52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #4 theme - Witness to History

Today I will share about Charles W. Terry, the brother of my Gt Grandmother, Lizzie Terry Griffin. Immigrating from England with his family as a young teen in 1849, Charlie's life spanned nearly a century with many experiences.  He became a naturalized citizen of the United States. We came across a news item written when Charlie was 92 years of age.  A few quotes are following:

"Mr. Terry is said to be the original youth to whom Horace Greeley said: "Go west, young man." When Lincoln and Douglass were traveling through Illinois debating, previous to the senatorial election of 1858 in that state, Charles Terry says he was present and heard several of their verbal encounters. He was also present when Abraham Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong in that famous murder trial. The word "remarkable" describes Mr. Terry."

"Charles Terry voted for Abraham Lincoln three times while a resident of Illinois; the first time was in Beardstown, when Mr. Lincoln was a candidate for congressman at large. Mr. Terry enlisted for the civil war in 1862, with the 68th Illinois."

A history of the 68th Illinois states: "Though the boys of the Sixty-eighth were never under fire, they did the duty assigned them with alacrity. It was theirs to care for the wounded as they were sent into Alexandria from the disastrous field of Bull Run.

They once passed in Grand Review before President Lincoln, being the only Illinois Regiment present on that occasion, and when Company G, at the command of their Captain, gave a hurrah for the President, his kindly recognition of the boys from Illinois by waving his hat, and his evident pleasure, manifested by a smile which lit up his careworn countenance, waved the company from reproof by superior commanders."

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 3 Theme - Favorite Photo

My photo for 2024 is our McGill family on their farm west of Edmond OK, about 1900. Daniel Patrick McGill, seated center, made the Land Run of 1889, claiming this free land to homestead. He came from Iowa to Arkansas City, Kansas, where he boarded the train to make the Run at the sound of a gunshot at noon, April 22, 1889. It is said that he got off the train at Waterloo Rd with 3 other men, and was able to stake the claim with the best water since he had a large family. The rest of the family came by covered wagon in the next months. My Grandmother, Hattie (Harriett Emily McGill) is in the photo, 4th from right, along with her parents, and siblings. This land is still pasture land and the pond is still there, although the suburbs of Edmond have surrounded the property.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week #2 Theme - Origins

As we keep searching further and further back in the generations of our families, we can never hope to find the origins of our ancestors. But at every level we discover clues about immigration, occupations, and family history. In a couple of cases, I've found origins of places where my ancestors had an influence in exploration or naming, etc.

When the area of Cleveland, Ohio, called Columbia Station, was being surveyed, our Frost and Paine ancestors from Connecticut were among the first settlers. Elias C. Frost, son of our ancestor, Isaac Frost, is mentioned as one of the first surveyors of the Columbia Station in 1807. These first men came from Waterbury, CT to Buffalo, NY, then spent 21 days on the rough waters of Lake Erie to reach Cleveland. Elias C. Frost and 4 others, as ax and chain men, "set out from Cleveland taking a southwest course until the northeast corner of the town was reached. From this point they proceeded west two and a half miles, thence south a like distance to the center of the township. The party made their encampment here, on the west bank of the Rocky River. A daughter of Levi Bronson, (possibly a cousin of the Frosts) Mrs. Oliver Terrell, accompanied the party to do their cooking, to whom must be accorded the honor of being the first white woman that ever set foot on the soil of Columbia.” History of Lorain County, Columbia Township (Part 1).

Father, Isaac, and sons, Elias C. and Lyman J. Frost (our direct ancestor), are shown to settle on lot #28 of the Columbia Station Township in 1808. Another direct ancestor, Seth Paine, helped survey the town of Brecksville, OH, where he was the first settler, in 1811. Streets in the area are named for Seth Paine and his daughter Oriana (our 3Gt Grandmother,first teacher in Brecksville, OH), and the first post office was Frostville.

Thus, our family was influential in the origins of what has become the metropolis of Cleveland and suburbs.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. 2024 - Week #1 theme is Family Lore. When we were growing up in the 1940s and 50s, we didn't know much about our paternal Gt Grandparents. Surnames were mentioned, but not attached to lines. "We are Frosts." "We are Terrys." "Our Griffins are NOT the Virginia Griffins." And another time..."We had ancestors from East Virginia." "Great Grandpa McGill was an orphan. He remembers seeing his mother in her coffin when he was about 5." These phrases were all we had to go on when we started making our family tree. So we started asking questions about those surnames. We found that we had a 2Gt Grandfather Frost. Our Gt Grandmother's maiden name was Terry. Our Griffins way back had come from Connecticut, by way of West Virginia. The East Virginia line was our 2Gt Grandmother Elizabeth M. Rodgers. (A name no one had mentioned.) And yes, Gt Grandpa Daniel Patrick McGill was orphaned and raised by a foster family who changed the direction of our family by educating him and giving his life a new direction. Advice to fellow searchers, listen to those tidbits of Family Lore, then dig a little deeper !

Where Were Our Ancestors in 1776?

Our Griffin roots were in Wales, then immigrating to Connecticut.     Benoni Griffin, Jr., father of our Jonathan Griffin, lived in Simsbury, CT during the Revolution.  His father, Benoni Sr. was a "Loyalist" during the American Revolution.   Other Loyalists/Royalists moved out to Nova Scotia, but Benoni stayed where he was.   Perhaps it was because his wealth was in land, cattle and sheep, things that could not be easily moved.   Despite being loyal to the crown, he did furnish cattle for the starving American Army.   George Washington appealed to Governor Trumbull for help to feed and clothe the men, and Washington’s  comment was, ' Only Brother Trumbull could have made it happen, and it could only happen in Connecticut.'   Trumbull, Washington, and Benoni  Griffin were all Masons.   There are certain appeals that MAY NOT be ignored by a Mason.   However, nephew Stephen II, son of Benoni's dead brother was in the colonial Army too.   Perhaps he had no choice but to feed when appealed to.     We have no mention of Benoni Jr. during the Revolution. His son, Jonathan, was born in 1777.  This family migrated to western Virginia.

William Sharp Sr., was the father of Rachel Sharp who married Jonathan Griffin.  William is described in records from the American Daughters of the Revolution as serving as a private and fifer in Capt. Lewis  Pelham's Company, Colonel Parker's Virginia regiment in 1778.  Mr. Sharp was likely in Bath county VA prior to 1769 to be  familiar with the Greenbrier property he was granted that year and he located his permanent homestead here about 1773.  He saw service as a  scout, spy and soldier against the Indians and the British.   His own parents had been killed by Indians, as well as those of his wife, Mary Meeks. 

Another ancestor, Joseph Rodgers, would have been about 20 at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.   He was the grandfather of our 2 gt grandmother, Elizabeth M. Rodgers Griffin. They hailed from Madison County VA, near the Rapidan River.   Joseph probably knew or knew of the patriots who came from  that area… Madison, Monroe, and  Jefferson.    Joseph’s son, James Rodgers, was married to Elizabeth Jackson,  daughter of Drury Jackson,  who was a Revolutionary Soldier, serving from 1776 to 1778.  Part of his service took place at Charleston, SC, and he mustered out at Valley Forge.  We have many documents concerning Drury’s service and pension.  

Drury Jackson’s wife Elizabeth Bryan(t), was daughter of Jeremiah Bryan(t),  a man of the same area of Virginia (Madison and Culpeper counties).  His wealth was in land, which he claimed by “tomahawk claim”, making improvements and staking out much land to the west of Virginia. Then he did a lot of trading and selling.  He was not mentioned as taking part in the Rev. War, but was probably expanding his own interests to the west.

 On our Terry side of the family, our known ancestors were still in England till 1840’s .  The McGills were in Ireland  until early 1800s.   The Frost family were in Massachusetts and Connecticut at the time of the Revolution. The DAR has record of our Samuel Frost, serving as a private in the 10th Regiment of Connecticut.   He was part of campaigns in New York in 1776 under Brigadier General Walcott. 

On our maternal branches of the family, I have recently found info that our 4 Gt Grandfather, Robert Cochran, was a Revolutionary Soldier from South Carolina. He was one of the first men to declare against the "Tories" in that state. Another maternal ancestor, Samuel Lowry, born 1757 in North Carolina, states in his pension application that he enlisted in 1775 (only 18 years of age) and served for 6 months. By 1776, he volunteered with a regiment fighting Indians, then joined "the company commanded by Samuel Young, and served as a Ranger, and was employed in resisting the scouting and plundering detachment from Lord Cornwallis' army which was then on its way to little York". After the war, he lived in South Carolina and became a medical doctor. (Coincidentally, my Gt Grandfather was named Samuel Young Griffin. I wonder if he was named for this Revolutionary Soldier.)

Our Easter ancestor, James Easter, originally from Virginia, served in Georgia as a Rev. Soldier in 1778. Muster rolls during that year listed him in Brunswick, and White Plaines, Georgia. He later brought his family to Georgia, perhaps on a land grant for his service. I guess he didn't feel a loyalty to the King who had granted his Virginia land, thirty years before.

Our Grant ancestor, Thomas Grant, was still an infant in Scotland, at the time of the Revolution. He possibly came to America as an orphan, indentured servant, ending up in Tennessee.

Fifth Great Grandfather, James Dillard III, was from Williamsburg, Virginia, a most interesting city during that time. On May 15, 1776, the Virginia Convention passed resolutions urging the Continental Congress to declare American independence from Britain. James is shown to have been a Captain in the 10th Virginia Regiment, retiring to Amherst, VA, after the war. His son John Dillard of Amherst was a Colonel, as declared by descendants who applied as members of the Sons of the American Revolution.

We continually discover more generations and try to chronicle ancestors' lives here in the United States and back into the colonies. We begin to relate to these ancestors as real people and wish we knew more about their lives.

Week #12 Theme is Membership

John McCool's Church Membership I have collected much information about my husband's, Great Grandfather, John McCool. As we followed the timeline of his family, we find the church as a constant in his life. John was the grandson of Irish immigrants, John Calvin McCool and Mary Cunningham, who arrived in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the early 1800s. Their first association with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Deer Creek in that county, was about 1811. The minister of that congregation, James McConnell, was also an Irish immigrant. They may have come to America from the same part of Northern Ireland. The following are some quotes from various essays I've found about that congregation. In 1802, Robert Porter and others organized the Deer Creek Associate Reformed Church and began the long tradition of service to our Lord Jesus Christ. In the early 1800s, services were held outside or in homes . People came from miles around to worship at the open-air pulpit, sitting on logs or on the ground, with worship services often lasting all day. In 1811, the Rev. James McConnell, fresh from Ireland, was called as the first pastor. During Rev. McConnell's tenure, a log church was built in 1817. The first brick structure was erected in the middle of the cemetery in 1834. Two sons of the immigrant, John Calvin McCool, were James Robert and William. They were members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. James R. and his family followed brother, William, to Iowa. The towns of Le Claire and Princeton were on the Mississippi, just above Davenport, Iowa, ferryboat ride from Rockport, IL. The following is quoted from the church history in Le Claire, Iowa. “When the pioneers came to this area, family and friends tended to travel together and settle near each other. So it was in 1840's a little band of Associate Reformed Church members left their homes at Deer Creek, near Butler, PA., and arrived in Berlin, now a part of Le Claire, Iowa. {We believe their route was on a steamboat on the Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.} They homesteaded on the open prairie west of Le Claire near what we know as Argo. The first church services were in the log cabins of James McConnell, about 1 3/4 miles straight east of our present church. They later met in other cabins and the Parkhurst and Campbell schoolhouses in Le Claire township. They brought their own benches for sitting through the long services, because you see, there were 12 adults and all their children and that would tax any cabin. The meetings were called "The Society" and were held on the Sabbath Day. The services consisted of singing a Psalm (no musical instruments were permitted in the church until 1906), reading God's word, and prayers. These services were very lengthy. After the Psalm’s explanation, there was a sermon, then a thirty-minute intermission and another service containing a sermon. If any member left during intermission, they were classified as "lukewarm Christians". The Sabbath ended by the study of the catechism in their homes.” In 1849 James McConnell built a new barn where on May 21, 1849, nine adults met and were formally organized as an Associated Reformed Congregation under the Presbyterian Church. These members were William Jamison and his wife Martha, their daughter Martha Ann Jamison, James McConnell and his wife Mary, William McCool and his wife Lydia, William Stark and his wife Sarah. On May 26, 1849, three members were added: Andrew Jackson Jamison, his wife Elizabeth, and his brother John Jamison. These comprised the 12 charter members." Eloise Kiedrich, 2001 Most of the above named members were related in some way and had traveled together from Pennsylvania. Some may have come together all the way from Ireland. Gerry's Gt Grandfather, John McCool, son of James R., was born in Pennsylvania in 1843, and would have been a small child when the group traveled west. He grew up as an active member of the church described above. In 1861 he and many young men of that congregation joined the Union Army, and were involved in major battles, mainly in Tennessee and Mississippi. He returned home in 1864 and volunteered to "run the mail" to the areas near Deadwood, South Dakota... a dangerous area. But by 1868, he came back to Iowa and married Anna Rosalie Powell. At that time the railroad had been opened to Nebraska and land was there to claim. So by 1872, the McCools and several other church families traveled together to the area near Kearney and claimed their homesteads. The first official church organized in the area of Cedar Township, Nebraska, was the United Presbyterian. It was organized in John McCool's sod house by Rev. David Inches of North Bend, Neb., on December 20, 1882. The charter members were: John McCool, Mrs. Rose Ann McCool, James E. Miller, Mrs. Ann J. Miller and George W. Duncan." - Buffalo County History Book (Photo below is a sod house in Nebraska, not that of John McCool.) The concept of membership was the "glue" that caused these believers to bond together even as they crossed the new country at least twice (possibly even from the homeland in Ireland.) Membership in the body of Christ. Membership of an extended family. Membership in a traveling group. And Membership as citizens of a new land.

The Luck of the Irish

My Irish immigrant family brought the Luck of the Irish with them. Maybe 8 year old Mary McGill had a lucky penny in her shoe when she came from Ireland to Canada in the early 1800s. Her life was hard; her husband, Patrick, who was 30 years her senior, worked in the timbers or building the canal. But the records show that at least they had a house, as opposed to the neighbors who lived in wooden shanties. When Mary was widowed, with 3 young children, she was lucky to join a group who made their way west to the United States. In Iowa City, although she was ill, Mary was lucky again, to find a man who would help her write a will, making sure her children were cared for. My Gt Grandfather, Daniel Patrick McGill, was her youngest child, age 5, when she died. The Shafer family, who fostered Daniel, were childless but raised him as their own and even sent him to the University. The foster father and mother just "happened" to be related to Eva Frost, who was eventually married to Daniel Patrick. There was illness during those years in Iowa, but Daniel was lucky to survive. Sadly, his sister, Bridget, brother, John, John's wife, and one baby died. One of Daniel's nephews remained, and that lucky boy was fostered by Daniel and Eva. Years later, after the family moved to western Iowa, Daniel was lucky enough to see a flyer that told of land opening for homesteads in Oklahoma Territory. In 1889, he made his way to Arkansas City, Kansas, and boarded a train for the new frontier. Daniel, and 3 other pioneers, jumped from the train, and set off west across the prairie. As luck would have it, they came to a place where 4 quarter sections were marked with stakes. Since McGill was the only one who had a large family, he was the lucky one chosen to claim the land with the best source of water. His family, including my grandmother, age 8, came from Iowa by covered wagon to join him on the homestead. And here I am, one of the lucky descendants to come from this family, and lucky to have that story preserved for more than 200 years after little Mary McGill crossed the Atlantic. The picture above is of Daniel P. (seated) and Eva McGill (standing center) and their family on the homestead west of Edmond, Oklahoma. This land is still pasture land and the pond is still there.