On this day in 1873, my third great-grandfather Uriah Ware passed away in Gloucester township, New Jersey.

Uriah Ware obituary from the Camden Democrat 12 Apr 1873

He was the husband of Mary V. Coleman and they had nine children who lived into adulthood. Uriah was a farmer near Turnersville, New Jersey. As best as I can tell from comparing an old atlas to current maps, the Atlantic City Expressway now goes through the old Ware farmstead. The banner image on this site is of this area, described on the back of the original photo as “near Ware home.”

He was buried in St. John’s Methodist Church Cemetery in Turnersville.

Gravestone of Uriah Ware by Find A Grave user Horace Reven

I am not one for the whole bucket list idea, but as we pass from one year to the next I recognize there are some genealogical mysteries I would like to solve in my lifetime.  Here is an incomplete list in no particular order. Some are things that are likely never to be answered. Some are only a matter of time.

1. The disinheriting of Charles H. Ware.  In his will, Uriah Ware very explicitly excluded his son Charles. For the longest time, I was unable to prove the whereabouts of Charles after he left home. I have since discovered him in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania which seems a long way from Camden County, New Jersey. How did he end up there and why did his father disown him? I may never know.

2. What happened to Frances Funston? Joseph Funston was married twice according to his Civil War pension file. His first marriage to Frances ended in divorce. She was the mother of his children and according to what was found in the pension file, did not appear to contest the divorce. Joseph remarried right away. I have never found Frances in any record after the divorce in 1872, not alone or with any of her children who were by then grown. She likely remarried, but to whom I have no idea. (Update 7/17/14: I found her!)

3.  May Whitaker? When talking about her family, my grandmother always said there was a Whitaker in there somewhere. On death and marriage records for her uncles and mother, it was their mother who was listed as May (or Mary) Whitaker. I have her on the 1880 census with her husband Joseph and children, and with a Mary Partington who is identified as Joseph’s Mother-In-Law. Then she died in 1886. Did her mother remarry a man named Partington? Was the family wrong and May’s last name was really Partington? I have found no other records of her or her mother, under Whitaker or Partington. May was born in England around 1852. I have no immigration date so I do not know if she came over as a child or adult. Based on the ages of their children, she and Joseph married around 1871. There is still a lot more searching to be done on this one.

4. What ethnicity and religion were the Carmans? There are several Carman lines in the eastern United States. There was an Englishman who settled in Long Island and his ancestors stretched south into New Jersey and east into Pennsylvania. There was a German who landed in Philadelphia whose name became anglicized as Carman. My Carmans have been in the Philadelphia area a long time. My latest research suggests they were in Montgomery County in the late eighteenth century and likely well before that. Are they connected to the Germans, the English or some other Carman line? My 3rd great-grandparents were Catholic and their church was set on fire during the Riots of 1844. From what I read, it was the two Irish churches which were targeted while the nearby German church was left untouched. Were they Irish? My 2nd great-grandfather married a German Protestant. Was this when the Carmans became Protestant? The more I learn about this family, the more questions I have.

5. French! My grandmother had no idea where her Carmans came from and she knew there was a Whitaker but not who it was. Another thing she always used to say was that she had French in her, but she did not know from which line. My family ethnicity is fairly boring: lots of German, English, Irish, Scottish and way back on my father’s side a bit of Scandinavian  But mostly just lots and lots of Germany and British Isles. What I am trying to say is that French would be exotic. Ironically, the closest I have come to finding it has been through the only ancestors I have traced back to Germany: the Hornefs.  The area of Germany they lived in was near the border which by the little I have read moved around a bit. There was also the movement of people as Protestants sought safe havens. I have found church record indexes with their names in German and French. (Georg Peter/George Pierre) Is this the French my grandmother heard about? Since most of my grandmother’s ancestry has brick walls in the United States I may never know for sure.

6. The princess in the hogshead. I’ll end on this one, because it’s a bit silly. In the seventeenth century a young Swedish princess had to flee her home due to political troubles. She stowed away on a ship by hiding in a hogshead. The ship wrecked off the New Jersey coast and she washed up alive but destitute. A trapper, John Garrison, found her and eventually married her. And thus, all Garrisons in Southern New Jersey are descended from Swedish royalty. Or, so we claim. Who is ever going to prove otherwise? 🙂

Thanks to the databases that the Gloucester County Historical Society is putting online, I was able to obtain a death date for Mary V. WARE, wife of Uriah and mother of George W. WARE. I sent away for her death certificate, and it confirmed that her last name was indeed COLEMAN, as my grandfather had indicated in the brief notes that have passed to me. Mary’s parents were Jacob and Rebecca COLEMAN. My grandfather’s notes also indicate that one of the Colemans lived 1799-1899, and I am surmising that it was Rebecca, who I found in the 1880 census, although the dates don’t match up perfectly. Lots more to investigate here.

13030
Last Will and Testament of Uriah Ware, dec’d.

Proved April 23rd AD 1873 And Recorded in the Surrogate’s office of Camden County New Jersey in Book “E” of Wills page 106 [etc]
David B. Brown
Surrogate

——————————————————————————–
Know all men by these presents, that I, Uriah Ware, of the Township of Gloucester, in the County of Camden and State of New Jersey, being in Ill health, but of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make and publish this my Last Will and Testament, in manner following. That is to say:
First, my Will is that all my just debts and funeral expenses shall, by my Executors herein after named, be paid out of my Estate, as soon after my decease as shall by them be found convenient.
Item. I give, devise, and bequeath to my beloved wife Mary V. Ware; all my Personal and Real Estate whatsoever and wheresoever; to have and hold the same to her for and during the term of her natural life, or so long as she remains my Widow: to be for the sole use of herself and my children. (excepting my son Charles H. Ware, who is to have no benefit of the same.)
Item. after the Death or marriage of my said wife; I order and my Will is that the whole of my Estate remaining shall be equally divided between and among my said Children, or their legal representative; (except my son Charles H. Ware who is not to have any share thereof.) To wit: George W. Ware, Uriah Ware, Albert Ware, Mary Etta Ware, Emma Laura Ware, Eliza Ware, Clara G. Ware, and John H. Ware: to have and to hold the same to them their heirs and assigns forever.
Provided always, and my Will is that whenever it is nessary [sic] for the support and Education of my said children, my Executor may sell and convey any Lands and Real Estate so as aforesaid devised and make good and sufficient deed or deeds to the purchase thereof.
And Lastly, I do nominate and appoint my said wife Mary Ware Executrix and my Friend George Hurff Executor of this my Last Will and Testament. In Testimony whereof I, the said Uriah Ware have to this, my Last Will and Testament, subscribed my name and affixed my seal this third day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy three (1873)
[signed by] Uriah Ware
signed, sealed, published, declared by the said Uriah Ware as and for his Last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, who, at his request and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names as Witnesses thereto.
[signed by] Gerrard Williams
[signed by] Edward Turner

Record transcribed from photocopy from Camden County Deeds Book N, p203-04, Family History Library Film #854549.

THIS INDENTURE MADE The Twenty fifth day of July in the Year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and fifty one. BETWEEN Charles B. Neale of the City of Philadelphia in the County of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, of the one part, And Uriah Ware of the County of Camden in the State of New Jersey of the other part, WITNESSETH, that the said Charles B. Neale, for and inconsideration of the sum of Two hundred and fifty Dollars, lawful money of the United States, current in New Jersey, to him in hand paid by the said Uriah Ware, at and before the ensealing and delivery hereof, the receipt and payment
whereof is hereby acknowledge, hath granted, bargained, sold, enfeoffed, aliened, released, conveyed and confirmed, and by these presents doth grant, bargain, sell, alien, enfeoff, release and confirm unto the said Uriah Ware, and to his heirs and assigns, All the following described tract or piece of Land, Situate in the Township of Gloucester in the County of Camden and State of New Jersey.
and is thus bounded, viz: BEGINNING at a Stake for a corner in the middle of the Brooklin Road and Corner to Gerard Williams lot; thence (1) along the middle of said road, North forty eight and a half degrees West, three chains and eight links to the middle of the bridge over Timber Creek; thence down the middle of said Creek, the several courses and distances thereof to a Maple old marked on the Easterly side of said Creek Corner to late Bates land; thence (3) along the line of said land late Bates, (now Franklin Wilkins) north eighty seven degrees East eighteen chains and fifty links to a Stake in the line of late Samuel Fenimores land, and corner to said Wilkins land; thence (4) by said
Fenimores land, South fourteen degrees and three quarters West, nine chains and thirty four links to a stake Corner in said Fenimore’s land and corner to the afore said Williams lot; thence by said Williams lot (5) North forty nine and a half degrees west, two chains and seventy three links to a Small black oak; thence (6) South fifty one degrees and a quarter West; thirteen chains to the place of beginning CONTAINING Twenty five acres of Land, be the same more or
less: Being the same tract or piece of Land which the said Charles B. Neale, purchased of Abraham Brown & wife, by Deed, dated the Twenty fourth day of August in the Year of our Lord, Eighteen hundred and fifty, duly executed and intended to be recorded in the Clerks Office of the said County of Camden, reference thereto will more fully appear. TOGETHER with all and Singular, the houses, Out houses, edifices and buildings thereon erected, and being, and all ways, waters, water-courses, woods, fences, gardens, minerals, rights, privileges,
advantages, hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining, and the reversions and remainders, rents, issues and profits thereof, And also, all the estate, right, title, interest, use, trust, property, possession, claim and demand whatsoever of the said Charles B. Neale, in law, equity or otherwise howsoever, of, in, to, or out of the same, To have and to hold the said tract of Land, hereditaments mad premises, hereby granted and released, or mentioned or intended so to be, with the appurtenances, unto the said Uriah Ware his heirs and assigns, to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the said Uriah Ware, his heirs and assigns forever. And the said
Charles B. Neale, for himself his heirs, executors, and administrators, doth covenant, grant, promise and agree to and with the said Uriah Ware, his heirs and assigns, by these presents that he the said Charles B. Neale, and his heirs, the said tract of Land, hereditaments and premises hereby granted and released, or mentioned or intended so to be, with the appurtenances unto the said Uriah Ware, his heirs and assigns, against him the said Charles B. Neale, and his heirs, and against all and every other person or persons whomsoever
lawfully claiming or to claim the same, shall and will warrant and forever defend, by these presents. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the said Charles B. Neale to these presents, hath hereunto set his hand and seal. Dated the day and year first above written. Chas B. Neale. (LS) Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of J.K. Cowperthwait: State of New Jersey. Camden County, S.S.
On this Twenty eight day of July AD. Eighteen hundred and fifty one. Personally appeared before me the subscriber one of the Judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas of said County Charles B. Neale, who is personally known to me to be the grantor in the within deed, named, and who the contents thereof being by me first made known unto him acknowledged that he signed, sealed and delivered the same as his voluntary set and deed for the uses and purposes therein expressed. All of which is certified by me J.K. Cowperthwait;
Received July 28th, Ao. Do: 1851 and recorded by B. Browning CLK