Surname Study – Vinson – Halifax County, NC – Part 4

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Don Taylor

Surname Saturday
Howell/Vinson
By Don Taylor

During Part 3 of this study, I examined the Vinson family of Halifax County, North Carolina during the 1850 Census. This week I step back to the 1840 Census.

1840 Census

The 1840 Census contained the name of the head of the household, the location of the home in 1840, and the number of individuals in the household in various age groups. A search for Vinson in Halifax County, North Carolina yielded four Vinson families. Based upon my research of the 1850 through 1880 Censuses, I would expect to find the following individuals

  • A household that includes Elizabeth Vinson (age 55) and would including 23-year-old John and 15-year-old Nancy.
  • A household that included Robert Vinson (age between 10 and 16).
  • A household that included Littleberry Vinson (age 24 or 25).

Burket Vinson

The Burket Vinson family consists of three males and two females. It is the only family that fits the Elizabeth Vinson family line.

  • 1 Male 60 to 69         Burkett Vinson
  • 1 Male 20 to 29         John Vinson (Age 23)
  • 1 Male 15 to 19         <unknown>
  • 1 Female 50 to 59     Elizabeth Vinson (age 55)
  • 1 Female 15 thru 19 Nancy Vinson (age 15)

It is possible that Robert is that male from 15 to 19.

Peter Vinson

The Peter Vinson family consists of three males and two females.

  • 1 Male 40 to 49         Assumed to be Peter Vinson
  • 1 Male 10 to 14         Possibly Robert, age 10 to 16.
  • 1 Male 5 to 9              unk
  • 1 Female 30 to 39     Presumed to be Peter Vinson’s wife.
  • 1 Female 5 to 9          unk

Laban Vinson

The Laban Vinson family consists of three males and four females

  • 1 Male 70 to 79         Assumed to be Laban Vinson
  • 1 Male 15 to 19         Possibly Robert, age 10 to 16.
  • 1 Male 5 to 9
  • 2 Females 50 to 59    1 is presumed to be Laban’s wife.
  • 1 Female 15 to 19
  • 1 Female 10 to 14

It is possible that Robert Vinson, Age 10 to 16, is the male shown above.

Robert Vinson

The Robert Vinson family consists of two males and two females.

  • 1 Male 50 to 59         Assumed to be Robert Vinson
  • 1 Male 20 to 29         Possibly 23 year old John
  • 1 Female 50 to 59     Possibly 55 year-old Elizabeth
  • 1 Female 15 to 19.    Possibly 15 year old Nancy

It is also possible that Littleberry, age 24 or 25 is the Male 20 to 29 identified in the Census.

Conclusion

None of the 1850 Census households can be traced with certainty as being one of the 1840 Census households. This is disappointing but not unexpected. With that decision, I feel confident I must find some other kinds of documents to determine the family units of the Vinson families of Halifax County, North Carolina. The 55-year-old Elizabeth could be the wife of Burkett or Robert.

I believe I have exhausted the Census records for now, so I must continue my study using alternate (non Census) records. The ultimate purpose of the census work for this study was to know enough about the families involved so that Birth, Marriage, and Death Records will have a context and make sense.

Vinson Families in Halifax County 1850 thru 1880.

  • Elizabeth Vinson       (b. 1784-1785)
  • John Vinson                (b. 1816-1817)
  • + Lenora [Vinson]   (b. 1817-1818)
    • Virginia Vinson          (b. 1844-1846)
    • Elizabeth Vinson       (b. 1846-1847)
    • Susan Vinson             (b. 1847-1849)
  • + Ellenor [Vinson]    (b. 1824-1825)
    • James W. Vinson        (b. 1851-1852)
    • Benjamin I. Vinson    (b. 1854-1855)
    • Joseph Burkhead Vinson       (b. 1857-1858)
    • Ellen B. Vinson           (B. 1860-1861)
  • Nancy Vinson                       (b. 1824-1825)

 

  •  Robert Vinson (b. 1824-1830)
  • + Martha, [Vinson] (b. 1828-1829)
    • John H. Vinson           (b. 1850-1851)
    • Thomas L Vinson       (b. 1853-1854)
    • Albert L. Vinson         (b. 1855-1856)
    • Turner Vinson           (b. 1858-1859)
    • Laura E “Lizzie” Vinson (b. 1865-1866)

 

  • Littleberry Vinson      (b. 1815-1816)
  • + Fannie [Vinson]     (b. 1820-1821)
    • Laura Vinson (b. 1845-1846)
    • J. Robert Vinson (b. 1847-1848)
    • + L. N. Vinson (b. 1853-1854)
      • C.R. Vinson, (b. 1871-1872)
      • Fannie Vinson, (b. 1872-1873)
      • B. H. Vinson, (b. 1873-1874)
      • Emmett Vinson, (b. 1876-1877)
  • + Elizabeth [Vinson]   (b. 1815-1816)
    • Littleberry Vinson (b. 1857-1858)
    • William Vinson (b. 1859)

 

 

 

 

 

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Donna Darling Collection – Part 29

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Don Taylor

Globe Theatre
Treasure Chest Thursday
By Don Taylor

Donna Montran – Ill and Injured

The Donna Darling Collection has a page that included four little clippings. None of the four were dated. Elsewhere on that scrapbook page are articles regarding Donna’s playing at the Cosmos Theater in Washington DC in March. (More about that in another post.)

ILL AND INJURED [Transcript]

“Ill and Injured” – Donna Darling Collection

“Dave Kramer (Kramer and Boyle dislocated his knee in stepping out of an automobile. The team were forced to cancel the last half of last week as a result. (April 21)”

“Bill Vidocq. Keith agent, has returned from Lakewood and is back on the fifth floor of the Keith Exchange.

“Illness beset the Donna Montra [sic] and Bathing Girls Revue last week twofold when Juva Marconi dislocated her hip while dancing, causing her confinement in the Lankanau Hospital, Philadelphia. Later in the week Miss Montran, the prima donna of the company, underwent a nose and throat operation in New York.

[Globe Theatre, Philadelphia, May 16]

Illness Strikes Donna

“Donna Montran, who with her Bathing Beauties was forced to cancel some time through the necessity of an operation recently, has fully recovered and opens at the Globe theatre, Philadelphia, for a return engagement, May 16.”

[Ann Troy]

Ann Troy joins

“Ann Troy, dancer, has replaced Juva Marconi in the Donna Montran and her Bathing Beauties act.”

[Donna Takes Summer Off]

Bathing Beauties closes for summer

“Donna Montran closed her Bathing Beauties act last week and will rest up for the summer. She will appear in production next season.”

Analysis

  1. In April 1920, Donna was still performing with “Chin-Chin” in Maryland.
  2. In March 1921, Donna was performing “Donna Montran and her California Bathing Beauties.”
  3. By April 1922, Donna had changed her stage name to “Donna Darling.”

So, we know that “ILL AND INJURED” must be referring to 1921.

  Birth, Marriage & Death CollectionApril 21 was the last half of the week of April 17 to 23. That means that Juva Marconi must have dislocated her hip sometime around April 17 to 19 and that Donna must have gone to New York for her surgery about 20th or 21st.

In Clipping 2, we learn the Donna and her Bathing Beauties opened at the Globe Theatre, Philadelphia on May 16.

In Clipping 3, we learn that Ann Troy replaced Juva Marconi in the show.

In Clipping 4, we learn that the show closed for the summer. It is unclear when that occurred.

What I learned:

  • Donna and her Bathing Beauties, including Juva Marconi, must have been playing in Philadelphia or somewhere near Philadelphia the week of 17 April 1921. Possibly the Globe Theatre.
  • Donna went to New York for nose and throat surgery about 20 April 1920.
  • Donna and her Bathing Beauties “returned” to the Globe theatre on May 16.
  • Donna and her Bathing Beauties closed sometime after May 16 for the summer.

Consequent to the above, I have updated the Donna Montran Timeline to include the following:

  • April 17, 1921 – Unknown Theater near Philadelphia (Possibly the Globe Theatre).
  • May 16, 1921 – Globe Theatre, Philadelphia, PA – Donna Montran and her Bathing Beauties.
  • Date unknown [May, June, or July 1921] – Donna Closed the Show for the Summer.
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Surname Saturday – Swayze

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Don Taylor

Darling Line
By Don Taylor

Photo of Don Taylor with cat Nasi.Name Origin

Swayze is a variant of the English name Swasey. The meaning of the name is unknown; however, the Dictionary of American Family Names suggests it possibly is “an Anglicized form of Dutch Swijse(n), variant of Wijs ‘wise’.”

Geographical

Today, the greatest number of people with the Swayze surname live in the United States—Texas in particular. The greatest frequency of the Swayze surname occurs in Canada with one in 51,568 people in Canada having the surname. [i]

Back in 1880, the greatest number of people with the Surname Swayze lived, by far, in New Jersey. Stepping back to 1840, the greatest concentration of Swayze’s were also in New Jersey. At that time, 58% of the Swayze’s in the United States lived in New Jersey. [ii]

Earliest Ancestors

Flag of the United Kingdom

Immigrant Ancestor

My earliest known Swayze ancestor is my wife’s 9th great grandfather, John Swayze. He was born before 1600 in England. His son, John Swayze (1619-1706) is my wife’s Swayze immigrant. John (Jr.) was born in England, however, arrived in the Colonies before 1649 when he married Catherine Kinge, in Salem, Mass. John left Massachusetts and located in Suffolk County, New York. His son, Samuel, Grandson, Mathias, and great-grandson, Amos were all born in New York. Amos’s son, Amos (1767-1839) was the last of the New York Swayze’s in my wife’s line. Amos’s son David was born in New Jersey and is a patriot. He “Volunteered when 14 years old under Capt. Abraham McKinney and Lt. Beavers. He marched to Newark then to New York.”

David, the patriot, moved west, to Ohio. David’s son, David was born in New Jersey, moved to Ohio, then located further west and north to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he died. All of David Swayze’s (1798-1850) children were born in Ohio. However, he located from Ohio to Michigan in June 1840, right after the census was taken.  His daughter Elizabeth Swayze, my wife’s second great-grandmother, is the last of the Swayze line of my wife’s. She married Rufus Holton Darling in 1848.

Eight Known Direct Swayze Ancestors

  • #25[iii] – Elizabeth Jane Swayze (c. 1818—1896)
  • #50 – David Swayze (1796-1850
  • #100 – David Swayze (1762-1838)
  • #200 – Amos Swayze (1739-1813)
  • #400 – Mathias Swayze (1699-1728)
  • #800 – Samuel Swayze (1653-1736)
  • #1600 – John Swayze (1619-1692) – Immigrant
  • #3200 – John Swayze (bef. 1600)–1686.

Famous Relatives.

Photo of Patrick Swayze

Photo by Alan Light [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Patrick Wayne Swayze is my wife’s 9th Cousin. Patrick Swayze was an actor known for Dirty Dancing and Ghost.

Apparently, John Cameron Swayze was related to Patrick Wayne Swayze, so that would make him a cousin to my wife as well. John Cameron Swayze was a news commentator during the 1950s. He may be best known as the spokesman for Timex where he used the tagline, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”

Records

My records currently have 355 direct-line descendants of John Swayze identified, which is nearly 13% of my Howell-Darling Research.

ENDNOTES

[i] Forebears.io – Swayze Surname Meaning & Statistics – See: https://forebears.io/surnames/swayze[ii] Amazon.Com – Swayze Family History – See: https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=Swayze
[iii] Ahnentafel Numbering system – See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnentafel

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Don Taylor Genealogy – Privacy Policy

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Don Taylor

With all the talk about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Privacy Policies, I thought I’d update mine.

Don Taylor Genealogy Privacy Policy

I do not share personal information with third-parties nor do I store information collected about your visit to this blog for use other than to analyze content performance through the use of cookies, which you can turn off at any time by modifying your Internet browser’s settings except as described below.

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Finally, I also advertise Family Tree DNA testing products in their affiliate program. Family Tree DNA uses cookies and other techniques to track your purchases in order to associate your purchases to my referring you to them. Family Tree DNA tracks nothing on my site unless you click on their link. Once you leave my website and go to Family Tree DNA, you are covered by their privacy policies.

A complete list of my affiliates is listed on my Disclaimer/Disclosure page.

I am not responsible for the republishing of the content found on this blog on other Web sites or media without my expressed permission.

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice.

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Navy Education

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Don Taylor

Schools I’ve Attended

My Life
Those Places Thursday
By Don Taylor

Photo of Don Taylor with cat Nasi.Grace-Lee Products, Inc

After I graduated from high school, I moved to Northeast Minneapolis and got a job at Grace-Lee Products, Inc., 1414 Marshall Avenue in Minneapolis. They manufactured and packaged industrial chemicals. My job was to move 55-gallon drums of chemicals from one place to another. Grace-Lee was a dangerous place to work, but it paid reasonably well for unskilled labor. I recall that a drum of caustic potash (Potassium hydroxide) accidentally opened and the powder came up into the person’s face. He lost an eye and I realized this was an extremely hazardous place to work. Shortly after that, Honeywell hired me to work in their Golden Valley plant.

Honeywell

At Honeywell, I worked in the paint department racking and stacking thermostat rings to go through the paint booth then taking them off the fixture and packaging them. Those thermostats haven’t changed much since 1968 when I work there. I knew that I didn’t want to follow my step-father to be an assembly-line painter, so I decided to join the Navy. I enlisted under a 120-day deferment program where I enlisted in September, saving me from the draft but not going active duty until January, after the holidays.

A-School

Me on barracks steps c. 1969 (This barracks was torn down several weeks after this.)

After Boot Camp, I was enticed to sign a “promissory to extend” in order to go to “A” School and learn a trade. I agreed to do so and went to about a year of electronics training, first eight weeks in San Diego, then 42 weeks at Treasure Island (San Francisco). I was in a really smart class. Nearly everyone in my class received very high grades. After school, your next duty station depended upon where you placed in your class.  I think I was 8th in a 20, so I knew I was going to sea. After I realized that, I took an administrative assignment for a few weeks, which put me into another class. In that new class, I was number one. As number one in the class, I was able to select the best duty station offered–a tour at Boardman Bombing Range, Boardman Oregon. Two years in Oregon sounded great, so I took it.  I thought, “Hopefully the Viet Nam war would be over by the time my duty in Oregon was complete.” No such luck.

Boardman Bombing Range, Boardman, Oregon

QM56 – M56 with gun removed, remote control radio tower and reflector screens installed

In Oregon, I was a bomb spotter most of the time. I worked on transmitters and receiver equipment used to talk with the aircraft doing their bombing runs. Also, the base had M56 90MM Mobile Guns that had their gun removed and then converted to remote control. We would operate them remotely as mobile targets for the aircraft to bomb. In both cases, the electronics seldom broke down, so time was spent on preventative maintenance and repairing the mobile targets. I had no formal training or education while at Boardman.

CTMS – Cryptographic Technical Maintenance School, Mare Island (Vallejo. California

KY-8 – photo courtesy NSA, NSA Museum

After two years in Oregon, it was time for sea duty, and I received orders to the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63). On my way there I was sent to CTMS Mare Island (Vallejo, California) and attended a “C” school for eight weeks. There I learned to the KY-8, shipboard crypto equipment used on ships for secure voice communications with aircraft. It was a challenging class (understanding how crypto works can be a challenge) at a big building with no windows on Mare Island.

These Navy schools did what I was hoping for. I learned the basics of a vocation, electronics maintenance and repair, that gave me the fundamentals of electronics that carried me through the rest of my life. Navy Schools were a great beginning, but I wanted more. The USS Kitty Hawk and the Program for Afloat College Education would help me further my education.

 

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