Dodd Cousin

For the past few days, I've been exchanging emails with a distant Dodd cousin named Julia. Julia and her brother Raymond are interested in pursuing research on the Dodd line. I'm not even sure how Julia found me. Her email just popped up. But then, it isn't as if I'm not posting and fishing for information.

I've armed Julia and Raymond with everything I have on the Dodd line so that they are not starting from scratch. I've also contacted Vivian, another cousin from the same line. Perhaps they might be interested in working together. If anything further develops, I'll be sure to blog about it.

I think I received the following certificates from Vivian.

Marriage Certificate Joseph Dodd and Agnes Anderson

Birth Certificate Albert Dodd

Alexander McKee 1827-1886 Northern Ireland-Illinois

Well, my luck didn't hold. The researcher looked for every McKee in the Mount/Port Norris area that was born in the 1820s. He found a few but none are my Alexander or any other of the McKee family members I'm looking for. Here are results from the researcher.

I've sent a follow up question to the researcher. Based on church history for the Mount/Port Norris area, Presbyterians were going to church at Markethill. Since a record of Alexander's older brother Robert shows a place of birth as County Armagh, I've asked the researcher if looking at Markethill is a reasonable next step. I've also asked the researcher to suggest an alternative search if he has a suggestion.

I'll keep posting as long as I have questions, options, the attention of the researcher, and disposable cash.

Mary Jane (McKee) Thompson, Ireland, Illinois, 1837-1886

I've continued to work on the Murphy wing of the family. I'm gathering obits right now and having lots of luck with The State Historical Society of Missouri.

I got bored and went on to Genlighten and decided to take a stab at finding a McKee document in Ireland. I had tried this once before with no luck. Well the stars must have been with me, because the researcher found a document exactly where I told him to look. Here's what I had him look for...

Mary Jane McKee's death certificate states that she was born 11 May 1837 Port Norris, Ireland. Port Norris is also called Mount Norris and you'll find that it's also written as one word. This place name is very fluid. It's located in County Armagh, Ireland. I asked the researcher to see if he could find a christening record in one of two Presbyterian churches: Tullyallen or Mountnorris. Here's the document I received.

The researcher put red dots beside the entry for Mary Jane McKee. Here's the info for Mary Jane.

Mary Jane McKee d/o William C. McKee + Susanna Gilmore
b. 11 May 1837 Port Norris, County Armagh, Ireland
d. 1 Jan 1886 Six-mile Prairie, Randolph County, Illinois, United States
m. 10 May 1859 Randolph County, Illinois
Joseph Thompson
b. ? Dec 1830 County Down, Ireland
d. 6 Dec 1898 Randolph County, Illinois

Mary Jane and Joseph had eight children: William James (1860-1944), Sarah Jane (1861-1909), George Henry (1864-1896), Salena (1867-1896), Mary Margaret (1869-1897), Agnes Minerva (1872-1896), Ada (1878-????), and Joseph Edward (1881-1905).

With this document I think I've placed at least the family of William C. McKee in County Armagh in 1837 just before the McKee family left Ireland for the United States.

Next Step
The death certificate of William's brother, Robert McKee, states that Robert was born in County Armagh. He was born about 1816 but that doesn't provide much in the way of a real date that a researcher can act on. However, I do have a complete date for William and Robert's youngest brother Alexander McKee (b. 28 Feb 1827) but I don't have a place of birth.

I've asked the researcher to look for a christening for Alexander based on his date of birth and in the church records for Tullyallen and Mountnorris.

In addition to confirming that the family is located in County Armagh in 1827, I'm hoping to finally find out their mother's first name. I'm guessing it's Margaret because a number of the oldest granddaughters are named Margaret. Other contenders are Mary Jane or Mary Agnes.

With their mother's first name, I can pursue a death record at the church. She had to be alive in 1827 to give birth to son Alexander but dead by 1837 when the McKee family comes to the United States. According to notes from a distant relative, she died in 1835. I'm hoping to find out that she's buried in one of the church burial grounds.

Identifying the Church
One problem with the certificate I received for Mary Jane is that I have no way to identify which of the churches is the correct church. Here's what I can read of the signature on the certificate:

Rev. Rob't ___________________

Click here to read a history of the two churches. Based on this history, my best guess as to the Reverend on the certificate is Robert Lyons Porter at Tullyallen Presbyterian Church. He's the Robert who is there at the right time. However, if you look at the certificate, the name doesn't look like his. I'm hoping that if the researcher can find a certificate for Alexander McKee that the signature on that certificate will be clearer.

Further, if I can place the family in Armagh between 1827 and 1837, I should be able to begin to pursue marriage records for the older McKee children (Agnes, Joseph, William, and Robert). Only Jane and Alexander McKee enter the United States in 1837 as unmarried children.

Waiting...waiting...waiting...
The clock started yesterday because it takes the researcher 7-10 days to respond after I paid the fee. So stay tuned. I might have some interesting McKee news soon.

Murphy Status

Since last February or so, I've been trying to track down everybody named Murphy in Union County, Illinois. If you're not sure how the Murphy family fits in with the McKee family, see The Murphy Connection. Finding information has gone well with the occasional stalling.

It's not as daunting a task as it might sound. Until more recent times, Union County was a relatively sparsely populated rural county in Southern Illinois. So I'm tracking a limited number of Murphys. Add a birth place--Tennessee--to the mix and you begin to see patterns form. So when I find a record for a Murphy who is living in Union County but born in Virginia, I can go light on researching this Murphy and concentrate on Murphys born in Tennessee or descendants of Murphys born in Tennessee.

After several months, I can declare that the Tennessee Murphy family is a wild bunch. There are lots of marriages, lots of divorces, several children with "early" birth dates, and lots of drama. I was always able to trace the difficult personalities in the family back to Prudence Murphy. However, I've come to see Pru and any of her activities as just the tip of the ice burg.

Of late I've been working with land records. I bought a book--Family Maps of Union County, Illinois by Gregory A. Boyd, J.D. In the book Boyd plots all of the early land records based on Bureau of Land Management records. The book is handy because I don't have to try to plot locations myself. In addition, because Boyd plots all of the land records, I can spot possible parents of spouses.

Early land records place the Murphy's in three townships:

• T12R1W (Anna) includes land owned by Wilburn Murphy b. Tennessee about 1814...later maps show the area where Wilburn's land was as the Murphy School district. There's also Murphy School Road that runs through the area.
• T12SR1E (Stokes) includes land owned by Wilburn, John (b. Tennessee about 1808), and Williams Murphy (b. Illinois about 1821)...Williams name can be Williams Murphy or Williams Murphey or William Murphy
• T11SR1E (Rich) includes John Murphy

I'm going to continue looking at land and trying to pair them with census records to sort out relationships.

Hiley Murphy--the female found on the 1818 (Federal) through 1855 (state) censuses and most likely the matriarch of the Murphys in Union County--seems to be born about 1770. In 1850, she's living with Williams Murphy. She would have been about 51 at the time of Williams birth...too old to be his mother? Perhaps his grandmother? I'm not sure at the moment.

Anyway that is the state of things with the Murphys at the moment. If I make any earth shattering discoveries, I'll post. In the meantime, it's systematic collecting and interpreting.

Joseph went by J. C...an update

Click here to see my original post.

I got a nice surprise in the mail today--an obituary from the Belleville Public Library in Belleville, Illinois. They have a very efficient service. You send the librarians an email with the info you're looking for, and when one of them has a few minutes, they look up your document. They copy it and place it with a cover letter, which also serves as a bill, into an envelope and mail it off to you. It's $2.50 for an obituary. Then a recipient (like me!) gets a nice surprise in the mail one day.

I had been emailing with another researcher and she gave me the hints I needed to track down the obituary. So here's the info on J.C.

Joseph Curtis McKee
b. 30 Jul 1934 Percy, Randolph County, Illinois
d. 2 Oct 1994 Mascoutah, St. Clair County, Illinois
m. 3 Jul 1958  Mascoutah, St. Clair County, Illinois
Carol Jean Payer

Joseph and Carol had three children: Tod, Gina, and Joey.

Joseph is buried in Mascoutah City Cemetery. You can find in on Find A Grave (93545525) complete with comments from his obituary.

Luke Family Portrait 1898 Du Quoin, Illinois

From the left, Aril Webster Luke, James Alexander  Luke, Lillie May  Luke, and Mary Agnes (Leemon)  Luke with Hazel Cliff Leary on her lap. The family dog, Nero, is below. 

I've written about the members of the Luke family many times before. The new person in this photograph is Hazel Cliff Leary. Hazel is the daughter of Edward Leary and Margaret Susanna (Leemon) Leary. Margaret is Mary Agnes' younger sister. 

Hazel Cliff Leary (FAG 67450296)

b. 15 Dec 1897 Millstadt, Saint Clair County, Illinois

d. 28 Dec 1929 Randolph County, Illinois

m. Jun 1914 in Illinois
Thomas Earl Deppe (FAG 52689475)
b. 5 Sep 1889 Steeleville, Randolph County, Illinois
d. 7 Mar 1951 Illinois

Child 1: Clifford Earl Deppe (FAG 46296060)
b. 18 Jul 1915 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 29 Aug 1998 Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois
m. 29 Sep 1945 Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois
Virginia Mae Putney (FAG 25823973)
b. 10 Feb 1926 East Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois
d. 29 Mar 2008 Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois

Child 2: Aril Eugene Deppe (FAG 575759)
b. 4 Feb 1917 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 25 Dec 1990 Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas
m. 12 Jul 1942 Sebastian County, Arkansas
Mildred Marie Barnett (FAG 575765)
b. 22 Dec 1919 Where?
d. 7 May 1991 Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas

Child 3: Burbon Ernest Deppe (FAG 40411588)
b. 24 Jan 1918 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 30 Jul 1999 Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa
m. When? Where?
Imogene Lucille Unknown
b. 30 Mar 1922 Where?
d. Where? When?

Child 4: Gladys Ilene Deppe (FAG 46160453)
b. 31 Dec 1920 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 27 Mar 2008 Barrington, Barrington County, Illinois
m. 6 Jun 1940 Clinton, Clinton County, Iowa
George Edwin Chase (FAG 46160010)
b. 8 Feb 1918 Buda, Bureau County, Illinois
d. 1 Feb 1999 Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois


Child 5: Emma Madelyn Deppe (FAG 49956440)
b. 27 Dec 1922 Perry County, Illinois
d. 19 Apr 1993 Woodhull, Henry County, Illinois
m. 15 Mar 1942 Viola, Mercer County, Illinois
Ivan LeRoy Shannon (FAG 46300288)
b. 11 Jun 1918 Bethel, McDonough County, Illinois
d. 24 Dec 2004 Woodhull, Henry County, Illinois

Child 6: Mosman Leroy Deppe
b. 5 Jul 1924 Where?d. When? Where?
m. When? Where?
Bessie E. Hook (FAG 50461913)b. 23 Aug 1928 Where?
d. 18 Sep 1995 Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois


See Also These Posts:

• Three Deppe Boys
• Same Deppe Boys...A Few Years Later 

If you are related to this family, please contact me. I'm happy to trade information.

John Stanley Pearce (1870-1931) Illinois

My tale of woe today might involve successfully researching a family to whom I am not related. Let me explain. Mary Ann Miles seems to have married a Murphy who disappears, and then she marries a Wesley Greer. Or, Mary Ann Murphy may have married Wesley Greer and she never was a Miles. Or, there may have been something else going on. Wesley and Mary Ann had a daughter, Charlotte "Lottie" Greer...a person whose descendants I have had lots of luck with the past few days. So regardless of whether we're related, I thought I'd share the wealth!

Wesley Greer
b. 1820 Tennessee
d. 1879 Union County, Illinois
m. 30 Sep 1847 Union County, Illinois
Mary Ann Miles or Murphy or perhaps another name...
b. 1826 Illinois
d. Hmmmm...don't know

Child #7 for Greer/Miles
Charlotte "Lottie" Greer
b. Sep 1866 Illinois
d. Hmmmm...don't know
m. 1895ish
John Stanley Pearce...look for records under Pierce too
b. Apr 1870 Illinois
d. 15 May 1931 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois

Child #1 for Pearce/Greer
Clarence Clayton Pearce
b. 25 Dec 1896 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois
d. 6 May 1936 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois (FAG 90077656)
m. 10 Sep 1917 Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
Susie Annabelle Colyer
b. 1900 Sweetwater, Monroe County, Tennessee (FAG 90194356)
d. 20 Feb 1977 Granite City, Madison County, Illinois

Child #2 for Pearce/Greer
David Clyde Pearce
b. 1 Feb 1899 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois
d. 8 Nov 1975 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois (FAG 90195234)
m. 1918
Helen E. Callen
b. 31 Jan 1897 Delta County, Illinois
d. 21 Jun 1927 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois

Check the Find A Grave (FAG) memorials and you'll find obituaries and links to descendants. If you're chasing this family and want me to transfer the memorial, please just Edit the memorials and send me your FAG number. I'll be happy to turn them over to your care.