Cunninghams of Columbus, Wisconsin, Part 1

I haven't posted about the genealogy of my mother's family, but during a recent family trip to the Wisconsin Dells, we stopped in the town of Columbus, where Maurice Cunningham and Elizabeth Cunningham, my 3xgreat-grandparents, settled with their family in the 1850s. We got a lot from the trip, so I'm going to write several blog posts. Here's the first one, an overview of what we knew about the Cunninghams before the trip to Columbus, based on the documentary evidence. You can find the other posts here: Part 2 (the cemetery), Part 3 (the church and farm), Part 4 (our current state of knowledge) and related posts on Robert Steven Cunningham, the Rooney farm and Wallenstown, Ireland.)

An Overview of the Cunninghams of Columbus

Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham arrived in the United States in 1828. My uncle Mike found them on the manifest of the British ship Trio, sailing from Cork, and arriving in New York on October 2. On the manifest they are listed as Maurice and Betsy Cunningham, aged 21 and 18, with Maurice's profession listed as "carpenter"(1).

Maurice and Elizabeth and numbers 11 and 12 on this manifest.
Click for larger size.

I could not find the family in the 1830 or 1840 censuses. There are multiple Cunninghams living in New York, and it's not at all clear which one is the correct one, if any. At the time, the census only listed the name of the head of household and the number of free or enslaved people living in the household. If Maurice and Elizabeth were boarders or living with an employer, they would not be counted by name in the census. We do know, however, that during this time Maurice served as head gardener for Robert Livingston Pell, of Pelham estate in Ulster County, New York. This was a prestigious position, as the Pells owned a very extensive estate and were known for their agricultural innovations. Today, the estate is home to a seminary and retreat center owned by the Redemptionist Fathers. This YouTube video shows the landscape, although the buildings all post-date Maurice and Robert Pell. In 1843, Pell (with specific mention of Maurice) won a premium at the Fair of the American Institute, and was considered a source of "superior specimens" of winter apples and culinary vegetables(2). 

Maurice and Elizabeth were recorded in the 1850 census in Esopus, Ulster, New York, along with eight children, ranging in age from twenty to eight(3). By the 1860 census, they had moved to Columbus, Wisconsin, and they were recorded there with nine children (the additional child being my great-great-grandfather, Robert Steven Cunningham)(4). Although the birth-years, birth-orders, and even country of birth tended to change from census to census, the children of Maurice and Elizabeth were, I believe, all born in New York, and their birth years are, to the best of my knowledge:
     Richard - 1830
     William - 1831
     John - 1834
     Maurice W. - 1834
     Ellen - 1836
     Elizabeth (Eliza) - 1838
     Michael - 1840
     Edward - 1842
     Robert - 1850

Maurice and Elizabeth staked a land claim to the southwest of the town of Columbus, Wisconsin. An 1873 plat map of the county shows the farm marked M. Cunningham, although Maurice himself had died in 1867. Later maps show the land claimed by William Cunningham, the second-oldest son.

The 1873 map showing the Cunningham farm

Maurice died in 1867 and was buried temporarily in the churchyard of St. Jerome's in Columbus. The next year, he became the first person laid to rest in St. Jerome's new cemetery(5).

Elizabeth continued to live in Columbus until at least 1880. In the 1870 census, she is listed as head of household on the farm, living with her children William, Ellen, Edward, Eliza, and Robert(6). I don't know where the other children went. By 1880, she is living on the farm with William, Edward, Ellen, and Michael(7). Robert had married by that time, and Eliza had joined a religious order.

In the Wisconsin state census of 1885(8), William is head of household with 3 males and 1 female, presumably William, Edward, Michael, and Ellen, since all four household members were born in the United States. Probably Elizabeth had died by then (unless she moved to another child's home), but her name is not found in St. Jerome's cemetery.

There's no record of the Cunningham family living on the farm after 1885. Unfortunately, the 1890 census for Wisconsin was destroyed in a fire. By the 1900 census, there are no Cunninghams in Columbia county except for Ellen, who is living with her sister-in-law, Elsea Lyons(9). She died before 1910. There are no Cunninghams in Columbus, Wisconsin, in the 1910 census.

[Update: following up on the Elsea Lyons, with whom Ellen Cunningham was living in 1900, I found more of Maurice's grandchildren. Elsea T. Richards, born April 12, 1843 in Concord, New York, married John Cunningham and had two children, William Cunningham (who died in 1899) and Corinna Cunningham (married to Hoadley Long). After John's death, Elsea married Elisha Lyons. I was able to find the John Cunningham family in the 1870 census, living in Columbus. He was a carpenter with $600 in real estate.]

References:
(1) Ship's manifest of the Port of New York.
(2) 1843 Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, Volume 3, pp. 74, 75, and 47.
(3)  "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MZMM-8G8 : accessed 18 January 2015), Maurice Cunningham, Esopus, Ulster, New York, United States; citing family 469, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
(4) "United States Census, 1860," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWMP-MP2 : accessed 15 August 2015), Morris Cunningham, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com(http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing p. 133, household ID 988, NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 805,401.
(5)  1880 The History of Columbia County, Wisconsin, p.692
(6) United States Census, 1870," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MN97-D14 : accessed 21 January 2015), Eliza Cunningham, Wisconsin, United States; citing p. 17, family 118, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,205.
(7) "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MN4H-FFN : accessed 21 January 2015), E Cunningham, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district 19, sheet 55A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1420; FHL microfilm 1,255,420.
(8) "Wisconsin, State Census, 1885," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MM9R-LBC : accessed 21 January 2015), William Cunningham, Columbus Town, Columbia, Wisconsin; citing reference 14, State Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,032,696.
(9) "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMK7-H6F : accessed 15 August 2015), Ellen Cunningham in household of Elsea T Syons, Columbus city Ward 1-3, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing sheet 10B, family 258, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,241,781.

General Daniel Harvey Hill

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Daniel_Harvey_Hill.jpg

[Update: It looks like we're not actually related to this Hill, but rather to a different Hill family in North Carolina. So, yay!]

With one exception (the Hancock line), most of my family left the South at the first opportunity. This includes a number of Scotch-Irish ancestors from the Carolinas who moved into the Midwest in the early 1800's, partly because of their opposition to slavery.

So I find it interesting that I'm related, however distantly, to a number of Southern leaders from the Civil War. I blogged earlier about the Dean connection to Zebulon Baird Vance. We are also connected, even more closely (although less certainly), to General D.H. Hill.

Daniel Harvey Hill was the son of Solomon Hill and Nancy Cabeen. He was the nephew of Jane Hill Baird, who is my 5xgreat-grandmother. (The reason I say this relationship is less certain than the connection to Zebulon Baird Vance is that the Baird genealogy, to be frank, is a total mess. Jane Hill Baird is not mentioned in the will of her supposed father, Colonel Billy Hill, which makes me wonder if that connection is truly proven. But onward...).

D.H. Hill was born on his grandfather's Iron Works in South Carolina (his grandfather being another famous military man because of the importance of his iron to the Revolutionary War.) General Hill's father died young, leaving his mother with few resources and eleven children. D.H. Hill, the youngest child, attended West Point and served in the Mexican-American War. Afterward, he became a professor of mathematics at Washington College (which is now Washington and Lee). He then moved to Davidson College, where he married the president's daughter, Isabella Morrison. Her younger sister married Thomas Jackson, better known to history as Stonewall Jackson, making Hill the brother-in-law of his future brother-in-arms. Throughout this early part of his career, Hill earned a reputation for being moodly, anti-social, and difficult to work with. (Gee, a mathematician with poor social skills. What a shock.)

During the Civil War, he served in a variety of posts, ending up as a General, but loosing field command twice because he got along so poorly with his superiors, including his brother-in-law, General Bragg, and General Lee. He was particularly blamed for the costly victory at Chickamauga, which kept him out of the fighting for most of the rest of the war, despite his acknowledged military skill.

After the war, he served as the first president of the University of Arkansas, resigning twice (but only having his resignation accepted once) because he got along so poorly with the faculty (sensing a pattern here?) He took on leadership positions at other universities, until he died in 1889, and was buried at Davidson College.

Clan, Community, and Migration

Dean Cemetery, South Salem, Ohio.
Photograph by http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/2014/46/CEM2317245_1392597580.jpg

Since I began working on genealogy, I've been struck by the family migration patterns of my ancestors. We're aware that European colonists moved frequently, spreading out across the continent. But unlike modern migration patterns (for example, my brother and I both moved away from Michigan for jobs), the earlier migrants moved with their large, extended families.

For example, Abraham Dean was born in western Pennsylvania in 1763. In the early 1800's, he moved with his family to South Salem, Ohio. But it wasn't just his immediate family who moved. He moved with his wife's family, including most of Sarah Stewart Dean's siblings. These were adults with their own households, spouses, and children, but they all moved to Ohio together. (Abraham only had one sibling, Margary Dean Canan, and she remained in Pennsylvania, along with her husband and children.) In the next generation, the children and grandchildren of Abraham moved to Des Moines, Iowa. Again, this was not just one nuclear family but the majority of his children, their own spouses, sisters- and brothers-in-law, and children. It was a clan migration.

Clan migrations weren't only typical of Scotch-Irish families in the early 19th century. On the other side of my family, Irish-Catholic Robert Cunningham, born in New York in 1850, spent his childhood in Columbus, Wisconsin. Robert married Elizabeth Rooney, and around 1890 they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. They moved with the entire Rooney family, including Elizabeth's parents, and most of her brothers and sisters, along with their families. This is how my great-great-great grandparents came to be buried less than an hour from where I now live.

Not all clan migrations were even based on kinship. One of my students told me that her surname is a town in Germany. Many of the towns' inhabitants emigrated together, and they took their town as their last name, so they could find each other in their new country. Something similar (without the name change) occurred in the Stoecklein branch of my mother's family. The Stoeckleins moved to Dayton, Ohio, from Faulbach, Bavaria. A number of families from that small town moved together, and remained close. Although my 3xgreat-grandfather, Joseph Stoecklein, married in Dayton, his wife, Carolina Zwisler, was the daughter of schoolmates of his parents back in Faulbach.

Surely these migration patterns were based on practicalities, as well as affection. Family members could help each other in a strange new place, whether they were negotiating a newly-conquered landscape or an alien city. It is an important reminder that, as a species, we were never meant to go it alone. We are social animals, and highly dependent on our family, however that is defined.

It's pretty common for academics to end up far from their families, and I personally can attest to the high cost of that separation. Just a couple weeks ago, my mother showed me a picture of her mother, surrounded by a plethora of female relatives - aunts, cousins, and sisters-in-law. Her remark was "Look how much help she had." Certainly, the large family sizes of previous generations were not possible if one woman did it all. As a society, we seem to have forgotten the importance of extended family.

Walter Houser Brattain

Another of my occasional posts on famous (distant) relatives. Walter Houser Brattain won the Noble Prize in Physics in 1956 for his work on transistors.

Walter Brattain would be my fourth cousin, three times removed. His 3xgreat-grandfather, Robert Brattain, was my 6xgreat-grandfather. Robert's great-great-great granddaughter, Sarah Brattain, married into the Dean line. She was the wife of David Philip Dean.

The Genealogy Gene

OK, I don't actually believe there is such a thing as a Genealogy Gene. However, while going through some of the records my mother brought to me this Spring, I found the earliest evidence (so far) of an interest in genealogy. It's a letter, dating to 1861, from Philip Welsheimer III (my 4xgreat-grandfather) to his daughter, Anna Welsheimer Dean (my 3xgreat-grandmother), giving her a list of all of his children and their birthdates. I don't know why she wanted it (perhaps to add to a family bible?), but the interest was there many generations ago.

On the Importance of Lost Moments Found

Puritan men drinking (from https://seventreesfarm.wordpress.com, but I couldn't find
the artist). OK, so my ancestors (or at least these ancestors) weren't Puritans, but it's
surprisingly hard to find a picture of colonial men drinking.

While researching the family of Margary Dean Canan, the daughter of my 6xgreat-grandfather, James Dean, I came across a book, The History of Centre and Clinton Counties (Pennsylvania), by J.B. Linn (1975).  The book re-prints the journal of James Harris, who surveyed the area in 1784 (p.21-22). James Harris appears to have worked with, and possibly boarded with, John Canan, Margary Dean's husband. I was intrigued by the following journal entry:

"27th [of November], Mr. Brown goes for his horse to the Warrior Marks and returns to Mr. Canan's. I drink cyder with Mr. Canan at Mr. Mitchell's and Mr. Dean's his father-in-law."

A simple sentence, "I drink cyder with...Mr. Dean...", but so evocative. I imagine the men huddled close to the light and warmth of a hearth, the crude plank house dark around them. I can almost smell the wood smoke, tangy apples, and wet wool of homespun clothes. Perhaps they could hear Margary and her mother in the kitchen, or were the ladies sitting with them near the fire, working by it's light? The Revolutionary War had ended earlier that year. Did they talk about the new government, or old conflicts with their neighbors?

There is something visceral about this sentence. It captures the imagination and the senses in a way that no historical overview of colonial Pennsylvania ever could. It brings the dead to life in a way that no tombstone, no formal portrait could match.

Here, then, is the link between ethnohistory and archaeology. These records affect me much as I am affected by holding a the remains of an ancient pot, or tool, or meal. A person (not a number, not a label, but a person) once created or shaped the object, and now a person holds it again and wonders, remembers. A physical connection is made to the past. We are cultural creatures, and that cultural connection binds us to the people of the past just as strongly as the flimsy strands of DNA.

Revolutionary War Soldiers

As I work through the genealogies, I'm keeping lists, so I can easily find information about people who, for example, were all Scotch-Irish, or lived in North Carolina. Most of these lists are not share-worthy, but I think this one is interesting: a list of family members who fought in the Revolutionary War.

(Note: I'll keep updating this as I get more information)

James Baird, Captain under Col. William Graham, Tryon County Regiment, 1776-1779. From 1779-1780 served in the Lincoln County Regiment (note: this is the same county, it just changed it's name). Fought in the battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina, and in the Cherokee Expedition.(1) See also my post on his life. James Baird is my 6xgreat-grandfather. His grand-daughter, Hannah Baird, married into the Dean line.

William Hill, Colonel in the militia (which one? I don't know!). Served in the battle at Rocky Mount and wounded at Hanging Rock, August 6, 1780. Also fought in King's Mountain and Cowpens.(2) Perhaps a more important contribution would be his Ironworks. William Hill is my 6xgreat-grandfather. His daughter, Jane, was the mother of Hannah Baird, who married into the Dean line. [Update, Feb 14, 2016: Oops! Turns out Jane Hill wasn't the daughter of William, she was the daughter of John and Jane Hill of Lincoln County, North Carolina. More on this as I figure it out]

Abraham Dean, Private 3rd Class, 7th Company, 1st Battalion, Cumberland County Militia, 1780-1781, under Captain John Woods.(3) Abraham Dean is my 5xgreat-grandfather, in the direct Dean line.

William Stewart. Private 4th Class?, Cumberland County Militia. It is unclear when he served, but he is listed as part of the militia in 1778 and 1780. There is an existing pass from Captain Philip Mathias, saying "Permit the Bearer William Stewart to pass unmolested to Cumberland County as he hath served 2 months honestly and faithfully in the 4 class of Cumberland Militia. Given under my hand this 4th Day of January 1778" (4) My great aunt Lillian Dean Huffstetler has records that list him as "Captain of a troop of Dragoon", or "second lieutenant in the Cumberland County, PA militia", but it is not clear if either of these are true.

James Addair. He is mentioned as a Revolutionary War soldier in several genealogies, but the source isn't clear. He did serve in the Virginia militia before the war, and he also took the oath of loyalty in 1777. (7) 

Philip Welsheimer, Sr. Rank and File in the 3rd Battalion of the York County Militia. Listed in the roster of April 15, 1778, under Captain Michael Kohn.(5)

Johannes Philip Welsheimer. in Captain Andrew Graff's company from Pennsylvania, mustered in Philadelphia in July 16, 1776, with the remark "appointed gunsmith."(5)

"Colonel" Samuel Hancock. He served as a sergeant and private for more than two years during the Revolutionary War. The description of his service, which he gave as part of his pension application, can be found here. He seems to have spent much of the war marching around and being deathly ill. His brother Simon died in 1776 in Chester, PA, during military service. Samuel was not actually a Colonel, but like Colonel Sanders, he was a southern gentlemen of means and military background, so he was given the courtesy title. His brother, Edward, was similarly called "Captain" after serving three terms during the Revolution. Their eldest brother, William, also served. (10)

These were all the men from the Dean lineage who fought in the war. The other major branch off this side of the tree was the Brattains, who married into the Dean line when Sarah Jane Brattain married David P. Dean (my great-great-grandfather). The Brattains were Quakers, and did not fight in the war, although Sarah Brattain's great-grandfather, William Milliken, was burned out by Loyalists who objected to their support for independence.(6)

It appears that some of her non-Quaker ancestors did fight in the war, however:

Johann Georg Kissling. He served in Pennsylvania under Captain Kemp, in the Berk's County Militia, along with sons George Jr. and Conrad (8)

Jean (John) Chastain - he was too old to serve, but he is considered a "patriot" by the DAR for supplying the Bedford County, Virginia, militia with pounds of beef(9)

John Hewitt - there is a John Hewitt, of the right age and place, who was in the Revolutionary War, although it is not clear that this is the same John Hewitt as our ancestor.

The other line, that of the Kinneys, moved to Nova Scotia before the war, although it is possible some of them were loyalists and moved there afterward. I'm still looking into that possibility. 

References:
(1). Information from "The American Revolution in North Carolina" http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/nc_patriot_military_captains.html, accessed April 18, 2015

(2). Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, Volume 1, A-J. By Bobby Gilmer Moss. 2009

(3). "AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS OF FRANKLIN COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA", compiled by Virginia Shannon Fendrick, p.59 (Available online:http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/gdc/scdser01/200401/World_Almanacs_1903_1923/american%20rev%20sold%20frank

(4).  "History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania..."Edited by F. Ellis and A. N. Hungerford. Published in Philadelphia by Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886, Pages 865-874.

(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) "Notes on the Milliken Family", by Millard F. Hudson, California Genealogy Society, Issues 1-3, 1900, p.55 https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=oW8wzD32obkC&rdid=book-oW8wzD32obkC&rdot=1

(7) Blog by Kenny Adair: http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/adair/2999

(8) http://mcclure.freeservers.com/geokeas.htm

(9) Pierre Chastain and Descendants, Vol. 1, p.24

(10) Dorman, John Frederick. 2004. Adventurers of Purse and Person: Virginia 1607-1624. Genealogical Publishing Company, p. 287.