Roots - 16 Great-Great Grands

SIXTEEN OF THE GREAT-GREATS
These are my GREAT-Great grandparents…

1. Friedrich Fermazin was born in 1819 in Rynarzewo, Posen, Prussia and died about 1899 in Aurora,Kane, Illinois. I have not been able to find a record of his death. On Jan 9, 1853 he married:
2. Justine Bauer who was born in 1828 in Arnodowo, Labischin, Posen, Prussia and died in 1859 during childbirth. (I have not found the record of her death).
3. Bernhard Ludwig August Pluecker was born Aug 6, 1835 in Kohlgrund, Germany. He died Aug 3, 1912 in Aurora,Kane, Illinois. On Jan 27, 1864 he married:
4. Auguste Friederike Christian Herbold was born on May 10, 1835 in Herbsen, Germany and died on Jun 16, 1910 in Aurora,Kane, Illinois.
5. Theodore Dietrich Linden was born on Sept 8, 1808 in Waldbillig, Luxembourg. He died in 1880 in Aurora, Kane, Illinois.(I have not found the record of his death). On Sept 9, 1841 he married:
6. Maria Margaretha Wagoner was born Jan 24, 1816 in Berforf, Luxembourg. She died in 1869 in Waldbillig, Luxembourg.
7. Jean Pott (Pootz) was born Jan 16, 1819 in Gilsdorf, Luxembourg. He died Sept 28, 1858 in Flebour, Michelau, Luxembourg. On Oct 16, 1850 in Bourscheid, Luxembourg, he married:
8. Susanne Bevier was born about 1820 in Micheleu, Luxembourg. She died in 1857 in Micheleu, Luxembourg.
9. Richard Hamer was born in 1790 in Nantanel, Radnorshire, Wales. He is the father of my great grandfather Richard Worthing. He never married Mary Worthin. He bore a child with:
10. Mary Worthin who was born in 1791 in Nantenel, Radnorshire, Wales and died in Wales. (I have not found a record of her birth or death.
11. John Ingram was born circa 1790 in Llwynbeddw Mil, Llannano Radnorshire Wales. He died in 1880 in Birds Run,Guernsey, Ohio. (I have not found the death record). On Dec 17, 1813 he married:
12. Sarah Lewis was born about 1798 in Llwynbeddw Mill, Llananno, Radnorshire Wales. She died circa 1880 in Birds Run, Guernsey, Ohio. (I have not found her birth or death record).
13. Adolphus Ames was born in New York in 1809. He died April 18, 1854 in Albion, Dane, Wisconsin. In 1837 he married:
14. Sarah Julia {Unknown last name} was born in New York in 1812. She died in 1850 in Michigan migrating to Wisconsin.
15. Unknown Palon. Married:
16. Unknown but possibly Althea Palmer.

50% Germanic Ancestry; 25% Welsh Ancestry; 25% possible Irish Ancestry;Taken from Randy Seaver on his Geneamusings.com blog gave us all an assignment last week to post our 16 great-great grandparents.

My Grandmother, Nancy Theo Ames

Grandma Nancy,
How I wish I had known her. She passed before I was born. Mom was only 12 years old. Nancy Theo Ames was born in Milton,Wisconsin. She was orphaned at age 10 years old and spent a few years in the Sparta Orphanage as after her mother died her father was unable to care for her or her siblings. I have written about Ira before but in retrospect, I think I may have been too harsh on him.
Nancy died of a brain tumor. Her life was hard and difficult. Her mom Cornelia Palon Ames died of malnutrition and possibly pneumonia one month after bearing the tenth child in 1893. The Janesville Gazette said she froze to death. The family was poor, dirt poor. They lived in a one room shack and Ira eaked out a living fishing. Times were tough. During this time, things were tough in many places. The USA was in a great depression. Prior to fishing, Ira was farming. He moved around from farming in Dane County to Rock County and finally fishing in Jefferson County Wisconsin.
After Nancy was discharged from the orphanage she worked as a domestic servant in Pensaukee, Oconto, Wisconsin working for Lucy Bent. In 1904, she married Ludwig (Lou) Hansen, also an orphan. He was a handsome man. Had a good job and a nice car and may have been a man of means.
The Marriage:
Reading about the marriage and examining pictures, it looked as though Lou had money. Lou described Nancy as a "prepossessing brunette". They lived in a Victorian Queen Ann house in Aurora, Illinois. How do we know Lou was a man of means. Many years later after he died, we found his silk suit, top hat, calling cards, and diamond stick pins amongst his belongings.
Lou and Nancy married in Aurora, Illinois. Pictures of Nancy sitting in a rocker in the house. She looked so sad. Rumors were that Lou beat her and ran around with other women in Chicago (Ladies of the night). (ref: Divorce papers).
Nancy and Lou had one child Blanche born in 16 March 1904.In 1913 Nancy and Lou divorced. About a year later, Lou found some love letters written to Nancy from a Mr. Glass. Lou sued Mr. Glass for alienation of affections and $ 10,000. This was splattered across the midwest papers and made the headlines in the Beacon News of Aurora, Illinois. Included in the newspaper articles were copies of the letters Lou found in a trunk. I can only imagine how embarrassing and humiliating this was for Nancy. Whether this was a two sided affair or one sided we will not know. I surmise that Mr.Glass was infatuated with my grandmother and that my grandmother was in an unhappy marriage and was flattered by the attention. From the letters I have read it appears to be one sided on Mr. Glass' side. (I will post some of the letters at the end of the blog).
Grandma Nancy re married Charles Worthing on 28 September 1915 in Chicago, Illinois. They moved with Blanche to Truro, Iowa. In Iowa in 1917 my mom, Grace was born. I would like to think that Grandma Nancy found some stability and happiness in those 14 years in Iowa away from the negative, humiliating, publicity raising her two daughters. She looks happier in her picture with her daughters. Grandma died in 1928 of a brain tumor.
My mom remembers her as loving and nurturing.Curling up in her lap for stories.

The Hunt is On...Search for Adolphus Ames

Pictures of beautiful Liberty Township, Pennsylvania in the Port Allegany area.
The woods are beautiful. The river meanders through here west of the highway curling around in the back lands. The farmlands are green with Pennsylvania mountains in the background to the east. What a lovely spot along the road. I could only think of this as a nice place to raise a family in 2009. However when my Great great grandparents lived here it was very remote and you had to be self sufficient.
Adolphus Ames is my great great grandfather. I have spent many months hunting for his information.
Adolphus was born in New York state in 1809. Birth or Baptismal records have not appeared yet for him. I have a few leads but nothing is panning out. Adolphus married a Sarah Julia (last name unknown) in 1837. Their first daughter, Sarah, was born in New York state in 1838. Sarah grew up to marry Milo Campbell of Dane County Wisconsin but I'm fast forwarding...By 1840 the family was living in Liberty Township, Mc Kean (pronounced Mc Kane) County Pennsylvania where three sons are born, Ira Daniel (my great grandfather), Henry, and Andrew Jackson Ames.
There are other Ames living in Mc Kean County. One is Samuel Ames of Bradford Township, Cyrus Ames age 75 of Liberty Township, and Jospeh Ames living of Liberty Township. Joseph married Hannah and stayed in the area. Adolphus moved out of the area to Dane County Wisconsin in 1850. I think Sarah his wife died on the migration to Wisconsin because Adolphus died in 1854. In his probate, it said his wife had been dead for several years.
It is possible that Joseph Ames and Adolphus Ames are brothers. They each signed as witnesses to each others property. The properties adjoin.
There is a Roxania Ames living in Liberty Township who is married to a Joel Rice, a Methodist circuit rider. Joel Rice buys property from Adolphus in 1850 when Adolphus, Sarah Julia and their children leave Mc Kean for Dane County Wisconsin.
As for Cyrus I am trying to prove he is the father of Adolphus. I have searched land records, deeds, and town histories looking for the elusive clues. Cyrus Ames lived in Tioga County Pennsylvania in 1835. Prior to that he lived in Painted Post, Steuben, New York. I have looked in New York state also for a connection and found nothing in the land records. Cyrus moved out of Mc Kean County to Crawford County PA about 1850. Mayber they all were traveling together to Wisconsin. However, Cyrus' wife and daughter stay in Crawford County where I found some records of his wife and daughter with NO clues. I have not found Cyrus' land deeds for Tioga, Mc Kean, or Crawford counties Pennsylvania nor found any probate records for him. However, I have looked at about 30 books and about 50 films and found nothing.
After I came home from Salt Lake City this spring, a woman contacted me on the internet saying that Roxania, Adolphus, and Joseph were siblings and that their father was Samuel Ames and that they were Native American/German ancestry from Schoharie New York. This lead me to look at Schoharie NY records and I have found nothing which links these people together. She sent pictures of her Roxania and Roxania's descendents. In examining the pictures, I find that one of her aunts has the same pale complexion and facial pictures as my mother. The two of them share the same bone structure, lips, nose and hair line features........so there may be a connection. They look like sisters. Perhaps, Samuel is the father and Cyrus is an uncle.
I have been making a pest of myself contacting town historians and searching and reading town histories of New York and Mc Kean County Pennsylvania. The stories are interesting and enlightening, shedding so much history of the times. One would think that such a small remote area of north western Pennsylvania would yield more family history information. I know it's there and just have to find it.
Last summer in 2008, my husband and I traveled to Liberty Township or the Port Allegany area of Pennsylvania. Liberty Township is still very remote countryside and beautiful. We found Adolphus and Joseph's properties between the river and the highway. We saw lots of deer and porcupine in the area and thick trees.
We even found a beautiful old Methodist church which was re built in 1905. I tried to contact the church for records but to no avail.
This is an old Methodist church in Wrights Pennsylvania close to Liberty Township. Nowadays, the church is used for storage. On the front you can see the windows are cracked and broken but along the side windows some old stain glass windows remain. We peaked inside but could not see the altar or pews, just the storage area. Oh how I wish the stucco could talk.
Well I will never give up in my search for Adolphus and Sarah. I plan to be on the trail for this elusive ancestor until he wishes to be found. With one of a kind names like Adolphus and Cyrus, one would think they would be out there somewhere. Actually I have found two other Adolphus Ames' and a few Cyrus Ames' in my meanderings..............{I'm going to come back to this in a few days with more to follow}

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I'm Back...

I'm Back!

You're probably thinking I've given up on this blog. OK, I guess I have. But I didn't intend to!!! I never intended the hiatus. A funny thing happened when I took a short break from blogging I got into more scrapbooking ...
Now I need to concentrate on my writing...I've just gotten home from Jamboree so I'm ready to blog again

Genealogy Brag Book

Here is a small Genealogy Brag Book I made for Christmas gifts.
Hope you enjoy.
Nancy

Christmas is in the Air

Christmas is in the air. I'd like to share the family Christmas Cards I made. They are digital Christmas cards with hybrid on the covers. Each card has a 6x6 picture inside and one 6x6 picture on the back. For the inside front covers I placed pictures and on the outside "door openings" I put scrapbook paper with Christmas/Winter three dimensional stickers on the front. I even made a vacation one of our summer trip and a card reflecting the Holiday Party from my Lifestyle Writing Class.