I’d Like to Meet - Esther Agard - #52 Ancestors

I imagine that Esther Agard was a strong and remarkable woman. Strong because at the age of forty-three and pregnant, she survived a spring Atlantic crossing in 1683. Strong because with the death of her husband John, either during the crossing or shortly after arrival, it was Esther who is the founding member of the Agard family line in America. Remarkable because she survived and thrived. Two years after her son, John, was born, Esther married Samuel Storrs. She raised his five children, plus John and three of hers and Samuel’s. Those children are: Thomas Storrs b: 1886; Esther Storrs b: 1688; and Cordall Storrs b: 1692.

In his book, “Agards in America,” Frederick Browning Agard details the issues surrounding the origin of that family.  He starts with John the Elder coming from “somewhere in the British Isles in the mid-17^th century.” John dies at sea or in Massachusetts between 1683 and 1685.” There are various accounts: Phelps Leach’s “Lawrence Leach and some of his Descendants,” D.H Van Hoosear’s “Fillow Family Genealogy,” and a statement of E.V. Carrithers, professional searcher in Brighton, Sussex, England that the family sprang from England, Scropton in Derbyshire.

I imagine Esther was a strong and remarkable woman. I would love to hear her story.

Mehitable - #52 Ancestors

Mehitable is an Old Testament name meaning "God Rejoices." 

I first encountered the name “Mehitable” when I researched the founding mother of the Agards in America—Esther Agard.

In April 1683 John “The Elder” Agard and his wife Esther traveled to the new world. John either died at sea or immediately upon arrival, leaving Esther, who was six months pregnant to become the founding member of Agards in America.

Esther gave birth to John “The Younger” Agard on 16 July 1683, either in Boston or Barnstable, MA. On 14 December 1685, Esther married Samuel Storrs. Samuel Storrs' wife, Mary (Huckins) Storrs died shortly after giving birth to the couple’s seventh child, Mehitable.

Samuel and Esther Agard Storrs had three children, Thomas, Esther, and Cordial. Thomas married a woman named Mehitable Joyce on 14 March 1708. They in turn had a daughter named Mehitable.

In the Agard line, John “The Younger” Agard married Mehitable Hall in 1709. John and Metitable had seven children. The first five sons consist of the five branches of the Agards in America. The only daughter, Mehitable, born 14 October 1718. I have not traced her at this point. 

The next Metitable appears in the Benjamin Branch of the Agard family. Benjamin Agard married Elizabeth Hall and lived in Mansfield, Connecticut. Mehitable was born 16 October 1784 and died 8 June 1770. 

The first child of the Hezekiah Branch born to Hezekiah and Abigail Damon Agard was named Mehitable, born 5 November 1752 in Torrington, Connecticut.

The last Mehitable that I know of in this line was born into the Benjamin Branch, to Joshua and Ruth (Needham) Agard. Ruth was the daughter of Humphrey and Dorothy Munger of Wales, Massachusetts. Their second child was named Mehitable.

The Mehitable naming pattern in this family line seems to end with this generation.

Challenge – #52 Ancestors

My biggest challenge this past year was finishing the transcription of the Jacksonville M.E. Church history. It isn’t the most exciting document. The “history” is just a recording of minutes taken from 1842 to 1946. Photos taken by local residents have been added. An index of names and events will be included.

Update on 12 January 2019: Thanks to the trustees, the file cabinet that has been locked for many years has now been opened. The bottom drawer was filled with papers and documents relating to the church's history. Best of all: My great-grandmother's leather notebook in which she transcribed the church history was found in the drawer. And, it contains the missing twenty-seven years. A volunteer is now sorting through the papers and will arrange them in file folders. This spring we will travel north, go through the papers and see how much to include in my Jacksonville Church History document. Great news!

The church history is important because the document details the struggle and resilience of the Jacksonville church community. Financial issues plagued the church throughout its history, but the community rose to the challenge each time and made sure the church survived.

An excerpt:

July 1851            Subject of uniting Jacksonville and Trumansburg again brought up at Quarterly Conference.  Bro. John W. Nevins, P.E.

Bros Ashworth and Tichenor were delegates from Trumansburg. After long speeches it was laid on the table.

October 1851             It seems that finances were a serious problem for the Jacksonville Church, so much so, that in October 1851 a committee of three was appointed to inquire into the propriety of selling the M.E. Church. The committee to see about this was Joseph Stout, Joseph Ganoung and Elisha Wilcox.

The church history is important for genealogists. Those with ancestors in the Ulysses and Tompkins County area can find out if those ancestors belonged to the church, were active members, or maybe even expelled.

The plan is to have the volume bound and presented to the church in early spring.

First – #52 Ancestors Challenge

The title refers to the fact that it is a challenge for me to keep up with Amy Johnson Crow’s weekly blog suggestions. Writing mystery novels over the past several years has gotten in the way of my genealogy research. I’m trying to rectify that.

I did, however, sort out the marriages of Flossie C. (Dean) Searles Wortman’s marriages. When I did the original research many years ago I found an article in the Trumansburg Free Press and Sentinel that stated: “On December 29, 1910, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fremont Dean, of East Ulysses occurred the marriage of their daughter Flossie to Mr. Warren Searles of Hector.” In my haste I did not follow through on this, and just assumed the paper got it wrong and that she had not married a “Searles,” but instead the Warren mentioned was Warren “Wortman.”

I now know that Flossie did first marry Warren Searles, and had a daughter named Grace born 30 July 1911. That marriage ended and sometime between 1915 and December 1918 (when Flossie was listed as Warren Wortman's wife on his WWI draft registration card) Flossie married Warren Wortman. I have scoured the newly released (thanks to Reclaim the Records) marriage records for these years and have come up empty handed. I’ve also looked for some other marriage records that don’t seem to be listed. I wonder if the town clerk (s) have not submitted all their records, or the records may be lost.

Elizabeth Lois Wortman was born 16 May 1919 to Flossie and Warren. Flossie died on 24 May 1919, eight days after giving birth. She was listed as living at 205 Pleasant Street in Ithaca. Flossie is buried in the Trumansburg, New York Grove Cemetery, Plot 708 with the Wortman and Dean family.

There is much more work to do on this family, but I am relieved to get Flossie’s marriages sorted.

Jacksonville M.E. Church History – Help Wanted

During our week in the Ithaca, New York area for my book tour, I was encouraged to continue transcribing my great-grandmother’s handwritten history of the Jacksonville M.E. Community Church. I was told that there are new people attending the church and they are interested in its history.

The hamlet of Jacksonville, New York had fallen on hard times about fifty years ago when the Mobile gas station at the center of the hamlet leaked huge amounts of gasoline into the groundwater destroying the town’s water supply. People left, and Mobile was forced to buy up the properties. Many houses were torn down.

Residents saved the old Methodist church from demolition. The building was moved in about 1897 from its location on Route 96 to 5020 Jacksonville Road. A graduate of Cornell’s School of Architecture recently purchased the old church building, and he plans to renovate it for living space and community use. To see the old church and the history surrounding it read the article here.

This is where I need help. When transcribing my great-grandmother’s church history I realized there is twenty-seven critical years missing from that document. It ends in 1888 and picks up again in 1915. There has to be documentation of discussions about moving the old church – a substantial building- off the site to its present location and then building the “new” church. So far the only information I’ve been able to find was on FultonHistory.com. An article in the Farmer Review December 3, 1898 tells of the dedication of the new church. In 1905 there are several articles in The Ithaca Daily News about the congregation suing David W. Lewis of Elmira for improper construction. The congregation won the case, and the new church was built without incurring any debt.

The Jacksonville M.E. Church has been and still is an important part of the hamlet. I believe the church’s history, transcribed and indexed, will also be important as the community is revitalized.

If any readers have information or know of anyone who had ancestors who attended this church and might have diaries, journals, or newspaper clippings, please let me know. I have more people and organizations to contact, but so far the history of Jacksonville, New York seems to be mostly non-existent.

Old St. Peter's Cemetery Danbury, Connecticut Irish Tombstone Transcription Project

After I did the St. Rose Cemetery Irish Tombstone Transcription project I learned there were similar stones in Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Danbury. This time Harlan Jessup and my hubby accompanied me to help find these elusive stones. 

After this project was completed and and article published in Connecticut Ancestry, Harlan suggested to that group that the rest of Fairfield County, CT cemeteries be done for Irish tombstones - and it was. 

I have some original databases for both St. Rose and Old St. Peter's Cemetery from the project. If anyone has a question about a burial in either of these two cemeteries, send me a note and I will see if I have the information in my files.

Irish Tombstones in St. Rose Cemetery Newtown, Connecticut

In 2005 I was persuaded by Newtown's professional genealogist, Harlan Jessup, to develop a database of the Irish tombstones located in the St. Rose Cemetery located in Sandy Hook, CT. Specifically he wanted only the stones that recorded native parish and county of origin. When finished, I wrote an article about the database that appeared in Connecticut Ancestry. From there I went on to do the same for Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Danbury, Connecticut. My Irish tombstone database was also placed on the Genealogy Club of Newtown's website.

Unfortunately, Ancestry has decided to abandon the hundreds (if not thousands) of small genealogy clubs and historical societies by taking down the free Rootsweb website where the Genealogy Club of Newtown's site was hosted.

I've decided to post some of the material I did for the club's website here on my blog. Already there is the 1890 Census Substitute for Newtown, CT on this site. To find those blog posts, scroll down to the list of tags and they will be at the top. My husband and I consulted a number of sources to compile this 1890 Census Substitute with the hope that it would help those searching ancestors in this difficult time period when the Federal Census is not available.

 

Although we have moved from Newtown, I still monitor the Random Acts emails. So if anyone has a question about Newtown ancestors, use the email in the above article.