Surname Saturday --- my Rhodes of Yorkshire England, Canada, and the US

My Rhodes Surname

My Rhodes relations come from Yorkshire England. They seem to have large families, use mostly common names (Thank God for the occasional Craven and Armitage!!!)  and worked at any jobs they could find.  Some came to the U.S. some to Canada, then the U.S., some went to Australia.....

They also seemed to have lost track of each other, until the death of a relative with property in England spurred letters back and forth across the Atlantic. These formed the beginnings of my search for the elusive relatives, and I have placed the transcribed letters on a separate page within this blog (see tabs at top ).  It would help if  "Rhodes" in Yorkshire wasn't so much like Smith or Jones here in the USA!

In the 1871 England census alone, there are 11,956 Rhodes indexed in Bradford, West riding, Yorkshire .... That doesn't count Manningham, Shipley or Otley, all places listed in various letters and  records....


 The letters  were written (we think, but they are all addressed "Dear cousin") to Elizabeth Sparks married to John Edwards .  Elizabeth's mother was Sarah Rhodes, the first of the surname found in my pedigree.

generations to the Rhodes surname
1. Moi
2. My Robert Edwards Fairchild
3. My grandmother Jennie 'Jane' Gertrude Edwards
4. My great grandfather Lemuel Edwards
5. My great great grandmother Elizabeth Sparks
6. my great great great grandmother Sarah Rhodes


Sarah Rhodes was born about 1807 in Yorkshire England.  On 29 Aug 1835, in St. Peter's Parish Church, Bradford, Yorkshire, England, at the age of  28 she married John Gill Sparks, a cordwainer [Originally term used for one who worked with Cordovan (a special leather from Spain) but later term used for shoemaker]. They had two daughters born in  Bradford, Yorkshire: Elizabeth ( 8 Apr 1837)  and Ruth (12 Feb 1839). They then left for the Americas, leaving  Liverpool, England  on the ship "Napolean" arriving in New York on the  28 October 1839.

Year: 1839; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 040; Line: 34; List Number: 814.

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010











The family is not found in records again until in Gosfield, Essex, Ontario Canada in the 1861 Canadian census. Sarah is found with her daughter Elizabeth's family in 1870 in Warren, Macomb Co., MI, and in 1871 she is back in Gosfield, Essex, Ontario Canada, living with her daughter Ruth's family. She is listed there as a widow, and the 1870 US census didn't ask marital status, so John Sparks must have died prior to 1870/71.  No further record of Sarah has been found.

Gen 7.  John Rhodes, father of Sarah was born in Yorkshire, and was married  to Mary Jowitt,  Unfortunately, that's where the trail ends at this point. 

Based on the letters I have transcribed,  John and Mary Jowitt  Rhodes had a large family:
Josh or Joshua  died about 1878
Matthew
Frank
Ruth -- apparently married to a Chadwick probably in the US
John -- father to Walter and Sam  was alive in 1885, but had had a stroke, and was dead four years by 1891
Jane  ? either wife of one of the sons or a daughter, unsure in letters
           she had a son Oliver who was also dead
William who had gone to Australia
Charlie

One of the letters was written by a Charles Butterworth, and the asumption is that his wife was a Rhodes.  I searched on Ancestry, and came up with a  tree with Theophilus Butterworth married to a Margaret Rhodes that  could be the right one. They live in Yorkshire, and according to the marriage certificate, his wife's father is Joshua Rhodes which also fits well.
I contacted the member, and pointed her to the letter.... She assures me that this is her great grandfather, and that the address is correct for him that year.... and they had no idea that they had American relatives!!! maybe I should have saved this for Surprise Sunday!!!!   Now I have another branch project to tackle!!!

Surname Saturday -- PETTY [ with related lines Fairchild, Shepherd, Moffet, Wadsworth, Mitchell, Merritt]

Wow, already time for another surname Saturday post.  This time I'm tackling another on my father's American side, PETTY.  My lineage to this line is as follows: [see ahnentafel page above for complete lineage]

1. Moi

2. dad-Robert Edwards Fairchild

4. grandpa Victor Miller Fairchild

8. great Grandpa Fred William Fairchild

17. Roxey [or Roxy or Roxcy] Rosalia PETTY, known as Rose or Grandma Rose by everyone, not just the family. She was born on 11 Jun 1847 in New Hudson township, Allegany county, NY, the fifth of seven children of Rev. Zenas T(illotson) Petty and Mary Ann Wadsworth.  Of her siblings, the eldest, Albert (the only boy) died in 1851 at age 19, cause unknown; and the youngest, a girl Myra Ann, died as an infant or very young child. Two others married and after their husbands' deaths did missionary work.
    Rose married her husband James H Fairchild in her father's home ( he performed ceremony) in New Hudson, on 26 Feb 1868. They had 8 children, 5 boys and 3 girls. After  the birth of the first 2 boys, they moved to Portville, NY where her husband opened a shingle and grist mill. From newspaper articles, she was a member of the Woman's Auxiliary to the GAR, the WCTU (Woman's Christian Temperance Union), her church ladies society, and helped raise three of her grandchildren when their mothers ( her daughters-in-law) died while they were infants. Her home on Temple St. in Portville, NY was the gathering place for the family, including picnics and early family reunions. She traveled to nearby Pennsylvania, and as far as New York City by train to visit a daughter on Long Island. I do not know if she travelled to visit her sisters in Iowa or Nebraska, but letters were written, although only one or two survived. She died on 14 Feb., 1928, only one week before her last remaining sibling.
This picture of her with her 3 daughters was taken between 1902 and 1906 [by youngest's estimated age and before husband's death].

Nellie, Rose, Florence (Floss), Mary Alice (Matie)

The second photo is a "clowning" picture of her (center)  and her sisters Emily (l) [married to Lafayette Gleason and Mark Titsworth]and Mary Fidelia (Dele) (r) [married to Albert C. Schuknecht]. It was taken sometime before Emily's death in 1914, and after her other sister Sophia's death in 1891, or she would be pictured as well, I think. Dele died the week after Rose.

Emily, Rose, Mary Fidelia (Dele)

34.  Rev Zenas T(illotson) PETTY was born in Romulus (Fayette) ,  NY  on Oct 20, 1808. He was the second of 8 children of Jesse Petty and Mary Ann Moffatt (or Moffitt). He moved with his family to Belfast in 1821.  [More about his siblings in his father's writeup]. " He experienced religion at the age of 27" according to his obituary. "He had an iron constitution, and in his younger days, but few could equal him in manual labor."The date of his marriage is not known, but his wife was born in 1815, and their first child was born in April 1832, so 1830-31 is a good guess. He married Mary Ann Wadsworth, who was born in CT or MA on 6 Aug 1815.   Zenas was a preacher of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and served a "circuit" of several churches in the Allegany county region of NY. Included were Fillmore/Hume, and Phillip's Creek. His wife died in 1864 of typhus, and he remarried the same year Arvilla OLDS of Gainesville, Wyoming County NY. The daughters must have not completely gotten along with her because Dele went to Iowa to be with her oldest married sister Caroline sometime later. [ A note: Caroline also married a FAIRCHILD (Reuben). The family says the two were not related, but they may have been second cousins, if new sources prove valid] .
Zenas and Arvilla moved to Oramel, NY just north of Belfast in 1869, where they lived until Zenas' death on 19 May, 1884. "He was a kind father, an earnest christian and minister, and death to him after so long suffering was the friend he had so patiently awaited to come. [he suffered from "catarrh of the bladder" for seven years, then caught a severe cold which killed him]. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Belfast NY alongside his first wife. I have found no trace of Arvilla after 1884, so do not know if she remarried, or where she lived or was buried.... another mystery to solve someday ( not high on the priority list!).
Although I have seen a copy of one photograph of Zenas, I do not have it to print here. But in 1882, he wrote part of the 23rd Psalm in my great grandfather's autograph book which was given to him on his 10th birthday that year.  Here is that page---

A letter from a relative written to great aunt Matie remembered him as kind.  Whether stern was also mentioned I cannot now remember, so will post the letter at a later date.

68. Jesse Petty  Jesse Petty was born in New Jersey in 1779.  He married Mary Ann Moffatt. There is a marriage between a Jesse Petty and a "Polly" Moffet in Somerset NJ on 19 Feb 1803. This matches with 2 males under 10 in the 1810 census in Romulus NY, and Jesse's brother was supposed to have married the twin to Mary Ann, whose name was Betsy. There is a John Petty married to a Betsy in the area as well.   Jesse and Mary Ann or "Polly" had 8 children that I have data on. [There is a possibility of a 9th child, but it is not yet proven].  The children were: Rufus born about 1807, who was a schoolteacher in Belfast, but who went and joined Col. Fannin's troops in the Texas war of Independence, and was killed at the massacre at Goliad; Calista married a Benjamin Shepherd,then John and David,of which David never married and according to family stories "died in 1846. He cooked for a mess of men. He had loaned money, and it was supposed that he was killed by the man who owed him."  Sally Ann who married Theophilus Mitchell [ would you believe I found 2 men of that name?]  William who married Sarah Ann Johnson& move to Il; and Elias B who married Hannah Merritt.
       Jesse was called up in the War of 1812. His service started in Mar of 1814, and ended 28 days later, so saw no battles.

He died Mar 11, 1855, aged 76 yrs. He is buried in Chamberlain cemetery outside Belfast, next to his wife who died in 1833 aged 53.

136. Jesse's father, Name unknown.  According to the family stories, this man had several sons, including Jesse and John. They lived in New Jersey, across the river from New York. The father is supposed to have served in the Revolutionary War, being a prisoner 7 times. Also some of his older sons were also supposed to have served as well.  Not sure he was much of a soldier if the prisoner story is true. He is the next supplemental DAR paper I will work on after I finish the 3 almost completed. Do not know if he followed sons to NY or stayed in NJ. The land in NY could have been bounty land, but won't know for sure until I do more on this line!

Thus ends the initial saga of my PETTY surname!

A Late Surname Saturday -- Antonipieri

Here is another late surname post.... but it takes me a long time to go through all the evidence and write up  not only what is sure, but what still is not proven. And it bothers me that these are some of the closer  generational surnames.  I will have to post additional pages to the blog or a website to include all the documentation, or these posts will be WAY too long!  But maybe if a relative sees this, I will know more shortly!

The next surname is Antonipieri. This is an even more rare Italian surname than Fessia.  The site  http://www.gens.labo.net/ that shows the surname density in Italy looks like this:

And there are lots of stories in this family. But I digress....
My lineage is as follows-- (see Ahnentafel page tab above to follow)

1. me

3.--my mom
7. my Grandmother -- whose name is Maria Antonetta Jacomina Theresa Antonipieri ... to which gets added Felice and Fessia  for her two husbands.
Maybe...

Because her nickname is Tonina, some think her name was Antonina, and there is a family uncertainty over whether it is Jacomina Theresa, or Theresa Jacomina or if it's Teresa or Theresa....  and her husband Angelo Felice also used the surname as Felix, the German version, as the region that she is from, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia is next to Austria, and they speak  Furlong which is supposed to be the most difficult dialect to learn....
She was born in Enemonzo  15 May 1890.  She arrived in America on her birthday, May 15, 1911, with her husband Angelo Felice from Buia who first came to America in 1907. According to family stories they met at a wedding of a relative in Udine.  Tonina was one of at least 6 children, 3 boys who all died in WWI according to Mom, and at least 2 other sisters, Maria who married a Borta and ran either a trattoria (restaurant) or hotel in Udine, and Florida about whom all I know is her name.  An uncle of hers ( not sure which side) was either a Monseigneur or Bishop in the Catholic church.  Grandma's first husband died of flu or pneumonia as did a small infant Adolf, leaving her with my aunt Mary, born in Dec 1911.  She married my grandfather, Augusto Secundo Fessia in Utica on 1 Jul 1917.
Grandma Fessia went back to visit several times before WWII. On one trip in 1923 -24, she took both Mary and her daughter Margaret. Margaret contracted polio either there or on her return and died soon after. So when my mother was born in October 1924, they named her after her dead 5 year old sister...... and she was never allowed to go on the final trip she made back home prior to WWII. In 1927, she had my Uncle Dan.
14. her father Daniele  Antonipieri.  As the records from this region have not been microfilmed by the Mormons, and the priests don't respond to my letters, I do not know when or where he was born.  I have seen the picture of Daniele and his wife Caterina (?) whose last name is either Bonnano or Romano depending on which relative or document you consult. It was told to me that it was their wedding portrait. It hung in the living room of my grandparents over the piano. But it may not be, as it is not marked....

Daniele died during WWII, and somewhere I have a picture of his coffin sent to me by my uncle Dan [named for his grandfather] being carried through the crowded streets of the town, It had a Tyrolean hat on top, and he was supposedly  the last or oldest remaining "Alpiner"  which was the first Italian military after the Italy became a united country.  I must find that photo and post it later.  The story about him my mother told me was that during the first World War, he used to sneak across the border to steal food for the village and hide it from the Germans. That someone betrayed him, and the Germans found him andbeat him badly and left him in a ditch to die. His wife spent days looking for him, and when she found him, almost didn't recognize him because his hair had turned white overnight.

I hope to visit Italy later this year, and Enemonzo will be a stop for me. If any of these stories are true, I really want to locate the info and meet any of the remaining relatives! It would also be nice to push this line of mine back a few more generations!

and if you are related and know more, please contact me!

Surname Saturday --- Edwards in Canada, Michigan, PA

Well, Edwards is the third surname for my Surname Saturday posts. It occurs to me that it will be awhile until I get to some of the names I have traced way back. The first few are mainly my "brick wall"  types for one reason or another, and this one is no different!
My Edwards connections from my ahnentafel are :

5.  Jennie Gertrude 'Jane' Edwards 
      Grandma was married to Victor Miller Fairchild ( see previous post on that surname).
She was born 13 March 1891 in Merlin, Kent county, Ontario Canada. She had 6 toes on her left foot according to her birth certificate, a fact I never knew, as visits to relatives were few and far between in my US Navy traveling family.

The family arrived in the US by 1900 when they appear in the census in Leady township, Clinton County, PA. She was the youngest child, with an older brother Harry Lemuel born 1890 and an older sister Grace Elizabeth born in 1888.  She always went by Jane, lied about her age, gave her birth year as 1895, because she didn't want people to know that she was older than Vic. My father even acquiesced, and placed 1895 on her tombstone!!! She trained as a nurse, and she was married  in Lock Haven PA on 15 June 1921.  When she died on 18 Apr 1974 in Olean, NY, I was a senior in college. As dad was an only child, her house was sold and all the belongings were brought to our home.  It was in an old suitcase that I found the obituary of James H. Fairchild, a veteran of the Civil War , which sparked my over 35 year obsession with genealogy.


10. Lemuel Edwards ---my great-grandfather, was the oldest (really second, but the first died at one day old) of nine children. He was born in Essex county, Ontario, Canada on 13 July 1864. By 1870 the family was in Warren, Macomb county, MI, and in 1880 and beyond, in Flat Rock, Wayne county, MI which is part of the greater Detroit area. He worked as a logger, or stave cutter, although he rose to be a mill superintendent in later life. He returned to Canada, as he married his wife Luella Huffman there sometime around 1886 -87 (although I have not yet located a marriage certificate).  His three children were all born in Canada. According to the 1910 census they returned to the US in 1898 or 1900, by 1910 were in Norwich, McKean co, PA.  He was listed as Alien in 1910, but in the 1920 census says naturalized in 1901. Haven't yet found the papers, so am not sure if he [or his wife or my grandmother ] was ever a US citizen. He died in Columbia, Richland, SC on 26 October 1923 of pneumonia, where he was superintendent of a stave mill.
 

This picture was taken of him holding his grandson, my father between Dad's birth in March of 1923, and Lemuel's death in October of that year.The house in the background is not my father's home in Olean NY, so where the picture was taken is unknown.
Lemuel's death certificate sent me on a wild goose chase looking for a marriage between a John Edwards (father)and Sarah Rhodes (mother) .... turns out his mother was Elizabeth Sparks.... it was his  mother's mother that was Sarah Rhodes...


Lemuel's brother Arthur William Edwards was the mayor of Wyandotte, MI when he died in 1932. He and his son ran the American Toy co. [or American Metal co?] . my brother Charles Lee was named after the son.

20. John Edwards [Jr.]  It is with this generation and the next that the mysteries and brick walls start.  He was born about 1835 in Canada East [Quebec] according to information on his marriage certificate. His father's name was listed as John, and his mother's name as Emily.  He married Elizabeth Sparks on 1 November 1862 in Kingsville/Gosfield, Essex, Ontario, Canada. The family arrived in Michigan sometime between the birth of Naomi in Canada in 1868, and the 1870 census.  He was a carriage or wagon maker by trade. In the 1880 census, he gives his father's birthplace as  Canada and his mother's birthplace as Portugal.  He named one of the daughters Naomi Alzora Permelia, so perhaps that is true... The stories in the family have him as orphaned, or  his father being French and the name should be Jean Edouard with the surname dropped because he had to leave France because of a duel..... The records are sparse, and there are many Edwards or Edouards in Quebec, so we may never know....  He died the 25 Feb in either 1897 or 1898.

40. John Edwards  .... married to Emily... was he French, or French-Canadian? Was he a seaman, or did he fight a duel? was Emily really from Portugal? None of his descendants (and there are a lot of descendants! ) seem to be able to get past this portion of our history due to the dearth of records and research. Another brick wall to climb!

Surname Saturday-- FAIRCHILD

Thanks to Randy and his wonderful blogging prompts, I may actually get my research info published at least in pieces! This is for Surname Saturday! I have lots of surnames, and will try to tackle them in the ahnentafel format so as to have some continuity. [ if you don't know what an ahnentafel is go here:
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/research/p/ahnentafel.htm]

For this first post, I'm going to choose FAIRCHILD, my patrilineal line. Based on my research, and that of many others, we can only trace the line back to JOhn Frederick FAIRCHILD, born 1800 in Athens (or Hudson) NY, although we have been trying to link back to the CT Thomas FAIRCHILD as several lines do.

I have a FAIRCHILD tree at ancestry.com, have listed lineage in the back (unaligned) section of Jean Fairchild Gilmore's books "Early FAIRCHILDS in America and their Descendants" and " More Fairchilds in America".

My lineage back is

1. Susan Jane FAIRCHILD [now Barry] moi!

2. Robert Edwards FAIRCHILD - my father (1923 Olean, NY- 1990 Phoenix, AZ) m Margaret Therese Fessia
He was a dentist, served in the Navy for 20 years, the army for 1 year out of college, attended University of Ohio and University of Buffalo [now SUNY Buffalo] and took us to live in 7 states and one foreign country! He had a wonderful sense of humor, was a patient and kind man whom I miss very much!

4. Victor Miller FAIRCHILD - ( 1895 Portville, NY-1958 Olean, NY)married Jennie Gertrude 'Jane' EDWARDS (1891 Merlin, Kent Ontario CAN-1974 Olean, NY).

Grandpa was also a dentist [ as were a couple of his non-Fairchild cousins]. He served in the US AEF in France in 1918. He died when I was only five, but I remember him also as kind and funny, so I'm sure that's where Dad got his sense of humor! He was an elder and Deacon in the Presbyterian Church, and had a step mother as his mother died when he was only 2. He and his sister Marion and their cousin Daisy were the " orphans" and were mostly raised by their grandma and aunts. That will be the topic for another whole post in itself!

8. Fred William FAIRCHILD ( 1872 Belfast Allegany, NY - 1932 Portville, Cattaraugus, NY) married Lucy Gertrude MILLER.

Fred Fairchild was the entrepreneurial type. He was the owner of a Mercantile and president of the Portville Broom Company. He was the second of five sons, and he eloped with Gertrude to get married. She died in childbirth of their second child, and he later remarried. He was a pillar of the community, serving on the school board, volunteer fire dept., and other positions. He loved to camp and hunt, and pictures of his deer, bear and other hunting kills were shown and passed down in the family. Dad said there was a stuffed bear in the entry to his home, and I never knew if he was kidding or not!

16. James H(enry) Fairchild ( 1841 Rochester, NY - 1906 Portville, NY). married Roxey Rosalia 'Rose' PETTY

James was one of 11 children. He and 3 of his brothers served in the Union army in the Civil War. He served in company E of the 93rd NY Volunteers. He was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness, spent time in the hospital, and I imagine walked with a limp, although that's not mentioned any where. He owned and operated a shingle mill in Portville, was co-owner with 2 brothers of a patented washing machine, active in the Presbyterian church, local GAR post, and a man whose "word was as good as his bond" as stated in his obituary. It was his obituary among my grandparents' things that started me on this genealogical journey 35 years ago. I am very proud of him, and named my son James in his honor.

32. John Frederick B(ackus?) FAIRCHILD ( Jan 1800 Athens [or Hudson] NY - 1869 Belfast, NY) married Sally HOYT ( abt 1802 Catskill, NY- 1857 West Sparta, NY)

He was a cooper and worked on the Erie and Genessee Canals, hence the various stays in Rochester , Dansville, Belfast. He was orphaned at the age of three, lived with maiden aunts and uncle who mistreated him and he ran away. His mother was supposedly a Backus.


If anyone is descended from any of these persons, or knows of any info on the Fairchild name, or is a Fairchild male willing to take a genealogy DNA test, please contact me at barry.sf(at)gmail.com and let's compare notes on the families involved. I am tired of this brick wall!