Zane Grey in My Family Tree

Wetzels,  Zanes, and the Ohio River

Betty Zane's run with the gunpowder
Image from Wikipedia.

When I was a child, we had the books Betty Zane and The Last Trail in our home. They are two of the books in Zane Grey's Ohio River trilogy. I must have read each of them at least a dozen times. The third book in the trilogy is The Spirit of the Border. I checked it our from our county library and read it many times, too.

The trilogy is set in the Revolutionary War, and it features Ebenezer, Jonathan, Isaac, and Betty Zane and others. The main events in the books really happened and the main characters were real people.  Col. Ebenezer Zane was Zane Grey's direct maternal ancestor. He established Fort Henry in Wheeling, Virginia (now Wheeling, West Virginia,) in 1769 and also blazed a trail (Zane's Trace) that was a main route across Ohio for years.

I knew all this when I began researching my family tree a few years ago,  and yet I was awe-struck the first time I saw Ebenezer Zane's name in a hand-written document from early Ohio River history. I was researching Absalom Martin, the surveyor who founded Martins Ferry, Ohio, directly across the river from Wheeling, West Virginia. Absalom was a younger half-brother of my fifth great-grandfather Reuben Martin. Right after I met up with Ebenezer Zane in that document, I learned that Absalom Martin was married to Ebenezer Zane's daughter, Catherine! The surprise I felt about all this is beyond description.

Lewis Wetzel is another important character in  Zane Grey's Ohio River trilogy. In real life and in the books, he was an expert woodsman and hunter with a personal vendetta against Indians. Apparently, he never married. He certainly didn't marry anyone in any of the Zane Grey novels although he did reveal once in a moment of weakness that he secretly loved Betty Zane. *sigh*

I was intrigued recently when I found a distant connection to the name Wetzel in my family tree. Sophia Wetzel and Abraham Strock, married in 1834. They lived in Austintown, Ohio, up the river from Wheeling and Martins Ferry. Neither Sophia nor Abraham were blood kin of mine.  They were the mother-in-law and father-in-law of my third great grand-uncle James P. Hill.  Nonetheless, when I saw that Sophia was a Wetzel, my mind instantly went into Zane-Grey overdrive. How exciting! Obviously, Sophia was too young to be Lewis Wetzel's sister, but I thought she might have been his niece.

Well -- further research revealed that if Sophia was related at all to Lewis Wetzel, she was some kind of cousin. And since she's not even a relative of mine, I've decided it's silly to spend any more time puzzling about exactly who she was. After all, if there was an easy answer, some Strock family tree researcher surely would have figured it out already.

And now I have a yen to read those three books again. I'm going to tell Santa that I want them in hardback.

Photos from Fort Scott National Historic Site

1840s at Fort Scott, Kansas

We visited the national historic site at Fort Scott, Kansas, last week on our way back to Kentucky. I wanted to tour the fort because I think my 4th great-grandfather John Hill spent a short time there as a private in the 4th Infantry, Company C. They were stationed at Fort Scott from 1842 through mid-1845.

John Hill enlisted in late April of 1845, and the 4th Infantry, Company C, left Fort Scott and headed for Texas in late July of 1845. So John probably didn't spend much time at Fort Scott, but he probably did join up with Company C there.

Captain MacRae had been recruiting in eastern Ohio, and that's where John Hill signed up. Captain MacRae probably escorted John and the other recruits back to Company C. They probably made most of the trip from eastern Ohio to eastern Kansas by water. By 1845, steamboats were on all the big rivers. They could have taken a steamer down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, then another one to St. Louis and yet another one up the Missouri River to Fort Leavenworth. From Fort Leavenworth down to Fort Scott, they may have -- walked? They were infantry, after all. That was probably their first march.

Important disclaimer: I think this John Hill was my ancestor John Hill because:  a) this John Hill was born in the right place to be my John Hill;  b) this John Hill enlisted in the Army in the town where my John Hill's father lived;  c) this John Hill was the same age as my John Hill; and  d) my John Hill did serve during the Mexican War. However, there is always a chance that that I have the wrong military record, and this is some other John Hill entirely who was no relation to me at all. There were plenty of John Hills in eastern Ohio.

Fort Scott was established near the Kansas/Missouri border in 1842, as headquarters for several companies of dragoons. The dragoons had several missions: keeping land-hungry settlers out of Indian territory, guarding the military road that ran from Fort Leavenworth into Oklahoma, surveying the land so it could be mapped, and more. The fort was abandoned in 1853 because the frontier had moved farther west and a military presence at Fort Scott was no longer important.

"Dragoons" is an old word for mounted soldiers or cavalry.
The photos below show the text of this mural.

The stables (left) and dragoons' barracks (right)

The infantry at Fort Scott didn't go on patrol with the dragoons. They did much of the construction of the fort's buildings, took their turns at a number of routine chores around the fort (including bread-making), practiced their military skills such as marching and handling weapons, and maintained a state of readiness.

The bakehouse was located in a distant
corner so if it caught fire, it wouldn't
burn down the entire fort!

The boredom that the infantry suffered is mentioned in every account I've read of life at Fort Scott. Hunting was a way to pass the time, as was drinking in the saloons that sprang up outside the compound. But the easy life ended for 4th Infantry, Company C --  those soldiers marched to Texas to serve under General Zachary Taylor and then fought in the Mexican War. John Hill and the other new recruits wouldn't have had much time to learn the soldiering aspects of their new lives before the march to Texas began.

The infantry, preparing to leave for Texas in 1845

Rachel at the infantry barracks.
This building is a reconstruction, though
 many of the buildings are originals.

During the Civil War, Union troops took up residence again at Fort Scott. I didn't pay much attention to the Civil War side of Fort Scott's history. I was more interested in what John Hill might have seen or done.

This exhibit contained the two photographs below.
John Hill might have seen these structures at Fort Scott.

The powder magazine at center, with lightening rod. At left,
dragoon barracks, and behind the flag, officer's quarters.
At  far right, the fort's well, protected by a canopy.

A closer look at the dragoon barracks.

Fort Scott was laid out by a West-Point-educated Army quartermaster named Captain Swords who was at the frontier outpost from 1842-1846. The following is quoted from an information board at the site:

In the four years he served at Fort Scott, Captain Swords designed and had constructed four sets of officers quarters, three barracks, the hospital, the guardhouse, the well canopy, the magazine, the stables, both the ordnance and post headquarters, and the quartermaster warehouse. His plans featured porches to provide shelter from the torrid summers of the plains, large windows for light and air, plastered walls, and graceful stairways. Despite restrictions on hiring, Swords obtained civilian brick layers, platerers, and a stone cutter to help finish the buildings. In 1846, General Kearney promoted Captain Swords to Quartermaster of the Army.

The route that John Hill took to Fort Scott was probably the
same route that building materials took, as described here.

These floors are laid on top of three or more layers of rock!
I suppose these super-reinforced floors were Captain Swords' idea.

The hospital at Fort Scott is now the visitor's center for the site. There, you can pick up a walking-tour brochure, watch a movie, and look at a number of exhibits. It's really nice that the entire site can be visited free of charge.

The hospital was built in 1843, and this is the original structure.

Old photo of the hospital
from one of the exhibits.

I wasn't sure if the buildings were furnished in 1840s or 1860s style, but it was interesting to walk through many of them and see the rooms. Here are some interior photos at the dragoon barracks.

And the quarters, where Captain Swords and his fellow officers lived. I am sure that John Hill never saw these rooms! The enlisted men were forbidden even to stroll the walkways in front of officers quarters.

This fancy dining room was used only for official entertaining.

Below, a look inside the quartermaster's building (work headquarters for Captain Swords):

And lastly, some flowers that were growing behind one of the buildings. I don't know if the soldiers would have had flower beds, but these are some nice "old-timey" flowers.

If you'd like to read more about Fort Scott, the official website is packed with information and nice photos.

Two Ordinary Patriots

Samuel Mapes (1735-1820) and Smith Mapes (1756-1830)

In 1775, just a few weeks after the Battle of Lexington and Concord,  Samuel Mapes and his 19-year-old son Smith Mapes signed the Revolutionary Pledge* in Ulster County, New York. Shortly thereafter, Smith and Samuel and dozens of their neighbors joined McClaughry's Regiment (the Second or "South-end" Regiment of the Ulster County militia.) As their signing of the Pledge expressed, they were "greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene now acting in Massachusetts Bay..."

Militia Men

Ulster County, today. Photo by Doug Kerr.

Samuel Mapes was a farmer, and it is likely that Smith, his oldest son assisted in the farm work. Joining the local militia probably seemed more practical than joining the newly-formed Continental Army. Samuel had a large family to provide for.

But even militia men were called into the army as needed. "The militia was virtually State troops. They could be called upon for service in the army by the proper authorities at any time, and in such cases the colonel of a regiment was ordered to furnish a certain number of troops for a certain purpose, and the men were drafted from the whole number, and they in fact became as regular troops or the line of the army, after they were so drafted, for the time being." (History of the Town of Marlborough, Ulster County, New York, by C. M. Woolsey, page 107. Published 1908) And so various elements of the Ulster County Militia fought at Long Island, Saratoga, and other battles outside their home county.

Defending the County

The defense of the small frontier settlements in the western part of Ulster county was a huge problem. "The mountains in the west of Ulster pierced by the two branches of the Delaware, the Esopus and the Rondout, were peculiarly open to attack by such a foe as an Indian with the knowledge of a woodman and the cunning of a savage." (Olde Ulster : an historical and genealogical magazine. Vol 3, No.1, page 18, published 1907.) The Indian attacks were orchestrated by Torries and British, who sometimes disguised themselves as Indians and joined in the destruction.

In early 1777, a detachment from the Ulster County militia marched "under alarm" with Lt. Col. Newkirk to the frontier settlement of Peanpack in western Ulster County to combat an attack of this sort. Samuel Mapes was in the group of men. Another detachment, also in 1777 and also under alarm, was led by Major Phillips. Smith Mapes was in that group. (Revolutionary War Rolls of New York, viewed at Fold3.com.)

Meanwhile, the Patriots struggled with the British for control of rivers. Ulster County, a large region with the Hudson River forming its entire eastern border, saw a great deal of military action during the Revolution. Many militia men enlisted multiple times, serving when called, going to battle in their everyday work clothes, carrying whatever provisions, ammunition, and weaponry they possessed.

Kingston in Ulster County, at that time the state capital, was burned by the British during the war. And a British general justified his burning of Esopus, an Ulster County town along the Hudson's west banks, as entirely necessary because of the rebellious rascals who lived there.

On the 17th of October, 1777, General John Vaughan of the British Army, thus reported to his commanding officer upon his vandal deed of the preceding day: "I have the honor to inform you that on the Evening of the 15th instant I arrived off Esopus: finding that the Rebels had thrown up Works and had made every Disposition to annoy us, and cut off our Communication, I judged it necessary to attack them, the Wind being at that Time so much against us that we could make no Way. I accordingly landed the Troops, attacked their Batteries, drove them from their Works, spiked and destroyed their Guns. Esopus being a Nursery for almost every Villain in the Country, I judged it necessary to proceed to that Town. On our approach they were drawn up with Cannon which we took and drove them out of the Place. On our entering the Town they fired from their Houses, which induced me to reduce the Place to Ashes, which I accordingly did, not leaving a House. We found a considerable Quanity of Stores of all kinds, which shared the same Fate. (Olde Ulster: an historical and genealogical magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, page 33, published in 1905)

These are just a few examples of the sort of fighting that took place in Ulster County. A third of all battles of the Revolution were fought in New York (New York Military Records at FamilySearch.) The regiments of the Ulster County militia did their part at home and away. I am confident that those militia men fought with a keen sense of vengeance for the outrages committed in their homeland and the losses suffered by their families and friends.

British cannon above the Hudson River.
Photo by Michael Francis Studios

After the War

Sources do not agree about the date that Samuel and his family moved to Blooming Grove (then in Ulster County, but now in Orange), but it seems clear that around the time that the Revolution ended, he moved to Howell's Depot.

He had more sons than land, and in order to provide a farm for as many of them as were content to remain in Orange County, he removed from Blooming Grove to the locality now known as Howell's Depot, then chiefly an unbroken wilderness, and purchased a mile square, or 640 acres of land, upon which he settled, and with the aid of his sons brought under cultivation.

He was a man of vigorous constitution, untiring industry, and a cheerful and jovial temperament. His land was rough and hard to cultivate, but he made the best of it, and it is related of him that when one of his old Blooming Grove neighbors once asked him what on earth he did with some of his roughest land, he replied that that which was too stony for the sheep and cattle to pasture in, he mowed to furnish hay for their winter keeping. (The Family Record: Devoted for 1897 to the SACKETT, the WEYGANT and the MAPES Families by C. H. Weygant, published by C. H. Weygant, 1897, page 46.

Samuel Mapes set aside a plot of land on his farm for a family burying ground, and he was laid to rest there in 1820, having completed a life of nearly 85 years. His wife Mary and many other Mapes descendants are buried there as well.

Smith and Rachel

New York's Revolutionary War Rolls show that Smith Mapes became a corporal, but nonetheless, he found enough time to court Rachel McKnight. They were married on February 10, 1779.

Smith and Rachel made the move to Howells with the Samuel Mapes family. By 1792, five of their children had been baptized at the Old School Baptist Church in Howell's, New York. One of the children baptized there was William Warren Mapes (William Warrington Mapes), my 3rd-great grandfather.

Sometime in the next few years, Smith and Rachel Mapes left Howells and moved about 200 miles west to the Finger Lakes area of New York where they were admitted by baptism to the First Baptist Church at Benton Center, Yates County in 1800. (Early Settlers of New York State: Their Ancestors and Descendants, Volumes I-VI, by Janet Wethy Foley. Pages 6 and 148. Originally published in 1934-1940 by Thomas J. Foley, Akron, NY.)  

Smith and Rachel spent the rest of their lives in western New York. Smith died  in 1830 at the age of 72, and Rachel died five years later. I do not know the location of their graves.
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* The Revolutionary Pledge: "Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties of America depend, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety, and convinced of the necessity of preventing anarchy and confusion which attend a dissolution of the powers of government, We, the Freeman, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of ---, being greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene now acting in Massachusetts Bay, do in the most solemn manner resolve never to become slaves, and do associate, under all the ties of religion, honor, and love to our country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatsoever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the purpose of preserving our constitution and of opposing the several arbitrary acts of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation beween Great Britain and America, on constitutional principles (which we most ardently desire) can be obtained, and that we will in all things follow the advice of our General Committee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order and the safety of individuals and property."  (The History of Dutchess County, New York by S. A. Matthieu. Published in Poughkeepsie, NY, 1909. Page 95.)

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This article was written by Genevieve L. Netz and originally published as a blog post at http://prairiebluestem.blogspot.com/2013/10/two-ordinary-patriots.html . Copyright 2013 Genevieve L. Netz. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for attaching this article to Mapes family trees as long as this entire notice is included. Any other use requires written permission. gnetz51@gmail.com

Download a copy of this article for your family tree.

Crime in 1921, Laramie, Wyoming

Keeping the peace on the High Plains

Laramie's downtown historic district in 2004

On January 3, 1922, City Marshall J. W. Sigman reported to the city council of Laramie, Wyoming, about police activity during 1921. During the year, he stated, seventeen officers made a total of 321 arrests for offenses that included the following:

• Drunks, 84
• Breaches of the peace, 42
• Prostitution, 25
• Gambling, 35
• Burglary, 2
• Robbery, 3
• Forgery, 4
• Larceny, 2
• Rape, 2
• Assault and battery, 3
• Speeding, 62
• Bright lights, 2
• Wrongful turning of corners, 3
• Wrongful parking, 3
• Running with mufflers open, 2
• Lights out, 5
• Reckless driving, 1
• Riding on sidewalks, 4
• Running on lawns, 1
• Vagrancy, 6
• Boys frequenting pool halls, 1
• Making whisky, 4
• Trespassing, 1
• Refusing to pay occupation tax, 2
• Blocking crossing, 1
• Beating board bill, 2
• Concerning rubbish, l
• Interfering with officer, 1
• Destruction of property, 1
• Permitting unlawful cesspool, 1
• Allowing dogs to run at large, 10
• Using water unlawfully, 6
• Keeping pool hall open, 1
• Others, 2

(Source: Laramie Republican [Daily Edition] no. 123 January 04, 1922, page 5)

In 1921, traffic in Laramie would have been a mixture of horseback riders, horse-drawn vehicles, motor vehicles, and possibly bicycles. I'm guessing that the speeding violations primarily involved automobiles, but most of the riding-on-sidewalk violations involved horses.

William Conners, husband of Philena Baily (my first cousin 2x removed), was one of the policemen who kept the peace in Laramie in 1921. With 83 arrests, he was the most active officer of the Laramie law enforcement team for the year. I was a little surprised to find him on the police force, because he had been working for the Union Pacific railroad as a fireman. But maybe his wife wanted him to be at home, or maybe he was laid off as Union Pacific downsized after World War I.

Copyright 2013 by Genevieve Hill Netz. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for attaching this article to family trees, but this notice must remain with the article. Any other use requires written permission; please contact gnetz51@gmail.com. This article was published originally at http://prairiebluestem.blogspot.com/2013/04/crime-in-1921-laramie-wyoming.html.

See also:

• The 1920s in Wyoming 
• 1920s images of Laramie, Wyoming

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons by Matthew Trump

Affordable Alternative Grave Marker

Dignity Marker© for unmarked family graves

Dennis and I both have great-grandparents whose graves are unmarked. We have talked from time to time about getting headstones for them. It would fulfill the wishes of our parents as well as honor the memories of our great-grandparents. However, four granite or marble headstones would be a considerable investment for us.

We are interested in a solution from Ron Yates, a family tree researcher with roots in Crawford County, Indiana. Ron has an extensive genealogy website that includes my great-great grandmother Susana Jane McCleary (1848-1906.) That's how I began an internet acquaintance with him. 

Ron and other Yates family members have struggled to meet the need for dozens of grave markers in old cemeteries in Crawford County. So many graves needed attention that it was impossible to provide a marble or granite headstone for each one.

The search for an alternative memorial led the Yates family to an Illinois manufacturer, who helped them develop the Dignity Marker©. It's an attractive plaque, made of HPDE, a strong, durable synthetic that is used for plastic lumber, landfill liners, hard hats, water pipes, and many other products. It is available for $45 per plaque plus shipping (discounts for quantity orders.)

The Dignity Marker©, side view.

Testing the fit before packing
the holes of the block with dirt.

The Dignity Marker© is adhered to a standard concrete block (16 in. x 8 in. x 6 in.) with Liquid Nails Extreme Temperatures and Conditions (LN-201) construction adhesive. The block is then installed at the grave site, either flush with the ground or upright, depending on personal preferences and the cemetery rules. Any able-bodied person could do the job alone.

Ron wrote to me that they will be fabricating and installing 30 or more of these markers in April at the Yates Union Chapel Cemetery near Grantsburg, Indiana. What an achievement that will be!

A newly installed Dignity Marker©.

I told Ron that I might purchase the plaques, even though I didn't know when we would be able to make the trip to install them. He suggested that we could ask a local historical or genealogical society to recommend a reputable handyman, pay him for a couple of hours of work, and request a digital photo of the installed markers.

Dignity Marker© is not a big company. Rather, these are family genealogists who are sharing a simple solution to a real need. I am so impressed that I decided to help spread the word about this product. There are so many situations where an inexpensive grave marker is needed. (This post is not a paid advertisement!)

Please see the Dignity Marker© website for much more information than I've given here. They also have a Facebook page with lots of photos.

Thanks to Ron Yates and Dignity Marker© for permission to use the photographs in this post.

A Visit to Agenda, Kansas

Ghost town? I don't think so.

Agenda, Kansas, is an important place name in my family tree. During the 1880s, my great-great-grandfathers, Ashbel Mapes and Almus Hill had neighboring farms just a few miles from this prairie village. Their children married, and to make a long story short, here I am today!

I took these photos when we visited Agenda in July, 2012. The business district has only a couple of stores that are open. One of them is a little ice cream shop where you can get a cold soda and a plate lunch, as well as a scoop of ice cream. As I recall, it's in the building at right in the photo above.

The photo below looks down Agenda's main street from one end. The building with the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer sign appears at left in the photo above and at left in the photo below.

Agenda has a population of less than 100 people. Huge grain bins tower above everything else in town.  The streets are not paved, but there's a pretty good sidewalk along the front of the business district.

The ice cream shop is delightfully old-fashioned with a long wooden counter and a pressed metal ceiling. A friendly lady was tending the shop. After we ate our ice cream, she took us down to the small museum/library at the end of the street and let us inside. She also told us to be sure to walk outside through the back door of the ice cream shop.

Willoughby Cemetery: Homesteader's Rest

An old settlers graveyard in Republic County, Kansas

Willoughby Cemetery, near Agenda, Kansas

One hot day last July, my brother, my sister, and I drove up to Republic County, Kansas, and found Willoughby Cemetery. It's named for W. H. Willoughby, the man who donated one corner of his homestead to be a community burying ground.

W. H. Willoughby (my great-great-granduncle-by-marriage) was a preacher and one of the first settlers of Elk Creek Township in Republic County.  He homesteaded on Elk Creek in the late 1860s, along with a small group of brothers, cousins, and  "in-laws." This group of original settlers included  my great-great-grandfather Ashbel Mapes. Ashbel and W. H. Willoughby were brother-in-laws: Ashbel was a brother of  W. H.'s wife Rachel Mapes Willoughby.

My gr-grandfather's Charles Leslie Hill's original gravestone.
There's also a new stone for Charles and Lilly Hill  (at right.)

My family has several graves in Willoughby Cemetery. Great-great-grandmother, Martha Vining Mapes (wife of Ashbel Mapes), is said to be there, but we didn't see her grave.  I don't know if it is unmarked, or marked with a uninscribed stone, or the words on her tombstone have weathered away. Or maybe her stone is hidden by a clump of bushes or flowers.

Great-grandfather Charles Leslie Hill is buried there, beside his first wife, Lillie Mapes, who was a daughter of Ashbel and Martha Mapes. When Lillie died of "catarrhal fever" leaving three little children without a mother, Charles married her younger sister Lana Mapes, my great grandmother.

My gr -gr -grandaunt, Rachel Ann Mapes,
She was W. H. Willoughby's wife.

Several other Mapes family members are buried in Willoughby Cemetery, including  Rachel Mapes Willoughby,  and several of Ashbel and Martha Vining Mapes's ten children: James Mapes, Nellie Mapes Boyer, Lillie Mapes Hill (as already mentioned), and probably Lucy Artimus Mapes Wharton (very likely, but not yet proven.)

Also, little Clarence Hill, a great-uncle who died at the age of 3 years and a few days, is buried there. His grave is probably at the foot of his mother's Lillie Mapes Hill's grave, where a small, uninscribed stone stands.

 While we were there, I tried to photograph all of the gravestones in the cemetery that were legible or at least partly so. I planned to post them to Find-A-Grave when I got back home.

When I began editing the photos and researching the names in Willoughby cemetery, I learned that a surprising number of people there were related to my relatives in one way or another.

All of them, related or not, were from neighbor families and many were homesteaders. Some came to Kansas from New York, Ohio, Indiana, and other states, and others were immigrants from foreign countries.Their life stories were just as interesting as my own family's. (And I don't mean that they were all saints! One of them even served time for stealing chickens.)

Intrigued by their histories, I decided that I would include at least a few sentences about the life of each person in Willoughby Cemetery in his or her Find A Grave memorial. Achieving that goal has been an interesting, engrossing project. I've found obituaries for many of them in the old Republic County newspapers. For others, I've constructed a short biography from census data and other sources.

While searching the old newspapers for the names on the stones, I've found about twenty obituaries for people who were buried in Willoughby, but do not seem to have grave markers (or their grave markers are illegible.) So, I created Find-A-Grave memorials for them with their obituaries, so their stories can be retold and remembered, too.

Willoughby Cemetery in Republic County
near Agenda, Kansas

I have done about 40 memorials so far, and I still have about 25 more photographs and a few more obituaries to work through. Some of the stones in the remaining photos are badly weathered, but maybe I can figure them out with the help of Ancestry.com, Family Search, and the old Republic County newspapers.

A shopkeeper in Agenda, a little village a few miles away, told us that W. H. Willoughby gave the cemetery land with one condition -- that no one would ever have to pay to be buried there. No burial plots in Willoughby Cemetery were ever to be sold. The community still honors that promise, she added.

The first burial in Willoughby Cemetery (that I know of)
was little Margaret Miller who died in 1871.

These Willoughby children were a nephew and a niece of
W.H. Willoughby, who founded Willoughby cemetery to
serve the needs of the Elk Creek homesteader community.
Rest in peace, little ones.

The Almus Hill / Almus Lentz Legend

DNA answer to a family tree question.

According to the story that was passed down in my family, our great-great grandfather Almus Lentz was born in Germany. By the time he was 8 or 9 years old, he was an orphan. He stowed away on a ship that was headed for America, but mid-voyage, shiphands discovered him and hauled him up to meet the captain. A kindly Irish couple named Hill took pity on the frightened lad and paid his passage. In America, the Hills took Almus into their home and continued to provide for him. They had no children of their own, so Almus was like a son to them, He even took their name, becoming Almus Hill and giving up his old name, Almus Lentz. This was how our family acquired the Hill name.

As I researched Almus Hill/Lentz around the internet and corresponded with other descendants, I learned that there were other versions of this legend. In one branch of the family, it was told that Almus was an out-of-wedlock child born to a Lentz girl in Ohio. To hide this birth, the wealthy Lentz family gave the newborn baby Almus to their housemaid Mary Ann Hill. They told her to take the child and raise it as her own because they never wanted to see it again. Thus, little Almus should have been a Lentz, but he became a Hill.

In another branch of the family, a similar story claimed that either the wealthy Mr. Lentz fathered a child (Almus) with a servant girl, or Almus was the son of an unmarried Lentz girl. Whatever the case, Almus lived in the Lentz home until he was 8 or 9 years old. One day, Mr. Lentz decided to free himself of this unwanted child. He gave Almus to John and Mary Ann Hill who worked for the Lentz family. The Hills were told to take the boy and leave and never to speak to anyone of this boy being a Lentz. So, Almus Lentz became Almus Hill. This version of the legend also included the adult Almus calling the Lentz family "filthy rich bastards" and saying that the Lentz family was from Austria.

In each case, these stories, told by Almus Hill to his children, were faithfully passed down through several generations to the present day.

Facts contradict the Hill/Lentz legend

Family tree researchers have never found any evidence that the Lentz stories are true. All the evidence pointed to a much less dramatic birth and childhood for Almus Hill. His parents, John Hill (1821-1849) and Mary Ann Jones (1824-1844), were married on February 26, 1843, in Trumbull County, Ohio. Almus was born on December 23, 1843. His mother Mary Ann died on June 20, 1844, of unknown causes. She was buried in Mahoning County, Ohio.

Soon after his wife's death, John Hill enlisted in the Army (4th Infantry, Company C) and was sent to Fort Scott, Kansas. When hostile relations with Mexico became war in 1846, John Hill's company was immediately sent to Mexico under the command of Zachary Taylor. In the Battle of Monterey in September, 1846, during the first day of heavy street fighting, John Hill was severely wounded. He was discharged from the Army on April 4, 1847, at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, and died on May 31, 1849. He was buried beside his wife Mary Ann in Mahoning County, Ohio.

When his father died in 1849, six-year-old Almus Hill was an orphan. We don't know who took care of him after his mother died or while his father was in the Army. We do know that Almus was living in the home of Robert and Rachel Hill of Ashland County, Ohio, in 1850. Robert Hill was Almus's uncle -- probably a great uncle. He and Rachel had just one child, a daughter who was 11 years older than Almus.

Almus grew up with Robert and Rachel in Ashland County, Ohio. He married an Ashland County girl, Lucinda Martin, and they had seven children who survived to adulthood. In the late 1870s, Almus inherited his mother Mary Ann Jones's share of Jones land in Mahoning County.

All of the facts in the above four paragraphs are supported by historic records. I'll add one comment -- Almus's role in the Robert Hill household was probably very similar to being an only child.

DNA solves the riddle

How could the documented facts about Almus Hill be so different than the faithfully remembered, faithfully retold legends about him? This question bothered me. I eventually realized that only DNA testing would ever definitively settle the Hill-or-Lentz question.

When I found a DNA study of 517 people named Hill, I wrote to the project administrator (a Mr. Hill, of course) with some questions. He suggested that a Hill male from my family contribute DNA for testing. Even if it did not match anyone at present, perhaps it would match someone in the future. Within the same DNA company, I also found a Lentz study.

I thought about it for a few months, and finally I asked my brother to contribute a sample. He graciously agreed, and I submitted the order. The sample kit arrived quickly. My brother swabbed the inside of his cheek as directed, and returned the kit to the company. Within a month, we had the results-- 35 out of 37 markers matched with Mr. Hill of California. This close of a match is considered significant. Odds were good that we shared a common ancestor within 10 generations.

I contacted the Mr. Hill of the matching DNA sample, and he confirmed that he is descended from William Hill, a younger brother of our John Hill. Our first common ancestor is Rogers Hill (1799-1883), the father of both John and William. Rogers is my great-great-great-great grandfather.

We had no matches with any Lentz DNA samples. In fact, our Hill DNA is of a different haplogroup than any of the Lentz samples. (The haplogroups are the main branches on the family tree of mankind.) Beyond that, when I submitted my brother's DNA results to a much larger database of Y-test results that includes results from various other DNA companies, we still didn't match with any Lentz DNA.

Will we ever know?

The picture is still incomplete. Why did Almus Hill tell these stories to his children? Why did he choose the name Lentz for his stories? Did he hear stories of this sort from someone else, or did he invent them on his own? Was there perhaps an earlier Lentz/Hill ancestor whose story Almus appropriated? We may never solve these mysteries, but we can thank the DNA for proving two things beyond a doubt:

• Almus Hill's father was a Hill.
• Almus Hill's father was not a Lentz.

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This article was written by Genevieve L. Netz and originally published as a blog post at  http://prairiebluestem.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-almus-hill-almus-lentz-legend.html . Copyright 2012 Genevieve L. Netz. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for attaching this article to Hill family trees as long as this entire notice is included. Any other use requires written permission. gnetz51@gmail.com

 Download a PDF of this article to include in your family tree files.

My Revolutionary Ancestors

Passionate about freedom

In preparation for an upcoming get-together with my sister and brother, I've been organizing and printing some family tree information that I think might be particularly interesting to them.

On my father's side of the family, there are several lines that go back to early colonial days in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina.  And on my mom's side of the family, some of her maternal grandmother's people were here during the same time period, in Maryland, Delaware and North Carolina. Almost all of these folks were from England originally, and several of them participated in the American Revolution.

Tonight, I made a list of our Revolutionary ancestors with a brief description of their service. I'm going to include it in the family info I'm assembling for my siblings. It's not a proper genealogical document yet because I didn't list out the sources, but I will improve it in the future.

When I counted the names on my list, I saw that we have at least ten Revolutionary patriots and/or soldiers in our family tree. I am immensely proud to be their descendant, but I am also humbled as I think of their willingness to risk their lives for the cause of freedom and independence.

I've read several of their applications for war pensions, in which they described their service, and I've decided that we have far too little respect for the American colonists who fought for freedom and independence. We say the word "sacrifice" so glibly when we talk about them, and we don't even think about what their sacrifices really were or what hardships they endured. (And that's true for all soldiers in every war, not just for my ancestors.)

I wonder if my Revolutionary ancestors would be as proud of me as I am of them. And what would they think of the nation now? The preservation of hard-won, blood-bought freedom is such an important responsibility -- am I doing my part?

Here are their names:

Four images of Revolutionary War battles
Image source and artist info

Ezra Caswell
Private for 3 years in Capt. Thomas Converse's Connecticut line, discharged at Fishkill, NY.

Smith Mapes and 
Samuel Mapes
Smith Mapes and his father Samuel Mapes were signers of the Revolutionary Pledge and both served in the Second (“South-end”) Regiment, Ulster County, New York Militia, under Colonel James McGlaghry.

Jeremiah Cory
Private in the Morris County Militia (New Jersey). The Indiana DAR* notes that he was taken prisoner during his service.

Isaac Messenger
Isaac served in Capt. Amassa Mill's Company, Connecticut Regiment, 5th Regiment of Light Horse. Seven Messenger brothers served, and all survived the war. Only one was wounded.

Reuben Martin
According to his Revolutionary War pension application, he served in Sussex County, New Jersey, militia in the company of his brother, Captain John Martin, commanded by another brother, Colonel Edmond Martin; was under Colonel Edmond Martin in the battle of the Brandywine, where he was wounded and at Germantown, and was at Middle Brook May 10, 1778, under the same brother.

Nathan Slaughter
02 Mar 1778, Subscribed to the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity (made his "A" mark) before the Hon. Richard Mason, Caroline County, Maryland. (This doesn't seems quite as illustrious an act of service as some of the others, but signing an oath of allegiance is considered an act of patriotism by the DAR* and SAR**.)

Basil Israel
Maryland Militia. Commissioned as Ensign, August 28, 1777, and served for the duration of the war in various capacities, according to SAR and family records.

John Ferry
Private in New York Continental Line, 1st Regiment, under Col. Goose VanSchaick, (according to "New York in the Revolution, page 32.) His wife, Susannah Munn, served as a nurse for part of the time that he was in service.

Susannah Munn
Field Nurse 1st Regiment, New York Continental Line.

* DAR: Daughters of the American Revolution
**SAR: Sons of the American Revolution;
(Membership in these two organizations is limited to those who can prove that an ancestor served in the American Revolution.)