Mystery #18: Will the real Phillip Babb please stand up!

Phillip Babb is one of my early ancestors in the New World. He emigrated from England before 1652. In that year, he was made a freeman in Massachusetts. (Massachusetts Applications of Freemen, 1630-91) 

It is reported that he later moved to York, Maine. (Maine Pioneers, 1623-60)

He then settled on the island Appledore, Isles of Shoals, located at the border between Maine and New Hampshire. My ancestor Sampson was apparently born there in 1668.

A problem arises when most of the researchers of this family decided that the Phillip Babb, son of Phillip and Mary, baptized in Stepney on 6 April 1634 was the Phillip that emigrated to the Colonies.
(London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Dunstan and All Saints, Register of baptisms, Sep 1608 - Jan 1637/8, P93/DUN, Item 256.) 

This in itself should have raised some concern. That Phillip would have been 18 years old in 1652. Freedom was not granted until a man was at least 21 years old.

The other, more serious problem with choosing this individual is that Phillip, the son of Phillip and Mary, died and was buried on 15 November 1640. (London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Dunstan and All Saints, Register of burials, Jun 1622 - Nov 1644, P93/DUN, Item 277.)

So, where did our Phillip Babb come from? Who were his parents? Hopefully, further research will locate a baptismal record for this "mystery man.".

Mystery # 17: Three fathers, two mothers and two birth years?

During the past year, I have been researching a person of interest named Dr. Francis Albert Reed. According to two marriage records and a biography, Francis was born in Hartford, Connecticut on March 28,1863 (or 1867), son of Calvin Reed and Mary (or Katherine) Ward. A third marriage record indicated birth in New York State with his father being Joseph Reed (mother Mary Ward).

Francis does not appear in any census record until 1900, when he was living and practicing medicine in Burton, Geauga, Ohio, near Cleveland. That census shows March 1863 as his birthdate and Connecticut as his birthplace (ancestry.com).

In the book, "History of Lake County" Dr. Reed is identified as born March 28, 1867, son of Albert E. and Mary A. Reed. His father is identified as a prominent physician in Hartford, Connecticut who bought property on the St. John's River, about 20 miles south of Jacksonville, Florida and built a "show place" winter estate there. Nothing has been found about such an estate. And, no such Dr. Reed could be found in census records in Connecticut or in Florida. The closest option was a John Reade, physician/clairvoyant in Hartford in the 1860 census (ancestry.com). According to the biography, Dr. Reed attended Leavenworth Institute and Hahnemann College. (Leavenworth Institute is located about 220 miles from Hartford, in Wolcott, New York near Lake Ontario.) His name was not found at two websites about that school. As for Hahnemann College, he is not listed as a graduate. Dr. Reed did indeed graduate from Cleveland Medical College in 1890 and was admitted to the Ohio Medical Society in that year.

So, where was Francis between 1863 and 1890? He is not enumerated in Connecticut or in New York State in 1870 or 1880 census records. One family story is that his father died and his mother remarried and that he left the home because he did not get along with his stepfather. But, who was his father? Was it Joseph, Calvin or Albert? It is likely that his mother's name was Mary, since three of the four documents agree there.

To be continued.

Louis Thomser of Goetzenbruck and Brooklyn

Louis Thumser was born in Goetzenbruck, Moselle on January 3, 1842, son of Jean and Marguerite Burgun Thumser. Jean was a miller in this glassmaking part of France. Jean's grandfather, Jean-Thomas, was a miller in Bohemia. Jean-Thomas and wife Anne-Marie Schneider, migrated to Werenfels, Bavaria, where Jean-Thomas became the town miller. Two sons were born there, Antoine and Willibald. In adulthood, both of the sons continued on to Moselle. Antoine settled in Siersthal and Willibald in Soucht.

In the glassmaking regions, you had to be a member of the family of a glassmaker enployed by that same company, to go into the business. Louis wanted very much to follow his godfather, Louis Reitz, into that profession. In order to do that, Louis had to leave Goetzenbruck and travel to New York. He traveled with an aunt and cousins. He arrived in New York in 1854 and moved in with his godfather who was already here and employed in a glass factory in Brooklyn. The family lived in the company tenement at 98 Meserole Street. Louis became an apprentice at the factory and, by 1860, he was a glass blower.

The Civil War cut short that career. He enlisted in the 68th New York Volunteers on 16 August 1861. The unit was also called the Cameron Rifles and the 2nd German Rifle Regiment. He rose through the ranks from private to lieutenant. He was injured in 1865 and later received a pension. By 1870, he was again working at the glass factory but now as a packer. He married a young woman named Appolonia Koferl, whose family also lived 1t 98 Meserole Street. The couple had two daughters and one son. The son died in infancy. Appolonia died in 1879, leaving Louis with two small daughters. He subsequently married Magdalena Zimmer and they had two children, a boy and a girl. He was still employed at the glass factory in 1880.

By the 1890s Louis Thomser was the president of the Ellsworth Social Circle. He and his family were then living on Scholes Street in Brooklyn. In a city directory, his occupation was listed as porter.

Louis died 4 September 1911.

The Reiss Story

Johann Everhard Reis was born around 1771 at an unknown location. Sometime before 1798, he arrived in Kreis Olpe, Westfalen, Prussia and became the tailor to the Duke of Ahausen. He met and married Anna Elisabeth Freithoff and settled into a converted bakery located behind the local church in Heggen bei Attendorn. During their time there, ten children were born, eight of whom survived into adulthood.

Johann Joseph Freithoff, the brother of Anna Elisabeth, was a noted copper engraver. He died around 1819 without issue and willed all his assets to his sister. With that money, Johann Everhard and Anna Elisabeth bought the Listernohl estate, which encompassed 36 acres. The main house on the property was u-shaped. One wing contained the living quarters. The opposite wing housed the local church. The middle section was for the livestock. The last two Reis children were born in Listernohl.

In 1836, one of the Reis siblings, Johann Bernhard Reis, emigrated to the United States. He is described as half-disabled (and therefore ineligible for military service). He was a druggist by trade. No American records have been found for him and it is believed that he may have returned to his homeland.

Franz Xaver Reis was born 17 December 1814 in Heggen. In his youth, he went to Koblenz to apprentice as a jeweler/watchmaker. During his time there, he met Elisabeth Ducro, daughter of Wendel and Elisabeth Glaad Ducro. Franz and Elisabeth were married 27 September 1838 in Heggen and settled in the neighboring town of Olpe where he started his jewelry business. Their son, Emmerich Josef was born in 1841. On 18 March 1846, Franz Xaver submitted a petition to emigrate to the United States with his wife and son.

During March 1846, Elisabeth Reis, a widow for about 20 years, sold most of the Listernohl estate, reserving a small lot for herself. It is believed that she used those funds to finance the transatlantic voyage. For an extended period of time, shipping records were not found. However, Franz (now known as Francis) was in Doggett's New York City Directory for 1849-50. Since Francis Reiss does not appear in earlier directories, it is not known where he was from 1846-1849. In 2005, an inquiry to a church in downtown Manhattan provided information about the baptism of a Reiss child named Adolphus in 1849.

A few years ago, a fellow researcher solved the mystery of the Reiss family entry into America. What a surprise! It was not just Franz, Elisabeth and Emmerich who entered the US. On that same ship, the Diadem, we find 13 people in the family unit, including Franz' mother, two younger brothers and their families, and a sister - all with anglicized names. They sailed from London in cabin class and arrived in New York City in August 1846. It can be surmised that the family group left Prussia by boat, going down the Rhine River to Rotterdam and then by ferry to England. They apparently stayed in London for a while before sailing. A story can be visualized: Anna Elisabeth telling the customs officials that the family was going to London for a vacation before Franz and his wife and son sailed to America.

Francis was a Lieutenant in the Cavalry during the Civil War, as a member of the troop protecting the Capitol and White House in Washington, DC. After the war, Captain Reiss commanded a National Guard unit.

There is still much to be learned about the early years of the Reiss family in the US and the history of the rest of the family.

Mystery #16: Winche's Children

On May 17, 1842 Winche Beagle, wife of John Beagle, submitted pension papers based on her late husband's service in the Revolutionary War. In that document Winche stated that she had given birth to ten children of which seven were still alive.

Eight of her children have been definitively identified through records: William, Moses, Mary, Catherina, Phebe, Sarah, Jemima and Samuel. It is probable that the two others, unnamed, died in infancy. Records have produced specific birth dates for all eight children. Marriage dates are known for all except Mary, Phebe and Sarah. However, death dates are known for only three of the children: Moses, Jemima and Samuel - and all of those deaths took place after 1842. Therefore, it is not yet known which of the eight surviving children had died before Winche. It is also unknown whether Mary, Phebe or Sarah every married and had families.

I hope that further research will provide the necessary data.

Mystery #15: Samuel Beagle

I have noticed many times that Samuel Beagle is left off the list of children of John and Winche Beagle. There are some good reasons for people to doubt that link: Samuel was born in 1807, 5 years after the birth of Jemima, the next older child. He has been identified as being born in Dutchess County, NY, not Schoharie County where four of his sisters were born between 1792 and 1802. The treatise “Section 1 - Early Begeal Family History,” author unknown, names Samuel as one of John and Winche Beagle’s children. The author sets Samuel’s birth as 30 November 1807 in Dutchess County, NY.

It is very difficult to make judgments about where people were living in those days since pre-1850 census only listed the name of the head of household and approximate ages of the residents - with no indication of the relationship of those residents to one another. For example, there are several John Beagles enumerated in New York State in the early years of our republic.

Revolutionary War Pension documents indicate that, because of John's advanced age and frailties, by 1820, Winche was living in Fishkill with her brother James (next to their father Derrick); and John was living with son Moses in Schoharie. It seems quite possible that both John and Winche and their family might have been in Dutchess County for some time between the years 1803-1820, enlisting the aid of Winche's close relatives.

Samuel's parentage had been something of a mystery. However, there is at least one document that firmly cements his place in the family. The Will of his mother, Winche Beagle, obtained from the Schoharie County Courthouse in August 2008, includes the following sentence:
"I give and bequeath all my clothing and wearing apparel to my beloved daughter in law Charlotte wife of Samuel Beagle which will be left at the day of my death."
Samuel is later found in the 1840 US census in Worcester, Otsego County, NY, enumerated next to Moses Beagle, his (much older) brother.

Therefore, Samuel Beagle is undoubtedly the son of John and Winche Beagle.

History of a House

During my formative years, I lived in an old house located at the corner of Conklin Avenue and Mary Street on the South Side of Binghamton, New York. The property consisted of two lots totaling about an acre of land. A house and a two story barn stood on that land. A search of Broome County deed records revealed an interesting history.

The area that became Binghamton was a part of a land patent deeded to William Bingham of Philadelphia in 1792. Bingham had extensive land holdings in northern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York. This land was first visited by troops of the Sullivan Expedition in 1779. The first settlers arrived in 1802 and the community was called Chenango Point, since it was situated around the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers. The last will and testament of William Bingham was probated on 17 September 1805 in Philadelphia. A William Stuart bought the property from the estate of William Bingham on 12 July 1826 (Liber 9, p. 464).

In 1834, this area was a village in the Town of Binghamton. There were several transactions in the deed book between 1836 and 1846. 

The first platting of the land took place in 1850. The property had been purchased by a man named Sackville Cox in 1849. He called the development Cox Place. According to the 1850 Census, Sackville Cox had been born in England and his wife, Mary in Ireland.

 Cox sold lots 6 and 8 to Henry Eldredge on 26 December 1849 who then tendered them to Hugh Hart on 30 September 1850. A subsequent land transfer took place in 1853, with the land going to William S. Beard. 

According to an old Binghamton map, there was no house on lots 6 or 8 in 1855. The earliest town directory, published in 1857, shows a Darwin Felter, a millwright, living there at the corner of South Water Street and Mary Street. Therefore, a house was built on the property sometime between 1855 and 1857. The land that my home stood on was identified as lot 6 of that plat. A two-story 3 stall barn was situated at the west edge of lot 8, facing Mary Street.

In the 1860 Census, Darwin Felter and his wife Sarah and children Nellie, Willie and Mary were enumerated at the corner of South Water Street and Mary Street.  In 1861, deed records indicate that Sarah Ann Felter bought the property from William S. Beard (Liber 58, p. 105).

Binghamton became a city in 1867. The Felters were enumerated at the site in the 1870 and 1880 censuses. Darwin Felter was identified as Superintendent of the City Water Works. In 1890, according to the city directory, the address had changed from South Water Street to Conklin Avenue. Darwin Felter was still living in the house in 1900, as shown in the 1900 census. In that census, his wife of 10 years was listed as Margaret. The house stayed in the family after Darwin's death. In 1910 and 1920, Nellie and her husband David Munro and her brother William were living at 30 Conklin Avenue. The Felter descendants owned the property until Nellie and William sold the property to Alexander S. Williamson on 28 November 1928. In 1936, according to the Binghamton City Directory, Charles Baker (non-owner) was living there. On 26 October 1936, Dr. Charles F. and Mary E. Hawley purchased the property (Liber 468, p. 298) from the Williamsons. Doctor Hawley establish his office on the first floor in the rear of the large house, with therest of the structure devoted to living space for the family, which consisted of Dr. and Mrs. Hawley and their infant daughter. This was the Hawley residence and Dr. Hawley's office for nineteen years. In 1955, the State of New York confiscated the house and land to build the State Street Bridge across the Susquehanna River, a sad end to the life of a beloved old house. 

Family legend has it that the house was a stop on the Underground Railway during the Civil War. However, no records have been found to verify that claim.