Biographical Sketches of Distingushed Officers of the Army and Navy

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The following seventy-five biographies feature distinguished officers from the Army and Navy during the last half of the 19th century. Included with each biography is a photograph, which we have included as a gallery at the bottom of this page. These particular men were chosen by the editor for their patriotism to the flag.

Sevier County 1830 Tennessee Census

1830 Sevier County Census transcription

Published in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1956 and distributed by the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, Maryland, Sevier County, Tennessee: Population Schedule of the United States Census of 1830 (Fifth Census) provides a transcription of the often difficult to read, 1830 Sevier County Tennessee census. Authored by Blanche C. McMahon and Pollyanna Creekmore, this meticulous reproduction of the original census record sheds light on the people of Sevier County in 1830.

The ancestry of Joshua Dow of Avon, Maine

The ancestry and posterity of Joshua Dow of Avon, Maine

The ancestry and posterity of Joshua Dow of Avon, Maine traces from John Dow and Johan Coop of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. The first descendant in America, Henry Dow, came from England to America in 1637 with his wife, four children, and a maid. He first settled at Watertown, Massachusetts before relocating to Hampton, New Hampshire. He wrote his surname variously as Dow, Dow and Doue. One of the first Dow to settle in Avon, was Joshua, son of John and Betsey (Strout) Dow, who moved from Portland to Avon soon after his brother and sister, and settled before 1828 near Mt. Blue and Mt. Blue Pond.

Surnames: Briggs, Bryon, Crockett, Davenport, Dickey, Doue, Dow, Dowe, Dresser, Dunham, Esty, Hall, Harnden, Harradon, Hinkley, Kinney, Kittredge, Ladd, McLaughlin, Mitchell, Orberton, Pettingell, Richardson, Ross, Sampson, Sedgeley, Stinchfield, Vining, Walton, Webber, and Worthley.

Wahmaskie, A Lower Chinook Indian Genealogy

Clyde Chenois and unidentified man

This provides the descendants of Wahmaskie, a Lower Chinook Indian who married James Huckquist, a white man. Using census and vital records, as well as Native American specific records, this research provides several generations of her descendants through her son, Dixie James, who was the only surviving heir.

Richard Dexter Genealogy, 1642-1904

Arms of Dexter

Being a history of the descendants of Richard Dexter of Malden, Massachusetts, from the notes of John Haven Dexter and original researches. Richard Dexter, who was admitted an inhabitant of Boston (New England), Feb. 28, 1642, came from within ten miles of the town of Slane, Co. Meath, Ireland, and belonged to a branch of that family of Dexter who were descendants of Richard de Excester, the Lord Justice of Ireland. He, with his wife Bridget, and three or more children, fled to England from the great Irish Massacre of the Protestants which commenced Oct. 27, 1641. When Richard Dexter and family left England and by what vessel, we are unable to state, but he could not have remained there long, as we know he was living at Boston prior to Feb. 28, 1642.

Cushman Family of Acushnet, MA

For perhaps fifty years there has lived in what is now Acushnet and figured largely in the industrial life of the locality a branch of the ancient and historic Cushman family of the Old Colony, in the immediate family of the late Emery Cushman, whose early life was passed in Duxbury; himself the founder of an enterprise here in which he was succeeded by his son and the latter by his sons, all of whom contributed through the manufacturing plant to the material progress and welfare of their locality.

It will be remembered that Robert Cushman was one of the most active and influential men in all of the preliminary movements of the Pilgrims in going to Leyden and thence to New England, he the ancestor of the Cushman family here in question, the marriage of whose son into the Howland family further identifies it with the “Mayflower” party.

There follows the history and genealogy of this Acushnet Cushman family in chronological order from this first American ancestor.

Biography of George O. Sampson

George O. Sampson, of Silver City, was born in Siskiyou, California, on the nth of December 1853, and is of English lineage, the original American ancestors of the family having settled in Maine on their emigration from the Old World. Jonathan Sampson, the father of our subject, was born in the Pine Tree state and engaged in the lumber business there. In 1850, however, he came to the Pacific coast and engaged in mining in California, also in lumbering in Siskiyou County. In 1855 he removed to Ashland, Oregon, and later took up his abode in Portland. He lived to … Read more

The Descendants of Franklin Mary Noyes Rowe of Humboldt County, Iowa

Home of Franklin and Mary Noyes Rowe 1887-1905

This book, “The Descendants of Franklin Mary Noyes Rowe of Humboldt County, Iowa, with Some Notes on Their Ancestors,” authored by Velma Rowe Coffin in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1955, is a meticulously researched genealogical record spanning 87 pages. It traces the lineage of Franklin Rowe, born December 30, 1836, in Onondaga County, New York, and provides insights into his ancestry and descendants. Free to read or download.

Slave Narrative of Millie Sampson

Person Interviewed: Millie Sampson Location: Dade County, Florida Millie Sampson, 182 W. 14th St. Miami, Florida, was born in Manning, S.C. only three years ‘bfo’ Peace”. “My mother and father were born on the same plantation and I di’n’t have nothin’ to do ‘sept play with the white children and have plenty to eat. My mother and father were field han’s. I learned to talk from the white children.”

Marriages of Orange County, Virginia, 1747-1810

Marriages of Orange County, Virginia, 1747-1810

Catherine Lindsay Knorr’s Marriages of Orange County, Virginia, 1747-1810 stands as a pivotal work for genealogists and historians delving into the rich tapestry of Virginia’s past. Published in 1959, this meticulously compiled volume sheds light on the matrimonial alliances formed within Orange County, Virginia, during a period that was crucial to the shaping of both local and national histories. The absence of a contemporary marriage register presented a formidable challenge, yet through exhaustive examination of marriage bonds, ministers’ returns, and ancillary records, Knorr has reconstructed a reliable record of these marriages.

Seneca County New York Biographies

Seneca County History Newsletter Drawing

In the 1980’s a series of newsletters were published four times a year by Seneca County NY featuring historical information concerning Seneca county and her past residents. The current historian for Seneca County placed these online using PDF files. One of the main features of each edition were biographical sketches of early settlers of Seneca County. This is a list of those biographical sketches linked to the pdf copy of the newsletter.

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.

Kingman Genealogy of Middleboro Massachusetts

C. S. Kingman

The Middleboro family bearing this name is a branch of the Bridgewater family and it of the earlier Weymouth Kingman family, the American ancestor of which is credited with coming from Wales. This article pertains to some of the descendants of the late Maj. Bela Kingman, whose father, Abner Kingman, and family came from Bridgewater to Middleboro during the closing years of the Revolution, and here for generations the family has played well its part in the affairs of Middleboro, notably the Major’s son, Calvin D. Kingman, Esq., and the latter’s sons, Charles W. and Philip E. Kingman, who for years together and in turn developed and carried on a large shoe industry, giving employment to hundreds of hands.

Ancestors of Alexander Holmes of Kingston, MA

The family of Alexander Holmes of Kingston, MA is one of long and honorable standing in New England, and there the branch is represented by the family of the late Alexander Holmes, who for years was president of the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad. Across the water in old England the Holmes family history reaches back to the year 1066, when one John Holmes, the founder of the Holmes family, is credited with being a volunteer in the army of William, Duke of Normandy.

Ancestry of Loyed Ellis Chamberlain of Brockton, Massachusetts

Conspicuous on the roll of the representative lawyers of southeastern Massachusetts appears the name of Loyed Ellis Chamberlain. In no profession is there a career more open to men of talent than in that of the law, and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more perfect appreciation of the absolute ethics of life, or of the underlying principles which form the basis of all human rights and privileges. Unflagging application, intuitive judgment, and a determination to utilize fully the means at hand are the elements which insure personal success and prestige in this … Read more

Ancestors of Charles Jarvis Holmes of Marshfield and Rochester MA

Charles Jarvis Holmes

The purpose of this article to treat with one branch only of the Marshfield-Rochester family, the head of which was the late Hon. Charles Jarvis Holmes, lawyer and public servant of distinguished official relation, as was his father before him, Hon. Abraham Holmes, and as was also the former’s son excepting that he was a banker and financier instead of a member of the legal profession, and a man of high standing and long service in his calling at Fall River, where he was succeeded by his only son, Charles L. Holmes, now treasurer of the Fall River Five Cents Savings Bank, an institution his father had served in the same official relation for approximately fifty years, and who is worthily wearing the family name and sustaining its reputation.

Medicine Man – North American Indians

A Medicine Man Administering to a Patient - Plate 46

But among the many things that are associated with the North American Indians as topics of conversation and subjects of the printer’s ink more talked about and less understood is the “Medicine Man.” On Nov. 14, 1605, the first French settlement was made in America, on the northeast coast of Nova Scotia, and they gave the name Arcadia to the country; and on July 3, 1808, Samuel Champlain laid the foundation of Quebec. The character “Medicine-Man” had its origin, according to tradition, among those early French colonists who corrupted the word “Meda” a word in the language of one of … Read more