# 52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 25 Earliest Brooks

# 52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 25

The Earliest Brooks Generation

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde

Once upon a time, the descendants of John Brooks, Esq., and his wife Susan Narsin, of Chatham County, North Carolina, believed the family emigrated from England after John Brooks, Sr. was born c. 1690.  A granddaughter reported seeing a sea chest with Susan’s name on it.  The sea chest with the name Narsin was one of many stories of Brooks families gathered by Ida Brooks Kellam (1895-1981) when she wrote the fantastic book, Brooks and Kindred Families, in 1950.  Ms. Kellam chronicled the stories of Brooks families she believed to be sons and daughters of John and Susan Brooks.  The book sold well to thousands of descendants; it was a herculean effort for the time.  

For many decades Brooks descendants have gathered in Chatham County for a Brooks Reunion, celebrating their kinship discovered in the Kellam book.  In 2005, I attended one of the reunions in Siler City, Chatham County, North Carolina, at the hunting lodge of Dr. Brooks Gilmer.  I was really nervous because I brought several notebooks of my own research, disputing the Brooks and Kindred Folks records.  It felt like informing fundamentalists the King James Bible was a translation of the Latin Vulgate; it isn’t the only correct translation.  

My notebooks of research revealed two significant findings: 1.) Ida Brooks Kellam had the wrong James Brooks listed as a son of John Brooks, Jr.   2.) I found the parents of John Brooks, Sr. who was likely born about 1710 in Virginia to Robert and Martha Brooks.  To my astonishment the gathered Brooks descendants accepted the research reports.  

At the same time, I was disputing the Kellam book, Linda Starr, a Brooks historian, and descendant of the James Brooks erroneously cited as the son of John Brooks, Jr. reached the same conclusion: the Kellam book had the wrong James Brooks.  Robert Casey researchers have disputed and discovered other errors through DNA testing. 

Unfortunately for historians and Brooks researchers, the Kellam book continues to sell and create confusion.  Brooks trees on Ancestry.com are proof the book is believed without question.   

Brooks Research for Cynthia Forde

By Raquel Lindaas

September 2004

Now comes the evidence, John Brooks, Sr. of Siler City, North Carolina, sent two sons to Virginia to obtain property, “that belonged to my father.”  The description of the property he sent with his sons is identical to the property described in the will of Martha Brooks, wife of Robert in Charles City County, Virginia.  John Brooks was the administrator of her will.  

According to the Printed, abstracted records of Charles City County contain a very intriguing entry among the deeds.  On November 2, 1767, John Brooks of Orange County, North Carolina sold one hundred acres to John Brooks of Northampton County, North Carolina.  No description of the land was given, but only that it was "land bounded as in my father's will." Witnesses were James Hockaday, Warwick Hockaday, and Jacob Brooks. This may very well be the ancestor, as his place of residence, Orange County, North Carolina, fits with what is known about John Brooks, Sr.  John Brooks of Northampton County is a mystery, but maybe his cousin. This volume includes some wills and deeds, which are unfortunately fragmented, due to substantial loss of records during the Civil War.  No Brooks wills have survived in Charles City County.  Other acts from this same source were searched, for any mention of an earlier Brooks, who might be the father of this John.  This volume also includes court records, which consist of the proving of wills and deeds.

In 1692, John Baxter of Charles City County sold eight hundred acres in Westover Parish.  This land was part of a tract patented by Thomas Spencer, Thomas Brooks and William Hickman in 1664, and bounded by Col. Edward Hill.  The geographical location is given as "the main run of Chickahominy Swamp, the Long Island, and Possum Run." Some researchers believe that the father of John Brooks, Sr., was Thomas Brooks, but no documentation has been located for this assertion in online searches.  This Thomas Brooks, who patented land in 1664, would have been too old to be John's father but could represent an earlier ancestral generation. John is believed to have named one of his sons Thomas.

Continuing with entries from the same source, John Brooks was mentioned as a neighboring landowner in a 1769 deed from Warwick Hockaday and Samuel Hockaday to John Minge.  Warwick and Samuel were sons of Warwick Hockaday, deceased, who gave the land to his wife, Mary, by his will dated September 10, 1757.  Mary married again, which caused the property to revert to her children.  Unfortunately, the tract of land was not described in terms of geographical features. This would have provided clues for the geographic location of John Brooks, as well.  This John Brooks, who was a neighbor to Warwick Hockaday in 1769, was most likely the John of Northampton County, North Carolina.  The land he owned near the Hockadays may have been the same land he purchased two years earlier from John Brooks of Orange County.

The will of Warwick Hockaday was presented into court in May 1758.  John Brooks and William Riddlehurst proved the will, further demonstrating a close relationship between the Brooks and Hockaday families.  (Research conducted by Lt. Col. James Doyle mentions the Hockaday family in conjunction with John "Broach" of York County, in the 1630's.)  Finally, a description of the land inherited by John is provided in 1770, when the other John Brooks, of Northampton County, North Carolina, sold the property to John Riddlehurst.  The parcel was bounded by Old Tree Run, John Minge, Edward Cocke, Moises Run, Hunt's line, and Tar Kiln Branch.  A detailed gazetteer of Virginia does not show Old Tree Run, Moises Run, or Tar Kiln Branch in Charles City County.  Small streams may have been obliterated with development over time, or names may have changed.  These place names would be valuable in matching with a land description of the potential father of John, Sr. if such a deed could be located.

The original deed of sale from John Brooks of Orange County, North Carolina to John Brooks of Northampton County, North Carolina, was located and copied for verification.  It was hoped that more information would be included in John's father. The only description of the land is "all that Tract parcel or Dividend of Land Together with all The houses & Orchards thereunto Belonging Bounded as my father's will mentions Containing one hundred Acres Be the Same more or less Situate Lying & Being In Charles City County In Virginia." The witnesses included Joab Brooks, rather than Jacob Brooks, and John Brooks, Jr., who was not included in the printed abstract.14  The presence of the name of Joab further confirms that John Brooks was indeed the ancestor.  John, Jr., is most likely the same who married Jane May.  An interesting sidelight is provided by a notation inside the front cover of this deed book.  It reads, "This book was taken by a Union soldier from a lot that was about to be burned by northern troops in Virginia." The first eighteen pages of the book are missing, and Page 42 is followed by Page 63.  Whatever inspired this Union soldier to salvage this book is a mystery, but a welcome one.

The land patents of Virginia have survived, and these were searched for any Brooks who patented land in Charles City County.  The description of the land patented would be matched up with the description of John's inherited land.  The features that would distinguish the correct land patent would be Old Tree Run, Moises Run, and Tar Kiln Branch.  Two new entries were located from Patent Book No. 9.  On November 2, 1705, Robert Brookes patented two parcels of land in Charles City County, one consisting of nine hundred and eight acres, the other of one hundred and thirty-one acres.

The larger tract is described as "beginning at the head of the north branch of Moses Run, to head of Peasehill Swamp, dividing this and land of Thomas Cole; to Queen's Creek Run, otherwise called Old Tree Run; to land of William Hunt.  The land was granted for the importation of nineteen persons, who are listed.  The other parcel of land is described as "beginning on Old Tree Run, corner of John Parish." 15 It appears very likely that part of this land could be the same sold by John, which property was described in his father's will.  One of the persons transported to Virginia Colony was Robin Brooks, his identity presently unknown.  It seems likely that Robert Brooks was the father of John Brooks. Sixty-two years had passed, between Robert's patent in 1705, and John's sale in 1767.  As for naming patterns, records do not show a son of John named Robert, nor among his descendants, which is peculiar.  John may have had a son named Robert, who died young.

The scant surviving records of Charles City County were searched for the Brooks name in the time appropriate for the father of John. The wills and deeds for the years 1725 to 1731 have survived, a small fragment of those that once existed.  On December 29, 1724, a mariner named Thomas Brooks, resident of London, appointed William Cox and Henry Holdcroft to act as his attorneys, to conduct all business for him in Virginia.  16 This is the only mention of any Brooks in this volume.

Land patents of Prince George County for the years 1666 to 1719 have been compiled into a single volume.  These include patents for Charles City County, parent county of Prince George.  A Walter Brooks was mentioned in 1668 and 1670, as a neighboring property owner to Capt. Francis Epps and Mr. Michael Hill, on the south side of the Appomattox River.  Walter Brooks patented land in Bristol Parish as early as 1654.  A Thomas "Brockes" was among a list of immigrants transported in 1701 by John Butler.17 Robert Brooks' name did not appear in this volume.

The abstracted court records of Charles City County were revisited, for any information on Robert Brooks.  In the December 1740 session of court, Robert Brooks was granted administration of the estate of Walter Vernon.  Appraisers selected included Capt. Samuel Harwood and Mr. John Minge. Robert's 1705 land patent mentioned "Harwood" as one of the neighboring landowners.  John Minge's name was found associated with John Brooks and the Hockaday family in later records of Charles City County.  In November 1741, three couples sold a parcel of land to Joseph Collier. These couples included Robert and Martha Brooks, Benjamin and Sarah Heath, and Thomas and Elizabeth Russell. Martha, Elizabeth, and Sarah were likely sisters who inherited the land sold.  Various internet sources were searched to determine the maiden name of any of these women.  These sources included the International Genealogical Index, Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com's GenForum, and general Google searches.  No information on any of these couples could be located.

Continuing with the court records of Charles City County, Robert Brooks was appointed one of the appraisers of the estate of William Parrish in January 1745.  He was appointed to appraise the estate of Richard Cocke in March 1750, along with Warwick Hockaday and Edward Minge.  These names are familiar for their association with John Brooks in later years. Robert must have died before 1760, although no will or administration of his state has survived.  The will and intention of Martha Brooks were presented into court by John Brooks, the executor.  Joseph Parrish was one of those who proved her will in court. (Robert Brooks had previously appraised the estate of William Parrish.) Thomas Russell was appointed one of the appraisers of Martha's estate.  He was one of those selling land with Robert Brooks and their wives in November 1741.

In October 1760, a deed was proven in court from John Brooks and Martha, his wife, to William Tyree.18 This may have been the other John Brooks, who later lived in Northampton County, North Carolina.  No mention could be found of Susan, wife of John.  No Narsin name could be found in the records of Charles City County.  In fact, several statewide indexes to land, probate, tax, marriage, and other types of documents were searched, and the Narsin name did not appear in any of them.

Some Colonial Virginia records were recorded in England as well.  Among these is the 1704 rent rolls.  Robert Brooks' name appears in the list for Charles City County.19 He was the only Brooks found in the county then.  Caution must be observed in further research, as there were other Robert Brooks in nearby counties.  The 1704 rent rolls of Essex County show two Robert Brooks there, as well as a James Brooks. In New Kent County, a Robert Brooks and Richard Brooks were listed there.  The common name will be a challenge in further research.  To demonstrate the abundance of men by the name of Robert Brooks in Colonial Virginia, some data has been collected about each one.  Also from the compilation of lost Virginia records, it was noted that Essex County showed a Robert Brooks as a county officer in 1699.  He patented land there in 1704 and was listed in the 1704 rent rolls of the county.  Other Roberts were noted as well, and they are charted below.  Data from the Virginia land patents are also included.

Name Date Place Description

Robert Brooks1690Charles City VA Transported to VA by James Tuthill

Robert Brooks1704 "Rent roll

"November 2, 1705 "Patented 908 a., Winoak Parish

""" Patented 131 a., Old Tree Run

"1714 "Neighbor to Robert Loyde, 1714 patent

"1699Essex VA County officer

"1702 "Neighbor to George Loyd, 1702 patent

"Apr 1704 "Patented 650 a.

Robert Brook1704 "Rent roll, 150 a.

Robert Brooks  "(also James & Peter Brooks

"1704 "Transported to VA by James Boughan

"1705 "Neighbor to George Loyd, 1705 patent

"1723 "Surveyor

Robert Brooke1726 "Justice of the Peace and Surveyor

Robert Brooke, Jr. 1729 "Justice of the Peace

Robert Brooke "" Surveyor

Robert Brooks 1704 New Kent VA Rent roll, also Rich'd Brooks

Robert Brook, Jr. 1723 Spotsylvania VA Patented 8000 a. William & Humfrey Brook

Robert Brooks 1675 Lower Norfolk VA Transported to VA by William Langley

Robert Brooks 1688 Lower Norfolk VA Transported to VA by Col. Lem. Mason

"1694Nansemond  VA Transported to VA by John Wright

Robert Brooks1701 King & Queen VA Transported to VA by John Burrows

"1718Henrico VA Transported to VA by Charles Fleming

It appears that there were as many as eleven Robert Brooks in Colonial Virginia between 1674 and 1729, just in the Tidewater area.  At least five of these arrived before 1700. Trying to locate the Robert of Charles City County, before his arrival there, will be very complicated.  He could easily be confused with one of these other men by the same name.  Robert may be the immigrant ancestor, or he may have come from another part of the English Colonies.  Identifying him in his previous place of residence will be very difficult.

This same caution should be applied to researching John Brooks.  Several early North Carolina land grants to men named John Brooks are recorded. There were probably several men by that name in the Colony, and some may have been confused.  It is possible that John Brooks, who went to Bladen County about 1735 is not the same John Brooks, who lived in Orange County in the 1760s. From various compiled sources, the ancestral John has been connected to land grants in Bertie Precinct in 1725, Cumberland County in 1735, Bladen County in 1735, Craven County in 1746, and Orange County in 1755.  This is highly unlikely.  The last one, Orange County in 1755, is the only land grant that convincingly pertains to the ancestral John Brooks, Sr.  He owned land in Charles City County, Virginia as late as 1767.

So far, there has not surfaced any documentary evidence that John's wife was Susan Narsin or even Susan.  The only "source" that can be cited for this information is Ida Brooks Kellam's book. John's birthplace of England is also questionable. It is clear that his family was living in Charles City County, Virginia at least as early as 1704.

It appears that John was the son of Robert and Martha Brooks of Charles City County.  Robert died sometime in the 1750s and left a will, which has not survived.  By his will, he bequeathed some of the lands he patented in 1705 to John.  This land was located on Old Tree Run and Moses Run, near the Hunt and Parrish families. Martha died about 1760, and John was the executor of her will.  Robert and Martha were probably born in the 1670s or 1680s.  No marriage could be found for them in the IGI, either in England or Virginia Colony.  John was likely born in Virginia Colony, perhaps around 1710 or later.

Ms. Kellam's approximate birth years for the children of John Brooks seem much too early and are not documented.  She asserts that John Brooks, Jr., was born about 1715. He married Jane May, who was still selling land in 1808.  Jane is believed to have died in 1833.  Son Isaac lived to be ninety-eight, and Thomas died at age eighty-six.  Son Mark lived to be about ninety-nine, according to Ms. Kellam.  These life spans are not realistic for that day and age, although they might occur in rare incidences.  The estimated birth years need to be adjusted.  This would be determined by when these men first appeared in the records, which usually occurred about age twenty-one.

Source: Heritage Consulting Co. - Raquel Lindaas, Reg. Genealogist – September 2004

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 24, Dear Diary

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 23

DEAR DIARY

By the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde

            

            Imagine!  Tap into the creativity of your mind and share my experience of joy upon discovering stories about my ancestors in a diary written during 1852-1852.   I was transcribing Martha Brooks’ Diary for inclusion in my book, The Spirit in the South, when I had a happy encounter reading about my fifth great grandparents, Lawrence Bankston and Nancy Ann Henderson who were Martha’s great grandparents. Martha writes about visiting Great Grand Pa and Ma Banxton.   

            Martha kept a diary during the two years she met and dated her future husband, Patrick Stevens.  During that time frame, she describes a ‘frolic where Nicholas Jarrett over-imbibes and embarrasses his sister Rebecca Jarrett Sappington; Martha denounces him with strong words.  Rebecca is another fifth great grandmother.  In the same diary entry, comes the news of how Rebecca and Nicholas’ brother-in-law, John Weaver, died; 

            Martha’s Diary revealed three fascinating pieces of valuable information that produced three essays by Jarrett descendants to include in my book. While I am indeed grateful Martha kept a diary, I don’t know if I can commit my deepest thoughts to perpetuity.   How about you?

MARTHA’S DIARY

1852–1853

Edited with a foreword by Patrick Stevens II. 

All Rights Reserved 1950.

Foreword

100 years after these chronicles and with humility and feelings of inability mingled with pride and affection I undertake this prelude.

Martha was born 1830. Her mother, Prudence Irvin Brooks, died a short while after her birth. She was taken to the heart of Grandpa Isaiah Tucker Irvin,[1]and his wife Isabella Bankston Irvin, who nurtured her through 23 years of her life and gave her in marriage in December, 1853.

Her father, The Rev. Iverson Lewis Brooks,[2]a noted Baptist minister, had taken unto himself during this period two other wives after Prudence; hence Martha missed much of the influence of her pious father, also his intellectual companionship. He taught ancient language several years in Mercer University, then at Penfield, Georgia, and was Principal of the Female Academy; a Mercer Trustee 1840–1845; one of the twenty-six contributors to the Josiah Penfield Fund 1829.

As we read her entries under the successive dates, the human-interest stories of her loved ones, friends, and companions, we find rare trace of ill will towards anyone, and no feeling other than kindness. At her age as she wrote in the privacy of her “Journal” we might expect to find an elated heartbeat when she noted meeting new, eligible gentlemen.

One of the great interests of her Diary is France,[3]a slave girl and her personal maid. France was a big influence in Martha’s selection of a husband near the end of her diary. When she would comment to her friends on her suitors, France would say: “but he is not as pretty as Mr. Stephens.”

Martha married “Mr. Stephens” and took France to Oak Hill. France married Bob Owens and the two helped Martha rear to man and womanhood six boys and five girls, who knew France and Bob only as “Mammy” and “Daddy,” and they, too, had a large family. On one occasion, in the long past remembered as of yesterday, we had a visitor, the distinguished Dr. Patrick H. Mell, then Chancellor of the University of Georgia, a splendid erect, six foot man. Dr. Mell asked to see “Daddy” Owens. Bob was also a big fine fellow. When Bob came in, this followed: Mell extended his hand, “I am glad to see you, and how many and how are your children? I have 13.” Bob answered: “Yassa Master, I’ve got 14 and on the rise.”

Martha devoted her life to the creation of a home for her family. She had the largest selection of beautiful flowers, both garden and hothouse. Her formal garden was a wonder of its day. More than an acre, it had sixteen octagonal beds, each bordered with small boxwood and walks running between all. A large walk around the beds was bordered by large boxwood, and around the whole was a hedge of euonimus (sic). Only traces of this garden now are there.

Martha made Oak Hill the assembly place of the countryside, and now in the garden she lies with her husband and six of her children.

Pat M. Stevens II

Bairdstown, Georgia, September 15, 1950

January 25^thI rode over this morning on horseback to spend the day with Mr. Huguly’s bereaved family tho it is cold, yet it was so bright and clear it was delightful on horseback. I fitted her sacque and a dress lining very nicely. I spent a pleasant day, my little Fanny came back in a rapid lope, leaving Martha [4]who walked way behind. I could scarcely get her to turn out of her course to stop a moment at Mrs. G.’s, whom I wanted to see as she was sick. On leaving little Mary cried to get up behind me and “Fanny” started off so fast, tho Mary fell, yet she would not pause a moment to let me see about it. Marth walked through a nigh way and when I came to the gate, which leads to the house steps, she let me open it for her. Cupid[5]came bounding out wagging his tail to meet me, and Grandpa would have me sit in his room to warm my feet and tell him the news. Grandpa and Ma are talking about getting Mr. Mier,[6]an artist in Washington, to paint their portraits. Dear, good, infirm, old Grandpa, he sent a piece of his and Grandma’s hair and of my great Grand pa and Ma Banxton’s and a piece of sister Lou’s and my Father’s and Mother’s hair to Madison to have me a necklace made.

March 5^th, 1853It is Saturday night and nearly time for me to wash and go to bed. I have just finished Dark Scenes of Historyby James[7] and truly they are dark and bloody scenes, such as make me shudder to read and think of, and yet, as teach us the treachery, meanness and vileness of the human heart, such as puts to examining their own heart.

Well the week is passed and how little I have accomplished. Not a human soul has been here to interrupt the quiet of us three. Yesterday Mr. Barrett, the tax collector, and Mr. Gilbert came to see about painting the house, but they are no company for me. During the first three of four days I did not wish to see anyone. I had the carpets taken up and dusted and the beds scalded, drapery, curtains, etc. washed and now everything is clean, nice and tidy and I feel so comfortable and fixed as I walk about—but alone, utterly alone! Sometimes such a feeling of desolation steals over me for I am naturally of a social and active disposition. If I only had one congenial spirit to loveand to love me—to live for!—I fear such will never be my lot. But as Byron[8]says—None find what they love or might have loved, though accident blind contact and the strong necessity of loving have removed antipathies—we wither from our youth—we gasp away—sick—sick—unfound the boon—unslacked the thirst, though to the last in verge of our decay some phantom lures, such as we sought at first. But all too late—so are we doubly cursed—love—fame—ambition—avarice—’tis the same—each idol, and all the same. For all are with different name, and death the sable snake when vanishes the flame. If I never realize that kind of love, I would that I had a true friendwho could realize my situation and who would sympathize in my joy and sorrows. I had one, but she has gone before, yes—pure and sainted Mary Dallas Lamar[9]you were a friend after my heart. How sweet and pure my thoughts of you sometimes and how refreshing the tears that flow, unbidden, when I think of the peculiar tie that bound us together—now broken forever!!!! Can I ever hope to have such another friend? Cousin Belle might beall my heart can wish, and was, long ago, before her Mother and Grandpa between them caused her to be estranged and suspicious of me. She suspects me of a disposition that I am as far above as you blue skies from me. The fruit of this suspicion causes her to make remarks to me that wound oh, so deeply! I sometimes think Aunt Mary has succeeded at last in making her care nothing for me, and I am her best friend, but as it is, “Thou shalt have no other God but one.” Wherever our minds are too much placed we receive a blight in some way and are taught to not love too much anything earthly. I have many friends whom I love but Mary and cousin were the light of my soul. Mary is no more and cousin tho in this troublesome world yet—is no more to meand I alone, alone, alone—if I only could love Jesus! So Webster said, “Faith in Jesus is all that is worth a thought.”

Sedentary duties, but before we drove off Grandpa observed I had on only a sacque and shawl and remarked I would be cold—called to Babe and sent her for another shawl and made me rap it round close and tight, saying tho I felt warm coming from a warm room, it would be cold enough before our return. He stopped the carriage now and then to tell the hands something who were working on the way. We drove through the large new ground and it seemed almost a mile long, with the logs and brush piled ready for burning and the hands hewing away. Grandpa (Isaiah Tucker Irvin) made Uncle Joe drive round to the Johnson andWeaver old place, and asked Gramma (Isabella Bankston) if she would have known theplace—a mulberry tree, here and there a stray fruit tree (I shall remember the Kell pear treehe pointed out)—lilies and a rose bush—showed man once lived there, but the houses are all raised to the ground and the spot will soon be plowed up, by the plough man. Grandpa then showed me the place where Mr. Weaver was killed as he was returning home from his sons—a windy March day—a tree fell on him and crushed him to death,[10]and at Mr. Johnson’s[11]house Gramma remarked, “I have been to many a frolic here when I was young,[12]and remember well when Letty refused to dance with Nic Jarrett and his sister [13]went out and cried—not because she was hurt with the young lady, but because her only brother had conducted himself so as to be openly insulted—he was very handsome and showy—but dissipated and descensious.”

---

[1]Isaiah Tucker Irvin, Martha’s maternal grandfather.

[2]Iverson Lewis Brooks: the son of Martha’s half-brother William Walker Brookes.

[3]France: Martha’s servant (slave).

[4]Marth: a slave, evidently.

[5]Cupid: Here we learn that Martha’s Cupid is a little while poodle, “Cupe.” I wonder whether the artist sketched Cupid?

[6]Mr. Mier: an artist who indeed painted them and the paintings are still with the Irvin family in Washington, Georgia.

[7]Dark Scenes of Historyby G.P.R. James was published in late 1849. 

[8]She is quoting from Lord Byron’s gloomy cantos 124 and 125 from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage:

124 We wither from our youth, we gasp away-

Sick: sick—unfound the boon—unslacked the thirst,

Though to the last, in verge of our decay,

Some phantom lures, such as we sought at first-

But all too late,—so are we doubly curst.

Love, fame, ambition, avarice—’tis the same,

Each idle—and all ill—and none the worst—

For all are meteors with a different name,

And Death the sable smoke where vanishes the flame.

125 Few—none—find what they love or could have loved,

Though accident, blind contact, and the strong

Necessity of loving, have removed

Antipathies – but to recur, ere long,

Envonomed with irrevocable wrong;

And Circumstance, that unspiritual god

And miscreator, makes and helps along

Our coming evils with a crutch-like rod,

Whose touch turns Hope to dust,—the dust we all have trod.

[9]No record found of Mary Dallas Lamar, Martha’s fast friend.

[10]John Weaver died in March 1803. He was the husband of Elizabeth Jarrett, whose brother was Nic Jarrett.

[11]Nic Jarrett married Elizabeth Johnson 18 February 1800. Elizabeth was a daughter of the Johnsons.

[12]Isabella’s sister, Martha Bankston, was the daughter-in-law of Rebecca Jarrett Sappington, a sister of Nic Jarrett.

[13]It is probable that “Nic” Jarrett’s sister, Elizabeth Jarrett Weaver, was the sister. The Johnsons were neighbors of the Weavers.

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 23, Namesake

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 23,  Namesake

The Spirit Runner 

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde

Genealogy?   Why live in the past?   What is the importance of knowing family names?   Why would anyone spend years researching family history?   Who cares?

For thirty-five years I have asked myself these questions while I continue to research our family's genealogy.   As a minister, I turn to Scripture for answers.   The Word of God says not to be concerned about genealogy, on one hand, yet on the other hand, what serious student of the Bible has not skipped quickly over countless recitations of who begat whom? Why, indeed, is genealogy in Scripture? For Christians, the answer is that genealogies in Scripture point to Jesus Christ.   But, one of the best answers I have heard for all of the "begets" came from a young Jewish girl on the day of her Bat Mitzvah commenting on the Book of Numbers.   "God is counting His treasure."

It helps to re-frame the questions in the light of the girl's response: God treasures each one of us.   We are of inestimable value, regardless of sojourn: long or short, well traveled or not.   We are loved by God, beyond our wildest imagination.   From the point in time that we begin our journey from God until our return to God, having breathed our last, we are God's treasure.

Therefore, as we add to God's story during our sojourn on this earth, we increase God's treasure.   We do this, of course, simply by the fact that we exist, move, breathe and live out the days of our lives in whatever circumstances we are given.   Our Creator values us immensely. Each soul is God-kissed, God-breathed, God's glistening gold.   This is most certainly true - as Martin Luther would remind us. It does not matter whether or not others recognize and validate our worth; the value does not change. 

How often do you hear or read about someone who has found a priceless painting or valuable treasure digging through heaps of junk? My own mothers' experience proves the point, "I tried everything to remove the greenish-black substance that formed on the tea service we were given as a wedding gift.   Nothing worked.   I sent it to the garbage dump.   When I told 'Ole,' he went to the dump immediately to search for it." Unfortunately for my mother, someone else realized they had discovered silver!

In researching family history, I unearthed untold treasure - stories. Each box of genealogical data tells me a story.   It brings me in touch with the struggles, losses, hopes and the joys of those who have preceded me. It gives me insight into the heartaches that must have accompanied the loss of a child - and in many cases several children.  

In my Norwegian ancestral lines, I was puzzled why families named two and sometimes three children identical names, such as Anna d.o, Anna d.m. and Anna d.y.  This was done to make certain one of the three daughters named Anna would survive in their world where children were fortunate to live past two years of age. Grandma Anna must have a namesake. Therefore, they named Anna (d.o. the oldest) and Anna (d.m. the middle) and Anna (d,y, the youngest).  At least one of the daughters or sons needed to survive to be the namesake, to tell the story. 

A good example is the story of the church bells in Kensett, Iowa.   Knud Savre's young daughter became the first white person to be buried in that community.   Two more daughters died within a short time.   Imagine how painful it must have been for this pioneer family to lose three daughters. They gave church bells in memory of the young girls.   Doesn't this story create a longing in your heart to go to the church in Kensett and listen to the bells? "Do the bells toll or peal, clap or ring?" "Do they echo the laughter of little girls?" How should bells sound to remember beloved daughters?

Another excellent example of the treasure trove in stories: In 1987, we visited my mother's paternal ancestral home; the location is in Dade County, Georgia, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.  I met with the president of the Historical Society of Dade County. They had heard of our family members but they had no information on the family for the county history books.   I was able to give them a diary and autobiography of one of the sons, John Thornton Miller. 

The diary was a great gift.   They did not have another written record of that early history.   It offered previously unknown information, names of teachers and preachers long forgotten; but most importantly, John T. Miller shared his reflections and impressions of what it was like to grow up in the midst of the beautiful Dade Valley; familial values and philosophies are brought to light.   The diary is being published in the Dade County History Book.

An important question was answered for the surrounding community, "Why does the Miller family cemetery exist without Millers buried in it.?" I had the answer to the question, "There is a Miller buried in the cemetery. Elizabeth Miller Tatum died giving birth to her first child. It was built on her behalf."

I was able to answer the first part of the question: "But there is a Miller buried there," because the story was handed down to me. Sadly enough, twelve years later, I can answer the second part of the question, 'Why is it landscaped so elaborately?'

One hundred and forty years after Elizabeth Miller's death, our son, Scott, died.   We created a cemetery on our ranch at his request.  It, too, is being landscaped with great consideration. Scott requested a simple boulder for his headstone; he wanted to express his love of nature.   In the Miller cemetery, there is a large boulder.   While we have no idea if it marks Elizabeth's' grave, for the sake of the story we hope so.   Elizabeth's and Scott's stories were submitted to the National Cemetery Register when we recorded our new cemetery, 'Scott's Grove.' Someday, descendants will value both story and cemetery.

Stories are treasures.   Stories are discovered by paying attention: how is a child named. What is the birth order?   Why do we see certain migration and emigration patterns? Attention to detail bears fruit.   Stories begin to unfold. Connections form.

Each story is yet another connection from past to present and on to the future. Most interesting to see is how the stories of families connect from generation to generation; some families grow in strength and numbers; other families fracture, splinter and become fragments drifting apart.

I discovered delightful details in the connecting boxes on my grandfather's, Carl Vold, side of the family in FlÃ¥, Hallingdal, Norway.   Hallings intermarry.   There is so much intermarriage that in one generation three of the children become my direct ancestors.   There is a pattern of marrying a second cousin. Because of intermarriage, grandparents become grandparents a 2nd and 3rd time as well.   A computer kinship report reveals that I am a cousin 7 times removed from my own children.   Keep this up and I may one day really become my own grandmother!

Most of my stories grow out of Hallingdal where everyone is a cousin 'at least once.' It was the custom to marry relatives because the family farm had to stay in the family.   It has been said, (by one of several cousins I found on the internet) "scientists are researching the Hallings, doing DNA testing because the gene pool is so pure." And did I know..., "the frozen 10,000-year-old man found in the Alps was a Halling? Even then they were running away from paying high taxes!"

More surprises came to light: In the seventeenth century, Ellef Knudsen Sefre and his wife Astri produced five children.   The children, Ole, Gunild, Birgit, Guri, and Knud, are the direct ancestors of the Gulbrand Mellums, the Savres, the Brunsvolds, and the Volds, in Worth and Winnebago County - which may surprise many of them.

Robert (Bob) Savre, a descendant of the pioneer, Knud E. Savre, and married to Avis Nelson from Worth County, wrote this to me: "Avis and I are fifth cousins; her dad, Selmer Nelson, farmed next to Timen Brunsvold for years -- neither of them knew they were related until later years. "

Some of the surprises are more treasure than others. We would rather some of the stories not be told - I did not tell stories that would embarrass anyone.   Nor did I tell the stories of rich and famous ancestors so that they would be the dazzling connections that stand out for time and posterity.   The connections to each other - good or bad - totally miss the point.   For the real treasure is the value of interconnectedness: the schema, if you will, of something greater and grander at work.   It is like an incredible gigantic tapestry woven by God.   God spun a thread which runs through us and on to the future; I named this thread, The Spirit Runner.

The Spirit Runner is the connecting thread, woven invisibly and intricately, deeper than DNA or quantum energy spun in the reality of physics.   It is our umbilical cord connecting us to God and to each other revealed in the art of telling stories of events.   A conception, gestation, birth, blood, water, tears, a fast in the wilderness, water to wine, and finally our salvation played out with agony, defeat, the death of a child, a body in a grave; then taken up into the center of the incredible mystery of the Holy Trinity.   Our stories are God's stories about 'who and why’ we are.  We are God’s namesakes.

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 22, Grandma's Cemetery Secret

#52 Ancestor Challenge 2019, Week 22 ( Cemetery)

Grandma’s Cemetery Secret 

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Vold Forde

Sithone Turvold Vold’s worn purple velvet photo album held secrets.  Two pieces of very old folded paper were revealed, tucked behind the photos.  One of the papers was her father’s (Ole Hermundson Turvold),  Norwegian confirmation certificate, and the other paper was the certificate for his burial plot in Sunset Rest Cemetery, Northwood, Iowa.  Both items were quickly photographed, shared with cousins, framed and hung on my wall of ancestral photos.

The year was 2002.  Cousin Bruce Knuth had gifted me a treasure box of old photos and my grandmother’s photo album that had lain in an attic for fifty years since the death of our grandmother in 1952.   Bruce’s mother, Alice Vold Knuth, had put them in her attic, where they rested until she died; then they were transferred to Bruce’s attic.  I was incredibly elated to receive the photos, but especially the photo album.  I remembered seeing the photo album when I was a child; it rested upstairs on grandma’s cedar chest.  Now, it was mine, and so was the discovery of the confirmation and burial record. 

The certificate showing the purchase of the cemetery lot solved a mystery. Thanks to Donovan Turvold for correcting the name of the cemetery and providing us with the location of the burial plots.  for it revealed the secret of the oldest area of the cemetery.   Now we know where Ole Hermundson Turvold, his bride and many of his children were buried.  

Ole H. Turvold came to Worth County, Iowa approximately 1870. He married Marta (Maita) Holstad after coming to the United States, but the date of marriage is not known.  His father, mother, brother, and sisters, who arrived in the US in 1876, probably followed him at his encouragement and advice. His wife, Marta, was born at Vik, a daughter of Bendick Endreson Holstad and Brita Sjur. Honsi.  Ole H. died July 6, 1925, while his wife, Marta, died on May 3, 1922.

OBITUARY OF OLE H. TURVOLD

Northwood Anchor, Northwood, Iowa

ANOTHER PIONEER GONE.

Ole H. Turvold Summoned After Long Useful Life:

Ole H. Turvold, who came to Worth County in 1864, passed away on July3, at the home of his son, Ole O. Turvold, southwest of town at the age of eighty-three years.

The funeral services were held on Monday, July 6th at the home, and later at Shell Rock Church, conducted by The Rev. Carl B. Ylvisaker. Burial was held in the Shell Rock Cemetery.  This is a complete sketch of the life of this early pioneer.

OLE HERMUNDSON TURVOLD

Ole Hermundson Turvold was born on August 10, 1842, at Vik, in Sogn, Norway.  His parents were Hermund and Synnove Turvold.  He was later baptized and confirmed in the parish of Vix (sic).  He emigrated from Norway in 1863 and coming first to Winneshiek County and a year later to Worth County.  He homesteaded on a tract of land southwest of town which remained his home until death and where he performed his lifework.  He was one of the sturdy, stout-hearted pioneers, the ranks of which are rapidly thinning.

He was united in marriage to Martha Holstad during the Christmas of1870.  She passed on before him in May of 1922. Seven children were born to them:  Henry, who died in January of 1896, Bertha, who passed away shortly before, in October of 1895; Sitona, now Mrs. Carl Vold, of Northwood; Bertin, who also died in 1896; Anna, now Mrs. John Johnson, living west of Northwood, Ole O. Turvold, who farms the homeplace, and Sina, the late Mrs. Iver Hopperstad, who died in March of1923, leaving a large flock of children.  The deceased is also survived by a half brother, Elling Hermandson, living in Winnebago; a brother, Elling Turvold, living SW of Northwood, a sister, Mrs. Albert Harmon, Northwood, and 25 grandchildren.  Another sister, Kari Turvold, passed away several years ago.

During his long residence in this community, he was a member of the Shell Rock Congregation.   He had been in failing health the past several years, during which time he rarely left home.  His great affliction was blindness, relieved only temporarily by an operation, but he was fortunate enough to have about him those who were willing to be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.  He often spoke of the tender care he enjoyed from day-to-day.  He was very appreciative of the visits of his pastor and eagerly listened to the reading of Scripture, song, and prayer.   He asked for the Lord's Supper frequently and partook the last time in May.

He was in bed only four days, sinking unusually fast. It seemed to be the heart which gave way, but even though the flesh and heart fail, he appeared confident and hopeful.  When asked whether he knew The Way and knew Him so well that he was persuaded He was able to grant that which he had entrusted to Him against that day, he replied without hesitation, 'Yes!"  He slept away early Friday morning, July 3rd, lacking a little over a month of the high old age of eighty-three years.

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The only extant photo of Ole Hermundson and Marta Holstad Turvold was also in that treasure box from Bruce Knuth.  It is also the only photo of the old Turvold farm home. It is a somber photo; a white casket is visible, on the porch.  Several of the Turvold children died from a Scarlet Fever epidemic.  Only one son and three daughters survived.

Ole Hermundson, Marta and the Turvold Family 

Thanks to Donovan Turvold for the burial plot location of the Turvolds; we are all grateful!

Plot # 20, no stones