An American Author Challenge Discovery

This month's American Author Challenge is devoted to books by Louis L'Amour. For some reason I decided to look him up at Wikipedia, discovering his middle name is "Dearborn." Since Dearborn is one of my family lines, going back to New England, I immediately suspected we might be related.

Using his WikiTree profile I traced his line back to our common ancestors:

Louis Dearborn LaMoore/LaMour/L'Amour (1908-1988)
Emily Lavisa Dearborn (1870-1954)
Abraham Truman Dearborn (b. 1835)
William S. Dearborn (1803-abt 1852)
Levi Dearborn (1769-1857)
Reuben Dearborn (b. 1738)
Reuben Dearborn (1707-1790)
Samuel Dearborn (1676-1748)
Thomas Dearborn (1632-1710) and Hannah Colcord (1643-1720)

My line:
Lori Thornton (Me)
Dorothy Ann Lantz (1924-2010)
Irving Lee Lantz (1885-1971)
Laura Lucy Taylor (1854-1922)
Betsey Dearborn (1818-1899)
Nathan Dearborn (1785-1847)
Samuel Dearborn (1745-1833)
Benjamin Dearborn (b. 1713)
Ebenezer Dearborn (b. 1679)
Thomas Dearborn (ca 1634-1710) and Hannah Colcord (d. 1720)

I left the differences in dates in the WikiTree data and my own research, but it's similar enough one can tell it is the same person.

This makes us 7th cousins once removed.

Of course, I need to verify the information in WikiTree, and I'm not placing all the documentation for my own line in this post--and some of the older stuff probably needs some "shoring up."

However, the kinship to this month's author was an unexpected discovery for me I wished to share. I chose to read Westward the Tide, much of which is set in the Big Horn Mountains.

My Sanborn Connection

Heather Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy posted about her connection to John Sanborn of New Hampshire. On her Facebook post, she asked if her Facebook friends were descended from John, and my reply was "yes."

I thought it might be fun to include my line from John here. It would take "forever" to write a documented post so I'll leave documentation of the individuals and their parentage for future posts. I have not done extensive work on the Sanborn line, and I did learn the exact location in England where John was born from Heather's post! It's a post I've "pinned" for future reference.

Generation 1.
John Sanborn (son of John Sanborn and Ann Batchelder): born abt 1620 Brimpton, Berkshire, England; died 10 Oct 1692 Hampton, New Hampshire. I'm descended from his first wife Mary Tuck, daughter of Robert Tuck and his wife Joanna.

Generation 2.
Joseph Sanborn: born 13 Mar 1659; married Mary Gove 28 Dec 1682; died abt 1722, Hampton, New Hampshire.

Generation 3.
Abigail Sanborn: born 1 Apr 1686 Hampton, New Hampshire; married Ebenezer Dearborn 7 Oct 1703 Hampton, New Hampshire; died 26 Feb 1768 Hampton, New Hampshire.

Generation 4.
Benjamin Dearborn: born 13 Aug 1713 probably Chester, New Hampshire; married Susanna Colcord 31 Oct 1735; died 15 May 1772 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire. (County was formed in 1771.)

Generation 5.
Samuel Dearborn: born 15 Apr 1745 Chester, New Hampshire; married Abigail Ward, daughter of Rev. Nathan Ward and Tamasin Ireland Ward, 22 Jul 1777 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire; died 22 Jul 1833 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire.

Generation 6.
Nathan Dearborn: born 4 Sep 1785 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire; married 1 - Sarah Seeley 6 Feb 1812 Washington County, Ohio; married 2 - Lucy Perkins 26 Sep 1813 (probably in New Hampshire - there's a story about their wedding trip by horseback that is widely circulated); died 22 Feb 1847 Malta, Morgan County, Ohio. (I'm descended from Lucy.)

Generation 7.
Betsey Dearborn: born 4 Sep 1818 Malta, Morgan County, Ohio; married Stephen Taylor 8 Mar 1837 Morgan County, Ohio; died 12 Mar 1899 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory.

Betsey Dearborn Taylor, abt 1881

Generation 8.
Laura Lucy Taylor: born 25 Apr 1854 McLean County, Illinois; married Abraham Lowden Lantz 15 Feb 1874 McLean County, Illinois; died 25 Sep 1922 Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 9.
Irving Lee Lantz: born 19 Nov 1885 Oak Grove, McLean County, Illinois; married Gillie Mae Hester 5 Aug 1917 Monroe County, Mississippi; died 5 Sep 1971 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 10.
Dorothy Ann Lantz: born 30 Aug 1924 Monroe County, Mississippi; married James Thomas Thornton, Jr. 17 Mar 1946 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi; died 22 Mar 2010 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 11.
Me!

Dear Genea-Santa

I hear that you look a lot like Randy Seaver. If you live in San Diego like he does, you might want to shed that red suit you always wear. It might be a little warm in such a warm climate. You will, however, need it for your trip to East Tennessee if the weather is like today's which included some snow. Our weather seems a little colder than usual, so I just want to make sure that you are prepared for it!

I think this is where I'm supposed to say that I've been a good girl this year. However, since the song says that "he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake," that seems a bit redundant. I'll let you make your own assessment!

Here is my list of 3 wishes for Christmas. I understand that you only grant heirlooms and not clues to genealogy or current things like journal subscriptions. I have arranged them in order of priority for your convenience.

Richard & Agnes Thornton family Bible . I just know that if you'll send this along to me that it will hold the answers to the parentage of both Richard and Agnes among many other important family dates that would have been recorded.

Quilt made by Lucy Perkins Dearborn. I would love to have a quilt made by this 3rd great-grandmother. She's one of my New England ancestors that moved to the Midwest. I think an old quilt would be a wonderful heirloom.

Medical implements that belonged to Elizabeth "Betsy" Murry Mosely. I think it would be interesting to have some mid-19th century medical implements that belonged to my 3rd great-grandmother. There weren't that many females practicing medicine back then, but the family tradition that she practiced medicine is backed up by census records so I want these implements to treasure.

This concludes my wish list for Christmas 2008. I'll skip the part about the snack for Santa. Some would say that you need to go on a diet, but I think you really feed most of those snacks to the reindeer or you'd be gaining far more weight than your pictures reveal.

Sincerely,
Lori

The Dearborns in England

While I was in New England last month, I was able to visit with the reference librarian at NEHGS who is a descendant from the Dearborn family which is one of my New England lines. Since this was one of the lines that I had chosen to work on while I was there, I asked him about the line we shared. I was able to give him some information on some of the more recent descent from Betsey Dearborn, daughter of Deacon Nathan Dearborn and he was able to provide me with some information on the immigrant Godfrey Dearborn’s father who had been previously unknown to me.

Today I began entering the information that I received from him in my database and noting as tasks the original records that I needed to make sure that I got that pertained to these. I printed off the information on each roll of microfilm which needs to be borrowed via a Local Family History Center. I also explored some of the information about the locations in which they lived.

First of all, let me state that many published genealogies say that Godfrey Dearborn was probably born in Exeter, Devon, England. Since he was baptized in Willoughby, Lincolnshire, that location seems unlikely. Godfrey’s father William was born in Lincolnshire. I don’t have a definite location for his birth at this point. David Dearborn says that William was married at St. Peter’s Church in Markby. One of the things that really caught my attention was a note by Dearborn that said that this was now the only thatched church in the county. I decided to do some investigation and located some photos online. In the article it states that the “parish was in the Alford sub-district of the Spilsby Registration District.” I found this interesting because while researching Willoughby, I had discovered that Anne Hutchinson was born in Alford. A well-documented history of the priory of Markby can be found at the British History Online site. There is also a brief history of the parish at the Alford Group of Churches web site which is as close to an “official” site for the church you can find.

I located all of the locations on an 1885 map of Northern Lincolnshire, an excerpt of which can be seen below with red stars showing locations of importance to the Dearebarne family. (The usual spelling of the surname in England is either Dearebarne or Dearbarne. The spelling Dearborn was adopted after coming to America.)

Willoughby is the location where Godfrey and all his brothers were baptized. Perhaps the most famous person to come from this village was Capt. John Smith. It’s interesting that Smith and Godfrey Dearborn ended up in such different locations in the Americas, having come from the same town; however, more than 30 years separated their trips. Willoughby lies just 3 miles south of Alford. Several of Godfrey’s children were baptized in Hannah, a town near Markby and Alford. (St. Andrew church in Hannah was built in 1753. He would have worshipped in an earlier building.)

Anne Hutchinson, of course, had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony before the first evidence of Godfrey’s presence in the United States where we find that he signed the “Exeter Combination,” which was signed on the 4th of July 1639. (You’ll note on the scan of the document that it was the 5th month. Back then the calendar started with March.) (For more information on the town of Exeter, see Edward Chase’s history of Exeter.) We do know that Godfrey was a follower of Rev. John Wheelwright, brother-in-law of Anne Hutchinson, who founded the town of Exeter. Wheelwright was also for Alford. (Here is a nice summary of the antinomian controversy which was kindled by Anne’s teachings.) I find it interesting that Anne went to Rhode Island but that her brother-in-law ended up in New Hampshire. I plan to further research why they headed in opposite directions and how Wheelwright’s beliefs influenced the settlers in Southern New Hampshire. Wheelwright and many of his followers ended up settling Wells, Maine. Godfrey apparently received a land grant there but never settled there. What made him change his mind?

Godfrey moved to Hampton, New Hampshire about 10 years later. It is my understanding that his home which was located at 73 Exeter Road (Route 27) is still standing and may be the oldest frame house in the state. I’d love to have a recent photo of this home. There are old ones here. I probably saw the house on my trip to Hampton as I was on Route 27, but I did not know about this home at that time. (Of course, this gives me another excuse for another New England trip!)

Boston Diary - June 4

Today was a rainy day in Boston. Most of you know that I've now vowed to avoid breakfast here at the hotel, so I decided to give the Paramount a try. I knew from my research beforehand that it was one of the best places to eat breakfast in Boston. I had to walk through the Boston Public Garden to get there. Terry was bragging on his garden yesterday, but this one is just as spectacular in other ways. Here are a few pictures from this trip. I took a ton of them when I was here in September 2006 so I didn't snap quite as many today, especially since it was raining.

These swans were enjoying their little stay on the grass.

Make way for ducklings!

The real ducklings. There are three of them to the left of the bigger duck, but some of them were taking a dip so they are hard to see!

Look in the tree. What do you see? That little guy was enjoying that nut!

I love the buds!

What kind of tree is this?


My malted Belgian waffle with fresh fruit from the Paramount. It was absolutely wonderful!

I spent the morning researching at NEHGS. I utilized a few more Essex County records. Then I utilized some Grafton County, New Hampshire records including the towns of Plymouth and Hebron. I made a list of all the manuscripts that I knew that I'd want to look at in the afternoon. Most of what I discovered just reinforced what I already had.

Before long it was time for lunch. The last time I was in Boston I was only able to visit the gift shop at Cheers. I decided that it was time to really go "where everybody knows your name."

This was called Cliff's Cranberry something or other. It's a non-alcoholic drink made of cranberry, lime, and ice cream.
This was the Cheers Cheeseburger.

This, of course, was the bar area. (I think it was too early for Norm and Cliff to be there.)

Now, after lunch, I headed on back to NEHGS to hit the manuscript collection. I figured that it would take most of the afternoon, and it did take a good portion of it. Quite a few of the manuscripts were compiled genealogies done by others. Some did a better job than others. There were also some town records and some various other records that persons had transcribed in letters and such. After going through these, I went back up to the 6th floor reference room and told David Dearborn, the reference librarian, that I was working on a line with which I thought he was pretty familiar. I shared with him my Dearborn ancestry. He told me which of the larger manuscript collections that I'd avoided would be useful. Then he shared with me his research on my branch of the family. I, in turn, supplied him with some information on my immediate branch that he did not have. I went back to a table and read through his information which is well-documented.

A lot of the information that I need now is on microfilm which is LDS film. I will probably use some of it tomorrow, but I know that I can have access, even if it means a delay in receiving it through the local Family History Center.

I walked back to the hotel to put up my research before heading out for supper. Tonight's theme was Chinese (with a twist). I decided to hit Myers + Chang which is in the South End. I had read about it in two different publications that recommended it. This meant a new adventure for me. I took the Green line from Copley Square down to Boylston where I needed to transfer to the Silver Line (which is the bus). I took it to the E. Berkeley St. stop. My directions had said that this was the nearest stop. I thought that meant that I'd have to walk, but right there in front of me was the restaurant! I ordered Green Papaya Slaw for the dim sum and Chicken & Rapini Stirfry for the main dish. The slaw had 3 of those little spice indicators next to it. The stirfry had two of them.

This is the green papaya slaw. As you can see, green papaya is nothing like the fruit papaya. It was certainly a unique taste. It kind of grew on you, but the heat kept building as you ate it as well. By the way, if you are wondering, I did eat the entire meal with chopsticks!
These are some Chinese pickles that they brought out to me since I was a first-timer. I really only ate a few of the carrot ones, but I was glad they mostly tasted of vinegar and not dill.
This is the main course--chicken and rapini stirfry. It was quite tasty.
This was a ginger-lemon mini-custard that they gave you at the end to cleanse your palate. Very tasty!

Betsey Dearborn Taylor

Betsey Dearborn was born 4 Sep 1818 in Morgan County, Ohio to Deacon Nathan Dearborn and his wife Lucy Perkins. She is the 4th great granddaughter of immigrant Godfrey Dearborn (Godfrey, Thomas, Ebenezer, Benjamin, Samuel, Nathan, Betsey). She married Stephen Taylor, son of the late Stephen Taylor and his wife Lovica Rathbone, on 8 March 1837 in Morgan County, Ohio. Her father Nathan was a deacon of the Windsor Baptist Church (aka Brick Church) in that county. She had seven brothers and sisters--Henry Perkins, Samuel Ward, Elsina, Margaret Ann, Lucy, Lydia S., and Nathan B.

Before 1840, Stephen and Betsey had made their home in White Oak Township of McLean County, Illinois. They lived on a farm right along the Woodford County line near the present-day town of Carlock. They had nine children of their own and adopted yet another. Their children were Isaac M., Otis L., Theresa Ann, Betsey Ann D., Zachary W., Elsina D. "Sis", Laura Lucy, Ida D. "I. D.", and John Dearborn. The child they adopted later was Cora Potter.

Her husband Stephen died in 1881 and was buried at the Denman Cemetery near Carlock. She moved to Oklahoma City with her son John Dearborn Taylor where she died 12 March 1899 and is buried in the Fairlawn Cemetery in that city.

The estimated date of the photograph is 1881.

Last Night's Reading

Last night I began reading South Boston: My Home Town by Thomas H. O'Connor (New ed. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1994). I got distracted when I got to page 13 because I spotted a familiar surname. The author was describing Fort Independence which was built on what had formerly been known as Castle Island out in the Boston Harbor. He was telling that the bastions had been named for several men. One of those men was Henry Dearborn of New Hampshire, secretary of war under Thomas Jefferson. I knew that there was a very strong chance that this man was related to me as most of us are descended from Godfrey Dearborn; however, I wasn't sure how closely related we were. When I went into my genealogical database, I discovered that I had only entered and documented my research on direct line ancestors and their children on this family. I went back and looked at some sources that, while not documented, are generally regarded as accurate and discovered that this Henry Dearborn is my third cousin six times removed. You just never know what you are going to find. Now, I want to go visit the Dearborn bastion at Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston.

Nathan Dearborn Household in 1820

Betsey Dearborn's father was Deacon Nathan Dearborn. He was one of the early members of the Windsor Baptist Church in Windsor Township, Morgan County, Ohio. In 1820, he can be found right there in Windsor Township with his family. There is one male 26-45 (Nathan); one female 26-45 (wife, Lucy Perkins); one male under 10 (son, Henry Perkins); and two females under 10 (daughters Betsey and Elsina). The Dearborns have one son Samuel Ward Dearborn who was born and died in 1817 according to family members.

Sources: 1820 U.S. census, Windsor Twp., Morgan County, Ohio, p. 74, line 6, Nathan Derborn; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 September 2007); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M33, roll 92.

Robertson, Charles. History of the Windsor Baptist Church. Published online at Morgan County OHGenWeb <http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmorgan/brick.htm>, accessed 27 Jul 2002. Originally published in History of Morgan County, Ohio (1886), p. 412.

Stearns, Ezra S. Plymouth New Hampshire Families. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 2001. Orig. pub. as vol. 2 of The History of Plymouth, New Hampshire (Cambridge, Mass., 1906), p. 199.

Filling in the Missing Gaps

Tonight I decided to begin the process of reviewing some of my data on lines going to New England to fill in any missing holes. I discovered that while I had most of the censuses for Stephen Taylor (1814-1881) and his wife Betsey Dearborn (1818-1899) that I was missing the 1840 one, at least out of my database. It is probably sitting in a file in a drawer that I haven't sorted through yet! However, I decided to make a quick check and discovered that while the couple had wed in Morgan County, Ohio on 8 Mar 1837 that they had already moved to McLean County, Illinois by the time of the 1840 census. Stephen is head of a household of three. One male, age 20-30 (obviously Stephen); one female, age 20-30 (obviously Betsey); and one male under 5 (Isaac, their son who was born in 1839 and who died in Memphis during the Civil War). It is interesting to note that Stephen's brothers Daniel and Sylvanus are both on this page as is Elisha Dixon who married a sister of Betsey. I also noted some of the Carlocks for whom the town of Carlock was later named on the page as well as the Denmans, namesakes of the Denman Cemetery where some of the Taylor family is buried.

UPDATE (9/21): I realize that I should specify that Elisha was not married to Betsey's sister in this census. She was married to her first husband Otis Lawrence at the time of the 1850 census. The marriage to Dixon took place in 1864.

Sources: Marriages in Morgan County, Ohio. Vol. A. April 1, 1819-February 4, 1841. s.l.: Morgan County Historical Society, 1983.

1840 U.S. census, McLean County, Illinois, p. 282, line 25, Stephen Taylor; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/; accessed 18 September 2007); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M704, roll 65.