This is a story of immigration on a global scale. The starting point for the tale is Helen Maul, the daughter of Henry and Anna Maul.  Her father, Henry or Heinrich, was born in Norka, Russia, a 4th generation Volga-German.  Although Henry represented the 4th generation of Maul’s born in Russia, when he came to America he identified as a German.

Helen was
born and raised in Hastings, Nebraska and later married Jack Cronin. 
Helen Cronin is my daughter’s maternal great grandmother.

In 1763,
Russia’s tsarina Catherine the Great signed a manifesto inviting foreigners to
settle in Russia. A German national herself, Catherine’s decree marked the
beginning of the journey of the Maul family from Germany to Russia and then
America. As we move back through the generations, Maul men married women who
were Sinner’s and Hamburger’s. These families moved from Germany to Russian in
an effort to escape religious strife and economic hardship. A century after the
first Germans settled in Russia, Czar Alexander III revoked many of the
privileges promised to them by Catherine the Great and it was time to find
another promised land.

The manifesto promised the immigrants: exemption from military service, self-governance, freedom of language, tax breaks, initial financial aid, 75 acres of land per settler family, and “the free and unrestricted practice of their religion according to the precepts and usage of their Church.” Between 1763 and 1768 more than 25,000 Germans established 104 colonies in Russia. The families highlighted in this story resided in Isenburg, which was a former county located in the German state of Hessen near Frankfurt and settled in Norka, Russia. The trip to the Volga region of Russian (map) was no easy exploit; it was a 1,600-mile trek from the Hesse region to Norka, Russia. It is estimated that 17% of those who attempted this journey did not survive the trip.

Tsar
Alexander III in the 1870’s revoked Catherine’s privileges. Rather than face
compulsory schooling in the Russian language and five years of service in the
Russian Army, many Volga German families decided to emigrate to America.

Catherine the Great and the ‘Russian-Germans’ – Article about those that stayed behind in Russia.

The Hesse-Norka Families

Maul Family

Carl (Karl)
Maul b: 1747 in Isenburg, Hesse, Germany d. 1799 in Norka,
Russia Married: Anna Margaretha Doerr b: 1749 in Hesse, Germany d. 1798 Norka,
Russia.

Original
Norka settler, 1st wife Anna Margaretha Dörr, 2nd wife Margaretha Weigandt in
1775, daughter of Konrad Weigandt.  Carl was an apprentice to Konrad
Weigandt, a craftsman from Isenburg. Reformed faith church, farmer from
Isenburg, arrived in Oranienbaum (not far from St. Petersburg) on Sept. 9, 1766
by the ship Elephant, arrived in Norka colony on Aug. 15, 1767.

Johannes Maul
b: ABT 1784 in Norka, Balzer, Saratov, Russia d. 1819
Russia. Married: ?

Conrad Maul b: 22 Aug 1809 in Norka, Russia d. 1876 in Norka, Russia.
Married: Anna Margaretha Gobel b: 26 Jul 1812 in Norka, Russia d. 1851 Russia.

Heinrich Maul b: 2 Feb 1835 in Norka, Russia d. 1888 in Norka, Russia. Married:
Magdalena Hamburger b: 21 Oct 1835 in Norka, Russi.

Heinrich Maul b. 17 Sep 1863 in Norka, Russia. Married: Elisabeth Sinner b: 3
Sep 1862 in Norka, Russia.

Heinrich
Jacob Maul b. 1 Apr 1886 in Norka, Russia.
Married: Anna Schwenninger b: 1887 in Iowa, USA.  Daughter: Helen May
(Cronin) b. 1919.

Hamburger Family


Johannes Hamburger b: 1744 in Isenburg, Hesse, Germany d. 1821 Norka,Russia. Arrived in Norka colony on 15 Aug 1767. Handicraftsman, Tailor – Reformed Church. Married: Anna Catharina Bauer b: 1747 in Germany.

Johannes
brother, Philipp, served in the
Hesse-Hanau Regiment of the Crown Prince on the side of the British in the
American Revolution. During this time he was captured and ransomed.

Philip
Hamburger b: 1775 in Norka, Balzer, Saratov,
Russia d. 1829 Norka, Russia. Married: Elisabeth Huck b: 23 Nov 1777 in Norka,
Russia.

Johannes Hamburger b: 15 Mar 1808 in Norka, Russia. Married: Catharina Schreiber b: 2 Feb 1808 in Norka, Russia. ( I believe both are in photo above)

Magdalena Hamburger b. 1835 in Norka, Russia.  Married Heinrich Maul.

Sinner Family


Johann Sinner b: Abt 1715 in Isenburg, Hesse, Germany Married: Anna Maria ? b:
Abt 1720 in Isenburg, Hesse, Germany.

Conrad Sinner b: Abt 1747 in Isenburg, Hesse, Germany. Married: Elisabeth ? b:
1752 in Isenburg, Hesse, Germany.

Johann Heinrich
Sinner b: Abt 1774 in Balzer, Saratov,
Russia. Married: Elisabeth Loos b: 25 Sep 1776 in Norka, Russia.

Conrad Sinner b: 1 Aug 1798 in Norka, Balzer, Saratov, Russia. Married:
Margaretha Koehler b: 22 Jan 1801 in Norka, Russia.

Georg Heinrich Sinner b: 11 Oct 1823 in Norka, Russia d. 1885 in Russia. Married: Magdalena Scheidemann b: 19 Dec 1826 in Norka, Russia.

Elizabeth Sinner b. 3 Sep 1862 in Norka, Russia. Married: Heinrich Maul Jr. on 5 Feb 1885 in Norka

This post was originally intended to be a short piece on the 1879 probate record of my 3rd great-grandfather Abram French, who resided in Lowell, Massachusetts. Nice visuals and quick facts estimating the value of his estate in 2019 dollars. I have featured Abram in a previous post: Which Abram are You?

$9,500 – The appraised value in 1879 of the real estate Abram French owned.

The buying power equivalent in 2019 would be $240,137.

$4,775.60 – The appraised value in 1879 of Abram’s personal estate.

Would be worth $120,700 in 2019.

To punch up the piece, I wanted to provide a little background on the individuals mentioned in the document. However, the oddity of the relationship between the French and Dean families was much more interesting then the story of the probate. 

Alice Dean
French (1826-1923), the administrator of the estate, was Abram’s second
wife.  Alice was twenty-three years his junior.  Her brother, Benjamin Dean (photograph), was a
member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.  In in odd
twist, Benjamin was married to Mary Anne French, the daughter of Abram’s
brother Josiah Bowers French, who was a
former Mayor of Lowell (click his name to read about his life).  So, if I
have this familial relationship right, Alice was both Mary’s aunt (by marriage)
and sister-in-law.  Alice also happened to be three years younger than her
niece, Mary.

In addition,
one of the appraisers, Amos Binney French, was Abram’s brother and to other was
James F. Puffer.  James and Amos were business partners.

In 1935, the Federal Writers’ Project was created as part of the United States Work Progress Administration (WPA) to provide employment.  One of these projects in Connecticut was the Architectural Survey, Census of Old Buildings. According to a description provided by the Connecticut State Library, nearly 5,000 buildings were documented and often illustrated with photographs.  Included in this collection is the home (built by/for) my 5th great-grandparents Samuel Eggleston (1747-1837) and Dorcas (Loomis) Eggleston (1752-1834). How cool is it to see the house, which still stands and to know that several generations of the Spencer and Eggleston families lived in the house!

According to a very well informed cousin, this 1886 map of Bloomfield, Connecticut (below) highlights how proximity can be the path to marriage. The Fowler family moved from Suffield, Connecticut to Bloomfield sometime after 1880. In 1889, Minnie M. Fowler married Samuel Spencer from across the road (they are my great-grandparents), and in 1890 George T. Fowler married Eugenia Thrall, from just up the road (my cousins great-grandparents)!

Architectural Survey Information

Title: Bloomfield historic building 023

Date [built](Source): 1780 (marker)

OriginalOwner: Samuel Eggleston

Present Owner[1935-37]: F. L. Putnam; Julia and Frank Spencer

Julia and Frank Spencer were the son and daughter of John W. and Anna Spencer (my 2 great grandparents), their other daughter, Alma Spencer, was married to Frank L. Putnam. (I wonder who is sitting in the shadows on the porch?)

Location:Faces south on Park Avenue, corner of School Street.

Description[Material]: Wood

Roof: Peak(rather flat)

Chimney Type/No.of: Brick / end / 3, 1 in ell

Height: Two stories and half (small)

Ell:  21/2 story rear ell with brick central chimney.

Fenestration:9 window front; paired; 6/1 sash.

Overhang:None

Foundation: Brick

Condition -Physical: Good

Authenticity:Remodeled

Exterior:Side porch. Rear additions. Clapboarded walls.

Interior: One fireplace. Original front stairs.

Comments and corrections appreciated. Copyright © 2022. All Rights Reserved by David R. French

In November 1621, thirty-five colonists on the ship Fortune arrived in Plymouth from England. According to their published accounts, “they found the (Plymouth) settlers in very low condition – many were ragged in apparel and some little better than half naked. The best dish they could offer their friends was a lobster or a piece of fish without bread or anything else but a cup of fair spring water” It is believed that the timely arrival of Fortune ensured the future of the first settlement at Plymouth.

On board the Fortune was my 10 great-grandfather, William Hilton. Below is a letter that William Hilton wrote to his cousin Anthony Hilton of South Shields, England after arriving in New England.

In 1623, two
more ships, the Anne and the Little James, arrived carrying some 90 new
settlers, including William’s his wife, son and daughter. In 1623/4, William
and his family (including his brother Edward) left Plymouth and relocated to
would later be known as  Dover, New Hampshire. They were the first
non-natives to settle in this region.  William and his brother are often
referred to as the founding fathers of New Hampshire. By 1648, he had moved
approximately 11 miles to Kittery, Maine where he is listed as a tavern keeper
and a ferry operator.  “Mr. William Hilton, being licensed for to
keep the ordinary (tavern) at the mouth of the river of Pascataquack and that
none other shall keep any private ordinary there, nor to sell wine, beer nor
liquor upon any pretense.”   A year later he was admonished for
not keeping “victual and drink at all times for strangers and
inhabitants.”  William died in in 1656 in York, Maine.

Side note:  On the return journey the Fortune was captured by French
pirates in the English Channel who pilfered the hold of all the goods. 
However, the pirates did not take or destroy the settlers letters.  One of
those letters contained the only account of the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving
dinner! (Letter from Edward Winslow 11 Dec 1621)

Part II of
this post will focus on the exploration of the Carolina’s by William’s son who
had a head for navigation.

Between 1803
and 1815, three sets of parents named three babies Abram French.  They
were born within 25 miles of each other in the Boston region of Massachusetts
and lived most of their lives in close proximity.  One became a crockery
merchant in Boston, another the owner of a leather making factory in Framingham
and the third was a clothing merchant in Lowell.  All were very successful
businessmen in the early-mid 1800’s.

While doing
genealogical research, a common name or geographic location can often create a
roadblock or confusion.  In this case, I have a clear genealogical record
of Abram French, my 3rd great-grand father.  However, I kept coming across
the other Abram’s and wondered if they might be related and/or did they know
each other?   It is also fun to imagine that they might have been in
the same place at the same time together.  Below is a brief snippet about
each Abram.

(My) Abram French – Born in 1803 in Billerica, Massachusetts the son of Luther French and Sarah Bowers.  Married Elizabeth Simonds.  He died at Lowell, Massachusetts in April 11, 1879.

I have written about Abram previously, you can read a post on his life and also a separate story about his brother Walter who died in a train crash in Connecticut.

Abram French – Born in
1815 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts to Ephraim French and Rebecca Abrams. 
Abram married Sophia Cobb and had 8 children. He died in May 1884 in Jamaica
Plain, Massachusetts.  Abram was a very successful crockery, glassware and
china dealer in Boston.  This Abram is related to my Abram through their
common 4th great grandfather William French (1603-1681)!

Boston and Bostonians – Abram French & Co. – “One of the finest and
undoubtedly one of the most extensive establishments in this line of trade on
the American continent is the old established.  Leading Manufactures and
Merchants of the City of Boston, 1885.”

Abram
Stickney French – Born in 1809 in Boston,
Massachusetts to Abram French and Elizabeth Kidder.    Abram
married Lois Page Richardson and had 4 children. He died in March 1896 in
Townsend, Massachusetts.

At this time,
I can find no genealogical connection between this Abram S. and my French
family line.  However, his wife was from Billerica where another Kidder, a
generation prior, had married someone in my family line.  For now, I will
leave Abram S. in the possible column!

Abram S. made one or two voyages to the West Indies as a cabin-boy, but not being pleased with a maritime life he was sent to New Ipswich Academy, where he acquired a good education. He preferred a business life rather than to pursue a course of studies with the view to enter upon one of the learned professions.

In 1833, he
built a morocco factory on the brook running northeasterly from Bayberry Hill
(Framingham), near its confluence with the river, and near where James Giles
built his sawmill. This establishment was in successful operation for twenty
years, employing constantly ten or twelve workmen; and considering the length
of time the business was prosecuted, it must have been a source of wealth to
the proprietor.

Morocco
leather is made from goatskin, it is tougher than sheep or cow skin, and its
denser texture makes it more suitable for being worked into a variety of
products. To produce the distinctive red Morocco color, the untanned but cured
leather is soaked in a dye made from dried insects.

In 1853, he
went to Lockport, NY. and stocked a tannery, where he carried on business
successfully with a partner, to whom he sold his interest in the business in
1858, and removed to Wellsville, N. Y., and built an extensive tannery, and
pursued that branch of industry for several years, doing a large and profitable
business. Partially losing his health, and seeing a good chance to sell out, he
disposed of this factory and its stock in trade and retired from business in
1864.

Mr. French
has always been fond of books, which, during the days of bad health, have been
a source of pleasure to him. He has a retentive memory is well posted on
historical matters and possesses a large amount of miscellaneous information.
He gives liberally to the poor, and enjoys life at his advanced age in a
remarkable manner. He is a member of the Republican Party, and in 1861-62 he
represented the Twenty-seventh District (Ashby and Townsend) in the General
Court.

Source: (Abram S. French) History of the Town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts: From the Grant of Hathorn’s Farm, 1676-187

While scant information is available, history shows us that Effie MacPherson MacLeod was certainly made of sterner stuff.  Effie is my paternal 4th Great Grandmother.

In 1803, six-year old Effie came from the Isle of Skye, Scotland to Prince Edward Island, Canada with her family.  Later, with her husband Robert MacLeod, she moved to Lake Ainslie and Pleasant Bay, Cape North and finally Victoria.  In 1828, she made the trip from Pleasant Bay to Cape North in an open boat.  During that perilous voyage, Effie gave birth in the boat to her son Angus MacLeod.  Effie was a midwife and was for a time the only doctor in the Cape North area.  According to a history of the region, Effie journeyed  on horseback and snowshoes to reach those in need of her services

Marie-Henriette LeJeune Ross 

In
researching Effie, I came across another pioneer midwife who lived in north
Cape Breton during the same period.  In Nova Scotia, the story of Granny
Ross is widely known and she is considered to be a “trail-blazer in the
world of women in science.”

During the
learning years of her adult life, Marie-Henriette became aware of her gifts as
a healer and midwife. The legend of Granny Ross began in Little Bras d’Or,
where she cared for and saved the lives of many settlers during a smallpox
epidemic. Since she had already contracted the disease, she was immune to its
effects.

Marie-Henriette
can be considered a pioneer. She did more than just birth children in her
neighborhood. Settlers called on her for miles around and she used her
knowledge of plant medicine in the service of her fellow citizens until she
reached an advanced age. (Library and Archives of Canada)


My paternal 5th Great-Grandfather, Samuel Eggleston, was born on December 9, 1747 in Windsor, Connecticut.  Samuel was the son on Nathaniel  Eggleston (1702-1792) and Abigail Goodwin (1708-1801) and the husband of Dorcas Loomis ( 1752-1834).

When Samuel was 88 years old, a pension was applied for on his behalf, as provided for by the Pension Benefit Act of 1832.  Truth be told, it alleges he did a bit of riding, saw no action and returned home.  The application claimed he was a soldier during the American Revolution. The petition states, that he entered the service of the United States as a private in a company of dragoons commanded by Captain Thomas Seymour, Lt. Reuben Ellsworth and Colonel Edward Griswold at Windsor in the County of Hartford in the State of Connecticut. He marched from Hartford, Connecticut to the Peekskill in State of New York and in a few days crossed the Hudson River and proceeded to Hackensack and afterward Newark, then to Elizabethtown, then to New Brunswick and eventually New York.  He went with the company many places that the names of which he has entirely forgotten, – and returned in a different route to the Hudson River above Peekskill where they crossed the river where deponent was discharged in a place near Peekskill in the State of New York by General Charles Lee and returned home sometime (he is pretty certain) the later part of December 1776.

After review, the petition was rejected stating that Samuel “failed to furnish satisfactory proof” of his service. There was no record that the decision was contested.

Click here to see Samuel’s complete transcribed pension petition

More about the 1832 Pension Act.

On June 7,
1832, Congress enacted pension legislation extending benefits more universally
than under any previous legislation. This act provided for full pay for life
for all officers and enlisted men who served at least 2 years in the
Continental Line, the state troops or militia, the navy or marines. Men who
served less than 2 years but at least 6 months were granted pensions of less
than full pay. Benefits were payable effective March 4, 1831, without regard to
financial need or disability and widows or children of were entitled to collect
any unpaid benefits due from the last payment to a veteran until his death.
Everyone who claimed benefits under this act were required to relinquish their
claims under any prior federal or state pension laws, but by amendment on
February 19,1833, invalid pensioners were exempted from the operation of this
release of their prior pension benefits. Source

The following is a brief glimpse into the life of my 2nd great-grandfather, John William Spencer (1834-1896) who was known to have resided in Hartford and Bloomfield, Connecticut.  John (or J.W.) was the son of a grocer and as a youth attended the Connecticut (Baptist) Literary Institution in Suffield, Connecticut.  The Institute was a private, non-denominational school for young men founded in 1833 and within ten years opened its doors to young ladies. The Institute further showed its progressive nature  when, by the late 1800’s, African-American boys and girls were admitted.  Renamed the Suffield School, it served as a high school for local students from 1897 until 1939, and again altered it name and to this day is known as the  Suffield Academy.

Side notes:

Rev. Gustavus
Davis, the founding member of the Institute, presided over the marriage of
John’s parents, Abiram Spencer and Emily Ann Waters on December 8, 1833. 

1840 Letter referencing the
Institute’s Reading Room being provided with anti-slavery newspapers from the Boston Female Anti Slavery Society. (Source: Mr. Sullivan’s Digital Classroom)

Who would of thought the inventor of basketball, James Naismith, also invented the football helmet after an incident at the Institute in 1891!

Description of Images

Students at
the Connecticut Literary Institution in Suffield pose in front of the CLI’s
“Old South” building, in the late 1800’s. (Source: Kent Memorial Library – Suffield)

 Price of Tuition – Triennial Baptist Register 1836 (Source: InternetArchive)

According to public records, John briefly was a food buyer for fruit boats sailing from New York City to the West Indies. This job might have been associated with his father’s business, Spencer and Gridley Grocers, located in Hartford.  According to the 1860 census, at the time he was twenty-six, a farmer, and married to seventeen year-old Anna Eggleston and living with her family in Bloomfield, CT.  Records indicate that he studied law and later became a judge.  John was noted to be a fine horseman and a member of the Governor’s Horse Guard, the link below provides a bit of history regarding this ceremonial unit.

Connecticut Governor’s  Horse Guards

The outbreak
of the Civil War naturally turned the eyes of the people to more serious
military duties than those exemplified by the Governor’s Guards. The Horse
Guard did not vote to offer its services for active duty but several members
joined the volunteer companies which were being formed over night. Some served
for the first short three months period only, others stayed in service through
to 1865.

With peace
came a renewal of interest in the more ostentatious forms of military display.
The Hartford Times of May 2, 1867, records the inaugural parade with the
comments: “Major James Waters is one of the best cavalry commanders we have ever
seen in our streets and the condition of his company shows that it is well
commanded.”

During the
next twenty years, aside from the inaugural parades, the Horse Guards formed a
part of the escort for President Johnson in June, 1867; for General Sheridan in
October of the same year; and in August, 1874, for ex-Governor Marshall Jewell
on the occasion of his return from a diplomatic mission in Russia. Major
Boardman had just secured new uniforms: bear-skin cap ornamented with a rosette
and gilt eagle, dark blue single breasted coat with brass buttons, and trousers
of sky blue doeskin with straps under the instep; all trimmed with orange
colored piping. The officers substituted the more comfortable chapeaux for
the ‘bear skins, and buff colored doeskin breeches “worn inside of top
boots,” for the less elegant trousers. The members liked the new get-up
and paraded eighty strong.

Among the
enlisted personnel at that time (1874) were:  J. W. Spencer

Question: Was Major James Waters a relative of John’s mother, Emily Ann Waters?

Oldest Cavalry Unit – Who Knew? (ConnecticutHistory.org)

Source: 
The origin and fortunes of Troop B: 1788, Governor’s independent
volunteer troop of horse guards; 1911, Troop B cavalry, Connecticut national
guard, 1917 (Page 57)

On the afternoon of November 15, 1924, my grandparents, Gladys May Spencer (1898-1984) and George Bradley French (1898- 1983) were married at the Blue Hills Baptist Church in Hartford, Connecticut. Recently, I obtained their marriage certificate and a wedding program containing signatures of those on attendance. Those signing the guest book included my great grandmothers Minnie Fowler Spencer and Mary McEachern French! In addition, there was also a small 1923 calendar, where Gladys noted, item-by-item, the costs of her wedding dress, her bridesmaids dresses and other wedding expenses.

Gladys and Walter were divorced prior to 1940. They had one son together, John Spencer French, born 1931.

Snippet from the 1923 Calendar

White Dress – Materials $15.80/Shoes $7.75/Garters $1.25

Velvet Dress (dressmaker) – $29.77/Shoes $5.90

Brides Maid Dress – Materials $15.94/ Thread .24c/ Ribbon $2.34

Wedding Expenses – Wedding invitations & announcement $16.00/Postage $3.00/Engraving ring $1.50

$1 in 1924 would calculate to approximately $16.30 in 2022 dollars, for example, her velvet dress would cost $485.38 today!

Comments, corrections and suggestions appreciated.

Copyright © 2021. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

(A full and unabashed disclosure upfront, any connection that I have to Abolitionist John Brown and U.S. Presidents U.S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes are distant. For example, John Brown is a 3rd cousin/5 times removed. Third cousins share a second great-grandparent as their most recent common ancestor. “Removed” is used when two persons share a set of ancestors but are not the same number of generations (in my case 5 generations “removed”) in descent from those ancestors.

On March 20, 1630, a ship called the “Mary and John” sailed from Plymouth, England, carrying 140 persons bound for New England in the American colonies. On May 30, 1630 they landed at Nantasket, Massachusetts. Among these passengers were Matthew Grant, Michael Humphrey and Bygod Eggleston. (Bygod is my 9th great paternal grandfather) The Grant, Humphrey and Eggleston families briefly lived in Dorchester, Massachusetts and in 1635 relocated to establish Connecticut’s first English settlement, the town of Windsor. Michael Humphrey was a pitch-and-tar manufacturer who received land title in 1647, the same year he married Matthew Grant’s daughter Priscilla.  Matthew Grant was the land surveyor for Windsor and served as the towns second Town Clerk. (Matthew Grant Diary)

President Ulysses S. Grant was the 4th great-grandson of Matthew Grant (1601-1681) and Priscilla Grey (1601-1644). Grant was a U.S. military leader and the eighteenth President of the United States. He was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. In 1839, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. The congressman who appointed Grant submitted his name as Ulysses Simpson Grant rather than Hiram Ulysses Grant. It was because of this mistake that Grant changed his name.

In the years before the Civil War, Grant lived much of the time in St. Louis, Missouri, working as a real estate agent and as a farmer. He failed in both of these businesses. After the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Grant volunteered for military duty. He first served as colonel of the Twenty-First Illinois Infantry but soon was promoted to the rank of brigadier general due to his previous military experience. In February 1862, Grant led a Union force that captured Forts Henry and Donelson. He earned the nickname “Unconditional Surrender Grant” for demanding the unconditional surrender of the Confederate soldiers inside of these fortifications. In March 1864, President Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and named him supreme commander of all Union forces. Grant focused his attention on General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. By early June 1864, Grant had surrounded Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, Virginia, and a ten month siege ensued. The Northerners finally drove the Confederates from Petersburg in early April 1865, and The Army of Northern Virginia surrendered on April 9, 1865.

Grant served as President of the United States from 1869 to 1877. Grant worked to advance the South’s Reconstruction and supported the enactment of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which stipulates that “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged . . . on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Source for Grant Material (edited): Ohio History Central

Hiram Ulysses GRANT is my 5th cousin -1 time removed of wife of 3rd great-grandfather.  Our common ancestors are Matthew GRANT and Priscilla GREY.

President
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio on October 4, 1822.   Hayes was educated at Kenyon College and
Harvard Law School. After five years of law practice in Lower Sandusky, he
moved to Cincinnati, where he flourished as a young Whig lawyer.

He fought in the Civil War, rose to the rank of brevet major general, had four horses were shot from under him, and he was wounded five times.  In 1864, Hayes was elected to Congress, from the Second Ohio District.  He was not present during the campaign, and after his election had to resign his commission in the army.   In 1867, Gen. Hayes was elected Governor of Ohio.  He was elected Governor for the third term in 1875 Beneficiary of the most fiercely disputed election in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Presidency dignity, honesty, and moderate reform.  He was elected in 1876 and inaugurated on Monday, March 5, 1877. To the delight of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Lucy Webb Hayes carried out her husband’s orders to banish wines and liquors from the White House. Hayes had announced in advance that he would serve only one term, and retired to Spiegel Grove, his home in Fremont, Ohio, in 1881. He died in 1893.

Rutherford B. HAYES is my 3rd cousin 1 time removed.  Our common ancestors are George HAYES and Abigail DIBBLE.

“The crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but, with blood.”  John Brown, 2 December 1859

John Brown, son of Owen Brown was born in West Torrington, Litchfield County, Connecticut on May 9, 1800 and died December 2, 1859 in Charles Town, Virginia (West Virginia).  On August 30, 1856 he led his men to battle slaveholders in Osawatomie, Kansas. On October 16, 1859 with his sons and other men he seized the U. S. Armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. He was hanged on December 2, 1859 in Charleston, Virginia, the only man ever executed for treason against an American state. This famous abolitionist is celebrated in the song, “John Brown’s body lies a-molderin’ in the grave, but his truth goes marching on.” Three years after John Brown’s martyrdom, Abraham Lincoln emancipated America’s slaves.

John BROWN is my 3rd cousin – 5 times removed.  Our common ancestors are Jonathan HUMPHREY and Mercy RUGGLES.