On Top of the Blue Ridge

Did your ancestors migrate through the beautiful Shenandoah Valley along the Great Warrior Trail? For many years the valley was a major route for migration and travel between Pennsylvania and North Carolina. This 1751 map shows dramatically how the mountains in Virginia limited westward migration and controlled the direction of travel. Today Interstate 81 parallels the old trails.

Map from Library of Congress

Some of your ancestors, like Thomas Jefferson and like some of mine, may have chosen to live in the Shenandoah Valley or surrounding mountains. Whenever I drive through that area, the beauty awes me and I understand their choice.

Soon, for the first time in his life, my younger brother will spend a few days in the magnificence of the lower Shenandoah. If you are a cousin, do read on to see if one of our shared ancestors lived in this beautiful area. Someday you might even wish to follow the trail yourself.

So, brother, this post is for you!





Near the orange marker at Glen Wilton, John Derrick owned land and it was the area where he died about 1790. It is also where he married Anna Maria Dunkelberger. Here Philip Fry married Maria Magdalena Derrick in 1781. The Fry family migrated on to Tennessee and Alabama. Philip had 25 children and many of our DNA matches are from this line in my father's ancestry.

Switching to my mother's family, the dark red marker is in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, formerly Greenbrier County. Members of the Greaton family were taxed in this area. David Greaton moved on to Ohio and Illinois. His daughter Elizabeth married Lazarus Maddox in Ohio in 1816.

Also in Greenbrier County, John Kelly was born about 1779. He moved on to Tennessee where his  great-granddaughter married Benjamin Franklin Pryor.

The dark pink marker is at the community of Hanging Rock. In this area a large group of Swiss Anabaptists made their home near the end of the 1700s. Today this group is known as Church of the Brethren. Our ancestors and relatives who settled here included members of the following families: Peffley, Rettinger, Gerst/Garst, Bosseck, Graybill, Borndragar, Mangus, and many more. My ancestors moved on to Indiana and Kansas, but many family members stayed in Virginia.

Lastly the purple marker sits near the stunning Blue Ridge Parkway. Nicholas Allee in 1797 was granted 38 acres that adjoined land he already owned. The land is partially described as

... Lying and being in the County's of Montgomery, and Franklin, the greater part thereof, in the County of Montgomery on the dividing Ridge, including the heads of Daniel's Run, the waters of Black water, and bounded ... top of said ridge ...

What amazes me about this grant is that it specifically mentions the Blue Ridge (dividing ridge) and lists the watercourses in a way that the land can be identified within a few miles. The counties no longer have a common line, as Floyd County was carved out of Montgomery County in 1831. The creek named Daniel's Run no longer appears to begin at the Blue Ridge, but its probable course can be seen on topographical maps. Using Deed Mapper software to determine the shape of the property and researching the watercourses,  I believe that it included land that today is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, including milepost 144.8, the Pine Spur Overlook. I'm looking forward to visiting this site and seeing what my ancestors saw. 

Nicholas Allee died in 1808 and his descendants moved on to Kentucky, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. His legacy lives on in hundreds of descendants and his land enchants thousands of visitors to the Blue Ridge each year.

He Bought the Farm: 52 Ancestors

In the previous post, land records positively identified the eight children of an Ohio farmer. However, the parents of the farmer, Lazarus Maddox, are not as easy to identify. A male Maddox descendant of Lazarus has graciously agreed to take a Y-DNA test, which should help identify his family. One of the puzzles for his descendants is whether there is a meaning to the Pickaway County farm that Lazarus bought.

Lazarus Maddox was born about 1787, probably in Kentucky. The first known record for him in Ohio was his service in the War of 1812, along with men from Pickaway County and Ross County, under the command Captain Robert Bradshaw. Some of the  names of his fellow soldiers are names that appear in other records associated with the Maddox family. Familiar names include Hayes, Knoles, Alkire, Baker, Webb, Wilson, Boggs, Burbridge and McAlister.

Marriage book 1, page 82, shows that on November 3, 1816, Elizabeth Greaton married Lazarus Maddox. The marriage was celebrated by Joseph Hays, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Elizabeth's father, David Greaton, gave consent and Lazarus signed an affidavit that he was over 21. Interestingly, the legal paperwork was dated November 5, 1816. It is possible that the minister reported the wrong date to the county clerk.

Starting in 1822, Lazarus appears on the Pickaway County tax rolls, paying tax on land. But the farm of interest didn't exist yet.

In 1823, Lazarus joined a survey crew, acting as a chain carrier for survey 12346. In the DAR abstract of surveys, it is the only place his name appears. The survey was being done for a man named John L. Wilson.

Generally the chain carriers were young men who happened to live in the area. Lazarus was in his mid-30s. Why would he join the crew? In 1821, Lazarus had been sued for a debt of $51. He swore to the court that he had no money and no way to get any. Did he take the work of the chain carrier just to earn some cash?

In 1841, Lazarus bought that exact farm from John Wilson. Why that farm? What is the connection? Did he just like the land after he worked on the survey, or is there a family connection?

In 1830, Lazarus had words with a neighbor, Timothy Wale, who had set fire to Lazarus' stable. There is a court case about the words spoken, but not one about the destroyed stable. I wonder what they argued about!

Lazarus and Elizabeth had eight children. Their exact birth order is not fully known. The children were:

• Clarissa (1818-1903, married Knoles)
• John
• William (about 1820-1869, my line)
• Eliza Ellen (1820s-1840s, married Long)
• David (1826-1907)
• Joseph
• Mary (1834-1907, married Neff)
• Susannah (1837-1917, married Alkire)

Lazarus died in March, 1850, of dyspepsia (indigestion). The information given to the census taker was that he was 63 years of age at death and had been born in Kentucky. As he did not provide the information, it may not be correct. His burial location is unknown, but may have been at the nearby Methodist Church cemetery or on the Hayes farm where his grandson was buried. If there was a marker, none is found today.

And so ends the story of a Pickaway County, Ohio farmer, until the day that DNA adds another chapter.

Where's the Proof: 52 Ancestors

This game of Clue starts in a Wichita attic in 1949.

The first topic of discussion between cousins old and new in one branch of my family is whether any proof of our Native American ancestry has been found. We have a strong family legend and a rumor that there was proof, last seen in 1949 by my grandmother's first cousin. This blog post is shameless cousin bait to see if someday, someone, somewhere knows what that proof is and where it is now.

Where do you share your knowledge, your private proofs, in a way that you know will persist?

One of the challenges of blogging and of the many family history sites is that web sites come and go.

I would lean toward Family Search as the one web site that will exist in perpetuity. It's not a commercial site, but rather a church-sponsored site. However, the ability for anyone to edit the master tree does make for a mess. I shudder each time I look at my family branches in that tree.

Ancestry and MyHeritage and similar sites are commercial. They could cease operation at any time and all the data could just vanish.

WikiTree was non-commercial and may still be. Someone has to pay for and support it. It also is at risk of vanishing. And of course comments posted to this blog are moderated by me. When I leave this earth, the blog may remain, but no new comments would be visible to anyone.

So if you have private proofs for any part of your family tree (or mine), please share them online somehow. Please place a copy, or the originals, with a local archive. Your family will be grateful.

Who Has the Proof? Spelling Doesn't Count!

Here are the surnames involved in this puzzle. If you've arrived at this post from a web search, take a moment to look at the list because you may be distracted by spelling later.

• Maddix, Maddox, Maddux
• Greaton, Guaton, Gratan, Gratton (many variations)
• Knoles, Knowles
• Long, Neff, Alkire
• Davis, Schroeder

This branch of my family has as the current root couple Lazarus Maddox and Elizabeth Greaton of Pickaway County, Ohio. Due to an unclear name in the marriage book, her name was listed as Elizabeth Guaton in an important Ohio marriage index. Her father signed a marriage consent for her with the signature David Greaton, so that is the spelling that I use.

They had eight children, four sons and four daughters. The daughters married men named Knoles, Long, Neff and Alkire. The proofs for this family are in the Pickaway County land and marriage records at the courthouse and at the Pickaway County Historical and Genealogical Library.

The supposed proof of the Maddox family Native American ancestry was found in the Wichita, Kansas, attic of their great-grandson, William Aaron Maddix (Wid Maddix), at the time of his death in 1949. Wid's ancestral story was told in the post telling how he got the nickname Wid. But it is to his descendants and siblings that we need to look to find the private proofs. So today I'm describing what I know of Wid's extended family.

Wid Maddix had two younger brothers and four children. Four of those six branches have died out, leaving two branches that may hold the answer.

Brother Pearl Edwin Maddix married Jeannette Moore in 1903. They had one son, Edwin, and soon divorced. Pearl moved away and Jeannette remarried to Bret Hart. Young Edwin took the Hart name. He died in Texas, without issue. Pearl died before Wid. It seems unlikely that any family documents would have come to this branch.

Brother Gerald Embry Maddix married twice and appears to have had two children, based on census records. He died in Barton County, Kansas, in 1952. There is a slim possibility that this branch holds the family documents.

Son Harold Thomas Maddix never married and left no known issue. He died in Kansas in 1978.

Son Ralph Ellis Maddix married, but had no children, He died in Orange County, California, in 1988.

Daughter Grace Evelyn Maddix never married. She was very likely to have taken the proof. She lived and worked in the Washington D.C. area, so might have deposited documents in one of the many archives in that area. After retirement, Grace returned to Kansas, dying there in 1986. So Kansas archives also might hold the documents. Her burial arrangements were made by a nephew, Tom Davis, which leads to the most likely branch.

Daughter Edna Lucile Maddix married twice, first to Elbert W Davis. They had two children: Patricia A Davis and Thomas A Davis, both of whom are now deceased. Lucile second married Preston E Diehm, but there were no children from that marriage.

Patricia Davis married Virgil D Schroeder and had at least one son.

Thomas Davis retired as a Lieutenant from the Wichita Police Department. His marital history is unclear. His 2016 obituary lists two sons: Roy T Davis and Michael W Davis. Three grandchildren are also listed.

So the question goes to my distant Davis, Schroeder and Maddix cousins: do you know where the proof is of the Maddox (Maddix) family Native American ancestry?

Locating Mary's Grandfather

Have you ever thought about doing the genealogy of a place, as well as genealogy of a family. Think about the political map of Europe and the many changes over the centuries. Though an ancestor may have lived in one village throughout their life, the name of the country or duchy where they lived may have changed several times. Understanding boundary changes are essential to finding the records of our ancestors.

Mary's grandfather presents a perfect storm of the challenges in location research in early Virginia records. Fortunately, as of this writing, there is a wonderful resource for United States boundary changes at a website named MapOfUS.org. On this site you will find historical county formation maps for the contiguous 48 states. The maps use a program named AniMap, which is available for purchase from The GoldBug. I've owned a copy for many years and use it often. The Virginia images I show here are from AniMap, with a bit of coloring added by me.

The story starts with Mary Maddox Neff's mother, Elizabeth Greaton, who was born in Virginia about 1798. Her father, David Greaton, signed her marriage consent in Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1816. He filed a lawsuit there in 1810, so was no longer living in Virginia by that date. Yet Virginia location research cannot just stop in 1810, as you'll see.

What did Virginia look like in 1798? AniMap shows the combined Virginia and West Virginia, as it was a single state in 1798. Fortunately the western boundaries of Virginia had been set, so there is a western limit to this particular Virginia research.

The name David Greaton is fairly unusual and fortunately shows up in a few online records. Remember that online records are the tip of the iceberg. There may be many other records and other men, but the online records at least provide one place to start looking in the challenge to locate the man who is my ancestor.

David appears in the tax roll of Greenbrier County in 1785. We'll be focused on the blue area for this research. Greenbrier County is very large, so in reality, he could have been living anywhere in that county. Fortunately there is another clue that helps focus the search.

Since David must have reached at least 18, and likely 21, by 1785, he would have been born no later than 1767. If he was born in this area of Virginia (at this point unknown) where might his family have lived?

Have you seen the name Botetourt (pronounced Bot-a-tot) County? Oh, my, one of the big historical counties of western Virginia. It was carved out in 1770, so he could not have been born there. Let's go back further.

In 1761, Augusta was the mother county for all of western Virginia, with no boundary except the Pacific ocean and, realistically, the mountains.

Are you following so far? The Greaton research would start in Greenbrier and potentially track backwards through Botetourt and Augusta, as well as other counties. I will need to create a list in reverse county formation order before going on a field trip.

Now let's move forward in time. The name David Greaton (Grattan) appears in a head-of-household list in Bath County in 1791 and a marriage record is found in Bath County in 1792.

See the blue area? That small section of Bath County came from Greenbrier County. It is certainly possible that there was more than one David Greaton or that there was just one who moved. However, it is most likely that there was only one at that time and that he lived in the section of Greenbrier that became Bath. So research needs to include Bath and in fact will start there.

That area of land didn't stay in Bath County. In 1821, it was absorbed into Pocahontas County. Why would that matter? David Greaton was long gone by 1821, first to Ohio and then to Illinois.

The reasons to care about Pocahontas County are church records, cemeteries and possibly probate records. Assuming the Greaton family attended church within that area, that church is now in Pocahontas. If a sibling or parent died after that county change, the probate could be there. I would ignore Pocahontas at my own peril. Add that to the research list.

There are still more changes after 1821 that I need to be aware of. What happened in 1861? That's right, Virginia seceded from the Union and became the capital of the Confederate States of America. All those counties changed the nation to which they belonged.

And, of course, 1863 brought the next big change. 50 counties left Virginia and the Confederacy, forming the state of West Virginia and rejoining the Union.

The research list got a bit more complex. Greenbrier and Pocahontas are now in West Virginia. Archives will primarily be in Charleston, West Virginia, with some records in Richmond, Virginia. Due to the 1863 change, it is likely that county information will be found in federal records of both the Union and the Confederacy.

Bath, Botetourt and Augusta are in Virginia with archives in Richmond.

For anyone doing Virginia research, there is one more potential twist, though it doesn't affect this exercise. Here's a fairly modern map. All the yellow areas are independent cities that are no longer part of counties.

As you research your ancestors, whether in the USA or elsewhere, remember that understanding the genealogy of location is a critical part of  your search.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #45 William W Maddox, The Victim at Mauvaisterre Creek

1869, near Merritt, Illinois

November 24, 1869, 2 PM

A gunshot rang out, echoing across the barren fields of Scott County. William Maddox, 49, was mortally wounded by his son, Lewis. Both men had been drinking.

Murder at Mauvaisterre Creek

How did an ordinary farmer come to kill his father, have his name splashed on newspapers all over the midwestern United States and fuel family legends that persist to this day? Did the jury make the right decision? There are no surviving transcripts of the trial, but we can read the evidence presented to the grand jury.

As each family member is introduced, bear in mind that there is a family history of alcoholism, especially in the 19th century. Our Native American heritage left our ancestors unable to metabolize alcohol. My great-grandmother, niece of Lewis, claimed to have one-eighth Native American blood. That would have made Lewis one-quarter and William, the victim, as much as one-half. There is no proof to date of these claims; however, the oral tradition lives on in several diverse branches of the Maddox family.

Meet the Victim

William W Maddox was born in Ohio, about 1820, to Lazarus Maddox and Elizabeth Greaton (Gratton) of Pickaway County. He was either the first or second son, with an older sister and a total of seven siblings. The family owned and worked small farms of 75 to 90 acres.

William married Nancy Jane Webb on February 21, 1840, in Pickaway County. He worked as a farm laborer, according to the 1850 census. They were the parents of at least seven children: John, David, Lewis, William H, George S, Joseph Allen and Margaret. John and Margaret died young, while David, a soldier, died near the end of the Civil War. Gaps in the birth years indicate a possibility of two other children who would have died young.

Image credits: GZitzmann custom sketch, Scrap Girls template, elements by Mommyish for Digital Scrapper

In about 1853, after the birth of George, the family moved to Scott County, Illinois. The Maddox family moved near the Greaton/Gratton family members of William's mother. They had settled in the area some 20 years before. William had been charged with assault in Pickaway County shortly before the move out of Ohio. Did he move as a way to avoid the consequences?

William bought land adjoining a deep bend of Mauvaisterre Creek. The agricultural supplement to the 1860 census shows that some 75 acres had been improved, with another 85 acres yet to be planted. By the time of his 1869 death, William owned 270 acres, much of it in fields of wheat, oats, rye, corn and barley. He also produced wool. As well as sheep, the family also kept pigs, cows and bees. There were likely chickens, though they are not shown in any record.

William and his sons had been industrious. He had tripled his father's peak of 90 acres and his sons wanted some of the land to start their own family farms. The boys wanted to receive their portion as a birthright, but William agreed only to lease half the tillable land to sons Lewis and William H. Witness statements reveal that Lewis and his father had been arguing about the land on the day of the murder.

After he was shot by Lewis, William needed someone to care for him. His treatment of his family had been abusive, based on the family stories. His assault charge adds weight to that legend. The family faced a problem. If William died, Lewis could be charged. Thus the family had every reason to keep him alive, though wanting him dead.

The hired hand, Samuel Coleman, must have been trusted by everyone, as he tended William throughout the agonizing days of his decline. William W Maddox died on December 1, 1869. His burial place is unknown, though it is likely on or near the family farm.

Be sure to follow the story at another blog, Murder at Mauvaisterre Creek, where the evidence will be explored.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #38 David P Maddux of Ohio

Sorting out the Maddox and Maddux families of Pickaway County, Ohio, could be a lifetime's work. Only DNA may eventually untangle the branches. This week I'm introducing a Maddux branch that has potential to contribute knowledge to the gene pool.

I'm grateful that my earliest proven ancestor, Lazarus Maddox, has a unique name. Unfortunately he was not in the least creative when naming his eight children. I've identified several of them, the most recent through positive identification of his third son, David Perry Maddux.

David was born on September 30, 1826, in Pickaway County, Ohio. His parents, Lazarus Maddox and Elizabeth Greaton/Gratton, lived and farmed in Monroe Township, near what is today the triangle formed by Yankeetown Pike, Hall Road and Crownover Mill Road. He had two older brothers and two older sisters and was followed by another brother and two more sisters.

David was a landowner by age 24. This is rather unusual, yet it appears he bought land from his father when he turned 21. In the 1860 census, his trade is listed as master mason, though in 1850 and 1870, he was a farmer. Perhaps he followed both pursuits.

He married twice, first to a woman whose name is a bit unclear. She appears as both Mary and Maria, with a deed showing her name as Mary Maria. Her name was alternately spelled as Tammadge and Talmadge. The couple married on June 23, 1853, in Pickaway County.

David and Mary had four children: Rebecca, John, Orpha and Mary. Baby Mary was born on Christmas Eve of 1861. Her mother died a week later, on January second, with the baby dying on February first. The two Marys are buried in the small and beautiful Yankeetown Cemetery, along the border of Pickaway and Fayette Counties. They share a four-sided marker. Mary's parents, Henry and Nancy Tammadge are buried adjacent.

Quick drop page from Our Everlasting Love by Studio Manu for Digital Scrapper, 2014

Left a widower with three small children, David remarried on December 4, 1862, in Madison County. His bride was Mary Watson Moler, a widow with several children of her own. No known children were born to this second marriage.

David had sold all his land by 1856 and moved to Madison County before 1860. He did not serve in the Civil War, though that can be mistakenly assumed due to the records of another man of the same name. David Maddix of Fairfield Township, age 35, did register in 1863 for the draft.

The 1880 census lists David's occupation as Huckster. I'd love to know the story behind that career change.

It was the 1900 census that convinced me this was the right David. He was a widower, boarding in the household of one Willliam Knowles. You'll see that name again next year when I explore the story I call "Murder at Mauvaisterre Creek".

David Perry Maddux died at the home of his daughter in Columbus, Ohio, on July 31, 1907. His parents' names were garbled by his daughter, Rebecca Maddux Gray. The death certificate says his parents were "Lacrus Maddux" and "Elizabeth Gratin".

David was buried, with his second wife, in Pleasant Hill Cemetery, near West Jefferson in Madison County.

At this writing, his FindAGrave page says he served in the Civil War. Unraveling that story took some effort and I am working to get that correction made.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #2 Susanah Maddox Alkire

I had picked out an ancestor to write about for week two -- until I burned my hand working with my glass kiln! As I tended the second-degree burn and wallowed in self-pity, it struck me how fortunate I was compared to Susanah Maddox Alkire.

The eighth and last child of my 4th-great-grandparents Lazarus Maddox and Elizabeth Greaton (Gratton), Susanah Maddox was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, on July 11, 1837. Her father died shortly before her 13th birthday and all reference to her mother's dower portion disappeared from the land records when she sold her one-eighth share shortly before her 17th birthday, in 1854.

She was married on September 24, 1857, to the farmer John W. Alkire of Madison County, Ohio. Their lives were briefly disrupted when John joined the Union Army in 1862. After his return, they went on to raise four children, burying two others in childhood.

By 1880, John had become a sewing machine salesman and the family had moved from the farm to the town of Circleville, the seat of Pickaway County. John died in 1899, leaving Susanah a widow at age 62. She subsequently lost a son in 1916 -- a heart-rending event for any parent.

Early on the morning of July 3, 1917, a young man on his way to work spotted a fire at Susanah's home at 513 East Mound Street. The newspaper reported that he used a fire alarm box to call in the fire, but the firemen were too late to save her. She was found lying on the dining room floor, with a broken coal oil lamp nearby. Her body was badly burned and much of the house was destroyed.

Susanah Maddox Alkire was survived by three children and several grandchildren. She was laid to rest next to her husband in Pleasant Cemetery, near Mt. Sterling, in Madison County.

Susanah's death record is important to all descendants of Lazarus Maddox. Her death certificate clarifies her mother's maiden name -- a name that is hard to read in the original 1816 marriage record and has been transcribed and published incorrectly. This layout shows the remnants of the torn death certificate and the marker for the couple in Pleasant Cemetery.

Elements from ClubScrap Fire and Ice digital kit, template also from ClubScrap