Treasure Chest Thursday: Found the Land Again! And Lost It! Again!

Looking for lost land can be frustrating.  Did it exist?  Was it lost due to no taxes paid?  Was it demolished?  No, wait.  Obviously, the land itself existed and still does.  Who owns it now?

For years, I have been trying to determine what happened to the land in Hanover Row, Portsea, England.  This land that was mentioned in my immigrant's 1795 will.  This land, that was also mentioned in an 1842 will of John SYMMONS in Portsea.

I've seen maps and determined from kind helpmates over the pond that Hanover Row was demolished in 1874.  Now, that is an interesting date.  Why?

Just in the last week or so, I found yet another will from a grandson of the 1795 will of John SIMMONS.  This grandson, Charles William SIMMONS (1801-1874), will is written in 1871 and it specifically mentions the land in Portsea that he had inherited from his father.  By the way, his father was William SIMMONS (d. 1825), appointed by the President, yes, President George WASHINGTON as the accountant for the War Department.

Charles W Simmons, Probated Will in CA

But back to Charles---  his will is written in 1871 while he is still living in Boone Co, Iowa.  It is not probated until 1874, when he dies in Lower Lake, Lake, CA.

Close up of will documenting the land in question

For whatever reason, Charles thinks he has a share of the land in Portsea and another treasure trove in San Domingo, where his maternal grandfather, Jean Baptiste BERTRAND de LaSTRANGE de LaPOINTE was supposedly given something by the French government after some Revolution?  Boy, do I have homework to do!

I still can't find out what happened to the land in Portsea!  I guess I need to feel the dirt to finally find it!  Who authorized demolishing of Hanover Row?  Who agreed?  Or was it just done?

Ahh, genealogy.  Guess I need to sift that dirt through my fingers before I can really believe I found it.  But, wait....  does that mean my share of it is... lying in the grave?

©2017  AS Eldredge

Sources:
Probate Records; Author:  California Superior Court (Lake County); Probate Place; Lake, California

Treasure Chest Thursday: The Power of the Written Word

Finding old written words is exciting.  Finding the scan of the original words online is breathtaking.  Here is just one example of the power of words.

JSBuchanan 1883 letter, received 2013 by email

Written by the Rev. Joseph Smith BUCHANAN in 1883 is a summary of his family.  What strikes me as I reread this great document is the way he starts by mentioning  his (and my)grandpa came from Scotland.  He then quickly moves to the names of his brothers and the role the family played in early Lancaster Co, PA, with the Covenenter Church.  He mentions the services being performed in the house and in the barn......

Of particular interest is he then goes to explain how many of his peer aged kin were elders in the church which later evolved in to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Of course, cousin Joseph was a minister as many, many of his kin have chosen.  He states his grandfather's descendants are like the tribe of Levi with their devotion to God.

Of more genealogical interest on this particular day is his first wife, Jane WADDLE.  She was born in VA around 1813.  She married Joseph in 1841 in Wheeling, WV.  In 1850, they are living in Donegal, Washington, PA, near many, many kin.  She is gone by 1857, when Joseph remarries Ellen CLELAND.

Death Notice of JS Buchanan, found online

I suspect Jane's brother was most likely the Rev. Benjamin WADDLE (1802-1879), who was, yet another, Presbyterian minister and the President of Muskingum College in Ohio.

Why this interest in finding out?  Well, I have more than one connection to the BUCHANAN family as well as the WADDLE family as they keep marrying my kin.  Oh wait, they are my kin, too.  So....

Ahh, genealogy.  More fish to fry as I waddle through the ponds looking for the just the right species.

©2017  AS Eldredge

Sources:

1850 Census, Donegal, Washington, PA

Kohler, Minnie.  A 20th Century History of Hardin Co, OH, Vol 2, page 622.

Buchanan, Rev JS.  Letter in possession of a descendant.  

The Moffitt Book of Obituaries, Vol 5, Warren Co, Ill