After I identified Susannah Tilghman Parker's mother (see post from 4 April), I wanted to learn more about her father. While researching family members who fought in the War of 1812, I had come across the name of Jacob Tilghman in the same unit as the Parkers. I figured this was a good place to start, so I did a Google search for "Jacob Tilghman" in Maryland.
The first thing I found was a reference to a Jacob Tilghman who was born about 1790 and married Rebecca Israel in 1818. This looked like a promising lead, not for Susannah's father, but for a possible brother. Jacob and Rebecca were married by the same minister who married Zebedee and Susannah Parker, Edward Triplett and Elizabeth Parker, and Susannah's mother and her second husband, John Reed. I made a note to follow up on this line of research, then looked at some of the other hits on Google.
One of the hits was a long post from a genealogy message board. As I scanned down the message looking for the name of Tilghman, something caught my eye. There was reference to a Rachel married to William Parker!
After I located the Tilghman reference in the post, I went back and read the section about Rachel and William Parker. It was a reference to the will of Zebediah Gosnell, who died in 1807, leaving the following children: Greenbury, James, William, Rachel Parker (wife of William), Ann Israel (wife of Ely), Sarah, Henrietta, and Leah. When I saw this, I knew that this had to be my family.
Rachel Gosnell Parker almost certainly named her son, Zebediah Parker, after her father, Zebediah Gosnell. Also, Rebecca Israel (who married Jacob Tilghman) was the daughter of Ann Gosnell and Ely Israel. The "icing on the cake" was the name of Greenbury Gosnell. I already knew from land records and newspaper articles that William Parker's land bordered on that of Greenbury Gosnell. What I didn't know was that the two men were brothers-in-law.
Just from this message post I was able to trace Zebedee Parker's ancestry back another three generations. I was able to locate Zebediah Gosnell's will online, as well as the will of his father William Gosnell (died 1762). I also learned that William Gosnell's father was William Gosnell, Sr., who died about 1709. I haven't looked at William, Sr.'s will yet, but I found an abstract of it which named his children.
So you never know what you're going to find when you start researching your family history. My search for Susannah Tilghman's father led me instead to her husband's mother and her family! Curioser and curioser!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Susannah "Reed"
Most of the records I have for my great-great-great-grandmother, Susannah Parker, give her maiden name as Tilghman. A few weeks ago, though, I came across death certificates for two of her children which listed her as Susannah Reed. This presented a puzzle for me to solve, and I always love a good puzzle.
When Susannah married Zebedee Parker in 1819, the marriage record listed her as Susan Tilghman. I had assumed this was her maiden name, but these death certificates made me wonder. Perhaps she had been married before and Tilghman was her married name.
Another piece of the puzzle was a census record from 1850. At that time Susannah was widowed and living in Carroll County with several of her unmarried children. Also listed in Susannah's household that year was a 79-year-old woman named Margaret Reed. When I first came across this record years ago, I had wondered if Margaret was Susannah's mother. She was the right age (about 25-30 years older than Susannah), but I had wondered where the Reed name came in if Susannah was a Tilghman.
I did some research in the Maryland Marriages database to see if I could find a marriage record for a Susan or Susannah who married a Tilghman, but to no avail. I also went back and looked at Susannah's obituary from 1892, but the obituary definitely said that her maiden name was Tilghman.
I was stumped until a day or two later when I had a sudden inspiration. Perhaps it was Susannah's mother who was married more than once, not Susannah! I went back to the Maryland Marriages database and did a search for a woman named Margaret who married a man with the last name of Reed. Bingo! I was ecstatic when a record came up for a marriage between John Reed and Margaret Tilghman in Baltimore County in January 1821 (just one year after Zebedee and Susannah were married)! Further research revealed that John and Margaret were married by the same minister that married Zebedee and Susannah.
Now that I know who Susannah's mother was, I need to figure out who her father was. I've made some progress on that side as well, but I'll save that for another blog.
When Susannah married Zebedee Parker in 1819, the marriage record listed her as Susan Tilghman. I had assumed this was her maiden name, but these death certificates made me wonder. Perhaps she had been married before and Tilghman was her married name.
Another piece of the puzzle was a census record from 1850. At that time Susannah was widowed and living in Carroll County with several of her unmarried children. Also listed in Susannah's household that year was a 79-year-old woman named Margaret Reed. When I first came across this record years ago, I had wondered if Margaret was Susannah's mother. She was the right age (about 25-30 years older than Susannah), but I had wondered where the Reed name came in if Susannah was a Tilghman.
I did some research in the Maryland Marriages database to see if I could find a marriage record for a Susan or Susannah who married a Tilghman, but to no avail. I also went back and looked at Susannah's obituary from 1892, but the obituary definitely said that her maiden name was Tilghman.
I was stumped until a day or two later when I had a sudden inspiration. Perhaps it was Susannah's mother who was married more than once, not Susannah! I went back to the Maryland Marriages database and did a search for a woman named Margaret who married a man with the last name of Reed. Bingo! I was ecstatic when a record came up for a marriage between John Reed and Margaret Tilghman in Baltimore County in January 1821 (just one year after Zebedee and Susannah were married)! Further research revealed that John and Margaret were married by the same minister that married Zebedee and Susannah.
Now that I know who Susannah's mother was, I need to figure out who her father was. I've made some progress on that side as well, but I'll save that for another blog.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
William Henry Harrison Dell
Today I made one of the most exciting discoveries that I have ever made in my years of family history research. In my blog last year about the Tale of Two Mothers, I talked about the young man who is buried at Wards Chapel Cemetery with a stone inscribed simply W.H.H. Dell, Co. E, 5th MD Inf. Ever since I first laid eyes on that stone I have wanted to know more about the soldier buried there.
Through my research over the years I had surmised that his name was William Henry Harrison Dell, and that he was the son of Nicholas and Barbara Dell, but I had never been able to prove it. I had located his Civil War service records and learned that he had been wounded at Antietam and had died 3 months later of disease, but there were very few details in the records.
About a year ago I learned that William Henry Harrison's mother had applied for a widow's pension. I knew from experience that Civil War pension files can be loaded with information. However, those files are kept at the National Archives in Washington. I added a trip to Washington to my genealogy "to do" list, but I knew it might be months or years before I could arrange a trip there.
A few days ago I got an e-mail from Ancestry.com about a special offer. Another genealogy website called Fold3 was offering an annual membership to Ancestry members for just $39.95 a year. Fold3 specializes in military records, and the price was right, so I signed up today.
After I signed up with Fold3 I went to their home page to see what they had to offer. They claimed to have Civil War pension files, so I decided to check it out. The database was searchable by state, then Arm of Service, then Regiment, then company.
I worked my way through the links to Company E and waited for a list of names to come up. When the names appeared I could not believe my eyes. There were only 5 men listed, but the second name on the list was William Henry Harrison Dell!
I followed the link and spent the next hour or more reading the files and getting a snapshot of this young man's life and death. I was able to confirm that his name was William Henry Harrison and that he was in fact the son of Nicholas and Barbara Dell. Before his enlistment he had worked at the Oakland woolen mill and also as a farm hand. He had given most of his wages to his mother for her support, even sending home a large portion of his military pay after he enlisted.
The files also detailed William Henry Harrison's last days. There were affidavits from one of his commanding officers and from the surgeon and doctor who attended him in his final illness. According to the afffidavits, Henry contracted dysentery a few days after the battle of Antietam and was treated by the company surgeon. When his condition worsened he was sent home on furlough, under the care of his local doctor. It was at his home that he died on December 23, 1862.
I am so thankful to have finally had the opportunity to "meet" William Henry Harrison Dell, to get a glimpse at his character and to honor the sacrifice he made. His death must have been a tragic loss, especially to his mother, but it is a comfort to learn that he died at home and not in some hospital far away from his family and friends.
Through my research over the years I had surmised that his name was William Henry Harrison Dell, and that he was the son of Nicholas and Barbara Dell, but I had never been able to prove it. I had located his Civil War service records and learned that he had been wounded at Antietam and had died 3 months later of disease, but there were very few details in the records.
About a year ago I learned that William Henry Harrison's mother had applied for a widow's pension. I knew from experience that Civil War pension files can be loaded with information. However, those files are kept at the National Archives in Washington. I added a trip to Washington to my genealogy "to do" list, but I knew it might be months or years before I could arrange a trip there.
A few days ago I got an e-mail from Ancestry.com about a special offer. Another genealogy website called Fold3 was offering an annual membership to Ancestry members for just $39.95 a year. Fold3 specializes in military records, and the price was right, so I signed up today.
After I signed up with Fold3 I went to their home page to see what they had to offer. They claimed to have Civil War pension files, so I decided to check it out. The database was searchable by state, then Arm of Service, then Regiment, then company.
I worked my way through the links to Company E and waited for a list of names to come up. When the names appeared I could not believe my eyes. There were only 5 men listed, but the second name on the list was William Henry Harrison Dell!
I followed the link and spent the next hour or more reading the files and getting a snapshot of this young man's life and death. I was able to confirm that his name was William Henry Harrison and that he was in fact the son of Nicholas and Barbara Dell. Before his enlistment he had worked at the Oakland woolen mill and also as a farm hand. He had given most of his wages to his mother for her support, even sending home a large portion of his military pay after he enlisted.
The files also detailed William Henry Harrison's last days. There were affidavits from one of his commanding officers and from the surgeon and doctor who attended him in his final illness. According to the afffidavits, Henry contracted dysentery a few days after the battle of Antietam and was treated by the company surgeon. When his condition worsened he was sent home on furlough, under the care of his local doctor. It was at his home that he died on December 23, 1862.
I am so thankful to have finally had the opportunity to "meet" William Henry Harrison Dell, to get a glimpse at his character and to honor the sacrifice he made. His death must have been a tragic loss, especially to his mother, but it is a comfort to learn that he died at home and not in some hospital far away from his family and friends.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Hot on the Trail
I've been out of the loop for a while, due to wedding planning, Christmas, extra hours at work, etc. A few weeks ago, though, I got back to researching my family history. In my last blog, over a year ago, I was talking about my two great-great-great-grandmothers, Barbara Barnhart Dell and Susannah Tilghman Parker. When I got back to my research this month I decided to concentrate on my Dell and Parker ancestry. I hope to write a book about the Dells and Parkers, focusing on these two women and their strangely parallel lives, and I had a lot of gaps to fill in.
Over the past few years I've done a lot of research in old newspapers. I keep a log of interesting things I come across that I might want to follow up on. Unfortunately I'm not as good about the following up part. So one of the first things I did this month was to go through my log and start following up on some of the leads.
As I was going through my notebook I came across a reference to two articles that looked particularly promising. The articles were from 1821 and 1826, and both mentioned an insolvent debtor named Zebadiah Parker.
The 1826 article was a notice by S. Barry, sheriff of Baltimore County, regarding some land belonging to Zebadiah and William Parker. The sheriff had seized the property and was going to offer it for sale at public auction the following month. The property was described as "about 18 miles from Baltimore, and near the 'Deer Park Road.'" This was very interesting to me, because my Dell and Parker relations lived very close to Deer Park Road, and I had never been able to locate any land records for Zebadiah Parker. I was pretty sure this was the same Zebadiah Parker who was married to Susannah Tilghman Parker, but I wasn't sure how to proceed from there.
The first thing I did was to search the Baltimore County land records around 1826, hoping to find a record of the sale. I was able to find a deed transferring the property from Standish Barry to Jesse Bennett, but I still didn't know how Zebadiah Parker came to own the property.
A few days later I had the inspiration to look through the administration index for Baltimore County for that time period. With a common name like Parker, I didn't really have much hope of finding anything conclusive, especially since the earlier records for Baltimore County include Baltimore City as well. However, I hit the jackpot. I located an administration in 1824 for a William Parker. The administratrix was Rachel Parker.
When I saw that name, it rang a bell. Years before I had found a Rachel Parker in the census on the same page as Zebadiah Parker. I had wondered then if she might be his mother, but had never been able to prove it. Another clue that I might be on the right track was the names listed under "securities": Edward and Eli Triplett. I knew the Tripletts lived in the same area as my Dell and Parker relations, and several of them had married into the family. Further research on Edward Triplett revealed that he married Elizabeth Parker in October 1817 (2 years before Zebadiah Parker and Susannah Tilghman were married).
I am now pretty sure that Zebadiah Parker was the son of William and Rachel Parker. The land that was being sold in 1826 was originally deeded to William Parker in 1779, and it was his property up until his death about 1824. William's estate was settled in 1826, just a few days after his land was sold at public auction. There were no heirs listed in the Administration Account, probably because there were more debts than assets. I think it is likely that William Parker and Elizabeth Parker Triplett were also children of William and Rachel Parker. I hope to eventually find the court records detailing the Parker insolvency case. With any luck they will confirm my suspicions about Zebadiah Parker's ancestry.
Over the past few years I've done a lot of research in old newspapers. I keep a log of interesting things I come across that I might want to follow up on. Unfortunately I'm not as good about the following up part. So one of the first things I did this month was to go through my log and start following up on some of the leads.
As I was going through my notebook I came across a reference to two articles that looked particularly promising. The articles were from 1821 and 1826, and both mentioned an insolvent debtor named Zebadiah Parker.
The 1826 article was a notice by S. Barry, sheriff of Baltimore County, regarding some land belonging to Zebadiah and William Parker. The sheriff had seized the property and was going to offer it for sale at public auction the following month. The property was described as "about 18 miles from Baltimore, and near the 'Deer Park Road.'" This was very interesting to me, because my Dell and Parker relations lived very close to Deer Park Road, and I had never been able to locate any land records for Zebadiah Parker. I was pretty sure this was the same Zebadiah Parker who was married to Susannah Tilghman Parker, but I wasn't sure how to proceed from there.
The first thing I did was to search the Baltimore County land records around 1826, hoping to find a record of the sale. I was able to find a deed transferring the property from Standish Barry to Jesse Bennett, but I still didn't know how Zebadiah Parker came to own the property.
A few days later I had the inspiration to look through the administration index for Baltimore County for that time period. With a common name like Parker, I didn't really have much hope of finding anything conclusive, especially since the earlier records for Baltimore County include Baltimore City as well. However, I hit the jackpot. I located an administration in 1824 for a William Parker. The administratrix was Rachel Parker.
When I saw that name, it rang a bell. Years before I had found a Rachel Parker in the census on the same page as Zebadiah Parker. I had wondered then if she might be his mother, but had never been able to prove it. Another clue that I might be on the right track was the names listed under "securities": Edward and Eli Triplett. I knew the Tripletts lived in the same area as my Dell and Parker relations, and several of them had married into the family. Further research on Edward Triplett revealed that he married Elizabeth Parker in October 1817 (2 years before Zebadiah Parker and Susannah Tilghman were married).
I am now pretty sure that Zebadiah Parker was the son of William and Rachel Parker. The land that was being sold in 1826 was originally deeded to William Parker in 1779, and it was his property up until his death about 1824. William's estate was settled in 1826, just a few days after his land was sold at public auction. There were no heirs listed in the Administration Account, probably because there were more debts than assets. I think it is likely that William Parker and Elizabeth Parker Triplett were also children of William and Rachel Parker. I hope to eventually find the court records detailing the Parker insolvency case. With any luck they will confirm my suspicions about Zebadiah Parker's ancestry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)