New Discoveries in the Butterfield Diaspora

Most of us have skeletons somewhere in our genealogical closet.  Not that I am saying the kin mentioned in this post are skeletons in my closet.  One or two of them might have been skeletons in my ancestors' closets, however.

Many years ago, I was told by a psychiatrist he had found an "aunt" on my mother's side of the family who had been institutionalized for schizophrenia.  Naturally, I assumed he meant one of my mother's aunts and, for some reason, I assumed the "aunt" was one of my maternal grandmother's sisters.  Perhaps because my mother is always talking about how "insane" my grandmother was?

Well, I did find a relative in my family tree who was institutionalized, but she was not an aunt... more like a great aunt of my mother's.  I do not know why she was institutionalized.  I only know that she was institutionalized until the day she died.  The woman was my great grandmother's sister, Alice Edna Butterfield, my maternal grandfather's aunt.

I believe I have written about Alice Edna Butterfield before.  I am writing again because I found more information on this branch of the tree.  Alice married a man named Peter John Thue on 31 December 1900 and, so far as I know, her first children were a set of male twins named Curtis and Deward.  Peter John Thue was Norwegian, so we have a Norwegian line even on the German/English side of the family.  They are, of course, not directly related, but are cousins nonetheless and having experience researching my own direct Norwegian lines throughout Norway, I researched a bit of the Thue lines as well.  (No, I have not found any insanity.)

Curtis Thue married twice, both times to women of foreign birth.  His first marriage was to Dolores Medina, who was born in San Juan de Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico in 1912, came legally to the U.S. in the 1920's, became a U.S. citizen in the 1930's and died 19 December 1942 in Los Angeles, California.  Dolores had at least one child with Curtis Thue, so we have cousins with Mexican and, I am guessing, Spanish, heritage.  The fun part is that I get to learn how to do research in Mexico.  Fortunately, I already read Mexican Spanish and I speak Spanish, although not fluently, as well.  I do not expect to have an easy time of it, however, as I have seen old Spanish documents dating back to the time of the Missions and they are not the easiest things in the world to read, but I know I'll get through it because I also read German gothic script and if you can read that, you can learn to read just about anything!

Curtis Thue married a second time to a Lebanese woman, whose name I will not mention because she may still be alive.  I suspect they may have married in Lebanon, but in any case, if they had issue, we have cousins from the Middle East as well.

Before anyone sends me nasty grams, let me note that I do not consider having Mexican or Middle Eastern branches in the family tree a "skeleton in the closet."  In fact, I was delighted to find these branches of the tree because it illustrates how diverse one individual's heritage can be and if the knowledge that you might not be who you think you are doesn't deter racism, hatred, fear and prejudice, you are a lost soul indeed.  It should at least make you think twice before succumbing to knee-jerk reactions.

I'm Keeping the Connection in Spite of all

After researching the whereabouts of Valentin Neuhardt and his family members and discovering their Ohio connections, I now believe my third great grandfather, Frederick Neihardt/Neuhardt, is not the son of Valentin Neuhardt and Catherine Schneider.  There was another Frederick Neuhardt, who lived in Ohio and better fits the profile of Catherine Schneider and Valentin Neuhardt's son.  Ohio Frederick's tree is listed in Ancestry member SueMeister223's Susan Rae Green Family Tree .

You see, Ohio Frederick has a much better claim to the Catherine Schneider/Valentin Neuhardt family than my Minnesota Frederick.

In spite of the error, I intend to keep Catherine Schneider and Valentin Neuhardt listed as Frederick Neihardt's parents until I figure out what to do with these "former ancestors."  I found valuable information regarding this family's immigration to the United States that does not appear to be listed on the other member trees on the Ancestry web site.  Either the tree owners are unaware of the information or they are aware of it and have not posted it to their trees for one reason or another.  Perhaps the information I attached to them will be of some service to those who truly are descendants of Catherine Schneider and Valentin Neuhardt.

Neihardt Civil War Pension Records

Image via Wikipedia

I found Frederick Neihardt in the Civil War Pension Index:  General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 on the Ancestry web site.  I know he is my Frederick Neihardt because his widow, Elizabeth, is listed on the index card.  I also discovered my ancestor spelled his name "Niehardt" on the rare occasion, but, it would seem, his preferred spelling of the family name was "Neihardt."

I found Frederick Neihardt in the NARA T289 pension applications for service in the US Army between 1861 and 1917 on Footnote's web site and, there, I found his death date - 22 April 1872.  He died in "Hutcheson," Mcleod, Minnesota.  More evidence pointing to the probability Frederick Neihardt, the soldier, is my ancestor, Frederick Neihardt.  The application numbers listed on the Ancestry document and both Footnote documents match, so all three documents refer to the same soldier.

All three pension file records provide important and useful information about my third great grandfather, Frederick Neihardt.  Now to visit the NARA web site and pay the $75.00 for the full pension file and the $25.00 for the military file...

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after...

Revision Two.  Here is the same photo, completely revised in Photoshop Elements with the color cast removed.  Whereas Gaussian Blur was applied in the previous revision in GIMP, only Lens Blur was applied in Revision Two.  Yes, layers and multiply were again used.  I think I prefer this version of the photo... or, at least, I prefer Lens Blur to Gaussian Blur.  My opinion has nothing to do with the programs themselves.  Only technique.

After...

Revision One.  I employed layers and "multiply" in GIMP to bring out the details.  Then, just because I could, I opened the image in Adobe Photoshop Elements and applied yet another layer of sharpening under the enhance menu with remove lens blur selected because I was not satisfied with the print quality.  I created three different sizes of this photo - 4X6, 5X7, and 8X10 - in Adobe Photoshop Elements and selected resample option bicubic smoothing because I was enlarging a nearly thumbprint sized photo.  Print quality was much improved.  Wish I had Genuine Fractals 6!

Before...

This is an image entitled "G-ma butterfield's house" my uncle sent me.  The "G-ma butterfield" referred to is Caroline (Harrington) Butterfield (1850-1936).  The identities of the individuals who are the subjects of this photo are unknown.  The photo appears, to me, to have been taken in the 1930's, judging by the clothing worn.  However, I am far from an expert on dating photos...

A Preponderance of the Evidence

Image via Wikipedia

In the previous post, I mentioned I would post more on the 1860 U.S. Census results for the Nihart/Neuhart family.  What drove me to search for this particular census, other than pure documentation, was the fact that in every record I had for Elizabeth and Frederick Nihart's children, the children are listed as having been born in Minnesota.  Since, the earliest record I had at the time was the 1870 U.S. Census for Hutchinson, Mcleod, Minnesota, I assumed the children may have been born there.  So I looked in the 1860 Census for Hutchinson, Mcleod, Minnesota and the family was not there.  I looked twice.  Still not there.

So I decided to peruse every page in the 1860 Census for the county of Mcleod in Minnesota.   The Nihart family was not there under any variation or misspelling of their surname.  There should have been three of them at that point - Husband Frederick, Wife Elizabeth, and firstborn son, August/Augustus.  But they were nowhere to be found in Mcleod.

What county were they in then?

The 1857 Minnesota Census had an answer.  In Township 111, Wabasha County, Minnesota, a "Felk" or "Fretrk" and Elizabeth Newhart were enumerated.  However, was this the correct couple?  If I could only find them in the 1860 census when Augustus would have been enumerated as well!

To make a long story short, I did find this same couple in the 1860 Census in the same town - Township 111, range 11, Wabasha, Minnesota... and there was Augustus, listed as their two year old son!  So I now know the birth place of the Nihart/Neuhart children.

Lowered Confidence in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census
In the 1870 U.S. Census, the Nihart family has moved to Hutchinson, Mcleod County, Minnesota.  Frederick is listed as being of an age that would place his birth in about 1820.  Meanwhile, his wife, Elizabeth, is listed as being seven years younger than her actual years.  Elizabeth was born in December of 1838 according to the 1900 U.S. Census and other records list either 1838 or 1839 for an approximate year of birth.  In the 1870 Census all three of Frederick and Elizabeth's children are enumerated.  Daughter Josephine, however, is enumerated as "Glindelia," a fact which, together with the errors in ages, leads me to suspect the information for this census came from a neighbor and not one of the family members themselves.

In the 1860 Census, I found the family in Wabasha, but not under any variation of the name I would have expected to find them under.  Even using simple pronunciation as a guide.  The family was enumerated under the surname "Neighart."  Husband Frederick was listed as having been born in Prussia, wife Elizabeth as having been born in Bavaria, and son Augustus as having been born in Minnesota.  Frederick's age is listed as 24, Elizabeth's as 20, and Augustus's as 2.  This implies birth years of about 1836 for Frederick, 1840 for Elizabeth, and 1858 for Augustus.

Why the greater trust in the 1860 Census.  A preponderance of the evidence.  For those still living at the time, the 1880 and 1900 U.S. Federal Census lists the same or similar years of birth as those given in the 1860 Census.  Then there are the Civil War  and Civil War Pension Records I found for a "Frederick Neihardt" and his wife Elizabeth.  These records reveal Frederick enlisted in 8th Infantry Regiment of Company K, Minnesota on 20 August 1862 at the age of 25 and was transferred into the Veterans Reserve Corps on 11 April 1864.  Frederick Neihardt - which is how he spelled his name the remainder of his life - survived the war.  The pension records indicate his wife filed for a pension on 21 February 1876 and that Frederick died 22 April 1872 in Hutchinson, Mcleod, Minnesota.

Before his untimely death at the age of 36 in 1872, the Neihardts, as they were now known, had no intentions of leaving Mcleod, Minnesota.  How do I know this?  Frederick Neihardt received a land patent in March of 1871 under the Homestead Act for land in Mcleod County.

It seems a preponderance of the evidence and the Civil War records themselves have come to the rescue in the previous matter of which Frederich Neuhard aboard the ship the Scotland is our Frederich Neuhard.  It would appear that our Frederich Neuhard/Frederich Nihart/Frederick Neihardt was born about 1837, indicating he was the little boy that sailed aboard the Scotland with his family to the port of Baltimore and heading to Pittsburgh.

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Which Berlin?

Berlin, Pennsylvania or Berlin, Germany?  Where was Frederich Nihart/Neuhart born?  Some records indicate Pennsylvania and others Germany.  1820 is a difficult year to find birth records for if you are looking directly for birth records.

Tried the death records and came up empty-handed.  Likely as not, the death records would not have been much help as they are far removed from the event.  Birth information is dependent on the informant.  My ancestor, Josephine Nihart Nussberger always stated her father was born in Germany.  Her brothers waffled on the issue, stating their father was born in either Pennsylvania or Germany.  His own wife waffled on the issue.... Besides, Minnesota is notoriously difficult to search in my humble opinion, which is where Frederich Nihart likely died.  Adding to the difficulty are the endless number of surname variations the Niharts are indexed under!  The 1860 U.S. Federal Census is a prime example of how guessing and imagining surname variations based on how the surname might have sounded to the census enumerator is not always helpful.

More on the 1860 U.S. Federal Census (and the 1857 Minnesota Census) in another post.  For now, my focus is on immigration records.

If Frederich Nihart was born in Germany, then he immigrated at some point in time before he married his wife Elizabeth, who herself immigrated in 1843 at the age of five - according to the 1900 U.S. Census, that is.  If Elizabeth immigrated when she was five years old, then Frederich Nihart immigrated separately and he and Elizabeth were not married in Germany.  Therefore, since Elizabeth and Frederich Nihart were married in about 1857, Frederich Nihart must have immigrated to the United States before 1857... assuming he was born in Germany and not in Pennsylvania.

The Scotland
In 1840 the Scotland set sail from Le Havre for the port of Baltimore, transporting three Frederich Niharts.  Could one of these be the father of Josephine, Augustus, and Frederich Nihart Jr.?  All three Frederich Niharts listed Pittsburgh as their final destination implying that if one of these is the Frederich Nihart we are looking for, this may be where the confusion over where the senior Frederich was born stems from.  He may indeed have spent time living in Pennsylvania after arriving in the United States.

In Germany, the more usual form of the surname is Neuhart or Neuhard.  On the passenger's list, we find it spelled Neuhard or Neuhardt.  In the index, however, the name is listed as Neuhardt for one and Newhard or Newhardt for the other two Frederichs.  On first glance, it would appear one of these Frederichs can be eliminated as a possibility right away -  he is the five year old son of Catharina and Valentin Neuhardt, too young to be the Frederich Neuhart we are looking for.  According to the 1870 U.S. Census, the Frederich Neuhart we are looking for was born about 1820.  However, we have conflicting data in the 1860 census, which reveals a birth year of 1836, which puts five year old Frederich Neuhart back in the running.

The other two Frederich Neuhart's are aged 14 and 20.  The latter, if the 1820 birth year is to be believed, is the most likely candidate.  However, there is no guarantee the birth year implied by the reported age in the 1870 census is accurate.  It may actually be several years off, so that the 14 year old may be the Frederich Neuhart we are looking for.  I have seen early censuses off by ten years or more when it came to the ages of some of my ancestors and I have the actual death and birth records to prove it.  So the Census doesn't really help us narrow it down - it can only suggest possibilities.  Of course, the fourth possibility is that none of the three is the Frederich Neuhart we seek, since the Frederich Neuhart we seek may indeed have been born in Pennsylvania.

For now, however, we assume he was born overseas in Berlin, Germany.  There are plenty of Niharts and Neuharts in Pennsylvania in the early U.S. Censuses, but none in Somerset, Pennsylvania until the 20th century.  There are many in Pittsburgh, starting in the 1820's.  This means Berlin, Somerset, Pennsylvania can be safely ruled out as a place of birth for Frederich Nihart.  The listings of his birth in Pennsylvania are probably in error.  However, while it is easy to dismiss his children's census data indicating their father was born in Pennsylvania, it is not so easy to dismiss the data of censuses in which Frederich Nihart himself took part.  Assuming, of course, it was he who provided the data and not another individual.

The Wisconsin Genealogy Index, Insomnia and Me

Last night I had yet another bout with insomnia.  Benadryl, which I take at night for my allergies, usually knocks me out, but last night it had no effect.  My brain was just too wired and my mind too active.  My mind was racing, in fact, and I couldn't stop it.  So I decided to use my racing brain for good and look into my second great grandmother's surname.  Her name is transcribed in the Wisconsin Genealogy Index as "Josephinne Nihact" and, I had long searched for her surname before stumbling upon the Wisconsin Genealogy Index.

Once I found my second great grandmother's surname in the index, I had a difficult time finding other records for a "Josephinne Nihact."  Googling the Nihact surname I discovered no one with the name, Google suggesting I may have meant Nihat, a Turkish surname.  However, unless I had been lied to all these years, I knew "Josephinne Nihact " was German, as was the man she married, my second great grandfather, Casper Nussberger.

Seriously suspecting the transcription was incorrect, I did a wild card search for Nih* on Ancestry and the Wisconsin Genealogy Index.  I discovered Nihart's living in Pepin, Wisconsin (and other areas of Wisconsin) in both search engines.

My big discovery:  Josephine's last name was Nihart/Neihart/Neuhart (depending on which country's records you are looking at) and her family members consisted of brothers August and Fred, father Fred, mother Elizabeth, stepfather John Guilfoyle and step-siblings John and Elizabeth.

I may have killed two birds with one stone with this discovery.

Why?  Well, great grandmother, Nellie (Butterfield) Nussberger used to tell my mother the family was German, English, Irish and Native American, but so far as I know did not elaborate any further than that.  Josephine Nihart was born in Minnesota and her mother was born in Landau, Germany - which Landau, I am not certain.  John Guilfoyle Sr. was born in Ireland and this may be where grandmother got the idea we were Irish.  A simple misunderstanding of Josephine Nihart's parentage.  Fred Nihart Sr. was born either in Pennsylvania or Berlin, depending on which document you look at, but in any case, his heritage always shows up as German.

On the other hand, Nellie (Butterfield) Nussberger is quoted as saying she is English, Irish, and Native American.  So perhaps that bird hasn't been killed yet.  Unless, of course, she was misquoted, which is a distinct possibility because what you hear in childhood sometimes becomes something altogether different in your adult memories and you get things confused and mixed up, oftentimes downright wrong.

Sad Discovery

Image via Wikipedia

For a while now, I have wondered what became of my 3rd great grandfather's children.  I know what happened to my 2nd great grandfather, George A. Butterfield, after the Civil War.  What I wanted to find out was what happened to the rest of T.A. Butterfield's children.

The first question I decided to answer was "Did any of the other boys go off to war and what were their experiences in the U.S. Civil War?"  The method I decided to employ to answer this question was simple:  proceed one by one, with each of T.A.'s sons, starting with the oldest and working my way down to the youngest son.

In spite of its seeming pedantry, my method led to some emotional discoveries.  In descending birth order, the sons of T.A. Butterfield and Rebecca J. Webb are:  Sherwood/Therwood W., George A., William F., Thaddeus Actford II, Justin Austin, and Marcus.

George A. is my second great grandfather and I know he had served in  the Minnesota cavalry, enlisting initially as a private and being promoted to full corporal.  As I mentioned in the previous post, George A. Butterfield also served as a corporal in the 51st Wisconsin Infantry.

Little did I know, I was about to embark on a sad journey.  The Butterfield family sent three of their boys off to war.  Of the three, only one would return home - my ancestor, George A. Butterfield.

Sherwood W. Butterfield, older brother of George A., enlisted as a private in Company E, 18th Infantry Regiment, Wisconsin, on 25 February 1862.  He was mustered out at Huntsville, Alabama, on 27 April 1864 at the age of 21 - a POW, he had died languishing in a Huntsville prison.  Official records indicate he died of "disease."

The soldiers of the 18th Infantry Regiment had already fought at Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson, Champion's Hill, and Vicksburg by the time Sherwood W. Butterfield was captured.  These soldiers arrived at Huntsville on Christmas Day of 1863 and would remain there until 1 May 1864.  Sherwood W. was among the 45 taken prisoner in the retaking of Huntsville - most of whom would die in southern prisons before the end of the war.  The 18th Infantry Regiment, meanwhile, went on to march to glory with General Sherman...

For his part, William F. Butterfield enlisted as a private in Company K, Wisconsin 36th Infantry on 29 February 1864.  He was mustered out on 18 June 1864 after being killed at the Siege of Petersburg in county Dinwiddie, Virginia.  Having arrived on the 15th of June, the 36th Infantry Regiment participated in Meade's Assaults (June 15-18), also known as the Second Battle of Petersburg.  Petersburg would make possible the fall of Richmond, the entire operation being under the command of Ulysses S. Grant.

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They Served the Same Side

For the briefest of moments, I thought it possible collateral paternal kin and one of my maternal ancestors had served together in the the Wisconsin Infantry during the U.S. Civil War.  I discovered the Civil War military records for Jared Jerry Towers, who married Amanda Wright.  Jared was the father of Jay W. Towers, brother-in-law of my great-grandmother, Ione (Franklin) Wright.  Jared enlisted 17 May 1861 in and was mustered out 21 August 1861 of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry.

My maternal ancestor, George A. Butterfield, had also enlisted, albeit briefly, in the Wisconsin Infantry and the 1st Infantry held a familiar ring to it.  However, upon checking the records, it was clear the two men had no contact with each other during the Civil War.  Towers had enlisted in the 1st Infantry in 1861, while Butterfield had enlisted temporarily in the 51st Infantry in 1865 before returning to the service of his original Minnesota Cavalry unit -  he served as a corporal in both militias.

New Wild Goose Chase Part VI

Children of John Parker
On first inspection, there appear to be missing children of John Parker and his wife, Elizabeth.  There are eight years between the births of John Jr. and Nathaniel Sr.  There are an astonishing twenty years between the births of Nathaniel Sr. and Elizabeth!  Many children could have been born in these gaps of time.  That, in addition to Elizabeth's birth in Spotsylvania, begs the question, "Where were these Parkers from 1700 to 1728?"

I do not have an answer for that question... yet.  I do suspect the so-called known birth years of John Parker's children are either incorrect or John Parker had a wife before Elizabeth.  I also suspect daughter Elizabeth may not have been born in Spotsylvania.  Or, perhaps, all of John and Elizabeth Parker's children were born in Spotsylvania.  John Parker did not purchase land in Hampshire County until 1747, after the births of all his children.  We do not know when or where John Parker married his wife, Elizabeth, whose surname may be either Bond or Taliaferro.

According to William H. Ansel Jr., author of "Fort John Parker" from his book, Frontier Forts Along the Potomac and its Tributaries:

John Parker died in 1760 before the Indian troubles were over.  He left surviving his wife, Elizabeth, who later married Thomas McGuire; four sons, Robert, Richard, Nathaniel and Aaron; two daughters, Elizabeth, who married John Hall, and Catherine, who married William Forman.

Ansel appears to put to rest ideas of additional children... but who is William H. Ansel Jr. and what sort of expertise does he possess?  William H. Ansel Jr. was a historian and former treasurer for the state of West Virginia (23 January 1914-13 December 1988).  He now lies buried in the Springfield Hill Cemetery in Springfield, West Virginia.

New Wild Goose Chase Part V

Will of John Parker
Hampshire County, Colony of Virginia, 11 November 1760, John Parker's will was proven.  Written 28 September 1760, the will stipulated one third of his estate be left to his wife, Elizabeth.  The remainder of the estate was to be divided equally among all his living children and one grandchild, Thomas Parker.  In the probate record sale, Robert, Nathaniel and "Widow" Parker purchased many items.  Robert Parker was executor.  I am assuming grandson Thomas Parker was named because his father had already died by this time.

Of John Parker's male children, all but one were known to be living at the time - John Parker, who was born in 1700.  Nathaniel, Robert, Aaron, and Richard were all alive in 1760, not dying until the last decade of the 18th century or within the first two decades of the 19th.  John Parker's daughter, Elizabeth, born in Spotsylvania, married a John Hall, while younger daughter, Catherine (born 1735), married a William Forman, ruling out one of their children being the Thomas Parker mentioned in the will.  (Clearly, the Thomas Parker mentioned in the John Parker Will is not Thomas D. Parker - the latter had yet to be born in 1760.)

Spotsylvania brings us back to the 1880 U.S. census mentioned in Wild Goose Chase Part I.  What if the informant stated Mary Ann Belle's father had been born in Spotsylvania (or even Pittsylvania) and the enumerator heard Pennsylvania?  Or, perhaps, the informant remembered hearing family members mention Wilson Parker's birth place and heard or wrongly remembered Pennsylvania rather than Pittsylvania or Spotsylvania (both in the Colony of Virginia)?

In my opinion, the DNA evidence hints to such a situation being a very real possibility...

New Wild Goose Chase Part IV

History of Sittenburne Parish
John Parker was probably born in Old Rappahannock County (Now Essex and Richmond counties), which only existed from 1656-1692.  One theory is that his father was Robert Parker, supposedly born 1652 in Sittenburne, a.k.a. Sittingbourne, Parish.  However, Sittenburne Parish did not exist separately from Farnham Parish until 1661, so a birth in Sittenburne Parish would not have been possible in 1652.  If Robert Parker was born in 1652, he would have been found in the Farnham Parish Records.  John Parker, probably born 1680, may be found in the Sittenburne Parish records.

In 1683, Sittenburne Parish divided into Sittenburne Parish and St. Mary's Parish.  By 1704, Sittenburne had become St. Anne's Parish and St. Mary's Parish was annexed to Caroline County in 1727.  In addition, a portion of Sittenburne Parish lie in Richmond County from 1692 to 1704.  Thus records may be found in three separate counties - Richmond, Caroline, and Essex.  Further complicating matters, Old Rappahannock County was known as Lancaster County before 1656.

New Wild Goose Chase Part III

Parker Family 18
All is not lost, however, without the knowledge of where an ancestor died.  We may still find out where that ancestor was born or where his family hailed from.  How?  Family researchers today have a tool previous generations researching their brick walls did not have:  DNA.

Those who are interested may find the Parker Family DNA Project at:
http://web.utk.edu/~corn/parkerdna

Wilson Parker's DNA can be found under "family group 18."  His DNA is represented by a direct descendant along an entirely male line, of course.  When I was first made aware of this site, "family group 18" consisted of Wilson Parker Sr. and John Parker, the latter of whom is known to have died in Hampshire County, Colony of Virginia, as his will was proven 11 November 1760 and written 28 September 1760.  His heirs, including his wife, are named in the will.  Son Robert is the executor.

It may be of interest to note that the family and descendants of Wilson Parker Sr. have long set down the tradition that Wilson Parker Sr. was born in Virginia.  Of further interest is that, as of February 2009, "family group 18" has grown by two more ancestors - one (Nathaniel Parker) who is known to have been born in the Colony of Virginia and one (Thomas D. Parker) who, like Wilson Parker Sr., was born either in Pennsylvania or Virginia.  I have been able to link Nathaniel Parker to John Parker's line.  I have not been able to link Wilson Sr. or John D. Parker as of yet.

Nathaniel Parker (1730-1803) is the son of Nathaniel Parker (1707/1708-1800), who in turn is the son of John Parker (d. 1760 in Hampshire, Virginia).  In other words, he is the grandson of John Parker, so descendants of Nathaniel are descendants of John.  Their DNA should match up perfectly... or near perfectly.

The difference between the Nathaniel Parker DNA (and presumably, the John Parker DNA as well) and the DNA of Thomas D. Parker's descendant is DYS Marker Number 576 - Nathaniel's is 19 and Thomas D.'s is 18.  Wilson Parker and Nathaniel Parker share the same DYS Marker Number 576 - i.e., 19.  Wilson and Nathaniel differ by DYS Marker Number 442 - Wilson's is 12, Nathaniel's 13.  Interestingly enough, Thomas D. shares Marker Number 442 in common with Wilson Parker, so that Thomas D. actually differs from Nathaniel by two markers, not one.  Wilson differs from Nathaniel by only one marker - DYS Marker 442.   Genetic distance between Wilson and Nathaniel Parker is one step.  Since these are 37 marker tests, this means the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) has a 50% probability of being within the last four generations, a 90% probability of being within the last eight generations, and a 95% probability of being within the last 10 generations.  Wilson Parker is four generations from the person tested.  There are roughly three generations between Wilson Parker and Nathaniel Parker and Nathaniel Parker is three generations from John Parker, which brings us approximately to the tenth generation.  Unless the mutation of marker 442 occurred in the generation or two after John Parker, the MRCA is an ancestor of John Parker.

New Wild Goose Chase Part II

A Mysterious Birth and a Mysterious Death
The aforementioned foray into logic is the tool that will be used in what may ultimately prove a wild goose chase.  Its value, however, lies in the fact that such arguments eliminate possibilities and whittle the field of possible answers down to more manageable quantities.  Whittling possibilities down is important in situations such as these, when the possible places of an ancestor's birth (or death) encompass an entire country or, perhaps, the much larger geographic areas of several countries and even continents.

Such problems, when confronted by amateur genealogists, are unfortunate indeed when we are confronted with the necessity of "saturation research."  Unfortunately, saturation research (and prosopography) is what we are faced with if we have only an inkling of what state an ancestor was born in and we have no death data to point us in the right direction.  More information is needed before tackling such an impossibly enormous project, a project that would likely take several lifetimes to complete and may lead in the end to having no more answers than when we started the research.

The most troubling aspect in the case of Wilson Parker Sr. is that he last shows up in the 1849 Minnesota State Census living next door to W.C.D. Harrington, his son-in-law.  He is nowhere to be found in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census.  Do we then assume he died?

No.  If he were dead, we might be able to find probate or other death records that would help us in our search, but there are none in the case of Wilson Parker Sr.  So we cannot assume he died in Minnesota before the 1850 census was taken.  We would need further proof.

There is another problem with assuming Wilson Parker Sr. died before the census date in 1850:  the state of Iowa took censuses in 1852 and 1854.  We know that a couple of W.C.D.'s and Mary Ann Belle's children were born in Iowa.  In fact, in 1852, the Harringtons are found in the Iowa Census living in Clinton County.  Then, in 1854, Wilson Parker shows up living next door to John Terrell.  However, it is unknown if this "Wilson Parker" is Wilson Jesse Parker, son of Wilson Parker Sr. and brother-in-law of John Terrell or Wilson Parker Sr. himself.  Perhaps it is a third "Wilson Parker" altogether and merely a coincidence.  In any case, the net result is that we do not know when or where the elder Wilson Parker died.  So we cannot yet look for headstones and cemetery information, which might tell us where Wilson Parker Sr. was born and when.  Furthermore, there may be no record of his death and burial if he was laid to rest on his own land.  Not everyone was buried in an official cemetery and, depending upon the circumstances of his death, Wilson Parker Sr. may not have been laid to rest at all.  What if our ancestor went out hunting one day, got lost in the woods, was mauled to death by a bear and his body never found?  He would have "gone missing" and may have, eventually, been "presumed dead."

Basically, in the case of Wilson Parker Sr., we know neither where he was born nor where he died and that is the crux of the matter.  Nor does Wilson Parker Sr. show up in any census following the 1854 Iowa Census.  Nor is there a valid reason to assume he died in Iowa.  The Wilson Parker enumerated in the 1854 census may have been Wilson Parker Sr.'s son or a third, unrelated, man.  The Harringtons were in 1850 enumerated in Washington County, Minnesota living near the same neighbors as in the 1849 state census - the only neighbor missing is Wilson Parker.  We know the Wilson Parker that had been living in Minnesota in 1849 is not Wilson Jesse Parker because census data show Wilson Jesse Parker to be living in Hancock County in the state of Illinois with brothers-in-law John, Josiah and William Terrell.  In 1849, Wilson Jesse Parker married Rebecca Terrell in Hancock County, Illinois, placing Wilson Jesse in Illinois in 1849 and 1850.

Of course, it is possible that Wilson Jesse Parker married Rebecca Terrell in 1849 in Hancock, Illinois, then moved to Washington County, Minnesota in the same year and then returned to Hancock, Illinois in time to be enumerated in the 1850 U.S. census.  It is also possible that Rebecca (Terrell) Parker managed to give birth to their daughter, Mary Ann Parker, in Illinois in 1854 and the family later in that same year moved to Lee County, Iowa in time to be enumerated in the 1854 Iowa Census (there are two males and two females and one man of voting age and one male in or a veteran of the military) and then return to Hancock, Illinois just in the nick of time to be enumerated yet again in the 1855 Illinois State Census.  Then, in 1856, son, David Parker, is born in Hancock County, Illinois.  By 1858, Wilson Jesse Parker had died in Hancock County, Illinois.  If the Wilson Parker enumerated in Minnesota and Iowa are both Wilson Jesse Parker, Wilson Jesse Parker certainly had a strange penchant for moving around the country and returning to live in Hancock, Illinois every year!

On the other hand, Wilson Parker Sr. was a veteran of the Black Hawk War, having served in McHenry's Brigade of Spies, an argument in favor of his having moved to Iowa.  There were two females and one male in the Wilson Parker household in 1849, an argument in favor of Wilson Parker Sr., since Wilson Jesse Parker had just married Rebecca Terrell and had no children at that point.  Suppose the two females in the 1849 household were not children, but related to each other in some other way?

The simple explanation is oftentimes the correct explanation.  In our case, the simple explanation is Wilson Jesse Parker never left Hancock, Illinois and the Wilson Parker enumerated in the 1849 and 1854 censuses in Wilson Parker Sr. or another man or men entirely.  What does this mean for our brick wall?  What this means is that Wilson Parker Sr. either died in Illinois or died in Minnesota or died in Iowa or died in an unknown territory we have yet to discover.  A much simpler explanation would be that Wilson Parker Sr. never left the state of Illinois and died either in White or Madison counties.

New Wild Goose Chase Part I

Brick walls.  We all have them among our ancestors.  Wilson Parker Sr. is mine and, if you are reading this, maybe yours too.

According to the 1880 U.S. Census for Tainter, Dunn, Wisconsin, Mary Ann Belle (Parker) Harrington's father was born in Pennsylvania.  What kind of evidence is this?  It is tantamount to the children's game of "telephone."  What begins as one statement often transforms into a completely different statement on the other end of the line.  In our particular case, the results are particularly dubious because the birth information provided for Mary Ann Belle's husband's parents - a known data set - is incorrect.  The 1880 census indicates William C.D. Harrington's parents were both born in England when, in fact, neither his mother nor his father were born in England!  (The person who provided the information to the census taker may not have been a member of the family.)

The information in this census serves as a perfect illustration of why census results in general should be taken with a grain of salt, especially when they refer to events far removed in time from the actual census date (nearly 100 years in the case of Wilson Parker's birth).  In truth, the same is true of any data the family researcher may come across and is not limited to the U.S. Census.

Aside
Speaking of grains of salt, its, many times, far easier to prove a given statement by contradiction than by a direct attack.  In other words, one looks to prove a statement that would lead to a logical contradiction, such as ".... Therefore, Henry Jones was born in the town of Duxbury in Massachusetts and Henry Jones was born in the town of Westmoreland in New Hampshire," a logical impossibility if one is talking about a unique individual, thus proving the statement contrary to one set out to prove true.

To simplify matters, such a "proof" looks something like this:

Suppose A is true [where "not A"=B]...

Then C and D are true.

But C and D cannot both be true.

Therefore, "not A."

Thus B is true.

The argument by contradiction, despite its seemingly unnecessary mental gymnastics in the eyes of those not versed in philosophical logic or mathematical proof, is, in practice, quite simple to construct... in most cases.  End aside.

Two Brick Walls or the Forgotten Post

Image via Wikipedia

I read a post by another blogger recently, who was frustrated by the lack of sources quoted by others posting family trees online and was reminded of my two brick walls, Patience Watson and Wilson Parker. When I first joined Ancestry and found them listed as the parents of Mary Ann Belle Parker, in others’ family trees, I wondered how these people knew this. There were no records posted proving the relationship. I remember thinking the difficulty in researching this particular couple might lie in the possibility that these were not, in truth, the parents of Mary Ann Belle Parker. Or, perhaps, the names and birth dates were a little off?

Fast forward a few months. I made a connection on Ancestry with one of the descendants of Wilson Jesse Parker, Mary Ann Belle’s brother. My new connection sent a lot of information my way, including the death certificate of Mary Ann Belle Parker. Hers was the first death certificate I had ever seen. Listed on that death certificate were the names of her parents -- Wilson Parker and Patience Watson. So now there was a source document for Mary Ann Belle’s parents. However, the problems with Mary Ann Belle’s parents do not end here. Birth years for Wilson Parker and Patience Watson are listed in these trees as 1792 and 1796 respectively. Where did this information come from? I have yet to find a source. In fact, lacking actual dates for their births, it is my opinion these birth years are estimates at best and wild guesses at worst.

Not being one to give up, I recently went over my research on Wilson Parker. I have since listed his birth place as Pennsylvania. My source is the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, not for Wilson Parker himself, but for his daughter, Mary Ann Belle, whose father is listed as having been born in Pennsylvania. The problem is, this is a secondary source and may be inaccurate. I myself take it with a grain of salt and recommend others do as well. Pennsylvania makes an excellent starting point for research, but if and only if Wilson Parker was actually born in Pennsylvania. The problem is not knowing which area of Pennsylvania to look in for evidence. Further aggravating the problem is the lack of knowledge regarding which religion Wilson Parker was born into. (Which church records do we search? All of them!? I don’t think so! None of us live long enough to do that, and I would prefer a more efficient method.) Better would be to search probate records. I would love to find Wilson Parker’s “death records.” However, I do not know when or where he died, so I do not know which state to begin in. The last census I have been able to find Wilson Parker in is the 1849 Minnesota Territory Census. He is living next door to son-in-law, W.C.D. Harrington, in Marine Mills, Washington County, Minnesota. In the 1850 U.S. Federal Census, W.C.D. Harrington and family are still living in Marine Mills, but Wilson Parker is gone. Nor have I been able to find Wilson Parker in any other part of the 1850 U.S. Federal Census... or any subsequent U.S. Federal Census for that matter. Yes, there are other Wilson Parkers in these censuses, but further research proves they are not my Wilson Parker - they are all different individuals with the same name. At least one was even born the same year as Mary Ann Belle’s father, but if you look at earlier censuses, that same man is listed in the federal census in the Carolinas in years when he would have been in Illinois or Minnesota if he were the right Wilson Parker. He was also married to a woman named Margaret. The Wilson Parker I am looking for was married to Patience Watson and, later, possibly, Sarah Nesler. No Margaret there. I believe Carolinas Wilson Parker can be eliminated as a possibility.

There is a Wilson Parker that shows up in the 1854 Iowa State Census living next door to Wilson Jesse Parker’s brother-in-law, John Terrell. The problem is, the Wilson Parker listed is more likely to be Wilson Jesse Parker himself rather than Wilson Parker Sr. Why? The town and county of Iowa “Wilson Parker” is enumerated in border the town in Hancock Illinois, where Wilson Jesse Parker is enumerated in in the 1850 census and to which he subsequently returned and died. Both of Wilson Jesse Parker’s children were born in Illinois. In fact, Wilson Jesse Parker is listed in the 1855 Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois Census. There are three people in the household - himself, a female child under 10 years of age, and a female between 20 and 30 years of age. Wilson Parker himself is listed as being between 20 and 30 years of age. So this is Wilson Parker Jr. Furthermore, LDS records list Wilson Parker marrying Rebecca Terrell on 29 March 1849 in Hancock County, Illinois -- Hancock County Marriage Register, License number 1396.

In truth, Wilson Parker Sr. only shows up in two censuses -- the 1830 U.S. Federal Census and the 1849 Minnesota Territorial Census. We know he was living in White County, Illinois in 1820 because this is the year he married Patience Watson -- source, marriage record. He may also be the Wilson Parker listed as being from Carmi, White, Illinois in McHenry’s Company of Spies in the Black Hawk War, 1832. By 1841, a Wilson Parker had married Sarah Nesler in White County, Illinois. Which Wilson was it? This particular marriage record has been sworn to secrecy.

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Black Forest Nussbergers

My German immigrant ancestors are Casper Nussberger and his father, Johann Nussberger.  Johann Nussberger came to the United States with two of his sons - Casper and Conrad - aboard the Belgique on 27 October 1856.  He brought no wife with him and married, by 1870, Cecilia Ebener.  In the 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Bear Creek, Wisconsin, Johann Nussberger heads a household with four boys - no female lives in the household.  The boys are 14 year old Casper, 9 year old Conrad, 3 year old Hans, and an unnamed 1 month old male, indicating Johann Nussberger may have remarried sometime after arriving in the United States and before he married Cecilia Ebener.  (Or he had two children out of wedlock before marrying Cecilia Ebener.)  In any case, we have two possible mystery mothers.  By 1860, Johann had dropped the an in his name and started calling himself "John."  Clearly, the mother of Hans and the 1 month old male of the 1860 census are not the same person as the mother of Pauline, Mary, and John Jr., who are born in the years 1861-1865.  We have three wives here - the first one lived and died in Germany before October 1856, the second who died before June 1860, and Cecilia Ebener, the third wife, who had her first child with John/Johann Nussberger in 1861.  Judging by the age of the baby boy in the 1860 census (one month), the mother of that child - if legitimate - likely died in early to mid June of 1860, given the census date of 29 June 1860.  The baby is likely Benedict Nussberger and, if that's the case, the 1900 census with a birth date in March of 1858 may be incorrect.

However, Benedict Nussberger is not the individual I am interested in at the moment.  My concern is with the identity of the woman who bore my direct ancestor, Casper Nussberger, the first wife, who died in Germany.  For a long time, I could find nothing on her.  Let's face it, I didn't even know where to look or where to begin.  My first thought was Ancestry, but there was nothing there.  They have only recently begun to put German records on the site and I don't have the World Deluxe Membership that would grant me access to those records.  There was nothing on the LDS site, Family Search, at the time.  The German sites I knew of were not much help either.  I found Johann Nussberger's immigration records on Auswanderer, but nothing of course on his wife.  Not having a knowledge of German does not help me, but my thought was that I initially had no knowledge of Norwegian when I began researching my Norwegian ancestors on Norwegian sites - I learned to read a little Norwegian.  I learned to read Gothic handwriting.  I could learn a little German, too.  Why not?

Then, this last week, I visited Family Search Labs, an experimental LDS website.  Family Search Labs has a record search project that you can enter and type in names of ancestors and find records.  You can even view actual images of some of these records online and if you haven't tried this site, I highly recommend you do.  I typed "Johan Nussberger" in the name fields and by the end of the night had my German ancestors back to the 18th century.

Best of all, I had found the mother of Casper Nussberger -- Magdalena Spiegelhalter/Spiegelhalder, daughter of Andreas Spiegelhalter and Maria Siebler, born 31 August 1819 in Holzschlag, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.  I found the marriage record of Johan Nussberger and Magdalena Spiegelhalter after finding the baptism records of their children and the marriage record had the birth dates, christening dates, marriage date, and parents of both spouses.  Johan Nussberger and Magdalena Spiegelhalter had more than two children, some of whom died in childhood or married before Johan left for the United States.  So Nussbergers of Wheeler, Dunn and Durand, Pepin, Wisconsin, you have relatives who were left behind in Germany!

The caveat is the German records online are merely indexes, so must be checked against the original records for accuracy.  I sense a major project coming on...

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