The theme today is ‘brick wall’ meaning an ancestor that has you stumped. My ancestor is Lavina PILGRIM DRAKE. Her maiden name has been spelled many ways including Pilgrum, Pilgram, Pilgrim, Pehlgram, etc.
Lavina was born about 1821 or 1822 in Indiana. She married Ervin DRAKE (Poppy Lon’s grandfather) on 1 October 1839 in Dubois County, Indiana. Despite the fact that this was the very date that marriage records began in this county, Ervin’s and Lavina’s marriage record is not listed. Ervin and Lavina had 9 known children together. Lavina died in McDonald County, Missouri on 1 September 1875. Her death date was given by Ervin’s second wife (Elizabeth MITCHELL) when she applied for Ervin’s military pension. I have been unable to locate Lavina’s grave.
There were 3 Pilgrim’s in the same area at the same time as Lavina. One was a John PILGRIM. It is possible he is her brother. There are two other Pilgrim’s that appear in records in this area and timeframe- Mikel PILGRIM and Amala (maybe Amelia?) PILGRIM. I cannot connect any of the Pilgrim’s to each other.
This is a very hard surname to research since it is also a common word (as in, ‘Thanksgiving pilgrims’). There are not many families in the USA with this surname and I believe it is probably going to end up being a German surname.
Two things I do have:

A photo of Ervin and Lavina’s daughter, Mary.

Ervin and Lavina’s son Jefferson’s death certificate verifying Lavina’s surname as Pilgrim.
In researching I did come across Pilgrim’s brand poultry:

Pilgrim’s logo on website.

Pilgrim’s chicken product.
This is seriously all I have right now. I would love to have some help with this one. I wish I had more to offer, but I don’t. HELP! 🙂

Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives