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

Citation: "Rev. Alexander M. Sullens." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 5 June 2023. Rush Family News, USA. 

Preacher Man

My husband and I have been listing the men of the cloth in our families. Some are ancestors and some are cousins. They may be by blood or by marriage. Some I have written short biographies for and they are linked in.  

I have also listed our family faith backgrounds where known. 

This list will be on-going as we identify those men and women in our families who heard and obeyed a calling to serve as ministers or missionaries of God.

HER's
Rev. Millard M. AKERS (1890-1945), Church of God (Anderson, IN)
Elder David BARROWS (1835-1918), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Ira BOONE (1809-1866), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Isaiah H. BOONE (1802-1835), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Thomas BOONE (1785-1855), Primitive Baptist
Rev. Robert ELKIN (1745-1822), Separatist Baptist
Rev. Israel FRANCO, Church of God (Anderson, IN) 
Eld. Jabez HAM (1796-1842), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Stephen Peter HAM (1836-1908), Primitive Baptist
Eld. Abraham HOLLIS (1804-1870), Primitive Baptist
Rev. Arnold E. LARUE (1924-1997), Wesleyan
Rev. James E. LARUE (1903-1981), Wesleyan
Rev. Timothy PUSEY , Nazarene
Miss Edna F. THIMES (1914-1995), Church of God (Anderson, IN) Missionary Nurse
Rev. Ervin C. TIPTON (1900-1977), Methodist
Eld. Martin WHITE (1802-1862), Primitive Baptist


Baptist including Primitive Baptist; Catholic; Church of God (Anderson, IN.); Disciples/Church of Christ (Campbellite, Christian); Methodist; Nazarene; Quaker. 


+ + + + + + + + + +

HIS
Eld. James ASHTON (1641-1705), Primitive Baptist
Rev. Henry LOVEALL (1694-1778), Freewill Baptist
Rev. Morgan MORGAN (1737-1797), Episcopalian
Rev. Thomas MUSICK (1756-1842), Baptist
Rev. Wayne Sawyer, Nazarene 
Rev. James SIBBITT, Presbyterian
Eld. William David SCRIVNER, Jr. (1855-1924), Baptist
Rev. Alexander SULLENS (1830-1905), Disciples of Christ
Rev. Edward E. SULLENS (1865-1942), Methodist
Rev. Enos A. SULLENS (1867-1934), Methodist
Rev. James SULLENS (1860-1908), Methodist



Baptist including Primitive Baptist;  Catholic;  Church of God of Holiness;  Disciples of Christ;  Episcopalian;  Jehovah Witness;  Lutheran;  Methodist;  Nazarene; Presbyterian


Post compiled by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 9-6-2022. 

Ancestry DNA Test Results

I'm kind of skeptical about DNA testing, but David was curious to know about his, especially since Ancestry.com was offering a sale on the test.  So, he spit into the test tube provided, sent the box off and these are the results that came back today:

HIS TEST RESULTS: 

44 % Great Britain 
40 % Ireland, Scotland & Wales
11 % Western Europe
4 % Scandinavia

(No surprises on any of those, however, the one below is! Hum!)

1 % Middle East 

~~~~~~~~~~

HIS UPDATED TEST RESULTS ON 9.23.2020

54% England & Northwestern Europe

24% Scotland

9% Ireland

7% Wales

6% Norway

(9/2/2021)

England & Northwestern Europe 54%

Scotland 24%

Ireland 9%

Wales 7%

Norway 6%

(20 Sep 2021)

England & Northwestern Europe 45%

Scotland 17%

Ireland 14%

Wales 12%

Norway 10%

Sweden & Denmark 2%

~~~~~~~~~~ 

A cousin who has had the DNA testing done said: "Ancestry uses an autosomal DNA test. It's the best of both worlds in that it tests for maternal and paternal ancestors." 

Remember that the DNA test is a tool to further your genealogical research. For instance, if you have hit a brick wall and haven't figured out how to get over it or around it, this might give you clues as to where to go next in your search for the next piece of the family jigsaw puzzle. Your family tree will probably not be all laid out for you unless you happen to find the treasure of a genealogical book compiled by a relative. It will take a little work on your part, beginning with yourself and working backward to make your personal family tree. Of course, there will be cousins along the way who have been on a similar genealogical journey that you can exchange information with. That's the fun part - getting acquainted with cousins whose ancestors knew your ancestors and either died or moved and lost touch with each other. 

* * * * * * * * *

I finally received my test results from Ancestry.com.

HER DNA TEST RESULTS ON 4.16.2018. Born Brunette with Blue Eyes.

England and Wales - 70%
Ireland and Scotland - 27%
Norway - 3%

Additional Communities in the USA"

1. Lower Midwest & Virginia Settlers (includes northern Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Northern North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.) 

The closest DNA match was a previously unknown nephew. My match list grows longer day by day and has become overwhelming. Some of my matches have family trees, but many do not. 

I heard that the DNA results only measure back approximately 500 years, which for me would indicate the ancestors who lived about 1521. DNA may help with brick walls. One of our brick walls is James White. My grandmother said her parents told her that the Whites came over on the Mayflower (a Fletcher also). It would be nice to compare a known Mayflower White descendant's DNA with mine.

                          =========================================

MY DNA UPDATE (15 November 2019) 

1. English, Wales, & Northwestern Europe (66%)
Includes Belgium, the Channel Islands, Denmark, England, France, Switzerland and Wales.

2. Ireland & Scotland (24%)
Includes both North & South Ireland, Isle of Man, and Scotland.

3. Germanic Europe (10%)
Includes Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands & Switzerland. 

                           =========================================

MY DNA UPDATE (17 September 2020) 

Supposedly my DNA doesn't change, but Ancestry's science results do, so here's my Ethnicity Estimate to date (you will see some overlap in the countries represented). 

1. England & Northwestern Europe 55%

Includes the communities of Belgium, Channel Islands, Denmark, Faroe Islands, England, France, Germany, Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and Wales. 

2. Scotland 20%

3. Ireland 16%

Includes the Channel Islands, England, Faroe Islands, France, Iceland, Isle of Man, and Northern Scotland.

4. Germanic Europe 7%

Includes Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. 

5. Sweden 2%

Norway and Sweden are on the same peninsula arm of Europe. Norway is on the West side and Sweden is on the East side. This Swedish DNA result includes not only Sweden, but also Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands and Norway.

Now wait a minute. Why change it to Sweden when my first results said Norway? What gives? I'd say that their science ain't perfect yet. 

                             ======================================

MY DNA UPDATE (24 September 2021) 

England & Northwestern Europe 44%

Scotland 24%

Ireland 15%

Sweden & Denmark 9% 

Germanic Europe 5%

Norway 2%

Basque 1%

Well, the UK results are about the same, but they have thrown in Basque and we're back to Norway results. I have no idea who may be Basque in my background 500 years ago. 

                           =======================================

No.1 Blonde Sister's 23andme DNA results

British & Irish 78.5%

French & German 17.6%

Broadly European 3%

Italian .2%

Cypriot .7%

and

Neanderthal - less than 2%

                            =======================================

MY DNA UPDATE (20 May 2022)

Indicates distant origins (500 - 1,000 years ago).

Me:

England & Northwestern Europe 54%

Scotland 15%

Ireland 11%

Sweden & Denmark 6%

Germanic Europe 6%

Norway 4%

Wales 4%

The newest thing is figuring out which parent gave me what ethnicity without them ever haven taken a DNA test themselves. I got 1/2 of each of my parent's DNA that combined to make ME! I wonder how many different combinations can be created from just two people's whole DNA?  Here are my results. 

Parent 1 = 

England & Northwestern Europe 33%

Scotland 3%

Sweden & Denmark 6%

Germanic Europe  6%

Wales 2%

Parent 2 =

England & Northwestern Europe 21%

Scotland 12%

Ireland 11%

Norway 4%

Wales 2%

                             =====================================

MY DNA UPDATE (26 Aug 2022)

My DNA Results Have Been Shuffled Around Again!  

England & Northwestern Europe 43%

Scotland 27%

Wales 9%

Germanic Europe 8%

Sweden & Denmark 6%

Ireland 6%

Norway 1%

                             =====================================

MY DNA UPDATE (18 Apr 2023)

This time they have added the two DNA matches that are closest to me and compared our DNA with each other. One is a nephew and the other is a maternal first cousin.

My results again:

England 43%

Scotland 27%

Wales 9%

Germanic Europe 8%

Sweden/Denmark 6%

Ireland 6%

Norway 1%

========================================

Fine Tuning My Test Results (8 Jan 2024)

England and Northwestern Europe 50%

Scotland 23%

Germanic Europe 8%

Ireland 7%

Sweden and Denmark 6%

Wales 4%

Norway 2%

========================================

Okay, I had another kind of genetic test done last August 

and got the results in January 2024.

I am positive for Trisomy X Syndrome. All that means is that I have an extra X chromosome. Women generally have two XX and men have an XY. That’s the gender genes. In my case, either mom’s or dad’s X chromosome that were blended together at my conception, divided before it was supposed to, giving me an extra X at conception. According to the stuff I’ve read online, about 1 in 1,000 girls are born with an extra X. I’ve joined the ranks of the special. 😇 Oh, and mind you, boys can also have a similar condition where they get an extra Y. Also according to what I’ve read, I can’t pass my extra X down to the next generation. Whew! Son missed that bombshell!!!

I also have a variant on another gene, but I don’t know much about it. So when I find out more, I’ll update this post. 

===================================

If you are related to either one of us and feel comfortable sharing here, please feel free to tell us your results in the comments below.

Article updated on 1/8/2024.

Charity Scrivner Holder, New Santa Fe, Missouri

We recently attended the New Santa Fe, Missouri Christian Church Historical Marker Dedication on the Old Santa Fe Trail (f. 1821) and met new-to-us cousins. My guy is the bearded fellow. 

I discovered a couple of years ago that a John and Charity (Scrivner) Holder were buried in the New Santa Fe Christian Church cemetery on Find-a-grave.com and contacted a member of the New Santa Fe Historical Society's Trail Center. I wanted to know if there were any relatives still in the area and sure enough, she introduced me, via email, to one. He's in his 80s and we have communicated via email ever since. He's been undergoing chemo, so we haven't been able to meet until now and what a good time we had getting acquainted in person, along with his wife.

He told us a little about himself and about Doris Collier's Scrivner genealogy which David has since purchased. We figured that Charity and John were my husband's 4th great-aunt and uncle. David is a direct descendant of the Scrivner family of Cole County, MO. through his paternal line [Norman Rush, Nanny Marie (Rush) Rush, Cora Lee (Sullens) Rush,  Nannie Cynthia (Scrivner) Sullens,  William J. Scrivner and so on, back through time]. 

I grew up southeast of New Santa Fe, MO. and attended VBS at the Christian Church there one summer. My mother attended a rummage sale there  also, and bought a big shiny slide for us kids. Dad set it next to our red swing set in the back yard. We had it for many years until mom decided we were too old for it and sold it. 

New Santa Fe on the Santa Fe Trail was usually the first camping stop after leaving Independence, MO. that morning.  Pioneers pulled their wagons up to the 4 o'clock house, got out, made camp, and walked or rode a horse into "town" to purchase the last necessities they needed before crossing the border (present-day State Line Road) into the Kansas territory the next morning. After  1858, the next stop was ten miles across a flat prairie to the Mahaffie Farm (the Stage Coach line didn't officially open until 1863).  

Growing up there, I never knew the area was part of our ancestral family history, more than I ever imagined. For instance, I learned that the 1838 forced removal of the Pottawatomi from Indiana (Trail of Death) crossed just north of the home of my 3rd great-grandparents in Christian County, Illinois when they were living there at the end of a hot and dusty September and that these same trail-weary and cold Indians and their government agents (approximately 1000 people altogether) plus horses, cattle and wagons camped on the western side of the Big Blue River after crossing it at the beginning of November. Today that camping spot is in present-day Minor Park and is south of Red Bridge Road and east of Holmes in Kansas City, MO.  There is a marker on the bluff above the river that marks the spot near their crossing on the Santa Fe Trail and a DAR marker further up the hill, west of the railroad tracks, marking the swales of the Trail. The Trail angled southwest across present-day Minor Park Golf Course, across present-day Holmes Road to the 4-0'clock house situated between present-day St. Thomas More Catholic Church and Avila University.  

I never knew that my 3rd great-grandfather probably camped there one night with a group of militia men on their way to  Miami County, Kansas one hot August night in 1856. Or that the Congregational missionary, Rev. Samuel Adair, was a first cousin to Lucinda (Henderson) Mahaffie and brother-in-law to a man who despised my 3rd great-grandfather because he was a Justice of the Peace in that part of the territory and he couldn't be bought to join his cause nor look the other way. Nor did I ever dream that my future husband's relatives lived in the parsonage across the road from the New Santa Fe Christian church. 

Here's the new marker for the New Santa Fe Christian Church. If you wish to read more about the history of the church, please click here to read Diane's story and here for the video she compiled to play in the narthex of the hosting congregation which had purchased the "new" New Santa Fe Christian Church building to worship in. 

"Santa Fe Christian Church
In 1869, families living in the southwestern part of the county (Jackson County, MO) organized the Santa Fe Christian Church in the town of New Santa Fe. Some pivotal charter members included: William A. McKinney, William Rippeto, Joel Lipscomb, Marcus Gill, John M. Wells, and Isaac Weeks.
The congregation originally met at the schoolhouse in New Santa Fe. A white-framed church was dedicated on the land in 1892.
By the 1960s, the church was one of the last buildings standing in the town of New Santa Fe. In November 1969, a fire damaged part of the church. The newer members held a meeting without including everyone and voted to raze the church. An injunction to stop the demolition was filed in February 1971 and was approved; however, the church was bulldozed before the order could be enforced.
Most of the original church is under the current parking lot on the southeastern edge of the cemetery. A small part of the chimney and the outline of the baptismal font are still visible today inside the cemetery's gates. Santa Fe Christian Church 
Marker placed by the Historical Society of New Santa Fe." 

Update! More to Read: 
1. "Santa Fe Christian Church's Final Homecoming Celebration" By Mary Wilson. Jackson County Advocate Newspaper Blog. Grandview, MO., Friday, October 13, 2017

Here's my contribution to the event -- a coloring sheet of the old church that had been torn down:

Update: Bill Crotty passed away 13 February 2019. His Findagrave memorial 

and Obituary. 

Article written by Dolores J. Rush, Updated: 9/20/2022.

Rush Reunion 2013

♪ ♫ ♪

 A Music Jam-o

By Mrs. Dolores J. (O'Neal) Rush, 2013.

In the little Ozark Mountains

Once upon a time-o

A fellow named William Jasper Sullens

Could play the fiddle just fine-o.

It is said he could fiddle the night away

And never repeat a song-o

His son Loyd Carl would accompany him

On his little banjo. 

Hymn-sings and bluegrass music parties

Were all the rage then-oh

And after a busy day of chores

Would make one's face grin-so.

How many songs do you know?

Let's stir up music jam-o?

Come to the Rush reunion; after noon

And doh-ray-me with gram-o!

 ♪ ♫ ♪

Rev. Alexander Sullens (1830-1905) +

Martha Ritter (1831-1914) =

|

William Jasper Sullens (1850-1929) +

Nannie Cyntithia Scrivner (1857-1901) =

|

Cora Lee Sullens (1875-1955) +

William Thornton RUSH (1874-1954) =

|

Nannie Marie RUSH (1909-1996) +

Ishmael Lawrence RUSH (1906-1990) = 4 children

 ♪ ♫ ♪

 

Spring Garden Cemetery, AA Hwy & Binkley (north of 54 Hwy), Spring Garden, MO.

 

Rush Chapel Cemetery, on Rush Road (south of 54 Hwy and southeast off 17 Hwy), between Tuscumbia and Mary’s Home, MO.

 ♪  ♫  ♪

Citation: "A Music Jam-O". Written by Dolores J. Rush. Family tree researched by David W. Rush. 3 June 2013. Rush Family News, USA.