Condolences!

John Hamilton Morgan granddaughters and great granddaughters recently lost one of their own.

The Morgan cousins paused here for a picture following a 2012 lunch.

L-R Flora Lee, Dawn, Peg, Claudia, Karen, Erma, Gail and Bessie.

Dawn Morgan Delvie, one of John Hamilton Morgan Jr. daughters, passed away September 15, 2016 in her home. She and her brother and sisters  lived with their grandmother Mellie Morgan in her Bryan Avenue home when they were children.

Grandma Emily Rufi Frazier (1886-1972)

Frank and Emily Frazier posed for this picture on their 

Woodruff, Utah ranch in about 1947

I recently received correspondence from another Stephen Vestal Frazier descendant. Allen Frazier, son of Dillan Frazier, first cousin to my father Glenn Frazier wrote me,

"We probably have met or at least been in the same room at one time or another.  I attended your grandfather's funeral and stayed in their  home several different times.  I do remember his singing as he went about doing his morning chores.  "I'm forever blowing bubbles," is one I remember.

"One time my parents and I  planned to sleep overnight before returning to Springville. My dad had told Emily he wanted to get away early if possible.  Sometime during the night my dad got up to go to the bathroom.  Apparently Emily thinking we were getting up jumped out of bed, fired up the kitchen stove, and began preparing  a wonderful breakfast.  My dad was too embarrassed to tell Emily why he got up and so we ate that wonderful breakfast and returned to Springville . . . at about 3:00 a.m. in the morning." 

Thank you, Allen, for sharing this heart warming account. 

Another family-icon-filled picture!

Helen Rex Frazier pictured some of her favorite things--family icons--in this snapshot.

Her youngest daughter, Susan, is modeling great great grandmother Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck's burgundy with black trim wrapper. Elizabeth's delicate lacy black shawl drapes from Susan's shoulders down to about knee height. She is also wearing Elizabeth's beautiful hand crafted black straw bonnet.

Susan is standing in  Glenn and Helen Rex Frazier's 1970's T.V. room at their 166 East Oakland Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah home.

The fancy side chair behind her to the left came from the Nicholas and Elizabeth Groesbeck home and was part of the family's 1860's dining room set.

The short wood turned lamp to Susan's right was made for Helen by her younger brother John Morgan  (1920-1941).

More familiar family icons!

Thanks to Glenn Frazier we have great pictures of favorite family icons!  This one is from Randolph, Utah and pictures numerous family vehicles parked next to Flora Rex Lamborn's home.

Glenn backed his truck in (ready to go again) next to Flora's car. His trailer is closest to the house, because he and Helen will spend the night in it. Flora's store truck, Randolph IGA, is parked in the back yard behind her house, and that is the steeple of the Randolph Church on Main Street behind them all.

Writing this short description helped me finally date the picture.  It would have been taken prior to 1982, the year Flora lost her sister Helen Rex Frazier and her husband, Richard Lamborn.

Memorial Day 2016!

It would have been hard to imagine then (picture from late 1970's) what feasting my eyes upon these familiar family icons would mean today.

Memorial Day is for remembering!

Glenn and Helen Rex Frazier's two-story green stucco home at 166 East Oakland Avenue, Salt Lake, Utah.

Susan Frazier's blue Volkswagon bug. The one she drove from Salt Lake to Washington DC when she moved there in September, 1983.

Glenn Frazier's green Chevy truck that served him so well for so long. Clear up to July 4, 1992.

Glenn and Helen's mobile home.

The quiet street our family lived on and all of the wonderful people who came and went from here.

Bessie Morgan's new hidden picture.

Cousin Claudia S. sent a copy of our GG Grandmother Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck's recently found and published journal to one of her cousins in the East. Soon thereafter she received from that distant cousin a package of wonderful old family pictures. Claudia was familiar with most of the pictures, but sent me this one because it was labeled "Bessie Morgan," and she thought I might know who else is in the picture.  I don't, but I can guess and suggest.

That is my grandmother Bessie Morgan seated on a stool to the right of the group which may include girl friends. The two girls look to me like they may be sisters. The longer I look at the picture, the more people appear. There is a boy in the tree and two more at Bessie's knee. And there is a child in the barn loft across the fence. 

My guess is that the picture was taken in her mother's back yard, but it could have been taken in anyone's backyard.  It does fit well on Bryan Avenue in my imaginings.

Bessie was the youngest daughter in her family, she had two younger brothers. This picture was probably taken between 1910 and her 1912 marriage and move to Randolph, Utah. She worked with her sister Gail at the telephone company as a secretary before her marriage. She and her girlfriends established their own literary society at her mother's Bryan Avenue home in 1910. 

The flowers against the fence are reminiscent of the flowers Grandma Bessie grew along her fences in Randolph, Utah. 

 Bessie when she was about 18 years old.

Updated record of John Morgan's missionary service.

Amy has used the church's new missionary database to update Great Grandfather John Morgan's missionary service here.

Thank you Amy for keeping us appraised of the new missionary database and updating John Morgan and the Southern States Missionary records. I appreciate your work and your example.

Fraziers in the Early Mormon Missionaries data base.

Ivy Mae Frazier White

Salt Lake City Cemetery

"Gone To Her Glorious Reward"

Amy at the Ancestor Files blog announced the new Early Mormon Missionaries data base here early in February. I decided to follow suite and began looking up my ancestors. The first family name I entered “Frazier” was most fruitful and dispelled a family MYTH.

Great Grandfather Stephen Vestal Frazier was the probate judge in Woodruff, Rich County, Utah from 1888 to 1893. He came through those years purportedly declaring that neither he nor any of his children would ever join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

His youngest son, Frank Union, my grandfather, honored his father’s wishes and did not join the Church during his lifetime. I was pleased to learn that three of Stephen Vestal’s  oldest grandchildren (he had fourteen children) served as early missionaries and are listed on the database.

1 – Ivy May Frazier, born July 12, 1897 to Walter J. and Fannie Rose Frazier served her mission to the Sandwich Islands from June 8, 1920 to August 18, 1921.

2 – Charles C. and Mary Ellen Frazier Dean sent two of their sons on missions. Charles Vestal, born March 23, 1884 in Woodruff, Utah served in Great Britain from May 29, 1906 to October 3, 1908. David Leroy was born February 4, 1889 in Woodruff also and served in the Western States in Colorado from June 18, 1912, to September 1, 1914.

Missionary Department missionary registers, 1850-1959, Vol. 3, p. 238, line 392.

Missionary Department missionary registers, 1860-1959, Vol, 4, p. 132, line 260.

Missionary Department missionary registers, 1860-1959, Vol. 5, p. 29, line 401.

1901 Death of Uncle Robert Marshall Hamilton.

John Morgan's Uncle Robert Marshall Hamilton was married to his father, Garrard Morgan's sister, Mary Morgan. John Morgan referred to him numerous times throughout his journal. These wonderful Greensburg, Indiana obituaries tell the stories of their lives. Robert Marshall is the youngest brother  to Cyrus, Thomas, and Eliza who's obituaries were posted here earlier. 

Death of R. M.Hamilton.

[August 30, 1901, Greensburg Standard]

Review of a Long Life, Exhibiting Many Noble Qualities.

Robert Marshall Hamilton, who died August 5, 1901, at the residence of his son-in-law, S. L. Jackson, three miles east of Greensburg, was born November 17, 1811, on McBride’s Creek, some three miles southwest of Carlisle, Nicholas county, Ky. His father, Robert Hamilton, died in 1817; and his mother, Mary Edward Hamilton, removed with seven of her eleven children to this county in October, 1823, and settled on the farm, where the deceased lived continuously from that time to his death. Two brothers and two married sisters preceded the rest of the family to the same neighborhood, and of the eleven, eight lived in this county to more than seventy-five, and five to more than eighty years of age. Upon the marriage of his older brother, Thomas, in 1826, Robert M. succeeded, at the age of fifteen, to the management of his mother’s farm. September 26, 1834, he was married to Miss Mary Morgan, who lived with her mother on the farm where the orphans’ home now stands. Of the six children born to them. Thomas W., Charles C., Mr. [sic. Mrs.] J. T. Rankin, and Mrs. S. L. Jackson are living.  Naracissa died in childhood, December 5, 1840, and Garrard in early manhood, December 13, 1882. Mrs. Hamilton died February 4, 1884, after a lingering illness.

As a farmer Mr. Hamilton was something of a marvel to two generations. Beginning in the era of low prices and costly transportation he acquired by unremitting industry and energy more than twelve hundred acres of land; and it was one of his rare qualities, that though he had never spared himself in its accumulation, he gave it all to his children long before his death. About the same time he gave $1,000 to the endowment fund of the Kingston church, a like amount to the endowment of a professorship in Hanover College, named at his request after his mother, and $700 to the Camp Nelson colored school in Kentucky and the same amount to Washington and Swift Memorial Colleges in Tennessee.

Unlike most men intensely devoted to business, Mr. Hamilton took a strong interest in many public questions. He was almost born an abolitionist. He used to say he would like to have voted for Henry Clay in 1840, but stayed away from the polls rather than vote for a slaveholder. In 1844 he voted for James G. Burney and acted thereafter with the Liberty and Free Soil parties until the disruption of existing parties in 1854. He was a zealous Republican until the great issues growing out of the war and slavery were settled. But the temperance question had also had his livelong sympathy, probably since the first total abstinence movement in this county in 1827. It is recalled that in the old days he chose to haul his wheat to Madison rather than to accept a higher price from the Lawrenceburg distilleries. Upon the formation of the Prohibition party he felt called upon to make a great sacrifice of party, neighborhood and family ties in obedience to his convictions. However we may differ as to the practical value of this step the spirit of self-sacrifice for a principle in which it was made was most admirable. It was affecting to note how this veteran of the anti-slavery struggle fortified himself with memories of that older warfare for what he believed to be a new crusade against as great a wrong and a more galling servitude. 

Mr. Hamilton had long outlived those of his own generation, only one sister, Mrs. Minerva Donnell, surviving him. He had grown very feeble physically the last few months of his life, though his mind remained unclouded to the last. As he had never spared himself in earlier life, so to the very end he used the failing remnant of his strength to the utmost, driving about alone when other men would have been in their beds. He attended the reception given to his past at Kingston only four days before his death. His last ailment was so slight that but little apprehension was felt, yet he sank gradually into unconsciousness. In the late afternoon of the third day he passed almost imperceptibly from the sleep of dreams into the sleep of death.

In accordance with his expressed wish the funeral services were held  the following afternoon at the Kingston church of which the deceased had been a life-long member, conducted by the pastor, Rev. C. R. Adams, and attended by a large circle of relatives and friends. And so passed to his rest one who had in his long life, exhibited some of the strongest and most admirable traits of character.

Uncle Tommy Hamilton -- Another Ripe Sheaf Gathered In.

Uncle Tommy appears to be the brother, Thomas, mentioned in these Hamilton obituaries. All of them older siblings to Robert Marshall Hamilton. 

Uncle Tommy Hamilton, so long of Kingston and Sandcreek church, took up his abode in that better country on last Wednesday evening. The time of his departure was at the setting of the sun, when the shades of evening were drawing their curtains closely down. It was a befitting time for a glorified spirit to be welcomed into that land of eternal day, that land we have so often heard him talk and pray about in bygone days. He was one of the purest of earth, and lived and died without an enemy. He lived his full four-score years, being 82 at the time of his death. He came to this country about the year 1825, was one of the founders, or charter members, of the Sandcreek (now Kingston) church, was ordained an elder in 1830, and remained in that position over 50 years, until the Master said “Come up higher,” We think we can see many of those of the old Sandcreek church, who have gone before, welcoming him on his arrival. Uncle Tommy was always a welcome visitor to their homes while here below, and we have no doubt they all hailed with delight his coming to dwell with them in that Heavenly home.

Miss Eliza Hamilton. "their history, so far as application to her sex, was her’s."

Thus a newspaper obituary writer determined Miss Eliza Hamilton's seventy-year life be summed up by reading her brothers' obituaries that had appeared there earlier. Her "died" notice was published February 16, 1900 in the Greensburg Standard, Indiana newspaper.

Miss Hamilton was sister to Cyrus and Thomas Hamilton, early prominent pioneers to Decatur County Indiana. I posted information about them in 2010. My ongoing investigation of the Hamilton/Morgan connection has been greatly helped by the obituary collection nicely indexed and available from the Greensburg, Decatur, Indiana County Library.  Thank you so very much to the folks at Gene Alogy! 

Obituary, Cyrus Hamilton, 

[August 27, 1879, Decatur News]

Cyrus Hamilton was born July 14, 1800, on McBride’s creek, in Burbon (now Nicholas) county, Kentucky; was married to Polly McCoy on the 22^nd of February, 1822, and with his wife and his brother James E. and family, left the home of his boyhood to find, and found a new one in the then unbroken wilds of this county. On the 11^th of March succeeding they arrived at the locality  since so well known as their hospitable homes, where both made a permanent settlement, and which has been their home ever since. In March of last year he was seized with disease of the kidneys and bladder, from which he was a terrible sufferer, with only fitful relief, until Tuesday last. (August 19^th) about 1 o’clock when death came to his relief. 

Of the many early settlers of this county few have been better known to their citizens—for more actively and [illegible]  connected with her moral and social development. A Christian man—one of the “Sandcreek” (Kingston) Presbyterian church; an ardent temperance man, and a radical abolitionist, from the very inception of those movements, he assisted in the organization of these societies throughout his section of the country, —addressing the people thereon wherever he could get listeners.Though not an orator—not so much as a ‘speaker’ —he was a fine talker, and never failed to interest those who would hear him—though often his remarks feel upon prejudicial ears and he had to wait long for the fruits of his sowing. Those ears, however, and he lived to rejoice in the end. 

Mr. Hamilton came of a long lived race. In the years 1822 and 23 his mother, widow with four sons and eleven daughters emigrated to this country; four were then married, the others single; all but one lived till just past middle age and four of the daughters—Mrs. Sally Donnel, Mrs.Minera Donnell, Mrs. Jane Lowe and Miss Eliza Hamilton—and three of the sons James E., Thomas and R. M., are still living. Mother Hamilton lived to up in the seventies and the two sisters and a brother who settled here lived to a still greater age. Cyrus was the father of six children and about twenty five grandchildren, and he was the first death in his own or his children’s families. 

 For forty-seven years and seven months lacking three days, “Uncle Cyrus and Aunt Polly” had traveled the path way of life together, whether sharring its joys, together buffeting its misfortunes. He has been called home, she, bowed by age and disease, can tarry but a short while ere the winged messenger shall call for her. Funeral services were held at Kingston on Wednesday afternoon, and attended by a large concourse of relatives and personal friends of the deceased; sermon by the pastor, A. T. Rankin. —Standard.

These Hamiltons are family to Garrard Morgan's sister Mary "Polly" Morgan who married R. M. [Robert Marshall] Hamilton mentioned above. 

My own great great grandmother Eliza Ann Hamilton Morgan, married to Garrard Morgan, doesn't yet appear to be connected to these Hamiltons. Both groups immigrated to Indiana from Nicholas County, Kentucky. Eliza Ann is the daughter of James Hamilton, who is the son of John Hamilton. 

Thus far I haven't found any Roberts mentioned  in that family ancestry. Decatur County, Indiana information about Robert Marshall Hamilton, indicates he descended from a line of Roberts.

Hmmm!  Much still to do.

Now Available! Needle and Thread; a Life Story of Helen Melvina (Mellie) Groesbeck (1852-1930)

Our book of Great Grandmother Helen Melvina "Mellie" Groesbeck Morgan is finally printed and available. What a wonderful journey cousin Karen and I have shared—gathering, collaborating, sorting, compiling, and writing her life story.

When we candidly declared several years ago that "we would write our grandmother's history" we had little knowledge of what that would entail. Now knowing, we have produced a 172 page history comprised of text, articles, clippings, letters, poems and pictures of her exemplary life—one well lived.

Let me know in the comment field below if you would like to purchase a copy of the book for $35.

“Here lies a Christian wife, a Christian mother and a Christian neighbor.”

Mary Morgan Hamilton (sister to Garrard Morgan 1806 - ? ) is grandmother to  Mary and Walter Rankin.

OBITUARY 

[ February 8, 1884, Greensburg Standard]

Mrs. Mary [Morgan] Hamilton:

Mary Hamilton, wife of Robert Marshall Hamilton, died at 4:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon last, at the family residence four miles northeast of this city, after an illness of over three years of consumption, in the 72^nd year of her age. Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Monday at the residence, conducted by Rev. A. T. Rankin, after which her remains were laid to rest in the Hamilton burying grounds in the Kingston cemetery.

“Aunt Polly” was a sister to the late Captain James and Gerrard Morgan, two well known and popular citizens of this county in former years. She was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, and with her widowed mother, Mrs. Sarah Morgan, and three brothers and a sister, emigrated to this county in 1823. They settled on the east part of the farm now owned by R. R. Cobb, one mile east of this city, which remained the family home until after the marriage of all the children and the decease of the mother.

At this backwoods home, on the 25^th day of Sept., 1834, Robert M. Hamilton and Mary Morgan were united in marriage, and at once made their residence on the farm that until death thus separated them has been their pleasant and happy home. Here were born to them six children, one of whom died in childhood, another about a year ago in his young manhood, while the other four reside in the neighborhood—all of them respected members of society.

In her early youth  [while growing up in Kentucky] “Aunt Polly” made profession of her faith in Christ and connected with the Christian church. Sometime after her marriage [in Greensburg, Indiana] she transferred her membership to the Sandcreek (new Kingston) Presbyterian church, in which communion she continued until her decease, bearing witness through her long life to that Faith that sustained her to her long afflictions and was her comfort in her hour of dissolution.

Let her epitaph be written. "Here lies a Christian wife, a Christian mother and a Christian neighbor." O.T. (February 8, 1884 Greensburg Standard)

Hamilton - Morgan connection. Miss Mary Rankin, Walter's sister.

In my attempt to "figure out" our Hamilton - Morgan family connections I've read through a great many Decatur, Indiana county obituaries. 

Some of them call out to being shared. (Continued from here.)

Rites Set for Ex-Resident

Miss Mary Rankin [died 10-26-1973] To Be Buried Here

Graveside rites for Miss Mary Rankin, 89, who died at 12:15 p.m. Thursday in the Methodist Memorial Home at Warren after a brief illness, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Kingston Cemetery. The Rev. Herbert Townsend Jr., pastor of the Kingston United Presbyterian Church will conduct the services. The body has been cremated.

Since July, 1850 Miss Rankin had been a guest at the home at Warren.

A descendant of pioneer families of Decatur County, Miss Rankin made her last visit here at the time of the annual Donnell-Hamilton-McCoy reunion on Aug. 5.

For over a half century, Miss Rankin was preminently identified with church, health ahd club activities in this community.

Born on May 16, 1884 on the family farm at McCoy’s Station east of Greensburg, Miss Rankin was the daughter of John T. and Sarah Hamilton Rankin. In disposing of the bulk of her acreage in Dec. 1950, Miss Rankin terminated a farm relationship with the John Menkhaus family covering 45 years.

Her father died on Dec. 28 1914. At the time of death on Nov. 2 1942 her mother, Mrs. Sarah Hamilton Rankin, then 97, was the oldest resident of Decatur County.

Miss Rankin was a granddaughter of the Rev. John T. Rankin who was a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War. The former residence of the Rev. Rankin a Ripley, Ohio, has been preserved as a historic home.

After attending the McCoy Grade School and Greensburg High School, Miss Rankin completed her high school education at Western College for Women, Oxford, Ohio.

Subsequently, she enrolled at Oberlin College t Oberlin, Ohio from which she was awarded an A.B. degree in 1906 and a M.A. degree later. She was listed as the oldest graduate of Oberlin College.

The oldest member of the Kingston United Presbyterian Church, Miss Rankin was active in church assignments throughout her life. She served as president of the Whitewater Presbyterial Society and engaged in women’s activities of the Kingston Church.

From 1928 to 1939, Miss Rankin was the executive secretary of the Decatur County Tuberculosis Association. During this period the county association gained citations from the state association: for several successive years. She was a former secretary of the T. B. Secretaries’ Association of Indiana and held membership on the board of directors of the Indiana Tuberculosis Association. Her experience in the health field was recognized as an assignment as

Rites Set (continued from page one)

A case worker in Boone County.

One of the organizers of the Greensburg Department Club, Miss Rankin was a former president. She also served as president of the Progress Club in the Kingston Community, the Greensburg Business and professional Women’s Club and the Greensburg Music Club. She was a mbmer of the Giv-Un-Take Garden Club for an extended period.

As a world traveler, she has visited Australia, new Zealand, Alaska, The Holy Land, Italy, Germany and Central America. In addition she had traveled in every state in the United States, relating her experiences in travel to numerous groups.

During and after World War II, she was director for Decatur County of women’s work in the civil defense program.

Surviving Miss Rankin are a number of cousins.

from - Greensburg Daily News, Decatur, Indiana Library, Obituaries. Thank you very much! http://www.greensburglibrary.org/library-services/local-history-and-genealogy/obituaries-2

Mary Rankin and her brother Walter.

Garrard Morgan's sister Mary "Polly" Morgan was married on September 26, 1834 to Robert Marshall Hamilton in Greensburg, Indiana. They were married in the home they would live their lives out together in. Their daughter Sarah Morgan Hamilton married John T. Rankin and they had one daughter Mary. 

Six years ago I asked the question, what happened to Mary Morgan Hamilton's granddaughter (Mary Rankin) who appeared to be named Mary for her grandmother?  

According to the Social Security Index Mary lived from May 16, 1884 until October 1973, and died at the age of 89.

Mary was her mother Sarah’s only living child in the 1900 census. Sarah claimed she had four children and sixteen-year-old Mary was then her only living child. Census numbers evidence such sadness.  

May 6, 1890

Walter, son of John T. and Sarah Rankin, died Tuesday, May 6, 1890, in the 9^th year of his age, of diphtheria, and was buried at Kingston Wednesday morning. He was a promising boy, and his parents feel deeply their loss. It seemed specially sad that, the disease being contagious, so few of their many friends could attend the funeral. Their beautiful home at McCoy seemed darkened by the angel of death. But the parents have the Christian hope of meeting the loved one in the beautiful world. He will be missed by his Sabbath school teacher and from his place in the church at Kingston, of which he was a baptized member. Services at the house and grave were conducted by his uncle, Rev. A. T. Rankin, and the body put to rest in his grandfather’s, R. M. Hamilton, beautiful lot in the cemetery. His sister, younger than he, has recovered from the same. It is hoped there may be no other cases.   From The Saturday Review.