Distant Cousin Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley (1811-1872) is my 4th cousin 4 times removed on my mother's side. He was a newspaper editor, politician, and abolitionist. He founded and edited the New York Tribune, a prominent and influential newspaper from the 1840's - 1870's. Wikipedia has an extensive article about him.


He persuaded my paternal second great-grandfather, James Pyle, of the benefit of newspaper advertising. Following is from James Pyle's 1900 New York Daily Tribune obituary. (See James Pyle & Sons for more about my second great-grandfather.)

You can see James Pyle's full New York Times obituary here, which also includes this story.

I wrote about my Greeley ancestry here, where I mention the basic secondary source for the Greeley family: George Hiram Greeley, Genealogy of the Greely-Greeley Family (Boston, Mass.: 1905), which can be found at Google Books and the Internet Archive. Pages 671-673 include information about the life of Horace Greeley.

Andrew Greele

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Joseph Greele

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---------------------------

|                            |

Samuel Greele      Benjamin Greele

|                            |

Samuel Greele     Ezekiel Greele

|                            |

Samuel Greele     Zaccheus Greele

|                            |

Samuel Greele    Zaccheus Greeley

|                            |

Samuel Sewall Greeley   Horace Greeley

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Ethel May Greeley

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Lowell Townsend Copeland

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My mother

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Me

Horace Greeley is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in New York. You can see a memorial for Horace Greeley at Find A Grave, where my second great-grandfather, James Pyle is also buried.

Surname Saturday ~ Lysle of Pennsylvania

The earliest Lysle I know of is James Lysle. I don't know much about him, and haven't had much luck confirming information about him. I'm not sure if he is the immigrant ancestor for this line or where he came from, though the family story says that he was French. I'm not sure if he lived in southeastern Pennsylvania or in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, but it was in Allegheny County (specifically Allegheny City, later known as North Side Pittsburgh) where I find the next four generations of my Lysle ancestors.

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Image courtesy: Wikipedia

I do have that his wife was Mary Wilson (1763-1849), who is buried in Union Dale Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (See her Find A Grave memorial here.)

They had nine children that I know of.

Generation 2: George Lysle (1800-1877) founded the Lysle & Sons Coal Company in the Pittsburgh area, which I wrote about here. He died as a result of injuries suffered in a train accident in Washington, D.C. He married Margaret McIlwaine (1804-1880) and fathered twelve children. They are both buried in Union Dale Cemetery, along with at least seven of their children. Their youngest son was George.

Generation 3: George Lysle, Jr. (about 1843 - 1900) married Marion Helen Alston and after her death, he married Edith Hadly. He had two children with his first wife (see a photo of these children) and two with his second wife. His oldest child and only daughter was Marguerite.

Generation 4: Marguerite Lysle (1876-1967) married Percy Earle Hunter
Generation 5: Helen Lysle Hunter (1907-1990) married Lowell Copeland
Generation 6: My mother
Generation 7: Me

Much of the basic information for this family came from a printed family tree made in the late 1930's. I have also collected information from U.S. Census records, Pittsburgh City Directories, Pittsburgh newspapers, and a few vital records.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Deacon Samuel Chapin

Here I am with my 8th great-grandfather, Deacon Samuel Chapin. (See my Surname Saturday post for the lineage.) Thanks to my husband for taking the photograph.

This sculpture, The Puritan, is by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and is in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Two Years of Blogging!

I've been sharing my family history on this blog for two years. This is post number 173.

The top posts for the past year:

1. DNA Test Results from AncestryDNA about my experience using Ancestry.com's DNA. I had posted this just before my first blogiversary.

2. 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Weather about my memory of the Blizzard of '78 in the Boston area. Even though I wrote this soon after I started writing my blog (April 2011), I noticed that it was being read quite a bit during this past very snowy winter in Boston.

3. Pennsylvania Death Records and Percy Hunter's Death Certificate about the availability of Pennsylvania records and exploring the death record for my great-grandfather.

4. Great Aunt Adelia about my paternal grandfather's older sister, who became a Catholic nun working with Padre Pio in Italy.

5. Family Recipe Friday - Hermit Cookies about my favorite cookie recipe. I shared this in December 2011, when I baked them for Christmas and took pictures as I did so. This past winter I noticed that one of my blog's traffic sources was Pinterest (which I don't use), where two of the pictures were "pinned"and therefore, Pinterest users were directed to my blog.

My newest challenge is to regularly write a Surname Saturday blog post which seems to take me more time (as I get distracted by my poor source citations, especially when they are secondary sources and I feel the need to find additional confirmation of facts). However, it is a great way for me to review various branches of my family tree.

Here is a Wordle showing six generations of ancestor surnames.

I will keep blogging and I thank you for reading.

Thankful Thursday ~ Massachusetts Records

In doing research for my Chapin post, I realized that I know the names and most of the dates for all sixteen of my third great-grandfather's second great-grandparents!

I am thankful for the availability of online primary sources for Massachusetts, which are plentiful. I find information at AmericanAncestors.org, Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch.org (enter Massachusetts in the Filter by collection name box). Where else have you found online records for Massachusetts?

The above fan chart for Orramel Chapin was created in Family Tree Maker 2 for Mac.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Samuel Greele Killed By The Fall of a Tree

As I noted in my Greeley Surname Saturday post, it has been noted that Captain Samuel Greele died by the fall of a tree. In exploring Find A Grave for Greele / Greeley ancestor memorials, I found memorials for Captain Samuel Greele and his wife Olive (Read) Greele, as well as their son, Major Samuel Greeley, who are all buried in Vale End Cemetery in Wilton, New Hampshire.

Do visit Samuel Greele's Find A Grave Memorial, where photographers have shared wonderful photographs of not only his stone, but a monument with a notation by the photographer that "This marker is at the spot where he died when a tree fell on him and his horse."

In addition, his gravestone notes his cause of death as well.

Source: Find A Grave photographer Cindy Schultz

SAMUEL GREELE,
who was suddenly killed
by the fall of a tree, on
the 25th of Sep. 1798 in
the 46th year of his age.

Surname Saturday ~ Chapin of Springfield, Massachusetts

Devon, England
Wikimedia Commons

My immigrant Chapin ancestor is Samuel Chapin. He was one of the early settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts, found in records there by 1642, and a great deal can be found about him online. (See Wikipedia, for example.)

He was baptized in Paignton, Devon, England in 1598. He married Cicely Penny in 1623 in England and they had seven children, five born in England, one born in Roxbury, Massachusetts and the last born in Springfield.

He was prominent in Springfield, serving as Selectman, Magistrate, and Deacon. He died in Springfield in November 1675. His widow, Cicely died in February 1682.

I am descended from three of Samuel Chapin's children: Henry, born in 1630, Japhet, born in 1642 in Roxbury, and Hannah, born in 1644 in Springfield. I am descended from his son, Japhet, in two ways, so I guess you can say I descend four ways from Deacon Samuel Chapin.

Springfield, Hampden County
Wikimedia Commons

Generation 2: Henry Chapin (1630-1718) married Bethia Cooley (1643-1711) in 1664 and had six children. I descend from their youngest child.

Generation 3: Benjamin Chapin (1682-1756) married Hannah Colton (1688-1739) in 1704 and had twelve children. I descend from their second youngest child.

Generation 4: Ephraim Chapin (1729-1805) married his second cousin, once removed, Jemima Chapin (1735-1804) in 1755, whose parents were second cousins (see below for these lines). They had eight children. I descend from their second youngest child. Ephraim served in the Revolutionary War.

Generation 5: Bezaleel Chapin (1769-1812) married his third cousin, once removed, Thankful Chapin (1774-1854) in 1790 (see below for her line). They had six children and I descend from their oldest son.

Generation 6: Orramel Chapin (1791-1866) married Susan Rood (1799-????) in 1816. I have written about them before: see Moving West Part 1 and Moving West Part 2. Orramel's parents were both Chapins; three of Orramel's grandparents were Chapins, and of his eight great-grandparents, four were descended from Deacon Samuel.

Generation 7: Susan Arville Chapin (1820-1906)
Generation 8: Charles Chapin Adsit (1853-1931)
Generation 9: Elizabeth Adsit (1897-1983)
Generation 10: Charles McAlpin Pyle (1924-1993)
Generation 11: Me