Like last week, my answer is a strong maybe! I’ve been researching my John Duer, Patriot, and his relationship to his purported son, Thomas for YEARS! I have so much indirect evidence and one piece that does state Thomas was the son of John but it is in a collection made beginning in 1865 that doesn’t provide the source. Of course!
So, I turned to AI to get its take on the problem.
Before I tell you the result, I want to share with you how to take data and create an Excel table using AI. It’s so super simple and saves a lot of time. WARNING: Like with all new tech, you much check for accuracy. Don’t assume it is 100% correct. Even with the time taken for that, it will be a time saver in the long run.
Create a prompt to “extract structured data from…” whatever you uploaded. From the class I took, it was suggested we add “prioritize fidelity to the information below; dry recitation, avoid editorialization. Prioritize sentence-by-sentence from beginning to end. Extract from the (uploaded item) this structured data… (list whatever info you want). Display your response in the form of a CSV file. The response should have the header row: (titles you want – could be) “Person’s Names”, “Relationships Noted”, “Evidence of the Relationship” (or whatever you deem important). Enclose all cells or fields in quotation marks, omit, ignore, and avoid commas and other punctuation in the original text in your response in an attempt to keep the CSV error-free. Display your response in a code window for easy copy-and-paste.
Upload your item as a .pdf file.
A black box will display with the text in white letters. You can ctr c and ctr v into Notepad (you can find notepad by typing Notepad or Text in your computer search bar). Or, you can click on the upper right screen on ChatGPT and share, then copy code.
Open the file in Excel and clean it up, if necessary.
Then I opened a new ChatGPT message and gave the following prompt: Today you and I are an expert genealogist and writer. Your goal is to generate true and accurate reports. Find below the contents of a CSV file created from my research on the relationship of John and Thomas Duer. Transform the structured data into a narrative report; dry recitation, no editorialization, please.
This is what I received:
John Duer was born on January 19, 1748, in Cranbury, Middlesex, New Jersey. Various sources, including family data collections and genealogical websites, document this event. The death of John’s mother, Mary Ann Hollingshead Duer, occurred in 1751 in Newton, Sussex, New Jersey, although specific source documentation is absent beyond public family trees.
In 1773, John married Susannah Miller in Sussex, New Jersey. Their marriage is recorded in the Family Data Collection and referenced in genealogical records from Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio. The couple had several children, the first of which was Esther Duer Hopkins, born in Monmouth, New Jersey, in 1774. However, there is a discrepancy in her birth location, as other sources suggest Sussex County, New Jersey, as her birthplace.
John’s military service is confused with that of a cousin who served in the Pennsylvania militia. Despite this error, records from Ohio acknowledge John Duer’s service, including listings in the official roster of American Revolution soldiers buried in Ohio.
Thomas Duer, John’s son, was born in 1775 in Sussex, New Jersey, with multiple sources confirming this, though his gravestone lacks specific dates. Jonathan Duer followed on November 11, 1777, also in Sussex, with his life documented through family data collections and census records.
Joseph Duer’s birth in 1779 is only supported by public family trees, lacking concrete source documentation. In 1780, Mary Duer Hazen, another of John’s daughters, was born in Sussex. Her lineage is established through the DAR lineage book and a family history published in 1947.
John Duer was a church member at the First Baptist Church of Wantage, Sussex, New Jersey, in 1783, with historical records from the Sussex County Historical Society likely supporting this fact. His military service is further documented in DAR and New Jersey Revolutionary War records, as well as in family genealogical files.
In the following years, John resided in Newton, Sussex, New Jersey, where he is listed as a vestryman in a history of Christ Church, and in Hanover Township, Morris County, New Jersey, as indicated by tax records. He also engaged in land transactions, including purchasing land that would later become part of West Virginia, and in 1797, he was a resident of Mansfield Township, Sussex, New Jersey, acting as a bondsman.
John’s life from 1798 to 1829 included various land dealings, military service records, family events such as the deaths of his sister Anna Duer Hull and his son Thomas Duer, and his own death on April 3, 1831, in Jackson Township, Trumbull, Ohio. His will was probated in March 1832, and his estate included guardianship arrangements for his grandchildren.
The narrative concludes with references to Thomas Duer’s estate papers, tax records, and land transactions that involved John Duer and his son Thomas. The document also notes a DNA connection to the family through Elizabeth Suriner and references to historical maps and newspaper articles related to the Duer family in Hubbard, Trumbull, Ohio.
Interesting, huh?! Nowhere in the csv data did it say that Thomas was John’s son. My headings were Date, Event, Place, Source, Name. Would this be accepted by a lineage society? Definitely not but it was an unbiased analysis of the indirect evidence. I did provide in the prompt to look for a relationship of John and Thomas Duer but did not state it was father-son.
I’d love to hear what you find in using AI to establish relationship.
Editors. Mercer County, Ohio Cemetery Inscriptions Volume VI. Celina, OH: Mercer Co. Chapter OH Genealogical Society, 1990 found at Mercer County, Ohio Public Library in Celina.
While I was in Celina, Ohio, as I mentioned last week, I found another hint about John Duer. I had blogged twice this year about my search for his final burial site.
A year ago in June, in a book in Allen County Public Library, (Editors. Mercer County, Ohio Cemetery Inscriptions Volume VI. Celina, OH: Mercer Co. Chapter OH Genealogical Society, 1990, np.) I had discovered that he might lie in row 15 of Kessler Cemetery in Ohio. The transcription simply noted “John Duer, unreadable.”
Kessler’s trustee had years ago sent me a copy of their records but row 15 was missing. Both of John’s wives were buried at Kessler, along with some of his children, so it seemed logical that the book was noting his burial location.
My husband and I went out to the cemetery in March and found what we thought might be his grave but it wasn’t in row 15. The rows are not straight so it might have been, depending on how someone counted from the newer section. I thought it looked more like 14 but there was no stone in what I considered 15 so I could see how someone might interpret the rows differently. I was overjoyed anyway with the find.
Except, it wasn’t John’s burial place. When we returned in May with cleaning supplies it became apparent that it was for a child with the same name and who just happened to die the same year my John did. Sigh.
At the Mercer County Public Library, I found another book, and this transcription was clear about what was recorded on the stone in row 15. That stone is no longer standing in Kessler. You can see the top pic of the page.
What had me totally floored is that this book has the exact same title page as the one I found in the Allen County Public Library but the contents of the book differ. One must have been updated but it doesn’t note that anywhere in the volume I found in Celina. Here’s what the page looks like for the volume in Allen County Public Library:
At this point, I decided to call it a day at the library and I headed for the courthouse.
Meanwhile, this wish remains, too, but with every find I get closer to solving this mystery.
Next week I begin my Creepy October series. By the time that concludes I can’t wait to share my courthouse experience AND the weirdest identity theft I uncovered from 1891. Stay tuned.
What I thought was John Duer’s Tombstone in Kessler Cemetery
Last week I blogged about two gravestone preservation products I recently tried. After cleaning the stone I thought was for my third great grandfather, John Duer, I still couldn’t read more engravings on the stone than I had before I cleaned it.
The next step was to use the rubbing paper I had purchased and this is what I uncovered:
Still largely unreadable but I had a complete death date and age – 11 m 10 d. This was a tombstone for an infant and not my 3rd ggrandfather. Sigh.
The tombstone did have a memorial on Findagrave and by using the death date and the cemetery, I was able to read what I could not from the rubbing:
Photo courtesy of Cousin Becky on Findagrave.com
My goodness, has the tombstone deteriorated since 2008!
I’m glad to know the stone was saved on Findagrave before it became unreadable. You may have to use the technique I just described while visiting a cemetery and locating a stone you can’t decipher.
The question remains, Where is John Duer buried? Both of his wives are buried in Kessler as are some of his children. According to a text in the Allen County Public Library he was buried in row 15 but when the information was recorded, about 1987, the rest of the stone was unreadable. Kessler Cemetery’s records are incomplete and does not show him buried there.
One of my adult children who accompanied me pointed out that all of the older Duer adult stones on the south side have the same shape so we began looking for stones that matched but found none that said John Duer.
According to the 1987 book, he once had a stone but there was no description or picture of it. Perhaps it was a different John Duer as that name is used in each generation by everyone having children. Perhaps it was my John Duer and the stone was somehow destroyed between 1987 and 2007 when the Findagrave photos began to be taken. Perhaps he was never buried there.
All I know is that I’m back to square one! I went on Findagrave, removed the photo I had attributed to him, and left an explanation as to why.
Do you have a family line that just fascinates you? Mine is the Duers who emigrated from England to New Jersey, moving on to what is now West Virginia and then into Ohio.
I’ve blogged before about the difficulty of identifying individuals as each generation reuses names – John, Thomas, Daniel, Joseph, and John(athan). I have been trying to prove for years that patriot John Duer (1758-1831) had a son, Thomas, who predeceased him. Thomas had a son, John, whose burial location was unknown. Both of grandson John’s wives, Jane and Margaret, were buried in Kessler Cemetery, aka Liberty, in Chattanooga, Mercer, Ohio.
Several years ago I contacted the cemetery staff and they kindly sent me a handwritten listing of burial plots. John Duer was shown buried in row 6 space 23. Unfortunately, that’s not the John I’m seeking; that John was the man I’m seeking’s son John Fred (1836-1939).
While I was in Fort Wayne recently at the genealogical library, I asked my husband to check books for cemetery records in Mercer County, Ohio. John died in Allen County, Indiana, across the border from Mercer as that is where he owned property later in life and had his will probated. No obituary has been found for him. His will omitted many of his children from his first marriage. My theory was that he was buried in an unmarked grave either in Adams County, Indiana, or in Kessler Cemetery.
My husband is not interested in genealogy and sometimes, not having a background makes for the best finds. He didn’t bother using the indexes provided in the back of the books. He scanned every page for the name John Duer. He also was looking for alternative spelling as he was aware that the original spelling was Dure. In Judith Burkhardt & Gloria Schindler. Mercer County, Ohio Cemetery Records of Liberty Township (1987) he hit gold! The last entry on the last page (52) noted in Row 15: “Next several stones missing, sunken in ground or unreadable John Duer – Unreadable”
Wow! It’s likely this was the John that I was trying to find. He wasn’t listed on the Kessler Cemetery sheet sent to me because the document only went to row 8. I had no idea I hadn’t been sent the entire cemetery listing.
I definitely need to take a trip to Kessler to see the stone for myself. I’m not holding out hope I’ll be able to glean information from the stone that was unreadable 34 years ago but I still need to make the attempt.
Interestingly, the Burkhardt & Schindler book also noted that the first wife, Jane’s, tombstone death year was 1888 which is a mistranscription. Her stone is shown above. Actually, that death year on her stone is probably also in error. John married second 11 December 1864 to widow Margaret Martz Searight. It is likely that his first wife Jane died in July 1861-4; no divorce record was found by staff who searched in Mercer County.
I definitely need to check for myself and also search divorce records in Adams County, Indiana, where John purchased a property in 1860, leaving Jane off the deed. When they lived in Holmes County she was listed as an owner with him.
I suspect her tombstone was not added until after the Civil War as the family had several sons and sons-in-law fighting for the Union. I’m thinking 1866 was the year they had the tombstone installed. Or, there was a divorce I haven’t yet found.
Boots on the ground are still necessary and it’s definitely exciting to step away from the computer to make a find in person. Kudos to my husband who made this exciting discovery for me. Happy Hunting!
A few blogs ago I mentioned I needed to check out the
sibling and step siblings of Margaret Ann Martz Searight Duer to try to
discover why she relocated from Hardin, Ohio to Adams, Indiana. I guessed that she had met my John Duer in
Adams as he was a property owner in the same area as Margaret. Turns out, there was much more involvement
than I thought.
Since Margaret was the second wife of John, I had never
researched her family since they are not related to me, or so it seemed.
Online trees showed Margaret was born to the first wife, Margarethae Himmelsbach, of George Peter Martz in Germany. I have found a baptismal record for another child of the couple, Catharina, born 17 September 1830 in Rheinzabern, Pfalz, Bayern. The child and the mother must have died shortly after as George married Elizabeth Goetz Martz, the wife of his deceased brother, John. The second union produced eight children. I never found a birth record for Margaret and determined her birthdate from her tombstone shown on Find-a-Grave.
Like Margaret and her first husband, George Washington
Searight, “father” George and “step-mother” Elizabeth lived in Hardin, Ohio in
1850. By 1860, some of the children were
still residing with George and Elizabeth who had moved to Mercer County,
Ohio.
Interesting, I thought!
Perhaps John hadn’t met Margaret in Adams, Indiana but instead, in
Mercer where he was found living with his first wife, Jane, in 1860. Actually, they are 3 pages away in the census
from where John and Jane lived. Also
living nearby, just two residences away, was daughter Maria Duer who had
married Henry Kuhn, also an emigrant from Germany. Perhaps John and Margaret met at a community
event as Henry Kuhn was a leader of the German settlers in Mercer County. His
wife, Maria, who was not German, even has an obituary in the German newsper.
Knowing that Margaret had family in Mercer helped me better
understand why she was buried there and not in Indiana. I still had no answer as to why Margaret
purchased property in Indiana so I took the time to learn about her step
siblings, thinking that perhaps, they lived in Adams County.
I decided to start with “step sister,” Hannah Lucinda and
what a surprise I found! Hannah died in
Missouri before 1880 when the census shows her husband, Abraham Orr, residing
with his brother, Thomas. I was
interested in learning more about Abraham because he was a property owner at
one time in Trumbull County, Ohio, where my John Duer was born and where he
first married. In researching Abraham I
discovered his mother was Anna Duer, sister to my John Duer. Who knew these families were interrelated! It
gets even better – After Hannah Lucinda died, her youngest children, Mary and
Phillip Orr, are found living in the household of Phillip Martz, “step-brother”
of Margaret in (drum roll, please) Mercer, Ohio. So the Duers and Martz’s were connected prior
to John’s marriage to Margaret. No
telling when or where they first met!
I hit pay dirt when I got to “step-brother,” Eli Martz. He had a bio in amugbook from Mercer County, Ohio that, although not 100% accurate, provided me with background information about Margaret and her family.
I thought it strange that Eli has two entries and the information is slightly different. The first, names him Eli Martz, “the son of George P. and Elizabeth (Goetz) Martz.” P. 429. I read this entry first. When I finished the article I noticed the next article was for an Elisha Martz. Hmm, who could he be?
Elisha Martz was the “son of G. Peter and Elizabeth (Goetz) Martz.” p. 430. Yes, George P. is the same man as G. Peter. Elizabeth Goetz Martz is the same mama. At the very end of Elisha’s article the confusion is cleared – Eli and Elisha are brothers. Why the parents would have named them so similarly I have no idea.
Their stories have a few discrepancies which makes this very
interesting!
Both stories state Margaret emigrated with her STEP-father
and 3 of her step-brothers to Frederick Town, Maryland about 1830. All of the online trees have Margaret’s
father’s name wrong – it was not George Peter but George’s brother, John
Martz. George Peter was Margaret’s uncle
who raised her after his brother died and George married the widow. That explains why no record for Margaret’s
birth has been found!
According to Eli’s article, the family arrived in 1830, however, the twins, Phillip and Caleb, were born in 1831 in Germany so that is not correct. Elisha’s article states they arrived in 1833. That makes sense and would explain the longer than usual lapse in children’s births. The couple seemed to have children annually in Germany but there is a longer gap between the twins (1831) and Eli in 1834. Having twins and moving to start a new life in a new country would definitely have put a damper on having another child at the original rate.
Margaret’s uncle was a shoemaker but decided he wanted to try farming so he relocated to Sandusky, Ohio after 3 years in Maryland, according to Eli, or 18 months, according to Elisha. Really, what’s a year and a half?!.
Quickly deciding raising corn wasn’t for him, they packed up
with the intent to return to Maryland.
On their journey they stopped at Wayne County, Ohio where they decided
to stay for 14 years, per Eli, or until 1848, per Elisha.
George bought land in the then wilds of Mercer County, Ohio but on the way in 1847 (Eli) or 1848 (Elisha), the family decided to stop in Hardin County, where they were found in the 1850 census. Both agree in 1852, the family made their way to Mercer. After his second wife died in 1876, says Eli, George relocated to Illinois where he died “about 1882.” Elisha says George relocated to Illinois in 1864. He doesn’t say when George died. He does gush about what a great dad George was; Eli says nothing. Hmmm.
This leads me to a big WHAT? So, sons Eli/Elisha did not keep in close contact with Pop, as the year discrepancy is rather large of when George left Ohio not to mention they don’t know when their dad died. Seems like this is a trend with the Duer siblings too, who never told their children their mother Jane’s name. What is going on with these folks?
Since George’s wife, Elizabeth, was found living with Eli in 1870 and George is not found in any record after 1860, I’m thinking that both Eli and Elisha were somewhat accurate about George’s whereabouts. Eli would have known when his dad left the area because mom was in his household. Elisha might have remembered when his parents split households, probably in 1864.
The mug book names George’s 9 children, the eldest, being Margaret, “the widow of John Doer, who resides in Adams, county, Ind.” p. 429 or “Margaret, the widow of John Deuer, of Jay County, Indiana.” p. 430. Yes, she was the widow but John wasn’t from Jay County and I love the spelling of John’s last name!
The point, though, is I would have never located this had I
not searched for more information on Margaret’s step siblings.
The book goes on to note where every sibling resided and the only step-brother/cousin of Margaret that lived in Indiana was Phillip. However, he lived in Salem which is in southern Indiana, Adams is in northeast so Margaret clearly didn’t relocate to Adams because of Phillip’s move to that state. I’m thinking Margaret moved to Adams to be near John and away from ex wife Jane who most likely remained in Mercer.
Now I’m intrigued as to why Uncle George (geez, I DO NOT need another Uncle George in the family) went to Illinois at an advanced age. None of his children were residing there between 1864-1876. Supposedly, youngest daughter Hannah Lucinda died in Illinois per an online family tree but there is no citation. Her spouse was listed as a widow in Iowa in 1880 so possibly she died on the way to relocating west. Whether she stopped to visit her dad on the way, I don’t know.
George didn’t appear to keep in touch with any of his children as no one seems to know what became of him. The year of 1864 is interesting to me as that was likely when John and Margaret married. The Civil War wasn’t over yet. Maybe there was just too much drama for a man up in age and he decided to leave his wife for a new start. I say that because Elisha mentions that George’s wife died in Mercer. Eli/Elisha both agree it was in 1876.
The mysteries may continue, however, the beauty of the information in the mug book is priceless. What a wonderful example of why it’s important to research the relatives, no matter how distant they may at first appear to be! My tree is becoming gnarled.
Certificate of Insanity, William Duer, May 1852; digital image, FamilySearch.org: Accessed 27 December 2020, citing Common Pleas Court civil records, 1825-1901 ; civil index, 1825-1900 Miscellaneous, 1846-1873 Miscellaneous (alphabetical), pre-1900 Depositions (chronological), 1886-1901. Film # 008271767, image 921 of 2904.
Usually, I’m happy when I climb over a brick wall but sometimes the find provides harsh reality of what the individual was experiencing. I recently had such a discovery and in all honesty, I put off writing about it for a month.
I’ve made a lot of progress on my John and Jane Duer line lately although several mysteries remain, like where is John buried, why does Jane’s tombstone say “wife of John Duer” when he was married to someone else at the time of Jane’s death and why does Jane’s youngest children, who were adults when she died, not tell their own children about Jane as evidenced by their death certificates stating mother is unknown?
My working theory is, among other reasons, because of the sad discovery I made regarding one of John & Jane’s children.
William Duer (1828-c. 1852) was the oldest son and oldest surviving child of John and Mary “Jane” Duer; he relocated with the couple from Trumbull County, Ohio where he was most likely born to Killbuck, Holmes, Ohio where he is shown residing with his parents and siblings in 1850. That census shows that William and his closest aged sibling, Thomas, was working on the farm with father John.
For years, I had difficulty discovering what became of William as he was not shown with the family in the 1860 census in Mercer County, Ohio where they had relocated, nor was he found in any census anywhere. He seemed to have disappeared in thin air as nothing was found for him anywhere. Until now and thanks to the images on FamilySearch.org.
My search for William took the usual path over the years – checking all the online sites, family trees and connecting with known relatives. I thought he had perhaps died in the Civil War which wouldn’t explain where he was in 1860, but I also had another missing brother from the 1860 census so I figured they may have been together somewhere and missed the enumeration. That brother, John B., eventually ended up in Adams County, Indiana. William was never found again. Until now.
I decided to look through the images for Common Plea Court Civil Records, 1825-1901, for Killbuck Township, Holmes, Ohio where the family lived to see if a record may exist for anyone in the family. That’s where I discovered the Certificate of Insanity for William Duer.
From the medical report, I learned that William was age 23 and free from infection. In March 1852 William complained of “feelings in his head” that lasted 1-2 weeks. He was last reported sane on 12 April 1852.
Apparently, insanity must have been shown for at least 30 days before the courts could be contacted. The physician diagnosed William with melancholy that was not related to hereditary or epilepsy. He was not violent. His past medical history showed bleeding and blisters but it does not clarify the cause.
Interestingly, the physician noted William had received “no education” and “worked hard” and had “no amusement” yet he was not “disappointed” by his life. The education information is verified by Historical Collection of the Mahoning Valley which stated “the public schools were few, with little interest taken in public education until 1840, when a new impulse moved the settlers” (p. 484). William’s early life was in Trumbull County which became Mahoning County.
The Justice of the Peace had also visited William at his home and found him insane. Since he was a resident of Killbuck, he was sent to the Ohio Lunatic Asylum to undergo treatment. His condition had been the case for less than 2 years. The reason cited for committing William was that “his being at large would be dangerous to the safety of the community.” Although this clearly conflicts with the physician report stating that William was not violent, father John Duer attested the same.
I do not believe William every survived the commitment. I suspect he is buried on the asylum grounds where there are numerous unmarked graves. I will be following up with an organization that holds the records which is currently closed due to the pandemic.
I hadn’t expected this would be the reason for the brick wall.
From searching through images, prior to this find, I discovered a letter to the courts regarding another community member’s request for an insanity hearing in the preceding year. The request was denied, not because the woman wasn’t insane, but because the county had already used up all of their bed space in the asylum. I have no idea from the records what the county’s allotted number was but it is telling that there were more community members who needed mental health assistance then there was available treatment for them.
This find leads me to a new working theory about William’s mother, Jane, that I will explore in more details next time.
What do you do when you’ve looked for a deed in all the usual places – county property appraisers office, FamilySearch.org or other online database of deed records, and even probate files but you come up with nothing? I was fortunate to find deed records in an unlikely place and you just might find this useful…
What do you do when you’ve looked for a deed in all the usual places – county property appraisers office, FamilySearch.org or other online databases, and even probate files but you come up with nothing? I was fortunate to find deed records in an unlikely place and you just might find this useful.
I wanted to locate a deed record for my John Duer (1801-1885) because I was trying to discover which wife might be named on it. John married Mary “Jane” Morrison (1804-1866) on 29 July 1827 in Trumbull County, Ohio. The couple would go on to have 11 children together and relocate first to Killbuck, Holmes County, Ohio by 1840 and then to Liberty, Mercer County, Ohio by July 1860 when they are found together living two residences away from one of their married daughters, Maria Duer Kuhn.
The census does not state if the residence was owned or rented. The couple owned property both jointly and separately when in Holmes County. I’m not exactly sure when they relocated but the last deed of sale I find for them in Holmes was 27 April 1854.
I began to look in Mercer County, Ohio for deeds between 1853 (when they sold another piece of land in Holmes-I figured they may have relocated then but couldn’t sell the other lot they owned until the following year) and 1864 when I knew John had remarried. I tried all the usual places but came up with nothing. The property appraiser site found no John Duer. The site doesn’t say how far back the records go but one of the options for age of buildings is 1800. I then looked for old deed books at the various online genealogy sites and found nothing for Mercer County, Ohio. I even tried the Familysearch.org image search that I blogged about two weeks ago but came up with a big zero.
Sometime after July 1860 and before 11 December 1864 John and Jane split up and John remarried widow Margaret Ann Martz Searight. They had a child together, Charles Edward, born in February 1866.
Since emigrating from Germany, Margaret lived first in Hardin County, Ohio but relocated to Adams County, Indiana, perhaps after her husband, George Washington Searight died 8 April 1863. John and Margaret, after their marriage, lived together in Adams County, Indiana.
My next search was for property in Adams County, Indiana as I knew, from John’s will made in August 1884, that he was leaving Margaret the property. That meant she had not been a co-owner. He possibly bought the land prior to their wedding or for some other unknown reason, decided to buy land separately from his second wife as he had done in Hardin County, Ohio with his first wife.
His will states, in the case of Margaret predeceasing him, the property would go to some of his children (why he selected only 3 children in his will I do not understand. He names the two children he had with Margaret and one of his children, Angeline, he had with Jane. Angeline had married and was living in Adams, Indiana. What is odd is two of his sons, John B. and James William, were also living in Adams. Why he excluded them from his will I hypothesized in my last blog, Missing Tombstones.)
The Adams County, Indiana property assessor’s office website is not very user friendly and I got lost in the clicking. I eventually found that “NEW! Electronic Records” were available but there is no link to where. Trying to click on what appears to be a link stating “Adams County is now ready to electronically record all your documents through e-recording.” also didn’t work. In small print, there is a note that the records are from 1990 to present. Oh well!
I continued to click and thought maybe “History” would be helpful but it was just a few facts about the 12 townships in the county. Under “Residents,” I decided to click on “Genealogy.” I was taken to INGenWeb for Adams County. I was so excited to find a search box so I entered “Duer” and found 59 items.
At this point I had to decide, did I want to derail my search for a deed, which I figured wouldn’t be placed here, or just get more info about the Duer’s who had lived in Adams County. I decided to stay focused but to do a new search for “John Duer” hoping that it would eliminate all of the other Duers except for John’s son, John B., known to also be living in Adams. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the search results were for 53 items.
What immediately caught my eye on the first page (10 items show per page) was “Estate of David Tressler2 – 1862.xls.” Who was David Tressler – certainly no one in my tree and how/why was John Duer associated with him? Intriguing!
The image (above) was a timeline followed by scanned documents of David Tressler’s estate from 1862. Using the Find trick (hold down the Ctrl and F keys and type in the box) I quickly found that John made a deed to purchase Tressler’s real estate on 8 September 1862. Yippee! So John had purchased the property IN HIS NAME ONLY prior to his marriage with Margaret which explains why she was not on the deed. This also tells me that either he and Jane were having marital problems/separated/divorced by this time since Jane was also not a co-owner.
After doing my happy dance, I went back to explore the remaining Duer findings on the site. I was surprised to find another deed record – on 28 June 1860 John Duer purchased from Benjamin Shafer, the estate administrator for John Tressler. Interestingly, this purchase was made ONE MONTH BEFORE the 1860 census records showing John in Mercer County, Ohio, which borders Adams, Indiana. Jane’s name was not on that deed, either. It’s likely the couple was already having problems with their marriage at that time. The property description matches the property he left Margaret in his will.
So John Duer planned to relocate to the next county over even before he and Jane divorced. (Yes, it would be wonderful to discover their divorce document but I have been unable to locate it in either county.)
Of course, every find leads to more questions. Now I want to know where and when John met Margaret. Her first husband died supposedly at age 35 but I don’t know where. I checked to see if he had enlisted in the Civil War but did not find him. I can’t verify his date of death; he’s not on Find-a-grave/Billion Graves. The date is unverified and comes from online family trees. He was last known alive in Dunkirk, Cessna, Hardin, Ohio in 1860.
My guess is one of Margaret’s sisters or step-sister was living in Adams and as a widow with a young daughter, Margaret moved to be closer to family. I will have to search them to discover if that theory is correct.
It appears from plat records I also found on INGenWeb that Margaret owned 20 acres of her own land in 1880 in Adams, Indiana. I don’t know when that land was purchased – before her marriage to John or after. More research is definitely needed. It’s now clear where John met Margaret; they were property owners in the same neighborhood.
Moral of the blog….when you can’t find what you are looking for check out the local genealogy sites. Kudos to those at INGenweb.org as they have done a phenomenal job in preserving local records and uploading them for FREE. I also love how they insert a timeline of the scanned original documents. I am deeply appreciative of your efforts.
I wanted to locate a deed record for my John Duer (1801-1885) because I was trying to discover which wife might be named on it. John married Mary “Jane” Morrison (1804-1866) on 29 July 1827 in Trumbull County, Ohio. The couple would go on to have 11 children together and relocate first to Killbuck, Holmes County, Ohio by 1840 and then to Liberty, Mercer County, Ohio by July 1860 when they are found together living two residences away from one of their married daughters, Maria Duer Kuhn per the census.
The census does not state if the residence was owned or rented. The couple owned property both jointly and separately when in Holmes County. I’m not exactly sure when they relocated but the last deed of sale I find for them in Holmes was 27 April 1854.
I began to look in Mercer County, Ohio for deeds between 1853 (when they sold another piece of land in Holmes-I figured they may have relocated then but couldn’t sell the other lot they owned until the following year) and 1864 when I knew John had remarried. I tried all the usual places but came up with nothing. The property appraiser site found no John Duer. The site doesn’t say how far back the records go but one of the options for age of buildings is 1800. I then looked for old deed books at the various online genealogy sites and found nothing for Mercer County, Ohio. I even tried the Familysearch.org image search that I blogged about two weeks ago but came up with a big zero.
Sometime after July 1860 and before 11 December 1864 John and Jane split up and John remarried widow Margaret Ann Martz Searight. They had a child together, Charles Edward, born in February 1866.
Since emigrating from Germany, Margaret lived first in Hardin County, Ohio but relocated to Adams County, Indiana, perhaps after her husband, George Washington Searight died 8 April 1863. John and Margaret, after their marriage, lived together in Adams County, Indiana.
My next search was for property in Adams County, Indiana as I knew, from John’s will made in August 1884, that he was leaving Margaret the property. That meant she had not been a co-owner. He possibly bought the land prior to their wedding or for some other unknown reason, decided to buy land separately from his second wife as he had done in Hardin County, Ohio with his first wife.
His will states, in the case of Margaret predeceasing him, the property would go to some of his children (why he selected only 3 children in his will I do not understand. He names the two children he had with Margaret and one of his children, Angeline, he had with Jane. Angeline had married and was living in Adams, Indiana. What is odd is two of his sons, John B. and James William, were also living in Adams. Why he excluded them from his will I hypothesize in my last blog, Missing Tombstones.)
The Adams County, Indiana property assessor’s office website is not very user friendly and I got lost in the clicking. I eventually found that “NEW! Electronic Records” were available but there is no link to where. Trying to click on what appears to be a link stating “Adams County is now ready to electronically record all your documents through e-recording.” also didn’t work. In small print, there is a note that the records are from 1990 to present. Oh well!
I continued to click and thought maybe “History” would be helpful but it was just a few facts about the 12 townships in the county. Under “Residents,” I decided to click on “Genealogy.” I was taken to INGenWeb for Adams County. I was so excited to find a search box so I entered “Duer” and found 59 items.
At this point I had to decide, did I want to derail my search for a deed, which I figured wouldn’t be placed here, or just get more info about the Duer’s who had lived in Adams County. I decided to stay focused but to do a new search for “John Duer” hoping that it would eliminate all of the other Duers except for John’s son, John B., known to also be living in Adams. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the search results were for 53 items.
What immediately caught my eye on the first page (10 items show per page) was “Estate of David Tressler2 – 1862.xls.” Who was David Tressler – certainly no one in my tree and how/why was John Duer associated with him? Intriguing!
The image (above) was a timeline followed by scanned documents of David Tressler’s estate from 1862. Using the Find trick (hold down the Ctrl and F keys and type in the box) I quickly found that John made a deed to purchase Tressler’s real estate on 8 September 1862. Yippee! So John had purchased the property IN HIS NAME ONLY prior to his marriage with Margaret which explains why she was not on the deed. This also tells me that either he and Jane were having marital problems/separated/divorced by this time.
After doing my happy dance, I went back to explore the remaining Duer findings on the site. I was surprised to find another deed record – on 28 June 1860, John Duer purchased from Benjamin Shafer, the estate administrator for John Tressler. Interestingly, this purchase was made ONE MONTH BEFORE the 1860 census records showing John in Mercer County, Ohio, which borders Adams, Indiana. Jane’s name was not on that deed. It’s likely the couple was already having problems with their marriage at that time. The property description matches the property he left Margaret in his will.
So John Duer planned to relocate to the next county over even before he and Jane divorced. (Yes, it would be wonderful to discover their divorce document but I have been unable to locate it in either county.)
Of course, every find leads to more questions. Now I want to know where and when John met Margaret. Her first husband died supposedly at age 35 but I don’t know where. I checked to see if he had enlisted in the Civil War but did not find him. I can’t verify his date of death as he’s not on Find-a-grave/Billion Graves. The date is unverified and comes from online family trees. He was last known alive in Dunkirk, Cessna, Hardin, Ohio in 1860.
My guess is one of Margaret’s sisters or step-sister was living in Adams and as a widow with a young daughter, Margaret moved to be closer to family. I will have to search them to discover if that theory is correct.
It appears from plat records I also found on INGenWeb that Margaret owned 20 acres of her own land in 1880 in Adams, Indiana. I don’t know when that land was purchased – before her marriage to John or after. More research is definitely needed.
Moral of the blog….when you can’t find what you are looking for check out the local genealogy sites. Kudos to those at INGenweb.org as you have done a phenomenal job in preserving local records and uploading them for FREE. I also love how you insert a timeline of the scanned original documents. I am deeply appreciative of your efforts.
Last week I wrote about my awesome find locating the deed for one of John and Jane Duer’s children, Mary, in Mercer County, Ohio. I mentioned that no one knows where John Duer was buried and that it is my guess he is buried next to his first wife, Jane.
It is frustrating when we can’t find a burial location so before I get into why I believe that is where his body lies, I want to take a moment to list reasons of why someone may not have a tombstone.
1. Lack of Money – many families, especially if a breadwinner died in his/her prime, would have certainly been impacted by the loss of income. If it is between feeding the children and memorializing the dead, it is understandable that the living become a priority over the tombstone.
2. Family Dissension – unfortunately, as we all know too well, families don’t always get along. In my own, I know of a brother and sister who lived only a few miles from one another but did not speak after the death of their mother due to a disagreement over the mother’s care in a nursing home in her last year of life. The sister had no other living relatives when she unexpectedly passed except her brother and a few step-siblings that lived far away from her. The sister’s friends reached out to the brother when she died, taking up a collection and paying for the cremation. They wanted to know what to do with her ashes but the brother stated he didn’t care. The brother emailed me two months after his sister’s death to inform me she had died. He never told me about the ashes or the disagreement. I sent my condolences via an online memorial site. The friends saw my post and contacted me inquiring what I would like to do since I appeared to be the next closest relative to the brother. I accepted the ashes. I paid for the internment in the cemetery where the mother is buried as the friends stated that was the deceased’s wish. I did not pay for a stone as I believe that would be out of line while the brother is still alive. Perhaps I will have a small stone placed there someday. But what happens if the brother outlives me? Then there will most likely never be a stone. If a researcher ever checked with the cemetery, the records will clearly show that I requested the internment and where the location was. I do not own the rights to the deceased’s Find-a-grave or Billion Graves memorial so no information has been placed there. Perhaps someday I will and then I will add the burial location. Sadly, in the interim, no one seems to have been concerned where the cremains were interred.
3. There is NO Burial Site – Regarding cremains, the family may have scattered the ashes as requested by the deceased. Placing a tombstone in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico just isn’t an option!
4. Deceased Requests No Memorial – The family may be keeping with the wishes of the deceased who wants the “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” to be literal.
5.Religious Preference – My example here is poor because I really don’t know if this was the case with my husband’s 4th great paternal grandfather, Wilson Williams (1754-1831). He is buried next to his wife, Margaret Hicks Williams, in Christ Church Cemetery, Nassau New York. She has a lovely stone. He has zilch. The family could afford a stone and there is no indication that there was family dissension. Although his death location is not noted in the current church’s records, it was recorded in an old work of cemetery transcriptions by Josephine C. Frost in 1913. (Thank you, Josephine!) In what appears to be empty space next to Margaret was once “a common field stone marked W.W.” In a past blog, I wrote that Wilson was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and a common burial practice was marking a grave with a field stone. Over the years, the stone has been lost and for a time, so, too, was our knowledge of where Wilson was buried since the church cemetery records are no longer in the church at that site. If not for the Frost transcription we would still be wondering.
6. The Missing – for those individuals that are no longer in touch with their family for any number of reasons, a falling out, an abduction, etc., the location of their burial is unknown so family cannot place a stone. Some families do place a memorial to the deceased in a cemetery as evidenced by the many fallen soldiers interred overseas who have a memorial in their hometown.
7. Avoid Remembering – deceased murderers often do not have a stone to ward off those who seek out the grave to disrespect it. Being eternally unnamed and forgotten is a final punishment for heinous crimes committed.
8. The Stone was Lost – tombstones sink, they fall over, they are vandalized or some idiot decides they would make great construction material and steals them. My 4th great paternal grandfather, Thomas Duer’s stone had toppled over in a rural Ohio cemetery that had become abandoned. A local genealogy group righted the stone and moved it to be in line with the other stones but its present location is not exactly where he was buried.
9. The Burial Site Relocated -My husband’s 2nd great maternal grandfather’s child, Lincoln Mordecai Harbaugh’s (1846-1847) was once interred in a cemetery adjacent to the family church in Waynesboro, Franklin, Pennsylvania. The church sold the property long after he died and the family relocated to Indiana. His remains are interred in a group burial site in Green Hill Cemetery after the new owners wanted to expand the building.
10. Chaos Following an Emergency – In some parts of the world today, due to the pandemic, those who have died are being buried in mass graves. This is not a new phenomena. During an ongoing emergency the need to inter takes precedence over individual burials. Whether the site will eventually be marked with a memorial may or may not occur.
Perhaps you can think of more reasons why tombstones might not be found.
In the case of my John Duer (1801-1885), I can only point to examining further family dissension as the reason why he doesn’t seem to have a stone. At the time of John’s death he had a second wife and 8 surviving children, 4 of whom were prosperous and have elaborate tombstones of their own (Maria, John B., Sarah Jane and James William). John died in Jefferson Township, Adams County, Indiana where he was residing with wife Margaret Ann Martz Searight Duer. He knew he was ill as he made a will in August 1884. He did not name his prosperous children in the will or his daughter Mary Ann, possibly because they didn’t need the money or perhaps, because he was not on speaking terms with them. Children Angeline, Charles and Lucinda were all named to receive John’s property, along with his wife. I also know from the will that John requested “that my body be burried (sic) in a manner suitable with my condition in life.” John wasn’t well to do but he did own 80 acres that he farmed and had few debts at the time of his death. A tombstone was not against his religious beliefs; he was raised Presbyterian as a child but there is no church membership found for him as an adult.
Mary “Jane,” his first wife who died after his second marriage and a few months after he had a son with his new wife, is buried in Kessler Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer, Ohio. The cemetery records are not complete and do not state who or when her plot was purchased. The family owns a plot next to her that is sunken and may contain the body of John. Family tales state he is buried in Kessler. His second wife is also buried in Kessler but not close to Jane. There are tombstones on both sides of Margaret’s gravesite so he is not buried next to her.
No death certificate has been found for John, nor an obituary or church records that may shed light on where he was interred.
Perhaps John’s older children did not think he needed a marker as his name is on Jane’s stone. It would have been awkward putting a stone next to Jane’s that said “John Duer, husband of Margaret.” Perhaps the children decided to ignore the situation and leave his plot unmarked. Since Jane died AFTER John’s remarriage, her stone’s inscription of “Wife of John Duer” holds a clue. Perhaps she didn’t remarry as she believed that one only marries once. Maybe she had no preference but her surviving children had the stone engraved as a way to voice their unacceptance of the second marriage.
The only way I’ll ever know if someone is buried next to Jane is if ground penetrating radar is used and I’m not planning on doing that. Even if someone was found to be buried there I wouldn’t know for sure it was John unless the body was exhumed. So, I’ll have to leave this Duer mystery unsolved for now. Sigh.
I absolutely adore those unexpected finds, don’t you?! During my two week hiatus I decided I’d try to solve a John Duer (1801-1885) mystery. I wasn’t able to do that yet but I have made some tremendous progress and want to share how I came to put the pieces together to answer my question – Why is it written on Mary Jane Morrison Duer’s 1866 tombstone “Wife of John Duer” when John was married to Margaret Ann Martz Searight Duer at the time of Jane’s death? I have never found a marriage record for the 2nd marriage nor have I found a divorce record for the first wife. Was there more than one John Duer? (Yes, there are many!) Was John polygamous? (Could be but I haven’t found that in the Duer line. They were Quakers, Presbyterians and then Independent Christians.)
John and Jane are my paternal third great grandparents. No one ever mentioned them but in all fairness, I was not close to my father’s side of the family so I never got much family information about anyone. Duer cousins I have connected with have no information, either.
I love researching the Duers for several reasons – 1. They are complex in that they reuse the same names every generation – John, William, Thomas, and they all have large families so separating who is who is a wonderful mind puzzle. 2. Records are scarce – they don’t leave many records and they just disappear in thin air. 3. Somehow, every time I go back to working on those lines a strange event occurs to help me find the information. That kind of happened again Christmas night which I think was the most perfect gift I received.
The week before Christmas I re-analyzed all the information I had on the family and began to sort out some anomalies. I discovered that a Find-A-Grave memorial for a John Fred Duer is in error. I’ve written to my distant cousin to have it corrected. The mistake was in plain site on the page and I’m embarrassed I didn’t catch it years ago. The memorial shows that the man was 102-3 when he died – possible but unlikely. Looking at the individual who requested the tombstone, I realized that two Johns – John Fred and John B. had been merged. The birthdate for John B. was entered with the death date for John Fred. The tombstone does not provide a birth date.
John B. was John and Jane’s son; John Fred[eric] was the son of Charles Edward and Almeda Buckmaster Duer. Charles Edward was the son of John and 2nd wife Margaret Martz Duer. John Fred’s mother had requested the military tombstone for her son who had served in World War 1. John B. was dead before World War 1 and too old to serve.
I can understand how the mistake happened – most of John and Jane’s children are buried in Kessler Cemetery, Mercer, Ohio. John B., however, is not – he is buried in Backestro Cemetery, Adams, Indiana. John and Margaret lived in Adams, Indiana so you would think they would be buried there but Margaret, Charles Edward and John Fred are buried in Kessler. No one knows where John, husband of Jane and Margaret, was buried. My guess is Kessler in an unmarked grave. I’ve checked with those who oversee the cemetery and there is a depression next to Jane’s grave that was possibly an interment. My guess is that the family didn’t pay for a tombstone. More on that in another blog sometime.
My working theory is that some of John and Jane’s children were not wild about his second marriage to Margaret. Hence, they would put the “wife of John” on Jane’s tombstone to validate their mother’s marriage to their father. I wanted to narrow down the time period of when the couple split and try to determine how John met Margaret since she was in the next state. I’ll write more about that another time, too.
My thought was to check out, in detail, all of the players – meaning looking more closely at all of the children of the two couples and their spouses. I used Excel to list all of them, the date and the place where I had a record they could be found. I realized there was a lot I did not know. I’ll be writing in the next few weeks about some of the interesting and sad finds I made but for now, back to the Christmas night find.
I was using FamilySearch.org image feature which I highly recommend. If you haven’t used it you must because almost all of the wonderful information I have compiled lately on this family is from this unindexed, convoluted place. You must try it! Images do not mean pictures as in photos. Images mean they are a picture of a document. They look just like the other microfilmed documents that are indexed on the site. The images are not always orderly, meaning you might find a death record next to a marriage consent. You must take it slow, examine closely and click away.
To use images, sign into Familysearch.org, on the ribbon click “Search” and the “Images.” Under “Place” type whatever area you are researching. In this case, I was looking for a deed record for Mercer County, Ohio because John and Jane were last found together there in July 1860 in the US Federal Census. I entered in Place “United States, Ohio, Mercer” and clicked Search Image Groups. When I try to duplicate that search today, however, it will only let me enter Ohio, United States. Don’t know why it’s been changed but no worries! On the left hand side of the screen “Places Within” is a drop down so I will scroll to Mercer [County]. There are 321 record types to look at – woo hoo, that’s a lot of info that may or may not be relevant.
The 1860 US federal census showed John and Jane living two residences away from their married daughter, Maria Duer Kuhn, in Liberty Township, Mercer, Ohio. Liberty Township should have been where I was looking for a record of the deed for the property but I didn’t find that township specifically. (I first tried the Mercer County, Ohio property appraiser site and did not find the record there). With the options limited, I clicked on FamilySearch.org on Celina, Land Record 1834-2003, etc. I was thinking that Celina was the county seat and that’s where the deed may have been recorded.
Remember, these images are not indexed so I decided I would open the page to as full a view as possible (meaning I clicked the > on the right hand side and was just mindlessly clicking image after image zeroing in on the years 1850 (when I last knew the family was in Killbuck, Holmes, Ohio based on the census and 1866 when John and Margaret had their first child together and Jane died. Sometime in those 16 years perhaps there was a deed in Mercer and I wanted to know which wife was on it.) Turns out that wasn’t correct but that’s another story…
It was a very good practice that I had first become familiar with children and their spouses. After just a few minutes, on image 130 of 1112, I discovered the record at the top of the page. Look at the second from last entry above for Grantees Ceraldo, John F. & Mary Ceraldo.
John and Jane’s daughter, Mary Ann, has been elusive and here I found a deed record for her and her husband in 1887. I about jumped out of my chair!
All I knew of Mary was that she had married twice, to a James Furman in July 1875 and to John L. Ceraldo in April 1879, both in Mercer County, Indiana. I can’t find her in the 1860 or 1900 census. There is a child, Daniel, listed with the couple in 1870 US federal census, however, it must be from a previous relationship of John’s. That is the only record for the child I could find. No marriage record for a possible first wife. No burial records. Nada!
John Ceraldo was a naturalized citizen having been born in Mexico and serving in the cavalry for the Union during the Civil War. He could not read nor write so his name is spelled in multiple ways in the few records found. The couple eventually ended up in Michigan where Mary died in 1909. Sadly, John, the informant, knew John Duer was Mary’s father but did not mention Jane as her mother. The mother space is recorded as Unknown. Jane, having died in 1866, probably never met John but why didn’t Mary ever talk about her? This seemed to be a pattern with the younger children of John and Jane as James William and Angeline’s death certificates list an incorrect first name or record unknown. More Duer mysteries! Why was Jane forgotten by her youngest children?
What was so awesome about this find was that I wasn’t looking for it. I also was able to place the couple in Ohio as they had not yet relocated to Michigan. The gap between 1880 and 1900 is large so any find in that period is just wonderful. I also discovered they continued living in Jefferson Township, since at least 1870, and not Liberty Township where siblings had settled.
I don’t know the relationship of Daniel Webster, also listed as a Grantee, is to the couple. That’s another clue I have to pursue.
I’m looking forward to more Duer finds this year. Since my top 10 blogs from 2020 showed that my readers love the unexpected, I thought you might enjoy the following article in the Washington Post (3 Jan 2021) Near the End of life, my hospice patient had a ghostly visitor who altered his view of the world, by Scott Janssen, originally published in Pulse – Voices From the Heart of Medicine. If only John or Jane would give me a visit!
My blog plans have changed due to the events of this past week. Originally, I was going to share a find I discovered by accident on Christmas evening but that will wait.
When I began Genealogy At Heart, my goal was to post blogs to further the genealogical education of everyone interested in family history. One of the ways I would accomplish that objective was through sharing heartwarming genealogical finds.
My heart hurt this week by the lack of respect and the irresponsibility that was shown by the mob that attacked the Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6. Their denial of the truth and their selfish actions are abhorrent. Although I have only once previously written about my personal political beliefs I cannot remain silent on what occurred on Wednesday.
I suspect, based on your belief system, you may stop reading this – here’s why you shouldn’t do that and try to keep an open mind. We can’t pick and choose our ancestors. You need to be open to all the records of their lives so it would be in your best interest now to practice that today and continue reading.
A genealogist needs to be respectful, responsible, honest and hard working. I believe those 4 traits are beneficial to all people in every career field. Today, I’m providing some genealogical education since it appears, based on the latest poll, that 45% of U.S.Republicans believe that the mob’s behavior was acceptable. Please know I am not bashing Republicans as my own family had been members since the days of Abraham Lincoln. My intent today is to reflect on the events of January 6, 2021 and compare it to my family research. Wednesday was a historic day for our nation and my family was a part of much of the United States’ history.
As an educator, I often give non-examples to students and I intend to use that method below.
What is a “patriot”? Google’s dictionary states its “1. A person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.”
Those who believe that storming the Capitol is acceptable behavior are calling themselves patriots. Donald Trump and his daughter also used the term, though she deleted it. I vehemently disagree with them.
I vigorously support my country and I am willing to defend it against enemies/detractors. The key word is “enemies” which the Google dictionary defines as “a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.” I am not hostile (unfriendly/antagonistic); those who took part in the assault on the Capitol were and they were violating the sanctity of our country’s rules of law. The legislators tasked with certifying the election results were not the enemy; they were following the law. They were voted in by their constituents to do that job. Those who tried to prevent them from their jobs are the enemies and are not patriots.
An enemy is not someone who merely disagrees with you. An enemy uses violence because they want it their way and believe their view is the only one that matters. Patriots DO NOT act in that manner.
Here are some examples of Non Patriots and Patriots:
Non Patriot
Photo texted to author by colleague. Wearing the shirt “Camp Auschwitz” exemplifies being a NON PATRIOT. There are no words I can use in a family blog to describe someone who mocks the 1.1 MILLION who died at Auschwitz.
Patriot
PATRIOT George Willard Harbaugh (1924-2004) served in World War 2. He was captured and held by the Nazi regime in Camp Stalag Luft 4 Gross-Tychow & after the notorious Black March, was confined at Camp Wobbelin Bei Ludwigsloft. He earned a Purple Heart. I knew this Patriot; he would be appalled by what happened on Wednesday. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He is my husband’s uncle.
Non Patriot
Photo on site by Simon Davis-Cohen, no photographer noted. Antagonizing those who are serving to protect and defend the citizens of this country who follow the rules of law are NON PATRIOTS. Granted, this country needs to clean up the folks in blue as not all of them are fit to serve. It is still inexcusable to resort to violence.
Patriot
Patriot George Bryant Harbaugh (1893-1954) served in World War 1. He was injured at Chateau-Thierry, France on 14 July 1918 & in the Argonne Forest on 1 Oct 1918 supporting France from the “enemy.” He earned a Purple Heart. He and wife Elsie (1896-1968) to his right, were the parents of PATRIOT George Willard Harbaugh & they are my husband’s maternal grandparents.
Non Patriot
Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP. Carrying a flag does not make you a Patriot; standing for the ideals of the country does. This clown, Jake Angeli, (clearly man is not the right word; my middle school males are more manly then this person) needs someone with sense to tell him it is not Halloween, he isn’t a shaman, Q Anon is FAKE NEWS, nor is it appropriate to mock the hallowed halls of Congress. Screaming is also inappropriate. Guess he never learned how to choose a positive peer group either based on those surrounding him who are allowing his poor conduct. All pictured are NON PATRIOTS. (I just keep thinking – where were the women in these men’s lives? How could you raise a son to act this way? Why would you date/marry someone with these character traits? Come on, ladies, step it up to become Patriots!)
Patriots
PATRIOTS are not found just in the Military. On 4 Jul 1923 these Patriots were celebrating our country’s independence. They were immigrants who were mocked for where they happened to be born & the religion they chose to follow, worked their entire lives in dangerous low level jobs, endured a KKK cross burning yet they so strongly believed in the ideals of this nation they became citizens. Left to right, boarder living with my grandparents, my maternal grandmother Mary Koss (1900-1985) & my great uncle Joseph Koss Jr. (1902-1993).
Non Patriot
Getty Images/Photographer unspecified. I have no idea what the above person’s education level is, however, he made a poor choice in breaking into the Capitol. Did he never pass Civics?! That “duh” look on his face shows he has perfected playing stupid over the years to get out of trouble. Education or lack of it does not make one a Patriot. Storming the Capitol to interrupt the important business of certifying a national election to attest the leader of the free world is most definitely something a NON PATRIOT would do.
PatriotPatriot
My maternal grandfather, Ivan “John” Koss (1892-1970), left, did not have the opportunity to attend even 1 day of school. He often endured the slur, DP, at his job with U.S. Steel in Gary, Lake, Indiana. He wanted to become a U.S. citizen so badly but feared he would not pass the test due to his illiteracy. The girl pictured below him is his daughter Mary Lou (1931-1999). She tutored him and he successfully passed to become a citizen in 1942. She is shown on the bike she was given for her help in allowing him to reach his dream. She went on to volunteer with her chosen political party as an adult for years to ensure that everyone eligible could exercise their voting rights. Even though he had a wooden leg, John hobbled in the cold Indiana weather to vote in every election. They were true PATRIOTS even though they belonged to different political parties.
Non Patriot
Photo by Mike Theiler, Reuters
Parading into the Capitol with the symbol of racism from THE LOSING SIDE in the Civil War is demonstrating NON PATRIOTISM, along with prejudice, white supremacy, a disregard for the feelings of others AND the stupidity of not realizing that the south lost the Civil War over 155 years ago. Get over it and stop believing the lie that the war was about state rights.
My 1st cousin, 3 times removed, Jacob Wilson Parrott (1843-1908) was left orphaned at age 10. He later became a private in the Union Army, Company K, 33rd Ohio Infantry in 1861. He volunteered in 1862 to infiltrate Confederate lines and hijacked the locomotive, The General, from Atlanta, Georgia. He was successful in destroying the train, however he was captured and severely beaten 110 times in an attempt to make him talk. He refused to be broken and later escaped. Captured again, he was exchanged in a soldier swap. He was taken to Washington, D.C. where he met President Abraham Lincoln and was the first recipient of the Medal of Honor. This PATRIOT, like John McCain and George Willard Harbaugh who were captured, was not a “loser” as the current individual residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would call him. A loser and Non Patriot is someone who incites others to “be worst!” and then watches the events unfold from safety. In other words, they are cowards.
Non Patriot
Photo by Saul Loep/AFP/Getty Images. If you are proud while breaking the law you are a NON PATRIOT. Taking what doesn’t belong to you makes you a thief, aka criminal. This individual did not come to unite the country but to take home a souvenir. Shallow and selfish!
Patriot
This is the grave marker for my immigrant 2nd great grandfather, Henry Kuhn and his wife, Maria Duer. Henry, born in Bedesbach, Pfalz, Bavaria arrived at 16 in the U.S. At age 30, in 1862, he joined the Union Army & served as a private in the 45th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company 1 in the Civil War. He didn’t have to, he wanted to. He is a PATRIOT and I am proud to be a Daughter of the Union Veterans because of his belief that our country be “UNITED.”
Non Patriot
Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Image. Richard “Bigo” Barnett of Gravette, Arkansas – you are a NON PATRIOT. Poor baby, was it too long you had to stand that made you have to sit at someone’s desk and put your feet up? You are not even close to being George Patton Reincarnated as your Facebook page is titled. Taking mail that doesn’t belong to you makes you a thief. Leaving a quarter doesn’t make it right. Your actions show your lack of character. You would think by age 60 wisdom would have been involved but clearly Small Minded Bigo has none .
Patriot
Like Henry Kuhn, PATRIOT Samuel “August” Samuelson (1839-1908) was an immigrant from Stora Haddebo, Vastra Harg, Ostergotland, Sweden who arrived in the U.S. at age 12 with his family. Settling in Indiana, he chose to join the 73rd Indiana Infantry Regiment as a private in the Civil War. He was seriously wounded and left for dead at Stone River, Tennessee but he survived. Although he suffered the remainder of his life from his injuries, this PATRIOT refused to give up and went on to become a prosperous farmer. He is my husband’s paternal 2nd great grandfather. You would never have seen this man breaking into someone’s office, rifling through their belongings and putting his disabled leg up on their furniture.
Result of the actions of a Non Patriot
CNN article by Harmeet Kaur, no photographer noted. Vandalizing property is only done by NON PATRIOTS. Destroying historical property is only done by thugs and idiots. No “good” person would act in this manner.
Patriot
My husband’s 2nd great maternal grandfather, John A. Long, (he was the grandfather of Patriot John Bryant Harbaugh) so hated slavery that he was run out of Morristown, Jefferson, Tennessee at age 16 because of his views. Relocating to Indiana, he decided to enlist, at age 49, as a teamster with Union Army Company I, Indiana 9th Infantry Regiment. His experiences took him all the way to Texas. He mustered out on 28 September 1865. John Long demonstrates you can be a PATRIOT at any age.
Non Patriot Action
Photo by Melina Mara/Washington Post. Leaving a mess behind for someone else to clean up is what a NON PATRIOT does. Did no one ever teach this group to leave your area better than how you found it?
Patriot
Leonard Harbaugh (1749-1822), my husband’s 5th great grand uncle, was a carpenter who helped build the original White House, the contractor for the War and Treasury Buildings and the Foreman of Carpenters for the Capitol after it needed to be restored due to the previous siege by the British in August 1814. He and his wife are buried in the Capitol Cemetery in Washington, D.C. I can only imagine how that PATRIOT would have viewed those who vandalized his hard work. Bet he always left a clean job site!
Non Patriot
Jenny Cudd – seriously, grow up. You are a NON PATRIOT and act like a spoiled child. As a white woman you sicken me! Maybe you need to think about your actions as it probably explains why you weren’t elected mayor in Midland, TX in 2019. Kudos to your community to seeing what you represent.
Patriot
Above is the grave marker from Covententer’s Cemetery, Jackson, Mahoning, Ohio, of my 5th great grandfather, John Duer (1748-1831) who served as a private in the Sussex County, New Jersey Militia for the Continental Army. He had a son who served in the War of 1812 and a grand son who served in the Mexican American War. Clearly, this PATRIOT led by example and instilled in his descendants the importance of protecting our democracy.
Actions of a Non Patriot
Photo by Katherine Frey/Washington Post. Only a NON PATRIOT would think it was acceptable to deface something that does not belong to them. For all those real Patriots who were injured doing what was right, the NON PATRIOT’s action makes a mockery of what real Patriots endured. This statue purportedly was vandalized with blood. Only a mentally ill person or someone who has no understanding of the dangers of body fluid transmission would do something like this. Guess that explains why the vast majority of the mob didn’t wear a mask or social distance.
Patriot
My husband’s maternal 4th great grandfather, Christian Thomas Harbaugh, a member of the Moravian Church that opposed violence knew it was the right thing to do to stand up to the invading British Army. Christian was commissioned in Christian Smith’s Company as an Ensign on 29 March 1779 in Frederick County, Maryland. Putting your country first demonstrates being a true PATRIOT.
Non Patriot
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images. NON PATRIOTS believe stealing is acceptable. You might not expect that from a father of 5 with a physician wife but Adam Johnson from Parrish, Florida thought his white male privilege made him cute and justified his actions. It does not – he needs to be in jail. He’s a danger to raising those children. I wouldn’t want his wife to provide me medical assistance even if I was near death. He is maskless and not social distancing. When he gets home he can easily spread covid to his family. She needs to lose her job.
Patriot Sadly, there is no picture for Wilson Williams (1754-1831), my husband’s 4th great paternal grandfather who served in Hempstead Harbor, Long Island, New York’s Militia Company in 1775. In keeping with his religious belief, his grave was simply marked with a stone that has disappeared over time. He is buried next to his wife in the Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery, Long Island, New York. Family lore states the Hessians invaded his home but were driven out as the soldiers thought the fireplace was possessed by the devil. It actually was chestnuts, stored on a niche in the fireplace, exploding from the fire. Wilson and his sons were able to use the Hessian’s arms to keep them from returning. What a PATRIOT!
In my family tree, I have more than the 12 Patriots I have highlighted above but these were the individuals that came to mind as I watched in horror on Wednesday at the events unfolded at the Capital.
My Patriots were NOT perfect people, just like every other human. They did, however, strive to do what was right for their country. I honor their courage and spirit. As you reflect on the events of the past week, please think of your Patriot ancestors and pledge that you will follow in their footsteps. We have a lot of work to do in this country and now is the time to get involved.
