Holly's Hutch
Back in March I called my cousin Tami about something. I believe that I
asked her about Martha Carroll and Phillip Kinser. We started talking and
she mentioned this newspaper article. She emailed me a scan of it with a
photograph. I mentioned that I planned on putting it on the site. Spring
came and I've been busy with gardening, painting, etc. that it kind of got
put on the back burner. Well I thought it was about time that I write a
little about it. This acticle is about a little boy who was killed in an
accident involving a coal wagon. The night before his death he drew a
picture of a coal wagon and ambulance. I've had Dad attach the scan of the
article and a picture of little John Davis.
Now I know some of you are wondering how we are related. As far as I know,
this is how: We are related to John Davis through John B. Cunningham and
Nancy Ellen McCaulley, who had a daughter name Ella Jane Cunningham. Ella
Jane married a man named Elihu C. Davis around Oct 22, 1883. Ella and Elihu
had a son named John R. Davis who married Hazel Spealman. John R. and Hazel
are little John Davis' parents.
Archived
In spite of the busy-ness of summer I've been able to find some time to work
on several lines of genealogy. My largest recent discovery has been with
Daniel G. Heltzel and his wife Julia A. Heltzel (Exline). Now I have
written about them before with what detail I had at the time. I am happy to
say that I have found more "stuff". I had heard of applying for pension
information from the National Archives and Records Administration otherwise
known as the NARA. I had mailed them for a NATF 86 form, which is the form
for applying for military pension for civil war veterans. I found that you
can apply now online for this information. I applied, and since I had not
heard from them in months decided that they did not find anything. A couple
of weeks ago I recieved a very large packet of information in the mail from
NARA. Included were a few papers to do with Daniel, but mostly they were
for a Simon M. Feather. After Daniel's death Julia remarried this Mr.
Feather. I was amazed to find that Simon Feather served in the same regiment as Daniel Heltzel. In fact they were even in the same company. It
is almost impossible that they would not have known one another. Just to
sum up, Daniel and Julia were married in Dec. 1860. That next autumn, a
little less than a year later Daniel enlists in the Army. More specifically
the 138th Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteer Regiment. Two months later, Julia
gave birth to their first child, Albert E. Heltzel. His military service
lasted a few months more than a year. During that time it seems that he was
granted a three day leave and briefly returned home. He died of Typoid
fever soon after in a military camp in Maryland. Julia had another baby, a
daughter, after his death. Among this packet of pension information I found
the dates of marriages of Julia to both men. Julia married Simon M. Feather
in 1865, apparently after the Civil War ended. This packet was so large
because Feather had been wounded in Spottsylvania, Va. on May 10,1864. His
wound was a gunshot to the left thigh. He recieved pension later in life
for this injury; there is also a great deal of paperwork from them applying
for pension for his condition of deafness that he claimed came from his
military service. I don't believe he ever recieved additional pension for
this though. I have 177 pages worth of documentation for this. Feel free
to just ask if you would like to see. I'll type out a few of the papers
that I think are particularly interesting. I don't imagine that scanning
them would work very good, many of the copies are very light and difficult to read.
State of Pennsylvania
County of Bedford
On this Twentyfifth day of June A.D. 1863, personally appeared before me a
clerk (and keeper of the seal) of the Orphans Court a court of record in and
for the State and County aforesaid Mrs. Julia Ann Heltzell a resident of
Union Township Bedford County whose Post Office is at St.Clairsville in the
County of Bedford and State of Pennsylvania, aged about twenty two years,
who being first duly sworn according to law doth on her oath make the
following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the provision made
by the act of Congress, approved July 14th 1862 ; that she is the
widow of Daniel G. Heltzel who was a private in Company "E" which company
was commanded by Captain Simon Dickerhoof and was in the 138th regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers under Colonel Sumwatt, that my said husband entered
the service of the United State at Harrisburg in the State of Pennsylvania
on or about the month of August A.D. 1862.
She further declares that she was lawfully married to the said Daniel G.
Heltzel on the 29th day of December in the year 1860; that her husband the
aforesaid Daniel G. Heltzel died on the first day of November 1862; and was
a private in Company "E" 138th Regiment of Pennsylvania Voluneers; that she
has remained a widow ever since that period, as will more fully appear by
reference to the proof hereto annexed and that she had two children by her
said husband, who are still alive and under sixteen of age, of the names and
ages as follows viz. Albert E. Heltzel aged about one year and eight months
also another lately born now about two months [lots of scratched out stuff]
and thus she is disinterested in this claim for pension
Mary Ann Oldham
{her}
X
{mark}
attest
John Palmer
Sworn to and subscribed before me the undersigned having authority to
administer oaths for general purposes, this day of 1862 and I further
certify that I have no interest in the result of this case, and am not
concerned in its prosecution. In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed
my name and fixed the seal of the said Court the day and year last
aforesaid. Arthur B. Bum (name maybe wrong, illegible)Clerk of Orphans
Court.
I’ve been busily working on genealogy recently and had a few cool things
happen. One of which was a trip to the Salt Lake City genealogy library
across the street from Temple Square. I went there with information on
Nancy (Baker) Hollinger, seeking information about her parents Solomon Baker
and Anna Miller. After spending about three to four hours there I went home
with results. I was hoping to find a marriage record for them. I did not
find desired marriage record, however I did find a copy of each of their
wills. The really cool thing about these wills is that in them,
particularly Solomon’s is a listing of each of their children by name and
also their daughter’s husband’s names as well. Nancy and her parents are
related to us through grandma Helsel (aka: Mom’s Mom). Anna Hollinger
(Dilling) Helsel is the daughter of Leah Jane (Hollinger) Dilling (aka:
Grandma Jane); who is the daughter of Jeremiah Baker Hollinger; who is the
son of Nancy Baker; who is the daughter of Solomon Baker and Anna Miller.
Solomon Baker was born in 1791 in Pennsylvania. Probably in Franklin County
around Washington Township. He married the daughter of a nearby farmer
named Anna Miller who was known as Annie. Her parents were Henry and
Christina/Christian Miller. She was born around 1794-1795 in Franklin Co.,
PA. Solomon seems to have been a very prosperous farmer whose occupation
was also listed as a “potter”. They had at least seven children, these are
all the children listed in Solomon’s will. In their old age the couple
lived with their son Daniel Baker, who ran his father’s pottery business and
their estate. Solomon died between sometime between 1870 to 1880. Annie
survived her husband by a few years dying on the 21st of August in 1882.
I was not originally looking for their wills but they have been interesting
to read. I have posted both on this page in the Featured Articles section under "Wills of
Solomon & Annie Baker."
few months ago I got the notion to work on genealogy.
I’m only working one simple job right now so I felt I had the time. I
quickly learned that I’m not the only family member working on family history. I have
family everywhere that has all sorts of information. Stephen is working on the LDS
Church Family History research site; Mom has done her own research into her side, and I have an aunt, grandma, cousins, and uncles that have done work on
my father's side. Now, the only
thing for me to do is to gather up their great work and
call it my own. Yes, I know.
How big of me. I remember being told a few
great stories about my ancestors. Some of my favorites include: The son of my
great-something-grandfather Cunningham that was killed by being run over by
a train on Christmas eve after he was returning home for the evening. Or
perhaps my great-great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Coleman whose
brother was boiled in maple syrup by Indians, and became a Revolutionary War
warrior. I firmly believe it's for this reason that I am predisposed
to feel uncomfortable around large vats of maple syrup, and to naturally
avoid holiday railway travel. So far I have found some
interesting stories, and I look forward to finding many more. For our
forefathers sake, however, lets hope they are happier ones. I hope to
occasionally highlight an ancestor in an article and share any info or tidbit
about them in the coming months. I’m currently working on my PAF file. If
you’d like me to send you a copy, I’d be happy to send you one. And if you have any
information not listed (which is most likely the case on the Kinser side)
I’d love to glean from what you have. Perhaps together we can
determine where our personal neuroses are inherited.