Jabez Ham

 Elder Jabez Ham (1796-1842) = Farmer. Primitive Baptist minister. Born on August 3 to Rhoda and Stephen Ham, Sr. of Madison Co, KY.

Jabez married Hannah S. Todd (b.1798), daughter of Hannah and Peter Todd [1756, PA.- c.1841, Ky.) a former Revolutionary War Soldier, on January 13, 1814. They emigrated to Missouri in 1817 and altogether had 14 children. A dark chapter came into their lives when Indians massacred all passengers, including two of their boys, on a wagon train going west but one, Joel Campbell Ham (1818-1887). He escaped by crawling into a haystack and the Indians overlooked him. He returned to Missouri.

(Note: According to a cousin, she had never heard of the above Indian massacre story, but I obtained the story from the genealogy compiled by Rev. Ervin C. Tipton, whom my grandmother corresponded with during her own family research. )

Elder Jabez Ham organized a church on Loutre Creek in Montgomery County, Missouri called New Providence in 1826. In a letter, written by a Callaway County woman to her sister in Kentucky about a wedding she attended officiated by him, she described him thus: "He had on a long buckskin overcoat that looked so funny! Mr. Ham was a spelling and reading the ceremony from the book." He was said to be quite a character. Another story involves a State senator, one Mr. Harper who left Montgomery County to get a load of corn in Callaway County. Harper wore his usual home-spun clothes and on his way back home, he went by a house where Jabe was preaching. Harper stopped by to hear it and during the services, Jabe asked the congregation to kneel in prayer, which all did except Harper, who leaned his head upon his hand. Then Jabe prayed that the Lord would bless "that Virginia man, who had on store clothes, and was afraid or too proud to get down on his knees."

He passed away in Callaway County, Missouri on December 12, 1842 and is buried in the New Providence church cemetery. His Findagrave #28718049 memorial. 

* Historical Note: According to the Primitive Baptist Church Library in Carthage, IL (link below), there were five bodies of Primitive Baptist churches in Montgomery County - Elkhorn, Little Bethel, Loutre, Macedonia and New Providence.   

More to Read:

1. 1830 US Federal Census, Montgomery County, MO. 

2. The Ham Family Kith and Kin. By Rev. Ervin Charles Tipton. San Rafael, CA. 1977.

3. Madison County, Kentucky Marriage Records, Vol. 1, p. 113.

4. "History of Elk Fork Township: Joel C. Ham." The History of Pettis County, Missouri. A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri: With Numerous Sketches …By William Smith Byron and Rose, p. 972

5. Revolutionary War Records for Peter Todd, #S31430, Rowan County, NC under Capt. Robert Moore
6. The Ghost Towns of Central Missouri: Callaway & Osage Counties. by Kelly Warman-Stallings. Ketch's Printing, Jefferson City, MO, 1998. Vol.2.

7. J.K. Martin's Ham Page

8. Ham Country

9. YouTube video (sorry, the quality of the video is not that great)
10. Primitive Baptist Church Library in Carthage, IL
11. Access Genealogy
12. Charles Harper, 2nd District (1842) Missouri State Senators

Places to Visit:

According to the above cousin, there is a family reunion for the Ham descendants, but I have never been. 

Rev. Alexander M. Sullens

Rev. Alexander M. Sullens (1830-1905)  = Christian (Campbellite; Disciples of Christ) Minister. Union Soldier in Civil War.

Alexander, born in Mill Springs, Wayne county, Kentucky on Oct 15, the third of thirteen, to John (1804-1883) and Malinda (Thompson) Sullens (1805-1867), emigrated from Kentucky to Miller county, Missouri where his brother was born the following year. Alexander's grandparents were Peter & Mary (Carson) Sullens, Sr. Alexander's first cousin, Judge John H. Sullens of Adrian, Bates County, MO.,  born in Kentucky the year before he was, was elected to both circuit court and as a Missouri state legislator. As a victim of the Burnt District, John, along with other representatives, asked the editor of the St. Louis Republican paper to publish George Caleb Bingham's letter concerning General Thomas Ewing's Order No. 11.

Alexander married Martha (1831-1914), daughter of Abraham and Nancy Ritter on May 19, 1849 in Cole County, MO and to this union six children were born -- William Jasper  (1850-1829); John Thomas (1852-1935); Mary E. (b.1857); George Washington (1859-1896); Ezra L. (1861-1930); and Lewis Pinkney "Pink" Sullens (1867-1945). Their son, William, played a fiddle and it is said that he could play all night and not play the same song twice. William's son, Loyd Carl would accompany his father on his banjo.

Alexander pastored the Spring Garden Christian Church, the mother church of all the Disciples of Christ churches in Miller County. The church was organized in 1840 and two church houses were built in the northwest corner of the present day cemetery in 1845 and 1870. When his granddaughter, Cora Lee (1875-1955), daughter of William Jasper and Nannie C. (Scrivner) (1857-1901) Sullens, married William Thornton Rush (1874-1954), son of James M. (1826-1892) & Theresa Jane (Loveall) Rush (1835-1909), on March 30, 1902,  he officiated at their wedding ceremony.

 More to Read:

1.) Bingham: Fighting Artist. By Lew Larkin. School of the Ozarks Press, Point Lookout, MO. 1971. P. 293.

2.) The History of Cass and Bates Counties, Missouri. St. Joseph, Mo. National Historical Company, 1883. p. 1299-1300. Repository: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO, www.mymcpl.org

3.) Miller County, MO. Marriages, Bk. E. P. 137 By A. M. Sullins.

4.) The Rush Report. Compiled by Gaynelle Jenkins Moore with research assistance by David W. Rush. Historical Data Services, Glens Falls, NY; 2003. Internet Archive. 

5.) Peter Sullens and Mary Carson and Two Hundred Years of Descendants. By Maude Sullens Hoffman. Printed by J.W. Brown. 1971.
6.) A Photo of William Jasper & Loyd Sullens playing their instruments.

7.) Miller County, Missouri Communities: Spring Garden

8.) Findagrave Memorial  # 61286760 and Find A Grave Memorial # 60413035

Places to Visit:

1.) Spring Garden Cemetery, AA Hwy & Binkley Road (north of 54 Hwy), Spring Garden, Miller County, MO. 

Alexander Sullen's Civil War Tombstone
Spring Garden, MO. cemetery

Certificate that came with Civil War tombstone
signed by US President

Martin White 2015 Presentation and Query

Elder Martin White's Biography (off-site)

Presentation Praise (off-site)

Presentation Praise, Part Two (off-site)

Although I presented the White's family story in Lincoln, Logan County, Illinois in May 2015, I'm continuing to dig for more information on Martin, Kiturah, and their children, so I still have a request for my cousins -- I am completing my grandmother's research on my 3rd great-grandparents because I am a promise-keeper and I have found much new information that she was not able to obtain during her own research because 1.) she was collecting as much as she could on all the descendants which was a huge undertaking in the days before the internet and 2.) the information was just not available to her or her assistants, even though she traveled to Kentucky where he was born, to Illinois, Kansas and the Missouri border area where he eventually died. She even corresponded by letter with many cousins, most of whom have passed away by now.

Unfortunately, the records that my grandmother copied or received during her family research were burned. The only thing I had in the beginning of my research on Martin & Kiturah was their story preserved in the red White book that my Grandmother published in 1983.  

I'm seeking two things especially, but as with any story, there are always more things I want to know about my 3rd great-grandparents. The two things I would like to have especially is a photograph of Martin and Kiturah (Kitty, Katie). Grandma was able to obtain photographs of some of their children and grandchildren which was eventually published in her genealogy. There are many photographs out there of Abraham Lincoln, so they lived during the time when photographs were possible, but I'm not sure if they ever had their photograph taken or if anyone ever drew or painted their portraits. 

The other thing I would like to have are samples of Martin's handwriting. Do you have any letters or documents with his signature that's been handed down in your family that is not from the internet, that you would be willing to photocopy or scan to share with me? I need family samples to verify what I have found on the internet. If you have either thing, please leave a comment for me in the comment section below. I moderate all comments before I publish them, so if you have personal information such as an email or a home address in your comment, it will not be published -- it's safe with me. However, if you wish to be counted as a member of the family, it would be best to make two comments -- one for me to keep containing your personal information and one to publish here.

I have been approached by people wanting to sell records to me pertaining to Martin White. As to that, I am NOT interested. So don't even bother trying to scam me. 

You would make my day if you have either requested item or another personal object of Martin's such as his Bible, his hymnal, a ministerial logbook or church minutes from Liberty Mosquito, Elk Fork or Pleasant Gap Primitive Baptist churches, sermons, his pulpit or powder horn or something of Kiturah's like a handwritten recipe, a list of Bible family records, her favorite Bible verse, a hand-crafted object and so forth.  These may be added to my family tree on Ancestry. Thank you in advance!

More to Read:

1. Border Ballads

2. Decoration Day

3. In Memory of Her Veterans

4. Preacher Man 

Click on the label "White" at the bottom of this post for information about other White descendants that I have written about or included in other posts. 

Written by Dolores J. Rush. 

Family History Funnies

 

A girlfriend sent me this cartoon, knowing my interest in family history.

I just had to share with you all, since you are perhaps a relative! smile!

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Nuts in the Cemetery

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. "One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me, " said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence. 

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, 'One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me!' He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along. 

'Come here quick,' said the boy, 'you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls!' 

The man said, 'Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk.' When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they heard, 'One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me.' The old man whispered, 'Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord.'

Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord. 

At last they heard, 'One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done.'

They say the old man had the lead for a good half-mile before the kid on the bike passed him.

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and a few favorites gathered from Pinterest