Parentage of Jacob Hagaman (1816-1874) discovered

After years of searching for the parents of Jacob Hagaman I have recently been successful! Jacob Hagaman was my great-great-great Grandfather and one of the hardy souls who ventured west to settle in Michigan from the State of New York around 1855. Years ago I discovered the graves of Jacob and his wife Elizabeth in the Somerset Center Cemetery just behind the Somerset Center United Methodist Church. But trying to trace their ancestry has not been so easy.

Searching the census has been successful recently. I knew that my great-great Granfather, George Henry Hagaman was born in Litchfield, Michigan in 1857 and therefore confirmed with the 1860 Census that the family was living in Michigan. However, some of his older sibilings were listed as being born in New York--specifically 10 year old Mary. Searching for them in New York had not been very successful--for whatever reason I couldn't find a match even with attempting the various spellings of the name until finally this year I discovered them listed at HAGARMAN in Macedon, Wayne County, New York. Then to my surprise was a listing for the dwelling next to Jacob and Elizabeth for a John and Esther HAGARMAN. Looking at their ages, I concluded that indeed they could be his parents so I went further down the trail of looking for more info on the couple.

After searching the Wayne County (NY) Historian's page, I discovered that John and Esther were buried in the Walworth Cemetery in Wayne County and that Esther had executed a Last Will and Testament before her death in 1868. I requested a copy of this will and the wonderful folks at the Historian's Office sent me a photocopy within a few days. Here is the text of her will:

Last Will and Testament of Esther Hagaman


I, Esther Hagaman of Walworth, Wayne County and State of New York aged seventy years and upwards and being of sound mind and memory do make publish and declare this my last will and testament in manner following—that is to say—

First—I give and bequeath to my daughter Rebecca Jane Hagaman three hundred dollars. – To my other daughters Julia Monfort, Anna Maria Pratt, and Mary Duncan each the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars.

Second—I give and devise to my Grand Daughter Mary Hagaman daughter of my son Jacob of Litchfield Michigan, one feather bed.

Third—I give and bequeath all the rest residue and remainder of my personal estate goods and chattels of whatever kind or nature to all my children sons and daughters in equal proportions share and share alike.

Lastly, I hereby appoint my son Henry Hagaman of Sing Sing N. York executor of this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills by me at any time made.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 18th day of December 1860—

Esther Hagaman

The above instrument of one sheet of paper was at the date thereof signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Esther Hagaman as and for her last will and testament-in the presence of each other have subscribed our names thereto as witnesses—
Daniel Hoyt Walworth Wayne Co NY
J. R. Jones Jr. Walworth Wayne Co NY

Source:
Office of the County Historian, Wayne County, New York
Will Book L-1, page 389

So there is the proof I have been looking for..... "Mary Hagaman the daughter of my son Jacob of Litchfield Michigan. " I find it very interesting that not all of Esther's children are listed in her will and particularly that the daughters are the primary benefactors of the estate. Are there more male sibilings other than Jacob and Henry? We'll have to stand by on that one.

Thank you to the wonderful people at the Wayne County (NY) Historian's Office for posting the various indexes and tools on their website (http://www.co.wayne.ny.us/departments/historian/historian.htm). This was a huge help to me.

Jacob Hagaman (1816-1874) and Elizabeth (Bernhart) Hagaman's (1818-1890) children were:

1) Anna Maria Hagaman Hinkley (1846-1916)

2) Mary Hagaman Dailey (1851-aft. 1920)

3) Julia Hagaman Dailey (1853-1883)

4) George Henry Hagaman (1857-1939)

Known children of John Hagaman (c1780-1858) and Esther Hagaman (1784-1868) are:

-Jacob Hagaman, migrated to Michigan

-Henry Hagaman, lived in Sing Sing, New York

-Rebecca Jane Hagaman, lived in Walworth, Wayne County, New York (never married)

-Julia Hagaman Monfort, lived in Palmyra, Wayne County, New York

-Anna Maria Hagaman Pratt, lived near Arcadia, Wayne County, New York

-Mary Hagaman Duncan, (nothing known about her)

-Jane Hagaman, who died as an infant.

I would be delighted to hear from descendants of any of the Hagamans to compare finds.

Josiah Bushnell Grinnell and the founding of Grinnell, Iowa

Yesterday while I was browsing through a few newspaper folders at the archives where I work, I discovered an 1854 issue of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, the official newspaper of the Methodist Episcopal denomination that covered western Pennsylvania, western Virginia (now West Virginia) and Eastern Ohio. Being very familiar with Methodist history in W. Pa., my interest was piqued to browse the issue because there certainly would be something in the paper that would be cool to read. I got to the bottom of page 2 and there it was--a notice of Josiah B. Grinnell's adventure in the west and the formation of Grinnell, Iowa. Many of members of the Grinnell clan will remember that it was Horace Greeley that said, "Go west young man" to Josiah B. Grinnell. Interesting that a notice about the activity of a Congregationalist minister would be covered in this western Methodist newspaper!

James T. & Fannie M. (Randall) Grinnell of Convis Township

How wonderful it is to use the web when searching for information on your ancestors. You never know what you will discover.

Several months ago, I googled my great-grandfathers name--James T. Grinnell--and to my surprise I found a posting on a bulletin board. The person wrote that her family had something of interest to a descendant. So, I sent a message off to the author of the posting. Turns out that her mother had salvaged a group of correspondence from an auction years ago and were interesting in tracking down a family member to give the collection too.

I'm happy to report that Darla (the author of the bulletin board posting) directed her neice, Ashley to send the package of letters to me. They arrived two weeks ago and it has been such fun reading and sorting these treasures out. In all there are over 65 individual letters that were sent to James and Fannie over the time period of 1869 to 1892. Most of them were from relatives that moved away from their original home in Convis Township, Calhoun County, Michigan. Some of these relatives ended up in Kansas and Wisconsin. Additionally, James received letters from old school chums who were living in Oregon and Washington. Not only were there letters in the bunch but also a speech James had delivered at the Grange Hall in 1875 and a short composition on "Conversation" that Fannie had composed as a school girl.

What a treasure trove! I am so honored that Darla, Ashley and their family placed these valuable family archives in my care. I will attempt to transcribe and post some of the more interesting letters in the future. Until then, I hope you all will join in my excitement.

Pictured above is the James and Fannie Grinnell family taken about 1897. Here is a little bit about them:

James Talcot Grinnell (1850-1933), son of Ezra Grinnell and Charlotte Murray,
he married on December 16, 1875 Miss Fannie Maria Randall (1857-1933), the daughter of Theodore Randall and Maria Detterich.

Their Children were:

Eva Maria Grinnell Walkinshaw (1877-1965)
Amos Randall Grinnell (1880-1942)
Floyd James Grinnell (1882-1972)
Charlotte Arena Grinnell (1885-1938)

Harry Duane Grinnell (1892-1972)

Donald Ivan Grinnell (1895-1971)

Baseline United Brethren Church (Fitchburg, Michigan)

In the mid-1850's the Jackson Mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ was formed serving the areas of Grass Lake, Waterloo, Henrietta and Bunkerhill townships--straddling the border of Jackson and Ingham Counties. The Baseline Church--usually found listed simply as Baseline UB Church, was built at Baseline and Haynes Roads in Bunkerhill Township and served families from both Henrietta Township as well at those in Bunkerhill.

My great-great-great-grandparents, Lawrence Hobart and Annice Ann (Aldrich) McCreery were early members of this congregation. They lived nearby and so did many members of their close knit family, including LH's older brother, John Breese McCreery. JB is closely identified with this congregation and is sometimes referred to as a preacher. It is most likely that JB served as a lay-preacher, filling in for the pastor when he was off to another preaching place under his charge, which included churches in the village of Waterloo and First UB Church of Waterloo Township on Parks and Territorial Roads. JB also donated land where the parsonage was built to house the preacher and his family, which would have made the Baseline Church a central location for the preacher.

When Annice Ann McCreery's father Edward Aldrich died in 1890, although not a member of the Baseline congregation, his funeral services were held at the church which was very close to his former residence in along Meridian Road in Henrietta Township.

Succeeding generations of the McCreery family were also members of the Baseline Congregation. On 16 August 1905, my great grandparents Anna Smith (granddaughter of LH and Annice) and Jesse Carley were married at the parsonage by Rev. H. Hollis of the Baseline Church. But it would not be long and the family seems to have become members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Munith. This has lead me to wonder what happened to the UB Church?

Here are some interesting observations concerning these UB congregation in the Munith-Waterloo area--

Traditionally, the United Brethren in Christ denomination was German speaking. Although much of the Munith-Waterloo area was of German origins, the names that appear associated with the UB congregations don't appear to be Germanic, e.g. McCreery, Smith, McCloys, Parks, Weeks, Garners and Hall. The UB denomination was Wesleyan in theology and the only real difference between this church and the Methodist Episcopal church was the language--UB's speaking German and ME's speaking English. There were ME churches in Fitchburg, Munith, Pleasant Lake and Stockbridge, which were all very close to the Baseline and Waterloo UB Churches. So, what was the attraction of my ancestors to this denomination?

What happened to the Baseline UB Church? Did it disband? Did it merge with another congregation? Are there any records that exist from this rural congregation?

To bring the story of the denominations up to date--in 1946 the UB's merged with another traditionally speaking German-Methodist denomination known as the Evangelical Church to form the Evangelical United Brethren denomination. This is why the Waterloo churches (one at Parks and Territorial Road and the one in the Village of Waterloo) were for a time know as the EUB churches. In 1968 the EUB and Methodist denominations merged to form the United Methodist Church--thus making these former rural churches all part of the United Methodist umbrella.

The religious life of our ancestors can weave and interesting story that many genealogist and family historians fail to recognize. The motivations, attitudes and practices tell us much about the way we were reared and helps us understand the lens with which they viewed the world. I encourage my fellow family historians not to overlook this very important aspect of our ancestors lives.

UPDATE--

I just purchased the book History of the Michigan Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church by William H. Watson and A. LaVerne Spafford, Sr., published in 1961. On pages 467-469 a short history of the Waterloo First EUB church appears. In this brief sketch it states, "With the division of the United Brethren Church into liberals and radicals, the Bunker Hill Class went with the radicals." In the 1880's the UB denomination experienced a schism over the revision of the constitution of the organization. The liberal faction updated the constitution with the removal of the prohibition of membership in secret societies and lay representation. A small faction, known as the radicals or the "Old Constitution" members objected to the libralizing of the denomination and in 1889 the two factions parted ways. The "New Constitution" UB Denomination would be eventually merge with the Evangelical Church in 1946. The "Old Constitution" UB Denomination is still in existence today. Based on this sentence from the Watson and Spafford history I conclude that the Bunker Hill UB congregation sided with the "Old Constitution" faction. However, this still does not bring us to the conclusion of when this local church dissolved, died or was abandon.

Grinnell Burials in Little Compton, RI

While visiting the Little Compton (RI) Commons this summer at the Grinnell Family Association reunion, I photographed several Grinnell tombstones in the Old Commons Burial Ground and the Union Cemetery (located across Meeting House Lane, but still in the "village.")

Shown here is the tombstone of the infamous "Pirate" Dick Grinnell.

The Old Commons Burial Ground is located adjacent to the Congregational Church, where members of the Grinnell family were known to have been members for many generation.

I've posted these images on Findagrave.com. When you arrive on the front page for each cemetery, type "Grinnell" into the surname search and see what you discover!

Old Commons Burial Ground page located at:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1962293

Union Cemetery page located at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=455947

Edward Carley's Store and the Munith (Michigan) Fire of 1913

Sometime ago, I discovered a photograph of my great-great uncle Edward R. Carley on the website entitled Making of Modern Michigan Digital Collections (http://mmm.lib.msu.edu/). Ed owned and operated a general store in the village of Munith, Michigan which was laid out along the Grand Trunk Railroad line. It reminded me of a story my Grandmother once told me when we were looking through and old photograph album created by my Great Grandmother. One photo jumped off the page at me--it was labeled "Munith Fire 1913." I asked my grandmother, Munith burned? She replied that one of the business blocks had burned and that during the fire, the phone rang at their farm house about 3 miles away from the village. They had some special coded ring for fires so everyone would know that they should pick up the phone and listen for instructions on where to assemble to fight the fire. She said the family went in to the village and the block on the western side of Main Street at 6th Street was on fire. Everyone was fearful that the fire would jump 6th street and ignite the business blocks to the south. In the block that was threatened was Uncle Ed Carley's store and the store of Charles Crane. Grandma said that all the girls pitched in by removing the merchandise from the store and putting it into cars and buggies to be carted off to safety. But the fire was extinguished before it reached the Carley store.

Grandma stated that Uncle Ed's store was very important because it was the location of the switchboard for the phone company. Had it burned it might have been awful for this rural community to remain in touch with Jackson, Lansing and other urban centers nearby.

I now have the one image from that old album as evidence of the Munith fire in 1913. Posted here is the image from the Making of Modern Michigan of Uncle Edward Carley at the switchboard in side his store. The family resided in an apartment on the second and third floor of their store building. Later, they would also own a farm near the corner of Kennedy and Sayers Road, across the street from the Kennedy School, where so many of the members of the Carely family received their primary education.

Today, few buildings that housed business still stand in Munith with the exception of the brick buildings built by Edward Carley and Charles Crane (who was also the undertaker).

Here is a little on Ed's immediate family:

Edward Royal Carley
born: 7 November 1871 at the Carley Farm on Sayers Road, near Munith, Michigan
parents: Oren A. Carley and Mary (Calkin) Carley
married: 24 August 1899 to Ede Walz at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Jackson, Mich.
died: 28 June 1923 in Munith, Michigan and buried at Munith Cemetery.

Ede Walz Carley
born: 13 April 1882
parents: George Walz and Elizabeth (Mayer) Walz
died: 26 April 1961 in Henrietta Township, near Munith, Michigan and buried at Munith Cemetery.

Their children:
1) Lerna Mary (1901-2000) m. Raymond M. Smith
2) Elsie (1903-1946) m. Wendell LaCoe
3) Agnes Elizabeth (1905-1986) m. Wesley Moechel

Update:

"Mrs. Lena VanBuren poolroom and adjoining property, Munith. Fire occurred Oct. 20, 1913, destroying $10,000 to $15,000 worth of property. Circumstances surrounding fire such that this department felt justified in investigating."

Annual Report of State Fire Marshal to the Governor of Michigan, 1913.