Crime & Punishment in Illinois

This is an interesting tale.  James E. Ryan was State’s Attorney 1984-1994 and Attorney General of Illinois 1995–2003 (he didn’t marry actress Jeri Ryan). 

I was living in an apartment complex called Wheaton Center in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.  Across the hall there was a retired Catholic priest who was convinced the world was coming to an end.  It didn’t, but mine was soon to be shattered.

Down the hall was some oaf who got kicked out and even though nobody could stand him, apparently he blamed me.  He and a friend would drive by the apartment building and shout insults.

One day they followed me, and the guy who got kicked out threw something at my car.  Foolishly, I got out of my car to complain about it.  That’s when Pecoraro (who hadn’t been evicted) beat me up.

They fled, but saw there were witnesses.  The witnesses were angry and called the cops because Pecoraro had hit me while I was trying to cover my face.  I’d written down the license plate number and description of the car.  The cops arrived and called for an ambulance.  They wanted to take me in for treatment, but since I felt little pain I didn’t think it necessary.  I didn’t realize that you don’t feel the pain right away—the next day was hell.

Later the same day Pecoraro and his accomplice turned themselves in.  Pecoraro was booked and released on his own recognizance.  The irony was that the jerk who’d been evicted wasn’t charged.   

I went to the emergency room, and they patched me up.  I had to get a tetanus shot or antibiotics because Pecoraro was wearing a ring when he hit me.  I had insurance, so Pecoraro didn’t have to pay for the medical expenses, which came to about $700.00.  He got off cheap.

When his trial date came, I was told to be available to testify.  Pecoraro decided to plead guilty.  Since the charge carried a possible sentence of up to a year in jail, he had an incentive to accept a plea bargain and not go to trial.  He had to pay for the sunglasses he ruined and my shirt that had blood on it.  I think as part of his plea bargain Pecoraro’s record was to be expunged after a year; however, as the letters show, the State’s Attorney contacted me to arrange for restitution. 

Life’s a beach.  Then the tide comes in.    

Benjamin Standifer’s Revolutionary War pension application

         Files of pensions awarded for service in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War can be treasure troves of family information.  At one time these records had to be ordered from the National Archives And Records Administration (NARA), a cumbersome process taking months to complete.  Pension files can consist of a dozen or more records, so published abstracts aren’t going to furnish details like the soldier’s area of operations during the conflict.

Now it’s possible to find many pension records online.  Benjamin Standifer’s pension file is available from HeritageQuest Online, offered through my local library.  This letter is part of his file.  I’ve transcribed the letter because the original is in poor condition, but you can obtain a copy of the original from HeritageQuest Online or NARA.

Even if no pension was awarded (usually due to death of the soldier before the enabling Act), applications for Bounty Land Warrants often contain similar information.

Benjamin Standifer’s daughter Milly (Mildred) married William Chipman.  William and Milly (Standifer) Chipman’s descendants in Lauderdale County, Tennessee and elsewhere are eligible for SAR and DAR membership based upon Benjamin Standifer’s service.

________________________________

STANDIFER, BENJAMIN

State(s): NC

Series: M805  Roll: 765  Image: 427

File: W822/BLWT21803-160-55 

—————————-

Rev. and 1812

Wars Section

W. 822

Benjamin Standefer

Old War Invalid File

No. 20377

Howell Harton                       March 1, 1930 

 

Hon. William E. Brock

United States Senate

Washington, D.C.

 

My dear Senator Brock:

In response to your letter of February 25, 1930, I have the honor to advise you that you are herewith furnished the information desired by Mrs. Nellie Armstrong of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

From the papers in the Revolutionary War pension claim W. 822, it appears that Benjamin Standefer or Standifer was born May 17, 1764 in Maryland.

While a resident of Orange County, North Carolina, he enlisted and served as a mounted rifleman with the North Carolina troops as follows:

From May 1780 or 1781 three months as orderly sergeant in Capt. Douglas’ company in Colonel Dudley’s Regiment; in 1781 three months as orderly sergeant in Captain Abraham Allen’s Company in Colonel Mcbane’s Regiment, and was in the battle of Lindley’s Mill.  He then served various short tours amounting to six months in all, as a private in Captain Davis Grisham’s Company.

He was allowed pension on his application executed August 15, 1832, at which time he was a resident of Bledsoe County, Tennessee.

He died March 13, 1839 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee.

The soldier married in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, December 29, 1802, Nancy Echols.

She was allowed pension on her application executed May 5, 1853, at which time she was a resident of Hamilton County, Tennessee, and was seventy-three years of age.

She died in Hamilton County, Tennessee, February 28, 1864.

She was survived by the following children:

Joshua

Sarah Howard

Milly Chipman

Leroy.

A grandson, William Standefer, was living in Hamilton County, Tennessee in 1870, at which time he stated he was thirty-three years of age.

Remainder of this letter in care of Howell Harton O.W. Inv. File 20377

___________________________________

This letter illustrates why southern genealogy can be so frustrating:  Benjamin Standifer was born in Maryland, served during the Revolutionary War in North Carolina, married Nancy Echols (his 2nd wife) in Georgia, and died in Tennessee.  Those four events chronicle the travels of one man.  At any point relatives might remain in one place, or split off for another destination altogether, and again wind up together in the same spot, more by accident than design.

The lure was cheap or free land, the appetite for it whetted by reports that must have been largely fantasy.  Scandanavians considering settling in the upper Midwest of the USA probably had more accurate information about their proposed destination than had Benjamin Standifer.  East Tennessee is justly celebrated for its beauty, but the land itself can be tough and only arable in the valleys.

Somewhere in the Bledsoe County section of Sequatchie Valley, Benjamin Standifer breathed his last, and I think with satisfaction recalled that though he had been born in the Colony of Maryland, he died in the United States of America.

the old head-banger

Many religions have a tradition about the Devil.  Often he is noisy, rattling glasses, shaking keys, loud thumps in the night.  He sows dissension with jealousy and deceit.  Christ called him the Father of Lies (John 8:44).

In one tradition,

When the Evil One first takes you, he clouds your mind so that you think you are doing good, when you are actually practising evil.  But there is always a doubt in the back of your mind telling you what you’re doing is wrong.

After you die, the Evil One guides you to his realm.  He shows you the doubt you ignored was really Truth, and that you served him of your own free will.  Then the Evil One makes you his own, and casts you into the pit, where you will suffer for many eons, if not forever.

Of course this is just a folk tale (of what folk I’m not certain), and we modern people dismiss such stories as invention designed to frighten us into good behavior.  Still, we have to admit that Evil exists, and making the perpetrator some malevolent creature is convenient.

forgiveness

I have learned that forgiveness is a necessity.  The people who have injured us the most, through cruelty, indifference, falsehood, or deceit are those we must forgive.  If we don’t, we internalize them, giving them a  place they have no right to occupy.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean a do-over.  There are consequences to our actions.  There’s no return to square one.  We’re not required to be a punching bag for those who have learned the easiest words to say are, “I’m sorry.”  But we don’t have to carry the burden of a grudge, either.  We can choose to let it go.  And we should.

I attend an Episcopal church.  It helps to connect with a Higher Power who is far more intelligent than we are, and more forgiving than we can ever be.

Let them be counted (96 X 35: Delaware, the First State)

As Thanksgiving approaches, here are two Mayflower descendants from the 1880 Lauderdale Co., TN Federal census (p. 173).  The 1880 census was the first to list the birthplace of parents.

         Detail:                                                                                                                                    

James [Washington] Chipman and Thomas [Jefferson] Chipman were sons of George and Mary Ann (Jones) Chipman.  Here they gave George’s birthplace as Delaware and Mary Ann’s as S.C. (South Carolina).

George Chipman (1803–1878) was the brother of William Chipman (1814–1874).

Federal census records are a valuable research tool, and are among the first records consulted when compiling a pedigree.  Most of the 1890 census is lost.  The 1900 census lists the month of birth.  At one time it was necessary to visit the National Archives and Records Administration to view census records, or order them through inter-library loan.  Today many census records can be found online.  Some libraries provide access to databases like Ancestry and HeritageQuest that contain images of census records.

Peyton Milton Wilcox obit

    This strange and affecting obituary was written for my 3rd great-grandfather, Peyton Milton Wilcox of Miller Co., MO.  He’s buried in Camp Vaughan Cemetary near Tuscumbia.  There’s a tree growing from his grave.   

“Died

Mr. Payton M. Wilcox, died at his home in Miller Co., on the 12th day of August, 1880, at 12:05 o’clock, after suffering with malaria billious fever since January 1st.  Mr. Wilcox was a native of Virginia having been born in Scott county in that state on the 30th April, 1826.  Was married to Miss Minerva Duncan on the 5th April, 1849, in Scott Co., Va.  Shortly after he emigrated to Missouri, selecting as his home Miller Co.; he turned his attention to farming; from that time till his death he has continued the pursuit of farming with success.  As a man he was always under all circumstances, urbane, kind, courteous and genial.  Ever thoughtful of the happiness and well-being of others; he was of necessity a marked favorite in the community in which he lived.  Possessing those noble qualities in a high degree, he endeared himself to all with whom he was intimately associated.  But there are none who know so well the full measure of his noble generosity, of his kind and sympathizing heart as do the grief stricken wife and children who were the recipients of all that is good and noble in a husband and father.

Never gathered the reaper … more fair,

Never the shadows of dark despair,

Fall on a deeper woe,

Gone from his … … complete,

Gone from caresses kind and sweet

Into Death’s arms of snow.

I have no language to describe my feelings as I viewed his form encased in the casket of the dead.  Handsome in death as he was pure in life.   I thought of the divine promise of the Savior of mankind:  “In my Fathers house are many mansions.  If it were not so I would have told you.  I goto prepare a place for you.”

The funeral of Payton M. and Manuel Wilcox will be preached at the Elm spring church house on the second Sunday in October, by the Rev. David McComb.”

["Osage Valley Banner," 19 Aug 1880, p. 3, col. 3.  A few words were difficult to decipher in my copy.  Rev. David McComb was a Baptist minister.]

FATE

      About 1970 my father visited Ripley, Tennessee, the county seat of Lauderdale County.  He was told William Chipman (1814-1874) had a brother named Fate Chipman (1820-1898) who was a bachelor and lived around Ripley.

My father wrote it down on a restaurant placemat (or something like that–I no longer have it).

Born in 1824, Frederick Chipman was the last child of James and Betsy Chipman.  He married Mary Ann Prendergrast on 20 Apr 1853 in Madison County, Tennessee.  William H. Davis was a witness on the bond.  Davis had earlier married Frederick’s older sister Delilah.

In 1860 Frederick Chipman was living with George and Mary Ann (Jones) Chipman in Lauderdale County, Tennessee.

On 21 Feb 1867 the Madison County court granted Mary Ann (Prendergrast) Chipman a divorce from Frederick Chipman on the grounds that he had deserted her in 1856 and refused to return and live with her.

There was no issue of the marriage.

On 26 Feb 1867 Mary Ann married John R. Woodard in Madison County.  By 1880 the couple was living in Lauderdale County.

I have no doubt Frederick Chipman was Fate.

Edward Dale’s gift to Elizabeth Rogers & William Rogers obtains a new patent for the Chetwood tract

 

Here’s a transcription of Edward Dale’s gift to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of William Rogers:

“To all people to whome this p[re]sent writeing shall come greeting in our Lord God Everlasting  Know yee that I Edward Dale of the County of Lancast[er] in Rappah[annock] River in Virg[ini]a gentl[eman] as well for the n[atu]rall love and affeccone which I beare unto Elizabeth my daughter now the wife of William Rogers Sone of Capt John Rogers of the County of Northumb[er]land in Virg[ini]a aforesaide gent[leman] as also for divers other good causes and Consideracons mee thereunto moveing Have given granted and by these Pr[re]sents doe give grant and Confirme unto the saide Elizabeth All that my Plantacone together with all houses edifices, Orchards, Gardens fences & enclosures thereunto belonging and appertaineing or with the same now used occupied or enioyed conteyning together by estimacone five hundred Acres of Lande more or lesse Set scituate lyeing and being neere the heade of Moratticoe in the aforesaide County of Lancast[er] and was heretofore purchased of M[r.] Thomas Chetwoode, To have and to holde the saide Plantacone and p[re]misses with their appurten[a]nces unto the saide Elizabeth to the uses hereafter menconed that is to say to the use and behoofe of mee the said Edward and Diana my now wife and our assignes Dureing our n[atu]rall lives and the life of the longer Liver of us without impeachm[en]t of waste and after our decease to the use and behoofe of the saide Elizabeth her heires and assignes forever and to none other use or uses intents or purposes whatsoever And I the saide Edward doe for mee & my heires and assignes forever hereby P[ro]mise to warr[an]t and Defend the saide Plantacone and P[re]mises with the Appurten[a]nces unto the saide Elizabeth her heires and assignes forever against all p[er]sons whatsover claymeing by from or under mee or them  In wittnes whereof I the saide Edward Dale have hereunto put my hande and seale  Dated this 12th Day of March A[nno] D[omi]ni 1677  A[nn]o r[egni?] Car[oli] s[e]c[in]di Tricesimo

Sealed and Delivered in the p[re]sence of David Fox  John Stretchley             EDWARD DALE the Seale

Recognit:  in Cur:  Com:  Lancast:  octavo Die Maij A[nn]o D[omi]ni 1678 et Record:  Decimo tertio Die sequen:

P[er] Joh[ann]em Stretchley  Cl:  Cur”

[Lancaster Co., VA Deeds & Wills No. 4, pp. 290-291.  Deed dated March 12, 1677/8.  Transcription made by Louis Carr Henry on July 14, 1968.]

___________________________

In April 1695 William Rogers received a new land grant from the Fairfax Proprietary for the property Edward Dale had gifted to the Rogers on March 12 1677/8.  The plantation had not been “seated,” necessitating a new grant confiming ownership of the tract.

I first learned of this grant on April 24, 2006 in an e-mail from Joan Burdyck.  She said:

“Notice also that there is an error in Edward Dale’s name.  It is written as Edward Duke.  Again we see errors in court and legal records…. I think that William and Elizabeth wanted to take possession of the land and Edward didn’t want them to, so Elizabeth was out of favor as shown in Edward’s will.”

Errors can occur in records from any period, but often the “error” is a failure on my part to make out the handwriting or understand what I’m reading.  So I decided to re-examine this land grant.

First, let’s address the evidentiary issues:

The Rogers grant is dated “ca. Apl. 1695″ by The Library Of Virginia, the custodian of old Virginia land grants.  Images of the grants are now available online.  There is no date in the Rogers grant.  Why does The Library Of Virginia date this document as “ca. Apl. 1695″?

The Rogers grant appears in Northern Neck Grants No. 2, 1694-1700, pp. 156-157 (Reel 288).  A note in the catalog indicates the grant is among those issued by the agents of the Fairfax Proprietary between 1690 to 1781.  The book in which this grant appears lists grants in continuous order; that is, when a grant ends on a page, the beginning of the next grant starts immediately on the same page.  The Rogers grant occupies portions of 2 pages.  The grant preceeding the Rogers grant is dated April 4, 1695, and the one immediately following the Rogers grant is dated April 5, 1695.  We can, for chronological purposes, date this grant as ca. April 4/5, 1695–as long as people know why.  The exact day isn’t crucial.

This grant is not, of course, the document William Rogers tucked into his coat–that’s long since disappeared.  It’s a copy of the original document that has been written into the record book.  The person who wrote the original may not be the person who copied it.  Papers, including the plat, were kept by the Fairfax Proprietary.

These old records were written in pen and ink, and penmanship varies and ink bleeds and fades.  The writing in this grant is remarkably clear for such an old document.  It seemed odd that Rogers would accept a document in which the name of his father-in-law was misspelled, so I checked the name Joan interprets as “Edward Duke.”  She’s right.  The important thing here is that the facts in the grant leave no doubt that William Rogers applied for a new grant of the Chetwood tract, so if it’s ”Edward Duke” there’s still no mystery about the legal event being described or the identity of ”Edward Duke.”

The intriguing aspect of this document is that William Rogers obtained it after Edward Dale wrote his will, and before the deaths of Edward and Diana (Skipwith) Dale.

Joan sent me her transcription of the grant.  Since it’s a short document, I decided to make my own transcription rather than follow hers.  She had altered some letters from the original, and while that didn’t change any facts, I used the original.  I did consult her version to help decipher a few words.  There is a character that appears three times in the original that Joan interpreted as “ye,” but it doesn’t resemble an actual ”ye” as it appears in the text.  In the grant following, this character appears some 9 times, and I think it’s probably punctuation.  Again, it doesn’t alter the meaning.

It’s interesting that neither the Rogers grant, or the grant following to Randell Kerk, mention the county where the land was located.  A check of the patent catalog shows Kerk’s land was located in Westmoreland County; the Proprietary retained the mineral rights.   

(The Library of Virginia also has two land grants totalling 403 acres in Lancaster County issued on December 17, 1691 to David Fox and William Rogers as dual grantees.  On May 17, 1682, William Rogers was appointed justice of the peace and High Sheriff for Northumberland County.  On February 11, 1684/5 in Lancaster County court indentured servant John Wells sued his master, William Rogers, for his freedom, but lost.  On December 14, 1687, Rogers was appointed a member of the troop of horse of the Lancaster County militia.)  

Here’s my transcription of the land grant:

“William Rogers

500 Acres

Examined.

Margarett Lady Culpeper Thomas Lord Fairfax To all Whereas Know ye that we for and in consideration of the composition do grant to William Rogers, bounded as followeth /Viz/ beginning at an old corner red oak stump standing on a point near the head of a Swamp formerly called Chettwood Swamp a corner Spanish Oak being marked just by, thence running by marked trees south west half degree West thirty eight poles crosing the said swamp to a corner Peck hickory standing in Col. Matthew Kemp’s line thence along the said Kemps line of marked trees two hundred and eighty two poles to a corner white oak saplin standing on the East ward side of a branch, thence down the said branch on Cross the first mentioned Swamp, north thirty five poles to a corner red oak saplin standing by the side of the said swamp on the north side thereof thence down the said swamp the several courses thereof which being upon a direct line is North West by West seventy seven poles to a marked corner red oak standing by the side of the said swamp, thence by marked trees North East half degree East one hundred and eighty six poles to a corner white Oak stake in a Valley near the head of a branch called White Marsh, thence by marked trees South East three hundred and twenty poles to the place where it first began, the said land being being formerly granted to Mr. Thomas Chettwood for five hundred acres by patent dated the ninth of July one thousand six hundred and sixty seven and by the said Chettwood sold to Major Edward Duke [sic] given to his daughter now the wife of William Rogers and for want of due seating deserted.

W.F.”

Capt. Thomas Carter’s prayer book & the Chronology of Edward and Diana Dale

Here’s a transcription and image of Capt. Thomas Carter’s panegyric (epitaph) of Major Edward Dale in Carter’s prayer book.

“Mr. Edw: Dale Departd this life on ye 2d Day Feb: 1695 and Mrs. Diana Dale on ye last day of July.

Hic Depositum Spe Certe Resurgendi in christo quicquid habuit Mortale  EDWARDUS DALE, ARMIGER.  Tandem honorum et Dierum Obiit 2d Febry: Anno Dom: 1695.  He descended from an Ancient Family in England & came into ye Colly of Virga after the death of his Unhappy Master Charles ffirst.  For above 30 years he enjoyed various Employments of Public Trust in ye Coty of Lancaster wch he Dischargd with great Fidelity & Satisfacn. to the Governor & People.  As Neighbor-father-Husband he Ex celled and in early yeares Crownd his other Accomplishments by a Felicitous Marriage wth Diana ye daughter of Sr Henry Skypwith of Preswold in ye coty of Leicester Bart. who is left a little while to Mourn Him.”

This is the image of the “epitaph”:

I see no discrepancy in the death dates for Edward Dale in the two sections;  that is, as 2 Feb in the preamble, and 20 Feb in the body of the panegyric, as is often supposed.

The “0″ in “30″ is written as a full character, so what’s been interpreted as “20 Febry:” is really ”2d Febry:”, as only the bottom half of the “d” is visible.  The image in that section is faded, and it’s unlikely Carter erred in the space of a  few sentences.  That makes Capt. Carter’s death date for Edward Dale as 2 Feb 1695.

Diana (Skipwith) Dale died the following 31 Jul.  Though the year of her death is not explicitly stated, undoubtedly that’s the meaning.

*

Book Of Common-Prayer And Administration Of The Sacraments, And Other Rites & Ceremonies Of the Church, According to the Use of the Church of England; Together with the Psalter or Psalmes Of David, Pointed as they are to be Sung or Said in Churches.  And the Form and Manner Of Making, Ordaining, And Consecrating, Of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.  London, Printed by John Bill and Christopher Barker, Printers to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty.  MDCLXII.  [1662]  Cum Privilegio.

Thos: Carter Rappahanke Virga

The 16 pages containing genealogical information in the Thomas Carter prayer book have been microfilmed.  Order copies from:

Virginia Historical Society

PO Box 7311

Richmond, VA  23221-0311

or online at:

http://www.vahistorical.org

Manuscript Call Number:  Mss6:4 C245:11 

_________________________________________

Genealogists working with colonial records will often see dates such as ”March 24, 1672/3.”  “March 24, 1672″ is the date in the Julian calendar, while “March 24, 1673″ is the date in the Gregorian calendar.  This applies to dates of 1 Jan to 24 Mar in the years 1582 to 1752.  25 Mar was considered the first day of the new year.

“Before 1752, England and its colonies followed the Julian (Old Style) calendar.”  [Sturtz/p.183]  Use of double-dating which accompanied the Gregorian calendar wasn’t uniformly followed in the British colonies such as in Lancaster Co., VA court records.

According to Edward Dale’s will, it was written 24 Aug 1694 and proved 11 Mar 1695.  11 Mar falls within the double-date parameter.

Price gives a transcription of the inventory of Edward Dale’s estate made 30 Mar 1696, and exhibited 8 Apr 1696.  30 Mar and 8 Apr don’t fall within the double-date parameter, so the dates of the record actually are 30 Mar 1696 and 8 Apr 1696.

Of the deaths of Edward and Diana (Skipwith) Dale, the Thomas Carter prayer book says:  “Mr. Edw: Dale Departd this life on ye 2d Day Feb: 1695 and Mrs. Diana Dale died ye last day of July.”  No year is given for her death, but Carter goes on to say:  “who is left a little while to Mourn Him.”  So we know she died the 31 Jul following the death of her husband, but 31 Jul is not within the double-date parameter.  If Edward Dale died on 2 Feb 1694/5, then his wife died on 31 Jul 1695.  The prayer book itself doesn’t provide the answer.

The inventory could have been made 19 days after probate, or a year later.  We have a death date for Edward Dale, but we do not know when he died. 

Fortunately, Sparacio: Orders 1695-1699, p. 4 clarifies the matter:

“Lancaster County Court 11th of March 1695/96 p. 334.  A Probate of the Last Will and Testament of Major EDWARD DALE [deced] is granted to EDWARD CARTER, his grandone, KATHERINE CARTER his Daughter and ELIZABETH CARTER his Grand Daughter according to the tenor of the Will and THOMAS BUCKLEY, JOHN CHILTON, JOHN MULLIS and JOHN DAVIS are ordered to appraise the Decedent’s estate and to bee sworne by the next justice, an inventory to bee exhibited to the next Court”

That’s the only entry pertaining to Edward Dale’s estate.  According to the inventory, it was exhibited on 8 Apr 1696, but there’s no court entry of it.  Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the inventory was taken within weeks after probate of the will.  But did Edward Dale die on 2 Feb 1694/5, or 2 Feb 1695/6?

If Thomas Carter meant that Dale died on 2 Feb 1694/5, then Carter’s note in the prayer book records the date as it would fall under the Gregorian calendar.  Since the county clerk’s practice was to give the date under the Julian calendar if only a single date was indicated, Thomas Carter meant Edward Dale died on 2 Feb 1695/6, conforming to the way official records were dated in Lancaster County and British colonies generally.

We can now construct a chronology of the last months of Edward and Diana (Skipwith) Dale:

{1}  Edward Dale wrote his will on 24 Aug 1694.

{2}  Edward Dale died on 2 Feb 1695/6.  He survived about 17 months after writing his will.

{3}  Edward Dale’s will was proved on 11 Mar 1695/6.

{4}  Edward Dale’s will was recorded on 17 Mar 1695/6.

{5}  The inventory of Edward Dale’s estate was taken 30 Mar 1696.

{6}  The inventory of Edward Dale’s estate was exhibited in court 8 Apr 1696.

{7}  Diana (Skipwith) Dale died on 31 Jul 1696.  She survived Edward Dale nearly 6 months. 

If you see a double-date given for a year in which it didn’t apply, it’s the compiler’s error, so check the date against other records.

James Edward Chipman’s siblings: Cynthia Ann (Chipman) Koonce & Benjamin Chipman / Miller Excursus

FAMILY OF CYNTHIA ANN (CHIPMAN) KOONCE, SISTER OF JAMES EDWARD CHIPMAN (1879-1956)

I don’t have many records on the Koonce family.  James Edward Chipman’s sister Cynthia Ann (Sinthy) Chipman married John Bennett Koonce on 7 Dec 1895 in Lauderdale Co., TN.

According to her death certificate, Sinthy died on 1 Dec 1926 at Central, in Lauderdale Co.  When I visited Ripley, TN about 20 years ago, I stopped by the local newspaper, and found this brief obituary in “The Lauderdale Co. Enterprise”  3 Dec 1926, p. 5:

“Mrs. J.B. Koonce died Wednesday at her home near Central after an illness of several weeks.  She is survived by two children.  Her husband died a few months ago.  Her remains were laid to rest in Mt. Pleasant cemetary Thursday morning.”

The children of John Bennett and Cynthia Ann (Chipman) Koonce were:

Dupree D. (Dewey) Koonce b. 28 Oct 1898 d. 21 Jun 1972; Edna Gertrude Koonce b. 1902; Lily Mae Koonce b. 1908; Ethel Koonce b. 1911; Imogene Koonce b. 1915; and William Koonce.

I was fortunate to get a little information about the Koonce family from Bessie Koonce, who sent me the following:

“Feb. 28, 1988

Dear Jeff,

I don’t have much help for you about your research of Cynthia.  I know Bennett Koonce and Cynthia were married in 1895-96 or 97.  I don’t have any record as to the exact date.

The church cemetary where they were buried does not have records back that far.  I do know the year they died.  Bennett was my husband’s uncle.  Bennett died in 1926, I can’t remember the date of year.  Cynthia died in 1927, don’t have the date of yr.  She would have been 50 years old in Sept. of that year.  I have forgotten the day of her birth, but it was the 11th, 12th or 16th of Sept.  Both Bennett and Cynthia were buried at Mt. Pleasant Cemetary.

Wes Miller was Cynthia’s uncle.

Wishing you good luck with your research.

Sincerely,

Bessie Koonce”

MILLER EXCURSUS

The 1880 Lauderdale Co., TN Federal Census lists Howard Miller living in District 7, p. 186:

Howard Miller 66 b. NC (widower, deceased wife b. LA), Jane 20 b. TN (dau.), Ellen 15 b. TN (dau.), Millage 17 b. TN (son), Wesley 7. b. TN (son), Margaret A. 4 b. TN (granddaughter).

The 1870 Lauderdale Co., TN Federal Census lists Howard Miller in District 7, p. 595:

Howard Miller 57 b. NC, Caroline 48 b. FLA, Sarah 21 b. TN, Mary 17 b. TN, Jane 12 b. TN, James 9 b. TN, Miledge 6 b. TN, Ellen 4 b. TN

Joseph H. Chipman married Sarah A. Miller on 31 Aug 1873 in Lauderdale Co.  Sarah was born in Shelby Co., TN, where she’s listed with her parents, Howard M. and [Leitha] Caroline Miller in the 1850 Shelby Co. Federal Census, p. 258.  Philip B. Hargis was residing in an adjacent household.

Howard Miller married Leitha Caroline Hargis on 20 Jun 1844 in Shelby Co.   By 1859, the family had moved to Lauderdale Co., when on 3 Oct 1859, Howard Miller mortgaged his cotton crop and a two horse waggon to B.M. Flippin (Lauderdale Co., TN Deed Book H, p. 356).

The 1860 Lauderdale Co., TN Federal Census lists Howard Miller in District 7, p. 371:

Howard Miller 46 b. NC, Lethe 33 b. GA, Frances 15 b. TN, William 13 b. TN, Sarah 11 b. TN, Emiline 9 b. TN, John 7 b. TN, Alexina 5 b. TN, Mary 3 b. TN, Eliza 1 b. TN

What fascinates me about Howard and Leitha Caroline (Hargis) Miller is this:  Howard’s wife was “Letha” when he married her in 1844, called herself “Caroline” in the 1850 Shelby Co. census, became “Lethe” again in 1860, and wound up as “Caroline” once more in 1870.  By 1880 she was deceased.  Presumably the angels sorted it all out when she presented herself at the gates of Heaven.

Leitha Caroline (Hargis) Miller was probably the daughter of Philip B. and Marian W. (Fincher) Hargis, who married 10 Oct 1820 in Burke Co., NC.  Philip B. Hargis was the son of Jonathan and Priscilla (Askew) Hargis, and a grandson of Shadrach Hargis (d. 25 Jan 1816), a Captain in the Revolutionary War.  Jonathan Hargis died in Tipton Co., TN on  14 Aug 1837.  The Hargis family was of colonial Maryland origin.

Philip B. Hargis had a son Milledge A. Hargis (living in Conway Co., AR in 1860), and Howard and Leitha Miller had a son Millage Miller.   Onomastic evidence in this instance is compelling.

On 16 Mar 1846 in Shelby Co., Howard Miller and P.B. Hargis witnessed the will of Polly Bennett (Shelby Co. Will Record C-1, pp. 338-339).  Philip B. Hargis was living as late as 24 Jan 1856, when he sold Levi Baldock his interest in a tract of land (Shelby Co., TN Deed Book 24, p. 618).  Except for Milledge A. Hargis, I don’t know what became of Philip B. Hargis and his large family.

Sally Hargis, a daughter of Jonathan and Priscilla (Askew) Hargis, married Hiram Miller 31 Mar 1821 in Burke Co., NC.  Howard Miller (born NC) doesn’t appear to be connected to any Miller family residing in Shelby Co. at the time, but Miller being a common name, I’ve been unable to further trace his ancestry.

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This is another family for which I have few records, but I have corresponded with Robert Craig, a grandson of Charles Samuel and Willie Edna (Chipman) Craig.

FAMILY OF BENJAMIN CHIPMAN (1874-1913), BROTHER OF JAMES EDWARD CHIPMAN (1879-1956)

Benjamin Chipman b. Nov 1874 in Virginia, d. 23 Dec 1913 in Blytheville, Mississippi Co., Arkansas, buried at Sawyer Cemetary in SE Blytheville (no marker).

Married 2 Mar 1899 in Mississippi Co., (her first) Anne Ashcraft, b. 12 Oct 1878, d. 18 Apr 1970 in Osceola, Arkansas.

Children:

Willie Edna Chipman, b. 1 Apr 1900, d. 21 Jun 1980, m. Charles Samuel Craig

Marvin Chipman, b. 10 Jul 1902, d. 25 Jul 1980

Gertie Chipman, b. 24 Apr 1904, d. 23 Sep 1980

John Chipman, b. 28Jan 1906, d. 10 Jan 1987

Joe Bill Chipman, b. 7 Mar 1908, d. 16 Nov 1973

Lillie Chipman, b. 5 Jun 1912, d. 22 Oct 1928

Mollie Chipman, b. 8 Mar 1914 (posthumous)

Annie (Ashcraft) Chipman married (2nd) Noah Wright.

Children:

Hazel Wright, b. 28 Apr 1918, d. 1967

Mabel Wright, b. 28 Apr 1919