Charles Seely - Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

He Refused Them More Drink

Mom’s family was thick as thieves in the Poconos area of Pennsylvania! That includes the families of my 5th great grandparents, John SEELY and Katrin (Katherine) BRINKER. I talked about the BRINKERs in the previous post. Now I want to talk about the SEELYs.

John SEELY’s parents were Samuel J. SEELY, Jr. and Mary DeHAVEN. Samuel was born 4 April 1710 in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut. Mary was born in 1714 in Trappe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Trappe is now a suburb of Philadelphia. Samuel and Mary married sometime in 1729-1730 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. They had 6 children that I am aware of – William, Isaac, John, Samuel, Sarah, and Jonas. The line from Samuel and Mary is: Samuel and Mary’s son John, John’s son George, George’s son Charles, Charles’ daughter Mary and Mary’s son (and my great grandpa) Albert BATES.

Just for background, all the stories I’ve been telling recently about Easton and the Indian raids, etc. – all of that still applies to Samuel so keep it in mind. You can find a brief history and one researcher’s interpretation of the documentation available on Samuel SEELY here. This particular SEELY cousin (Sandra McGINNIS) has a very interesting Facebook blog where she celebrates hers and her husband Ed’s ancestors with biographical Facebook blog posts. In the post I linked above she gives a brief biographical sketch of Samuel SEELY. She and I haven’t come to all the same conclusions but I respect her work and contributions to the family history and encourage you to go take a look at her post about Samuel SEELY. You can also find information about Samuel SEELY on Kevin SHOLDER’s website at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~rdrunner/web_data/p52607.htm.

Some researchers say Samuel was an Ironmaster. He served as a wagon master during the French and Indian Wars. He owned a considerable amount of land including 196 acres plus 68 “perches” of land. At the end of his life, he was a tavernkeeper. This job as a tavernkeeper is what would take his life and that’s what I want to talk about today – the tragic end of Samuel SEELY. Samuel SEELY’s murder was the earliest recorded murder in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.

Smithfield Township map showing the Seely land with Seely Grove and Seely Pond marked. Image found at Ancestry.com.

The Tragic End of Samuel Seely

There is a place in Easton, Pennsylvania called Gallows Hill. Lehigh Valley Live confirms that it takes it’s name from the public hangings that used to take place there very early in Easton’s history. Today you’ll find St. Bernard’s Catholic Church there. It’s on South Fifth Street if you ever get a chance to go to Easton. The most famous executions that took place at Gallows Hill were the executions of three soldiers from General John SULLIVAN’s expedition. Their more immediate commander was Lieutenant Colonel Adam HUBLEY. If you’ll remember, John SULLIVAN was the one that basically took over Brinker’s Mill in Sciota when he went through there on his “take-no-prisoners” quest to quell the Iroquois uprising. Andreas BRINKER’s granddaughter, Katrin or Katherine – my 5th great grandmother – married John SEELY, the son of this post’s Samuel SEELY. It all connects.

The Lehigh Valley Live website briefly mentions the execution of the three soldiers but it’s so sanitized it would be easy to read over it and forget it but don’t! It has so much meaning to our family history.

The most famous executions were the hangings of three soldiers in the Sullivan Expedition. William McCoy, Patrick Drogan and Daniel Monaghan were hanged on June 12, 1779, for the murder of a tavernkeeper near Stroudsburg.
Lehigh Valley Live, accessed on 17 June 2022.¹

That tavernkeeper that was murdered? That was my maternal 6th great grandfather, Samuel SEELY. Why was he murdered? Who were the people that murdered him? I had so many questions when I learned of his murder.

Off the Beaten Path

Samuel’s tavern was “off the beaten path” – at least for Sullivan’s Expedition, it was. No one that I’ve read or studied is really sure how 3 soldiers from Sullivan’s Expedition ended up at Samuel’s tavern, but they did. Looking at a map, Brinker’s Mill (which, if you’ll remember was taken over by Sullivan for his campaign’s/soldiers’ benefit) is 19 miles away from Echo Lake where Samuel lived (about 30 minutes’ drive time but considerably longer if you’re walking or on horseback). At the time of his murder, Samuel owned 196 acres plus 68 “perches” of land in Lower Smithfield Township.

Locations relevant to Samuel SEELY’s life and murder. Google maps screenshot with my edits.

I want to show you what the Seely Grove/Seely Pond (now Echo Lake) looks like just so you have an idea.

Seely Grove video 1, Middle Smithfield, Pennsylvania.

Seely Grove, Middle Smithfield, Pennsylvania.

Seely Grove/Seely Pond area, Middle Smithfield, Pennsylvania.

I tried researching the three men. It’s as if they dropped onto Earth to murder Samuel and then vanished again. No trace of them whatsoever. They were said to be from Colonel Adam HUBLEY’s regiment. Whatever happened, the men ended up at Samuel’s tavern wanting drinks. Samuel, for whatever reason, refused to serve the soldiers the alcohol they demanded. For this, William McCOY, Patrick DROGAN, and Daniel MONAGHAN killed him.

The Documents That Remain

Only a couple of documents survive from the court case according to Monroe Legal Reporter. In this handful of documents we receive all the information we may ever know about Samuel’s murder. We know he was killed in 1779. The murder happened less than 2 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, one of the Supreme Court Justices who upheld the guilty verdict and death sentence was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Chief Justice Thomas McKEAN). We know the Justices met on 17 May 1779 in Easton, Northampton, Pennsylvania for the May term of the Oyer and Terminer Court. In the original trial, all 3 men (McCOY, MONAGHAN, and DROGAN) pled not guilty. The jury was called 18 May 1779. They found all 3 men guilty and the men were sentenced to be hung. The justices upheld the verdict and sentencing and the hanging was set for 12 June 1779. All 3 men were hung on that date at Gallows Hill in Easton, Northampton, Pennsylvania between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Page 1 of Samuel SEELY’s story from the Monroe Legal Reporter.

Outcome of the case where the three soldiers were ordered to be executed on Gallows Hill in Easton, Pennsylvania.

As far as I can tell, the three men who were Justices at that time were Thomas McKEAN, William Augustus ATLEE, and John EVANS.² Other attorneys and judges were named but these were the Supreme Court Justices. I was surprised that all the jurors were named in the documents. Just something I noted: the anniversary of the hanging of these three men was a mere 5 days ago from the day I started writing this blog post.

In addition to the names listed above, the book Pennsylvania’s Traitors and Criminals During the Revolutionary War³ and also in the Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania⁴ (from which I’m quoting), lists the following Esquires so I’m not sure if they’re attorneys or judges:

PHILAD’A, Wednesday, May 26, 1779.
PRESENT:
His Excell’y JOSEPH REED, Esq’r, President. Hon’ble GEORGE BRYAN, Esq’r, Vice President.
Joseph Hart, John Macky, James Read, Jac’b Arndt, & Matt’w Smith, Esqu’rs.
A Transcript of the record of conviction of William McCoy, Dan’l Monaghan, & Patrick Drogan, late of the County of Northampton, before the Judges of the Supreme Court held at Easton, for the County of Northampton, on the seventeenth day of May, inst., of Murder, and the sentence of the Court thereupon “that they, the said Will’m McCoy, Dan’l Monaghan, & Patrick Drogan, be hanged by the Neck ’till they be dead,” being read;
On Consideration,
Ordered, That Saturday the twelfth day of June next be appointed for the execution of the said sentence between the hours of ten of the Clock of the Forenoon & two of the Clock in the Afternoon of the same day, at the usual place of Execution, & that a Warrant, under the less Seal of the State, signed by the President & attested by the Secretary, be accordingly issued.
The Hon’ble the Congress of these United States having transmitted to this board the following resolution, Viz:
“In Congress, 22d May, 1779.
The final word in the sentencing related to the murder conviction of the men who murdered Samuel SEELY in Smithfield, Pennsylvania, in 1778. This information is also available in the Colonial Records, Vol. 12.⁵

Digging Deeper: The Officers’ Journals

I decided to continue looking one last time before I published this post and I found a book of Officers’ journals. The journal entries were written at the time of the hanging so I feel the information is more reliable than what I had previously found. Harvard University has a copy of the book of journals online at Hathitrust. It’s entitled, Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779 with Records of Centennial Celebrations.¹¹ Captain Daniel LIVERMORE’s entry for 12 June 1779 gives a few different details about the execution carried out on this date:

Saturday, June 12. This day, at four, P.M., the troops parade to attend the execution of three criminals, inhabitants of this State, convicted of murder and highway robbery. They were tried before the civil authority, and have been under sentence eleven months. Nothing more worthy of notice this day.
Harvard University/Hathitrust¹¹ Journal of Captain Daniel LIVERMORE, page 180.

This was the first time I saw any indication of a crime other than murder. It’s also the first time I’m seeing information that Samuel was killed in 1778, not 1779. If this journal is to be believed (and I think it would be much more reliable since it was written at the time of the event), a robbery occurred in addition to a murder. Perhaps the murderers had their drinks after all. Even more disturbing though was the entry for the following day in this journal:

Sunday, June 13. This day, one of the criminals executed yesterday, was dug up and dissected of which I was a spectator. Nothing further worthy of notice this day.
Harvard University/Hathitrust.¹¹ Journal of Captain Daniel LIVERMORE, page 180.

This is the only place I’ve found any of these details in a months’ worth of researching. So although the details were grim, I’m glad I stuck with it. There is nothing I’ve found that gives details about these men’s burials other than what is written in this journal. There is no record of their final resting place, no record of family, nothing. While I detest the acts they committed, I can’t find it in my heart to wish them an eternity of anonymity. I wish the journal writer had named the one that was dug up or stated where the three soldiers were buried. I suspect they were buried at Gallows Hill which means they are under the Catholic Church that now stands there. However, no one will ever know unless some other documents are located by researchers in the future. While I’m sad that I don’t know exactly where my Samuel (the murder victim) is buried, I’m glad that at least part of the information is now out there as to the final resting place of the murderers.

Sergeant Thomas ROBERTS gave his account of the triple execution in a journal he kept. I retained the spelling used in the journal:

12th. theare was three Solgers hanged for Murder I never saw so many Specttators in my Life I think. According to my opinion theare was 4,000 that night one was taking up again [the Doctor] Cut his arm and Leg and Examined him and the next night then buried him again.
Harvard University/Hathitrust.¹¹ Journal of Sergeant Thomas ROBERTS, page 240.

Lieutenant Samuel M. SHUTE gave his account stating:

June 12th. There were executed three soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line for murdering a man who refused to sell them more drink.
Harvard University/Hathitrust.¹¹ Journal of Lieutenant Samuel M. SHUTE, page 268.

The triple hanging caused quite a stir in Easton. Sergeant Major GRANT noted that the “whole of the Troops on the ground were present at this melancholy occasion”.⁹ I am thankful that all these officers kept journals no matter how brief their entries were. It provides just a couple of extra details that would not have otherwise been retained about the murder.

One additional thing I noted in the records were that two of Samuel’s sons, Jonas and Isaac, were called as witnesses in the case. It’s horrifying to think that Samuel’s sons witnessed his murder and then had to testify about it.

Final Notes

While I have not found any information that I can say is definitively about the three men who murdered Samuel SEELY, I have found some intriguing information that future researchers may want to follow up on. I believe the possibility is strong that this book talks about the same William McCOY who murdered Samuel. The book is William McCoy and His Descendants by Lycurgus McCoy. You can find the book online at the link. I believe the correct William McCOY can be found beginning on page 22.⁸

I like to walk away from a story with a lesson or principle to make your life (and mine) better. The thing that’s on my mind tonight is that life is so precious and so fleeting. Treat everyone as though you’re speaking to them for the last time because when it really is our “last time”, we don’t typically get advance notice of that. You never know when the last time is THE “last time”. So speak with love, show charity to others, and pray for forgiveness for yourself and others. Life is so short. Love your people.

Until next time,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Resources

https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/g66l-2019/01/a7e3ea84774575/how-15-lehigh-valley-places-got-their-weird-names.html, accessed 17 June 2022.
https://www.pacourts.us/learn/history/historical-list-of-supreme-court-justices, accessed 17 June 2022.
Corbly, Don. Pennsylvania’s Traitors and Criminals During the Revolutionary War. Accessed on Google Books on 18 June 2022.
Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania. Supreme executive council, Minutes. 1853. Accessed online at Google Books on 18 June 2022.
Colonial Records, Vol. 12. 1853. Accessed online at Google Books on 18 June 2022.
Hayburn, Timothy. Who Should Die?: The Evolution of Capital Punishment in Pennsylvania,1681-1794. Accessed online at the Lehigh University Library website on 18 June 2022.
The History of Easton, Penn’a, from the Earliest Times to the Present, 1739-1885. Accessed online at Internet Archive on 18 June 2022.
McCoy, Lycurgus. William McCoy and His Descendants. Accessed online at Forgotten Books on 18 June 2022.
Zellers-Frederick, Andrew A. “Maj. Gen. John Sullivan and the Occupation of Easton, Pennsylvania, May 7-June 18, 1779.” Journal of the American Revolution, Frontier, Native Americans, The War Years (1775-1783). February 13, 2020. Accessed online at https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/02/maj-gen-john-sullivan-and-the-occupation-of-easton-pennsylvania-may-7-june-18-1779/ on 18 June 2022.
Hoffman, Luther S. The Unwritten History of Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Accessed online at Digital Books and at Penn State University Library. Both accessed on 18 June 2022.
Cook, Frederick. Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779 with Records of Centennial Celebrations. Accessed online at Harvard University/Hathitrust on 7 July 2022.

Foundations

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.

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.

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.

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).

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!

There’s Power in Numbers

I had totally intended to write about my Power family this week but it seemed everyone else was and I prefer to do something different. My thoughts went in a few different directions: “power in the blood” (i.e.- the life of one of my several Reverends) or “power in numbers” (i.e.- many offspring), etc. About the middle of the week though, something happened and I wrote about neither. I wrote nothing but emails…but I’m getting ahead of myself. About the middle of the week RootsTech conference started and of course, due to Covid it’s virtual. One of the few things I’ve been grateful that Covid changed…one of the few things Covid changed for the better…is a free and virtual conference! So I got busy with RootsTech and they have this amazing online tool this year where you can see who is at the conference that you’re related to so I started finding all these cousins and messaging them through the FamilySearch system and folks, that’s all the family history writing I’ve done this week! It’s been fun, though! A few have responded back and some I’ve asked to guest write or co-write some blog posts. We’ll see if anyone is willing to do that…fingers crossed, knock on wood, rub the lucky rabbit’s foot, pray-pray-pray!! I love guest writers on the blog and haven’t had one for a long time! Anyway…I decided to combine “power in the blood” and “power in numbers” and revamp them a little so that today I’m not telling the story of an ancestor so much as I’m telling the story of who I’ve been in touch with this week. I hope you’ll stick around and read this one and then come back next week for an ancestor story.

It’s funny how knowing that someone is related to you changes how you feel about them. It changes how much leeway you’ll give them and changes how you interact with them. Even if you don’t think it does…it does. There’s something about a blood connection that changes the way you think about and interact with someone initially. Now…after you get to know them that might change, but initially it seems to make a difference. Not only does it make you more open to introducing yourself to strangers, it’s an eye-opening, visual experience in genetics. It’s been very interesting to see which lines of my families have lots of researchers at the genealogy conference and which have seemingly no one at all. I’m not a statistics person but surely the number of researchers in a specific line makes a difference in which lines of the family get preserved (as far as information, stories, and pictures) and which don’t. I thought it would be interesting to let you see who/which family lines I’ve been in touch with so far.

Power in the Blood AND the Numbers

Dad’s Lines

Braxton DRAKE/Martha Patsy GREER line: 1 person.
Mordecai MITCHELL/Lucretia HUTCHISON: 5 people.
Jesse BAKER/Mary BAIR: 1person.
John HUBBARD/Nancy CHAMBERS: 1 person.
Levi HUBBARD/Nancy Indiana WHITE: 21 people!
John HUBBARD/Nancy WEDDLE: 2 people.
Josep LARKIN/Mary LANE: 1 person.
Bartlett UNDERWOOD/Minerva BRINSFIELD/BRINCEFIELD: 1 person.
James LANE/Nancy CONKWRIGHT/CONKRITE: 1 person.
John WEDDING/Mary McAfee/McAtee: 1 person.
John WILLIAMS/Nancy WALLS(?): 1 person.
John BELL Jr./Sarah HARDIN: 4 people
Hardy HARDIN/Tabitha ROBERTS: 1 person.

Mom’s Lines

John BATES/Mary MOBLEY: 1 person.
Charles G. SEELY/Synthia FOSTER: 3 people.
George SEELY/Elizabeth SHELLY: 3 people.
Frederick FOSTER/Mary BURNETT/PICKENS: 5 people.
John SEELY/Katherine BRINKER: 1 person.
James GIBSON/Lucinda DOW: 2 people.
Samuel GIBSON/Lucinda BELL PETTIT: 7 people!
Henry DOW/Rebecca WHITE: 1 person.
James GIBSON/Sarah PHILLIPS: 5 people.
John DOW/Harty ELLIS: 2 people.
Benjamin WHITE/Mary ELSTON/WALDROP: 6 people!
James BULLOCK/Cynthia DALE: 4 people.
James Squire DALE/Elizabeth SMITH: 3 people.
John LATTY/Martha Frances SCOTT: 4 people.
Edwin WALLS/Delilah UNKNOWN: 1 person.

Each person I contacted was only counted once. That’s 89 people I’ve connected with so far! Some people are connections for lines I struggle with so that’s very exciting. There are several people I’ve asked to guest write or co-write a blog post about their branch of the family (or about our common ancestor, either way). Some have already given me leads to resources I didn’t know existed for our family! The computer only shows me 300 relatives out of a whopping 45,000+ that are registered for the conference!!! I probably won’t even get through all 300 but I got as far as 5th cousins as of this evening. I’ve also learned how I connect to several professional genealogists I follow. Amy JOHNSON CROW, one of my favorite genealogists, is my 7th cousin through my mom’s FOSTER line. Thomas MacENTEE, another genealogist is my 10th cousin twice removed through my dad’s LARKIN line. Michele Simmons LEWIS, another genealogy friend, is my 11th cousin through my dad’s GREER line. Not all of my favorite genealogists have shown up on RootsTech and some have been no relationship at all. It’s been fun to find out though and I love this online tool.

This is certainly an exciting weekend. It’s been dampened a little by the fact that my computer has decided it no longer wants to live but I’m going tomorrow to get a new one so the adventure can continue! (By the way, I apologize if this post is unreadable or has lots of errors. I was fighting a dying computer that was randomly deleting entire paragraphs and other crazy things.) Over the remainder of the weekend I will likely begin looking up DNA matches to see if I can find any connections there. I hope you have a fun, exciting weekend. Do something for yourself!

Until next weekend,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Happy Anniversary, Lum and Mary

Today’s blog post is about George Columbus BATES and Mary Ann SEELY, my maternal 2nd great grandparents. They were married on this date (13 January) in 1880. If you’d like to review what I’ve already written about George, you can find posts about George’s apple orchard here and I mentioned George in this post, too.

1860-1869

George Columbus BATES was born in December of 1856 in Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia, to John C. and Mary Jane (MOBLEY) BATES. George went by a shortened form of his middle name- Lum – and that’s how I’ll be referring to him here in this blog post. By 1860 (4 years after Lum’s birth) he was living with his family in Fancy Hill, 1013th Georgia Militia District in Murray County, Georgia. Hiram GARRETT (possibly SARRETT) was the census enumerator that year and he came by the family home on a Wednesday- 1 August 1860. Lum would have still been a few months shy of his 4th birthday at that time but he is enumerated as 4 years old in the census. His father, John, was a farmer. John valued his real estate at $800 and his personal estate at $1000. These amounts were about “middle of the pack” in comparison the other families censused on the same page.
In 1860, Lum’s older brother, Greenberry BATES was living with the family. Green was 18 years old and was a farm laborer. Just a few years later Green would be serving in the Civil War for the Confederacy.
Mary was born on Sunday, 6 June 1858 in Lawrence County, Missouri, to Charles and Synthia (FOSTER) SEELY. In 1860 Mary and her family were living in Mount Pleasant, Mount Pleasant Township, Lawrence County, Missouri. Their census enumerator that year was John W. PAYNE who came to enumerate the family on Saturday, 16 June 1860. Mary was 2 years old at the time. Living in the home were Mary’s parents plus four of her older siblings including Elijah, William, James, and John. In addition to these older siblings, she had an older brother who died as an infant. His name was George. In the years to come, Mary would help welcome two younger siblings- Elzora Josephine and Charles Harvey. Mary was living right next door to her maternal grandparents, Frederick and Mary (BURNETT) FOSTER. Mary’s dad was a farmer. Charles valued his real estate at $400 and his personal estate at $700. These values were toward the lower end of the spectrum in comparison to the families censused on the same page as Charles.

1863: A Difficult Year

In July of 1863, Lum was 6 years old. That year both his dad and his older brother were fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War. John (his dad) was fighting at Tullahoma, Tennessee when he was taken prisoner and transported to Rock Island. Rock Island was the Yankee version of Andersonville Prison. It wasn’t a place you wanted to go. In July of 1863 John died. I blogged a little about John’s military service and death here and my cousin did a guest blog post for us here.
Lum’s brother, Green, was taken as a prisoner of war at Missionary Ridge in November of 1863. He was initially sent to Rock Island but was transferred to a different military prison a couple of weeks after his capture. Green survived the war. I’m sure it was a pretty rough year for the whole family. If you want to read more about Rock Island and our part in the Civil War you can follow the links above that discuss John’s service. You can view the Missionary Ridge battlefield here. You can view a dramatic skit that explains the Tullahoma Campaign here. I also recommend Wikipedia for a brief, to-the-point overview of any topic.
Other known siblings of Lum’s were an older sister Martha, an older brother Washington who I think died in 1860, and a younger brother Henry Franklin who wasn’t yet born in 1860. In 1868, Lum’s mom got married again. This time she married Paul E. BRINEGAR.
Side note:
The best I could tell, this was the location of John and Mary (MOBLEY) BATES’ homestead in Georgia. They had a nice view of the mountain.

1870-1879

On Tuesday, 26 July 1870, census enumerator Robert M. ROMBERT visited the BATES family. By this time Lum’s dad, John, had died as a prisoner of war at Rock Island prison and Lum’s mom had remarried to Paul E. BRINEGAR. The family consisted of stepdad Paul E. BRINEGAR, mom Mary J. (MOBLEY) BRINEGAR, younger half brother Franklin (later enumerated as ‘Henry’). In 1870, Paul was farming and he valued his real estate at $850 and his personal estate at $200. If I were to judge based on the information given by other respondents on the page, Paul was in the middle of the pack as far as money and possessions owned by the people in his area. Mary Jane was “keeping house” as were the majority of women that I’ve encountered on older census records. Lum was a farm laborer. Franklin was only 2 years old. He was not working or in school.
On Thursday, 23 June 1870 enumerator John H. STROUD visited the SEELY family. Parents Charles and Sinthia were living in Bentonville, Osage Township, Benton County, Arkansas with their children, James, John, Mary, Elzora, and Charles. The elder Charles was a farmer and valued his real estate at $500 and his personal estate at $250. If I were to judge based on the information given by other respondents on the same page, Charles more well off than most of the people around him. Sinthia was keeping house. Despite their ages, the older children (ages 20 and 17) were not working – or at least no occupation was listed by the census enumerator.

1880

Sometime between 26 July 1870 and 28 June 1880, Lum and Mary met each other and fell in love. I wish I had stories to tell you either from records or family stories passed down through the years. Sadly I don’t, so we’ll skip right to the month of the wedding.
On Wednesday, 7 January 1880 it was warmer than usual in Benton County, Arkansas. The weather was described as “too warm for overcoats and fires”. (Arkansas Democrat, 7 Jan 1880) That was the day that the license was issued for George Columbus BATES and Mary Ann SEELY to marry. The wedding didn’t happen until Tuesday, 13 January 1880. By then, it was “decidedly cooler”. (Arkansas Democrat, 14 Jan 1880) Lum (George) was 21 years old according to the marriage license although other official documents have put him at age 24 at the time of his marriage. (My personal belief is 24 years old.) Mary was 20 years old according to the marriage license.
The first record I have that was dated after the wedding is the 1880 Federal Census. On the Monday, 28 June or Tuesday, 29 June 1880, census enumerator John M. CLAYTON arrived at the newly-married couple’s home. They were living in Dickson Township, Benton County, Arkansas. He was listed as being 23 years old and she as being 22. They lived next door to Lum’s now-widowed mother, Mary and Lum’s half brother who is now listed as Henry. Living on the other side of Mary was her older son Berry, now married and with his own large family. Lum was farming and Mary was keeping house.

A Good Stopping Point

If you work on your own family history then you know that most of the 1890 census was destroyed. So, unfortunately it’s hard to know what Lum and Mary did in the 20 years between the 1880 and 1900 censuses. One thing I do know they did was have babies. Starting with Albert (my great-grandfather) in 1881 and continuing with Charles in 1887, Herman in 1891, and Vesta in 1894.
It is at this point that I’m going to stop their story. I’ll finish it during the year in other blog posts about Lum and Mary as I celebrate their births and write about their deaths.
Until then,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

2016 Report Card

It’s the end of the year so that means report card time.

If you’ve been reading my blog for at least a year you’ll know that at the end of the year I post the year’s goals and review how well I did at reaching them and then I set new goals for the new year. Often, even if I don’t reach the goals in the year I made them, I will reach them in a different year. It never ceases to surprise me how the universe seems to work to meet my goals if I put them out there. Most years I put my goals out to the universe and don’t look at them again until the end of the year. It’s always a fun surprise to see how things turn out.

Last years goals:

1. To learn who my 3rd great grandfather Charles SEELY’s parents were. (Research goal)

You can read previous posts about the SEELY’s at these links:

#22882- Charles’ marriage to Sinthia FOSTER.

#25722- the Arkansas copy of the deed for the Georgia property.

#23404- the multi-part story of Press SEELY- grandson to Charles SEELY.

#20760- June 2015, a more in-depth post about Charles Seely.

So I didn’t find out a lot about Charles this year despite going to Lawrence County, Missouri to look for records. If you open your eyes and pay attention though, you’ll find that life is very cyclical and I’m certain that Charles will decide to be found in a future year when I don’t expect him to show up. I did acquire his Homestead file from National Archives. Charles homesteaded land in Lawrence County, Missouri in 1857. The documents are of poor quality and unfortunately did not give the amount of detail I’ve found in other ancestors’ Homestead files. Charles paid $100 for the Northwest quarter of the Southeast quarter of section 31 in Township 27 of Range 28 containing 40 acres at $2.50 per acre. The document was originally filed in the Receiver’s Office in Springfield, Missouri.

Land plat map of Lawrence County, Missouri area where Charles Seely's homestead was. — Land plat map of Lawrence County, Missouri area where Charles Seely’s homestead was.

Charles’ land was located where the red circle is on this map of Lawrence County, MO.

This year, the person who really wanted to be found (and who kept cropping up all year long) was my 3rd great-grandfather, John BATES. You can read some of his posts at these links if you want:

Post #16413 written in January 2015.

Follow-up post #25406 guest written by my cousin Troy Bates.

My mom and I were able to go to the Benton County, Arkansas courthouse and find a deed record pertaining to John’s widow and then later in the year Bart and I were able to make a trip to Georgia and I found the counterpart to that deed in a courthouse in Georgia. The deed had to be filed in both states since the property was in Georgia but by that time, his widow had remarried and moved to Arkansas.

So as far as Charles SEELY- I found him on a couple of documents but I don’t feel I made any real progress as far as who he was, who his family (parents/siblings) was, or where he came from.

2. To blog at least once per month. Also, to convert some of my blog stories to articles and try to get them published in small local or specialized genealogical or historical publications. (Combined writing and sharing goals)

This was a win and not-a-win all at the same time. On the one hand I blew the blog goal out of the water with more than 54 (!!!) blog posts this year. The publication goal? I did a little research into potential publications to contact but didn’t actually send any material in for possible publication. This year was not at all what I expected it to be. I’m glad for the things that happened- they just didn’t further the genealogy goals.

3. To start over in reviewing and organizing my family history utilizing ideas from Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over Challenge. (Organizing goal- keeping the same goal since I didn’t meet it last year.) You can learn more about the challenge here.

Once again, I didn’t get much done in the way of organization other than cleaning up my digital family tree because that part is necessary before I can consider a blog post publish-worthy. Beyond that- I didn’t do anything worth noting here. However, for Christmas I requested a table that I could set up in my home to utilize as a work area for all my genealogy “stuff” (some of which has been packed away for more than a decade!). My parents were kind enough to get me a table. I’ll be setting it up between Christmas and New Year’s and will begin unpacking all my genealogy, organizing it, digitizing it, and setting up a work area. I’m really excited about this! Thanks Dad and Mom!

4. To attend a conference/workshop/educational event. This year’s choice is Family History Conference of Northwest Arkansas 2016 (same as last year). It’s a free event with some good workshops. If you’re interested you can find more information here. (Self-Improvement Goal)

I went to the conference in 2016 and enjoyed it. This coming year I will be teaching one of the workshops. I’m pretty excited about that and I hope to see some of you there. It’s still free. The 2017 schedule should be up soon. You can register now if you want. The link above is still valid.

In summary, while I didn’t meet some of my goals or met them in a way I didn’t intend/anticipate, I still feel it was a pretty successful year. In addition to last year’s genealogy trips, I was able to get trips in this year to Tennessee/North Carolina and Georgia as well as local trips to the courthouses in Benton County, Arkansas and Lawrence County, Missouri.

New Year, New Blog

Now it’s time to set new goals and then to talk about the 2017 blog setup since it’s going to change some.

2017 Goals

1. Learn more about my 3rd great grandmother Hester Ann Eglentine MITCHELL DRAKE – anything about the end of her life or the very beginning (well…really just anything at all!). (Research goal)

2. Continue to blog but with a more regular schedule and begin including some of Bart’s family stories as well. (Writing/Sharing goals)

3. Set up a research area in a spare room and FINALLY get started on those organization goals I’ve had the last couple of years. (Organizing goals)

4. Create a successful class to teach Spring, 2017 at conference. (Self-Improvement Goal)

Blog Changes for 2017

In 2017 my blog will change. I plan to start telling some of my husband Bart’s stories as well as mine. I also plan to have somewhat of a schedule so I don’t necessarily have to announce when each blog post goes live. I will still advertise each blog post on my Facebook but I won’t necessarily be tagging people each time I post. I would like readers to be able to depend on a schedule and know ahead of time what I will be posting so they can go find the information on their own. I would especially like to get away from tagging everyone on Facebook for each individual post.

In order to accomplish these goals I will be making a new blog post every Sunday. On Sunday I will list the specific days of that week that new blog posts will go live. That way you can check back on those days if you’re interested in the topic and find it on your own. For instance, the first week of January I will be posting the week’s schedule on January 1 because it’s a Sunday. It will look something like this:

January 1: Schedule for the week PLUS stories about James M. BULLOCK (my maternal 2nd great grandfather) and Theodor H. MOELLER (Bart’s maternal great grandfather).

January 3: Stories about Laura BULLOCK RITER (my maternal great grandmother)

January 5: Stories about Nancy CHAMBERS HUBBARD (my paternal 3rd great grandmother)

January 6: Stories about Lucretia HUTCHISON MITCHELL (my paternal 4th great grandmother)

So now you know that the first week of January you can expect blog posts on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. You will also know whether I’m talking about mom’s family (maternal) or dad’s family (paternal) or Bart’s mom’s or dad’s families. So if you miss my Facebook link about a particular person that you’re interested in you can just come here and read it. Bookmarking my blog on your computer or subscribing to an RSS feed of my blog will be the easiest/fastest way to access my blog on your own without Facebook links.

I hope this coming year will be a great year for all of us and I hope you will come back to read the blog throughout the year. I’m looking forward to telling our stories for future generations to enjoy. Please feel free to contribute stories if you have some about the people listed on each Sunday’s schedule. I’d love to include your stories here. For now though, I’m going to celebrate the coming new year with some cupcakes. You can find the recipes for the cupcakes here: Gin and Juice Cupcakes from A Soulful Twist blog and Red Velvet Red Win Cupcakes from A Night Owl blog.

Until next time,

~ Lisa at Days of Our Lives

I Know What You Did That Day

What if I told you that I know *for sure* that on 15 December 1961 at 2:00 p.m., Troy (“Lum”) and Jessie BATES were in Bentonville, Benton County, Arkansas? Would you believe me? I mean after all, I wasn’t even born yet in 1961. How could I know for sure?! Well, I can tell you I *do* know and they *were* there. I can tell you that bit of information thanks to a warranty deed I found at the Benton County Circuit Clerk’s office this week. Becky (my SIL- you can catch her genealogy blog here), my mom, and I are trying to learn more about the kinds of information we can find at a county courthouse. We started this month with land records. This was our first trip to the courthouse for this learning exercise. I thought (naively) that it would be a quick day trip. Joke’s on me! We were there several hours and hardly scratched the surface of all the land records available. We’ll definitely be going back. In the meantime, I wanted to show you what I found and why I thought it was blog-worthy.
Short version: We found two warranty deeds for Troy and Jessie BATES, a warranty deed for Albert BATES (Troy’s dad), a warranty deed for George and Mary (SEELY) BATES (Troy’s grandparents) and – SURPRISE!- a warranty deed for Charles SEELY! The SEELY deed also happened to involve George and Mary (SEELY) BATES.

Troy and Jessie BATES’ property

Warrant Deed signed by Troy and Jessie (Riter) Bates.

Troy and Jessie BATES warranty deed, 1961.

This warranty deed tells me that Lum and Jessie sold 200 acres of land (minus the railroad right of way as mentioned in the deed) for $8000 to J. B. and Flora FULLER. Jessie had an aunt who married a FULLER so I am currently trying to figure out whether the FULLERs who bought this land were related or not. I have not found a connection yet but am still looking. This deed was executed 15 December 1961. My mom says that the following summer (1962) they moved to South West City, McDonald, Missouri. One of things that excited me the most about this deed is that Lum and Jessie both signed it so I now have copies of both their signatures.

Signatures of Troy and Jessie (Riter) Bates.

Troy and Jessie Bates’ signatures from 1961 deed.

Before we left the building I told mom I wanted to see if they would sell us a Township-Range map of Benton County so we could later locate the properties for which we had deeds. It turns out Benton County will sell you a map- but you can go online and utilize their digital maps for free. I still think I want to buy a map when we go back but the digital maps were interesting and I wanted to show you what you can find with their digital maps. I took Troy and Jessie BATES’ 1961 deed and entered the Section, Township, and Range for part of their property into Benton County’s map database. It pulled up the section. By manipulating the map with overlays I was able to see an aerial view of part of the property as it looks now.

Benton County AR maps homepage. Accessed 24 August 2016.

If you wanted to go to this property yourself, you wouldn’t be able to actually get onto the property but you could drive alongside it. Here’s how you would get there. Take Highway 59 into Sulphur Springs, Benton County, Arkansas. Turn West on Fickinger Street. Keep heading West to South Horse Creek Road. Go South on South Horse Creek Road. This road will turn into Bird Mountain Road. You will continue South and pass North Big Springs Road. You will pass 4 chicken houses sitting in a row on your left. When the road curves back beside the railroad tracks, Troy’s former property will begin. Look to your left to see it. It runs the length between the railroad track and Bird Mountain Road. When the road turns due West again you will be moving away from this section of his property.
I’m hoping to get a chance to take a road trip over to Sulphur Springs, Benton County, Arkansas soon and try to find the property just for fun. It is now owned by NSS Land Company LLC out of Little Rock, Arkansas. They specialize in excavation/grading and building construction.
The Troy & Jessie BATES 1939 deed is equally interesting. In this deed they were buying instead of selling- if you could call it buying. For “One Dollar and other valuable consideration” Lum and Jessie bought 160 acres from “Julia DAVIS, survivor wife of Ben C. DAVIS, deceased”. Typically when a property is “sold” to a close family member it is sold for “One Dollar and other valuable consideration”. Basically, the grantor (Julia DAVIS) is giving the land to the grantee (Lum & Jessie BATES). Jessie’s great-grandmother was Sarah DAVIS so again I’m wondering whether Julia DAVIS was related- especially given the amount “paid” for that amount of land. However, my husband brought up a good point that needs consideration. Lum was a trader- and a good one at that. He made sure he came out on top. It’s possible Julia was someone who owed him money and so she deeded him land in lieu of money. Another possibility is that he promised her work in return for land. These are things to consider.

Albert BATES’ 1962 Deed
Albert L. BATES was Troy’s dad. By the time this warranty deed was executed Albert’s wife, Dettie (GIBSON) BATES, had already passed away. The deed confirms that he was unmarried at the time the deed was executed as it refers to him as “Albert L. Bates, a single person”. In this deed, Albert “sold” his 2 city lots on Block 3 of Pierson’s Addition in the town of Gentry for “Other consideration and One Dollar” to Lloyd C. and Minnie JANUARY. None of my research has ever turned up a JANUARY family connected to our family. I’m working on finding the connection right now. If you know the connection, please let me know in the comments. Mom once told me that she thought his house in Gentry was where a beauty salon is now at the current intersection of highways 12 and 59 at the northwest corner of the intersection. If you happen to hit that light red (or you stop in the parking lot across the road) you can take a minute to view it and reflect. If I remember correctly mom said it has been added on to since Albert lived in it.). Again, one of my favorite things about this deed is it has Albert’s signature.

Albert Bates’ signature from 1962 deed.

I will blog another day about the Charles SEELY deeds. He is my target person this year so I want to spend extra time on them and these deeds are very old and handwritten so it’s going to take me longer to analyze them. The deeds were fun to look at. One of the things I loved most about finding these deeds is that I now have copies of my grandparents’ and great-grandfather’s signatures and what is possibly my 2nd great-grandparents’ and 3rd great-grandfather’s signatures. The women working in the Circuit Clerk’s office were wonderful and the room they gave us to research in was very comfortable. If you’re planning a research trip there, be aware that you should wait until you get onsite to get copies of deeds. The copies are half price if you get them while there as opposed to ordering them from the website.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the signatures and a glimpse of what one of Troy & Jessie’s properties looks like (now versus then- but still interesting). If you’re interested in learning more about courthouse research, I am utilizing Christine Rose’s book, Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures . Don’t forget you can also enjoy my friends’ blogs:
Down in the Root Cellar by my SIL, Becky
Recipes from Lena by my friend, Teresa
Theology for Mom by my friend, Rochelle
Digging Genealogy by my distant cousin, Annie
Enjoy your week!

Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Protected: Jealousy and Bad Whiskey, OR Don’t Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight

My Beloved Wife Mary and My Two Daughters

Screen shot of Frederick FOSTER’s will.
To support my genealogy habit, I’m a teacher by day. This week was spring break week and it was much needed this year. On Thursday and Friday my husband and I took small day trips to get in some genealogy time. On Friday we went to Mt. Vernon, Missouri, and my mom went with us. We went to research Charles SEELY and his father-in-law, Frederick FOSTER. Both families were living in Lawrence County, Missouri, in the 1850’s and 1860’s. We enjoyed our time together and were able to find a couple of documents while there. This blog post examines what we found- a marriage certificate for Charles SEELY and Sintha FOSTER and a record of a will and probate for Frederick FOSTER.
FAVORITES?
Death- especially one’s own death- has a way of cutting through to the heart of a matter (or a life). Being faced with one’s own mortality causes a whole new mindset that others who haven’t done the same cannot understand. And sometimes in life, no matter how hard we try, we end up having favorites- and more importantly, showing favorites. I’m not sure in this case if Frederick FOSTER was showing favorites or if, after coming face to face with his own mortality, he was just disposing of his possessions in such a way as to meet everyone’s needs the best he could.
FAIR IS FAIR
I work with a teacher and she is constantly telling the students, “Fair is NOT everyone getting the same thing. Fair is everyone getting what they NEED.” I love that. I’d like to think that was what Frederick was doing- being fair to everyone- meeting everyone’s needs the best he could at that time. (But then, as I’ve said before- we always want to think our ancestors were the nicest people rather than face the fact that some of them were NOT.) Having said that, here is a transcription of what his will says.
“Will of Frederick Foster, Deceased
State of Missouri, Lawrence County,
“This being my last will and testament
Know all men by these Presents that I Frederick Foster; that I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Mary Foster, my household and kitchen Furniture her lifetime or widowhood, and after her death to my two daughters Nancy L. Foster and Sarah E. Foster, I also give and bequeath unto my wife her lifetime or widowhood and at her death to my two daughters Nancy L. Foster and Sarah E. Foster, one forty acres of land with a Premson (?) on it; and also four acres of land where my house Stands, offen my eighty acre peace, I give and bequeath unto my wife and two daughters two cows and calves to wit: Nancy L. Foster and Sarah E. Foster. I give and bequeath unto my wife and two daughters one hundred dollars to wit: Nancy L. Foster and Sarah E. Foster.
“I give and bequeath unto the rest of my children the remainder of my Estate to wit: my cows and land, horses, notes and money if any to wit: Martha Stephens, Jemima Foster, Jane Paige, Susannah Bundy, Elizabeth Hicks, Cynthia Sealy, Mary Weldy, Delila Anderson I want them to hold after my death and all my just debts are paid, this being my last Will and Testament, and I hereby set my name and seal,
“Given under my hand this 27th day of February 1863.
“Frederick Foster (his mark)
“Testes.: Henry Johnson (his mark)
John Anderson (his mark)”
As you can see, his daughters were married except Nancy and Sarah so I would like to think that is why they received more than the others. I’m waiting on the probate record so we can learn more about this family at this time in their lives. Until then, you can think this one over and come to your own conclusions. (And by the way, Mary FOSTER’s maiden name was BURNETT- in case you want to research on your own. The John Anderson who witnessed the will was Frederick’s son-in-law who was married to Delila. John and Frederick seemed to have a close relationship.)
I Give and Bequeath Unto My Children…Cynthia Sealy
Frederick FOSTER’s daughter, Sintha SEELY (her first and last names are spelled many ways), married Charles SEELY on 15 October 1845 in Lawrence County, Missouri. They were married by Presiding Judge Joseph SCHOOLING. Theirs was one of the first marriages officially recorded in the county. This was also the other record we found on our visit. Sometimes women are hard to find and while I already knew about Sintha, this is just one more official record connecting her to her husband and her father. Old records are generally based upon the male’s transactions and activities so connecting a woman to the men in her life is very important when looking at older records.

Marriage record of Charles Seely and Sintha Foster.

SEELY-FOSTER marriage certificate.

Miscellaneous
While we were in Lawrence County, Missouri, on Friday we found some other miscellaneous information but I’m still looking through all that so maybe another time I will post on that information.

Until then,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

I Love a New Year

Each year I try to close out the old year with a recap of the year’s goals and my progress toward those goals. Then I begin the new year with a new set of goals. The close of 2015 and opening of 2016 was rocky to say the least and the blog was definitely not at the top of the list. But, it’s the weekend and I’m trying (unsuccessfully) to get warm by sitting on the couch under a blanket and in front of the heater. So why not write that post now.
Last year’s goals:
1. To learn more about my great-great-great-grandmother’s family (Mary Elizabeth LANE). (Research goal)
2. To blog consistently using No Story Too Small’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge as an inspiration. I will be doing this alongside my sister-in-law who will be using the same challenge and blogging at Down in the Root Cellar. (Writing goal)
3. To start over in reviewing and organizing my family history utilizing ideas from Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over Challenge. (Organizing goal)
4. To share some of the family history and research with relatives by publishing. To help me with this I’ll be attending Thomas MacEntee’s and Lisa Alzo’s Genealogy Self-Publishing Bootcamp online. (Sharing goal)
5. To attend a conference/workshop/educational event. This year’s choice is Family History Conference of Northwest Arkansas 2015. I’ll be attending with my mom and hopefully my sister-in-law. (Self-Improvement Goal)

Goal #1 (research) Learn more about Mary Elizabeth LANE’s mother.
BIG WIN!! I blogged about the LARKIN-LANE families several times this year and was so fortunate to even get to take two short trips to Ohio to research the families. It seems like each year when I advertise my goals to the universe, somehow those goals come to fruition to some degree. I love that! My very first blog post about Mary Elizabeth LANE LARKIN was posted on 25 April 2012. After that post (and sometime before the next post that included her) I made a second trip to locate the cemetery in which she was buried and the area in which she lived (Camp Bliss Hollow, Barry County, Missouri). I spoke with the woman who owns the property and she did not have any knowledge of a cemetery on or near her property. I went armed with a map of the location. I also had copies of photographs of the probable location of the cemetery thinking it might be possible to visually identify at least the general location of the cemetery. (I was wrong, in case you’re wondering.)

Camp Bliss Hollow map

You can see the photos I took with me here. (McDowell Mill Cemetery dowsing photos and a photo of the Old McDowell Mill.)
The information above was what I took with me on the second trip to McDowell, Barry County, Missouri. I feel I got much closer to the gravesite but was ultimately unsuccessful. I’d like to return and try again some day- maybe when I have time to talk to some local researchers and learn more about the area. You can find the gravesite and mill photos plus a little extra information about the family at this link. I have tried contacting Donna Haddock Cooper who hosts the link and photos but she did not respond. (Just for the record- I never found that rattlesnake again. Thank God!)
On 18 July 2015 I wrote about the LARKIN family. The post included a tiny amount of general information about the LANE family as well as information and history about the area in which they lived in Ohio. I haven’t yet written about what I learned about the LANE family on my 2016 trips to Ohio but I will hopefully write about that soon. But back to the research goal to find the mother of Mary Elizabeth LANE- the answer is Nancy CONKWRIGHT LANE. This information comes from Ancestry.com but I am confident enough in the information to post it here. I am continuing to research the family and, in case you are wondering, her father’s name is James LANE.

Goal #2 (writing): To blog consistently using No Story Too Small’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge as an inspiration.
I’d call this a win, especially compared to the previous two years on the blog. I did great until the last month of school when everything was going haywire at work and I was just hanging in there trying to survive. I recovered a little in June but was never quite able to catch up. In July I became obsessed with learning the true story of Theodore Clay LARKIN and that pretty much completely derailed the process as it took me about 2 months of research to write the blog post. Starting in June through to the end of the year I did quite a bit of traveling when I wasn’t at work. So after the August blog post about Theodore, I only got in two more (long and very involved) blog posts about Nicholas REITER. Nicholas was the subject of my 2012 research goal. Better late than never, right? It just so happened that in 2015 Bart worked a job in Woodward, Woodward County, Oklahoma which provided me opportunities to go down on the weekends to visit him and also get in some very productive research time. See? The universe DOES listen. 🙂 So- I’m calling this win #2 for 2015.

Goal #3 (organizing): To start over in reviewing and organizing my family history utilizing ideas from Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over Challenge.
Yeah…total fail. I am still following this challenge’s Facebook group though and I will eventually get to it. (Because the universe really does listen, right?!)

I’m 2-1 going into Goal #4 (sharing): To share some of the family history and research with relatives by publishing. To help me with this I’ll be attending Thomas MacEntee’s and Lisa Alzo’s Genealogy Self-Publishing Bootcamp online.
I wasn’t able to get into the online Bootcamp so that failed almost immediately. Once again, I didn’t get anything published in 2015. I’m going to have to work harder on that this year. However, if I count this blog as “publishing”, I at least got that done. So this one is just going to cancel itself out. I didn’t publish in the format or way that I wanted/intended but I did get a lot of the stories out there in a public forum and that’s important.

So we’re still 2-1 going into the final goal (self-improvement): To attend a conference/workshop/educational event. This year’s choice is Family History Conference of Northwest Arkansas 2015. I’ll be attending with my mom and hopefully my sister-in-law.
BIG WIN!! I was able to attend this conference with my mom and had a great time. I went to one workshop where I got a sample of a product called D/2 to clean gravestones. It was fantastic!! See before and after photos below of one of the SEELY gravestones that we cleaned.

Charles Seely's gravestone ~ 'before' photo in May, 2015. — Charles Seely’s gravestone ~ ‘before’ photo in May, 2015.

This was Charles SEELY’s gravestone in May of 2015. (His wife Synthia SEELY’s was even worse!) This is what the stone looked like before we cleaned it with D/2 (above).

Charles Seely's gravestone ~ 'after' photo taken two weeks after the previous photo. — Charles Seely’s gravestone ~ ‘after’ photo taken two weeks after the previous photo.

^^This was Charles SEELY’s stone approximately two weeks after we sprayed it with D/2.

Charles Seely's gravestone in December, 2015 ~ approximately 7 months after the initial cleaning with D/2. — Charles Seely’s gravestone in December, 2015 ~ approximately 7 months after the initial cleaning with D/2.

^^This was Charles SEELY’s stone in December, 2015. Looks great, doesn’t it?! D/2 is biodegradable and is used by monument conservationists. I was introduced to the product by conservationist Rusty Brenner. You can learn more about his business and purchase D/2 from him here.
So I say goodbye to 2015 which happened to be a fabulous genealogy year. And I usher in 2016 which, frankly, hasn’t been a good year so far- but we won’t muck up the blog with all that.

So here is 2016 in 200 words or less. (It’s less- so keep reading.)
Goals:
1. To learn who my great-great-great grandfather Charles SEELY’s parents were. (Research goal)
2. To blog at least once per month. I think that is a much more achievable goal to create as full and complete of a story as possible. My goal is to have more interesting and complete stories versus a quick introduction. Also, to convert some of my blog stories to articles and try to get them published in small local or specialized genealogical or historical publications. (Combined writing and sharing goals)
3. To start over in reviewing and organizing my family history utilizing ideas from Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over Challenge. (Organizing goal- keeping the same goal since I didn’t meet it last year.) You can learn more about the challenge here.
4. To attend a conference/workshop/educational event. This year’s choice is Family History Conference of Northwest Arkansas 2016 (same as last year). It’s a free event with some good workshops. If you’re interested you can find more information here. (Self-Improvement Goal)
So there you go, universe. Let’s make it happen. (Also- a better year than what I’ve had so far would be totally awesome. Thanks.)

~ Lisa at Days of Our Lives

There’s a Way

Today you’re going to get a small glimpse of how my crazy mind works. I’m going back to the second week of May to make up that week’s blog post. The theme was “there’s a way”. In my mind I kept thinking “the way”. Do you remember playing a game where someone says a word and you’re supposed to say the first word that comes to your mind (no filtering)? Well this is how that worked for me on this blog post. My mind said “the way” and then responded with “the truth and the life”. (The Holy Bible~ John 4:16, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.) So that thought led to Christianity, which led to church, which led to preachers, which led to Reverend Charles SEELY. So I present to you today, my Baptist minister ancestor- Charles SEELY.

Charles SEELY and wife, Synthia Arrena FOSTER

Charles SEELY was born in 1826 in Missouri. I don’t know anything of his childhood and I don’t know anything about his parents, siblings, or any of his family. The first time he shows up in any record that I can find is on 15 October 1845 when he married Synthia Arrena FOSTER in Lawrence County, Missouri.

Charles Seely and Syntha Foster marriage record.

Second page of marriage record for Charles Seely and Syntha Foster.

The marriage record started on one page and ended on the next, thus the reason for two photos to show one record.
Synthia was born in 1824 in South Carolina to Frederick FOSTER and Mary (BURNETT) FOSTER. Her family moved from South Carolina to Tennessee sometime between 1830 and 1840. Sometime between 1840 and 1860 they moved to Lawrence County, Missouri.

Finding Their Way from Missouri to Arkansas

Both SEELYs and FOSTERs were present in the area at the time Lawrence County was created. There is an annual “pioneer families” reunion each year in September. The reunion is a big deal complete with printed t-shirts, a day for genealogical information exchanges, etc. See these two websites for information about previous years’ reunions: http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/wormington/44/ (2013 gathering and includes a contact name and email address) and http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/spilman/361/ (2014 gathering). Although neither of our families are listed as pioneer families that are included in the reunion, another SEELY researcher said that she went one year and she seemed to feel it was profitable to her research.

Charles and Synthia had eight children together- Fifth Sergeant Elijah SEELY, blacksmith William, blacksmith James (who went by Frank), farmer John, baby George who only lived 8 months, Mary Ann (my great-grandmother and wife of George BATES), Elzora (who went by Josephine and married a HARRELL), and farmer Charles. They resided in Lawrence County, Missouri until the late 1860’s. Charles owned land there as evidenced by a land patent issued in 1860 and a deed dated 1867. You can view the land patent at this link along with a map of where the property was located-

http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MO5700__.226&docClass=STA&sid=cduxnu03.ddp.

Around 1868, Charles packed up his family and left Lawrence County, Missouri for Benton County, Arkansas. On 7 April 1869, Charles was licensed as a Minister of the Gospel in Benton County, Arkansas. He was the first preacher at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church located in Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas.

The Way, The Truth, The Life

The recording of his credentials:

Charles Seely's official credentials as a minister in Benton County, Arkansas. — Charles Seely’s official credentials as a minister in Benton County, Arkansas.

I’ve transcribed it here the best I can, leaving any misspellings as they appear in the record:

Credentials of Seely: Credentials of Charles Seely- Benton County Arkansas This is to certify that we being duly called as a
presbytary have examined into the carcter, call qualifications of our beloved brother Charles Seely and with the consent of the
Church of Christ at New Sili (?) to which he belongs have by prayer and imposition of hands set him apart to the great work of
the gospel ministry and he is hereby authorized to excrise himself in the several parts of the ministerial functions where he may
be called whether occasionally or Slated by Given under our hands this the 26 day of October 1868
E. T. Willingham, J. Dungan, Presbytary
Filed and recorded the 7 day of April 1869
J. R. Rutherford recorder

Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, Gravette, Arkansas.

The Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church was organized in a log school house above Cash Springs in the Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas area on 28 May 1870. The church moved to it’s present location in 1880. The story I read was that Charles was an elder in the church and moderator of the organization committee when he was chosen as the first pastor. I have contacted the church and am waiting on a response. Maybe soon I’ll have an update with new information if the church has any. I wasn’t able to find Cash Springs on any map but I found Cash Springs Road in Gravette so I’m going on the assumption that Cash Springs is nearby. Here is a map showing the distance from Cash Springs Road (Where the arrow and pinned spot is) to the current church location:

Map showing Cash Springs Road and the current location of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church.

I know Charles performed marriages while he was licensed. He was the minister who performed the wedding ceremony for Greenberry BATES and Eliza PENDERGRAFT in 1872. (Greenberry was one of the sons of John C. BATES. You can read about John BATES in a previous blog post found here: http://happy-girl-24.livejournal.com/16413.html. Charles SEELY’s daughter, Mary Ann, married George BATES- another of John C. BATES’ sons). Later in Charles’ life (after the death of Synthia), Charles himself married a PENDERGRAFT. Two years after Synthia’s death, Charles married Mary Ann (PENDERGRAFT) SEAMSTER. She was the widow of Williamson SEAMSTER who was also a Baptist minister.

Rock Island…Haven’t We Been This Way Before?

One interesting story I found while researching for this blog post was the story of why Charles’ son William packed up his family and moved to Texas and what happened along the way. The story goes that William and his family were living near Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas. He was a blacksmith there. His house and shop were next to each other. Crews were blasting out a path for the Rock Island Railroad nearby (that is possibly the same railroad company that ran the train that hit my great-great-grandfather Samuel WILLIAMS whom you can read about in the blog post at http://happy-girl-24.livejournal.com/20385.html). The crews were having to blast through a hillside to make a deep cut for a section of the railroad and the rocks from all the blasting were falling on William’s house and blacksmith shop. William said he wasn’t going to live where they were tearing up everything so he packed up his family and set out for Texas in a wagon. Somewhere along the way Indians started to attack the family. William’s sons were big boys and they scared the Indians away with their guns. That’s all of the story I know. I have to believe they made it to Texas alright since there is now a large branch of distantly-related SEELYs in Texas.

I love this postcard found at http://ahc.digital-ar.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16790coll7/id/112/rec/ depicting a railroad cut similar to the one being done (maybe the actual one being done??) near William’s home that made him decide to move. I also love how Rock Island crept into my stories again. If you’ll remember, Rock Island was where John BATES (referenced above) was imprisoned during the Civil War. Also every day on my way to work during the school year, I pass a Rock Island caboose that’s been restored. I don’t have a photo of it but here is another Rock Island caboose for you to look at:

I also found this great picture of the old depot in Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas at myoldtownpics.com:

And I couldn’t help but post this 1901 depot sign:

Finding His Way to His (Heavenly) Home
In addition to being a preacher, Charles was a farmer. He died on 29 June 1891. He had a very short obituary which reads:

Rev. Charles Seeley died on the 29^th of June and was buried on the day following at Gamble’s
grave yard. Mr. Seeley had lived here a number of years and had lots of warm friends to mourn
his death.

The obituary appeared in The Bentonville Sun on 11 July 1891.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Charles SEELY and “the way” he lived his life. Here’s hoping you find your way to a safe and happy weekend spent with loved ones.

Until next week,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Tag: Charles Seely

The Tragic End of Samuel Seely

Off the Beaten Path

The Documents That Remain

Digging Deeper: The Officers’ Journals

Final Notes

Resources

Modified Triangulation

Seely

Brinker

Shelly

Ridgeway

To Sum It Up

Power in the Blood AND the Numbers

Dad’s Lines

Mom’s Lines

1860-1869

1863: A Difficult Year

1870-1879

1880

A Good Stopping Point