52 Ancestors-Week #3-Hannah Bittinger

Hannah Bittinger- my maternal great great grandmother
Born: 22 Oct 1846
Died: about 1890

Parents:
     Jonathan "Jonas" Bittinger and Elizabeth Foust
Spouse:
     Lewis Romeo Neuland

I have just started to look into the Bittinger line, but decided write about Hannah because I have a photograph of her.  Not sure when it was taken.  I want to say late 1860s, but without more research, this is just a guess.

All of the information I have on her so far comes from the book  The Bittinger, Bittner, Biddinger, and Bidinger Families and Their Kin of Garrett County, Maryland by Wayne Bittinger, 1986.

To date, the only information I have found on her, other than the book mentioned above, is in the 1880 census with her husband and children.

52 Ancestors-Week #2-Zephaniah Theron Webb

For week number two I am writing about my maternal great great grandfather.  I have a good bit of unsubstantiated information that I am trying to verify, but so far, what I have does seem to line up well with the records that I have been able to locate.  As always, it is a work in progress.

Zephaniah Theron Webb was born 14 October 1826 in Tennessee and died 21 March 1906[i] in Pope County, Arkansas.  He was the son of George Washington Webb and Martha Gant.[ii] 

Before the Civil War, he was a captain in Company A, 15^th Regiment Arkansas Militia.  At the start of the war, the militias were disbanded and Zephaniah along with many militia members quickly enlisted in volunteer companies.[iii]

He served as a private in the Company H of the 35^th Regiment, Arkansas Infantry.  His 25 February muster roll lists him as ‘absent-sick’.  In his pension application of 25 March 1905 he states that he “had typhoid fever while in actual serviced and it caused me to partially loose (sic) my eyesight in my right eye.  I was not able to go back to my command.”[iv]

At some point Zephaniah moved from Tennessee to Pope County Arkansas and married his first cousin Clementine Webb on 23 November 1856.[v]

Between 1860 and 1870, according to the census, Zephaniah’s real estate value and personal property were reduced by nearly half. Without more information it is difficult to say what the cause of this was.  It is possible it was a result of the Civil War, but other economic factors could have contributed as well. In 1860 they were recently married and were living in their first home together.  By 1870 they had added four children.  He was listed as a farmer in both the 1860 and 1870 census.

They had a total of 6 children (Isabe Bell, Horatia, Mary, George Toller, Huston N., Charley J.). 

After the death of Clementine in 1890, Zephaniah went to live with his son Charley J. (my great grandfather) and his family also in Pope County, Arkansas.  According to a letter from a great aunt, they moved to Oklahoma around 1898 for a year but returned to Arkansas after the crop they planted failed.[vi]  So far, I have been unable to find any corroborating evidence for this.

Zephaniah died on 21 March 1906.

Both Zephaniah and Clementine are buried in Old Baptist Cemetery, Center Valley, Pope County, Arkansas.  Here is the link to the Find A Grave memorial.

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[i] Findagrave.com, Find A Grave, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com/ : accessed 14 June 2013), photograph, gravestone for Zephaniah T. Webb (1826-1906), Pope County, Arkansas.

[ii] Transcription of family Bible found online.  So far have not located an image  or verification of the data.

[iii] http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/15milhis.html

[iv] Zephaniah T. Webb, Confederate Pension Application, Arkansas History Commission

[v] Pope County, Arkansas, United State Census of 1860 and Marriage Books B & C, December 1849-December 1859.  Capitola Glazner and Bobbie J. McLane.  1967, p. 128.

[vi] Margaret McFadden, Arkansas, to Elizabeth Sample, letter, 31 August 1992, sharing unsourced and uncited genealogical information on Zephaniah Webb and family; Personal Correspondence, 1992; Webb Family, Webb File; privately held by Daniel Sample, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Stafford, Texas.

 

52 Ancestors-# 1-Charles McFadden

Blogger Amy Johnson Crow has created a challenge, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Each week the object is to post about a specific ancestor.

Since I started this blog to work on my writing this seems like the perfect motivator for me to get moving on it again.  I will also try to include any citations with the names of living people removed.

Charles "Charlie" McFadden (1891-1900)

One of the family mysteries I am currently working on is Charles McFadden and the circumstances of his death.  According to a letter(1) from my Uncle Daniel McFadden (1900-1996) Charles was born on 14 April 1891 in Roscoe, Washington County, Pennsylvania and died on 20 December 1900 also in Roscoe.

According to a letter(2) from my cousin Kay, who worked on the McFadden family in the 80s and 90s no one in the family who was still living had any memory him.  Edward, a year older and Minnie, a year younger would have known him but if they did remember him they never talked about it to anyone else. 

Also, a neighbor and playmate of the McFadden children, who Kay was fortunate enough to interview, also had no recollection of Charles.  Other McFadden children who died young were openly talked about among the family, but Charles was completely left out of the family history.

Charles does appear on the 1900 census (3), but to date no other records have been located.    

My main focus right now is to locate a newspaper notice/obituary, death certificate or possibly a funeral home or burial record.   

(1)Daniel McFadden, Wheeling, West Virginia, to (M.M.), letter, 7 March 1978, providing genealogical information on the McFadden family.  Source of information unknown; Personal Correspondence, 1978.  McFadden Family, McFadden File; privately held by Daniel Sample, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Stafford, Texas.

(2) (Cousin Kay) *, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, to (E.S.), letter, 2 January 1997, sharing unsourced and uncited genealogical information on Dennis McFadden; Personal Correspondence, 1997; McFadden Family, McFadden File; privately held by Daniel Sample, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Stafford, Texas.

(3) 1860 U.S. census, Vinton County, Ohio, population schedule, Clinton Township, p. 63 (penned), dwelling 453, family 441, Dennis McFadden; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 February 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm publication M635 roll 1046.

Treasure Chest Thursday-Chess Stand



I don't recall how I ended up with this chess stand but it has been with me for at least the last twenty years or so.

I remember this stand being in my grandparent's house (Clyde and Ruth Webb) either in the living room or perhaps her bedroom.  I don't ever recall seeing a chess set or other similar type game on it.  There may have been a plant on it at one time but I can't be sure and of the few pictures I have of the inside of my grandparent's house, the stand doesn't make an appearance.  I have no idea how old it is or where it came from, but I have always liked it.

My wife has a lot of board games and included among them was a glass chess set.  It took a long time but I managed to put the two together.  And now I have a major sense of accomplishment.