With their relations to other Tanners, Huletts, Wrights,
Lyons, Shumways, Babcocks, Crandalls, & Related Families

By

Howard Charles Tanner, Jr.

This will be an account of my antecedents, myself, the town I grew up in, my friends, and my descendants. I would like to think there is something of interest to everyone who picks it up, although there no doubt will be uninteresting parts to many. It is a labor of nearly fifty years, and remembrances of my lifetime.

Forty years ago, my first descendant, Margaret Jane Tanner, was born in Chicago at Henroitin Hospital. I was unemployed at the time and her birth and hospital stay encompassed nearly a week. Being restless by nature, I visited the Newberry Library across the street from the hospital. It was a genealogical library. Then and there I began the hobby of genealogy.

The first book I read there was William Tanner, Sr., of South Kingston R. I. It was written in 1913 and contained a transcript that exactly matched a handwritten entry in a Tanner family bible of the children of John Tanner of North Granville, N.Y. One of these was my great-great-grandfather Joseph Tanner, and it was noted that he "went west". This book, a family bible, an obscure family genealogy, and personal childhood memories were the beginning.

Over twenty years later, Celeste Sengstock, my first grandchild was born, and I continued genealogy again in earnest, and since that time have collected many books, records and data on the families' ancestors. There are two file cabinets and a bookcase of genealogical material. I found records, of varying authenticity, of some three hundred ancestors, extending back some five hundred years

Genealogy is an interesting pursuit on its own merits. With it comes travel, new approaches to reading and writing, and new social contacts and organizations. Perhaps the greatest pleasure comes with the vitality and color it gives to reading and study of history. World and American history come alive, when we consider that here are our real roots.

I have also added a short account of the town of Marengo, Illinois where I spent my first eighteen years, and visited there intermittently for another ten. This was an unremarkable town, but the one in which I spent more years than in any other, and were certainly my happiest.

There are many Tanners who are of the faith of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. One of our forebearers, Nathan Tanner, migrated to Connecticut early in the 18th century and became a believer in Mormonism. His conversion is described in the book Sidney Tanner and a number of his antecedents went to Salt Lake City and were members of the church hierarchy. The useful of the great library in that city should also be noted. Since it is a belief of the Mormons that the family will be together after death, and those long departed can be baptized into the church, extensive material has been preserved in their library and is available to all interested parties.

This consolidation of information was acquired over many years, and I hope it will preserve my efforts. It was a work of pleasure and think it will be of interest to my family, friends and "cousins". Perhaps someone, someday, will be stimulated to pursue the matter further. As I have not obliged myself of professional help in this book and have printed and published it on my home computer, it no doubt has many errors.

The numbering system I have used in this book for my ancestors is one that I found a number of years ago, and seemed to work well with "computerization" of my records. It is not commonly used today. In this system, the individual doing the research is number one. The mother of his children is his number plus one. The father of each ancestor is double the number of the individual. The mother of the individual is the father's number, plus one. Thus, my father is number two and my mother is number three. My grandfather is number four and grandmother, number five; and so forth down the family tree. The author's wife can be designated one "A", and the "A" added to her antecedents. The children can be numbered using multiple numbers, but since I have not numbered my descendants, it is not used in the book. It has been useful to me in keeping track of my ancestors, and the interested reader will find it helpful if he wishes to find a particular individual or family group from the index.

The bibliography is obviously incomplete. I have only included all of the genealogical books in my own library, a few such books as I have referred to and are generally available, and other books that I believe may be of interest to those who would like further information on the subjects of which I have written.

I also want to thank the many individuals who have helped me and enjoyed corresponding with other genealogists. Particularly, those that come to mind, over the years are Mr. and Mrs. Robert McKinney of Lompoc, California; and my distant and shirttail cousins, Donald Huth of the United States Department of State, and Dorothy Bennett Inderkum, Eva Prior, and Anita Sorensen, whom I met through the Connecticut Society of Genenealogists, and last but not least my wife, Jacqueline Funkhouser who assisted me in my travels and with my hobby.

Howard Tanner
February 1, 1994
Nipomo, California

My father passed away in February, 1994, just short of completing this edition of his book. While I knew that he had been working on it, I had not seen the first edition and was overwhelmed by the amount of research he had completed and the quality of publication he had achieved with limited tools, but much creativity. I resolved at that point to ensure that this edition was completed. I know little of geneolgy, so my contribution has been limited to improving the presentation of the material and some minor editing.

My deepest thanks go to my stepmother and his wife of 25 years, Jacqueline Tanner, who give me the opportunity to edit the second edition and organized his notes and photographs for me.

William C. Tanner
Bloomington, Illinois
1998

It is difficult to draw a line in genealogy between truth and fiction, whether they are of personal memories or from written sources. The personal memories are primarily of the Tanner line. Many are of my paternal grandfather, Jonas Charles Tanner, and of the family farm he was born on and then owned in Marengo, Illinois. He was a fine gentlemen and much loved by his family. Now I am the last living person to remember him and his only grandson. I was fortunate to have spent sixteen years close to him. These were his last and my first years. He taught me how to drive a car, farm, play cards, and do many of my other lifelong pleasures. We lived together as a family for a number of years and next door for more. Since he was retired for most of the time we spent as much time together as his poor health would permit. I have one of his watches, his desk, and his shotgun. Some of the later chapters contain personal recollections of him.

Other memories upon which I have drawn for the autobiographical portion could have been of greater length, but since I have done nothing of any great interest in my life, I have tried to keep the words limited. The same is for my father, to whom I was not particularly close, and for my mother, who while she was the most influential person in my life, and who I knew for the most of my years, lived and died in relative obscurity.

As to the written sources of the Tanner family, there are for the most part few obvious fanciful interpretations of the family history in America. When the overseas roots are examined however, the situation becomes quite murky. Since I have never had the opportunity to study any genealogical records except in the United States, I have relied completely on secondary sources regarding the various families origins.

It is difficult to know if William Tanner, the immigrant, was literate. The high rate of literacy in 17th century England, where he spent his youth, would tend to indicate that he could read and write. I could not exam all the source documents where he might have written his name, but in Fones Records there are clues. In legal documents of that era, there were principals, witnesses and recorders. These people attested in two ways - by signing their name (which was not usual), making their "mark", or drawing a "seal". The mark was in the form of an initial, or in the case of Indians, usually serpentine in nature, while in others it was an initial letter of the name, sometimes crude, other times well written. The seal was in the form of a circle, and seemed to be used only by freemen. In none of the documents in Fones Records was there a mark or seal by William Tanner, although his name appeared at least twice. This indicated to me that he was literate, but an examination of earlier and later documents with his name could give proof one way or the other.

Another example that was not determined, and more directly related to genealogical lines, is the antecedents of Francis West, one of the first emigrants in our Soule line. There is some evidence, but no proof that he migrated directly to New England and his parentage is unknown. However there is also evidence from the memoranda book of Samuel West, that he came to New England via the colony of Virginia and was related to one John West, the Lord De La Ware, and English Royalty. This is suggested by a headstone in New England which calls attention to such ancestry. This matter evoked considerable controversy a number of years ago, and was not completely resolved. Since the connection to the Tanner line is unproven, I have not included it in this book, but would like to believe such a relationship exists. There seems to always be a desire to include royalty in family trees.

I have also interspersed in the Tanner story, information on the parallel histories of the area and times in which these ancestors lived, with the intent of making a narrative of greater interest. It also will serve to properly place the people, places and events in the reader's minds. There are also some inclusions of poems and other literary items that describe some situations that I am unable to equally describe, and that I think the reader will enjoy.

There have been at least four books written on the Tanner genealogy, the latest in 1982. This book , Sidney Tanner, His Ancestors and Descendant, was written by Elizabeth Brouwer of the Sidney Tanner Family Organization, using the resources of the library of the Church of the Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was comfortable with the conclusion that William Tanner came to Rhode Island as an attendant to Mr. Francis Houlding.

There are numerous other family traditions - he came with Roger Williams, he was kidnapped from the streets of London while carrying a bible under his arm, and there were two brothers who immigrated from England. In another, a Mr. Fisk, in his History of New England, states that the early settlers of New England came from the southeast of England, and the name of Willam Tanner in Great Coggerhall in the east of England seems to agree in date with the subject of our genealogy. Finally, another tradition has William Tanner coming to New York at age fourteen, and thence "escaping" to Rhode Island. That there was an immigrant William Tanner, and he came from the London area, certainly is compatible with drawing some conclusions about him, his times and early history.

Ms. Brouwer too, seems comfortable with these conclusions. Other Tanners appear in early colonial America, the name is found in Wales, Ireland, Switzerland, and the Scandanavian countries. Given the history of the populating of the British Isles, it would be safe to assume that there are some Celtic, Roman, and Scandanavium ancestors in the Tanner family. A reader of the novel of England, Sarum, by Edward Rutherford, can arrive at these and other explanations of the derivation of the Tanners in America. Through later records, this hypothesis receives even greater credence.

There is a John Tanner of Southern Illinois, who traces his family to Virginian Tanners', and I am inclined to think they too were English immigrants, but unrelated except "across the seas". There is no doubt that there were more than one early Tanner immigrants to America.

A direct Tanner line runs from William Tanner, the American Immigrant, born about 1660 near London, England to the grandchildren of the author. These would be the eleventh generation of Tanners in America, encompassing a time period of over three hundred years.

An old Tanner family tradition says that William Tanner, at the time of Oliver Cromwell, was kidnapped when a boy, from a street in London, England while going home from school. He had a large bible under his arm and was hurried aboard a vessel where he served as a cabin boy during the voyage and was left in America. However, in old court records of Oxfordshire it is stated on March 1680, that, ...Tanner, William of Ducklington is reprieved (of a felony) upon his emigration to America.

Crimes at that time in England were of two types and dealt with according to the person's social status. Severe crimes of the royal classes were dealt with by beheading or exile. Other crimes by this class were ignored with perhaps a loss of social standing. For the poor and common people, severe crimes also called for execution. Minor crimes, felonies and misdemeanors called for "ducking", time in the stocks, or forced emigration. Repeat offenders were judged by the Assize Court. This court was an annual occurrence in each shire and the cause of great ceremony and celebration. The king or parliament appointed judges and their staffs, who visited a town and judged each miscreant cited by the local sheriffs,, wardens or officials. Punishment could be terms in the almshouse or banishment by emigration or military service. Jurried courts were appointed on rare occasions, and usually only conducted in the presence of parliament or the royal court. Imprisonment was a rare occurrence, and when used was only temporary.

The cause of William Tanner's citation could probably be found in the shire archives, since that was a time when record keeping was done with fervor. He probably was involved with agriculture, since he was later called a "planter" in many records in Rhode Island. There is no evidence that he possessed any skill except that of a farmer.

Religion was an integral part of English life in the seventeenth century, and while it was often in congregation, it was powerfully personal in nature. William Tanner no doubt felt the hand of God upon him, and whatever transgression caused his emigration to America, it could not have been lost upon him.

Randall Houlding was a wealthy and adventuresome colonial entrepreneur from Rhode Island with connections to the Lord of Warrick, the wealthiest man of his time. Houlding had secured land in Rhode Island and traveled between England and America in attempts to gain clear title to the property which he had claimed. In addition, it was necessary to bring settlers to the land he and other adventurers claimed. It was through this connection that our ancestor gained passage to Rhode Island as an indentured servant to the proprietary company. The latter no doubt had connections of some importance to Houlding.

Crossing the Atlantic from England to New England in the seventeenth century was hazardous and uncomfortable. Since so many of our English ancestors were subjected to the journey, in addition to William Tanner, a text is taken from a contemporary writer:

The Narragansett part of Rhode Island remained unsettled until 1640, and none of the land had been chartered by England. After about 1670 settlers came, purchasing land with questionable titles. By the time of the Pequot Indian War, there were about five thousand people in the area, a small port and a trading store. The war caused decimation of the whole area, and many fled. However an army of Indian fighters from New England responded vigorously to the Indian massacres, and the Indians were driven from the Narragansett country. The settlers returned in 1678.

William Tanner thereby came to a peaceful Rhode Island in the company of both the land and the religious truth seekers. The latter came to be known as those that "thought otherwise" and the future state acquired this motto and reputation. He can be first identified in 1682 when he witnessed a deed for his apparent mentor Randall Houlding, although whether he was still a bonded servant or a freeman is uncertain.

In Fones Records, Vol I., page 70, the deed is written:

Shortly thereafter, Tanner married a daughter of Henry Tibbets. This first wife probably died in childbirth and the son, also named William, was cared for by his maternal grandfather Tibbets. The grandson was bequeathed land in the will of Henry Tibbets, which had been purchased from a Henry Stanton who was a partner in the local land holding company. The records are silent as to the exact relationship, but it is well assumed that this was the first born son of the immigrant William Tanner.

William Tanner next settled in the Westerly area. He is on the tax roll of the town of Rochester (Kingston) Rhode Island under Governor Andrus for 1687, where he is taxed one pole, the equivalent of one and a half pounds. He bought a tract of land of one hundred acres, more or less, of Henry Hall, a weaver of Westerly. The deed bore the date of July 4, 1693. This deed is on record in the town of Westerly and was not recorded in South Kingston until August 1, 1728. In the deed he is said to be of Kingston, a planter.

This parcel of land lies on the east side of a river, about a mile below the village of Usquepaugh and adjacent to Mumford's Mill. It is described as follows:

The "Hall Purchase" contained about two square miles, and the house of John Sheldon appears to have been one of the first built on the purchase, being a well known landmark in other deeds.

By the end of the seventeenth century, William Tanner had gathered around him his sons and daughters - Benjamin (the first born in 1692, by his second wife, Mary Babcock) , John, Avis and Mary. After Mary's death he married Elizabeth Colgrove and Francis, Nathan, Anna, Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Abigail were born into the family. Francis later went to Connecticut and from him stems a Mormon Tanner family.

There, William was surrounded by family, and the neighbors of Babcock, Wells, Sheldon, Crandall, and others in a safe and friendly environment. He lived to a good age, marrying for the fourth time, as a widower, Elizabeth Gardner. He made his will in 1730 giving to a son Nathan,

He also left to his son John Tanner of Westerly, blacksmith,

In this congenial environment of Usquepaugh in the territory of Rhode Island this first American John Tanner was born about 1696. He married first, Jean, a lady of unknown parentage, who gave him two children, Joseph and Jane. She died in 1722 in childbirth. Severe diseases were rampant. The Baptist church at this time concluded,

Her grave is marked by a rude stone simply inscribed JT, in the walled Tanner burial place near the Usquepaugh River.

Next, in 1723, John married Susannah West, whose ancestors were Mayflower passengers. She bore him nine children, George, our direct descendant being the first. John Tanner the blacksmith and planter, lived a long and apparently uneventful life. He appears infrequently in the vital records except for his birth, marriage, and the birth of his children. He left no will nor is there a record of his death. However, is was recorded on September 9th, 1777, a Mr. John Tanner is exempted from paying any "Pool Tax" for the future, either town or state. This was an exemption given to those over four score years of age. Hence, John Tanner lived past the age of eighty and was buried in the family cemetery.

An observer in 1880 reported:

In 1977 I visited this area and found the land to be occupied by the Laurel Lane Golf Course. The burial ground was adjacent to the third green. I was told the land had been grown over every fifty years, and at that time was uncultivated and uninhabited except for the golf course.

George Tanner, son of John, was also a farmer who spent his life on the original Rhode Island family homestead. He was married in 1754 to Mary (Marcy) Wilcox. They had at least five children including John, named for his grandfather. The Rhode Island census of 1774 lists the family as consisting of one male and three females above the age of sixteen, and three males and two females under sixteen. George is on one list of militiamen of the Revolutionary War in the winter of 1776-77. He received pay for the month of September of 1776. He was in Colonel Lippitt's regiment. This regiment had been with General George Washington at the Battle of Princeton in February of that year, but records were destroyed by fire, during the War of 1812, and no records seem to exist as to the soldiers involved.

He died in 1791, at the age of sixty eight, before pensions for the veterans of the war were established. It remained for his son John, who was as a militiaman and a soldier, to leave the family farm and participate as a soldier in the War for Independance.

In 1777 John Tanner left the family farm in Rhode Island and joined the continental army. There had been relatively little revolutionary activity in the Narrngansett country of Rhode Island., and sympathies there varied, but tended to favor the colonists. He and his father had both been registered as militiamen. The majority of the loyalists were located in Newport. They were surrounded by water for the most part, except to the Bristol area to the east.

John Tanner had served as a substitute for his kinsman Isaac Wilcox in September and October of 1776 under Captain Gordon St. Louis in the regiment of Colonel Cornwallis at Port Bristol on the east side of Newport Island. That November he moved to Hancock, Massachussetts where he enlisted in Captain Barnes company. This company was stationed at Claverack on the Hudson River in New York State between the British forces to the north and New York City to the south.

Boston had been evacuated earlier by the British army, after the Battle of Bunker Hill and Massachusetts was then secure for the colonists. The British on the other hand were well entrenched in Newport, Rhode Island, which had a large number of loyalists.

In the fall and winter of 1776, General Washington's army had only moderate success in forays in the mid-Atlantic. In the northern and western parts of New England, loyalties were still divided among the sparse settlers and Indians. The settlers were inclined to favor the Continental Congress while the Indians were on the side of whoever gave them the most trinkets and whiskey. The French were not a factor, having been driven out by the British previously, but the latter army controlled the St. Lawrence waterway, Montreal, and the upper reaches of the Hudson Valley.

In the winter of 1776-77 a large force was poised to march south, under the command of General Burgoyne, to join with other English forces marching northward from New York City. Between were a few settlers and a poorly organized and ill-equipped army of colonists commanded by a prosperous local farmer, John Schuyler.

In the early spring of 1777, Burgoyne began to move his army south through Lake Champlain and Lake George. At that time the future of the independent colonists did not seem favorable. John Tanner was then reported as being in Colonel Bailey's regiment and Captain Dunham's company, a portion of the army of General Benjamin Lincoln. The British army, its German mercenaries, and Indians advanced through the Champlain Valley, past Lake George. When they reached Fort Edwards, between Lake Champlain and Lake George, a young American girl, Jane McCrea was killed and scalped by one of Burgoyne's Indians. This scalping was completely contrary to Burgoyne's "rules of war". The guilty Indian was found, but pardoned. The colonists in the area were incensed, and the fear and hatred of both the British and their Indian allies increased. Most of all, it strengthened the resolve of all Americans.

Shortly thereafter, a note to Burgoyne was found nailed to a tree. It stated prophetically, ...not to be elated over progress and to beware of crossing the Hudson, for thus far shalt thou go and no farther. The Jane McCrea incident prompted General Washington to send reinforcements to the American General Schuyler. Burgoynes's progress had been slow and his supplies were running low. He therefore sent a detachment of the German mercenaries into neighboring Vermont where they were met by the Vermont militia commanded by General John Stark, and a contingent of the Continental Army under Colonel Seth Warner, These militiamen were the "Green Mountain Boys" of Ethan Allen. On August 15, 1777, at the "Battle of Bennington" the Americans sustained a significant victory, and Burgoyne lost a large amount of supplies and troops. John Stark, a veteran of Bunker Hill, said before the battle, We'll beat them before nightfall or Molly Stark will be a widow. Molly Stark still had a husband at nightfall, and Burgoyne had lost as prisoners or casualties one thousand men, nearly a seventh of his army.

The American troops were gathered for the Battle of Saratoga. There the Americans won a great victory, and with Burgyone's surrender on October 17, 1777, the war in northern New York was essentially over. Burgoyne and his army were not detained however, and a garrison of American troops remained stationed in the Albany area for three more years, until the end of the war. There John Tanner's company was stationed. In November, he was dismissed, but reenlisted in Captain Paramester Allen's company and stationed further north in the Hudson Valley at Skenesborough. This was later called Whitehall in Washington County, New York. In 1781 he was discharged permanently and settled in Granville a few miles to the southeast.

John Tanner had been in upstate New York for nearly four years and had become familiar with the area and liked what he saw. Upon discharge, he settled permanently in the area. He was discharged at Albany and took up residence at North Granville. There he married Esther Childs, a daughter of Isaac Childs. She was from Rhode Island also. He began farming land which he later purchased, and raised a family of ten children. He became a respected citizen of the town, and was a founder of the Truthville Baptist Church, in which he participated for many years.

In North Granvillle John Tanner and his wife had eight sons and two daughters. They grew to maturity, married and a large legacy of Tanners occupied the area for many years, being reinforced by many relatives and neighbors from Rhode Island, including the Shumways, who were to become an integral part of Tanner family and history. Cemeteries in the Granville town, are filled with Tanners and Shumways - Williams, Esthers, Josephs and others.

John Tanner received a military pension, and lived successfully, as he purchased more land in 1793 for 400 pounds of English money, from John Backus and his wife Elizabeth. The family was respectfully documented in A History of Washington County, New York in 1880. His son James stayed on his father's farm. It was still in the family in 1880 and owned by a Wm. W. Russell and his wife, suggesting that Mrs. Russell was a descendant of James Tanner. A daughter Thirza, married and went to Indiana. One of the sons went to Texas, while the other sons and daughter remained in New York. The sons William and Joseph served in the War of 1812 and continued living in Washington County, New York until John's death in Harmony, New York, on February 19, 1833.

Esther Tanner continued to receive the government pension and after John's death on February 19, 1833 at Hamony, New York, she moved to Marathon in Cortland County to live with her son William. She died in 1849, outliving him by seventeen years, and was buried in North Granville.

Joseph Tanner, the second son of John and his wife Esther, moved from eastern to north central New York through the Mohawk Valley. He remained nearly thirty years in the Black River area of Lewis County New York, and acquired modest wealth. During this time, the Erie Canal was completed, and a connecting canal constructed from Lowville, where the family lived, to Rome, New York. This certainly contributed to his good fortune, along with hard work, good luck and intelligence. He married Electa Shumway, of a family whose roots could be traced back for generations in New England, England, Ireland and France. Five children were born to them. These were William Shumway, Mary Jane, Esther L., Cornelia and Jonas. In 1842, the family's life changed significantly when his wife Electa and daughter Mary Jane died of cholera the same spring. Again, the canal was a major force in this event, since cholera is a water born disease.

The eldest son, William, first went west from Washington County, New York in the late 1820's. It is unclear whether Uncle William lived for a time in Lewis County or in other parts of New York State. By the nineteenth century there were many William Tanners living in the United States. There were no Tanners with the given name of William in McHenry County, Illinois in that era. John Shumway Tanner, his brother Joseph, and sister Cornelia first went to Illinois where they settled. They probably traveled by the Erie Canal, one of the modern wonders of the world, and during its colorful history was a significant factor in the history of the United States and the Tanner family.

Nathaniel Hawthorne traveled on a packet boat on the canal in 1840. He described the "bedding" process as:

The brothers, William and Jonas married Morris sisters, Julie Ann and Jane Ann, in 1843 and 1852 in Marengo. William, his wife and children James, Charles and Harriette went to Amador County, California in 1850. Jonas and sister Cornelia, who also married a Morris brother, remained in Marengo.

A railroad, the Chicago and Galena, was built after 1850 just north of Marengo village. There too ran the Kishwaukee River, fed by Coon and Rush Creeks. Adjacent to the latter, four miles west and north of the village, lay the land for the Tanner homestead. When the Indians had moved out the settlers from the east had moved in. Among these, in the 1840's, among these were the Tanners. In 1846 John purchased land from Enock Cronk, land that was part of the 120 acres destined to be the family homestead. Later, more land was purchased by John, Joseph and Jonas. Exchanges were made until the farm was complete.

Father Joseph had been the last of the family to arrive. He was in transit during the census of 1850, staying at an inn in Port Leyden on the Black River Canal, when he received a letter from his son Jonas who was then living in Marengo.

This letter, on the original paper tells an interesting story:

After Joseph arrived in Marengo, he accumulated land that became the original Tanner homestead. He married Ann Yale in 1851 and died on May 15, 1859. He was buried in the Bonus Cemetery in Boone County.

Jonas and his sister Cornelia followed their brother John S. along the route of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes. Jonas C.'s brother, John had before 1850 purchased a parcel that became a part of the final 120 acres, and in that year Jonas and his sister moved to the parcel and began "keeping house". They were neighbors to John Tanner and his wife, on the same section of land that was in McHenry County, and across the road or line from Boone County. Two years later, in 1852, Jonas married Jane Morris. The Morris family had come to be neighbors, and sister Cornelia married Charles Morris, a brother of Jane. Another Morris brother, Hiram, while working as a carpenter, was killed in a fall from the steeple of a church he was building.

John and his family left for California around 1855 but Jonas and Jane stayed. Father Joseph purchased more land bordering on Jonas' property. Jonas and Jane had their first child, a girl they named Ella, in 1853, followed by Emma, Mary and the first son, Frank. These children arrived every two years. There was then a respite of nearly eight years, before another son, George was born in 1867. The chances of still births during those eight childless years was high, since such an event was quite common Then at age thirty-six, Jane had son Fred, followed by Jonas just over ten months later. The family was then complete.

The original farmstead land had been accumulated in a series of transactions. John Shumway had made the first purchase in the area of the farm. Jonas had purchased land close by when he came to McHenry County. Father Joseph also had purchased land there. When John Shumway went to California, his land was added to the farm. Deeds still exist for all of this land. A curious fact is a portion of the land was acquired in a "sheriffs sale" from John S. by his father Joseph. The land still exists as an intact one hundred and twenty acres, with a house dating from about 1870. The farm remained in the family until 1960, over one hundred years from its original acquisition, passing through at least five generations of Tanners.

Corn was the first crop favored by the American farmer, and its cultivation brought prosperity to the Illinois country. The town, state and nation bounded towards the twentieth century. But misfortune came to the Tanners. Father Jonas, died in 1873 at the age of fifty-one and was buried along side his father Joseph in the Bonus Cemetery, in the rural part of nearby Boone county

Mother Jane Tanner was determined to keep the family intact. The oldest daughter, Ella E., who was born in Wisconsin, but only a few miles from the homestead, married Robert Marvin, and they moved to Colorado in 1872. The second oldest, daughter Emma J. married Lot Swain in 1875. He was from a nearby farm. My fifth grade teacher was their daughter Norene. A son, Earl, built and crashed an airplane on their farm. He survived and I was taken to view the wreckage. Later Em and Lot moved to Marengo. My Grandmother took me often to visit them in their Victorian home. Lot and I played dominoes while the women chatted by the hour. "Visting" was a common form of recreation.

The eldest son Frank A. became the male head of the household at age 16. He died some years before I was born, but I can recall visiting his widow at their home in Harvard. I heard of him being incapacitated or killed by a kick from a horse. A violent temper was present in the family into which son Lorenzo, called "Ren", married. Ren was seriously injured by his brother-in-law by a hammer blow to the head. Frank and his wife Nellie MacDougal had a grandson, John Hazen Tanner. This family lived in another part of the county and I have no remembrances of John Hazen, except meeting him at a family reunion when I was quite young.

Frank became a prosperous and respected citizen as he was chronicled in The History of McHenry Couny written in 1922. It well typifies the life of Frank Tanner and his times. It is interesting reading and a part of it is copied here.

The US census of 1880 described the family. A male servant, age twenty-two, and a farmer were living with the family. There were eight people residing on the homestead, and George was the "man of the house" at age fourteen. Other bits of information are revealed by this 1880 U.S. census. Jane's father, Joseph Morris (suffering from lung disease), a servant and a boarder also were living with the family. An inscription in the family bible is written:

After father Jonas's death, each son in succession became the male head of the family. After son Frank left, son George K. assumed this position. The third brother, Fred J. was unable to be a farmer for very long, due to ill health. He was though able to be an undertaker and furniture store owner. He also, about 1900, built a fine house in Marengo. This house was that of my Grandfather and Grandmother, who owned and lived in it nearly fifty years.

George was the head of the family from 1880 until 1895, when he married Lillian Veale and moved to St. Charles, Illinois. My Grandfather Tanner succeeded him. George was in the automobile business and close contact was kept with the family. He was a friend of a Colonel Baker, who owned the famous trotting horse, "Greyhound". He was a friend to his nephew, my father, and willed him his fishing equipment. I have no knowledge of any progeny.

My Grandfather Tanner was born December 28, 1871, the last child of Jonas and Jane Tanner. He received twelve years of formal education. At what age he followed his brother George I do not know. About 1890 he moved to South Dakota, where his sister Mary (Porter) lived. There he taught school. A short time later he returned to the family homestead, and in 1898 married Nellie Mae Wright, and took over the farm.

Nellie was the youngest child of Columbus Perry Wright and Mary Lyon. The Wright farm was across the road from the Tanners. After farming only a few years Grandfather Tanner purchased the homestead from other members of the family. Later he leased the farm, with the usual arrangement where the owner provided the capital and the tenant the labor, the profits then divided equally. They moved to Marengo village.

There, Grandfather Tanner was a justice of the peace and census taker. The former was a job that required considerable time in the beginning of the twentieth century, and carried significant prestige. In later years it required less time, and he held the position until his death in 1943. He "held court" in the den of his home and in the insurance office, marrying people, settling petty disputes and exacting crimes for minor law infractions. The 1910 U.S. census shows his handwriting and preciseness. He also was an insurance agent later processed and sold hybrid seed corn.

After their move to town, the Tanners lived all their lives in Marengo on Prairie Street. They first lived a few blocks from the main street, and about 1919, purchased and lived in the house his brother Fred had built a few blocks to the west, where they spent the remainder of their lives. While they had an automobile, both walked to town daily for work and shopping. The car was generally reserved for weekends or special occasions. I can recall riding in his 1928 Buick, falling from the car when it was moving, and dropping coins along its windows. Later he owned a 1935 Ford, and finally a 1940 Ford.

Every Sunday a family gathering was held after church, for dinner. There were usually eight or ten relatives in attendance. All of his siblings except sister Emma had left Marengo by 1920, but Grandmother Tanner's brothers and sisters remained nearby. Other relatives and friends would come to visit in the afternoons. Chicken and dressing, with pie was the usual fare. Playing cards was a common form of recreation. He was a golfer and played every Sunday for as number of years at a local golf and country club of which he was a founding member. The course was located along the Kishwaukee River, but was destroyed by flooding in 1936 and never rebuilt. He also participated in team golf play, and during one of these matches made a hole-in-one, which was written up in a local paper. He received a case of Scotch whiskey for the feat.

As the years passed, life became slower for him. He was known to his acquaintances as J.C. and also called Charlie, but never used his first given name of Jonas. In 1933 he had a stroke that left him a partial invalid. This was a complication of surgery for a kidney stone. The insurance business was sold after the illness, but his desk and Oliver typewriter retained. The typewriter disappeared but I still have his desk. The building was later purchased by my father and used by him for his news agency.

Their Yankee frugality served them well and they lived comfortably, spending numerous winters in Florida. Mother and Father were much devoted to them, and this feeling was reciprocal. He gave Mother her first piano, which she greatly appreciated. I had the good fortune to always have a car at my disposal from the time I could drive until I left for the army. He had another stroke in 1942 and died February 25, 1943. His body was viewed in the den of their home and he was buried in the family plot in the Marengo cemetery after a Masonic service in the Presbyterian Church.

The first Howard Charles Tanner was born July 17,1903 while his parents, Jonas Charles and Nellie Mae Tanner lived in the town of Marengo. He received his primary and secondary education in the Marengo public schools. At the latter, he participated in the Boy Scout program, and played guard on the high school basketball team. Other hobbies he pursued during these years were hunting and fishing in the field, rivers and streams around Marengo. He attended Lake Forest College for one year and later, the Elgin Business College. After finishing his formal education, he first worked as a surveyor's assistant, helping in building the early concrete roads in the area. Foillowing this, he became a mail carrier. In 1923 he married Ruth Hulett, the only daughter of Clarence Earl Hulett, and his wife, Helen Eggers, an Icelandic orphan who had come to Marengo on an "orphan train." She had a brother Clarence Earl Jr., who lived the greater part of his life in Louisiana and Texas, and left a number of antecedents.

Father became disabled after over eighteen years of carrying mail. He obtained a disability pension and received generous benefits for a number of years. These continued for Mother for thirty more years.

As his back partially recovered, he went into the feed, seed and farm equipment business. Later he abandoned this and he became a newspaper dealer and distributor. The Tanner News Agency, also selling candy, tobacco and other sundries, was an institution in Marengo for many years. During those years he traveled extensively by automobile throughout the United States, and took many photographs, including still and moving pictures. He had many close personal friends and they were of much pleasure to him.

The store was closed at his death. He gave considerable time to public service, serving without pay on the school boards, planning commissions and county supervisory positions which he thoroughly enjoyed. He died in 1966, at the age of sixty-three, of heart disease, and was buried in the Marengo Cemetery after another Presbyterian funeral with Masonic Freemason services.

At his death, he was lauded as a friend and public servant.

I was born in nineteen-twenty-six. At that time there were no wars, financial crisis, or notable events. Taxes were low and reduced even further that year. The world was between two great wars, and the United States was "dry" from the alcohol prohibition of the Volstead act. It was reported then that only five percent of the illegal alcohol was being confiscated, at cost of three billion dollars to the government. A new car cost five hundred dollars. Ten dollars a day was big wages. There was practically no unemployment, the stock market was going up, and there was no indication of the depression that was to come.

This all changed after 1930, but my family was well insulated from the hard times surrounding them, since my father was employed by the government, and Grandfather and Grandmother Tanner had acquired considerable property, even though a portion was lost during the depression. Neither my father or I had siblings. During my first years we lived in a one room apartment in Marengo over a tire shop owned by one of my paternal great-uncles and rent was ten dollars a month.

Memories of my childhood are pleasant. High school days became the years of World War II. For many people in many places the years of the depression and war were a great time in which to live. I have many pleasant memories of my years at the Marengo Community High School and the house in which I lived on Washington Street. For three years I was president of my class, won many "letters" in sports, and graduated second scholastically. These were done with a minimum of study and practice. I must admit honors were easily come by. The classes and teams were small, with little competition.

I particularly enjoyed hunting, fishing, basketball and my many good friends. Boys were more interesting companions, but I was attracted to girls. After graduation from high school, I joined the army and spent the majority of my two years service in the Philippines and Japan. When I was discharged, I attended two years at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and joined the Sigma Chi fraternity.

In 1948 I began dental school at Northwestern University, attending the downtown Chicago campus. During dental school I married Sally Lou Kuhlman, who had graduated from the same school as a dental hygienist. She was the daughter of Hazel Sorille and Herman Kuhlman of Spokane, Washington, where we were married. Our first child, Margaret Jane was born the same year I graduated from Northwestern., 1952. We then moved to Faribault, Minnesota where our first son, William Charles was born. Shortly thereafter I lost contact with Marengo, visiting on once every few years, even though my parents continued to reside there. After my father died in 1966, visits were even more infrequent. I visited them during Christmas of 1963, with son John and daughter Helen Elise.

I practiced general dentistry and Sally practiced dental hygiene while raising a family. After four years, in 1957, following a trip to California with children Jane and Bill we went to Rochester, Minnesota where I was a "fellow" in oral surgery for three years. During that time son John Kuhlman and daughter Helen Elise were born, the latter during a severe snowstorm. After finishing the fellowship and receiving a master's degree from the University of Minnesota, we lived in Los Angeles, California for a year. There, daughter Martha Susan was born. In the spring of 1961 we moved to Santa Maria, California where I practiced oral surgery for fifteen years. In 1967 Sally and I divorced and I married Jacqueline Funkhouser Kelley, the mother of two daughters Sharon and Tamara.

From 1968 until 1979 we lived on a small ranch in Nipomo, California where we raised and trained harness race horses. Getting an interest in horses started insidiously. John wanted a horse so we bought Redwood. Then we wanted a second and smaller horse. That was a mustang we called Freckles. Then another. Then I began thinking of writing off the horses for taxes, so we bought a standardbred broodmare, Gomme, in foal and with a suckling foal. And then a racehorse, Powderhorn. Everyone enjoyed the horses, and it was a good tax write off, but I was intent on showing a profit. We had Mable, Howdy Babe, GoMon, Richard, Pride, Darn Lusty, and others, but no luck. Then I bought three yearlings - Rebid, Howdy Doll and Andy's Yankee. Paul Shank was hired as a part-time trainer and finally success came our way.

The first time I felt I had a real race horse was with Howdy Doll. Powderhorn tried, but just couldn't win. Howdy Doll won our first race at Bay Meadows, and then Rebid won and she was the first one we saw win, since John and Sharon were at the races with me that afternoon. Racing success continued well in 1971 and 1972. Powderhorn was sold. Rebid, Howdy Doll, and Andy's Yankee all raced profitably. Battlelord was claimed, won money

and was reclaimed at a profit. Howdy Doll and Rebid were first and second in a California Stakes race. Howdy Direct won a stakes race a year later. Three or four other horses were claimed with success.

Then came a stroke of great good luck. A yearling was purchased in Kentucky, True Gypsy, and a colt was born on the ranch, Howdy Boy out of our first broodmare, Gomme. He later won eight races in a row and was sold for a nice price. True Gypsy returned to training after her foal was weaned, and she went to the racetrack six months later. She raced for four years and won and won. Finally she took a world record as an aged pacing mare. Her first born colt gave me the greatest pleasure of any of the horses, since I had bred, raised and trained him without professional help. He finished second as a two year old in a stakes race and it appeared that he had a good future. Unfortunately he escaped from his paddock one night and was killed by a passing car. After her racing career was over, True Gypsy returned home and produced ten more foals. These were sent to professional trainers and driver. All were good race horses, but none had the ability of their mother. She is still alive today, at age twenty two, and perhaps her last filly can repeat her accomplishments. Her success allowed Jackie and I to acquire a small ranch and to travel extensively.

The accident with Gypsy's first colt took away much of my interest in horse racing at that time. The following year I disposed of most of the horses. Since all the children had left our house, except daughter Tami, who was then married, we left the Nipomo ranch, sold the house, and dental practice, and moved to Lompoc. There I continued to practice oral surgery and began to play golf and make wine. The latter led to a commercial winery called Ross Keller, but success did not come easily, and when I became discouraged, Jackie assumed the business, with moderate success and pleasure.

A year later I returned to the horses where there was more success. The first horse I purchased, Howdy Oop, raced well and was sold. A homebred Howdy Sprite, raced well too, until she died at the racetrack.

In the fall of 1983, at the age of fifty seven, I lost my good health. I partially recovered and returned to work, golf and the horses. Within a year though, I suffered a stroke, related to the previous problem, vasculitis, and was disabled. After six months, I again resumed some activity, but could not function as before. I was plagued with headache, dizziness but gradually began to feel better. The practice and house in Lompoc were sold and I retired with Jackie back to Nipomo and the ranch.

Training of horses began again and was enjoyable. We purchased a condominium in Hawaii for vacationing and to be with John, his wife Lynn and their daughter more frequently. Retirement was not as I had hoped, but I now live in comparative comfort. I have the company of good friends, and most of my family are close by. Mother died at eighty-five from a stroke due to vasculitis. I have had a prosperous and fortunate life, but would like to have had greater talents and have been more considerate of my family and friends.

Margaret Jane Tanner was the first born of Sally Lou Kuhlman, and myself.

She entered the world in Chicago, Illinois at Henroitin Hospital on the near north side of Chicago. I had recently received a degree in dentistry from Northwestern University. At the time were living in a small apartment on Junior Terrace in Chicago. Jane stayed there for only two weeks, and we moved to Faribault, Minnesota where I had purchased a general dental practice. She spent the first four years of her life there and Sally and I enjoyed the challenge of making new friends, a place in the community, and a successful practice. When we had accumulated a modest savings, the warmer climate of Southern California beckoned. We made a journey through the western United States, Jane began her education in Rochester, Minnsota, where I had been accepted as a fellow in oral surgery. Her first three grades were there in Minnesota, but then after the completion of my fellowship, we removed to Torrance, California for one year, and subsequently Santa Maria. There she remained for ten years, graduating from Ernest Righetti High School. Next, she enrolled at Alan Hancock Junior college, and just short of a degree there, transferred to the University of Idaho at Moscow.

At the end of her freshman year at Idaho, she was employed during the summer at Sun Valley in the state, where she met her first husband Frank Sengstock, of Seattle, Washington. They were married and lived in that city where her first offspring, Celeste, was born.

Jane obtained a college degree from the University of Washington, and divorced Frank. Next, she married Tim Walker, a high school friend who had moved to Seattle. Mathew Timothy born to them in February of 1983. They also amicably divorced. During this time she worked in merchandising, primarily as a buyer. When she tired of this career, she returned to college and obtained a teaching certificate from Central Washington College. Returning to Seattle, she took a job teaching business in the high school system. She married Jerry Hayes in 1990. Presently they and her two children live and work in Kent, Washington.

William Charles Tanner, the first son of Sally Kuhlman and I, was born in Faribault, Minnesota on June 26, 1954. We had come to Faribault from Chicago some two years earlier. He spent his first three years in our new home there. In the fall of 1956, we left Faribault, having sold our house and practice, and traveled to California with a trailer. After touring about California, we returned to Minnesota, this time to Rochester and the Mayo Clinic. There Bill spent his next three years, while I completed training there. Then we made their home in Torrrance, California where I was employed in a clinic as an oral surgeon. Bill started first grade in that city. He insisted on going to school alone at age six. When he became lost on the way home from school, which was about a mile away, he had the presence of mind to inquire of a postman as to where his home was and returned without incident. The following year a move was made to Santa Maria. There he attended second grade, and after a move to another house in Santa Maria, completed his grammar school days.

While in grammar school, Bill was a Boy Scout, which he did with enthusiasm, along with hobbies of electronics and reading. After graduation from Joe Nightingale school, he attended Righetti High School and a short time at Alan Hancock Junior College. When he was a senior at Righetti, he was elected chairman of a group of YMCA student delegates to the California State Assembly in Sacramento. In the session he presented a mock bill making the wearing of helmets by bicycle riders mandatory. A similar bill was passed by the legislature some ten years later.

Then it was off to college at the University of California at Davis. The course was completed in four years when he received a bachelors degree in mathematics, with courses in computer technology. During this time he was on the track team and drove a bus for the university bus system. At graduation he received a Ford Mustang automobile.

During his early years, Bill had a great interest in hiking, camping, backpacking and mountaineering, and spent much time in the High Sierra Mountains of California. Skiiing was a later hobby which he enjoyed.

He then joined the United States Coast Guard. In service, he first attended officer's training school in Virginia. A cruise on a ship was a high adventure for him. He was commissioned an ensign and was assigned to the quartermaster division on Governor's Island, New York., where he was able to use his abilities in the computer and electronics field. While living in Brooklyn at this time, he developed symptoms of a mysterious illness. Finally, after a number of months, a diagnosis of a myxoma of the heart was made at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Open heart surgery was done at that institution and recovery was complete. He returned to duty, and concurrently attended college in Brooklyn. Previously he had disposed of his car, the Mustang, and in New York acquired a Volkswagon "bug" which he drove with great enthusiasm and short temper, always at as high a rate of speed as traffic in that city would allow.

He survived the rigors and hazards of New York City, the East Coast, and the military and after three years in the Coast Guard, was discharged and returned to California. There he was accepted in the business school of the University of California in Los Angeles. Upon graduation, with a masters degree in business, he worked as a business consultant and subsequently took employment with the Kal Kan company in Los Angeles.

While in Los Angeles she met Christine Lynch, an attorney employed by the State Farm Insurance Company.and they were married at her parent's home in Santa Monica in 1982. They lived in that city for a few years and then purchased a home in Long Beach, California.

During employment with the Kal Kan company, he traveled throughout the United States and abroad. He was also extensively involved with personal computers, which he also used as an avocation, as well as traveling, and ardently pursued, with his wife, the good life. In 1993, he and Chris moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where she was an executive with the State Farm Insurance Company, and he worked in Chicago for the M&M/Mars company.

In 1957, on September 26, our second son, John was born in the St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, under the care of the Mayo Clinic. He was a robust youngster from birth with an extensive curiosity and a winning personality.

His first two and a half years were spent in that city, living in a Quonset hut in the company of his siblings, mother, me, and families of other fellows of the clinic. We then moved to Torrance, California where I was employed as an oral surgeon for a year. We then moved to the town of Santa Maria in California's Central Coast. He began his early grammar school grades in Santa Maria, but at age twelve, transferred to the Dana Elementary School in nearby Nipomo. He graduated from that school without distinction, and entered Arroyo Grande High School, from which he also graduated with minimal effort. During one summer vacation he worked as a groom for race horses at the California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento, and appeared in the winner's circle. He thus acquired a working knowledge of horse training, in addition to riding and roping. In high school, he participated enthusiastically in sports, particularly water polo, in addition to 4-H and Future Farmers Clubs. During these years, he also developed significant skill at bicycling and in the workshop.

Upon graduation John entered the University of Idaho, as his sister had done before him. He pledged a fraternity, but found higher education not to his liking, and shortly thereafter left for Crescent City, California, where he first went to work for his step-father, John McMurray, a veterinarian. An opportunity then arose for him to work in the sporting goods and bicycle business in Brookings, Oregon.

While living in Crescent City, he met Lynn Thompson and they married in 1981. When his bride's father retired from the U.S. Forest Service, they moved with them to the islands of Hawaii. The in-laws tired of Hawaii, but John and Lynn remained. They settled on the beaches of Kauaii and John was employed as a bicycle mechanic on that island. An opportunity came to open his own cycle business, which was quite successful and enjoyable. Meanwhile Lynn worked in retailing, restaurants and the resort industry.

In 1980 a daughter Amanda was born. Amanda grew as a beautiful child, the source of great pleasure and pride to her family. They lived comfortably and happily in Kapaa and Lihue, Kauaii, Hawaii and frequently made trips to the mainland. In 1992, Hurricane Iniki destroyed much of Kauai but John was able to recover from his losses and opened two new bicycle stores. In 1993, they purchased a new home in Lihue.

On March 3, 1958, during a blinding snowstorm, Helen Elise Tanner was born at St. Mary's Hospital, a part of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She was our second daughter and third child.

Lise lived in Rochester for her first two years and in 1980 came to California and the city of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles. One year later we moved to Santa Maria. Her education began with kindergarten in the Orcutt area of the city, and formally started at Alice Shaw Elementary School. At the age of twelve, she moved to Nipomo with her father, step-mother Jackie, brother John, and step-sisters Tami and Sharon Kelley. There with her siblings, she attended Dana Elementary School, and then Arroyo Grande and Righetti High Schools on the central coast.

At her graduation from Dana School, she was active in music, and upon graduation, received honors. Her greatest talents were on the guitar and with music composition. She was a soloist in a school concert in her junior year. She dutifully participated, without enthusiasm, in equestrian and 4-H activities.

Helen Elise married young, and had a daughter, Danielle, with her husband, Eugene Geaslen. That union did not last, and Lise went alone to Seattle, Washington to be with her older sister, Margaret Jane. After a few years as a dental assistant in that city, she returned to California. The first year, she was employed in the oral surgery office of her father in Lompoc. The following year she moved to San Jose where her sister Martha Susan lived. There she was accepted and attended Foothill College. She obtained an associate of arts degree, and then graduated from the dental hygiene school, as her mother had before her. After obtaining state licenses in California and Washington, she moved with her daughter to the latter state, where she practiced dental hygiene and Danielle attended school.

Torrance, California was the birthplace of Martha Susan Tanner. Her birthday was appropriately Thanksgiving eve of 1960 on November 23. After only five months in Torrance, the family moved to Santa Maria. The first few years were quite uneventful. She started kindergarten and grammar school with her sister Lise in the "Y" area of Santa Maria. Early on, a move was made from Lake Marie to Crescent City, California in the northern part of the state. There she completed her lower education, graduating from Del Norte High School. Her graduation present was a vacation on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Then, again in the northern portion of the California, but easterly, she attended Chico State College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in accounting. She acquired her first car during her college years. The degree served her well in obtaining employment with numerous firms in the San Francisco Bay area. While working for the Space Boosters division of United Technologies, a defense firm located in Santa Clara County, her major activities were in the field of computer programming and accounting. Hobbies were generally oriented towards sports and physical fitness. She had a cat for a pet.

The Loma Prieta earthquate happened while she was living in the area. Many hours were spent studying while attending at Golden Gate University in San Jose, during her off-hours. As a result, she was awarded a masters degree from that school in a ceremony in the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. She has resided in her own condominium in San Jose for a number of years. In 1993 she married Tom Cavallo.

I was close to Grandmother Wright, but she did not often speak of the family. I met many of her brothers and sisters and their immediate family when I was quite young, but she never spoke of her father or mother, although I did meet the latter when I was two years old, and have only extremely vague recollections of her.

Written information on the Wright line was difficult to come by since the family name was so common. There were no written genealogical information, and only a few personal, newspaper or other documents. The earliest source of genealogical information was of my great-grandfather Ransom Wright, whose father-in-law, Peter Thom(p)son, was a Soldier of the Revolution. I was unable to obtain any source records on the family, all of what I know coming from a third cousin who was also a genealogist in Illinois. The fact that the family came from Schoraie County, New York would be a clue for those seeking information on the line.

He was born on March 11, 1802 in Schoharie County, New York, probably the son of Cyrus Wright. He went to Geagua County, Ohio, in the Western Reserve. The Western Reserve was nearly four million acres of land that was retained by Connecticut in 1786 when that state gave up claim to land which extended to the Pacific Ocean. Citizens who had suffered property losses during the Revolutionary War, and veterans of that war were given land in 1792. Ransom Wright and his future father-in-law, Peter Thom(p)son, who was a veteran of the conflict, and as such received land in the eastern part along the shores of Lake Erie, in what was to be Geagua County.

He married Elizabeth Thompson, the daughter of Peter Thompson, on February 11, 1825, and they moved to Ohio after the birth of their first child, Cyrus Jerome. He died in 1839, after just fourteen years of marriage and eight children.

His death was described in the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois:

Ransom and his father-in-law were buried side by side in a cemetery in Munson, Ohio and the service to his country of Peter Thomson was duly noted on his tombstone. He was of Hale's New Hampshire Regiment.

The cemetery and the tombstones exist to this day.

He was born in 1832 in Munson, Ohio. After his father died, at age twelve, he was sent to live with a neighbor family until his twentieth birthday. He then moved with his mother and siblings to Illinois. He farmed in Plum Valley, Jo Davies County, Illinois, and married Mary Lyon there in 1856. About 1880 they moved to Boone County, Illinois where he purchased a farm and prospered. All of their children were born near Stockton, Illinois. Jerome was the eldest, and followed by Viva, Ellsworth, Delos, Omar and Nellie. All of them married and lived in Marengo, except El, who farmed and made his home in Garden Prairie, six miles to the west. They were a close family, and I can recall all of them, as prosperous and highly regarded citizens. They had numerous children, and both my father and I had their progeny as friends and classmates.

About 1900, he moved to the village of Marengo in Illinois, and lived in a fine house with his wife on Washington Street, where he and his wife lived until his death in 1909. It was said he was a small man with great energy, and chopped a cord of wood a week for the home.

At his death, he left each of his six children a farm, each over one hundred acres, which he had acquired for investment. A copy of his will reveal that he was a man of considerable wealth. In this will, which was filed in Marengo in December of 1919, he left to each of his children or their survivors, $10,000 and a farm, along with other personal property. He was small of stature, but had a strong constitution and it was recalled that he began each day, after his retirement from farming, by chopping a pile of wood.

His wife outlived him by fifteen years, living during that time in the home in Marengo.

Grandmother Tanner was an interesting and enigmatic character as I reflect upon her. I lived within a few houses of her for over twenty years. She was very devoted to me, and quite interested in having me succeed in life. She provided me with an automobile, retaining a 1940 Ford for my use after Grandfather died, even though she herself never drove. She did though enjoy riding in an automobile immensely. When I graduated from dental school, she bought a new 1952 Ford for me. In the following years I had much less contact with her, not living in Marengo again. She made a trip to Faribualt in 1953 to visit us; I saw her on the few occasions we visited Marengo; and returned for her funeral in 1955.

She was the youngest of her siblings, and as was the custom in her day, stopped going to school after eight grades. The boys in the family went on to a high school education as was the custom of that period. She did have a good education in housekeeping, and had an active mind, enjoying card playing, crossword puzzles and painting. She was a superb cook, and every Saturday made doughnuts for the enjoyment of all. Monday was washday, Tuesday ironing, Wednesday shopping, and Thursday cleaning. She spent her entire life in only four houses: the family farms and two houses in the town of Marengo.

Her relationship with Grandfather Tanner was, I thought, unusual. Having only one child was quite normal for the times. They always slept in the same bed, unless illness prevented it, but yet I never saw her express any affection towards him. She seemed to enjoy being dependent upon my father in later years and there seemed to be a love-hate relationship with my mother. She never spoke harshly to her, or to anyone else as a matter of fact, yet I sensed she felt Mother was socially inferior to her. She was devoted to all of her family, yet never became emotionally involved.

In spite of her sparse education, she was very skillful in money management, leaving a greater estate than she received when Grandfather died. She was most businesslike in all her dealings, even extending it to my father, her only child. She was never employed, but successfully managed two farms and numerous businesses in her lifetime.

The diagnosis of cancer was devastating to her, and she tolerated the futile treatments poorly. She was on the surface a devout Christian, attending church every Sunday either alone or with my accompaniment, but never expressed any opinion of religious matters, except to be intolerant of sin and fearful of death. She died in her seventy-third year.

I was close to Grandmother Wright, but she did not often speak of the family. I met many of her brothers and sisters and their immediate family when I was quite young, but she never spoke of her father or mother, although I did meet the latter when I was two years old, and have only extremely vague recollections of her.

Written information on the Wright line was difficult to come by since the family name was so common. There were no written genealogical information, and only a few personal, newspaper or other documents. The earliest source of genealogical information was of my great-grandfather Ransom Wright, whose father-in-law, Peter Thom(p)son, was a Soldier of the Revolution. I was unable to obtain any source records on the family, all of what I know coming from a third cousin who was also a genealogist in Illinois. The fact that the family came from Schoraie County, New York would be a clue for those seeking information on the line.

He was born on March 11, 1802 in Schoharie County, New York, probably the son of Cyrus Wright. He went to Geagua County, Ohio, in the Western Reserve. The Western Reserve was nearly four million acres of land that was retained by Connecticut in 1786 when that state gave up claim to land which extended to the Pacific Ocean. Citizens who had suffered property losses during the Revolutionary War, and veterans of that war were given land in 1792. Ransom Wright and his future father-in-law, Peter Thom(p)son, who was a veteran of the conflict, and as such received land in the eastern part along the shores of Lake Erie, in what was to be Geagua County.

He married Elizabeth Thompson, the daughter of Peter Thompson, on February 11, 1825, and they moved to Ohio after the birth of their first child, Cyrus Jerome. He died in 1839, after just fourteen years of marriage and eight children.

His death was described in the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois:

Ransom and his father-in-law were buried side by side in a cemetery in Munson, Ohio and the service to his country of Peter Thomson was duly noted on his tombstone. He was of Hale's New Hampshire Regiment.

The cemetery and the tombstones exist to this day.

He was born in 1832 in Munson, Ohio. After his father died, at age twelve, he was sent to live with a neighbor family until his twentieth birthday. He then moved with his mother and siblings to Illinois. He farmed in Plum Valley, Jo Davies County, Illinois, and married Mary Lyon there in 1856. About 1880 they moved to Boone County, Illinois where he purchased a farm and prospered. All of their children were born near Stockton, Illinois. Jerome was the eldest, and followed by Viva, Ellsworth, Delos, Omar and Nellie. All of them married and lived in Marengo, except El, who farmed and made his home in Garden Prairie, six miles to the west. They were a close family, and I can recall all of them, as prosperous and highly regarded citizens. They had numerous children, and both my father and I had their progeny as friends and classmates.

About 1900, he moved to the village of Marengo in Illinois, and lived in a fine house with his wife on Washington Street, where he and his wife lived until his death in 1909. It was said he was a small man with great energy, and chopped a cord of wood a week for the home.

At his death, he left each of his six children a farm, each over one hundred acres, which he had acquired for investment. A copy of his will reveal that he was a man of considerable wealth. In this will, which was filed in Marengo in December of 1919, he left to each of his children or their survivors, $10,000 and a farm, along with other personal property. He was small of stature, but had a strong constitution and it was recalled that he began each day, after his retirement from farming, by chopping a pile of wood.

His wife outlived him by fifteen years, living during that time in the home in Marengo.

Grandmother Tanner was an interesting and enigmatic character as I reflect upon her. I lived within a few houses of her for over twenty years. She was very devoted to me, and quite interested in having me succeed in life. She provided me with an automobile, retaining a 1940 Ford for my use after Grandfather died, even though she herself never drove. She did though enjoy riding in an automobile immensely. When I graduated from dental school, she bought a new 1952 Ford for me. In the following years I had much less contact with her, not living in Marengo again. She made a trip to Faribualt in 1953 to visit us; I saw her on the few occasions we visited Marengo; and returned for her funeral in 1955.

She was the youngest of her siblings, and as was the custom in her day, stopped going to school after eight grades. The boys in the family went on to a high school education as was the custom of that period. She did have a good education in housekeeping, and had an active mind, enjoying card playing, crossword puzzles and painting. She was a superb cook, and every Saturday made doughnuts for the enjoyment of all. Monday was washday, Tuesday ironing, Wednesday shopping, and Thursday cleaning. She spent her entire life in only four houses: the family farms and two houses in the town of Marengo.

Her relationship with Grandfather Tanner was, I thought, unusual. Having only one child was quite normal for the times. They always slept in the same bed, unless illness prevented it, but yet I never saw her express any affection towards him. She seemed to enjoy being dependent upon my father in later years and there seemed to be a love-hate relationship with my mother. She never spoke harshly to her, or to anyone else as a matter of fact, yet I sensed she felt Mother was socially inferior to her. She was devoted to all of her family, yet never became emotionally involved.

In spite of her sparse education, she was very skillful in money management, leaving a greater estate than she received when Grandfather died. She was most businesslike in all her dealings, even extending it to my father, her only child. She was never employed, but successfully managed two farms and numerous businesses in her lifetime.

The diagnosis of cancer was devastating to her, and she tolerated the futile treatments poorly. She was on the surface a devout Christian, attending church every Sunday either alone or with my accompaniment, but never expressed any opinion of religious matters, except to be intolerant of sin and fearful of death. She died in her seventy-third year..

I can lay no claim to any original research on the Lyon line. On a visit to the genealogical section of the Los Angeles County Library, I stumbled on two books, Lyon Memoirs, Volumes 1 and 4. In the latter, there appeared the name of my maternal great-grandmother, Mary Lyon Wright. It was a rare coincidence that this was really my great-great grandmother, but I had heard of many of the names of her brothers and sisters as the appeared in the book. It was a good fortune that I was able to buy an original 1905 edition of volume one from a genealogical book dealer. This was a long, well-written work, and with little embellishment of the truth. Since I enjoyed reading many parts of it, and did indeed use much of its form for this book, I have copied many parts of it in my history of the Lyon line.

A. B. Lyon wrote in his introduction to the Lyon Memorial, the motto of Lords de Rohan (of which the Lyons belonged) was:

Many years ago, professional genealogists traced the Lyon family in Europe. Sir Roger de Leonne, son of a follower of the Conqueror, born in 1040, joined himself to King Edgar and received land in Perthshire, called Glen Lyon. His son went to the Holy Land and afterwards settled in England. His son had lands in Norfolk and his son, John Lyon, born in Norfolk in 1150. The line thus continued and A. B. Lyon devoted twenty-two pages to the Lyon family in England. There were many land, baptismal, marriage, and other records in England. He claims to have thereby traced the family to my ancestor, William Lyon of Roxbury, Massachusetts, the American immigrant. A reader of Mr. Lyon's book can well judge for himself, the validity of his introduction to our Lyon family.

William Lyon came to America at age fourteen on the Hopewell and settled in Roxbry, Massachusetts. He was perhaps an orphan, but well established as the son of William and Anne (Carter) Lyon. He was in the care of Isaac Heath, an armorer. He married Sarah Ruggles in 1646. Her parents were a member of the "Nazing Colony", a group of Puritans known for their great piety. He received in 1648 a grant of six acres of land in Roxbury, and was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Roxbury. When the new settlement of New Roxbury, now Woodstock, Connecticut, was determined in 1686, he was one of the "goers" and was assigned a lot there. He did not actually occupy it, since he was then at the age of seventy and died six years later, but several of his grandsons became prominent members there.

The first William Lyon in New England was well documented in the vital records of Roxbury, appearing in town and church records, as to his marriages, numerous land transactions, and a lengthy will. He sired eight children, my ancestor John, being the first. He married after the death of his wife Sarah, Mrs. Martha (Philbrick) Casse, widow of John Casse, but had no more children. He also used the family name "Lion" in many documents.

Since the mid-seventeenth century in New England, was a time of many small Indian wars, his occupation of an armorer, allowed him to prosper. His house still stands in the town of Roxbury, and a street is named after him.

The oldest son of the pioneer was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts in April 1647. He inherited the landed property of his father, and lived and died in Roxbury. He married May 10, 1670, in Roxbury, Abigail Polley, born June 4, 1654, daughter of John and Susanna Polley. Her father, John Polley had been born in England about 1618, was in Robury as early as 1650, when his wife Susanna was admitted to the church. He died in 1688 and made bequests to his son-in-law, "John Lion".

John Lyon and his wife died (it is said of smallpox) on the same day, Jan 15, 1670 and were buried in one grave in West Roxbury Cemetery. Their headstone still exists.

He died intestate. Administration of his estate was granted to his oldest son John. This extensive estate was divided among his eleven children, four of whom were minors. The oldest, again John, was my ancestor.

John Lyon, II was born May 14, 1673, and died January 23, 1725, at the age of fifty-two. He had moved in 1698 to Woodstock, Connecticut, to land granted to his grandfather twelve years before. His wife's name was Elizabeth. They had nine children, Caleb being the seventh. He also lived in Pomfret, Connecticut and moved frequently. He was a husbandman, and did not prosper as his grandfather, leaving only a house, orchard and twenty acres of land.

The first Caleb Lyon was born April 15, 1709. He was sixteen when his father died, and Daniel Carpenter was appointed his guardian. In his seventeenth year on February 29, 1729, he married his own cousin, Margaret Lyon. He took his freeman's oath in Woodstock in 1749. Several of his sons and at least one son-in-law left records of distinguished service in the Revolution. Among his descendants were General Nathaniel Lyon and the Hon. Caleb Lyon, first territorial governor of Idaho. They had fifteen children. His third son, and fourth child, was my ancestor, Caleb Jr. Caleb Sr. died in 1792.

Caleb Lyon, Jr., was born June 29, 1734, and baptized in the Newman Congegational Church, Seekonk, Massachusetts. He moved to Woodstock, Connectict with his family in 1742. In 1756 he married Elizabeth Hodges. Only one child was born in Woodstock, and they then presumably moved to East Windsor, Connecticut where son John was born in 1757. There are no further records on the family.

He was born in 1757 in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He and his first wife had passed from the remembrance of the family one hundred years later, but his grandson, Alva E. Lyon of Perry, Iowa, says that he was one of twelve or thirteen children, one of them named Horace. They were probably not of the same mother. Another of the brothers was named Rufus. One of the sons of Rufus was named Horace. This branch of the family remained in Massachusett, New York and Vermont. My great grandfather William, also named a son Rufus, indicating that the family remained in contact, although separated by nearly two thousand miles, from New England to Illinois.

This namesake of the immigrant William Lyon was born July 25, 1790, in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He had a long and migratory life. He left home at the age of fourteen, his mother having died and his father having married again, and went to Vermont where he lived ten years. It seems likely that he spent those years in Craftsbury, where Nehemiah Lyon, his father's own cousin, had settled. About 1814 he moved to Allegheny County, New York where he married Rhoda Millett on March 22, 1815. There were many Millet families in Colonial America, but I was unable to place her in a particular family. This could probably be done through a search of the census and vital records of New York State during the early 1800's.

He remained in that region twenty-eight years, then went west, locating in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. There he was probably a miner. When his wife died, he moved in with his daughter Mary and his father-in-law, Columbus Perry and moved to Marengo, Illinois with them. He died April 25, 1881, at the age of ninety-one years.

My great-grandmother was the fifth of six children of William Lyon and his wife Rhoda Millet. She was born in 1843 in Allegheny County, New York. She married Columbus Perry Wright in 1856, in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. In 1880 they moved to rural Boone County, Illinois. Their home and farm were across the road and county line from the Tanner homestead. She bore him six children, the youngest being my grandmother. I can recall going with my Grandmother Tanner to visit her. At that time, she was of an ancient vintage, but apparently was quite comfortable. She lived in Marengo in a large Victorian house, with an attendant who was called "Sadie". This was no doubt in the early 1930's, since listening to the radio was in vogue at that time. All of her children survived her and were devoted to her. However I heard stories after her death, of much family quarreling over her possessions. In particular was a silver tea service, which I had many years later.

Tracing my Hulett ancestors was interesting. I had very little information to go on, with the exception of what my Mother had told me. On the Hulett matter, she did know her grandfather had come from New York state and that her great grandfather's name was Resolved. There were also some relatives (Prays) in Marengo that she was aware of, but did not know what the relationship to us. She also knew her Father's brother's and sister's names and histories, but not much else. She also thought the Huletts were French, but I have only been able to find information that is inconclusive. The most information I received on the Huletts came by chance when I was researching the Tanner line in upstate New York. Curiously, both families had come to Marengo from Washington County in New York. My mother's brother, Jim, who is still alive at this writing, and with whom I have kept in touch with for many years, was of little help also on the family tree although he always expressed interest. There were no books written on the Huletts, and only one obscure article. Early on in my search, a family bible entry appeared which was of help on later lines.

Significant detective work was needed, and in the investigation I apparently became a foremost authority on the descendants of Mathew Hulett. In spite of making many queries, information from other genealogists was not forthcoming. There is a "southern branch" of the family that apparently had its origination in England and Virginia. This was again curiously similar to the Tanner line that had a similar origination. There also was a faint early connection in both families between the North and South. I had correspondence from southern Hulett genealogists but none that had as much information as I had. There was a "Reverend Hulett" in the South, and indications were that all the colonial Huletts came from England and had a Protestant background

All Huletts in the United States are descended from one of two immigrants whose relationship is not known. A John Hulett was in Virginia in 1630 and Mathew in New England in 1633. Many "southern Huletts" descend from this John and "northern Huletts" from Mathew. A Long Island New York branch generally spelled their name "Hewlett" but was associated with the Connecticut Huletts. The spelling Hulet, Hulett, Hulette and Hewlett was used and generally refers to the same clan.

The first Hulett to New England in America was Mathew, probably a Huggenot, who came to New England on the Hercules and according to a Charles Banks, went to Windsor, Connecticut in 1633 with a company of adventurers and pilgrims. He was first listed as a passenger on the ship Mary and John, but shortly thereafter was removed and placed on the list of a companion ship, the Hercules. This entire company then went westward overland to the upper reaches of the Connecticut Valley. Mathew Hulett's name did not again appear, although a contemporary writer, Mathew Grant made numerous references to a Mr. and Ms. Hulett, their deaths, and of Nathaniel Hulett.

The Pequot Indian War in the upper Connecticut River Valley caused much hardship and dislocation of the colonists there and many fled back to Massachusetts. Among these was Nathaniel. Nothing further is known of this ancestor.

It is not surprising that John Hulett was recorded as living in Massachusetts when his son Michael was born. Little is known of his wife except that his wife was Elizabeth Newton and they had a son name Michael. This information is all that the vital records contain.

It has been definitely established that this was the Michael Hulett who was one of the original settlers of what became Killingsley, Connecticut. He is without doubt in the lineage of my Huletts and lived for six decades with his wife Experience Newton, close to his many children and their families. Land records indicate that these Huletts were very active buying and selling real estate in the eighteenth century.

This wilderness country in the Northeast corner of the state had been bought from the Indian Chief Owaneco about 1700, and was in Windham County and the town of Thompson, which later became Killingly. Development was rapid in the next one hundred years and the line of descent from Michael was Oliver, who married Sarah and thence David who married Martha Whittemore. The Whittemore family was quite a colorful group of seafarers and builders and a lengthy article appeared in an early issue of the New England Genealogic Register. A Hulett cousin went with the militia to Fort Ticonderoga in the Upper Hudson Valley of New York, and it was there that both the Hulett and Whittemore families migrated after the Revolutionary War.

Oliver Hulett, a son of Michael, lived an unremarkable life in Killingsley. His wife was named Sarah, but nothing is known of her or her origins. The only references to her are in the vital birth records. They had only five children, my descendant David being the last, born in 1758. Sarah died between David's birth, and Oliver's marriage to Sarah Searles a year and a half later. They had five more children, Oliver thereby being the father of ten or more children.

All the Huletts in Killingly, Connectict were descendants of Michael. During this time there was correspondence, and even extended visits from the Hewletts of Long Island. Since there is no evidence of a Hewlett immigrant to Nerw York and the names "Hewlett and Hulett" were used interchangeable in the 18th century, it is quite possible that the Long Island Hewletts were indeed also descendants of either John Hulett or his son Michael.

Little is known of David Hulett's early years except that he served in the Revolutionary War and migrated after to Washington County, New York. He married Martha Whittemore in Connecticut after his discharge, and they moved with parts of her family to that area. In later 19th century census records, the Hulett's and Whittemore families appear as neighbors. A brother of David's had established a home near Lake George with Dresden, New York being the nearest town. Hulett's Landing was at first a small landing, then a settlement then acquired a post office. It later became a large, luxurious, and popular summer retreat for citizens of New York in the 19th century, but about 1890 it was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt. All that exist today is a small pier and shack.

Hulett's Landing is mentioned in the book A History of Washington County, New York written in 1880. This book also mentions many Huletts, as office holders, and a particularly interesting story of David's death. He and a grandson were looking for rattlesnakes along the shore of Lake George, when he fell and broke a leg. The grandson went for help, but after the rescue, David died following the amputation of the broken leg.

The second son of David and Martha was Resolved, born in 1778. He served in the War of 1812 and at the age of thirty-five, married Delena Sweet. She was also of early colonists. There were many Sweets in New England from 1830, but I was unable to trace her lineage. David and Martha had one other son, Harvey, and three daughters. They all married in nearby Wells, Vermont. The names of their spouses, Heath, Glass, Noble and Pray were also all of English derivation and these families later lived in Marengo, Illinois, as I recall both from memory and records.

The last born of Resolved and his wife Delena Sweet (another family name in McHenry County, Illinois) was Warren.

Warren was born in 1836. When he was eight years old his mother died at age forty-four. His father, Resolved was then seventy-four. Warren went to Wells, Vermont and lived with relatives. On New Years day of 1859, in his twenty-third year he married Amanda Pray. Three years later, he was in the 14th Vermont Regiment, Company B. I do not know anything about his service, but, after the Civil War, he left Vermont and New York for Illinois with his wife and elderly father, Resolved, who was by then nearing ninety years of age. Money and land were no doubt acquired by both father and son as a result of serving in the War of 1812 and the Civil War, although little is known of the actual military activities of either. A thorough search of government records and local newspapers would no doubt shed more light on the matter. Resolved died in Marengo, Illinois and is buried in the Marengo Cemetery. I can recall seeing the headstones of both Resolved and his son Warren in the old graveyard in the 1930's, but understand they were later vandalized.

Warren and Amanda had three children, all of which I can recall. The first born was George who left Marengo at an early age, but later visited Marengo. He moved to Los Angeles, had a family, and as late as 1980, heard of Hulett's in the area. Warren was a barn builder, and by newspaper accounts and family stories, built as many as six in one year. A newspaper article told of Resolved and Warren, but has eluded my records. Since the latter died at age sixty-six, before my mother was born, she knew little of his life. Neither did she have recollection of her grandmother Amanda, but recalled her uncle, Frank Pray, no doubt a brother to Amanda. I can also recall him as an elderly man living a large house in Marengo, with his wife, whose name I cannot recall.

My great-aunt was named Carrie, and I can recall her and her husband John Kitchen. There was some cloud of legitimacy surrounding her and John. During my childhood, I was quite familiar with their son Cliff, and his son Roger. The former was some twenty years my senior, and the latter about ten years my junior. Members of the family still live in Marengo.

My grandfather Clarence was the youngest of the three children. I have and have seen many pictures of him, recall him vividly, and my mother told many stories of him. He was born in Marengo on December 12, 1881, the youngest of Warren and Amanda Hulett. I knew little of his early years, except that his musical talent was developed young, and he played the guitar and sang skillfully, both in solo and in a quartet. He graduated from Marengo High School in 1899 and married Helen Eggers, who was also called Helen Jaycox after her adoptive parents in Marengo. Like Clarence, little is known of her childhood.

Clarence worked as a railroad conductor, store clerk and gardener and they had two children and beside my mother, a son, Clarence Earl Jr. (known as Earl), Jim, and Bud. He apparently was a good father, although in later years he became a confirmed alcoholic. My mother tells of finding empty whiskey bottles around the yard when she was young. When Grandmother Helen died at age forty-four of erysipelas, a form of scarlet fever, his drinking became more pronounced although he cared for his son Earl for a number of years.

Earl Jr. later moved in with my parents and me for a number of years. He was very good to me, building and giving me a model airplane. He also interested me in ham radio and music. He was quite disdainful of my ability in the latter, and rightly so. Earl graduated from Marengo High School, and attended one year at the University of Illinois on a scholarship. During this time he played trumpet on a cruise ship in the Carribean and then left college and joined a number of "big bands" for a number of years. Among these was a particular favorite of mine, "Tiny" Hill. He also claimed to have written the song You Are My Sunshine, which was published by and under the auspices of Jimmy Davis, who was later to be governor of Louisiana.

During the war, he met his future wife Edna in Shrevport, Louisiana, left the band and went to work in a wartime shipyard in Beaumont, Texas. They remained in the area where Jim worked in the oil, marine and fishing industries. He also continued with his musical career, but gradually abandoned that pursuit. They had two daughters, Patty and Ruth Ann. Both of these, my cousins, married and had families. They distinguished themselves in many ways, but the older Patty died young. Many of their descendants survive, particularly in the southern part of the United States, and have a predilection for academics and medicine.

Meanwhile, Grandfather Clarence continued to live in and around Marengo, and in and out of trouble and alcoholism. He too was kind to me, and taught me to play the guitar, which I did with enthusiasm but little skill. He was unable to hold any job but was befriended by many people, and was a fine gardener when sober. I had little contact with him after the war in 1946, but attended his funeral when he died in 1952, at age seventy-one, of tuberculosis in a sanitarium. He was a kind and gentle man, and I have only good memories of him as I do of Grandmother Hulett, although she died when I was only three years old.

Grandmother Hulett had a short but interesting life. B