A collection of narratives, in PDF documents, about ancestors, their relatives, and a few strangers who caught my eye.
Peter David Hansell first appears in Darby, PA in 1754. The widow of his son William moved into downtown Philadelphia about 1800. The widow's son Thomas was the father of James S. Hansell who moved to Willingboro, NJ in the 1850s. His daughter Ella Hansell married Richard R. Lippincott and the couple lived in Rancocas, NJ. To the left is an advertisement for the Hansell Raspberry, developed by James S. Hansell at his farm in Willingboro.
Hansell Families, click here
Lippincott Families, click here
Ella Hansell, daughter of James S. Hansell, and her husband, Richard R. Lippincott, were Outing patrons for young women of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Adelia Lowe, Sallie Face, Ida Wasee (photo at left), Nancy Tadgahsong, Jeannette Rice, Christine Childs, and Laura Nalzayash. Ella's brothers Wilmot Hansell and Richard H. Hansell also participated in this program. Read here
Ida Wasee married Delos K. Lone Wolf, nephew of Lone Wolf (the younger). The three traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1913 for the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. A Washington, D.C. photograph revealed the story behind a 1913 Kiowa calender picture drawn by Silver Horn. Read "The Lone Wolfs Go to Washington" here
New discoveries for Peter David Hansell: German vital statistics. The Hultgren church census. Where PDH lived and all his friends and neighbors. I got seriously off track with Joseph Sellers and his wife Hannah Paschall: An extant stone dwelling in Kingsessing. Son-in-law famous sword maker William Rose. Grandchildren Peter Rose and Paschall Sellers, Surgical Instrument Makers.
A somewhat improbable family story of a stolen child, surprisingly corroborated by a will in the Chester County Archives, helped sort out Georges claimed to be sons of Joseph Sellers and Hannah Paschall. The Georges belong to one Baltasar Selzer aka Paul Sellers. Read both narratives here
Rebecca Scattergood Savery lived at 20 North Fifth Street in Philadelphia. Of the six known quilts created by Rebecca, her family and friends, three are signature quilts. Maybe your ancestor is on one of these quilts: Scattergood, Savery, Cresson, Dixon, Webb, Betts, Barr, Dill, Cope, Baldwin, VanHorn, Cadwallader, Oldden, Lloyd, Taylor, Bailleul and others.
Click here
While sorting out Pennsylvania Hansells, I came across a group of Hansells buried in the Merion Friends Burial Ground in Merion Station, Montgomery County, PA. In 1786 one Lewis Hansell married Mary Bond. Are the people in this burial ground Lewis and Mary and their children? I don't know for sure. Read about them here
A Hansell married Bertha Clear's sister, but Bertha takes center stage in these narratives. Bertha's first adventure in life was marriage to J.B. Garrison, The Living Skeleton, on display at the Dime Museum in Philadelphia. Shortly after this episode, Bertha married George Diggle which resulted in her second, most unfortunate, adventure of being accused (she was acquitted) of his death. Life took an upward turn for Bertha's last and final adventure. As Bertha St. Clair she acted on the legitimate stage. After her marriage to actor Landis Wanbaugh (stage name Lewis McCord), the couple had a very successful vaudeville career. After Landis died, Bertha called herself Mrs. Lewis McCord and was the character actress for the first DeMille/Lasky silent films. Click here
In 1847, a Hansell in the line I am studying married John Sinclair (masonry contractor) and the couple lived in New York City. The Sinclairs crossed paths, professionally and socially, with David and John Jardine, Scottish-born brothers and architects. David and John left a highly-respected architectural legacy in New York City, but it was their father Archibald Jardine 1786-1868 who really caught my attention. Click here
Photographs in a cardboard box of family memorabilia spurred on this research. Paul Giesregen of Bavaria arrived in Baltimore aboard the Ship Rebecca in 1844. Jacob Kolb of Weiler, Germany arrived in NYC in 1852 on the Helvetia. In 1854 Gustave Ettensperger of Ellwangen, Germany sailed on the Ship Splendid to NYC. About these families, click here
Joshua Mabry and Frances B. Strother married around 1816 and raised their children in Louisburg, Franklin County, North Carolina. Joshua was something of a brick wall. I chipped away for a while and it seems he may be a child of Reps Mabry of Warren County, NC. Joshua's second born child was a mystery. Likely he is James L. Mabry who led a short but adventurous life in Texas. He survived the Santa Fe Expedition only to perish on the Texas Navy schooner "San Antonio" when it disappeared in the Gulf of Mexico in 1842.
Joshua Mabry & Frances Strother, click here
James L. Mabry, click here
My grandmother talked often about my ancestors, but my teenage brain paid little attention. Using old photos and dimly remembered stories, I followed a few ancestral lines through New York State and up into the mountain village of Peru, Vermont.
Families are Wagner, Clark, Waterman, Pearce, Holcomb, Beers, Watson, Adams.
Recollections of Peru, Bromley House photos, Peru Country Store, and Morgan Mouse. Click here
Dissecting a Few Photographs from "Dissection, Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880-1930" Click here
Last Updated - April 2023
Nancy Ettensperger, Underhill, VT
