I've heard that some dispute the fact that Benjamin Cole, the Revolutionary War veteran of Adams, and ancestor of Hiram & Melvil Dewey, was from Rhode Island and not a descendant of Hugh Cole from the Swansea, Bristol Co., Massachusetts family. I would like to offer evidence that Benjamin Cole was a son of Benjamin Cole Sr. & Squcie "Excuse" Fones of North Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island -- not of the Swansea family. In 1794, Benjamin Jr. moved with his wife Martha and family from North Kingstown, Rhode Island to Hebron, Washington Co., New York. In 1803 was recorded the sale by Benjamin and Martha of their land in Rhode Island to their brother-in-law, Stephen Northrup and his son-in-law, Samuel Northrup. According to Kingstown Land Evidence, 1668-1718, where the land transaction is noted, "said Benjamin, Jr. was the son of Benjamin and Squse Cole." This statement is corroborated by the fact that Benjamin Jr.'s half sister, Squcie Smith (named after their mother), is buried near him in Grimes Hill Cemetery, Hebron, Washington Co., New York. The ancestry of Benjamin Cole Sr. & Squcie Fones is readily available in Rhode Island vital records and does not include Hugh Cole of Swansea. Please visit my website for further details: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~legends/welcome.html Hope this clears questions up, Mark A. Wentling

I am researching the family of John Weekes, b. 1849 in Cardinal, Ontario, son of John D. Weekes and Ellen Levere, d. 1935 in Watertown. He moved to Watertown in 1867 and married a woman whose first name was Mary. His brothers Joseph and Charles were also in Watertown around 1900. Also looking for information on John Allen Brennan, b. 1851 in Cardinal, Ontario, son of William Charles Brennan and Margaret Kick, d. 1913 in Watertown. He married Angeline Weekes, sister to the above John, Joseph and Charles. The Brennans came to Watertown 1900-1904 then moved on to Syracuse. Any information on these two families would be greatly appreciated. Rose Phila, PA

Hi Everybody, I posted a few more names at this site in the Death/Obit Index: http://www.genexchange.com/ny/jefferson/ These are the surnames: MUNSON McCarn McAdams MARSHALL MACK O'CONNORS PHELPS PRIOR ROWE SNELL - my line SHORTT STUBBS WALRATH These are from the 23 March 1886 issue of the Jefferson County Journal. I hope that this helps someone. Have a nice day! Carol

Marjorie: I hope you will forgive my sharing an answer with the mailing list, but so many people have asked this question, it must be of general interest. The 1864 maps we show on the website are available from Lyme Heritage: Phylputnam@aol.com The reproductions Lyme Heritage offers are not as good as the originals, but are at least readable. As for Ancestry.com, I no longer have time to search the web, so cannot give you any information. Genealogy Room at Flower library will, however copy census pages upon request. You must send SASE and be prepared to pay for the copies. A small donation (covering cost of copying and postage) may hurry the process. > Hello Nancy, > > Can you tell me if it's possible to obtain a copy of the map of Alexandria > and also can I obtain a copy of pages 808, 809, 810, 830, 831, and 832 of > the 1860 Alexandria census (according to the census info provided on > Ancestry.com)? The surname in which I am interested is Wakefield. > > Thanks..... > > Marjorie -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyjeffer/

Another notable member of that Dewey family was David Dewey & Polly Cole's grandson Melvil (via their son Joel), born 10 December 1851 in Adams Center. Melvil invented the Dewey Decimal System, founded the American Library Association, started the first library journal in America, and was an advocate of simplifying the spelling of teh ENglish language. Polly Cole's brother Joseph was my 4grt-grandfather. Learn more about this Cole family on my website http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~legends/welcome.html where you can also see a photo of Melvil. Those of you studying the Benjamin Cole family of Honeyville/Adams will be especially interested since material at the Flower Memorial Library has erroneously tagged Benjamin as a member of the Swansea, Bristol Co., Mass. family, but he was actually from the Rhode Island family that came from Boston! Thanks to David Simonds <dsimonds@erols.com> who shared his COLE research with me. David is a descendant of David Dewey & Polly Cole. -- Mark A. Wentling Washington, D.C.

Re: Watertown street names: “Dewey Ave.,” it has been noted, “was in place long before Thomas Dewey was Governor” of New York. Yes, and long before Dewey Avenue, David Dewey, a Revolutionary War veteran, his wife Polly (Cole) and their family moved to Jefferson County. That was in 1825. Perhaps the most notable of their eight children was the fourth, Hiram Dewey, who was born at Warren, N.Y., Sept. 6, 1813. Hiram purchased a sawmill in 1832, sold out about four years later and bought a farm of 118 acres in Orleans, near LaFargeville, which he eventually increased to 464 acres while serving as an assessor for a year, justice of the peace for five years, supervisor for five and county judge for five years. Judge Dewey, as he was known, was a charter member and director of the Agricultural Fire Insurance Co. of Watertown which he helped organize in 1853, well before his marriage to fourth wife Delia Sylvester, and was general agent at the time of his death, Oct. 13 1883, when the company’s assets were nearly $2 million. He was also a charter member, large stockholder and director of the Watertown Fire Insurance Co. In 1860, Dewey was selected for the Electoral College and went to Albany where he cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln. Originally a Whig, then a Republican, Hiram was fondly recalled in his obituary as “a strong Baptist from early manhood, just, generous, true and every inch a man whom none knew but to love and cherish, and whose sympathy and influence always went back in return." He rests today at Brookside Cemetery in Watertown. As for the street name, I have no knowledge of whom it was selected to honor, but would nominate Hiram Dewey. Tony Sylvester Kitty Hawk, NC

Hi Everybody, I posted some more surnames to the Death/Obit Index at this site: http://www.genexchange.com/ny/jefferson/ These are the surnames: DYER DOREN DODGE GOSSMAN GRANGER GAMBLE GILLETT HOUGHTON HALL HOWARD HELMER KAY None of these are my lines, they are just on a photocopy of a page out of the Jefferson County Journal. If you need more information please feel free to contact me. Thanks Carol

Ok, here's the second part of The Watertown Daily Times article about street names. See the sources at end of article they may be of interest to anyone researching ancestors in Watertown. "Some other prominent Watertown citizens whose names are seen on Street signs" CHARLES D. BINGHAM, mayor GORDON C.BRADLEY, farmer and alderman ORVILLE V. BRAINARD, Watertown Village president, banker and railroad director. ISAAC H. BRONSON, Democratic party leader. JEDEDIAH BURCHARD, revivalist. PELEG BURCHARD, county clerk, brother of Jedediah. SIDNEY COOPER, board of education ADRIEL ELY, a supervisor and general mercantilist JASON FAIRBANKS, merchandiser and county sheriff ADDISON W. GOODALE, physician. DYER HUNTINGDON, Village trustee and treasurer. JOTHAM IVES, landowner in the town of Watertown. WILLARD IVES, justice of the peace. PERLEY G. KEYES, sheriff, county judge and state senator. JEROME E. LEWIS, alderman. FRED H. MOORE, alderman. FRED MORRISON, Firechief. ANDREW NEWELL, poundmaster and pathmaster, who weighed loads and assessed road tolls. JOHN R. PAWLING, councilman. JAMES F. STARBUCK, district attorney and state senator. MICAH STERLING, first village treasurer, congressman and state senator. ASHBEL C. STONE, Weigher. MASON M. SWAN, lawyer. EGBERT TENEYCK, county judge and congressman. HOWARD TILDEN, deputy city clerk. JAMES B. WISE, mayor Sources given include "Genealogical and Family History of the County of Jefferson, New York" by R.A. Oakes, 1905, "History of Jefferson County" by Franklin B. Hough, 1854, "History of the North Country" by Harry F. Landon, 1932 and Watertown City directories.

Hi Everybody, I made a few new posts to the Jefferson County Geneology Exchange site http://www.genexchange.com/ny/jefferson/ These are the surnames that I posted; BACON BARRETT BLINN CURTIS IRWIN TANNED or TANNER WOLCOTT RYEL These are listed under either the Birth, Marriage or death indexes. These are not my lines, they are just others that were listed on some photocopies that I have from the Jefferson County Journal. I hope that it helps someone. I will be making more posts later. Thanks and Have a nice day! Carol

www.usgenweb.org BarbRRob@aol.com wrote: > I was wondering if anyone has the web site address for the USGenWeb map of > the states to go to the individual states and counties? We lost everything > when we got the new computer? Thanks, Barb > > ============================== > The RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Tens of millions of individuals... and counting. > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/

George West was born in Lewis County about 1857 and was living in Carthage in 1941. I would like to get his death date, probably from his gravestone. I can't seem to get any Carthage/Wilna area cemetary information on the website. Has anyone seen George? Bill Brothers

I was wondering if anyone has the web site address for the USGenWeb map of the states to go to the individual states and counties? We lost everything when we got the new computer? Thanks, Barb

Hi Jo -- on behalf of others on the list who are interested, thanks for undertaking to transcribe and post the full article. // Gord Hines (in Regina SK Canada) "J. RODRIGUEZ" wrote: Subject: Watertown Daily Times newspaper article Resent-Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 12:01:09 -0700 Resent-From: NYJEFFER-L@rootsweb.com Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 14:43:00 -0400 From: "J. RODRIGUEZ" <jrodriguez@a-znet.com> To: NYJEFFER-L@rootsweb.com > Hi, > In this Sunday's Watertown Daily Times there was an article by Dave > Shampine entitled " A Road by Any Other Name..." Watertown's Street Signs > And The People They Honor Change With The Times" > The article talks about many streets and gives information about people > they were named after. E.g. "It seems logical that John Gotham, who settled > in the town of Watertown when the 18th and 19th centuries crossed paths' > gave his name to the street approaching the city/town line. John Gotham, > one of the defenders of Sackets Harbor in the War of 1812, drowned in Lake > Ontario in 1840" > If you think it would be of use to list members I could transcribe the > names mentioned in the article. > Jo Rodriguez > > ============================== > Free Web space. ANY amount. ANY subject. > RootsWeb's Freepages put you in touch with millions. > http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi

Hi Jo -- I found no problem reading your posting -- Nevertheless, there is a setting that you can change that governs the line length of outgoing text email. It is settable in Netscape email (for Communicator version 4.0 and later). Many listservers limit line length to 72 characters. Here is a webpage that tells you how to do this for most major browsers. http://www.dolan.acu.edu/howto/howtoEmailPlainText.htm You will find the instructions below at the url above also (with graphics, too). >From the Edit menu, choose Preferences. Then select Messages under the Mail & Newsgroups category. There, you will find a box where you can specify the line length for word wrapping of your outgoing plain text messages [i.e. won't apply to messages written with html]. If you use Bill Gates' IE/ Outlook, etc, look for instruction at the url above. To text what differences in line lengths look like, simply compose and send some test emails to yourself at your own email address -- but not to the list. // Gord Hines (in Regina SK CA) "J. RODRIGUEZ" wrote: Subject: Tech question Resent-Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 05:47:02 -0700 Resent-From: NYJEFFER-L@rootsweb.com Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:21:54 -0400 From: "J. RODRIGUEZ" <jrodriguez@a-znet.com> To: NYJEFFER-L@rootsweb.com > Hi, > I was wondering if anyone could tell me why my "Street names" posting > appeared somewhat broken up? i.e. > "local. In Watertown we honor Washington and Franklin, and remember LeRay, > Keyes,Paddock, TenEyck and Clinton. But what happened to the poor honored" > That isn't how I typed it, so I'm wondering if it's a problem at the > rootsweb end or do I need to change settings in my mail program?? I'd like > to fix the problem because it's hard to read like that. > Jo > > ============================== > Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again. > http://pml.rootsweb.com/ > Brought to you by RootsWeb.com.

Hello Bill, I was very interested to see the name Dorchester in your message. I am greatgranddaughter of Mercy Dorchester who married William Henry Everett. I have found a great deal of information on the Dorchesters and am curious which one of your family "disappeared". I thought I had accounted for all those that came to Jefferson County or moved on to Bellevue, Iowa. If I have missed some, I would be delighted to find out about them. Carolyn Bulgey cjbulgey-carolyn@northnet.org

Searching for any info ie, biography, census, tax list, etc. on John H. Williams, Marr. to Sophia Rockwood. Lived in Lyme, Jefferson County, NY abt 1810-1820. Looking for his parents, where they came from before living in NY. Believe they were descendants of Roger Williams of RI. Dottie Lewis

I too suspect some of my Jefferson Co lines slipped across to Canada. I have HARRIS, DORCHESTER, and ROUNDS all in Jefferson Co on various census records but my particular HARRIS and DORCHESTER just seem to up and disappear. There seem to be no burial records for them in Jefferson Co either leaving me to wonder where they went. Bill Boyle

Thanks to everyone who contributed to answering my question about migrating to Canada & Michigan! It was very interesting! Gina Scott

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could tell me why my "Street names" posting appeared somewhat broken up? i.e. "local. In Watertown we honor Washington and Franklin, and remember LeRay, Keyes,Paddock, TenEyck and Clinton. But what happened to the poor honored" That isn't how I typed it, so I'm wondering if it's a problem at the rootsweb end or do I need to change settings in my mail program?? I'd like to fix the problem because it's hard to read like that. Jo

Hi Gina, Some DOLAN families seem to have moved back and forth between Sackets Harbor and Belleville, Ontario at about that time. There were two, one was Roman Catholic and one was Protestant, and we haven't determined if they were related but find it interesting that they both lived in the same two towns. Pam > Hi, > My ancestors (Amos Hill & family--of Jeff. Co., possibly Adams) > moved for a few years to Canada around 1848 or so, then moved > back to Jefferson Co. after a few years. I thought I remembered > reading someplace on the Jefferson Co. Website about another > family who did that, but now I can't find it. > > I know a lot of times when people moved back then, they did it in > groups. Does anyone else out there have family who did that in > that time frame? I was wondering where in Canada they went, I > could check for census info there because Amos disappears from > the census in 1850, then by 1860, they moved to Michigan. Any > help would be appreciated, > Thanks, > > Gina Scott, > Sembach, Germany