Monday, March 24, 2008

No record found, Bummer!!!!

Two months ago, I ordered death certificates for my husband's great grandparents from the state of Pennslyvania. Today one of them finally came and said, " No - Record Certification." At least it's printed on very nice heavy paper with the official seal of the Department of Health, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - like that's suppose to make it all better.

Gioacchino Salvaterra died in 1929 so I thought there was a decent chance of finding a record. I was really hoping for a specific place of birth and maybe his parent's names.

Maybe I'll have better luck with the great grandmother's certificate.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Lewis Family Bible

This is copied from a microfilm, "Cemeteries of Carroll County, Kentucky" by Kathryn Salyers and Sherman Dunn. There was a lot on it besides just cemetery records.

I believe J. S. Lewis is John Stephen Lewis, brother of my great great grandmother, Pauline Lewis.





Monday, March 10, 2008

Harrison Leachman and Helen Viola Leachman

I scanned these for someone, so I thought I would go ahead and post them.

Sarah Parker Leachman



I scanned this for someone, so thought I would go ahead and post it.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Some Sigmon Family History

I found an article on http://www.myindianahome.net/ entitled "Some Sigmon Family History"
written by Olive Clements Cotton for the Vevay newspaper in 1944.

John Sigmon b. Viriginia June 6, 1784 married Rachel Richards b. November 26, 1793. They have seven kids.
1. Mary "Polly" married William Griffith (her first cousin)
William Griffith dies, Polly marries William Gray. It probably is convenient to have both your husbands with the same first name. :)
2. Thomas married Rachel Lewis (his cousin)
3. Larkin married Mary "Polly" Gray
4. Julia Ann married Jacob Lewis on May 5, 1841 (grandparents of lady who wrote the article)
5. Catherine "Cassie" youngest by quite a bit born September 8, 1840 married John Protsman, Jr.
6. John R. married Louise Ogle
7. Jesse never married


John Sigmon's sister was Katie she married Jackson Griffith. Katie and Jackson have two sons. William, who marries his cousin Mary "Polly" Sigmon and Joshua. Joshua marries Caroline Vernon and becomes the pastor of Long Run Baptist Church.

Mary "Polly" Sigmon and William Griffith have two sons, Benjamin and William, Jr.
Benjamin married Adeline Huckleberry, they are my great great grandparents. Benjamin and Adeline have 5 kids: Ann Mariah, who went blind from scarlet fever, John, Albert, Mary, Almira (my great grandmother) and Gertrude "Gertie. " My cousin said Gertie worked at the orphanage in Sand Spring, Oklahoma. She did not know if she ever married or had children.

Mary "Polly" Sigmon and her second husband, William Gray have John, Mary Ann and Isaac.

I think this is correct. Parts of the article are hard to follow and some of it mentions people I cannot match up with anyone. The Indiana marriage records, http://208.119.135.17/db/in_marriages_1850/marriages_search.asp
show a Polly Sigman married to a John Griffith not William, but maybe John is his middle name. And there is a Polly Griffith who marries William Gray a few years later. I'm still not sure who William Griffith, Jr. (Benjamin's brother) married.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Joshua Griffith and Long Run Baptist Church

It's been about a month since I posted. My life in the present often gets in the way of my researching the past.

I have found a few things ....

Don't you just love the internet?!?!? What did we do before?????
I saw a "post-em" on rootsweb.com about an article in the Indiana Magazine of History. I was able to find the magazine website http://www.indiana.edu/~imaghist/index.html with a searchable index. And then my library had the two articles on microfilm.

In Volume #31 in 1935 "The Long Run Baptist Church" by Ella Porter Griffith. Ella's father, Joshua Griffith was the pastor for 45 years. A few facts from the article:
The family is of Welsh descent.
The church started in 1818 on land given by William J. Griffith (Joshua's father) in Craig Township seven miles from Vevay. In 1843, it moved across the road and the old church ground became a cemetery.
My great great aunt, Ann Marie Griffith, sometimes led the singing.


Volume #36 in 1940 "Joshua Griffith: Pioneer Preacher" by Ella Porter Griffith
Relevant stuff from the article:
Family left Virginia for Kentucky around 1800.
Uncle John Sigmon in Parks Ridge in Switzerland County, Indiana.
Joshua Griffith born December 11, 1823 to William J. and Catherine Griffith.
Big brothers Tom and John.
Older married sister Mary who dies when Joshua was young.
Joshua is 18 years old when he is ordained at Milton Baptist Church in Jefferson County, Indiana.
Marries Caroline M. Vernon in October 1848.
Caroline has a sister Liza.

The article ends with a quote from a letter written to Ella's oldest sister. "Your father and I have been neighbors for more than sixty years and I know of no one that I would rather have for a neighbor in the great hereafter than him."