52 Ancestors - Week 8 - Heirloom, "Please Save"

"Please Save". Isaac and Ida Rickell's daughter, Bertha, wrote this on dozens of little slips of paper.  Poor health kept her home bound much of the time during the later years of her life. She made scrapbooks, wrote memories of her childhood, and was quite the family archivist.

I found this particular note in a leather accordion style folder. On the back of the note she wrote "this red billfold" was to be passed to her daughter. "It was a gift to my father from my mother before they were married in '89". The red billfold itself is a treasure. But the contents are a family historian's dream.

The contents include Isaac's 1883 Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen, renouncing his allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain of whom he was a subject. Also, a Certificate of Membership in the International Order of Odd Fellows, a crisp two dollar bill (much larger than the bills we know today), a recipe for "Oil for Wounds, Cuts or Burns" in Isaac's father's handwriting in 1861, Isaac's homestead papers, deeds, Isaac and Ida's application for a marriage certificate, a personal note from Ida to Bertha, Bertha's high school graduation announcement and marriage record, greeting cards, letters, and the list goes on.

It seems I come from a long line of savers. This explains a lot!

If you are researching any of the individuals featured in my blog posts, please leave a comment. I would love to share information. Perhaps we can break down a brick wall together.

52 Ancestors - Week 7 - Valentine...Nebraska

As I was thinking about Valentine's Day this week, the story of my great grandparents, Isaac Rickell and Ida Ellen Andrews, came to mind. They were early residents of Box Butte County in western Nebraska, Isaac arriving when the area was still part of Dawes County.

Both Isaac and Ida had experienced much loss in their lives by the time they came to western Nebraska when they were both in their twenties. Isaac had lost both of his parents and all five of his brothers and sisters by the time he filed his Declaration of Intention to be come a citizen of the United States on the 6th of October in 1883, a month before his 24th birthday.

Isaac Rickell
Declaration of Intention
Original in Isaac's Personal Papers

Not quite two years later, Isaac appeared at the land office in Valentine, Cherry County, Nebraska, over 300 miles away, to claim a homestead in the future Box Butte County. Perhaps this business card is how he learned about free land. I wonder where he found it. Probably somewhere near his home in Platte County.

Original in Isaac's Personal Papers

The reverse side of the card gives a list of train fares from various places in Nebraska to Chadron. Is Chadron where he met Denis Daly?

Original in Isaac's Personal Papers

I'm not sure what the reverse side of the card means, exactly. Did the X's mark acreages that had already been claimed?

At any rate, Isaac chose the SW 1/4 of Section 14 in Township 27 of Range 50 West. Somehow he traveled over 100 miles from Valentine to Hemingford. Did the land agents go with their prospective homesteaders? Then travel the 100 miles back to the land office in Valentine?

Ida lost her mother when she was a child. After her grandfather, Elias Jones, passed, she came with her grandmother, Annis Cole Jones, in the spring of 1888 to the village of Hemingford in Box Butte County, where an uncle, B. F. Jones, had a general store. The family lived together in rooms over the store.

Isaac and Ida told their daughter, Bertha, about the day they met...when both went to the town well for water. I would love to know more details of their meeting that day at the well and the courtship that followed, but we do know that Isaac carried Ida's pail home for her. For her birthday, in September of 1889, Isaac gave Ida a beautiful red velvet photograph album. And, less than two months later, on Isaac's thirtieth birthday they were married.

Isaac Rickell and Ida E. Andrews
14 November 1889

The Rose is Red

the Violet blue

of all the earth

I love but you

When these lines

you here do see

will you agree

to marry me

If my name you now can guess

write your own

and Ans yes

Could this be how Isaac proposed to Ida? We will never know, but either way, it seems Isaac was quite the romantic soul!

52 Ancestors - Week 6 - Matilda Fleet Hinton Percival Goodridge

For week 6 in the 52 Ancestors challenge, I'm taking a short break from my Jones family research. Amy Johnson Crow provides weekly "prompts" for ideas of ancestors to write about. Her prompt for week 6 is "Favorite Name".

I'm not sure I have a favorite name among my ancestors. There are certainly common ones that are passed down through many generations. I must have a dozen Williams...maybe more. And, Elizabeth and Maria appear numerous times.

The name that popped into my head as memorable and unusual is Matilda Fleet Hinton Percival Goodridge. No, those were not married names. Fleet, Hinton and Percival are middle names. It is said Matilda was named after women present at her birth. She is not my direct ancestor, but instead was the oldest sister of my great-great grandmother, Louisa Jane Goodridge (1842-1908). Hinton was the maiden name of Matilda and Louisa Jane's paternal grandmother, Catherine Martin Hinton who married William Goodridge (1769-1850). Matilda married a Samuel Harrison. They share a headstone which reads, in part, "his wife Matilda F. H. P."

The second daughter born in the family was Veranda Hedges Goodridge. It seems likely an aunt may have been present at her birth.Veranda's father, William Goodridge (1800-1859) had a sister, Veranda Goodridge, who married a man named Hedges. It seems naming children "back in the day" was as tricky as it is today!

Other siblings of Matilda, Louisa Jane, and Veranda, were William Arnold (maiden name of his mother), John Ellis (killed in the Civil War), Marelda S., James Thomas, Sylvanus Marion (went by "Uncle Bob"....what???), and Clara Ann.

My favorites? Veranda and Marelda.

52 Ancestors - Week 5 - Roger Sherman Jones

Ida Ellen Andrews' Uncle Sherman Jones was born in August of 1852, the first son of Elias D. and Annis Cole Jones. He spent his early life with his family in St. Joseph County, Indiana. In the early 1870's the family moved to Merrick County, Nebraska.

Roger Sherman Jones
Central City, Nebraska

On the 7th of October, 1875, in Merrick County, Nebraska, Sherman was 23 years old and applied for a license to marry Stella Brinkerhoff, age 16. The license was not issued. As the bride was under age, perhaps her father, Daniel W. Brinkerhoff, would not consent to the marriage? Or did something else happen to prevent it? Sadly, it seems likely that she is the Stella Brinkerhoff who married I. N. Deitrick and died of consumption (tuberculosis) at age 22 in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory in 1881. Her four month old son, Guy, died later the same year.

The 1880 census shows Roger S. Jones, single and a farmer, in Midland Precinct, Merrick County. He is the head of his household. His parents are living with him.

On the 14th of June, 1882, Roger S. Jones completed an affidavit for a homestead, sworn to before the Clerk of District Court of Merrick County. In his affidavit he testified that "I am an unmarried man, and a citizen of the United States, that I am residing on the within described land, that I make this application before the undersigned officer on account of distance from U.S. Land Office." The parcel of land he chose was the North West quarter of Section 24 in Township 14 North of Range 7 West.    He paid a filing fee of $18.00.

Homestead application files provide a wealth of information and insight into the lives of those who filed under the Homestead Act. Roger S. Jones "named witnesses to prove his continuous residence upon and cultivation of said land".

The Central City Nonpareil
30 April 1885

The witnesses included D. W. Brinkerhoff...the same Daniel W. Brinkerhoff, father of Stella, who Sherman Jones wanted to marry twelve years earlier? I would certainly like to know the story behind that relationship.

Two of the witnesses, A.O. King, farmer and butcher residing in Central City, Nebraska and Charles Reynolds, farmer, Merrick County, Nebraska gave written testimony in support of this homestead application. They testified that Roger S. Jones was unmarried and his parents lived with him, that he had lived continuously on the land 7 or 8 years, his dwelling was a 1 1/2 story frame house, "14 x 24 and 14 x 18", and other improvements included a frame stable 14 x 32, a granary 12 x 16, corn crib 24 x 32, corral, trees, and fences valued at $2000.

Roger gave testimony on his own behalf stating on the 16th of June, 1885, he was age 32 and single, his address was Central City Post Office, his house was built "last year", his homestead had 10 acres of trees and 60 acres were fenced. He also stated "my father and mother live with me". He was granted a patent for his land 20 January 1886 by President Grover Cleveland. An image of the patent can be viewed here in the General Land Office Records of the Bureau of Land Management. The full application file can be viewed with an Ancestry.com subscription.

Also, in 1885, the Nebraska census shows Roger S. Jones living with his brother's family in adjacent Boone County where they are both in the general merchandise business. At that time the same census shows his parents living with Ida Andrews, still in Merrick County (Midland Township). I have wondered why Ida Andrews was listed as niece in Elias Jones' household. Perhaps Roger/Sherman was in the midst of moving to Boone County during June of 1885, or maybe he was splitting his time between two households, but spending the majority of his time with his brother getting their general merchandise business going. Did the census taker list Ida as niece of the owner of the house (Roger) rather than granddaughter of Elias? Or maybe Roger was present with Elias, Annis and Ida to answer the census questions.

Elias died about 1888. According to Ida's obituary and biography, Ida and Annis moved in the spring of 1888 to Box Butte County, Nebraska, where B. F. Jones had a store. They lived in rooms above the store. Ida married in 1889 and eventually Annis moved back to Central City to live with son, Roger.

A plat map of Township 14 N Range 7 W, Archer, Merrick County, Published in 1899 shows the land Roger S. Jones homesteaded was then owned by R. F. Jones.

In 1900 Sherman Jones is living in Central City and working as a carpenter. Annis is living with him.

The last record I have of Roger Sherman Jones is when he provided information for his mother's death certificate in May, 1906. What happened to him after that? Did he join his brother or stay in Nebraska? He has no descendants so no one to look for him.

One day soon I plan to make a stop in Central City to look for land and probate records for Elias and Roger. Did Elias buy land when he first moved to Merrick County? Is he buried next to his wife in the Prairie Creek Baptist Cemetery? Are their graves marked? Does a will or probate file exist that names Ida and her relationship to the family? So many questions. Maybe I can also find an obituary for Elias. I can hardly wait to get there!