Before I Forget

Happy to find this brief mention of my Great-Grand uncle's marriage to Annie Harmon. #OldNewspapersROCK

From The Galveston Daily News, in Galveston, Texas on Sunday, February 1, 1874, page 4:

Barney was 28 years old, and living in Chambers County, Texas. Annie Harmon was 17, and the daughter of Joshua Charles Harmon (1826-1896) and Claraneizo Peveto (1828-1916)--residents of Liberty, Texas.

Annie bore Barney three (known) children before his untimely death in March of 1880 at age 34. Annie then married James Frisbie (1853-1927) in August 1880.

Again, I'm ever so grateful to the web site The Portal To Texas History for its rich database. See for yourself Barney and Annie's marriage license data in print at the bottom of page 4:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth462593/m1/4/zoom/?q=%22Barney%20Weiser%22&resolution=4&lat=859.092419912944&lon=2090.2600374546146

Today I found this article from The Tulsa World newspaper published September 25, 1917, p. 6. It mentions my grandfather and others from Oklahoma who sought exemptions from the draft--and were denied.

My paternal great-grandfather, a child, and his young brothers immigrated to Texas in the early 1850s with their mother. They made their home in Chambers and Liberty counties. They became farmers and laborers. 

My grandfather was born after the death of his father. His mother soon remarried. My grandpa claimed to know little about his own dad. His descendants know very little about his roots.

When a parent dies, their history can easily be lost.

And today I found an article that might involve my great-grandfather or his brothers long ago in southeast Texas. What if this was MY Wiser family? Had to check further!

While searching The East Texas Digital Archives, the phrase 'Wiser's ferry' popped up from The Houston Telegraph newspaper of August 19, 1864. You will recall this was during the Civil War and two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The horrid practice of purchasing and selling humans was still in full swing.

It is doubtful Mr. Harry had yet heard of President Lincoln's proclamation. 

The Trinity River runs several hundred miles in Texas and connects with counties once home to my paternal ancestors. Of course I don't know for certain WHERE this ferry was located in 1864, but it piqued my curiosity. 

Wayne Gard's description of Trinity River mentions the very counties where my interests lie:        https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/trinity-river 

At the northern line of Liberty County the Trinity turns almost directly south, cutting across Liberty and Chambers counties, to drain into Trinity Bay just west of Anahuac (at 29°45' N, 94°42' W). The Trinity flows 423 miles from the confluence of the Elm and West forks to the coast, making it the longest river having its entire course in Texas.

Another man had run away in August of 1843. He allegedly was "bound for Anahuac, on the Trinity Bay" where he might possibly cross into Louisiana? Did he have family there? Many of my ancestors were living on both sides of that divide when Texas was a republic.  

via The Red-Lander paper in San Augustine, published 12 August 1843. 


A second mention of Wiser's Ferry appeared from an article on September 22, 1870. A gentleman named "R." briefly wrote of his "horseback tramp" in The Houston Telegraph paper: 


Again. Where was this ferry located? I can't assume that Texas' only "valley of the Trinity" was near Anahuac. But I'm so very tempted.

I've found no other residents in Liberty or Chambers counties with that Wiser surname until late in the 19th century. I will again check Texas censuses for the mid-1900s for Wisers who lived elsewhere and who operated ferries.

This could be a goose chase, but is one I'll enjoy.  

________________________________

UPDATE: 

The Houston Post on February 3, 1921 has this news from Huntsville, Texas regarding a farmer, Mr. March Charlie Murray, who farmed along the Wiser ferry road:

The Plot Thickens!

My Great-Grandfather Amiel Wiser died in Devers, Texas on a Saturday night, October 26, 1895. He was 50 years old. What illness he suffered is no longer remembered. 

His pregnant widow Sylvina was left to raise eight children--the eldest at 15. The youngest was born seven months later. 

I've found no obituary or death certificate. But I have this brief death notice from The Galveston Daily News on Wednesday, October 30, 1895 for "Mr. Weiser." 

"One of the oldest settlers here" in Liberty County, Texas. A generous remark. But I think there were many alive then who had lived long in Devers. His daughter Nora recalls him saying he had moved from Germany when he was but six years old. (about 1851).

However, Amiel's older brother Louis told a 1867 voting registrar that he had lived in Texas for 13 years. (Arriving about 1854). The tax record indicates he was naturalized in 1859. 

A certificate from April 1853 filed in Galveston County shows their mother Hannah's marriage to Sam Leeper, an early Liberty, Texas resident. It is my earliest record of Amiel's mother. 

Both Amiel (known as "Lemuel"), age 15, and Louis, age 16, appear in the 1860 Federal Census with their mother Hannah Leeper, 36, living near Wallisville in Chambers County, Texas. 

I hope to find more records of my German immigrant ancestor.

In poring over my collection of marriage records, I am reminded not to accept someone's age without question.

Elton married Esther and they both lied about their ages on their marriage license. In reality he was 30. She was 16 years old. Her 17th birthday was six+ weeks away.

Why? Was it because her parents would not have approved? Two pages below show what they told the court clerk:

And no, I know not why a second page covers the top portion. 

The witnesses to their marriage were Wesley Raymond Fox and his bride of one year, Zelma Pearl (Price) Fox. Pearl was Esther's aunt. And Pearl was half-sister to Esther's mom, Evie. Yet Pearl and Esther were both born in 1909. I remember Grandma talking about a "Pearl." If so, perhaps they were close friends then and remained so. Do you know?

Guess who also lied about their ages on their March 12, 1925 marriage license?  Wes is actually 19, but indicates he's 22 years old. Pearl is 16, but says she's 18 years old. 

Pearl's mom, "Anna Price," is named as a witness on the certificate. I don't know why it was necessary to lie about your age, Miss Zelma Pearl. I mean, really!  I've seen plenty of Oklahoma marriage licenses for teenagers who had a parent write their "consent" on the license. Zelma Pearl's mom is a witness and they still "fudged" their ages. Maybe Mom didn't know how young her son-in-law actually was? 

NOT TO BE OUTDONE:   in July of 1929 we have my G-Uncle Ernest and G-Aunt Mabel applying for a license in Creek County, Oklahoma. Young Mable was born on Halloween in 1914. This according to her grave marker (not considered "primary" source-worthy) AND the Oklahoma State Vital Records Index (a better secondary source). 

Ernest was born in 1908. This made the couple 14 and 21, respectively. So WHAT ages did they put on their marriage license? 

Source:  "Oklahoma, County Marriages, 1890-1995." Database with images via FamilySearch. 
NOTE:  Ernest signed it "Earnest" just to confuse future family researchers.

Kids, today. They'll say anything. 

My Wiser family once lived in Liberty County, Texas. The Liberty Vindicator newspaper has been digitized and made available online. 

This took only a couple of mugs of coffee to locate in the search engine. Plenty of cousins named: Weiser, Wiser, Barrow, Abshier, Harmon, Faulk, Reavis, Bond and Carr. 

Next time you take the back roads, stop and pick up a local paper in a small town.

The same type of news is printed today. 

Even though World War I had ended November 11, 1918, a number of American servicemen stayed in Europe to assist the occupation army. Six months later, many assigned to the Headquarter Company's 357th Infantry set sail from St. Nazaire, France on May 26, 1919. Their transport ship home was the USS Huron. Among those soldiers was my grandfather (No. 45) who was soon to land in Newport News, Virginia at Camp Stuart. Well, not that soon. One paper I have shows he arrived on American soil on June 7th. His older brother, Urban, was also on that ship. He is listed as No. 61 on the second image below:

SOURCE:  Ancestry's database: U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939.

Wikipedia tells me:  USS Huron was "formerly the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner SS Friedrich der Grosse (or Friedrich der Große) built in 1896, which sailed Atlantic routes from Germany and sometimes Italy to the United States and on the post run to Australia. At the outset of World War I the ship was interned by the U.S. and, when that country entered the conflict in 1917, was seized and converted to a troop transport. Originally commissioned as USS Fredrick Der Grosse, the ship was renamed Huron — after Lake Huron, the center lake of the Great Lakes — while undergoing repairs and conversion at a U.S. Navy yard. The ship carried almost 21,000 men to France during the hostilities, and returned over 22,000 healthy and wounded men after the Armistice."

Source: US Navy - Photo #: NH 106366-A, Naval History and Heritage Command website, Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8535880, and U.S., WWI Troop Transport Ships, 1918-1919, via Ancestry.com

Private Elton Wiser had enlisted October 3, 1917 from McClain County, Oklahoma. The Army officially released him from duty on June 18, 1919 at Camp Pike in Arkansas. You will see that he served in both France and Germany, and saw battle at St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. Other offensives recorded in his file:  Villers-en-Haye, Puvenelle, Preny, and Sebastapol. 

When I first requested his military file from the National Archives in St. Louis, we were told it had been destroyed in the 1973 fire. But in a later package we were happy to learn the NARA had indeed recovered much of his file--although a bit singed. 

In his final years my grandfather spoke of his time in Europe. And, frequently! I regret I didn't record his stories via audio or pen.  As a child I remember him describing the noise of battle as DEAFENING while the shells fell. How some men frozen with fear didn't duck from bullets headed their way. How his unit missed meals, and went for days without bathing. Funny the things you remember being told as a kid. In particular, Grandpa confused me by bragging that he abstained from drinking wine while in France, as did many of his comrades when off duty.

"Hey, Wiser! Come with us. We're going to the village to drink" they would call to him.

But, no. He was adamant that he never went to bars. Why, I watched the popular 1960's TV show Combat, and knew soldiers drank. Was he just saying this for my benefit? Or was he really a teetotaler. He spoke of it often enough that I thought he "doth protest too much." At least I hope so.

Older relatives recall his painful suffering from what we now call PTSD. Grandpa was so very proud of his service, and was especially honored to have served under General Black Jack Pershing. He kept an 8 x 10 photo of the good general on his wall. See Elton in uniform before his journey to Europe. He was 21 when he enlisted in 1917.

Decades later after learning of his genealogy, I've often wondered this:  Elton's father was born in Sachsen (Germany) in 1845. La famille of his mother had immigrated from France in the early 1700s. Did he ever question the irony of fighting his dad's former countrymen in his mother's homeland?

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.

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?

          I've long wondered why several fellow family historians record a marriage of my 2ndGreat-Grandmother to a Mr. Carman.

          Many family trees have our Hannah with CARMAN as either her maiden name or her surname at the time of her marriage to Samuel Leeper in 1853. Tonight I reviewed the sources attached to these trees, and found a clue.

          But first, a brief timeline of our Hannah.

          My paternal ancestor Hannah was allegedly born in 1824 at a location the 1870 U.S. Federal Census indicates as "Hamburgh." That is the only reference I've found listing Hamburg as her birthplace. She first appears in a U.S. Census in 1860. Both the 1860 and 1880 Federal Census indicate only a birthplace of "Germany."  However, her four young sons have "Saxon" as their birth location in the 1870 census. Saxon = Sachsen or Saxony. There were several thousand German immigrants living in southeast Texas before the Civil War. I imagine few census takers spoke their language. So spelling errors must be considered.

          With that in mind, the very first surname I find attached to Hannah is in her April 19, 1853 marriage certificate to Samuel Leeper. Written in cursive, it appears to be Wosta. Or Woste. Is it a maiden name or a married surname? Maiden names were traditionally requested. And why does she not have the same last name as each of her four young boys: Louis Wiser, Barney Wiser, Amiel Wiser, and Henry Edward Wiser? Because of her different surname, I'm inclined to think Wosta is her maiden name. Have you a different opinion?

          My cousin-researcher, Doris Weiser Jarvis, obtained a certified copy of Hannah and Sam Leeper's marriage certificate. Mrs. Jarvis shared this transcription to the copy attached below:

   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. 

-- Galveston County Courthouse, Record Book No. B, pg. 87, numbered 214.

          Samuel Leeper was 58+ years old when he married Hannah. She was about 28. Exact birth months or days are unknown. Birth years are known only from the censuses held every ten years. At the time of this marriage, Hannah's eldest son was ten and her youngest was one. Only one year old. What few family legends that are remembered in the 21st century speak of our ancestors crossing the Atlantic to America. Surely our Hannah didn't make the transatlantic voyage while pregnant or with an infant! I can't imagine how difficult this might have been for her. Had her husband recently abandoned her? Or died? Would a young mother with little children make such a difficult voyage on her own? 

          No immigration record has yet been found. Several of us have spent hours searching. But my Great-Grandfather Amiel Wiser told his daughter Nora that they had immigrated from Germany when he was six years old. He was born May 31, 1845. (Our only proof is his headstone). So his family may have immigrated about 1851? Amiel was also known as Lemuel or Emeal. His daughter Nora spelled her dad's name as "Emeal" in her letter to her nephew, Urban Weiser, dated June 11, 1957.

          Urban's daughter Doris W. Jarvis transcribed her Aunt Nora's letter and shared this excerpt in July of 2004. I am ever so happy to have it! 

 "I couldn't tell her much for our parents never did talk much about the family. I heard Dad (Emeal) say he came over from Germany when he was six years old. A Mrs. Lafore raised him. And I talked with Mrs. Lafore once when Ed and I was going down to Double Bayou to see old Dr. Morgan. She lived at the mouth of the Bayou there where Dr. Morgans office was. She took me over to her house and showed me the organ our Dad used to play on when he was a little boy. When Dr. Morgan told her I was Lem Wiser's daughter she grabbed me and hugged me. I thought she would never let me go, then she took us over to her house and fixed us a nice dinner, and wanted to know all about our Dad, how he died and where he lived. I don't know why Dad never did tell us about her. Dad had two step-sisters Aunt Racy and Aunt Hannah. They were twins. Old Mrs. Weiser seemed to have married three times, as Aunt Racy and Aunt Hannah's names was Mason."......"Uncle Sam Leaper, (son of Hannah and Sam, Sr.) if you remember, lived with us awhile. and moved there close to Uncle Ben Abshier's, and he died at Ed Clayton's home. Ed Clayton was Aunt Racy's son." (Unquote.)

          Hannah's daughters, Rosa Theresa and her twin sister Hannah (or "Lina") were born June 18, 1860. Rosa's name appears as "Racy" in one census, as spelled by her niece Nora, above. The twins appear on census records with the last name of Leeper. However, Sam Leeper had died April 1, 1855--five years before the twins' birth according to his direct descendant Norma Webb Broach.

          Researcher Norma Broach Webb (1929-2004) has Sam Leeper's death date in her brief biography of her 2x GGrandfather in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Patriot Ancestor Album, Vol. 2. (Published 2001, Turner Publishing Co., and available via Google Books). 

          And as for Hannah's twin daughters? I have not found any record showing Rosa or young Hannah with the last name of "Mason" as indicated by Nora Wiser in her letter of 1957. Not yet. I've researched any/all Masons living in southeast Texas. Have found only census pages showing twin sisters' maiden name of Leeper or Leaper.

          Indeed, Rosa's marriage certificate with Josephus S. Clayton reads:

"The State of Texas, County of Chambers Clerks office 29th May 1878, To any ordained Minister of the Gospel, Judge of the District or County Court, or Justice of the Peace, Greeting; You are hereby authorized and directed to celebrate the rites of matrimony between Mr. J.S. Clayton and Miss Rosa Leaper. Herein fail not and of this License made due return within Sixty days as the law directs. Given under my hand and official seal at office in Wallisville this the 29th day of May A.D. 1878." Signed by Jno. R. Wooten, Clerk. "Received 6th June 1878 and executed same day by meeting the within named parties at the home of Mrs. Hannah Leaper at Double Bayou, Chambers County in the holy bonds of matrimony." Signed: J. W. Hankamer, Justice of the Peace

          Nor can I find any record of Hannah marrying a Mr. Mason or any Mason who lived near our Hannah in Chambers or Liberty Counties in Texas. I will continue to search, as my Great-Aunt Nora's letter points to a Mr. Mason as the father of Hannah's twin girls. Family history is indeed a challenge for part-time sleuths!

BACK TO MR. CARMAN:  So what is the source for my cousins who list Hannah with the surname of Carman? When I first saw this name attached to Hannah's many trees online, I scoured censuses in southeast Texas in for neighboring Carmans. In a gentler time a woman having a child outside of marriage was scandalous. Admiration for my 2xgreat-grandmother would not wane were I to discover the twins and/or other children of illegitimate birth. But I found few Carmans.  

          Cousin-genealogist Kevin Ladd (1954-2014) once wrote: 

          I still don't see any connection. Nor why the name Carman is attached to German immigrant Hannah in Ancestry "trees." But some researchers referencing a Mr. Carman indicate an 1849 marriage date. Tonight's search on Ancestry.com/ offered this record:


           This record is of a Hannah Carman who married a Samuel Leeper in Mason County, Illinois. Bingo! Sam married a Hannah. Must be OUR Hannah, right? Noooo, not so fast. Do the math. Our Sam Leeper was too busy in Texas to take a buggy or stagecoach journey 800 miles to Mason County, Illinois then return home with three small boys? Only to re-marry Hannah in 1853 Galveston. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad wasn't built until the early 1870s. Let's see what old Sam was up to in the late 1840s. Was he anywhere near Illinois? 

          On May 19, 1839 Hannah's future husband Sam Leeper married Lucy Marie Carr in Galveston, Texas Republic. It was his second marriage. His first marriage in Washington County, Virginia in 1816 to Sarah Bonham sadly ended in 1823 with her death. Sam appears in tax records for 1840 and 1846 in southeast Texas. That clever Sam, age 55, appears TWICE in the 1850 Federal Census: Once at Galveston while living in the household of Mr. J H Fredenburgh, and also as Sam "Leiper" at his home in nearby Liberty. Lucy also appears in the Liberty census with her daughter Emily and her husband James Yeoman. Perhaps to assist in taking care of their one-year-old grandson, William? To further confuse researchers, a "Saml Luper" appears August 24, 1850 in a "Federal Census Non-Population Schedule" for Liberty, Texas. Our Samuel had fought at both Bexar and the Battle of San Jacinto and had been awarded hundreds of acres of "bounty land" for his military service. Land that was bequeathed to his widow, Hannah Leeper. If you've registered, please see this link of Hannah Wosta's 1853 marriage to Samuel Leeper:

  https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F6YY-CN1

          Am I missing something? If my ancestor Hannah married a Mr. Carman I would love to see the source. She evidently met with some gentleman in late 1859 (as evidenced by her twin daughters' birth on June 18, 1860). But why he wasn't living with our 36-year-old Hannah in 1860 or in the later 1870 census, I can't explain.

         I welcome comments on our Hannah. She's one of my favorite genealogy "brick walls." FamilySearch is free, but requires registration. Hannah and her boys appear in the 1860 Federal Census on this FamilySearch page:

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

_________

Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6YY-CN1 : 22 December 2016), Samuel Leeper and Hanna Wosta, 19 Apr 1853; citing Galveston, Texas, United States, county courthouses, Texas; FHL microfilm 1,008,865