Mystery solved!

I have written before about my great-great-grandparents, David Philip Dean and Sarah "Jennie" Brattain Dean. I had always wondered how they met. David Philip Dean was born in Iowa, and he lived there until he was an older adult, when most of the family moved to Washington. Jennie, however, was from Indiana. How did they come together? At first, I thought David may have been visiting his mother's brothers, who did have farms in Indiana, but the Dean family bible made it clear that they were married in Iowa.

Recently, my mother found the original marriage certificate for David and Jennie among my grandmother's documents. One of the witnesses listed is "Jackson Wisehart". Wisehart is Jennie's mother's maiden name. Indeed, her mother, Louisa Wisehart Brattain, had an older brother named Andrew Jackson Wisehart (yes, really). Jackson was married to Hiram Brattain's younger sister, Christena. Hiram Brattain was Louisa's husband and Jennie's father. So, Andrew Jackson Wisehart was Jennie's uncle by birth and by marriage.

So, why was Andrew Jackson Wisehart present at the wedding of David and Jennie? The documents I found for him suggested he was born and died in Indiana. So, I searched further and I found this copy of his obituary:

If you click on it, you'll be able to see it better. Basically, it turns out that Jackson Brattain spent a chunk of time in DesMoines, Iowa, building a business there from 1872-1894, before returning to Indiana. His niece must have visited him and her aunt there, met David, and married him in 1876. I wonder if she was there because her aunt, Christena, was ill and needed some help with her younger children.  Sadly, Christena died almost a year to the day after the wedding of her niece.

Mystery solved!

David and Jennie Dean Family Bible

I blogged previously about the serendipitous events that brought the Philip and Catherine Welsheimer Family Bible into my life. For Christmas, I received another priceless gift: the family Bible of David Philip Dean and his wife Sara "Jennie" Brattain Dean. They would be my great-great grandparents. David was the grandson of Philip and Catherine Welsheimer. Their Bible was found among my grandmother's things. I assume it was sent to her by my great-aunt, Lillian Huffstetler.

I wanted to share some pictures and items from the Bible so other family members can see it.

Outside cover

Inside cover. The text reads:
Family Bible of David P. Dean and Sarah Jane Brattain-Dean who were married August 22, 1876
DesMoines, Iowa The above names were written by Eva D. Trowbridge July 14, 1961 at the home of
Manie Dean Edmundson 3227 Wright Ave Bremerton, Wash
[Eva and Manie were daughters of David and Sarah]

Frontpiece of the Bible. It dates to 1863. I don't know
if the Bible belonged to one of them prior to marriage
or if it was purchased for their family from an older printing.
Note the pages pinned on the side. I removed the
pins to prevent rusting and damage to the pages

This is what was written on the back of the tract pinned to the opposite page of the Bible's frontpiece. On the top is the name "Ann Dean" in very faint letters. Ann was David's mother, Anna Welsheimer Dean, who died in 1905, which means she is not the person who wrote the rest of the page. I suspect it was David Dean who did so:

This tract was given to D.P. Dean , about the year 1860 or 61. He was walking along the road on his way to his Uncle Jim Finch's [David's paternal aunt, Sara, had married James Finch], when two men on passing by in a one-horse buggy handed him this tract and one other. This circumstance is very vivid in my mind at this time, Feb 16, 1920, 69-70 years ago. This piece of road was what is now Court Avenue between 20th and 30th sts, DesMoines, Iowa.

The second tract has the same story written on the back, but it was written in March 1916

A number of newspaper clippings were stored in the Bible, including this one from January 30, 1907, describing the wedding of David and Sarah's daughter, Madge, to Herbert Swenson, in Altoona, Iowa. (Clicking on the picture should give you a larger version to read)

Here is a sadder clipping. This is an obituary for David and Sarah's son, Ralph, who died at 18 in June of 1918. From the newspaper account it sounds like he had suffered from illness for much of his life. A number of clippings related to Ralph were in the Bible. He was obviously much missed.

An interesting clipping that showed how David and Sarah kept in touch with their extended family. The article is from a Middletown, Indiana, newspaper and about the wedding of L.K. Wisehart in 1908 or 1909. I don't know who L.K. was, but the article mentions he was the son of Richmond Wisehart. Richmond was Sarah Brattain Dean's maternal uncle, the brother of her mother, Louisa Wisehart.

Here's a fun clip! Apparently in 1936 David Dean grew a 2lb tomato and a 7lb potato! 

This advertisement answered a question I had long had: when, exactly, did the Dean family move to Washington? The answer, apparently, is sometime soon after Dec 7, 1910, when they sold their farm and equipment in Altoona, Iowa

Lillian Dean's wedding to Raymond Stiles in November 1911, Whidbey Island, Washington

The church bulletin announcing Sarah Brattain Dean's death. April 6, 1919

The pages before the New Testament have family records. This is the marriages page. It appears there are two different hands that wrote here. Below, I put the notes by that second hand in {}. That second hand seems to take over entirely after 1907, but perhaps earlier. Although the first hand could be Sarah and the later David, I have an alternative theory: the first hand is Anne Welsheimer Dean's. After her death in 1905 (or perhaps when she was incapacitated earlier), either Sarah or David took over adding to the Bible. That theory is based on a) the fact that the hand seems to disappear before 1905 (I think, some entries are hard to tell); b) the writing has an archaic look to me; and c) the handwriting reminds me somewhat of the Welsheimer family Bible, which was written by one of Anne's parents.

The writing is as follows:
Aug 22nd 1876 Mr. David Philip Dean to Miss Sarah Jane Brattain
{Ceremony took place at residence of J. Wisehart SE Corner 12th and Court Ave. DesMoines, Iowa}

Miss Mary Louanna Dean to Mr. Will Edmundson Dec 29 1897 {At home near Altoona NW4 NW4 12.79.23}

Ethel Gertrude Dean to William Casebeer Dec. 25, 1900 last Christmas of the 19th century {at same house as above described}

[note: not clear if this entry is in the first or second hand]: Madge Estella Dean to Mr. Herbert L. Swenson Jan. 30th, 1907 {at same house as above described}

{Aura Dean to Karl E. Hodges at the house of her uncle Ro E. Fulton 915 Queen Anne Ave. Seattle Washington, Sept. 7, 1910.

Lillian Dean to Raymond C. Stiles. Wesley M.C. NE Corner East 11? Des Moines St. DesMoines Iowa Nov 8, 1911

Eva Dean to Robert W. Trowbridge at M.E.C. in Coupeville Washington Nov. 15th 1911.

Carl Dean to Vera Hancock Sept 1916

Merl to Irene Cotte in Chicago June 1919


Another mystery solved! I have often wondered how David and Sarah met, since she was from Indiana and he was from Iowa. I wondered if he'd visited some of his mother's kin who lived not far from Sarah's family. However, based on this entry, it appears that Sarah was actually in Iowa visiting her mother's Wisehart kin, although I'm not sure who.

The second page of Family Records includes the births. Most of this page is written in the original handwritting from the first page, perhaps Sarah's. There are some notes of deaths, but I think those come from Eva and Marnie, as noted on the inside cover of the Bible. I've put their notes in {} below.

Mary Louanna Dean July 26, 1877
Madge Estella Dean, Sept 14, 1878 {D- April 12 '66}
Ethel Gertrude Dean, Oct. 29, 1879
Daisy Dean, May 8, 1881.
Harvey Edwin Dean, April 18, 1883
Aura Dean, Sept. 10, 1884 {D - Aug 5 '64}
Eva Dean, Aug. 31, 1886
Edna Dean, Oct. 10, 1887
Jimmie [Jimmie is crossed out and James written in} Dean, Feb. 16, 1889
Infant Son, Aug. 10, 1890.
Lillian Dean, July 21, 1891 {D - May 9 '62}
David Merlin Dean, Feb. 24, 1894.
Carl Phillip Dean, Dec. 14, 1895.
Ralph Hiram Dean, June 18, 1899.

I suppose it's good they stopped having kids, as they'd completely run out of room on the page! I will note that this is 14 children in a span of 22 years

The final page of the Family Records is the saddest, the list of deaths. The first five names are in the same hand. The next two may be in the same hand that wrote the comments and later entries on the marriage page. The final deaths, those of Sarah and David themselves, appear to have been written by Eva and Marnie in the 1960s.

First hand:
Harvey Edwin Dean, Feb. 7, 1885.
Daisy Dean, Feb. 8, 1885.
Edna Dean, Feb. 5, 1890.
Jimmie Dean, Feb. 9, 1890.
Infant Son, Aug. 10, 1890.

Second Hand:
Ethel Gertrude Dean, Feb. 11, 1901.
Ralph Hiram Dean, June 12, 1918

Eva and Marnie:
Sarah Jane (Brattain) Dean, B. Nov 7, 1854, D. 1919
David Philip Dean, B. Feb 16 1852, D. Apr 16 1941

The deaths page is particularly heartbreaking. Six of their fourteen children died young. Harvey and Daisy died on subsequent days in 1885. Perhaps there was some disease that went through the family? Harvey would have been six and Daisy three. Something similar happened five years later, in February of 1890, when two children died within days of each other. Edna would have been two and Jimmie just shy of his first birthday. Later that year, the unnamed son was likely a stillbirth. And, as discussed above, their youngest child died at eighteen. We forget, sometimes, how lucky we are to live in this age of medical miracles. 

Philips. Lots and lots of Philips.

A few weeks ago, I came in contact with a distant cousin, Philip Hodges. We share a great-great grandfather, David Philip Dean. I sent a short email laying out the history of the name "Philip" in our family. I realized I'd never written it up for this blog, so here it is:

The first known Philip in our direct ancestry was Johannes Philip Welsheimer. "Johannes" was his baptismal name. Normally, this name is not used except in legal and religious contexts. So, he would have been known as "Philip". Philip was born around 1730 in Berlin and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1766. He was one of a surprisingly large number of "Pennsylvania Dutch" to enter that colony in the early to mid 1700's. This article discusses some of the legal and practical barriers that were put in place to ensure the new Germany-speaking settlers wouldn't change the essentially English character of the colony. Whatever his reasons for emigrating, he was dedicated to his new country and eventually served in the Revolutionary War as a gunsmith. 

His son, also named Philip, immigrated to the U.S. with his father. He was born in 1757 in Berlin, which made him 9 at the time of immigration. He may have been the only family member to come with Philip I, or he may have had a brother named Frederick. It's also possible that a wife or daughters were present but not considered important enough to record. Philip II was a stocking weaver. His original apprenticeship papers have been preserved. They were drawn up between his father and a stocking maker named Adam Edleman in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1770. The name Edleman suggests that the Welsheimers were part of the German-American community in Pennsylvania and may have preferred to make important deals, like apprenticeships, with fellow Germans. Philip II eventually married a woman named Catherine Hull whose ancestry I have not been able to trace but may have been a member of the Hull/Holl family, a Germany Dutch family involved in cloth manufacturing. Regardless of his feelings about his fellow Germany immigrants, he, too, served in the Revolutionary War, in the 3rd Battalion of the York County Militia. 

Philip II was quite successful and bought a good deal of land in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. In July of 1811, he left home in Cumberland township, Pennsylvania, to walk to the coast where he planned to find a ship headed back to Germany. He wished to buy high-quality looms there that he could not purchase in the United States. However, he died of (apparently) natural causes en route to the ship. His body was found weeks later on the road. 

Philip Welsheimer III was the son of the stocking weaver. He was born in 1791 in what is now West Virginia. He grew up there, was a successful farmer, and married Catharine Duley. Their family Bible was the subject of a previous post on this blog. He moved his family from West Virginia/West Pennsylvania to South Salem, Ohio in the 1830s. He died there in 1864. South Salem is where the Dean family was living, as well. Philip's daughter, Anna, married Abram Dean. In 1847, Abram and Anna Welsheimer Dean moved to Des Moines, Iowa. Their youngest son was born there. He was named David Philip Dean, in honor of his grandfather. 

David Philip was the last common ancestor I shared with Philip Hodges. However, the name lives on in both lines, clearly. I'm descended from David Philip's son, Carl Philip Dean, and then Carl's son Philip Carlyle Dean. Both my father and brother are Philips. Except for Anna, who passed the name into the Dean family, we have an unbroken line of Philips back to the 1730s!

Sarah Jane "Jennie" Brattain Dean

This is a continuation of my series of posts on my great-great-grandparents. Last time, I wrote about David Philip Dean. This post is about his wife, Jennie Brattain.

Sarah Jane Brattain, known as "Sally" or "Jennie", was born November 7, 1855. I had always heard the name pronounced as "Bruh-TAYN", but on-line sources suggest it's usually rhymes with "satin". I don't know if our family line pronounced it differently than others, or if her maiden name came down through the generations with an incorrect pronunciation. In the census of 1860, the family name was spelled "Bratton", suggesting the census worker, at least, heard it more like the "satin" pronunciation (1).

Jennie was the eldest child of Hiram and Louisa May Wisehart Brattain. Unlike her husband, who was born in an area that had only recently been conquered for white settlement, Jennie grew up in an area that was already well integrated into the United States. Indiana had been a state since 1816. Both of Jennie's parents had been born in Indiana and came from families that had moved there from the South in the 1820s or 30s. Family records claimed Jennie was born in Alexandria, Indiana, however, I cannot confirm that with primary documentation. Her family was living in Alexandria in 1880 (2), and perhaps they had been there at the time of her birth, but my first record of the family is in the 1860 census, when they were living in Fall Creek Township, Henry County, Indiana (1). This is where Louisa grew up and where many of her siblings lived.

Jennie was born six years before the start of the Civil War, in which her father served. Hiram Brattain joined Company F, 8th Indiana Volunteers, at the beginning of the war. Later that summer, he fought in the battle of Rich Mountain, West Virginia, where his brother-in-law, Jennie's uncle Philander Wisehart, died in his arms. His regiment mustered out of service on August 6, 1861. Hiram remained in Indiana until August of 1862 when he was commissioned as second lieutenant of Company H, 69th Indiana Infantry, just in time to fight in the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, one of the most complete Union defeats of the war. Most of the men in his regiment were captured by the Confederates, but he luckily escaped. He served until March 27, 1863, when he was forced to resign for health reasons (3).

I can imagine it was a difficult time for Jennie, with her father away and her mother left to manage Jennie and her younger siblings, Augustus and Catherine. (Eventually, the couple had a total of eight children). Luckily, her mother's family was nearby, and her father's family was not much farther. Her father had a farm in those early years, but after the war they relocated to Middleton, Indiana, where in 1870 Hiram listed his occupation as "druggist" (4), and in 1880 as "running sawmill" (5) (Clearly, the degree of specialization required to be a druggist was not what it is now.)

Jennie married David Philip Dean on August 22, 1876, in Des Moines, Iowa, at the age of twenty (6). One mystery I have yet to solve: how did they meet? Did Jennie spend some time in Iowa? Her father had lived there briefly as a child, so perhaps he had friends or relatives there with whom she was staying? Or did David travel to Indiana? This seems more likely. David's maternal grandfather, Philip Welsheimer, lived in Ohio, but he had bought land for his sons in Indiana. David had several Welsheimer uncles in northern Indiana in the 1870s. Perhaps he went to visit or to work for one of them and met Jennie while there? Regardless, they were married in Iowa, not Indiana.

I wrote about their married life and their large family in my previous blog post. I won't repeat it here. I will end with one more mystery, however. Jennie is buried in Coupeville, Washington, next to her husband. According to her Find-A-Grave site, she died March 27, 1919, in Seattle. However, I can find no death certificate or other proof that she died in Washington and not in Iowa. If she did die in Washington, she must have done so very soon after moving there.

[Update]: I guess I just hadn't looked recently for her death certificate. I can't find an image of the original, but FamilySearch has the record for Sarah J. Dean, daughter of Hiram Brattain and Louise Wisehart, dying in Seattle, Washington, March 27, 1919. No cause of death is available in the index record, at least.

_____
References:

1) "United States Census, 1860," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4FB-NF3 : accessed 27 August 2015), Hiram Bratton, Fall Creek Township, Henry, Indiana, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing p. 126, household ID 74, NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 803,266.

2) "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH9K-VRN : accessed 27 August 2015), Hiram Brattans, Alexandria, Madison, Indiana, United States; citing enumeration district 21, sheet 103B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0293; FHL microfilm 1,254,293.

3) Harden, Samuel. 1888. Those I Have Met, or Boys in Blue. William Mitchell, Publisher. Available On-line here: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/inauthors/view?docId=VAC2091&brand=ia-books

4)  "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXXT-VMF : accessed 27 August 2015), Hiram B Brattain, Indiana, United States; citing p. 13, family 100, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 545,822.

5) "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH9K-VRN : accessed 27 August 2015), Hiram Brattans, Alexandria, Madison, Indiana, United States; citing enumeration district 21, sheet 103B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0293; FHL microfilm 1,254,293.

6) "Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJFP-Z8X : accessed 11 January 2015), David P. Dean and Sarah Brattian, 22 Aug 1876; citing Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, United States, county courthouses, Iowa.

David Philip Dean

David and Sarah "Jennie" Dean

So far, my blog topics have been haphazardly chosen, based on whatever interests me at the moment. To try to be more systematic, while also improving the quality of information I have on Wikitree.com, I'm going to create blog posts for each of my great-great-grandparents. Why my great-great-grandparents? Well, since most of them died before 1940, most of the documentary evidence is old enough to be publicly available. I'd like to write about my great-grandparents, as well, but that will be a collaboration with  my parents who have personal memories of them. 

So, on to my first great-great-grandparent: David Philip Dean

David Philip Dean was born February 16 (or 18th), 1852, on his parents' farm in east Des Moines, Iowa, on the banks of what is still known as Dean Lake (at the end of Dean St.). David was the youngest child of Abram Stewart Dean and Anne Retta Welsheimer Dean. His first name may have been in honor of his mother's brother, David Welsheimer, and his middle name, Philip, was in honor of his maternal grandfather. He had four siblings, three of whom were born in Ross County, Ohio, where the family was living before they joined David's grandfather, John Stewart Dean, in claiming land that had been recently conquered from Native people, who were forced into Oklahoma to make way for white settlers. Unfortunately, Abram died in January of 1859, not long before David's seventh birthday. His mother never remarried, but David's grandfather and multiple uncles and aunts lived nearby.

His childhood was far from easy. According to the Portrait and Biographical Album of Polk County, Iowa. (Lake City Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890), David was born in a "commodious house of hewed logs...on the north bank of...Dean Lake. Many privations and hardships were endured by the family, but they labored on, and at length had a good home." The book specifically mentions that David's father had to haul his grain 65 miles for a mill, and that there were no barrel-makers in the area so he created three troughs from a large linden tree to salt down pork, hold lard, and make soap. David's mother cooked on a large fireplace, "slapjacks, corn-dodgers, jonnie cake and lye hominy." The family were devout Presbyterians. One history (but not others) claims the first Presbyterian Church in Des Moines met in David's grandfather's house (1). David's father was an ardent Republican, at a time when that meant supporting the literal party of Lincoln, founded with the goal of ending slavery. Fifteen acres of the family farm were donated to the state for state capitol building. 

Although there must have been plenty of work around the farm, especially with Abram's early death, David and his siblings all attended school. In the 1860 Census for Lee Township, Polk County, Iowa, Anne Dean heads a household of five children, aged 8 to 17, all of whom indicated that they'd attended school within the previous year (2). Ten years later, in the 1870 Census, David was the only child still at home with Anne, but even at 18 and as his mother's only child, he had attended school within the year (3). Clearly, like many of their descendants, the family put a high priority on education.

David married Sarah "Jennie" Brattain on August 22, 1876, in Des Moines (4). He was 24; Jennie was 20. They spent most of their adult lives farming in Polk County, Iowa, but they may have moved within the county. In the 1880 Census, they were in Grant Township, Polk County, Iowa (at which time David's mother, Anne, was living with them) (5). However, by 1884, when their daughter Aura was born, they were listed as living in Clay Township (6). Presumably, this is near the town of Altoona, where they farmed Township 79, Range 23, Section 14, NW1/4 by the 1885 Iowa Census (7). This is where they lived until at least 1910 (8). 

David and Jennie had a large family, although they lost a number of children at a young age. Their children were:

• Mary Louanna (Manie) (1877-1974), married William Henry Edmundson
• Mary Estella (1878-1966), married Herbert L. Swenson
• Esletta (1879-before 1895)
• Ethel Gertrude (1879-1901), married William Casebeer
• Daisy (1881-1885)
• Harvey Edwin (1883-1885)
• Aura (1884-1964), married Karl Edward Hodges
• Eva (1886-1982), married Robert Wallace Trowbridge
• Edna (1887-1890)
• James (1889-1890)
• Infant Son (born and died August 10, 1890)
• Lillian (1891-1962), married Raymond Claire Stiles
• David Merlin (1894-1972), married Irene Louise Greaves and Marie Simpson
• Carl Philip (1895-1971), married Vera Houghton Hancock
• Ralph Hiram (1899-1918)

Sometime between 1902 and 1905, David and Jennie's eldest daughter, Manie Edmundson, moved to Coupeville, Washington, with her husband and children. Sometime after the 1910 Census, David and Jennie moved there, too. Jennie died and was buried in Coupeville, in March, 1919. The following year, David was living with Manie and her family (9). 

Later that year, David remarried, to Abbie Dean, in Washington, Ohio (10). Abbie remains something of a mystery to me, and I wish my Aunt Lil was still here to explain her relationship because I'm sure she knew. "Dean" was Abbie's married name. On their marriage certificate, she is listed as 64 and widowed, the daughter of William W. Perdew and Sarah Seffens. Her original husband, whom she married in Washington, Ohio, in 1876, was John T. Dean, but the marriage record does not include his parents' names (11). My suspicion is that John T. was a cousin of some sort of David's, which is how David met Abbie. After their marriage, David lived part-time in Washington, where he had his own home according to the 1930 Census (12), and part-time at his wife's house in Marietta, Ohio (13).

I've always been interested in David because he was (one of?) the first dedicated genealogists in the family. He was mentioned in several of the family references I found, include the book by Edith Welsheimer (13) about David's mother's line, in which she wrote: "David was the perfect gentleman - kind and gracious, and interested in all with whom he came in contact and able to converse with young and old. To him goes the credit for most of the work on his branch. Though eight years of age, he exchanged many letters with the author, which she values very highly."  

David died in Seattle on April 16, 1941, aged 82 years.

_____
References:
1) Wilson-Baird History by Fran C. Shepherd, 1942, p.2 (available on-line: http://baird-bard-beard.org/BB/downloads/Volume5-March1995.pdf):

2) "United States Census, 1860," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M82L-9MQ : accessed 11 January 2015), David P Dean in household of Ann Dean, Lee Township, Polk, Iowa, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," Fold3.com; citing p. 161, household ID 1172, NARA microfilm publication M653, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 803,338.

3) "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDV5-DTF : 17 October 2014), David Dean in household of Ann Dean, Iowa, United States; citing p. 8, family 56, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 545,914.

4) "Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJFP-Z8X : accessed 11 January 2015), David P. Dean and Sarah Brattian, 22 Aug 1876; citing Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, United States, county courthouses, Iowa.

5) "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDLZ-4KN : 24 December 2015), David T Dean, Grant, Polk, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district ED 170, sheet 489B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0360; FHL microfilm 1,254,360.

6) "Iowa, County Births, 1880-1935", index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XVZL-FYZ : accessed 11 January 2015), David P. Dean in entry for Aura Dean, 1884.

7)  "Iowa State Census, 1885," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HWZL-XMM : 15 November 2014), David Dean, Altoona, Clay, Polk, Iowa; citing p. 235, 1885, State Historical Society, Des Moines; FHL microfilm 1,020,172.

8) "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MG99-TYR : 29 October 2015), Carl P Dean in household of David P Dean, Clay, Polk, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 66, sheet 11B, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,374,431.

9)  "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHFY-X1B : 14 December 2015), David P Dean in household of William H Edmundson, Coupeville, Island, Washington, United States; citing sheet 6A, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,923.

10) "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1997," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VNQM-CJ7 : accessed 11 January 2015), Abram Dean in entry for David P Dean and Abbie A Dean, 23 Nov 1920; citing Washington, Ohio, United States, reference p 431; county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 2,320,085.

11) "Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDXT-KYL : 8 December 2014), John T. Dean and Abbie A. Perdew, 01 Jun 1876; citing , Washington, Ohio, reference ; FHL microfilm 0941959 V. 4-6.

12)  "Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3RJ-SQS : 5 December 2014), David P. Dean, 16 Apr 1941; citing Seattle, King, Washington, reference 1448, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Olympia; FHL microfilm 2,023,903.

13) "A History of the Welsheimer Family", by Edith Welsheimer, Bronson Printing, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1969. https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE97573

The Deans in a Nutshell

I've been going back through the WikiTree pages and filling in the siblings and their first-generation children for every one of my direct ancestors. I've finished the Deans (that is, the straight patronymic line, not including all of the wives who married in), so this seems a good time to summarize the Deans in America.*

The Deans were Scotch-Irish, an ethnic/religious group mostly from northern England and southern Scotland. They were Protestant dissenters, strong Calvinists, who were first settled in Ulster in the 1500s (because they were causing too much trouble as border raiders in England), and later encouraged or forced to migrate to the American colonies, particularly in the 1700s. Over 300,000 Scotch-Irish migrated from Ulster to the Americas between 1710 and 1810, mostly to Pennsylvania, which had the most welcoming religious laws, or south along the Appalachian mountains, particularly into the Carolinas.

James Dean (about 1740-?) and Catherine Gamble (about 1740-?): These were the first Deans in the Americas. They were both born in Ireland, almost certainly in Ulster, and settled in Pennsylvania. They were married after their arrival in the Americas, which suggests that Catherine's parents and siblings could also be somewhere in Pennsylvania, although I haven't found them. They arrived sometime before 1760, since that was the year their first child, Margary, was born. In History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania, by J. Simpson Africa (p. 329), James is listed under the pioneers of Oneida Township, with his son, Abraham. This is an area of central Pennsylvania that was badly hit during the Seven Years War (aka French and Indian War). In the generation before, it had been largely cleared of people, Native and European alike. When the war ended, the Scotch-Irish were particularly prevalent among the new settlers. The same source says James was a member of the first board of elders elected by the congregation of Hart's Log Church, Sept. 10, 1787. He and Catherine may very well have settled elsewhere in Pennsylvania earlier, but there is no record of them before their arrival in Oneida Township. His farm was located near what is today Alexandria, Pennsylvania.

Old Hartslog Church

We only have records of two children, Margary and Abraham (see below). Margary married Colonel John Canan, who was also Scotch-Irish, and stayed near her parents in Pennsylvania. I blogged about the Canan family previously. John Canan was a Revolutionary War soldier and served in the General Assembly and as state senator for Pennsylvania. He developed coal and iron deposits, building one of the first furnaces in the region. Small families were very rare at this time, although childhood mortality was high. It is possible/likely that there were other children born to James and Catherine, but we have no record of them.

Tombstone of Abraham Dean, Ross County, Ohio
photograph by Scott
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=47082416

Abraham Dean (1763-1806) and Sarah Stewart (1766-1837): Abraham and Sarah were both born in Pennsylvania to Scotch-Irish families. He served as a private 3rd class in the 7th company, 1st battalion, of the Cumberland County Militia during the Revolutionary War (1). In 1784 he bought land north of present-day Alexandria, Pennsylvania, and named the tract "Mexico" (2). He and Sarah were married sometime around 1790. By 1811, however, they had moved their family to South Salem, in Ross County, Ohio. Ohio had been Shawnee and Lenape land (along with other tribes), and under military occupation by the French until the Revolutionary War. Freed from restraint by the British government, the new United States started pushing westward soon after independence. The first major Euro-American colony in Ohio was at Marietta in 1788, with statehood following in 1803 (after decades of war to enforce Euro-American rule). The Deans entered an Ohio that was only recently conquered and sparsely inhabited by Euro-Americans.

At least one of Sarah Stewart's sisters, Margaret Stewart Brown, and her family, also moved to South Salem. More of her siblings may have joined them. As I mentioned in a previous post, this type of clan migration was common. Abraham and Sarah had eight children who scattered throughout the Midwest. Their fifth child (and second son) was John Stewart Dean.

John Stewart Dean (1792-1872) and Hannah Baird (1800-1828): John was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was a child when his family moved to Ohio. Hannah was probably born in Lincoln County, North Carolina, near King's Mountain, where her father fought during the Revolutionary War (3). In fact, he was one of the original signers of the Tryon Resolves, an early declaration of resistance to British rule. The Bairds were another Scotch-Irish family that had originally been from Pennsylvania. The Bairds moved into Ohio in the early 1800s, partly because of their opposition to slavery, Many Bairds were participants in abolitionist activities.

Hannah and John were married in Brown County, Ohio, in 1819. Hannah's older brother, John Hill Baird, was a good friend of John Stewart Dean. They served together during the war of 1812 (3). After returning to their homes (they had to walk across Ohio after being discharged), John Hill Baird married the eldest Dean sister, Catharine, and John Stewart Dean married his friend's sister, Hannah. Hannah and John had three children, the oldest of whom was Abram Stewart Dean. Unfortunately, Hannah died quite young and was buried in the Dean cemetery in South Salem, Ohio. John went on to marry twice more.

In 1847, John led a group of five families (mostly his relatives) from South Salem to Polk County, Iowa(4). They were among the first families to settle in the area. The U.S. Army had built a fort on the Des Moines River in 1843. (Fun fact, the fort was originally going to be called Fort Raccoon, after the other river that joins the Des Moines at that point. Only by the grace of the War Department was Iowa saved from having Raccoon as its state capital.) The fort was there to control the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes, who had been forcibly resettled there from eastern Iowa. It wasn't long, however, before the army moved the tribes farther west, and in 1846 the fort was abandoned as Native people were denied land rights in Iowa. The city was opened to settlement as the seat of Polk County in May of 1846, and the Deans arrived in November of 1847.

Walnut Street Bridge, Des Moines, Iowa, 1866
On the far side of the bridge was the site of the original
Dean household in Iowa.

The John Stewart Dean became a leading man in Des Moines (4). He was known as "Uncle Johnny" throughout the area. He and his family settled on the east side of the river, and were founders of the Presbyterian church, which met for the first time in his home. He was instrumental in getting the state capital located in east Des Moines, donating some of his land to the project. To this day, the state capital sits at the end of Dean Street, just to the west of Dean Lake. The Dean's original homestead was in downtown Des Moines, along the river. In 1851 a massive flood destroyed much of the area. The Deans resettled a few miles east, closer to where John's son, Abram, had placed his farm.

Abram Stuart Dean (1820-1859) and Anne Retta Welsheimer (1819-1905): Abram was born in Ohio, where he met and married Anne Welsheimer. Anne was a first in the direct Dean line: a wife who was not primarily of Scotch-Irish stock. In fact, her mother was probably Scotch-Irish (there's very little known about her), but her father was German (5). The Welsheimers had settled in Pennsylvania in the 1760's. They came from Berlin, probably for religious reasons (they were Calvinists). Anne's grandfather and great-grandfather had fought in the Revolutionary War, then her father had moved westward into Ohio.

The Dean plot in Sims cemetery, Des Moines

Abram and Anne had five known children, three born while they still lived in Ohio. They were about 27 when they moved to Des Moines. They spent the first winter in an old barracks, then built a log cabin on the north shore of Dean Lake (6). Their last two children were born there. Like his father, Abram was a devout Presbyterian and founding member of the church in Des Moines. Unfortunately, he only lived about a decade after their move to Iowa. He was 39 when he died in 1859. He lived long enough to see the city incorporated in 1851, and the capital moved to part of the land he donated in 1857. Anne never remarried. They and many of their children are buried in Sims Cemetery in Des Moines.

David Philip Dean (1852-1941) and Sarah Jane "Jennie" Brattain (1855-1919): David was the youngest child of Abram and Anne, born after their move to Des Moines. His father died just before his 7th birthday. Luckily, he had an extensive network of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in Iowa. I wonder if that is what turned him into such an avid genealogist.

The Brattains deserve their own blog post, but, briefly, they were another Scotch-Irish family. The Brattains, like the Deans, had married into Protestant German families. Jennie Brattain was born and raised in Henry County, Indiana, then married David in Des Moines, Iowa in 1876. I don't know how she met David. Jennie's father, Hiram, had spent time in Iowa as a child. In the 1850 census, he was living with his family in Van Buren County. Perhaps the families had met then, but Van Buren is not very close to Des Moines. My guess is that David was working in Indiana and met Jennie there.

However they met, their marriage was very successful. They had fourteen children, nine of whom survived past early childhood. Sometime between 1910 and 1919, the family moved to Coupeville, Washington, where they stayed until the current generation. Honestly, I have no idea why they moved there. One of the things I've learned from genealogy is that, in some ways, I know more about my distant ancestors than my more recent ones. David, his children, and his grandchildren were so busy discovering the Deans of the distant past that they didn't always document the Deans of the 20th century. Either that, or the documentation was gathered by my great aunt, Lillian Dean Huffstetler (David's granddaughter) whose materials I have not yet had a chance to see.

References:

1. American Revolutionary Soldiers of Franklin County Pennsylvania, by Virginia Shannon Fendrick, p. 59

2. History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania, by J. Simpson Africa, p. 329

3.  "Wilson-Baird History" by Fran C. Shepherd, 1942 (exerpt on page2 here: http://baird-bard-beard.org/BB/downloads/Volume5-March1995.pdf):

4. From "Portrait and Biographical Album of Polk County, Iowa", 1890, p. 428, (https://archive.org/stream/portraitbiograph08chic#page/428/mode/2up)

5. "A History of the Welsheimer Family", by Edith Welsheimer, Bronson Printing, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1969.https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE97573

6. Portrait and biographical album of Polk County, Iowa, Lake City Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

_____
*I can't summarize the Deans before America because I have nothing in the way of records prior to their arrival here.

Deans of Iowa

On our recent family trip, I spent most of genealogical energy on the Cunninghams of Columbus, Wisconsin (see the seven posts on that family). However, since we were driving through Des Moines, I did take the opportunity to stop in at Sims Cemetery, where a number of the Deans are buried.

John Stewart Dean, my great-great-great-great-grandfather was one of the founders of East Des Moines (or Desmoines, as he preferred to write it). He led a group of families (mostly his children) to the area in 1847. The first Presbyterian church in the city met in his house. The state capital building sits on part of his farm. Both a "Dean Street" and a "Dean Lake" are still on the map.

Also buried there (among others) are John Stewart Dean's second and third wives (I'm a descendant of his first wife, who died while they still lived in Ohio), and my great-great-great-grandfather, John Stewart's oldest son, Abram Dean, and his wife, my great-great-great-grandmother, Anne Welsheimer Dean.

A few notes for anyone inclined to visit Sims Cemetery:

1) The cemetery is located at E. 36th St. and University. You may be tempted to follow University (which is a major road through East Des Moines) until you reach 36th. Don't. It turns out that University intersects a road named E. 36th St. at least three freaking times. (It may be more, but we found the intersection we needed on the third try.)

2) If you are heading east on University, you will pass the entrance to the cemetery. It doesn't look like much, so you'll just blow right by. You will then have to drive for, seriously, a mile before you can turn around again. The entrance looks like a pull-out for RVs visiting the State Fair (see #3).

3) Never, ever try to visit the cemetery during the State Fair. Just trust me on this one.

4) The cemetery is fully fenced. It is clearly being mowed, but they must beam the damn mower in using advanced teleport technology, because I couldn't find a gate.

5) Watch out for the edges of the fence when you climb over.

6) Bring candy to reward the kids for putting up with an hour-long detour trying to find the damn cemetery, and the wounds from entering it.

The red badge of genealogy

And now, on to the cemetery pictures:

There is a monument in the family plot to our illustrious ancestors.
Under the name it says "Pioneers of Des Moines, November 1, 1847" 

The oldest monument is to John Stewart Dean and his second and third wives:

A close-up of the inscription. It reads:
"John S. Dean Aug 9, 1797-Dec 21, 1872
Nancy Taylor, 2nd wife Feb 27, 1805-Nov 16, 1851
Rachel Scroggs, 3rd wife Dec 2?, 1812-March 3, 1906"

Also in the cemetery are John's son Abram Stewart Dean and his wife Anne Welsheimer Dean:

"Father
Abram S.
Jan. 9, 1820
Jan 25, 1859"

Note that he's designated as "father". I believe these headstones may have been put up by David Philip Dean. All except John Stewart's appear to be identical in stone and style. I believe they may have been replacements for earlier, less durable, monuments. I hadn't heard of anyone in the family replacing the stones, but the family designations suggests David was the person who did so.

"Mother
Ann R.
Feb 16, 1819
Dec 29, 1905"

Some of the tombstones belong to children of Abram and Ann. These include Hannah Catherine Dean and Nancy Elizabeth Dean Barnes. Nancy was the wife of Marion L. Barnes.

"Hannah C.
Dau.
Dec. 9, 1844
Dec. 21, 1969"

"Nancy E.
Dau. - Wife of
M.L. Barnes
May 1, 1848
Jan. 5, 1873"

One of the children of Marion and Nancy Dean Barnes was also buried at the cemetery. Really, the number of young children in cemeteries from this time is heartbreaking.

"Charles F.
Son of M.L. and N.E.
Barnes
Dec. 29, 1872
June 2, 1873"

Most of the children memorialized in the cemetery were children of David Philip Dean and Sarah Jennie Brattain Dean. David and Jennie moved to Washington later in their marriage, but a number of infants and young children were left behind in the graveyard. I can't imagine how they handled such loss.

"James
son of
D.P. and S.J. Dean
Feb 16, 1889
Feb 9, 1890"

"Edna
Dau. of
D.P. and S.J. Dean
Oct. 10, 1887
Feb. 5, 1890"

"Havey E.
Son of
D.P. and S.J. Dean
April 18, 1883
Feb. 7, 1885"

"Daisy
Dau. of
D.P. and S.J. Dean
May 8, 1881
Feb 8, 1885"

About the last headstone: my parents like to tell the story of how, when I was five years old, I wanted to name my unborn sibling "Daisy Dean". (Alas, I suspect this was an homage to Dukes of Hazzard, although daisies are my favorite flower) Well, apparently my great-great-grandparents didn't think the name was quite so laughable! Granted, I suspect my brother prefers Philip over Daisy. Still, I did name my first-born Margaret, a name which means "daisy" in its French, Spanish, and Portuguese versions.