Surname Saturday - HUNTOON / HUNTORN

I've written about my great grandmother, Mary R. Huntoon here and also here.

I try to revisit her every so often. I'm not sure why, but the thought occurred to me that the woman with whom she is living in 1870, Mary Taylor, might not be her mother-in-law, but her mother.

Looking at Mary Taylor again with this in mind, I find that she was born in Pennsylvania, which is where in 1880 Mary Huntoon Porter states her mother was born. I had already found her date of death, but had not looked at her death certificate, so I obtained a copy from Familysearch.org. It states that her father's name was David Stagers. On Mary's son, John James Taylor's death certificate, Mary is listed as Mary Stiggers. As mentioned in one of the previous posts I've seen the surname Stiger or some variation of it on several Ancestry family trees pertaining to this family. I then obtained a copy of Mary Taylor's obituary. It states that she was born in Green [Greene] County, Pennsylvania. Already known facts are that she married Burgess Taylor and was survived by her son, John J. Taylor. In the 1900 federal census both Burgess and Mary Taylor state that they had been married 39 years, putting their marriage date at about 1860-1861. Their son, John, according to his death certificate was born in November 1861. My Great Grandmother, Mary Huntoon Porter, was born about 1853. So for Mary Taylor to be Mary Huntoon Porter's mother, the marriage to Burgess would have had to have been a second marriage. Looking through my book on Knox County marriages between 1808 to 1875, I could not find a marriage record in Knox County for Mary Staggers and Burgess Taylor. However, I did find a marriage record for Mary Staggers and Owen/Oren Huntorn!

So it appears that my hunch was right. The Mary Taylor with whom my Great Grandmother, Mary Huntoon Porter, is indeed my Great, Great Grandmother. The other thing that gives some support to this is a paragraph printed just before Mary Taylor's obituary: "George Mohr of Gambier [Knox County, O], Arthur Porter, Joshua Taylor, Bertie Lybarger and Mrs. Ida Worman [Warman] of Knox county, attended the funeral of Mrs. Mary Taylor on Wednesday of last week." Arthur Porter, Bertie Lybarger and Ida Warman are Leander and Mary Huntoon Porter's children. Several times in the local paper "Richwood Gazette" [Union County, Ohio] Mrs. Mary Taylor is mentioned as having returned from visiting relatives in Knox County.

I cannot find anything more on Owen/Oren Huntorn. The surname Huntorn is seen some in census records, but not in Knox County/Union County areas. It's possible that the surname is not Huntorn, but Huntoon/Hontoon. I'm sure that all were illiterate so the surname was written as it sounded. I will of course keep looking for my newly-found 2nd Great Grandfather.

So as of today I have definitely verified the story that my Great Grandmother's last name was Huntoon (or something that sounded very similar). What I have not verified is if Mary's father was Native American. A DNA test might help determine if there is Native American blood in our ancestry. I have most likely identified my 2nd Great Grandparents, Owen/Oren Huntorn/Huntoon and Mary Staggers.

I now have to find more supporting evidence, but I feel confident that I have again taken a chunk out of my brick wall, Mary Huntoon Porter.

Weekly Roundup 22 Apr 2011

I finished browsing the microfilmed newspapers that I had borrowed from the Ohio Historical Society via Interlibrary Loan. The only thing I found was a date of death for a 2-year-old, Daisy Pinkley.

I again listened to Geneablogger Radio. The topic was Family History and the Civil War. Though it was again a very good show, I didn't make it to the very end as the show is between 10pm and midnight for me. Sleep does sometime win out.

I hired a Knox County researcher to do some of the research that I cannot do at this time. He has already been able to give me very good results. I'm waiting until I have the actual paperwork before I post a blog on his findings.

I continued to look for other children of my 2nd Great Grandfather, William Porter. Since it has been written that he originally stopped in Coshocton County before settling in Knox County, I looked for any Porters who were born in New York during a time frame of 1820-1836. I did find one man, Lorenzo Porter, who looks promising. In 1850 he is living in New Castle Township, Coshocton, Ohio with a David Sharpless family. He is 21 years old so that makes him born about 1829.

I finally found a reference in legal documents to my Great Grandmother's maiden name. It's the one that I've heard growing up - Hontoon. I blogged about it in an earlier post titled Surname Saturday - HONTOON.

It's been a good week. I'm hoping this continues until I find my 2nd Great Grandfather's parents!

Surname Saturday - HONTOON

I recently wrote about my great grandmother Mary. In that post I stated that the story handed down was that she was an American Indian from an Ohioan tribe with the surname HUNTOON. Research shows that name to be of Scottish origin. I really began to doubt that her name was anything close to HUNTOON. I was hoping the surname HEPNER, which is listed on her marriage certificate to my great grandfather, Leander PORTER, was at least close to her real surname. The thing that has bothered me all along has been the fact that she is listed as Mary TAYLOR on three of her children's birth records and a few other records.

She was rather young (age 18) when she married my great grandfather, Leander Porter, so I didn't think that she would have been married before him BUT it appears I was wrong. Today using Ancestry.Com I decided to do a search only on Mary R, born about 1853 in Ohio, living in Knox County, Ohio. I think I've done this search before, but nothing stood out in the results. However this time I noticed a Mary R Tylor, age 17 in 1870 (b. 1853) living in Pleasant Township, Knox, Ohio. Hmm, that was close enough to warrant further investigation.

At that time Mary R Tylor was living with a Burgess and Mary Tylor. Also listed in this household was John Tylor, age 9. What I noticed right away though was that Mary, age 17, was listed after John, age 9. That was odd. Usually the children are listed in age order. Of course the 1870 federal census does not include relationship to head of household so was she their daughter, niece?

I decided to look for Burgess and Mary Tylor in later census records. I found them in 1880 living in Union County, Ohio. The family consists of Burgess, Mary, and John TAYLOR. In 1900 I also find Burgess and Mary TAYLOR living in Union County, Ohio. John J. TAYLOR is living next door to them with his wife Ida V TAYLOR.

I did not find Burgess or Mary in the 1910 federal census. So I did a quick look at Find A Grave and found a memorial for both Burgess and Mary. From these memorials it appears that Burgess died in 1910 and Mary in 1907. However, it's just the opposite. Again using Ancestry I searched a Union County newspaper, the Richwood Gazette, and found a death notice for Burgess Taylor. He died 29 May 1907 in Taylor Township, Union, Ohio. Next I checked FamilySearch for Mary's death certificate. She died 28 Feb 1910 in Taylor Township, Union, Ohio. Her death certificate is signed by their son, John J. Taylor.

I wanted to obtain more proof that this was the same family found in Knox County, Ohio in the 1870 federal census, so I looked for John J. Taylor's death record. Using FamilySearch I found that John J. Taylor died 21 Mar 1941 in Taylor Township, Union, Ohio. His death certificate states that he was born in Knox County, Ohio.

Ok, so here's where it got confusing. Deciding that I wanted to see if I could obtain anymore information on Burgess Taylor I did a search using FamilySearch. What came back astounded me! There was a marriage record in Union County, Ohio, image included, of a Burgess M. Taylor and a Mary HONTOON! OMG! OMG! OMG! But wait! The date of marriage was 21 Jan 1868. WHAT???? Ok, was Burgess a polygamist and living with both his wives in 1870? I don't think so. Did he divorce his first wife, then marry Mary R, divorce her, and then marry another Mary? Since I don't think another wife would want an ex-wife living with them I had to forget about that one! Then it finally hit me! Burgess M. Taylor had a son named Burgess M. Taylor (Jr). He must have died soon after the marriage and Mary was living with her in-laws in 1870. Unfortunately the 1870 federal census does not include marriage status.

This needs sources, but at least I feel there is some truth to the story I heard as a child about my great grandmother. But was she an American Indian? The name is spelled HONTOON on the marriage certificate, not HUNTOON. Did she not know how to spell her surname so the clerk just spelled it as it sounded?

This is good too in that I know to also look in Union County for Mary R's roots.

It's funny too to find this connection to Union County, Ohio. My Mom and her father were both born very close to where the Taylors lived and died.

It's also makes me realize even more so now just how many things had to have fallen into place for me to have been born. If Burgess had not moved temporarily to Pleasant Township, Knox County, Mary R would never have met Leander and my grandfather would not have been born, and my father would not have been born, and I would not have been born.