Doctor Grandma

I currently check my mailbox every day, awaiting the results of my brother taking the male-line DNA surname test. I could not take the test, nor any of my sons. It is a paternal DNA test to see which Agnews we are related to most. This will confirm what area of the USA our Agnew ancestors lived in. But the first question it will answer is, “Are we truly Agnews at all??”  The records I have found for my great-grandfather Agnew all consistently confirm that he was born in Ohio. That being the case, we could be descended from a line of Agnews in the Cincinnati area who were part of the Shaker movement. If that is the case, that gives an explanation for why I’ve had such a darn hard time finding anything on them. The other mystery it will solve is the 1850 census record mystery. The James Agnew who is 8 yrs. old on that page, and who I believe is my great-grandfather, is listed at the bottom of the census page, away from the rest of his family, as an afterthought of some kind. Why is he not listed with the rest of his family further up the page? He is connected to the elderly Samuel from PA, and the head of household (another) James Agnew, & his wife Mary. Mary is only 22, and has a new baby under a year old, Alexander. James is much older than this Mary, by 20 years or so. I believe Mary is not 8-yr-old James’ mother. I have had great difficulty finding any more information on James & Mary, no marriage record, nothing. This test may give us gigantic clues as to whether 8-yr-old James is indeed the son of this older James (from a first wife?). Both the older James, and elderly Samuel, give their birthplace as PA. Mary also came from PA. I believe 8-yr-old James was born in Ohio, but whose child is he? We may find that we are not Agnews at all. I just want to know. In other words, was he adopted? Or was he a child of James & another woman or wife? He could even be a servant or slave boy, for all I know. It was 1850. But this is unlikely since they were in Ohio.

All I know is I anxiously await the results of this DNA test, to tell us whatever it will tell us, to lead us in a stronger direction one way or another, to answer whatever questions it will answer. If the test also lists ethnicities, that may tell us something as well. I just can’t wait to actually see it, and I thank my brother for taking the test.

This church was known to be an Underground RR stop. My great-grandfather’s 1st wife was a member at the time of her death in 1874 & the entire congregation was invited to her funeral in their home. The congregation at that time was said to be both black & white. (That’s even unusual today!) In fact today it is a 2nd Baptist Church and I can guarantee you there are very few, if any, white faces. In 1874 it was 2nd Presbyterian. I have never found her gravesite. Someone told me there were some buried on site, & that their graves were later moved to Fairview cemetary, but I have looked for her there to no avail. Her name was Mary Caroline (Gross) Agnew. She and James had 2 daughters (see previous entry). I do not know who raised them after their mother’s death, because James married my great-grandmother Carrie Bybee in 1879, who was 19 years his junior, and I never see those girls with them. However, they both lived to adulthood.

I like to think my great-grandfather James knew about the church being an underground RR stop and agreed with the abolitionist movement. I like to think both black and white members came to his first wife’s funeral in their home. But I do not know this. In New Albany, no one I have yet spoken with seems to know of records kept of the history of this place. No one seems to know where old membership records would be kept. There seems to be a lack of organized files and history for this extremely fascinating and epic place, that served to hide many souls coming north to freedom!

Okay, here is your family history lesson for today. I’m thinking of being in New Albany tomorrow.

This was the name of the twin sister of my Grandpa John Wesley Agnew, both born Aug.17, 1892. Looked at some of her records on ancestry today and found that she & her husband had FIVE children, the YOUNGEST being Norma M. who came to live w/ my Grandma & Grandpa after their parents both died, Gertrude in 1935 and Burl in 1938. I never thought about it before but now wonder, what happened to the other kids??  Also never knew her name of Celeste, very pretty name.

Myrtle died at the age of 43. I knew she had died young (I don’t know what of), and that her daughter Norma came to live with my grandparents, John & Mary Agnew. Norma was 8 yrs old when her mother died, & then her father died 3 years later. That’s another story– what happened with Norma.  Why did only Norma come to John & Mary? The Agnews are just something else.

We are so Western European. One of mine & my siblings’ 7th great-grandfathers, Thomas Mitchell, immigrated from Ulster Ireland in 1722 at the age of 42, & died in Lancaster County, PA in 1734, age 54. He left a will & had land. They were Presbyterian. We don’t seem to be descended much from Catholics. His great-granddaughter Rebecca Mitchell, married Alexander Reid who was the great-great-grandfather of my Grandma Mary Reid Agnew.

Once you get back far enough, names don’t quite work the way they do today. For example, I don’t quite have the details, but somehow families followed the female name at some point. They didn’t use “first names” and “last names” like we do, so it gets confusing. For example, one male child was named “Bote”. His father’s name was Jacob Botes. But from what I can put together, this is a list of first names for the Dutch relatives I have.

Male names from the Dutch family tree:

Wopko

Gerret

Wobbe

Pieter Alberts

Lieuwe

Hijlke

Sweitse

Staas

Eelke

Douwe

Jacob Botes

Bote

Jan

Female Names from the Dutch family tree:

Cena

Trienje

Lieuwkje

Mathilda

Antje

Tilke

Janke

Lijsbeth

Tjietje

Grietje

Bootje

Rinske

Lysbet

And if, rather than following the Reid paternal line, you follow Alexander Reid’s mother’s line, you end up in WALES. The mother of Alexander Reid was Sarah Sallie Owen. Her father was John Leatherwood Owen, son of Barnett Owen, who was the son of Walter Owen, then EVAN OWEN who was born in Wales. Evan Owen’s father was HARRY THOMAS OWEN, who immigrated in 1683 to some Welsh land tracts given by William Penn, evidently to the Welsh. Harry Thomas was born in Llanfyllin Hundred, Montgomery (County?), WALES. It looks like a fascinating little town of just over 1100 people today, half of whom speak Welsh, SW of Liverpool in the mountains of Wales. There is a will left by Barnett Owens who ended up in Kentucky. To his son John Leatherwood & a few other children, he left $20 bucks each. 🙂   To other children, he left the rest of his estate in Kentucky. I think this was the beginning of my disinheritance from wealth.

My daughters or I can join D.A.R. through this person, my 4th great-grandfather, Alexander Reid, b.1755 in Greenbriar, VA, died 1851 Bedford, Indiana. AL & I found his gravesite on one visit off I65 in the middle of nowhere. There is documentation he fought and was wounded in the Battle of Germantown & the Battle of Monmouth, was discharged, later re-enlisted & was captured at the seige of Charleston, detained a month & then “made his escape”. He rec’d a pension from the govt., lived in KY & later southern Indiana. He married Rebeccah Mitchell & they had 9 children, the 9th being Thomas Reid, b. in Madison, KY in 1800. Thomas married Sarah Sallie Owen. Their 4th child was Alexander J. Reid b.1829 in KY. He married Nancy Jane Smith, & their 4th child was Charles Reid, my Grandma Mary Reid Agnew’s FATHER.

            

So, Martin Brink immigrated from Holland in 1882, at about the age of 24. The Dutch often immigrated to Chicago. He and Trenje (Trena) were already married. in Holland, their name would be Ingbringhoff and not Brink. If records are correct, they were married in 1879. Later records list her name as Catherine or Cathrine. I didn’t know she was called Catherine.