The WikiTree Challenge 2022 Challenge 1

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WikiTree Challenge Challenge 1

Guest Star: Jimmy Wales

FHL Lookup Requests

• This book could have information on any of the Wales Ancestors in Alabama. Would require someone to read through it looking for Surnames in the J Wales Tree in Alabama and southern Tennessee.

"Scraps" relating to the early history of Limestone County

Family History Library United States & Canada 2nd Floor Film 1035243

Image Group Number, DGS # 7953694

• https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008707086?cat=76179 Need court records for a case involving Thomas Ham and John Ham who are brothers - should be judgments entered of[?] second in Wayne Common Please to Nos 255 May Term 1874 and 382 December Term 1877 for this chap John Ham (bef.1802-bef.1879) - Couldn't find Ham in the index Doherty-2064

Newspaper Lookup Requests

1. Need newspaper help for stabbing death of Clarence W Graviet. Could be Gravett or Gravitt or Gravet also. Found one article at Newspaper.com for Oct 12 1936. There was not much information but assailant was “Hicks” this was in the Dothan Eagle. Could have been an argument.
   • I found several that I listed in Discord. Nothing about there being a poker game, but it makes sense with it being after midnight at a residence. Silva-1055
   • I read all the articles I could find at Newspapers.com searching for "stabbing" in 1936 and "Frank Hicks" in 1936. It was just said that Hicks was the aggressor (but then it was Graviet's house, so the witnesses were probably his family). The fracas took place in the afternoon, about 4 pm on a Sunday. Hicks was also hospitalized with a fractured skull and knife wounds. It is possible he was beaten by the sons of the victim. I could not find trial coverage, but he was convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to 10 years. I put the info on Graviet's profile. Selvaggio-84 03:27, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

Military/Fold3 Requests

1. Looking for possible service record for Cord Wales, signed a Draft Registration for WWI; gave birth date of 11 Jan 1877.
   • I searched the Alabama Digital Archives - Alabama Soldiers of WWI Database and did not find him in Limestone County or Madison County.
   • The only record on Fold3 is the draft card. (Silva-1055 12:59, 7 January 2022 (UTC))
2. Henry Lewenicht was a drummer during the Spanish-American War.
   • There was one record stating his company and rank. I've added the source to his profile. Silva-1055

Surname Varients

• Baugher, Bower, Baugham, Bowham, Bowhow, etc.
• Dodson, Dotson
• Graviet, Gravet, Gravett, Garvet, Gravit, Gravite, Gravett Etc.
• Lewenicht, Levenicht
• McKissick, McKisick, McKisock, McKessock, McKissock, McKessack, McKessick, McKesick, McKisack, McCusick, McIasaick, McIsaak, McIsack

Notes From Guest

1. [edited] There's one interesting family legend. My grandfather was John E. Dudley. His father, I believe, had the same name, John Earl Dudley. My grandmother told me this story, about him or his father or grandfather, who had gotten a notice that he had inherited a peerage in the UK that he could inherit. But he had to come and claim it and it wasn't possible to do. He was living in the US at the time, and this was the olden days. So, it went to somebody else. And it was said he was an Earl, that’s where the initial “E” came from. The big problem is the Earl of Dudley, his tree goes way far back and there was never any question on who would inherit it. So, that doesn’t make sense, and the Earl of Dudley was incredibly important and like a really big name. However, there is also a lower title a Baron, [that] at one point went into abeyance. and in the UK back in the olden days, there was no male heir, there were sisters. And so what happens, traditionally, what happens with that is that the title goes into abeyance, meaning it is split equally between the three sisters and none of them actually holds it. Then it’s just waiting for the abeyance to be terminated. So sometimes it happens a generation later, or two generations later, something like that. And then there is a court process, and they hold a hearing, and they call it out of abeyance and they look for the nearest male heir. And that did happen with the Dudley peerage at about the right time period so that’s possible.
2. My great-grandfather, that would have been Thomas Jefferson Wales, or Corder Wales, there is a family story that he was stabbed to death over a poker game.

Photographs

Note: Please check with your captain, Christine Daniels, if there are any questions about the images being protected by copyright.

• add image link here

Resources

Tell Us What You Found!!

Interesting Finds

List interesting finds to share with the guest at the end of the week

• The Ham family of Honesdale, Pennsylvania were involved in boat building. Honesdale is currently not located on navigable waters. At the time it was the terminus of the D & H Canal which was built to transport coal from the mountains of Pennsylvania to the Hudson River and eventually to New York City.
  • William Henry Ham (1834-1914) Second Great uncle claims that he built 63 boats in 6 months using machinery and the Canal Company took his plans and built a boatyard.
  • Thomas Ham (1806-1886)
  • Roswell Ellsworth Marvin (1797-1885) was an early paymaster and land agent for the D & H Canal Company. He was Jimmy's second great-grandmother's brother's wife's grandfather. 8 degrees of separation.
  • Great uncle Thomas J Ham (1837-) was editor and proprietor of the local newspaper the “Wayne County Herald”, a newspaper published in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States.
• Zula Garrigus's sister Lula lost her husband Lafayette Brooks to a tragic accident as he alighted from a train - he died from injuries several days later. She was left with five children, from 9-year-old Earl to young Lafayette just four days old. She remarried Alfred Allen and had two more sons. Details on Lafayette's profile.
• The Lewenichts seem to be quite the musicians: Irving played flute, his wife was a cellist, his dad was a musician, Henry was a drummer with the Army in the Spanish-American War, etc.
• Great-grandmother Mary Louise Lewenicht was married for two years to Henry M. Kimpel before John Dudley. They divorced in 1889, which was newsworthy in Buffalo and the subject of articles "A Divorce Suit" and then "One Made Two." Articles on Mary's profile.
• Mary Louise Lewenicht's brother Edward Lewenicht (1863-1938), was the victim of a brutal knife attack in 1895. His throat was cut and the papers declared him "mortally wounded" and said "He cannot survive!" He pulled through and lived another 43 years.
• Grand-uncle Henry P. Kimpel was injured when falling from a belt line train in Buffalo. Through his stepfather and guardian John Dudley, he sued the New York Central Railroad Company for $5,000 damages February 7, 1898. He alleged that he was thrown from the train. The company asserted that he and another boy were riding on the back platform, and that Henry jumped off when the conductor pulled the other boy inside the train.
• Daniel Wallace Dudley (1897-) lists his occupation as "private detective" on his marriage record with Minnie Harpel (Hoffman).
• Three generations of Humphrey Ballamy's married women named Grace (different maiden names!)
• Hubert Wales' sister-in-law Edna (Richards) Wales had a brother John who divorced and moved to Seattle. He died from head injuries after a fight outside a tavern in downtown Seattle. He was attacked by an unknown assailant and suffered a skull fracture and hematoma, dying 2 1/2 weeks later. Articles on his profile: Johnny Richards.
• Jimmy's first cousin twice removed (she was Nellie (Graviet) Wales' cousin) Pairlee Gravitt married Lawrence Richards, brother of his great-aunt Edna (Richards) Wales. They lost a 9-month-old daughter to pneumonia the following year. In the late 1930s or 1940, Lawrence abandoned Pairlee and their son Joe to work as a farmhand in Arkansas. Pairlee posted legal notices seeking his response and received a divorce in Huntsville in late November 1941. She married Lowell Nabors that same week in Kentucky. Lawrence was drafted into the Army in 1942. After Lowell died in 1972, Pairlee remarried to Lawrence in 1978.
• New ancestral surnames uncovered:
  • Wales: Eaves, Clem (Klemm), Sibert (Seibert), Mayer, Jung, Grossem, Jager (Jaeger), Trautmann, Molter, Sarr, Spengler, Steinberg, Mossberg, McCarly, Crockett, Holland, Robinson, Leggett, Spiers, Corbell, Eldridge, Ramsey, Simmons, Parsons, Thurston
  • Brock: Broke, Isler, Franck (Francke), Gloxin, Schnabel, Wendlander, Mueller, Welti, Graebsch, Matlock, Holt, Meadows, Merryman, Shearman, Woodlief, Duke, Marston, Soane (uncertain parents), Hampton
  • Graviet: Baugher (Bager), Graham, Hilliard, Ledbetter, Claiborne, East, Thurston, Lotz, Schwab (Seyb), Krocker, Bassett, Jess, Weinreich, Rocker, Eiberle, Wild, Schroth
  • Turner: McCan, Cooper
  • Dudley: Eason, Colestone, Edis, Ashbey, Ham, Lile (Lyle), Barrett (uncertain parents), Ballamy, Hexx (Hex, Hicks), Mark, Dyer, Baker, Pearce, Treweeks, Hawken, Bayly, Sanders, Cornish, Adams
  • Lewenicht: Levenicht, Normann, Schmeling, Schröder, Lorenz, Peters, Both, Schmidt, Krabben
  • Coleman: Dodson, Williams
  • Garrigus: Bunch, Jones, Alderdice, McClain (Macklane), Browne, Yates, McEwen, Miller, Dunn, McNaughton, Bell

Free Space Pages

List of Free Space Pages created for or linked to members of this family.

• "A Graviet Family Memento", work on space page is in progress. Found was a few pages from a book belonging to Jesse Graviet from 1825 with national significance, signed with his name that it is his book, and son William used the book as school work writing tablet. Only 2-3 tattered pages but I found the same edition of the book in the Louisiana State University Library, with photos, showing how it had been used as a school writing tablet by students. I have permission for WikiTree to use the photos from LSU. The other is from Family Search.
• Ham boat yard in Honesdale, a long article about the boat yard belonging to Thomas Ham (1806-1886) (Jimmy’s ) and his son William Henry Ham (abt.1835-) in the newspaper owned by another son Thomas J Ham (1837-)
• Lewenicht in Buffalo address books, an analysis of the appearance of members of the Lewenicht family in public address books or city directories of Buffalo, New York.

Military Profiles

Did any of the guests' family serve in the military or military conflicts?

• Tillman Horne Holland (1794-1874) - War of 1812. (4th Great Grandfather - Cord Erskin Wales maternal great grandfather)
• Jesse (Gravitt) Gravet (1797-1861) - War of 1812 - Private - Perkin's Battalion of Mississippi Territory.
• Henry Lewenicht (1866-1948) (Great Granduncle) - Spanish-American War - Briefly served in the military during the war, and was the musician for the 65th NY Volunteer Infantry until the regiment was mustered out on November 19, 1898.
• Louis Lewenicht (1886-1918) (1st cousin of Mary (Lewenicht) Dudley) - World War I - Was killed in action in France 5 Sep 1918. He is buried there in Oise-Aisne American Cemetery.

Ancestors

Brick Walls

Brick walls themselves don't give you bounty points, but if we are stuck on an ancestral line that blocks you from getting those potential points.

Paternal Brick Walls

Grandparent 1: Cord Wales' Tree

1. Thomas Jefferson Wales Sr. ➔ needs parents Indiana & Alabama
2. Mary Eaves ➔ needs parents Alabama
3. Mary McCarly ➔ needs parents Georgia & Alabama
4. Tabitha Robinson ➔ needs parents South Carolina & Tennessee

Grandparent 2: Ines Brock's Tree

1. Laban Brock ➔ needs mother South Carolina & Alabama
2. Unknown-362515 ➔ needs LNAB South Carolina
3. Matlock-1069 ➔ needs parents Alabama & Tennessee
4. Jesse Holt ➔ needs parents Alabama
5. Matilda Meadows ➔ needs mother ?North Carolina

Grandparent 3: Clarence Graviet's Tree

1. Jesse Gravitt ➔ needs parents Virginia & Alabama
2. William East ➔ needs parents Virginia & Alabama
3. Elizabeth Thurston ➔ needs parents Virginia & Alabama
4. Amanda W Graham ➔ needs parents Alabama

Grandparent 4: Bessie Turner's Tree

1. Turner-38706 ➔ needs parents Tennessee
2. McCan-112 ➔ needs parents South Carolina & Tennessee
3. Junior Cooper ➔ needs parents South Carolina/Tennessee
4. Liza Unknown ➔ needs LNAB South Carolina/Tennessee

Maternal Brick Walls

Grandparent 5: John Dudley's Tree

1. Enoch Dudley ➔ needs mother Northamptonshire, England
2. Elizabeth Williams ➔ needs parents Northamptonshire, England
3. Samuel Eason ➔ needs parents Cambridgeshire, England
4. Alice Eason ➔ needs mother Cambridgeshire, England

Grandparent 6: Mary Lewenicht's Tree

1. Anna Eleonora Both ➔ needs mother Germany
2. Prander-1 ➔ needs parents Germany and New York State

Grandparent 7: John Coleman's Tree

1. Michael Coleman ➔ needs parents
2. Dodson-6341 ➔ needs father Kentucky & Tennessee
3. Sophia Williams ➔ needs parents Georgia

Grandparent 8: Zula Garrigus' Tree

1. Judia Unknown ➔ needs LNAB Pennsylvania or Tennessee?
2. Milany Unknown ➔ needs LNAB
3. Milany Unknown ➔ needs parents Tennessee
4. Thomas W. Bunch ➔ needs parents North Carolina
5. James Alderdice ➔ needs parents possible Scotland

Needs Work