52 Ancestors,
in 52 Weeks
Week 16:
Step
Take A Step Back
My plan for this week was to write about my great-grandmother’s step brother, James E. McBride. I thought researching his ancestry would help with a brick wall at my 3rd great-grandmother whose surname (I thought…) was McBride. In preparation, I contacted several of my cousins on that branch of the family to ask if they had stories about people named McBride connected to our shared ancestors. No stories were forthcoming, but my 2nd cousin, Karin King, asked me a really good question, “Why do you think our 3rd great-grandmother was a McBride?” That set me back a step, especially since I did not find a source in my files.
Breaking Down a Brick Wall
My 3rd great-grandmother, Elizabeth 1803-1893, [1] is a brick wall for me. She was married to Daniel Rumple, 1801-1874. [2] I do not have a marriage record for them, and that is often the best source for discovering a female ancestors’ surname. I believe the couple married in western Pennsylvania or eastern Ohio around 1825. Using these parameters and the surname ‘Rumple’ did not return anything useful on various genealogy and vital records sites. So I turned to Family Search, where I had recently used one of their beta-test tools successfully for another brick wall. See the side box for more information.
FamilySearch Labs
From the main page of Family Search, scroll down and find, on the right, a pop-down box titled ‘FamilySearch Labs’. Click the button for ‘View Experiments’ which will take you to their page of various experimental products. [3] The ‘Full Text Search’ product is in the center of the top row, select the button ‘Try It’ to turn on this experimental product. Currently the search is limited to just a few document types, for the US that is land and probate records. There are other experiments available, let me know about your success using them.
Family Search Results
I first tried using ‘Rumple’ for the search and drilling down on 1820s, 1830s, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. There were far too many results. Drilling down further using specific counties left me with fewer results, but they were nearly all land records for my ancestor Conrad Rumple, or his brothers. I tried some other parameters, and finally got some unique results by using ‘Daniel Rumple’ AND ‘Elizabeth’ and then drilling down on 1820s, 1830s, and Pennsylvania. This gave me limited results that I could easily peruse for any relevant records. And there were some!
I have previously written posts about my Rumple ancestors:
Estate Records of Abraham Mooney
The search returned court records for the estate of a man named Abraham Mooney in Dauphin County, PA in 1838. [4] Daniel Rumple showed up in the results as ‘Daniel Rumple, and Elizabeth his wife, late Elizabeth Harting’. Was my 3rd great-grandmother’s surname Harting? More associated records would convince me. Looking further at the estate papers there is a document where Daniel, and his wife Elizabeth, appoint an attorney to represent them for the estate settlement in Dauphin County, PA. Daniel, and his wife Elizabeth, make this assignment with a judge in Carroll County, Ohio in 1838. This is one of the documents that convinces me that this couple are my ancestors because other records, including census, have them living in Carroll County at the time of this court record.
What Else?
There are additional people named in the estate papers, including the parents of Elizabeth Harting. Now I have my 4th great-grandparents, ‘Christian Harting and Ann Maria his wife, formerly Ann Maria Mooney, one of the Children, heirs and devises of Abraham Mooney’. Furthermore, these court documents give me my 5th great-grandparents, Abraham Mooney, 1739-1801, and his wife Catherine. More research is needed for Catherine, it is her death in 1835 that prompted this court proceeding because the residue of Abraham’s estate needed to be settled among his surviving heirs.
Below is a small portion of the transcript of the court record. It is the relevant portion relating to Elizabeth.
Abraham Mooneys heirs To Benjamin Minsker }
Know all men by these presents that Jacob Mooney & Catharine Mooney, his wife, late Catharine Harting, Daniel Rumple, and Elizabeth his wife, late Elizabeth Harting, and Sarah Harting, of Carroll County in the State of Ohio the said Catharine, Elizabeth & Sarah, being daughters and heirs at Law of Christain Harting and Ann Maria his wife, formerly Ann Mooney one of the Children, heir & devisees of Abraham Mooney, late of the Borough of Harrisburg in the County of Dauphin and State of Pennsylvania deceased, have nominated Constituted and appointed, and do by these presents, nominate Constitute and appoint Mr Benjamin Minsker of Middle Paxton township in the County of Dauphin their attorney in fact for them
Conclusion
This was a lesson in taking a step back in order to take a big step forward to break down a brick wall. I am so lucky to have cousins who also enjoy genealogy and ask all the right questions. Assumptions are great, but sources are better. One final note, I reviewed the vital records I have for Daniel and Elizabeth’s children and it turns out I had a clue to Elizabeth’s surname. Her son Conrad, [5] who I wrote a post about in 2019, died in 1911 and his death record lists his mother as Elizabeth Hartong. The informant was his brother, my 2nd great-grandfather, and therefore a reasonable authority. Yet another lesson: review what you already have!
SOURCES:
- Profile for Elizabeth Mary Harting, ‘Osborn‘ family tree, Ancestry.com; https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/13493206/person/12164299845/facts
- Profile for Daniel Rumple,Osborn‘ family tree, Ancestry.com; https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/13493206/person/12164268669/facts
- Website, Family Search: Labs; accessed: 19 Aug 2024; https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/
- Full-text search results for “+Daniel Rumple, +Elizabeth” for “Dauphin, Pennsylvania, United States records,” images, at FamilySearch; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSF1-9QKN-R?view=fullText : accessed: 19 Aug 2024, image 515 of 597
- Profile for Conrad Rumple, ‘Osborn‘ family tree, Ancestry.com; https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/13493206/person/12451627412/facts
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