Found the Holy Grail!

The genealogical Holy Grail for any Caucasian in America is to prove a claim as a Mayflower descendant.  I've been burned once - I thought I'd found a connection but had to delete it because I was unable to verify the facts with 100% certainty.  But with so many of our ancestors living in prominent colonial settlements, I was sure that we must have a Mayflower ancestor somewhere!  I have been very careful about my sources this time.  Finally, I've discovered a connection in my mother's maternal line to several Mayflower passengers!

John Howland m. Elizabeth Tilley (both Mayflower passengers) > Ichabod Bosworth > Benjamin Bosworth > Benajah Bosworth > Joseph Bucklin Bosworth > Orlando M. Bosworth > Eva L. Bosworth > Teresa/Ethelyn Allen > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

John Howland

I traced our line back through the Bosworths and found John Howland, who is my 8th great grandfather and an original signer of the Mayflower Compact.  He came over as a manservant to Governor John Carver.  We are descended from John through his daughter Hannah.

The official history can be found here:  http://mayflowerhistory.com/howland/

"Howland Overboard," a painting by maritime artist Mike Haywood.  

A painting called Howland Overboard depicts a famous event in which John fell overboard and clung to a halyard until the sailors were able to rescue him with a boat-hook.

The presidents Bush and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt are also descended from John Howland.



The Tilley Family

John Howland was married to Elizabeth "Bridget" Tilley, who was about twelve when she came over on the Mayflower with her parents, John Tilley and Joan Hurst Tilley.  John, also a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and Joan Tilley both died in their first winter in Plymouth, leaving Elizabeth an orphan.  She is buried in Ancient Little Neck Cemetery in Providence, R.I.  The Hursts were originally from Holland... yet another line of descent from the Netherlands for my mother's line.

Sideways on the family tree

Much of my ancestry research is focused on the direct line of descent.  I have deliberately omitted siblings of ancestors because it is hard enough to follow all of the thousands of leads for the ones that lead directly to me!  But I am very aware of the importance of sibling relationships and their descendants' importance in my research.  I have "met" several distant cousins in this process and it is thrilling to see where our family tree has branched out in this country.  There is something about cousins that touch our hearts in a special way.

There are many syrupy platitudes about cousins out there, and every word of it is true.  Our first cousins, and sometimes our 2nd and 3rd if we are lucky enough to know them, have a special place in our lives that no other relative can claim.  They are our contemporaries, but not necessarily our peers. The relationship is intimate, but not close enough to be dysfunctional or damaging.  Friendship may or may not be there, but the love and affection are true.  You may not see or talk with a cousin for years, but when you need them, you can count on them to be there for you. You reconnect without missing a beat.  There are no pretenses, because cousins know the real you.  They know things about you that no one else on earth knows.  The same blood flows through our veins, and that makes us forever joined in the bond of common history.

Aunts and Uncles also have an important place in our lives.  They are the ones who love you pretty much as a parent does, but with a little more objectivity.  They can afford to be fun and affectionate without having to discipline.  We view our family through our aunts and uncles with different eyes.  They can be a sounding board when we need perspective.  Through them, we can intimately experience a different version of home life, giving us more choices for our own futures.  Sometimes our aunts and uncles have played a significant role in our upbringing. They can be what a parent cannot... a friend. Watching my son proudly show off his new house to his ever so caring aunt and uncle put a lump in my throat.  How much more precious did his achievement become with the extended family's blessing?  It cannot be measured.

My cousin Barry loves family more than anyone I know.  He goes out of his way to visit family members all over the country.  He cares about their lives.  He connects with them in a personal way and makes them feel important by remembering details about their lives.  He loves nothing more than to discuss family, and can talk for hours, reminiscing and telling funny stories about our common childhood and about the elders in the family. I appreciate these types of relationships - my cousins - more and more as the years go by.  I am deeply grateful that my children (and future grandchildren) have the opportunity to experience this kind of enriching bond in their lives.

Corolla Lighthouse and other Outer Banks connections

Austin family lore tells about young Raymond Kelly, who put a homemade parachute on an unfortunate cat and launched it from the top of the Currituck lighthouse.  The cat ended up far down the beach.  This story cannot be verified, but there has to be a grain of truth.  We don't know the connection to the lighthouse keeper.  There are Austins who were keepers for generations, and an Ansell was assistant in the 1800's, but there is no known relationship to the family.

From Mike:

According to the family historian, there is no way to verify the cat story…and unless the lighthouse keeper was a distant relative or a family friend with a different last name, there is no connection…we did have ancestors that were stationed at the Wash Woods lifesaving station… Wash Woods has been verified…story about his wife feeling the cottage moving …turns out the local wild horses were scratching their butts on the outside of the place…

In that my grandfather, the parachute kid, was a Kelly, it is my assumption that the keeper at that time was a Kelly but I am probably wrong…My grandmother was an Ansell, and they resided in the Hickory area of Chesapeake…

When Mike and his brothers were growing up, his aunt Shirley Petty (nee Kelly) owned a tiny cottage at Duck by the water tower, where the Austin family would spend summer vacations with their cousins in the 1960's. The cottage was later moved a few hundred feet away and has been transformed into a quaint gift shop, sitting in the middle of a popular shopping area.

Croffords from then to now

1806 Calvin V. Crawford was born in New York.  His Scottish born father, Horace, was known as the "Genesee Valley Millwright."   Milling was a major industry along the Genesee River.  Today, "Crawford" is a recognized name in Rochester.

1815 Anna Dillingham was born in Ohio.  Her family moved to Porter County, Indiana in 1836.  She married Daniel Lyons in 1837 and taught school in her father John Dillingham's home.  The Dillingham name is still important in Liberty and many descendants still live near the old family graves.

                                           

1839 Calvin Crawford married Anna in Porter County, Indiana.  He joined the military (Army enlistment states his birthplace as Vermont).  At some point, the spelling of his name changed to Crofford.

1846 Horace Calvin Crofford, the fourth of Calvin and Anna's seven children, was born  (2 of their children died young).

1860 Calvin and Anna moved to Rochester, Missouri, with their children Angeline, Chester, Horace, and Charles, and then moved to Lancaster, Nebraska.

1863 Horace Calvin Crofford was drafted into the cavalry during the Civil War.  His discharge was signed by U. S. Grant.

1864 Calvin Crofford received a Homestead grant of about 154 acres in Lincoln, Nebraska.  His son, Horace Calvin, was one of the witnesses to his settlement in the area, along with Sidney S. Pratt.  They attested that "he has built a house thereon, about 16 + 30 feet with board floor, two doors, and one window. He has since said settlement ploughed and cultivated about 70 acres of said land, and has made the following improvements thereon to wit:  has built a stable for 7 or 8 horses, a grainery and corn crib, dug a well, planted about 500 forest trees, and set out about 80 roads of hedge."  NOTE: this is where the name was first changed from Crawford to Crofford. It was actually crossed off and re-written on the Homestead document. 

1876 Little Big Horn.  Ada Clemina Hall, a school teacher at Fort Lincoln, wrote a paper in defense of Custer.  The Fort was abandoned in 1882.

Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory

By 1880, Horace Calvin Crofford was working as a quartz miner in Custer County, Dakota Territory.  He married Ada Hall in 1891.  Horace became a respected sheep rancher and county commissioner in Custer.

 

Horace Calvin Crofford in the late 1800's

1894 Horace and Ada's first child, Horace's namesake, was born in Buffalo Gap, South Dakota.

1895, claiming self defense, Horace killed a young rancher in a dispute over grazing land near Lame Johnny Creek.  He turned himself in to the authorities, and was held by the sheriff at Custer. The family moved to nearby Newcastle, Wyoming, where Ada ran a boarding house to support the family.

Newcastle, Wyoming around 1905
http://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/newcastle-wyoming

1907 Ada's father Andrew Hall signed over to Ada the title to farmland in Weston County (near Newcastle). Horace raised stock and the three boys worked on the farm.  During this period Ada worked on several patented inventions.

My grandfather told lots of stories about life in the west.  One time, a horse broke into the feed storage in the middle of the night and ate a belly full of oats.  The oats swelled and the horse had to be kept moving all night long, everyone taking turns walking him in order to aid digestion and save his life.  

An influential event in my grandfather's life gave birth to a lifelong interest in rocks and fossils.  Near their home in Newcastle, Barnum Brown, a famous paleontologist known as "Mr. Bones," discovered the first documented remains of Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1902.  Family lore is that dinosaur bones were found on the family homestead.       ~Teresa Austin

Barnum Brown and his Tyrannosaurus Rex

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/the-bone-collector








1916 Horace died (in Missouri, according to Findagrave.com), leaving Ada dependent on her oldest son, Horace, who was a telegrapher for the railroad.

1917 at the age of 22, Horace enlisted in the army. He was in Normandy during WWI.  He was discharged in 1919.  He was an electronics student at the American Bureau of Engineering (AMBU) Institute in Chicago, which is across the intersection from Mercy Hospital, on Prairie Avenue.  It is possible that this is where he met a nurse, Teresa Marie Allen.

Horace, 3rd from the right, front row

Teresa Allen

Mercy Hospital, Chicago 1910

AMBU Institute in Chicago, across from Mercy Hospital 

Interesting fact:  Mercy Hospital was named for the Sisters of Mercy.  Teresa lived in a boarding school and was trained as a nurse in Paris, Texas by the Sisters of Mercy at St. Joseph Hospital.  From a history of St. Joseph:  "The origin of St. Joseph's Health System dates to 1896 when the Sisters of Mercy operated a 16-bed hospital in a boarding school near downtown Paris, Texas. But a lack of funds forced the Sisters to give up their mission in 1910."

The Sisters of Mercy also had a hospital in Oklahoma City, where Teresa was working in 1920. The question is, how did she end up moving to Mercy Hospital in Chicago?  Whatever the reason, she probably moved to Chicago, possibly with her friend and fellow nurse, Maud Marshall.  Stay tuned....

Sources:
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/813.html
http://www.christushealth.org/EarlyinCHRISTUSStJosephsHistorySistersStruggletoEstablishParisTexasHospital


In 1921, the Sisters of Mercy took over a World War I Veterans’ Dispensary to offer medical and surgical services to the poor. http://www.mercy-chicago.org/legacy/history

1926 Horace and Teresa married. They moved to West Washington Street, Waukegan, where their children, Horace Calvin "Sonny" and Virginia Maude, were born at St. Therese Hospital.  Sonny and Virginia attended Spaulding Elementary School.  Teresa worked as a nurse at the office of Dr. Jolly, an ear, nose, and throat doctor.  Horace tried his hand in politics but jobs were hard to find after the war.

Horace with Sonny and Virginia

                                                                     
1942  In search of employment, Horace and Teresa moved with their family to Virginia.  Upon their arrival, they lived with friend Ed Suitor in Portsmouth.  Then they moved into a house in Norfolk.  Sonny attended Norview High School.  Virginia graduated from Maury High School in 1950.

Sonny worked all his adult life for the telephone company.  He married Jean Strong; they had four children, Calvin, Ronney, Cindy, and Mark.

1952 Virginia Crofford married John Beverly Zaun.  They had two daughters, Holly and Teresa.  Virginia taught piano, worked as secretary to a prominent and beloved congressman, was the administrative assistant to the Virginia Beach chief of detectives, and finally became Administrative Assistant to the director of city planning. Holly had three children:  Justin, Leah, and Reed Bernick.  Teresa had four sons: Adam, Joshua, Jonathan, and Andrew Austin.

Note: my grandfather Horace, who I called Baba, used to play mouth harp and harmonica, and sing songs like Yellow Rose of Texas, She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain, and Red River Valley.  I see now that those songs are directly out of his experience in the Old West. There is a Red River Valley in Fargo, ND, where his mother grew up, as well as in Paris, TX, where my grandmother Teresa grew up.

Meeting new cousins

Every now and then, you begin to notice that someone on Ancestry seems to really know what they are doing. They are the ones who read and comment on information posted by others, and who have many documented sources on their family tree. Tim Cole from Porter County, Indiana, commented on one of my Dillingham stories. We started a conversation and here is his message:

timcole: My ggg-grandfather married Sally Dillingham, John's first child by Hannah. I live half a mile away from where John last lived and is buried in front of Olcott's house (still standing). The Coles and Dillinghams bought a section of land each, next to each other, in 1835, and descendants from both families still live on portions of those properties. According to what I can piece together, we are first cousins, several times removed.

Tim urged me to contact a David Dillingham Wiltshire, who is active in researching the Dillingham family and has organized a family group of descendants. So I sent this through Facebook:

Dear David,
Tim Cole urged me to write to you about my Dillingham connection and to request to join your family group. Anna Dillingham of Porter County, Indiana was my 2nd great grandmother. She married Calvin V. Crofford in 1839 (her second marriage). Their son Horace Calvin Crofford m. Ada C. Hall; their son Horace Calvin Crofford was my grandfather. The Croffords ended up in Norfolk, Virginia where my mother grew up. My family and my mother's brother's family still live in the area.

Here is her profile on my family tree in Ancestry:
Anna Dillingham (Lyons)
Your 2nd great grandmother
Birth 29 Sept 1815 in Ohio, USA
Death 13 Apr 1900 in Fall River County, South Dakota, USA

I have traced the Dillingham line back to the 1400's with some degree of confidence. I would be interested in confirming some of my information.

I look forward to hearing from you!

In my ancestry documents is a transcript of the Dillingham family Bible which details births, deaths, and marriages of the Dillinghams.

Croffords and Dillinghams and the travails of pioneer life

Our story goes back to Calvin V. Crofford, b. 1806.  I have found plentiful documentation on Calvin's life, but nothing about his parentage.  There is family lore about his father (possibly Horace Crofford or Crawford) from Scotland.  Ada Crofford wrote about Horace Crawford settling in the Genessee Valley in NY, who was known as the "Genessee Millwright." Calvin's wife, Anna Dillingham, is easy to trace, though there are questions about the identity of her grandparents.

John Dillingham > Anna Dillingham (m. Calvin Crofford) > Horace C. Crofford > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

The most important documentation of the Crofford/Dillingham connection is the 1850 census from Porter, Indiana (see below).  It was a thrill to stumble upon the Crofford (Crawford) name while researching the Dillinghams!

The most colorful stories are linked in Ancestry to Anna's father John Dillingham, my 3rd great grandfather.  Here are some highlights:

• He was born in 1773, in New England (possibly Rhode Island, Connecticut, or Massachusetts - his father's family was from Cape Cod).
• His mother was a Quakeress.
• He was a seaman in his youth, once surviving a storm in which the men cast lots to see who would be sacrificed to feed the rest.  Thankfully, they were rescued by another ship near Hartford, CT.
• At age 21 he married Clarissa Olcott and had six children, all of whom died (two of them in the Fire Lands, part of the western reserve of Connecticut in what is now Ohio).
• He was enlisted to fight the Indians under General Wayne. He had many hairbreadth escapes from the Indians, as described in the stories.
• After his discharge, he returned to Connecticut with his little family, but later moved west to Genesee County in New York (until 1809), and then to the area near Cleveland, Ohio. 
• He married Hannah Hiccox (cousin of Wild Bill) of Cleveland, and had 14 - 15 children, most of whom died at birth. Among them were Sally, Ann, John, Hannah, Betsey, King, Esther, Olcott, and Comfort.
• John and his son, Henry, served in the War of 1812.  Afterward they worked as mail carriers on the route between Cleveland and General Harrison at Camp Seneca, surviving more close calls with Indians.
• In 1836, he pioneered by wagon train to Porter Co., Indiana where he died at age 90. 

The descendants of the Dillinghams play an important part in the history of Liberty Township and still populate this ancestral home.  The eastern third of Liberty Township in Porter County was known as the "Dillingham Settlement."  Liberty Township was a quiet and law-abiding community in spite of frequent episodes with Indians, fires, storms, and train wrecks.  John was known for sheltering "wayfaring men" as there was no inn.

Interesting notes:  
1) a history of Liberty Township mentions a "William Crawford" who owned land in the northeast part of the town (Calvin V's relation?).  
2) There is a Crawfordsville, Indiana  (Text, p. 59.) established in 1823 (Wickipedia) and named after Colonel William H. Crawford from Virginia.  Coincidence? I think this is different family, but still...
3) Several sources list John Dillingham as a "Welshman." One source says that John and Hannah were natives of "Wales and Connecticut respectively."I have not found evidence of his Welsh heritage, but it makes me wonder about the accuracy of my research.  
4) Hannah's last name can be spelled many different ways, making research a challenge... Hiccox, Hickok, Hekok, Hitchcock...

The history of Porter Country documents the marriage of Anna Dillingham to Daniel Lyons in 1837 and tells us that Anna taught school in her father's house (eight or nine students).   In 1839, she married Calvin Crawford, who was one of the first settlers of the nearby Jackson Township.  They had five children:  Angeline, Cylinda, Chester, Horace (my great grandfather), and Charles.  Many young men from Liberty fought for the Union in the Civil War (including my great grandfather Horace Crofford).  

1850 Census for Porter, Indiana.  My great grandfather Horace was three years old.

Lukhard

My dad's cousin "Teeny" shared some of her recollections of  family on a recent visit with me.  Her mother,  Miriam, was my grandmother's sister.  Her father was Herman Leslie Lukhard, Sr.

Ida Rene Abbott > Jacqueline D. Abbott > John B. Zaun > Teresa Zaun Austin.
Miriam Edith Abbott, sister of Jacqueline D. Abbott, married Herman L. Lukhard).
Miriam E Abbott > Miriam "Teeny" Lukhard > Robin Rachael Vaughan.

Herman Leslie Lukhard
Herman did not have a high school education, but became one of the most successful businessmen in Richmond.  From a job at the corner grocery store sweeping floors at age 17, he worked his way up to the meat department, training to become a butcher.  Eventually he went in with a partner and opened the first Lukhard's Market in Richmond.  The business grew to six stores which were managed by family members.

Lukhard's Market, Westbury Shopping Center

From Style Weekly, Jan. 1 1980: "The 12,000-square-foot building at 400 Libbie Ave. once was home to a beloved neighborhood grocery, Lukhard's Fine Foods. Lukhard's closed five years ago. Nonetheless, neighbors still refer to the site as Lukhard's, never as Rite Aid, the chain drugstore that replaced it."
Herman raised various animals for the store.  Once he got up in a tree to teach the turkeys how to roost so they would be safe from predators.  Did you ever wonder why turkeys are transported in crates? Uncle Herman loaded turkeys one day in the back of a truck and went in to grab lunch.  When he came back out, the frightened turkeys were piled up in one end of the truck and half of them were dead.  He frantically threw them out of the truck and tried to resuscitate as many as possible, but was largely unsuccessful.  Hard lesson.

I remember when they raised pigs on the farm, and my Aunt Miriam calling out, Soooieee!  Soooieee!  All the pigs would come running up from the wooded area around the pond.  A little runt piglet was given to Teeny's daughter Robin to raise.  The piglet became a pet, but somehow, tragically, it got into the truck with the pigs going to market.

Lukhard's was part of the Richfood co-op, which enabled small independent grocers in the Richmond area to compete with large chain supermarkets.  When Herman retired, Lukhard's was passed on to his sons.  His oldest son Dee bought his brother out.  When Dee's daughter Lindsey died in 1979, he sold two of the stores, closed the remaining four stores and retired from the grocery business.

Dee, Herman, and Miriam 1931

Herman's struggle with alcohol came to a head after Teeny's husband Kenneth died unexpectedly at age 47. Once, when Herman started to drive off in his car, Teeny told him that she would call the police if he drove. He said, "If you do, I'll never speak to you again."  She said, "Okay, if that's the way it has to be.  I'm still going to do it."  He said, "You ARE my daughter, aren't you?"  He gave her the keys, went in the house and took a nap.

Herman loved to invest in land.  He purchased a piece of property in the mountains and donated it to his beloved Battery Park Christian Church to use as a camp.  He bought Spring Green Farm in 1957 from the Tillman family, who were descendants of the original builder.  (The main house was built in 1778).  When Herman died, all of his assets were tied up in land, so in order to pay expenses and support Miriam, half of Spring Green farm was sold to his son Dee.

Approximate boundaries of Spring Green Farm in Old Church.  The main house and ten acres was sold outside the family, and the rest is parceled out to family members.

Robin Racheal Vaughan
Teeny related several stories about her daughter Robin's escapades as a child.  Robin had a habit of hiding or running away and causing widespread panic.  When she was very little, she locked herself in the bathroom and would not answer when her mother called.  Teeny picked up a deck of cards that Robin had been forbidden to play with, and sat on the floor outside the bathroom door, passing the cards under the door one a time.  Silently, the cards would be pushed back out under the door.  Teeny used that tactic until Uncle Kenneth came home and unlocked the door.

Robin (painting by Miriam Lukhard)

Another time Robin went missing, causing panic for hours while people searched all over the farm and everywhere.  Uncle Kenneth came home from work and went to use the bathroom before joining the search.  A small voice from behind the shower curtain said, "Hi Daddy." Robin was wrapped up in the shower curtain with nothing showing, not even her feet.  She knew she was forbidden to be in the bathroom when Daddy was doing his business, so she knew she needed to make her presence known.

Some kids from church came to spend the day on the farm.  They took turns riding Robin's pony Stardust while Robin led them down the road.  Stardust got stubborn and would not come home.  When it started to get dark and the parents came to pick up their kids, they were nowhere to be found.  Once again, a search party was formed. Robin was brought home in the back of a police car, past the long line of parents' and searcher's cars parked along on the road.  The church kids followed behind, leading the pony with two astride.

Another time, when Robin was found after being missing for a while, she said indignantly, "I know where I am!" This quote was used at her funeral.

Stardust, Robin's pony

John Beverly Zaun

My father died way too young.  He had been having some heart trouble for a while, but he should not have died when he did.  The doctor found some abnormalities in a stress test and sent him home anyway instead of admitting him to the hospital.  He did not make it through the night.  His untimely death had a grievous impact on everyone who knew him.  He was one of those people whose deep love of family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers created powerful bonds of affection.  He captivated everyone around him with his penchant for storytelling, friendly teasing, and his uncanny ability to relate to most anyone.  

John, or "Bev" as his family called him, was born in 1930 in Richmond, Virginia.  During the Depression his father, Ernie, moved to Norfolk to seek employment, leaving his wife and young child to stay with family.  Ernie rented a room in a boarding house on 10th Street in Ocean View, finding work as a bookkeeper at Dalton and Bundy Lumber Company.  Mother and son later joined him in Norfolk.  This was a traumatic move for them as family ties to Richmond were strong.  There were frequent letters and trips between Norfolk and Richmond that continued into succeeding generations.

Richmond kinfolk. Top:  John, Teeny, and Dee.  Middle:  Zaun family.  Bottom:  Dee and Bev.

The Zaun family lived in an apartment on 35th Street where John attended J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School, Blair Junior High School, and graduated from Maury High School in 1948.  He was a boy scout (Ernie was the scout leader).  He built his own motorbike, which fell apart underneath him in the street, as witnessed with glee by his then future wife and friend from a school window.  His close friends were inseparable - Harold Thumm, Bobby Brockington, Streeter Morrisette, and Bobby Twiddy.  

John "Bev" and friends in Norfolk

After graduation from high school, John and his friend Bobby Brockington took off for Florida.  They worked in Miami for a time as switchboard operators for a hotel (where, as it turns out, they unwittingly arranged "business" appointments for prostitutes).  I remember him telling a story about falling asleep at the wheel of his early model automobile and driving into a swamp.

with Bobby Brockington in Miami

For two years, John went to a technical institute, Norfolk division of the College of William and Mary.  He got a job with WTAR-TV as a cameraman in the beginning days of television.  He was promoted to videotape technician, and eventually became an engineer.  He retired as the chief engineer of WTAR and WLTY radio after a 40+ year career with Landmark Communications.  He approached his job as he did everything else in life - with optimism, commitment, and passion.  

  

TV commercial filmed at our house.

John loved his work but his preferred occupation was fishing.  He always owned some kind of boat - always a very practical boat, no frills - to transport him and a fishing buddy to favorite fishing holes in Back Bay, Suffolk, and Chickahominy.   He loved all kinds of seafood, and was known to cut open a clam he found at the beach and eat it right on the spot.  His lifelong fishing buddy was school chum Harold Thumm, who later became his coworker and next door neighbor.  But John went fishing with whoever would agree to go -  neighbor Floyd Edge, nephew Calvin, or one of his beloved coworkers Joe Perkins, George Ramsey, and Jeff Dane.  Jeff Dane hosted a long-running local television show on WTAR-TV Channel 3 called "Tacklebox" which sometimes featured their fishing adventures.  He also worked on a fishing show hosted by Joe Perkins for many years.  When John first asked Virginia Crofford for a date, it went something like this:  "If I can't find someone to go fishing with me, would you like to go out on Friday?"  She should have known....

Caught his limit.

John's second favorite occupation was tinkering around with anything mechanical or electronic.  He had an impressive, well organized (though greasy) collection of tools, hardware, and gadgets.  Everything was kept for parts, nothing wasted.  He could fix or build most anything, and would attempt any project that caught his fancy.  He even took up sewing once just to prove he could.  His methods were not always the neatest or the safest, but the end product was usually admirable.  

He must have taken some time off of fishing because he married Virginia in April 1952.  They bought a tiny little house on Brest Avenue in Norfolk where their two daughters were born.  In 1959, his father Ernie died tragically at age 49 of preventable complications from gall bladder surgery.  This was devastating to the family and forced John to become responsible for his mother who was naive and inexperienced about financial affairs.  John once physically threw an unscrupulous suitor out of her house on Witchduck Road by the scruff of the neck.  

He was an actively-engaged, fun, and affectionate father.  He was easy to talk to about anything in the world.  His daughters had the best school projects, the biggest backyard bonfires, the most wonderful garden vegetables in the summer, and the coolest recreational equipment of anyone around.  He made us the very first ever skateboards (from old roller skates), piped stereo music to the back porch (before stereos were portable), built a magnificent ping pong table, installed various high jumps and monkey bars between the trees in the backyard, and created pet enclosures for an ever changing menagerie.  The neighborhood kids all wanted to hang out at our house.  

Ride 'a horsie!

His grandchildren were the center of his universe.  He loved them passionately and without reserve, and they all felt it.  It is heartbreaking to think that they could not have had more time with him.  The loss cannot be measured.  

PawPaw in his glory.  

Abbott & Sons Piano Factory, Fort Lee, NJ

Here are some bits and pieces of information about the Abbott Family Piano Company in New Jersey sent to me by Matthew Weismantel, great great grandson of Whitfield Barrie Abbott (which makes him my 3rd cousin):

Bryants and Abbots
My (Matthew's) Grandmother was Margaret Weismantel nee' BRYANT whose mother was Rebecca Godfrey Curtis Bryant nee' Abbott (daughter of Whitfield Barry ABBOTT & Gertude CLAYTON) and whose father was William Thomas BRYANT (son of Eley BRYANT and Margaret COBB). The Abbotts started in America John C. ABBOTT (1809-1898) who manufactured pianos both in NYC and Fort Lee, NJ.

• Born in London in about 1815, John Abbott immigrated to New York with his brothers James, Nathaniel, Abiel, and William to manufacture pianos. John Abbott first apprenticed with the firm of R & W Nunns. He opened his first shop in 1835, at only twenty years of age, at 66 Walker Street in New York City. His pianos were exhibited at The American Institute Fair in both 1835 and 1836, and they were awarded medals at both exhibitions. Abbott quickly gained popularity and a stellar reputation for his instruments. It seems that John Abbott went into general business and left the piano industry before 1850. His brothers James Abbott and William Abbott continued building action parts for pianos in New Jersey under the name of Abbott & Sons.

• In Spillane’s History of the American Piano-Forte, published in 1890: “John Abbott, a graduate from the shop of R&W Nunns, began business at 66 Walker Street, NY in 1832, and became very successful immediately from the standpoint of making reputable instruments. In 1835 John Abbott took the gold medal at the Mechanic’s Institute for a piano-forte which won special mention. In 1836 he moved to 267 Bowery. Mr. Abbott exhibited a grand piano in this year which won the second premium at the Mechanic’s Institute. This clever piano make is yet living and is a member of a family whose connections with the trade has been of long standing. James Abbott of Abbott and Sons, is a brother and was connected with him in 1833 when he began business on Walker St., and is the youngest of the Abbott Family of piano makers.”

• ABBOTT. London-born makers in New York, NYand Fort Lee, NJ. John Abbott (b. London, 1815-d. after 1890) apprenticed with R&W Nunns in New York; in 1832 he opened a workshop at 66 Walker Street (Spillane). Spillane reported that John Abbott won a gold medal for one of his pianos at the American Mechanics’ Institute Fair in 1835, and the following year he won a silver medal for a horizontal, not square, grand piano. In 1836 his address was 267 Bowery. Abbott apparently opened the firm of Abbott & Sons in Fort Lee, NJ, possibly as early as 1836; although the date is uncertain, he is known to have been working in New Jersey by 1839. http://antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/abbott/

• John had three brothers, all of whom were active as piano makers, Nathaniel B. Abbott was listed as a maker during the 1840's, but later he turned to other occupations; he became first a policeman, then a carpenter. James Abbott (b London, 1825) worked with his brother John in 1833 on Walker Street in New York and in the firm of Abbott & Sons about 1839 in Fort Lee. James lived at a hotel owned by John in Hackensack, NJ; he was active in the business until 1860, according to Kaufman. William Abbott (b. London, 1816-d 1889) also worked with John in Fort Lee in 1850. Abiel, another brother, operated during that year a piano dealership in NY; he lived in Jersey City. Spillane state that all four of the Abbott brothers were trained at R & W Nunns.

• It is my (Sylvia Abbott) impression that the Abbott family was a large one and branched out to perhaps many other states. I have no records of this. My ancestor, James, had a small piano making business in Edgewater, bought property in Fort Lee in 1850 where piano actions were made in his home. In 1872 Abbott Piano Factory opened off Lemoine Ave. In 1953 the building was sold and has since been torn down to make way for the new Port Authority Building on South Marginal Rd.

• According to Margaret Weismantel, John C. Abbott died pushing Bonnie Cowen up a flight of stairs in a baby carriage. Now that I have dates for his death in Dec 1898 and Bonnie Cowen's birth in August 1895 this certainly plausible.

Charles Bryant, a "dapper fellow"
On another note, from Matthew Weismantel: "My aunt has been asking me if I have any information about a Mariah BRYANT who she remembers owning a boarding house in Ocean Grove, NJ. The only Mariah I have come across was in your photo on-line with Charles Bryant.

l to r:  Mariah, Ida Rene Abbott, Addie Fletcher, and Charles Bryant.
Possibly taken on the occasion of Charles and Mariah's wedding? This photo had to have been taken around 1910, which is after their mother Margaret died on a train... after "the rift." 

My aunt later remembered that there was a Charles Bryant who was married to a Mariah and owned a piano store on Broad Street in Newark, NJ -- strange since it was the Abbotts who owned a piano factory.

Research Gets Harder

At first this ancestry project took off like a rocket.  Though I was only able to work on it in my spare time, the pace of progress fueled my motivation.  Every day I would discover some new link to the past.  Progress got a tremendous boost when I was able to connect online with new-found cousins who were also researching our family history.

After months of research, the project moved forward only in fits and starts.  New discoveries happened just often enough to keep me motivated.  Sometimes a closer look proved my former findings to be questionable as I checked my facts more carefully.  Progress sometimes took a few steps backwards.

It is now well into Year Two of this ancestry project.  It is becoming tedious work.  A new bit of information is a rare treasure.   Every now and then, I choose an ancestor and do an exhaustive search online.  At least once a month, I look for inspiration for a blog entry.  My main focus now is to try to make sense of all the accumulated information.

The next steps are to add more of my family's "hard copy" information and do more research outside of the online environment.  I will look for family documents, analyze them, and scan them into the records.  I will interview the few remaining folks in the generation before me to flesh out the facts with stories.  I will study historical records and read accounts of the places and events that personally affected my ancestors' lives.  Now is where the real detective work begins.

The goal of this project is to provide as complete a genealogy as possible for my children.  I want them to have all of the family stories, pictures, and documents within my reach, to be able to put names and faces to our family's history.

Ada C. Crofford

My great grandmother, Ada Clemina Hall, was born on July 18, 1856 in Chittenango, New York.

Ada C. Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Ada's family (parents, Andrew and Olivia, Ada, and her siblings, Nina and Albert) traveled west and settled in the Dakota Territory sometime before 1876.  Their home was near Bear Butte Creek at the northern edge of the Black Hills (near what is now Sturgis).  Her father was a farmer and her mother kept house, perhaps with her daughter Nina's help.  A young man, Jesse, boarded with them and shared the work of farming.  Albert most certainly worked on the farm as well.  Ada became a teacher.

Ada taught school at Fort Lincoln in North Dakota, and was friends with General Custer's wife, Elizabeth, who was about ten years older than Ada.  Family legend has it that Ada was teaching school at Fort Lincoln on the day that Custer and his men left to fight the Battle of Little Big Horn in May 1876.  Ada later wrote a paper defending General Custer which is now housed in a museum in Newcastle, Wyoming.

"Mrs. Crofford was a school teacher at Ft. Abraham Lincoln and was a friend of General Custer's wife Elizabeth. She came to the Black Hills to teach in 1876." From the obituary of her daughter, Miriam Darrow printed in "Bits and Pieces" Newcastle, Weston, Wyoming, Vol. 4 No. 1, 1968

Ada married Horace C. Crofford in 1891 at age 34. They had three children born in South Dakota - Horace, age 5, Oliver, age 4, and "Abraham" (Abram), age 2.  The census indicates that she had another child that did not survive.  By 1900, they had moved across the line into Wyoming, just south of Newcastle. Daughter Miriam was born in 1902.

Ada holding Miriam, born in 1902.

In 1907, Ada's father Andrew Hall signed over to her the title to farmland in Weston County, in the Newcastle area.  Horace raised stock, and the three boys worked as laborers on the home farm.

Ada was an consummate inventor.  In 1905, she patented a design for an insect trap.  This design has been referenced by other inventors until as recently as 2012.  In 1906, she patented a signal attachment for a life preserver that would make a person in distress visible from a distance.  In 1918, she patented a method for sealing jars of preserves.   In 1923, she patented a mechanism to automatically release the thread tension in a sewing machine.

She was also a writer and historian.  Her story "Pioneer days in North Dakota" was published in the 1923 North Dakota Historical Quarterly.  I wonder if she was inspired by her friendship with "Libbie" Custer who supplemented her widow's pension by writing books about life on the plains.  http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/elizabeth-bacon-custer/12030

The Shakespeare of the Netherlands

Joost Van Den Vondel, my maternal 7th great grandfather, was a 16th century poet and playwright who produced some of the greatest works of Dutch literature.  His allegorical plays drew from Christian themes and reflected his religious and political views.  He "holds the record for the longest tradition of annual performance in Europe." (Brill)  John Milton drew inspiration from Vondel's tragedy of Lucifer, introduced in 1654.  You can read the play HERE.   

Joost Van Den Vondel > Joost Van Den Vondel > Johannes Van Den Vondel (Wandell) > Jacob Wandell > Capt. Jacob Wandell > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada C. Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

NOTE: this link has not been professionally verified. Working on it!

From the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia:  

"He is the greatest poet the Netherlands have produced, one who is distinguished in every form and who occupies a place among the best poets of all time."

As a legacy, Amsterdam's biggest park, the Vondelpark, bears his name, as well as his statue in the northern part of the park. The Dutch five guilder banknote bore Vondel's portrait from 1950 until its discontinuation in 1990.

Ranchers feud

The story is that my maternal great grandfather Horace Crofford spent a year in jail for murder.  There was a feud over grazing land between the sheep rancher (my great grandfather) and a cattle rancher.  Eventually, it was declared that my great grandfather acted in self defense and he was cleared.

Horace C. Crofford, 1891

I found several newspaper accounts of the incident:

HOT SPRINGS, July 27.—Saturday evening about 7 o'clock a tragedy occurred on Lame Johnny creek, six miles north of Buffalo Gap, in which John Taylor, a young ranchman was shot and instantly killed by Horace Crofford, ex-commissioner of Custer county, and an extensive sheep owner. The trouble arose between the parties over the possession of the range for Crofford's sheep. Crofford immediately gave himself up to the authorities at Buffalo Gap. He will waive examination and be bound over to the circuit court. Public sympathy seems to be with Crofford, who, it is claimed, did the killing In self defense. Crofford is in charge of the sheriff at Custer. Estherville Daily News, 1895

1.  The small town of Buffalo Gap.  2. the fertile land about six miles north of Buffalo Gap on Lame Johnny Creek.  I studied the maps of the area and best I can figure, this is the approximate site of the killing.  Area is at the southern end of the Black Hills National Forest, near Custer State Park.

I have not found documentation of the resolution of the case. 

We will never be Royals

... but we were so close!  the English are so much better at documenting their lineages.  Once I am able to connect our family tree to someone in England, the research is a piece of cake.  There are Knights, Lords and Ladies, Crusaders, Consorts, Castles, and a direct (albeit illegitimate) link to Royalty in our ancestry. There was even a beheading!

Elizabeth Fitzhugh Vaux, Lady of Ravensworth, my 14th great grandmother on my paternal side, was the grandmother of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII.  The Vaux family were created barons by Henry VIII in 1523.

Ruins of Ravensworth Castle

Her husband Nicholas, my paternal 14th great grandfather, was the Baron of Harrowden; his grandfather was a Knight.

Harrowden Hall, now the Wellingborough Golf Club

Sir George Throckmorton, my paternal 13th great grandfather, was the Lord and Knight of Coughton.
His son, Sir Robert, was the High Sheriff of Warwick.

My paternal 12th great grandmother was Muriel Berkeley of Berkeley Castle.

Berkeley Castle

Audrey Barlow, my paternal 9th great grandmother, was a descendent of Henry II of England by his mistress Ida De Tony.

Audrey Barlow, also the ancestor of Sarah Palin, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter.

My maternal 14th great grandfather, Sir Ieuan "Evan" Bushe, was descended from Welsh royalty and was in a long line of Knights and Ladies, and his issue married into families of Lords and Ladies such as Fernfould and L'Strange. According to Wikipedia, he was a renowned poet.

Ieuan wrote about 50 poems.  His love poems are considered to be his best work.

Sir William Carter of Hertfordshire, my maternal 13th great grandfather, married Lady Alice Croxton of Watford; his parents were the Lord and Lady of Cusworth.

Cusworth Hall, now a country house museum

Lord William Ravenscroft of Croxton (maternal 14th great grandfather), father of Lady Alice.

Croxton Abbey

My maternal 16th great grandfather, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, was beheaded in 1460 after the Battle of Wakefield.

Richard Neville effigy

Others direct ancestors include:
Sir John Anstell (maternal 13th great grandfather) of Cornwall

Cornwall

Sir John Wright, maternal 15th great grandfather, Lord Kelvedon

St. Mary the Virgin Church, Kelvedon, Essex

Perhaps, most famously of all, John Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Lancaster, maternal 18th great grandfather

John of "Gaunt" (born in Ghent), 1st Duke of Lancaster

Kenilworth Castle, modernized by John of Gaunt after 1350.

So, that is the extent of my knowledge of our English bloodlines to date.  I remember learning about some of these people in my history and English Literature classes.