I'm Baaaaaaack......

Back from Ohio, that is!

I've found many an interesting discovery and I can't wait to have the time to sit and transcribe my findings. Unfortunately I have tedious drudgery like working to put food on my table. How dare that get in the way of my genealogy!

Seriously, updates will come as soon as I can put fingers to keyboard. I look forward to exploring my findings here on this blog.

Tombstone Tuesday - The Ogle Boys

For Tombstone Tuesday tonight I figured I'd feature a stone that doesn't have anything to do with either of my families......for a change!

I came across this stone in the Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas County, Texas. A co-worker of mine told me about the cemetery and piqued my interest when he said that Clyde Barrow, of the famous Bonnie and Clyde, was buried there. It was only about fifteen minutes away from the house so I figured, why not?

The cemetery is smack dab in an older area of town, traffic going by at a million miles an hour, and it seemed strange to walk the cemetery because of that. I'm used to going to small cemeteries out in the middle of nowhere, where the only thing you hear is the chirping of birds or maybe the occasional car. It was still a peaceful place but it was punctuated with the sounds of society.

I spotted Clyde and his brother Buck right off. I didn't want to leave that early, though, so I wandered a bit. The stone whose picture is above is the one that struck me the most. The inscription says (as best as I could make out) :

In memory of David T. Ogle
Born in Sanwan County California January 22, 1859 died Aug 28th 1861 aged 2 years, 8 mos and __ days

Also E. D. Ogle born Jan 17th 1861
died November 26th 1863 aged 2 years 9 mos & 25 days

Brothers, most likely, and hand carved. It stuck out like a sore thumb because it didn't look like any of the rest -- it poignantly reminded me of the stones one sees in the old burial grounds in New England and not in some north central Texas city. Doesn't it to you? I saw it and thought that it looked like it just didn't belong there.

The stone's details are fascinating, if a bit misleading. Sanwan County? I looked it up and there doesn't appear to be one, now or in the past. Some Californians could tell me if that's accurate, I'm sure. Perhaps the carver just meant San Juan. If so, did they mean San Juan Capistrano? San Juan Bautista? North San Juan?

We might never know which they meant. It looks like the Ogle family was in California in 1859 but by 1861-1863, when little David and little E.D. died, they were living near this Dallas cemetery. Who knows where they went after that.

I just really liked the stone.

And on another completely unrelated topic....something that's making me angry! I used to background color my post titles by placing a div tag in the title. It's been working for the last couple months. Suddenly, the last two posts, it won't let me do that any longer? Grrrrrr. I just want to know why before I throw myself down in a prepubescent tantrum.

So, it's off to Ohio! See all of you on the flip side!

Monday Madness - You Say Tomato, I say Tomahto...

One of the things I hope to solve when I go to Ohio on Wednesday is a little matter that's been niggling at me for years -- a correct surname. Dickerson or Dickinson? The jury is still out.

I thought I had this surname figured out when I found the marriage indexed in the Tuscarawas County, Ohio marriage records. There it was, clear as day:

Browning, Samuel - Sarah Ann DICKERSON 4 Oct 1849

For a year or so I took that at face value. That was before I got around to ordering the marriage itself from the courthouse; I was finally concentrating on researching Samuel and Sarah's descendants. When I got the license, it looked like this:

Yeah. Horrid. Absolutely horrid. So I wrote it down as a "need to get a new copy" on my to-do list. The last time I was in Ohio, in August, I went to the courthouse and pulled up the record on the microfilm reader. Voila, it was in the same shape! The ladies there informed me that the original records -- being old and delicate -- had been microfilmed and then sent off to the Tuscarawas Genealogical Society for safekeeping. I was told it was in Dennison and that there were odd hours. The hours that it was open didn't correspond to my remaining time in Ohio and as a result, I left without getting a copy.

It's obvious that I really need to see that marriage license. It's important because our Samuel here (Sam Jr., who is Samuel and Margaret's son) married Sarah Ann and they had three children together (Effie Emmaline, George, and Samuel) before she died, between 1858-1860. Samuel then remarried a woman named Julia Ann Dickinson in November of 1860.

After Samuel's death in 1862 his children with Sarah became the wards of George W. Dickinson. By all accounts this George W. was either Julia Ann's brother or cousin. Now George's mother's name was Effie Emmaline. Hm, the same as Samuel and Sarah's daughter -- coincidence? Also, George's father was also named George Dickinson Is it another coincidence that Samuel and Sarah's son's name was George Browning? I wondered about the names and wondered why Samuel's children would become wards of the unrelated second wife's Dickinsons and not the Brownings....unless they were also related to his first wife Sarah? So, maybe Sarah's name isn't Dickerson after all?

Or....wait. Yes, perhaps it was Dickerson. See, Samuel and Sarah raised a boy named John Christy (b. c1843) in their household from about 1850 until Samuel's death. This little boy might've been the orphaned son of a couple who were married in Tuscarawas County in 1842 -- John Christy and Julia Dickerson. Gahhhhhh! But wait, this typed marriage was also as badly microfilmed as Samuel and Sarah's was, and it might read Dickinson too? Yeah, I'll be checking that one too if I possibly can.

It should be easy to rule out one surname but to complicate matters, there were Dickinson and Dickerson families in Harrison County, Ohio at the same time. It could be either. All I do know is that it was the Dickinsons that were taking care of the Browning kids after their parents' deaths.

Hopefully I'll learn more in a few days. I've made it a point to schedule time for a visit at the Society, with cousins that I have never met yet! We're making it a first meet/breakfast/go see records session that I'm looking forward to.

I hope the Society will allow me to view the original marriage record and at least snap a photo of it. So please everyone, pray with me that the genealogical gods look upon me favorably and I get the chance to do that. If not, perhaps the ladies there will view it for me and at least tell me if it's DickINson or DickERson!

Surname Saturday - The Salzwedels

I know that I've spent some time lately reciting places and deeds and names and information, without the color. It was never my intention to let this blog become some dry recitation of fact. When I began it, I intended it to be a place where my family stories could come alive. It's just that I've been dwelling lately on John Browning and his connection to my Samuel because of my upcoming trip to Ohio. This too shall pass?

So, tonight I switch families for a bit. My mother's roots are in Germany. Her grandparents both "came over on the boat" in the late 1880's/early 1890's. Her family settled in Will County, Illinois, a very German-populated area. I've featured her father and her uncle (my grandfather Frank and his brother Freddie) on this blog before but I haven't done much research on their ancestry. To begin with, the family was fractured and it's been hard to gather information from all the various fractures. Then there's the fact that they're Germans, a recalcitrant bunch, and very unwilling to sit down and talk about family. I still mourn the fact that at my great-grandmother's death in 1985, her children were willing to sell many (if not most) of her treasures. I was only a teenager then and didn't realize what was going on or that it would someday give me such grief that it had happened like that.

The family bible her parents had brought over from Germany might very well have been one of those things -- it seems to have disappeared. I don't know if it's still in the family but all the avenues I've explored have come up empty. As a child I remember looking through it -- it was big, and in German, and it held a picture of my g-g-grandfather August Karl Papstein standing proudly amongst the Lippanzer stallions he trained for Kaiser Wilhelm.

Tonight I concentrate on the descendants of my g-g-grandmother's sister, Minna. Up until tonight I didn't even know her full name! My g-g-grandmother, Anna Marie Louise Koehn, was the daughter of Johann Koehn and Johanna Vierkow (Virikow?) Anna was born in 1868 and her younger sister Minna in 1875. All I knew about Minna prior to tonight was what had been printed in Anna Marie Louise's obituary (to the right) -- that Minna had married a man named Albert Salzwedel and moved to Minnesota.

I came across Minna's name again yesterday and thought to myself that I should look her family up on Ancestry. How hard could it be to find the Salzwedels? Sure enough, it only took about twenty minutes for me to find them in the 1900-1930 censuses as well as the Minnesota Birth and Death listings and locate their children, grandchildren and g-grandchildren.

Minnie's full name was Minna Mathilda Louise Koehn. She married Albert Salzwedel around 1892 and the couple settled in White Heron Township in Jackson County, Minnesota. They had at least four children: Albert Frederick Karl (b. Dec 1893), William Albert August (b. Nov 1895), Minnie (b. Nov 1897), and Walter (b. c1908). I also managed to trace a few more generations of Albert Frederick's family and William Albert's.

Minnie Mathilda died in June of 1971 in Jackson County. Her husband Albert had died there in October of 1946.

I think it would be interesting for me to do some cold calling to some of the Salzwedels that are descended from Minnie. I'd love to know what -- if anything -- they know about their German ancestry. I'd also hope to find out that they're a warmer bunch than that side of my immediate family!

I think I'll probably do that after I return from Ohio.

Talking To Myself.....or, the Endless Browning Circle

I've been thinking the past few days about my recent post and in doing so something heretofore unseen jumped out at me. I can't help but think that kind of thing is another important reason to blog about genealogically related struggles. Writing it down and seeing it in virtual black and white sometimes helps clear those cobwebs.

I noticed I said that Lemuel Browning had lived in Brooke County, WV, and had married a woman named Caroline Beck.

Beck!

Could it be? Could this Caroline from Brooke County have ANY connection whatsoever to the James Beck I posted about a week or so ago? The James Beck who was asserted to be the father of Washington, whose mother was Samuel's daughter Julia? The James Beck who Samuel took to court to sue for child support? And if so, doesn't this place one more point of circumstantial evidence linking my Browning family to the members of the Browning family I mentioned in my previous post here, whose roots were lodged in Brooke County WV and before that, Frederick County, Maryland?

There is much Browning research in W. M. Hurley's 1998 book, Browning Families (Primarily Of Montgomery County, Maryland.) In it, Hurley places Jeremiah Browning (b. c1744, son of Edward Jr) and his wife Cassandra as the parents of six children: 1) Jeremiah Jr (who married Catherine Mansfield), 2) Lewis b. c1766 (married Margaret Phillips), 3) Joseph, 4) Elizabeth, 5) Cassandra (m. Seth Clarke) and 6) Rachel (m. Richard Foster.)

The Lewis mentioned above had three children: 1) John Fletcher Browning (b.1799), 2) Lemuel Browning (b. 1801, m. Caroline Beck) and 3) Lewis Jr (b. c1807, m. Margaret.)

The deeds I have in Harrison County definitely refer to Lemuel, but Lewis is still a bit of a mystery. It seems there were three Lewis Brownings, all alive at the time, and ALL married women named Margaret!

Two of the Lewis Brownings are the ones mentioned above. The last is connected to another Browning family in Hurley's book that intrigues me: the family of Meshach Browning. Meshach says that his grandfather William (b 1710) lived with his son, John, one of Meshach's uncles. Meshach's parents were Joshua Browning and Nancy Farmer. The book says that the couple had children (Meshach being one of them) but only four are mentioned, with birthdates c1769 (Dorcas), c1773 (Joshua Jr) , c1775 (Jeremiah) and 1781 (Meshach).

This family is interesting because Joshua Jr. married Cassandra Farmer and moved to Licking County, Ohio. He had children, one of whom (Jeremiah) was the father of Van Browning, the man who moved to Crawford County, Illinois! And one of Van's brothers was Lewis Browning, who married Margaret Heff.

I wonder sometimes if Joshua and Nancy had another son.....John. If they did, that John (b. c.1771?) would be the right age to be my Samuel's father. AND it would cement the Licking County connection.

Ever wish you could play Calvin and Hobbes and use the Time Machine that Calvin built out of a cardboard box to go back in time? I know where I'd go.....

Tombstone Tuesday - Fernandes Orion Delk (1853-1903)

Fernandes Orion Delk, or F. O., as he was commonly known, was born in Preble County, Ohio, on 19 Sep 1853 and was the son of John Delk and Sarah Ann Kerns.

F.O. married Mary Medora Browning, the daughter of Samuel Browning and Sarah Ann (Bell) Gaddis, on 17 Sep 1895 in Putnam County, Missouri. After their marriage they settled in Jackson Township in Putnam County and had one known living child, a daughter named Sarah Crystal, before F.O. died on 19 July 1903.

He is buried at the Dickson Cemetery in Jackson Township in Putnam County, Missouri.

The stone is simple; its lines are square and elegant. I think I'd like a stone like that for myself. There is foilage engraved along the sides of the stone that has worn over time, but what I find most compelling is the word engraved on the stone in the top left corner -- "Papa."

Sarah Crystal was only six and a half when her daddy died. In my mind I can hear her child's voice in bell tones, calling her father by that simple term of endearment.

Madness Monday - The Possible Progenitor, John Browning

The most solid of all my brick walls (it feels like the Great Wall sometimes!) is the question: Is John Browning the father of Samuel Browning? And if so, how do I prove that he is?

Circumstantial evidence suggests that Samuel (b. c1796 MD) may possibly be the son of John Browning, who is found in the 1820 and 1830 censuses of Harrison County. In the 1820 census John, who is listed as living in Cadiz Township and as aged 45 and over, is living with a female (probably his wife) who is also 45 and over. They are living within a six household radius of Samuel and his wife Margaret. This John is shown with three males -- one under the age of 10, one aged 16 to 18, and one aged 16 to 25; and six females – two under the age of 10, three aged 10 to 15, and one aged 16 to 25.

In 1830 John Browning is shown living in Freeport Township aged 50 to 59, with a wife also aged 50 to 59. They are shown with three children: a boy aged 15 to 19 and two girls, one aged 10 to 14 and the other aged 15 to 20.

Taken as a whole, these two censuses show that both John and his unnamed wife were born between the years 1771-1775. As Samuel was born around the year 1796, the possibility exists that he is their son.

A search for possible siblings of Samuel's unearthed a number of prospects. Early Harrison County marriage records provide evidence of the marriages of at least five Browning women. A Polly Browning married James Graham and Margaret Browning married Richard Medley, both in 1826. A Wilsey Browning intended to marry John Thomas in 1830 but although a license was issued, no marriage took place. A Hannah Browning married Thomas Drake in 1837. Lastly, a Cassa Browning married Alfred Calvert in 1841. It is uncertain, however, whether any of these women were siblings or other relatives of Samuel's.

In the 1820 census, another Browning is also within the same six household radius and on the same page as Samuel and John in Cadiz Township; William, aged 16 to 26. William is shown with another male aged 16 to 26 and a female, most probably his wife, aged 26 to 45. Harrison County marriage records contain the entry of a marriage of a William Browning to a Hannah Barr on 1 December 1818, and it is possible that this William may be a brother to Samuel and another younger son of John.

By 1840, neither John nor his wife are found on the census records of Harrison County nor have they been located in any neighboring counties. It could be assumed that both died between the years 1830-1840, but this assumption has never been proven. Efforts to further locate John Browning have so far proved fruitless.

There is also slight evidence to suggest that Samuel may have had relatives in Licking County, Ohio. Two of Samuel's sons, Asbury Taylor and John Wesley Francis, married Corderman women in Crawford County. The David Corderman family had come from Pennsylvania and had settled in Jacksontown Township in Licking County in the late 1830's. They had then moved on to Crawford County, where two of David's daughters, Matilda and Minerva, married into the Browning family. Minerva Corderman Browning, Asbury's widow, stated in her Civil War soldier's widow's pension application that she had known Asbury from an early age. She stated that she had "always knew him since he was a small boy."

If her statement is accepted as true and Asbury and Minerva had known each other as children, then Samuel Browning and his family may have made trips to Licking County to visit relatives. The Browning families in and around Licking County in the early 1840's – specifically those of Asa and Jeremiah Browning of Union Township -- may have been relatives of Samuel's. Samuel's supposed father, John Browning, might have been a brother or cousin to one of these men. While this is unproven, the presence of Van Browning in Crawford County (a known son of Jeremiah of Licking County) during the same time period as Samuel also lends some support to the connection between the Brownings of Licking County and the family of Samuel Browning.
Pat and I searched for years. I wish I could figure out what it was.

I've looked in early Harrison County records….I've had a researcher I hired do it and I did it myself back in August. No John. No will for any John Browning exists in Harrison County or Tuscarawas County for the right time period. There IS a John Browning in Tuscarawas in 1899 but I have a copy of that will and that is another family entirely. I have looked at Carol Bell's "Wills To 1850" and there is no John recorded there either. I found a Jeremiah Browning in Jefferson County and I ordered and received his estate papers. What there is does not plainly refer to any names that would connect with mine, though I keep it filed away because of the Jeremiah in Licking County that I mentioned earlier. I plan to travel to Jefferson County myself in a few weeks and do another round of research. I prefer to see these sorts of things with my own eyes, if you know what I mean?

One more thing. Early Harrison County deed records show at least three other Browning men that, as far as I can now determine, do not connect with me. (That's not to say they don't….I just haven't proven anything yet!)
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25 Dec 1817: Joseph FRY to Lewis Browning -- This deed was between Joseph Fry and Amelia (Permilia) his wife of Harrison County on the one part, and Lewis Browning of Brooke Co., VA (now WV)on the other.

31 Mar 1834: William TINGLEY to Lewis Browning -- bill in chancery court against Frederick SALMON, for the right to sell his lands to pay Browning back for debts owed now that Salmon is considered a lunatic.

13 May 1835: Lewis BROWNING to Isaac Weldon, Sr. -- This deed was between Lewis Browning of Brooke County, VA (now WV) on the one part, and Isaac Weldon Sr. of Harrison County on the other. Witness: Joseph FRY, Justice of the Peace.

4 Jan 1836: Rees JONES, Daniel SPRINGER and others to Lewis Browning for the use of Emelia Salmon -- This deed was between Rees Jones and Jane his wife, Daniel Springer and Jane his wife of Harrison County on the one part, and Lemuel Browning of Lewis Browning of Brooke Co VA (now WV) on the other, for the use of Emelia Salmon of Harrison County.

25 Oct 1836: Isaac WELDON to Lemuel Browning -- This deed was between Isaac Weldon and Elizabeth his wife of Harrison County on the one part, and Lemuel Browning of Harrison County on the other. Joseph FRY was Justice of the Peace.

20 Jun 1837: William BUKEY to Ellis & Jones -- This deed was between William Bukey and Susannah his wife of Ohio County, VA on the one part, and Ellis D. Jones and Lemuel Browning of Harrison County on the other.

19 Aug 1837: Jonathan PEOPLES to Jones & Browning -- This deed was between Jonathan Peoples and Mahala his wife of Harrison County on the one part, and Ellis D. Jones and Lemuel Browning of Harrison County on the other.

1 Sep 1837: John STRADLING to Jeremiah Browning -- This deed was between John Stradling and Sarah his wife of Short Creek, Harrison County OH on the one part, and Jeremiah Browning of Jefferson County OH on the other.

21 Mar 1838: Lewis BROWNING to Amelia Salmon: This deed was between Lewis Browning of Brooke Co, VA (now WV) on the one part, and Amelia Salmon of Harrison County on the other.

2 Apr 1838: Jeremiah BROWNING to James Roberts -- This deed was between Jeremiah Browning and Catherine his wife of Steubenville, Jefferson County, OH on the one part, and James Roberts of Harrison County on the other.

18 Aug 1838: Lemuel BROWNING, et al. to John NEBLICK -- This deed was between Ellis D. Jones and Mary his wife and Lemuel Browning and Caroline his wife of Harrison County, OH on the one part, and John Neblick of Harrison County on the other.

15 Oct 1838: Lemuel BROWNING to Lewis Browning -- This deed was between Lemuel Browning of Harrison County on the one part and Lewis Browning of Brooke Co, VA (now WV) on the other part.

15 Aug 1840: Lewis BROWNING to Samuel Wilson: This deed was between Lewis Browning and Margaret his wife of Brooke County, VA (now WV) on the one part, and Samuel Wilson of Freeport, Harrison County on the other.

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These deed records show that throughout the period of 1818-1838, a few Browning men were buying and selling land in Harrison County. Lewis was living in WV, and the Jeremiah I mentioned earlier in Jefferson County. He was there as early as 1815 and died around 1843 -- his wife's name was Catherine Mansfield. Lemuel Browning was the son of Lewis and Margaret (Phillips) Browning (the other buyer of land) of Frederick Co., MD/Brooke Co WV. He was born about 1805 in Frederick Co., MD and married Caroline Beck on 15 Feb 1825 in Brooke Co., WV. Caroline was born about 1815. They lived in Harrison Co. OH c1837, but moved to Warren Twn., Jefferson Co., OH by 1850.

My Samuel was born in Maryland. I just HAVE to fit in here somewhere; that's my 'gut' instinct talking of course. I still haven't figured it out after all these years.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Show us your Genealogy Space!

Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings does his Saturday Night fun thing and though I'm late -- as usual -- I'm still coming to the party!

My cave is to the left -- you'll have to click on it to make it a bit bigger.

You can see the big oval picture of Delinda Jane (Plymell) Nichols suspended over my workspace. The smaller version, as well as a post I wrote about her, is here. There are a few random tombstone snapshots under my printer, Pat's memorial card that I have to scan (sitting on top of more old letters and pictures next up on the agenda) and the resource books that I turn to the most on my shelf. I'm a pretty organized soul, really.

And as for the things you cannot see.......well, there is the old 50's Coca-Cola ice cooler that houses my collection of old photographs. I've been slowly scanning them all in but at least I've managed to make labels and groupings! It feels like such a monumental task when I look at it all as a whole. I try to think of it in small increments......

(And yes, the blanket you see to the left in the photo IS all those colors. Just thank your lucky stars you don't see my room. You'd think I stepped right out of the psychedelic 60's!)

Then there is my eyesore of a purple Browning file. It lives under my desk. It houses a LOT of files. It's over to the left.

My atlases of Ohio and Illinois are tucked under there too but you can't see them either

Anyway, that's my stuff. Thanks for the fun, Randy!

The Browning Series Part 1c , or Thomas Newton Browning, the Jack Of All Trades

Thomas Newton Browning, the third son of James Browning and Jane Nevitt (see this post for a further introduction to his parents) was born on 25 Oct 1844 in Harrison County, Ohio. He came to Crawford County, Illinois with his family in 1849 and settled near Bristol Landing, about two miles southeast of Palestine. His father died when Thomas was seven years old, leaving his mother to care for her brood of six (Elias, Joseph, Thomas, Sarah, Mary Jane and Margaret) by herself.

As a result, Thomas never had much schooling. He must've started working as soon as he could lift a hand to help his older brothers Elias and Joseph. No doubt this helped turn him into the man he became. By all accounts Thomas was never the sort to settle for any one thing over any length of time. Throughout his life he was a jack of all trades and seemed to have many irons in the fire. I wonder sometimes if the experiences he had growing up was one of the two major experiences in his life -- his Civil War service being the other -- that taught him not to place all his eggs in one basket, so to speak.

In 1860 he was working as a farm hand. In December of 1861, at the age of 17, Thomas enlisted in the Union Army. According to one account (W. H. Perrin's History Of Crawford and Clark Counties, IL, 1883, pg. 228) he was too young to enlist as a common soldier so he signed up as a drummer boy in Company F of the 62^nd IL and was placed on the staff of musicians until the official band was organized. He mustered in on April 1862 in Jonesboro, Illinois. I don't have his entire service file (as of yet -- another to-do for me!) but all the other sources I have only list him as a private with no mention of any musical service. A picture of him taken during the war is to the right.

On 19 December 1862 Thomas was was one of a detachment of soldiers from the 62^nd camped in the garrison at Holly Springs, Mississippi. He'd been there since the first week of December; his regiment had been attached to the 1st Brigade of the district of Jackson, Tennessee's 16th Army Corps. Holly Springs was a cushy post back then -- it housed Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant and her son and was one of the Union's major route of munitions and supplies for their armies. That bitterly cold night the residents of the town threw a huge Christmas Ball and invited the soldiers. Thomas had just turned 18 and was away from home and the whiskey was flowing -- did he get himself drunk like so many other soldiers did? Maybe he did. Maybe they stayed up late drinking and dancing and went to bed secure in the knowledge that they could sleep late the next morning. He was probably doing just that when a band of Confederates commanded by Major General Earl 'Buck' Van Dorn moved in and captured the town.

I can imagine the fright of being knocked awake by the sound of gunfire. Swords clattering, yelling, and screaming horses and men. Struggling to pull on your boots and find your weapons in a place where you assumed you'd be safe. Maybe half bleary with the drink that hadn't worn off from the night before. The capture of the soldiers at Holly Springs went almost without a fight, it's said, and it's also said that over 1500 Union men signed paroles that day. Thomas was one of them. (To be paroled meant a prisoner of war promised to refrain from trying to escape or to take up arms against his captors.) I imagine he was frightened of what might happen to him if he didn't. Thomas was sent back to Benton Barracks in Missouri and arrived there on 10 January 1863, where he was exchanged. He continued to serve, re-enlisting as a veteran on 28 December 1863. On 30 Mar 1864 he was transferred to the new Consolidated 62^nd and was finally mustered out for good at Little Rock on 6 March 1866.

After the war he returned to Crawford County and married Sarah Ann Huls on 26 Sep 1866. Sarah was the daughter of Joseph Hansen Huls and Amanda Martha O'Kennedy. Thomas was the first of the children of James Browning and Jane Nevitt to marry into the family of Joseph and Amanda Huls -- Thomas's sisters Mary Jane (who married Amos K. Huls a few months later) and Margaret Ann (who married Charles Francis Huls in 1869) would soon follow suit.

Thomas and Sarah (seen below about 1870 or so?) settled five miles northwest of Robinson and thus began his interesting life as a jack of all trades. Thomas tried his hand at farming but the life didn't suit him so in March of 1868 Sarah's older brother Andrew Huls took Thomas on as a co-proprietor of his clothing, boot and shoe business. Perhaps he did so because Sarah was pregnant with the couple's first child, Effy May. Thomas and Andrew called the venture Huls & Browning's Clothing, Boots and Shoes. The venture began drying up soon; perhaps one of the causes was that Thomas found his heart went out of the effort when Effy died at 12 days old in May. By August the partners were attempting to sell their remaining stock. Their partnership lasted until October, when Thomas offered his peddling wagon up for sale. Thomas and Sarah went off to Terre Haute in Vigo County, Indiana, and lived there for four years while he worked at the Terre Haute Iron And Nail Works. Their son Clifford was probably born there in 1871.

By 1874 the family was back in Crawford County, where Thomas was moving up in the world -- he was elected a Justice of the Peace that year. By 1883 he'd begun to sell insurance, representing Home, Phoenix, German-American of New York, Royal, and German of Freeport and Peoria. By 1888 he was an attorney and he and Sarah had four more children, Leola, Iona, Ralph and Alta Mearl. By 1889 he'd added hotelier to his repertoire by purchasing the stock of a local hotel called the Cottage Hotel and taking charge of it.

By 1897 Thomas and Sarah and the children were back in Indiana, settling in Indianapolis. Perhaps they left Crawford County after the sad occasion of their daughter Iona's passing from pulmonary disease in 1896. He was a real estate agent at that time. Another daughter, Leola, died in 1900. Ten years later, in 1910, Thomas was in his 60's and nearing retirement. He had chosen to work as a railroad conductor.

One would think at this stage of the game Thomas and Sarah would have settled into a stationary life. Not so. Sometime between 1910-1912 Thomas and Sarah decided to move to San Diego, California. Their son Ralph was already there by 1910 so I suppose they went to join him. Their daughter Alta Mearl went along. Sarah died in 1912 and Alta Mearl lived with her father until his death in January of 1917.

Sarah and Thomas are buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego, as is their daughter Alta Mearl (who married Hugh Richard Kelzer and died in 1962.) I've been told they don't have stones but plaques. I sure would like to get a photo of all of them, if there are some to take.

Thomas Newton's life must have been full to the brim with new experiences. Living through the war, being a prisoner, and then coming back to make much of himself even though he'd had a rough beginning. One little fact about his life makes me curious, though; in 1868 he joined the Sons of Temperance. Perhaps he swore off the life of liquor because of what happened at Holly Springs? I like to think he did.

Wordless Wednesday -- Margaret Jane (Conrad) Eagleton (1834-1878)

Wow! My first "real" Wordless Wednesday post........and a new blog header to boot!


Photograph:

EAGLETON, Margaret Jane CONRAD (1834-1878), Tintype. Photographed c. 1870 by unknown photographer, unknown place, probably Crawford County, Illinois. Privately held by Patricia Browning, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Arlington, Texas. 2009.