Tag: Winter Quarters

52 Weeks – Week 34: Timeline

In the timeline of the 52 Ancestors Challenge, we’re on Week 34, which is the theme of the week, “Timeline”!

Plotting out the timeline of an ancestor or family group can be a great analytical tool. However, I find what is just as important are timelines of history. Knowing the history of a place can provide context and clues as to our ancestors’ actions.

Timelines of history are totally bodacious and most triumphant.

One of my favourite timelines of history is the Canon of the Netherlands. In addition to my love of genealogy, I have always loved history (it was my major in undergrad) and the Canon appeals to my inner history geek. It is a timeline of fifty historical events that together show the historical and cultural development of the Netherlands as a nation. Not only that, there are separate canons for every province and the regions within each province. It is a beautiful piece of work and I enjoy reading it independent of any family history research I might be doing.

The Canon was developed at the behest of the Dutch ministry of education and provides a summary of what is taught in Dutch primary schools. The website is available in English for the timeline itself and for each of the historical and cultural events listed on the timeline, although other information (such as the “About” pages, FAQs, and regional Canons) is only available in Dutch. That’s where the translate functions of browsers like Chrome can come in handy, although I like to try to read them in the original Dutch as part of my decades-long struggle to learn the language.

The Canon for Noord Holland (North Holland), the province where my father was born.

Knowing when the Netherlands was under French dominion helps in understanding the timeline of some of my ancestors. Napoleon originally structured the Netherlands as a separate “Kingdom of Holland”, with his brother Louis as the King. Over time, Louis ran the kingdom more with Dutch interests in mind, so in 1810 Napoleon abolished the kingdom and incorporated the Netherlands as part of France itself. Records from the time of French rule might be in Dutch, French, or a combination of both. Records I’ve found from after the Netherlands was incorporated into the Empire are more likely to be in French.

My Great x 4 grandparents, Jan de Waard and Cornelia Pieters Kooij, married on October 10, 1813. The record of their marriage is written in Dutch, but bears the seal of Imperial France. Less than a month after their marriage, a popular uprising resulted in the ouster of the French. On November 30, 1813, the son of the former stadholder of the country returned from exile and was named William I, Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands. Jan and Gurr marriage was one of the last in Texel to be registered under the French regime.

Knowing the timelines of history have also been helpful in understanding my maternal grandfather’s family history. He was Mormon (Latter Day Saints) and several of his direct ancestors were amongst the earliest converts to the new religion, joining in the 1830s in New York State. Knowing the history of Mormon migration helps me understand my maternal ancestors’ movements and why they did certain things at certain times.

The group’s founder, Joseph Smith, sought to create a “New Jerusalem”. He and his followers moved to Ohio and soon began building a settlement in Missouri. In 1833, church members were run out of Missouri and a failed banking venture crippled the Ohio settlement. The Mormons attempted a settlement elsewhere in Missouri, but were driven out upon an executive order of the governor, calling for them to be exterminated or expelled from the state. In 1939, the church regrouped in a new community, Nauvoo, Illinois, and began to build their Zion there. Two years after Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, tensions with non-Mormons increased, such that the Mormons were driven out once again. They upped stakes and began the migration to Utah. During the westward migration, over the winter of 1846-1847, about 2,500 church members encamped at Winter Quarters, which was just north of where Omaha, Nebraska came to be. The first settlers arrived in what is now Salt Lake City in July 1847, in what was still Mexican territory.

Knowing this timeline, I can test the accuracy or reliability of information I have found about my Mormon ancestors. For example, some of the information I’ve found about my great x4 grandfather, Conrad Liggett, suggests that he died in Nauvoo before 1839. However, as Mormon settlement in Nauvoo did not begin until 1839, I doubt the veracity of that information.

If you were buried in Ohio in 1838, odds are you did not die in a town that was settled by the Mormons in 1839.

As well, if I have a Mormon ancestor who passed away in late 1846 or early 1947, chances are good that it occurred during the migration to Utah. For example, Conrad’s widow, Louisa Thomas, my 4x great grandmother, died on November 16, 1846. Sure enough, an entry in the Winter Quarters sexton’s records shows that Louisa died 19 miles up the river from Winters Quarters.

The entry for Louisa Thomas in the Winter Quarters sexton’s records, 1846-1848: “Loisa Cook. 36 years, 0 months, 0 days. Wife of Aaron W. Cook [her third husband]. Died 19 miles up the River from Winter quarters Bur[i]ed at the same place. [Died] Nov 16 1846. [Disease] chills fever. [Born] State of Mareland May 1811.”

Timelines of history can take you on some most excellent adventures!

52 Weeks – Week 28: Characters

This week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge theme is “Characters”. While that actually provides a wide scope, the inclination might be to write about an ancestor who had a big personality or was quite the extrovert. I’ve decided to write about an ancestor who most likely needed quite a bit of character to have endured what life sent her way.

One of my Gx3 grandmothers was Charlotte Elizabeth Liggett. Charlotte was born on October 2 or 6, 1837, to Conrad Liggett and Louisa Thomas. According to some sources, Charlotte was born born in Dover Township, Union County, Ohio, although most other accounts say it was Ostrander, Delaware, Ohio. While in different counties, these communities are about five kilometers apart.

Charlotte Elizabeth Liggett

Conrad and Louisa married on February 28, 1837. Unfortunately, Conrad died shortly after Charlotte was born. I have been unable to find definitive sources as to when and where he actually died, although it is likely that it occurred in April 1838. Several sources suggest he died at Nauvoo, Illinois sometime before 1839. However, the Latter Day Saints (Mormons), of which he was likely a member, did not really begin to settle in Nauvoo until after they were expelled from Missouri in late 1838. It may be that Conrad himself never left Ohio. According to Find a Grave, Conrad is buried in Ohio, although there is always the possibility that his remains were transported to Ohio after his death.

Louisa remarried in 1841, to Aaron Cook. This marriage may have occurred in Nauvoo. With the Mormons being driven out of Nauvoo starting in 1846, Louisa, Aaron, and Charlotte set out in the westward migration to what is now Utah. The migration, undertaken in haste and without time for proper preparations, was arduous. On the way to Winter Quarters in Nebraska, in November 1846, Louisa died. Charlotte had just turned nine.

After time spent at Winter Quarters, Aaron continued to Utah with Charlotte. According to one family history I’ve read, upon reaching Utah Aaron, he “married Charlotte off” to a Mormon elder. That was likely a reference to Charlotte’s first husband, my Gx3 grandfather, William Burgess. The marriage occurred on June 3, 1852, when William was 30 and Charlotte was only 14. Even worse, this was a polygamous marriage, as William was still married to his first wife of 12 years, Maria Pulsipher.

The marriage did not last long. Fortunately for me, it lasted long enough to produce one child, my Gx2 grandfather, Horace Burgess. Apparently Charlotte did not get along with Maria. Charlotte left William sometime in 1857, when she was 19. Many secondary sources suggest that William and Charlotte divorced. However, being a polygamous marriage, there may have been no formal civil registration of the marriage and, therefore, no formal divorce. While at the time of their marriage William and Charlotte had been “sealed” (a Mormon ritual meant to bind familial relationships for eternity), Charlotte had the sealing annulled in 1890.

Shortly after leaving her first husband, Charlotte entered into her second marriage, with William Whitehead Taylor, on September 7, 1857. This was also a polygamous marriage, and at age 28, William was almost 10 years older than Charlotte.

While Charlotte’s early life may have been difficult, it may have been much less onerous after she joined with William. It appears that they remained together for 50 years, until William passed away in 1907. Charlotte and William were never sealed during their lifetimes, as a bishop had told Charlotte that she could not be sealed again. Apparently they were sealed after Charlotte’s death, as it was her “dying wish”.

The Salt Lake Tribune, April 25, 1908, Page 11

Charlotte and William had four children. It appears their second child, Louisa, may have died in infancy or childhood. Their eldest, Sarah, died at age 49, when Charlotte was 70. There was a small amount of notoriety in the press when Sarah died. She was married twice. The first marriage was to Prime Evans. The second marriage was with a J. M. Tanner. However, this was not a legal marriage. According to newspaper reports at the time of Sarah’s death, this was a secret polygamous marriage, solemnized within the church after polygamy was outlawed. Tanner had been named executor of Sarah’s will and guardian of children Sarah had adopted (young relatives of hers). However, he ultimately declined to act in either role, likely because of the scandalous nature of his relationship with Sarah.

Charlotte died at home in Lehi, Utah on February 20, 1909 due to apoplexy, a term formerly describing a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke. Charlotte is interred at Lehi City Cemetery, with her second husband.

Charlotte’s Death Certificate