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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Happy Anniversary Aunt Ella and Uncle Ray

Scanned Image from Personal Collection


May 27, 1935
Ella M. (Wilson) Ludlum
Married
Raymond C. Simpson

Ella Mae Wilson was my grandmother’s sister—the daughter of Jerome W. Wilson and Grace Clark. While Aunt Ella and Uncle Ray were married in the Town of Minisink, Orange Co., NY they lived in Middletown, NY. Uncle Ray’s family was from the Minisink area which explains why they wed there. Uncle Ray died about 1959 and Aunt Ella passed Oct. 17, 1975.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Daniel Joseph, Patriot, American War of Independence 1775-1783


PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT DANIEL JOSEPH

4th Great Grandfather Daniel Joseph served in the Augusta County, Virginia Militia under Capt. Patterson according to Gwathmey’s Virginians in the Revolution.[1] I’m not certain what militia duties Daniel was required to perform or where or when. The regular Army was recruited by offering bounties, volunteers and drafts from the militia so it’s possible he saw some fighting.

Joseph A. Waddell, the author of ‘Annals of Augusta County, Virginia From 1726 to 1781’ provides this account describing militia life (page 244):

   The whole State [Virginia] was divided into military districts, and the militia were ordered to be embodied as minute-men. The counties of Buckingham, Amherst, Albemarle and Augusta constituted one district. Each district was to raise a battalion of 500 men, rank and file, from the age of 16 to that of 50, to be divided into ten companies of 50 men each. The officers were to be appointed by committees selected by the various county committees. The battalion was required to be kept in training at some convenient place for twelve days, twice a year; and the several companies to be mustered four days in each month, except December, January and February, in their respective counties.
    Every man so enlisted was required to “furnish himself with a good rifle, if to be had, otherwise with a tomahawk, common firelock, bayonet, pouch, or cartouch box, and three charges of powder and ball.” Upon affidavit that the minute-man was not able to furnish his arms etc., they were to be supplied at public expense. The officers were required to equip themselves, and officers and men were liable to a fine for failure in this respect.

Joan Ault, a Daniel Joseph descendant, provided me with copies of two military court proceedings for Daniel. By the way, Joan’s ancestor was Daniel Joseph’s daughter, Eve. Eve would marry John Gilliatt and settle in Orange County, Indiana.

On the 5th of May 1781 Daniel was fined for not appearing at a private muster while under Capt. Patterson’s command.[2]

Scanned Image from Personal Collection
Photocopy from Virginia Archives courtesy of Joan Ault

Daniel was ill along with three other men. They were exempt from duty temporarily until they 'come to their health'.[3]

Scanned Image from Personal Collection
Photocopy from Virginia Archives courtesy of Joan Ault

In England on February 27, 1782, the House of Commons voted against continuing the war in America. By March 1782, the British prime minister resigned with his replacement immediately beginning peace discussions. The War was going to end. The following month on the 19th of April 1782 Daniel contributed supplies to the cause of the American Revolution—920 barrels of flour, 5 flour barrels and 44 ½ gallons whiskey.[4]

After the war John Campbell and Daniel Joseph petitioned the General Assembly on Dec. 9, 1785 because the Army owed them for seizure of fifty-five cattle by army commissioners in 1780. They only received certificates from the Army when the cattle were taken and the people who they bought the cattle from were bringing court suits against them for payment.[5] Disappointingly, their claim was rejected by the Assembly. A transcription of the petition follows:

To the Hon’ble thee Speaker, and the other Gentlemen of the House of Delegates, the petition of John Campbell, and Daniel Joseph of Augusta County Virginia

Humbly Sheweth

That in the summer of the year 1780 your Honours Petitioners purchased a drove of cattle, in number 55, on and near the frontiers of Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, entirely at their own expense and Credit, but as soon as they were collected the Commissioners appointed under the Act for furnishing provisions to the Army violently seized and took away the whole drove, the Original cost of which amounts to nearly 270 Pounds Specie when Liquidated exclusive of trouble and expenses and all the compensation your Petitioners have as yet received for such a large share of their small property, is only a Certificate, which is very little consolation to either them or their Creditors; The situation of your Hon’s Petitioners are the more melancholy, as there are many suits commenced against them by persons from whom they purchased part of the Cattle, the principal, Interest, and the said Suits, appears to end in the ruin of your Petitioners and their families. Gentlemen as your Pet’rs have always contributed chearfully with their fellow Citizens for the support of Government, and Independence, their Case merits your Honours Consideration, it is distressing for them to feel themselves greater sufferers than their fellow Subjects

Therefore your Hon’s Pet’rs most humbly request that you may be pleased to consider their Case, and order them such redress as your Wisdom and prudence may think reasonable.

   And your Pet’rs with ever Pray
Dated October 3rd 1785

The Subscribers have for many years been acquainted with the above Pet’rs and always understood them to be hearty and Zealous friends to the United States of America
If their case is not redress’d, it deserves to be pitied!

Jno. Poages                            John Hamilton
Jacob Peck                             Robert Stuart
Thomas Fork                         H. King
Robert Aistrop                      Thos. Frame
Wm. Wilson                           [Unreadable]
R. Gamble                              John Hooke
Peter Hanger            
George Berry
[Unreadable]

No pension, service or bounty land applications exist for Daniel or his wife, Eve that I’ve been able to locate. Daniel died before Feb. 22, 1796 and Eve remarried Warner Peters in 1799.

As always, I would like to know more. Comments and suggestions are welcome.


[1] Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution, Soldiers-Sailors-Marines 1775-1783 by John H. Gwathmey, page 431
[2] Virginia Archives courtesy of Joan Ault
[3] Ibid
[4] Augusta Co., VA Court of Claims
[5] Campbell, John & Joseph, Daniel: Petition, Augusta County, VA, 1785/12/09, Legislative Petitions Digital Collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Great Grandmother Emily’s Quilts




Great Grandmother Emily (Wight) Taylor Doty hand sewed these unfinished quilts many years ago. Emily died June 19, 1956 at the age of 85 so these quilts are at the very least 58 years old. She completed sewing the decorative top panels but didn’t finish the batting or the back. Complete or not, I treasure them and hang them in my bedroom. Florence (Doty) Gardner, Emily’s daughter, worked for many years as a seamstress at the Manhattan Shirt Company in Middletown, New York. Aunt Florence would bring home fabric scraps which sometimes got used for clothing for the children or put aside for quilt making.



The blocks above are from the quilt on the left . It looks like it was designed using triangles. Below are blocks from the quilt on the right. I’m not a quilter but am curious about both designs. Are there any quilters among my readers that can tell me more?




It must have taken a very long time to sew these using just a needle and a thread!

Monday, May 19, 2014

Natan, son of Mister Yosef


Daniel Joseph, Augusta and Rockingham Counties, Virginia
circa1755 – 1796

Today I would like to continue the discussion of Daniel Joseph’s Jewish heritage. In an earlier post titled Daniel Joseph and Miss Hanger, I mentioned Daniel was identified as a “Jew” in the 1780 Augusta County, VA Court Fee book[1].

Paul T. Gilliatt of Prince George, Virginia wrote to me in 1995 about our mutual ancestor.  Paul was a descendant of Daniel’s daughter, Eve Joseph, who married John Gilliatt in 1809. Paul’s letter included the following excerpt:

     “I have not yet researched the Joseph family however I have item of info you may be interested in.”

     “When I was researching the deed books in Staunton (Augusta Co.), I noted an unusual signature above Daniel Joseph’s signature on two land deeds. As you know information documents etc. are copied into the records by court personnel. This obviously was not copied by Court personnel—different pen, different shade ink, etc. I knew it had to be Daniel Joseph’s signature. For some reason after the court people copied the deed into the record book, he made it official by signing his name. The deed book is so old and brittle the court people had a rule—no copies would be made. I begged and begged. They finally made me a copy of the 1785 deed from deed book 25. The same signature is in deed book 27 page 105-107 deed dated in 1791. I made a copy of the signature and sent it to a Synagogue. They told me the signature was old Hebrew.”


Copy provided courtesy of Paul T. Gilliatt
Augusta Co., VA Deed Book 25, page 34, May 20, 1875

Following is a copy I printed from microfilm belonging to the Library of Virginia that I borrowed via interlibrary loan that Paul referred to in his letter. 

Augusta Co., VA Deed Book 27, page 107, February 20, 1791

While I never saw the original deed book in Staunton, I found a similar and earlier signature for a deed dated Oct. 27, 1781. (This is also from Library of Virginia microfilm.)


  
Augusta Co., VA Deed Book 23, page 440, Oct. 27, 1781

Shortly afterwards, I enlisted help from the Jewish Roots mailing list to obtain a translation. Many scholarly members from the mailing list responded and I learned Daniel’s signature meant

Natan [Nathan] son of R. [Reb=Mister] Yosef [Joseph]

Our family had no idea we had Jewish ancestry. Augusta County, Virginia was a rural community when Daniel and his wife, Eve, lived there. Most likely there weren’t too many Jews nearby. The first Jewish Congregation in Staunton wasn’t established until 1876—almost eighty years after Daniel died. The Rockingham County Jewish Congregation was founded in 1859 sixty-three years after his passing.

Daniel didn’t have a Jewish wife. Eve’s father, Johann Friederich Hanger, had been a member of two Lutheran Churches located at Woodstock and Stony Creek in Shenandoah Co., Virginia prior to his move to Augusta County.[2] Each of Daniel’s children was married by a Minister. Daniel might have been a practicing Jew but there were probably no opportunities for him to follow his faith in any public forum. As far as I’ve been able to determine, none of Daniel’s descendants observed Jewish beliefs or customs.

I located another ‘Jew’ in the 1803 Rockingham County Personal Property Tax list—Moses Joseph.  Moses along with his wife, Ruth, and his family migrated to Rockingham County from Orange County, Virginia by 1788. I'm very interested in compiling any information about the Moses Joseph family as I suspect Moses was a relative of my 4th great grandfather Daniel Joseph.
 

If anyone would like to share information or thoughts about Daniel and Moses Joseph, please let me hear from you.



Note: Paul T. Gilliatt died in 1996. I consider myself very lucky to have received his ‘genealogical gift’.




[1] Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish, Vol. II, p. 410
[2] Baptismal record of the children of Johann Friederich Hanger of Augusta County, Virginia, 1755-1778, Accession #11528, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Daniel Joseph and Miss Hanger



The father of John Joseph was named Daniel Joseph. His wife was a Miss Hanger. John Joseph was my great grandfather so he is your great Grandfather.

“Copied from the old bible”

These words are how Rachel Joseph began telling the history of her family. She sent handwritten notes to her cousin James McFall Joseph (my grandfather) many years ago. Rachel Jane Joseph was born March 28, 1896 in Augusta County, Virginia to Henry Milton Joseph and Lillie Jane Barger. She passed April 1981 in Virginia. I’m grateful ‘Ray’ shared her family history with us.

I’ve been able to add to Rachel’s family history and collected many documents for Daniel Joseph which I will share in future blog posts. Today is just a few facts to rouse your curiosity.  

4th Great-grandfather Daniel Joseph was the progenitor of the Joseph family and resided in Augusta County, Virginia. I’ve estimated his birth between 1755 and 1760. He married Eve Hanger, daughter of Frederic Hanger also from Augusta County, Virginia and died between July 27, 1795 and Feb. 22, 1796. A daughter, Eve Joseph, was born Sept. 8, 1785 followed by my ancestor, John Joseph born Aug. 4, 1787, and then Margaret Joseph born about 1795. Daniel Joseph Jr. was the youngest child.

Daniel served in the Augusta Militia during the American Revolution. He probably came to Augusta County with some savings as he bought and sold properties. In June of 1783, his name started to appear in the Rockingham Co., Virginia Minute Books and Rockingham Co., Virginia Judgment books in court suits.  Daniel was quite often the plaintiff (party who starts lawsuit) and just as often the defendant. He wasn’t in the Rockingham County personal property tax lists making me believe his home was in Augusta County with a business in Rockingham.

The Augusta Court Fee Books dated 1780 provided a welcome clue about his heritage. Daniel Joseph was identified as “Jew” which was a surprise to my branch of the family.[1] As far as I’ve been able to determine, none of Daniel’s descendants practiced the Jewish faith.


[1] Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish, Vol. II, p. 410