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. 

Simon Patch Story

Here lies the body of Mr. Simon Patch who was wounded in ye defense of his country at ye White Plains October 28, 1776 and died of his wounds December 31, 1776. In the 28th year of his age. Photo by Diane Brace

On the eve of this 4th of July weekend, I want to offer you the story of one of my Revolutionary War patriots. Simon Patch (my G5 Grandfather) was a young man just starting out on a farm in Massachusetts. He had been married for 6 years to the lovely Elizabeth Williams and had 4 children, one an infant (my grandfather, Samuel) born in July 1776. While the war swirled around him and his brothers enlisted; he stayed in Ashby clearing the land, but keeping his head cocked and rifle handy. In the fall of 1776, he kissed his tear-streaked wife and marched off with his older brother Jacob to fight in White Plains, NY.

During the battle he was shot in the thigh. Jacob procured a horse and made a litter (by fitting the butt end of small trees to the stirrups of a saddle and covering them with a sack of hay.) to carry Simon the 200 miles back to their family home in Groton, Massachusetts. Through his determination and the kindness of strangers, he made it, but Simon died of his wounds December 31, 1776. His wife remarried in 1780 and his brother Benjamin became the guardian of the children moving them to Vermont.

I was on a message board for the Patch family on ancestry.com back in the winter when I saw a post about this book. I order 2 copies quick as a flash, having one sent directly to my mom. It was so interesting to read about my own people.

Simon Patch DAR # A105895

From Massachusetts Army & Navy, The Revolution 17 Vol.'s: Vol. II, page 1005, Patch, Simon, Ashby. Copy of a list of men who voluntarily enlisted in Sept., 1776, to serve for two months at New York and served accordingly; also, Private Capt. Thomas Warren's Company, Col. Brooks Regement; Company return dated Oct. 31, 1776, and endorsed "White Plains" -- Reported Wounded.

Birth: Vital Records of Groton, Massachusetts to the end of the Year 1849 Vol I Births. P. 181. "Simon s. Ebenezer and Sarah, July 11, 1749."

Death - Vital Records of Groton, Massachusetts to the end of the Year 1849. Vol. II Marriage and Deaths. p. 254 "Wounded in defence of his country at White PLains, December 31, 1776a. 27y."

Searching Surnames

Robertson

Dixon

Wingfield

Bell

Underhill

Gray

Sanders

Reed

Matteson

Andrews

Morris

Fay

Joslin

Cleveland

Morse

Packard

Thompson

Hammond

Cooke

Romick

Holmes

Redmond

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Mohr

Fields

Willets

Atha

Miller

Fancey

Brown

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Maus

Coppess

Patch

Williams

Hersey

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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.