Fabric Records

Many ladies got together in quilting bee parties to catch up on the news of the neighborhood while they stitched a quilt top with batting and a backing together. Sometimes the quilts were for the hostess' home or as a gift for a bride and groom, an upcoming baby shower, or as a commemorative memory quilt for a pastor leaving for new fields or somebody moving away. Sometimes the ladies would embroider their signature and the date on a solid  square and sew it into a patterned patchwork block to be donated to a group project and sewn together with others' blocks to make a signature friendship quilt.

 

My mother dug around in her stash of keepsakes awhile back and found this signed bath towel.  She received it at a baby shower the ladies at church gave her when I was about to make my  appearance. While not paper, it is an embroidered record of members of mom's church at the time, some of whom have passed on to their reward in heaven such as Edna Thimes. 

I was able to decipher most of the names embroidered on the towel and they are: Bonnie Alt, Mrs. Alt, Dorothy E., Amy Fagan, Lucille Harvey, Sarah Hite, Mrs. Leicht, Bertie Loomis, Mary Rapsilber, Frances Olson, Kathleen Sager, Edna Thimes, & Jan Tins. They were the Women of the Church of God (Anderson, IN) who attended the First Church of God in Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas during the 1950's. 

The purpose of this article is to tell you about FAN research. I search for the FAN's of my ancestors. FAN's are friends, associates and neighbors, so I research not only my ancestors, but also their FAN's, hoping to connect the dots (primary doc'uments) between them. You can find FAN's everywhere -- in autograph books and school yearbooks, in census records (look at the people above and below your ancestors' as the people were often neighbors), in their church fundraising cookbook, membership roster, minutes, and telephone directory, from signed greeting cards and postcards,  in history books that mention Old Settlers Club and other social groups like that, sometimes in land records if remaining neighbors purchased their land, lockets containing hair,  paintings or photographs, in letters, or  marriage records, in newspaper articles such as auction ads or who visited whom, on cross-stitched samplers to signed quilts, scrapbooks, and towels.  Hope your ancestors saved such mementoes of their FAN's, because they now become your treasured heirlooms of their friends, associates, and neighbors. Any record, fabric or paper, helps construct your ancestor's story. 

More to Read: 

1. Family Crafting
2. Edna Thimes' biography

3. Quilting in America

4. Antique Quilt History

Written by Dolores J. Rush, Updated: 10/25/2019

William and Winifred Fletcher, Sr. and Their Family's Timeline

Work in Progress - Bookmark this post and come back to visit again to see progress on this timeline. 

c. 1750 = William Fletcher was born in Virginia, USA.

c. 1753 = Winifred (Garrett) Fletcher was born in Virginia to Robert & Ruth (Alexander) Garrett. 

1771 = May 8. Mary (Fletcher) Elkin (1771-1830), William and Winnie's daughter, was born in Virginia. 

1776 = John was born in Virginia. 

c.1778 = Elizabeth "Betsy" (Fletcher) Bartlett was born next. 

1780 = A group of about 200 people, seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity, immigrated from Rev. Lewis Craig's church in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, gathering about 400 other settlers along the way to Kentucky, District of Virginia, guided by Capt. Wm. Ellis.  

1780 = 21 Jun. William served in the Revolutionary War under Gen. George Rogers Clark. (Roll 12; 18849-12-30-31- June 21, 1780)

1780 = Dec. The Traveling Church received advice by a runner from Capt. Billy Bush, who was then at the fort at Boonesborough, warning them not to proceed further on account of the Indians. 

At this point they met Rev. Robert Elkin, a regularly ordained Baptist minister "from the older parts of Virginia," who was also on his way to Kentucky, with his family. 

They remained at Holston, Washington County, Virginia until 1783 raising 3 crops.

(We aren't sure if William and Winnie traveled with Lewis Craig's church group or if they traveled with the Elkin's or came with a separate group altogether from Virginia, however, William does show up in Elkin's Providence church minutes as a member later.) 

c. 1780s = next child, Sally "Sarah" (Fletcher) Moberly, was born. 

c. 1780s = then James. He married Rhoda Ann (Griffin), daughter of Richard and Mary (Brown) Griffin, Sr. of Montgomery Co, KY. Their oldest daughter of ten known children, Kiturah Ann (Fletcher) married a Primitive Baptist minister, Eld. Martin White, who was elected an Illinois State Representative in 1840, serving with Abraham Lincoln.

c. 1780s = next Robert.  

1781 = 28 Sep. William was a founding member of Rev. Robert Elkin's Providence (Separatist) Baptist Church, constituted in Holston, Virginia. Once they arrived in Madison/Clark County, KY, they may have  worshipped in people's homes and in the log church, but not the old Stone Church on Lower Howard's Creek as it was built after William's death in 1800. 

1783 = The Traveling Church body remained at Holston until this year.

c. 1789 =31 Aug. finally William, Jr. 

1789 = Residence: Madison County, Kentucky. First Census of Kentucky. 

1790 = 12 May. William's will was written on this date and witnessed by William Calk, James French, and Will Orear in Madison County, KY. It was probated on 7 Aug 1792. 

1791 = 11 Jun. Bond Date. Mary married Zachariah Elkin (1767-1846), son of Rev. Robert Elkin of Clark County, KY. Their bondsman was Samuel Burton.

bef. 1792 = 7 Aug. William died before this date as his will was probated this year. His will states that Winifred retained their home in Boonesborough, Madison County, Kentucky upon his death.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

1792 = Mary and Zechariah's son, William Fletcher Elkin was born this year. William eventually moved to Illinois and became one of the famous "Long Nine" club with Abraham Lincoln. William's granddaughter, Eliza F. (Pickrell) married (1874) the first governor of the Colorado territory, John Long Routt (1826-1907). 

1796 = Betsy Fletcher, daughter of Winney Fletcher, widow, who gave her consent, married Joshua Bartlett. Witnesses were John Bartlett, John Summers, and surety was Ebenezer Chorn. 

1798 = 13 Sept. Bond Date: John Fletcher married Dulcina (Dully) Elkin (1783-1849), daughter of Robert and Sally Elkin who gave their consent for her to marry John in Clark County, KY. He was 22 yrs. old. Their surety was Joshua Bartlett and it was witnessed by Joshua Williams. 

1802 = John and Dully (Elkin) Fletcher's daughter, Lucy (Fletcher) Barrow was born in Clark County, Kentucky. Lucy married David Gilliam Barrow, a son of Eld. David Barrow, abolitionist pastor of Lulbegrud Primitive Baptist church, Montgomery Co, Kentucky. Lucy's daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Barrow married Isaiah Boone. 

1815 = John Fletcher, Jr., son of John and Dully (Elkin) Fletcher was born this year. 

1816 = Elmaza (Fletcher) Boone, daughter of John and Dully (Elkin) Fletcher was born this year.  She died on 16 May 1854 in Kentucky. Her husband, Samuel remarried a Kate Lander and they moved to Jackson County, Missouri with Elmaza and Samuel's six boys. 

1822 = 21 July. William had given his four sons, John, James, Robert and William, Jr. deeds to land in Montgomery County, Kentucky. Perhaps they received them after Winnie passed?

1829 = Both James Fletcher and his son-in-law, Martin White and their families moved to Sangamon/Christian Co, Illinois from Montgomery County, KY in 1829-30 (Winter of the Deep Snow). They purchased land on the eastern side of Mosquito Creek, a branch of the Sangamon River near present-day Osbernville. 

1830 = 18 Aug. Mary (Fletcher) Elkin died and was buried in the Elkin Cemetery in Clark County, Kentucky. 

1838 = Bond Date: Mary, daughter of Betsy (Fletcher) Bartlett, who gave her consent, married John S. Harmon in Clark County, Kentucky. Their bond was witnessed by George W. Thomson and their surety was her brother, Louis Bartlett (1810-1855). 

1850 = John Fletcher lived in District 1, Montgomery County, Kentucky this year. He was listed as head of household in the 1850 Census. Also living with him was John, Jr. who was disabled, Jr.'s wife, Elizabeth and their son Wallen, a young man of sixteen. 

= + = + = + = + = + = + =

Bibliography:

* 1789 Census for Madison Co, KY.

* 1800 Kentucky Tax List

* 1804 Montgomery County, KY Tax List
* 1810 Montgomery Co, KY Census (Page 381, Line 44)
* 1825 Montgomery Co., KY Land Records

* 1829 Land Deeds.

* 1840 Christian County, IL Census

* 1850 Montgomery County, Kentucky Federal Census.
* Abstracts of Early Kentucky Wills and Inventories, Author, J. Estelle Stewart King.

* Bartlett Marriages in Clark County, Kentucky 

* The Boone Family. By Hazel Atterbury Spraker. Tuttle Co, Rutland, VT, 1922. p. 169-170. No. 913. 

* Eld. David Barrow's Letter to Thomas Jefferson. Mt. Sterling, Montgomery Co., KY, 20 Mar 1815. 

* Thomas Jefferson's Letter to Eld. David Barrow of Kentucky. Monticello, 1 May 1815.

* Findagrave #144294592 and 156420614 

* First Kentucky Court and Other Records' by Ardery, Book A 1785-1806.
* Helen Sills (DAR) & Find-A-Grave Member #47361886, Wm. DAR No.: Nat'l #:749117; DAR#:A209074
* History of the Churches of Boone's Creek Baptist Association of Kentucky. By S. J. Conkwright, 1923. 

* Index to the George Rogers Clark Papers. By Richard E. Wilson & Donald E. Gradeless, PhD. Society of Colonial Wars, Chicago, IL, 1998. Microfilm #12, Frame # 30, Date: 6/21/1780. 

* "John W. Fletcher" Past and Present of Decatur and Macon County, pub. 1903, pg. 881-882.

* Kentucky Death Records 1852-1953

* Kentucky Marriages. By Sandra G. Taylor

* Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR. Daughters of the American Revolution. Vol. 047. Retrieved from Ancestry.com
* Lulbegrud Primitive Baptist Church Minutes. Transcribed by Marvin Allen.
* Madison County Kentucky Marriage Records 1786-1822. Compiled by Bill and Kathy Vockery, Richmond, KY. 1993. Vol 1. p. 26. Repository: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, Missouri.
* Madison County, Kentucky. Court Order Book B, 1791-1801. Jackie Couture. Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, Maryland, 2000. Repository: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, Mo.

* Map of Virginia counties - The Traveling Church began at Spotsylvania County, VA (NE), stopping at Holston, Washington County, VA (SW) for three years.
* "Providence Church Minutes" Captain Billy Bush and the Bush Settlement, Clark County, Kentucky, A Family ... By Harry G. Enoch, p. 70-71, 305. 

* Genealogical Memoranda of the Quisenberry Family and other families, including the names of Chenault, Cameron, Mullins, Burris, Tandy, Bush, Broomhall, Finkle, Rigg and others. By Anderson Chenault Quisenberry. Hartman & Cadick, Washington, D.C., 1897. p. 92.

* Samuel Boone's Timeline. By Dolores J. Rush. 4 Oct 2018. Rush Family News Blog. 

* Terry Heaps, Find-a-Grave Member #47562315

* The Traveling Church. By George W. Ranck. Press of Baptist Book Concern, Louisville, KY, 1891. 
* White's Family & Their Kin. By Mrs. Gladys Esther White O'Neal and Elma Leota White Stoops. Paper Graphics, Garden City, Kansas, 1983. Repository: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO.
* Will: Bk. A, Pages 101-102; Signed May 12, 1790; Proved 7 August 1792, by William Calk, James French, and William Orear.

Compiled by: Dolores J. Rush, updated: 11/17/2021. 

A Bull Story

We traveled "down home" recently where my husband's ancestors have resided for the past 150 years. During our traveling to and fro, I was thinking of when his grandparents were alive and living in the tenant farm house on the land they inherited when Grandpa's former landlord and lady passed. We drove to it and stopped and walked around the property for a moment to stretch legs and let the dog race around, having a sniffing good time while we were there.

When my hubbin and I were newly married, we decided we needed a weekender "down home" to visit his grandparents. In those days, his extended family circle -- dad, mother, brothers and sisters, paternal uncles and aunts and some of their descendants visited quite often, at least once a month, so it wasn't unusual to find them all down and crowded into grandma and grandpa's two story white farm house. It was just a matter of putting dibs on a bed so we'd have a place to sleep. 

While we were there, we decided to spend an romantic afternoon shopping in the capital city some 30 miles away. The weatherman had predicted snow which wasn't to begin until later that evening, so not to be deterred, we left early in the day, going down the back roads, across a cement low water bridge with a trickle of water running across it from the creek, and through an almost vanished village to the highway. We didn't leave the city until the white flakes began drifting down and then suddenly anxious, my husband decided we better get back to his grandpa's. 

As we turned off the highway, going down the same back roads we had traveled earlier in the day and over the crest of the last steep hill sloping down towards the creek, we nearly had a head-on with a huge bull jogging towards us. Now in the country, it's not unusual to find cattle on the roads; you carefully drive around them and go on, then report it to the farmers round and let them go pick up their errant animal. Because this was on a somewhat slippery gravel slope, we skidded down towards him, intent on going round him, but he was having none of it. He blocked us at every turn of the wheel. Only when we came to a complete stop, did he run around our car and disappear up the hill behind us. It was getting dusky gray by that time and we slowly rolled down to cross the creek. I sincerely believe that bull was sent to protect us, because when we arrived at where the bridge had been, the trickle had become a five foot deep raging river. The cement could not even be seen under all that dark churning, foaming water, only the two roads leading out of it on either side. We could have easily have been swept away in our little chevette had we hit that water. 

It took us two hours to turn our small car around and creep back up the icy hill. The bull was nowhere to be seen when we finally made it back to the top. We expected to see, but did not find any broken down fence along that stretch of road on either side.

Fortunately, there was a blacktop further down the highway once we got back to it that we were able to take to go round to his grandparents from the other side. They were really worried about us and scolded us for not stopping to call them to let them know we were leaving the city. This was in the days before mobile phones and we were thoughtless. I'm just thankful we made it back to the safe arms of the family home and hadn't taken a cold dip that day! Brrr! I thank the Lord for his goodness and protection!

From the Paper Trail

✅ 2020 = DISCOVERIES 

I've posted many of our discoveries in articles scattered throughout this blog and on Find-a-grave. Many of the "Documents of..." posts reflect these discoveries and my virtual cemeteries on Find-a-grave also contain some. 

My husband purchased a membership on Ancestry for our wedding anniversary a couple of years ago, so I've been busy filling in a family tree there and making new discoveries through the documents others have discovered for our mutual ancestors. 

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✅ 2020 = CONTINUING MY GENEALOGICAL EDUCATION

I continue to pick brains and ask questions of others with more knowledge on a certain subject than I have. 

But I am also watching Ancestry's channel on YouTube, especially Krista Cowan's videos. If you subscribe to their channel, be sure to "ring" the bell and a notification will be sent to your email to alert you that a video has been uploaded to their channel. I often watch and pedal on my armchair stationary bike at the same time, so I get a two-fer in! 😄

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✅ 2020 = SERVICE

I love transcribing records for publication when someone gives me a chance. I also share my knowledge via my blogs such as this one and my History Nut of Missouri blog (I update them as needed). I also periodically send an email newsletter to interested relatives who are genealogy nuts as well. 😊💁

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✅ 2020 = ROUTINES

While I do genealogy most every day, I need to be better at reading those books on my pile. I need to make an appointment with myself and READ! 

I've made a Google Library filled with books I have read and want to read. I need to make a list of books that I need to read from my personal library and add their titles to my google library. And as I finish them, as a person with ADD, I know I will get great satisfaction in checking them off the list. 

I also need to visit the local courthouses, historical sites or societies, libraries, and museums that might have some information about my ancestors. Need to get with hubby and map out plans to do so and put it on the calendar. Time's a wasting! 😄

New Year's Resolutions by Dolores J. Rush, updated 1/1/2020.