Nauvoo connection

We recently visited Nauvoo, IL, on a business trip, but had a chance to look around some at the Mormon history in town. Debra's g-g-g-grandmother on her father's maternal side (Mary "Polly" Bell Bennett) made the epic trek with the Mormons out to Salt Lake City, UT. She and her first husband, Richard Bennett, moved from Tennessee to Ash Grove, IL, in the central part of the state. Life being hard, he died in the fall of 1835 at age 50. Mary, along with three daughters and a son, converted to the Mormon faith when they came through Shelby County, IL, and moved with them to Nauvoo in early 1841. Both daughters died on the migration from Nauvoo, through Iowa and the Winter Campgrounds in Nebraska. Mary and her son made it to Cedar Fort, UT, just outside Salt Lake City. Her son, Eli, one of the first residents of Cedar Fort, became a Bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon).

While in Nauvoo, we walked through the burial grounds of those Mormons who resided there in the 1840s. We found reference to several deceased people with the surname of Bennett, Bell (Mary's maiden name), and Weeks (her and her daughter's husband). We are anxious to go back and do more research in the Mormon research center just north of the Temple on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Hindsboro, Douglas Co., IL

This is a very good history of Hindsboro Community High School created by David Kent Coy. In it I found my grandmother Schouten's relatives. Her maiden name was Shields, and two of her nieces graduated from this high school, one going on to become a teacher there.

Brick walls

Many times when we research genealogy, we hit proverbial "brick walls," or ancestors that we cannot verify. Two such ancestors include Enoch Canada Morris (b. 15 May 1830 probably in Montgomery Co., IN; d. 11 Oct 1920 in Windsor, Shelby Co., IL). I have yet to establish his parents' names or any other relevant information. The others are the parents of Thomas Swiney (b. 24 Mar 1787 probably in KY; d. 10 Jan 1869 in White River Twp., Johnson Co., IN). His parents' names were John Swiney and Jennet. We found the will of a Jennet Swiney, who died in Bath Co., KY, in 1838, and that is in the close vacinity of Thomas' wife's (Elizabeth Wishard--b. 26 Sep 1783 in Fayette Co., PA; d. 31 Aug 1844 in Johnson Co., IN) parents' graves. Her parents were William Henry Wishart/Wishard (b. 17 Sep 1729 in St. Andrews, Thornhill Parish, Perthshire, Scotland; d. 31 May 1814 in Carlisle, Nicholas Co., KY; buried in Parks Graveyard, Pleasant Valley, Nicholas Co., KY) and Susannah (Susan) Elizabeth Lytle (b. 28 Mar 1753 in County Tyrone, Ireland; d. 16 Jan 1795 in Fleming, KY; buried in Parks Graveyard, Pleasant Valley, Nicholas Co., KY).