Nancy Benham In Contempt of Court

Letter to the court by Nancy Parris Benham (1782-1860)
She is the great- grandmother of my great-grandfather
Grover Lewellen  (1892-1963)

I found this little gem as I was going through some papers. I'm sure I am not supposed to have this . . .  In fact, I'm pretty sure that someone in the records office in Pike County, Missouri would have been fired for sending this original record from the Vincent Benham Estate Papers. The paper is cracking, the ink is faded . . . it's old and it's awesome! Perhaps this original was sent to my grandmother by mistake. Regardless, hopefully there is still a copy in the record books for others to retrieve. If not, then there may not be many in my Benham family that know of this.

Here's a little history about it: There was an administration on Vincent Benham begun in Aug 1820 by Nancy (Parris) Benham and Abner Hobbs. They were cited in 1822 and 1826 to make settlement and they finally did so, showing sale bill in the amount of $278.50. But apparently, Nancy did not answer to the court in a timely manner and was cited for her negligence in 1822. This is an old document where Nancy addresses the court about her citation and pleads to them for pardon.
Here's a link to a scanned copy of this document:

 Nancy's answer to the Court's citation

And here's a transcription of the letter:
To the Honorable County Court of Pike County

Gentlemen,
Having been commanded and brought before you by a writ of attachment for not having made settlement of the estate of my late husband Vincent Benham deceased, and for acting with contempt towards this court, touching the same - beg leave to offer to your honors the following reasons in excuse for the neglect. 1st not being acquainted with the nature of business of this I depended on the Justice of the Peace who was called to swear and qualify the appraising and presented the said papers to the court as they were prepared by the persons aforesaid, but the Justice having nelected to sign his name to the certificate which he has made on the send said papers they would not be received by the court, and before I could again get his certificate of the same the said Justice of this state and one of the appraising court Daniel Ra__ died - so that I could not have them sworn before any other person, and the reason why I did not present them here before is that I am well inform and have reason to believe that James Fugate the Justice of the peace aforesaid will be in this county again by the next term of this court, or that I can otherwise procure his signatures to the same.
I therefore beg that your honors will grant me till the next term of this court to make said settlement, and further Beg that I may not be fined being a poor widow with large family of children. I'm duty bound will ever pray it.
her
Nancy x Benham
mark

November 4, 1822

The Importance of Collaboration

Collaboration is a little over my head. I'm not consistent and I'm probably too focused on gaining information rather than forging relationships. In going through my grandma's letters I was struck by the relationships and friendships she made with the relatives she met as she researched her family. Those relationships helped her learn more about her family than she could have otherwise.

One relative came across information about Lewellen's in a book entitled, "The Huguenot - Bortholomew Dupuy and his Descendants" by Reverant B.H. Dupuy, published in 1908. It was a  book located in the St. Louis Missouri Historical Society Library but can now be accessed online through books.familysearch.org. What Lewellen researcher, unless knowing specifically what they were looking for,would think to look in that book for information about their family? I wouldn't! But because of the relationship she had made, when her friend came across the Lewellen line in this book she made a photocopy and sent it to my Grandma!

You can see more about what the book shared at my Lewellen site, myfamilylines-lewellen.blogspot.com.

Eliza Jane Elder, my fourth great-grandmother

This woman has graced the walls of my grandmother's home for as long as I can remember.  So dark and old, without a seeming smile or cheer, her framed portrait would greet me and almost frighten me as I walked into my grandmother's bedroom when I was younger.  Now I love the fancy neckline on her dress and her ornate and detailed headdress. As I've learned about this woman, her face has softened and her eyes seem full of wisdom, hard work, and trial.

The woman is my great-great grandmother's mother, Eliza Jane Elder Lime. She was born March 1, 1832 near Derby, Perry, Indiana, the daughter of James Samuel Elder and Dortha Ann Johnson. They were devout Catholics and on May 11, 1852, at the age of twenty, the Father of her perish, Augustus Bessonies, married her to  James Lime at her parent's home. James was from Kentucky and had just been honorably released from the Volunteers in the War with Mexico.

The next ten years would be busy bearing and raising six children. It must have been overwhelming when her husband James left to serve in the Civil War in 1862. He served a 3 year term leaving her to  feed and clothe the children alone. Her daughter Susan later told many stories of the hardships they endured. With mail being slow there would be months when the family did not know whether their father and husband was alive or dead. The unknown made life difficult to bear for all of them. Not only this, but Eliza Jane was ill most of her life from child-bearing and poor health. With much of her time spent in bed, most of the housework was done by her daughter, Susan. Susan talked many times about taking care of her mother, caring for the younger children, and doing most of the household chores.

When James finally returned, many of his children did not remember him. His injuries from a gunshot wound to his right leg also prevented him from working on the farm as he had before. At least his presence could be felt supervising the farm and disciplining the children. His wound never fully healed, and for the rest of his life he suffered much pain. His $8.00 a month pension helped ease the burdens placed upon their family.

Four more children were born after James returned. But with the excitement of births also came the disappointment of death. Eliza's father died in the late 1860s. Her mother lived with the family after his death until Eliza and James moved to Bagnel, Miller County, Missouri in the late 1870s. It was here, on the 15 of November 1n 1887 that James passed away from a fatal accident. He and several of his sons were hauling logs.  As they were working the stacked logs began to roll. James, with his bad leg, lost his balance and fell, the logs rolling on top of him and crushing him.  Three years later in 1890 she would lose her son Charles Lime who was only 22, and three years after that another daughter, Mary would die at the age of 28. Finally in 1903 she would see her first born son, William Marion, buried. He was building a hotel in downtown Indianapolis and stepped on a rusty nail. Blood poisoning set in and he died of lockjaw.

The year after James passed away, Eliza moved her family to Henry County, Missouri. She stayed here until her youngest son, Frank, married and later moved to Cherokee County, Kansas. Eliza spent the remaining years of her life in Scammon, Kansas with Frank and his wife, Georgia. She lived to be 87 not withstanding her poor health and her many trials. She died on October 14, 1919 in Scammon and was buried at St. Briggits Catholic Cemetery.

For my grandmother, this picture is more than a decoration on the wall. It's a legacy of love, a reminder of her past, and an acknowledgement of eyes that are still watching over her. She recently said that she has felt like her great-grandmother has looked after her throughout her life, and the presence of her photograph on her wall remains an important part of her home.

"Lest We Forget"

One of the things I love most about family history is the people I meet. Strangers become family overnight, and I feel a bond with them that I never would have expected. Last week, I received a gift from one such woman, Karen. She had found me from my Lime family history blog. We share the same Lime grandparents, five generations back for me and four generations back for her. I had shared a little information with her, most of it not as timely as it should have been, and she graciously shared her book with me.

Her book, "Lest We Forget: A History of the Angel/Evans and Lime/Sims Families", is a beautiful tribute to those that came before her. I've now had it for almost a week and ever since I received it I've found myself pulling it off my bookshelf daily to read and reread it.  It is the first family history book I've read specifically about my family. She did an amazing job weaving together the individual histories of our ancestor's lives with the history of the time and areas where they lived. She also included pictures and excerpts of many records and newspaper clippings that brought my ancestors to life. It was so well organized and engaging that I found myself lost in the pages and desiring to do the same thing for some of my other family lines.

Her book reminded me that our ancestor's narrative, is every bit as important as the records and pictures we find of them. Some of the records she mentioned and the stories she had told I had heard before, but to read in print the information that those records share and the insights we learn from them was fascinating and something I'm going to start developing as I move my family research forward.

I thank her for sending me such a treasure and look forward to referencing it often as I come to learn and understand more about my family.

The Hands I Hold

Documenting the present is just as important as discovering the past, but unfortunately I find it almost more difficult. I think I won't forget things but even in the seven years I've been a mother I don't remember which of my children did what when.  The advantage of writing down our present is the ability to know all the facts.

Here's my Swain family's most recent family picture. I'm next to my husband with our four children. My two brothers are on the right of my parents and my sister on the far left. It was taken at our last family vacation in Lake Tahoe over the summer. Even though Kevin and his wife, Alexis (on the right), were married the year before, we were all so busy at their wedding we didn't get a family picture together. So, this happens to be the first family picture we've had with everyone since 2007. I love my growing family and the hands I get to hold in my present family line.

Another perk to familysearch.org

One of the things I enjoy about the new familysearch.org is the ability to source the information I have. So many times I have come across names of "Johnsons" or "Elders" or "Lewellens" who I think I am related to but they are not in my direct line. I don't necessarily know what to do with this information as it might prove useful in the future or give me a clue about a direct line ancestor further back. I write down the information but don't know how to organize it.

Familysearch.org gives me a way to sort through what I have. In all of my grandmother's genealogy she often received letters that included more information than her direct line ancestors. I can look for those ancestors now in familysearch.org and see if others have pieced the puzzle together and where that person fits. There are about a million James Elders living in Perry, Indiana. But somehow it becomes easier to sort through all the names when you can see quickly that 5 of the 8 Elder boys born to Arnold and Sallie Hayden Elder had boys named James and the years they were born. You can more readily match up cemetery tombstones with correct names. If you find a marriage record of a James you can see if it's a different James Elder but looking up the name with the wife and seeing if someone else has traced it back to a different line.

Thank you Familysearch.org for the wonderful program you have provided!

32 things I learned about my great-great grandparents from the census

The easiest place to start looking for your ancestor's story is in the federal censuses. Fascinating information about their life can be found in these censuses.

Here's what I learned of my great-great grandparent's life just by checking out census records. (Discoveries are numbered in parenthesis)

James M.E. Johnson and Susan Lime Johnson:

 In 1870 James Johnson was (1) the oldest child living with his now (2) widowed mother, Phoebe, in Leopold, Perry, Indiana. His father had passed away sometime between 1860 and 1870. James (3) worked as a farm laborer. His mother's (4) farm was worth $800 at the time, so their property must have been a decent size as it was worth more than many of his neighbor's farms. His mother Pheobe who was 54 at the time, had (5) never learned to read or write, was widowed, but still made sure her boys attended school. Even as a 16 year old, James and his brother (6) both attended school the year the census was taken. James, his mother, Phoebe, and his two other siblings that lived with him, were all born in (7) Indiana.

Blank 1870 Census Form - (check out what information can be found in each census)
SEARCH 1870 CENSUS

 By 1880 James had married his sweetheart, (8) Susan. After they married they moved into a house next door to his (9) half-sister Susan Harrison, and another (10) couple doors down from his widowed half-sister, Mary Wheatley. (Tip: Especially in the earlier censuses, you'll often find siblings or parents living close by). His mother Phoebe had raised these two as her own after their mother died. At 26 James worked as a (11) laborer. He and Susan still lived in (12) Leopold, Perry, Indiana.

Blank 1880 Census Form
SEARCH 1880 CENSUS

In 1900 James and Susan and their little family were living in the (13) "Indian Country". James and Susan had been married for 21 years, and from what the census shows, many of those years must have been fraught with disappointment and heartache as Susan had had (14) 11 children but only five were still living. James was a (15) farmer and lived on a rented farm. Their (16) five children had all been born in Missouri and were between the ages of 19 and ___ (it's fuzzy on the 1900 census).

Blank 1900 Census Form
SEARCH 1900 CENSUS

 By 1910 "Indian Country" had become (18) Oklahoma. Their oldest son, Joseph, had (19) married three years prior to the census year, and he and his wife, Alice, were living with James and Susan. Susan had continued having children between 1900 and 1910 but of the (20) three that were born only one more survived. In total, she had had 14 children, with only 6 living. It looks like James was trying his luck in a new venture, by this year James and his son Joseph (21!! My favorite discovery)  owned and operated a Billiard Hall.

Blank 1910 Census Form
SEARCH 1910 CENSUS


In 1920 I cannot find James and Susan in the census. It could be that they were traveling to California as they were living in California by 1930.

Blank 1920 Census Form
SEARCH 1920 CENSUS

By 1930 James and Susan had settled in (22) Orange, California. James was now 76 and Susan 70. They lived on a (23) farm and paid (24) $10 a month in rent. They (25) did not own a radio set <yes, this was a census question). (26) Neither of them worked in a specific trade.

Blank 1930 Census Form
SEARCH 1930 CENSUS



Sometime (27) between 1930 and 1940 James passed away. By 1940 (28) Susan was living with her daughter Threasa, her husband Grover Lewellen, and their two of their children, Bernice and Claude. She lived on (29) Grover's rented ranch where he (30) farmed citrus, wheat, and hay, and made about (31) $1500 a year. She was too old and unable to work. This 1940 census tells us the highest education level attained and for Susan she attended school until the (32) 8th grade.

Blank 1940 Census Form
SEARCH 1940 CENSUS

From all these little facts we can see a glimpse into this family's struggles and hopes. They must have had quite the adventurous spirit to have left their familiar home in Indiana and taken their family into the "Indian country" and then off to the Wild West of California.

All of the censuses I've linked to can be found at www.familysearch.org. The 1850 census is also available there as well as indexed lists of every other census. Familysearch.org has actual images of the censuses from 1870 through 1940.

There are so many things we can learn from the census. What are some of your surprising findings?