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 Three Generations of Conklin Family in Tecumseh c. 1921
Back: Virginia Irene, Viva Amelia (Howell), Myron,
Eliza Virginia (Webster),  Gertrude (Howell), Viva Gretel (Conklin) Collins
Front: Georgianna, Stuart Erwin, Jack Webster,
Herbert Roy, and Ellsworth Collins (MyHeritage Enhanced)

 Jim and I laugh that we are never very far from where his ancestors have lived…and we didn’t know it before moving there! It started when we were first married and spent our summers at Sand Lake in Lenawee County, Michigan, just along M-50 from Tecumseh. Jim didn’t have the opportunity to know his maternal grandparents, as they both passed away before Jim was born and since he grew up on the west side of the state they didn’t visit the cemetery plots for them. 

Some Connections in MI

One day Jim was talking with his mother when she said, “Well, you know, your grandparents are buried not too far from you in Tecumseh.” Nope, he didn’t know. That kicked off my investigation of the Conklin family in Tecumseh which led to the Webster, Howell, Wheeler, Spofford, and Remington families all who settled in Lenawee County in the 1830’s and were prominent (mostly farming) families in Macon, Ridgeway, and Tecumseh. I recently found while visiting the Mid-West Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri, a wonderful collection of transcribed Plat Map books which identified the original land granted/purchased by each of Jim’s ancestors in the 1830s! Here’s an example from James L. Remington with a drawing of him I’ve shown before. I don’t think that I’ve shared the resource for finding the original Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office Records, so I’m sharing the US Department of the Interior BLM Land Patents search page.

Some Connections in PA

But that was over 30 years ago. We have now lived in central PA for over 20 years and we keep finding connections to Jim’s family here, too. One of our earliest discoveries was learning about Pealertown, Asbury, and Orangeville, where there was a church with stained glass windows in honor of Russel Ralph Pealer’s parents (the GAR member of the previous blog). You can see our kids who have been dragged along on this journey (and more cemeteries than they can count!)

Asbury Church in Orangeville, PA

Our daughters in front of the window dedicated
to their 4xgreat-grandparents!

Since I have become Jim’s family’s family historian too and we are the joyful recipients of boxes of photos and paperwork from both

John Harold Breyfogle &
Elizabeth Santee Homestead
Nescopeck, PA c. 1900
(MyHeritage AI Enhanced)

sides. About 12 years ago, we were given boxes of family things from Jim’s aunt. In it I came across a photo of Jacob William Breyfogle as a little boy. I knew by that time that the Breyfogle’s came from the Nescopeck, PA area (about 30 minutes from where we live now) and had a farm there (see photo of John Harold Breyfogle 1835-1910 and wife Elizabeth Santee 1842-1913), but the photo of little Jacob was taken at the McMahan & Irland photography studio in Danville (just across the river from where we live now!). What a funny coincidence!

Jacob William Breyfogle
c. 1871 (MyHeritage AI)

McMahan & Irland
Danville, PA

Traveling Back Home

Last week’s blog started with an investigation of the Gettysburg Glass matchstick holder that Russel Ralph Pealer must have picked up that Jim brought back from his parents house. As I have been continuing to look through the boxes of items, I came across something else a little closer to our home now!

When Russel Ralph Pealer traveled, he apparently kept his wife up to date with where he was through the US Mail. I found numerous letters on wonderful stationary of the hotels and locations where he visited. When I came across this envelope and letter, I was thrilled. 

On September 18, 1892, Jim’s great-great-grandfather stayed at the Neff House, which was a hotel in Sunbury, PA.  Unfortunately, this hotel no longer stands, it appears that it fell into disrepair in the 1980’s but it started its life as the Washington House in 1790 and renovated twice over the course of its life. (If you are familiar with Sunbury, it was at the corner of 2nd & Market across from the Court House--now where a Bank and Weis Market are.)

It’s not easy to read his penmanship, so I will transcribe a bit here:

“Dear Wife,

I am well and had a good night rest. I am going to Danville this morning-....” 

Danville?! How fun! He doesn’t say if he is visiting someone or what he is doing there, but his sister Matilda Pealer Price is living in Danville at the time and his father is still alive although appears to be living in Fishing Creek.

Jim and I were both born and raised in Michigan and although we’ve lived in PA for more than 20 years, we still consider ourselves Michiganders…but it appears Jim’s ancestors and all of their connections (and belongings) are finding their way closer to home and taking us with them.