Aug 2003

RAMBLINGS ON CORA'S CONTRIBUTORS AND A DISCUSSION OF BIBLES

Cora Hiatt's 1925 History, despite its mistakes, remains a valuable resource for the preservation of the family tree. Though we now have the Harris book, there are things in Cora's book that were not carried over into the Harris book in terms of daughter lines and descriptive detail. [I have 1024 descendent names in my file from Cora's book not included in the later Harris book. Any researcher would do well to have both books.] It is tragic that the basis for this wonderful asset of Cora's was lost in a fire at the Lake Erie home of Joyce Carol Chenoweth in 1976. This basically leaves Cora's book unsourced, and we are left to ponder where her information came from.

Every once in a while something of value comes to light in this regard. Recently Carolyn Buschbacher of Ohio contacted me, stating her uncle, Richard Laurence Chenoweth, had a two-hundred year old Chenoweth Bible (the cover gives a publishing date of 1792) and sent me copies of the family pages. It turns out to be the probable bible of Richard Beasman, the son of Arthur Chenoweth and Ann Beasman.

Cora had misplaced this line, probably because of the misplacement of Arthur, Jr., as the Arthur who died in Bartholomew Co., IN. We will probably never know exactly how this gross error evolved. This Arthur line also involved a Bible, and the information was transmitted to Cora as well [more on this later]. However the key date, that of the birth of Arthur, was not used. I do not think this was an omission on the part of Cora, I believe rather it was deliberately left out of the transmitted information and the claim made that this was Arthur, Jr. The intent may have been either to match into a line that served in the American Revolution or to position the family close to the Baltimore lands and the bogus land claims. This omission and the subsequent placement of Arthur, Jr into Kentucky and Indiana left Cora with only one choice when placing Arthur Chenoweth and Ann Beasman in Baltimore, the only slot available was that of Richard(2)'s son. It is probable that this unfortunate event became the chain reaction that nudged Cora into misplacing her own ancestor, William of Hampstead, and Arthur's brother, Thomas of Frederick Co., into Richard's line as well. Cora tells us, when she started out, she did not know where William belonged, but she may have been aware of "near" relatives. In her mind, the placement of one may have forced the placement of the others.

There were (and still are) lots of Chenoweths in Baltimore, but Cora unfortunately missed most of them. She missed the exodus of the family of Richard's son, John, to Washington Co., TN. She missed the exodus of Arthur's son, Richard, to Knox Co., TN [One of the great achievements of the research of Shirley Harris was to restore the Tennessee Chenoweth lines.] Cora also missed Richard's first family in Baltimore before he absconded to Tennessee. Today this line is the largest grouping of Chenoweths in Baltimore. Alas, though it is a major part of the early family, Baltimore is where the biggest gap of family information exists today. Cora's 1925 "History", a key to the early family knowledge, both missed and misplaced major parts of the lines there from Arthur and Richard, the two original sons who had remained behind when the rest of the family moved to Virginia. The Harris book left these errors intact and misplaced the added Baltimore lines of Richard [in reality Arthur's son] as the son of Richard(2)'s son John.

Back to Carolyn Buschbacher's information, the bible pages listed the children of Arthur, Jr. and Richard Beasman, giving full dates for each. These indeed are in Cora's book with a typo of the date for Charlotte Chenoweth, one of the daughters of Richard Beasman Chenoweth. Her birth was February 27, 1811 not the 1819 printed in Cora's book. This makes Benjamin Thomas Chenoweth, who received the bible, the youngest child of Richard Beasman Chenoweth and Sarah Belt. In the listing of Arthur, Jr's children was Walter Bosley Chenoweth. [Note neither Arthur himself nor his wife Ann Beasman are included.] Also included in what Carolyn sent was a notation by Louisa B. Chenoweth stating "that Ann Beasman must have died in 1774 or 1775" and giving the marriage of Delilah (Helm) Bosley to Arthur Chenoweth on July 29, 1778. [We know that this is not quite right, as Ann Beasman was at least alive on October 31, 1777 from Baltimore land documents as researched by Jane Ryan.] Though this is not part of the original bible, it tells us that it was Louisa Bell Chenoweth who was in contact with Cora Hiatt.

LOUISA BELL7 CHENOWETH (WILLIAM HALL6, HENRY5, RICHARD BEASMAN4, ARTHUR3, ARTHUR2, JOHN1) was born March 1857 in Cook Co., IL and died February 22, 1943 in River Forest, Cook Co., IL.

Indeed if you look at Cora's book you will find the detail of the family of Henry Chenoweth and his Chicago descendants, just as Louisa must have sent them in. The family of Richard Belt Chenoweth was added by a contact somehow with the family of his son Ferdinand. Not included was the Baltimore family of Benjamin Thomas Chenoweth, whose family was actually in possession of the bible. Richard Belt's family and Henry's family are not in the bible itself, though the family of Benjamin Thomas is there.

I am thankful to Carolyn for the information. It always helps to be able to pierce the veil and realize whom Cora was in contact with and, if possible, the sense of what that information was. If only we had access to the treasure of the letters she received.

SPEAKING OF BIBLES, Cora Hiatt specially mentions several various early diaries and Bibles in her book, none of which have ever shown up. On page 37 she states "�the fact remains, that two diaries and one Bible record gives, that John Chenoweth, gent., of Cornwall County, England, married a daughter of Charles Calvert, third Lord of Baltimore, while another says he married Mary Calvert, the daughter of the same. The diaries belong to the families of Arthur and Thomas, while the Bible record belonged to his eldest son John, whose birth is given as 1706."

(This is a story I mentioned at the Bowling Green Reunion)

About 1998 I was calling Chenoweths in the state of Washington and contacted a Scott Chenoweth who lives in Snohomish and owns Chenoweth Construction. Snohomish is about 30 miles north of Woodinville (where I live). He didn't know about his Chenoweth ancestry but told me to call his father in Anacortes. His father was OL Chenoweth. No name, just the two letters, which was the only name he went by. We determined that his father was Oscar Long of Texas, and I had that Oscar in the database. Apparently this meant he was married twice, once in Texas and once in the Northwest.

In June 2000, I ran across the name of an Elizabeth Mackey Chenoweth, who married Jack Dearing Brownfield, in the records of Texas births by Chenoweth daughters. So I called her to find out who she was. Well surprise! She was a daughter of Oscar Long Chenoweth! Oscar had a son and a daughter in Texas (actually Kansas, I think she said) by his first marriage. He then deserted his family and left for the West Coast, when the children were quite young. Needless to say, Elizabeth did not have any great memories of Oscar Long. What is curious is that the Texan son was really Oscar Long, Jr. He lives in Midland and goes by the name "OL".

Later I re-contacted the "OL" in Anacortes, WA and it turns out his name is actually Oscar Long "OL" Chenoweth, Jr as well. So, there are two sons with exactly the same name and nickname, born 11 years apart, both still living. "OL" (in Anacortes or #2) didn't find his real name until he was 37 and got a copy of his birth certificate.

This is not the first instance of a Chenoweth father naming two sons the same name. There is the case of William S. of Warren Co., OH who had a son John by Catherine Rinker and another John by Ann McCool, but the 2nd John was born after the 1st one died. This is the "normal case" in such matters. But this is the first time I have run across two Chenoweth sons by the same father, both living, who have virtually the same name. Quite a story and I am glad to get it straight. I knew there was a first son, but I did not know he was alive and went by "OL" and that albeit his real name was Oscar Long, Jr. This would drive researchers NUTS if they didn't know the story.

These half siblings have never been in contact with each other�.BY THE WAY: Albert Heller Chenoweth, a brother to the Pacific Northwest "OL", is heading up the organization of the Portland Reunion. (Thank you Albert)

OSCAR LONG7 CHENOWETH (JAMES WILLIAM6, THOMAS LEWIS5, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN4, THOMAS3, THOMAS2, JOHN1) was born May 27, 1888 in Texas and died September 15, 1971 in Seattle, King Co., WA. He married (1) MARY ELIZABETH MOORE in Decatur, Wise Co., TX, daughter of JOHN MOORE & MISSOURI ?. She was born November 09, 1886 in Texas, and died May 30, 1979 in Tarrant Co., TX. He married (2) MAYBELLE HELLER. She was born October 30, 1902 and died July 10, 1974.

Children of OSCAR CHENOWETH and MARY MOORE are:

1. OSCAR LONG "OL" CHENOWETH, JR., b. June 03, 1919, Texas
2. ELIZABETH MACKEY CHENOWETH, b. 1920, Texas

   Children of OSCAR CHENOWETH and MAYBELLE HELLER are:

3. ALBERT HELLER CHENOWETH, b. December 25, 1927
4. OSCAR LONG "OL" CHENOWETH, JR., b. April 13, 1930, Seattle, King Co., WA
5. LILLIE MAY CHENOWETH, b. October 30, 1934

POOR RICHARD

Probably the biggest mystery in the Chenoweth family, outside of the origins of John Chenoweth, is what happened to the family of Richard, one of the five sons of the original family. He and his brother Arthur stayed in Baltimore Co., when the rest of the family moved to Virginia. Richard's family is not that as described in either Chenoweth book. Yes the names of the children are the same, but who they married and their descendants bears little resemblance to Cora's book. Of the 6 sons (Richard, Jr., John, Thomas, William, Joseph, and Arthur) Cora has not one grandson right! First, she completely missed the lines of John who died before his father. Shirley Harris picked these up and developed them as the Washington Co., TN lines, where they settled with their widowed mother's relatives (John married Francis Haile). The one son Cora ascribes to Richard, Jr is in reality the Virginia son Thomas of William, Jr. whose father, William, was a brother to Richard. The Thomas she describes as Richard's son was in reality the son of Arthur. The Arthur she describes was Arthur, Jr! The William was not the son of Richard, but the son of Arthur, Jr. It is a clean slate, the whole male family was wrong. She did have one described grandson, Benjamin Norris Chenoweth, but he was in the wrong place. Cora had switched the sons of Thomas.

Richard lived in the Back River Upper Hundred. This is where his father was found in the 1737 tax rolls. His brother, Arthur, settled in the Soldier's Delight Hundred some 11 miles to the west [JE 1/14,2004: I had corrected this in the Email version I sent out in August of 2003, but failed to correct it on the website version until now. It was incorrectly given as east. Sometimes I don't know my right from my left], near Reisterstown. Richard's land was near present day Towson. In 1773 his sons (Richard Chinworth, Jr., Arthur Chinworth, William Chinworth, and Thomas Chinworth) are living on Richard's property in the Back River Upper Hundred. Richard himself was at the Kingsbury Furnace in the Back River Lower Hundred. According to Elmer Haile, Jr., Kingsbury Furnace was one a number of blast furnaces in the area. The owner paid taxes on the managers and employees. So in this instance, though Richard was probably in residence on his own property, his own taxes and subsequent listing was at the furnace and not with his aforementioned sons.

Richard married a Kezia, her maiden name unknown. Despite the relative oddity of this name in present day naming practices, there were numerous families in Baltimore that used this name. Both Richard and his brother, Arthur, had six sons. Each named five for the original family names of the children of John Chenoweth and Mary Calvert. In the case of Arthur, the sixth name was Samuel (named for his father-in-law). In the case of Richard, the sixth name was Joseph. Was this the name of Kezia's father? Joseph was alive in 1781 when Richard wrote his will. He was to be the executor of the will, but in 1787, Richard, Jr. is cited as the executor. What happened to Joseph? Though Cora Hiatt gives names of sons, there is no trace of either Joseph or his sons today.

Today, we have three lines from Richard: The Washington Co., TN descendants of John; the lines of Benjamin Norris Chenoweth (note the Chenoweth name has died out in this line in the 20th century); then there are the lines of Hannah, a daughter, who married Joseph Ashton. The line of one of her sons, Thomas Ashton, has reconnected with the website. There are several lines of "Chenoweths" (most of these spell their name Chenowith or Chenworth) in various lines today in Baltimore that have never been connected to the family. Most probably, somehow, are descendants of Richard.

But let's look at the other possible lines. As discussed, we know those of John, Thomas, and Hannah. We know nothing of Joseph. There may be more to Thomas, as we only know what happened to one son. We also know that he and his sister, Hannah, moved to Hartford Co., MD. Like Thomas we only know lines from one son of Hannah, though there were many Ashton children. But what of the rest? In 1783 Francis, John's widow, is living with 8 children in the Delaware Upper Hundred (now Carroll County). Susanna and Hannah are married. Arthur and Thomas are living together separately from Richard, Jr in the Back River Hundreds. Richard, Jr. is living on his father's property [Merryman's Adventure and Henry's Delight] with 5 white inhabitants. This could be Kezia, his mother, Joseph, William, Kezia (the sister), and maybe a wife? Richard, Jr., Arthur and William remain puzzles.

ARTHUR: We believe Arthur married Cassandra Bosley and had at least one daughter named Elizabeth. He appears in the 1790 Census with three females in his family. In a 1790 lease from John Sutton, an Arthur is on a property called part of the Valley of Jehosphat that abuts Gunpowder Manor and extended to Gunpowder Falls, north of Towson. [This is undoubtedly Richard's son, Arthur]. That is the last we see of him. We do find a record in Mercer Co., KY of a Maryland born Elizabeth, who marries Elias Passmore and names a daughter Cassandra. This is an area where members of the Bosley family relocated.

WILLIAM: Glimpses are caught of William in the 1780s with his brother, Thomas. In 1790, there is a William with an adult male, a male child and two females, living in the general area of the Back River Hundreds. This could be William and Thomas living together. We know at this point that Thomas is married. Otherwise we are unsure of what happened to William. There are 3 Williams in Baltimore: Arthur's son, Arthur Jr's son and Richard's son. There are only two listings in the 1790 Census of a William. One seems to match what we know of the William who later settles in Hampstead and is Cora Hiatt's ancestor. The other is as discussed above. It may be that Arthur's son, William, is dead. Arthur's will would indicate that he died before Arthur's death in 1801. Cora Hiatt gives this William two marriages: Elizabeth Richardson and Harriet Norris. Maybe one of these belongs to Richard's son.

RICHARD, JR: Richard, Jr. is the likeliest candidate for the missing links in Baltimore Chenoweths. The last we see of him for certain is 1787. A record tells us that a Richard Chenoweth married an Elizabeth Burton and had at least one daughter in 1792. This Richard lived near the Back River Hundreds. Like William, there are three apparent Richards in Baltimore at these times: Arthur's son, Richard's son and the son of John and Frances. Actually there is a fourth Richard, Richard Beasman, the son of Arthur, Jr., who has just married in February of 1790. Arthur's son, Richard, was the executor of Arthur's will and inherited the lands his father lived on. By 1790, this Richard was married with 4 daughters. It is possible, as the youngest who inherited lands, he is living with his aged parents. We do not know what happened to Richard, the son of John and Frances. He does not go to Tennessee, but appears alive, not yet of age in Richard's will of 1781. We know that Richard, Jr. is alive in 1787 through his father's estate records. There are only two listings in the 1790 Census of a Richard. No listing appears to match the records we have. It is an endless circle that can be argued to seemingly fit in many ways. The records are not clear.

Richard and Arthur present contrasting stories. Arthur prospered, as did his sons who all seemed to marry well. Arthur gave lands to his sons to help them get a start and again upon his death. We know the name of his wife and her parents. We have marriages for each of the sons. And except for the case of William, we know their children and what happened to them. Richard's land's had debt. He did not disperse them until his death and a legal wrangle between the widow Frances and the heirs seem to result in their loss. We have only fragments of what happened and in no case a complete record. His family, for the most part, disappears into the mists. The contrast in knowledge between the families of these two Baltimore brothers is stark.

Third Biennial National Chenoweth Family Reunion

Hi, cousins. Bill Chinworth here. I'm supposed to write a note for the newsletter pertaining to the preparations for Portland - 2004. A short time ago, I sent an electronic letter to Pete and said I hadn't anything to say on the matter. Then it came to me, "If you've got nothing to say, make something up".

So, here's the made up news about Portland, 2004.

Last November, Barbara and I were way behind on getting things done in preparations for doing our Christmas letter and what was going to be the Thanksgiving week routine. There were a lot of more "important" things going on.

There were four concerts to practice for amongst the small and large music ensembles we perform with. Then, as part of the annual Veteran's Day holiday, we organized a judging panel to adjudicate the marching units and floats in the annual parade. Then we had to celebrate at the University of Arizona Homecoming because our college band was one-hundred years old in 2002. Normally, some of this stuff gets tweaked in October but something happened to October last year. Maybe it was discontinued for lack of interest. Something came up.

Never-the-less, on the weekend of November 16th, 2002, I was in Portland to meet with people there in hopes of setting up a committee to create the events and logistics parameters for Portland - 2004. While there, I shot up a roll of film while hoping something would come out that would be useable for pictures on the Chenoweth Family Reunion website. It was pretty rainy and not the type of weather at all that we will experience next August.

In May, 2003, I realized I was going to have to call folks and ask questions on the status of things in Portland. A couple of calls and a couple of e-mails told me we'd have to rework the problem. But then, it was June and we were on the road to a 100th birthday party in Nebraska; a horn player's beer bust and mouthpiece swap of the Unintentional Horn society; a stop in Indiana to fix a lawn mower engine; a stay in Chicago to celebrate being married for a long time (We were strap hangers on the Ell out to Addison and Wrigley Field for the last Cubs - Yankees baseball game.); a trip to Virginia to see the grandchildren and their dance recital at Chrysler Hall, Norfolk; a run past Arlington, Texas, for a Scrabble match (The scorekeeper won as usual.), and back home to Arizona.

We spent the month of July mowing the lawn. Really. Don't believe everything you hear. It's a wet heat. Really. Part of the July malaise is that the hot dogs and beer are just not the same when the Diamondbacks keep batting the ball into the dirt in front of home plate.

So now it's August and I have finally called folks in Portland and learned that they are a committee of four, they had met, jobs had been divvied up, and they would have the facts together by the end of August. At that point, I'll go up and Jon Egge will travel down and we'll flesh out a program for the first weekend of August, 2004, and the Third Biennial National Chenoweth Family Reunion. Look towards a venue at Lewis and Clark College, bus rides to the sights, and the annual picnic out at Chenoweth, Oregon. The weather should be just like Tucson in July.

The Portland committee understands our schedule of getting the advertising out and the registration papers formatted for mailing in October this year. We seem on track.....