My Burkes are hiding

Every genealogist has a brick wall or two (probably more) and mine is John Burke, possibly Junior according to notes written by my Grandmother. In her notes he is listed as being born on Nov. 29, 1835 and died on Jan. 2, 1872. Indeed I found his death listed in the Hancock County, Ohio death records for this date and I found out that he was born in Crawford, Ohio.
The first puzzle is what Crawford? Is it Crawford County or Crawford in Wyandot County? Of course there is a  John Burke listed in both. Just my luck. My John is married to Ellen Hill 1836-1871, and they both died a year apart. They can be found with their children in the 1870 census in Bath, Greene County, Ohio but they died in Ellen's home county of Hancock, Ohio.
Their youngest son, Elroy, died at age one and the two older boys, Calvin and William, were put under the guardianship of Ellen's brother Edward Chapman Hill. However, he did not keep them long as my second Great Grandfather, Calvin, is listed in the 1880 census as living in a boarding house and his brother William is no where to be found. In my grandmothers notes William is said to have died at age 18 but I cannot find a record of this event.
Getting back to John, I am wondering who is parents are and where they were born. I really want to track someone back to Ireland. So the search continues.

My Adkins branch,

I will start with my first Adkins, Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Adkins (1829-1883) who is my second great grandmother on my mother's father's side. Her parents were Edward Adkins, 1803-1833 and Nancy Jane Bartram, 1804-1875.

It is Edwards line that has an interesting story in it and one that I hope is true as it would give me an Earl of Oxford in my line, pretty cool! Ok, back to Edward, his parents were Sherrod Adkins, 1765-1854 and Sarah Lucas, 1771-1844. I don't have much on Sarah's family beyond her. Sherrod's parents were Jacob Harley and Mary Adkins.

Notice he has his mothers name and not his father's. Jacob Harley is the said to be Earl of Oxford son of the third Earl of Oxford who came to America as a tax collector and met Miss Mary Adkins and they had a common law marriage. When trouble started brewing between the colonies and England, Jacob headed back across the pond never to return leaving Mary and several children behind. What a cad! He did however leave money in the will for his son Jacob but it was never collected. Mary and her children headed west and settled in Wayne County, WV. This information is referenced in History of Ancestors, Families, and Descendants of Paris Patrick Comisford - pg 266 by Bill Comisford - History - 2007 - 419 pages.

I like that story but I am still looking for some juicy tales in history, maybe one day....

Stephen Bartram 1751-1821

In my last post I mentioned Stephen Bartram. He is my 5th Great Grandfather. Stephen is a bit of a mystery as it continues to be hard to find actual documentation to prove some of the facts in his life that are listed in stories and books. According to one book, he was to have served under George Washington, which would be great for me as I could then apply for a supplement for my DAR, but that is another story. However, I struggle to find him in any revolutionary documents. The search will continue!

Here are some facts about my Bartram line:

Stephen's son John P. Bartram 1784-1845 is my 4th Great Grandfather, his daughter Nancy Jane Bartram 1804-1875 is my 3rd Great Grandmother and that is where the Bartram line ends for me. All my Bartrams lived in Virginia although Nancy Jane died in Cattlesburg KY. She was living with one of her sons, not my direct ancestor.

Nancy married Edward Adkins 1803-1833 and their daughter Mary Elizabeth Adkins 1829-1833 married my second Great Grandfather Thomas J. Stephens. This group lived in Wayne County West Virginia area.

Finding cousins

After moving to Tampa I joined a new church and ended up in the choir even though I can't read music and am a very average singer but in the process found a new friend who shares my love of genealogy. Turns out we are fifth cousins once removed with both of us tracing our family back to Stephen Bartram in Virginia.

It makes me wonder how many others people that I see every day might just be my relatives.

Welcome to my blog! I have to admit that this is a bit out of the box for me and has taken quite a while, not gonna say how long exactly, to get this going. Thanks for checking it out.

I hope to meet new relatives and share family information with other researching the same branches and limbs. Just to get started some of the family names I am researching are: Burke, Schwiebert, Herman, Freytag, Curtiss, Stimmell, Roesch, Freytag, Preston, Frettinger, Stevens/Stephens, Florentz, Chandler, Pierre, Adkins, Herald, Eitenne, Meisler, Griffith, Adkins and Bartram. I think that is plenty for now and goes back 5 generations. I am sure more names will enter the picture.

Most of these families are found in West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, France, Germany and England. Do these names and places sound familiar? Maybe we are related.