New member introducing myself

Question

Hi,

I'm Linda Gruber. I've been adding my ancestors to Wikitree since I joined June 21. I explored the site a bit, and I introduced myself on the United States sign up and was greeted by Wendy.  I just thought maybe I should say Hi here too.

My primary interest is collaborating to get through the brick wall behind Arthur and Elizabeth Wilson McConnell c. 1730 Lancaster Co. PA - Washingtonton Co. PA. I'm hoping other descendants have pieces of the same puzzle.  

I have my tree nearly done. All my grandparents' ancestors arrived pre Rev. War. Then my computer crashed.  Hopefully, it can be revived, but Covid 19 is stopping me from taking it in for repair.  I have the printed tree, but the sources for my ancestors in the distant past are mostly on the fried computer.  Ancestory controls most of those sources now, and I'm not a member there.

Comments

For sourcing check out www.familysearch.org for your ancestors -- there are sites have some un-sourced info, so you can see if you can verify what they say by using familysearch sources 

Also Arthur Mc Connell 1730-1795 - Ancestry®

Also McCONNELL 

Also Family:Arthur McConnell and Elizabeth Wilson (1) - Genealogy

1921 Centennial History of Rush County, Indiana - Google Books

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Thanks so much for you answer.  l'll check out the familysearch sources.  Is that a specific page or search engine function at Family Search?  Are you researching this McConnell line? 

I have lots of information for Arthur and Elizabeth and their children forward.  I'm trying to figure out further back. Where and who they came from.  Arthur's 1790 census in Washington County, PA states Ireland, but many trees say he was born in America.  Another researcher, Susan Lloyd, had ruled out Ireland, but I can't remember why.  Many claim William, a son of Alexander McConnell of Octorora Creek, Chester Co. was his father, but no source is given that I have found.  Neither Susan Lloyd nor I could find a ship manifest online with his name arriving in ports near PA, but that doesn't rule out the possibility that he was the original immigrant who first arrived elsewhere.  

Elizabeth Willson married Arthur in the Lutheran church at Strasburg in 1754, but I have not found anything connecting her to a particular Wilson or Willson family.  There seems to be agreement among many trees that Elizabeth was born in Lancaster Co. Which was formed from Chester Co in 1729.  I don't know of any source for her birthdate or her date of death yet many trees have those dates.  All I know is that Elizabeth and Arthur were still alive in 1790 for the census and there is a puzzling clue that Susan Lloyd found which confirms it:

Washington County Deeds: Indenture Jan 20, 1790 Arthur McConnell, Wife, Elizabeth.  Land on water of Bufflow Creek called Dundee. 120 acres 

But they already owned a 308 acre tract called Dundee which was in Hopewell Township on Buffalo Creek.  It was purchased from Ohio Co. VA before the border dispute was settled with PA when it was finally established as Washington Co., PA. Deed issued by PA:

Patent Book #14 pg. 140, 308 acres of a Virginia Certificate granted to Arthur McConnell for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated April 15, 1788

DAR has Arthur's death as before 1995.

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The www.familysearch.org is the search enter, has fields like WT has which can be filled in -- I have no McConnell in my lines which are "southern" for the most part   

All but the familysearch.org were was they might open the doors to contacts who might have sources tucked away ...

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Wondering if you have anything on the Grubbers in Northumberland Co PA. My paternal grandmother' s mother is a Mary Gruber I have her find a grave information but she is my brick wall on that side of the family. She married Jesse Miller( I do not believe that Jesse is his first name).

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Hi Jennifer,

I just noticed your question about Gruber relatives. I can't help you there.  My husband's family arrived 1845 and settled in Jennings Co., Indiana.  They don't seem to have settled anywhere else.

Is Northumberland county an area where Mennonites or Amish settled? A lot if them were Germans and may have separate records.  I've never researched in that area, but one thing I have learned about researching in the early days of Pennsylvania is not to assume that families moved as much as the records make it seem.  A lot of times it wasn't them moving but the boundaries of townships and counties and even states that were moving.

Best of luck with your brick wall.  I feel your pain.

Linda

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Thanks

Answer 1

Arthur Mcconnell, 1790 US Census, Washington, PA

Record Collection: 1790 US Census

Mrs Mcconnel, 1820 US Census, Hopewell, Washington Co., PA

Comments

There was an Arthur Mcconnell who served in the War of 1812, which was not over until Andrew Jackson defended New Orleans from the British in early 1815.

This Arthur Mcconnell was a Private in Missouri during the war, so I don't know whether he is the same one you are asking about.

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Thanks for your answers.  The first answer is the Arthur I am talking about.  The second might be his son Arthur Jr.  He settled in Hot Springs Twp. Hot Springs Co., Arkansas.  He may have been in MO at the time or his place may have been and the border moved.  His brother Thomas is my direct ancestor and was in the War of 1812, so it wouldn't surprise me if this is my Arthur's namesake.

Are you researching this McConnell line?  Arthur Jr. was Susan Lloyd's line.  Both of our families have had a similar health issue pop up.  This is also why I'm working to get through the brick wall to discover whether it goes even further back.

Answer 2

Looks like there is already a profile for her:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wilson-2009

Actually 2:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Willson-1949

Comments

Hi,

Yes, their were a lot of Elizabeth McConnells, and yet, for one reason or another none of them fit the bill as well as Arthur's daughters. His daughters were Sarah, Susan, Mary, and Margaret.  I have never seen any evidence that they had middle names.  Later generations did, but in the early days, no.  

Sarah McConnell married James Wherry. Susan married Valentine Kinnett.  Mary died young - age 9.  Margaret married Amos Ellis.  However, Arthur McConnell's place is always described by Urie descendants as near the Urie place and his son married an Elizabeth S. McConnell.  

So, through the magic of the Internet, Arthur's daughter Sarah became Elizabeth Sarah McConnell, the wife of one of the Urie boys who later became his widow and married D. Craig.  I am sure there is a correct Elizabeth out there for the Urie family, but I have done an awful lot of research on this family and the mythical Elizabeth isn't among Arthur's daughters and thus there is no connection to Arthur McConnell's family in this generation except as a neighbor maybe.  I still haven't found a Hopewell township map showing plats that far back. All I know is that Arthur's land was on Buffalo Creek.  I'd be interested to know if Urie's land was near his. They were among the earliest settlers other than the Indians.  Literally on the bleeding edge of the frontier.

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Just to check, have you read: https://books.google.com/books?id=5ULWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA292&lpg=PA292&dq=were+the+parents+of+the+following+children:+Susan,+Sarah,+Margaret,+Mary,+George,+Arthur,+James,+John+and+Thomas&source=bl&ots=5lTe-uUDG2&sig=ACfU3U0L1tO-kjPhBhX4aFJiWKvLyLp0Lg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi29d-Lo6DqAhX9hXIEHUIvD6UQ6AEwAXoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=were%20the%20parents%20of%20the%20following%20children%3A%20Susan%2C%20Sarah%2C%20Margaret%2C%20Mary%2C%20George%2C%20Arthur%2C%20James%2C%20John%20and%20Thomas&f=false

Pg 292

Doesn’t say who Arthur parents are, but may help corroborate some of the other information, born in Ireland, etc.

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Hi again,

Yes, thanks for reminding me of that one. I'll add it to my new source file in case the other file can't be recovered.

It says Arthur was a native of Ireland and married Elizabeth there.  Already I know it is partially wrong because I have the source for their wedding from the church records in Strasburg PA 1754.  The problem I have is that the biographer was interviewing one or possibly more grandchildren who never met that grandfather. Thomas and James in the two bios took off for Ohio to start new families around the time Arthur died. So, it's unlikely that they had the family bible for reference. Thomas was already dead at the time of the biography, so they couldn't ask him.

 I love the clues and the flavor the bios provide. They are great for getting the siblings sorted out too.  But I know that if someone had asked me where my own parents were married, I would not have known until after I started doing the family tree.  Did the interviewer give them time to gather information from aunts and uncles or did he walk up to the porch one day and ask questions off the cuff?  Thats how I read it was done.

Answer 3

For your computer, the best option might be removing the hard drive, connecting it to a new computer as an external drive, and copying the data over. It doesn't take a high-end specialist to do that.

But that's assuming the hard drive works and something else failed.

Comments

Thanks, Rob, for the great suggestion.  I do think that the power supply is the problem because I lost two computers, but I wasn't aware right away. I suspect that my surge protector failed to do the job when the lights flickered. I thought, at first, one may have gone out from a dead battery which I knew was losing time on the clock, but a new battery didn't help. Then I discovered the other one was out as well.

They each have older operating systems on the drives, but I don't think that would matter if I plug the drive into a USB port after I've already got the computer through start up.

I'm assuming I need to buy a case online that has USB in order to turn the internal drive into an external drive and connect to my working computer. I'm using Macs.