52 Ancestors - Week 3 - Out of Place

 Out of Place

Inspired by Amy Johnson Crow - https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/

Page 1, Northern Nebraska Journal, March 7, 1912
published in Ponca, Dixon County, Nebraska

My ancestor went to Canada, apparently lost all his money, and got hauled back to Nebraska.

John probably suffered from dementia, and died several months after this incident, on November 19, 1912, at the state hospital in Norfolk, Nebraska. I've never found any evidence of the "investigation" mentioned in the article.

John Engel was born on November 20, 1831, in Trier, Trierer Stadtkreis, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. He married Magdalena "Lena" Gliedner on September 5, 1853, in Perl, Saarland, Germany.

In 1874, John and Lena made the trip to America with their seven children, on board the "Cybele."

They started farming in Dixon County, Nebraska, and became members of the South Creek Catholic church. 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 2 - Favorite Photo

 

My Favorite Photo

Original photo (from my collection)

Mary Jane Sumner Wilkins Chamberlain (center)

Sarah Ann Wilkins (left)

Alice Wilkins (on mom's lap)

Enhanced photo through MyHeritage

I've chosen this photograph of Mary Jane Sumner and her two daughters to be my favorite photograph in my collection of family photos. This picture was taken in about 1860, when Mary Jane lived in Poweshiek County, Iowa. 

I'll tell you a little bit more about Mary Jane later but first I want to talk about the photograph. It seems to show a beautiful young mother with a Mona Lisa smile and her two daughters, all in their best clothes, having a very special portrait taken - but look a little closer.

The little girl on the left, Sarah Wilkins, is blurry because she’s squirming, possibly on the verge of a full-blown tantrum. The little girl on Mom's lap, Alice Wilkins, is looking down. I think she's also squirming - look closely, you can see her mother is clenching those little hands on her lap.  I think Mary Jane wants to throttle those girls. Those details make this photograph so charming to me, seeing the evidence that those toddlers were wiggling impatiently, just the same as little girls now.

This photograph is also important to me because it’s one of the oldest in my collection, and one that started my family history journey. The scrapbooks containing these photos (and many others) were assembled by my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Otis Wickham Curry, who was the daughter of one of those little girls in the photo above. 

Mother in the photograph is Mary Jane Sumner Wilkins Chamberlain. She was born in 1839 in Marshall County, Illinois. Mary Jane is the daughter of James L. Sumner who was born in 1813 in Kentucky and Sarah Strain who was born about 1821 in Ohio.

In 1856 Mary Jane married Ezekiel Wilkins in Iowa. Mary Jane and Ezekiel had two daughters, seen in the photograph - Alice Wilkins was born in May of 1857 in Poweshiek County, Iowa, and her sister Sarah Ann Wilkins was born in December of 1858 in Iowa.

Sometime before 1862 Ezekiel died. I can't find any information about his death. In March of 1862, widowed Mary Jane married Robert Chamberlain in Iowa. Robert and Mary Jane had eight children, and remained married until his death in 1909.

Mary Jane Sumner Wilikins Chamberlain died in 1915, in Wynot, Cedar County, Nebraska.

Mary Jane Sumner Chamberlain, in about 1910

For more information on the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge, visit: https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52ancestors52weeks/

I'd like to meet Nacky Ford Green

 It's hard to decide which of my ancestors I would really like to meet most, but I think I'm going to choose Nacky Ford Green. I have so many questions for her!

Nacky was born in about 1839 in Tennessee. Nacky was the granddaughter of Lloyd Ford. Lloyd is famous (or infamous) for creating a will in the 1840s in Tennessee in which he left his entire estate to the enslaved people he owned. The family disputed the will but lost. I would ask Nacky if that's why the family moved to Kentucky in the 1850s.

In 1856 she married John M. Green in Monroe County, Kentucky.

In the 1860 census Nacky and John were living in Monroe County, Kentucky. They had three kids. Polly Green was born in 1857 and Charles Reeves Green was born in 1859. Rebecca Emeline Green came along in 1861.

Nacky's husband John volunteered for the Union Army in 1861 shortly after the beginning of the Civil War. On April 7th of 1862, John was shot at the Battle of Shiloh. Severely wounded, he was taken to Marine General Hospital in St Louis, Missouri, where he died of his wounds about 2 years later in February 1864. John is buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

I would love to know about Nacky’s experience in the Civil War. Did she stay home in Kentucky? Did she go to St Louis to be with John and stay in Missouri? By 1867 I know Nacky and her three children were living in Sullivan County, Missouri where she had family.

The censuses of 1870 and 1880 show that she stayed in Missouri, living in Milam with her sister Rebecca Ford. The 1883 Civil War pension census roll lists Nacky Green in Sullivan County. The only record I’ve found so far of Nacky’s death is probate records of Sullivan County, Missouri, dated April 1889.

Nacky's oldest daughter Polly Green married Andrew Helms in 1871. Yes, she was 13 years old. She lived in Missouri for the rest of her life, dying in Livingston County in 1922. Son Charles Reeves Green also stayed in Missouri for the rest of his life; he died in 1938 at the age of 79. I don't know what happened to daughter Rebecca. She is listed in the 1870 and 1880 censuses but I have no record of her marriage or life beyond 1880. I would ask Nacky about Rebecca also. 

Grandma Nacky, I have so many questions for you! The first one: Is Nacky your real name? Is it a variation on Nancy?

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! I was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow's program called "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks." Each week, Amy will provide prompts to encourage participants to share their family history. See more information here: https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/

The photo is of my great-grandmother, Alice May Curry Eastman (1904-1986). I grew up listening to her stories about northeast Nebraska when she was growing up. I'll share some of those stories here.