On This Day - Marriage Record of David Bell & Polly Adair

"Know all men by these presents that we David Bell & James Bell are held and firmly band into the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the sum of L38 current money for the payment of which to be made good we bind ourselves our heirs & jointly and severally sealed and dated this 2nd day of March 1812.
The condition of the above obligations is such that if there be no lawful cause to obstruct the intended marriage of David Bell and Polly Adair then the obligation to be void  Else to remain in force.

Signed sealed 

In office  

M Tailsek(?)

David Bell

James Bell"

David & Polly Bell had 4 children:

• Barbara (1813-1887) married Green Lee Alley
• John Silas (1814-1878) married Rutha Simpson
• Elizabeth (1816-1863) never married
• William Beaver (1818-after 1900) married Nancy McGowan

James Bell is believed to be an older brother of David.  The marriage would most likely have happened on March 2 or soon thereafter.  

The names of the children came from various transcribed deeds that someone sent me years ago.  Those deeds are probably on line now, I need to look.  David died in 1818 at about age 24, leaving four very young children and their mother.

My Relationship to:

David Bell: Fourth Great Grandfather
Polly Adair: Fourth Great Grandmother

The lineage:
1. My Fourth Great Grandparents David & Polly Bell
2. My Third Great Grandfather John Silas Bell
3. My Great Great Grandmother Martha Bell
4. My Great Grandpa Cicero Bell
5. My Grandpa
6. My Mom
7. Me

Two Different Frank Roscoe's

Frank was a name used in my Roscoe family in two consecutive generations.  The two men are often confused in various online trees.  I've found some records to sort them out.

Frank Abraham Roscoe was a son of David A. Roscoe and Mary Crosby Fero.  He first appears with his parents in the 1870 census of Will County, Illinois at age 4, his birthplace was New York.  Ten years later they are still in Will County.  The next census record I had for him was the 1930 Clatonia, Gage County, Nebraska, although I did have the rest of the Roscoe family for the other census years.

According to his mother's obituary in May of 1923, Frank was living in Miami, Florida. Then when his brother William died in 1947, Frank was living in Salt Lake City, Utah.  My final clue was that his wife's name was Anna.  I got that information years ago from another Roscoe researcher, Ivan Roscoe, who has since passed away.  Ivan was very helpful to me getting started on this line.  So with these clues, I did more searching for this Frank and found what I believe is a good timeline for him.

1891 - This marriage record from Gunnison, Colorado could be the right Frank Roscoe.  His age would be about right with his birth year of 1867.  The wife's name is Anna, she is 6 years younger.  There is a memorial at Find A Grave for Annie Roscoe in Gunnison.  Her birth year is unknown, and no other information is given.  She died in January, 1911.

Colorado Statewide Marriage Index, 1853-2006, Family Search

1900 - Gunnison, Colorado census record shows Frank Roscoe, 33, born Jan. 1867 in New York.  He was working as a railroad conductor.  His wife is listed as "Hettie", age 29, born Oct. 1870 in Colorado.  I noticed they live next door to a "house of ill fame" with three women living there.  In 1910 I found Annie "Rosoe" living in Gunnison with her parents Thomas and Mary Williams, she was 38 and divorced.  I wonder if the house next door had anything to do with that.

1907 - October 7th.  Frank A. Roscoe married Emma Smith in Salt Lake City, Utah. Smith? He was 40 (about right), she was 34.  I'm not sure this is the same man, but...

1910 - Salt Lake City.  Frank A. Roscoe (Rascoe at Ancestry) is living with Emma Roscoe and a step-son Ernest Cox, Jr.  Frank was 50 (a little too old), born in New York, working as a bartender; Emma was 37, born in Switzerland and Ernest was 14.  I've found Emma's marriage record to Ernest Cox, and also mentions of their divorce in the Salt Lake Herald in 1903.

1920 - Frank, 53, and Emma, 47, are still living in Salt Lake City.  Ernest is no longer living with them.  Frank is a solicitor for an insurance company.  It seems like maybe selling insurance didn't set well with him and he needed a change...

1924 - If it wasn't for the mention in his mother's obituary that Frank was in Miami, I would never have thought to look for him there.  But from the Miami City Directory:

US City Directories, 1822-1995, Ancestry

1930 - Frank, age 63, was living back in Clatonia, Nebraska.  Enumerated #1, Frank was working as a cook in a restaurant.  He is listed as a widow, but I'm sure now that that is an "alternative fact".  It also states he was not a veteran and he was 21 years old when he first married.

1940 - Salt Lake City at age 74, Frank is divorced, living in Long Hotel on West So Temple.  He was born in New York, had an 8th grade education and didn't work.

1947 - According to William Roscoe's obituary, Frank was in Salt Lake City, which looks like where he spent the rest of his life.

Death Certificates, Utah State Archives

1951 - Frank died on June 5 aged 63.  The information on his death certificate was provided by Charles A. Apgar whose address was the same as Frank's.  Parents are unknown, his birth date is January 1, 1866 and place is Utica, New York.

Frank was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City.  In that same cemetery, listed at Find A Grave is Emma Baer Roscoe with it noted that she was divorced from Frank A. Roscoe at the time of her death.  And on Emma's death certificate, the informant was Ernest Roscoe.  Frank may have officially adopted his step-son, it doesn't seem that he had any children of his own.

Frank Abraham's brother William had a son he named Frank Edward.  Born in January of 1889, he lived with his family in DeWitt and later Clatonia, Nebraska.  In 1910 (he would be 21 years old) I haven't been able to find him in the census.  He served as a Fireman in the Navy during the Great War.  I don't know if he was in the service as early as 1910 and stayed in through the War.  Or I wonder if he was living with his oldest sister in Canada and that's why I haven't found him then.

In 1920, Frank E., at age 28, is single and living with his parents and one brother in Clatonia, Nebraska.  Then in 1923, Frank died at age 31 of typhoid fever on May 16.  According to his obituary, he was survived by his wife.  I haven't been able to find any marriage record.  His obit was in the DeWitt Times-News, Thursday, May 24, 1923.

I suspect that Frank's wife was from Missouri, and I've looked for a marriage record there but haven't found one.  I've also tried to find her in the 1920 census as "Era Roscoe" in case they had married earlier and were separated then.  This appeared in the DeWitt Times-News one week after the obit on May 31.

I also suspect that she was pregnant when he died and gave birth to a baby girl later in 1923.  Several years later on August 20, 1941, this appeared in the social column of Clatonia news in the Beatrice Daily Times:

If Miss Frankie Mae Roscoe is the daughter of Frank Edward, she would never have known her father.  Her mother may have remarried, but it looks like she kept the Roscoe name.  I have not been able to find anything more on Miss Frankie Mae.

If you have these Frank Roscoe's in your tree, please let me know if you question any of this.  And if you know of Miss Frankie Mae Roscoe, I'd love to hear from you.

My Relationship to:

Frank Abraham Roscoe, son of David A. Roscoe: Second Great Granduncle
Frank Edward Roscoe, son of William Harlow Roscoe: Great Granduncle

The lineage:
1. My Third Great Grandfather David A. Roscoe
2. My Great Great Grandfather William Harlow Roscoe
3. My Great Grandma Charlotte Isabelle (Roscoe) Menke
4. My Grandpa
5. My Dad
6. Me

Wedding Wednesday - March Weddings in my Family Tree

March 19th this year will be my parents' 55th wedding anniversary.   In their wedding photo album is the cutest photo - the candle lighters are holding back the bride while the maid of honor is kissing the groom on the cheek.  Everyone is playing their part well.  The candle lighters look scared, the bride looks angry and the maid of honor and the groom look like they are enjoying themselves.

They are one of 42 couples I have in my family tree who were married in March, six in my direct line.  March 17th and March 30th are the two most common dates with 4 couples each choosing that date.

Mom's Grandparents Cicero Bell & Allie (Spann) Vickery were married on March 17, 1901 in Kentucky.  This was the second marriage for both of them.  Cicero's first marriage was to Mittie Ramsey in 1891 and that marriage was also on March 17th. 

Mom's Great Grandparents, Josiah Negley & Sarah Lee, were married on March 5, 1871 in Buda, Illinois (March 5th was also her birthday).  They were married for 51 years.  Their original marriage certificate is framed and hangs in my house.

Dad has two sets of Second Great Grandparents who married in March.  First Heinrich Knapp & Caroline Schukky, were married in Germany on March 8, 1839.  Their marriage lasted until his death 53 years later.

Second James Gaisford & Anna Rich were married on March 28, 1838 in England.  At Anna's death in 1882, they had been married for over 44 years.

Dad's Seventh Great Grandparents Clement Corbin & Dorcas Buckminster of Woodstock, Connecticut were married on March 7, 1654.  Clement died during their 43rd year of marriage.

On March 31, 1657, James Bird & Lydia Steele were married in Farmington, Connecticut.  They were Dad's Eighth Great Grandparents.  Lydia died within two years, possibly from complications in childbirth.

It would be awesome to have a wedding photograph for any of these couples.  Even if it's just a plain-old pose like the bride & groom standing at the altar. 

Wedding Wednesday - Josiah & Sarah Negley's 143rd Anniversary

Sunday, March 5, 1871 Josiah Foster Negley and Sarah Maria Matilda Lee were married in Bureau County, Illinois.  That day also happened to be Sarah's twenty-second birthday, Josiah was 24.   They were married "at Mr. Negley's" by Rev. M. V. B. White, Pastor of the Buda M. E. Church.  Witnesses were Mr. George Lee & wife and Mr. C. Negley and Miss Mary Fisher. George Lee was the brother of Sarah.  Mr. C. Negley, Josiah's brother Calvin, and Miss Mary Fisher were married to each other in September that same year.

Over the next few years...

• 1872  MAY 11  son George Oscar born
• Family moved to Decatur, Iowa
• 1874  FEB 19  son Newton Joseph born
• 1877  MAY 20  daughter Alice May born
• 1880  MAR 3  daughter Sadie Ellen born  (my Great Grandma)
• 1884  OCT 9  son William Dean born
•  Family moved to Clay County, Nebraska
• 1887  AUG 7  son Newton Joseph died
• 1887  SEP 12 son Josiah David Calvin "Cal" born in Eldorado, Nebraska

In March my posts will focus on my Great Great Grandparents Josiah & Sarah Negley and their family. 

Wedding Wednesday - Charles & Henrietta Gaisford

Thursday, May 23, 1867 in Worcester, Massachusetts Charles Gaisford married Henrietta Abigail Smith.  He was 25, she was 18, it was the first marriage for both of them.  Notice Henrietta's middle initial is both A. and M. on this same document. 

How did a girl from Worcester, Massachusetts meet a man from Putnam, Connecticut? There's 30 miles between the two places.  Henrietta's father worked in an armory and Charles was a spindle maker, was there a business connection there?  Or Henrietta's Aunt Julia Bliss, who lived with her family in 1860, was a dress maker.  If Aunt Julia was in business a few years, she might have needed the services of a spindle maker.  Maybe Henrietta was an apprentice with her. 

Eleven children were born to them, Ellen died in infancy:

1. Charles Henry  (1868 - 1947)
2. Mary Ann "Maime"  (1870 - 1959)
3. Anna Maria  (1871 - 1943)
4. Emma Jane  (1874 - 1939) 
5. Carrie Matilda  (1876 - 1899)
6. Ellen Rachel  (1880 - 1881)
7. Cora Mabel  (1882 - 1971)  my Great Grandma
8. Nellie Cordelia  (1883 - 1919)
9. William Francis  (1885 - 1953)
10. Gladys Eltavine  (1888 - 1966)
11. Gertrude Henrietta  (1890 - 1986)

Charles Jr was born in Connecticut, Maime, Anna & Emma were born in Minonk, Illinois and the rest were born in Jefferson County, Nebraska.  Charles Jr moved to Oklahoma, the rest lived out their lives in Nebraska.

Charles & Henrietta were married for almost 53 years, until his death in 1920.

"Golden Wedding  

Just fifty years ago on May 23, 1867, occurred the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Gaisford and last Wednesday, May 23, their folks gathered to honor them.  Mr. and Mrs. Gaisford have nine living children, twenty-six grand children and one great grandchild all living in or near Ellis with the exception of Chas. Gaisford, Jr. who with his family resides in Oklahoma.  Those who were able to be present to help them celebrate were Mr. and Mrs. Will Gaisford and family, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Mann and family, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Carpenter and family, Mr. and Mrs. Harlan Weaver and daughter Rachel, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Amos, Grandma Carpenter of Harbine and Mrs. Orion Miller.  All enjoyed a fine dinner and ice cream and cake was served in the afternoon.  Mr. and Mrs. Gaisford have a host of friends in this vicinity who congratulate them on their long happy life together." [Source:  Beatrice Express, June 2, 1917]

Wedding Wednesday - William Roscoe & Lena Jorgenson

Thursday, May 4, 1882:  William Roscoe and Lena Jorgenson were married in Gage County, Nebraska.  A fellow Roscoe researcher sent me this photo calling it their wedding photo, but although they're wearing flowers I question that.  Maybe an engagement photo?  This was taken in Peotone, Illinois where they both lived in 1880. They moved to Nebraska (not necessarily together) sometime between the 1880 census and the 18th of March, 1882 when they filed the application for marriage in Gage County.  The home of William's parents was the site for their wedding.  Lena's family didn't move to Nebraska, I wonder if any of them attended the wedding.  Or maybe after their ceremony, Will & Lena took a trip back to Peotone and had this photo taken. 

  

John McGrath - Luck of the Irish

John McGrath died the day the Titanic hit the iceberg, April 14, 1912.  He wasn't on it. It's just interesting to note things like that.  He had been in the US for at least 55 years. Before he married Rachel Simmons in 1858, I have no record of John, but he may have been somewhere in New York.  Where they got married is a mystery.  Just like in a movie, I think they must have been married by a circuit preacher or wagon train master. 

His birth year varies on records from 1821 to 1841, but the family notes I found in the old trunk in the attic had his birth date as June 24, 1831, born in Ireland.  In the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses his birth year figures to be about 1830 and his birth place is always Ireland.  But by 1900 those stats start to change a little.  On the 1897 marriage affidavit he gives his age as 56, born in Ireland.  He was marrying a 51 year old woman, I can understand him not admitting to the age of 67.  In the 1900 census his age is 64 not 69, born in New York.  His death certificate has his age "85 yrs or there about" (81 by my math) and birth place Ireland, his son-in-law Levi Patterson provided the information. The grave stone has his birth year as 1821 which would make him 91 at his death. Incorrect information, plus the look of the grave stone, just makes me think that it was placed several years later. 

Not being able to get a marriage record, I thought I would try for some birth records of their children.  His son, Art, was born in Henry, Illinois in October of 1876.  Birth certificates were not filed in Marshall County that early.  So hoping to find a birth announcement (with no luck), I searched the Henry Republican newspaper and just happened to find this newsy paragraph from May 18, 1876. That last sentence makes me think John was a little annoyed. But this little clipping tells me that he owned land in Illinois, I'd like to find out more about that.

On a beautiful sunny September Friday in 2005, I took a rare family history vacation day and drove from Grand Island to Broken Bow on Scenic Highway 2.  It's a beautiful drive up into the Sandhills, I love it up there.  I went in to the County Clerk's office and asked to look at land records to find out if John McGrath was a homesteader.  The Clerk showed me to the dusty old books and helped me get started and soon I found the McGrath name. The Clerk gave me this plat mat and marked where the land is.   He also tried to tell me how to get there coming in from the north, but I just wasn't sure how I would really know it if I saw it.  I grew up on country roads in a very flat part of Nebraska where the roads are all laid out on a square grid.  The roads in the Sandhills don't have intersections every mile.  I sat in my car debating whether or not to take the drive.  Time wasn't a problem, and it was such a gorgeous day it would be a nice drive anyway.  Then I noticed the line that ran through the part he marked (I marked the line I'm talking about with two red marks).

 A horizontal line with like a T every so often.  It went all the way over to the road south of Oconto.  The idea came to me that maybe that line meant a railroad, so I went back into the Clerk's office and asked him. He said, "No...(major disappointment) but I think it's an overhead power line."  With a huge smile, I thanked him and set out on my road trip!  I decided to go south of Oconto and then west, the dark blue line I have marked.  Following the curves in the road to the point of his mark, and with the power lines overhead there, I was sure I had found John McGrath's homesteaded land - at least a part of it.  I stopped my car on the road and took pictures.  Normally, I would have liked not to have those power lines in the photo, but I was glad to see them that day.  Climbing over the fence and walking around did occur to me, but I was by myself and didn't know what to do with my car.  There was no where to hide it.

So I sent to the Bureau of Land Management for his Homestead claim documents.  The claim was filed in North Platte on October 12, 1888 for the East half of the Southwest quarter and lots numbered 3 and 4 of Section 18 in Township 13 North of Range 23 West of the Sixth principal meridian in Nebraska containing 151 acres and eighty-three hundredths of an acre.  He built a 20 x 22 sod house, sod stable, grainery, chicken coop, well, windmill and pump, cellar and corral.  My Mom has a photo of the Homestead taken by Solomon D Butcher, which can also be found through the LIbrary of Congress, American Memory project here.  

In this "Testimony of Claimant" form, John states he was born in New York, not Ireland as in the early census records.  He established actual residence on that property in March, 1888 with "myself, wife & boy", that would be Rachel and Art.  Question #9 is "What is the character of the land?  Is it timber, mountainous, prairie, grazing or ordinary agricultural land?  State its kind and quality, and for what purpose it is most valuable"  The written answer is "Rolling farming & grazing land & very poor at that". Now I can tell from John's signature at the bottom of the page, that someone else wrote these answers.  For some reason, I can just hear a grumpy old man telling whoever was writing it to "make sure you put that in there!"  This is his signature.

Two other men filed "Testimony of Witness" forms, Alonzo Patterson and Henry Brown. Both men answered "yes" to "Have claimant and family resided continuously on the homestead since first establishing residence thereon".  These are dated April 27, 1895. But when Rachel died in June 1896, they were residing on the "Brown & Hughes farm east of town".  Maybe they moved closer to Cozad when Rachel became ill to be closer to a doctor. The Brown of "Brown & Hughes" could be Henry Brown.  John sold the land in 1909.

I have never found an obituary for John, but I have his will.  Dated March 25, 1912, he left $1.00 to each of his 3 children and "the rest of his property of every kind and description" to his grand daughter Nellie Patterson.  Actually Nellie Patterson was a grand daughter-in-law, but I think there were 2 Nellie Patterson's and I'm not sure which one he meant.  He made no mention of his wife, Susan, she had not been living with him for seven years. But she did attempt to get her portion of his estate.  Art requested reimbursement for some medical expenses in the amount of $211.50, which seems to have been denied.  The funeral expenses totaled $69.00 for a casket, burial robe and use of a hearse.  The funeral expenses were paid, Susan got $200, the Executor's fees were $85 and Nellie Patterson received $318.25 and a promissory note for $50 payable to her.  Whether his children received their $1.00 it doesn't say. 

After finding out about his second marriage from the Will documents, I got this copy of the marriage record from Custer County.  It has John's parents as Arthur (his son's name) and "R McCarty".  Knowing his firstborn daughter's name was Mary Rebecca, I ventured a guess that the R stands for the name Rebecca.  I entered her name in my software as "R (Rebecca?)", and it's in my Rootsweb World Connect Tree that way. It's even noted that I am assuming that's her name.  I have seen a few trees in Ancestry that have her name as "R Rebecca".   

With the story about the wolves, the remark about the land being very poor and the fact that he gave his children $1 in his will, I get the impression that John McGrath could gripe about it all right along with the Walter Matthau & Jack Lemmon characters from "Grumpy Old Men".  Not as mean as the "warped, frustrated, old man" Henry F. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life!", but a guy with a pessimistic attitude.  That attitude may have made its genetic way down to me, my first reaction is most often negative.  But give me a minute to think and I might see things better.  John may not have had the best of luck in his life, but at least he didn't come over on the Titanic. 

75 Years Ago...

On Saturday, September 24, 1938, Stan Bell and Violet McGrath, my Grandparents, were married in Central City, Nebraska.  They had 32 years together, 21 years departed by death, and it's been 22 years now that they've been together again.  

This is assumed to be their "wedding" photo.  I don't know how long of an engagement they had, but it's about a 45 minute drive from Giltner or Aurora, where they each lived, up to Central City - in the next county north.  Grandma had just turned 21 on the 19th, maybe that was when he asked her.

 

County Judge, R. E. McCutchen signed the license - on a Saturday.  Thomas A. Barton, Presbyterian Minister performed the ceremony the same day.  Witnesses were Grandma's sister Mrs. Gordon (Alice) Cruff and Mrs. Thomas A. Barton. 

Looking for an announcement of their marriage in the paper, I didn't find one, but I found this paragraph about a dinner at his parents.  This was in the Aurora newspaper on September 30, was it referring to Sunday the 25th?  Why is it Violet McGrath and not Bell? Or was this dinner the week before on September 18?   Was there an announcement made there that day?   Maybe the "news" reporter just got Violet Bell's name wrong.  You can't believe everything you read in the newspapers.

Eliza (Knapp) Menke - Lived 102 years

Lived 102 years, 8 months, 17 days
Had 11 children, 5 died before her, 2 of those were infants
Survived by 6 children, 30 grandchildren 23 great-granchildren and 1 great-great grandchild 
Born May 15,1841 in Wurttemberg, Germany
Age 4 came to America
Age 26 married Henry Menke
Age 27 had her first child
Age 38 moved from Ohio to Nebraska
Age 45 had her last child
Age 74 widowed
Died  February 2, 1944 at the Anna Rohe nursing home in Lincoln.

How does someone live that long?!

Eliza's parents were Heinrich Knapp and Caroline Schukky.  She grew up in the area of Portsmouth, Ohio.  They were with a United Brethren church there, her parents are buried in St John's Lutheran Church cemetery.  She had brothers Frederick, Lewis, Henry, August and George and sisters Mary and Hannah.  Both of her sisters moved to Nebraska also and lived near her around Clatonia for several years.  Hannah married Conrad Smith and Mary married John Boggs. I've just interrupted myself writing this post by spending a couple of hours finding Mary & John Boggs in census records.  I haven't checked on her brothers, but that can wait, I want to get this finished.  I wonder how often she saw her parents after she moved to Nebraska.  They lived another 10 plus years after that.  How expensive was it to travel by train? 

Eliza married Henry Menke on January 13, 1867 in Portsmouth, Ohio and immediately became a mother to 4 children ages 2 to 11.  Henry & Eliza and their family traveled by boat on the Ohio river to Cincinnati and then took a train to Atchison, Kansas, then probably went by wagon to Clatonia, Nebraska in the spring of 1879.  If they homesteaded their land, there would have been nothing there when they arrived.  Nevertheless, it became her Tara.  She lived there well into her 90's.  As God as her witness, she never went hungry!  

She was known for her beautiful flower gardens, extensive vegetable gardens and orchards.  She had the first mechanical chick incubator and brooder and she was the earliest operator of a sorghum mill in her part of the country.  In her obituary it said "She led a life of feverish activity.  How she held up under the strain, doubtless puzzled many."

The Beatrice Times for Women, Feb. 16, 1944 included this poem in her obituary, "in the words of Rozelle Montgomery:
You are not dead - Life has but set you free!  
You have but passed beyond where we can see.  
For us who know you, dread of age is past!  
You took life, tiptoe, to the very last; 
It never lost for you it's lovely look; 
You kept your interest in its thrilling book; 
To you Death came no conqueror; 
in the end - you merely smiled to greet another friend" 

I have a picture of her, but I scanned it from a book and I probably can't post it here.  It's very grainy anyway, I don't know how to photoshop.  

So, what was her secret to long life?  Was it her strong faith?  Was it because she kept busy and was always interested in new things?  She must have had a low stress level.  At any rate, she kept breathing for 102 years!