Name:             Aaron Kimble ATEN

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Birth:               18 Feb 1812     Erie Co, Pennsylvania

Death:              9 Sep 1901       Garden Grove, Iowa

Father:             Cornelius ATEN (1766-1857)

Mother:            Sarah (Sally) BELL (1770-1856)

 

Misc. Notes

 

His obituary is found in the "Allerton News", Allerton, Iowa, September, 1901:

 

Mr. Aaron Aten, an aged and respectable citizen of Wayne county, breathed his last at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Moody Robinson, in the northwest part of Clay township on Monday 9 September after a long illness of a dropsical nature. He had reached a ripe old age, having passed his 89th birthday in February last. Deceased was born in Pennsylvania and lived in Ohio and Illinois before moving to Iowa, settling on a farm near Garden Grove in 1871. His companion with whom he lived nearly sixty years died about 8 years previously. They had thirteen children, eight still living. Five of them were present at the funeral, Mssrs, J. W., T. G. and A. K. Aten and Mrs. Moody Robinson and Mrs. W. S. Rilea. Three of the children, William and E. D. Aten and Mrs. John Robinson, whose homes are in Illinois, were not present. Burial was by the side of his wife in the cemetery at Garden Grove on Wednesday 11 September.

 

Memo: One of the windows in the old Methodist church in Garden Grove was dedicated (presumably by Aaron) to his wife Dorcas, and her name was part of the window. The church is gone now, but I would like to find a picture of the window someday. (Fred)

 

LFC notes, 1850 Census, Stark Co., Illinois:

Aaron (farmer), Dorcas, Samuel (farmer) and all children down to Ellen (ex Alvina who died young) are listed. Parents Cornelius (age 84) and Sarah (age 81) live with them. Cornelius is retired. Aaron and Dorcas were born in Pennsylvania,  Sam/Mary/Sarah in Ohio, other kids in Illinois. Cornelius and wife born in New Jersey. All kids over age 5 have attended school within year. (Birth places suggest they moved from Ohio to Illinois between 1837 and 1841.)

 

Note: Elizabeth was born in 1841 in Illinois. However 1840 census (see notes with father) has them in Ohio. Therefore they must have moved from Ohio to Illinois in late 1840 or early 1841. (See also census notes with his father, Cornelius. It appears that until his parents died Aaron always lived close to them. He also tended to live very close to his sister Sarah, and her husband Samuel Stevenson. The families moved around together.

 

1860 CENSUS, STARK CO., ILLINOIS:

Aaron is a farmer, with $2000 of real estate and $250 other. There are 11 of their children still living at home.

 

1870 Census, Stark Co., Illinois:

Aaron and Dorcas are still farming, have personal property worth $5000 and land worth $1550. Six kids (William, Ellen, Thomas, Edward, Aaron, and Luella) are still living at home. All except William have attended school within the last year. However the four eldest also list occupations: William is a farmer, Ellen (our ancestor) is a school teacher, and Thomas and Edward are farm hands. William owns land (value number hard to read, could be $300 or $800).

 

1880 Census, Garden Grove, Decatur Co., Iowa:

Aaron is 68 and still farming. Dorcas is 66. The two youngest kids still live at home: A. Kimball is 24 and a farmer while Luella is 20 with occupation listed as ÒAt HomeÓ.

 

1885 Iowa Census:

Aaron & Dorcas are living on ÒMain StreetÓ in Garden Grove.

 

1900 Census, High Point, Decatur Co., IA:

Aaron K. Aten, born Feb 1812, is found living in the home of John H. Cowden (born Oct 1873) and his wife Lillie D. Aaron is a "Boarder".

 

 

Marriage:         2 May 1833

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Spouse:           Dorcas GLASS

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Birth:               25 Jan 1814      Pennsylvania

Death:              20 Nov 1892    Wayne County, Iowa

Burial:                                    Garden Grove Cemetery?

Father:             Thomas GLASS (abt 1793)

Mother:            Mary KIRK

 

Misc. Notes

SEARCHING FOR DORCAS GLASS' FAMILY

BY FRED COFFEY AND TIM PETERMAN

NOVEMBER 2005

Over the last year I have been working with my cousin Tim Peterman to try to pin down the ancestry of Dorcas (Glass) Aten, the wife of Aaron Aten. Dorcas is one of our common ancestors.

 

While we know a good deal about the Aten branch of our family, and about the marriage and descendents of Dorcas, the ancestors of Dorcas have been something of a mystery. Tim had worked on it for many years before I got involved – the largest percentage of the material below comes from Tim's files. Please think of Tim as the joint (or maybe the primary) author of the following:

 

The purpose of this report is to discuss what we have learned to date, and to identify what mysteries and theories remain. This gets complicated, so pay attention! J

 

PENNSYLVANIA GEOGRAPHY

The following offers a quick perspective on the Pennsylvania counties this report will be discussing:

 

 

The area under consideration is in the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Washington County (#12) is where many of the court records are found, with the participants living in Smiths Township (near North end of county). Allegheny county (#19) contains Pittsburgh, and some research has focused on Glass families living in Robinson Township (west of Pittsburgh, about 1 township removed from the Washington County border) in 1820. We also find some relatives living in Beaver County (#29) in 1820 and later. Note that this is an 1820 map – Beaver County did not exist until then, being formed from parts of Allegheny and Washington Counties. Erie county (#32) in the far north will also be referenced. Also note that there is a strip of Virginia (now West Virginia) that projects up just to the left of Washington County.

 

WHAT WE KNOW WITH CONFIDENCE

Dorcas Glass was born on 25 Jan 1814 in Pennsylvania. She married Aaron Aten on 2 May 1833. Dates and children are as follows. (Tim Peterman is descended from daughter Martha Jane, and I am descended from daughter Ellen Arminda. Martha and Ellen's husbands were brothers:)

 

Aaron Kimble ATEN (18 Feb 1812 - 9 Sep 1901) & Dorcas GLASS (25 Jan 1814 - 20 Nov 1892)

    Samuel Harrison ATEN (20 Feb 1834 - 28 Apr 1900)

    Mary Ann ATEN (27 Feb 1836 - 7 Mar 1859)

    Sarah Caroline ATEN (18 Oct 1837 - 7 Sep 1880)

    Alvina ATEN (10 Sep 1839 - 16 Aug 1843)

    Elizabeth ATEN (9 Sep 1841 - 2 Dec 1862)

    Martha Jane ATEN (26 Mar 1843 - 3 Oct 1917) & John Kivett ROBINSON (14 May 1839 - 21 Jul 1926)

    John W. ATEN (2 May 1845 - 22 Aug 1910)

    William Jefferson ATEN (6 Sep 1847 - 27 May 1905)

    Ellen Arminda ATEN (17 Dec 1849 - 6 Mar 1919) & Moody ROBINSON (11 Dec 1850 - 22 Mar 1938)

    Thomas Glass ATEN (16 Dec 1851 - 1937)

    Edward Dwight ATEN (25 Jan 1854 -)

    Aaron K. ATEN (11 May 1856 - 5 Jul 1914)

    Clara Luella ATEN (20 Jul 1859 - 24 Nov 1936)

 

Aaron was born in Erie County PA, with his father having previously lived in Washington County and also in the strip of (West) Virginia just to the west of Washington County. His family lived in Erie County PA for many years, and they then moved to Ohio. However we believe Cornelius maintained relationships with a cousin in Beaver County, PA.

 

We don't know how Aaron met Dorcas, but the Beaver County connection is interesting. Dorcas had an uncle, Matthew Glass, living in Beaver County. And we believe Matthew's wife Abigail was a second cousin of Aaron. The opportunities for Aaron to meet Dorcas in Beaver County seemed good, but there may have been a better opportunity as follows:

 

We know that Aaron was living in Richland Co. Ohio with his parents in the 1830 census, and after their marriage Aaron and Dorcas are again found living in Richland in the 1840 census. While we have not yet conclusively shown where Dorcas was living before her marriage to Aaron in 1833, we believe she had living relatives in the Kirk families in Richland County, and we also believe she may have been raised by the Kirks. See discussion below.

 

By 1850 Aaron and Dorcas had moved to Stark Co., Illinois. They are still in Stark County in 1860 and 1870. However by 1880 they had moved to Decatur County, Iowa. They lived there until their deaths, and are buried in Garden Grove, Iowa.

 

The real issue has been Dorcas' ancestry. We have recently firmly established (see below) that her father was Thomas Glass, and that her paternal grandfather was Robert Glass.

 

We also have good evidence that Robert Glass married Jane Hillis, and that she was the mother of all of Robert's children.

 

We do know that Robert Glass had six children, and that he died in 1798 when these children were still young. The children, and their approximate birth years, were as follows:

 

1. Elizabeth Glass (born ca. 1787)

2. Sarah Glass (born ca. 1789)

3. Jane Glass (born ca. 1791)

4. Thomas Glass (born ca. 1793)

5. Mary Glass (born ca. 1795)

6. Matthew Glass (born ca. 1798)

 

And we now know that Thomas Glass was the father of Dorcas.

 

BUT WHO WAS DORCAS' MOTHER?

After a long search involving several candidates, we now believe that Dorcas' mother was Mary Kirk, the daughter of James and Dorcas Kirk. The Kirks were from Washington Co., PA, and Thomas would have married Mary Kirk there. The Kirks and Thomas Glass then moved to Richland County, Ohio. We believe that Mary (Kirk) Glass died young - - we don't know if she died before or after Thomas moved to Ohio. We believe that Thomas then remarried to Margaret McMillen and probably had 8 more children.

 

A big remaining mystery is "Who raised Dorcas?" We strongly suspect that she was actually raised by the Kirk family, and not by Thomas and his new family.

 

THE INVESTIGATION:

The following will first focus on the information that we developed about Dorcas' actual family, and the paths that led us to that information. We'll introduce some of the clues that led us astray, and at the end, for background, we will discuss some of the tortured paths the bad clues led us down.

 

NAMES, NAMES, NAMES:

We're ready to start looking at the evidence. Unfortunately, with so many choices and so much uncertainty, we will have to introduce a lot of people in the following analysis. We'll try to carefully identify each and keep them organized. But we beg the reader's patience.

 

 

EARLY EVIDENCE OF ROBERT GLASS

Later in this report we will introduce a published report that claims Robert was born in Ireland. (This particular report is most relevant to identifying the wife of Robert.)

 

The earliest evidence I have found to date of the presence of Robert is in the tax records for Smith Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. This shows that Robert Glass paid state taxes in 1786 in the amount of 1 pound, 11 shillings and 6 pence. This was one of the larger amounts paid in that township for that year, and would suggest he was reasonably wealthy?

 

AN INVESTIGATOR: ELISHA B. IAMS:

No, Elisha isn't family. He was a genealogist, who spent a lot of time in the 1930's and 1940's, going about in Washington and Allegheny Counties in Pennsylvania, and abstracting information from wills and estate settlements. He published his abstracts, and they are available (see Mormon Family History Center Film #1888963, also see Washington County web site at www.pa-roots.com/~washington/partitions.html ).

 

Here's the literal record of what Iams abstracted about the estate of Robert Glass:

 

NAME/PLACE:

GLASS, Robert - Smith Twp. 

TERM:

Oct Term 1813

WIFE:

Widow Jane, formerly the d/o Samuel McFARLAND, and has since married William LAUGHLIN.

CHILDREN:

Thomas,, Elizabeth, w/o John STEWART, Jane, w/o Joseph BOYD (Marion Co., OH), Mary STEWART (of Beaver Co., PA, had children - Alexander FLANNAGAN, and Margaret A. CRESSWELL), Mathew (who lived at Hookstown, Beaver Co., PA) Sarah JEFFREY (of Beaver Co., PA. - had children - Alexander & Mathew H.). John & Elizabeth STEWART had children - Robert & James. Thomas GLASS had a dau. Doras, w/o Aaron ATEN of Stark Co., IL.

 

A "Google" search for 'Aaron Aten' and 'Glass' found this abstract, and it was our first solid evidence about the father and grandfather of Dorcas. It was a great start to our current search, and we have now found the supporting documents (see below).

 

Most of Iams' data is now supported, but he did miss at least one item: He says "John & Elizabeth Stewart had children – Robert & James". However a more careful reading of the source data actually shows that Robert and James belong to Mary Stewart, not to Elizabeth Stewart. However given that two of Robert's daughters married men named Stewart, it's an easy mistake.

 

Another challenge arose because two of Robert's daughters married "Stewart" men, and we knew from other sources that there was a Thomas Glass in Allegheny County who married a Rebecca Stewart. It seemed to make such a good story that the Glass and Stewart families were intermarrying, and therefore this was surely OUR Thomas Glass also marrying into the Stewart family as well! We spent dozens of hours before that theory fell apart!

 

Finally, one of his other statements drove us up the wall: He says Robert's Widow, Jane, was "formerly the d/o Samuel McFARLAND". We struggled with that statement to no end, and we are now convinced Iams was WRONG. Our best current guess is that Iams (1) knew the Glass and McFarland families were close, (2) knew that Robert's widow was named Jane, and (3) knew that McFarland had a daughter named Jane. In his haste to move on to his next abstract, he jumped to conclusions and declared the two "Janes" to be one?

 

THE WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Tim tried to obtain the supporting documents for the above directly from the Washington County courthouse, but could not get a response. I then started making enquiries for someone in Washington Co. who might be able to help. One researcher provided the advice "Éhaven't been to Washington for a while, (but) I can tell you their records are a mess, they have no genealogist on staff, and their clerks are absolutely surlyÉ I would contact the Washington County Historical Society."

 

I found the Society at www.wchspa.org , and their coordinator Charlotte Davidson found a researcher who spent a very productive day on our project. Following is the information WCHS found:

 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS ON THE ESTATE OF ROBERT GLASS

WCHS sent to me about 50 pages of receipts, promissory notes, and inventories related to the estate of Robert Glass. Items of particular interest were as follows (some are just curiosity items with little direct bearing on our search, but they help see Robert Glass as a real person):

 

We tried to deduce when Robert Glass actually died, but I did not see any document with a death date. However Robert himself was still signing promissory notes on 2 October 1797. And in the file there is a court document dated 25 April 1798, which binds Jane Glafs and James Edgar to act as administrators of his estate. So that narrows his death down to about a 7-month window. Tim advises that the court documents are usually filed within a matter of days, so that suggests Robert's death was in April 1798.

 

Currency: Many of the statements are in pounds, shillings and pence - - while others are in dollars and cents. I found that the conversion from "Pennsylvania Pounds" to "U.S. Dollars" for currency transactions began in 1795 and took several years to complete. By 1798 about 65% of the transactions were in dollars.

 

The estate inventory (see image below) was done in dollars (actually the clerk started to write the symbol for pounds, and then scratched it out), and the total was $372.62. A later document accounting for the net value available to the heirs shows that inventory as 169 pounds, 14 shillings, 6 pence. This suggests they were using an exchange rate of about $2.20 per Pennsylvania Pound.

 

Following is a copy of Robert's estate inventory – it's always interesting to see what goods a person has. Robert Glass also had land holdings, and presumably a house, and those were apparently handled separately. (Note: to get to year 2005 dollars, multiply the 1798 amounts by roughly "15".

And from another document we know that his coffin cost 2 pounds, 12 shillings, and 6 pence. After settlement of debts, there was a balance remaining from his estate of 28 pounds, 4 shillings and 11 pence available to distribute to his heirs. (I don't believe this included land or buildings.)

 

The administratrix of Robert's estate was his wife, Jane/Jean Glass (always written "Glafs" in the old style), and also one James Edgar, Esq. The names Jean and Jane are used interchangeably, and it is apparent she could not read or write. There are only two documents that required her signature, and those are marked "Jane (her mark) Glafs" – the mark is variously a circle or a vertical squiggle. Her co-administrator, however, does seem to be able to write.

 

The condition of many of the promissory notes is interesting: The promise to pay was written on whatever odd scrap of paper that was available, and these scraps were then folded multiple times and filed in a pocket or wallet. Payments were noted on the back side. Some of them were quite tattered by the time the debt was settled. Following is the front and back image of the last note he signed:

 

FRONT:

BACK

 

There was also a promissory note, signed by Robert Glafs on 24 October 1796, for "one hundred & ten pounds ten shillings current lawfull money of the state of Pennsylvania", payable 6 October 1797 to Jofiah (Josiah) Allen. This would have been part of the financing of a land purchase from Josiah Allen, which we will introduce later in this report.

 

There was also a public auction, or "vendue", of his property. A very interesting receipt reads as follows: "Received from Jean Glafs Administratrix of the Estate of Robert Glafs deceased the sum of sixteen shillings and ten pence half penny for whiskey for his vandue." And we have evidence that this 16 shillings may have been a very good investment. The final accounting of the estate shows a gain versus the original estate appraisal, accompanied by the note "The said accountants also charge themselves with an advantage gained in the sales at vendue exceeding the appraisement", with a gain shown of 31 pounds, 16 shillings, 4 pence. Bidding must have been quite "spirited". (By the way, this part of Pennsylvania was the heart of the "Whiskey Rebellion" of 1794, when President George Washington sent the militia to put down riots over the imposition of a whiskey tax.)

 

ORPHANS COURT DOCUMENT

Now, getting back to seriously useful documents: The WCHS researcher provided a copy of the following from the Washington County Orphans Court:

 

"November Orphans Court 1801"

 

"Per the Petition of Jean Glafs widow and (?) of Robert Glass dec'd. Setting forth that at the time of the decease of the said Robert he left six children to wit Elizabeth above the age of fourteen years who applies to the court for a guardian; Sarah, Jean, Thomas, Mary and Matthew who are under the age of fourteen years. Whereupon the Court appoints John McGibbin of Smith Township as guardian for the person and property of the said Elizabeth agreeable by her choice, and appoints Thomas Hays of Smiths Township as guardian over the persons and properties of the said Sarah, Jean, Thomas, Mary and Matthew until they severally arrive to the age of fourteen years."

 

"Came into Court Jean Glafs and James Edgar, Administrators of all and singular the goods chattels and credits which were of Robert Glafs late of Washington County dec'd and Elizabeth an account of their administration by which there appears to be a balance of twenty eight pounds five shillings and eleven pence, duly penned in the hands of the said Administrators subject to distribution of which said Account the Court approves and orders that the said distribution be made according to Laws."

 

In due course all these children came to age 14. (Combining the above information with census data suggests Elizabeth the oldest was born in about 1785, and that the youngest, Matthew, was born in 1798.) At the time they all reached the magic age, son Thomas came back to the court with a proposal regarding some of his father's land. Note that from this following document we learn that Robert died intestate – meaning he wrote no will:

 

"October Orphans Court 1813"

 

"On the petition of Thomas Glafs, eldest son and one of the heirs of Robert Glafs, late of Washington County, deceased, setting forth, that his father lately died intestate leaving six children, towit your Petitioner, Elizabeth intermarried with John Stewart, Sarah, Jane intermarried with Joseph Boyd, Mary, and Matthew, that he also left a certain tract of land in Smiths township, said county, containing one hundred and fifty acres, which by the laws of this commonwealth should be equally apportioned to and among the said heirs. Praying the court to award an Inquest to make partition of the said land, if the same can be done, but if the said land cannot be divided without prejudice or spoiling the whole to make a just appraisement or valuation thereof. Hereupon the court grants the prayer of the Petitioner and grants an Inquest to be made according to law " (Closing illegible, but think report is due back for December Term 1813.)

 

The follow-up report to the court reads:

 

"An Inquisition indented (?) and taken at the house of the late Robert Glafs, dec'd in Smith township Washington County before me George David Esquire, high sheriff of the county aforesaid, upon the advice of (12 persons named), twelve good and lawful men of their bailiwick, who respectively do say, about the land mentioned in the above annexed Writ will not divide among the heirs due and legal representatives of the aforesaid Robert Glafs deceased. And in the further execution of the directives of the above, have valued the aforesaid tract of land, containing one hundred and fifty acres, (illegible) at eight dollars per acre. In Testimony whereof as well as the said Sheriff, as this Inquest aforesaid have hereto (illegible) set our hands and seals this thirteenth day of November in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen." (Signed by the sheriff and 12 men.)

 

This document is then followed by another, dated March 14, 1814. It is hard to read, but the Court appears to approve that Thomas Glass can take over the 150 acres of land in return for payment of proportional value to the other heirs (presumably based on the above valuation of $8 per acre).

 

Now we come to a final document, with a date of September 16, 1850. I'm not up on early 19th century Pennsylvania law, but it is my impression that when Robert died intestate the law gave one third of his property to his widow, Jane. This is apparently referred to as the "Widow's third". It would appear that when his widow Jane died (on 13 Dec 1849) it came time to distribute the remainder of Robert's estate among his children. Their appropriate powers of attorney and receipts for the settlement are filed with the court. "R. J. Cooper, Clerk", signs all of the following entries:

 

"December Orphans Court 1813" (I suspect the following is filed with the 1813 Court documents because the following links to earlier events, even though the notes below are dated 1850 and 1851.)

 

"And now, September 16, 1850, filed a power of attorney from Matthew Glass to William Smith, and the receipt of the said Matthew by the said William, for his full share in the Widow's third, and by virtue of a power hereto attached, I hereby enter satisfaction on the Recognizance of Thomas Glass for the share of the said Matthew in full. See papers filed."

 

"Same time filed the Receipt of Elizabeth Stewart, late Elizabeth Glass for her share in full of the widows third; and by virtue of a power thereto attached, I hereby enter Satisfaction on the Recognizance of Thomas Glass for the share of the said Elizabeth in Full. See papers filed."

 

"Same time filed power of Attorney from Alexander Jeffery and Matthew H. Jeffery, heir of Sarah Jeffery, late Sarah Glass deceased, to William Smith, and the receipt of the said Alexander and Matthew K. by the said William for the share of the said Sarah in full of the Widow's third; and by virtue of a power I hereby enter satisfaction on the recognizance of Thomas Glass, for the share of the said Sarah in full. See papers filed."

 

"Same day, power of Attorney from Alexander Flannegan and Margaret A. Creswell, two of the heirs of Mary Stewart, late Mary Glass, deceased, to William Smith, and the receipt of the said Alexander and Margaret, by the said William; and also the receipt of the said William Smith for Robert and James Stewart, of whom he is a guardian, the remaining heirs of the said Mary, in full of the said Mary's share in the Widow's third. And by virtue of a power thereto attached, I hereby enter satisfaction on the recognizance of Thomas Glass for the share of the said Mary in full. See papers filed."

 

"Same day, filed power of Attorney from Jane Boyd, heir of Robt. Glass, to Matthew Glass, and the Receipt of the said Matthew for seventy two dollars and fifty cents ($72.50) being the share of the said Robt. Glass in the Widow's third."

 

"Same day filed power of attorney from Aaron Aten and Dorcas his wife heirs of Thomas Glass, to M. Laurence, and order of said M. Laurence in favor of William Smith and Receipt of said M. Laurence by William Smith, to Thomas McFarland, devisee of Samuel McFarland, dec'd, for fourteen dollars and sixty seven cents ($14.67) on account of the share of the said Thomas in the Widows third. See papers filed."

 

This paragraph is the proof we have been looking for, that our ancestor Dorcas Glass Aten was the heir* of Thomas Glass who was the son of Robert Glass. They only got $14.67 from the estate, but it was apparently worthy of a special tribute to Dorcas' father, Thomas Glass – the next and tenth child of Aaron and Dorcas, born 16 Dec 1851, was named "Thomas Glass Aten". Perhaps the settlement proceedings made Dorcas aware of her ancestry?

 

*(I would interpret "heir" to mean "daughter", but that is not strictly necessarily true. However later we will show evidence that she was "daughter".)

 

There was one final entry in the record, dated somewhat later: "And now to wit: March 12, 1851 filed receipt of J (illegible) and James Stewart, Administrator of the Estate of John Stewart, deceased, for fifty eight dollars and fifty eight cents, it being the amount of debt and interest of judgment obtained by said John Stewart on docket of James McCreary, Esq. against Samuel McFarland, Administrator of Thomas Glass, deceased."

 

This paragraph suggests another avenue for further investigation: We know now that Thomas Glass died before 1850, and know that his estate was administered by Samuel McFarland. (We believe McFarland died in 1846, so that narrows it farther.) Finding records of Thomas' estate remains on our priority list. Also the above lawsuit may contain items of interest, but to date we haven't sorted it out.

 

Why did one heir get $72.50, while Aaron and Dorcas only got $14.67? I think the final paragraph shows settlement of a lawsuit against Thomas' estate, which claimed the missing odd $58? One theory is that Thomas had a second family, and they may have been involved? We don't know (yet). The amount of $14.67 is about one-fifth of the $72.50, perhaps suggesting that Thomas' share was being divided among four other heirs? We'll come back to that later.

 

Note: We now know quite a lot about the life of Robert Glass, but his son Thomas remains more of a mystery. We have learned from the above that Thomas was under age 14 in 1801, when the court petition was entered. Therefore he cannot have been born before 1787. And since he was petitioning the Orphans Court in October 1813 that probably means he had then reached the legal age of 21 (or had gotten married - - daughter Dorcas was born in early 1814). That means he likely wasn't born after about 1793. The year 1793 might be a good best guess for his birth year. Further, we have some census information (see later), and might presume that the petition to Orphans Court (above) named the children in order of their birth. That brings us the following likely birth year distribution:

 

1. Elizabeth Glass (born ca. 1787)

2. Sarah Glass (born ca. 1789)

3. Jane Glass (born ca. 1791)

4. Thomas Glass (born ca. 1793)

5. Mary Glass (born ca. 1795)

6. Matthew Glass (born ca. 1798)

 

INTERPRETATION OF COURT DOCUMENTS:

Again, I'm weak on 19th century Pennsylvania Estate Law, but there are some questions in the above language that invite interpretation. Here goes:

 

Several times in the above 1850 documents we find the phrase "I hereby enter satisfaction on the recognizance of Thomas Glass." But Thomas is dead by 1850, so what does this mean?

 

My (modern) dictionary defines 'Recognizance' as "in law, (a) a bond or obligation of record entered into before a court or magistrate, binding a person to do or not do somethingÉ (b) a sum of money pledged and subject to forfeit if this obligation is not fulfilled."

 

My thought that the person giving the recognizance would not necessarily be still living in 1850, and therefore the statements probably do refer to our ancestor Thomas Glass, deceased at the time of the partition? At some point Thomas gave the court a pledge of money (or perhaps a cash deposit?), and his estate was bound to honor Thomas' promise even though he was then dead?

 

My guess is that this "recognizance" relates to the 1814 land sale, and Thomas somehow became the trustee of the "widow's third" resulting from this sale. Further, I'm guessing that when Robert's Widow Jane finally died this amount came up for grabs. And quite possibly the estate of John Stewart had to sue the estate of Thomas Glass (perhaps on behalf of all the heirs) to get this money recovered?

 

ROBERT'S DAUGHTER: ELIZABETH

While we are most interested in Robert's son, Thomas, we can find some other clues by digging into his other children. I would like to touch briefly on each of them, hitting the highlights of what we know, starting with Elizabeth:

 

The above 1813 petition tells us that Elizabeth had married John Stewart by that date. Also page 554 of Beers, J. H. and Co., "Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania" (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893) confirms this marriage,

 

Elizabeth (Glass) Stewart was still alive in 1850, and collected her share of the estate directly. She had children (see below) but there was no reason to name them. There are two reasons to believe she was still alive. First, the above documents do not refer to her as deceased and do not name any heirs. Further, while there are dozens of Elizabeth Stewart's in the 1850 census for Pennsylvania, there is one in Bedford County of exactly the right age living with the family of Jesse Ling (who probably married Elizabeth's daughter), and in the household there is also one William GLASS, age 22.

 

Other documents will be introduced later that will tell us a bit about their children.

 

ROBERT'S DAUGHTER: SARAH

From the partition, we know she married a "Jeffrey", and had children Alexander and Mathew H. Tim Peterman suspects that she may have lived in Beaver County, presumably near her mother Jane (Hillis, Glass) Laughlin (see later discussion) and brother Matthew. In a will book he found wills for Matthew H Jeffrey (1855, D-14), Sarah Jeffrey (1838, B-173), and John Jeffrey (1872, E343). Also he gleaned from a newspaper that "Sarah Jeffrey, Hanover Twp., decd, estate notice Robt McFerran, H. Wallace, Exrs 16 May 1838.

 

These are leads we can investigate if they are determined to be of interest.

 

ROBERT'S DAUGHTER: JANE

The partition names Jane (Glass), wife of Joseph Boyd. They were married before the 1813 court petition. She was still alive to collect her inheritance in 1850. I can find information on the descendents of Jane Glass and Joseph Boyd on Ancestry.com. Following is a portion of the data available:

 

Joseph BOYD (6 May 1791 - ) & Jane GLASS (30 Dec 1791 - 13 Mar 1869)

    Mary BOYD (19 Mar 1814 - aft 1870)

    Robert G. BOYD (30 Aug 1816 - 1 Dec 1906)

    John Mc. BOYD (1 Feb 1819 - 28 May 1851)

    Thomas G. BOYD (15 Sep 1821 - )

    James H. BOYD (15 May 1825 - 9 Apr 1858)

    Jane Hillis BOYD (31 Dec 1827 - 9 Aug 1830)

    Elizabeth G. BOYD (7 Apr 1830 - 2 Sep 1831)

    Joseph F. BOYD (4 Oct 1832 - aft 1900)

 

Of particular interest is Jane's exact birth and death dates, which were taken from grave markers in Marion County, Ohio. Also note the names of the children, particularly if you assume the initial "G" stands for "Glass".

 

ROBERT'S DAUGHTER: MARY

The court records show that Mary was not yet married in 1813, but by 1850 she was deceased, was named "Stewart", and had children Alexander Flannegan, Margaret A. Creswell, Robert Stewart, and James Stewart. The latter two were young enough to need a guardian in 1850. William Smith, the guardian of Robert and James, also had power of attorney for Alexander and Margaret.

 

Mary must have first married a "Flannegan", and had a son and a daughter, with the daughter later marrying a "Creswell". She then remarried a "Stewart", and had two more children. From the same J. H. Beers report as quoted with Elizabeth above, we believe she married Richard Stewart, a brother of John Stewart.

 

ROBERT'S SON: MATTHEW

The above partition named "Matthew GLASS" as a brother of Thomas. I was able to keep track of Matthew through census records for 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850. He was born about 1798, and his wife Abigail was born in 1795. They lived all their married lives in Hookstown, Beaver Co., PA, and were active in the Mill Creek Presbyterian Church there. They had no children – and therefore probably took a keen interest in the welfare of their niece Dorcas (perhaps particularly so if our suspicion that Dorcas was orphaned when young is proven). In the 1860 census, Abigail is apparently a widow, but has ÒKate AtenÓ age 18 born in Virginia living with her and attending school. (We believe Abigail was an "Aten", and probably a second cousin of Aaron.)

 

Tim looked at books of Beaver County, PA, wills, and finds Matthew Glass (1851, C-253) and Abigail Glass (1860, D167). He also found a newspaper reference "Matthew Glass, Esq., Hookstown, died 20th ult, aged 54. Estate notice, John Moody & Wm Smith, Exrs, 11 Oct 1851."

 

From Beaver County Genealogical Society: Reported Matthew buried in Old Mill Creek Church Cemetery, tombstone inscribed "died 9/20/1851 age 54/1/11". This would place his birth date at 9 Aug 1797. I have taken this as his birth date.

 

Importantly, Tim visited the Beaver County Courthouse and read the will of Matthew. In it he left "É$200 to Dorcas Eaton, daughter of my brother, the late Thomas Glass." Note that "Eaton" is a common spelling variation of "Aten", Dorcas' married name. This is a clear statement that Dorcas is the DAUGHTER of Thomas, and not just his "heir" as stated in the 1850 Partition. This will was written in 1848 (Matthew died in 1851).

 

ROBERT'S WIFE: THE WIDOW JANE

Jane's maiden name was Hillis, but we'll leave the proof of that for later. For now, let's see where she went after Robert's death:

 

She was still on her own in the 1800 census. The 1800 Census for Washington County, Smith's Township, lists Jane GLASS. Jane is now the head of the household. She is in the 26-44 age range, and she has six children. There are 2 males under age 10, 2 females under age 10, and 2 females ages 10-15. These ages are in perfect agreement with all the above.

 

Iams says that she subsequently married William Laughlin. I found one William Laughlin in Washington County, Strabane Township, in the 1810 census. There are children present who look like they could be the remaining Robert Glass' kids. However Tim Peterman found data on the will of this William Laughlin (who died in 1821), and that will shows he is the wrong person.

 

However we believe that Jane Glass did in fact marry a William Laughlin, and that they moved to Beaver Co., PA (or rather the part of Allegheny or Washington County that became Beaver) and apparently lived in the neighborhood of Jane's son Matthew Glass and her daughter Sarah Jeffrey.

 

The 1820 census of Hanover Twp., Beaver Co., PA shows William Lauglin, born before 1775, with a wife born before 1775, a male age 16-18, and 4 females age 16-26.

 

The 1830 census of Hanover Twp., Beaver Co., PA shows Matthew Glass on p. 278 and on p. 277 shows Jane Laughlin.  Her household contained one female born 1760-70 (Jane??), one male born 1780-90, one female born 1780-90, one female born 1815-20, and one male born 1820-25.

 

Most important, Tim visited the graves of Jane (Glass) Boyd and her husband Joseph Boyd. This Jane is the daughter of Jane (Hillis, Glass) Laughlin. And he found Jane Laughlin's tombstone lying on the ground, right beside the upright stones for Joseph and Jane Boyd. Jane Laughlin died December 13, 1849, age 82 y, 4 m, 19d. She is buried in Mounts Cemetery, Pleasant Township, Marion County, Ohio.

 

ROBERT'S WIFE: JANE HILLIS

The above refers to Robert's wife simply as Jane Glass. Iams says she was Jane (McFarland) Glass. At best, Jane McFarland was his SECOND wife, but we'll address that shortly.

 

We do have good evidence that Robert's first wife was Jane Hillis. We'll address that case first:

 

The ÒHistory of Allegheny County, PennsylvaniaÓ published in 1889 has a biography on page 433 of a Henry Aten (havenÕt yet determined if these Atens are related to Aaron AtenÕs family). Henry Aten married Jane Hillis Stewart, Ò...a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Glass) Stewart... Elizabeth (Glass) Stewart was born in Washington county, Pa., daughter of Robert and Jane (Hillis) Glass, both Presbyterians, from Ireland.Ó The same source, page 502, has a biography of Levi J. Stewart, who is a grandson of the same John and Elizabeth (Glass) Stewart.

 

This (if it is true) makes it clear that the mother of Robert's oldest child, Elizabeth, was Jane Hillis.

 

Also, the will of Matthew Hillis (Jane's father) written in 1790 and probated 30 Dec 1803 names his daughter "Jean (Jane) Glass". At least when the will was written in 1790 Jane (Hillis) Glass was alive and married to Thomas.

 

Further, there is reason to believe that Jane (Hillis) Glass was the mother of most of Robert's children, even if we could believe Iams was right about Jane (McFarland) Glass being Robert's wife at the time of his death. We find on page 957 of "Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893)" that "Samuel McFarland, who was born in Northern Ireland, and was married to Jane Fulton. He Éemigrated to America about the year 1793, first living in or about Philadelphia, Penn., then coming to Washington, Penn., and settling in Smith township."

 

If we assume that our Jane McFarland came to America with her father in 1793, then she could NOT be the mother of Thomas Glass who (per the above analysis) had to have been born no later than 1793.

 

This would suggest that if Robert Glass EVER married a Jane McFarland, it must have been after 1793 and before his death in about 1798.

 

If you believe he was married to Jane McFarland, there is an interesting problem regarding Robert's youngest son, Matthew. According to the 1850 census, Matthew must have been born in about 1798. And Robert died in about 1798. If Robert was indeed married to Jane McFarland when he died, then it is most likely that Matthew at least is the son of Robert Glass and Jane McFarland - - there is hardly enough time for his son to be born, for his first wife to die, for him to remarry, and then die himself! In this scenario, then, Matthew and Thomas would likely be half brothers. But as will be seen, that doesn't work either:

 

ROBERT'S WIDOW WAS NOT JANE "MCFARLAND"

So now let's investigate the case whether Robert could indeed have been married to Jane McFarland, the daughter of Samuel McFarland, as claimed by Iams.

 

On the positive side, we know that Samuel McFarland was close to the family, or at least to Robert's son Thomas. As mentioned above, he was the administrator of Thomas' estate. It's worth knowing something about him, for various reasons.

 

And there were connections: I found an on-line transcript, taken from page 957 of "Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893)."

It discusses "Samuel McFarland, who was born in Northern Ireland, and was married to Jane Fulton. He Éemigrated to America about the year 1793, first living in or about Philadelphia, Penn., then coming to Washington, Penn., and settling in Smith township. On April 6, 1804, he bought 159 acres of land of Thomas Glass, and on September 3, of the same year, purchased 102 acres of Ephraim Chidester. He settled upon the former piece of land."

 

Another extract, taken from Boyd CrumrineÕs "History of Washington County, Pennsylvania", Page 912:

Among the officers who received grants of land for their services in the Dunmore was Lund Washington, a distant relative of George Washington. A patent of the State of Virginia, dated Nov. 20, 1779, was granted him by which two thousand acres of land were conveyed. This tract lay on the head-waters of the middle branch of Raccoon Creek, and in the townships of Smith and Mount Pleasant. On the 8th of June, 1791, Washington sold three hundred acres to John McKibben. This tract is now owned by Charles Provines, the heirs of Ebenezer Smith, and the heirs of Robert Smith. On the 20th of January, 1792, Washington conveyed all of the remainder of the tract to George McCormick. In the deed to McCormick a statement is made concerning the large tract granted by the Virginia patent as follows: "Said to contain two thousand acres, but in fact only one thousand acres, and is bounded," etc. A part of this tract was sold by George McCormick, Feb. 7, 1792, to David Hays, who left it by will to his son, Joseph Hays. The latter conveyed it to Josiah Allen on the 3d of February, 1795, and two years later, May 4, 1797, Allen conveyed it to Robert Glass. Upon his death this portion of his estate fell to his son, Thomas Glass. He retained it till April 6, 1804, when he sold one hundred and fifty-nine acres of land to Samuel McFarlane. In this deed it is recited that it is part of the tract conveyed by the Virginia patent to Lund Washington. A small portion of the tract conveyed to McFarlane formed parts of two other tracts, one of which was patented to Thomas Edwards April 3, 1797, and the other to Andrew Swearingen Aug. 15, 1787.  Ò...Samuel McFarlane settled upon the tract purchased of Thomas Glass... He lived here many years and died at an advanced age at the residence of his daughter in Cross Creek.Ó

 

(There is something of a problem with the "1804" land sale from Thomas Glass to Samuel McFarland in both of the above. Tim suggests, and I agree, that this land was probably the same land discussed in the 1813 court petition from Thomas, and that "1804" is a typo and the land transaction was probably one recorded in "1814". In any event, Thomas would have likely been too young to make land deals in 1804. The 1814 land sale is important to another part of our analysis, to be discussed later.)

 

McFarland was a neighbor (or at least in the same township) of widow Jane Glass in the 1800 census, only a short time after Robert's death. He probably clearly at least knew Robert and Jane Glass, even if he was not Jane's father.

 

However there is solid negative evidence regarding the possibility that Samuel McFarland was the father of Robert's widow Jane. Most important, cemetery records show Samuel was born 1772-73 (he died 16 Feb 1846 in Washington Co., and is buried in Cross Creek Cemetery), and census records in 1800 and 1810 show his oldest daughter was born AFTER 1790. Since Robert Glass' youngest son, Matthew, was born in about 1798, there is no way that Jane could be his mother (she was at most 8 years old) or Samuel could be his grandfather (he was about age 26).

 

We conclude that Jane (Hillis) Glass was Robert's one and only wife.

 

DORCAS PARENTS: THOMAS GLASS AND MARY KIRK

From the above we know that Dorcas' father was Thomas Glass. But there are so far no clues about her mother, and very little about the life of Thomas. A major complication is that there were at least THREE people named Thomas Glass with roots in southwestern Pennsylvania who were of the right age to be Dorcas father. We've spent hundreds of hours trying to pin one of them down. We now firmly believe we've found the right one. Let us start with the "success" – and tell you a bit about the other candidates later:

 

The breakthrough came when Tim Peterman visited the Washington County, Pennsylvania, courthouse in October 2004 and asked to examine the deed from the 1814 land sale mentioned above.

 

He found the deed for this land sale made by Dorcas' proven father, Thomas Glass, dated 6 April 1814 (less than 3 months after Dorcas' birth on 25 Jan 1814). That deed clearly showed that Thomas wife was named "Mary"! It's MARY. For the first time we knew her given name. Now the question was "Mary WHO?"

 

Were we back to zero? Not quite. I reminded Tim that two of the ancestry.com web sites showed the name "Mary Kirk" as Dorcas' mother. But those sites offered no source or other documentation, and at the time we first saw the name we thought we had a better candidate, so we dismissed it. But maybe they knew something we didn't? Maybe someone in the Aten family had written the name on a scrap of paper, and they just recorded it as a given? And if they got the "Mary" part right, isn't there is every reason to suspect they also were right about "Kirk"?

 

Tim then asked, "Were there any 'Kirk' families in Washington County that Thomas might have married into?" We both dove into the census records to see what we could find. There was of course no hope of directly finding "Mary", because prior to 1850 the Census only named the head of the household, and just counted all the other family members. We needed to find a nearby "Kirk" family, with at least one daughter of the right age to marry Thomas Glass and give birth to Dorcas on 25 Jan 1814.

 

The census showed there were six Kirk families in Washington County. And five of them were easy to eliminate because the head of the household was too old, or too young, or had no daughters.

 

That left us with one "James Kirk", of Cross Creek Township, Washington County. Tim reported that Jame Kirk bought land in the 1780Õs from Henry Graham & operated a tannery with him. James was in the County in the 1790 census. In 1800 he was still there, with four daughters - - two ages 10 to 15, and two under age 10. (He also had 4 sons in 1800.) In 1810 he is still there, and has two daughters left - - one age 10-15, and one age 16-26. Either of these would be a prime candidate to marry Thomas Glass before 1814. And Cross Creek is in the neighborhood of our Glass family.

 

However we find that James is missing from the Washington County census in 1820. Tim then looked at the census index for nearby Ohio, and found a James Kirk had popped up in Vermillion, Richland County (now part of Ashland County), Ohio, in the 1820 census. This was VERY interesting, because Cornelius Aten ALSO lived in Richland County, and he was the father of Aaron Aten, Dorcas' future husband!

 

Now, Tim had long noted that "Dorcas" was an unusual name, and had suspected that when we found Dorcas Glass' family we would find she was named after her grandmother or other close relative. And guess what? Tim found the will of James Kirk, written on 1 Mar 1829 and probated in May 1829. In it James named his wife - - and her name was "Dorcas"!

 

It might not stand up in court, but it now seemed very convincing that Dorcas Glass' mother was Mary Kirk, the daughter of James and Dorcas Kirk. And there's more:

 

To digress a moment, Tim checked the Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Military Card File and found that the above James Kirk served in the war. He was recorded as a Private from Washington County, PA, who was in the 3rd battalion of the 4th company. If we can prove conclusively that James & Dorcas Kirk were the grandparents of Dorcas Glass, our family will have one more claim to membership in the SAR or DAR.

 

Before proceeding, let's also pause and "speculate" for a moment: We have long believed that Dorcas Glass might have been raised by another family, perhaps because her father died young and her mother remarried. One interesting "clue" is that she did not "recognize" her father by naming a son after him, until she received a cash inheritance from him in 1850 (or more correctly from her paternal grandparents' estate through the estate of the deceased Thomas). And guess what - - the fourth son born 16 Dec 1851 is named "Thomas Glass Aten". The inheritance must have reminded her that her father was "Thomas Glass" - - perhaps she never really thought about him until then?

 

(To digress on another side issue: Her first son was named "Samuel Harrison Aten" - - we are still wondering who the heck was "Samuel Harrison"?)

 

But documents below suggest another possibility about Dorcas' life. Perhaps it was her mother, Mary, who died young, and maybe Thomas was unable to care for and raise a small child by himself? And maybe Dorcas was therefore raised by the Kirk family, and had only limited relationship with her father? Let's go on:

 

To back up a bit, before Tim left Washington County he checked records there, and found two deeds for land sold by a James Kirk, and his wife Tabitha, in 1815. We now believe that this was James Kirk Jr., one of James Sr.'s sons. It suggests that 1815 was the year the family sold out of Pennsylvania in order to move to Ohio? Note that it is close in time to the 1814 land sale by Thomas Glass, and maybe Thomas was looking toward Ohio as well?

 

And, with dates just a few months later, Tim found that one Thomas Glass, of Washington Co., PA, sought a patent on land in Richland County, OH (Sec. 22, T 20, R16). It was entered on 8 Sep 1814, and granted on 13 Mar 1818. It now seems obvious that Thomas Glass, and his wife Mary (Kirk) Glass, intended to move to Ohio. The sale of this same Ohio land is discussed below.

 

Tim also found that our James Kirk of Washington Co., PA, sought a patent on land in Green Twp., Richland County, Ohio, on May 24, 1815, for the NW quarter of Sec. 22, T20, R16. This land is only 2 miles from Thomas' land. The patent was issued 27 Sep 1826. James and his wife Dorcas are on record as deeding portions of this land in 1827, 1828, and 1829 (latter deeds to family members, near the time of James death).

 

In his 1829 will, in addition to his wife Dorcas, James Kirk also named a son-in-law William Brian, a grandson John Cunningham, and a granddaughter Mary Cunningham. Executor was Oliver Sloan. Another deed made it clear that James Kirk's son-in-law was Robert Cunningham, his daughter was Nancy Cunningham, and his Cunningham grandchildren were named "Mary, Jane, Dorcas, John, and Martha." (Again, the names Mary and Dorcas are being handed down the family!)

 

Why the interest in the Cunningham's? On 6 Sept 1819, Robert Cunningham made a deed to Thomas Glass of lots in what was then Petersburgh (now Mifflin) in Richland County. This shows Thomas was remaining in close association with members of the Kirk family. However Tim found that Thomas was listed in the transaction as being "Éof Washington Co., PA", so perhaps he hadn't yet moved?

 

Now things get even more interesting. In 1829, one Thomas Glass and MARGARET his wife of Columbiana Co., OH, sold 160 acres of land. And this land was the same land patented by the Thomas Glass from Washington Co., PA (see above). It seems certain that this was OUR Thomas Glass. Tim found that this Thomas Glass had married Margaret McMillen in Columbiana County,  OH, on 25 Nov 1823. Also Thomas was taxed on this land as a "non resident" in 1825, suggesting that he had moved away by at least this date (or never lived there).

 

The connections are convincing: It now appears nearly certain that it was Dorcas' mother Mary Kirk who died young, and that her father Thomas remarried in 1823.

 

This Thomas Glass and Margaret were still in Knox Twp., Columbiana Co. in 1833, when they sold 10 acres of land. Tim also found another deed dated 1834, proving that Thomas was still alive on this date. And the 1830 census of Knox Twp. does contain a Thomas Glass, probably the same one. He was age 30-40, with a wife age 20-30, and with one son and two daughters age 0-5. But there is no one listed the right age to be daughter Dorcas, who would have been age 16 (she was not married until 1833, so she should have been listed if living with her father). Best guess is that she remained with the Kirks?

 

(This is stretching for theories, but Tim noted that James Kirk (who died in 1829) apparently had a son John Kirk living nearby. And the 1830 census shows there is indeed still a John Kirk age 50-60* living in Vermillion, Richland County, in 1830. And in his household there is one female age 15-20. This female could of course be John's own daughter - - or maybe it could be Dorcas Glass, living with her Uncle John, her mother's brother?)

 

*(Cemetery records show John Kirk died 28 Aug 1863, is buried next to Nancy Cunningham, and compute to a birth date of 16 Mar 1780. The Cunningham connection proves a relationship to our James Kirk, and the birth date is consistent with age 50-60 in the 1830 census. This is almost certainly the right John Kirk.)

 

There is also a Thomas Glass in Wayne Twp., Columbiana Co., OH, in the 1840 census. We can't be sure this is the same Thomas Glass, since Wayne Twp. is a good distance from Knox Twp. But the ages and the county are right. And this Thomas now has seven children. Are they the half-siblings of our Dorcas?

 

We speculate that Dorcas' mother Mary Kirk died not long after Dorcas' birth (at least certainly before 1823), and father Thomas sent the child Dorcas to live with the Kirks. Thomas later married Margaret McMillan, and Dorcas never returned to live with Thomas and his new family. If this scenario is correct, she would probably have thought of the Kirks as her real family. And they indeed lived much nearer to her future husband, Aaron Aten.

 

When did Thomas Glass actually die? We know for sure that he was party to a land transaction in 1834 (see above). He may have been the Thomas Glass counted in the 1840 census, but we can't be absolutely sure. We also know that the administrator of his estate was one Samuel McFarland, and we believe Samuel died in 1845. And the will of his brother Matthew written in 1848 referred to him as deceased. Bottom line: Thomas was definitely alive in 1834, probably alive in 1840, probably dead in 1845, and definitely dead in 1848.

 

Regarding Thomas' Glass second family with Margaret McMillan, We note that a "Margaret Glass" of exactly the right age appears in every Ohio Census from 1830 through 1870. She was married to Thomas in 1830 and 1840, but by 1850 Thomas was dead and she was on her own. Tim found a Columbiana County newspaper report showing she died 13 Sep 1874 at age 71, meaning she was born in 1802 or 1803. Using ages and names from the census reports, and ancestry.com files on the marriages of Harriet and Emeline (see below), I think we can reconstruct that Thomas and Margaret actually had EIGHT children as follows:

 

1)             "Harriet", born 18 Oct 1824. A daughter of the right age is counted in the 1830 and 1840 census, and by the 1850 census Harriet has married William Whirl and is found in Butler Twp., Columbiana County. A Margaret Glass of exactly the right age and born in Pennsylvania is living with Harriet's family in Allen County in the 1870 census. Ancestry.com files show Harriett An Glass born 18 Oct 1824 and married to William Henry Whirl on 14 May 1846, show they had 7 children, and name her parents as Thomas Glass and Margaret M????.

 

2)             "A Daughter", born about 1827. She is counted in the 1830 and 1840 census, but apparently has gotten married before the 1850 census starts naming family members, so we presently have no idea what her name was.

 

3)             "John", born about 1829. He fits the count of sons in 1830 and 1840, and is named in 1850. In 1850 he is listed as the head of the household in Salem Twp., Columbiana County, and living with his mother Margaret and three of his younger sisters. He is not (yet) married.

 

4)             "Emeline", born about 1831. She appears in the 1840 count, but apparently was living elsewhere by 1850. In the 1860 census she is married to Jonathan Dutton of Wellsville, Columbiana Co., and has two children. Living with them in the 1860 census is our Margaret Glass. An ancestry.com site shows Emeline's maiden name was Glass, and that she married Jonathan Dutton on 25 May 1854, but shows no data on her parents.

 

5)             "A Son", born about 1833. He is needed to complete the count of sons in the 1840 census. By 1850 he has apparently moved away (or maybe died), and he is not among those named in 1850.

 

6)             "Elizabeth", born about 1835. She is counted in the 1840 census, and named in 1850, when she is living with her mother, her brother John, and two sisters.

 

7)             "Margaret", born about 1838. She is counted in the 1840 census, and named in 1850, when she is living with her mother, her brother John, and two sisters.

 

8)             "Martha", born about 1841. She is too young to have appeared in any earlier census, but she is found and named in 1850, when she is living with her mother, her brother John, and two sisters.

 

This leaves one curious problem: If Thomas had 8 other children, why are they not named in the Estate Partition in 1850? Or, since second wife Margaret is still alive in 1850, why are ANY of his children getting an inheritance - - his widow would have normally been the sole beneficiary of his estate. One speculative thought is that perhaps they did get a share, indirectly. One of the other 1850 partition heirs got $72.50, but our Dorcas only got $14.67. There seemed to have been some sort of dispute that consumed the missing $58. Maybe that went to Dorcas' stepmother, or to Dorcas' surviving half-siblings? Again, it's speculation. Maybe some day we'll pin it down. Anyway, her $14.67 share was still enough to persuade Dorcas to name her next son "Thomas Glass Aten".

 

Based on all the above, we think we have a good handle on Dorcas' family. However there are obviously a lot of loose ends to tie up with future research.

 

FAMILY IN BEAVER COUNTY, PA:

As background for future research, it is worth reviewing family connections in Beaver County in the 1820's and 1830's. There may be additional clues to be found there:

 

We have already seen that after the death of Robert Glass his widow Jane remarried and lived in Beaver County. So we have Dorcas' grandmother, Jane (Hillis Glass) Laughlin living there. And we find Dorcas' aunt, Sarah (Glass) Jeffrey in the county. And we also find Dorcas' uncle, Matthew Glass.

 

And we are finding the Aten family there as well, and in fact now believe that Matthew Glass' wife, Abigail, was an Aten and a second cousin of Dorcas' husband Aaron. The family connection seems to be as follows:

 

Adrian ATEN (4 Sep 1695 - 10 Dec 1757) & Jacobje MIDDAGH (24 Oct 1693 - 16 May 1782)

    Dirck ATEN (22 Aug 1721 - 8 Sep 1809)

        Adrian "Aaron" ATEN (1753 – 20 Apr 1837) & Martha BAER (or NEER) (1754 – 1837)

            Abigail ATEN (abt 1793 – abt 1860) & Matthew GLASS (Abt 1798 to abt 1851)

    John (Jan?) ATEN (22 Dec 1732 - 1790) & Elizabeth BADYN (1733 - )

        Cornelius ATEN (18 Jan 1766 - 21 Mar 1857) & Sarah (Sally) BELL (13 Feb 1770 - Jun 1856)

            Aaron Kimble ATEN (18 Feb 1812 - 9 Sep 1901) & Dorcas GLASS (25 Jan 1814 - 20 Nov 1892)

 

This conclusion is supported in part by some handwritten notes that Tim Peterman collected from a Mrs. Jack Aten about 25 years ago: Those notes show that the above Adrian "Aaron" Aten, born 1753, died Apr 20, 1837, buried Hopewell Cemetery in Allegheny Co., PA, settled in Beaver Co., PA 1785, along with brother Richard and cousins Thomas and George. In 1776 he married Martha Baer (1754-1837). (LFC Memo: Some internet sources say his wife was actually "Martha Neer", some "Beer". See

http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=awillis628&id=I12058 )

 

Children:

1. Mary (1777-1792)

2. Richard (1778-1801)

3. Catherine (1780-1783)

4. William (1779-1860), went to Fulton Co., IL, mar Jane Anderson

5. Elizabeth (1787-?), mar James Kulykewall (? sp)

6. Abigail (1793-?), lived in Hookstown, PA, married Matthew Glass

7. Robert Aten (1796-1884), mar Jane Burns"

 

Tim can't vouch for the authenticity of these notes. And I note that there are other ancestry.com sources that name some of these children, but do not include "Abigail". Therefore the above is not verified, but may be adequate for speculation. The idea that Abigail was an "Aten" is supported by the fact that in the 1860 census the widow Abigail is found living with a ÒKate AtenÓ (age 18, born in Virginia, and attending school). 

 

Found following note from Mrs. Lysle H. Morrow (Gladys Morrow) in package from Beaver County Genealogical Society. "My Great-great-Grandfather, William Aten and his first wife, Jane Anderson are also buried in Flatt's Cemetery. At the Hancock County Court House I had copies made of his will and other papers. In them I discovered that his sister, Abigail Aten, wife of Matthew Glass had lived and died in the Borough of Hookstown, County of Beaver, Pennsylvania. I wrote for and received a copy of her will (October 1860) in which she named her brother, William Aten of Hancock County West Va, her brother Robert Aten of Northampton County, PA, and the children of her deceased sister, Elizabeth _____."

 

There are land transactions involving an Aaron Aten (this would be the older "Adrian 'Aaron' Aten" above, not the Aaron that married Dorcas) that support a close relationship. In applying for an Ohio land patent on 2 April 1829 he is described as "Aaron Aten of Beaver County Pennsylvania". This land is near where Cornelius Aten lived, suggesting that Cornelius may have told his cousin about the land and got him involved.

 

Tim also found the following: In Jan. 26, 1837, Aaron Aten of Beaver Co., PA sold 160 acres for $500 to Matthew Glass of Beaver Co., PA.  The land was 160 acres described as the SW quarter of Sec. 22, T 25, R 17 in Richland Co., OH -on waters of Mohican Creek.  Aaron Aten had acquired this by patent.  He signed the deed, making his mark. The witnesses were Thomas J. Hewit and David Patten.

 

 

FAILED THEORIES ON IDENTITY OF DORCAS' MOTHER:

I would like to very quickly comment on some of the theories about Dorcas' mother than have proven wrong.

 

Theory #1 – Jane McFarland:

We showed above that Jane McFarland, the daughter of Samuel McFarland, could not be the wife of Robert Glass because she was much too young. However she would have been the right age to marry Thomas Glass - - perhaps Iams just tied her to the wrong "Glass"? Even before the discovery that Thomas' wife was named "Mary", this theory was dead because we found that Jane McFarland had married one James Farrar on 15 May 1812, well before Dorcas was born.

 

Theory #2 – Rebecca Storer:

This is our oldest theory, initially identified by Tim. We know that there was a Thomas Glass living in Monroe Twp., Guernsey County, Ohio in 1820. We know he was born in Pennsylvania, and his wife was Rebecca Storer. We spent a lot of time chasing this one, including studying the genealogy of the Storer family, and corresponding with another living descendent of this Thomas Glass.

 

However once again, even before we knew our Thomas' wife was "Mary", this theory was eliminated. We found that the Thomas Glass who married Rebecca Storer was still living in the 1850 census, and we knew for certain that OUR Thomas Glass was dead by that time.

 

Theory #3 – Rebecca Stewart:

This theory was our favorite for quite some time. We have reports of a daughter of William Stewart, named Rebecca, who married a Thomas Glass. We also found that two of Thomas' sisters married Stewart men. We're pretty sure this Thomas and Rebecca were living in Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania, in 1820, which is the right part of the state.

 

We thoroughly explored the genealogy of this Stewart family, even to the extent of tracing down to living a matrilineal ancestor of Rebecca Stewart in the hope we could arrange for an mtDNA test (see discussion below) to confirm the relationship. We spent dozens of hours digging for information.

 

The theory, however, was severely damaged when we discovered (1) the Thomas Glass who married this Rebecca Stewart was living in close proximity to a totally UNRELATED Glass family, and (2) we proved that the Stewart family that our Thomas' sisters married was totally UNRELATED to Rebecca Stewart's family (until a Stewart-Stewart marriage a couple of generations later). It began to look very improbable.

 

And of course the discovery that our Thomas' wife was "Mary" put a final end to it.

 

(There is, however, a distinct possibility that the two "Thomas Glass" candidates found above are ultimately related to OUR Thomas Glass. The connection may have been back in Ireland, with ancestors that handed the name "Thomas" down through parallel generations.)

 

ROBERT GLASS' PARENTS

We don't have any data, but Tim offers a possibility, based on Robert's wife Jane having parents named Matthew and Elizabeth:

 

" Are you familiar with Scottish naming patterns?  I think this pattern is called such because it is supposedly most prevalent in Scottish/ Scots-Irish families.  I have seldom seen it applied perfectly.

 

1st son -named after paternal grandfather

2nd son -named after maternal grandfather

3rd son -named after father

 

1st daughter -named after maternal grandmother

2nd daughter -named after paternal grandmother

3rd daughter named after mother

 

Since we know the most likely order of the children of Robert and Jane Glass, we can make a prediction based on this naming pattern:

 

1. The parents of Robert Glass were named Thomas and Sarah

2. The parents of Jane were named Matthew and Elizabeth

 

Were Robert and Jane intentionally adhering to the Scottish naming pattern??  I don't know, but they obviously got it right with Jane's parents.  I consider this to be a moderately strong clue that Robert Glass was the son of Thomas Glass and Sarah.

 

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA TESTING:

Back in 2003 Tim suggested another tool that might help us: "Do you know if any granddaughters of Gertie (Robinson) Coffey are living; that is daughters of her daughters?  I ask this because they should have the mtDNA of Dorcas (Glass) Aten & this would possibly assist us in determining who Dorcas' relatives were. I would like to remind everyone that the ancestry of Dorcas Glass remains one of the most persistently untraceable aspects of our ancestry. If we get a mtDNA signature for the Dorcas line, we could then, in the future, compare it with matrilineal descendants of other purported sisters or aunts of Dorcas & see if they match."

 

A little further research taught me the following: The mtDNA is "mitochondrial DNA" that is passed down only from the mother. We all have it -- but what we have came only from our mother, who got it from her mother, etc. The mtDNA changes only very slowly over time. If there is a close match of mtDNA between two people, it suggests strongly that they have a common matrilineal ancestor sometime in the perhaps not too distant past. DNA experts can provide probabilities of that ancestor having occurred within a given number of generations.

 

And in response to Tim's question, there are indeed both daughters and granddaughters of Gertrude still living. His question prompted me to persuade her daughter Dorothy (Coffey) Smith to scrape the inside of her cheek for a DNA sample. The results of that DNA test are now available, and the first part of this note discusses what it means to us:

 

The results for Dorothy can be expressed with just a few cryptic numbers: HVR1 Haplogroup is "J1", and the HVR1 Mutations are "16069T, 16126C, 16145A, 16325C". The HVR2 differences are "73G, 150T, 185A, 228A, 263G, 295T, 309.1C, 315.1C, 462T, 582C, 489C, 522-, 523-". Let's examine these one at a time.

 

Haplogroup "J1" tells us some very interesting things. A good discussion is in the book "The Seven Daughters of Eve", by Bryan Sykes. Here's a quote from the book's dust cover:

 

"After plotting thousands of DNA sequences from all over the world, (Professor) Sykes found that they clustered around a handful of distinct groups. Among Europeans and North American Caucasians, there are, in fact, only seven."

 

"This conclusion was staggering: almost all people of native European descent, wherever they may live throughout the world, can trace their ancestry back to one of seven women, hence, the Seven Daughters of Eve. Naming them Helena, Ursula, Xenia, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine, Sykes has created portraits of their disparate worlds by mapping the migratory patterns followed by millions of their descendants."

 

The names Sykes used are based on the first letter of the Haplogroup. Therefore, Dorothy and her mother, her maternal grandmothers, her sisters and her daughters are all "J" group and descended from his "Jasmine" -- who Sykes believes lived about 10,000 years ago and who is the youngest of the seven ÒdaughtersÓ.

 

The web site Òwww.oxfordancestors.comÓ has this to say about Jasmine: ÒThe clan of Jasmine (Persian for flower) is the second largest of the seven European clans after Helena and is the only one to have its origins outside Europe. Jasmine and her descendants, who now make up 12% of Europeans, were among the first farmers and brought the agricultural revolution to Europe from the Middle East around 8,500 years ago.Ó

 

Now we come to the second result from the mtDNA test, the "HVR1 Mutations". DNA consists of a string of base pairs, which are labeled (A) Adenine, (G) Guanine, (T) Thymine, and (C) Cytosine. Any segment of your DNA can then be described by a sequence of these bases, for example "ATTCTAATTTAAACTATTCTCTG....". The full sequence for mtDNA in humans is 16,500 base pairs long.

 

There is a published Cambridge Reference Sequence for mtDNA which starts at a location numbered "16001", and runs through "16540" – that is, it is 540 segments long. What the list of "mutations" for Dorothy (see above) means is that her DNA differs from the reference sequence in only four locations. For example, the mutation "16069T" means that whatever is in location 16069 has been replaced with a "T" (it was originally a "C"). This variation is called a polymorphism.

 

If we find someone who is an exact match to Dorothy's mtDNA, it will suggest a 99% likelihood that person has a common ancestor with Dorothy. However mtDNA changes only slowly over time, and that exact match only means that there is a 50% likelihood that common ancestor was within the last 52 generations (i.e., within the last 1000 years). By itself the data can never pin down an exact ancestor. The test rules out people, it doesn't prove them. However a very large percentage of the US population can be ruled out.

 

We also did a higher resolution test, "HVR2". The results were shown earlier. Because the number of HVR2 mutations is unusually large, it is quite likely that if we ever find another person with the same sequence that person will be a close relative?

 

But without anyone to compare it to, Dorothy's DNA test proves nothing. That brings us to the second part of the "Dorcas Glass" problem – can we find any "candidates" for her ancestors, who have living matrilineal descendents available for testing? It's hard to trace matrilineal ancestors and descendants – they change their names every time they get married!

 

We had a success with the candidate "Rebecca Stewart" mentioned above. After extensive digging, we found a matrilineal descendent of Rebecca's mother, Martha Walker, alive and well in Chautauqua, NY. However she was reluctant to be tested, and the records finally proved that "Rebecca" was not a viable candidate.

 

However all hope is not yet lost. Dorcas' presumed grandmother, Dorcas, had daughters and granddaughters. Perhaps someday we can chase this down to another living descendant, and make the mtDNA comparison.

 

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Please report corrections or additions to...

Fred Coffey, 2604 University Blvd, Houston, TX 77005

713-592-9076  FredCoffey@AOL.COM