Parker E. Mick - 39th Regiment

In 1839 in in the village of Rossie, St. Lawrence County, New York, Martha Mick, the wife of Jesse E. Mick gave birth to a boy they named Parker E. Mick.  He was a fair haired, blue eyed boy who helped out on the family's farm.

Parker is my 1st cousin 4 times removed. We share a Greatest Grandfather.

The Mick family had moved to Manlius Illinois by March of 1855 where they bought 20 acres of land from John and Alice Mitchel.

On 10 September 1861 Parker joined the 39th Regiment of the Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered in Chicago on 11 October 1861 as a member of Company K. They were immediately ordered to St. Louis Missouri and by 29 October 1861 were Williamsport Maryland.

South Carolina
39th taken in the summer of 1863 Parker may be somewhere in the photo - photo from  Jean Wilson

The 39th Regiment had settled in at Morris Island, South Carolina in the summer of 1863, by the end of July Parker was ill. He could not perform his duties during August and September. On 19 October 1863 he was granted a furlough for health reasons. Parker goes to St. Augustine Florida to what the Army called a Convalescent Camp. He spends all of November in the Hospital Convalescent Baracks. 23 November 1863 Parker dies. A Funeral Escort was arranged for 2 o'clock on 25 November 1863.

Fellow soldiers and Dr. Charles Clark had this to say about Parker. "He was an enthusiastic soldier - old fashioned, comical, full of fun and very popular with the men of his company."

David Purington Cardin - Colporter

In 1850 my 3rd Great Uncle lived in a Bunk house type of dwelling in Dinwiddie Virginia with 21 workers who listed their job title as Laborer.  The Railroad Contractor , Assistant to the Contractor and David Purington Cardin, my uncle who was the Overseer also lived in the building.  Most of the men were from Virginia with 1 from New York, 2 unknown 3 from Ireland and 2 were from England.  The Southside Railroad was under construction at the time as was another line going in in the Northern edge of the Dinwiddie County where they were living.

In 1852 Uncle David married the beautiful Martha Susan Ayres. They had 7 children.
Mary Ella
William A
Sarah Elizabeth
Josephine P
James Burruss
Oliver Hatcher
David Ripppitoe

In the 1860 Uncle David is living in Buckingham Virginia and is  a Colporter.  What is that you ask? A colporter is a distributor or peddler of books, newspapers, pamphlets, fliers sometimes religious in nature. During the Civil War the Chaplains in each Company were often called Colporters because of the Bibles and religious pamphlets they carried with them.  Public preaching, and distributing religious pamphlets was a large part of what the Chaplains of the Confederate Army of Virginia did. Moody Publishers founded by D.L. Moody started the company in 1893 under the name Bible Institute Colportage Association. 

He is a farmer living in Summersville Town, Nicholas County, West Virginia in 1870. 

David Purington Carden died on 4 July 1873. 

Daniel Leroy Martineau - NFL Player

Sometimes when I randomly select a kinfolk to ghost hunt and focus on I luck out and discover a character, a wild-child, a free spirit, a person who is an achiever of awesomeness and sometimes just a hard working man who colored in the lines.  Both of these Ghosts are wonderful. 

What kind do you believe this one was?

Born on the 29th of August 1900, 1 of 5 children in Solvay, Onondaga, New York. For those of you who don't know it is very near Syracuse New York. Daniel Leroy Martineau is my 8th cousin 2x removed. We share a Great Grandfather who was born in 1589. Thomas Bliss. 

                                   Daniel Leroy Martineau

I thought I was involved in a great many things and projects. Cousin Roy was too. He went through his adult life known as Roy Martineau.  He attended Solvay High School where he played football. He went from there to Syracuse University where he played football, was on the wrestling team and also the rowing team. 

On  12 September 1918 Roy and his father completed his draft card and on 11 October 1918 Roy was enlisted in the Marines and on Parris Island (the island of my People) South Carolina in training.  On 3 December he is assigned to the USS Delaware BB-28. 

She was a Battleship and the largest the Navy had ever launched. On 10 February is on duty in the Boston Naval Shipyard and on 24 March 1919 his enlistment is over. Not only did Roy train to be a Marine but he was also the Heavyweight Wrestling Champion of the Atlantic Fleet in 1918. 

Roy meets the beautiful Marion Alice Sidnam and on 5 September 1923 they marry and Roy plays football professionally with the NFL team the Buffalo All-Americans where he scored 1 touchdown for the season. He changes teams to the Rochester Jeffersons and plays for 2 years.

Rochester Jeffersons Roy was #16 that year. This photo is from the 1925 game against the New York Giants. Looks like that is # 16 going for the block.

In 1925 Cousin Roy is appointed by the Intercollegiate Wrestling Association to be a referee and in 1933 was still refereeing. 

1926 you can find Cousin Roy being promoted as a Professional Wrestler and training under the direction of Herbert Hartley an English Lightweight Champion. He makes his debut 14 October 1926. 

                          Article about Roy Martineau

Assistant Football Coach for Syracuse University, Athletic Director for Onondaga Valley High School, Parks Director for the city of Syracuse  and avid golfer are just some of the adventures he had. 

Cousin Roy gets into to the Life Insurance Industry and by the 1960s is a Senior member of Martineau and Cadaret Insurance. 

While enjoying a round of golf in October of 1961 Cousin Daniel Leroy Martineau has a heartache and dies. 

Evert Jansen Wendell - Orphan Master

In Emden in East Fresia, in what is now Lower Saxony, Germany Evert Jansen Wendel was born. The year was 1614 and he is my 9th Great Grandfather.  He departed Emden about 1640 gaining transportation with the Dutch East India Company arriving in New Amsterdam a month later.  He lived in New Amsterdam for almost 5 years falling in love with the lovely Susanna DuTrieux whom he married on 31 July 1644. 

After receiving a license to trade with the Indians he moves his family to Fort Orange a Dutch settlement in what was called New Netherlands. Grandfather Evert becomes the Ruling Elder in his local Dutch Reformed Church in 1656. By 1657 he is the Orphan Master.  In 1653 New Amsterdam was granted Municipal Rights and many things that the church was responsible for now became the domain of the council for the city. The care of orphans, widows and the poor became their concern and Orphan Masters were appointed by council. On 15 September 1655 the Peach Tree War started over the senseless murder of Tachiniki a young Wappinger woman who stole a peach from a tree in the yard of a Dutch Settler. After a few weeks of unrest and tension including the location of a New Swedish Settlement an army of 600 Indians attacked the new settlement as well as New Amsterdam. This incident left many orphans not to mention those who were orphaned by illness, death and abandonment. 

In 1660 he was a Magistrate. His family and his business thrived and by 1660 8 children had been born. Sadly in 1660 his wife Susanna passes away and three years later he marries Maritje Abrahm Van Deursen and they have 4 children. 

Grandfather Evert and his family attended the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany and in 1656 a stained glass window panel with the Wendel Coat of Arms was installed in the church. It says "Evert Jansen Wendell, Regerende Dyaken 1656  A description of the design is Per fess, in chief Azure a ship under full sail proper, in base Argent two anchors in saltire crowns upward Sable.

Grandfather Evert died in 1709 and is said to have been buried under the Old Dutch Church that stood at the corner of Yonker and Handelser Streets. Now known as State Street and Broadway in Albany. 

Seth Perkins Staples - Yale Law School Founder

On the 31 of August 1776 Seth Perkins Staples was born. He was one of 11 children born to John and Susanna Staples. They lived in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut. He is my 4th Great Grandfather. 

            Seth Perkins Staples painted by Jared Bradley Flagg

He attended Yale University and while there he was elected into Phi Beta Kappa. He also belonged to the Society of Brothers in Unity and graduated Yale in 1797 with honors. 

He was soon after graduation practicing law in Connecticut. In 1799 he married Catherine Wales and they had seven children. In 1800 Grandfather Seth ordered a very complete and extensive collection of law books. Many young men came to his law firm to learn, study and educate themselves on law using these books. Before he realized it he was teaching law and at the head of a very respectable Law School. 

By the mid 1820s Yale took an interest in the New Haven Law School and became affiliated with the school. In 1843 students of the school graduated with degrees from Yale. The Yale Law School shield is divided into three quadrants. The bottom right being black with silver staples. These are to honor Grandfather Seth Perkins Staples. 

By 1824 he was living in New York with a thriving law practice. He was so accomplished that in 1839 he was chosen as one of the attorneys actively involved in the case of the Amistad representing the defendants. 

On 5 August 1850 Seth's daughter Frances Ann Staples Comstock passed away. On 26 November 1855 her husband David Augustus Comstock passed away. They had 4 small children 3 of them came to live with Grandfather Seth while the youngest Lilian went to live with an Uncle.

On 6 November 1861 grandfather Seth Perkins Staples passed away. 

John Hales Ayres - Guard Duty

On 17 June 1842 Jame Ayres  appeared before a Justice of the Peace to obtain a benefit of a provision Congress set in motion on 4 July 1836. She was entitled to a small pension because her husband, John Hales Ayres had served as a Private in the War of Independence. 

He entered service as a Private in 1781 under Captain Robert Cary. All men in service were called to the courthouse in Buckingham, Virginia by Captain Carey  He was to serve for three months on a march to the "South".

That march led them to Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina where he was immersed in the Battle of Guilford Court House on 15 March 1781.

A few months after his return from the "South" he was marched to Eastern Virginia and participated in the Battle at Little York. He was then marched to Winchester Virginia where he had the duty of guarding prisoners that were barracked there. 

John is my 4th Great Grandfather born about 1740 in Buckingham County, Virginia and the son of Matthias and Elizabeth Ayres. He had 4 brothers and a sister.

In 1777 he married Jane Sallee and soon after  each of their 10 children made a random appearance.
Magdalene
Nancy
Edmund
Sarah
Elizabeth
Susannah
Patsy
John
James
Olive

In November of 1828 Great Grandfather John Hales Ayres passed away.

Samuel Bliss - Rum Runner

Samuel Bliss was ordered to pay a fine of 20 shillings to the New London County Treasury. It was March 26 1718 and he was found guilty of selling "strong drink" to the Indians. He was not alone as he stood before the Justice of the Peace. He was accompanied by a host of citizens, men and women all standing for the same crime. 

I would like to proclaim his innocence, I mean he was my Great Grandfather 7 generations ago. We are family, but to be honest he was probably guilty. He is the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Bliss and was one of seven children.  Born 9 December 1657 in Saybrook, Middlesex County, Connecticut. 

On 8 December 1681 he married Ann Elderkin and they had 6 Children.
Thomas
Samuel
Elizabeth
John
Pelatiah
Thankful

In 1701 Samuel had bought property near Lebanon, New London, Connecticut and according to long lost legends he bought the land from Chief Oweneco. He may have never actually lived there and in 1712 he sold the property. He was living in Norwich, New London, Connecticut.

Grandfather Bliss was a wine merchant, and kept accounts with Daniel Johonnot also a wine merchant in Boston. Some of the items listed on an account for Grandfather Bliss are rum, leather gloves, hogs fat and pork. Payment on the account lists pork, beeswax, bailberry wax, beaver, otter, mink and deer skins. He also kept accounts with  Mr. Leaske which include pork, bear, raccoon, mink, fox and beaver skins.

Samuel was a 1/8 owner of a sloop called Love and Ann. Purchased from Thomas Avery and John Richards. He also owned 1/8 of a Brigantine named Success he purchased from John Chandler. 

Brigantines were built in the colonies in North America in the early 1700s. Smaller than a brig but larger than a sloop, they were swift and easy to maneuver thus making them the  favored ships among pirates. They were often employed as landing vessels for larger fleets of ship because of their maneuverability. 

In 1705 the Love and Ann sails to Barbados with Master Richard Caiter and a shipment from Grandfather Bliss of staves, a water hogshead and a horse. 

What has his ships  to do with selling "strong drink?" They sailed regularly to Barbados, and what was a popular product that came out of Barbados? Associated with piracy? Rum.  Rum is considered "strong drink". 

Apeanuchsuck, another "drunk" Indian in 1722 has Grandfather Bliss up in front of a judge again.  Apeanuchsuck must have been having a big time because he was arrested first and said nothing then at his trial ratted out Grandfather Bliss. The original charge says "strong drink" and Apeanuchsuck is to pay 10 shillings or receive 10 lashes on his naked body. In the end Apeanuchsuck pays the 10 shillings and walks away having been served only 2 pots of cider.  Grandfather pays another fine.

Grandfather Bliss dies 30 December 1729.

Samuel Bliss trouble making Run Runner.... my people!