Loss of the Steamer Ship Golden Era... Tragedy strikes the Kouns Family

Loss of the Golden City made headlines around the country. 

On March 30, 1882 an event happened that would make headlines from New York to Colorado.  The "Golden City" a steamship built for and owned by Capt. Jacob D. Hegler burned over the deepest part of the Mississippi River near Memphis, TN.  At the time, the Golden City was revered as a premier ship and had valuations of close to $40,000.  In today's money that sum is close to $1 million dollars.

The Golden City was originally launched on Thursday November 23, 1876.  A day remembered by a reporter at the Cincinnati Daily Gazette on March 31, 1882, just 7 years later.  He recalled that the Golden Era had been called "One of the finest and largest sternwheel steamers ever built*." He went on to describe that it was a ship of 270' in length or 303' with the wheel.  It had 32 staterooms, 94 berths, and room for 62 deck passengers for a total carrying space of 156 passengers allowed per regulations at the time.  She was built at a cost of $47,000 and had received various upgrades, inspections, and safety measures over time.  At 7 years old, she was an old vessel, outliving the average of 5 years* before being destroyed by injury or normal wear.  

Having a steamship at the time wasn't an easy business.  The river was packed with freight moving from hubs of transportation such as Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago and New Orleans.  Naturally, this movement became an easier way for people to travel from port to port as well.  Crashes, wrecks, sinking, and fires were a common occurrence on the river. For a family like my great uncles who were fully invested, losses were sure to happen.  My 5x great Uncle Andrew Pennel Kouns started into this business with his brothers, including George W. Kouns, and later both involved their sons and sons-in-laws in the business. Before long they were running steamers under various corporation names. One of the sons of George W. Kouns Sr, known later as Captain Louis E. Kouns found tragedy in all this family business.  

Indianapolis Sentinal

Captain Kouns, as he would later be referred to in the numerous articles, often brought his wife and children to New Orleans, where he worked as a Captain out of.  Originally from the areas of Lawrence, Ohio and Ashland, Kentucky this was a normal trip on a steamboat route.  The families would move back and forth, changing with seasons, bringing children, and family members.  On this particular trip, Captain Kouns's wife Eva, her three children, and a woman reported as her sister, Miss Nannie Campbell aged 17, all set sail back to home. Captain Kouns himself was not with them, having already returned home.

Somewhere around Memphis a fire started. Reportedly a deckhand had left a lantern open near a spool of highly flammable jute rope, catching fire and causing an flame to spread so quickly that is could not be contained. The ship burned in the water, over the deepest portion of the run. The ship, the bodies, the books, nothing could be recovered immediately. It is unclear if anything ever was. Later, that same deckhand, a black man named Wash Smith, would be brought to trial for causing the many deaths.  I do not know of the outcome of the trial, but in horrible fashion of the time, I suspect he was hanged, legally or not. 

As with most water related deaths some of the bodies were recovered, floating downstream and landing in precarious places at various time intervals.  The body of Eva took sometime and wasn't easily identified.  In the meantime, a woman, thought to be the wife of a Dr. Monohan was buried in her place.  There was much discussion about some jewelry found on the body, and eventually, the accidental imposter was exhumed and Mrs. Eva was buried in her proper place. 

Indianapolis Sentinel 

At the time of the fire, Louis and Eva had three young children who were never identified in any newspaper clippings about the disaster. One child's body was later found on the river, but the identity was not certain. I found no articles stating any of the other children were found. In later census research, I found their names to be Bonnie Lee, George, and Rachel. 

Louis Kouns would go on to remarry, but reportedly never fully recovered from the loss.  He had one more child with his new wife and named him Louis Kouns, Jr. 

If you are interested in this story and want to learn more I am including the links I researched from: If you would like to know more about this family or see the collection of newspaper articles I have collected (in PDF) just leave me a note.  

Louis Kouns, Jr. is my 2nd Cousin 4x removed. Eva's maiden name was Browning, she was from Boyd County, Kentucky. 

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References: 

• Find-A-Grave. www.find-a-grave.com. Memorial # 65521303  Eva Browning Kouns & children. Also  #65521103 Louis E. Kouns

• Steamboats of the Mississippi. (2016, July 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:00, August 6, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steamboats_of_the_Mississippi&oldid=730110372

• The Golden City. History of the Ill-fated Steamer since 1876.  Cincinnati Daily Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio) Published March 31, 1882. pg 2. Newspaper Archives.
• 
  

  The Golden City the Coroner's Jury Decides the Crew of the Burned Vessel Were Guilty of Criminal Carelessness.  Published Monday April 3, 1882.  Indianapolis Sentinel, Indianapolis, Indiana.  Vol XXI, Issue 93, Page 7. Newspaper Archives. 
• One By One. Indianapolis Sentinel, Indianapolis, Indiana. April 17, 1882. Newspaper Archives.
• Doubted Identity. Question As To The Body Of Mrs. Kouns, Lost By The Golden City Disaster. Times-Picayune. New Orleans, Louisiana. Monday, May 15, 1882. pg 2. Newspaper Archives.

The Grass Widow

I can hear you now - Grass widow you say?  What on earth could that mean? Is it a short story or an idiom for a pothead's wife? Where did you find this Jamie?

My answer, in the Kentucky birth records of the 1800's and if you'll wait a second, I will be happy to regale you with the details, you know. The "w's"; who, why, when, where...  I am not including the how, 'cause, well, that's a private story probably lost to time.  

So let's Go back a second and forget those w's.  Writing in such an organized fashion really cramps my style.  Let me tell you a story, of, how I have become acquainted with "The Grass Widow."

It starts out rather innocuously, like most shocking tales.  I was researching an Uncle 3 or 4 times removed.  A Mr. Thomas McNeal.  He was a brother to my great-great grandfather, John Hackworth McNeal (known as Pat for a not- so -obvious reason).  Both resided in Boyd and Greenup, Kentucky and have records scattered in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky.  But that's a whole 'notha story.  So, anyways, I have the leaf thing going on in Ancestry (always, they never, ever-ever, end) and figured I would check it out.  It was something useful; an actual, well documented, and nicely written, birth record!  You know, that's always better than nice.  Turns out it was for a child of Thomas and his wife Mrs. Elizabeth Montgomery McNeal in regards to his daughter Catherine.  Well, having learned a thing or two from a few years of research, I decided to read the whole, well-written, and comically notated page.  As follows:

Curated over at Ancestry.com

And there it is.... A Grass Widow, the father listed as "The Father Not known to Me".  Umm, okay, I thought to myself, I can't imagine what this is. Well, maybe I can. Maybe her husband was out west in the grass fields, or he had been killed in some incident named after grass.
 Being a child of the 1980's, my other thought was the MariJuana. Ya know what I mean, green corn, ganja, reefer...Did you know they were toking it up back then? it wasn't even illegal!  Anyways, I realized, due to the definite difference in time and reason, that was not it.  And so, I reverted to the forever trustworthy, Google search.  If it's on the internet it must be true, right?  Well, no, but in this case, yes.  It's on the Internet in a real, honest to glory be, dictionary slash web site.  And here is the ever glorious definition, and explanation of such; a thing which has forever changed my life.  Okay, that's a bit of exagerration, but it has blown a few brain fuses. 

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/grass+widow

Basically, what this is saying, is that she was a woman left to her own devices. Her husband wasn't around, if she even had one, and the implication was that she had been for a roll in the umm... grass and got caught with the evidence. The child has a last name other than hers so the mystery deepens even even farther. Umm. Hello, was this record keeper making commentary on how this baby came to be? Where did he learn such a term, antiquated even in the 1800's.  My only best guess is that he was an immortal, and obviously slipped up in his hiding skills. HA!  Probably not,  I think his humor was a little wry - a few lines above the grass widow a set of twins was born, annoted as "This is doing a fine business!"  I swear, it is true, the proof is right before you.

So now. We know how the story ends.  Wait, what... We don't?  Of course not, but maybe, just maybe, I will take it upon myself to do a little off tree family research and uncover the the "grass widow's" secrets.  

Until then, keep digging, you never know what treasure you may uncover!

On being the family genealogist.

I don't know who this amazing lady is, but she is who I feel I would
have been in her time.  This Photo is from the Florida Archives,
she is unidentified. 

I am a family historian, a genealogist, a keeper of memories.  I honor the legacies and stories of my ancestors every day as I think about them, know their struggles, learn their heartaches.  I find peace in my daily life through knowledge that their lives made mine possible;  That my modern struggles pale in comparison to the struggles that they faced on a daily basis.

In a previous post I pondered the thought of HOW they could just keep going.  Moving from one place to another with nothing modern to help.  No cars, no planes, no moving trucks, not even a bank. They carried what they owned or paid someone else to.  Someone who was as likely to run off with their things as they were to make it to the destination.

My ancestors (and many other Scots-Irish and German people's) were the first into areas that other people hadn't gone.  They faced attacks from wild animals, native peoples, and sicknesses.  They didn't have a row to hoe till they got there so they really put their faith in God.  Really.  The thought of dying while probably just as grim as now, wasn't a high wall, it was just another bump in the road.  They did things daily that today we mark off with "don't try this at home" and even worse "you may be killed if you attempt this".

Our ancestors knew how to do things with nothing.  They did it.  They brought us here. It is the least I can do to make sure that their legacies are remembered.  Good, bad, or ugly, I carry with me the blood of generations of Americans who haven't been remembered well.  It's my goal, almost a deep calling, to uncover who they were, where they went, and what they did.  It is my duty to remember them for everyone else and share that knowledge wherever it is wanted.

It is awkward to explain to people this connection I have always had with my ancestors, maybe I am a little "off my rocker" or maybe it's a special strand of DNA that makes me different.  Whatever it is I am proud to have it and I intend to continue the quest until all avenues have been exhausted.

Thanks for reading. Leave comments!

I wrote this while listening to inspiring music by Clanadonia on Youtube - Scottish Music is kind of amazing at bringing out the writing magic.

The wonderful, the amazing; The Pennsylvania State Archives

The Pennsylvania State Archives.  Doesn't sound like an interesting place to most people I'm sure. But it is. It is a wonderful place, and they do really amazing work to preserve our national and personal histories.

For starters, the archives, located in the state capitol at Harrisburg are fairly easy to access.  They have hours listed on the website, and if you choose to visit, there are friendly people there to help you locate whatever it may be that you are looking for.  As it turns out, I went there on a whim one day and entered completely unprepared but left with a treasure trove of resource tools and information on a particularly difficult (non) ancestor.

If you plan on visiting I have a few suggestions for you:

1. Parking is on street or in a garage.  The meters are paid for by credit or debit card and you should know your license plate number when going to use them.  The meter sends your cell phone an alert 15 minutes before you need to renew.  You can renew from your cell phone. Check out ParkHarrisburg for more information.
2. Know what you are looking for as far into it as you can go.  For example, if you are looking for the land deeds of a certain person, bring all the information you have.  The archivists are great at reading old handwriting and can tell you right where to go if you have something with dates, locations, and names.  A wonderful feature of the PA State Archives is that many volunteers have worked on the deeds and land records and have indexed names and mapped out the actual coordinates of the properties.  You can purchase these maps of locations and landholders.  
3. Bring some cash, You can purchase copies of nearly anything.  
4. When you enter the building you will be asked to put your coat and other belongings in the holding areas.  There is a place to hang your things, or you can rent a locker.  They do allow you to bring your notebooks and phone.  
5. Try not to get distracted with extra information you might be able to find.  I didn't have a plan when I started, so it wasn't a big deal for me, but if you are on the hunt for particulars, don't wander off from the McGearys when you find a section with the McNeals.  Time flies.  

Also, the Archives has put a TON of information online.  Not only is it online, but it comes with directions.  All you have to do is go to: http://www.phmc.pa.gov/archives  Once you are in there, you can go to to the section titled Research Guides and they have well written instructions for how to do specific things.  They include information about the process of purchasing land, how epidemics affected the state, and how to use military records.  The archivists are also available by phone to help if needed. 

My next article may be on the process of looking up land records in Pennsylvania.  I've become pretty familiar with it since one of the archivists introduced me to the online research room.  

~Genealogy - Living Life in the Past Lane~

My Ancestors were Bad-Ass, and other things I have learned from Genealogy

My Great-Grandfather was a pretty tough guy.

You have to be special to be a genealogist.  Really, special.  You have to dig into history books, crawl through piles of old papers full of earwigs, and be willing to spend time in research, with actual books, that weren't really meant for entertainment.  Sometimes genealogists stare at the computer screen so long that they can't even see straight. Not that I have ever done that. 

It's a rewarding obsession.  I've learned stuff that no one I know knows, like, what that code on the census record means, or what the difference between a land warrant, patent, and survey are.  Not to mention how to find the actual records themselves.  Sometimes genealogists have revelations. Some are deep, some aren't.  Here are a few of mine.  You get to determine their depth. 

My ancestors were badass -  My family lines seem to all have converged on the North American Continent in the 1700's. That means they came to live here when there was not a lot of anything and a whole lot of uncertainty about what was here.  They carved their lives out of wilderness and forged their own roads.  They fought off wild animals, diseases, Indian Raids, and British soldiers with a penchant to hold on to the King's land. They were amazingly tough, but that wasn't unexpected, considering where they came from. I sometimes wonder if it was because they had stronger faith to face the very real possibility of death. Of course, at some point it became more than a matter of faith, and more a matter of need to survive. 

People then were as stupid as they are now - People died from everyday things like cerebral hemorrhages (apoplexy), and tuberculosis, and senility.  They also died from being run over by horses, and in more recent times, by sticking their arms out of the side of a moving vehicle.  For real. 

Cowboys and Indians were real, and they weren't just in the wild west.  - Did you know that anything west of the Appalachian Mountains WAS the wild west at one time?  The first stockyards, Indian Wars and American "Western" legends started in the Mid Atlantic Region.  I was recently reading about a certain ancestor who came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  He was born in 1799, just ten short years after an Indian raid came through and killed entire families.  Who would want to live there?  My ancestors apparently. 

I will never know what my great grandfather 6x removed was really called. - His name was William, he was one of 6 that existed at the same time in his immediate and extended family that lived in one small area.  Surely, they didn't call him William. 

Alcoholic drinks were an important part of daily life. It's true.  Even Quakers imbibed from time to time.  A homestead wasn't considered complete until it had a distillery, and each homestead had a specific kind of drink they specialized in.  There were common drinks like AppleJack and Cherry Bounce, wines like those we drink now, and Whiskey and Bourbon of every variety.  Drinks were so important that during state hearings they had debates about where to purchase the goods for use while the debates and hearings were in session.  The Whisky Rebellion forced the hand of many people to up and leave from relative comfort to find uncharted territories so that they could continue production.  Guess where they went? Anyone?... The Appalachians. Moonshine is a national pasttime.  

And not finally, but in closing here, I learned that history is never what it seems.  The more I know, the more I find myself wondering what it is we are teaching in public school, 'cause it just doesn't match up much beyond the dates and names.  

That's all Folks! 

 

The Scots-Irish... not Irish at all?

Photo courtesy of :  BBC Click for more information.

My ancestry is mostly German and Scots and Scots-Irish, and some English.  Notice that word Scots-Irish wasn't used interchangeably with Irish. I've recently learned an interesting fact about what it means to be Scots-Irish, and what it doesn't.

Let's start here; Scots-Irish does not mean a mixture of Scottish and Irish. 
The Scots-Irish were a group of Lowland Scottish Presbyterians who were given claim to an northern area of Ireland known as Ulster as part of a plantation.  This group of people is predominately known as Ulster Scots, or Ulstermen, in other parts of the world besides North America.

So who were they? 
They were lowland Scots, a different group of people altogether than the notorious Highlanders most people associate with Scotland. These lowlanders did not really have need or desire to speak Gaelic, didn't wear kilts, and were often Presbyterian. Even down to the genetics Highlanders and Lowlanders are different, with Highland Scots being far more influenced by Viking and Gael ancestors and Lowlanders being more mixed with other eastern European influences.

Why did they end up in Ireland? 
Well, it's kind of a long story, drawn out by a few generations.  What it comes down to is that the King of England didn't care for Scotsman and didn't like the Irish either, and since he wanted control of both of them he set this group of Presbyterian Scots against the very Catholic Irish Gaels.  These Scotsman did the job of holding Ulster for the crown, but they eventually tired of the religious persecution that seemed to be coming from both the Kings of Ireland and Britain. As a result, some went back to Scotland, some emigrated to the Americas and some stayed put.

An American Story.  
The Ulster Scots that came to the Americas were a strong willed, wilderness savvy, and war experienced people.  They brought all the necessary tools for survival without even knowing it.  They were farmers, woodsman, and explorers, and when it came to the revolution they were predominately Rebels.  Later on, as families migrated through the American Wilderness and Canadian countryside, many of the Ulster-Scots, the Highland Scots, and the Germans would find common ground and move as a group into the Appalachians

So what does this mean for your genealogy?  Are you Irish?
It depends, I guess.  In some respects the Ulster Scots had been firmly planted in Ireland for a few generations. They probably had taken on some Irish culture.  On the other hand, they certainly weren't Irish.  The Irish didn't even like them, and barely tolerated their Presbyterian ways. A lot of references point to the Irish Kings hunting the Scots Irish to get rid of them. They were culturally and genetically identified as being from lowland Scotland, and many went back to Scotland, even generations later.
In my opinion, they were Scots.  I think they deserve their own term, the Ulster Scots, but I am not of the opinion they "became" Irish.
When researching your Scottish and Scots-Irish roots, I think it is important to keep all this in mind. While it may look as though your ancestors immigrated to Canada or the Americas from Ireland, if they were from Ulster, you might want to do more exploring in Scotland.  I think this is especially true for early immigrant Appalachian families, like mine.

Who am I researching? 
I am interested in the MacNeills (McNeal) and MacGeary (McGary) families.  The McNeal family is likely the same from the Barra Islands in Scotland, while the McGeary family were likely Ulster Scots.

Do You know a lot about this subject and maybe I have something wrong?  Let me know!

If you are interested in more detailed explanations (Several Kings of Britain really didn't like the Scots and Irish) I have added some reference links here:

RootsWeb
The Scots-Irish: The Thirteenth Tribe
Scots Irish in Colonial America

Why I love Death Certificates - A Morbid Fascination

Let's face it.  Genealogy is basically all about chasing down dead people's secrets. Whether they intended for them to be secrets is another thing altogether.  Death certificates for me, are like Christmas in the secrets department.  You can learn a lot by the remarks found there.  

Example:

This Kentucky death certificate from 1918 shows a whole lot of information about the person in question (A far back relation of mine).  It lists out where the person lived at the time of death, their birth date, marital status, employment, and, *drum role please*, names and birth places of parents! 

In addition to all this wonderful information, you also get a burial place and cause of death, plus an informant name. 

Like all records, you may need to validate the information found. Always record those corrections with the record you keep.  Print a copy! 

 

Some of you may think, well how come I can't just use a census record for this? The answer is, census records don't contain all this information.  This is especially true in the 1800's census, where there may only be information as to state of birth, and birthplace of parents.  

The trouble with death certificates, especially in rural areas, is that there isn't always one to be found.  Unlike the census, which did a pretty good job of at least collecting a name, date, and area, death certificates weren't mandatory until the late 1800's in many places.  Even after, many people simply died at home and were buried there with only a notice in the church paper or a notation in the family bible.  

Some death certificates I have found don't have complete information, and, it would be unreasonable to expect to find it complete 100% of the time. One of my (presumed) ancestors died in a tuberculosis infirmary and the only thing they knew was an approximate age and place of birth.  There was no record of her burial. This is not an uncommon situation.  Some old folks died in state homes, where there was not a lot of interest in recording the details. 

Finding death certificates in Ancestry.com is fairly easy! The index for the states that has released them grows every day.  You can locate the search for your state records by choosing the search button... located here -

Click on the Birth, Marriage and Death section, choose your state and enter your ancestors information.  

My advice is to be very general and be willing to spend some time looking through the results.  For instance, if you were searching for Thomas Rice, use the broad search, not exact, unless you come up with hundreds of results,  narrow it down slowly.  Ancestry seems to index ALL the names on a death certificate, so you might find Thomas, but it might be a certificate for a relative that he was mentioned in or signed off on.  Don't forget to record the information of burial.  

You can also request death certificates from individual state and county vital record departments.  You must be very specific when doing so and it usually costs a small fee. 

There are other secrets to death certificates I am just now learning.  Keep coming back.  I want to share! 

Chasing the McNeals

My Grandmother's name was Dora McNeal.  She was born in Boyd County Kentucky to her father, John Hackworth McNeal and mother, Martha Ellen Barney. 

This picture shows her and her four sisters.  They had no brothers from what we know. 

John Hackworth McNeal was the son of Thomas McNeal and Ellen McGary. Thomas and Ellen had many children, 11 that we know of. Both Thomas and Ellen were born in Pennsylvania and had moved to Kentucky. 

Thomas's parents were Matthew and Margaret McNeal.  This is where stuff gets fuzzy.  Matthew McNeal was not an uncommon name in Pennsylvania, and I have yet to determine in Margaret's maiden name was McNeal, or maybe something else.  

What I do suspect, is that the McNeal and MacGeary (McGary) family were nearby each other in late 1700 Westmoreland County Pennsylvania. I don't yet know for sure, but I believe that Matthew might have been born in Washington County, Pennsylvania and that his father's name might have been Archibald MacNeal.  

Matthew and Margaret had 10 children that we know of. 

Do you know anything about the McNeals of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania? 

Send me a note.... or a message in a bottle... actually, e-mail would be fine. ;)

The Very First Post

I am an amateur genealogist.  I love history, my ancestors, and research.  I'm a bit of a nerd I think. But I am ok with that, really.

I have started this blog as a way of sharing some of my work.  I don't know a lot of genealogists, so I hope to meet more this way and spare my non-interested friends and family the gory details of census records and death certificates I often feel like discussing.

As for who I research and what I am researching now, let me catagorize these things some to keep them from becoming a tangled mess.

• I use Ancestry.com as my main resource and any other resource I can find to fill in the blanks of who what and when. I travel to the Archives and libraries to find documents that haven't been indexed yet.  
• I started with my paternal grandfather's family, the Kouns.  As I branched through them I have added McNeal, McGeary, Barney, Triplett, Salmon, families and many many more. I have an extensive history that travels through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. I myself was born in Florida. 
• I moved into my grandmother's family and found the Karnap family, the Horstmann family and Orndorff family. While many were 1800's immigrants from Germany, the Orndorff family has a long history stretching into the 1700's with the Eskridge family in Maryland.
• Recently I started working on my Husband's family and have added the names or Rogers, Tipton, Drake, Bailey, and Watson to the list. Most of these names are found in Estill County Kentucky and have nearly always been there! 

I hope to share some of the interesting things I learn about research and thing that I find along the way.   I hope you'll join me as I untangle this mess of tree limbs.