United Empire Loyalists

I am willing to bet that most US citizens don't know what a United Empire Loyalist is. If you ask a Canadian, you will learn the answer. These people are descendants of the families who sided with the British during the American Revolution and whose property was confiscated at the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The British government gave land grants to these families primarily in the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In the case of my ancestors, the grants were allocated in the easternmost part of Ontario Province. Ontario was called Upper Canada during this time, Canada West sometime later and finally the Province of Ontario. Unlike the organizations founded around 1900 such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, Sons of the American Revolution, etc., United Empire Loyalists was established by 1786 and the designation UE is an honor not motivated by exclusion.

A Coat of Arms

We Americans seem to fascinated with having a coat of arms or crest. The crest is a small part of the coat of arms. There are several websites that are more than happy to sell you a family coat of arms. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a family coat of arms. A coat of arms belongs to an individual. When the bearer of the coat of arms dies, his first born son inherits the coat of arms. With the exception of the Dutch, generally females do not have a coat of arms. Elizabeth I, Victoria and Elizabeth II of England are noted exceptions. Several European countries have an organization that keeps track of the bearer of a coat of arms. In Canada this organization is called the Canadian Heraldic Authority. In England is the College of Arms and the Court of Lord Lyon in Scotland. Other European countries have counterpart groups to protect the acknowledged bearer of arms. Each coat of arms is protected like a US patent or a registered trademark. The concept of a coat of arms is based on an aristocracy. The king can grant a coat of arms and take away a coat of arms. From the inception of the United States, a coat of arms has not existed here. The government, colleges, cities, counties, states, companies and some organizations have a seal. This is the closest thing to a coat of arms that we as a country embrace. Many American families have been duped into believing that their family has a coat of arms or a crest.

Family Lore Part II

On my first blog, I touched on the fact that one's mother, father, aunt. uncle, grandparents, etc. might provide you with some information that is not factually true. It is not because this person is lying but this person has incomplete information and has confused facts with other facts. In the example I included on my first blog, my mother confused the town to which her grandmother went to visit her relatives with the place in which her grandmother was born. I doubt that my mother ever asked her grandmother where she was born. My mother was simply confused. However, in other cases, the information is absolutely not true. Someone creates a fairytale that all would love to believe was true and presents it as fact. This situation occurred in several instances just before and shortly after the turn of the 20th Century. This was the period of mass immigration of people particularly from eastern Europe and Russia. During this same time, Cornelia Schermerhorn, wife of John Jacob Astor, controlled one's social standing in New York City. Organizations like the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, etc. emerged. And so did some people intent getting rich by exploiting the fear that some multi-generational Americans had of the recent immigrants. If you think scams are something invented since the Internet, think again. I came across two scams at the turn of the 20th century that were related to my family and some that had no connection to my family. However, the theme was the same, money by the perpetrator and social standing by the victim. I read several articles in The New York Times that were published during this era. I found the articles both interesting and quite sad.

My Fascination of Local Histories

I was asked today about why I was so interested in local histories of the places in which my relatives lived. My answer is I want to make these people more than names on a piece of paper. I cannot go back to meet these people and talk to them. So by investigating the historical records of the time in which each lived, I can understand the local events that may have contributed to the decisions these people made. There is one thing that I know for sure. Change is very difficult for most people. This has been true throughout history. I want to know what caused my ancestors and relatives to make decisions to uproot and move to an unfamiliar place. This all started when I began to make a family tree on my mother's side. My ancestors settled in the Dutch colony of New Netherland in the 1600s. In September of 1664, New Netherland was conquered by the English and became the Provinces of New Jersey and New York. The family remained in the Province of New York for more than 100 years. But a little before 1800, a branch moved to the Province of Ontario in Canada, also known as Upper Canada. That is the branch from which I sprung. Early in my family history research, I somehow thought Luke Stoutenburg was a Loyalist (or Tory depending on one's point of view). Many loyalists who lost property when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 were given land grants in Canada by the British government. As I delved into my research, I learned that Luke was born in 1772. It is hard to believe that he was a soldier in the American Revolution on either side at the age of 4. So what made him take his family from New York to the wilds of Upper Canada? That is another story. However, in trying to figure this out, I became fascinated with learning about the history of a place at a specific time that might explain why a family might uproot itself and go to a place that is not known or familiar to them. This has become my passion and has earned the nickname by my friends and family of Sherlock.

More about John Peters Ringo, AKA Johnny Ringo

I just wanted to add a few more notes about Johnny Ringo.

There are several websites that are devoted to the life of Johnny Ringo and others that contain some notes regarding his life. A word of caution. When you visit these websites, take whatever you read with a grain of salt.

I came across websites that try to analyze why John Peters Ringo became an outlaw. Most of what is said is speculation and some of the speculation is based on leaps of faith. In particular, those sites that try to connect Johnny Ringo's behavior to a loose connection with the Younger and James brothers.

John Ringo witnessed his father's death when he was 14. This may have contributed to his having trouble with the law. However, other young people throughout history have witnessed such tragedies without turning to the life that Johnny Ringo led.

The influence of the James and Younger brothers on Johnny Ringo's life seems to be a great stretch.

Martin Ringo was a soldier in the Mexican-American War. After his discharge in New Orleans, Martin married Mary Peters in Clay County, Missouri. The two of them returned to Indiana where Martin resided prior to his enlistment. Their first born was John Peters Ringo who was born in Indiana in 1850. In 1850, Martin and Mary were living in Wayne Co., Indiana. The family moved to Missouri. In 1860 the family was living in Gallatin, Daviess County, where Martin was a merchant.

The Younger Connection

In 1864, Martin started out with his family to California to meet with his wife's sister and her husband, Augusta Peters and Coleman Younger, who were living in San Jose.

Mary Peter's sister Augusta, a widow, married Coleman Purcell Younger in Clay Co., MO in 1853 and that same year she went to San Jose, California where he had a home. Colonel Younger had moved to California in 1851.

Col. Coleman Younger's brother, Henry Washington Younger, had a son who was born in 1844 and was named Thomas Coleman Younger. Following the Civil War, this Thomas (Cole) and his brothers, James (Jim), John and Robert (Bob), formed the James-Younger gang with Jesse and Frank James.

Henry Younger and his family lived in Clay County, Missouri in 1840 and had moved to Jackson County, Missouri before 1850. Jackson County is just south of Clay County. Before 1860, the family moved south to Harrisonville, Cass County, Missouri where Henry Younger was mayor from 1859 to 1860. Henry Younger was killed in 1862. In 1870, his widow, Thomas (Cole), John, James, Robert and two daughters are living in Dallas County, Texas.

Daviess County is in the western part of Missouri a bit below the Iowa state line. Clay, Jackson and Cass counties on the western edge of the state and south of Daviess Co. It is not evident to me that Johnny Ringo had any contact with his uncles' nephews, the Younger brothers. By 1864, Johnny was in California with his mother and siblings.

The James Connection

After the death of Rev. Robert James in 1850, Zerelda Cole James married Benjamin Simms. The marriage was brief as he died in January 1854. Zerelda was the mother of Jesse and Frank James. Benjamin Simms was the brother of Frances A. Simms who married John R. Peters, Mary and Augusta Peters' father.

Coleman and Augusta Peters Younger were living in California only a few years after John Peters Ringo was born.

The James-Younger gang was formed after the Civil War. In 1864, Martin and Mary Peters Ringo moved to California where Augusta Peters Younger was living.

John Peters Ringo's family lived in Indiana and briefly in Daviess County, Missouri before moving to California.

I really don't have any evidence that there was contact between Johnny Ringo and the James-Younger gang.

Looking back at the norms of the times, in my opinion, Jesse James and cohorts were criminals. Johnny Ringo was someone who was frequently in trouble with the law and made some enemies.

Myths Related to Johnny Ringo

In my blog yesterday, I briefly mentioned the tragedy of Martin Ringo and of Mary Peters Ringo's journal. Today, I add more to the story.

Martin and Mary Ringo left Missouri in 1864 with their five children with the intent of moving to San Jose, California. Mary's sister and brother-in-law, Colonel Coleman and Augusta Peters Younger had resided there for quite some time. Colonel Younger is considered a Santa Clara County pioneer. Mary continued onto to California after the tragic death of her husband. Their eldest son, John Peters Ringo was only 14 years old when he witnessed the death of his father. John has become known as the infamous Johnny Ringo who was killed or committed suicide near Tombstone, Arizona. Looking at the stories associated with Johnny Ringo, I found that there is much speculation about his life and death. I also know that in looking at many of the accounts of his life that much of it is flawed. I would like to put a few things straight. Colonel Younger was not part of the Younger gang. He was just a relative, a man who was well regarded by his contemporaries in San Jose. He was not Johnny Ringo's grandfather as was claimed in some accounts. Some seemed to have confused him with his relative Thomas Coleman Younger. Johnny Ringo spent most of his teenage and young adult years in California. He was still living in San Jose in 1870. Some time after 1870 he left San Jose and appears to have been involved in the range wars in Texas. Some accounts of his life believe that the because he has a distant relationship with the James and Dalton families and the fact that his uncle by marriage is an uncle to the Younger brothers, that he was destined to become an outlaw. As far as I can tell there is no connection. If you are interested in a photo of Martin Ringo's grave, you should visit the Oregon-California Trails Association or the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office.

A word of caution, both sites include some incorrect information. The Oregon-California Trail site starts out stating that Martin and Mary Ringo left Missouri headed for San Jose, California. However in the paragraph under the title, "Additional Information," implies that the family had intended to go to Oregon but when Martin accidentally shot himself to death, Mary decided to go to California. It also claims that a few years after arriving in San Jose that Mary and her family moved to Oregon where she is buried. Mary Ringo was living in San Jose in 1870 a few years before she died. Her daughters, who married, are also found in the various census from 1870 on still living in the San Jose. The Wyoming State Preservation Office site states that Mary's brother-in-law was a member of the James Gang and Quantrill's Raiders. Simply not true! It is really disappointing when organizations that claim to be preserving history don't get the facts right.

Vice President Schuyler Colfax and Others

In 2007 I wrote an article for the Stoutenburgh-Teller Family Association Newsletter about various descendants of Anneke Jans, Pieter Stoutenburg and Willem Teller. The people in my article range from the famous, not so famous and infamous. Back in those days, it wasn't surprising that there was much intermarriage. Willem Teller was the great-great-great grandfather of Robert Bogardus, a general in the War of 1812. Robert’s great-great-great grandmother was Anneke Jans. Willem Teller’s daughter Helena married Anneke Jan’s son from her second marriage Cornelis Bogardus.

Willem Teller’s daughter Jannetje married Arent Schuyler. She died in New York City in 1700 after which Arent moved his family to Pompton Plains, NJ where he discovered copper. The mine made him very wealthy.

Arent and Jannetje’s great-great grand-daughter Hester Schuyler married General William Colfax. Hester’s son Schuyler Colfax fell on hard times and died of tuberculosis in 1822 leaving a pregnant wife, Hester Stryker. Her son Schuyler Colfax, Jr. was born 4 months later on March 23, 1823 in New York City.

When Schuyler was ten, he left school to work while his mother ran a boarding house. In 1836, she remarried and the family moved to New Carlisle, IN where his step-father George Matthews opened a store. Schuyler worked as a clerk for his stepfather. Like Abraham Lincoln, Schuyler had little formal education so was self-taught. He read everything he could get or borrow.

Schuyler became a legislative correspondent for the Indiana State Journal and purchased an interest in the South Bend Free Press. He was then elected to Congress and served from 1855 to 1869. He was Speaker of the House in the last three years. Schuyler was elected Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant on the Republican ticket. He served from March 4, 1869 to March 3, 1873.

Schuyler died January 13, 1885 at a train station in Mankato, MN. He had walked three quarters of a mile to the station but the temperature was 30 degrees below zero. Five minutes later he died of heart failure.

Another relative did not have a chance to make his mark in the world. Martin Ringo, Pieter Stoutenburg’s great-great-great-great grandson, accidentally shot himself to death on July 30, 1864 near Glenrock, WY. He was 43 years old and suffering from tuberculosis. It is believed that the family was moving to California where his wife’s sister and her family lived in hopes of his recuperating.

His grave marker is at the site, one of the few found along the Oregon-California trail. Mary Peters Ringo’s journal was published in “Covered Wagon Women” Vol. 9, edited by Kenneth L. Holmes. It was heart wrenching to read her account of his death and her struggle to get her young children to California. She was pregnant at the time of Martin’s death and subsequently miscarried in Nevada.

The information on Schuyler Colfax was taken from the "Life of Schuyler Colfax" by O. J. Hollister.