Dwight David Eisenhower

Today, I am coming back to our Mary Gant nee Boone who was the wife of Absolom Bobo Gant, our 1st cousin, six times removed. According to my research, Mr. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Texan born US President, was Mary's third cousin, three times removed*.

Eisenhower birthplace, Denison, Texas

 Mary's family line:
⇒ her father Hiram Boone (b. 1765, Culpepper County, Virginia/d. 13 March 1826, Savannah, Hardin, TN)
⇒ his father Hezekiah Boone (b. 22 May 1735, Exeter, Berks, Pennsylvania/d. 20 Dec. 1820, Woodford, Kentucky)
⇒ his father George Boone (b. 13 July 1690, Bradninch Devonshire England/d. 20 Nov. 1753, Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania)
⇒ his sister Sarah Stover nee Boone (b. 29 Feb. 1692, Bradninch, Devonshire, England/d. 20 Nov. 1743, Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia)
⇒ her son Abraham Stover (b. 1720, Oley, Berks, Pennsylvania/d. 1787, Carter, Tennessee)
⇒ his son Daniel Stover Sr. (b. about 1750, Augusta Co., VA/d. 25 March 1811, Augusta Co., VA)
⇒ his son Daniel Stover Jr. (b. 23 May 1780, Augusta Co., VA/d. 18 Jan. 1862, Mt. Sidney, Augusta Co, VA)
⇒ his son Simon P. Stover (b. 28 Sept. 1822, Mt. Sidney, Augusta Co, VA/d. 10 Dec. 1873, Augusta, VA)

Augusta County countryside, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

⇒ his daughter Ida Elizabeth Eisenhower nee Stover (b. 23 Sept. 1863, Elizabethville, Washington Twp, Dauphin Co, PA/d. 10 March 1942, Abilene, Dickinson County, Kansas)
⇒ her son Dwight David Eisenhower (b. 14 Oct. 1890, Denison, Grayson County, TX/d. 28 March 1969).

Greene Corner, Tryon, North Carolina

our Absolom Bobo's family line:
⇒ his mother Mary Gant nee Armstrong (b. 17 Dec. 1761, Tryon, Polk, North Carolina/d. Oct. 1848, Bedford, Bedford, Tennessee)
⇒ her sister Elizabeth Gant nee Armstrong (b. 4 Feb. 1762, Mecklenburg, North Carolina/d. 4 Jan. 1834)
1 ⇒ her daughter Margaret Lollar nee Gant - our four times-great-grandmother (b. 1791, South Carolina/d. 1825, Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
2 ⇒ her husband Lewis Bobo Gant
his father John Gant - our six times-great-grandfather

*based on my MyHeritage research 

Photos
Eisenhower Birthplace: By TxHC at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19446389
Augusta County countryside: By Hamiltonl at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2408679
Greene Corner, Tryon, NC: By Janet Gray - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15088396

John Milton

It is time to come back to our Mary Boone Gant again. She is quite an interesting lady as she links us to a few well-known persons including John Milton, the poet.

When in high school, we learned about him and his Paradise Lost in Literature classes. Hope, you have heard about John Milton as he was one of the greatest English poets/authors who created not in English only but in eight other languages as well.

Here is the family relation leading us to the poet  - which I found while working on our extended family tree.

Mary Boone Gant (the wife of our 1st cousin six times removed) ➦
➦her father Hiram Boone (b. ≈ 1765, Culpepper Co., Virginia / d. 13 March 1826, Savannah, Hardin, Tennessee)
➦his father Hezekiah Boone (b. 22 May 1735, Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania / d. 20 Dec. 1823, Woodford, Kentucky) 
➦ his father George Boone (b. 13 July 1690, Bradninch, Devon, England / d. 20 Nov. 1753, Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania)
➦ his mother Mary Milton Boone nee Maugridge (b. 23 Dec. 1669, Bradninch, Devon, England/ came to America 1717/ d. 2 Feb. 1740, Exeter, Berks, Pennsylvania)
➦ her mother Mary Maugridge nee Milton (b. 25 Oct. 1647, Bradninch, Devon, England/ d. August 1697, Bradninch, England)
➦ her father John Milton ( b. 9 Dec. 1608 - Bread St., London, England).

Based on my MyHeritage research

Credits

• Picture of poet John Milton:
  
  

  

  Public Domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=134543

Daniel Morgan

The person who links us to Daniel Morgan and other more and less known individuals/names is our Absalom Bobo's wife Mary Gant (nee Boone) whom I wrote about in this post.

Daniel Morgan was related to the Boone family.
If you are not sure who Daniel Morgan was, I remind only that he was a politician of Virginia and general whose leadership led to a vital victory during American Revolutionary War.

How does Mary Boone connect us to Mr. Daniel Morgan? I partially explained it (regarding Daniel Boone) in the post linked above. Here is the direct line which goes through 7 generations:

Mary Gant (Boone) ➦
➦ her father Hiram Boone (b. 1765, Culpepper County, Virginia - d. 13 March 1826, Woodford, Kentucky) ➦
➦ his father Hezekiah Boone ( 22 May 1735, Exeter, Berks, PA - 20 Dec. 1823, Woodford, Kentucky) ➦
➦ his father George Boone (13 July 1690, Bradninch, Devonshire, England - 20 Nov. 1753, Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania) ➦
➦ his brother Squire Maugridge Boone, Sr. (25 Nov. 1696, Bradninch, Devonshire, England - 2 Jan. 1765, Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, Colonial America) ➦
➦ his wife Sarah Boone / nee Morgan ( b. 23 Sept. 1700 in Towamencin Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, Colonial America - d. 1 Jan. 1777,  Mocksville, Davie, North Carolina) ➦
➦ her brother Joseph James Morgan, Sr. (b. 1702, Montgomery, PA - d. 1782, Frederick, Virginia)  ➦
➦ his son Daniel Morgan (b. 6 July 1736, Battletown, Hunterdon, New Jersey - d. 6 July 1802, Winchester, Frederick, Virginia). 

Information based on my MyHeritage research.

Picture:
Charles Willson Peale

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Mary Boone Gant & Boone Family

Probably you have heard about Daniel Boone - pioneer, frontiersman, Revolutionary War hero, founder of the village named Boonesborough, which was one of the very first settlements in Kentucky (Virginia then). Maybe you have also heard about his brother Squire, who was quite a person as well. Well, they are our indirect relatives, related to our family via Mary Gant nee Boone.
Daniel Boone was Mary's second cousin twice removed.

Daniel Boone

Wish I had a photograph of Mary's portrait bus since I do not have one, I can only include the image of her cousin's.

Here is the family line which connects the two of them:

Mary Gant (Boone) ➦
➦ her father Hiram Boone (b. 1765, Culpepper County, Virginia - d. 13 March 1826, Woodford, Kentucky) ➦
➦ his father Hezekiah Boone ( 22 May 1735, Exeter, Berks, PA - 20 Dec. 1823, Woodford, Kentucky) ➦
➦ his father George Boone (13 July 1690, Bradninch, Devonshire, England - 20 Nov. 1753, Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania) ➦
➦ his brother Squire Maugridge Boone, Sr. (25 Nov. 1696, Bradninch, Devonshire, England - 2 Jan. 1765, Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, Colonial America) ➦
➦ his son Daniel Boone ( 2 Nov. 1734, Birdsboro near Reading, Oley Valley, Berks County, Province of Pennsylvania, Colonial America - 26 Sept. 1820, Nathan Boone's house, Defiance, Femme Osage Creek, St. Charles County, Missouri).

Miss Mary Boone connects us to quite a few other family lines/branches including such surnames as Eisenhower, Mitchell, Stover, Grant, Van Bibber, Evans, Sanders, Scott, Hays, Scholl, Mead, Hughes, Bennett, Patterson, Hulings, Whitaker, Thomas, Milton, Powell, and Moulton (to mention only the main ones). I am going to tell you more about some of those connections. Therefore, I think Mary and her immediate family need to be introduced here in a more detailed way.

Mary Boone was born on 26 May 1803 in Columbia, Adair, Kentucky to Hiram Boone and Lucy Ann Smith.

On 15 October 1822, Mary married our cousin six times removed Absalom Bobo Gant, son of Lewis Bobo Gant and Mary Armstrong. It happened in Clifton, Wayne County, Tennessee. Absalom Bobo was born on 25 February 1800 in Abbeville, Abbeville County, South Carolina.
Mary and Absalom had eleven children - seven daughters and four sons.

Daughters of Absalom and Mary's

• Lucy Ann - born 3 April 1824 in Stantonville, Harding, Tennessee/died 8 October 1875 in Hardin, TN. Lucy married Mr. E.A. Polk (around 1844 in Wayne Co., TN);
• Elizabeth Jane - b. 19 June 1826, Stantonville, Hardin Co, TN/d. 10 Dec. 1910, Weatherford, Parker Co, TX). On 2 Sept. 1826 in Clifton, Wayne Co., Tennessee, Elizabeth married  Thomas Jefferson Kindel (b.17 Nov. 1824) - ⭐ Texas connection;
•  Mary Huldah - b. 10 Dec. 1834, Martin, Weakley, TN/d. 25 April 1859 in Wayne, TN. Mary married Bruce Childress (b. around 1930);
• Nancy Emarintha - b. 19 Oct. 1837 in Martin Mills, Wayne, Tennesse/d. 19 May 1920 in Temple, Bell, Texas. On 25 Sept. 1850 Nacy married Mr. W. H. A. Atkins (born 1833) - ⭐ Texas connection;
• Irene (Martha J) - b. 6 Feb. 1840, Martin Mills, Wayne, Tennesse/d. 10 Feb. 1896 in Wayne, TN;
• Frances Elizabeth - b. 10 March 1842 in Martin Mills, Wayne, Tennesse/d. 13 March 1922 in Texas. Buried - old Kindel lot, Weatherford cemetery, Parker Co, TX -  ⭐ Texas connection;
•  Sarah Emma - b. 20 July 1840 in - Martin Mills, Wayne, Tennesse/d. 8 June 1846 in Gainesville, Cook Co., Texas - ⭐ Texas connection. Sarah got married on 12 Oct. 1869. Her husband was James Webb Montague (b. 15 Nov. 1846).

 

Sons of Absalom and Mary's

• Louis Boone Gant - b. 10 July 1828 TN/d. 25 Nov. 1865 in Wayne County, TN). In 1853 Louis married Miss Evaline Lina Parker (b. 1832);
• William Miles - b. 16 Jan. 1831 in Stantonville, Harding, Tennessee/d. 11 Feb. 1863 in TN. On 1 March 1857 he married Miss Sarah Croder (b. 1834);
• Absalom Bobo Gant, Jr. - b. 30 Oct. 1832, Martin, Weakley, TN/d. 2 May 1892, Graham, Young County, Texas. Absalom married Miss Julia Minerva Raines (b. 15 Sept. 1837) on 18 Dec. 1867 in Rusk, Cherokee Co, TX - ⭐Texas connection;
• Frances - b. 1843 in Tennessee.

Mary's husband Absalom Bobo passed on the day of her 73rd birthday, on 26 May 1876 in Clifton, Wayne, Tennessee. Mary Gant departed twenty years later, on 8 August 1896, in Martin Mills, Wayne, Tennessee.
The couple was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery, Houston, Wayne Co., TN.

You can read more about Mary's son Absalom Bobo Gant, Jr., his ancestors and children in one of my previous posts.

Credits:
Photo of Daniel Boone: Chester Harding

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons;
Photo of gravestone: Judy Griffin;

Information based on MyHeritage research.

Leffel - The Name And The Story Beyond It

Leffel was another mysterious first name that I found in our family tree branch. It was mysterious till I discovered who the Leffel people were and why was one of them so important that his surname became a first name.

So who were the Leffel people?

The original spelling of the surname was possibly Loeffel. Balthazar (also called Balzar) Loeffel/Leffel born on 2 February 1721 in Palatinate Region, Germany came to Pennsylvania where he married Sybilla (born on 1 March 1728). Both of them were regarded as the Pennsylvania Dutch. The term 'Dutch' referred to 'Deutsch' (meaning German of course), which was commonly pronounced 'Dutch' by Americans. Most of so-called the Pennsylvania Dutch people came to Pennsylvania from Germany and Switzerland. The versions of German which they spoke created a unique dialect of German spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch only.

How are we related to the Leffel family?

Our ancestor (7 generations back), Benjamin Maugridge Boone Jr. married Eve Leffel, daughter of Balzar and Sybilla Leffel. Benjamin was born on 13 August 1741 in Exeter Township, Philadelphia County, PA. He is listed in DAR (Daughters of American Revolution) records: Patriotic Service in Pennsylvania as Private. Benjamin died on 25 September 1824 in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, PA. Eve was born on 5 January 1756 in Amity, Washington County, PA. She died on 22 June 1816 in Bloomsburg, PA too.

What was so significant about the Leffel people/or one of them that their surname survived in our family tree as a given name?

One possible explanation could be that Balzar Leffel was a Patriot. He is listed in the DAR (Daughters of American Revolution) Patriot Index (Oath of Allegiance,1778, BERKS Co.). On the other hand, there were more Patriots in the family than just Baltzar only. Therefore, I suppose, it was all about David Miller Leffel, grandson of Eve's brother John Leffel. During my genealogy quest, I learned something very interesting not only on that particular ancestor but on some history of the Land as well.

David Miller Leffel was born to Anthony and Mary Leffel on 20 January 1816 (in Botetourt County, Virginia). At the age of 21, David married 20-year-old Susan Evaline West. The marriage ceremony took place on 3 May 1837 in Springfield, Clark County, Ohio.
When Susan's mother died, her father Michael West, and her brothers moved to Texas where they got some land in Grayson County. In 1858, after Michael's death, Susan and her husband David Miller relocated to Texas as well - Susan inherited part of the land from her father. The couple settled in Cooke County, though where one of Susan's sisters lived. They had eight children: William Jefferson (1838), Sarah Ann (b.1840), Eliza Jane (b. 1843, died as an infant), Anthony Musgrove (1846), James Perry (b.1848), Charles Edgar (b.1851), John Wesley (b.1855), and George L. (b. 1857). David worked as a carpenter.

Father of David Miller Leffel (1791-1870)

During the Civil War (on 1 October 1862) Texas militia arrested many people who were suspected to be the Union sympathizers and were accused of plotting against the Confederacy.

David M. Leffel, supposedly encouraged by his brother-in-law William Boyles attended a 'Peace Party' meeting which was held at a private home. The meeting discussion was focused on freeing the people arrested by the Citizens Court. David, along with fourteen other persons who were present at the meeting, was caught and charged with disloyalty to the Confederacy and sentenced to death by hanging. David was executed on 19 October 1862. Forty other men were hanged as well. It all happened in October 1862 in Gainsville, Texas.

Not long ago, the monuments commemorating the victims of the Great Hanging at Gainsville were found in Cooke County, where the tragic events took place.

I need to say that I was quite moved when I found out the story beyond the Leffel name and about what happened to David Miller Leffel. It all must have been known to our grandparents who lived in Texas as well. No wonder they regarded the surname so meaningful that they decided to name their child with it. Now we probably know why.

Credits:

• Picture of Anthony Leffel:  Courtesy of clmroots.blogspot.com
• Pictures of the Gainsville Memorial Monuments: Courtesy of gainesvilletx1862.blogspot.com