Wordless Wednesday - Lawrence Wisner at Homestead

Elisha Spencer of Huntingdon County, PA

Elisha Spencer is one of the direct relatives of our family that I am currently trying to find more information on. He was born 227 years ago today on 11 June 1785 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He was married to Elizabeth Wagner (or Wagoner) on 9 November 1806 in Huntingdon County.

Some others have done some research on him, and there is apparently a family Bible record that is out there that has those dates of birth and marriage. Here is the reference that I found to it, on Bill Reque's Gedcom on Rootsweb.com

I was also able to find a little more information on Elisha in a book, pertaining to when he moved to Ohio.

History of Noble County, Ohio
L.H. Watkins
pgs: 315, 320, 363

The following is a list of the holders of real estate in Olive Township in 1820, taken from the Morgan County tax duplicate for that year: ...Israel Spencer...Elisha Spencer...

Israel Spencer and his brother Elisha, William Waggoner and Michael Shriver were early settlers in the same neighborhood. The Spencers came from Pennsylvania. Israel carried on distilling for some years. Elisha moved west. William Waggoner died here about 1830. Michael Shriver operated a still. Whisky making was one of the most profitable of the early industries, and many engaged in it. In 1830 five distilleries are known to have been in operation in the township, the two already mentioned and those of Israel Blake, Isaac Devore and William Free. Nehemiah Spear soon afterward engaged in the same business.

Elisha Spencer settled south of Sharon, on land now owned by Mrs. Kelly. His brother Israel lived in Olive Township. Both sold out and removed.

From the research of others, it looks like Elisha's parents were James Spencer and Elizabeth Shirley, and they had at least 5 children. Elisha's older brother was Israel, and I'm currently researching him in an effort to find more info on their parents and the rest of the family.

There is a grave for an Israel Spencer on Find-A-Grave.com, but I need to take some more time to confirm if it's the right Israel. I kinda don't think that it is the right one.

Well, I'll just have to try and do some more research. If you have any info or can point me in the direction of some good sources, please shoot me a message!

Raymond C Wisner (1900-1977)

35 years ago today, Raymond Clifford Wisner died on 10 June 1977, in Mt Shasta California. He was 77 years old. I never got to meet him, but in the last year I was able to visit his grave for the first time.

Nick's Family Tree Project

My son Nick had a family tree project this year in 3rd grade. I had been looking forward to helping him out with it, and it was also a good excuse to print out a poster of all of his direct relatives. Since I'm always finding new info and adding names to my database I am hesitant to print a lot of charts, but it was definitely justified for this project, and it was also the most extensive chart of the whole class. It was 6 feet tall. All of his friends in class were impressed. The chart only counted for about 5 points of the total, so it's not like he had an advantage by me helping him with it.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Wisner!

Today is my grandpa Lawrence Wisner's 88th birthday. He was born on 1 June 1924 in Chowchilla California. Here is a picture with his older sister Millie when they were living in Lindsey, California.

The many husbands of Julia Frances Keith

My 3 Great Grandmother, Julia Frances Keith, has been somewhat difficult to research. According to her death certificate, she was born on 30 May 1856 in Placer County, California. Ok, cool she was born to pioneers, but that makes it hard to find record of her birth cause California had only been a state for about 6 years. Family stories say that she was born in the next county over, Nevada County. Regardless...still hard to find.

If that wasn't bad, family stories also say that she had been married 3 times, so her name kept changing. I've discovered that she was actually married 4 times. So in the end, I do have a trail of info on her, but I don't know what that says about her life, having 4 husbands. She could have picked bad husbands, or maybe she was more at fault.

My starting point was family stories. Fortunately a relative of mine had written them down, and you can read them here. Julia's first husband was Monroe Hawver. I since have found him to be Monroe Emilious Hawver (ca 1845-1879). They were married on 6 September 1874 in Hollister, San Benito Co, CA. I found mention of their marriage in the San Benito Advance, off of newspaperabstracts.com, and also in the county marriage records book:

Marriages Recorded in San Benito County, California Beginning 1874
Book 1 Page 18
HAVWER, M.E. native of Wisconsin, resident of Hollister, aged 28 years obtained a Marriage Affidavit on September 2nd, 1874 and married KEITH, Julia, native of California, resident of Hollister, aged 18 years on September 6, 1874 as witnessed by H.S. DRYDEN

They had a son Benjamin in 1877, and then in 1879 Monroe was killed by a Mexican in an argument over a horse, or so the story goes. I hope to prove or disprove that story, but the newspaper for the area has a gap for the year 1879, at least on newspaperabstracts.com. I've looked and the newspapers do exist, but only available at the library at UC Berkely or something like that. One thing that I did find was Julia and son Benjamin living on their own in 1880 in Watsonville, Santa Cruz County:


On 20 February 1881, Julia was married in Watsonville to W.N. Bardue. I believe his full name to be William Nelson Bardue.

The Pacific Coast, March 5, 1881
Married -- BARDUE - HAWVER -- in Watsonville, Feb. 20th, W.N. BARDUE to Mrs. Julia F. HAWVER

But by 1883, she was getting a divorce from him:

The Hollister Democrat, March 2, 1883
Personals --
The case of BARDUE vs. BARDUE, divorce, came up for hearing before Judge BREEN yesterday

Then around 1885 or so, Julia married again. This time to Ezra F. Pullen. The family story is that he beat Julia's son Benjamin, which led to him running away. I haven't found a marriage record for them yet, but did find a few articles mentioning their names. Here is one relating to Julia's niece staying with her.

Salinas Weekly Index, Thursday, 28 Apr 1892
Hollister ‘Free Lance,’ 22nd: Mrs. Ezra PULLEN appeared before the superior court Monday and produced Isabella KEITH, in response to a writ of habeas corpus issued out of the supreme court. Judge BREEN ordered the child to be returned to the Sisters of Charity and turned over to her mother, Mrs. W.E. KEITH of Panoche. The sheriff was charged with the execution of the order. The contempt proceedings against Mrs. PULLEN will come up for hearing today. It is very probable that they will be dismissed, however, as Mrs. KEITH is indisposed to push the matter.

A few years later, Julia came in contact with her son that ran away. She moved to San Francisco to be with him, and divorced Mr. Pullen. An article about her divorce in the San Francisco Morning Call, on 24 Jan 1895, points to his alleged violent behavior:


About 5 years later Julia married again. This time to Gustav David Hirschler, on 1 June 1900, in Floriston. I found a mention of their marriage in an article relating to marriages of people who possibly had not been divorced yet (15 June 1900, San Francisco Call).


Whether the divorce was finalized or not doesn't really matter because Ezra Pullen died in 1895. In 1910, the trail of Julia is picked up again in the census record. But now it appears that she is not living with her latest husband, and is instead living with her son again, in the town of Mokelumne Hill, CA.


To make things even more confusing, it looks like she is mentioned twice in the 1910 census. The other time she is listed as Mrs. G.D. Hirscher living in Meadow Lake, CA. So is she still living with her husband, or did she move out in between when these 2 census records were being filled out?


I'm always on the hunt for more information, but I don't know if that will lead to more answers. I don't know if she ever had any more children. I don't know if some of the marriages were good or bad, or if it was her fault or one of her husbands fault for having the marriages fail. One thing for certain though is that she didn't like to be alone. Even in death, she is buried in between her son and his wife.


Update: I have discovered a 5th husband! This one was before the other 4. Crazy.

Sacramento Daily Union, 1 July 1872

MARRIED

In Panoche Valley, Fresno County, June 20th, by A. F. Gove, Justice of the Peace, Charles C. Wainright, Late of Ohio, To Julia Frances Keith. 

Julia would have been about 16 years old in 1872. They must have gotten a divorce. Charles Wainright married again in 1879 to Ramona Carteron, and on their marriage record it says that he was previously married to Julia Keith and that she was still living.

Four Generation Friday - The Clock

I want to keep this tradition going of taking a picture of sons with the grandfather clock in the background. This clock was built by Lawrence Broersma and Ron Broersma, and will be passed down through the family.