#33 Long Line of Pedigree Collapse - Long Island Quakers

Long Island Quakers and Pedigree Collapse

Part 1

My great grandmother was born in Westbury, Nassau County, NY. Her father was William E Hawxhurst (May 1838 -Feb 1908) farmer and surveyor, son of Ephraim Cock Hawxhurst (1793-1859) and Charity Titus (1802-1877) 

Wm E Hawxhurst

Her mother was Marianna Hicks, daughter of Isaac Hicks (Aug 1815-Mar 1900) and Mary Fry Willis (Jan 1817-Feb 1898).
Both families descended, without straying, from the longest line of Quakers who settled Long Island. [In case your wondering, Marianna’s grandfather, Isaac Hicks, helped fund a cousin, Elias Hicks, in his ministry as a Public Friend early in the 1800s]

Marianna (Hicks) Hawxhurst

A Long Line.
~Imagine you were born and raised on an island with a tiny population.  

~ Imagine that for religious reasons you married only people in your religion & you were prohibited you from marrying outside your religion.  

~ Imagine moving this island, with acres and acres of rich farm land, surrounded by wonderful fishing opportunities, so it adjoins the most powerful & prosperous city of the Western Hemisphere.

This explains who these Ancestral Long Island Quakers were.

How Did They Preserve Community?

My Long Island Quakers married safe people, most often collateral cousins (cousins of cousins).

Their repeated and extensive remarrying in a small geographic area led a LONG LINE of “pedigree collapse.” 

When researching when I need to add (yet another) “Titus” or “Hicks” or “Willis” always I pray for dates and /or parents’ names to get the right person.

Here are the last names of my ancestors going back to the earliest English settlers on Long Island which appear in this (largely) Quaker family tree:

Hicks, Willis, Fry, Rushmore, Doughty, Powell, Kirby, Allen, Alsop, Birdsall, Bowne, Washburn, Carman, Carpenter, Cock(e), Cole(s), Cornell, Doughty, Eme/ory, Feeke (Feake), Haight, Hallet, Hauxhurst (Hawxhurst), Hallowell, Loines, Jackson, Moore, Mott, Noble, Oakley, Pearsall, Powell, Reddock, Rodman, Rushmore, Seaman, Seaman, Sering, Smith, [Spicer, Tilton], Titus, Townsend, Underhill, Valentine, Williams, Willet, Willets, Wood, Wright

When I see historical document on Long Island from 1850 or earlier, I can bet my mother’s family has a common ancestor. The difficulty is making the right attribution (which Thomas Powell was this?) 

Part 2

I cannot get away from the long arms of the Long Island Quakers. 

Case in point: Spicer & Tilton.

These names appear in my mother’s FATHER’s lineage. I used to consider them the “Pennsylvania” group. I was wrong. Just a tiny bit of digging and I found out that they came from New Jersey, moving to PA after the Civil War. Oops.

SPICER TILTON

My mother’s father’s family was mostly from New Jersey. But—New Jersey isn’t far from Long Island. It’s here where we reconnect the two ends of my mother’s family.

--Spicer and Tilton began on Long Island

Susannah Spicer was the daughter of Thomas Spicer. 

She was born in Long Island (Flushing), and married Henry Brazier. Susannah (Spicer) Brazier and Henry Brazier remained on Long Island.

Their daughter, Rebecca Brazier, married Peter Tilton (son of John Tilton and Mary Pearsall—there is another Ancient Name of Long Island).

--Brazier-Tilton Move

Rebecca (Brazier) Tilton and Peter Tilton moved to Monmouth, New Jersey. (They were still Quakers).

--Tiltons in New Jersey; and back again.

This Tilton line remained in the New Jersey area (and remained Quaker) at least until 

William Henry Tilton (B. 9 May 1820 Monmouth Co, NJ) and his wife Sarah A Conover (B 12 Aug 1831 of Monmouth Co NJ; D. 5 Jul 1895 in Brooklyn, NY).

They moved to Brooklyn, sometime before 1850 (US Fed. Census).

--Off to Pennsylvania

From mid-1800s the Tiltons lived in Brooklyn, then Henry Addison Tilton and his wife and family moved to Pittsburgh PA.  Since then the Tilton family claimed Pennsylvania as their own. 

--Ultimate Irony

It was ironic for me that I should find out that the Tiltons of Pennsylvania had first settled down in the New World on Long Island, NY.

My mother’s father (Chas Tilton) died in 1987 and was not a Quaker.  Might he be shocked to find out he and his wife had this in common: Long Island, NY and Quakerism?

#32 So Many Favorite Photos!

A Favorite Photo!?

That my great-great grandfather was one of the few photographers of Gettysburg (he & his brother Isaac had a photo studio there), would, seemingly make this an easy choice for me. I'd put in a famous photo such as this (NARA and the Met have some of his) which was taken as the crowd gathered on that day to commemorate the Battle at Gettysburg and Lincoln delivered the "Gettysburg Address"

At Lincoln's Gettysburg Address ~ Chas & Isaac Tyson (Nov 1863)
~ MB Walmer Collection

 

Or, maybe one of his son, Chester J Tyson, with several US Presidents in Washington DC. Gathered as part of a group spearheading food aid to starving communities in post-World War 1 Europe?

Taft, Wilson, Hoover, etc, Chester Tyson (2nd frm R) in Washington DC post WW 1 ~ MB Walmer Collection

 

 

Or, this  AMAZING shot from 1869 of the Westbury Friends (NY) outside their Meeting House. I have the key & the names of each person.
The man on the far left is my maternal great-great grandfather, William E Hawxhurst.

1869 Westbury (NY) Friends Meeting - some members. WE Hawxhurst,far left. ~ AC Johnson Collection

 

#31- Schooling and Quakers - Scholarships and College

Higher education (a BA or BS degree and above) for most of the history of the United States has been reachable to only a few: the determined, qualified and monied (or, more recently, those who qualify for student loans).

US colleges initially begun for training ministers in denominations set up the seminary for this purpose, and then they became more broadly defined.

SCHOOLING AND QUAKERS
 
My earliest ancestors were either Quakers or of a denomination which did not have a seminary. The Quakers taught their children (of their community) the basics: reading, writing and ciphering (basic arithmetic). Their incentive was to keep careful records of their "Meetings" (worship centers as they called their churches) as well as committee meetings and monthly and yearly meetings for business (which included aspects of approval and disapproval).

For this reason as well as their belief that men and women are equal, they instructed both girls and boys in the basics.

SCHOLARSHIPS
Generational generosity is so valuable. That's one reason I'm motivated to write personal history: it's generational (me) generosity.

My mother's father Charles B Tilton went to Penn State (State College, PA) on an academic scholarship. He wanted to do horticulture but the scholarship was for dairy farm management. He took it.

He met his wife (my grandmother) there. Her father had close connections with the college through his efforts in setting up all sorts of special programs dealing with fruit growing and transportation.

My grandmother Elizabeth C Tyson was attending college because Quakers believed in schooling for women (this was in the early 1920s) and her father got a break, or a scholarship, I cannot figure out which.

Their daughter, my mother, went to Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island on a scholarship. She loved the fine arts, but was offered a scholarship in textile design. She took it.

My mother met my father in Providence on a blind date. His parents had gone only through grammar school (about 8th grade, but probably more like a 6th grade education because the schools were poor inner city schools).

My father was able to go to college because he qualified for a US Navy scholarship. When they provided the list of colleges he could chose from, he selected the one at the top of the list, not thinking they were alphabetized. So, he chose Brown in Providence. He had a full scholarship.

My husband's parents were not college-educated. His father had a learning disability and never finished high school.

My husband visited a friend who went to college (he was in his final year in high school). He stopped by the admissions office and talked to the people there. When the interviewer asked if he was going to apply my husband told him his parents didn't have enough money for him to go to school. The interviewer told him about the World of Scholarships.

He applied and got a 99% ride, enough money for him to attend college where I met him.

Our two children both applied for scholarships--one had a small loan because he went to a college with a small endowment, the other son had  75% of his college costs covered.

Outcome:
My grandfather worked in WW2 Intelligence and then in the Reconstruction of Europe,
my father got his PhD in Economics, my mother got a masters in Fine Arts and works in fine arts,
my husband got two masters and a PhD in political science. One son has a Masters in Latin American Studies and the other did a double major in college and does stand up and IT.

If you have a dime--give it to a good college's endowment fund--the generational generosity might make a huge difference!

#30 -That was a large family! Gilpin/ Glover

Gilpin-Glover: Big Family

 

My maternal grandmother's grandparents--Cyrus Griest (Sr) and his wife Mary Ann Cook had 8 children. But Mary Ann Cook Griest was descended from the Gilpin family.

Here's a brief re-cap of the Gilpins: Joseph  Gilpin and his wife Hannah Glover (of England) had 15 children.

Their children and where they were born.
Children born in England:
1Hannah Gilpin  1693 -1746 – born in England
2 Samuel Gilpin  1694-1767 – born in England

Born in the cave (in what was then Pennsylvania, now Delaware) before they built a structure:
3 Rachel Gilpin   1696- 1776 – born in the cave
4 Ruth Gilpin    1697- 1758- born in the cave

5 Lydia Gilpin  1699- 1750
6 Thomas Gilpin  1700-1766
7 Ann Gilpin  1702-1759
8 Joseph Gilpin, Jr.  1704-1792
9 * Sarah Gilpin  1706-1783 –my ancestor
10 George Gilpin 1708-1773
11 Isaac Gilpin  1710-1745
12 Moses Gilpin  1711- ?
13 Alice Gilpin   1714-?
14 Mary Gilpin  1716-1806
15 Esther Gilpin 1717-1795

Here is the family line from the Gilpin/Glovers to my grandmother (Elizabeth Tyson)

#29 - Genealogist Uncle Edwin Tyson, son of Charles and Maria

UNCLE- #2/52 - 2019

Which one?  My grandmother (Elizabeth Tyson)'s uncle, one of her father's two brothers.

~ BACKGROUND ~

Uncle Edwin C (Ned) Tyson, husband of Mary (Hawxhurst) and father of two girls. 

He was born Edwin Comly Tyson in 1864 and died in 1945 in Adams County PA, four years after his wife died. He was the eldest child of Charles J Tyson & Maria (Griest). He had one sister Mary Anna Tyson, and two brothers Chester Julian and William Cyrus.
One of the many things Uncle Ned did was to keep the books for the Tyson family's orchard business when his brother Chester was alive (he died in the 1930s). While Ned kept all the affairs on the home front neat, brother Chester moved about juggling projects (the soon-to-be USDA, PA Fruit Growers Association, and at Penn State) and conducting business requiring travel.

Edwin C Tyson

 ~WHY CHOSE EDWIN C TYSON?~
I did not know him for he died before my parents were wed.
But here's why I know about him: he was a family genealogist.

Moreover he was a Quaker genealogist. I chose him because when I conduct my own research, I'm always reminded of the old saw "We stand on the shoulders of giants." For that is certainly true in genealogy. We owe a debt of gratitude to the many preservationists, recorders and researchers who went before us. Ironically most of those people are unknown, lost to the ages.  And so I'm paying tribute to one of those people in this post: Uncle Ned Tyson was a genealogist.

I've access to some of the letters he received, and I'm amazed by the requests. He lived close to the Quaker Meeting House, and  Clerk of the Meeting. But more than that, it's clear that he was careful and deliberate in his responses to questions.
He received requests from all over for records from that area of Pennsylvania. Apparently the York County  (PA) Genealogical Society relied heavily on him for births, deaths and marriages from the Quaker meeting records he had access to.
His research was restricted to Quaker records in Southeast Pennsylvania. It seems that the rate of requests snowballed both in quantity and in complexity.

In the Margaret B Walmer Collection* I discovered some interesting correspondence.
In the field of US Quaker genealogy William Wade Hinshaw is the "granddaddy" of Quaker Records. In the 1940s Hinshaw was in the process of completing his multi-volume collection of Quaker records. In 1944 Hinshaw sent great great Uncle Ned a series of letters.  The first one I found began with a congratulations (From the Margaret B (Tilton) Walmer Collection): 

WilliamW Hinshaw to Edwin Tyson (MBW Coll)

This was not the last letter he received from William Wade Hinshaw.

Hinshaw subsequently suggested that they have overlapping fields of research. He further suggested that he, Hinshaw, be the center of the endeavor.

I cannot read the scanned copies of the carbons which Uncle Ned used when he responded to letters.

But judging from Hinshaw's followup letter, I gather that Uncle Ned played coy: claiming that he wasn't at all sure that he had all the facts and that they were exact. (Boy, does that sound familiar!)

To his credit Hinshaw coaxed and cajoled Uncle Ned. As you can see their correspondence started in 1944, and Uncle Ned died in 1945.

William Wade Hinshaw worked hard at to get Uncle Ned involved in his massive Quaker records project. In one letter Hinshaw mentioned collaborating with Albert Cook Myers. I wonder he mentioned Myers just to stir up Uncle Ned’s interest because Myers was someone familiar to Uncle Ned: he was a distant relative & fellow birthright Friend. (See here:Albert Cook Myers  )

In the end, I can't tell if Uncle Ned sent Hinshaw data.

Uncle Ned died November 1945, and Hinshaw's letter dated the end of February wasn't answered by Uncle Ned until August. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Uncle Ned took his time gathering, checking and rechecking his data. He seemed to be that kind of man.

Here is page 1 and 2 from Hinshaw's final letter to Uncle Ned, dated Feb 1945:

William Wade Hinshaw to Edwin Tyson page 1 (MBW Coll)

And here is page 2

William Wade Hinshaw to Edwin Tyson, page 2 (MBW Coll)

~Margaret B Walmer Collection and Uncle Ned's Legacy~

Uncle Ned's great niece (Chester's granddaughter) Margaret B (Tilton) Walmer inherited his papers (sorted them, labeled them and scanned them). She also inherited his interest in genealogy. She continued his research, as she lived conveniently close to the locations being researched.

Before she passed away Margaret Walmer published two books completing much of the information that was Hinshaw was searching for.

The two books she published are still available: 

Menallen [Pennsylvania] Minutes, Marriages and Miscellany: Quaker Records, 1780-1890, Margaret B. Walmer (Heritage Books) ISBN: 1556136560

and

100 Years at Warrington: York County, Pennsylvania, Quaker Marriages, Removals, Births and Deaths, Margaret B Walmer (Heritage Books, 1989, 2007)  ISBN: 978-1-55613-269-8

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*Margaret B Walmer Collection - papers and photographs of the Tyson, Hawxhurst, Tilton and affiliated families.  Scanned copies made available to family members.

#28 - Occupations/ Occupational Patterns

 OCCUPATIONS -  #1/52

Many women and men find their jobs/careers through networks / family.
Of course, most of the early immigrants to the new world, (on both sides of the family) farmers. The 1910 photo here is a family farm in SE PA, north of Gettysburg.

There were school teachers, artists, some military (usually of short duration).  There were plenty of drivers, or "livery" men.
There were servants and cleaners/ "supers"  in New York City parlance.
Most of  the women worked sporadically, as the household duties (especially on a farm) was far more time-consuming than we could imagine.

Many of my Long Island ancestors were surveyors (specifically, the Hawxhurst family). William E. Hawxhurst (below)

WE Hawxhurst, Surveyor, Long Island, NY

Photographer-Horticulturalist-Manager 

My ancestor Charles J Tyson set up shop as an early photographer along with his brother Edwin (Tyson Brothers), in Gettysburg, PA. Coincidentally, right before the Battle of Gettysburg. They evacuated town, but returned, and along with their trusted young assistant (Tipton) took many photos of the town. They also did portraits, apparently. They were happy to find their photography studio was largely undamaged. Here are two photos the Tyson Bros took, one during the Union army's stay, the other during the Gettysburg Address (in November of the same year), Lincoln was under the "Witness Tree."

Camp Letterman (Tyson Bros)

But, things changed and Charles J Tyson sold the business to his assistant Tipton, moved to the countryside with his bride and got into the orchard business. In the meantime his brother wed and moved back to a large city (but kept up his photography).
Later, for some reason, Charles Tyson went back to partner with Tipton (perhaps due to finances?). After a while Charles resold his portion of the photography studio back to Tipton.
Tyson's orchard/farm was growing with the help of his wife's family. But farming is an uncertain source of income. Late in his life he & his wife moved to Baltimore to manage with a fertilizer business. As a farmer, he'd learned that farmers need manure--and that there is money to be made in that business. He made a good deal of money operating the Susquehanna Fertilizer Company.
Eventually he and his wife Maria (Griest) eventually sold their share and moved back to Adams County, PA in their old age.

Orchard country, Adams County, PA

Nurserymen - Hicks of Long Island, NY 

For over a hundred years the Hicks family on Long Island has dealt with trees and shrubs. At some point the sons took over the Nursery Business. In 2016 I stopped by and met the owner, who is named Hicks, of the current nursery. 

According to a cousin, the nursery is always inherited by a Hicks son. This ad from 1938 is the back of a Christmas postcard. It was in possession of my Great grandmother (Bertha Hawxhurst) whose mother was Marianna Hicks.

#27 - Suzanne Poulain, French immigrant

Time for me to admit to being French

One of the reasons you don’t research part of your family tree is because it might be “off-putting.” It was unavoidable, I had to face it: some of my mother’s ancestors were French.

My 9^th   great grandparents were Louis Poulain and Margueritte Daniel of Heillecourt, France.

Louis Poulain

Louis Poulain was born in 1610 in Heillecourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, France. 

Heillecourt is due south of Luxembourg, not far from Germany, in the province of Nancy, France. 

Marriage

Louis Poulain married Margueritte Daniel on September 10, 1640, in Heillecourt.

Margueritte Daniel 

Louis’ wife, Margueritte Daniel,  was born in 1615 in Heillecourt, France. When she married Louis Poulain, she was 5 years younger than he.

Death: Margueritte Daniel Poulain died on September 10, 1647, in France at the age of 32.
Her daughter was about 3 at the time. I’m not sure if Louis remarried.

Daughter:

Suzanne [Susanna] Poulain – Louis Poulain & Margueritte Daniel’s daughter, my 8^th great grandmother. And yes, she was born in France.

Birth -Suzanne Poulain was born about 1644 in St Germain-en-laye, France, which is slightly NE of Paris, and a good distance from her parent's origin in Heillecourt (now part of Lorriane) in the west. 

Move to Jersey - Susanna (and likely her father or a husband) moved to Jersey, the Channel Islands. Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands (England), located off the coast of France.

Susanna lived there before leaving for the colonies.  She may have learned English—or liked English—for Jersey was owned by the British, but likely there was a good amount of French and English spoken there. 

The Colonies & NEW Jersey- Susanna sailed to the N. American Colonies on “The Philip,” which sailed from Exeter, England, and arrived in the colonies in 1665, she was 21.

I’m assuming she was accompanied by someone. If not her father, then perhaps a husband who died en route, or after arrival.

So Susanna arrived in the New World in 1665/1666. She lived in New Jersey, (possibly with her father?) until she wed Richard Skinner. 

Records tell me her father, Louis Poulian, died in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Susanna Poulain and Richard Skinner

Susanna wed Richard Skinner in 1666 in Elizabethtown, Union County, New Jersey (recorded by Sec of East Jersey).

To marry someone with such an English name as Richard Skinner, she likely had at least rudimentary grasp of English.

Children
Susanna Poulain and Richard Skinner had six children.
I am descended from one of their sons named Richard Skinner (to see the relationship, read the end of post).

Death - Susanna died about 1714 in New Jersey, around 70.

Jersey-New Jersey: What’s the Connection?

Is it co-incidence that she had lived on Jersey and then moved to New Jersey? Maybe, but probably not.  The Jersey historians say many people felt New Jersey was suitable place to migrate to.

There was relationship between the Island and the US state of New Jersey which has its roots in the English Civil War.

During that time, King Charles II took refuge in Jersey, as exiled King of England (remember Cromwell?).

The Island of Jersey's loyalty was rewarded when he gave some land in the Americas to Sir George Carteret of Jersey. Subsequently, Sir George Carteret named that part of the colonies “New Jersey.”

Where do the French fit into my mother’s tree? 

  How the French Poulains enter the tree:

Susanna Poulain—Richard Skinner

their son: Richard Skinner M Sarah Moore

....their daughter: Rachel Skinner M  Benjamin .......Webster

.....their son: Joseph Webster M Rebecca Kester

......their daughter: Ruth Webster M William ............Griffith

........their daughter: Susannah Griffith M

.......................Edwin Comly Tyson

           All of their children:

~Isaac Griffith Tyson 1833 – 1913

~Rachel Griffith Tyson 1836 – 1874

~Charles John Tyson 1838 – 1906

~Ruth Anna Tyson 1840 – 1913

~Rebecca Webster Tyson 1842 – 1923