My apologies to anyone who has been following these stories for not posting these last six weeks. Sometimes personal things get in the way, but I am trying to get back to this writing now.
This week, the theme is Shadows. There are two individuals in my husband's family who just insist on hiding. Sometimes no matter how hard I look or how many times I start over with these two, I just never get past what I think I already know.
The first one, Benjamin Johns, whom I have taken to calling Bennie, is my husband's great grandfather. He was born, I think, in April of 1844 in St Austell, Cornwall, England. The family story was that Benjamin Johns was "supposed to have come from a well to do educated family who owned vineyards. They were a small people with red hair. His mother, Charlotte had red hair and was supposed to have been a teacher."
Bennie's naturalization papers, in the possession of the family, state that he was born in St Austell and left England at age 42, sailing from Liverpool and arriving in New York on May 2, 1869. His destination was Beaver Meadows, PA. He applied for citizenship in 1888 and was naturalized on Oct 2, 1890 in Carbon Co, PA. The date of 1869 would make him born about 1847 not 1844. The only record of a child born in St Austell to a mother named Charlotte was in 1844. I found two references to this. One was the England and Wales BMD Index and the other was an England and Wales Criminal Register. There were two individuals with the surname Johns on the same page in the Criminal Register. Charlotte Johns, age 24, was one and she was charged with "concealing the birth of an infant" and sentenced to two years imprisonment. The second was Joseph Johns, age 27, charged with "disobeying an order in bastardy" and found not guilty. Hmm, makes me wonder if the two were connected and both were Bennie's parents. Was Bennie a bastard child? What happened to him while Charlotte was imprisoned? Was he with Charlotte in prison? And did he make up the story about his family background? I'm inclined to think Yes, who knows and Yes!
But to move on in his story, he cannot be found in either the 1870 or 1880 censuses. Of course! The 1890 one is lost. So no help on Bennie there. He married Emma James, date unknown, but Emma was listed as single in June of 1880 in that census. Emma's first child was born in January 1881. There is a family story that this child was conceived out of wedlock but may still have been Bennie's as Bennie did raise him as his own. Six more children followed with the last born in 1896.
The rest of the family story about Bennie was that "when Bennie came over from England, he came thru Canada to America. One time when he was returning to visit England, he was traveling thru Canada and only got as far as Niagara Falls. Apparently he lost all of his money drinking and gambling and only had enough left to buy his wife a picture of Niagara Falls, which hung in their home for many years. He never did get to England. Benny was murdered by Irishman after one night drinking. He was ambushed and found down a coal bank on the way to his home. The family story as told to me, was that Benny was buried under a sidewalk at the Vine St Cemetery, Hazelton, Pa." Bennie died in 1897, about age 52.
I searched for a news article about the supposed murder, but no luck there either. And I think the sidewalk story leaves a little to be believed. But his wife is buried in that cemetery....
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The second individual is Amy Light, my husband's 3rd great grandmother. Amy was born about 1820 in New York state according to the 1850 & 1860 censuses. Amy's headstone has been photographed, but the only thing that is readable is her first name Amy. She died in 1869 according to a self published family history scarce on sources. She married about 1839 to Alfred Estus, of New York state, in Pennsylvania. They had only two or three children between 1840 and 1845, all born in Pennsylvania. Amy & Alfred must have each come separately from New York to Pennsylvania. I do have a possible family for Amy but no records that can say for sure that she belongs to them. It is tentative at best. With a name like "Light", she still stays in the shadows.
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