52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #7 Theme - LANDED. 

In 1848, my Gt Gt Grandparents, William Terry and wife, Charlotte Ann Clark Terry, sold their wagon and carriage shop in Deal, County of Kent, England. They set out for the United States, with their 7 children. Family letters say that Charlotte’s marriage to a “tradesman” was frowned upon by her father who was superintendent of the Royal Navy Hospital.  She may have even been disowned.  

The  ship they took was the American Eagle.  It was an American sailing ship that traveled between New York and London from 1846 to 1867, during which period her westbound passages averaged 35 days, her shortest passage being 22 days, her longest 57. 

They sailed from Liverpool and were out 4 or 5 weeks when the captain feared they had yellow fever or smallpox aboard.   The captain turned back to Liverpool, and they were quarantined until given a clean bill of health by port authorities.  One of the children, Amelia, who was about 8 years old at the time, remembered it was a sailing ship and that the voyage took six weeks. She wrote that she saw a man being buried at sea during the voyage. 

They reached New York in 1849, and went first to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Charlotte was traveling for two… as my great grandmother Elizabeth (Lizzie) Terry was born when they reached the town of Milwaukee. William was again in the carriage making business, and they lived next to a livery stable. 

Later they farmed in Illinois, where William and three Terry children died. The widowed Charlotte followed family members to Kansas and then on to Oregon.

In  Kansas, our Lizzie married Samuel Griffin, who had fought as a Union Soldier in the Civil War. In 1891, after Samuel Griffin died, Lizzie and her six children, ages 3 to 17, moved from Kansas to Oklahoma Territory, where she homesteaded a quarter section of land.

A True Pioneer - Adonijah Harris

Although not a direct ancestor, Adonijah Harris was influential in shaping the future of our Griffin, Rodgers, and Terry families. When I describe him as a true pioneer, I have gone back to the definition of the word: "one who takes the lead or initiative...", "A person or family that ventures into unknown territory to settle..." Our family may still have been living in West Virginia, and not spread across the states if it were not for Adonijah Harris.

He was an orphan, probably illegitimate, born about 1811 in Randolph County, Virginia. Although his mother and father were listed on orphan roll, he was raised by guardians. Evidently he was provided with an education and training in the Methodist faith as he was growing up, because we find this description of Adonijah as a young man: " Adonijah Harris lives at the top of a mountain at what is now known as the McGuire Farm. He is a blacksmith and a fine mechanic . He is a class leader in the Methodist church and is respected and loved by all who know him." And, "A class was organized by Addison Hite at the Hamrick barn , the first Methodist organization in Webster County. William Gregory was appointed leader, and Adonijah Harris, assistant leader. Mr. Harris lived at the McGuire Low Gap near Webster Springs, yet he walked the five miles each Sunday to meet his class and his presence was made known by the zeal manifested in his work." from "Moccasin Tracks and Other Imprints" by William Christian Doddrill (Rattlesnake Bill)

The church mentioned above was a meeting place for our Griffin and Rodgers ancestors. In a previous post I show Elizabeth M. Rodgers who married William Griffin. Elizabeth's sister, Sarah Ann Rodgers, married Adonijah Harris. The two families worshipped together and supported the cause of the Union together, opposing the southern sympathies of many of their own relatives and neighbors, and losing children to the ravages of the war.

Adonijah and William were among the petitioners in 1848 to form the new county of Webster, VA ( to become West Virginia). Harris was the one who posted the notice to Nicholas County. The early settlers of the Elk River Valley were far removed from a seat of justice. It was forty or fifty miles to the county seat of Randolph County and almost as far to that of Braxton County. A great many citizens were practically disfranchised, as it was 25 miles to the nearest voting place. The formation of the new county was not officially passed until 1860, and Harris was one to oversee the new county elections.

If you have read my post of the story of John J. Miller, you know the times of persecution that these Union supporters suffered in their own home counties. Miller was a son in law of Adonijah and Sarah Rodgers Harris. Two of the Harris daughters died of measles in the Union Military Camp, Harrison County, VA, where the families were taken as refugees in 1862. By 1865, Adonijah Harris, the Millers and William Griffin families had migrated to Exira Twp. Cass Co. Iowa. They boarded a steamboat on the Ohio River (probably at Marietta, OH, where a Griffin aunt lived) and sailed down the Ohio to the Mississippi, then to the Missouri River and up to Council Bluffs, Iowa. From Council Bluffs, they would have traveled to Cass County by wagon. Adonijah and son, James, are listed among founding families of Lewisville (or Louisville), Iowa. His daughter, Nancy Rebecca married David Soar, harness maker, and stayed in the county.

The Harris, Miller, and Griffin families traveled on to Missouri and then to Montgomery County Kansas. Adonijah's daughter, Diana, wife of John J. Miller, and her daughters and sons in law (Terry men, related to Lizzie Terry my gt grandmother), migrated to Oregon. Patriarch, Adonijah Harris, died 22 August, 1873 in Sycamore, Kansas. His name appears among descendants of the families and his memory is held dear.