Matrilineal Monday: Mary Theresa Helbling McMurray
Helbling Family
Mary Helbling McMurray, Easter, 1949
Some would say that family historians/genealogists are obsessed with the dead, and that perspective is somewhat understandable.
Some would say that family historians/genealogists find it hard to stop researching the dead and spend more time on the living- occasionally that is true as well, especially at 2am.
Some would also say it is just weird that family historians/genealogists remember the special days of the dead, such as birthdays, anniversaries, or death dates; that assessment may have some element of truth as well.
It can be argued, however, that the yearning to know more about those who have gone before, to hold them close in one’s heart, is really what drives those who spend countless hours searching for the minutiae of a life. It can be the need to tell an ancestor’s story, so that they are not forgotten; it can be a way to hold on to them just a bit longer, to not let them go “to the other side” just yet, especially for those the family historian has known in this life and loved deeply. It can be a way to not say a final “good bye” so soon, to help a loved one linger in the hearts of others for just a bit longer, too.
Family historians/genealogists also want to understand their inner selves more, to know where this trait or that look came from, and connect themselves to those who have gone before through these commonalities. How can we know our place in the universe without the context of our being?
Mary Helbling McMurray on her wedding day, honeymooning on Lake Ozark, 05 June 1948.
Sharing the lives of our ancestors is a gift that family historians/genealogists wish to give to their own descendants, their collateral kin, and even the world- history is the story of every life, truly, not just those who fought wars or those who started them.
Becoming a family historian/genealogist is not always a conscious choice- a muse, an inner drive, or even the voices of our ancestors move us to travel along their journeys. We want to leave a legacy of that knowledge for those we love now, and those we will love in the future, even after we are gone.
Mary Helbling McMurray with her first grandson, 22 Feb 1987.
Family historians/genealogists LOVE, and are a part of the chain of love that is family.
Today we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Mary Theresa Helbling McMurray, a woman full of love.
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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Tuesday’s Tip: Putting Together the Clues about Henry Horn
Henry Horn’s Pension Application Affirmation and his mark. (Click to enlarge.)
[Editor’s Note:We apologize that this Tuesday post was not published on Tuesday- not sure what computer gremlins intervened. But here it is on Thursday, and now yesterday’s post will probably make more sense.]
➡ Horn Family, McMurray Family, Genealogy Research
Have a genealogical conundrum? Have lots of facts and details but not sure how they all fit together?
Tuesday’s Tip:
1. Write a list of brief notes- just the facts.
2. Look at the notes apart from all that data and details circled around your desk space or computer desktop, and with a very open mind to all the possibilities. Give your thoughts time to brew, and meld- even ‘sleep on it.’
3. Analyze the brief facts, and find any connections- or none. Knowing what is ‘NOT’ may be important too.
4. Write an Analysis Report that details how you came to your conclusions. It doesn’t have to be long, perfect, or totally accurate (yet)- it is just a record of your thought process to help in the future.
In the dark long ago of genealogical research, pre-internet, gathering information was tedious and difficult. One would read the queries posted in genealogical magazines, join local historical societies and place queries in their newsletters, then send a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelopes) so the person you were writing to with questions did not have to buy a stamp just to respond to you, nor have to figure out the handwriting for your address. One would copy by hand or make carbon copies (the origin of “CC” in your email program, for the internet generation) pedigree charts and Family Group Records to include in the letter, and then one had to wait months, even years, to see your envelope returned with hopefully useful information typed with a typewriter with dirty keys and usually with handwritten notes inserted or in the margins. The carbon paper was messy and smeared, but that was all we had until the late 60s when copy machines could be found. (Those were very smelly and left oil and/or alcohol stains on the paper, but still an improvement.)
Books, journals, and government records were, of course, available with information, but they were secreted away in all sorts of depositories one would have to travel to, and once there, with many not indexed, or not indexed well, poring over the books and old records was a challenge. Thankfully the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) had a lending library, and would ship old books from their circulating library. I eagerly awaited those big boxes of sometimes very old, falling-apart books that held so much information. The St. Louis County, Missouri, public library had an excellent genealogy section that was helpful too.
Microfilm was available for order from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and could be read in a local branch of their library.
The above information was all we had to go on to learn Henry Horn’s history. Our Tuesday Tip to write down what you know, in a brief form, and then analyze, is how we came to a hypothesis about Henry Horn and his military service, using information gleaned from the above resources.
Following is a bit of what was known about Henry Horn back in the late 60s/early 70s, even pretty much up until the 1990s and special genealogy interest mailing forums online, and then Ancestry.com. Finding Henry Horn’s pension application on microfilm in 1992 helped immensely.
1. Mary Ann Horn (1824-1891) married Henderson McMurray and had Frederick Asbury McMurray (1850-1929), one of their 13 children and an ancestor.
2. Mary Ann Horn’s father was Frederick P. Horn (1796-1867), and his father was Henry Horn (1758-1845). We could not find Henry’s parents nor record of his birth in the US, but Horn is a common name.
3. Henry Horn served in the American Revolutionary War forces, as he had a US Pension granted.
4. Henry Horn was born near Hesse-Cassel, Germany, in the year 1758, per his pension.
5. Henry Horn was just 16 when he came to America, per his pension.
6. Henry Horn enlisted at Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1777, per his pension.
7. Henry Horn participated in the Battle of Trenton, per his military marker.
8. Henry Horn married Elizabeth Pretzman (1759-1840) in 1782 in Leesburg, Loudon County, Virginia.
9. Henry and Elizabeth moved to Bedford County, Pennsylvania, with their children.
10. Oftentimes, his name was listed as “Heinrich Horn” or “Henrich Horn.”
As a colonial America and American Revolution history buff, and knowing the history of the time, as I skimmed these brief facts, the lightbulb went on.
Born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany? The hated Hessians ‘mercenaries’ that supplemented British troops were recruited from there.
Born in 1758? That would make him prime age for the military and draft, age 18 in 1776.
The Battle of Trenton? The Hessians marched with General Howe’s British Redcoats and took New Jersey as a defeated George Washington and his troops retreated. The Hessians occupied the small town of Trenton, NJ, as their winter quarters, but were attacked 26 Dec. 1776 by Washington’s forces after crossing the Delaware River and the Hessians surrendered after their commander was killed.
BIG CLUE– There is no mention of the Battle of Trenton in Henry’s pension. If he had been part of Washington’s forces, wouldn’t that famous, turning-tide battle be remembered, even at his advanced age at the time of the pension?
Place of enlistment Lancaster, PA? The Hessians captured at Trenton on 26 December 1776, over 900, were taken to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as prisoners of war. So Henry Horn would have been in that place in the year 1777 if he indeed was a Hessian.
Enlisted in 1777? The prisoners at Lancaster had been enticed to enlist in General Washington’s forces. They were well-trained soldiers, and the American rebels needed all the military forces they could muster.
Hmmmm, this analysis suggests that Henry Horn could have been a Hessian- but was he? Granted, there were many Germans who had immigrated to the colonies before 1776, and there were German regiments who served Washington well. The above analysis is not quite the genealogical standard of ‘preponderance of evidence,’ but a good basis for more research- for proof.
Unfortunately, back then, there was not much available to check whether or not Heinrich Horn was on the rolls of the Hessian recruits. HETRINA, or Hessische Truppen im Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg, Index nach Familiennamen, was not available in English, but I felt it would give the answer. Sadly, it was only available in German in Germany, and I never got a reply from my letters to archives there. The Hessians kept very good records, so that they would be paid well by the British King George for his German mercenaries, but I just could not find access to any of them at that time.
Once the mailing lists and genealogy websites began popping up on the internet, plus with correspondence with other Horn researchers, the consensus was that Henry could have come to America via one of the following scenarios:
1. He was avoiding the German draft, since he was the prime age of 16, so immigrated on his own. Germany had a history of sending their armies to other countries as mercenaries, as did other European countries.
2. He came to America with his parents when about 12, arriving at the Port of Philadelphia in 1770 on the ‘Good Ship Sally.’ The family settled in York, PA, and Henry joined the colonists when war broke out with Britain. This was the view held by one of the premier Horn researchers.
3. He came as a Hessian soldier.
The third scenario turned out to be the truth about Heinrich Horn, and we will explore more in future posts.
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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Wordless Wednesday: Revolutionary War Uniforms
Hessian Jagers at the Battle of Groton. Wikipedia, public domain. (Click to enlarge.)
Hessian boots. Wikimedia, public domain. Later evolved into “Wellies” and other popular boots with tassels.
American soldiers at the siege of Yorktown, by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger, watercolor, 1781. The African American soldier is supposedly from the first Rhode Island Regiment. Wikipedia, Public Domain. (Click to enlarge.)
➡ McMurray Family, Horn Family
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Images from Wikipedia/Wikimedia, public domain.
2) Henry Horn was not a jager nor at the Battle of Yorktown, but his uniforms as a Hessian and later a Continental soldier might have been similar.
Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images- it may also make them sharper.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
“I warn everybody to keep out of such scrapes.”- The Murderer of Edson Benjamin
Hanging of the murderer of Edson Benjamin. 07 Dec 1901 news article in the Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, MT. Ancestry.com newspaper collection.
➡ Benjamin Family, McMurray Family
A previous series of articles told the story of the murder of Edson Benjamin at Underwood’s Landing in Skamania County, Washington on 24 March 1901. At the time, we were unable to determine the fate of the murderer, James G. Green. The story was left with Green begging to be hanged right away as he could not bear the sight of Benjamin’s widow, Martha “Jennie” Munger Benjamin, in the courtroom. The jury found him guilty of first degree murder, and thus, with hanging imminent, he changed his tune and asked for the verdict to be fought. For some reason, no online searches showed the final fate of the murderer when that series was written.
Today, however, further research hit the jackpot with a link to a free Skamania County Washington history site. They posted transcripts of pertinent newspaper articles, and from there we could search out the newspapers and learn the final disposition of Green, who was hanged for his crime.
Green did fare better than the criminal whose story was reported on the same page:
Awful Scene at Execution. 07 Dec 1901, Anaconda Standard, Anaconda Montana, v13, n87, p2, c4. Ancestry.com.
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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Tombstone Tuesday: Henry Horn
Tombstone of Heinrich Horn, Horn United Methodist Church Cemetery, Alum Bank, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. (Click to enlarge and make sharper.) From family member CG, 1980s.
➡ McMurray Family, Horn Family
Henry Horn is buried in the Horn United Methodist Cemetery in Pleasantville, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, the town where he died.
Henry Horn- Headstone, Horn Churchyard, Alum Bank, Bedford, PA. With thanks to Amanda Smith for her kind permission on Find A Grave, 8/22/2011.
The tombstone reads:
Sacred to the memory of
Henry Horn
Born Oct r the 15th 1758
Died May the 8th 1845
Aged 86 Years. 6 Mons. & 23 days.
Henry Horn- Headstone- Detail, Horn Churchyard, Alum Bank, Bedford, PA. With thanks to Amanda Smith for her kind permission, Find A Grave, 8/22/2011.
The first image gives a clue as to Henry Horn’s life- the commemorative plaques indicate he served in the Revolutionary War. The commemorative plaques read:
Plaque 1:
Revolutionary Soldier
Reverend Henry Horn
1775 1783
Placed by his descendants.
Henry Horn- Gravesite Military Markers, Horn Churchyard, Alum Bank, Bedford, PA. With thanks to Amanda Smith for her kind permission on Find A Grave, 8/22/2011.
Plaque 2:
Born Oct. 15, 1758 Died May 8, 1845
Battle of Trenton-Monmouth
and Long Island Campaigns
Member of Count Pulaski’s Legion
Minister of the Methodist Church
There is also a Sons of the American Revolution marker.
So here is one clue about how Henry Horn’s path may have crossed that of George Washington, but there was an event even before he enlisted that may have been the best opportunity for them to see each other…
(To be continued.)
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Horn Churchyard Cemetery, Alum Bank, Bedford, PA.
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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
