William and Nancy

Before diving into the Warren County, Kentucky Court case involving my 4th-great-grandparents, William Free and Nancy Hayden Clark Free, I need to step back and properly introduce William and Nancy. William is currently a brick wall, I do not know his parents or where he came from in Kentucky. I do not have a marriage record for William and Nancy, but I do have the names of their children, and US Census entries in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 for William and Nancy together. Let's start there.

In the 1850 US Census, William and Nancy appear in Division 2, Barren County, Kentucky, living two houses down from Nancy's parents Jonathan and Martha Clark. My 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free is listed in the household with her older sister Elizabeth C. Free.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Barren County, KY.

By 1860, the family had moved to neighboring Metcalfe County with Nancy's mother, Martha Patsy Clark, and added a son, William Jacob Free.

Ancestry. 1860 US Census. Metcalfe County, KY.

Martha Jane married William Matthews on 27 June 1861 in Metcalfe County. My recap on the family of William and Martha Jane is here from 2017. The marriage entry lists Martha's parents as born in Russell County, Kentucky (for William Free) and Virginia (for Nancy). 

In the 1870 US Census, William Free, Nancy and son William appear in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. Nancy is listed as cannot read or write.

Ancestry. 1870 US Census. Barren County, KY.

By 1880, the family is shown in Roseville, Barren County, Kentucky. The 1880 entry states William's father was born in Kentucky and mother in Virginia, so those are leads to pursue on another search.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census. Barren County, KY.

This exhausts the census records for William, who died before 16 June 1900. Nancy appears as a widow in the 1900 US Census in Elk Spring, Warren County, Kentucky, living with her daughter Elizabeth.

Ancestry. 1900 US Census. Warren County, KY.

The census entries provide some hints of where to look next using FamilySearch Full Text Search, for records involving William and Nancy in Barren, Metcalfe and Warren County, Kentucky.

Another source of information on William and Nancy may be found in the Civil War pension files. It looks like William H. Free enlisted in the Union Army, 15th Kentucky Cavalry. There is a pension card on Fold3, and another on Ancestry listing Nancy with a widow's pension file number.

Fold3. US Civil War pensions index.

Ancestry. General index to pension files.

Martha Jane's Testimony

FamilySearch. Warren County, KY.

Thanks once again to FamilySearch Full Text Search, I've found a page of testimony signed by my 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free Matthews, in the case P. P. Rountree vs Nancy Free in Warren County, Kentucky Court, dated about 1903. While I've looked at the Matthews side, Martha Jane's side has some brick walls after her father William Free. I'll be diving into this case, and peeling back the layers on this mystery branch.

RootsTech 2027 session notices going out

At the end of May I submitted two session proposals for RootsTech 2027. This afternoon, the decline notices arrived from the RootsTech team. I'm really ok with it. I know they receive a ton of proposals each year and need to weigh the proposals with the themes, and talks from established names in the space. I'll still attend in person and I am looking forward to seeing which sessions made it through the competitive process.

The branch that went to New Zealand

Among the many DNA matches connected to my Dad's results on MyHeritage, one 14.3 cM match from New Zealand has a small tree showing her maternal grandfather's Hanley line. These Hanleys arrived from Ireland in 1863, settling in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. John, his brother Patrick, and their sister Margaret Hanley settled in and around the Waimate and Morven Districts. Other trees on Ancestry show John Hanley as a son of Murtagh Hanley and Mary Fahey, and that John was born in Galway in 1843. 

Galway may have been the port the Hanleys sailed from, but it's very likely their roots trace back to Roscommon, 77 km away. Just like the cluster of Australian matches connected to the Gannon-Hanley group, this New Zealand branch shows a group of brave Irish immigrants made the long journey around the world in search of a better life.

Path in the Park

Vincent van Gogh. Path in the Park. 17-18 Sept 1888.