never know when a new record will be added, so keep going back.

Today I decided to look for a birth record for Robert Lee Bowden.  I’ve done this many times, but I never give up.  As I was looking through West Virginia birth records in familysearch.org I suddenly came across a record for FLORENCE L. BOWDEN.  That is my grandmother, daughter of Robert L. Bowden.  BUT, she was born in Kentucky.  

Why would there be a birth record in West Virginia?

Up to this point, I didn’t have a birth record for her.  What I did have was an Affidavit of Birth that was filed in 1940.  She must have needed proof of her birth and wasn’t able to provide it.  So, she filed the affidavit with the help of her Aunt, who states that she can verify the facts of the birth. 

This affidavit was filed in KENTUCKY. 

             

As you can see the affidavit gives her date of birth, her parents names, their places of birth, ages at her birth etc.  A LOT of great genealogical information. 

However, no where on this form do I see an actual place of birth for my grandmother, Florence L. Bowden.











Click on any image to enlarge it.

 I had always heard that my grandmother was born in Covington, Kenton, Kentucky.

I clicked on the record I saw in the index on Family Search and this is what I saw:

West Virginia Births, 1853-1930
Name: Florence L. BowdenTitles and Terms:    
Event Type: Birth
Event Date: 01 Jan 1888
Event Place: Ashland, Kentucky, United States
Gender: Female
Race:    
Father's Name: R. L. Bowden
Father's Titles and Terms:    
Father's Birthplace:    
Father's Age:    
Mother's Name: Florence Bowden
Mother's Titles and Terms:    
Mother's Birthplace:    
Mother's Age:    
Note:    
Additional Relatives:    
Registration Date:    
Registration Place:    
Reference ID:     v 1 p 169
GS Film number: 559300
Digital Folder Number: 004014156
Image Number:     00185

That is definitely my grandmother.  I believe the transcriber made an error and listed the date of birth as the 1st of January instead of the 31st.  But, otherwise the information for her year of birth and her parent’s names are correct.  The birthplace is Kentucky, but instead of Covington, it’s Ashland. 

Let’s take a look at the actual image. 



Admittedly this record is difficult to read.  Thank goodness for our computers and their ability to zoom in.  She is listed on line 16.  Here is a close up of that line (best as I could zoom in on it).



Based on this record I am changing my grandmother’s place of birth to Ashland, Boyd, Kentucky.

However, I can certainly see why, if she was looking for her birth record in Kentucky, she didn’t find it.   It was listed with West Virginia births.  I wonder why, don’t you?

The parents, according to her birth affidavit, lived in Ashland, Kentucky. 

• Was the doctor from West Virginia? 
• Were there no county offices in Ashland and the nearest courthouse was in West Virginia?

Kentucky and West Virginia are located next to one another.  There is a river that runs along the border of Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.  I’ve actually been to the counties in Ohio and West Virginia that border the river.  To get from one state to another you just drive across a bridge.



Back in the late 1800’s you would have had to take a ferry to cross the river.  But, I know that people did this all the time. 

I may never know how it came to be that my grandmother was born in Ashland, Kentucky but her birth record was recorded in West Virginia.  The important thing was that I found that record today.

REMEMBER:  Always go back to records you have searched before and look again.  Never assume you know everything about your ancestors. 

I feel very good about this day of research.  I may not have located what I set out to find, but I found something very important and that’s good enough for me.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl


Copyright © 2014 Diane Gould Hall