John Wallace of Gallia County, Ohio

Finding the parents of a female ancestor can be and often is a struggle. We need to look at all kinds of sources to get clues. Come with me down this rabbit hole. Nancy A Browning’s daughter named her mother’s parents as James Browning and Bettie Wallace on the death certificate. Searching for James and Bettie, I found a marriage record for James Browning and Elizabeth Wallace in Jackson County, Ohio dated 23 Dec 1838. Following this clue, I discovered them on the 1840 US census living as a couple in Jefferson Twp, Jackson county, OH. They were living next door to Archibald and Elijah Browning. All three men were similar in age; perhaps they were brothers. In the 1850 census, James and Bettie are living in the same township but now next door to an Andrew Wallace family that includes a John Wallace age 75. Could this be Bettie’s brother and father?  The ages make sense.

Let’s look at this John Wallace more closely. Through land records, I found a John Wallace of Gallia County who patented 38.37 acres of land in Jackson County in 1832 and 2 more parcels of 40 acres and 55.63 acres in 1836.  (Ohio River Survey, Congressional Lands, Jackson Co, Ohio) Andrew Wallace appears to be living on one of these parcels.

Stepping back to Gallia county, there was a John Wallace living in Greenfield Township in the 1820 and 1830 census. (Gallia County, Ohio Residents, 1800-1825, complied by Dennis R. Jones)  He also paid chattel tax there. A Martha Wallace married Elijah Browning in Gallia County in 1831. Brothers marrying sister is not uncommon. According to subsequent census Martha Wallace Browning was born in VA. This could have been in what is now WV. Elizabeth (Bettie) was born in Ohio in 1815. So, assuming these women were sisters who married brothers, sometime between 1812 and 1815 John Wallace moved to Ohio from PA or VA.

While I have not found the answers yet, it appears this family is intertwined. There are many John Wallaces in Ohio at this time, but only one family in Jackson and Gallia counties. Many people have this John Wallace confused with the John Wallace from Indiana County, PA. They are not the same. 

Veterans Day Remembrance of Jacob Romick

My Great, Great, Great Grandfather Jacob Romick was in the army twice. In 1841 and again during the Civil War. What a conundrum. I knew about his Civil War service since he has a military gravestone and I have a copy of the receipt for the stone and his pension record. But I had no idea that he was in the army twenty years earlier too.

According to the "Descriptive and Historical Register of Enlisted Soldiers of the Army" Jacob Romick was enlisted by Lt. Bradford in Columbus, Ohio in the 4 Artillery Co. F. on 29 January 1841. He was 21. He was discharged as a Private in July of 1843 in Fort Monroe, VA with a disability.

He returned to Ohio, married Rachel Britton on 30 Sept 1844 and they had 8 children: Mary M, Hosea, Charles M., Rachel L., Jacob E., William, George W. called General, and John T.B.

Flash forward twenty years.

Lt. Jacob Romick was one of the 100 Days Men in the 133 Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Active from 6 May 1864 to 6 Aug 1864, these volunteers along with thousands of others were to help the Union achieve victory in 100 days. You know that did not happen. His pension record indicates that he was an invalid. (I wonder what the original 1843 disability was and if he was injured again.)

I am still digging to learn more about him and his service. I did find out on the 1841 enlistment record that he was born in Fayette County, Ohio (something new I did not know.) and that he was 5 foot 9 inches tall and had brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. It also had his occupation as a saddler. (That might explain why he kept going to war.)

Now if only I could figure out why was in the army at all in 1841. The Texas situation was over and the Mexican American War had not yet begun. I really do love history.

The Facts Behind the Ghost Story

Christmas 2007

My mother put down her fork and leaned back; time and distance receding. She fixed her gaze on us and started to tell us the story as it had been told to her.

“CHARLIE!”

Grandpa Charlie sat straight up in the middle of the night and looked around. “Davey?”
He got out of bed.

Grandma Lizzie rolled over. “Charlie, what’s wrong?”

“I just heard Davey call my name.”

“Charlie honey, that‘s not possible. Davey's down south. Everybody's with him. Come back to bed.”

“I tell you, I just heard him call my name. He must be outside.”

Grandpa Charlie went outside and started to search the farm. Grandma Lizzie stood at the door in her nightgown and looked out. She was scared and worried. She had no idea of what was going on.

Grandpa Charlie finally came back to the house alone and perplexed.

“I can’t find him. It is strange. I heard him speak to me clear as a bell.”

Lizzie finally got him back to bed. Several days later they got word that the night Davey spoke to his brother-in-law was the night that he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Ohio river.”

In the Portsmouth Sun, July 4 1922

Man’s Body Found in River

David Darnell Victim of Tragedy: Brother Identifies Corpse at Lynn Morgue

David Darnell, father of five children, left home Saturday evening about 7 o’clock, telling his aged father, William Darnell, that he was going fishing.

Monday afternoon about two o’clock, his body was found by Vernon McQuillen, 205 Front street, floating in the Ohio River, about opposite the county infirmary.

The theory held by the family of the drowned man is that he committed suicide. He had been in ill health for the past seven or eight months, they say he had been forced to quit work. He was very nervous at times, inclined to be despondent.

Before leaving the house of his brother Oakley Darnell, 822 Prospect street where he had been visiting Saturday, Darnell gave his brother, all of his money, clothes, and asked if Oakley could wear his shirts. Before leaving home Darnell changed his clothes, putting on an old pair of overalls and an old black shirt and an old hat.

He had frequently talked to his family of disposing of his property, and had given one of his brothers the key to his safety deposit box in a Youngstown bank and to the rooming house he once lived there.

When he did not come home Saturday evening, the family became alarmed and conducted a search for him, but being unable to locate him, decided that he had either gone to look for work or had gone to visit some friends out of the city.

The first the family knew of his death was when his brother, James, after reading an account of a man found floating in the Ohio river called at the Sun Office and was directed to the Lynn morgue where the body was taken after being removed from the after.

He recognized the body of his brother and after bringing the other brothers to the morgue, the identification was made certain.

McQuillen, who found the body, said that he was returning from the Kentucky side of the river to his camp, which is located near where the body was found and noticed it floating in the water. He fastened his grab hook on the clothing and towed the body ashore notifying Coroner J. D. Hendrickson immediately.

The man’s body was badly swollen and disfigured, being bruised in places where it had been struck by floating debris.

The coroner rendered a verdict of death by drowning Monday evening.

Darnell is the father of five children; Valena, Charles, Alice, Margaret and Cella, who live with their mother on Eleventh street.

He had been working in Youngstown until about six months ago, when he was taken down with a nervous attack, and since that time had been unable to worked at his trade and at the time he left the home of his brother, it was thought he might be looking for work.

Darnell is survived by his wife and children, his aged father and mother, whose home is in Madison county and eight brothers and sisters; William and Charles of Pittsburgh; James, Louis and Oakley of this City; Mrs. Elizabeth Wood of Erwin, Ohio and Mrs. Charles Hersey of Newscomerstown, O.

He was a member in good standing at the Trinity M. E. church of Youngstown, O.

Darnell was born and raised in this county and was 41 years old. His place of birth was Miller’s Run. He had worked here until about four years ago, when he moved to Youngstown, finding employment in a steel mill there.

The aged parents, who happen to be visiting here at this time were, distracted over the news of their son’s untimely end, and the sympathy of many friends was being rendered them last night.

Arrangements are being made for the internment of the remains but these have not been completed at this time.

Nancy Browning Darnell

Stashed away in my aunt's papers was this picture of my Great Great Grandmother, Nancy Ann Browning. She was born in Ohio April 6, 1855 to James and Bettie Wallace Browning. She married William Henry Darnell on August 7, 1873 in Scioto county, way down by the river. They had 9 children, my Great Grandmother was in the middle of the pack and the first girl.

When I started to look for her, I kept finding weird inconsistencies. She appears in the 1910 census living with her husband and 3 of her children, her youngest, Oakley was 15. In 1920, she is living with her daughter Celia and it says she is a married. She is no longer living with Celia in 1930 and I can't find her with any of her other children. There is an obit for her in 1936 several counties away. Meanwhile, I can't find William Henry in 1920 and he gets hit by a car in 1926 and dies in the hospital. His son signs the death certificate and says that William was a widower when Nancy is still alive, living in eastern Ohio, for another 10 years.

As you can see in the photo she was a tiny thing and I presume from the black glasses she was blind. I have no idea why she and William were living apart. Maybe Celia was helping care for her. Could her son really have had no idea that his mother was still alive?

This is what makes family history so fascinating.

Searching Surnames

Robertson

Dixon

Wingfield

Bell

Underhill

Gray

Sanders

Reed

Matteson

Andrews

Morris

Fay

Joslin

Cleveland

Morse

Packard

Thompson

Hammond

Cooke

Romick

Holmes

Redmond

Mauk

Mohr

Fields

Willets

Atha

Miller

Fancey

Brown

Wilson

Maus

Coppess

Patch

Williams

Hersey

Wright

Stithem

Powers

Krouse

Smith

Jackman

Wood

Dehart

Cockram

Edwards

Dennis

Hubbard

Belcher

Browning

Darnell

Johns

Wallace

Just because you are family

Guest Post on Genealogy from Sissy

The TV show sponsored by Ancestry.com has started a resurgence in popularity of all fields of family history.

I am a newbie when it comes to family history. My sister has been at it for about 30 years.

She now has me hooked. That being said, she was doing it WITHOUT the internet.

A lot of time was spent manually going through papers and photo coping.

There were phone calls and letters to different county seats in all the different states where we had ancestors. There were research costs and copy fees for each one of them.

There was and is a huge cost in just the copies from the local libraries.

I firmly believe some etiquette is required.

This should be common sense but……

Do not believe that you are entitled to all of their research. Just because you are family.

Do not believe that if someone has a document that they should give it to you.

Just because you are family.

Do not get into a war over paper. Think how you would feel if you had spent years of your life gathering all of this information and someone (family or not) thought that they could just take it.

Do let them know that you are interested and are willing to help.

Do take on the hard ancestor that no one could find. The internet is a wonderful tool.

Do look outside the box and not just cover the same avenues that have already been mined.

Do get your hands on any local historical documents. The local genealogy societies are a great place to start.

DO SHARE your findings as soon as you get something. The excitement is contagious.

If you help and show that this is not just a fad; that you are truly interested they will more than likely share what they have already collected.

Nancy Ann Atha Fields

After finding the death certificate for my Great Great Great Grandfather Thomas Jefferson Fields we looked for his wife Nancy. She was not at the Health Department, nor at the State Historical Society. We know where she lived and thought we knew where she was buried, but she was an enigma. Then my sister was idly reading old copies of the Richwood Gazette when the name Fields caught her eye; it was an obituary for Nancy Ann Fields. Why we cannot find her death certificate, I do not know. She is buried where we thought, but she has no stone. Finally, we have a clue.

The Richwood Gazette p1 c2

Thursday 3-25-1915

AN ATTACK OF BRONCHITIS

Causes Death Sunday of Mrs. Nancy

Ann Fields, a Pioneer Resident

of Union County.

One of northern Union county's oldest

and most highly respected women,

Mrs. Nancy Ann Fields, died Sunday

morning at 6 o'clock, at her home near

Arbela. She was past, eighty-six years

old and the greater part of her long life

was spent in this community. The

deceased was the widow of the late Jefferson

Fields, a pioneer farmer, who died

fifteen years ago. Since the death of

the husband and father, a daughter,

Mrs. Victoria Moore, resided with the

the aged mother on the home farm.

During the past twenty years Mrs.

Fields was blind, but her health was

reasonably good, for one so old. Death

was due to an attack of acute bronchitis.

She is survived by four children: Mrs.

E. L. Schmelzer, Mrs. Moore, Simeon

Fields and Jonathan Fields. Her maiden

name was Nancy Ann Atha and she

was a native of Ohio.

Funeral services were held from

Grace M. E. Chapel, west of Essex,

Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev.

J. A. Sutton of LaRue, officiating.

The remains were laid to rest in Burnside

cemetery near Arbela.

Family History

One of the things I wanted to do while I was home for the holiday was to take pictures of family stones at the local cemeteries. (I know, not particularly festive, but I don't get home that often and photos of tombstones are admissible for DAR evidence.) I found some family members but not others. Heck, I can't even figure out where some of my people are buried; so I thought I was doing good to get what I did. I was really looking for one of my great, great grandmothers on my father's side. She had been widowed and remarried, so the name was different. After a little search my sister found her in Byhalia Cemetary. It helps that she knew the place.

It is so odd, here is this tombstone of a women I never knew who died younger than I am now. What happened? What was her life like? She was married at 18 and widowed at 27. She remarried, had another baby at 41 then died when the baby was just 1 year old. Her son, my great grandfather and his wife, moved in with his stepfather to help care for the baby. Two of his children were within a year of his half-sister. It is amazing to see family dynamics at work in census records.

RIP Mattie Holmes Romick Schertzer

50th wedding anniversary

I am going to a 50th wedding anniversary party today of my good friends Carol and Larry Coulthurst. Being married to the same person for 50 years through thick and thin is an amazing thing. Good Luck and God Bless. The party should be awesome. People have flown in from across the country and there will be yodelling. Yes, you read that right. I'll let you know how that goes.

This is a picture of my great grandparents Alice Annette (Mohr) and George Merrill Romick at their 50th wedding anniversary party in 1951. My grandmother Leah Romick Robertson is in the front row far left.

Civil War Reenactment

Long Pond Ironworks hosted the 6th New Hampshire and the 12th Alabama regiments for a civil war reenactment this weekend. I popped in for a dose of history. While chatting with one of the officers about the heat and the need to always wear their wool jackets buttoned to the neck, he told me in a loud stage whisper that there was going to be a skirmish. One of the scouts had just reported some of the Rebs marching through the woods. I skedaddled to the killing fields, as it were. On the way, I shook hands with Abe Lincoln. He had come to see his boys in action. Pretty bold of him, I have to say.



The boys in blue marched down the hill toward the Alabama camp. On the barked order from their commander, they hid behind trees, stumps and a stone wall to prepare their guns. As the two sides fought back and forth advancing and retreating though the haze of smoke and the smell of gunpowder, I thought about all of those men that fought in that war. I have at least 2 great, great grandfathers that fought, one from each side: Granville S. Robertson and Jeremiah Wood. My father’s family at the time was living in Virginia, my mother’s in southern Ohio. Both of them made it through the war; came home, made babies and 140 years later, I am researching their involvement. I do not have pictures of either one of them, so I offer these from today’s event.



Did your family fight in the Civil War? On which side?