Weeks 16 and 17 – 2020: Air and Land #52Ancestors

You would think with all of this time on my hands I could stick to the schedule and post my weekly blog, well, weekly. Not sure where all my time goes, but I can assure you that it is not going to anything productive. Not one single excuse to offer.

Anyway. 

 When I thought about “air” I thought about our European ancestors who came from cramped cities to the wide-open spaces of America. When I thought about “land” I had the same thought about the same people who had no land in the “Old Country” nor prospects for acquiring any. Lucky for me: the prompts for Week 16 and 17. 

My mother-in-law’s ancestors were predominantly English; sometimes immigrating as a family, but other times meeting and marrying in the U.S. John Bryant and Catherine Ann Appleby, my husband’s second great-grandparents represent both those situations. Born in 1831 in Padbury, Buckinghamshire, England, John immigrated (likely by himself) sometime in the mid-1850’s.[1] One of six children born to James and Mary (Evans) Appleby in Staffordshire, England, Catherine came to the U.S. in 1858 with her parents and siblings when she was twelve.[2] Both John and the Appleby family eventually made their way to Nebraska and settled in Douglas County, Nebraska Territory.[3]

 By all appearances, John and Catherine were your “typical” Nebraska farmers at the time: they had a large family and owned a 380-acre farm where they raised cows, pigs, and chicken and grew “Indian” corn, oats, rye and wheat (among other things).[4]Of course, no one is just “typical” and they present a bit of a mystery that I haven’t quite figured out.

 When Catherine was twenty and living in Omaha and John thirty-two and farming near Elkhorn City they applied for and received a marriage license on 22 August 1863.[5] In September of the following year, they had the first of their nine children, Arthur James Bryant.[6] Okay. Fine. Then, in December of 1876, while Catherine was eight-months pregnant with their seventh child, they again applied for a marriage license.[7] They were married on 5 January 1877 by Peter Van Fleet, a minister with the Methodist Episcopal Church.[8]

 This is odd and is going to take some teasing out.

 One reason I find it strange is that Catherine’s grandfather, Levi Appleby, was allegedly a minister with the Wesleyan Church having been converted by John and Charles Wesley themselves in 1747.[9] It’s also worth noting, although not surprising, the 1863 marriage date is cited in John Bryant’s biography.[10]

 As near as I can figure out, the closest town to the Appleby and Bryant families was Elk City and it did not have a ME church until 1888, meaning that members of that denomination had to rely on circuit/traveling ministers.[11] I guess in all those fourteen years since they first applied for their marriage license no minister came through. Well I don’t actually believe that, but I’ve got no other ideas. 

[1] I think. I haven’t found his immigration papers or a ship’s manifest with him on it, but he is enumerated in the 1851 English census and then the 1860 U.S. census. 1851 census of England, Buckinghamshire, Padbury, folio 287, p. 5, John Briant in household of father; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 April 2020). 1860 U.S. census, Douglas County, Nebraska Territory, population schedule, p. 117, dwelling 1208, family 840, John Bryant; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 April 2020), citing National Archives microfilm publication M653, roll not noted.

[2] Manifest, S.S. Kangaroo, 9 June 1858, p. 1, line 12, Kate Appleby, age 12; digital images, “New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 April 2020); citing National Archives microfilm publication M237, “Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897,” Roll 184.

[3] Nebraska became a state in 1867. Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), “Nebraska,” rev. 22:30, 22 April 2020.

[4] 1885 Nebraska state census, Douglas Co., Elkhorn Precinct, Schedule 2 (Agricultural), enumeration district 234, p. 8, John Bryant; digital images, “Nebraska, State Census Collection, 1860-1885,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 April 2020).

[5] Douglas County, Nebraska, Marriage Records, 1857-1872, p. 109, license granted to John Bryant and Kate Appleby, 22 August 1863; digital images, “Nebraska, Marriage Records, 1855-1908,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 April 2020); citing Nebraska, Marriage Records, 1855-1908, State Library and Archive, Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln. Elkhorn City, Elkhorn Station, and Elk City were different names for the same place. 

[6] 1900 U.S. census, Douglas Co., Nebraska, population schedule, Elkhorn Precinct, enumeration district 102, p. 247 (stamped), p. 4A (penned), dwelling 66, family 67, Arthur J. Bryant; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 April 2020); citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll not noted.

[7] Douglas County, Nebraska, Marriage Records, 1875-1879, license granted to John Bryant and Catherine Appleby, 30 December 1876; digital images, “Nebraska, Marriage Records, 1855-1908,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 April 2020); citing Nebraska, Marriage Records, 1855-1908, State Library and Archive, Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Albert Watkins, Ph.B., L.L.B, History of Nebraska: From the Earliest Explorations to the Present Time with Portraits, Maps, and Tables, Volume III (Lincoln, NE: Western Publishing and Engraving Company, 1913), “Appleby, James,” 498-499; digital images, GooglePlay (https://play.google.com/books : accessed 8 October 2014). To be honest, the only reference I can find that says Levi Appleby was a minister is this biography of his son which may not be trustworthy. 

[10] Watkins, “Bryant, John,” 574.

[11] Despite a diligent search, the only thing I can find is that there once was a Methodist Episcopal church in Elk City - established in 1888 but closed 1990. Records relating to that church are in the United Methodist archives in Lincoln (currently closed due to the coronavirus). “UMAC Archival Catalog,” United Methodist Church (http://catalog.gcah.org:8080/exist/umac/umac.xql?start=4241&howmany=10 :accessed 20 April 2020).

An amazing photo from the Elkhorn Women’s Club, Elkhorn Centennial book, p. 3, digitized at http://www.elkhornhistory.org/67history/67-history.pdf

From the Elkhorn Women’s Club Centennial Book.