The Ancestry of Erma Jean Newhouse wife of Kenneth Delbert Jones

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The NEWHOUSE FAMILY

Kenneth Thomas Paine Jones’ grandmother Erma Jean Newhouse descended from Johannes Anton Neuhaus a German Emigrant to Philadelphia in the mid 18th Century. His progeny followed the route of the Bauman- Bowmans by anglicizing their name to Newhouse exited Pennsylvania down the Great Wagon Road to Washington County on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountain. In the 19th Century the Newman’s left Washington County, Virginia and made their way across the Ohio River to pioneer Fayette County, Indiana and eventually in the late 19th Century to Butler County, Kansas. Louis Oak Newhouse. Erma Jean Newhouse Jones father was born in Butler County in 1890.

JOHANNES ANTON NEUHAUS

Johannes Neuhaus ("Newhouse" later became the "Americanized" surname) was born in Germany, thought to be the son of Michael Neuhaus and Christiana Teichmann from Auerswalde, Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany.

On 15 Sept 1748, a Johannes Neuhaus arrived into the port of Philadephia aboard the ship "Two Brothers", which could have been Johannes Sr and/or his son Johannes Jr. Only a few days later, on 26 Sept 1748, a naturalization record of Anthony Newhouse was recorded in Philadelphia, which indicated Anthony lived in Philadelphia County on 18 Sept 1748, and could have been Johannes "Anton" Neuhaus or his son Anthony. Given the timing of the ship arrival, seems more likely to correspond to Johannes Anton Neuhaus, who had just arrived and gave oath of allegiance upon arrival.

The Last Will & Testament of "John Newhouse" from Providence Township, [now in Montgomery County, dated 15 April 1754, was proved in Philadelphia County court on 31 August 1756. The Will recorded that John had three wives, and listed his son Antony (Anthony) by his first wife Agnes, son John [Michael] and daughter Magdalene by his second wife Magdalen, and daughters Euphronica and Eva and stepson Vallentine (Wangert) by his third wife Anna Mary, the executrix of John's Will.

A "Michael Newhouse" lived in Chestnut Ward of Philadelphia in 1754, the same year that Johannes wrote his will, and possibly was the same "John" or Johannes [Michael] Jr named in the Will.

The week before John's Will was proved, a burial record of "Anthon Neuhaus", age 96 (born c1660), was recorded at the Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church in Trappe on 24 Aug 1756. This would indicate that he was born in 1660. Family history suggests that Johannes was born on 26 Apr 1684 so this man may have been his father

In June 1760, stepson Valentine Wangert was confirmed at a church in New Providence, Pennsylvania , recorded as son of “late Herman and widow Neuhaus, age 21 years".

ANTHONY NEWHOUSE

Johannes' son Anthony Newhouse was born circa 1710 in Germany and arrived by 1737 and settled in Philadelphia County. Anthony Newhouse was listed as the eldest son in his father's Will written in Providence Twp of Philadelphia County (now Montgomery Co) on 15 Apr 1754.

Anthony was recorded in the business ledgers of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia from 1737 - 1747, as that he had built a Paper Mill at Trout Run Creek near Whitemarsh in 1746, which he sold to Jacob Hagie in 1752. The mill generated paper sold to Benjamin Franklin to make colonial pounds currency, from which they both made a handsome fortune.

Anthony married Mary whose maiden name is unknown near Philadelphia by 1743, when their eldest son Jacob was baptized at the Abington Presbyterian Church in June 1744.

Mary Newhouse died in 1763 and left a Will in Plymouth, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Her will listed daughters Susannah wife of Adam Walker and Sarah Newhouse. The sons were Jacob, David, Jonathan and Isaac Newhouse.

There are several listings in the Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia) from 1749 - 1754, including the sale of properties in Germantown and Whitemarsh, including references that he did not want to pay his wife's debts. The last reported property transaction for Anthony was in August 1762, and died before November 1763 when his wife Mary wrote her Will, listed as widowed.

I Mary Newhouse of Plymouth in the County of Philadelphia Widow being weak in body but of sound memory and understanding do this fifth of November One Thousand Seven Hundred & Sixty Three make and Ordain this my Last Will and Testament in manner following that is to say

• First it is my will that all my just debts and funeral expenses be fully paid.

• Item, I give to my daughters Susannah and Sarah one English Shilling a piece

• Item, I give unto my son Jacob my large Bible

• Item, all the rest of me effects, goods, and chattels whatsoever I give and bequeath unto my four sons namely Jacob, David, Jonathan, and Isaac to be divided equally among them share and share alike which is be paid until each of them as they shall severally arrive to the age of twenty-one years And if any of them should die before they attain to the same age that then their share or shares is to be equally divided among my sons that survives.

• Lastly I nominate and appoint Edward Ambler of Montgomery Township and County aforesaid to be the executor of this my Last Will in trust to perform the same and to manage my said effects to the best advantage of my children. Signed sealed and delivered by the said Mary Newhouse as and for her last will and Testament in the presence of us John Wolf John Anson.

There is no burial record for Anthony, and could be buried Abington Presbyterian Church where his eldest son was baptized.

Anthony and Mary's children:

1. Jacob 1744-bef 1820, m. Margaret unknown

2. David (Anthony?) c1745-c1780, m. unknown

3. Susannah c1746-, m. Adam Walker

4. Jonathan c1747-c1799, m. Ann Simon

5. Sarah c1748

6. Isaac c1749-bef 1830, m. Catherine Van Pelt

Kenneth Delbert Jones and Erma Jean Newhouse

PART NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

KENNETH DELBERT JONES AND ERMA JEAN NEWHOUSE

Kenneth Delbert Jones was born on 17 May 1924, in Sioux City Woodbury, Iowa, the child of Donald Augustus Jones and Daisy Mae Bishop. He was born about two weeks before his parents married in Elk Point, Union South Dakota. His father was a young man of 20 and his mother who was 19 years was estranged from her first husband Cleo Phelps whom she divorced 7 March 1924 a few months before Kenneth D Jones was born.

Kenneth Delbert never knew his father’s family as that his father Donald Jones deserted his family when Kenneth Delbert was four years old. All of his paternal family had left Sioux City shortly after he was born and had moved to Southern California. He never knew that his Joneses family were pioneer farmers who lived primarily near Knoxville in Marion County, some 240 miles from Sioux City in south-central Iowa.

He was raised by his divorced mother and his maternal grandmother Jennie Bowman McPherson. His step grandfather Wallace McPherson was a buyer and seller in the Sioux City Stockyards and when the Great Depression hit in October 1929, McPherson kept his job throughout that economic calamity. His father Don Jones went to work at the government project of building Boulder Dam although it is doubtful his mother Daisy Bishop Jones would have ever knew much about where her ex husband drifted off.

The city in which Kenneth Delbert grew to manhood was generally a foul smelling place from all the slaughter houses nearby where he was raised and where his mother worked. Sioux City was a city built on the early growth of its stockyards. The Stockyards is an historically important district located along the original lower Floyd River channel. Formerly one of the largest livestock trading facilities in the world, the Sioux City Stockyards was also home to large meatpacking plants (or "packing houses"), including Armour and Company and Swift and Company, who employed 1000’s of residents. In its heyday, the Stockyards commercial corridor included the historic Livestock Exchange Bank as well as the offices of cattle companies, tack-and-saddleries, boot and western wear stores, lumber yards and hardware stores, restaurants and saloons. Trains transported livestock into town and fresh meat to market. Until 1923, nearly all of the livestock was delivered by rail. By 1928, however, trucks had taken over about 40% of deliveries, and by 1953, 99 % of all livestock deliveries were done by truck. Following the closure of most of the meatpacking plants, and of the livestock yards themselves, the area became inactive, with only a few small businesses remaining.

After his father divorced Daisy, Kenneth Delbert went to live with his grandmother in Sioux City, Iowa, when the 1930 United States census was taken. The 1930 Census enumerated the 5 year old Kenneth D Jones within family of his grandmother Jennie McPherson and her husband Wallace on 14 April at 1618 Eighteenth Street. Others in the household were Kenneth’s 25 year old mother Daisy Jones, his 15 year old half uncle Frank A McPherson, and his 62 year old great uncle Marion Bowman. Kenneth Delbert’s mother Daisy Jones was working as an elevator girl in a department store.

Kenneth Delbert Jones, as the only grandchild of Jennie McPherson, rode out the Great Depression better than most people during the 1930’s as his grandfather had a fairly decent paying job and his grandmother went to work in the Sioux City home for the blind. In 1932 Daisy Jones and Kenneth D Jones moved from his grandparents to 301 ½ South Wall Street near the Wall Street Mission in as she had found work at the Armour Meat Packing Company. They would live at this address until 1939 when his mother’s health began to fail. She was working as a trimmer in the slaughter houses during this time.

Kenneth Delbert was raised in poverty on the wrong side of the tracks in what was then called the South Bottom of Sioux City. He mainly lived at 301 ½ South Wall in the Wall Street Mission district. The Wall Street Mission at 312 South. Wall Street was .principally a shelter for the poor and derelicts. Here on this skid row his mother had to work to support herself and him. In 1923, Rev. John Perry Hantla brought the “goodwill” movement to Sioux City where it merged with Wall Street Mission as a service to the immigrant population in an area known as the “South Bottoms”. In 1929 the Wall Street Mission started a bread line for the hungry and unemployed.

The South Bottoms was a working-class neighborhood located west of the stockyards that was later destroyed to make way for Interstate 29 and a channelization project on the Floyd River. A South Bottoms Memorial was created in 1997 to honor the immigrants and families who made this area of town their home.

The South Bottoms was a small community nestled between Third Street and the Missouri River. The Sioux City neighborhood has long since been destroyed as a result of the 1957 construction of Interstate 29 and the channelization of the Floyd River in 1962. Hundreds of families were forced to relocate elsewhere. The South Bottoms was home to mostly poor, working-class families. Workers started moving to the South Bottoms area in the 1880s when the Sioux City Stockyards expanded to include packing houses and railroads.

In 1933 when Kenneth Jones was 9 Peter Callaghan and his wife Delores Jones Callighan moved into the former residence of his grandparents. Peter Callahan was working as a Bellman at the Warrior Hotel.

A major scandal erupted in Sioux City in 1935, two years after the Volstead Prohibition Act was repealed, when it was discovered that corrupt Iowa state officials—including the Iowa State Attorney General and leaders of the Iowa State Alcohol Control Board—were operating a profitable extortion scheme to offer "protection" to local Sioux City tavern owners in exchange for payoff money. The Attorney General was arrested, tried and convicted in the Woodbury County Courthouse. It seems that the legalization of alcohol only provided corrupt state officials waiting in the wings an opportunity to profit from Sioux City's profound love of alcoholic beverages—control over which had, until recently been the sole domain of organized bootleggers.

Kenneth Delbert Jones was 12 years old when he experienced one of the worst heat waves in North American history while living in Sioux City, Iowa. The 1936 North American heat wave was the most severe heat wave in the modern history of North America. It took place in the middle of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and caused catastrophic human suffering and an enormous economic toll. The death toll exceeded 5,000, and huge numbers of crops were destroyed by the heat and lack of moisture. The 1936 North American Heat Wave

The record heat wave baked the Midwest in early July 1936. The temperature reached 100°F and above for a record eleven consecutive days from July 5 to July 11. People had to cope with the extreme heat without the benefit of air-conditioning. The all-time high and high minimum temperatures for the quad cities were recorded on July 14th when the mercury reached a sizzling 111°F and only dropped to a low of 84°F. It The heat and stench in the city must have been unbearable.

In 1938 Kenneth Jones’ grandparents, Wallace and Jennie McPherson, moved to 1810 South Cypress where they rented a house. Boarding from them were Peter Callaghan and his wife Delores. It was probably about this time that his mother Daisy Jones became involved with Peter who was still married and working as a bell boy at the Miner Hotel.

When Kenneth Jones was 15 years old, the 1939 Polk Directory showed that both the McPhersons and the Callaghan’s were living at 1810 South Cypress Street. His mother Daisy Jones may have been living there also as she is no longer listed in the directory. If so the following persons were living at that residence, 51 year old Wallace McPherson, 54 year old Jennie McPherson, 24 year old Frank McPherson, 39 year old Peter Callaghan, 34 year old Delores Callaghan, 2 year old Gayleen Callaghan, 35 year old Daisy Jones and 15 year old Kenneth D Jones. Peter and Delores must have separated for a time as the directory also lists Delores as a waitress renting a room at 708 4th Street.

Kenneth Jones’ mother Daisy Jones may have been ill for some time and the hard work she did as a trimmer in the slaughter house probably contributed to her death on 5 May 1940 of heart disease at the age of 36. His grandmother Jennie McPherson was the informant on Daisy’s death certificate and she stated that Daisy was the wife of Peter Callaghan. The 1940 United States Census which was taken on 9 April nearly a month before Daisy died and listed Peter and Delores as married. The Callaghans were still living at 1810 Cypress Street and included in their household was Daisy’s 15 year old son Kenneth D Jones whom Peter called his “stepson”. Daisy is not listed in the 1940 census and was probably in the hospital. The family was so poor however they could not afford a marker for Daisy’s grave but she was buried near her grandfather James Bowman.

Kenneth Delbert’s mother died 12 days before his 16th birthday and he probably went to live with his grandmother so he could finish high school. Peter Callaghan and Delores had split up after the death of Daisy and Kenneth’s “stepfather” left the state for Jolliett, Illinois. Both his grandparents were working, Wallace still as a salesman for the Stockyard Commission and Jennie McPherson was working as an assistant to the Sioux City School for the Blind. Kenneth Delbert Jones’ half uncle Frank McPherson left home in early 1940 when he married which left Kenneth the only dependent left in the household of his grandparents.

Kenneth Jones was 17 years old when American entered World War II after Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941. During the war years, he lived with his grandmother at 1810 Cypress Street and finished High School. At the age of 18 years Kenneth Delbert enlisted in the army on 17 March 1943 at Camp Dodge, Iowa. He was sent to Georgia for basic training at Camp Wheeler. A fellow member of his Company F wrote “when we got there we got off and it was nice warm breezes blowing, there was a military band playing out there… and it really felt like a great improvement…, but in a few days we began to get acquainted with a few things like chiggers and ticks and Georgia clay and try to dig holes in it and it lost a lot of its glamour in a hurry.” From Georgia Kenneth Delbert was put on a troop and shipped to Camp Claiborne, in Louisiana and assigned to the 84th Division.

At the age of 20 he was sent overseas to fight in the European Operation of the war in the 333rd Infantry of the 84th Division which embarked on 20 September 1944 and arrived in the United Kingdom on 1 October, for additional training.

“We went from Camp Claiborne by train to Camp Kilmer which was kind of a gathering place for people going out the New York port of embarkation. Then we stayed there about a week until the whole Division had gathered and then we went to New York and we were put on a bunch of different ships. I was on the S.S. Alexander which was an old German liner and I heard that we were supposed to land at Cherbourg but at that time there was too much traffic at Cherbourg with supplies and everything so we ended up going up through the St. George Straits and into Firth of Clyde and landing in Scotland and then we came down from Scotland into England to a camp near Winchester. We stayed around there for about two weeks, again, until the whole Division gathered and we did training marches but mostly it was just to keep us occupied. It wasn’t really training in the true sense. Then we were shipped down to Southampton and got on another ship and went to Omaha Beach. Omaha Beach of course was not a lot of shooting at that time. Thank heaven it had already been done.”

The division then landed on Omaha Beach, 1–4 November 1944, and moved to the vicinity of Gulpen, the Netherlands, 5–12 November. The division entered combat, 18 November, with an attack on Geilenkirchen, Germany, as part of the larger offensive in the Roer Valley, north of Aachen.

“We got into combat in November of ‘44. Some of the units were -- one of our regiments was detached and was assigned to the 35th Division which was up on the line and a company from our battalion was assigned to the 30th Division up on the line so they got there a little ahead of the rest of us but most of us ended up going in the 17th or 18th of November, got into the shooting war. We were thrown into what many considered the nastiest section of the whole front at that time. So we went by truck up into from Galene at night and we drove into a border town Marianburg it’s right on the Dutch-German border. We got in this town, of course it’s completely dark and we’re in this truck with the tarp over the top and not knowing what was ahead of us and all of a sudden artillery opened up and we didn’t know it at the time but it was an American artillery outfit that was within 100 yards of where we were.”

On 19 November, the division as part of Operation Clipper pushed forward to take Beeck and Lindern in the face of heavy enemy resistance. After a short rest, from 29 November to 18 December the division had returned to the fight, taking the Siegfried Line before being pulled back to Belgium during the German winter offensive of the Battle of the Bulge. Battling in snow, sleet, and rain, the division threw off German attacks, recaptured Verdenne, during 24–28 December. The December 1944 Ardennes Offensive resulted in 19,000 U.S. deaths, 47,500 wounded and more than 20,000 captured or missing in action.

By 16 January 1945, the Germans were in retreat and after a 5-day respite, the 84th resumed the offensive and assumed responsibility for securing the Roer River zone, On 23 February 1945, the division cut across the Roer River. The 84th reached the Rhine River by 5 March where they trained along the west bank of the river until crossing the Rhine on 1 April.

In conjunction with the 5th Armored Division, the 84th capture the town of Hanover on 10 April and liberated two concentration camps. As such, the 84th is officially recognized as a "Liberating Unit" by both the U.S. Army's Center of Military History and the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

By 13 April, the 84th had reached the Elbe, and halted its advance, within 25 to 40 miles of Berlin. Thousands of German soldiers were fleeing across the Elbe to the surrender to the American rather than to Soviet troops which were contacted on 2 May 1945. World War II in Europe officially ended with the unconditional surrender of Germany on 7 May 1945. The 84th division remained on occupation duty in Germany after VE-day, until returning to the United States on 19 January 1946 for demobilization.

“It turned out that that was one of the roughest January’s they’d ever had. The captain of the ship said he’d sailed on the Atlantic 50 years and the weather was the worst he’d ever seen. It was really stormy and we were hearing tales of these little liberty ships that were in distress nearby all the way across. But, again it took about ten or eleven days to cross the Atlantic and I was one of the fortunate ones who was not subject to sea sicknesses. It was pretty miserable on that ship. Particularly so because we were in the holds, way down at the bottom of the ship--an officer in a stateroom but I don’t know if that was any better. You can still get sea sick up there. Down in the hold you were with hundreds of men packed in very tightly and sea sickness is kind of a contingent sort of thing if one guy starts heaving, everybody starts heaving. It was unpleasant but it was kind of an experience too to see what the Atlantic could be when it was really nasty.”

In 1945, Kenneth’s grandparents had moved from 1810 Cypress to 1022 Douglass Street. Here was where Kenneth Delbert Jones came home to Sioux City in 1946. The 1946 directory is not available but the 1947 directory listed Jennie and her husband at 1022 Douglass and she was an assistant supervisor at the Work Shop for the Blind. By the end of the year Kenneth Jones’ step grandfather Wallace M McPherson died on 2 December 1947 three days before his 60th birthday. He and Jennie had been married 30 years when he died. There’s no record of a burial in any of the Sioux City cemeteries.

There isn’t a record of Kenneth Jones in the 1947 Polk Directory for Sioux City but there is for 20 year old Erma Jean Newhouse who was working as a telephone operator for Sears Department store. She and her married brother Richard Newhouse had recently returned to Sioux City from Austin, Minnesota. Their parents Louis O and Edna Newhouse had been killed in an automobile accident in May of 1947. Their bodies were brought to Sioux City where they were buried.

The exact date of Kenneth D. Jones and Jean Newhouse’s marriage has not been discovered but the 1948 Polk Directory listed them as living at 622 Jackson in Sioux City. He was a whole salesman for Standard Oil. There’s not a 1949 Polk Directory to be searched but a data base of those receiving an Iowa Bonus Check for military service included Kenneth D Jones as living in Sioux City in 1949.

In May 1947, the Iowa Legislature had approved bonus payments of up to $500 for men and women who served on active duty in the U.S. armed forces between 16 September 1940 and 2 September 1945. To qualify, applicants had to be legal residents of Iowa for at least the six months prior to their service. Along with name, birth date and place, place of residence for six months prior to enlistment or induction, and address where a check could be sent, forms may provide a wide variety of details related to the applicant’s service. On May 18, 1949. Kenneth D. Jones received a bonus check of $410 from the state of Iowa for his service in World War II. His address was still given as 622 Jackson.

On December 14, 1949, the Swift & Company packing house, located north of the Sioux City Stockyards and adjacent to the Floyd River channel, suddenly exploded, killing 21 Swift employees and ninety one were injured. The cause of the disaster was never fully confirmed, but the explosion was believed to have been caused by a leaking gas pipe that heavily damaged the stockyards.

In 1950 Sioux City had a population of about 84,000. However the Polk  Directory does not list the family of Kenneth Jones or his grandmother the widow Jennie McPherson. It is not clear why he was not included as that in August 1951 he and Jean had their first child a son named Kenneth Louis Jones born in Sioux City.

Kenneth and Jean Jones were living at 3518 West Sixth street in the spring of 1952 when the Floyd and Missouri River rushed out of their banks and inundated downtown Sioux City. On March 31, the Floyd River rose to a 20.3 crest north of town. This was the highest in fifteen years. The Springdale area had to be evacuated. The storm sewers back up, causing flooding along Stueben Street and south to the Soo's ballpark. Things were about to go from bad to worse. The Missouri River was also on the rise.

In early April, predictions of a possible 17-foot depth were made for the Missouri River. The citizens began watching their levees, which protected the city from the river's rise. The levees were built to hold back the river to a depth of 19.4 feet. Then, the full extent of the problem was learned. The new prediction was for the Missouri to rise above the previous prediction, all the way to 22 feet. Riverside residents especially in the South Bottoms were warned to evacuate due to the rise, which would have them in "water to their waists". Finally the levee west of South Sioux City collapsed and all the land between the river and Crystal Lake was covered with river water.

When the river crested April 14 at 24.3 feet, it had pushed the Sioux River out of its banks flooding Riverside Boulevard and from Goldie Avenue south to Riverside Park. All business came to a standstill. The stockyards were closed, the packing plants damaged, and the sewer system taxed to it's limit. All of South Sioux City lay under water. Nearly the entire population was evacuated near the Floyd and Missouri Rivers

When the river subsided, the damage was assessed at $3,264,000. This figure does not take into account the toll of human suffering that took place with the devastating damage done to people's homes in both Sioux City and South Sioux. . It was in the aftermath of the 1952 flood that numerous cases of polio were reported in Sioux City and throughout the tri-state area.

Polio flared up in Sioux City after the flooding. The summer of 1952 was particularly bad after the floods had disable the sewage system. Due to the compromised water supply, polio cases began to climb, filling the city's hospitals. The hospitals procured 11 iron lungs to treat the patients who had paralysis of respiratory muscles. By July 17, there had been 12 polio deaths. In August 1952 Bob Hope. Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Jack Dempsey visited the children in polio wards. In all, Sioux City reported 952 polio cases that year and 53 deaths. The polio epidemic hit this region of the country especially hard and lasted until a vaccine was developed to combat the disease in the late 1950s. 1952 was the worst of the polio years but the outbreak of polio in Sioux City would have been a contributing factor for Kenneth and Jean to move from Iowa to California.

On June 8, 1953, the Floyd River again flooded when a torrential downpour in the Sheldon, Iowa area sent a wall of water down into the lower valley. A swift moving wall of water approached the city and by 11:00 that morning, on Floyd Avenue, only the tops of cars could been seen. Volunteers came from all over town to help rescue stranded people. 41st Street, a gravel road, was on higher ground and not flooded. This was the only way for people to enter or leave the area. Fourteen people lost their lives. This flood was a major impetus for the Floyd River flood control project, including the building of a straightened, rock-lined channel and high levee through the city. The flood-prone "South Bottoms" neighborhood was razed for this project in 1962 and all the homes that the Jones’ and Mcpherson’s had occupied were gone.

The city's water supply was damaged by the flood of 1953. Several pumping stations were flooded and unusable in the days after the flood. The city was placed under severe water restrictions. People caught breaking the rules had their water shut off until the damage was fixed. At one time, the city was down to four hour's supply.

This was probably the last straw for Kenneth D Jones and in 1953 he relocated his family to Long Beach, California where his half uncle Frank McPherson had moved and whether he knew it or not where his father Donald A Jones brothers were living including his paternal grandmother Emma Selena Jones. He would never have known these people.

The 1955 directory for Long Beach listed Kenneth and Jean Jones as living at 1922 Junipero Avenue in the Signal Hill area of Long Beach. He was about 31 years old and working for Arlo’s Refrigerator Service as a mechanic. His grandmother Emma S Jones in 1955 was living at 56 Claremont Avenue 4 miles southeast in Long Beach off of Ocean Boulevard. His uncle Earl D Jones lived at 2735 Eucalyptus Avenue in Long Beach about 3 miles west near the Los Angeles River and his uncle Lloyd L Jones lived at 1444 Coronado Ave in Long Beach just about 1 miles southeast of Junipero.

Kenneth and Jean Jones had their second child while living in Long Beach. Their daughter Deborah J Jones was born 3 July 1956 in Los Angeles County. The following year in 1957, the Long Beach Directory showed the family still living at 1922 Junipero Avenue and Kenneth as a mechanic for the Arlo Refrigerator business located off of Alamitos.

On 22 May 1957 Kenneth Jones bought a home built in 1954 at 2141 Cerritos Avenue in Anaheim, California about 13 miles west of Junipero. It was a 1,112 square foot 3 bedroom, one and a half bathroom house on a 7,314 square foot lot. He moved his family there and lived in this home for the next 23 years. His children attended Magnolia High School.

Kenneth D Jones worked for Arlo’s Refrigerator Repair and Service shop until about 1963 when he went into business for himself. He started up a business called Ken’s Refrigerators Service located at 1127 East 10th Street in Long Beach. In 1966 Kenneth and Jean were registered as Republicans as part of California’s Voter Registration. By 1968 Kenneth Delbert Jones had relocated his business to Obispo Avenue, still in Long Beach, California and it was listed as Ken’s Refrigerator Service in the phone book.

When he was 45, Kenneth D. Jones’ estranged father died 18 March 1970 in Los Angeles. A grave site had not been located for his father. Kenneth D. Jones two children married in the mid 1970’s. Kenneth Louis Jones married Donna Fay Williams Pierce on 13 February 1975 in Santa Ana, Orange, California. She is the daughter of Edgar Hugh Williams and Wilma June Johnson of Garden Grove. Donna was a divorcee previously married to Terry John Pierce. Deborah J Jones married Randall “Randy” Irvin on February 14 in 1976 in Orange County.

Kenneth Delbert Jones died on June 20, 1980, at the age 56 at Los Alamitos General Hospital , in Los Alamitos, California. The cause if death was liver cancer which he had been diagnosed with in 1979. His widow Erma Jean Newhouse, was the informant on the death certificate. She gave as his occupation “mechanic Refrigeration Repairman Self employed SS 481-20-7280.” He was buried 24 June 1980 at Fairhaven Memorial Lawn Santa Ana, California. No more is known by me about Jean Newhouse Jones. If she is living she will be 90 years old in December 2017.

The home of Kenneth D Jones at 2141 Cerritos was valued 8 August 1980 at $155,000. In 2016 it was valued at close to a half a million dollars.

Children of Kenneth Delbert Jones and Erma Jean Newhouse

1. Kenneth Louis Jones

Born 22 August 1951 Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa,

Married 13 February 1975 Santa Ana, Orange County, California

Donna Fay Williams daughter of Edgar Hugh Williams and Wilma June Johnson

Born 25 June 1949 Amherst, Lamb, Texas

2. Deborah J Jones

Born 3 July 1956 Los Angeles County, California

Married 14 February 1976 Orange County, California

Randall Irvin

Born 1954

Mauflower Antecedants of Esther Matteson

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

MAYFLOWER ANTECEDANTS

Asa Matteson descended from two 1620 Mayflower passengers William White and Edward Doty through his mother Hannah Sears’ ancestry. She was the daughter of Jane White who was the 3rd great granddaughter of William White and 2nd great granddaughter of Edward Doty.

Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony in 1651 recalled the White Family as passengers on the Mayflower writing “Mr. William White, and Susana, his wife, and one sone, called Resolved, and one borne a ship-bord, called Peregriene; and *2* servants, named William Holbeck and Edward Thomson.”

William and Susanna White

William White did not survive the first winter and died on 21 February 1621. He was buried in Coles Hill Burial Ground in Plymouth, likely in an unmarked grave as with most from the Mayflower who died that first winter. With the death of her husband, Susanna White, with newborn Peregrine and five-year-old Resolved, became the only surviving widow out of the many families who perished that winter. By the Spring of 1621, 52 of the 102 persons who originally had arrived on the Mayflower at Cape Cod were dead. In May 1621, Susanna White became the first Plymouth colony bride, marrying Edward Winslow, a fellow Mayflower passenger whose wife had perished on March 24, 1621.At least five children were born to Edward Winslow and his wife Susanna.

Edward Winslow later became Governor of Plymouth Colony and was also the colony’s agent in England and made several voyages back and forth across the Atlantic. In England, his diplomatic skills soon came to the attention of Oliver Cromwell, whose New Model Army had defeated the armies of King Charles I and became the new Puritan leader of the country during the 1650’s.

Edward Winslow lived in England the last six years of his life, serving the government there. When his will was written in 1654 as resident of London, the document stated that he left his New England property to his son Josiah “hee (sic) allowing to my wife a full third parte thereof for her life also” so it is probable that his wife did not follow him to London. Edward Winslow died of fever May 7/8, 1655 while on a British military expedition in the Caribbean and was buried at sea there.

Susanna’s date of death is uncertain – sometime between 1654 and 1675. When Susanna who was twice widowed died, she was buried in the Winslow Cemetery, Marshfield, as were her sons Resolved and Peregrine White.

Resolved and Judith Vassell White

Resolved White was born in England, about 1615. He died sometime after September 19, 1687. He and his first wife Judith were buried in Winslow Cemetery, Marshfield. He was first married to Judith Vassall, the daughter of William Vassall, a founder of Massachusetts Bay Colony, on 5 November 5 1640 in the village of Scituate located midway between Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth in the Plymouth Colony. Judith Vassell White was born in England circa 1619, and was buried in the Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield on April 3, 1670. They had eight children born in Scituate between 1642 and 1656. Resolved White remarried Abigail the widow of William Lord on October 5, 1674 in Salem, Massachusetts Colony. She died in Salem between June 15 and 27, 1682.

About 1638 the Edward Winslow with young Peregrine and Resolved White, moved to Green Harbor, now called Marshfield. On August 3, 1640, Resolved White was granted 100 acres in Scituate next to his father in law William Vassall’s land. On March 7, 1643 he was granted more land in Scituate.

In February 1643, a new church was founded in Scituate by William Vassall and other dissenters from the existing English Puritan church. Members, known as the “Vassall Group”, called their new church the "Second Church" of Scituate. Judith White, daughter of William Vassall and wife of Resolved White, was one of the founding members of this new church. But the religious situation in the colony finally forced religious dissenter William Vassall to leave for Barbados a few years later never to return to the colony.

In the 1643 the “Able to Bear Arms” list for Scituate showed "Resolued" (sic) White with his father-in-law "Mr. Willam Vassell", and his brother-in-law "John Vassell". John Vassall later became a person of historic note and a wealthy Caribbean plantation owner. The will of William Vassall Esq. of Barbados, dated July 31, 1655, named his daughter Judith White, wife of Resolved White.

On 11 May 1657, Resolved White was in Barbados, West Indies, to witness the sale by his sister-in-law Mary Vassall of her share of her father William Vassall's plantation at St. Michaels. The sale was to her brother-in-law, Nicholas Ware, a merchant of St. Michaels Barbados, who was the husband of her sister Anna Vassell.

The following year on 1 June 1658 he was made a “Freeman” of Plymouth Colony which allowed him to vote and hold office.

On 17 March 1662 Resolved White of Scituate, planter, sold land in Scituate to William Wills. On September 25, 1663 Judith, wife of Resolved White, acknowledged the sale. On June 3, 1668 Resolved White was elected surveyor of highways for Marshfield. On May 29, 1670 White was in the list of Freemen of Marshfield.

On 4 July 1674 White deposed he was aged 59 years. The 2 July 1675 will of Governor Josiah Winslow named Resolved White as his brother although he was a half brother.

At the age of 61, Resolved was a soldier in King Philip's War of 1676, and in 1680, he became a freeman in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts before moving back to Marshfield a couple of years later.

On 9 May 1678 Resolved White, aged about 63 years, was deposed in Essex County, Massachusetts in a court matter and again in June 1679 where he gave his age as 63 years. On 1 February 1680 Abigail White his second wife stated she was about 74 years which would have made her quite a bit older.

The will of Abigail White, wife of Resolved White of Salem, was dated April 26, 1682, proved June 1682. In it she mentions her former husband William Lord; his kinsman William Lord and the latter’s children; and Resolved White her present husband.

The exact date of death of Resolved White is uncertain. He died sometime after 19 September 1687. He may have been alive as late as 1690, as that in that year, Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation stated that “Two persons living that came over in the first ship in 1620, this present year 1690: Resolved White and Mary Cushman.” He apparently died within a few years of that writing. Resolved White was buried in Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield.

Samuel White and Rebecca Lapham

According to the Scituate vital records Samuel White he was born 13 March 1646, the son of Resolved White, who, with his parents, came in the Mayflower. Judging from the date of the birth of his first child, 24 August 1669, he was married about 1668, when he and his wife were twenty-two. According to a record found in Rochester Samuel White and his wife were both born the same day, the same month and the same year and that it was "taken from his own records." However there is no marriage record listed and he does not tell the name of his wife. There is also no record of his wife's death. However, it is believed that she was the Rebecah White who died at Rochester the 25 June 1711 in her 65th year, hence born about 1646. This at least agrees with the year of birth of Samuel's wife.

Searching Scituate Church records there appeared on the first page the following:"Baptisms, March 15, 1646: Samuel White, ye son of Resolved, Searching Scituate Church records there appeared (on the first page) the following:

"Baptisms, March 15, 1646: Samuel White, ye son of Resolved Rebecca Lappham, ye daughter of Thomas."

Samuel White was in Sandwich Massachusetts, the oldest town on the Cape Cod peninsula, as early as 20 May 1667. His uncle Major Josiah Winslow, half brother of Samuel's father, of Marshfield deeded land to him there. He was still in Sandwich on 8 June 1671 when he and his wife Rebecca deeded land. In 1671 he sold some land in Middleboro to Benjamin Church and is called "of Sandwich." This indicates that he removed to that town about the time he was married or soon after and that their first five children probably were born there, although their births were not recorded on the town books.

There is evidence that he was in Sippican, Plymouth Colony as one of the proprietors 10 March 1679 and that the rest of the children were born in this new plantation, later called Rochester, which was established as a town in 1686, only about four years before he had all his children recorded. On 17 July 1697” Samuel White, Sr. of Rochester” deeded land in Rochester to his son, Melatiah White of Rochester.

Samuel White was before the court in September 1720, March 1723/24, December 1729, and March 1729/30 for not attending public worship. He died between March 1730 and April 1731

John White and Martha Doty

John White was born 24 August 1669 in Sandwich in Plymouth Colony and died 29 June 1748 in Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Colony. He was a farmer there and married Martha Doty the granddaughter of Edward Doty a Mayflower Pilgrim. She was born out of wedlock May 1672 in Plymouth to Thomas Doty and Mary Churchill. She died 29 June 1748 in Rochester.

Martha’s grandfather, Edward Doty, came on the Mayflower in 1620 as a servant to Stephen Hopkins, and was apparently still a servant in 1623 when the Division of Land was held. This would indicate he was still under the age of 25 at that time. Upon arrival of the Mayflower at Cape Cod, Doty was one of 41 male passengers who signed the Mayflower Compact where his name appears as "Edward Doten in November 1620. So he was likely over 18 or 21 at the time. This narrows his likely birth date to around 1597-1602.

Doty was one of the Mayflower passengers that have left an extensive record of his personality. He had a quick temper that often was out of control and had many business dealings that in some cases bordered on the fraudulent. Other troublemakers were often removed from Plymouth like Isaac Allerton who was forced out but Doty lived there throughout the rest of his life. Edward Doty appears to have been somewhat of a troublemaker throughout his life at Plymouth.

Doty's first problem with the law came just after the Pilgrims had begun constructing their settlement. The early eighteenth century notes of Thomas Prince describe an incident of 18 June 18, 1621 when the first duel with a sword and dagger was fought in New England between two servants of Stephen Hopkins, Edward Doty and Edward Leister. The duel ended with one being wounded in the hand and one in the thigh. Their punishment was to be tied head and feet together for twenty-four hours without meat or drink. But soon their master Stephen Hopkins, apparently taking pity on their "great pains", made a "humble request, upon promise of a better carriage" and they were released by the governor.

In late 1620, Doty accompanied Stephan Hopkins and others on some of the early Pilgrim explorations of the Cape Cod area while trying to locate a suitable location for their settlement.

In the 1623 Division of Land, he received one acre and was later granted an additional twenty acres. Records of the 1630s and 1640s show numerous land transactions by him apparently making him quite prosperous. Per the record of December 4, 1637, one such land transaction involved land being granted to him and Tristram Clarke, "his father in law." It is known that he did own land in central Plymouth where the Mayflower Society House now stands.

In 1626 Edward Doty was one of twenty-seven Purchasers involved with the colony joint-stock company which afterwards was turned over to the control of senior colony members. That group were called the “Undertakers”, and was made up initially of John Bradford, Myles Standish and Isaac Allerton, who were later joined by Edward Winslow, William Brewster, John Howland, John Alden, Thomas Prence, and four former Merchant Adventurers back in London. On the agreement, dated October 26, 1626, his surname appears as "Dotey".

In the 1627 Division of the Cattle, in which Doty shared, he probably had completed his term of service to Stephen Hopkins, as he is not listed with that family. His name as "Edward Dolton", is listed with the family of John Howland and wife Elizabeth.

Edward Doty later became a wealthy land owner, but his argumentative nature and display of temper caused him to be in the Plymouth court many times over the years. The post-1632 records of the Plymouth Court, which has no existing records prior to that year, has twenty-three cases over the 20 years between January 1632 and October 1651 that involve Edward Doty. The records include suits/countersuits, and charges such as fraud, slander, fighting, assault, debt, trespass, theft, etc. But although Doty appeared before the court numerous times, he was never punished for criminal activities beyond small fines. So even though he was charged with fighting and was sued by many persons for fraudulent trading and goods sales, almost all were civil cases and were not of a criminal nature. And other than his duel in 1621, he never received any physical punishment that was commonly given for crimes such as theft, serious assault and adultery. He was quite fortunate in this regard as typical punishments at that time included whipping, branding, banishment and the stocks.

Even with his periodic court cases, in which he accepted the outcome of all such actions, Edward Doty lived a normal life as a freeman, paying his taxes and all his debts. He periodically received land grants from court as with other residents, and received other property rights and benefits from being classed as a "first comer."

Records do not show that Edward Doty ever served on any juries or held any political office nor was ever appointed to any governmental committees, which was unusual for a Purchaser and early freeman. The only recorded instance of his involvement in anything of a community nature was from a town meeting of February 10, 1643 when he was assigned with George Clark, John Shaw, Francis Billington and others to build a wolf trap in the town of Plain Dealing."

On the August 1643 the Able to Bear Arms List of "Males that are able to bear Armes", his name appears as "Edward Dotey" on the record of Plymouth men.

He married Faith Clarke on January 9, 1635. Faith was the daughter of Thurston (Tristram) and Faith Clarke, arriving on the ship "Francis" in 1634. Since several of Doty's court cases involved Thurston and George Clarke, it would appear that some of his legal situations, including fights, were the result of in-law domestic problems.

Edward Doty married twice, according to Governor William Bradford. Bradford wrote that Doty "by a second wife hath seven children, and both he and they are living." However, nothing is known of his first wife.

Edward Doty made out his will on May 20, 1655, calling himself “sicke and yet by the mercye of God in perfect memory.” His will was witnessed by John Howland, John Cooke, James Hurst, and William Hoskins. Doty signed his will with a mark. This was how he signed all his property deeds as he never learned to write.

Doty died on August 23, 1655 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony and was buried at Burial Hill Cemetery where there is an existent memorial stone for him. His estate inventory was dated November 21, 1655 mentioning his wife, his son Edward and other unnamed sons. His will was presented to the court on March 5, 1655/6.

After Doty's death, his widow Faith married John Philips on March 14, 1666/7 as his 2nd wife. She moved to Marshfield where she made out a will in which she called herself the wife of John Philips of Marshfield. Faith Clark Doty Phillips will was dated December 12, 1675 and she died on December 21, 1675. The will was sworn June 6 – probably 1676, and named her daughters Mary, Elizabeth, and Desire, and her son John. On November 4, 1676, letters of administration were granted to her son-in-law John Rouse, Jr. of Marshfield, husband of her daughter Elizabeth. She was buried in Winslow Cemetery, Marshfield, Mass. where there is an existent memorial stone for her.

Edward and Faith Clark Doty’s son Thomas was born in 1642 and died 5 December 1678 at the age of 36. Seventeen year old Mary Churchill was unmarried and 5 month pregnant. She was brought before the Plymouth Court and confessed that she had gotten pregnant by Thomas, son of Edward Doty, with whom she had "carnall coppulation" three times – first time on July 15, second time on August 8 and the third was about "senight" [period of seven days, a week] after. A sergeant went to Mary Churchill's house, found 29 year old Thomas Doty there and took him into custody. On On 17 January 1672 Mary Churchill and Thomas Doty were presented to the Plymouth Court for ' carnall coppulation and a child'. Doty was warned to "take heed lest evil come of such carriages and fearing a more severe punishment, he fled the colony. Mary was found guilty and was bound over to the next court. Her bondsmen were her brother Joseph and her brother-in-law John Drew.

Mary Churchill gave birth to Martha Doty in May 1672. On 5 Jun 1672 Mary was sentenced to pay £6. She later sued Thomas Doty for support and the jury found in her favor. On 30 October 1672 Mary Churchill sued Thomas Doty for having “begotten her with child.” She was awarded all his property. Thomas Doty returned to Plymouth Colony 29 October 1673. It is doubtful that he ever married Mary but the couple had two more children, Hannah Doty born in 1675 and was pregnant by him in October 1678. Thomas Doty died 4 December 1678 at the age of 36 when Mary was two months pregnant. A son was born after his death, 22 July 1679 named Thomas Doty Jr.

Mary Churchill was born on 1 Aug 1654 in Plymouth daughter of John and Hannah Pontus Churchill. On 18 Jun 1690 her mother deeded land to her "natural" daughter Mary Churchill. This would indicate that she had never married.

Martha Doty the daughter of Thomas and Mary would have grown up with the social stigma of being a bastard daughter in Puritan New England. However she married into another Mayflower Family raised a family and died 29 June 1748 at Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

Justus White was born 28 February 1707 at Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died there in 1758. He married Jane Sherman daughter of John Sherman and Sarah Baker. John Sherman was a farmer and weaver. After 1712, John and wife Sarah settled in Rochester, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts where his father had been granted land in 1697. On 24 May 1715, John and his brother, Samuel received the 29th lot of the East Branch of Sippecan River, on the northwest side of said branch, containing 80 acres. On 26 July 1765 deed signed by John and Sarah Sherman deeding homestead to sons: John, Jr., William, and Samuel of Rochester.

Jane Sherman was born 2 October 1716 at Rochester,Plymouth,Massachusetts, and died 17 October 1758 there.

On 6 June 1753 “Justis” and Silvanus White of Rochester sold a mansion house and farm that was our father John White's,' late of Rochester deceased. Jean,' [Jane] wife of Justus, and Anna, wife of Silvanus, surrendered dower rights 7 June 1753; on 13 Sept. of that year Anna acknowledged her signature."

Their daughter Jane White was born 17 October 1758 at Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, and died 11 November 1833 in Windham County, Vermont. She married Ebenezer Ebenezer Sears born 15 December 1754 in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died 24 January 1849 in Dover, Windham, Vermont, USA

Their daughter Hannah Sears born 14 February 1775 in Bennington, Vermont and died 16 June 1856 at Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, was the mother of Asa Matteson. His daughter Esther Ann Matteson married Isaiah Bowman.

Their son James Isaiah Bowman married Eliza Thompson and had a daughter Jennie Bowman who married Jesse Bishop. Their daughter Daisy Bishop married Donald Augustus Jones and had a son Kenneth Delbert Jones.

Kenneth Delbert Jones married Erma Jean Newhouse and had a son Kenneth Louis Jones who married Donna Fay Williams. They had sons Kenneth Thomas Paine Jones and Kevin Oakes Jones.

The Ancestry of Esther Matteson wife of Isaiah Bowman

CHAPTER THIRTY

THE MATTESON AND ALLIED FAMILIES

Asa Matteson father in law of Isaiah Bowman can trace his family back to a 17th Century Dane names Frandtz Mateson and on his mother’s side to two Mayflower emigrants William White and Edward Doty.

Henry Matteson was born 27 October 1646 in Denmark.

Henry Matteson, the individual from which the Matteson Historical Congress of America established its identity, was the first of that name to come to America. He arrived in 1666/1667 at the settlement called Portsmouth located at the north end of an island in Narragansett Bay that the Native Americans called Aquidneck.

Portsmouth had been founded in 1638 by a small group headed by Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, an outcast from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They renamed the island the "Isle of Rhodes" or Rhode Island". It was from that small island that the state we know today as the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations took its name.

Little is know of the background of Henry Matteson. He was believed to have been of Danish ancestry with his father being Frantz Madtzen also known as Francis Matteson lived between 1612 and 1675.

Henry Matteson was the emigrant ancestor of a majority of Mattesons in America and of many using the names Mattison, Madison, Mathewson, Matthewson, Mattason, Matterson and Matson. He emigrated prior to 1670 when he married Hannah Parsons the daughter of Hugh and Mary Lewis of Newport.

Henry Matteson lived on Prudence Island in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island Colony where he made peace with the Indians and “faithfully kept that peace” during the King Phillip's War. He was a “faithful friend of Roger Williams.”

On June 12, 1678 he took 100 acres of land that had been granted to John Pearce, the Assembly permitting the transfer. On 17 March 1682 Henry and his wife Hannah Parsons Matteson sold to David Shippee their dwelling and 100 acres.

On 27 Oct 1684 Matteson testified and calling himself 38 yrs or thereabouts [1646]. In 1685 he was a Deputy in the colony. Henry Matteson died in 27 October 1690 in West Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island . His widow Hannah sold to George Vaughn, for four pounds, land that Henry had bought from John Knight. Hannah Parsons Matteson later remarried Charles Hazelton.

Their son Francis Matteson was born 15 March 1680 West Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island, Colony where he farmed. He died 28 April 1750 in Kent County, Rhode Island Colony. He married 12 May 1700 at East Greenwich, Sarah Nichols, the daughter of Richard Nichols and Phoebe Briggs. She was born 15 March 1682 at Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island, and 1719 age 37 died at East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island.

They had a a son named Thomas Matteson, born circa 1715 at Warwick, in Rhode Island Colony and died 13 April 1793 in the village of Coventry, Kent County, Rhode Island at the age of 78. He married Sarah Johnson in 14 March 1742. She was the daughter of Joseph Johnson and Sarah Doliver. She was born 27 February 1711 in Coventry, Kent, Rhode Island, and died 1812 in East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island, United States

Thomas Matteson Jr was born 22 June 1742 in Coventry, Kent County, Rhode Island and as a young man moved to moved to Shaftsbury Bennington County, Vermont in 1766 before the Revolutionary War. Shaftsbury was chartered on 20 August 1761 and given 23,040 acres of land, in 66 shares. Those shares included one for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, one for the Church of England, one for the first settled minister, and one for the benefit of a school.

For the earliest settlers of Bennington County Vermont, there were not roads but merely paths. It is unlikely that the settlers in the period could have traversed the route with a wagon. All of their belongings were probably packed on horses for the journey. The families probably traveled north on what is now close to the route of I-95 to Providence, Rhode Island. There, they may have connected to the Providence road which led west through Connecticut. It generally followed the path of US-6 through Windham to Hartford. There, the trail turned north and followed the Connecticut River into Massachusetts. Connecticut state route 159 most closely approximates the route of the early trail.

The old trail moved into New York Colony and went north setting the path for what is today probably New York state route 22. The trail turned back into Massachusetts near Hancock and continued north to Williamstown. Massachusetts state route 43 seems to follow the best guess about the old trail. With the end in sight, the trail went to Bennington (US-7) and, then, to Shaftsbury (US-7A).

It was probably a journey of more than two hundred miles. They might make twenty miles on a really good day, but were probably lucky to average 15 miles per day for the trip. The road between West Greenwich, Rhode Island and Springfield, Massachusetts went through more towns meaning more opportunities for food and rest. The Mattesons were a part of a migration from older colonies that poured into the Benningtn area in the late 1700's and early 1800's. So many came from Rhode Island, that an area of Shaftsbury become known as Little Rhode Island or “Little Rhodie.” The first Mattesons in Shaftsbury were among the pioneer settlers. Timber was plentiful and the soil good for farming. Eventually iron ore would be mined here and marble quarried and sent to other parts of the Northeast. Later families were undoubtedly welcomed to the growing community of Mattesons in Shaftsbury.

Historic Route 7A runs through the center of Shaftsbury from the Bennington line to Arlington. This was once the footpath used by the Green Mountain Boys as they patrolled this newly settled territory. In the 1770's, these Green Mountain vigilantes physically harassed and mentally outfoxed agents from Albany, capital of the hated colonial province of New York, whose agents were "sheriffs" and sought to exercise jurisdiction, and surveyors who tried to measure out the land previously purchased by the patriots. The Vermonters farmed small tracts within self-governing townships. New York leaders, on the other hand, preferred large, wealthy landowners for whom tenant farmers worked.

Many members of The Green Mountain Boys were Shaftsbury residents. They were joined by New Hampshire militia units who traveled through Shaftsbury in order to defeat the British forces before they could capture a munitions dump in Old Bennington.

The victorious Battle of Bennington on 6 August 1777 was fought on a hill in Walloomsac, New York about 5 miles west of Shaftsbury. The Bennington Battle Monument commemorating this skirmish, built in Old Bennington, and visible from Shaftsbury, is approximately 5 miles south of Shaftsbury.

The word about the quality of the farmland the other resources probably attracted Thomas Matteson and his relatives from East Greenwich which may have been feeling crowded. The Matteson family settled into life in Shaftsbury and remained there for the rest of their lives although many members of the extended family migrated into New York’s border towns.

Thomas Matteson was a Deacon in the oldest Baptist Church in Vermont, founded in 1768 and he was the town clerk of Shaftsbury for forty years. His gravestone states “To the memory of Dea. Thomas Matteson who departed this life June 5th 1809 in the 67th year of his age. He was the fourth generation from the Danish Nation And was Twice born as Jesus said, Blest are the pious dead.” He was buried in the North Bennington Cemetery. He was married to Sarah Doolittle the daughter of Samuel Doolittle and Susannah Godwin [Goodwine]. She was born in 1749 in Dutchess County, New York Colony and died 11 November 1823 in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, United States

Davis 'David' Matteson was born 11 April 1773 in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, the 4th out of 10 children of Deacon Thomas Matteson and Sarah Doolittle and lived there his entire life there. He died 19 May 1849 in Shaftsbury, Bennington County, Vermont. He married Hannah Sears daughter of Ebennezer Sears and Jane White and a Mayflower descendant. She was born 14 February 1775 in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, and died there 16 June 1858.

Their son Asa Matteson was born 27 April 1815 in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, where married Mary Ann Locke the daughter of Edmund Taylor Locke and Samatha Atwood. She was born 18 March 1818 in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont. They were married 15 April 1838 in Shaftsbury, where their first child Esther Ann Matteson was born 3 February 1839.

The 1840 Census shows Asa and his family living in Shaftsbury nest door to his brother Davis Matteson Jr and his father David .

Asa “Mattison” Home in 1840 Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont

Free White Male ages 20 thru 29 [1811-1820] Asa Matteson

Free White Female ages 20 thru 29 [1811-1820] Mary Ann Locke

Free White Female age Under 5 1836-1840] Esther Matteson

1 Person Employed in Agriculture

Three more sons were born in Shaftsbury before the family moved west to Wisconsin probably in 1846. Wesley John Matteson was born 14 April 1840, Walter Matteson was born 21 December 1841 and Fay Matteson born 17 October 1843.

Their son Walter Matteson however died in 1845 in Shaftsbury and a daughter named Martha Matteson was born 4 June 1847 in Nekosha County, Wisconsin. Another daughter named Adelaide Matteson was also born there 7 July 1849.

In the 1850 United States Census Asa Matteson is living in the town of Wheatland, Kenosha County, Wisconsin as 10 August. It doesn’t appear that he had any relatives living in the county which is odd for families to strike out on their own.

Asa Madison age 35 was listed as a farmer and a native of Vermont

Mary A Madison age 32 was said to be a native of New York

Esther Ann Madison age 12 born in Vermont

Westly Madison age 10 born in Vermont

Fay Madison age 6 born in Vermont

Martha Madison age 3 born in Wisconsin

Adelaide Madison age 1born in Wisconsin

The family was probably in the process of relocating when the census was taken as that a son named George Washington Matteson was born 9 January 1851 in Jefferson Township, Green County, Wisconsin. The township lies in the southern tier of Green county's civil township subdivision. It is bounded on the north by the township of Sylvester, on the east by Spring Grove, on the west by Clarno, and on the south by the Illinois State line.

Another daughter was born 19 November 1853 named Lydia Matteson. She was said to have been born in Black River Falls, Jackson, Wisconsin some 155 miles north of Monroe, Green, Wisconsin. While this is possible, it’s likely an error as the Wisconsin State Census of Green County listed Asa as living in Jefferson Township, Green County where his eldest daughter Esther Ann Matteson married Isaiah Bowman, a local farmer from Sylvester Township in that year. In neighboring Spring Grove Township the 1855 census listed an “S. Mattison” a house hold of 2 White Males and 3 White Females. No other information is given but more than probably they were relatives of Asa although he had no brothers with a name beginning with S. “Asa Matison” was enumerated having a household of 5 White Males and 4 White Females. They would have been Asa Matteson, Wesley, Fay, and George. As that son Walter had died in 1845 another son could have been born who died before the 1860 Census. The females would have been Mary Ann Locke Matteson, Martha, Adelaide, and Lydia. Esther was married to Isaiah by the time this census was taken.

The family left Wisconsin probably with a group of migrants not long after the census was taken. They would have traveled by covered wagons pulled by oxen to the Mississippi River probably resting at Dubuque Iowa which was 60 miles on the west side of the river. They could have gone by steamboat down the Mississippi or by oxen pulled wagons.

Asa Matteson’s first grandchild Henrietta Bowman was born 4 October 1856 by all accounts in Missouri. The closest community in Missouri down the river from Dubuque would have been in Clark County at the mouth of the Des Moines River that divided the state from Iowa. Less than two years later Asa Matteson 2nd grandchild child Elizabeth Bowman was born 20 June 1858 in Iowa City, Wright, Iowa. Asa and Mary Ann had a son named Selam Julius Mattison born almost six months later in 13 December 1858 in Newton township, Jasper County, Iowa. Wright County is 90 miles due north of Clark County, Missouri and Jasper county is 80 miles due west of Wright County. Why these familes took this circuitous route is an enigma but they eventually settle in Jasper County for nearly four years on farms they rented.

The 1860 United States Census Asa Mattison’s family was enumerated as living in Newton Township, Jasper County, Iowa on July 2nd. His Post Office address was Newton and he was the 728 household visited in the county and listed under the name “Mattison.”.

Asa listed himself as a 45 year old farmer worth about $150 in personal property so this family was extremely poor. He stated he was a native of Vermont. His wife Mary A Matteson was a 42 year old native of NewYork and children still living at home were 16 year old Fay Matteson, 12 year old Martha Matteson, 10 year old Adaline Matteson, 8 year old George Matteson, 5 year old “Lidia” Matteson and 1 year old Julius Matteson.

All of his children are listed as being born in Wisconsin. Salem Julius Matteson gives his birth place in various censuses as Nebraska as well as Iowa. If indeed he was born in Wisconsin in 1858 the Asa followed his son in law to Iowa instead of traveling with him.

Asa’s 3rd grandchild, Isaiah "James" Bowman, was born about 3 weeks after Asa was enumerated. James Bowman was born 21 July 1860 in Malaka Township, Jasper County, Iowa.

The Civil War began in April 1861 with Confederate Forces firing on Union Troops in Charleston Harbor. Asa’s eldest son Wesley J Matteson enlisted at the age of 21 as a private in Company B of the 5th Iowa Infantry. His military record stated he was a resident of “Jasper County, nativity Vermont”. He enlisted June 24, 1861 and was mustered in 15 July 1861. He was wounded 3 October 1862, at the Battle of Corinth, in Missssippi and deserted at Memphis, Tennessee, 1 March 1863.

During the Civil War, the Homestead Act was passed that enticed Americans to move to western territories when settling on a homestead for five years in lieu of a cash payment promised free land to poor farmers. Asa Matteson and his son in law Isaiah Bowman left Iowa and crossed the Missouri River at Sioux City and settled in Dakota Territory near the community of Elk Point. Elk Point was first settled in 1859 along the Military Road running from Sioux City, Iowa to Fort Randall in the Dakota Frontier. These families arrived at a very dangerous time as relations between the Dakota Sioux Nations and white settlers broke out into open warfare.

Almost as soon as Asa Matteson had moved his family to Dakota Territory the Dakota Indian War of 1862 began. By the summer of 1862 the situation for many Dakota Indian families was desperate when promised annuity payments were late due to the Civil War. Some traders and officials at the Indian Agencies refused to extend credit for food and supplies until the Dakota had paid their debts. Crop failures and poor hunting by white settlers encroachments had left many Dakota families hungry. Due to these and other factors, tensions within Dakota Indian community reached a breaking point.

It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota. In response to the Dakota War of 1862, the governor of Dakota Territory issued a proclamation on August 30, 1862 requiring every male between the ages of 18 and 50 in every settlement in eastern Dakota, be formed into militias to protect against expected attacks from the Native Americans. This would have included 47 year old Asa, his son in law 34 year Isaiah Bowman and his son 19 year old Fay Matteson.

In Yankton the territory capital, the militia built a stockade where settlers from the surrounding area, and as far away as Sioux Falls and Bon Homme County, fled to in order to seek shelter within the structure. Although roving bands of Native Americans did approach Yankton over the course of several weeks, no attack ensued.

Many of the families of settlers at Elk Point fled to the safety of Sioux City while the men folk guarded their farms. The war lasted nearly six weeks, during which more than 600 civilians and U.S. soldiers, as well as an estimated 75-100 Dakota, were killed. The war ended with a mass execution of 38 Dakota men on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota, the largest mass execution in United States history.

Even though out and out warfare ended, the Sioux Indians and whites still engaged in local hostilities.

Mary Ann Matteson and her daughter Esther Bowman were pregnant at the same time in 1863. Asa’s daughter Mary Eliza Mattison was born 10 May 1863 near Elk Point, in Cole County [Union], Dakota Territory. His granddaughter Mary Jane Bowman was born 19 August 1863 also at Elk Point. Cole County, Dakota Territory.

On 12 October 1863 Isaiah Bowman and Asa Matteson swore in an affidavit that elections held for County offices, had fraudulently elected a non resident as County Registrar of Deeds. In their deposition they said they had lived in Cole [Union] County for upward of one year.

Isaiah Bowman’s father in law was elected earlier in September 1863 to serve as a representative to the Dakota Territory’s House of Representatives. The capital of the territory at the time was Yankton which was located about 40 miles northwest of Elk Point on the Missouri River. He took the Oath of Office on 8 December 1863 and on the same day the election of the County Commissioner, the registrar of deeds, and the office of the Probate Judge were deemed null and void by the legislature..

While the Dakota Indian War was over by 1863 skirmishes between the Sioux and American settlers continued for some time. In an attack Asa Matteson was killed by the Sioux on 5 May 1865 about 50 years old. As legislators held office for two years, Asa Matteson died while a territory representative.

His widow Mary Ann Locke Matteson was left with at least six minor children when her husband was killed. They were 17 year old Martha Matteson, 15 year old Adelaide Matteson, 14 year old George Matteson, 11 year old Lydia Matteson, 6 year old Julius, and Mary Matteson who turned 2 years old 5 days after her father was murdered. Her three oldest children Esther Matteson was married with her own family, 25 year old Wesley Matteson was probably in Wisconsin where he married less than 3 months after his father’s death on 21 July 1865 in Jackson County. Fay Matteson was 21 years old and didn’t marry until 1874 so may have been the main support of his mother and younger brothers and sisters until they all left home.

Mary Ann Matteson cannot be located in the 1870 United States census although her son in law was listed as living in Union County Dakota Territory. Certainly she was still there because her 15 year old daughter Lydia married on 23 August 1869 a 41 year old widower named Robert Marmon in Elk Point. In 1870 her eldest son Wesley Matteson was married and living in Jackson County, Wisconsin. The rest of her children should have been in Union County. Information on when Asa’s daughter Adelaide died would have been in the 1870 census. If she was not listed then she probably had died. There’s no marriage or death information on this child.

Fay Matteson married on 9 September 1873 in Dixon County at age of 29 Emma Tillison, but by the following year the family had moved across the Missouri River into Nebraska. There Martha Matteson married at the age of 27 to William Weaver in 1874. Son George W Matteson also married that year at the age of 23 to Flora Meyers. The couple were married 15 September 1874 at Ponca in Dixon County, Nebraska.

The 1880 United States Census showed that all the living children of Asa Matteson, except Lydia were residents of Dixon County, Nebraska. Although Lydia who married Robert Marmon cannot be located in the 1880 Census she was most likely living in Douglas County, Minnesota where she gave birth to a son in February of that year. The peculiar thing about the 1880 census of Dixon County is that none of her children were living with her even her youngest daughter Mary Matteson who was 16 years old. Mary Matteson is listed as living in the township of Civil Bend in Union County, Dakota Territory about across the Missouri about three miles from Ponca, Nebraska where all of her other children were living and engage in the lumber and milling business. Mary Matteson was listed as a 61 year old widow living alone and keeping house. She said she was a native of New York and were her parents.

Wesley Matteson had returned from Wisconsin with his married family and living in Ponca, Dixon County with his occupation as “lumber”. He said he was born in Vermont as were his parents. Fay Matteson was a “lumber dealer” in Ponca and living with his family was his 21 year old brother Saliam who was “working in mill.” Fay gave his birth place as Vermont and Saliam’s birth place was given as Nebraska. Neither one knew where their parents were born. Martha Matteson was living with her husband William Weaver who was a Brick Mason in Ponca. George W Matteson’s occupation was “running saw mill”. He said he was born in Wisconsin but did not know where his parents were born. Living with his family was his 16 year old sister Mary Matteson who was “helping keep house”.

Mary Ann Locke Matteson died the following year on 17 October 1881 at the age of 63, most likely in Ponca where she is buried in the Ponca Cemetery along with her husband Asa Matteson.

The parents of Mary Ann Locke are unknown according to family histories of the Mattesons. Generally there’s a family mystery or scandal that family members at the time wished to ignore. A reasonably place to search for Lockes would be among the residents of Shaftsbury in Bennington County Vermont in the early decades of the 1800’s. However there is no census records for 1810 or 1820 in which a Locke family could be found in Bennington. Although Mattesons are found in abundance in Shaftsbury Township there are only a few records showing that any Lockes lived there at all. In fact only one family, that of Edmund Taylor Locke and Samantha Atwood are recorded as having lived in Shaftsbury in the decade between 1810 and 1820. There are no others. Logic would suggest that Mary Ann Locke who was born in 1818 either in Vermont or New York who married into the Matteson family of Shaftsbury would be related to this couple if not their actual daughter. Many known children of this couple had the same migration pattern into Wisconsin and then Iowa as did Asa and Mary Ann Matteson.

Edmund Taylor Locke was born 10 March 1791 in Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts and died 9 August 1851 in Union, Broome County, New York having been run over by a train. He married Samantha Atwood 17 November 1811 in Hoosick Falls, Rensselaer, New York which borders Bennington County Vermont. She was born 5 May 1784 in Bennington, Vermont and died 2 June 1865 in Vinton, Benton, Iowa and suffered from severe bouts of depression and insanity.

Vital records from Shaftsbury Township in Bennington County show that this couple had a daughter named Phildelia Locke who was born circa November 1812 and died 5 May 1813 in Shaftsbury, Bennington County, Vermont. Another unnamed infant daughter died 2 September 1813 at Shaftsbury and both girls were buried in the North Bennington Cemetery. As that Mary Ann Locke was born in 1818 presumably in either Vermont or neighboring New York she would have fit the time and place to have been their daughter.

Additionally Edmund Taylor Locke had a sister Priscilla Locke who married Andrew Robinson 4 December 1806 in Bennington, Bennington, Vermont.

Edmund Taylor Locke was the son of John Locke and Ruth Faxon. John Locke was a Minute Man from Deerfield and was said to have commanded a squad of men to throw the tea into Boston Harbor. He served under Col. Jonathan Wentworth for three years. He was a mason and marble worker and lived in Bennington Vermont for a time before he moved to Choconut in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania in 1815 where Ruth Locke died in 1817. John Locke died there in 1834.

Edmund Locke moved to Susquehanna County where he is found in the 1830 US Census.

Edmond T Locke Home in 1830 Choconut, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania

Free White Male age Under 5 1826-1830 James B Locke

Free White Male age 5 thru 9 1821-1825 Parmenas Locke

Free White Male age 15 thru 19 1811-1815 unknown

Free White Male age 20 thru 29 1801-1811 Edmund T Locke Jr

Free White Male age 30 thru 39 1791-1800 Edmund T Locke

Free White Male age 70 thru 79 1751-1760 John Locke

Free White Female age 20 thru 29 1801-1811 Mary Ann Locke

Free White Female age 30 thru 39 1791-1800 Samantha Atwood

Free White Female age 60 thru 69 1761-1770 unknown

After the death of his father he moved back to New York but just across the state line from Pennsylvania.

E T Locke Home in 1840 Vestal, Broome, New York

Free White Male age 40 thru 49 1791-1800 Edmund Locke Sr

Free White Female age 40 thru 49 1791-1800 Samantha Atwood

Free White Male age 20 thru 29 1811-1820 Edmund Locke Jr

Free White Female age 20 thru 29 1811-1820

Free White Male age 15 thru 19 1821-1825 Parmenas Locke

Free White Male age 10 thru 14 1826-1830 James B Locke

Free White Male age 5 thru 9 1831-1835 Gilbert Locke

Free White Female age Under 5 1836-1840 Ruth Locke Sr

Free White Female age Under 5 1836-1840 Mary T Locke

Taken from "Notes on Edmund Locke:" (The Next Book of Lockes-Descendants of William Locke of Woburn, Massachusetts, Jerry Harrison Heritage Books) "...Two daughters of Mr. Edmund Locke and Samantha Locke of Union in the County were murdered by their mother who cut their throats and also her own, although she was still alive after the event and some in the area hoped she would survive to pay the full penalty of the law for her crime, even though she had been "insane" off and on over the winter previous. The two girls were Ruth S. Locke and Mary T Locke."

The family of Edmund T Locke continued to live in Union after the tragedy of the death of daughters Ruth S and Mary T. They are listed in Broome County which southern county line bordered Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania on 10 October 1850. “Edmond T Lock” was listed as a 58 year old brick mason worth $1000 and a native of Massachusetts. Samantha Lock is age 56 and a native of Massachusetts. Only two sons were stilling living at home 21 year old James B Locke and 18 year old Gilbert Locke. James was a mason and Gilbert was a farmer. A six year old girl named Harriet E Barter was also included in the household

Edmund T Locke Jr had moved from New York and made his way to Grant County, Wisconsin on the east side of the Mississippi across from Dubuque, Iowa. He was about 35 years old when he married 16 year old Harriet Amelia Nixon 8 September 1847 in Plattsville, Grant County, Wisconsin and had a daughter named Bertha Locke born in October 1849 before he disappears in 1850 leaving Harriet and her daughter in a hotel in the 1850 Census. It is not known whether he died or deserted Harriet but she remarries by 1853 to John K Brooke and moved to Indiana with her daughter.

Mary Ann Locke and Asa Matteson are in Nekosha County Wisconsin on the eastern side of the state. Parmenas Locke has not been located but may have been traveling west also.

In less than a year after the 1850 census, Edmund Locke died on 9 August 1851 in Union, Broome, New York. His elaborate tombstone perhaps carved by son James has a ship and an anchor as a design on it. It also mentioned the cause of death of Emund which is very rare. It stated “was killed by a train of cars passing over him.”

The 1856 state Census of Iowa showed that the widow of Edmund Locke and two of his sons, James and Parmenas were living in Taylor Township in Benton County.

The census stated that James B Locke had come to Iowa in 1854 but the rest of the family not until 1855. Evidently he came to scout out the area before returning to New York to help his family move. While in New York he had married Elsie Louise Walley.

James B Locke is listed as the head of the household in Benton County, Iowa 1856.

James B Locke age 24 native of Pennsylvania and a mason by trade

Elsie L Locke age 25 a native of New York came to Iowa in 1855

Semantha Locke age 2 native of New York came to Iowa in 1855

Semantha Locke age 62 widow native of Vermont came to Iowa in 1855

Parmenas Locke age 30 married and a mason by trade a native of New York came to Iowa in 1855 and owned property in Benton County.

James White age 13 native of New York came to Iowa in 1855

The last census that Samantha Atwood Locke can be located in is the 1860 United States Census where she is enumerated with her son James B Locke on 23rd July. She is listed as a 66 year old native of Vermont. Her son James Locke was a 30 year old “stone cutter” born in Pennsylvania. Others in his household were his 31 year old wife Elsie, and daughters 6 year old Samantha H, and 2 year old Mary N. Also within the household was 17 year old James W White who 4 years earlier was listed as the 13 year old boy within this household.

Samantha Atwood Locke died 5 June 1865 in Vinton, Benton, Iowa after the Civil War had ended. She is probably buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Vinton, Iowa were her son Parmenas Locke is buried although there is no record or marker for her.

Vinton, Iowa is 60 miles due northwest of Newton, Iowa were Mary Ann Locke Matteson was living in 1860.