Doctor Grandma

Story of James and Carrie Agnew  (my great-grandfather)

b. July 10, 1841 in Ohio

d. 27 June 1906, New Albany, IN, from a fall off a ladder

[His 2^nd wife, my great grandmother, Carrie (Clara, Clara E., Clerry) was born somewhere in Indiana, April 1860. Her parents were: William R. Bybee and Anna Easum. She always reports William was born in Indiana; Anna was born in Kentucky.]

There is a lot to the story of James Agnew and many mysteries yet to be solved. His birth date is validated in a letter sent to me years ago by Norma, who was the daughter of John Wesley Agnew’s twin Gertrude Myrtle. Norma was raised by John Wesley and Mary Agnew when her mother Gertrude died at a very young age. His birth date is also validated on his grave stone.

One question is who James’ parents were. It remains unresolved. However, his death record from the cemetery had his father’s name as also James. This becomes important in locating James with his parents and family in Ohio.

James sometimes changes the story of where his parents were born. These stories will be included below. He never wavers on his own birth place as Ohio, however.

In looking for James, I find one who matches his birth date being from the Cincinnati area. This makes sense for him to eventually go down the Ohio river and settle in New Albany, Indiana which is where he lives out most of his adult life.

In the 1850 census in Hamilton County, Ohio, an 8-yr-old James is listed as a child at the bottom of the census page, away from his family, almost as an afterthought. The Agnew family on this page is the father James, with a much younger wife, Mary, and a baby, Alfred age 1 (b. 1849-50). Importantly, there is also an elder Samuel Agnew, who is very likely to be James’ father, living with them. Samuel, age 72, says he is born in PA. (This would make Samuel’s birth date about 1778 in PA.) The father James, here, is 38, born about 1812 in Ohio. His wife, Mary A. Agnew, says she was born also in PA. However, she is James’ junior by 16 years, 22 years old in 1850 and born about 1828.

Significantly, this makes Mary too young to be the younger James’ mother. She would have had James when she was 13. I don’t think so. — which begs the question: Who is the 8-yr old James’ mother??  This is the eternal question. Was she Indian? Black? Is he adopted from another family? Was the older James married once before? (He is old enough.) Why is little James at the bottom of the page, as if an afterthought? This is the unsolved mystery, especially curious since our James (the 8-9 yr old here) continually changes the story as to where his parents were from. If SAMUEL here is his real grandfather, then why would our James later keep changing the story of where his own parents were born? Did he just think it was none of the govt’s business? (He never says his own father was born in OH, as this older James states he was.) The father James Agnew, here is a “ship carpenter”. They live on the Ohio river. The name is mistakenly transcribed as: AGNEWE.

1860. Another mystery.

The only James Agnew, age 18, showing up in Ohio in 1860 lives with WILLIAM AGNEW family, in the same Cincinnati area. (Is William a brother to the older James we met in 1850? What happened to James and Mary? Is this the same James as the one from 1850?)

William has no wife. He is 54 (b.1806). He has 2 daughters, ANN and JENNETT, younger than James, ages 15 & 13.

William here gives his birth place as PA. (another clue he MAY be a brother to the older James, with father Samuel?)

William’s occupation is “cooper”.

Ann’s birth place is for some weird reason LOUISIANA. (She surely is not the wife, here?)

Jennett and James’ birth place is OHIO.

In 1861 there is a 19-yr-old James from the Cincinnati area who signs up into the UNION ARMY (military registration card).

By Aug. 3^rd, 1863, James A. Agnew marries Mary Caroline Gross (or Gorp?) in New Albany, Indiana. The marriage online record says Gross. The hand written record looks like she wrote: Gorp. 

In 1870, in New Albany, they have 2 girls, Annie age 5 and Olith age 3.

This child, Annie, becomes significant to tell us this is our James! A “sister” Annie, shows up in an obituary later, for William Robert Agnew, who is the first child and son of our James Agnew and his (second) wife, my great-grandmother, Carrie Bybee.

James and Carrie have no daughter Annie. So the sister surviving William Robert, has to be the above family sister. No record yet of the death of Mary Caroline or a marker for her.

* What we DO know is OUR James Agnew marries Carrie Bybee, Aug. 11, 1879, in New Albany. From this marriage 6 children are born:

William Robert 1880-1943,

James Garfield, 1882, dies same year as a baby

Frederick Louis 1883-1951,

Alfred Edward, 1886-1948,

And the twins: John Wesley and Gertrude Myrtle, b. 17 Aug. 1892,

Gertrude dies at age 43 in 1935; John Wesley dies in 1952 at age 60 (1 yr before I was born).

They live in New Albany their entire married life. James becomes a painter of houses. It is while high up on a ladder painting a house that he falls and dies within a few minutes, shortly before his 65^th birthday.

One of his sons was with him when he died. (Wm.) Robert was also listed as a “painter” in the 1900 census, so it could be he is the one who was with him. He fractured his skull & many ribs after falling 20 feet.

In the 1880 census, James says both his parents were born in England. He always says he was born in Ohio. Carrie says the same thing she says in the 1900 census, father Indiana, mother KY.

In the 1888-89 city directory, they lived at 117 East 4^th St., near Spring.

There is an “Ollie Agnew” working as a domestic in that same directory. It could be his daughter from the 1^st marriage, “Olith”.

In the 1900 census, James says his father was born in Virginia, his mother in Germany. That is just so random weird, he can’t even lie good! Why would he say that??

In this census, “Clerry” again says her father was born in Indiana, her mother in KY.

Carrie lives another 10 years after James. In 1910 she is living with ALL the adult kids, plus a 4-yr-old grandson named James F., son of William Robert. It seems strange none of the kids seem to have a spouse living there. William Robert (going by Robert), the oldest, is 30 years old. Did his wife already die?

In the next few years, something happened to Carrie and she was admitted to a hospital for the insane, in Madison. She died there of some sort of brain hemmorage (by cemetary records) and was brought back to New Albany to be buried.

Obit:

(Beulah is Gertrude Myrtle, my grandpa’s twin.)

 They are buried together in Fairview cemetery, New Albany.

submitted to state library:

(Our state”s official death records start around 1882. Birth records about the same time period, officially about 1900.)

Hello, I was advised to use this form for a genealogy question. Here is what I am looking for, and I know the dates are earlier than when systematic records were kept: any death record, cemetary record to confirm death dates for this couple who lived in Davis Twp., Fountain County in 1870 and disappear by 1880: Thomas and Julia (Corkley) Hanniford. Their name can be spelled Haniford, Hanniford, Hannaford, and other ways. There is a female born in 1876 whose name is Johanna “Dolly” Haniford. She is my husband’s great grandmother. The question is who is her mother? From family stories we think she was Thomas Hanniford’s daughter. Not sure if Julia died before Johanna’s birth. There are some other family stories that Johanna’s mother was Indian. Thomas and Julia immigrated from Ireland and were probably CATHOLIC. (Where would Catholics have been buried in the 1870s in Davis Twp.? Or what Catholic churches existed in the 1870s in Fountain County? These might be clues.) Johanna, or “Dolly” as she was known, attends “HALL SCHOOL” in 1892 at age 16. I have a photo of this school and all the students in front of it. It looks to be a one-room school house. If Dolly had a birth record, that may tell her parents’ names (but she was born in Jan. 1876, from family records). Also, ANY records if they exist from this “Hall School” might tell us more about her. She is in the one picture I have. Johanna does not appear in any census record I have found, until her marriage to John Morgan Jan. 31, 1897. Their marriage record exists for Fountain County, Book 11, page 349. This original record may also tell her parents’ names? Thank you for any info.

Sent to Fountain County Genealogy group:         6-28-11

Hello,

My husband’s father’s family is from Davis twp., Fountain County, way back to Irish immigrants in the 1860s! I have a complicated problem and wonder if you have any information that might be helpful. I will also work on submitting their histories to your family research project for Fountain County.

The time periods I need to find out about are too early for any easy answers.

 I am looking for any death record confirmation for a couple who seem to have both died between 1870 and 1880. They are living in Davis Township in 1870. They disappear by 1880, and family stories confirm that they would have died in this time period. Their names were Thomas and Julia (Corkley) Hanniford.

 The last name can be spelled Haniford, Hanniford, Hannaford… and other ways.

 Thomas and Julia immigrated from Ireland. Their first child, Timothy, was born in Ohio, the rest in Indiana. Other children they had were: Mary, Bridget, Elizabeth and Margaret.

 However, the person in question is another girl they either were parents of, or took in, named JOHANNA HANNIFORD. She went by the nick name “Dolly”. Dolly is born January 1876. Family stories say her father was Thomas Hanniford. Family stories also say her mother was ½ Indian. Now, if her mother is Julia Corkley Hanniford, Thomas’ wife of many years, it is highly unlikely that Dolly is Indian at all. However, Julia may have died BEFORE Johanna (Dolly) was born, as she comes quite a few years after the rest of their children.

 She is in a picture of “HALL SCHOOL” , some sort of one-room school house in Davis Township, in 1892, at age 16. I have this picture. As you probably know, records of the 1890 census are mostly non-existent due to a fire, I believe, at the national level.

 Johanna marries John Morgan on Jan. 31, 1897 at the age of 21, in Fountain County. The original marriage record may give her parents’ names? Or where they were married?

 So to surmise, I am looking for death or cemetery records for: Thomas and Julia (Corkley) Hanniford,

Or birth records of any kind, or any records mentioning parents, for Johanna (Dolly) Hanniford.

 In her marriage record, her name is Johannie Hanniford.

and now on the other side:

I am trying to get back into the hunt for more Agnews. Here’s the quick rundown of some of the newer stuff on my great-grandfather James Agnew. I’m pretty sure his father’s name was also James Agnew, b. in 1809. I am writing this quickly tonight, just to get a little bit written down.

James Agnew, born July 10, 1841. This birth date proves very important for tracking him down. He almost always says he was born in Ohio. The only James Agnew I have found from that birth year was born in the Cincinnati area. This makes sense for him to end up down the Ohio river a bit, in New Albany, which is where he lived out most of his adult life, anf where a lot of the family still lives.

in 1850, a little boy James shows up in the 1850 census. His name was miswritten at the bottom of a census page, apart from the rest of his family further up the page, as “Agnewe”. His family further up the page is: James and Mary Agnew, and baby Alfred. There is quite the age difference between the elder James, b. in 1809, and Mary Ann, b. around 1826. If Mary Ann is his mother, she had him at age 15. (If she is not his mother, I don’t know who his mother was.)

**There is another confusing possible family also in Cincinnati area, and that is a “William Agnew” with JAMES being age 18 in 1860 census. In this case, there is no mother here, and there are 2 sisters: Ann and Jennett. To straighten this out, I need to find the James & Mary Agnew family above, in 1860, and so far have not located them in 1860 census (to see if James is listed with them also).

The younger James joins the Union army July 27th, 1861 at the age of 19 or 20. I think this is our James because this regiment came out of the Cincinnati area. However, I cannot be sure of this as all I have is his name & age, & where he signed up.

He marries his first wife, Mary C. (Gross or Gorp) on August 3, 1863, in the New Albany area. They have 2 girls, Annie (b.1865) and Olith “Ollie” (b.1867). Mary dies on Oct. 7, 1874. Have not yet located the cause of death. Annie shows up years later at a step-brother’s funeral, as a “sister” so I know this is our James.

He marries my great-grandmother Carrie Bybee, who is much younger than he (19 yrs), in Aug. 1879. They have 6 children:
William Robert,
James Garfield (dies as a baby)
Fred Louis
Alfred Edward
and the twins: John Wesley (my grandpa) and Gertrude Myrtle.

James, my great-grandfather dies in 1906 (while painting a house from falling off the ladder), and Carrie in 1916 (in an “insane asylum”).

If James and Mary are his parents, then the elder James’ father is most likely a SAMUEL Agnew, who is living with them in 1850. Samuel is supposedly born in 1778 in PA.

(Now to confuse us, there is a famous doctor James Agnew, born in PA in 1778, but this cannot be the Samuel in Ohio in 1850 because the famous Dr. Samuel dies in Nov. 1849 in PA….)

so: Best case scenario, the oldest ancestor linked to us so far, is Samuel Agnew, b.1778 in PA.