Juan Linn, A Street in Victoria, Texas

A distant relative, John Howland Wood, went to Texas from New York in 1836 to fight on behalf of the residents of Texas who were seeking independence from Mexico. Instead of returning to New York, he remained in Texas and married Nancy Clark, a woman of Irish descent.

John H. Wood's mother was Reformed Dutch and his father was born of Quaker parents. The couple were married by an Episcopalian minister. John was raised in a Protestant community. However, Nancy Clark was Catholic. They were married by a Catholic priest in Texas. His offspring were active in the Catholic church to the point that two of his daughters became nuns.

I periodically came across a record in which one of John H. Wood's descendants was living on Juan Linn Street in Victoria, Texas. The first time I saw Juan Linn, I thought it was an odd name for a street. Juan is a name in Spanish and Linn is, it seems, an Irish name. I wondered how a street got such a name.

John H. Wood's children married people with surnames like Sullivan, Mahon, McCurdy, etc., mostly Irish surnames. A little research revealed that Mexico actively recruited the Catholic Irish in the early 1800s. I suspect that the Mexican government was concerned after the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase from Catholic France, a concern that Britain had after the American Revolution when the United States was moving its citizens into the lands to the west acquired by the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

Britain had been persecuting the Irish Catholics but also the Irish Episcopalians. At that time the Church of England and the Episcopal Church were not the same. After the close of the American Revolution, the Church of England in the United States and the Episcopal Church were one and the same.

John H. Wood must have felt a bit like an outsider as he was settling into his new life.

I happened to come across a booklet about the Irish in early Texas and, in particular, a chapter entitled, "The Irish of Victoria." On Page 91, it stated that John J. Linn was one of the most prominent Irishmen in Victoria. He apparently was looked upon in favor by the Mexicans and that did not surprise me as I read the booklet. However, the one item that struck me in the booklet was that he was the son of a college professor who was involved in an Irish uprising and fled to the United States. His father settled at Poughkeepsie, New York, obtaining a teaching position by 1800. In 1822, John J. Linn move to New Orleans, then later to Victoria, Texas.

There was no indication the John Linn's father moved to Texas, so I assume that his father remained in Poughkeepsie during John Howland Wood's formative years. I have no way of knowing if John H. Wood had any association with John Linn's father or other of his family members that might have had an influence on John Howland Wood's desire to fight in the Texas-Mexican War.

According to the Texas State Historical Association, John Joseph Linn was called Juan Linn by the Mexicans. Because he was fluent in Spanish and could communicate between the Mexicans and the Irish settlers, he served a valuable function to the Mexican government.

So a this point, Juan Linn Street doesn't sound so strange to me.

Lena Hull Stoutenburg AKA Helena Hull

As I identify people who are related to me, I try to determine who are the parents of a person who became a relative through marriage. One such person is John M. Stoutenburg who was born in New York in 1833. In 1850, John is living with his parents in the Town of Hurley, New York. By 1860, John is head of his own household in Hurley and is married to "Lany".

According to the 1860 Census, "Lany" was born in New York. However, the 1870 Census records her place of birth as Ohio and she is identified as Lena. John and Lena are also found in Hurley in 1880. The 1880 Census indicates that John's parents were born in New York and that Lena's father was born in Ohio, as was she, and that her mother was born in New York.

According to John's obituary, he married Lena Hull in 1856 Although I learned of her maiden name through John Stoutenburg's obituary, I had no idea who her parents were. The first clue was in her obituary. Her parents were not identified other than they were native of New York and that her mother died when she was five years old, about 1843 or 1844.

Lena's obituary stated that she was born December 30, 1838 in Ohio and that her parents returned to New York with her when she was about two years old. It also claimed she was brought up by her grandfather, Conrad Elmendorf. Further, the obituary indicated that she spent the early part of her life in Olive Branch, New York.

The first US census that listed all members of a household was taken in 1850. Since Lena would be about 12 years old in 1850, I assumed that she would be living in Ulster County with her grandfather who allegedly raised her. I did find Conrad J. Elmendorf, age 68, residing in the Town of Olive along with his 71-year-old wife, Sally. The household consisted of just the two. The next household in the enumeration was that of Elias Elmendorf and his family. Elias is 42 years old and appears to be a close relative of Conrad Elmendorf. However, Lena was not enumerated in that household either.

Next I looked for any male with the surname Hull living in Ulster County who was born in New York about 1810 plus or minus 2 years. I found a 38-year-old Samuel Hull living in the Town of Hurley. The family consisted of 27-year-old Mary, his wife, and six children ranging in age from 3 to 19 years. The oldest four children could not be the children of Mary Hull as she was only eight when the eldest of the four was born and 15 when the youngest of the four was born. So it would appear that Mary Hull was not Samuel Hull's first wife.

Since Conrad Elmendorf was the name of Lena's grandfather, I found it significant that there was a 17-year-old male, Coenradt, included in the household. Further the family included a 12-year-old girl, Hellen. Lena was often a shortened version of Helena or Magdalena. But according to the census record, Hellen was born in New York.

I then found Samuel Hull and his family living in Olive, Ulster County in the 1855 New York State Census. The three older children in the 1850 Census were not included in the household but Hellen was. She appears as the eldest child in the family. Her name is recorded as Helena, age 16 born in Ohio. Both Helena and Samuel had resided in the community for 15 years.

In 1856, Lena Hull and John Stoutenburg were married. I found the couple in Hurley, Ulster County, New York in the 1860, 1870 and 1880 US Census. In 1900, Lena and John were living in Sioux Valley Township in Union County, South Dakota. Based on her obituaries and the various censuses in which I found Lena and John, she was born in Ohio.

Given the information from the 1850 and 1855 censuses of the Samuel Hull household, I believe that Samuel Hull is Lena's father and that her birth name was Helena Hull. The next step was to identify her mother's given name. I did come across a couple of family trees that included a Mary Elmendorf who was born in 1811 in Kingston, Ulster County, died in 1843 in Hurley and was married to Samuel Bostick Hull. The trees indicate that she was baptized in 1811 at the Shokan Reformed Church in Olive.

Lena and her parents moved to Ulster County from Ohio about 1840. I found a Samuel Hull in the 1840 Census in Olive. The household consisted of two adults, Samuel as head, a male between 20 and 29 (1811-1820), a female between 20 and 29, presumably Mary Elmendorf Hull. There were 4 children; a male between 5 and 9 (1831-1835), a female between 5 and 9 and two females under 5 (1836-1840). The age ranges of the children correspond to Conraedt (about 1833), Catherine (about 1831), Matilda (about 1835) and Helena (1838).

In 1850, John Hull was 8-years-old and a member of the Samuel Hull household. Mary Hull could have been his mother as she was about 19 when John was born. But, in the 1855 Census, Mary Hull resided in the community for 9 years whereas 12-year-old John Hull resided in the community 12 years, meaning he was born between 1841 and 1842. Since Lena's mother died between 1843 and 1844 when Lena was five, John Hull's mother and Lena's mother was one and the same person. Samuel Hull married his second wife a year or so after his first wife's death.

Lena's obituary says that she was raised by her maternal grandfather, Conrad Elmendorf. That details outlined about does not provide any evidence that Lena Hull was living with her grandfather.
 
Locating a copy of the Arthur Kelly book of baptisms at the Shokan church is the next step to connect Mary Elmendorf to both Samuel Hull and Conrad Elmendorf.

Parke Davis Biological Farm

I was looking for information about Morgan J. Smead, who according to one family tree, died in 1913. Instead of finding evidence of his death having occurred in 1913, I found evidence that he was very much alive as late as 1942. Many of his records indicate that he was involved for many years with the Parke Davis Biological Farm in Oakland County, Michigan.

Morgan Smead was born in Pavilion Township, Genesee County, New York. His parents and siblings seem to have remained in New York. However, Morgan studied veterinary medicine at Toronto and then settled in Michigan. He married Alice Elizabeth Stevens, the daughter of John Brown Stevens and Angeline Elizabeth Stoutenburg, in Port Huron, Michigan in 1909.

Veterinarian Morgan and his wife, Alice, were living with her parents in Yale, Michigan in 1910. Morgan's father-in-law was a veterinarian. Alice's older brother, Chauncey was not a member of household in 1910. I have not located his whereabouts in 1910 but by 1918 he was working as a veterinarian in Michigan. As it turns out, Chauncey graduated in 1902 from Ontario Veterinary College, Toronto, Canada. (The Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Archives Vol. XXIII June 1902 No. 6 Edited by W. Horace Hoskins. Philadelphia: Office of Publication, 1902. Page 381}

Alice's younger brother, Walker, was enumerated with her parents, her husband and herself in 1910. Walker was a student. He apparently was a student in Toronto studying veterinary medicine in Toronto as his obituary claimed that he was the last surviving member of the Class of 1911 of the Ontario Veterinary College in Toronto.

Alice and Morgan met due to the fact that her brothers were veterinarians who studied at the same school as had Morgan.

Intrigued that someone would think that Morgan Smead had died in 1913 yet there was much evidence that he was living as late as 1942, I tried to come up with an answer. I discovered that Alice and Morgan has a daughter who was born in 1913 and lived only 5 days. The death certificate names her as "infant M J Smead" and says that she died of "fevers Parthenia following a difficult birth." For whatever reason, Morgan and Alice had no children after the death of that 5-day-old daughter.

As I looked at records concerning Morgan, it was clear that he had a long relationship with the Parke Davis Biological Farm, where he was employed for many years starting only a few years after the farm was established.

The Parke Davis Biological Farm was established in 1908 near Rochester, Michigan. According to page 416 History of Oakland County Michigan by Thaddeus D. Seeley, the farm consisted of 340 acres adjacent to the village of Rochester to the east. The Clinton River crossed the farm from the west and the Stony Creek crossed the farm from the north. Stony Creek joined the Clinton River on the farm proper. Morgan and Alice resided on Parkdale Road in Avon Township.


Looking at a 2015 map of Rochester, Michigan, I believe that a portion Bloomer Park is located at the site of the Parke Davis farm. Parkdale Road runs along the northern edge of the park and Stony Creek joins the Clinton River within the bounds of the park. Parke Davis added another 160 acres along the Michigan Central Raiload line to the farm. The site of the JHP Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing off of Parkdale Road is what remains of the Parke Davis Biological Farm.


I looked at Plat Maps of Avon Township for the years, 1872, 1896, 1925 and 1947. The Parke Davis farm appears in the 1925 and 1947 Plat Maps. In 1872, a C. Parker owned 340 acres at the approximate location of the Parke Davis farm. However, by 1896, the Parker farm was divided and sold to others. The History of Oakland County Michigan suggests that Parke Davis & Company purchased a 340-acre farm, not several farms that together formed 340 acres.

I was able to identify C. Parker. as Calvin Parker who was born in New York about 1820. He was living in Avon Township by 1850 when he and his wife, Mary, were enumerated in the census of that year. They owned a farm valued at $2350, which was valued about twice as much as his neighbor's farms. I found Calvin Parker in the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses in Avon Township, Oakland County, Michigan. In 1870, his farm was valued at $19,000. So it would seem that Calvin Parker owned a large farm.

He died on May 12, 1888 in Avon Township, according a Michigan Death Index. It is likely that his heirs sold the property between 1888 and 1896. In 1925, Parke Davis & Company owned 458 acres in the SE quarter of Section 11 and S half of Section 12.

In 1947, Parke Davis owned about 540 acres in Sections 11-14 with the largest portions in Sections 11 and 12. Bloomer State Park No. 2 was shown on the 1947 Plat Map. The company at some time between 1925 and 1947 acquired 160 acres along the Michigan Central Railroad line. Although I am speculating, it would seem that Parke Davis Company and Bloomer family jointly donated property or the Parke Davis sold land to the Bloomer family to form the Bloomer State Park.

Now back to Morgan J. Smead...

He was a Masonic Grand Master from 1950 to 1951 in Michigan. He died in 1962 in Rochester, Michigan.

Pieter Stoutenburg the Man

Every family has stories about its ancestors. One side of my family is no exception to this. Several of my ancestors were in North America at the earliest part of the European settlement. Today, I am writing a post on my blog about just one of the family stories.

The story is that rich Pieter Stoutenburg was the first treasurer of New Amsterdam or the treasurer of the Dutch Colony. Other stories exist that he was treasurer when the British took control of New Amsterdam and that he had done such a good job that the British authorities retained him as treasurer.

I found this story repeated in books written in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Many of these books were written on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of a county, state or community and often included genealogies of the pioneer families. Then I found the same language repeated in genealogical and biographical magazines. Now, it's repeated in family trees posted on the Internet.

There is often some element of truth in most family legends. It's like the game of telephone. Each time the story is repeated it has little changes. The Pieter Stoutenburg story is no exception. Pieter Stoutenburg did at one time serve as a treasurer.

Some history :

Pieter Stoutenburg was born in 1613 in the Netherlands, probably in Utrecht Province based on his surname as there is a Stoutenburg in that province. I have not found any record of his arrival in New Amsterdam but he was married in 1649 to Aefje van Tienhoven in New Amsterdam. Tienhoven is a town in Utrecht Province as well.

The records in which he is mentioned don't record his name as Pieter van Stoutenburg. That did surprise me as the only other person in New Netherland at the time that Pieter was there is Jacobus van Stoutenburg. Jacobus lived near current day Albany and eventually went back to the Netherlands.

 Now back to the story:

New Netherland was established more like a corporate holding than a colony. The Dutch West India Company appointed members and employees to management roles in New Netherland. It wasn’t until Pieter Stuyvesant arrived that the Company assigned a resident of New Amsterdam to serve as a local treasurer on the Company’s behalf. Wilhelmus Hendrickse Beekman held that position until the defeat of the Dutch colony in September of 1664.

The British established a colonial government in New York and appointed a mayor of New York City. The mayor appointed a city clerk who served the role of treasurer of the city. Thomas Willit was the first city clerk in New York City. He served from 1665 to 1668 when Cornelis Steenwyck was appointed. Cornelis occupied that position until 1671. Thomas Delavall and Matthias Nicoll also served as city clerk in 1671. John Lawrence was city clerk in 1672.

The Dutch briefly regained control the colony between 1673 and 1674. The function doesn’t seem to exist in 1673. Sometime in 1674, Johannes Van Bugh, as Burgomaster/Mayor, served as treasurer of City of New Orange/New York City. New Orange was the name that the Dutch then gave to the city in honor of the Dutch House of Orange. That name didn't last long and the British again called the city New York.

In 1676, the British established the position, “The Treasurer of the City.” Pieter Stoutenburg was the first to be appointed to that position. He was succeeded by Willem Bogardus in 1679. So this is probably where the story that he was the first treasurer of New Amsterdam arose.

Since Pieter Stoutenburg was in his early 60’s when he was appointed Treasurer of the City of New York, it hardly makes sense that he was the first treasurer of New Amsterdam let alone the treasurer of the colony.

So what about the rich Pieter Stoutenburg?

Pieter had small burghers rights. The wealthiest residents or people in the highest positions within the Company had great burghers rights. Property taxes were based on ranking of each property as 1^st class to 3^rd class. Owners of 1^st class property paying the most and those whose property is classified at 3^rd class paying the least. Pieter’s property on the various tax rolls was classified at 3^rd class.

 

Given the tax records, I am not sure that I would call him rich. However, he certainly was a man of means and standing within the community. He served as orphan master protecting orphan rights, as guardian to his sister-in-law’s orphans, as elder in the church, and other roles.

 

To me, he sounded like a person who cared about the well-being of children, his community and his civic involvement. Those mean more to me.

45th Anniversary of the Internet

Today is the 45th anniversary of the beginning the Internet. It's a little less than 4 hours from the time on October 29, 1969 that my husband successfully accessed a computer at Stanford Research Institute from a computer at UCLA.

The first time that I recall an acknowledgment of this day in 1969 was in 1999. I began to receive calls at my office looking for my husband because it would be the 30th anniversary of the day on which he was able to connect his computer to another computer in Menlo Park, California.

I had just graduated in September 1969 from UCLA and my husband-to-be was a graduate student at UCLA. I joined the UCLA Alumni Association as a life member within a year of my graduation. My husband who earned three degrees from UCLA never did. It was my membership of the UCLA Alumni Association the precipitated these calls.

Through the influence of my father, I often found myself as the only female in a male dominated area of study, job, etc. I was the only female in my high school physics class. I was a mathematics major at UC Berkeley where I learned ALGOL and FORTRAN 2.

At UCLA, I joined the Computer Club in which I was one of two or three females during the time in which I was a member. It was at Computer Club that I met Charley. We had dated off and on for almost 3 years. In September 1969, we were at a wedding of an engineering student friend when we decided to become engaged to marry.

By 1969, it was clear to me that I was probably going to marry this guy. I was cooking dinner for him four week nights a week. I was including his laundry with mine when I did mine. I was a bit miffed when his clothes were soiled by crawling in the space below the raised floor in that computer room of October 29, 1969.

Ira Flatow asked Charley last Friday if he had any idea of what that night meant in 2014. He said that he had no clue. Charley's response it right on. The only thing that I remember of that time was wondering why the ARPA contract couldn't afford to buy Charley coveralls so he didn't harm his clothing while crawling under the floor.

Oldest House in Hyde Park - William Stoutenburgh Home

The Stoutenburgh-Teller Family Association is the proud owner of the oldest house in Hyde Park, New York. The house was built in the latter half of the 18th Century by William Stoutenburgh, son of Jacobus Stoutenburgh, the first settler of Hyde. Park. The area was known as Stoutenburgh and Stoutenburgh Landing.



William Stoutenburgh Home - Photo at FDR Presidential Library
Oldest home in Hyde Park, NY

Donations through the years have helped to support the maintenance of this old house. This year this old house needed more maintenance than expected. A member of the Family Association offered to match donations to the Association between now and October 31st up to $25,000.

If you are a descendant of Jacobus Stoutenburgh, descendant of his grandfather, Pieter Stoutenburg, or a person who loves to preserve pieces of colonial history, please consider sending a contribution, however large or small, to the Stoutenburgh-Teller Family Association, PO Box 365, Lenoir City, TN 37771-0365. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Make the check out to the Wm. Stoutenburgh Historic Homesite and write "Challenge" in the memo area of the check. Although the matching offer expires on October 31, the Family Association is happy to receive donations at any time.

The Man with An Identity Crisis

When I add a person to my family tree by marriage, I like to include his/her parents. When a female is added through marriage, I ofttimes find it a challenge to identify her parents. Once I identify her parents, I like to include some basic information, such as, when and where her parents were born and died.

My relative, Harry E. Richardson, was married to Frances by 1930. Trying to identify her parents was a challenge. As I dug deeper in, I learned the names of her parents. It wasn't easy because her father seemed to have an identity issue.

Christian Strohm was born 1871-1872 in Michigan. He was enumerated with his parents 1880 in Elmwood Township, Leelanau County, Michigan at the age of 8. His father was born in Wurtemburg, Germany and his mother, in Baden, Germany.

In the 1900 Census, he was enumerated as Christ Strohm and born in November 1871. He had been married for 2 years at that time. The young couple were living in Elmwood Township.

In 1910, the family was living in Blair Township, Grand Traverse County, Michigan. In the 1910 Census, was he recorded as Christopher Srohm (sic) and is a farmer who owns his farm outright. Frances is the youngest child in the household.

I found the change in his name a bit strange and credited it to the enumerator. But then I found that he was enumerated as Christpher in 1920 and in 1940. However in the 1930 Census, his name was written as Chris J. Strohm.

His obituary in the Traverse City Record-Eagle in entitled, "Christ Strohm, Pioneer, Dies." and his gravestone reads, " Strohm, Chris J. 1872 - 1958."

He used the name Chris In the 1903-1904 Traverse City and Grand Traverse County Directory. But by the next directory, he is recorded as Christopher Strohm. Christopher Strohm is listed in the various directories between 1904 and 1927.

Christian, Christopher, Christ, Chris Strohm may you rest in peace.