Mocavo's records from The History of the Descendants of John Dwght of Dedham, Mass.

I recently searched the Internet for "Horace Dwight Hall" and, to my surprise, up popped a Mocavo record at http://www.mocavo.com/The-History-of-the-Descendants-of-John-Wright-of-Dedham-Mass-Volume-I/140305/380. The record included a scan of the page on which Horace's brief account appeared. 

Wouldn't you think that someone at Mocavo might wonder why a genealogy of the Wright family had a plethora of Dwights and not one Wright? I know - "the computer did it." Nevertheless, aren't there any real people at Mocavo?

Benjamin W. Dwight's The History of the Descendants of John Dwight of Dedham, Mass. (New York: John F. Trow & Son, 1874) is a well-known, two-volume compilation of the family of an early and prolific resident of Dedham. It is this genealogy that was scanned by Mocavo.

I found no way to alert Mocavo to this egregious error.

The Robert Harrisons of Charles City & Prince George Counties, Virginia

    The first Robert Harrison of Prince George County about whom anything much is known was Robert I, who was perhaps born circa 1725 and died before 10 February 1789, when his will was presented for probate.¹ He married Elizabeth Cureton,² who was born on 20 January 1726/7, daughter of John Cureton and Frances [Thweatt].³ He is known as Robert of Bicars.
    Robert and Elizabeth had a son, Robert II of Huntington, who was born on 11 February 1755⁴ and died on 8 July 1797.⁵ He married Henrietta Maria Hardyman,⁶ daughter of William Hardyman and Angelica Epes,⁷ and had (among others) Robert Harrison III of Racefield, who married Charlotte Thomas Pretlow.⁸.
    It has been repeated countless times that Robert I was a member of the Harrison family of Berkeley in Charles City County, son of Benjamin Harrison and Anne Carter. This supposition arose possibly because of Robert’s purchase from Benjamin in 1760 of Bicars, the 600 acre plantation with house and dependencies, orchards and gardens, on Tar Bay on the south side of the James River.⁹
    Most accounts agree that Robert of Berkeley married Elizabeth Collier, with whom he had a son Collier¹⁰ and daughter Ann. According to John Bennett Boddie, his second wife was Beersheba Bryant, with whom he had sons Braxton Harrison and Robert Carter Harrison.¹¹ Another source wrote that the Harrison-Collier children were Collier Harrison (who married first Christina Minge, nee Shields, and second Beersheba Bryant) and Braxton Harrison.¹²
    Yet another account related that Robert of Berkeley, born circa 1730 and died before 1771, married Elizabeth Collier and had Collier Harrison, who married first Christiana (Shields) Minge, by whom he had Elizabeth Harrison and Collier Harrison who died young. By his second marriage to Beersheba Bryant, Collier had Robert Carter Harrison and Braxton Harrison. Many more instances of tangled relationships abound, both in print and on the Internet.   
    Presented, without proof, on the “The Harrison DNA Project: Patriarchs” website is the lineage below.¹³

    No mention is made of Henry Harrison (Robert's surviving brother) and Collier Harrison (his son). Obviously, there is a great deal of confusion about Robert of Berkeley, his wife or wives, his children, and grandchildren. 
    A suit, “Harrison, against Harrison and Others,” originally initiated in a lower court of Virginia years earlier as “Syme vs Harrison” and finally settled in the Court of Appeals of Virginia in 1799, provides evidence of the death and parentage of Robert Harrison, the original defendant. In the report of the decision, it was revealed that Robert was dead before 29 October 1770 and that he had brothers Henry and Benjamin, as well as sons Collier (eldest son) and Braxton.¹⁴ This suit definitely rules out Robert I's being Robert of Berkeley.
   

So, who was Robert Harrison I, husband of Elizabeth Cureton?

    It has been suggested that Robert I was the son of an earlier Robert Harrison to whom Benjamin Harrison sold two slaves, Dido and Ned, on 11 June 1736.¹⁵ The connection is said to be substantiated by the fact that Robert I had the bill of sale in his possession. This likely progenitor probably lived at Maud's Neck and Swamp Field in Prince George County.

    It would be interesting to see the results of a Y-DNA test for a descendant of Robert Harrison I of Prince George County. Would it connect him to a known patriarch?
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     ¹Robert Harrison, will dated 15 January 1787, proved 10 February 1789 in Prince George County, Virginia, court.
     ²Cureton family Bible record, 1717-1812, photocopy and transcript, Library of Virginia Bible records collection, accession no. 29236; digital images, Library of Virginia Digital Library (http://eagle.vsla.edu/cgi.../bible.gateway/ : accessed 24 November 2001); currently at (http://image.lva.virginia.gov/Bible/29236.pdf : accessed 17 August 2015).
     ³Cureton family Bible record, 1717-1812.
     ⁴Robert Harrison family Bible record, photocopy and transcript, Library of Virginia Bible Records Collection, accession no. 27394; digital image, Library of Virginia Digital Library (accessed 24 November 2001).
     ⁵Robert Harrison family Bible record.
     ⁶Robert Harrison family Bible record.
     ⁷Dorman, Epes compilation
     ⁸Probably Robert Harrison’s will.
     ⁹Purchase of Bicars from Benjamin Harrison.
   ¹⁰“Robert Harrison,” memorial 70963725, Find A Grave (accessed 15 August 2015); record by Georgia Girl, June 2011. The location of Robert’s burial was unknown.
   ¹¹John Bennett Boddie, Historical Southern Families, volume IX (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogic Pub. Co., 1965), p224.
   ¹²Louise Pequet du Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families, p. 506.
   ¹³“The Harrison DNA Project: Patriarchs,” Lineage 34-The James River / Presidential Harrison Line, haplogroup R1b1a2,World Families.net  (http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/harrison/pats : accessed 15 August 2015), 
   ¹⁴Daniel Call, Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Court of Appeals of Virginia, volume I (Richmond: Thomas Nicholson, 1801), pp. 419-429; digital image, Google Books (accessed 19 August 2015).
   ¹⁵Lindsay O. Duvall (Rev.), Virginia Colonial Abstracts - Series 2, Vol. 6, Records of Prince George County, Virginia, 1666-1719 (copied and reprinted, Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1978).

Charity (Walbridge) Blodgett

Alexander Village Cemetery, 1982

     Charity Walbridge was born in Stafford, Tolland County, Connecticut, on 1 April 1751, daughter of Ames Walbridge and Margaret (–?–).¹ She died in Painesville, Geauga (now Lake) County, Ohio, on 3 December 1822, notice of her death appearing in the Painesville Telegraph of 4 December 1822:  "Died yesterday morning, widow Charity Blodgett, age 65 yrs.² She married in the First Congregational Church of Stafford on 6 February 1777 Caleb Blodgett,³ who was born in Stafford on 20 September 1751, son of Samuel Blodgett and Hannah (–?–)⁴ and died on 25 October 1813,⁵ probably in Alexander, Genesee County, New York.⁶   
    Caleb was buried in Alexander Village Cemetery, where there is a gravestone and DAR marker.⁷ There is also a stone for Charity, although her place of burial has not been ascertained.⁸
    Caleb and Charity had at least eleven children, including a daughter Charity, who was born in Randolph, Orange County, Vermont, on 9 September 1790⁹ and died in 1841.¹⁰ She married first Burnham Lyman¹¹ (1780-1828) and second Lomer Griffin¹2 (1772 - 1878).
     A photograph of the gravestone of Charity Blodgett Lyman-Griffin, who is identified as the daughter of Caleb and Charity, is posted on Find A Grave. She died 1 May 1841 and was buried in Old Kingsville Corners Cemetery in Kingsville, Ashtabula County, Ohio.¹³ The inscription, somewhat difficult to decipher, appears to be: “Charity/ wife of/ Lormer Griffin/ Died/ May 1, 1841/ Æ 57 Yrs./ 3 Mos & 15 Days.”
    The photograph of Charity Griffin’s gravestone appears on several Ancestry Family Trees as the icon for Charity (Walbridge) Blodgett. Why?
__________

     ¹Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection [of Births, Marriages, and Deaths from Connecticut Town Records to ca. 1850], Stafford, vol. 2, p. 7, Charity Walbridge, 1751..
     ²Judy J. Stebbins, Guide to the Painesville (Ohio) Telegraph, 1822-1829 (Willoughby, Ohio: Genealogical Research Co., 1982), item 94.
     ³L. Belle Gorton, Records of the First Congregational Church, Stafford, Connecticut, 1757-1817 (copied by L. Belle Gorton for Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames of America), Marriages, p. 53, Caleb Blogget and Charity Wallbridge, 1777; microfilm of 110 page photostat copy in the Connecticut State Library in Hartford, Connecticut; FHL microfilm1013276, item 10.
     ⁴Edwin A. Blodgett, Ten Generations of Blodgetts in America (revised edition, Barre, Vermont: Modern Printing Co., Inc., 1969), p. 37. Also "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906," database, FamilySearch (accessed 24 August 2015), Caleb Bloggett, Stafford, Tolland County, 20 September 1751; no microfilm source cited.
     ⁵Alexander (New York) Village Cemetery, Caleb Blodgett gravestone inscription copied and photographed in October 1982 by Irene Marks Rupp.
     ⁶New York, Genesee County, probate records, orders 1809-1841, volume 1, p. 46, widow’s dower laid off to Charity Blodgett (part of lots 4 and 2, section 14, township 11, range 2; i.e., Town of Alexander); digital image 29/500, FamilySearch (accessed 24 August 2015); FHL microfilm 811136.
     ⁷“Caleb Blodgett,” memorial 18102482, Find A Grave (accessed 23 August 2015); record by Donna Ruhland Bonning, February, 2007; photograph taken July 2011 by Edward Toy.
     ⁸“Charity Walbridge Blodgett,” memorial 22438123, Find A Grave (accessed 23 August 2015); record by Dawn L. Pocock-Dilcher, October 2007; photograph (taken October 1982) added by Irene Marks Rupp.
     ⁹“Vermont, Vital Records, 1720-1908,” database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 23 August 2015), entry for Charity Blodget, Randolph, 1790; original data, State of Vermont,Vermont Vital Records through 1870; New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
    ¹⁰“Charity Blodgett Lyman- Griffin,” memorial 51291746, Find A Grave (accessed 23 August 2015); record by Suzanne Thayne, April 2010; photograph by Nancy LoomisPhillips, August 2010.
    ¹¹“Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 23 August 2015), entry for Charity Blodgett and Burnham Lyman, Chester, 9 September 1807; citing Holbrook Research Institute, “Chester Marriages,” Massachusetts Vital and Town Records (Provo, Utah), p. 125.
    ¹²"Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013," database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 24 August 2015), Lomer Griffin and Charity Lyman, Concord, Geauga County, 13 April 1831; citing FHL microfilm 20,256.
    ¹³“Charity Blodgett Lyman- Griffin,” memorial 51291746, Find A Grave.

Lewis P. Johnson & the 1910 Census

     In 1910 the Lewis P. Johnson family resided in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, where they were enumerated as Lewis P. Johnson (head, white, 49, first marriage, married 30 years, born in New York, father born in England, mother born in New York, salesman, stationery), Ethel E. Johnson (wife, white, 48, first marriage, married 30 years, mother of 4 children, 2 still alive, born in New York, parents born in New York, no occupation), Ethel M. Baird (daughter, white, 25, first marriage, married 4 years, born in New York, parents born in New York, no occupation), and Ira B. Baird (son-in-law, white, 30, first marriage, married 4 years, born in New Jersey, parents born in New Jersey, adjuster, bank).¹

     Ancestry.com's index indicated in parentheses “Mulatto” for all four members of the Johnson household. The census is very legible and clearly has “W” in the “Color or race” column for each of them. The reason for the error is obvious; the individual enumerated on the line immediately before Lewis P. Johnson was marked “Mu.” Buffalogen reported the inaccuracy in the index to Ancestry.com on 19 June 2015 via “Report issue,” but no correction had been made as late as 27 August 2015.
    Buffalogen will continue to monitor this record.
 __________

     ¹1910 U.S. census, Hudson County, New Jersey, population schedule, Jersey City, Ward 9, ED 180, p. 159 (sheet 1A), dwelling 7, family 9, Lewis P. Johnson; digital image, Ancestry.com (accessed 19 June 2015); citing FHL microfilm 1,374,905.

Charles Harrison Marks & the Battle of New Market

    This battle of the Civil War was fought against the northern troops by a small Confederate unit on 15 May 1864 at New Market, Shenandoah County, VA. Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington were recruited to augment the Confederate forces and 257 fought in the battle. The south prevailed and the north’s line retreated. Ten cadets died on the field or of their injuries and forty-five were wounded.   
    Among the New Market cadets was Charles Harrison Marks of Prince George County VA, Class of 1867.  After the evacuation of Richmond in April 1865, he joined the Confederate Army and was shot through the thigh during the last fight at Salisbury, Rowan County, NC. He then continued his education and graduated from VMI.

Aberdeen - early 1920s

    Charles was born on 15 August 1846, son of Edward Archer Marks and Eliza Ann Bryant. He was educated at Prince George Academy, a school co-founded by his father, and at VMI. On 29 April 1870 he married Helen Peebles Harrison, daughter of Richard Marks Harrison and Rebecca Jane Peebles. The couple lived in Prince George County, lastly at Aberdeen, a plantation Charles purchased in 1886. He was a farmer and also engaged in the lumber business. 
   Charles died on 22 June 1895 and was buried in the Marks graveyard at Old Town, the plantation in Prince George County owned by his grandfather, Edward Marks Jr. (1775-1822). The dwelling burned in January 1993 and was razed, but the burial site is still extant.
   

    For his participation in the Battle of New Market, Charles was awarded a medal for valor by the VMI Alumni Association.









Photos from Buffalogen's collection

Jeremiah Kiley of Limerick, Ireland, and New York City

    Jeremiah Kiley or Kiely was born in County Limerick, Ireland, circa 1817-1820 and died in New York City on 20 October 1881. His wife was Mary Ann Nolan, who was born in Ireland between 1809 and 1818 and died on 4 December 1880 at 71 years of age..
    According to his death certificate, and confirmed by bank records, Jeremiah had lived in the United States for forty-five years (immigrated circa 1836).

Emigrant Savings Bank, Jeremiah Kiely account, 1863

    In September 1863 Jeremiah Kiely, a cooper residing at 3 Vandewater Street, made a transaction at the New York Emigrant Savings Bank. The record stated he was born in 1819 in County Limerick, arrived in the United States in 1836 aboard the ship Diamond, was married to Mary Ann Nolan, and had no children.[1]
    In 1870 Jere Kiley (54, grocer, $1500 personal estate, born in Ireland), Mary A. Kiley (54, born in Ireland), Johana Noonan (22, silver burnisher, born in Ireland), and Jno Weinenapst (27, grocer clerk, born in Prussia) were enumerated in New York City’s Ward 4.[2]
    Jeremiah Kiely, a grocer residing at 369 Pearl Street in New York City, made an additional transaction at the New York Emigrant Savings Bank in December 1871. The record stated he was born in 1817 in County Limerick and had arrived in the United States in 1836 aboard the ship Diamond.[3]
    The 1880 census recorded  Jeremiah Keily (60, head, married, cooper, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland), Mary Ann Keily (66, wife, married, keeping  house, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland), Joseph Keily (35, son, single, cooper, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland), Henry Keily (30, son, single, cooper, born in New York, parents born in Ireland), Margaret Keily (22, daughter, single, no occupation, born in New York, parents born in Ireland), and Patrick O'Hare (39, boarder, widowed, cooper, born in Ireland, parents born in Ireland) at 50 Oliver Street in New York City. No additional records pertaining to the three children have been found.[4]
    Jeremiah died in Charity Hospital[5] in 1880 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens County. His death certificate identified him as 63 years old and a widower, whose last residence was 43 Oliver Street.[6]

Calvary Cemetery, Jeremiah Kiely plot

    The cemetery recorded the owner of his plot (Section 5, Avenue 13, Plot R, graves 7 and 8) as Jeremiah Kelly.[7]  Buried in grave 7 were Margaret O'Hare (27 June 1866, 57 years old, born in Ireland), Joseph Weinabst (20 September 1874, 8 months old, born in New York), and Annie Hagan (9 May 1888, 9 months old, born in New York).  Buried in grave 8 were Mary Kiely (4 December 1880, 71 years old, born in Ireland), Jeremiah Kiely (20 October 1881, 60 years old, born in Ireland), Timothy Hayes (5 January 1910, 13 years old, born in New York), Mary Agnes Ferguson (24 June 1935, 74 years old, born in Ireland), and Hannah Hallesey (4 June 1936, 75 years old, born in Ireland). Margaret O'Hare may have had a connection to Patrick O'Hare who boarded with Jeremiah in 1880; Mary Kiely was Jeremiah’s wife; and Joseph Weinabst was probably related to the John Weinenapst who was in Jeremiah’s household in 1870. The identities of the others is unknown.
    It is the children reported in the 1880 census that is disturbing about this brief account of Jeremiah. He had no children, according to the bank transaction of 1863, made well after their reputed birth dates. Joseph was supposedly born in Ireland in 1845, nine years after Jeremiah immigrated to America - not too serious a discrepancy, however, as the census might very well be wrong. More important, where were the children, especially 12-year-old Margaret, in 1870? And where were Jeremiah and his sons in 1850 and 1860?
________________
   1 “New York Emigrant Savings Bank, 1850-1883,” database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 27 July 2015), entry for Jeremiah Kiely, test books, account 36368, 17 September 1863; citing call number *R-USLHG *ZI-815. roll 7, New York Public Library, New York, New York. 
   2 1870 U.S. census (1st enumeration), New York County, New York, population schedule, New York City, Ward 4, ED 2, p. 405, line 24, dwelling ?, family 1134, Jere Kiley; NA microfilm M593, roll 976.
   3 “New York Emigrant Savings Bank, 1850-1883,” database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 27 July 2015), entry for Jeremiah Kiely, test books, account 64568, 20 April 1868; citing call number *R-USLHG *ZI-815. roll 10, New York Public Library, New York, New York. 
   4 1880 U.S. census, New York County, New York, population schedule, New York City, Ward , ED 26, p. 462 (sheet 44D), line 6, dwelling 73, family 344, Jeremiah Keily; NA film no. T9, roll 867.
   5 Probably the insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island, now Roosevelt Island, which became known as Charity Hospital.
   6 New York, New York, Manhattan death certificates, 1866-1919, certificate 400134 (1881), Jeremiah Kiley; FHL microfilm 1,322,610.
   7 Calvary Cemetery (Woodside, New York), typewritten transcript of interment records, Section 5, Avenue 13, plot R, graves 7/8, Jeremiah Kelly [sic] owner; Buffalogen’s Collection.

Did Rev. Thomas B. Bryant have a son William Thomas?

     More than one researcher has stated that William Thomas Bryant, a resident  of Prince George County, Virginia, during the latter half of the 1800s, was the son of Rev. Thomas B. Bryant (1775-1841) and his wife Eliza R. Baugh. Thomas had a wife, Sarah (1779-1822), who was buried at Waverly, the Bryant homestead, later to be joined by her widower. Since Thomas outlived her by nineteen years, it is understandable that he might have married a second time, although no such record has been found.
    Rev. Thomas B. Bryant of Prince George County had three daughters and four sons, one of whom was William, who was born circa 1808 and died from heart disease at 54 years of age on 21 November 1862. William married Emily C., born circa 1825 to unidentified parents, and the couple had nine children between 1846 and 1862. Emily was living in 1877 when, as administratrix of William Bryant of Dinwiddie County, she filed  a Civil War claim.
    In 1842 this William purchased Waverly from his siblings; William Thomas Bryant was not among them. The tract of land contained 591 ½ acres and buildings, formerly the property of the late T[homas] B. Bryant. Mt. Sinai Methodist Church, founded by Thomas, stood on the property, and in 1858 William and his wife Emily sold the building and land to the trustees of the church.
    William Thomas Bryant (born circa 1818) married in Surry County, Virginia, on 21 December 1848 Elizabeth C. A. Ellis (born circa 1830). This couple had seven children born between 1851 and 1868, the last one six years after Thomas' son William died..
    There are many questions that can be raised about William Thomas’ alleged parentage:
    1) Since William was still alive in 1818, would Thomas have given this name to another son? While customary in some countries (Germany, for example, where all sons were given a first name of Johan and called by their middle name), instances in America were rare.
    2) Sarah was alive in 1818 and was undoubtedly still the wife of Thomas; otherwise, it is unlikely she would have been buried at Waverly.

1870 Rives, Prince George Co., W. T. Bryant (Ancestry.com)

    3) Would Thomas, Prince George County surveyor, schoolteacher, and founder and minister of Mt. Sinai Methodist Church, have raised an illiterate son, as William Thomas was reported to be on the 1870 census?
    4) Why wasn’t William Thomas a party to the 1842 sales of Thomas B. Bryant’s land by his heirs? William and his six known siblings were all involved.
    5) Where was William Thomas’ mother in 1830? There was no female older than 20-29 (undoubtedly unmarried daughter Mary Rebecca) in the Thoma B. Bryant household. If Eliza had died, why wasn’t she buried at Waverly as was Sarah?
     In any case, William Thomas certainly was not the son of Thomas and Sarah -- the gravestone of their son John Harrison Bryant (born in May 1817) identifies him as "Fourth & youngest son of Tho & Sarah Bryant of Prince George C[obscured]."

Sources:
Ancestry.com
Find A Grave, memorial 124657865, John Harrison Bryant
Johns Family History Association (and other posted genealogies)
Prince George County deeds
Prince George County land tax lists
Prince George County personal property tax lists
Records of the Commissioners of Claims (Southern Claims Commission), 1871-1880
US census records, Prince George County
William Bryant’s death record, Prince George County deaths, 1853-1896
WPA Historical Inventory, “Bryant graveyard at Waverly” and “Mt. Sinai”