Any Famous Ancestors??? Maybe.... Maybe Not!

Everyone loves to brag about their famous ancestor . .  old 'what's his name.'  Well, I don't have proven lineage back to most of these FAMOUS suggestions, near-relations and maybes....

Here are a few...

PAUL REVERE

A few posts back I mentioned a possible relationship with PAUL REVERE [see Wednesday, November 24, 2010 post] where Paul Revere and I possible share an ancestor - Thomas Dexter.  I am descended from his son William and Revere is supposed descended from his daughter Francis.  If the connection is correct, Paul Revere would be my third cousin six times removed.

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND

FRANCES FOLSOM

Next is PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND, by marriage - Francis Folsom Cleveland (21 Jul 1864), is my sixth cousin two times removed.  We both share an ancestor, Ephraim Tilson (b. 1636 in Plymouth Massachusetts - my eighth great-grandfather and Francis' fifth great-grandfather).

THOMAS JEFFERSON

THOMAS JEFFERSON could possibly be my first cousin six times removed.  My sixth great grandfather, Isham Randolph (b. Jan 1685) is Thomas Jefferson's maternal grandfather.

STETSON HAT

Most people will have heard of STETSON hats, but it is not widely known that the Stetson family originally came from Modbury, England. Cornet Robert Stetson, progenitor of the Stetson Kindred of America Inc., was born in Modbury and baptised in St. George’s Church in 1615. He married Honour Tucker of Plymouth and they emigrated to Massachusetts. Eight children were born to them, and their descendants still send generous donations towards the upkeep of the Church where the Stetson family records are deposited.

As early as 1634, Robert Stetson had a grant of land on the North River near Scituate, Massachusetts, where he later built a house. In 1643 he was on a list of those able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. It was serving as cornet of the troop of horse in 1638, though, that he gained his moniker. Constable at Duxbury in 1642 and elected a deputy to the court in 1653, he represented Scitutate in the general court from 1654 to 1678. Serving in the countil of war from 1661 to 1681, he was active in King Philip's war and guilty, in 1668, of buying Indian titles of land for the land on which the towns of Hanover and Abingdon were established. In 1865, a many times great-grandson, John B. Stetson, took $100, rented a small room, bought a few tools, and established a hat company.


Robert Stetson is my eighth paternal great-grandfather.

Others mention while I researched my ancestors were Pocahantes, Andrew Jackson, Gutenburg, but I've not yet proved any of these and have pretty much ruled them all out.  

A feature of the family trees you build on Ancestry.com is the button you can push that will show possible famous ancestors.  Most of these are highly suspect and dependent upon the reliability of others' posted family trees.  Some that I found belonging to myself and my parents are:

my father's line - Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins, George Soule, Edward Winslow, John Allerton, James Chilton and Francis Cooke; Daniel Wesson, Shirley Temple, 'Wild Bill' Hickok, 

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Marlon Brando, Theodore Roosevelt, Samuel Adams, 

Samuel Adams

Julia Childs and George HW Bush. 

Julia Childs

 
my mother's line - Willa Cather, George Eliot, Zachary Taylor, Jimmy Carter, 

President Jimmy Carter

 Lady Bird Johnson, Gore Vidal, Emily Dickenson,

Hillary

 Clyde Barrow, Amelia Earhart, Hillary Clinton, and Sam Walton. 




So I guess you might say I possibly have some famous relatives (not many that are direct ancestor - only the Mayflower connections have been proven and are direct), but when you consider that 10 generations back we have over 4000 grandparents, you've got to figure that most people are going to be connected to someone famous.

NOW A TALE OF THE LOGUES IN IDAHO

Descendants of Adam Logue (b. 1751) - my 4th great-grandfather, of County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

This was written by Wesley W. Craig, Ph.D., my cousin, from South Utah.

January 1999

The origins of our Logue family have been traced, with certainty, to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where Adam Logue (b. 1751) reports that he served in the Revolutionary War. In this report Adam states that he was born "in 1751 in County of Derry in Ireland". Apparently he had no confirmation of this information, other than "the verbal communication of my mother". Efforts to validate his birth or residence in Ireland have thus far been unsuccessful. Part of the problem is uncertainty regarding the parentage of Adam.

Map of County Derry/Londonderry

County flower

It is possible that Adam’s father may have been a George Logue. An Heir Distribution document from the Orphan’s Court of Carlisle, Pa. dated 13 May 1788 attests that a George Logue produced a petition for his father, George Logue (deceased) which indicated that the elder George’s wife was Elizabeth, and that his heirs included seven children: George, William, Adam, John, Joseph, Elizabeth and Mary.

Unfortunately, there is another Adam Logue that turns up; he dies 21 Aug 1799 in Carlisle, PA., while our Adam Logue moves west to the Sinnamahoning River area of north-central Pennsylvania, and dies there on 4 April 1836. We do not know, for sure, which of these two Adams was the son of the above mentioned George.

Several professional genealogists (Maybel Swanson & Dr.Charles A. Fisher) have tackled the early Pennsylvania Logue family in the past and have come up scratching their heads trying to sort out the early Pennsylvania Logues.

I made a trip to Northern Ireland in 1997 with the express purpose of attempting to locate our Logue ancestors in County Londonderry . I spent nearly a week at the N. Ireland Public Records Office researching the records. (My results are summarized in a report I made in February 1997. However, no clarification of our Logue ancestry surfaced from that investigation (searching on an Adam Logue and on George Logue).

After living/working in Carlisle during the Revolutionary War, Adam reportedly moves to York County, Pa., then to Northumberland and afterwards to Lycoming County, Pa., eventually settling in Potter County, Pa.

One report states that three Logues (supposedly brothers and sons of our Adam) settled at the mouth of the First Fork (Sinnamahoning, Cameron Co.) in North Central Pennsylvania in the years 1816-1817. These were George (b.1789), Archibald (b. 1793) and Thomas (b.1794). Adam is not mentioned as having accompanied his sons.

By my records George’s (the older brother) mother was a "Leverson" (Adam’s first marriage). While Archibald and Thomas were sons of Adam and Nancy Sterrett (Adam’s second marriage). Thus, Archibald and Thomas were half-brothers to George.

Adam (b. 1851) apparently arrived in First Fork, Cameron, Pennsylvania either with or shortly after the arrival of his sons. This is substantiated by the birth and death of his daughter Adeline Thankful Logue (b. 1820, d. 1820) by his third wife Mary. Adeline was buried in the Jericho Cemetery at Sinnamahoning, Cameron Co., Pa.

Sinnamahoning State Park, Cameron Co., PA

Our ancestor was the above mentioned Archibald Logue (b. 1793 at Carlisle, Pa.) Archibald had thirteen children (by one wife), among whom was our ancestor, Adam Leverson Logue (b. 1818 in Grove Twp., Cameron County, Pa.), born shortly after the arrival of the three Logue brothers). Archibald apparently lived his entire life in the area, and died some time after the birth of his last child (1839), though we have no record of his death.

Adam Leverson Logue (b.1818), (Archibald’s third son), had eight children. Adam L. lived his life in Cameron and Potter counties (adjacent to each other) and died in 1893. His oldest child, our ancestor, was George Alexander Logue (b. 1841 in the settlement of Logue, Potter Co., Pa.).

George Alexander was married twice. Children of his first marriage to Sarah A. Sweet (b.1841, d. 1882) were three boys: John S., Frederick S. and Thomas E. After Sarah’s death he remarried to Aurilla Ervay (b. 1845, d. 1900) by whom he had one daughter, (my grandmother). Bessie LePet Logue (b. 1885).

In Potter County our Logue family line, in addition to farming, engaged in a mercantile business.

There is a fascinating story of how our Logues from Pennsylvania got to Valley County, Idaho. To show how historical events could have unforseen circumstances for the Logue family, I need to mention the discovery of gold in the Yukon Territory of northwestern Canada in 1896. News of this event didn’t reach the United States until 1897. This brought a stampede of prospectors from around the world in 1897-98. Among those who were excited by this event was Ezra E. Logue (b. 1874 at First Fork, Cameron County, Pennsylvania), a second-cousin to my great grand-father, George Alexander Logue. Ezra is reported to have made two trips to the Klondike in search of gold along with his cousin, Irivin Logue of Huntley, Cameron County. Enroute to the gold field he went over the Chilkoot Pass where several hours earlier an avalanche had occurred, burying many of prospectors. He helped dig out survivors (many had died) from the ice and snow, then proceeded on to the Klondike. (For a fascinating description of the events surrounding this gold-strike read James Michner’s book, Alaska).

At Crown Point Cemetery (overlooking Cascade Lake) Cascade ID

Following his second trip to the Klondike gold fields Ezra rafted and boated down the Yukon River in Alaska to a new gold-strike at Nome, Alaska. He then decided to return to Pennsylvania through the newly discovered gold mining area in central Idaho (Idaho County). He is reported to have taken up a timber and homestead claim near Garden Valley, Idaho (close to Long Valley, Idaho). His health not being good he returned to Cameron County, Pa. to spend the winter, with the intention of returning to Idaho in the spring. Unfortunately, he became seriously ill and died at home in Pennsylvania several months later of spinal meningitis and typhoid fever. He died on July 24,1903 and was buried in the Gilmore Cemetery, Cameron, Pa.

The liklihood that George Alexander Logue (my great-grandfather)and his sons had spent time talking to his second cousin, Ezra, is quite high, given the fact that they lived just a few miles from each other. Ezra Logue’s description of the merits of central Idaho apparently captivated the interest of George’s three sons (John, Thomas and Frederick).

The elder son, John Logue, came out to Idaho in 1902 to see for himself "...when he returned to to Pennsylvania he had a lot of glowing tales to tell about that big new country."

This apparently convinced his younger brother Thomas Elbridge Logue, another son of George Alexander, who also went to Idaho and in 1902 took out a stone and timber claim on the Middle Fork, above Garden Valley, Idaho, his first year in the West. In 1904 Thomas married Marie Winifred Dexter at Crawford, Idaho and in 1906 filed for a a homestead, east of Cascade on what is now part of the Tom Davis ranch. They lived there until 1937 when they retired to Cascade.

At about the same time Frederick (the third son) moved out to Thunder City, Valley County, and established a mercantile store to supply the miners of the booming Thunder Mountain gold-strike area.

Logue Mercantile, Crawford, Idaho

Then in 1904 the eldest brother, John Logue and his wife, along with their friends, the Ready family, decided to emmigrate to central Idaho to join Fred and Thomas. Stanton G. Ready (b. 1900) reports that in mid-April (1904) John and Jessie Logue along with the Ready family:

"...boarded a train in Austin, Pa. and headed west to Thunder City, Idaho...that train trip was a real ball for us 3 kids, but I guess it was a trial for our parents. It took five days from Austin, Pa. to Boise and, of course, that is where the rail trip ended. John bought a small team of mares and a light spring wagon, with the seats and we all loaded in one morning and headed for Thunder City with eleven all told and quite a wagon load. It took three days from Boise, via Spring Valley, up over Dry Buck and Tripod summits. Crossed the Payette river on a ferry at Smith’s Ferry. L.M. Garton was the ferry man, then over Round Valley hill, then to good old Thunder. Fred (Logue) was already in Thunder, running the store when we got there. This was a busy summer for the men folks, because there were homestead houses to be built before winter set in. The houses were all about 1/2 mile apart and each consisted of two rooms and an unfinished upstairs, we lived in them little houses for quite a spell, until the homesteads were proved up and patents obtained to the land. After that it was legally yours."

Meanwhile, back in Pennsylvania, Bessie Logue (younger half-sister to the three Logue brothers) had married Clayton Williams in 1899 (Bessie was 15 years old) and they had one child, Beatrice. Unfortunately, Clayton died in Feb 1900, before the birth of their daughter. One month later Bessie’s mother, Aurilla Ervay Logue, died. Imagine the plight of this fifteen year old girl--loosing both a husband and her mother in the same year, and with an infant daughter to raise.

Under these circumstances, Bessie left her little girl (Beatrice) in the care of friends in the area. Three years later (1903) Bessie remarried, to Ernest William Harwood in Delevan, New York. Then she returned to Pennsylvania to reclaim Beatrice. Apparently, the foster parents did not want to give her up. Bessie persevered and was able to get the child away from the foster parents.

Between 1904 and 1909 Bessie had three more children by Ernest Harwood. Louise Erma (my mother), Stanley (Ted), and George. Shortly after the birth of George (1909) they decided to emmigrate west and join Bessie’s three older Logue brothers in Valley County, Idaho. At about the same time Bessie’s father (a widower for the second time-- his second wife Aurilla having died in 1900) made the same choice. He lived with Bessie and Ernest Harwood in a small homestead house about one mile north of Thunder City and six miles east of what later became the town of Cascade.

In 1917 the railroad was built into Valley County from Emmett. It passed to the west of Thunder City. This resulted in the emergence of Cascade as a town and spelled the end of Thunder City. The Logues moved the building in which their store was located from Thunder City over to Cascade, where it occupied a corner lot on main street and later became known as the "Merit Store" which I remember frequenting when I was a boy, living in Cascade in the 1930’s.

The Logues played a prominent role in the development of Cascade. In addition to the mercantile store, Clayton Gerald (Jerry) Logue (b.1902), son of John Sweet Logue, was the Sheriff of Valley County. His first cousin, Merton Alexander Logue (son of Frederick Logue) later (1950) also became the Sheriff for Valley County and served in that capacity for twenty-two years.

Merton Logue, Valley Co Sheriff for 22 1/2 years

 Frederick Logue eventually left Valley County, to live in Snohomish, Washington,. There he put in a store by a big truck garden that ran for miles. Uncle Fred was a very religious man and would not sell tobacco or beer. Needless to say, someone came along who did not have these values and ran him out of business. Fred eventually died at Monroe, Washington in 1950.

Children of the Logues have scattered throughout the Northwest. Today (1999) the only Logue family living in Valley County is Ruth, the wife of Fred Logue (2010) Ruth still living, but in Boise now. [2011, Ruth Bush Logue now lives in Boise - no Logues live in Valley County at this time.]

An Interesting Story in My Paternal Line

Nathaniel Dexter, born 14 May 1771, was my third great-grandfather through my paternal grandmother's line (Mary Winnie Dexter Logue).  He married my third great-grandmother, Chloe Washburn, on 18 July 1796 in Winthrop, Kennebec Co, Maine (remember, this is my Mayflower line and her father, Japheth Washburn is my DAR Patriot).  Their oldest son was my second great grandfather, Lotan Dexter, born 30 January 1801.  It is unsure when Chloe Washburn Dexter died, but we find Nathaniel Dexter marrying Annie Bragg Fish in 1821, confirmed by Annie's son, Nathaniel - see below.

(Following is a Life History from Annie Bragg Fish's youngest son, Nathaniel Fish:
Life History  (Reba McMillan added this on 26 Mar 2009 to her Ancestry.com family tree.)

LIFE HISTORY - written by Nathaniel Bragg Fish
1.
    I, Nathaniel Bragg Fish, was born in the town of China, Kennebec County, State Of Maine, on the Fifteenth day of May 1813. My Father's name was Bolton Fish, who was born on Nantucket Island, off the cast of New Brunswick, or Maine, on the ____day of_____, in the year of 17__.  My mother's maiden name was Annie Bragg, who was born at__________, on the ____day of ________. 17__.  My Father's father's name was George Fish, who was born in _______, England, on the ___day of ______, A.D., 17__.
My Grandfather George Fish, was a Sea Captain, and went with foreign barges and was lost at sea.  My Father Bolton Fish, was his Father's only son.  My Grandmother, Jerusha Fish, wife of George Fish, was born on Nantucket Island, on the __day of ________17__.  My father was shot and killed at the Battle of Lundy's Lane, in (about) the year of 1812, while fighting with the United States troops; we was a private soldier.  My Mother died in the town of Dover, Piscataquis County, Maine, in old age, date and cause of death unknown to me.  The aforesaid Nathaniel Bragg was a Blacksmith and a Farmer, by occupation.  My Mother's mother's name was Moore, before she was married, date and place of nativity unknown, but, I think that she, as well as all thse of the old Bragg family, came from the vicinity of Nantucket Island.  I do not know what my Father's occupation was, but, I think it was farming.

    I was the ninth and last child of my parents.  My two oldest brothers were born in Penobscot County, Maine; their names were: Abial (the older) and George.  The other seven children, in the order of their birth, were: Randall, Amaibia, Ruby, Hiram, Ephriam, David, and myself,--Nathaniel.  All excepting the two oldest children were born in Kennebec County, ME.

    My mother, with such help as her children gave her, worked and maintained her family, making the clothes for each of her aforesaid nine children, from flax and wool. This was customary in that locality in those day.  When I was eight years of age, my mother married a man by the name of Nathaniel Dexter, a farmer by occupation, and a resident of Kennebec Co. ME.  Immediately after the marriage of my mother to Dexter, my mother, her husband and my brothers David, Ephriam, and my sister Ruby, moved to the town of Dover, Maine, where my mother continued to reside until the time of her death.

    I resided in Dover until I removed to Mitchell County, Iowa, which was in the year of 1869.  In the fore part of March, 1869, I arrived in Charles City, Iowa, and went from there in the next month, to Union Township, Mitchell Co., Ia., where I bought an eighty acre farm, for $14.00 per acre which I kept and resided upon until the fall of 1877, when I sold it for Twenty-eight Dollars per acre, when I went to Northwood, Worth County, Iowa, and bought an eighty acre farm for Fourteen Dollars per acre.  I resided upon that farm for three years, and then removed to Chas. City, Iowa, and rented the
farm.  I resided at Charles City until the year of 1882, where I lived with my son-in- law, Hiram Kramer, helping him on a farm, when I went to Osage, Iowa and bought the house and property in Osage, which I have ever since continued to own, and in which town I continue to reside.  Since coming to Osage, I have farmed so long as my health permitted, which was until the year of 1900, when I sold out the fifteen acres west of Osage.

    I was married on the 27th day of May, 1839, in the town of Dover, Maine, to Nancy M. Shepard, which was the first and only marriage of either of us.  Rev. Joseph Page, a Baptist Minister, performed the marriage ceremony, at the home of the bride.  My said wife was born in the town of Dover, in the year of 1817, to Joseph and Polly Shepard; Joseph Shepard being a farmer and wheelwright.  My wife's mother's name was Lambert; the Lamberts having come from the State of Maine.  My wife and I resided together until the time of her death in my house in the city of Osage, from the cause of Consumption, on the 9th day of October, 1883.  To my wife and myself, have been born nine children, all of whom, excepting only the second born, is still living.   The names of my children in the order of their birth, is as follows, to-wit:
    Rozilla, wife of Joshua M. Little field, of (Postoffice) Olds, Alberta, Canada......................
 
(Copied from an old manuscript-March, 1946) - I don't know who copied (typed) it. Since it was typed I'm rather assuming it was done by Uncle Stanley Nicol - but that is only a guess.   A copy was found in my father G. Everest Nicol's desk after his death in Feb, 1983.) Nantucket Island is off the coast of Massachusetts. ---cde
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was written by my Great Great Grandfather Nathaniel Bragg Fish who died 18 April 1904 in Osage, Mitchell County, Iowa and is buried in the Osage Cemetery.
Submitted to the Archives by Celene Eliason   11/98)



Note that Mr Fish mentions a sister, Ruby, that moved with his mother to Dover ME after the marriage to Nathaniel Dexter.  In 1821, Lotan Dexter would have been 20 years old and Ruby, born in 1801 too,  was also 20 years old.  Is it any surprise that 3 years later (1824) these two - Lotan Dexter and Ruby Fish, were married (The Owl, publication of the Wing Family of America, page 2563 - article compiled by Elizabeth Wright).

1850 Census, Dover ME

Lotan is mentioned in The History of Stark County, Illinois:
   "Lotan Dexter, deceased, who settled at Toulon in 1854, with his brother-in-law, O. Maxfield, in 1855 in Goshen, and who in 1856 established his permanent home at Toulon, was born in Kennebec county, Me., January 30, 1801. He married Miss Ruby Fish there, and in 1853, with five children moved westward. Those children were Bethana, of Newton, Kan.; Marshall, of Henry county, Ill.; George F., of Goshen ; Henry, deceased, and James W., of Galva. The father died in 1873, leaving a widow and large family, the former still residing at Galva. Henry served in the Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry, was wounded at Pea Ridge, from which wound he died in 1873, in his thirty-seventh year. (Vide mil. ch.) James W. enlisted in Hyslop's Battery, Marine Artillery, and when this command was disbanded, reenlisted in another regiment."
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/stark/bios/GoshenTownship.htm  -  Buried in Toulon Cemetery.

Dexter family in Illinois

 
[Note that my great grandfather, Walter M Dexter, is not mentioned as moving with the family to Illinois.  He is however, mentioned in the 1850 US Census of Dover ME, as a farmer and is listed with the family there - WM Dexter, 19.  Walter has his own bio in the Henry County: Cambridge Township book, pg 289 - Walter M. Dexter Farmer Sec. 32; P.O. Ulah; born in Piscataquis Co. Maine, Dec 19, 1831; Rep; Bapt; owns 160 acres land, value $9,600; lived in Maine about twenty- three years, then went to California and was there six years; came to Stark Co. this State and lived there twelve years; came to this county in 1874; has held office of School Director in Stark Co; holds same office here: married Miss Alida Jane Bennett, Nov 24 1862; she was born Pennsyvania and brought up in Stark Co. Ill; they have four children, one boy and three girls.]


It seems like Walter M Dexter was a wandering man - Maine to California to Illinois (Stark Co, then Henry Co) and then finally to Idaho with four of his five children.  He homesteaded in Long Valley (Central Idaho) and it was here that he lost his son, Lotan and his daughter, Keziah in July of 1890.  Keziah had gone to the river (North Fork of the Payette River) to catch minnows with a bucket when the force of the stream pulled her into the water.  Brother Lotan jumped in to save her, but both drowned.

Walter M and Alida Jane Bennett Dexter

W M Dexter, Alida Jane and Mary Winne on homestead in Long Valley Idaho