Archive for category Genealogy
#52 Ancestors – No. 35 – Recycling of Oliver Cromwell
This post is number 35 in the series of the #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
Recycling Names
My Kentucky kinfolk liked to reuse names frequently within generations and successive generations. One such trend was using Oliver Cromwell. It was used as a first and middle name then add the family’s last name. If the name sounds familiar it is because Oliver Cromwell was the Lord Protector of England who helped overthrow King Charles I of England. Historically considered a dictator in the mid-1650’s.
The use of Oliver Cromwell starts with Elizabeth Oliver Brumley and Ezekiel Vanlandingham naming their son, Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham, Sr, in 1784. Some researchers state that that Elizabeth mother’s maiden name was Oliver. I have no source citations to verify that information.
Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham (1784-1856)
Oliver C. Vanlandingham, Sr; was a successful merchant in Paradise, KY and Baton Rouge, LA. He married Mary A. Drake of Louisiana and they had several children. One was Oliver C. Vanlandingham, Jr.; who in turned named one of his sons, Oliver C. Vanlandingham, III.
Ezekiel’s sister, Elizabeth, married Samuel Weir. Another prominent family in Paradise, KY. Her daughter, Elizabeth Weir, married Isaac Roll. They named one of their sons, Oliver Cromwell Roll (1848-1926). Their other son, David Roll, used the same name for one of his sons, my great-grandfather, Ollie C Roll (1894-1917).
The name was passed forward by Flora Roll who married Edward Yonts. They named their first son, Oliver Cromwell Yonts (1915-1952). Other cousins in the family tree have used Oliver or Olive for the girls.
Photo Credit
This photo appears in “A History of Muhlenberg County” by Otto Arthur Rothert.
#52Ancestors – No. 34 – Just A Photo In A Box – Ervin & May King
This post is number 34 in the series of the #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
During a scavenger hunt in my sister’s attic, I found a box of photos that originally belong to my grandmother, Olive. The box was most likely put there after my mom and her sisters cleaned out Olive’s apartment when she went into a nursing home.
I found a couple of photos that had names I didn’t recognize and set about to see if they were related. There were a set of photos that named three Roll sisters and one identifying two children as Ewin and May King. My great grandfather Ollie C. Roll had four sisters. Researching marriage records for my great aunts, I found that Addie (Ada) Yvonne Roll married a man named Ewin O. King.
Both Ewin, Sr and Addie died in their early forties. They had three children, Ewin, Jr., born 1912; Mae (May), born 1913; and a son James, born 1921. The children looked to be about five and four years old in this photo. There is no date on the photo. Based on the approximate ages, I would say the photo was taken between 1917-1918.
A Photo in a Box
Ewin, Jr; served in WWII and married Jeslyn Fiddler of Chicago, IL. They ended up living in Casper, Wyoming. I was not able to find information on Mae or James King.
#52Ancestors – No. 32 – Roswell Edward House
This post is number 32 in the series of the #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
Land records can provide clues to learn more about our ancestors. The can provide dots to find missing family members listed on a deed, or shared plot lines between family members and even identify the girl next door who became the wife. Land records can help us discover how our families lived and even their daily activities.
I viewed the 1880 land records for my second great uncle, Roswell House. Roswell is the son of Selah House, my third great grandfather. Selah’s is mentioned #52ncestors – No. 20. From the censuses, I know that Roswell was a farmer. However, not all his land was in one spot.
Roswell had 100 acres split into three separate lots in Campbell Township, Warrick Co, Indiana. I outlined Roswell’s lots in red to show on the map. The two circled areas are 40 acres each, the rectangle area is 20 acres. The map below does not have a scale to determine distance. As you can see, he land is spaced far apart. As a farmer in 1880 he had to travel some distance to reach his property. All he had were horse drawn carriages to use to travel between lots.
He could have leased some land out to another farmer easing his burden. According to the 1880 Census, two of his 10 children are working on the farm. The oldest, Emory, could be managing one of the lots. Managing three distanced lots would be akin to today’s project management skills.
Roswell House was born in 1836 in Ohio and lived most of his life in Warrick County. He died in 1888. He married late and when he passed away at 64, there were three children, ages 16 and under, living at home. The youngest was eight years old.
Three lots belonging to Roswell House.
#52Ancestors – No. 31 – Onah Golda Howes
Howes Siblings circa 1950
This post is number 31 in the series of the #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
I chose Onah for this edition because of her name. It is an old fashion name that you know came from a different time period. Onah is the sister of my grandfather Hugh A. Howes. She may be one of eleven children of which two of her siblings died in infancy. Born in 1894 to Louis Lafayette Howes and Martha Isabelle Hunter. The 1910 Census states that Martha Hunter Howes gave birth to 11 children and 9 survived.
She married Owen Francis Coburn (date not known) in Union County, Kentucky. She and Owen may have had 10 children. I have in my possession a set of photos taken at a reunion circa 1950 in Evansville, IN. Her father, Louis, is still alive at that time.
I can only identify my grandparents , my mother, and Great Grandpa Louis Howes is the following photos.
Children of Louis L. Howes at reunion circa 1950
Group photo at Howes Family Reunion
#52Ancestors – No. 30 – Isaac N Pittman
This post is number 30 in the series of the #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
This week’s ancestor is Isaac N. Pittman, father of John Thomas Pittman in post #52 Ancestors No. 9. Isaac is the son of Thomas A. Pittman and Susan Lawson. Born March 1838 in Todd County, Kentucky. There is an unsourced death date of 1904 in Wabash, Indiana.
I located a Civil War Draft Registration for Isaac that I have included below. I could not find a pension recorded that could be attributed to this Isaac. There was an Isaac Pittman from Indiana who served in the Civil War and had a pension record. I will have to add this research task to my ever growing list of topics to follow-up.
Isaac Pittman’s name on the draft list
Source: Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registrations, 1863-1865. NM-65, entry 172, 620 volumes. ARC ID: 4213514. Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), Record Group 110. National Archives at Washington D.C.
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