Ok, so, the obvious thing to write about with the topic of newsworthy is ancestors in the news. Interestingly, the only two families that made it into the newspapers with any frequency were Hugh Coomer (he who started the paint store c. 1890) and the grandchildren of Daniel Rhoades (through Clarence’s line) in Fort Wayne…but I have already exhausted those stories.
See my 52 Ancestor’s post on Popular and my Coomer post hypothesizing about Edward Coomer’s possible relations. The Rhoades’ were found mainly in society news that didn’t shed any light on family relations, origins, or interest. They mainly focused on motoring to city for the day or returning from so and so’s, attending someone’s birthday party, etc.
What else could be newsworthy? Well, my progress on certain genealogy lines could be newsworthy…but if you’ve been reading my musings, you’re up to speed on my latest news.
Kenney has been giving us “the dope” on his life in the Navy during World War II in my series, Letters Home.
I have previously tried to tie some of our ancestors to historical events to help put perspective on their lives. Perhaps my spin for this week should be to connect newsworthy events in U.S. history to more ancestors. Here is a little timeline…
1630-33 The Puritans on the Winthrop Fleet arrive in the New World. King Charles I of England reigns.
Part of the Puritan settlers organized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Winthrope fleet is led by John Winthrop and begins arriving in Salem by 1630. Salem has already been established by earlier settlers and John Winthrop Sr is sent to take over as Governor. Our immigrant ancestor, John Gage, is among the passengers that arrived in the first wave. John Gage accompanies John Winthrop Jr to settle Ipswich, MA (north of Salem) which is incorporated in 1634.
The Madden family appears in Maryland as early as 1691. More research is needed.
1717-1718 Blackbeard dominates the Pacific
John Gage leaves Ipswich for Haverhill (Bradford), MA by 1664 (inland along the Merrimack River). The Gage family stayed safely in Bradford for several generations. John’s grandson, Daniel is 40 years old when the pirate Blackbeard (Edward Thatch/Teach) rises to prominence along the eastern coast. Blackbeard is killed in battle by the forces of Lt. Robert Maynard off the coast of Virginia.
Jacob Roth is believed to have arrived in Pennsylvania from Prussia by 1731.
1754-1763 The French and Indian War. King Charles II of England reigns.
Four of Daniel’s sons purchase land in New Hampshire. Three relocate there, but the fourth, Moses, dies before the move and leaves his New Hampshire lands to his son, James. As Moses approaches the age of 50, tensions are escalating between the coastal English colonies and the St. Lawerence Valley French colonies over territory. Massachusetts Bay Governor William Shirley sends Massachusetts soldiers led by John Mercer of Pepperrell’s Regiment to fortify Fort Oswego at the south-east corner of Lake Ontario. In 1756, Shirley’s successor, John Campbell, cancels supply and troop supplements for Fort Oswego, and the undermanned and undersupplied troops surrender the fort to the French.
Jacob Roth and Charlotte are recorded several times in Bucks County, PA Tohickon Church records (German Reformed). (John) Henry Roth is baptized in the same church, parents are named Jacob and Charlotte.
1770 Boston Massacre
One of the major catalysts leading up to the American Revolution. By 1787, the Constitution of the United States is ratified. James Gage has moved to New Hampshire sometime before 1770 along with the families of his uncles, Josiah, Daniel, and Amos. In Pelham, NH, Amos (Captain) helps raise a militia which includes many Gage men, including James’ son, Isaac Sr. Amos Gage’s militia marches to Saratoga in 1777 only to arrive after the defeat of the British in October.
Eighteen-year-old, Henry Roth is confirmed in the Tohicken Church, Bucks County, PA.
Isaac Wood is first recorded in Virginia in 1775. His son, Joel Wood, is born in Tygart’s Valley VA (now WV) in 1778.
1792 Kentucky becomes a state
Several Coomer families arrive from Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap.
J. Wash arrives and receives a land grant in Anderson County, KY for his service in the American Revolution. The Wash’s and the Reed’s marry into the Coomer line sometime in the 1930s.
Stephen DeJean and his family arrives in Albany, NY around 1795.
Joel Wood marries Elizabeth Miller in 1797, Pendleton County, VA (now WV). Their daughter, Sarah, is born in 1800. Her future husband, Charles Madden, is born sometime between 1795 and 1804.
1804 Corps of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark expedition
President Thomas Jefferson completes the purchase of the Louisiana Territory and sends Lewis and Clark west to map a route to the Pacific Ocean. The Corp departs St. Louis in 1804 and returns in 1806.
By 1800 Henry Rhodes/Roth and his family move with Joseph Smith to Smithton, Westmoreland County, PA. In 1801, his son, Henry is married to Catherine Arthurs, his daughter, Sarah marries Peter Sowash, and in 1805, his daughter, Catherine, marries Jacob Fullmer.
Stephen DeJean is in his 20’s and his family is still in Eastern New York. Genessee County is still a wilderness and Chautauqua hasn’t been formed from Genessee yet.
1812-1815 The War of 1812
Great Britain is violating U.S. maritime rights over trade which were being disputed. The French Revolution and Napoleonic War were still having impacts in Europe and the U.S. while claiming neutrality, continued to trade commercially with both France and Spain. England eventually brought the U.S. into the European conflicts when it impressed U.S. citizens into its Naval force (sailors capture at sea). England capitalized on Native American fears of territorial encroachment and began providing aid to the North Eastern tribes, bringing the conflict inland from the seas and onto U.S. soil.
Joel Wood moves to Ohio in 1810 and his wife, Elizabeth Miller, dies there in 1813. Joel’s daughter, Sarah, meets and marries Charles Madden in Ohio where their first known child is born in 1818.
Stephen DeJean and his brothers serve in Churchill’s Regiment at Fort Eerie in 1812. He marries Cornelia Rouse by 1810 probably in Saratoga, NY.
John Rhoads is born and baptized in 1812 as Johannes Roth in the Greensburg Lutheran Church (Westmoreland County, PA) to parents, Heinrich Roth and Caterina (Arthurs).
Revolutionary war veteran, Isaac Gage Sr., passes away in 1813. His son, Isaac Jr., marries Ruth Stone in 1815.
1816 Indiana becomes a state
By 1815, Stephen DeJean has moved to Genessee County, NY where his first child is born. By 1817, he is living in Chautauqua County, NY. In 1822, his son, Julian Fayette Schuyler DeJean is born.
Elizabeth Madden is born to Charles Madden and Sarah Wood in Ohio between 1819 and 1822.
Henry Rhoads/Roth dies in 1828 in Smithton, PA.
1832 The Black Hawk War
Sauk leader, Black Hawk, attempts to reclaim tribal land in Illinois. Frontier militias were formed from Indiana, Illinois, and other nearby regions to dispute Black Hawk’s moves. The conflict ended when Black Hawks weakened warriors (through starvation and desertions) were defeated and Black Hawk surrendered. Among the militia were Abraham Lincoln, Zachary Taylor, and Jefferson Davis.
A man named James F Johnson serves in Indiana’s company of mounted riflemen during the Black Hawk War. This man obtains property in Fort Wayne by a land grant from this service. Another man named James F. Johnson marries Elizabeth Madden in Van Wert County, OH in 1839 (just across the Indiana border). The man who married Elizabeth in 1839 would have been 14 years old in 1832 – the same man or two different men named James F. Johnson?
In 1837, Stephen DeJean’s son, Joseph, moves to the Wisconsin Territory and Stephen follows the next year. Julian is 14 years old.
John Rhoads leaves Pennsylvania around 1838 and heads west, ultimately to Indiana. Daniel Rhoads is born in 1840, Stark County, OH.
Richard and Eliza Cobe arrive in the United States in Ohio around 1840.
1848 Wisconsin becomes a state and 1846 Iowa becomes a state
In 1842 William Beaty and Catharine Minton marry in Claiborne TN. Philip is born the following year and the family moves to Lincoln County, KY by 1850.
In 1844 William Stockford brings his family to the United States. His son, Joseph, settles in Ohio and marries Eleanore Jane Newell.
Julian DeJean and Elizabeth Bullis are married in Wisconsin by 1846.
1851 The first World’s Fair takes place in London
The U.S. would host it in 1853 at New York’s Crystal Palace.
John Rhoads and family are in Fort Wayne, IN and have settled a farm in Aboite Township – just west of the city.
Edward Coomer has married Darthulia Tarter and their first child, Rebecca, is born in Wayne County, KY.
Rosetta Johnson is born in 1850 to James F. Johnson and Elizabeth Madden.
Xaver Aleck arrives in the U.S. in 1852.
Isaac Gage Jr. dies in 1853, in Orford, NH.
The Cobe’s are all living in Paulding County, OH.
1860 The Pony Express begins
Short-lived as it ends by 1861 due to the completion of the transcontinental telegraph.
In 1858 Mary Stockford is born to Joseph Stockford and Eleanore Jane Newell.
In 1859 John Rhoads dies of Typhoid in Fort Wayne, IN. His father, Henry Rhoads, dies this same year in Smithton, PA.
Between 1859-1868 the Hinkle’s, Morgal’s, and Kahler’s families arrive in the United States through Castle Gardens, New York, and heading for Wisconsin. Instead, they find themselves in Indiana.
Stephen DeJean dies in or after 1860 either in Dane County, WI or South Dakota.
The Civil War is fought between 1861 and 1865. Civil War veterans include Daniel Rhoads, Philip Batey, Richard Cobe Jr., and George Washington DeJean.
In 1864, Ruth Stone Gage dies in Oxford, MA.
Edward Coomer moves the family to Danville, KY in 1865 where the family remains for the next four generations.
Philip Batey and Mary Duggin are married in 1867 in Danville, KY. Daughter, Sarah Catherine, is born that same year.
1871 American Baseball goes professional
The first game is played between the Cleveland Forest Citys and the Fort Wayne Kekiongas.
Catherine Arthurs Rhoads dies in Smithton, PA. Her grandson, Daniel, is about to marry his second wife and running the family farm in Aboite Township west of Fort Wayne.
In 1870, Ohlrich Kucks arrives in New York from Prussia. and finds his way into the U.S. Army by 1872. The Army relocates him near the Nebraska/Iowa border and he ends up in Harrison County, IA by 1878 where he marries Margaretha Hinkle. Ohlrich’s parents and siblings followed him to Iowa. Also by the late 1870s, the Hinkle’s, Morgal’s, and Kahler’s were all living in Harrison County, IA.
By 1870 William Beaty and Catherine Minton move to New Albany, IN and Philip remains in Kentucky. William and Catherine die in New Albany a few years later.
In 1873 Charles Aleck is born in Harrison County, IA to immigrant father Xaver Aleck.
Rosetta Johnson is married to her second husband, George Crum. They lose infant son, Willie in 1876.
Sumner Gage and Caroline Emery are having babies in New Hampshire. Sumner is the last one of his immediate family to leave New Hampshire for Illinois by 1879.
1880 The Panama Canal is started and 1881 The gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Panama Canal was started by the French, and acquired by the U.S. under President Roosevelt. It would not be completed until 1913 under President Woodrow Wilson. Further north in Tombstone, AZ, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday were shooting things up in the wild west, living legends behind controversial motives.
By 1885 Rosetta Johnson loses her toddler daughter and second husband, George Crum. George dies of Typhoid and it is probable that her daughter was a victim of Typhoid as well.
In 1888 Rosetta Johnson and Daniel Rhoads are married near Fort Wayne, IN. This is the third and final marriage for each of them.
Hugh Coomer marries Sarah Batey/Beatty in 1887. Around 1890 Hugh opens a brick and mortar paint and wallpaper store in Danville, KY. This business would remain in the family for 3 generations and expand to include art supplies and framing services.
1897 The Klondike Gold Rush begins
An estimated 100,000 prospectors trek through Alaska to the Yukon’s Klondike region in Alaska. San Francisco and Seattle are kick-off points for would-be gold-hunters.
Mary Duggan dies in Danville in 1890. Philip Batey moves to Indiana near his surviving siblings and marries his second wife before his death in 1900. His remains are returned to Danville where he is laid to rest next to Mary.
Mary Weigle Rhoads dies in 1894 near Fort Wayne.
Margaretha Hinkle Kucks dies in 1896 and is laid to rest in Council Bluffs, IA.
Sumner Gage dies in Illinois in 1895. By 1890, his son, Edward, has followed cousins to Iowa where he meets and marries Luella DeJean.
Emmit Cobe and Mary Stockford are in the butcher trade and are the last of the Cobe’s still living in Paulding County, OH. Richard Cobe, Jr. (his father) is in Dayton Ohio, and is about to move to the Soldiers Home in Grand Rapids, MI. Emmit’s siblings have moved to Emmit County, MI, or near there.
1903 First sustained flight by the Wright brothers
1906 The San Francisco earthquake occurs
In Kill Devil Hill, NC, the Wright brothers successfully fly a manned mechanically propelled petroleum engine plane. Three years later, a 7.8 earthquake hits San Francisco, devastating the city.
Charles Aleck and Elizabeth Kucks are married in Harrison County, IA. early in 1902. By the end of the year, Edward is born. Lucille follows in 1906.
The fourth child of Edward Gage and Luella DeJean is born in 1902, Mary Gage.
Mary Stockford Cobe dies in 1902 leaving Emmit to raise their two young children, Eleanor and Richard in Ohio. He follows the advice of his sister, Hortense Cobe Gleason and her husband, and liquidates all of the Cobe family property and moves to Harbor Springs to go into the Lumber industry. Richard Cobe, Jr. also dies in 1902 while living at the Michigan Soldiers Home in Grand Rapids. Emmit dies in 1907, leaving Eleanor and Richard orphaned in Michigan.
Hugh Coomer travels to St. Louis to attend the 1904 Word’s Fair. His father, Edward Coomer, dies the following year and Darthulia Tarter Coomer follows in 1908.
1917 First World War
Ancestors who are veterans of World War I are Kenneth Rhoades, Sr., Guy Coomer, and Richard Cobe.
Daniel Rhoads has left the Aboite Township family farm to his oldest son, Clarence. He and Rosetta move to Big Rapids, MI. Kenneth Sr. lives with his half-sister Sada Truman Gill in Chicago where he meets Eleanor Cobe who is working for a wealthy woman in the city. Kenneth and Eleanor are married in 1920 after Ken returns from the Navy.
Typhoid strikes again, but this time does not win. Charles Coomer, son of Hugh Coomer, recovers from the disease in 1918.
Charles Aleck and Elizabeth Kucks maintain their Iowa farm and raise their family in peace.
Edward Aleck and Mary Gage are married in Council Bluffs in 1924.
1934 The Dustbowl exacerbates the Great Depression
At the end of 1933, strong dust storms begin to ravage prairie states, striping the topsoil from overworked farms across the midwest. What few farms were still hanging on through the depression finally failed after two seasons of dust storms destroyed crops.
The Aleck’s and Gage’s somehow manage to keep their farm through it all.
The Rhoades’ are untouched by the Dustbowl and somehow manage to avoid the worst of the depression as well. They had lost Rosetta in 1927 and Daniel in 1931. Ken and Eleanor were living in Omaha by then and working in the real estate market. Their family already included Kenney and Richard. Helene would be born just a little later.
1936 Jesse Owens wins Gold in Hitler’s Germany
The summer Olympics are to be held in Hitler controlled Germany. Hitler bans Jewish athletes from the games in the hopes of setting up his regime to sweep the gold medals. His vision is dashed by American, Jesse Owens, who wins four gold medals in track and field. But Jesse almost didn’t make history when the U.S. considered boycotting that year’s Olympics after learning of the discriminatory practices by Hitler against Jews. It was finally determined by the U.S. Olympic committee to keep the Games about athleticism and not politics. While many equal rights leaders felt competing in the Olympics that year would be in support of Hitler’s policies, Owens saw his chance to shine on a World Stage – and he ended up defeating Nazi ideology through his victories. Jesse Owens was a talented black athlete.
Ohlrick Kucks dies in 1938.
Kenney is just about to enter High School in Omaha.
Sixty-year old Charles Aleck and Elizabeth Kucks are still living in Harrison County, IA.
1942 Second World War
Not only did Kenneth Rhoades, Jr. serve during World War II, but he also served in the Korean War.
Phew – that took more time and effort than I had planned.
Our Many Pasts 