Origins of my son's names

ADAM
Middle name of my great grandfather, John Adam Zaun, and his father before him.  Both were called "Adam."

SCHUYLER
Austin family lore claims an ancestral relationship to Aaron Burr.  (Possibly true:  Grandfather Austin's mother was Lillian Burr; however Aaron Burr's only daughter Theodosia died without children so the relationship cannot be direct).  In the book, Burr, by Gore Vidal, the main character was Burr's illegitimate son and his last name was Schuyler.  A bit convoluted, I admit...actually, I just like the name.  It means "scholar," and it has surely proven to be fitting.

JOSHUA
Just always loved this name.  It would have been the name of my first child except a close friend had a son right before mine and named him Joshua.  So I changed it.  Turns out it wouldn't have made a difference at all.  I was very glad I had another chance to use the name.

DAVID
His father's middle name.

JONATHAN
Wanted to use the name John, but couldn't agree.  Jonathan was close enough, and I could call him "Jon" if I wanted.  Jonathan in the story of King David is my favorite Bible character.  I was happy to find out that this is a family name from colonial New England.

MICHAEL
His father's first name.

ANDREW
By this time, we had a pattern going.  All biblical names, in order of appearance in the Bible.  Names began with A - J - J ...  needed another A.  Andrew is the name of my great great grandfather Hall.  It was good, except I didn't want to call him Andy.  So we shortened it to Drew.

KELLY
Paternal grandmother's maiden name.  Other Austin boys have the middle name Kelly too.  Family tradition!

Ancestry DNA

For my birthday this year, I asked my mother for a subscription to newspapers.com and a DNA test.  Am I a nerd or what?!  I filled a test tube with my saliva this morning and prepared it for shipment.  I cannot wait to see what it reveals about our family.

The newspapers.com subscription proved its worth in the first day.  I found a dozen articles about my enigmatic great grandfather, Augustus Allen.  Those articles helped me to flesh out his life story.  The most heart wrenching discovery was this personal ad in the Wichita Daily Eagle the week of May 5, 1919:

TO ANYONE knowing anything of A. D. Allen, formerly a real estate dealer, would appreciate all information.  Teresa Allen, 125 Pine Bluff, Paris, Texas.  

Teresa died not knowing what ever became of either of her parents.  I am hoping the DNA test will finally find them.

Oh, by the way, I also applied to be on the Genealogy Roadshow!  I received a letter confirming that my application is being considered.  I sent them the story of Teresa Allen.

Augustus D. Allen, 1859-19--

My maternal great grandfather is quite an enigma.  Information about him is plentiful, but some of it doesn't jive.  It's almost as though there are two Augustus D. Allen's at the same place, same time, same career, with the same vital statistics.  Sometime before 1904, Augustus left his wife Eva a widow and his daughter, Ethelyn, an orphan.  Yet he is documented as living and working in Wichita for another ten years, with a new wife.

The following timeline shows his name exactly as it appears in the documentation.  Facts about Eva and Ethelyn/Teresa are interwoven to reveal insights about his life.  I believe that this timeline supports the fact that the same A. D. Allen who left Eva a widow, is the A. D. Allen who continued living and working in Wichita as though his first wife and child never existed.

Augustus "A. D." Allen

Augustus D.Allen > Teresa/Ethelyn Allen > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

1860

Hancock, Illinois - Augustus, 1 year old.  
Household at the 1860 Census:  Parents -  Robert Allen, born in Virginia; Elizabeth Allen, born in Ohio. Siblings -  James & John (twins) b. Ky, Sarah b. Ky, Jacob b. Ky, Harrisson b. Ill. Note the birthplaces of his parents and of his older siblings.

1870

Hancock, Illinois - Augustus, 11 years old.
Household at the 1870 Census:  Elizabeth Allen, b. Ohio; John, Jacob, Harrisson.  Again, note his mother's birthplace.  His father must have been deceased.  His siblings' names are consistent with the 1860 census.

1870 Littleton, Illinois - Eva Bosworth, age 3.  O.M. b. Ohio, Eliza b. Ky, Richard R. b. Ill.
1880 Littleton, Illinois - Eva Bosworth, age 13.  M.O. Bosworth b. Ohio, Eliza A Bosworth, b. Ky.

1883

Littleton, Illinois - Augustus D. Allen married Eva L. Bosworth.
Parents: Robert Allen, Elis. House, Orlando Bosworth, Eliza A. Applegate. Parents' names are consistent with prior census information.

1893

Illinois - Ethelyn Allen born (per 1900 census).
         A. D. Allen moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and ran a mercantile business for 7 years.*

Augustus D. Allen, Ethelyn,
Eva L. Allen

1900

Wichita, Kansas - Augustus D. Allen, Real Estate Agent.  Parents born in Kentucky.  Augustus consistently gives his parents' birthplaces as Kentucky.  Since Augustus' older siblings were all born in Kentucky, he may have made an erroneous assumption.  Household at census:  Eva L. Allen, Ethelyn Allen (age 7), Eliza A Bosworth.  Eliza Bosworth died around this time.  A. D. Allen was first employed with the Kansas Bureau of Immigration on Douglas Avenue, and then with B. D. Allen Realty.* There was a huge real estate boom in Wichita at this time. I do not know whether or not B. D. Allen is kin.

From Wichita newspaper articles:
1900
A. D. Allen & Eva L. Allen were defendants in a lawsuit over a mortgage loan.

1901
A. D. Allen was injured in an accident involving runaway horses & overturned carriage.

1902 
A. D. Allen, Mrs. Allen were victims of a burglary while sleeping at their residence on Pattie Avenue, an $85 roll of bills from a real estate sale was taken from his pants pocket.  Mrs. Allen had been ill.

1902
A. D. Allen sold property at 137 Pattie Avenue and bought another local property.

1902 Wichita - an "A. D. Allen" moved to Wichita from Allen County - no occupation given.  I believe this is a coincidence...I found another Augustus D. (Dennis) Allen (1860-1930) who is buried in Allen County.

1903
Mrs. Allen gave A. D. Allen a birthday dinner on March 21.  Her brother R. R. Bosworth's family was there, as well as Ethelyn Allen.  Ethelyn would have been about age 10.

1903
A. D. Allen went on a business trip to Iowa; returned with 11 men to buy land. B. D. Allen took over the sales.

1904
Wichita City Directory - Eva L. Allen, widow A. D. 125 Fannie Street.

Augustus Allen is dead.  Or is he?

1905
Wichita - A. D. Allen married Emma Schindler of Wichita.*

1907
Wichita City Directory - A. D. Allen, Emma S. 1027 s. Water Street.

1908
Wichita City Directory - A. D. Allen, Emma S. 1347 s. Main; with B. D. Allen Realty.

1908 Hospital at Old Fort Supply admitted its first patients.  Oklahoma's first mental hospital.

1909
Wichita City Directory - A. D. Allen, Emma S. 1347 S. Main.  A. D. Allen Real Estate and Loans, 121 E. Douglas Avenue.

1909
Wichita newspaper articles - A. D. Allen, president and champion of horse show; Fred Willingham, trainer. Article on A. D. Allen tells about his "two fads" - real estate and horses.  A. D. Allen made two good real estate sales.  The interest in horses is what made me wonder if this was the same Augustus D. Allen that was Ethelyn's father - my grandmother never mentioned this about him.

1910 Census, Woodward, Ok - Eva L. Allen, widow. Inmate, Old Fort Supply Hospital. 

1910
Wichita -  Augustus D. Allen, Emma S., Fred Willingham.
Census:  Real Estate Agent. b. in Illinois, Parents born in Kentucky. 

1910
Wichita newspaper article - A. D. Allen, defendant in a lawsuit over real estate; another article about trip to South Texas.  His daughter, Teresa/Ethelyn, remembered a visit from her father in Paris, Texas - this may be the occasion.

1911 Old Fort Supply Hospital cemetery -  gravestone inscription: "Eva L. Allen, 1867-1911."

1911
Wichita City Directory - Augustus D. Allen, Emma S. 1347 S. Main; 121 E. Douglas Avenue.

1911
Wichita newspaper article - Mrs. A. D. Allen is better from pneumonia.

1915
Dallas City Directory - Augustus D. Allen, real estate. 912 S. Akard, Dallas, Texas.

1916
Wichita personal ad - person looking for A. D. Allen, last seen in Fort Worth (near Dallas) headed toward Canton, OK in October 1915.

1916 - Sherman City Directory - Teresa Allen, nurse, St. Vincent's; 416 W. Laurel.
1917 - Paris City Directory - Teresa Allen, nurse, Paris Sanitarium through 1919; 125 Pine Bluff.  

1919
Wichita personal ad - This is the most compelling evidence thus far that Teresa is the same person as Ethelyn:

TO ANYONE knowing anything of A. D. Allen, formerly a real estate dealer, would appreciate all information. Teresa Allen, 125 Pine Bluff, Paris, Texas. 

1920 Census, Oklahoma City - Teresa Allen, nursing professional.  Boarder, Eleventh Street. Parents born in Kentucky.

Note about Augustus' grave:
I found a promising entry for Augustus D. Allen on findagrave.com some months ago, but when I went to look for it again, it was gone.   The grave was in Osawatomie Cemetery, Paola, Miami County, Kansas, and the date of death was 1916.  It is no longer in the database.  It was there, and now it's not.  Weird.

All of this has made me wonder...

• What made Augustus move to Iowa in 1893?
• Did Augustus and Emma divorce?  Where was he between 1911 and 1915?
• Why didn't the R. R. Bosworth family take in Ethelyn?
• What happened to the findagrave entry for Augustus?
• Where was Eva L. Allen between 1904 and 1908 (before the mental hospital opened)?

Sources:
*History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county; Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1910, Pages 705 & 706 [NOTE:  this bio on A. D. Allen does not mention either Eva or Ethelyn, but the birthdate and place are the same, though the birth year is six years off - March 21, 1865.  My grandmother, Ethelyn/Teresa, never mentioned that her father was passionate about horses.]
          
Newspaper sources:  Wichita Beacon, Wichita Daily Eagle

Marie Louise Judd, 1859 - 1925

Connecting with a newfound cousin on Ancestry has re-ignited interest in researching my great-great grandmother, Marie Louise (Judd) Powell.  Marie Louise has the same relationship to my new cousin Kerrie!

Marie Louise Judd Powell > Georgia Powell Zaun > Ernest Earl Zaun > John B. Zaun > Teresa Zaun Austin 

Marie (called Louise) was my Nannie's mother:

Marie Louise's Parents and Childhood

Marie Louise was born in Brooklyn on March 1, 1859 to the well-known Rev. Orrin Bishop Judd and his second wife, Elizabeth*.  Her vital records indicate that she was born in 1861, but I have concluded that this is a mistake, deliberate or otherwise.  I say this because she was listed on the 1860 census as a 2 year old, on the 1870 census as an 11 year old, and on the 1880 census as a 21 year old.  If 1861 was her true birth year, of course, she would not have even appeared on the 1860 census.  Marie Louise had an older brother, Orrin B., and a younger sister, Addie.  Also living in their home were two of Elizabeth's children from her previous marriage to E. C. Gray, Esq. - MacDonald Gray and Leonora Gray.

Note: Leonora, according to the 1870 census, was "deaf and dumb" and spent some time in the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, which was "an upper-class, resort-like facility." Mention of this daughter was made in Elizabeth's testimony during her divorce trial as reported in the New York Times, April 19, 1868.

Elizabeth MacDonald Gray Judd, Marie's mother and my 3X great grandmother
(photo courtesy of Kerrie Stone, via Ancestry.com)

Scandal!

The Judds had a cultured but tumultuous home life.  There was a highly publicized divorce in 1868 between Orrin and Elizabeth that was front page news in many major New England newspapers. Terrible accusations were made in their very public testimony against each other, including physical violence.  Elizabeth's children were taken from her. Orrin then married the "other woman" Susanna Reynolds and moved to New Jersey with Louise and Addie. The 1870 census gives Orrin's occupation as "farmer" which may be a clue about his fallen status after the divorce.  Orrin and Susanna had four sons, one of whom died young. Elizabeth went to live in Brooklyn, New York with her daughter and son-in-law. (Her son-in-law, Harry Tift, had testified in her defense at the trial, giving an eye-witness account to the cruelty that Elizabeth endured from Orrin). 

Marie Louise and Jefferson Powell

Daughter Addie Bell wrote that Marie Louise met Jefferson Powell when she was living on her father's estate on the "Mechanicsville Turnpike."  There are multiple possibilities for this location; there is a Mechanicsville in Connecticut and one in Virginia, near Richmond, among others. I could not find a "Mechanicsville Turnpike" by that exact name in Connecticut, however.  The Connecticut turnpike mentioned in this article could be referring to the Hartford Pike, the Providence Pike, or the Plainfield Pike:

Mechanicsville Turnpike, Connecticut: "When Brandy hill first assumed its inspiriting name is beyond the memory of descendants of the oldest inhabitant. Tradition refers it to the bursting of a brandy hogshead upon the hill, and it may be inferred that the great outflow of liquor at Starr’s tavern during the days of turnpike opening, helped to make it permanent."

Whether Marie met Jefferson Monroe Powell in Connecticut, New York, or Richmond has yet to be determined. At the time of the 1880 census, she was single, living in Richmond, Virginia, and working as a companion and housekeeper for the Shelton family. She married Jefferson that year.  By 1900, they were living in the Brookland district of Henrico on the western end of Broad Street - this district includes the historical sites of Bethlehem Baptist Church and Glen Allen School. The Powells had eight children:  Addie Bell (1882), Georgia (1885), Harry (1887), Archie (1889), Lenora (1891), Robert (1894), Albert (1897), and Linwood (1899).

Could this be the Broad Street Road home in Henrico? I have concluded that this photo must have been taken around 1898. Jefferson and Marie Louise Powell are seated. Georgia is the oldest girl in a white dress. Addie Bell must be the one standing at the gate supporting the young child on the fence. The old man standing behind Marie Louise is unidentified.  He could not be either George Powell or Orrin Judd. Jefferson's father died shortly after the Civil War, and Marie's father died before some of these children were born.

Clearfield, Iowa

What in the world were the Powell's doing in Iowa!? My great grandmother Georgia was born in Iowa, according to certain records.  Other records indicate she was born in Virginia.  I have always wondered about this strange fact! I thought that Iowa had to be an error since all the other Powell children were born in Virginia, but this birthplace appeared in several important documents. The answer may lie in Marie's obituary which says "With the exception of a few years spent in the Valley of Virginia and in the Middle West, Mr. and Mrs. Powell have always made their home in the vicinity of Richmond." My great grandmother could have been born in Iowa after all! (Her son Bill's birth record named Clearfield, Iowa) If so, then the Powells' "Middle West" years were sometime between 1882 and 1887 based on the birth dates of Georgia's older and younger siblings who were born in Virginia.  I have not been able to find out why the Powells temporarily moved to Iowa.

Marie Louise (center) and her family at Afton Mountain, 1923. My great grandmother is the girl to her right.

Marie Louise and Jefferson Monroe Powell

Marie's life and character

There is no better way to describe Marie Louise than by her own daughter's words:

In attempting to portray something of what Mrs. Powell's stay among us has meant, one is convinced of the emptiness of words.  She was a wonderful character and exemplified in a wonderful way the life of our master.  There is scarcely a person who knew her who was not on different occasions the recipient of her kindly ministry.  Hard work has been her common lot, but never did she allow this to stay the progress of her mind.  She was not content to "live by bread alone" but was ever mending her storehouse of knowledge and enlarging the scope of her spirit.  She was for many years superintendent of the Primary Department of the Bethlehem Baptist Church Sunday School and always a faithful worker in all departments of her church.  She was very fond of children, and the young people of the church and community have greatly profited under her teachings. So her religion was not to creed or bouok [sic] but the teachings of Christ and service for her fellowmen.  Though a community servant in the highest sense of the word, never too busy to lend a helping hand, yet she never neglected her home responsibilities.  Rather, it was there she reigned supreme and never was there a more faithful wife or mother, one ever ready and willing to sacrifice for the welfare and good of home and God. thoughtful of their every material need and even more anxious about their spiritual welfare, she adorned her home with a spirit of unselfishness and tenderness that causes, not only the members of her household, but all those who know them to reverence and adore her.

Jefferson Monroe Powell (in 1932) standing beside a plaque honoring his wife, Marie Louise, at Bethlehem Church on Penick Road.  See previous post about Bethlehem Cemetery.

Bethlehem Baptist Church:   It reportedly served as a first aid station during the Civil War, burned about 1870 and was rebuilt. A brick Gothic style church opened on July 25, 1909. On November 3, 1920, this structure burned. Members dedicated the present building, located on Penick Road, on November 6, 1921.

Marie Louise's grave, early 1926.

Marie Louise's grave today.

*Interesting note on Elizabeth MacDonald Judd:  According to Addie Bell, Marie's mother was a "doctor of medicine." This does not fit with other information on Elizabeth - she was described as a poetess and a occasional contributor to periodicals.  She was a writer for the New York Tribune according to the newspaper itself. This information did ring a bell with me however; I remember my Nannie telling me about the old portrait of a woman that was hanging in the back bedroom of the Penick Road house.  She said that the woman, her ancestor, was one of the earliest female doctors in America.  I am curious to find out who this woman was...it was probably not Elizabeth.  I think it must be an earlier ancestor.

Note: Newspaper accounts of Elizabeth's suicide were a case of mistaken identity. Retractions were posted later. 

This Blog

I have added the lineage to each of the posts so that you can see how exactly we are related to each subject.

For those members of my family who might be reading this blog, I think you should be aware that I am continually revising existing posts as new information comes up in my research.  Since each blog post is on a particular topic, I thought it would be less confusing for readers to keep all the information organized by topic rather than by chronological date of discovery.  If you are interested in a particular topic, you might want to go back and check it again sometime, to be sure you haven't missed any new facts, pictures, or stories.  The blog is also searchable by keyword or topic.

Also, I'd love for you to leave comments or feedback.  I can see by the stats that people are reading it, but I have no way of knowing who.  It would help very much to receive your questions or comments - sometimes I miss inconsistencies or historical context, and I would very much appreciate your insights.  

Thank you to the ones who have commented... you have encouraged me more than you know!