APHGA Bi-Weekly Report 11/25/2009

The Great A. A. Pomeroy Book Update Project

Bill, Sandra, Nancy and Barb attended the Onondaga Historical Society’s Our Glorious Workplace fundraiser at King and King Architects on the near west side of Syracuse, NY last Saturday. Joining us at Bill’s table were Russell P, the Historian of the local SAR chapter, Karen and Jamie C (Karen is a member of the DAR and Jamie is a member of the SAR) and John and Maureen C (John is a member of the Marcellus Historical Society). The event included a tour of King and King’s new facilities which focused on displays from their archives, including blueprints of many of the famous landmarks of the Syracuse area. A delicious dinner was later followed by a presentation of the history of King and King and the near west side of Syracuse. One of the many highlights of the evening was a vocal “thank you” to King and King sung by the multi-talented Gregg Tripoli, the Executive Director of the Onondaga Historical Society. (Who says that history events can’t be fun?)

The previous Saturday, Barb, Lee and Nancy attended the Central New York Genealogical Society’s meeting and lecture on French-Canadian research presented by Julie Dowd of the Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society (aka the Clinton County Genealogical Society). The society is located in Plattsburgh, NY. To learn more about them, visit their website at www.NNYACGS.org . Upcoming events for 2010 were announced, and we were pleased to note that Jean Nudd, of the National Archives branch in Pittsfield, MA will be a speaker at the April meeting. She’s a Pomeroy, you know!

Nancy spoke with Joan P last week. She and her husband Jerry were stationed at the Griffiss Air Force Base, in Rome NY in the 1970s. There they met and became friends with William P and his wife Cecelia. William and Cecelia went to Italy and the couples lost touch. According to Joan, William had the “Pomeroy Scrolls”, a set of scrolls with the ancestry of his family on them. Has anyone heard of these, or William and Cecelia?

Jerry’s Pomeroy line has been traced by the APHGA back to two siblings, Louise Pomeroy, b. abt 1826 in Springfield, Clark Co., OH, who died in 1907 in Attica, Fountain Co., IN and Charles Pomeroy (from which Jerry descends), born 1 Nov 1832 in MI, d. 3 Mar 1892 in Brooklyn, Kings Co., NY. Another descendant of this family was George Charles Pomeroy, b. 5 Mar 1895 in Brooklyn, NY and d. 9 Jul 1979 in Pompano Beach, Broward Co., FL. George was an early aviator and participated in air races with Amelia Earhart! We’ve done a bit of research on this family, but have not been able to connect them to Eltweed Pomeroy. Has anyone else researched this family?

Nancy also received an e-mail from Susanna C a descendant of Harriet Lyman Darling (Deborah Jane Spaulding Pomeroy, David, Gideon, Joshua, Samuel, Caleb, Eltweed). Susanna has quite a collection of family artifacts and mementos that she has graciously offered to copy and send to us!

Lee continued to match Pomeroys found in Canadian birth records. She also reviewed a published genealogy, entitled “Descendants of John Palmer”. This book includes the George A. Pomeroy family of Cramahe, Canada, but it appears that some of the children associated with George and wife Rebecca Palmer are probably not the children of this couple. In particular, Emery Pomeroy, who we have as the child of James, is listed as a son of George and Rebecca. In reviewing our research, we believe that Emery is really the son of James, not George. Lee is also researching the possibility that Emery had two wives, both named Margaret, one a Hellenbolt and one a Dixon.

Barb continued her review of America’s Historical Newspapers. She is reviewing newspapers published in 1866. So far, 50 – 60% of the searches on Pomeroy in that year refer to Senator Samuel Clarke Pomeroy of Kansas (Samuel, Elijah, Caleb, Samuel, Caleb, Eltweed). The Senator was a confidante of President Lincoln, an associate of Frederick Douglass, appeared on the same platform with Henry Ward Beecher and R. H. Dana, and assisted in making treaties with various Indian tribes in Kansas.

Barb also found two early Pomeroy sailors, Gaius and Artimous. We have an Artemus Bell Pomeroy in our database, b. 17 Jul 1870 in Southampton, MA (Edward De Graffe, Cornelius, Joel, Noah, Samuel, Caleb, Eltweed), but we believe this is a different person. Does anyone have an Artemis, Artemus or Artimous Pomeroy who was a sailor in their family?

Another article that Barb found in a Pittsfield, MA paper in July 1864, stated that Newton S. Pomeroy was one of several agents going from Connecticut to recruit in the rebel states. We have a Newton Stoughton Pomeroy (Alexander, Amos, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Joseph, Medad, Eltweed), born 20 Dec 1832 in Suffield, CT, who married Louise L. Archer 4 Jun 1856. Newton died 31 Mar 1886 in De Kalb, IL. We’re assuming this is the Newton referred to in the article, but don’t know anything about his Civil War service. Is anyone researching this family who might have additional information on Newton?

Betty has been entering matched Social Security Death Index records and Canadian vital records. She has been research Richard Pomeroy (Frederick Freeman, Frenando E, Elbridge G, Eleazer, Daniel, Noah, Samuel, Caleb, Eltweed). Richard was born 22 May 1916 in OH and died in February 1980 in Grand Rapids, MI.

Ed has been researching a Leonard Pomeroy of Maine who died at the age of 24 in 1896 when he drowned after his boat capsized. He also researched a George Edward Pomeroy of Bath, ME who died in Santa Clara, CA. Ed also located the obituary of George Shuabel Pomeroy (Albert David, David Madison, Richard). George was born 23 Jun 1859, in Pembroke, ME and died 5 Aug 1922 in Pembroke, ME. He married an Ana C. Simmons. George was related to Dr. Thomas W. Pomeroy, the Clairvoyant Herbalist.

The Pomeroy Anvil Trail

Latest news on the Pomeroy Anvil Monument slated to be installed in Lyons, NY. The inscription of the monument is taking longer than initially expected. The revised ship date of the finished monument is now scheduled for Wednesday, December 2nd, with an install date expected the early part of the week of December 7, 2009. We have spoken with Rev. Lee Prong of the First Presbyterian Church of Lyons about having the dedication as part of their regular Sunday services on December 13th, starting at 10:00am. The First Presbyterian Church is located at 11 Queen Street, in Lyons, New York. The monument will be dedicated to Rev. Francis Pomeroy and all of the other pastors of the Church. Rev. Francis Pomeroy was the first installed pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Lyons. He owned property just south of the current location of the church, and was buried in the Presbyterian Burial Grounds, on the current church property.

Rick continues to make headway re-creating the ownership and various boundary lines of property owners of Village lots 1 and 2 in Lyons, NY. A part of Village lot 1 was given to the Presbyterian Church. Rev. Francis Pomeroy purchased ½ acre on Village lot 2. This property changed hands frequently and seems to have been further split up. There is an old brick house that stands two doors down on Broad Street from the current Church. Could this have been the house where Rev. Francis lived, or did he live in a house on the property where the Presbyterian Manse now stands?

The Pomeroy Collection

Nancy pulled out an old accession of various Pomeroy documents that Bill had purchased off of e-Bay. Of interest are two Pomeroy Family Association brochures, several handwritten genealogies and two fascinating hand-drawn maps of Northampton, MA that contain the names and description of property of early Northampton settlers. Nancy has asked Barb to transcribe these documents. Rick found an early map of Northampton on the Family History Library site. Rick and Barb are using this map to identify the lots described on the hand-written maps.

The Mary Ann Coe Project

Pat continues to work on identifying early settlers of Huron County, OH and tracing where they came from. Judy has been reading the memoirs of early settlers in Norwalk and vicinity from the Firelands Pioneer Journals. Barb checked the Western Reserve Historical Society for early school records in Huron County; they don’t appear to have any. Nancy has created a spreadsheet to track the transfer of property in Pompey, NY from 1790 through 1819. Nancy has also been adding early residents of Norwalk to our database. Rick continues to research lots 52 and 54 in Sandusky, Ohio, which were, at one time, owned by David and Mary Ann Powers. Caryn has taken over the task of transcribing the Presbyterian Church of Pompey, New York, records.

We have added 247 people, 155 sources and 1818 citations to our genealogy databases over the past two weeks.

© 2009 American Pomeroy Historic Genealogical Association