Before I Forget

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. 

          Born April 26, 1850, my maternal 2xGGrandmother may not have ever left the county her family had called home for decades if it weren't for the Civil War.

          The daughter of Andrew Smith (1817-1893) and Rebecca "Sadie" Carroll (1823-1900), Nancy and her parents were born in Davidson County, North Carolina. See Nancy's family in the 1850 Federal Census:

          Can't say for certain. I can only speculate why this Nancy and George would want to move far from familiar surroundings. But having learned Nancy's husband, when as a 17 year old Confederate soldier, had been in a Yankee prison at Hart's Island outside of New York City, AND had lost an older brother who had fought near their North Carolina home, might George and Nancy have wanted to leave their battle-scarred state? Start somewhere altogether new? 

          Boy, did they find "new." Wild and woolly Texas certainly was unique. By the 1870s Texas was in full-tilt Reconstruction. Much has been written about that period. Not an easy time for many folk. 

          Nancy Abigail Smith and George Freeman Hurley married the day before Christmas in 1868. She was 18, he was 21. By the next Christmas, they were in Titus, Texas. Did they travel by train, or wagon or how? The 1870 Federal Census has them in Red River County, near Clarksville. In September of that year, my great-grandmother Rebecca was born in Gray Rock in Red River County. 

Source:  Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.  Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.


          By the 1880 Federal Census, the Hurleys were living in Mason County, Texas where Nancy lived the remainder of her life. Cousin Betty Foree told me this was the home they built outside of Katemcy. The cute little squirt on the far right was born in 1894. That gives us an idea of when this photo was taken. Please click once on the image to enlarge it. You just have to see it all! Isn't it a splendid photo.

"After settling in Mason County, TX in the early 1870's, Nancy Hurley had an ash hopper where she made her own lye for homemade soap; she carded the cotton grown on the farm, spun the thread on a hand turned spinning wheel, and knitted stockings for her family of twelve. Melissa Hurley Pirtle can remember the stockings she wore to school the first year.

Like other farm families, the Hurleys raised practically all of their own food: ground their cornmeal, as well as the coffee beans Nancy roasted; made syrup, pickles, hominy, and sauerkraut (ijn a barrel in the chimney corner, and dried the fruits. The men butchered and cured the meat. Nancy carried the water for washing, using a rub board, from the nearby creek or drew it by bucket from the hand-dug well. For supplies they could not raise, the men went in a wagon to Brownwood, staying two nights on the road and spending one night in the wagon yard.

          What I want to know is, are George or Nancy the reason for the red hair gene that is passed down in my family? Nancy's great-granddaughter Elta once told this writer that her father, Art Willhelm, commented on his new granddaughter's hair color. Art said that baby Diane had the same hair that his mother Rebecca had when he was a boy.  #Ginger

          UPDATE on this last Monday of 2019:   Wait. I forgot I had uploaded this back in 2014 from George Freeman Hurley's military file. George was also a ginger when he was a Confederate teenager:

          A Revolutionary War pension record tells me my maternal fifth great-grandfather spent two years with the Continental Army: 

Source: U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900 via Ancestry.com

          Benjamin Carroll served under a Quaker from Rhode Island: Major General Nathanael Greene, who later was nicknamed "The Savior of the South" and "The Fighting Quaker." (No, I did not misspell General Greene's first name).  Because it is difficult to read, here's my attempt at transcribing this Certificate of Pension. 

North Carolina    29759

Benjamin Carroll

Orange, in the State of North Carolina who was a private in the ____ commanded by Captain ___ of the R___ commanded by C. Tanner in the North Carolina: for 2 years

Inscribed on the ___ of North Carolina at the rate of 80 Dollars and no Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of march, 1831.

Certificate of Pension issued the 17th day of July ____

     ___ to the 4th of Sept. 34 $280

     ___ allowance ending Mar: 35. $42

           (Total:)    $320

Revolutionary Claim Act June 7, 1832

Recorded by ___: Rice, Clerk 

Book E Vol. ___ Page 49

            Benjamin, son of alleged Irish immigrant, Stephen Carroll, was born in what is today Orange County, North Carolina on Christmas Day 1753. I've no proof of his parents--as yet. But I was happy to learn the name of his bride's father, my 6 X GGrandpa. This marriage bond document shows what Mr. Christian Peeler posted for his daughter, Nancy.  (Click once to enlarge image)

          I think this image is beautiful! Connecting the dots is my idea of fun. Yay Nancy and Benjamin, my fifth great-grandparents! Glad to meet you (even if it is on paper). 

 Source:  North Carolina, Marriage Index, 1741-2004, via Ancestry.com, County Court Records FHL #0823664 and 0418148

          Benjamin lived until the end of January of 1846, and is buried at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I understand that his widow Nancy requested and received his pension from the Revolutionary War. (I will post that later)

          For my Willhelm cousins, here are two images showing our relation to ancestors Ben and Nank:

          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!