Monday, August 17, 2015

Marriage Record: Robert F. Gilliland to Mary Davis, Owen County, Indiana, 1884

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XXFV-S4Q : accessed 15 August 2015), Robert Gilliland and Mary Davis, 15 Nov 1884; citing Owen, Indiana, United States, county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm .
Located the marriage record of my maternal 3rd-great grandmother, Mary Ellen (Swafford) Davis to her second husband, Robert F. Gilliland in Owen County, Indiana while searching at FamilySearch.  Prior to this find, I had thought they were married in neighboring Monroe County.

Mary was the daughter of Peter Kirkpatrick and Mary Ann (Crockett) Swafford.  Robert was the son of William John and Margaret Ann (Wilson) Gilliland.  Both had been previously married.  Robert was previously married to Sarah Kellar in 1879 in Monroe County, Indiana.  Mary was previously married to James Austin Davis in 1873 in Monroe County, Indiana.  Both of these earlier marriages ended in divorce, though I've not yet discovered the records.

I'm not aware of any children that Robert had with Sarah Kellar, but Mary and James Austin Davis had two daughters, Ida (b. 1874) and Delia (b.1877).  Together, Robert and Mary had two children, William Everett Gillilland (b. 1885) and Mary Florence Gilliland (b. 1887).

Later, Robert and Mary helped raise the orphaned daughters of Ida, Pansy and June (my great-grandmother).


Saturday, August 15, 2015

Surname Saturday : Cheney

The CHENEY surname is in my maternal line.  The origins of the surname are English.  I have not yet made a connection to my other Cheney lines, and much more research is needed.

Ahnentafel # 1529 : Mary Cheney (1671-    ).  Mary was born September 2, 1671.  She married Francis Worcester (   -1717). Francis birth date is unknown at this time.  They lived in Essex County, Massachusetts.  Francis died December 17, 1717.  Mary's death date is unknown.

Ahnentafel # 3058 : Peter Cheney (c1639-   ).  Peter was born circa 1639 in Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts.  He married Hannah Noyes.  Nothing further is known at this point.

Ahnentafel # 6116 : John Cheney (   -1666).  John married Martha ______. John died July 28, 1666.  Nothing further known.

Surname Saturday – create a post in which you discuss a surname and mention its origins, its geographical location(s) and how it fits into your genealogy research. Surname Saturday is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Old Cousin Bait is Still Cousin Bait

You never know when "cousin bait" might be effective.  This week I received an email from a fellow Groendyke/Groenendyke researcher that stated the following:


I saw an old sept 15 1998 RootsWeb request from yourself for descendants of James Groenendyke and Barbara Buck . I will not go much further as this was an old request and I do not know if you are still out there.
I'm so glad that I posted to RootsWeb back in 1998 and also glad that this cousin had the persistence to find me and reach out.  Now that we have each other's email addresses, we can begin to share information.

This is a family line that I'm not aware of many others researching, so I'm hopeful that we can expand on each other's research.

Old cousin bait never gets stale, it's like a fine wine, better with age!