Genealogy Bits

As I researched my Richard Adams and Susannah Dawson family I find I have accumulated a small collection of notes on Susannah's brother Benjamin who married Mary Ann Martin in 1786, then moved to Lincoln Co, KY in 1795 where he remained until his death in 1837.

There is considerable confusion about Benjamin and Mary's children; when they were born, exactly who they married, etc. However, we do know a few other interesting things about Benjamin:
- he is often referred to as Rev. Benjamin Dawson
- his Green River farm land was prosperous
- he was first sheriff of Casey Co 1806-1807
- he was on the first county road commission through his area
- 1814 Casey tax cover has "Commissioner's Book Hon. Benj Dawson"
- his 1830s brick house became known as 'brick house farm'

I have prepared a few Dawson documents from my files which can be downloaded:

DAWSONS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOLII
by Carol Ruth Dawson, 1983 page 232 BENJAMIN DAWSON

SOUTHERN RELATIVES
by Sadie Leanore Smith 'Dixie' Hammonds, 1961 page 153 Rev Benjamin Dawson

A BEGINNING
by Mary Roy Edwards, 1970 Chapter II John Sorrell Dawson history

EARLY KENTUCKY LANDHOLDERS 1787-1811
by James F. Sutherland, 1986 page 81 Dawson, Benjamin 243 acres Green River

CASEY COUNTY TAX LIST - FHL Microfilm #7923
extracted notes by Gary W Routh, 2009 Benjamin Dawson taxes 1807-1840

I hope some of you will find these files useful. I encourage you to visit and research in the excellent genealogy library collections available to us.

Here are some of my Sisco family’s Michigan and Washington death certificates and records. My gg-grandfather Albert Sylvester Sisco was half-brother to William Henry Sisco and Mahala Rebecca (Sisco) Whitcomb. William and Mahala’s parents were Richard and Celina (Thomas) Sisco. Richard was born 22 Mar 1775 in Saville Township, Sullivan Co, NH, and Celina was born between 1775-1785 in VT. Albert’s parents were Richard and Sarah (Garland) Sisco (Richard’s second wife). Sarah was born about 1780 in VT.

Death certificates/records for:

Pierson, Beulah (Sisco) d. 1929 WA (Albert’s daughter)

Pierson, Beulah Death Certificate Addendum

Sisco, Albert Sylvester d. 1915 WA* (my gg-grandfather)

Sisco, Dana Horace d. 1906 MI (Albert’s son)

Sisco, Edna May d. 1910 MI (William H. Jr.’s daughter)

Sisco, Elizabeth (Waring) d. 1896 MI (Albert’s second wife)

Sisco, Ethel Irene d. 1901 MI (Dana Horace's daughter)

Sisco, Fred Fearless d. 1918 MI (Albert’s son)

Sisco, George Ernest d. 1951 WA (Albert’s son)

Sisco, Lloyd Irving d. 1900 MI (Dana Horace's son)

Sisco, William Henry d. 1904 MI (Albert’s half-brother)

Sisco, William Henry Jr. d. 1917 MI (Wm. Henry's son)

Warren, Nancy Mahala (Whitcomb) d. 1904 MI (Mahala's daughter)

Whitcomb, Mahala Rebecca (Sisco) d. 1901 MI (Albert’s half-sister)

Whitcomb, Whitcomb, Rockwood J. d. 1912 MI (Mahala's son)

*A discrepancy exists regarding my gg-grandfather Albert Sylvester Sisco's birth date. Family records say 11 Nov 1828; death certificate says 4 Nov 1827. The certificate does not show who provided the information for the death certificate, but it probably was his daughter, Beulah, or possibly his son, George Ernest.

Also, notice the various spellings of the surname 'Sisco' in the death certificates. My grandmother Lora Irma (Sisco) Clark and her mother Emma Caroline (Morgan) Sisco (Dana Horace's wife) always spelled it Sisco.

Hope you find this info useful!

Jan Routh
jan.routh@gmail.com

My previous post seems to have aroused some interest in Martin Dawson (1772-1835) the younger brother of our Susannah Dawson Adams. While considerable information can be found online about Martin and his famous 1835 Will, there is little about what actually came to pass.

A 1970 self-published 41 page Dawson history by Mary Roy Edwards and available only at the Albemarle County Historical Society contained a 1954 newspaper article on what actually resulted from Martin's good intentions.

I have prepared a PDF of that article for others to enjoy:

Martin Dawson 1954 newspaper article

Most of the Dawson family wills exist from Martin's era. Unfortunately, this Dawson family continued to use the same given names generation after generation, making it difficult to zero in on an exact ancestor.

After months of looking we have finally located the 1837 Albemarle Circuit Court source which listed our ten Adams' children. It was found in the Chancery Order Book 1, page 247, contained in a list of plaintiffs for Dawson vs. Dawson case #178, October 14, 1837. The case concerns portions of Martin Dawson's 1835 Will which have not been completed. These involved freeing his slaves, disposition of his Bel Air estate, and extensive donations to the University of Virginia.

In this case Susannah Dawson Adams was deceased by 1835 so her children were listed as plaintiffs:

“... James Adams, Pleasant Adams, William Adams, Benjamin Adams, Martin Adams, Sally Adams, Lynch Adams, Dawson Adams, Elizabeth Adams, and Henry D. Adams only heirs at law and distributees of Susan Adams deceased, formerly Susan Dawson ...”

1837 Albemarle Chancery Court Order Book 1 - page 247

This court record validates our Missouri Adams families as Richard Adams and Susannah Dawson's children. As further proof, a living Adams descendant of our Missouri group recently matched Y-DNA with three Georgia descendants of our Virginia progenitor, Robert Adams of Goochland (1680-1740).

This has opened up a wonderful Virginia family for many Adams researchers.

Pleasant Adams (1790-1846) was an early settler in Clay Co, MO and one of my key ancestors. Two of his daughters, Rebecca and Hanna Lee, were mothers to my great-grandparents, Josephine Garner and Jonathan Newby. We knew Pleasant had married Ruth Sutherland in Casey Co, KY, but researchers had never been able to identify his parents or birthplace.

A casual Google Books search one evening popped up with: Pleasant Adams of Clay Co, MO in "Appendix 8, Emigrants from Albemarle Virginia to Other States." This 1901 book, "Albemarle County in Virginia", by Edgar Woods is on the shelf at two local libraries, but how could we have known to look. THANK YOU, GOOGLE BOOKS!

Once we knew 'where to look' our research pieces started falling together. The big breaktrough came on page 232 of Carol Ruth Dawson's 1983 book "DAWSONS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (AND THEIR DESCENDANTS), Volume II":

SUSANNAH (DAWSON) ADAMS, who married RICHARD ADAMS of Albemarle Co, VA had ten issues:
5-12i James Adams
5-12j Pleasant Adams
5-12k William Adams
5-12l Benjamin Adams
5-12m Martin Adams
5-12n Sally Adams
5-12o Lynch Adams
5-12p Dawson Adams
5-12q Elizabeth Adams
5-12r Henry D. Adams

There it was, the entire family laid out in correct order! Missouri researchers had suspected relationships among some of these lines for years. A couple of months work has now sketched out most of the siblings, and identified a few of the serious researchers in those lines.

Again, Google Books searching supplied a number of useful bits to support our assumptions. We found details of the family travels from Kentucky to Missouri in the winter of 1819-20, we found Jackson Co, MO voter lists, details of a murder in Ray Co, MO, and mention of Richard Adams as Elizabeth's father when she married Isaac Odell in Independence, MO. Again, THANK YOU, GOOGLE BOOKS!

Careful study of the Casey Co, KY tax records 1807-1820 has helped to validate the family, as well as estimate some of the older sons birth dates. We found Charles Adams and Benjamin Dawson, both brothers of our couple, living nearby in Kentucky at the same time.

Details can be read in my following documents:

Richard and Susannah Adams Discovery

Overview of Adams Siblings

Richard Adams Casey Co KY Tax List

Albemarle VA Adams Family Links

None of this could have happened without context searchable old books, THANK YOU, GOOGLE BOOKS!