Internet Genealogy is a Wonderful Thing

Awhile back I wrote about the family trees I have posted on Ancestry.com. When I did this I had hoped to share some information and of course, to gain some information. I have several trees online--my mother's lines, my father's lines, both my hubby's adoptive and natural lines, and a couple of lines of friends of mine. In the past couple of weeks I have gotten several emails which have been really neat.

One was a guy looking for a line which I had listed but wasn't a direct line of mine. It was actually a cousin's mother's line. I was able to prove that his line and her line connected and I put him in contact with her.

Another email came from a young lady looking for another line of which I'm not connected to. She was connected to a line of one of my first cousin's husband--the Bowies. (Not sure if Jim Bowie is on this line or not.) I didn't have much for her but I could give her some birth, death and marriage dates which she didn't have.

The third email was from a guy who was related to my friend Bob. When Bob's wife, Marilyn, passed away last year, I kind of took over her research. She had done a wonderful job and was so organized. So with Bob's permission, I posted it on Ancestry.com. This man wrote to me and when I explained that I wasn't related but was taking over the search, he praised me for it. Then he proceeded to send lots of information and pictures of Bob's g.g. grandfather and g.g. grandmother which Marilyn or I had never found. Obviously, this all got sent on to Bob and his kids.

And lastly--I said that my husband was adopted. Thanks to a very informative adoption record, a lot of research, and some pure dumb luck, we found information on his natural family. I was able to contact several. We found that he had a half sister (still living) and a half brother who had died some years previously. The other day, I got an email from his brother's son. He didn't really know who I was but when he found out who we were, he opened up his Ancestry.com tree to me so that I could see the living members of the family. (Ancestry does not post names of living people--they are only listed as Living.) Because of this I found lots of cousins we didn't know we had. I also was able to give him lots of information on his ancestors which he didn't have.

As I said, Internet genealogy is a wonderful thing. I have found so many records, people, etc that I would never in a million years found or knew existed. It sure beats traveling all over the country digging through dusty court records, tramping through muddy cemeteries, sitting for hours in front of a microfilm machine, etc. But, I still do the courthouse thing, the cemetery thing and the library thing too. I just can't give that part up totally.

Wordless Wednesday-Meet My Great Grandmother

I am fortunate to have inherited many family pictures from my grandmother and my aunt. I found a lot of my pictures of my great grandmother, Laura Belle Roberts who was born January 30, 1865 and died June 8, 1930. She was the daughter of Archibald Ruddle Roberts and Lucinda Montgomery and wife of Calvin Douglas Morgan. Here are some of the pictures I have of her. Enjoy. And when you are done pop back to Wordless Wednesday and 5 Minutes for Mom to see more. And don't forget my other blog, Sand Between My Toes.

Laura Belle and I think this is her niece.

Laura Belle and my Aunt Maxine.

William "Indian Billy" Ice

Quite awhile ago, in May actually, I wrote a post about my Ice family and promised to follow up with a post about Indian Billy Ice. My daughter brought it to my attention awhile back that I had never done the follow up. Well, here it is--4 months late--but here it is.

William Galloway Ice was supposedly born on April 1, 1730, although there is much speculation about that. Also, I've never seen proof that his middle name was Galloway but it could very well be. His parents were Frederick Ice born in Holland and Mary Galloway, born about 1692 in Philadelphia. Mary's parents were John Robert Galloway, born about 1654 in Scotland and Christina Bruin, born either in Germany or Holland. One unnamed source stated, " "Mary Galloway married Frederick Ice, Jr. a few weeks after meeting him in church in Philadelphia in 1727. "

When William was about 10, his father and his older brother, John, went to the "store". Back in those days, the store was many miles and many days away. That left the mother, Mary, and the younger children, at least two girls-Mary and Margaret, and William at home. While Frederick and John were away, the Indians came to the house. (Some say they were Mohawk, some say Delaware, but I tend to believe it was the Shawnee.) Mary, the mother, was killed and the three children were taken captive by the Indians. Family history says that the sister Mary became the wife of Pucksinwah, a Shawnee chief, and became the mother of Tecumseh and his 6 brothers and sisters. So, this is where I sincerely question the truth of this story. I don't doubt that they were kidnapped. I doubt the stories about which tribe and that Mary was Tecumseh's mother. First of all, several sources state that she was Tecumseh's mother but that Tecumseh was either Delaware or Mohawk. It is well known and documented that he was Shawnee. Also, as I mention in my last post, I have discussed this with a couple of college professors who teach Ohio history and they are sure that Tecumseh's mother was probably a Creek Indian.

Anyway, on with William or Indian Billy as he came to be known. After about 5-10 years, he did escape from the Indians and apparently went to Pittsburg. Some sources say that he went to Paris and then back to America. Some say he was an interpreter for the Indians. Some say he was working on the Mason Dixon line when he accidentally met his stepmother. Who know what is true. Descendants and historians have written books about him and they all seem to differ.

At any rate, William did find his father who had moved from Virginia about 1759 to the Cheat River area near what is now Morgantown, West Virginia. Frederick had remarried and had 5 more children. Frederick had settled in a location which became known as Ice's Ferry. He was a millwright and cut the heavy millstones from the sandstone of that region to be used by his sons in Ice settlement in Marion County, West Virginia. In 1784, George Washington was studying a possible water route from the Potomac to the Monongahela. His diary relates that on Sept. 25, 1784 he was at Ice's Ferry and asked Frederick Ice if a canal could be built. Frederick told him that it could not be done. There is a plaque on the side of the hill which states this as well as an old mill stone which Frederick had cut. Ice's Ferry is also mentioned in "The Frontiersman" by Allan Eckert. As a note of interest, Frederick Ice is buried under what is now Cheat Lake. This used to be the Cheat River and was dammed up to become the lake. I remember sitting in a window of the lodge at Cheat Lake looking out at the lake and thinking about how Frederick was under all that water somewhere. Poor guy!

So, what is true and what is made up about Indian Billy and his family, I doubt we will ever know for sure. Billy did have 4 wives and 16 children. His first wife was an Indian woman and he had a daughter, Mary, by her. His second wife was my g.g.g.g. grandmother, Margaret Higgingbotham. She was born about 1749 and was the daughter of Ralph Higgingbotham and Mary (Henthorn?). Billy and Margaret had 10 children.
#1 Susannah Ice b. about 1768 married Henry Gase or Yost.
#2 Sarah/Sally Ice b. about 1769 married John or Henry Watson
#3 Margaret Ice b. 06 Jun 1770 married Aden/Hayden Bayles
#4 John Ice b. 1775 married Nancy (Fortney).
#5 Thomas Ice b. about 1777 married Drusilla White
#6 Abraham Ice b. 1781 married Mary "Polly" Lewman
#7 Eve Ice b. 1782 married Benjamin Shrieves
#8 George Ice b. about 1785 married Eve ?
#9 William Ice Jr. b. about 1785 married Rebecca Bogard. (my g.g.g.grandparents)
#10 Isaac Ice b. 1788 married Mary Fortney.

Indian Billy married #3 Mary Scott McMullen and had 1 son, Aden or Hayden Bayles Ice born 18 Jul 1803. He married Elizabeth Shaefer.

Indian Billy married #4 Elizabeth Shrieves and had 4 children.
#1 James S. born about 1805 married Barbara Burton
#2 Frederick William born 17 Mar 1807 married Mary "Polly" Martin
#3 Benjamin Shreve born 07 Oct 1809 married Sidney Evans
#4 Sarah "Sally" born 1812 married Abner Brown

Indian Billy died at the age of 96 at his home on Ice's Run, Buffalo Creek, Barrackville, Monongalia County, Virginia (present day Marion County, West Virginia.) At the time of his death he was almost totally deaf and blind. He is buried in the Ice Cemetery, Barrackville, West Virginia. I visited the cemetery and took pictures of the grave marker which has William Indian Billy Ice on it. Unfortunately, I don't know where the pictures are now. Guess that's an excuse to go back and visit.

The following is the controversial last will and testament of William Galloway Ice. This will was contested in 1829, the judgement of the court follows:
In the name of God, Amen. I, William Ice of Buffalo Creek, Monongalia County and the State of Virginia, being very sick and weak in body of perfect mind and memory thanks be given unto God. Calling into mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last will and testament that is to say, principally and first of all to give and recommend my soul to Almighty God who gave it, and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent Christian burial at the discretion of my wife. Nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the Mighty power of God and as touching such worldly estate wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this life I give, demise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form. First: I give and bequeath to my wife Elizabeth Ice all my household goods and debts. I give and bequeath to my loving wife Elizabeth Ice all my land as long as she lives and keeps my name, and if she alters my name then only her thirds. I give and bequeath to my wife Elizabeth Ice all my horses, cattle, sheep and hogs and farming utensils. I give and bequeath to my son Thomas Ice fifteen shillings. I give and bequeath to my son John Ice fifteen shillings. I give and bequeath to my son William Ice ten dollars. I give and bequeath to my son George Ice fifteen dollars. I give and bequeath to my son Abraham Ice fifteen dollars. I give and bequeath to my son Adam Ice fifteen dollars. I give and bequeath to my daughter Margaret Bayles fifteen shillings and I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary Shrieves fifteen shillings, and to my daughter Eve Shrieves fifteen dollars, none of these heirs to be paid till Benjamin Ice my youngest son comes of age. I give and bequeath unto James Ice and Frederick Ice and Benjamin Ice all my land to be equally divided quantity and quality James to first choice, Frederick second choice, and Benjamin the last choice, and these three boys to pay my daughter Sally Ice one hundred dollars a piece. I continue make and ordain my loving wife Elizabeth Ice my sole executrix of this my last will and testament by them freely enjoyed. And I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke, and disannul all and every other former testaments in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fourth of July 1818.
William Ice (his mark)
Witnesses
Charles Conaway
Elizabeth Conaway
Alexander Cossett
The will was contested by the children of William's second and third marriages against the children of the fourth marriage. The allegations being that William was too old and feeble of mind to properly decide his bequeaths. Many of William's acquaintances testified on behalf of the defense as to hiss ability to make sound judgements. However, in the final outcome the prosecution prevailed. On September 17, 1829 and filed on October 05, 1829 the Superior Court of Chancery held at Clarksburg, Virginia, Judge Henry St. George Tucker presiding, decreed the following settlements:
56 acres to Elizabeth Ice
10 3/4 acres to Sarah Ice junior
10 1/2 acres to John Ice
10 acres to Aden B. Ice
10 3/4 acres to Thomas Ice
12 acres to Abraham Ice
Deed. #7 to Frederick Ice
11 acres to Eve Ice/Scrieves
14 acres to the children of George Ice; Mary Ice/Martin, Margaret Ice/Dunn, Uriah Ice, Milley Ice, Surrenia Ice, Elizabeth Ice, John Ice, Sarah Ann Ice, George Ice.
11 acres to Isaac Ice
9 1/4 acres to Benjamin Ice
9 1/4 acres to Margaret Ice/Bails
9 1/4 acres to to heirs of Sarah Ice/Watson; George Watson, Mary Freeland, Sarah Youst, Susannah Owens, William Watson (to his heirs; John Watson, James Watson, Elizabeth Watson)
12 1/2 acres to William Ice
20 acres to Mary Ice/Scrieves
24 acres to James Ice
Signed: William Haymond, CM, September 17, 1829

I have a copy of the will and court proceedings. Really interesting reading. The children of the 2nd and 3rd marriages contended that his last wife took advantage of his illness, his age, his deafness and blindness and made him sign a revised will.

Needless to say, Indian Billy had a colorful life which continued after his death as evidenced by the court action taken against his will. His father also was the proginator of many, many descendants. If your name is Ice or you have Ice ancestors, chances are you are descended from Frederick.

While googling Frederick Ice I found this blog. It is written by Rhoderick Ice, a descendant of Indian Billy's through his son, William, who happens to be my ancestor. He has written some history of Frederick as well as chapters from a book he has written about Frederick. Interesting reading if you have some time.

I love the Ice family. They have made for a lot of research, family stories, and hours of thinking about what is true and not true. But in the end, it has been fun--and to me that's what genealogy is all about.

Family Stories-Fact or Fiction

I think nearly every family has stories about their ancestors passed down from generation to generation. Some of these are very much factual but most of them are totally fiction. I have several cases of such stories in my family tree.


Story #1--My g.g.g.grandfather, James Parker was born in 1779 in Maryland and moved to Maysville, Kentucky sometime before 1802 when he married my g.g.g.grandmother, Susannah Donovan. From there he moved to Richland County, Illinois about 1819 and founded the town of Parkersburg. Now what else would he name it? Anyway, the Richland County History says--and I quote--"James Parker, a comrade of Daniel Boone and an old Indian fighter" Cool! So I look up Daniel Boone and find that he was born in 1734, a good 45 years before James was born. And by the time James would have been old enough to be a comrade and Indian fighter, Daniel had moved to Missouri. Now, granted, Boone lived in Maysville for a while living there from 1784 to 1788. My James would have been between 5 and 9 years old then. A tad young to be a comrade of Daniel's. But I do have another link to Daniel Boone and this one is fact. Daniel's sister Hannah Boone married Richard Pennington who was an uncle of my g.g.g.grandmother Sarah Pennington--who by the way never met James Parker as far as I know.


Story #2--My hubby is adopted and I have been lucky enough to trace both his adoptive and natural lines. Several years ago we found that he had a half sister. She gave us a lot of information on the family along with this little tidbit. Their g.g.grandmother was the sister of Mary Todd Lincoln! Wow. Double cool! So, of course, I did some research. Now, Mary Todd had lots of brothers and sisters but it seems that all of them were born in Kentucky. Now, I can't find the last name of hubby's g.g.grandmother but she married a James Walker probably in Indiana. She was born about 1814 in Pennsylvania. Hmmm, doesn't quite line up somehow, especially when her name was also Mary! But, hey, did you know that Mary Todd's mother's maiden name was Parker??? Maybe there is a link there--but I sincerely doubt it.


Story #3--- My g.g.g.g.grandfather, William "Indian Billy" Ice, was born 1730 in Hampshire County, Virginia. When he was a child (no one seems to know how old), his father and older brother John went in to "town" for supplies. This was a trip that took several days. The mother, Margaret, stayed at home with the younger children. During this time, the Shawnee Indians attacked the home and apparently killed Margaret and possibly one of William's sisters. He and the other two sisters were kidnapped and taken back to Ohio where they were raised by the Indians. A number of stories have been told about how Billy escaped from the Indians. One states that he was out with a group of Indians when he and an Indian boy were left alone. He became afraid of the boy, escaped and went to Pittsburgh where he was hidden. There are several stories about how he then went to France, then back to America to work on the Mason Dixon line where he was discovered by his stepmother and reunited with his father. Since his father had moved after his capture, he didn't know where he was. Other stories state that Billy was made a Chief by the Indians. Still other stories state that he served as an interpreter after he returned to civilization. So, how many of these are fact and how many are fiction, I doubt anyone even knows.

Story #4-Mary, the sister of Indian Billy was kidnapped at the same time he was. Family tradition states that Mary Ice was the wife of the Shawnee Chief Pucksinwah and the mother of his children including Tecumseh the great Indian chief.Most histories state that Pucksinwah's wife was a Creek Indian. Some say that Tecumseh had blue or hazel eyes . Pictures show that he wore a medallion around his neck which some people felt was a profile of a white woman, his mother. Apparently, though, this was a medallion with the likeness of King George III on it. Family history states that Mary returned to visit her family when she was very old but despite pleas from her family returned to live with the Indians. I have talked to a couple of college professors who teach Ohio history and they say that this family story is totally fiction and that Tecumseh's mother was an Indian not a white woman.
Descendants of Mary Bayles (wife of Andrew Ice who was half brother of Mary and Indian Billy Ice) and family historian, Norman F. Kendall state that Mary Bayles was the mother of Tecumseh but also state that his father was Young Eagle which is known to be untrue. This tradition states that Mary Bayles returned to her family with Tecumseh and he lived among the whites until age 15 but threats against his life prompted William "Indian Billy" Ice to return him to the Shawnees. I have read many books and stories about Tecumseh and nowhere have I read that he lived with the whites for several years. Soooo-it would look like this is another fictional family story. I'm not sure why these families wanted so badly to be so closely identified with Tecumseh.

Story #5-This one is apparently fact and is documented in several histories of New Amsterdam. My 7th great grandfather, Laurens Duyts, was born in Denmark in 1610. He came to New Amsterdam in 1639. His passage was paid by a man named Jonas Bronk in exchange for work clearing some land in New Amsterdam. This land later became known as the Bronx. Laurens also got into some trouble with Gov. Peter Stuyvesant for committing adultery and for selling his wife into adultery! "For selling his wife, Ytie Jansen, and forcing her to live in adultery with another man and for living himself also in adultery, he was to have a rope tied around his neck, and then to be severely flogged, to have his right ear cut off, and be banished for fifty years. He went to Bergen, New Jersey and died there." Ouch!! Oh yeah, and after his banishment, he married Ytie's sister.

I would love to be able to time travel and go back and meet and talk to these ancestors and get the real facts. Some of these stories remind me of the old game where a bunch of people would sit in a circle. The first person would whisper something to the person next to him and so on. Then the last person in the circle would say aloud what they were told. It usually was totally different from the beginning sentence. I'm sure that many of these stories started off so much different from the way we heard them.

I guess what I'm saying is--don't always take what you hear about your ancestors as the absolute truth!

Posting on Ancestry.com

I know that it has been quite a while since I have posted here. I have been busy--all day, every day--putting all of my lines, pictures etc on Ancestry.com. I have added several different lines.

I have three different lines for my husband. He is adopted but thanks to a very comprehensive adoption history, I was able to find both his birth maternal and paternal lines. And, we have been able to meet a sister from his maternal line and cousins and an aunt from his paternal line. I have put the information from his birth paternal line in a tree called Ritten/Ryten Gershtenman/Gorman Family Tree. This line goes back to Russia and Poland. Both of these families immigrated to America and settled in Detroit. His birth maternal line information is in a tree called Thomas and Walker family tree. The Thomas' came from Wales. Edward Thomas worked in the coal mines in Boulder County, Colorado but moved to Detroit where he died. His wife took the Merrill name from her stepfather but her mother was a Walker from Indiana and her father was a Grehear from Germany.His adoptive line is in a tree entitled Runta and O'Malley Family Tree. The Runtus family immigrated from Lithuania to Pennsylvania where Anthony worked in the coal mines. The O'Malleys and Worns families were from Graves End, England and immigrated in the early part of the 1900's to NYC and on to Detroit.

As for my lines I did my dad's side first. This one is called Brooks, Dye, Ice Family Tree. The Brooks' went from Pennsylvania to Delaware to Virginia to Harrison County, West Virginia to Washington County, Ohio. It was in West Virginia and Washington County, Ohio that they intermarried with the Dye and Ice family--both very prolific families in the area. Other names in this line are Bogard from New York to West Virginia; Sayers from Ireland to Pennsylvania to West Virginia; Taylor from New York to Washington County, Ohio and Pearce from Delaware to Monroe County, Ohio.

I am still working on putting my mother's tree online. I have a LOT of names to put on line. I know that I could just download a gedcom file but I wanted to put each name on individually so I could check them against what is already online. When I eventually get it all up to date, this line will include Clarks from Richland County, Illinois back to Virginia and Barbados; Richards and McCoy from Richland County, Illinois back to Wilson County, Tennessee; Morgan and Gupton from Wabash County, Illinois back to Carter County, Tennessee and North Carolina; Roberts from Wayne and Wabash Counties, Illinois back to Virginia; Gaddy and Montgomery from Wabash County, Illinois back to North Carolina and Virginia; and Preston and Finney from Wabash County, Illinois back to Hamilton County, Ohio and points east.

I had posted much of this information years ago but Ancestry.com has updated it's site and method of adding family trees--so to stay up with the times, this is why I am doing it again. Plus it is a great way to share pictures and other information with others.

So, forgive me for not posting here for awhile.

My Mom & Amelia Earhart

I have always thought that my mom and Amelia Earhart could have been sisters. I was reminded of that again last week when we were at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego. I took a picture of a picture of Amelia and have been comparing them to pictures of my mom. Of course they both had the same hairdo but even their facial features are the same. What do you think?













That's Amelia Earhart on the left and my mom on the right.

Wordless Wednesday-Sara Gittel Goldberg Ryten

This is my husband's great grandmother, Sara Gittel Goldberg Ryten, and one of her daughters. It was probably taken between 1910-1919 in Poland.

Ok, I know that you are busy checking out other Wordless Wednesdays but please bookmark me and drop back some time. This is my genealogy blog. I will be discussing my ancestors and from time to time I will be giving some instructions on how to do your own search. But now, go back to Wordless Wednesday and have a happy day.

Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesday and 5 Minutes for Mom