Restaurant and Bar Privileges

 

Louisville Courier-Journal. 27 Apr 1875.

Almost 150 years ago, the Louisville Jockey Club posted a call for proposals to manage the restaurant and bar booths behind the stands for a six day meeting of the club. The winner of the privileges would supply the saloons that would satisfy patrons of the horse races. This became the first running of the Kentucky Derby.

The winning bidder for the restaurant and bar privileges for the fall of 1875 and spring 1876 meeting of the Jockey Club was Robert Cain. This would have been incredibly lucrative for Robert, supplying food and beverage during the running of the Kentucky Derby and related races. 

Daily Louisville Commercial. 9 Jun 1875.

Louisville Courier-Journal. 13 May 1876.

To put this into context, Robert won a bid for $3060 to run the food and beverage for all of the races at the the six day events for both the fall 1875 and spring 1876 races hosted by the Louisville Jockey Club, including the second running of the Kentucky Derby. He was also running two saloons at the time, at 236 Main Street (Louisville Hotel) and 126 Lafayette. It is a really cool find and amazing to think we may have a direct family connection to the running of the early days of the Derby.

This brings me back to my other family connection to the Derby on a different branch of the tree, from the undated photos taken by my Gumpy at Churchill Downs.

One last note, as this year is the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby, there is a fascinating article out this week on the search for the burial ground of the first winner of the Derby, Aristides. It's worth a read.

On theories and chance

 

A. H. Thayer. Young Woman. 1897.

While revisiting old finds and looking at DNA connections to my 3rd-great-grandmother Nancy Jane Flatt, I am running into challenges to find a connection between her and the potential father of her daughter Mary Alice Cain. A previous post looked into the possibility that this could be a liquor and saloon owner named Robert Cain who was living in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1870s. 

Pleasant Morgan, Nancy's husband and first cousin, named Robert as her first husband in his Civil War pension file. While I've written about his selective memory, I'd like to think the name of Nancy's first partner is something Pleasant would have known. As he was close family living in neighboring Barren County at the time, his mother Elizabeth was Nancy Jane's aunt, leads me to think and hope this was the case.

As to whether young Nancy Jane ran away from Metcalfe County to Louisville in the early 1870s and met Robert there, or Robert was visiting Barren County to acquire meat and liquor for his saloons in Louisville, we just don't know. Robert later took over the saloon and betting exchange located at 236 Main Street. In the late 1860s, proprietor John Kohlrepp was advertising venison from Barren County and quail from Lebanon, Kentucky (not too far from Metcalfe County) served at his restaurant. It's a stretch, but maybe that's how these two might be connected.

Louisville Daily Courier. 28 Nov 1867.

On a chance while researching Robert Cain's family, I looked up his next two generations, for his parents and grandparents. Descendants of Robert Cain's grandmother, Tabitha Edwards, show up as DNA matches on my Mom's results.

AncestryDNA ThruLines.

DNA Day 2024

A quick note that FamilySearch is currently livestreaming a series of DNA Day sessions on its Rootstech site (also available via YouTube and Facebook Live). These are really helpful and I plan to go back and watch several of the sessions later today once my work day allows.

A Loop in the Tree

 

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Jackson County, TN.

The discovery of Elizabeth Flatt as mother of Pleasant Morgan opened up a surprising connection to Pleasant Flatt. It appears that Elizabeth was Pleasant Flatt's older sister. This means Pleasant Morgan was Nancy Jane Flatt's first cousin. Both Pleasant and Elizabeth were children of John Henry Flatt, and while I'll have much more on him in a later post, the image below from AncestryDNA's Thrulines on my Mom's results is pretty interesting. She has 100 DNA matches to descendants of John Henry Flatt (I have 86). For her of the 11 matching from Elizabeth Flatt, 6 also match to Pleasant Morgan, and down to Frank Morgan and his sister Viola.

AncestryDNA Thrulines.

Elizabeth was born in 1806, probably in Jackson County, Tennessee. I am still researching, but it seems likely she named her son Pleasant (born in 1845) after her younger brother (born about 1820).

Elizabeth and family appear again in the 1860 US Census in Jackson County.

Ancestry. 1860 US Census. Jackson County, TN.

Family history is the story that keeps giving, with loops and knottted branches dispersed among the leaves.

Marriage Bond

 

Ancestry. Metcalfe County, KY. 

Continuing from the previous post, above and below are captures from the marriage bond of Pleasant Morgan and third wife Sarah Josephine Poynter. The bond was signed on 7 December 1892, with the marriage occuring on 8 December 1892. Pleasant's second wife, my 3rd-great-grandmother Nancy Jane Flatt, seems to have been still alive in the Barren-Metcalfe County area at this time.

Sarah Josephine (#1) was born on 19 April 1876 in Metcalfe County, so she was 16 years old at marriage. Pleasant was 47. Nancy Jane would have been 37 then, taking care of five or six children at the time.

From a thorough review of Pleasant's Civil War pension file, he was deaf in his right ear and dealing with debilitating pain, while managing a farm. Most of the eight children listed in the 1880 US Census who were children of his first wife Mary Elizabeth were married in the 1890s, and out of the house when Pleasant started his second family with Nancy Jane, and third family with young Sarah Josephine.

Ancestry. Metcalfe County marriages.

This record is important because it lists his parents as James Morgan and Elizabeth Flatt, and his place of birth in Jackson County, Tennessee. I will have more on this in another post, but Elizabeth ties back into the family of Pleasant Flatt.

On the marriage bond, Sarah Josephine is shown as 17 years old, but she was 16. They were married at the home of her father, Pascal Achilles Poynter, who was seven years younger than Pleasant. Sarah Josephine was only two years older than my 2nd-great-grandmother Mary Alice Cain. Pleasant later signed on Mary Alice's marriage bond on 14 February 1895.

The confusing part is that it looks like Nancy Jane was still alive, and caring for young children when Pleasant married Sarah Josephine in 1892. It is not entirely clear whose child was whose, and given Josie's age in 1892 or even 1890 when Pleasant's daughter Eva was born, there may be some troubling truths to confront. Anna seems to have been a daughter of Sarah Josephine, born before the marriage in December 1892.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census. Metcalfe County, KY.

Ancestry. 1900 US Census. Barren Co., KY.

Back in 2015, a fellow researcher sent me the text from two Barren County news clippings dated October 1894. The first one appeared in the Glasgow Weekly Times for 3 October 1894. "Mrs. Pleas Morgan died at her home near Frank's old mill some three miles from Hiseville last Sunday of heart trouble. She was buried the following Monday evening in the James Nunn burying ground."

The second one appeared in the Glasgow Republican issue for 5 October 1894. "Mrs. Pleasant Morgan died at the residence of her husband near town last Saturday of heart failure."

Selective Memory

 

Civil War pension file of Pleasant Morgan.

Back in August 2015, I wrote about the Civil War pension file of Pleasant Morgan, husband of my 3rd-great-grandmother Nancy Jane Flatt. While I titled that post Pursuing Every Lead, I've failed to look more closely at this file over the past nine years to sort out the confusion over the various families connected through marriage or birth to Pleasant and Nancy Jane. As I noted that 2015 post, there are key parts of the massive file that are worth using a microscope eye to look for these differences.

A first issue is that Pleasant Morgan may have had very selective memory of important dates and facts about his families. I included a screen shot in the 2015 post of his correspondence to the Bureau of Pensions from 4 May 1898. In that document, he stated his marriage date to Josephine Poynter occurred in Metcalfe County on 7 December 1892. Pleasant said his first marriage was to Eliza Finn, he did not remember the date, then he married Nannie Flat, who he said died in June 1892. However, death notices in area newspapers indicated that the "wife of Pleasant Morgan" died in 1894, and Findagrave shows her death date as 30 September 1894, so this doesn't match up.

Another issue is that in 1898, Pleasant Morgan listed his son Frank's birth date as February 25, 1876, but as with my previous post, documentation on Frank's birth date has various dates from January 1881 to 1886. He listed Viola's birth date as May 26, 1887, and Eva's birth date as February 14, 1889 (her death certificate says 1890).

On the 1915 correspondence, Pleasant stated his first wife died on 17 May, while the US Federal Mortality Schedules list a Mary E. Morgan who died in Barren County in May 1880. However, for second wife Nancy (spelled as Nannie Flat) he wrote "died dates not known". The next question asked "if your present wife was married before her marriage to you, state the name of the former husband (etc). Pleasant wrote "yes, Robert Kain". On the next line he wrote, "I know nothing more about him." But Nancy was not the present wife in 1915, it was Sarah Josephine Poynter, who he had married in December 1892. In this case, Pleasant's confusion while answering the questions has provided an important lead.

Question 9 of the 1915 document asked Pleasant to state the names and dates of all his children, living or dead. Here, Pleasant did us no favors, writing that he had nine by his first wife, two were dead by 1915. He said he had six children by his second wife, with three dead, and none by his present wife. This is odd. Josephine Poynter is supposed to be the mother of Anna Morgan, born in May 1892 (and possibly Eva Morgan born in 1889/1890). But maybe Nancy was the mother of these children? Lastly, Pleasant wrote that he could not give dates of birth or deaths for any of his children, although he provided some in 1898.

Adding to the confusion, Pleasant married for a fourth time, on 17 September 1923, to another Sarah Josephine (maiden name Minor, married name Smith in 1923). She also provided a widow's pension application after Pleasant's death. Her claim was approved on 8 November 1928.

I am grateful that have a copy of the file, but I shake my fists a bit in frustration, wishing Pleasant had been more thorough in his answers. 

DNA again

 

AncestryDNA Thrulines.

In trying to look for elusive clues to untangle the branches connected to my 3rd-great-grandmother Nancy Jane Flatt, I'm revisiting the DNA results for my Mom and her sisters. There are also discrepancies among the related trees, and differences of opinion on whose mother was who for the children of Pleasant Morgan, later husband of Nancy Jane from their marriage in October 1884.

Above is a screen shot for the AncestryDNA Thrulines from my Aunt Patty's test, descending from Nancy Jane Flatt. The two connections to evaluate are already in my tree with different spellings for their names, and different dates of birth - Frank Morgan and Viola T. Morgan. On my Aunt Patty's results, she has three matches descending from Frank and one from Viola. When comparing against my Mom's results, she has four matches from Frank and two from Viola. My Aunt Linda's results only show 4 matches for Frank, none for Viola. 

It seems pretty clear Frank and Viola were half-siblings of Mary Alice Cain. None of our test results show any matches to descendants of Harl P. Cain. The resemblance is pretty strong in the photo of Mary Alice and Harl, perhaps no descendants of Harl have taken a DNA test yet.

This brings me back to Frank. His birth date shows up in records as either 18 January 1881, 1883, both dates are before the marriage of Pleasant and Nancy Jane on October 1884. If Frank was born in 1881, then Pleasant and Nancy Jane would have been together from around April or May 1880, or if in 1883 from April or May 1882. Nancy Jane does not appear in the 1880 US Census (as far as I can tell currently) in Metcalfe, Barren or Adair Counties in Kentucky. Shown below, Pleasant appears in Glasgow, Barren County, as a widower with 8 children from his previous marriage and mother-in-law Mary Hendrick Browning.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census. Glasgow, Kentucky.

In the 1900 US Census, Frank is listed as born in January 1885.

Ancestry. 1900 US Census. Glasgow, Kentucky.

By 1910, Frank had gotten married and was living in neighboring Hart County. He still listed his birth year as 1885. The 1920 Census shows his birth year as 1886, but by 1930, the entry says 1882. The 1940 Census again lists his birth year as 1886, but the 1950 entry says 1881.

Frank's WWI draft card lists his date of birth as 18 January 1883, but his WWII draft card lists his date of birth as 25 January 1885. Frank's headstone shows his birth year as 1881.

Returning to Pleasant and Nancy Jane. Did they connect in 1880, while Pleasant was juggling a house of eight young children?

Something else apparent is that no matches appear for descendants of Eva L. Morgan, who was born 24 February 1890. Her obituary states that she was the daughter of Pleasant Morgan and Josie Pointer, but Nancy Jane was still living when Eva was born. Pleasant and Josie were married on 7 December 1892, while Nancy was alive and Pleasant was as far as I can tell, still legally married to her. The Kentucky Archives have no record of a divorce for Pleasant and Nancy Jane, and news articles of the time indicate Nancy Jane died in 1894.

There's a lot of confusion in the records, perhaps some of it was intentional. The next post takes us back to the Civil War pension file of Pleasant Morgan.

Lunch Visitor

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Cat in Istanbul. 16 Apr 2024.

Appearing in the Overton County Deeds

 

FamilySearch. Overton County, TN Deeds.

As part of settling a prior debt, on 9 May 1859, my 4th-great-grandfather Pleasant Flatt conveyed a three-week old mule colt to William H. Hawkins in Overton County, Tennessee. The deed above was found using FamilySearch Labs AI search tool.

Several other deeds involving Flatt also showed up in the search. Flatt was clearly in a rough financial situation in 1859. He conveyed the lease and crops on his land in Overton County in order to satisfy a judgment against him from December 1858. This echoes later legal troubles against Flatt in Metcalfe County in 1872, the case that sent him into the Metcalfe County Poor House. 

Another conveyance showed what led to the judgment against him in December 1858. In that transaction, Flatt agreed to transfer a 14 year old mare and his crop of tobacco to O.B. Brady as part of assisting Flatt with settling a previous debt he owed to Delila Boyd. Flatt would later default on his debt to Brady, causing Brady to bring an action against him, leading to the settlement shown above.

In 1860, Flatt was indebted to John L. Cain for $15. He entered into a deed of trust with Cain to sell his crop of tobacco. Given my search for the identity of Robert Cain, seeing this deed raises my interest in knowing more about who this John Cain was.

FamilySearch. Overton County Deeds, 1860.

Galata Bridge & the Bosphorus

 

Pera Museum. Photo from 8 Jun 2018.

A fox in New York

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. NYC, 29 Mar 2024.

Interstellar Influencer

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Alexandria, VA. 8 Apr 2024.

Above is a shot of the current public art installation at the Alexandria Waterfront, titled Interstellar Influencer (Make an Impact). The artwork is an interpretation on an asteroid that hit near Alexandria approximately 35 million years ago, helping create the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The installation will be at the waterfront until November 2024.

From the last time in Istanbul

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Istanbul. 12 Dec 2019.

Nine Years Ago, and again

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Istanbul. 14 Apr 2015.

To the very week, I'm in Istanbul for meetings, not far from where I took photos in 2015 (see also here). Istanbul is a beautiful city all times of the year, but I'm particularly looking forward to springtime in the city. New photos to follow in a future post, or more likely on Instagram first.

What mysteries to solve

 

Source: PBS. Finding Your Roots.

Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s wonderful show, Finding Your Roots, recently concluded Season 10 with a special Viewers Like You episode. Unlike other episodes which focus on the ancestry of a celebrity or public figure, this one centered on the stories of three women who were selected from over 9,000 entrants from viewers of the series. These were "regular people" with fascinating stories of their own.

Dr. Gates asked each guest what they were hoping to learn about the mysteries they wanted to solve. That question resonated as I wondered if given the same opportunity, and Dr. Gates asked me what family history mystery I wanted to learn more about, what would I want to know? While I can't pick just one, here are a few that for various reasons, I'd love to see someone with the resources of the PBS series help me resolve.

The first mystery I would love to settle is identifying the father of my 2nd-great-grandmother Mary Alice Cain. I have posted about this previously, how her mother Nancy Jane Flatt likely delivered Mary Alice and her brother Harl in the Metcalfe County Poor House in 1878 and 1879. There is no trace of them in the 1880 US Census. According to the Civil War pension file of Nancy Jane's husband Pleasant Morgan, Nancy Jane's first husband was named Robert Kain (or Cain). There are hints of a possible Robert Cain in Louisville, but nothing verified. I think DNA research could help answer this mystery, unless other records can be found linking Nancy Jane to this Robert.

The next question is less of a mystery now that I know Agnes Atherton was a daughter of John O'Brien. It would be awesome to run across a verified photo or vaudeville flyer with a depiction of Agnes. I would love to get answers on the parents of her mother Bridget Dooner and dig into the Irish roots on her line and John O'Brien's family.

Perhaps a fourth story would help confirm the arrival of the Campuzano family in Mexico, tracing them to Spain or elsewhere. Another would be verification on my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez, tracing his journey to Chile and earlier.

A Legacy of Education

 

George Washington Oyler, son of George Oyler Sr., is remembered today for his long legacy of service as an educator in Hamilton County, Ohio. Using funds from his father, he founded a small community school in Storrs Township in 1854. This school became the Twenty-First District School in 1870, and later named the Oyler School. The building was recently renovated, and was the subject of a documentary. It serves as a focal point for the local community today.

Cincinnati Enquirer. 28 Jul 1916.

Cincinnati Enquirer. 21 Feb 1928.

I am now shifting from the research into the Oyler family of Kent, England and Hamilton County, Ohio, to another branch of the tree.

Descending from George

 

AncestryDNA. Thrulines from Dad's results.

As with last Friday's post comparing Thrulines on the Haiss line, above is a screen shot for the current results descending from my 4th-great-grandfather George Oyler Sr (shown from my Dad's AncestryDNA view). George Sr's first son, George Goble Oyler did not leave surviving children. One match descends from William Goble Oyler, George's second son, and eleven through Daniel Oyler, Samuel's older brother.

Upon arrival in the United States in 1828, George Sr. and family settled in Hamilton County, Ohio. His first land deed appears to have been made in the county in 1835. George paid $1108.80 for a tract of land set aside by the State of Ohio for the creation of a school.

Hamilton County Deeds. 6 Apr 1835.

George Sr and first wife Sarah Goble Oyler sold 77 acres to son William G. Oyler on 14 March 1835 in Harrison, Hamilton County.

On 18 October 1856, George Sr. acquired more school lands from the trustees of Hamilton County. He later sold this land to his son George G. Oyler, and later in 1877 entered into a mortgage with his son on the property.

My next post will describe the school founded by George W. Oyler.

To Breeders of Sheep

 

Daily Cincinnati Gazette. 28 Sep 1840.

The advertisement above was placed by George Oyler Sr. in the local Cincinnati newspapers, promoting his sheep for breeding. George's prize Kent buck was imported from England in April 1839, and won first at a farm show near Cincinnati in September 1839. His sheep won again in May 1840. The advertisement also included a testimonial from Robert Bowles, a fellow native of Kent, England, and the father of George's neighbor, Samuel P. Bowles.

It is possible George's Kent buck was a Romney Marsh sheep, valued for their "semi-long wool" and meat. I think this helps confirm the source of George's tavern name, the Buck Tavern. The advertisement also provides more color to George's background and farm in Hamilton County, Ohio. The census entries where he is listed between 1850 and 1880 simply say "farmer". Knowing he was a well-regarded sheep breeder and tavern operator gives us much more of a story to his life in Ohio.

There's another aspect of George's life that continues to have an impact today. George used some of the profits from the farm to purchase land that he later transferred to his son George Washington Oyler. This land became a prominent school, and I'll have more on the school in a future post.

The Great Tornado of 1854

 

The Spirit of Democracy, 8 Mar 1854.

The clipping above mentions a damaging tornado struck Harrison, Ohio on 14 February 1854. February storms with such intensity are rare, but do occur as storm fronts clash. Other news articles of the day document an earlier round of damaging storms and a tornado that struck Knox County, Ohio on 20 January 1854. Researchers of the day noted that the January storm stretched from Little Rock, Arkansas through Pennsylvania.

In 1854, my 4th-great-grandfather George Oyler Sr was operating a tavern in Harrison, Ohio. We know about this from the land deed recorded two years earlier, on 14 February 1852, for the building adjoining his Buck Tavern. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on the losses from the tornado, and mentioned George Oyler's tavern below:

Cleveland Plain Dealer, 22 Feb 1854.

Oyler House

 

Google Streetview. Oyler House. Photo from 2019.

Thanks to Google Maps Streetview feature, we can still locate the original home owned by George G. Oyler in Harrison, Hamilton County, Ohio. Today the property is part of a sod farm. The photo below shows what may have been an original barn for the Oyler property, along with a stone wall near the road. This could have been the tavern operated by George G. Oyler in the 1850 US Census.

Oyler House.

The property matches up with the US Indexed County Land Ownership Map for Harrison, Hamilton County in 1869. George G. Oyler's property is in the upper right corner, off Lees Creek, next to brothers William G. Oyler and Daniel Oyler's estate. George Oyler Sr.'s property is in the lower left corner, neighboring T. B. Calloway and Samuel Bowles.

Ancestry. US County Land Maps. 1869.

Another Sibling

 

James McNeill Whistler. The Butcher's Shop. 1888-89.

Following Josephine, Marianna and Sebastian Haiss, another sibling made the journey from Hausen im Killertal, Prussia to Kenton County, Kentucky sometime before 1860. Josephine's sister Barbara was born in Hausen im Killertal in 1838, and baptized there on 29 June 1838, placing her a year older than Josephine. Barbara appears in the household of her half-brother Sebastian in Covington in the 1860 US Census. 

1860 US Census. Covington, Kentucky.

Like her sisters, Barbara married a butcher. She married Leonard Weindel on 1 December 1865 in Kenton County. Barbara had a daughter, who she named Rosa Josephine, in May 1870. They appear in the 1870 US Census in Covington. Another daughter, Louisa, arrived in 1877.

1880 US Census. Covington, Kentucky.

For now, this wraps up my research on the Haiss family in Kentucky. I will be returning to the Oylers in Ohio, trying to make sense of the many Georges in the tree.

Josephine

 

Antoine Volkmar. Emigrants' Farewell. 1860.

The young girl in the boat at the center of the 1860 painting above titled Emigrants' Farewell strikes me as what young Josephine Haiss may have experienced preparing to cross the Atlantic at Le Havre, France in 1853. Josephine was a half-sister of Marianna and Sebastian Haiss, through their father's second wife Ursula Kraus. She appears on the ship manifest at the age of 14, arriving into New Orleans on 10 December 1853. She may have been traveling with an older cousin, Peter Henkel (age 32).

Ancestry. New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1853.

Josephine joined her older half-siblings in Kenton County, Kentucky, and in the 1860 US Census, she was working as a servant in the household of banker William Wood. She likely helped Wood's wife Emily with her 10 children in the house.

1860 US Census. Covington, Kentucky.

Sometime between 1860 and 1862, Josephine married August Schuler, a fellow German immigrant and butcher, just like her brother Sebastian. They appear in the 1870 US Census in Covington, living in a working class neighborhood of butchers, shoemakers, brewers and blacksmiths. By 1870, the family had five children, and another four would arrive to be listed in the 1880 US Census.

1870 US Census. Covington, Kentucky.

The family relocated to Elizabeth, New Jersey in time for the 1880 US Census. August is shown working as a butcher, while two of Josephine's sons, Norbert and Charles (ages 15 and 14), were working at the Singer Sewing Machine factory. The historic building recently burned in a fire in January 2024.

1880 US Census. Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey.

NJ.com. Postcard dated 1909.

Josephine died in Elizabeth, New Jersey in August 1896, her husband followed a year later. My Dad's DNA matches are through Josephine's son Sebastian. He died in New Jersey in 1934, a retired policeman who appears to have served on the Elizabeth Police Department for many years.

Here's one last drawing recalling a possible scene from Josephine's life, titled Interior of a Butcher Shop by Léon Augustin Lhermitte.

Lhermitte. Interior of a Butcher Shop, 1881.