Showing posts with label Light. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Light. Show all posts

Monday, June 4, 2018

Going to the Chapel - His Side of the Family

So many ancestors were married in June, in my husband's family tree and in my tree! I used RootsMagic7's calendar report to see who was married, when, and how long ago, tree by tree. This is a good opportunity to revisit my research, summarize what I know, see what's missing, and take the next step. Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this #52 Ancestors prompt.

Here are some of the early June marriages in my husband's tree:


  • June 3, 1903: Hubby's great-aunt Mary Amanda Wood married August Jacob Carsten 115 years ago in Toledo, Ohio. Sadly, Mary Amanda died at age 32, just months after giving birth to their fourth child. Mary Amanda was named for her mother, Mary Amanda Demarest Wood.
  • June 10, 1903: At top, the license application for hubby's Grandma Floyda Mabel Steiner and Grandpa Brice Larimer McClure, who married 115 years ago in Wyandot county, Ohio. Only through this record did I discover that Floyda had been married before. She was brave enough to divorce the first husband, who called her vile names and threatened her. Plus she won an alimony settlement!
  • June 12, 1856: My husband's 2d great-uncle Samuel D. Steiner married Maria L. Forrest 162 years ago in Crawford county, Ohio. While researching the Steiner family in Wyandot county a few years ago, I discovered that Samuel had been arrested for aiding/abetting burglary and not showing up in court. What happened? Don't know yet, but I did find Samuel at home in the 1880 census. 
  • June 13, 1847: My husband's 3d great-aunt, Elizabeth E. Bentley, married Emanuel Light 171 years ago in Elkhart, Indiana, as shown on the marriage license below. During the 1850s, Elizabeth and Emanuel left their home and traveled west, as her father had done in 1848 early in the Gold Rush. The Light family farmed in California. Despite years of research, the Bentley family's ancestors are still a bit of a mystery, one of my genealogical works in progress.


  • Sunday, April 6, 2014

    52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #16: Olivia Morgan, Pioneer Mom

    Olivia (or Olive) Morgan (1799?-1838) was born somewhere in New York state and married William Tyler Bentley (1795-1873) there, about 1820. Olivia and William are my hubby's 3d great-grandparents.

    I was able to learn Olivia's name because it's shown on her daughter Lucinda's transcribed death cert, at right, and on her daughter Lucy's transcribed death cert.

    Before their pioneering move to Elkhart county, Indiana, Olivia and William had seven children in New York:
    • Elizabeth E. Bentley (1821-98) - married Emanuel Light
    • Elisha Morgan Bentley (1824-84) - married Charlotte Raymond
    • Lucinda Helen Bentley (1825-1903) - married Jonas Shank
    • Lucy E. Bentley (1826-1900) - Hubby's great-great-grandma, married Brice S. Larimer
    • Simon Bentley (1828-1894) - didn't marry
    • Jane L. Bentley (1831-?) - went to California, no info after age 20
    • Abbie Eliza Bentley (1832-1893) - married Leonard Lucien Curtis
    The Bentleys may have had one more child in 1835, after arriving in the wilderness of Elkhart, but I can't find a trace of that baby, who is mentioned on p. 1071 of The History of Elkhart County (below).

    After pioneer mom Olivia died, her husband moved to California in 1848, followed by five of their seven children in 1851.

    Only Lucinda and Lucy remained in Indiana, marrying and raising their own families.

    I'm in touch with several Bentley researchers, and a Morgan researcher. We're continuing to try to learn more about Indiana pioneer mom Olivia Morgan, California land rush pioneer William Tyler Bentley, and their parents/children.



    Wednesday, March 12, 2014

    52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #13: The Bentley Family, Oswego to Elkhart


    My challenge is to discover the origins of the Bentley family in Oswego county, New York.

    William Tyler Bentley (1795?-1873) and his equally elusive wife, Olivia Morgan Bentley (1790s?-1838), are hubby's 3d great-grandparents. They were born in New York state, married there, and had seven children there. They might be the family shown in the 1830 Sandy Creek, NY census records under William T. Bentley's name.

    In 1835, the Bentley family moved from Oswego to Elkhart, Indiana, where William bought a farm. With William and Olivia were their seven children:

    Elizabeth E. Bentley (1821-1898)
    Elisha Morgan Bentley (1824-1884)
    Lucinda Helen Bentley (1825-1903), see left
    Lucy E. Bentley (1826-1900)
    Simon Bentley (1828-1894)
    Jane L. Bentley (1831 - ??)
    Abbie Eliza Bentley (1832-1893)


    In 1848, ten years after Olivia died, widower William took off for California, perhaps for the Gold Rush. Three years later, five of his seven children followed him to California.

    Elizabeth Bentley married Emanuel Light; Elisha Morgan Bentley married Charlotte Raymond; Lucinda Bentley married Jonas Shank; Lucy Bentley married Brice Larimer (they were hubby's 2d great-gradparents); Simon Bentley married but was widowed by 1880 and drowned in 1894; Jane Bentley--well, she probably went to California; and Abbie Bentley definitely went to California, with her husband, Leonard L. Curtis.

    PS: A small mystery: In the Goshen Democrat of May 4, 1898, the above obit appeared for William Tyler Bentley, who did indeed die at South Tule River, California. And he was the father of Lucy E. Bentley Larimer. But he died in 1873. So who died in 1898??

    Sunday, August 4, 2013

    Genealogy by the States: The Bentley California Land Rush!

    William Tyler Bentley, hubby's 3rd great-grandpa, seemed to be drawn west throughout his life. Born in New York in 1795, he moved his family to what became Elkhart county, Indiana, in 1835. Though they were early settlers, most of the family didn't put down permanent roots in Indiana.

    Tulare County, CA
    During the 1850s, William and his grown children* (except two of his married daughters, Lucy E. Bentley Larimer and Lucinda H. Bentley Shank) moved to California in search of fertile farm and ranching land. Remember that California only became a state in 1850, and Visalia was the county seat of Tulare in the early days. By 1858, Visalia was being served by the overland stage coach from St. Louis to San Francisco. The Bentleys were part of this exciting time in California history!

    The 1867 voters' records of Visalia (Tulare county) list William Tyler Bentley as a farmer. His son Elisha Morgan Bentley (married to Charlotte Raymond) was raising livestock on 320 acres in Visalia (according to the 1870 non-population Census).

    William's daughter Elizabeth E. Bentley Light and her husband Emanuel were farmers in Tulare county. Another daughter, Abbie Eliza Bentley Curtis and her blacksmith husband, Leonard Curtis, lived in Santa Cruz, CA.

    William's obit from the Visalia Times Delta of April 3, 1873 reads: "Died on South Tule River, March 29, 1873, Wm. T. Bentley, aged 77 yrs, 7 months, father of E.M. Bentley, of this place."

    To learn more about the Bentleys' lives in California, I'm sending for the obits of Elisha Morgan Bentley and his wife, Charlotte (see below, right). *According to Lucinda H. Bentley Shank's obit, Wm Tyler Bentley left for California in 1848 and five of his seven children followed to California in 1851.

    Special note to "Cousin Elizabeth"--please get in touch again re William A. Bradford.

    ---

    Genealogy by the States was started by Jim Sanders of Hidden Genealogy Nuggets.