Off on a genealogical hunt
I'm just getting started with blogging and already I've gone light. I'm in Binghamton NY this week, hunting for my ancestors (with limited online access - the local library has free wireless, but while at the hotel, I'm stuck with dialup).
I'm in the process of proving my line of descent to join Daughters of the American Revolution (actually, two lines - the son of one of the vets married the granddaughter of the other vet) and both of my Revolutionary War ancestors ended up in Broome County NY after the war. In fact, the son of one of the veterans founded Binghamton, so there is lots of family information at the Broome County Historical Society. From there, I found the cemetery where many Whitneys are buried, including Captain Joshua Whitney, late of the 9th Regiment of the Albany County militia during the war, who died September 26, 1793 after having been caught in the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia that summer. Ever wonder why the government takes a summer vacation? It goes back even further than 50 or so years ago when none of the buildings in Washington had air conditioning. Back when the capital was Philadelphia, they had a yellow fever epidemic every summer (no one knowing at that time that mosquitos carried the disease), so the government would adjourn for several months until the danger was past. And they talk about President Bush's five-week vacations! Back then, the government might be lucky to be in session for six months out of the year (long breaks also taking into account the fact that it took weeks to travel from point A to point B by horseback or carriage).
Also at the Broome County Historical Society, I found out the name of the cemetery where my Randall ancestors are buried (Jesse Randall, private in the Rhode Island militia, being my other Rev War veteran), Lisle Village Cemetery in Lisle NY. Visited that cemetery yesterday and found not only the graves of Jesse and his wife (Jesse having died in 1848 at the age of 94 and his wife Mercy in 1860 at the age of 88), but two of Jesse's sons, including my ancestor Allen (died in 1885 three days after his 85th birthday) and his wife Olive (granddaughter of Joshua Whitney mentioned above and only 67 when she died), and the grave of a Ruth Tyler who died in 1840 at the age of 91. Since she is buried in the Randall family plot and the age is about right, I think she's Jesse's mother-in-law, Ruth Fuller Jones (assuming she remarried after Mr. Jones died).
Yesterday afternoon, it was off to Norwich in Chenango County to visit the historical society there. Olive Randall's parents, William Guthrie, Jr. and Sarah Whitney, had lived in Bainbridge in Chenango County. I didn't find much at the Chenango County historical society, but I did find one little nugget of vital information - a 1930 DAR index of cemeteries in Chenango County that lists the burials of William Guthrie and Sarah Whitney in a cemetery in Bainbridge. Of course, this listing was 75 years ago, so the question became "Did this cemetery still exist?" Some searching online found a map showing the approximate location of the cemetery, but no street name was given. So I decided to drive through Bainbridge (which isn't that big) and see if I could stumble across it, much as I did with the Lisle Cemetery. I lucked out in that the cemetery was right on the highway leading into town. William (died 1813 at age 45) and Sarah (died 1859 at age 84) had a joint marker that was the largest in the cemetery and appeared to be in the best condition - as I was looking through the tombstones, I became concerned that I'd never pick out their graves as most of the stones had been worn smooth over the years!
I also found in Bainbridge the tavern that William Guthrie, Sr. established in 1793 - the first tavern in Chenango County. Unfortunately, it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I didn't get a chance to eat in the place built by my g-g-g-g-great grandfather (I don't know if that is actually the original building, but it is certainly done in the colonial style -so if it isn't the original, it's certainly a very good replica).
In my research, I've become facinated with Sarah Whitney Guthrie. When her husband died in 1813, she was left with 8 children, the youngest of whom was just six months old. She never remarried and is listed on subsequent censuses as the head of household. While a young widow (not yet 38) not remarrying might have been somewhat unusual in those days when the consensus seemed to be that a woman needed a man around, the circumstances weren't that unusual for Sarah.
In 1793, when she was just two months past her eighteenth birthday, she lost both of her parents within 40 days (mother Hannah on Aug 17 and father Joshua on Sept 26). Older brother Josh, Jr. (the founder of Binghamton) had just turned 20, was newly married, had a baby on the way and was busy taking over the business their father had been establishing (Joshua, Sr., in addition to being the first commissioned judge in what was then Tioga County, appears to have also been the area's first merchant - his trip to Philly when he took sick had been to trade cattle for merchandise to sell to the settlers back home). So it fell to Sarah to raise her 7 younger siblings, ranging in age from 2 to 15. As a result, she didn't marry until December 1799 at what would have then been considered the ripe old age (for a female, anyway) of 24 years, 6 months and 25 days. She seems to have been highly thought of within the Whitney family, several of her siblings naming children after her. I like the idea of a woman who knows how to do for herself and doesn't need a man to do it for her.
I'm in the process of proving my line of descent to join Daughters of the American Revolution (actually, two lines - the son of one of the vets married the granddaughter of the other vet) and both of my Revolutionary War ancestors ended up in Broome County NY after the war. In fact, the son of one of the veterans founded Binghamton, so there is lots of family information at the Broome County Historical Society. From there, I found the cemetery where many Whitneys are buried, including Captain Joshua Whitney, late of the 9th Regiment of the Albany County militia during the war, who died September 26, 1793 after having been caught in the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia that summer. Ever wonder why the government takes a summer vacation? It goes back even further than 50 or so years ago when none of the buildings in Washington had air conditioning. Back when the capital was Philadelphia, they had a yellow fever epidemic every summer (no one knowing at that time that mosquitos carried the disease), so the government would adjourn for several months until the danger was past. And they talk about President Bush's five-week vacations! Back then, the government might be lucky to be in session for six months out of the year (long breaks also taking into account the fact that it took weeks to travel from point A to point B by horseback or carriage).
Also at the Broome County Historical Society, I found out the name of the cemetery where my Randall ancestors are buried (Jesse Randall, private in the Rhode Island militia, being my other Rev War veteran), Lisle Village Cemetery in Lisle NY. Visited that cemetery yesterday and found not only the graves of Jesse and his wife (Jesse having died in 1848 at the age of 94 and his wife Mercy in 1860 at the age of 88), but two of Jesse's sons, including my ancestor Allen (died in 1885 three days after his 85th birthday) and his wife Olive (granddaughter of Joshua Whitney mentioned above and only 67 when she died), and the grave of a Ruth Tyler who died in 1840 at the age of 91. Since she is buried in the Randall family plot and the age is about right, I think she's Jesse's mother-in-law, Ruth Fuller Jones (assuming she remarried after Mr. Jones died).
Yesterday afternoon, it was off to Norwich in Chenango County to visit the historical society there. Olive Randall's parents, William Guthrie, Jr. and Sarah Whitney, had lived in Bainbridge in Chenango County. I didn't find much at the Chenango County historical society, but I did find one little nugget of vital information - a 1930 DAR index of cemeteries in Chenango County that lists the burials of William Guthrie and Sarah Whitney in a cemetery in Bainbridge. Of course, this listing was 75 years ago, so the question became "Did this cemetery still exist?" Some searching online found a map showing the approximate location of the cemetery, but no street name was given. So I decided to drive through Bainbridge (which isn't that big) and see if I could stumble across it, much as I did with the Lisle Cemetery. I lucked out in that the cemetery was right on the highway leading into town. William (died 1813 at age 45) and Sarah (died 1859 at age 84) had a joint marker that was the largest in the cemetery and appeared to be in the best condition - as I was looking through the tombstones, I became concerned that I'd never pick out their graves as most of the stones had been worn smooth over the years!
I also found in Bainbridge the tavern that William Guthrie, Sr. established in 1793 - the first tavern in Chenango County. Unfortunately, it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I didn't get a chance to eat in the place built by my g-g-g-g-great grandfather (I don't know if that is actually the original building, but it is certainly done in the colonial style -so if it isn't the original, it's certainly a very good replica).
In my research, I've become facinated with Sarah Whitney Guthrie. When her husband died in 1813, she was left with 8 children, the youngest of whom was just six months old. She never remarried and is listed on subsequent censuses as the head of household. While a young widow (not yet 38) not remarrying might have been somewhat unusual in those days when the consensus seemed to be that a woman needed a man around, the circumstances weren't that unusual for Sarah.
In 1793, when she was just two months past her eighteenth birthday, she lost both of her parents within 40 days (mother Hannah on Aug 17 and father Joshua on Sept 26). Older brother Josh, Jr. (the founder of Binghamton) had just turned 20, was newly married, had a baby on the way and was busy taking over the business their father had been establishing (Joshua, Sr., in addition to being the first commissioned judge in what was then Tioga County, appears to have also been the area's first merchant - his trip to Philly when he took sick had been to trade cattle for merchandise to sell to the settlers back home). So it fell to Sarah to raise her 7 younger siblings, ranging in age from 2 to 15. As a result, she didn't marry until December 1799 at what would have then been considered the ripe old age (for a female, anyway) of 24 years, 6 months and 25 days. She seems to have been highly thought of within the Whitney family, several of her siblings naming children after her. I like the idea of a woman who knows how to do for herself and doesn't need a man to do it for her.
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