Feris And Bush Of Terry's Texas Rangers

Austin, Texas

An Inventory of the Feris (George A.) Family Papers....is held at the Texas State Library and Archives.  Below is an excerpt:

"Achille Feris was the second child and oldest son of George and Lavinia Feris. He went to school in Velasco, Texas, in the 1850s. At the age of eighteen, Achille joined the Confederate army and served in the 8th Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers) in the Civil War; after the war ended, he joined his brother Yandell in his surveying business."

Civil War Diaries and Personal Narratives included a photo of Achilles Ferris.


My ex-brother-in-law's 1st great grand uncle:

"...James Howard Bush, died of typhoid fever as a member of the Eighth Texas Cavalry, also known as Terry's Texas Rangers, in Nashville, Tennessee, in November of 1861."

Amos Lay In Quebec

Lower Canada, declarations of aliens : H-1154:

Image 62

11 July 1794

Quebec

...the subscriber by profession a farmer residing at

West Haven County of Rutland

Sate of Vermont

arrived in this City yesterday, and lodges at

Pearce Ryan's Tavern Keeper 

comes in search of Crown Lands

*Amos Lay

Acknowledged before Wm. Lindsay

This Amos Lay who was a mapmaker and surveyor? *The Obscure Amos Lay: An Early Nineteenth-Century  American Cartographer, by David Y. Allen

West Point Teacher And Surveyor

Source

"Mr. Jefferson had been but a short time in office, when he became annoyed by the fact that the public surveys were going wrong, for the want of establishing meridian lines; for the accuracy of the surveys depended upon establishing meridian lines with base lines at right angles to them."

Ellicott Surveying Across The Country

Ellicott's Stone

THE QUEBEC GAZETTE
Thursday, February 18, 1790.

New York, January 23 - On the 13th instant, arrived in Philadelphia on his way from Fort Erie, Mr. Andrew Ellicott...completing all that part of a Survey lying between the west end of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie... .  In the progress of this business, Mr. Ellicott had many difficulties to encounter arising from the extreme jealousy of the British Garrisons, and the continued marshes, and swamps, through which he had to pass, and which cover almost the whole face of their country.  [Source - Niagara Historical Museum]

Where A Few Detroiters Lived

Detroit In 1827 And Later On,  By General Friend Palmer:

Peter Godfroy lived on the Godfroy farm, fronting on the River road. The house was of recent construction, compared to the others that I have mentioned. Mr. Godfroy once lived on the corner of Woodward avenue and Woodbridge street, about 1827 and while living there he built the house I mention on his farm and occupied it about that time. This side of the Lafferty house, after a short distance, came May’s creek (now obliterated) where the Michigan Central Railroad tracks intersect the river front.

Source (Robert Abbott's Patent)

Then came the residence of Hon. Robert Abbott, auditor-general, then the residence of Governor William Woodbridge (Woodbridge farm), then the residence of Colonel Baker, United States Army (the latter was the last commandant at Fort Shelby), then the residence of John Mullet, surveyor-general of the Northwest Territory, then the Kercheval residence, then that of Hon. Augustus S. Porter, United States senator, then the residence of DeGarmo Jones, then the Cass farm, with the residence of General Cass.

General Cass

On the river front of the Cass farm and inside of its lower line, was the large brick brewery of Mr. Thomas Owen, who it was said, brewed fine ale, and was an exceedingly jolly, rotund Englishman.

The Lydius House

Source

This house stood at the junction of Fort Edward Creek and Hudson River.

Elijah Backus's Family

House On Blennerhassett Island

The Woodbridge-Gallaher Collection by Harlow Lindley:

"Dudley Woodbridge, Sr., after being graduated at Yale, opened a law office and import shop in Norwich, where he met and married Lucy Backus.

Her father, Elijah Backus, Sr., furnished many supplies to the Continental army from his iron foundry in Norwich, Connecticut, and was a man of considerable local importance.  Of her brothers, James came west with his cousin, Eben Holden Parsons, as surveyor, and his 1788 Journal is very interesting for the beginnings of the Marietta district.

Marietta, Ohio, Mural

Elijah, Jr., came a bit later and bought quite a lot of land, the Backus or Blennerhassett Island being one of his holdings.  He later moved to Kaskaskia, his daughter Lucy marrying a Pope of Kentucky, becoming the mother of General John Pope.  Matthew, the youngest brother, attended Princeton, prepared for law, came west, drifted back east, and eventually committed suicide because he failed to find his niche in the world.  Clarina Backus came west with Lucy when the family moved to Marietta in the autumn of 1789 and seems to have spent considerable time in Ohio.

Along The River La Tranche

River Thames In Chatham, Kent, Ontario, Canada

Kentiana  -  Early Settlement and Surveys Along the River Thames in Kent County [Source]

"Mr. McGeorge, in his valued paper, turns to the field notes of Patrick McNiff, the pioneer surveyor, who made a survey along the La Tranche (Thames) River, in 1790 and 1791."

"It is not known how far McNiff went with his survey but Mr. McGeorge is of the opinion that he went about half way across Howard Township to a point opposite the present location of Thamesville."

Martha Howard And The (Moravian Indian) Settlement

Source

"So that their village might be in the centre of the reserve, the width of the third township (Camden on the north of the river and Howard on the south)...".

Note: Martha Howard was originally granted Lot 23, third township...which lot being reserved for the Moravians...[Source]

Andrew Ellicott, Government Surveyor

Ellicott Stone In Alabama

The United States In Paragraphs (Alabama):

Founding The Union Colony

From the Village of Vermontville website:

There were numerous meetings of families interested in emigrating to Michigan and finally, on March 27, 1836 at Castleton, Vermont, rules and regulations were drawn up for what was to be called the Union Colony.

The Union Colony as noted in the Vermontville Historical Society (Wait J. Squire [Squier] is my grandkids ancestor):

"On April 2, 1836, S. S. Church and William G. Henry left Vermont with the Colony's money in a cowhide valise. In Western New York they were joined by Wait J. Squire. Upon reaching Detroit they waited 24 hours for the stage - and open wagon. Because the roads were bad, in addition to paying their fare, they had to help pry the wagon out of the mud where the holes were the deepest. Their objective was the United States Land Office at Kalamazoo."


From Michigan Historical Collections:

Mr. Squier was a member of the committee to select a location for the colony, and was on the ground when the first blow was struck in May, 1836. He was a surveyor, and having his instruments with him when it was determined where the colony should be planted, he at once surveyed the village plat in the woods, as preliminary to carrying into effect the plan of settlement agreed upon at Castleton, Vermont. Being present when the scriptural casting of lots took place for the choice of village lots, he selected one of the most central locations, adjoining the public square on the east, and built the first frame house in the town, hauling the lumber through the woods from Hyde's mill, seven miles distant, in Kalamo. This sawmill was built by Oliver M. Hyde, afterwards a prominent citizen and mayor of Detroit, who was a large land owner in the towns of Vermontville and Kalamo. Mr. Squier was not present when the town was organized and the first election was held in 1837, having returned to Vermont for his family, but in 1840 he was elected supervisor, and in 1848, 1849 and 1853 chosen a justice of the peace.

Daniel Barber, another Union Colony member:

Also George Sheffield Browning:

Simon Smith Church was also part of the Colony:

Among them not one was more prominent and useful in local affairs both civic and religious than Deacon SS Church.

Willard Davis's bio included the following facts:

 He was a persistent abolitionist and always ready to debate the slavery question with Whigs or Democrats. A native of Worcester county, Massachusetts, when he joined the colony he was living in Bellevue, Michigan. With religious ideas of the colonists he was in harmony but he differed with them all in politics and stood alone.

Oren Dickinson:  In 1836 he left those stony acres [Lake Champlain] and came to Vermontville bringing with him Roger W. Griswold and William P. Wilkinson, both young men. He also brought the first span of horses to the colony.  In several respects Oren Dickinson was a pioneer. He brought the first appleseeds, planted them in nursery rows, and set out the first orchard of any size in the town.

There were others; see more biographies here.

A Kentucky Survey For A Court Case

Bryan's Station Survey Records, 1802, from the Kentucky Historical Society, a biography/history (text below):

"Most stations were built to defend against Indian attacks, but the characteristics of each were unique to the frontier settlement it served."

"Bryan's Station was built in 1779...five miles northeast of the Lexington fort. It was a forty-four (44) cabin stockade, with a 2-story blockhouse."

"This group has a survey map and document...[included] in a dispute over lands that were part of the Bryan's Station settlement in Fayette County, Kentucky. The survey apparently was made by Richard Higgins and was filed in the case of William Bledsoe vs. the heirs of William Tandy. The survey and map claim to show parts of the station as they were in 1780."