Genealogy Wanderings - Harden

Genealogy research is so different today than when I first started almost 20 years ago.  I think that I have it so much easier than those who first started researching before the age of computers and the internet.  I can remember the struggles that I used to have to find information that is now at my fingertips.  There are more and more databases available at places like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com – and I have learned a lot of things that spur me forward.  I am going to try and write a few blogs about some of these curious things that I have found of late.

Some pictures that a cousin took for me of Middleburgh Cemetery, in NY

My fourth great grandfather was Ebenezer Gallup.  He was born in 25 Sep 1795 in Middleburgh, Schoharie Co., NY and died there on 8 Oct 1865.  He is buried there at Middleburgh Cemetery with his wife, Susan Harden.  Ebenezer’s parent’s died when he was quite young (Father Silas Gallup b. 9 Mar 1749 d. 28 Oct 1796 and mother Sarah Gallup b. 29 Dec 1751 d. 18 Aug 1799 see Silas Gallup & Sarah Gallup in NY) and based on family stories, I know that he was raised by his sister Silence Gallup Brewster (See Silence Gallup Brewster and Silence Gallup Brewster – Part 2 – A Further Exploration)  I have always found his family interesting.  I wonder why his parents died…I am sure it was some disease and somehow he escaped it.  Was there something genetic in the family that caused five of the ten children to die young?  Ebenezer’s siblings Silas Gallup Jr b. 1782 d. 1783, Lois Gallup b. 1784 d. 1784, Hannah Gallup b. 1785 d. 1785, and Silas Gallup Jr b. 1789 d. 1790 all died very young.  Perhaps there were more siblings between Eli b. 11 Feb 1791 d. 4 Apr 1882 and Ebenezer b. 1795 or perhaps Ebenezer was a surprise.  His mother, Sarah Gallup, would have been 45 years old.  Sometime between 1791 and 1795 the Gallup family moved to New York.  I know there was a family group of cousins and brothers who moved their families and I wish I knew what prompted them to move from Connecticut to New York.  I can guess…but I don’t know if I will ever know.

Susan Harden hasn’t been an easy person to search.  She was born 8 Jul 1808 in Duanesburg, Schenectady Co., NY and died 9 Nov 1884 in Middleburgh, Schoharie Co., NY. Susan married Ebenezer Gallup on 19 Nov 1826 in Middleburgh, NY.  Since she died as late as 1884, I spent the big money and got her death certificate (I think the NY death certificates are $27 – which are quite expensive and took the full 8 weeks to receive it)  From that I learned that her parents James Harden and Margaret.  I have found a James Harden who was born in 1788 in Duanesburg, NY and died in 1849 in Tioga, NY.  I think that he is the likely father of Susan and according to links in Ancestry to “The New England Historical & Genealogical Register” he is the son of James Harden b. 1755 VT d. 27 Apr 1828 Schenectady Co., NY and Susannah Manard b.  1764 d. 4 Mar 1826.  They were both buried at Tripp Cemetery in Schenectady, NY.  Finding that little bit of information made me wonder what the significance of the Tripp family was to this James and Susannah.  It is a family name that I am familiar with as it is one of my ancestors on my Gage family.

So my genealogical wanderings have now taken me to completely different place.  I did a search on Find A Grave to see what other Harden’s were buried in Tripp Cemetery.  There I find a Benjamin Harden who was a listed son I had found for James Harden and his wife Susannah.  This Benjamin Harden turned out to marry a Phebe Tripp, so that explains why they are buried in that cemetery.  Only problem is now I have to figure how Phebe Tripp fits in.  

So, as you can see, these new records take you on completely different avenues to search.  I am not sure that James Harden and Susannah Manard are my 4^th great grandmother’s grandparents – but it seems likely.  The biggest lesson that I have learned while doing genealogy is that the family patterns are important, and don’t be surprised to see your family lines mixing together a little too closely for comfort

Maternal Lines - Gallup

When I first started researching my family history seriously…one of the families that really interested me was the Gallup family.  My great grandfather was the son of Edith Gallup and Orlando Gage.  Edith herself was a bit of an enigma herself.  When she married Orlando Gage, she was 28 years old – probably considered by most as an old maid schoolteacher.  By the time she married Orlando, she was pretty much alone in NY as most of her family had traveled west to Nebraska.  The story I always heard was that she was afraid of the Indians.  I think that marrying a widower with four children might have been a little scarier than the Indians in Nebraska.

I knew that Edith was the daughter of Silas Gallup and Phebe Montanye – but I didn’t know much about the family beyond that.  As my research began before the internet was a popular source of material, my only real place to research was my local library.  I have to admit that the research pickings are pretty slim here in Lewiston, ID and I had no access to a large genealogy library anywhere in the immediate vicinity.  So, I started looking through the books available and found some Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) books that had numerous entries about the Gallup family.  Since I really didn’t know much beyond Edith’s parents – it was a lot of information with little connection to what I currently knew.  I remember that it wasn’t too long after that when I had the chance to talk with my great uncle about the family.  He simply looked at me and asked me why I hadn’t looked at the Gallup Genealogy.  He got me his copy of the Gallup genealogy and a whole new world opened up.

This particular copy of the Gallup Genealogy was published in 1966 and I must say that this was the first professionally printed genealogy that I had seen.  My great grandfather had a copy of a Gage genealogy that I had poured over and it was likely a self-published genealogy judging by the paper and typestyle.  At the time – I was terribly naïve and inexperienced.  I had no idea that there had been researched, documented and published genealogies about several different families that had been professional published since before the start of the 20^th century.  The Gallup Association had published its first genealogy in 1896.  The one that I had in my hand had been published in 1966 and I was later to learn that another Gallup genealogy had been published in 1987.  So, I had in my hands a genealogy that answered my questions about my Gallup family ancestry.  I must say that I was glad to have a computer program to record the generations back…because there were a few too many cousins who married each other. 

So…here is my family line:

• John Gallop m. Christobel Bruschett
• John Gallup m. Hannah Lake
• John Gallup (III) m. Elizabeth Harris & Benadam Gallup m. Esther Prentice
• Nathaniel Gallup m. Margaret Gallup  & Benadam Gallup Jr m. Eunice Cobb
• Nathaniel Gallup m. Hannah Gore & Nathan Gallup m. Sarah Giddings
• Silas Gallup m. Sarah Gallup
• Ebenezer Gallup m. Susan Harden
• Silas Gallup m. Phoebe Montanye
• Edith Gallup m. Orlando Gage
• Ora Silas Gage m. Florence Christine Shawver
• Helen Marian Gage m. Frank Stewart Johnson

 I have been fascinated with the maternal lines in my family.  You are fortunate while doing genealogy to be able to find information on these lines.  Under many circumstances, the women’s maiden names are not recorded.  Sometimes you can make a guess on the surname because many times a son will have the first or middle name of the mother’s family.  The Gallup family was the first maternal family line that I researched…and I learned a great deal genealogy by exploring that book.  During the next six weeks, I spent hours upon hours every day entering the data into my genealogy program.  At the time, I was unemployed so I had lots of time.  By the time I had finished – I had entered 13,000 names into my database.  I learned several things of importance in genealogical research.

• Families tend to intermarry – there will be multiple families that you will have to pay attention to get the full picture.
• Pay attention to the siblings of your ancestor and their families – they are likely to pop up again in your research.
• There is always more to learn and there is always more to the story.
• Sometimes multiple children will have the same names in a family.  If a young child dies, very often the next child will have the same name. 
• Pay attention to the female lineages – you never know when one of them might lead you to a Mayflower ancestor (Eunice Cobb)

Not everyone is going to be as fortunate to find a family genealogy.  Even if you do, it is important to try to find the supporting information to see if you as a researcher come to the same conclusion.  When I first started trying to find out something about Edith Gallup – I never imagined that her family would be so complicated and so interesting.  I am always finding new stuff to look at and marvel at in this large and impressive family.

Silas Gallup & Sarah Gallup in NY

The name Ebenezer brings up thoughts of “Bah Humbug!”, but it was actually a fairly common name in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  I’m sure the name lost much of it’s allure thanks to Dicken’s timeless tale!  My 4^th Great grandfather was named Ebenzer Gallup and was born on 25 Sep 1795 and was  my first Gallup ancestor born in New York state.

Ebenezer was the son of Silas Gallup and Sarah Gallup.  Silas and Sarah were 2^nd cousins who married 13 Jan 1774 in Stonington, New London Co., CT.  Ebenezer was the youngest of their 11 children.  Silas and his brothers Levi, Samuel & Ezra and their cousin John Gallup moved into Albany Co., NY and helped establish the towns of Knox and Berne, NY in the late 1700’s.  Based on the birthdates of Silas & Sarah’s youngest two sons, they emigrated from Connecticut to New York between 1791 and 1795.  When Ebenezer was a bit over a year old, his father died.  Silas Gallup was 47 years old and I would guess that he probably died due to some disease.   Sarah Gallup died a few years later in 1799 at the age of 48 years old.  So, at the age of 4 years old, Ebenezer was left as an orphan.  From what I know – only the oldest daughter was married and out of the household.  Silas and Sarah’s children are as following:

• 
  
• Sally b. 9/30 1774 d. 11/27/1852 m.  Robert Babcock
• Margaret  b. 7/21/1776 d. bef 1860 m. Joseph Crary
• Silence b. 6/7/1778 d. 8/14/1834 m. Silas Brewster
• Fanny b. 3/24/1780 d. 12/28/1862 m. Frederick Babcock
• Silas, Jr. b. 6/4/1782 d. 4/17/1783
• Lois b. 4/11/1784 d. 4/28/1784
• Hannah b. 6/8/1785 d. 9/13/1785
• Nathan b. 1/5/1787 d. 4/23/1844 m. Nancy Morgan
• Silas, Jr. b. 7/25/1789 d. 6/14/1790
• Eli b. 2/11/1791 d. 4/1882 m. Sarah Crary
• Ebenezer b. 9/25/1795 d. 10/8/1865 m. Susan Harden

I found out from one of my cousins that Ebenezer was mostly raised by his sister, Silence and her husband Silas Brewster.  I suspect that the other younger children must have been placed with different family members.  I am limited as to what I have been able to discover about their lives.  I still wonder why Silas and Sarah Gallup died so young…and what happened to all of their children after their deaths.  Judging by the time period – I suspect that they probably died of something like small pox.  It must have been difficult for the older children to take care of their younger siblings.  I suspect that Margaret didn’t marry until later in life (she was 33 years old) that she might have been the one to take of her younger siblings in their homestead.  In the early 1800’s, it must have been very difficult for a young woman to take of her younger siblings without some sort of assistance. 

Ebenezer's gravestone at Middleburg Cemetery.

My 4^th great grandfather Ebenezer married Susan Harden on 19 Nov 1826 in Middleburg, Schenectady Co., NY.  Not too long after his marriage, his sister, Silence died in 1830.  Seems quite sad that the sister who raised him died so soon his marriage.  Unlike his parents, Ebenezer lived to be a good age – 70 years old…and his wife Susan lived it to be 78 years old.  They had 10 children together and 8 of them lived to adulthood.  Just one generation after his father’s family moved to New York, my 3^rd great grandfather moved to Nebraska – probably trying to find a better life just like his grandfather.