Jeff, Holly Beagle, and I at the summit of Ebbetts Pass.
My 38th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.
The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.
A few years ago, I learned from published histories that Leonard was born “on the plains” in 1858 while his parents Miles Washington Harless and Margaret Gann (1830-1919) emigrated from Missouri to California. Leonard and his family crossed into California using the emigrant route that scales the Sierra Nevada range at Ebbetts Pass. The pass and parts of that original emigrant route now constitute a 61-mile long national scenic byway that includes Highways 4 and 89. The pass is usually closed November through March due to heavy snow, and vehicles over 25 feet long are not advised to travel the steepest parts of the eastern byway. The byway runs from Markleeville (Alpine County) in the east to Arnold (Calaveras County) in the west.
I immediately wanted to travel this route! Jeff and I are huge outdoors buffs who are in heaven in the Sierra Nevada range. So a road trip up to Ebbetts Pass and back for a long weekend isn’t a chore for us. But, I wanted to put together more of the pieces of the Harless family’s history in their new California homes to make the most of the trip. Jeff and I finally quit making excuses and took what morphed into a 10 day road trip this past July retracing his Harless ancestors’ steps across Ebbetts Pass and following where they migrated to in central California.
These photos are highlights from the road trip across Ebbetts Pass, which pertain specifically to Leonard Jackson’s journey. I am working on a much longer, broader, more detailed write-up of the entire scenic byway for our outdoors blog, GreeneAdventures.com.
Heading to Markleeville from our campground near Bridgeport.Firing up my iPhone’s Ancestry.com app, and taking screenshots of key facts before losing my data signal.Starting the western climb up from Markleeville. Aside from the paved road, did our Harless ancestors see this same view during the summer of 1858?Looking back towards Markleeville. Imagine making this climb in a wagon, on horse, or on foot?A stretch of the original emigrant trail. Yes… the VERY trail our Harless ancestors walked, crossing the Sierra Nevada range.Another view of the original emigrant trail, located across the valley from today’s paved road. Thankfully, the guide book clearly calls attention to where this can be seen, and there is a pull out to park and look.A pasture across from the landmark sign at the summit of Ebbetts Pass (see photo at the top of this post). Why this photo? If today’s cattle find it a pleasant enough spot to graze, might our Harless ancestors have stopped here too to water and feed their animals?A remaining piece of the original emigrant trail. Located west of Alpine lake. It was beyond COOL for us to hike here…walking where Jeff’s ancestors walked in 1858. The wide path through the trees lends evidence to wagons trekking this route for years.God bless the ranger and volunteers who are signing and restoring still-accessible segments of the original Emigrant Trail for hikers and history nerds like us!The original emigrant route used to pass where Alpine Lake now rests. The former river was later dammed and flooded, causing the route (now the byway) to get moved. Jeff soaks in the gorgeous views of this serene lake, looking out over where his ancestors trekked in 1858.Another remaining stretch of the old emigrant trail.We had an incredible 10 day vacation. But, this journey across Ebbetts Pass and the old emigrant road was worth the whole trip!
Becky in 1944, after their family had already moved to California.
My 37th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.
The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.
Becky was born on 25 August 1916, I think in McRae (White County) Arkansas. I don’t have any primary first-hand documentation supporting her birth date or location, but the U.S. Censuses and Social Security Death Index do identify the date and state. I find it unusual that Becky was born in Arkansas, since both parents and all of her siblings were from Tennessee. She was the second youngest of ten children born to Hallie “Hal” Corder Haley (1878-1942) and Gedie Webster (b. 1881).
By the age of four, according to the 1920 U.S. Census, Becky and her family were living in Nashville, Tennessee. The family was enumerated there again on the 1930 Census, and — according to the 1940 Census — Becky was still living in Nashville as of 1 April 1935.
Five of the six youngest of the Haley siblings. Left to Right: Eleanor, Norman, Rebecca, Frances, and Comer. Based on Becky’s age in this photo, it was probably taken around 1918 or 1919. Youngest sister Nana was born in 1922.
Somewhere along the way Becky met and married Roy Delmar Pace (b. 1914), from Texas and New Mexico. The married couple were living in Lordsburg (Hidalgo County), New Mexico, when recorded 07 May 1940 on the U.S. Census, along with their six month old son and an adult lodger. Roy worked as a miner, Becky as a nurse at the hospital. A daughter joined the family the following year. In 1943, A second daughter — my mother-in-law Betty Pace — was born, but by this time the family had moved to California.
Rebecca and Roy raised their children in Kern County, California, where they spent the rest of their lives. Becky died on 27 April 1991.
My 36th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.
The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.
I have fallen way behind in this challenge again due to continued health issues the last few months, as well as a major migration and redesign on this website last weekend, but I am trying to catch up by the end of the year.
My 36th ancestor is my grand uncle Dorland Eugene “Buddy” Hayes (1925-1929). Dorland Eugene Hayes, called “Buddy” by his siblings, was born on 23 May 1925 in Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan. He was the sixth of nine children born to my great grandparents, James Bruce “Bruce” Hayes (1888-1970) and Agnes Viola “Viola” Elizabeth Maud Mara (1893-1971). Dorland is an unusual name, even for that time. He had a paternal uncle named Dorland (although that uncle went by other names….go figure), so I assume that Buddy was named after his uncle.
Grandma’s older brothers: Robert “Bob”, Dorland “Buddy”, and William “Bill” Hayes.
Buddy was the sibling born immediately prior to my grandmother, Elsie Charlotte Hayes (1926-1992). They were just a little over a year apart in age. Neither I, nor Mom, nor Grandpa ever met Uncle Buddy. Because, sadly, Buddy died at just four years old, on 13 July 1929, in Royal Oak, Oakland County. Grandma told Mom that Buddy had been playing out on the family farm with his siblings, while their mother (who ran the home and worked) napped. A road ran alongside the farm, little Buddy ran out into the road, and was hit and killed by a car. I just found Buddy’s death record today, on FamilySearch.
Since Grandma was not even three years old when Buddy died, she can’t have had many memories of him. Yet Mom says that Grandma always spoke tenderly and emotionally about the little brother that died so young, and that Great Grandma Viola took her little boy’s death hard. Mom had never even seen a photo of Buddy until about twelve years ago, when she and I went through old photos than an aunt kept after my grandparents died. The photo in this post is the one we discovered.
My 35th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.
The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.
I have fallen way behind in this challenge again due to continued health issues the last few months, but I am trying to catch up by the end of the year.
My 35th ancestor is my husband’s 11th great grandfather, Richard Pace (1583-1627), who is credited with saving the colonial settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. I discovered and started investigating this Richard Pace back in April 2012, when I first wrote about a new research lead. Since that first post, I have done more research, and have spoken with several cousins of Jeff who already knew this family connection and have researched it themselves.
Back during those initial investigations, I found out that there is a plaque dedicated to Richard Pace in the church on the National Park’s Jamestown settlement site.
Visiting Jamestown
Well, last month, Jeff and I finally got to visit the historic Jamestown, Virginia colonial settlement site as part of a 10 day Virginia and Washington, DC vacation with my parents. Early this year, my parents invited us to stay a week with them in their Shenandoah Valley timeshare. Jeff and I jumped at the offer for free lodging, scheduled a few extra days on the trip for all of us to visit DC, and started scouting out day trip options from the timeshare. We realized getting out to Jamestown would be quite the long drive (it turned into a 16-hour day!), but we also recognized that this might be our best chance at visiting Jamestown anytime in the near future. We just couldn’t pass up soaking in the history of that area, and we especially could not pass up getting to walk where Jeff’s ancestor walked, viewing the famous river he crossed to warn and save the town, and getting a first hand look at the dedicated plaque.
Jeff posing next to the plaque that honors his 11th great grandfather.
Richard Pace is credited with saving Jamestown from a 1622 Indian massacre. After learning from his Indian servant Chanco about the plot, Pace rowed across the James River to warn the settlement.
The plaque is primarily a tribute to Chanco, with Pace mentioned in a much less prominent placement and font size. I, of course, had to tease Jeff about this. Jealousy. My ancestors were peasants. We saw evidence of his prominent ancestors throughout the entire vacation.
A view inside the church. Jeff is on the left, reading the plaque honoring his ancestor.
This is not the same church (constructed in 1617) that Jeff’s ancestors would have attended. However, this “newer” church (partially built in 1639) is on the site of that original church. So even though Richard Pace and his family never walked or worshiped in this building, it was still pretty cool to go inside one of the oldest European structures in the United States.
Exterior view of the church.National Historic Site marker on the church.
Jamestown was founded on 4 May 1607, and was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The Jamestown obelisk was built in 1907, as a tercentennial monument to the founding of Jamestown.
The tercentennial obelisk.One of the inscribed sides of the obelisk.Our awesomely funny, entertaining, and knowledgeable park ranger guide.
After the guided talk was done, Jeff and I had to take the opportunity to ask our ranger about Jeff’s ancestor. The ranger was thrilled to tell us that Richard Pace is one of her very favorite people from Jamestown history. But, it quickly became clear that she is an even bigger fan of Chanco, Pace’s Indian servant, and wants to write a book aobut Chanco when retired.
Site of the old fort, which until recently was though to be lost under the river.Constant reminders that Jamestown is an active archaeological site. It sent chills up our spines to think that these archaeologists might be unearthing items that Jeff’s ancestors touched.
Pace’s Paines Plantation
Richard Pace, wife Isabella Smyth (1589-1637), and their son George Pace (1609-1655) immigrated from England sometime before 1618. Pace was not among the original settlers of Jamestown, but was among the earliest.
Pace and Smyth received one of the first land grants in the Colony of Virginia, as part of the headright system implemented in 1618, which granted lands to settlers who migrated from England and remained in the colony for at least three years. Recipients of these early land grants were referred to as Ancient Planters. Pace and Smyth — each granted 100 acres — registered a patent on 5 December 1620 for 200 acres located across the James River from the settlement, founding their “Pace’s Paines” plantation, now part of Mount Pleasant Plantation, a private non-profit-owned property (not open for public tours) in Spring Grove, Virginia.
Our family planned to drive by Mount Pleasant Plantation (and get a photograph with that sign, too) after a lunch stop at Cape Henry and Virginia Beach, but it was getting late, and there is no quick route to that area across the river. And we still had to hit Yorktown battlefield. So Jeff and I will have to visit the site of Pace’s Paines on another trip to the beautiful state of Virgnia.
Looking across the James River. Pace’s Paines was located on the far bank.Historic marker designating the location of Pace’s Paines, the lands Richard Pace registered in 1620. Public Domain image from Wikimedia Commons.
Historical Perspective
To put Pace’s Jamestown life and properties in historical perspective, he and Smyth arrived around the time that famous Pocahontas died (1617) while she and her husband John Rolfe and son were living in England. Rolfe died in 1622, two years after Pace and Smyth registered their land patent. Rolfe and Pocahontas, and later Rolfe and his second wife, also owned lands across the James River from the Jamestown settlement.
Richard Pace died in 1625.
Pocahontas. I could almost hear her singing “Colors of the Wind”. Our docent mentioned that Pocahontas was actually much younger than portrayed in this statue and the Disney film.Public domain 1850s painting of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, from Wikimedia Commons.No, not Jeff’s 11th great grandfather Richard Pace. The famous John Smith. Incorrectly portrayed as the object of Pocahontas’s love in the Disney movie, instead of her real husband John Rolfe.
My 34th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.
The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.
I have fallen way behind in this challenge again due to continued health issues the last few months, but I am trying to catch up by the end of the year.
Ships List. Caledonia, steerage, 1865. Courtesy of Ancestry.com.
James Sr., a miner, immigrated to the United States in 1865, along with his 7 year old son James Jr. and his 9 year old daughter Jeanette [Janet]. The family arrived at the Port of New York on 16 October 1865, on board the Caledonia (part of the Anchor shipping line), which embarked from Glasgow, Scotland. They crossed the Atlantic in poor steerage accommodations, sharing space with the ship’s cargo.
No wife for James Sr. or mother for the children accompanied the family on their journey to America. The first wife of James Sr., Anne BODMAN (married in April 1857), was already dead at this time.
This advertisement in the New York Times ran the very date the family arrived (16 October 1865). It is for the return voyage back to Great Britain, on the Caledonia. The price for steerage passage was $30 U.S. Dollars (I assume, per person). My ancestor and his children traveled steerage from Glasgow, paying in British currency. Source: Newspapers.com.
By the time of the 1870 U.S. Census (enumerated 7 July 1870), James Sr. had remarried — to Margaret METZ (b. 1845) — and settled with their family in Lanaconing, Allegany County, Maryland. Both James Sr. and James Jr. were employed as miners. James and Margaret’s first child, 2 year old Jane, was born by this time.
Birth record transcribed from the Bellaire Health Department. Manuscript, Family History Library.
My 33rd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.
The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.
I have fallen way behind in this challenge again due to continued health issues the last few months, but I am trying to catch up by the end of the year.
My 33rd ancestor is my grand uncle Leonard Luther WARD (1917-?). Leonard was the middle brother of my grandfather. I never met him.
I know almost nothing about Leonard. I did not even know Leonard existed until I found that very first lead about my grandfather’s family history, the 1930 U.S. Census record. As I’ve shared many times, my grandfather was orphaned as an infant (his father died in 1928, when Grandpa was only 1 year old) and toddler (their mother died in 1930, when Grandpa was only 3 years old), and never knew his parents. Raised on a farm by a foster family, Grandpa’s brothers ran away, and Grandpa grew up not really knowing his brothers — especially the older ones, those born to Frank Ward. I knew about an Uncle Pat, but I had never heard of an Uncle Leonard.
Leonard is listed on the 1930 U.S. Census record with his brothers at the German Roman Catholic Orphan Home in Buffalo, Erie County, New York. Leonard is 12 years old at this time. The boys’ mother died three months after this Census record was taken. Leonard’s stepfather (my great grandfather) died two years prior.
1930 U.S. Census Record, German Roman Catholic Orphan Home. Courtesy of Ancestry.com.
The brothers’ orphan records state that Leonard was baptized at the extended family’s hometown church, St. John’s Catholic Church in Bellaire, Ohio.
The only other reference I find to Leonard is that illusive 1920 U.S. Census record I mentioned in my last blog post. He is 2 years 1 month old, identified as the grandson of Catherine DARNLEY Fabry (1878-1926). Leonard along with his older sister Catherine and older brother Joseph are living with their mother Sarah KENNEDY (1898-1930), Sarah’s half brother Andrew QUINN (1906-?), and grandmother. The family lives in Bellaire, Ohio. Leonard’s father, Frank D. WARD (1895-1967) is not living with the family.
1920 U.S. Census for Darnley-Kennedy-Ward Family. Image courtesy of Ancestry.com.
Sometime after the 1925 christening, in Bellaire, of Leonard’s younger brother Patrick Joseph, and before my grandfather Michael John was born in 1927, Leonard moved to Buffalo, New York with his mother, stepfather, sister, and brothers.
My 32nd entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks family history blogging challenge.
The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.
I have fallen way behind in this challenge again due to continued health issues the last few months, but I am trying to catch up by the end of the year.
My 32nd ancestor is my 3rd great grandfather, James Patterson DARNLEY.
While working on the recent blog post about my 2nd great grandmother Catherine DARNLEY (1878-1928), I started spending a bit more time researching her parents, and was shocked to stumble upon this death certificate for her father, James Patterson Darnley. Third great grandfather Darnley died 18 March 1908, in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, from a homicidal gun shot wound to the abdomen!
Death certificate, courtesy of Ancestry.com.
Murdered
Hoping that a gun shot wound death would be covered in the local newspapers, I hopped on over to Newspapers.com and struck gold.
Third great grandfather James Patterson Darnley was shot and killed by three “foreigners” (“Italians”) who jumped up from behind an embankment with the intention of robbing Darnley on his way home (to the Hempfield Slope mine area) around midnight. Third great grandfather Darnley was accompanied by his son, son-in-law, and another man. According to the Indiana Democrat, “Darnley rushed at the thug with his [own] revolver” before getting fatally shot.
The Indiana Democrat (Indiana, Pennsylvania), 25 March 1908, Page 6. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 20 March 1908, Page 6. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.
Even his hometown paper carried the news.
Cumberland Evening Times (Cumberland, Maryland) 20 March 1908, Page 12. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.
No Justice
Fourteen months after the shooting, the man arrested and tried for the murder of James Patterson Darnley was acquitted by a jury. The verdict was reported in two different area newspapers, but those newspapers seem to disagree on whether there were one or two men tried and acquitted.
The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania), 22 May 1909, Page 1. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania), 26 May 1908, Page 11. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.
About James Patterson Darnley
I have only just started researching this part of my family, but from what I gather so far, James Patterson Darnley was born in Bothwell, County of Lanark, Scotland on 21 July 1856. His parents (according to the death certificate) were James DARNLEY and Annie BODMAN of Scotland. Third great grandfather James arrived in the U.S. with his father in 1865, at the age of 9 or 10.
It appears that his father married a Margaret in 1868, after father and son arrived in the U.S. I do not yet know if third great grandfather James’s mother Annie died, or if his parents divorced. I don’t even know if his parents were married.
At the time of his death, Darnley was married to Sarah Ann LLOYD (b. 1859) and lived in Greensburg. He was employed as a miner (I would assume at nearby Hempfield Slope Mine). Sarah and James were married in 1878. They appear to have spent most of their marriage together, raising their children, in Lonaconing, Allegany County, Maryland.
