Mary Yeula Wescott

In this 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge, Close to Home, I wrote about Mary Yeula Wescott, my great-grandaunt. She was born on 27 December 1889 at Poyner’s Hill in Currituck, North Carolina, where her father, John Thomas Wescott, was the keeper of the Poyner’s Hill Life-Saving station. She was the third of six children born to John and a year younger than my great-grandfather, Albert.

At a very young age, Mary loved to read and write. She was first published at the age of 12 when she decided to enter a writing contest for the St. Nicholas Magazine: An Illustrated Book For Young Folks by Mary Mapes Dodge. The following was published in January 1903:

Poplar Branch, N.C.

Dear St. Nicholas: I am a little girl twelve years old, and I live on one of the sand-bars of North Carolina, five miles from the mainland. The nearest store and post-office is five miles away. My papa is the captain of the Poyners Hill Life-saving Station. We are bounded on the north and south by sand-hills, on the east by the ocean, and on the west by the Currituck Sound. The land near and on which the station is situated belongs to the Currituck Shooting Club, the club-house is the nearest one to us except the station. The club does not allow any of the station men except papa to build on the beach. We live only a few steps from the station and a little further from the sea, while the club-house is on the other side of the beach. So you see, we have it lonely here sometimes. Inclosed [sic] find my contribution which I hope is worthy of a prize.

Yours truly,

Mary Yeula Wescott

(age 12)

The poem she enclosed won her a silver badge.

FORGIVING

BY MARY YEULA WESCOTT

(Silver Badge)

My little friend Annie

Came over to play.

We stayed in the house,

As ‘t was stormy that day.

She had her doll, Susan,

And mine was named Jane ;

We dressed and undressed them

Again and again.

We made them fine bonnets

For each little head.

They wore them to parties,

Then came home to bed.

Ann stepped on my finger,

And said she was glad.

I got up and slapped her,

She ‘d made me so mad.

Then I knocked Susan’s head off,

And Annie broke Jane.

We cried, and we quarreled

Again and again.

Then I said I was sorry,

As much as could be;

So I forgave Annie,

And she forgave me.

Mary continued to send in poems and articles, as did her brother, Albert, and her sister, Laura. However, Mary continued to write to them until at least the age of 17.

My Dear St. Nicholas League: I am sending to you today my verses for the September competition, and I am so sorry to remember that I have but three more. Does everyone get old so dreadfully fast?

Your subject appealed to me this month, for I have several relatives including my father, who are members of the Life Saving Service to which I have a reference in the poem. This small band extends along the coast of the United States and guards its coast from the ravages of the storm. They maintain a constant watch along the shore and at the appearance of a distressed vessel launch their frail boats and, pitting their strength against the force of the waves, give aid to the distressed seamen. When the sea is so high that launching a boat from the shore is impossible, the beach apparatus is used and the sailors are brought from the vessel by means of a ” breeches-buoy,” which is drawn shoreward over a cable that has been shot across the vessel from the shore and fastened to the mast of the distressed vessel.

On our part of the coast, storms are numerous, and a rescue of this kind is a frequent occurrence.

I thank you so much for the encouragement you have given me in my endeavors to win that coveted cash prize.

But whether I succeed or not, I shall ever remember with gratitude the pleasure and benefit I have derived from your interesting work. Long life to you, my dear St. Nicholas League, and best wishes from your devoted League member, Mary Yeula Wescott (age 17).

It must have been this magazine that sparked her love of books.

Mary went to school in Durham and graduated from Trinity College (now Duke University) in 1914 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Magna cum laude. She taught Latin in local schools and went back to Trinity. In 1920, she took a leave of absence to attend and then graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from the Simmons College of Library Science in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1924, where she also worked in a government position while attending school. Mary returned to Trinity College, her alma mater, to work at Trinity College Library (now Duke University Library).

About 1932, Professor William K. Boyd organized the work of the Newspaper Department and placed Miss Allene Ramage in charge of it. Miss Ramage, aided by Miss Mary Wescott and Miss Eva E. Malone, prepared a checklist of these papers under the title Bibliographical Contributions of the Duke University Libraries: a Checklist of United States Newspapers. This publication has been of value to many librarians and scholars throughout the United States.

Part I: Alabama––Georgia

Part II: Idaho––Massachusetts

Part III: Michigan––New York

Part IV: North Carolina

Part V: North Dakota––Vermont

Part VI: Virginia––Wyoming

~LIBRARY NOTES -A BULLETIN ISSUED FOR

The Friends of Duke University Library April 1953; Number 27

She worked there until she retired in December 1954 as Head of the Catalogue Department. A dinner was given in her honor on 14 December 1954. Among the special guests was Lawrence Quincy Mumford, Librarian of Congress. Mr. Mumford, who had known Miss Wescott since his student days, summarized well her contribution to college and university when he spoke of her retirement as the termination of “a valuable career in librarianship.”

~LIBRARY NOTES -A BULLETIN ISSUED FOR

The Friends of Duke University Library April 1953; Number 27

“Pride in her profession, friendliness, compassion, and a delightful sense of humor — these were the characteristics that made Mary Wescott deeply loved as well as highly respected. Exactly what her personal philosophy was, one would not presume to say. One feels though that possibly she expressed it in the last stanza of a poem she wrote long ago — “The Dream of the Sea.”

O my Heart keep young, we would cross that main

With its raging tide;

We would enter those fields of glad abode

On the other side —

And we, how we long for the mighty strife

And the waves’ wild sweep —

To battle our way to the rich reward

And then to sleep! “

Seven months after Mary retired, she died in her sleep. She never married.

By the way, I have never been able to determine where the name Yeula came from. The closest I found was that it could be an Indian word meaning Upward slope. Fitting for a woman who never stopped climbing.

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Finding Abigail… Part 1 (Logan Family)

If you have read my other blogs, specifically “My Journey of Journeys,” you’ll remember I started researching my father’s side in the 1990s. I had started with the direct male line and then a few years later started with the wives, my grandmothers.

In 2010, I met up with a couple of others who were researching the Logans. One, in particular, was a retired Air Force Colonel living in Texas. He had an extensive tree on the Logans, and we emailed back and forth for at least three years. He is my 4th cousin, 1x removed.

Because I was still a rookie, I took what information he had on blind faith and plugged all the information into my tree. Not that his information was wrong, but I failed to verify for myself. Furthermore, I failed to get his sources. So, I have these people in my tree that I do not have verified documentation for.

One such person is Abigail Soper. Oh, I know her name is Abigail, as documentation from her children’s records lists their mother. What I do not have is her maiden name. I decided to try to verify her family once and for all, nine years later. With all the digitizing and new genealogical information, I thought for sure it would be an easier task now. I was wrong.

In November, I started writing historical societies and county clerks in the vicinity of Connecticut and Vermont. The information from my 4th cousin had Abigail being born in Connecticut but marrying Daniel Logan in Vermont around 1780. No cities mentioned. They could find no mention of Sopers or even Logans for that matter.

The town historian for Bennington, Vermont, however, was very helpful. She went over and beyond in trying to help me. She explained that the Logan name was not common in Bennington, but offered other historians who may assist me. One is in the town listed on an ancestor’s death certificate, Middlebury. Another is in the border town where my ancestor was married, Warsaw, New York.

The other Logans in this family were just as confusing as some documentation showed their sons born in New York, and some showed Vermont. I was perplexed. On a website called Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, I contacted a gentleman who specialized in that area. He wrote me back immediately! And he had some excellent information.

I did not follow my own advice in studying the area of the time. This gentleman gave me the history of my ancestors’ time, and it makes perfect sense on how and why the documentation seems to be conflicting. Here is what he said, in his own words:

The period in history that is involved here is a tough one for research in Vermont. Initially, the area, including Vermont, was under French control. After the battle on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec [ending the French and Indian wars], the area became part of the English holdings. Both the colonies of New York and New Hampshire claimed all or part of the land between them.

While they were still arguing, the War of Independence broke out in 1776. In 1777, the residents of the land area between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River declared themselves an independent republic. This lasted until 1791 when Vermont was admitted as the 14th state. All record-keeping was done at the office of the town clerk. It still is. The recording of births, marriages, and deaths varied from town to town and really was not codified until around 1865. Copies of the various records were not collected at a central archive until around 1911.

He later wrote: I have done some looking and have found at least one extended family of Sopers from the mid-18th century in the towns of Dorset and Manchester in Bennington County. Your Abigail creates a bit of a problem. Remember the brief history lesson I gave you?

In 1765 the French and Indian Wars had only ended two years previous. This means that England had new land it needed to quantify. The colonies of New York and New Hampshire felt that each of their grants gave them most or all of this former French territory as part of their landholdings. Each colony sent surveyors in to lay out grants. An early Vermont land speculator, Ethan Allen and his brother Ira preferred to deal with the governor of New Hampshire. So they formed The Green Mountain Boys, an ad hoc group of vigilantes whose mission was to force the New York surveyors and tax collectors out in favor of New Hampshire.

There is some argument as to how successful they may have been. History remembers this group in regard to their taking over Ft Ticonderoga in NY. The point in this is that in 1765 those towns were most likely considered part of NY as Vermont, per se, did not exist at that time.

Middlebury, Vermont, is a bit north in Addison County, also on the west side of the Green Mountains, and also was most likely considered part of NY before 1777. I will see if I can find anything that connects Abigail to this family in Dorset and Manchester. You might see if you can get the contact information for the town’s historical society in Dorset and Manchester, Vermont. Every town has a historical society, and some are more active than others.

Ethan and Ira Allen had shaped history — and had almost shaped it differently.

So, as you can see, it was very convoluted at the time my ancestors were in that area. Trying to find documents in the 1700s is hard enough, even harder when the borders and politics changed so much.

1780 Map of New England-
Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA dcu

I now have three things on my to-do list concerning Abigail.

1) Contact the county historian in Middlebury, NY, to see if he has any information on this Logan family.

2) Contact the historical societies in Dorset and Manchester, Vermont, to see if they have any information on the Soper family and, possibly, Logan.

3) See if I can contact my Colonel cousin to find out his sources.

Look at me, learning from my mistakes and continuing on. 😉

Wish me luck! I will keep you updated on my search for Abigail.

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Do You Know Your Immigrant Ancestor?

It has been a while since I have written, and I have missed it dearly. I hope that it will not be so long between blogs going forward. I am shocked at how many people have read my blog in my absence. I originally started it for my family to see their ancestors in story form; little did I know I would be helping people all over the world with their own ancestors. This puts a smile on my heart.

I have been watching “Finding Your Roots,” and in the one called “Mystery Men” Season 5, Episode 2, one of the guests is #Felicity Huffman. As they traced her line, the names started becoming more familiar. I pulled up my #Ancestry app; sure enough, her 9th great-grandfather is my 10th great-grandfather.

Sometime after that, someone commented on my blog about this ancestor, William Hickox. We share this 9th great-grandfather, our immigrant ancestor! She plugged me in her tree, which makes us 10th cousins 1x removed!! 10th! Now that is pretty awesome!

So, that got me thinking, who are all my immigrant ancestors? Have I traced them all? Let’s see.

Well, as always, let me start with the Logan clan.

John Loggan, Sr. (1699-1777)- Arrival 1717 to Boston from Scotland (maybe through Ireland)

John Rowan (1760-1843) – Immigrated in 1791 to Pennsylvania from Ireland (immigrated with his wife, Laetitia Porterfield (1765-1831)

Robert Stitt (abt. 1774) and Margaret Appleby (abt. 1759) to Pennsylvania from Ireland (more research needed on this line)

James Galbraith (1666-1744) to Pennsylvania from Ireland

John Lane (Johannes Lehn) (1655-1754) to Pennsylvania from Germany

John Kunkle (Johannes Gunkel) (1722-1795) to Pennsylvania from Germany, immigrated with his wife, Anna Margarethe Lorentz (1729-1785)

Johann Adam Schäffer (Schaeffer) (1709-1767) to Pennsylvania from Germany, immigrated with his wife, Elizabeth Bauer (1711-1777)

Christoph Heydrich (1704-1781) to Pennsylvania from Germany, immigrated with his wife, Magdalena Sontag (1715-1763)

Johann Michael Köppel (Kepple) (1697-1764) to Pennsylvania from France, immigrated with his wife, Anna Elizabeth Benzin (1707-1750)

(above’s son) Johann Nickel Köppel (John Nicholas Kepple) (1724-1804) to Pennsylvania from Germany and immigrated with his wife, Anna Maria Willems (Williams) (abt. 1736-1821)

Conrad Haag (Hawk) (1741-1833) to Pennsylvania from Germany

Michael Schlonecker, Sr. (abt. 1696-1769) to Pennsylvania from Germany

Johann Henrich Heilig (1700-1775) to Pennsylvania from Germany

(the above wife’s father) Nicholas Rittenhuijsen (Rittenhouse) (1666-1734) to Pennsylvania from Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Hans De Neus (abt. 1716-1736) to Pennsylvania from Germany

(above’s wife) Jenneken Blomen (abt. 1717-1762) to Pennsylvania from Holland (married Hans in Holland)

Michael Kocher (1730-1808) to Pennsylvania from Germany

William Wescoat (Wescott) (abt. 1641-1683) to from England to Virginia

Nicholas Granger (1604-1652) to Virginia from England

Richard Davenport, Sr. (1642-1714) to North Carolina from England

John Coker (1641-1720) to Virginia from England

Anne Barham (1625-1682) to Virginia from England

Charles William Davis (1781-1855) to Virginia from England

Matijas Stefanc (Mathias Stephanz) (1867-1936) to Kansas from Stari Trg ob Kolpi, Črnomelj, Austria, immigrated with his wife, Marija Švegelj (Mary Swegel) (1867-1942)

Johann Leopold Schwitkowski (Hennig) (1865-1933) to Wisconsin from Germany

(father of the above’s wife), Johann P. Reikowski (1844-1932) to Wisconsin from Poland

Well, this certainly proves that not only am I a mutt from hardy stock, but I am not finished researching my immigrant ancestors; the hunt continues. This also shows you can find your immigrant ancestor as far back as 350 years or as close as 150 years ago. It’s amazing how all these people somehow found each other to produce me!

I have come a long way since 1993 when I started tracing my Dad’s roots. It actually started in 1985 or so, but with the help of the internet in the 1990s, I started really started to dig. So, when you hit a brick wall and get discouraged, look back at how far you’ve come.

Click Below To Start Your Ancestry

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Exploring the Family History of John Logan, Jr.: Sons, Daughters, Brothers, and Soldiers

5th Great Grandfather- our immigrant’s son

John Loggan and his twin brother James were born in Voluntown, Connecticut, on 30 June 1731. Their father, John, was 32, and their mother, Margaret, was 28.

James stayed in Connecticut and served in the Revolutionary War.

John’s brother Hugh was born in Voluntown, Connecticut, on September 14, 1736, when John was 5 years old. Hugh passed away on September 15, 1755, in Washington, Connecticut, when John was 24 and Hugh was 19.

His sister Mary died on March 27, 1739, at the age of 14, when John was 7 years old, in Voluntown, Connecticut.

John’s brothers Robert and Samuel were born in Plainfield, Connecticut, on July 12, 1739, when John was 8 years old. Robert fought in the French and Indian War, and Samuel fought in the Civil War.

His brother Mathew was born in Washington, Connecticut, on December 15, 1742, when John was 11 years old. Mathew fought in the Revolutionary War.

John married Azubah Royce in Madison, Connecticut, on 15 November 1753, when he was 22. Azubah’s father, John Royce, was married to John’s father’s second wife, Dorcas. John Royce was Dorcas’ first husband and my sixth great-grandfather.

John had a daughter named Mary, born in 1754 in Woodbury. He also had a son named Daniel, born in 1762 in Woodbury. Another daughter, Rhoda, was born in 1767 in Woodbury but passed away at age nine. John’s mother Margaret died in 1770 in Washington when she was 67. John also had daughters named Anna and Elizabeth. Anna was born in 1770 in Woodbury, and Elizabeth was born around 1773 in Rupert, Vermont.

- John Jr. was living in the 13 colonies at one of the most important turning points in American history—the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
  
  Death of Daughter
  
  John Jr. lived in Voluntown, Connecticut, during the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. During this same year, John’s nine-year-old daughter, Rhoda, was accidentally shot by her brother while he was playing with a gun in the yard, saying he was going to shoot Tories. Rhoda had teased her brother about his ability to shoot and told him to shoot her if he could. Tragically, she was killed.
  
  The 1777 Battle of Ridgefield was fought in the state of Connecticut, where John Logan Jr. was living at the time. His father died later that year, on 2 December 1777, in Washington, Connecticut, at the age of 78.
  
  During the Revolutionary War, James served in Connecticut.
  
  John Logan Jr. also lived in Vermont when it became the 14th state on 4 March 1791. After the Revolutionary War, the second “g” was dropped from our last name, and, from what I’ve discovered so far, it has been spelled “Logan” ever since.
- His wife Azubah died on 27 August 1796, at the age of 59, in Rupert, Vermont. They had been married for 42 years.
- John died on 17 September 1809 in Rupert, Vermont, at the age of 78.
  
  Vermont, Vital Records, 1720-1908