Slave Narrative of Harriett Robinson

Person Interviewed: Harriet Robinson Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Bastrop, Texas Date of Birth: September 1, 1842 Age: 95 I was born close to Webbers Falls, in the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation, in the same year that my pappy was blowed up and killed in the big boat accident that killed my old Master. I never did see my daddy excepting when I was a baby and I only know what my mammy told me about him. He come from across the water when he was a little boy, and was grown when old Master Joseph … Read more

Biographies of Western Nebraska

History of Western Nebraska and its People

These biographies are of men prominent in the building of western Nebraska. These men settled in Cheyenne, Box Butte, Deuel, Garden, Sioux, Kimball, Morrill, Sheridan, Scotts Bluff, Banner, and Dawes counties. A group of counties often called the panhandle of Nebraska. The History Of Western Nebraska & It’s People is a trustworthy history of the days of exploration and discovery, of the pioneer sacrifices and settlements, of the life and organization of the territory of Nebraska, of the first fifty years of statehood and progress, and of the place Nebraska holds in the scale of character and civilization. In the … Read more

Biography of George W. Robinson

George W. Robinson of Wichita has been a Kansan forty years. His first work in this state was as an educator at Winfield, continuing from June, 1876, to June, 1879. He soon turned to the more congenial work of a business career. The field in which his energies have found their most successful issues has been in banking, and there are a number of flourishing institutions in the state which were organized or at some time in their career have received the benefit of his excellent judgment and financial ability. Born February 20, 1855, in Piqua, Ohio, he went to … Read more

Ancestry of Moses Adams Packard of Brockton, Massachusetts

Moses Adams Packard

Moses Adams Packard, of Brockton, where he has been so long and so successfully engaged in the manufacture of shoes, is as well one of that city’s highly honored and respected citizens. Mr. Packard began life with little capital save boundless energy and a resolute purpose, and has pushed his way upward against almost every kind of obstacle until he now holds a foremost position among the leading manufacturers in this Commonwealth, vindicating the old saying, “Labor is king.” He was born Feb. 28, 1843, in New London, N. H., which was the home of his mother, while his father was a native of North Bridgewater, and a descendant of one of the old and historical families of Massachusetts.

Since its coming to this Bridgewater settlement, which was the first interior settlement of the Old Colony, as early as 1664, to the present time, for nearly two hundred and fifty years, the Packard family has been one prominent and influential in this community, and has become a most numerous family, many, too, of its members both at home and abroad having given a good account of themselves.

Abstracts of Wills on File in the City of New York Surrogate’s Office 1660-1680

Sample Last Will and Testament

Abstracts of wills on file in the surrogate’s office city of New York 1660-1680. From May 1787 to the present, county surrogate’s courts have recorded probates. However, the court of probates and court of chancery handled estates of deceased persons who died in one county but who owned property in another. An 1823 law mandated that all probates come under the jurisdiction of the county surrogate’s courts. Each surrogate’s court has a comprehensive index to all probate records, including the unrecorded probate packets. Interestingly enough, there are wills existing and on record at the Surrogate’s Office in New York City for the time-span of 1660-1680. Genealogical extracts of these wills have been provided below.

Descendants of John Ames of West Bridgewater MA

Frederick Lothrop Ames

The Ames surname is of early English origin, and the family living at Bristol bore the following coat of arms: Argent, on a bend cotised sable, three roses of the field. Motto: Fama Candida rosa dulcior. Crest: A white rose. (I) John Ames was buried at Bruton, Somersetshire, England, in 1560. (II) John Ames (2), son of John, died in 1583; married Margery Crome. Children: John Ames Launcelot Ames William Ames (III) John Ames (3), son of John (2), born in 1560, died in 1629, married Cyprian Browne. Children: William Ames. John Ames, went to New England, settling first at … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert H. Robinson

(VI) Robert H. Robinson, eldest son of Baxter Robinson, was born December 15, 18J5, in Farmington township. Ontario county, New York. He was educated in the public schools and at Union Springs Academy. In his youth he was an expert oarsman, winning several cups and other valuable prizes in single-scull contests and he was the recipient of a medal for his oarsmanship at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. In double scull races Courtney and Robinson won numerous prizes and banners. He removed to Ontario county in 1901 and bought the Castle Mill of the Castle Milling Company and … Read more

Logan County, Kentucky Wills – Book A, with index

Will book A, Logan County, Kentucky

The wills in this book come from Book A of the Wills found at the Logan County Court house in Russellville, Kentucky. The information was extracted in 1957 by Mrs. Vick on behalf of the DAR located in Russellville. The text in this book was done with an old manual typewriter and has the usual faint and filled-in type often found with such papers. On top of the difficulty in interpreting the print from the typewriter, the scanning process was also deficient, and led to the creation of a faint digital copy exacerbating the difficult to read text.

Indians in Mason County Michigan 1860 Census

Mason County 1860 Census Reel 554 page 81

These 409 people were identified as Indians (I) in column 6 (color) of the 1860 census for Mason County Michigan. In order to have been enumerated they are believed to have renounced tribal rule, and under state law, exercised their rights as citizens.

Biographical Sketch of Baxter Robinson

(V) Baxter Robinson, son of Dr. Daniel Arnold Robinson, was born 1824. He married Martha Smith. Her father, Jacob Smith, resided in Ontario county, New York, original settler of District No. 13, Lot 41, of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. With other Friends he came from Massachusetts to the town of Farmington and he built the first grist mill in this section in the year 1793, and two years later he built the first saw mill in that region. This grist mill was in use until 1839 and the saw mill until 1841. (“History of Ontario county, ” p. 190.)

Slave Narrative of Charlie Robinson

Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Charlie Robinson Location: Winnsboro, South Carolina Age: 87 Ex-Slave 87 Years Old Charlie Robinson lives nine miles northwest of Winnsboro, S.C., on lands of Mr. R.W. Lemmon. There is one other occupant in the four-room house, John Giles, a share cropper. The house has two fireplaces, the brick chimney being constructed in the center of the two main rooms. The other two rooms are shed rooms. Charlie ekes out a living as a day laborer on the farm. “They been tellin’ me to come to de social circle and see ’bout my pension but … Read more

Descendants of Chauncey Sears of Fall River, MA

As will be seen in what follows the Fall River family of Sears here considered – to which belongs Chauncey Howe Sears, an extensive mason contractor and builder and one of Fall River’s well-known citizens and substantial men – is one of some two hundred and sixty and more years’ standing in this Commonwealth. The family history and genealogy of the Fall River family follow in chronological order from the immigrant settler.

Hussey and Morgan Families of New Bedford MA

HUSSEY-MORGAN (New Bedford families). These families, while not among those early here, are of approximately a hundred years’ standing in this community, and with their allied connections are among the very respectable and wealthy families of the locality, the heads of two of these families here considered being the late George Hussey and Charles Wain Morgan, who were extensively engaged in whaling and shipping interests here in New Bedford through much of the first half of the nineteenth century. Here follows in detail arranged chronologically from the first American ancestor the Hussey genealogy, together with that of some of its … Read more

Church History of Norwich Vermont

The great achievement of the first generation of Norwich settlers was the building of a meeting house. More than any other event of the time, with the possible exception of the accomplishment of the national independence, this was an undertaking that enlisted the energies and taxed the resources of our forefathers. The building of a meeting house in a New England frontier settlement a century ago was regarded a matter of public concern, to be supported by the whole community without regard to sect or party, like the opening of roads or any other public charge. In less than ten … Read more

The Wilson Family, Somerset and Barter Hill Branch

The Wilson family, Somerset and Barter Hill branch

In the preparation of “The Wilson family, Somerset and Barter Hill branch” I have discovered two lists of the names of the sons and daughters of Col. Ben and Ann Seay Wilson of “Somerset” in Cumberland County, Virginia, in addition to the list found in my father’s notes. None of these was arranged in the same chronological order. It was my good fortune in 1915 to find the Bible, claimed to be the Bible of Col. Ben and Ann Seay Wilson of “Somerset” in Cumberland County, Virginia. At that time this was in the hands of Miss Clementine Reid Wilson, Col. Ben’s great-granddaughter, and it was my privilege to copy, with the aid of a reading glass, for the ink was badly faded, the names of their children from that Bible in the same chronological order in which they were recorded. This chronological order, and military records found, support each other. I therefore believe that this sketch contains the most accurate chronological list of Col. Ben’s and Ann Seay Wilson’s children to be found outside of his Bible.

Descendants of Charles Howard, North Bridgewater, MA

Charles Howard

CHARLES HOWARD, founder and president of the Howard & Poster Company, one of the largest and best known shoe manufacturing concerns in this Commonwealth, and an original promoter of the Brockton Agricultural Society, of which he is also president, is one of the foremost business men and citizens of Brockton, Plymouth Co., Mass., for over forty years continuously and prominently identified with the industrial and financial growth of that city. Mr. Howard was born Jan. 9, 1837, in North Bridgewater, now Brockton, eldest son of the late Charles and Lavina (Rounds) Howard, and a descendant of several of New England’s … Read more

Robinson, Buena Estella Gage – Obituary

Mrs. Buena E. (Peggy) Robinson, 54, 101 N. Elliot, Ellensburg died Wednesday [May 1, 1974] at Kittitas Valley Community Hospital. She was born in Ellensburg, Aug. 11, 1919. She attended local schools and in 1937 she and George Robinson were married in Yakima. She is survived by her husband, George, Ellensburg; one son, George Jr., Yakima; one daughter, Mrs. Kathy LePage, Ellensburg; four grandchildren; her father, Robert F. Gage Sr., Ellensburg; six brothers, Clifford, Bob and Seth, all Ellensburg; Harrel, Gresham, Ore., George, Chehalis, and Fred, Tonasket; five sisters, Mrs. Tressa Graham and Mrs. Ethel Kinkade, both Ellensburg; Mrs. Esther … Read more

Howland Family of Dartmouth and New Bedford, Massachusetts

Abraham Howland

Henry Howland, the progenitor of the Ancient Dartmouth Howland family, the branch here specially considered, lived at Duxbury. The first mention of him in New England is that made in the allotment of cattle to the different families in Plymouth in 1624. Perhaps none of the colonists has a better record for intelligence, thrift, uprightness and unmixed faith in the Divine One than Henry Howland, and these virtues have permeated the lives of his posterity. In general they are a family of great respectability, and as a people thrifty, economical and good managers of finance, most of them having a fair share of this world’s goods – some amassing millions. Henry Howland was made a freeman in 1633; was chosen constable for Duxbury in 1635; bought land there in 1640; was for some years surveyor of highways; served repeatedly on the grand jury, etc. He joined the Society of Friends, perhaps in 1657, and was not a little persecuted thereafter on this account. In 1652, associated with others, he bought a large tract of land in Dartmouth; was one of the twenty-seven purchasers of what is now Freetown in 1659, and in the division of 1660 he received for his share the sixth lot, which was afterward inherited by his son Samuel Howland. He was one of the grantees of Bridgewater but never lived there. Mr. Howland married Mary Newland, and both likely died at the old homestead in Duxbury.

Indian Service Employees in World War 2

Mrs. Etta S. Jones

Twenty-one employees of the Indian Service gave their lives for the cause of freedom and justice, some of them in action against the enemy, some in training, some by accident, and some by illness. There will be more names to add to the list when the reckoning is completed.