Showing posts with label Jasper County. Show all posts

Monday, February 25, 2013

Family History Writing Challenge Day 25 - Oh How They Worked, Occupations Part One

The occupations that our ancestors followed are many and varied. There are the ones from the rural areas and ones pursued in the cities. There are even those who left the farms and journeyed to the cities for employment.

Oloff Hanson left Sweden and became a fisherman in Michigan City, Indiana and served in the Union Army before moving his family to Chicago where he became a laborer. One of his daughters would later found a candy factory in Chicago. His granddaughter Mable would marry the grandson of two other immigrants from Sweden.

Leopold Peterson and Carolina Neilsson both left Sweden for Boston, Massachusetts where they met and married in 1873. Leopold was a carpenter and cabinet maker in Boston. By 1880 they had relocated to Chicago where Leopold worked as a car builder for the Pullman Company. One of his sons followed in the Pullman tradition and another became a policeman for the Chicago Park District.

Robert Ferguson left Edinburg, Scotland about 1660 and settled in Charles Parish, Virginia. According to some reports he was reputedly a lawyer. In Virginia he became a land owner and farmer of sorts. The family moved over time traveling from Virginia, to South Carolina, then to Indiana and ultimately ending their journey in Jasper County, Illinois. Not every family member completed each move so there are members of this family scattered over several states. The members of the Illinois settlers were also farmers until the 1920s when they began migrating to the cities in search of more reliable income. This family also provided soldiers in every war beginning with the War for Independence.

Arriving in the United States much later, Frederich and Johan Sempsrott landed in Cincinnati, Ohio about 1845 and married Anna Steinfort there before moving to Ripley, Indiana learning to farm. When Frederich first arrived he had been trained as an apprentice cigar maker. In 1863 the family moved further west and settled in Jasper County, Illinois where they continued to farm. Once again family members began moving to the cities around 1920 for a better life.

It was 27 Mar 1920 that the Ferguson and Sempsrott families would merge with the marriage of Murl Ferguson and Naomi Sempsrott. Shortly after the marriage the couple would move to Chicago where work for the railroad was available. Murl’s half-brother Byrl would leave the farm to find work on the railroad thereby continuing the move to the city. There are still descendants of each family in Jasper County, Illinois and some may very well still be farming and I suspect they are working some of the same lands their ancestors farmed in the 1860s.

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Monday, February 18, 2013

Family History Writing Challenge Day 18 - Bringing Families Together

Jasper County within
Illinois

Merging families in Jasper County, Illinois

Willow Hill in Jasper County

Jasper County, Illinois was formed in 1831 from parts of Clay and Crawford counties. It was named for a Revolutionary War hero, Sgt William Jasper of North Carolina.[i] Jasper County, Illinois is situated in the southeasterly part of Illinois and has an area of 475 square miles. The population in 1840 was 1,472 and had more than doubled by 1850 to 3,220.[ii]

About 1848 Jeremiah Ferguson and his wife Harriett moved their family from Decatur, Indiana to Jasper County, Illinois. In the 1850 federal census Jeremiah was listed as a farmer in Newton, Jasper County, Illinois with real estate valued at $1000. In 1880 Jeremiah had moved to Willow Hill and owned 122 acres of which 38 were tilled and 44 were wetlands or forest. His total farm value was $4000.00. He also had $200 in livestock. In 1879 Jeremiah realized about $200 from the sale of farm products.[iii]

Now there are two families at the same place and time. The Sempsrott family moved to Jasper County in the early 1860s and the Ferguson family that was there prior to 1850. Jeremiah’s youngest son would marry Mary E Stewart and have a son John in 1875. Frederich Sempsrott’s son Charles would marry Elmira Stiffle and they would have nine children. Two of Charles Sempsrott’s daughters would marry into the Ferguson family. Leila (b 1893) married David Ferguson’s son Roy (b 1900) and Naomi Sempsrott (b 1903) married David Ferguson’s grandson Murl Ferguson (b 1898 ). Naomi and Murl would become the parents of Wanda Bernice Ferguson.

Ferguson Family

The pull of Willow Hill remained strong and there are still members of both families in the area even though later generations moved to cities like Chicago and Danville for work. The Mound Cemetery has the names of many generations of the Fergusons and the Sempsrotts.

Mound Church and Cemetery
Willow Hill, Jasper County

Burl Ives a famous son
of Willow Hill

[i] Wikipedia

[ii] Fanning's Illustrated Gazetteer of the United States p372

[iii] 1870 Federal Census Non-Population Schedule

Photo Credit: photo by Matt Hucke Graveyards of Illinois

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Family History Writing Challenge - Surname Saturday - Sempsrott, Semscott, Semperoth and Other Variations

The Sempsrott/ Sempsroth family has been traced back as far as Hartman Samesroot born before 1630 in Samen in Northern Germany not far from Kampsheide, Hanover, Prussia, Germany. Other areas of the Kingdom of Hanover associated with the Sempsroth/ Sempsrott family are Asendorf, Brebber, Essen, Graue, Haendorf, Kampsheide, Kuhlenkamp. The family moved around Germany but basically stayed in the northern parts. In 1842, brothers Frederich Albert and Johan Heinrich left Hanover to emigrate to the United States. The accepted story within the family is that they were stowaways at their mother’s request to avoid conscription into the German army. This may be true as no immigration records have surfaced for the brothers.

According to the story, the brothers arrived in Cincinnatti, Ohio. It may have been there that Frederich met and married Anna Margaret Steinforth about 1846 in Cincinnatti. The couple and their children turned to farming to make a living. They lived in Ripley, Adams, Indiana for a while where several of their children were born. Charles was born in Indiana in 1857, Henry was born in Cincinnati, in 1860 and Carrie was born in 1861 in Indiana. Lizzie’s birth in Jasper County, Illinois in 1863 along with the draft registration for Fily Sampsroth on 13 Sep 1863 helps to pinpoint when they made their way to Jasper County, Illinois.[i]

In 1880 Charles Sempsrott is shown to be farming 80 acres of tillable land and also having 80 acres of woodland. The value of the farm including land and buildings was $2500.00 and the value of the farm equipment was $50.00 including livery. The livestock was valued at $130.00. The estimated value of the farm products sold in 1879 was $200.00 and at the time the Sempsrotts owned two horses. They also owned 4 pigs and six chickens. It appears from the record that Charles was renting the land from James Johnson. Crops being grown in 1880 include Indian corn, irish potatoes, and fifteen apple trees yielding fifteen bushels of apples worth $5.00. Charles also sold fifteen cords of wood from his land which produced an income of $30.00.[ii]

In 1910 Charles was still farming in Hunt, Jasper, Illinois with his son Fred A Sempsrott but now Charles owned the farm and Fred was renting from him.[iii]

In 1920 Charles was still farming along with his sons Glenneth and Cleo.[iv]

Although, with time, some of the family moved on, the name Sempsrott can still be found in the Robinson Illinois city directory. Robinson is in Crawford County, just next to Jasper County.

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[i] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registration Records (Provost Marshal General's Bureau; Consolidated Enrollment Lists, 1863-1865); Record Group: 110, Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau (Civil War); Collection Name: Consolidated Enrollment Lists, 1863-1865 (Civil War Union Draft Records); ARC Identifier: 4213514; Archive Volume Number: 1 of 4.

[ii] Census Year: 1880; Census Place: Willow Hill, Jasper, Illinois; Archive Collection Number: T1133; Roll: 41; Page: 25; Line: 02; Schedule Type: Agriculture.

[iii] Census Year: 1910; Census Place: Hunt, Jasper, Illinois; Roll: T624_293; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0082; ; FHL microfilm: 1374306.

[iv] Census Year: 1920; Census Place: Hunt, Jasper, Illinois; Roll: T625_372; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 103; Image: 340.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Family History Writing Challenge Day 15 - Fergusons - Scotland to Illinois

Ferguson Family - Willow Hill circa 1908

Tracing back in time the Fergusons go back to Robert Ferguson who was born in Scotland in 1641. He was most likely from Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1662 Robert was living in Charles Parish, York, Virginia. His profession was that of an attorney.

Robert Ferguson and his wife Mary had four children William, Mary, John, and Rose. William died at the age of three. All of the children were born between 1663 and 1677. Robert died 1 Oct 1681 leaving Mary alone to raise the children.

John (b 1670) remained in Charles Parish and married Elizabeth Davis (b 1662). They had Davis b 1697, William b 1700, Mary b 1702, and John b 1706. Davis died in 1700 and little is known of Mary and John. William married Hope and they had six children William, Elizabeth, John, Robert, John, and Ann. I would assume that since the name John was used in both 1730 and 1734 that the John b 1730 had died by March of 1734 when the second son named John was born. At this point the family began to spread out to other areas of Virginia.

William married Elizabeth in York, Virginia and their five children Mary, John, Ann, Edward, and Elizabeth were all born in York but William died in Greenville, Virginia in 1788.

John Ferguson b 15 Jan 1755 in York, Virginia married Hannah Barrow in 1770 in Stokes, North Carolina. All of their children were born in Stokes, North and here is where John Ferguson became a soldier in the Revolutionary War. All of John and Hannah’s children were born after the war ended. Sometime before 1825 the family moved to Wayne, Indiana where Hannah died in 1825. His service can be attested to be the pension he applied for in 1832, and a widow’s pension applied for by his second wife Bethany Deacons whom he married in 1828 in Union County, Indiana and with whom he had two children, Jonathan and Bethany.[i]

John and Hannah’s son Benjamin b 31 Aug 1709 in Stokes, North Carolina married Nancy Green in May of 1811 in Indiana. Now there is more moving for better land and better crops. Their oldest son Jeremiah was born in 1812 in Ohio and their daughter Malinda was born in 1814 in Indiana.

Jeremiah married Harriet Byers on 24 Oct 1830 in Decatur, Indiana. They moved around Indiana for a while until they settled in Decatur around 1822 where they remained farming the land until they moved to Jasper County, Illinois around 1850. There was a brief trip to Kentucky in 1844 where their son Benjamin was born in 1844, this may have been a visit home since Harriett was born in Kentucky. David Ferguson was born 29 Mar 1850 in Willow Hill, Jasper, Illinois.

David Ferguson married Mary Steward on 15 May 1873 in Jasper County, Illinois and continued in the farming tradition of his family. David and Mary had five children before Mary’s death in 1900. David next married Sarah and together they had five sons. In the 1930 census only one of David’s sons was still farming. The Depression caused many of the Fergusons to leave the farming life for work in the cities. David’s son John moved to Chicago as did John’s sons Murl and Byrl but Willow Hill still had a strong pull on the family and they returned often. Murl and Byrl had a sister Edna who married Albert Catt and remained in the area to raise her family so there was always family to visit in Willow Hill.

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[i] Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Sempsrott/Semsrott/Semsroth - Surname Saturday

My husband's grandmother Naomi's maiden name was Sempsrott. At some point she had given my husband a family tree that covered the years from 1829, when his great great grandfather Frederich Albert Sempsrott was born in Germany, through 1947 when the trail ended. After we retired to Florida in 1992, my husband came across the paperwork once more and we decided it was time to do something to document the family history. It seems that their mother, Anna, feared they would be drafted into military service and so she put them on a ship bound for the United States. Family legend reports that two brothers, Frederich Albert and Johann Heinrich were stowaways on a ship that left Berlin and they ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio. From Cincinnati the two brothers traveled to southern Illinois settling in Jasper County. At some point probably in the 1870s, Johann and his family moved to the Covington, Kentucky area while Frederich and his family remained to farm in Jasper County, Illinois.

This family is one of many which has variant spellings to challange the genealogist. Some of the variations have included Simperoot, Samscrott, Samesroth, Sempsrote, Sompcrott, Semprote and Samsrott. In Germany the name appears as Semsrott. Some have traced the name back to Asendorf, Germany in 1583. This is about the time Sweden invaded northern Germany. If this is true could the Semsrotts be descendants of the Sammen (Swedes)? Still working on this line as every spelling needs to be checked out.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Geneabloggers Mappy Monday - Jasper County, Illinois

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This is the area in southern Illinois that the Ferguson Family settled into in 1850 to farm. They settled in Willow Hill but Robinson, Oblong, Newton and Palestine are also mentioned.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Geneabloggers Funeral Card Friday - Wanda Bernice Gulyban

RIP

Wanda Bernice Gulyban 10 Aug 1921 - 21 Jan 2011

Wanda was born August 10, 1921 to Murl and Naomi (nee Sempsrott) Ferguson in Hunt City, Jasper, Illinois. The family moved to Chicago by 1930 and retained their ties to Jasper County.

Wanda married Harold Arthur Peterson in Chicago on June 1, 1938. They had two children, David and Patricia. She and Harold divorced in 1948. Wanda married Gustav J Gulyban in Chicago on Dec 2, 1949. They had a daughter Susan.

Wanda loved knitting and ceramics which she did until arthritis made the use of her hands too painful. Due to back problems caused by a car accident, Wanda took a disability retirement from Illinois Bell Telephone Co.

In the 1980s, Wanda and Gus moved from Wheaton, IL to St Pete Beach, FL, followed by a move to Clearwater, FL.

After a long illness Wanda died on Jan 21, 2011 in Clearwater, FL.

She is survived by her husband Gus Gulyban and daughters Patricia Peterson Leithem Morgan (Gary) and Susan Gulyban Walter (Tom). She is also survived by 7 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

Wanda did not have a formal funeral service or an obituary published so this is my attempt to memorialize her. She was my mother-in-law and will be missed.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Geneabloggers Surname Saturday

Happy New Year Everyone!!

As the new year begins so do my genealogy resolutions. One of my resolutions was to concentrate on one surname per month. I plan to make sure sources are cited, add photos and documents, delete duplicate individuals and facts, and continue new research.

To that end I thought I would alphabetize the primary surnames along with any associated surnames. Just for fun I am color-coding them and including the area of research. My surnames will be in red and my husband's surnames will be in blue.

BURBACH - Milwaukee, WI and Hesse Nassau, Germany
   (also Heer, Meurer, Probst and others)
CONNERY - Chicago, IL, and Kilfinnane, Limerick, Ireland
   (also Leahy, Ryan. Dawson, Hayes, and Mc Carthy)
FERGUSON - Jasper County, IL Decature, IN, Stokes, NC,
   York, VA, and Scotland)
   (also Chapman, Stuart, and Whitmarsh)
FLEMING - Chicago, IL Eau Claire, WI, Port Huron, MI, and
   Ballylanders, Limerick, Ireland
   (also Hennessy, Hogan and Walsh)
GIBNEY - Chicago, IL, Green County, Ohio and
   La Porte County, IN, Sweden, and Germany
   (also Hale, Hanson, and Hepke)
HANSEN - Chicago, IL and Aker, Akershus Norway
   (also Pedersen, Daniels, Christiansen, Johnsen
   Tripp, Dvorak, Riis)
PETERSON - Chicago, IL and Sweden
   (also Britton and Neilson
SEMPSROTT - Jasper County, IL OH, and Berlin, Germany
   (Steinfort of Ohio and Germany)

It would certainly appear that I will be busy this year since this is only one of my genealogy goals for this year. Next Dec 31st I will review this post and see what I have accomplished.