Granville Bowman of Kentucky - 52 Ancestors #10

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is "Stormy Weather." I couldn't find an appropriate ancestor to write about under this theme, so I am writing about an ancestor from my Kentucky branch.

Bowman vital records in
Gorin family bible

Granville Bowman is my 4th great grandfather who was likely born in Virginia and lived in Kentucky most of his adult life.

According to the Gorin Family Bible that I have, (see several family pages here and a closeup at left), Granville was born on March 21, 1786, and he died on August 11, 1841. (Note that this bible was published in 1856, which means that these birth and death dates were entered much later than the event.) Based on some Kentucky land grants given to a Granville Bowman in 1799, there is either another man by the name of Granville Bowman (possible), or my 4th great grandfather was born by 1778 (maybe 1776).

Granville was born in Virginia, probably Chesterfield County, where his father owned land and was listed in tax records. Kentucky became a state in 1792 and I believe Granville Bowman arrived in Cumberland County, Kentucky within a decade of statehood.

Cumberland County, Kentucky
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Granville married Polly Walthall on May 16, 1809, presumably in Kentucky. I find Granville Bowman in Cumberland County in each of the decennial United States censuses from 1810 through 1840, which list only the head of household and tick marks for the other household members. Following is a summary of what those censuses contain:

Military Monday ~ John Gorin, Revolutionary War

As I noted in my Surname Saturday post for my Gorin line, I found John Gorin's Revolutionary War Pension file at Fold3.com, a subscription website which focuses on military records, and has a wealth of information on John Gorin. In fact, there are 95 pages associated with his name in the Revolutionary War pension file!

Deciphering the handwritten pension application is on my list of things to do, but one of the pages, in response to a query, is a typewritten summary of John Gorin's Revolutionary War service.

Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (Fold3.com)
for John Gorin, of Virginia, Pension Number W 25643.

"Sir:
     In reply to your request for a statement of the military
history of John Gorin, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, you
will find below the desired information as contained in his
(and his widow's) application for pension on file in this Bureau:"

For ten weeks in 1777, he served ten weeks under Captain Thomas Pollard and Colonels Ramsay & Gilpin in Virginia. He then spend three weeks as a "Private To guard Gen. Washington's house."

In 1781 for four weeks, John Gorin served as "Pressmaster to raise a company of horse." He then spent four weeks as "Ordly.Segt." under Hugh Douglass and Summers & Merriweather. He also served four weeks as "Wagon Master Conveying Cornwallis's Baggage to Baltimore."

"Battles engaged in: Germantown and Yorktown.
Residence of soldier at Enlistment: Fairfax County, Virginia.
Date of application for pension: September 28, 1832.
Residence at date of application: Barren County, Kentucky.
Age at date of application: Born May 15, 1763, Fairfax Co. Va.
Remarks: His claim was allowed.
He married Elizabeth Duvall, May 26, 1825, in Barren Co., Ky. and
August 5, 1837 She was pensioned as his widow.
Had son Thomas J. (F) Gorin."

The NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution) Genealogical Research System Ancestor Search summarizes John Gorin's service as:
1) Capt Hugh Douglas, Cols Summers, Meriweather
2) Also Cpl, Capt Thomas Pollard, Cols Rumsey, Gilpin, also Wagon Master

Surname Saturday ~ Gorin of Virginia and Kentucky

Virginia (courtesy Wikipedia)

The first Gorin ancestor I know about is the ancestor under whom I applied for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), John Gorin. He was born on May 15, 1763, in Alexandria, Fairfax County, Virginia. I don't know his parents or where they were originally from. There are some online (unsourced) family trees at ancestry.com that indicate his father's name is John Gorin; that he was born in France; that his wife's name was Gladin; and that there were at least three children from this union. I have NOT added this to my family tree, as more research needed here, but it is an interesting trail to pursue.

Fold3.com, a subscription website which focuses on military records, has a wealth of information on John Gorin. His Revolutionary War Pension file includes letters written by descendants in the early 1900s looking for information about his service in the war, as well as correspondence from the 1850s regarding the application by his widow (his second wife) for a pension as well as for bounty lands.

In a later 1793 record, he appears in muster rolls as a Sergt. Major for Russell's Reg't Cav. of the Kentucky Volunteers.

In 1799, he moved his family from Virginia to Barren County, Kentucky, after receiving a land grant for 200 acres as of August 27, 1799. At this time, this was the frontier.

John Gorin later served in the War of 1812, as a Major in the "10 Regiment (Barbour's), Mounted, Kentucky Volunteers."

Kentucky (courtesy Wikipedia)

He first married Elizabeth Franklin (about 1765-1824) in about 1786, in Alexandria, Fairfax, Virginia. With her, he had at least eleven children, the youngest of whom was Thomas Jefferson Gorin. His wife predeceased him, dying in 1824. He remarried another Elizabeth: Elizabeth Duval, on May 26, 1825, in Kentucky. She died in 1855, and it looks like she continued to receive a pension as John Gorin's widow until her death.

He died August 5, 1837, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, and is buried in the Glasgow Municipal Cemetery.

See his Find A Grave memorial, which includes a photograph of what is likely his original gravestone, as well as a newer stone indicating his service in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Generation 2: Thomas Jefferson Gorin (1808-1883) married Mary Ann Bowman in 1831.

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 ~ Matrilineal Line

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge is a repeat, but one that can be repeated on a different line. The details of the challenge are as follows:

1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!

2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

3) Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this blog post, or in a Status line on Facebook or in your Stream at Google Plus.

4)  If you have done this before, please do your father's matrilineal line, or your grandfather's matrilineal line, or your spouse's matrilineal line.

5)  Does this list spur you to find distant cousins that might share one of your matrilineal lines?

My matrilineal line is listed here, and I shared the results of my mtDNA test here.

So today, I will show my father's matrilineal line.

a) Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr. (1924, NY - 1993 MA)
b) Elizabeth (Libby) Adsit (1897, IL - 1983, MA) married Charles McAlpin Pyle
c) Mary Bowman Ashby (1863, KY - 1956, MA) married Charles Chapin Adsit
d) Mary Elizabeth Gorin (1833, KY - 1891, IL) married Daniel Morgan Ashby
e) Mary Ann Bowman (1814, KY - 1870, KY) married Thomas Jefferson Gorin
f) Polly Walthall (1793 - 1850) married Granville Bowman
g) This line goes back into Virginia and is a line I need to research.

My grandmother, Libby, passed along her mtDNA to Dad, but as a male, he could not have passed it along to any of his children.

The closest cousin who could share this matrilineal line would be a descendant of the sister of my second great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Gorin.

Any descendants of the daughters of Emma Gorin and Henry C. Murrell: Mamie Murrell, b. 1866 in Kentucky and Florence Murrell, b. 1873 in Kentucky out there?