Tombstone Tuesday - November 3, 2009

Isaac Wiseman (1738-1818)

and

Elizabeth Wiseman (1738-1807)

Isaac and Elizabeth Wiseman are buried at the northwest corner of the Old Rehobeth Church in Keenan, Monroe County, West Virginia. It is the oldest church west of the Alleghany Divide. They helped to found and to build the tiny log church.

Isaac was the eldest son of Isaac Wiseman, Sr. [1700-1779] and Mary Marshall [1721-1790]. Isaac Sr. had the distinction of being born onboard ship during the immigration from England to America in 1700.

The family first settled in Pennsylvania. At some point, Isaac Sr. moved to Jersey Settlement, Rowan County, North Carolina, where he and Mary are buried.

Isaac Jr. moved first to Rockingham County, Virginia around 1784, and about 10 years later moved into Monroe County, Virginia [now West Virginia]. He had married Elizabeth Davis in 1758 in Pennsylvania. The couple had 11 children: Joseph, John, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Samuel, Abner, Elizabeth, Margaret, and William.

His children were, by the time of his move into Monroe County, all grown and had families of their own. Some settled in Monroe County, while still others moved on to Kentucky and to Ohio.

The family was quite adamant in their faith. Son, John, was one of the first ministers of the Old Rehobeth Church. [I'll have to post a blog about the Old Rehobeth sometime to share with you the beauty of that simple log church!] John later moved on to Ohio. Although a minister of the gospel, when the country was in the throes of its birth, John did not hesitate to shuck his robes, and is documented as having served with General Washington on the battlefield at Valley Forge.

Isaac Jr., [John's father] also served in the Revolutionary War. He served with the Pennsylvania Militia, while his brother, James [Isaac Jr.'s brother], served in the North Carolina Militia.

When you walk the grounds of the Old Rehobeth Church and Cemetery, you will note that most graves are located on the eastern and southern edges of the yard. However, the "elite" of the church are buried on the northern most plot of land, which is a narrow spit. It is here that the Keenan's [who donated the land for the church] and the Wiseman's are buried. This small area was designated especially for these who worked so hard to establish the church [which is of the Methodist persuasion] and gave of themselves unselfishly to see the church grow and reach fruition.

Each time I visit this hallowed spot, I stand in awe of all of those who rest here, and of what they accomplished in the raw wilderness that once was.

It is with a great deal of pride that I say that I am the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Wiseman. I am descended through their son, Joseph [who also served in the Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolution], and who married Elizabeth Bateman. From there, to their daughter, Rachel, who married William Bean [and from there I have posted my ancestry many times on this site].

Almost Wordless Wednesday - October 28, 2009

That's the Texicanwife on the left [hmmm...we won't say what year this was!] And my baby sister, Eydie, on the right. In the middle is my beautiful grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Faudree Bean [1897-1975]. This is a rare of photograph of her with the only two grandchildren she got to know. The year she died [11 months later] my parents adopted 2 little boys, so there were two more from our family. Several years later, my Uncle married and had 2 more children.

Mary was the daughter of Stephen Ledford Faudree and Elizabeth Carnifax. She married John Monroe Bean, Sr.[1866-1954] in Alleghany County, Virginia. The couple lived in Monroe County, West Virginia. They had three sons: Walter Maxwell [b. 1937], Edsel Ford [b. 1939], and Roy Edwin [1943-1946].

Mary and John are buried in the New Zion Union Church Cemetery, Waiteville, Monroe County, West Virginia. Roy Edwin is buried at Carmel Cemetery, Gap Mills, Monroe County, West Virginia.

Tombstone Tuesday - October 27, 2009

Aubrey Francis Reed

Oct. 12, 1904

Sept. 29, 1989

Second Creek Grist Mill

In The Old Mills Tradition

While not related to me, Aubrey Reed is something of legend in Monroe County, West Virginia. The mill which he ran, on the waters of Second Creek, near Hollywood, has been running for more than 200 years. And it continues to run today. It is even said that president's who visited nearby Greenbrier Hotel, in White Sulphur Springs, asked for cornbread made specifically from his cornmeal. [Franklin Roosevelt had the cornmeal shipped to the White House kitchens specifically for his cornbread.]

This burial is located in the Carmel Cemetery in Gap Mills, Monroe County, West Virginia.

Saturday Night Challenge - on Sunday Morning!

Randy Seaver [GeneaMusings] gave us another great Saturday Night Challenge last evening:

"Hey, genealogy fans - it's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!

In honor of Surname Saturday (the new, official genealogy blogging prompt for Saturdays), let's consider this, assuming you accept the challenge to play along (is it Mission Impossible?):

1) What is the most unique, strangest or funniest combination of given name and last name in your ancestry? Not in your database - in your ancestry.

2) Tell us about this person in a blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook.

3) Okay, if you don't have a really good one - how about a sibling of your direct ancestors? "


That being said, here is my great contribution to the unusual name:

Ima Bean [b.1942-d.1942] Unfortunately little Ima only lived 8 days. As far as I know, her mother is still living, so I won't list her parents here. [They are a part of my father's family].

The joke for me was always that this relative should have named his daughters [there were 3 of them] Ima, Ura, and Shesa. [The other two girls have perfectly "normal" names!]

So... what's the name that is unusual in your family's ancestry???

Perhaps the Next National Genealogist?

A 7th grader and her 80-year old grandfather are the first to identify that Barack Obama is related to all other United States President's except one.

BridgeAnne d'Avignon, in Watsonville, California, traced Obama and all other U.S. President's, except Martin Van Buren, to John "Lackland" Plantagenet, a king of England, and a signer of the Magna Carta.

The unlikely genealogy researchers spent this past summer designing the first known family tree chart that shows the president's direct relationship to one another. BridgeAnne's grandfather researched the president's genealogy for the past sixty-years.




BridgeAnne hopes to personally present the chart to Obama.

source: KSBW.com

Piano Stairs

This has nothing to do with genealogy, but thought everyone would enjoy this!

National Treasure On Tour

I received the following announcement today:

"On Saturday, October 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) will display one of only twenty-six known original printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.

The document—coming to Virginia thanks to the Pearson Foundation and Declare Yourself—is one of close to 200 broadsides [large posters] created from Thomas Jefferson's original draft by twenty-nine-year-old print shop owner John Dunlap. Ordered by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, Dunlap's printed copies of the Declaration of Independence were distributed the next day to the thirteen states, King George in England, and George Washington to be read to the soldiers of the Continental Army.

Until 1989, only twenty-four Dunlap's broadsides were known to have survived. That year, a man purchased a framed painting in a Philadelphia flea market for $4. Upon examining a tear in the back of the painting, he discovered the copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Take advantage of free admission to the VHS this Saturday (Members are free EVERY day) and see the only traveling copy of the Declaration of Independence - never before displayed in Virginia."

*****

If you can possibly get to LVA this Saturday, please go! This is a National Treasure!!!