Daniel Ashby in the Revolution

My 4th great-grandfather, Daniel Ashby, son of Captain Stephen Ashby served in the Revolution.

His DAR Ancestor# is 203307 and his service is summarized:

Service: Virginia  Rank(s): Ensign
Birth:  8-30-1759 Frederick Co Virginia
Death:  9-13-1836 Hopkins Co Kentucky
Pension Number:  *S14927
Service Source:  *S14927
Service Description:  1) Capts Daniel Richardson, Wilton, Thomas Neal; Cols Glenn, Vanmetre

Daniel Ashby's service is reported in his 16-page pension file, found at Fold3. 

Page 2 of Daniel Ashby's pension file

This page of Daniel Ashby's pension file summarizes his service (see below) and reports his pension information:

Inscribed on the Roll of Kentucky-
at the rate of 110 Dollars - Cents per annum
to commence on the 4th day of March 1831.

Certificate of Pension issued the 16th day of Nov
1832 and sent to Samuel
Woodson, Madisonville, Ky

Arrears to 4th of Sept 1832 -    165
Semi=anl. allowance ending 4   55
March 1833                             $220

Revolutionary Claim Act June 7, 1832

Information about his service: 

Malinda Ashby and Edmund G. Hall ~ 52 Ancestors #50

In February 1842, in (probably Glasgow) Barren County, Kentucky, a marriage bond was signed by Edmund G. Hall and C. B. Hall (Edmund's brother), providing the intention of marriage of Edmund G. Hall and Malinda Ashby.

(The marriage bond became void upon the marriage; the amount of the bond would have to be paid to the Commonwealth of Kentucky by either the groom or his bondsman only if the marriage did not take place.)

"Kentucky, County Marriages, 1785-1979" from FamilySearch
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9S9-593Z-G

Stephen Ashby U.S.N.A. ~ 52 Ancestors #46

There are a few Stephen Ashbys in my ancestry. 5th great-grandfather, Stephen Ashby, was a Captain in the Revolutionary War. My 3rd great-grandfather of the same name died in 1829, leaving a widow and four young children. I wrote a Surname Saturday: Ashby post several years ago.

My ancestral line is as follows:

Stephen Ashby (1710-1797)
|
Daniel Ashby (1759-1834)
|
Stephen Ashby (1800[?]-1829)
|
Daniel Morgan Ashby (1828-1907) = Mary Elizabeth Gorin
|
Mary Bowman Ashby
|
Elizabeth Adsit
|
Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr.
|
Me

Daniel Morgan Ashby continued the tradition of naming a son for his father. Stephen Ashby was born October 15, 1861, in Barren County, Kentucky, the third child and second son of his parents. (And my second great-uncle.)

Stephen Ashby attended the U.S. Naval Academy, as indicated in the 1880 Federal Census.

1880 US Census, Barren County, Kentucky, population schedule, Town of Glasgow, ED 7, page 4 (penned), dwelling 21, family 32, household of Daniel Morgan Ashby.

I also happen to have one letter that he wrote to his mother in January 1881 when he was attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

Libby: Least Number of Cousins ~ 52 Ancestors #40

My paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit, known as Libby, is the grandparent with the least number of close family, specifically first cousins. I have no first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins on this specific ancestral line. I showed this graphically at  Descendants of my Great-Grandparents and in a list at Counting Third Cousins.

Elizabeth Adsit, circa 1913, about 16 years old

William S. Ashby Struck by Lightning, 1883 ~ 52 Ancestors #24

William Shrewsbury Ashby was born November 18, 1859, in Barren County, Kentucky, to Napoleon Bonaparte Ashby and Juliet Shrewsbury, the eldest of their six children. He was a first cousin of my great-grandmother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit (1863-1956) so my first cousin three times removed.

Napoleon Ashby was in Russellville, Logan County in 1850, but by 1860, he was married and living in Barren County where it appears all of his children were born. (His younger brother, Daniel Morgan Ashby, my second great-grandfather, lived in Barren County for many years.)

By 1880, Napoleon B. Ashby's family returned to Russellville. His six children were living with him: Willie S. (age 20), Linda (18), Henry C. (16), Mary (14), Emma (12), and Benjamin M. (10). Two boarders in the household were Willie Hughes and Permelia Hall, age 78, who should have been listed as his mother; she was twice-widowed Permelia (Christian) (Ashby) Hall, whose death date I still have not identified.

1880 US Census, Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, ED 164, p 443B,
dwelling 232, family 232, Napolion [sic] B. Ashby household.

By 1883, son William was setting out on his own. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for his parents and younger siblings when they heard the following news.

1903 Photo Mary Adsit ~ 52 Ancestors #2

I am hoping to blog more, using Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks themes, and this week's theme is Favorite Photo. (And, no, you didn't miss post #1; I didn't post last week.)

I am very lucky to have many family photos and I have many favorites. See my many posts with the tag Wordless Wednesday.

Here is a portrait of my great-grandmother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit, taken in July 1903 according to a penciled notation on the back.

She would have been 40 years old.

Mary Bowman Ashby was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, in 1863 (though for most of her life, she lied about her age). She married Charles Chapin Adsit in 1890.  They settled in Chicago, where she gave birth to her son in July 1892 and to her daughter (my grandmother, Libby) in June 1897. I shared a photo of her with her son at M. B. Adsit and C. C. Adsit Jr. Circa 1893.

I also shared a photo of brother and sister at Wordless Wednesday ~ 1904 Car.

I have several portraits and photographs of Mary Adsit throughout her long life and she always looked very stylish.

Counting Third Cousins

Summer 1982; see
Throwback Thursday-Cousins Day

My current project (which I have spent many months on) has been to identify all the descendants of my eight sets of second great-grandparents. This is to help me identify my DNA matches on the several genetic genealogy testing sites where my results connect me to cousins. Smaller amounts of shared DNA suggests more distant relationships and knowing my third cousins might help identify those relationships.

I have identified 49 second cousins and over 180 third cousins. Note that on my father's mother's side (Adsit-Ashby), I have no known first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins. This makes it difficult to confirm more distant, colonial New England cousins on this side because I've got lots of other colonial New England in other ancestral lines.

Some families were more difficult to track forward than others; it depended on where they lived and whether I could find useful obituaries in online newspapers (among other resources). Then there are families with common names: Bailey, Hunter, Murphy, Smith, Walsh, as well as branches of cousins who moved abroad, making it harder to find them.

Notes:
* The couple's name in bold are my second great-grandparents.
*  In many cases, the number of third cousins is an estimate (especially McAlpin-Rose, Greeley half-third cousins, and Hunter-Freeland).
*  I refer to 3 siblings under my maternal lines and 4 siblings under my paternal lines as I have one sibling with whom I share my father and not my mother.
*  The colors are based on my long-time color-coding system.

PATERNAL-PATERNAL
James Pyle (1823-1900) and Esther Abigail Whitman (1828-1921) had:
   7 children (only 2 had children)
   9 grandchildren
  10 great-grandchildren
  40 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, my 31 second cousins, and 4 third cousins)

David Hunter McAlpin (1816-1901) and Frances Adelaide Rose (1829-1870) had:
  10 children
  23 grandchildren
  48 great-grandchildren
(at least) 139 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, my 31 second cousins, and (at least) 103 third cousins)


PATERNAL-MATERNAL
James Monroe Adsit (1809-1894) and Susan Arville Chapin (1820-1906) had:
   7 children
   4 grandchildren
   1 great-grandson (my dad)
   5 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins)

Daniel Morgan Ashby (1828-1907) and Mary Elizabeth Gorin (1833-1891) had:
   6 children
   3 grandchildren
   1 great-grandson (my dad)
   5 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 4 siblings, no first cousins, second cousins, or third cousins)


MATERNAL-PATERNAL
Henry Clay Copeland (1832-1912) and Sarah Lowell (1833-1916) had:
   3 children
   6 grandchildren
   7 great-grandchildren
  20 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 11 second cousins, no third cousins)

Samuel Sewall Greeley (1824-1916) and his first wife Anne Morris Larned (1828-1864) had:
   4 children
  10 grandchildren
  27 great-grandchildren
  (at least) 57 great-great-grandchildren (my half-third cousins)

Samuel Sewall Greeley (1824-1916) and his second wife Eliza May Wells (1839-1880) had:
   5 children
   3 grandchildren
   7 great-grandchildren
  20 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 11 second cousins, no third cousins)


MATERNAL-MATERNAL
James Hunter (1844-1902) and Mary Freeland (1850-1902) had:
  10 children
  10 grandchildren
  16 great-grandchildren
  (at least) 28 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 7 second cousins, my (at least) 12 third cousins)  (Some with the surname Hunter are very difficult to trace, as the names are somewhat common.)

George Lysle, Jr. (1845-1900) and his first wife Marion Helen Alston (1850-1885) had:
   2 children
   7 grandchildren
   7 great-grandchildren
   21 great-great-grandchildren (me, my 3 siblings, my 5 first cousins, my 7 second cousins, my 5 third cousins)

George Lysle, Jr. (1845-1900) and his second wife Edith O. Hadly (1869-1933) had:
   2 children. One son died young and the other married, but didn't have any children. No half-third cousins here.

I have added these third cousins to my tree in Family Tree Maker and plan to upload it to Ancestry, MyHeritage (and perhaps other sites) to help connect me to more cousins. I have added many surnames to my tree and have already identified several cousins on the DNA testing sites while doing this project.

Great-Grandmother was a Golfer ~ 52 Ancestors #41

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Sports.

I have previously written about the athletes in my dad's family at Sports Center Saturday ~ Dad and golf and about his mother at Libby Was a Tennis Player.

One of my brothers mentioned to me that Libby's mother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit (1863-1956) was a very good golfer as a young woman. I had never heard this story, which goes to show that genealogists should interview everyone, even younger relatives, who might know something about the family.

My great-grandmother is found only as Mrs. Adsit or Mrs. C. C. Adsit in the nine or ten newspaper articles in which she is mentioned as playing in or winning golf tournaments.

According to this September 1898 Chicago Tribune article, the first women's golf tournament "in the west" was held at Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest, Illinois, and Mrs. Adsit placed 19th. At the time, she was about 35 years old and had a six-year-old son and a 15-month-old daughter (my grandmother).

     "Women's Golf Tourney," The Chicago Tribune, 8 September 1898, p. 8, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/349853896/ : accessed 11 October 2018).

Mrs. Adsit's home club, the Onwentsia Club, was formally organized at its present location in 1895, hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1899, and hosted the U.S. Open in 1906. (See History - Onwentsia Club.)

Permelia Christian Ashby Hall - Changes - 52 Ancestors #46

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Changes: Highlight an ancestor that went through many changes or that you had to change your research strategies to find.

Pamela (Christian) (Ashby) Hall is an ancestor who went through many changes AND I have to change my research strategies to find more information about her.

I have written about this third great-grandmother previously. I first mentioned her in my Surname Saturday ~ Ashby post, then shared the U.S. Census records I found her in at Kentucky ~ Looking for a Crack in the Brick Wall.

I find her listed as Pamela, Permelia and even Amelia in various records. She was born about 1802 or 1803 in Kentucky. I have not confirmed her parents in primary sources, though there are online trees that name parents for her. I need to change my research strategies to find out more about her parents and siblings, by exploring different kinds of records, probably probate records or land records, as well as exploring her "FAN Club," a research strategy that involves researching her friends, associates, and neighbors. There appear to be a lot of Christians in Hopkins County, Kentucky, which would be a place to start. (There is also a Christian County, Kentucky. Could she be related to the man for whom this county is named?)

I also need to learn more about history and geography of western Kentucky.  Here is a map (courtesy of Wikipedia) with the counties I need to learn more about in color.

Kentucky Counties, color added by me.

Stephen Ashby (d. 1829) - 52 Ancestors #26

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Halfway: This week marks the halfway point in the year — and the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge! What ancestor do you have that you feel like you’ve only researched halfway?

First of all, I am pleased with myself that I've kept up with this 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. I am on track to writing as many posts in 2015 as I did in 2012, my most prolific year.

This week, I am sharing what little I know about a third great-grandfather, Stephen Ashby. Most of what I know about him is from The Ashby Book, Vol. 1: Descendants of Captain Thomas Ashby of Virginia (1976), compiled by Lee Fleming Reese, which is digitized and available at FamilySearch.org's Family History Books, a wonderful resource! However, this is a secondary source, so I feel that I've only researched this family halfway because I should really explore the primary source material.

Stephen Ashby was born in about 1805 (or possibly earlier) to Daniel Ashby and Mary Polly Benson. (See Surname Saturday: Ashby for more about my Ashby line.)

Bowmie Ashby's 1890 Wedding - 52 Ancestors #23

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Wedding.

I have written about many ancestor weddings. You can see all of the posts with the label "Wedding Wednesday" by clicking here.

As I have noted, my new favorite website to explore is Newspapers.com. I did a search for "Ashby" in location "Kentucky" with date "1890", and sure enough, one of the top results was for my great-grandparents, Charles Chapin Adsit and Mary Bowman Ashby, who was known as Bowmie. Previously, I had known that they married in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 30, 1890, but I didn't know anything about their wedding.

The following is from the Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), Friday, October 31, 1890, page 6 (Newspapers.com/image/33851479). My comments are in [brackets].

BRIDES AND GROOMS.

Miss Bowmie Ashby Married To

Mr. Charles Adsit, of

Chicago.

   One of the prettiest home weddings of the season was that of Miss Bowmie Ashby to Mr. Charles C. Adsit at the home of the bride's aunt, Mrs. Henry C. Murrell [Emma Gorin Murrell, a sister of Bowmie's mother], on Second street, near Breckinridge, yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock.
   The bride, a beautiful blonde [I wish there was a wedding picture!], has been one of the greatest favorites in the society of this city for several seasons.
   The wedding was a quiet one on account of a recent death in the family [I don't know who], and only the friends and relatives were present. The parlors were simply, but tastefully decorated, and the ceremony was performed in the front room under a panoply of green. The bride wore a handsome gown of heavy white faille with train. Her cousin, Miss Florence Murrell [daughter of Henry and Emma Murrell], acted as Maid of Honor and Mr. James M. Adsit [this could be his older bachelor brother or his father] as best man. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Minnegerode. Immediately after the wedding supper, which followed the ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. Adsit left for Chicago, the home of the groom.

Civil War Blogpost Challenge ~ Military Monday

For Bill West's Civil War Blogpost Challenge, I looked at my database to see which of my ancestors might have fought in the U.S. Civil War (150 years ago). I find that I can't add much more to what I have already shared about the service of my ancestors in the Civil War.

~~~~~~

My maternal grandmother's ancestors were in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. I have written about my second great grand uncle, James M. Lysle, who died in Virginia, serving for the 63rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. I share his picture here again. His youngest brother, George Lysle, my second great-grandfather, was born in 1845, possibly too young to serve, but working in a coal company, perhaps he provided help in the war effort in other ways.

There were a few other Alstons and Lysles (great-uncles and/or distant cousins) who served from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania, Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-1999, at Ancestry.com, is a good resource to determine Civil War service. I do not find my third great grandfather, James Freeland, who died on March 1, 1863, at about age 48, according to his gravestone (see his FindAGrave memorial) or my third great-grandfather, Samuel Hunter, who also died in 1863 at about age 49, in this database, or in Civil War records at Fold3.com, so it appears that they may not have fought, but perhaps served in other ways.

~~~~~~~

My maternal grandfather's father's family was in Maine (see second great-grandfather Henry Copeland's draft information here). It looks like he was exempted from service.

My maternal grandfather's mother's family was in Chicago. I wrote about what I could find about second great-grandfather Samuel S. Greeley's service (building sewers) here.

~~~~~~~

Wordless Wednesday ~ Pair of Ambrotypes

I previously posted the image of an identified ambrotype in my collection, of my third great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Gorin.

I also have the following ambrotypes in my collection, which came to me with the T. J. Gorin ambrotype, but they are unidentified. I would guess that they are of Gorin or Ashby family members, but really don't know for sure.

Kentucky ~ Looking for a Crack in the Brick Wall

As I noted in my recent Surname Saturday post about the Ashby line, I didn't know much about my third great-grandparents, Stephen Ashby (about 1805 - May 1829) and Pamela (Permelia) Christian (dates unknown) until I found The Ashby Book, Vol. 1: Descendants of Captain Thomas Ashby of Virginia by Lee Fleming Reese, published in 1976.

As I noted, this book shares transcriptions of several court records from the 1830's which list the children of Stephen Ashby, Jr. and his widow, Pamelia Ashby: Malinda Ashby, Benjamin C. Ashby, Napoleon B. Ashby, and Daniel M. Ashby. These four children were born in the 1820's (between the marriage of Stephen and Pamelia in 1820 and his death in May 1829).

In one court record there is reference that "his widow Pamelia has intermarried with James Hall."

With this information, I explored census records on Ancestry.com to see what else I could find out about my third great-grandmother, Pamela / Pamelia / Permelia, and her family.

In 1830, there is an Amelia Ashby with children of approximately the correct age, as well as four slaves (as indicated in one of the court records) living in Hopkins County, Kentucky. This might be the widow Permelia Ashby, but I can't be sure. There is a James Hall in Barren County, Kentucky in 1830, with a household of one adult male the right age for James (40-50), five other whites (his children?) between ages 5-20, and seven slaves.

~~~~~~~

In 1840, I found Jas. Hall in Barren County, Kentucky.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Ashby and Hall Half Brothers

I have been researching my Ashby line (see Surname Saturday ~ Ashby) and I found a few Find A Grave memorials for some of my Kentucky ancestors.

The biggest find was at small Hall-Harlow Cemetery in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky: a memorial for Benjamin C. Ashby (1822-1848), my 3rd great-uncle.

Imagine my surprise when my photo request was almost immediately fulfilled...

Photo courtesy of Martha and Daine Harrison; used with their permission.
Thank you to Find A Grave volunteer Laura J. Stewart for setting up the memorials
and obtaining the permission to share this photograph on my blog.

and there was another name on Benjamin Ashby's stone. Gilbert C. Hall (1835-1850) was a half-brother to Benjamin. Their mother was Permelia (Christian) (Ashby) Hall, my third great-grandmother.

Left side:

Benjamin C.
Son of Stephen &
Pemelia Ashby
Born
Oct. 12, 1822
Died
Nov. 8, 1848

Right side:

Gilbert C.
Son of
James &
Pemelia Hall
Born
March 3, 1835
Died
August 15, 1850

Military Monday ~ Captain Stephen Ashby

My 5th great-grandfather, Stephen Ashby, served as Captain in the Revolutionary War. The DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) online database shows Captain Stephen Ashby was born circa 1725 (though other records indicate he was born circa 1710) in Virginia. He died July 25, 1797, in Mercer County, Kentucky. His service is sourced and summarized by the DAR as follows:

Service Source: NARA, M881, COMP MIL SER RECS, ROLLS #977, 1074; SANCHEZ-SAAVEDRA, A GUIDE TO VA MIL ORGS IN THE AM REV, P 67; BLWT 2420-300

Service Description: 1) 3RD CO, 12TH & 8TH VA REGTS, 3RD VA BRIGADE, COL JAMES WOOD, BRIG GEN CHARLES SCOTT

On Fold3, I found Captain Stephen Ashby in the Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War. He was commissioned a captain on September 9, 1776, serving under Colonel James Wood of Virginia in the 12th Virginia Regiment, which was re-designated the 8th Virginia Regiment in September 1778, at which time Captain Ashby retired from service.

The card below shows when he was appointed a Captain.

Stephen Ashby
Appears with the rank of Capt. on a
List
under the following heading:
"An Arrangement of the Officers belonging to
the 12th Virginia Regiment, with the time their
several Commissions Ouught to bear Date"
(Revolutionary War.)
List dated
9 Septem 1776
Remarks: * * * By an Ordnance of the
Convention of Virginia which Passed in
June 1776, a Company consisting of a
Captain Lieutenant and Ensign three Ser-
geants and fifty Rank and file, were Ordered
to be raised for the Protection of the Frontier,
and to be stationed at the mouth of Wheeling
on the Ohio, with Direction for the Committee
of Hampshire to nominate the officers; who
elected Stephen Ashby Captain, Ben-
jamin Casey Lieutenant and Richard
Routt Ensign.


Additionally, in the Revolutionary War Pension files at Fold3, I found handwritten correspondence from 1847 written on behalf of his heirs (all eight of his children had died by 1846) making a claim to the land he was awarded for his service in the Revolution. There are also 20th century letters written to the Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, D.C. with typewritten replies that summarize what is in the handwritten 1847 correspondence. This is a tremendous genealogical resource for any descendants of Stephen Ashby's children: John, Enos, Daniel, Absolom, Stephen, Rosa Timmons, Lettice Neale and Annie Prather.

As noted in my Ashby Surname Saturday post, I am descended from his son Daniel Ashby, who also served in the Revolution.

Surname Saturday ~ Ashby of Virginia and Kentucky

Virginia (courtesy Wikipedia)

The earliest Ashby ancestor I know of is Thomas Ashby, who is believed to have been born about 1680 in England. His wife was Rose (or Rosanna) Berry and they had ten children. He settled in the colony of Virginia sometime between 1700 - 1710. He was known as Captain Thomas Ashby, as he served as a captain of the local militia. Thomas' will was written in April 1752 and was probated in August 1752. It is recorded on page 53 of the Frederick County (Virignia) Will Book 2, and is where his children are listed: John, Robert, Benjamin, Stephen, Thomas, Jr., Henry, Elizabeth, Sarah, Rose, and Ann.

Generation 2: Stephen Ashby was born in 1710 in Prince William County, Virginia. He served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War. For his service, he was granted what were known as bounty lands in Kentucky. When he died on May 19, 1797, he was a resident of Mercer County, Kentucky, though it is believed he died in Hopkins County. He is buried in the Old Ashby Cemetery in Hanson, Hopkins County, Kentucky. His Find A Grave memorial contains a great deal of information about him, including photographs of his original gravestone and a much later replacement one.

Different sources offer different names for his wives. The DAR Patriot index indicates that he had two wives named Elizabeth and one named Sarah. His will was written in May 1797 and is recorded on page 36 of the Mercer County (Kentucky) Will Book 2. In Captain Stephen Ashby's will, he refers to his "Military land" being left to his sons (Daniel, Absalom, John, Stephen, Enos).

Captain Stephen fathered at least eight children: John, Enos, Daniel, Rosa, Absolom, Stephen, Jr., Lettice, and Annie.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ Where Were They 100 Years Ago?

Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings Saturday Night Genealogy Fun asks us to do the following:

1)  Determine where your ancestral families were on 1 January 1913 - 100 years ago.

2)  List them, their family members, their birth years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

3)  Tell us all about it.

My father's side:

My great-great-grandmother, Esther Abigail (Whitman) Pyle (born 1828), was living at 200 West 57th Street, New York City. She was a widow and lived with one servant (in the 1910 census). I don't have a photograph of this apartment building and I don't know if the building that still stands there is the one she was living in 100 years ago.

Aerial photo of Hurstmont

My great grandmother, Frances Adelaide (McAlpin) Pyle (born 1860), is not listed in the New York City Directory, but I know that when her husband, James Tolman Pyle, died less than a year before, they were living at 673 5th Avenue, New York City. In 1913, she was living at either New York City and / or Morristown, New Jersey (see my early Hurstmont post for current photo). See Review Old Photos for an aerial photo of Hurstmont from what I am guessing is the 1930's. I do have several other photos of the home in New Jersey.

My grandfather, Charles McAlpin Pyle (born 1893) would likely have been living with his mother in New York City or Morristown, New Jersey.

My great-grandparents, Charles Chapin Adsit (born 1853) and his wife, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit (born 1863 or 1866) were living at Ritchie Court, Chicago, Illinois. The household included their son, Charles, Jr. (b. 1892) and my grandmother, Elizabeth (b. 1897). If I looked, I bet I have a few photos of this home, as I know I have photos of Charles, Jr. as a baby in a carriage outside the home. I don't know if this address still exists in Chicago; there is a North Ritchie Court that has older-looking homes on it (see Google Maps) but the numbers are different than in 1913.

My mother's side:

Calais, Maine - current photo

My great-great-grandmother, very recently widowed Sarah (Lowell) Copeland (born 1833), lived on Main Street, in Calais, Maine. I do have a couple of old photos of this home. This home still stands and a Find A Grave volunteer from the area shared a current photo of the home with me.

My great-grandparents, Lowell Copeland (born 1862) and Ethel May (Greeley) Copeland (born 1875), were living on Maple Street, New Trier Township, Illinois. Included in this household were my great-great-grandfather, Samuel Sewall Greeley (born 1824), as well as my grandfather, Lowell Townsend Copeland (b. 1900) and his two sisters. I do have some old photos that include this house.

My great-grandparents, Percy Earle Hunter (b. 1873) and Marguerite (Lysle) Hunter (b. 1876) were living at 3623 Perrysville Avenue in the 1910 census, but were living at 5629 Elgin Avenue in November 1913, when their eldest daughter died (per her death certificate). My grandmother, Helen Lysle Hunter (born 1907) would have lived there with her four older sisters. See a photograph of what I believe is the Perrysville home at Hunter Family Home. The home at Perrysville Avenue is no longer there, based on my search of Google Maps. Also using Google Maps, it looks like there is a home at 5629 Elgin Street, but I don't know if it's the same home.

Interestingly, 100 years ago, none of my ancestors lived in Massachusetts, yet this is where my immediate family has lived for over 50 years.

Thanks Randy for a fun Saturday Night!

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Ashbys in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago

Mary Elizabeth (Gorin) Ashby is buried in Chicago at Rosehill Cemetery, along with her husband, Daniel Morgan Ashby, and several of her children.

I have linked the family members at Find-A-Grave, and the kind Find-A-Grave volunteer, Jim Craig of Under Every Stone (if you haven't checked out his blog - you must), notes on his Find-A-Grave page that he gives permission for his photographs to be used for any non-commercial purpose, so below are photos of my second great grandparents' gravestones, courtesy of Jim Craig.

Mary E. Ashby
1833-1891

Daniel M. Ashby
1828-1907

I appreciate the last photo which shows the gravestones of the family plot in relation to each other.

Amanuensis Monday ~ 1891 Death Certificate for Mary E. Ashby

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them.

Mary Elizabeth (Gorin) Ashby, my second great grandmother, died on July 7, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois. FamilySearch.org (Free!) has Death Certificates for Cook County, Illinois, 1878-1922 which is where I found the following.

Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922 (index and images, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org,
from Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, accessed 5/8/2011),
Mary E. Ashby, died 7 July 1891. Citing Death Records, FHL microfilm 1,030,967.

Handwritten entries are in blue. My editorial comments are bracketed.

 1. Name: Mary E. Ashby
 2. Sex Female  Color White
 3. Age 58 years - months 7 days [Implies birth date of June 30, 1833; family bible has June 28]
 4. Occupation None
 5. Date of death July 7th, 1891 11:50 PM [I think]
 6. Married
 7. Nationality and place where born American  Glasgow, Kentucky
 8. How long resident in this State Residence Louisville [Kentucky]
 9. Place of death 455 Elm St, Chicago [Residence of her daughter, Mary, and son-in-law, who had only just married in the previous October]
10. Cause of death Hemiplegia [Paralysis affecting one side of the body]
11. Duration of disease Fifteen hours
12. Place of burial Rose Hill Cemetery
13. Name of undertaker Jordan [See their full page advertisement below.]
14. Dated at Chicago, July 7, 1891. G. E. Richards, M.D.
                                                 Residence 44 1/2 Bellevue Place [See his directory entry below.]

1891 Chicago City Directory, page 1918, Fold3.com

1891 Chicago City Directory, page 3045, Fold3.com