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 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.

This connection needs more research.  Ada Hall Crofford shared this family lore in her writings, but the dates don't make sense. 

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.

Reverend Orrin Bishop Judd

Zaun > Powell > Judd

If this blog emphasizes the fame and notoriety in our family lineage, it's because the more colorful characters more immediately come to mind. This post is no exception... meet Orrin Bishop Judd, the grandfather of my great grandmother Nannie Zaun (Georgia Powell).

Orrin Judd was born in 1816 in Hartford, Connecticut.  He grew up in a middle class home "removed alike from the evils of affluence and want." (Memoirs and Remains of Rev. Willard Judd).  He was the ninth of ten children - seven sons and three daughters with two decades between the ages of oldest and youngest.  He graduated from Madison University which later became Colgate University. Succeeding generations of "Orrin Judds" also attended college there.  The current Orrin Judd, who is the great great grandson of our Orrin and his third wife Susanna, maintains a blog called "BrothersJudd" in which he writes about his family's tradition:

"The Reverend Orrin Bishop Judd graduated from Madison which became Colgate and was a trustee.  
His son, Orrin Reynolds Judd, was a trustee of Colgate.  
His son, Orrin Grimmell Judd, went to Colgate and was a trustee.  
His son, The Reverend Orrin Dolloff Judd, went to Colgate-Rochester Seminary. 
His son, yours truly, went to Colgate." 
 (http://brothersjuddblog.com/archives/2008/05/fairest_theme_of_all_our_lays.html)

Rev. Orrin Bishop Judd D.D., L.L.D., was a respected Baptist theologian and author, as well as servant in both public and private office.  He wrote a translation of the New Testament (Matthew ch. 1-3), and many other works including a biography on the life, religious experiences, and teachings of his brother, Rev. Willard Judd.

(https://archive.org/details/memoirsandremai00conegoog)  

He founded the New York Chronicle, which he edited for many years (The Magazine of Christian Literature, volumes 5-6). 

Other works listed here:  http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no97-37833.  

Orrin was quoted at the beginning of this scholarly work:  

However, on the more human side, Orrin was married three times, and made front page news in the New York Times (April 19 and 26, 1868) because of a scandalous divorce from his second wife - our ancestor - Elizabeth MacDonald.  Her son-in-law testified that Elizabeth, who herself was a writer for the New York Tribune, was "treated with the most revolting cruelty," and that her husband beat and starved her and kept her from seeing her children.  In her own testimony, Elizabeth says that when she had only been married a week when she discovered that Orrin's "love of money was his besetting sin." He would not give her money for household incidentals, even refusing to supply his aging mother, who lived with them, with sufficient underclothing.  Elizabeth took off her own underclothing for the "venerable lady" and as a consequence took ill herself.  She accused Orrin of adultery, and the testimony of offenses and tawdry details of their personal lives goes on for entire pages of the newspaper. 

Egad.

The 1880 census in Brooklyn, NY, Orrin's occupation is "6th Ave E.RR." (elevated railroad).  The 6th Ave. E.RR was constructed in 1878.  I have not confirmed positively that this is the same Orrin Bishop Judd.

Fast Facts

We have a double link to Roger Williams through the marriage of Samuel Godfrey and Patience Sabin whose mothers (both granddaughters of Roger Williams) were first cousins.  

Roger Williams, an anti-Puritan, was exiled from Massachusetts Bay Colony.  He survived in the wilderness by depending on the Indians.  He had an exceptional language ability and learned several Indian languages which he later wrote a book about.  He founded Providence Rhode Island and started the First Baptist Church in America.

Capt. Samuel Godfrey was one of the Sons of Liberty who took part in the famed Gaspee Affair, a fiery event in Rhode Island which was instrumental in sparking the American Revolution.

The Hickock/Hiccox/Hickok family is connected through Anna Dillingham Crofford.  Our ancestor, Hannah, was a 6^th cousin to Wild Bill (James Butler) Hickok.

Joost Van Den Vondell was the “Shakespeare of the Netherlands” in the 1500’s.  His great great grandson came to America in the late 1700’s. (Later note: this connection is not definitively proven).

Charles Wesley Wandell b. 1819 was a missionary to Australia.  He wrote a letter in 1869 from White Pine, Nevada to his sister Miriam Olivia (our ancestor) saying that he was glad to hear that she was “coming west” by railroad and covered wagon.

Thomas Welles, 4^th Gov of CT – through Judd ancestry.  Was a first settler of Hartford, and is memorialized on a monument there. 

Orrin Judd was a well known preacher in Connecticut.  His scandalous divorce is documented in the newspaper of the time.  He wrote a translation of the New Testament Book of Matthew (look him up on Amazon).

Sarah L Wright married Whitfield Abbott – 2^nd marriage for both – both had been widowed.  Their child was George Wright Abbott, a carpenter, who became my great grandfather.  Sarah was then widowed again at age 36.  Sarah’s mother was born in Ireland.