Thursday, October 26, 2017
Almedia Jones Bassett--U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives
James A Bassett and Almedia Jones
The Special Census entry for Almedia and James was the first one that I located and led me to finding those for the rest of the extended family. In the initial post(US Special Census Find) I detailed the information for the couple so I won't repeat most of it but I would like to add additional info which was not on that form about the family.
James and Almedia were married about 1874 according to their deaf census information and their 1900 census entry says about 1875. Their marriage took place in Franklin, Johnson Co., Indiana. Almedia was living in Indiana with her sister and brother in law and that is where she married James. They must have been in California by 1876 as their oldest child is listed as born there in their 1880 Sonoma Co CA enumeration. They were in California for several years and then in Tennessee during the birth of one child before going back to Indiana and eventually on to Chicago IL area. James was born in Pennsylvania and his parents were born in California and New York. Almedia was born in Tennessee as were both of her parents. They seem to have traveled a great deal. James and his sister Jane Bassett Adkinson in particular and for a time the family was in Wisconsin. There were several deaf schools in those areas they traveled to and that may have been part of the reasoning.
James and Almedia along with their families left records in so many places--- a wonderful thing because it maps out the timeline of their lives. If you are a Bassett or Atkinson research (or a Riddle and Hitchcock researcher) I'd recommend checking out the Special census for all of the families.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Correspondence in Pension file of James Blackwell
On August 28, 1930, Dr. Blackwell Markham of Durham NC wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, D.C. asking for information on the following Revolutionary Pensioners of North Carolina.
The digital images of the original file including the correspondence can be found at Fold3.com in the Pension file of James Blackwell(North Carolina) which include his widow's pension W. 18613 . Below is the information(typed by me) which was included in the 2 page letter from E.W. Morgan in response to Dr. Markham's inquiry.
- James Blackwell, 10th Regiment, Bradley's Co. enlisted July 20, 1778.
- Thomas Marcum, private.
- Thomas Blackwell, private.
The information provided in the response gives a bit of insight into the Blackwell, Pope, Cook, Clopton and Nall families of the Granville County, North Carolina area.
The digital images of the original file including the correspondence can be found at Fold3.com in the Pension file of James Blackwell(North Carolina) which include his widow's pension W. 18613 . Below is the information(typed by me) which was included in the 2 page letter from E.W. Morgan in response to Dr. Markham's inquiry.
Rev. & 1812 Wars SectionOctober 30, 1930Dr. Blackwell MarkhamFirst National Bank BuildingDurham, North CarolinaDear Sir:You are advised that it appears from the papersin the Revolutionary War Pension claims, W. 18613, thatJames Blackwell of Granville County, North Carolinaenlisted and served twelve months and twenty-two daysas a private in Captain John Dickerson's Company ofNorth Carolina Light Horse and was discharged May 10,1777.He served three months as captain in the GranvilleCounty North Carolina Cavalry and was dischargedNovember 17, 1781.He was allowed pension on his application executedNovember 8, 1819 while a resident of Granville County,North Carolina, aged about eighty-eight years.He died April 1, 1823 or in 1824.Solder married July 17, 1767 Elizabeth Clopton,who died in 1768. He married April 2, 1773 in GranvilleCounty, North Carolina, Temperance Pope, who diedFebruary 14, 1840.
Digital Images from Fold3 located at :
https://www.fold3.com/image/11705429
https://www.fold3.com/image/11705430
Digital scans of original info from The National Archives (http://www.archives.gov)
NARA M804. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application
Files. Roll 0256. James Blackwell (North Carolina)
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Estray Notice --Amelia County, Virginia(1766)
An estray notice in the Thursday, December 4th 1766 edition of Rind's Virginia Gazette placed by Shem Cook. (www.newspapers.com)
A search of estray laws at Google Books yielded several books which cover colonial and early American law. I found one about the areas in which many of my ancestors lived but I'm sure there are others there or at the other online books sites. Try a search for one and include the name of the area in which your ancestors lived.
From Google Books
Laws of the State of Tennessee: Including Those of North Carolina Now in Force in this State. From the Year 1715 to the Year 1820, Inclusive, Volume 1
The Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia: Being a Collection of All Such Acts of the General Assembly, of a Public and Permanent Nature as are Now in Force; with a General Index. To which are Prefixed, the Constitution of the United States; the Declaration of Rights; and the Constitution of Virginia, Volume 1
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Our Cook YDNA results are in---my thoughts
Several months back my sister, my youngest brother, and I "went in" thirds on a 37 Marker Y-DNA test for our Cook/Cooke line which has been stuck at our 2nd Great Grandfather W. C. Cook(1811-1882) for the entire 27 years that I've been researching. FTDNA is the only option for YDNA testing at this time. We had very few clues. His place of birth which was given as North Carolina in all his census entries. Our other clues was that he was somehow connected to the Joseph S. Cook who died without a will in Williamson Co TN in 1838. With no will, there were no other clues to the connection other than the names of those who purchased from the estate. We needed to narrow down the NC Cook lines assuming that he was born in NC as his census entries suggested.
In autosomal DNA testing, your DNA(all 22 pairs of chromosomes and the X chromosome--2 xs if you are female) is compared to the DNA(Chr 1-22 & X) While you get 50% of your DNA from your Dad..and 50% from your Mom. You won't always get the same portions as your siblings. It will be an assortment. So much so by the time you get back to the 3rd cousin level 10% of 3rd cousins won't share DNA and at 4th Cousins you have a 50% chance of sharing DNA. The Y DNA which is passed from father to son in the direct male line does not change that much from generation to generation. Sometimes it will pass unchanged for many generations which is why YDNA testing helps to "zoom in" on your direct male line.
The results came in a week ago and I've spent most of my research time focused on understanding those results. As we expected my brother's test had a good number of matches ranging from a genetic distance of 0-3 with others who had a direct male line back to a Cook ancestor. We also have Patterson males among the matches ranging from 0-3 and going back to the 1700s like the Cook lines. Our Cook matches seem to all have a connection to Shem Cook out of VA and later Granville NC. Our closest Cook match is from the line of Stephen Cook who moved his family from Granville Co. NC to Clark Co. Arkansas in the late 1840s. Names which repeat frequently among the Granville Co Cooks are Shem/Isham/Shemuel Rolin/Rowlan and Claiborn. While my Cooks were mainly in the Rover and Unionville area of Bedford Co TN there are others off of Shem Cook's line which raised families in Carroll, Gibson, Henderson, Monroe and Shelby Counties of Tennessee and still more which moved from North Carolina and Virginia to Georgia and Alabama. Using the DNAgedcom software without my own and other Cook descendants results I was able to find 10 testers who shared DNA with us and also have Shem as an ancestor.(three of them have 15+ cM segments) Does this mean the DNA came from that line. No....but it is worth checking out to see if the DNA segments along which we match triangulate. So now I'll be writing those matches and hoping they agree to upload to GEDmatch for comparison. I've also written the top 6 matches(2 genetic distance 0 and 4 genetic distance 1)
If you can't afford to purchase a Y DNA test on your own, consider sharing the cost among your siblings or cousins. Holiday sales will be happening soon so it is a good time to start thinking about that. With a common surname like COOK one really can't afford not to test.
We may upgrade to a Y-67 marker but we have six matches at the 0-1 genetic distance level(tests ranging from 37-111) I realize that having only tested at 37 that is all they are compared to and someone who matches you at 0 Gen Distance at 37 may have additional mutations which will increase the genetic distance if they both upgrade to a higher marker test. You may have to do as I did and find the path to your match's most distant male ancestor(in the case of Y Testers).
As far as autosomal testing recommendations, test as many of your relatives(especially the older generations) as you can. Second Cousins are very helpful for sorting thru your matches. If you test at AncestryDNA, be sure to upload to Gedmatch. 23&me tests can be uploaded to the Genesis section of GEDmatch. Hopefully FTDNA will be allowing uploads from 23&me and AncestryDNA again soon.
**Hint** Sometimes you have to join the surname project in order to see the matches contact info. If you see a match and there is nothing in the TESTER portion of the table except for the name(ie. COOK, PATTERSON etc.) that tester has their settings to only show to project members.
In autosomal DNA testing, your DNA(all 22 pairs of chromosomes and the X chromosome--2 xs if you are female) is compared to the DNA(Chr 1-22 & X) While you get 50% of your DNA from your Dad..and 50% from your Mom. You won't always get the same portions as your siblings. It will be an assortment. So much so by the time you get back to the 3rd cousin level 10% of 3rd cousins won't share DNA and at 4th Cousins you have a 50% chance of sharing DNA. The Y DNA which is passed from father to son in the direct male line does not change that much from generation to generation. Sometimes it will pass unchanged for many generations which is why YDNA testing helps to "zoom in" on your direct male line.
The results came in a week ago and I've spent most of my research time focused on understanding those results. As we expected my brother's test had a good number of matches ranging from a genetic distance of 0-3 with others who had a direct male line back to a Cook ancestor. We also have Patterson males among the matches ranging from 0-3 and going back to the 1700s like the Cook lines. Our Cook matches seem to all have a connection to Shem Cook out of VA and later Granville NC. Our closest Cook match is from the line of Stephen Cook who moved his family from Granville Co. NC to Clark Co. Arkansas in the late 1840s. Names which repeat frequently among the Granville Co Cooks are Shem/Isham/Shemuel Rolin/Rowlan and Claiborn. While my Cooks were mainly in the Rover and Unionville area of Bedford Co TN there are others off of Shem Cook's line which raised families in Carroll, Gibson, Henderson, Monroe and Shelby Counties of Tennessee and still more which moved from North Carolina and Virginia to Georgia and Alabama. Using the DNAgedcom software without my own and other Cook descendants results I was able to find 10 testers who shared DNA with us and also have Shem as an ancestor.(three of them have 15+ cM segments) Does this mean the DNA came from that line. No....but it is worth checking out to see if the DNA segments along which we match triangulate. So now I'll be writing those matches and hoping they agree to upload to GEDmatch for comparison. I've also written the top 6 matches(2 genetic distance 0 and 4 genetic distance 1)
If you can't afford to purchase a Y DNA test on your own, consider sharing the cost among your siblings or cousins. Holiday sales will be happening soon so it is a good time to start thinking about that. With a common surname like COOK one really can't afford not to test.
We may upgrade to a Y-67 marker but we have six matches at the 0-1 genetic distance level(tests ranging from 37-111) I realize that having only tested at 37 that is all they are compared to and someone who matches you at 0 Gen Distance at 37 may have additional mutations which will increase the genetic distance if they both upgrade to a higher marker test. You may have to do as I did and find the path to your match's most distant male ancestor(in the case of Y Testers).
As far as autosomal testing recommendations, test as many of your relatives(especially the older generations) as you can. Second Cousins are very helpful for sorting thru your matches. If you test at AncestryDNA, be sure to upload to Gedmatch. 23&me tests can be uploaded to the Genesis section of GEDmatch. Hopefully FTDNA will be allowing uploads from 23&me and AncestryDNA again soon.
**Hint** Sometimes you have to join the surname project in order to see the matches contact info. If you see a match and there is nothing in the TESTER portion of the table except for the name(ie. COOK, PATTERSON etc.) that tester has their settings to only show to project members.
Monday, October 16, 2017
1844---Whigs of Middle TN Dist 4 delegates added
The Tennessean (Nashville TN) 23 Feb 1844(Fri) pg 2
Whigs of Middle TN gathered February 22nd
Appointed Presidential Electors and Delegates to the Whig Convention
which will be Monday, May 6th 1844
4th Dist
Dekalb Co
J.F. Goonner
Thomas C. Noe
Jackson Co.
Wm. B Hoffs
R. M. Kinniard
Geo W. McWhirter
D. G. Shepherd
Warren Co.
Josiah F. Morford
White Co.
Thomas Eastland
Elisha Frost
William Frost
Bud S. Rhea
John B Rodgers
Friday, October 13, 2017
1844 Rutherford Co TN Whig Delegates added
The Tennessean (Nashville TN) 23 Feb 1844(Fri) pg 2
Whigs of Middle TN gathered February 22nd
Appointed Presidential Electors and Delegates to the Whig Convention
which will be Monday, May 6th 1844
This is a list of those added from Rutherford Co TN. There are additional counties in the 7th District and you can find more information about others added in the district from other counties as well as other districts at the source listed above which is available at Newspapers.com.
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