A Tour Through Scenic Martin County - Part One

The Travel Blog

Beautiful Martin County, Indiana

A Tour Through Scenic Martin County, Part Two

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by Carolyn Ann Howard

Let's take Interstate 69 in Indiana to the Washington exit. Turn east onto United States Highway 150, one of Indiana's Historic Pathways. Running concurrently with US 150 is also US 50 and Indiana 550. Click on photos to enlarge

St. Peter's Catholic Church, Montgomery
Attribution: Chris Flook. See below.

This is fairly flat farmland. You must go through the small town of Montgomery on your way. One thing that stands out in Montgomery is the beautiful St. Peter's Catholic Church. Montgomery is also home to Gasthof Amish Village. After passing through Montgomery, you'll see more flat farmland. Its relaxing, peaceful -- but don't get too relaxed if you're driving!

Loogootee blooms very quickly. It's always thrilling to go around that curve and find yourself in Loogootee. You're still on 3 different highways but the city name for this street is West Broadway. As soon as you reach the city limits is a stop light. This is the intersection of the three highways with US 231. So now we're on a stretch of road where 4 different highways are running concurrently!

Hester Cannon Howard at her home in Loogootee
Carolyn Ann Howard Family Collection

You're also now in the heart of Loogootee. Everything a person needs is here. Restaurants, grocery store, churches, gas stations, banks, hair salons, pharmacies and doctor offices.

Don't go too fast passed SW 2nd street, though! If you'll look to the left, you'll see the place where my great grandmother lived. No, not Subway! This is where her house used to be a long time ago, now retail shops. She died in 1932.

We're going to turn left at the next light onto John F. Kennedy Avenue. We'll lose 50/150 but continue on 231. If we turned right, we would go into the McDonald's parking lot! This McDonald's is busy. We'll pass the Marathon Station, too, also busy. Loogootee may be small, but it is bustling.

We're not going to stay on JFK, though. We're going to veer to the right and go down Line Street to Goodwill Cemetery. This is where many of my relatives are buried. As far as cemeteries go, its beautiful. But then again, its Martin County, so, of course, it is!

Goodwill Cemetery
Google Maps

Moving on down the road, we come back to what was JFK Avenue and is now just 231 running all by itself. We're outside the city limits of Loogootee now. Still beautiful country! Farm land.

Soon, however, on our right, is West Boggs Lake. The lake itself is 662 acres. West Boggs Park boasts of 400 acres of play area, miles of multi-use trails, shelter houses, and lakefront beach. This hopping place has tons of fun things to do spring, summer and fall -- Zombie 5K, Chili cook-off, luau and Civil War reenactments, to name a few. Like to fish? This is your place. Like to hunt? This is your place. Like to play golf? Lakeview has a wonderful 9-hole golf course. When you've finished your game, you can eat at a popular Amish restaurant, Stoll's Lakeview Restaurant. Ask for a seat by the window, if available, and you can dine with one of the best views in the world.

After lunch, we'll head down 231 a bit more until we come to Day Road. We'll take a right and follow the winding road around until it starts to climb and climb. We're climbing up to Mount Calvary. Pretty soon, we'll come to a fork in the road. We'll continue onto Mount Calvary Road firstly and pull into one of the parking spots at Mount Calvary Cemetery and the old Mount Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, now a residence. The Lyon/Arvin families have done a fantastic job of preserving this old cemetery, for which so many of us are grateful.

My great grandparent's grave at Mount Calvary
Carolyn Ann Howard Family Collection
Click on photo to enlarge

I don't know what it is about Mount Calvary. Perhaps its because this is where my Cannon family lived, but I love being on Mount Calvary. Maybe because it feels like home. How many times as a child did I visit here with my father, not understanding the significance of my ancestry? He remembers his grandmother's log cabin. He remembers the water pump in his great grandfather's yard. When writing Blood of My Ancestor, I could envision the baseball game they played at the church picnic and how my great-grandmother threw herself upon the grave of my great-grandfather after he had died so young.

If we back track a little from the cemetery, we can easily find Killion Mill Road, home of Lark Ranch. So much to do here: Corn maze, hayride, train ride, slide mountain, mechanical bull, orbitron, jumping pillow, barrel ride, corn cannon, animal farm and a zipline, just to name a few. Tickets are inexpensive, and this is good family fun.

My apologies, but I don't remember how to get back from Lark Ranch, so I must backtrack to Mount Calvary Road. Staying on Mount Calvary Road, following the road around, you'll see some of the most beautiful country you've ever seen and will finally end up back in the city of Loogootee and US 150/50.

This ends our short tour of Loogootee, but you can see the city offers so many amenities. It is a worthwhile place to visit and to vacation! A Tour Through Martin County - Part Two
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Photo Credit: Montgomery Catholic Church. By Chris Flook [CC BY-SA 4.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons)

© 2022 by December Moonlight Publishing, LLC

My Hessian Great-Grandfather - John Godfrey Howard (1754-1834)

Johann Gottfried Hauer (John Godfrey Howard) Family Line

 

John Godfrey Howard (1754-1834) My Hessian Great-Grandfather

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by Carolyn Ann Howard

The Howard clan, vast and diverse throughout the United States, descended from one man, Johann Gottfried Hauer. Hauer came to the United States from Germany as a Hessian soldier.

Gottfried Hauer might have been a soldier by profession. According to The Journal of the American Revolution, "two centuries of warfare had created a true military society" among the Landgraviate of  Hesse-Cassel. [1] The Digital Encyclopedia of Washington Library states that soldiers began their training as young as 7 years of age. The conditions in the military were harsh as the punishments were brutal, but the pay and benefits were good. [2] Click on photos to enlarge

The uniform of a Hessian jaeger
Painting by: Charles M. Lefferts
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Hauer was a jaeger, also known as a chasseur or a sharpshooter. Translated to English, jaeger means "hunter." Hauer would've excelled in rifle skills. He would have been efficient, quick, and brave. So we learn that our forebear was a skilled hunter. Other than that, we know almost nothing of Hauer's life in Germany and very little of his personality. We can be certain that, as a Hessian soldier, he would've been highly disciplined and rugged, strong and tough.

It was not unusual at this time in history for a country to hire professional soldiers from other countries. Britain entered into a treaty with some of the then German States in exchange for Hessian soldiers. These soldiers were brought to the United States to fight on the side of the British to quell the colonial revolt. Included in this number was my 4x great-grandfather. He either answered the call to arms voluntarily or was taken by force. My gut is that he voluntarily answered the call to arms, since he was most likely already a soldier.

Hauer embarked by ship from Leipzig on 28 Mar 1777. The ship stopped at a Dutch port before landing in New Brunswick, Canada, 17 Jun that same year. Hauer was assembled with the other Hessian soldiers at Cumberland Point on Lake Champlain under the command of British General John Burgoyne. [3] The total number of men were between 7,000 to 9,000, depending on the source.

Burgoyne's March on Albany
Public Domain via Wikipedia
Click on photo to enlarge

General Burgoyne had a plan to capture Albany, New York for the British. His troops began their march from Canada into New York. The general was quite confident in his plan, perhaps overly so. A few victories but mostly failures were had along the way.

Hauer's main battle most likely would've been The Battle of Bennington, which took place as part of the Saratoga campaign, 16 Aug 1777, in Walloomsac, New York, about 10 miles from its namesake Bennington, Vermont. [Wikipedia]

Volumes have been written about this battle and a person could study for years on this one battle and its impact on the American Revolution. It was a significant loss for the British.

After this battle, all the Hessian soldiers were taken prisoner. It is likely my grandfather was bound to other prisoners by the neck like cattle. He may have been stuffed into an overcrowded building with other prisoners. They were dirty. They stank. It was hot, they were exhausted, and they were hungry. The prisoners and guards spoke three different languages: English, French, and German; therefore, much confusion was had as well as much fear. The prisoners stayed in the various make-shift prisons for a few weeks while it was decided what to do with them. [4]

Courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collection
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The prisoners were taken to various places, many to Boston. [5]  Hauer didn't go to Boston, however. He went to Albany, New York. He may have been a deserter, or he may have joined the Americans in her fight for freedom. Indeed, many of the Hessian soldiers noted the fertile and beautiful farmlands in New York as well as the trees and the wildlife. This beautiful land became a place where they wanted to settle, so they sided with the Americans.

After the war, several thousand Hessian soldiers were offered freedom and United States citizenship in exchange for an oath of loyalty to the United States. Hauer took this offer. Once he did this, he was free to speak German, fit into a German neighborhood, and perhaps even meet a pretty German girl to settle down with. [6] Hauer met his wife, Susannah Harwick, and they married 13 Aug 1779 in Albany County, New York.

It wasn't easy being identified as a Hessian and so a name change was in order, although we cannot be certain when this occurred. Much negative and ugly propaganda against the Hessians had been circulated. Hauer most certainly would've wanted to fit in and Americanizing his name to Howard would've been a fine way to begin.

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[1] Collins, Bethany. “8 Fast Facts About Hessians.” Journal of the American Revolution, 28 Aug. 2016, allthingsliberty.com/2014/08/8-fast-facts-about-hessians/. [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].

[2] Head, David Ph.D. “Hessians.” George Washington's Mount Vernon, www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/hessians/.[Accessed 13 Oct. 2018]

[3] Smith, Clifford Neal. Muster Rolls and Prisoner-of-War Lists in American Archival Collections Pertaining to the German Mercenary Troops who Served with the British Forces During the American Revolution, 1974-1976. Note: "Hauer, Gottfried - a Jaeger signed up with the Hessian troops from Hesse/Hanau; embarked by ship from Germany on March 28, 1777, stopped at a Dutch port en route to North America."

[4] Gabriel, Ph.D, M. (n.d.). Incident at the Bennington Meeting House, August 17, 1777. [online] Kutztown, PA. Available at: https://www.jsha.org/articles/Gabriel%20article.pdf [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].

[5] Ketchum, Richard M. Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War. New York: Henry Holt. via Wikipedia. 

[6] Albanymuskrat. “Tag: Revolutionary War.” Friends of Albany History, friendsofalbanyhistory.wordpress.com/tag/revolutionary-war/. [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].

© 2022 by December Moonlight Publishing, LLC

Rape, Predators, and Genealogy

Genealogy Tips

Rape, Predators, and Genealogy

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by Carolyn Ann Howard

This post updated 08 Sep 2021

About a week ago, I began to write a glowing blog about a particular ancestor, but in our current climate and with the MeToo movement, I stopped to think. Of course my desire is to write glowing accounts of all my ancestors. Unfortunately, it is known for certain that at least one of my ancestors was a pedophile. This particular ancestor was a pillar of his community and a well-respected church-goer, an elder. The ugly fact is only known by family and victims who have been successful in keeping it secret. These things that happen behind closed doors are so vile, so shameful, that victims most of the time remain silent.

Even today in 2018, "60% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to police, according to a statistical average of the past 5 years. Those rapists, of course, never spend a day in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail." [1]

The message, then, is this: We who do genealogy must be diligent and intentional in our documentation. Indeed, we must be excellent. We owe that to those who read and use our work for their own trees. Its tough, and it can be exhausting, but we must not allow mediocre results to creep in.

I'm guilty. An example from my tree: I always thought Eliza Jane Raney's father was Joseph Raney. She lived in the same household as Joseph Raney so why wouldn't she be his daughter? It was brought to my attention through another person's blog that Eliza Jane Raney was an orphan who had been adopted by her Uncle Joseph Raney. [2]

To be fair, she does fit right in as a daughter. The couple have four children on the 1850 census ages 10, 8, 6, 2. Eliza Jane is the 8-year-old. So we really have no clues from this census that she is adopted. Genealogists can't rely on a single source or even several sources. Fortunately, with technology, genealogists now have so many more tools. Even so, we must always keep an open mind and consider possibilities for different outcomes.

Rape and illegitimacy have always been seen as shameful, things that are to be kept secret. In my book Blood of My Ancestor, I confronted and explained the reality of life in rural America in the 1800s. The reasoning was necessary to understand why one of the main characters, Malinda, who had a baby "out of wedlock," turned down Isreal's proposal for marriage. A hugely weighty decision made by a brave woman. (Update: This is now a deleted excerpt from the book, because, in hindsight,  I felt that it interrupted the storyline.)

The real problem was that the pioneers had no real form of birth control, meaning that many times having sex led to having a baby. That was the conundrum. Because of that, society imposed its own birth control in the form of abstinence. The punishment that society dished out to those who broke the rule of abstinence, finding themselves pregnant, was to make the woman an outcast. An unmarried pregnant woman found herself to be an object of scorn, ridicule and gossip. They were treated poorly and were deliberately humiliated. The child was often treated worse.

Another problem Malinda couldn’t fully grasp was the collective thought of what having a baby outside of marriage meant to society. Who would be financially responsible for the child? The pioneers had no social service organizations to help women with this. Orphanages, poor farms and workhouses were starting to crop up, but these were poor excuses for childcare.

Some unmarried women, after having their baby, not knowing what else to do or where else to turn, simply abandoned the child, allowing it to die. Some left their babies on the steps of a church, hoping the church or someone in the church would take their child in. 

Abrahm Alley Log Cabin in Colorado [3]

Sometimes a family would send their pregnant daughter away to hide with relatives, while the mother feigned pregnancy by stuffing her clothes with pillows. In that way, when a new child appeared within the family, people would naturally assume it was the mother’s child and not the daughter’s. Some families sent their pregnant daughter away, hiding them with relatives, telling everyone their daughter had gotten married. Then, when the daughter returned some months later with a new baby, they would say she was a widow whose husband had died shortly after the marriage. All of that was done to save face in a culture where the pregnancy of an unmarried woman was greatly stigmatized and feared.

Some states, like North Carolina, had legal lists called “bastardy bonds.” When the state learned a so-called illegitimate child was being carried, the family or the father would be forced to sign a bond. Someone had to declare financial responsibility for the child. [4]

It may never be known which ancestors of yours or mine were raped or those who were sexual predators. We can be certain they're there, though. Of course, we don't want to be judgmental, because this is very serious! But if something isn't lining up, or even if it is, keep in mind that anything is possible.

Be diligent in your documentation and resist the temptation to put your ancestors onto pedestals. Even if they deserve that pedestal, it does them a disservice as they take their place on your family tree.

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[1] Facts About Sexual Assault. (n.d.). Retrieved October 01, 2018, from https://cmsac.org/facts-and-statistics/

[2] https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/raney/761/

[3] Photo credit: By Darrylpearson [CC BY-SA 4.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

[4] Howard, Carolyn Ann. Blood of My Ancestor. December Moonlight Publishing, LLC, 2012.

© 2022 by December Moonlight Publishing, LLC