This week’s theme is ‘maps’. I love maps! I found this wonderful 1603 Warwickshire, England map in a blog and had to share it with you. This map is relevant to the previous posts on the Gunpowder Treason Plot (Notice Coughton Court is marked and this is where Thomas BATE went after he dropped off Robert CATESBY at Holbeche House.) It’s also relevant to posts that will be made throughout the month of February. I’ve marked a few spots that will be relevant in future posts this month. Read up on them. It will make my posts more meaningful.
1603 map of Warwickshire, England found at Revolutionary Players website. Locations marked include Park Hall, Minworth, Curdworth, Castle Bromwich, Coughton Court, Wilmcote, Stratford-upon-Avon (which I spelled incorrectly on the map – sorry).
Links You Could Look At Before Next Week
Mary ARDEN SHAKESPEARE’s property in Wilmcote, Warwickshire, United Kingdom. OurWarwickshire.org has at least 3 nice photos of Mary ARDEN SHAKESPEARE’s home. Wilmcote is where our initial de ARDEN’s lived – Margeret, her dad Robert, and his dad Thomas. Wilmcote is near Stratford-Upon-Avon where SHAKESPEARE grew up.
No need to read extensively at the next link because I will be summarizing much of it in a post later month. However, it has excellent photographs of the Park Hall property that will come up in a post in February. It also has a few maps you can look at that will be relevant. Landed Families blog. Fun fact: According to Wikipedia, the Park Hall manor house was said to be haunted and was demolished in the 1970’s to make way for the M6 motorway…but “[r]emnants of the hall, farm house and adjacent buildings, orchard and pond are still visible at the ‘Park Hall Wildlife Reserve managed by the Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust.’ The name lives on in ‘Park Hall School’, which is on the other side of the road…”.
De Arden family’s ~ Park Hall Estate, 1895.
Learn about Peddimore Hall that once belonged to the de ARDEN family. Then take a look at it’s current state at Daily Mail. One more worthwhile Peddimore Hall site that doesn’t take much time to look at: Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group website. This is a different property than Pedmore Hall which the de ARDEN’s also owned. You can learn about Pedmore Hall here.
The next website has information about The Chestnuts, Water Orton, Warwickshire, England – a possible medieval manor. The de ARDEN family once owned a manor at Water-Orton. OurWarwickshire.org
Note to reader: If you aren’t interested in the puppies you can skip down to the final section called ‘Other Dachshunds I’ve Loved, & Some Humans Too’ for the bit of genealogy in this post.
This week’s theme is ‘branching out’. I’ve done all kinds of stories about my family, husband’s family, grandkids’ families not related to me, friend’s families, famous people’s families – almost anyone is fair game to end up in my Ancestry account or on my blog. In fact, I even helped out on a criminal investigation by utilizing genealogy. You can hear my ‘thank you’ from the podcaster on this episode of Truth & Justice with Bob Ruff. Today though, I want to talk about a different kind of pedigree chart – the kind that belongs to animals.
Sparky, Bogey, & Ginger
Our first three purebred dogs came from Minnesota (Sparky – our golden lab), Oklahoma (Bogey – our red Dachshund), and Texas (Ginger – our cream Dachshund). None of them came with papers/registration and that was okay with us because we just wanted pets. I really never gave much thought to how much information comes with a pedigree chart. Sparky was an excellent hunting dog – a good dog with a sweet disposition. Derek brought Bogey home because a friend of ours needed to re-home him. He was a good dog but he went wandering down to our county road one day and someone picked him up and took him from my driveway. I never did find out who took him. We got Ginger when Sparky was an old dog and living on borrowed time.
Sparky and Bogey.
Now Ginger is old and recently went blind due to SARDS. I wanted her to have a companion so we talked to an old friend of ours recently and got Major Wheeler Scores – a black and tan piebald Dachshund. He was the last puppy left of the last litter my friend will have bred. She’s getting out of the business now.
Major Wheeler Scores
Unlike Sparky, Bogey, and Ginger, we were able to register Major Wheeler and when I registered him I got a pedigree chart. Once I received the chart I got really excited looking at all of his ancestors’ names and descriptions. I got online and found a couple of sites where people post pedigree charts of their dogs. I started searching for the names of Major Wheeler’s ancestors and started finding generations that were further back than what was on the pedigree chart and I also found photos. I started putting together a photo-pedigree chart for Major Wheeler that included all the photos I could find online or acquire from my friend. So today, you get to learn a little about Major Wheeler’s ancestry.
Major Wheeler’s Mom & Dad & Grands
Major Wheeler Scores’ dad, mom, and grandparents. His parents are the two pics on top – Lawson’s Boonedox Boy on the left and Blondie Girl III on the right. They answer to ‘Boone’ and ‘Blondie’. The grandparents along the bottom to the left side are (paternal) Garrett’s Avenger Thor ML and Madison’s Lulu Lemon MS; along the bottom and to the right side are maternal grandparents Linzy Yosemite Sam MW and Fairest Finley of Heavens Half Acre.
Ancestral Highlights:
Drakesleat Komma MW, 9th Great-Grandfather
I won’t go through Major Wheeler’s entire genealogy but I did have a few pleasant surprises in his pedigree so I’ll talk about four of his ancestors. I was able to trace several of his lines quite a ways back – around 15 generations. At 9 generations back he has an American/Canadian/English Champion grandma named Drakesleat Komma MW. A little nod to my DRAKE ancestral line. Drakesleat Komma was born 13 November 1979. Major has quite a few Drakesleat dogs in his ancestry. Drakesleat Dachshunds are Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds. In looking at their website, I learned that Drake’s Leat is a location in England near Plymouth. On the website the historical significance of the location begins at about the year 1559-1560 – right about the time that Thomas PERCY from my previous post was born. Not to mention, the Drakesleat line leads to Major’s ancestor, Monteagle Warpaint. Funny how last week I was writing about Thomas PERCY and the Monteagle Letter and this week we’re right back in that time period with a familiar name but a completely different context. I’m of the opinion there are no coincidences. Everything connects. Everything has meaning – even if we choose not to see the meaning or to call it a ‘coincidence’ or ‘accident’. No matter what you call it, I still have a picture for you though. Here’s Drakesleat Komma.
This is Drakesleat Komma’s photo from her pedigree chart. She was an English Miniature Wirehaired Dachshund. Her breeder was Zena Andrews and her owner was Canadian, C. Cole. Photo and pedigree found at ShowDach website.
HuNu Bad T’ Th’ Bone, Great-Grandfather
If I recall correctly, my senior class chose Bad to the Bone as our class song. So Major’s Grand Champion/Champion great-grandfather’s name caught my eye as well. Bad T’ Th’ Bone is a direct descendant of Drakesleat Komma and he answers to ‘George’. Here’s his photo:
HuNu Bad T’ Th’ Bone. Photo comes from the Facebook account of his breeder’s business: HuNu Dachshunds. The photo was taken in 2014 right before he went to his new home with breeder Anne Lindh of Linzy Dachshunds.
Hammeister Hobbit MW, 10th Great-Grandfather
My husband’s favorite book series in high school was The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In Major Wheeler’s 10th generation he has an American Champion great-grandpa named Hammeister Hobbit. Here is Hammeister Hobbit in a photo I found on a Google search from a now-defunct page called The Dachshund History Online Project.
Hammeister Hobbit courtesy of a Google-saved photo from The Dachshund History Online Project.
EJ’s Big Wheel at Prelude MW, 8th Great-Grandfather
One last AKC Champion doggie. We managed to accidentally incorporate a piece of one of Major Wheeler’s ancestors’ names into his name. Eight generations back, Major Wheeler had a great-grandfather named EJ’s Big Wheel at Prelude MW. EJ’s Big Wheel at Prelude answered to ‘Willie’. Willie was born on 20 October 1993. He was the result of a joint effort of a well-established breeder – Emma Jean Stephenson of EJ’s Dachshunds – and a breeder that EJ mentored – Prelude Farm and Kennel. I found Willie’s photo on the Prelude website.
EJ’s Big Wheel at Prelude, aka Willie.
The Story Behind the Name
Every dog has a story behind his or her name. My husband’s idea was to name him something that related to my business name – Honeysuckle Farm. I liked the idea but Major was no ‘Honeysuckle’! We struggled for a while with what to name him and finally decided on ‘Major Wheeler’ which is a variety of Honeysuckle. It just so happens that my husband and I also each have a ‘WHEELER’ ancestral line. So it seemed to fit and he answered to it. We hope to let him sire a couple of litters in a few years before we have him neutered. I’m looking forward to seeing what his puppies look like. One note about Major. He has this one ear that’s so funny. We love that ear. I jokingly say that every ancestor he ever had came out on that one ear. What do you think:
Major Wheeler’s ancestor ear.
Other Dachshunds I’ve Loved & Some Humans Too
At the point that we got Bogey, I hadn’t had a Dachshund since I was a kid and still in school. The Dachshund we had when I was in school was Cinnamon and Cinnamon was the first Dachshund I remember. However, she wasn’t the first I ever had. Mom and Dad like to tell stories about Sweetie, a Dachshund we had when I was very little. Sweetie and I seemed to be arch enemies until she had a litter of puppies and then something shifted and Sweetie and I got along. My mom has always said that a Dachshund is much calmer after a litter of pups. I wish I had pictures of Cinnamon and Sweetie but I haven’t come across any.
An interesting side note. My WHEELER ancestor on my dad’s side was Major John WHEELER (I kid you not. MAJOR WHEELER! I didn’t remember this when we were naming Major Wheeler but it sure worked out well!) Major John WHEELER was my 15th great- grandfather and he was also the immigrant ancestor. He came to America from England. As far as I can tell, John’s grandfather (my 17th great-grandfather) was not involved in the Gunpowder Treason Plot.
Do you remember Thomas BATE in part 1 of the Gunpowder Treason Plot story from last week? His brother was Sir James BATES the Elder (my 11th great-grandfather). James had a descendant named Judith (my 4th great-grandaunt) who was born in 1807 in Georgia. Judith married Reverend Thomas B. WHEELER and this is my mom’s WHEELER connection. This same Reverend Thomas B. WHEELER’s 6th great-grandfather was Thomas WHEELER, brother to my dad’s Major John WHEELER.
Bart’s 11th great-grandfather, Sir Thomas WHEELER the Elder, was the father of Major John and Thomas WHEELER and thus, also my 17th great-grandfather. Who knew a little puppy (and a little blog theme) would lead to all these connections?!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this “branching out” session. I’m looking forward to more discoveries and the next fun blog post. I hope you have a cozy and safe week. Stock up on food and stay safe in the storm that’s coming this week.
The blog post theme this week is “favorite find”. To be honest, my favorite find is whatever I’ve just discovered. Any find is exciting for me. Let me tell you about my most recent find – which happens to be my favorite today!
I’ve been researching my dad’s HUTCHISON family. For background, the line goes from my paternal great-grandfather, Mark DRAKE to his father Ervin Alonzo (also known as Poppy), Poppy’s mother Hester MITCHELL DRAKE, Hester’s sister Mary Louise MITCHELL, and finally to Mary’s daughter Amanda Jane THOMAS who married Idaho’s 7th Governor, Francis Robert “Frank” GOODING. When I discovered that my 1st cousin 4 times removed had married the former Governor of Idaho I had to laugh. My husband and I lived for 10 years in Idaho and not one day of that 10 years did I know of this family connection to Idaho. I was well aware of my husband’s family connections and I was aware that I had some distant family who had lived there at some point but I was completely unaware of any connection to a former governor of Idaho.
Mary Louise Mitchell Potter Thomas
I was researching Mary MITCHELL only because I’ve had such a difficult time finding her parents (and my 4th great grandparents), Mordica Elias MITCHELL and Lucretia HUTCHISON MITCHELL HARTMAN. So much of a hard time that I had resorted to researching the children in an attempt to figure out where the family was and who really belonged in this family (as well as who didn’t). I had already looked into the two oldest children of Mordica and Lucretia – two sons named James Harrison MITCHELL and John West MITCHELL. I had already looked into the oldest known daughter as well – a daughter named Susan M. MITCHELL. By this time I was getting desperate but I continued. Next in line was Mary Louise. I was about to give up on Mary when I made the completely unexpected discovery that her daughter was married to Francis R. “Frank” GOODING ~ former Idaho Governor, former Idaho state Senator, and former US Senator from Idaho. Perseverance pays off!
Amanda Jane Thomas and Frank Gooding
In attempting to figure out how Frank GOODING would have met Amanda Jane THOMAS, I began looking at Frank’s life. Frank was born in England. He immigrated to the US with his family when he was about 7 or 8 years old. His family settled in Michigan and then moved to Mount Shasta, California in1877. BINGO! Amanda’s family had moved to Shasta County, California in the late 1850’s or early 1860’s. The information I’m working with says that Lucretia (Amanda’s maternal grandmother and my 4th great grandmother) died in California but I have no proof of this. However I do know that by 1860, Amanda’s mother (Mary Louise MITCHELL POTTER THOMAS, my 3rd great grand-aunt) was living in Shasta County, California with her brother – James Harrison MITCHELL. In 1860, Amanda’s mom was going by Louisa rather than Mary. I can only presume Louisa was pregnant with her first child, Adeline, at that time since a 10-year-old Adeline POTTER shows up on the next census and a later court case names Adeline as a daughter of Benjamin F. and Mary Louise MITCHELL POTTER.
Divorce of Mary Louise MITCHELL POTTER and Benjamin F. POTTER. Image from Newspapers.com, The Red Bluff Beacon; 15 May 1862; Red Bluff, California.
As for the 1860 census, Louisa’s last name was listed as POTTER because she was married to Benjamin F. POTTER in Saint Louis, Missouri, just a few years prior to showing up in California. Mr. POTTER was not living with the MITCHELL family in 1860. All the researchers on Ancestry claim Benjamin POTTER died around 1861. I have found no proof of his death but I did discover that Mary Louise filed for a divorce from Benjamin F. POTTER in 1862 in Tehama County, California. The divorce must have been granted because on 21 October 1862, Louisa married Samuel M. THOMAS.
In 1870, Louisa and Samuel THOMAS were living in Shasta County, California with their family including the future Senator’s wife, Amanda Jane. Frank GOODING and his family were still in Michigan in 1870. In 1877, Amanda’s father Samuel passed away in January and later that year, Frank and his older brother moved to Shasta County, California.
In 1880, 18-year-old Amanda was living with her mother and siblings in Shasta County, California. A 21-year-old Frank GOODING was living in nearby Gasspoint, Shasta County, California, raising turkeys for a living. On 1 June 1880, Frank and Amanda married and they moved to Idaho in May of 1881. Frank would go on to be elected Sheriff in Ketchum, Blaine County, Idaho.
The family also lived in Shoshone, Lincoln County, Idaho for a while. They built a home there and limited rooms are available for rent in the home. If you’re interested, you can request more information from Lincoln County Historical Society in Shoshone, Idaho where I found this photograph of the home:
In 1898 Frank was elected to the Idaho legislature (Senate). Two years later he was reelected to the Senate. While serving in the state legislature he had the honor of serving as President Pro-Tempore. In 1904 he was elected Governor of Idaho and served two terms. In 1918 a special election was held to elect someone to finish the term of the US Senator James Brady who had died in office the previous year. Frank lost to the opposing candidate, however that candidate resigned from office early and Frank finished his term. Frank went on to win his own 6-year term representing Idaho in 1920 and was re-elected for a second term in 1926. Frank succumbed to cancer while serving his second term as US Senator. One final accolade for Frank is that in 1958 he was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.
1921 photo of Frank GOODING from Library of Congress website.
Because of his efforts to pursue and hold accountable the murderers of his predecessor–Governor Frank STEUNENBERG– Frank GOODING had to move out of his home and be under constant guard because of bombings and other threats to his life. In his lifetime, Frank also founded the town of Gooding, Idaho, and the county of Gooding was named after him. Frank was instrumental in bringing the State School for the Deaf and Blind and Gooding College into Gooding, Idaho. Frank’s endeavors were financially beneficial to the area of Gooding, Idaho. He brought in tourists with the hotel he built. History of Idaho has some great pictures of GOODING’s Lincoln Inn.
Original Gooding College building. Photo found at Only In Your State website. In the 1940’s it was converted into a Tuberculosis Hospital and is said to be haunted.
Frank was successful in getting the Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind moved from Boise to Gooding. Here is a 1906 photo of the school found at APH Museum:
Amanda lived for another 18 years. She died in 1946 and was buried next to Frank in Elmwood Cemetery in Gooding, Gooding, Idaho.
Obituary of Amanda Thomas Gooding. Obituary of Amanda Thomas Gooding. Image from Newspapers.com; The Idaho Statesman; 8 Apr 1946; Boise, Idaho.
Side Notes
When I lived in Idaho I was a junior paralegal at a large law firm and my job entailed working on Superfund mining cases, so the story of the mining dispute that led to the assassination of Governor Frank STEUNENBERG (and then Governor Frank GOODING’s later involvement in bringing people to justice) was very interesting to me. If you’d like to read about the dispute, what led to it and how it ended, I recommend going to this website: http://www.3rd1000.com/history3/events/cdamines/1892-1899.htm. I found it interesting that John HAWLEY, the founder of the law firm I worked for in Boise, once represented the miners in their litigation and later he would lead lawsuits against the miners. Clarence Darrow once referred to John HAWLEY as the “god-father of the Western Federation [of Miners]”. James HAWLEY’s family founded the law firm where I worked on Superfund mining cases.
If you can’t get enough information about Pinkerton detectives, you might plan a trip to the Idaho State Archives in Boise, Idaho, and have a look at their James H. HAWLEY collection which includes the “Pinkerton Papers” regarding the investigation of the assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Interesting side note: to earn extra money during my college days at Boise State University, I did contract work for Pinkertons researching court records and doing background checks on people. It was during my college days at BSU that I was fortunate enough to take a class under Hawley, Troxell, Ennis & Hawley paralegals who saw potential in me and got me hired on at the firm. So, to go back to all this old Boise and Idaho history is, in a small way, to relive some old memories for me.
The one thing I found most odd during this research session was that I was unable to locate any photographs of Amanda THOMAS GOODING. There are photos of Frank GOODING, but none of Amanda. I emailed the archivists at the Idaho State Archives to ask if they have any photographs of Amanda THOMAS GOODING. I heard back from archivist Erin Bostwick right before publishing this blog post and she attached two watermarked photos of Amanda. I’m posting the photos with the watermarks and will be ordering un-watermarked copies of the photos from the Archives later this week.
Photo of a young Amanda THOMAS GOODING courtesy of archivist Erin Bostwick at Idaho State Archives.Photo of an elderly Amanda THOMAS GOODING courtesy of archivist Erin Bostwick at Idaho State Archives.
If you would like un-watermarked, high-resolution copies of these photos, fill out this form and attach $10 per photo. The details of the quality of the photos is on the form. Just an FYI, these photos are low-res in addition to being watermarked. Photos you order from the Archives will be high-res and look much nicer.
If you’d like to learn more about Lincoln Inn (built by Frank) go to; the original Lincoln burned but it’s been rebuilt and you can stay there when you’re in that area. You can find the new Lincoln Inn at https://historiclincolninn.com/.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about our connection to the 7th Idaho Governor, Frank GOODING. If you ever get a chance to visit Boise, Idaho, I highly recommend doing it. While you’re there, take side trips to the Archives and to Gooding if you can. Boise is a beautiful place and that area of Idaho is one of my favorite places in the world.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
Resources Utilized for This Post
Encyclopedia of Idaho by Nancy Capace; found on Google Books at https://tinyurl.com/447t5pvu. Accessed on 11 Jan 2022
Illustrated History of McDonald County, Missouri: From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time ~ J. A. Sturges, comp./ed. found at https://tinyurl.com/2p8cpkf7; accessed on 9 Jan 2022
Once again this year I’m doing Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. This year she is offering a once monthly option as well so when I get too busy to post once a week, I’ll revert to once a month and hopefully that will at least keep me writing. This week’s theme is ‘foundations’. When I was thinking about types of foundations I already had in mind that I wanted to do another DNA blog post and so what better ‘foundation’ to write about than the very foundation of human life? Today’s DNA post will relate to my SEELY family since they are my annual focus this year.
My SEELY family member nearest in relation to me is my 2nd great grandmother, Mary SEELY who was married to George Columbus BATES. I’ve written about them in a number of posts on this blog if you’d like to go back and get some background information. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time you know that for a few years I’ve been trying to figure out a way to utilize my DNA to create a more complete genealogy. I wasn’t willing to pay for classes or videos so everything I’ve learned has been trial-and-error or free information so it’s taken me a while to get it figured out. Today I want to talk about what I’ve discovered that works.
Modified Triangulation
What seems to be working for me right now is a modified triangulation of sorts.
SEELY family tree – screenshot from Ancestry.com.
So for instance, in order to see if my SEELY DNA lined up with my family tree as it looks right now, I took the surnames SEELY, BRINKER, SHELLY, and RIDGWAY and searched my DNA matches for people with those surnames in their family trees. I chose those 4 surnames because on the SEELY line I’m certain of my family tree up through Charles George SEELY. I felt my best next move would be to take the surnames of Charles’ 4 grandparents and see if those names were prevalent in my DNA matches’ trees as well (a modified triangulation technique).
Seely
I am confident I’m on the right track on the SEELY line. My family tree lines up really well with information in my DNA matches’ family trees. Understand though – the fact that my tree matches up with other trees does NOT mean any of us have it right. It’s just a clue that I probably am fairly accurate on that line but I’ll need records to back that up and prove it. DNA is just one more clue pointing me in a certain direction. Out of 5 DNA trees with the name spelled ‘SEELY’, I matched 3. One matched to Mary SEELY’s parents; one matched to Mary SEELY’s great-grandparents (John SEELY and Katherine BRINKER), and one matched at 3 generations past John and Katherine – my 8th great-grandparents named Jonas SEELY and Mary WICKS or WEEKES. In regard to common alternate spellings, I had 3 hits (out of 15 DNA matches) with the spelling of ‘SEELEY’. One matched to Jonas and Mary (see couple above) and two matched to my 9th great-grandparents, Jonas SEELY and Mary ANGELL. Of the DNA matches where I couldn’t make a SEELY connection, some didn’t have family trees, some trees didn’t go very far back in time so I wasn’t able to find a connection, and then I’m sure there were others where SEELY wasn’t the line we matched on so I wasn’t able to find a connection on that line. Overall, I am more confident now that my SEELY line is pretty accurate. I just need to make sure my documentation is accurate and organized.
Charles SEELY minister credentials.
Brinker
The second surname I listed was BRINKER. I feel confident I have the correct BRINKER line right now. The DNA seems to back that up. Utilizing both the spelling of the surname my nearest BRINKER relative used (Katherine, my 5th great grandmother) as well as the older alternate spelling of BRUNGGER, I found a total of 12 matches with these surnames in their tree. Of those, I could find the BRINKER/BRUNGGER connection in two of those trees but I found clues in most of the others that leads me to believe that once I know more about the family I’ll be able to connect the remaining 10 matches (or most of them). One DNA match connects to me at my 5th great grandparents, John SEELY and Katherine BRINKER. The other is a double connection matching to my dad’s HUTCHISON family (starting with his 3rd great-grandmother, Lucretia) and to my mom’s family on her BRINKER line.
John and Katherine (BRINKER) SEELY’s home in Ralls County, Missouri. This home was restored by John BARAGIOLA (a descendant) and you can find videos on YouTube. I’ll post one below so you can find them.
Here is the first of many videos of John BARAGIOLA’s restoration of the SEELY-BRINKER log cabin. You can find more on his YouTube channel. John’s a great guy. When you watch his videos please like the videos and subscribe to his channel as this helps his status on YouTube.
John BARAGIOLA’s SEELY-BRINKER log cabin restoration video.
Shelly
The third surname I listed was SHELLY. My SHELLY line is one that I wasn’t as confident about when I started this project. I am still not completely comfortable about the line as it is right now. I found a total of 14 matches on the various surname spellings. Out of 14, I could verify only one and he matched to my 7th great grandparents, Johan “Hans” Michael SHEELY and his wife Elizabeth. Johan and Elizabeth were the great-grandparents of Elizabeth SHELLY, my closest SHELLY relative (and my 4th great grandmother).
George SEELY and Betsy SHELLY marriage certificate, Ancestry.com. Marriage took place 17 February 1814 at St. Charles County, Missouri.
Ridgeway
The final surname I researched was RIDGEWAY – a family line I was not well-versed on and didn’t have worked out past my nearest RIDGEWAY relative (my 5th great-grandmother Mary Ann “Nancy” RIDGEWAY). Seven DNA matches were also researching this surname and I was not able to connect to any of them because their RIDGEWAYs were so far back in time compared to mine (and also, some didn’t have family trees at all). So, I didn’t make much headway on this line and information on Ancestry.com is conflicting. Figuring out this line will take considerably more research and documentation and I may find out I’m on the wrong trail altogether. I also have to consider that, due to the way DNA recombines in each individual, it’s possible I just didn’t receive any RIDGEWAY DNA and that’s why it doesn’t show up.
To Sum It Up
Just to clarify, I’ve used this technique on my ‘brick wall’ lines with much greater success in the past so keep that in mind when reading this blog post. I do plan to continue using this modified triangulation technique in the future, especially on brick wall lines where I feel I’ve made all the progress I can with conventional research methods. Please keep in mind that DNA is just a CLUE that points you in a certain direction. You still have to do the traditional research to ensure you have correct information. Having said that, I felt I had less success on these particular lines using the modified triangulation. I was able to come to a point where I feel confident about my SEELY and BRINKER lines. I am less confident that my SHELLY line is correct and am moving my RIDGEWAY line over to ‘brick wall’ status as there is conflicting information on Ancestry and it isn’t matching up to my DNA either. That doesn’t mean it’s definitely wrong, it just isn’t looking good right now. This is definitely a line I need paper documentation and research time on.
I hope you have a chance to try out this modified triangulation technique for yourself. Possibly someone else has already done this and I’m just late to the game because I’m unwilling to pay to learn what to do. That’s fine. This is what I’ve come up with that works for me and I’m sharing it freely with you. I hope you have time to use it and you have great success with it. If you do use it and make some discoveries, I’d love to hear about it in comments!
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
P.S.- I’ve changed the website again to try and make it more user friendly. Hopefully I’ve accomplished that. In the process, you may have been accidentally unsubscribed from my blog. I’m sorry about that. If you enjoy the blog, please re-subscribe and keep reading! I hope your weekend is fabulous and you make many wonderful genealogical discoveries – or at least make a great memory or two!
Do you remember when I wrote about the YOACHUM Silver Dollar legend? You can find that story here if you need to refresh your memory. You can also find a SCHELL/YOACHUM family photo in this post. This weekend I’ve been thinking about and researching that family again and I came across a website I’d really like to share with you. I found a photo of Henry SCHELL’s trading post and water mill on the website. It gives a lot of history about the SCHELL/YOACHUM and related families as well as the surrounding community of Shell Knob, Missouri. You can find the website at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mobarry/shell/schell.henry.htm. Here’s their business that founded Shell Knob, MO:
Henry SCHELL’s trading post and water mill at Shell Knob, Missouri. Photo comes from https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mobarry/shell/schell.henry.htm.
There are many other family photos at the website. The individuals are not named but are part of the SCHELL family. I hope that some day people can identify the individuals. In addition to the brief story and all the photos on the page above, there is an additional link to a newspaper article about the family that can be found at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mobarry/data/news/schell-BigSugarCreek.htm. That page also contains this photo:
Photo to be Henry and Elizabeth (YOACHUM) SCHELL’s home and Henry’s burial spot.
I encourage you to go read the websites to learn more about the SCHELL-YOACHUM family and take a look at those photos. Do they resemble any of our BAKER or DRAKE ancestors? I was excited to find all of this information freely available on the internet. Take advantage of it before it’s gone.
Today my cousins are remembering their mom on her birthday, so I will join them. Their mom was Jeannie STROUT. She was born in 1949 to Bobby and Virginia (KUYKENDALL) STROUT (at least, I think Virginia was her mom). I haven’t been able to do enough research to confirm who Jeannie’s mom was yet. Jeannie had four children – 2 boys and 2 girls. One of her daughters, Kim, passed away in 2001 – a loss that devastated my cousins and, I’m sure, devastated Jeannie as well.
Jeannie and Poynor Baptist Church
As with most of the spouses of my paternal aunt and uncles, the spouses attended Poynor Baptist Church at some point. Jeannie was no exception. Her entry in the Membership Roll book shows she was saved on 20 September 1970. She was baptized 19 September 1972. Her entry is under her married name of DRAKE.
Poynor Baptist Church Membership Roll entry for Jeannie STROUT DRAKE.
At the time of this entry, her address was Rogers, Benton County, Arkansas.
Jeannie’s dad, Bobby, was a preacher so church and religion were not a new thing for Jeannie or her sister, Linda. Her dad pastored Guiding Light Tabernacle, an evangelical church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for years. Jeannie’s mom has been a bit of an enigma for me so I won’t go into her until I have solid information.
For now, I’m going to leave you with this simple sketch of Jeannie. I was too young to have any memories of her myself and haven’t had time to ask around for stories about her so sometime in the future I’ll get back to writing about Jeannie. In the meantime, hugs to my cousins as they remember their mom on her birthday.
It’s been a long summer trying to get my business off the ground. I’ve missed writing these blog posts. Aside from starting a business, there have been so many other changes in the last few months. From mid-August to present we’ve laid to rest two cousins – Robert EVANS and David WETZEL – and an uncle, Alvin BENNETT, Jr.. They will all be missed.
Alvin Bennett Jr., Vietnam veteran.
Family Is Everything
When I was a child, I saw almost all of my cousins almost every weekend of my childhood. These days, it seems we only see each other at funerals and weddings. Today was one of those days. Before leaving the graveside services for my uncle Junior, my cousin Chris told me he had a box for me. He gifted me a box of records from the church we grew up in. It’s been quite a trip down memory lane looking through old business meeting notes, membership rolls, etc. Over the coming weeks I hope to share some of those records with you. For tonight, I want to share the baptismal records for my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and even a great-great grandparent.
Poynor Baptist Church
The Poynor Baptist Church Membership Roll book as it looks today.
This Poynor Baptist Membership Roll book was in the box Chris gave me. This book is as good as gold to me. It’s like a mini-family history for me. In this book, I found my own record of salvation and baptism (the dates aren’t there but I can tell you it was Autumn of 1976 for salvation and Summer of 1978 for baptism):
My salvation/baptism entry in the Poynor Baptisit Church Membership Roll book.
I also found both of my parents in the book:
My dad’s entry – he was baptized on June 13, 1954.My mom’s entry – she was baptized on 16 February 1964.
I also found many of my ancestors in the book:
My paternal grandparents, great-grandparents, and even my great-great-grandfather!Plus one more great-grandmother.
I love the story my dad tells about my great-great-grandfather, Poppy Lonzo. He remembers Poppy standing at the back of the Poynor Baptist Church with tears streaming down his face professing his belief in Christ and his regret that he waited so long to accept Christ as his savior. What a beautiful story! It brings tears to my eyes.
Losses, But Also Gains
In this summer of losses for my family, it was refreshing to see the eternal gains we’ve made. Refreshing to know that I will see my people again one day in a better place. Comforting to know that my people are already in that better place waiting for my arrival.
As we move into fall and winter, I’m wishing you more days of rejoicing than grief and I’m wishing you comfort in your days of loss.
This week’s theme is ‘great’. In trying to make my blog post different from others coming out this week, I chose to look for a place name or some feature about location that reflected the theme of ‘great’. What I found was my maternal 7th great grandfather, George W. SOULE, who spent his final years in the Great Nine Partners Patent area of Dutchess County, New York.
Great Nine Partners ~ Dutchess County, New York ~ 1697
Let me tell you, you will not find a town called Great Nine Partners (as it was presented to me). “Great Nine Partners” refers to a land patent area. The “Nine Partners” were Colonel Caleb HEATHCOTE, Major Augustine GRAHAM, James EMOTT (aka EMMOT), Lieutenant Colonel Henry FILKINS, David JAMISON, Hendrick TEN EYCK, John EVERTSON (aka Jan AARSTON), William CREED, and Jarvis MARSHALL. It was called “Great” because the land mass was greater than what was given in the Little Nine Partners land patent which occurred nine years later. Current towns/cities in the former Great Nine Partners land patent area include Stanford, part of Hyde Park, and Clinton among others.
Here is an early map of the Great Nine Partners Patent along the banks of the Hudson River:
Great Nine Partners Land Patent Map.
I’m going to resist the urge to tell you about the Nine Partners. That’s another story for another day. However, if you’re dying to know more about the Quakers in Dutchess County, New York during the time George lived there, you can check out this interesting read online: A History of the Quakers in Dutchess County, New York, 1728-1828 by Dell T. Upton.
George W. Soule
George was born in 5 October 1695 – two years before the Great Nine Partners Land Patent grant. George was born at Dartmouth in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay (now Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts). His parents were William SOULE and Hannah EATON SOULE. George was the third of eleven siblings. He married Lydia HOWLAND. In regard to religion, they were Friends (Quakers). Notes from the Dartmouth Monthly (Friends/Quaker) Meeting, we learn that George and Lydia were disowned (by the church) after announcing their intention to marry which was in disobedience to a direct order from the Quakers not to get married. In 1741, they were reunited with the church and were given a certificate to attend meetings at Mamaronock. Because the Friends kept monthly meeting notes, we know that George and Lydia also attended Meetings in either (or maybe both) Oblong and Nine Partners. Although specific dates are written in the Monthly Meeting notes, I haven’t included those here because I don’t feel I’m knowledgeable enough about the Julian Calendar and the Quaker Calendar to adequately impart to you the correct dates. You can read about the Quaker Calendar here and you can find sources for the Monthly Meeting notes here. George and Lydia had eight children. At about age 14, George’s father apprenticed George to John Russell. George became a blacksmith.
The Quakers were persecuted from their inception in 1640 to about 1725 (almost halfway through George’s life). Between 1640 and 1725, Quakers were whipped, imprisoned, fined, and some were even hung for their faith. People could even be punished simply for having a Quaker in their home for the evening. Ships found to be importing Quakers could be confiscated! Peter STUYVESANT, director (roughly equates to present-day governor) of New Netherland (which was later split and became New York and New Jersey and smaller parts became attached to other states), was particularly brutal to religions he opposed. He himself was Dutch Reformed. He conflicted with Lutherans, Jews, Roman Catholics and Quakers, all of whom attempted to practice their religion in New Netherland. When the town of Flushing challenged him on the fact that he was violating their charter, he replied by cancelling their right to hold town meetings. If you want to see how this turned out, be sure to read page 15 of the Quaker history linked above!
To be fair though, if what I’ve read this week is true, the Quakers were said to have been aggressive toward other religions in their early years so some of what they endured probably came from a place of retribution for actions the Quakers themselves initiated. When they were actively aggressive toward other religions, other religions pushed back. When other religions pushed back, the Quakers ramped up instead of letting things be. Despite ramping up their aggressiveness toward other religions, when it came time for the Revolutionary War they claimed they were exempt from fighting because their religion was a pacifist religion and they didn’t believe in war or violence. Even though they claimed exemption, many fought on the side of Britain and against American freedom from the Crown. So you can see how their actions were conflicting with their words and why many didn’t respect their right to be left alone (when they themselves wouldn’t leave others alone). You can read about it in the Quaker history document I linked above. As with all groups, I’m sure there were extremists in the religion and perhaps the actions I’ve read about and described came only from the extremists. I only know what I’ve read. Up until now, I knew the Quakers to be peaceful but the paper (the Quaker history document) which I linked above did not describe them that way during the period in question. By 1728, their persecution had ended and by 1741 when George moved to the Great Nine Partners area in Dutchess County, it was a distant memory for the Friends. Religious freedom had made big strides in American during this time and that helped to end the persecution.
The Revolution
Speaking of the Revolution, there is information floating around on the internet that Benjamin SOULE (my maternal 6th great grandfather and son of George W. SOULE) supported Britain during the Revolution. According to Daughters of the American Revolution, this is incorrect. There was another Benjamin SOULE who did support Britain. As of this date, I’ve not found any information that indicates which side our Benjamin supported. I have also seen information saying Benjamin’s dad George was also a Loyalist, but again, I can’t find reliable documentation to show this. I will say that Benjamin’s brother Rowland fought as a Patriot during the Revolution. So even if some of the brothers were Loyalists, not all were. At this point in time, I would imagine that all of this particular family supported the Patriots though since they had been in this country for quite some time. The immigrant ancestor was George SOULE (great grandfather of the George SOULE from this post) and he came from Britain. I doubt that three generations later the family is still supporting Britain.
I wish I could tell you more about the SOULE family during the Revolutionary War period but I can’t seem to find them anywhere. They were Quakers so it’s entirely possible that most of them did not serve in any official capacity during the war.
“I, George Soule of the Great Nine-Partners…Black Smith”
Death came for George SOULE in 1776. He was either proud of of his craft or he was distinguishing himself from all the other George SOULE’s when he wrote his will. It begins,
In the name of God, Amen. I George Soule of the Great Nine-partners and County of Dutches and province of New-York Black Smith…
New York will of George SOULE.
George appointed his son Rowland (the Revolutionary War patriot), along with his wife Lydia, to be the executors of his will. The appointment of his patriot son as executor is another reason I believe that our George was not a Loyalist but rather a Patriot – or at least he was as supportive of the Patriots as he could be given he was a Quaker. In George’s will he divided his land between his wife and children. Three of his children died prior to him (George, Margret and Lydia) and George gave their portions to each of their children.
George’s will ended with these words:
In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the twenty-ninth Day of Sixth month in the Sixteenth Year of the Reign of King George the Third King of Great Britain etc., and in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six.
New York will of George SOULE.
Will of George SOULE.
George signed his will along with witnesses John WHITE and Elijah HOAG. I believe Elijah HOAG is probably related to George. It’s possible both men were related to George.
Final Thoughts
I wish I could tell you more about George SOULE but this is all I know right now. Just a note of caution, I am relying on the information and research of others. I have vetted what information I could but there still may be mistakes. I’ve done the best I could right now to bring you credible information about our SOULE family from the Great Nine Partners area of Dutchess County, New York. Now that I’ve introduced him, perhaps we’ll learn more stories about him in the future.
I’m wishing you all a very happy Friday tomorrow and hoping you have a wonderful weekend. Learn something new this weekend! It’s energizing to learn new things!
Last week I filled you in on the story of the YOCHUM family. While researching last week’s post I came across a little nugget of a story that I wanted to flesh out and bring to you this week. The theme this week is ‘lost’ and we’ll be talking about little Roney LITTRELL, a cousin-by-marriage to Nancy BEAR (the sister of Eliza Jane BEAR to whom we are genetically related according to my DNA). Dad’s family does have a Littrell line so it may be that in the future I discover we are blood related to this little boy in some way. In any case, it fit the theme and I found it interesting. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a lot of information so this post will have two halves- Roney LITTRELL who was lost around age 6 and another of my Dad’s lines, the CHAMBERS line which also had a boy that got lost. So grab your kleenex box and let’s get started.
Roney Littrell – A Life Barely Started
Roney LITTRELL was born about 1808 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Lincoln County is about an hour to hour and a half south of Nashville, Tennessee to give you some idea of geography. His parents were Jesse and Frances (SHELTON) LITTRELL. DNA says we are connected to Roney but, of course, it doesn’t say how and I have yet to figure that out. We have both BEARs and LITTRELLs in my Dad’s line and both of these lines, along with YOCHUMs, intermarried. When Roney was about 6 years old, he and his dad went out with a group of people to hunt Sweet Gum trees. Sweet Gums are hardwood trees native to Tennessee and are considered ornamental in some areas of the US. I found a wonderful blog that laid out exactly what Sweet Gums can be used for. Thriving Earth Farm and Development says that for humans (as opposed to animals for which Sweet Gums are also food), parts of the Sweet Gum tree are used medicinally. Hobby Farms has a short article about medicinal uses. Sweet Gums can also be used for making baskets, for firewood if they are dried well, and for building material (including “high quality millwork” in houses). Some have even talked about using the wood to make their own lures at Tackle Underground. Any gardeners in the house? If so, check out FutureFarming’s website. They give a list of things you can do with Sweet Gum in the garden. A blog that I love, Eat the Weeds, says the dried sap of the tree is the only edible part of the tree but it does make a fragrant, bitter chewing gum. The sap is also used to add flavor to smoking tobacco. Any other edible uses are in the form of medicine which Eat the Weeds does talk about in the linked blog post. If you’re interested in making medicine be sure to read comments on the linked Eat the Weeds blog post as there are a variety of ways to make the medicine. When Sweet Gum is discussed for it’s medicinal properties, the brand name Tamiflu has been mentioned so if you have a Sweet Gum tree you may want to check that out. You can go to your pharmacy and get Sweet Gum in the form of “Compound Tincture of Benzoin”. If you feel more comfortable with a scientific study on the medicinal properties of Sweet Gum, you can check out the U.S. National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health study. By the way, do you want to know how to make the gum? I got you covered! Go to BushcraftUSA‘s website and start reading!
Now back to Roney and his dad. I can’t say for sure why Roney and Jesse were hunting Sweet Gum that day. It could have been any of the reasons listed above. In any case, there they were with this group. I don’t have details about how it all went down but this is how I imagine it. Roney grouped up with the other kids his age, as kids often do. At some point, Roney separated from the group. When Jesse went to find him or to check on him, he was gone. I can only imagine the aftermath. If Roney’s mom (they called her Frankey) wasn’t with the group then Jesse had to go home – without Roney – and tell her what happened. My heart breaks for both of them. The story goes that Jesse hunted for Roney for two years after that, wandering in and out of Indian encampments looking for his son. I can only imagine the aftermath of that group trip. I cannot find any information that indicates Jesse and Frankey ever found Roney.
Alexander John Chambers- In His Heart, A Sea Captain
Relying on the research of others (specifically that research done by William Davis CHAMBERS and posted at Chambers History: Trails of the Centuries website), I offer you the following stories. Alexander CHAMBERS was born in 1749 in Ireland to Samuel and Mary (THOMPSON) CHAMBERS. They were from a Scots-Irish family. When Alexander was 15 years old, his family made the voyage to America, settling in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. Alexander loved the sea. So much so that when the family arrived, Samuel and Mary indentured Alexander to a man 80 miles inland to keep Alexander from becoming a sailor. The family arrived in 1765. At that time, Philadelphia was suffering from a Smallpox epidemic that had broken out the previous year and lasted into 1766. According to Revolutionary War Journal‘s website, in 1765 Philadelphia suffered epidemic outbreaks of Smallpox (from 1764-1766), Scarlet Fever and Smallpox in 1769, and Influenza from 1770-1771. They had some difficult years leading up to the Revolution. You can see previous and subsequent epidemic outbreaks on that website. It’s very interesting. Our Covid-19 crisis seems to have been their “normal” from about 1763-1783. It was about halfway through this Philadelphian pandemic period (about 1771) that Alexander became an adult. He left his indenture status and returned to Philadelphia to be with his parents. In 1771, Philadelphia was suffering back-to-back epidemics of Influenza and Whooping Cough. During these back-to-back epidemics, many people left Philadelphia in an effort to save themselves and their families. When Alexander arrived in Philadelphia to be with his parents he could not find them. They had left while he was indentured. William Davis CHAMBERS received a letter from a family member who indicated that Alexander’s parents left because of the epidemics. According to his grandson, Alexander made an initial search for his parents but didn’t find them. He searched the rest of his life for his parents and never found them. Alexander eventually moved to Kentucky and then Indiana. Throughout his life he continued the search for his parents and his grandson remembers his dad (Alexander’s son) making two long trips with Alexander in search of Alexander’s parents. I can only assume that they also looked for him and never found him.
Wandering the Woods and the City Streets
I’d love more time to research and write about these families but I’ve run out of time for this week’s blog post. I think my ancestors would understand if they knew that I have living people to care for this week and an old friend to mourn who passed away this week – far too soon in his life. The stories will wait. The living people I love need to be loved and cared for now, not later. Maybe next week we’ll have a longer story time, but this week we’re going to leave these lost boys where they are – wandering the woods and the city streets trying to find their way back. There are many in the world today who are lost. Pray for them. Squeeze your loved ones tight and don’t take your eyes off your littles. Life is too short and too precious.
Wishing you love, safety, and a life of never being lost.
This week’s theme is ‘fortune’. I don’t know about you but I love a good buried treasure story! I’ve been waiting a while to tell this story and now is the perfect time! Back in August of 2019 I told you about my DNA adventure with the BAIR/BEAR/BARE family. See this post:
In that post I briefly mentioned Henry and Elizabeth (YOCUM) SCHELL.
Elizabeth (YOCHUM) SCHELL, about 1885. Genetically, we are related to her but I don’t know how. I know that SCHELLs married BEARs, BEARs married BAKERs, and BAKERs married DRAKEs. That’s as close as I can get right now, but DNA (combined with genealogical research) says we are her family. I believe Elizabeth is the daughter of Jacob Levi and Sarah YOACHUM. Jacob Levi is said to have made the dies with which the family minted the YOCUM silver dollar. If you’re thinking Elizabeth is highly identifiable as Native American, you would be correct. Elizabeth’s mother is said to be full-blood Cherokee.
I mentioned that Henry was murdered by bushwhackers and I believe the murder was tied to a hidden treasure called “Yocum’s Silver Dollars”. I didn’t really go into much detail in that post because I didn’t feel I could bring you a good enough story about it at that time. I’ve since done some more research and it fits perfectly with this week’s theme so we’re going to unpack and dig into the legend of Yocum’s Silver Dollars!
The First Non-Indian Residents in Stone County, Missouri
There are so many YOCUM family stories online that it took me two days to locate and read through the stories about JUST the Stone and Taney County, Missouri YOCUMs. I’m still finding stories so I know I haven’t gotten them all. The abundance of information about this family is almost overwhelming. At the bottom of this post I will link to a crude bibliography I created so you know what information I looked at to get this post written. One of the links I found identified James YOACHUM as being the first non-Indian resident to live in Stone County, Missouri.
Some say the YOCUM family (then spelled YOACHUM) was in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri as far back as the 1790’s. I can neither confirm nor deny this information. I can say with some degree of confidence that James YOACHUM/YOCUM left Illinois shortly after the death of his first wife and moved to Taney County, Missouri by at least the very early 1800’s, some say after the War of 1812. He left his son with his brother Solomon (who went by Sol). In the spring, James would return to Illinois to see his son, Jacob, and then return home in the summer with provisions. By 1815, James had convinced Sol and Jacob to move to Missouri with him. Around 1818, the US Government signed the St. Mary’s Treaty with the Delaware Tribe which ordered the tribe to move to land west of the Mississippi. Two governors got together and declared the area around Taney County, Missouri to be Delaware Indian Reservation land so that’s where the tribe settled. This was the same land/same area that James YOACHUM lived on and farmed. James eventually married a Delaware Indian woman named Winonah. In 1825, the government’s Indian Sub-agent, John Campbell, got the YOCUMs evicted off the Delaware Reservation land by writing a letter to his superior stating that James YOCUM and other “outlaws” were distilling liquor and selling it to the Indians. Specifically, he had this to say about our YOCUM family:
“Solomon Yoachum has erected a distillery… and has made a quantity of peach brandy and has been selling it for some time in quantities to the Indians. There is a number of those outlaw characters all below him who are selling whiskey constantly to the Indians.”
The previous year, John Campbell- the Federal Indian sub-agent who had sole jurisdiction over the Delaware Indian Reservation land, had complained about “relations between whites and Indians” and said,
“I think it bad policy to permit traders to cultivate so much of the Indian soil and to keep such large stocks of horses and cattle in the neighborhood of the villages and they pay the Indians no rent and sell their corn at an extravagant price to them… Some of the traders are now clearing more land, those who have Indian families of children I think ought to be allowed to cultivate soil sufficient to support their children but nothing more.”
It was, however, seemingly acceptable to Sub-agent Campbell that the likes of John Jacob ASTOR had a monopoly on trade in the area via a trading post that “extended credit” to the Delaware people. ASTOR maintained quite the lucrative venture from 1823-1827. The YOACHUMs weren’t going to win this particular battle against the government. They were evicted from their land by the government and they moved just southwest of the reservation to the mouth of the Kings River where it empties into the White River.
The Silver Mine Enters the Story
The Delaware were later moved off this land to a different location and sometime before the Delaware Tribe left, James traded horse, blankets, and soap to the Delaware in exchange for a silver mine (or cave, depending on who is telling the story). Eventually, James was joined by both his brothers as well as his son. The three brothers built the first cabin across the valley from the mine entrance so they could guard it. Later they built James’ cabin directly in front of the mine entrance and made a secret mine entrance so they could access the mine from inside their home.
In the early 1800’s money, especially silver, was scarce. This is where the story diverges. Some say it was because of the scarcity of silver that YOACHUMs decided to make their own from the ore in the mine. Others tell a different story about how the YOACHUMs came into possession of the silver. In either case, it wasn’t illegal at that time to coin your own money and many did it. (Minting your own coins wasn’t illegal until 1862 when Congress got involved and started passing laws.) There are so many versions of the story and they all start to diverge right about this point in the story. Some people believe James’ son, Jacob Levi YOACHUM, was responsible for making the dies with which they struck the coins. Some believe the coins don’t exist at all. Several of the YOACHUMs were expert blacksmiths so it’s very possible that one or some or all of them did create some dies and use the dies to mint some silver coins.
Again, the country as a whole was very short on physical money in the early 1800’s. The government had forced the limiting of the production of coins. President Jefferson had imposed a moratorium on production in 1806 and maintained that limitation until 1837. There was a great deal of private coinage in circulation during this time. Privately minted coins in circulation at the time bore the name of the creator of the coin and was generally accepted as money. There were no banks in Missouri at that time – not until 1837 would there be a bank in Missouri. Bartering was a normal way of life and if you minted your own coins, provided they met a certain standard, they were a very welcome way of paying for goods. YOCUM dollars were used by everyone in the area. No one objected to the YOCUM dollars until one day a group of 6 men went to Springfield, Missouri to the land office there because they’d been told that even though they’d been living on their land a long time, now they had to go pay a filing fee to the government land office and homestead their land if they wanted to keep it. So they arrived in Springfield with their Yocum dollars to pay up. When they presented their YOCUM dollars, the land agent objected to them and said they were counterfeit. The settlers refused to leave without title to their land. The land agent confiscated the coins and sent one to Washington, D.C. for assay and a judgment on the legitimacy of the coins. The coins assayed at almost pure silver – worth more than the federal silver dollars. The government ordered the confiscation of all Yocum Silver Dollars, ordered agents to locate the silver mine/cave then confiscate it and not homestead that land to anyone.
Sticking It to the Man…Twice
Some time after that, James and Winonah YOCUM were said to have been killed when the silver mine caved in while they were inside it. This was about 1846-1848. Around this time, a federal agent showed up looking for the YOCUMs’ silver dollars, the mine, and the minting equipment. He didn’t find any of it. The YOCUMs refused to tell him the location of any of it. If anyone else knew the location, they didn’t give it up either. YOCUMs advised the agent to leave the country and never come back. The agent left. However, 8 years later the same government agent showed up again with 8 more agents. The agents and the YOCUMs did eventually arrive at an agreement that the YOCUMs would not mint any more coins and the government agent would go away and never come back. This was, apparently, the only concession made by the YOCUMs. (Way to stick it to the man, Sol!) After the death of James and Winonah, Sol packed up his family and left for California to see if they could strike it rich in the California Gold Rush. The silver mine/cave has never been located. Sol was the last surviving YOCUM who knew the location of the silver mine or any remaining hidden caches of YOCUM silver dollars. After having a stroke, Sol gave his grandson William a map with the location of the silver mine on it but the grandson was never able to find the mine. William’s son, Joseph, took up the search in 1958 but was also unsuccessful. Joseph gave the map to Artie AYRES who owned the land where the cave/mine was supposedly located. Artie never found the mine/cave either. Artie did, however, write a book which is now so rare it sells for $100 if you can manage to find a copy to buy. Eventually the White River was dammed and Table Rock Lake was created which covered up the alleged location of the mine and the alleged location of hidden caches of YOCUM silver dollars (along with the hidden dies used to mint the coins).
Adapt and Overcome
That’s the basic story of the Yocum Silver Dollar that I believe to be truthful. There are a lot of background details and side stories that are missing though so I want to fill in a few holes in the story. For instance if you believe the government and their experts, there are no known silver mines in either Stone or Taney County, Missouri that actually produce silver and professional geologists have said there will never be a producing silver mine in this area due to the geography of the land. They say it isn’t possible. I’m not an expert so I can’t say one way or the other. I can only ask myself if anyone offering a story has a reason to mislead and then base the “believability” of a statement on the conclusion I come to. (I can say that as recently as this week, I’ve found the government and one of their agencies being less than truthful about the existence of something. So there’s that.) I will say, some stories mention a silver mine or silver cave that had solid silver walls. I excluded that detail because I don’t believe it to be true. All of this to say, you’re getting the details *I* believe to be true. You’ll have to make up your own mind for yourself.
I did find someone on a message forum who said they were family of the YOACHUMs. This person told the most believable story of all and said they got it straight from other members of the family. It makes the most sense to me of all the stories I’ve read so far. This person says the truth is there was no silver mine. That story was created and perpetuated to throw off the government and to explain how the (very impoverished) YOACHUM family came into so much silver when it was so hard to come by. The truth is they distilled whiskey and brandy and sold it to the Indians which was an illegal act at the time. The Indians received payments from the federal government because of the treaties and the government paid the Indians with…you guessed it, silver dollars. So when the Indians got their government money, the YOACHUMs (being the wise entrepreneurs they were) brought out the peach brandy and whiskey. The Native Americans paid for the alcohol with the government silver. Now, the government silver would have proved the YOACHUMs to be criminals so they melted down the silver, re-minted it with their brand, and then were able to use it. Yes, the YOACHUMs laundered money…in a 19th century kind of way. They illegally sold homemade liquor and then laundered the silver coins they received in exchange for goods. They likely laundered money in this same way for other illegal distillers in the area as well. They did what they had to do to survive. There was a severe economic downturn in 1837. They adapted and overcame.
If you’re still doubting the YOCUM silver dollars ever actually existed, perhaps it will sway you to know that at some point there was a witness who said they visited YOCUM’s blacksmith shop and reported seeing a barrel full of YOCUM silver dollars. Again, you have to make up your own mind based on the information you find and the bias of the people offering the information.
Missouri…The Show-Me State
Perhaps, like me, you’re wondering what the YOCUM silver dollars looked like. There are a multitude of descriptions. I’ll give them all to you and you can decide which you find most likely to be credible.
Description #1: “Same size as a Spanish Silver Dollar coin”. (per yoakumrendezvous.pdf)
Description #4: Each was roughly 2 inches in diameter and embossed with the YOCUM name.
Description #5: There is outlined a number ‘1’ in the center with ‘DOLLAR’ curved below the ‘1’. Also there are some very small letters at the bottom which are illegible. It looks like there are about 4 numbers or letters that are illegible.
Description #5: The coins had hand punched denticals on both sides resembling a half circle pattern of connecting shapes that go completely around the outer circumference on both sides. The dies were primitive and crudely lettered. The die rod ends opposite the devices show expansion from being hammered on. Obverse has ‘YOACHUM’ punched halfway curved around the top while the curved date of 1822 is at the bottom. There is a single central star in the middle of the coin with 8 stars going around the central star. Two other stars are located on either side and connect ‘YOACHUM’ with the ‘1822’ date. The lettering is crude, resembling a chisel impression and not that of a lettered punch. Reverse has ‘UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’ going around and having smaller lettering than the obverse. (Yoachum Dollar (or Yocum) information desparately saught. — Collectors Universe)
There was one coin found in an old trunk in Kansas and it was reported to have been displayed at Missouri State Archives several years prior to 2017, according to Bob DERRYBERRY, the great-great-grandson of George YOCUM. Four coins were found under the floor of an old cabin that was being razed in 1923. There was allegedly 236 coins found in a metal box in South Branson, Missouri by a St. Louis, Missouri man. These 236 coins match up with Description #4 above.
J. R. BLUNK of Galena, Missouri, found YOCUM dies on 11 March 1983 while digging along the White River on property adjacent to the YOACHUM Settlement. The dies were buried and were preserved in a waxy substance that resembled animal fat. (More about this below.)
Final Details
Although most stories credit James YOACHUM with being the first YOCUM in the Stone and Taney County, Missouri areas and they say he owned the silver mine, the family story that I found most reliable says George W. YOCUM (nephew of James) was the one who minted all the YOCUM silver dollars, not James and his son Jacob. The family says George and his wife came to Missouri from Ohio in the 1820’s. Many YOCUMs came to the area from Illinois and Ohio and all settled along the White River. Later, some moved north to the James River west of Branson, Missouri. I cannot tell you which version is correct on this particular detail.
A side note, the James River in southern Missouri is said to have been named after James YOACHUM. As of today, I still have not found a Taney County, Missouri map of the right time period with James River on it but I did find this 1830 map showing where the Delaware tribal reservation land was.
A more interesting side note: on Underground Ozarks forums there’s a post which ties together a lot of Branson area locales. For instance, I had no idea (and never really thought about it) that Silver Dollar City took it’s name from the YOCUM silver dollar legend. In the 1980’s when Branson was still a small-town attraction, there was a small outdoor amphitheater called Lost Silver Mine Theater that told the story of the YOACHUM family and the lost silver mine. If you’re looking for a podcast to listen to, I recommend Episode 4 of Ozarks Haints and Hooch where one of the hosts discusses her time as an actress at the Lost Silver Mine theater in Branson West (which was then called Lakeview and not Branson West). Dogpatch and Li’l Abner both based their main characters off the YOACHUM family as well. In addition to all this, there used to be a Camp Yocum in the Galena, Stone County, Missouri area. It was a summer resort on the James River during the 1920’s.
As of 2009, YOCUM descendants still lived around the Shell Knob, Missouri area.
On the Above Top Secret forums, someone who once saw the maps that Sol passed down to William (the maps that ended up with Artie AYRES) suggests the silver mine/cave is actually in the Reeds Spring, Missouri or Galena, Missouri area rather than in the Branson, Missouri area. Oddly enough, this fits in with other details I’ve read that were more obscure. Even odder, this is where my 3rd great grandfather, Jehue BAKER, lived and is buried. Jehue’s mother was Mary BAIR/BEAR and is our connection to the YOCUM/YOACHAM and SCHELL/SHELL families.
For those of you interested in the Native American heritage, it is said that YOCUMs have Osage, Cherokee, and Delaware blood.
Final Thoughts
There is so much more I’d love to know about this family. I wouldn’t mind trying a sip of that peach brandy either. Unfortunately, I’ll have to settle for reading my copy of a magazine I just scored off eBay this past week – the November/December 1988 issue of Treasure Search magazine which carried the article about the “Yoachum Dies” being found. Sometimes you have to take what you can get.
I could not believe I found this on eBay at exactly the time I chose to write this story!! #Serendipity #TheAncestorsLoveMePics on first page of the magazine story.In case you wondered what Mr. Blunk looked like in 1988…reminds me of the BeeGees. Restrikes from the found dies. I love that they did this. There used to be a coin minting company that did reproductions of these but they no longer do it and said they probably won’t do it again.
This week I hope you don’t have to settle for just “what you can get”. I wish you the best of the best and no being forced to settle. Make it a great week, friends. And if you do have to settle – just know that your turn for something perfect is coming. Make the best of it no matter what you get this week. Your attitude is the only thing you get to control.
