Henry County Genealogical Society Newsletter
Volume 17, Number 1, January – February 2003
MEETINGS
January 20, 2003, Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Business meeting. Opportunity to use materials in library.
February 17, 2003, Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Bill and Paula Suber will present a program on The History of the Suber Foundry. One of the earliest businesses in Deshler, it was founded about 1876. At one point they made washing and ironing machines for Chinese laundries in various U.S. cities.
Those of us who regularly work with the mail sincerely thank the members who use their membership numbers when corresponding. It saves us a lot of time.
WE ARE PUBLISHING …
Northwest Signal Obituaries 2001 and coming soon Northwest Signal Obituaries 2002. The cost is $12 plus $2.00 postage and handling. Towns and Ghost Towns of Henry County 1794 – Present — the cost is $5.00 plus $1.50 postage and handling.
IN MEMORIAM
Former member Lucille Bordoli of McComb, OH passed away 7 Dec 2002. She was 89. We extend our sympathy to her family.
HELP WITH INFORMATION
Karen Sunderman is trying to trace information on possible Underground Railroad routes through Henry Co. and especially through Deshler. If anyone has information on this topic or suggestions of books containing references to the Underground Railroad operating in this area, please contact her at Henry County Genealogical Society Newsletter. Thank you.
A BIT OF HUMOR
It’s 2003-do you know where your gr-gr-grandparents are?
A new cousin a day keeps the boredom away.
Genealogy is like playing hide and seek: They hide … I seek.
HENRY COUNTY SIGNAL — 7 Feb 1884
(From a listing of Napoleon bachelors printed during Leap Year.)
Dr. A. B. PHILLIPS
Little pills are sweet, and the same has been said of the gallant young M.D. The doctor needs a wife, and we believe he may be easily captured. He is building up a nice practice. He is very sociable, blushes rather easily and has a sweet smile for all. But he drives a bad nag. Girls, make him get a new horse and then go for him.
JOHN J. MALLEY
Everybody who goes or comes to the R. R. Station is sure to see the smiling face of Jack Malley. Always ready and willing to select for you the best route to any point, why should he not take a trip to the state of matrimony himself and show an example. But rumor has it that he is not going to stay in the market long.
JOHN H. FREASE
Here is a gem. The happiest fellow in town; as handsome as Adonis, and as welcome in a crowd as the flowers in May. The boss jeweler of the town with a good business. Nothing should be left undone to secure him for some happy fireside.
R. W. CAHILL
In presenting this case to you. ladies of the jury, be not too hasty in arriving at a verdict. It is true Dick cannot successfully drive with one hand, but he will learn. As a genial good fellow he has no superiors. He is popular with the people; is a good lawyer, and as Prosecuting Attorney he is making a splendid record. He needs and should have a wife. Go for him.
MICHAEL DONNELLY
If the Court please, Mike is on the stand, as the most popular heart smasher in the town. A man with every essential to a good husband. A good Lawyer with a good practice, of fine appearance and assailed on all sides. With leap year invitations Mike should surely be landed this year.
SILAS SKEELS
Descendants Place Marker for War of 1812 Veteran in Clay/Groscost Cemetery, Seneca County, OH.
(Thanks to Maurice Weaks for submitting this family history.)
Silas SKEELS, Veteran of the War of 1812, was the son of Ephriam and Sarah BALDWIN SKEELS. Born 18 May 1780 in Southbury CT, he moved to Cayuga County, NY in 1801, settling near Auburn.
His first wife was Nancy Jenette DICKERMAN. She was the mother of Nancy Janette (Phillip) TABOR who came to Fulton County, Ohio, and Nelson D. who lived and died in Coldwater, MI.
The second marriage was to Nicey BEARDSLEY, daughter of Benjamin and Amelia STEVENS BEARDSLEY. Her parents had come to Cayuga County along with Silas SKEELS. Benjamin served in the Revolutionary War. Silas and Nicey would bring their family to Scipio Township, Delaware Land District, Seneca County, Ohio in 1832. More children would be born in Republic where they lived. Nicey died 21 May 1854 and Silas died 13 January 1863, almost 84 years old.
Silas had served as Private from Seneca County, New York in the War of 1812 under SCOTT and BROWN in the 1st Reg’t of New York. He was in the Canadian Expedition, and participated in the battles of Upper Canada, Lundy’s Lane, Fort Erie, and was discharged at Fort George.
He applied for Bounty Land 12 May 1855, when the land became available to men who had served in the War of 1812. The forty acres he received was in the Defiance District in Fulton County, Ohio.
The children listed in his will, which was filed and recorded 4 February, 1862, in Seneca County were “my eldest son, Nelson D., and my eldest daughter, Nancy Jenette (Philip) TABER”. The other children were Jane Caroline SCOTT, Hepsibaugh, Sally Mariah (John) ALKERE, Samantha (Nelson D.) TABER, Amelia (David D.) MYERS. Barton, a grandson, and four sons, Benjamin, Orace, Silas B. and George P. complete the list of his family. Rosella died in 1840 and was not named in his will, is buried with her parents in the Groscost/Clay Cemetery near his farm. Maurice WEAKS descends from Amelia E. and Sergia DUNLAP from George Phineas, the great, great grandchildren of Silas and Nicey. Most of the family stayed in Ohio, many in Fulton County.
George, who was schooled at the Republic Academy, started teaching school and went to Franklin County Kansas in 1856 at the age of seventeen. Other SKEELS were in Kansas. Although teaching, he participated in the Kansas Border Wars during 1857-58, and received a bullet in his leg. He worked in the Land office in Lecompton, later moving to Mound City, Holt County, MO.
George married Surildah Angelina CATON 1 Jan 1860 in Mound City. They returned to Ohio to be with his ailing father. While living in Ohio, Dora Hepsibaugh, (Robert KENNISH) was born in Delta, Fulton County, OH. Dora was named in honor of George’s sister, Hepsibaugh, and would be the grandmother of Sergia DUNLAP. The family returned to Holt County in 1864 , where seven more children were born. He was a farmer, teacher and judge. He died in 1908 in Parsons, KS.
His brother, Orace (Orris), who married Jane VAN FLEET also went to Holt County, had a family, and died there in 1895. Another relative, Emery Clinton SKEELS, went to Holt County and was drowned in 1859, when crossing a swollen river while selling lightening rods.
As a former member of Seneca County Genealogical Society, Mrs. DUNLAP submitted George Phineas, Nicey and Silas for membership in First Families of Seneca County in 1989. She has great appreciation for information and interest provided her by the Society members and the Seneca County Offices.
Maurice WEAKS had visited Mrs. DUNLAP in Littleton, CO while doing family research and they discussed the possibility of having a stone erected in honor of Silas SKEELS’ military service.
Mrs. DUNLAP was also instrumental, with Dorr SKEELS, in having a marker placed in the ancient While Oak Cemetery, Southbury, CT. Originally it was an Indian burial ground. The grave marker for the first two generations in America, John SKEEL and his son John, had lain face down for decades when found. Although broken in half and wired together it was the oldest legible headstone in the cemetery dated in 1721. The marker was placed at the site of the old headstone, the original thin red sandstone marker has been saved for posterity in the security of the Southbury Historical Museum.
SURNAMES
In our January-February issue each year we publish the surnames being researched by our members. We also publish the membership list from the previous year, assuming that not everyone will renew their membership by the time this issue goes to press. For privacy reasons, we do not reproduce those lists on this Internet version of the newsletter. Thus, the January-February electronic edition of the newsletter is always very small.
