Migration patterns were established for different parts of the country and our family was no exception to these patterns. The lure of free land, the drive for success, the need to provide, the fearless determination and courage of our ancestors led them Westward. Leaving their families behind, they resolved to create a new future in a new land, just as their ancestors had done the same, crossing oceans to a new land, which promised success and wealth to those willing to work for it.

Our Dutch lines moved West prior to the Civil War, making new homes in Will County,Illinois and Van Buren County, Michigan. After the Civil War they made their way to King County, Washington, finally settling in San Diego County, California around 1900.

Our Scotch-Irish followed the trail from Pennsylvania through Virginia. Many remained in Virginia. Others, due to the persistant Indian attacks of the French-Indian War, made their way southward to North Carolina, where they were settled by the time of the Revolution. Following the Revolution, Bounty Land Warrants brought them into Tennessee and Georgia and then west into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas by the time of the Civil War.

Still others found their homes desolated by the Civil War and moved West into Texas where cheap land offered the hope of a promising future.

Making their way across the country and back again, the lines finally converged in Dallas, Texas. Each line having survived the turmoils of wars, weather, disease and famines in order to culminate, at least for a moment in the continuation of the line represented by our children.

Bogardus-Kemp

The Catskills near where the Bogardus family lived.

Joseph Lorance Bogardus was born in New York in 1808. Joseph was a shoemaker and married Sarah Unknown about 1829 in NY. Between 1850 and 1860, Joseph and his wife and children: Byron Franklin, H. H., Henry E., John W., Emily, Mary H., Joseph Lorance Jr., and Sarah Margaret made their way, probably by train, to Lockport, Will County, Illinois where they remained until after the Civil War. Between 1865 and 1869, Joseph and his wife, Sarah along with at least their son Byron, moved eastward to South Haven (Geneva), Van Buren, MI. Joseph died on dysentery 18 Sep 1869 in Columbia, Van Buren, MI. His widow died sometime after 1870 and is shown on the 1870 census in Columbia age 62 born in CT along with a Benjamin Bogardus, age 37 born in NY.

Catskills, Greene, NY

Byron Franklin was born 16 Apr 1836 in NY. He married before the Civil War to Mary Louise Sherman on 1 Jan 1857 in Lockport, Will, IL.

Lockport about 1860

Lockport about 1860

The Lockport Canal

Mary was only about 14 when they married according to the 1860 census of Will, IL, having been born in either NY or PA. Two daughters were born to them, Emma and Sarah or "Sadie" as well as a son, Byron Frank. Byron was called into service for the Union, serving in the 19th IL as a musician in the band. He served from 30 Sep 1861 and was discharged March 1862 whereupon he returned home. He and Mary enlarged their family adding Minerva or "Minnie". family moved to Van Buren, MI where his parents, Joseph and Sarah lived. Once settled in Van Buren, Byron and Frank had another daughter, which they named Mary May Clara, who was born in 1868.

Van Buren, MI

Tragedy was to strike the young family when, in 1869 Mary Louise died leaving Byron Franklin with five young children. The 1870 Van Buren census does not show Byron but shows the five children living with a Fannie Bogardus in the home of John A. Ball, a farmer of the age of 50 born in NY and Ann, age 45 born in England.

Lake Michigan

We have no idea where Byron was in 1870 but in 1877 Byron married Kittie Yetter, daughter of Daniel Yetter in Joplin, MO. Byron and Kittie would have no children during their marriage. The 1880 Joplin, Jasper, MO census shows Byron with his wife Kittie, a daughter Idelle and his son, Franklin Byron.

Seattle in Kings Co., WA

Seattle around the turn of the century

A train, perhaps similar to the one the Bogardus family travelled in.

Seattle was destroyed in a fire in 1889. We do not know but perhaps this was a reason why Byron and Kittie left Seattle and moved to California.

In 1883, in Kings County, WA, Mary May Clara Bogardus married Frank Warren Kemp born about 1860 in MA. Byron and Kittie were listed in the 1890 King Co., WA census according to the 1890 Veterans schedule. He and Kittie were in California by 1889, probably in San DiegoCo.

San Diego around the turn of the century.

Typical scene in San Diego

San Diego Waterway

San Diego at the turn of the Century

El Cajon around the turn of the Century

El Cajon Valley

Union RR San Diego, CA

Byron filed for a Civil War Pension in California, Application # 1,083,366, Pension Certificate #87,947.

Byron died in San Diego, CA on 14 Nov 1921, listing an address of 903 "G" St., San Diego, CA at the age of 85. His occupation is listed as retired Plasterer/ Contractor. He was buried in Mt.Hope Cemetery, San Diego. Kittie died in San Diego, CA in 1917, four years prior to her husband.

Mary May Clara Bogardus and her husband Frank Warren Kemp were in Horton, Brown, Kansas in 1889 where their only suriving son, Clarence Warren, was born. It is said that there were other children who did not survive early childhood.

May Clara was forced to put her son in St.Joseph Catholic Orphanage in Dallas in 1894. He was returned to her the following year, in 1895. In December of 1897, Mary May Clara and her husband, Frank Warren Kemp were divorced in Dallas, Dallas, TX. Reasons cited for the divorce were cruelty, battery and desertion. We can only assume that May Clara had been deserted by her husband and that financial stress forced her to place him in an orphange, not an unusual solution for the time period. It is believed that Clara went to her father's home in San Diego during the year that Clarence was in the orphanage and gained the means of regaining custody of him.

May Clara and her son, Clarence, are shown on the 1900 census in San Diego, CA living with her father, Byron Franklin and her step-mother, Kittie. It is believed that May Clara remarried sometime after 1900 to John Mills, a widow who had a son, Leo by a previous wife. May Clara died in San Diego, CA around 1943. It is said that May Clara owned an orange orchard in El Cajon at the time of her death. Her only son, Clarence, was with her at the time of her death due to cancer.

Clarence was an actor in a theater troupe that travelled the West Coast and married first a fellow actress. They had a daughter, Evelyn and later divorced, it is believed in Oregon. Clarence served in WWI in France and retured from the war to North Carolina where he was stationed until his discharge in 1919. During this time, he frequented a dime store where the beautiful 17 year old, Eva Mae McKnight worked.

Clarence and Eva Mae were married in 1919 in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC, where Eva's family had lived since 1756. The newlyweds left North Carolina and hoped to go to Oregon. They stopped in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, OK where Eva's uncle, Josiah Franklin McCall and his family were living. Clarence took on a job there with the police department and the couple stayed there in Oklahoma City where their three children were born. Clarence's daughter, Evelyn visited them in Oklahoma City and May Clara and her husband also came to visit there in Oklahoma City.

Pattersons

We are unsure of our Patterson's origins. We do know that Basil Patterson was born in GA ca 1820 and that he was married, probably in Talladega, GA about 1841 to Louise Epsey Strickland who was born in Madison, GA 22 Feb 1821. Basil and Louise had four children: Leonard Henley b.5 Dec 1842 in Round Pond, St.Clair, AL, Agripa A. b. 1843 possibly in Calhoun, AL, Mary Elizabeth b. 1844 probably in Calhoun, GA and Robert G. b. 1845 probably in Calhoun, AL.

Cotton, before the war, King of the South

 

Basil's apparant untimely death seems to have taken place between 1845 and 1849 as Louise Epsey is a widow living with her parents, Thompson C. Strickland and his wife, Elizabeth Gholston in Montgomery, AL.

By 1860, Louise and her mother, Elizabeth Strickland, now a widow, are in St.Clair, AL.

Anniston, Calhoun, AL

Anniston, Calhoun, AL

Anniston, Calhoun, AL

Alabama

Leonard Henley enlisted 15 May 1862 in Captain Avirett's Co., St.Clair Sharpshooters, which was consolidated in 1863 into the 58th Reg. AL Volunteers. Please see the Civil War section for more information on his service. Leonard walked home from Rock Island Federal Prison in Rock Island, IA to St.Clair County, AL.

Finding more opportunity further west, Leonard moved to Rusk Co., TX by 1867 when he married Martha Ann Chapman, daughter of John Chapman who had served under Gen. Sam Houston. It is known that his sister, Mary Elizabeth married William Washington Camp and moved to Grayson, TX. She was followed by brother, Agripa A. Patterson who moved to Texas shortly afterwards. It is unknown what became of Robert G. Patterson, though he may have also moved to Texas.

Leonard and Martha had children: Robert W.,Bud, John L. or W., Emmy Lou, Molly and Delia. Martha died in Rusk Co., TX before 1889 leaving Leonard with six young children.

Henderson, Rusk, TX turn of the century

Rusk County, TX

Cabin in Rusk County, TX probably similar to the one the Patterson's would have first lived in.

Train in Rusk Co. ,Tx We do not know if Lenard arrived from Alabama on a train but perhaps his mother, Lorena Strickland arrived on a train.

Leonard then married Sarah Jane Bryson Anderson, the widow of Judge William Bershen Anderson of Grayson Co., TX. Sarah and William had one daughter, Nellie. Leonard and Sarah were married 13 Nov 1889 in Chapman, Rusk, TX. Leonard and Sarah had a daughter, Callie Gertrude, born 8 Jul 1893 and a son, Agripa B. born ca 1891. Agripa died of appendicitis about 1904.

Callie Patterson was engaged to a soldier who was killed on Armistice Day in WWI. Following his death, Callie attended the University of North Texas in Denton, TX where she received a degree in education and returned to Rusk Co. where she taught elementary school. She went to Oklahoma City, OK where her brother and family were living. Her brother secured a job for her working in the capital building and it was there that Callie met and married Bernard Andrew Goodwin, an Irishman whose family had emigrated the preceding generation and settled in Oklahoma City after travelling through New York, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska.

Louise Strickland, mentioned above as the wife of Basil Patterson remained in St.Clair, AL where she married James D. Inzer in November of 1861. No children were born into that marriage. Following James' death, Louise moved to Rusk, TX with her son, Leonard Henley where she died in 1898 and is buried in Pine Hill Cemetery.

Very few settlers in GA actually lived on plantations. Most were small-scale farmers who worked the fields themselves and with their families.

As mentioned, Louise was the daughter of Thompson C. Strickland born 1795 Madison, GA and died 1850/59 in Montgomery or St.Clair, AL. Thompson married 25 Jan 1816 in Madison, GA to Elizabeth Gholston b. 1798 Madison, GA and died 1861/70 St. Clair, AL. Thompson C. and Elizabeth had the following children: Lousie Epsey, Richard, Toliver, Sarah, Ancel, Martha, Jane and Harles. Thompson C. and wife, Elizabeth, moved from Madison, GA to Talladega, AL between 1830/40 as Thompson C. and family are noted on the 1840 Talladega, AL census. The Strickland family too had been on the move, moving down from Virginia through North Carolina to Georgia and now further points West.

Forrester's

Owen Forrester was born 1822/26 in Lincoln Co., TN, the son of Eli Bud Forester b ca 1800 Franklin, GA and Mary "Polly" Jordan born 1802 NC. The family had moved to Fayetteville, Lincoln, TN prior to 1820. Eli and Polly had 10 children: Owen, Matild, Sallie, Nancy, Adaline, Mary, William, John, Peyton and Richard.

In 1845 Eli was murdered and robbed by his slaves and Polly, then 43 years of age joined her sons Peyton and Owen and their families and moved by wagon to Stone Co., MO. between 1851 and before 1853 where Polly died.

Owen Forrester married Elizabeth O'Quinn,Guinn, Green? in 1846 in Fayetteville, Lincoln, NC. They had children Nathan Benjamin, Mary H., Adeline "Babe", Eli Bud and John Brilton. Elizabeth died in Stone, MO ca 1860/63 and Owen married Cynthia Maxwell ca 1864. Owen and Cynthia had the following children based upon census's of Stone, MO: Nancy L., Virginia "Ellen", Frances "Fanny", Thomas, Cordelia, Bettie, Thomas, Joseph and Monroe.

A school in Stone County, MO at the turn of the century.

Nathan Benjamin was born in 1859 in Stone, MO and in 1882 in Sebastian, AR, he married Melinda Catherine Fulgham, daughter of Edmond Fulgham who was born in 1861 in AR. Nathan Benjamin was a Baptist minister, pastor of the Amity Baptist Church near Ft.Smith, AR and a member of the Buckner Baptist Association in 1902. Rev. Nathan Forrester and his wife, Melinda had the following children: Owen Edmond, Tennie Bell, Pearl Ann, Bailey Benjamin, Nellie May, Josie Ellen, Zella Gay and Vernie Lester.

Owen Edmond Forrester was born in 1886 in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, probably during one of Rev.Nathan Benjamin's ministerial duties. Owen migrated to Greenville in Hunt County, TX before 1916 when he married Vera Mae Kingry, daughter of John William Kingry whose father had come to Texas after the Civil War. Owen Edmond was a barber in Greenville, TX until his death in 1972.

Greenville, Hunt, TX cotton Compress ca 1910

John William Kingry Sr. was born in Rocky Mount, Franklin, VA in 1833. He married 23 July 1857 in Franklin, VA to Amanda Gillaspie b. 1840 Franklin, VA. John William served in the 42d VA. Please see the Civil War section for more information on his service. After the War, John and his wife came to Hopkins, TX. They had children: John William, George, both born while the family was still in VA. Once in TX the family grew to include: J."Leo", Maude and Mattie. John William's family had been in Virginia since the arrival of Peter Gingrich/Kingery, who had come to Virginia from Pennsylvania following his father's immigration to Pennsylvania from Germany.

Amanda Gallaspie's family had been in Virginia since the mid 1700's when Daniel Gillespie first came to Virginia.

John William, Jr. was born in 1870 in Hopkins, TX where he married Minnie Lee Johnson ca 1895. Minnie was born in Texas, probably Hopkins County ca 1875. She was the daughter of John M. Johnson b. 1850 Hopkins, TX and wife, Sarah A. Phillips born 1849 in Hardin, TN. John William, Jr. and Minnie Lee had the following children: Vera Mae, Essie, Valle, Viola and Jessie.

A mill in Hopkins County.