I am at a hard brick wall on many of our female ancestors. I know who all of my 3 x great grandmothers are, but I am unable to complete documentation on four. Daniel’s mother, Mary Wible or Weigle, has been elusive; however, I may have a lead on who her father may have been. There is a man named Jacob Wigle living near Henry Roads and Smith’s in Westmoreland County. The Wigle surname is the closest match to her maiden name I can find in Westmoreland County. The fact that he lives close to known Rhoades affiliations (Henry was John’s father) in the census year (1840) closest to John and Mary’s marriage year (abt. 1837) makes it tantalizing.
Eleanore Cobe’s maternal grandmother, Eleanore Newell, appears to have come from New York before marrying Joseph Stockford and moving to Ohio. Her supposed brother has left no leads either, and the Newell surname is found throughout New York. It’ll take time to sort through them all. Our Gleason cousins have researched her paternal grandmother, Margaret Russell, and I have yet to review it.
I have some leads on Edward Gage’s mother, Marion Tucker, but I haven’t made new progress.
Christiana Gieger is also a member of my 3 x great grandmother’s club. Great-Aunt Eileen records a little bit of her story in The Smart Aleck.
Of my 4 x great grandmothers, I only know who nine of the sixteen are and can only tell the story of two. Daniel Rhoads’ paternal grandmother, Catherine Arthurs is an enigma. I can’t find any Arthurs or Artur families in Westmoreland or Bucks counties, but the family name is found around Pennsylvania. Census records that capture her existence all consistently name Pennsylvania as her place of birth, but it must be in another county. How did she and Henry meet?! I run into a similar slowdown with Rosetta’s maternal grandmother, Sarah Woods.
I know Emmett’s paternal grandmother, Eliza Smith, comes from Ireland but that is about it. A record of marriage is where I would hope to find the names of her parents, but she appears to have married Richard Cobe before coming to the United States.
Elizabeth Kucks paternal grandmother, Mary Schroeder died in Germany, so completing research on her will be more difficult for my home bound research. Her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Morgal was one of our immigrant ancestors.
Of Edward Gage’s line, his paternal grandmother, Ruth Stone is documented and is a member of an old Anglo American family. The same can be claimed of his maternal grandmother, Hanna M. Merifield, though I lose her trail in Massachusetts. For his wife, Luella DeJean, I only know who her paternal grandmother is. Unfortunately, other researchers have confused her with another woman named Elizabeth Bullis, making online research on her a small challenge.
As you may be able to guess, I know even less about most of my 5 x great grandmothers. I have managed to gather enough to write a story on Olive Abbott, Edward Gage’s great-grandmother. I know the identity of one more of his great-grandmother’s, Lois Stone and will write what I know in a future post. Thanks to early researchers, I can go even further back in time on these ladies ancestry.
I am at a time in history where records on women are scarce. Those records that name them only provide their married names. I am planning a road trip to Greensburg, PA, to do some on-site research on or Rhoades ancestresses, anyone care to join me?
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