52 Ancestors Week 45: Rich Man

+14 votes
841 views

Time for the next 52 Ancestors challenge!

Please 52 Ancestors and 52 Photos sharing challenge badgesshare with us a profile of an ancestor or relative who matches this week's theme:

Rich Man

From Amy Johnson Crow:

The theme for Week 45 is "Rich Man." I encourage you to be creative with this theme. Of course, if you have the proverbial "rich uncle," feel free to write about him, but think about other ways that one can be "rich." Also think about names. Any Moneypennys or Banks in the family tree? How about an ancestor with the first name of Wealthy?

Share below!

Participants who share every week can earn badges. If this is your first time participating and you don't have the participation badge, or if you pass a milestone (13 in 13, 26 in 26, 52 in 52) let us know hereClick here for more about the challenge. 

in The Tree House by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.4m points)
edited by Eowyn Walker

37 Answers

+17 votes
 
Best answer

This is a newspaper article about my grand uncle Ray Van Meter. As a young boy he worked for the Trenton, Missouri newspaper and was greatly loved by the owner. Ray was willed the newspaper, as he was like a son to the owner. He was very respected and admired in the Northern Missouri area. He and his wife, my grand aunt Ruth were well known for their generosity. He never met a stranger, and he was a friend to many important people in Missouri, one of which was President Harry Truman.

by Alexis Nelson G2G6 Pilot (843k points)
selected by Susan Laursen
What a sad story Alexis thank You for sharing this
Thank you Susan, yes, I miss him and my Aunt Ruth. They were very good to my mother and me.
Susan, thank you so very much for selecting my grand uncle Ray for best answer. He was a wonderful person, and I know that he liked genealogy; he and my grand aunt Ruth hired a genealogist about 1960. He would love WiKiTree and getting this honor.
You deserve it Alexis your uncle Ray sound like a fantastic uncle I certainly love it very much
+20 votes

My grandma's uncle  George Buckingham Pruett was born in Oregon and went to a "Jewelers and Engravers" college in Philadelphia around beginning of the 20th century. He returned west and migrated with his family to California.  He opened and operated a jewelry store on Market Street in San Francisco.  My grandma told me stories about visiting his store when she was a young girl and him giving her a pretty necklace or pin.  He is the boy on the left with the lace collar.

by Caryl Ruckert G2G6 Pilot (205k points)
edited by Caryl Ruckert
Wow Caryl what a great treasure of a photo thank You for sharing
+16 votes
No Moneypenny or Banks in my tree. I have an Uncle Ritchie, but he's still living.

The only relative that had any "wealth" as far as I'm aware is my 3rd great grandfather Dr. Increase Mathews but I've already mentioned him several times.
by Diane Hildebrandt G2G6 Pilot (109k points)
+14 votes

Riches attract envy with greedy behaviour. John Young's estate was entailed upon the heirs of his neice Susanna L Barrett (Mrs. Samuel Bown) and her son Samuel. It included a farm and lands containing approximately 44 acres of pasture and orchard land in Horsington and Grove Farm in North Cheriton containing about 80 acres of pasture partly in Wincanton parish, England. An annuity of one hundred pounds free and clear from all charges was paid to Susanna and her son who was a minor. In 1817 Susanna married T. Charles Williams who got into financial trouble. Charles entered into a dispute with his stepson Samuel Bown about money before 1830. Susannah responded very emotionally and initiated a court case. It had not been settled by the time of Samuel’s death in 1834, so she then took her daughter in law Mary to court. Susanna died 1838 and the debt case Susannah had initiated had to be settled before either will could be probated. 

I had wondered why his eldest son came to Canada when he had inherited the estate, but I would want to leave all that behind if it had happened to me. Finding the lawyer's records of the long term dispute told me more than three generations of my family's history at once. Now that's rich.

by Judith Chidlow G2G6 Mach 5 (55.6k points)
+15 votes
52 Ancestors, 52 Different Surnames.

My 8th great-grandfather William Claiton, Sr. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Claiton-7 is rich in profile managers, having no fewer than seven.  He may have been a landowner in the colony of Pennsylvania and may have had some means, but not to the extent that some of his descendants would like to believe.  I want to thank SJ Baty for his hard work on this family.
by Margaret Summitt G2G6 Pilot (315k points)
+11 votes

I think I stretched it this week as I talked about my 5th great-grandfather, Richard Sprague Frothinghamhttps://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2019/11/52-ancestors-week-45-rich-man.html

by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (756k points)
+16 votes
Let's see... My husband and I are both rich in family history going back a few centuries on both sides... But I think that's about it unless we want to count Richards -- there are dozens but none of them wealthy (to my knowledge).  Financially?  No, not a one... Unless you want to count the Dodge brothers who started the Dodge automobile corporation.  But I wrote about them in the Week 43 challenge -- transportation.  Not doing too well on this one... I know!   I'm rich in friends and family on WikiTree!!  Thanks to you all.
by Robin Shaules G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
Robin, I love when you talk about the Dodge brothers. You are rich in friends and family. We all love you.
Thank you, Cheryl! It's you and others like you that make WikiTree so special.

Thanks Robin - you bring it out in me! heart

+12 votes

In terms of literal wealth my richest ancestor is probably my 6th great-grandfather Robert Jenkins Henry of Somerset County, Maryland, who owned over 6100 acres of land during his lifetime and at his death in 1766 left an estate valued at £6797 15s 8d (including 3100 acres of land and 86 slaves); relative values in modern terms using an inflation calculator range from £928,000 to £110,700,000 (depending on whether it's calculated as value in purchasing power, labour value, or share of GDP).

My ancestor who was richest in progeny is probably my 4th great-grandfather Edward Dodd, who had 18 children by two different wives and 109 grandchildren; his descendants by now probably number in the thousands (and my father has 194 DNA matches on Ancestry who are related through Edward Dodd, far more than for any other single ancestor).

by C Handy G2G6 Pilot (208k points)
+13 votes

My third great granny was Deborah RICHmond. She had five RICHmond sisters and one RICHmond brother. 

Deborah's father -- who had fought some of Napoleon's battles then escaped to the U.S. -- was not really a RICHmond. His name at birth was RITZman. Any way you look at it the name sounds like RICH MAN.

by C Ryder G2G6 Mach 8 (87.9k points)
+16 votes

My wife is descended from a Henderson family who farmed in County Antrim, Ireland from the early 1600s. In the 1850s at the height of the Irish famine several members of the family emigrated to the United States to start a new life. Some became farmers, some were attracted by the gold rush and became miners hoping to get rich, and others moved to cities like San Francisco and became merchants and made their money through mining their customers.
A couple of generations later we have  Muriel Henderson born in 1895 in San Francisco. Her father was a hardware salesman and they seem to have had a comfortable existence. After leaving high school Muriel worked as a public school teacher, but then she got rich, Ralph Rich to be precise, an Italian American Truck Driver whose father had migrated West from New York after arriving from Italy and mother was descended from early settlers in Massachusetts.
by Ray Hawkes G2G6 Mach 5 (54.7k points)
+15 votes

My 6x great-grandfather Reinholt (Abendschon) Obenchain (1725 - bef. 1783) migrated to Pennsylvania from Germany.  He and his sons bought land, cultivated it, acquired a plantation, and eventually opened a paper mill.  A description of him said: 

"while living in Berks County, Reinhold 'accumulated much wealth.'"

by SJ Baty G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
+12 votes

My people from the 1700s through the early 1900s were mostly farmers.  They seemed to make a pretty OK living, since they raised most of what they needed and didn’t need a lot of fancy stuff. This is one of my “family mystery photos” I have no idea who these relatives are, but I always thought they looked rather prosperous! They could be Drivers, Filers or Forsyths! Someday...... :)

by Lyn Gulbransen G2G6 Mach 4 (49.4k points)
+12 votes

Surprise!  I do have an ancestor named Rich.  She is Ann (Rich) Willis and I had no idea she was in my tree.  She is my 7th great grandmother.  I found her thanks to all the neat tools that WikiTree provides.  Thanks Y’all for the tools, the fun, and especially to the profile managers that put her in the tree.

This is my 26 of 26.

by Ward Hindman G2G6 Mach 3 (34.7k points)
+13 votes

My gr.gr.gr. grandfather William Huckel may not have been a Rich Man, but, he and his wife Eliza were rich in another way. They were blessed with a total of eleven children. Eight of those children married and blessed them with Seventy grandchildren. 

by David Urquhart G2G6 Pilot (166k points)
+12 votes

I've previously written about my G3 Grandfather Hercules Hall.  Now I want to write about his grandson, also called Hercules in his honour, Hercules Richey (aka Ritchie).

Hercules the grandson appears to be rich by name only, having emigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1872, probably to seek a new life away rom the hardship that was common in Ireland at that time, and going on to marry in Simcoe County, Ontario and raise nine children. 

I'd also like to thank my fourth cousin Alan, who has added a wonderful fan chart created within the family, showing four generations of descendants of Hercules Ritchie in a beautiful hand drawn document.  It certainly shows that Hercules Ritchie left a rich legacy in terms of strength of family connections.

I also noticed that his Obituary in the Shelburne Free Press & Economist, dated June 22, 1939 noted that he was "a man of sterling character", appropriate for a last name of Ritchie!

by Linda Hawkes G2G6 Mach 3 (39.1k points)
+10 votes
Being rich is one of those relative terms. As many of my ancestors farmed, do you define greater wealth as more land, more cows?  No, I will use a different standard. Expensive clothing.  I have a photograph of a middle aged man before the civil war, with fashionable clothing and an ornate hairdo.  The hair is piled high and combed with the 1850 version of hair gel.  Who was he and why was he in my family album, when most of our people were Vermont farmers?

After comparison with much later photographs I identified him as my GGgf John Allard. [Allard-984]   He was my grandmother’s sainted grandfather, and the stories handed down certainly indicated they were financially comfortable, but not rich.  I have not found the source of John’s apparent wealth. I do know he was very aware of his own ancestry, which was Huguenot on his paternal side, and great migration English on his maternal side.  My grandmother told a story of his ancestor Peter Allard, coming from France with blond hair and a violin. My own research found that Peter was the son of the immigrant, whose name was Matturin Allard. John’s younger photo seems to show he had blond hair.  Looking at pictures of male hairstyles of the early nineteenth century, I found one that looked like John’s labeled as being French.  So perhaps John got some of his sense of style from his French ancestry.  

My grandmother’s stories made me think John was a beloved man in the community, but I had never found an obituary.  I called a local history expert in Rutland Vermont and her better access to local records found one. In it, I found validation of much of what grandma always told us.  First, he was a devout Methodist who had his own community church where others were welcome to join him in bible study  He and his wife Prudence had a large family, and a dairy. As the children grew up and moved away, John had an abundance of milk, which he gave away to people who needed it. He died a beloved figure.  In other words, he was truly a rich man.
by Carolyn Adams G2G6 Mach 9 (90.8k points)
edited by Carolyn Adams
+11 votes

I have a several times great grandmother whose name was Mary Cashman. Despite the name I don't think her family was "rich" They were german/palatine immigrants, mostly farmers I believe. I can't find my Cashman file at the moment. Wonder where it got to? So I've only added her.

by Anne B G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
+11 votes
No real rich family in my direct line.  William Green (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Green-1865) is noted to have accumulated a fair amount land, as it was valued to be worth over 200 pounds.
by Eric McDaniel G2G6 Mach 4 (44.3k points)
+10 votes

We have a wealth of RICHardsons in our family! Ezekiel Richardson and wife Susannah are my 8th great grandparents. Brothers Thomas and Samuel are great uncles. Most of the Richardsons in the US are descendants of one of these Richardsons. So, we are RICH with Richardsons. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Richardson-25

by Carol Baldwin G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
+9 votes
I have a few Dr's in my family but they are not direct relatives in my tree they are 4th cousins 16x removed levels. So I would have to say we are rich in farmers.
by Christine Preston G2G6 Mach 6 (64.9k points)

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