Mexican Campaign Via Upshur County

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The author George C. Furber, was "engaged in the practice of law in Germantown.., " joined the 'Eagle Guards...' (Company G), after the May 24, 1846, Proclamation by the Governor.

In Texas, "we called at the next house, got some milk but could get no bread; the woman told us that they had to send thirty miles to mill--a horse mill, at that; fifty miles, in another direction, to a blacksmith's shop; forty miles to the nearest post-office, and seventy-five miles to a store, for sugar, coffee, calico; and not even a paper of pins, or a spool of thread, could be got under that distance. Yet her house is fixed upon as the county-seat of Upshur county...".

"Leaving this, we rode on, overtook the wagon, and, by steady traveling, got into the camp at sunset*."
 

See map of Texas counties in 1846.

Surprise From The Grave

Who wants trouble once you're dead .  Katherine Mallison was resting in peace until it was time for her daughter's body to be interred in the family plot. Then there was a lawsuit....

CARNEY v. KNOLLWOOD CEMETERY ASSN.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Cuyahoga County.

"...Dorothy Mallison Carney('s)...burial was scheduled for October 25, 1982, in the Mallison family plot at Knollwood Cemetery."

"Unexpectedly, the backhoe bucket uncovered an old wooden vault, called a "rough box;"...[Cemetery supervisor] Smith was aware that the rough box contained a coffin.  Smith instructed the workman to continue digging the grave... ."

"Unknown to the Carney mourners, the final resting place of Dorothy Carney's mother had been disturbed. The rough box encountered by the backhoe operator had contained the remains of Katherine G. Mallison, who was buried in 1929."

Approximately six months later, in March 1983, a Cleveland television station received a tip that skeletal remains had been dumped behind the cemetery. The police were notified...[and noted] the following remains, which the appellants admitted were those of Katherine G. Mallison.

Dorothy Mallison Carney was the wife of Richard Burchell Westnedge Carney.  Richard Carney was the son of Maurice and Caroline (Westnedge) Carney.  Caroline was the sister of WWI hero Colonel Joseph Westnedge of Kalamazoo.  Joseph's daughter Dorothy married Duncan Patrick Cameron (who was the nephew of my great-grandmother, Anna Cameron). 

The Mallison family in 1900:

United States Census, 1900

Lansdown borrough, Delaware, Pennsylvania

Household Gender Age

parent Harvey P Mallison M

parent Catherine E Mallison F

Mary Mallison F

Geo Mallison M

Catherine Mallison F

Dorothy Mallison F

Sarah J Graham F

Mary A Winfrey F

Was Tillie (Now Mary) Casper's (Now John's) Heir?

Perhaps Mary (nee Matilda) actually was John Thiers' (AKA Casper Wittman) legal heir (see the Wayne County, Michigan, Probate blog about the Thiers), since Casper Wittman, a saloonkeeper from Cleveland, Ohio, married Matilda Schneider in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, on September 8, 1892.

Michigan, Marriages, 1868-1925

groom's name: Casper Wittman

groom's birth date: 1824

bride's name: Matilda Schneider

bride's birth date: 1850

marriage date: 08 Sep 1892

marriage place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

groom's father: Jno. Wittman

groom's mother: Konygonda Dottewing

The article below named the defendant as Tillie Schroeder, not Matilda Schneider, but close enough to be considered the same person who married Casper Wittman (AKA John Thiers).

Peculiar Case. Suit to Set Aside a Will Brings It to Light. Valuable Property Involved, was an article published April 1, 1896, in the Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH):

"Last July, John Thiers, a German saloonkeeper on Michigan street, who is said to have been wealthy, died... ."  Yesterday a suit was filed to set aside his will.  The plaintiff is Anna Burnham of Chicago.  The defendant is Tillie Schroeder, alias Mary Thiers.  John Thiers, whose proper name is Casper Wittman, made his will on January 31, 1891 [before the date of marriage listed above], cutting off his family and leaving everything to the defendant.  Because of a combination of Thiers' deteriorated mental state and the defendant's coercion, the plaintiff(s) "pray that the instrument in writing and the probate thereof be set aside and declared null and void, and the estate distributed among the heirs of Casper Wittman according to law."

The attorney's investigation found that "during recent years he [Casper Wittman] resided at 61 Michigan street, where he kept a saloon and ran a policy shop on the quiet."  Fifteen years ago Casper Wittman was known as the wealthiest and most prominent German citizen in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  He was arrested and fined, charged with running a policy shop.  After the arrest he left Allentown and his family behind.  He lived in Buffalo and Pittsburgh before settling in Cleveland, though he also opened a policy shop in Detroit.

The article said that he [Casper Wittman] secured a divorce from his wife [Caroline] in 1878* on the ground of willful absence.

*The Sunday, December 2, 1888, edition of the Cleveland Leader (Cleveland, OH) paper, Page: 7, printed that "Casper Wittman says that he married Caroline Wittman in February, 1845, and he now asks the court to grant him a decree of legal separation for gross neglect of duty and extreme cruelty.  Mrs. Wittman lives on Fourth Street, in Allentown, Pa."

The Wednesday, June 12, 1889, Cleveland Leader (Cleveland, OH)   Page: 6, indicated that a divorce was granted:

GenealogyBank.com

 

Signs Of Lincoln From Metamora Square

The courthouse in Metamora, Woodford County, Illinois, was frequented by Abraham Lincoln as he practiced law. The picture of the courthouse as well as the signage were found in Metamora Square, directly across from what is now the Historic Metamora Courthouse.

THE CIRCUIT LAWYER

Twenty-Two Years Before The Sixteenth President Died Of
a gunshot wound to the head--after restoring the Union

of our broken country--a disheveled thirty-four-year-old country lawyer named Abraham Lincoln traveled on horseback through the prairie and wilderness among the counties that made up the Eighth Illinois Circuit Court. His journey covered more than four hundred miles and included Hanover, later named Metamora, in Woodford County. Court sessions were held in the spring and the fall and Mr. Lincoln participated in most through 1858. He handled more than seventy cases here, including numerous debts and business suits, eviction, paternity, gambling, perjury, trespass, and rights of way cases, and several guardianships. He was the defense attorney for two abolitionists charged with harboring slaves and for two people accused of murder. Local legend also has Lincoln mediating disputes in the Metamora Square to discourage litigation, as he often considered court a waste of time and money. Many of his cases took place before his friend and future Supreme Court Justice, Judge David Davis.

Lincoln occasionally acted as a judge pro tem when Judge Davis was not able to conduct business (the curator at the Metamora Historic Courthouse speculated that Davis may have suffered from diabetes).

One of Lincoln's clients charged with murder was Melissa Goings (Monica in the 1850 IL census Woodford Co.) was living in Guthrie County, Iowa, in the 1860 census. She is thought to have died in Tehama Co., California, ca 1865.

A biography of Armstrong Goings, son of the murdered Roswell Goings, can be found here.

Lincoln was the plaintiff's attorney in an 1854 lawsuit involving the Goings family. Davis was the judge, Josephus Goings the defendant, and Roswell Goings a surety.


The Lincoln Log is a comprehensive website where Lincoln's cases can be searched and even has a feature "This Day" (in this case September 26th).

Items From Papers of Silas Gaskill, Lawyer, of Lapeer County, Michigan - Post One

Several years ago in a quest for any information about my Thomas & Laura (Backus) Richmond, last "seen" in Lapeer County, Michigan (Thomas ca 1863; Laura ca 1870), I went to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan to search through the Silas Gaskill papers. Silas Gaskill was a lawyer in Lapeer County whose papers (specifically "Business records of the Gaskill and Geer law firm, 1864-1877; accounts, wills, and account books, 1833-1839, 1864-1870") were housed at the Bentley Library. Didn't find Thomas and/or Laura, but thought I'd post a few items I did find.

Most of the Silas Gaskill notes taken from his account book are sketchy -- I've done additional research for the post.

From The Silas Gaskill Account Book 1864 - 70:

Hurd, Lovell, Retained in Genesee Circuit Court (ca January 14, 1864)

A long-running property dispute was found involving Lovell Hurd; was Silas Gaskill involved in it? Don't know, but it is possible.

"BARR, District Judge. This is an action of ejectment brought by William Graydon, a resident and citizen of the state of New Jersey, against Lovell Hurd, a resident and citizen of Michigan, to recover possession of a fractional quarter of at section of land lying in Genesee county, Mich."

Lovell Hurd, b. 1812 in either NY or VT, was living in Davison Township, Genesee Co., Michigan, in 1850, with wife Eliza, daughter Laura, son William and Hunt, James (unknown relationship).

In 1860 Lovell Hurd was living in Genesee County, Atlas Township, Davisonville P.O., as a farmer & hotel keeper. Wife Eliza and children William, Phebe and Adeline were with him and also James Lingale?, a blacksmith.

In 1870 The Hurd family wasliving in Grand Blanc, Atlas Twp., Genesee County. Lovell was still a hotel keeper; living with them was George Titus, age 21, hotel clerk. In 1880 George Titus was living with the Hurds and listed as son-in-law (whose wife, Addie Hurd Titus, had died April 1874).

In 1888 Lovell Hurd remarried.