Genealogy Time Machine

If you're like myself, you're constantly wishing you could speak to a long-deceased ancestor. Even just for a minute or two. This happened to me tonight and it got me to thinking.. why not blog about it? So here are my absolute top three choices of who, when, where and why I would go back in time.

#1

Who: My 2nd-great-grandmother, Eszter Tóth Gombás

When: October 1909

Where: Ellis Island

Why: According to family stories, she brought along with her while immigrating from Hungary to America, documents on her noble heritage and family tree. Within these documents was information detailing a family connection to a king from about 600 years ago. I know much of her ancestry, but I would do anything to know what details she knew on her noble Hungarian heritage.

#2

Who: Hiram Howell

When: 1853

Where: Tippah County, Mississippi

Why: I want to know all the details of his murder! Why did his son-in-law, Lindsey Slaughter, shoot and kill him? And why wasn't he convicted of murder?

#3

Who: My 3rd-great-grandmother, Ellen Hovis Martin

When: Late 1830's

Where: Lincoln County, North Carolina

Why: She was an illegitimate daughter of first cousins. She lived in a house with her mother and two other illegitimate children, on land that her paternal grandfather had specifically given to her mother.. to provide for her. Ellen's biological father died when she was only 5 years old. It would be amazing to peak into the life of Ellen in her pre-teen years, to see what kind of hardships she was going through and what life was like for her, her mother and her siblings.

I would love to hear your top three choices! Share them in the comments or post the link from the blog post!

FamilySearch Find Of The Day: Hiram Howell's Estate Probate Court Minutes

I had originally found this record several years ago, via microfilm through the LDS at my local FHC. It's located on microfilm number #0895813. Reading over the document, there may be a clue to another possible minutes entry, nine months after this one. Here is an image and extract of what is now available, freely online:


State of Mississippi
Tippah County
Be it remembered at a cession of the Probate court begun and held in said county on the third Monday and 16th day of January 1854 present and presiding the Hon. James Rogan judge of said court and the following proceedings were held to wit:

Hiram Howell, Dec'd.
        It appearing to the satisfaction of the court that widow and next of kin of Hiram Howell deceased destins administering his estate.
        It is therefore ordered by the court that letters of administration of the goods chattels and personal estate of Hiram Howell dec'd be granted to Milton McKay on his taking the oath prescribed by law and willing into bond in the sum of four thousand dollars with J. B. Selles and B. D. Nabers as securities and the said Milton McKay thereupon appeared in open court and took said oath and together with said securities signed sealed and delivered said bond.
        Said letters are now granted and ordered to be issued and recorded according to the statute.
        It is ordered by the court that William Robinson, B. D. Nabers, Thomas Bibb be appointed appraisers to stalcre? and appraise the good  chattels and personal estate of Hiram Howell deceased and that a warrant issue.
        It is also ordered by the court that the said William Robinson, B. D. Nabers, Thomas Bibb copy off and set apart to the widow and children of Hiram Howell dec'd one year provisions.
        It is also ordered that the said William Robinson, B. D. Nabers and Thomas Bibb do lay off and set apart to the widow of Hiram Howell dec'd the property exempmt from execution and which descends to said widow.
        It is ordered by the court that Milton McKay administrator of the Estate of Hiram howell deceased sell the goods, chattels and personal estate of his intestates estate upon a credit of nine months that be first advertise the time and place of sale as directed by the statute and take approved security for the purchase money.

FamilySearch Find Of The Day: 1848 Tippah County Land Deed for Hiram Howell

Tippah County, Deed Book H, pages 197-198

Hiram Howell, Deed from, David Howell
SW 1/4, Sec. 7, T5, R2E

This Indenture made and entered into this the 3rd day of April, eighteen hundred and forty eight between David Howell and his wife Parthena Howell of the first part witnesseth and Hiram Howell of the second part the for and in consideration of the sum of four hundred dollars in hand paid the first party by the second party the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged the said first party has bargained and sold and by these presents do bargain sell and convey unto the said party of the second party his heirs and assignes the following piece of land lying and being in said County of Tippah and known in the plan of the Chickasaw survey in the State of Mississippi as the South West qr. of section (7) seven of Township (5) five Range (2) two East with all the improvements thereon to have and to hold to him the said party of the second part his heirs and assignes forever and the said party of the first part do for themselves heirs and legal representatives forever warrant and defend the right title interest and claim in and to the above described land against the lawful claim or claims of any or all persons whatsoever. In witness whereof the first party has hereunto set our hands and seals the day and year above written.
David Howell (seal)
Parthena Howell (seal)

State of Mississippi, Tippah County
Personally appeared before us, A. Aynes a Justice of the Peace for said County the written named David Howell who acknowledged that the signed sealed and delivered the foregoing deed on the day and year therein mentioned as his act and deed also personally appeared before us Parthena Howell the wife of the said David Howell who on a private examination by us separate and apart from her husband acknowledged that she signed sealed and delivered the foregoing deed on the day and year therein mentioned as her act and deed freely without any fear thereas or compulsion of her husband. Given under my hand and seal this 3rd day of April 1848.
A. Ayns (seal), Justice of the Peace
The foregoing deed was filed for record the 11th day of May 1848 and recorded the 30th day of May 1848.
Daniel Hunt, clerk

FamilySearch Find Of The Day: Hiram Howell & His 1847 Taxes

I stumbled upon this 1847 taxation document from Tippah County, Mississippi the other day, and it shed a tiny bit more light (although not much) on the life of Hiram Howell. He is at the top of the document with two of his sons: Reece & David.

Hiram is listed as having 2 slaves, which matches what is listed in the 1850 Federal Census Slave Schedules. In 1850, it was a 21 year old female and a 4 year old male (probably her son?). I assume they are the same individuals listed in this 1847 taxation document. The woman would have been about 17 years old and the male child about 1 year old. This also makes me wonder how a girl of 15 or 16 became pregnant, as she is the only slave in the household. Was Hiram or one of his sons the father of the child? It could be another contributing factor that lead to Hiram's murder in 1853, but we may never know. Reece and David are listed as not owning any slaves.

Reece and David both paid the same amount for county ($.30) and state ($.50) taxes. Hiram on the other hand paid more in taxes (did he own more land than them?) Hiram paid $.72 for county taxes and $1.20 for state taxes.

I'm still looking for Hiram and any of his children in the previous taxation documents, but I don't believe any are listed. I do know, however, that Hiram appears in the 1845 state census in Tippah County. If he's in the 1845 state census living in Tippah County, how come he doesn't appear in the 1845 taxation records? Strange.

If I Could Speak To My Ancestors...

Earlier today, I was analyzing all the information in my family tree (no surprise there!). I was looking at my dead-ends and trying to figure out which records I needed to persue to crack the brick-walls. I then, again, began to dream and wish that I had some way to communicate with my ancestors and ask them questions. Thinking about it all more and more, I thought if it WERE a possibility, what three questions would I ask to any of my ancestors?

Rules:
1. You may ask any three questions to any ancestors from any period in time.
2. Not all questions have to be directed to one specific ancestor, you can have a single question for three different ancestors.
3. You can't repeat a question, they have to be three unique questions. Asking three different ancestors what their mother's surname was is far too easy!
4. Before each question, you must identify which ancestor you're asking the question to.
5. After identifying the answer and the question, give a little information about this ancestor that's related to your question. You never know who will stumble upon this information and contact you!

My Three Questions:
#1 Ancestor: Hiram Howell (b. about 1790, SC; d. 1853, Tippah Co, MS)
#1 Question: What complications lead to your murder?
Fact: Hiram Howell was murdered in 1853 (exact date unknown) by Lindsey Slaughter, his probable son-in-law. I believe that Lindsey Slaughter's wife, Bathsheba, is the daughter of Hiram Howell. Lindsey and Bathsheba Slaughter had a daughter named Temperance, a name extremely unique to the Howell family (the name of Hiram's daughter whom I descend from, and the name of Hiram's sister-in-law).

#2 Ancestor: Eszter Tóth (b. 1874, Tiszadob, Hungary; d. 1950, Lore City, OH)
#2 Question: What was the family information in the paperwork that you brought with you, when you immigrated to America?
Fact: Family stories from cousins all recollect that my great-great-grandmother had brought with her when she immigrated, papers about her family tree and ancestors. My cousin in Arizona (whom inherited the papers, yet won't share a single piece of information) has stated she DOES have these papers and it has a full family tree and also includes information about a King that we supposedly descend from. Hearing of this claim years ago, I knew it was at least more plausible than family stories of others.. Eszter was of nobility! A noblewoman is more likely to descend from a King than a peasant. Just in the past two years, I have researched enough to the point that I have proven that we DO descend from a King of Hungary. To be precise, we descend from the early "true" Magyar Kings of Hungary from the Árpád Dynasty. I just want those documents my great-great-grandma brought over from Hungary!!

#3 Ancestor: Martha A. Miller (b. 1836, AL?; d. 1877, Holmes or Yazoo Co, MS)
#3 Question: Who are your parents?!
Fact: According to a family bible (that no one seems to know where it is, or who had it), Martha A. Miller was born on 18 Nov 1836, married to James Andrew J. Costilow on 25 Jul 1855 and died 19 Dec 1877. No places for any of these dates were provided in this supposed family bible. There have also been claims that Martha has Native American roots. Martha truly is a brick-wall. I haven't been able to locate her in the 1850 census anywhere. Any possible matches have been disproven, so I always end up right at the brick-wall again.

What are your questions? :)

How To Locate Your Ancestor's Land

After researching my family tree for ten years, I've encountered my fair share of land deeds and records. One of my biggest problems was actually locating where that land lies on present-day maps. It can be quite challenging using old surveyor maps and even present day plat maps, and then matching them up to the maps of today.. like Google Maps. One reason I'm particularly interested in finding where their land actually was, is because this land most likely holds buried family members. Down in the southern states, many family members were buried in family cemeteries on the land the family owned before the time of modern public cemeteries. To even have a chance of finding them, if any markers of any kind still exist at all anymore, you'd need to figure out where the land was that they were living on.

In the past two weeks, I've been able to find some land deeds that pertain to my Howell family from Tippah County, Mississippi (thanks to the new database on FamilySearch!). The person I am most interested in, is Hiram Howell, my 5th-great-grandfather. He was known to have been murdered in 1853 by his son-in-law, Lindsey Slaughter.

Hiram Howell (mistakenly written as Wren Howell) had actually bought his land on 10 Oct 1846 (record on the left) from Lindsey Slaughter, who himself had received the land as part of the homesteading acts. The specific details of the land are the North-East quarter of Section 9, Township 5 South, Range 2 East (NE1/4 of S9 T5S R2E). Just the other day, I stumbled upon a website that would map the exact location of Section 9 for me, using Google Earth. Google Earth is a program that you install on your computer that is much similar to Google Maps, but with much more features and way more powerful. The website is called Earth Point, and it's specifically used as a tool for Google Earth.

Once you get to the page, navigate to the section called "Convert Township, Range, and Section to Latitude and Longitude", as seen on the right. Enter your your data into the drop-down boxes and then click on "Fly To On Google Earth". Open the file once it's finished downloading.

After opening the file, Google Earth will automatically open and bring you to the exact location of Section 9, Township 5 South, Range 2 East, in Tippah County, Mississippi. From there, I can easily find the North-East quarter of Section 9. Pretty cool, huh? To the left is a snapshot of what you'll see. What kind of tools do you use to locate the land of your ancestors?

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Genea-Wish List

1)  Think of the genealogy related wishes you have - what education, database, or information would make your genealogy research dreams come true?  Be specific - as many wishes as you want to list!

2)  Tell us about some of your genea-wishes in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook.


Here's mine:

1)  I wish (a VERY large wish) that all land deeds from all of the United States were digitized and put online. I'd have no problem browsing through the images, if there were digitized index books A-Z. I enjoy browsing through the images.


2)  I wish that all the Hungarian parish registers were digitized and available online. Again, no indexes needed.


3)  I wish that the records for my German ancestors from Brandenburg and Pommern were readily available.. even on microfilm.


4)  I wish that the records for my Polish ancestors from Barycz (Brzozów County) and Osobnica (Jasło County) were readily available.. even on microfilm.


5)  I wish I could find some kind of clue on my 3rd-great-grandmother, Martha A. Miller, the first wife and mother of the children to James A. J. Costilow.


6)  I wish I could break down the brick-wall for my 5th-great-grandfather, Hiram Howell. He was murdered in Tippah County, Mississippi in 1853. Unfortunately, there was a court house fire and not much exists from that time period that is of use.


7)  I wish I knew the maiden name of Hiram Howell's wife, Rachel.


8)  I wish I could find the baptism record for my 3rd-great-grandfather of Martin Domagalski.


9) I wish I could find the original patent of nobility for each of my noble families.


10)  Finally, I wish all Hungarian land records/deeds of any kind could be digitized and available online. Like above, no index needed as long as they're organized by towns. This is a BIG wish!!

What's Been Going On Lately

I've been neglecting my blog really bad lately.. I want to say sorry to my faithful readers out there. You know who you are. :)

I've been busy and preoccupied with a few things going on lately. First is my cousin's Bat Mitzvah, which is tomorrow. There's been months of set up and preparation and I'll be happy when it's over. The other reason I've been busy is I've been doing a lot of research lately.

Last week today, I went to the Newberry Library in Chicago with my friend Cathy. That place is amazing! I didn't even get through half the list of books I wanted to look at, but I found so much information and great leads on my brick-wall Howell family. My Howell's are dead-ended with a Hiram Howell and wife Rachel. They were born in the 1780's-1790's and lived in Western TN and finally Tippah County, Mississippi in the last years of their lives. Hiram was actually murdered in 1853! Hiram and Rachel were married sometime before 1810 in Tennessee and I believe they had somewhere around ten children, eight boys and two girls. One of the girls was Temperance, my 4th-great-grandmother. She was married to George W. Vance about 1844 (place and date unknown) and they had seven children, before George suddenly died in 1859-1860. He was only about 33 when he died... another possible murder? Hopefully further research will yield those answers.

I've also been pretty busy researching my Hungarian nobility. Through my 9th-great-grandmother, Margit Berzeviczy who married István Horváth de Perlak, I descend from many large and old noble families of Hungary.. some with very powerful connections. Here are some of the families I descend from through Margit's ancestry. If you descend from any of these please contact me, we're cousins!

*Bánffy de Gara (garai Bánffy) - genus Drusma

*Bárczay de Bárcza (bárczai Bárczay)

*Berthóthy de Berthót (berthóti Berthóthy) - genus Aba

*Berzeviczy de Berzevicze (berzeviczei Berzeviczy)

*Bocskay de Bocskó (bocskói Bocskay) - genus Boksa

*Buchai de Bucha (buchai Buchai)

*Cseley de Csele (cselei Cseley) - genus Bogáth-Radván

*Csúzy de Csúz és Puszta-Szent-Mihály (csúzi és puszta-szent-mihályi Csúzy)

*Garay de Gara (garai Garay) - genus Drusma

*Gombos de Gombosfalva (gombosfalvai Gombos) - genus Tekele

*Haraszthy de Haraszt (haraszti Haraszthy)

*Istvánffy baranyavár és Kis-Asszonyfalva (kis-asszonyfalvai és baranyavári Istvánffy)

*Izdenczy de Izdencz és Komlós (izdenczi és komlósi Izdenczy)

*Kapy de Kapivár (kapivári Kapy)

*Lipcsey de Nagy-Lucse (nagy-lucsei Lipcsey)

*Macedóniai de Macedónia (macedóniai Macedóniai)

*Merse de Szinye (szinyei Merse)

*Nekcsey de Nekcse (nekcsei Nekcsey) - genus Aba

*Ostffy de Asszonyfalva (asszonyfalvai Ostffy) - genus Osl

*Soós de Sóvár (sóvári Soós) - genus Boksa

*Szilágyi de Horogszeg (horogszegi Szilágyi)

*Szini de Teresztény (teresztényi Szini)

*Zombory de Zombor (zombori Zombory)

I've also been working on something for my website Hungary Exchange that I hope a lot of people will find useful. It's guides on how to read and decipher church parish records. It explains how to read baptism, marriage and burial records and I'm doing three records of each of those events for each of the religions in Hungary. There's the Civil Registration, Evangelical, Greek Catholic, Jewish, Reformed and Roman Catholic. So there would be a total of nine (9) guides for each religion, totaling 54 pages of guides when I'm completely finished. At the moment I have 100% of Reformed complete, 2/3 of Greek Catholic complete and 2/3 of Jewish complete. I hope to have it up soon.

All you Hungarian genealogists, please visit my website and submit the surnames you're researching in Hungary. The Surname Database already has 125 Hungarian surnames posted, so check it out!

The Search For My Howell's: Land Deeds of Tippah County, Mississippi, 1836-1870

Land Deeds of Tippah County, Mississippi, 1836-1870

By: Martini, Don

B367

22 Nov 1838

Angus & Margaret M. Gillis of Marshall County, Mississippi to Hugh Davis

Wit: H. B. Howell, Samuel McCorkle

D452

08 Jan 1841

Josiah Alexander to David Howell of Fayette County, Tennessee

Wit: James Thompson, Milton Alexander

F97

24 Feb 1845

G. W. Vance to Simon R. Spight

Wit: Charles G. Yancey, Richard Shelton, James Embrey

F259

16 Jan 1843

Littleton C. Meeks to Johnathan Howell

Wit: P. N. Black, A. C. Nelms, J. M. Marthcross

G165

13 Jul 1846

Andrew Prather to daughter Jane G., wife of David B. Vance

G597

06 Jan 1847

George Street & Agnes M. Howell of Marshall County, Mississippi to James Howell

Wit: John C. Howell

G598

25 Jan 1847

James C. & Elizabeth Ann Howell to James Hurley

H197

03 Apr 1848

David & Parthene Howell to Hiram Howell

I198

09 Jun 1849

B. F. & Mary F. Scott to David Howell

J188

17 Aug 1850

Thomas & Charity Haley to Johnathan Howell

J567

26 Nov 1850

David & Parthenia Howell to F. W. Vance (G. W. Vance?)

K41

26 Jun 1851

John & Margaret E. Wright to Patrick H. Vance

K193

13 Oct 1851

George & Elizabeth Shankle to David Howell

K318

17 Jan 1852

G. W. & Temperance Vance to T. J. Davidson

M231

03 Dec 1852

Reece & Lugonia Howell to William Robinson

M576

11 Apr 1853

Orlando & Martha Davis to Reece Howell

N246

26 Jun 1854

Reece Howell to Rachel Howell

O325

04 Apr 1855

Reece Howell to O. F. Philbrick

P369

03 Nov 1855

Johnathan & Mary Howell of Studdard County, Missouri to Matthias Nelms

Q231

25 Jan 1855

Elizabeth Ann, widow of James C. Howell to James S. Roundtree

W735

01 Feb 1869

David Howell to son W. Y. Howell

Black Sheep Sunday - Hiram Howell

Not much is known about my 5th-great-grandfather's early life and family.. or his immediate family, for that matter.

I do know this: His name was Hiram Howell. He was born about 1790 in South Carolina and died in 1853 in Tippah County, Mississippi, from very curious circumstances. He was shot and killed, by his probable son-in-law, Lindsey Slaughter. How ironic is Lindsey's surname?!

Anyway, Hiram was married to a woman named Rachel. Her surname and past is unknown, but I do know she was born about 1794 in Georgia. She died sometime between 1853 and 1860 in Mississippi. According to various state and federal census records, they may have had a total of up to eight children. Three are definite: a daughter who's name is unknown (that married Lindsey Slaughter), a daughter Temperance Howell (who married George Vance) and a son Joel Howell (that married a woman named Rebecca).

As I said, Hiram was listed in several various state and federal census records. Here's a list of the records:

• 1820 Federal Census: Lincoln Co, TN; Also listed are a David, Joel, Jonathan, Reas (Reece), and Samuel
• 1840 Federal Census: Fayette Co, TN
  
• 1845 State Census: Tippah Co, MS
• 1850 Federal Census: Tippah Co, MS

Hiram also served in the War of 1812. He was a Corporal in Cocke's 2nd Regiment, Western Tennessee Militia.

Now for the interesting tid-bits. Hiram Howell, along with his two sons-in-law George Vance and Lindsey Slaughter, are found numerous times in the Tippah County, MS court records. One of the three was usually posting bond to get one of the others out of jail. Certain unknown circumstances lead to the death of Hiram Howell, by Lindsey Slaughter. Did Lindsey shoot him accidentally? Was it intentional? Did the men have a quarrel about money or about other no-good men in the area?

In hopes that further research will help settle these questions, I have a feeling I will never know the truth about what happened to my ancestor.

Was he flat-out murdered.....?!