Matrilineal Monday -- Margaret Still

Wednesday I am dropping my girls off in Coatesville to head for the UOL/JUOL Annual Convention and then afterwards, my husband and I are headed to either the Chester County Histrocial Society or the Chester County Courthouse or both for some more hands on research.

Last time we were at the Courthouse Archives we found the Inquest records for Margaret Still against David Phipps. The charge was fornication which beget a male bastard child. That charge was in April 1827. Her second son David was born in 1823 so that could explain him. However, my great-great-great-grandfather George David Still was born in 1808. Was David Phipps his father as well?

I did also confirm that the boys - George and David - were both born in Uwchlan Township.

In 1829 Margaret purchased three lots of lands from the Sherriff of Chester County over in East Fallowfield. She later divided the land between the two sons - not evenly - and resided with the younger.

My search on Wednesday will hopefully delve into Uwchaln Township where I hope to figure out who exactly was Margaret's parents. I do believe I might have found a couple brothers thru courthouse records. Those brothers showed up as having run taverns without licenses!

Comments

52 Ancestors: Anna Keating Walsh is one Tough Woman

Amy Johnson Crow, of No Story Too Small , has challenged us this week with tough women. She asked “ Who is a tough, strong woman in your family tree? Or what woman has been tough to research?” My 2x great grandmother Anna Keating Walsh is indeed a tough woman. She is a tough woman to trace and I believe she was a tough woman in her time as well. Anna (everyone past my grandparents get actual names; it is the only way I can keep people straight) was born around 1855 in Ireland . According to my grandmother, she was born in County Mayo . My grandmother had told me that Anna had immigrated with her siblings and that she was the youngest Her parents – Patrick and Knapy Penelope Keating - had stayed behind and she settled in Ringtown which is just a stone’s throw from Shenandoah (assuming of course you can throw a bit)! She married Michael Walsh and the lived in Shenandoah. The 1910 Census stated Anna had 11 children, with only six living in 1910. I would...

Coatesville's First Serial Killer

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc...

Thaddeus Stevens at the Lancaster Convention Center

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he...

Genealogical Gems

Search This Blog