Wilson - again

I wanted to share the beautiful (probably wedding photo) of Mary (Maude) Wilson Hill and Wardell (Frank) Hill. This was sent to me by David Williams...Great Grandson of John Fletcher Wilson, brother of my ggrandfather, William White Wilson. Mary was the daughter of Fletcher and I invite you to read her story in an earlier post.
David and his wife, Minnette grew up only 50 miles from Walla Walla, WA where John Fletcher settled when leaving South Dakota.
David has gotten me thinking about several avenues of research. One I mentioned yesterday with the counties of Pennsylvania. Another, finding the death certificate of William White Wilson and Lydia Enke Wilson's son William E. He died in Omaha at a young age. The story of the Cavenee (Cavende)family, who followed the Wilson family from Pennsylvania, merits more time. And I want to work on the Hobkirk family
Myself, cousin Pam and her husband Dave will be in Miller, SD in a few days. We'll be visiting the grave of John Fletcher Frank Wilson's wife, Mary Hester Kennedy. Mary Hester was born in Taylor County Iowa in 1848. She died in Hand County, SD two weeks after the birth of Mary Mayme Wilson. Mary Hester's father was Robert Jackson kennedy, born in Tennesse. Her mother was Elizabeth Childers, born 1820, and died in Iowa 1864. I need to find out if there are any Cavenees left in the Wessington area.
I'd like to learn more about Wardell Hill. I'll do some googling.
As I look through my information, I've got a Mary "Mayme Wilson buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Miller. AS I've written before, not sure how her body was transported all the way from Walla Walla to Miller, SD in three days.
Will sign off now. Too many questions. Should be a great exercise for my brain.

Returning...with the Wilsons

Yes, I've been gone a long time from this blog. Getting the Daugherty/Carrington Newsletter, Prairie Roots sent, writing for a local art magazine, and getting ready for a trip to Italy has taken its toll. I'm back for a few days now, until the 16th of June when cousin Pam Rounseville and her husband Dave and I go for a family visit to South Dakota. We'll spend two weeks meeting and re-meeting family members. Pam and I haven't seen each other for years and years so I can imagine we'll have a wonderful time. Our mothers, Delores & Helen, were sisters. Mom (Helen) is living here in Wisconsin. Delores passed away a few months ago.

I am just thrilled to have come home to an E-Mail from David Williams. He found this blog and is another contact person in my belated search for Wilson relatives. He is the Great grandson of John Fletcher Wilson, the brother of William White Wilson, my second GGrandfather. Dave sent me a wonderful wedding photo of Mary Wilson Hill and Wardell Hill. Now I know that the beautiful "mystery" young woman above center, is Mary (Maude) for sure. Check out earlier postings about her tragic story.

David has had the same situation as the rest of us...wanting to learn more about the generations before John Fletcher and William. We know that their parents were Joseph M. Wilson and Annie White. From inferences from other writers, I'm wondering if "Annie" was a middle name. Both seem to have been born in Sullivan County Pennsylvania.

I just checked for information on Sullivan County. Several counties, including Lucerne (where William White Wilson was born) and Sullivan, were part of Northumberland County...then Lycoming, and lastly, in 1847, Sullivan. The population in 2000 was 6556. The area is over 2,000 ft. above sea level and appears to be very rural. It's area is only 478 square miles. A couple of years ago I met a woman from Nova Scotia who also has roots from that area at the same time period. She was confident that we shared ancestors, as the population was so small. I need to get in contact with her again.

From here, I suppose I need to check any county records of that time period, if they exist at all. From some sources, the Wilsons were German and Scotch/Irish (perhaps this last from Annie's family???).

It's gratifying to add another individual interested in this family. Pam and I will be seeing several Wilson family members this month. Most of their information on the Wilsons has already been compiled in the Wilson-Enke Descendents book, written in 1977 by Bonnie Cavenee Runge.

Thanks, Dave, for writing. Although I created this Blog primarily to keep me fine-tuned to information that was collecting dust on my shelves, it's always great to know that there are interested readers.

Record of the Bartholomew Family

How good can timing be? I just started writing about John and Joan Carrington (from the Bartholomew Family) and I finally received my copy of "Record of the Bartholomew Family" by George Wells Batholomew, Jr. - published in 1885. This is a reprint, obviously. as an original would probably go for $600 or more. I have viewed this book, via film, at the Historical Society in Madison, WI. There have been many known mistakes in George's writing, however, I really feel great about having a copy of my very own. There are over 750 pages, so it's going to take a bit of time to go through it.

I also wanted to menation that a Rootsweb page, mentioned that John and Joane Carrington were parents of my ancestor Dr. Peter Carrington. This was the first that I'd heard of Dr. Peter being the son of these people who were hung as witches (see the previous posting). Usually the son is regarded as another John, or a daughter, Rebecca. It's from Rebecca that my Bartholomew family eventually entered in.


I requested the opinion of James Carrington, whom I've been in touch with for quite some time. This is his comment. "There's no reason to believe that John and Joan Carrington (the witches convicted in Wethersfield, Ct) were the parents of Dr. Peter Carrington because no one has any proof. Furthermore, there's no proof that either John Carrington (1642-1690) or Rebecca Carrinton were children of those 'witches'. Until someone finds such evidence it's nothing but pure speculation. Hope you can find some proof!"

So far there is no connection of my family of Carringtons and Jim's. Lots of "close-calls", but nothing definite. History is filled with mysteries and uncertainties. It seems the more difficult the challenge, the more interesting the search. I need to hone my own skills in doing deep searches in historical collections.