For Shirley--My Third Cousin

June 1, 2024 Update:  The photo of Sam Leeper that was previously shown in this blog post has been removed--but not the text. Today I learned from a family who had the same photo in their possession that their grandfather had written the name "Samuel Looper" on the back side. That Sam was born and raised in Overton County, Tennessee.  

___________________________

MEET SAME LEEPER, SR.  Was I ever happy to get a "shaky leaf" hint from Ancestry about a photograph shared by a kind researcher, David Oliver. The photo was of Sam! A man who was once guardian of my Great-Grandfather and his brothers. A man who married my 2xGreat-Grandmother Hannah after she immigrated with four youngsters and possibly felt a little desperate as a single mom in a new land. Sam. A husband who died a few days before their second wedding anniversary, and missed seeing the birth of his son on Christmas that same year. 

I've no idea as to its authenticity of this photo as it came with no other information. But I was thrilled, as you can imagine. My paternal grandfather used to refer to him as "Old Man Leeper."  I wish as a child I had recorded  e v e r y  comment heard about this Sam and his third wife Hannah, our direct ancestor:

[photo deleted June 2024]


LEEPER - WOSTA MARRIAGE LICENSE OF APRIL 19, 1853, GALVESTON, TEXAS:  Please note the names of the parties written on the upper LEFT-hand corner. The spelling of WOSTA is given as Hannah's maiden name, or married name or what? Did she even speak English at that time? Galveston was filled with immigrants from all over. The newspapers (yes, now online) show many ships arriving daily, with the amount of passengers. Surely someone translated if Hannah was not yet bilingual. Yipes, this document drives me crazy with curiosity!

This certified copy was obtained by our cousin-researcher, Doris Weiser Jarvis, and dated 12 Jan. 1990. Here is Doris' transcription of the above document:

   The State of Texas, County of Galveston. "To any regular ordained Minister of the Gospel, Judge of the District Court, Judge of the County Court, or Justice of the Peace. I hereby authorize any one of you to celebrate the rites of matrimony between Samuel Leeper and Hannah Wosta and due return of your proceedings hereon to me, at my Office, make within Sixty Days, as the law directs." Signed my county clerk, and certified by F. B Whiting, Justice of the Peace. Marriage celebrated on 19th day of April A.D. 1853. Record Book N0. B, pg. 87, numbered 214. (Certified copy.)


NOTE:  Please click ONCE anywhere on an image to enlarge it. And to return to this page, CLICK ONCE INSIDE AN IMAGE TO RETURN. Only once, mind you. 

Shirley, I've seen several instances of distant cousins' research showing our Hannah's maiden name (or a married name) of CARMEN. But with no credible source. Some link her to another Hanna Carmen, one born in another state with children with different names. None of whom seem to have any connection to southeast Texas. Please read this link to my blog post about this. I also write in that post of a letter by one of Amiels' daughters that I find fascinating:


          http://treepig.posthaven.com/my-hannah-leeper-was-not-ever-hannah-carman

Another post elsewhere on this blog is a brief TIMELINE of Hannah Leeper. Please click the link below this paragraph to go directly to it. I found a record in January of 1893 where our Hannah was a grantee in a real property transaction. This is the LAST mention of her living that I have found so far. Shall we take a drive down to Austin and see the actual document? Perhaps her signature is on it, woo hoo!

          http://treepig.posthaven.com/timeline-of-hannah-wosta-leeper

Texas Land Title Abstracts

Grantee: Mrs. Hannah Leeper

Certificate: 36/72

Patentee: D. P. Cowsert

Patent Date: 28 Jan 1893

Acres: 126.58

District: Bexar

County: Kimble

File: 2523

Survey/Blk/Tsp: 53 1/2

Patent #: 5

Patent Volume: 8

Class: Bex Don


Source:  Ancestry.com. Texas Land Title Abstracts [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: Texas General Land Office. Abstracts of all original Texas Land Titles comprising Grants and Locations. Austin, TX, USA.

MARRIAGE LICENSE of Barney Wiser and "Anna Harmon" - Transcribed by researcher/cousin:  Doris Weiser Jarvis, and shared with this writer on 18 July 2004:

    The State of Texas, County of Galveston. To any Regular Ordained Minister of the Gospel, Judge of the District Court or Justice of the Peace:

 I Hereby Authorize any one of you to celebrate the Rite of Matrimony between Barney Wiser & Anna Harmon and due return of your proceedings hereon to me, at my Office, make within Sixty Days, as the law directs.

Witnessed by Clerk of the Dist. Court on the 27th day of Jan. A.D. 1874. The Rite of Matrimony between the above named parties was duly celebrated by the undersigned on the 29th of January 1874, signed by L. (?) R. Sherman, Justice of the Peace. Marriage Book N0. E, pg. 435, N0. 32. 

On 24 January 1874: "To the County Clerk of Galveston county, greetings. Sir you are hereby Authorized and requested to issue licence of matrimony to Barney Wieser and Miss Anna Harmon who is to be married by our consent." Signed by Joshua Harmon and Mrs. Cleonize Harmon. (Handwritten.)
______________________



This link below is to my blog post about Barney's older brother, Louis Wiser. I hope you can easily access it:

       http://treepig.posthaven.com/louis-wiser-hannahs-eldest-son


MEET BARNEY'S TWIN BROTHER, AMIEL:  


Here are a few of Amiel's sons. The son on the far left was named after him, and his nickname was "Amie." My grandfather is next to him:


You know THIS couple, Henry "Eddie" Wiser and Stella Lee. It's the only photo I've seen of either of them. In reviewing my notes just now, I had forgotten that Stella's paternal grandmother was an Abshier. My grandfather married one of her cousins. So, you too descend from Weed and Abshires. (No news to you, but a light bulb just went off here!)  Kevin Ladd (now passed), another cousin/researcher and former museum curator once wrote that our Abshires (allegedly from Germany) changed the spelling to ABSHIER upon moving from Louisiana to Texas in the 1840s. Not that it was any definitive event. It just began showing up in records and then was perpetuated. I'm told the original spelling was ABCHER back in Europe. 



BOUNTY LAND CERTIFICATE FOR SAN JACINTO VETERAN SAM LEEPER AND/OR WIFE, HANNAH:


And, the backside of the document:


You most likely have seen this record from Texas military records of Sam Leeper's bounty award for service in the battles of San Jacinto and Bexar. I got this copy from the San Jacinto Museum website:


Sam's son, Sam Leeper's death certificate. Several of our family have apparently spent their last hours at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Beaumont:


And the death certificate of Hannah's daughter, Rosa, who married Joseph Clayton. Her twin sister Hannah (Lina) is one of my brick walls in my research. WHERE did that girl go!


ONE CONUNDRUM:  We spoke last week of how Hannah's twin daughters appear in records with different surnames. Rosa's death record above has their birth date as 1859--four years after the death of Sam Leeper.  And Rosa had three children whose death certificates mention their mother's maiden name as LEAPER or LEEPER. Those three--Alice, Dan and Viola Clayton, have family members who were "informants" to their death certificates.

But one son, Gilbert Crosby Clayton, has as HIS parents' names: Joseph Clayton and "Rosa MAYS." Mays? His wife, Willie Clayton, was the informant who gave that data to the medical examiner back in 1958. So either Willie remembered something about her mother-in-law that has been lost to the rest of us. Or she guessed incorrectly.

This name MAYS jumped off the page at me because several cousin-researchers have alternative names for the twins. Among them, is the surname MASON. And yes, I've spent quite a bit of time looking for eligible men named Mr. Mason living in Chambers and Liberty County--near our widowed Hannah. The Texas marriage and death databases are many and varied (with nicknames and misspellings!) and I find no hint of Rosa's twin sister. That twin appears in census records as Hannah or Lina. I think I've seen a "Lisa" too. Call it muddying up the waters, but now I've added "MAYS" as a possible birth daddy to the twins. That Hannah Wosta Wiser Leeper was ONE interesting ancestor, eh?

Here are three brief articles from The Liberty Vindicator newspaper on Eddie Wiser. The first was published June 14, 1901. The second, on August 16, 1912. The third was dated February 2, 1917.




Thomas Theodore Foster

     This bit of Sunday morning research is for my friend and neighbor, John. 


      Here is your ancestor with his parents in the 1860 Federal Census. But first, please click ONCE anywhere on an image to enlarge it. And to return to this page, CLICK ONCE INSIDE AN IMAGE TO RETURN. Only once, mind you.  (If you mistakenly hit your back button you will be sent to who knows where)


     This shows proof of Buck's capture at Peach Tree Creek. The first of three pages shows the WHOLE page. The second is cropped to easily read the title/headings for each column. The third shows an enlarged snip from LINE 9--where Lt. Foster's info begins. Reminder, click once inside an image to enlarge it. CLICK AGAIN to return to this page:





SOURCE:  Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865, via Ancestry


     A letter written--but never sent. Possibly written in 1862? On April 21st. Did Lt. Foster send other letters that were saved by your family? I hope so. 


     No image here, but I found this record showing he also served with a Tennessee unit:

Name: Thomas Theodore Foster

Birth Date: 27 Aug 1840

Birth Place: USA, Alabama, (Stevenson) Jackson County

Enlistment Date: Oct 1861

Enlistment Age: 21

Military Branch: Infantry

Regiment or Unit: 42nd Tennessee Regiment

Company Unit: H

Enlistment Info: Camp Cheatum, 3rd Lieutenant

Remarks: Served until captured at Ft Donaldson 1862/02. Exchanged in 1862/09. Reenlisted 1st Lieut in 55th Al Inf Co H in 1862/09 at Vicksburg Miss. and served until captured at Peachtree Creek 1864/07/20 remained in prison until 1865/04.; Address 1907 Stevenson, Alabama

Author: Census Tax Assessor Jackson Co 1907 and 08


Source:  Alabama, Civil War Soldiers, 1860-1865 via Ancestry


     This record has Lt. Foster "killed." The extract reads:

Name T T Foster
Military Unit 55th Alabama Infantry Regiment
Military Unit - Company H
Muster Roll Date 1864 - 08 Aug
Rank Lieutenant
Place of Enlistment - State Alabama
Roll # 556
Archive Collection # SG025062-1

Source:  Alabama Civil War Muster Rolls, 1861-1865



     This is another terrific document. So grateful to archivists who preserve these records! First, the whole page. Then, a cropped image on Lt. Foster. This is a database of a 1907 census taken in Alabama of living Confederate veterans:




SOURCE:  Alabama Department of Archives & History; Montgomery, Alabama; Alabama Census of Confederate Soldiers, 1907 and 1921; Roll: Multiple Regiments (Jackson County #36); Roll Number: 200


     Awesome photo of Lt. Foster's dad, Thomas Boyd Foster. Findagrave tells me he was born July 20, 1810 in Wythe County, Virginia. Died February 9, 1895 in Stevenson, Alabama. Quite the Southern gentleman. I wonder which of his hundreds of descendants now has his Bible?


     My, oh my, Alabama is sharing Last Wills & Testaments on Ancestry. I hope you can read the small print from 2xGrandfather Thomas Boyd Foster's probate file:



Source: Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999, Will Records, Vol 1, 1892-1895 for Jackson County


     A generous researcher on Ancestry shared a photo of "Uncle Buck Foster's Home" and indicated it was "Between Edgefield and Stevenson, AL." As his or her source, she writes: "From the family photo collection with Dianne Wimberley Lee."  Great photo! I'm sure you've seen it before. Can you identify the people in it?


     I believe we only spoke of military records, but I'm smitten with this 19th century family and can't stop. I'm sure you have seen this before from January 8, 1879. By the way, is it Wimberley or Wimberly? I see it spelled both ways.


Source: Ancestry.com. Alabama, County Marriages, 1805-1967


How fortunate your family took and KEPT photos!  The description near this image below reads: 


     "Back row (L to R): Hugh Caperton Foster, Sallie Munford Mason, Margaret Tennessee Wallace (wife of R. A. Foster).  


      Front row (L to R): Nancy Brewer Foster, A. B. Foster (b. 1843), Thomas Boyd Foster, and Mary Katherine F. Wimberley Photo courtesy of Ron and Diane Lee. Woman listed as Sallie Mason is likely Louisa Josephine Jones Foster (wife of Hugh C. Foster)"



       You've seen these, I know. But your ancestors' final resting place appears to be in a beautiful setting. Is it on private property? In a rural area or near a town? I hope it is well preserved. First, Lt. Foster's mother, Eleanor Susan Cowan Foster:



12:31 p.m. NOTE:  I know of more records I can get on Fold3. But that will be for another time. Please check back. BTW, comments can be shared below. Email addresses are kept private, but used just to insure no bot is trying to infiltrate my wee blog. There is this dang captcha thingamajig that might be difficult to read. Don't you just loathe captchas! I most certainly do. But comments left below can be seen by others and corrections to my blog post can be helpful if read by other descendants.  This has been fun! 










Was My Great-Grandfather Amiel Wiser A Confederate Soldier?

My Great-Grandfather and his twin brother Barney were born 172 years ago today--May 31, 1845 in Sachsen or Saxony in what is now Germany. His daughter wrote that he and his three brothers immigrated with their mother to Texas when he was six years old.

My other relatives born around 1845 nearly all served in America's Civil War, as did yours. But I hadn't found proof or any hint of Amiel and Barney having joined the Confederacy. No such memory or story has been passed down to their many descendants.  

This past Memorial Day weekend I again ran my ancestors' names through Fold3's military databases. What a happy surprise to find mention of a Wiser from Chambers County, Texas:


Amiel and Barney's mother Hannah had married Sam Leeper in April of 1853 at Galveston, Texas. Sam became the guardian of her four young sons before his death nearly two years later. Because he had received hundreds of acres of Texas land for his service in the Battles of Bexar and San Jacinto, this land passed to his wife. "Honey Leiper" or "Hanna Leaper" are some of the many misspelled names for Hannah Leeper found on land records in state archives at Austin. 

The image above was the only page or reference in that database to Barnard Wiser, Texas soldier.

Source:  Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-65, NARA (National Archives), Publication No. M346, also known as the Citizens File - original records pertaining to goods furnished or services rendered to the Confederate government by private individuals or business firms.

But wait! Fold3.com has a second database with mention of my Wisers. Because military documents were often folded in thirds (hence the name Fold3) this first image shows the soldier's name as the title to the folder:


The second page is dated February 13, 1865, and is addressed to Captain J.W. or J. M. Lacone, C.O. (commanding officer) of Chambers County, Texas, and stamped by the Record Division of the War Department: Rebel Archives. 

See the two names in the upper left? Barney and his twin, "Amel Wiser." Why their names are written phonetically, I can only imagine. Bad handwriting led to confusion by another clerk who wrote what he thought he saw on paper? Were my ancestors illiterate and therefore clerks guessed at spelling? 

FEBRUARY 13TH, 1865:  Amiel is my great-grandpa, and I'm thrilled to see his name on paper from 1865 (even if he did serve in Texas with a loser army). Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to return to this page:




Wait for it: In this next document, Hannah gave permission for her boys to join the Confederacy. 


And now my research goes out the window because Hannah gave a different birth year than what I had for the twin brothers. Not 1845--but 1850. 

This makes no sense to me. Census records indicate the Wiser boys were born in Germany. The brothers all have the last name of Wiser. To my knowledge, none used Sam Leeper's surname. Immigration records would have their ages, but no such papers have yet been found. Don't you too love a mystery!


Hard to read? Here's my transcription: 

The State of Texas   )

Chambers County    )

          Before me James Jackson Chief Justice of said County this day personally appeared Hanor Leiper to me well known, who being duly sworn by me deposed and said that that Barnard and Amel Wiser my sons and that said Barnard and Amel were both (twins) born in the Spring of the year; in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

          In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and affixed the seal of the County Court of Chambers County this 13th day of February A.D. 1865

          James Jackson Chief Justice C.C.


Source:  Unfiled Papers and Slips Belonging in Confederate Compiled Service Records, NARA, Publication No. M347, Papers of and Relating to Military and Civilian Personnel, compiled 1874-1899, documenting the period 1861-1865.


My only source for the twin brothers' birth date is Amiel's tombstone, which reads:

                    Amie Wiser 
                    Born  May 31, 1845 
                    Died  Oct 28, 1895 
                    Blessed are they that die in thee LORD 


The 1860 Federal Census (see copy in link attached) indicates the twins were 15 years old, born in 1845. See the actual census page linked here. On lines 39 and 40--at the bottom of the page, you will see Hannah Leeper and eldest son, Louis Wiser. Click the arrow next to "Image" to go to the next page, Image No. 4, to see Amiel (here as "Lemuel") and brother "Barny" on lines 1 and 2.

                   https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXFX-MJ8


Their half-brother, Sam Leeper, appears on line 3. Little Sam never knew his father. Sixty-year-old Samuel Leeper died April 1, 1855--nearly nine months before Sam, Jr.'s birth on Christmas Day, 1855.

-- This post will be amended as more data is found. I wanted to celebrate their birthdays and post it today. I welcome your comments below. 

I am grateful that my great-granddad's mom Hannah feared losing her twin boys in battle, and therefore lied about their ages. Can you think of any other reason why a German immigrant would give false data to a Texas judge?









1942 WWII Draft Cards Destroyed

Where have I been that I am just learning "the original draft registration cards for the following states were destroyed." The cards were not first microfilmed. Oh, this makes me sad. A wealth of information is lost for those researching family from these states:

          Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee

Ancestry has updated one of its World War II databases for U.S. male citizens who registered. At the link below non-subscribers can see limited data on family who were born between April 28, 1877 and February 16, 1897--men who were between 45 and 64 years old, and not already in service. Need a lookup?  Send me your guy's legal name, and I'll copy it for you.

          The Old Man's Draft: http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1002

WHY I ADORE DRAFT CARDS: There have been many many times that I've not known where a relative was born or what his complete birth date was. Some family who appeared tall to me when I was five are instead listed as short in draft cards. Men whose black and white photographs taken when they were seniors were described as having red hair when drafted. Or having a ruddy complexion. Something I would not have known otherwise! Outside of a written narrative or medical records, military documents may provide the only proof of a someone's physical characteristics. 

While some short-sighted administrator in Georgia may have destroyed its 1942 collection, I found this link to many Georgia draft cards scanned by FamilySearch from the National Archives in St. Louis:

         https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1880573?collectionNameFilter=false

And there are two other databases for 1942 World War II draft cards at FamilySearch.org. Both are online and FREE to search. One is indexed and the other is not yet indexed by volunteers. Did you know that index is one of my favorite words? See the scanned docs here:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1861144?collectionNameFilter=false

 and 

 https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1339071?collectionNameFilter=false


Family Record of Beatrice Willhelm Steeves

          My mother's Aunt Bea was a family historian and quite a storyteller.

          Beatrice Willhelm, born 1907 in Santa Anna, Texas, was by occupation a registered nurse. Her work in health care took her to Texas, Montana, and California. I don't know when she became interested in genealogy, but am so very grateful for her effort in compiling this Family Record. 

          Over the years I've spoken online with others familiar with her manuscript. Some reported it had been passed down from older relatives--now deceased. Imagine the amount of time Bea spent in writing distant cousins asking for birth and death dates, pictures, and stories about their grandparents. Did she give a happy shout when the mailman brought her photos of ancestors by return mail? Or when she was mailed torn obits from faded newspapers?

          Attached are 21 pages of Bea's Willhelm Family Record and Hurley Family Record that she combined into one manuscript. I scanned my copy of a copy from another copy. I've never seen an original manuscript of Bea's work.

          I have omitted info on living people as you will see from pages containing but a few typed sentences. (Copies are available to family by request n the Comment box below). Hold your cursor over the gallery of images to find the horizontal scroll bar. Move the scroll bar to the right to see ALL of the 21 pages. Feel free to download each image. I know Aunt Bea would want you to have a copy for personal use--not commercial use.


          As to where Bea's trove of research is now, I would love to know. What a treasure she may have had in her collection of old letters and documents from the 19th century. WHERE are they now?

          Meet Aunt Bea in two photos below. One image from her later years. Another as she appeared in 1928 Lubbock, Texas with my grandmother, Audrey Coffee (on the left):


          In 2002 another researcher and a second cousin, Marsha F. White, mailed photos of my ggrandparents' family. I do so appreciate Marsha's generosity!  She too descends from George Freeman Hurley and Nancy Abigail Smith--parents of Beatrice's mother, Lena.

          Lena's legal name was Rebecca Orlena Hurley. She married William Edgar Willhelm in Katemcy, Texas on December 8, 1889. But you can read all that in Bea's document. (George and Nancy Hurley appear elsewhere on my blog. Find them with a keyword search).  I'll hush now and show the marvelous photos from our Hurley cousin. Attached are scanned copies of the originals she sent. I also have copies that have been touched-up, but want you (family) to see the originals. 

         First, from left to right, are the children of Lena & Edgar Willhelm:  Olive, Glenn, Arch, Bea, May (standing), Fred, and Art. Little Beatrice appears to be about four or five, don't you think? That would put this photo around 1912. The duplicate pic below is one that my sister touched up a bit. Remember to click ONCE inside a picture to enlarge it. Click just once to return to this page.



          Second, from L to R, sisters Lois & Edna May Alexander--daughters of May Willhelm. Then Glenn and his sister Frieda, with their brother Harold behind them. (Children of Fred and Bertha Willhelm). 


          3.  My Grandpa Art said his mother Lena was a "ginger." Here is Lena with her husband Ed Willhelm.



          4.  I think these are the youngest Willhelm children Beatrice, Art, and Olive with what may be school books. My grandfather Art is in the second photo. I am so happy to have these early photos!


          5.  Two photos of Lena and Ed Willhelm's entire family. Dates and locations are unknown. Do you know more? 



Source:  Steeves, Beatrice Willhelm Reiswig, 1907-1995. Willhelm Family Record & Hurley Family Record. 1973. Raw data. St. Helena, Napa, California, USA.  A family history and genealogy of Tobias Willhelm (1760-1834) and Daniel Hurley (1817- 1859) and their descendants.


Thanks for stopping by!