Week 21 – Brick Wall

 

I have people ask me how I’m able to find out so much about my ancestors. I’m just like every family historian who has ancestors who they just can’t get past when adding to their family tree. Among mine are Jacob Dale, who is the son of one of three brothers – I consider this line a picket fence. I know the answer is somewhere and I know who his grandparents are, but I just can’t prove him to his parents. John Ditmore fell out of the sky into South Carolina sometime around the beginning of the 19^th century. There are several clues to who might have been his forebearers, and I truly believe that one day we’ll find that little scrap that moves us further back into history, but in the meantime, I’m saying this line is a thick hedge. I have a couple others, like Thomas Williamson and his wife, Margaret Shillito. I know where they were born and died, and am pretty sure I know their families - I mean, seriously, how many Shillito’s have you come across?  They are a metal fence.

Then there’s the Sturgeon family…. This family is a big old thick heavy impenetrable BRICK WALL.

The only great-grandparent I ever met was Grandma Pennington, my mother’s, mother’s, mother. Her name was Amanda. She married Edward Pryor Pennington on 1 Oct 1892 in Atchison, KS and together they had eight children, six of whom grew to adulthood. Much is known about her after she and Edward began their family, but little was known about her as a girl, and virtually nothing about her parents and siblings. She gave her birth date as 7 March 1874 and birth place as Iatan, Platte County, Missouri when she applied for Social Security, but this is the only clue she ever gave as to her family history in written record. Her daughter, Mabel, wrote down what little she was told regarding her mother’s upbringing. According to Amanda, she was raised by a family named Ratliff. Nothing was mentioned about what had happened to Amanda’s parents, but her surname was known to be Hollingsworth.  Perhaps this is truly all that Amanda knew, but in trying to discover her story, I determined she was the daughter of Jason William Hollingsworth and Hannah Sturgeon. As it turns out, the family that raised her was actually Amanda’s older sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, James Ratliff.

Jason William Hollingsworth and Hannah Sturgeon married 9 May 1861 in Platte County, Missouri. We know that Jason lived at least until 1875, as he was enumerated with his family in the Kansas census. By 1880, Hannah is a widow trying to raise her family of six children with the help of two of her brothers, in Walnut Township, Atchison County, Kansas. Her youngest child, Alexander (also known as Babe), was less than one year old. Walnut Township sits on the bank of the Missouri River, just north of the town of Atchison. The Great Flood of 1881 ravaged the Missouri River including the entire area of Walnut Township in April of that year. From the Atchison Weekly Patriot, “It extended from bluff to bluff, a distance of several miles, one vast, unbroken sheet of water, being from six to ten feet deep… Almost every dwelling was swept away, much stock and grain being lost… Deacon John Steward, refusing to evacuate until the very last… Happily he made a landing on the straw stack of Mrs. Hollingsworth.” While I’ve not discovered anything else pertaining to the Hollingsworth family and the flood, this devastation is undoubtedly what forced Hannah to sell her land to John Davitz on 28 January 1882 for $100.00. Then on 30 July 1882, Mrs. Hannah Hollingsworth married Mr. Charles Reece. Hannah then vanishes from record.

Hannah’s father was Alexander Sturgeon, born about 1816 in Hart County, Kentucky. Records related to the Sturgeon family abound in Hardin, Hart, Warren, Barren and Green Counties in Kentucky. But in all the probate records, land deeds, newspaper accounts and local histories, Alexander Sturgeon remains a mystery. Many family trees give the names of at least three different couples who may be his parents, but all are unsourced and likely copied from other misinformed researchers.  There was a son of one of these couples named Truax. Ironically, Truax disappears from all records before 1840 and in the 1840 census, Alexander appears for the first time, living in Meade County, with his presumed wife, and a boy and girl, both under five years old. I have often wondered if Truax and Alexander might be the same person but, in my research, I’ve never been able to connect the two. By 1850, Alexander and a woman, Sarah, along with six children, are still in Kentucky, but are now in Green County. While county lines did vary somewhat over these years, it is evident that the family did move around. Then by 1860, they are found all the way in Green, Platte County Missouri.

That Sarah is the mother of all of Alexander’s children is supposition. As only the name of the head of household is listed in the 1840 census, it is possible that Alexander was married to someone prior to Sarah. Regardless, no marriage record for Alexander Sturgeon and any woman has been discovered, so for now, I am going with the assumption that Sarah is Hannah’s mother, making her my three times great-grandmother.

So, what do we know about Sarah. She was born circa 1813 in Green County, Kentucky. She presumably married Alexander Sturgeon prior to 1850. Alexander Sturgeon had nine children. You would think one of them would have lived long enough to have a state or county issued death certificate, obituary, or something that might lend a hint to the surname of their mother. But this is not the case.

Hannah Sturgeon was the third child of Alexander and Sarah, born in 1842, in Kentucky. Her siblings included John born circa 1838, who apparently died before the 1870 census, as it is prior to this that he disappears from records. Next was Nancy, who was born in 1840. She married Perry Routh in 1865. Perry is listed as a widower by the 1880 census. Anderson, born in 1846, married and lived in Kansas City, Kansas during his adult life, dying in 1911, the year death certificates were first mandatory in Kansas, although many were still not filed, apparently including Anderson’s. Two of Hannah’s brothers were living with her in 1880, Alexander, born 1849; and Henry, born 1852. Alexander died later that year on 28 July; Henry married and lived until 1915, but his death certificate gives the name of his mother as “Unknown.” Jane, born 1855 and Julia born 1858, both disappear after the 1870 census. It is likely they both married, but no marriage records have been found. That leaves Henry Clay Sturgeon, born 1852 who lived until 1929. A request for his death certificate that might provide the surname of his mother, resulted in a letter from the Kansas Vital Statistic Office stating it couldn’t be located.

Then we have the death dates of Alexander and Sarah which are full of conundrums. Based on census records, Sarah was one to three years older than Alexander. It appears that Sarah died between 1870 and 1875. She is enumerated with her family in the 1870 census residing in Walnut, Atchison County, Kansas, but in the 1875 Kansas census, Alexander is listed with only son, Alexander.  Of keen interest, however, is Alexander’s will, recorded 30 September 1870, and proved 3 June 1873 where he leaves all of his land and appurtenances consisting of twenty acres, to his wife, Sarah. That same day, this land is conveyed to Sarah Sturgeon, assuming to be at Alexander’s death. To complicate matters even more, Alexander Sturgeon is then the grantor for this same land when it was conveyed to R. M. King a full year later, on 2 June 1874. Fast forward to 1954, eighty years later, and Mr. Frank Grape filed a petition in District Court where descendants of Alexander and Sarah Sturgeon, along with the descendants of R. M. King, and others are named as defendants regarding the ownership of this same property.  I’ve always been told when researching, “Follow the land records.” I’m so dizzy from following this little twenty-acre tract I can’t even walk straight!

I’ve been able to trace many of my ancestors back in time because of stories that have been handed down. Grandma Pennington did not divulge any information on her lineage, so I’ve had to start with a blank canvas. Although I’ve been able to track her ancestors back two generations, even with all the documentation I’ve uncovered (and it’s a lot!), there is still so much missing. I will never give up trying to find Alexander and Sarah’s family, but at this point, I almost feel defeated. Almost is the operative word. I’ve been told I’m like a dog with a bone when looking for that next scrap that leads me back another generation or two. In the meantime, I’ve got a pick ax and I’m continuing to chip away at that big old thick heavy (almost) impenetrable brick wall.