The Omaha
Bee
PAST TWO
EDITORIAL
PAGES ONE TO TWELVE
unday
PART TWO
SOCIETY
PAGES ONE TO TWELVE
VOL. XU-NO. 51
Omaha Women Having Notable
ITiSS 22k?garctlZt27tercl
' UTTLK prowling Around among
. and yellow pamphlets brings to light
the interesting fact that a good many
Omaha women come of illustrious
ancestry. Although these women
blush with true western scorn at any
thing so reactionary' as an ancestor, they cannot
but admit that their forefathers were of a sort not
to be sneezed at by the most conservative of east
ern blue-stockings. '
We have -in our midst a cousin many times
removed, it is true of a reigning sovereign of
Europe; we have a descendent of no less a ruler
than Alfred the 'Great; one who can claim -with
.Mrs. Cornwallis West, formerly Lady Randolph
Churchill of England, the bones" of the same an
cestor lying in a little graveyard in New York;
two sisters whose forefather was the founder of
Craigie house, where the . poet Longfellow after
ward lived; a' direct descendent of . John and
Priscilla Alden; a pretty, little school ma'am whose
many-times-great grandfather was that big man
from a little state, Roger Williams; and other wo
men who come of forebears who took an active
and prominent part in the stirring times of early
American, history , .
An Omaha physician, Dr. Mary Strong,' has
heard from , the' lips of her great aunt tales of
ekirmishes with the Tories and Indians which took '
place near the log cabin where she was born. This
aunt Lucy Bayley was her name came into the
world while the fight' with the redskins was on
and it was only the bravery of . a little band of pat
riots which saved the new baby and her mother
from certain death. . . , ,.
"As Aunt Lucy lived to be 87, I have often
heard her tell this with great pride,", said Dr.
Strong.
Dr. Strong's great-great grandfather, General
Jacob Bayley of Newbury, Vt, was a member of
the committee of safety for that state and, with
most of his sons who were old enough, served as
soldier, scout and on the committee for that prov
ince, which had recently been claimed both by
New Hampshire' and. New York'. . General Bayley
was one of the famous Green Mountain boys, who,
led by Ethan Allen, resisted the New York claim
ants. And he helped defeat Baum's forces when
this division of Burgoyne's British and Hessian
soldiers came to Bennington to fight the Vermont
ers and New Hampshire, patriots. . .
Many other of Dr. Strong's ancestors fought, at
Bennington. Her great grandfather, Tillotson, was
there and saved a powder hotn' w'hich Dr. Strong
has put in the Omaha public library. Another relic
of war times which the doctoY has ' loaned the
library is a queer, little, iron 611 lamp which one
of her Strong ancestors brought back from an ex
pedition against the French in Canada.
"Alexander Strong was one of those who helped
guard the cabin where. little Lucy Bayley was born.
His sen married her younger sister, Mira Bayley
my grandmother," said Dr. Strong. "He moved
up the Connecticut to Oxford, N. H., with his
father to lands given" by King George III for
services in the French and Indian wars."
Mrs. J. C. Weeth, who is vice president of two
local patriotic organizations the Omaha chapter
of the Daughters of the American Revolution and
the Nebraska chapter of the Daughters of 1812
has a case of revolutionary relics in the library.
But, perhaps, nothing' in the whole collection has
so strange a history as a quaint, old pin contain
ing a lock of red hair, which Mrs. Weeth some
times wears.
The lock of red hair was from the head of my
I
2 1.
great-great-grandfather, Rev. Ebenezer Morse, an
Episcopal clergyman sent to New England to
preach. His little settlement in what is now Ver
mont was attacked by. Indians' and few whites es
caped. My ancestor's wife and two sons escaped,
but he was scalped byjhe Indians and left for
dead. ' ' ;
"A few hours later, a band of the Indians re
turned and seeing that he was still alive marvel
led at it; and, noticing the color of his hair which
was a novelty to them-p-eonclude'd that 'the Great
Spirit wanted him to live. , They were afraid. So
they bound his head with herbs and plantain leaves
and took him with them to Canada.
"The Indians held my grandfather captive for
eight years.' The old chief gave him an Indian
name and wanted him to marry his only daughter.
The night before the ceremony was to take place
grandfather escaped with a friendly Naragansett
Indian. They killed the two Indians on guard and
the others were stupefied with drink made from
corn juice and wintergreen berries to celebrate the
occasion. 'Grandfather gradually worked-his way
south to Bennington. . His family had, gone, the
village bad been rebuilt and it was with difficulty
that he finally located his wife and two sons in
Charleston, Mass." - t , ...
Another great-great-grandfather of Mrs.
Weeth's Benjamin Reed was a Minute man, who
lived in Cunningham between Lexington and Water
town. . .
"When Paul Revere made his midnight, ride,
grandfather, with his son, was plowing in the field
it being just dawn. He left his team of oxen,
ran for his musket, kissed grandmother good by
and flew off without hat or coat.",
This loyal patriot was stationed ' near Water
town bridge, which was destroyed by the British
and rebuilt of stone several years later. The
money was raised by selling shares on the lottery,
plan. The prizes were a "neckyoke for oxen,
saddle, bridle, pair of shoes, churn for butter,
hanks of yarn, package of Indigo for dyeing, dress
patterns" and other practical things. Three shares.,
for the new bridge are in Mrs. Weeth'g collection
in the library. . "' -..
On her mother's side, Mrs. Weeth's ancestor,
Stephen Hopkins, and , his daughter, Constance,
camo to America on .the Mayflower in 1620.
Stephen Hopkins was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence.
- Miss Isabelle Frances .Williams, one of our
public school teachers, traces her ancestry directly
through generations of Williamses, including Will
lam Williams, who signed the Declaration of In
dependence, to the greatest of all Williamses, Roger
Williams, the first governor of Rhode Island.
Miss Williams is bIbo a descendant of Colonel
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNK 9,
I it iv 3 1 ? - i i 4 1
Nathan Miller of the Continental army, whose son,
Brigadier General Nathan Miller, did good service
during the revolution. General Miller's closest
lriend throughout the struggle was the French
count de Rochambeaux, who presented hH American
companion with a gold sword encrusted with jewels
:it .the close of the war.
General Miller was a member of the continental
congress and of the congress of 1786, which met
in New York. His daughter, Patience Miller, mar
ried William Williams.
Another Omaha woman who can trace her an
(wstry directly to illustrious early settlers is Mrs.
A. LFernald, whose great-great-great-great-great-grandparents
were John and Prescilla Alden.
Hanging in the home of Miss Katheiine and
Miss 'Margaret Hilliard are pictures of two an
cestral places. Ore is Craigie house, still f.tanl
Ing In Brattle street, Cambridge, Mas. It Mas
built by Andrew Craigie, of whom the chronicles
of the tlmesay that "he was the ftrvt iiersou of
1912.
American
Ronton who had ice in the summer and flowers in
the winter and habitually drove a coach and foui'."
end tHat his brother-in-law "was a gentleman and
died of the gout."
The f;ecor,d picture in the Hilliard home is of
a plnnt:Uio:i, intact until recent jvars, near Wil
mington, N. C. It was the refuge of an aristocratic
young southerner named. Burgwln, who sought to
escape from grief over the loss of his youmj wife.
He recovered, married an English woman and
l eared a large family. The "IIeTniu:ge," As the
place had been called, was turned into a center of
so lal gayety. A grand-daughter of Hurgwin housa
p.. Tried a descendant of the Craiglc-i and from them
dfscended tli Misses Hilliard.
Mrs. L. C. Shipmnr, w'no is treasurer of the
Omaha chapter of the Daughters of the.' American
Revolution, traces her American ancestry to Aaron
Jerome, wliope bones lie in tho litucic cemetery
numbering loss than forty headstones, at Pompey
in Onondago county, New York, and who was the
grpatgxauufaiber of a titled lady across the ocean
Aire. Cornwallis West who was Lady Churchill.
The first of the Jeromes to come to America was
".mibthy, ' who emigrated from t'.ic Isle of Wight
early in the eighteenth century. But the family,
before that,-were French Huguenots. Mrs. Ship
man's genealogy gives names of men who were apt
with sword and pen and who were oC staunch re
ligious fiber.
"Daniel May served four years In the French
and Indian war?, and througn the revolution, always
carrying his Bible in his knapsack," said Mrs. Ship
iiiaji. , "He firmly believed that no bullet would hit
him while be carried his lMbla; and )e camo
through in: harmed." His daughter Sally May. mar
ried John Woodworth, one of three brothers who
came to America from Kent county. England, In
163K. Samuel Woodworth was the author of The
Old Oaken Bucket.' "
Mrs. J. W. Griffith's American ancestor if
Governor Dudley of Massachusetts, from whom she
is the ninth generation in direct descent. Previous
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
Ancestors
to coming to this country In 1630, Thomas Dudley
had served as captain under Henry of Navarre, hav
ing received his commission from Queen Elizabeth.
He was descended from the elder branch of the
Dudley family to which the Earl of Leicester be-
lnnearl and whiih traonA Ho onnoofrt. .trtiirrkt
- -. ....... fcJ iw ..wai. J Bi.ll.lguv uaLR
through William the Conqueror to Alfred the Great.
Mrs. William S. Heller has a highly interesting
and varied line of notable ancestors. The Bentons
on her father's side go back to Norman origin and
the Norman coat of arms always hung in the home
of her girlhood days. Through the Norton line she
goes back to Johii. Webster, who. was one of the
early governors of Connecticut and who was the
forebear of Daniel and of Noah Webster. On her
mother's side Mrs. Heller' traces back through the
Van Horns of Holland stock, who came to Amer
ica in 1635; to the reigning family of Holland, be
ing an eighth cousin of Queen Wllhelmi'na. On her '
mother's father's side-rthe de Havens she goes
back to the ancestor of that name, a distinguished
Frenchman, who left France during the troublous
times of Louis XIV and settled, in, Philadelphia in
1635, which place has always been the home of
the-family. :x , ?
-Mrs. Pressly J. Barr, president of the Omaha
chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolu
tion,, comes from a French' Huguenot family that
fled to Holland to escape persecution and became
identified with the Dutch. Mrs. Barr's revolution
ary, ancestor is her great-grandfather, Johannes
Viele. She is a member of the Daughters of 1812
from the brave deeds of her grandfather, Tjerick
Viele. .' -. ' , ' '.
' Mrs. Barr has recently been invited to Join the
Society of Founders and ? Patriots ; of America
through Aerhnout Cornelisen Viele. This one of
the Vleles was especially prominent. He came to
this country with his father, about f630 and the
latter erected an Indian trading house at Fort
Orange, now Albany, N Y., and became an, In
terpreter between the government and the natives
and any number of treaties with the Indians for
many yars bear his signature. Governor Thomas
Dougan sent Viele as special envoy to. the Iroquois
and Governor Jacob Leisler made him governor of
the Six Nations. He was at the council of Onon
dago when, at the instigation of the Canadian au
thorities, the Iroquois tribes assembled to decide
whether the English or French should haye their
allegiance. ' ' !
- "Upon the decision ( depended the' fate' of the
colony," said Mrs. Barr.. "If it hadn't been xf or the
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