Limerick #1 & the story

Terry challenged us to write a poem about our blog. He really wants us to write a modified limerick, but I found that the perfectionist side of me just can't deal with the extra line. I know I may be disqualified from his contest because I'm choosing a traditional limerick instead of his "sestet," but since it's all for fun anyway, here it goes:

In the land of the Vols lived Miss Lori
Who shared her ancestors' story
When she found an old letter
That said King George was better
She uncovered an old Amish tory.

I hope that I'm sharing the story of my ancestors on this blog. Johannes Lantz came to the United States aboard the Phoenix in about 1749. [Some people try to say he came over in 1732 because of a book published by Jacob Lantz, but most of us believed he came in 1749.] During the French and Indian War, many of the Amish were being attacked by the Indians. (See the story of the Hochstetler Massacre.) The British military had come to the aid of the Amish in the area so Johannes was so grateful that after the colonists became increasingly restless with the British presence in the colonies and began rebelling he wrote a letter to King George III stating that he hoped the rebellion of the colonists would be short-lived and that peace, which is something the Amish really believed in, would take its place.

What's in a Name?

A GOOD name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1 (King James Version)

For this surname installment of the Carnival of Genealogy, I thought it would be fun to look at a few of the surnames in my family. My cousin Terry has already posted on the Thornton surname so I'll omit that one.


Lantz - Lantz is a Germanic form of a word meaning "Land." My Lantz family was an Amish family which fled persecution in Switzerland, residing in the French portion of the Palatinate before coming to America in 1749. The documents found in France for the family have the name Landis which is a French version of the name. The most famous Lantz is Walter Lantz who created Woody Woodpecker. Apparently, Woody was based on a real woodpecker that was quite a pest on Walter's honeymoon with his new bride. (Source: Robb, H. Amanda and Chesler, Andrew. Encyclopedia of American Family Names. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.)



Fowlkes - Fowlkes is a Welsh name meaning people. You will also found it written as Foulkes. It was originally pronounced something like "fooltz" with the "oo" sound being the shorter sound rather than the longer sounding "oo." Today, it is pronounced "folks" with a fairly long sounding "o", at least in Mississippi. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is descended from the Fowlkes family. There is a Tremaine Fowlkes who was an NBA player. I do know that the Fowlkes in Monroe County, Mississippi were slave owners. Several Fowlkes in middle Tennessee served in various public offices throughout the years. My line in Monroe County, Mississippi (and the ones in Middle Tennessee and Haley Barbour's line) all share Gabriel Fowlkes (b. abt. 1696, allegedly in Denbighshire, Wales although efforts to locate him in records there have not been successful) as a common ancestor.

Laura Lucy Taylor

Laura Lucy (Taylor) Lantz was my great grandmother. She was the daughter of Stephen and Betsey (Dearborn) Taylor. She was born 25 April 1854 in McLean County, Illinois. Her father Stephen Taylor was born in the Marietta, Ohio area 28 February 1814 to Stephen and Lovica (Rathbone) Taylor. His father died a few months later, allegedly in the Detroit, Michigan area during the War of 1812 although no record of his service or death has been located. He supposedly had a fascination with riverboats and claims to have known Robert Fulton. Although a minimal search has been done, nothing to corroborate this has been found. Her mother Betsey was born 4 September 1818 in Morgan County, Ohio to Deacon Nathan and Lucy (Perkins) Dearborn. Nathan’s line goes back to Godfrey Dearborn of New Hampshire. Lucy’s line goes back to John Perkins who immigrated to Massachusetts in 1629. Although Laura’s father was not very religious according to his obituary, Laura attended the Methodist church which was very near their home in the portion of McLean County near the Woodford County line. She married Abraham Lowden “Abe” Lantz on 15 February 1874. Abe grew up in an Amish family which had moved to McLean County about 1851. His parents and many of his siblings moved to Howard County, Indiana by 1864, but Abe remained in Illinois where he went to work for a merchant. Eventually Abe owned his own dry goods store in White Oak Township and later in Carlock. He also served as postmaster for some time. After Abe and Laura married, they attended the Christian Church although he never joined. In 1896, a group of Amish from the McLean County, Illinois area moved to Monroe County, Mississippi. Abe, Laura, and their seven living children moved along with this group although they attended the Christian Church. Known children are: Levi Hollis “Lee” (1875-1955), Saloma Olive “Ollie” (1877-1923), Emma (1881-1965), Abraham Lowden “Abe” (1883-1918), Irving Lee “Moses” (1885-1971), Mary Irene “Marie” (1888-1971), and Betsy Barbara “Bess” (1891-1977). (The 1910 census states that she was the mother of 8 children, 7 living. The birth order and sex of the eighth child is not known although it seems likely this child was born between Ollie and Emma.) At least two of Abe’s children served as teachers for the Amish. Laura is said to have been a good cook. She served seven courses with every meal at her husband’s insistence. In 1918, son Abe, a salesman for the Brown Shoe Company, died of yellow fever in Texarkana, Arkansas. Due to the quarantine conditions at that time, his body was buried in Arkansas. His widow eventually moved to Denver, Colorado. Her beloved husband Abe died in 1920. Laura died of cancer 25 September 1922. She and Abe are buried at the Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery in Aberdeen, Mississippi. Her daughter Ollie died in a tragic car-train accident in South Dakota the following year as she was going to Yellowstone National Park with her family for a vacation.

Sources:

Duis, E. The good old times in McLean County, Illinois : containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk War and descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County. Bloomington, Ill. : Leader Pub. and Print. House, 1874.

Luthy, David. The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed, 1840-1960. Aylmer, Ont.: Pathway Publishers, 1986.

Marriage License, Abraham Lantz and Laura L. Taylor. McLean Co., Illinois, Marriage Book G, p. 249; photocopy in my possession.

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).

Also various federal census records; deeds; newspaper clippings; family sources.

Much of the information about Abe's store and duties as postmaster can also be found in McLean County histories and directories which are available at the McLean County Museum of History.