Friday Photo - Urbi et Orbi, San Juan

Photo by Patrick L Jones - 29 May 2004, San Juan, PR

The photo above was taken in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico along a wall next to steps in the plaza across from El Morro. This area is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Old San Juan.

I'm not Catholic, although my Mexican ancestors were. I took the photo because the stencil tag stood out against the white wall, the person in black recalled "Rage Against the Machine"'s Battle of Los Angeles album cover. "Urbi et Orbi" means "for the City and for the World" and signifies a Papal message.

I previously posted a series of street art photos. In addition to museums in various places, this is something I keep an eye out for on my travels.

Emily Rachel Davis

I meant to post this yesterday. My third-great-grandmother Emily Rachel Davis, wife of William Allman, was born in 172 years ago, on 18 April 1840 in Fairmount, Vermilion County, Illinois. Her parents were Azariah Davis and Jane Connor, and I'll have more information on the two of them in future posts.

Emily Rachel Davis Allman (photo from Rachelle Emens)

Emily's mother Jane died in 1842. Her father Azariah Davis married his second wife Hettie Redman on 3 January 1843. In the 1850 US Census, Emily appears in the household under her middle name Rachel, 10 years old.

Azariah died in 1857, and Emily moved into the home of her uncle Henry Van Meter Davis and his second wife Catherine. In the 1860 US Census, taken on 25 June 1860, she is in the household of Henry and Catherine as "Rachel E Davis", and she was 20 years old.

Emily married William Allman on 7 February 1861. He had been a farm laborer with a relative of the Davis family in Vance Township. I previously posted the 1870 US Census image showing Emily, William and family. After William died in February 1875, Emily managed the farm, with assistance from her children and brother Eli Davis.

By 1900, Emily had moved to Sugar Creek Township in Boone County, Indiana to be near her daughter Agnes Lydia Allman and son Ura James Allman. Emily was working as a house cleaner and living in the household of Thomas Bradshaw and his family.

By 1920, Emily had returned to Vermilion County, Illinois, and was living in the household of her daughter Dora Jane Allman Runyan, husband Eli Runyan and their children.

Emily Rachel Davis Allman died on 2 August 1924 in Boone County, Indiana.

Wordless Wednesday - India Gate

Delhi, India - 14 February 2008

William Gilbert Daniel

This one is for my fellow distant Jones cousins, Lynne & Pat. I previously posted about Sarah Melissa Jones Daniel, so I will not repeat all of that information here. As noted previously, her husband was William Gilbert Daniel.

Photo source - Lynne King

William was born on 6 November 1841 to parents James H. Daniel and Eliza Jane Hull. Lynne and Pat have provided me a copy of story of William Daniel from notes collected by Dennis Mahoney in 1999. William served as a Sergeant in Company F of the 61st Mounted Tennessee Infantry with Sarah's older brother Joseph Thomas Jones (correction - Joseph did not serve in the 61st Mounted Tennessee Infantry, he served in the Union Army). After the Civil War, William & Sarah followed Joseph Jones and Martin Jones, along with their families, to Boone County, Indiana.

William Daniel was captured at the Battle of Big Black River on 17 May 1863. He was held as a prisoner of war, and sent to Fort Delaware. William was in the prisoner transfer to Point Lookout, Maryland on 20 September 1863. According to William's prisoner of war record, he was transferred as part of a prisoner exchange on 17 January 1865, and arrived at Camp Lee (near Richmond, Virginia) by 26 January 1865.

William signed an Oath of Allegiance to the United States on 26 May 1865 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. The oath notes that he was 5 ft, 11 inches, with blue eyes, sandy complexion and sandy hair (see photo above via Fold3.com).

William Gilbert Daniel died in Thorntown, Boone County, Indiana on 11 January 1916.

Mappy Monday - Route of the Rio Sonora

The following map comes from RioSonora.com, and this shows the route that my great-grandmother Manuela Portillo and her mother Teresa Diaz de Portillo would have taken from Hermosillo, Sonora to the Arizona border in November 1922 when they came to the US.