I thought I'd take a moment to go over some of my favorite finds since starting genealogy in 2000 -- they've come in the last few years and they've come from newspapers.
This will forever be one of my favorite things I've discovered in the newspaper. This was from the July 10th, 1902 "Courier & Press" out of Evansville, Indiana. I knew my 4x Grandmother's name was Susan and I knew her maiden name was something like Switzer, Sweitzer, Sweilzer... then finally I found out it was Schweitzer.
Susan was born in April of 1802 and died July 5th, 1902. So she was just slightly over one hundred years old. What I didn't realize, was that she and her husband, John Byrd, were considered pioneers of Posey County, Indiana...and thus through them, and this newspaper clipping, I can join The Society of Indiana Pioneers, if I want to. I actually e-mailed the genealogist with the Society of Indiana Pioneers and she confirmed, when/if I want to join, Susan Schweitzer & John Byrd are a great couple to use.
They married in Posey County, Indiana, on March 12th, 1831. I believe the genealogist of the Society of Pioneers said that proof of any ancestor in, especially Southern Indiana, by 1820 was grounds for joining. John Byrd is in Posey County, in the census, by 1820.
Censuses said Susan was from Pennsylvania, but this article helped confirm that. There were other Schweitzer's that came to Posey County, Indiana, and I had to play "connect the dots" to finally figure out who Susan's parents were.. My DNA didn't help with the Schweitzer line...but my Mom's absolutely did!!
I finally figured out (after almost two years of playing with Mom's DNA) that Susan was the daughter of Jacob Schweitzer & Elisabeth Hoke. Jacob was born July 13th, 1765 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Elisabeth, was born February 7th, 1766. They married roughly 1788, because I've found a son born to them in 1790. By the 1820 census, Jacob & Elisabeth are in Columbiana, Ohio. They never made it as far as Indiana, so for a moment or two, I'd thought maybe I'd found the wrong couple.
However, the connection to the state of Ohio helped give credence to Mary "Polly" Schweitzer, who married Samuel Davis in Posey County, Indiana, in 1830, being a sister of Susan Schweitzer. The family clearly migrated to Ohio probably post 1810. The girls, how they ended up in Southern Indiana... perhaps they came with other relatives? Friends of the family? I'm unsure.
Jacob Schweitzer died in Columbiana County, Ohio, on October 27th, 1841, and Elisabeth followed him in death on December 20th, 1844.
Jacob was the son of Peter Schweitzer and Elizabeth Heffelfinger. My Mom has numerous DNA matches through them. Elisabeth was the daughter of Johannes "John" Hoke and Maria Sabina Schwob; Mom has numerous DNA matches through them as well! So I know I've found the correct lineage for my Susan (Schweitzer) Byrd at long last.
Susan, whos full first name was Susannah, and her husband John had at least seven children: Jesse, Samuel, John, Elizabeth, Nancy, Jonathan, and Esther. My ancestor is their son John, who married Maria Moore.
John & Maria were both born in Posey County, Indiana, but eventually migrated over to Henderson County, Kentucky. They're both buried in the Smith Mills Cemetery. They left quite a progeny of Byrd's on this side of the Ohio River. Lots of us are still living in Henderson County today.
Susan (Schweitzer) Byrd's death certificate says she was buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery -- I believe that's the one in Poseyville, Posey County, Indiana. I'm unsure where her husband, John, is buried. Perhaps on the family farm? He died sometime between 1860 and 1870. He wasn't in the Civil War.
The Byrd line has been a tough nut to crack, too. John Byrd, as far as I know, was the son of John Byrd and Mary Brookes. His father, John Byrd, was born about 1772 in I believe Caswell County, North Carolina. That's where he married Mary Brookes on July 21st, 1795. By 1820, though, they're in Posey County, Indiana.
John Byrd 1772 dies sometime between 1850 and 1860. Mary (Brookes) Byrd I believe dies between 1840 and 1850, as she doesn't appear with her husband in the 1850 census. I have a lot of DNA matches connecting to John Byrd & Catherine King, so for now, that's my hypothesis of parentage for my John Byrd 1772.
John & Mary (Brookes) Byrd had at least eight children. I descend through another of their children -- Elizabeth Byrd (1810-1883) who married Littleton Keeling (1796-1858). Their daughter, Sarah Keeling (1828-1868) married Solomon "Sol" Moore (1828-1875) and they were the parents of Maria Moore, the one and the same that married John Byrd, son of John Byrd & Susan Schweitzer.
That's actually another interesting discovery... My 4x Grandmother, Sarah (Keeling) Moore is buried next to a house in Mt. Vernon, Posey County, Indiana. It's next to 103. W. Sherman. She died in 1868, and Sol, her husband, died in 1875... but no tombstone has been found for him. Her tombstone just stands there... by itself, behind a house in the middle of town. You can even see it on Google Street View!!
Another interesting newspaper clipping I found mentions my 4x Grandmother, Maria (Knight) Lawhorn Brown Ballard. It confirmed her as the mother of my 3x Grandmother, Sarah (Brown) Bastin (wife of Martin Stimmons Bastin) and it also finally confirmed when she died -- May 1898, in Lincoln County, Kentucky.
Maria has been a tough person to track down. She was born circa 1815 in Virginia, I believe. She married first to Benjamin Lawhorn on May 30th, 1835, in Casey County, Kentucky, who was at least 40 years her senior. They had at least two daughters that are mentioned in his will (in 1845): Christina and Lavinia. (I had previously believed Maria was born about 1805 and he was only 20 years older than her, but upon more research, I don't believe she was born as early as 1805, I believe she was born closer to 1815.)
Then Maria married Brazil Brown on March 6th, 1847, in Wayne County, Kentucky. They had I believe two daughters: Julia (also called Juda), and my ancestor, Sarah. By 1860, Maria is widowed or divorced as Brazil is no longer in census with her.
She married for the last time on June 11th, 1866, in Lincoln County, Kentucky, to John H. Ballard. They had no children. I believe John Ballard died sometime between the 1880 census and when Maria died in 1898, as, I don't believe he survived her.
I believe that Maria's parentage is up in the air. She could be a daughter of Ephraim Knight and Mary Carrel -- but more probably, she's the daughter of Robert Knight and Martha Burgess. I fully believe she and her husband, Brazil, were related to each other through the Burgess family.
Her husband, Brazil Brown, was the son of Jesse Brown & Juda Hodge, I believe...and she was the daughter of Amasa Hodge & Jane McDaniel -- some of my Burgess DNA matches are DNA descendants of Amasa & Jane, that would make sense that they are our MRCA.. but, considering I have no Brown DNA matches... I wonder if Brazil Brown was actually the son of a Burgess and born out of an affair.
My last "OMG" discovery was that my Great-Grandmother, Lorene (LaRue) Blanford wrote into the newspaper, on behalf of her Dad, Charles Clarence LaRue, to try and learn about their family history. To know that my LaRue ancestors were interested in their genealogy...well, it sent me into giddy mode major.
My Mom told me a story that she, my Grandparents, and my Great-Grandparents took a road trip to South Dakota to see my Uncle Jay while he was stationed there. On the way back, they went to Kansas and saw "some of Grandma Lorene's cousins." I believe those cousins were some LaRue's that wrote to her from this very newspaper article!
Benjamin Hardin LaRue, my 3x Grandfather, was the son of Josiah LaRue & Mary Castleman -- some of their children ended up moving west into Missouri, Arkansas, and even Kansas. It's no coincidence, now, that Lorene met up with cousins who lived in Kansas. It's because of this very article printed in the Evansville newspaper on August 18th, 1973.
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