David V. Putnam - Patent No. 327018 - Car-Coupling(1885)

My search for David V Putnam(1831-1905) in Full-Text search returned a newspaper listing of persons who had been granted a patent.  David is the son of William Putman and his wife, Anna.  

Newspaper Article Text:

Tennessee Patents.
Patents were granted yesterday to the following named Tennesseans:
John Johnson, Memphis, shovel;
Samuel Killebrew, Brownsville, hame fastener;
Jacob D. McKenney and T.W. Brown, Chattanooga, cartridge loader;
David V. Putnam, Nolansville, car-coupling;
Charles W. Taylor, Gallatin, hand motion for sewing machines.

"Tennessee Patents" Nashville Banner(Tennessee), 30 September 1885, Vol 10, No 148, p 4, col 4; images, Ancestry(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHK-Q3R9-YV4W : accessed 7 May 2025) IGN 8966262, Image 752 of 756.

Using the information from the paper, I went looking for an entry for David V Putnam

in the Patent Records on Ancestry.  Below is the first paragraph of the patent description.

David V. Putnam, of Nolensville, Tennessee
Car-Coupling.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,018 dated September 29, 1885.
Application filed August 11, 1884.


To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, David V. Putnam, a
citizen of the United States, residing at No
lensville, in the county of Williamson, and
State of Tennessee have invented a new and
valuable Improvement in Car-Couplers, of
which the following is a full, clear, and exact
description, reference being made to the an-
nexed drawings, making a part of this speci-
fication, and to the letters of reference marked
thereon.

There is a copy of the drawing and the full patent on Ancestry.com

"U.S., Patent and Trademark Office Patents", 1790–1909, David V. Putnam, Patent No. 327,018 (1885), Car-Coupling; database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1314/images/31082_18853270-18001 : accessed 7 May 2025), images 55–57 of 332; citing United States Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database (http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html : 2008).

The Troubled Life of Kate Pruner

The tale of Kate Pruner—where do I start? 

I believe she was the daughter of William Pruner and Elizabeth Parsons. Her story takes place in the Pennsylvania counties of Mifflin & Dauphin. My research into George Solifelt led me to her. She and George likely married around 1861. George enlisted for three months in April 1861, so they may have met and married during his first enlistment. He enlisted a total of three times, using aliases during the first two: George Sullivan and Theodore Sullivan.

By June 1868, Kate petitioned for divorce in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. This initiated a divorce by publication, with notices running through December. The notice instructed George to appear on the third Monday in January at the Harrisburg Court of Common Pleas. No record of the court’s ruling has been found—yet.

Image created using ChatGPT

In June 1870, Kate appeared in Mayor’s Court for keeping a bawdy and disorderly house.  The following year, she was arrested on a drunk and disorderly charge. By 1873, her name was turning up frequently in similar reports. One article referred to her as a demi-rep (a woman of doubtful reputation) who had “imbibed too much benzine.” She continued to appear in newspapers for related offenses, and in June 1889, she was actually convicted of keeping a bawdy house.  She used several aliases, including:

• Kate Cunningham
• Kate Kerns
• Kate Tippery

Kate appears to have a son named George—possibly born during her marriage to George Solifelt.  He is enumerated with her in 1870. It’s unclear whether this is the same son mentioned, though not by name, in one of the accounts of her death and news about people who had inquired about her estate. The elder George served time in Eastern & Western Penitentiary for highway robbery  1870-1871) I have not found Kate in the 1880 or 1900 census records.

Her death drew attention in newspapers across the country because it was so odd. The article below is a transcription of one that ran in the Wilkes-Barre Times.

HARRISBURG.—Two women, who had been dead in their home for 48 hours, were found Friday night by the police. They were Mrs. Annie Bear, 73 years old, and Mrs. Kate Soliffet, aged 68 years. The women lived together, and the last seen of them alive was on Wednesday night when they closed the house. Friday evening the neighbors notified the police of the women’s absence and the door was broken in. Mrs. Solifelt was found dead in bed from the effect of an overdose of morphia. Mrs. Bear was found partly dressed on a chair, sitting by a window on the second floor. The theory is that Mrs. Soliffet died first, and that Mrs. Bear’s death was caused by heart disease as the result of sudden fright over her companion’s death.

Source: “Pennsylvania Briefs,” Wilkes-Barre Times, 30 Nov 1901, p. 4, col. 4; image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/wilkes-barre-times-death-of-kate-solifel/171673558/ : accessed 4 May 2025).

Did her divorce get finalized? I’m not sure. George remarried in 1893 to a woman named Mary or Mollie while he was living in the south(Arkansas, Mississippi, & Texas). He and Mary were enumerated in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in the 1900 census—a year before Kate’s death. George had returned to Pennsylvania to resolve an issue with his U.S. Civil War pension. Ironically, he wrote to the Office of the Register of Wills protesting any will filed and claiming to be Kate’s husband. If true, then he was also a bigamist.

I still haven’t found Kate’s death certificate, but one of the accounts of her death said she was to be buried in the Paxtang Cemetery in Dauphin County, PA, on May 2nd, 1901. A FindAGrave entry was created for her with a misspelling of Solifelt, but when I contacted the cemetery, they could not find her in the records. Her grave was likely never marked. I would also like to locate the court proceedings from her divorce and her entries in the 1880 and 1900 censuses. 

Stories like Kate’s remind us that while we often refer to the past as "the good old days," the truth is more complicated. There were still tragedies, heartbreak, pain, and greed. In many ways, the struggles people faced then are not so different from those we face now.

1939 Dean Family Reunion--Bedford County TN

Dean Reunion Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Henry were
hosts of the Dean reunion Sunday at
their home. The guests carried din-
ner and with the hosts portion of the
dinner it was served on the lawn at
noon picnic style. Those in attend-
ance were Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Dean
and daughters, Helen, Peggy Ann
and son, H. P. Jr., of Chicago, Mr.
and Mrs. H. M. Rives and son from
Birmingham, Ala., Mr. and Mrs. T.
C. Dean of Goldsboro, N. C., Mr. and
Mrs. W. B. Jakes and children of Old
Hickory, Miss Florence Nelson of
Nashville, Mr. and Mrs. T. L. Lee
and daughters of Manchester, Mr. and
Mrs. J. H. Jenkins and children, Mrs.
Emanda Moore and children, Mr. and
Mrs. J. B. Morton and Eldridge Mor-
ton, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Morton and
daughter and Jim Snelling of War-
trace; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clark and
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Neal of Shelby
ville; Mrs. Maude Shriver and sons,
Roy Hazel, Charles and Sam Shriver
of Chicago, Ill. Jim Morton of War-
trace offered the invocation at the
dinner.

Source:  

"Dean Reunion Sunday," Bedford County Times(Shelbyville,Tennessee), 7 Jul 1939, Vol 53, No 64, p 5, col 3; image, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-13TS-YGH9 : accessed 2 May 2025), IGN 008992178, image 511 of 989. 

Most of the attendees are descendants of Pleasant A. Dean(1840-1913) & Nannie Nelson(1865-1925)

There also seems to be a concentrated number of railroad workers among them.  Will & Georgia hosted the Dean Family Reunion in 1941.

Wm B & Georgia Dean Jakes

Mr. & Mrs. Dewey Henry

Dewey L. Henry & wife, Jimmie Frances Dean Henry

Mr. & Mrs. H. P Dean and daughters

This is Herbert Pleasant Dean and Virgie Ann McAdams Dean, along with their children Helen Dean, Peggy Ann Dean, and Herbert P Dean Jr.

Mr. & Mrs. H.M. Rives and son

This is Harry M Rives and  Salena Catherine Dean Rives. I'm not sure which son, though it would seem that it is likely to be one of the two youngest who are not yet married- John Herbert Rives or Harry Clayton Rives.  Joe Ernest Rives is married

Mr. & Mrs. T. C. Dean

Thomas Clayton Dean & wife Alice Lurline Prather Dean.

Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Jakes and children

William Bryan Jakes & Georgia Dean, and their son William Bryan Jakes and daughter Lula Pauline Jakes

Miss Florence Nelson

I haven't figured out her connection yet but think it's likely through Nannie Nelson Dean.

Mr and Mrs. T. L. Lee and daughters

I believe this is Thomas Logan Lee and his wife Maggie Ragan. and their Daughters : Catherine and Jo-Ann

Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Jenkins and children

James H Jenkins & Eva Dean Jenkins

Mrs. Amanda Jenkins Moore and her children

Amanda is the married daughter of James & Eva Dean Jenkins.  Their children are Mary, Bobby, Dorothy, and James

Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Morton and Eldridge Morton

James Robert "Bob" Morton and Lady Bell Koonce with son Eldridge Morton/

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Morton and daughter 

Ralph is the younger son of J.B. & Lady Bell  Koonce Morton.  Husband of Hazel Appleby. Ralph & Hazel's daughter is Dorothy Morton.

Jim Snelling

Unsure which Jim Snelling this was, but both were descendants of Lemuel Snelling and Sarah King.  Lemuel and Sarah were Pleasant's maternal Grandparents.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clark 

Henry Harris Clark and wife, Josephine Merritt Clark

Mr. and Mrs. Lester Neal

Lester and Lorena Henry Neal

Mrs. Maude Shriver and sons, Roy, Charles, and Sam Shriver & Hazel 

Maude McAdams Shriver, sister of Virgie Ann McAdams Dean(wife of  Herbert Pleasant Dean)

Daughter Hazel's name was included in the middle of the listing of the sons in the article.

SNGF--My 3rd Cousin DNA matches Descendants of 2nd Grandparents

 The Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings

1)  How many autosomal DNA matches do you have descended from your eight 2nd-great-grandparents (they would be your third cousins)?  Do you know how they are related to you?  Have you corresponded with them?  Why are your numbers high or low?

2)  Share the number of your autosomal DNA matches for each of your 2GGP, and answer my questions above.

My 3rd Cousin Descendants of my Great Grandparents

I've got a lot of matches that descend from my 2nd Grandparents, but they are not all my 3rd cousins. My parents were both the next-to-youngest ones in their family, and although I am the oldest of 5, my parents didn't have children until Dad was almost 40 and Mom was almost 30.  Because of this, I have many 3C1R, 3C2R, 3C3R, and 2C1R who are descendants of my 3rd Great Grandparents. For the purpose of this exercise, I have included only the 3C from Thrulines in the first list from Ancestry.  The 2nd List from Ancestry results lists ALL of the Descendants in Thrulines(there are many more not included in the Thrulines total because they have private trees). I have also included to the right of each couple the number of matches I have marked with a DOT for that couple.

Ancestry

3C
13  William C Cook(1811-1882) & Elizabeth Putman1813-1880)
5   William B King(1819-1901) & Eliza J Manire(1818-1896) 
1   George Jakes(1820-aft 1882) & Catherine Morrow(1830- aft 1882) 
7   David Frizzell(1808-1870) & Rebecca Manley(1818-1862) 

26 Paternal 3C

2  Elisa Luna(1825-1889) & Keziah Rigsby(1832-1909) 
30   David Pitman(1838-1922) & Mary D F Adcock(1842-1902)  
1   William Leon Acuff(1842-1898) & Sarah McElroy(1847-1925)  
3   William P Hale(1849-1926) & Nancy A Hitchcock(1840-1887) 

36 Maternal 3C

Thrulines Descendents(includes 2C1R & 3C1R, 3C2R, 3C3R) ---Dot Sort Filter
[40] William C Cook(1811-1882) & Elizabeth Putman1813-1880) Dot Filter-216
[42] William B King(1819-1901) & Eliza J Manire(1818-1896) Dot Filter-406
[19] George Jakes(1820-aft 1882) & Catherine Morrow(1830- aft 1882) Dot Filter- 95
[57] David Frizzell(1808-1870) & Rebecca Manley(1818-1862) Dot Filter-279

[63] Elisha Luna(1825-1889) & Keziah Rigsby(1832-1909) Dot Filter-102
[106] David Pitman(1838-1922) & Mary D F Adcock(1842-1902) Dot Filter-285
[21] William Leon Acuff(1842-1898) & Sarah McElroy(1847-1925) Dot Filter-81
[23] William P Hale(1849-1926) & Nancy A Hitchcock(1840-1887) Dot Filter-74

MyHeritage

3C
0  William C Cook(1811-1882) & Elizabeth Putman1813-1880)
3   William B King(1819-1901) & Eliza J Manire(1818-1896) 
0   George Jakes(1820-aft 1882) & Catherine Morrow(1830- aft 1882) 
1  David Frizzell(1808-1870) & Rebecca Manley(1818-1862) 

4 Paternal 3C

0  Elisha Luna(1825-1889) & Keziah Rigsby(1832-1909) 
2   David Pitman(1838-1922) & Mary D F Adcock(1842-1902)  
0   William Leon Acuff(1842-1898) & Sarah McElroy(1847-1925)  
0   William P Hale(1849-1926) & Nancy A Hitchcock(1840-1887) 

2 Maternal 3C

FamilyTreeDNA

3C
0  William C Cook(1811-1882) & Elizabeth Putman1813-1880)
2  William B King(1819-1901) & Eliza J Manire(1818-1896) 
0   George Jakes(1820-aft 1882) & Catherine Morrow(1830- aft 1882) 
0  David Frizzell(1808-1870) & Rebecca Manley(1818-1862) 

2 Paternal 3C

0  Elisha Luna(1825-1889) & Keziah Rigsby(1832-1909) 
1   David Pitman(1838-1922) & Mary D F Adcock(1842-1902)  
0   William Leon Acuff(1842-1898) & Sarah McElroy(1847-1925)  
0   William P Hale(1849-1926) & Nancy A Hitchcock(1840-1887) 

1 Maternal 3C

Conclusions:

I have more autosomal matches at Ancestry, and 62 Total 3rd Cousins. There are a lot of 3rd Cousins who are 1, 2, and even 3 generations removed from me as well, because of the way generations fall in my family. All of my 2nd Great Grandparents were farmers. Most had larger families, with one exception in my paternal(Jakes & Morrow) and one in my maternal(Acuff & McElroy)

I have 6 total 3rd-cousin matches at MyHeritage.  I have a few 2C1R, and 3rd cousins of different generations there as well as more distant matches.  I use the dots to sort there, which helps some.

I have very few 3rd-cousin matches at FamilyTreeDNA.  I do have a number of 2C1R there as well as more distant cousins.  I have corresponded with many of my 3rd cousins who are on my list at Ancestry.  

Celebrating 21 years of Blogging

 

Learning about an ancestor’s life entails much more than collecting the basic birth, marriage, and death records. To truly understand them, you need context, and that's where cluster research becomes essential. By studying the friends, associates, and neighbors who shaped their world, we can uncover deeper stories and connections that vital records alone can't tell us. This week, as I celebrate 21 years of blogging about my genealogy journey, I’m sharing a special project: a list of 21 Friends, Associates, and Neighbors (the "FAN club" a term coined by Elizabeth Shown Mills) of my 2nd great-grandfather, William Clifford Cook.  

21 Members of the FAN club of Wm C Cook

1. James Henry Waldo Jones--Wm. C. Cook sold him 140 acres in October of 1854 in Bedford Co., TN.  JHW Jones had married Hester Ann Augusta May two years before the purchase and was just starting his family.  He was a preacher in the Cumberland Presbyterian church in Obion and Weakley County, TN,  where he'd relocated by the time of the 1860 Census.  He was living in Wingo, Graves County, Kentucky, when he died. His son, Andrieus Aristieus Jones, moved to New Mexico and did very well.  He was an educator, a lawyer, and a US Senator.  As a senator, he was the chair of the Committee on Woman Suffrage.
2. Ivey Phillips--a neighboring landowner SW of the land where Wm. C Cook lived in 1846. He was also a witness for Thomas B. Carlton when he deeded the land for the Liberty Meeting house.
3. William Putman--Brother-in-law of Wm. C.  Doubly so, William was Elizabeth's brother, and William's wife, Anna G, was Wm. C's sister. Wm. C. Cook's deposition for the State Supreme Court case of Williams vs. Putman et al. was a great find.
4. Zephaniah Anglin--lived in the neighborhood with Wm. C. Cook and was also involved in the Williams vs. Putman State Supreme Court Case
5. Joseph S Cook--Wm. C. Cook was the administrator of his estate. Relationship not yet determined. He is frequently confused with Davidson County, TN, Joseph Cook.  Their probate files are combined in the Williamson County, TN, Archives folder.  You can tell them apart if you examine each document in the file because Jos. S. Cook died without a will, and Joseph Cook of Davidson County, TN, left a very detailed will and information about his children.
6. Wm G Hight--maternal 1st cousin of Wm. C.  They traveled together and are listed as staying at a Nashville hotel(likely a trip to KY or a Masonic conference).
7. Wm B King--His parents were neighbors of Wm. C., and his daughter married Wm. C. Cook's son. He is my 2nd Great Grandfather
8. Messinah Ann Bailey--1st wife of Wm. C.'s son James Polk Cook. Wm. C. went to court with James to help secure their divorce.
9. Tennessee Ferguson--step-granddaughter of Wm. C.'s son James Polk Cook through James' 3rd wife Susan Carson Ferguson Cook.
10. George Evans--Wm. C. bought a pair of shoes at his estate sale
11. William Gilliam--the depositions for Williams vs Putman were taken at his smith shop in Rutherford Co, TN.
12. Zachariah Little--He and Wm. C. Cook were at the courthouse applying for a marriage license(Zach to marry Mary Hill and Wm. C. to marry Elizabeth Putman) on 26th Sept. 1831.  They were each other's bondsman.
13. John W Maxwell--put up security for Wm. C. Cook(1849)
14. David Lemuel Manire--officiated Wm. C. Cook & Elizabeth Putman's marriage. My 3rd Great Grandfather.
15. David Young--He bought land that Wm. C. Cook's wife received from the estate of her father, Jabel Putman.  When David purchased the land, he was living in District 25 of Williamson Co. TN, and Wm. C. Cook and wife were living in Bedford County.(1837) David's wife was Elizabeth Reed(Dau of Josiah Reed & Mary Elizabeth Carson Reed)
16. Althy Elmore--He and Longshore Lamb were part of a Deed of Trust where Wm. C. Cook put up livestock and household goods as collateral for $50 loan from Elmore and $38 loan from Lamb.
17. Thomas B Carlton--Wm. C. Cook was a witness when Thomas deeded land for the Liberty Meeting House.
18. Jonathan Vickery-- bought a saddle and a saddle blanket at the estate sale of Jos. S. Cook. (1838)
19. Charles Pope--purchased 25 pounds of picked cotton at the estate sale of Jos. S. Cook.  Husband of Elizabeth Smith.
20. Alfred L  Little--purchaser at Estate Sale of Jos. S. Cook.  He married  Martha Emily Pope,  Charles Pope's daughter.
21. Renwick Adams(R.A.) Gault--He and Wm. C. Cook were selected as jurors from District 10. (1855) He lived just north of where Wm. C. lived in 1846. A contemporary of Wm. C., he was married to Elizabeth Floyd in Williamson Co., TN(1833)

I encourage you to try this exercise with one of your own ancestors.  Making a list of their Friends, Associates, and Neighbors, along with a timeline of their life, can reveal gaps in your research and highlight connections from different areas of their life you might otherwise miss. A heartfelt thank-you to all my readers and everyone who has supported and encouraged me over the years. I look forward to continuing to share my research and tell the stories of my ancestors for many more years to come. 

William Harrison's Conflicting Month of Death

The reprint of the Pension Roll of 1835(available on Ancestry.com) contains an error in the entry for Lt. William Harrison, a Bedford County, Tennessee pensioner. The same mistake appears in the original 1835 publication, which can be viewed on Google Books. Both sources incorrectly state that William Harrison died on 22 June 1833. However, in his widow Elvira’s pension application, she provides a sworn statement that William died on 22 January 1833. This date is supported by additional statements in the pension file.

It's unclear what caused the original error. Perhaps someone compiling information for the 1835 publication abbreviated the month of January, and it was later misread as June. We may never know for sure.

To further complicate matters, the summaries prepared by the pension office in response to requests for copies of William Harrison’s pension file also reflect this mistake. Several of these summaries, sent to different researchers over the years, repeat the incorrect date of 22 June 1833. In at least one response, the summary includes both dates, several paragraphs apart.

Another valuable detail found in Elvira’s sworn statement is her mention of a family record. She explains that the list of family births was copied from an original list kept in an old dictionary that had contained the family's records. That dictionary was later purchased by Stephen Lynch and ultimately destroyed.  😢

Sources:

Revolutionary War Pension Application File W463, Elvira Harrison, widow of William Harrison (NC service); imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XY-YY8Q : accessed 20 April 2025), IGN 7584164, image 404 of 1123.

Ancestry.com, U.S., The Pension Roll of 1835, database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60514/images/pensionroll1835iii-004091 : accessed 20 April 2025), image 37 of 118; citing The Pension Roll of 1835, Vol. 3, p. 557, entry for William Harrison, Lieutenant; reprint of U.S. Senate publication (1835), 1968 reprint with index (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company).