Through Her Eyes Thursday: 1918 Spanish Flu Hits Home

As you delve into your genealogy, you discover that historical events were more than just names and dates in your textbook. They were real events that impacted the lives of real people.

Most of us encounter this fact when we look back at our ancestors going off to war, living through the Depression and more. 

However, most of us do not think of a global pandemic affecting our families. For my Hillman ancestors, the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic was much more than a news headline.

This family photo was taken around the turn of the century, based on the age of baby Edna. My great-grandmother, Carrie, is surrounded by her siblings and parents.

Her younger sister, Lillian Moore Hillman, is a cute little 7 year old sitting at her mother's feet.

Thomas J. and Anna (Moore) Hillman.
Children (Clockwise from top left): Grace,
Carrie, Edna, Lillian, Maude, George

The years pass, and Lillian meets a handsome man by the name of John Anthony Maffey. Their thoughts turn to love, and they soon decide to get married.

John A. Maffey and Lillian M. Hillman

On December 22nd, 1917, the two marry in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. John is 28, and Lillian is 27 years old.

Marriage License for John A.
Maffey & Lillian M. Hillman

With Lillian's brother, George, overseas in Europe as part of the Rainbow Division in World War I, I am sure the newlyweds followed the headlines in the newspaper.

But, I do wonder if they looked past the war news, and caught the beginnings of what would later be known as the Spanish Flu.

According to Wikipedia, the 1918 influenza pandemic began in January 1918,  only a month after John and Lillian married. 

In those first months of marriage, I'm sure they paid more attention to each other than to the world around them. Lillian left her job as a clerk, and took care of their home. John continued working as a motorman in Cincinnati.

Tragically, the world news would come crashing into their world in the month of October 1918. Lillian was seen by a doctor at General Hospital in Cincinnati on October 16th, and by October 17th she died of broncho-pneumonia following influenza, according to her death certificate.

A short ten months after becoming man and wife, Lillian's life is tragically cut short and John is left a widow.

My great-grandmother and her siblings lost a sister, and their parents lost a daughter.

A life cut short, our family never had the chance to meet this beautiful lady.

Now that I've shared my story of my great-grand aunt, Lillian Moore Hillman Maffey ~ 

Has the Spanish Flu touched your family history? Do you have a story to tell?

Through Her Eyes Thursday~Elizabeth Weaver Sparks

First in a new Thursday Genealogy Prompt

This is the first in a new genealogy blogging prompt called Through Her Eyes Thursday. 

In the past, the history books rarely, if ever, mentioned women. The census didn't even give them their names until 1850. In any newspaper articles or the like, their names where always listed as ~Mrs. John Doe~ never as Anne Doe.

So, to bring the attention to where it rightly deserves, many bloggers have chosen to join me to shine a light on their stories.

I begin by sharing my story of Elizabeth Weaver Sparks

Elizabeth (Weaver) Sparks
Photo courtesy of http://sparksfamilyassn.org/

Elizabeth Weaver was born a few years before the Revolutionary War on December 1st, 1772  in New Holland, Lancaster County, British Colonial America. She was raised in the Mennonite religion, as her maternal 2x-great grandfather, Hans Herr, is rumored to have been the first Mennonite Bishop in Colonial America. Her paternal grandfather, George Weaver, along with two of his brothers, received land from William Penn himself.

The daughter of George Weaver and Frances Brechbuhl (Brackbill, Brachbuhl) was raised in Lancaster County until her father's death. Elizabeth was around the age of 10 or 11 at the time of his death. Her mother moved the family to Virginia, and continued raising them in the Mennonite religion.

Elizabeth Charts Her Own Path

According to her obituary in The Western Christian Advocate, Elizabeth and three other women, decided to go listen to a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. Their minds were all turned by what they heard; and they became baptized at the following month's meeting.

Elizabeth Weaver's heart was also turned by him. On August 8, 1793, she married that circuit-riding preacher by the name of Elijah Sparks.

A Family of Her Own

Her oldest child, Hamlet Sparks, is born ca. 1796. He is her only child to be born in Virginia.

With a move to Kentucky in 1798, Elijah started practicing law and they had two more children: Norval (1800) & Eliza Ann (1803) In 1806, they moved across the Ohio River to Dearborn County, Indiana Territory, where Elizabeth's two brothers were already living. Here, Elizabeth would give birth to three more children: Green (1808), Helen (1812) and America Columbia (ca. 1814-15).

By 1814, Elizabeth was raising six children. Her husband had just become Judge  of the Third Circuit Court of the Indiana Territory. He would have travelled quite extensively in this position due to the sparsely-populated area.

On Her Own

On a trip back east, Elijah passed away on April 30, 1815. The children were ages 3-19 at his death. Elizabeth's mother had moved out to the area, and her brothers also lived nearby. Although she was now a widow with young children at home, she had family nearby to be able to lean on for support.

The obituary in the Western Christian Advocate mentions that Elizabeth never married again, and turned her attention to her church. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lawrenceburg for 58 years.

Hamline United Methodist Church
Lawrenceburg, IN
(Source: Wikipedia)

Her last years

For a woman that was born before the Revolutionary War, it is amazing that I have a photo of Elizabeth. However, it is just as amazing to be able to report that a 91-year-old Elizabeth did her part during the Civil War by assisting in making clothes for the Union soldiers.

A year later would find Elizabeth on her deathbed. The church being so important to Elizabeth, I would like to include a quote from her obituary. "She never failed to do her part in paying her pastor's salary. On her death-bed she gave him some money, stating at the same time she would not likely live to see the next ensuing quarterly meeting."

Elizabeth (Weaver) Sparks died on March 13, 1864 in the home of her son, Hamlet, in Moores Hill, Dearborn County, Indiana.

Sources:

• The Western Christian Advocate; Methodist publication. [Issue dated 3 January 1866, p. 6, Col. 1]

• http://sparksfamilyassn.org/

Always Learning...Even in Surprising Ways!

I love learning anything I can regarding genealogy, family history, and history in general. There are many times that I can be seen leaving the library where I work with some genealogy books or a Family Tree magazine.

Here are my latest finds!

But, sometimes, the learning happens when you least expect it!

We had just recently gotten all four seasons of Finding Your Roots on DVD at my library, and my husband and I were watching a few episodes a night.

I don't know how many times I had to pause the DVD to right down a source I wanted to remember!

Also, I would be watching an episode, and realize the celebrity's ancestor would have something in common with my ancestors! For example, Bryant Gumbel's German ancestor had sailed to America from Hamburg on the Germania? So did my 2x- great grandfather, Henry (Henri, Heinrich) Haessig!

And, of course, the researcher in me has to always go and look up what I can on the Germania! Below, is a description I found on theshipslist.com that tells a little more about this passenger ship:  

"GERMANIA 1870 
Built in 1870 by Caird & Co, Greenock for the Hamburg America Line, the GERMANIA was a 2,876 gross ton ship, length 330ft x beam 39ft, straight stem, one funnel, two masts(rigged for sail), iron construction, single screw and a speed of 11 knots. There was accommodation for 150-1st, 70-2nd and 150-3rd class passengers. Launched on 24/12/1870, for the New Orleans service, but made her maiden voyage from Hamburg to New York on 4/5/1871. She commenced her fourth and last voyage on this service on 26/10/1872. She was chartered to the Hamburg South America Line in 1876 and was wrecked at Bahia, Brazil on 10/8/1876. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.1,p.390]"

A week or so ago, I had started reading this book just because it had sounded like a good book I would enjoy. It is part house history and part family history. I was not wrong; it is a good book that I am enjoying immensely.

But, again, I am learning so much about German history, and more specifically, Berlin's history. It covers almost 100 years from World War II and the Berlin Wall through to the present.

DAR Patriot Index &
1820 Federal Census for Indiana

And last, but not least, a local library was discarding these two gems and I was able to snag them for myself. I did check my library's shelves first to make sure we owned them already!

I have only had a chance to glance through the DAR book to ensure my known Patriot (Daniel Pearce/Pierce) was in there. He was!

But, it was the 1820 Census book that had really caught my attention. Even though everyone but Adam is only represented by a a number in a column, it still told gave me another little piece of their story.

My 4x-great grandparents, Adam and Judith (Smith) Moore, had travelled from Maryland to southeastern Indiana in 1818.  The census was taken only two years later in 1820. The fact that they had 5 children 10 years old or younger means that they had to have travelled with at least three to all five of these young children, along with a few older children.

Traveling, across the Cumberland Road until they reached the Ohio River. And then, down the Ohio River to just past Cincinnati...with all these children, mostly 10 or under! 

Just Wow!! 

Also, there were a lot more Moores in Dearborn County in 1820 than I ever realized. ADAM was the one that started the little town of Moores Hill in Dearborn County. How many other family members had travelled with him?

Since I know nothing of his family in Maryland, this might help break down a brick wall or two?

All this learning that happened accidentally is in addition to my research into DNA. I have been tested by 23andme.com and have found cousins through GEDmatch.com, but still don't understand it all very well. 

So, this book is going to teach me all I need, right?

I have heard from several reliable sources that Blaine Bettinger is not only one of the most knowledgeable onmy the subject of DNA, but he makes it much easier to understand.

So, tell me, what are you learning these days, purposefully or accidentally?

My Entry in the Tenth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge

An interesting feature of small town newspapers is the sense of humor that tends to get injected into the stories.

Add to that the "everyone knows everyone" factor usually involved, and this can make for some very interesting reading!

The town of Moores Hill, Indiana is a small town founded by my 4th-great grandfather, Adam Moore.  Adam, and his wife, Judith, had several children. Two of his sons were John C. Moore and my 3rd-great grandfather, Levin Smith Moore.

I am still doing some research into these two families, but I do know a few facts already.  I have seen several records that list Indiana Ruth Dowden as the wife of John C. Moore. Also, I know that Levin was married to a Dowden, before his marriage to my ancestor, Mary R. Sparks. I have not discovered yet how the two Dowdens were related. They might have been sisters or cousins, I am still researching this.

I found this short poem in a book entitled Cotton's Keepsake: Poems on Various Subjects. The author/poet wrote on several topics in various forms, but he had a chapter that he titled "Hymeneal Punnings".

Title page of Cotton's Keepsakes

               

Andrew Johnson Cotton

According to the book, Alfred J. Cotton was both a preacher and a judge. With these two occupations in a small town, I am sure that his name was on many of the marriage records!  In fact, he is listed as the justice of the peace on Levin & Mary Ann's marriage records.

This paragraph, found at the beginning of the chapter, sums up how these "punnings" were a regular part of the marriage process in Moores Hill!

             ~ "Judge Cotton, of Dearborn County, Indiana, has for many years enjoyed a very liberal hymeneal patronage. The young people flock to him to be joined in one, and he does the business with a grace and ease that does honor to him. After it is over, he writes out the marriage notice and sends to the paper for publication, often appending very happy remarks."  (p. 131) ~

Below, you will find the "punning" remarks that he had to say regarding the Moore brothers, and the Dowden ladies:

       JOHN C. MOORE AND RUTH DOWDEN, LEVIN S. MOORE AND
     MARY ANN DOWDEN.

         These fair young ladies, full well I know,
                Had goods and cash in store,
         In great abundance one would think,
                but still they wanted MOORE.

          Well, more they got, I know that, too, but still as 'twas
                before---
           They were unhappy all the time unless they could have
                MOORE.
           My saucy muse now I don't choose to hear "one single word
                more"
           If you don't mind, right soon you'll find yourself kicked out
                     the door.    (p. 141)


In conclusion, I have to say that this poem might mean just a chuckle or two to other people. But for the descendants of Adam Moore's sons, this is quite a treasure! In fact, I think that this poem, matted and framed might just make a nice Christmas present.

What do you think?

Source:

Cotton, Alfred Johnson. Cotton's Keepsake: Poems on Various Subjects. Applegate & Co., 1858.

http://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/

Blacksmithing ~ A Lost Art

I am aware that I am getting this post about an old occupation in a little late for Labor Day, but at least it is still in the month of September.

I recently rediscovered this article from the Herald-Tribune, the local paper for the Batesville, Indiana area.  Although, I could not find a specific date that it was published, I can say that it is somewhere in the year 1964.

George Washington Hillman is my great-grandmother's brother. I never knew him, because he passed away before I was born. After reading this article, I really wish that I had gotten the chance to meet him!

He was the only brother to several sisters.  As my great-grandmother recieved training in a typical female occupation at the time, teaching; her brother also recieved training in a typically male profession.  

He learned the trade of blacksmithing as a young man of 20, and worked for the next four years, in Moores Hill, Indiana.  When the United States entered World War I, he did not abandon his occupation.

He joined the U.S. Army as part of the Rainbow Division, where they put his blacksmithing skills to good use. He not only shod horses himself for the cavalry, but he was also a supervisor of four other men.

Returning home from the war, he didn't break stride in his chosen career path. Although, within a 20 year time period, he moved his shop from Moores Hill, to Sunman, and finally to Negangard's Corner, he never stopped blacksmithing.

Through the 1920-30's, shoeing horses was the main income in his blacksmithing shop. However, there were still wagon wheels to be repaired, and tools and plowshares to be sharpened.

He spent many years in the 1940's at some of the major racetracks in the U.S. Not for the betting, but for shoeing horses.  Although it was the same work that he had been doing for decades, racehorses provided a new challenge to him.  Racehorses and workhorses both put a lot of wear on the shoes, but in completely different ways.

When this article was written, Uncle George was already 71 years old.  He estimated that he had shod about 100 animals in the previous year.

My husband has taken up learning the art of blacksmithing, and I think he would have really enjoyed meeting my great-uncle George, also.  I could just see them now, sitting and talking about the tricks of the trade!

Those Darn County Lines!

Great-great Grandpa Thomas Hillman

Location, location, location!

They always tell us how important it is, but it takes on a whole new meaning to genealogists.

All my life, I knew that my great-grandmother, Carrie, grew up in Moores Hill, Indiana. It is a little town on the west side of Dearborn County.

But, It was very perplexing to me that it was hard to find Carrie, and her family, on census records.

So, I decided to put my sleigh cap on, and do some detective work.

I started with the most recent census records that I could find under her parents' names, Thomas and Anna Hillman. So, I began with the 1920 census. I found them almost immediately within the town of Moores Hill.

This was an excellent beginning, but I knew it was only the beginning.  Thomas and Anna were much older. Carrie and most of her siblings were married, or at the least, already adults. I still understood that she had grown up in Moores Hill.

So, onwards to 1910.

Nowhere to be found in Dearborn County. I then decided to leave the county off of the search filters.

Bingo!! Found them...But right over the county line in Ripley County. Not only that, but I also found him there in 1900, 1870 and 1860.

Which means...? The most exciting part for me...

Breaking through a brick wall that has been there forever. I had a first name with a question mark for his father's name. Now, I had mother, father and brothers.

Moral of this story...If you have a brick wall, you might want to look in the neighboring areas. In some places, just living across the road could mean that you live in a different county as your neighbor.

The Hillmans of Moores Hill

Thomas J. and Anna (Moore) Hillman. Children (Clockwise from top left): Grace, Carrie, Edna, Lillian, Maude, George

     Can any of you name the family that most interested you when you started your journey into family history?  I can.  I was eleven years old and had just finished watching the "Roots" miniseries on TV.  I became fascinated with this idea of finding out more about my family tree, also.

     I was luckier than some, when I began my search.  I not only still had my two grandmothers, but I was blessed to also still have one of my great-grandmothers to visit.  She can be found as a young woman behind her mother in the above picture.

     Carrie's daughter (my paternal grandmother) also wrote names and dates in the family Bible, going back to her grandparents. She also did the same for my grandfather's family.

     Judging from the age of the children, this picture was taken near the turn of the century. I am also in the possession of a large photo of Thomas and Anna in an original frame taken approximately around 1880 or so.  These are treasures that I am so blessed to have.

    I love having the photographs, but I wanted to learn so much more about these people than just names and dates.  Great-grandma Carrie's sister, Maude, was still alive when I was eleven, and I actually have a picture somewhere of Carrie and Maude at our family reunion in 1977 or '78.  But, I haven't learned much about Maude yet. Or Edna and Grace.

     The only boy, George, had a career as a blacksmith well into the 1960's.  He also served in World War I in the Rainbow Division.

     Lillian, sitting on the ground in front of her mother, was not fortunate enough to have a long life, as were her siblings.  She grew into a young woman, fell in love, and got married.  However, according to her death certificate, she was a victim of the flu epidemic that gripped the nation around the time of the war. She died within a year or two of her wedding date.

     I have not learned much about Thomas Hillman's family, but Anna Moore has quite a few interesting ancestors and relatives. Her family's story includes an Indiana governor, a territorial judge, the founding of a small town and college, Mennonites, Methodists and the migration from Maryland and Virginia. I told you a little about the migration of Adam Moore in a previous post.

     So, I can tell you without a doubt when, and with what great-grandparent, my journey began. But, as you all know too well, the journey will never end! I hope you enjoyed getting to know my great-grandmother's family. I look forward to telling you more about Anna's family soon.

Are We There Yet?

Old Canal Boat in Metamora, Indiana

     We are absolutely spoiled!!  In this day and age, we can be across the country in just a few hours (~ if you don't count sitting in airports on layovers!  LOL) and across the pond to London in 1/2 a day.

     When most of us start looking up the old family tree, we usually just want to start getting names and dates on paper.  But after a while, you really start getting interested in their stories. What made them leave the old country?  How did they get to America? What would make you leave your home in Maryland, and start over in a brand new state named Indiana?  How did you get here?

     This last question has crossed my mind lately as I research several of my lines.  I have traced them back to Maryland, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania and other points along the Atlantic Coast.  My husband is lucky enough to have a journal in his possession that his ancestor wrote from his life in Denmark all the way through his trek across the country to Utah in the 1830's.  So, he has written proof in the trials and tribulations of cross-country travel in pioneer times.

     I have found no such diary or accounts of how many of my ancestors settled in the Midwest.  So, the next best thing that I could do is just plain research on how most of these areas were settled. For example, I discovered that the National Road was completed from Maryland to Wheeling, West Virginia in the year 1818.  This is the exact year that my ancestor, Adam Moore, left Maryland and arrived in Indiana.  Wheeling is set along the Ohio River, which then runs all the way to the Mississippi River.  Adam could easily have taken the National Road to Wheeling, where he then traveled on the Ohio River with his family to Lawrenceburg, Indiana.  Just a few more miles down the road and he was able to settle the town that still bears his name, Moores Hill.

     So, I ask you...how did your family get settled where they did?  Conestoga wagon, canal boat, railroad, river travel...or a combination of all of these?  We all have stories...what is yours?  I would love to hear your family's story!!!

 

History...Up in Smoke

     "The executors of the Moore estate sold the furnishings and other contents of the old house to an antique dealer.  What he left was swept out into the yard and burned--a tragic loss."

     The above words are taken out of a book about Moores Hill College in Moores Hill, Indiana.  John C. Moore, the founder of the college, was a brother to my ancestor, Levin S. Moore.  Which means that they shared the same mother and father.

      Reading this sentence on the page above made me just about cry.  The parents that they shared, Adam and Judith Moore, travelled from Maryland to Indiana in 1818 and settled the town that bares their name.  I have read in other books that Adam was a well-read man and had a large library of books he would share with his friends and neighbors.

     This tells me that John, I am sure, probably had a large collection of his father's books.  He might have even had a journal or personal writings of his father.  To read that much of it was "swept out into the yard and burned"- just makes me burn!!!

     I would love to go back in time and prevent that craziness!  The sad thing is that this was probably fairly common and I am sure that many of you have probably faced something like this also. 

     Do any of you have stories like this that just make you wanna cry?  Tell them to the rest of us...maybe we can have one gigantic cryfest and get it out of our system.  Seriously, I would love to hear if you have stories like this also.