History of Edward Dillon

According to the history of Henry County, Edward L. Dillon was born in Dublin, Ireland.  Immigration records show an Edward L. Dillon immigrating to America in 1825.  It is believed that Edward came to America through the port in Baltimore, Maryland.  The 1830 census records Edward living in Cooper County, Missouri.  Living with Edward in 1830 was one male under the age of five, two males age five to ten, one male ten to fifteen, one male twenty to thirty and one male thirty to forty (this would be Edward), two females under the age of five, one female fifteen to twenty and one female twenty to thirty (wife Margaret Hardy).  Census years 1840, 1850 and 1860 find Edward living in Sarcoxie, Jasper County, Missouri.

            While searching the Circuit court records in Cooper County, Missouri I found two court cases involving Edward Dillon.  Both court cases involved Edward being the defendant in cases involving outstanding debt.  The first case involved debt owed to a William Wallace for an assortment of clothing, cloth and sundries.  Wallace claimed Edward owed him for these goods.  Edward presented evidence he had worked for Wallace to pay for these goods.  The final entry in this case was a note which stated Edward could not be found in Cooper County and could not be summoned to court.  The second case was similar in nature where Edward had purchased services of the local blacksmith.  As with the first case the last entry noted Edward could not be found in Cooper County.  The second case did mention two sons Lamb and George. The case was apparently resolved by confiscation of land owned by Edward in Cooper County. Dates on these two cases ranged in time from 1841 to 1843.    

            The historical sketch of Alfred Dillon, grandson of Edward Dillon, states Edward died in Sarcoxie, Missouri and wife Margaret Hardy died in Cedar County, Missouri. From the obituary of Thomas Dillon, son of Edward we know he also had sons named C.H. (Charles), Joseph, E. J. (Edward) and Richard (William).  The 1850 census also list other children living with Edward and Margaret, but without further documentation I am hesitant attaching these children to Edward.  Most likely they are the children of Margaret and Edward, but could also be children of a son or other family member.

Private Robert Anders

Cathey’s in Cooper County, Missouri

The following is the earliest record I have found of Captain George Cathey living in Cooper County, Missouri.  His son John Cathey was also summoned at the same time for contempt; again the charge was for not showing as a juror.  There were no additional papers in the file indicating if George or John paid a fine or if the charges were dismissed.  The date on the summons is April which traditionally was the end of the spring circuit court term.  This would place George in Cooper County as early as March of 1819, the spring term of the court usually started in March.  It stands to reason if the court was depending on him as a juror for the spring term he was most likely in the county prior to March of 1819.

Territory of Missouri, County of Cooper, United States of America.

To the sheriff of the said County Greetings.   We command you to summon George Cathey to appear before the Judge of Circuit court within and for the said County of Cooper on the first day of our next Term of the said Court to show cause if any he has or can say why the said Court should not proceed to fine him for not attending on the first day of last term of the said court as a grand juror agreeably to the summoning of the sheriff of the said county and leave them there this writ.   Writing my hand and private seal (there being no official one) as Clerk of the said court this twelfth day of April eighteen hundred and nineteen of the (unreadable) the United States the (unreadable).

Robert P. Clark

CCCC

Charge: Contempt of court for not appearing as a juror.

Source:  Cooper County Circuit Court, Box 1, page 33-34, reel C36908

Notes:  Cooper County was organized December 17, 1818 (effective February 1, 1819) from Howard County

Social networking and genealogy

I have spent the last couple of weeks exploring Facebook to determine its value as a tool for genealogy research.  I began with building a page for the Familytomb website. The trouble with the create a page for a website option is you are limited in your interactions with the rest of the Facebook community.  The only type of interaction is for a member to become a fan of the Familytomb website page.  As a website I can not friend other researchers, join groups or add applications.  

Next, I developed a personal site for me, but used the name Familytomb (first name) Genealogy (last name) as my account.  This type of account allowed me to friend, join groups and use the additional applications.  The first application I tried was Family Tree.  At first I was very excited about being able to upload a Gedcom file and share via a tab on my page.  After the successful upload of the Gedcom, I change all the settings to public so everyone could view my tree.  My husband went to his Facebook account to see the uploaded Gedcom; he could not see the uploaded information, just “my tree”.  In order to view the Gedcom file you have to go to view other trees, look for Familytomb and then view.  Most casual visitors are not going to try and figure this out.  The only option was to add all the info to “my tree” by hand!  With fifteen years of data that is just not going to happen!  After spending the better part of a day just trying to work this out, I gave up.  Next, I tried another application called Familylink.com.  Familylink takes you to their site, once you have an account you have a reciprocal back link to Facebook but a dedicated tab does not show on your Facebook page.

After two weeks of exploring these options I have kept the Familytomb fan page and deactivated the more traditional personal page.  Now some of you may be wondering why I do not just create a personal page with my real name.  I have many reasons to not have a public page on Facebook, the main one is due to my occupation.  As a teacher I do not want to be in a position to deny friend request from my students, nor do I want to have students as friends.  I know many educators have pages and I am not passing judgment on those who do, it is just not for me.  My only goal in joining Facebook was to increase the visibility of the Familytomb website and the number potential “cousins” who find this website.

In conclusion, for the amount of time and effort it requires I found Facebook for genealogy purposes to be generally ineffective.  I have my hands full keeping up with the blog, database and research.   Find-A-Grave, Ancestry message boards and the US GenWeb county pages have proven to be a better way to promote the Familytomb site and connect with other researchers.  If you want to connect with friends, classmates and long lost boyfriends Facebook is great, but for genealogy purposes I would not recommend it as a useful tool.  I would welcome any feedback on your success with Facebook as a genealogist, there is always a chance I was doing it wrong!

Visit the Familytomb’s Facebook page and become a fan!

We are all shocked and saddened at the devastation in Haiti following the massive earthquake on Tuesday.  One way to help is to donate to the American Red Cross.  Please keep all those effected and the rescue and aid workers in your thoughts.

The Familytomb

            Since it’s inception on January 1^st of 2007 the Familytomb website has gone from 25 visitors each month to 2506 visits in December of 2009 alone.  The database has increased from about 900 names in 2007 to 1600 in 2008, and over 2000 names in 2009! 

In 2008 the Familytomb had over 10,400 visitors, and of those 5,400 were first time visitors.  2009 had 21,000 visitors, and 7,200 first timers.  Progress has been made on all the families in the Familytomb database.  The year was marked by two major breaks on the Behen family with the maiden name of Mary Nee Dowling-Behen, wife of Andrew.  Frank Behan, brother of Michael, was located in Chicago and Catherine, sister of Michael, was found in Toledo, OH.  I began entering data on the Sappington family who lived and died only a few miles from my current location.  I have also begun to add data on the Faubion and Wise families.  Several unknown photos have been positively identified by Thacker and Ash researchers. I cannot express how grateful I am to these folks for providing the needed information for a positive identification.  Lambeth researchers have been more than generous with photos and information this year providing a more complete picture of the Lambeths in Missouri.  The Lambeths remain my favorite family to research.  I think your first family always holds a special place in a genealogist heart; they are kind of like you’re first born.  You’re not supposed to have favorites, but I do. As anyone who engages in the pursuit of family history knows, there is always more data to enter and ancestors waiting to be found.  I am committed to continuing the search for our families tangled roots and branches in 2010.

  I would like to thank all the researchers I have been in contact with over the past year.  The Familytomb database has been greatly expanded because of your help and willingness to share information.  I especially appreciate the researcher who not only sends information but also documentation.  Your documentation saves me a great deal of time, as I have said in the past very little goes into the database without solid documentation.  Your documentation keeps me from backtracking and confirming information.  My thanks to the Lambeth researchers who remain in constant contact and who have taken time out of their family vacations to Missouri to meet with me.  I look forward to many more cemetery and lunch meetings with my new found Lambeth cousins.  I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge Lori, my expert on the McFatrich/Bryant family.  Most of the information and pictures for these lines have come directly through her research. Thanks, Lori.  I would also like to thank my main gravedigger.  My husband has suffered through poor directions, heat, unbearable humidity, bugs, bitter cold, thorns, poison ivy and near catastrophic emotional breakdowns on my part to find, photograph and clean graves in Illinois and Missouri.  Without his expert city driving, (St. Louis to be exact), shear brut strength and persistence much of the information on some the most overgrown cemetery locations would not have been found.  The Cass/Bluegrass cemetery in Litchfield, Illinois ranks as his finest day. He is the most patient and loving husband a genealogist could ask for.

We have just completed a major upgrade and site re-design, this meant the loss of the forum but all the information on the forum part of the site has been preserved either through the blog side of the site or on the main pages.  I promise to leave the site alone and just do research and data entry for a while (yes, my fingers are crossed).

Finally, my annual shameless plug for the continuation of the Familytomb website, on all of the blog and data pages you will see Google ads (usually at the bottom or left sidebar).  It cost you nothing to click on these links but the Familytomb gets credit and funds each time you click, not a lot but enough to cover the hosting of the site.  Also, if you use the Amazon link on the blog page to place any order through Amazon the site will also receive funds. You can also order a subscription to Footnote through the blog site and the Familytomb will get credit. If you find this site useful please consider helping to maintaining this site.

The Familytomb would like to wish everyone a safe and prosperous 2010, may all your brickwalls crumble and the documentation you seek will be at the local courthouse!

Stanton and Behan Genealogy in Adrian, Michigan

Many thanks to Patti for the following:

Catalogue of the Officers, Teachers and Students of the Adrian Union Seminary; Adrian, Michigan, 1852-1853. This is another Google Books find!  The Catalogue list students and academic level for the above listed school year, surnames of Stanton and Behen are both listed.  The Stanton’s listed are Mary, Thomas, Daniel, John and James.  The approximate grade level and subsequent approximate ages based of the grade levels correspond to the older brothers and sister of Elizabeth Stanton, wife of Michael Behan/Behen.  I believe these are the children of Peter and Helen (Raycraft or Weir) Stanton.  The Stanton family was in Adrian, Michigan between the years of 1840 and sometime after 1860.  I have yet to locate the Peter and Helen in the 1870 census.  I also believe, but can not completely confirm Peter had a brother Patrick who was also in Adrian with his family. 

The Behan/Behen’s listed in the Catalogue are not of our direct descent but must have been closely related.  The Behan’s who were in Adrian during this time; were also in Toledo for a time and had contact with the Behan’s of the Familytomb as late as the last generation. Michael Behan also married Elizabeth Stanton who as mentioned above was from Adrian, MI.  Both families have been in the same places, about the same time periods and named children almost identically.  There is no doubt in my mind there is a direct connection somewhere in the time period of 1820-1840 with the generation of Andrew.   A researcher of the Adrian, Michigan Behan’s has a picture of their Mitch and our Ed Behan taken together outside of the Knights of Columbus hall in Sedalia, MO.  We believe the picture was taken when Ed became a Grand Knight.

Mitch and Ed Behen-Sedalia, Missouri about 1940

If you have not used Google booksas an aid in your genealogy research I suggest your give it a try.  There are other years of the Adrian, Michigan Union Seminary available on Google books.  I believe all of them are down-loadable in a PDF format.