Ghost Dances

There is a story in my great-grandmother's history that begs to be told. Her extraordinary pioneer life intersects with some momentous events in the history of the western frontier, particularly in North and South Dakota and Wyoming. She lived at the time of Custer's Last Stand and the massacre at Wounded Knee, and was closely associated with some of the important people involved. 

Ada Clemina Hall was born on July 18, 1856 in Chittenango, NY. Both her father Andrew Adam Hall and her mother Miriam Olivia Wandell Hall were born in the Westchester County in NY. They married in 1850. Andrew Hall's family can be traced back to the original colony of Connecticut. Miriam's family is mostly of Dutch heritage. Her grandfather, Jacob Wandell was a wealthy merchant on the Hudson River during the time of the Revolutionary War. 

Shortly after Ada's birth, Andrew took his family and moved west, to Ontonagon, Michigan. There, he worked in the copper mines. In 1861, a famously charismatic Army recruiter came to Detroit, and induced Andrew to sign up for the military. He served as a surgical assistant in the 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry and participated in the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia. He did laundry for other soldiers for 10 cents, and sent the money home to his struggling family.  He was with General McClellan during the Seven Days Battle in Richmond, Virginia, during which he contracted dysentery. He spent six months in a hospital on David's Island in New York before returning to his wife and children in 1863; he was a mere skeleton of less than 100 pounds. Ada described what it was like to be so poor. She said their clothing had worn so thin that it was nearly transparent. 

The family moved to Marquette, Michigan, where Andrew worked in the mines. Then they moved to Brainerd, Michigan, where Andrew became a bridge builder. He helped to build the bridge for the Northern Pacific Railroad across the Red River to Fargo, North Dakota, opening up new land on the frontier. He also helped to build one of the first frame houses in Fargo. Most of the residents lived in rough cabins or tents, however, and that is how the Hall family lived during the Grasshopper Plague. Ada describes the scene:

Grasshoppers came that first year, 1871. They darkened the sky which when looked up at, shone like silver with their flashing wings. They ate the sides out of our tents, the linen coat off my father's back while he was mowing... 

by Mrs. H. C. Crofford, "Pioneer Days in North Dakota, " in North Dakota Historical Quarterly, II, 129-137.

Ada taught school in Fargo, and later at Fort Lincoln where the Halls lived for a year in 1876. She became friends with General Custer's wife. Family lore is that Ada let her students out of school to wave to the soldiers as they left for Little Big Horn. I can't help but think that Ada and Elizabeth Custer shared a love of writing and history, as both of them wrote memoirs of their experiences and published papers in defense of Custer. Ada's paper in defense of Custer is housed in a museum in Newcastle, Wyoming. You can read it HERE.

Around 1877, Andrew and his family, with an Army escort, traveled by wagon train to settle in the Black Hills. Travelers were warned not to go ahead or lag behind the procession as it was dangerous Indian territory. One young couple ignored the warnings and went on ahead. The travelers came upon them and found them slaughtered.

The Hall family settled on a ranch near Fort Meade (now Sturgis) in South Dakota, which was established in 1878 to protect illegal white settlements and gold mines on the Sioux Reservation in the northern Black Hills (Wikipedia, Fort Meade, South Dakota). The local men would gather at "Old Man Hall's" house to discuss the recent Indian uprisings. They were particularly concerned about the Ghost Dances which were part of a religious movement among the Native Americans who believed that the spirits of the dead would return and protect them against the white man. The spread of this cult culminated in the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 (Britannica, Ghost Dance). At one of these gatherings at the Hall ranch, a young gold miner named Horace Calvin Crofford attended and met Ada Hall. They married in 1891. 

Ada's brother Ed married a Native American woman named Mary Amiotte (pictured below) in 1897 and lived with her and their children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Sterling, South Dakota - the location of the Wounded Knee massacre. 

Disclaimer: I am not a historian, so forgive me if any historical facts are off. Much of my information comes from Ada's writings and family lore, which have proven to have a few "close but not quite" details. I will add more to this post as I continue my research. 

 

 

 

The Rift: a sad story of the Bryants of Virginia

Something happened long ago that tore the Bryant family apart. My father told of a mysterious "rift" between his maternal grandmother, Ida Rene, and her twin sister Addie, but he had no idea what it was about. This legacy was passed down through the next three generations, though no one remembered the original cause. When I asked, the grownups would just shrug and claim not to know. No one could explain. It was just an accepted thing. We rarely associated with our cousins in Virginia Beach. 

This was an anomaly in our family. We had a close, warm relationship with other distant relatives. We dutifully made the annual trek to Richmond from Virginia Beach to visit my father's large, extended family - great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and cousins two and three times removed. I remember thinking it was strange that we never visited cousins who lived in our own city. 

To give some background, the twins, Ida and Addie, grew up in Southampton County, Virginia. There were born in 1868 to Eley and Margaret Bryant, who were poor, illiterate farmers. Margaret and Eley had ten children, five of whom lived to adulthood. 

• Charles became a piano dealer in New Jersey and married a wealthy widow, Maria Harper. 
• William married Bonnie Abbott from Fort Lee, New Jersey. 
• Ida Rene married George Abbott from Fort Lee, New Jersey (Bonnie's half-brother). 
• Addie, Ida's twin, married Blucher Fletcher from Moyock, NC. 
• Gattie Jane married John F. Chappell from Princess Anne County, and then Dr. Edwin Stanton Davis from Manhattan, NY. 

All of Margaret and Eley's children and their spouses played a part in "the rift." But I'll get to that... 

Three generations later, in the 1990's, something serendipitous occurred. My sister Holly and her husband befriended a couple (Jim and Terry) in their Sunday School class. The couples were friends for months without knowing their true relationship. One day, by chance, Terry mentioned that her father was a dentist in Kempsville for many years. Holly, surprised, asked her if her father was Charlie Fletcher - why yes, he is! Holly immediately recognized how much Terry resembled our little red-haired grandmother Jacqueline Abbott. 3rd cousins! They lived in the same city all their lives and had never met. 

The twins, Ida and Addie, were finally reunited through their great-grandchildren after 100 years! In another miraculous turn, Matt, the great-grandson of William Bryant from New Jersey, recently joined his 3rd cousins in Virginia, bringing the Bryant-Abbott family full circle. 

So what caused this mysterious rift? 

Digging into the Bryant family history, I discovered some other surprises and baffling mysteries. Some of them involve Ida Rene and her many marriages and children which are written about in another post.

How did some of the Bryants - poor farmers from rural southside Virginia - end up in New Jersey? How did they merge with the Abbotts, a successful piano making family? A possible explanation has to do with the railroad, which was extended to Southampton County in 1888. William Bryant went to NJ in the 1890's looking for work. He met Bonnie Abbott, a coworker in a hat factory. Bonnie became pregnant in late 1899, and she traveled by railroad to Norfolk where she and William had a quick marriage in January 1900 performed by a preacher in the church parsonage. In 1904, Ida married George, Bonnie's half-brother. Charles Bryant moved to NJ around 1911 and sold pianos (perhaps made by the Abbotts?). 

In 1886, Margaret and Eley sold their farm Southampton County, where both of their families had lived since Colonial days, and moved to the Blackwater area of Princess Anne County. Addie and "Bluke" bought a nearby farm in 1890. Then Eley died unexpectedly in 1895. William and Bonnie lived with Margaret for a time, but then moved back to New Jersey around 1900 (their child did not survive). Margaret rented out the farm in Princess Anne County and moved to Richmond to live with Ida. Why did she live with Ida and not Addie who lived just down the road? Perhaps there were already the beginnings of some hard feelings between Addie and Margaret.

Here’s what happened. 

When Eley died intestate in 1895, Margaret deliberately failed to notify authorities so that she could keep the farm. Otherwise, by law, it would have gone through probate and would have had to be sold, with half the proceeds divided among her four living adult children. Margaret collected rent from the farm after she moved to Richmond to live with Ida, and continued to earn income by selling lumber from the property. It seems Addie resented this financial arrangement. 

In April 1908, 13 years after her father died, Addie Fletcher sued her mother over her rightful inheritance. The legal proceedings included depositions from her children and their spouses, including Ida and George Abbott. In a potentially disastrous complication, their recently deceased sibling, Gattie Jane, had held the note on the farm. When she died in early 1908 in Manhattan, her will left the note to her husband, Dr. Stanton. In gracious assent, upon request from Charles Bryant, Dr. Stanton sent the deed, not to Margaret or Charles, but directly to a lawyer in Norfolk. 

The next month, Margaret boarded a train in Richmond, bound for Norfolk. We will never be sure of her purpose, but it’s reasonable to believe it had to do with the lawsuit. Sadly, she never quite made it. She had "apoplexy" on the train and was rushed to the house of D. W. Godwin at 914 Greene Street in Portsmouth, where she died three days later (May 8, 1908 at 5:30 p.m.), with her four living children gathered at her bedside, Charles, William, Addie, and Ida. Did she have a stroke brought on by the extreme stress of getting sued by her own daughter? The timing seems more than coincidence. If so, it is no wonder the family fell apart. The fact that Margaret’s daughter Gattie Jane died earlier that same year may have just been too much heartbreak to handle.

Did the siblings ever reconcile? In a letter to Bluke Jr. in September 1909, Ida sent love through Bluke to her sister and expressed sorrow at their broken relationship. She told Bluke how she tried to connect with Addie on a visit to Norfolk, but Addie would not see her. 

There is a photo of the sisters with Charles and Maria, who married in 1911 in New Jersey. If the photo was taken near that date, they may have made some kind of truce. 

In a 1924 letter to Bluke Jr., Charles wrote, "how's your Mother and Father [Addie and Bluke Sr.] give my love to them when you write again. I thought your mother and Ida were coming to see us 2 years ago." Did that visit ever happen?

Charlie Fletcher, born in 1926, lived in the same house with Addie and his parents. He remembers that suddenly his family did not go to Richmond to visit family anymore. He didn’t understand why at the time, but this was probably due to Ida’s death in 1933. However, Charlie remembers his Uncle “Billie” coming to visit them from New Jersey. He also remembers visits from his namesake, Uncle Charlie Bryant. The Bryant siblings, it seems, worked through their issues regarding the lawsuit and Margaret’s untimely death.

After Ida died, her children, except for Jacqueline, remained in Richmond. “Jack” and Ernie moved to Norfolk after the Depression. Ernie lived with Addie in Norfolk until he could find a job and a place to live for his young family. After Addie died in 1948, and maybe even before that, the two families drifted apart again. 

Now, a century after “the rift,” the great-grandchildren of Ida, Addie, and William have joyfully rediscovered each other. They are working together to find the stories in their mutual family history. 

Full circle.

The remaining mystery now is the location of Eley and Margaret's graves. In 1924, Charles Bryant writes to Bluke Jr., "I must see if I can't get someone to look after Father and Mother's graves," implying that they are buried together. Since Eley died in 1895 and Margaret in 1908, their graves could be on the property in Blackwater which had not yet been sold. However, by 1924, the land was long out of their hands. The property is a 42-acre field today, totally cleared of trees and plowed under. The original house is gone. There is no sign or indication of a possible burial site. There are no records of their graves in any church cemeteries. The funeral home that handled the transportation and burial of Margaret's body was sold long ago, and the records of her burial lost in the transfer. 

Bosworths of Wichita

Exciting new discovery on ancestry.com! Two days ago I discovered that someone had posted a photo of my orphan grandmother’s uncle and family, taken c1895. I spent a Saturday morning studying their faces and eagerly looking for more information about them. 

It was touching to realize how much the man in this photo (Richard Bosworth) must have adored his sister Eva Bosworth Allen (my gg grandmother). He named two of his daughters Eva. And when Augustus, Eva, and Ethelyn moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1900, Richard Bosworth and his family followed shortly thereafter. It was especially moving to realize that my ten-year-old grandmother, Teresa (née Ethelyn), would have known her cousins before she was sent to an orphanage. According to a newspaper article, the two families were having dinner together at a birthday party for my great grandfather in March 1903. My poor grandmother lost not only her parents, but also her whole extended family at a very tender age.

As I looked into the lives of each one of people in this photo, it began to dawn on me that they may be the key to unlocking the cause of death of my great grandmother Eva L. Allen. This has been one of my longstanding genealogy puzzles! I noticed that Richard and three of his five children died within a short time, between 1907 and 1910. Death records verify that two of them died of tuberculosis. It is a safe assumption that the others died of tuberculosis as well. Eva would have been either living with them, or spending a great deal of time with them in those years as she was a “widow” (actually divorced), and had a close relationship with her brother. She died in 1911, probably of the same tuberculosis that killed most of her brother’s family. She died in a hospital as there was no family left to care for her. Her gravestone is in the Old Fort Supply cemetery in Woodward, Oklahoma.

I have had a hard time shaking the sadness for my family who lived so long ago, and suffered so much.

Front: Richard Bosworth, Ellen, Roy, and Maude Eva Back: Harry, George, Eva Pearl. Richard, Harry, George, and Pearl died before 1910. The 1910 U.S. Census shows Ellen as head of household, living with granddaughter Marguerite, age 8 (child of Pearl?). The same year, the census shows Eva L. Allen, widow, (pictured below) living at the Oklahoma Hospital for the Insane. 

Evaluating Information

When I first began doing genealogy research, I took an online course and did a lot of reading on research strategies and on the importance of building a family tree that is based on verified, irrefutable evidence. I found that it is far too easy to expand your family tree very quickly but with many errors. You can build a beautiful family tree, but if it is built on unverified evidence, the whole thing can come tumbling down like a house of cards. I have had to backtrack several times and delete people from my tree, and it can be heartbreaking.

One of the ways to evaluate and verify information is to look at it from different perspectives. I have studied maps, created spreadsheets, made lists, written timelines, looked at local history, compared notes with other researchers, and visited places in person. A timeline especially can be helpful in determining information that does not make sense. It is through a timeline that I recently discovered a major error. I had been relying heavily on a source that was not reliable. Now, I must regroup and reevaluate everything that I have presumed thus far. It is quite humbling.

Truth is the Holy Grail!

Bryant Research, Cont. - trip to Richmond

I took a long list of research tasks with me to my first visit to the Library of Virginia. 

My list included:

• find the Joyners of Southampton book written by Ulysses P. Joyner, 1975
• obtain the missing page from the Bryant probate file (Ida's deposition, p.2)
• research Ida's marriage history for the years 1884-1895 (especially her marriage to the mystery man surname Williams, and her divorce or annulment from L.P. Eley). 
• find Earl Butler's birth certificate from 1892.
• locate any new information about the Allens of Lunenburg County.

There were several other items on my list, but four hours went by far too quickly!

The first thing I did was to search through the microfiche records of marriages for Ida, and the Bureau of Vital Statistic records for Earl. This took nearly two hours of my precious time. The marriage records yielded two entries to follow up on, but nothing very promising. The birth records were disappointing as they were virtually unreadable - white on black background, and very faint. 

I was able to save some interesting pages to a flash drive that I purchased for $8 at the circulation desk.

Then I went to the archives room and requested the probate file. It took about 15 minutes for them to retrieve it while I applied for the necessary library card. It was a poignant moment for me as I held the folder of original papers that were once held in the hands of my great grandparents. There were all of the original receipts and documents supporting the court case between Addie Fletcher and her siblings over her father's estate. The missing page was easily found. It happened to be the page containing Ida's original handwritten signature. It took my breath away for a moment. I felt connected to her in a way that a photocopy cannot match. The documents also included the signed deposition of my great grandfather George Abbott. I filled out a copy request for Ida's signature page, and handed the file back to the librarian. 

With only an hour left in the library, I left the archives room and went to the circulation desk to request the book, Joyners of Southampton, which is housed in the closed library and had to be retrieved by the staff. In the meantime, I browsed through the "Local History and Genealogy" room. I found the shelf of books for Southampton County and searched every one. I found "Wills and Administrations of Southampton County, Virginia 1749-1800, and took a photo of an entry for Lewis Bryant. I didn't spend much time on it, as I already had a copy of his will in my ancestry records. (Lewis - born in 1690 - is the earliest Bryant ancestor that I have been able to find in Southampton County).

I checked out the Joyners of Southampton book, and realized quickly that I was holding an absolute treasure trove of family history. Rather than photocopy a few pages, I sat down and (almost) indiscriminately took photos with my iphone of about 20 pages, including a wonderful map of land holdings that was folded on the inside back cover.

With only about 30 minutes left of my time in the library, I searched through all of the books in the Lunenburg County section. I found mention of a deed witnessed by my ancestor Turner Allen. This was not really helpful to answer my questions about the Allens, but I took a photo anyway. 

These questions that were not addressed on this visit to the Library of Virginia will have to wait: 

1. Was Mary Eliza Bryant born in 1861 (per birth record) or 1862 (per family Bible)? 
2. Who was Earl Butler's father? (find birth record).
3. Who were Rawley Butler's birth parents? (find birth record)
4. Where was William Butler and what was he doing in the lost years after the Civil War until 1895?
5. Where was Charles Bryant in the years between 1880 and 1908?
6. When did Blucher and Addie Fletcher first purchase the property in Blackwater?
7. Find proof of Robert Scott Allen's ancestry through John Watson Allen and Turner Allen of Lunenburg County, Virginia. What is the connection to the Bacon and Collier families?
8. Why is George James Powell's gravestone mistakenly engraved "George Littleton Powell?"
9. Where did the name Fenton originate in the Bryant family?
10. Where did Jefferson Powell meet Marie Louis Judd? Why did she move from NY to Va?
11. Find a listing of the orphanage rolls at the Methodist orphanage in Richmond (Earl, William, Rawley).
12. What is the story about the lost patent for growing peanuts?

On my way home from Richmond, I called my collaborator cousin Matt. I reported my discoveries at the Library of Virginia, and we shared our enthusiasm for all the new things we had learned as I drove down route 460 - alongside the very railroad tracks that carried my Virginia ancestors to NJ and ultimately connected my destiny with Matt's. 

I can't explain how I felt as this railroad that I had passed so many times in my life now has a whole new significance for me. 

As a result of our conversation, I am determined to find out whose handwriting is the Bryant family Bible (dated 1870), since Margaret, the supposed owner of the Bible, was illiterate. I will process the photos and digital documents that I found and share them with Matt. I will contact the member of the Princess Anne Historical group (J. Waterfield) who remembers the Bryant farm in Blackwater. I will await response from my letter to the current owners of the farm regarding graves on that property. And I will definitely plan a visit to NJ one day soon to visit all of the sites related to the Abbott side of family.

After my visit to the library, I went to the Lessards' new home in Midlothian to spend the night. It was an amazingly wonderful visit, and a highlight was a morning walk on a wooded path around the Swift Creek Reservoir. In a wooded area, we saw a gravestone just off the path engraved "A. J. 1883." A tree had grown over the grave and threatened to topple it. I took a picture and, of course was compelled to research the history of the Brandermill property. Someone wrote that it was likely a slave's grave marker because it gave only initials. I am not sure I agree due to the date and quality of the stone. Anyway, it only shows how easy it is to get caught up in this kind of research and get lost down one rabbit hole after another! 

Eley and Margaret Bryant - a Timeline of Discovery

Three 3rd cousins met up on August 16 and 17th to do some local research on our mutual great great grandparents, Eley and Margaret Bryant of Southampton County, Virginia. I have traced the Bryants and the Cobbs back to the 1600s on my family tree.  Here are the results of that research and the questions that arose.

(Prior knowledge in black/new knowledge in blue/pursue further in red):

1829

Eley Bryant was born on March 6, 1829 in Southampton County, Virginia. His father was Jacob Bryant, and his mother was Temperance Owens. At age 19, Eley lived in Nottoway Parish, Southampton, Virginia with his parents and siblings. 

1835

Margaret Cobb was born between 1835 and 1839, in Southampton County, Virginia, the daughter of William Cobb and Evelyn (Evie, Eveline) Wallace. In 1850, Margaret lived in Nansemond, Virginia with her parents. According to the book, The Cobbs of the Tidewater, by Bruce Montgomery Edwards (c) 1976, Margaret was born in 1835. 

1858

Eley and Margaret married on May 19, 1858 (per family Bible) in Southampton County. He was 29. She was about 19. They had 9 children: Charles Fenton (1859), Jacob Fenton (1860)*, Mary Eliza (1862), William Thomas (1867), Ida Rene and Ariadne (1868), Gattie Jane (1870), Margarett (1880)*, Fenton (1886).* *lived less than a year. Their marriage date was confirmed in The Cobbs of the Tidewater, by Bruce Montgomery Edwards. This publication states that they had six children in 1880.

The marriage registration for Eley and Margaret.

1860

In the U.S. Census of 1860, Eley and Margaret lived in Jerusalem on the "east side of the Nottoway River." We tried to find the "metes and bounds" of the property at the Southampton County Courthouse, but such specific data never existed. We did find the location and acreage of the property on a map. According to records, the land was next to the William Cobb farm. The property today is at the corner of Rt. 58 and Agri Park Drive. A Food Lion now sits on that corner, and the Bryant property would have been just on that site or west of the store. The Peanut Patch Gift Shop is nearby on the same side of the road. 

On Google Earth, there is definitely a shack deteriorating in the woods where the Bryant house might have been. 

Mary Eliza was born in 1861 according to the Birth records in the Southampton County Courthouse (the family Bible said 1862).Which was correct?

1862

In 1862, Eley was drafted into the Southampton County Militia on March 15, 1862. He joined Company H, 41st Virginia Infantry. He was captured near Petersburg and sent to POW prison at Pt. Lookout on Oct. 31, 1864. He was exchanged on Mar. 28, 1865.

1870

Gattie Jane b. 14 Jun. 1870

In 1870, Eley age 30: Post Office in Jerusalem, Franklin Depot. (Farmer, Postmaster?)

Jerusalem is now called Courtland. The story is that post Civil War, they didn't want the name Jerusalem associated with the atrocities associated with the Nat Turner Rebellion. "Black Head Post Road" got changed to "Post Road." Nat Turner was hung in Jerusalem in 1831.

1874

In 1874, an Eli Bryant was listed as a member of Mount Carmel Christian church in Isle of Wight County. (see record attached to Eley in Ancestry). Follow up on this by locating the book Joyner of Southampton by Ullyses S. Joyner at the Library of Virginia. (See 1883 below).

1880

In 1880, Eley and Margaret lived in Franklin.

Margarett [sic] b. 21 Oct. 1880; d. 20 Aug 1881 in Southampton County.

1883

In the Joyners of Southampton book, Eli Bryant is mentioned on p 138: "St. Clair Joyner shown as member of Union Christian Church (Joyner's Church) from September 1880 until expelled on October 13, 1883, for 'uncrhistianized conduct.' Reported by Eli Bryant, Church records.) Membership later restored."

1884

Ida's 1st marriage according to the 1930 U. S. Census was at age 16. No other evidence of this marriage has been found, but it does suggest that Ida had told someone about a marriage in her teens. In the 1910 U. S. Census, she only admitted to two marriages, including George Abbott.

1885
In 1885, Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia stated that Eley "engaged in farming" and resided in Delawares, Southampton County. They had a patent on peanuts, but it was lost or stolen. 

1886

Eley and Margaret sold the farm (85 acres) in Southampton County on 7 Jan. 1886 to J. B. Prince (no re-sale for three years; released 9 Jan. 1888). 

Fenton Bryant b. June 1886 in Princess Anne County; d. 10 Mar 1887. Eley and Margaret had not yet purchased the Blackwater farm. Did they perhaps rent property in PA County after the sale of their land in Southampton County?

1887

Ida m. Lewellyn Eley on April 13 at age 19 in Southampton County.  Her parents had already moved to Princess Anne County. [Marriage register #6 1886-1890 Southampton County p. 184.]

1888

Eley and Margaret purchased the "Young Tract" in Blackwater. 42 Acres, "give or take" for $425. 3 Feb 1888. Deed for Johnston G Forbes and Margaret F. Forbes to Ely Bryant (Princess Anne County Deeds, book 59, pp 364-367.  Deed of Trust held by JM Keeling. Transcribed by Matt Weismantel Aug 2021). Eley and Margaret moved to Princess Anne County before the Fletchers did.

Eley and Margaret lived in Princess Anne County at "Land of Promise" Plantation (a bit of exaggeration here), growing cotton, tobacco, and peanuts. (Source?) Their farm was at the "T" intersection of Blackwater and Head of River Roads. It was 42 acres according to probate documents obtained at the Library of Virginia. A major source of income was lumber. 

UPDATE 9/20/21: The property that Charlie Fletcher originally identified as the Bryant farm was in error. Today, I used the legal description of the property in the original deed record to confirm the location, and found that the farm was actually across S. Head of River Road, on the other side of the Cox farm. This upset some of our major assumptions, and it now leads our search for Margaret and Eley’s graves in a whole different direction.

Here is a map showing the property, sold to Eley by Johnston Forbes in 1888. This location perfectly matches the description in the deed of trust. [This map is on the Virginia Beach public library website, and is attributed to the year 1930 though it contains dated information].

UPDATE: 9/23/21:  Cousin Terry and I drove out to Blackwater to scope out this newly discovered Bryant Farm. The boundaries of the original farm are easy to see, but it is all now a field where it once had been woodland. The field is nothing but soybeans as far as the eye can see. There is no indication of an old homesite or of any signs or markings of graves. We did find a map, however, that showed a house on the property... just a dot indicating its location:

Near the bottom of the map below the circled area, see the number 11 at the corner of the intersection. That is the location of the Bryant farm. You can see a small dot below the 11 indicating a house that was there in 1992 when this map was created by the City of Va Beach Planning Commission. If you look at the map above this one, the dot next to the name "Johnston Forbes" is in the same location. 

https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/VB-052_Survey_VA_Beach_PH_II_1993_TRACERIES_report.pdf

1888, continued...

Addie married Blucher “Bluker” Fletcher on March 7. They ran a store in Woodville, NC for a time afterward.  

1893

[Ida's ex-husband, Lewellyn Eley m. Sallie Ann Jones in Southampton County on Jan 11, 1893. Lewellyn went on to have a large family and lived in Norfolk]. Was his marriage to Ida annulled or did they divorce?

1890s

Blucher and Addie purchased the Blackwater farm from Mr. Baum. What date?

The Fletcher farm today

An old tree that marked the original home site died and has fallen over.

Blucher and Addie’s farm was just down the road from the Bryant farm. We found surveys of the Fletcher property at the VB Courthouse, showing that the farm was purchased in two stages. The first part of the farm, 75 acres on the north side of Pungo Ferry Road, was purchased [c1890] from Mr. Baum, who kept the land from the tree line back to the North Landing River. The second part of the farm was purchased in 1904 from Mr. Baum, 58.3 acres on the south side of Pungo Ferry Road. At the time, Blackwater Road turned left almost at a 90-degree angle at what is now Blackwater Loop. Part of the Fletcher farm is under the present-day Blackwater Road on the north end of the property. 

Below are rough drawings based on property surveys from the Virginia Beach Courthouse:

When was this parcel originally purchased?

Purchased in 1904.

189?

Ida married ___ Williams. No marriage record in Southampton County. By 1895, "Ida (Bryant) Williams" was widowed and  living in Princess Anne County. (See 1895 marriage license to William Butler). 

Was Ida's 2nd husband a "Williams" of PA County? Ida is named "Ida Williams, widow" on her Princess Anne County marriage license to William Butler in 1895. Was she living with Eley and Margaret? (This is where the 1890 US census would have been helpful). Ida never mentions this marriage or her marriage to Lewellyn Eley to her children. 

NOTE (9/9): a search of marriage records at the Library of Virginia yielded no results for "Ida Bryant," or "Ida Williams. Her marriage to L.P. Eley is recorded for 1887. A search for [husband] Williams for the years 1884-1899 showed a "Jesse Williams" who married "Ida Major" in 1884 in Norfolk County, and a "Geo H. Williams" who married "Ida Butler" in 1888 in Norfolk City. These records require some follow up. Those last names don't fit Ida's currently-known profile, but might possibly indicate a last name of a husband as yet to be discovered.

189?

Ida’s husband __Williams died.

1892

Ida's son Earl b. 18 Nov. 1892 where? Who was the father? Is is possible to get Earl's grandson Scott to check his DNA link to William Butler and to ___ Williams? 

1895

Ida m. William Butler on 17 Jan. 1895. "Ida Williams, widow." Marriage license in Princess Anne County 17 January 1895. Marriage took place in Norfolk Virginia.

Ida's son William Brown Butler Jr was born in Oct 1895 in Lynchburg.

Eley died in Princess Anne County at the age of 66 on Dec 15, 1895. 

Margaret did not report Eley's death. This enabled her to continue to live on the Blackwater farm and collect income. If she had reported Eley's death, the farm would have to be divided - 1/3 for Margaret; and 2/3 to be split among her children. This would mean that Margaret would have to sell the farm, which she did not want to do. 

1897

Ida's son Rawley Butler b. Nov 1897 in Lynchburg. Was he really Ida's son? See notes under 1900.

1900

William T. Bryant m. Rebecca "Bonnie" Abbott (George Abbott's half sister) at the Queen Street Methodist Church parsonage on 15 Jan. 1900 in Norfolk, Va. 

In the 1900 U. S. Census, Addie and Blucher lived in Princess Anne County.

In the 1900 U.S. Census (June), in Lynchburg, Ida has only TWO living children (all three are listed as William Butler's sons). NOTE: Earl's grandson has been linked to me by DNA, so Ida is definitely his mother. Is Earl the son of Ida's previous husband? If so did William Butler give Earl his last name legally? It is assumed that William Brown Butler (Jr?) is also her son, considering that he was born exactly nine months after her marriage to William Butler in 1895. There was a servant named Susan Austin, age 23, living with them in 1900. Could Rawley be Susan's child? I have contact info for a grandson of Rawley's... perhaps he did a DNA test..? This would explain why William's obit (1904) says he has only one son, presumably William Jr. 

In 1900, Margaret, a widow, lived in Pungo, Va. (Princess Anne County), with William Bryant and his wife Rebecca “Bonnie.”

Around 1900-1901, William and Bonnie moved back to NJ, and Margaret moved to Richmond to live with Ida.

When Margaret went to live with Ida in Richmond, she rented out the Blackwater farm for $50 a month. Her youngest daughter Gattie Jane held the bond for the property. (Per probate papers from 1908 court case).

1904

Blucher and Addie purchased the 2nd parcel of land at Pungo Ferry Road from Mr. Baum. 1 Jan. 1904.

William Butler died in Lynchburg, Va. 1 Aug. 1904. (His obit says he was survived by one son). All 3 boys were placed in an orphanage in Richmond.

Ida m. George Abbott. 17 Dec. 1904. in Norfolk, Va. She was 36, he was 21. Family lore says that Ida met George when he was just a boy in NJ. Why did Ida move to Richmond? to be near her sons? To my knowledge, there were no other family connections in Richmond. Apparently her sons were placed in an orphanage in Richmond after William Butler died - not unusual for a widowed parent (see 1910 US Census). Note: The Methodist Children’s Home was established in 1890, Mr. WH Vaughan administrator 1891-1908 (mch.org). The Children’s Home Society of Virginia was organized in 1899, but had no facility in Roanoke until 1920; therefore, Richmond would have been the nearest orphanage to Lynchburg.

1906

Blucher had the land north of Pungo Ferry Road surveyed. 6 Jun. 1906. To sell, or perhaps refinance? Blucher purchased the property in Norfolk (Peachtree Street, Ocean View) sometime before 1920.

1908
On Jan. 21, 1908, Gattie Jane died in NY, leaving her husband, Dr. Edwin Stanton Davis, to hold the the bond documents for the Bryant farm. In her will, which was lost but remembered in detail by Dr Davis, Gattie left the bond to her mother, Margaret. Dr. Davis honored Gattie’s wishes and gave the bond to Charles Bryant, who then turned it over to a trust lawyer in Norfolk. Thus began a family court case over disposition of Eley’s estate.

April 6, 1908: Probate filed against the estate of Eley Bryant by Addie and Blucher Fletcher.

April 20, 1908: Margaret filed a response to Addie’s suit.

On May 16, 1908, according to the newspaper, Margaret had a stroke while traveling by train from Richmond to "scenes of her childhood," her "former home" in Blackwater, Norfolk County (see slightly sensationalized news articles below). She was taken to the home of D.W. Godwin at 914 Green Street in Portsmouth (an address that no longer exists). She had medical and nursing care at the Godwin home, and her four living children gathered by her side from NJ, Richmond, and Blackwater. She died on May 19 at age 73. According to the newspaper, her body was sent to Blackwater for interment. 

Poor thing, no wonder she had apoplexy! Her own children taking her to court... the trip to Blackwater was likely related to the family legal dispute. Imagine the scene at her deathbed! Amazing that they were able to work together to take care of the business of burying their mother.

Addie continued the lawsuit against her remaining siblings to sell the farm and divide the proceeds as should have been done in the first place. [It appears that she won the case - in 1909, the farm was sold, all debtors were paid off, and each of Margaret's living children - Charles, William, Ariadne, and Ida Rene - received $113.29. 

August 1908: receipts were included (see probate file) from D.W. Godwin (“for Mrs. Bryant’s grave”), medication, nursing care, Snellings funeral home, and W. E. Charlton (Justice of the Peace) for services related to Margaret's death and burial.

The newspaper articles about Margaret's death said that she was taken to the home of "G.W. Godwin" of “413 Green Street” in Portsmouth and died in the presence of her four children three days later. According to a receipt found in the probate papers, the name was actually D.W. Godwin at 914 Green St. 

Where are Eley and Margaret buried? Since Eley's death was not reported, it is likely that he was buried on the family farm. Margaret was buried with him, as Charles referenced in a 1924 letter (see below) to Blucher. On which farm were they buried? 

We researchers stopped along the road at the intersection of Blackwater and Pungo Ferry Roads to speak to a man who was mowing on that corner of the property. His name is Danny Thrasher. He said that his mother has lived on that property since 1940. He promised to ask her if there is an indication of graves anywhere on the property and let us know. He also said that the Mansfields across the road had been there for a long time - they might know something. 

Why was Gattie Jane Davis holding the bond (secured by the deed of trust) for the Bryant farm in Princess Anne County?

UPDATE: On Sept 22, 2021, I attended a meeting of the Pungo Historical Group, led by former city councilwoman and board member of the Va Beach Historical Society, Barbara Henley. Everyone at the meeting had deep roots in south Princess Anne County. There was no opportunity to speak with individuals at the meeting, but I did pick up on some facts and resources to investigate:

• Dr. Mansfield, historian, old PA County family - Archives at Virginia Wesleyan College
• See transcript of original Bryant farm deed - is it Miles Munden or Murden? both old PA families.
• Alice Walter at Westminster Canterbury in Va. Beach - Norfolk County genealogy
• Chesapeake Public Library - Robert Hitchings, Head of Norfolk County Historical Society.

1909 

The Bryant property in Blackwater was sold, debts paid, and distributions made to the four living children: Charles, William, Ida, and Addie. 17 April 1909. 42 acres, give or take. (Today the tract of land is listed as 48.86 acres).

Letter from Ida to Bluke, Jr. 8 Sept. 1909 mentions a rift between she and Addie. This rift was well known in the family when I was growing up in Virginia Beach (former Princess Anne County). It seemed to have an impact into the next couple of generations. Certainly, the legal action taken by Addie would be a likely cause of this rift. There is a photo however with Addie and Ida together with Charles and Mariah which must have been taken around the time of the court case:

Mariah, Ida, Addie, Charles

There is no record of Charles Bryant's residence before 1909 in NJ. Where did he live? The Newark city directory shows a "Charles F. Bryant, salesman" in 1909 and 1910. According to a deposition in the probate papers, Charles was living out of state in 1908. Though there is no evidence that he ever lived in Richmond, could this 1911 newspaper article about the dispute over a piano be about him? (Times-Dispatch, 11 Nov 1911):

1910

According to the U.S. Census, Addie and Blucher lived in Pungo, Virginia. 

According to the U.S. Census, Ida, mother of 6 living children, lived with George Abbott on Maryland Ave. in Tuckahoe, Richmond, Virginia. It noted the 1st marriage for George; 2nd (!) for Ida. Ida's sons were not living with her:

• William Butler Jr. is listed as inmate in the Methodist Orphanage in Richmond, age 15.
• Rawley Butler is listed as inmate in Laurel Reformatory, age 11.
• Earl, age 18, not found in any records so far. 
• Miriam, age 2.
• Audrey, age 1.
• Jacqueline, age 3/12. 

1911

Ida's son George Wright Abbott Jr. died at less than one year old.

Charles married Mariah in Westchester NY on 22 Mar 1911. 

1917

Jamestown Exposition: Blucher and Bluke Jr. helped to de-construct the "State" homes, per Charlie Fletcher. 

1920

In the U.S. Census, Ida lived in Henrico with George, Miriam, Audrey, Jacqueline, Earl (age 27, widowed, Reformatory guard), and Earl's daughters Edna and Hellen [sic]. 

In the U.S. Census, Addie and Blucher lived in Pungo, Virginia in 1920.

Blucher purchased eight lots in Ocean view and built a house (706 Peachtree St., now 9337 Peachtree) from Cypress lumber milled on the farm in Blackwater. The house was made into several apartments and multiple generations lived there. He created a mini-farm and sold produce from this property. According to property records for the house on Zillow the house pictured below was built in 1920. [Later, Bluke Jr. built his wife Catherine her dream home at 716 Peachtree].

1924

Letter from Charles to Bluke on 11 Apr 1924 "I must see if I can't get someone to look after Father's and Mother's graves." Where are the graves?! Did the Fletchers still own the farm in Blackwater after they moved to Ocean View?

1926

Charles Fletcher b. 9 Apr 1926 in Norfolk, Virginia. Charlie never lived on the farm in Blackwater..?

Fenton and Phenie - who were they?

Besides the three Fenton children of Eley and Margaret, there was a couple named "Fenton and "Phenie" who lived near the Blackwater River. Jacob Fenton was the son of William Bailey Bryant (brother of Eley), and his wife was Josephine ("Phenie"). Cousin Charlie Fletcher remembers visiting them as a child. He recalls an abundance of good food, but also lots of flies in the kitchen. There was a black church across the river, and he could hear the choir singing from Fenton's house. I found a possible location for their home where Rt. 58 Bus crosses the Blackwater River (based on a map held by Charlie Fletcher’s daughter  that was roughly sketched on a scrap piece of paper). The road was then called Coolspring Rd per US Census. There is a Coolspring Island nearby, northeast of Franklin. Used to be Isle of Wight County. Zoom in on Google Earth to see a foundation is visible where the black church might have been, and also where Fenton and Phenie’s house might have been:

1928

Jacqueline Abbott m. Ernest Earl Zaun on 7 Apr 1928 in Richmond, Va.

1930

John Beverly Zaun b. 23 Jan. 1930 in Richmond, Va. 

According to the U.S. Census (April), Blucher, Addie, and Ruth rented [a house] in Ocean View, Norfolk, Va. They lived at 706 Peachtree Street with son Blucher Jr., his wife Catherine, and their sons Phillip (age 5) and Charles (age 3 -11/12).

Blucher Fletcher Sr. died on 8 Sept 1930 in Norfolk, Virginia.

In the U.S. Census, Ida lived on Old Washington Hwy with George, Herman, Miriam E., Herman L. Jr. (age 4), Rawley K. (age 0), Charles Page, Audrey M., Idarene (age 3), and George A. (age 2). Note on Census: Ida's 1st marriage was at age 16. Who was the informant? Was there really a 1st marriage at age 16? If so, it predates her marriage to Lewellyn Eley. Ida must have told the family about a marriage in her teens, but most of the family thought she had only been married twice. 

1933

Ida died in Richmond. 

1934

Jacqueline Gail Zaun b. 14 Aug 1934 in Richmond, Va.

1935

Addie lived in Norfolk Virginia at 706 Peachtree Street, with Ruth, Blucher Jr., Catherine, Phillip, and Charles. 

My grandfather, Ernie, came down from Richmond in search of employment, and lived at first with the Fletchers in Ocean View. He resided temporarily in a boarding house on 10th St. in Ocean View. His family did not join him right away, but stayed in Richmond. I have letters between my grandmother and grandfather that were written during this period of time. Charlie Fletcher remembers visiting the Zauns in their home on Mason Creek Rd., a house with porches on both the first and second floors. What year did the whole Zaun family move to Norfolk? I remember stories about my grandmother, Jacqueline, grieving over leaving her Richmond family.

1938

Ernest Earl Zaun lived in Norfolk, Va. and worked as a bookkeeper at Dalton-Bundy Lumberyard. 306 W. 35th St. Apt. 1. There are family stories about living in this tiny apartment. My father and his sister had to share a bedroom. When Helen (Earl’s daughter) came to visit from Richmond, she also slept in their room.

Cannot find Ernest and family in the 1940 Census, but his WWII draft card lists his address.

General background on the Bryant history:

Bailey Bryant left land (on loan) to Jacob B. Bryant (Eley's father), which was at his death to be divided among Jacob's sons. The Plantation was known as the Fitzhugh land, formerly owned by Thomas Fitzhugh. Jacob lived on this land in Nottoway Parish until he died in 1857. Was this the same land that the Bryants lived on in the 1880's?

Nottoway Parish (1734) served both Isle of Wight and Southampton Counties. It became Nottoway County in 1788.

Resources to locate:

The William and Mary Quarterly Vol, 23, No. 1 (Jan.1943,) pp. 41-63. "The Colonial Churches of isle of Wight and Southampton Counties, Virginia."

Mt. Carmel Christian Church records.

Some of our questions include:

• Where are Eley and Margaret buried? (possibly on the Fletcher Farm at Pungo Ferry, now wooded and newer houses built on the site - can still see the old tree that was beside the original house. Search along the roadside?) Charlie Bryant expressed concern in a 1909 letter to Bluke: "I must see if I can't get someone to look after Father and Mother's graves." This would suggest the graves are not in a formal cemetery. Sometime after 1920, the Fletchers moved to Ocean View in Norfolk, leaving their farm in Pungo. I called the Snellings Funeral Home in Portsmouth and they are going to check their records for Margaret's burial location. I also called Holloman Brown on Tidewater Drive as they bought out the Snellings business. A helpful man named Chris said he would search their records. He called back and said he did not find Margaret's record. He suggested calling the Chesapeake Health Department for a death certificate. (Terry C. has the phone number). Meanwhile,Terry noticed a couple of white markers in the trees behind where the house would have been on the Fletcher farm. On Aug. 31 I contacted the Old Princess Anne County historical group that meets at Creeds twice a month. I got an almost immediate reply from Donald Moore of Pungo, who offered some great information and whatever further assistance I need... he is a professional genealogist, and.... drum roll... we are related through Blucher Fletcher who is his gg grandfather! 

• Why did they leave Southampton County and move to Princess Anne County?  (Speculation: the farm was not supporting them).  We learned that the Bryants moved to Princess Anne County BEFORE Addie and Blucher Fletcher bought the land at Pungo Ferry Road. Blucher and Addie didn't marry until 1888, and according to Charlie Fletcher, they operated a store in Woodville, NC for a time after they were married. Eley and Margaret's sold their land in Southampton County in January 1886. Their baby Fenton died in Princess Anne County in 1887. Did they rent the land in PA County before buying it? When did the Fletcher's buy the original property in PA County? (It had to be in the 1890’s as they lived in PA County in 1900 per US Census. They purchased a second parcel on Jan. 1, 1904).
• What happened to the "lost" land grant/deed? It wasn't a lost grant, it was a lost or stolen patent for growing peanuts. Find out more?

• Was Ida married at age 16 (see ref in 1930 Census)? No record of this marriage in Southampton.
• Who was Ida Rene's 2nd husband (last name Williams)? Not found in Southampton Courthouse.
• Find divorce record for Ida and Llewellyn Eley. Found the marriage certificate, but no divorce or annulment record found in Southampton Courthouse. 
• Why were William Bryant’s parents' names on his death certificate incorrect? (Peter Bryant and Margaret Gartlan?) Possible mistranslation by staff member at the Newark City Hospital where he died.
• Probate dispute over William Cobb's estate. What was that about?
• How did the Turner Rebellion affect the family?
• History of Queen Street Methodist Episcopal Church (Samuel Hatcher, 107 Wood St. parsonage). In 1900, Bonnie took the train from NJ to Portsmouth, rode the ferry across to Norfolk. William met her and they went immediately to the nearest church to be married. The church is now AME.
• Where did the name "Fenton" originate? We don't know where the name "Fenton" came from, but it was heavily used in the Bryant family. There was a James Fenton Bryant who was Superintendent of Schools and a well-known leader in Southampton County. 
• How did the Bryants of Va. originally connect with the Abbotts of NJ? (William and Bonnie?) The final link of what would later be called the N&W RR came to Jerusalem in 1888. This is around the time that Eley sold the Southampton property and bought the farm in Blackwater. William Bryant went to NJ and worked in a hat factory gluing bands inside the hats. There is where he met Bonnie. In 1900, after Eley's death, William was living with his mother Margaret in Blackwater. In 1900, Bonnie came down on the train, took the ferry to Norfolk from Portsmouth, and they went straight to the Queens Street Methodist church parsonage and got married. Bonnie had a large, ornate marriage certificate made and signed by the preacher. She was pregnant, but the baby died in infancy. William and Bonnie moved back to NJ in 1901. Family lore says that Ida Rene first met George when he was a boy. She could have met him when visiting William in NJ sometime before 1900. Charles went to work in NJ around 1909, or possibly earlier. William's family in NJ did not remember ever visiting Charles, which is strange since his piano business was on Broad Street in Newark, their home town.
• William Bryant “Billie” visited Addie's family on Peachtree Street in Ocean View, Norfolk. We were able to confirm to Charlie Fletcher that William did not receive his leg wound in the war - there was no war at the time, and he was too old to have been in WWI. Matt speculates that it might have been an ulcer caused by alcohol-related diabetes. Bonnie was apparently happy to have William out of the house. William died in a residence facility for alcoholics. The Abbotts threatened to bury him the Abbott graveyard in Newark so that he would be tormented for eternity, and that is exactly where he was interred. The graveyard is in the middle of a building complex. 
• Abbott Blvd in Fort Lee, NJ, is named for our family. (John Abbott was mayor of Ridgefield/Fort Lee).

Random information:

Margaret smoked a corn cob pipe.

Margaret had one baby after the move to Blackwater. She was in her 50's. The baby died in infancy. Is this even possible? 

Newspapers:

• Franklin Gazette OCLC#: 34273845 Published Weekly From 1880 To 1886 In Franklin, Va. : K.R. Griffin, Publisher varies. Editor: K.R. Griffin, <1882>; W.W. Degge, <1884>; M.E. Daughtry, <1885>. Originals held by: Virginia Museum of History and Culture and https://www.worldcat.org/title/franklin-gazette/oclc/34273845&referer=brief_results. Also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096530/
• Blackwater Courier. (Franklin, Va.) 1891-1900, https://www.worldcat.org/title/blackwater-courier/oclc/34224051&referer=brief_results also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096531/
• The Graphic. (Franklin, VA.) 1900-1905 https://www.worldcat.org/title/graphic/oclc/34273796/ also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096535/
• Tidewater News. (Franklin, Va.) 1905-Current ** [still published https://www.thetidewaternews.com/] https://www.worldcat.org/title/tidewater-news/oclc/32981283&referer=brief_results, also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95079232/
• Southampton Democrat (Franklin, VA.) 188? - 192? https://www.worldcat.org/title/southhampton-democrat/oclc/34273870&referer=brief_results also https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96096536/

Geography and Family Migration

My Mother's Long Journey to Norfolk, Virginia

On my mother's paternal side, our ancestors almost entirely came to America through New England: New Amsterdam (New York), Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. 

Our ancestor Nicholas Stillwell came from Holland and was a first settler in Gravesend (on land now known as Coney Island). The Wandells also came from the Netherlands, settling in the Dutch community in New York and building a thriving shipping business on the Hudson River. Jacob Wandell married Catherine Stillwell. My 2X great grandmother, Olivia Wandell, moved westward with her husband Andrew Hall and their children, taking a northern route through Michigan and settling in the Dakota Territory, finally making a home in the Black Hills of South Dakota. 

The original Crawford immigrant, Horace, came to America from Scotland and worked as a millwright in the Geneseo area of New York. His son Calvin followed the shores of Lake Erie westward to Ohio where he joined with the Dillingham family, with them (for safety from Indians) to settle in Indiana. He married Anna Dillingham, and with their children, they moved westward to Missouri and finally settled in Lincoln, Nebraska. Their son, Horace Calvin Crofford (the name had changed spelling by then), went off to seek his fortune in the Black Hills of South Dakota after the Civil War. 

Horace Calvin Crofford met Ada Clemina Hall at Andrew Hall's ranch in the Black Hills during a meeting of ranchers in the area to discuss the problem of the Indian uprising. This was during the time of Wounded Knee and the Ghost Dancers. They married, and had four children, including my grandfather Horace Calvin Crofford Jr.

My mother's maternal side began as a complete mystery. An orphan in Paris, Texas, my grandmother Teresa (nee Ethelyn) knew nothing about her family and had no idea what became of her parents. I have not only discovered the identity of her parents, but was able to trace her ancestry back to the earliest days of our country's history in New England and Virginia. It was certainly shocking to find out that her father's family line came from Virginia, bringing our family's migration story full circle. From New Kent County, the Allens moved to Southside Virginia. They married into the Dozier family, descendants of Leonard Dozier, a French Hugenot. Their Allen descendants moved westward to Kentucky, eventually finding a permanent home in Hancock County, Illinois. 

Teresa's mother's family, the Bosworths, had deep New England roots. Through them we can claim our descendance from the original Mayflower passengers, John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. Joseph Bucklin Bosworth of Providence, Rhode Island, fought in the War of 1812. He migrated westward through Pennsylvania to settle in Ohio and become an important prophet in the Mormon church directly under Joseph Smith. After a brief missionary stint in the deep South, he returned to Ohio. His son, Orlando Bosworth, moved to Peoria, Illinois, which is adjacent to Hancock County.

Augustus Allen married Eva Bosworth in Illinois. Their only child was a daughter, nee Ethelyn.

About the year she was born, my grandmother's parents moved just across the Mississippi River to Keokuk, Iowa. When she was about seven, they moved to Wichita Kansas, where there was a land boom happening. The family became prosperous, but in just a few short years, the family fell apart. My grandmother was sent to a boarding school in Paris, Texas and her mother was admitted to an insane asylum in Woodward Oklahoma. Her father went on to build a new life for himself in Wichita, but was eventually sent to an asylum himself where he died the very day he was admitted (suicide?). 

My grandmother, by then calling herself Teresa Allen, graduated from nursing school, worked in Oklahoma City, then moved to the Chicago, Illinois area (for reasons yet unknown). She lived in Waukegan and worked at a doctor's office. After WWI, my grandfather, Horace Calvin Crofford, moved in with his mother Ada at her home in Waukegan just down the street from Teresa. Ada had moved there to be near her daughter Miriam after Horace, Sr. died in Missouri. 

Horace and Teresa met and married in 1926. A search for employment during the Depression led them to move to Norfolk, Virginia with their two young children, "Sonny" and Virginia.

My Father's Journey to Norfolk, Virginia

In my father's paternal line, the Zauns and the Wellners came to America from Germany in 1865 (via Philadelphia). John Adam Zaun married Louise Wellner; their son, John Adam married Georgia Powell in Richmond, Virginia. 

I hit a brick wall in my research on the Powell family. Georgia's grandfather George fought in the Civil War and died soon after. The search for the family of his widow, Mary Ellen Stevens, was also a dead end. I am guessing that their origin was European, probably English, but that is just a hunch. 

Georgia's father, Jefferson Powell, married Marie Louise Judd in Richmond, Virginia. Marie Louise had moved to Richmond from New York. The Judd family roots run deep in New England colonial history.  Some of her ancestral lines can be traced back centuries into England's history. 

My father's maternal line also goes deep into colonial history in New England. The Abbotts came from England in the 1800's to build pianos in New York City and New Jersey. George Abbott's mother was the 2nd generation from Ireland. The original immigrant, John Abbott, married into a well-known Revolutionary War patriot family from Rhode Island, the Godfrey family. The Abbotts settled in the Palisades area of New Jersey, just across the river from New York City.

George Abbott married Ida Rene Bryant from Southampton County, Virginia. The Bryants had original land grants in Virginia from the king of England. Eley Bryant married Margaret Cobb, who was also from an old Virginia family. 

Ida Rene's daughter Jacqueline married Ernest Earl Zaun in Richmond, Virginia. Their first child was my father, John Zaun. They moved to Norfolk, Virginia where John later met my mother, Virginia Crofford.