Color coded chart of Poth/Sanford birthplaces

 

David Wallace and Nancy Mills, married in 1798 in Virginia , Pop's side

David Wallace and Nancy Mills are our fifth great-grandparents 

(from Mary Lou Brown to Garland T. Brown to Mary Ella Wallis (1861-1944) - William H Wallis (1831-1903)  - David Wallace (1800-1878) to David Wallace and Nancy Mills.  

This photocopy of a Wallace family bible page was given to Mary Lou by someone - a cousin maybe? 

Here is their marriage bond that someone posted on Ancestry.  It is dated March 22, 1798, in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.  

A marriage bond was an official "intention to marry."  A man who had proposed to a woman went to the courthouse with a bondsman (often a relative) and posted a bond indicating his intention to marry the woman.  Marriages usually happened within days of the bond being posted. 

It is signed by David Wallace and a Larkin Crowder, which means I will be on the lookout for "Crowder" as a relative of either David Wallace or Nancy Mills.  

Mecklenburg County VA: 

Edward Cosgrove (1853-1888), Frances Hoart Poth's maternal grandfather, "killed by the cars"

 Edward Cosgrove (1853, New York City - November 29, 1888, Olathe Kansas) 

Early youth in New York City: 

Edward's parents, Terrance Cosgrove (1816-1882) and Mary Vallely (?) (abt. 1813-1894),  were from Ireland, and settled in New York City.  Edward was the middle child of three children, and his father was a "mat manufacturer." 

Move to Kansas: 

By 1865, when Edward ("Eddy") was 12 years old, the family had moved from New York City to Olathe, Kansas, to farm.  

In 1880 he is 27, living with his parents, sister, and nephew, and "laboring on a farm."  

Marriage and family: 

Edward married Emma Ryan (1856 - 1900) in Olathe on May 9, 1882.  From the Kansas Patron: 

The couple had two daughters, Jessie and Katherine. 

I have been unable to locate any information about Edward's working life.  

Tragic death: 

Edward died tragically, on November 29, 1888, leaving a young widow and two young daughters, 5 and 3 years old.  

His death was gruesome: 

From Olathe Mirror, December 6, 1888: 

Sources:

1860. 1870. 1880 census 

Kansas state censuses

Kansas county marriage records 

Newspapers dot com 

Cynthia Poth Nanto family tree on Ancestry dot com 

Emma Ryan (1856 - 1900), mother of two daughters in Kansas, Frances Hoart Poth's maternal grandmother

Emma Ryan was Frances Hoart Poth's maternal grandmother.   

Some lives have more than a fair share of "shadow." 

Emma Ryan was born November 3, 1856 in Ohio, the first child of Catherine Bowes and Lawrence Ryan.  

Growing up on a farm: 
In 1860 we find her listed as five years old, with her two younger siblings, and her parents in Hocking, Fairfield County, Ohio, with the nearest post office in Lancaster.   The family is living very simply - her father Lawrence is a farm hand. 

Seven more siblings were added to the family during the decade between 1860 and 1870.  In 1870 the family is living in Perry in Jackson County, Ohio.   Also living with the family is Emma's paternal grandmother, Mary Ryan.  Emma (13) and her younger sister Martha (10) attend school.   Emma's father is a farmer who owns $3000 real estate and $200  personal property.  

In 1871 however, the family moves from Ohio to Johnson County, Kansas.  Emma was 14 years old.  They settled on a farm near Olathe.  Four siblings were born between 1871 and 1879.  Sadly, when Emma was 16, her 8 year old brother George died, just two months after baby sister Blanche was born. 

In 1880, Emma is 23 and living at home, the eldest of all the children.  I imagine she is helping to run the busy farm household alongside her mother. 

Marries Edward Cosgrove: 

On May 9, 1882 Emma married Edward Cosgrove (1853-1888) at St. Paul's Church in Olathe.  Interestingly, her age is mistakenly listed (or accidentally on purpose?) as 20, not 25.  

Motherhood: 

The couple made a home in Kansas and in March 1883, their daughter Jessie H. Cosgrove was born, followed two years later by Katherine Cecilia Cosgrove (this is Frances Hoart Poth's mother).  

Husband died tragically: 

Tragically, just five years after their marriage, Emma's husband Edward was killed, run over by a freight train in the middle of the night, "under the influence of liquor" on November 29, 1888.  Their girls were just 3 and 5 years old.  

Marries Ward Ripley: 

Emma was a widowed mother for four years and then at age 36, remarries on August 23, 1893 in Olathe.   Ward Ripley had served in the Union Army during the Civil War and his first wife had recently died in 1892.  He is 48 years old when he marries Emma.   The family makes their home in Olathe Kansas.  Ward is a building contractor. 

Dies at age 43: 

Sadly, Emma dies at age 43, on April 4, 1900 in Olathe, "of stomach trouble."  She had been failing gradually which makes me wonder if this was cancer.  Jessie and Catherine are 17 and 14 years old when their mother dies. 

Emma has a gravestone in Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in in Olathe, Kansas. 

Interestingly, daughters Jessie and Catharine did not stay in Olathe with their step father, but almost immediately moved to Denver to live with their maternal aunt Anna Ryan Beehler, herself a widow (I will write more about this in another post).  Jessie went on to become a nun, and Catharine married and made a life in Denver.

Sources: 

1860, 1870, 1880 census 

Kansas, County Marriage Records Johnson County 

Olathe Mirror newspaper clippings 

newspapers dot com:  Nov 29, 1888 St. Louis Post Dispatch clipping, p. 7

Cynthia Poth Nanto family tree on Ancestry dot com 

 

Catherine "Kate" A. Ryan (1879 - 1913), schoolteacher, mother of two young sons, Frances Hoart's great aunt

Catherine A. Ryan (1879 - 1913)

Kansas school teacher, mother of two young sons 

This is Frances Hoart Poth's great aunt on her mother's mother's side.  

Catherine was born into a large farming family in Lawrence, Kansas, the youngest daughter of  Catherine Bowes and Lawrence Ryan.  We don't know anything else about her early years.  When she was 18 and 19 years old, two of her brothers died. 

Teaching School: 

In 1920, we find Catherine ("Kate") teaching school in Aubry Township, near Olathe Kansas.  We can find several newspaper clippings from that year, such as: 

This same year, her older sister Emma Ryan (Frances' maternal grandmother) passed away. 

Marriage 

We can presume that Catherine taught school for the next five years, until her marriage to John Emry Heaton on May 6, 1905, in Leavenworth Kansas.  

Their first son, John Harlan Heaton, was born in 1906.  Catherine's mother Catherine Bowes Ryan passed away a few years later in Olathe. 

Sometime between 1906 and 1910, the young Heaton family relocated to Eugene, Oregon, where John was employed as a manager for a telephone company.  They owned a home on West 11th Street. 

Their second son, Joseph Emry Heaton ("Junior") was born in 1911 in Eugene.   A year later, Catherine's father Lawrence Ryan passed away.  

Died in Colorado 

Sometime in 1912, the family moved to Loveland, Colorado.   Sadly, Catherine suffered a year-long illness and passed away in 1913 at the age of 34.  

Catherine's older sister Blanche had helped her through the summer before her death, and her siblings had visited for a family reunion July 4th.  

Catherine's sons were just 7 and 2 years old.  (Their father remarried in Billings Montana, in 1915, to Nellie Armstrong). 

Catherine's obituary in the Olathe Independent is so touching: 

Sources:

1880, 1900, 1910 census 

Find a Grave Index 

Kansas Marriages 

The Olathe Independent and Olathe Mirror in newspapers dot com

Cynthia Poth Nanto family tree in Ancestry dot com 

Catherine "Kate" Bowes (1833 - 1909), Lawrence Ryan (1856-1912) and their children

 Catherine "Kate" Bowes 

(May 4, 1833 Ballyconra, Kilkenny, Ireland - May 22, 1909, Olathe Kansas) 

Catherine Bowes' parents were John Bowes (1808-1854) and Mary Murphy (1810-1875).  

(map from 2021)

Catherine immigrated to the United States as a young teenager in 1848, in the middle of the "Great Hunger" - the Irish potato famine.  She traveled with her mother, a dressmaker, and siblings.  Her father had traveled ahead of time, about a month before.  Catherine is listed as "Kitty" on the ship's manifest.  

The family settled in Ohio to farm.  Neither of her parents could read or write.  

Catherine married Lawrence Ryan (1830 - 1912) on January 27, 1856 in Perry County, Ohio.  (Lawrence was born there on July 23, 1830.  His mother, Mary was born abt. 1808 in Pennsylvania.  His father (name unknown) was born in Ireland).  

 
Lawrence and Catherine had thirteen children over 22 years, and their eldest child was Emma Ryan [Cosgrove], mother of  Katherine Cosgrove [Hoart] and grandmother to Frances Hoart [Poth].  

In July 1860, the young family is living in Hocking Township, Fairfield County Ohio, with their first three children, Emma, age 5, Martha, age 2, and Clark, age 1 month, all three born in Ohio.  Lawrence is a farmhand. 
 
Their daughter Clara V is born later in 1860; Anna in 1861; Albert in 1862; George in 1865, William H. In 1867, Catherine A. In 1868, John D. In 1869.  
Presumably, Clark and Catherine A. did not live past 1870.  

In June 1870, the family is now living about 145 miles northeast of Hocking Township, on a farm in Jackson Township, Perry County, Ohio. 
Lawrence Ryan, farmer, 38 years old (likely 40), father of foreign birth.   

Katherine Ryan, 32 (likely 36) keeping house, born in Ireland, both parents of foreign birth (presumably Irish).  

They have seven children living, all born in Ohio: 
Emma (13) and Martha, (10), attending school 
Clara (9), Albert (7), George (4), William (2) and John (7 months).  
Lawrence’s mother, Mary, (aged 62, born in Pennsylvania) is also living with the family.  

Curiously, Anna (Annie) age 9 , is missing from this census but appears again in later censuses.  


Move from Ohio to Kansas: 

The Ryans moved from Ohio to Johnson County Kansas in 1871. They settled on a farm six miles south of Olathe.  

Thomas is born in 1871.  In 1873, Blanche is born in March, and seven year old George dies just two months later, in June.  
Six years later in 1879, their last child, Catherine, is born.  

In June 1880, the family is still living on the farm near Olathe Kansas.  Lawrence is a farmer and Kate is keeping house. 
They have nine children living now: 
Children born in Ohio: 
Emma, 23 - at home
Clarra, 20 - at home 
Annie - school teacher
Albert, 17 - farm laborer
William, 12 - farm laborer
John, 10
Children born in Kansas: 
Thomas, 9, 
Blanche, 7 
Katie, 5 

In about 1884, the family moved to Olathe proper where Mr. Ryan bought property and built a home at 133 South Walnut Street.  This image of 133 S. Walnut Street is from 2020.  The house is said to have been built in 1890: 

In 1898, two of their sons, Thomas (age 26) and then John D. (age 28), died within six months of each other.  They are buried in the Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Olathe.  

In 1900, Lawrence and Catherine are still living in Olathe, with their two youngest daughters, Blanch (27) and Catharine A. (24).  Catharine is working as a public school teacher.  Lawrence’s occupation is still listed as farmer. 

On May 22, 1909, Catherine dies at the age of 76.   Lawrence and Catherine had been married 53 years. 
In 1910, Olathe Kansas, Lawrence Ryan is listed as a widowed, retired farmer.  He is living with   daughters Blanch,32, a clerk at a dry goods store, and daughter Annie (Anna) Beehler, 48, listed as married. 

Lawrence Ryan died on March 22, 1912.  Obituary mistakenly says 10 children.  Three of their thirteen children died in childhood. 

Lawrence Ryan and Catherine Bowes Ryan are buried at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas:  

 Children [and their spouses] of Lawrence Ryan and Catherine Bowes: 


Emma Ryan (b. Nov 3, 1856 -  d. 1900)  [Edward Cosgrove]
Martha B. Ryan (b. 1858 - ? ) [Steacy] [James Mitchell]
Clark Ryan (1860 - ? - presumably died before 1870) 
Clara V. Ryan (1860 - 1944) [James H. Cosgrove]
Anna Ryan (b. 1861 - ?) [Charles F. Beehler] 
Albert Ryan (b. 1862 -  d. 1925)  [Elizabeth Griffin] [Allie Pennington] 
George Ryan (b. 1865 - d. 1873) - died age 8 
William Horton Ryan (b.1867 - d.1927) [Sarah Ann Kelly] [Martha _]
Catherine Agnes Ryan (1868 - ? - presumably died before 1870) 
John D. Ryan (b. 1869- d. 1898), died age 28.  
Thomas Ryan (b. 1871 - d. 1898), died age 26 
Blanche Ryan (1873 - ?- died sometime after 1913) - Blanche cared for her younger sister Catherine before Catherine’s death 
Catherine A. Ryan (1879 - 1913) [John Emry Heaton] 


Sources: 

1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900 census

Ohio marriage records

Find a Grave index 

newspapers dot com 

Cynthia Poth Nanto family tree on Ancestry dot com 

Children of Mary Murphy (1810-1875) and John Bowes (1808-1854), Frances Hoart side

See this post for a life sketch of  Mary Murphy (1810-1875).  She married John Bowes (1808- 1854) about 1830 in Ireland.  These are Frances Hoart Poth's second great-grandparents on her mother's mother's mother's side.  They had seven children and 38 grand children.  

The family immigrated to the U.S. during the Irish Potato Famine.   John died when their oldest child was 23, and their youngest was just 11.   Mary lived a lot longer, but I am not sure where she was in her last years.  I presume she was living with one of her children, but I can't locate the 1870 census for several of the children. 

Their oldest son James married and stayed in Fairfield County OH to be a farmer and raise a large family.  Their second child Catherine married a farmer, eventually settled in Kansas, and had 13 children.  Their third child, Mary Frances, married a brickmason and settled in Kansas City Missouri, and had 10 children.  Their fourth child, Lawrence, was married twice (his first wife died when their daughter was very young) and was a farmer in Kansas.  The youngest three children stayed single:   Margaret became a nun in Ohio and Indiana; Thomas served for the Union in the Civil War and became a dry goods merchant in Ohio; Hanoria ("Nora") became a nurse and housekeeper.   

1.  James J. Bowes (b. December 7, 1831 in Ballyconra, Kilkenny, Ireland - d. July 30, 1903 in North Berne, Fairfield County, Ohio)  m. Mary A. Welch (1839-1918) in 1858; 12+ children.  Ireland to Perry County and Fairfield County OH.  Farmer. 

2.  Catherine Bowes (b. May 4, 1833, Ballyconra, County Kilkenny, Ireland, d. May 22, 1909, Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas) m. Lawrence Ryan (1830 - 1912) in 1856; farmer;  13 children.   Ireland, to Ohio, to Kansas.  These are Frances Hoart Poth's second great-grandparents on her mother's side.  

3.  Mary Frances Bowes (b. February 8, 1835, Ireland - d. Sept 24, 1905) m. Jacob Welch in 1855; brickmason; 10 children. Ireland, to Ohio, to Kansas City, MO. 

4.  Lawrence A. Bowes (b. November 22, 1837, Johnstown, Kilkenny, Ireland d. July 27, 1914, Louisburg Kansas) Ireland, to Ohio, to Kansas.  farmer.  m1 Jennie Ward 1 child;   m2 Mary Louisa 'Lida' Flemm 2 children 

5.  Margaret Bowes (Sister Mary Salesia)  (b. February 17, 1839, County Kilkenny, Ireland d. July 25, 1916, Rome City, Noble, Indiana) Order of the Precious Blood, Ft. Wayne Indiana for 50 years. From Find a Grave: She entered the Sisters of the Precious Blood at Maria Stein, OH as a teacher and eventually became Mother Superior of the Ohio convent. 

6.  Thomas Hubert Bowes (b. August 25, 1841, Kilkenny Ireland d. January 29, 1923, Columbus OH).  grocer, dry goods merchant.  Ireland to Ohio.  Union soldier in Civil War. 

7.  Hanoria "Nora" Bowes (b. 1843 Kilkenny Ireland d. Feb 1, 1917, Columbus OH) nurse, housekeeper.