52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 27

Since we celebrated the 4th of July this week, the writing prompt was Independence. My mind immediately went to 1776. To date I have identified one relative who served in the American Revolution. My 6 times great-grandfather Jacob Christopher Kern was born in 1742 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest child of Johann Georg Kern and Catharine Elisabeth (Fraudhueger) Kern, who were married in Niedersteinbach in 1723. Niedersteinbach is in Northeastern France near the border of Germany.

About 1770, Jacob married Catherine Elizabeth Utt in Northampton, a Pennsylvania county that was carved off of Bucks County in 1752. Jacob and Elizabeth went on to have 8 children, two of whom were born prior to the Revolutionary War.

As Bucks County was very near Philadelphia, Jacob would have been at ground zero when the first and second Continental Congresses took place in 1774 and 1775. The second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army by resolution on 14 June 1775 to coordinate the military efforts of the thirteen colonies in their revolt against Great Britain. It is no wonder that he ended up serving in the war.

Jacob was commissioned by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Spyker, who commanded the 2nd & 6th Philadelphia battalions. Jacob was a 2nd Lieutenant under Captain Phillip Hetrick’s company from Berks County in 1776. He then served as a 1st Lieutenant in Captain Henry Shepler’s company, also in Berks County. As 1st Lieutenant, his job duties may have included teaching the soldiers discipline, order and fearlessness. As most men had no military experience prior to enlisting, he would have taught them military formations and how to be soldiers. In the event of the captain’s death, Jacob would have stepped in to take over the company. The last information I could find on Jacob indicated that he was a Corporal under Captain Philip Hahn in the New Hanover township company as of December, 1778.

It is written in military articles that Corporals were not often with their regiments as they were off performing other duties, which perhaps explains how Jacob and his wife had a daughter who was born in December of 1778. Five more children followed, the last of whom was born in Pennsylvania in 1792.  By 1793, the family had moved to Hamilton County, Ohio. Jacob died shortly after the move, leaving Catherine on her own with the eight children.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 26

Black sheep is the writing prompt for this week, alluding to a family member who was a troublemaker or an outcast. While I may indeed have some black sheep in my family, I haven’t found any criminals yet. I do have a favorite story about an ancestor we thought was a bit of a troublemaker in Ireland, however.

Catherine Colgan's birth certificate

My maternal great-grandmother Catherine Colgan was born 27 December 1864 in Ireland to Edward and Bridget (McHugh) Colgan. Her birth certificate indicates that she was born in Prison, and that the dwelling of her father was also Prison. Edward and Bridget were both school teachers in Ireland, and Edward taught at a Catholic school in Cincinnati after they emigrated. My aunts told me that Edward was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood when he was in Ireland. We all assumed that he was arrested for that, and they threw him and his wife in prison for his transgressions.

When I traveled to County Mayo in 1997, with Catherine’s birth certificate in hand, I stopped into a local pub near Drumadoon where the Colgans had lived to ask about the prison. As I said to them at the time, I thought it unlikely that the prison still stood after all these years, but was it possible records still existed that could tell me why Edward and his wife had been thrown into prison?

Seeing the blank expressions on their faces, I showed them the birth record. They began to laugh, and exclaimed, “Prison is a village near here!” I laughed too, and said they had ruined our favorite family story as we had been making up tales, thinking he was in prison. The barkeep replied, “Oh and to be sure he was, just not the kind with bars on the windows!”

And so the family black sheep was no more.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 25

When I saw the writing prompt Same Name, I immediately thought of Michael Crusham (or Crisham, as it was more commonly spelled in Ireland). My maternal 3rd great-grandfather was Michael Crusham, and he was born in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland about 1811. He married Catherine Archer on 28 September 1826 in Tuam. They had the following children, all of whom were born in Tuam: Mary b. 1827, John b. 1832, Michael (my 2nd great-grandfather) b. 1833, Catherine b. 1835, Honor b. 1844, and William b. 1846.

My 2nd great-grandfather Michael Crusham married Mary Cruise on 15 October 1855 in Tuam. Their children included Michael (my great-grandfather) b. 1857, Peter b. 1860 and d. 1863, Judith b. 1861, Peter b. 1864, and Julia b. 1867. All the children were born in Tuam as well.

Michael and Catherine

Great-grandfather Michael Crusham emigrated to the United States ~1882, and he married Catherine Colgan in Cincinnati, Ohio on 21 July 1887. From their union the following children were born: Michael (my grandfather) b. 1887, Edward b. 1889, Mary b. 1892, Clara b. 1894, Charles b. 1896, Agnes b. 1899, Thomas b. 1902, John b. 1906, and Dorothy b. 1908.

My grandfather Michael Crusham married Mayme Metz in Cincinnati on 21 June 1911. Their children were Marie b. 1912, Edward b. 1913 and died 1913, Stella b. 1914, stillborn infant b. 1916, Catherine (my mother) b. 1920, Margaret b. 1922, Charles b. 1925, Elizabeth b. 1927, and twins James and Michael (my uncle) b. 1930.

Michael and Mayme

Uncle Charles Crusham and his wife Dorothy (Gronefeld) Crusham named one of their sons Michael. One of his other sons, Charles, has a son named Michael Crusham. Also, my Uncle Michael Crusham and his wife Rita (Murphy) Crusham have a grandson named Michael Crusham.

For at least seven generations there has been at least one male named Michael Crusham in the family tree. And five of those were directly father to son. That is pretty impressive! It also adds a degree of difficulty when trying to do genealogical research in an area where several of them lived in the same town during the same time period. Which Michael Crusham is in the record? It reminds me of the old television show, "To Tell the Truth". Will the real Michael Crusham please stand up?