Letters from the Past - finding Caty Sage (part 2)

(For my Holt Family)

Read part 2 of the Letters from the Past - finding Caty Sage

Letter #6 dated February 18, 1850

Letter #7 dated May 29, 1851

Letter #8 dated March 8 1852

Letter # 9 dated

Letter #10 Dated April 14, 1853

No, I haven't forgotten to give you the last page.  This is all there is; sadly the last pages of this letter have been lost.

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The below is courtesy of the Grayson County Historical Society

"Yourowquains A Wyandot Indian Queen"

"The Story of Caty Sage"
By Bill Bland

"Caty Sage, a five-year old white girl, was stolen in 1792 from her home in Elk Creek, Grayson County, Virginia, and carried on horseback to a Cherokee Indian camp at Trade, Tennessee. Four days after her capture she was taken by the Cherokees on a grueling 60 mile trek north which included a wild canoe ride down the New and Kanawha Rivers. In Ohio she was adopted by Wyandot Indians and named Yourowquanins. At seventeen she married Tarhe, Chief of the Wyandots. At age twenty-eight she became Tarhe's widow. Under an 1817 treaty with the Americans, Caty received a large track of Ohio land. She later married Tauyaurontoyou, a noble Wyandot warrior and leader who too became a Chief. Being Christianized herself, in a wilderness missionary effort in 1820; she gave encouragement to Tauyaurontoyou as he became a licensed Methodist minister and famous preacher under his translated name "Between-The-Logs". Following the death of Between-The-Logs, Caty married an Indian warrior named Frost. Two years later she was again widowed. In 1843 Caty and her Wyandot Tribe were driven out of Ohio by relentless U.S. Government pressure urged on by land-hungry whites. She and her fellow Wyandots traveled in wagons across Ohio and by steamboats from Ohio to Kansas. In Kansas, Caty built a new life among many hardships. Trauma from being stolen had erased her childhood memory, but after a life as an Indian with much persecution by whites, one day in 1848 fate put her face-to-face with a brother she had never met. At last Yourowquains learned her own identity..."

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Letters from the Past - finding Caty Sage (part 1)

(For my HOLT Family )

Many have heard the story of Caty Sage, the daughter of my 5th Great Grandparents, James Sage and Lovice Ott Sage.    Caty disappeared from her home at the age of 5  and was found some 50 years later by her brother Charles.      

 Read the  letter to the United Order of the Golden Cross,   10 letters written by Charles to his family and newspaper articles and learn Caty's story.  A special thanks to the Grayson County Virginia Historical Society for providing me with copies of these letters.

As a reminder, the original letters were hand written.  The below letters were transcribed by W.R. Cooper.

Letter #1 dated April 2, 1848

(Samuel Sage is my 4th Great Grandfather)

Letter #2 dated June 20, 1848

Letter #3 dated August 15, 1848

Letter #4 dated November 14, 1848

(Wix Hale is the son of my 5th Great Grandparents Lewis Hale and Mary Burwell)

Letter #5 dated June 1, 1849

(Martin, who is mentioned at the end of the letter is my 3rd Great Grandfather.  He married Susannah Wright)

I will close this blog at the 5th letter.  Next blog, you read the rest of the story and see the article that is mentioned by W.R. Cooper.  

My Quest to join the DAR.

Please excuse any punctuation and grammatical errors.  I have a degree in Business Management with a minor in Computer Programming.  

 In other words, I can't spell and if spell check doesn't work, I'm toast!  

I started asking questions about my ancestors when I was about 18 years old.  My Uncle Jack Holt died and all the family was gathered around.  I believe it was the first time I “remember” meeting my Great Uncle Clarence.  Clarence was my Grandmother Holt’s  brother.  I was like a sponge asking and asking questions.   Uncle Clarence told me he could introduce me to a lady, Bonnie Ball Sage, and she could help me get into the DAR.   Now, you all know how old I am, so I’m not going to talk about how long ago that was.  Needless to say it was a long, long time ago.  Here was the problem, I lived in Maryland, Clarence lived in Danville, VA and Bonnie Ball Sage lived in Grayson Co, VA.  Who the heck ever heard of Grayson County.   I didn’t even know where it was.   

I took all of the info that I gleamed and put it in a binder.  I ordered info on how to search for your family and creating your family tree.  I was so excited to finally get started on my ancestry….Remember I’m 18.  I wanted to join the DAR and be a debutant.   So I happily filled in the charts with all the info that I had gathered….and……nothing, I did nothing with it.  Now to my credit, I did try, but it was hard to research your family back then…wow that sounds like I should be talking about the 1800’s or something.   There was no internet!  My family didn’t have all of the wonderful bibles, documents, letters, pictures, etc.  All we had were memories and stores.     You had to research in the libraries and courthouses to get information, but those were in Danville, Pittsylvania, Grayson,, Wythe, Smyth, Halifax, Henry, Charlotte, Campbell, Montgomery  and Washington County in Virginia  and Caswell , Rockingham, Ashe Counties in North Carolina…just to name a few.   I LIVE IN MARYLAND!!    

While Mrs. Sage would have been willing to help me, she didn’t live near me so everything had to be conducted by letter.   Whew…when was the last time you wrote a “Letter” not email or text, but an actual “letter” and sent it by mail.  Heck today, we send out an email and expect an instant response.    I didn’t have my Great Uncle Clarence to help encourage me and no one on either side of my family seemed remotely interested, I eventually lost interest.   I asked one of my aunts about the family and she told me to “leave the skeletons in the closet”.  NO way, I want to know about the skeletons, that’s the best part, and believe me I’ve uncovered a few on both sides of my family and I plan on telling you about them.  Don’t worry, if I find a skeleton about YOU, I won’t publish it, but just to let you know, I’ve found a few of those too.  If there is a court record or newspaper article, I can find it  but I won’t publish it.  It’s only fair; I might have a few of those skeletons too that my descendants might eventually find.  It’s only fair!     Descendants, that’s heavy.  I usually think in terms of ancestors, but I have descendants too.  Wow! 

So years so by, I’ve grown up, gotten married, had children, divorced, and watched my daughters grow to be beautiful teenagers.  When Miranda was in 11^th great she came home and told me she needed to create a family history chart with 4 generations for her 20^th Century History Class.    Four generations, she only needed four generations!  That’s easy right; I had already done all of that work and more back when I was younger.  So all I needed to do was pull out the trusty binder and she was all set.  Except there was no trusty binder; I even remember throwing it away. But I apparently have a really good memory for this stuff, so I recreated it.  Yea to me, Right?    But here is the good part.   The teacher told the class ( and later told the parents) that she fully expected the parents to do this part of the project.  She was ok with that and let them go with it.  She had a secret….. ANCESTRY.COM ……  Need I say more.  It’s free for 14 days!.   HALLALEUAH!     Fourteen days later, and having had almost no sleep, I was deep into my family tree and having a blast.    I researched and researched…well I copied and copied and copied other people’s information.  It was all about getting the next name and so forth.   That’s what I did and I’m proud to say that when Miranda turned in her project, she had about 16 generations of family.  On my gosh!

On my gosh is right; about 16 generations of information with no PROOFS to back them up.  Just someone put down that so and so was the parent of so and so and so forth.   This is 2007.  I still want to join the DAR.  I bravely gather the information and contact a local DAR chapter.  I go to a meeting, but…..   Now this was a nice DAR chapter, but I didn’t feel comfortable there.  It was a small chapter and everyone knew each other and apparently had been together for a while.  I was clueless.  The registrar gave me paper copies of the forms that the DAR uses and told me to fill in everything and gather all the proof (WHAT PROOF!) and turn it in and she would review it and let me know what else was needed.  That’s it.  With no idea of how to really find what I needed…I just let it slide.  

I continued to gather the information needed for the DAR.  I got lucky one day when I stumbled upon Roots Web and I posted and posted and posted questions.  One day, a wonderful man contacted me and told me he was my Dad’s cousin and he was going to send me enough information to help me with my DAR application.  A few weeks later I received this large package with an amazing amount of information.  There were census, wills, Revolutionary War Pension applications, Confederate Prisoner of War papers.    Ancestry numbers for multiple Historical Societies that I could join and the person I could join under.  I could join the DAR, UDC, Colonial Dames 17^th, Jamestown Society, Carter Society, etc.  The list went on and on.  I was really impressed. One, that my family had been here long enough so that I would be eligible to join these societies, and two that someone had actually researched and found documents that would allow them to join these societies.

At this point, I’m still trying to find a birth and death certificate for my grandparents so that I can join the DAR and people have found documentation that says that are of lineal descent to someone that was here when Jamestown was JAMESTOWN.  Amazing.

Now I figured that before I could go to the DAR meetings I had to turn in my DAR application; that is NOT TRUE.  So if you are interested in joining go to a meeting.    In 2011, I contacted the DAR and asked them to help find me a DAR chapter.  I wanted one that met on Saturdays.  The next day I got an email from the Regent ( Nancy)  of the Providence Chapter located in Fairfax  and she started asking me questions.   I sent her a complete list of my ancestry all the way to my chosen Revolutionary Patriot, James Sage and guess what, she sent me back a completed DAR application.  I just had to fill in some of the dates.   I worked and worked and worked.  I checked the DAR website to see how the document was supposed to be filled in and on January 1, 2012, I took it along with all my proofs and went to a Genealogy session at the Fairfax library Virginia room.  Whew!  It was looked over and deemed ready to be submitted.   I gave them all the paperwork and waited for them to bring me an official application to be signed.  All applications have to be printed on 25% rag count legal paper.  It holds up better through the years.  I didn’t attend a DAR meeting until January 2012.   I could have been enjoying the meetings and getting to know the ladies.   I signed my official application in March and then waited and waited and waited.   No I didn’t wait that long.  It usually takes about 8 weeks for an application to be approved.  Mine was verified by the genealogists (Geni’s) and approved by the DAR Executive Board on June 25, 2012.     I was finally a member. 

(Miranda and Amber, I still need a frame for this)

(Cathy - Chapter New Member Ceremony)

So it’s been 4 years since I’ve joined.  At the end of my first year, I was asked to run for office of Recording Secretary.   I've marched with the DAR in the National 4th of July Parade with several other ladies of my chapter and met the new President General.

(2013 4th of July Parade in DC )

  Two years later, I was asked to consider running for office of First Vice Regent.  So here I am, finishing up my term as the Vice Regent.  It’s been fun and I’ve enjoyed it.  My job is to find speakers for our meetings.  There have been highs and lows in the planning and implementation process, but the chapter ladies have been wonderful throughout it all.   

(2015 Swearing in of the new Officers for the Providence Chapter, NSDAR)

I've attended  Continental Congress for two years as a Delegate

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(2015 - Patti, Janet and myself - opening night)

I worked on the Book Sync project and synced over 2300 pages to earn the Book Worm Pin.

Last year, 2016, I had the pleasure of being asked to work on the Registration Line Committee at the DAR Continental Congress (CC).  That is the national conference which is held in DC in June of each year.    There is a lot of standing on this committee, my feet, ankles, knees, hips and back ached for days, but there was always a smile on my face to greet the ladies at the conference.   I made some new friends and learned more about the DAR in one week than I had the entire 4 years.   

 (2016 - Registration Line Committee - after standing up all day making sure everyone gets thru the voting process - we are standing on top of the portico where the 13 columns are that represent the 13 Colonies)

 I've been part of a Guinness World Book title in patriotism for “most letters to military personnel collected in one month.”    

We collected over 109,700 letters.  

(Photo courtesy of DAR.org)

I've had the pleasure to work alongside a wonderful group of ladies both in the Providence Chapter and at Continental Congress.  They are truly a blessing to know.  I have enjoyed every moment of being a member and hope that others have had the same wonderful experiences.  

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 This June I will celebrate my 5^th year anniversary as a member of the DAR; so what’s next?  I don't know.  I’m hoping to be re-elected as Vice Regent for another two years and I hope to be asked back again this year to the Registration Line at CC?   I'll keep working on the Genealogy Preservation Committee to eventually index over 12,000 pieces of DAR application Supporting Documentation for the DAR Genealogists.   Other than that, I’ll keep researching.

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While we are members of the DAR, we don’t consider our work done until we have “claimed” every ancestor that we can as our patriots.    So far, I have one ancestor James Sage, but I’ve submitted three more “supplemental applications” for 3 more patriots “Thomas Dupree…his daughter Elizabeth Dupree Whitlock and her son-in-law Thomas Lipscomb”.  A woman, you say.  Yep and I look forward in a later blog to tell you all about how the DAR identifies someone as a Patriot. 

(Lots of room on my ribbon to place more insignia)

Who are Sarah Speaks and George Doolittle

Please excuse any grammatical errors.  

(TO MY EAST FAMILY)

Sarah Speaks (1950's)

I recently had the opportunity to speak with the granddaughter of Effie Blaylock asking me if I could help her find more information on her family.  Thought you all might be interested in what I gave to her.

Everyone knows that I’m a proud member of the DAR and therefore for me it’s all about the “PROOF”.  You can tell me something but if I can’t back it up with proof I can’t fully believe it.  I want to believe it, but I want there to be a document that clearly says it or I want there to be enough circumstantial information and there is no way I cannot believe it.  Does this make me a “Doubting Thomas”; probably.  But I want proof!

I joined the DAR under my Dad’s family and have spent a lot of time researching his line.  It’s a very old established family so information is easily obtained.  My mom’s side on the other hand….Grrrrr!     When researching and building your family tree, you start with what you know and go generation by generation.  You go up or back in time,

1^st Generation:                      Cathy Sampson (m. William E Sampson)

  Cathy is the daughter of:

2^nd Generation:                      William Garnet Holt and Alice Pauline East

  Alice East is the daughter of:

 3^rd Generation:                     Albert Holland East and Irene Doolittle

   Irene Doolittle is the Daughter of: 

4^th Generation:                       George Washington Doolittle and Sarah Speaks

   Sarah Speaks is the Daughter of:   ?????

Let us stop here.  Everyone knows that Sarah Speaks was married before; she had two children Effie and Richard when she married George.  After marrying she had two more children Irene and Geraldine. That’s pretty much all I knew.  Was she a Speaks by birth or my marriage?  I asked my mom and my aunt and they both said, they didn’t know.  She was just Sarah Speaks.  When I started this process this was as far and I could go.  I didn’t know anything about Sarah or George. I talked with someone who researched the Doolittle line and they were stuck too.  George was a Doolittle living in Danville VA.  Most other Doolittle’s where in NY or CT.   I was basically stuck.  If I could find one, I could probably find the other.  Now you know why I went back to researching my Dad’s line; it was so much easier.

I didn’t have a Birth or Death or marriage Certificate, not even a grave marker.  My mom said that she was little when her Grandpa Doolittle died (of pneumonia) so I put his death at around 1932.   I was born in 1957 and my Great Grandmother Doolittle was still alive and mom said she died when I was really little so we just estimated her death at around 1959.  Let’s see how good our “guesses” were.

First let me say if you are considering genealogy research, learn this; Genealogy is about “instinct”.   You need to follow your instincts when researching.  You will either be right, wrong or hit a brick wall.  You must be willing to go down the wrong path in order to find the right path.  Think of it like a science experiment.  Make a hypothesis and follow it until the end and then see where you are.  There you go, Amber, I brought science into Genealogy.   The more you research the more you will understand the dynamics of the time and be able to make a better “guess” on where to go next.  

It’s also about “perseverance” and “tenacity”; you have to be willing to research and research and research and research.   Don’t give up.  Put it away and come back to it later.  That’s what I do.   I switch from maternal line to paternal line and ancestor to ancestor.

As I researched, I began to make assumptions that Sarah was a Speaks by birth.  I don’t know why, but I couldn’t find anything that led me to believe that Speaks was her married name.   I started going thru census after census.  I looked in both VA and NC.

Here is a little bit of information that I used to help me research.  My grandmother, Irene Doolittle, was born in 1902.  So we can assume that her parents (Sarah and George) were married before she was born; so let just say they were married in 1901.   Effie and Richard were older so they would have had to been born in the late 1890’s.  Right?  Women traditionally married between the age of 18-20, even younger.  I'll put Sarah’s birth in the mid 1870’s.  1874-1876 or so.    Then I'll estimate her parents as being born approximately 20 years before that in the late 1840s and early 1850s.  It's ok to make assumptions.  

Now let’s talk Census.  Any  census before 1850 only has the name of the “head of house”  it will break down the house by age, sex and race.    The 1850 census is the first census that lists the names of those in the house.  But there is no relationship listed between the people in the house so you have to start making assumptions as to who these people are.  Look at the ages!  If a person is listed a age 10 and the assumed mother  is only age 20, then she isn’t the mother of that child.  However, if the father is age 30, then the child could be his.    Oh what a tangled web ..but is the assumed older woman the mother or is she the sister and all of the people listed are siblings.  Who knows?  Not you until you keep researching!

Why do we keep at this, because all “genealogists” have a thirst for knowledge that goes beyond who our parents and grandparents were.  We ask those other questions, who were the other people our ancestors surrounded themselves with?  In many cases, these other people may end up being one of your long lost grandparents.  DYNAMICS!  Understand the time period, what is happening, where people are living, how available is transportation, did a sibling marry into a family that lived in another county, state, etc.   The farther back in time you go the smaller the “Marriage pool” is and the closer knit the community is.   Yes, you will find that your grandparents are first cousins.  You will find a grandfather whose wife died and he remarried “her sister” or “cousin”.  That’s life at the time.  Deal with it!  

If my assumptions are correct, I will need to look in the 1880 census for the first glimpses of Sarah.  I’m assuming she was born in NC not VA.  Why I don’t know, but that’s where I start.  I used ancestry and Familysearch.org to research.  I didn’t find a lot of Sarah Speaks in my search so based on the 1880 census I went with the assumption that Sarah was the daughter of Richmond Speaks. 

By the way for all those just starting out:  There is NO 1890 Census!  It’s our stumbling block and we research around it.  . 

This is a transcription of the census.  Note the “mother” Tabitha M Speaks.  This name will drive me crazy in future searches.  Always, and I mean Always look at the actual census. 

So I kept researching...hoping to find something, anything on Sarah.  Look what I stumbled upon.  A Obituary of Effie.   

Now I have a path to follow.  But that still doesn’t connect me to George Washington Doolittle.  And who are Effie and Richard’s father.  The search continues, but it doesn’t affect me so I keep on going.  Mama said that Effie was Effie Doolittle.  Was she adopted or is this just the name mama assumed was Effie’s last name.  She married Walter Blaylock so that how I knew her. 

I’m on the right track.  Sarah is Sarah Speaks.  

Now I need to “officially” find the  proof connect her to George Doolittle.  (fyi the DAR would accept this obituary as proof since it was written by someone who knew her.  It gives all the right info, name, spouse, parents, children and siblings.  A little more dates would be nice).

Since all of this started I’ve managed to find a lot of other information on Sarah Speaks and George Doolittle.   George was still a mystery until my Aunt sent me an article that my Great Aunt Geraldine gave to the local paper.

Now we are getting somewhere.  Thanks to Great Aunt Geraldine Bailey for the article and Aunt Bonnie for forwarding a copy to me.  So much information.  But hearsay!  Need those proofs.  So I'll keep  researching..

Next I found the marriage records for George and Sarah.  Guilford County, North Carolina.

Note the parents of Sarah are Richmond and Malinda Speaks.  (Darn couldn’t they have said what Malinda’s maiden name was…..a search for another day).  Also gives the name of parents of George as Isaac Doolittle and Huldah Doolittle (Grrrrrr).   

So I keep researching and a volunteer from Findagrave.com was nice enough to take a picture of George and Sarah's grave markers and post it for me.

Note, the dates for George will come back to haunt me later on.   George and later Sarah were buried on their own property as were most people who owned pieces of land.  Later they were be re-interned to a local cemetery. 

I'll switch to researching George for a while.   I could never figure out why George decided to come down to NC.  What was the impetus?  If I take these dates into consideration, I might assume that he was in the Northern Army during the Civil War and liked the area so decided to move here.  However, if you take in the time period, what would make a man, who lived in NY State want to move to NC.  There is always a reason.  You just have to find it.

So we have Sarah in the 1880 census, but where is George.  I’ll start with the first known census of George with his parents Isaac and Huldah.  The first time I find him is in the 1860 census.    

It says that George W is age 5……that would make him born in 1855….but the grave marker says 1846.     So let's look at the 1850 census for Isaac and Huldah and see what we find.   

 If you look at the 1850 census, George isn’t there.  But he is in the 1860 leading you to the understanding that whoever put in the grave marker didn’t have the correct information.   

Still tracking George.  Where is the family in 1870.   I can’t find an 1870 Census, but I can find the 1875 New York Census….I’ll take that….Note George W is age 20.  (born 1855)

If George is 20 in 1875, he would have been too young to be in the Civil War.     So why does George leave everything he knows to go south.  My Great Aunt says he comes after his father dies.  Maybe.  INTERESTED YET!  What About Sarah!  Don’t worry about Sarah she hasn't been born.  So let’s keep going and  learn more about George.  We’ll get back to Sarah later.  

Let’s take a look at George in 1880.  

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.  George is seen living next to his parents with a “WIFE”.  He is living in his own home, but on the same land as his parents.   SHOCK!  We all knew Sarah had been married before, but George?  (check the next page of the census)

So in 1880, George is married with 2 year old daughter.   Let’s go forward to 1890…NO there is no 1890 Census.  What about the 1900 census.  Haven’t found him there either nor have I found a Maggie Baker Doolittle.  Never saw Maggie again.     I did find an Annie May McDowell age 21, married 1 year born in 1878.     This is the last time that I’ve found Annie May McDowell.  

Here is what I think happened.  George’s wife dies, his father dies and maybe his daughter dies.  There is nothing to keep him from heading to a new life. 

So where is George in 1900.   I HAVE NO CLUE!  He might be in NC as my aunt says or in transition from NY or still in NY.  I will probably never know why George moved south or when, but I’m glad he did.  

So what is happening with Sarah.  Since there is no 1890 census, lets jump to 1900 and see if we can find her.  Here is the story.  Sarah is living with her parents Richmond and Bither (not Tabatha) Speaks, her sister Mary J and her children and nieces and nephews.   Take a look further.  Mary J is listed as a “Widow” and Sarah is listed as “Divorced” having 2 children.  Sarah’s children are Ethey L (Effie Lee) age 4 and William R (Richard) age 4 months.  The assumption is that the rest of the children are Mary J’s.    

Can you imagine what Sarah’s life must have been like to be divorced in 1900?       Richard is born in 1900, Sarah and George are married in 1901 and another child is born in 1902.  Boy they worked fast in those days.

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Last year Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe, released (sold) many of the vital records to Ancestry.   Before that point, we had to pay to get a copy of Death Certificates at $12.00 each.  If you can image the money that could involve.  If they can't find the DC, they keep the money.    In one night I was able to get DC's for most of my Grandparents, Great Grandparents and even some of my Great Great Grandparents.  It was a good day and I don't think I went to bed that night at all.  

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George Washington Doolittle’s Death Certificate.

Died in 1932 – my mom would have been 5 at this point

Died of Pneumonia - so far my mom’s memory is correct.

Parents:  Match the marriage records AND it lists his mom as Huldah Bennett of Middletown NY.   (I sent all of this information to the Doolittle family historian and he was delighted.)

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Sarah Speaks Doolittle Death Certificate

Died in 1959 – I was born in 1957

Born Aug 1875

Parents:  Richmond Speaks and Melanda “RASH”

So There you have it; the Story of Sarah Speaks and George Doolittle.

This is no way the end of Sarah and George.  These are the basic facts.  There is so much more to their history and I plan to keep on researching.  How and when did George and Sarah meet. I don't know.    But I will tell you that my research into the Speaks family has led me to St. Mary's City in Maryland to the "Smoots".  Re-read Aunt Geraldine's article, it mentions the "Smoot Plantation".  Coincidence?   I don't know because I'm still researching.  

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 Perhaps you have information, pictures or insights to share.  If so, I would love to talk with you.    

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Wait!   You started out saying that Effie's granddaughter wanted information.  Did you ever find it?  

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Just to finish the story.  I found a Tennessee marriage record for Sarah Ann Speaks to Gilbert Sammons  for Nov 1, 1894.   Effie was born in June 16, 1895.  (You do the math.... but everyone knows that a newly married women can do in 8 months what takes other women 9 months to do).    Who was Gilbert Samons/Samuels.  I don’t know and unless Effie’s granddaughter asks for help.  This is as far as I’ll go.  

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Hoped you enjoyed the walk thru my research and weren't too bored.
  More to come in the next months on other members or our family.