Honor Roll: Garnsey Park, Rexford, New York

Rexford, New York, is a hamlet in the Town of Clifton Park in Saratoga County. The hamlet was the site of an aqueduct, built in 1841, that brought boats traveling on the Erie Canal across the Mohawk River. The arches of the aqueduct can still be seen today.

Along Rt. 146 is a Garnsey Park. It includes a memorial to those who lost their lives during World War II.

World War II Honor Roll, Garnsey Park, Rexford, New
York; personal collection

World War II

Almighty God -- A most
Merciful Father to all
Mankind -- May we humbly
Beseech thee to hear our
Dying petition to inspire
Those who Must Carry on
In the world to see the utter
Folly and tragedy of War
And to do all to abolish it --
Fill their hearts with love
For their fellow men -- and
Grant unto them the courage
And wisdom to guide our
World into a lasting peace.
May our supreme sacrifice
Help them to remember
The terrible cost of war
And we shall not have
Died in vain. -- Amen

In Grateful Memory of Those Who Died in the
Service of Our Country During World War II

William B. Biette, Okinawa, 1945
J. Merle Boswell, France, 1944
Ernest Charbonneau, France, 1944
David Currie, Pacific Ocean, 1945
Matthew A. Just, Germany, 1944
Alexander J. Krawiecki, Germany, 1944
Chester V. Krawiecki, Japan, 1945
Stanley J. Kopacki, France, 1944
Chester T. Cbremski, Okinawa, 1945
John G. Nieckarz, France, 1944
Silvio Pipino, Germany, 1945
Russell F. Schermerhorn, Philippin Islands, 1945

Adopted by Clifton Park/Halfmoon
V.F.W. Post #1498

July 4, 2006

This post was written as a contribution to the Honor Roll Project, which was created by Heather Wilkinson Rojo, author of Nutfield Genealogy.

Guardian Bond for Catherine (Jewell) Jennings (1813-1854)

Catherine Jewell married Powhatan Perrow Jennings on 23 February 1836 in Amherst County, Virginia, and was the daughter of Thomas Jewell and Sarah Downs. She was also my great great grandmother. She was born in 1813 and her parents died before she was 21 years old. As a result her eldest brother, Jesse, signed a bond promising to pay Catherine her share of her father's estate when she became an adult.

The bond was abstracted in a book entitled The Wills of Amherst County, Virginia, 1761-1865:

CATH. JEWELL -- Book 8, Page 355 -- Guardian Bond -- October 21, 1833. JESSE JEWELL, JAS. JEWELL, and TERISHA JEWELL for JESSE as guardian of CATH. JEWELL, orphan of THOS. JEWELL, deceased

Earlier this year, we stopped in Amherst County on our way to North Carolina and visited the courthouse. I photographed several documents related to the Jewell and Jennings families in will, marriage, and deed books.

Amherst County, Virginia courthouse; personal collection

The complete text of the bond abstracted above is as follows:[1]

Amherst County, Virginia
Will Book 8, Page 355

Know all men by these presents that we, Jesse Jewell, James Jewell, and Terisha Jewell are held and firmly bound unto Ambrose Rucker, William M. Waller, Jonas Pierce, Zacharias Drummond, Gentlemen Justices of the County Court of Amherst, in the sum of two thousand dollars current money of Virginia, for the payment of which well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents.

Sealed with our seals and dated this 21st day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty three and in the 58th year of the Commonwealth.

The condition of the above obligation is such that if the above bound Jesse Jewell shall well and truly pay and deliver, or cause to be paid and delivered unto Catherine Jewell, orphan of Thomas Jewell, deceased, all such Estate of Estates as is now, or shall hereafter appear to be due to the said Catherine Jewell, when she shall attain to lawful age to demand the same, or when thereto, required by the Justices of the Court, for the time being, do also save harmless and indemnify the first above mentioned Justices from all trouble or damage that shall or may arise about the said Estate or Estates, then this obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.

Jesse Jewell (signed and sealed)
James Jewell (sealed)
Terisha Jewell (sealed)

At a court held for Amherst County on the 21st day of October 1833.

This bond was acknowledged in open Court by the parties thereto, and ordered to be recorded.

Teste,

Robert Tinsley, Clerk

_______________
[1] Transcribe by Schalene Jennings Dagutis, 1 May 2018

Daniel Mitchell, Jr. and Sarah "Sally" Wood Marriage Bond and Consent Note

During our trip to the Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library in Bedford, Virginia, I had hoped to determine who were the parents of my three times great grandmother, Sarah "Sally" Wood (born about 1792-died after 1884) and married to Daniel Mitchel, Jr. (c1786-1872). I read through several Wood genealogies and surname files but did not definitively answer the question. However, we did find the marriage bond and note of consent for their marriage. So the burning question now is, "Who is John Wood?"

Marriage bond for Daniel Mitchell, Jr., and Sarah "Sally" Wood; courtesy
of the Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library

Know all men by these presents that we, Daniel Mitchell and James H. Mitchell and John Wood are held and firmly bound unto Wilson C. Nicholas, Esq., governor chief-magistrate of the Commonwealth Virginia in the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars current money of Virginia in the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars current money of Virginia to which payment well and truly to be made to the said governor or his successors. We bind ourselves and each of us and each of our heirs, executors, etc., jointly and severally firmly by these presents, sealed with our seals and dated this 1st day of June 1816.

The condition of the above obligation is such that is hereso -- There is a marriage shortly intended to be had and solemnized between the above bound Daniel Mitchell and Sally Wood.

Now if there shall be no lawful cause to obstruct the said marriage then the above obligation to be void else remain in full force and virtue.

Daniel Mitchell (his mark and seal)
James H. Mitchell (his mark and seal)
John Wood (seal)

Sarah "Sally" Wood warranting she is over 21 years of age; courtesy of the
Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library

Mr. James Steptoe

Sir, you have my consent to issue license for the intermarriage of myself and Daniel Mitchell and this shall be your sufficient warrant for the same. Giving under my hand this 1st day of June 1816.

Sally Wood

Cornelius W. White or Cornelius W. White?

While researching DNA matches I "met" Cornelius W. White, who married Rebecca D. Wilcox, my second cousin three times removed and great granddaughter of Matthew McMullin, Sr. (before 1765-about 1816).

My first questions were "where was Cornelius W. White born" and "who were his parents." Then I moved on to "you bigamist, you!" After hours of research I have determined there were two men named Cornelius W. White married to different women with different families, but Find A Grave and many, many public trees are incorrect, combining these two different men into one person.

Cornelius W. White (1840-1925) (Link requires an Ancestry subscription)

This Cornelius W. White has no known relationship to me. He was born on 1 November 1840 in Mercer County, Virginia (now West Virginia). His parents were Carling Ferguson White and Sarah F. Bailey. He married Zelphia R. Stewart on 5 November 1863 and had six known children:

1. William W. White born 31 August 1864; died 4 November 1954; married 1) Annie Kate Knopp and 2) Nettie Beckett
2. Lottie E. White born 13 April 1870; died 19 March 1950
3. Leighton Albert White born 3 April 1873; died 6 December 1919; married Salena Taylor
4. Joseph N. White born in 1876; died in 1951; married Bessie Estella Nirk
5. George Emmet White born  23 October 1878; died in July 1972; married Jessie Melissa Lewis
6. Winton Egbert White born 23 November 1882; died in 1946; married Edith Grace McTaggart

This Cornelius W. White died 2 November 1925 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and was interred at the Dr. Jesse Bennett Cemetery in Point Pleasant. 

West Virginia Death Certificate for Cornelius W. White; courtesy of the
West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History

Cornelius W. White (c1839-after 1907) (Link requires an Ancestry subscription)

This was "my" Cornelius W. White and he was much harder to research, of course! He was born about 1839 in Tazewell County, Virginia, according to his Civil War pension application to William G. White and Matilda (maiden name unknown). He married Rebecca D. Wilcox on 17 September 1860 in Scott County, Virginia. He joined the Confederate States Army on 12 March 1862 and served in Company A of the 48th Virginia Infantry Regiment until the end of the war.

Virginia Marriage Index for Cornelius W. White and Rebecca D. Wilcox;
courtesy of FamilySearch.org

Cornelius and Rebecca had eight known children:

1. Badora "Dora" White born 15 May 1858; died 14 November 1936; married Alexander Mitchell Steffey
2. William Augustus White born 9 August 1861; died 20 April 1924; married Nannie Magdalina Buchanan
3. Robert E. White born 14 April 1866; died 23 June 1922; married Laura Daniel
4. John A. White born 9 January 1868; died 8 April 1900
5. Mary Etta (or Ellen) White born 28 April 1868; died 15 Dec 1931; married 1) Robert Thomas Aker and 2) Andrew Jackson Beverly
6. Minerva M. "Tillie" White born 29 November 1875; died 23 October 1901; married Greenfield Taylor Dyer
7. Fayette McMullin White born 3 October 1877; died 23 June 1961; married Jacka Charlotte Snider
8. Lou Emma White born 1 September 1879; died 23 March 1912; married James Edward Overstreet

Cornelius' wife, Rebecca died on 18 June 1887 in Smyth County, Virginia, and was interred at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Groseclose, Virginia.

Cornelius applied for a pension[1] on 13 August 1907. He claimed he had lived in Virginia all of his life and in Smyth County for 28 years. He said he was 68 years old and had been partially paralyzed for four years. He died sometime after 1907 but I do not know when.

_______________
[1] A big thank you to Ancestry.com member mikebrewer55, who added the pension application to his family tree.

William McMullen Peterson (1898-1960): Missing Wife

William McMullen Peterson was my third cousin twice removed, the grandson of Lafayette "Fayette" McMullen, a U.S. Senator and territorial governor of what is now Washington Sate. He was born on 22 January 1898 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to William Jacob Peterson and Mary Fayetta McMullen. He was their second child. William's father was a merchant and owned his own home on South Liberty Street.

Ten years later when the 1910 census was enumerated, William's family continued to live on South Liberty Street but his father was working as a musician for a church organization. On 21 December 1916, his father suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died five days later on 26 December at home. William was 18 years old at the time of his father's death.

On 12 December 1917 William was inducted into the U.S. Army at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was sent the next day to Receiving Company No. 1 at Camp Johnston, located near Jacksonville, Florida. Construction began on the camp in October and the first recruits arrived 19 November 1917. It became the largest of all the Army's Quartermaster mobilization and training camps by 1918. William remained at Camp Johnston until March 1918 when he was assigned to Supply Company 310, Quartermaster Corps. Three months later, he was sent to Europe where he remained until 16 July 1919. I know little about his overseas military service except he was assigned to the St. Nazaire Casual Company, which was a temporary administrative unit for Army personnel awaiting discharge. William returned to the U.S. on 16 July 1919 and was honorably discharged on 23 July.

By 1920 William's family had scattered. His oldest sister, Pauline, graduated from Salem College as a teacher and was likely living in El Paso, Colorado, working as a teacher. His widowed mother and youngest sister, Agnes, lived in Washington, DC. I have been unable to find William in the 1920 census.

On 24 August 1925, William married Mildred E. White in Petersburg, Virginia. She was the widow of John L. Casper, Jr. and the daughter of Emory Charles White and Lula Parrish. The marriage index record indicated William was divorced, hence the missing first wife. Who was she? When and where did they marry? When did they divorce?

Marriage index record from FamilySearch.org

William and Mildred's marriage lasted less than five years. By 1930, William had moved to California and owned a paint and wallpaper store. He had also married again to Marion Edna Liddell, daughter of Robert Liddell and Mary Caithness. She had previously been married to Earl F. Levitt and had a daughter. When the 1940 census was enumerated William worked for the City of Los Angeles as a license inspector.

William died on 18 May 1960 in Los Angeles County was was interred at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. His wife died 31 years later in San Luis Obispo County.

If readers know anything about William McMullen Peterson's first wife, please contact me. Thank you.