Dear List and Vee, Been lurking for a week or so and have to add my two cents worth on how much I enjoy the openness of this list and Vee's great stories. Really wish I had my roots in Niagara County so I could remember with you. But my ancestors came from "way down south" in Yates County. I too have a story to tell that takes a little longer to relate. I'm the editor of MICHIGANA, a quarterly genealogical magazine published by the Western Michigan Genealogical Society. If anyone you know works on a genealogy newsletter or magazine, you know they're always hounding the membership for family info, bible records, diaries, etc. that they can publish. I kept asking and God provided and now I have an 1804 Bible which was first owned by Lewis ADAMS of Wantage Township, Sussex Co. NJ. So, now I'm trying to find a living direct descendent so that it may the homeless bible can find a good home. Lewis ADAMS b 1869 d 17 May 1861 m 6 Feb 1788 Martha EVENS d 1 Aug 1837. Lewis's son, Evi L. ADAMS b 19 May 1797 d 3 June 1850 m Mariah/Moriah SMITH d ca 1833. Their daughter Martha ADAMS b 7 Sep ca 1825 d 27 May 1918 m 1st Anthony PARCEL B 19 April 1820 d 12 May 1862, and 2nd Isaac SMITH. Martha ADAMS and Anthony PARCEL were the parents of John E. PARCELL b 2 Jan 1847 d 3 March 1924 m Nettie VAN DRUFF b 5 Nov 1857 d 27 March 1912. John E. and Nettie had twin sons, Charles B. and Leweve PARCELL who died in Grand Rapids, Michigan without issue. The ADAMS/PARCEL families were in Wantage Township until about 1860. At that time, Louis ADAMS and his daughter and son-in-law are found in the Portage Township, Niagara County, NY census. In 1861 Lewis dies and in 1862 Anthony PARCEL dies. Subsequently, Martha ADAMS PARCEL marries an Isaac/Isak SMITH. In 1880, Isaac and Martha are living next door to her son John, in Wilson, Niagara County. Both homes are on Lake Street. In 1900, Martha is a widow and she has moved to Grand Rapids, MI with her son and his family. Leweve PARCEL is the last known owner of the bible. He died in 1960 and his estate was sold at a sale. The bible was purchased by the mother of one of the members of the Western Michigan Genealogical Society. Leweve was apparently named after his grandfather Evi, and ggrandfather Lewis ADAMS. He was also quite a character. For over 50 years he was anewspaperman in western MI, studied and was fluent in Spanish andJapanese, and loved colonial history. He also used a cane (even thoughhe was not disabled) and had a collection of over 117 canes, according to his obituary. He was the librarian for the Grand Rapids Press for over twenty years, but also was on the business beat and reviewed dramas and plays. I'm pretty sure Lewis ADAMS died in Niagara Couny. It may be that Anthony Parcel (sometimes PURCEL/PARCELL/PARCELS/PARCELLS) died in Niagara County, or perhaps in the Civil War (still checking on that). There is also a Parkanson (Park) ADAMS and John L. ADAMS living with Lewis in the 1860 census. In 1880, Park is living with Martha ADAMS SMITH, and is blind. I'm looking for any information which might relate to their descendents. It's been a lot of fun doing the "Jeopardy" version of genealogy: I have the names (the answers I'm usually trying to find in my own ancestry) in the bible, and now I'm looking for the right questions to ask. Other surnames mentioned in the Bible are CASKEY, BENJAMIN, LOOMIS, DECKER, and CROWELL. There's a possibilty that an L. A. BENJAMIN, living at 2226 or 2276 Christie, New York owned the bible at one time. The only problem is I don't know whether this is New York, New York, or another unknown city. The name and address in near the front of the bible but no town or specific city is written. Any information on any of these folks would be greatly appreciated. If I can do any researching for you here in Western Michigan, just let me know. Thanks, Bobbi Schirado, Sparta, MI

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara/519 Surname: Prindle ------------------------- I am searching PRINDLE from Lockport,Niagara Cty., New York 1800 - now. Charles B. Prindle was born in Lockport in 1835. I do not know the names of his parents, or if he had siblings. He lived in IL., in 1856 and joined the Civil War in 1861. Also, looking in the Norwich, NY area. There was a Prindle farm in Smithville Flats, or McDonough, NY. Would like to find more information, any information will be appreciated. Pat

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/NY/Niagara/517 Surname: ------------------------- You asked about availability of newspapers for Niagara County, NY in the 1800s. There is a great resource available to you at the New York State Library. They have many old newspapers on microfilm - that are available via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) via your local library - or, can be purchased. Details on borrowing or purchasing the microfilm are at their website. Actually, you can check for newspaper availability on microfilm for several states. But for New York, you can select a county - in this case, Niagara County - and get to a list of all newspapers - by town - for the county. For each newspaper, you learn the original publication dates/years, number of issues, etc - then a list of which issues have been microfilmed. For any that exist, you can select the one(s) you need, then go to the purchase or ILL borrowing instructions. Soon, you'll be reading that newspaper from the 1800s! Here's a link to go directly to the Niagara Co, NY newspaper listings. http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/132.htm Happy hunting! Debbie

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara/514 Surname: BATES, GREEN ------------------------- I don't have a great deal of information. I have Obadiah BATES married to Ruth (no last name). I have the same dates for births that you have listed. Ruth I have as dying Sept. 30, 1856 in Illinois. Three children from them. Cynthia BATES who married Luther K. GREEN. Then I have a William and Martha. I also have Obadiah located in Niagra and Onondaga counties in New York. Obadiah married a Nancy ADKINS in 1857 here in Illinois. I do have some dates as well as pictures of some gravestones if interested.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara/513 Surname: Litwin, Olszowka, Brzezinski, Czarnecki, Klis, Sikora, Lachut, Spyra, Nowak, Pienta ------------------------- I have begun posting some information on the Dom Polski (Polish Home)on Oliver St. in North Tonawanda in Niagara County. As I process more information, it will be added to this page. For those interested, I invite you to visit this page, which has information on the origins of the organization and was taken from their 1969 Anniversary booklet. I was a member of the Board of Directors at that time. Steve Litwin Link: Dom Polski -North Tonawanda URL: <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~litwin/dompolsk.html>

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara/512 Surname: Bates ------------------------- I wonder if your Obediah Bates and mine are the same. I don't have all the children for my Obediah Bates - so I don't know the daughter's name that married Luther Green. Obediah Bates was born in 1795 in NY or b 12 April 1794 m: Ruth unk. B c1797 NY. Obediah Bates appears 1830 CENSUS Town of Van Buren Children of Obediah Bates and Ruth: i. Issaac Paddic Bates b: May 12, 1824. in Carmillis, Onondaga. Co. New York d: 12 June 1915 in Michigan m: Elizabeth "Betsey" Ann Bell. 4 March, 1848 Middleport, Magain, Co. Town of Royalton by Rev. William Colley. (my line) ii. Obediah Martin BATES, aka: Martin Bates born 9 July 1826 in Hillsdale County, NY; died 28 March 1905 in Adrian, Lenawee County, MI.buried in North Dover Cemetery, Dover Twp., MI, Married 1: Huldah and had 1 son: James Martin Bates b 17 Jul 1848. Married2 on 4 March 1849 to Charlotte MINZIE. Charlotte MINZIE (or MINZEY/MENZES) was born in Jefferson Twp., Schoharie County, NY on Sept. 1830; died 20 July 1911 in Adrian, Lenawee County, MI. They had 10 kids, iii. Ruth Ann BATES (AFN:1BKT-NR4) Born: 14 Dec 1828 New York Died: 9 Dec 1896 Virginia, Bates, Missouri m: James PILGRIM 1 Jan 1846 New York, James Pilgrim was probably born in England in 1819, . He was naturalized in IL.Together they had 10 children iv: Ephriam Bates lived near Hudson [MI]; no children notes: Letter to Ethel Schlicter Spike, g/d of Issac Bates & Betsy Bell. " I am afraid I can not give you much help about the Bates family history, for I never met any members of the family outside of your grandpa’s immediate family, and never heard much about them. Have heard your Uncle George speak of his Uncle’s Ephriam and Martin who lived near Hudson and one of his Uncle Martins boys that was named G. E. after him. Of course, his uncles have been dead many years, Uncle Ephriam had no children and Uncle Martins children are scattered. Your Uncle Geo. met Geo. E. , his cousin, in Muskegon a number of years ago and because of their name being alike found out their relationship, but did not keep up the acquaintance, and I don’t know any more about him than that. Think he told your Uncle Geo. that the family was scattered and I have no idea where they are. Your Grandpa Bates [Isaac], had at least one brother, I think more, who lived in Illinois, his father [Obediah] living with them. He went to Ill. a good many years ago to visit his father[Obediah] who lived with one of his sons, he also had a sister who lived in Wis. and she visited there at the same time. Of course, they are all gone many years ago, and I know nothing about their families. Have heard your Uncle Geo. say that one of your ancestors was an English sea captain, but don’t know how far back, but it must have been at least his great grandfather." (Letter from Ella Bates Lake Orion, Mich.., July 23, 1933 "Uncle George", Ella's husband, was son of Isaac Bates, g/s of Obediah Bates. )

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/NY/Niagara/510 Surname: Schultz, Jaehn ------------------------- Seek descendants of three Fischer siblings who came to North Tonawanda, Niagara County, NY in the mid 1880's from Germany. Jacob Fischer (1853-1921) md. Fredericka ??, Julius Fischer (1860-1920) md. Emma Jaehn, and Ernestina Fischer (1866-1940) md. Ferdinand C. Schultz. All siblings lived within a block of each other in North Tonawanda. Were there other brothers and sisters who came to the US? Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Wills Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/NiagaraWill/45 Surname: MILLER, KORN, NIGHTHART, GALES, METZ ------------------------- To the Surrogate of the County of Erie: The petition of ISAAC MILLER, DAVID METZ of County of Erie showeth, that the men duly qualified and appointed by the Surrogate of the County of Erie executors of the last will and testament of JOHN W. MILLER, late of said town (Amherst, Erie co., NY) deceased on the 31st day of July 1857 and that eighteen months and upwards have expired since such appointment. That to the best of their knowledge and belief the following named persons, with their ages and places of residence, as far as they can be ascertained by your petitioner, are all the persons interested in the settlement of the accounts, to wit: LYDIA MILLER, resident of Niagara County, N. Y. JONAH KORN, JACOB KORN, JOHN KORN, and HARRIET KORN, residents of the town of Goshen, County of Elkhart and State of Indiana, all aged under 21 years; JACOB K. MILLER, a resident of town ??? Sheboygan County Wisconsin, CHRISTENA NIGHTHART resident of Genesee County, N. Y. SUSAN GALES resident of Buffalo and LAURA METZ residence of Clarence, Erie County Your Petitioners therefore pray proceedings in said Surrogate’s Court, to enable them to render an account of their proceedings as such executors to the end that a decree may be entered, discharging them as such. Dated December 31, 1857

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/NY/Niagara/509 Surname: ------------------------- Another newspaper, don't know how long it has been pubished, is Lockport's Union Sun & Journal. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara Co.

Dear Mary Ellen, et al, Mary Ellen, I'm sincerely humbled by your comments! Regarding my keeping copies of everything I write and send to you guys, I try to make certain that I print them out, file them in a folder and in addition, save them to disk. I've always had the feeling that somewhere down the line my niece or one of her children will eventually review the entire collection of "stories" and feel that the collection might appeal to more than just you and me. But let me tell you this, if it weren't for the encouragement that you listmembers give me to continue to write such stories, the stories would dry up. This list is the outlet I need to say the things I want to say and to share the things that I know from a local perspective. So with such marvelous encouragement, I guess I'll just keep on posting messages. I hope it's OK with the rest of you. luvya, vee ----- Original Message ----- From: "D.E. & M.E. Newsom" <jusfrens@mediaone.net> To: <NYNIAGAR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 1:00 AM Subject: Vee, the Yarn Spinner > Dear Vee, you are such a Yarn Spinner! You sure have a knack for > grabbing > your reader's attention! I hope you are keeping copies of everything > you send > to the List to be preserved for posterity---and all the other places > things > like that are kept! > > We LOVE ya; keep it coming! > Mary Ellen > (Douglass) Moravec-Newsom > > > ==== NYNIAGAR Mailing List ==== > Stuck for ideas? The Niagara County NYGenWeb site might help... > <http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyniagar/>. Find queries, genealogical and > historical resources, travel and local info, and much more! >

Dear Group, A couple of days ago I responded to Elsa's query about her Rushton family from around Niagara Falls and felt obligated to tell the whole group about the crush I had on Jerry Rushton back in the 1940s. Since then Elsa and I' ve been corresponding and today I made some phone calls to high school classmates of mine who also remembered him. I wanted to fill Elsa in on how Jerry's family tied into her Rushton family and to give her an update on Jerry after his marriage. Well, the phone calls paid off. Elsa now knows about his parents and his cousins that tie in with her family. But WOW what an experience it was for me! OK, I called Hugh who used to live across the street from me during the time that we both knew Jerry. Hugh and I had a great conversation. After Hugh told me as much as he could remember, his only suggestion as to how I could get any more information about Jerry was to try to get in contact with his widow Mary Ann (McVittie) who graduated from the Class of 1950 of Niagara Falls High School, the same class that Jerry graduated from. But how do you go about finding out that information? Well, I thought about it for awhile and came to the conclusion that I needed to get in contact with someone around here who served on their 50th class reunion committee last year who would have the current addresses of the graduates. But who? I've NEVER been in contact with anyone from the Class of 1950! After all, we were the Class of 1949! Those kids were a year younger than we were! But I checked out my 1949 yearbook and read through the names of the junior class and came across a boy that I vaguely remembered and I screwed up the nerve to actually call him on the phone. His name is LeVan Brown. When he answered the phone I told him who I was, what year I graduated and that I seemed to recall that he played in the high school band-he played trombone and I played clarinet. Well, he eventually actually REMEMBERED me and then we started to talk about Jerry and Mary Ann. He filled me in on a lot of the details of the two of them and when I asked if he knew who might have her current address, he let me know that he had it right there-he had been the chairman for their 50th class reunion! Well, after that we had a GREAT conversation. In further checking out my yearbook I realized that I had never known him as "LeVan" at all-I had always known him as "Tweezer!"-we DID know each other back then and we started comparing notes about kids we used to know and who showed up at his 50th class reunion and who showed up at mine. And with the subject of being on the committee for a 50th class reunion, he told me that the class of 1951 is now in progress for putting their own reunion together. I readily volunteered to give the class of 51 the benefit of our own experience regarding reunion planning. Tweezer then mentioned that Tony Gugino was on that committee. I questioned him, "ANTHONY Gugino??" He said yes, Tony! Well, that puzzled me as to why I remembered Anthony but not Tony. And rather than to drag this story out any further, I felt compelled to call Tony on the phone and come right out and ask him why or how I remembered him! Now if you think that Tweezer had a tough time remembering who I was, just think how Tony felt? He's TWO years younger than I! But don't worry, we found out that the three of us had something in common-Tony played the trumpet, Tweezer played the trombone and I played the clarinet in the band. However, now we're not talking about the band in senior high school, we're talking about the JUNIOR high school band that was led by Mr. Hatch. Hey, we're talking about 7th, 8th and 9th graders here! During the conversation that I had with both of them, we talked about grade schools that we went to in the '30s, kids we both/all knew, the kindergarten picture that Tony still has from Sugar Street School, the kindergarten picture I have from Maple Avenue School and most of all, the fact that now all three of us have been/are active in planning a 50th high school class reunion. Before Tony and I hung up, we made plans for me to accompany him to his next class reunion meeting soon so that I can share my experience with them and show them what our class did two years ago. I know that OUR reunion committee would have killed for someone of the earlier class committees to share their experiences! Now I hope you know that I don't write such long-winded messages without some sort of message or moral attached to them. In this particular case it has to do with (1) genealogy research as follows: If you're looking for recent families in a specific area, post a query to the mailing list of that county. With luck someone who still lives in that area will remember the family and will accept the challenge to do the local research. And (2) if you're planning a high school class reunion, check around with the older kids who have recently gone through it all. There's no telling what childhood memories that will surface in just getting in touch with each other. If nothing else, you'll get the benefit from their experience. With me, talking with Tweezer and Tony this evening opened up the door to my past beyond JUST the Class of '49! There were kids who came after us but I found that we really KNEW each other and had memories to share! Wow! vee

Dear Vee, you are such a Yarn Spinner! You sure have a knack for grabbing your reader's attention! I hope you are keeping copies of everything you send to the List to be preserved for posterity---and all the other places things like that are kept! We LOVE ya; keep it coming! Mary Ellen (Douglass) Moravec-Newsom

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/NY/Niagara/508 Surname: OLDENBURG ------------------------- Tim, Thank you for responding to my query on the Oldenburgs in Erie County? Do you know the first names of these Oldenburgs? If they had any siblings? Anything would be helpful. It seems there are several Oldenburg clans. Thanks Linda

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/NY/Niagara/507 Surname: ------------------------- Hi,I live in the city of TonawandaErie Cty across the erie canal from Niagara cty. We had a Chief of Police named Oldenburg and his wife lives around the corner from me.My wife worked with their niece Rebecca. Fabulous Folk! Tim Grant

I'm trying to find information about the POWERS or GRIER families that immigrated to the Lockport area in the mid 1800's. Thank you, Ray, Colorado

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/NY/Niagara/506 Surname: ------------------------- Hi, I live in the City of Tonawanda acroos the Erie Canal fron Niagara Cty. We have to present day the Tonawanda News est 1880. We also have the Niagara Gazette. E-mail for the news is tonanews@aol.com dont know the gazette. Im prettysure alot of archive stuff is in the N.Tonawanda Library too. Tim

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Obituaries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/NiagaraObits/31 Surname: Knowles ------------------------- Searching for the obit on Benjamin G. Knowles, who died abt May 25, 1881, Somerset, Niagara Co. NY. He's buried in Co. Line Cemetary. Thanks.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara/505 Surname: Pigott, Gorman, Boudreau, Stewart ------------------------- Looking for information on the Stephan Pigott family. Stephan Pigott married Anna Gorman. They had two children(that are known to me at this time), Alice and William. This family lived a time in LeRoy, NY and Buffalo, NY and later moved to Galt, Ontario, Canada. William Pigott was born in 1829 in LeRoy, NY and later married Elizabeth Stewart. Alice Pigott, birthdate unknown(but possibly around 1816), later married Louis Boudreau. Any information on this family would be greatly appreciated.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/NY/Niagara/504 Surname: Shea ------------------------- I am searching for information on Barbara Marie Shea who came to the area in 1915 with a Mrs. McGinnis from Colliers, Newfoundland, Canada.There may have been a connection to Shea families in Buffalo.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara/503 Surname: ------------------------- There is a connection. Ephraim Elwood was my great uncle, the brother of my grandmother. I have his naturalization papers. He is buried in Wrights Corners Presybyterian Cemetery. I remember him and Doris and Raymond Dirling, also Braden and a young girl- at that time, she would be my age now, Juanita. I have been trying to find out where they came from in England but haven't had much luck. What is your connection to the family?