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.

Mystery #14: Richard Hincksman

The Hincksman/Henchman/Hinchman clan has been very difficult to nail down. As with John Hincksman, outlined previously, Richard Hincksman was a mariner. "The Register of Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam, 1661-1662" identifies Richard as an English mariner of Boston. On pages 212-213 of the document, Richard Hincksman bought the "Barcke Black Bird, from another mariner, Mathew Bunne, 5 October 1662. On page 215 of the book, 9 October 1662, Richard is again before Salomon Lachaire concerning payment for a large quantity of "Virginy" leaf tobacco from Cornelius Stenewyck, merchant. It is not currently known if this is the Richard Hinckesman of London, who was married to Hannah Newberry and the father of Daniel, John and Ann.
The name Richard Hincksman appears in other publications from this colonial period both in records from England and in New England (which, by the way, includes Long Island). No evidence has been found yet to indicate if this is two Richards or one.

Since Richard and John are both mariners from Boston and have ties to New York and Virginia, it is possible that they were related, perhaps Richard the father and John the son. It is also possible that they may have been the  John and Richard born to Edmund and Elizabeth Hinksman in Martley, Worcestershire in 1636 and 1638. Since Martley is land-locked, it is less likely that they would become mariners. It is of course possible that Richard is from a different family that has not been researched yet. The mystery continues.

Mystery #13 (Solved): Daniel Beagle's Father

Among the printed ancestral stories given to me by my mom, one states "Daniel Beagle (blacksmith)...born in Liberty (Cayuga County) New York probably between 1846-50....I don't remember his father's name, but do remember he was married 5-times and had extensive knowledge of Indian lore. He traded throughout the wilderness area of Northeastern New York." A variation of this story is that one of the five women was an Indian and that we are her descendants.

This is one of those family stories which could be true but is placed in the wrong time frame. Daniel Beagle's father was named John. John was born in 1815 in Schenectady County, New York, the first child of Moses and Sally Ann (Bice) Beagle. Moses was born in Albany County and Sally Ann in Dutchess County, both in New York State. The Moses Beagle family lived in Schoharie County from at least 1818 until the early to mid-1830s, when they moved to Worcester, Otsego County, NY.

On May 27, 1836, their eldest son John married Margaret Rifenburg of Worcester. The couple settled near Davenport, Delaware County, NY. According to Delaware County deed records, John purchased land in Davenport in 1841 from Gideon Wilbur. That was around the time that Harvey, their third child (second son), was born. Third son Daniel was also born there in 1843. Later in the 1840s the family lived in Jefferson, Schoharie County, while John plied his trade as a mason. They are enumerated in Jefferson in the 1850 census. Daughter Martha and son George were born during their stay in that county.

Around 1852, John and Margaret and their family moved to a farm located just outside the town of Walton (a section known as Ox Bow) in Delaware County. They lived there for the rest of their lives and are buried in the Walton Cemetery.

There is no evidence that John had any more than one wife or that he traded with the Indians. Both John and son Daniel served in the Civil War. Daniel became a carpenter and settled in Hancock, Delaware County, NY.

Stories such as this may give us clues to more distant history since there is sometimes a grain of truth hidden in there. The challenge is to find that "grain."

Mystery #12: Lazier (Lasure) Legends

Many years ago, Mom gave me her views on our ancestral lineages via paper and conversation. One page was labeled "the Leisur/LaSure Family." She stated that her mother said her father (Barney) "came to this country without shoes. His father James had nothing, wanted nothing, except escape from the wars and economic chaos of France. Mom stated that James, a widower, migrated from Normandy into Canada, possibly settling in Nova Scotia first before migrating to New Jersey around 1811 and that James was married twice." Further written family history claims that he was a Huguenot. Another family report stated that James, a brother Henry and sons Baronett and Catherine, all born in France, migrated between 1851 and 1853.

With extensive, still continuing research, the truth is emerging. The Huguenot migration from France took place much earlier, starting during the late 16th century and continuing into the early 18th century as French Calvinists fled persecution. They migrated to places throughout the western world that were friendly to emigrating Protestants.

"The Commemorative Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania," a 'mug' book published in the late 1890s, includes a biographical sketch of Baronett (Barney) Lasure. "Baronett J. Lasure was born September 27, 1840 in Sussex County, New Jersey, a son of Henry and Rachel (Shurt) Lasure, who were born, reared and married in that State. The paternal grandfather, James Lasure, was a native of France, and on his emigration to America located in New Jersey, where his death occurred. Besides the father of our subject, his children were Joseph, a resident of Owego, N.Y. and Jacob and Mrs. Eliza Talmage, both of New Jersey." The above statement appears to be mostly true.

In the 1830 US Census, James "Lasher" was between 50 and 60 years old, therefore born sometime between 1770 and 1780 (long after the Huguenot migration). In 1830 he was living in Vernon, Sussex County, New Jersey. He could not have been the immigrant. Some documentation has been found and is being examined that place James' birth in Bergen County, New Jersey. This proved to be a different James, who moved to Canada. Later evidence points to James being born in Hamburg, Sussex County, NJ.

James lived in Vernon until his death sometime before the 1850 census enumeration date. In that census record, his offspring were Joseph, Eliza, Henry and Jacob all born between 1807 and 1818 in New Jersey.

Unfortunately, James' tenure in Sussex County is difficult to verify since the 1790-1820 census records for New Jersey were destroyed. Later census records for his children show their births in New Jersey.

As one can see, there is usually some grain of truth in family stories. The challenge is to verify what is fact and what is legend.