Sorry I have been MIA, but there has actually been a lot of action around here! Family things, of course, but I have also been working on an article to be published this month. I will share more once it is in print, and am really excited since it has to do with my great-great grandfather, Edward B. Payne, that I have been so obsessed with researching.

I thought I could get back to the blog once the article was submitted and image permissions secured, but then remembered- on Friday- that Fri-Sun was the Southern California Genealogical Society’s famous “Jamboree.” Thankfully they are on Pacific time, so I had not missed any of the sessions as I quickly registered. “Jamboree” is a fabulous conference, but even MORE fabulous is that they offer free live-streaming (partially underwritten by Ancestry.com) of one session for each block of time during the three days. (This year they also offered a for-pay streaming event of their DNA Day on Thursday. Recordings may also be available to SCGS members, which is worth it for the access to databases and archived webinars for members. Webinars are free at the time of broadcast.) I try to work in as many sessions as I can, and today, while listening to D. Josh Taylor talking about the excellent resources at the DAR Library, my mind circuits were hoppin’. He mentioned that the resources of the library were behind database walls, so Google and other search engines cannot pick them up. The light bulb went on- among other items posted, the above image of the bible page of Hannah Ford Benjamin, already posted in Sentimental Sunday:Jonathan Felix Benjamin, will probably only have her name picked up, because it is in the caption.

I already type out full names, and if there are initials or nicknames, try to make sure my post includes that name alongside the surname, so Google can find all those variations. (I know it seems redundant, but it is important to be smarter than the search engines.) The above transcription, being typed, may not be picked up, at least until image recognition is  improved. So I thought I would list all the information as search engine bait, and add a few details about the people listed, so that other researchers in the future can find their ancestors. It will need to be broken up into multiple posts since I am adding information. I am also including marriages and deaths with the names as listed, for clarity. All my notes are in brackets: [  ].

An ‘Amanuensis’ is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

Please note that this page has been transcribed, so error may have occurred in transcription, plus the bible was printed in 1837 so some of these records were recorded long after the fact.

This is just one page from a typewritten copy given to me by family back in the 1960s entitled:

“Notes on

the Life and Family of

JONATHAN BENJAMIN, 1738-1841,

Frontiersman and Revolutionary War Veteran,

________

Compiled from Local Histories

and Family Records,

with a List of Some

of His Descendants.”

This information was collected and edited by Robert Benjamin Kilduff, with the mimeographing sponsored by Bert R. Benjamin. It was printed in Chicago, Illinois in 1943, and passed on to my McMurray family in Iowa.

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, and DEATHS as RECORDED in the BIBLE of HANNAH FORD BENJAMIN

(Bible printed by H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, (N.Y.), in 1837, and now [1943] owned by Orletta Hatch Foreman.)

Births:

Arestine P. Benjamin [born] 4-13-1843 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford. She married James Polk Hatch, and their daughter, Orletta, had the bible in her possession when the history was written in 1943. Arestine died 12-3-1914 in Newton, Jasper, Iowa.]

Cordelia A. Benjamin [born] 9-12-1830 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford, married William Dixon and died in Oregon City, Clackamas, Oregon on 18 June 1905.]

Dorinza E. Benjamin [born] 12-18-1823 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford, name also spelled Derinza; middle name was Emaline. Born in Licking Co., Ohio. She married __Ryan, child Mabelle b. 1862. Dorinza died in Peoria County, Illinois, on 17 Feb 1903.]

Edson V. Benjamin [born] 1-29-1863. [Son of Jonathan Felix Benjamin  and Hannah E. Marple, b. in Ohio. Married Martha Jennie Munger, and died on 23 Mar 1901 in Washington state.]

Emma A. Benjamin [born] 8-5-1872 [in Iowa to Jonathan Felix Benjamin  and Hannah E. Marple. Married Herman B. Lufkin and had a son, Percy Lufkin, about 1895 in Iowa. She died 18 May 1953 and is buried in Newton, Iowa.]

Jonathan Benjamin [born] 10-14-1739 [per bible, but 14 Oct 1738 in Goshen, Orange, New York per other research. Revolutionary War soldier, married Margaret Brown. Maternal grandfather of Hannah E. Ford, bible owner. Died 26 Aug 1841 in Licking Co., Ohio.]

Jonathan Benjamin [born] 10-11-1797 [per bible, but 10-12-1799 per other research. Middle initial probably N. Son of David Benjamin and Elizabeth__ -maiden name unknown. Married Hannah E. Ford, who owned this bible and recorded some of this information.]

J(onathan) F(elix) Benjamin [born] 10-3-1838. [Son of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford; born in Licking Co., Ohio. Married Hannah E. Marple, six children: Edson, Roland E., William -2 of them?- Emma, and Orlin Dell Benjamin. Died Mar 1913 in Jasper Co., Iowa.]

Mary Benjamin [born] 3-22-1777 [Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania, to Jonathan Benjamin (1738-1841) and Margaret Brown. Married Phineas Rowlandson Ford and was the mother of Hannah E. Ford, the owner of the bible.]

Roland E. Benjamin [born] 10-16-1868 [in Iowa to Jonathan Felix Benjamin and Hannah E. Marple. Married Sarah __ and had three children: Evert Benjamin, Viola Benjamin, and Don Benjamin. Lived also in Minnesota and Wisconsin.]

S(ylvanus)R(ufus) Benjamin [born] 2-20-1819 [other research states birth year as 1821, in Licking Co., Ohio to Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford. Married Sarah Ann Palmer and had four children: Cynthia Adeline Benjamin, Frances “Fannie” Drucilla Benjamin, Jonathan Elliott Benjamin, and Hannah Melissa Benjamin. Died 30 July 1892 in Newton, Jasper, Iowa.]

Syntha A Benjamin [born] 3-2-1828 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford. Has old headstone with name as Syntha, newer stone with Cynthia. She was only 16 months old when she died.]

William R. Benjamin [born] 10-4-1866 [son of Jonathan Felix Benjamin and Hannah E. Marple. Probably married Elizabeth __ and lived in Newton, Jasper, Iowa, at 1900 US Federal census.]

More to follow next Monday!

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) “Notes on the Life and Family of JONATHAN BENJAMIN, 1738-1841,

Frontiersman and Revolutionary War Veteran” edited by Robert Benjamin Kilduff, typewritten copy owned by author.

2) Edited slightly for clarity 6/13/14.

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Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Sorting your research is a daunting project but necessary to tell the stories. I have been deep into sorting and compiling- all to culminate in an exciting event, which is why the blog has been so quiet lately. But I digress… and will share soon.

A good review and sort will help one to see patterns, aid in putting two and two together now that you know more, and help you to find where there is conflicting information. One tip that I find really helpful is to title my files in a standard way. (See my previous posts Tuesday’s Tip- Let your computer create a timeline! and Tuesday’s Tip-Organizing Computer Files.)

Looking through my files lately has helped me realized that some dates were inconsistent, or just couldn’t be correct- very easy to see when they are side by side. It also made me realize as I sorted through that some things that needed to be together weren’t, and others that should have been were not, so I corrected that. More lightbulbs went on as I saw these new files ‘automagically’ sorted together.

While working on my exciting project and trying to identify people in a wedding party picture, I realized that I had never seen a picture of Harley R. Wiley, though I had a hunch he might be in the photo. Harley was a professor of pharmaceutical (sometimes called ‘pharmacal’ in those days) jurisprudence at the University of California. He lectured at both the Berkeley and San Francisco campuses, and had an office in San Francisco while residing in Berkeley.

He wrote a book called, “A Treatise on Pharmacal Jurisprudence with a thesis on the law in general,” The Hicks-Judd Company, San Francisco, 1904. The book was self-published, as he was a pioneer in the field and there were, at that time, no textbooks on pharmacy and the law.

Harley also wrote numerous poems, many published in the literary magazines of the day, or as fillers in other publications. He wrote with the idea of nature as spirit. Some of his poems include, “The Soul of a City,” “Star of Bethlehem,” “The Desert,” and “Dust and Flame.” Harley’s California Biographical Index card lists Appleton’s Booklovers Magazine, The Overland Monthly and Out West magazine, and The Raven-Western Field as periodicals for which he had written.

Harley spoke to many groups, with the historian James Redpath commenting, after an address by Wiley, that he had “eloquence and good sense in rare combination.”

In early California, land speculation was popular. At one time, Harley owned 2,000 acres.

Although one would think that being a published poet, lecturer, professor, land speculator, and lawyer would be enough, Harley had another claim to fame- he was the brother of Ninetta (Wiley) Eames Payne (Springer), who raised Charmian Kittredge; Charmian would later marry Jack London, the author. Ninetta worked with Jack London closely, managing many of his business affairs. Ninetta, like Harley, traveled in California literary circles as she too was a writer and host of many summer camps for (adult) intellectuals. Edward B. Payne, a writer, minister, lecturer, and philosopher, was Ninetta’s second husband, and he was very close to his in-laws Harley and Villa. Harley participated in many of these same gatherings, whether they were just family or for the intellectuals of the Bay Area or Sonoma County; many of the events included Jack London.

Learning more about Harley corroborated a story that Ninetta told of the family’s 1865 migration to Utah and then California, in which their wagon train was attacked. The party was split and the other  group was massacred by the Indians, with the Wiley family barely escaping. Ninetta was sometimes ‘flowery’ in her descriptions, so some researchers had wondered how much of the story was true. Reading about it in Harley’s biography- collateral kin research- makes us realize that the horrors of the story were real, not imagined nor exaggerated.

A bit of the Harlen Rupert Wiley vitals-

– He was born 5 Apr 1855 in on a farm 14 miles outside Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Jacob Scott Wiley and Catherine Growall, the youngest of seven children.

– Harley lived in Santa Barbara, Monticello, Redding, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, California. There are censuses and city directories that seem to have conflicting information for a certain date, but that is because he had offices in other cites at times.

– Graduating from Christian College at Santa Rosa, California, in 1877 with an A.B. degree after just three years of study, he had also taught bookkeeping, arithmetic, and algebra while himself a student.

– Harley also graduated from the University of California, Class of 1897, L.L.B. Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco.

– Becoming a Christian while at Christian College, Harley was ordained a minister around 1877 when he graduated.

– Harley married first Sarah Prudence Seawall about 1878. They had two children together: Lucille, one year old in the 2 Jun 1880 census (although 1900 census states she was born Sep 1878), and a son born in Dec 1879, who was 6/12 months per same census, but name not recorded. In 1900 Sarah was listed as Prudy Wiley in the census, listed as a widow and living with her daughter. Her son was still alive, and their daughter Lucille was a bookkeeper, a skill that Harley probably taught her. Harley remarried and is found in the 1900 census, so apparently the couple had actually divorced.

– His second marriage was to Villa Chappell 26 Dec 1885 in Redding, California. They had two children- Villa Elizabeth Wiley, born Nov 1888, and Esmond F. Wiley (or Don Esmond Wiley), born 1890.

– An excellent description of Harley’s early life may be found in the  “Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California,” pages 535-6, 1891- see below for links.

– Harley died 17 Sep 1921 in Alta Bates Sanitorium in Berkeley after a protracted illness, at the age of 65. We have been unable to find where he was buried. (Many of those in this social group were cremated, so that may be the case with Harley as well.)

The ‘Wiley House’ and cottages that were owned by Harley and Villa Wiley at 2545 Benvenue Avenue until 1921 are listed as Historic Landmark #199 in Berkeley, California.

PS- I really can’t tell if it is Harley Wiley in the wedding photo that started all this. But it was great to learn more about him and have an opportunity to tell his story.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) “A Treatise on Pharmacal Jurisprudence with a thesis on the law in general”  may be read online at   https://archive.org/details/treatiseonpharma00wile. Accessed 05/31/2014.

2) Harley R. Wiley biography in “Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California,” page 535-6,  Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1891. See https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Memorial_and_Biographical_History_of_N.html?id=m8FQAQAAIAAJ. Accessed 05/31/2014.

3) 7) California Biographical Index Card for Harley R. Wiley, 1906, through California State Library, now on Ancestry.com. Accessed 5/31/14.

4) “The Graduate” yearbook of the University of California Medical Center, 1914: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31378008244504;view=1up;seq=1. Accessed 05/30/2014.

5) Berkeley Landmarks by Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny, Berkeley [California] Architectural Heritage Association, 2001. Accessed on 5/31/14: https://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/2002citycouncil/packet/121002/2002-12-10%20Item%2025%20Staff%20Report%20Backup%2010.pdf

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Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Edson Benjamin was the son of Jonathan Felix Benjamin(1838-1913) and Hannah E. Marple (1842-1900). He was a first cousin to our Hannah Melissa Benjamin (1854-1932), who married Frederick Asbury “F. A.” McMurray.

If you are a Malissa Benjamin-F. A. McMurray descendant, Edson is a distant cousin. How distant? Edson’s father, Jonathan Felix, was the brother of Hannah’s father, Sylvanus Rufus Benjamin (1821-1892). He was Dr. E. A. McMurray’s First Cousin Twice Removed, because E. A. was the direct descendant of a first cousin, but two generations distant.

To calculate your own relationship to Edson, count the number of generations you are from Dr. McMurray, add that to 2, and that will show how many times removed you are from a first cousin to Edson. For example, if you are a grandchild of Dr. McMurray, you are 2 generations from The Doctor, thus a first cousin 2+2= 4 times removed.

Why research distant relatives?  The ‘FAN Club’, or “Friends, Associates, Neighbors” can help us find information about our own relatives when they are mentioned in other obituaries, biographies, newspaper articles, etc. We all share some of the same DNA too, so learning more about distant rellies can tell us a bit more about ourselves, in addition to more about the family members who came before.

Edson and Jennie’s tombstone is in the Odd Fellow’s Cemetery in The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon, USA.

More of Edson’s sad story in another post.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Using a chart is an easy way to determine relationships. You will need to know your common ancestor, which in this case is Jonathan N. Benjamin (1799-1876), the father of Jonathan Felix and Sylvanus Rufus Benjamin. Just Google “Genealogy Relationship Charts” for dozens of examples, or use the About.com Genealogy Relationship Chart. If you have an Ancestry.com membership, under the person’s name will be “View relationship to me.” If you are the home person in the tree, clicking here will give you the relationship without having to use a chart.

2) “Rellies” is an affectionate term used by family historians to describe their relatives.

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Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

SaveSave

The ‘Age of Computers’- that phrase probably dates me!- has made genealogy research so much easier than the days of SASE and queries in the back of a genealogy magazine. For years I have known that Edward B. Payne married Nanie M. Burnell on 05 May 1870. Some of our family records had this information, I believe, and now online there is an entry on Family Search as well as the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900. Usually it is just a simple tabbed line of the most basic information:

Sometimes the county, in this case, Kane County, Illinois, is listed, and maybe even a marriage license number (00007122).

I have written requesting this record in years past and only received a clerk’s handwritten copy of the pertinent- to them- information, which was what I already knew. It was not possible to get a scan of the actual record, per the County Clerk’s office.

In a recent genealogy blog I learned that Kane Co., IL has now put marriage licenses online. I dropped everything the rest of the world deemed important and headed online for the website. There it was- the marriage record I had sought for so long. I plunked down (virtually) my $11 for a downloadable copy, and voila!- I could print it. Sadly, it had “For Genealogical Purposes Only” written diagonally all across the face of the license, in rows just an inch apart. I tried to read the minister’s name, and it looked familiar. Though I couldn’t be sure, it looked like “Payne.” 

Edward B. Payne’s father, Joseph Hitchcock Payne (or J. H. Payne, as he usually was known), was a Congregational minister.

I cried. OK, yes, I have been obsessed with E. B. Payne for most of my genealogical research life (is it stalking if one of the parties is long departed???), as he is quite an interesting and intriguing fellow. To learn that he was married to his college sweetheart by his father was so very touching, so sentimental, and it touched my heart so deeply that I was actually speechless.

Well, for a few moments, any way. I was mad that I could not read the name of the minister, and upset that the one actual signature and bit of writing of J. H. Payne that I had ever seen in all my research could not be easily read and savoured. (Spelled purposefully with a British “u” because the American-shortened ‘savored’ did not give enough time to enjoy or import of how wonderful it was to see this signature.)

Of course, feedback to Kane Co. was the answer, so I wrote a polite note to the county clerk, praising them for the new service but letting her know how disappointed I was that the marriage license was not framable and only barely readable. I got a fast reply thanking me for feedback so they could improve the new service, and in subsequent emails she explained that if I sent another $11 for a certified copy, and sent it to her attention, she would make sure that the required “for genealogical purposes only” stamp would not be across the main face of the license. She was good to her word.

But wait- there’s more!

On the back of the record I received via snail mail were the following documents:

And then another incredible document, attesting that these two requesting a marriage license had met the legal age requirements:

K. A. Burnell was Nannie’s father, Kingsley Abner Burnell. It was his writing, his listing of his daughter’s name, and his signature.

Amazing. Totally amazing.

Thank you, Kane County, Illinois.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) The first image is from the old Kane Co., IL website, which has been replaced by the new and much improved https://genealogy.kanecountyclerk.org. Posted with permission.

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

Copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Here’s a ‘cousin-bait’ post. Actually, more a ‘married-in to a married-in’ person post, but that’s close enough to be a cousin in my mind. We’re all related if one goes back far enough.

(Sadly, that philosophy  also lets me wander far afield and late into the night at times, but when one can make connections, it will help genealogists to come. And sometimes, that “FAN Club” finds me a tidbit or two about a direct line that I might not otherwise have found.)

I am searching for information on Fred Foster Springer. I am searching this far afield because Fred was married to Ninetta (Wiley) Eames Payne, who also married Edward B. Payne, a direct ancestor.

Fred F. Springer was born Mar 1865 in Maine, possibly Bradford, Penobscot, Maine, and lived there through 1870. By 1880 he and his parents, Samuel Foster Springer (b. 1832 in New Hampshire-d. 1902 in California) and Helen M. Fuller (b. 1838 in Maine-d. aft 1920 census in California?) had moved to San Francisco, California.

Fred graduated May 1883 from the Boys High School in San Francisco, and in 1886 was living in San Francisco at 1305-1/2 Polk with his father where he was listed as a “Collector” when he registered to vote at age 21. Two years later, in 1888, he was listed as a “Machine Hand” and living at 9 Liberty with his father.

By 1890 Fred was living in Berkeley, Alameda, CA and was an electrician/electrical engineer/engineer with the phone company. He lived at 1810 Louisa with his mother in 1906.

At about age 44 Fred married Margaret Smith c1909, and in the 1910 census they were living at 1815 Bonita with their first child, Inez/Ynez Springer, 8 months old. Other children were Richard F. Springer (1911-1964), Carobel A. Springer (1913-), and Margaret E. Springer (1915-). They also lived at 2207 Eunice, 1715 Jaynes, and 1430 Arch in Berkeley, California.

Fred and Margaret separated and were divorced sometime between the 1927 Oakland Directory listing and the 1930 census. Margaret is listed in a boarding house in the 1930 census, and the 3 daughters were living together in another household with Yzez noted as head of household. Fred was living in a boarding house in Berkeley owned by Ninetta (Wiley) Eames Payne. Sometime in 1930 (per voter’s registration) Fred had moved to 1715 Jaynes St. and living with dau Ynez; in 1932 his son Richard was also living with them. By 1934 Fred and his son Richard were rooming at Ninetta’s home again at 1282 Oxford. (I believe Fred and Margaret’s young family had rented a home from Ninetta in earlier years, and they were all old friends, as Ninetta owned the Arch St. home at one point.)

In Aug of 1937 Fred married Ninetta, possibly in Eureka, California, or Shasta, California. He was 72 and she 84. It was Ninetta’s third marriage- she had been married to Roscoe L. Eames (divorced in 1910), then Edward B. Payne, who died in 1923.

The last record I can find of Fred is 8 Nov 1938 when he appeared on the Alameda Voting Register, which is interesting since the California Death Index states his date of death as 15 Sep 1938. It may have been that the voting rolls were prepared before his death, and his name was just left on the roll for that election.

There is a story that Fred died while hiking Mt. Shasta with Ninetta, but I cannot find any confirmation of that.

I would like to find an obituary for Fred and learn if he and Ninetta divorced or how he passed away. Ninetta was listed as a widow in the 1940 census and had gone back to using Payne as her last name after Fred died.

Any information on Fred F. Springer or his family- even just clues- would be greatly appreciated.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) “FAN Club” = Friends, Associates, Neighbors. These folks married each other, migrated together, witnessed each other’s legal documents, etc. Along with “Collateral Kin” (children, in-laws, etc. of siblings), one can sometimes find an obituary for a FAN Club member that mentions a direct ancestor, a photo with a group that includes the person of interest, or a story that includes a direct ancestor; it may not be something that is available for the direct line.

2) This is an expansion of a query I posted in 2012 on Ancestry’s San Francisco – Family History & Genealogy Message Board. See https://boards.ancestry.co.uk/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=5468&p=localities.northam.usa.states.california.counties.sanfrancisco Accessed on 04/17/14.  

3) California Death Index for Fred F. Springer: Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: California Department of Health and Welfare. California Vital Records-Vitalsearch (www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com). The Vitalsearch Company Worldwide, Inc., Pleasanton, California.

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Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.