52 Ancestors: #52 - Jacob LINGLE

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

My last entry in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge should be about someone with a dynamic story, but instead I have only a smattering of clues about my 5X great-grandfather Jacob LINGLE.  I can’t say when he was born or died, where he was from, who all his children were, whether he fought in a war, or anything else of importance.  Just learning his name though opened up a whole new world for me in my research into my earliest ancestors in Rockingham County, Virginia.

According to a chancery cause dated 1835 in Rockingham County between Emanuel Harnsberger and Charles Yancey, my Jacob was actually the son of an older Jacob.  Jacob Jr. was married to Elizabeth Harnsberger, and their daughter Elizabeth was married to John Armentrout, my 4X great-grandfather. That little snip of information gave me both parents for Mary Ann Armentrout who married Fielding Jollett. 

That same chancery cause gave the name of Elizabeth Lingle Armentrout’s sister Mary (“Anna Maria”) who married Martin Schneider/Snyder.  This couple witnessed the baptism of John and Elizabeth’s children, further circumstantial evidence supporting my theory about Mary Ann’s parents.

In the 1810 Rockingham County census, the Schneiders, Lingles, Harnsbergers, and Armentrouts were all neighbors.  It makes sense that they intermarried.

It seems that many of the Lingles didn’t remain in Rockingham County.  A good many went to Ohio.  Whether Jacob was among them I don’t know.  But recently a researcher of Rockingham County families has presented her argument that there is a cemetery in front of the grand home known as the Kite House on Rt 33 in Elkton, Virginia. 

Kite House on Rt. 33, Elkton, VA
photo snipped from Google Maps

It is truly a landmark property that people coming off the Skyline Drive and heading to the colleges in Harrisonburg or the ski resort at Massanutten have admired for years.  This researcher has pieced together a number of deeds and surveys along with names of families likely buried there.  Among those names are Harnsberger and Lingle.  Maybe Jacob and Elizabeth are there. 

Flags mark where graves have been detected at the Kite House
photo courtesy Jan Hensley

THREE GENERATIONS

Jacob LINGLE & Elizabeth HARNSBERGER

1. Elizabeth LINGLE & John ARMENTROUT  ( - Before 1835 Rockingham Co, VA)  1791 Rockingham Co, VA

• Mary Ann ARMENTROUT (About 1795 – Jan 1870 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Fielding JOLLETT  ( About 1800 Greene Co, VA –  04 Dec 1887 Rockingham Co, VA )  02 Oct 1828 Rockingham Co, VA
• Elizabeth ARMENTROUT ( 1798 Rockingham Co, VA –  )
• Linda ARMENTROUT  ( 1805 Rockingham Co, VA –  )

2. Mary Ann / Anna Maria LINGLE & Martin Schneider

3. Jacob LINGLE - maybe 

4. Paul LINGLE - maybe

5. John LINGLE  ( Rockingham Co, VA – about 1820 Clark Co, OH ) & Mary COOK (Rockingham Co, VA – OH )

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Mystery Monday: A Stumble in the Search for Mary Ann

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.

Searching, part 7   

My study of the 1810 Rockingham County, Virginia census thrilled me with the possibility of finally discovering the parents of Mary Ann Armentrout, second wife of my 3G grandfather Fielding Jollett.  I had hoped the 1820 census would add weight to my theory.  However, it does nothing for it although it doesn’t hurt either.

Why?  Because somebody had the bright idea to alphabetize the census rather than list residents geographically which would have preserved the neighbor connection that is so useful in finding relatives, particularly women whose names just disappeared upon marriage.

But on the plus side, John is still there (with his last name spelled “Armentrought”), with a household that resembles the one from 1810, only 10 years older.

	1810	1820
Males under 10	-	1 – possibly John Jr. (1816)
Males 10 - 16	-	-
Males 16 - 18	-	-
Males 16 - 26	-	-
Males 26 - 45	-	-
Males over 45	1 – John Armentrout	1 – John Armentrout
Females under 10	1 – possibly Linda (1805)	-
Females 10 - 16	1 – possibly Elizabeth (1798)	1 – possibly Linda (1805)
Females 16 - 26	1 – possibly Maria (1795)	2 – possibly Elizabeth (1798) and possibly Maria (1795)
Females 26 - 45	-	-
Females over 45	1 – Elizabeth Lingle Armentrout	1 – Elizabeth Lingle Armentrout

The 1830 census shows no John Armentrout in Rockingham County.  It’s possible he had moved to a different county, he was living in someone else’s household - maybe one of his children’s, or he had died.  At any rate, in 1837, Mary Ann Armentrout and Fielding Jollett sold some land she had inherited from her late father John.

Feeling that my leads had dried up, I recalled a recent blogpost by Jacqi Stevens at A Family Tapestry.  In her series on using social media in genealogy, she reminded me that even the old stand-bys like Rootsweb and Genforum are a form of social media, albeit “low-tech.”  So off to Genforum and Rootsweb I went in search of surname forums and information on the Lingles, my most likely candidate for a mother for Mary Ann. 

Fortunately there had been an inquiry related to Jacob Lingle, Elizabeth’s father.  UNfortunately, the thread was old – like 2001 old.  Still I dashed off an email to 2 of the respondents on the thread.  The AOL email bounced back.  The email to the Juno account is still out there.  Juno!!  Juno??  Who uses that anymore?  Is it even still around?  Hmm – that might come back too.

But in that dusty thread was a shiny nugget.  The original poster said her ancestor was Barbara Snyder, daughter of Martin Snyder/Schneider and Anna Maria LINGLE.  This is the same couple that served as sponsors at the baptism of Maria Armentrout, the one I HOPE was later known as Mary Ann.  The Schneiders were not doing just a neighborly favor for John and Elizabeth Armentrout; there was a family bond.

I admit it’s just another little tidbit that amounts to nothing in the quest to pin down Mary Ann’s parents.  Maybe it’s time I try to revive that Lingle surname forum with a little inquiry of my own.

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Mystery Monday: One Step Closer in the Search for Mary Ann

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.

Searching, part 6

As soon as I saw John and Elizabeth Lingle Armentrout with 4 children (including Maria) listed in the “Miscellaneous” chapter of the Armentrout Family History by Russell S. Armentrout, I went to work.

1810 Rockingham County, Virginia Federal Census
Click to enlarge

In studying the 1810 Rockingham County, Virginia Census, I noticed John Armantrout (Ermentraudt/Armentrout) was a neighbor of George Armantrout and near neighbor of Augustine Armantrout, both known sons of Johan Friederich Ermentraudt, the most likely candidate for father of “my” John Armentrout.

Since they were close in age, they look like brothers:

	John	George	Augustine
Males under 10	-	1	3
10 – 16	-	-	-
16 - 26	-	-	1
26 - 45	-	-	-
Over 45	1	1	1
Females under 10	1	2	-
10 - 16	1	-	1
16 - 26	1	-	-
26 - 45	-	1	1
Over 45	1	-	-

The ages of the girls line up with the names identified with this John Armentrout family:

• 16-26 - Maria born 1795
• 10-16 - Elizabeth born 1798
• Under 10 - Linda born 1805
• Over 45 – John’s wife Elizabeth Lingle Armentrout

The fact that there were no male children makes sense since young John was not born until 1816.

Likewise, the ages match what is known of George’s family:

• Male under 10 – Michael born 1807
• Females under 10 – Barbara born 1806, and Magdalena born 1809
• Female 26-45 – George’s wife Elizabeth Michael Armentrout

And Augustine’s family:

• Males under 10 – Emanual born 1801, Charles born 1805, and Frederick born 1808
• 16-26 – John George born 1793
• Female 10-16 - ? Magdalena would have been about 19 but she also was married before 1810 and likely out of the house.  Possibly this is another child for whom other records have not been found.
• Female 26-45 – Augustine’s wife Margaret Schneider Armentrout.

What makes all this even more compelling are the other near neighbors.  These names appear together on the SAME page of a 31-page census recorded by Daniel Bryan for Rockingham County. 

• Jacob Lingle
• Jacob Lingle (senior)
• Martin Snyder/Schneider
• Jacob Stoutemire

Using the theory that people dated and married within a three-mile radius, I conclude that the two Jacob Lingles must be the father and brother of Elizabeth Lingle who married John Armentrout.  Is it possible?  Let’s see:

	John	Jacob	Jacob Sr.
Males under 10	-	2	-
10 – 16	-	1	-
16 - 26	-	-	-
26 - 45	-	1	-
Over 45	1	-	1
Females under 10	1	3	-
10 - 16	1	-	-
16 - 26	1	-	-
26 - 45	-	1	-
Over 45	1	-	1

Obviously John and younger Jacob are of the same generation with children of similar age while Jacob Sr. and his wife are empty-nesters.  Of course, without DNA or at least a marriage record or other document, this is conjecture, but a pretty strong one anyway.

Like a good neighbor, Martin Snyder/Schneider and his wife were the sponsors at the baptism of John and Elizabeth Lingle Armentrout’s daughter Maria, the one I hope was the woman later known as Mary Ann. 

So what about Jacob Stoutemire?  What does he contribute to the solution to the mystery?  The answer reads like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, so pay attention:

• Jacob Stoutemire was the father of Ann Stoutemire.
• Ann Stoutemire married Fielding Jollett in 1822, but she died before 1828.
• In 1828 Fielding married his second wife, Mary Ann Armentrout.
• Mary Ann was the daughter of a John Armentrout. 

This scenario satisfies my curiosity about how Fielding might have met Mary Ann when his farm, which bordered the Stoutemire line, was in Naked Creek while Mary Ann’s family seemed to be closer to McGaheysville.  The theory of the 3-mile dating circle is also reinforced if it turns out that Maria and Mary Ann are the same person and that John and Elizabeth Lingle Armentrout are my 4G grandparents.

Theories!  Everybody has one.  The trick is to make this circumstantial evidence stick, and that will mean proving Maria and Mary Ann are the same person.  Or that possibly Mary Ann is another daughter.  After all, there is a sizeable gap between the births of Elizabeth and Linda and between Linda and John. 

Just for once it would be nice if my family would be predictable:  follow tradition, stay close to one another, leave a trail.  Is that too much to ask?

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.