Roswell Kilbourne, Two Patriots, Two Wars

Roswell Kilbourne, Two Patriots, Two Wars

By Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

     When invited to join the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, I was so honored.  My children were all in school and I had already become addicted to genealogy.  I knew immediately which ancestor to pursue.  My uncle loved to oil paint, as a hobby, and had painted his rendition of Roswell Kilbourn(e), as a gift for my grandmother.  This rendition included Kilbourn in Continental uniform during the Revolutionary War.

     The members of the Moorestown (NJ) Chapter, NSDAR all jumped in to help put my application together.  Miriam Cauffman, Rowena Billos and Kay Burkley (fondly known by my children as “the Cookie Lady”) all double checked my documentation.  These grand ladies are all deceased now, but hold a special place in my heart.

     The DAR Patriot Index listed Roswell Kilbourn, Connecticut, death 1777.  My documentation flowed easily through Roswell Kilbourn’s son also named Roswell Kilbourn (1763-1806).

     I ordered copies of several other’s who had been accepted as members for Roswell Kilbourn(e) through daughter Elizabeth that married Obil Beach.  My line is through Roswell Kilbourne’s son also named Roswell Kilbourne/Kilborn.  Following their example, I noted the elder Roswell Kilbourn’s service as Staunton’s company, Col. Sheldon’s Regiment of Horse.  As with the other applicants I submitted Payne Kenyon Kilbourne’s The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kilbourn[i].  The publication gave the regiment and said he “died while in service of the camp distemper, February 8, 1777”.

     With medical professionals in my background I learned more about “camp distemper”.  I found the name became popular in 1753 because of dysentery among troops in the French and Indian War.[ii] 

          Waiting for test results, of any kind, is a bit nerve wracking and submitting hereditary society applications is no different.  They are reviewed carefully by other genealogical peers for proper documentation, crossing every “t.” I already knew that uniforms were not officially adopted by Congress until 1779, but my uncle’s painting, for his mother, was a labor of love that told the story she knew. 

     I also questioned information concerning Sheldon’s Regiment  in the timeline.      Elisha Sheldon was commissioned December 12, 1776 to the 2^nd Continental Light Dragoons, two months prior to the death of Roswell Kilbourn.  However, they did not muster until after Roswell Kilbourn’s death in March 1777 at Wethersfield, Connecticut.   Roswell Kilbourn was from Litchfield, 36 miles from Wethersfield.  Since this was “accepted evidence” I submitted the same. Maybe the unit was already in camp, at the time of his death, just not officially?  Assumptions should never be trusted.

     With getting children to and from school, physically going to archives was limited.  So, I waited.  Today we reference it as snail mail.  In the early 1980’s it was our main mail source and getting an application reviewed could take months.  The response finally came:

     "In reference to your application on the record of Roswell Kilbourne (Kilbourn) Sr., who allegedly died on 8 February 1777  “in service" we have accepted two members through his daughter Elizabeth who married Obil Beach. Unfortunately, the date and circumstances of the aforesaid mentioned, Roswell Kilbourne’s death apparently were based entirely on a statement made in the Kilbourne Genealogy...There is no documented proof that he was in the military....The Roswell Kilbourne Sr., who served in the 2nd Regiment, Light Dragoons, Continental Army, Capt. Amos Staunton's Co...1781 for the duration of the war...was living in Castleton Vermont, in 1791 when he transferred a bounty land warrant ...It is suggested that you may wish to amend your application...Our ancestor card records will be edited to reflect that no future application will be accepted on the record of Roswell Kilbourne, Sr. who died 8 Feb 1777 without official proof of his service...”

     Having four generations of Roswell’s in my direct line, I did as suggested, re-submitting my application utilizing son Roswell Kilbourn(e) born 7 April 1763 at Litchfield, who enlisted 15 January 1781, at the age of 17 in the 2^nd Regular Light Dragoons. [iii] Following his service in Staunton’s Company, he married Abigail Beard (d/o Samuel).   By 1790 the family moved to Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont, where the third Roswell was born in 1800.  Roswell Kilbourn, a young soldier in the Revolutionary War, died January 1807, at the age of 42. He is buried in Congregational Cemetery at Castleton.

Congregational Cemetery, Castleton, VT

     I loved my years with the Moorestown Chapter NSDAR.  My elders became my dearest friends and mentors. My research skills improved. I held several offices and became the organizer of the Moorestown chapter, Children of the American Revolution.  My sons, while not happy wearing knickers for a parade, enjoyed their trips to the UN in New York and historical sites in Philadelphia. 

        My grandmother and several cousins, all joined the DAR utilizing the short form for Roswell Kilbourne, 1763 – 1806. 

     I was able to submit, what documentation I  then had for Roswell Kilbourn who died in 1777 for membership in Colonial Dames 17^th Century.

      But while my grandmother cherished the Kilbourne publication, only superseded by her Bible, I wanted to know more about this early patriot, that died in 1777, leaving children under the age of 18.   The Barbour Collection of town records cited the 8 February 1777 death date, at Litchfield.  With confirmation of the death date, at Litchfield, locating the estate packet for Roswell “Kilborn” answered several questions.[iv] 

     Roswell Kilbourn married Irene Bacon, having four children between 1761 – 1767. Irene died in February 1768 at Litchfield.  When Irene died, son Roswell was only five (5) years old. She also left behind seven year old Rhoda, and three year old Elizabeth. Another child, Anna had died in August 1667.  Roswell Kilborn/Kilbourn/Kilbourne needed help to raise these small children.

      Roswell then married Patience Jenkins having five more children between 1769 and February 1777.   He was only 42 years old when he died in 1777.  The same age his own son Roswell would be when he died in 1806.   No wonder Payne Kenyon Kilbourn was so confused! 

     Patience gave birth to their last child, Joseph, seven days after the death of her husband.  Roswell Kilborn’s intestate (without will) estate cited wife Patience, his mother the Widow Sarah Kilborn, and his father James Kilborn’s estate.  Several parcels of land are partitioned among the heirs.  The packet includes funds for care of a child in his sickness, a coffin, spinning wheel, a spelling book, a willow basket, side saddle and other household goods.  The inventory was dated 7 July 1777. 

      The court appointed one of his brother’s, Appleton Kilborn, and his widow, Patience, administrator of the estate.  Appleton was also appointed to be son Roswell’s guardian. Roswell son of Roswell was now 15 years old.

      Understanding that working with five generations of the same given name in a direct line is more than a wee bit confusing I still wanted to see if I could ascertain more about military service of the two Roswell’s.  This is why genealogists need charts. This is why genealogists need to have dates follow continuity.  This compiler still needed to fill in  gaps in the life line, of Roswell Killborn (and various spellings) who died in 1777. 

       I reviewed what was happening in history.  When Roswell Kilbourn was 21 years old, the Campaign of 1755 occurred. It was the beginning of the French and Indian War.  An ah hah moment.  The use of the verbiage “camp distemper” first appears during the French and Indian War.   Roswell Kilborn was a member of the Provincial troops for the French and Indian War in the Second Connecticut Regiment under Col. Elizur Goodrich with Capt. Samuel Bellows, where Roswell appears on the rolls for the expedition against Crown Point.[v]    

Copies of the Battle of Lake George map can be purchased at Battlemaps.us

     Kilborn is on the roll from September 1 to December 6^th.  Goodrich while commanding the regiment, had Lt. Col. Nathan Whiting lead the unit in the field.  On September 8, 1755 they participated in the Battle of Lake George. On the march they were ambushed by French with Indian allies.  Whiting took the survivors back to expedition leader William Johnson’s camp at Lake George.  After protecting the camp, Johnson built Fort William Henry.

     In August 1757 Roswell Kilborn again appears on the roll under Captain Bellows,[vi] during the French expedition against Fort William Henry.   The siege at Fort William Henry lasted from August 3 to August 9^th. The British had 100 men killed while the French only lost 20 to death.  The roll does not say what days in in the month of August Kilborn is with Bellows.

Fort William Henry published in 1765 available at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William_Henry

Two Roswell Kilbourne’s.  Father & son. Two Patriots.  Two Wars.  Both died at the age of 42 years.  Two more generations with the given name of Roswell Kilbourne.

Snip from personal database of compiler utilizing RootsMagic 7.6.3.0

    

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[i] The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kilbourn (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1856) page 108

[ii] Caulfield, Ernest. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial children” Transactions…Colonial Society of Massachusetts, V35, April 1942, page 51.

[iii] 2d Regt' Light Drgoons, Elisha Sheldon, Col. , Roll,'" Vol 11 page 53, Revolutionary Military Rolls, National Archives.

[iv] Connecticut State Library, Litchfield, CT, file 3344 and file 3345

[v] Connecticut Historical Society, Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (Hartford, 1903_ volume IX page 35

[vi] Connectiuct Historical Society, Rolls of Connecticut Men in the French and Indian War 1755-1762 (N.p.: n.p., 1903), page 32, 223.

ROSWELL KILBOURNE, WONDERLUST, RIVER RAT

ROSWELL KILBOURNE, WONDERLUST, RIVER RAT

By Teresa Martin Klaiber, 2020

Growing up in Ashland, Kentucky, my parents and I would follow the ribbon of the Ohio River to Portsmouth, where we were born.  Sometimes we followed the river on the Kentucky side from Boyd County through Greenup County, crossing the bridge at Portsmouth. For variety we crossed the Ashland Bridge and drove through Lawrence County to Scioto County.  Mother would reminiscence about her friend, Betty Bryant, that lived on a showboat and how she loved to swim in the Ohio River.  She would say she could easily be a “river rat.” 

Taking day trips with my paternal grandmother, often lead us back to Burlington in Lawrence County, Ohio where her mother, Clara “Callie” Kilbourne was born in 1870.  My great grandmother lived long enough to hold me and see me learn to sit up before her death in Portsmouth in April 1950.   Grandmother would often point out where the Kilbourne’s resided, in Burlington, in a two-story house, along the river bank.  She told me stories about how the river played such an intricate role in the Kilbourne family life.  When I asked if they were “river rats” she would smile and say, yes, she guessed they really were.

Four generations of Roswell Kilbourne’s fill my genealogical chart.  Roswell (s/o Roswell; Roswell; Roswell; James; Joseph; John; Thomas) was born in Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont about 1800.  The farmers were known for sheep and the first industries in the town included mills.  By the age of 18, according to family, Roswell was working as fuller.  But It appears he had dreams and wonder lust.  When interviewed for a Kilbourne history, Roswell’s brother, Alanson told Payne Kenyon Kilbourne that he had not heard from his brother for more than thirty years, that he had gone to Indiana and talked about going to South America.[i]

By the time Roswell was 19 years old he met Rhoda Snapp, from Hampshire County, Virginia.[ii] This researcher still struggles to find out how they met or where they married.  Roswell and Rhoda purchased land in Vincennes, Indiana where it was paid off by 24 April 1820.[iii] The land lays on the Wabash River in what is northern Vincennes.[iv]  Between 1820 and 1826 Roswell and Rhoda had four children: Joseph, Maria, Roswell and Almira.  About the time Almira was born, in 1826, is apparently the last time Roswell’s brother Alanson had contact from him in Indiana.

The terminus of the Wabash River is the Ohio River west of Evansville.  The Ohio flows into the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois where it flows pass Memphis, Tennessee.  According to the history of Vigo County the first steamboat arrived in Terre Haute, Vigo County about 1824/25, named the Florence. [v] with Captain Donne.[vi] The 2^nd was the Ploughboy.[vii]  The article on the Ploughboy states it had traveled over five thousand miles up and down the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi River.  “By 1829 steamboats including the Victory, William Tell, Criterion, WASP, Virginian, Highlander, Talisman, Monongahela, were all reported as stopping in Vincennes…”[viii] In 1832 the steamboat named Vincennes launched from the town.  The list of more and more steamboats stopping at Vincennes were reported in newspapers that year. 

By 1832/1833 Rhoda was pregnant with her fifth child Rollin.  Family lore states that Roswell Kilbourne was killed in a steamboat accident and buried in Memphis, Tennessee in 1833.  Steamboat boiler explosions and fires were common place.[ix]  1833 was also the year of raging Cholera among the river men in and around Memphis.[x]  Newspapers reported accidents but only in a few cases do articles include a full list of victims. Roswell Kilbourne never made it to South America.

During the Civil War Roswell’s son Rollin stated on his enlistment that he was born in Wayne County, Virginia. Wayne was not formed until 1842 thus his place of birth would have been Cabell, Virginia where the Guyandotte River meets the Ohio, just across from Lawrence County, Ohio.  Further research is needed to ascertain if Rhoda and the children left Vincennes before or after the death of Roswell Kilbourne in 1833 near Memphis.

Rhoda remarried John Cunningham, 29 May 1845 in Lawrence County, Ohio.  He had four children by a previous marriage, all born in (W.) Virginia.  In 1847 the Cunningham’s had one more son Henry born in Lawrence County.  Both families were residing in Fayette township in various households in 1850.

Roswell Kilbourne, son of Roswell 1800-1833 was residing with his sister Almira Kilbourne Carter.  Almira had married John H. Carter the same year her mother remarried.  Almira and John were married 16 December 1845 in Lawrence County.  John Carter, while listed as a farmer in 1850 listed his occupation as “pilot of boat” in 1860.  Almira’s half-brother Henry Cunningham, now 13, was living with them in Fayette Township, Lawrence, Ohio. The township is bordered by the Ohio River.

 John and Almira Carter sold ½ acre of land adjacent the town of Burlington “whereas the county road leaves Washington Street…to the bank of the Ohio River”[xi] to Roswell Kilbourne. The Carter’s along with Henry Cunningham migrated to Linn County, Missouri. Roswell Kilbourne, born 18 March 1822, beside the Wabash River in Vincennes, Indiana, was now the owner of property on the Ohio River.  This certainly qualifies him for the urban term “river rat.”[xii]

Roswell Kilbourne was a carpenter, building and repairing boats along the river, as needed.  He married 10 October 1854 Sarah Jane Adams in Lawrence County, Ohio.[xiii]  Their first-born son, Ira born October 1855 died 7 December 1857.  He was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, at Burlington, on Burlington-Macedonia Road that runs parallel to the Ohio River.  Five of their eleven children were born prior to the Civil War.  Besides, Ira, Almira, Sarah, Emma and Ida May were all born in Burlington township.  Sarah died 14 May 1864 and was also buried in Greenlawn Cemetery.

My great grandmother Clara told the family that during the Civil War he was held in New Orleans on suspicion of being a northern spy.[xiv]  This compiler is the owner of a letter written the 24^th day of (month unreadable) 1865 from Roswell Kilbourne to wife Sarah Jane.  I have transcribed it complete with mis-spellings.

"Dear Wife, I recive your letter of eight and was glad to here from you but was sorry you was so --- about your money. it did not have time you will get before you get this. It found me well Capt. Warner is hear and has chartered out the boat again an will leave hear for home to morn i will send you more money by him i could not make out all of your letter tell the children i wold like to be with them on Chrismy and see wat the(y) get you must get them something for me and tell me wat the(y) get thenn as maney apples the can eat you never said whether you got more coal or corn. if you have not you will pay for it we will sill sum up red river. Warner is not on the Bostone he said nothing doing up thar so is will fight it out as long as i can and then com home to stay i want you to take good care of yourself an children. So I will close but remain your loving husband. R. Kilbourn. To S. Kilbourn.  I will send you seventy dollars by Cap Warner doe not kep nor move money by you than you want still get all you can of --- but doe not be to hard on him so he will not get mad or he will not pay you.”

While Kilbourne may have been detained at some point, the letter indicates that he is not in prison but earning money along the rivers.

Captain Warner, listed in Roswell Kilbourne’s letter to his wife, was Charles P. Warner who helped build and was the first  Captain of the Mollie Able.  The Mollie Able was built in 1864 with five boilers. She was launched at Jeffersonville, Indiana.  She was in Cincinnati in January 1864 getting her final touches along with Captain Warner. [xv] The usual run was from New Orleans to St. Louis.  The Mollie Able was severely damaged in the Great St. Louis Tornado in 1871 when the boilers exploded,[xvi] [xvii] rebuilt and late in her career ran the Red River. 

The Mollie Able is mentioned in The Rebellion Records: A Diary of American Events Volume 8, edited by Frank Moore, page 79….”April…1864…Just then a steamer…we supposed at first that she was the Mollie Able which the captain of our boat said was due at Fort Pillow …she was one of the boats the rebels had captured, …When we saw her coming we noticed that she was loaded with troops,; whether Union or Rebel we could not tell…The general said to our captain: “Can you run that boat down? He said: If it is the Mollie Able I can run right over her…got nearer, however we found she had Union troops on board…” 

The Memphis Bulletin, 6 January 1865 reported that Captain Warner and the “swift Mollie Able” were leaving for Vicksburg and New Orleans.  This places Warner in or near New Orleans and the subject of the Kilbourne letter.

Edna Ferber mentions a Mollie Able along with a showboat she names the Cotton Blossom in her novel Showboat (page 97).  The Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library contains a picture of the Mollie Able  pushing the Cotton Palace. The actual picture was taken in 1929 for the movie version shot on the Sacramento River. According to one article Ferber’s named boat Cotton Blossom was changed to Cotton Palace because the actual owner of the showboat demanded extravagant fees for the name use in the movie.[xviii]

The Bostone mentioned in Kilbourne’s letter may be the second Bostona. The first one of that name ran from Cincinnati to Portsmouth, was dismantled in 1860 and the machinery used in building the 2nd Bostona. A third Bostona was built in Cincinnati in 1879 according to Marshall University’s digital library. The 2^nd Bostona was on her maiden voyage and was the first on the scene in Memphis when the Sultana exploded 27 April 1865.

Riverboat historian James A. Wallen, a descendent of Captain Julian F. Davey of Ironton, Ohio of the second Bonanza, said that he was aware of at least four steamboats that were launched at Burlington, Ohio: Daniel Webster later known as Oliver H. Perry 1829; Irene 1844; The Billow 1846; and the Red Chief 1857.[xix] 

Of these, The Red Chief was owned by James Schute and Jesse Dillon of Lawrence County, Ohio and was said to be registered with the Confederate government[xx]  It was often in Alabama and New Orleans during the Civil War. By January 1865 she is listed as belonging to the US Quartermaster Department.[xxi] The Irene was a passenger packet that appears to have operated out of Opelousas, Louisiana during the Civil War.

Roswell Kilbourne was old enough to have possibly been a carpenter on any of the last three when they were built in Lawrence County, Ohio. It is believed that he was home on 12 May 1866 when his three year old daughter, Ida May” died and was buried along with her siblings in Greenlawn Cemetery at Burlington, Ohio.  Rhoda was pregnant, at the time, and gave birth to Mattie B. Kilbourn, their 6^th child,  on the 24^th at Burlington. 

Roswell continued his carpentry trade at their home in Burlington in the 1870’s and 1880’s.  My great grandmother, Clara “Callie” Kilbourne (Geer) was born in the house 19 January 1870.  Almira married William Loyal Hardy 17 May 1874 and their first child Fred Hardy Sr. was born in the house 23 June 1875.

It certainly was a full house.  Rhoda and Roswell had three sons between 1872 and March 1875: Frank, Fred and Edgar.  Edgar died of “brain fever” when he was one and was buried in Greenlawn.[xxii]

Photograph donated by Fred Hardy Jr. descendent of Almira “Myra” Kilbourne Hardy. If you look closely you can see the river to the left in background.

The Kilbourne’s moved to Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky between 1886 and 1887.  But they never left the river.  Their home was as close to the river as possible; 810 West Front Avenue.  At the age of 72, the city directory still states that Roswell Kilbourne is a carpenter.  Sarah Jane died the 3^rd of July 1898 of Brights Disease[xxiii]  On the 6^th of July she was laid to rest in the cemetery at Burlington. 

Clara graduated from Ashland High School in 1889.  She went on to Barboursville Normal School which was later absorbed by Marshall College now University.  She cared for her father while teaching in the Ashland school system.  Roswell Kilbourn died 30 March 1902.  He was buried in his daughter Almira’s family plot near the Weeping Lady in Ashland Cemetery.  The Hardy’s and Clara had Sarah Jane re-interred beside him in the same family plot.

Three months after her father’s death, Clara “Callie” married George Page Geer in the Presbyterian Church at Ashland.  When her husband died in 1913 in Clarksburg, West Virginia he was brought back to Ashland to be buried next to her parents.  My great grandmother continued teaching after the death of her husband, moving to Portsmouth, Ohio. When she died in 1950 she was brought to Ashland and buried beside her husband in the same plot as her parents and sister. 

My grandmother, Clara Page Geer Martin, also a teacher in the Portsmouth, Ohio system, died 10 June 1998, and at her request was buried with her parents and grandparents.  At the age of 70 I often visit my grandmother, great grandparents and great great grandparents place of rest.  My father died a year after his mother and while not in the same plot, is also in Ashland Cemetery, as is my mother who loved the river.  May they rest in peace.  May the history of the river and my families love of the river along with the stories continue to be handed down generation after generation. 

Ol' man river
That ol' man river
He don't say nothing
But he must know something
Cause he just keeps rolling
He keeps rolling along
Rollin' along
He don't plant tators
He don't plant cotton
Them that plants 'em is soon forgotten
But ol' man river
He keeps rolling along
You and me
We sweat and strain
Body all aching
And wracked with pain
Tote that barge
Lift that bale
Get a little drunk
And you land in jail
I gets weary
Sick of trying
I'm tired of living
Feared of dying
But ol' man river
He's rolling along

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Jerome Kern / Oscar Ii Hammerstein

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[i] Kilbourne, Payne Kenyon, The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kilbourn. 1856. P. 188; 280

[ii] Daughter of Joseph Snapp and Margaret Craven

[iii] Bureau of Land Management, BLM Serial #: IN NO S/N, www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch (: , ), Accession/Serial: IN0030_.500 Roswell Kilbourn.

[iv] Terre Haute Tribune 2 Apr 1955. Legal Notice Vigo Superior Ct. to clear title of property known as lot #550 block 35 in Highland Place same being subdivision of S 10 T 12 N Range 9 w on recorded plat.  Both Roswell and Rhoda cited as deft. With address unknown.

[v] http://genealogytrails.com/ind/vigo/

[vi] Snow, John Fletcher. History of Adams County, Indiana. Page 31

[vii] Gilmore, Parker sketch of steamboat 1872 page 20 Dorothy Clark’s Terre Haute: Wabash River City.

[viii] Lawrence Lore. Blog. Illinois Historical Society Blog. 23 Jan. 2013

[ix] NOTE:  History of Memphis Tn by Judge JP Young 1912 p 375...steam boat disasters at or near Memphis...The Helen McGregor a Louisville New Orleans packet Feb 24 1830 exploded boilers at landing killing 50 many citizens of Memphis injured; Ap 9 1832 The Brandywine burned just above the city 175 lives lost...May 15 1835 Majestic blew up at Memphis landing 56 killed or seriously injured...

[x] Bruesch, S.R., The Disasters and Epidemics of a River Town: Memphis, TN 1819-1879

[xi] Ohio, Lawrence db, 26-282

[xii] Urban Dictionary: A community of people that live along a river. Known as tight knit community that always sticks together and looks out for its children. Also, spend a lot of leisure time along the river, fishing, boating, ect. People that live along a river are proud to be called "river rats!"

[xiii] Daughter of Solomon and Rhoda Bagley Adams

[xiv] Martin, Clara Page. Kilbourne Family 1550-1980. Unpublished manuscript

[xv] Cincinnati Inquirer, 7 Jan 1864

[xvi] LSU Digital Library. Louisiana State University Digital Library.

[xvii] https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AC3VMY7WJ325WC9D

[xviii] https://steamboats.com/museum/davet-movies1.html

[xix] Wallen, James, Huntington, WV. Correspondence,  to Clara P. Geer Martin. 26 Jul 1978

[xx] Way, Frdk, Way’s Packet Directory, 389.

[xxi] New Orleans Times-Picayune, 21 Jan. 1865

[xxii] Ohio, Lawrence, death register 1-2 entry 515

[xxiii] Kentucky, Boyd deaths 1806-1909; Courthouse attic, sheet 1898 line #2

The Mysterious Life of George Page Geer

By Teresa Martin Klaiber, April 2019

My cousins and I adored our Grandmother Page.  Born Clara Page Geer, the daughter of George Page Geer and Clara Kilbourne[1]. She was a strong woman born, as they say, before her time.  She had divorced my grandfather[2], but said she would always love him.  She worked for the American Red Cross with enthusiasm during WWII.  She was a teacher both in public school and at home with her grandchildren.  She loved horses and horse races.  She loved family history and took great pride in her early New England heritage.  She taught me to love research which would define and form, not just a hobby, but, a career in genealogy. Just as I adored her, she would say she had adored her father, as a child.

When I asked her, at an early age, why we called her Page she would smile and say, simply that she was named for her father George Page Geer.   George Page Geer bore the name of the American Progenitor George Geer[3]. She did not know why his middle name was Page, but she loved her name because she loved him. Then her story about her father would unfold. 

She was eight years old when her father had a stroke and she would sit by his bedside while he told her stories about his brothers, a chair factory, and Vermont cooking. She remembered letters from a sister (unnamed) in Oregon but none survived. Her father died before her ninth birthday. 

When asked if there was a picture of her father she replied that the only one had accidently been torn up.  Her most prized possession was a letter dated April 1905 when he wrote her in Parkersburg, WV.  He had gone to Clarksburg selling Singer Sewing Machines and preparing to move there.  He began the letter “My Dear little Pagie” and ending with “…thought good bye darling kisses.”

George Page Geer died 2 February 1913 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, after a second stroke.  Her mother wrote the death date in the Roswell Kilbourne bible along with their wedding date. 

My grandmother corresponded several times with her uncle Gardner Talmadge Geer’s family thru the years.  Grandmother Page knew that there was a brother Silas, the sister in Oregon and thru that correspondence that Gardner Talmadge Geer had “disappeared.”  A copy of George Page Geer’s marriage to Clara Kilbourne stated he was born Plattsburgh, Clinton County, New York the son of Edmund and Almira Bartlett Geer.

A good genealogist works from the known to the unknown with documentation.  Sounds simple enough.  Starting with George Page Geer’s death date 2 February 1913 I searched for a death certificate in West Virginia.  To date no death certificate has been located.  The Clarksburg Daily Telegram did publish his death stating that the body would be taken to Ashland, Kentucky for burial.  As a researcher I checked Kentucky for a death certificate without success.  During that time frame if a body was removed from one state to another there should be a Burial Transfer Form. I found those in mass disarray in the basement of the Boyd County Board of Health. Spending hours of sorting and looking at each one – no Burial Transfer Form survives, if there was one.   The Ashland Cemetery Records show that the burial took place 5 February 1913.  As a child my grandmother and I visited the family plot together many times.

George Page Geer was 46 years old, (born 18 July 1855, Plattsburg) when he married and told the officials it was his first marriage. Besides giving his parent’s names, at the time of marriage in 1902, George Page Geer also stated that he was residing in Parkersburg and a carpenter.  From research I know that Parkersburg Chair Company was in business during the time he lived there but to date have found no employment records.  The first city directory we find shows George Page Geer as assistant manager for Singer Sewing Company.  Singer Sewing Company has no records either. 

Using every conceivable method and sound-x George Page Geer, G. P. Geer, etc. cannot be located on the 1900 census in the United States.  Neither does his brother Gardner Talmadge Geer, whose family states he disappeared and is living in Duluth, Minnesota.  Brother Silas, a carpenter is also missing from the census in 1900 but shows up in Michigan with his wife by 1910.  Without going into research detail, I was able to locate The Oregon sister, Mary Elizabeth Geer Heaton living in Douglas County, Oregon in 1900.

Prior to his marriage to my great grandmother, George Page Geer’s life is a complete mystery.  His parents appear on the 1850 Saranac, Clinton County, New York Census.  There are no existing birth records for Plattsburg or Saranac for 1855.  George Page Geer’s parents show up in Shefford, Canada in the 1861 Canadian Census along with Gardner age 15, Silas 13, Tapher 8, Mary 4 and Philip 2. George Page Geer has been left out of the census.  Tapher[4] and Philip do not live to adulthood. 

Brother Silas was the first to move back to the United States showing up in Afton, Minnesota in 1870.  Father Edmund Geer sold his land in 1868 in Shefford, Canada and by 1872 has a homestead in Morrison County, Minnesota.  By then George Page Geer is 17 years of age and could well be out in the world on his own.  His father states that he has four children in 1872 which would include George Page Geer, but not by name.  George Page Geer does not appear on the 1875 Minnesota state census. In fact, he does not appear in any census located to date.  A mysterious life for 46 years.

I have been able to document Edmund Geer’s life in Canada and his pedigree.  A descendent of George Geer first mentioned in this article, Edmund’s grandmother Sarah “Sally” Swan Geer’s own grandmother was Mary Page Woods daughter of Jonathan Page born 24 June 1677 in Watertown, British America[5] and grandson of John Page born in 1586 in Essex England. Page came to America with Winthrop’s Fleet.

While Grandmother Page cherished her April 1905 letter, I can only imagine what she would have thought of the discovery of a letter dated November 1630 when John Rogers wrote John Winthrop, Jr. that John Page of Dedham, his wife and two children were starving “entreating you for Gods sake to provide such a barrell of meale as this money will reach…”[6] 

My grandmother, Clara Page Geer Martin died in 1998 extremely proud of her New England Kilbourne and Geer heritage but never knowing her own name honored another American progenitor, John Page.  As she taught me, I will not give up.  I will continue to research her father and his brothers trying to unravel the mysteries.

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[1] Clara “Callie” Kilbourne b. 19 Jan. 1870 Lawrence Co., OH m George Page Geer 11 June 1902, Ashland, Boyd, KY

[2] Clara Page Geer m. Henry Kautz Martin 27 Dec 1922, Portsmouth, Scioto, OH. Divorced 6 Jan. 1944.

[3] George Geer b circa 1621 Devon, Eng.  1726 New London, CT.

[4] Named for her grandmother Tapher Thomas Bartlett.

[5] Son of John Page and Faith Dunster.

[6] Massachusetts Historical Society. Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 2.