My Irish Ancestor - John Lyons

According to my DNA results, I am 12% Irish…which essentially means to me that the my Irish heritage is several generations back in my lineage.  The only line that I am absolutely sure of that is of Irish heritage is my Lyons family.

John Nathan Lyons would have been my 4^th great grandfather and he was born in 1790 in Ireland.  He probably immigrated around 1810 and according to a later record, his parents were Timothy Lyons and Honora.  I got his name when I ordered my 3^rd great grandfather’s death record several years ago.  It listed on the record that his parents names were John N. Lyons and Mary W. French.  I found out later that they married on 4 Sep 1817 in Randolph, Norfolk Co., MA.  At that point, I was only sure of one of their children, my 3^rd great grandfather, John Nathan Lyons, Jr.  Howver, something remarkable has happened in the past few years.  More and more records have been published and are searchable and I was able to find under www.familysearch.org the New Hampshire birth records that listed  Mary French and John Lyons as parents as well as census records that gave me additional information.  So this is my working list of their children

• Sarah Ann Lyons b. 8 Aug 1818 d. 3 Nov 1910 m. George C. Leonard
• John Nathan Lyons, Jr b. 23 Apr 1820 d. 7 Apr 1911 m. Mary Elizabeth Reed m. Elizabeth Snow
• Bridget Lyons b. abt 1820
• Charles E. Lyons b. Mar 1831 d. aft 1800 m. Wate Holmes
• James D. Farnsworth Lyons b. 1834 d. 15 Mar 1887 m. Harriet M. Getchell
• Myra L. Lyons b. 17 Jun 1836 d. 8 Aug 1895 m. Edward Everett Lothrop
• Mary E. Lyons b. abt 1841

As you can see this is still a working list and one that I hope to make much more progress on.  I believe that John Lyons died 11 Dec 1880  which would have made around 90 years old.  There is a New Hampshire Death and Burial record that lists that date and his parents as Timothy Lyons and Honora.  I think that Mary French died sometime before 1860, because she disappears from the census records.

So while I know that I have several other Irish ancestors, this might be the only one that I have record that lists his place of birth as Ireland. 

Here is my lineage to him:

John Nathan Lyons m. Mary French

John Nathan Lyons m. Mary Elizabeth Reed

Nancy Ann Marie Lyons m. Winslow Lonsdale Pope

Shirlie Louisa Pope m. Ulpian Grey Johnson

Frank Stewart Johnson m. Helen Marian Gage

Eugene Johnson m. Betty Tannahill

Me!

 Happy St. Patrick's day 4th Great Grandpa!

Ashe Co., NC Pennington's Part 2

In Ashe Co. NC Pennington’s Part 1 – I discussed two of the major lineages as I saw them that either came out of through Ashe Co., NC.  The first group was that of Micajah Pennington b. 1743 which was the first group that I spent a lot of time on because I thought I was descended from Micajah.  I later found out that my ancestry did not come through Micajah Pennington but rather Ephraim Pennington and so that was the second group that I discussed.  The rest of them start to become a bit more complicated.

Group 30 are the descendants of Abram Pennington.  I haven’t seen a whole lot that convinces me that Abram is the progenitor of this group…put I can’t argue on who is included.  If Abram is the progenitor, the descendants include:

• Elizabeth b. 9 Apr 1798 d. 13 Dec 1868 m.  Wells Blevins
• Andrew b. 11 Oct 1809 d.11 Oct 1882 m. Hester Ann Blevins
• Artemecia b. abt 1810 d. 27 Feb 1897 m. James Blevins Jr
• James b. abt 1810 d. aft 1880 m. Catherine Sexton
• Lorenzo Dow b. abt 1817 d. aft 1880 m. Nancy Pope

This family is made even more complicated with the fact that three Pennington siblings married three Blevins descendants (Children of James Blevins and Lydia Sizemore).  The inter-connectivity of these families makes it difficult sometimes to figure out who belongs to who.  Elizabeth’s descendants for the most part lived in Grayson Co., VA.  To put in perspective…Grayson Co., VA as a neighboring county to Ashe Co., NC means that you never quite know where a Blevins a few generations down connects. 

I think that largest chunk of Group 30 descendants and probably the best documented are those of Andrew Pennington b. 1809.  He has in particular presented a quite a problem for me personally.  It is quite easy to confuse Andrew Pennington b. 1809 – son of Abram Pennington with Andrew Pennington b. 1813 – son of Ephraim Pennington.  So, I have spent a lot of time differentiating between the two.  Andrew Pennington b. 1809 married Hester Ann Blevins and left Ashe Co. NC sometime between 1850 and 1860.  Most of the family went to Washington Co., VA – but some descendants stayed behind in Ashe Co., NC.  With a family of eleven children, the descendants of this family are numerous.  For the most part – the descendants of Penningtons living in Smyth Co., VA or Washington Co., VA are most likely to be descended from Andrew.

I think that it is possible that Artremecia and James Pennington are twins (which is a guess on my part) and both of these families stayed primarily in the Ashe Co., NC area.  The Blevins family is so interconnected with the Penningtons that it is fairly easy to assume that a Blevins probably has a Pennington in their ancestry.  Like her brother, Andrew – Artremecia had a large family of eleven children.  I must admit that this family is one area that I need a lot of assistance on…because they are so numerous and there are so many intermarriages that I continuously find cousins who have married each other which makes tracing the family very confusing.

If the Pennington lives in Ashe Co., NC today and isn't a descendant of Ephraim Pennington – one of my most likely families to look at is that of James Pennington and Catherine Sexton.  They had a family of eight.  There is still a lot of information that I don’t have on this family.  One of the James’ daughters also provided a bit more confusion as she had four sons out of wedlock.  Those sons also produced their share of descendants that also causes some confusion.

The youngest of the family is Lorenzo Dow Pennington.  For many years, Dow Pennington was almost what you would call an orphan Pennington.  There was a lot of theories as to where he might belong.  Thanks to the hard work and persistence of some of his descendants, this is no longer the case.  Like his siblings, Dow was born in Ashe Co., NC but he seemed to move back and forth between Washington Co., VA and Ashe Co., NC…at least for two censuses.  Some of his descendants lived in the Virginia area…and some stayed in Ashe Co. NC.  This is another family that I don’t have a lot of confidence in what I have – I recognize that there is still a lot more work that needs to be done on this family on my part.

Here are some of the blogs that I have written about the Group 30 Pennigton's

• A Tale of Two Andrews
• Abel Abram Pennington
• Complicated Pennington Connections
• Mecie Pennington

The next group of Penningtons is those of Group 12.  These are the descendants of Samuel Pennington and Elizabeth Anderson.  There were eight children in this family and their descendants mostly are in Grayson Co., VA – but they still show up in Ashe Co.  Samuel is one of those ancestors who is a bit of an orphan.  His father’s name is unknown and legend has it that he was a stowaway on a ship or some such story.  Recent developments in DNA testing suggests that he might be a close relative of the Ephraim Pennington group.  So, that opens up a whole new can of worms as far as theories go.  We know that he was born around 1795 probably in Virginia.  However, as far as I am concerned – much of the information concerning his birth and ancestry are suspect because theories are all that it is based on.  His wife, Elizabeth Anderson’s family is from Grayson Co., VA which suggests to me that Samuel is probably from either Grayson Co., VA or at least near its border. Supposedly Samuel left the area after his wife’s death in 1848 and died in TN in 1862.  Since I find no mention of him in the census records in either 1850 or 1860, I have my doubts about this story.  Two of his sons died in Civil War prison camps and another one of his sons was confused for many years to be a possible son of Levi Pennington and Elizabeth Henson.  There is also anecdotal evidence this confused son of Samuel (Elisha Pennington) was a close relative of the Levi Pennington descendants.  So, one of my theories is that Samuel was possibly as son of Ephraim Pennington.  Whatever my point of view, there is no doubt that Samuel’s ancestry is mysterious as well as his death.

Here are a few blogs from that line:

• The Mysterious Samuel
• Elisha “Dock” Pennington

While researching Penningtons in Ashe Co., NC, when I used to run into an unfamiliar name, I would add them to my database and continue looking until I could connect them.  I have been able to identify the ancestry of almost all of these unconnected names.  The only one that I have yet to connect is that of Douglas Pennington  Douglas was born about 1820 and died in 1888 in Ashe Co., NC.  He was married to Kesiah Sullens and had nine children with her until her death in 1860.  Douglas then married the widow of Isham Blevins, Ann Edmonson and had three more daughters. This is still a family that requires a lot more research on my part.  However, I am sure he fits in with one of the Ashe Co., NC families…I am just not sure of where.

The other families that must be mentioned are those of Group 32 of Wells Pennington.  That family left Ashe Co., NC before 1820 but is likely connected with the larger group.  Another group is that of Group 31, which are the descendants of Aaron Pennington and they also left early in the 19^th century for Kentucky.  DNA has proven that Group 7 (descendants of Micajah Pennington and Ephraim Pennington) Group 30 (descendants of Abram Pennington) Group 12 (descendants of Samuel Pennington), Group 31 and Group 32 have common ancestors as well as those of Group 4 (descendants of Ephraim b. 1734).  We may never know how they fit together because of the lack of documentary evidence that has either been destroyed by the vagaries of time, fire, flood, or war, but we do know that based on DNA research that these families are all connected.  As a researcher, I have tried to identify where each of these Penningtons belong and have developed a pretty good database of Penningtons in Ashe Co., NC, Johnson Co., TN, Washington Co., VA, Smyth Co., VA and Grayson Co., VA.  You never know when someone or something else will provide an important bit of information that makes yet another connection in these Pennington groups.

Ashe Co Penningtons - Part 1

This is probably near the original homeplace of Andrew Pennington, son of Ephraim Pennington.  The land was sold to Levi Pennington's grandson,  Isaac around 1852, before Andrew moved to Johnson Co., TN.

I have been researching the Pennington family for over 15 years and during that time, I have had to widen my focus.  So, you might wonder what I mean when I call someone an Ashe Co., NC Pennington.  I use that term for any Pennington who has come through Ashe Co. NC or the immediate counties surrounding Ashe County such as Grayson Co., VA, Johnson Co., TN, Washington Co., VA, Smyth Co., VA and Watauga Co., NC.  To someone looking at this from the outside – it might seem like a wide scope of an area, but it really isn't.  It is a small corner between Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia where there is pretty close borders and people traveled often around these areas.  Besides the geographic area that I have outlined, there are also specific families that I include in my definition.  I believe that these families are all genetically related as has been shown by DNA – we just don’t have documentary proof as to who the common ancestors are. 

The first family group that I started researching was the descendants of Micajah Pennington.  Micajah was born in 1743 probably around Rowan Co., NC.  It is believed that is father was Benajah Pennington and mother was named Elizabeth….however we have no proof of that.  Ashe Co., NC didn’t exist until it was incorporated in 1799.  Having said that, Micajah was probably one of the earliest citizens.  We know that Micajah paid taxes on land in 1800 and that he probably lived in that same area for many years preceding 1800.  He was married to Rachel Jones on 28 Jan 1761 probably in Wilkes Co., NC.  We can guess that he lived in that general area for several decades.  Two of his daughters are listed on Bible record as being born in hollow of the Yadkin River on the east side of the Blue Ridge and New River in Wilkes Co., NC in 1765.  Since Ashe Co., NC was carved out of Wilkes Co., NC – it is most likely in modern day Ashe Co., NC.  If someone knows the exact location and I am wrong…please let me know.  Micajah and Rachel were the parents of ten children including:

• ·         Elijah b. 1761 d. ?
• ·         Micajah, Jr b. 1763 d. aft 1850
• ·         Mary b. 1765 d. 1842 m. Jesse Bowling
• ·         Levi b. 1767 d. abt 1815
• ·         Edward “Neddy” b. 1769 d. 1860 m. Martha Flanary
• ·         Rachel b. 1771 d. ?
• ·         Elizabeth b. 1774 d. 1857 m. John Barton
• ·         Sarah b. 1776 d. 1817 m. Dr. Samuel Johnston
• ·         Johanna b. 1776 d. 1860 m. Douglas Dickson
• ·         Benajah b. 1782 d. ?

Of these Pennington children we know only that the descendants of Johanna stayed in Ashe Co., NC and Elizabeth Pennington Barton’s family generally lived nearby in Grayson Co., VA.  The rest of the family moved to Lee Co., VA or Kentucky. 

Here are a few blogs that I have written about the Micajah Pennington branch of the Ashe Co Penningtons.

• The Mysterious Four (Children of Micjah Pennington)
• Greenberry’s Complications
• Mary Pennington Bowling
• Johanna Pennington Dickson
• Generations of Micajah’s
• Edward Pennington & Pennington Gap
• Pennington Research Lessons
• Penningtons & Robbins

When I first started researching the Pennington family and was concentrating on the descendants of Micajah, I believed that I was descended from Levi Pennington.  My ancestor, Levi was born 1794 and d. abt 1887.  Other researchers originally believed that Levi was the son of Levi Pennington and  grandson of Micajah Pennington.  This was a a theory that I originally believed but after several years of research with several other Penningtons, we came to the conclusion that my Levi b. 1794 was not the son of Levi but rather, Ephraim Pennington b. 1769.  This has been a topic that I have written often about – probably because it is a reminder that one should always look at information closely and be open to new interpretations.  I would say that many of the Penningtons in Ashe Co., NC today are most likely descended from Ephraim Pennington through his son, Levi Pennington.  We know of three children who definitely connected with Ephraim – Levi whose family stayed in the Ashe Co., NC area for the most part, Daniel – whose family traveled to Claiborne Co., TN and Andrew whose family lived in Johnson Co., TN.  My particular branch lived in Ashe Co., NC until the 1880’s and then moved to Johnson Co., TN.  My great grandmother left Tennessee in 1910 for Oregon and later Idaho which is where I live.

 Here are more blogs that I have written about the Levi Pennington branch

• Harvey’s Long Life
• Levi Pennington Family & the Civil War
• Daniel Pennington
• Levi Pennington & Elizabeth Henson Family
• A Surprise with Hiley
• A Tale of Two Andrews
• Facts, Assumptions & Theories

In Ashe Co., Penningtons - Part 2 - I will talk about the Group 30 Penningtons and the Group 12 Penningtons.

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.

Old Postcards - New York

My great grandfather was born and raised in Esperance, NY.  Back in 1892, when he was born there weren't the common lines of communication that we have today.  I'm fairly sure that they didn't have a telephone and that the quickest, surest way of communication was a postcard.  There was a photo album of some of these postcards that were traded between Granddad Gage and his family.  My grandmother scanned these years ago, and there are some pretty neat scenes of turn of the century Esperance, NY.

Wooden bridge near Esperance

Old Bridge - Esperance, NY

 

Presbyterian Church - Esperance, NY

Here are some other post cards from the Schoharie and Schenectady area as well!

Main Street - Schoharie, NY

Schenectady NY Court House

Post cards of the Erie Canal - near Schenectady, NY

Schenectady,NY residential area

Schoharie High School

Everette Henry Gallup

When I was growing up, I would often hear my grandmother talk about her father's aunts and uncles that she remembered from Nebraska.  One of the ones that she talked about often was one she referred to as Uncle Henry.

Everett Henry Gallup was 7th child in a family of 12 children.  He was born in Duanesburg, Schenectady Co., NY on 16 Jun 1873 to Silas Gallup and Phebe Ann Montanye.  He moved with his family on Thanksgiving Day in  1887 to Burt Co., NE.  Henry had two older brothers, Albert and Allen.  Albert was a school teacher and probably came out before his parents as did his other brother, Allen.  There were opportunities for young men that weren't available in New York.  However, Allen  went back to New York and married in 1898 and lived there his lifetime.  From what I understand, Silas Gallup had some health problems and had been encouraged by his brother and sons to come out to Nebraska because it was a dryer climate.  I don't know if this meant that he had tuberculosis or simply weak lungs - but I suspect that his health was not good.  So after moving out west in 1887, and starting a farm, his sons Henry and George probably did the bulk of the work.  By the time Silas Gallup died in 1898 of throat cancer, his sons aged 25 and 23 were already taking care of the farm.

George and Henry are listed in the 1900 census as partners and as farmers, but in 1907, George married Clara Thompson and moved to his own place.  Henry was left at the home place taking of his mother and he never married.  In 1908, his oldest sister (my great great grandmother) died and her four children came out west.  The oldest, my great grandfather, went his own way after bringing his siblings out on the train.  The younger three moved in and made the Gallup home place their home.  I don't think that circumstance lasted too long.  I have heard that the son, Peter, felt as though he was treated as a hired hand and if he was going to be treated that way, then he might as well be paid for it.  The youngest, Alice also was living with another family as a servant.  So in the 1910 census, only Everett Henry, his mother Phoebe and his niece Phoebe are in the household.  I have heard enough from relatives, that Phebe Montanye Gallup was not the easiest person to live with and many in the family felt that her granddaughter, Phebe Gage, was a remarkable person for staying to take care of her grandmother.  I have to wonder if the same might been said about Henry or (Everett Henry) which was his full name.  Henry Gallup never married and was the only one of his siblings to do so.   Phebe Montanye Gallup died on 21 Jun 1927 in Oakland, Burt Co., NE and left at the Gallup home place was Henry and his niece, Phoebe...and old bachelor and his old maid niece.

Phebe Montanye Gallup

They lived together and continued on as before with Henry working the farm and Phebe taking care of the home and all of the other things that women did during that time.  All that changed on 16 May, 1932, when Henry died in a tractor accident at the age of 58.  He wasn't the youngest of his sibling to die - two sisters had predeceased him, but he was the first of the Gallup brothers to die.  The farm was sold as well as all of the contents and while Phebe was supposed to not inherit anything by her grandmother's will, Henry's siblings made sure that she did - because along with her uncle - they had taken care of Phebe Gallup and the family farm for decades.  Unlike her uncle, Phebe did not remain unmarried and married a widower, August Peterson when she was 43 years of age.  In fact, I dimly remember meeting her before she died in 1976 at the age of 81.

I think this a picture of the Gallup home place in Nebraska

35 Years Ago...

Mom Friddle with my grandmother Capitola and son Claude!

You might say that my great grandmother, Sophie Dollar Friddle, is one of my favorite subjects.  Probably because I have always heard so many stories about her that made a definitely impression and also because I remember her.  I wish I could say that I remembered her well - but I remember her the way and eleven year old would...with fleeting images and memories.  I do remember well the day she died and following days afterwards.

I remember Mom telling all of us kids about Mom Friddle's death and as the youngest, I was sad - but I really didn't know what it meant or what was coming.  For my mother, I could see that this was a truly monumental event and I know from what she has told me over the years that Mom Friddle was one of the most important people in her life.  Mom grew up just a hundred or so feet from her house.  So, she was very much a part of Mom's daily life.  Even as an adult, they spent a lot of time talking and visiting on the phone.  Mom Friddle loved to call and find out what type of trouble that my brothers had gotten into that day.

On that day, 35 years ago, that we had a graveside service for Mom Friddle - everything was different to me.  It was the first time that I had saw a body and it didn't look like Mom Friddle to me.  She was still - I had never seen Mom Friddle not shaking her head constantly with her tic or with white hair.  It had been six months since I had seen her and she had been in a nursing home - and she didn't look like the grandmother I was used to.  At the graveside, everyone stood around solemnly and somehow I ended up near my uncle Claude.  When service started I took his hand...or maybe he took mine.  This was very unfamiliar to me and I was a bit nervous.  As the service progressed, Claude held my hand tighter and I looked up at him.  I saw tears creeping down his face and I think that I realized that Mom Friddle was much more than the old Grandma that I knew who told great stories - she was a beloved mother who left behind three children who despite the fact they were all over 50 were going to miss their mother dearly.

I know so much more about my great grandmother now than I did back then.  I've learned things from all of my family that knew her and have learned a few things on my own.  So, as I go down to the cemetery today and lay flowers at her stone - I will think of that day so long ago...but now I wish I had been a bit older and had talked to her more about her life.  She probably would have told me a few tall tales, but it would have been fun to hear them from her!

Here are a few blogs that I have written about Mom Friddle that you may enjoy!

Three Great Dames - Happy Thanksgiving

119 Years Ago…today!

Place to Place

Coffee & Hot Toddies

A Lifetime of Changes

Taken about 1920 - Left to right - Capitola, David Carl Friddle, Jack and Sophie Dollar Friddle