How Sarah Jane Price Became "A Great Pioneer Mother"

My paternal 5x GGrandmother Sarah Jane was born to Susanna and Jehu Price on September 4, 1762 in Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey. She married John Parker in 1782, and had one son. Poor Mr. Parker died in 1788.

In 1790 she married Daniel Ackley with whom she had six children. But was widowed again in 1815 when Daniel drowned. One account is told of Sarah packing up and, with seven children in tow, she "traveled unescorted with her family" to what is now Greene County, Pennsylvania. 

Sarah Ackley died in September of 1851 at age 89. In 1940 she was honored with a monument placed near the Ackley Creek near where she had homesteaded. See her plaque below.

--  The Daily Notes newspaper in Canonsburg, PA, on Monday, August 5, 1940, pages 1 and 3.




-- The Daily Notes paper published this on June 21, 1938, page 1. 


The 1940 paper above mentioned Lucille Ackley Carroll. If you are my paternal 1st or 2nd cousin and wonder how you relate to her or to Daniel and Sarah (Price) Ackley, this may help.


That same Sam Ackley was buried near Lake Keystone in Pawnee County, Oklahoma. 

A Few items On Two Pennsylvania Families

          150+ years ago there were several Lydicks and McCardles in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Many had similar names.


The Indiana Democrat paper published this September 11, 1873, page 6:



From March 12, 1874, The Indiana Democrat, page 3:



The Indiana Democrat paper on page 3, June 24, 1875:



This jail break made the paper on 22 Jul 1875  in The Indiana Democrat, page 3:



This database on Ancestry shows when Union soldier David McCardle first applied for a pension. And after his death, his wife, Barbara Ann (Lydick) McCardle then applied for his widow's pension. From:  U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. 



I found that Mr. McCardle served in the Civil War with Co. E, 177th Regiment PA Infantry and also with Co. F, 206th Reg. PA Infantry. 

This was copied from Ancestry's Pennsylvania, U.S., Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-2012:



His birth year was recorded as 1817.  He was 81 when he passed. Two local papers carried death notices for Mr. McCardle on their front pages. From March 23, 1898 of The Indiana Gazette and The Indiana Democrat:


-- With appreciation to volunteer photographers Debi and Rob Felten who shared this on Findagrave in July 2015. Nice work!



At age 77 Barbara Ann McCardle died at her daughter's home in Missouri. From The Sedalia Democrat, page 1, November 5, 1906:



The Indiana Democrat paper, page 9, on November 7, 1906:








1950 Federal Census With John W and Dorothy (McCormick) Coffee

Happy to find my ancestors living in Dinuba, Tulare County, California in the newly-released 1950 Federal Census. Woo hoo! 

          FROM:  https://1950census.archives.gov/  at ED No. 54-8

          Line 20 - Coffee, John W, head, age 75, married, born in Texas  

          Line 21 - Coffee, Dorothy E, wife, age 74, married, born in Illinois


Now drop down to the questions asked at the bottom of the page, Mr. Coffee is one of six residents who was asked further questions. See No. 20 that is circled?  That line shows his replies. 

via URL:  https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?county=Tulare&name=Coffee&page=1&state=CA

NOTE:  I had earlier posted an incorrect link and image that has since been corrected. Thank you, Carolyn


Prehistoric Irish Were Dark-Skinned And Had Blue Eyes


I'm placing these two links here because the question arose today from my favorite fair-skinned blue-eyed Celtic-descended warrior:

       https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/early-irish-people-were-dark-skinned-with-blue-eyes-documentary-1.4541124


The documentary on this link gives more details:

       https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/irish-0015225

Now I'm craving a Guinness. Here's another of my favorite guys who has Irish DNA:





Abram and Nancy in Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas

          Nearly all of us have 64 great-great-great-great grandparents. I'm getting to know mine. 

          Below are two pages on three sheets showing the marriage of Abram Prim to Nancy Cook in Wilson County, Tennessee on February 19, 1819.

          The second and third image show the backside of the document. I flipped the last page so you could read the bridegroom's name. 


Source:  Ancestry.com. Tennessee, U.S., Marriage Records, 1780-2002 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.


          The 1850 Fed. Census tells me Nancy Elizabeth Cook was born about 1798 in North Carolina. It follows she was about 21 when she married Abram Prim in early 1819. 

          Abram and Nancy were my mother's 3x GGrandparents through her father's side. If you too are related to Arthur, this shows how his dad descends from Abram:



          Abram acquired some land in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Today it is the fifth-most populated area of Tennessee. But then? I wonder if his property was already cleared. Was it "wooded", flat, hilly? Was it good farm land? He and Nank appear there in the 1810 and 1820 Federal censuses. 


         Several land registers at this database mention Abram or Abraham Prim(m) as owner of property. He appears at the bottom of this second image:


Source:  Tennessee State Library and Archives, Ancestry.com. Tennessee, U.S., Early Land Registers, 1778-1927 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.


          The 1830 census finds Nancy and Abram in Limestone County, Alabama--with six children. (It wasn't until 1850 that censuses gave names and ages of wives and children). And that's the last record I have for my Abram. I don't know his birth year nor when he died. The 1830 census indicates he was between the ages of 40 and 49 that year.

          See Abram as the fourth name on the left of this 1830 Fed. census excerpt:



          Abram's widow Nancy (also called Elizabeth) next appears in the 1850 Fed. Census in Johnson County, Arkansas. She is 52, gives a birth location of North Carolina, and lives with her eldest son's family. Both she and daughter Louise are "unable to read or write." That census did not ask marital status as did most others after 1850. 


          This is the last record I find on Nancy (Cook) Prim. No burial location known. She was not living with her son James in the 1860 census, nor with her daughters. 

          It is dangerous to assume in genealogy.  Yet it is a fair assumption that Abram died in Alabama or Arkansas.  Well, then. I can't rule out he didn't up and journey to California in 1849 with a few thousand others, can I?  #GoldRush. 

Franklin County, Arkansas Marriage of 11 August 1871

          I've lost track of my maternal 2nd Great-Grand Aunt Elizabeth Wilhelm Conatser Whitmire.

          Born in Tennessee about 1838, she moved with her family to Arkansas before 1850. She appears in the 1850 Fed. Census with her parents and siblings:  Pleasant Wilhelms age 38, Jane Wilhelms age 38, Elizabeth Wilhelms 12, Mary A Wilhelms 9, Welcom Wilhelms 7, Archibald Wilhelms 5, James Wilhelms 1. Yes, that spelling of "Wilhelms" was used in the transcription. The family lives in White Oak township, Franklin County. 

          The 1860 Fed. Census shows them still in Franklin County as:  "P. Wilhelm" age 47, Jane 46, Elizabeth 20, Welcome (my GG-Grandpa) 15, "C" 14 (Archey), James 10, Angelene 9, and Pleasant age 6. 

          An ugly war soon occurred, and their world turned upside down. Brother Archey was killed. Another fought and was twice taken captive. 

          Elizabeth meets recently-widowed Daniel Conatser. They marry in August 1871. 

           Marriage of Daniel Conatser and Elizabeth Willhelm by Lewis B. Phillips, justice of the peace. Daniel was 46, Elizabeth was 33 years old. 

          Knowing that she was 33 when married in August of 1871 is a strong hint as to her birth year. Census data also gives an approximate birth year. But is not always reliable.

Source Information:  Ancestry.com. Arkansas, Compiled Marriages from Select Counties, 1779-1992 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

          This marriage popped up in three different records--often misspelled, making CONATSER a challenging surname to research:


          After her husband Daniel Conatser died shortly before April of 1880, our 40 year old Elizabeth was left to fend for herself. She appears on the census with her five-year old daughter "M.J.", living with her parents, Pleasant and Virginia Wilhelm. But the spelling on this document. Crimeny!


          And next door to the Wilhelms are Bennet Whitmire and his wife, Mary. See the last two lines of this 1880 Federal census page:


          Neighbor Mary Whitmire died in February 1891. Bennet later married Elizabeth Conatser in 1897. He was 74, she was 59. He died in 1903 and was buried near his first wife. 

          I last find Elizabeth in the town of Hill, Johnson County, Arkansas in the 1900 Fed. Census living with "Bennie Whitmire" 77 and her 86 year old mother, Virginia Wilhelm. Elizabeth's age is given as 61. Did her daughter "M.J." live nearby, I wonder?