52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 8 theme - Courting

SHE SUED HER MOTHER AND LOST...

Court Case - Anna Rosalie Powell McCool vs. Martha Bowley et al

In 1875, Gerry's great grandmother, Rose, a 22 year old wife and mother of 4 (and expecting a fifth),  evidently tried to take claim of what she felt was her rightful inheritance.  We find the following articles in the Davenport Iowa Gazette of Dec. 4, 1875. 

“The trial of the case entitled Anna R. McCool vs. Martha Bowley and Simeon Bowley commenced this afternoon. The case has some interesting features as well as  singular ones.  According to the position of the plaintiff, it appears that she is the daughter of one Joseph Powell, a resident of Cleveland Ohio, who died in 1854, leaving a widow, two daughters and two sons as sole heirs at law. At the time of his death, Powell was in possession of $1,500 in gold and some other property, the value of which is not stated, as no administration was ever laid upon the estate. The widow immediately took possession of the gold and in 1855 married Simeon Bowley;  and in the same year, Mr. and Mrs. Bowley purchased 80 acres of land in Princeton Township, in this county, with part of the $1500 in gold, expended the balance in improving the property and have been in possession of it ever since.  The petition states that she has been reared from childhood without expense to the defendants that she has been married and that her brothers and sister have attained their majority and claim that the Bowleys have simply held the property purchased with the $1,500 in trust for herself and fellow heirs , that she is justly entitled to one fourth part of it, together with a fourth of rents and profits thereof during each year of occupation by the defendants, that the real estate is reasonably worth $4,000, that the rents and profits amount to a large sum, the amount of which she is unable to state; but at any rate, she asks the court that the defendants may be decreed to account to her for  the one fourth she claims, and for such other relief as the court may deem just, and the costs of suit.  The defendants deny that they ever got $1,500 that belonged to Joseph Powell, that they never expended any sum that belonged to said Powell for the property they now own, and declare they have nothing to which the plaintiff can legally lay claim.   D.B. Nash is the attorney for plaintiff and Davison and Lane for the defendants.  The testimony is all by deposition. The case will be submitted this fore noon, probably.” 

 

Davenport Gazette (Davenport, Iowa) December 6, 1875

“District Court - The case of Anna R. McCool vs. Martha Bowley, et al, the chief points of which were stated in Saturday's Gazette was submitted to the court Saturday forenoon.  The court found that the plaintiff is not entitled to the relief prayed and judgment was rendered against the plaintiff for costs.”

 

My notes:   As Rose was expecting her  fifth child in one month from the above case date, I’m sure she couldn’t travel to Iowa from their homestead in Nebraska to plead the case, and we will never know if the charges were true.  The Bowleys had two children together,  who would be half siblings to Rose Anna.   We don’t know if she ever kept in contact with them, or with her own siblings. The name of Simeon Bowley appears on 1886 Princeton Directory as Trustee of the town of Princeton. His son, Joseph (half brother of Rose),  later held offices in farming organizations in Scott County, Iowa.   Anna Rosalie had become mother of eleven children and died at age 39 in 1892.  

Irish Roots - Mary McGill

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 4 - CURIOUS.      For the descendants of Daniel Patrick McGill... an anecdote about his mother, Mary. We know very little about her as he only remembered being held to view her at her funeral when he was four or five.

Mary was born in Ireland and crossed the Atlantic to Canada when she was about 8 yrs. old. The new land was very desolate in the 1820s. Logging and working on a new canal was the work of the men. The Catholic church was the heart of the little community of Nepean, near Ottawa. She married Patrick McGill, a man 30 years her senior, also an Irish immigrant, and bore at least 5 children, losing two little baby girls in infancy. When her husband died in his 70s, the 42 year old mother took her 3 children, ages from 2 to 15, joined a group of pioneers and traveled nearly 1000 miles to the state of Iowa. How did she get the idea to start such an undertaking? Did she travel with a large group?  Relatives?  What means of transportation?  We are curious. 

When she arrived in Iowa City, she may have known that with her poor health she could not raise her children. We have found her will which sees to the care of the children.    The oldest boy, John, at age 15, went to work on a farm even further west, for the family of a prominent farmer (whose daughter he later married.) He became a citizen of the United States. Mary’s daughter, Bridget Jane, and youngest son, Daniel Patrick, were assigned to the guardianship of Daniel Shafer and Amelia Frost Shafer, by the terms of the will of their mother, Mary, in 1856. The Shafers were a childless couple also of pioneer stock. They had been  educated as a civil engineer and a teacher-- a strong Presbyterian family, who saw to the higher education and loving care, as well as the religious training of the children. Through the perseverance and plans for the care of her children, made by Mary McGill, our family’s destiny was changed, as we descend from Mary’s youngest son, Daniel Patrick McGill.

William Griffin, son of Jonathan

William Griffin, my great great grandfather, was the third child of Jonathan and Rachael Sharp Griffin. He was born March 27, 1812, in Bath County Virginia (later to become Pocahontas Co. West Virginia). An old family letter states that William was called “Billy”, and also that he was educated in Connecticut. I have seen no evidence of the latter. Although his father was born in CT, we find no information that family members returned to CT from West Virginia for education.

We do know that the family valued education, and William was a school teacher and Sunday School teacher. According to his obituary, he was an active member and later an officer, of the Methodist Episcopal Church from age 22. He may well have met his wife, Elizabeth M. Rodgers, at church, as her father, James Rodgers, was a devout man of the area. Of course, the churches met in homes in those days, or outdoors under the trees.

This quote is from “Moccasin Tracks and other Imprints” by William C. Dodrill, 1915.

“It is not known that any schools were taught in this county [Webster] before 1835. The first school of which I have any knowledge was erected by two brothers, William and Benjamin Hamrick, and James Dodrill, on the Elk [River] nearly opposite the mouth of Wolf Pen Run, six miles above Webster Springs. [My note: At that time this would have been in Nicholas or Braxton County, later Webster.] These three men employed William Griffin to teach three months, for which he was to receive 30 dollars and board. Spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic were the branches taught. The Bible was the text used in the reading classes. …”

Note: William would have been about 23 at this time. Another source says that William’s brother, Benoni Griffin, taught at the school. Benoni later married William Hamrick’s daughter, Nancy.

Elizabeth Rodgers, daughter of James and Elizabeth Jackson Rodgers, was born Aug. 4, 1818, in what she called “East” Virginia, probably Culpeper or Madison County, VA. Her mother died when Elizabeth was a child. Her father brought seven children over the mountains to the Buckeye area of Pocahontas County, where he married for a second time, and had six more children. They lived on Rodgers Mountain, south of the Stony Creek area where the Griffins lived.

After the time that William was a teacher, we next find a record of William as an adult, recipient of 62 acres (possibly more) of land transferred or sold to him by his father, Jonathan Griffin, Sept 4, 1838, just a few weeks before William and Elizabeth's marriage. The land was originally granted to Benoni Griffin of Connecticut, on the Greenbrier River (now site of the Green Bank Telescope.) Jonathan was somehow related to this Benoni; I hope to discover a father/son relationship.

We have a copy of the marriage certificate for William and Elizabeth, which is found on pg. 25, Pocahontas Co. Marriage Book as follows:

22 Oct 1838 Bond: William Griffin and Elizabeth M. Rogers. Surety, William Griffin and James Rogers.

25 Oct 1838 Return: William GRIFFIN and Elizabeth M. Rogers by Joseph G. McKeehan.

There is no indication that William and Elizabeth ever lived on the Green Bank land. Their first son, Joseph was born in 1839, in Pocahontas, where the rest of the Jonathan Griffin family lived. Then in 1840, William, Elizabeth, and son, under 5, are found in Nicholas County. This county was the home of Elizabeth’s two sisters, Tabitha Rodgers, wife of James McAvoy, and Sarah Ann Rodgers, wife of Adonijah Harris, and brother, Robert Rodgers. Harris and Robert Rodgers were both blacksmiths by trade. In later years, at least three of William’s children/grandchildren list their occupations as blacksmith.

William and his wife Elizabeth farmed in Pocahontas County near the family farm in 1850, as father, Jonathan, was aged. After Jonathan’s death around 1852, most of his sons and families, as well as their mother, Rachael, moved to Braxton (later Webster County west of the mountains near the Elk River. Brother, Abraham, stayed on the family farm on Swago and Stony Creek in Pocahontas County.

William was on the petition for the formation of Webster County West VA, in 1860. It has been stated in a family letter that he farmed 400 acres in Webster County. He was blinded in one eye by a corn stalk when walking through his field.

Military Service: Two sons, James M., and Levi J., died of illness, in service to the Union during the Civil War. James served in the 47th Regiment of the Ohio Voluntary Infantry - probably mustered in 1861. He died June 22, 1862. He was first buried in the military cemetery at Charleston West VA, then later re-interred at the military cemetery at West Virginia.

Levi J. was a Private in the 10th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, mustered at Sutton May 3, 1862, at age 18. He died Oct. 13, 1864, at Winchester, of fever. Another son, Samuel Young Griffin, also served the Union in the Ohio Vols 47th Regiment. Although he was stricken with illness, he did return from the war and accompanied the family as they headed west. Our Griffin line descends through Samuel. Letters to father, William, from Samuel during the Civil War.

During the latter part of the war, the families were forced to leave their farms in Webster County and relocate to the military base in Clarksburg, Harrison County. At the close of the Civil War, William and Elizabeth along with their remaining children, and several related families, decided to leave the new state of West Virginia to head for western states. Their sympathies for the Union brought persecution from their neighbors...to the extent that at one time they had to hide in a water filled ditch. The story of this exodus is recorded by a descendant of the Miller family, who traveled with Griffin and Harris families (all related). Click Here for John J. Miller's Civil War Story.

Family letters state that in 1865, William and Elizabeth and ten children, along with several other related families boarded a steamboat on the Ohio River (probably at Marietta OH), and sailed down the Ohio to the Mississippi, then to the Missouri River and up to Council Bluffs, Iowa. As John Miller had land in Exira, Audubon County Iowa, the family must have traveled there by wagon. Elizabeth’s aunts, Julia and Elizabeth Rodgers, in their 80s, (Julia was blind) traveled with them and then on to their brother Chesley’s home in Indianola, Iowa.

As stated in Miller’s story, the Griffins and Millers farmed for a short time in Iowa, then in Carthage, Missouri, and finally in Montgomery County, in southeastern Kansas. Sycamore Township became the home of this family and descendants for many years.

In 1889, William and Elizabeth’s youngest son, Peter Griffin, unmarried, age 28, made the Oklahoma Land Run, staking claims for himself and his parents, west of Edmond in Deer Creek. Soon after they moved to Edmond, Oklahoma Territory, William died. He is now buried at Gracelawn Cemetery. Elizabeth died in 1903, after her daughter in law, Lizzie Griffin, widow of Samuel, and children moved to Oklahoma.

This obituary comes from a Kansas Newspaper, although Wm.'s death occurred in Oklahoma. Jan Griffin Leaf has provided this.

GRIFFIN - William Griffin was born in Pocahontas County, VA., March 27, 1812, and died near Edmond, I. T., [should be Okla. Terr..] Nov. 4, 1889. He married Elizabeth M. Rogers, Oct. 25, 1838. There were born to them twelve sons and two daughters; seven sons and one daughter survive their father, and also his aged wife. He was a devoted member of the M.E. Church for 55 years, during which time he filled various offices in the Church. Father Griffin was a true type of a man and Christian. He was one of the few that opposed secession in his township at the breaking out of the Rebellion. He moved and settled for a time in Montgomery County, Kans., during which time the writer was his pastor and always found him in his place at church when it was possible for him to be there. He died as the good man dieth, and leaves behind him the savor of a good name, more to be desired than gold. J. ALBERT HYDEN. Cherry Vale, Kans.

More information on the children of William and Elizabeth:

Three children did not survive to adulthood and we do not know their dates of death or burial place. They are Rachel J., Robert O., and Alpheus. The oldest son, Joseph, is said to have died of fever about 1861, at age 22.

Samuel Young Griffin married Elizabeth “Lizzie” Terry, in Montgomery Co., Kansas. When he died in 1891, Lizzie brought the children to live in Oklahoma on the land claimed by her brother-in-law, Pete. The story of Sam and Lizzie, their life and family will be found on a separate blog page.

Adam Bland Griffin. We have a biography of Adam, contributed by a descendant, Elisha Dawn Barnett. Adam met Sarah Wiggins in Iowa, where they eloped. They then came to Kansas, farmed and raised a large family. Adam made the Oklahoma Land Run of 1893.

Sarah Ann “Sally” Griffin, the only surviving daughter of Wm. and Elizabeth, married Hugh McNutt when the Griffin family lived in Iowa. She was widowed in her 40s, and after living in Edmond, OK, with sister-in-law, Lizzie for a while, followed her children to Burbank, California, where she died in 1937.

Andrew W. Griffin married Zara Mayfield. He farmed in Montgomery Co., Kansas. Andrew was listed as a blacksmith in the 1870s, as was his brother Adonijah Harris Griffin. We have made contact with a descendant of Andrew and Zara, who lives in Colorado. Link to Andrew’s obituary.

John L. Griffin, with wife Clara O. Piersol & family, migrated from Kansas to Colorado around 1892. John was a mathematician and held positions as teacher, principal & Supt. of Schools, in Boulder and Everett, WA. We also have a biography of John L. and family, contributed by Jan Griffin Leaf of the Seattle, WA area.

Adonijah "Nije" Griffin went to Colorado at about the same time as John, and then to Texas. His first wife was Mattie Hinton, and second was Ida Groseclose. In Baylor County, TX, Nije was a blacksmith and served as postmaster. His descendants are found in New Mexico, Arizona and California.

William F. Griffin married Ellen Davis in Montgomery County, KS, in 1880. He was a farmer and settled in Sparks, Lincoln County, OK. Later he listed his occupation as house painter, was divorced, and lived for a time in Oklahoma City, OK. He died in Sparks, OK, in 1922. His children stayed in Oklahoma.

Peter Charles Griffin was the youngest son of William and Elizabeth. "Uncle Pete" never married. He worked the farm with his father. In 1889, he made the Oklahoma Land Run, staking a claim at Edmond, for himself and his parents. At his death in 1934, he willed his accumulated wealth to his many nieces and nephews. His will provided for a stone for his parents, Elizabeth and William Griffin, in Gracelawn Cemetery, Edmond, Oklahoma. Link to Uncle Pete's story.

Out in the Sleet, I see Uncle Pete

Little kids in the Griffin family made jokes about the eccentric old Uncle who dressed up in his 3 piece (though mis-matched) suit. Carrying his black umbrella, he would walk to work, or just walk through the then small town of Edmond, Oklahoma. No one knew the story of Peter C. Griffin until we began to search the family of William and Elizabeth M. Griffin (see link in previous post.)

Peter was the youngest child of our 2Gt. Grandparents William and Elizabeth, born in West Virginia in 1860. So he was just a toddler when one older brother died of a virus, and 3 older brothers joined the Union armies and went to war. Only one of those brothers, Sam, came home from that war in 1864, when Peter was only 4. Other brothers, Robert and Alpheus, closer in age, died as children, as did sister, Rachel.

When Peter was about 7, the Griffin family, along with many uncles, aunts, and cousins, had been moved from their Braxton County homes to the safety of the Union Camp in Harrison County. Upon coming home, they found destruction of their farms and persecution by neighbors. So they boarded a steamboat on the Ohio River and sailed down the Ohio to the Mississippi, then to the Missouri River and up to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and on to Exira, Audubon County by wagon. Eventually, the families went to Missouri and on to Montgomery County, Kansas to homestead. Within a year or two, Pete's older siblings married, leaving 4 boys to help father William farm. Soon Pete was the only one left at home. He never married, possibly as he felt the responsibility for his parents and the farm.

In 1889, news of the free land in Oklahoma Territory spread. As Peter's father was elderly and probably not well, the young man decided to participate in the Land Rush. He traveled to Arkansas City where he boarded the crowded train and entered the Oklahoma Territory. Nearing the Edmond area, he jumped off near Waterloo Road, walked west to Deer Creek, and staked two adjoining claims of 160 acres each... one quarter section for himself and one for his parents. The family soon made the move from their Kansas home. William died Nov. 4, 1889, leaving Elizabeth, and Pete to construct buildings and start gardens and prepare for future crops.

In a couple of years, Lizzie Terry Griffin, widow of Pete's brother, Sam, came to Oklahoma from Kansas, with sons and a daughter, to farm with Pete and the elderly Elizabeth. The young men and women (my Grandpa's generation) also married and left the farm. Before 1910, matriarch, Elizabeth M. died, and all the Griffins moved into Edmond, leaving the large farm for smaller acreages, and Pete went to work at the bank in town. He was about 50 years old, and lived with relatives.

This was the time that his gt. nieces and nephews would make jokes "Out in the sleet, I see Uncle Pete." He must have just seemed like a strange old man. Little did they know, besides caring for his family members, he was saving his money for all those years. His death came at age 73, on April 25, 1934, just 4 days after the celebration of "Eighty Niners' Day". We find a photograph of Pete among other Eighty Niners (listed as Charles, his middle name) probably taken in the 1920s.

When Peter Griffin's will was probated, many were probably surprised. His estate totaled about $103,000, comparable to more than $1,000,000 in 2008. After providing for his own funeral and estate expenses, he specified that a large stone would be placed in Gracelawn Cemetery of Edmond, OK, for the Griffin Family, with small ones for himself and his parents. Then he gave $4,000 to his remaining sister, Sarah McNutt, and provided $1,000 each for the education of orphaned great niece and nephew. The remainder was to be divided among 32 living nieces and nephews, which amounted to about $3,000 each. His obituary has not yet been found, but could have called Peter Griffin an eccentric millionaire today, rather than the strange little man with an umbrella "out in the sleet.... Uncle Pete."

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.

John J. Miller Civil War Story

"John Jackson Miller and Diana Mary Harris began their married life 40 miles from the home of his father (John Miller & Polly Sands), by the State Rd. Near Suttonville, W. VA, nearer the bride's family (Adonijah Harris & Sarah Ann Rodgers).

Thousands of soldiers passed by continually during the first year of the Civil War. John J. was an abolitionist, disagreeing with his father, about reimbursing slave owners. John J., Taylor Sutton and James Harris (all sons or sons-in-law of Adonijah Harris), were forced to hide in the mountains for months to escape rebel soldiers. Diana Mary, John's wife, was forced to support herself and four small children. John J. was taken prisoner in 186_ at the home of his father, a rebel. Upon the protest of his parents he was left in the home, a prisoner with two soldiers left to guard him.

The guards fell asleep one night and John J. escaped to his own home 40 miles away, wading through mush ice in the rivers 5 times. He was quite ill by the time he reached home. The illness proved to be measles, which all but two members of several families contracted, and which caused the deaths of Julia Ann Harris (unmarried) and Mrs. Elizabeth Jane "Harris" Sutton, mother of A. H. Sutton and Mrs. Sara 'Sutton' Stokes. Mrs. Sutton's death occurred on Feb 12, 1862.

Immediately after his escape the families were taken, in 1862, by government wagons to Clarksburg 175 miles away as refugees. This removal from the family home near Suttonville to Clarksburg, W.VA was made upon the advice and with the assistance of a friend, Col. Samuel Young, who was afterwards the founder of Radical, KS.

In the year 1864, the family was moved to Fairmont, WVA, where John Jackson Miller enlisted in the Union Army, leaving wife and four children. The family also lived a short time in Grafton WVA.

In the meantime the father of John Jackson Miller had lost everything possible in raids by bush-whackers, rebels, etc. and nothing left at the end of the war but a house with an attic filled with honey. He died about 1870.

After returning from one year's service at the close of the War, John J. Went back to his home near Suttonville and found all the buildings gone and the farm overgrown with saplings and weeds. Too discouraged to begin again in that place, he traded the land for 80 acres near Exira, Iowa where he moved his family. [My note: The William Griffin family mentioned in previous post were in the group traveling west as well.]

But then he heard about the Osage reservation land in the Kansas-Oklahoma territories being opened up for purchase. He left Iowa to make a claim but heard wild tales of difficulties with Indians.

Instead, they moved to Carthage MO. They eventually moved to Montgomery Co. KS in 1871, near Sycamore, or rather Lay Station as it was called at that time in Sycamore Township.. Named after Eli Lay, an early settler."

[My note: According to my data John Jackson Miller died in 1904, Canby OR. Diana Mary died in 1911 in Canby OR.]

This story was written by the late Claude Miller of Independence, KS, and contributed by another Miller descendant).