Archive for the ‘family history’ Category
A little genealogy: where my ancestors once lived …
I am interested in the history of my family and I have decided to link that with my exercise program. I am again using my stationary bike to improve my fitness and using Street View (Google Earth) to travel virtually as I cycle. It is a great way to pass time and avoid getting bored with the cycle.
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I have chosen to ‘travel’ in Scotland since that is where one branch of my family comes from. In the mid-1800s, John Clark and Jane Cooper traveled with their children to Nova Scotia, Canada. They lived in the Insch (Aberdeenshire) area of Scotland and records say that Keig, south of Insch, is a possible birthplace of my three greats-grandfather in about 1799.
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Have a look at my wellness blog to find out more about my exploration of Keig, Scotland …
Enjoy your mini-tour of the roads where my ancestors may once have walked.
All my best,
Jane
final touches
So, after a month of organizing and sorting the poems in my ‘forty-years-of-writing bone pile,’ I have three illustrated books of poetry ready for the next step:
‘niche’ – poems about the spaces occupied by plants and animals, including humans, as they search for home. A good friend of mine has written the Foreword for ‘niche’ and I am looking forward to adding his name to the cover.
‘blueberries and mink: summers on my grandfather’s farm’ – poems about life on the farm and the changes over the years.
‘ghosts are lonely here’ – poems about abandoned buildings and other elements of the countryside.
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Now that I have everything sorted, I know I have more collections to work on, but this is enough for now. My computer is more organized than it has been in years..
The next step in the process is to request Proofs. Once I get these proofs, I will do one more round of edits and make a few final decisions on formatting. Then I will publish them, using KDP. I have no intention of marketing these. I will get enough copies for family and friends who would like to read them.
Requesting Proofs is tricky right now. Amazon has turned its efforts to making and shipping Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). I don’t mind being patient.
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Sample drawings from the three poetry books:
All my best
Staying in my bubble!
Jane
imagination
When I was little, I lived in Alberta, in a house built by my father and mother. At the back of the house was a veranda. Below the veranda was a big vegetable garden, full of corn and pumpkins and mint. At the end of the garden, was a power pole, used by my mother as a clothes pole.
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my mom and I in the garden … the clothes pole is in the far left of the photo, at the end of the garden
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On laundry day, my mother hung the wet clothing on a line stretching between the house and the pole. As she hung the laundry, I would play at the end of the garden, under my mother’s watchful eye.
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But I was not where she supposed me to be. Instead, I was off on some imaginary adventure. One place I would go — into the cave beneath the rocks around the base of the clothes pole. In my imagination, the cave led to a tunnel, running under the garden and weaving between roots of pumpkin and mint. I don’t remember what I ‘saw’ in the world I entered or any of the adventures I must have had. Imagination can take you anywhere!
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laundry day
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mint splashes, fresh
against the wall
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her mother pins
clothes to the line
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shirts dance towards
pole at the end
of the garden,
a pole covered
in pumpkin vine
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where a small girl
skips, turns her chin
towards blue sky
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where rainbow begins
and ends,
on the green hill,
entry to cave,
hidden from sun
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and the girl skips
slower, slower
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follows tunnel
under garden
between tendrils
of ripe pumpkin
and root of mint
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and above earth,
her mother pins
clothes to the line
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All my best,
Jane
Pokiok Falls

Pokiok Stream, about 2011
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On one of our family summer excursions across Canada, my parents stopped along the highway in New Brunswick to see the Pokiok Falls near Nackawick. I remember the white churn of water below me, so steep it looked like the water was falling into a pipe. In 1967 the Mactaquac Dam submerged the falls and now they are only a memory, visible on old post cards and in photo albums.
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For a fictionalized account of the changes resulting from the building of the Mactaquac Dam, read Riel Nason’s excellent coming-of-age book ‘The Town That Drowned‘ (Goose Land Editions, 2011).
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Pokiok Falls
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my mother held me at the railing
to see the Pokiok
plunge
from highway
to river
granite pipe
roiling water
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later, when the dam went in
they moved the churches
to higher ground
so the church bells
wouldn’t gurgle
when they rang
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now the river slips sideways a notch
to fill the round drowning of the falls
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water cannot fall within water
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I cried when I left
I hadn’t seen the pokioks
I said
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
time on the shore
On this Father’s Day, I remember times spent with my dad.
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When I was a kid, he would take us to the shore near Port Maitland, Nova Scotia, to look for chunks of iron pyrite (fool’s gold) in the rocks.
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time on the shore
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1.
spit of sand
grains in an hourglass
poured through gaps
in a cobble sea
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2.
waves advance
try to tangle me
wash me, turn me
like a sea-smooth stone
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but I know about tides
I move myself inland
each hour
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3.
he watched whales blow here
saw sea horses dance
filled his pockets with sea glass
pitied the sandpiper
sprinkling tracks the waves erase
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I hear the hiss of air
the echoing wail
small stallions prance on my toes
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I close my eyes
forget to move
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4.
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he takes us prospecting
we wedge into crevasses
keen for pyrite gold
cube within cube
embedded in stone
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we always forget the hammer
we chip and scratch with fingernails
reach across rock
dare the waves
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a sanderling cries
quit quit!
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6.
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shorebirds
befriend me
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a dowitcher sews a seam with her bill
bastes salt water to shore
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the sanderling shoos back the tide
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terns
plunge into the ocean
and complain they are wet
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Published as: ‘Time on the Shore’, Canadian Stories 16 (89), February/March 2013
Part of manuscript ‘mnemonic‘ winner of the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick 2016 Writing Competition
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
dancing around the daisy pole
Perhaps strange to talk about a Maypole in July but Maypoles have been used for summer celebrations throughout the years. In the old stereoscope photo below, published by a company in Meadville Pennsylvania and St. Louis Missouri, the Maypole is referred to as a Daisy Pole.
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A rather blurry scan of a stereoscopic photo, blurry because it is curved for the viewer. The title of the photo is ‘A June Carnival – Dancing Round the Daisy Pole’ 1900
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When my Aunt Jane was young, attending a small school in Nova Scotia, field days were held in June. In her book, she recalls participating in a field day:
… I was in grade 1 … we had a “field day”. My dress was made of blue and white crepe paper and, holding on to the end of a white paper streamer, I danced around a May pole. I remember my great embarrassment as a gust of wind took the streamer out of my hand and sent it high in the air to flutter in the breeze …
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The decorative Maypole we made years ago to celebrate May 1 every year. Through the years, when I needed ribbon, I occasionally snipped a length from the pole, so there are a few short ribbons!
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sketch for ‘dancing around the daisy pole’ … in some ways more lively than the final drawing
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Copyright Jane Tims 2016
early schools – the exotic and the common
In my Aunt’s book about early schooling in Nova Scotia, she tells an amusing story about field days at school:
… I recall another field day when Dr. DeWolfe, Miss Harris, and Miss Baker came with shrubs to our school. The shrubs were ten cents each. My mother had always longed for a weigela and a snowball and we were delighted that at last she could have her wish, for both these varieties were among Dr. DeWolf’s collection. They were duly planted at my home on the bank of the French River. One turned out to be a high bush cranberry and the other a spiraea, but today we still refer to them as the “snowball” and “weigela” and, I may mention, they have many an offspring throughout our province.
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I must have seen the high bush cranberry and spiraea many times at my mother’s old home, but I don’t remember them in particular. I do remember the gardens, lush with rose bushes, tiger lilies, and grape vines.
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Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
Norman Families Living in Missouri in 1870
In my search for my Great-Grandfather Frank Norman, I became interested in where Norman families were living in Missouri in 1860 and 1870. Frank was born around 1855, so it is likely his family was still in Missouri for the 1860 Census and may have been there in 1870. Locating all the Normans in Missouri also helped me be certain I have not missed any possible Frank Normans in my search.
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In a previous post, I located the Norman families living in Missouri in 1860 on an 1856 map. Today’s post shows the Norman families in Missouri in 1870. Each black dot represents one to three households living at that location in 1870. I have included the table of households at the end of this post, in case this information would help other Norman families in their genealogy searches. I have double-checked the information but please be aware, there may be households missing or incorrect. My next genealogy project is to map the Norman families in Missouri in 1880.
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In 1870, there were 148 households in Missouri with people having the surname Norman (in 1860, there were 92). Some of these were families, some with more than one generation in the household, some with as many as nine children. Some were young men or women living or working as servants or laborers with other families. Some were young children, living with foster families or in one case, in an orphanage (Lucy Norman, 12 years old).
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To see the change in the Norman families, compare the 1860 and 1870 map below. The numbers of Norman families have increased due to migration from other states, or because older children have established their own families. Some families or their members have migrated to the cities of Saint Louis or Kansas City.
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By comparing the family lists, the whereabouts of various families can be traced. For example, in Laclede County in 1860 there were two Norman families, including Moses and Betsy Norman who I think may be Frank’s parents. By 1870, this family is no longer in Laclede County or anywhere else in Missouri. Also, I know from other records that their son Benj has died. The other 1860 Norman family (Moses and Lucinda with eight other family members) is now represented by Lucinda and four other family members (Moses died in 1873, so it is unknown why he is not with the family at Census time). I can trace remnants and descendants of this family through to 1880 (Lucinda died in 1891). There are two other Norman families in Laclede County in 1870, Newton Norman and William Norman. Newton Norman is Lucinda’s son and has his own family. I do not know the relationship, if any, of William Norman to the Moses and Lucinda family.
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Six of the 1870 Norman families had sons named Francis/Frank. There is also a Frank L (born 1836) in St. Joseph, Buchanan County who is too old to be my Frank, and an ‘F. Norman of uncertain age in St, Louis. I think my ancestor was Francis M. Norman, son of Moses and Betsy Norman, living in Hooker, Laclede County in 1860. In 1870, he is 18 years old and if his parents have died, he could be anywhere. Sad sentence for a family historian!!!
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Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
Family Number (for my own reference) | Male (usually husband but also father or son) | Age | Female (usually wife but also mother or daughter) | Age | Number Other Normans in House-hold
(* son Francis) |
Township | County | Living with another family |
135 | Salina | 26 | Rochester | Andrew | Cook | |||
139 | Laura E. | 20 | Lincoln | Andrew | Jackson | |||
124 | Alexander | 16 | Nancy | 57 | 1 | Deer Creek | Bates | |
47 | Caleb | 37 | Josephine | 35 | 4 | Boone | Bates | |
110 | William | 29 | Julia | 19 | 2 | Capps Creek | Barry | |
80 | Marion | 24 | 1 | Fristoe | Benton | |||
7 | W. L. | 59 | Mary | 60 | 4 | Cedar | Boone | |
35 | James | 41 | Armina | 23 | 5 * | Cedar | Boone | |
138 | Maj | 21 | 2 | Cedar | Boone | |||
22 | Enos | 48 | Nancy | 47 | 6 * | Jackson | Buchanan | |
121 | Charlotte | 63 | Center | Buchanan | Smith | |||
41 | Charles | 39 | 4 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | |||
42 | John | 39 | Mary E. | 21 | 9 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | |
55 | Frank L. | 34 | Stacy J. | 26 | 2 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | |
68 | James | 30 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | ||||
69 | Jas | 30 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | ||||
115 | B.F. | 27 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | Thompson | |||
141 | Mary | 16 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | McClean | |||
144 | Josephine | 13 | St. Joseph | Buchanan | Cunningham | |||
32 | Smith | 44 | Hannah | 41 | Hamilton | Caldwell | ||
71 | Fayett | 29 | Elen | 26 | 4 | Warren | Camden | |
48 | Caleb | 33 | Josie | 26 | 4 | Dolan | Cass | |
9 | George W. | 57 | 5 | Cedar | Cedar | |||
131 | Hillina | 32 | 1 | Twnshp 53 | Chariton | |||
15 | Hiram | 52 | Juda | 52 | 4 | Polk | Christian | |
62 | William | 33 | Sarah | 30 | 3 | Polk | Christian | |
91 | William | 26 | Elisabeth | 22 | Wyaconda | Clark | ||
143 | Mary | 14 | Jackson | Clark | ||||
54 | A.M. | 34 | Fannie | 26 | Saline | Cooper | ||
113 | William | 28 | Eleanor | 20 | 1 | Greenfield | Dade | |
27 | Eldridge | 46 | Julia | 40 | 2 | Benton | Dallas | |
57 | William | 34 | Lucy | 30 | 8 * | Benton | Dallas | |
107 | Thomas | 21 | Adeline | 20 | Benton | Dallas | ||
24 | Joseph | 47 | Phoeba | 43 | 3 | Jefferson | Davies | |
117 | John F. | 27 | Sherman | Dekalb | Tenneson | |||
99 | James M.P. | 23 | Mary F. | 23 | Findley | Douglas | Ellison | |
31 | Henry | 44 | Emilie | 24 | Boles | Franklin | ||
72 | James T. | 11 | 1 | Miller | Gentry | Setzer | ||
82 | William J. | 23 | Miller | Gentry | Sutzer | |||
94 | Louis C. | 25 | Martha F. | 25 | 2 | Cooper | Gentry | |
16 | James | 52 | Sarah | 40 | 4 | Pond Creek | Greene | |
25 | William | 47 | Mary | 41 | 6 | Center | Greene | |
56 | Robert | 34 | Mary | 30 | 2 | Wilson | Greene | |
60 | Josiah | 33 | Sarah A. | 34 | 1 | Taylor | Greene | |
108 | Jesse | 29 | Susanna | 23 | Taylor | Greene | ||
123 | Daniel | 17 | Malinda | 58 | Taylor | Greene | ||
112 | Olon | 28 | Trenton | Grundy | Hansen | |||
147 | Hattie | 12 | Marion | Grundy | Johnson | |||
77 | Milton S. | 25 | Lewis | Holt | Prie | |||
88 | Andy | 20 | Richmond | Howard | Patterson | |||
2 | Thomas | 64 | 3 | Kansas City | Jackson | |||
45 | Thomas | 38 | Kansas City | Jackson | ||||
63 | Henry | 32 | Laura | 21 | Kansas City | Jackson | ||
95 | A.J. | 24 | Kansas City | Jackson | ||||
96 | Thomas | 64 | 3 | Kansas City | Jackson | |||
105 | James | 21 | Kansas City | Jackson | Madison | |||
118 | Joseph | 27 | Mary J. | 23 | 3 | Kansas City | Jackson | |
3 | Thron | 62 | Mary A. | 55 | 3 | Marion | Jasper | |
20 | Aaron Vanormond | 49 | Sarah | 44 | 4 | Benton | Knox | |
5 | Lucinda | 52 | 4 | Hooker | Laclede | |||
46 | William | 38 | Mary | 33 | 3 | Lebanon | Laclede | |
111 | Newton | 28 | Virginia A. | 35 | 3 | Hooker | Laclede | |
102 | Joseph | 22 | Buck Prairie | Lawrence | Cummings | |||
109 | Milford | 29 | Mary | 23 | 3 | Buck Prairie | Lawrence | |
132 | Amanda | 30 | 2 | Monticello | Lewis | Howard | ||
33 | William | 44 | Mary | 32 | Chillicothe | Livingston | ||
51 | Minnie | 12 | Chilicothe | Livingston | Reugger | |||
140 | Namie | 18 | Chillicothe | Livingston | ||||
142 | Basha | 15 | Chillicothe | Livingston | Bargdoll | |||
65 | Henry | 31 | Alice A. | 25 | 2 | Medicine | Livingston | |
129 | Elizabeth | 35 | 2 | Blue Mound | Livingston | |||
83 | George | 22 | Warren | Marion | Hanley | |||
134 | Nancy L. | 26 | Somerset | Mercer | Duree | |||
28 | J.B. | 45 | Rosan | 38 | 7 * | Pilot Grove | Moniteau | |
86 | James M. | 21 | Anna | 66 | Pilot Grove | Moniteau | ||
64 | J.W. | 32 | Mary J. | 31 | 2 | Willow Fork | Moniteau | |
92 | Joseph W.T. | 25 | Louisa A. | 20 | 2 | Clay | Monroe | |
122 | Eliza | 58 | Jackson | Monroe | Vaughn | |||
18 | Allen | 50 | Catherine | 40 | 4 | Danville | Montgomery | |
90 | Robert | 19 | Melissa | 23 | 1 | Danville | Montgomery | |
29 | William | 45 | Sarah | 35 | 6 | Mill Creek | Morgan | |
13 | Thomas M. | 53 | Julia A. | 37 | 5 | Oak Grove | Oregon | |
100 | John | 23 | Nancy | 25 | 1 | Oak Grove | Oregon | |
120 | George | 26 | Mary | 23 | 2 | Oak Grove | Oregon | |
127 | Hester | 49 | Oak Grove | Oregon | ||||
38 | M.G. | 40 | Mary | 38 | 6 | Piney | Oregon | |
11 | A. | 54 | Roda | 36 | Marion | Ozark | ||
67 | James | 30 | Bowling Green | Pettis | ||||
74 | Jas | 26 | Mary | 24 | 5 | Bowling Green | Pettis | |
75 | John D. | 26 | Calumet | Pike | Kissinger | |||
116 | C.N. | 27 | Carroll | Platte | Adams | |||
61 | Thomas F. | 33 | Mary | 28 | 4 | Madison | Polk | |
85 | William T. | 22 | Lucretia | 52 | 5 | Looney | Polk | |
1 | Stephen | 64 | Mary A. | 38 | 2 | Sherman | Putnam | |
43 | L.M. | 39 | Susan | 34 | 4 | Sherman | Putnam | |
101 | Eph | 22 | Sherman | Putnam | Neff | |||
14 | George | 52 | Eliza | 46 | 5 | Center | Ralls | |
73 | Harry | 17 | Margaret | 14 | 1 | Jasper | Ralls | Brasher |
79 | Johnithan | 24 | Saline | Ralls | ||||
81 | Thomas | 24 | Mary | 23 | 1 | Salt River | Ralls | |
78 | Jas B. | 24 | Sarah | 19 | Polk | Ray | ||
104 | Jack | 21 | E.D. | 45 | 2 | Current River | Ripley | |
26 | Albert | 46 | Mary | 39 | 6 | Fabius | Schuyler | |
37 | James | 40 | Hannah | 66 | 3 | Fabius | Schuyler | |
39 | Minor | 40 | Ellen | 34 | 5 | Fabius | Schuyler | |
50 | Doctor | 35 | Martha | 25 | 4 | Independence | Schuyler | |
6 | James | 60 | Kelso | Scott | ||||
128 | Caroline | 37 | 1 | Kelso | Scott | Hankerson | ||
23 | Charles W. | 47 | Mary E. | 41 | 4 | Moreland | Scott | |
53 | William | 35 | Diana | 45 | 2 * | Moreland | Scott | |
70 | John C. | 30 | Ann E. | 23 | 2 | Moreland | Scott | |
84 | Reuben | 22 | Harriet | 25 | 2 | Moreland | Scott | |
89 | James K. | 20 | Altha | 24 | Moreland | Scott | ||
145 | Mary L. | 13 | Commerce | Scott | Archer | |||
12 | Birkett | 54 | Carlonie | 54 | 3 | Tiger Fork | Shelby | |
40 | Thomas | 40 | Sally | 24 | 1 | Osceola | St. Clair | Barth |
8 | Daniel | 58 | Bonhomme | Sr. Louis | Campbell | |||
17 | John | 52 | Mary | 38 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||
19 | Pat | 50 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
21 | Daniel | 49 | Lucy | 39 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||
49 | David | 35 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
66 | F. | ?? | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
87 | Saml | 21 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
93 | Leslie R. | 25 | Mary | 26 | 1 (Eliz 49) | St. Louis | St. Louis | |
98 | Henry | 24 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
103 | Michael | 22 | St. Louis | St. Louis | Heinsey | |||
119 | Dennis | 26 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
126 | Lizzie | 50 | St. Louis | St. Louis | Washington | |||
133 | Angeline | 30 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
136 | N. | 25 | St. Louis | St. Louis | ||||
137 | Louisa | 22 | St. Louis | St. Louis | Nayler | |||
148 | Lucy | 12 | St. Louis | St. Louis | Winter Orphanage | |||
10 | Christ | 56 | Catherin | 56 | 3 | Ste. Genevieve | Ste. Genevieve | |
4 | William | 62 | Sarah | 38 | 2 | Castor | Stoddard | |
30 | Wm | 45 | Sarah | 38 | 8 | Castor | Stoddard | |
44 | Matthew J. | 38 | Christian | 35 | 6 | Castor | Stoddard | |
106 | Levi | 21 | Missouri | 21 | 3 | Castor | Stoddard | |
58 | Andrew | 36 | Martha | 34 | 6 | Liberty | Stoddard | |
36 | Eli | 40 | Eliz | 40 | 4 | Liberty | Stoddard | |
125 | Elizabeth | 42 | 3 | Liberty | Stoddard | |||
146 | Elizabeth | 42 | 3 | Liberty | Stoddard | |||
97 | Enos W. | 24 | Mary E. | 20 | 1 | Clay | Sullivan | |
59 | John A. | 33 | Margaret | 23 | 4 (Louisa 53) | Cass | Texas | |
34 | Alfred R. | 43 | Cornelia | 39 | 6 | Henry | Vernon | |
52 | Jacob F. | 35 | Eliza | 33 | 3 * | Henry | Vernon | |
76 | George | 25 | Nellie L. | 29 | 1 | Osage | Vernon | |
130 | Henry | 17 | Nancy | 33 | 3 | Warrenton | Warren | |
114 | W.S. | 28 | Sarah C. | 22 | 2 | Various | Wright | |