MATRILINEAL MONDAY Dolly Doty gets John’s Estate Settled Oct. 18th 1858, Goshen, NY

On October 18, 1858 Dolly Doty and William E. Mapes settled 3rd Great Grandfather John Doty’s estate at Surrogate Court in Goshen, New York. John died January 27, 1857 leaving Dolly a widow along with eight surviving children.

Clarissa Jane Doty, wife of Thomas Drake

Anna Maria Doty, wife of Elias Hockenberry

Harriet E. Doty, wife of James H. Smith

Lucinda Doty, wife of William E. Mapes

Arminda Doty

Jefferson W. Doty

Albert Doty, husband to Fanny Jane Bennett

John Doty

Dolly and her son-in-law, William E. Mapes, began probate proceedings at Surrogate Court February 16, 1857 when appointed Administratrix and Administrator. See my earlier blog post titled Dolly Doty Asks for Letter of Administration 158 Years Ago Today by clicking here.

John and Dolly’s children started a flurry of land deals involving their father’s lands before his estate was settled. 3rd Great Grandfather owned 125 acres in Wawayanda, Orange Co., New York. On May 7, 1857 the Doty sisters (and spouses) sold their title, claims and rights to their brothers for $1,040.

William E. Mapes requested a date at Probate Court to present a final accounting of Great Grandfather’s estate August 16, 1858. Click here to view my second post Dolly Doty’s Ready for Final Settlement of John Doty’s Estate Aug. 16, 1858, Goshen, NY. A citation issued that day informed interested parties to be at the Surrogate’s office October 18, 1858 for the final settlement of the estate.

Dolly and William submitted the accounting for John’s estate. The estate papers show Jefferson W. Doty accompanied his mother to Goshen.

Once John Doty’s personal property was sold May 23, 1857, $915.64 was credited to his estate. Ten Dollars cash was on hand when the inventory was prepared and $4.22 representing a book account from Gilbert More brought the total assets to $929.86.

The expenses of the administration included debts, commissions and surrogate’s fees totaling $104.19. The personal debts only amounted to $8.00. Dr. W. H. Dorrance was paid $2.00 for taking care of John. Mr. Campbell received $15.00 for handling the funeral. Philip Decker provided a $13.00 tombstone. Theodore Halstead shoed a mare and got $8.00 for his labors.

After the estate expenses were paid, Dolly and the children were left with $825.67. Dolly was entitled to 1/3 dower share equaling $275.22. The Doty children, Anne M. Hockenberry, Clarissa J. Drake, Harriet E. Smith, Arminda Doty, Lucinda Mapes, Jefferson W. Doty, Albert Doty and John Doty, got 1/8 of the remaining 2/3 share. Each received $68.80.

Bonus points for the document below as it has 3rd Great Grandmother’s signature.

Source: John Doty’s estate packet filed at Surrogate Court, Park Place, Goshen, NY

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY Finally I Know!

Wordless? Ha, April Fool’s Day! It’s fitting that I post these photos on April Fool’s Day. I’ve been trying to identify the people in these snapshots for a long time and have been tricked twice already.

The pictures were in a photo album that belonged to my grandparents Frank L. Doty and Viola L. Wilson. My Mother and Uncle thought this was my grandfather’s half-sister’s family—Mabel Taylor Doty. Mabel married two times and had a large family. She moved to Tioga Co., NY with her second husband Frank Regan. A few years ago I found a picture of Mabel and Frank on Ancestry.com. Well, this isn’t Mabel or her children!

You’ll notice that one of the men pictured is labeled “Frank”. Okay, maybe this is Mabel’s 2^nd husband’s family. I wanted to find a home for these photos so I continued to search for Frank Regan’s family. I found a granddaughter of Mabel and Frank Regan once again thanks to Ancestry.com. You guessed it—this isn’t Frank Regan’s family!

Back row from left to right Vincent, Arline, Nellie, Gram, Arnold C., Marie & Ray Parry, Geo., Minnie and Mart

Frank and Vivien standing in middle on the left (Gram has her hand on Vivien’s shoulder)

Starting in the front from left to right Johannie, Eleanor, Virginia, Bernice, Mom, Dad and Ada

 Back row left to right Vincent, Arline, Nellie, Gram, Arnold C., Marie & Ray,Geo., Lloyd and Mart

Frank’s in the middle

Seated from left to right Hazel C., Johannie, Eleanor, Virginia, Bernice, Mom, Dad and Ada

This morning I was searching for a photo for a Wordless Wednesday post. I guess I had “Frank on the brain” and thought about all the “Frank’s” in the family. Frank who?

I think I cracked the case. Frank Cosgrove. Frank’s sister, Belle Cosgrove, was the 2^nd wife of my Great Grandfather Jerome W. Wilson. Belle became a second mother to my Grandmother, Viola Lillian Wilson about 1906.

I spent the morning at Ancestry.com utilizing their census collections, draft registration cards, city directories, disabled volunteer soldiers records as well as my own family papers.

Belle was born Isabelle Cosgrove 1886 in Danbury, Connecticut to John Cosgrove and Ellen Delaney. John Cosgrove died by 1909. Ellen moved from Danbury to Hartford by this date. “Gram” is Grandma Ellen.

Belle’s siblings were:

·         John Joseph Cosgrove, born 1880. I don’t believe he’s in either picture above.

·         George Cosgrove, born 1881. Yeah, George is in both snapshots. George married and divorced. He had a daughter, Marion, born about 1908.

·         Adeline S. Cosgrove, born 1884. Adeline was known as Ada and she married Lloyd Dwight Brinton. They had three children Arline, Vincent and Bernice. They’re all there.

·         Minnie E. Cosgrove, born 1890. Minnie was living with Jerome and Belle Wilson in 1910. She’s in the top photo. I don’t know anything else about her.

·         Frank Patrick Cosgrove, born 1891. Frank’s in both snap shots. His WWII draft card registration names Arnold Cosgrove as his contact person. Frank’s pictured and Arnold’s standing next to Gram in both photos.

·         Nellie I. Cosgrove, born 1892. Nellie was also living in Jerome and Belle Wilson’s home in 1910. She married John E. Bolar (with the glasses). They had a daughter Virginia. Another Cosgrove brother, Harry J., was in Nellie’s home in 1920. Nellie, John and Virginia are at the family gathering too.

·         Catheline Cosgrove, born 1898. I couldn’t find any information about Catheline but wonder if she and her husband are “Mom” and “Dad” above.

·         Harry J. Cosgrove, born 1888. Harry never married. Harry’s WWI draft registration card provides his home as 112 Oakland St., Hartford, CT. This was Jerome and Belle’s home. The 1920 federal census has Harry living in another sister’s home, Nellie and John E. Bolar. The U. S. National Home for Disabled Soldiers took care of Harry during 1930. His sister, Mrs. Lloyd Brinton was noted to be his nearest relative. Harry’s not pictured above.

What a shame Belle, Jerome and their girls, Marion, Ida, Genevieve and Beatrice missed the festivities.

Does anybody recognize the others?

TUESDAY’S TRUE BLUE GRANDPA Adam Snyder, Augusta Co., VA, Exemplary and Peaceful Citizen

Adam Snider died March 15, 1879. The Staunton Spectator reported his death in the Tuesday, March 25, 1879 issue.

Snyder name spelled ‘Snider’ many times in records.

The family is of German origin.

3^rd Great Grandfather Adam Snyder was born Oct. 1, 1808 in Virginia. He was one of ten children born to Martin Snyder and Catherine Thomas.

Adam was fourteen when his father died in 1822. 4^th Great Grandfather Martin Snider’s will contained detailed instructions about the sale of his 740 acre plantation near Stribling Springs. I’ll write more about that in a future post. For now you need to know Adam was to receive $1,000 ten years after his father’s lands were sold. Jacob Showalter purchased a 175 acre parcel in 1833. The same year Michael Snyder bought 320 acres leaving 245 acres unaccounted for. (Michael Snyder might be one of Martin’s older sons.)

After Martin’s death 4^th Great Grandmother Catherine Thomas Snider (Adam’s mother) most likely lived with her children. She was the head of the household according to the 1830 federal census. By 1840, David Snyder (Adam’s older brother) took over as head of the family per the 1840 federal census. Great Grandmother Catherine was still living at this date.

Rev. D. F. Bittle married Adam and Hannah Hull May 19, 1845 in Augusta County. The Reverend was a Lutheran minister who served St. John’s Lutheran Church preaching in the Mount Tabor Church. Hannah was the daughter of Daniel Hull and Mary Barbara Summers born Sept. 20, 1816 in Virginia.

When the 1850 federal census was enumerated, Adam, Hannah and their three children were living in the Snyder home with Adam’s unmarried siblings, David and Catherine. The men worked as farmers. By 1860, 3^rd Great Grandfather assumed the role of head of the household. His brother and sister (David and Catherine) made their home with Adam along with his five daughters.

Adam and Hannah’s children:

·         Catherine Virginia, born April 10, 1846.

·         Sarah Jane, born July 17, 1847.

·         Mary Josephine, born August 21, 1849.

·         Jerusha Ann, born June 19, 1852.

·         Elizabeth Ella, born Sept. 20, 1856.

Their two little girls, Mary Josephine and Jerusha Ann, died within 3 days of each other in October 1860. Mary Josephine died Oct. 3^rd and Jerusha Ann passed Oct. 6th.

Great Grandfather was 52 years old when the Civil War began and I’m hoping he was too old to serve in the military.

Adam and Hannah’s oldest daughter, Catherine Virginia, married Rev. John Wesley Kiracofe Oct. 23, 1863. Catherine didn’t live many more years dying in 1870.

Sarah Jane married Joseph Henry Clemmer March 24, 1870.

Staunton Spectator, Staunton, Virginia, Tuesday, April 19, 1870

Youngest daughter Elizabeth Ella also married into the Clemmer family. She wed James Franklin Clemmer Jr. in 1877. Joseph Henry and James Franklin Clemmer were 1^st cousins once removed.

Staunton Spectator, Staunton, Virginia, Tuesday, May 8, 1877

The April 29, 1879 edition of the Staunton Spectator reported Adam’s will was admitted to probate with his son-in-law, Joseph H. Clemmer, as executor April 28, 1879. I’m hoping to get copies of his estate papers soon.

Grandmother Hannah (Hull) Snider’s buried at Middlebrook in the Mount Tabor Lutheran Church Cemetery beside Adam. She died in Augusta County Jan. 2, 1892.

I’d like to express sincere thanks to fellow Snyder family descendant Linda Houser for sharing her research and Martin Snider’s will with me.  

   [Augusta Co. Will Book 14, page 189]

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY: KIMBER FORT AND MILL

The following post was previously published Feb. 5, 2015 on my other blog Casper Kimber Connections.

6^th Great Grandparents George Kimber and Sarah Westfall’s claim to fame sits on Rt. 284 in Unionville, New York. Their neighbors, James Clark and Sarah Van Auken, shared the limelight with them.

Kimber Fort, Rt. 284 on the state line between

New Jersey and New York in Unionville, NY

Image shared Courtesy of Ancestry.com Member dondew 2281

The New York State historical marker above celebrates George Kimber’s early settlement at Unionville in the Town of Minisink, Orange County, New York. Great Grandfather’s lands straddled the New Jersey/New York state line and were part of the border wars known as the New York – New Jersey Line War. Raids between the Sussex County, New Jersey and Orange County, New York men began as early as 1701 and lasted until 1765. During this time, George Kimber bought land.

No deeds were recorded in Orange County. However, I was able to locate George Kimber in early records.

Richard Gardner, a surveyor, was hired by the New Jersey Proprietors to find out what settlers lived along the Wallkill River. It was all about money. The New Jersey Proprietors wanted anybody on the disputed lands to get a lease and pay a fee. If not, they would be kicked out.

George appeared in Mr. Gardner’s October 13, 1752 entry. On this particular day Richard Gardner visited Jonathan Cooly’s place. Jonathan Cooly had previously bought 100 acres for 40 Pounds from the Bloom’s and Wisner’s. He was worried the New Jersey Proprietors would claim it. Mr. Gardner told him Jersey would give him a lease and warned if he didn’t secure his land with a lease somebody else might come along and take it. Mr. Cooly decided it would be wise to have a lease. Jonathan’s brother, Isaac Cooly, and George Kimbel heard their conversation and they both agreed to take leases for land which was about 3 miles to the west. George told the other men how he was thrown off land about a month ago where he had lived for seven years owned by Mr. Clows.

In February of 1753 William Tilsworth sent a letter to Thomas Dekay, a New York man, asking if Dekay would defend him if he didn’t take a Jersey lease. Dekay was a feisty one and sent word that he would defend him. Furthermore, he would burn down the houses of those that had already taken leases. A few of the men were worried but Richard Gardner said Dekay was just mad. Dekay had promised to pull down Richard Gardner’s house last fall and hadn’t been there yet. Mr. Gardner named Great Grandfather as one of a group from the Drowned Lands that already taken leases. I hope Great Grandfather didn’t have to tangle with Thomas Dekay and his sons.

I learned of Richard Gardner’s Journal from Frances Sodrick, the late Pine Island, New York Historian. Frances prepared abstracts of the journal. Recently I found Liese Uptegrove-Ade’s transcription “Diary of Richard Gardiner Surveyor for the Proprietors of New Jersey, October 1752 - March 1753” online at

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~uptegrove/aboutdiary.htm

prepared using a photocopy of the original manuscript in the possession of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey. Many thanks to both for their work.

Transcriptions of Richard Gardner’s journal entries follow. They contain the vernacular of the times and I suggest you read the entries aloud.

     “Octob. 13 [1752] I went to Jonathan Culy’s which is about a mile West from James Walls. He told me that he had bought one hundred acres of land thare, for 40 pound, of the Blooms and Weasnor – I asked him if he was not afraid the Jerseys would take it, he said he was, and if he had known as much when he bought as he did now he would not have bought. I told him the proprietors did not simply holding the land as far as the Line that was run by Mr. Clinton, and would Lease and defend it so far. I also show’d him a Lease, he further said that if takeing a Lease of the proprietors would not hinder his recovering the money he gave for his deed, he would take a Lease. I told him when the Line is confirm’d I sopos’d he might recover his money if he Lease’d as well as if he did not Lease if it fell in the Jersey side, he said that he would take a Lease for a hundred acres joining, and if he could find out that he could recover his mony if he Leased he would come under Lease, I told him that that he had got good land and if he did not secure it somebody would would (sic) for him before long. He said he was afraid of it, thare happen’d to be his brother Isaac Cooly & George Kimbal by and heard us talek, and theay both agreed to take Leases for land that lay westward from thare about 3 miles from thare, that them theay might have it provided that theay would settle it imeditely which theay agreed too. Said Kimbal told me that about 7 years agow he settled a place about ½ a mile below Clinton’s Line upon that Mr. Clows own’d, and that theay turn’d him of it about a month past. – He said Jonathan Cooly’s Land is well timbered and meadow’d and is worth 60£ per hundred I think and has cleard near 20 acres, and been settled about two years.”

“On or about the 20^th of February 1753. William Tilsworth wrote a letter to Dekay for an answer to know whether the patentees would defend him if he did not lease of proprietors, which he was to let him know immediately after the Supreme Court in New York. Dekay afew days aftar send John Hubs to tell him that he would come in a few days and survey out his land and give him a lease and defend him, and those that he had taken leases of them or else theay would burn down their houses over their heads, which Boysleon Courtrait, Jacob Bogart and and several others ware very uneasy about it and theay told of their news, unto me. I told them that Dekay would not come for he only was in a mad fit, for he threttend to pull my house down last faul, but he haint been yet, nor wolt come, neither will any of the patentees agree with him for to lease and defend any of the settlements heare away. & he is not sufficient of himself to defent himself, I told them also that I had been down the Drounded Land lately and James Bill, George Walls, James Walls, Benjamin Knap, George Kimbal, Isaac Culy, Jacob Midday, and Thomas Schonehover, have all taken lease now, and several other would but the snow coming on put it by, so that Dekay will have but a very small number on this side the Wallkill that will comply with his motion if any.  P. Cortrait Sd that Joseph Barton had got a title bond of Weasoner and the Blooms. I told him I saw it, and I put him out of conceit so that he wrote to me since I came from thare for a lease and Joseph Wallen, Ruben Knap and Hendrick Dacker Jr., had sent for me to come and lease to them, but the blank leases is all filed so that I have not for them yet, well says he if all them comes under leaes Dekay may stay at home.”

It took 222 years but George Kimber's deed did make its way back to Orange County. His deed dated December 13, 1762 granted by the New Jersey Proprietors was presented to the Town of Minisink by Margaret W. Myers in March 1984 and is currently in possession of the Minisink Museum. The deed was for 2 tracts of land containing about 161 acres. The first tract contained 90 acres and 24/100 of an acre and was situated between Joseph Barton and Elijah Inman's lands. The second tract ‘on the west branch of the Wallkill most northerly corner of a tract of land ‘returned to said George Kimber the tenth day of August 1759’.