Month: April 2020

Boonesborough

Boonesborough

by Justin Durand ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’m using my COVID lockdown time to organize some of the genealogical projects I’ve had on the back burner. One of those is joining the Society of Boonesborough, a lineage society for descendants of early settlers at Daniel Boone’s Fort Boonesborough.

My ancestor James Kenney was an early settler at Boonesborough. As James Kenny he signed an agreement there in 1779 with the other men in the settlement.

The application process should be relatively painless. My mother and sister are members of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) through our descent from this same James Kenney.

Settlement of Boonesborough

In 1775 the Transylvania Company hired Daniel Boone to cut a trail from what is now Kingsport (Tennessee) through Cumberland Gap to a spot in the middle of what is now Kentucky. The Company had recently organized with the idea of establishing a new colony to be named Transylvania on land purchased by Richard Henderson from the Cherokees—all of the land bounded by the Kentucky, Cumberland, and Ohio rivers. The trail became known as Boone Trace and the fort they erected was Fort Boonesborough.

Ft. Boonesborough, 1778 (Source: Wikipedia)

The idea was that the fort would be the capital of the newly opened west, and Boone Trace would open the way for settlers.

It didn’t work out that way. In the Proclamation of 1763 the British crown had prohibited settlement west of the Appalachians. Moreover, private land purchases from the Indians were also prohibited. Virginia assumed control in 1776 and turned the Transylvania colony into its Kentucky county.

Siege of Boonesborough

The settlement also had problems with the Shawnees and Cherokees, who objected to Anglo incursion. In February 1778 the Shawnees under Blackfish captured Daniel Boone and a party of settlers who were collecting salt some distance from the fort. They took the captives to the Shawnee town at Chillicothe but, long story short, Boone escaped and raced back to Boonesborough. An Indian coalition under Blackfish and the Detroit militia under Antoine Dagneaux de Quindre laid siege to the fort in September 1778 but were eventually defeated.

The Siege of Boonesborough has become an iconic episode in American history. The story is reenacted yearly at Fort Boonesborough State Park.

Aftermath of the Siege

We don’t know whether our ancestor James Kenney was present at Boonesborough during the siege, but he was there the following spring. In April the men of the area set up a system of keeping watch for Indians as part of their precautions for protecting their corn crop that year. James Kenney was one of the signers. Kenney was an early settler of Kentucky, but as far I’ve been able to discover this is the only evidence we have he was at Boonesborough.

Association of the Settlers of Boonesborough in 1779 for making a crop of corn

Wheras, we the subscribers being willing and desirous of making a crop of corn at the station of Boonesborough, on the Kentucky, do think it essentially necessary for our own safety and the public good, to enter into rules that may be obligatory on each subscriber, and are as follows:

1st. That three men (towit) Nathaniel Hart, George Madden, and Robert Cartwright, be and herby appointed as overseers or directors to said company

2nd That ever subscriber shall immediately enrole his name on a list prepared for that purpose, and shall every morning appear at the beat of a drum or some other notice given, and receive such order as the overseers or directors shall think convenient to give.

3rd That if any man refuse or neglect to perform such tours of duty as shall be assigned him by the overseers or directors he shall be erased out of the list, shall forfeit all pretensions to any claim in such crop.

4th That every morning two or more men be sent out as spies, to range round the grounds and fields to be cultivated by us, and that such number be thought necessary be stationed as a guard, the whole day, or to be relieved by others as occasion requires.

5th That no man be allowed to absent himself from the company on any pretense whatsoever, either hunting horses or provisions, or any other occasion, without leave of the overseers first had.

6th That the managers and overseers shall have full powers and authority to determine all unforseen disputes whatever, and that the subscribers shall be obliged to abide thereby. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 15th of April, 1779.

  • “Association of the Settlers of Boonesborough in 1779 for making a crop of corn” in Lyman C. Draper Manuscript Collection, Kentucky Series 29 CC 59, State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

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Jacob Howry

Jacob Howry

by Justin Durand ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’m a member of Sons of the American Revolution through my ancestor Capt. Andrew Grant. I’ve been thinking lately I might want to do supplemental applications for other qualifying ancestors. There are a lot of them. My first thought was to do a supplemental application for James Kenney, because my mother and sister belong to DAR through him. Also because I’ve been thinking I might use that line to join Boonesborough Descendants. But sister Laura suggested there might be a better use of my time and resources.

Instead of doing ancestors who are already done, Laura suggested I could focus on ancestors who’ve never been used to join SAR or DAR. Maybe even focus at first on my dad’s side, where—frankly—it’s not very likely anyone else would be interested.

That’s when I had the idea of doing a memorial application for my step/adopted father Carroll Place. His ancestor Thomas Place served in the Vermont Militia. I wrote about that last week.

It took a bit longer for me to think of the obvious. Why not a supplemental application for my paternal ancestor, Jacob Howry, of Howrytown? He served in Capt. Andrew Pawley’s Company, 5th Battalion, York County Militia (Pennsylvania).

So now I have another project.

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Purbelow

Purbelow

by Justin Durand

The 1850 census of Deseret (really taken in 1851) shows two boys in the household of Stephen Luce. There’s a mystery here.

The Mormons got to Utah in 1847. The Luces arrived in 1848. Everyone was still settling in when Brigham Young decided to conduct a census that would be the official 1850 census of Deseret (Utah) even though it was conducted in 1851.

The census shows two young boys in the household of Stephen and Mary Luce: Joseph Purbelow, age 5, born in Iowa; and Willford [Purbelow], age 2, born in Deseret.

Stephen Luce family (1850 Census, Utah)
Stephen Luce family, continued (1850 Census, Utah)

The context suggests the two Purbelow boys were orphans being raised by Stephen and Mary Luce. Their surname probably was really Pueblo. Back then “pueblo” was often pronounced purbelow .[1] Further, the modern family uses the surname Pueblo. It’s possible the boys’ full names were Joseph Smith Pueblo and Wilford Woodruff Pueblo.

There seems to be no further record of Wilford, but Joseph was living in Payson (Utah) by 1868 and died there in 1898. Both the 1880 census and his death record say he was Indian. And that might provide the clue that solves the question of his parents.

Brigham Young dispatched the Parley Pratt expedition to explore southern Utah in 1849-1850. The expedition encountered a mountain man named Purbelow who stole their horses. There seems to be no record of Purbelow’s fate. I suggest he died or the Mormons hanged him, and his (hypothetical) Indian wife and children were taken to live in Salt Lake City.

Robert Lang Campbell, clerk of the expedition kept a detailed journal, but there are few details about Purbelow. Some passages that mention Purbelow were published by Smart & Smart in Over the Rim. The original journals might contain additional information.

On November 28, 1849 at Peteetneet Creek, later the the site of Payson, Campbell wrote, “Col. C. Scott & party who r after Purbelow the Mountainman who stole horses stay here till we come up, hear that Purbelow camps at the hot springs [near Draper] to night.” (Smart 1999:26, emphasis added)

John Brown, another member of the expedition was a bit clearer. On the same day he wrote: “We reached Piasateatment Creek here Colonel Scott fell in with us again and called on us for some to go with him. And we let him have ten mounted men to be gone a few days and return to us again.” (Smart 1999:26)

On November 30 Campbell wrote, “Bre with Col Scott return, they went to the Sevier, found Purbilow had gone too far ahead“. Brown wrote, “We reached Salt Creek where we camped two miles up the canyon here we discovered plenty of Plaster of Paris also our men returned who went with Col Scott. They went so far as the Sevier River on the California road but to no effect.” (Smart 1999:28, emphasis added)

That’s the last we hear until January 5, when the expedition encountered Purbelow near what is now Newcastle. Parley Pratt wrote, “Passed down a few miles thro a fertile valley, still snowing. Came to running water and the Camp of Purblo and a few wagons, about 12 miles farther we reached Captn Fly’s Camp of perhaps fifty wagons, men, women and children who have lain by on a fine stream to shoe their cattle and recruit. Of them we purchased some Whiskey, drinked tolerably free, some of us lodged in their tents and had the luxury of sitting in a chair.” (Smart 1999:183, emphasis added)

Campbell is briefer. He wrote, “2 miles back from this water, find Purbelow & 4 or 5 wagons encamped near here in the snow“. And Brown says much the same: “We arose and shook off the snow and shoved on we soon came to a small company of gold diggers and 10 miles farther we came to a large company of about 50 wagons we camped near them they had a rodometer by which we learned we were 319 miles G.S.L.” (Smart 1999:101, emphasis added)

And that’s it. We don’t hear what happened to Purbelow. The Smarts say they’ve been unable to identify him (Smart 1999:26). They suggest the reason the encounter with Purbelow in January occasioned no further comment was that nothing could be done short of lynching (Smart 1999:102).

My thought is that something did happen the Purbelow, and whatever it was happened before 1851. He had an accident, or he died in epidemic, or the Mormons strung him up after all.

The first reference to Purbelow calls him a mountain man. The last calls him a gold digger, and puts him in a small company of 4 or 5 wagons. It wouldn’t be a stretch to suppose he had an Indian wife and children. Perhaps he was part Indian himself. If he died it wouldn’t be unusual for his children to be fostered with a Mormon family. That’s what I think happened.

1. There are scattered references in the journals of early explorers and pioneers to the pronunciation of pueblo as purbelow. For example:

  • Harriet Brown wrote a letter to her husband’s stepmother: “The [Mormon] Battalion was separated at Santefee (Santa Fe) and those that was sick and wore out with fatigue was sent back to purbelow (Pueblo) 70 miles above Bents Fort under command of Captain Brown. The number consisting of 85 men and 20 women here to remain until next spring then to take up our line of march for Fort Larime (Laramie) there we are in hopes to meet you all and travail with you all over the mountains.” (Harriet Brown, Letter to Mary Brown, Dec. 25, 1846, quoted in “Daniel Brown“. Latter Day Light <latterdaylight.com>, Aug. 16, 2019.)
  • John Holladay wrote an autobiographical sketch: “On arriveing at Fort Larrimee [1846] we met with one John Rinshaw, a mountaineer. He told us that none of our imergration had passed that place. We imployed Mr. Rishaw as pilot to Purbelow. This place is situated on the Arkansaw River just East of Rockeys, arrived thare in August.” (“‘John Daniel Holladay,’ In Biographical Information Relating to Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel database.” Overland Travel Pioneer Database 1847-1868 <history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel>. Retrieved Apr. 5, 2020.
  • Brigham Young wrote a letter in 1847 to Elders Elders Hyde, Pratt, and Taylor in England: “About the 17th October, Captain Brown was detached to Purbelow, on the Arkansas, to winter, accompanied by the laundresses, sick, &c., of the battalion numbering in all about eighty; the remainder of the battalion took up a line of march for Monterey in California, thence expecting to ship for San Francisco.” (“Mormon History, Jan 6, 1847.” Mormon Church History <mormon-church-history.blogspot.com/>. Retrieved Apr. 5, 2020.)

2. “Wilford Purbelow“. FamilySearch <familysearch.org>. Retrieved Apr. 6, 2020. Russell Willis Pubelo, of Lindon, Utah wrote: “In the 1850 Census of Utah, page 202, Joseph A. Purbelow age 5, born in Iowa and Willford Purbelow age 2, born in Deseret were listed with the Stephen Luce family, this information is also found on page 65 of “First Families Of Utah As Taken From The 1850 Census Of Utah”. If Joseph was 5 years old in 1850 (1850 – 5 = 1845) he would have been born in 1845. However, I made a copy from the “Register of Death, Utah County, Utah” at the Utah County Building in Provo, when I was a student at BYU about 1978. It listed: Joseph Pueblo age 55, Sex Male, Race Indian, Color Red, … Date of Death April 6, 1898. If Joseph was 55 years old when he died (1898 – 55= 1843) he would have been born in 1843.”

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Edited June 8, 2021 to clarify the hot springs near what is now Draper.

Jukes and Kallikaks

Jukes and Kallikaks

by Justin Durand

Not many people remember it now, but biologists used to like the idea of eugenics, improving humans by controlling who is allowed to reproduce. In that whole muddle the Jukes and Kallikaks were iconic.

In 9th grade biology our textbooks had a chapter on genetics. Mendel and all that. I was already a fledgling genealogist. I loved the little charts that illustrated dominant and recessive genes. That’s when I assimilated the convention that squares on the charts represent men, and circles represent women.

Source: Michelle Mischke, MIT OpenCourseWare

But the genealogical gold was in the Jukes and Kallikaks. These were two “families” that had been the subject of genetic studies in the early 20th century. Our text included them to make the point eugenics had been a thing. A long time ago.

The names used for these folks, Jukes and Kallikak, were pseudonyms used to protect their privacy.

We got little summaries, in a sidebar. Just enough to whet a genealogical appetite. In my opinion it was the best part of our Biology textbook, and far too brief.

The Jukes family were “a race of criminals, paupers and harlots”, descended from “Max”, who settled on the New York frontier in the early 18th century. One of his sons married “Ada”, “mother of criminals”.

Then there were the Kallikaks. They were descended from “Martin Kallikak”, who had served in the Continental army. On his way home from the war he had a dalliance with a feeble-minded bar maid. Their descendants were a “race of degenerates.” When he got home he married a respectable Quaker woman. Their descendants were upstanding citizens.

How odd, I thought. Martin Kallikak must have had no good or bad himself if his children took after their mothers. It was a puzzle to me for a long time. How did no one ever notice that at the time?

It would be interesting if someone now were to create a genealogy project that showed the actual families, with all their complex links. I’m not going to be the one to do it but I wouldn’t mind wasting a few hours clicking around.

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American Exceptionalism

American Exceptionalism

by Justin Durand ♥ 1 Comment

White supremacists make a basic mistake about history. They imagine we live in the same world our ancestors did. They’re just wrong.

Our ancestors in America had to learn how to live on the Frontier. The Indians knew how to live here, but the settlers didn’t. In the process of adapting the settlers created a new culture. They stopped being Europeans and became a different people with a different culture.

This idea is the “Frontier Thesis”, an idea popularized by Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932) in his book The Frontier in American History (1920). The basic idea is the frontier gave Americans a unique character and culture.

The Frontier Thesis is part of a larger narrative framework that America is different (“American exceptionalism”).

Modern historians generally don’t like these meta-narratives that supposedly explain the forces behind historical events. And, it’s clear just on the face the Frontier Thesis is essentially and almost completely a White Anglo narrative. Americans Indians wouldn’t see it that way. The Spanish in California and the Southwest wouldn’t see it that way. And the immigrant populations in the cities wouldn’t see it that way.

Yet, the idea of an America formed by the frontier lingers in the popular imagination. The rise of the Frontier Thesis is the main reason we had so many Westerns on television in the early 1960s, and its decline is the main reason those shows disappeared in the 70s.

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