All posts by takinglonger

Samuel and Barbara Basom

Samuel Basom was born about 1792, possibly in Dauphin County. When he was young his parents bought a farm in Greenwood Township, Cumberland County (later Perry County). Samuel probably grew up on the farm there with his many brothers and sisters. His parents Rudy and Elizabeth died within a few years of each other in 1813 and 1816, leaving behind a large family of grown sons and younger children. The grown sons, including Samuel, may have taken some of the younger ones into their families.

There are only a few records for Samuel, and many blanks in his history. Even the list of his children is conjectural. In 1830 he was in Fermanagh, Mifflin County with a wife and five children, two boys and three girls.1 His wife was Barbara Page, daughter of George and Rebecca. The will of her father George Page, proved in 1815 and supposedly written in 1811, includes a daughter, Barbara, who married a Basom.2  To be married by 1811, she was probably born about 1792, about the same age as Samuel. Samuel and Barbara came from Mennonite families, and the Mennonites had no tradition of keeping vital records.3

In 1840 Samuel was no longer in Fermanagh Township.4 There was a Samuel Basan or Basam in two nearby townships, one in Decatur with ten children, and one in Granville with six children.5.]  It is difficult to decide which of these might be the right Samuel. It does seem more likely that he did not have ten children. Samuel supposedly died in 1847 in Mifflintown, which is close to both Decatur and Granville, across the line in Juniata County. Barbara outlived Samuel by twenty-five years.6

Because Samuel died relatively young, he did not live to see the Civil War, and the problem it posed for Mennonites, who had a strong pacifist tradition. The state of Pennsylvania permitted them to file conscientious objector depositions, yet many chose to enlist, including Samuel’s son Simon. Would he have enlisted if Samuel were still alive?7

Samuel and Barbara had five children shown in the 1830 census record. The names of some of them are known, although it should be kept in mind that some of these might be children of his brother Jacob, and conversely some children listed for Jacob may actually be children of Samuel. There are clues that help place children in this family. Amos and Simon were both carpenters and both lived in Fermanagh Township, Mifflin County, as did their presumed sisters Martha Ellis and Elizabeth Reynolds. Catherine and Christian Martin lived in Greenwood Township, and her placement in this family is probably the weakest of the five. There was a Philip Basom taxed in Tuscarora Township, Juniata County, in 1851 as a laborer; he could have been another son. After that he disappears from local records.

After Samuel died Barbara lived with her old neighbors Joseph and Polly Pannebaker in 1850, possibly keeping house for them.8 (They were adjoining Samuel and Barbara in the 1830 census.) Barbara was listed in the census as 50 years old, making her born in 1800, surely off by several years. Joseph and Polly’s son Moses Pannebaker would grow up to marry Martha Basom, Barbara’s granddaughter.

According to a Juniata County newspaper, Barbara Basom died in Mifflintown, Juniata County on May 26, 1873 at the age of 77 years and 17 days. 9 This very specific date also has to be off by several years.

It is interesting that Samuel and Barbara named a son Amos Winey Basom.There was a large Winey family in the area, Mennonites, with an Amos born 1800, son of Jacob Winey and Anna Keeler. Amos was an admirable Mennonite, raising 13 children, four of whom became ministers.10 Since there is no obvious family relation between Samuel and Barbara and the Wineys, the name was possibly a tribute to Amos as a fellow Mennonite.

Probable children of Samuel and Barbara:11

The evidence for Catherine is weakest of these five. She may be a daughter of Jacob and Catherine instead. The evidence for Martha, Amos, Simon and Elizabeth is stronger, and is strongly based on where they lived.

Catherine, b. ab. 1820, m. Christian Martin, lived in Juniata County where he was a carpenter.12 In 1850 they were in Greenwood Township, in 1860 in Monroe Township (split off from Greenwood in 1858). Catherine was his second wife, married on June 12, 1842; they had thirteen children in addition to the six with his first wife.13 By 1870 they were in Fayette County, Iowa, where Christian worked as a millwright. Catherine died between 1870 and 1880. In 1880 Christian had only one child at home, the youngest, age twelve. Christian died in 1884, in West Union, Fayette County.

Children of Catherine and Christian:14

Mary, b. ab. 1844, no further information

James, b. ab. 1845, an apprentice carpenter in 1860, no further information

Henry Clay, b. 1846, d. 1921 in Buchanan County, MO; m. Freda Julia Schieber, fought in the Civil War, a farmer.

William, b. ab. 1848, no further information

Jacob, b. ab. 1850, no further information

Clara Ann, b. ab. 1858, m. Henry Bartlett in 1906 in Brainard, Fayette County, Iowa , as Caroline Reed.

Franklin Pierce, b. 1852, d. 1932 in Fayette County, Iowa, m. Sarah Hopkins; a farmer

John, b. ab. 1854, m. Louisa Rogers, living in Fayette County in 1925

Charlie, b. ab. 1857, m. Hattie Bates, living in Fayette County in 1925

Margaret, “Maggie”, b. 1861, m. 1) Bill Basford in 1882; he died in 1885; m. 2) John H. Bartlett in 1893; moved to DeKalb county, Missouri by 1900, widowed by 1910, died 1914 in Fayette County, Iowa.

Sarah, b. 1864, m. George Tripp, a farmer in Pleasant Grove, Fayette County, Iowa; she d. 1934, buried there.

George, b. ab. 1867, no further information

Martha “Muzzy” was born Aug 1822 in Juniata Co. She married Alexander Ellis about 1839; she was quite young. They settled in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, where he was a blacksmith. They had four children by 1850, and added more by 1860. In 1870 they were in Mifflintown, still with six children, and moved to Lewistown by 1880.15  Alexander died in Aug 1886, and Martha went to live with her son Steward, a grocery man in Mifflintown; there in 1900.16 She died 7 Dec 1904 in Mifflintown, was buried at Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery.

Children of Alexander and Martha:17

Catherine Sarah, b. 1844, d. 1917, m. John Stump, lived in Mifflintown.

Mary, b. 1847, d. 1931 in Madison County, Nebraska, m. Augustus Cunningham; he was a farmer.

William, b. 1849, d. 1932 in Harrisburg, m. Annie Kinser, m. 1911 Effie Mills; he was a blacksmith.

Everard, b. 1852, d. 1923 in South Bend, Indiana, m. Mary Ann Chubb. A blacksmith, he probably moved to South Bend to work at the large Oliver Plow Works there. Died in 1923 when he was run over by a truck.

Caroline (Carrie), b. 1853, single in 1880 census.

Stewart, b. 1858, d. 1935 in Mifflintown, m. Mary Martha “Mattie” Hinkle, kept a general store in Mifflintown for many years.

Ida Rebecca “Becky”, b. 1861, d. 1924 in Lewistown, m. 1882 Samuel Rarrick; he was a brakeman for the railroad.

John Bradford, b. 1863, m. Ida LNU; he was a machinist in Lewistown in 1900.

Amos Winey was born in April 1824. He married Sarah McCurdy in 1848 and in 1850 they were living on the farm of her father Thomas in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County.18 Although he worked as a farmer, he also appears on the tax list for Fermanagh as a cabinetmaker.19 In 1855 Amos and Sarah moved to Iowa, and had three children there: Fremont, Victoria J. and Eva.20 In 1856 he was assessed for keeping a hotel.21

Amos had a bad temper and did not get along with his family; in fact he left them for several years and went back to Pennsylvania. His daughter Eva and her husband moved in with Sarah and helped her run the farm. At the time Amos promised the farm to Fremont if he would take care of Sarah. As Fremont testified later in court, “Father said to me: “I am going to leave. I am going away and if you will stay and take care of mother we will give you this eighty acres of land at her death. And I told him I would. Father done the principal part of  the talking.” Amos went away for several years, then returned to Iowa.

Sarah died in 1893. After her death Amos and his daughters took Fremont to court over the farm. The court ruled that whatever agreement was made was superceded by later arrangements between Sarah and Fremont.22  Amos died in March 1900 and was buried in Carrollton.23 He and Sarah are buried together in Dedham Cemetery.24

Children of Amos and Sarah:25

Taylor Fremont, b. 1851, d. 1911, buried Dedham Cemetery, Carroll County, Iowa, m. 1874 Lucinda Cretzinger, had six children.

Victoria Jane, b. 1851, d. 1906, buried Dedham Cemetery, Carroll County, Iowa, m. William Spencer Winnette

Eva, b. Aug 1858, m. 1) Evan Heater, m. 2) FNU McDonald, m. 3) in 1899 Joseph Blake26, possibly m. 4) Evan Heater again, m. 5) T. A. Davis. She lived in Ainsworth, Nebraska (with Heater), Carroll County, Iowa (with McDonald and Blake), Van Buren County, Arkansas (with Heater the second time around and with Davis). She had children Charles W, Pearl W, Earl, Winnie.

Simon was born about 1825 and moved to Mifflintown as a young man, working as a chair maker. He married Lydia Howe about 1846 and had two daughters with her before her death. Then he married Susanna Boyd in 1854 and had two daughters and a son with her. In 1862 Simon enlisted in the Civil War. His regiment, the 126th, marched toward Antietam, arrived too late for that battle, but fought at the battle of Fredericksburg. Simon was coughing up blood, probably from tuberculosis, and was unable to fight. He was discharged a month later, in January  1863 and returned home.27 After his discharge he returned home to Mifflintown and worked as a painter. He died in 1874, at a relatively young age, and was buried in Union Cemetery, Walker Township. Susan moved to Sandusky, Ohio, with her two daughters Maggie and Mary, and died in 1884 at the house of her daughter Maggie Fought in Fremont, Ohio.

Children of Simon and Lydia:

Hannah Jane, “Jane or Jennie”, b. 18 May 1847, m. Samuel H. Showers, a coachmaker, as his second wife; he had three children with his first wife Euphemia North and four children with Hannah Jane. After Samuel died in 1904 she may have married again. Jane died in 1911.28

Martha Hamlin, b. 1849, d. 1910, m. 1866 Moses Pannebaker, son of Joseph & Polly.29 Moses worked as a blacksmith as a young man, served in the Civil War, came back, married Martha, worked as a house painter for her father Simon Basom. Moses and Martha had nine children before her death in 1910 from consumption.30 He married Mary Ella Swilger in 1912 and died in 1921. Moses and Martha are buried together at Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery in Mifflintown.31

Children of Simon and Susan:

Margaret, b. Sept 1857, d. 1930, married William E. Fought on Aug 25, 1881 in Sandusky, Ohio32. She was his second wife, he had a son with his first wife Sarah Richards. He was born in 1852 in Sandusky County, worked as a farmer and carpenter, he died suddenly in 1920, left Margaret and 4 sons: Arthur (with his first wife), Clarence, Harry and Earl. William and Margaret lived in Fremont, Ohio.33 They are buried together at Four Mill House Cemetery, Fremont.

Mary, b. ab. 1857, married John Wesley Shirk (b. 1853), lived in Tyrone; he was a house carpenter.34

John W, b. ab. 1858, no record past the 1860 census, probably died young

Elizabeth, born April 29, 1828, died June 21, 1906 in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, married Jacob Reynolds, buried at Lost Creek Cemetery.35 In 1860 census they were in Fermanagh, with seven children.36  Jacob registered for the draft for the Civil War in 1863, for the 9-months service, living in Fermanagh.37 In the 1870 census he was back in Fermanagh; a farmer.38 He died in 1872; Elizabeth stayed on the farm after his death. Two of her sons, Samuel and David, were boarding in the McAlisterville Soldiers Orphan School in 1880. Elizabeth died in 1906 and is buried with Jacob at Little Creek Mennonite Cemetery.

Children of Elizabeth and Jacob:39

Frances, b. 1848, d. 1923, m. David E. Shellenberger, lived in Altoona

Lewis, b. 1849, d. 1898, m. Annie King

Jane, b. 1850, no further information

Henry, b. 1853, in 1870 working on the farm of D. Shellenberger, no further information

Debra Emma, b. ab. 1856, no further information

William Henry, b. 1858, d. 1924 in Jackson County, Michigan, a farmer, married Fiedella Street.

John H, b. 1860, no records past 1870

Ada C., b. ab. 1862, no records past 1870

Anna Mary, b. 1864, d. 1920 in Jackson County, Michigan, m. 1) Harrington, m. 2) 1907 William Straight; William was a carpenter.

Samuel B, b. ab. 1865, , d. 1890, buried at Lost Creek Mennonite Cemetery, m. Emma Woods

David Simon, b. 1867, d. 1952, a farmer, m. Bertha Pannebaker

Elizabeth, b. 1869, d. 1955 in Otsego County, Michigan, m. John W. Bruder in 1895

Rebecca May, b. 1871, d. 1943, m. James Cummings in 1900 in Juniata County, he was a blacksmith.

  1. 1830 federal census, Fermanagh Township, Mifflin County, indexed as Bsam or Basam. The girl between 15 and 19 may have been a servant, since the oldest known surviving daughter (Catherine) was not born until about 1820.
  2. George Barge was born in 1763 in Dauphin County, married a woman named Rebecca, moved to Greenwood Township and later to Mahantango Township, and had a number of children, including a son who married into the Auker family and a daughter Barbara, named in his will of 1811 as married to a Basem. The will was quoted in Pennsylvania Roots and Spreading Branches.
  3. Some historians have said that this is a reflection of their persecution in Europe, where records could be used against them.
  4. I browsed all the images for the township, included under Mifflintown on Ancestry.
  5. The Decatur record was in Decatur Township, Mifflin County, image 7, not indexed, looks like Bsam. The Granville record was in Granville Township, Mifflin County, image 5, indexed as Sameul Bran [sic
  6. I have not found her in a census record for 1860 or 1870.
  7. GAMEO (Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online), entry for American Civil War (1861-1865).
  8. 1850 federal census, Mifflintown, Juniata County, Image 18. There was no occupation listed for Barbara, such as housekeeper or servant, leaving her status indeterminate.
  9. Juniata County Newspapers 1800 Abstracts of Births & Deaths… Juniata County Historical Society.
  10. Obituary of his daughter Mary E. Graybill, died 1934, online.
  11. Conjectured, since there are no birth records known. K. Varden Leasa placed Martha in the family of Jacob and Catherine, since they had a “missing” daughter in the 1830 census. He found Alexander Ellis in the 1840 census in Mifflintown with a female under 20 years old, probably Martha. (post to PAJuniat mailing list on 04 Nov 2006). The note for Martha Basom Ellis on pennsylvaniagravestones.org places her as a daughter of Jacob and Catherine.
  12. 1850 federal census; 1860 federal census; letter to the Juniata County Historical Society, 2005, Basom file, from a descendent.
  13. 1850 census Greenwood Twp, Juniata County, Image 2; 1860 census, Monroe Twp, Juniata County, Image 10. Marriage record, unknown church in Perry County, both of Juniata County. One web tree gives his first wife as Hannah Graybill, daughter of Jacob and Magdalena Mary Schneider, no evidence given.
  14. 1850 and 1860 census, Monroe Township, Juniata County; 1870 census West Union Township, Fayette County, Iowa, Image 26. Spouses from the Iowa State Census Collection 1836-1925 on Ancestry. Other information from death certificates, records saved on Ancestry trees, Findagrave. All of these children were born in Pennsylvania.
  15. 1850 federal census, Mifflintown, Juniata County, Image 24; 1860 federal census, Fermanagh, Juniata County, Image 23; 1870 federal census, Mifflintown, Juniata County, Image 18-19; 1880 federal census, Lewistown, Juniata County, Image 19
  16. 1900 federal census, Mifflintown, Juniata County, Image 7-8.
  17. The dates and names of spouses are from Ancestry trees; further information from census records.
  18. 1850 census, written and indexed as Besome.
  19. Juniata County tax records, 1848, 1850, 1851, Juniata County Historical Society.
  20. Query letter to the Juniata County Historical Society. He was in Iowa for the census of 1860 through 1880. In 1850 he and Sarah were living with her father Thomas in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County (indexed as Besome).
  21. IRS tax assessment 1856, Carrollton, Carroll County, on Ancestry.
  22. The court case is online at: https://archive.org/stream/reportscasesatl22barlgoog/reportscasesatl22barlgoog_djvu.txt.
  23. His obituary  in the Carroll Sentinel obituary (saved on an Ancestry tree) called him A. Winey Basom, b. April 14, 1824, in Union County PA near Coller’s Mills. He became a Methodist, married Sarah L. McCurdy on Sept 7, 1848, moved to Carrollton in 1855, died March 5, 1900.
  24. Findagrave
  25. Census records, Ancestry trees, Findagrave, Iowa State Marriage records, Iowa Supreme Court cases, family Bible of Thomas McCurdy.
  26. Iowa Marriage Records 1800-1937, 1899, Image171. Her third marriage. The record gave her name as Eva McDonald.
  27. Susan’s application for a Civil War pension.
  28. Findagrave; 1910 federal census, Jefferson Twp, Butler County, PA, Image 25, Joseph and Jennie Postlethwait, married for three years. Not certain that this is Jennie.
  29. The Hamlin family is prominent in Juniata County, but there seems to be no relation. The best explanation for Martha’s middle name is that she was probably delivered by Dr. Philo Hamlin. He was a nephew of Ezra Doty, who took over his uncle’s practice in 1828 and worked until 1866, “beloved by the community.” Ref: Ellis and Hungerford.
  30. Death certificate of Martha Hamlin Pannabaker: Died in Juniata, Mifflintown, on 1/9/1910. She was a housewife. Born 1/25/1849. Mother Liddie Howe. Father Simon Basom. Information from funeral director, Mifflintown. Buried in the Presbyterian cemetery.
  31. He is buried together with Martha, Boyd, Joseph, Clarence, Daisy wife of Clarence, and their son Clarence.
  32. Ohio County Marriages 1774-1993, Sandusky, on Ancestry.
  33. His obituary, Fremont Daily News, March 16, 1920, saved on an Ancestry tree.
  34. 1910 federal census, Blair County, Tyrone Ward 1, district 0085, Image 12.
  35. The PA death certificate for her shows the dates of birth and death and the names of her parents, as Samuel Basom and Barbara Page. This is one of the key pieces of evidence for the identity of Samuel’s wife. The informant for the death certificate was David Reynolds of Mifflintown.
  36. 1860 federal census, Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, Image 21.
  37. US Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865, PA 14th, Image 479.
  38. 1870 federal census, Fermanagh Township, Mifflin County, Image 11. The nine children were at home; the oldest worked for the railroad.
  39. Ancestry trees, census records, Findagrave, marriage records.

The adventures of Eva Basom

Eva was born in the summer of 1858, the youngest child of Amos Winey Basom and Sarah McCurdy. Her family lived on a farm in Carroll County, Iowa. When she was 14, in the spring of 1873, her father Amos left the family and went back to Pennsylvania to live, where he was born, and stayed away until about 1880. By the time he came back to Iowa, Eva was married to Evan J. Heater, with two sons, Charlie, age 4, and Samuel, age 5 months. Evan was farming in NewtownTownship, Carroll County. Samuel must have died young, as did another son, Carlton.1

By 1885 Evan and Eva had moved to the newly platted town of Ainsworth, Nebraska, where Evan was working as a painter. They added two more sons by then: Pearl and Earl. Things did not go well between Eva and Evan, and by 1889 Eva was married to a man named McDonald. They had a daughter Winnie.

In 1897 Eva McDonald, her sister Victoria, and their father Amos, sued her brother Fremont over ownership of 80 acres of land. Fremont was occupying the land, but they believed it should be partitioned among them. Fremont asserted that Amos and Sarah had promised him the land if he would farm it and take care of Sarah while Amos was away. Fremont testified that Amos said, “I am going to leave. I am going away and if you will stay and take care of mother we will give you this eighty acres of land at her death.”  “And I told him I would.” The court ruled that there was an expectation but not a legally binding bargain, and ruled against Fremont. This must have soured relations between him and his father and sisters.2

The marriage to McDonald did not last, and in 1899 Eva married Joseph Blake, her third husband. They lived in Carroll County, Iowa, where Joseph was a retail music dealer. Eva’s sons Charles, Pearl and Earl lived next door; Charles worked as a hatter. Winnie lived with Joseph and Eva.3

In 1902 the sons were living with their father Evan in Sioux City, Iowa.4 Evan was a painter. Pearl was a musician, Earl a laborer, Charles had no occupation listed.

In 1910 Eva and Evan were living together again, in the Ozarks, in Van Buren County, Arkansas, where he was a farmer and she was a music teacher. Pearl and Winnie were living with them. Pearl was working as a farm laborer, not yet married. It is not clear whether Eva and Evan were married. They told the census taker that they had been married for 35 years; this must have been easier than explaining the McDonald and Blake parts of her life.5

Ten years later Eva was still there, a widow, the postmistress for Copeland. Her son Pearl lived nearby. He had married Hattie Ruth Smith. They had a son Sherzol Evan, and gotten a divorce. Pearl had moved out to Wyoming for a few years, then moved back to the tiny town of Scotland, in Van Buren County.6 When he died in 1942, it was his sister Winnie who placed a stone for him in the Walnut Grove Cemetery.7 Sherzol went on to become an airman and died at Lackland Air Force Base in 1976.8

Eva’s adventures were not over. On June 6, 1920, the record shows that Eva Heater, age 54, married T A Davis in Copeland, Van Buren, Arkansas.9 Davis was 53; Eva was actually 61 or 62. By then her son Charles was living in Montana with his family, including a daughter Eva, working as a blacksmith. Pearl lived close to Eva in Van Buren County. Earl was married and working in Johnson, Wyoming as a laborer. Winnie married Luther Loudermilk in 1915, lived in Van Buren County, and followed in her mother’s footsteps as a postmistress for Archey Valley.10

After the marriage to Davis, Eva disappears from the records.11

She must have been a remarkable woman, notable for working as a teacher and postmistress in a family where women were expected to keep house for the menfolk, strong-minded enough to take her brother to court and stick with the case to the state supreme court, personable enough to have four husbands.

Evan and Eva had five children together. Two of them disappear from the records and must have died young.

Children of Evan and Eva:12

Carlton, b. ab. 1873, no further record

Charles W, b. 1876, d. 1917, m. 1903 Dora Oliver, moved to Montana, a blacksmith, buried at Gardiner Cemetery, Park County, Montana

Samuel, b. 1880, no further record

Pearl Wyney, b. Dec 1881, d. 1942, m. Hattie Ruth Smith, divorced before 1920, bured at Walnut Grove, Van Buren County, Arkansas. Had a son Sherzol b. 1916.

Chancey Earl “Earl”, b. 1882, d. 1944, m. Cora May LNU, moved to Wyoming, a laborer

Child of Evan and unknown McDonald:

Winnie, b. 1889, d. 1964, m. Luther Loudermilk, buried at Walnut Grove, Van Buren County, Arkansas, probably no children.

 

  1. 1880 census for Evan Heater, Newton Twp, Carroll County, Iowa, Image 1; 1860 census for Amos Basom, Jasper, Carroll County; Family Bible of Thomas McCurdy saved as a record to an Ancestry tree; Iowa Supreme Court cases in Reports of cases at law and in equity determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa, 1891, online at Google Books.
  2. 1885 Nebraska State Census, Evan indexed as Healer, Brown County, Image 39; 1900 census, Joseph M. Blake, Carroll County, Iowa, District 0038, Image 25; Iowa Supreme Court case.
  3. 1900 census, Joseph M. Blake, Carroll County, Iowa, District 0038, Image 25; Charles W. Heater, same image.
  4. City directory 1902, Sioux City, Iowa, on Ancestry.
  5. 1910 census, Evan indexed and written as Edward J. Heater, Hartshugg, Van Buren, Arkansas, Image 3.
  6. 1920 census, Eva Heater, Archey Valley, Van Buren, Arkansas, Image 10; WW I and WW II draft registration cards for Pearl W. Heater; records saved on Ancestry trees for Pearl Heater.
  7. Findagrave.
  8. Texas Death Certificate, Bexar County, Image 532.
  9. Arkansas County Marriage Index 1837-1957.
  10. 1920 census Earl Heater, Johnson, Wyoming, ED 6, District 0072, Image 3; 1920 census Winnie Loudermilk, Archey Valley, Van Buren County, Arkansas; Iowa Marriage Records 1880-1937, Image 337 for Charles Heater and Dora Oliver; 1920 census Charles Heater, Gardiner, Park County, Montana; Ancestry trees
  11. The death record sometimes shown for her in 1914 in Hot Springs, Wyoming cannot be right; it is contradicted by the census and marriage record of 1920. There are some coincidences of names in this family however. In 1912 a Charles W. Heater appears in the Delta, Colorado, city directory with a wife Pearl! It can’t be Eva’s son Charles.
  12. Ancestry trees, census records, Findagrave.

The younger children of Rudy and Elizabeth Basom

There are no birth records for the children of Rudy and Elizabeth Basom of Greenwood Township. The names of the children are known through Cumberland County Orphan’s Court records, but the dates, names of spouses, and later history are constructed from sources such as census records and burial records. The evidence is particularly weak for five of them—David, Peter, Elizabeth, Ann (Ann Nancy?), and Daniel, and uncertain for John.

Mary, died unmarried before Dec 1816.

David, born before 1799, died by 1860, no further definite records. The Orphan’s Court record of 1860 said that he had a widow and daughter. Some identify them as Elizabeth Graham of Franklin County and daughter Mary Margaret who married a Fuller, then Joseph Shirk. However there are no solid records to support this.1 There are no good records of David in the 1840 or 1850 census. It seems most likely that he died young, and had no connection to the Franklin County family, whose name was probably Beson or Beeson. The Orphan’s Court record was based on information from his surviving cousins and may have been wrong.

John, born 1801, probably the man who married Nancy Haxton on June 13, 1833 in Coshocton, and moved to Washington County, Ohio, just across the Ohio River from Pennsylvania. They were charter members of the Decatur Presbyterian Church in 1849.2 In 1850 they were in the census there, in Decatur Township, John age 49, Nancy, 42, with Children Mary, David, Wm, Margaret, Henry, Elizabeth, Samuel.3 By 1860 they added a son Robert, but Nancy was dead, died in 1852, buried at Decatur Presbyterian Cemetery, Washington County. John was born in Pennsylvania, but all the children were born in Ohio.In 1870 John was living with his son David E, a miller in Barlow Township, Washington County. John died in May 1871, a farmer.4

Children of John and Nancy:5

Mary, b. 1832

David E, b. 1836, d. 1899, a miller of Washington County

William, b. 1837, a farmer, moved to Kansas

Margaret, b. 1839, m. George Fraser, moved to Kansas

Henry, b. 1841, m. Maria Louisa Bennet, a farmer, stayed in Washington County

Elizabeth, b. 1842, d. 1916 in Washington County, possibly unmarried

Samuel, b. 1845, m. Isabelle, d. 1924 in Knox County, Ohio

Robert, b. 1852, m. twice, d. 1893, buried in Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio

Martin lived in Turbett Township, Juniata County, where he died in 1844, aged 46 years. After his death, his heirs were taxed for his lands in Milford Township and Turbett Township, up until 1851. He was buried in the Kilmer cemetery in Turbett Township.6 He left a house and two lots in Perrysville, at Market and Second streets, with a frame house, stable and shop, also a 10-acre tract in Turbett Township with a two-story log house, double log barn, water well and other improvements. His widow Elizabeth, married by 1846 to the carpenter William Rice, petitioned the orphan’s court for permission to sell the properties for payment of debt and to maintain the surviving child Matilda, her daughter with Martin.7 The 1860 census record shows William Rice, Elizabeth, Theodore age 18, Matilda Basom age 17, 6 younger Rice children between ages of 13 and 1. William must have been married before and had Theodore, then married Elizabeth and had 6 more children. William was a carpenter.

Martin may have been a carpenter, from the lath and saws in his inventory. The inventory in the Perrysville house included a bureau, six rocking chairs, a looking glass, six other chairs, a mantle clock, a nine-plate stove, a wooden safe, breakfast table, stand, bedstead and bed, trunk, two baskets, two chests, a spinning wheel, four bushels of ears of corn, a dough trough, table, kitchen furniture, two hogs, one cow, a three-pronged fork, a turning lath, hand saws, a grindstone, and a length of carpet.  Since Matilda was a minor under 14, she needed a guardian for her property rights and the court appointed Samuel Rice, a merchant of Perrysville.8

Child of Martin and Elizabeth:

Matilda, b. ab. 1843, d. 1923. In 1860 Matilda was living with William and Elizabeth, 17 years old.9 She later married Henry Solker and lived in Derry Township, Mifflin County.10 She died in 1923 and is buried with Henry at Lind Cemetery, Lewistown, Mifflin County.11

Rudolph Jr, born about 1805, married Julia Ann about 1832, moved to Ohio, then to Indiana by 1840.12 A farmer. In Clinton Twp, Laporte County, Indiana in the census from 1850 through 1870. Rudolph died in 1875; Julia died in 1872; buried at  Union Mills, Laporte County, Indiana.13 Rudolph left a will.

Children of Rudolph and Julia Ann:

Benjamin F, b. 1834, married Sarah Eaton, moved to Missouri

Jane, b. 1835, d. 1914, no evidence on marriage

Catherine Matilda, b. 1839, d. 1912, m. Daniel Leming, stayed in Indiana

Harriet, b. 1842, d. 1914, m. Sidney Aker, moved to Kansas

Emily Samantha, b. 1844, d. 1930, m. Abraham Aker, stayed in Indiana

Peter, born about 1805, no further solid information There was a Peter Basan who married Catherine Sponenburg, and moved to Columbia County, Pennsylvania, northeast of Perry and Juniata Counties. He was in the 1840 census there, in Briar Creek Township, already with seven children, still there in 1850.14 He is consistently listed in the census as Basan or Boson (1850 through 1880). He died Nov. 5, 1881; Catherine died in 1895, buried at Miffinville Cemetery, Columbia County.  They had nine known children.15 The change in the name would be unusual, but it is certainly common for the Basam name to be misspelled.

Abraham was born 27 Dec 1804, married Christina Carney about 1829. In the 1840 census Abraham and Christina were in Armstrong Township, Clarion County, with two sons and three daughters. By 1850 they were still in Clarion County, but now in Clarion Township, with three more children. They were still in Clarion Township in 1860. Abraham died in 1864; Christian died 1871, age 67. He wrote his will on Dec 23, 1864, and died the next day. The family was to keep the farm until the youngest child was of age, then to sell it.16 They were buried at Asbury Cemetery, Strattanville, Clarion County.17 There is a fine picture of Abraham with a full beard there in the Findagrave record.18  Abraham and Christina had 8 children.

Children of Abraham and Christina:19

Mary Catherine, b. June 1830, married Richard Ion

Eve, b. 1834, d. 1898, married Samuel Douglas

Margaret, b. 1836, married William Spangler

Andrew, b. 1838, d. 1864, Fredericksburg, Virginia of injuries sustained in battle, left a wife and son.

Levi, b. 1838, d. 1906, moved to Maryland

Calvin, b. 1841, served in the Civil War, lost a leg in battle.20

George, b. 1845, moved to Texas?

Clara Jane, b. 1849, d. 1910, married Samuel Spangler, lived in Beaver County, PA

Elizabeth, no further information, may have died young.

Ann or Nancy, supposedly married Peter Weaver.21 In 1830 Peter Weaver was in Walker Township, Mifflin County, with two children. By 1840 he had six children. If he is the same Peter Weaver who moved to Mifflin Township, Dauphin County by 1850, with a wife Ann Mary and nine children, it this is the wrong Peter Weaver. Her maiden name was Schwab. 22

Daniel, no further information, an Ancestry tree says he married and had a son Jesse. Supposedly died on Jan. 30, 1845 in Greenwood Township. No source found for this.

 

  1. There was a Joseph Shirk, from the Shirk family of Franklin County, who married a Mary Margaret and ended up in Indiana with ten children, including children named David and Elizabeth. (Indiana death certificates, federal census of 1860 and 1870). Her name may have been Beeson, barely acceptable as a variant of Basom. The more serious problem is that there are no records of David and Elizabeth with a family, in Franklin County or elsewhere. There is a David Beson in Washington Township, Franklin County, in the 1830 census, adjoining a John Beson. They both have young children. At first glance this is David and his brother John. However this is actually evidence against him as David Basom, not for him, since John Basom, if he is the one who married Nancy Haxton, had all of his children born in Ohio. Finally there is a David Basom, age 56, living in an inn in Haines Township, Centre County in the 1860 census; this is a poor match for David’s presumed age, and still leaves the question of where he was from 1830 through 1860.
  2. The church record is saved on an Ancestry tree.
  3. Note that these are good Basom names, several matching John’s siblings.
  4. Record saved on an Ancestry tree.
  5. From Ancestry trees, Findagrave, federal census records.
  6. Cemetery index for Juniata County. This was an old graveyard with many unmarked graves; the oldest is 1811. (Rootsweb page for cemeteries in Turbett Township, under Juniata County)
  7. Juniata County Orphan’s Court Record, Juniata County Courthouse, Mifflintown; also on PA Probate Records on Familysearch.
  8. The records and inventory are from the Orphans Court Records of Juniata County, in the courthouse.
  9. Census record for Perryville Township, Juniata County for 1860.
  10. 1900 federal census, Derry, Mifflin County, Image 26.
  11. Findagrave. Henry’s date of birth is missing from their shared stone, given only as “19”. An oddity.
  12. 1840 federal census in Laporte County, Indiana. Who was the Rhuda Basom in Buffalo Twp, Union County in the 1830 census with 2 daughters under five? If it was Rudolph and Julia, then they were married about 1825 and had two daughters who died young, and no other childen until about 1834 when Benjamin was born.
  13. Findagrave.
  14. 1840 federal census, Briar Creek Township, Columbia County, indexed as Basan. 1850 federal census, same place, indexed as Basin. In 1860 indexed as Bosson in Mifflin Township, Columbia County. In 1880 census still in Mifflin Township, indexed as Basin.
  15. There are no Bason administrations in Columbia County before 1909 (index on Familysearch).
  16. PA Wills & Probate Records, Clarion County, Will dockets A-B, on Ancestry.
  17. Findagrave
  18. This is the line of researcher Michael Merryman.
  19. From his will, census records, Findagrave, Ancestry trees.
  20. His obituary in the Clarion newspaper, on Findagrave.
  21. A letter from Noah Zimmer to Harry Focht in 1987 is apparently the only source for this.
  22. There was a Peter Weaver married to an Anna Maria, born 1806, but she was a Schwab. They were buried in Lykens Township, Dauphin County (Findagrave). The children of Peter and Ann Mary Schwab were: David, Rebecca, Susanna, Mary, Jonathan, Elizabeth, Sarah Ann, Catherine, Ann Eliza.

The older children of Rudy and Elizabeth Basom

Rudy and Elizabeth Basom had fourteen known children. The four oldest sons all stayed close to the homestead in Perry County, and raised their families there.

Christian, sometimes called Christly, was born about 1783. About 1809 he married about 1809 Susannah Lang, daughter of Andrew and Eve.1 As the eldest son, he inherited a share in the family farm in Greenwood Township, Perry County, and lived on it until his death in early 1845.2 He was a cooper as well as a farmer.3 He and Susannah attended St. Michael’s Evangelical Lutheran Church and had at least two of their children baptized there.4 In the 1820 census they had five children; one of these might be one of Christian’s younger brothers and sisters. In the 1830 they had seven children, again one more than their known children.5 By 1840 only four children were in the household.6 In 1842 Christian was taxed in Greenwood Township, Juniata County, as a farmer.7

Christian left a will, written Jan 26, 1845, signed by mark, probated Feb. 10, 1845. The will named his beloved wife Susannah, to stay in the house, with financial support from the sons, son Christian Jr (to get the house “where he now lives” with five acres around it), other sons Jesse, John and Henry, daughters Mary Jobson and Sarah Chatham.8 Susannah died in 1881.9 The personal estate was not sufficient to pay his debts, so the house was sold on 6 April 1846 to Joseph Auker for $309.50. This was still not enough for the debts and they had to be prorated.10

 

Children of Christian and Susannah:11

Christian, b. March 15, 1810, d. Feb 3, 1894, m. ab. 1835 Jane Heiser; had 8 children. A carpenter and cooper, lived in Delaware Township, Juniata County. Jane died in 1892; he died 1894.12 They are buried at Newport Cemetery, Perry County.

Jesse Joseph, b. May 1, 1812, died unmarried.

Mary, b. March 10, 1818, m. John Jopson; r. Millerstown, Perry County in 1850; he was a carpenter.13 They were still there in the 1880 census.

Sarah, b. Aug 6, 1820, m. Samuel Chatham; lived in Millerstown next door to the Jopsons; Samuel was a boatman. Later moved to Butler County, PA. Sarah died in 1891; Samuel d. 1894; buried at Bear Creek Cemetery, Petrolia, Butler County.14

Henry, b. Oct 11, 1822, d. 24 June 1897, m. Amelia Jones,  worked as a laborer, had at least four children, stayed in Greenwood Township, Perry County.15 He served in the Civil War,  was buried at Marshall Chapel Cemetery, Millerstown.16

John, b. April 4, 1825, taxed in Delaware Township as a laborer in 1851.17 He married Sarah Catherine Stahl. Still in Delaware Township in 1860, age 36, with Sarah C. and two young children (Sarah E. and Thomas), a laborer.18 They moved to Altoona, where he was killed in an accident in Nov 1875.19 Buried at Asbury United Methodist Cemetery, Altoona.20 Catherine, his widow, was still living in Altoona in 1906.21

Jacob was born in Feb 15 1786, married Catherine Albright (b. 1791) about 1812, and settled in West Perry Township, Union County, a little north of his brothers.22 Jacob and Catherine were there for the census of 1820 through 1850.23 In 1830 they were shown with eight children in the household, but the names of only six are known. There may have been two who died young. Jacob died in the spring of 1859; Catherine died in 1861.24  They are buried at the Graybill family Cemetery in West Perry Township.25

Children of Jacob and Catherine:26

Elizabeth, b. 1817, d. 1892, m. Rev. John Shirk (1808-1863); a farmer in Monroe Township, Juniata in 1860.27 Had 12 known children. After John died Elizabeth lived with a daughter.28 Buried at the Brick Cemetery, also known as Shelley’s, in Richfield, Juniata County.29

Rachel “Fannie”, b. 1821 or 1822, d. 1900, m. John Page, a farmer, lived in Snyder and Union County30, had ten children. In 1850 they lived close to Jacob and Catherine, and Fannie’s brother Tobias was living with them.31 In 1860 in Perry Township, Snyder County with 8 children.32 She died in 1900.33

Susannah, b. Nov 29, 1826, d. Sept 7, 1908, m. Joseph G. Winey, a carpenter, son of Amos Winey and Barbara Graybill.34 In 1860 in West Perry Township, Snyder County, with four children, and an older woman Magdaline Graybill, age 62.35 In 1900 Susanna was widowed, living alone in Richfield, Monroe Township, Juniata County.36 She died there in 1908, age 81.37 Buried at Cross Roads Mennonite Cemetery.

Jacob, b. May 4, 1828, d. 16 Oct 1865 in Delaware Township, Juniata County, a farmer; m. Jane Christina Hostetler (1827-1903).38 Jacob left a will; Jane outlived him by many years. They had a son John and a daughter Emeline.39 Buried at Coffman-Gingrich Cemetery

Tobias, b. 1830, d. after 1872, living with the family of his sister Fanny and her husband John Page in 1850. 40. On April 22, 1852 he married Caroline Vanorman; they were married by Rev. Erlenmeyer; both lived in Richfield.41 In 1860 he was age 30, in Monroe Township, with a wife Caroline, age 28. He served in the Civil War, in the PA Militia.42 In the 1870 census in Monroe Township, Juniata County, with Caroline and a daughter Ellen, age 11.43  In 1872 he was called as a juror for Juniata County, living in Monroe Township.44

John, b. ab. 1835.45 He might be the John who appears in the 1870 census, living in Greenwood Township, a farmer, with wife Melinda and six children (Joseph, Sophia, May, John, Harry, Jonas). He is not the John who married Sarah C. Stahl (his cousin, son of Christian and Susannah) or the John who married Elizabeth Oren and served in the Civil War (probably his cousin once removed, son of Christian and Jane).46

Henry was born in 1790.47 He lived in a part of Greenwood Township that ended up in Mifflin County (later Juniata) instead of Perry County; he was a farmer. Around 1815 he married Susan Shirk, daughter of Michael Shirk, a Mennonite minister.48 They lived in Greenwood Township, part of which was separated off into Monroe Township, Juniata County in 1858.49 Henry wrote his will in 1841, named his wife Susan, children Michael, Samuel and Juliann. It was probated in June 1861.50 He is buried at Lost Creek Mennonite Burial Ground.51 Susan died in 1881 and is buried at the Brick Church (Shelley’s) in Monroe Township. She was not buried with Henry, possibly because she outlived him by twenty years.52  After he died she lived with her son Michael and daughter Juliana (who was divorced from her husband Abel Shaeffer by then).53 Henry and Susan had four children listed in the 1830 census in Greenwood Township, the three named in the will, plus a probable son Joseph who died young.

Children of Henry and Susan:54

Samuel S, b. 1819, d. 1898, m. Malinda Sheaffer (d. February 1884); they were Mennonites; buried at Shelley’s old brick church near Richfield55; lived in Perry Township, Union County in 1850. A farmer in 186056 He was still there in 1870 and 1880, now a butcher. Samuel and Malinda had over 15 children (available lists differ slightly). Their son Henry Basom was a Evangelical minister who kept a journal, available online.57 Their son Jacob lived in Monroe Township, Juniata County, married Angeline Lauver, was active in the local Republican County Committee.58

Michael, b. 1820. The roving tinsmith described in a reminiscence by Theodore Long in 193659. Living in  Greenwood, Juniata County in 1848 and 1850, a single man.60 In 1860 he was living with his parents in Monroe township, still single. In 1870 he was living with his sister Juliann and widowed mother Susan.61 He may have died in Richfield,  Greenwood Township in 1895.62

Julia (or Juliann), b. 1823, m. Abel Sheaffer; he was a shoemaker. Lived in West Perry, Snyder Co. in 1860, divorced before 1880 when she was living with her aged mother Susan and brother Michael.63 She supposedly died in June 1893.64

Joseph, b. 21 July 1825, possibly died in 1836 at age 10.65

Samuel was born about 1792. In 1830 he was in Fermanagh, Mifflin County.66 By then he was married to Barbara Page and had five children, two boys and three girls.67 There are no birth records for Samuel’s family, and the identity of his children is conjectural. In 1840 Samuel was no longer in Fermanagh Township.68 There was a Samuel Basan or Basam in two nearby townships, one in Decatur with 10 children, and one in Granville with 6 children. It is difficult to decide which of these might be the right Samuel. He supposedly died in 1847 in Mifflintown, which is close to both Decatur and Granville, across the line in Juniata County.69 Barbara outlived him by twenty-five years.70

Barbara was born about 1792, but apparently fudged her age in several records. After Samuel died, she lived with her neighbors Joseph and Polly Pannebaker, possibly keeping house for them. She was listed in the census as 50 years old, making her born in 1800, an impossible date to reconcile with other evidence.71 The proximity is suggestive, since Samuel and Barbara lived next to the Pannebakers in 1830. Samuel and Barbara’s granddaughter Martha would grow up to marry Moses Pannebaker, son of Joseph and Polly. According to Barbara’s obituary she died in Mifflintown, Juniata County on May 26, 1873 at the age of 77 years and 17 days. 72 Once again this was off by four years.

It is interesting that Samuel and Barbara named a son Amos Winey Basom.There was a large Winey family in the area, Mennonites, with an Amos born 1800, son of Jacob Winey and Anna Keeler. Amos was an admirable Mennonite, raising 13 children, four of whom became ministers.73 Since there is no obvious family relation between Samuel and Barbara and the Wineys, the name was possibly a tribute to Amos as a fellow Mennonite.

Probable children of Samuel and Barbara:74

Catherine, b. ab. 1820, m. Christian Martin, lived in Juniata County where he was a carpenter.75 In 1850 they were in Greenwood Township, in 1860 in Monroe Township (split off from Greenwood in 1858). Catherine was obviously his second wife, married on June 12, 1842; in 1850 he had six older children, then a gap, then the five children with Catherine.76 By 1860 they added three more children. By 1870 they were in Fayette County, Iowa, where Christian worked as a millwright. Seven of the children were still living with them; the oldest three were working.77 Note that they named their seventh son Seventh (or Septimus?).

Martha “Muzzy”, b. Aug 1822 Fayette Twp, Juniata Co, d. 7 Dec 1904 in Mifflintown, buried in Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery, m. Alexander Ellis (1816-Aug 1886) around 1839; had 9 children, the oldest were Samuel and Catherine. In 1850 in Mifflintown, Juniata County with 4 children; the oldest was 10, showing that Martha married quite young. Alexander was a blacksmith.78 In 1860 now in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, with seven children.79 In 1870 in Mifflintown, still with six children.80 In 1880, now in Lewistown, with only two children at home.81  By 1900 Alexander was gone, and Martha was living with her son Steward, a grocery man in Mifflintown.82 In addition to the nine known children, they had several who died young.83

Amos Winey, b. April 1824, married Sarah McCurdy on Sept 7, 1848, moved to Iowa, died there in March 1900, a farmer and cabinet maker. In 1850 he was living on the Thomas McCurdy farm in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, 25 years old, married to Thomas’ daughter Sarah.84 Although listed as a farmer, he also appears about the same time in the tax list for Fermanagh as a cabinetmaker.85 He and Sarah had children Fremont, Victoria J. and Eva. They moved to Iowa in 1855 and remained there.86 In 1856 he was assessed for keeping a hotel.87 Sarah died in Carroll County Iowa in 1893. After her death Amos and his daughters took the son Fremont to court over the farm. Amos had a bad temper and did not get along with his family; in fact he left them for several years and went back to Pennsylvania.88  In any case, Amos returned to Iowa and was buried there in March 1900.89

Simon, b. ab. 1825, d. 1874 in Mifflintown, m. Lydia Howe about 1846, m. Susanna Boyd in 1854, had 2 daughters with each wife, plus a son with Susanna; a carpenter and later a painter and seller of wallpaper; served in the Civil War. He died in 1874 probably of tuberculosis, and was buried in Union Cemetery, Walker Township. His obituary described him as a good man and a Sunday school teacher in the Methodist church.90

Elizabeth, born April 29, 1828, died June 21, 1906 in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, married Jacob Reynolds, buried at Lost Creek Cemetery.91 In 1860 census in Fermanagh, with seven children.92  In the 1870 census in Fermanagh Township, with nine children, where he was a farmer.93 Jacob registered for the draft for the Civil War in 1863, for the 9-months service, living in Fermanagh.94

  1. Larry Sheibley, ed. Our Beasom Family of Juniata and Perry Counties, Juniata Co. Historical Society. Larry studied the family extensively, but made one interesting error when he claimed that Rudy died on Aug 23, 1829. This is a very specific date, as if someone had a family Bible. It conflicts with the Orphan’s Court Records, which are very clear in showing that Rudy died by mid-1813.
  2. The 1863 Atlas of Perry, Juniata and Mifflin Counties showed a C. Basom south of Millerstown on the Lower Perry Valley Road, just east of North Island. Was this the homestead of Rudy, then Christian, then Christian II?  The atlas also showed a J. Auker north of Millerstown.
  3. Ellis and Hungerford, Commemorative and Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, vol. 2, pp. 1298-1299, entry on Lewis Besom, grandson of Christian and Susannah.
  4. PA & NJ Church & Town Records, on Ancestry, Perry County, Pfoutz Valley, Lutheran, St. Michael’s Church. The sponsors for Christian in 1810 were Andreas and Eva Lang. The sponsor for Joseph in 1812 was the mother.
  5. He was indexed as Bsam.
  6. 1820 and 1830 federal census records of Greenwood Township, Mifflin County; 1840 federal census of Greenwood, Perry County.
  7. Tax records from the Juniata County Historical Society 1831-1895.
  8. PA Wills & Probate, Perry County, will books A-B, on Ancestry.
  9. Mennonite (Herald of Truth) obituaries, online. She was 90 years and 5 days when she died on 20 September 1881, buried at Shelley’s Church. The services were led by a Winey and two Graybills, familiar Mennonite names.
  10. Familysearch.org, Pennsylvania Probate Records 1683-1994, Perry County, OC Dockets, book D, p. 59, Image 65-66, January 9 1846, also p. 69, Image 70 for the sale, and p. 149, Image 117 when the auditor’s report was accepted. Note that Christian’s grandson Lewis remembered him as “prosperous” (Ellis & Hungerford, v. 2, profile of Lewis Besom).
  11. Ellis & Hungerford, profile of Lewis Besom, a farmer of Newport, Perry County, and son of Christian and Jane. Other information from various sources, especially census records.
  12. Christian was baptized at St. Michael’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, the oldest Lutheran Church in Perry County. The sponsors were Andreas Lang Sr. and his wife Eva. In the 1850 federal census (as Christa Beshoar) and a tax list of 1851, from Juniata County Historical Society Tax Records 1831-1895. This is the line of Larry Sheibley, who lived in Perry County and studied the family extensively before his death.
  13. 1850 census, 1880 census, Ellis & Hungerford.
  14. Findagrave.
  15. Card file at the Lenig Library, Perry County.
  16. Findagrave.
  17. Juniata County tax records, Juniata County Historical Society.
  18. 1860 federal census. Note that there was another John Basom in Greenwood Township, age 20, probably his cousin, the son of Jacob and Catherine.
  19. From the profile of Lewis Besom in Ellis & Hungerford. Lewis was a nephew of John, so this is likely to be correct, at least in general if not in detail. The census record of 1860 of a John Basom in Delaware Township, Juniata County, age 36, shows a wife Sarah C. and two children. This fits the age and location for John, son of Christian and Susannah, and suggests that his wife was Sarah Catherine Stahl.
  20. Findagrave, indexed as Beason.
  21. Altoona City Directory, on Ancestry.
  22. This part of Perry Township became part of Snyder County in 1855.
  23. Federal census of 1820 through 1850, variously indexed as Besom, Bsam, Basom and Basem.
  24. Pa. Mennonite Heritage of 1991.Federal census 1850, Perry Township, Union County.
  25. Records of the cemeteries of Snyder County online at USGenweb. The records show an exact date of birth and death for Jacob (15 Feb 1786-20 Apr 1859) but only the year of birth (1791) and date of death for Catherine (3 Jul 1861).
  26. Census records and the family group sheets contributed by Pat Crimmel to the Lenig file, Perry Historians. She cites a reference from the Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage magazine of April 1991, but this only gives the birth of the first child. There is quite a gap between Elizabeth and Susannah, with room for other unknown children. The Nye Ancestry tree (not completely reliable) placed 11 children here, two unknown born about 1813 and 1815, another unknown born about 1837, Simon and Martha (whom I place as children of Samuel). The Nye tree cites as references a OneWorld Tree, and the census of 1850 through 1900. This is also the list given in the appendix to the “Diary of Henry Basom”, Milton Loyer, ed,  The Chronicle, vol. XXVI, 2015, (J. Hist. Soc. Susq. Conference United Methodist Church), online at https://www.lycoming.edu/umarch/chronicles/2015/contents.pdf. Did he use the same source as Pat Crimmel?
  27. John was mentioned in Joseph Graybill, Preacher John Shirk’s Genealogy, 1961.
  28. Census record
  29. Elizabeth and John were ancestors of K. Varden Leasa, an experienced genealogist and historian who died in 2009. Leasa placed Elizabeth in this list as a daughter of Jacob and Catherine.
  30. Message board posting to a Genforum board, 12/9/2005.
  31. She is placed here as a daughter of Jacob and Catherine because of the proximity in the census and because of the presence of Tobias in 1850.
  32. 1860 federal census, Perry Township, Snyder County, Image 21-22, indexed as Bage.
  33. Web tree.
  34. Appendix to the “Diary of Henry Basom”, The Chronicle, vol. XXVI, 2015, (J. Hist. Soc. Susq. Conference United Methodist Church), online at https://www.lycoming.edu/umarch/chronicles/2015/contents.pdf.
  35. 1860 federal census, West Perry Township, Snyder County, Image 9.
  36. Federal census 1900, Juniata County, Monroe Twp, Image 21. Also in Spencer Kraybill and Noah Zimmerman, History of a John Graybill Family in America 1754-1976, found at the Juniata County Historical Society.
  37. PA Dept of Vital Records Death Certificate.
  38. Descendents of Jacob Hochstetler, online at HeritageQuest.
  39. Online tree, no sources given.
  40. The family of John and Fanny Page lived close to Jacob and Catherine in the 1850 census. Tobias was probably a son of Jacob and Catherine, living with the Pages and working as a laborer.
  41. Snyder County marriages 1835-1899, on Google Books.
  42. Civil War Muster Rolls, on Ancestry.
  43. Caroline’s last name may have been Van Ormer.
  44. Juniata Sentinel, April 3, 1872, on Newspapers.com. Spelled Tobias Beasom.
  45. There is little definite information about this John, and he is easily confusable with his cousins.
  46. The Nye tree on Ancestry says he married a Sarah Jane. Pat Crimmel’s group sheets have him in Clarion County in 1880; I am suspicious of this, given the difficulty of tracing the various men named John. Documentation on the John who married Elizabeth Oren at Comm. Biog. Enc. of the Juniata Valley, p. 1328, profile of Michael Oren; Civil War Draft Registration (on Ancestry); Veteran’s Burial Cards 1777-2012 (on Ancestry); Findagrave. He was born in 1840 and died 1912 in Howe Township, Perry County.
  47. His tombstone. Some Ancestry sources claim he was born on June 4, the same day that he died. This is probably wrong.
  48. Preacher John Shirk’s Genealogy, by Josephine Graybill, 1961.
  49. Federal census records of 1820 through 1860, indexed as Besum, Bsam, Basom, Basam, and Basom respectively.
  50. PA Wills & Probate Records, Juniata County, wills B-C, on Ancestry.
  51. Cemetery index of Juniata County, at the Juniata County Historical Society.
  52. Cemetery index of Juniata County, at the Juniata County Historical Society. This information is repeated in Preacher John Shirk’s Genealogy by Josephine Graybill.
  53. 1880 census, Monroe Township, Juniata County. Susan Besom was 89 years old.
  54. Web posting by Jim Foster, a descendent.
  55. Posting on the Basom surname forum by Bill Inch, a descendent.
  56. 1860 federal census, Monroe Township, Juniata County, Image 14.
  57. Melinda was the daughter of Jacob Shaffer and his third wife Christina Troup (Appendix to Basom Family Relationships, in the Diary of Henry Basom, The Chronicle, 2015, online at: https://www.lycoming.edu/umarch/chronicles/2015/contents.pdf.)
  58. Findagrave, references in the Juniata Sentinel and Republican, for ex. 4 Aug 1886 (a juror), 15 Sept 1875 (on the Republican County committee), 16 Dec 1891 (raising German rabbits for sale). He outlived Angeline by four years and died in 1917.
  59. Theodore Long, Tales of the Cocolamus, online at the Penn State Digital Library.
  60. Juniata County tax lists (JCHS)
  61. 1870 federal census.
  62. Family file at the Juniata County Historical Society, response to a query letter.
  63. The divorce is from the 1880 census, which shows marital status.
  64. No source given for this date.
  65. Web trees, with no documentation given.
  66. His name was spelled Basam.
  67. 1830 federal census, Fermanagh Township, Mifflin County, indexed as Bsam or Basam. The girl between 15 and 19 may have been a servant, since the oldest known surviving daughter (Catherine) was not born until about 1820.
  68. I browsed all the images for the township, included under Mifflintown on Ancestry.
  69. The Decatur record was in Decatur Township, Mifflin County, image 7, not indexed, looks like Bsam. The Granville record was in Granville Township, Mifflin County, image 5, indexed as Sameul Bran (sic).
  70. I have not found her in a census record for 1860 or 1870.
  71. 1850 census, Mifflintown, Fermanagh Township.
  72. Juniata County Newspapers 1800 Abstracts of Births & Deaths… Juniata County Historical Society. I have not seen the original newspaper.
  73. Obituary of his daughter Mary E. Graybill, died 1934, online.
  74. Conjectured, since there are no birth records known. K. Varden Leasa placed Martha in the family of Jacob and Catherine, since they had a “missing” daughter in the 1830 census. He found Alexander Ellis in the 1840 census in Mifflintown with a female under 20 years old, probably Martha. (post to PAJuniat mailing list on 04 Nov 2006). The note for Martha Basom Ellis on pennsylvaniagravestones.org places her as a daughter of Jacob and Catherine.
  75. 1850 federal census; 1860 federal census; letter to the Juniata County Historical Society, 2005, Basom file, from a descendent.
  76. 1850 census Greenwood Twp, Juniata County, Image 2; 1860 census, Monroe Twp, Juniata County, Image 10. Marriage record, unknown church in Perry County, both of Juniata County.
  77.  1880 federal census, West Union Township, Fayette County, Iowa, Image 26.
  78. 1850 federal census, Mifflintown, Juniata County, Image 24
  79. 1860 federal census, Fermanagh, Juniata County, Image 23.
  80. 1870 federal census, Mifflintown, Juniata County, Image 18-19.
  81. 1880 federal census, Lewistown, Juniata County, Image 19.
  82. 1900 federal census, Mifflintown, Juniata County, Image 7-8.
  83. Jordan, History of the Juniata Valley and its people, vol. 2, 1913; Family group sheet at Juniata Count Historical Society.
  84. 1850 census, written and indexed as Besome.
  85. Juniata County tax records, 1848, 1850, 1851, Juniata County Historical Society.
  86. Query letter to the Juniata County Historical Society. He was in Iowa for the census of 1860 through 1880. In 1850 he and Sarah were living with her father Thomas in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County (indexed as Besome).
  87. IRS tax assessment 1856, Carrollton, Carroll County, on Ancestry.
  88. This led to a court case as the family fought over the land after Sarah’s death.The court case is online at: https://archive.org/stream/reportscasesatl22barlgoog/reportscasesatl22barlgoog_djvu.txt.
  89. His obituary  in the Carroll Sentinel (saved on an Ancestry tree) called him A. Winey Basom, b. April 14, 1824, in Union County PA near Coller’s Mills. He became a Methodist, married Sarah L. McCurdy on Sept 7, 1848, moved to Carrollton in 1855, died March 5, 1900. The burial record is from Findagrave.
  90. Burial record from Cemetery database, Juniata County Historical Society; obituary from Juniata Sentinel & Republican, printed out by the Juniata Co. Historical Society. See the separate piece on Simon Basom for his very interesting Civil War experience.
  91. The PA death certificate for her shows the dates of birth and death and the names of her parents, as Samuel Basom and Barbara Page. This is one of the key pieces of evidence for the identity of Samuel’s wife. The informant for the death certificate was David Reynolds of Mifflintown.
  92. 1860 federal census, Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, Image 21.
  93. 1870 federal census, Fermanagh Township, Mifflin County, Image 11. The nine children were at home; the oldest worked for the railroad.
  94. US Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865, PA 14th, Image 479.

Rudy and Elizabeth Basom and their fourteen children

Rudy and Elizabeth Basom lived in Dauphin County and Perry County, and had fourteen children. They appear in a thirty-year span of records but we learn surprisingly little about them. The records do not show where they came from before they first appear in 1785, or when their children were born, or the last name of Elizabeth. Rudy and Elizabeth were almost certainly Mennonite, a group averse to keeping records. This makes it harder to piece together the marriages of their children and birth of the next generation; what makes it easier is that there was only one Basom family in Perry County in this time period.1

Basom is not a common name, and it is possible that all of the Basoms in central Pennsylvania were descended from Rudy. There are two early references to other men named Bessem in the same area, but there is no evidence to connect them to Rudy and no sign that they had families. Henry Bessem was taxed in Frederick Town (later in Dauphin County) in 1770.2 Frederick Town was an early name for Hummelstown, which is just north of Londonderry Township where Rudy would appear fifteen years later.3 Rudy did name a son Henry, but he had eleven sons, so this is hardly conclusive. The other early Bessem was Peter Beassem, who appeared in the 1781 Cumberland County militia roll, in Captain Philip Mathew’s company. Rudy was probably born about 1763, and Peter would be about the same age, so if he is related it would be as a brother.4

Rudy first appears in the records in 1785, when he was taxed in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County.5 Rudy paid taxes of 2s 6d, less than some of his neighbors. He was still there through 1787, when he was taxed for 5 shillings as an inmate (non-landholder), suggesting that he had sold his land. He does not appear in the 1790 census for Dauphin County.6 Perhaps he was living and working in someone else’s house, suggesting that he was poor.7 In 1794 he was in a list of freeholders in Lower Paxtang Township, Dauphin County, which included much of the southwestern corner of the county at the time.8 Finally in 1797 he bought a 150-acre farm from James Potter of Lewistown and moved his family about sixty miles north to Greenwood Township, Cumberland County (later Perry County).9 The farm lay in the hills above Millerstown, close to the rich farmland of the Pfoutz Valley. The valley was settled by many Germans, and even years later it remained predominately German.10 A letter written in 1791 described the rich farmland of these central Pennsylvania valleys.

“This is the best part of the country that I have Ever seen for industrius people of Every Trade. Carpenters and Masons 7s. 6d. per day, and Labrers 5s. per day, and everything is plentiful, the best of Wheat 4s. pir bushel, Rie [rye] 3s. this currency, Inden corn and buckwheat in proportion. Beef, Mutton and Bacon at 3d. per pound. This is a fearful Country for wild creatures, Such as Dears, Bars, Wolves and Panters, the Dears meet yousd for Beef or venison, and Bears meet Good Bacon. Fishes and Folls in Great plenty. This is a fine Country for Roots and Vegtales. I shall send you a smal account of them Coowcumbers, Water Mellens, Squashes and Pomp-cans, with a variety of Beanes, sich as you have none in England, with many others too tedis to Name. Al rises from the Ground With out much troble and comes to Great pirfection.”11

In 1798 Rudy was taxed on the “windowpane” tax in Cumberland County. He had a cabin 26 x 22 and a stable 18 x 14, both on a tract of 109 acres, 40 perches. He was taxed $248.12

In 1800 Rudy was farming in Greenwood Township, and had nine people in the household. He already had seven sons and a daughter. There was no adult woman listed in the household, raising the possibility that Elizabeth was a second wife. (More likely this was an omission by the census taker.) 13

Rudy had fourteen children, probably with Elizabeth, although there are no birth records for any of them. Their names are known from the Orphan’s Court records after Rudy and Elizabeth died. In the 1800 census record, one of the sons was over 16 (Christly), two were 10 to 16 (Jacob & another uncertain), and four were under 10 (Henry, Samuel, David, and possibly John).  The daughter under 10 was probably Mary. By 1810 most of the children were born and some of them were already married. There were only two sons and two daughters still at home.14 Some of them may have been living with other families.

Rudy and Elizabeth were probably Mennonites. There are no early records to show this, but at least three of their sons were buried in Mennonite Cemeteries, and several of their children married into known Mennonite families, such as Shirk. In addition the names of some of their sons—Henry, Michael, Jacob, and Christly—were popular among the Mennonite families such as the Aukers and Lauvers.15 The Mennonites built a meeting house in Greenwood Township, near Richfield.16 Rudy and Elizabeth probably worshipped there.

When Rudy died, before April 1813, he left eight children under the age of 14 and a total of fourteen children altogether.17  He did not leave a will, so the Orphans Court supervised the administration of the estate. Caleb North was appointed as administrator, and Caspar Auker was chosen as guardian for the eight younger children: John, Martin, Rudolph, Peter, Abraham, Elizabeth, Ann and Daniel.18 North reported that the goods in the estate available for distribution amounted to $168.42.19 On December 10, 1816, the current guardian George Hoffman reported that Elizabeth, Rudy’s widow, was also dead, along with their daughter Mary. Mary’s share of the estate was to descend to her surviving brothers and sisters. What happened to the minor children, eight of them under 21? They must have strained the households of the older brothers, who were beginning to have children of their own.

The main asset was the farm, 150 acres bounded by lands of Henry Limpart, David Pfouts, and Abraham Adams. Thirteen of the children were still alive: the eight younger ones, plus Christian, Jacob, Henry, Samuel and David.20 The court asked the sheriff to determine whether the farm could be divided or whether it must be sold. The following May the sheriff gave an appraisal, and the heirs were summoned to accept or refuse it. They did not appear, although they were called again four more times over several years and notices were printed in the Carlisle Herald and a Philadelphia newspaper. Finally in 1826 the court ordered the property to be sold.21

Normally an administrator would sell the property and divide the proceeds among the heirs, but apparently this did not happen. Instead Christian, the eldest son, continued to live on the home farm, although he did not own it outright, only a share. He may have been living on it and taking care of his parents before they died, as well as his younger brothers and sisters after Rudy and Elizabeth died. Since it was not sold and divided, his brothers and sisters had a right to their share. This might explain why the Orphan’s Court did not close the books on the estate settlement until 1860, long after Christian himself was dead.

In 1860 we have another list of the heirs, when there was another Orphan’s Court record. It named William Auker as an heir to the property, along with David and Martin Basom, both dead by then but with heirs, and John and Abraham Basom, both of unknown residence. Presumably Henry and Rudy Jr. were still alive, though neither is mentioned in the proceeding. As published in the Perry County Democrat of November 29, 1860, the officers of the court appealed for missing heirs to appear before the court to accept or reject the settlement of the estate of Rudolph Beasom. “And now to wit: October 29th, 1860, Inquistion confirmed and Rule on the heirs of the Real Estate mentioned in this Inquisition, to wit: —William Auker, David Beasom, who is now dead, and left a widow and a child, the residence of said widow and child is unknown, Martin Beasom, now dead, and left a widow and issue one child, a minor daughter, who resides in Perrysville, Juniata county, and has for her Guardian Edmund S. Doty, of Mifflintown, Juniata county, Pa., John Beasom and Abraham Beasom, the residence of neither of the last two named is known; William Auker, above named, being the owner of eight-twelfths, to appear at the next term…”22 Note that only four of the Basom heirs are still concerned with the property—David, Martin, John and Abraham—and David and Martin are apparently dead.23

The older children of Rudy and Elizabeth stayed in Pennsylvania, while the younger ones tended to scatter. In particular the four oldest sons stayed around Juniata County. There are no apparent records for three of the children and they may have died young—Elizabeth, Ann (unless she is identical with Nancy, and Daniel). Since no birth records have yet been found for any of the children, the dates of birth are not known, and several are estimated from cemetery or census records.24 Two consistent threads run through the records of the next two generations: they did not name children after parents or grandparents, and when there was a trade mentioned, other than farmer, it was usually carpenter.

Rudy and Elizabeth had at least 40 grandchildren, whom they never knew.25

Children of Rudy and Elizabeth: 26

Christian (Christly), b. ab. 1783, d. Jan. 30, 1845, m. ab. 1809 Susannah Lang (d. 1881), daughter of Andrew & Eva, lived in Greenwood Township, Perry County, a cooper and farmer. They had six children.27

Jacob, b. Feb. 15, 1786, d. 20 April 1859, m. ab. 1816 Catherine Albright, a farmer, buried at Graybill Cemetery, Richfield, Juniata County. Catherine was born 1791 and died July 3, 1861. They had six known children.28

Henry, b. 1790 or 1791, d. June 1861 age 70, m. ab. 1818 Susan Shirk (1791-1881), a farmer, buried at Lost Creek Mennonite Cemetery, Juniata County. They had four known children.

Samuel, married Barbara Page about 1811, d. about 1844 in Mifflintown. They had five known children.

Mary, died unmarried after 1812 and before December 1816

David, b. before April 1799, died before 1860. The Orphan’s Court record of 1860 said that he had a wife and child. However the wife (Elizabeth Graham) and child Mary Margaret sometimes listed for him probably belong to a different man, a David Beesom of Franklin County. There is not enough evidence to identify him here.29

John, b. about 1801, probably married Nancy Haxton and moved to Ohio, if this is the correct John Basom.30

Martin, b. after April 1799, d. 1844, r. Turbett Twp, m. Elizabeth LNU, had a daughter Matilda. Buried at Kilmer Church, Turbett Twp.31 After he died Elizabeth married William Rice.

Abraham, b. Dec. 1804, moved to Clarion County, Pennsylvania, a farmer, married about 1829 Christina Carney, had eight known children. He died on Dec. 24, 1864.

Rudolph Jr., b. ab. 1805, d. 1875, m. about 1833 Julia Ann LNU, a farmer, moved to LaPorte County, Indiana, where he died 21 Dec 1875. She d. 1872. They had five known children.

Peter, b. ab. 1805, no further solid information. The Peter of Columbia County, Pennsylvania, married to a woman named Catherine, with eight children, was consistently in the census as Basan or Basin, not Basam. 32

Elizabeth, no further information.

Ann (Ann Nancy?), b. ab. 1807, possibly married Peter Weaver, but not the Peter Weaver of Dauphin Township, Mifflin County.33

Daniel, probably alive in 1814, no further record. 34

 

  1. The family name appears in records with many alternate spellings: Basom, Basem, Beasom, Basam, Bezam, Besum, Besam, Basum, Basham, sometimes even Basan or Basin. It is probably distinct from other central Pennsylvania families like Bausum, Bashore/Basor and Beacham.
  2. Ellis & Hungerford, Commemorative and Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, on USGenWeb Archives. He was taxed as a landowner, not a freeman (an unmarried man).
  3.  There is no listing for a will for Henry Basom or Bessem in Lancaster County, PA Probate Records 1683-1994 on FamilySearch.org.
  4.  (See footnote 14 for a discussion of Rudy’s birthdate.) This is probably the Peter Basom who is believed by some researchers to be a brother of Rudy, and a son of Peter Basom and Catherine Rebecca Potter. In the late 1800s a group of Basom descendents believed that they had some claim to land in New York City supposedly leased to the government “for a fort” by a Herman Potter about 1780, a lease that would expire in the 1880s. They attempted to find descendents of this Herman. The letters about this “Potter affair” ended up in a trunk in Washington state owned by Marcus S. Basom. (Post by Ezra Basom, Rootsweb message board for Basom, 25 July 2003) Another researcher, K. Varden Leasa, found a possible link in Rudy’s purchase of a farm in 1797 from James Potter. (Post, 24 July 2003, Rootsweb message board for Basom). But James Potter apparently sold land to many people, according to Ellis’ History of Mifflin County. Leasa speculated that the Basoms lived in the Tulpehocken German settlement in Lebanon and Berks Counties, moving there from the Palatine German communities of New York. (Post on Ancestry board for Bason, 24 July 2003). Larry Sheibley wrote about the family in a mss at the Lenig Library, listed Peter Basom and Catherine Rebecca Potter as possible parents for Rudy. Note that Marcus  Basom, K. Varden Leasa, Larry Sheibley, and Noah Zimmerman, all of whom worked on the Basom family, are all dead, as of 2017.

    The younger Peter supposedly moved to Ontario County, New York, married Catherine Kessler or Keslier, and died there in 1813. He and Rudy lived and died at about the same time. Like Rudy, Peter apparently had children named Peter, Daniel, Samuel, Nancy, and John. This is all suggestive but there is no direct evidence to connect Rudy and Peter. (Findagrave; Ancestry trees; letter from Stanley Soules, on file in the Lenig Library, Perry County. He believed that Rudy and the younger Peter may have been brothers.)

  5. PA Tax and Exoneration 1768-1801, Dauphin County, on Ancestry. Dauphin County was separated from Lancaster County in 1785. Londonderry Township is the southern end of Dauphin, just north of Lancaster County. Rudy does not appear in the tax records of Londonderry Township for 1771, 1772, 1773 or 1782. There was a Rudy Peason taxed as a freeman in Mount Joy Township, Lancaster County in 1782, but the name is wrong. This could have been just before he was married. (Lancaster County tax lists at the Lancaster County Historical Society) The tax lists for 1785 through 1787 are reprinted in Kelker’s History of Dauphin County. In 1787 Rudy was listed as Beesun.
  6. I browsed all images for the county.
  7. By 1790 he would only have the first three of so of his children, a list that would eventually grow to fourteen. It would be interesting to know the economic tradeoffs between having lots of children to help around the farm versus the costs of feeding them.
  8. Egle’s Notes and Queries, vol. 2, pp. 336, 339, “An old time register”. Note that Lower Paxtang Township included Paxton, Susquehanna and Swatara townships.
  9. A geographical note: Greenwood Township was formed in 1767 in Cumberland County. The township was split in two in 1789 when Mifflin County was formed from Cumberland County.  In 1820, Perry County was formed from Cumberland Co. and included Cumberland’s part of Greenwood. In 1831, Juniata County was formed from Mifflin County and included Mifflin’s part of Greenwood Township. The two Greenwood Townships are adjacent on opposite sides of the Perry-Juniata county line.
  10. History of Perry County, 1873.
  11. Letter from Charles Hardy to friends in England, written in 1791, describing the land around his farm in Lewistown, quoted in Ellis, History of Mifflin County.
  12. 1798 US Direct Tax List, Cumberland, Greenwood Township, 3rd assessment district, 6th division, Image 270, on Ancestry.
  13. 1800 federal census, Greenwood Township, Cumberland County (indexed as Reedy Basor); 1800 Septennial census (indexed as Ruddy Besome). The Septennial census did not list numbers of people in the household.
  14. 1810 federal census, Greenwood Township. Rudy was indexed as Bezam. A man 45 or over and a women 45 or over are checked, showing that Rudy and Elizabeth were both born in 1765 or earlier. We assume she was not born too much earlier, since she was still having children about 1806. Most Ancestry trees say Rudy was born in 1755; this is possible but he would be quite a bit older than Elizabeth. The fact that he first appears in tax lists in 1785 suggests that he had just come of age then.
  15. Ellis & Hungerford, History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys, 1886, chapter on Monroe Township. Other Mennonite families were Page or Barge, Shirk, Graybill, Winey, and Bergey.
  16. Ellis & Hungerford, chapter on Monroe Township.
  17. According to Larry Sheibley’s mss in the Basom file at the Lenig Library, Perry County, Rudy died on August 23, 1829, but this cannot be correct if the Orphan’s Court proceedings began in 1814. Where did this precise date come from? It suggests that someone saw a family Bible record, and possibly misquoted it, but this is not clear.
  18. Familysearch.org, Pennsylvania Probate Records 1683-1994, Cumberland County Orphan’s Court docket, book 5, p. 304 (image 369), court session April 5, 1813.
  19. Cumberland County Orphan’s Court docket, book 5, p. 392 (image 413), court session May 10, 1814. The job of the guardian was to safeguard the property rights of the children, not to take them into his household. Rudy’s estate seems small compared to some of the other estates in the court records of the time.
  20. Cumberland County Orphan’s Court docket, book 6, p. 282 (image 170), court session December 10, 1816.
  21. Cumberland County Orphan’s Court dockets, book 6, p. 405, 443; book 7, p. 48; book 8, p. 52, 74.
  22. Copy of a clipping, in the Basom family file, Lenig library, Perry County.
  23. Noah Zimmerman wrote in 1987 to Harry Focht about the family, a letter preserved in the Basom family file at Lenig Library, Perry County. He described a settlement with the heirs of Joseph Acker (including William Auker?), and listed twelve of the Basom heirs. The letter referred to the estate settlement as about 1843. However he included some facts that occurred after 1863, such as the marriage of Martin’s daughter Matilda. The inference is that Noah added some of his own research to the list. This is the only source for the marriage of David Basom and Nancy Basom. I have not seen any original Orphan’s Court record that includes their marriages.

    Zimmerman listed the Basom children as: Abraham; John, of Blaine Township in Perry County; Peter, of Nescopeck Township in Columbia County; Henry; Daniel; Christian; Rudolph, of East Buffalo Township in Union County; David, deceased with a widow and married daughter; Jacob; Samuel, deceased; Martin, deceased with a married daughter; and Nancy, married to Peter Weaver. Note that this list did not include Mary, Elizabeth, or Ann, and substituted Nancy. He mentioned heirs of some (David and Martin), but omitted others.

  24. In general the ones who stayed near Perry or Juniata County are better documented than the ones who left for other counties or states. The records are particularly weak (or non-existent) for David, Peter, Elizabeth, Ann Nancy, and Daniel.
  25. There are two Basoms unaccounted for, probably born 1820 to 1830, so very likely additional grandchildren. They may be placed in the families of Jacob or Samuel. Philip Basom was taxed in Tuscarora, Juniata County in 1850 as a laborer.  (Juniata County tax records at Juniata County Historical Society). Phrena Basom married  of Perry County married John Bertch in 1841. (Snyder County Marriages 1835-1899, on Archive.org).
  26. Compiled from multiple sources, especially the various Orphans Court records, census records and tombstones.
  27. Commemorative & Biographical Encyc. of the Juniata Valley, vol. 2, pp. 1298-1299. Some sources say that he was born in Richfield, present-day Juniata County. Is there any evidence for this? It would imply that Rudy lived there before settling near Millerstown.
  28. Records of the Graybill Cemetery on USGWArchives.
  29. The Orphan’s Court record was very late. Most of the first generation were dead by then. The information about David must have come from one of his cousins, who may have been mistaken.
  30. There was a John Basom born about 1800 and a Joseph Basom born 1805, both of whom ended up in Ohio “by way of Coshocton”. But who is the Joseph? The John in this record married Nancy Haxton in Ohio in June 1833. (ref: Letter to the Jun Co. Hist Society in 1997). There is a John Basom b. 1797, d. 1861, a farmer, buried in Old Sycamore Cemetery, Wyandot County, Ohio, with wife Sarah Ann, who does not fit well here.
  31. Juniata County Cemetery Index, Juniata County Historical Society, Mifflintown.
  32. According to the Noah Zimmerman letter of 1987 in the Basom file at the Lenig Library.
  33. The Peter Weaver of Dauphin Township was married to Ann Mary Schwab. The only source for her marriage is a letter from Noah Zimmerman; he may have been mistaken.
  34. Ancestry trees say he was born in 1795 and died in 1845, but the date of birth is contradicted by the Orphan’s Court record of 1813.

George Shank of Hummelstown

George Shank of Hummelstown was a weaver who died in 1826 leaving a wife Maria and eight children. Two of the children named in his will were Elizabeth and George, who were probably the two of that name who appear in Huntingdon County by 1820. The elder George signed the will on the 28th of February 1826; it was probated on March 27. He was obviously in his final illness when he wrote it.1

He left several pieces of real estate: two lots on Market Street and a tract of woodland in West Hanover.2 Maria was to have the use and occupancy of the house, and any profits from it, as well as the woodland tract. She was also to have the choice of the four beds, with the bedsteads, also the tables, kitchen dresser, stove from the dining room, eight chairs, a spinning wheel, the family Bible, a prayer and hymn book, as well as a cow, and all the beef, tallow, flax and tow linen in the house. After her death the real and personal property was to be sold to pay the debts, and any remainder was to be shared equally among the children. The exception was the son David, who was to have the weaver’s loom, which was not to be deducted from his share of the estate. A trusty friend Frederick Hummel was the executor.

The will suggests that George was prosperous, since he owned the real estate. It suggests that Maria would continue to receive an income from the house or the woodland. There is no mention of selling anything to pay debts until after her death.

It is believed that this George served in the Lancaster County militia, Seventh Batallion, the same company that a Daniel Conrad served in.3 This could be the father of Elizabeth Shank’s future husband, also named Daniel Conrad.4 It is important to be cautious, however, since there were other Shank families around, and even other men named George Shank. A different George Shank married Maria Brandt; they had children baptized at Hummelstown Lutheran Church between 1804 and 1819.5 These are later than the children of George and Maria of Hummelstown. Perhaps the Georges were cousins. Nothing definite is known of the parents of George the weaver.6

Children of George and Maria (the one who died in 1826):7

Elizabeth, b. 1775, d. 1853, m. Daniel Conrad, lived in Huntingdon County

John, b. 1776, d. Aug 25 1836, m. Mary Bower (1781-1839), bur. at Hummelstown Zion Evangelical Lutheran8

Nancy

Catherine

George, b. Nov 1786, d. June 1868 in Warriors Mark, Huntingdon County, m. Nancy Funk, had a large family9

Jacob, moved to Centre County, at least 3 children10

David, b. 1802, d. 1864, buried at the Old Cemetery, Hummelstown Zion Lutheran Church11

  1.  Dauphin County Will Book D, 1812-1847.
  2. He bought the land in 1813 from George Bagastow or Bagastoss for 55 pounds. (W. Mills Davis, History of the Davis, Eichelbarger… Families, 1911. Davis gave the name as Becastora, which was some clerk’s rendering of Bagastow. Bagastow died in 1844 and is buried in Hummelstown (FindaGrave).
  3. W. Mills Davis.
  4. A story was passed down in the family that Daniel Conrad and his wife Elizabeth Shank were first cousins. Without more information it is impossible to say. (Ref: W. Mills Davis)
  5. They had a daughter Elizabeth, born in 1804.
  6.  He can’t be the son of George Shank of Lancaster County who died in April 1777. His children were listed in birth order in an Orphan’s Court record in 1784. He did have a son George (with his second wife Maria Margaretha Friedel), probably born in 1763, but this is too late to be the George of Hummelstown, who was having children by 1775. It could be the George who married Maria Brandt.
  7.  Assuming that Elizabeth and George were the ones who moved to Huntingdon County. The dates for John and David are from burials at Hummelstown Zion Lutheran.
  8.  Online at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~padauph2/hummelstownzion.html
  9. He was in Warriors Mark, in the census of 1820 though 1840. There are mentions of his family in Nearhoof, Echoes from Warriors Mark, but it is not always clear whether they refer to the father or his son, also named George. After his death letters of administration were granted to his son Martin. (Huntingdon County Wills & Admins, book 6, p. 295)
  10.  In the 1850 census there were two Jacob Shanks in Centre County, one born about 1768 and one in 1796. Either one could possibly fit in here.
  11.  Online at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~padauph2/hummelstownzion.html

Daniel Conrad and Elizabeth Shank

Daniel Conrad was a German-speaking ironworker from Lancaster County, who moved north to Huntingdon County and raised a large family there. He was part of a movement of Germans out of Lancaster County. German farmers had prospered in Lancaster and York Counties, but farmland had become expensive by the late 1700s. Some moved up to Huntingdon for opportunities in the iron industry. There the rolling hills were dotted with small villages that grew up around each forge or furnace. The Germans often married other German families, but not exclusively.

It is generally believed that Daniel Conrad of Huntingdon County was the son of another Daniel Conrad who lived in Mount Joy Township, Lancaster County. The older Daniel owned 150 acres of land there, served in the Lancaster County Militia in 1781, and appeared in the census through 1810, with his family mostly of sons.1 He made his will on August 19, 1811; it was probated in January 1812.2 He provided for his beloved wife Barbara with household furniture, a cow, and yearly cash payments. The farm implements were to be sold to cover his debts. After her death the estate was to be divided equally among his ten children: a girl and her nine brothers.3 There was no mention of the land. Presumably he had already disposed of it, and he and Barbara were living with one of their children.4

Some lore about Daniel Conrad Senior was passed down through the family. W. Fisk Conrad, a grandson of the younger Daniel, was keenly interested in the family history and wrote an account of the family in his Bible. He wrote that “My great grandfather immigrated to Lancaster County from Germany, I think Saxony. He was [the] father of five boys and six girls.”5 This could apply to Daniel of Mt. Joy if you generalize it to mean that he had a large family of children.

The younger Daniel Conrad appeared in Franklin Township around 1795, as a young man. Jacob Conrad and Michael Conrad showed up in records about the same time, and it is believed that they were his brothers.6 Daniel of Mount Joy, the man with the nine sons, named sons Daniel, Jacob and Michael in his will.

Daniel was probably drawn to Huntingdon County by the opportunity to work in the iron forges there. Some say that he went with George Anshutz, the iron master from Alsace.7 Anshutz set up an iron forge and furnace and became the biggest landholder in Franklin Township.8

Daniel’s wife Elizabeth Shank was from Lancaster County as well, so they may have been married before they moved.9

They were Lutherans. At first they worshipped in the Dry Hollow meeting house. After 1805 they went to the Lutheran Church at Seven Stars, close to where they lived on Eden Hill.10 Seven Stars probably took its name from a log cabin tavern that stood there for many years. Early families in the Lutheran Church included Mattern, Anshutz, Adam Mong, Daniel Conrad, “a number of the latter being workmen at the nearby Huntingdon Furnace.”11

Daniel and Elizabeth raised a family of ten children. Some of them stayed nearby, while others moved further west and north in Pennsylvania.

Daniel wrote his will on January 1, 1824; he died on March 11, and the will was probated in April. The will was written in German; a translation accompanied it in the will book.12 It was witnessed by Samuel Conrad and John Watson (Daniel’s son-in-law). Was Samuel one of Daniel’s sons? The will specified the care of Daniel’s “weak-minded” daughter Elizabeth, who never married, as well as the education of the five youngest children. It also provided for his wife Elizabeth, referred to as “Mother” in the will. It implied that the dowry for the older girls was a bed, a cow, and a sheep. His wife Elizabeth Conrad and George Shank were to be the administrators. There is no clue in the will where Daniel and Elizabeth were living at the time, and no mention of land.

“January 9 the year 1824. My wish is that my wife shall sell all that she don’t need for to pay the debts; and when the same is paid all shall remain in her hands so long as she is my widow. Elizabeth shall have her bed and cow and one sheep as the other girls and one hundred dollars shall remain at interest as long as she lives and the child that keeps her shall draw the interest for to buy Sunday clothes. My will is that the two little girls shall be put out to a virtuous place to be raised in the fear of God. And John has his choice to choose his trade now or in two years after my death if he don’t take up with loose company and then he must go directly to a trade. Jacob shall remain two or three years with Samuel with wages what he earns for schooling and clothes with good instruction if he has not a notion of going directly to a trade. Mother can keep the ?moll mare and her saddle and bridle if she will one cow, three sheep, one heifer, other household goods that she needs, one hog. All the rest big and little shall be sold at public vendue as soon as convenient. Daniel shall remain with his mother till he is schooled if she lives, or as long as she can keep him. And after Mother’s death each child shall have their share if anything remains. And Elizabeth’s hundred dollars shall that child inherit after her death with [whom?] she lives and dies with good attendance. This is the last will and testament in my life in earthly terms.”

Elizabeth outlived Daniel by almost twenty years, dying on May 7, 1853. They are buried together at Seven Stars Cemetery.13 He died at age 49; she died at age 77. According to W. Mills Davis, Daniel was a frail man, while Elizabeth was robust and stout, and blind before she died.

Children of Daniel and Elizabeth:14

Samuel William, b. 16 March 1796, d. 1866, m. Catherine Mattern, from a large German family. Samuel became a minister and moved his family to Indiana County, Pennsylvania. He and Catherine had ten children.

Margaret Jane, b. 3 June 1799, d. 10 April 1877, m. David Henderson in 1821. He was a successful farmer in Franklin Township and a shoemaker with a large business, employing men to work for him. He did work for the ironworks, got paid in iron, and took it over the mountains to Pittsburgh twice a year.15 He and Margaret had nine children, and also took in her sister Elizabeth after Daniel died.16He was a Democrat and a Methodist. A man of “genial disposition, social habits, and kindly nature”, he died in 1882.17

Elizabeth, “Betsy”, b. 1800, d. 1872, “weak-minded”, did not marry. She lived with her sister Margaret Henderson for at least part of her life.

Catherine, b. 1803, d. 1872, m. James Dickson. They lived at Eden Hill, Birmingham, Huntingdon County at first, later moved outside of Tyrone. He worked as a miller all his life. They had 11 children. James died in 1872 or 1873; Catherine died in 1893.18

Mary Ann, b. 1 January 1806, d. 1877, m. John Watson, an iron worker. She was short and slender, had dark eyes and dark hair, smoked a pipe. She was exceptionally kind and affectionate.19 They had ten children.20

John, b. 11 March 1809, d. 1855, m. Mary Ann Stonebraker in 1831. They kept a store in Franklinville, selling shoes, dry goods, and groceries. John went to Philadelphia for his goods, bringing them back on a canal boat, “which was the only way of traveling with a heavy load in those days”.21 He and Mary Ann had colorful sons Fisk and Fletcher. 22 Mary Ann had her last child on May 31, 1853; the baby died the same day and Mary Ann did too. There were two doctors on her case, Doctors Irvin and Bates. Bates accused Irvin of murdering her and her body was exhumed a week after the funeral to search for traces of poison but nothing was found.23John’s mother Elizabeth had died earlier that month. John died at McAlevy’s Fort, Jackson Township in 1855.

Jacob, b. 1813, d. 1844, m. Catherine Markle, buried at Franklinville. He was only 31 when he died.24

Susan, m. George Dinsmore, moved to Sharpsburg, Allegheny County.

Nancy, d. 1897, m. William Hunt in 1837, moved to McAlevy’s Fort.25 They had no children.

Daniel, b. July 1818, d. 1877, m. Mary Ann Lowe, had seven children, including Elizabeth who married Hunter LaPorte, son of John & Mary Ann. Daniel and Mary Ann lived at Eden Hill, where he was a farmer. He died in 1877. Mary Ann died in 1896 in Tyrone at the home of one of their daughters.26

  1. PA Archive, 3:17, p. 514 for the 1779 tax list. PA Archive 5:7 for the militia list. The 1782 tax assessment is in W. Mills Davis, History of the Davis, Eichelbarger, Watson, Conrad, Shank Stonebraker and Hyskell Families, 1911. He is in the 1800 census as Daniel Curade. There were other Conrad families in Lancaster County at the time, including a Conrad Conrad with wife Rosina, but Daniel of Mt Joy is the most promising candidate as father of Daniel of Huntingdon County. W. Mills Davis proposed Conrad Conrad as the father, but he admitted that there was no evidence the claim. Jesse Sell, in Twentieth Century History of Altoona & Blair County supported the claim of Daniel of Mt. Joy, based on information from W. Fisk Conrad, a grandson of Daniel of Huntington County. Fisk was born in 1838. His grandfather Daniel died before he was born, so he could not have heard any stories from him. Perhaps his grandmother Elizabeth Shank Conrad was his source; she died in 1853.
  2. Lancaster County will abstracts online give the probate date as May 1812. The witnesses appeared twice, on January 28, 1812 and again in May. Daniel obviously died before January 28. (ref: the original is posted on the Ancestry message board for Conrad, on August 1, 2000 by Ann Gedmark.) She shows the date of the writing as 1811, while others, including Davis and the Lancaster County will abstracts online, give it as 1807.
  3. At the 1760 baptism of Catherine at the Swamp Church in Cocalico, Rosina Schanck was one of the sponsors. Was she a relative? Was she related to Elizabeth Shank who married Daniel Conrad Jr?
  4.  Lancaster Count Will Book L, Vol 1 pages 73-74, quoted online.
  5. W. Mills Davis.
  6. Jacob was in Huntingdon Borough in the 1800 census with four young sons, gone by 1810. Michael was in the 1812 tax list for Franklin Township, with no land. (J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, 1883, chapter on Franklin township. Michael was in the 1820 census, with eight children in his household, but gone by 1830. He was also in the Franklin Township tax list of 1805 with one cow, taxed two cents. (Records on microfilm at the Huntingdon County Historical Society). A Jacob Conrad, possibly different, is in the tax list of Woodberry Township, Huntingdon County, sporadically through the 1820s.
  7. Sell, pp. 959-960, the biography of W. Fisk Conrad (son of John and Mary Ann).
  8.  Anshutz was born in Zinswiller, Alsace, a town noted for its ironworks. He immigrated about 1775 and was drawn to Huntingdon County by its rich supply of iron ore. By 1819 he was an owner or part-owner of 40,000 acres. (Jesse Sell, History of the Juniata Valley, p. 319) In the 1812 tax list he was listed with a furnace, forge, two grist mills, two saw mills, 23 horses, and 1000 acres.
  9.  One of their granddaughters, Elizabeth Henderson Waite, claimed that they were first cousins. (W. Mills Davis)
  10.  W. Mills Davis.
  11.  Elizabeth Nearhoof, Echoes from Warriors Mark.
  12. FamilySearch.org, Pennsylvania Probate Records 1683-1994, Huntingdon County wills, Book 3-4, pp. 93-95, image 77
  13. The tombstone dates are from the Spangler notebooks. Adella Fink Spangler was a long-time Centre County historian who collected many records, which were gathered into notebooks and indexed on 250,000 cards, now held at the Centre County Library in Bellefonte. Some of her primary sources no longer exist. She was more accurate than some later transcriptions, such as the one on Huntingdon County PA GenWeb (Daniel was obviously not 19 years old at his death). The stones read: Daniel Conrad died 11 Mar 1824, age 49y 7m, and Elizabeth Conrad died May 7, 1853, age 77y 9m.
  14.  W. Mills Davis, with dates and information added from Ancestry trees and other sources.
  15. Africa.
  16. Biographical Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair County and Africa’s History of Huntingdon…, which give different dates of birth for him.
  17. Africa.
  18.  Commemorative and Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, pp. 230-231, on the USGWArchive for Huntingdon County.
  19. W. Mills Davis
  20.  The birthdate for her is from W. Mills Davis. Her marriage and children would fit more smoothly if she were born a few years earlier.
  21. W. Mills Davis
  22. Wilbur Fisk Conrad, son of John, was known as Fisk, had a millinery business in Tyrone, ran the first theatre there and was a personal friend of Horace Greeley. In 1861 Fisk met Abraham Lincoln at Harrisburg and discussed a plot against his life in Baltimore. In 1872 when Greeley ran for president, Fisk went to a convention of the Bourbon Democrats as a delegate from the 17th PA district, hoping to disrupt the convention (which was meant to support Charles Francis Adams, Greeley’s opponent). Fisk’s supporters cheered and hooted during the speeches, and “threw the convention into an uproar”. Some of the delegates attacked Fisk but his brother Fletcher got him safely away to their hotel. Fletcher opened a haberdashery store on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia with his brother Benson. As Conrad Brothers they made shirts, which won the first prize at the Centennial Exhibition. He was short and stout and never married. (Source: W. Mills Davis, their nephew)
  23. W. Mills Davis.
  24.  The last name of his wife is from W. Mills Davis; other sources give it as Moore, with no evidence.
  25. Card file of marriages at the Huntingdon County Historical Society
  26.  Her obituary in the Tyrone Daily Herald, 15 April 1896.

John Watson the iron forge man and Mary Ann Conrad his wife

John Watson first appears in Huntingdon County records in the 1830 census. He was an ironworker. Many ironworkers moved up from Lancaster County in the early 1800s as the iron forges were set up in Huntingdon. He may have been one of them. 1 Years later one of his sons wrote that John was the son of another John, who lived in Lancaster County and had sons John and William.2  Is there any independent evidence for the older John? The only John Watson in the 1790 or 1800 census of Lancaster County is the physician John Watson, who can probably be ruled out as the father.3 By 1810 there were two John Watsons in Lancaster County, both in Donegal Township, one with a large family and one with a small family. There is no way to connect either of them with the John who came to Huntingdon County. If the older John was really a veteran of the Revolution, then the second John would have been a rather late son.4

In any case, John Watson was supposedly born about 1796, raised by a relative, “perhaps an aunt”, after his father died, and moved to Huntingdon County about 1813.5 The only Watson in Franklin Township in 1820 was George Watson, living close to Daniel and Samuel Conrad.6 Was George an uncle of John’s?7  George and his wife were between 26 and 45, with three sons in the same age range, and a daughter 10 to 16. This is a mature family, where John could fit nicely, as a nephew, probably not as a son since John did name any of his sons George.

By 1830 John was married to Mary Ann Conrad, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth, and they were living in Warriors Mark Township.8 John and Mary were both aged 20 to 30, with four young children and one girl age 10 to 15.9 Since Mary Ann was born in 1806, they could not have been married before about 1823. The girl over 10 may have been a niece (or a servant). She was still with them in 1840. By 1840 John and his wife had five children, plus the girl now age 15 to 20. They were in Franklin Township, the area that includes Spruce Creek. They were a few houses away from Jacob Conrad, a younger brother of Mary Ann.10

John was a worker in the iron forges as well as a farmer. He was exceptionally strong. The story was passed down in the family that the men of the town had a contest of strength, where they pushed a wheelbarrow filled with pig iron. John wheeled a total of 2,240 pounds which was considered remarkable.11 Where John was strong, Mary Ann was short and slight. She was kind and affectionate, and had dark eyes and hair.12 In 1832 John bought 112 acres from Henry Kreider. This was in Warriors Mark, near George Mong. It cost $600.13

By 1850 six children were still at home with John and Mary Ann in Warriors Mark, where he was called a farmer .14 By 1860 they were in Franklin Township, where John was a foundry worker.15 In 1864 two photographers, Burchfield and Buttorf, traveled around Pennsylvania and took photographs. John and Mary Ann had their photograph taken, and thought this was better than their son Jerry’s paintings. “The father of the artist naturally thought that photographing was a marvelous improvement over his son’s slower way of painting portraits.”16

In 1870 John and Mary Ann were living with their son-in-law Anson LaPorte and his wife Nancy.17 John is listed as a foreman or forgeman in a blow furnace, still working at a rigorous job even at age 70 or more. John died on June 23, 1871 and was buried at the Lutheran Cemetery at Seven Stars, Franklin Township. In his will, written two months before his death, he left his estate to his “beloved wife Mary Ann”. He signed it by mark.18 After his death Mary Ann went to live with her youngest daughter Elizabeth Salkeld in Washington DC, where Elizabeth’s husband John was a policeman. The bustling city must have been a change after a life spent in rural Huntingdon County. Washington had expanded dramatically after the Civil War, partly because of the growth in the bureaucracy serving war issues such as veteran’s pensions.19 Mary Ann died on April 12, 1877 and is buried with her husband at Seven Stars.20

Children of John and Mary Ann:21

Elizabeth, b. Aug 14, 1824, d. Nov. 4, 1901, m. 1842 Samuel Davis, lived in Altoona where he was a farmer. Samuel fought in the Civil War.22 He and Elizabeth were grandparents of W. Mills Davis.

John B., b. ab. 1827, d. March 18, 1892, m. Elizabeth Haslett, moved to Harrisburg, where he was an express messenger and later managed an express stable.23 He died in Harrisburg.24

Daniel, died of typhoid fever as a young man.

William, b. ab. 1829, d. 1903, m. Elizabeth Buck of Warriors Mark, moved to Lee County, Illinois.

Mary Ann, b. ab. 1833, d. 1915, m. 1861 Framton (“Frank”) Bloom, lived in Sunbury, Northumberland County, Frank was a farm laborer there in 1910.25 She died in 1915.26

Jeremiah, b. Feb. 1836, d. June 23, 1888 in Tyrone, m. 1863 Rachel Hall; he was a portrait painter and a veteran of the Civil War.27 He and Rachel had four children including a son Claude.28 He died of a pulmonary disease, probably tuberculosis, contracted during his service in the war. For the last five years of his life he was unable to walk, but continued to paint.29

Samuel A., b. April 29, 1838, d. May 20, 1917, lived in Bradford, later in DuBois, Clearfield County,  served in the Civil War, married, had a son Claude. Samuel wrote to W. Mills Davis in 1911 giving information about the family, unfortunately not including the name of his wife. In May 1901 Samuel and his son Claude visited Nancy Ann LaPorte in Tyrone, “whom he had not seen for twenty-nine years”.30

Priscilla, b. ab. 1840, d. before 1888, m. John Martin, r. Osceola Mills, Clearfield County, died there, had five children.

Nancy Ann, b. 1843, d. 1906, m. Anson LaPorte, lived in Franklinville, had two sons and five daughters

Mary Elizabeth, known as Lida, b. ab. 1847, d. Jan 5, 1892, m. John L. Salkeld, lived in Washington DC31

  1.  Not all of the people of Lancaster County were German. There was a large Scotch-Irish population. They moved up to Huntingdon County for the same reason, to find jobs.
  2. W. Mills Davis, History of the Davis, Eichelbarger, Watson, Conrad, Shank Stonebraker and Hyskell Families, 1911
  3. Dr. John Watson, a physician, was born about 1762. He fought in the Revolution, married Margaret Clemson, lived in Donegal Township, died in 1843 and was buried in the cemetery of the Donegal Presbyterian Church. References: Cemetery records of the Donegal Presbyterian Church online, census records of 1820; Jacob Ziegler, An Authentic History of Donegal Presbyterian Church, 1902, p. 67. However, he is not known to have a son William, he did not die when his son John was young, and his son John is supposed to have died unmarried.
  4.  Watson is a common name, both in Lancaster and Huntingdon Counties. There are many of them in the Lancaster County tax lists and the land warrants in Huntingdon.
  5. W. Mills Davis, based on the information from Samuel A. Watson in a letter of 1911. Watson was a son of John Watson of Huntingdon County. John Watson of Lancaster County would have been his grandfather.
  6. 1820 census, Franklin Township, Image 1.
  7. There is no obvious record of George Watson in the census of 1810 in either Huntingdon or Lancaster County.
  8. 1830 census, Warriors Mark township, Image 7. This was the only John Watson in Huntingdon County, and the only Watson in Warriors Mark or Franklin Township.
  9. The age was probably given wrong for John. He was more likely born about 1796.
  10.  1840 census, Franklin Township, Image 9, John and his wife both 30 to 40, 1 girl 15 to 20, 1 son 10 to 15, 2 sons and 1 daughter 5 to 10, 2 sons under 5.
  11. W. Mills Davis.
  12. W. Mills Davis.
  13.  W. Mills Davis.
  14. 1850 census, Warriors Mark township, Image 7
  15. 1860 census, Franklin township, Image 13
  16.  W. Mills Davis. The photograph of John and Mary Ann is not known to have survived.
  17. 1870 census, Franklin township, Image 19
  18. Wills of Huntingdon County, book 7, number 168.
  19. Wikipedia has a fine picture of Washington DC in 1874.
  20.  Cemetery record of Seven Stars, in the Spangler notebooks, Centre County Library; Findagrave index.
  21.  From Davis, with information added from census records. The order here does not quite match the information that Samuel Watson wrote to W. Mills Davis. He gave it as Elizabeth, John, Daniel, William, Jeremiah, Mary, Samuel, Priscilla, Nancy, Eliza, swapping Jeremiah and Mary Ann, otherwise reliable.
  22. Davis said that Samuel was a man of good humor but with a violent temper. He was a spendthrift, but his wife Elizabeth was economical and thrifty. Of their eight children, five died young. They are buried at Asbury Cemetery near Altoona. (W. Mills Davis) There is an obituary for Elizabeth.
  23. 1870 census, Dauphin County, Harrisburg Ward 8, image 28, and 1880 census.
  24.  His obituary in the Tyrone Herald, March 24, 1892. His middle initial is sometimes given as D.
  25. The date of marriage is from the card file of deaths and marriages at Huntingdon Historical Society. The census is Sunbury ward 5, district 0115, Image 20.
  26.  Her death certificate shows her death of birth as Nov. 10, 1836, but this is contradicted by several census records.
  27. His dates of birth and death from his obituary in the Tyrone Daily Herald, June 21, 1888. (online)
  28. His son Claudius became a railroad conductor in Harrisburg. (census records)
  29.  His obituary.
  30. Tyrone Daily Herald, May 23, 1901
  31. Her brief obituary in the Tyrone Daily Herald of Jan. 7, 1892. In 1880 they were listed in the census in Washington, with children Eugene, Raymond, and Lida. He was a police officer.

Harry and Jessie LaPorte

A train locomotive with its crew, posing for a portrait.
Harry is the engineer, in the front on the left.

Harry Watson LaPorte was a railroad man. He was a young man on the move, which must be how he met his future wife over in Mifflintown.1 As their marriage notice put it, “He is a very refined young man of Tyrone. He has friends wherever he goes.”  In 1897 he was the Chief Engineer for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Tyrone Division, organized six years before. There were about 40 members and they met at the Odd Fellow’s Hall twice a month.2 The Pennsy was a big employer in Tyrone at its peak payroll of over 500. There were three branches in the Tyrone Division: The Bald Eagle Valley line ran northeast to Bald Eagle Creek at Lock Haven; the Tyrone & Clearfield ran over the Allegheny Mountain to Osceola, Philipsburg, Clearfield, and Curwensville; and the Lewisburg & Tyrone ran to Scotia. Other lines connected Tyrone to Pittsburgh and Harrisburg and points east. The Division offices were in Tyrone. “In a room on the second floor may be heard, not the clack of tongues, but the click of keys. Here sits A.A. Witter, the Division Operator, in the focus of a network of wires, like a spider in the midst of his web and, with the aid of his assistants, watches the motions of each train that is out upon the road. Unlike the spider his work is not to devour but to save…”3

1893 map of part of the PRR system (from Wikipedia)

Harry and Jessie were married in 1891, by Rev. Davies at the Presbyterian Parsonage in Tyrone.4 Their first child was born six months later. The newspaper account described Harry as a fireman on the Clearfield and Tyrone branch railroad; he was not an engineer yet. They lived in Osceola Mills, north of Tyrone in the iron ore country, where their first child was born. They apparently moved to Tyrone before 1894, when the next child was born.5 They were members of the First Presbyterian Church in Tyrone, where their children were baptized.6

In 1900 Harry and Jessie were living in Tyrone. He was now a railroad engineer. They had four children living with them: Ada, Ira, Virgil and Richard. Blanche Pannebaker, a sister-in-law, age 14, was living with them, and probably helping with the children.  By 1910 they had moved to Rush Township, Centre County. This must have been a company town, since they were surrounded by other trainmen, foundry workers and coal miners. Five of the children were living with them: Ada, Foster, Virgil, Harry, and Karl. Richard had died in 1906 of diphtheria.

Harry died in 1928 in Tyrone. Jessie survived him for many years. She lived her last years with her son Karl and his wife Katie in Tyrone, and died there in August 1953. Harry and Jessie are buried at Grandview Cemetery in Tyrone.7 All of their children are buried in the Tyrone cemetery as well.

Children of Harry LaPorte and Jessie Pannebaker:

Ada Lyons, b. July 8, 1891, bapt. 1897, d. September 1976, m. John W. Long, son of  David & Elizabeth.  She was born in Osceola Mills, up north of Tyrone in the iron ore country.8  She grew up in Tyrone, married John Long in 1913 and had four sons: David, Joseph, Harry and Richard. She lived in Tyrone until the very end of her life when she moved to a nursing home in Hollidaysburg. She and John are buried in Tyrone.

Ira Foster, known as “Foss”, b. Nov. 11, 1894, bapt. July 1897, d. Jan. 3, 1975, m. Mildred “Mick” Sprankle in 1923. Served in the First World War, in France from May 1918 to May 1919. His unit was there for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the principal battle of American soldiers during the war. Did he learn electrical work while in the army? Foss worked as an electrician for the Pennsylvania Railroad for 42 years.9 He married Mildred Sprankle, known as “Mick”. Foss and Mick had no children together, but Foss adopted a son of Mick’s from her first marriage, William Plowman (who took LaPorte as his last name). Mick and Foss spent their winters in Arizona, where he died in 1975, and she died in 1980.10 They are buried in Tyrone.

Virgil Corbett, b. Jan. 14, 1896, bapt. July 1897, d. Sept. 1960, m. Zelda Hartman. Virgil grew up in Tyrone. In 1918 he was inducted into the army, like his brother Foss, and sent to France. He later claimed that he had been exposed to phosgene gas while there, either in the St. Mihiel sector or the Argonne forest.11 When he returned he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a machinist in the signal department. He married Zelda Hartman, daughter of David and Charlotte, before 1930, and moved to Perry County where he worked as a signal helper.12 Zelda died on Dec. 30, 1930. There were two stories in the family about her death: an ectopic pregnancy or an unspecified ailment due to food faddism.13 Virgil never married after her death. He was well-known in Tyrone for his athletic prowess, as an amateur wrester (system champion of the PRR competition), coach for swimming and basketball teams, and referee.14  He died in 1960 and is buried with Zelda at Eastlawn Cemetery, Tyrone.

Long man in a wrestling pose.
Virgil LaPorte as a wrestler (studio portrait)

Richard Porter, bapt. July 2, 1899, d. August 29, 1906 of diphtheria, buried in the Tyrone cemetery.15 There were other contagious diseases in Tyrone at the time of his death. The Tyrone Daily Herald reported a daily list of persons quarantined, and on August 31 Virgil LaPorte and Ada LaPorte were both quarantined. The State Department of Health published strict rules. People who died of certain diseases, including cholera, meningitis, diphtheria, yellow fever, scarlet fever had to be buried within thirty-six hours and there could be no funeral for them.

Harry Alvin, b. 1902, bapt July 1904, d. May 1969 in Pompano Beach, Florida, buried in Tyrone. Harry lived in Florida and never married. He travelled with a circus until he retired, then worked as a short-order cook.16 He died in Florida in 1969, but is buried in Tyrone.

Karl Eugene, b. Jan. 22, 1906, d. December 1976, m. Louella Kathleen Kaufman, “Katie”. Karl grew up in Tyrone, graduated from Juniata College, and became a teacher. He taught in the Tyrone schools for 39 years.17 He was an outstanding athlete, and coached football, baseball and basketball for the Tyrone teams. In December 1940 he married Louella Kathleen Kauffman, known as “Katie”, the daughter of Harry and Anne Eyer Kauffman.18 Karl and Katie had two children, Nancy and Terry.19 Karl died in 1976. Katie died in June 1982. They are buried together at Eastlawn Cemetery.

  1. Jessie Pannebaker had two brothers who ended up in Tyrone, Van and Alton, but not until later. She was the oldest of nine.
  2. Rev. W. H. Wilson, Tyrone of Today: Gateway of the Alleghenies, 1897, p. 58
  3. Wilson, pp. 76-77.
  4. Morning Tribune, Altoona, January 19, 1891, a license issued to Harry W. Laporte, of Tyrone, and Miss Jessie M. Pannebaker, of Mifflintown.
  5. The dates of birth are from the family Bible, originally David Long’s. When it was passed down to Ada LaPorte Long, she wrote in the dates of birth for her and her brothers, but apparently got two of them wrong, for Virgil and Karl. There are other sources, such as obituaries, to help settle the question.
  6. Penna. Church & Town Records 1708-1985, on Ancestry.
  7. They are not listed in Findagrave, which seems incomplete for the Tyrone cemetery. This is from his death certificate.
  8. Recollection of Harry H. Long.
  9. His obituary, Tyrone Daily Herald, Jan. 4, 1975
  10. She is in the 1920 census of Tyrone, living with her parents, a widow, teacher in a public school, mother of two young sons, William and Harold. Her married name was Plowman. (1920 census of Tyrone, Blair County, ward 6, District 122, image 23.)  No further records of Harold.
  11. His veteran’s pension application in February 1934.
  12. 1920 census
  13. From Harry H. Long and Nancy L. Jusick.
  14. Numerous mentions in the Tyrone Daily Herald, including 3/26/1921; 3/18/1927; 7/27/1936; 1/30/1937.
  15. Tyrone Daily Herald Necrology for 1906.
  16. Recollections of Harry H. Long
  17. His obituary in the Tyrone Daily Herald of Dec. 10 1976.
  18. Anne died in childbirth and Harry later married Mary Dixon. (Recollections of Nancy LaPorte Jusick and Terry LaPorte).
  19. Nancy married Stephen Jusick, son of Stephen C. and Mary Jusick of Philipsburg. Stephen and Mary owned the Ramsdale Hotel in Philipsburg for years. Nancy and Stephen Jusick have two children, Stephen Kent and Jill. Jill married Mark Bentley in 1993. They have three sons. Terry LaPorte died in 2016 in Bel Air, Maryland.

Anson and Nancy LaPorte

Anson LaPorte as an older man, with a white mustache.

Anson Parson LaPorte was the grandfather of Ada LaPorte Long, and she remembered him, along with his brothers Hunter and Dolf. According to her, Anson worked for the Carnegie Company at one time and had an opportunity to go to Pittsburgh with Carnegie, but refused, thereby missing a chance to make the family fortune.1 She also believed that Anson drank too much. There is no evidence for either of these stories.

Anson was born in 1842 in on the family homestead in the Spruce Creek Valley. He learned the trade of wagon maker from his father John, and worked as a wagon maker or carpenter all his life.

When he was 21 he enlisted in the Civil War, where three of his brothers would also serve. His enlistment papers describe him as 5′ 8″, with gray eyes, light hair and a fair complexion. He served in two regiments. The 46th Regiment Militia Infantry was organized at Huntingdon on July 1, 1863, for the protection of Pennsylvania during Lee’s invasion. It was mustered out on August 18, 1863. The 205th Infantry Regiment, his second enlistment, saw more action. It participated in siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, constructed fortifications at City Point, Virginia, supported the Weldon Railroad Expedition, fought at Fort Stedman and in the Appomattox Campaign, served at the assault on Petersburg, pursued Lee to Burkesville, and was mustered out on June 2, 1865. Anson rose to the rank of corporal and apparently survived the war with minimal ill effects, although years later he claimed a pension based on a fractured ankle caused by a fall at the Battle of Fort Stedman in Petersburg, on March 25, 1865.2

Between the two enlistments Anson married Nancy Ann Watson in Altoona in 1864. They moved in with her parents John and Mary Ann, in Franklin Township, and were still there in 1870, with three children: Harry, Ella and Charles. They owned no real estate and had just $200 in personal property.3  They moved to Orbisonia, down in Huntingdon County, for a few years, perhaps in search of more prosperous trade, then moved back up to Rock Springs, Centre County, not far from Spruce Creek. They were there in 1880, with six children, but moved to Tyrone the next year, about the time that Nancy had their last child.4

Five young women in their best dresses.

 

Daughters of Anson and Nancy Ann: probably from left to right, Ella, Carrie, Maggie, Mamie, Flossie. 5

Anson and Nancy lived on Bald Eagle Avenue in Tyrone. In 1900 they owned their house outright, with no mortgage. He was still working as a carpenter.  In 1898 he had the index finger of his right hand amputated; was this a woodworking accident?6

Seven of the children were living. Two of the daughters were still at home. Ella was “plain” and did not marry.7 Flossie was the youngest and not yet married. At some point Anson became a laborer in the paper mill.

Three old wood frame houses in a row.

Their house was the second from the corner (in the middle).

Nancy died in July 1906 of tuberculosis. After she died, Anson stayed in the house, with Ella to keep house for him. He died on July 22, 1913 at age 71.8 After this Ella moved to Altoona and worked as a seamstress in a dress shop.9 Anson and Nancy are buried in Grandview Cemetery in Tyrone.10

Children of Anson and Nancy:11

Harry Watson, b. 1865, d. 1928, m. 1891 Jessie May Pannebaker, dau. of Moses & Martha. He was an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad, active in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Tyrone Division. He and Jessie had six children, five sons and a daughter. Jessie survived Harry by many years and died in 1953.12

Ella Irene, “Ella Rea”, b. 1868, d. 1944, wore her hair bobbed, did not marry, kept house for her father until his death, then moved to Altoona and supported herself as a seamstress in a dress shop .13 She sued her brother Harry at some time, for reasons no longer remembered, possibly over an inheritance from their parents.14

Charles Emmett, b. 1871 in Rock Springs, d. 1934 in Juniata County, m. ab. 1896 Minnie Goss, had one son, Ambrose. In 1910 they were living in Juniata Township, Blair County, where Charles was a car builder for the railroad. Ambrose went to college in Philadelphia to study pharmaceuticals, possibly the first child in the LaPorte family to go to college. Charles and Minnie lived in Altoona through 1930.15 In 1931 Minnie died. Charles went to live with his son Ambrose and wife Mildred in West Mont, Cambria County, where he died on May 17, 1934.16 He was clean-shaven and good-looking.17 He and Minnie are buried at Grandview Cemetery in Tyrone.

Caroline Carlton, “Carrie”, b. 1872, d. 1955, married David Mingle.  Caroline, known as Carrie, was very much a lady.18 She married David Mingle in 1895 and had sons David Blair, known as Blair, and Chester. In 1900 they were living in Tyrone, where David kept a general store with his brother. They sold groceries and dry goods on Pennsylvania Avenue, just below Eleventh Street.19 By 1930 Caroline and David moved out of town into Snyder Township, where David was working as a real estate broker. Blair was killed in a plane accident in 1919, while he was serving as a “naval flier”. David died in 1943 of a heart attack while driving his car near the paper mill in Tyrone.20 On July 2, 1949 Caroline was admitted to a nursing home in Altoona.21 She died in February 1955 in Vermilion, Ohio, probably in Chester’s home, but was buried in Tyrone.22

Sarah Margaret, “Maggie”, b. May 18, 1875 in Orbisonia, Huntingdon County, d. January 27, 1948, m. Frank Gardner on December 25, 1894.23 They lived at first in Snyder Township, Blair County, and started their family there. By 1910 they had moved into Tyrone and had three more children. In 1930 they were still on West 15th Street in Tyrone, where Frank was a manager for a planing mill. Most of their children had moved out. Frank died in January 1937. The contents of his estate, a meat cooler, slicer, cases, and more, suggest that he was running a butcher shop by then. Maggie died in 1948. She and Frank are buried at Grandview Cemetery.

Mary Ann,“Mamie”, b. 1878, m. Frank McIntyre of Pittsburgh. They were married on January 16, 1900 in Pittsburgh.24 He worked at first as a brakeman for the railroad. In 1900 they were in the lodging house of the widow Elizabeth Rush on Arch Street in Allegheny City. Ten years later they were still in Allegheny County. They In 1930 they were still there, with a daughter Nancy, age 16. Frank was a superintendent in a telephone company.25 No records have yet been found for them in the 1940 census or the PA death certificates.

Emma Florence, “Flossie”, b. 1881, d. 1966, m. David B. Shimer. She was the youngest of the children, and the one who moved farthest away from Tyrone. She married David Shimer on June 24, 1903, and they moved to Wilwaukee, where he was a foreman in a sheet metal plant. In 1930 they were living in Cleveland, Ohio, where David was still in the sheet metal business. She died in 1966 in Elyria, Ohio. David died in 1971. They are buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.26

  1. Is there any family in central Pennsylvania that does not have this story as part of its lore? Could she have confused Carnegie with George Anshutz, who operated an iron forge and later moved to Pittsburgh?
  2. 1890 veteran’s schedule for Blair County, on Ancestry.
  3. 1870 census, Franklin Township, image 19.
  4. The 1880 census and her obituary, which listed them as living in Rock Springs for a time.
  5. The picture is from cousin Richard Gardner. Maggie was his grandmother. Nettie Goss Bashore, daughter of their brother Charles, remembered them as “beautiful”. Ada LaPorte thought they were good looking, except for Ella. 
  6. Tyrone Daily Herald, Dec. 13, 1898, on Ancestry.
  7. According to Ada LaPorte. In the picture of the five daughters she is slightly less pretty than the others. Nettie Bashore said that all of the daughters were fast talkers.
  8. His death certificate: Anson Parson La Porte, widowed, born Feb. 12, 1842, laborer, paper mill, father, John LaPorte, mother Mary Jones, died July 22, 1913, from convulsions, apoplexy, nephritis, buried in Tyrone, July 24, 1913, died in Tyrone, information from Miss Ella Rea La Porte.
  9. 1920 census.
  10. LaPorte stones in the Tyrone cemetery. Anson P. LaPorte, 1842-1913. His wife Nancy A. LaPorte 1843-1906.  Veteran 61-65.
  11. From his veteran’s papers, with Ada’s recollections added. Some information is from Nettie Goss, sister of Minnie Goss, in a letter to her great-nephew Charles LaPorte.
  12. I remember her. In old age she was living with her son Karl and his wife Katie in Tyrone.
  13. 1920 census.
  14. Recollection of her niece Ada LaPorte Long.
  15. 1930 census, listed and indexed as Laport.
  16. Death certificate for Charles. 1940 census for Ambrose, indexed as LaPart.
  17. His picture on an Ancestry tree.
  18. Recollections of Ada LaPorte Long. 
  19. 1900 census, recollections of Nettie Goss, Tyrone of Today, online.
  20. His obit in the Huntingdon Daily News, Jan 21, 1943.
  21. Tyrone Daily Herald, July 2, 1949.
  22. Altoona Mirror obituary index, online. I have no records for Chester after the 1940 census. 
  23. Her obituary in the Huntingdon Daily News, Jan. 28, 1948.
  24. Tyrone Daily Herald, Jan. 18, 1900. 
  25. 1930 census. I cannot find them in the 1920 census. Nancy is the only known child in her generation named for the grandparents Anson and Nancy LaPorte.
  26. Ohio Obituary Index, on Ancestry, citing the Vermilion Photojournal newspaper of March 31, 1966; also Findagrave.