My Great-Aunt Oba (Obedience C. Algeo) put together a family genealogy called "A Pioneer Heritage, The Algeo-Vestal Story". I have found many mistakes, but the general thread of it all is pretty correct. My goal is to someday publish a corrected and expanded edition. I promised Peggy Hill that I would re-type the chapter on the Vestals for all of you, even tho it may not pertain to many, I think it's interesting. page 21 Records of the Families The information contained in this geneagogy has been obtained from Oba Algeo's notes and from information given by members of the family as of April 1972. No attempt has been made to verify this information with official records. Any error is unintentional. For the prupose of this publication, only the direct descendants of John Mahan Algeo and Amy Vestal Algeo have been included. Children too young to have seen married at the date of publication of this book have not been listed in the succeeding generation(s). An asterick (*) indicates twins. page 9 The Vestal Story Thomas Vestal I, my great-great-grandfather, married Elizabeth Davis in England. Her father, Charles Davis, is said to have left a fortune in England when the family immigrated to America. Because immigrants were not allowed to take money out of England, the fortune was finally put in a chancery. In 1898 a cousin, Asa Vestal, was collecting five dollars from each heir to see if he could send a lawyer to collect this money for the heirs. I never have known what resulted. I only know that we did not get anything. Elizabeth and Thomas I lived in Chatham, North Carolina, where they raised ten children: Jemima, Thomas II, Hannah, Mary, William, Rachel, John, Jesse, David and Silas. The Vestals were birth right Quakers, and a quiet conservative family. Thomas Vestal II, my great-grandfather, married Amy Thompson, and had nine children: William (called Billy), Elizabeth (called Lizzie), Hannah, Phoebe, Polly, Thomas Curran III, John, Rachel, and Jerimiah. My mother, Amy, was born in North Carolina in 1835, the seventh child in a family of eleven children born between 1822 and 1847, before the family came to California. The other children were William (called Billy), Rebecca, Mary, Thomas Hardin, Elizabeth, Sarah Ann, Lemuel Hadley Hobson, Obedience Lucinda, and Rachel Williams. I do not know how long they lived in North Carolina. Mother went to school there. They finally migrated to Missouri. She was a teenager there. Her teacher was Martin Rice, who wrote several books about the people who had immigrated from North Carolina to Missouri. In 1885 Martin Rice sent my mohter one of his books, TALES AND RHYMES OF OLDEN TIMES, autographed by him and dated August 22, 1885. The Vestals were very conservative people and were not sure that they should risk going to a new country. They lived a number of years in Missouri, But after William (the oldest son) made a trip to see if the family should go to California, they finally decided to go. In 1852 the Vestal family crossed the great plains in an oxen train, through Utah, and finally landed in the little settlement of Wheatland in Yuba County, California. Grandfather Thomas Vestal was a farmer, and he took up land there. Their first ranch, near Wheatland, was where the ALgeo's stayed overnight in 1852 when John Mahan Algeo first met Amy Vestal, whom he later married. Thomas Vestal III was unable to get a clear title to his land near Wheatland because of a Spanish Land Grant, so he gave up those acres and took up land near the Algeo ranch four miles from Nicolaus. He farmed this new ranch until he was too old to farm and his children all had homes of their own. He and Obedience raised nine children there. They finally moved to Petaluma to be near their two oldest sons. Thomas III died there July 3, 1880. Grandmother Obedience Vestal then went to Sacramento to live with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Lyman Gilman, my Aunt Rachel. Grandmother was blind before she passed in 1888. While she was living at my Aunt Rachel's she invited me, a ten year old school girl, to visit her in Sacramento, and help her use a music box that had been given to her. I enjoyed doing this, but went back to the ranch when school started. I was named for this grandmother, and she gave me little extra thoughts and gifts occasionally. I remember the lovely pieced quilts Grandmother Vestal used to make so well. She made me one when I was about ten years old. It was made of my dress scraps, beautifully quilted, and I used it many years. It is interesting to notice that both the Vestal and Algeo families were in the habit of naming new babies after someone already in the family. I have never found any consistant rule regarding it, but it is a rather nice plan, for namesakes are given special attention through the years. I was named for my maternal grandmother, Obedience Williams. My whole name was Obedience Caroline Algeo. When I was six years old and started to school in the Illinois District in Sutter County I found it difficult to learn to write my name and still keep it on the paper. I did not like "Obie" so I finally cut it down to Oba C. ALgeo. My sister Maggie was three years older than I was. After her marriage to Alanzo Jopson she had four boys, but was determined to have a daughter. Her fifth child was a girl whom she named Oba after me. I am indeed thankful that she did, for now that I am the last child of the John Mahan Algeo family, my namesake is wonderful to me. I thank God dearly for her. I have never used my real name. We both like the shortened name, so use it happily. <->-<->-<->-<->-<->->-<->->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<-> Paul & Marianne Kepler 15913 Mt. View Drive Nevada City, CA 95959 (530) 265-3666