Put Your Genealogical Proof on Your Tree(s)

Last night, Shelley Bishop gave a terrific talk to my local genealogical society, titled "Avoiding an Ancestor ID Crisis." She suggested writing a proof statement to clarify your evidence and reasoning when trying to determine which individual is actually your ancestor.

But what about public family trees that show the wrong individual instead of the person you can now prove is the real ancestor? Or collaborative trees where someone is perpetuating incorrect info? I have some ideas, please read on!

Ask questions, answer questions

A decade ago, nearly all public family trees showed the mother of Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank as S.L. Hixon, based on an old county history book. Above is the page in question, where a sentence notes: "The first children born where those of S.L. Hixon and Wm. T. Bentley, in 1835." (See green arrow.)

Reading that source, I had questions: Why would S.L. Hixon be named that way, rather than with a given name and the surname of Bentley? Also, reading the rest of the page, it seemed clear that S.L. Hixon was male, since he had a first wife named Nancy (above the green arrow) and is mentioned in the final sentence as "Mr. Hixon."

My theory was that the book was naming only the fathers of the first two babies born among settlers in 1835. Digging deeper, I was able to locate and order a death record for Lucinda. Although only an extract was available at that time, it clearly showed Olivia Morgan as the mother's maiden name, NOT S.L. Hixon. 

Therefore, I added Olivia Morgan as a new name to my family tree, and uploaded the death cert extract as proof she was Lucinda's mother. Six other people subsequently saved the extract as source to their family trees. Later, Lucinda's actual death cert became available and I attached it as my source, as well. Even though death certs aren't necessarily completely accurate, I felt fairly confident because I found Olivia's name on another child's documents. 

On Ancestry, I posted the S.L. Hixon page on Olivia Morgan's profile (since she was, after all, the wife of Wm T. Bentley and mother of one of the first babies born to settlers). Soon afterward, someone posted a question on the "comments" section of the source page, asking how I found Olivia to be the mother. Shown above, I explained my reasoning. Happily, over time, Olivia Morgan replaced S.L. Hixon as the mother on dozens of family trees!

BUT you don't have to wait for anyone to ask a question. You can simply post your own comment about proof on a source or on your ancestor's profile. If your tree is public, any researcher can read your comment. Maybe that comment will diminish the spread of incorrect info and encourage the spread of accurate info.

Show your proof as a source

On Family Search, I posted a document and explanation to confirm that Olivia Morgan was indeed the mother of Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank. 

It's easy to do this by creating your own source on the ancestor's profile. I uploaded the death cert extract from Olivia Morgan's daughter, and wrote a sentence explaining why this source was being attached (see blue star above).

This is an easy way to share your source and reasoning with others who are researching the same ancestors--and, hopefully, persuade them to leave the facts intact based on your evidence.

UPDATE: In her comment below, Teresa Eckford recommends using the new "notes/alert" function added to FamilySearch a few months ago. Here's a link to learn more about this easy way to let others know about important research info for a particular ancestor. TY to Teresa for this excellent suggestion! 

Great-Great-Grandpa Was Illiterate and Other Insights from 1870 Census

1870 US Census, Salem township, Steuben county, Indiana

Because of incorrect transcription, I had a bit of a time finding my hubby's 2nd great-grandpa Joseph W. Rinehart (1806-1888) and 2d great-grandma Margaret Shank Rinehart (1807-1873) in the 1870 US Census. It was worth the trouble because of what I learned about these ancestors of my husband.

Ohio Fever?

Born in Pennsylvania in October of 1806, Joseph seems to have been part of the "Ohio Fever" movement toward the western frontier. By 1850, he was married to Margaret and he was farming in Tod township, Crawford County, Ohio. How they met, where they married, I don't yet know.

Their oldest child was 16 in the 1850 Census, and he was born in Ohio, which implies that the family had arrived in the Buckeye State by 1834. This time-frame fits with the Ohio fever movement.

Ohio to Indiana

When I finally found Joseph and Margaret in the 1870 Census, they were no longer living in Ohio. They were living in their son Hugh Rinehart's household in Salem township, Steuben county, Indiana. That's 150 miles northwest of their previous home in Ohio.

Joseph was 64, Margaret was 63. He told the Census he was a tailor. He also said his real estate was worth $3,600, while son Hugh (a carpenter) didn't own any real estate.

1870 Insights

Then my eyes moved toward the righthand columns on the 1870 Census page. And I learned a lot more!

Literacy: Joseph Rinehart was the only person in the household unable to read or write. Every other person in the household, his wife included, was able to read and write, according to this Census.

Parents of Foreign Birth: Margaret Shank Rinehart's parents were both born outside the United States. Sadly, the Census didn't ask what country. Margaret herself was born in Delaware, she told enumerators in multiple Census years. I'm still trying to pick up her trail before Ohio.

Constitutional Relations: Not unexpectedly, only Joseph (age 64) and his son Hugh (age 31) had marks in the far-righthand column asking about male citizens over the age of 21. Their right to vote was not denied or abridged. Naturally, none of the women were eligible to vote at that time.

There are small but key insights to be gained by looking at ALL the answers to questions asked in the Census, not just the basics.

How Lucy Helped Me Name Her Mother

Lucy Emeline Bentley Larimer and
Brice Larimer are buried in Brown Cemetery,
Elkhart County, Indiana

Who was my hubby's 3d great-grandmother? His 3d great-granddaddy was William Tyler Bentley (1795-1873). William was born in Oswego County, New York, and pioneered in Elkhart County, Indiana during the 1830s.

The earliest two Census records I found for William, in 1830 and 1840, named him as head of household and listed how many others were in the household, categorized by age and gender. As was usual in Census records from those years, there were no names for wife and children.

Clues in Lucy's Obit

One break came when I found an obituary for my husband's second great-grandmother, Lucy Emeline Bentley Larimer (1826-1900). At top is Lucy's tombstone, shared with her husband, Brice Larimer (1819-1906). They are buried in Brown Cemetery, Elkhart County, Indiana.

The obit didn't actually name Lucy's mother. But it did say the mother died in 1838 in Elkhart County, Indiana, where they were pioneer settlers. The obit also said Lucy's father had left for California in 1848. Following that trail, I found the exceedingly brief obit for William Tyler Bentley, who died in 1873 in Tulare County, California. This obit said the deceased was the father of "E.M. Bentley of this place [Tulare]." I filled in the family tree with Elisha Morgan Bentley and his family, which led me to even more siblings and descendants.

Names in Death Certs

The next big break came when I received Lucy's Indiana death cert, packed with information supplied by her husband. He said Lucy was born in Oswego County, New York, the daughter of Wm T Bentley (b. in NY) and Olive Morgan (birthplace unknown).

I also obtained the Indiana death cert of Lucy's sister, Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank (1825-1903). This cert, with information by Lucinda's husband, named the mother as Olivia Morgan (b. in New York) and the father as Wm T Bently (b. in New York). It said Lucinda was also born in New York.

Thanks to great-great-grandma Lucy and her sister, Lucinda, my husband's great-great-great grandmother finally had a name: Olivia Morgan (b. ?- d. 1838).

--

"Tombstone" is the week 21 prompt for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge.

It Should Have Been Easy: Finding an Ancestor in the 1870 Census

Although I'm a long-time user of Ancestry, I subscribed to MyHeritage earlier in the year and added Genealogy Bank after finishing a year's subscription to newspapers.com. Of course I've been using FamilySearch.org regularly for years, and also Find a Grave. Plus HeritageQuest Online.

Why?

Because one website is simply not enough. Even for something that should be easy, such as searching for a particular ancestor in a specific year of the U.S. Census.

It takes a village of genealogy websites to dig deep, find ancestors, and learn more about their lives.

For me, the most effective village consists of both free and paid websites (accessed individually from home or, at times, accessed for free from a Family History Center or local library).

Focus on Rinehart Family

Here's a mini-case history of how I found two of hubby's ancestors in the 1870 Census, part of my ongoing Genealogy Go-Over to fill in holes and verify information. This should have been straightforward and easy, but it wasn't.

Joseph W. Rinehart (1806-1888) was my husband's 2d great-grandpa, married to 2d great-grandma Margaret Shank (1807-1873).

In constructing the family timeline, I noticed that in 1850 and 1860, the Rinehart family was intact, farming in Tod township, Crawford county, Ohio. In 1880, Joseph was a widower, living with a married daughter in Tod township, Crawford county, Ohio.

What about 1870? That was missing from my timeline for husband and wife and some children. Clicking to search the indexed Census in Ancestry, HeritageQuest Online (yes, I know, same database as Ancestry), and FamilySearch didn't reveal their whereabouts. Nor did it find their youngest child, Nancy.

I then browsed every page of the US Census for Tod township, and for Nevada township in neighboring Wyandot county, where a few children and extended family were living at the time. No sign of Joseph, Margaret, or Nancy. Not as straightforward as I'd hoped.

They Went Where?

Next, I clicked to search the Census on MyHeritage, where I have been building a tree to support my DNA outreach. Up popped a Joseph Rinehart and wife Margaret living with Hugh Rinehart and family in 1870 in . . . Angola, Steuben county, Indiana. (Snippet from the Census is shown here.)

All the details fit, right down to Joseph and Margaret's youngest daughter, Nancy (age 19 in 1870) living there. The head of household was her brother Hugh. Joseph isn't listed as "Joseph W." but it is a clear match. Interestingly, Joseph--the former farmer--is shown in 1870 as a tailor, with real estate worth $3600 and personal estate worth $200.

A big clue is Margaret's birth state of Delaware, which she listed in 1850 and 1860 also. Another clue is the final name, Catherine Ransburg, whose daughter married a Shank (Margaret's maiden name)...they lived in Steuben county, IN, also. Catherine's personal estate was valued at $1500 on the Census.

It's a bit amazing to think of Joseph Rinehart and his wife Margaret making a home with a son 140 miles away from where they used to farm. Especially since I see by the 1880 Census that Joseph was back in Tod, Ohio after his wife died.

I'm currently using my village of websites to look for any news items, obits, social items, etc. hoping to find clues to when/why these ancestors went to Indiana. Again, not an easy search because of the many ways to spell "Rinehart" but I'm still trying. If there's a clue out there, my village of genealogy websites is likely to find it.

Many thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for the "easy" prompt this week in her #52Ancestors series.

Tombstone Tuesday: Joseph Rinehart and Margaret Shanklin

Hubby's great-great-grandfather was Joseph W. Rinehart (1806-1888) and his great-great-grandmother was Margaret Shanklin (or Shankland or Shank, 1807-1873).

These Rineharts are buried in Oceola Cemetery #1, a cemetery that isn't the easiest to locate without precise directions for Crawford County, Ohio. Hubby and I went there a few years ago to photograph their graves and research their lives. It turns out they are the only Rineharts in that cemetery, although other Rineharts that belong to the same family are buried not far away.

There are still so many unanswered questions. What was Joseph's middle name? What was Margaret's real maiden name? Most important, where in Europe did the Rinehart and Shanklin families leave to come to America in the 1700s?

Joseph was reportedly born in Pennsylvania--where? His parents' names are a mystery (father's first name, I don't know; mother's first name was Elizabeth but maiden name unknown). Margaret was reportedly born in Delaware--where? And what were her parents' names? Still researching...

By 1834, they were married and living in Ashland county, OH, where the first child was born. Later, they moved to Crawford county, OH. In all, Joseph and Margaret had 6 children that I know of: Elizabeth Jane, Joseph Charles, Hugh, Mary Elizabeth, Sarah, and Nancy.

On Tombstone Tuesday, I'm remembering them by submitting edits to link the family on Find A Grave.

Sunday's Obituary: Bessie Hostetler Kelsey, Who Married 109 Yrs Ago Today

When Bessie Hostetler was married in Millersburg, IN at high noon on May 31, 1906 to Homer John Kelsey, the Hostetler and Shank families had reason to rejoice.

Bessie was one of four daughters of J. Cephas Hostetler and "Emma" Emily Mary Shank. Emma Shank, Bessie's Mom, was the granddaughter of Lucinda Helen Bentley, who married Jonas Shank.

Beautiful Bessie -- hubby's 2nd cousin, 2x removed -- gave birth to a son at the beginning of April, 1907. Sadly, she died one week later, during an operation in a Fort Wayne hospital, leaving behind a bereaved husband and a newborn baby boy.

I wasn't aware of this tragedy until I read the1914 obit of Emma Shank Hostetler, Bessie's mother (see right). It mentioned how Emma and her husband, J. Cephas Hostetler, took care of their grandson after Bessie's unexpected death.

The Shank family intertwined with hubby's family in other ways. Cornelia Jane Shank, a daughter of Lucinda Helen Bentley, married David Oscar Short in Indiana in 1872. The Short family is related to hubby's Larimer family in cousin fashion.

Sunday's Obituary: James Freeland, Deputy Sheriff (and Life-Long Democrat)

James Freeland (1838-1920) married hubby's great-grand aunt Emma O. Larimer (1848-1923) in Millersburg, Indiana, in December, 1869. They moved next door to Emma's aunt Lucinda Helen Bentley Shank (1825-1903) who was married to a carpenter, Jonas C. Shank (1815-1907). (Jonas Shank was newsworthy as the aged man who took a long walk in my previous blog post.)

Great-grand uncle James had a varied career, serving as deputy sheriff in Goshen, Indiana and then as manager of a furniture company. He was also street commissioner for a time. He began to suffer from "nervous disorders and general decline" and he and his family moved to New York City in 1903, and I found them in 1905 in the NY census. Why exactly did they move? Not known.

James died in 1920, and his obit in the Indiana hometown newspaper says: "All his life Mr. Freeland had been a democrat." Maybe it's not a coincidence that the obit was published in the Goshen Daily Democrat (on September 15, 1920)?

Although I'd love to see Great-grand aunt Emma Larimer Freeland's obit from February 23, 1923, as published in Indiana's Middlebury Independent, Newspaper Archive.com says I can't see it right now because of "a delay with our data backup provider, Amazon Web Services Glacier team." Grrrr.

Amanuensis Monday: "Aged Man's Long Walk"

I just love finding newspaper snippets that paint a picture of an ancestor's personality or daily life.

Case in point: Jonas C. Shank (1815-1907) who married hubby's second great-grand aunt Lucinda Helen Bentley (1825-1903) in 1845. Tomorrow is the 108th anniversary of Jonas's passing and I was looking for his obit when I ran across this paragraph in the Goshen Democrat of February 7, 1903.

"Aged Man's Long Walk" is the headline. Seems great-grand uncle Jonas lived in Lagrange county and was visiting his daughter Jane (Jennie) Shank Short (who married Oscar David Short). He walked home--covering nine miles in 90 minutes. "Mr. Shank is hale and hearty and has comparatively few gray hairs for a man of his age." Winter in Indiana can be chilly, to say the least, so this feat is all the more impressive. In fact, it was so impressive that this snippet was picked up and summarized in the Fort Wayne Sentinel!

These newspaper snippets are interesting, unexpected, and give me a better sense of what an ancestor was really like.

52 Ancestors #39: Great-Great Grandma Margaret Shank or Shankland?

Just 207 years ago this month (September, 1807), hubby's great-great grandma Margaret Shank was born, supposedly in Delaware (according to the 1850 and 1860 censuses). She married g-g-grandpa Joseph W. Rinehart (1806-1888) in the 1830s and they were the parents of 6 children:

• Elizabeth Jane
• Joseph Charles
• Hugh
• Mary Elizabeth
• Sarah
• Nancy (Nannie)

Margaret's maiden name is either Shank (Shenk? Schenk?) or Shanklin, according to various documents. Findagrave has 11 "Shank" folks buried in Crawford County, OH, where Margaret died in 1873 and not one Shanklin. Similarly, Delaware's Findagrave has no Shanklins but some Shanks buried. However, the 1860 Census has 2 Shanklin families in Sussex county, Delaware--but is that because the surname wasn't spelled correctly?

Shanklin might also be spelled Shankland--and there were Shanklands in Delaware, I know from various histories. Looking again at Findagrave, I found no Shanklands in Crawford County but six early Shanklands in Delaware. Checking the 1820 census, I found two Shankland families in Sussex county, Delaware, a Daniel and a Saloman, with very small households. No Shanklands in the 1860 Delaware census, by the way, but 8 Shanklands in the 1860 Ohio census and 15 Shanklins in the 1860 Ohio census (none in Crawford county).

In particular, one couple (Mary [maiden name UNK] Shankland, d. 1855 and William Shankland, d. 1815) are possible parents for Margaret. They were buried in Lewes Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Lewes, Delaware. Was this Margaret's family? More "digging" is in my future.

52 Ancestors #26: Private Hugh Rinehart of Company I, 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Great-grand uncle Hugh Rinehart (1839-1917) was a younger brother of hubby's great-grandma Elizabeth Jane Rinehart. He was born in Ashland County, Ohio.

In the 1860 census, Hugh was listed as a 20-yr-old "farm laborer" living in Crawford county, Ohio, with his parents (farmer Joseph C. Rinehart and Margaret Shank) and four younger siblings (Mary, 18, occupation "sewing;" Joseph, 16, "farm laborer;" Sarah, 13; Nancy, 9).

When the Civil War broke out, Hugh enlisted as a private in Company I, 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a 90-day period in 1861. His particular company included a lot of men from Wyandot County. After being formed, the 15th Infantry guarded the B&O railroad in West Virginia, among other duties.

When Hugh's initial enlistment was up and the regiment was being reformed for three more years of active duty, Hugh took his leave and returned home. Within a week, he had a marriage license to marry Mary Elizabeth McBride (1842-1918). Hugh and Mary had two children: Clara and Charles (another child died young). He became a carpenter in the Wyandot/Crawford county area. Later, he filed for invalid status based on his Civil War service.

Hugh and his wife Mary are buried in Marion cty, Ohio, and his tombstone in Grand Prairie Cemetery reflects his Civil War service.

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.

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??

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #4: The Rinehart Brothers of Crawford County, Ohio

This week is a two-for-one special: Joseph W. Rinehart and his brother, George Rinehart. I'm still trying to find their father.

Joseph W. Rinehart (1806-1888) is hubby's great-great-grandpa. Born in Pennsylvania, he was married to Margaret Shank or Shanklin (1807-1873). Last summer, we visited their graves in Oceola Cemetery #2, Crawford County, Ohio. 

He was a farmer in Tod, Crawford County, and after his wife Margaret died, he lived for a time with his niece Elizabeth Rinehart Hilborn and her husband, Amos Hilborn. This Elizabeth was Joseph's brother's daughter (see 1880 census excerpt).


There were several intermarriages between the Rinehart and Hilborn families. Joseph's daughter Mary Elizabeth Rinehart married Samuel Hilborn, for instance.

On the one hand, a lot of people are tracing the Hilborn tree. On the other, there are mixups between one family's Elizabeth or Mary Rinehart and another, as I can see from Ancestry trees.

George Rinehart (abt 1810-1889), Joseph's brother and Elizabeth's father, was also born in Pennsylvania and also a farmer in Tod. His first wife Mary died in 1872 and then he married Christina Torrence. At the time of this second marriage, he owned 80 acres.

To try to pinpoint who's who and identify ancestors and descendants, I've sent for George Rinehart's obituary and that of Elizabeth Rinehart Hilborn. AND the results are:

George Rinehart's obit, printed in the Wyandot County Republican of July 18, 1889, says "Another pioneer gone to rest." No mention of any other family.

Elizabeth Rinehart Hilborn's obit (published in the Daily Chief of Upper Sandusky, OH on Oct. 27, 1920) says, in part: "She was a daughter of George Reinhardt [sic], who was one of the early settlers in the western part of Crawford county. The date of her birth was June 15, 1835. Besides the one daughter [Mrs. Hannah Hilborn Johnson], there are six grandchildren, one of these, William A. Johnson, living on East Mansfield St, Bucyrus, and being employed in the public service department of the city."

Surname Saturday and Getting Down to the DNA

The newly enhanced Ancestry DNA results are a much closer match for hubby's family tree origins than the old version. Above, the new map of his origins. Below, the summary of his origins, which make sense in the context of the updated Heritage Pie I created for him earlier this year.

Great Britain (England, No. Ireland, Scotland) and Ireland were the original homes of these families from hubby's tree:

• Bentley 
• Denning 
• Larimer
• McClure
• Shehen 
• Slatter 
• Taber 
• Wood

At left, 2022 snapshot of DNA at LivingDNA.

Western Europe was the original home of these families from hubby's tree:

• Demarest
• Nitchie
• Shank
• Steiner
• Rinehart

Surname Saturday: Heritage Pie Updated

Last October, I modified the idea of creating a heritage pie chart of great-great-grandparents and posted my pies with hubby's great-grandparents and my grandparents.

Today I have enough information to post a chart with the birth place of all 16 of hubby's great-great-grands (above). Except for 4 people, all of hubby's great-grandparents were born in the US (mainly Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Ohio). However, not all of the great-great-great-grands were US-born.

Here's what I know or suspect about where the families of each of hubby's great-great-grandparents were from originally:

Ireland: John Shehen and wife Mary (maiden UNK)--have evidence
England: John Slatter Sr. and wife Sarah (maiden UNK)--have evidence of English birth, but this family might have long-ago Irish roots
England: Ancestors of Isaiah Wood Sr.--have evidence
England: Ancestors of Harriet Taber--have evidence
England: Ancestors of Sarah Denning--need evidence
England: Ancestors of Lucy E. Bentley--need evidence
Huguenots (possibly France): Ancestors of Henry E. Demarest--need evidence
Huguenots (possibly France): Ancestors of Catherine Nitchie--need evidence
Scots-Irish: Ancestors of Benjamin McClure--have evidence
No. Ireland: Ancestors of Brice S. Larimer--have evidence
Germany: Ancestors of Jacob S. Steiner--have a clue (a letter from a descendant)
Switzerland: Ancestors of Joseph W. Rinehart--have a clue (a family story)
???: Ancestors of Elizabeth (maiden UNK) Steiner
???: Ancestors of Margaret Shank, who married Joseph W. Rinehart

Surname Saturday: Bentley and Morgan, from New York

One mystery was solved today when the mail brought death file info for Lucinda H. Bentley Shank, my Tombstone Tuesday for this week.

Lucinda's younger sister, Lucy E. Bentley Larimer, is hubby's great-great-grandma. 

This death document confirms that Lucinda's parents were William T. Bentley of New York and Olivia Morgan Bentley of New York. Lucy's document says her mother was "Oliver" [sic] Morgan.

I'm so glad I didn't accept the name shown on family trees contributed by Ancestry users, who said "S.L. Hixon" was Lucy and Lucinda's mother. As if I needed another reason to look at the documentation for myself, this case shows how important it is to DIG DEEPER before coming to a conclusion! 

Tombstone Tuesday: Lucinda H. Bentley Shank

Gone but not forgotten is the inscription on the tombstone of Lucinda H. Bentley Shank and her husband, Jonas C. Shank. They're buried in Eldridge Cemetery, Elkhart county, Indiana.

Lucinda is hubby's 2d great-grand aunt, the older sister of Lucy E. Bentley, who married great-great granddad Brice S. Larimer.

Just three weeks ago, my query posted on Ancestry's Bentley message board put me in contact with a Bentley researcher who had traced more of the Bentley children, finding Lucinda and Lucy in Elkhart county and learning that the rest of their siblings had journeyed to California in search of fertile farmland and a bit of pioneering adventure.

At his suggestion, I sent for Lucinda's death record. Meanwhile, I also contacted the wonderfully knowledgeable and helpful folks at the Elkhart County Genealogical Society, who sent me the above photo (along with at least a dozen other photos of Larimer family tombstones from Elkhart County). 

According to Lucy Bentley Larimer's death doc, William Tyler Bentley and Oliver [sic] Morgan are her parents. Now we want to confirm by reading the names on Lucinda's death cert.