Mayflower Ancestry - William White & Susanna Jackson

William White and Sussana Jackson would be my 10th great grandparents.  Here is the line through the Tannahill family.  The first 5 generations are in the Mayflower Families - Through Five Generations - Vol 13 (Silver Books)  There are a few comments on a few interesting ancestors.  I have several ancestors who were on the Mayflower.  I suppose most people who have early New England ancestry probably share the same claim.  

William White (10 Nov 1591 - 21 Feb 1621) m. Susanna Jackson (1592 d. 01 Oct 1680 )

William, Susanna and their son Resolved were 3 of the 102 passengers of the Mayflower. They also brought along two servants.  In late November, Susanna gave birth to their son Peregrine having made the voyage in the latter stages of her pregnancy.  The two servants who came with the White family both died that first winter with Edward Thompson being the first to die amongst the passengers.  William Holbek also died soon after they landed. Both were indentured servants.

There were also 30 crew.  They dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod Massachusetts on November 20, 1620.  During that first winter, most stayed on board the ship because of a lack of shelter and food.  There was an outbreak of scurvy, pneumonia and tuberculosis.  Only 53 passengers and half of the crew survived that first winter.

Susanna was the only surving widow and went on to become one of the first brides, marring Edward Winslow in May of 1621, having 5 more children in addition to her two sons with William White. It has only been the past few years that we have actually known her last name thanks to persistent research by some descendants.

Resolved White (1615 d. aft 19 Sep 1687)  m. Judith Vassall (b. 1619 d. abt 3 Apr 1670)

Anna White (b. 4 Jun 1649 d. 26 May 1718 ) m. John Hayward (b. 20 Dec 1640 d. 22 Nov 1718)

David Allen b. 1675 d. bef 1752) m. Sarah Hayward (b. 16 Jun 1689 d. bef 1748)

David Allen (9 Feb 1713 d. 1799-1800) m. Sarah Baker (27 Sep 1715 d. Aft 1762)

Interesting point - I worked with Lucy Kelly Simpson trying to find the connection between Adoniram Allen and Ethan Allen (Green Mountain Boys - Revolutionary War).  We never could make the connection through the Allen family  and it turned out the connection was through the Baker's.  Their mother's were sisters.   David traveled to either NC/GA likely after 1762 and ended up in North Carolina.  Both David and his son Adoniram fought in the Battle of King's Mountain in 1780 which would have made David around 67 and Adoniram at 46 years of age.

Adoniram Allen (b. 1734 d. 1838) m. Elizabeth Morris b. 1777 d. 1815)
Adoniram is possibly one of my favorite ancestors.  He was born near the New Hampshire border in 1734 moved to Georgia and then North Carolina with his father.  He then got a land grant and moved to Kentucky and started a mill there in 1807 at 70 years old.  His nickname was "Teges" because he was "particular" and the creek near that mill is called "Teges" in his honor.  Adoniram retired at 102 and died two years later at 104 years of age.  

Morris Allen (b. 1794 d. 4 Nov 1864) m. Rachel Bishop (b. 1805 d. aft 1870)

Ailey Allen (b 12 Apr 1823 d. 5 Apr 1890)  m. William Kelly (1818 d. 9 Jun 1899)  - on the right is a photo of Ailey Allen.  According to family stories, this was a tintype that was nailed to the wagon that carried John Ward Kelly and family to Kansas and Oklahoma.  The nail hole is still in the upper right hand corner.

John Ward Kelly (b. 8 Aug 1849 d. 20 Feb 1910)  m. Melvina Robertson (b. 19 July 1849 d. 22 Dec 1890) John Ward Kelly and Melvina Robertson had 14 children.  Melvina died in childbirth with that child.  They moved to Kansas around 1885 near the Oklahoma border.  

Sarah Rachel Kelly (b. 17 Dec 1877 d. 21 Jan 1966)  m John Lyons Tannahill (b. 28 Apr 1873 d. 21 May 1945)

They were the parents of:

• Samuel Ward Tannahill (1897-1973)
• Earl Sylvanis Tannahill (1898-1942)
• William Sylvester Tannahill (1900-1988)
• John Theodore Tannahill (1902-1987)
• Goerge Carter Tannahill (1904-1971)
• Elvina Almira Tannahill (1907-1972)
• Rachel Olive Tannahill (1912-1984)
• Oliver Richard Tannahill (1912-1947) (my line)

70 Years Ago Today!

Oliver Richard Tannahill

b. 27 Apr 1912 - Peru, Chautauqua Co., KS

d. 09 Nov 1947 - Near Webb Rd, Nez Perce Co., ID

I have been fairly fortunate in my life that I had my parents and most of my grandparents during my growing up years.  My Mom was not so lucky.  She lost her father when had just barely turned 6 years old.  The memories that she had of him were precious because they were so few.  I know that every years that she was alive, November 9th was a momentous date...because it was the day she lost her father.

My grandfather's name was Oliver Richard Tannahill.  I can make the assumption that he didn't really care for his first name as he never went by it.  Every document I have seen his signature on lists his name as O. Richard Tannahill...even his tombstone has that name.  I have always heard him referred to as Richard...so it was a bit of a surprise that his actual first name was Oliver.  Richard was twin and his sister's name was Olive Rachel Tannahill...she must not have liked the name either, because she went by Rachel.  My guess is that the Oliver/Olive name came from Richard's uncle, Samuel Oliver Tannahill.  Richard was born in Peru, Chautauqua Co., KS and spent some of his younger years in Pawhuska, OK and moved with his father to Idaho sometime around 1929.  I actually thought that date was much earlier, but that is time frame listed on his death certificate.  My grandmother was actually quite precise on the type of thing.  My mother grew up with a lot of questions in her mind.  Some she asked to her mother and step father (Grandpa Gwen was Richard's best friend), but there were always a lot of "what if's" in her mind.  Grandpa Gwen wasn't the easiest person to grow up with as a step father.  My mother loved him, but there was always her natural father out there to wonder about.  I don't think I have ever heard a negative word about Richard.  He was a hard worker, did everything well that he attempted, he was intelligent, and caring.  Richard was a good friend, son, brother, and uncle.  He was also a beloved husband and father.  My Mom used to say that he was the only one of his siblings who didn't swear, drink or smoke...so therefore he died at the youngest age. 

I hadn't seen the actual death certificate until recently.  I can see my grandmother's signature listed there as the informant...and it makes my heart ache for her.   Richard was the love of her life...I don't think she ever entirely recovered from his death.  She moved on because she had family to care for...her diaries really show her heartache.  I wrote a blog about Richard's death 5 years ago.  You can read it here:  Daddy's Gone!  Instead, I thought I would share some photos of Richard and his family!

This photo was actually two pieces that we put together.  It had been broken at some point.  I have no idea which one is Rachel or Richard.  Probably taken in 1913 in Kansas or Oklahoma.

My best guess is that this was taken around 1918 or so. This photo includes all of the children of John L Tannahill and Sarah Rachel Kelley. 
Top Left: John Theodore, William Sylvester, Samuel Ward, Earl Sylvanus Front Left:  Sarah holding Richard, George Carter, Elvina Amira, John Lyons hold Rachel.

Tannahill siblings at their father's funeral in 1945: 
Top Left:  John Theodore "Ted", William, Richard, & Sam Bottom Left:  Rachel, George, & Elvina "Viney"

A couple of views of the twins - I think the top one is around 1925 and the lower one is probably a few years earlier.

The two pictures below are the ones that I have seen my entire life on the wall in mother's bedroom.  These two were framed and in my mother's home while she was growing up and she got them from her mother in 1960.  They are still hanging in our today!

This might be one of my Mom's favorite pictures of her parents.  Probably because that was how she saw them day to day.  Her Daddy in his overalls and fedora and her Momma in her work dress.  This was probably taken not too long before Richard died in 1947.

One of the few complete family pictures.  This was taken in 1945 at John Lyons Tannahill's funeral.  My mother, Betty is the little girl standing while her older sister, Joan is sitting.

Sad to say that everyone has passed away who was in these pictures.  My grandmother died in 1985, my mother in 2005 and her sister, Joan in 2012.  That little family is all gone who were complete until they lost their father 70 years ago today!

Early Tannahills & Jones in Idaho - Sam Tannahill

Brothers - John Lyons Tannahill sitting and
Samuel Oliver Tannahill standing behind.
Taken about 1930

I have always been interested in local history.  I knew that my mother's family came to the Lewiston, ID area in the 1920's and my Dad's family was in the Princeton, ID area in 1935.  However, if I look a little deeper, I find that I actually have family on my mother's family that was here much earlier.  If you work on the premise that one of the reasons an individual or family moves to an area because they relatives already there, I suspect that it is a significant connection.

My grandfather, Oliver Richard Tannahill moved to Idaho with his father in the mid 1920's.  I suspect it was around 1926 or so.  Why did John Lyons Tannahill (my great grandfather) decide on Idaho instead of another location.  It turns out that he had two full brothers and two half brothers who lived in the area, one of those is Samuel Oliver Tannahill.  

Almira Jones m. John Tannahill & Sam Pennell
Sam's mother

Samuel Oliver Tannahill was the second child of Almira Jones and John Tannahill. His older brother died at birth, so in essence he was the oldest.  Sam was born 10 Aug 1868 in Elden Wapello Co., IA.  He had two younger brothers, George William Tannahill (1871-1917) and John Lyons Tannahill (1873-1945).  Sam's father died in 1873 just before John Lyons Tannahill was born. Almira remarried a few years later on 8 Jun 1875 in Montgomery, KS to Samuel Wesley Pennell.  By all accounts, Sam Pennell treated his step sons well, but they all left home fairly early to make their own way in the world. Almira and Sam Pennell also had four more sons (Robert, Charles, Grover "Pat", Thomas Franklin) and three daughters (Maude, Mollie & Celia).   

The first record that I find on Samuel Oliver Tannahill in the general was in 1889 in Garfield Co., WA (likely close to present day, Pomeroy, WA).  Sam married his first wife, Alice R Cox on 6 Oct 1897 in Nez Perce Co., ID.  According to his obituary he was "a leading citizen of Lewiston and prominent as an attorney in central Idaho since 1905, practicing most of the time since in Lewiston, democratic national committeeman from Idaho and well known all over the northwest." (Obit published Lewiston Morning Tribune 31 Dec 1935)  All I really knew about Sam Tannahill was that he had been an attorney and had been fairly prominent in the Democratic party in Idaho until his death.  His obituary explains that he was elected as assessor in Nez Perce Co., ID in 1894 as well as serving on the city council.  He also worked in a store in Ilo (present day Craigmont, ID) and also worked as an abstractor.  He saved enough money to go to Valparaiso, IN for Law School.  This is yet another example of going somewhere where family is or was located.  I know from my own research that Sam Tannahill likely had Harrington relatives who lived near Valparaiso.  His grandmother's family (Hulda Harrington) grandparents had died in Valparaiso, IN.  It may be an interesting coincidence, but then it may not be either.  Both Sam and his brother, George William Tannahill went to Valparaiso and returned to Idaho to practice law.  Sam ended up being the prosecuting attorney for Lewis Co., ID (Nezperce) for several terms.  He actually had been in partnership with his brother in Lewiston, ID as well.  After George died in a car accident in 1915, Sam returned to Lewiston permanently.  

Sam was involved in virtually every capacity within the Democratic party in early Idaho including be a representative to the national committee.  While I think Sam Tannahill's business life was very good and impressive...I am not sure the same can be said of his private life.  Sam was first married to Alice R Cox on 6 Oct 1897 in Nez Perce Co., ID.  He was still married to her in the 1910 census, but they must have divorced between 1910 and 1917, because Sam marries again on 11 Sept 1917 to Ella Patterson in Spokane, WA.  Alice has not died and in fact remarries to Harry Lydon, the county treasurer sometime before the 1920 census when they are recorded together.

Ella died on 15 Oct 1923.  According to her death record, Ella died at age 46 of an embolism.  Sam marries again on 6 May 1925 to Josephine Krier.  Sam died himself of a cerebral hemorrhage on 30 Dec 1935 in Lewiston, ID.

I don't know as much about Sam from family stories other than a few tidbits I picked up from my mother.  I think that my great grandfather (John Lyons Tannahill) brought his two youngest children when he moved to Idaho, probably sometime around 1926-1928. (Oliver Richard Tannahill & Olive Rachel Tannahill) I can only guess that the reason John Lyons Tannahill came to Idaho was because his only surviving full brother lived in Idaho.  My grandfather, O. Richard Tannahill finished high school in Lewiston, ID.  I have often wondered if Sam had some influence on my grandfather finishing high school and spending a short time in college.  In 1930, life had to be pretty difficult because of the depression.  For Grandpa Richard to have completed his education makes me believe that Sam possibly helped his brother's family financially.  I also know from what my mother said that Grandpa Richard was very fond of Sam and that both my grandparents were quite upset when he passed away.  

Most of my information about Samuel Oliver Tannahill comes from an obituary and a write-up on early Idaho history.  He was a significant enough figure, that there was quite a bit written in an early Idaho history that was published.  I know that he was an important attorney in the area having been the first prosecuting attorney for Lewis Co., ID and was appointed by the governor of Idaho at the time.   In addition, Sam was quite active in the Idaho politics until his death in 1935.  Beyond his personal acclaim as a lawyer and local citizen, I suspect that he must have had an important personal connection with my grandfather and perhaps gave him the type of guidance and support needed to become a good businessman.

A Tannahill Tale...

My mother's maiden name was Tannahill.  It has been an adventure trying to find information on the family.  Mom knew a little and by opening some lines of communication with several of her living family members, we made a start and finding information on the family.  Mom's Dad died when she was six years old (Daddy's Gone)  It wasn't terribly hard to go back two further generations...Mom remembered her grandfather (John Lyons Tannahill) and by census records, we could tell who his parents were.  However, getting further than that...has been a little tricky.

We lost Mom the day after Christmas in 2005, so the search for more Tannahill information became more personal.  Mom and I worked at getting the information filled out on her aunts, uncles and cousins and we did a pretty good job with that part of the story.  Going much further was a little trickier.  So here is Mom's line:

• Mom
• Oliver Richard Tannahill m. Capitola Ester Friddle
• John Lyons Tannahill m. Sarah Rachel Kelley
• John Lyons Tannahill m. Almira Jones
• Francis Tannahill m. Mary Fillinger

We were pretty sure of the line this far until we got to Francis Tannahill.  John Lyons Tannahill shows up with his mother and siblings in the census, but not Francis.  The first census that named everyone in the household was the 1850 census.  I could tell from the census record that the children were born in Ohio...so I knew that the family had immigrated from Ohio to Iowa.  Based on a book by James Tannehill on the Tannahill family, I was convinced that Francis Tannahill was the likely parent of John Lyons Tannahill.  While the author had a lot of information and theories, he didn't have a lot of sources for his information.  I suspect that they got information on my line from a the last of John Lyons Tannahill's (Sr)' s siblings, Charlotte Tannahill Bucey.  After a lot of searching and new online data, I was finally able to prove that Francis Tannahill and Mary Fillinger were married and where they came from. A Marriage in Gallia Co., OH - Francis Tannahill

I would love to say that I am comfortable with the rest of the ancestry...but I really haven't found much proof.  Francis was born in 1788 and would have been 52 when John Lyons Tannahill Sr was born (1840) which makes me think that there was another lifetime that had been lived before he ever married Mary Fillinger at the age of 47.  I suspect that I found another earlier marriage to an Elizabeth Loper.  James Tannehill theorized in the book that Francis Tannahill was the son of James Tannehill and Jemima Smith.  The name has been spelled several ways.  On my particular line, I have mostly seen Tannehill or Tannahill, so I use them interchangeably.  (Name Changes)

So, while I still try to look for further information and proof, I have to go with the supposition that James Tannehill b. 1759 and d. aft 1836 is my 4th great grandfather.  I would like it to be true, because I suspect James is an interesting ancestor.  We know that James was born in Maryland to Samuel Tannehill Sr and Sarah Edmonston.  We also know that he served in the Revolutionary War.  Here is a section of a letter that was sent to a Mrs. Bradley that was quoted by James Tannehill in his book.  

James Tannehill enlisted in June, 1776, served in Captain Philip Maroney's company, Colonel Griffith's Maryland Regiment at Flying Camp; was at York Island and White Plains and in several skirmishes at each place and served six months; he enlisted about August, 1777, served two months in Captain John Tarr's Company, Colonel Baker Johnson's Maryland Regiment and was in the battle Germantown. After the Revolution, he lived in Maryland until about 1796; then moved to Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and lived about there about twenty-three years; then moved to Virginia, and in 1824, moved to Daviess County, Kentucky. 

According to other notes, James Tannehill's wife, Jemima Smith died about 1800.   It seems to me that James Tannehill moved quite a bit and distance in his lifetime.  So, going along with the previously mentioned Tannehill genealogy...here is the rest of the line.

• James Tannehill m. Jemima Smith
• Samuel Tannehill Sr m. Sarah Edmonston
• Ninian Tannehill, Sr m. Charlotte Isabella Conn
• William Tannehill, III m. Euphene Beall
• William Tannehill, Jr m. Sarah Harris
• William Tannehill, Sr (Immigrant ancestor) m. Alice
• Thomas Tannahill

I feel like my "Tannahill Tale" has a lot of holes in it with some tantalizing clues.  I only wish when James Tannehill wrote his book on the Tannehill family that he had included source material.  The book is called "Genealogical History of the Tannahills Tannehills Taneyhills!"  You can find copies at several genealogical libraries as well reprints.  The book was written in the early 1930's and really can be a valuable resource.  I have no idea if I will ever have access to the resources that he used to write his book.  I suspect that a lot of info on my family was partially based on actual primary sources, but likely info based on correspondence with other family members.  It is that last item that leads me to believe what I have.  The timeline fits the possibility that James B Tannehill was able to correspond with someone who really knew the information on the family of Francis Tannehill and Mary Fillinger...their last living daughter, Charlotte Tannehil and possibly her children.

So, right now my tale ends there - but the possibility of additional information shows potential.  I never know when another record will be published online that will allow me to fill in additional details in my Tannahill tale.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today would have been my mother’s 74^th birthday or as she might have put it “the 45^th anniversary of her 29^th birthday!)  Mom (Betty Jean Tannahill Johnson) died on 26 Dec 2005 of lung cancer, so this is the 10^th birthday that we have been without her.  So much has happened in the last 10 years but in some ways it feels like we just lost her.

My Mom was many things.  She was probably one of the most creative and intelligent people that I have ever known.  Anything that she turned her attention to – she did well.  Mom was known as spectacular musician whose voice and talent is still remembered by those who heard her sing and play.  We had some of the most beautiful flowers and roses at our house when I was a teenager and young adult.  Like most things, it was impossible for Mom to only to what was necessary, she had to put her own touch on everything.  Mom got a computer for Christmas one year from Dad – it took her just a few weeks to get past the possibilities of that computer and pretty soon, Mom and Dad were taking a loan out for a state of the art computer and printer.  (This was back in 1980 – I think it cost $ 5,000 for the computer and the printer)  She did things on that computer that most people would never have attempted.  Mom was an early user of the internet, she scanned pictures, she did databases and spreadsheets and publishing all on a computer that operated on two 5 ¼ inch drives.  Mom was talented when it came to organization and used to organize her class reunions and managed the swim meets when I was a child.

Everyone in Mom's small family is gone.  Her father (Oliver Richard Tannahill) died in 1947 and stepfather(Gwen Dean Shearer)  in 1987.  We lost Grandma (Capitola Friddle Tannahill Shearer) in 1985 and Mom's sister (Joan Tannahill Kemp Towle Keeler) survived her by several years, but we lost her three years ago.  

Mom could also be incredible stubborn and impossibly demanding.  She was never satisfied with whatever she did and always wanted to improve on what she was doing.  I wish she would have stopped smoking many years before she did.  Even though she had quit 15 years before she died, it was still a smoker’s tumor that killed her.  We missed Mom so much during these past 10 years – at her grandchildren’s graduations from high school and two from college, two of their weddings.  I don’t have to pick a day to remember Mom, she is always there in my mind.  She has helped me make countless decisions through the years because of the things she taught me.  I have had several friends who have lost parents through the past years and I usually tell them that they will never stop missing them.  I then point out how lucky they were to have a parent like they had.  My mom was unique and only my siblings and I know all that she did for us.  I know that each one of us is thinking about her today and there might be a tear, but there is also a smile!

Probably the way I will always remember Mom - in red with her signature red lipstick!

Earliest picture of my mother - probably spring 1942  (She was born in 1941)

I am guessing Summer 1942 - Everyone has a bathtub baby picture, right?

Before the Beginning...

I began genealogy research back around 1996 with my mother.  We both began with installing Family Tree Maker and putting in everything that we knew.  We started hitting the local library to see what we could learn and even took my Dad down to Salt Lake City to experience the Family History Library.  It is easy to say that we began our research on that date, but truthfully it started much earlier than that.

Betty (Mom) lower left with her sister, Joan and mother Capitola. - at 1949

My mother spent a lot of her early years around her grandmother and grandfather and had the opportunity to learn family stories first hand.  She was always interested and involved with her grandparents and was fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time with them.  They helped make my mother the person she became.  So essentially, Mom became a storehouse of information and that process didn't stop.  When she married my father, Mom quickly became an important member of Dad's family  I remember her telling me of a visit by her father in law (Frank Johnson) at one point where it was just the two of them.  She said that they sat at the kitchen table and talked about his family.  Mom got out a piece of paper and wrote down what he told her.  That piece of paper became the foundation of most of what we knew about my Grandpa Frank's family.  Mom remembered Grandpa thinking that his family history didn't quite measure up to Grandma Marian's family, so he felt surprised when Mom asked him.  We soon found out that his family was just as impressive as Grandma Marian's, but that would have taken us much longer to find out without the groundwork that my mother had done.

Dad with Grandma Marian and Grandpa Frank - abt 1957

Like my mother, I spent a lot of time listening to the stories of my family members.  I can remember as a child, sitting at the feet of my great grandmothers (Mom Friddle and Granny Shearer) and my mother's godmother (Aunty Jones).  These three ladies were born 1894, 1890, & 1889 respectively. Their stories about riding the stagecoach during their youth in the Lewiston area always stuck in y mind.  It was rather astonishing that it took a full day of travel to travel the same distance that took us 25 minutes in the car.  Later as a junior in high school, I remember getting the opportunity to ask my Grandma Cappy and Grandpa Gwen about their lives during the depression.  As Mom and I began researching, it was my turn to question my mother about the family stories that she had heard as a child.  For several years, we had my great uncle to question as well.  He always said that he didn't know that much, but he knew much more than he thought.

I had my Grandma Marian up until a few years ago and learned a wealth of family stories from her. She took a lot of joy out of the information that Mom and I found and later the information that I found...and participated in our research as well.

So now I have become the storehouse of family stories. Mom passed away almost 10 years ago, all of my grandparents are gone and many of the older family members are no longer with us  There are still a few living and I still try to take the opportunity to learn from them.  However, much of what we have found has been dependent on a lifelong interest in our family stories...and if Mom and I had never sat down and listened to the stories of our older family members, perhaps we wouldn't have the wealth of family history that we now have.  Even though my mother is no longer here, I still think of the genealogy research as "ours" because Mom and I began the journey together.  Before we began that research, we had several lifetimes of stories to start that journey!

Hunting in the Autumn

Hunting has been a part of my family for decades in both and good ways. I can remember each year when I was a child that my father and later my brothers headed off each autumn to a hunting trip. Mom would usually take the meat and hide it in meatloaf, spaghetti, or chili.  One year she made homemade mincemeat which my father still talks about reverently.

Capitola Frddle  - abt 1933

My mother was born in the middle of hunting season.  When my grandmother went into labor, it was her brother, Claude, who took her to the hospital.  Grandma decided after that experience, that she wasn't going to have any more babies if her husband couldn't be around for the birth.  I can remember when my uncle told me that story.  It must have been something else for a 17 year old kid to drive his sister to the hospital while she was having a baby.  However, my grandmother should have known better.  When she first started going out with my grandfather, Richard...she knew that he was a hunter.  While she was teaching, he poached meat (hunted deer) so she could feed her students.  She brought vegetables up from her parent's home and used meat from her boyfriend, and fed her students who rarely had a hot meal during the height of the depression.  She also went with him on hunting camp after they were married and actually went hunting herself.  That all changed when he was killed during a hunting trip for birds with a friend on 9 Nov 1947.  Grandma Cappy never again went hunting - however, she did marry another man who was also hunter.

Richard Tannahill - Around 1930

Grandpa Gwen built a lumber mill in Elk City, ID.  I know that the location and the availability of the lumber was the biggest lure to the area.   However, I have to wonder if he wasn't tempted by the hunting and fishing in the area as well.  Every year, Grandpa would go out and spend a lot of the autumn season hunting and many times, my father went along.  In his later years, he really wasn't able to go hunting as he used to.  I do remember one year when he went on a hunting trip with my father and brothers.

My brother's have told me that it was one of their most memorable hunting trips.  They were hunting at Eagle Creek which is on the Salmon river in Idaho.  While my brothers and father spent the day hunting, Grandpa spent the day fishing.  Each of them got their deer on that trip.  Grandpa Gwen proved to be an exemplary camp cook and they had the benefit of eating fresh liver and heart for breakfast.  It doesn't sound all that tempting to me...but they certainly enjoyed it.

John Bernard Gage - hunting with dog Scipio

I have talked to some who don't understand why we hunt.  I know that when the men in my family hunt, the antlers might be put on display but I know the meat was not wasted.  Perhaps it was made into sausage or pepperoni.  I know that my grandmother was incredibly excited to get an elk roast.    Nothing was wasted.  I also know that my father and his father hunted to provide meat for their family just as my mother's father did.  In our family, just like many other families in the region, hunting was a whole lot more than just something they did every fall.  Hunting was means of putting meat on the table to help feed the family during the winter.

So...it has become an annual tradition in our family that the men in my family go off to enjoy a hunting weekend during the opening of hunting season. I prepare my mother's chili in large quantity and send along for the hunting getaway.  During the last several years, I have gone to Spokane and my sister in law and I enjoy our own hunting expedition...except we are shopping.

Name Changes...

A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my cousins had a friend reply to her in a post on Facebook.  I told him that he was probably related to my cousin.  He replied that no...that wasn't possible because the name wasn't spelled the same.  This reminds me how many people who do genealogical research of any sort who get caught up in name spellings and neglect to look at the other possibilities.

I have a several families that most likely all descend from a common immigrant ancestor - no matter how the name is spelled.  Here are a few of them.

Pitsenbarger:  I have seen the name spelled Pitzenberger, Pittsenbarger, Pitsenbarger or Pittsonbarger - however it is spelled, most people in this country with that name in their ancestry most likely descend from the immigrant ancestor Abraham Pitzenberger  He was born before 1750 in either Switzerland or Germany  I have never seen any documentation as to when he immigrated exactly - but the first record that I know of is his marriage to Elizabeth Teysinger on 22 Apr 1766 in Lancaster Co., PA.  So, I would assume that he was probably born about 1740 because men were generally older when they got married - 16 seems an unlikely age for a male to get married for the first time. I know that Abraham served as a Private in the Revolutionary war in Michael Reader's company from Virginia and seemed to die before the end of the war in 1781 - when his will was recorded in Shenandoah Co., VA.  I know that my ancestor, Abraham Pitsenbarger, Jr ended up in West Virginia and some of the other descendants later ended up in Ohio and Missouri.  I have often wondered how many Pitsy cousins might have changed the spelling of the name to distinguish themselves

My grandfather was Oliver Richard Tannahill.  When I first starting researching the family, I found that it seemed to spelled primarily two ways - Tannehill and Tannahill.  Later on, I came across the work of James Tannehill "Genealogical History of the Tannahills, Tannehills and Taneyhills".  I soon learned that many of the different spellings came from honest mistakes and legal documents.  We all know that there are numerous misspellings that occur with census records because of the creative spellings of census takers.  If you were to inherit land or money in a will and the name was misspelled – would you argue about it.  Most likely not…so sometimes the misspellings came from wills or deeds.  Sometimes the names change because of personal preference.  My Tannahill line’s name was spelled with “e” until the mid-1800’s.  Most likely all Tannahills came from a Thomas Tannahill who lived in Scotland in the 1500’s.  Immigration for some occurred in the 1650’s because they were essentially indenture servants.   Some came through Canada later on in the 1800’s  I would be interested in seeing more DNA research with these branches to see if we truly are all related which is what the current research shows

My ancestor, John Gallop immigrated in 1630.  Most Gallup descendants descend through his son who went by John Gallup.  It is interesting that when you come across someone who spells their Gallup name as Gallop almost all descend from Nathaniel Gallop, the older son of John Gallop (the immigrant) 

There are other examples in my family lines…but it is an obvious mistake that is made by many researchers.  If a researcher doesn't research alternative spellings, they are possibly missing some important research leads. 

Memorial Day Memories

Memorial Day was always a time in my family when my grandparents and parents visited the cemeteries to lay flowers down on loved ones graves....at least that was what we did on the surface.  It was actually a time when I know that I learned a lot of the family stories that I have shared through the past few years.

Now those loved ones graves include both of my Mom's parents and my Dad's parents as well as a few sets of great grandparents and also my beloved Momma.  So, I thought I would post links to three of my favorite "cemetery stories" in honor of Memorial Day weekend which is fast approaching!   If you want to know the story behind this picture...check it out!

• Ok Pop, Turn Over!
• The Gravestone
• An Epitaph to Remember

The Mill at Orofino, ID

Office at Orofino Mill

My family is a timber family.  We have been involved in the industry in one capacity or another for the last 90 years.  Primarily it was my step grandfather but my father and brother have also been involved in the industry as well as several uncles, cousins, etc.  I think that the first time that my Grandpa Gwen had a mill of some sort was probably in the early 1930’s when he had what was called a one-horse mill near Culdesac, ID.  I really don’t much more about it than just that.  I know that during the 1940’s he owned a mill up on McCormick Ridge in the present day Waha area.  His best friend trucked the lumber down (he was my natural grandfather, Richard Tannahill) and much of the lumber was sold at my grandmother’s lumber lot.  Grandpa Gwen gave up that mill in 1949 and began a mill in Orofino, ID in the Black Pine area. 

Mill at Orofino, ID

Some of my mother’s favorite child hood memories were involved with spending a few weeks in the summer up at McCormick Ridge helping Granny Shearer with the cooking for the men.  When Grandpa Gwen bought the mill in Orofino – much of his time was spent during the week working at the mill and he was successful.  My grandmother notes in her diary near the end of 1954:

“1954 has been a very fine and prosperous year for us.  At the beginning of 1954 we owed around $ 85,000 as a result of our 1954 remodeling of the mill – converting to band and all electric power. 

We have been able to pay off all indebtedness incurred as a result of this change over everything except our Mortgage at the bank on the real estate.

We set up a bookkeeping system with a fine and adequate set of books – but the office and got into around the first of April with Linda as a bookkeeper.

We incorporated July 1^st to help reduce our income tax.

We ran two shifts at the mill from July 6th until fall. “

Taken sometime during the 1950's  Orofino, ID

Grandpa Gwen spent a lot of time going back and forth between Orofino and Lewiston and it seemed that 1954 was a year that they spent modernizing the mill and making it more profitable…which has to be the primary goal for a business man.

Then on November 23, 1955…tragedy struck…my grandmother noted in her diary:

“Mill Fire we had a rude awakening at 6:00 AM when Marian called that the mill had burned down.  We got there at 8:15 – the fire department still pouring water on the remains. 

It was discovered around 5:30 just before it exploded throwing fire in every direction.

The office has been a mad house with people coming and going all day and the telephone busy.  

There’s certainly a lot of sad men.

The green chain and the new fuel bin which was to have gone into operation on Monday are left intact."

This happened the day before Thanksgiving and Grandma notes on 25 Nov 1955 - the day after Thanksgiving:

We went up today – Mom the girls and I to let them see the mill or what remains of it…We will get about $ 88,000 out of the Insurance.  Then the next day:  Father is downtown checking on possibilities of future mill site to build again.  Everyone asks us what our plans to build are…Gwen doesn't know himself as yet.

What followed over the next few years were probably the hardest points in my grandparent’s lives.  With the loss of the mill and the building of the new one in Elk City, ID – money was tight.  My grandmother went back to school to get re-certified as a teacher and worked immediately as a substitute teacher.  They faced bankruptcy and spent the next 10 years rebuilding their business and life.  It is a tribute to their hard work and smart business acumen that the new mill that they built in Elk City was a modern and technologically advanced mill for the time.  I know that Grandpa Gwen was looking into the possibilities of the mill before his Orofino mill burned down – but I have to wonder…would the outcome of been different if that mill hadn't burned down in Orofino!

Little is left of my Grandpa's mill at Orofino - Dad and I drove by the site this
past weekend - and this is all that remains of that mill.

My Grandfather's Pictures

My mother's father, Oliver Richard Tannahill, died when my mother was barely six.  As a a young child, I knew very little about him.  As I grew older, I learned that he was a marvelous hunter and outdoorsman.  My mother told stories of sitting at the dinner table and watching him slurp spaghetti into his mouth - mostly to make my mother giggle.  She must have been pouting because she had gotten in trouble with her mother.  I learned that he was extremely hard worker who didn't waste a lot of time with sleep.  Mom used to tell stories of him on his tractor and having all ages of kids crawling over him and the tractor.  What I have gotten from all of these stories is that he was a much beloved husband and father...but also uncle, brother and friend.

When my grandmother decided to give her two daughters the choice between the animal heads - I think it was a mountain goat and mountain sheep (my uncle tells me that they were both mountain goats and were hunted up on the Selway River) and the two large photos of Richard - my mother chose the two photos.

The above two photos hang in oval frames on our wall and have since I was a little girl.  The one on the left was taken after Richard had caught a record Mackinaw trout up at Fish Lake on the Buffalo Hump. (Near present day Elk City, ID)  As it was taken in 1940, Richard would have been about 29 years of old.  I found the newspaper article from the Lewiston Morning Tribune that recorded the record fish.  The photo below must have been taken in the early to mid 1930's.  Richard's hunting prowess was well known and discussed.  Evidently he was a marvelous athlete who had remarkable stamina.  My mother said that he used to run from Waha to Lewiston, so he could go to school...that is well over 25 miles one way.  It was said that he could run a deer down.  He would keep tracking it until it got tired and laid down.  Deer have marvelous speed but they can't keep it up. He looks like such a young man compared to the other photos and there is a definite macho image to me...sitting there with his trusty dog, the lynx he just hunted and his gun.

The above photo was taken by Richard's brother, George.  It was probably taken about 1945.  There aren't a lot of photos that were with Richard and his daughters Joan and my mother Betty.  After he was killed in an hunting accident  (Daddy's Gone)  Mom's Uncle George had this photo duplicated and gave my mother and sister a copy of this picture in a frame.  I can remember this picture sitting in a place of honor on my mother's dresser throughout my childhood.  I still have it, in its original frame sitting on the piano with many other treasured family pictures.

I've since seen a lot more pictures of my grandfather gathered from many family members as well as old photo albums.  However, these three photos or the ones that have left an indelible impression on my mind.

Veteran's Day - Celebrating my Military Relatives

Ora Silas Gage - Military 1912

Don Gage - Korea

John Bernard Gage - WW II

Orland  Gage - WWII 

Claude and Jack Friddle - WW II

Byron Gage & Orland Gage - Korea

Claude Dollar - WW I

George William Shawver - WW I

I have been privileged to know many of the veterans who have served during war and peace within my family.  Many of them have passed, but they have all left an enormous imprint on my life.  For the most part, I didn't hear about their service from themselves...but rather their stories were communicated to me by others.

There are a few cousins in my generation that have served in Iraq as well as peacetime during the 1980's.  I have an aunt and cousin who served in the National Guard as well as another who served during the Vietnam war.  I know of three of my great uncles who served during Korea and six who served during World War II. There are even a few who served during World War I and even a few relatives who were active during the Spanish American War.  I don't think that there has been a war that a relative has not served in through this nation's history from its time as a collection of colonies through the Revolutionary War, Mexican American War or the Civil War.  Their service is part of the very fabric of this country.

I have spent some time writing about some of these veterans within my family...and here are some of their stories:

Goodbye Aunt Mary Kay - My Dad's younger sister who served in the National Guard

A Tinkerer at Heart - This is about my Great Uncle - John Bernard Gage and Our Gage Veterans - Highlighting Orland & Bernard and about Orland and Bernard in WW II

Claude & Jack - WW II Veterans - My mother's uncles and two of my favorite people

Civil War Stories - My four Civil War ancestors - John Lyons Tannahill, Moses T Friddles, Jasper L Bailey and Alexander Monroe Dollar - Interesting to note that the three from the south - only one of them fought for the Confederacy - the other two fought for the Union.

My Friddle Brick Wall - My great great grandfather who served with the 14th TN Calvary for the Union in the Civil War.

Levi Pennington Family & the Civil War - Story of the sons of Levi Pennington and the Civil War - Levi was my 4th Great Grandfather

On that Fateful Day - Asa Wheelock was in the militia that there on the fateful day of the Battle of Lexington and Concord during the start of the Revolutionary War

Gallup Represents More than Just a Poll  - A list of the Gallups who fought during some of the earliest battles during colonization through the Revolutionary War

An Epitaph to Remember - This is about General Adamson Tannahill who served as George Washington's secretary during the Revolutionary War

John Macomber & Mary Brownell Davol - John Macomber served on the Massachusetts line during the Revolutionary War.

Revolutionary War Veterans - Some of the Revolutionary War Veterans that I am directly descended from.

A Jones Wall

You might say that I have three of the worst surnames to try and research – Johnson, Smith and Jones My Johnson line is probably the most significant because it is my own surname and we have pretty good proof that the line connects with a famous ancestor, President Andrew Johnson.  Although, I must feel that I felt an even more significant connection on the day that I stood on the land that my 3^rd Great Grandfather settled on near Hampton, TN.  My Smith line is also interesting with a fascinating ancestor like Jacob Cunningham Smith – I feel like there is still a lot to learn about them.  However, I feel like there is hope to discover something new on both of these lines.  I don’t have quite the same faith in my Jones line.

My grandfather died at the young age of 35 in a hunting accident and his grandfather also died at the young age of 34, just 10 days before his youngest son was born.  I don’t know what he died of – possibly pneumonia or a farming accident of some kind.  However, I know that he left his widow with two small young boys and heavily pregnant with another son.  Almira or Elmira (I’ve seen it spelled both ways) was born in 1850 in Van Buren Co., IA.  She married John Lyons Tannahill on 22 Dec 1866 when she was 16 years old.  They had a young baby born just about 9 months after their wedding who died either at birth or shortly thereafter.  Just a year later on 10 Aug 1868, Elmira gave birth to Samuel Oliver Tannahill and on 2 July 1871 she gave birth to George William Tannahill.  Elmira and John Lyons Tannahill moved sometime after George’s birth to Chautauqua Co. KS along with Elmira’s parents, Henry Valentine Jones and Huldah Harrington.  On 19 Apr 1873, Elmira became a widow at the age of 23, and on 28 Apr 1873, she gave birth to her third son, John Lyons Tannahill, my great grandfather.

Elmira Jones Tannahill Pennell

Elmira Jones eventually remarried to Samuel Pennell in 1875 in Kansas.  They had seven more children and it is interesting to note that while most of them stayed  the Oklahoma-Kansas area, several traveled north to live in the Lewiston, Idaho area.  When Almira’s brother, George Washington Jones moved to Southwick, two of his sisters followed suit as did his Tannahill nephews.

Sam Tannaill & John Lyons Tannahill

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It is easy to find information on the parents of Elmira – since she is recorded with her parents in the 1850 and 1860 census records.  Finding additional information of their ancestry has definitely been problematic.  Several years ago, I received a copy of some research that was done by Eldora Garlinghouse.  It turned out that her husband’s mother was Elmira’s niece through her brother, George Washington Jones.  The notes that she had made were really invaluable.   It allowed me to build a database built around the Jones family…and I must say it hasn’t been easy.

Henry Valentine Jones

Henry Valentine Jones was born on 14 Feb 1827 somewhere in OH.  According to the notes by Mrs. Garlinghouse, he was the son of Henry Washington Jones.  I have a name of Susan Turner as the potential mother of Henry Valentine Jones.  However, I have found nothing that directly connects Henry Valentine Jones with Henry Washington Jones or Susan Turner.  In fact, I have never been able to figure out when Henry might have lived in Ohio.  There are a multitude of Henry Jones and you can’t be sure which one is a connection.  Henry married Huldah Harrington on 19 Dec 1847 in Van Buren Co., IA.  They were the parents of:

• George Washington Jones m. Eliza Jane Briscoe m2 Harriet Mae Yates
• Almira Jones m John Lyons Tannahill m Samuel Pennell
• Jacob Jones d. young
• Henry Valentine Jones m. Aunt Duck (only name that I have)
• Edwin B. Jones d. after 1870
• Mary Alice Jones m.  Francis Marion Thompson
• Sarah Frances Jones m. William Martius Blackington m.2, George T Hicks

George’s family ended up near Southwick, ID (near Lewiston, ID) as did Mary Alice Jones and her family and Sarah Frances Jones.  As with many families, when one family migrates somewhere – it doesn't seem long until other family members follow along.

Henry Valentine Jones and Huldah Harrington both lived out the remainder of their lives in Chautauqua Co., KS  Huldah died in in 1898 and Henry died in 1904.  It seems that no matter what I have tried, I have never been able to figure out exactly who and where Henry’s family came from.  I know that he was born in Ohio and immigrated to Iowa at a pretty young age.  He also married someone whose family had also come from Ohio, suggesting that there might have been a connection between the families.  Really the only thing that I have ever read that suggests where the Jones family was a biography that was published in an early local history that was about a “Who’s Who” of the region.  It stated that Samuel Tannahill’s family came from Wales I have no idea if that was something that made up of if it has some kernel of the truth.

I feel as if I have made a lot of progress on Almira’s family and their descendants, but I wonder if I ever will make any progress on their ancestry.  

There seems to be too many strikes against me to make much progress.  I don’t have specific locations previous to Van Buren Co., IA, I can’t be sure that Henry Valentines’ father was Henry Washington Jones nor do I have a clear view of who is siblings or mother might have been.  They weren't wealthy enough to leave documentary tracks beyond the standard census records.  So even though I continue to pound on that brick wall – I wonder if I ever will make progress on my Jones wall!