Jacob and Contente

 

FamilySearch. Rev. War Pensions. 1838.

Jacob Truax and Contente Bills married in Monmouth County, New Jersey in August 1784. The couple promptly had a son, Sylvanus, in 1786, along with Margaret (1788), Thomas (1790), Samuel (1792), Jacob Jr (1794) and Hester (1798). 

Jacob served in the Revolutionary War and filed a pension. His widow Contente submitted pension papers, and after her death in 1838, her children received the benefit. Above shows two screenshots from the pension record naming the children. This set of documents is hugely helpful for piecing together the family.

There's more on Jacob's service during the Revolutionary War that deserves a separate post.

FamilySearch. Rev. War Pensions.

FamilySearch. US Bounty Land records.

FamilySearch. Monmouth, NJ deed. 7 Feb 1823.

Contente was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey in 1764, the daughter of Sylvanus Bills and Rachel Lippincott. She was 20 at marriage to Jacob Truax in 1784. She would have been a teen during the years of the American Revolution. The Battle of Monmouth, which occurred in their town on 28 June 1778, is known as one of the longest battles of the war. For more on the Monmouth campaign, see this post from Mount Vernon.

After the war, the Truax family raised their children in Howell Township. The children of Jacob and Contente received the Revolutionary War pension in 1842.

Fold3.

A deeper connection

 

FamilySearch. Monmouth, NJ marriages. 1810.

All of the documentation I've seen places Margaret Ketcham's year of birth in 1788, and if accurate, at her marriage to Daniel Havens in 1827 she was 38. I had overlooked the fact that Margaret had an earlier marriage in Monmouth County to John Ketcham in 1810. They had a son named Eli Ketcham in 1810, who I had mislabeled in the tree as a possible brother of Margaret. Eli followed the family to Tazewell County, Illinois and lived near the Havens familly.

According to the 1810 marriage record, Margaret's birth name was Truax. Margaret's father, Jacob Truax, is mentioned in the 1836 land transfer I featured in my last post, along with the name Sylvanus Truax. He was Margaret's brother.

I've seen this family name before on my Dad's side of the tree, with connections to Monmouth County, New Jersey. It's time to see where these two branches intersect, and sort out the various members of the Truax family.

Returning to the Havens line

Back in 2013, I posted an image for the marriage record in March 1827 for Daniel Havens and Margaret Ketcham in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Daniel and Margaret were Allison's 4th-great-grandparents. I last looked at her paternal Havens line in 2017, and with the addition of newly available records from FamilySearch Labs, it's time to look back on the Havens family in New Jersey to see what can be found on Daniel before the family made the move to Tazewell County, Illinois.

On 4 March 1836, Daniel and Margaret completed a land transfer (see record on FamilySearch) with Joseph L. Johnston of Howell, Monmouth County, New Jersey for $137. The deed mentions a six acre plot that Daniel had purchased from Jacob Truax on 25 September 1829, and 17 acres that Daniel had purchased from Sylvanus and Rachel Truax on 14 May 1832. The transaction also included a 33 acre plot and additional 12 acre plot.

FamilySearch. NJ deeds. 1836.

There are a lot of Havens mentioned in the records of Monmouth County, New Jersey, but the deeds above provide a pointer to other records that might allow us to track Daniel and Margaret earlier in time.

The ancient path

 

FTDNA. Globetrekker map.

My Big Y-700 DNA results arrived on Friday, and I have been diving into the material to understand more about my place on the Block Tree. In my last Y-DNA update in mid-December, I was assigned haplogroup R-L2. This latest result puts me closer to modern times, with a most recent common ancestor located in England about 1600 CE.

FTDNA.

The screen shot above shows I have an ancient DNA connection with a man who lived during the Roman age in York, England between 100-400 CE (see this article in the Guardian from 2016). York was a Roman city called Eboracum. This particular ancient match may have originated from southwestern Wales. The link to Wales is not a surprise, with the surname Jones originating there. At that far back, this connection is before the creation of surnames.

There's a verse at the beginning of the 2002 song Turn the Page by the British hip hop project The Streets, where Mike Skinner raps "I'm forty-fifth generation Roman". An AI overview of the song lyric says "it's used to playfully highlight the idea that many people in Britain have distant ancestry linked to the Roman occupation, even if they don't directly experience that heritage in their lives today." I've been a fan of The Streets for a long time (saw them live in 2004 at the 9:30 Club in DC), so learning about this deep Roman connection is pretty cool.

In the meantime, I've joined Y-DNA group project R-U152-FGC22501 to learn more about how to work with the results. A fascinating blog entry from an administrator of the group describes some details on the project.

An epic journey

 

Google Maps. Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

Before I shift from the Halter family to another branch of the tree, I thought I'd close out the story on Caroline Bauer with her move from French colonial Algeria in the mid 1860s across the Atlantic to southern Brazil. I've already shared Caroline's birth record from Bas-Rhin, France in 1838, where she was listed as the illegitimate daughter of Rosine Bauer (and possible daughter of Jean Pierre Halter). Caroline moved with her mother, brother Marcel, and Jean Pierre's children to Oran, Algeria as a teen in the mid 1850s.

She met and married 25 year old Melchior Schaefer in Oran in 1857 at the age of 19. Two years later, she gave birth to a daughter, also named Caroline. Sadly, this child died in 1861. Caroline gave birth to three boys in Algeria between 1860 and 1865: Melchior Jr in 1860; Victor in 1863 and Baptiste (or Jean Baptiste, later known as Joao Baptiste) in 1865.

It's unclear when the family decided to move from Algeria. I have not extensively researched the economic and political situation that Caroline and her extended family may have encountered in colonial Algeria. Jean Pierre Halter died in January 1858. Caroline's mother Rosine died in August 1860 when Caroline was 22 with two young children. Then with two more infants in the household, the Schaefers either first relocated to France in 1867 or moved directly from Algeria to Brazil. Some trees show Caroline delivered a son named Nicolas in France in 1867. Either way, it was quite a journey to go from France to Brazil in the mid to late 1860s. 

I cannot imagine the route taken. Maybe they sailed from Mediterranean France to Sao Paulo or Rio, following the promise of work to the farms in Paraná State. I have not extensively researched Melchior or his trade, or what might have pulled them from Algeria to start anew in Brazil.

The Schaefers first appear in the records in Curitiba, Brazil in 1871, with the baptism of their son, Adolpho. They eventually had five more children in Curitiba.

Melchior Sr. died Curitiba in 1926. Caroline, known in Brazil as Carolina, died on 22 April 1929 (see record on FamilySearch) at the age of 91. From trees on Geneanet and FamilySearch, there's a number of descendants from the Schaefers in Brazil. It's possible there are DNA matches to Allison's Memaw as she's closer in time to Jean Pierre Halter (if he was Caroline's father).

Caroline and Melchior would have seen dramatic change in their lifetimes. They moved from France and Germany to North Africa during a tumultuous war time and colonial period, then to southern Brazil when it was an empire at war with neighboring Uruguay. The Schaefers were there for the formation of the Brazilian Republic and the first World War. They had a huge family who became Brazilian, not knowing about their family connections further north in America.

For now, this post brings my dive into this line of the extended Halter family to a close, as I'll be returning to a different branch on Allison's side of the tree.

Pere Inconnu

 

FamilySearch. Bas-Rhin. 27 Jan. 1838.

Before marrying Jean Pierre Halter on 4 February 1839 in Bas-Rhin, Rosine Bauer gave birth to three children. On the birth records for those children, the father was unknown or "pere inconnu". These children were: Marcel Bauer, born in 1832; Crispin Bauer, born in 1836; and Caroline Bauer, born in 1838. Crispin died an infant in May 1836. On the birth record above for Caroline, she is listed as "fille illegitime de pere inconnu" or illegitimate daughter. Whatever the relationship the children may have had with Jean Pierre, Marcel and Caroline accompanied the family on the move from France to Algeria in the 1850s, and were living near them in the Bou Tlelis neighborhood.

Marcel Bauer married Elisabeth Simon in Bou Tleis, Oran, Algeria in 1856. Caroline married German immigrant Melchior Schaefer in 1857 in Misserghin (next to Bou Tlelis, Oran). While Marcel remained in Algeria until his death in 1903, Caroline and her family took a different path. I'll pick up Caroline's journey in the next post.

ANOM. Misserghin. 1857.

Marie Françoise

 

FamilySearch. Birkenwald birth records, 1846.

Marie Françoise Halter, older sister of Marie Rose, was born in Birkenwald, Bas-Rhin, France on 6 February 1846. She made the journey to Algeria with her parents and siblings, and first appears in the records in Oran, Algeria in January 1866. Marie Françoise gave birth to a daughter, Marie Jeanne Halter. No father is listed on that record. 

On 16 March 1867, she married Pierre Lahargue in Oran. The flowing script on her marriage record is written in French, but clearly in the hand of someone who also wrote in Arabic.

ANOM. Oran, Algeria. 16 Mar 1867.

Pierre and Marie Françoise had at least the following children:

• Clotilde Françoise Lahargue, 1867
• Pierre Lahargue Jr, 1869
• Marianne Josephine Lahargue, 1871
• Pauline Lahargue, 1873
• Catherine Aurelie Lahargue, 1875
• Henriette Pauline Lahargue, 1878
• Adrienne Rosine Lahargue, 1888

Marie Françoise provided a French citizenship declaration on 14 June 1872 from Dellys, on the northern Algerian coast.

Ancestry. 1872.

I haven't found a death record for Marie Françoise, but it seems likely she died in Algeria, sometime after 1888.

Field of Banana Trees, Algeria

 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Field of Banana Trees, 1881.

Marie Rose

At the end of January I learned about the Algerian connection on Allison's Halter side of the tree. Marie Rose Halter, half-sister of Allison's 4th-great-grandfather Francois Antoine Halter, moved as a young child with her father Jean Pierre Halter, mother Rosine Bauer, older brother Antoine, sisters Marie Françoise and Josephine from Bas-Rhin, France to Oran, Algeria. They likely made the journey across the Mediterranean with other Halter cousins and extended family.

Marie Rose was born in Birkenwald, Bas-Rhin, France on 29 January 1849. She first appears in the records of Arzew, Algeria in 1877, when she married Constant Mathurin Soulard.

ANOM. 1877. Arzew, Algeria.

Mathurin died in 1884, and Marie Rose remarried in 1885 to Jean Marie Burdet.

ANOM. 1885. Perregaux, Algeria. 

Marie Rose died in Algiers at the age of 56, in January 1905.

Getty Museum. Algerian port, 1876-1890.

Oran, Algeria 1870-1890

 

Getty Museum. Oran, Algeria. 1870-1890.

The colonial influx of the Halter family in Algeria went beyond Jean Pierre and his family. From a search of the French Overseas Territories Department archives, it looks like several members of the extended Halter family made the journey from Bas-Rhin to Oran, Algeria. These were either brothers or cousins of Jean Pierre, with their families. Many of them married in Algeria and had families of their own. The earliest record dates from 1847, for the marriage of Catherine Halter to Jean Michel Riedl in Dely Ibrahim, a suburb of Algiers, followed by an 1853 marriage of Marie Antoinette Halter. There are two pages of entries with Halter family names. I'll have more in another post.

FireAid LA

 

YouTube. FireAidLA. 30 Jan 2025.

Sharing a second post of the day for a link to this amazing FireAidLA concert recording. Los Angeles is a special place and I hope this helps provide support to those who really need it.

Research Progress February 2025

It's been a month since my last recap, so here is a progress check on my research questions. I completed the online WATO course from YourDNAGuide, but I'm rewatching some of the lessons because I'm finding it tough to apply what I've learned to my specific scenarios.

DNA Study Group research questions

1 - Identifying the parents of Bridget, my 3rd-great-grandmother, using my Dad's DNA results. I'm no further along than last month.

2 - Determining the generation of connection with the Pennsylvania O'Briens. For this one, I am applying lessons from the WATO course. It does seem like the generation of connection should be at either a sibling of my 3rd-great-grandfather John O'Brien or John himself as the father of James J. O'Brien with an earlier spouse.

3 - Verify the father of Cora Belle Medcalf using DNA matches. This one is waiting on information from Allison's Mom, and her grandmother's DNA matches.

4 - Identifying siblings of my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez. Again, not much new to report here, but I am continuing to build out the matches from living descendants of this branch of the family.

5 - Identifying living descendants of Jose Jesus Amado and Gertrudis Palomino (my 5th-great-grandparents). I'm doing this, and making slow progress here.

WATO course research questions

1 - Determining the generation of connection of the Pennsylvania O'Briens (see #2 above). I've built out a tree using WATO and am trying to apply lessons learned.

2 - Determining the generation of connection of the mystery Leyva-Rivas matches.

3 - Creating a WATO chart using the resumed father of Cora Belle Medcalf.

FamilyTreeDNA research questions

1 - Interpreting Big Y-700 results. This is still pending, and I'm hoping to receive the full Big Y and Block Tree update before heading to Rootstech next month.

2 - Interpreting mt full sequence mitochondrial DNA results. This one has made the most progress, as I received my mtDNA haplogroup and have been added to the A2 mtDNA haplogroup project. FTDNA should be launching their mtDNA Tree of Humankind within the month or by Rootstech, so it will be really cool to see what changes and how mtDNA results can be used to break through adobe walls on my Mexican side of the tree.

3 - Identifying matches in FamilyFinder (FTDNA's autosomal match service) for the tests I administer. I've made contact with a match on my Mom's side of the tree and received a reply. I'm also working with a cousin to transfer AncestryDNA raw data to FTDNA in order to receive a Y-DNA haplogroup.

Breezing Up

 

Winslow Homer. Breezing Up. 1876.

We've reached February, the last month of winter (hopefully) before we head into calendar and meteorological Spring in March. January was a long month. I'm ready for February to move along a bit faster.

An Algerian Connection

 

Geneanet. Oran, Algeria. 1 Jan 1858.

In May and June 2023, I wrote about the family of Allison's 5th-great-grandfather, Jean Pierre Halter. At the time, it was unclear to me what had happened to him and his third family after his children with first wife Anne Marie Hamm moved to New Orleans. I had assumed he had stayed in France, and died in Bas-Rhin.

Instead, it appears Jean Pierre, his third wife Rosine, and their children made their way across the Mediterranean to Oran, Algeria. This was a complete surprise, and thanks to the wonders of the Internet, we can see some of those Algerian records mentioning the family.

Google Maps. Oran, Algeria.

The snapshot of the record above is a death record for Jean Pierre, dated 1 January 1858, from Bou-Tlélis. The record states he was from Birkenwald in Bas-Rhin, and lists his parents Francois Halter and Elisabeth Sigrist. Jean Pierre's death record states he was a cultivateur, or farmer. It isn't clear what types of crops he grew in Algeria, perhaps grapes, olives or other fruit.

Rosine died in Algeria in 1860. Their son, Antoine Halter, graduated from military school in Oran in 1859, and died there on 31 January 1886, 139 years ago today.

Jean Pierre and Rosine had two daughters who married in Algeria: Marie Françoise Halter and Marie Rose Halter. It's quite possible there are descendants of Marie Françoise still in Algeria.

I'm sure Allison's family is unaware of this connection to French-Algerian colonial history. There's more records to share on this branch of the family.

Year of the Snake

 

Smithsonian. Year of the Snake stamp, 2001.

Happy Lunar New Year!

MyHeritage updates DNA estimates

 

MyHeritage. DNA estimates for KDJ. v2.5. Jan 2025.

Back in July 2024, MyHeritage announced its DNA ethnicity estimates would be updated. There were some problems with version 2 of their update, and it appears they've spent the last six months refining the approach and created a new build to version 2.5. The new version of the ethnicity estimate has now rolled out to the kits I administer on MyHeritage. I provided a pre-update review of the kits I manage in September 2024. This post takes a look at the changes.

After waiting since the summer, I had anticipated the version 2.5 update would be released by Rootstech in March, so this was a welcome surprise. For my Dad's results, shown above, I think this seems more accurate than the previous estimates. His top result is 38.7% English, followed by 30.6% Scottish and Welsh. Irish is at 8.7%, with a genetic group concentration in County Cavan and Leitrim (which is directly north from Roscommon and Longford). The next highest percentage is 7.5% Dutch. We have several Dutch lines going back to the 1600s, including the Du Trieux family. I'd expect his Irish percentage to be higher.

The next group is Germanic 5.8%, along with a surprise, Breton at 3.9% French is at 3.0%, and Danish at 1.8%.

MyHeritage. BAJ results v2.5. Jan 2025.

My Mom's update shows the top result as Spanish, Catalan and Basque 25.3%. In Europe, the results appear as English at 19.6%, followed by French at 11.6%. Scottish and Welsh comes in at 10.6%. She has Breton at 7.5%, then Portuguese at 6.6%. Danish and Dutch are each 2.3%. In the Americas, she has South Central America 12.0%, and Mexico 2.2%. She also has genetic groups with high concentrations for Chile, Mexico (Sonora), Arizona and Southern California; and Northwestern Mexico and USA (Arizona and California). South Central America at 12% doesn't seem quite right and feels like it should be switched with the Mexico percentage.

For my results, I now have Scottish and Welsh 31.5%, English 30.3%, French 5.9%, Spanish, Catalan and Basque 5.8%, South Central America 5.2%, Dutch 4.9%, Portuguese 4.6%. Breton comes in at 4.3%, Irish 2.4%, Germanic 2.2%, Danish 1.9%, South Italian 1.0%. For genetic groups, I have Chile, Mexico (Sonora) and USA (Arizona and Southern California), Northwestern Mexico and USA (Arizona and California), along with a cluster of Midwestern and Southern USA groups.

Overall thoughts: The European results generally seem pretty close to what I'd expect, but there are some unexpected percentages, such as Breton and South Central America seems just too high. There are differences from the latest AncestryDNA Ancestral Regions.

Petition to the Virginia General Assembly

 

The petition above was signed by Harris Freeman, brother in law of Samuel Read, on behalf of his minor nephews William Freeman Read (my 4th-great-grandfather) and Harris Read. The petition was also signed by the boys older siblings, John Read, Samuel Read (Jr) and Elizabeth Read Ball and her husband Augustine Ball. The petition was sent to the Virginia General Assembly on 12 January 1816. The petition states the boys were 17 and 15. The siblings requested the General Assembly to allow for the sale of the property and mansion home of their parents, Samuel and Juliann Read, so that the proceeds could be divided properly for the all the children.

William ultimately purchased the property for $850 on 6 May 1820 from his other uncle, William Freeman. William married Emily A. H. Ballard on 20 September 1820 in Culpeper, Virginia.

There are a few more early records in the life of William F. Read to share, before I shift away from the Read-Ballard branch and return to another line on the family.

Vintage stamps

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. 26 Dec 2024.

This is from our dinner at the wonderful Mita in DC over the holidays. At the end, the bill is inside this box of vintage stamps from all over Latin America. I thought these were cool, all from countries I've been lucky to visit over the years. The ones from Chile stood out right away, as I haven't given up on researching my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez in the Chilean records.

7,000 acres

 

FamilySearch. Barren County, KY. Sept 1852.

I've managed to find two more court cases through FamilySearch Labs' full-text search involving my 4th-great-grandfather William F. Read. These cases were filed in Barren County, Kentucky and Shenandoah County, Virginia by John Montague and John Curd. The Barren County case began in September 1852, when the plaintiffs filed suit claiming that they had a partnership with Read as their agent to purchase two tracts of land totalling 7,000 acres in Shenandoah and Warren County, Virginia, spanning Powell Fort Mountain.

Google Maps. Present day location of Powell Mtn.

A conveyance was drawn by attorney John Freeman of Page County, Virginia (possibly a cousin of William F. Read), and signed by the parties on 28 April 1851. An extract from the court file showing the conveyance is below.

FamilySearch. Court file, 1852.

Montague and Curd claimed Read had committed fraud and owed them $150 for expenses paid to Read in support of his journey to Virginia and Maryland to execute the land sale. Read countered, stating he did sign the note but had not committed fraud. William said he went to Virginia first to inquire whether the land could be purchased, returned to Barren County and purchased a horse, saddle and carriage, then returned to Virginia and Maryland and negotiated the purchase for $2500. Read said when he returned from the second trip, he informed the plaintiffs he thought there was a silver mine on the property. He also also said the parties (particularly Curd) agreed to settle and let him out of the partnership. Read asked for the action to be transferred to equity court out of the criminal court.

Montague and Curd continued their case in both Barren County and in the courts of Virginia. In Kentucky, they tried to assert a claim on the property purchased in trust by Rice C. Ballard in 1847 for Emily A. H. Read and children. There are several documents in the file from 1854 and 1856 on this, including an order from the Deputy Sheriff of Barren County to seize the land in Barren County and sell it at auction in order to settle the debt.

The Reads filed a response in April 1856, rejecting the claims made by Montague, Curd and the deputy sheriff. William F. Read died in Barren County on 19 September 1865. In 1866, a deed was entered into the Shenandoah County Court granting the fourth partner in the case, Emanuel Huffman, the shares of William F. Read and John Montague in the 7,000 acres.

 

Lee v Read, 1864

 

FamilySearch. Barren County, KY. 1864.

Another court case involving the land purchased in trust by Rice C. Ballard in 1847 for his sister, my 4th-great-grandmother, Emily A. H. Read, was filed in Barren County Court in 1864 by Elizabeth Lee. Her lawsuit was filed against Emily, her husband William F. Read, her son Guilford D. Read (my 3rd-great-grandfather), and the children of Rice C. Ballard. According to the complaint, on 6 January 1860 Emily and William agreed to pay Elizabeth $65 for the hire of a slave girl named Mary. She says they had only paid $10 of the $65 owed by April 1861. She claimed they had agreed to pay another $60 by 25 December 1861 for Mary's continued hire. Lee tried to attach the lands conveyed by Ballard in 1847 to Emily and children in order to settle the debts. As Ballard had died in 1860, she named his children - Ellen, Annie and Charlotte - as defendants in the case and his successors in the land maintained by the Reads.

Lee died after the case was filed, and the administrator of the estate, James Parrish, petitioned to the court to keep the case in place. Parrish claimed G. D. Read had been avoiding service of process and Emily refused to answer the complaint. G. D. Read would later answer, and claimed he had been out of the county while serving in the Confederate Army. In March 1865, the court ruled that the case could be revived and continued against the Reads.

The promissory note signed by Emily and G. D. Read was submitted as evidence in the case (see below).

It is not clear from the case file how the action was ultimately settled. The Reads continued to own the land, which passed from Emily to her children after her death in 1884. James W. Read and his wife Ann bought out the surviving siblings and continued to own the property until they conveyed it in 1890.

Indebted to a brother-in-law

 

FamilySearch. Fauquier County, VA. 1844.

After locating the 1847 land deed from Rice C. Ballard to his sister, Emily A. H. Read and children, I had wondered why Ballard did not make the deed to Emily's husband, my 4th-great-grandfather, William F. Read. It could be because Ballard had already been burnt on lending money to Read, as seen in the indenture above from Fauquier County, Virginia. In June 1844, William completed a sale with William Rixey Sr. of Culpeper involving land he had purchased from Rice C. Ballard in 1833. The indenture also included a slave woman named Letty, and all the goods and furnishings on a plantation where the Read family was living, which was actually owned by Ballard. The transfer included four horses and twelve cattle. The crops grown on the property, wheat and Indian corn, were designated for Ballard for 1844 and the next five years through 1849.

The deed included a clause that Ballard be paid if Read and heirs left Virginia before 1 August 1849. As the family moved out of Virginia in December 1847 for Kentucky, going to land that Ballard purchased in trust for Emily and children, perhaps the clause is a sign that Ballard didn't trust Read with loans.

FamilySearch. Fauquier County, Virginia. 1844.

Ballard v Warren, 1850

 

FamilySearch. Barren County, KY. 1850.

In April 1850, Rice C. Ballard filed a lawsuit in Barren County, Kentucky against Mary Warren, John Cannon and Franklin Settle. As a wealthy slave trader, Ballard had means to hire an attorney and pursue his case against the widow of David Warren, from whom he had purchased land in trust on behalf of his sister Emily A. H. Read and children in October 1847. According to the complaint, Ballard purchased several parcels of land from Warren, through his agent William F. Read for $1300. Read paid a $300 deposit to Warren in December 1847, when the family moved from Virginia to Barren County. The remaining portion was paid to Franklin Settle for the use and benefit of David's widow, Mary. She used $200 of the total, leaving $800.

David Warren appears to have owed debts to others in the county, who filed suit in Barren County court. Ballard was concerned the creditors would try to seize the land had purchased in trust from Warren, and preemptively filed his case. There's quite a bit of back and forth filings in the file. In my previous post I included a section from the 1850 US census showing Mary Warren and young John Cannon living near the Read family. Ballard claimed that Mary Warren was in process of moving out of state to Missouri and had made a fraudulent conveyance of the remaining $800 note with Franklin Settle to John Cannon, who was not yet 21 years old.

Ballard also asked the court to prevent Mary Warren from conveying five slaves to Cannon, and named three specifically - a woman named Caroline, and two children, Rachel and America. It looks now like America Parrish, the slave later in the household of Emily A. H. Read, could have been the daughter of Caroline. Given other documents mentioning America, she would have been two years old when the lawsuit was filed in 1850.

Ballard v Warren, 1850.

Ballard paid a $2000 bond with Lewis Wilkerson, the creditor on the estate of David Warren, and asked the Sheriff of the county to enjoin Mary Warren and John Cannon. It isn't clear from the record what happened next to Caroline, Rachel and America. Ballard was able to successfully prevent the property deeded in trust to Emily A. H. Read and children from being sold to pay the debts of David Warren.

Mito Updates

Earlier in the month I received my mtDNA full sequence results from FamilyTreeDNA. This included a confirmed haplogroup of A2d2. I submitted a request to join the A2 mtDNA haplogroup project. Today I received a reply welcoming me to the project, with some instructions for participating and sharing my results with the project administrators.

Later this afternoon, FamilyTreeDNA pushed out an email announcing "Big Changes Ahead for Your mtDNA Journey". It looks like they will be releasing their mtDNA Tree of Humankind, perhaps by Rootstech in early March. Testers like myself will receive more refined haplogroups on the expanded mtDNA tree, enhanced reports, and other tools to help explore our mtDNA story in greater depth. This is super cool news, and I'm really looking forward to hearing more about the mtDNA Tree of Humankind.

A complicated legacy

The FamilySearch Full Text Search has added court records from Barren County, Kentucky, uncovering a complex set of lawsuits involving the family of my 4th-great-grandparents, William F. Read and Emily A. H. Ballard Read. These cases fill some gaps in my understanding of the family, and indicate there was a closer relationship to Emily's brother, notorious slave trader Rice Carter Ballard, than I previously knew about. The Read family moved from Fauquier County, Virginia to Barren County, Kentucky in late 1847, and it seems Ballard set up his sister and family in Kentucky with the move.

The property where they settled in Barren County was purchased in trust for Emily by her brother Rice. William served as an agent for Rice in Barren County, while he was at his various plantations around the country. The second image below shows the 1850 Barren County tax record with William listed as the agent for Rice C. Ballard, overseeing 298 acres on Beaver Creek.

FamilySearch. Barren County Court, 1850.

Barren County tax records, 1850.

According to the land deed in one of the case files, on 20 October 1847, Rice paid $1300 to David Warren for the property on Beaver Creek in Barren County, purchased in trust for Emily A. H. Read and her children (see image 67 of the Barren County Court records).

Barren County, KY. 20 Oct 1847.

This puts the 1850 US Census entry mentioning the family in a new light. William, Emily, and children can be seen living on the property in Barren County, valued at $1300. David Warren's widow, Mary, appears two houses down from the Reads.

1850 US Census. Barren County, KY.

Rice Ballard brought suit against Mary Warren, John Cannon and Franklin Settle in 1850, with William F. Read listed as agent of Ballard in the case. The property was mentioned in a second action in equity in 1864, titled Elizabeth Lee v. Emily A. H. Read. The two cases will take some time to unpack, revealing a complicated legacy built on the backs of slaves. I have covered similar posts involving the Ballard family and slave-holding in the related Heslop and Carter families in Emily's line.

I will return to the records on the McKinley family in upcoming posts, as there are quite a few records in Spencer and Shelby Counties, and I am continuing to see if the McKinley and Beadle (Bedle, Beedle) lines can be pushed back further, prior to their arrival in Kentucky.