Evermore Genealogy

About / Contact

CONTACT

Contact me at evermore.contact @gmail.com

ABOUT

This blog serves several interests: the 19th century Alphadelphia Association, a socialist community in Michigan; the town of Liberal, Missouri as it was established in 1880 as community for freethinkers; the family lines given below.

I’m looking for stories and photos from individuals whose families were members of the Alphadelphia Association, as well as those were among the freethought settlers of Liberal, Missouri. It’s my assumption that these Fourier and Freethought individuals may have had ties with multiple utopian communities and I’d love to learn the histories of others, how their families got to Liberal or Alphadelphia.

Also, stories and photos are welcome from any of the family lines given further down. Some incredible materials have been sent to me over the years–photos, letters, histories, poetry, and even an unpublished 19th century freethought novella written by an extended relation. What can seem like a minor story or trivial data may be precious information for another.

I’m especially eager to hear from individuals studying the McKenneys who originated out of the Belmont/Guernsey/Harrison/Monroe Counties of Ohio. Very few people seem to be doing research on these McKenney families and they had multiple, as yet unidentified (as far as I can find) siblings listed in the 1830 and 1840 censuses, yet by the 1850s it appears the McKenney/McKinney name was already well on its way out of the area. Who were these individuals? I’ve thus far been able to identify only a few and haven’t yet been able to make parental connections. Please contact me if you are a descendant or have information.

Other areas of interest are Van Buren County, Iowa and Chautauqua County, Kansas, as multiple families in the McKenney/accessory lines settled in these places early on and remained for an extended period of time. The same with Boone County, Missouri for the Crockett family and associated lines.

This website hosts family trees in which primary lines are McKenney, Sparks, Crockett, and Hackney families, the Noyes and Brewer families, the McClure, Warren, Mitchell and Craig families, the Kearns, Crabtree, Hennesy, and Simmons families.

The Kearns, Crabtree, Hennesy, and Simmons lines are those of my husband and are all southern. My lines, predating the Civil War, are mostly northern with a few in Missouri. My work has principally been on families after immigration to the U.S. Many lines are taken to the point where ancestors who immigrated may be found online elsewhere or at Rootsweb.

Comments

49 responses to “About / Contact”

  1. Leslie Brewer Avatar
    Leslie Brewer

    don’t have a comment but would love to be able to contact nancy benton about the brewers on the web site. my husband is a direct decendent. would love to know if there are more pictures of the brewers and noyes.

    1. Bethany Wickham Avatar
      Bethany Wickham

      I have tons of stuff from my grandma! She was Ilene Brewer! Feel free to email me at bethanyruiz@yahoo.com

  2. John Ival Blair Avatar
    John Ival Blair

    What a fascinating site! I was working on a short article today about the history of Liberal, Missouri, for an e-zine in which I have a column. Came across your site and thought my little effort quite inadequate (although I’ll still complete it).
    My mother’s family has lived in Barton County since the 1890s and in Missouri since the 1790s. In the Liberal area, my grandfather Earnest John Percy raised his family, first at Iantha, later at Liberal where I many times went as a child to visit him. Never heard a whisper about Liberal’s history as a radical social experiment. The Percy’s are not intellectuals. However, that being said, I personally am a humanist Unitarian Universalist and thoroughly delighted to learn why Liberal has streets named for Charles Darwin (a Unitarian) and Robert Ingersoll (a Humanist).
    None of my various family lines coincides with any of yours, but we share Missouri roots and (evidently) an interest in the history of Freethought in America.

  3. John Ival Blair Avatar
    John Ival Blair

    A question – can you tell me who Payne Street in Liberal was named for? I have supposed it was Peter Payne, the 15th-century Lollard and Taborite; but it could just as easily (and more likely) be a misspelling of Thomas Paine’s name. I doubt Walser would have ever heard of Peter Payne, but he would have grown up reading Thomas Paine’s writings.

  4. admin Avatar
    admin

    You’re perhaps right, that Payne is a misspelling of Thomas Paine. I seem to have misplaced again my “Strange Town of Liberal” book or else I’d try looking it up in there (though there’s no index), and O. E. Harmon’s book doesn’t give a clue.

  5. admin Avatar
    admin

    Glad you enjoyed the site. My Noyes family didn’t arrive in Missouri until the 1880s, and the Brewers came in not much earlier, but on my father’s side the Crocketts were in Boone County by the 1820s. None as early as yours which I’ve always kind of regretted as that period of time is fascinating.

    Yes, am interested in the history of Freethought in America. It was quite a wonderful surprise when a distant relation sent me an unpublished freethought manuscript from the 1870s that was written by a cousin of one of my ancestors on my McKenney side of the family. Have that up on the website as well. By Samuel Bartow McKenney.

    Met my husband in the UU’s LRY back in the 70s. 🙂

    1. Roderick Bradford Avatar

      If you’re interested in the history of Freethought in America, here’s the website for our American Freethought film series:

      http://www.americanfreethought.tv/

  6. Barbara Krogh Avatar
    Barbara Krogh

    This is lovely! It’s nice to have a story to tell. I am also doing my Brower/Brewer roots and do have some additional info for Mary Catherine Brewer Spurling Roades Trent. She was b. Jan 10, 1872 in St. Paul, KS and died Dec 12, 1957 in Liberal, MO. Buried in Englevale Cemetery in Englevale, KS
    Robert Lincoln Trent was b. Apr 5, 1878 in Galesburg, KS and died Feb 10, 1958 in Liberal, MO. Buried in Forest Chapel Cemetery in Greenfield, MO.
    The info is from their death certificates.

  7. admin Avatar
    admin

    Thank you, Barbara. Glad you found the website and commented with your information. I appreciate it and am updating.

  8. Linda Morrow Avatar
    Linda Morrow

    I am so glad that I stumbled onto this site. I am researching my husbands family. His grandfather was Floyd E McMahon and is wife was Syble C Rumery. Floyd’s father was Edward H McMahon and his mother was Katherine Ann McCormick. Katherine was married several times. The last time to a man by the last name of Walker. Do you have any information on this?
    Thank you for your time and effort,
    Linda

    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Linda, all the info I have on Katherine, most of which I put together through census research, is on the site, sorry. I wasn’t even aware she was married several times. Would you mind passing along the names of the other individuals to whom she was married? I was unable to find Katherine on the 1920 and 1930 censuses and if I knew these names I’d likely be able to fill out this information.

  9. Bob Glaser Avatar
    Bob Glaser

    I am a retired teacher in Walnut, IL. I am researching some elements of the history of Bureau County, IL. Of special interest is any information relating to the Lamoille Agricultural and Mechanical Association (possibly AKA as: the Bureau County Phalanx). Any information would be greatly appreciated.
    212 E. Walnut St. 815-379-2279
    Walnut, IL. 61376

  10. admin Avatar
    admin

    Sorry, Bob, to my knowledge I’ve nothing on that.

  11. pat mckenney Avatar
    pat mckenney

    This is a very good website of information, would like to learn more on family history. I also have alot of information on the mckenney side.

    1. admin Avatar
      admin

      Pat, it’s your cousin, Juli. Would love to share information with you. Let me know what you’re looking to find and I can direct you to it here. And I’ve got more besides that I’ve not put up yet. And would love to hear what information you have that I might not. I know your family has some old photos that I don’t have. Did you see the ones of Eli McKenney that I have up? I have two. Step brother of our G. W. Jr. Even have one of Eli, Addie and G. W. Jr. that someone sent me. That was a nice surprise!

  12. pat mckenney Avatar
    pat mckenney

    Hi Juli,I work out of town alot, sorry not to get back sooner i will get the pitcures we have and see if you can us them.

  13. carol zick Avatar
    carol zick

    I wasn’t sure if you still link to the http://www.ohiodiary1872.com Web (Diary of Thomas Smith – Harrison County, Ohio) site but, if so, wanted to let you know the URL has changed to http://ohiodiary1872.weebly.com/index.html
    Wishing you a Happy and Blessed 2012!
    Carol

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      Carol, thanks. My sidebar links were all lost during a recent major blog change in the summer. I’ve put in your link. Thanks for sending the change!

  14. Kelly Reynolds foster Avatar
    Kelly Reynolds foster

    I am just beginning my research and am so excited to have found your website. I am the daughter of John Terrance Reynolds JR decedent of John Peter Reynolds and Catherine Ann Kearns from Roscommon. I have a death date for Mary Phoebe Reynolds, my paternal grandmother: dec 9, 1972. I was 10 Yeats old when she died.

    I would love to learn more about John Peter Reynolds and Elizabeth Ann Kearns and their parents if anyone has done this research.

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      Kelly, good to hear from you!

      I have John Terrance Reynolds parents as (John) Peter Reynolds and Elizabeth Ann Kearns, and this is seen in the census.
      https://evermore.imagedjinn.com/blg/3283/peter-reynolds-and-elizabeth-eliza-ann-kearns/

      Now, Elizabeth’s parents were John Kearns and Catherine McNulty.
      https://evermore.imagedjinn.com/blg/1668/john-kearns-and-catherine-mcnulty/

      I’ve been told that Patrick McNulty was a cousin or uncle to Catherine McNulty. No one knew which at the time and I’ve been unable to find any more information on them back in Ireland. So what you see on this website for the Kearns, up to when they came from Ireland, is all I’ve got. If you find anyone else who has done research that takes them back further I would love to know about it as well.

      Might you have happened to have any pictures of the Kearns passed down through your family? We have zero. Not a one.

  15. Robert Mitchell Avatar
    Robert Mitchell

    The image of Robert Carhart Mitchell made me melt. He is my grandfather. He died 2 years before my birth.
    I have little or no info about him. My dad was adopted by RCM and his wife Katherine in 1944. therefore there is no blood relation. I would love to communicate with you on this .

    thanks, Rob Mitchell

    1. James Mitchell Avatar
      James Mitchell

      Dear Rob Mitchell: Hope you see this. We are cousins. James Bourne Mitchell was my great great grandfather. I can’t remember whose kid RCM was , but Orlando Mitchell, who you can see in some of the research here was my great grandfather. I think I have at least a little information about your family and maybe some pictures, but not sure. Please contact me if you are interested. mitchbeatohio@gmail.com. Jim Mitchell

  16. jmk Avatar
    jmk

    Hi, Rob, thanks for writing. I’ll get back to you offline. Am talking to my mom now for any info on Bob.

  17. Erin McGovney Avatar
    Erin McGovney

    My husbands grandfather is a Robert(Bob) Walter Spurling. Bob’s grandmother was Mary Catherine Brewer who married George Albert Spurling. George died when bob’s father, George Clifford Spurling was 4(?). And there are no photos of George Albert Spurling that we can find and Bob has never seen what George looked liked. I see a photo at a Spurling/Brewer reunion(?) so I am wondering if he might be in there.
    3 things:
    1. Is George Albert Spurling in that photo somewhere?
    2. Do you have any photos with George in them with Mary Catherine Brewer Spurling?
    3. Would it be possible to get copies of the photos as a higher resolution so I can print them out for Bob?

    It would mean a lot.
    Thanks for your time
    Erin

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      Erin,

      George Albert Spurling wouldn’t be in the Spurling-Brewer reunion photo as it was taken some time in the late 1930s and he had died in 1919.

      I don’t have any other photos of the Spurlings.

      This is the largest version I have of the photo. I don’t have recourse to the original photo, I’m afraid. I have only a scan that I was given of it.
      https://evermore.imagedjinn.com/blg/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/brewer_spurling_jones_gathering_72.jpg

      Sorry, I can’t be of help.

      Juli

      1. erin mcgovney Avatar
        erin mcgovney

        thank you anyway. we had fun looking at what you do have. how wonderful you can share this.
        erin

    2. Cora Spurling Ganger Avatar

      Will have to do some searching, I may have pictures of George Albert Spurling

  18. Vicky Masterson Avatar
    Vicky Masterson

    I teach in Liberal and have read the “Strange little town of Liberal” and just happened on your site. There are still many Noyes families in the area.

  19. Cora Spurling Ganger Avatar

    I am looking for any info on Estella Robins Born 1857 Died 1933. She has a head stone at the old Catalpa Park in Liberal Mo.

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      I don’t have anything on Estella. She’s not mentioned in the books I have.

      1. Cora Spurling Ganger Avatar

        Story go’s she drowned in the Catalpa Park Creek. Stone could be a memorial.

  20. Susan Wilson Denham Avatar
    Susan Wilson Denham

    I am related to John Franklin Curl, to J. M. Wilson and E. A. Wilson, all of Liberal. I would love to correspond with someone who knows of these folks! Thanks!!

  21. Sue Noyes Martin Avatar
    Sue Noyes Martin

    Julie—would love to know your link to the Noyes’ family. I have fond memories of visiting Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Lloyd when they owned the radio station in Carthage. I even considered living with them after they built their new home and moved out of the station (assuming they would have let me!). Over the years, my niece and I have talked about doing some kind of Noyes reunion in Liberal but it seems such an undertaking when one no longer lives there and everyone is scattered to the winds. BTW—it’s difficult to tell because of the blurriness of the photo (the one of my grandmother Betty and Aunt Pansy that I commented on before), but the child in the background may very well be me. I revisited the picture today and I think there are childhood photos where I wore my hair that way….Best regards!

  22. Patricia M. Navarro Avatar
    Patricia M. Navarro

    Hello from the Philippines,

    My name is Patricia McKenney Navarro, and I am a granddaughter of William Meno McKenney. My grandfather was one of the children Eli W. Mckenney and Maximina Meno. He was born November 10, 1910, and passed away September 28, 1981 at the age of 70.

    I would like to thank you for this blog. Your hard work and diligence enabled me to find out about our roots and possible connections. Eli and my grandfather had similar features which i found uncanny. I would post a picture soon, and if you would like more information just kindly let me know.

    Trixie

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      Trixie, thanks for your comment. It’s a number of years ago now that I first learned about your family line looking for their Eli and realized that he was likely a relation of mine. At that time I had very little information and I set out to learn what I could.

      Any information you would like to share, I’d love to hear about. And would certainly like to see the photo of your grandfather.

      Juli

      1. Patricia M. Navarro Avatar
        Patricia M. Navarro

        Hi Juli,

        This is what I have pieced together based on what some relatives remember:

        1) He was born in Manila 10 November 1910 , his mother Maximina Meno was from Pontevedra, Negros Occidental. The spelling of her first name varies from Maximiana/Maximena/Maximina.
        2) Eli left Maximina and their 3 kids and went back to the U.S. between 1912-1913.
        3) My grandfather enlisted in the U.S Navy when he was 16 or 17.
        4) He married my grandmother, Canuta Delgado Gestano on May 6, 1939 in Valladolid, Negros Occidental. They had 4 children – Lucy Josephine (my mom)b. 1940, Lucille b. 1942. Paul William b.1945, and Elias b. 1947 d. 1992.
        5) They hid in the province of Batangas during the Japanese occupation/World War II. The family returned to Manila in 1945 and worked as a cook in American barracks in Cubao, Quezon City.
        6) He worked as a mechanic at Macondray & Co., Inc. starting 1948 and retired at 1970.
        7) He passed away 28 September 1980 due to emphysema.

        I personally remember my grandfather as a kind, gentle man. He loved to smoke his pipe, and listen to the radio. He would also try to make me laugh, and he would take me for strolls and trips. I now regret that i did not spend more time with him and get to know him more.

        Juli, is it possible to find out more about his Navy career? He supposedly enlisted between 1926-1927. There are pictures of him in the U.S.mainland, and in Cuba. We are in the dark about details, and how and when it ended eludes us. There was also a picture with the name Richard and Lucy McKenney taken in New York at about 1934. My mom thinks they may be related, and might even be her siblings. Any information you could kindly find and share about these things would be highly appreciated.

        Thank you and best regard,
        Trixie

        p.s. I couldn’t upload the pictures here, is there an email add I can use?

  23. Loretta Line Avatar
    Loretta Line

    Greetings,

    I stumbled upon your site while trying to piece together information on my great-great grandfather, Reverend Clark Braden. Evidently he was pretty fierce! My mother was a Braden. Thank you for posting some of the more interesting pieces I have found about him. I have a photo of him in his young adult years. Glad to send it along if you are interested.

    If you have more resources concerning him, I would be very grateful if you could send it along!

    peace
    loretta

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      Loretta, what I have up is all that I’ve collected on Clark Braden. Glad if any of it has been useful to you.

  24. cam knight Avatar
    cam knight

    My Great Great Great Grandfather John Wesley Youmans taught at the school in Liberal sometime prior to June of 1885 when he was murdered in Paris Texas. he was born in Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada in 1820. The only reason I know of his affiliation with Liberal is because of an article in the newspaper describing the circumstances of his murder. The article said he had recently come from Liberal and also that he owned land in the community.

    if any have any information on his time in Liberal, I would be appreciative.

    here’s a link: http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/I-10692.1?Lang=1&accessnumber=I-10692.1

  25. Danny Avatar
    Danny

    What an exciting website! I’ve been on it for hours and keep learning significant data pertaining to my own family history pursuits. Thank you so much for displaying the content you provide. One letter you posted has possibly connected me to my next generation back in time.
    Keep up the great work you do and know it is greatly appreciated.

  26. Maureen Thalmann Avatar
    Maureen Thalmann

    Hello! Is there any chance you might have records of visitors to Alphadelphia during its brief life? I am researching the Rev Edward Mott Wooley’s time in MI. He traveled in the MI and IL in the summer of 1843 and moved his family to Pontiac after 1847.
    His daughter became an early female Universalist minister, the author Fidelia Wooley Gillette.
    Thanks in advance,
    Maureen Thalmann 3240 Lake George Road
    Oakland MI 48363
    248-884-3840

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      No, I’m sorry, I don’t have any information on visitors.

  27. Michael Dwyer Avatar
    Michael Dwyer

    I am trying to reach “JMK” in regard to Hannah Russell who married James Noyes Sr. in Winchendon, MA>

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      You mean Rebecca Russell? Rebecca had a sister named Hannah.

  28. Emily D. Avatar
    Emily D.

    Hi! I’m currently doing research on Liberal, Missouri and have been trying to find some copies of “The Liberal” newspaper. Where were you were able to access the paper?

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      No, Emily. I remember coming across a brief academic conversation several years ago of a couple individuals who were looking for issues that might have been archived somewhere.

      I see the Yale library has : v.6:no.16(1886:June 3)
      The Library of Congress has: Vol. 1, no. 43 (June 6, 1883) 4th ser.

      Juli

  29. Sue Noyes Martin Avatar
    Sue Noyes Martin

    Julie: I continue to work on qualifying for the DAR and perhaps you can help. Do you have anything in your files that supports Caroline Atwell Noyes as a descendant of HIram Atwell? Her birth record? Or a copy of her obituary that details her parents?

    Thanks! Hope all goes well with you….

  30. Michele Childers Skrmetta Avatar
    Michele Childers Skrmetta

    My grandmother Rafael Montez Hampton Married Jess McKinney Hampton. They had my mother Helen Rae Hampton Spray (Jack son of Loren- son of Fred and Claudia) and Bob Hampton.

    Helen and Jack had myself Michele Spray Childers Skrmetta and Daniel Spray.
    Bob had Stephanie Hampton Kunst and Robb Hampton

    1. jmk Avatar
      jmk

      Hi! I didn’t know the Hamptons had twice married into the Sprays. Jesse’s sister Marie Maxine Hampton married Ralph Harland Spray, sibling of Loren Spray.

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