larose575 on Family Tree Circles

About this time last year I had the opportunity to visit Humboldt, Iowa where I believed Virginia Jacobson might be buried. I did not find her there. With the publication and indexing of the 1940 Federal Census, I have found a tiny little bit of information that for now is another brick wall. In 1940, Virginia had a granddaughter named Monaca (sic) Jacobson living with her and my great grandfather. Monaca was 9 years old at the time and is listed as being born in Michigan. Not much information but it is something.

Guess this is another brick wall that will have to rest for a while. Seems that just when you least expect it, a family member pops up with information so maybe that will be the case here.

Still routinely running searches on this gentleman who is my 3rd great grandfather. What I know is that his name is definitely Jonathan J. Hall and most likely Jonathan Jackson Hall as I have found census records where he actually used Jackson as a first name and another that listed him as Jonathan Jackson Hall Sr. The birth date and death date I have are from his gravestone and may or may not be entirely correct. I suspect the death date is not correct as I have not found documentation of his death in any of the neighboring counties where he lived and is buried. Neither have I found any documentation of his birth. I have found documentation of his marriage to Rachel VanZant on 27 Aug 1835 in Knox County, Ohio.

One day, after going over census records of another family member and noting that families, especially farmers, tended to stay together I took a close look at the earliest census record I have for Jonathan (Federal Census for 1840). I started checking our the neighbors on the census and I might have gotten a teeny tiny niche in this brick wall. After doing some research on on a Richard Hall and a Samuel Hall who were neighbors to Jonathan, I found a gentleman by the name of Lorenzo Garton who ha Richard Hall living with him in 1850. Lorenzo's wife was Hannah Hall and I am thinking that Richard is her father since there is about a 25 year age difference.

This all has me wondering if Richard might have been a grandfather to Jonathan. This would make Hannah (Hall) Garton his aunt and Lorenzo Garton his uncle. My rationale for thinking this way is that Jonathan's children are named: Hannah Adeline Hall; Jonathan Jackson Hall; Lorenzo Garton Hall; and Ida Leilla Hall.

This all clicked after I exchanged email with a distant cousin who married into the family and had researched the way the English generally named their children. Apparently the English naming tradition was to name your children after your aunts and uncles. Unfortunately, I have not been able to connect this family with Jonathan yet. You can bet I will be working on that and hoping to find more bits and pieces as I do.

Dear Journal:

Thanksgiving is upon us and this is my first journal entry. Although I have to work for the actual holiday, we will be visiting in Humboldt, Iowa. I am hoping to have some time to search for Grandma Virginia's grave site while we are down there. I have no idea if she is buried there or not. Since I will be there, I would like to walk through a few cemeteries and see if she is buried there. I know my Great Grandpa is buried in New Ulm, Minnesota with his first wife, Mary Kaltrider. His son, Daniel, is also buried there with his two wives but I have never seen a marker for a Virginia in the area. I must admit I have never specifically looked for one either so perhaps a trip to New Ulm is called for here.

Mystery women are who I tend to gravitate toward during my genealogical research. Grandma Virginia was my Great Grandfather's second wife. I know that Great Grandpa Willhite ran a "cabin court" and gas station in Humboldt, Iowa which he eventually handed down to his oldest son, Daniel. Recently I found a "Birthday Book" that belonged to my mother and Grandma Virginia was listed in the book as "Grandma Virginia". My mother would have been 11 years old when Grandma Virginia died so I have to assume that she did know her. My aunt on that side also remembers travelling to Humboldt to see "Uncle Dan" and she did know that the "cabin court" and gas station once belonged to Great Grandpa Willhite.

That, in a nutshell, is all I know of Grandma Virginia. I was lucky enough to cross paths with one of Uncle Dan's granddaughters who had pictures of Grandma Virginia with Great Grandpa Willhite. Many thanks for that since I really love looking at old photos.