Jeff’s Ancestors – Page 6 – Colleen & Jeff's Roots

#52Ancestors: Confirming Revolutionary War Hero Nathanael Greene Is A Relative

My 15th week 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’m no longer a few weeks behind in this series. I am now 6 weeks behind in this series (the challenge just wrapped up week 21). I initially blamed my tardiness on being super busy at home, work, and with my volunteer work. However, the extended lapse can be blamed on the recent diagnosis of some critical health issues that had wiped me out for a while (you can read about that on my food blog).

But I’m determined to chronicle at least 52 Ancestors this year, so I’m playing catch-up.

Original portrait painted from life in 1783
by Charles Wilson Peale. Public domain
image via Wikimedia Commons.

My 15th ancestor is actually a relative, not an ancestor — Revolutionary War hero Major General Nathanael GREENE (1742 – 1786). This post focuses on solving a research puzzle, instead of a biographical profile. There are already more than enough biographies on Nathanael.

Back in February, I blogged about my efforts to confirm or deny a relation between my husband’s line of the Greene family and Nathanael Greene. The family had always heard they were descended from or related to the hero, but I could not find any connection in research.

Initial Discrepancy

My previous post discusses the issue I ran into with the family history written by my husband’s 2nd great grandfather, William Henry GREENE (1837 – 1921) in 1908. William Henry identified Major General Nathanael Greene as a cousin. William Henry claims that his great grandfather, Christopher GREENE (1733 – 1820) “was an [?] cousin of Gen. Nathaniel [sic] Greene of Rhode Island.” (W.H. Greene, page 1). The “type” of cousin isn’t clear in William Henry’s handwriting, and a family member who later typed a transcription of this history assigned the role of “first cousin”.

William Henry’s writing isn’t clear here where he identifies the type of cousins.

This typed transcription mistakenly identifies Christopher Greene and Nathanael Greene as 1st cousins.

Nathanael and Christopher were actually 3rd cousins, because they appear to share the same 2nd great grandfather (see: Genealogy Relationship Chart). Even though they are both of the same generation, generation #5 in the Warwick Greene line (see below: Nathanael Green’s Relationship To My Husband), this does not equate to 1st cousins.

Cousin terminology gets really confusing in genealogy. I constantly have to refer to a relationship chart to get it right. And for those who do not live in our genealogy-focused world (yes, I know, shocker!), it gets even more confusing and even less important. People are simply “cousins”. And for most people, if two individuals are from the same generation, it would make sense to call them “first cousins”. This same-generation conclusion is incorrect, though. The degree of “cousinage” depends upon their most recent common ancestor.

In the sources I located for our William Henry Greene ancestral line, and for Nathanael Greene’s line, I simply could not find a 1st cousin to Nathanael named Christopher who had children whose names matched those identified by our William Henry.

Incomplete Sources

The initial brickwall encountered in this cousin relationship hunt between our Christopher Greene and Nathanael was due to incomplete sources.

Our William Henry’s memoir does not identify ancestor’s beyond his great grandfather Christopher. Nor does it provide any biographical information about Christopher to provide clues, except for the names of his descendants. Leaving me no good leads to pursue.

My other key source, the Greene Family Genealogy (from the personal papers of General Greene) that I found on Facebook and analyzed in my initial post on this subject, is also incomplete. It does not extend down enough generations in Nathanael’s cousin lines to reach our Christopher. For our line, the closest ancestor identified is Benjamin, son of Samuel, who was the 3rd son of John, eldest son of John “The Surgeon” Greene.

Post by Maj. General Nathanael Greene Homestead.

Using these two sources, I simply could not connect the dots between our Christopher and Nathanael.

Filling In The Gaps

Shortly after my first post on this issue, I stumbled upon a key publication while pursuing and perusing other published histories on Major General Nathanael Greene.

The Greenes of Rhode Island, with historical records of English ancestry, 1534-1902 (1903) by General George Sears Greene is considered by Warwick Greene historians to be the most authoritative and documented published history on the Warwick Greene line, the Greene line (from Warwick, Rhode Island) from which Nathanael is descended. I was thrilled to find a free copy online and immediately read through the entire long publication.

You can see my notes and analysis on Evernote comparing this genealogy against that from Nathanael’s personal papers.

Needle In A Haystack

Searching for a connection in the G.S. Greene book was an exercise in frustration. Without any “Christopher facts” from our William Greene memoir, it was like hunting for a needle in a haystack in the G.S. Greene history. There are so many Christopher Greenes, William Greenes, and Jonathan Greenes. I didn’t even have the names of Christopher’s parents. It seemed a futile effort.

So I slowly and painstakingly started building a separate Warwick Greenes family tree in Ancestry, using all of the names and facts from the G.S. Greene book (!). I wanted to start identifying applicable records (and new relationships and names) for these individuals that might connect to our Greenes. Instantly, record clues started popping up like crazy. This is a very established and heavily documented family.

One of the tactics I like to use in situations like this is to find some unique names that I know are from my family lines, and search on those.

From our William Henry memoir, I remember him talking about an Aunt Widger, sister to his grandfather William Greene. I had no idea if Widger was a first name, nickname, or surname. Searches in my new separate Warwick Greene tree on Ancestry for “Widger Greene” and “Wigger Greene” did not pan out.

William Henry Greene’s reference to the elusive Aunt Widger, his grandfather William’s sister.

Then I remembered William Henry’s reference to an uncle named Leander GREENE. Leander is an unusual name. And male should be easier to track down, since the surname would not change. I used the same approach. Identifying and adding new relationship and names to my Warwick Greene tree, in hopes of finding a Leander.

William Henry Greene identifies the sons of his grandfather William Greene.

William Henry gives clues about Uncle Leander that I could use in my research.

Success!

Bingo. I found a Leander Greene in the new Warwick Greenes tree (Nathanael’s line). This Warwick Greene Leander was from Groton, Connecticut, and had parents named William Greene and ? Weaver. The same as our Uncle Leander. His father William Greene had a father named Christopher Greene. The same as our line. This Christopher had a father named Benjamin GREENE, who had a father named Samuel GREENE, who had a father named John GREENE, whose father was John “The Surgeon” GREENE.

That personal family history posted by the Gen. Nathanael Greene Homestead on Facebook also had a Benjamin Greene, tracing back through these same names to John The Surgeon. This Benjamin is the last generation from our line documented in the Nathanael Greene papers.

The G.S. Greene history also identifies this same Benjamin Greene (person #102 in the G.S. Greene numbering system). This Benjamin had a son named Christopher (person #313), our own Christopher (great grandfather of William Henry). And this Christopher had a son named William (person #752), William Henry’s grandfather.

When I cross checked this family against the record hints that kept popping up on Ancestry, I found our William Henry’s elusive Aunt “Widger”. Aunt Widger is Lucy GREENE, daughter of this same Christopher Greene (person #749 in the G.S. Greene book). Lucy married Eli Widger, hence…Aunt Widger.

Screenshot from the Kindle version of the G.S. Greene book, showing our Christopher Greene ancestor, his son William Greene, and daughter Lucy (aka “Aunt Widger) Greene.

Nathanael Greene’s Relationship To My Husband

It would appear that Major General Nathanael Greene and my husband are 3rd cousins 7x removed. This makes him a 4th cousin 6x removed of our children.

Their common ancestor is the founding member of the Warwick Greenes and the progenitor of the U.S. branch of this family line, John “The Surgeon” Greene (abt 1590 – 1659), who arrived in Massachusetts Bay in June 1635. John is my husband’s 9th great grandfather and Nathanael’s 2nd great grandfather.

John “The Surgeon” Greene (abt 1590 – 1659)
John Greene (abt 1619 – 1708), oldest son
Samuel Greene (1670 – 1720), youngest son
Benjamin Greene
Christopher Greene (1733 – 1820)
William Greene (1772 – ? )
Johnathan Greene (1803 – 1873)
William Henry Greene (1837 – 1921)
William Wallace Greene (1869 – 1944)
William Wallace Greene (1908 – 2003)
Richard Greene, my father-in-law
Jeff Greene, my husband

John “The Surgeon” Greene (abt 1590 – 1659)
James Greene, third son
Jabez Greene (1673 – ?)
Nathanael Greene (1707 – 1768)
Major General Nathanael Greene (1742-1786)

Next Steps

Although my blog post title claims to have “confirmed” the relationship between my husband’s family and Nathanael Greene, this is still just a very strong hunch. An assumption, based on secondary sources — well regarded secondary sources. I haven’t connected all of these same dots yet with actual evidence.

So, it appears my next step are to start obtaining the evidence required for actual proof.

Sources

Greene, G. S. (1903). The Greenes of Rhode Island with historical records of English ancestry, 1534-1902. New York: [The Knickerbocker press].
Greene, W. H. (1908, May 25). History of the Greene Family.

Maj. General Nathanael Greene Homestead. (2013, November). Greene Family Genealogy. Facebook. Facebook Photo Album. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.484352578330661.1073741834.289336514498936&type=3

Turner, H. E. (1877). Greenes of Warwick in Colonial History: Read Before the Rhode Island Historical Society, February 27, 1877. Davis & Pitman, steam printers.

#52Ancestors: John “The Surgeon” Greene And The Founding Of Providence Plantations Rhode Island

My 14th week 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’m no longer a few weeks behind in this series. I am now 7 weeks behind in this series (the challenge just wrapped up week 21). I initially blamed my tardiness on being super busy at home, work, and with my volunteer work. However, the extended lapse can be blamed on the recent diagnosis of some critical health issues that had wiped me out for a while (you can read about that on my food blog).

But I’m determined to chronicle at least 52 Ancestors this year, so I’m playing catch-up.

John “The Surgeon” Greene

This 14th “ancestor” is my husband’s 9th great grandfather, John “The Surgeon” GREENE (abt 1590 – 1659) — one of the early settlers of Rhode Island, a founding member of Providence Plantations, a founding member of the first Baptist church in North America, and the founding patriarch of the large prominent line of “Warwick Greenes” (distinguished from other Greene lines in Rhode Island and New England). He is referred to as the Surgeon to distinguish him from the many other John Greenes, even in this same line. And because he was a physician.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of Rhode Island’s statehood. Two-hundred twenty-four years ago, in 1790, Rhode Island became the last of the thirteen original colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution, becoming our thirteenth state. I thought this anniversary an opportune time to share a bit about my husband’s ancestor’s role in Rhode Island’s history.

Origin & Immigration

There is quite a lot written about John “The Surgeon” Greene — both in print and electronic format (a simple Google Search will bring up a ton of blogs, websites, and forums managed by his descendants). He also has a Wikipedia page (of course!). I only just discovered him late last year, so I am still processing the overwhelming amount of data available on him, and verifying sources and facts. Hence, you can anticipate many future posts about this ancestor.

John appears to have been born in Gillingham, Dorset, England around 1590 (more on that in a later blog post). He immigrated to the U.S. with his wife and children, traveling on board the James of London, which left London in April 1635 during what is called the Great Migration from England to New England. The family arrived in Massachusetts Bay, Boston, Massachusetts, in June 1635.

From Massachusetts to Rhode Island

That same year, John settled his family in Salem, Massachusetts, where he became associated with Roger Williams, the theologian and founder (1636) of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Williams even baptized Greene. Williams and Greene both grew frustrated by the lack of religious freedom in Puritan-controlled Massachusetts, so Greene followed Williams to newly acquired land in what Williams would establish as the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. John Greene was one of the initial twelve men “proprietors” deeded land by Roger Williams in 1638, in what would become the town of Providence. It was there that Williams and Greene founded the first Baptist church.

In 1643, John Greene purchased land and settled in what became Warwick, Rhode Island. John was active in government here, and had quite a documented history of protesting and causing mayhem against Massachusetts over boundary and jurisdiction disputes (Massachusetts wanted control over Rhode Island). My liberty-loving husband definitely takes after his 9th great grandpa!

John Greene died in Warwick in 1659, where he is buried.

Town layout of Providence with Greene’s lot fifth from the top. Public domain photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

John Greene’s Relationship To My Husband

John “The Surgeon” Greene (abt 1590 – 1659)
John Greene (abt 1619 – 1708), oldest son
Samuel Greene (1670 – 1720), youngest son
Benjamin Greene
Christopher Greene (1733 – 1820)
William Greene (1772 – )
Johnathan Greene (1803 – 1873)
William Henry Greene (1837 – 1921)
William Wallace Greene (1869 – 1944)
William Wallace Greene (1908 – 2003)
Richard Greene, my father-in-law
Jeff Greene, my husband

Sources

The bulk of my research comes from:

Greene, G. S. (1903). The Greenes of Rhode Island with historical records of English ancestry, 1534-1902. New York: [The Knickerbocker press].

Turner, H. E. (1877). Greenes of Warwick in Colonial History: Read Before the Rhode Island Historical Society, February 27, 1877. Davis & Pitman, steam printers.

Trying To Confirm Or Deny Major General Nathanael Greene As A Relation or Ancestor

Original portrait painted from life in 1783 by Charles Wilson Peale.
Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.

Ever since my husband and I started dating four and a half years ago, I have heard him and his family talk about a connection with Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene. Initially, the claim was “descended from”, but this soon changed to “related to” as I started to question the connection and ask for documentation. As a historian by training and a librarian by profession, I don’t buy into family history claims passed down over generations unless there is documented proof.

This attitude can make me a bit unpopular at family get-togethers. I am sure the same is true of fellow genealogists who require documented sources. I make that distinction because I see way to many “genealogists” who don’t seem to care one hoot about documentation (one only need to look at the bulk of public Member Trees on Ancestry).

When the topic of a Nathanael connection comes up in our Greene family discussions, I try to gently affirm that I can neither confirm not disprove this connection yet. And I have tried to explain to our kids why they shouldn’t claim such a connection in their history classes. I run into the same issue on my side of the family, since they “believe” we are descended from Spanish soldier Manuel Nieto who was part of the Portola expedition into Alta California in 1769–another undocumented claim which I cannot yet prove of disprove.

Because of this, I decided recently to finally buckle down and start the search to either prove or disprove a connection between Major General Nathanael Greene and my husband’s family. I gathered together copies of family papers provided by my father-in-law, and took those to Salt Lake City to read and investigate further at the Family History Library during my RootsTech visit. The primary document of value here is a family history handwritten by my husband’s 2nd great grandfather, William Henry Greene (1837-1921), in 1908, who claims that his great grandfather Christopher Greene (my husband’s 5th great grandfather) is a first cousin of Major General Nathanael Greene.

I also brought along a recently find of mine, a Greene Family Genealogy, from the personal papers of General Greene, published four months ago on Facebook by the General Nathanael Greene Homestead. This family history traces Nathanael’s line back to his family’s founding U.S. ancestor,his 2nd great grandfather John Greene Sr. from Salisbury, England. You can see my notes and analysis in outline format on Evernote.

Post by Maj. General Nathanael Greene Homestead.

As soon as I started comparing our William Henry Greene Family History against my analysis of the Homestead’s Greene Family History from Nathanael’s personal papers, I encountered a discrepancy. Our family, via my husband’s 2nd great grandfather William Henry Greene, claims that William Henry’s great grandfather Christopher Greene is a first cousin of General Greene.
According to the family history from Nathanael Greene’s family papers, Nathanael has no first cousin named Christopher.

The Nathanael Greene papers Family Genealogy only lists one first cousin: William (5), son of William (4), son of Samuel (3), son of John (2), son of US family founding member John (1).
The Nathanael Green papers Family Genealogy does list two Christophers.
- Nathanael’s younger brother Christopher (b. 1748).
- Nathanael’s first cousin once removed: Christopher (4), son of Job (3), son of John (2), son of US founding family member John (1).

What does this prove? Nothing. Yet.

The Nathanael Family History does not list the names of his brother Christopher’s sons, so I cannot compare them again our family’s Christopher. But, wouldn’t it be quite the boon if our Christopher turned out to be the brother of Nathanael rather than a cousin?!

The Nathanael Family History does not list the names of Christopher’s (4)–the first cousin once removed–sons either, for comparison.

The Nathanael Greene papers Family History does not go beyond the level of his father’s first cousins, US Generation 4. Nathanael and his first cousins are US Generation 5. Except for very prominent members of the Greene clan, this history did not include additional members of Nathanael’s generation–including first cousins from his father’s five brothers. So there could still be a first cousin named Christopher that just was not included in the Nathanael’s Family History.

And, of course, it is possible that my husband’s family is much more distantly related, or not related at all (which seems unlikely that there isn’t a common ancestor at some point).

Regardless, it all means a LOT more research for me!

#52Ancestors: William Pace, Member of George Washington’s Revolutionary War Elite Bodyguard Unit

Washington's Life Guard — Banner of the Guard, illustrated by Benson Lossing, 1852.
Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

My 7th week 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.

This week’s ancestor is my husband’s 5th great grandfather, William Henry Pace (1745-1815). I have not spent much of my own time researching this line of my husband’s lineage because it has already been heavily documented and DAR certified by other family historians due to the family’s, and in particular, this ancestor’s, role in the Revolutionary War.

But, in honor of yesterday’s federal holiday celebrating the birthday of President George Washington, I am sharing this particular era in William Henry Pace’s history. Because it is possible that were it not for my husband’s ancestor, Washington might not have lived to become our nation’s founding President.

Joining the Continental Army

William Henry Pace, from Goochland, Virginia, enlisted 23 January 1777 for a 3-year stint in the 14th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army (Godfrey, 1904) as a Private under the command of Captain Henry Conway and Colonel Charles Lewis (Godfrey and DAR). According to the FamilySearch Wiki, Captain Conway was in charge of the 4th Company.

Formation of the Commander-In-Chief’s Guard

Almost a year prior, on 11 March 1776, General George Washington–while overseeing the Siege of Boston–issued a General Order to his commanding officers directing them to select four men from each Continental Army regiment to form Washington’s personal guard (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association).

The unit was to assemble the next day at Army headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Washington’s Order gave specific instructions as to what type of men he was looking for.

His Excellency depends upon the Colonels for good Men, such as they can recommend for their sobriety, honesty, and good behaviour; he wishes them to be from five feet, eight Inches high, to five feet, ten Inches; handsomely and well made, and as there is nothing in his eyes more desireable, than Cleanliness in a Soldier, he desires that particular attention may be made, in the choice of such men, as are neat, and spruce.(General Order)

This elite bodyguard unit has been referred to by many titles. But the most common seem to be the formal name of Commander-In-Chief’s Guard used by the commanding officer, and the less formal name of Life Guard used by the enlisted men.

Most of the original Life Guard did not re-up for this assignment after the initial required one year term. Only a few volunteers remained by January 1777 when the Army was encamped at their Morristown, New Jersey winter quarters, requiring Washington to call up the formation of another guard unit (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association).

Joining the Commander-In-Chief’s Guard

Just three months after enlisting in the regular Continental Army, William Henry Pace was transferred on 6 May 1777 to to join this new guard unit in Morristown, New Jersey, under the command of Captain Caleb Gibbs (DAR and Godfrey).

Godfrey provides a detailed account of Pace’s service in the Guard unit:

(June and July 1777): Sick in the hospital.
(11 September 1777): Battle of Brandywine in Delaware.
(4 October 1777): Battle of Germantown in Pennsylvania.
(28 June 1778): Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey.
(18 January 1779): Reenlisted and took a 110 day furlough.
(1 September 1779): Returned from furlough.
(7 June 1780): Battle of Connecticut Farms in New Jersey.
(3 July 1781): Skirmish of King’s Bridge in New Jersey.
(19 October 1781): Battle of Yorktown, in Virginia
(4 June 1783): Promoted to Sergeant.
(6 June 1783): Furloughed in Newburgh, New York, until ratification of the peace treaty.
(3 November 1783): Discharged.

Pace, along with the Guard unit, wintered with Washington and the Continental Army at Valley Forge during the brutal winter of 1777-1778 (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association).

William Pace Sr. Headstone — Pace is buried at at the Jones Cemetery in Scotts Valley, Virginia. Courtesy of Find A Grave.

William Pace Memorial Bridge — A commemorative sign marks the road along the cemetery. Courtesy of Find A Grave.

Sources Used

“General Order, 11 March 1776,” The Writings of George Washington, Vol. 4, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office).

Godfrey, C. E. (1904). The Commander-in-chief’s Guard, Revolutionary War. Washington, D. C.: Stevenson-Smith company. Retrieved from http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008555358

Lossing, B. J. (1852). The Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution: Or, Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence. Harper & Bros.

Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. (n.d.). Life Guards. George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://www.mountvernon.org/educational-resources/encyclopedia/life-guards

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. (n.d.). Ancestor Search | Pace, William. DAR Genealogical Research System. Database. Retrieved from http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search_adb/default.cfm

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#52Ancestors: Lt. Colonel William Wallace Greene, M.D.

My 5th week 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.

This week’s ancestor is my husband’s grandfather, William Wallace “Wallace” Greene (1908-2003), who my husband’s family believes shares a common ancestor with Revolutionary War Hero Major General Nathanael Greene (although I have not proven or disproven that yet through evidence). In preparing for my visit to the Family History Library this week during RootsTech, I have been going through family files passed down by my father-in-law, and came across this biography written by my father-in-law before Wallace died in 2003.

So, I am cheating a bit here since I do not have to write a history myself. I hope my husband, his brother, and his cousins know how lucky they are to have this type of history compiled while their grandfather was still alive. I wish I had this gift for any of my grandparents.

Dr. William Wallace Greene was born on August 26, 1908, in Phoenix, Arizona, son of William Wallace Greene (1869-1944) and Veronica (Dorris) Greene (1883-1982). He attended McKinley Grammar School through 3rd grade, and Monroe Grammar School through 8th grade. He took a college prep program at Phoenix Union High School, during which time he worked as a stockboy at S.H. Kress. In his junior and senior year summers he worked for Valley Bank in Phoenix, first as a bank runner, then as a book-keeper running a posting machine. He said he almost went into banking because he enjoyed this job.

Willieam Wallace Greene 1929 Stanford — The Stanford Quad yearbook, Stanford University, 1929. Image courtesy of Ancestry.com.

In 1925, at the age of 16, he went to the University of Redlands as a pre-medical student. At Redlands he was on the track team (ran the half-mile against UCLA), and was on the Freshman and Varsity Debating team. He won entrance into Phi Kappa Delta, the national debating fraternity. He also was admitted to Theta Alpha Phi, the national drama fraternity, for his efforts doing scenery and so on. He joined Alpha Gamma Nu, a local social fraternity and the Pre-medical fraternity while at Redlands as well. To support himself he waited tables at the men’s dining room in the dormitory. He attended Redlands through 1927.

William Wallace Greene Jean Alice Harless Honeymoon — Honeymooning in Arizona, after their quick weekend wedding.

In Fall 1927, he matriculated at Stanford University as a premedical student. For the first six months he lived at Encina Hall, and then pledged Phi Sigma Kappa. He also belonged to Phi Rho Sigma (medical fraternity) and played the baritone horn in the Stanford Marching Band. He entered medical school (at Stanford)in 1928 and received his A.B. in Pre-Clinical Sciences in 1929. His internship was spent 1932-33 at Lane-Stanford Hospital in San Francisco where he also met Jean Alice Harless (1912-2011) who was in nursing school. She became his wife on May 18, 1933, the same year he was awarded the M.D. degree. They went to Baltimore during 1933-34, where he was an intern in surgery at Johns Hopkins. 1934-35, he was back at Lane-Stanford as assistant resident in surgery. 1935-36, he was senior house officer in surgery at San Francisco Hospital (Stanford Service), and 1936-37, he served as resident in surgery at the same hospital.

Stanford Lane Hospital — Stanford-Lane Hospital in San Francisco. Courtesy of Stanford Medical History Center.

Wallace (he preferred to go by this name) began his private medical practice in San Francisco in 1937, with a specialization in abdominal surgery. The same year he joined the part-time faculty of Stanford Service as Instructor of Surgery, a position he held until 1941. Then life changed. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he knew that his country would be needing medical personnel. On April 6, 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was given a commission as Major, assigned as a surgeon in the Medical Corps with the 59th Evacuation Hospital. Most of his time in the Army was spent in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Germany. He was discharged with the cessation of action in the european part of World War II, in September 1945. He had attained the ran of Lt. Colonel. He returned to San Francisco and resumed his medical career in private practice. Prior to leaving for the service Wallace and Jean had two children [names, dates, location omitted for privacy reasons].

59th Evacuation Hospital. Courtesy of Stanford Medical History Center.

Wallace’s son recently told me that his father said many of the doctors in the 59th Evac came from Stanford. They all joined up together.

With his return to private practice, he also resumed teaching part-time with the Stanford Service as Assistant Clinical Professor or Surgery from 1946-49. From 1949-61, he was Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery, again at Stanford Service. When Stanford moved its medical school to Palo Alto, he became Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery for the medical school at University of California at San Francisco, where he served through 1971.

William Wallace Greene and Jean Alice Harless — Wallace and his wife Jean, in practice together.

Wallace and Jean moved from San Francisco to Tiburon (Marin County, California) in 1961, but Wally kept his practice in San Francisco. In 1971, they moved to Kauai (Hawaii) where he took the position as Medical Director and Surgeon at G.N. Wilcox Hospital in Lihue. He went into semi-retirement in 1976, and finally retired in December 1981, whereupon he and Jean returned to California and bought a home in Oakmont near Santa Rosa.

William Wallace Greene and Jeff Greene — Wallace with two of his grandsons, my husband (middle) and brother-in-law. I just love this photo! The boys are obviously pestering their grandfather while he tries to read the paper.

William Wallace Greene Jean Alice Harless — Wallace and his bride Jean, late in life.

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#52Ancestors: Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss (1718-1784)

Headstone erected posthumously for Margaret Price.

This week, I begin my journey participating 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.

My first contribution to the challenge is from my husband’s family tree — the first female ancestor on his Preiss line (sometimes Americanized to “Price”) to immigrate to America — his 7th great grandmother Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss [Price]. I have done almost no research on this particular ancestor, because a) I tend to spend more time on my family lines, and b) the descendants of Margaret Preiss and her husband Johan “John” Philip Harless [Harlas] have been heavily documented (and published) by other family historians.

Margaret was reportedly born in 1718 in Offenbach, Germany. She reportedly married John Philip Harless in 1738, also in Offenbach, and immigrated with him to Pennsylvania that same year. They had seven children together. Margaret reportedly died in 1784 in Christiansburg, Montgomery, Virginia. She is interred in what is now called Harless Cemetery, in Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Virginia with her husband, their second oldest son, and that son’s wife.

Sources Cited

Find A Grave. (2006, May 9). John Phillip Harless, Sr. Retrieved from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14235076

Pritchard, J. L. R. (1962). Harless genealogy, John Philip and Anna Margaretha (Preiss) Harless: pioneers in western Virginia and some of their descendents (ebook.).

Anniversaries: Leonard Jackson Harless, My Husband’s Great-Great-Grandfather, Born On This Date In 1858

I am quite a bit jealous of my husband’s family history; three of his ancestral lines are already very well researched, documented, and certified by other genealogists (unlike my poor immigrant peasant lines). His Harless lineage is one such family line. There is even a published book on them, available on Ancestry.com, and for free through HathiTrust. His great-great-grandfather, Leonard Jackson Harless, belongs to this well documented Harless line.

Leonard Jackson Harless was supposedly born in the Nebraska Territory on May 20, 1858, to Miles (Myles) Washington Harless and Margaret Gann, while his parents were en route migrating to California from Missouri. Miles is our family’s connection to the famous Hatfields and McCoys.

This branch of the Harless family arrived in California later in 1858, settling first in San Joaquin County and Calaveras County, before moving to Mariposa County where Leonard Jackson spent the rest of his life. However, the rest of Leonard Jackson’s life is a subject for many more blog posts.

View Harless Family History in a larger map

Sources Cited:

Pritchard, J. Le Roy. (1962). Harless genealogy, John Philip and Anna Margaretha (Preiss) Harless: pioneers in western Virginia and some of their descendents. [2d ed.] Cupertino? Calif.].