Rubbing Elbows with The Lincolns!

Family folklore says I am related to Herbert Hoover (the 31st President of the United States) and Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis & Clark). 

Are we related? It's possible. I haven't been able to find any connections....yet! (I am still looking!)

But....... my maternal 6x Great Grandfather Jacob Gum Jr. and his son Jesse did rub elbows with the Lincoln Family. Yes....THAT Lincoln Family:

Abraham Lincoln circa 1846

Family tradition tells that Jacob Gum sold his Virginia land to Abraham Lincoln, grandfather of the 16th President.
Pond, Fern Nance, "Jesse Gum Survey," in Abraham Lincoln Quarterly, June 1950, pg. 123

Boom! Doing business with the Lincolns!

Not once, but twice!

In February of 1834, Jesse hired the young surveyor, Abe Lincoln, to prepare a report of his (Jesse's) holdings. Jesse owned about 800 acres in 4 tracts. An account of the Gum Survey of 3 March 1834 appears in the Abraham Lincoln Quarterly, "Jesse Gum Survey by Fern Nance Pond, June, 1950.

How cool is that?

Two Early Lincoln Surveys

How am I related to Jacob Gum?

Jacob Gum is the father of Sally Gum. Sally Gum married Simpson Montgomery. Their daughter Lydia Montgomery married Elijah Watkins. They had a son, James Watkins who married Nancy Lewis and they had a son, Charles Lucas Watkins. Charles married Susan Thomas and they are the parents of my Great-Grandparents Doris and Lawrence Watkins. (Grandma Shirley's mom and dad)

The 73-year-old Puzzle

I sometimes forget that the discoveries I make need to be shared in its entirety. I get lost details and forget the big picture of sharing these finds with my family.

My uncle just reminded me of this.

I started looking into my family history for a couple of reasons:

1. For a school project, my daughter was researching her name and wondered if her name had any meaning to it. 
2. There is one branch in my tree that is very short. The Rose branch. 

I do have a Family Bible that has some handwriting from a few different people in it. On the inside of the Bible is a small family tree that has been attempted many times to be filled out. Sometimes it is just the last name and sometimes it is a name but has been misspelled.

The pieces of this 73-year-old puzzle start in this Bible.

My Great-Great Grandfather, William James Rose, has two last names listed for his wife in this Bible; Birddoon and Skinner.

Family Lore is that William had a mistress and a wife. And between the 3 of them, they had seven sons. To make it even more complicated, the first name of both Birddoon and Skinner was Katherine. Imagine trying to figure out which sons belonged to which Katherine!

Luckily I didn't have to.

What I found out was that William was married twice but his first marriage was to Rebecca Jolly. They had one daughter, Mary.
I believe that Rebecca died in childbirth and Mary went to live with her Maternal Grandparents but then she disappears.

William then married Katherine Burdan (incorrectly spelled on the marriage license in the Jennings County, Indiana Courthouse, neither Katherine or William could read or write). A daughter was listed in the 1870 census, Ada, she was 5. Katherine and William married in 1868. You do the math, I'll wait.....

William and Katherine went on to have 4 boys and 1 girl. Seven children all together! More on them later.

The state of Indiana recently released marriage records from 1800-1941 and I found Ada's marriage licence.

It listed her mother as Katherine Skinner and her father as Eugene Birddoon!

Puzzle solved. Katherine's maiden name was Skinner, her first married name was Birddoon and her second married name was Rose.

Now the next pieces of the puzzle:
What happened to Rebecca, Mary, Eugene and Ada?