Monday, June 24, 2013

Mystery Monday: Searching for Mary Ann, part 5

Mystery Monday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers encouraging bloggers to share mystery ancestors or mystery records – anything which is currently unsolved.  With any luck fellow genealogy bloggers will lend their eyes to what has been found so far and possibly help solve the mystery.


Records for John Ermentraudt, son of Johan Friederich, have not been found, likely destroyed during the Civil War when Union soldiers overtook the wagon carrying Rockingham County’s deeds, wills, and records of marriage, birth, and death to safety. 

My next effort to find a mother and siblings for my 3G grandmother Mary Ann Armentrout Jollett is to look at Friederich’s other children.  Perhaps Mary Ann’s uncle or cousins bought and sold land or left wills that might offer a clue to solve this mystery.  Maybe Mary Ann and Fielding Jollett sponsored a niece or nephew at baptism.  But first I need to identify the possible candidates.

Friederich and Maria Catrina Hedrick Ermentraudt had seven children besides John. 

1. Anna Magdalena was born in 1747 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, but since there are no further records for her, it is believed she might have died as a child.

2. George was born in 1750 in Berks County, Pennsylvania.  He was 54 when he married Elizabeth Michael in Rockingham County, Virginia.  Given George’s advanced age at marriage, it is possible he had been married before making it also possible that there are more children unaccounted for.  Alas, no record.  He and Elizabeth had three children: Barbara (1806), Michael (1807), and Magdalena (1809) who would have been roughly Mary Ann’s age.  Surely they would have known each other and played together as children.  Unless I can find marriage records, the two girls will be difficult to trace.  Michael married and moved his family to Ohio and then to Iowa.  My one hope is that he purchased and then sold land in Rockingham County before he moved.

                Next step:  Look for deeds and will for George first and then Michael.

3. Christopher was born 1761 in Augusta (now Rockingham County), Virginia.  He married Mary Catherine Pence in 1792.  The two lived in Rockingham County at least until he died in 1812.  They had 5 children: Ann Mary (1793-1825), Barbara (1794 - ), Mary C (1796 - ), Christopher (1798 - ), and Margaret (1800 - ).  This line will likely lead to a dead end as to date nothing is known about the three middle children.  Ann Mary married Alexander Trout but died early.  Thirteen days later he married her sister Margaret. 

                Next step:  Check Christopher’s will

4. Charles was born May 8, 1763 in what is now Rockingham County, Virginia and died two days before his birthday in 1836 in Ohio.  He married Christina Gray of Ohio, but they had no children.  It is not likely he left any bread crumbs in Virginia because as soon as he came of age, he was drafted into the Militia and served throughout the Revolutionary War.  He moved to Ohio right afterwards. 

                Next step:  Skip him

5. Augustine was born in Rockingham County January 22, 1765 and died before 1850, still in Rockingham.  This is good news.  He and wife Margaret Schneider had seven children, all of whom remained in Rockingham:  Magdalena (1791 - ), John George (1793 - ), Emanuel (1801 – 1890), Charles (1805 – 1863), Frederick (1808 – 1882), Amanda (1815 – 1890), and Anna Rebecca (1816 – 1880).

                Next step:  Concentrate first on Augustine, his land dealings and will.

6. Frederick was born about 1767 in Rockingham County and died in 1837 in Allegheny County.  I am not too hopeful that Frederick will lead me to the answer to my question:  Who was Mary Ann’s mother?  He married Elizabeth Wolfe in Botetourt County.  For a time they owned land in Monroe County (now West Virginia) and may have lived there as well, but for most of his adult life he was in Allegheny.  And that’s where all nine children were too:  Jacob (1800 – 1879), Mary (1802 - ), George (1804 - ), Catherine (1806 - ), John (1808 - ), Abraham (1810 - ), Joseph (1814 - ), Elizabeth (1820 - ), Sarah (1824 - ).

                Next step:  Eh, go back to Augustine.

7. Catherine Barbara was born in 1769 in Rockingham County.  She married Fredrick Geiger/Kyger.  Kyger is still a BIG name in Rockingham County, so it’s a safe bet they stayed put even if the children moved around.  They had 9 known children:  Anna Elizabeth (1794 – 1841), Barbara (1797 – 1875), George (1799 – 1837), Catherine (1800 – 1883), Anna Maria (1802 - ), Rebecca (1805 - ), Christina (1806 - ), Lucy (1810 – 1860), and Charles (1811 - ).

                Next step:  Look for land dealings of Fredrick Geiger/Kyger. 

CONCLUSIONS:  The cold, hard facts about the siblings of John Ermentraudt offer no clues to Mary Ann’s mother, on the surface at least.  At this point I need to stop this series until I can get to the Library of Virginia to learn whether any wills and deeds are available.  My gut feeling is to start with Augustine.




© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, you've still got a lot of research to do obviously not helped by records being missing because of the war. Good luck in your trip to the library in Virginia.

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    1. Yes, so much more to do. I hardly know where to begin.

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  2. It's sad that so many records have been lost. Best of luck finding the information you need.

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    1. I need lots of luck. Send it all my way, please.

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  3. You have been doing a great job with your research! And a lot of it frustrating, I'm sure. I have ancestors who were in Rockingham County, VA. You don't happen to have any Bryan or Westfall/Westall in your family do you? My 3rd great grandparents, John Franklin Bryan and Hester Jane Westfall were married there in 1815. The Bible I'm working on belonged to their son.

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    1. Are you a mind-reader? When I saw the name Bryan on your blog, I was going to email you about MY Bryans. I have a Lurainna Jollett who was married to a Robert Bryan. Sometimes the name is Bryan, sometimes Briant, and probably other spellings. In the 1850 Rockingham County census, she is 39 and he is 32; they have 4 kids: Jeremiah 10, Mary 7, Henry 4, and Robert 1 month. In 1860, Robert is 44 and Lurainna is 45; they have 6 kids: Jeremiah 18, Mary 16, Henry 13, Robert 10, John 5, George 1. After that I can't find them -- but I haven't worked hard at it either. I just got frustrated and quit because of the various spelling options. Come on and make my day -- tell me this family is in your family Bible!

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    2. Why, yes! I'm quite the mind reader... ha! More like I'm always looking for somebody who already knows something I want to know.
      Unfortunately, my Bible begins with a child of John Franklin Bryan and Hester Jane Westfall and they did not provide any information about their parents or aunts, uncles, etc. The names you mention don't sound familiar. So many Bryans, Briants, Bryants, Briens. So many Johns, Williams, Georges. I think most of my Bryans left Rockingham County, VA and headed to Todd County, Kentucky. I'll take a look back at other stuff I have and see if anything pops up. The other Bryans in this family married into Fox, Denny, Bradshaw, Campbell, Boots, Stokes..... families I think

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    3. Going by the dates, I'm guessing my Robert and Lurainna were about the same age as your John and Hester Jane. Brothers? I'm thinking there is a marriage record for Robert and Lurainna in Greene County, Virginia, which is just across the mountain from Rockingham.

      In Family Search, I finally found Robert and Lurainna in 1870 and 1880, still in Rockingham County. In 1870 they are listed as O'Brian but were back to Bryan in 1880. It looks like at least 2 of their 8 kids went to Missouri.

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    4. I have a genealogy published by Jerry Bryan titled "Our Links to the Past - the Descendants of William Bryan" and I swear some blog recently led me to a site with lots of online scans of books, etc and it was there. But - if I really did see this book there, I apparently did not save the link in my Evernote and have no idea where I saw it (or maybe it was something else and I've lost my mind!). Today I can't find a free download. Anyway, I've looked through my copy for your Robert and for any Jollett's and don't think they are in it. There is apparently not much known about my John Franklin Bryan's family, but he was born in Culpepper Co. and was later in Rockingham, where he married. Maybe I can scan some pages that might be relevant (or not) to you and email them to you.

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    5. I'm SURE then that your Bryans and mine are connected if we go back at least a generation. My oldest KNOWN Jolletts were in Culpeper and then moved on to Orange (which split and formed Greene which is where my Jolletts and the family of this Robert Bryan were). Rockingham is just on the other side of the mountain from Greene.

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    6. Sent you an email.

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  4. Always go with the gut!
    Happy Monday!

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  5. I'll ride with you to Richmond. I'm sure I won't be any help, but I can try. Do they allow snacks? ;)

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    1. Yes, they do -- downstairs there are tables and chairs just outside a small cafe.

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