Saturday, May 30, 2020

Ahnentafel #868 - Martin Grove

Martin Grove may be Groff, Graff, Greff

Born: ca. September 1712 in either Holland or Germany
Died:  October 1760 Germantown, Philadelphia, PA

Buried: St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA

Married: ca. 1749 Anna Margareta (--?--) Hinkle in Philadelphia, PA

Records:
1738 - Oct. 25 - Lancaster County, PA - A Martin Groff entered 100 acres. - Is this our Martin Grove? I'm not sure it is.
By the Proprietaries. Whereas Martin Groff ___ of the County of Lancaster has requested that we would grant him to take up one hundred acres of land Situate at -------------? adjoining Adam Brand.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Notebooks - Dad's Families No. 5

New England Towns in 1700
Calder, Isabel. The New Haven Colony, New Haven, CT: Yale University President, 1936
At this stage in the evolution of a colonial government the plantation-colony of New Haven was invited to join a confederation of the Puritan colonies of New England. Such a confederation had first been proposed in August, 1637, soon after the arrival of the Davenport company in New England, when representatives of the towns on the Connecticut River visited the Bay Colony in connection with the Pequot War and the Hutchinsonian controversy. At this time five proposals made by some of the assistants of Massachusetts Bay proved acceptable to the magistrates and people of Connecticut, but a sixth, providing for the reference of intercolonial disputes to commissioners to be appointed by the colonies, the decision of a majority of the commissioners to be accepted as final, met with opposition. In May, 1638, John Haynes, William Pynchon, and John Steele of Connecticut laid before the general court of Massachusetts Bay at Newtown revised articles providing for the reference of intercolonial disputes to commissioners, the decision of the latter to be accepted as final only if unanimous. The Bay Colony seized upon this opportunity to advance its claim to Agawam or Springfield, most northerly of the river towns. The delegation from Connecticut assented to the claim, but Massachusetts demanded the assent of the general court of the colony. When

Friday, May 22, 2020

Ahnentafel #866 - Thomas(?) Cloyd

Thomas(?) Cloyd

Born: by 1740
Died:

Buried:

Married: by 1759

Records/Possibilities:
1654 - Lancaster Co., VA - A certificate of land is granted Geo. Taylor for bringing over Geo. Adams, Eliza Shaw, Columbus Cloyd, and August Cloyd, Lancaster Co., Deed Book 1 p. 162.

1758 - Sept. - Augusta Co., VA - Lt. James McDowell militia regiment:
  • George Moffett
  • Dan'l. Cloud - may be Cloyd
  • James McClung
  • John McClung

Monday, May 18, 2020

Gurley Expands Selma Plant

The owners and operators of Gurley's, Inc. pose in front of the company's modern seed-processing facility in Selma. Left to right, they are Bob Gurley, Jr., assistant secretary-treasurer and plant manager; R.G. Gurley, president; Carl R. Gurley, secretary-treasurer; and Raymond Gurley II, vice president and office manager. Photo by Reuben Johnson. 
Hulth, Peter. Gurley Expands Selma Plant, The Smithfield Herald, July 30, 1976.

Gurley's Inc. - which maintains grain processing facilities in Selma and Princeton - has greatly expanded and modernized its Selma operation.

The firm has completed a three-year automation project which enables the facility to process 100 tons of soybeans per day into meal and oil. Approximately 80 percent of the production is in soybean meal, the other 20 percent in soybean oil.

The meal is utilized principally by feed mills in the production of food for poultry, hogs and other livestock. The oil goes to refineries for the manufacture of margarine and other food products. Some of the oil goes to such far-away markets as Japan, China, Singapore, Brazil, and the Netherlands.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

In Memoriam - Leland Meeks


Elvis Leland Meeks

Born: October 19, 1997, Fairfield, Wayne Co., IL
Died: May 10, 2020, Fairfield, Wayne Co., IL

Married: Reva Musgrave, June 30, 1950

Children:
Patricia md. (--?--) Ramey

Notebook - Virginia No. 6, Part 6


Kegley, Mary. Early Adventurers on the Western Waters, Kegley Books, 2003
Patrick Henry, assignee of Thos. Fleming, 3,000 acres on east side of Kentucky River on North Fork of Elkhorn Creek.
Patrick Henry, assignee of James Clark, 2,000 acres on North Fork of Elkhorn, adjoining the last mentioned entry. 
Patrick Henry and Hinkman, assignee of James Robertson, 2,000 acres on northeast side of the Kentucky near S. Meredith's entry of 3,000 acres on some waters near the head of Elkhorn Creek; also 1,000 acres, as assignee of Ware adjoining and between Meredith and Henry and Hyndman. . . . 
William Russell, assignee of Ross, 200 acres on Boons Creek, two miles from Kentucky River at a fine spring on a blazed buffalo road near where stands his name on a honey locust and walnut. 
  • Map - Rivers & Creeks in Present West Virginia
  • Map - Rivers & Creeks of Kentucky
Montgomery County Entries - upon warrants under the Act of Assembly for establishing a land office for this Commonwealth. . . . 

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Ahnentafel #864 - Michael(?) Speer

Michael(?) Speer or Spear(s)

Born: by 1745, probably earlier
Died: between 1801 & 1820? 

Buried: unknown

Married: unknown

Rev. Rollo Clayton Speer theorized that Michael Spear was an immigrant from Ulster, Ireland. His home was at the present site of Speer's Ferry, Virginia, which gets its name from the fact that Michael Spear operated a ferry over the Clinch River there. Michael was for seven years in the army in colonial and Revolutionary Wars. While away, he left his oldest son Samuel, in charge of the ferry. 

I can find no record of Michael Speer's revolutionary war service in Virginia. 

There are Speer, Spear and Spears in Augusta County, VA as early as 1746 so it's possible that Michael(?) was born in Virginia and was not an immigrant.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Notebook - Virginia No. 6, Part 5


Kegley, Mary & F.B. Kegley. Early Adventures on the Western Waters, Vol. I The New River of Virginia in Pioneer Days, 1745-1800, Orange, VA: Green Publishers, Inc., nd
  • Map - The Beckoning Land on the Western Waters - New River and tributaries 
  • Map - The Mountain Empire - showing present counties and county seats - Augusta, Botetourt, Greenbrier, Montgomery, Fincastle, Washington, Kanawha, Kentucky
  • Map - Col. Patton's Survey for 7500 Acres at a Place Called Draper 1747 Patent, 1753 Subdivision for Settlers by William Preston, 1754 - includes: William Taylor, John Taylor, George Taylor, Charles Taylor, John Draper
  • Map - The Beginnings of the Radford Neighborhood - includes: John Taylor
  • Map - On East Side New River & Little River, New River tributaries
  • Map - Early Crossings of New River - includes: Cloyd's Mountain, Tom's Creek
Before the homeseekers of Pennsylvania and Maryland began to expand into the Valley of Virginia in the 1730s, little was known about the region farther to the southwest, including the New River valley. Interest in discoveries had been stimulated by trading merchants of Eastern Virginia, but the planters there had remained very well satisfied with the opportunity for expansion east of the Blue Ridge. It appeared that the governing officials were concerned more with extension of the fur trade than they were in opening the land for prospective homeseekers. However, when the traders began to venture

Saturday, May 2, 2020