Pearce, Steffen & Sparks Families: 1 Reunion, 4 Cemeteries, 2 States

What is the best kind of vacation for a genealogist? 

A vacation that combines a visit with a good friend, meeting a newly-found cousin, a quite-altered family reunion and genealogically-related traipsing through four cemeteries in Iowa and Illinois...Priceless!!!

The Clam Man in
Muscatine, Iowa 

Reunion was next door to this
 house that had belonged to our
 great-great-great grandfather. 

 

 

Crossing Mississippi River
after meeting
newly- found cousin

                                              

It all started over a year ago, when I visited my cousins in northern Illinois for visits and to gather family history information. As I was talking to these cousins about some of our half-cousins, I realized they seemed very unsure of whom I was referring.

So, I started planning a Pearce family reunion for July 2020. Never had organized a family reunion from scratch before, but I felt confident in my abilities. I had this, I could do this!! I mean...what could go wrong?! 😀😉

We were all in for quite the surprise when COVID-19 altered life throughout the world. It stopped all of us in our tracks for several months, before we started to venture out again.

Although our crowd of 100+ had dwindled down to 9, we choose to go forward with the reunion, only with some changes. Masks, social distancing and hand sanitizer were now as much a part of the plan as the visiting and talk of family history.

After the reunion, we all paid
 respects to our Pearce ancestors
at the Pearce Cemetery,
Oswego, Illinois

The hubby and I spent the week before the reunion in Muscatine, Iowa, visiting a good friend of ours. Much time was spent along the Mississippi River, visiting local sites and cemeteries.

First cemetery was in Muscatine itself. I had no ancestors that had ever lived in Muscatine. However, I had recently discovered that my 4x-great grandfather's brother, Green Sparks, had moved to Muscatine at some point, and was buried there in the Greenwood Cemetery, along with his wife and two daughters.

Alas, this is one of those fruitless searches that turns up no stones or grave markers of any kind. The cemetery office has records that show they are buried here in this section, but we found nothing there. 

Greenwood Cemetery:  burial place of Green Sparks, Susan (Hunt) Sparks and two daughters.

A day trip up to Dubuque County to the small towns of New Vienna and Luxemburg where my maternal grandmother was born and raised. Some of her ancestors had arrived here in the 1830's, and her great-grandfather is actually mentioned in a Wikipedia article regarding St. Boniface Church in New Vienna, Iowa.

St. Boniface Catholic Church.
(Photo Credit: Eileen Moore)

If you would like to learn more about this church, I have provided the link here. However, below, you will find the section that mentions my 3rd great-grandfather, (Wilhelm) William Steffen, Sr.

"The church was 64 by 100 feet (30 m) with 22-foot (6.7 m)-high walls. A local resident, William Steffen Sr., was sent with two teams of horses to get three bells for the church. He arrived back in New Vienna just before Easter; the bells were raised in time to chime for the first time on Easter Sunday. This second structure was used until 1887."

The following three photos are three generations of my maternal grandmother, Mathilda (Steffen) Pearce, from her great-grandfather to her grandparents.

William Steffen, Sr., my
maternal grandmother's
 great-grandfather

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Her grandparents, Theodore &
Maria K. (Bonenkamp) Steffen

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And her parents, Frank W. and
Josephine (Schulte) Steffen

Within a five-mile radius, I was able to visit two cemeteries (St. Boniface Catholic Church and Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church) in two very small towns that was the final resting place of most of my grandmother's siblings, ancestors, cousins and extended family back to the first immigrants from Germany.

Without time to consult my family history papers for specific ancestors, I took photos of all headstones bearing the following surnames:  Steffen, Schulte, Trenkamp, Bohnenkamp and Sudmeier. As I sort through my photos and paperwork in the near future, I will certainly be including more posts about the Steffen line, I am sure.

As I thought about all of those ancestors I had just visited, it made me realize how much I missed two that were not to be found in either cemetery. My Grandma (Tilly) Pearce and her baby sister, Alice Morganegg. 

In her 20's, my grandma had left her home in Luxemburg, Iowa and traveled to Kendall County, Illinois...with Aunt Alice eventually finding her way there, also.

Why, and When? What made these two young ladies set out for northeastern Illinois in the 1930's or so? I have not discovered the answer to this question yet, but I have not given up just yet! Lol

The Steffen sisters: Catherine,
 Alice, Mathilda, Florence

Newly-found cousin and ancestors, Illinois and Iowa, a reunion and 4 cemeteries...and a relaxing visit with a good friend! All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better vacation!

The Elusive Ezekiel Pearce & His Sister, Nancy Pearce Sargent

In my most recent post, I started sharing a little about my Pearce side of the family, and the part these pioneers played in settling the small town of Oswego, in Kendall County, Illinois.

In today's post, I wanted to share a little information about two of Daniel Pearce's (Sr.) older children that did not travel to the Illinois area with the rest of the family....That I am aware of!

I have been transcribing a few pages at a time of a book titled "A Partial List of the Descendants of  Daniel Pearce, born 1760" written by Charles Gilbert Pearce, assisted by Bernice Adell Pearce, in 1934.

Since there are very few copies and I cannot find a digital version on the internet, I had decided to continue sharing some portions of it here to help fellow family historians, if I can.

(I highlighted my line in yellow. Also, I used bulleted/numbering systems, at times, for ease of reading. I am listing some basics on each of the children here from the book, and will continue following each of them in future posts.)
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel, Sr. - Born 1760. The early part of his life was spent in the vicinity of Elk Ridge Landing, Maryland. Daniel married Ann “Nancy” Ankers on 5 Feb. 1782 (Pierce as recorded in List of marriages, Baltimore County). The Ankers family came from Ireland, and “Nancy” was in born 1763.

Today, I will concentrate on the two oldest of Daniel and Nancy's children, and their families.

1.) Ezekiel was born in 1783, while the family stll resided in Maryland. Married Sally Provost. One daughter. Sally Pearce was born about 1807 in Virginia. Ezekiel died in 1808 in Virginia. No further record. (pp. 3, 8)

In this day and age of having everything at our fingertips, I would love to tell you that I have found more information on Ezekiel and Sally. I am a researcher by nature, and love solving a good mystery.

However, all my tried and true magic tricks for conjuring up ancestors have still brought me up empty-handed. If anyone finds more information on the elusive Ezekiel Pearce and his family, I would be eternally grateful!

2.) Nancy. Born 1785 in Maryland. Married Mr. Sargent. Two daughters. (p. 3).

On page 8 of our Descendants book, the author gives us only the information that Elizabeth Sargent married a Waller and had six children.

He then states that her sister, Sally Sargent, married a Davis and had five children.

On page 18, we are given a list of these eleven grandchildren of Nancy Pearce Sargent. With notes included from the book, they are as follows:

*Frances Ann Harbour

* Mary A. Waller

*Sarah J. Waller

*Luke Eldridge Waller

*Elijah Waller

*Elisha Waller

(Above six lived from about 1820 to 1890.)

*Colvin Davis

*Hulda Davis

*John Davis

*Tabitha Davis

*Elizabeth Davis

~ (Above five lived from about 1820 to 1890. Said to be cousins of Noah Davis.

A Noah Davis lived in Champaign County, Ohio, and a Judge, Noah Davis
presided at the trial of "Boss" Tweed, in New York) ~

As you will see when we move on to Ezekiel and Nancy's siblings, the author
of this book does a fairly thorough job of reporting what he know on each
generation. When he was given additional information at a later date, it was
added as an addendum.

So, the fact that Ezekiel's family ends with his immediate family and his
sister's family ends with her grandchildren leaves me puzzled. In addition,
the fact that I am having absolutely no luck in finding anything more leaves
me completely baffled.

** Stay tuned for more information about the Pearce family!

Sources:

Pearce, Charles Gilbert; assisted by Bernice Adell Pearce. A Partial List of the Descendants of  Daniel Pearce, born 1760. Compiled 1934.

Family Tree, Boxes and Blogs

The Family Tree 

What would possess someone into starting a family research blog when much of her research is still in boxes?  But possessed I must have been! 

Our neighbor, a military man, had just been assigned ‘somewhere else’ for the next 1-½ years.  Since his family was planning to join him, we were asked to farmsit/housesit for them. This was a win-win situation for us.  We had a comfortable house to live in, as we were getting prepared for our own house on our property.

The only negative was that most everything stayed in the boxes.  I was able to do a little downsizing; but overall, the boxes stayed packed. 

However, even with everything in boxes, I felt the need to start this blog. And, I am so glad that I did!

I have met a new cousin online, and learned new information from her about my great-grandfather.  Cousins that I have known my whole life, are asking questions and leaving comments about our shared ancestors.

And, all of this with most of my info still in boxes!! Lol  

Just wait until everything is unpacked soon, then we will be off and running!

Where to Find the Family Tree

One important thing that I wanted to pass on to all of my relatives today, is to let you know about my family tree being online.  I have started the tree on Familysearch.org, and have also added photos to my tree.  I am also slowly, but surely, making sure that I have added my sources, too.  By doing this, you will be able to find these records for our shared ancestors yourself, if you would ever need them.

If you are related (whether you want to admit it or not! ~ Lol), you are more than welcome to take a look. The tree starts with my mom and dad, so you can start your research there to see what else that I have.

Familysearch.org allows you to add relevant information to another person’s tree.  I have no problem with that, but I do ask for a favor.  When you add information to my family tree, please be sure to add the corresponding proof to it.  I would like for the tree to be as accurate as possible; and without primary sources, or even secondary ones, it can’t be used by others as well.  

So, if you can show the sources, please feel free to add.  But, as our math teachers always taught us, you need to show your work!

And I will be grading with my red pen, too!! If it is not obvious how someone belongs on our family tree, has no sources, or I have no way of contacting the person who added it...I will probably cut that branch of the tree.

If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to comment below or email me at mypassionroad@gmail.com.