What in the world do Ethan Allen, Libbeus Stannard (Holbrook line), Timothy Martin (Beeks line) and Jason Wheeler (Beeks line) all have in common? Well, there is a known connection between Ethan Allen and Libbeus Stannard, because Libbeus served under Ethan Allen in 1776 as one of the Green Mountain Boys.
I am currently reading Ethan Allen; His Life and Times by Willard Sterne Randall and I am learning much that may be of interest in tracking down Timothy Martin and Jason Wheeler. Both these men were born in New York, but as it turns out, New York claimed what is now Vermont (as did New Hampshire) until 1791, when it became the 14th state in the United States of America. So if we are looking for Jason Wheeler, born in 1765 in New York, it is quite possible that he is the Jason Wheeler in Lunenburgh, Orange County, Vermont in 1790. (I'm not sure the designation is Vermont in 1790, but that's not my problem.) Timothy Martin is listed as having a birthplace of Vermont in one census and New York in another census so I'm thinking it would be wise to look for him in Vermont, too.
Reading and thinking about this book is really getting my genealogy juices going. For instance, it sent me to Fold3 to look once more for Libbeus Stannard's Revolutionary War records, and there they were. He was living at Rupert, Vermont in 1776 when he enlisted in January 1776 and served four months and six days in Captain Gideon Brownson's Company Colonel Seth Warner's Regiment of Green Mountain Boy's and was in Arnold's Expedition to Canada. Gideon Brownson was Ethan Allen's brother-in-law, the brother of his wife Mary Brownson.
I'm not quite that far in reading the book yet, but I know from other reading that Arnold's (Benedict Arnold, when he was an American hero and not yet a traitor) Expedition to Quebec took place in 1775, so I'm not sure yet how Libbeus took part in that expedition. The locations listed on his case file 14619 (pension number) do seem to support the Arnold expedition, as Quebec, Canada, Lake Champlain, Onion River, ,Vermont, Montreal, St. Lawrence, Abraham Plains, Whitehall, Fort Independence and Castleton are all listed. I do hope to find out more, either in this book or in other research, because it appears that our Libbeus may have been a true hero though! Libbeus re-enlisted in July of 1776 and served a three month term with Connecticut troops, which is not surprising. Libbeus was born in Connecticut and there was a natural path of travel, up and down the Connecticut river into Vermont. He later re-enlisted in Vermont in 1781 and served another three or four months, so altogether he had about a year of service.
Besides tracing down the Arnold expedition story for Libbeus, I need to look for possible military records for Jason Wheeler, either in New York or Vermont, and possibly in the War of 1812 rather than the Revolutionary War. I also need to look for men who may be Timothy Martin's father, in each of the states and each of the wars (more likely that Mr. unknown Martin would have served in the war of 1812.) For that matter, there may be a Ilberry or Tilbury who would be a clue to Hannah Tilberry Martin.
Finally, I need to finish reading this book, to see what else I can learn that could be of interest in tracing down Jason and Timothy. I expect more surprises and insights that could give me some clues, but just as importantly, I expect to learn more about this part of American history. The author quite passionately believes that Ethan Allen was a hero, and he is not at all shy about explaining how the New England people were mistreated by the New York governors and elite and by New Hampshire's governors, who were equally greedy. Who knew?
As always, if someone knows more about Timothy Martin or Jason Wheeler, or has more tidbits about Libbeus Stannard, I'd love to hear from you. Meanwhile, Ethan Allen is calling me!
Showing posts with label Timothy Martin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Timothy Martin. Show all posts
Friday, October 9, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Beeks line: First tidbits about Timothy Martin 1798-
Timothy Martin is one of the 'new" members to the Beeks tree. He is the father of the Matilda Martin who married David Wise, the Civil War veteran I've written of earlier. I'm just starting to get to "know" Timothy, so I went to the Wabash County Courthouse last week to see if I could find more information about him.
The 1850 census shows that he was born in Vermont and was about 40 years of age, so born about 1810. The 1860 census shows that he was born in New York and was about 62, so born in about 1798. I don't know which is correct, but I know these are the same two men because their location, the names of their wives, and the names of the children all match. (Ages and places of birth are a different matter, but that is incidental to this post.) The 1850 census lists him as a farmer, but no value is given for land so apparently he didn't own any at that point. The 1860 census gives him $500 in real estate and $600 in personal property. The $500 in real estate seemed like it would be relatively easy to pin down by going to the courthouse.
I didn't find any record of land either bought or sold by Timothy, from 1833 onward. I did, however, find a transaction from Timothy Martin to Samuel Tilberry listed in the General Index to Deeds, which was a "P.O.S." (proof of sale) dated April 29, 1850 for the odd sum of $48.13. I strongly suspect that Samuel Tilberry was the brother of Hanna Martin, Timothy's wife, so I hurried to Book L page 171 of the deeds to see what land Timothy had disposed of in 1850. What I found was at least as interesting as any land deed. I will copy it here to the best of my ability, although there were a couple of words I wasn't able to read:
"A bill of sale from Timothy Martin to Samuel Tilberry. Know all men that I, Timothy Martin, have this day sold to Samuel Tilberry the following property to wit: One two horse wagon, 3 milch cows, 1st brindle, 2nd red with a white forehead, 3rd brindle, 3 young cattle one year old each, one mare colt, mare grey, colt black, for the sum of forty eight dollars & 13 cents to secure the payment of judgement for the sum of forty eight dollars & 13 cents on the docket of William Sallee Esq. and in favor of J.R. Fry, for which I stand security, and that the above described property is now placed in the possession of the said Samuel Tilberry for the purpose of securing the payment of the above judgement & costs, and on condition, said Martin (not sure of word or words) the above judgement and costs at the time the issue becomes due on the docket of the said William Sallee, Justice, as aforesaid , then this obligation to be void; otherwise to remain in full force and witness in law.
"In witness whereof the said Timothy Martin hereunto set my hand and seal the 24th day of April A.D. 1850. Timothy Martin (seal)
Witness: David (Umirres? Amsirres? Could not read last name)
Recorded May 3, 1850 M. Steele RWC"
Of course I wanted to know who J.R. Fry was, and the only one I located that makes any sense is a J.R. Fry back in Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio, which is where Timothy and Hanna were married in 1833. (A whole lot of other Tilberrys were married there, too, but I haven't begun to sort them out yet.) J.R. is about the same age as Timothy and Hanna. I don't know if this is the right man, I don't know of any relationship between Timothy and J.R., and I don't know why Timothy would have signed as security for him. Perhaps those records are in Shelby County. If the records were in Wabash County, then according to the folks at the Courthouse we are out of luck, because "everything burned in a courthouse fire". (Obviously not completely true, because the land records are complete.)
I worry about the Martins as I read the list of items sold to Samuel. They lost a wagon, three milch cows, three cattle, and a mare and colt. What, if anything, did they have left? Did Samuel allow them the continued use of these items, after the sale? Was Timothy ever able to reclaim them? Samuel appears to have been at least slightly better off than Timothy. He had been in Wabash County since at least 1840, when he purchased 97.60 acres from Daniel Sayre on November 17, 1840, for $488. So ten years later, he was established enough to have $48.13 that he could use to help Timothy honor the security he had given.
If anyone knows the rest of this story, who J.R. Fry was and why Timothy would have signed as security for him, I'd love to know how this all started.
Since I couldn't find a record of Timothy owning real estate, I wonder if possibly he was buying land on contract in 1860. That could explain why he was shown as owning real estate. Or perhaps it was a happy mistake on the census taker's part, that encouraged me to go find this interesting record.
Again, the line of descent is:
Timothy Martin-Hannah Tilberry
Matilda Martin-David Wise
Elizabeth Wise-John Beeks
Wilbur Beeks-Cleo Aldridge
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants
The 1850 census shows that he was born in Vermont and was about 40 years of age, so born about 1810. The 1860 census shows that he was born in New York and was about 62, so born in about 1798. I don't know which is correct, but I know these are the same two men because their location, the names of their wives, and the names of the children all match. (Ages and places of birth are a different matter, but that is incidental to this post.) The 1850 census lists him as a farmer, but no value is given for land so apparently he didn't own any at that point. The 1860 census gives him $500 in real estate and $600 in personal property. The $500 in real estate seemed like it would be relatively easy to pin down by going to the courthouse.
I didn't find any record of land either bought or sold by Timothy, from 1833 onward. I did, however, find a transaction from Timothy Martin to Samuel Tilberry listed in the General Index to Deeds, which was a "P.O.S." (proof of sale) dated April 29, 1850 for the odd sum of $48.13. I strongly suspect that Samuel Tilberry was the brother of Hanna Martin, Timothy's wife, so I hurried to Book L page 171 of the deeds to see what land Timothy had disposed of in 1850. What I found was at least as interesting as any land deed. I will copy it here to the best of my ability, although there were a couple of words I wasn't able to read:
"A bill of sale from Timothy Martin to Samuel Tilberry. Know all men that I, Timothy Martin, have this day sold to Samuel Tilberry the following property to wit: One two horse wagon, 3 milch cows, 1st brindle, 2nd red with a white forehead, 3rd brindle, 3 young cattle one year old each, one mare colt, mare grey, colt black, for the sum of forty eight dollars & 13 cents to secure the payment of judgement for the sum of forty eight dollars & 13 cents on the docket of William Sallee Esq. and in favor of J.R. Fry, for which I stand security, and that the above described property is now placed in the possession of the said Samuel Tilberry for the purpose of securing the payment of the above judgement & costs, and on condition, said Martin (not sure of word or words) the above judgement and costs at the time the issue becomes due on the docket of the said William Sallee, Justice, as aforesaid , then this obligation to be void; otherwise to remain in full force and witness in law.
"In witness whereof the said Timothy Martin hereunto set my hand and seal the 24th day of April A.D. 1850. Timothy Martin (seal)
Witness: David (Umirres? Amsirres? Could not read last name)
Recorded May 3, 1850 M. Steele RWC"
Of course I wanted to know who J.R. Fry was, and the only one I located that makes any sense is a J.R. Fry back in Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio, which is where Timothy and Hanna were married in 1833. (A whole lot of other Tilberrys were married there, too, but I haven't begun to sort them out yet.) J.R. is about the same age as Timothy and Hanna. I don't know if this is the right man, I don't know of any relationship between Timothy and J.R., and I don't know why Timothy would have signed as security for him. Perhaps those records are in Shelby County. If the records were in Wabash County, then according to the folks at the Courthouse we are out of luck, because "everything burned in a courthouse fire". (Obviously not completely true, because the land records are complete.)
I worry about the Martins as I read the list of items sold to Samuel. They lost a wagon, three milch cows, three cattle, and a mare and colt. What, if anything, did they have left? Did Samuel allow them the continued use of these items, after the sale? Was Timothy ever able to reclaim them? Samuel appears to have been at least slightly better off than Timothy. He had been in Wabash County since at least 1840, when he purchased 97.60 acres from Daniel Sayre on November 17, 1840, for $488. So ten years later, he was established enough to have $48.13 that he could use to help Timothy honor the security he had given.
If anyone knows the rest of this story, who J.R. Fry was and why Timothy would have signed as security for him, I'd love to know how this all started.
Since I couldn't find a record of Timothy owning real estate, I wonder if possibly he was buying land on contract in 1860. That could explain why he was shown as owning real estate. Or perhaps it was a happy mistake on the census taker's part, that encouraged me to go find this interesting record.
Again, the line of descent is:
Timothy Martin-Hannah Tilberry
Matilda Martin-David Wise
Elizabeth Wise-John Beeks
Wilbur Beeks-Cleo Aldridge
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants
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